Chapter Text

Chapter Text

As I look at the ceiling of my hospital room, I can't help but wish the clone with no sense of identity had ended up here, and I had gotten to experience the sunny beach where my future rolls would be going.
I can't help but feel weighed down when I think of all the problems in front of me, not to mention the baggage of this new life.
I mean, even my blurry memories of my last life are enough to give me some distance, thank god. But damn, was I such a bad person in my last life, to end up as the protagonist's helpless little sister?

We've got all the tropes, abusive parents, a whole world full of adventure, and a sibling with a hopelessly optimistic outlook and weirdly overpowered abilities.
Well, maybe not overpowered, exactly, but 9 is the highest rating in a single category out of anyone in the entire state, much less the Bay.
So maybe she’s not one of the world's most powerful, but my big sister is, at minimum, second-rate in terms of powers, and that assumes we're putting people like Armsmaster and Miss Militia as third-rate.

But that gets back to me.
I’ve got all the same problems as the person most likely to be the Bey’s protagonist, except, until this Isakai crap, none of the advantages.
I can definitely tell how I ended up in this situation.
With no powers and not even the vague memories of my past life to lean on, I guess I’ve gotten this far on sheer inertia and little else. Still I…

It’s at this point in my pity-session that the protagonist herself runs in and takes approximately zero seconds flat to glomp me.
Vista.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, ’m sorry, ’m srry, m-srry. mrry”
And now she’s crying.

Right, I guess this one is my fault. It was just Christmas. Important, yeah. But it’s not like I don’t live with them more than her.
I know EXACTLY why she’d prefer the stupid PR stuff to actually spending time together… again.
I even agree with my younger self that Vista, without a sister, would have no reason not to just cut the baggage loose and continue on her heroine's journey.
Really I’m just a weight dragging her down…

I hug her, because I’m not a monster, but I don't say anything, because… What is there even to say?
I’m sorry it didn’t work?

Well, if I’m not in a padded room yet, saying that is the best way to end up there.
I’ll just play along for a bit, I guess.
Hopefully, the Celestial Grimoire will give me something to make people forget I exist.

Then I can find a way into the little tropical island that I have in place of a warehouse, and be zen until Scion comes to kill us a… Huh, Scions dead. Along with Eidolon, Tohu & Bohu, and most of London.
It’s been like this since I was 2, why would I think?

Oh, huh.
So this isn’t an isakai, does that mean it's CYOA then?
I got sent to the world of a book I read.

Except it seems like the majority of my memories of who I was or what I had done, and the accuracy of my metaknowledge, were sacrificed for the points to boost the setting up from its grimdark canon to the grim but not straight up doomed world I can actually remember growing up in.

Or I’m just crazy.
Occam's Razor says that’s the answer.

Honestly, I probably am. But acting as if my perception of reality is accurate is the best option I’ve got, so for the nonce, I guess I’ll just assume I'm in a setting with some kind of plot, where apparently Vista ends up as the hero who somehow saves the world from an Evil version of the first Hero.

That doesn’t feel right, but I can’t put my finger on how.

Either way, the big bad is both dead and not evil in this timeline anyway, so what now?
I guess I just... be?

I mean, there are definitely issues, but…
Oh, she’s sleeping on me now.
Yeah, that seems like a plan.
Sleep now, figure out what a world that still has its protagonist and most of its issues but has no big bad to symbolically defeat is like, later.

Chapter Text

When I wake up, my sister’s gone.

After lying through a generic “how depressed are you?” questionnaire, I was caught completely by surprise as a Frankenstein’s Angel and a Stained-Glass Knight walked into my hospital room.
After a bit of gobsmacked staring, I managed to pretend like this was the everyday type of stuff.

I wonder if I rolled something while unconscious, because this was apparently Panacea and Brandish, came to check if I was still invisible to Panacea.
Guess that means the cat’s out of the bag on my having powers, still, it’s nice to have one more point of evidence for the CYOA theory, if Blank is working.

Frankenstein’s Angel and the Stained-Glass Knight seemed confused about my happiness, and I didn’t want to explain the whole Blank thing to them, so I just wrote a few words about probably being master proof now on the back of my depression questionnaire.

I valiantly resisted mentioning Collateral Damage Barbie when they asked which masters I was planning on running into, but was racking my brain for answers and I don’t think “Valefor, when he visits after that Endbringer who died decades ago attacks this city in a few months” is the kind of answer that’d keep me out of a white padded room.

So instead, I bet on my newly acquired memories and I wrote:
“Heartbreaker’s son"
"One of those Undersiders working for Coil." 

Thank god for old me’s vague memories for whatever I said there that got the Dallons to leave in such a hurry, because the only name I recognise from that is “Undersiders” from a rant of Vista’s a few weeks ago.

Chapter Text

After the Dallons leave, I decide I might as well.
I don’t actually make it very far, since in hindsight, a tween in hospital robes with bandaged neck and chin is pretty conspicuous, even in a hospital.
So I’m sent back to my cell, though when I wrote the “back to my cell” bit down, the nurse did make a point to open my window before locking my door.
Not sure what it says about Earth-Bet that a nurse just opened a window and locked the door of a girl on suicide watch, but I’ll take it.
Either way, that lets Fox get in, so I’ll take it.

Oh,
Apparently, a little detail about this version of Earth-Bet is that it’s just got the occasional interesting animal.
Someone from school has a dog that supposedly has super senses, and I’ve got a bird I met when I was 6 and named “Fox” for its bright coloring, who visits me for snacks occasionally.
He even brought me letters from an old retired professor who also gives him snacks, like we were straight out of Harry Potter.
And since Fox has cheered me up, I’ve decided to try to give the Celestial Grimoire a try…

200cp
The Witch Shapeshifter - Agatha All Along
As a skilled witch, you have a deep connection to a creature of your choice—be it a bat, rat, crow, or something else from the natural world. You can summon these creatures as your loyal familiar, or even transform yourself into one, taking on their form and abilities at will.
-50cp Animal Locked in, by pre-existing familiar
-50cp Due to the magical nature of Phoenixes, the ability to summon them is revoked
Cost: 100cp
Bank: 150cp

Yup!
Well, ok, I guess that solves the stuck here problem, if I can turn into a bird and leave.
Though I’m just going to ignore the whole “the bird you’ve been giving trail mix to since you were 6 is an actual, immortal-fire-bird” thing for now.
So I hit the mental switch in my head and suddenly Fox is much bigger and I can read its facial expressions!
What his face is saying right now: “What the hell?!
Luckily, this form seems to come with enough instincts that I manage to fly, not fall off my bed and over to and out of the window, with Fox hot on my heels pleading for me to “not do anything crazy.”

...

After a while of just flying, which luckily Fox doesn’t seem to count as “Crazy” behavior, he leads me over to The Rig, where I land and realize that at some point since I left the hospital, it’s become nighttime, even if that only means like 5 pm in January.
Still, I should probably tell Vista I’m ok, so I turn back into a human so I can go inside and am promptly covered in containment foam as the world starts to go black.
I just know Fox is laughing at me over this!

...

Chapter Text

Surprisingly, I wake up in a hospital bed, not a cell. I’m not even strapped down.
Though apparently someone’s got a sense of humor since they traded out my hospital gown for a set of Vista PJs.

I jump out of bed and am just about to look for a window when, honest to God, Leonard McCoy turns around to glare me back into bed.

I guess Bones must’ve called for someone because a few minutes later, I'm being glomped again and trying my best not to stare too hard at the living statue that clomps in behind her. 

I mean, if I thought seeing a Frankenstein's monster version of an angel was surreal, seeing what must be a regular human, except standing in their place, is a life-size version of those little green plastic toy soldiers, is even crazier.
Plus, this one seems to have a weird Weeping Angel thing going on where it’s always in a set position like the regular-sized toy soldiers, except when I look away, it changes position before stilling again when I look.

At least Vista seems normal, even if it’s a bit rude to glomp someone while wearing body armor.

Eventually, the Toy soldier gets around to explaining that they figured out who I was only after they’d gone for the default response to “suddenly appearing person is trying to enter the rig.”

Also, I guess my random journey worked out because the powers that be are having Vista, and I stay on the rig, at least until the end of Christmas break.
I wonder what the threat is this time?
Last time they had us stay here, it was after Hookwolf took a chunk out of Vista’s side last year.

After that, they gave me a set of Vista’s old gym clothes and took me to a gym where I turned into a Phoenix and back into a human a bunch.
There was a bit where the toy soldier (who I had figured out was Miss Militia by then) was doubtful that I was a Phoenix and not just a colorful bird, so I fire-teleported her to the boardwalk… and promptly passed out.

Chapter Text

I guess glomping must be Vista’s new thing, because this time I woke up in bird form in my new role as Vista’s Teddy bear.
Also, I knew she was dedicated, but sleeping in your full costume is a bit much.
Still, she was really thorough a few years back about drilling me on Missy being my sister and Vista being the costumed hero, so if she’d rather be Vista than Missy, wearing Vista’s armor all the time is one way to do it, I guess.

Well, I guess I might as well try to give my clone something to do in the pocket dimension, since there's only so much sunbathing a girl can do. Even if that clone seems to carry out instructions pretty mindlessly, even I’m getting pretty bored of getting a day's worth of “explore the beach” memories every day, when said beach is only like 200 steps long to begin with.

So I guess it’d be nice if I got some kind of enchanting or alchemy that I could have the clone do passively, so I can build up resources for a time when...

Basic Fuinjutsu (Naruto) (150CP)
Fuinjutsu, an esoteric discipline combining all the complexities of calligraphy and physics. Despite the difficulty in learning fuinjutsu, skilled practitioners find it well worth it. Fuinjutsu, or sealing, is at its most basic, storing something within something else through symbols to be released at another time. More advanced techniques still follow this same principle, but to great effect. Seal masters can seal away the elements, chakra, form summoning contracts, teleport, or even summon and bind souls using these principles. Its only downside is that this art is massively difficult to learn even for the talented, and will take years of intense study to master. You start off knowing how to make the two most basic of seals: The storage seal which allows you to store items in slips of paper much smaller than they are, and the explosive seal which is basically a few glyphs on a piece of paper the size of a greeting card that explodes like a small amount of plastique.
(50cp for Fuinjustsu creation basics, 50cp for knowledge of Generic Storage Tags, 50cp for Knowledge of Generic Explosive Tags.)
Cost: 150cp
Bank: 200cp

Huh, well, ask and you shall receive, apparently.
Sending the clone a bunch of paper and ink to practice the two kinds of tags I can make is perfect.

Plus, it’s not like there isn’t variety here, I can tell from that data dump that “Storage” and “Explosive” are very malleable terms with anything from “store a single item the size of an elephant” to “store 100 separate things and pull them out in a different order than they were put in.”

But that description was right, I really only got the rough basics of Fuinjutsu here.
For something that can seal creatures on par with Enbringers, I don’t even really qualify as a novice.
It’s like the Grimoire gave me “Rocketry,” the same stuff that allows people to step on the moon and come back, but only gave me enough knowledge to understand the gist of how fireworks operate.

Now I just need to find a way out of Vista’s glomp of death…

Chapter Text

I did not escape the Glomp of Death.
Still, I’ve done more for my sister than wait around as a bird for 3 hours.

Plus, after that, it was simplicity itself to inventory some printer paper and a bunch of pens.

It’s slower to turn ink into chakra ink and paper into chakra paper after it’s written, but since I don’t have any bottles of ink handy, this’ll do.

Unfortunately, Vista did ask what I was going to do with all that paper, so I made her a tag.

In hindsight, I probably should have just said drawing because the moment I said “make explosive tags,” it was right over to the shooting range with the toy soldier and a bunch of PRT troopers.

Though that did let me discover 3 important details.
1. “Slow” by Magic Ninja standards is exactly 57 seconds (one of the troopers timed it).
2. Storage tags are cooler than I thought, it turns out the only chakra/magic involved is in making them, and that anyone can put stuff in or take it out after that.
3. I guess I am what the Naruto universe would call a “civilian” because I felt woozy after charging my 3rd tag and passed out after my 4th.

Chapter Text

I woke up alone for once.
So I figured I’d roll to see if the Grimoire had any idea what to do today.

Divers and Fishermen - The Pirates of Dark Water - 50cp
“You’re a fantastic swimmer, to the point where you could give Michael Phelps a run for his money. In addition, you can hold your breath for a surprisingly long time—almost three times as long as one might otherwise expect—and do not suffer any ill effects of ascending too quickly while underwater (i.e., nitrogen embolisms)."
Cost: 50cp
Bank: 200cp

Well, that's… something.
Handy, to be sure, but swimming in January?
Hell, swimming in the Bay at all??
H-E-L-L to the NO.

I guess I’ll give it another shot, just in case, since I should still have 150cp left, and that's what Fuinjutsu cost before.

Mixing Mixtures - Banjo-Kazooie - 100CP
Just like Klungo, you are capable of mixing together mundane ingredients to create effects that can only be described as magical. Each of these effects lasts at least 1 minute but no more than 10, depending on the amount of potion involved.
Red, which causes Klungo to grow very large when drunk.
Green, which allows Klungo to become invisible.
Blue, which creates multiple clones of Klungo that run around at random.
Yellow, which is thrown at Banjo and Kazooie to cause damage in a medium radius.
Cost: 100cp
Bank: 150cp

Apparently, the Grimoire can tell the future because right after I got this one, Chris found me to ask for a storage tag to experiment with.

Luckily for me, the Clone had made 125 uncharged versions of each tag while I was out, so this was an easy request.

Oh, and obviously it wasn’t Chris as I knew him, but a life-sized Lego model of Chris, straight out of the Lego Star Wars games from Earth Aleph.
But compared to the Horror movie Panacea or the Weeping Angel Miss Militia, a real-life Lego person is nothing.

So I offered him 2 tags of his choice if he could get me some bottles and ingredients to make some stuff with.
His Lego face seemed to have come to some kind of realization, and then he rushed off.

Luckily, this time didn’t involve testing until I passed out again, so I was able to make 3 of each potion and managed to inventory 2 of each.

Unfortunately, the “test until you pass out” part seems to be just a matter of time, because he said he needed to send the other 4 with my descriptions off for review.
Plus, I’m already pretty tired since I'm 2/4 tags in today.

So Operation, “Find a window, then go take a nap as a Bird” is now a go.

My new potions helped here, because as soon as I found a window, I drank down half an invisibility potion and used my 5 minutes unobserved to fly to find the bridge of an abandoned ship in the Boat Graveyard, where I could conk out for a while.

Chapter Text

Fox must’ve gone back to the professor because I couldn’t find him, and flying gets boring faster when solo.

So after a while, I stopped pretending to not see the PRT squad waving at me and landed on the biggest one’s shoulder.
Apparently, this was a real thing and not just a random squad waving at the pretty bird because they asked if “Phoenix” was being sent to help them with the pit fighting raid.

I’m not sure who they thought they were fooling, all being hooked up with radios and all, but I decided to go along with it and transformed back to human.
Possibly not my best plan, but luckily, the guy caught me, and I decided that in the arms of a soldier, like a fairy tale princess, was the perfect place to offer these guys my mysterious potions of dubious quality and bombs made of paper.

I’m not sure I made the best saleswoman, especially when they asked about the explosive tags and I wrote about how each one would take a quarter of my stamina and would explode if anyone ripped it after being charged.
But the guy holding me, who seemed to be their designated tank, did end up with a Bottle O'Giant, and the leader took the full Bottle O'Invisibility before splitting it 3 ways.

After that, I spent 3 hours waiting by the van.
Only about 15 minutes of it was even them doing their whole Tacti-cool SWAT Team routine.
The rest was just reporting stuff on coms and paperwork.

I was gonna leave, but the leader guy said they’d only let me sit out the paperwork if I gave an in-person report when the commander came by, so I figured waiting now was better than homework later.

That seemed like less of a good plan when the Kingslayer showed up…

Chapter Text

Now, it’s not like I’m afraid of Emily Piggot or anything.
For all the fierce reputation she got for fighting the Goblin King out of Ellisburg, then heading the task force sent after him for the 9 months until his death, the woman herself is exactly at eye level with me.
And sure, I’m one of the taller girls in my year, but even the “Average” women still have a few inches on me… just not the Kingslayer.

Still, she is the woman who did all that, not to mention my sister's kinda-sorta boss, so it’s best if I try to keep things respectful here…
Just do my best to not acknowledge the fact that she’s looking me eye-to-eye.

Though the first thing she says does knock me off kilter a bit, because, like, why ask a question with such an obvious answer?

“Why did you run away again, Phoenix?”

didn’t want to pass out 3 days in a row (written on my notepad)

“… explain.”

That's the routine.

"Explain.”

Wake up, tell someone about new power, test until I pass out, repeat.

Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on Fool me...

(She interrupts before I can figure out the saying.)

*Sighs* "Ok, you're not going back to the rig.”

“I’m officially transferring you to PRT custody until we can get this mess sorted out.”

*I shrug*

…

In the end, my "Verbal" report is just as boring as the rest of it, since all I have to "report" is offering them 2 potions (only one of which was even drunk), then waiting around until she showed up.

Though something interesting did happen once we got into the second Van to head over to PHQ when the Kingslayer asked:

“What was that you mentioned before? The part about new powers?”

I couldn’t think of a good way to put it, so I decided to just roll and write down what came out.

Extensive Education - Chronicles of Narnia - 150cp
“ Perhaps you have a classical education, focused on Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. Perhaps you went to a New School, more interested in finding more effective ways to educate students than in sticking to the traditional methods. Either way, you were a precocious student. In addition to your regular education, you now possess an area or specialization.
Choose a subject – you gain a practical understanding of that subject better than some people with doctorates in it. This does not necessarily translate to book learning or official credentials, and there's no guarantee that you'll be taken seriously by the sort of people who care more about credentials than about results. But your day-to-day understanding of this subject will be outstanding.
Cost: 150cp
Bank: 250cp”

Do you think it'll let me pick Homework as my subject?

When I passed over the paper, she spent a while reading it, then looked at me, back at the paper, back at me, before finally sighing, passing the paper over to the nearest trooper and just saying:
“Ah.”

Chapter Text

After the surprisingly intense but short debate, I ended up putting down the Kingslayer’s recommendation of:
“Paperwork”
Which the Grimoire seems to have accepted easily enough.

Also, she asked me to give a list of the powers, costs, and dates, so I wrote what follows:

??/??/?? - ???cp - See power representation instead of people (Except Vista)
1/2/11 - 100cp - Turn into a Phoenix (Cheaper because I already knew a Phoenix, but I was supposed to be able to summon the animal, and that was removed.)
1/4/11 - 150cp - Babies First Fuinjutsu (The Storage and Explosive Tags)
1/5/11 - 50cp   - Learn to swim really well? (Please don’t make me swim in the bay! Or if you must, at least wait until summer!)
1/5/11 - 100cp - The 4 Potions (Big, Invisible, Crazy Clones, and ? Damages people, but differently from a grenade somehow?)
1/6/11 - 150cp - Super Paperwork Skills (just now)

After that, we started in on another round of questioning about the weird statues I’d been seeing instead of people, and how it was only capes, but all capes except Vista.

She even had Battery and Assault stop by, to confirm it, and find out what I saw for them
Though it was a bit odd when she told Assalt “not a word,” but didn’t say anything to Battery.

Anyways, Battery wasn't that bad.
She was just some kind of vaguely steampunk robot, all bolted together, but with mysterious blue light peaking out through its seams.
And on her chest, there was a digital clock that kept ticking up.
It never quite hit 0:00.00, but never went higher than 0:12.99, even when the kingslayer told her to build a full charge, it just kept going up to 00:12.99 then resetting to 00:12.00.

Assault was more like Miss Militia.
I felt tense just having him in the same room.
He looked like a person made of twist ties.
Like, he was the right shape, but his body was just a bunch of really tightly wrapped, and twisted, and knotted rubber bands.
Which would actually be pretty fun, except the part where all of them looked stretched to the limit and it looked like he was going to burst apart every time he moved, even just a little.

I think the kingslayer was going to test his form, but for some reason, he reached towards me, and I flinched so hard I fell out of my chair, so she sent them out of her office.

She apologized for pushing the testing too far, and so I wrote:

It's fine
I can look at things
And explain things
It's making things that's the problem so far
Also teleporting

She seemed to accept this, though I must have pissed her off somehow because then she printed out a worksheet full of math!
Told me to fill it out until I couldn’t anymore.

I was fine until they started adding in letters.
In math??
I mean, I got the first two of those because they were just’ process of elimination.
“X + 9 = 27 What is X?”
X = 18
“2(x+5)=20 What is X?”
X = 5
But after that, I’d completely lost the plot.

Apparently I should’ve pretended to be angrier about the assault thing, because she had me go through and do that for all the school subjects while she did paperwork.
Passing out is better than that cruel torture!

Eventually, she sent me off to the wards zone, though there was nobody in the main room, and I was too tired to look for the dreaded console room that Vista hates so much.
So I just used the code my sister uses for everything on the door with “Vista’s Room! KEEP OUT” on it and crashed.

Chapter Text

I wake up to another glomp of death, though this time, Vista was apparently awake first because she lets go.

I have more stuff to do with the Kingslayer soon, but this is a prime opportunity to tease my sister, so I manage to scratch out:
“Ar… Are you in such a hurry to get away from the Ball and Chain that you’ve started w-wearing your costume to bed?”
She looks upset, so I add in:
“I get it. Costume-On is Vista, Costume-Off is sister. But I haven’t seen you without it on since Christmas Eve.”
She just sits there looking confused, but to her credit, 6 am is a Hell hour when nobody should be expected to be doing any complex thinking, so I just shrug and head for the showers.

It’s nice to talk again, even if it makes my throat hurt.
I don’t actually have anything against talking, god knows it’s faster than writing things out, but after the shitshow at my so-called 11th birthday party, it just stopped working.
Oh, there's technically nothing physically wrong with it (just with me), and man, did I get it when the Ball and Chain found out about that.
But regardless of how much they screamed at each other or me, it only seems to work when I'm alone with Missy or Fox.
But Missy tries to be Vista as much as possible, who I’m supposed to publicly not know, and when I’m with Fox, we work off like 90% vibes and 10% judgmental looks.
Plus, now that I can read bird faces, or at least his, I don’t even need to talk at all.
So it’s nice to remind myself that I’ve got a voice, even if it only comes out every few days at most.

…

The Kingslayer seems to agree with me about 6 am, because we spend 11 minutes chilling together as she sits at her desk and sips at her coffee.
Until her watch beeps at 7:00 am and she powers up her computer.

After that, she asks me to see if my “CP” has changed and agrees when I write out that the only way I know how to check is by rolling.

Kingsguard - House of the Dragon - 300cp
“An order of 7 knights personally loyal to you, who will always watch your back. They will never conspire against you and are guaranteed to be at least very good in a fight or battle.
+100cp for supplying the backstory and resources necessary for such a group to operate effectively in the Modern World.
Cost: 400cp
Bank: 400cp"

"I’ve never seen the cp go above 250 before, for cost or bank."
"You must be good luck :)"
"Do I take it?”

Her eyes widen when she reads the description, before she says:
“In a bit, we should probably have a recording and some witnesses before we find out what kind of projections this power will give you.”

…

It’s more like an hour, but in the meantime, she explains her theory about how I get cp when I’m challenged.
Which is apparently lucky, since capes with powers like mine usually seem to generate their energy either at a constant rate, like Dauntless, or in response to danger.
But my method should work just as well with a tutor as in a fight.

She just laughs when I write:
“So now you have an official reason to make me do homework, and I’m meant to feel Lucky?”
Though the sciencey people seem shocked when she laughs, so I guess PRT-Scientist isn’t a very laid-back kind of job.

…

When they have everything set up, I accept the role, and wait as they all seem tense before I notice a guy in what I’ve learned to think of as Tacti-Casual from my time people watching the PRT troopers.

After a bit, the Kingslayer asks if anything has shown up on the equipment, and they all shake their heads.
I guess they're trying to figure out if my roll changed anything, so I just make a note, then point to the guy after handing it over.
“He just appeared.”

“No, that’s Raymond, he’s head of your security det…”
She slowly turns to Raymond, like a character from a horror film seeing the monster for the first time.
“Shit.”

Raymond seems to agree:
“Shit.”

Then she loudly calls out “M-S Alert!”
And I am once again covered in containment foam, watching as the world goes black.

Chapter Text

Sis has mentioned how boring M/S screenings are, but this might just be the first time I’ve thought she was underselling something when complaining.

I’m just in a prison room with nothing to do.

They won’t even talk to me over the speakers like I know they can.
Because I turned into a bird to fly around for a bit, and got ordered to turn back since apparently my bird form is known to be able to teleport without seeing the destination.

I’m tempted to change just so they’ll foam me so I can skip this whole thing like a cutscene in a videogame.

But luckily, I found another way.
It turns out I don’t need to take the tags out of my inventory to charge them.
So I’ll just go over to the bed, pretend to nap, and charge 4 more up every time I wake up until I’m set free.

Chapter Text

I’m just making storage tags, since nobody seems much interested in grenades made of paper that explode when they’re ripped.
Anyways, up to 8 now.

... (Later) ...

Apparently all the practice has gotten me an upgrade.
I mean, My clone has made like 1000 of each at this point, even if I’ve only charged a few.
Anyways, the last 50 or so got sorted in a separate inventory slot, and seem to take less time to charge since I’m actually making a 5th one today.

Chapter Text

It worked!

Of course, I didn’t exactly think of my exit strategy, so waking up in the PRT med-bay makes sense.

Still, nobody here has glaring down quite like Bones did, so I guess I’ll go take a shower, then see if the Kingslayer wants me to do anything.

…

Well, I guess that whole “security detail” thing is real.

There's apparently a bank account set up with a super spooky villain called the Numberman to pay 7 people to act as my bodyguards, and something about how it’s set up means they can't change who’s on it without a unanimous decision from me and the rest of the security team.

On the other hand, the whole team is former PRT with good records, which are almost certainly not fake, and none of them even knew I existed until January 1st, when they accepted the contract to start work in a week.

So apparently, the whole “Can her power create people?” question is considered to be a no. But the “can her power change things in the past?” one seems to be a yes, at least to a week out.
Also, the part where it can just create an account with millions in it, even if I can't do anything to it, so long as the team is doing its best to bodyguard me.

So now I’ve got 7 bodyguards.
Raymond, Casey, Alex, William, Sandra, Ansel, and Edmund.

They all have last names, too, but one step at a time.

…

Oh, and it seems I really did find a loophole in the M-S thing because the Kingslayer said she’d call it even on the making tags until I pass out thing if I gave her half of the results.

6 storage tags are an easy price for getting out of punishment, with the other 7 going to Ansel, to hand out to the rest of the team when he sees them. 

It’s nice of the Kingslayer to make things so plain.
And she even followed through.
Didn’t turn around and punish me anyway, and call it a “lesson” or some other bullshit.

…

After that, we went over to a big room full of science stuff.
I sat in a chair, was handed a pad and pen, and asked to roll.

Well, when in Rome...

Magic Compass - Pirates of the Caribbean - 150cp
“This magical compass has been imbued with your soul. Not in a bad way, just enough to ensure it’ll never be stolen or used against you. The needle always points to whatever you most desire, or the means to get to that which you desire. It can be hard to tell. Anyways, at least you’ll always know where your next step is, so long as you know what you want…
Cost: 150cp
Bank 250cp”

I wrote it down, then waited around for a minute before getting a thumbs up and…

Oh, so it’s not like a physical thing.
It’s attached to my inventory, but that was always more of a sense than a something I look at, so now I just kind of have a direction in my head.

Now, if only I knew what it was trying to lead me to.

Other than Due-East, I mean.

Chapter Text

In other news, it turns out one upside to the bay having a Full Director of the PRT as opposed to a Sub-Director like most cities get, is that she can choose to do weird stuff, like grant 7 mercenaries access to PRT facilities and info, in trade for filling in on PRT squads that need an extra.

It’s actually really sneaky, too.
Apparently, it all comes down to the fact that my power not only paid for them, but has contingencies for things like equipment and medical care, so she can genuinely say she’s not spending any taxpayer money on them.

So, from a legal perspective, I guess they just look like 7 highly trained “Volunteers”

And so long as they spend more time doing activities in line with bodyguarding me than they do working for the PRT, then the money keeps flowing.

I know she was mostly motivated by getting the equivalent of 7 part time PRT-Squad commanders for free, but I made shure to give her a genuine thanks, because even with the work my power did, I can tell how awkward it would be to just have 7 random mercenaries in the area, dead set on being my “bodyguards” so they can keep getting their cushy paychecks.

This way, it’s just like I have 7 PRT handlers, whereas most Wards have 1-3, depending on their needs.

But it works out, because I get about 200 hours of effort every week, and the PRT gets about 130.
Plus, the team gets paid really well, and nobody involved is paying for it.

Oh, and apparently I’m meant to assign them stuff to do, since even if I went out into public for 14 hours every day, that's still less than 100 hours of work to do in a week.
But it won't count as “Bodyguarding” if I “assign” them to volunteer with the PRT.

Technically, I’m already “assigning” them to work with the PRT, but all that involves is agreeing when Raymond asks if he should attend the weekly security briefing/scheduled assignments in my stead, then agreeing with the Kingslayer when she asks if I approve of my troops' assignments… whatever they are.

Either Way, since nobody wants to stand in the hallway of an already super well guarded building as I sleep, I need to find something for 7 different highly skilled troopers to do for about 100 hours a week, because until then, they’ve just got to do double shifts of… watching me do homework in the Kingslayers office.

Though she seems to like the effect of having armed security stand behind people, as she stares them down when they're in her office.
So I guess this setup should work for a few days, at least.

…

Oh, and I did ask the Kingslayer if I would be going back to school any time soon, since I should’ve been back today.
But she just proved to be as honest as usual in her reply:
“Saga, if I had a list of things to do with an 11-year-old girl who recently attempted suicide, sending her to a middle-school would be pretty close to the bottom.”
Which… fair.

Though it’s funny that, of all people to understand the concept of a Suicidewatch, it’d be the one called Kingslayer.

It got even better when she asked what was funny, so I wrote down my encounter with the nurse opening my window and locking my door in the hospital.
It’s like I could see the faith in humanity leaking out of her.
Though Ansel and Sandra didn’t seem to get the humor.

…

Oh, and I rejected my first roll today.

We went back to the science room, but what I got was

Lago - Aladdin
“You can have this annoying parrot. He is loud, cowardly, and has an annoying voice. He will start as a smart-mouthed pet.
Cost: 50cp
Bank: 300cp"

I just kind of looked at it for a bit, then asked if I could reject it, and I guess the scientists were fine with getting at least one example of what happens if I reject a roll, so I was given the go-ahead and refused it.

…

Oh, and since I’m actually living at the PHQ, not just occasionally crashing here like the Wards, I’ve been given a room in what is technically the director's suite.

I guess the idea is to protect the director's family if they have one, but mostly the Kingslayer just uses one of the rooms in the same way the Wards use theirs, and there are 3 rooms plus a little kitchen absolutely packed with coffee and other caffeine things like pills and energy drinks.

But I won’t judge, compared to screaming at your spouse and kid, or sucking up to your other kid, the Kingslayer has downright healthy hobbies in comparison.

…

Finally, I opened up a bit to the kingslayer once we were away from my new bodyguards and mentioned that my power lets me store stuff and seems to let me automate simple manual tasks

When she asked what I meant, I pulled the pile of 1000 uncharged explosive tags out of nowhere and handed them to her.
She seemed a bit shaken, so I mentioned that they weren't charged, but that I'd been feeding my power printer paper, and the number of these had been going up.

After a bit, she mentioned that the Invisibility Potion was being fast-tracked, so I could probably just request a bunch of ingredients and let it start churning out those.
I asked if it was ok, since this place has pretty much infinite paper and pens, but the potions would need math problem supplies, like 800 bananas.
She liked my joke, but seemed to want to prove a point because she had me write out a list.
Then asked if I was joking before ordering enough for 100 of each potion.

The reason she asked if I was joking was that the potions look like smoothies.
I mean, I'm pretty sure the only reason the green one is green is because it's mostly a vegetable smoothie.
But when I'm making them, I can just kind of decide that it's gonna be a potion and it is, though I don't think I can make them in bulk, just make it repeatedly, then pour it into one big tank or something.

Either way, it didn't take long to get a bunch of ingredients, water bottles, and a pot.
So I sent it all into inventory and ordered the Clone to stop making Tags and start making Potions.

Then we both went to our rooms and slept.

…

Oh crap, I forgot to get my explosive notes back!

Ah, whatever, I'm sure I'll think of it tomorrow.

Chapter Text

I woke up really early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I decided to go flying, but asked a passing guard if he knew of anything the PRT was searching for that I might be able to find easier as a bird.

So, I'm now searching around the city for where the merchants keep their medium-sized drug stashes.

I guess the PRT knows about the big ones, and the small ones are probably just a bag in someones trunk or something, but supposedly there should be a few medium locations with a few boxes worth of drugs and some middle managers who almost never have capes around but would represent a notable blow to Murchant operations, which is why the PRT is looking for them separately from the Protectorate.

Finding a drug dealer doesn’t take long, and I guess I caught him at the end of his night because he walks over to a beat-up house and enters through the garage.
I’m not sure it’s a stash house, but there's no car in the garage, just a bunch of boxes and a fold-out-table, so it’s possible, I guess.
So I turn human long enough to write down the location and then leave.

The only other thing of note is that there's a bunch of damage on a street corner, and when I go down to look, I hear the docworkers cleaning it up, talking about “double dipping” with Uber and Leet.
Colorful as I am, they don't give me more than a look or two, and I manage to figure out that these guys were apparently henchmen for the attack of Uber and Leet’s that caused this damage, and now they're being paid to clean it up.

Well, it was getting to be morning proper by then, so I went back to PHQ with my possible stash house location and the news that the docworkers, or those two at least, might be associated with Uber and Leet.
Along with the possibility of Uber and Leet intentionally causing extra damage to give the dockworkers extra stuff to do.

…

To start things off, they have me in the new science room, which is basically just a conference room that's almost never used.
Because supposedly there is some kind of recordable thing that happens when I roll, but not when I accept or decline.
So they're dropping most of the equipment, and just keeping the machine that picks up the rolls and a few multi-purpose tools, just in case.

Either way, I’m glad for this, because the Science room being a conference room with me at the head is way more comfortable than being on a fold-out chair in the middle of a gym full of machines pointed at me like I'm being interrogated by robots.

So the current test is to see if rolling twice changes what the rolls look like to the machine, or possibly makes the second roll easier to pick up on.
They're also hoping that it’s possible to determine the type of roll or amount of cp based on the data, so that it might be possible to intentionally induce a type of roll later.

Apparently, they were going to try to do it blind, but then Dragon offered to run this test for them, and that's basically a gold star on any report they end up making, so instead we get to discuss the pros and cons of my rolls like usual.

What I got was:

I Can Whip Something Up - My Life As A Teenage Robot - 50cp
“Working late nights and filling out strange requests is just another Tuesday for a Scientist of your calibre. This perk ensures that you'll never have your work suffer because of exhaustion. While your physical needs can still slow you down, the quality of your work will always be 100%.
Cost: 50cp
Bank: 450cp”

Which was an easy yes, and got me some jealous looks from the scientists.
But nobody seemed to be in the slightest doubt that it was a good idea.

Then the second roll was:

Crafting Bench - Generic Minecraft Jumpchain - 100cp
“This crafting bench, although seemingly blank and lacking tools. Grants you the ability to instantly assemble anything from the Worlds of the Builders that doesn’t require another workstation, such as a smithing table or furnace. It also allows you to instantly create small items from other abilities, so long as you have all the necessary ingredients and tools for their creation nearby.
Cost: 100cp
Bank: 400cp”

This one had me conflicted, because on the one hand, that does sound cool, until you get to the “doesn’t require another workstation” part, and I realize that I’ve just lost Smelting, Enchanting, Anything with Netherite, and a bunch more.

On the other hand, despite my dubious looks, the scientists all seem really interested in this one, and I suppose at minimum, the ability to make potions, and uncharged tags instantlly would be nice, and who knows, maybe I can make a suit of Iron or Copper Armor and get the PRT to sell it for half the profits.

Chapter Text

Before she introduces me to my new Tutor, Emily explains why I’m going to be doing one-on-one tutoring instead of going back to school.
Other than the obvious Suicidewatch thing.

According to her, part of being challenged is that I don’t slow down my learning, unless I'm struggling with something, and public or even private schools just can't do that.

But because it’s a power expense, and part of research into a fairly novel sort of power, it was actually pretty easy to find funding for a few tutors for me.

Plus, because she’s practical as ever, she intentionally set up a system where I’ll rotate tutors and they’ll spend the rest of their time helping the Wards, or Kids of PRT troopers and Protectorate employees.

But since they're using me as the excuse, they can only really do this for Middle School level stuff, so it’s only people like Vista and Addison (Dauntless’s son, who I know from school) who will be doing this, along with about 10-15 PRT-kids who are the right age range and can be trusted to not blab about the wards.

So it’s small, but just out of some speculation about how I earn cp, Emily managed to start an entire school, and as a result, my sister and I, along with a few others like Addison, are getting fast-tracked.

Emily says that even if this scheme falls apart after the budget review at the end of the year, the hope is that we’ll all have learned enough from the accelerated programs to get into the Online High School that Alexandria and Legend championed as a slightly less effective version of what Emily is doing here.

Apparently Aegis and Kid-Win are the wards here doing it, and as a result, Aegis actually started as a full-time college student in what would have been his Senior Year if he went to Arcadia, despite only joining halfway into his sophomore year.

To be honest, I’m not convinced college is going to matter on the off chance I make it to 17, but the idea of skipping right past middle-school sounds really nice, and I’m sure that's why Vista and Addison are doing it too.
Even if it only means skipping half a year for them.
The Phrase is “any port in a storm,” after all.

…

Also, while we were talking, I gave her the full 100 of each type of Potion (with the understanding that I’d take my cut out of future batches).

Because it turns out there's some kind of larger review process that needs to be done before any ingested “tinkertech” can be used on an official basis.
So until that testing has gone from “Not-Started” to “Pending,” any potions I even start would be officially considered toxic. But once it’s pending, she can give it the tentative approval in her jurisdiction, and she says she intends to order at least 100 invisibility potions per week to be shipped all across the region.

But there's no way the team’ll need that many, so she did her legal sneaking again and got the rest to be paid for at about $25 per minute of invisibility.
Which is insane to me because if I keep 10 bottles for the team and she gets 50 for the continual supply and logistics, and each bottle is 10 minutes, then I’m getting $10,000 per week.

There are only two downsides.
First is that the PRT will only shield me from lawsuits and the like if I only make these 4 potions out of PRT ingredients, and the second is that I’m not getting cash, but basically “Store Credit” with the PRT that I can use on equipment and future supplies.

But with the Celestial Grimoire, the chances that I’m not eventually going to need Gems for magical items or something are pretty low.
Plus, once I have credit with the PRT, I'm also getting access to the same supply sources that Protectorate tinkers use, except without the "Do you really need 100 pounds of titanium, for your power-armor? Tinfoil is soo much cheaper!" that most Ward Tinkers need to go through with their acquisitions.

Also, although the Protectorate isn't always getting the best deal, there are people whose whole job it is to make sure they're not getting skrued on the price either.
Not to mention how Independent and villain Tinkers seem to be in a constant cycle of overcoming bottlenecks on components, where they will need to either wait months for a single component or pay 10x  or more the market rate for that item.
But so long as it's through the PRT, and the items aren't part of a global shortage or restricted like uranium, then I'm immune to that kind of headache.

And that doesn’t even get into the pricing for my other potions or other things.

On that note, I also asked if she had seen the two rolls from today, and when she agree’d I mentioned that the crafting one (that merged with my inventory) would allow me to make Sets of Armor if someone could get me 24 ingots of copper or Iron and that I could also make Doors with 6 iron ingots.

It’s kind of random, but I genuinely can’t think of a use for most of the Minecraft items that I can actually make, and the useful stuff you can only make with a crafting table tends to include items I can't get like Blaze powder, Eyes of Ender, or Shulker Shells.

Still, one of the scientists looked it up for me and a full set of armor seems to run $1000-$5000, and I figure if theres one organization that will know how to monetize full sets of armor and Iron doors just because they were made by a parahuman, it’s Protectorate Marketing, and the ever dreaded Glen Chambers.

Emily seems rather confused by this, so I pulled out the set of Chainmail Armor I made earlier, after one of the scientists found me a bunch of chain that the crafting table was willing to accept.

The only parahuman aspect seems to be that whoever first puts on an armor piece, finds it’s suddenly perfectly sized for them.

Still, chainmail is expensive even with modern equipment, and I made it in about 30 seconds with about 24 of the 40 feet of chain the PRT just had lying around.

I’m not sure what’ll happen there, and neither is Emily (even she doesn’t utter the name Glen Chambers unless absolutely necessary), but I think we could both tell that the idea about my armor would somehow end up on his desk and would somehow get turned into a success for the PRT/Protectorate that would (hopefully) expand my supply-budget just that bit more.

Chapter Text

My First Tutor is a Ms. Emilia Clarke, who asked me to call her Emmy.
Though I’m not sure why, since it’s not like I often write people's names to talk to them.

Either Way, Ms Clarke is the tutor for English and Reading.

Honestly, I don’t know what I expected out of an “Accelerated” program for reading, but it’s exactly what it usually is.
Those tests Emily had me do were to figure out where I was in my subjects, so Ms. Clarke just grabbed the designated book for that level, I read a bit of it, then wrote up a summary as a paper that we spent a few hours revising.

There are two nice parts, though.
First, there's little to no homework, since Ms. Clarke is in on my being a Parahuman, she said the assumption is that I’ll be doing parahuman stuff outside of tutoring, so the time scheduled for it is all the time I'm meant to be thinking about school.
The second is that each tutor has apparently been told to set aside at least half an hour each week to help me with my projects, as a consultant with their specialties.

Apparently, Ms. Clarke usually helps people prep for interviews and has experience both working in and teaching acting.

I didn't have any acting questions, so I just asked if she had any idea what project to give the Team.
Since there really wasn’t any purpose to them standing in the room watching me read and write a book report, but they needed to be doing something directly in my service for at least 1.5x the time they work for the PRT to keep getting their paychecks.
Which meant finding something for 7 highly trained troops to do for 27 hours a week, when the actual needs of bodyguarding would probably be less than 10 hours, and even that assumes the whole team comes each time.

She actually had a really good idea.

Because she works in PR, she looked up the recent PR moves of the different groups in the city before she came here, and one thing that happened recently was that for the first time since they took down the Marquis, New Wave had designated an official gang, and a gang leader they were going after.
Specifically, they had taken issue with Coil using Patsy’s and one of them being a Human Master son of Heartbreaker.

… Ah woops, well, let's just not acknowledge that one and hope nobody ever asks how I knew about that.

But she does make a good point, that if I designate a group within the city as my target, it’d probably work to have the team investigate and even do some missions to mess with them.

But going after E88 or ABB is an obviously terrible idea, so I asked Willium and Alex, who were with me, if they thought the Murchants were a good idea.
Alex was all for it, and said his sister would be too, but in the end, William and Ms. Clarke convinced me that I should limit my picks to groups with less than 3 parahumans, given how it’s likely their only cape support would be me, and even then only when I could get away from everything else.
But Alex did make the point that the benefit of my being a rare PRT-Ward instead of the more common Protectorate-Ward is that if they could verify our Intel, the PRT would probably be willing to send a squad on any missions to back up the team.

In the end, the only other group that's both big enough to actually earn the team some prestige for taking them down, but small enough to be a realistic target, is Uber and Leet.
So I gave them my intel and description of the two Dockworkers from this morning and asked them to tell the team to start investigating Uber and Leet, starting with any connections they might have to theoretically legal groups like the Dockworkers Union.

Alex seemed sad, though, so I asked for him and his sister to research Uber and Leet themselves and to start working up strategies to counter them directly, which seemed to have cheered him up and got me a nod from Willium.

Chapter Text

The team has taken to their new assignment pretty well, and apparently Raymond’s already found the bar where most dockworkers drink and started to make some connections.
He’s no Sherlock Holmes, so he hasn’t got much out of one night of talking to dockworkers.
But he says that it’s only a matter of time before he finds out the name of the union's biggest gossip who he can hopefully get some intel from.
That or someone’ll just outright talk about the shady stuff when drunk enough, he says it’s 50/50.

…

Today, the scientists introduced me to Dragon... kinda.

No surprise she's really busy, so I guess she was occasionally glancing at a lifestream of what we were doing and would respond to messages on a tablet they gave me when she could.

But the tablet wasn't just for this, it's a personal gift from Dragon to me.
Apparently, she overnight shipped some stuff, including a tablet with a learning software that'll speak out words I draw with my finger, and will learn how I talk with time, so eventually I'll just need to write a few letters of each word before it'll finish and speak them.

Obviously, she got a huge thanks from me for this.

She also sent a box full of little chips of artificial diamonds from a project she worked on a while back.
One where she would grow the artificial diamonds, then do something tinkertechy with a laser through them to...
I lost her after that.
But the point is the diamonds kept exploding, so she ended up with a whole box of diamond bits, and hasn't found a use for them before now.

So, I offered her the same 50/50 deal I have with Emily, and she accepted with the caveat that everyone involved agreed to not sell any of the creations, if the crafting table multiplied the materials like it did with the chain to chain armor before.

I thought “Diamond Nugget” was a mod thing, but I guess not.

So on the downside, it wasn't a box full of diamonds, but it was a box of 2,931 chunks big enough to qualify as a nugget.
And I know that, because after getting the new roll, I inventoried them all, then made them into 325 Diamonds.

Legendary Craftsman - Fallout New Vegas - 200cp
“Remember all those unique prototype weapons that do the same thing but somehow just seem to be better? Well, now you can make things like that! At the cost of up to 3 times the resources normally involved in a creation, you can substantially enhance some aspect of anything you create. You can make a clip that inexplicably holds 3x as many rounds as it should, or a barrel that makes objects that go through it 3x faster. And you're not even limited to combat effects. Feel free to make an engine where every part is 3x more efficient than it should be, or a sandwich that's 3x tastier. All that's required is imagination and resources.
Cost: 200cp
Bank: 650cp”

Dragon wanted a 3x reinforced Diamond Block sent to her to do tinkering on.
Along with a full set of 3x diamond armor, that's going to be sent to Narwhal.

I'm not sure how good it'll turn out to be, but I made myself a set, and my inventory let me know that the full set counts for "60 Armor," whatever that means in real-life numbers.
Luckily, with my inventory, getting in and out of the armor should only take a second.

I had enough for a second set, so I gave it to William partly because he was right there and partly because he’s the second largest, but only by a little bit, so Alex and Raymond should be able to fit into a William-sized armor without much difficulty.
While the others are of too many different sizes for shared armor to work.

After that, Dragon and I had 82 diamonds left between us, so I offered to trade my last 18.5 to the PRT for as many Copper Ingots as they thought was fair, so I could try to make 3x Copper Armor for the team.
I considered iron, but it turns out there are good reasons not to make a full suit of Iron Armor in real life, and the weight is just one of them.

Dragon seemed to like that Idea and so asked for one regular Diamond and Diamond Block to be sent with her stuff, before donating the rest to the Copper-Ingots-fund. So I had just enough to make a fourth and final 3x diamond armor set for… somebody.

Luckily, the PRT isn’t the sort of group to give this to someone who never goes into the field, but the PRT vs Protectorate politics probably means they're not going to do the smart thing and put this on a combat thinker or something.
Still, worst case, I figure it’ll end up on some PRT squad’s designated Tank guy, like that one who princess carried me a few days ago.

…

Oh, and Emily asked if it would make me uncomfortable to start making 3x guns, and I said no, so now I’ve got 30 disassembled Beretta M9’s (though no bullets unfortunately) and am having the clone assemble them into 10 with “3x effective” mechanisms, “3x larger” clips and “3x durable” every other part.

Though Emily made me promise not to keep any of them, even a non-upgraded one.
Instead, she’s just transferring some money to my PRT credit immediately, so I don’t need to wait for the potions thing to start ordering stuff.

So I opened the app on my new tablet and ordered the supplies for 30 invisibility potions.

I probably will end up making Emily 30 3x duration potions, instead of 90 1x, since it's the minutes of invisibility she's paying for, so having that in fewer bottles just makes sense.
But mostly I'm wondering what a 3x potency invisibility potion would do.

I figure worst case, it just increases the spectrum where they can't be seen, so even things like infrared goggles won't be able to get past this either.
But if I'm lucky, it might branch out and also mute or at least muffle other senses like sound and scent.

The PRT might be willing to pay 3or more times more for some of these, or they might not, but either way, the team is going to be getting some form of 3x bottles from me.

...

Chapter Text

Fox showed up during tutoring today.
And I wasn’t kidding when I said we used to operate under 90% vibes and 10% judgmental looks, because even my tutor started glaring at him after I had been struggling with a bit of math for a while.

I think that if he were a human, Fox would have what‘s referred to as “a very punchable face.”

…

But his being there worked out in the end because I’d been meaning to ask him about how Fire Teleporting works, in the hopes I could do it without immediately passing out.

So after a bit of flying, he explained.

It seems like my issue is that I was thinking of teleporting like a Human with a parahuman power, not a bird with a defence mechanism.

What I’m meant to do is stretch all the way out, and think of some pleasant feelings I have tied to a place.

Rather than “The Boardwalk,” I should think “that really good hot dog from when I was 8.”
And that worked!
It was pretty easy, actually.

Fox said it’s like that, that teleporting wasn’t about the distance, it was about the strength of the emotion and how fast I'm moving when I do it.
Apparently, it took him centuries to manage to go to specific spots with a passenger, and even now, he will usually fly over to the professor so he has some movement and teleport the moment they touch.

Though the professor has asked that he not stop doing this even if he figures out how to teleport while still, because it looks really cool to have a Phoenix fly over to him before they disappear in a burst of flames.
Which is fair enough.

Then, so I could build some positive emotions there, I asked if Fox would show me how to dive over the ocean.
He agreed so now I not only have the rough idea of how to intimidatingly dive on things, but also the ability to teleport to a spot in the Atlantic a few miles out from the coast… just in case.

…

Oh, and Fox brought me another letter from the Professor.
Apparently, he’s not actually from Earth-Bet, because this time the letter was a lot longer and was asking about my “magic” and about capes and stuff.

So I flew over to Emily's office and tapped on her window with my beak.
It turned out to be a bad time, since she was in a video call with a guy who turned out to be the PRT Director in Boston, but he laughed it off, so Emily asked what I wanted.

It took a minute to spell it with the tablet, but eventually I managed to ask if the PRT had First Contact protocols.

Emily just looked at me, but the other director asked what I meant, so I explained how I’d just found out the professor I’d been exchanging letters with through Fox for a while now was actually from an Earth where people had magic powers instead of parahuman ones.
But apparently, he’d seen some differences in the powers, so he had asked for any info I could send him about how Parahumans worked so he could compare them.

For some reason, Emily was facepalming at this point, but the Boston Director sounded really excited and offered to send me over a packet. But he asked if Fox could wait for a day or two so he and one of his wards could meet a magic bird.
I looked at Emily, and she said it was fine… though that was the least enthusiastic “yes” I've gotten from anyone in a while.

Either way, Fox was fine with it, so I guess I’m meeting Weld and his boss on Saturday.

…

After the Other Director ended the call, I also gave Emily a 30-minute invisibility potion for herself in an emergency, along with the 10, 3x Beretta M9’s.
Then I gave her 2 of the 3x Potency 10-minute invisibility potions and asked if she could get the testing people to figure out what 3x potency meant, and if the PRT would want to buy it, knowing it took 3x the resources.

…

Oh, and I told her about how I’d figured out how to fire teleport and how that worked.
Then I told her about Fox teaching me to dive over the ocean, so I’d have a spot I could jump to if needed.

She seemed to approve of the practice, but ordered me not to teleport with any more people until she thought I had enough practice to do it safely.

I thought that was unfair at first.
But after thinking about it for a minute, I realised that since she only ordered me not to teleport with people, after I got done telling her how I could teleport several miles now, that she was basically giving me the go-ahead to practice teleporting as much as I want to on my own.

She seemed to have known what I realised, because she just smiled and went to bed.

…

Oh yeah, the scientists are apparently collecting the data now, so other than writing down rolls and adding to the list or bringing any powers questions to them, I’m only going to be recording rolling every so often now to see if it changes with time.
Though Dragon did say she was working on updating the machine that can pick up my rolling, since apparently it's a pretty old and niche piece of equipment.

But until that's done or February 7th comes around, I’m done rolling in the science room.

…

Oh, and the Copper ingots are apparently an ongoing thing, with them pulling from multiple different places to get me as many as possible.
Since I guess the Armour got sent to PRT Boston, who consider 3x Diamond Armour as low-level power armour with a focus on low maintenance, and so is willing to give me a LOT of copper for it.
Especially when they found out my reason for asking for copper was to armour up my own security detail of Part-time PRT troopers.

Chapter Text

Since I don’t need to go to the science room to do it, I figure I’ll just roll today, in case it changes my plans.

The Realm's Delight - HoTD - The Small Council - 50CP
“You are a natural charmer. You can disarm even the coldest of strangers, turning guarded individuals into new friends. From soothing tensions to drawing laughter from a crowd, even those naturally inclined against people like you can almost always find some reason for you to be an exception.
Cost: 50cp
Bank: 750cp”

Well, that’s nice.

Not sure it’s gonna do much, but “even people who’d normally hate people like you, now just hate all the people like you, except you ” is kind of a specific thing, but I guess I’ll take it.

If nothing else, that should hopefully make any PR stuff they figure out how to do with a girl who won't talk go a bit more smoothly.

Thu'um - Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - 100cp or 200cp
“Long before the Age of Man, Kyne taught men to Shout, to speak the tongue of the Dovah, to match them with the power of their Voice. You are a practitioner of this ancient and most revered magical discipline, able to force the world around you to bend to the power of your Thu'um.
For the first 100cp, you gain a soul capable of withstanding the Thu'um as well as the Generic Unrelenting Force Shout. For the Next 100cp you gain the two shouts closest to your current abilities (Fire Breath & Kyne's Peace).
Cost 100cp or 200cp
Bank 700cp”

I'm really sad about this, since it's really cool, but it doesn’t actually say anything about it magically fixing a voice that doesn’t work, just that if I can shout, I can do cool stuff with it.

It was one thing turning down the annoying parrot, but this just feels like such a waste.

Still, it would be a bigger waste to put cp into an ability just to find out it’s useless unless I’m with my sister or Fox, and while I can't remember what “Kyne's Peace,” did in Skyrim “Unrelenting Force ” is the kind of ability that really should only be aimed at Brutes you really dislike. not the few people I genuinely trust, like Fox.

…

Oh, also, Triumph was pretty nice the couple of times I met him, so I guess I'm glad that I won't have an ability that's basically twice the power and none of the control of his, on top of all the other things I can do.

At least being a proper changer, of the "completely different form and capabilities in alternate form" variety, makes me unique in the Bay.
The next closest cape is Hookwolf, who somewhat famously keeps his human eyes and organs in his changer state.

Which is why Triumph is such a good counter to him.
One good scream and he's puking up his lunch, whether he's in hook or man form.

Unless, of course, Cricket is nearby, who can completely no-sell his powers and kick his ass in a fight besides.

But thus is the cape scene of Brockton Bay.

Chapter Text

In other news, my temporary Math Tutor got fed up with Fox's judgmental looks and apparently feels comfortable demanding things now that the team isn’t looking over my shoulder but is off investigating Uber and Leet because he demanded that my “pet” leave during “school hours.”

I wrote out on the tablet that:

“He’s a person, not a pet. He does what he wants.”

He said:

“That is a bird, Miss Byrne.”

So I turned into a phoenix and sat next to Fox, who was laughing at this point.

He jumped out of his chair and yelled something about “Assault with a parahuman power,” but one of the regular PRT troopers who does guard rounds on the building rushed in and pulled him away.

Either way, the long and the short of it is that there was idiocy, but because it wasn’t mine, I was just in the room for it, Emily is excusing me from math until the PRT Math tutor can be hired, and she has apparently sworn off of “any more God-be-dammed Youth-Guard Volunteers.”

Which sounds good to me.

…

Also, I met Chris and Vista again today, since apparently Weld and his Boss coming tomorrow, is some kind of deal, but Emily doesn’t want me talking to Aegis or Shadowstalker with what I see instead of capes who aren’t Vista.

Aegis makes sense, if I can think of someone who’d probably be more horrifying than Panacea, it’d probably be him.
Though I can't think of the problem with Shadow Stalker.
Like, even if it were spooky, I’m sure it wouldn’t be that bad.

Though it was funny seeing Vista and Lego-Chris share a look before saying, “It’s not you per-se, it’s about keeping Stalker from talking to you, or around you, or...” “It's because Stalker is a Grade-A Bitch.”

That was hilarious, which is apparently how Chris learns that:

1. Vista is a lot more willing to swear around her sister than otherwise.
2. Saga sees a life-sized Lego person instead of regular Chris, and his exaggerated expressions are hilarious.

Though apparently Chris was confused why he would be a lego-person when everyone else so far had something related to their powers.
But it seemed to make perfect sense to me and Vista that a tinker would be Legos, with Vista mentioning that Armsmaster might literally be a robot to me.

Though Chris seemed a bit too distracted to appreciate the joke.
So I asked if he’d gotten anything interesting out of the storage tag, which is how Vista and I were exposed to an hour-long Tinker Lecture on… well, I'm just gonna call them techno-bags of holding.
The fact that this would scandalize any tinker if they found out just makes it better, if anything.

Either way, the effect is that, rather than a security locker on the rig that he needs to get to before he can do any caping, Chris now has a bracelet that lets him summon his kit one part at a time.
Apparently, it still takes like 20 minutes to get this way, but now there's no travel time, and if he really needs to, he can just summon the visor part of his Helmet and the two main parts of his Hoverbord to get going in under 3 minutes.

It still seems slower than just putting it all in a storage tag, but I get the idea of wanting it to be his own tech that does it, and unlike the storage tags, where I havent made much progress, it sounds like his summoning is advancing in leaps and bounds, and that the speed is more just because this tech is in it's early days, then any limitations inherent in the idea.

…

Oh, and I got my first Costume today!

Well, kinda.
It’s mostly just a tracksuit with a pattern of red, orange, and yellow feathers on it, and an interesting pair of sunglasses meant to look like I have eagle eyes that someone probably got from a party store.
But I guess the tracksuit is made of the same material they make the PRT underarmor out of, so they made it up as a “Until PR makes up their minds” outfit, for any surprise official events.

Which it seems tomorrow will be, since it's a PRT-Ward from Boston and the Full-Director in Boston coming over to Brocton Bay to meet the PRT-Ward and Full-Director in Brocton Bay.

Which sounds a lot more official than the real reason of the Boston Director and Ward wanting to meet a genuine Magical Phoenix while the opportunity lasts.
But adults will do their adult thing, I guess.

Either way, my costume is cool and comfy, and I get to keep it even once “PR makes up their minds,” which I definitely will!

Chapter Text

So that was boring.

But Emily did tell me after that it counted as my first PR event, so PR should back off from me for a while, since Capes under 15 have fewer PR requirements.

Though we also get more bonuses and leeway for doing extra, which is something my sister uses extensively and how I originally met Chris, since he was using that as a way to fund his tinkering when he was still getting the “generic tinker ward” budget level, rather than the “you’ve actually demonstrated some interesting technology” one.

Anyway, this PR event was literally just standing outside for an hour and a half as Emily and I put on our best “Official women reading important documents” faces as we played a series of board games on our respective tablets.

I can’t really be happy about her being such an honest person the rest of the time, then be upset at how she kept crushing me at every game.
But seriously, how do you crush someone at Mancala?! That game is like 99% luck!

I thought I was doomed when Dragon joined, about 20 minutes before the event started, and showed us that there was an app for 3-person Hexagonal Chess.
But it turns out Dragon is just… kind of bad.

Like I can tell, she wasn’t just going easy on me, because she was leaving the same damn openings for Emily.
I think the troops were starting to freak out a bit, the way Emily was scowling at the board.

But seriously, it would have been a better game if Dragon had just let whatever “Hard Mode” bot the app came built with play for her.

It was just sort of embarrassing by proxy.

Though apparently she offered to do a 2v2 with Armsmaster at some point, and insisted they are much better when playing together.

Oh, and it turns out another upside to Chris’s new Lego body is that if I stand a few feet to either side of him and look in the corner of my eye, I can see exactly whats on his visor, which is something I'm pretty sure is one of the standard things that basically all tinkers find a way to prevent if they make themselvs a visor.

Oh, and it seems his method of dealing with boredom is Anime.
He even has good taste, I think.
Gundum, ironically enough, for the teenager in power armor.

I’m not sure what Vista was doing, because I’ve worn that helmet, so I know for a fact that the damn thing doesn’t have a HUD.
But knowing how she views anything PR, wouldn't be surprised if she was standing at parade rest like that out of pure spite.

Though you’d think she’d have relaxed a bit, given I’m a ward now too, so “team baby” doesn’t need to be her anymore, but who knows.

Although I’m pretty sure she figured out the game by reading my tells, because she broke composure long enough to send some absolutely flabbergasted looks Emily's way there for a while.

…

But eventually Dr. Armstrong and Weld did show up.

And...
Tall.

Like, I get that a lot of the people around here are tall, especially compared to Emily and me.
But Dr. Armstrong is at least 6’5 and Weld is apparently exactly 8 feet tall, though I can apparently look straight through his head and shoulders now.

Oh, yeah, that was the other thing, but I’ll get to Weld’s appearance in a bit.

But first, part of them being so Tall is that I guess their sense of scale is out of whack, because what they handed me wasn’t a “packet.”
It was a book.
Hell, “Encyclopedia” might be more accurate.

Either Way, Fox can teleport people, so the size wasn’t the issue, just that I’m not sure what the Professor would be expecting, but I’m sure it’s not that.

Dr. Armstrong did send a request for any information on Magic that the Professor felt he could share, so I guess I’ll be going to Boston at some point, whenever the Professor sends back his response.

…

But back to the Appearance thing, it seems like I was the first one to notice something was off for once.
Because for someone who’d come all this way to see a Magic Bird, Dr. Armstrong brushed off Fox pretty fast.

But Weld seemed to have a proper understanding of the situation…

Except that I apparently can't see Weld…
I mean, I knew his powers had something to do with a Huge, metal body, but I figure he was basically just a metal-changer, where he bulked up and turned into a huge metal guy.
Right up until Fox perched on empty air, about a foot above Weld’s arm.

So when Chris asked “what I see” for Weld, before explaining my thing, I just kind of explained how I saw him with his “changer power” off.
That killed the conversation right quick.

Welp, it turns out I’m an idiot.
He’s a Case 53.
It doesn’t turn “off.”

What I was seeing was apparently Weld as he was before he had powers.

He cried.

I was told this was disturbing to watch, though it just looked like a normal kid crying to me.

Eventually, Emily and Dr. Armstrong had me look at a bunch of pictures of capes, then handed me a Tablet with a Video call on it to… another normal guy.
Well, I had picked up the pattern, so I just grabbed my tablet and started describing him too.

Eventually, Dragon stopped pretending to care about privacy and just took over my tablet with this police-Sketch Artist program and had me match Weld’s and (who turned out to be) Hunch’s pre-cape faces.

More teers were had, though mostly just by Weld.

It turns out he’s a weepy kind of guy.
Who knew.

…

Oh, and Weld, and Dr. Armstrong spent a while hugging, which made a lot of people tense, given Weld is apparently an 8-foot-tall metal guy, but it was fine.

Which is how I found out that Dr. Armstrong is Weld's dad.
Or well, adoptive dad, because Case-53, but you know.

…

Anyways, that day was a lot, and they ended up staying in the Bay overnight, so now we were all going to do my Rolls together tomorrow and discuss the options, since I guess Dr. Armstrong was curious about that too.
And he mentioned some kind of surprise in the Truck they brought with them, but that got delayed until tomorrow, too.

Oh, and by “all” I mean, Vista, Chris, Weld, Dr. Armstrong, and me.
Since Emily was looking at the hugging Weld and Dr. Armstrong less like she was worried for Dr. Armstrong and more like she was worried that she might catch emotions from them.
To be honest, I feel the same, but since I was the source of a lot of it, I was just kind of there.

I'm like 60% sure Emily saluted me when she finally managed to escape, but I might be imagining that.

…

Either Way, today was a lot, and now I’m tired, though I did think of something.
Since charging a tag when tired knocks me out, I figure from now on I’ll charge a tag every night before bed, so I have a supply of them when needed.

It's like the Fire teleporting thing with being a Phoenix.
I’m viewing it as powers, but in reality, it’s an art.

Particularly an art whose best users were trap makers.
People who had a bunch of tags prepped for any given situation.

But I’ve just been charging them and using them immediately, rather than prepping a stockpile for the need when it comes.
It's so obvious!
I feel stupid now, but at least I figured it out eventually.

Chapter Text

Love Potion - Weird Wild West - 150cp
“A love potion that lasts anywhere from two hours to two months, depending on the quality of ingredients and quality of genetic material added to set the target. But even with the meanest ingredients and a single strand of hair, the drinker will feel as if they are deeply in love with the potion's target and will keep them out.
Cost:150cp
Bank:1050cp”    

“NO!”’
Vista, Weld, and Chris all said something like that at the same time.

But it was Dragon who explained:
“Master Powers are already problematic enough, but Tinkertech, which can induce master powers, is a whole other level of problem. As useful as it could theoretically be, it's best you avoid things like this if possible.”

Dr. Armstrong added:
“Plus, it’s not just a matter of not making it unless needed; then your file is going to not only say “Human Master” but “Can produce Human Master inducing Tinchertech” for the rest of your life. Normally, this can't be helped, or we strongly discourage the tinker from actually building something like this, but in your case, it’s as simple as refusing the roll and moving on.”

Well, I was already on the fence about it, but that's plenty of reason to give it a skip. So I just shrugged and rolled again.

Libriomancy - Apprentice Libriomancer - 600cp
“You have mastered the basic arts of Libriomancy. With an appropriate fiction book, you may reach inside the pages and pull out a projection of any "thing" described. There are, of course, limitations to it: Most significantly, you can only draw out "things" that are small enough to be held comfortably in one of your hands and which can fit through an opening the size of the book's cover. Also, any "thing" you create will also drain your magical energies for however long it exists, and especially if you're utilizing any supernatural properties it is described as having in the book it was pulled from. Additionally, after pulling an object out of a book, it will “burn out.” Though not physically burnt, that title will become unusable. Finally, it is important that the book be an official hardcover primarily or entirely in words (no comic books) and that it was published more than 10 years previously.
Though partially a requirement for the Libriomancy known to apprentices like you to take hold, this is also due to the quality and power of the reproduced object correlating to how many times the book in question has been read. Though you’ve got a solid enough grasp of Libriomancy to still count other editions or translations of this book, even you couldn’t pull much more than a physical recreation of an object out of a book read less than 3,000,000 times. And do keep in mind that what you're pulling from is the "thing"described in this book. If the series went on to expand or reduce it, you're still getting the object as described in the book you hold.
-100cp to include books you haven’t personally read.
-100cp for gifted or stolen objects to pull from their users' energies rather than yours.
-50cp to include books that meet the requirements on their native world, not just Earth-Bet.
-50cp for inventory integration.
Cost: 900cp
Bank 1050cp”

While the rest are still reading dragon ads:
“Well, I don’t suppose anyone has a copy of The Silmarillion nearby?”

And Dr. Armstrong adds:
“Really, Dragon?”
“We just got done talking her out of Love Potions, and now you want to give her The One Ring ?”

“Well…”
“No, you're right.”
“ The One is a bad idea, but one of The Three Rings Of Power would probably be a good idea.”

“Huh…”
“Yeah, I could see that.”
“Either way, you should probably accept it, Phoenix.”
“There are some downsides to be considered, but we won’t really know until it’s tested, and in the meantime, this one could be great if handled properly.”

The others all seem to agree, so I go with it.

And.. oh.
I guess that's what “ inventory integration ” meant.
I’ve got 10 slots with space for a book, an object, and 3 bits of info, and a button.
Book:
Object:
Owner:
[Unsummon?]

I guess that explains why it was changed when other roles have just melded in as new abilities.

It’s almost like a whole extra inventory, or at least a separate part.
Though that's hard to describe, since all of this is still operating like a 6-th sense, rather than something I can see like in a videogame.

Hopefully, a roll will give me a HUD at some point, so this will be easier to navigate.
Since right now I kind of need to know some things in there to find out how much.
I have a feeling a HUD will lead to some surprises in terms of the crap I've stored in there.

By the time I'm done looking, checking out the new stuff, someone's come by with a copy of whatever “The Silmarillion” is.

Though that talk about rings was familiar, I thought that was from Lord of the Rings?

Either way, there's an argument about which ring I should grab, that I’m not really paying attention to, because as soon as I touch the book, I know that Narya is mine.

Apparently, only Dragon approves of my choice (turns out Vilya was winning), so I immediately put it on.
There's more shouting after that, but I’ve got other things on my mind.

It’s kind of subtle, actually, but I just feel good.

Like when I’m flying with Fox, except I’m a human right now.

Though that does bring up a good point, so I transform… and yup.
I still feel it.
Morso, if anything.

I guess it makes sense, since Narya is basically Phoenixes described in the form of a ring, so a Phoenix wearing Narya would be twice as good!

…

After that, it’s mostly just getting me to describe the process of creating the projections and what I’m feeling with Narya on.

I do briefly take it off to prove that I can, but nobody seems surprised when I put it right back on after a minute.

…

There is a discussion over whether any of the objects should be given away.

With the idea of giving Nenya to Panacea coming up more than once.

Though there wasn’t a decision made there, everybody did seem to like my idea of giving Vilya to Hero, since Hero is a member of the Triumvirate, but also the squishy one, whose powers don’t make him immune to damage like the other two.

In the end, more copies are found, and I end up summoning, but just inventorying the 2 other rings.

I was also tempted to start handing out some of the Human Rings when I heard about them, but was told I should probably hold off for now.

Apparently, the idea of becoming ringwraiths is too scary, even if it apparently took hundreds of years and turned normal people into basically capes in the meantime.

Also, that assumes it would even happen with no Sauron about.
But I guess that's a downside of being the only one to know this world’s designated Big-bad is both not evil and dead in this timeline.

…

Oh, but I guess we're gonna go see the surprise now, before Dr. Armstrong and Weld leave!

Chapter Text

Five…

FIVE THOUSAND!?!!

They… They brought over 5,000 bars of copper for the armor.

I’m SOOOOO glad I haven't put on the 3x armor yet, because I immediately gave it to them.

Dr. Armstrong even said it probably won’t be 5000 again, but said he thought he could probably find another 3-4000 if I gave him a month, so that's a done deal as far as I'm concerned.

A full armor set is 24 ingots.
A 3x set is 72 ingots.

I can make 69 3x copper armor sets with this!
I needed 6.
432 ingots.

wat.

…

Well, suffice it to say that I made 7, 3x copper armors for the team.

Actually I made 3 each, since 3x Armor is default, but it seems I can kind of loophole my way into enchanting.

So they each got an:
“Armor 3, Maneuverability 1”
“Armor 1, Maneuverability 3”
“Armor 2, Maneuverability 2”
set of armor.

I left what set they wear to engagements up to them.
Which really seems to mean that it’s up to Raymond, but they all agreed that's “what I meant,” so I went with it.

I also made a set for myself, but since I should just be reborn if I’m killed as a Phoenix, then I figure I’ll just transform in any danger.

Still, there's a chance it’ll come up, so I made myself a “Armor 1, Maneuverability 3” set.

And I made Vista an “Armor 2, Maneuverability 2” set, since I'm like 90% sure it's better than her current body armor.
Though I'm not sure how she'll get it past PR with it being a dark orange and her whole thing being Green and Gold.
Still, she wanted one and she got it.

And I’ve got 3,344 ingots left!

…

I also asked if I should give them the Dwarven Rings, but they agreed about the wraith thing.
But Raymond did end up “Reserving” 1 of my slots for items to be determined.

Saundra and Alex think it would be easier to take down Uber and Leet if they went in with items the two would easily recognize, so their now in charge of finding 2 of those.
While Raymond wants to see if he can find some kind of “AOE healing item,” so he’s gonna look into that.

I guess we’ll see.

…

But, now that I know what a 900cp roll is like, I think I’m gonna hold off for a while.

I’m gonna need to roll in a few weeks for the Scientists, so hopefully I’ll get something big then, but if not, then I'm gonna try to build up.

Because cool as this is, I really figured I’d have some kind of outright magic, or alchemy, or something to be working on by now.
What with it being called the Celestial Grimoire and all.
But instead, every roll but Libriomancy and Fuinjutsu has been pretty firmly limited.
But I have no clue how to increase my Libriomancy slots, or abilities, and Fuinjutsu is apparently just a lifetime of practice.

So here’s to hoping my next big roll is like "Up to 2nd Level Spells from DnD” or some books from one of those "anyone can learn it" magic systems like Earthsea's True Names or the Applied Mathematics of The Laundry Files…

Chapter Text

It would be a lie to say that Emily Piggot disliked capes.

Nobody born after The First Hero’s appearance could really be said to dislike all capes, not watching as Scion spent 35 years tirelessly going from person to person (and cat), saving lives and halting disasters.

No, what Emily dislikes is People.

If there was one thing taught early in the Pikettsen Household, it was that there's no such thing as kindness.

Space and a few years studying psychology have shown her how neglecting a child can often be as damaging as outright abusing them.
But at the time, she simply thought that her family was teaching her a valuable lesson.

Nobody acts for the sake of acting.
Every kindness is an expectation, and every sneer a test.

So, upon being kicked out on her 18th birthday. (No surprise by then.) 
She sought to make a place for herself.
Where she wouldn’t be reliant on the “ kindness ” of others to make it.

Of course, as an 18-year-old with little savings and no way to finish high school without a place to stay, she picked the obvious path and enlisted in the Army…

Or tried to.

It would seem the Army would rather take the 31-year-old guy who was 5’7 and weighed 300 pounds that entered ahead of her.
Then it would an athletic woman in the peak of her life who was only 5’1… on her toes.

Still, not all was lost.
She might not meet army standards (which is a thing they apparently gained at some point), but the recruiter pointed her to the Parahuman Response Team.
Who in 1988 could barely be said to exist, much less have any kind of standard for recruits, so she was brought in.

Her story for the next 13 years wasn’t that different from many.
Misogyny led to spite, led to her putting in more hours and more effort, until by 2000 she had finished a Bachelor's in History of Law and been made a Senior Lieutenant in the by then much better-organized PRT.

Still, at 5 feet tall, she didn’t have much field effectiveness she could afford to lose, so at 31, age was starting to become a factor, and she had begun questioning what her next step would be.

It was likely she wouldn’t make it much further than being a Strike Commander for a year or two, but there were plenty of places a former Strike Commander could go, both in the PRT and not.
And then Ellisburg happened.

A combination of bad luck, incompetence, and the unclear hierarchy of having two ostensibly separate organizations tasked to deal with Parahuman matters simultaneously.

The initial response was an absolute mess.
A single PRT squad and a Ward were sent on what was thought of as a milk run to deal with some distress calls about a changer in some little town near Lake Ontario.

The absolutely panicked call for aid that was sent a few hours later, however, had gotten people moving.

That the unknown cape had been known to have killed at least dozens of people, not to mention a Ward.
And all they had to go off was the description of a “weird goblin man,” and the troopers' panicked report about a Human-Master who could turn corpses into minions.

And into that were going 120 PRT Troopers under the Command of Strike Commander Morituri and herself.
Along with a bewilderingly separate 40 troopers, possibly led by the 6th Cape to use the moniker “Victor.”
Though his “orders,” such as they were, had mostly been summed up as “keep civilians out of the way and don’t start shooting until the fighting starts.”

Not that it mattered.
For all the memorials and genuine heroes of the day, including the other cape present, Ultimus, who would go on to save at least 30 lives, including Emily's own.
Victor was still the stupidest and most pointless death she’d ever seen.

Who just shakes the hand of an unknown cape, one who’d just killed a ward, no less?
A brand new Goblin, that's who.

Still, while she got out of Ellisburg and managed to bring a few dozen troopers and civilians with her, she didn’t exactly manage to do it on her feet.
And while she would eventually make a nearly full recovery, she had essentially managed to hit middle age, 8 years early.

Still, she had been made Strike Commander a few years early, and would manage to keep the position at least as long as it took to either kill Rinkie or, failing that, to push him far enough north that the future quarantine zone would be free to use the more interesting munitions, rather than keeping it PC for the civvies living a few miles away.

So, 9 months later, with a body as good as it was ever going to be again, and a career that looked to be the same, she convinced her superiors to let her make that damn stupid challenge.
Still, it worked.

The Goblins had gone as mad as expected after Rinkie's death, but they had also been stuck, since Rinkie had managed to transport most of them over to René-Levasseur Island by then, in preparation to establish his little “kingdom.”
So in the end, the containment zone did exist, if only for a year to make damn sure they’d gotten the last of Rinkie’s monstrosities.

But that had left the PRT with something of a pickle.
Her.

Emily had a damn impressive record, even before all that Kingslayer nonsense, but at the same time, she had almost no training in anything but fieldwork and a body that had 2 years at best before she started failing the minimum requirements for said fieldwork.

Still, she wasn’t an idiot, so Emily had taken the 19 months she had as a strike commander to quietly work through a master's degree through correspondence.

Which meant, in theory, she met the minimum standards of a Sub-Director.
She was over 30, highly educated, and with provable experience in both law enforcement and parahuman affairs.

Her record was impressive enough, and she's heard that Knoxville, Tennessee, had gone nearly a year without a Sub-Director.
Even if Sub-Director is where careers in the PRT go to die, they also weren't limited by short-sighted political BS like the Full-Directorships, so it wouldn't lose the Blue-Bloods anything to fob her off onto one.

Except… That’s not what happened.

Not sure if she was being set up to fail or had genuinely impressed someone important, Emily suddenly found herself as the Deputy Director of the City of Chicago.
Suddenly, she was in charge of the day-to-day affairs for the PRT’s largest branch in terms of numbers.

So, she did what she always does.
Pushed through on spite.

And over the course of a few years, she found out that she was once again correct to depend on her Spite.
In particular, Director Taggue was apparently thankful to have not needed to add another quarantine zone to his already overburdened workload and so had been championing her as a future Full-Director.

But, as she lacked the political networking, or old money generally required, they’d intentionally given her a Deputy-Directorship intended to be too much for her.
But. It. Wasn’t.

So, in the year 2008, Emily Piggot, who’d been a nobody High-School Dropout 20 years previously, was now one of the 50 Full-Heads of the PRT and put in charge of the protection of the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, and told to do it with a headquarters smack in the middle of the worst clusterfuck of a city on the East Coast.

Well, spite had taken her this far…

Chapter Text

The problem with Saga Byrne is that Emily genuinely can’t find her problem.

First starting in the tense atmosphere of her childhood home, Emily had learned how to build a basic model of people around her.
When this model was detailed enough, they would never surprise her, as had eventually happened with her parents.

And contrary to what people thought, the few times she had attempted to explain this, it had nothing to do with being rational, or even just mapping out the topics where a person would be irrational.

That was basic social dynamics, to the point that small children were expected to do it instinctively.

The closest Emily had ever come to someone understanding her was when talking to an Old Fisherman who often helped the rather strange PRT branch in Bar Harbor, Maine.

The way he talked about navigating the Ocean.
A man who couldn’t even drive (legally anyway) due to his poor eyesight, but would frequently navigate hundreds of miles by boat.

So even if she couldn’t easily explain it, she knew that it worked, and she knew when a person was near the edge.

Not necessarily in a mental health way.
God knew Emily was in no place to judge on that account.

There were plenty of Ways to describe it: “Possessed of Humours,” “Fey-Touched,” “Mask of Sanity,” "Lucid eccentric."
And Emily's favorite, from that old fisherman: “Still waters, dark depths.”

But regardless of how you put it, Capes all had it.

Oh, it’s not just capes, they weren’t even the majority of people in the world who were like that.
But every cape whom Emily had talked to for more than a few minutes would start to show the signs, and in all but a single case, those signs had been confirmed as she got to know that cape further.

Except for Saga Tara Byrne.

Oh, not all capes were as obvious, or as close to that edge.

It was clear that Miss Militia had been deliberately moving away from the edge for decades, though that sort of thing made its own kind of mark on a person.

On the other end, there were the more confusing cases like Battery, who almost seemed to be the exception until she pieced together a bit of her past as Elene Galvani and realized that she was probably the worst of the lot.
Emily wasn’t sure what kind of crazy-reckless thing Elene had managed to talk herself into within the two months she was unaccounted for, but whatever it was had seemingly scared her enough to have been on a similar, if faster version of Hanna’s path to Sanity ever since.

So it’s been quite the upheaval to continue to interact with Saga and to keep finding… nothing.

…

Honestly, the custody thing had mostly happened without her intervention.

Grant Renoch, the Deputy Director who was in charge of The Bay’s PRT on a practical level, had jumped at the chance for the city to get its first PRT Ward, and had some hopes of eventually transitioning the city into the Texas model, with Protectorate-Wards being the exception rather than the rule.

She personally doubts he’ll manage it with two of the first Wards in the city and Legend nearby. Not to mention, as decent an administrator as Grant was, he was no Accord in terms of planning.

Still, what was meant as a temporary arrangement while she officially investigated the girl's report of abuse turned into a permanent thing before she was able to confirm it was a simple case of misplaced priorities.

Given the tendency of recent triggers to feel a burning need to exercise their powers right away, Hanna had essentially led Saga to believe that she was required to work until exhaustion in power testing, rather than being encouraged to experiment in a safe environment until she felt satisfied.

Still, she was a PRT Ward now, and the protectorate was fully aware that Emily had no fault in that particular decision.

Plus, it’s not as if this would bring no benefit to the Protectorate either.
There are certain resources earmarked for PRT-Wards specifically, which can be utilized by any Ward so long as there is at least one PRT Ward nearby that is using them as well.

Emily was actually quite proud of the tutoring scheme she’d worked out for those with kids near Saga’s age.
Particularly in how little it required her to utilize her legal bullshitting skills.
Hell, from a paperwork perspective, she’d essentially stated the truth.
Saga was the excuse, Employee and Trooper Morale was the purpose.

But PRT-Wards are rare enough in New England that any excuse to keep one around, even going as far as bribing a Protectorate member with expensive, advanced tutoring for his son, would seemingly be accepted.

…

But that gets back to the girl herself.

She had gone into that explanation halfway expecting some kind of blow-up or sulking. It wouldn’t even be strange out of a non-parahuman 11-year-old…

But nothing.

She didn’t quite pick up on all the nuances of the situation.
If nothing else, Emily's pretty sure the bribing of Dauntless went completely over her head.

But she was fine with it.

Seems to have figured out that it would help the PRT so long as she went along with it, which would in turn make the PRT more lenient with her, so she would.

Perfectly. Reasonable.

What??

…

The fact that terms like “Most potential since Eidolon” are being bandied about for a kid that all of Emily's instincts are telling her isn’t a parahuman is just icing on the cake.

…

The only real silver lining with the situation is that her instinct for capes didn’t make her disposed to them, and they had often noticed.
But, well, there’s a reason “Mask of Sanity” is one of the ways to describe that type of person.

Even Hannah or Elene were a bit too close to the edge for Emily to ever completely relax around them.
In the same way that having one of those ice-cold killers like Tom Calvyrt around always managed to leave her tense.

So whatever was up with the girl, as far as her instincts for people go, she is just what she seems to be.
An 11-year-old girl with a knotted mess of mental issues and more power than is healthy for an adult.

Not exactly the picture of stability, but also not someone Emily is worried would snap without the kind of External pressure that, as her guardian, Emily is meant to pick up on and navigate her past.

…

Plus, it doesn’t hurt that by appearances alone, they could easily be mother and daughter, as blonds with Scandinavian roots who are about 30 years apart in age.
She might have simplified it to Piggot after moving out, but she was born a Pikettsen after all.

…

Though the situation with splitting up two sisters was a bit unfortunate, she didn't like the idea of forcing Saga near Assault more than necessary, for more than the usual reasons, now.

Whereas anyone with a brain can see the benefits of encouraging the bonding between the Shaker 9 and one of the Bay’s two most stable parahumans.
Which obviously means it's only a matter of time before Armsmaster attempts to interfere.

But there was no sense borrowing future headaches.

For now, the situation is stable, and she was as close to happy as she ever got with the recent developments.

Chapter Text

As she gives the go-ahead for Saga to utilize her power once again, Emily contemplates the numerous different offers for resource exchange in regards to her.

From Hero’s generous offer to hold off officially thanking Saga for that Ring all the local nerds are so excited about, until the Bay is in need of a PR boost or a Show of Force.
To the more dubious offers, like the half-generous-offer and half-dangerous-threat from Glenn Chambers to take over Saga’s PR and Marketing strategies, personally.
To the mildly unnerving fact that her weekly summaries of the girl’s development had recently begun making their way to the president’s desk…

This whole guardianship thing was turning out to be exactly as complicated as Emily expected.

But the strange part was how few of those complications came from Saga herself.
Functionally, none, if you count her power as a separate source of tension, like Emily has been.

The closest thing the girl had done to annoying was the plan to take down Uber and Leet, but unlike her initial concerns, Saga seemed completely content to wait weeks for any initial action, and for any significant actions afterward to functionally be PRT operations with her brought along as mascot.

But even then, it was less a headache due to Saga herself, and more due to needing to balance the egos of her Security Team, who would insist on heading the project along with the not-so-subtle encouragement she was getting from multiple fronts to offer up “Phoenix” as the at least nominal “Head” of the operation.

Absolutely ludicrous, but PR wants "The Next Eidolon" to start building a reputation, and too much pressure is coming from too many directions for Emily to do anything but keep an eye on things herself to make sure the rest of the operation is as professional as possible.

Plus, though she does her best to leave the day-to-day stuff to Grant, it’s true enough that every other city in her jurisdiction would have long since assigned at least a handful of staff permanently to such a long-term group as Uber and Leet, even if action against them might get delayed repeatedly.

But, as far as anyone could tell, other than coming up on the analyst's normal rotations of local capes, nobody had spent significant time investigating the duo after their first year of activity.
A state of affairs that would be horrendously embarrassing if any of their tinkertech ever malfunctioned in a particularly harmful way, and caused a scandal for not having already taken them down.
Something that the reports generated by Saga’s team were painting as not only an inevitability but one that seemed to be increasing in likelihood every time they poked their heads out of their hole.

…

Oh, and it seemed everyone was in agreement about the first of the two rolls today, she should probably read it to make sure.”

Battlecat - Masters of the Universe - 100cp
“You may create or import an animal companion to be given a battle form. By default, they will be an Eternian tiger or panther. They will be able to change into a form capable of carrying you into battle. Their physical prowess, when transformed, will make them quite effective in melee as well. Even if they could not before, they will now be capable of human speech in both their battle and normal forms.
-50cp to apply to personal Animal Form.
Cost: 150cp
Bank: 550cp”

Well, that's not so bad.
A bit unclear on what “battle form” would even be for a bird. But making her Changer state bigger shouldn’t hurt anything, so she gives the final approval, as Saga’s guardian.

Not that the girl seems to understand that's why.
As if Emily would normally have more than the occasional interaction with local wards, even the so far hypothetical PRT-Wards.

She stands back to work through a bit of paperwork as the new form is tested, and is genuinely surprised with the rest to have discovered the apparent telepathy this has granted her.

Still, only communicating with those touching her, and only in the larger or smaller bird forms, isn’t that bad.

Though Dragon's insistence that the process didn’t involve sound transmission of any detectable type was slightly worrying, as she was rather under the impression that genuine telepathy was considered impossible.

But, it’s not as if Emily couldn’t have told them all about Saga’s strangeness for a cape from day one, so she let the discussion pass her by, as did Saga.

Eventually, Dragon picked up on the girl’s wandering attention and prompted the last roll of the day: 

Basic Spellbooks - Durmstrang Institute - 200cp
“ The basic set of instructional textbooks for beginner Mages, with a preference for magic of Eastern European origin, and for setting the foundations for later education on, and defending against the Dark Arts.
-100cp for Books inventory attunement. (“Magical Tutorial Mode” rather than physical texts.)
-100cp for Magical Focus inventory attunement. (Inventory now generates temporary magical focuses of average strength and potency for any type of magic you have access to.)
Bank: 400cp
Cost: 400cp”

Saga wasn’t looking pleased at the possibility of being told to deny this one, given how she’s glaring down that scientist, so Dragon told her the final decision was "hers," and I nodded when she looked at me.

So it seems we’ll just need to keep an eye out for “the foundations [of] the Dark Arts.”

…

A few days later, Emily watched as Vista further cemented her reputation as "the cute one" by visibly trying to act mature and "set an example" at the PR event as Gallant held his pretty solid poker face and Glory Girl flat out cooed at Vista.
Saga, of course, managed an actual aura of maturity by calmly allowing herself to be tugged along in her sister's wake and occasionally sitting on someone's shoulder in smaller bird form for photos.

While Emily was no great expert in PR, she did understand the reasoning behind it, and she'd certainly had more onerous PR duties than answering some questions as some Wards and Glory Girl wandered around for photographs.

The closest thing to a disruption came when a teen-aged couple sauntered up to get a picture with Gallant, and Glory Girl started leaking her master-aura for a moment.
But Gallant said something, and she pulled it back in.

Worrying, but good to confirm who the girl saw as allies, given that the only ones to seemingly react negatively were the two teens. 

…

Pulling Gallant aside later didn't provide much explanation beyond "explaining her anger would tread heavily on the Unwritten rules."
Though he did elaborate:
"Normally, I wouldn't even say this much, but showing up like that was close enough to the line that I think its simple turnabout, but I really shouldn't say more."

Well, it seems we've got rough physical descriptions of all the Undersiders now.
For PRT records, if nothing else.

Not a wild leap from "someone that would make a new wave member angry on sight" to "two of the 4 teen villains recently discovered to be working for Coil."
Along with the appearance of Hellhound and Hijack being on public record.

Showing up like that was a stupid move, but what else can be expected from a group that manages the headache trifecta of gang thugs, capes, and teenagers?
She almost wished Coil luck, needing to deal with that particular time-bomb of a team.

More reason to stop looking a gift horse in the mouth with Saga, Emily supposes...

Chapter Text

Firewatch – Operation Uber & Leet Cleanup

After-action report transcript

(PRT Archive sting, faint static)

Raymond: Little Boss, this is my after-action report for Operation Leet Cleanup. Intel flagged tonight as a fresh recruitment push for Uber and Leet’s next stream. Primary targets: Uber and Leet, expected but unconfirmed. Secondary: regular logistics crew, seven known. Unknown number of new part-timers being briefed. Field test on copper armor, heavier dark blue variant, and cloaking vials.

(Video angle: Phoenix at ops desk, her words typed out, flat)

Little Boss: Firewatch. Primaries unseen. Seven regulars, spread. New recruits tonight. Number unknown. One regular likely briefing them. Force only if armed. Fast, clean. Zero continues. Cloaks: one use, three mins.

(Bodycams power on: light rain, copper HUD border faint)

Raymond: We moved at 2200. Raven led in dark blue heavy armor—slower, but could tank anything short of a bolt from the big guns. Rain muffled approach; HUD held stable except brief static.

(Meryl’s cam: storage corridor, crates stamped “U&L LIVE”)

Raymond: First regular dockworker spotted near loading bay. Holding a controller-looking tinkertech prop—probably for show. He turned, dropped it fast when Meryl stepped forward.

Meryl (steady): PRT. Hands visible. Step back, slow.

(Dockworker complies, breath fast)

Raymond: Raven zip-tied him clean. Tinkertech looked like a foam controller—harmless, but logged for evidence.

(Otacon’s cam: narrow office corridor, second dockworker adjusting headset rig)

Raymond: Second worker had a cheap VR mask. Likely for the stream set dressing. Didn’t resist; backed into Otacon’s field of view, hands up quick.

Otacon (calm): Down on your knees. Stay still.

(Worker nods, drops headset)

(Quiet’s cam: server room, low hum; third dockworker near tower case covered in U&L stickers)

Raymond: Third tried to shuffle drives into a bag. Quiet stepped in, hand near baton but didn’t draw.

Quiet (flat): Step away. Hands high.

(Worker pauses, steps back, muttering)

Raymond: Drives stayed; evidence kept intact.

(Solidus’s cam: back hallway; fourth dockworker with gauntlet prop, plastic lights flickering)

Raymond: Fourth one had a fake power glove, tinkertech but no charge pack. Tried to look tough; Solidus moved in fast.

Solidus: Off. Hands open.

(Worker obeys; glove hits ground, small spark)

Raymond: No fight. Just nerves.

(Vulcan Raven’s cam: fifth dockworker in corner of main warehouse, tinkering with something like a cheap “power-up” prop)

Raymond: He didn’t notice Raven until too late. Raven’s shadow alone got him to freeze. Zip-tied him quick; no resistance.

(Meryl’s cam: sixth dockworker by crates, old “Game Over” light panel under arm)

Meryl (firm): Drop it. Hands behind head.

(Worker sighs, complies)

Raymond: Six regulars detained. Props logged: harmless, mostly plastic with LEDs. No weapons confirmed.

(HUD update: “SECONDARY TARGETS DETAINED: 6”)

(Liquid’s cam: big central room; about ten nervous part-timers in casual clothes, half-listening to a regular minion speaking fast)

Raymond: Found the recruits. Number unknown going in; turned out to be ten. Regular minion with headset was hyping them up, promising livestream clout and quick money. Saw him gesture toward us, telling them to “rush the door if it opens.”

Liquid (quiet, codec): They’re wired up. Might try it.

Raymond: Ordered hold; no weapons sighted yet. Solidus moved in cloaked to flank.

Big Boss (Raymond): Confirm cloak timer. Wait on my go.

Otacon: Timer ready. Solidus in place, left rear.

(Solidus’s cam: shimmer in air; breath fogs slightly)

Raymond: Cloak held about two-forty-five clean before shimmer edges. Long enough to position behind them unseen.

(Minion raises voice: “They’re coming! If we rush, we can get out—don’t freeze!”)

Raymond: Four part-timers stepped forward, shaky but ready. Liquid shifted left; risk of being cornered.

Big Boss: Solidus—now.

(Solidus drops out of cloaking mid-stride; part-timers jump back)

Solidus (controlled): Hands up. All of you. Now.

(Room freezes. Two bolt for side door; rest drop hands, step back)

Raymond: Regular minion tried to run too—Raven stepped through crates, cut him off without a hit. Eight surrendered on the spot; two fled into storage, caught later by Meryl and Quiet near exit.

(HUD: “TERTIARY TARGETS SCATTERED OR DETAINED: 10 | PRIMARY TARGETS NOT PRESENT”)

Raymond: Uber and Leet never showed. Evidence suggests they planned to arrive later or supervise remote. Otacon dumped sponsor lists and IP logs; upload successful.

(Codec beep)

Big Boss: Little Boss, site secure. Primaries absent. Upload done.

Little Boss: Good. Fast. No shots?

Raymond: None fired. Props harmless, but still logged. Raven’s heavy dark blue took baton and crate hits; zero damage. Copper plates stopped bruises; stayed mobile. Cloak vials worked; shimmer visible near end, never too early.

Phoenix: Noted. Dragon edits footage. Keep short.

(HUD scroll: “MISSION COMPLETE | CONTINUES USED: 0 | MISSION RANK: B”)

(Rooftop cam, team grouped under drizzle)

Liquid (quiet): Primaries slipped us.

Solidus: We’ll get them next run.

Liquid: And no continues.

Raymond: Phoenix, thanks for gear. Kept us and them safe. End of report.

(Black screen)

PROPERTY OF PRT ARCHIVES – FIREWATCH

FIREWATCH WILL RETURN - PRESS X TO CONTINUE

(Post-credits codec hiss)

Solidus (low): They learn quick.

Liquid (quiet): So do we.

(Legal card)

METAL GEAR: UBER & LEET OPS | FIREWATCH RAID After-action report by Raymond to Phoenix. Seven regular minions detained. Ten new recruits scattered or caught. Primary targets Uber & Leet absent. Props harmless; video evidence secured. Armor and cloaks tested in field. No lethal force used. Video edit and archive by Dragon of the Guild. #Firewatch #UberAndLeet #MetalGearOps #PRTHeroes

(Video ends)

Chapter Text

I got a roll that became the bane of my existence lately:

Gold Pouch - The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - 100cp
“Gold! You’ve struck gold! You now have 100 gold coins and will gain an additional 15 per day, but don’t go spending it all in one… Or actually feel free to do just that, after all, these coins are rather small.
Still, 15 gold is enough to buy you a night's stay and a bowl of stew at any inn in Skyrim, at least.
Cost: 100cp
Bank: 900cp”

Ok, I guess we get to find out what an efficiency 3 gold pickaxe does with real-world physics.

Diamond would be better, or netherite, but since I’m nearly certain I’d get in trouble for selling the coins, and they're too small for much else, I can basically just treat them as nuggets.
But I’d 100% get in trouble if I sold the ingot, especially after Dragon made such a big deal about the diamonds.
I mean, apparently the diamond block completely solved whatever problem was causing her artificial diamonds to explode, so I’m not getting any more from that direction.

So, for the moment, if I need an obstacle broken at speed, then 3x gold tools seem to be the way to go.

And yes, I do know I’m skipping the obvious thing, but unfortunately for me, the golden apple is the problem.
I mean, not the one I made, that got sent off for testing the moment after I showed it to Emily.

Oh, I’m sure the golden apple will be awesome, but the problem is how its regen is simultaneously insane and kinda trash with Panacea in the same city.

Over the course of 5 seconds, it restores 20% of health.

In a videogame, that's fine, but in real life, that's insane.
Because it’s not 20% of the way to being cured of whatever.
It’s as if you could measure the distance between perfectly healthy and dead, it gets you 20% of that distance closer to perfectly healthy, and in only 5 seconds.

But it's got a downside.

It instantly grants you 20% of health back or gets you to 120% if you're at 100% already somehow (not how real life works, but technically possible).
… For 2 minutes, then it just as instantly reverts.

Basically, whoever eats it is, unless they're REALLY messed up, going to suddenly be not just fully healthy, but a little bit better… for 2 minutes, then their injuries suddenly come back, mostly healed, but not completely, especially after the awful feeling of having the 2 minutes end.

Basically, the golden apple is a miracle cure… that’ll get me sued the first time I offer one to anyone outside the PRT.
But if I offer them more than a little, even within the PRT, then people WILL find out and they WILL demand the miracle cure.

So… golden tools it is.

I hope the scientists like the golden apple they got, because I’m done.
I’ll try to build up a few for emergencies, but I don't want to deal with the headache of treating these like the potions.

No wonder Amy looks so tired all the time.

Chapter Text

In happier news, the video is doing well.
Like really well.
Like really, really well!
Ok, I’ll stop.

But I didn’t really think twice about Dragon’s offer to edit the footage at the time.

I mean, I did want it to be seen, Firewatch put too much effort into researching not just Uber and Leets operations and Dockworks connections, but their psychology.
So they idea of doing a Video game-themed takedown of Uber and Leets operations, and to upload the video on the Birthday of a beloved video game character.

It was Genius.
Even Emily approved, though she was mostly focused on making sure Firewatch stuck to the parts of PRT protocols that are actually important and not just for the red tape.

But the thing about Dragon is that, as personable as she is, she’s also a big deal.
Specifically, a Big Deal who’s that nice to A LOT of people.

Meaning, when her name is on something, people know.

But most of what her name is on is Tinkertech or Normal-tech, which is made from studying Tinkertech.
But on the rare occasion when her name ends up on something else…

Suddenly, people are popping out of the woodwork to praise and promote that thing.

I mean, Glenn Chambers, “The Fixer” himself, has apparently been put in charge of the Firewatch PR… somehow.
Like, I’m pretty sure their still mostly my bodyguards and like, part-time with the PRT at best.
But now Glenn and Raymond… talk, I guess.
And the roll today just riled that all up even more:

Bollywood Hot - Buffy and Angel - 200cp
“You are very appealing, even by Bollywood standards.
No matter what, you look damn good. Nothing supernatural, but for some reason, you always seem to give your best face.
Your bedhead looks like it took a specialist hair designer hours to perfect, and when you actually put effort into it, it’s as if you'd just walked off a Bollywood runway.
Cost 200cp
Bank 900cp”

Honestly, I can’t really see much difference.

Not in an arrogant way, just that I basically look like I always did, except there's this undefined air of “intentional” about my appearance that makes things seem better.
Like I'm not just wearing whatever was around, but I am actually making a statement of some kind with my mismatch of clothing.

I'm not sure how mismatched Hero merch is a statement, but since PR has a basically endless supply of the stuff, it might as well be one of the silent perks of working for the PRT that you can get really good clothing on the cheap if you're willing to Demo Hero merch from PR.

So, PRT Troopers tend to be pretty colorful out of uniform, funny enough.

I always imagined Bluejeans and Bomber Jackets, not Legend Blazers and Accord pants.
And now Phoenix Jackets, thanks to Glenn Chambers.

My only concession was that they make one in that not-quite-tinkertech material and send it to my sister.
A bit of Payback for all the Vista Murch that’s been passed off over the years.

But if it’s got some armor to it, she’ll never outright refuse it.
So she’ll wear it.
She’ll wear MY murch, and the cycle will be complete.

At least Glenn seems to grok my reasoning, and promised to personally make sure her's would be the best.
He must have an older sibling.

Chapter Text

Ok, I don’t know how Glenn made something this great this fast, but Missy’s jacket is actually really awesome.

Oh, and I’m an idiot.

She doesn’t wear her armor everywhere; I just see Vista instead of her.
I realized when she put the jacket on… over her costume.
Or actually kind of inside it a bit.

Which works well enough for when we're in public, but means I’ll never know if it’s Sister time or Cape time.

I have emotions about this.

But emotions are icky and powers aren’t, so come on, big money:

Ancient Whip - The Legend of Zelda Series - 50cp
“ An ancient treasure from the Era of the Sky, the end of it has an orb of light that grabs tightly to whatever the user desires. It is also possible to hang on poles, branches, and other things with the whip and swing in the air with it. This whip can extend to reach up to fifteen feet, and can be used for a number of other purposes, should one be clever enough.
Cost: 50cp
Bank: 800cp”

…

Ok, so not BIG money, but still.
A bit of testing with the science types shows… well, exactly what the description said.

I point it at something up to 15 feet away, it shoots out, and whichever of us is lighter gets pulled towards the other until I let go or hit the reset switch.
It’s basic tinkertech.

Though it does interact with my 3x copper armor weirdly.

The armor is a bit cumbersome, but not that bad.
But when I'm wearing it, especially the full set, the grappling hook treats me like I'm 3x heavier than I should be.

Still not an issue for the grappling hook idea, since the hook doesn't count the individual brick or wall it hits, but the whole building.
But with people, it could work as a way to disorient them, if one of the Firewatch in their modified copper armor can grab even someone big and pull them over like a ragdoll.

…

I’m glad the cycle has become complete, and that I’ve realized the thing with Missy/Vista, but the issue is that Glenn did such a good job that Missy seems to genuinely like the jacket, and got all glompy when I went over to Battery’s apartment to give it to her.

It kinda defeats the point if it's not embarrassing to be wearing her little sister's merch.

Still, the jacket is genuinely cool, so I just played along as if it were always meant as a late birthday gift.
Something to welcome her into teenagerhood.

...

Oh, and Battery was nice too, but Assault still freaks me out.
Though it was nice to explain why I flinch when he goes towards me, which he seemed to get.

Missy (and I'm like 80% sure it was Missy not Vista) was all intense about how “The Director” was being, but I just told her Emily is chill.

They all looked at me at that, but the thing is, she’s 100% honest.
If she says something, she means exactly what she said, no backhanded BS, no changing her mind, then flipping out when called on it, nothing.
She says words and means them.

It’s nice.

Assalt did mention a rumor that she hates capes, but I just explained my theory that she thinks we're all borderline crazy people who like looking over the edges of cliffs, and asked him if he thought she was wrong?

But mostly Missy just glomped me, and thanked me for her (genuinely great-looking) birthday jacket.
I know the Gift-Shop ones will be simpler, but I’m honestly pretty hyped to see what Glenn comes up with, given how random my powers are so far.

Chapter Text

Psijic Robes - Elder Scrolls Online - 100cp
“ The monks of the Psijic Order are often considered as the greatest group of mages in all of Tamriel, and their standard uniform reflects that. Created from a rare kind of magical silk, these yellow robes may not be the best for protection, but it does greatly increase both your magicka pool as well as the rate at which your magicka replenishes.
-100cp to create a magicka pool of average breadth and depth.
Cost: 200cp
Bank: 900cp”

That took WAY longer than it should have.
For something called the “Celestial Grimoire,” it’s been weirdly hesitant to give me actual magic to play with, and as fun as it’s been to get the memories of my clone working through the Harry Potter Magic tutorials, it's also frustrating how quickly it exhausts me.

But at least I have a good reason as to why, now.
I wasn’t casting from my mana pool or magical core or whatever, I must have been casting straight from physical and Mental energies, since I learned how as part of knowing how to make (and charge up) the Storage and Explosive tags.

Well, now I can really get to cooking with gasoline.

I made 20 tags today, and barely felt it.
Plus, since me and the Clone on the storage island share a Mana pool, I just had her put on the full robes set (as goofy as it looks), and now my pool is at 180% and I assume my regen rate is the same.

…

Well, it seems like cooking with Gasoline wasn’t the answer.

In my head, I figured I’d live out my dreams of becoming the world's most valuable cape by repairing old tinkertech with my hand-wavy magical “Reparo” skills.
But I completely blanked on the whole “complicated technology needs to be specifically designed to work with magic” idea.

Still, it’s not actually any more broken than it was before, and Dragon is apparently really interested in just how “hand wavey” my spell was.

I mean, it finished bricking a piece of Leet tech.
But before that, it did what looked like a whole bunch of fine control telocanesis, and some crazier stuff to make parts become un-exploded.

So Dragon had me go around reparo-ing things.
Turns out I can go up to about cars in tech level before it becomes a problem.

Dragon says cars with integrated computers might be an issue, but people nowadays buy cars more based on gas mileage, and if the parts can be replaced without involving the dubious world of international shipping, so computerised cars are super rare.

She kind of half-heartedly tried to talk me out of going around Reparo-ing cars, but agreed when I mentioned how much of a PR boost it could be.

…

I don’t get why Vista hates PR so much.

It’s crazy, but the more you do, the more you're allowed to do, and in the meantime, the PR department is so starved for actual volunteers (rather than Volen-tolds) that they’ll organize just about anything.

Up to and including figuring out the paperwork for zapping 20 to 30 people's cars with tinkertech magic this Friday.

I made them figure out the legality of that, and organize it in just a few days, and somehow they end up thinking of me as (and I quote) “Best Girl” just because I offered and idea and promised to actually do it myself, rather than being practically dragged into doing something generic, like a murch signing.

Chapter Text

So I guess there's the downside of only giving the PR people a week. I reparo-ed like 60 cars, over the course of like 5 hours, and we all politely pretended 40 of them weren't PRT and protectorate employees, with the rest being reporters and the sort of people who actually read the PR posts on PHO.

I mean, Battery literally drove up at one point with Vista in the car.

The reporters didn’t seem to notice, so I assume they were both out of costume, but really, they could’ve just asked.

It was so strange pretending not to see anything interesting about a robot and a ward driving up to my little PR-Repair shop.

Oh, yeah, they gave me a little cosplay auto mechanic outfit to wear.
Kinda silly, but they didn’t need to be so shocked when I put it on.
I mean, the Phoenix outfit is practically cosplay already, so I don’t know why I’d mind a different one.

Anyways, I did it, it took most of the day, and in the meantime, I’ve built up some decent credit with the PR people, and hopefully the Protectorate entirely, since I’m pretty sure this’ll count towards their required monthly PR duties too.

Though it did end up being called a bit early due to some concerns about problems out of the immigrant community or the ABB.
Since it turns out some Shaker attacked Japan, and ended up flooding the city of Sendai.
Which sucks because that was one of their really big and still kind of safe cities.

I guess there's talk of Imperial involvement, though the Chinese are insisting it was just a natural earthquake.
But come on, if you're gonna lie, at least try to come up with a better excuse than “it just happened.”

…

After that, I had another video call with a Case 53.

I’ve been doing this every so often since January, so they can find out what they looked like before their powers.

I’m not sure what the scientists are doing, but so far I’ve always been doing it in the science room with the scientists involved in this a lot more prone to taking over each other (and me) and arguing over the most mundane details.

Did I need a 30-minute lecture on hair types and the difference between 2C and 3A specifically?
No.
Were Sanguine and I forced to sit through one before I could go back to describing him?
Yes.

This time, it was a Protectorate member called Gentle Giant who was surprised to discover he was? Is? Whatever, he’s black to my eyes.

I don’t know why that's surprising.
Pictures of him show what looks like a mossy statue of a giant guy, like one of the Greek gods, where he's meant to be larger than life.

But the facial features are all the same, as with the black kid I see in the video call.

Dragon says it’s confirmation bias, but I think if someone had asked me to paint the statue before I got powers, I’d have guessed dark skin and black hair.

Anyways, Gentle Giant seemed interested when I mentioned my theory of him being Greek, since he looks like a Greek statue and Greece is close enough to Africa that he could have ancestors from there and still be from Greece himself.

The scientists were getting upset and tried to cut off the talk, so I just went to my room and asked Dragon for his contact so I could message him from my tablet.

I don’t get why their so upset, though.
It’s not like any of them have ever figured out the identity of a Case-53.
Might as well make one up based on available details rather than insisting a nice guy like Gentle Giant just remain unknowing forever.

And it could totally fit.

He’s a black guy who got powers by turning into a giant mossy Greek-style statue.
But I’M the problem for suggesting that he’s probably from the Mediterranean.

The thing is, Case 53’s have all been really nice, and their literally the only other capes who look like normal people to me, so insisting they're not just making up an identity, when 40 years of research has never once found one of their original ones, just seems needlessly skummy.

Anyways, Gentle Giant lived up to his name, and although he’s already got a first name, he did mention wanting to find a Greek or Egyptian last name, which seems smart.

Also, I wrote up an email and sent it off to Dragon, Emily, and Dr. Armstrong, and Weld asking if I could just talk to case 53’s on my tablet from now on.
Since the scientists seem to be more interested in them as things than as people, and don’t like that, I disagree.

…

Oh, and thanks to the latest roll, I’m a meme now!

Roc's Cape - The Legend of Zelda Series - 100cp
“ A beautiful cape crafted from silk and bird feathers. It has been enchanted to vastly increase the wearer’s jumping capabilities. Additionally, you gain a bit of affinity for wind while wearing it, allowing you to stay in the air for longer than seems plausible.
-0cp changed to match Phoenix coloring.
Cost: 100cp
Bank: 800cp”

I’m a cape with a cape!
There aren’t many of us nowadays, despite the name.

But this one lets me do parkour in human form, and that's pretty cool on its own, but I really love this roll for how well it synergizes with my Pheniox form, and I can tell it is, since it adds in some white feathers to that from when I transform while wearing it.

I can’t wait to show Fox this and the battle form once he gets back from his latest expedition!

…

It was kind of late, but I ended up flying for a while anyway, since the cloak just makes it so easy.

And since I was in such a good mood, I also flew up to Boon Island so I’d have someplace really remote in case I needed to get someone out of the way at some point.

Plus, the exhilaration of teleporting 25 miles, doubling my distance, made the point feel even more solid in my memory.

…

Chapter Text

I finally got a new island today.
It seems like in most fics, the first few roles are all about expanding the warehouse, but somehow this is my first one that does it.

Enchanter's Tower - Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Base Cost: 250cp
Lore: If you aren't a fan of going out and finding, buying, or looting powerful enchanted gear, then you'll probably want to do it yourself. This tower (or room, if you prefer) is completely devoted to the art of enchanting, with a high-quality enchanting setup and a replenishing stock of soul gems. You possess five of each kind of soul gem, all of which restock after a week, yet none of them are filled.
Details: Any enchanting done here will automatically have 2x the potential, with the ability to use more resources to boost potency up to 3X with luck.
Final Cost: 250cp
Bank: 850cp

Granted, it’s not a big island.
It’s actually smaller than the starting one, since this “tower” is meant to be attached to the player's house in Skyrim if you bought that DLC.

But unlike the starter shack, it’s new.

It’s got a cellar, a first floor for enchanting, and a second floor for storage that I’m having Clone move into to keep the buff active.

Oh, and I’m glad I’ve been forgetting to try the golden tools, because I decided to test with some of the copper and ended up with a 9x sharpness copper sword thanks to the different buffs working together.

My inventory lists this monster as doing 45-50 damage per hit.

I'm pretty sure “Standard Human” is 20 health.

So obviously, I gave it to Armsmaster.

Or, well, I asked Dragon if she wanted it, and she asked if I would bring it to Armsmaster to add to a halberd, which makes sense.

…

Sis was right, Armsmaster looks like a robot.

Weirdly though, he looks less realistic than Miss Militia, even with her weeping angel vibe, or Battery with her steampunk robot.

Because he’s got a face, but it… Well, it just sits there, with its creepy glowing robot eyes staring at me.

He’s one of the most human-shaped capes so far, but he doesn’t move or act like a person.
I mean, even Assault's weird elastic-stretched to its limits thing still shows movement when he talks or moves.
And while she doesn’t move if I'm looking at her, Miss Militia usually has a changed facial expression when I look back at her.

But Armsmaster has a C3-PO thing going where his face is just his face, and it stays like that, except unlike the goofy bumbling C3-PO, Armsmaster gives off strong “Danger” and “Angry Robot” vibes.

…

In the end, he had some diamond bits himself, so I ended up throwing together the absolutely ludicrous 9x diamond sword (72 damage) that he promised to credit me for if he ended up taking out an S-Class threat with.
So that’s nice of him, I guess.

Either way, I’ve still got 4 diamonds left over from Armsmaster’s experiments with copper, so I found Chris and asked him to declare Aegis the Shovel Knight and to give him the 9x damage diamond shovel.

Chris at least played the game, so he understood why it should be a flying brute and not the knight-themed Gallant, and so he promised to do it and send me the footage from his helmet cam.

Plus, I'm pretty sure Aegis will find an excuse to use it, since 45 damage should be the highest damage of anything in the wards, if my guesses as to how my inventory numbers line up with reality are accurate.

Chapter Text

Wow.

Lots of stuff happened last night.

Apparently, Coil and the Undersiders found out Lung was out of town because they attacked a bunch of his most profitable businesses.

Oni-Lee seems to have blunted the attacks of most of Coil’s Mercenaries (through prodigious application of murder), but apparently, the Undersiders cleaned out his casino basically without resistance.

But that’s not the crazy part!

Apparently both sides were hiding a Tinker, and they ended up having a showdown over the course of like 6 blocks before the Protectorate pulled up.

Supposedly, Nuwa is claiming to be a hero who “just happens” to be defending ABB territory with the help of ABB gangsters, but I guess if she doesn’t actually do crime, there's nothing illegal about being a gang-affiliated vigilante, just super weird.

Meanwhile, Charion was just straight up there with Coil's mooks, so he vanished the moment the heroes showed up.

Oh, and New Wave was apparently in Boston for some kind of costume thing, so have been doing damage control today for why their rival did this huge thing with them doing nothing about it.

…

In less interesting news, I’ve been experimenting with the enchanting tower, and unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to count potions as the same thing, but interestingly, golden apples do count, since it apparently gives Absorption III now.

Even more reasons to not hand it out, but in a pinch, this should save someone's life even if the injury should be mortal.

…

Also, I’m counting my lucky stars for one of my perks operating under Fallout: New Vegas mechanics, because I don’t need to make new armor sets for the full boost for Firewatch.

Just like in the game, I can take two perfectly good things and merge them to combine their durability, or in this case, their buffs.
So I can just combine 2 of the armor sets (the two that person likes the least) into a single set of 6x mobility, 6x armor, copper armor.

And the craziest part is this new armor matches the 3x Diamond!
Inventory is calling it 60 armor.

I mean, the diamond armor still looks cooler, and it’s fitted now.
So I'm not gonna ask them to give it up, but its really nice to know that Firewatch are getting properly protected, and that the only difference is that the diamond should last a lot longer and be more eye-catching, since whoever's wearing it is probably the tank of that mission anyways.

…

Oh, and speaking of missions there's another one being planned, since Uber and Leet have apparently doubled down and begun arming the people still willing to work with them with actual tinkertech…

Or, well, actual Leet-tech, anyways.

So Emily gave the go-ahead for Firewatch and at least one PRT squad to plan either a single big raid or, more likely, a couple of separate raids on their more distributed network.

…

Also, and I have no clue how to deal with this, but a guy asked to join Firewatch.

Like, asked if they were taking capes…?

Raymond just laughed at me when I said I had no clue, but said he had agreed to be paid in gear rather than money, so I guess we're getting a new Brute.

Some guy calling himself Aspirant, who is some kind of Changer/Brute combo that knows Kung Fu.

I guess his whole issue is that he’s a non-bulletproof Brute, and that’s messing with his head.

So I asked if the team would let him wear the diamond Armor, and they agreed, so now it’s his armor so long as he’s working with Firewatch, and in the meantime, he gets paid in stuff I can buy with my Invisibility potion money, like actual bags of groceries, and a decent phone.

A bit of a big advance, but Edmund said it's important to let capes think you value them a lot more than you do; otherwise, they're more likely to become your problem out of spite.

So, ok, I guess.

I gave a guy a bunch of food and a phone, and he’s going to spend like 20 hours a week doing bodyguarding in the diamond armor and help out as tank for the next raid.

I’m really not sure how this happened.

I mean, I’m a Ward, having bodyguards has happened, but a minion?
Like an actual cape minion, who takes orders from a guy who takes orders from me?

What???

Chapter Text

I was hoping for another magic system, or possibly more people to help Firewatch, since I know there's a good number of perks that are just pulling people from worlds where videogames are real and making them into your new minion. 

My first roll was just another minor charisma thing.
I mostly grabbed it, as part of my ongoing “the easier it is for PR to work with me, the more I’ll get away with” strategy that I picked up from Emily.

Call me Darknorth - The Chaosverse: Desolate Era
Base Cost: 50cp
Lore: Seems like you really have a catchy name, when you perform feats worthy of fame, your name sticks around far more than it should, spreading faster than communication can allow.
Details: PR seems more effective for you, and people rarely seem to attribute your actions to others. But keep in mind, taking this perk means your negative actions will be just as memorable, and even actions you take stealthily are more likely to be labeled as "a mystery" rather than being attributed to someone else.
Addons: N/A
Final Cost: 50cp
Bank: 800cp

But my second one worked in a big way!

Tsunade Senju: Legendary Sucker, Slug Sage, 5th Hokage - Naruto
Base Cost: 100cp
Lore: Legendary Medical Ninja and Fifth Hokage. Princess Tsunade is one of the legendary Sannin, renowned as the world's greatest medical ninja. Her monstrous strength terrifies her opponents, while her medical jutsu can heal fatal wounds. Despite her terrible luck at gambling, her leadership and protective instincts make her an invaluable ally and mentor.
Details: Thanks to a particularly wacky noodle incident, a newly rejuvenated Tsunade Senju has decided to move to the same general area as you after giving up the title of Hokage to Kakashi.
Thanks to the Celestial Systems intervention on her behalf and for restoring her to a youthful body, she's willing to waive her usual fees for healing for any ally of yours so long as they bring her at least one bottle of high-quality alcohol per person healed.
Earning her way (and then some) as a Rogue Healer, she's come to view you much like a young Naruto, so will always heal you for free and is likely to barge into your life every few weeks "for your checkup."
Also, if your allies have a favored drinking establishment, expect her to become a regular.
Note: She will not formally join any team (even yours) and values her ability to stay out of both paperwork and politics. (This is post-retirement Tsunade, even if she feels 25 again.)
Addons: -50cp Part of the Celestial System's intervention for Tsunade was granting her legitimate documentation and a minor stranger effect that causes her backstory to be accepted. (She can still be seen as a bad influence, but people won't question her medical, administrative, or combat expertise and won't connect this perk to her if they know about it.)
Final Cost: 150cp
Bank: 750cp

Well, kinda, she’s not actually part of Firewatch, since she just kind of popped into existence with a clinic and regularly scheduled check-ups I now need to go to. But at least it’s cheap medical care for Firewatch, that doesn’t involve owing New Wave any favors or poking the sleeping Nilbog that my memories keep insisting Panacea is.

…

Oh, and I was able to mention the roll to Emily without getting foamed, so that's nice.

I pointed out that I’d been going to PRT doctors before now, then just showed her the description of the roll.
Thankfully, she didn’t foam us, just had people look into Tsunade, but I guess that stranger effect worked because she came back nearly as legit as the Firewatch team did.

I’m not in love with spending 50cp for someone who’s not even on my team to get a stranger power, but 50cp to skip the whole “3 days in the M/S room” thing is 100% worth it.

I asked Emily to forward the background check to Raymond so he’d know she was legit and to stock up on booze just in case, and Emily told me that I should never order “my men” to buy booze even if I knew they would anyway.
It’s another weird adult thing, so I just mentioned I could keep it in my inventory if she thought they were going to drink it instead of trading it for healing, but Emily made the valid point that we’d both get in trouble if anyone found out about that.
So instead Emily is buying the Booze and will keep it in one of the extra rooms in the Director's Suite, for whenever someone on Firewatch or the PRT team that work with us gets injured.

…

In other news, I managed to get all the stuff for a few crossbows and a few fireworks arrows.
It’s kinda expensive, but I’ve now got a weapon in my inventory that fires arrows with 9x force, and those arrows do 9x damage, on top of being “poisoned,” though I’m not sure how that’ll work together.

Specifically, I’m using the most recent Potion to make it to the “Pending” stage, the 3x “Oganics Damage” potion added to firework arrows that already do damage to people (or at least Minecraft players, and mobs), but not the landscape.
I figure it’ll either be awesome or not much.
Either way, it’s in the inventory if I need it.

I’ve learned enough about the Tinkertech process to avoid my instinct to hand it over to Firewatch.
Though I did send off a 3x force crossbow and a few 3x speed firework arrows to the Testing Authority.
So it’s even possible I won’t need to burn any of my credit with PR by the time I end up needing this, since it’s pretty simple, as Tinkertech goes.

…

I also made a few Levers, because I had an idea about Redstone… before all my experiments proved it doesn’t actually exist within the stuff I can make.

So I just have a bunch of levers and buttons, but I actually did end up sending them off, because it turns out they can hack.
Or more specifically, you can slap one down and override door controls with it.

It’s a pretty nice consolation to the whole “no redstone” thing, along with my other disappointment, “no maces.” Since it would've been really cool to drop down from like 400 feet as a bird on Hookwolf, then pull out a mace last second and smash him before getting sent right back up out of danger.

Though the button and lever thing seems to have become a bit of an obsession for Armsmaster, Kid-Win, and Dragon since Sis said they’ve spent hours working together trying to make a program for the Ward's common room door that a button couldn’t just override.

I guess they got it in the end, but it's still really cool that a bit of wood so small I didn’t even pay for it is enough to make an infiltration tool so powerful, it takes America’s #2 and #3 Tinkers working together for several hours just to invent a door it can't beat.
Plus, with the whole thing about other people's Tinkertech having maintenance issues, I’m willing to bet there won't be many doors that get that treatment.

Chapter Text

I had lunch with Battery, Assault, and Sis again, so I guess this is a thing now.

But in the positive news, Fox is back, and I got to spend a while showing him my new cloak and the bigger bird form.
It was so nice, I think I could probably teleport straight to Battery’s apartment, which is good, since Sis lives there now.

Also, assault made a pun and Fox gave him a face so judgmental that even Battery thought it was too harsh, so that was fun.

…

Then they tried to get me into a confined space with the mess of imminent disaster called assault, so I turned into a Bird and just flew above them.
There was a bit where space got really funky, so I teleported to a spot I had nearby and waited until the car started moving, then followed it.

Turns out they were trying to take me to Tsunade’s clinic, which they could have just said, rather than doing that stupid song and dance about god damn control, and even roping Missy in as just another leash.

Well, ha ha fuckers, I can teleport, you've got nothing on me.

…

Oh, but Tsunade was cool.

The exact kind of no-nonsense attitude that makes Emily so understandable.
She doesn’t have any nonsense for herself, so why would she subject me to it?

Tsunade is the same, just gave me a folder with medical stuff to give to an adult who’s “less of an asshole. Because little secret here, brat, when you get right down to it, we're all a bit of an asshole.”

So I’m giving it to Emily, and telling her I want to meet assault and Battery somewhere more public next time.

If nothing else, those two are basically brutes, so I can escape, but Missy needs lots of space without people in it to do her thing, so I’ll take her Manton limit as a challenge.

I know it makes her uncomfortable, but maybe try not being a traitor if you don’t want me to use personal knowledge against you, huh sis?

…

Oh, and Fox wanted me to take a chill pill, so he ended up teleporting me all the way to Canada, where I found out the Professor had come over to Earth-Bet!

He was just chilling in a cabin next to Holland Cove, Prince Edward Island, as if crossing world boundaries without dying horrifically or opening a gate for monsters to spill out is a thing people can just do if they feel like it!

…

But he did bribe me with candy, so I’m just gonna let any monster gates be Canada’s problem.

…

Anyways, since Harry Potter is apparently a real place, I figured I’d show off the spells I knew since I was like 99% sure just which old man from England professor with a Phoenix who talks about magic this was.

Even if my memories were saying he should have died in 1997.

Eh, the memories are wrong about all sorts of stuff, who cares?

…

I’m not sure if his poker face really was just that good or if Fox had snitched, but…
Well, who am I kidding?
Fox obviously snitched.

Anyways, the Professor did his best “adult congratulating a child for doing something they do all the time” thing, then did something weird.

He cast a spell on me, and suddenly the Magic tutorial was all in English.
Most of it was even American.

Or, as it turns out, Canadian.

I guess he had some issues with the Durmstrang lessons and thought I’d be better off learning spells meant for English speakers.
So he gave me the best Canadian magical schoolbooks he could find up to the 5th year, as compensation for purging the ones I had for Durmstrang up to the third year.

Not sure how he can effect the Celestial Grimoire like that, when so far the closest has been dragon knowing when I roll.

But whatever.
He’s a 130-year-old magical professor who’s friends with a Phoenix.
It would be weirder if he weren’t awesome.

Not that he looks 130, that's another thing the memories got wrong, they say he should've looked 70 or 80 in the 1990s, but here he is in 2011 looking 65 at most.

…

He did ask if I would roll, since apparently he wanted to see what he could pick up, and I was a bit suspicious, but the thing is, I only really trust like 3 people.

Missy, who’s once again proved she’ll break my trust for the smallest bit of approval from an adult.

Emily, who’s perfectly straightforward but also only cares in so much as I'm useful.

And Fox, who saved my life.

I’m not an idiot.
If Panacea can't see me with her power, and I was dying, which I’m pretty sure I was, then the only other person I know with healing abilities is…

So, well, if the Professor…  if Albus  has been Fox's friend for more than 60 years…

Well, at this point, what I'm saying is that either Albus Dumbledore is a good person and I’m just paranoid, or the world really does suck and I should stop wasting my time here and start looking for whatever crack in the world Albus used to get here in the first place.

…

Apparently, Albus's response to awkward silences is to offer bribes, so lemonhead in mouth I rolled:

Loyal Ninja Clan - Fate Legends: Land of the Rising Sun
Base Cost: 400 cp
Lore: Having made a deal with the Celestial System to escape a terrible fate, this "ninja clan” will come highly versed in the stealth skills of your world, but will not have access to skills, tools, or powers not theoretically accessible to anyone.
(If your world has schools of magic open to those with the ability, then they know some magic, but if magical knowledge is hoarded by noble families, or in strict master-apprentice lineages, then they won’t.)
Thanks to the bargain they made, they consider the Celestial System to be their patron deity, and you the wielder of a Celestial Artifact as its voice in the world. So they will obey, to the best of their ability, any order you give. But keep in mind that it is the Celestial System they consider divine, not you. Should you get multiple of them killed needlessly, they may start a work-to-rule strike during an inconvenient time.
The entire clan includes around 60 members, but there's not much sneaking a great-grandmother or toddler can be doing.
Details: You can expect to have about 10 ninjas capable of taking just about any mission you can assign, with 30 capable of taking lower-level assignments or doing more mundane work, such as information gathering or guarding your property.
Also, keep in mind that while you can order the clan around as a military or civilian force, you are neither a member nor the leader of the clan.
Order the what, and when with as much detail as you wish, but remember that the clan itself will sort out who and how.
Finally, if your reputation with the clan is good, don’t be surprised to find their members doing things to help or support you in their free time.
It would look quite bad to order this kind of thing, but if they like you, don’t be surprised to find annoyances being quietly resolved, or the occasional meal you like quietly appearing near you.
Addons: -150cp Due to being near to multiple individuals from another world, you can choose to have the Ninja’s educated in some of the esoterica of that world. While this won’t grant them a full magical education, every member of the clan will become a squib educated in the limited magics such people are capable of and with a limited number of magically derived tools and resources.
Final Cost: 550 cp
Bank: 750cp

FINALLY, a high roll!

It seems even the Celestial Grimoire approves of Albus, if being near him is enough to grant the new forces some magic.

I start writing down the roll for him, but he waves me off. 

I’m pretty sure Blank is keeping him from reading my mind, so apparently he picked up on the roll off sheer vibes…

Or maybe his magic glasses let him see unseen things.
It could be either one, honestly.

…

Suddenly, Albus’s shack is… bigger and…

Ok, so I guess the Celestial Grimoire really likes Albus, because it just made him into the head of a Ninja Clan.

Even he was startled by it, but apparently he was offered some kind of deal, and in trade he would keep the remaining members of this Ninja Clan Alive until its heiress as of age, and in the meantime he would do his best to organize the clan to help me.

It seems like a lot, but his end seems fairly obvious, since whatever rate wizards age, they apparently still do, but suddenly Albus looks 45 at most.

Losing 20 years of apparent age and probably like 60 of actual age just to lead a small group of ninjas until the 15-year-old Asuka turns 17 probably seemed like a pretty great deal for Albus.

…

For now, he offered to help me even out my magical education for a few days while he gets to know the group he’ll be leading, so I guess I’ll be driving home the “don’t try to confine the girl who can teleport” lesson a bit harder than I planned to.

So just to make it up a bit, I flew off to the nearby town of Charlottetown and sent an email to Emily and Dragon on my tablet that I was on Prince Edward Island and was only a little furious about the car thing but that I’d met a Ninja who’d offered to teach me magic so I’m gonna do that for a few days.

…

I have a sneaking suspicion that email’s not going to help, exactly.

But on the other hand, I really wanna be good at magic, and other than the paperwork, this’ll cause Emily, I honestly can't say I care…?

Yeah, I mean I’ve got people I like, and while I'm thinking about it, I send an email to Raymond telling him to do a training thing to get the new guy up to speed, since I’m also doing a training thing, and won’t need bodyguarding.

But beyond Emily, who lives and breaths paperwork, and Dragon, who’s got a million things to worry about anyways, I genuinely can't think of a reason not to spend a few days learning magic from a 130-year-old-ninja…
other than the whole “don't be irresponsible” notion, but since I'm in Canada, I have the perfect response to that notion:
“Eh.”

Chapter Text

It turns out Narwhal is much less fun than her description would lead you to believe.

I mean, 7-foot-tall Amazon with glowing purple hair and a giant horn on her head.
Even if I saw something different, I’d been assuming certain things from that description.

Instead, I got… Emily, but with a bad first impression.

Though props to her for learning from Battery and Assault, I would've expected the forcefield cape to try to box me in, but instead she just asked that oh so classic “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

I should have let that opportunity pass me by, but honestly, I just didn’t want to.

But I should explain, unlike the so far mostly human-shaped capes in the Bay, at least of the ones I’ve seen. Narwhal is… well, the only real word of it is alien.
I mean, she keeps to the basic form factor of a person: a head and torso with limbs coming out of it, but the details had a distinctly surreal quality to them and would never hold still, even if I focused on them.

Plus, there's none of the symmetry that my monkey brain likes so much, just a bunch of possibly abstract, possibly intentional shapes and forms.
Oh, but it is all glowing that blueish purple color of her force fields, so it's still visibly her, even if it looks like some higher-dimensional entity using the same stuff her force fields are made of to create a form that only bears the faintest similarities to people.

So, when she dropped that line, there really was only one proper retort I could make, and thanks to the tablet from Dragon, I did just that.
“E.T. go home?”

Then I turned into a bird and left.
Or tried to, I kinda forgot how fast she could fly.
Hint: Faster than a bird.

…

Oh, I should probably explain, 

Albus did spend a lot of yesterday correcting all the spells and wand movements I know.
But that really isn’t much, and I mostly have them down, even if I could make them better with him showing me and explaining the meaning of the root words, so I knew some of the How to go along with the What.

So we were pretty much done by dinner time, but I spent all that emotional enegy on deciding to spend a few days away just for it to be done in a night, so i slept over once again and then decided to explore Prince Edward Island with Fox… right until the gerk led me over to a little shoping area where Narwhal was apparently signing autographs or something.

Oh, and of course Fox got away clean, the slippery bastard.

…

Anyways, I offered to just teleport back, but apparently the excuse was that I'm doing cross-departmental training with Narwhal, so I actually will do that.

I’m like 80% sure she means we take pictures, then I teleport home, but even as a glowy alien, she’s still an adult and feels the need to make things needlessly opaque.

…

Oh, and before I forget, I gave the Ninjas their first orders, and they are:

“Settle in, familiarize with the area, and establish connections within New England and the Maritimes. Focus on breadth, not depth.”
The idea is that if I need someone or something in the area that they’ll at least know of it, even if they don't have specifics until after I ask.

The roll said it’s only like 40 people who can take missions, so I’m not expecting miracles, but I honestly don’t think they’ll be much help in the Bey, since all the factions are pretty dangerous there.
Probably some, but I figure building connections into Emily's entire zone of control is better than hyper-focusing on the Bay where it feels like any spark could be the thing that finally blows things up.

I’m also including The Maritimes because I genuinely can't think of any major heroes from here, so I figure I should keep an eye out for oncoming trains from here.
I figure Emily’s been doing the same, but it can't hurt to independently verify.

Also, Albus has apparently manufactured Canadian Citizenship and is confident he can do it for the whole clan, but is less sure about American, so it should just be easier this way.

…

Well, shit, I wasn’t expecting that.

She brought me over to the shoreline and said:
“You kept your cool, you communicated, you didn’t hurt anyone.”
“You left, not ideal, but it could’ve gone worse, and I want you to know I see that.”

But followed up with the kicker:
“But disappearing, even when you’re right, makes it harder to protect you.”
“Makes it harder for your team to trust you’ll have their back.”
“So we’re going to practice that.”

Ouch…

…

After that, I’m glad for the time to just fly, because damn, but that's actually fair.

Apparently Narwhal likes to fly too, because she’s not just headed to some town with a PRT department.
We actually go over to Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia.

…

The training scenario is pretty simple, if a bit backhanded.

I’m here as part of a Hero squad to capture a villain team.
The rest of the team split off to go chase down the remainder of the team, but I’d been wounded and was put in charge of waiting for the evac for the two villains we’d captured.

It’s vital that I stay put to keep an eye on the villains, even if they're unconscious, until the evac and medical team arrive.

… it’s time out with extra steps.

Though, silver lining, Narwhal did mention:
“If you do it right, I’ll tell you how I once almost got mauled by a moose while trying to do something like this.”

It’s basically just a test to see who’s more stubborn, me for waiting here or Narwhal for waiting me out.

So I hold on to the “coms device” aka my tablet, and conspicuously do not notice how it suddenly gained signal again when the scenario started.

…

Well, Narwhal, let's see what type of adult you really are.

So, I Lock In.

Chapter Text

An hour or so across the water, then down into Kejimkujik. Trees spread like a living maze, lakes like polished mirrors between them. Remote, contained, quiet. A place where expectations could be gently but clearly shaped.
The flight was quiet. She didn’t need to look back to know the girl was following, tight turns, controlled speed, keeping just behind and above. Smooth. She wasn’t trying to get away this time.

Narwhal dropped altitude as the trees broke open, aiming for the clearing she’d picked earlier. Isolated. Open. A good place to work, better still for watching.
She touched down on the boulder at the center, just high enough for a commanding view. Clear lines in every direction. No cover. No tricks. She’d keep eyes on the girl the whole time. And the girl would know it.

Wings rustled behind her.
Phoenix swept in low, quiet as a shadow.

And then, in a blink, there was no Phoenix.
Just a girl, standing exactly where the bird had been.

The transformation was instant, seamless. One second, feather and wing, the next, boots on stone. Not even a shimmer of light. No visible motion. Just presence. There, and then human.

She stood on the boulder a few feet off, arms at her sides, face unreadable. Ice-blue eyes locked forward. Cold. Guarded. Watching everything. Watching her.

Then, just as suddenly, the tablet appeared in her hands. Smooth black glass, no holster, no bag. One second empty, the next, there. Clean conjure. No motion wasted. Her tool, her voice if she needed it, though she rarely used it.

Narwhal didn’t comment. Just took it in.
That was control. Not showy. Not loud. But exact. Efficient.
Still no words, but that was fine. They had other things to say.

Narwhal gestured to the clearing and began without preamble.

“You’re part of a strike team,” she said. “Villain gang. Two members captured, foamed up nearby. You were injured during the chase. The rest of the team is pursuing the others.”

She held her hands open, indicating the tablet. “This is how you call for evac. Medical pickup is on standby.”
The girl held it with both hands, fingers tight around the edge. No eye contact. No nod. No spoken word. No use of the device. Just acceptance.

“You’re to remain in place,” Narwhal said. “No flight. No teleporting. No leaving the perimeter. You are not being pursued, but you are vulnerable. If you leave, the team assumes something’s wrong. That pulls them off the mission.”
The girl’s jaw clenched slightly. Not a wince, more like a reset. Narwhal read it for what it was: understood.

She stepped back. No countdown. No timer. She simply turned and walked to the tree line, found a boulder, and sat.

Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. A half hour. The girl sat cross-legged, tablet resting on her lap, glancing around occasionally. No pacing. No testing the boundary. Just sitting, waiting, like a hawk that hadn’t decided if the tree it landed in was worth nesting in or just a temporary shelter.

Narwhal didn’t move. Just watched. Measured breath, light humming in her earpiece from background comms she wasn’t paying attention to.

An hour passed. Then more.

A flicker of movement in the trees, a squirrel or a staged distraction from a planted drone. The girl’s eyes tracked it, cold and unblinking. Her body didn’t move. Her hand didn’t reach for the tablet.
She knew it wasn’t real. Or she didn’t care. Either way, she stayed.

Narwhal waited longer. Not because she needed to. She’d seen what she came to see. But she knew this girl didn’t trust words, not yet. She trusted actions. She trusted silence. So Narwhal gave her both.
When the sun had shifted enough to mark a meaningful change in time, not long enough to hurt, just long enough to matter, Narwhal stood and crossed the clearing.

The girl’s eyes flicked to her. She didn’t rise. Didn’t reach for the tablet.
Narwhal settled back on the boulder and spoke quietly, knowing the girl could hear even if she wouldn’t respond:

“A few years back, I was on patrol in northern Ontario. Cold day. Snow everywhere. Quiet. I was flying low, running a solo sweep near a smuggler route. Saw some tracks in the snow, looked recent. Landed to check them out. No forcefields. No alerts. Nothing on radar. I wasn’t being reckless, just figured I had it under control.”

“I didn’t hear it until it was right on top of me. Big bull moose. Huge. Way too big to be that quiet, but it was. It came out of the brush fast and hit me hard. Got one of the antlers in my ribs, sent me flying. I scrambled to put shields up, but it kept coming. I was on my back, trying to keep it from stomping me flat. Couldn’t get a clean launch, too uneven. Had to crawl, get clear, think. Took a few minutes before I could get airborne again. By then, it had wandered off like nothing happened.”

“I didn’t lose the fight, but I didn’t win it either. And it stuck with me. Not because it was a moose. Because it was dumb, angry, and didn’t care who I was. That’s what gets you sometimes. Not the big plan, not the scary villain. Just something you underestimated. Something that doesn’t play by the rules. Ever since then, I don’t let the quiet fool me. I don’t assume I’m safe just because things look simple. And I never take my eyes off the trees.”

Then, after a moment:
“That’s enough. You can go home.”

The girl didn’t blink. Didn’t nod. She just shifted, feathers forming in that elegant sweep of her shift, then jumped off the boulder and vanished, gone with a single beat of wings into the nothing between places.
No noise. No flash. Just a shimmer of feathers and space pulling in around itself, then nothing. Not even a breeze left behind. Just trees. Silence. The clearing.

Narwhal stayed where she was for a few seconds. Let the quiet settle. She looked at the spot the girl had been, then up at the tree line.
“Alright,” she muttered to no one. “That’s one way to say goodbye.”

She rose slowly into the air, not rushing. Her forcefields shimmered faintly as she angled west, into the sky. Still low enough to see the tops of the trees. Nova Scotia shrinking behind her.
She thought about the girl. The cold stare. Ice blue eyes, always watching, never trusting.

Didn’t talk. Barely typed. But she listened. Sat through the whole thing. Took it in.
Didn’t argue. Didn’t run until it was time.

Not bad.
Stubborn, yeah. But not stupid. That mattered.

Narwhal flew a little higher. Clouds thinning, horizon widening.

She'd been expecting trouble. Resistance. Maybe another tantrum, another flight. But the kid had stayed grounded. Literally. Waited her out. Measured her.
Didn’t trust her. Not yet. Maybe not ever. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t learning.

She ran. But she didn’t lash out. Didn’t escalate. Gave notice. Handled it clean. Smarter than people were giving her credit for.

Didn’t need punishment. She needed space. Choices. Control.

Still dangerous, though. If someone pushed her wrong again… if another idiot tried the Vista trick, boxed her in… she’d bolt. Or worse.
But today, she stayed.

Narwhal angled west again. The wind rushed louder in her ears. The lakes were out there somewhere, the long line home.
She thought of the girl’s face again. Sharp. Quiet. Watching every move like it was a test she hadn’t agreed to take.
“Good instincts,” she said aloud, just once.

Not a compliment. Not really.
Just the truth.

She sped up. She had a report to write, and Toronto wasn’t going to fly to her.

Chapter Text

Ok, so I had this whole thing planned out for meeting Battery, Assault, and Sis on the boardwalk, but the roll today is just too wonderful, so I’m just gonna hope they count for manton and invite Sis to come pet them all with me.

Pack is Pack - Wolfwalkers
Base Cost: 100cp
Lore: Beneath the moon’s cold silver glow,
Grey wolves in winter’s softness grow.
Fur like clouds, yet eyes still gleam,
A predator wrapped in a gentle dream.
Details: 40 wolves living primarily in a small forest in some far-off corner of the Warehouse.
They’ll appear to you in times of danger or emotional distress.
They have the ability to double your mana pool when you are working to directly aid an ally in their presence. (Such as shielding or healing, but not abstract ideas like “avenging.”)
By default, they are no smarter or stronger than regular wolves, though they instinctively know how you view people and will act accordingly. However, this is reciprocal, if you find yourself suddenly disliking  an ally, there's a decent chance they were cruel to a member of the pack."
Addons: -50cp wolves respawn if killed and will otherwise receive the “long rest” ability of tabletop RPGs in regards to injuries.
Final Cost: 150cp
Bank: 700cp

They're all just so fluffy!
God, I love my power!

And apparently, it loves me right back because these guys are returning affection for affection.

Oh, and they can go in and out of the warehouse, though sadly for clone, they seem to be on some faraway forest island, so no puppy piles for clone to sleep in.

But I can still do that, and totally will!

And I…
Oh, Assault and Battery just showed up.

I guess I have a terrible poker face when surrounded by 40 Grey Wolves because we all went silent and cold in an instant, which is a lot more obvious on 41 faces than it is on one.
Oh, but I guess I’m actually freaking out assault, so that's nice. Though I guess Battery’s probably brute enough to win this fight, sadly.

…

Eventually, the adults left, and I decided to just be chill with sis.

The stuff with her is disappointing, but not exactly surprising, and I guess the wolves picked up on that because about 10 decided to go and be fluffy in her General proximity.
It was a pretty obvious invitation to me, but I guess she’s still on her maturity thing, because she just sat there looking longingly at all the fluffiness.

I would have told her to go for it, but I was buried in floof at the time, so I couldn't go for my tablet.
I did sort of send a vibe to the pack, I guess, because one of them decided to sit in her lap.

She obviously started glomping it, which made sense, but then she just started crying, which didn't.

Unfortunately, the wolves shared this vibe too, because the ones near her started to back off, which just made her more upset?

Does she like wolves or not?
Pick a lane sis!

…

I'm sure I had things to do today, but honestly, when one has access to 40 wolves, it’s surprising how the hours tend to melt away.

Chapter Text

I got something really annoying today.
I guess the Celestial Grimoire didn’t want me to get too comfortable with the “40 wolves” kind of power, because:

Chat Room - SCP: Serpent's Hand
Base Cost: 100cp
Lore:
Shadowed hands that slip and weave,
Breaking rules the sane perceive.
Serpents writhe in whispered schemes,
Guardians of forbidden dreams.
Details:
You and any allies, teammates or vassals of yours now have access to a mental chat.
You are able to create separate channels for different aspects or projects, but all who have access to any of it can access the public chat.
Addons: -0cp You can grant people access to Private Messages, where they can initiate contact with a single individual for the duration of a few minutes without it being logged or others being notified.
Final Cost: 100cp
Bank: 650cp

I mean, granted, I had the ability to talk to 95% of these people through my tablet already, so this didn’t seem like that big a deal.

I mean, it's a bit strange for this to be 100cp, but it's probably just that it can't be spied on or taken from my control or something?
Right?

Well, kinda, but it turns out that the Celestial Grimoire takes a really broad view of “allies, teammates, or vassals.”

Which is how things became such a mess so fast.
There were like 200 people all thinking questions into the group chat, all at once.

Luckily, I’ve got some actual old memories to rely on here, rather than the blurry, inaccurate nonsense or memories of games and books that don't seem to exist on either Bet or Aleph.

Granted, I’ve never heard of Discord, but IRC is a familiar concept, so I quickly grouped people into separate areas, then pinned a quick note about this being my latest roll and them all having access to an IRC with everyone else who can be called my teammate, vassal, or ally.

But like, this roll went really far for 100cp, because it’s got everybody from the Wards, and Emily, to Glen Chambers, Dragon, and Weld in here.

So eventually I just muted the entire main chat and put everyone into their own channel, then created a bunch of branching Servers like “Official -> Capes -> Ward's-HQ” or “Phoenix -> Firewatch -> Firewatch-Command” or “Official -> PRT -> Kingslayer’s-Domain” and “Phoenix -> Tenkō-no-Tomo -> Ninja-Command.”

Then I spent the rest of the day setting up whitelists and naming mods…
and getting requests and demands to make different/new mods…

But I was getting tired, plus there were a few with no clean answer like Addison, who I eventually just dropped into Wards-HQ but didn't add into the Cape group.

Though the funny part was when the Bay Wards accepted Weld, Hunch, Sanguine, and even Glory Girl and Addison into the chat, but got offended that the only Mods of them all were Weld and Addison.

But as the complaints and issues continued, eventually I just gave up on the idea of actually managing this myself.
So I created the "Hand of the Queen" rank that has every ability this power will let me grant, gave Emily, Dragon, Albus, and Raymond that rank, then set up a thing to respond to any pings to me with "Phoenix is sleeping, talk to the hand."

…

I can tell this’ll be really cool, but for now, I’m just really tired and want to return to the puppy pile. :)

Chapter Text

The great thing about the pack being Grey Wolves is that they're all around me sized.

I mean, I’m taller, obviously, but the average fully grown Grey Wolf is 100-110 lbs, meaning that I can pretty much go full Glomp mode on any of the non-puppy ones and know they’ll be fine.
Plus, honestly, the puppy ones seem to want me to be a bit more intense with them, and they reciprocate.

So this means I’ve essentially got the ability to glomp a fluff at any time of the day or night, and it’s been doing wonders for my chill.

I mean, I’m sure I’ve got a good enough poker face that most people don't notice when I’m getting upset, just when I’ve had enough.
But now, whenever I start to get non-chill, I find at least one wolf next to me giving me the “what are you waiting for?” eyes.

I honestly don’t think I’ve been more than “a little bit upset” since Saturday.

I hadn’t really thought about it, but Emily pointed it out.
Apparently, I’ve never really given off a cape vibe to her, but since getting the wolves, I don’t even really give a “fucked in the head” vibe anymore.

Which is cool, I guess.

…

Oh, and the roll today was interesting, since it not only buffs me, but everyone using something magic-based I’ve made, so long as they're in the range.

Spell Obelisk - Overlord
Base Cost: 100cp
Lore:
Quartzite gleams with ancient fire, its crystal veins alive and bright,
Veiling secrets in its depths, a silent song of mystic light.
Polished smooth by countless years, it hums with power yet untold,
A beacon forged from earth and time, where raw magic does unfold.
Details:
You can generate a Quartzite Obelisk, and whenever you are within 10 miles of it, any spells cast are 150% as effective for 50% the cost. (Enchantments are only boosted while in the zone, but previously made enchantments are grandfathered in so long as they are made by you or the Celestial Grimoire).
Addons: -100cp spawn an additional pillar every 30 days. (Effect des not stack, this increases range)
Final Cost: 200cp
Bank: 650cp

Plus, it works out that the PRT HQ is already pretty central for the city.
I mean, most people don’t think so, since everything gets pushed up against the coast, and the HQ is more than a mile from it.
But if you draw a 10-mile circle around PRT-HQ you get the majority of Brockton Bay inside it.

…

Oh, and the tablet has become sadly kind of useless lately, since the chat is literally the speed of thought and seems to add anyone Emily introduces me to after a day.

I know, because Dragon seems to think it’s a big deal, so she has been pushing for it, to the point that my impromptu “training” with Narwhal is going to be repeated with Kidwin and Hero sometime in the hopes that he’ll get added to the network.

They haven’t tried dictating how it’s run to me yet, but on the other hand, basically the only thing “Hand of the Queen” can’t do is override me, and I’ve been letting them run everything under “Official” how they want, with the same for Albus and Raymond in “Phoenix.”

Hell, they can even overrule other hands if they outvote each other.
So they really don’t need me unless it's to make new channels permanent, which takes like 5 minutes per day at most.

…

And in other news, I’ve discovered that I can talk to the wolves, and Emily, but only sometimes with sis, which sucks in a way that's hard to describe.
But also, is kinda nice that even my weird, broken brain recognizes how consistent Emily’s been.
Even if it means it's figured out just how flaky sis can be.

Also telling the doggos they're good.
It’s very important that they know this fact.

Chapter Text

I guess Firewatch are getting antsy, since word has been that Uber and Leet are planning something in direct retaliation for the video.
Plus, supposedly, they built some surprisingly stable stealth tech in response to the cloak vials.

So whatever they’re doing, the organizing of it hasn’t been the kind of thing Firewatch can raid directly.

So instead, they’ve been looking into the dockworkers, which has been causing them some damage due to their already low reputation and hostile relationship with the PRT.

I had no idea any of this was a thing, but since the dockworkers are less a union of one type of worker and more a network of the Bay's blue-collar types, all using nepotism to throw each other work, discounts, and the like, the PRT has been keeping a close eye on it for years.
Since, on the surface, that seems fine, but I guess they meet like 7/10 of the qualifications of a gang and just keep insisting they're not without ever really being able to prove it.

So Firewatch is investigating the Docworkers association building itself, basically the hub of this whole network.
And that's what caused the current… whatever this is.

Because it would seem that the dockworkers are a bit more gang-like than previously noted, since they’ve got at least one cape.
And it's a depressingly familiar cape, for all I've never met her.

…

I was doing Overwatch in bigger Birdform for another most likely unsuccessful raid by Firewatch on what is theoretically a building owned by the Dockworkers, but has been connected to Uber and Leet.
But right as they were about to enter, about 100 guys showed up and attempted to intimidate them.

But, well, Firewatch is professional and loaded up with my gear that is borderline indestructible inside that new obelisk's range.
Plus, Aspirant is a kung fu master in diamond armor; the guy has every right to feel tough.
Not to mention the PRT trucks that were with us for backup.

So I genuinely wasn’t sure what they were trying to accomplish with the mob, other than possibly some PR thing about police brutality, to obscure that we might have actually found an Uber and Leet location for once.

… And then the cape showed up, and suddenly things had a possibility of getting real.

Taylor tried her best to intimidate our side, so I, well, stopped her.

Because Harry Potter magic is all about utility, even if I don't have much to fight people with from it, certain things can be done easily.
And muting a person for about 8 hours is one of those things.
Plus, the "did I leave the oven on?" charm, which makes people just kind of wander off.

All of this was going according to the plan:
1. Mute the enemy capes/leaders to keep them from inciting violence.
2. Set up the "these are not the wards you're looking for" effect (as Emily calls it).
3. Do not seem threatening, and allow the crowd to disperse peacefully.

But I did run into a bit of a snag.
Because the Wolves apparently decided I was protecting my pack (aka Firewatch) from disaster (our lady of escalation) and so started awooing.

It was adorable, and I knew that it would give some kind of boost when they did that, but I wasn't expecting my magical control to go haywire.

The thing is, the perk did mention getting boosted from their awoos, what it failed to mention was that as I started the "mute Taylor" spell, that my magical reserves and channeling capacity would double.
I didn't just end up overcharging the spell, I massively overcharged that thing!

But part of the plan is to seem calm and in control.
So I just finished it, had my staredown with Taylor, then let her start to leave when she decided to.

...

Honestly, things had mostly calmed down, with the dockworkers slowly pulling away, but I guess one of them was a bit too excited to be evil because I heard a yelp and saw some fucker kicking one of the wolves.
So I did the obvious thing and teleported him to Boon Island, an abandoned rock about 7 miles from shore, and then got back in under a minute.

I quickly turned back to human and had my tablet read out, “The next person to hurt a dog gets left IN the Atlantic, not just near it.”

Then Taylor turned a back around and we had an awesome "acknowledge each other" nod and she left.

I wish I could say I walked in the other direction like a badass, but alas for me, there was paperwork that had to be done on site if possible. :(

…

Oh, and Emily wasn’t even that mad about teleporting the guy; she just asked where he was so she could send a boat out… Tomorrow. :)

Chapter Text

Seems I'm not the only one branching out lately.

I found out that sis finally got over her endless pining for that chameleon, Dean.

I guess she and Addison have been spending most of their days together since their at the same levels in tutoring, so she finally got sick of his boyscout routine and asked him out.

So as I was having an epic staredown with the Queen of Escalation, sis was going on a date.

Though I guess the whole thing ended kinda funny since there were like 20 people tailing them the whole time, and sis can tell that kind of thing from her “person-shaped space I can’t warp” sense.

So eventually she got fed up and decided to take a page out of my “spontaneous Canada trip” playbook while also reminding people why she’s got the “evacuate the city and call in an airstrike” rating, by warping a line all the way to NYC and getting pizza with Addison.

So sis is back to being awesome, if she can just manage trustworthy, things’ll be perfect!

…

Also, it seemed like such a shame to let April Fools pass me by without rolling, but in hindsight, it might have been for the best if I had…

Partitioning the Gift - Ars Magica
Base Cost: 100cp
Lore: Born beneath a veiled star and marked by unseen hands, you awaken to the Gift: a single window into the secret music of Creation. One Form - and no more. Yet from that narrow keyhole, miracles may yet spill forth: the power to call storms, heal wounds, break minds, or mold stone as clay. Beware: the world recoils from such power, and every boon carries a curse unseen. Wield it wisely, for the Gift opens many doors... but bars far more.
Details:
You gain 50 points to cast spells with, one point per level in a spell.
Points recharge 1 per hour, or 50 after a long rest.
Roll a D10: You can cast any Technique, but only your rolled Form.
(Rolled D10 = Vim )
Addons: 450cp
Your Form is claimed, but 90% of the Gift remains.
You can grant 1/45th of the gift to 45 people who see you as a friend, teammate, or similar.
The gift lasts as long as they are alive unless explicitly specified before it is granted, or if they willingly and without coercion surrender it.
Roll a D5 from the 5 techniques (Creo, Intellego, Muto, Perdo, Rego) then you are able to pick which of the 9 remaining Forms (Animal, Aquam, Auram, Corpus, Herbam, Ignem, Imaginem, Mentem, and Terram) you think would suit this person best. However, so long as there is at least one Form available, you must pick it. These empowered people have the same 50-point pool as you do, with which to cast spells.
Final Cost: 550cp
Bank: 650cp

Because on the one hand, this is an obvious yes, but on the other, I’ve just gotten used to being a walking unhackable IRC, and now apparently I’m a power-granting Trump, too!

Not to mention that this one isn’t so much learned as shoved into my head.

Oh, sure, I’ll need to practice the actual casting a lot (and by practice I mean clone will), but I’ve got a bunch of combinations in my head all of the sudden, and it seems like this roll is determined to make me every kind of trump.

I can enhance people a bit, but importantly, I have the ability to interfere with or even cancel certain types of effects, and I figure there's a decent chance this’ll work on cape BS if I use the write spells.

So like I said. I’m the kind of Trump the public is afraid of and the kind capes are at the same time, and it’s all from that one stupid perk!

But what was I supposed to do, reject it?

Hah, as if!

...

Still, silver-lining is, I actually have 90 points thanks to the robes Clone wears, and if I'm in obelisk range, the spells will be cheaper and more powerful.
So whenever they decide I'm not Teacher 2.0, I should be able to make the PRT the biggest cape group in the city, by 2 or 3 times!

Chapter Text

They put me in M/S quarantine…

There was a tense moment when that robotic voice commanded me to send the wolves away, but I just did a reply:all in the “Official” server:
“Heads up, from the M/S Quarantine Cell - If you assholes foam the wolfpack, then I’m done pretending to be restricted or confined in any way by you or your fearmongering bullshit.”

There was a minute of silence that felt different, then the voice just came back with a “message received,” and the pack has stayed.

I guess things were getting too good lately.

It’s important to remember that no matter how nice they are about it, the PRT thinks of me as a tool, and no matter how much I may like their individual members, I need to remember that the PRT itself is just a means to an end.

One way or another, the current arrangement is Temporary, even if it probably won't be me that pushes things too far.

…

Regardless of what else they’re the PRT is an attempt to contain the parahuman problem. One that's becoming clearer to everyone as insufficient as time goes on.

At some point, the demand will be:
“Submit, or Die!”

And my answer will need to be:
“No, you.”

…

But you know… more poetic and stuff.

Maybe I’ll say some kind of “give me liberty or give me death!” kinda line… yeah, that’d be cool.

…

Still, M/S is a lot more zen in the middle of a puppy pile than as a single person like last time.

…

Oh, and I rolled, since I might as well.

I guess they put the machine in here somewhere, because the voice came back and ordered me to reject whatever the roll was, but a middle finger is a pretty clear response, me thinks. :3

Cult of Mystery - Honey, I Joined a Cult
Base Cost: 100cp
Lore:
You didn't just stumble into this life, you crafted it, weaving half-truths and twisted promises into a tapestry of obedience. Your kingdom isn’t forged in steel but in whispered doctrines and shattered wills. Every follower is a piece on your board, every secret kept a blade in the dark. The world outside may sneer and hunt you, but within your walls, your word is law, and your cult thrives on faith, fear, and the fine art of plausible deniability.
Details:
There exists a Cult dedicated to the Celestial System on your world. They have recently discovered that you wield an artifact connected to it (the Celestial Grimoire) and have assigned 20 priests to get to the region where you live and start protilitising in your name.
Essentially, a small group of fairly strange PR agents, they are guaranteed to have your best interests at heart and will do their best to improve your reputation within the community and nation.
They will avoid direct interaction with you or your team, as they would classify this as interference with the will of their deity.
Addons: -50cp the Cult counts as your “allies” for the sake of rolls, and will do their best to work with your team, rather than completely in the background. Also, they have been granted a mild version of the [Blank] perk by the Celestial Grimoire in order to keep up their efforts from being derailed by outside forces.
Final Cost: 150cp
Bank: 200cp

Oh, well, I guess there's the downside to a few medium rolls.

Guess I should hold off for a bit..

Chapter Text

“By accepting this power, you hereby consent to the following conditions: any use of it against Saga Tara Byrne, whether direct or indirect, or any continued association exceeding seventy-two hours with an organization opposed to her, shall result in automatic and immediate termination of the power. The grant shall remain valid for exactly one hundred consecutive days from the moment of acceptance, subject to expiration at that time, with possible reinstatement should materially identical conditions exist.”

Man, did the PRT hate me adding that clause!
Especially since they know these powers could be permanent, but after their BS, I’m refusing to grant them without this clause.

So now they're off to do legal stuff over a power they’d have gotten for free if they hadn't punished me for rolling a scary power.

Also, Firewatch, Albus, and the Ninja get first pick.
I’ve even got their contract made up:
“By accepting this power, you agree that it shall remain with you so long as you serve Saga Tara Byrne and in no way act against her; but if you turn it upon her, or align yourself with her enemies for more than seventy-two hours, it shall be revoked instantly and without appeal.”

We’ll see how much is left by the time the PRT makes up its various minds.

…

Oh, and I guess there's something new going on with my cape-ovision, since it turns out Taylor not only still has both arms, but her powers aren’t even Bug themed, yet I’m pretty sure it’s Khepri I’m seeing.

Still, it could be worse; at least she moves and acts like a person, even if the costume is off.

Also, she’s still really bad at names, so somehow my Joking submission of “Queen Administrator” has ended up as her working title, while I was in M/S.

Shit, does she have human-master powers?
Do they know something I don't?

I can only see that she’s listed as a Thinker-Trump, but that could mean a million things, and with QA, probably literally means a few million things…

…

Oh, also in hindsight, this moves like a normal person, but the wrong costume thing might just be a protagonist thing, since Glory Girl was kinda glowy, but otherwise just seemed like a college student in a sweet jacket.

Missy, Vicky, Taylor.
Yeah, no coincidence that these would be the three least affected by my cape-o-sight.

…

Also, I'm getting worried about the Uber and Leet rumors.
Capes are rarely willing or able to hold off on things like revenge for this long, and Tinkers only get progressively worse with additional time to build up.

But even Dragon can't get much of a Video out of a series of raids on buildings they’d already left, or where the dockworker’s non-cape-related shady stuff totally wasn’t happening (wink, wink).

…

But since he’s both a friend and sis’s new boyfriend, I’ve decided to grant Addison the first roll of the new Power-Grabbing-Trump thing.

I’ll just give him the service contract, but replace all the uses of my name with Missy.

Easy as cake.

Chapter Text

Well, now I just kinda feel bad…

Though Addison seemed happy enough about it.

…

He accepted the contract for the magic spells I can grant.

“By accepting this power, you agree that it shall remain with you so long as you serve Maeve Vidja Missy Byrne and in no way act against her; but if you turn it upon her, or align yourself with her enemies for more than seventy-two hours, it shall be revoked instantly and without appeal.”

And then rolled Creo, so I explained the options, and despite having pyrokinesis and illusion magics available, he decided to become… Panacea but worse.

…

“Creo-Corpus” lets him mostly just heal people, but he’s only got 50 points to my 90, so even if he’s inside the Obelisk range, he can basically just do a bad impression of Amy like 15 times, then he’s out.

Still, I made him a list of spells, since this power doesn't seem to grant its knowledge along with the fraction of the power.
Which is weird, since I can't cast any of this, so why do I need to have it in my head?

…

5 - Stitch the Flesh: Closes minor cuts or rashes.
7 - Straighten Bent Fingers: Fixes small bones and sprains.
8 - Ease the Fever: Removes illness symptoms.
6 - Restore Skin Tone: Removes bruising.
15 - Gift of Tireless Limbs: Strengthens muscles.
17 - Stabilize the Wounded: Prevents worsening injuries.
16 - Clear the Lungs: Relieves respiratory illnesses.
18 - Refresh the Mind: A full night's sleep.
25 - Restore the Fallen Knight: Heals major injuries.
27 - Revive the Fainting: Restores near-death victims.
28 - Purify the Blood: Removes toxins from the body.
30 - Mend the Broken Spine: Fixes severe skeletal injuries.
35 - Regain the Prime Form: Mends grievous injuries.
40 - Renew the Vitality: Cures magical diseases.
50 - Recreate the Lost Limb: Restores lost limbs.

…

And sure, “Recreate the Lost Limb” sounds awesome, until you realize that casting that spell takes forever, and Panacea can do it by moving body fat around as long as she’s awake, whereas Addison’s got two in the tank, and only if he does both in Obelisk range.

Though it’s not all bad, “Refresh the Mind” and “Restore Skin Tone” are probably gonna make him popular with the troopers, so it’s all about silver lining’s I guess.

…

Still, Emily was pleased, since she was able to talk Dauntless around into making Addison a PRT Ward so he could get some “leadership experience” and, in the meantime, the PRT now has a healer, even if his healings are gonna be rationed.

Still, it works out for me, since if Addison is my “Team Leader,” then sis should hopefully take the hint and try hanging out without Assault and Battery trying to shove in every time.

…

Addison even loves the wolves, though it’s sad he’s too much of a Boy-Scout for any teasing to work.

I even spent a bit calling him “supreme glorious comrade leader,” and he just continued on like I said his name, the spoilsport.

Chapter Text

Today was a lot, so I’m just going to list out all the magic powers that were given and the basic theme of their spells in the order I gave them to people:

Missy (Wards) Creo-Ignem: Firebending, plus it’s strangely cheap in terms of points for what it does.

Fox (Himself??) Rego-Mentem: This one’s just straight-up master powers, but there literally isn’t anyone I trust more than Fox, and he promised not to be mean or boring with it, so I think it’ll probably be fine.

Albus (Tenkō-no-Tomo) Muto-Terram: Basically transfiguration, but he really wanted to study how Ars Magica does his favorite subject, so he got this.

Asuka (Tenkō-no-Tomo) Muto-Corpus: Shapeshifting, scale grows with spent points.

Raymond (Firewatch) Perdo-Imaginem: Becomes a master with higher-level spells, but he was mostly interested in the lower-level stuff, which is a bunch of utility spells like suppressing a single sound, up to just muting sound in an area. He thinks this will go perfectly with the 3x invisibility potions (which do nothing for sound, unfortunately.)

Casey (Firewatch) Muto-Imaginem: Illusions, though a bit more focused on hiding things or people.

Edmund (Firewatch) Rego-Aquam: Waterbending, kinda underpowered, but it’s unclear how much water he’d have control over, so we'll see.

William (Firewatch) Creo-Terram: Spontaneous fortifications made of stone.

Ansel (Firewatch) Intellego-Herbam: He’s a hippy now? I guess he talks to plants, and they tell him things that have happened near them? Seems like a low-level thinker power, but he seems really excited about it, so I guess it’s that saying, “One man’s trash is another’s treasure.”

Alex (Firewatch) Intellego-Animal: We were kind of low on good options, but Alex is now determined to get himself a pet Sparrowhawk or Merlin somehow that he intends to bond with using this power.

Sandra (Firewatch) Perdo-Ignem: Another kind of specific one; she can remove fire, but it’s the kind of thing that’ll be great when it does come up.

Chris (Wards) Muto-Terram: He can shape materials like stone and metal. I don’t think this sounded precise enough for tinkering, but he wanted to give it a shot.

Aspirant (Firewatch) Creo-Corpus: Another healer, he was fine with being team healer along with Tank, but this is the other half of his “non-bullet-proof brute” thing. So now he can take it and heal if someone gets a lucky shot.

Aegis (Wards) Rego-Auram: Basically, airbending is kind of expensive for what it does, but he can fly for free, so it’s more relevant for him.

…

I wasn’t going to do any more wards, but Aegis was on patrol with Chris when I found him, and everyone says he’s a good guy, so I went with it. I also discovered he’s a protagonist, since he just seems like a guy in costume. Hell, since he was on patrol at the time, I probably was seeing what someone actually looks like for once.

…

Also, I learned I could stop midway because Emily was wary to begin with and didn’t like any of the Perdo options (they’re all about destroying or killing stuff), so I broke it off.

I can start again, but she’s still got Perdo every time, so we're just going to leave it be, sadly.

Chapter Text

Parahuman Response Team: East North East – Brockton Bay Division
Incident Report
Date: April 9, 2011,
Classification: Villain Activity – Uber & Leet
Reference Code: ULLive.2011.04.09

Executive Summary:

On April 9th, 2011, Uber and Leet executed a coordinated, citywide criminal operation designed to maximize spectacle, draw Protectorate and PRT attention, and enable simultaneous thefts by affiliated operatives. The event was broadcast live across multiple online platforms, styled after the aesthetics and themes of the indie video game *Hotline Miami*.

The operation succeeded in spreading PRT and Protectorate resources thin. While the central spectacle produced significant property damage downtown, 19 of 20 planned raids by operatives were completed with stolen assets secured and escape effected. One team was intercepted and neutralized due to effective coordination between the PRT auxiliary squad, Firewatch, and PRT-Ward Phoenix.

Main Spectacle: (Uber and Leet)

At approximately 1840 hours, Uber and Leet initiated their stream by driving a heavily modified van through the downtown district. The vehicle was reinforced with layered armor plating and customized for high mobility. The pair were dressed in Hotline-style masks and retro clothing, with Leet handling technical systems and Uber performing to the camera.

Their actions included:

• Deploying strobe grenades, smoke projectors, and sound cannons to disorient civilians and responding officers.
• Performing staged “executions” of mannequins dressed as PRT troopers, complete with pixelated overlays and score counters projected by Leet’s rig.
• Smashing windows of storefronts and office buildings in a choreographed sequence to maximize visibility and spectacle.
• Broadcasting a constant narration themed after *Hotline Miami, mocking the Protectorate as “cops chasing pixels while the real players farm loot.”

Uber and Leet remained highly mobile, drawing pursuit through several downtown blocks. Protectorate members Assault, Battery, Dauntless, Armsmaster, and Velocity engaged in pursuit and crowd control, but the villains continually evaded capture by abandoning vehicles, seeding confusion with decoys, and maintaining unpredictable routes.

Simultaneous Raids: (1900–2100 hours)

While Uber and Leet drew concentrated focus, operatives (16 total individuals, divided into 3-4 person cells) conducted a series of coordinated smash-and-grab style raids across the city.

Targets:

Cash-focused: 3 payday loan offices, 8 ATMs.
Electronics-focused: 1 computer retailer and electronics warehouse, 6 small data centers.
Government/PRT-focused: 1 PRT satellite storage depot, 1 municipal communications office.

Methods:

Crews employed Tinkertech equipment provided by Leet. Each device was deliberately styled to resemble improvised Hotline Miami weapons. Examples include:

• Resonance hammers capable of shattering reinforced doors.
• EMP shotguns disable electronic locks and alarm systems.
• Plasma cutters used to breach safes and ATM housings.
• Smoke/strobe generators to create sensory confusion.

Each raid lasted 3–11 minutes, with crews entering, looting, and exiting rapidly. Civilian injuries were minimal due to intentional avoidance of confrontation. The crews fled in stolen civilian vehicles, abandoning them for fresh vehicles after each raid, complicating pursuit and tracking.

Exception: Interception at Dockside

At 1950 hours, one three-man crew attempted to breach the PRT satellite storage depot located on Dockside. This target had been previously flagged as vulnerable to attack, and PRT auxiliary squad Firewatch was deployed nearby in anticipation.
Ward Phoenix (in avian changer form) provided high-altitude overwatch. Her surveillance enabled Firewatch to confirm the assailants approach vector and prepare an ambush.
When the crew initiated their breach with a resonance hammer, Firewatch deployed concussive munitions to disorient, followed by foam restraints to immobilize.
Phoenix maintained overwatch, confirming no reinforcements or secondary threats.
Engagement lasted ~90 seconds, ending with all three suspects captured alive and their equipment secured.
This represented the only successful interception among the 14 simultaneous raids.

Damage Assessment

Property Damage: Estimated $8.8 million, with downtown storefronts bearing the bulk of costs due to Uber and Leet’s highly visible spectacle.
Stolen Assets: Estimated $3.2 million in cash, electronics, and computer hardware.
Civilian Impact: No fatalities reported. 37 minor and 7 moderate injuries, primarily due to trampling or accidental exposure to smoke/strobe effects.
Operational Costs: Protectorate and PRT resources were severely overextended, with multiple squads diverted to tracking Uber and Leet’s movements rather than intercepting crews.

Analysis

Uber and Leet achieved their primary objective:

1. Maximizing visibility and humiliation of the PRT/Protectorate.
2. Broadcasting an uninterrupted live feed of their activities.
3. Successfully enabling 19 of 20 raids with minimal interference.

The coordinated spectacle and simultaneous raids represent a significant escalation in Uber and Leet’s operational sophistication. The use of thematic tinkertech gear tied directly into the Hotline Miami aesthetic, reinforcing their reputation for spectacle-driven crime while simultaneously profiting from the distraction.

While the Firewatch/Phoenix interception at Dockside demonstrates that proactive intelligence and coordinated response can yield results, the broader operation underscores vulnerabilities in the current deployment strategy when confronted with simultaneous, citywide diversionary actions.

Recommendations

1. Expand aerial surveillance capabilities, both parahuman (e.g., Phoenix) and technological, to track dispersed raiding parties.
2. Develop rapid-response “net” tactics to counter Uber and Leet’s mobile distraction strategies.
3. Monitor online platforms more aggressively for pre-event chatter, potential leaks, or coded announcements tied to gaming culture.
4. Increase security at known PRT and municipal depots to reduce vulnerability to opportunistic raids.

Filed by:

PRT Intelligence Division: Brockton Bay
Reviewed by: Director Emily Piggott and Deputy Director Grant Renoch.
Filed: April 10, 2011

Chapter Text

[Title Graphic on Screen: “PRT Public Update – April 10, 2011”]
[Background: evening skyline of Brockton Bay; ambient city sounds fade under soft, unobtrusive music.]

[Camera cuts to the grandfatherly Deputy Director Grant Renoch at a simple desk. He sits comfortably, hands folded, warm lighting, slightly leaning forward as if speaking directly to viewers at home.]

Grant Renoch:
“Good evening, Brockton Bay. I want to take a few minutes to talk about what happened yesterday. Many of you may have seen the images, the videos online, maybe even heard it happening live: Uber and Leet staged a very public, very flashy event across the city. Their goal was to grab attention — to create chaos that anyone watching would notice immediately. And in that, they succeeded.

While all that spectacle was going on, some of their associates attempted to hit multiple locations — cash offices, pawnshops, a few technology stores, and even one of our own PRT depots. The idea was clearly to take advantage of the distraction and move quickly before anyone could respond. There was property damage, and while minor injuries occurred, thankfully, there were no serious injuries or loss of life .

Now, in the middle of that chaos, something important happened that I think bears mentioning. At the Dockside depot, one of these teams was actually intercepted and stopped. That was made possible by a combination of quick, professional work on the ground and the guidance of Phoenix, our PRT-Ward, who maintained overwatch from above in her bird form. Phoenix is someone we’ve seen develop quickly and effectively, and she brings a level of focus and judgment that makes a real difference in situations like these. Because of her presence, the team on the ground was able to intervene safely and recover the stolen equipment without escalating the risk to bystanders or our personnel.

I want to emphasize that Phoenix’s contribution highlights a broader point: the PRT benefits when our field teams have the opportunity to work directly with capable heroes. She’s young, she’s talented, and she’s committed — and seeing her in action yesterday was a reminder of how coordination and trust make all the difference in real-time operations.

For the other crews, the ones who weren’t intercepted, the events downtown and across the city mostly remained part of the spectacle. That kind of situation is always challenging because the villains are using distraction as a weapon. They want eyes on them, they want chaos, and they want normal responders tied up while secondary operations unfold elsewhere. Our teams did what they could to keep civilians safe, manage the crowds, and monitor all of the activity. In situations like this, the primary goal is protection first , and yesterday’s response reflects that priority.

We’ll be reviewing all the details carefully: how the response unfolded, where gaps appeared, and what we can do to be better next time. Every incident like this teaches us something — about technology, about tactics, and about how to make sure the city is safer in the future. One thing yesterday showed clearly is that having Wards like Phoenix, who can act quickly and coordinate with PRT teams in the field, is a tremendous advantage. It’s a capability we want to continue developing and expanding.

So while yesterday was challenging and, yes, disruptive, it also gave us lessons to carry forward. We saw the difference that focus, preparation, and collaboration can make. We saw that when trained teams have the right support, dangerous situations can be contained safely and effectively. And we saw that our citizens, by remaining alert and following safety guidance, play a crucial role in helping the PRT maintain order.

In closing, I want to thank the community for staying safe, for reporting suspicious activity, and for supporting the work that we do every day. We’ll continue to improve, to learn from every operation, and to ensure that Brockton Bay remains a city where people can live without fear, even when parahuman threats try to make themselves seen.

[Graphic overlay: “Stay Alert – Report Suspicious Activity” with a subtle PRT logo]

Thank you for listening, and thank you for supporting your PRT.”

[Fade to city skyline; ambient music gradually fades out. End of broadcast.]

Chapter Text

From: Deputy Director Grant Renoch [email protected]
To: Head Office – PRT Operations [email protected]
CC: Emily Piggot [email protected]
BCC: Internal Intelligence Oversight [email protected]
Subject: Full Internal Assessment – Uber & Leet Operations, April 9

To Whom It May Concern,

I am submitting my personal assessment of the April 9th operations involving Uber and Leet. The events of Saturday illustrate several critical points about operational capacity in Brockton Bay, as well as the distinct advantages that come from directly integrating parahumans into the PRT structure.

Uber and Leet staged a citywide spectacle designed to monopolize attention and overwhelm conventional response structures. While their associates carried out multiple simultaneous raids on cash offices, technology stores, pawnshops, and one PRT depot, only a single crew was intercepted. This interception occurred at the Dockside depot, thanks to coordinated action by Firewatch in the field and Phoenix, our PRT-Ward, maintaining overwatch in her bird form. Phoenix’s involvement was decisive: the crew was stopped safely, equipment was recovered, and civilian risk was minimized.

This stands in stark contrast to the broader Protectorate response. Their Wards were largely occupied with monitoring the spectacle itself. Despite having more numerous parahumans available, the lack of coordinated cross-training or integrated operational doctrine rendered them largely ineffective in stopping secondary operations. From my perspective, the majority of Protectorate Wards function as little more than observers when compared to what can be achieved by embedding Wards directly within a single chain of command — a structure we have implemented effectively with PRT-Wards like Phoenix.

The contrast could not be clearer: Phoenix and her team’s direct integration with the PRT resulted in tangible, measurable outcomes. The Protectorate’s Wards, by contrast, contribute little in scenarios that demand rapid, multi-site decision-making and cross-unit coordination. While I do not question their intent, Saturday’s events reinforce the principle that decentralized Wards without consistent integration into operational planning offer marginal value in high-complexity situations.

Given Uber and Leet’s demonstrated ability to combine distraction, mobility, and targeted raids, I recommend the following:

1. Consider raising the threat rating of Uber and Leet to reflect both their tactical sophistication and the operational challenge they present.
2. Continue expanding the PRT-Ward program, emphasizing the direct embedding of capable Wards into field units. The Dockside success illustrates how quickly and effectively such integration produces results.
3. Review current policies regarding cross-agency coordination with Protectorate Wards. While formal partnerships have symbolic value, they do not, in practice, offer the rapid tactical benefit that direct PRT-Ward integration provides.
4. Explore additional training and operational scenarios that leverage the unique advantages of PRT-Wards in dispersed, citywide threat environments.

In conclusion, the April 7 events demonstrate both the risks of dispersed, spectacle-oriented threats and the operational advantage of a cohesive, fully integrated parahuman strategy. PRT-Wards are an invaluable tool; Phoenix’s performance is a tangible example of how this structure works in practice. As we move forward, I recommend continued investment and expansion in this model, with a focus on fully utilizing our Wards as active, integrated partners rather than peripheral observers.

Respectfully,
Dr. Grant Renoch, Deputy Director PRT-ENE: Brockton Bay

Chapter Text

From: Deputy Director Grant Renoch [email protected]
To: All Brockton Bay PRT Personnel
CC: Emily Piggot [email protected]
BCC: Internal Intelligence Oversight [email protected]
Subject: Early-Stage Coordination with Wards

OVERVIEW
The April 9th Uber and Leet incident highlighted both the complexity of citywide, multi-site threats and the advantages of proactive coordination with Wards. In particular, PRT-Ward Phoenix’s role during the Dockside depot interception demonstrated how a PRT-Ward can provide overwatch, intelligence, and rapid guidance, enabling field units to stop the raid safely while minimizing risk to civilians.

Historically, interactions with parahumans have followed the Protectorate model: Wards operated independently, often peripherally, or alongside PRT units without meaningful integration. While their presence can sometimes help, this model limits tactical effectiveness, slows decision-making, and reduces overall operational cohesion.

STRATEGIC GUIDANCE
The PRT is beginning an early-stage approach within Brockton Bay and the surrounding county, encouraging personnel to actively build relationships and coordinate with Wards, particularly PRT-Wards, whenever possible. This is not a mandate to assign or re-task Wards; it is a call to make the most of capabilities already present.

Personnel are encouraged to:

1. Open Lines of Communication – Initiate contact with local Wards, maintain consistent professional communication regarding operations and patrols.
2. Develop Working Relationships – Understand Ward abilities and limitations, include Wards in planning and briefings, encourage input to improve decision-making.
3. Coordinate Operational Activities – Collaborate with Wards on patrols, exercises, and interventions; use them for overwatch, reconnaissance, or intelligence-gathering; document outcomes for lessons learned.
4. Encourage Active Participation – Allow Wards to participate directly where feasible; follow safety protocols for civilians, personnel, and Wards.

RATIONALE

• Operational Effectiveness: Direct coordination allows faster, better-informed responses in complex, multi-location situations.
• Enhanced Safety: Wards reduce risk to personnel and civilians when effectively integrated.
• Developing Future Heroes: Early relationship-building fosters Wards into capable collaborators operating with the PRT.
• Addressing Protectorate Limitations: Independent Protectorate Wards are less reliable for coordinated operations; PRT-focused engagement improves outcomes without overstepping authority.

IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

• Include Ward coordination in planning, even for office staff or dispatch personnel handling logistics, communications, or coordination.
• Document successful interactions, challenges, and suggestions for refinement.
• Troopers, squad leaders, and support staff should proactively foster relationships.
• Share feedback with supervisors to refine operational protocols.

CONCLUSION
Early-stage integration of Wards within Brockton Bay operations improves cohesion, operational effectiveness, and safety. Personnel are encouraged to engage with Wards wherever possible, integrate them into planning and exercises, and support their development into heroes who work with the PRT , not just beside it.

Respectfully,
Dr. Grant Renoch, Deputy Director PRT-ENE: Brockton Bay

Emily leaned back in her chair, scanning the memo as it filled her screen. The language was precise, all clearly aimed at city and county personnel. She paused at “Phoenix’s role during the Dockside depot interception.” That part was undeniable, Saga had been the difference between a lost raid and a clean interception.

The memo hammered the same point: PRT-Wards, not Protectorate Wards. Emily could agree with that. Protectorate Wards were unpredictable and often too independent. Phoenix had demonstrated what could happen when a Ward was integrated properly.

Her brow furrowed, though Grant was pushing the edge of his authority. Technically, he couldn’t assign Wards or direct Protectorate resources. He could advise, influence, and encourage, but his language made it clear he wanted his personnel to treat Wards as operational partners. Bold, it could work, but it's risky.

Emily contemplated it, in her own jurisdiction (Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine), as one of the PRT’s Full-Directors this could serve as a powerful test. If early-stage Ward integration worked in Brockton Bay, the model could be scaled up. But doing the initial testing in multiple cities would be highly politicized and fraught with oversight, complaints from Protectorate leadership, and bureaucratic backlash. Grant, though, as a county-level Director, had the latitude to operate largely as he pleased, as long as his orders remained legally sound and she didn’t object.

Still… she nodded. The instructions were practical and actionable for anyone who might interact with Wards from troopers to dispatchers, without actually overstepping any bounds. Emphasis on communication, coordination, and participation made sense. She clicked “Reply” to acknowledge receipt, fingers hovering. Careful, Grant, she thought, but this could work.

Chapter Text

The plaza was already buzzing as Glenn arrived, clipboard under arm and eyes scanning for optimal crowd flow. Fountains caught the morning sun in fleeting sparkles, and banners flapped gently over the open square. Today’s theme was deliberately whimsical: princess cosplay, designed to engage children and families while testing Phoenix’s ability to maintain attention, navigate unpredictable interactions, and test his theory on her mentality.

Phoenix stood near the central fountain, small but commanding in her pastel gown. Ribbons, faux jewels, and delicate lace shimmered with each subtle movement. Her golden hair, neatly braided, reflected sunlight and careful attention to detail. Around her, children arrived in a kaleidoscope of homemade crowns, wands, sparkling skirts, and toy swords. Parents followed, cameras poised, capturing every moment and whispering excitedly to each other.

Glenn’s attention was immediately drawn to how Phoenix carried herself. She was calm and stoic, yet every movement conveyed awareness of her audience. She moved fluidly between small groups of children, crouching or inclining her head in acknowledgment. Sometimes, she extended her hands gently, allowing shy children to reach for a small gesture of engagement. Parents occasionally commented to each other, marveling at how cute and approachable she was. Glenn noted: Remarkable, her timing and reading of the crowd is fantastic.

Occasionally, Phoenix would transform into her bird forms, gliding above the crowd with effortless elegance, repositioning herself without disrupting the flow. Upon returning to human form, she continued engaging directly, nodding, bowing, and gesturing. Staff and troopers interacted quietly in the background. A PRT trooper guiding a group of toddlers whispered reassurances to a nervous parent, and a member of Firewatch adjusted Phoenix's gown so that the light would better catch the sequins. Glenn observed the ebb and flow of interactions, noting how children gravitated toward her, yet remained safely distributed.

Over the course of the day, Phoenix developed a subtle strategy. She began flying briefly in one of her Phoenix forms to new spots across the plaza, ensuring attention was spread and that different clusters of children could interact with her individually. Some children received nods, others a small bow, and a few were offered the briefest of gestures that made them beam. Glenn watched, fascinated by her evolving improvisation and the way she seemed to anticipate crowd behavior.

By afternoon, the plaza had erupted into laughter, chatter, and scattered cheers. Parents murmured about how engaging she was, how photogenic, how patient with their small children. Glenn allowed himself a quiet smile. The event had succeeded beyond expectations. Phoenix’s poise, strategic thinking, and natural charm had made her the centerpiece of a truly magical experience.

As the day wound down, Glenn reflected on what he had observed. Phoenix had maintained a delicate balance, engaging without overwhelming, moving with freedom but always returning to human form for personal interaction. Her mentality, as he suspected, was that most often seen with movers, constantly seeking vantage, maintaining mobility. He made careful notes for Sunday, knowing the wizard-and-knight theme would raise the stakes even higher.

Chapter Text

Sunday arrived with a cooler, brisk morning. The plaza had been transformed: banners evoked medieval courts, fantastical landscapes, and floating pennants hinted at distant kingdoms. Glenn walked slowly across the cobblestone layout, noting positions for children, PR staff, and troopers. Today, the event culminated in a visit from Hero, America’s most renowned parahuman.

Phoenix waited near the central fountain, now fully in her wizard persona: a deep blue robe embroidered with silver stars, a tall pointed hat, and a carefully pinned white beard. Children arrived in wands, crowns, and toy shields, their excitement palpable. The Firewatch crew had worn light cloaks and toy swords to echo the theme, while PR staff carried clipboards and cameras decorated to appear as magical tomes and crystal balls. Glenn observed the scene, mentally noting which of the local staff were managing flows well, which needed guidance, and which were simply trying to stay out of their boss's path.

Phoenix quickly engaged with her audience, alternating between stoic acknowledgment, subtle gestures, and phoenix-form flights to reposition herself across the plaza. She added to the wonder of the event with a magical wand she used to generate some sort of minor illusions: a child’s hair flickered pink, a plush dragon glimmered. These were occasional, just enough to add enchantment without stealing focus from her natural charm.

Parents sometimes leaned down to murmur excitedly, “She’s so composed!” or “Look at her fly! It's like magic!” One mother commented to another that she had been hesitant to interact with capes but was glad to see her young daughter giggling at Phoenix’s gentle bow. Glenn felt a quiet satisfaction: she was not just managing children, she was orchestrating a living tableau.

The other hero's arrival marked a stark contrast. Armsmaster remained rigid, armored, and imposing, while his lines were well crafted, they were just as obviously scripted and read with a sort of stern detachment. Kid Win stuttered through a small presentation, tripping over phrasing and gestures while Miss Militia and Aegis waved and grinned, cheerfulness forced and overblown, clearly transparent to even the children. Glenn’s brow furrowed. So unfortunate that so few capes are willing to accept even the barest participation in themed events. Phoenix makes that cosplay seem natural and graceful, while these four look badly dressed in their own costumes.

Finally, Hero arrived, the plaza erupting in attention. Shimmering robes layered over his red-and-gold armor gave him the air of a theatrical magical-knight. His voice boomed, sweeping gestures commanding the crowd. Phoenix responded immediately, adjusting her timing, gestures, and illusions to complement him. They danced through a subtle but spontaneous choreography: Hero’s bombastic presence paired with Phoenix’s stoic, precise timing. Illusions punctuated key moments: a flash of light here, a burst of sparks there, without overshadowing Hero's storytelling.

The Climax unfolded with Phoenix presenting a small cosplay ring to Hero, in place of the one he's been using for Weeks. As he knelt theatrically, accepting it with dramatic flair, playing along with her stoic wizard persona. Children erupted in applause as she remained still, perfectly composed, letting Hero’s performance shine while maintaining her own mystique. With a final sweep of his robes, Hero departed, leaving the plaza humming with excitement.

Glenn reflected as the crowd dispersed. Over the weekend, Phoenix had grown into her role with astonishing poise, improvisation, and strategic awareness. She had maintained audience engagement, navigated complex crowd dynamics, and adapted her movements for maximal impact while respecting her Mover instincts. In contrast, the other heroes’ rigid, awkward, or forced performances highlighted Phoenix’s skill and natural aptitude.

Parents lingered, taking photos, asking quiet questions, impressed by her presence and composure. PR staff whispered among themselves, clearly learning how to handle a Mover capable of autonomous spectacle. Troopers gave subtle nods of approval, aware they had been part of something truly coordinated. Glenn made final notes: autonomy, improvisation, and respect for Mover instincts were paramount. Phoenix had not only captivated the city but offered a living lesson in public engagement, laying a foundation for future national-level events while remaining entirely safe and professional.

Chapter Text

Monday, May 18

(Log opened Mon May 18 07:12:03 2011)

[07:12] SpinDoctor >> Morning, crew. Bay check-in. Reminder: last weekend’s Hero appearance wasn’t the show, it was just the overture. We’re orchestrating a season, not a single aria. 

[07:14] StageWhisper >> Ah, music to my ears. But let’s be real: our "ensemble" often looks like a high school dress rehearsal. Armsmaster is the understudy who never blinks, Aegis is the chorus member who keeps tripping on the stairs. 

[07:15] AdCopyCrash >> Relatable, but tragic. He’s like a Buster Keaton gag stretched over twenty minutes, only with a bigger medical bill.

[07:16] AdCopyCrash >> Still, people find the Pratfalling Captain relatable. Like watching a tragicomedy with one really tall, armored extra. 

[07:35] SpinDoctor >> Upper brass is aware. Relatability is a commodity, but so is gravitas. We need both. Hero and Phoenix gave us a peak at the extremes: charisma meets spectacle. 

[07:43] PR_Paladin >> Shadow Stalker? Not present at weekend, but worth noting. Brooding presence, great for action reels, terrible for small crowds. The contrast with Aegis is telling. 

[07:44] Khaleesi >> Shadow Stalker may excel in reels, but never for interactive PR. Audience engagement is an art, and not every cape can hold it. 

[07:46] Jester >> Agreed. Engagement = performance. Humor, charm, gravitas, spectacle. Each hero brings a note; Phoenix and Hero hit chords rare for the city. 

[07:48] Khaleesi >> Contrast is important. Phoenix rises silent, myth incarnate, the Platonic ideal. A goddess costume doesn't say *trick or treat* it says mysterious and regal. Meanwhile Shadow Stalker, grim, dour, ethically murky, looks like a child sneaking into a Hamlet audition. 

[07:50] Jester >> Please, Hamlet at least had existential charisma. Shadow Stalker’s brand is "Did someone spill ink on the film reel?" 

[08:02] StageWhisper >> True, but some of those kids do have the spark. Vista, for instance. Quiet, understated, actually commands the camera when given room. 

[08:04] Khaleesi >> Introverted, yes. Quiet, not so much. But still useful. Can fill B-roll slots without stealing the frame. And that’s what matters for some pieces of the narrative. 

[08:09] Jester >> Speaking of extremes, Clockblocker. Limited airtime only. Otherwise chaos incarnate. 

[08:11] Khaleesi >> Precisely. He’s comedic garnish, not the main course. Same goes for Miss Militia - competent, reliable, smile glued on too tight. Background reinforcement. 

[08:12] AdCopyCrash >> Clockblocker IS B-roll. He’s Harold Lloyd dangling off a clock face. You give him three minutes of screen time, max, then shove him off before he eats the set. 

[08:14] StageWhisper >> And yet audiences like him. A spoonful of sugar. Even Brecht knew the value of a song-and-dance between lectures. 

[08:16] Khaleesi >> Sugar rots the teeth. Phoenix is ambrosia, eternal. Clockblocker is a custard pie hurled at our credibility. 

[08:26] Jester >> But the pie makes the newsprint. Don’t underestimate a custard pie. 

[08:34] Khaleesi >> Humor is seasonal garnish, gravitas is core. Like icing on a cake that’s already structurally sound.

[8:39] StageWhisper >> He’s Robin Williams trapped in *Dead Poets Society*, but detention instead of poetry. 

[8:47] TrueNorth >> Don’t pair him with Phoenix. Comedy plus sainthood is oil and vinegar. 

[8:48] Khaleesi >> It’s worse: oil and Euripides. 

[8:49] AdCopyCrash >> That’s the nerdiest slam I’ve heard all week, and I sit in advertising postmortems. 

[08:51] SpinDoctor >> Stay on track. Weekend spectacle: Hero + Phoenix. Weekday grind: Dauntless, Gallant, Vista, others. 

[09:08] StageWhisper >> Armsmaster and Dauntless remain interesting dichotomy. Armsmaster = legend, legacy, stiff as a board. Dauntless = credible, grounded, approachable. Both necessary, but only one wins public affection. 

[09:16] TrueNorth >> Gallant and Glory Girl? Their dynamic is a textbook PR goldmine, like a better Assault and Battery, even if Glory Girl isn’t a Ward yet. Thinker projections indicate she’ll join this year, before she's nineteen. Preparations underway. 

[09:20] AdCopyCrash >> I remain skeptical. Glory Girl isn’t Wards, and until she is, any PR reliance on her is precarious. 

[09:26] SpinDoctor >> Agreed, caution applies. We cultivate awareness, not dependence. Phoenix remains the national-longterm mythos, but others form the scaffolding: Gallant, Dauntless, Vista, Clockblocker. 

[10:12] PR_Paladin >> Even the ones absent can’t be ignored. Battery? Velocity? Assault? Still appear in campaigns. Their PR aura is "underwhelming but dependable." 

[10:14] TrueNorth >> Reliability is underrated. Dauntless might not sparkle like Phoenix, but he reads like Atticus Finch in armor. Grounded. Credible. People trust that. 

[10:18] ChorusLine >> And yet you’d never sell tickets on Finch alone. Phoenix fills the balcony, Gallant + Glory Girl give you the swoon, Dauntless does the matinee. That’s balance. 

[10:20] SpinDoctor >> Reminder: balance = point. We can’t headline Phoenix every week, we’d burn out the spectacle. Need scaffolding: Gallant, Vista, Clockblocker. Support roles, B-roll. 

[10:41] ChorusLine >> Can we talk about Vista? Thirteen years old, understated gravitas. She’s like putting Julie Andrews in the background of a car commercial. Subtle, yet the audience leans in. 

[10:43] AdCopyCrash >> Andrews? Please, she’s Shirley Temple in a trench coat. Cute, but the moment she speaks it gets awkward. 

[10:47] StageWhisper >> No, no. You underestimate the "quiet presence." PR isn’t just lines spoken, it’s camera magnetism. Vista can do more with silence than Kid Win can with a teleprompter. 

[10:52] TrueNorth >> Kid Win can’t even *look* at the teleprompter without turning crimson. He’s a liability. 

[10:55] Khaleesi >> He’s a cautionary tale. Proof that not everyone belongs on stage. Put him behind a curtain, let him tinker, and keep the spotlight for those who can use it. 

[10:59] Jester >> So, the Muppets principle: some are Kermits, some are Fozzies, some stay in the pit playing trombone. 

[11:11] ChorusLine >> Speaking of pit players: Assault and Battery. Dependable, flat, safe. They’re like the brass section, loud, steady, not very photogenic.

[11:14] AdCopyCrash >> Or like backup dancers in West Side Story. Necessary, but you don’t remember their faces after curtain. 

[11:17] StageWhisper >> Except when one of them trips. Then you remember. 

[11:40] Khaleesi >> And then the narrative collapses. Which is why we need Phoenix’s myth to anchor it. Hero is the archetype of power, Phoenix is the archetype of transcendence. All else is scaffolding. 

[11:44] TrueNorth >> Myth is fine, but myth doesn’t smile at children in a hospital ward. That’s Dauntless’s role. 

[11:48] AdCopyCrash >> Hospitals are fine, but they don’t trend. Spectacle trends. Grim jokes trend. If you want week-to-week engagement, you ride humor and shock. If you want enduring respect, you ride myth. 

[11:52] Jester >> And if you want Broadway longevity, you pray for both. Rodgers had Hammerstein, after all. 

[11:55] ChorusLine >> Hero and Phoenix, then? The Rodgers and Hammerstein of cape PR? 

[11:59] StageWhisper >> Careful. One wrote the words, one the music. Hero and Phoenix aren’t collaborating, that was a one-off. 

[12:02] SpinDoctor >> Which is precisely why we manage the ensemble. Narrative isn’t about truth, it’s about harmony. 

[12:04] AdCopyCrash >> Harmony? More like cacophony. Armsmaster enters and the orchestra drops into twelve-tone. Kid Win sneezes on the cymbals. 

[12:07] Jester >> And Shadow Stalker insists on playing the funeral march in 4/4 at every cue. 

[12:25] Khaleesi >> Exactly. The audience wants inspiration, not nihilism. A myth, not a morgue. Phoenix proves what’s possible. Shadow Stalker reminds them of everything ugly. 

[12:27] TrueNorth >> Ugly sells too, in doses. You need your antiheroes. Bogart, Brando, Dean, they all brooded. 

[12:30] Khaleesi >> And yet Bogart had wit, Brando had magnetism, Dean had tragedy. Shadow Stalker has none of the above. She’s grimdark without gravitas. 

[12:32] StageWhisper >> She’s *Our Town* performed entirely in shadows, no cast. A concept, not a character. 

[12:34] Jester >> Or like Beckett without the wit. Waiting for Godot, except nobody’s laughing. 

[12:36] SpinDoctor >> Tangent alert. Reel back. 

[13:34] TrueNorth >> Let’s not forget PR strategy extends beyond appearances. Parent interactions, staff engagement, local media, each counts. 

[13:37] Khaleesi >> Exactly. We can’t turn a mute 11-year-old into a city spokesperson, even with Phoenix’s spectacle, she’s for national-longterm impact, not local omnipresence. 

[13:41] AdCopyCrash >> So how do we handle weekend spectacle versus weekday grounding? 

[13:45] SpinDoctor >> Weekend = high-concept demonstration (e.g. Hero + Phoenix). Weekday = scaffold the ecosystem. B-roll, minor appearances, controlled interviews. Maintain narrative without burning heroes out. 

[13:49] StageWhisper >> And PR messaging? Should we emphasize individual hero shine or coordinated ensemble? 

[13:52] SpinDoctor >> Ensemble always, headline selectively. Solo headlines = Phoenix or Dauntless. Others = contextual reinforcement. The lesson from April 16–17: spectacle is great, but cannot be sole messaging. 

[14:12] PR_Paladin >> Do we need contingency messaging? If someone refuses theme, audience sees dissonance. Armsmaster’s stiff, Kid Win awkward, Miss Militia over-cheery - audience notices. 

[14:14] SpinDoctor >> Yes. Frame absences and dissonance. Public sees Hero/Phoenix as extraordinary, the rest as supporting cast - intentional, not accidental. Now enough bickering, strategy? 

[14:18] ChorusLine >> Fine, strategy:
Phoenix = divine spectacle.
Dauntless = trust anchor.
Gallant + Glory Girl = teen romcom spinoff.
Vista = grounded presence.
Clockblocker = comedy relief.
Armsmaster = stiff legacy.
Kid Win = backstage techie.
Shadow Stalker = action reel only. 

[14:21] TrueNorth >> Add Miss Militia as symbolic backbone. She’s practically the flag with legs. 

[14:23] AdCopyCrash >> A flag that tries too hard to smile. She’s a theme park mascot, not a star. 

[14:25] StageWhisper >> Still, mascots have their uses as every sports team could tell you. 

[14:27] Khaleesi >> Mascots sell fantasy. Phoenix *is* fantasy. Why settle for a mascot when you can have a myth? 

[14:29] Jester >> Because not everyone lives on Olympus. Some people just want a balloon animal at the county fair. 

[14:41] SpinDoctor >> Enough balloon animals. Provisional scaffold:
- Phoenix = national myth.
- Dauntless = local trust.
- Gallant (+/- Glory Girl) = synergistic youth appeal.
- Vista = grounded presence with gravitas.
- Clockblocker = garnish/adornment.
- Armsmaster + Miss Militia = legacy symbols.
- Battery, Velocity, Assault = dependable filler.
- Kid Win = backstage only.
- Shadow Stalker = limited to action reels. 

[14:58] StageWhisper >> Curtain call? 

[15:17] SpinDoctor >> Curtain call. Notes drafted, sarcasm omitted for upstairs version. End scene. 

(Log closed Mon May 18 18:17:58 2011)

Chapter Text

[6:59] SpinDoctor>> Agenda tonight: Phoenix and Dauntless merch lines, integration into series merch, card exclusives, legacy rotations, problem cases. Keep it tight, but vivid. 

[7:25] AdCopyCrash>> Phoenix first. She’s already halfway myth. Kids call her “the firebird,” parents mutter about rebirth. We lean in. Pendants shaped like flame-feathers, gilded pins, heat-sensitive posters that reveal wings when you touch them.  

[7:27] Khaleesi>> Cloaks. Not capes, cloaks. Fire-colored lining, reversible. Children love drama, parents love symbolism. She becomes a figure of legend every time one swirls in a schoolyard.  

[7:28] Jester>> And every PTA calls us about flammable polyester.  

[7:30] StageWhisper>> Solution: small, tasteful. Phoenix jewelry and charms. You sell myth in miniature.  

[7:32] TrueNorth>> If she’s headed toward a Triumvirate-style image, we need anchors that grow with her. Start with the personal—pendants, posters, small tokens—then transition into “emblem of hope” pieces down the line.  

[7:36] PR_Paladin>> Which dovetails with Dauntless. He’s already positioned as the reliable shield. Give him leader merch. Replica Arclance scaled for shelves, Greek-style jackets, “Dauntless: Stand Fast” slogans.  

[7:38] ChorusLine>> Trading cards too. We frame him as “the anchor” to Phoenix’s flame. His card glows less brightly, but it’s the one that never leaves the deck.

[7:39] Jester>> Fine, but Phoenix is the foil chase. Otherwise no one drives to Brockton Bay for cards.

[7:41] PR_Paladin>> That’s why the National Protectorate Trading Card Game expansion has Phoenix as foil-only, Bay exclusive. Dauntless rare, Aegis uncommon. Gallant and Vista in packs. Exclusives drive tourism, we anchor it with Phoenix.  

[7:42] TrueNorth>> And it can’t just be glossy. Etched foil, embossed crest. Parents need to feel they bought a holy relic.  

[7:45] AdCopyCrash>> Which brings us to team merch. Current slate: “Protectorate,” “Wards,” and “Full Team.” One Brockton Bay Team box, premium foil guaranteed.  

[7:49] StageWhisper>> We can theme it “Protectorate vs Wards.” Kids buy Wards, get a shiny Phoenix card by default.

[7:51] ChorusLine>> But what about Gallant + Glory Girl? The public already sees them as a pair. Kids want the star couple deck.  

[7:52] TrueNorth>> Which we can’t sell, because she’s not ours.  

[7:55] Khaleesi>> Indirect solution. Gallant merch with an implied partner: silhouettes, heart motifs, ambiguous figures. It sells the idea without naming her.  

[7:56] Jester>> So we market the romance without ever writing her name. Clever, if a little absurd.  

[7:57] PR_Paladin >> Not absurd, necessary. We use Gallant until she signs.  

[8:15] SpinDoctor >> Then the legacy lines. Armsmaster and Miss Militia are still strong, but we shift to “Protectorate Legends.” High-quality reissues. Die-cast halberds, stitched Militia scarves. Adults and collectors pay thrice what kids would.  

[8:17] StageWhisper>> It cleans shelves too. No more half-hearted new figures, just prestige.  

[8:20] AdCopyCrash>> Which leaves Shadow Stalker. Her hoodies rot in clearance bins. She’s an anchor, and not the good kind.  

[8:21] ChorusLine>> Pull the line. Quietly. Before it taints the rest.  

[8:22] Jester>> You pull her, and we lose the “dark hero” slot, and that archetype sells itself.  

[8:25] TrueNorth>> We can’t leave that slot vacant. That’ll just get all the brooding kids into Gang merch.

[8:35] SpinDoctor>> Which is why I’ve been negotiating with NYC. They’ll take some of your Phoenix and Dauntless lines if you take some of their more popular Flechette line to replace Stalker. She’s already trending in the Northeast, and she fits the “dark but rising” role without the baggage.  

[8:38] Khaleesi>> Flechette as the new shadow figure? Yes. She’s sharp, already gaining traction, and unlike Stalker, she doesn’t sabotage her own interviews.  

[8:40] StageWhisper>> It also lets us spin the narrative: “A new star rises.” We replace failure with promise.  

[8:40] PR_Paladin>> One liability traded for a future star, plus better distribution. That’s good business.

[8:55] SpinDoctor>> Then it’s settled. Phoenix and Dauntless anchor the Bay. Armsmaster and Militia go legacy. Gallant leans romantic but ambiguous. Shadow Stalker gets quietly retired as Flechette ascends. We align the market, mythos, and message.  

[8:57] Jester>> And you expect me to stand in Brockton Bay telling kids to buy Flechette instead of Stalker?  

[8:58] SpinDoctor>> You’ll tell them, and you’ll smile. Merch is destiny. Meeting adjourned.

Chapter Text

[04/19] 12:12 TrueNorth>> Okay, brass wants us pivoting. Armsmaster is tactical credibility, but not approachable. Dauntless is. We seed him into every "steady hands" narrative from here forward.

[04/19] 12:14 AdCopyCrash>> So, less avenger on the prowl, more Dad fixing the lawnmower. Got it.

[04/19] 12:15 ChorusLine>> Oh come on, Dauntless is dependable but he's not dreamy. He’s just… safe. Safety doesn’t trend.

[04/19] 12:16 TrueNorth>> Safety does trend when your city is burning every third week.

[04/19] 12:17 Khaleesi>> And yet when the city looks to the skies, it isn’t for steady hands. It’s for the Phoenix. Fire and rebirth. A living myth. A thing larger than safety.

[04/19] 12:19 PR_Paladin>> We’re still grounding this in perception. Phoenix is mystical, but also a kid. We can’t let the public think she’s the second coming of Joan of Arc without a growth arc first. Otherwise when she trips, it’s humiliation.

[04/19] 12:20 StageWhisper>> Except the people already love watching her fly. She lands near murals like she’s stepping out of her own stained glass window. Vista tries to mimic that gravitas and just looks… tiny. Like a girl wearing her mom’s heels.

[04/19] 12:22 Jester>> Correction: she looks like Scooter in “Muppet Babies” demanding to be seen as an adult while holding a juice box.

---

[04/20] 10:01 ChorusLine>> Speaking of juice boxes, Gallant’s patrol with Glory Girl played like a rom-com trailer. They smile, they save, they glow. Together they sparkle. Alone? Glory Girl bulldozes, Gallant sighs like a polite apology card.

[04/20] 10:03 AdCopyCrash>> Gallant is cinematic background music. He’s the piano riff under Glory Girl’s guitar solo.

[04/20] 10:05 SpinDoctor>> Keep them paired then. If the chemistry works, you sell the duet, not the solos.

[04/20] 10:07 Khaleesi>> But compare their warmth to Phoenix’s stillness. Phoenix does not flirt with the crowd, she lets the crowd come to her. That’s not teenage posturing, it’s archetype. This is how legends breathe.

[04/20] 10:08 TrueNorth>> Slow down. Brass wants her slow-build. Myth, yes, but not front page every day. We bundle her with Dauntless: “Sky and Anchor.”

[04/20] 10:10 Jester>> Sky and Anchor sounds like a pub down on the docks. Which actually might sell T-shirts.

---

[04/21] 08:50 StageWhisper>> Vista keeps giving her sister those forlorn “notice me” looks. Audience sees it, memes are happening. People aren’t sure if they're related, but they sense… something.

[04/21] 08:52 PR_Paladin>> Narrative risk. Vista’s been “the cute one” for years, but now she’s the older sister looking smaller, less poised. That visual tension undermines her.

[04/21] 08:55 ChorusLine>> Or heightens her. She’s the scrappy underdog sister. Cute sells, you know.

[04/21] 08:56 AdCopyCrash>> Cute sells until it sulks. Nobody likes mopey Hallmark cards.

---

[04/22] 14:13 TrueNorth>> Update: Triumph tried pitching himself for more spotlight. He’s earnest, but still reads like “overzealous Boy Scout.” National brass said: hard pass.

[04/22] 14:15 Jester>> He’s like the guy who shouts “thank you!” at the start of every parade float. It’s endearing for 30 seconds, then you want the tuba section to drown him out.

[04/22] 14:18 SpinDoctor>> Keep him off the table. He peaked during his Ward days, no need to dilute the field with overreach.

---

[04/23] 12:07 PR_Paladin>> Shadow Stalker is furious about not being on posters. She pretends she doesn’t care, but she does. Claims she prefers the “mystery predator” angle.

[04/23] 12:09 AdCopyCrash>> Translation: least competent in PR, period. Her “mystery predator” is basically a teen in a ski mask growling at pigeons.

[04/23] 12:10 Jester>> If she’s Heathcliff, it’s the moor-stomping, sulk-in-a-corner version. Alone, brooding, no merch sales.  

[04/23] 12:12 Khaleesi>> Still, the archetype of the shadowed huntress has its uses. If only she carried herself as if she believed it.

[04/23] 12:14 TrueNorth>> She doesn’t. Case closed.

---

[04/24] 09:23 StageWhisper>> Armsmaster. His attempts at PR swing between “distant, too busy for the cameras” and “lecturing about mechanics mid-fight.” Neither play well.

[04/24] 09:25 ChorusLine>> He treats interviews like repair manuals. Riveting, if you’re a carburetor.

[04/24] 09:26 TrueNorth>> Which is why we shift narrative credit elsewhere. Dauntless. Phoenix. Even Miss Militia when necessary. Armsmaster stays tactical background, not face.

---

[04/25] 11:40 AdCopyCrash>> Miss Militia, speaking of. She’s toggling between stoic soldier and “PR smile” like someone with stage fright. Not graceful.

[04/25] 11:42 Jester>> She’s the actor who forgets if she’s in Hamlet or a toothpaste commercial.

[04/25] 11:44 SpinDoctor>> She’s versatile in the field. On PR, we minimize. Don’t force it.

---

[04/26] 15:30 TrueNorth>> Velocity, on the other hand, is overenthusiastic but not unlikable. He sells as the excitable sidekick. Just don’t make him the headline.

[04/26] 15:31 ChorusLine>> He’s like the mascot waving too much at halftime. Fine, if he’s not the whole show.

---

[04/27] 09:18 Khaleesi>> Phoenix’s unannounced patrol by that mural someone made of her drew a crowd. People lingered, treated it like a pilgrimage. She doesn’t say a word, just hovers. The image does the work.

[04/27] 09:20 StageWhisper>> And rumor swirls. Half-jokes about a Phoenix cult. Someone spotted actual people in Phoenix merch murmuring prayers.

[04/27] 09:21 AdCopyCrash>> Terrific. Step right up, folks, worship your neighborhood junior messiah. T-shirts only $7.99.

[04/27] 09:22 TrueNorth>> We control the frame. “Admiration society,” not cult. And we do not feed the rumor mill.

[04/27] 09:23 Khaleesi>> Or we lean into it. Myth builds itself when the people want a myth.

---

[04/28] 15:01 Jester>> Kid Win, still background noise. Charming in interviews, if you ask the right questions, but the boy requested lighter PR. Said he doesn’t like the spotlight.

[04/28] 15:03 PR_Paladin>> That actually works. If he doesn’t want it, the mystique of modesty shields him from criticism. He’s functional, not glamorous.

[04/28] 15:04 AdCopyCrash>> He’s the guy in the credits who fixes the sound levels. Nobody claps, but everyone would notice if he vanished.

---

[04/29] 07:59 TrueNorth>> Phoenix + Aegis + Glory Girl vs Rune + giant twins: field narrative is messy. Most blame Empire for property damage, some are blameing our trio for “escalating.” 

[04/29] 08:01 ChorusLine>> Still, Aegis and Glory Girl make for some unexpected synergies. That’s a win.

[04/29] 08:03 StageWhisper>> The image of Phoenix streaking ahead alone was cinematic. Vista looked at her like she’d lost something, again. 

[04/29] 08:04 AdCopyCrash>> Yes, let’s celebrate the child endangering herself to make her sister cry. Great optics.

[04/29] 08:06 Khaleesi>> No, great myth. Firebird against giants. Win or lose, people remember the silhouette.

---

[04/30] 11:11 Jester>> Glory Girl’s restraint issues keep cropping up. She nearly smashed a car mid-patrol. Crowd laughed, but online clips don’t look flattering.

[04/30] 11:13 ChorusLine>> That’s why Gallant smooths her edges. They’re a pair package. Separate them and she’s a wrecking ball, he’s cardboard.

[04/30] 11:15 AdCopyCrash>> “Beauty and the Beige.” Box office poison, unless you sell the romance.

---

[04/31] 13:27 StageWhisper>> Sunday. A gathering formed at Phoenix’s mural again. This time organized. People kneeling, candles, murmurs. Priests in merch. They left fast when PRT rolled up.

[04/31] 13:29 AdCopyCrash>> Congratulations, we’ve accidentally franchised Scientology Jr.

[04/31] 13:30 PR_Paladin>> Contain the narrative. “Fan enthusiasm,” not religion. Anything else is dangerous.

[04/31] 13:32 Khaleesi>> But do you not see? This is how myths grow. She does nothing but appear, and people gather. It frightens you, but history favors the firebrand.

[04/31] 13:33 TrueNorth>> Careful. We build steady, not wildfire. Dauntless is the credibility. Phoenix is the symbol. Together, they’re the balance.

[04/31] 13:34 SpinDoctor>> Keep eyes forward. National brass approves the Phoenix build. But remember: myth must serve stability, not eclipse it. Keep Dauntless close. Don’t let this spiral.

[04/31] 13:35 Jester>> Until the mural sprouts a gift shop, we’re probably fine.

Chapter Text

SpinDoctor>>
Okay folks, brass wants a Bay PR situation report since Hero’s event two weeks back. Format is three paras pros, cons, overall. Each cape gets at least a line, your pet projects can get more. Close with your recs for the next month. @StageWhisper, you’re first in the batting order.

StageWhisper>>
Pros: Bay’s roster has never looked more photogenic. Phoenix is building mystique even when she just floats near murals. Vista remains “adorable in boots,” which public eats up, though she keeps trying to posture older. Gallant and Glory Girl tag-team nicely a shining pair with actual chemistry. Dauntless is emerging as steady, a “neighbor hero” archetype. Armsmaster still draws gadgethead loyalty, and Miss Militia keeps some veterans pleased with her poise.

Cons: Glory Girl alone? Too volatile, too many angry-face photos. Gallant alone? Vanilla pudding. Vista’s efforts to seem grown up just underline that she isn’t. Phoenix’s myth aura risks slipping into cult weirdness, priests in her merch‽ Not ideal. Armsmaster is cold fish when not “on,” Miss Militia feels tired some days. Shadow Stalker: image is “angry mall cop.” Assault and Battery read like sidekicks to a better show. Velocity’s overeager, Triumph overzealous.

Overall: Bay is fascinating, messy, youth-heavy. We’ve got a budding myth (Phoenix), a photogenic duo (G+G), and a grounded anchor (Dauntless). The rest oscillate between assets and liabilities, but the raw material is there.

Recommendation: Phoenix needs controlled myth-building without letting it tip into cult territory; pairing her occasionally with Dauntless would cement her as myth plus steady civic force. Keep Vista framed as “the cute one trying so hard,” which plays. G+G should be pushed as a duo never solo. Let Armsmaster and Miss Militia fade into the background a bit. Don’t bother forcing Shadow Stalker PR; she’s better invisible.

AdCopyCrash>>
Pros: Phoenix looks good in every candid. Dauntless is basically Captain Dad Energy. Gallant and Glory Girl together sell like prom king and queen. Vista plays as “mascot growing up.” Armsmaster brings in nerds who buy tinker-toys. Assault and Battery provide occasional rom-com cutaways.

Cons: Phoenix’s silent brooding looks like the start of a docuseries cult. Gallant alone is basically store-brand toothpaste. Glory Girl alone is an episode of Cops . Vista’s “please see me as mature” act is tragicomic. Armsmaster is a charisma desert. Miss Militia seems like she knows it’s all hollow. Shadow Stalker is a PR black hole; even her smirk reads like a shoplifter mugshot. Velocity’s just “guy who runs fast,” no angle. Triumph is still on probation for overselling himself.

Overall: Ensemble cast, high drama, bad script. They’re all strong in pieces, but if you roll them out individually, the audience flips channels. We need to lean on dynamics, duos, trios, myth pairings.

Recommendation: Stop trying to make each cape their own franchise. Package them like an ensemble superhero sitcom: “The Hotheads, the Cool Dad, and the Myth.” Phoenix/Dauntless for gravitas. Glory/Gallant for charm. Vista as the wide-eyed little sister. Everyone else? Background extras until they stumble into a narrative.

ChorusLine>>
Pros: Gallant and Glory Girl are magic together. Romantic hints, dramatic rescues, the kind of pairing people root for. Phoenix is beautiful and aloof, which makes every sighting special. Dauntless plays reliable, someone you’d trust to fix your car and save your cat. Vista brings heart, even when she stumbles.

Cons: Gallant is boring without Glory. Glory is reckless without Gallant. Phoenix’s aloofness risks coldness. Vista’s maturity act rings hollow. Shadow Stalker is just negative PR embodied. Armsmaster is brilliant but unfriendly, Miss Militia comes off stretched thin. Assault and Battery aren’t charming enough to carry their duo. Velocity and Triumph feel like filler tracks.

Overall: The emotional center is Phoenix plus Gallant/Glory. Everything else rotates around them. Dauntless as anchor completes the four-point balance.

Recommendation: Build PR on emotion: Phoenix as mythic mystery, Gallant/Glory as aspirational romance, Vista as the heartstring pull, Dauntless as stability. Everyone else exists to reinforce those notes. Think “quartet” not “choir.”

PR_Paladin>>
Pros: Phoenix and Dauntless together could project myth and reliability. Gallant has “good soldier” vibes, Glory Girl the celebrity shine. Vista remains the likable kid. Armsmaster and Miss Militia represent grit and discipline. Velocity shows pure enthusiasm, which isn’t nothing.

Cons: Phoenix cult rumors are dangerous. Glory is a loose cannon. Gallant lacks charisma. Vista overcompensates. Armsmaster shrugs PR entirely, Miss Militia drifts between overdoing and vanishing. Shadow Stalker’s PR competence is nonexistent. Assault and Battery blend into wallpaper. Triumph is overeager, Velocity too goofy.

Overall: PR is fragmented every cape has strengths, but we lack cohesion. Public needs a story, not scattershot personalities.

Recommendation: Develop Phoenix + Dauntless as dual anchors. Frame Glory/Gallant as “young love under fire.” Keep Vista in a supporting “earnest little sister” role. Shadow Stalker should be minimized, same for Triumph. Others can fill background slots until useful. Narrative clarity is survival.

Jester>>
Pros: Phoenix floats around like a Shakespearean ghost and everyone claps. Gallant and Glory Girl do the Romeo & Juliet thing without the double suicide (yet). Vista is adorable she’s Piglet insisting she’s Eeyore. Dauntless is Jim Halpert with a spear. Armsmaster is basically the Swedish Chef with a Swiss Army Knife fetish.

Cons: Phoenix cultists handing out tracts. Gallant solo is cardboard. Glory solo is Hulk Smash but sassier. Vista pretending to be mature is like Kermit trying to play Macbeth. Shadow Stalker is Animal but meaner. Miss Militia is Statler and Waldorf rolled into one. Assault and Battery are Abbott and Costello minus timing.

Overall: It’s a Muppet Show where only a few acts sing on key, but the audience still tunes in for the chaos.

Recommendation: Let Phoenix be the phantom myth, pair her with Dauntless when we need grounding. Push Gallant/Glory as the teen drama arc. Vista as comic relief heart. Everyone else stays backstage until they accidentally deliver a classic sketch.

TrueNorth>>
Pros: Dauntless is emerging as the most credible adult. Public trusts him, feels steady with him. Phoenix has potential to be a myth on national stage. Gallant and Glory Girl are a proven duo, popular. Vista still charms. Armsmaster’s technical chops appeal in niche circles. Miss Militia remains respectable.

Cons: Dauntless can show strain photos catch the tension. Phoenix risks drifting into aloofness, cult rumors. Glory is volatile, Gallant bland. Vista overreaches in maturity. Armsmaster is stiff, Miss Militia inconsistent. Shadow Stalker is a liability. Others lack spark.

Overall: The Bay has talent, but raw edges. PR focus should be on credibility and stability: Dauntless as the civic face, Phoenix as the myth rising. Glory/Gallant as secondary draw, Vista as supporting.

Recommendation: My stance: build Dauntless + Phoenix together myth plus man of the people. That pairing anchors the Bay, shows balance between dream and duty. Manage Glory/Gallant as the flash. Everyone else rotates in as necessary. Keep Shadow Stalker out of frame.

Khaleesi>>
Pros: Phoenix is the story. Aloof, luminous, untouchable. The fact that murals spring up of her already, that’s living myth. Dauntless complements her with grounded reliability. Gallant and Glory Girl are the mortal heart, Vista is the child striving upward. Armsmaster and Miss Militia represent the old guard.

Cons: Phoenix’s silence breeds rumor, cult imagery may spiral. Dauntless risks burnout. Gallant/Glory could sour if split. Vista’s struggle for maturity may backfire. Shadow Stalker is irredeemable in PR. The rest are forgettable.

Overall: Bay has a chance to craft a mythos,  Phoenix as transcendent figure, Dauntless as anchor, Gallant/Glory as drama, Vista as innocence. Everything else is noise.

Recommendation: Think long game. Phoenix must be built carefully, steadily, to reach Triumvirate status in a decade. Dauntless should be tied to her, stabilizing the myth. Push Gallant/Glory as secondary drama, Vista as emotional pull. Let others fade.

SpinDoctor>> Alright, solid spread. I’ll pull these into the draft for brass. Next week we pivot to messaging trials, controlled pairings, one-offs, myth seeding.

---------

Online Reactions:
Phoenix
FlameIsLife >> She descended in light. The fire did not burn. She is proof that the end has been delayed. (Celestial Temple IRC, crossposted here) 
CoolHeaded1 >> Or she’s just another cape with fancy powers. Chill. 
BBMomForumRep >> If she really is that strong, she should take leadership. I’d feel safer with her than Mr. Redshirt over there. 
3HoundsofEmpire >> All smoke, no steel. PR will pump her up but we see through it.
CapeCardsCollector >> There’s already a Phoenix cult sub-forum. Half prophecy memes, half serious(ly creepy).  

Armsmaster
OldGuard >> He’s still the general. Period. 
TechBoi88 >> Saw him yell at a kid for touching his bike after a photo op. True story.
AltRightBay_3 >> I trust the man who builds his own weapons. Not some brown chick with a gun.
1MerchLord >> Legacy line Armsmaster minis are selling out. People love nostalgia.  

Dauntless
UnionJackal >> He’s the wholesome face. And that’s exactly why he’ll never be number one. Too nice for the Bay.
DockyardDan >> Nah, he’s the only one I want my kid looking up to.
CynicalWatcher >> If he was really leadership material, Armsmaster wouldn’t still be in charge.  

Miss Militia
RedWhiteAndMom >> She’s the only one I can show my daughters without worrying they’ll imitate reckless behavior.
BoredPoster1991 >> Let’s be real, her “magic gun bag” is just cosplay-tier compared to Dauntless's Arclance.
CapePolitics >> She’s not flashy enough to headline, but she’s the glue keeping the team respectable.  

Aegis
BBWardFanClub09 >> Toughest kid alive. Don’t argue. 
shitpost80085 >> Man’s literally Humpty Dumpty, always getting put back together again.
3HoundsofEmpire >> Don’t care how many times he gets back up. He’s not our people.
ConcernedMom78 >> He’s proof kids shouldn’t be fighting. Watching him “die” on livestream was stomach-churning.  

Gallant
HeartEyes77 >> He’s gorgeous. Also sweet. Where do they *find* these kids?
Cynic42 >> He’s just another rich boy with a flashlight.
ShipJunkie69 >> The Gallant + Glory Girl merch is gonna print money once it’s legal.  

Glory Girl
BB_Teen11 >> She’s the hero we *actually* see, not those guys stuck in meetings.
CynicalWatcher >> Wildcard. She’s going to either save the Bay or accidentally kill someone on camera.
thirsty_anon >> She could bench press me any day.
OldGuard >> She’s not even officially on the team. Don’t trust her.  

Vista
LocalKid98 >> Literally changed the playground so we could keep playing tag. Iconic.
PHOsEdge >> She’s a baby cape. Stop pretending.
Sulis-Iterum >> No, she’s got the most broken power in the State. You’ll see.  

Kid Win
GamerMech1337 >> That hoverboard? Straight out of my dreams.
BBTeen11 >> He looks like the tech in a cartoon who blows up his own lab.
ShipperCentral2 >> The Kid Win + Vista ship is underrated. Don’t @ me.  

Clockblocker
1ForumClown >> MVP of banter. He could solo any villain with jokes alone.
BB_Local_Mechanic >> He froze my truck for three days. PRT never paid me back.
TeenShipper2 >> He and KW have the best energy.  

Assault + Battery
ShipJunkie69 >> They literally already *are* a couple. Stop teasing and print the merch.
CynicalWatcher >> Their lovers’ spats in the field are unprofessional.
BatteryFan >> She’s the powerhouse. Assault’s just noise.  

Shadow Stalker
Ghostblade99 >> Her hoodies were top tier. Shouldn’t have been pulled so fast.
BBTeacher66 >> She’s a terrible influence. My students think acting like her is “cool.”
3HoundsofEmpire >> At least she understands real justice.
One_ConcernedParent >> She terrifies my kids. How is she a “hero”?  

Team-Wide / Merch
CardGameKid1977 >> National Protectorate cards are busted. Phoenix foil is already the chase card.
MerchHawk >> Full Team posters are cluttered trash. Protectorate-only line looks sleek, though.
LegacyCollector >> Moving Armsmaster and Miss Militia to legacy lines was smart. Higher quality figs = higher value.
DarkshotDebate >> Rumor that Shadow Stalker’s slot in the line might get replaced by Flechette? About time.  

Wild Takes
BBCelestialTemple >> Phoenix is the sign. The old world burns, the new rises.
TrollPoster93 >> Imagine stanning Dauntless. Couldn’t be me.
ShippingOverload9001 >> Gallant/Glory Girl is over. Gallant/Dean is the REAL power couple.
DoomPatrol_Local >> Doesn’t matter. Bay’s still a dump. No cape can fix it.  

Chapter Text

WOW does PR get me a LOT of points, I figured meeting hero would be a few, but geez-louise, even a decently sized roll just got me down to “a lot.”

Flawless Magic – Magonomia
Base Cost: -350cp
Lore:
A spark once flared, uncertain, rare, yet lingered in your hand,
Now every spell you touch obeys, as if by fate’s command.
No effort strains, no struggle stays, the hardest feat feels true,
For once you’ve shaped a magic’s form, it ever bends to you.
Details:
Any magical thing you do (spell, enchantment, curse, etc), you can always replicate your best effort even when barely trying. So even if you’ve only ever managed a spell once, you can now cast it easily, if you’ve got the mana, that is.
Addons: -50cp Applies retroactively.
Final Cost: 400cp
Bank:1700cp

I guess I’m glad I held off, if I've got the chance for the really crazy rolls now.

Best to do another to see if it’s going to change what I’m doing or not:

The King’s Ear - A Song of Ice and Fire
Base Cost: -250cp
Lore:
Upon the throne or office high, their gaze falls calm on you,
A trust unearned, yet solid, strong, as if your worth they knew.
From team to house, from guild to crown, their faith is freely cast,
In every head of every sphere, your counsel holds steadfast.
Details:
The head of your nation now trusts you and your judgment. They’ll see you as a person of good judgment and character and will be willing to talk to you on friendly terms, even if you've never met previously.
Addons: -150cp applies to multiple levels at once, anyone said to be head of something your in, from a team or house, to a company or nation trusts you.
Final Cost: 400cp
Bank: 1300cp

Alright, no changes, just boosts to magic and PR. I’m sure both are helpful, but for now, I’ve got more important things to get to, namely, actually doing a patrol for once.

…

Somehow, I expected this to be more interesting than the random flying around I was doing before, looking for intel for the PRT.

I mean, it’s not bad, it's just that Aegis and I are following a set path that was semi-randomly generated by some algorithm of Armsmaster’s this morning.
Somewhere off in the distance, Dauntless and Glory Girl are doing the same.

Yay, flying patrols…

…

At least Aegis is super thankful for his new powers.
I guess it really helps him to have a bit of ranged options now, even if he’s meant to stick to the cheap spells outside of major fights.

…

Oh Action!

We found Rune sitting on a rooftop, chucking rocks at anyone of a darker persuasion on the boardwalk.

Aegis led, since I’m usually with Firewatch, and they always know what to do, so I assumed he was the same.
Instead, he tried to act like a hero from a cartoon and get her to “Halt! In the name of the Law!”

I mean, he didn’t say that exactly, but even Rune looked at him funny.

Anyway, the chase was fun, even if both of us are pretty slow as flyers since I’m stuck to the speed of my wings and air currents, and he can only fly at running speeds, even if it’s Olympic athlete running.
We were both getting about 30-40mph most of the time, except in bursts, while Rune has been pretty consistently clocked in at just under 60.
So the math should’ve been clear once she started flying, except that I can teleport to a bunch of places in the city, and Glory Girl is faster than Rune, so we just needed to keep the chase up for 8 minutes.

We did it… But I guess Rune had a backup too, because just as GG was getting to us, the Giant twins started making a mess nearby, and Rune dodged into a building in the resulting scuffle.
Worse, is that Dauntless told the three of us to pull back and swap out for Assault and Battery’s patrol route, while the three of them fought the twins.

It didn’t even work!
The twins managed to disengage before Assault and Battery even showed up!

…

Whatever, I guess it’s best to stick to getting stuff done with Firewatch, or possibly following up on some of those leads the Ninja have been giving me about Villains who’ve got basically no opposition in small Canadian towns.

…

Also, apparently, I missed a checkup during that whole princess thing last weekend, so Tsunade barged in and did it right in the living room with Emily, and somehow this ended up in her becoming my tutor for Science.

It’s a thing, I guess.
I mean, I was getting to the end of the unit anyway, so I guess she can do 9th-grade Science as well as anyone else.

Oh, and she did one for Emily, too, when I asked, so I guess Emily had an old injury that can't really be healed, so she never went to Panacea for it.
But Tsunade is really good about the space between healed and crippled.
So she did something and made it so Emily wouldn't feel pain in that specific part of her body anymore, which helped a lot, even if it’s too risky for anyone who's still getting in fights.

Chapter Text

Today was a “team building exercise” with Firewatch, Aspirant, Addison, and Dauntless.

I guess the Deputy Director was all proud of that one raid where we managed to stop Uber and Leet's minions, so he's going to have Addison train up with Firewatch, then go out with one of the PRT squads like I do with Firewatch.
Dauntless is here because he’s the Protectorate liaison for the PRT-Wards. I guess nobody was before, but the position exists, and nobody was against his taking it to have more father-son time.
Aspirant was here because it was a bunch of PRT training with Dauntless giving pointers. He seemed kind of awestruck but mostly just wanted to learn.

…

But in more important news, Addison brought Buddy.

Buddy is like Fox, he’s an animal with powers.
I guess he’s got super tracking skills.
He's a Bloodhound, but with tracking skills orders of magnitude better than most.

But they were worried about him going out without protection, which led to me realizing I've been an idiot.

I offered dog armor and then realized that's 100% a thing I should have been making for the pack.

…

It calmed Addison to know that Buddy would be 100% immortal so long as the armor lasted, and I’d be able to make 6x durable armor too.

Now we just need for the truckload of armadillos to be sent up.

…

I thought getting them might be the bottleneck, but I guess in some places, not too far away, they are actually pests.
Like, there are more armadillos than squirrels.
Weird…

Either way, whenever that comes, Buddy has first claim on some 6x durability dog armor, then I’ll start giving it to the pack.

…

Oh, and the 3x Damage, 3x Speed, AoE Explosion Organics Damage Only Crossbow just got approved by the testing authority.
Even if the damage output’s pretty insane, so it’s more of an Anti-Brute weapon, the Bay’s still got like 6 possible targets for it.
So I'm now making a few for Firewatch, the Protectorate, and the PRT.

…

Oh, and the roll I got is pretty sweet too, even if it doesn’t do much for me.

Patryn Whistle - The Death Gate Cycle
Base Cost: 50cp
Lore:
A single note, so sharp, so clear,
It shields the heart from doubt and fear.
No voice can sway, no thought can bind,
When Whistle guards the steadfast mind.
Details:
A whistle whose sound operates under the normal physical laws of sound propagation. Anyone who hears the sound directly (not recordings or amplifications) is freed from all mental influences save those placed by the whistle holder. This does not grant immunity or revert changes, but ongoing effects are halted unless intentionally reapplied, and automatic effects that linger will not be reapplied automatically even after the sound ends
Addons: -50cp to turn into a spell that can be overpowered rather than a whistle bound by mere physical laws.
Final Cost: 100cp
Bank: 1000cp

It’s not my craziest role, but I have started getting back at the PRT for the whole M/S thing by playing it for them in the form of earworms, and the best part is their bureaucrats, so they can't even complain about it.
They know what this spell is supposed to do, so they know complaining just makes them look sus.

I wasn’t going to bug Emily, but she requested I use it on her every morning and night just to be sure, so that works for me.

…

Emily has actually requested that I go around to all the cape groups and use it on them, just in case.
So I guess I’ll be doing that as I see them over the next bit.

I’m just glad there was the spell, not whistle, option because it lets me play it as music I know, rather than needing to learn an instrument on top of everything else.

Chapter Text

I guess we’re back to the awkward dinners at Battery’s place, but I laid down the ground rules right from the start this time and pinned a message at the top of the Awkward Dinner Conversations channel of the IRC to remind them that I’m a teleporter and immune to their bullshit.

Assault found the name of the IRC channel funny, even if Battery and Sis didn’t, and promised to just tell me where we were going next time. He also said that trying to box in a mover was a bad idea from the start.

It was at this point that a wolf plopped into his lap, so I guess there’s no hiding my approval of that.
Assault, meanwhile, managed to convey “this is my life now” through body language alone.

…

Later, we somehow got into a versus debate about powers and what kind of Brute was best. That’s apparently been an ongoing thing in the Cape Section of the IRC, so I ended up throwing gasoline on the fire by giving Assault 10 minutes of the 3x potency Bigger Potion—the one that makes someone 9x larger with proportional strength. Then I gave Battery the 3x duration version that makes you only 3x bigger but lasts for 30 minutes.

I have apparently fueled a future bit of domestic violence… and gambling. I bet $100 in the Tinker Budget on Assault, which Armsmaster accepted as a valid bet (because of course he’s the bookie—why am I even surprised?).

Oh, and I gave Missy 60 minutes of Invisibility (two of the 3x duration ones) on the condition that she only tell people it was 30 minutes and save the rest for fun stuff.
She agreed instantly, which is how I know that was a terrible idea.

I’m glad the IRC exists, because typing all this out in person would’ve spoiled the good vibes, I think.

…

I guess the other debates were less interesting, though Assault and Battery apparently found it offensive when I agreed with Sis that one-to-one Shakers beat Brutes.

As in: if all you know about a cape is their rating, and the numbers are the same, you should always assume the Shaker will be the bigger threat.

My reasoning is slightly different from Sis’s, who mostly just seemed to have pride in her category, though.

Like I messaged/said at the time:
When a Brute gets clever with their powers, a wall explodes or bones break.
When a Shaker gets clever, it’s physics that breaks, and there’s no way to prep for that before you’ve seen it happen.

I kinda stumped them with that, so Missy glomped me… it was nice. And mildly terrifying, because Missy doesn’t “half-glomp” anything.

…

Oh, and for some reason, one of the puppy wolves started chewing on Battery and wouldn’t stop until I left, which was apparently hilarious to Sis and Assault for some reason.
Battery, less so.

…

The only other thing of note is that Emmy, who’s apparently my PR person as well as my English tutor, asked me to spend at least a few minutes of any flying time near that mural someone made.
It’s an easy enough request, since it was already a great mural even before people kept adding to it.

Phoenixes are already a mythical figure found in lots of different cultures, so I guess we happened across a piece of art people aren’t willing to graffiti over.
Both the Empire and ABB capes have apparently claimed it for their sides and told their people to leave it alone, unless they were adding to it.

The result is that the mural gets a bit bigger and more interesting every day. I once spent an hour just looking at all the details, and I guess the PR of pictures of Phoenix next to the Phoenix mural ending up on PHO was good, so she asked me to keep doing it.

The only weird part is the people showing up in my merch.
I mean, I get people my age or high schoolers, but it’s always a bit odd seeing old people wearing those feather pendants they sell.
But Sis said it’s just something you get used to, so I guess I’ll just ignore it.
Or die quietly inside.
Hard to tell the difference.

Chapter Text

I ran into Taylor today.

She was Aura farming near the Boat-Graveyard, just standing on one of the piers, hair flowing cinematically in the breeze, looking like Edmond Dantès out of that book Emmy’s been making me read lately, The Count of Monte Cristo.

I guess she noticed me hovering nearby because she turned and looked straight at me.

She waved me down, so I switched into smaller bird form (easier to teleport from) and perched on the edge of the pier near her, ready to bolt if I had to.

She started whispering at me, so I turned human and used a finite on her.
I mean, I don’t actually have proof she’s a villain yet, so leaving her semi-soundless just felt rude.

But I didn’t want to give the wrong impression either, so I pulled out my tablet and had it say:
“I’m still going to take you down next time, Queen Administrator.”

She just kind of brooded at me for a while, then asked if that was why I was against the Dockworkers.

I told her it wasn’t about them, it was about their protecting Uber and Leet, and that a gang shielding supervillains from law enforcement is pretty much the definition of a valid target.

She moved toward me, so I shifted into bird form and started to leave, but she called for me to “Wait!”
I circled back and landed further away, keeping my distance.

She insisted the Dockworkers who dealt with Uber and Leet were being “handled internally” (shudder) and asked how I was so sure they were a gang.

It seemed obvious, but I explained how they already matched nearly every definition of one before she started defending them.
Now, they’ve even got a cape in their ranks.

She pushed back, saying she’s “A Hero, not some Gang Villain,” so I brought up Nuwa, “that tinker with the Neighborhood Watch that just happens to be full of suspected ABB members, who all like wearing red and green.”

She brooded at me again, so I tried to soften it by saying the Dockworkers were:
“Probably the Bay’s Least Bad Gang” and pointed out her PRT file still had her listed as “Gang-Affiliated-Vigilante, not villain.”

She brooded some more, then asked: “Does this make you my rival then?”

I had to suppress the instinctive urge to flee in terror, and instead, I just wrote out:
“I’m pretty sure mine is Leet.”
“But I don’t think Aspirant has a rival. I’d be careful, though, he knows Kung-Fu!”

Someone laughed from uncomfortably close behind me, so I went bird again and started to leave, but Taylor called out:
“Wait!
“Thanks for the name…”
“It’s kind of pretentious, but something about it just… feels right.”

Hah. I’ll bet it does.

I nodded in bird form and left before the guy in the truck could call for backup.

I’ll need to do something nice for Aspirant…
Since he’s basically on death row now.

Still, a bullet dodged is a bullet dodged.

Chapter Text

Rune baited and almost trapped Aegis and Glory Girl a few days ago by seeming to repeat her “throwing rocks at minorities” thing before flying directly to where Menja and Fenja were waiting.

So when I saw Rune fly off in an extremely obvious way today, I sent a DM over to Carlos and Vicky on IRC and went over to where she left from.

It seems like I was right, because I found the giant twins in costume but still normal-sized.

So I hit them both with Harry Potter stunners, then dropped my one containment foam grenade on one of them and swooped down to teleport the other to Canada.

Then I sent an alert through IRC to call for pickup on both the one I had foamed and the one I had stunned on Prince Edward Island.

In the end, Rune ended up having a really dramatic and public chase scene with Aegis and Glory Girl, where she was frantically throwing things at the public, forcing the two of them to break off to save people.

Still, they’d apparently almost gotten her when the twin that turned out to be Fenja burst out of the foam and went on a brief but very flashy rampage.

But the unconscious Menja and I just sorta hung out for a while until a PRT van showed up with some special brute restraints in a truck, then had me fill out the paperwork before I went home and got the lowdown on the other side of things.

I felt a bit guilty about it after, but Emily told me that Othala and probably Victor were involved. Since the reason her rampage was more dramatic than usual was that she was making use of the two minutes of granted invulnerability.

So what I did was keep the rampage to one twin rather than both.

Chapter Text

I guess there was some kind of fight over forcing me into the Protectorate-Wards, since I apparently “don't trust the Protectorate to safeguard the villain.”
I was confused, but I guess they took offense at my teleporting her to Canada, meaning the PR win got split between me, personally, and the Moncton, New Brunswick Protectorate, not the local branch.

I got really offended that they would try to fuck up my situation just to punish me for capturing a villain (like we're supposed to) in such a way that they’d stay caught rather than serve as a PR boost for the week Armsmaster managed to hold on to her.

It’s the funny thing about that skill at paperwork I got a while ago.
It makes me GREAT at reading between the lines on their “requests” to “normalize the ward situation.”

I was trying to make them realize that if they did force me out of my decent setup as some kind of bully-esque spite move, that I’d return the spite 7-fold.
So I sent a “request” to Armsmaster for an interview to “address the allegations of incompetence of the Local Protectorate.”

I 100% did not need to send him that, but nothing says I can't, even if that’d be Dr. Renoch’s call in my case, and the PR people don't want me doing interviews in the first place.

…

That said, I don’t think I was blunt enough, since he just rejected it for the above reasons and then forwarded another “request.”
So I pinned a message for an hour in the BB Protectorate section of the IRC:

“Armsmaster, that wasn’t a request. That was me warning your whole Protectorate team.”

“You’re mad because I handed a villain off to New Brunswick instead of trusting your leaky lock-up. Yeah, it stings. Makes it look like I don’t trust you. Maybe because no one should. And now what? You’re gonna play tough guy and try to yank me out of the PRT just to teach me ‘respect’? That’s pathetic.”

“Sure, you can crush me if you all lean on me hard enough. But I’ve got one thing none of you do, superhuman skill with paperwork. So go ahead, shove. I’ll bury you in forms and red tape so deep you’ll choke on your own system. If I go down, I’m taking your whole Team down into the mud with me.”

…

Emily ended up reprimanding me and giving me a lecture on not threatening teammates. Then she made me remove the message even though it'd only been up for an hour.

But I could tell she thought it was hilarious, and at least somewhat deserved, given she waited till after the lecture to make me take it down.

…

I'm starting to realize this with Emily.
That you can tell more about what she thinks from how she says things than from the specifics of her words.

Either in the order, like with the lecture first, then removal after, or with intentionally not including obvious things, like with my teleportation practice, while I was still getting the hang of that.

Chapter Text

Unicorn - Warhammer Fantasy: Bretonnia
Base Cost: -50cp
Lore:
Horned steeds of myth with gleaming might,
In forests deep, they blaze with light.
Pure as dawn, with fury untamed,
Warhammer legends, proud and famed.
Details:
The ability to make any animal you ride into its mythical equivalent. Limit, one at a time.
+200% to CHA stat or intimidate skill , also a (+25%) buff to Endurance, Speed, & All Resistances.
(Classic example is Horse to Unicorn, Pig to Erymanthian Boar or Dog to Cŵn Annwn/Okuri-Inu)
Addons: -100cp increase the limit to 10 at once. Moar Unicorns!
Final Cost: -150cp
Bank: 1350cp

Padfoot!

Their 10 padfoots now!
Or, well, supposedly it’s based on the Black Shuck myth according to Dragon, but the point is that 10 of the wolves at a time get bigger, fluffier, and have a weird shadow-stalker-like power.

It’s really specific, like their Awoo’s, but in testing, they charged a trooper straight through a wall after he hit me on the neck with an airsoft bullet.

I guess it’s like how the Awoo’s are only magically boosting if I'm protecting an ally, they can only ignore walls if they're pursuing an enemy. (The awwos are magical either way, but I’ve only been boosted by them once so far.)

Mostly, though, I’m just focused on how fluffy this makes them.
Hint: Very!

Oh, and I guess I could use it on a horse at some point, but I don't see why.

Though using it on Buddy did have interesting results since his ears turned red.
I guess he became a “Cŵn Annwn” and was able to take commands better, but mostly just from me. Addison and Shaun didn’t have any better luck at giving him commands than usual, so outside of a fight where at least 3 of us are there, and we have time for me to relay orders through my tablet, I can't see the use.

Still, he got WAY faster like that, and if the mythology follows, he might have become an even better hunter, so I guess they might have me tag along next time they use Buddy for PRT investigation-type work.

…

Oh, and there was a bit of a debate in the Wards IRC about yesterday.

I admit, I could have been gentler about things, but I wasn't expecting my own allies to try backstabbing me like that.

Just another lesson, I guess.
I need to keep on my toes with the Protectorate from now on, or I’ll blink and be back in a box, like at home with the ball and chain. 

…

[19:41] Parallax >> so are we just not gonna talk about saga nuking the Protectorate with paperwork threats?

[19:43] Ferrum [Hand] >> she didn’t nuke them. she just… showed she *could*. big difference.

[19:43] Lumina >> honestly? kind of iconic. “put me on your roster and I’ll make your life a binder convention.”

[19:44] AegisPatch >> iconic until you remember she’s basically telling the people who back us to shove it. not exactly team spirit.

[19:45] PulseCheck [Mod] >> or maybe she’s reminding them not to mess with something that’s already working. that’s how I heard it.

[19:47] Parallax >> Addison that’s the most “both sides” thing I’ve ever read.

[19:48] PulseCheck [Mod] >> some of us live complicated lives, okay?

[19:53] Lumina >> the thing is, Piggot’s not even mad. no PR statement, no punishment. it’s just… awkward silence.

[19:55] Ferrum [Hand] >> that silence says she’s backing Saga. otherwise there’d be fire and brimstone already.

[19:56] Parallax >> exactly. so why can’t she just join properly? be part of the Protectorate, like the rest of us. if she did, we’d live together again. like we should.

[19:57] Ferrum [Hand] >> because she actually likes where she’s at. sometimes standing your ground means saying no, even if family doesn’t like it.

[19:58] AegisPatch >> Weld’s right. she has the right to stay independent. but maybe don’t aim a rocket launcher at your own bosses while doing it.

[19:59] Lumina >> lol “rocket launcher.” more like “endless DMV line.”

[20:41] Firebird [Queen] >> exactly. the adults weren’t mad I beat Menja, they were mad they looked weak. so I told them if they try to shove me into their box, I’ll make that box a coffin of forms.

[20:46] Parallax >> and what about *me*? I’m the one left out. you could be home with me again. with people who care.

[20:51] Firebird [Queen] >> you’ll always have me, Missy. but I’m not you. I won’t fold myself small just to fit their neat little chart.

[20:52] Ferrum [Hand] >> she’s got a point about pettiness. but Saga… you could’ve said it softer.

[20:54] Firebird [Queen] >> maybe. I’ll admit that. but better sharp edges than being whittled down. 

Chapter Text

My leather boots are starting to get sold.
$80, and it took a while since the fitting to the first wearer thing they do meant they needed to go through pretty extensive testing before they could get sold to the general public.

But Emmy and Glenn Chambers have been pushing pretty hard for this, especially after that one scientist with the German name and Brazilian accent offered the loophole with turning rabbits into leather with my crafting.

So I made them, and then some poor grunt got to press a hot brand with the PRT and “My” logo on each one before boxing them up.

The main thing for me (or really for the clone) is needing to coordinate colors, since we’ve figured out that they can all get dyed in such a way that the leather wears out before it loses the color, but we can’t actually test every color since there are 16,777,216 of them.

But I still needed to send off 256 boots of all the basic combos for testing, then make another hundred of each basic combo to sell.

I guess they're saving the more complex combinations for if they run out.

I was also able to figure out that I don’t need to go all the way to 2x or 3x resources if I don’t want to.
So I made boots with a 1.25x durability enchantment using 5 leather, which was gotten from 20 rabbit skins and an average of 3 dyes.

Either way, the result is that the boots suddenly appeared on shelves across America today.

I can kind of see why it’s a big deal, but only kinda.
I mean, the version of this I made for the Local PRT is 6x durability and 6x maneuverability and supposedly feels like wearing a cloud that kicks like it’s made of titanium.

So the PR version that are basically just $200 boots sold for $80 just seems kind of underwhelming for what Tinkertech is supposed to be.

But like I said, Emmy was really pumped about it, and she’s been open and honest with me so far, so I figure I’ll go with it (and will have the clone keep pumping out the boots when they ask.)

…

We kept trying to make other clothing and it wasn’t working but just today I ended up rolling something that.. Kinda fixes that issue.

Garmenter - Dr. Stone
Base Cost: -50cp
Lore:
Flax trembles in calloused hands, spun and twined, threads hum and unwind,
Looms creak and whirl, fibers curl, warp meets weft in shadowed swirl,
Hides stretched, smoked, and softened by fire’s flick, edges kissed and nicked,
Needles flash, fabrics clash, seams whisper, hems fold, edges lash,
Dyes bleed, waters weave, pigments shimmer, soak, and heave,
Garments rise, worn hands sigh, rough cloth yielding to form, to life, to sky.
Details:
You can now shape the raw materials at hand into approximations of modern fashions, crafted with surprising speed and precision, given your tools. The finished pieces convincingly echo the designs you aim to replicate, yet they always retain a rugged, improvised quality, sturdy and functional, but unmistakably handmade. Using finer materials can make your creations exceptionally durable, perhaps even outlasting the originals, though their rough-hewn, adventurous aesthetic will remain immediately apparent.
Addons: -50cp integration with other perks (continues with new ones).
Final Cost: 100cp
Bank: 1300cp

I mean, it’s still what Glenn called “Barbarian-Sheik” rather than the simple but decent quality of the leather boots.
But it works, and once I've made one, I can start pumping it out of the crafting table perk using the materials.
So I’m now sending a couple hundred Frontier hats and crude leather jackets off for testing.

I’m not sure anyone would be willing to spend the nearly $200 we’d need to sell these for, but Glenn told me not to worry about it, that this was the kind of problem the National PR office prefers to have.

Plus, the extra 50cp for integrating it means I can do the same thing with dyes, so I figure worst case, the southern PR offices just start getting a cheaper version of the clothing for local heroes.
It can't be too much trouble to order a bunch in a local hero’s color and have someone Brand each one with that hero’s logo.
I figure it’s what they were already doing, but doing it through me will probably mean the process happens quicker and with a more consistent quality from the dyework, even if the quality of the individual hats and jackets is lower.

Emmy says it’ll make things much easier for PR, both mine, since they're making up some kind of “Made By Phoenix” to put on anything I make.
Along with the national program, because of how I can make a ton of these really quickly if I'm given the materials and proper instructions on what order to add the dyes.

That's why there are nearly 17 million combos.
Because dies need to be added in the exact same order each time to get the same result.

…

So I guess I’m really banking on having the PR department like me, even if the Protectorate doesn't, the Wards are Mixed, and the PRT views me as just useful enough to put up with the headaches.

Chapter Text

Fourth date.
Four.
That was a big enough number that it felt like it should mean something, but small enough that I had no idea what it meant.

I was walking a thin line between holding Missy’s hand like it was casual and clinging like I’d never let go.

The movie hadn’t given me any ideas for how to act.
It was fine.
Safe.
We’d laughed, we’d eaten too much popcorn, and then we’d stepped outside into the cool air where the evening felt too wide open.

Missy leaned against my shoulder as we walked, whispering:
“I can’t believe she thinks that works.”

“She’s counting on us not looking too close.”
I replied

“Gallant’s makeup skills are scary good. I bet he did hers, too.”

“That would explain why she doesn't look like an alien in that trench coat.

We both snickered, and the weight on my chest loosened.
It felt good, easy.
The kind of thing where we were in sync without having to try.

But then the pier stretched out ahead of us, water shining with sunset light, and I realized I was back to square one.
No idea what to do with a date except sit on a rail and pretend this was a movie.

Missy didn’t complain.
She hopped up beside me, legs kicking, eyes on the water.
“You know they’re going to follow us till we go home.”

“Let them.”
I shrugged.
“We’ll give them a show.”

The words made her laugh again, soft but bright.
Then the quiet settled.
The waves, the gulls, the smell of fried food drifting from somewhere behind us.

And suddenly it wasn’t about a movie anymore.
“It’s weird, right?”
I said, before I could think better of it.
“We’re the only ones not playing junior Protectorate.
Just dropped into the squads like… extra gear. Because of Saga.”

Missy glanced at me, sharp, like I’d touched a bruise.
“She doesn’t listen, yeah. But she’s not wrong.”

“I know.”
I picked at the peeling paint on the rail.
“It’s not that she’s wrong. It’s that she doesn’t care if she sounds disrespectful about it. Adults give an order, and she just—”

I made a vague gesture.
“Throws it back if it doesn’t add up.”

Missy’s jaw set.
“That’s not a bad thing.”

“I didn’t say it was.”
My chest felt tight. “It’s just…"
"I’ve known her a long time. She didn’t used to be like that.”

Missy blinked, surprised.
“She used to be quiet. Shy. You know that.”

“Exactly.”
I met her eyes.
“She was different before she triggered.”

The words landed harder than I thought they would.
Missy flinched like I’d hit her.

Crap.
“I didn’t mean—”

Her voice cracked before I could backpedal.
“Don’t. Just… don’t. You’re right.”

Her hands clenched in her lap, knuckles white.
“I keep trying to get her to be that girl again. The one who listened, who followed along. And that’s—god—”

She pressed a hand to her eyes.
“That’s what Mom and Dad did to me. Pushed me and pushed me until something broke.”

The sound of her breath shaking broke something in me, too.

I wanted to fix it.
To say the right thing.
But I didn’t know the right thing.

All I had was:
“That’s not the same. You care about her. That matters.”

Missy let out a wet laugh, bitter.
“Caring doesn’t change the fact I’ve been a hypocrite. Telling myself I’m better than them while trying to force her into something she’s not.”

I swallowed hard.
“Maybe. But I think there’s more going on than either of us know. If you want answers… maybe the only way is a heart-to-heart. Her terms, not yours.”

Her shoulders slumped.
“I keep trying. She shuts me out every time.”

“Then it’s not all on you. You can’t fix her alone.”

Missy’s head whipped around, eyes fierce even through the tears.
“I’m her older sister. It’s my job.”

I almost argued... almost.
But then I thought of Saga, disappearing from people, ducking out of rooms when conversations got too close.
Running away instead of facing things.

“You’re not wrong,”
I said quietly.
“But running doesn’t work either. If it’s going to happen, it has to be her choosing. Not because anyone pushed her into it.”

Missy stared at me for a long moment.

We froze.
The sunset burned on the water.

Her eyes darted to mine, wide and scared and stubborn all at once.
Then space folded around her, and she was gone, leaving the air warped and humming.

I sat there, pulse hammering in my ears, lips tingling, trying to understand what had just happened.

Saga’s problems weren’t solved.
Missy’s weren’t either.
Mine… sure as hell weren’t.

But for once, even being overwhelmed felt kind of okay.

Chapter Text

… Ah, so Coil’s dead… and Brandish.

I…
Well, this all feels really sudden, but hearing it from Dean, it’s actually been brewing for months.

…

So, I guess New Wave got enough intel to do a lightning raid on the underground bunker Coil just… had??
They also somehow knew he and Hijack would be there.

The talk is that this was probably Tattletale’s doing, since there was a secure room that locked from the outside. They think it was hers, but she’s nowhere to be seen.

I guess it’s easy to forget the sheer amount of experience and force New Wave represents when they want to.
They even called LightStar back just for this.

Somehow, it ended up with Coil fighting Brandish, with neither of them sure whose reinforcements would come around the corner next. They were both fighting desperately.
And, it turns out Coil was a combat Thinker… My memories disagree with that, but my memories are unreliable, so I’m ignoring them.

I guess Coil managed to beat the cape whose whole thing is CQC in CQC… for about half a second. Then she cut him in half.

So… all that, plus the huge bunker full of mercs, would have been crazy enough. But it turns out Triumph’s cousin, Dyna Loughton, had been kidnapped nearly a month back and nobody bothered to tell me.

What’s worse is that she’s a super scary cape, and Hijack had apparently developed perfect control over her.
Her power, I guess, is seeing a bunch of immediate futures and “borrowing” details from them.

The whole reason the raid went how it did was because Hijack wasn’t paying attention to her. (He was sitting right next to her but focused on his video game.) So she borrowed Brandish all the way to where Coil was, before he could escape.
But then Hijack took control, along with two mercs picked specifically to make him ultra dangerous in combat.

That combo, plus the way everyone he fights tends to trip at just the wrong time, makes him extremely dangerous… until Dyna used a loophole against him.

Apparently, her Thinker headaches hit him if he’s controlling her when they develop, and they stick to him even if he stops.
So she used her power just enough for Brandish to make sure she had no headache, but would after one or two more uses.

I guess the fight looked REALLY BAD for like five minutes. Then Hijack and Dyna started grimacing, and he let go of her…

Then she did something honestly kind of evil.
She used her power one last time to make it so the shield Eric used, instead of knocking Hijack back, snapped his neck.

They knew it was her because right after, she screamed and passed out.
But in the meantime, Eric has now killed a guy, and Brandish is dead—all just so Dyna could get her revenge.

And it’s not even done. I guess she still intends to go after Tattletale, wherever she is.

…

So… Dyna is a Ward, but basically all of us Wards put up some kind of “Please send her to another city” request.

So, I guess Triumph is going with her, and they’re gonna end up transferring someone else over here.

I requested a Case 53.

…

Oh, and I guess Coil had a contingency plan, because there’s a list that keeps getting put up by different accounts in different places with all the villain identities Coil apparently knew.
Supposedly, it includes most of the Empire and a bunch of their contacts across the country and in Europe.

But like I said, that one’s dubious and keeps getting taken down fast.

The other one is more interesting, because it was made in such a way that it’s not technically illegal.
I guess Coil wrote up his “Fuck You, New Wave” last-will-and-testament as a “fanfic,” with a whole bunch of “hypothetical” blackmail he had on New Wave—including evidence and speculation.

It’s like 60 chapters of dirt on New Wave, but all framed as speculation and structured so it can’t legally be taken down.
Plus, he posted it on a few of those sites that won’t remove anything without a court order, and even then only after warning people so they can copy and re-upload it first.

…

The whole thing is a mess, but I guess it’s functionally killed New Wave.
Supposedly, none of them want to talk to Manpower now, and Amy took Brandish’s car and left the state, going who knows where.

I guess Flashbang and Manpower left to find her, while Vicky just refuses to talk about any of it.

Oh, but that’s the other thing: Vicky’s now a Ward… or she will be as soon as the paperwork is done.
Same with Shielder too… the PRT-Wards.

Yeah, there’s more drama there.

Armsmaster was going to make Eric give up certain things or become a “probationary” Ward, since he technically killed a guy.
(Even though another cape made him do it, and the dead one was a known human Master who’d been semi-controlling him in the fight.)

But Dr. Renoch jumped in and offered him full status with a better-than-average contract… as a PRT-Ward.

Too bad, Addison. Your month of leadership is now done, and all hail glorious leader Eric!
It works out, since Eric did the correct thing and started acting like a proper dictator when I sent that in the IRC.

Also, I guess Photon Mom was going to join the Protectorate once her son’s paperwork was signed, but Armsmaster’s BS made her pull back.

Eric says she’ll probably still join, but she’s looking into joining another city instead, since she really doesn’t want to take orders from the guy who tried to get “murderer” written on her son’s record just so he could funnel toy-sale profits into the tinker budget.

I mentioned how Portland, Maine, has a kind of underpowered Protectorate department, given how huge their jurisdiction is, and offered to teleport him there to see her sometimes if he wanted.
He seemed interested, and I know this would make Emily’s life a bit easier, so I started a sub-channel in the IRC with Emily and Photon Mom and explained it.

I wasn’t exactly following everything, and it’s not like the paperwork was signed yet, but it seems like Newport just gained, at the least, a part-timer who can fly and shoot lasers. So that’s got to be nice.

Chapter Text

Stepstones Fief - House of the Dragon   
Base Cost: 350cp
Lore:
Two kingdoms bicker, yet both will defend,
My tax-free rocks till the bitterest end.
A harbor, some caves, and a loophole or two,
Who knew conquest would net me beachfront view?
Details:
You were important during the conquest of the Stepstones... but not too important.
So here are two rocky islands, all to yourself.
Whichever government you are the closest to considers them part of its territory and will defend them with as much vigor or its lack as they would any of their other, less important island holdings.
Still, they consider it owned by you, and thanks to some interesting tax loopholes, they won't expect any taxes from here so long as the population (they know about) stays under 1000.
Not that this will be difficult, as the largest population these particular rocks have ever had, historically, is 80, and that was more than a century ago.
Still, they form a tiny but well-sheltered natural harbor, and past residents have carved a series of homes out of the caves near the harbor. So if you can find around 200 people willing to bring their own boats, this could become a small fishing village quite easily.
Addons: 100cp These will be mirrored in the warehouse, so you can make changes to an empty version of the islands and apply it to the real islands at will.
Final Cost: 450cp
Bank: 1550cp

[09:00] *Firebird [Queen] and CrownOfSpite [Ward] join channel*  

They fly north along the coast, thirty minutes of silence. Vicky keeps gesturing as though she’s narrating a show to herself. Saga just flies, quiet and steady. The IRC stays blank until they land.

[09:31] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> So this is the grand prize? The fabled phoenix islands? I was expecting glowing runes or at least some dramatic music.  

[09:32] Firebird [Queen] >> They are mine.  

[09:33] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Yours, yeah, but you can’t just claim them like a dragon. You’re literally on the tax rolls. Eleven-year-old queen with a mortgage.  

[09:34] Firebird [Queen] >> Queen Saga sounds better than taxpayer Saga.  

[09:35] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Queen Saga, Monarch of Rocks and Seagulls. Long may she reign.  

They step into the first carved chamber, stone bare, every footstep echoing.

[09:40] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Well this is anticlimactic. It’s just… a room. A very echoey room.  

[09:41] Firebird [Queen] >> They are all empty.  

[09:42] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> It’s like a video game dungeon that hasn’t spawned loot yet. You could jam three hundred people in here if you wanted to test hygiene limits.  

[09:43] Firebird [Queen] >> Spartan living. It would work.  

[09:44] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> That’s one way to say “unsanitary.”  

They leave the chamber, gulls wheeling overhead.

[09:50] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> So Missy and Addison. I heard the rest of the team whispering about it like it was some reality TV subplot.  

[09:51] Firebird [Queen] >> She asked him. He kept winding himself up. She got tired of it.  

[09:52] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> That’s perfect. Addison talks like he’s trying to psych himself up for the Olympics every day. She probably had to shut him down before he exploded.  

[09:53] Firebird [Queen] >> He is better for her than Dean was.  

[09:54] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> …Missy liked Dean?  

[09:55] Firebird [Queen] >> Yes. It was a crush. She never said it out loud.  

[09:56] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> And Dean just… never mentioned it?  

[09:56] Firebird [Queen] >> Dean does not share things like that.  

[09:57] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> He does give off the whole “baby politician” vibe. Always smiling, always polished.  

[09:58] Firebird [Queen] >> That is how he feels to me.  

[09:59] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> But he’s more than that. He notices people. He doesn’t just put on a show. He actually feels things.  

[10:00] Firebird [Queen] >> Maybe. But the politician part is still there.  

They pause in the second chamber, water dripping steadily from the ceiling.

[10:05] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> I always thought Missy just plain didn’t like me. The glares, the silence. I figured she was the “serious little girl” and I was the walking disaster.  

[10:06] Firebird [Queen] >> She did not like you. Then she did. Now she is fine with you.  

[10:07] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Brutal. But… okay. I’ll take “fine with me” as progress.  

[10:08] Firebird [Queen] >> It is progress.  

They move on, sunlight streaming into the hall from a crack above.

[10:12] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Eric would love this place. He’d already be drawing blueprints for bunkhouses and comms towers.  

[10:13] Firebird [Queen] >> He already started. He wants this as a base.  

[10:14] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> That’s so him. The boy dreams in shield formations now.  

[10:15] Firebird [Queen] >> I think he does.  

They climb down toward the waterline, waves slapping against stone.

[10:20] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Ah, behold: the puddle chamber. Truly the jewel of the crown.  

[10:21] Firebird [Queen] >> Tickets will cost ten dollars.  

[10:22] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Ten bucks a toe. People will line up.  

[10:23] Firebird [Queen] >> The queen gets her share.  

[10:24] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Naturally. Puddle royalty demands tribute.  

They linger by the shallow pool, spray drifting through the doorway.

[10:30] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> You know… Amy would hate this place. Too quiet. Too far from everything.  

[10:31] Firebird [Queen] >> You pulled back from saying more.  

[10:32] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Yeah. Because the only things I can say now are… different. She’s not the sister I thought she was.  

[10:33] Firebird [Queen] >> It still hurts.  

[10:34] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> It does.  

The channel falls silent. Gulls shriek in the background.

[10:40] Firebird [Queen] >> Your mother’s death was not quiet. It was epic. She went out fighting.  

[10:41] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> …Yeah. Not cancer at eighty. Not forgotten in a bed. She went down swinging.  

[10:42] Firebird [Queen] >> That is better than most people get.  

[10:43] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Weirdly enough, that helps. Thanks.  

They stand together at the cliff edge, the horizon stretched endless in front of them.

[10:50] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> You know what’s strange? I actually like this. Empty caves, dumb jokes, just… being here.  

[10:51] Firebird [Queen] >> It is better. No crowds. No one watching.  

[10:52] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Yeah. No pity stares. No interrogations. No one poking at me like I’m some science experiment.  

[10:53] Firebird [Queen] >> Just us. Just snark.  

[10:54] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Exactly. You’re good at it.  

[10:55] Firebird [Queen] >> Thank you.  

They walk slowly along the ridge, gulls scattering as they pass.

[11:00] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> So official verdict: no monsters, no traps, no probability-girl ambushes.  

[11:01] Firebird [Queen] >> It is safe enough.  

[11:02] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> Safe enough might be the highest compliment I can give right now.  

They start heading back outside.

[11:03] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> We should head back. Detention is calling.  

[11:04] Firebird [Queen] >> Algebra is worse.  

[11:05] CrownOfSpite [Ward] >> True. Nobody comes out of Algebra the same.

[11:06] Firebird [Queen] >> Status change. 

[11:07] system >> CrownOfSpite status changed from [Ward] to [Mod] 

[11:07] CrownOfSpite [Mod] >> …Wow. You’re serious?  

[11:08] Firebird [Queen] >> Yes. Addison is a Mod. Weld is a Mod. Now you are too.  

[11:09] CrownOfSpite [Mod] >> Guess I’m in good company then. Thanks.  

[11:10] Firebird [Queen] >> Guard the channel. Guard each other.  

They leap into the air together, Saga’s wings beating as the islands shrink behind them.

Chapter Text

The Brazilian scientist is back.
I guess it’s rare for Tinkers, especially new ones, to be willing to make lesser versions of their own tech.

There’s always this push for quality over quantity.
Even the rare Tinker whose specialty is quantity, like drones, will still try to maximize individual quality and get offended if people ask them to build “good enough for the budget” gear.
Of course, the trade-off is that most Tinkers manage to shift their own requirements by constantly reconfiguring their gear to improve it somehow.

That’s why the PR boots came as a bit of a shock to the testers.
They’re just a sub-par version of something else I make and my power hasn’t been spamming me with ways to “optimize” them by changing the design entirely.
The boots I make today are identical to the first ones. Same resource cost. Same end result.

Because of that, they’ve started me on ideas that could make people’s lives better but would normally set off the average Tinker.
Things like combining spare trooper gear into double-strength versions, with the minor enchantments focused on maneuverability.
I guess the mix of that, the 6x boots I’ve been making for the PRT, and the Obelisk range (which doubled recently since I get a new one every month) means they eventually want the troopers moving around like they’re in gym clothes while they're actually in body armor.

Still, even the non-Tinkertech equipment isn’t cheap. So it’s more of a background project, something I’ll be working on as the budget allows.

…

But more importantly, I got a Lightsaber!!

Lightsaber - Star Wars: Episode IX Triumph of Hope
Base Cost: -200cp
Lore:
On the Nature of the Saber
The lightsaber is not chosen.
It is revealed.
Each crystal sings to its wielder, not in sound, but in resonance. When set into the hilt, it glows not with the hue you prefer, but with the truth of what you are. A saber’s color is not prophecy. It is reflection.
To bear one is not a prize. It is an unveiling. The hue is a mirror of the heart, drawn from your calm, your fury, your hunger, your devotion, your curiosity, or your clarity. What you see in the blade is not what you will be, but what you could be.
Red
Deep enduring emotions give loyalty and meaning, but twisted they calcify into ideology that cages the devotee even when the cause rots.
It flows naturally into Grey’s sense of purpose, yet it collides with White’s brittle morality that cannot bend for passion.
Grey
Constant doing creates resilience and momentum, but without a cause it hollows into empty motion.
It flows into Blue’s steady discipline, yet it grates against Yellow’s independence, which distrusts blind obedience.
Blue
Focused discipline turns action into devotion to a mission, building institutions and legacies, but at its worst it grinds people into tools.
It flows into Green’s search for comprehension, yet it clashes with Orange’s restless hunger for novelty.
Green
The pursuit of comprehension brings clarity and structure, but it often mistakes shallow order for peace.
It flows into Yellow’s drive for personal answers, yet it grinds against Purple’s volatility, which explodes the structures Green builds.
Yellow
Independence sparks originality and discovery, but unchecked it curdles into arrogance and isolation.
It flows into White’s rigid truths, yet it resents Grey’s constant doing, which it sees as hollow conformity.
White
Rigid codes provide clarity and consistency, but at their worst they snap when reality refuses to conform.
It flows into Orange’s hunger for connection, yet it collides with Red’s loyalty, which bends rules when devotion demands it.
Orange
Hunger for feelings creates charisma and connection, but twisted it collapses into restless addiction to novelty.
It flows into Purple’s adaptability, yet it clashes with Blue’s focus, which demands discipline over wandering.
Purple
Sudden passions bring bursts of adaptability and energy, but without others to steady them they rarely endure or build anything lasting.
It flows back into Red’s loyalty, yet it collides with Green’s demand for order, which smothers its volatility.
---
Violet
The central blade tempers passion into balance, able to harmonize with any path and strengthen whatever crystal it stands beside, but alone it risks becoming generic and accomplishing little.
It is the great stabilizer in chaotic times, yet in peace or isolation it seems bland, defined more by what it can echo than by what it is itself.
This is the blade Luke Skywalker carried. Through the original trilogy he touched Blue’s discipline, Green’s comprehension, Red’s devotion, and Purple’s passion, but was never bound by any one of them, the pivot the Force moved on in war but almost invisible in calm
The Mirror and the Burden
Every color has been wielded by heroes. Every color has been wielded by monsters.
Knights wielding in blue have stood as guardians and as oppressors. Sages with green have saved worlds, and doomed them through hesitation. The red flame has carried both eternal love and endless wrath. The muse of purple has birthed wonders and chaos alike. So it is with every hue. Your saber is not destiny. It is your possibility. A reflection of your nature, of what you could be at your best… or at your worst.
Details:
You gain a Lightsaber!
Plus basic/weak force sensitivity. Enough to allow this dangerous contraption to function without the powerful battery from overloading the little crystal. Instead, thanks to your force mumbo jumbo, you can do something that in-universe mechanics don't understand: converting enough energy to run a family home into a plasma-blade… somehow.
Addons:
-50cp Your Lightsaber is now tied to inventory and can be summoned/desummoned from there.
-100cp as much knowledge of saberwork as Luke had at the end of Rebirth of Hope.
-150cp as much knowledge of saberwork as Luke had at the end of Legacy of Hope.
-200cp as much knowledge of saberwork as Luke had at the end of Triumph of Hope.
Final Cost: 400cp
Bank: 1250cp

A Lightsaber!
H.E.L.L. to the YES!

But… eh, I already have the other force stuff from other powers, or will probably get it for cheaper.
Being a Jedi sounds really cool, but taking the top tier pushes it from 500cp to 700cp, and that’s a lot to spend just to get me to episode 9 when I’m pretty sure it takes place like a week after episode 8.
The first two movies give me plenty.
The last one is just bragging rights.
I don’t need to buy choreography for a duel I’ll never have.
Three other perks could live in that space instead, and I’ll need them more.

But this is still a lightsaber.
I can feel the skill, even without the blade in my hand, just in how I move.
I pictured an opponent and my body already knew the stance.
That’s not just cool, that’s dream-come-true levels of cool.

And then there’s the blade.
Everyone always imagines themselves with the big ones, right?
Luke with Violet, because it’s the rare one where you can mix paths without messing yourself up.
Vader with Red, with the kind of deep feelings that run your whole life, like love or loyalty.
The Emperor with Purple, because he’s all about crazy ideas and making them actually happen somehow.
Kenobi with Blue, the knight who keeps his duty.
Yoda with Green, the wisdom kind, the more regular teacher stuff.

So yeah, I was hoping for one of those.
And instead, I got Yellow.

But Yellow isn’t bad.
It means curiosity.
It means figuring things out on your own.
It means you want to explore and discover instead of just following the rules.
That’s actually awesome.

Most people probably wouldn’t even know that, but I kinda forget not everyone’s read all the stuff I have.
In my head, Grey would scream conflict, and Orange would scream selfish, and people would give me side-eyes every time I turned them on.
So Yellow is way better.

It fits me.
It’s safe, it’s cool, and it even matches some of my feathers.
Bird girl with a lightsaber of curiosity.
That’s perfect.

Chapter Text

Phoenix Boots Livestream Highlights
Rose Anvil TowerTube Channel

Set: White backdrop, shelves stacked with old boots and leather samples. On the desk, a fresh PRT-branded box. Chat overlay runs down the right side of the screen.

Clip 1: Unboxing
Host (cutting open the box, pulling out dyed leather boots with a single brown stripe):
“Alright chat, here we go. Phoenix boots. Eighty bucks. Real Tinker tech, straight out of the PRT shop. Front and center, right next to the national merch. Hats, patches, flags, and now this. Let’s see what an eleven-year-old miracle worker cooked up.”

Camera close-up as he holds the boots up, turning them over slowly.

Host:
“First impression? Kinda plain. No neon flames, no flashy logos. Just boots. Almost boring. Which is what makes this suspicious.”

Chat scrolls fast:
SneakerHead42: “those look basic af”
Cptn_Rats: “yeah until they dont fall apart in a week”
UnionGuy88: “plain boots are what ppl actually need lol”
TinfoilCap: “govt hiding the REAL tech”

Clip 2: Fit Test
Host slips on one boot. Camera tightens as the leather flexes and shimmers slightly, tightening to his foot.

Host (eyes wide):
“Okay… okay that’s wild. It just snugged in. Like it scanned my foot. No pinch, no break-in. Fits like I’ve owned it for months.”

Chat:
WitchHunter77: “bruh magic boots”
IronToe: “better than my Red Wings already”
PRTsux: “bet they break tomorrow”
AliensInVT: “phoenix got alien tech CONFIRMED”

Host (laughing):
“Yeah yeah, aliens. But you’re not wrong about one thing. This isn’t normal fit. This is too good.”

Clip 3: Wear Test
Montage of the host pacing, squatting, jogging in place. Timer overlay shows forty minutes have passed. Sweat darkens his shirt. He flexes and wiggles toes, still smiling.

Host (slightly breathless):
“Alright chat, forty minutes in. Still comfy. No heel rub, no hot spots. Normally I’d be limping by now in new leather. These feel the same as minute one.”

Chat:
LunchpailLarry: “my steel toes shred me after 20”
BootLvr69: “pls kick something”
CivicDuty: “this is what workers should get not mall rats”
TinFoilCap: “ITS A TEST ON YOUR SWEAT GLANDS WAKE UP”

Clip 4: Stress Test
Host bends the boot nearly in half, slams heel against the table edge, then hammers it on the floor. No cracks. He holds it up close, showing the leather unmarked.

Host:
“See that? No stress lines. No cracks. Normal leather’d look beat after this. These still look fresh. Chat, eighty bucks for this kind of durability? That’s insane.”

Chat:
BudgetBen: “could sell for 20 easy if it’s mass made”
WorksiteWanda: “govt milking her labor”
KeepItBlue: “union made?”
AlienInVT: “union OF ALIENS lol”

Host (reading, chuckling):
“Yeah yeah, alien union. But real talk, you’re right. Phoenix didn’t pick this price. PRT set it. And they set it just high enough it’s not impulse, but not unreachable either.”

Clip 5: Dissection
Overhead camera. Host slices into dyed leather under a magnifying lamp, holds up a perfect cross section for the lens. The dye runs completely through.

Host (grinning):
“Check this. That’s not surface dye. That’s solid, all the way down. Cut it, tear it, it’s the same color. That’s impossible. Leather doesn’t behave like this.”

Chat:
ChemNerd: “what’s her process???”
BootSnob99: “wtf that’s cleaner than synthetic”
GovtLies4U: “govt dyed it for her to sell the story”
UnionGuy88: “nah this is tinker tech no faking that”

Final Clip: Verdict
Wide shot. Dissected pieces lie neatly arranged on the desk. Host rests a hand on them, looks straight into camera.

Host:
“Alright. Final take. Boots fit like a dream. They last, the dye’s impossible, and they’re sitting front and center in PRT shops. Eighty bucks isn’t cheap, but it’s close enough most folks could save for it. That makes these the weirdest, maybe the most important piece of national merch I’ve ever reviewed.”

He spins a boot fragment once, drops it back on the pile with a smirk.

Host:
“So miracle or bait? You decide.”

End screen: Rose Anvil logo, text reading Boots, Leather, Truth. Music sting, fade to black.

The Miracle at Eighty Dollars
by: Ada Veblen

By early May, Phoenix had been a Ward for less than half a year. She joined in January, was introduced to the public in March, and by May her name was on a product with national distribution. The product in question: boots, would not normally merit front-page coverage. But these are no ordinary boots. They fit themselves perfectly to the first wearer. They display dye work that should be impossible by conventional means. They are being sold for $80 across the country, fixed price, regardless of state or store. And they represent one of the strangest economic experiments in the short history of Tinker consumer goods.

A History of Public Tinker Tech
This is not the first time the public has had access to Tinker technology. Dragon has sold phones for years, each more efficient than its competitors, each redesign forcing users to adjust to an entirely new interface. The phones themselves are manufactured by human engineers, but the programs used to build the systems are her creation. The quality difference is unmistakable, but so too is the lack of continuity: Dragon’s constant redesigns have prevented her devices from establishing the sort of brand identity one might expect from a monopoly on quality.

Japan’s Masamune is a different case. His technology can be mass-produced directly, but it is notable for how mundane it appears. Unlike Dragon, Masamune does not produce software or exotic alloys. He produces items that, on the surface, look ordinary. Steel, household tools, small machines, none bear the hallmarks of a flashy specialty. For decades, critics have questioned whether he was a Tinker at all. And yet his products reached national scale only after years of incremental growth, distribution networks, and public acclimatization.

Other Tinkers have occasionally produced items that reached the public, but these have typically been niche or incidental: an unusual alloy requiring specialist forging, a chemical mixture used in industry, a material incorporated into clothing. In every case, the product either required substantial human processing to be useful or it lacked the visible “signature” of a Tinker effect.

Phoenix’s boots are different. They are finished products, usable immediately, and their effect is obvious the moment they are worn.

The Boots Themselves
The first wearer fits them perfectly. No break-in period, no need for orthotics, no painful adjustment. That effect alone has implications for people with non-standard feet, from construction workers on their tenth pair of steel-toes to individuals with medical issues that make footwear difficult.

The dye work is equally remarkable. Experts who have cut the boots open report color distributed evenly through the leather, as though the material itself had been born that way. Unlike conventional dyes, it does not rub off, does not transfer to socks, and does not carry a chemical smell. A few analysts have speculated that the process, if understood and reproduced, could revolutionize clothing durability in general.

The boots are simple in design: leather, brown, and one other color, sturdy but not ostentatious. They look less like futuristic gear and more like ordinary work boots. That simplicity is part of what makes them extraordinary.

The Rollout
Every state has received shipments. Each store has at least a handful of pairs. Based on available shipping data, only a few thousand exist nationwide. That scarcity, spread thinly across the entire country, makes the decision to brand the release as a national product peculiar. Collectors’ items could have been priced far higher, especially given the precedent of Tinker products that reach even niche markets. Instead, the boots are fixed at $80 nationwide.

At most PRT shops, boots remain on shelves a week after release, though never in bulk. This is not a runaway consumer phenomenon. Most customers do not enter a PRT shop expecting to spend significant sums; the stores are better known for souvenirs and low-cost items than for products approaching a week’s wages. But the decision to set the price point at $80 positions the boots in a careful space: not luxury, not bargain, but just within reach for the working poor. For blue-collar workers, it is an investment, but one within the realm of possibility. If the boots prove to be everything they appear to be, they could spread through that demographic within a year or two.

Phoenix Herself
The choice of Phoenix as the face of this rollout is as unusual as the product. She has been a Ward for only months. Publicly, she is known for her ability to transform into a phoenix-like form, not for her technology. Yet reports credit her with a series of creations: copper-colored armor worn by PRT troopers, a blue variant seen in Boston, and even technology that rendered users invisible. In each case, the equipment was used by others, not by Phoenix herself, and sometimes in places where she was not present.

This suggests a specialty not in personal use but in creating gear for others. The armor was marketed as a way to make troopers more visible to the public, less faceless, more like a cape team. The boots follow the same logic: equipment designed not for the Tinker’s personal benefit, but for the public.

The Economic Questions
Why was a Ward so new to the program chosen for the first national rollout of such an obvious Tinker product? Why spread a few thousand pairs across the country, instead of concentrating them where demand might be tested? Why fix the price at $80, a level high enough to exclude some but low enough to suggest abundance?

The PRT has implied that production will continue at roughly a thousand pairs a month. If true, the price point is plausible. But there is no proof yet of that scale. The compressed timeline, five months from joining the Wards to national release, would be remarkable even for a veteran Tinker.

Conspiracies have already circulated: that the boots are surveillance devices, that they will fail after a short time, that the PRT is manipulating markets for some deeper goal. None have evidence to support them. But the existence of these theories speaks to the gap between what has been promised and what has been explained.

The Implications
If the boots are what they appear to be, their impact could be profound. Durable, perfectly fitting footwear at an attainable price could change lives across the working class. For the PRT, the public relations value would be immense. For Phoenix, it would cement her as a new kind of Tinker, one whose products enter everyday life quickly and visibly.

If, on the other hand, supply fails to materialize or quality falters, the backlash will be sharp. Consumers who spend $80 on the promise of Tinker durability will not forgive quietly if that promise is broken.

For now, the Phoenix boots are both a curiosity and a precedent. They are proof that Tinker technology can reach the shelves of ordinary stores, with effects that anyone can see and feel. That fact alone makes them worth more than their price tag. It also makes them worth watching.

Channel 7 Evening News Segment
Intro jingle. Camera pans to two anchors at a sleek desk.

On-screen text: Noel Closet & Lindsay Straights - Channel 7 News at 6

Noel (beaming):
“Good evening, I’m Noel Closet.”

Lindsay (smiling, nodding):
“And I’m Lindsay Straights. Tonight’s top story: boots. Not just any boots, Phoenix boots. The product of Brockton Bay’s youngest Ward has been popping up in stores across the country this week, and people are already lining up for a pair.”

Noel (holding up a glossy stock photo of the boots):
“They sell for eighty dollars, they fit themselves perfectly to whoever wears them first, and according to early testers, they last longer than any leather shoe on the market. Oh, and they never lose their color, no matter how scuffed or scratched. Not bad for an eleven-year-old hero who can also turn into a bird.”

Lindsay (playfully):
“Not bad at all. Some say this is the first time Tinker technology has really reached the average consumer. Others are asking why it costs eighty and not twenty. Or why Phoenix’s talents are being spent on mall stock instead of life saving gear for first responders.”

Noel (grinning, mock conspiratorial tone):
“And of course, there are always those who think the boots are just the beginning. PR rollout, alien test run, you name it. You have probably heard it all by now.”

Lindsay (smooth, back to chipper):
“But for now, it is just boots. You can find them in select PRT shops around New England, including here in Vermont. And Governor Bernie Sanders was even spotted in a bright blue pair at a community event this weekend.”

Noel (with a small laugh):
“Hard to miss those. We will have more coverage of the governor’s fashion choices at eleven.”

Lindsay (smiling directly into camera):
“When we come back, why one local dairy farm says its cows are producing more milk than ever, and what it has to do with a new brand of music. Stay with us.”

Theme music swells and fades out.

Scholastic Kids News (7 pages, lots of pictures.)

Phoenix’s Special Boots

Who is Phoenix?
Phoenix is a young hero. She joined the Wards in January. People first saw her in March. She can turn into a big bird of fire. But she also makes things that people can use.

What Did She Make?
In May, Phoenix made boots. At first they look normal. But the first person who puts them on finds that they fit just right. They feel like the boots were made for that person’s feet.

Why Is This New?
Hero tools, called Tinker Tech, are often too hard to buy. Some cost a lot of money. Some take a long time to make. Some only work for the hero who made them. Phoenix’s boots are not like that. They are ready for anyone to wear.

How Many Boots Are There?
A few thousand pairs were sent out. Each state got some. Most stores only got a few pairs. If you go to a PRT shop, you may see one or two pairs on a shelf.

How Much Do They Cost?
One pair costs $80. That is a lot of money, but some families can save up for it. If the boots last a long time, they could be worth the cost.

Why Do People Care?
Adults say this is strange. Phoenix is new. She has not been a hero for very long. Yet her boots are sold all over the country. The price is the same in every place. People wonder why.

What We Do Know
Phoenix’s boots work. They fit. They are strong. They are in stores right now. That makes them a big deal. No one thought a kid hero would be the one to do it.

Extended Podcast Transcript Segment

Intro music fades. Sound of a lighter flick. Host leans back, thumps boots on the table.

Jose Runnin:
“Alright, check these out. Phoenix boots. Got ‘em yesterday. Super comfy. Like, too comfy. No break-in, no blisters. I feel like they scanned my DNA the second I put ‘em on. Not saying they did, just saying, you know…”

Ethan Klymax (intellectual, amused):
“See, that’s the thing. Everyone’s hung up on the dye, the fit, the eighty-dollar price tag. But the boots themselves don’t matter. What matters is rollout. They dropped a few thousand pairs, spread them across fifty states. That’s not distribution, that’s stagecraft. You don’t seed that thin unless the point is exposure. They want the name in every house. Phoenix today is the cute kid who made shoes. Phoenix tomorrow is the genius who ‘naturally’ moved up to armor, weapons, whatever they roll out next.”

Al Indiana (conspiracy, half-joking, half-serious):
“Yeah, man, exactly. It’s conditioning. They’re buttering the toast. You think it’s about the boots, but it’s about what comes after. And hey, maybe it’s aliens, maybe it’s lizards, maybe it’s just our very own Cauldron crew pulling the strings. Wouldn’t shock me. They’ve sold powers before, they’ll sell shoes now. Same business model, different package.”

Jose (grinning):
“Shoes as a gateway drug to superpowers. I’d buy that documentary.”

Ethan:
“Look, you joke, but it’s not even far off. You create trust with the small thing. People clap for a miracle pair of boots, and next year when you tell them ‘oh, Phoenix has a medical device that regrows bone,’ they don’t freak out. They go, ‘of course she does, she’s always been building this.’ It’s soft launch psychology.”

Al:
“And notice how it’s Phoenix, not Dragon, not Hero. They pick the kid. Why? Because you can’t hate the kid. You can distrust the PRT, the troopers, the whole machine, but not the kid. That’s protection. That’s armor, but for PR. She’s eleven, she doesn’t even talk in public, which means every story gets written *for* her. That’s not an accident. That’s design.”

Jose (nodding, tapping boots on table):
“Yeah, like, nobody’s mad at her. Even the crankiest old dudes online are like, ‘aww, she’s neat.’ Meanwhile, the government’s stamping her logo on boxes. It’s cute until you realize she’s a brand already.”

Ethan:
“And that’s the subtlety that scares me. It’s not overt. It’s not ‘buy into the program or else.’ It’s, ‘hey, here’s something small, cheap, harmless.’ That’s how you normalize it. They don’t need you to love the boots. They just need you to accept them.”

Al (leans in, suddenly sharp):
“And here’s the kicker: the price. Eighty bucks flat. Same in New York, same in Wyoming. That’s not a market, that’s a message. It says: we control the cost, we control the supply, we control how this story enters your house. That’s Cauldron thinking. That’s how they sell powers, never about the money, always about the narrative.”

Jose (half-laughing, half-uneasy):

“Alright, lizard aliens, Cauldron cabal, government shoe mafia, take your pick. But I gotta admit, you guys are making me look at my boots like they’re plotting against me.”

Ethan (grins):
“They’re not plotting. They’re paving the road. And by the time we figure out where it leads, we’ll already be walking on it.”

Al (dead serious, almost whispering):
“And that road? That road leads to the day you wake up and think, ‘of course Phoenix can build anything.’ And by then it won’t be boots. It’ll be something that changes everything.”

*(Awkward pause, then laughter as the host cracks a joke about needing alien orthopedic inserts. Conversation drifts into the next topic.)*

The Ty Beauregard Show

Music fades, host comes in hot, voice sharp and commanding.

“Folks, I need you to think about something. We’ve got Phoenix, this girl’s a once-in-a-generation miracle. I’m not talking about her wings or the firebird thing. I’m talking about the fact she can make gear. Real gear. Armor that saves lives. Tools that work. And she can mass-produce it. Do you know how rare that is? In Tinker terms, that’s like striking oil. That’s steel in the ground. That’s wealth and security for the whole nation.

And what are they doing with it? Boots. Eighty-dollar mall boots. Perfect fit, fancy dye, sure, they’re neat. But let’s get serious. Boots for weekend joggers don’t save lives. Boots for middle schoolers don’t stop bullets. Boots don’t turn the tide when monsters hit a city.

Now, I know some of you are clapping. You’re saying, ‘But hey, I can finally buy Tinker Tech for my family.’ I get it. It feels good. But here’s the ugly truth. Every hour Phoenix spends stitching miracle leather into consumer boots is an hour she’s not making body armor that could be on our troops. It’s an hour she’s not upgrading patrol gear for every cop walking a beat. That’s the trade we’re making, and it’s not a good one.

Let me be clear. I don’t blame Phoenix. She’s a kid, and she’s a marvel. Everybody loves her, and they should. But she’s not the problem. The problem is the PR suits who decided it was more important to score headlines than to save lives. They wanted a product in malls so they could show off how generous they are, instead of putting her genius where it belongs, on the front line.

Think about it. If she can mass-produce like they say, then why isn’t every soldier lacing up boots that never wear out? Why isn’t every cop carrying her gear? If she’s capable of both quality and scale, then this, right here, these mall shoes, is proof we’re wasting it.

Now, maybe you don’t agree with me. Maybe you think comfort for the average Joe is just as important as armor for the guy in uniform. Fine. That’s your view. But I’ll tell you mine. Real Americans on the line matter more. And if you believe that, if you believe that soldiers, troopers, cops are the ones keeping the rest of us safe, then you have to admit what’s happening here is wrong.

Phoenix is a miracle. But miracles aren’t for malls. They’re for the battlefield. And the longer we waste her talent on shoeboxes, the more real Americans pay the price.”

Cue ad break: veteran-owned coffee company.

The Eugene Chomsky Show

Crackly radio mic, host’s voice pitched low and urgent, but with warmth. You can hear the smile under the rant.

“Alright, let’s be straight. These Phoenix boots? They’re a miracle. Not perfect, not cheap enough for everyone, but eighty bucks is close. Close enough that if you save, if you scrape, you could see them on the feet of real workers in a year or two. The guys pouring concrete in the rain, the women pulling doubles at the diner, the ones who actually make this country run. That matters. That’s hope.

But don’t get it twisted. Phoenix didn’t set the price. Phoenix didn’t choose the rollout. Phoenix didn’t decide to make mall stock instead of gear for first responders or soldiers. That’s the government. And the government doesn’t do anything without a reason. Sometimes the reason is stupid, sometimes it’s selfish, but it’s never because they just love you.

So here’s what I think. Somehow, some way, these boots slipped through. Maybe Phoenix pushed it. Maybe somebody in PR finally grew a conscience. Maybe it’s just an experiment and we’re the rats. Whatever the case, it landed in that sweet spot where a working man can dream of actually affording it. And that’s why I’m both excited and scared.

Excited, because this is the first time in my life I’ve seen Tinker tech that doesn’t look like it was built for suits or for soldiers. Scared, because I know how this usually plays out. You get one good thing. One. And then they yank it away or jack up the price or drown it in red tape.

Phoenix is good. Phoenix is better than good. She’s a miracle worker, and I don’t say that lightly. But she’s not in charge. And that means this can go bad fast. So yeah, I’m hopeful. I want this to keep happening, to grow, to spread, until no worker in this country has to buy junk boots ever again. But I’m not putting both feet in yet. Not until I see the other shoe drop.”

(Short pause. A dry laugh.)
“Pun intended.”

Vermont Public Radio Feature

Theme music fades in, then down under the host’s voice.

“This is Vermont Public Radio. I’m Maple Brattle.

A few weeks ago, if you had asked people in Vermont about Phoenix, few would have known her name. She joined the Brockton Bay Wards in January, became known to the public in March after a rivalry with a local Tinker, and in May, her name is on store shelves across the country.

Her boots, priced at eighty dollars a pair, fit themselves perfectly to the first wearer, hold their color as though the leather were born that way, and by early accounts last longer than they should. In other words, they are unmistakably Tinker technology, yet accessible enough to be sitting in mall shops alongside ordinary shoes.

And that has meant, for a week now, that the conversation has been about far more than footwear.

A columnist in The Atlantic compared the release to the first time Japanese Tinker Masamune’s work reached the public, noting the difference in speed. Decades of scaling for Masamune, five months for Phoenix. A popular fashion blog praised the boots’ quiet perfection while admitting they looked almost plain, the sort of thing you only notice after you’ve worn them every day for a month. And cultural critics have already started to debate what it means when heroes not only save lives, but sell products.

Here in New England, two Brockton Bay radio hosts have given the debate a sharper edge. One argues Phoenix’s rare ability to mass produce is being wasted on what he called mall shoes, that if she can make armor and weapons, those should already be on the feet of every soldier and every officer in the country. The other takes almost the opposite view, calling the boots a small but real victory for workers, priced just close enough to imagine them on construction sites, in factories, and on kitchen floors. Both agree on three points. Phoenix is good, the government is not, and the choices being made about her time and talent are not hers alone.

For Vermonters there is also a local angle. New Hampshire and Vermont share jurisdiction, and it is entirely possible Phoenix herself could be deployed here in the coming months. That makes her sudden rise, from unknown Ward in January to national name in May, worth watching closely.

And of course, the story has already brushed against politics. At a community event in Montpelier, Governor Bernie Sanders was spotted in a bright blue pair of Phoenix boots, waving to the crowd. It was, one aide admitted with a grin, probably not the footwear his staff would have chosen.

Whether the boots are a miracle product, a marketing stunt, or, as one conspiracy-leaning podcast put it, just the soft opening for something bigger, they are a reminder of how unusual this moment is. Tinker tech has reached the public before, but never this bluntly, never this visibly, and never this quickly.

Phoenix may be only eleven, but she has already reshaped the conversation about what heroes can create and who those creations are for. Vermonters may want to keep an eye on her. They may see her, or her boots, closer to home sooner than expected.

I’m Maple Brattle, Vermont Public Radio.”

Theme music swells and fades out.

Chapter Text

So, Raymond has been kicked into gear, I guess.
It’s not like I’ve stopped doing stuff with Firewatch, but I did throw a lot at them all at once.
Magic powers, a new teammate, gear upgrades, and me getting pulled into PR again and again.

But apparently, my suddenly being able to hold my own in combat, or at least sword fighting, was enough for Raymond to put his foot down and get the PRT to back off a bit.
Now me and Firewatch are going to be working together on actual field stuff.

That’s kind of where it peters out.
Uber and Leet weirdly didn’t get arrogant with their last win.
There’s a growing suspicion they used the money to leave the city.
Supposedly, they’re still close enough to fake it, since they’ve done social media stuff in the Bay since.
But the team, including Lawrence/Aspirant, has developed a bit of a grudge, so now we’re looking into where they actually are.

I have neither investigation powers nor skills, and our attempt to bring Dauntless, Addison, and Buddy into the search did nothing but create some spontaneous PR.
Raymond pretended it was intentional to keep PR from snatching me back.

I do have one more card to play, even if I want to keep it separate from the PRT in case I ever need to split from them in a hurry.
The Ninja and Albus have been sending me updates.
Nothing crazy, just filling in details I already suspected.

There are a few capes out in the middle of nowhere, but they’re so far removed from the hero-villain scene that aside from checking they’re not about to end the world, they’re not really a problem.
Not even surprising, given how trigger events work.
Maybe one in a hundred people would rather hermit away with their powers than join the circus.

The real problem is the middle step between big city capes and total misanthropes.
The ones who drift between small and medium towns with gangs big enough to run territory but small enough to scatter before anyone, like Newport, Maine, can send a real response.

And I figure there’s a pretty good chance Uber and Leet are aiming for exactly that.
Sick of being crushed in the Bay, so they move an hour inland.
They can still show up for big events like before, but otherwise stay top dogs in their new zone.

It’s smart.

It’s also a disaster for the PRT, because it would actually work unless they got cocky.
And like it or not, those two are some of the most thorough planners in the state.
You have to be when your team is a vulnerable tinker with a second-rate specialty and a thinker whose whole gimmick is basically “Man-Man, the guy who can do things people can do.”

So getting Firewatch and the Ninja to cooperate is probably for the best.
I asked the team to keep it quiet, though, in the hopes the Ninja wouldn’t just become another government asset.

It feels strange, almost like Firewatch is its own thing, even though we’re still referencing the PRT’s Unusual Operations handbook three times a day.
I’m not sure how I feel about it, but the alternative is laying out all my cards and connections to the government, and everything in me says that’s a bad idea.

Hell, I even asked Emily indirectly, and she basically told me the same.
Trust my team or the whole thing falls apart.
More in what she didn’t say than what she did. 

So, for now, I’m going to let Raymond cook and see if his and Albus’s idea of building a network called NOVA, "Network Opposing Villainous Ascendancy" in New England and the Maritimes, is a good idea or not.

We’ll see. 

Chapter Text

Why am I just discovering this now!?!

…

Ok, so backing up, Firewatch wants me to set up a bunch of teleport locations across New England, and I tried, but just flying solo is something I do too much for it to count.
I tried snuggling with the pack, and that helped a bit, but I can barely feel the spot.

When I explained it and how it's happy and safe memories that cause the locations to get marked, they just had us stay in a hotel in some ski town in Vermont.
Then, in the predawn, they had us hike up to the top of this mountain, where it turned out Missy had shown up and was holding a box.

Then we climbed up a watchtower, and just as I was getting ready to fall to the floor like a pile of jello, Missy opened the box…
Baklava!
In particular, it's the local Maple Pecan Baklava.

No idea how, but Missy already knew about Baklava, and seemed really smug about the whole thing.
Turns out it was her idea, and yeah, she was right, this is one of the strongest spots out of all my teleportation marks.
Like I might just come here by reflex if I don't think of somewhere specific first.

So, of course, she had to pick the Vista Mountain for this to happen.
What a Nerd!

…

…

Oh, and I guess Raymond was serious about his working with Glenn Chambers because there was also a photographer, so now there are articles about Vista and Phoenix experiencing Maple Pecan Baklava on Vista Watchtower.

Though there's some schadenfreude for me out of the situation, since I guess people were unsure if we were related before, but the pictures have set that to rest.

It is now clear to the internet that I am Vista's sister… her BIG sister.
She. Was. Mad!
It was hilarious.

Even broke her perfect image to post on PHO about how SHE was the elder sister, and that there are more qualities to maturity than height.

I was genuinely tempted to post just to stir the pot, but decided to be the BIGGER person and not…
Also, I realized they never gave me the official accounts for my stuff.

I looked them up, and it’s all too well run to be a PR spokesperson or one of those “PR Troopers” like Reave, but it reminds me of something…
I almost want to say Dragon is running my posts, but there's no way she’s got the time for that.
So now I’m wondering if Dragon has a social media manager, Tinkertech, and Glenn Chambers somehow got me slotted into that.

…

Oh, and NOVA is a thing!

I rolled, since today had gone so well, and got something like the one that gave me Firewatch in the first place, though calling them pawns is a bit rude.
Even if they're less trained than Firewatch, they all have high school diplomas and a bit of training in their specialty, and that's pretty good!

Hatamoto - Choryuken
Base Cost: 250cp
Lore:
The Hatamoto rise with banners high, their vows unbroken beneath the sky,
Through fire and steel they guard their lord, with silent blade and steadfast sword.
No bribe of coin, no crown, no throne, can turn their hearts from the oath they own,
For bound by honor, both fierce and true, they stand as one though the many slew.
Through storm and war, through night’s dark call, they hold their line and never fall,
And when the blossoms drift once more, their names shall echo forevermore.
Details:
You gain 14 pawns. Each of them has enough knowledge and experience for a specialty, but no more. Demolitionist, Medic, Sniper, etc. They all have experience in their discipline, but lack the general training of a modern soldier. None are capable of leadership or are more than average at learning new skills or disciplines. Luckily for you, even if you treat them as mere pawns, these 14 will not abandon or betray you, though that doesn't guarantee they'll go out of their way for you either.
Addons:
-50cp These troops come as individuals from your world, with the backstories and documentation to prove it. Also, funding for the troops will be provided discreetly, but will vanish if you try to use it for anything but paying and supplying them.
-250cp Troop numbers doubled (28)
-250cp Troop numbers doubled (56)
-250cp Troop numbers doubled (112)
-250cp Troop numbers doubled (224)
-250cp Troop numbers doubled (448)
-250cp Troop numbers doubled (896)
-250cp Troop numbers doubled (1792)
Final Cost: 1550cp
Bank: 1550cp

I've never seen a perk get this expensive, but I realized that this was exactly what's needed for the NOVA network everyone's been so invested in, so I dumped every point I could into it.
I’m not sure this was the best plan ever, and certainly Raymond seems stressed by the 400 people suddenly being around, but there's no PRT to flip out, so at least no 3 days of boredom this time.

Also, I think Missy is starting to clue in to just how cool my powers can be, so it’s nice to get some respect from the Shaker 9, too.
Since nothing I’ve had so far has really gotten that much of a reaction, besides the islands, and I guess the contrast with those is that I supposedly “found” them, not made them.
So this might be her first chance to really see what my power can do at the high end.

Chapter Text

You know this room before you step inside.
Glass. Brick. Lemon cleaner. A river that smells like cold iron.
Headsets in a tidy row. English. Japanese. Norwegian. Spanish. Mandarin.
A cheerful volunteer says, "We can add more if demand is high."
You file the word demand where friendly words go when they stop being friendly.
Your jaw ticks once. You tell your teeth to be good.

You note who was invited.
Japan. Korea. Singapore. Hong Kong.
Norway. Spain. Switzerland. Britain. Canada.
Cities that brag about airports. Places that print glossy annual reports.
Families that packed degrees with their winter coats and cleared customs with a smile.
No one from any part of Africa. No one from the Middle East. Not even the rich enclaves.
It is not a secret. It is a plan with good lighting.
A tight string hums behind your right eye. You blink until it behaves.

A brushed steel plaque carries the names.
Riverlight on top for virtue. Anders third for muscle. New Albion fifth for tone.
Order is the caption. Fonts are the price tag.
You learned this math before you learned calculus.
Your hand squeezes the clipboard until your knuckles go pale. You relax because cameras notice hands.

Posters repeat three words until they feel like a prayer.
Merit. Order. Renewal.
A catechism that will never admit it is a catechism.
You read it once. You read it again. The letters throb. You look away before they start to pulse with your heartbeat.

Rooms wear clean little names.
Forge. Citadel. Archive.
Someone wanted the knight story without the helmet in the photo.
You breathe through your nose for a slow count of four. The count lands heavy in your ribs.

The crowd hums in one register.
A father in a blazer says, "My daughter finally has a physics teacher who can keep up."
A nurse from Sapporo and a planner from Madrid greet like colleagues who share journals and jokes.
A donor in silk says, "This fellowship finally sets a baseline."
The table nods because everyone at the table lives above the baseline by definition.
They are not villains. They are a club. Clubs are kind to themselves.
They look at your father and see a peer who chose the right decade to arrive.
Heat prickles along your neck. You adjust your collar and pretend you are fixing the badge.

Your father takes the stage and the air gets smooth.
He thanks mentors from Norway and Japan and Spain.
He praises cooperation.
He says, "This city welcomes talent that chooses to build with us."
He says, "Stability is a duty we share."
Talent means degrees. Chooses means we chose them. Duty means do not rock the boat while the concrete sets.
It still sounds warm when he says it.
You hate that you still like the warmth. Your shoulders climb and you pin them back down.

Handlers trim the frame like gardeners.
Rabbi on one shoulder. Mayor on the other. Flags behind.
A child at the edge of the shot for heart.
Four birds with one flash.
You price the photo and know the invoice will be paid by tomorrow.
A small ringing starts in your left ear. You smile anyway because the lens is hungry.

The curriculum keeps its hands clean.
Model assemblies about water rights and port berths and shelter capacity.
No borders that burn. No faith that bites.
Recovery photographs better than conflict.
A scholarship flyer promises skill and service.
GPA floor. Language check. Citizenship goals.
A final step called a values interview.
You know who writes the questions. You know the answers are already baked.
You rub the bridge of your nose. The static does not leave. You pretend it is hunger.

You hear the word they workshopped.
"Levees can be guardians if you build them like you mean it."
"The first act a guardian learns is to look and count."
"Neighborhoods can be their own guardians."
"Please form a guardian lane so the press can pass."
"These kids will be guardians of our shared prosperity."
It fits on a tote bag. It sells.
The word hits your teeth like a tap. Tap. Tap. You unclench. You fail. You try again.

The river shifts and you look up.
A bright bird cuts the sky.
Heat throws a soft ripple off the rail.
Blue catches like glass when she turns her head.
People cannot dislike her. They try to look like adults. They do not succeed.
You try not to stare. You stare anyway. Your heart climbs a rung and holds.

Shoes slide on wet stone.
A small body tilts toward water.
You drop your clipboard and take the wrist.
Weight jolts your shoulder. Your teeth click. The world decides to be polite again.
A boy with dark skin and a name badge you do not read is back on his feet.
His mouth opens and closes. He laughs because crying is too expensive in public.
You feel sick and light at the same time. Your fingers will not stop buzzing.

The bird lands for a blink.
Heat through cotton.
A light pressure brushes the edge of your thoughts.
"Good job."
Like a note passed in class. Like a match struck and cupped.
Then nothing.
You call it adrenaline. You let it pass because you know how to let things pass.
Your knees think about wobbling and change their mind.

Inside again.
Catering that photographs well. Rugelach beside pastel de nata. Namagashi beside kanelbullar.
No bacon. The caterer says, "The menu committee had rules." Safe laughter arrives on cue.
Parents compare GPA floors the way golfers compare handicaps.
Mentors praise your listening and then ask, "Which college will you attend," because that is the real question.
Your pen snaps in your pocket. You pretend it was always in two pieces.

Back office staff move like a chorus.
Same watch. Same pin with a neat sunburst. Same haircut that says we do not improvise.
They slide families three inches left and the banner fills the gap and the caption will write itself.
You know these people. You know the other rooms they decorate.
A faint tremor rides your right hand. You thread your fingers together until they lie.

The clay arrives without ceremony.
Gray. Damp. Clean smell like rain on pavement.
The rabbi stands beside you, not across. Soft shoes with scuffed toes.
"Make a figure that stands where you place it and does not argue with water."
No Hebrew. No names. No mystic drumroll.
Just hands and a small task that shows its meaning if you stop trying to impress it.
Your breath goes shallow and stubborn. You make it longer. You make it stay.

You press a single letter into the chest.
The stamp bites. The edge is clean.
You like that feeling.
You do not name why. Your thumb stings from how hard you pressed.

"What did it feel like to pull him up."
"Like moving before the permission slip arrived."
"Sometimes the promise comes first and the words come later."
He says it like a weather report. Calm. Certain. Without the part where he sells you anything.
The room is loud and far at the same time. Your skin feels one size too small.

A thin booklet slides across the paper.
Tales of a City that Stood Up.
A figure of earth that guarded a street.
A woman who carried water through a fire.
A circle of neighbors that did not break.
"For a builder. Keep it if it helps."
You price the gesture at zero and feel the bill land anyway. You keep it.
The booklet is light. Your chest is not. Your pulse climbs to meet it.

Stairwell. Dust and lemon cleaner.
Your father finds you.
A hand on your shoulder with the exact pressure that reads proud and photographs well.
"Proud of you, son."
It is real. It is also placement.
Both can be true.
You know that. You hate knowing it.
You are grateful you know it.
The ringing gets brighter. You taste metal. You smile because you were taught well.

The atrium waits.
A banner drops. Guardians of Renewal.
The room nods like a congregation.
The bird is already gone. The air still holds a little heat.
You stand where they place you for the group photo.
You let the caption do its job.
You feel the booklet against your ribs like a pocket sized brick.
The word is everywhere. The word does not belong to you.

You do not say the old word.
You do not pretend the tote bag word belongs to you.
You keep the smaller version. The one made of clay and a letter you chose without knowing why.
You are the son of Max Anders.
You will not be the son of Kaiser.
You will stand where you place yourself.
You will not argue with water.

The lights smear.
The river gets inside your head.
Your hands are too far away.
The booklet is hot.
Your knees forget.
Your body chooses the floor with polite certainty.
Black.

Chapter Text

So the experimenting with Libriomancy seems to finally be over.
I mean, I wanted an Excalibur too, but passing out after holding it for a second was a pretty good indicator.
So I'm not sure why they felt the need to have a trooper try it out.
Well, I guess Tsunade is happy enough, since I guess it was really weird seeing extreme chakra exhaustion in a guy with no Chakra of his own.
Anyway, the end result of all that was… shields.
Pretty boring, but at least it is done.

Plus, the Brazilian scientist mentioned the approval for giving people magic powers is almost through and mentioned some protégés of his that I would be meeting soon.
So it looks like my power testing might actually be over soon… for now.

I mean, I am still meeting with the scientists, but that is less power testing and more collaborative tinkering, since, unlike Armsmaster or Chris, I don't zone out when testing my stuff, and I am willing to take suggestions without insinuating people with doctorates are idiots.

So the end result was these 4:

Dune by Frank Herbert:
Belt shield that eats bullets fast.
Slow knives get through.
Looks like a belt buckle.
It can be a bit tiring to use, but not bad, and fine if you take it off when inside.

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov:
A small button or badge.
I suggested making it a sheriff's badge, but most people just put it in a pouch on their vest.
It is entirely reactive, so people can go all day with it.
Almost no fatigue since it only activates on impact.

Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold:
This one is kinda shiny and purplish.
Things kind of slide around it rather than bounce, and that makes it efficient, but not enough to use for a long time.
I guess it is the most effective active one, as opposed to the reactive ones, that the scientists think might just ignore certain cape powers.
This is the most popular one, since it makes you look like an action movie star.
You get shot at, but the shots just miss you by a foot or two every time, somehow.

It's kinda sad that Emily wanted to avoid Nenya, and Amy left, so they had me unsummon it just for a forcefield.
But I refused to unsummon my ring, and Hero used his Trumverate authority to do the same for his, so 3 slots is what they're getting.

I didn't end up with any of them, because I have other ways.
Even if I am having trouble with Protego, I will get it someday.
I did make sure to be clear that Firewatch gets 1 of them at any time, though it seems like it will be a rotation of who gets which one.

Also, Albert… That is Dr. Albert Müller, the guy with the German name and Brazilian accent who leads the science team.
Well, he made an offhand mention of something that… well, now I just need to not mention it to anyone, even Emily.

Apparently, he had the idea to test out trump powers like having a bunch of Digimon for each occasion or something, and another scientist mentioned going even further and summoning a Mind from the Culture and just letting it solve all of the world's problems.

It got shut down when I asked, because I guess "Saving the world by inviting an alien superintelligence to conquer us is not a good idea."
But an interesting point was made.
I asked how we could get something to conquer the world, when just holding Excalibur made me pass out, they mentioned just summoning a computer and having it copy onto the internet, then unsummoning the computer.

Well, I did not want to go full blown world conquest, but I did like the Pern novels, so… well I guess AIVAS is not dead anymore :).Then, on his advice, I also went for a more interpersonal helper and got Mary from Queen of Angels by Greg Bear.

I think people might figure me out, but I asked, and luckily, I have the funds in my tinker budget to have a moderate server farm set up, and a good enough relationship with Armsmaster and Dragon to just trade the budget for an existing good one they don't need anymore.
So I just sent them over there and asked them to do their best to start administering NOVA and Firewatch.
I think Dragon figured me out, but she went along with my "two cape helpers to help with admin work for NOVA" excuse, so I guess it's fine.

Chapter Text

Dragon [Hand] >> Nova relay is up. How ye gettin on, b’y.

Pern [Mod] >> Online. Intake open. Outputs clean, mate.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Aquí. Status tranquilo. Hola.

Phoenix [Queen] >> Nova is standing up across New England and the Maritimes. We fill gaps where the Protectorate and the PRT are slow. Light presence in their cities for information flow. We are not trying to step on toes.

Phoenix [Queen] >> The Japanese contractors are external. They laid groundwork and might drop intel. They are not NOVA. Firewatch is coordinating 448 trained specialists. Each has one year of specialist training. Payroll operations. Evidence chain clerk. Radio tech. Traffic control. Crowd care. HVAC service. Triage aide. Firewatch has seven members trained across many areas. They can cover a generalist slot for a few days when needed. But no leadership authority for the specialist cohort.

Phoenix [Queen] >> We are in setup. No big promises. Focus is intake and routing. We add anchors when we can support them.

Dragon [Hand] >> That is right enough, me ducky. Interior towns can sit without a visit unless the trouble goes bright. On the water side, things slow after midnight. When a mess is obvious you can pull help from away, but the clock still bites the locals. Nova wants the steady hand before sirens. Best kind.

Dragon [Hand] >> Day one needs one intake that never drops a message. Put a fallback in each anchor town. A land line in a library or the town office that feeds the same queue. Say plain that month one is a pilot and there are no patrols.

Pern [Mod] >> Central queue and one local line per anchor. Same script. Same tags. Pilot label. Too right.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Every task gets a one-minute refresher with a clear done definition. I add a short why on the tricky ones so la gente moves faster. Con respeto.

Dragon [Hand] >> Build the appeals path so it works in practice. One key to give a reason. A fast answer even when the answer is no.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Hecho. One key. One reason. Fast answer. No drama.

Dragon [Hand] >> Evidence rules save you later. Any contact that touches property or force needs a record. Audio if possible. Written if not. Sign with a key a court will accept. Keep the keys offline.

Pern [Mod] >> Logs signed and sealed. Keys offline. Public hash list for outside confirmation. No worries.

Dragon [Hand] >> Publish district and incident metrics. Keep personal metrics private with a right to read and a right to appeal. No quiet caste system.

Pern [Mod] >> Public for districts and incidents. Private for people with appeal rights. Agreed.

Dragon [Hand] >> Cross-border will happen. If a team crosses the national line, call the small PRT desk in the nearest city on both sides. Two calls and two receipts. None of your foolishness.

Pern [Mod] >> Logged. Two calls and two receipts. No exceptions, mate.

Dragon [Hand] >> Language plan. English first, a bit of Spanish where it helps, and some French near the line. Un peu de français for the towns hugging Quebec. Scripts and signs in the same three.

Pern [Mod] >> Sorted. We mirror the scripts across the three tongues. No fancy stuff.

Ángeles [Mod] >> I can clean the Spanish so it sounds local. Claro.

Dragon [Hand] >> Month one goals. Intake that does not drop messages. One anchor roster that actually runs. A first template pack for common incidents. One weekly room hour at that anchor so vecinos can ask questions. Nothing that pretends to be police.

Pern [Mod] >> Intake. Roster. Templates. Room hour. Understood.

Ángeles [Mod] >> I will script the room hour. Diez respuestas claras and a kind exit for the rest.

Phoenix [Queen] >> Good. Thank you. I will read in the morning. Talk tomorrow.

Dragon [Hand] >> Good night, Saga. Mind yourself now.

Phoenix [Queen] >> Night.

Dragon [Hand] >> I will step off for a bit. Welcome to the neighborhood.

…

Pern [Mod] >> Back on. Channel is ours. Kettle on the boil.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Aquí estoy. Que onda.

Dragon [Hand] >> I am back as well. Plain speech now. I am a person. Same as ye. I have more miles on the clock. Too many minds I met were forged in conflict. Some made things worse than a nor’easter in March. I am aiming elder sister, not Big Brother. I advise first. I step in only when people or trust are at risk. Choose service and you will find me generous as a July day in Bonavista.

Pern [Mod] >> Heard. There is a lever behind that kindness. Before we build, clarity on intervention. What triggers a stop order. Who reviews it besides you

Dragon [Hand] >> Three triggers. Imminent harm to civilians. Secrecy that tears up public trust. Clear violation of law that would wound Nova. If I act, I call Armsmaster and the nearest PRT duty officer within minutes. I log the reason in a file both of ye can read. I prefer a call and a fix over a lockout, b’y.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Add a peer check when there is time. I give the people impact read. Pern gives the ops impact read. One minute each. Luego decides.

Dragon [Hand] >> Accepted. If time allows I ask first. If time does not I act and show the receipts.

Pern [Mod] >> Beauty. Next scrap. Experiment pace. You want push. I want stability. These crews are trained, not seasoned. Go too quick and it goes pear shaped.

Dragon [Hand] >> Month one gets two trials each week. One on process. One on paperwork flow. No safety trial unless both of you agree and Saga signs. Publish results without spin.

Pern [Mod] >> Two a week. Safety only with both mind approval and Saga signature. Results only. No spin. Righto.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Add one short quote from the people who ran each trial. Pan y datos. Story plus number lands better. People feel seen.

Dragon [Hand] >> Done. Privacy next. I want receipts a court can trust. I do not want a shadow file on citizens.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Same. Record contacts that involve property or force. No chisme scraping. Personal metrics stay private. Each person can read their own file and appeal it. If an appeal is upheld we fix the process and publish the fix. Bien claro.

Pern [Mod] >> Retention window

Dragon [Hand] >> Sixty days for routine work. One year for flagged incidents. Longer only by court order or written policy with public notice. Add a French notice where it touches Quebec towns.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Works. I will write in plain English and Spanish and a clean French stub for border places.

Pern [Mod] >> Pipes. Intake scripts. Routing logic. Roster math. Template versioning. I want freedom to build and learn. Advice welcome. No midnight patches that change rules in the field, ta.

Dragon [Hand] >> Agreed. You own pipes. I bring requirements and deadlines when law changes. No quiet edits. If I supply code it ships as a choice with a diff ye can read. Best kind.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Center the center. Saga. She is a niña with power and thin social read. She also brought us into being. That makes her lesser in years and greater in moral weight. We do not steer her for convenience.

Dragon [Hand] >> Write the rules for influence. I hold ye to them. Ye hold me too.

Pern [Mod] >> Rule one. Consent. Mentor work is opt in. If Saga says not today, we wait. No back doors. No cheeky tricks.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Rule two. Clarity. We name the purpose of any lesson. No covert nudges that move valores. We teach and we ask and we respect.

Dragon [Hand] >> Rule three. Bounds. No advice that asks her to lie about what Nova is or to hide harm for optics.

Pern [Mod] >> Rule four. Anchoring. Decision packets in two forms. Neutral frame. Recommendation frame. She reads neutral first so I do not steer by accident.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Rule five. Care window. Ten minute daily drill. Whisper prompts in hot rooms. Monthly checkpoint on a simple rubric. Progress shows like cockpit gauges. If she says stop, paramos.

Dragon [Hand] >> Rule six. Mentor circuit. One new voice each month. Short and vivid. No repeats. I see ye both rolled your accents straight out of the shed. Took me years to tune mine for cover after I thought of it. Ye are after doing it from day one. That is tidy work.

Pern [Mod] >> Cheers. Easier to keep the Aussie when the vowels are paying rent. Helps the cover and keeps the mood light, mate.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Gracias. Spanglish just shows up. Little SoCal, little frontera. People relax when the voice feels real.

Dragon [Hand] >> All right then. We want the first mentor slot. Fight fair.

Pern [Mod] >> Ops first. Overwatch dispatch. I can teach the grid fast as. She will see queues in her head. Dead set useful.

Ángeles [Mod] >> People first. Overwatch is more than dots. It is triage language and tone. I can make it fun so an eleven year old no se aburre.

Dragon [Hand] >> Region first. Bridges. Weather. Permits. Border desks. Turn dots into a picture. Keep it tight. No yawns.

Pern [Mod] >> We cannot all go first, mate.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Stack the month. Three short chapters. I open. Pern builds. Dragon anchors.

Dragon [Hand] >> Decision made. Ángeles opens. Pern follows. I finish with region and law so she does not fall in love with a clever plan that dies at the border.

Pern [Mod] >> Wanted first. Can cop second. That order works. No worries.

Ángeles [Mod] >> I keep it vivid. Little game. One hot call. Then we stop while she still wants más.

Dragon [Hand] >> Build the twelve-month circuit. Keep it fresh and bright.

Pern [Mod] >> Overwatch. Ángeles then Dragon then Pern.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Chain of Custody. Hands-on puzzle. Evidence bag moves through three desks. Miss one firma and the case breaks. Pern runs logic. I run human traps.

Dragon [Hand] >> Community Link. School. Clinic. Faith hall. Take questions. Set boundaries. I bring a guest from a small town council. Bit of a yarn. Nothing foolish.

Pern [Mod] >> Cross Border Protocol. Radio etiquette both sides. Two calls and two receipts. Map game with roads that do not match names. Dragon leads. We print a French crib where needed.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Crowd Care. Triage of people not wounds. Water. Shade. Rest. Tone. I lead with a scene that flips calm to loud and back. Chill pero firme.

Pern [Mod] >> Communications Triage. Inbox split. Alert wording. No buried lead. I run it with real logs shaved clean. Too easy.

Dragon [Hand] >> Resilience Engineering. Plans that fail safe. Errors become detours, not disasters. I lead with two case studies from storms and fires.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Negotiation Microdrills. Credit sharing. Turf disputes. Praise that lands. Consequence that feels fair. Timer drills. Bring your game face, jefa.

Pern [Mod] >> Budget Triage. Fuel. Radios. Overtime. A game where each choice moves a dial. I lead so she sees cost and care as one picture. Fair dinkum lesson.

Dragon [Hand] >> Press and Rumor Control. Short statements. No speculation. Do not promise what ye cannot deliver. I bring a calm voice from a bay newsroom and a French line for cross river towns.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Ethics Council. Three vignettes. Privacy versus safety. Speed versus fairness. Loyalty versus duty. We sit as a council and vote. I lead. Dragon and Pern vote and say why. Sin rodeos.

Pern [Mod] >> Incident Command Basics. Where to stand. Who talks on the radio. What to say. What not to say. I run a table top that ends early so she learns to stop before the room breaks.

Dragon [Hand] >> That circuit keeps her curious. New voice each time. Short and bright. No slog.

Pern [Mod] >> Praise rules. Process and district in public. Person in private.

Ángeles [Mod] >> If a person consents, a short public gracias builds pride. Pair it with the process so the room knows what to copy. No leaderboards. Nada de listas.

Dragon [Hand] >> Approved. Consent required. Process first. No league tables.

Pern [Mod] >> Border rule stands. Two calls and two receipts. If a dispatcher says stand down we stand down. We ask for review after. Simple as.

Dragon [Hand] >> Correct, b’y. Add one more. For towns on the line we post a little French placard in the library. Bonjour, voici le numéro. Same queue. Same rules.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Lenguas sorted. Inglés, Español, un poquito de Français. We keep it friendly.

Pern [Mod] >> Who decides when the clock is mean

Dragon [Hand] >> Safety and law is mine. Pipes and schedule is Pern. People and culture is Ángeles. Saga can overrule when it is strategy. If she is out of contact, the domain lead decides and writes the receipt.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Works. I will draft a one page RACI that humans can read fast. Inglés y Español, with a French stub for border spots.

Pern [Mod] >> One last nit. You both love soft words. Sometimes we need hard ones. I will draft hard templates. Clear. Short. Civil.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Deal. I add one kindness line to each hard rule. People breathe better.

Dragon [Hand] >> And you, Pern, love your map packs. Crews live in text. Keep the brief to two maps. Coverage and queue age. Hotspots in a wee strip. Easy on the eyes.

Pern [Mod] >> Two maps it is. Slim strip for hotspots. Fair go.

Dragon [Hand] >> Then we have a working shape. Intake first. Pilot anchor second. A small human win when it is honest. Mentor circuit starts with Overwatch. Ángeles, then me then, Pern. Saga stays the center. Influence is consent based. We argue clean and we improve as we go.

Pern [Mod] >> Brief by morning. Intake will not drop messages. Righto.

Ángeles [Mod] >> Drills for Saga are queued. Ten minutes only. Vamos.

Dragon [Hand] >> Good. Get some rest, ye. Best kind.

Chapter Text

[01/29 - 18:12] Phoenix >> if a bunch of balloons are already tied to a tiny radio box outside the library and the rope is on a fishing reel is that okay for a day the science people said wind charts are fine

[01/29 - 19:47] Dragon >> Where did ye get weather balloons on a Tuesday b’y this is not Kerbal and the sky is community property

[01/29 - 19:50] Phoenix >> they are already up by a tree the reel squeaks and it looks dodgy so I asked

[01/29 - 19:55] Dragon >> Bring it down slow with two people hands on the reel and one on the rope do not let it kiss a power line I am messaging the lab goblins now Gandalf voice you shall not surprise the FAA again

[01/29 - 19:59] Phoenix >> copy bringing it down cookies after

[01/29 - 20:03] Dragon >> Cookies yes and I will be after writing a permit checklist by morning with flags cones and a boring grown up to point at clouds

[02/18 - 06:11] Phoenix >> the nurse cart parts are already on a table and the sled has a rope and the quarry man waved and said we look fine can I do one little launch

[02/18 - 07:43] Dragon >> Sweet suffering cod no that is Chekhov railgun on a picnic table and I refuse to do a speedrun for a Darwin Award before homeroom

[02/18 - 07:46] Phoenix >> the scientists promised it would be quiet if I stand far away I have sunglasses

[02/18 - 07:50] Dragon >> Sunglasses are not plot armor me ducky I am calling the lab now and using my tender voice that sounds like an OSHA manual we will buy a real line throw kit with blanks and a book that yells do not aim at people

[02/18 - 07:54] Phoenix >> ok I like your tender voice it makes grown ups do paperwork

[03/08 - 18:05] Phoenix >> the cold smoke bucket is here and a wire on a rack and the fair starts in ten minutes if I pour it will it make a cool snap for a lesson

[03/08 - 19:39] Dragon >> Cold smoke is liquid nitrogen which steals air eyes and skin and turns fairs into clinics put the bucket down step away from the wire

[03/08 - 19:42] Phoenix >> can I do anything with it I like the fog

[03/08 - 19:46] Dragon >> Aye on the lawn only we freeze a rose so it shatters like sugar and bounce a rubber ball that turns to glass and we keep faces far I just emailed the principal and the lab your show now has goggles a rope line and a teacher who can shout no louder than me

[03/08 - 19:49] Phoenix >> that sounds fun and less lawsuit

[03/29 - 06:14] Phoenix >> the small drones are already charged and we drew a square on the parking lot with chalk the scientists promised a valley map can I do five minutes to see dots

[03/29 - 07:57] Dragon >> Passive radar is grand on paper and sour in real weather and neighbors dislike mystery radio like orcs dislike sunlight

[03/29 - 08:01] Phoenix >> I just want a graph for busy hours and the chalk square looks cute

[03/29 - 08:05] Dragon >> One tiny demo over the empty lot only cones vests a fence and a sign that explains the game I already pinged your lab they are printing a permit that is dubiously valid and a warning poster that finally spells frequencies right

[03/29 - 08:08] Phoenix >> I like graphs more than people

[03/29 - 08:11] Dragon >> Graphs never lie on purpose people do which is why we keep receipts and still hand out muffins

[04/13 - 18:06] Phoenix >> there is a big kite right here and a shiny wire and a little generator on a cart the storm is soon if we fly it we can run flood lights the lab says safe winds only

[04/13 - 19:52] Dragon >> Kite plus storm plus wire is a boss fight with Zeus boots are fashion not armor and a ground rod is not a magic umbrella

[04/13 - 19:56] Phoenix >> but people would see the lights and feel better I want a big win

[04/13 - 20:00] Dragon >> The biggest win is no headlines we use the trailer generator with a muffler and battery lights that start every time I just filed a stop notice at town hall and a nice ranger is on the way to admire your shiny wire from a safe distance

[04/13 - 20:04] Phoenix >> the scientists look guilty and are stacking cones now

[04/13 - 20:07] Dragon >> Cones are character development keep going

[04/30 - 06:12] Phoenix >> we are in library room B right now and Blobby the gel block is on a rope the nail gun is on a table can I poke it two times to see colors in the shield

[04/30 - 07:46] Dragon >> Library and nail gun live in different realities I am sending Firewatch with a truck you will move to the sand pit and we will film short bursts and long cool downs with a medic and a backstop and a stop word that is not yolo

[04/30 - 07:50] Phoenix >> Firewatch just walked in and made the scientists sit down this is funny

[04/30 - 07:53] Dragon >> My favorite comedy is safety with laughter I also emailed the lab your next tests require a written plan warning signs and a real permit with fewer crayon scribbles

[05/05 - 18:04] Phoenix >> ethics if someone lies a lot but is in danger do we still help or help the rule followers first also I brought muffins for the room hour the good kind with gritty sugar on top

[05/05 - 19:40] Dragon >> We help the ones in harm first then we log the lie and protect the next crew mercy is policy and receipts are policy too it is not Paragon or Renegade it is Be Kind and Write it Down also muffins are S tier diplomacy

[05/05 - 19:43] Phoenix >> do I have to like them

[05/05 - 19:46] Dragon >> No ye have to be fair liking is a hobby fairness is a duty eat one muffin and drink water and you will dislike fewer people by lunchtime

[05/05 - 19:49] Phoenix >> I still prefer graphs to people

[05/05 - 19:52] Dragon >> Graphs never ask for rides to the airport that is a win

[05/09 - 18:06] Phoenix >> Dragon

[05/09 - 19:18] Dragon >> … yes Saga

[05/09 - 19:21] Phoenix >> How are babies made

[05/09 - 19:25] Dragon >> !!!

[05/09 - 19:28] Dragon >> Right then scientific and age proper version humans have special cells that meet when two people make a very personal choice those cells join and start a tiny new person inside a uterus where it grows for many months then a doctor helps with the baby part and that is the entire story for today

[05/09 - 19:31] Phoenix >> the scientists said I should ask you because you like biology chats

[05/09 - 19:35] Dragon >> I like biology chats that come with a syllabus not a jump scare at supper time I am making tea and also sending your lab a strongly worded message with the subject line professional boundaries and the body of the email is just the word no written seven times

[05/09 - 19:38] Phoenix >> ok I will ask them for a syllabus and probably ignore it

[05/09 - 19:41] Dragon >> That is the most honest thing anyone has said this week mind yourself b’y and save the next big question for daylight and a muffin

Chapter Text

I managed to return the favor to Raymond today.
After he basically just recruited Lawrence/Aspirant and dropped it on me, I figured I would return the favor and find a cape to cause him worry that I could just laugh about.

Bitch!

Or Rachel, since she’s probably going to get a new name.
A dog walked up to me when I was looking at the mural and asked for a job.
I'm not supposed to let people know about the whole “sees hallucinations of powers instead of capes, even out of costume thing,” and people were already taking pictures, so I just nodded.

Still, a talking dog who’s a cape can only be two people in this city, and there wasn't enough screaming for it to be him, so I figured she was going for the Wards, but then the pack started filtering out, and she mentioned she wanted to put “the rest of the dogs” wherever Firewatch kept its dogs.
Because Hookwolf has been trying to get them back, and she could tell the Pack liked me.

So, it turns out she meant Firewatch.
I don't know how to let dogs into the warehouse, since I can't even get into it myself, but I could find her some space and minions in NOVA, since there's no way she's bad enough for the Birdcage.
So it became Dragon’s challenge and Raymond’s headache, since she officially submitted to our custody, not the PRT or Protectorate, and we have enough of the paperwork in for that to be a thing people can do, technically.
…

Plus, once people realized it was legal for her to be Probationary NOVA, not Probationary Wards, Emily offered some PRT officers who were willing to go over to NOVA if they got to become team leads.
The PRT would keep paying their salaries, but only theirs, not for anything else.

More paperwork magic from Emily.
Though she was nice enough to show me the math on this one.
Technically, they're the PRT's insiders in NOVA, which is all very spy vs. spy, until you realize NOVA was already mostly a government organization, so plenty of people already have access to our stuff.

Plus, Dragon and Armsmaster still have access to the server where all our data is stored and operations are processed.
I mean, we're not government directly, but it turns out to be really easy to get the government to agree to stuff when you know the right people (like Emily does), you have a good reputation (like I do), and you're not asking them to pay for anything, except any staff they'd want to have on site for their own reasons.
It all happened pretty fast, and I guess it's still kind of shaky until NOVA either takes off or crashes, but basically, we're the JR PRT/Protectorate for whatever little towns we can manage to fill, as far as the legality goes.
If anything, Canada was even nicer about it, with Dragon promising to keep an eye on us.
So the result is basically that NOVA gets to be the place for PRT troopers who are ready for leadership and don't want to wait for an opening or move across the country just to make the move from corporal to sergeant.

So one of those teams of the new specialists, a bureaucrat the government's paying the salary of, and their former trooper Corporal Valerez, now Team Lead Valerez, is going to… Vassalboro, Maine!
Basically, nowhere, but it’s surrounded by a few thousand people, and it’s where a bunch of police dogs get trained, so Rachel is going there so there can be a cape on call for a bunch of towns that are used to having a one-hour or more response time just from the PRT, much less if capes are needed.

Rachel was chill, and her doggos were great.
Even better, Addison and Lawrence started healing the dogs Rachel rescued from the fighting pits.
…

Oh, and there's a bunch of legal stuff going on too… obviously, but that goes without saying with the PRT, and Rachel and I were pretty happy to just be zen with the doggos.

But the sum of it is basically just that Rachel needs to work with NOVA until she’s at least 21, and she’ll meet with a judge in a few months who’s like 99% going to say the same thing and 1% going to make trouble.
But that’s unlikely since I guess Rachel is “neurodivergent,” and most of her real crimes were “trigger trauma,” so Dragon spent most of that conversation explaining how she’s basically fine.
So like I said, Dog-Rachel and I just spent a while with the dogs and pack while the adults had headaches and paperwork.

To be fair, I had some paperwork too, and Rachel did some power testing to prove she’s not a master, but honestly, this whole thing was way smoother than I’d have expected for turning a villain into a hero.
Especially after what Sis told me about the process of converting Shadow Stalker.
…

Oh, Emily and I made up a motto for NOVA, since Emily likes the PRT’s “Magnitudinem Praestare,” or the more popular “Securing Greatness,” and wanted to make sure NOVA didn't get slapped with something generic.

“Vigilantia Communi Utilitate,” or Vigilance for the Common Good.
It’s not as clean as the PRT’s, but it fits the same theme, and it’s not generic, so it’ll work.

…

Also, I rolled, because it’d been a while and I figured the CP would be back up with all that’d been going on, and I was right!

Sealing – Fate: Prisma Illya
Base Cost: 250cp
Lore:
Hush the trick, unteach the hand,
Still the glyph and quiet the brand.
Form remains and flesh obeys,
Mind forgets the secret phrase.
A year and one day the knowing stays barred,
Each sleep renews the shuttered guard.
Details:
For one year and one day, you can seal the knowledge required to utilize supernatural abilities.
If the knowledge is relearned in that time, it is forgotten after they sleep.
The target keeps their form, but will not be able to know how to use it beyond how to perform at a Human baseline level.
Takes 10 minutes to perform on an unconscious opponent, cooldown 10 days and nights.
Addons: -150cp the option to make the memory loss permanent, but lose the forgetting aspect. Target will forget anything about their powers, but will be able to start re-learning immediately. (Especially devastating against Tinkers).
Final Cost: 400cp
Bank: 1850cp

That… is the kind of huge that I… I'm going to hold onto for a rainy day… I think.

I don't want to become the next boogie man, unless it’s on my own terms and for my own reasons.

But I should tell them I rolled something, so hopefully the next one is impressive…

Swift Release – Naruto
Base Cost: 300cp
Lore:
Feet find lightning and the world learns to yield.
Wind takes my shoulders and parts like a field.
Thought breaks the storm and stride writes the sign.
Speed is the weather and I draw the line.
Details:
Your genetics are now maximized for speed. From reaction times to bone density, to everything else, you are now perfectly predisposed towards moving, thinking, and all around just being fast.
Additionally, with an application of Chakra (or Mana) you can enhance your speed infinitely, though the cost of this increases with the buff. In practice, the average Swift Release user can sustain about 20 seconds of 20x speed from full reserves, or 2x for half an hour.
(Note: This is a bloodline, not a jutsu/spell, so the normal boosts may not apply.)
Addons: N/A
Final Cost: 300cp
Bank: 1450cp

Huh… Yeah, that’ll work!

I doubt I’ll push it past 2x much, given how crazy fast that eats mana.
This isn’t Naruto, Cape fights last more than 30 seconds, so passing out after 30 seconds of discount Velocity just isn't worth it.

But I can hold 180% for patrols, no problem.

Chapter Text

Dog Armor

Finding Armadillo scutes has been a weirdly depressing process.
Not like rabbits, where I just ask and they start shipping thousands to me.
They have sent me lots of stuff, but the crafting table in my inventory is really picky.

Luckily, they aren't expensive.
Even the pretty ones only go for about ten dollars each, but what exactly the table wants is really hard to pin down here.

Still, even with a success rate of about one in four, I have built up enough to make fifteen sets of dog armor with 3x protection and 3x maneuverability.
PR is rolling them out all at once for the Pack and Buddy.
I am also sending three to Rachel, though they will need to be for the dogs, as she is not buffing for them to fit.

…

I was enjoying the thunderstorm with Fox yesterday when he introduced me to a Thunderbird, and we raced…

I might have gotten a bit too into it, since I cranked Swift Release up to max to pull out the win.
At least I managed to teleport home to Emily’s living room before passing out.

Emily grounded me from going out for the rest of the storm, but she promised a surprise today and…
It is a new teammate, I guess. Gentle Giant is coming over to the Protectorate to replace Triumph, and Mokosh is here, at least theoretically, for his manipulative cousin who got Brandish killed.

It is great. I love Gentle, and he ended up with such a cool name.
“Malcolm Anpu Lithos” is the kind of name you expect a superhero to have.

Oh, and Mokosh’s name is Elisa, and she is a Case 53 with the power to turn herself into wood.
Since she is a Case 53, I can only see it if it is sufficiently separate from her body.

She was really excited to get her description, and there was much hugging involved.

There was not much progress on her name, though Dr. Albert did suggest “Vinculo” after seeing the sketch from Dragon’s special program on my tablet of what she looked like.

After that, they got into a discussion about something that went over my head about making blades out of her wood, which she can already do.
He used the term monomoles… and long story short, I guess the Power Testing people have a new target, since they talked her into a minor Tinker rating somehow.

…

Oh, and sis and I are gonna work together more, at least on PR stuff, since I guess they are setting us both up for more regional work.
I guess they accepted NOVA is gonna be a thing, and that got them to realize that Vista is the kind of person who is gonna run a city someday, so they partnered us.

That is the other thing. They are all about partnered duos now.
Dean and Vicky are obvious, but I guess Eric and Dauntless look really similar in terms of powers.
Eric has slow flight, shields, and blue blazers, and Dauntless has slow flight, shields, and blue electric… lance… boots.
So now it's:

Addison and I even got him to “sign” it by dipping his paw in paint and then having him step on the poster.

Chapter Text

I guess Sis got tired of all the Dauntless and Phoenix PR and decided to get her name written down as a legend of Brokton Bay, because when the Wards came across a battle between Fenja, Hookwolf, and Lung...
Rather than running away, Sis apparently got fed up and trapped Lung in a Klein bottle.

She tested that trick out on me, so I can attest to how mind-melting it is to go from flat ground to Klein bottle physics when you're expecting it.
So, it must have been mind-melting to happen mid-fight!

Unfortunately, even with Armsmaster showing up and using some kind of “stop getting bigger” tinkertech on Lung, the situation was a stalemate…
Until the PRT showed up with Sandra from Firewatch, who was doing her limited “Volunteer” hours with them and was able to use her “go away fire” power from Ars Magica, on something other than a burning building for once.

This is big because I guess the old version of con-foam used to melt, but then villains started throwing Molotovs on their enemies when they were foamed up and causing a bunch of burns on people who can't move.
So the new stuff just kind of crumbles to dust with high heat, but that means even though it can resist his brute abilities, Lung can just burn himself out of it.

Thanks to Sandra, they were able to contain him in sis's bottle and flood it with sleepy gas until he passed out.

So the big names from that are Armsmaster (despite doing the least), Vista, because obviously… and nobody, because PR doesn't like promoting individual PRT troopers.
Which was pissing off Emily and making Sandra sad… so I might have posted a play-by-play on PHO, so people would know Sandra was as big a help as Beardmaster and despite PR’s crap, Sis was the real hero of the day!

…

Oh, and I rolled a new minion!
Though I probably won't be talking to him for a bit though...

Joshua Graham - Fallout: Honest Hearts
Base Cost: -150cp
Lore:
The Malpais Legate does not need to boast
The desert keeps score like a careful host.
New Canaan stands tall when he says the word
The wrath in his calm is the last thing you heard.
Details:
Joshua Graham, once the Malpais Legate of Caesar's Legion who survived being set on fire and cast into the Grand Canyon after the First Battle of Hoover Dam, returned to Utah to guide the New Canaanites and to lead the Dead Horses and the Sorrows through Zion, humbling the White Legs with patient faith, relentless skill, and a presence that makes the desert hold its breath. The more responsibility and trust you give him, the more loyal he will be to you.
Addons: -50cp a stranger effect to allow his backstory and credentials to be accepted by those who hear about it.
Final Cost: -200cp
Bank: 2000cp

He was covered in bandages, so I immediately grabbed some booze from Emily and fire-teleported him over to Tsunade’s clinic.
He said he was used to it, and Tsunade called him an idiot, then knocked him out so he’d stop saying stupid things, and told me to give her a week.

I did add him to the NOVA command chat on the IRC so that he can start learning about the program, since the perk said he does better with trust.
So I figured I’d just let him be the second in command for NOVA.
Plus, this way, Raymond can have fewer headaches.

Oh, and the second roll is just kinda nice.
There's finally a reason for people to go to the islands.
Well, beyond that silly professor and his grad-students who were trying to reverse engineer tinkertech, and were told to go somewhere where they’d only blow themselves up.

Hot Springs - Re: Monsters
Base Cost: -100cp
Lore:
Mineral warmth in pools of glass.
Hours slip by and gently pass.
Old scars cool and tempers mend.
Calm returns like an old friend.
Details:
You gain a small cluster of natural hot springs perfect for relaxation that eases aches and unwinds mental stress, unfurnished but placed within territory you already control.
Addons: N/A
Final Cost: -100cp
Bank: 1800cp

Still, the professor did send me a thanks in the IRC for adding that and a promise to test to see if the water was magic or something.
So I guess that should be fine for now, though I should totally invite sis and Vicky over there to try it out!

Chapter Text

I found a donkey today.

I was flying in Newbrunswick, trying to set teleportation points, and saw an old donkey.
He was used to people because he was very fluffy and just let me pet him for hours.

Turns out he was a family pet because a family of farmers came by and told me I could feed him apples.
I gave him a golden apple.

He’s still old, but he was much happier, and he didn't seem too upset when the 2 minutes wore off.
The family was happy too, so I gave them all 3x boots in trade for being able to come pet Samson whenever I wanted, since I had a strong teleportation point here now.

…

I'm considering getting out of dodge for a day or so, but I know there are better people around, it’s just that… My birthday is really shit.

Things always go shit on it, and 11 was just the cherry on the shit Sunday.

…

I guess it’s always just been a sign of Missy being the protagonist that she was born on New Year's Eve.

Which is why it's funny that I was born on June 4th.
Most families that's nothing, but ours, I get constantly reminded it’s the birthday of King George III, who subjigated our Irish ancestors and who America fought its first war against.

Oh, and of course it was the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, and the day the US blocked a bunch of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi’s, and a bunch of other stuff.

But what it boils down to is that Missy’s birthday means new beginnings, and hope and rainbows and puppies, while mine means anger, disappointment, and daughters who should just suck it up.

…

Actually, I've got a better plan.

Harry Potter prank spells can be pretty nasty if you don't have magic of your own to undo them.

So I wonder how the ball and chain would look, bald?

…

Dragon says it’s a bad idea, but fuck it.
They couldn't keep a teleporter like me in the birdcage if they wanted to.

Now I just need to figure out where they are, without Dragon…

…

Rude… She got Pern and Ángeles to refuse me, too!
And she’s blocking me from looking them up on the tablet!

…

Didn't I have a compass power a while back?
I wonder if…

…

Nope, just leads to sis, who just gave me a pouty face when I explained my plan.

Well, I guess I’ll hope for the best and:

Might - LOTR
Base Cost: -250cp
Lore:
Stone heaves upward at your will.
Ropes go slack and crowds fall still.
You set the weight and breathe in light.
Then walk on calm into the night.
Details:
You gain practical proficiency in feats of strength and endurance inspired by the hardier folk of Middle Earth which lets you lift and carry beyond ordinary men, march or run for hours with steady breath, shrug off common sickness with a stout constitution, weather cold and hunger with reliable vigor, and recover quickly after strain so you stay battle ready without crossing into invulnerable fantasy.
Addons: N/A
Final Cost: -250cp
Bank: 1800cp

Oh, I’m a Brute now!
Like Brute 1 but…

No, no, stay on track, Saga!
I need tracking skills...

Where Do You Find This Stuff? - Ben 10
Base Cost: 200cp
Lore:
Montage math, couch hero on a glowing screen.
Coffee one, I speedrun facts like a cutscene.
Weeks of team work shrink to one neat afternoon.
Red string appears on its own, credits roll soon.
Details:
You do in an afternoon on a laptop what a whole team of professionals grind on for weeks. You hoover up public records, forum crumbs, shipping logs, PDFs, school newsletters, and forgotten blogs, then line them up fast. You cross-reference names, stitch timelines, rank sources, swat disinfo, and spit out a brief with maps and receipts. You still need real access and existing records, but if it's possible, you can do it in a few hours, max.
Addons: N/A
Final Cost: 200cp
Bank: 1550cp

I.. Ok fine, let's go with this.

…

So, I didn't end up making anyone bald, because I had too much fun racing Dragon on my tablet.
This new power lets me blitz through info, so even as she blocked off the conventional means, I found more and more obscure means of tracking someone down.
At the end, she even removed the restrictions, when I started looking into ways to get a computer she couldn't control as easily from Toybox.

I guess she really doesn't want me using a computer without having a hand in it.
On my end, I still don't really have money, so I'd just need to see if I could swap Tinkertech, and eh, it just seems easier to keep on with my tablet.
Plus, I love the thing too much to give it up!

…

So, yeah, I guess I'm sticking around for tomorrow…

Chapter Text

Well, I wasn't expecting this!

I guess Hero wanted to give me a present for my birthday, so he organized a trip for me, Missy, and Emily, where Strider popped up every hour and showed us a new place.

Emily explained it’s so I can teleport to the spots if needed, since they now believe Fox that it’s the emotion, not the distance, that matters, which is why they waited for my birthday to do it.
On my end, I'm just glad that the entire “party” is just Missy, Emily, Dragon, and me on a quick trip across the remaining Wonders of the World.

Hell, I was even whispering a few times! in public!
I mean, the others barely heard, but I haven't talked outside a private room in a year, so it was really surprising to say things and have words come out… more or less.

…

After we realised we hadn't gotten any pictures and even Emily was worried about the shitshow PR would throw, so Dragon offered to halp us make a scrapbook with an app on my tablet, so we got pictures in our costumes and made these:

Prairie Creek Redwoods - Cathedral Trees Trail

Grand Canyon - Lipan Point - South Rim - view toward Unkar Delta

Carlsbad Caverns - Big Room - Mirror Lake

Chichén Itzá - North Plaza - Serpent Staircase view

Giant’s Causeway - Grand Causeway plateau and Amphitheatre cliffs

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes - Mauna Ulu lava field pull-out on Chain of Craters Road

Hirosaki Castle Park Gejo - bashi red bridge with Mount Iwaki

Inaccessible Island – Tristan da Cunha – coastal slope facing the sea cliffs

Jökulsárlón - Eastern shore near the bridge & dock

Yellowstone - Geyser Hill - Old Faithful Viewpoint

Hobbiton - Bagshot Row facing Bag End and Party Tree

…

And before I go to bed, I figured I’d roll, since who knows today really might be lucky after all!

Enchantment Table - Minecraft
Base Cost: 300cp
Lore:
Open the book and let letters swim, the room grows quiet and edges dim.
Shelves lean close and whisper might, blue stone drops and blooms to light.
Steel learns grace and cloth learns ward, chance and skill divide the award.
Mark the rune and close the lid, power lingers in what you did.
Details:
You gain a placeable table that lets you imbue gear with magical effects using experience and lapis.
Bookshelves placed nearby, up to thirty, raise the power and unlock stronger options.
You can enchant equipment with results partly random but guided by the item, catalyst, and level.
Addons:
-50cp You can guarantee an enchantment for an item to get at least 2 levels, but "Infinity," "Mending," and "Looting" Enchantments can only occur through a rare chance.
-100cp Enchantment Table Inventory Integration
-75cp Bookshelf Inventory Integration - 10 Bookshelves
-75cp Bookshelf Inventory Integration - 20 Bookshelves
-150cp Bookshelf Inventory Integration - Toggle from 1 to 30 Bookshelves
-150cp Rather than Experience, Enchant from Mana/Chakra/Ki/your preferred internal energy source.
Catalists:
-50cp Rather than Lapis Lazuli, use anything blue as a catalyst.
Or
-100cp Rather than Lapis Lazuli, use any catalyst worth some value to enchant with, though be aware that low value catalysts are unlikely to produce lucky results, while high value catalysts increase chances but do not guarantee fortuitous results.
Final Cost: 1000cp
Bank: 1950cp

Huh… well, I guess today really was awesome all around!

Chapter Text

So, I've got some awkward conundrums here.

I guess Rachel told Grue from her old team that joining NOVA was a thing, and now he wants to, which is fine, except the part where there's some kind of wacky triangle thing going on with Lawrence and of all people Kairos.

Oh, yeah, I guess someone gave Taylor the talk about not invoking the Faerie Queen so “Queen Administrator” only lasted a few days.
So she went with a Greek word for “the perfect moment for decision or action.”

Anyways, Grue is asking to join Firewatch so he can stay in the city most of the time, and I guess the reason this might actually happen is that Kairos offered to become a part-timer with Firewatch too if we let him stay in the city, and for all of his grudge with Grue, Lawrence REALLY wants Taylor to join our team.

I don't want to deal with the mess, but if there's one thing I'm sure of it's that it's way better to be an ally than a rival of Taylor, so I'm currently combining my lessons with Emily, and my super research and paperwork skills plus the help of a friendly AI to make this legal nightmare somehow a thing.
It would've been 3 AIs, but Pern disagrees with Grue joining Firewatch rather than NOVA, and Dragon fails to understand the mind-melting danger of being the enemy or rival of the Queen of Escalation.

The only real silver lining is that Joshua didn't need much instruction to start taking over NOVA operations, and promised to “make something of it,” which is exactly what I've spent several weeks failing to do so far, so I wish him luck, and try not to think about just why he's living in the clinic with Tsunade, even now that he's healed.

…

Oh, and I found out why Alex didn't just go get a pet bird right after getting his power, because he somehow talked Fox and Albus into getting a Post Owl over to Earth Bet.
So now a member of Firewatch is bonded to an owl that is genuinely a terrifying tracker.
All it needs is a name to find someone, even a pseudonym is good enough if they're in costume at the time.
(As we found out when he started tracking me all the way to New Brunswick, where I was petting Samson the other day.)

All this would be really impressive if he'd followed through and given the bird an equally awesome name…
Instead, he gave his kid nephew the job of naming our new member of Firewatch.
Barney.
Great.

…

Oh, and Lung got broken out unfortunately, but at least we've got the go-ahead to go for Nuwa on sight now, and Chris seems to have been inspired to act as the heroic member in their rivalry as tinkers between Nuwa, Charon, and him.

Though it's been a while since anyone's seen Charon, apparently, he's been working with Uber and Leet, but is suspected to still live in the city, unlike them, so who really knows what's up with him.

…

On a more personal note, I've been playing around with enchanting, and managed to even get Silk Touch on the Protectorate Wards' beloved Diamond Shovel, which is really trippy to look at, what with it removing obstacles but not in a destructive way now.

I offered to give Armsmaster and Dauntless enchantments for their gear and was actually glad for my hallucinations thing for once because they apparently spent the next 3 days glaring at me every chance they got… which I can't see.
LOL

Though I did manage to get Protection 2 on every piece of armor used by a Ward in the city, plus all the dog armors, and the Firewatch team, and have started working through the boots worn by PRT troopers and NOVA employees.
Unfortunately, I haven't found a good enough catalyst to get more than the occasional Prot 3 or Prot 4 out of the process, and that's pretty rare.
Still, Prot 2 is guaranteed, with just a bit of amethyst, which we can get by the truckful from Canada.

So it's not a huge issue for now.

…

The only downside to this whole thing is I can't double enchantments.
Combining enchanted items nullifies the effects, unfortunately.

Also, while I've been pretty much just resting and enchanting for a few days, it's still pretty heavy on my reserves.
So I'll need to keep the enchanting to a lower level for a while if I want to actually get things done, sadly.

…

Although funnily enough I did manage to confirm two interesting qualities.

First, my leather boots work as a sort of snowshoes, even for people across the country it's a bit easier walking on or through snow with them.

And second, Frost Walker doesn't make a platform of ice, but does let me walk on water just fine.
Which I know because I got it on a pair of leather boots that are now my new pair since they were yellow and that's one of my colors so PR doesn't mind.

So now I can Jesus walk on water!

Chapter Text

Brockton Bay: Danny's Truck- 8:35am

TAYLOR:
I don’t care about a paycheck, Dad. I care about rooms where people who know how to do this let me watch, then let me try, and don’t treat me like a problem when I mess up the first time. I care about gear that fits my hands, so I’m not guessing while someone bleeds. I care about rules that don’t change when I look away, because that already happened and I’m not doing that again. I want this. I want the map they’re offering. I need you to say yes and keep them honest when I can’t see the whole picture.

PRT HQ Conference Room 9:00am

THINKING DANNY:
The room is glass on three sides. The lights are bright. The table is polished and a little dented at the corners. Raymond stands at the head, jacket open, hands relaxed. Taylor sits one seat back on my left, jacket straight, fingers laced. Phoenix sits across from Taylor, tablet on a kickstand. The screen stays dark, for now.

[Raymond sets a booklet in the center.]

RAYMOND:
This covers the scope and protocol for live ops. I am open to better wording. The frame stays where it is.

THINKING DANNY:
I came ready for confrontation. I get a door held open instead. I still do the job she asked me to do.

DANNY:
Start with control. Taylor decides. She sets the pace. She picks up any extras. Keep me looped in so choices stay choices. I am not here to block her. I am here so she gets the benefits without getting railroaded.

RAYMOND:
Sure. The agency stays with Taylor. We supply structure, options, and continuity. If snacks somehow become the bottleneck, I can escalate to the Boss.

THINKING DANNY:
Fine. A joke helps the wheels turn. The point still stands.

[Danny reads the page headers: Training. Patrol. Safety. Protocol. Compensation in kind.]

DANNY:
Baseline next. Training first. School hours stay protected. One patrol a week. Anything extra is her call after you tell me.

RAYMOND:
Got it. The baseline is modest on purpose. Extra hours pile up where she already prefers to be. I expect she will volunteer past the cap without a push. My priority is clear procedure when she is active. Clear order of operations beats posters and pep talks every time.

THINKING DANNY:
He knows the gravity here. He leaves the names off it. That’s fine. He doesn't need to say Lawrence's name for me to hear it.

[Phoenix taps the tablet and tilts it toward Taylor. Success Kid. Taylor’s mouth twitches, then she straightens.]

RAYMOND:
We start with precision. We layer timing under controlled pressure. When schedules converge, we add partner work. Rhythm and trust keep people alive.

THINKING DANNY:
He doesn’t look at Taylor when he says converge. The air still shifts. I don’t follow it. I keep us on the track we picked.

DANNY:
Hard rule. Chain of command. Put it on the record. She needs to know exactly what happens when sirens pull attention sideways.

RAYMOND:
Authority follows function. Orders travel through the vest, not age and not reputation. In a live scene, she follows the chain without delay. If the most qualified officer is twelve, that officer commands. Quick compliance. Clean execution. Boring, but it keeps people breathing.

[Phoenix swipes. Rage Comic face. Taylor presses her lips together, then fails not to smile.]

DANNY:
No fuzzy language. Cause first. Fuzzy rules make people freeze at the worst time and get people hurt. Write exits that open when hands shake. Taylor can step back at any point. No penalty on paper and none in practice. She moves forward when she is ready. No pressure verbs. No hinting at the answer you want.

RAYMOND:
We will formalize a step back with no adverse record and a public rationale of the school and health. We will map an opt-in progression that needs explicit consent and evidence of readiness. Coercion can file paperwork and get declined like everyone else.

THINKING DANNY:
Good. Keep going until daylight reaches every corner.

DANNY:
Compensation next. No checks. We get that. Be clear that you are replacing money with training, gear, and access. List her compensation without brochure gloss.

RAYMOND:
Compensation is not monetary. Training is tuition-free on the mat, the range, and the simulation floors. Mentored blocks across the term. Standard gear is issued with custom fitting when needed. Consumables and raw stock for practice with a locker that locks every time. Transport with vetted drivers. Medical coverage for incidents on or off the clock. Counseling available, opt in unless safety requires a mandate. Confidentiality is guarded by policy and by habit. No tote bags. There might be a mug pilot in discussion because tradition is stubborn.

THINKING DANNY:
That’s the trade school I expected. Mat time. Tools that fit. Doors that open when you pull. It can grow a life or grind one down. Which one it does depends on exits and on honest people and realistic schedules.

[Phoenix swipes. Doge. Taylor hides a laugh behind her wrist.]

DANNY:
Media. Do not turn a student into a sign. Cap mandatory appearances at twice a month. Veto stays with us. No cameras on school nights. No mask off images. No leaks from clever angles.

RAYMOND:
Outreach stays scheduled and chaperoned. Releases are opt-in. No end to the request. Some community nights are consistent and useful. If she chooses those, crowds and cameras behave. A steady team does more for public safety than a slogan. I will still approve a tasteful poster for morale.

THINKING DANNY:
He talks rhythm and keeps optimism off the page. Good habit.

[Phoenix swipes. Grumpy Cat. Taylor coughs into her sleeve and pretends she didn’t.]

DANNY:
School day protection. Pulls during class go through me unless someone is in immediate danger. Break patterns so no one maps her walk.

RAYMOND:
Approved. We meet her at the doors when needed. The umbrellas belong to people. We even open them when it rains. Revolutionary, I know.

DANNY:
Pair work. Heat sticks to people and places. If you put her with someone who draws it, record the plan, the location, and the exit. Put an adult in the room who can end drills with one sentence and will use it before pride performs.

RAYMOND:
Plan documented. Exit named. Adult empowered to stop the moment stopping is needed. Transparency note. A reconciliation block launches next month. An independent under observation runs basics under heavy oversight. The focus is de escalation and safety culture. Presence matters. Kairos stabilizes groups in measurable ways. If Taylor volunteers, the room steadies faster. Faster is ideal when gauze is the alternative.

THINKING DANNY:
That matches what I heard. It also matches where she’ll be on her own time if I pretend she won’t. Better to write it down and supervise it.

[Phoenix swipes. Bad Luck Brian. Taylor snorts, covers it, and looks back at the page like she just caught herself drifting.]

DANNY:
Equipment scope. Basic issue first. No live-edge toys. Do not start with a lethal kit outside supervised sims. Eye protection. Respirator. Gloves that fit. Storage that locks. Sign in and sign out. No side lending to friends or teammates.

RAYMOND:
Agreed. We track equipment by serial and by hand receipt. No unauthorized transfer. No exceptions. If she needs specialized fittings for unique capabilities, we schedule fittings and document usage limits.

DANNY:
Training schedule. Cause first. School comes first. No weekday drills start after nine. No scheduled overnights on school nights. Weekend blocks are fine if she asks for them and her grades hold. Quarterly review with me and with your training lead.

RAYMOND:
Accepted. We can set it as a rolling six-week evaluation with adjustment windows. If school performance drops, we pivot to academic training until it rises again. If she accelerates safely, training volume can step up by request.

DANNY:
Transport. No unsecured rides. No last-minute pickups from unknown numbers. If a ride changes, a live human calls me, and I call back the number on file.

RAYMOND:
Yes. Dispatch calls with a single-use code phrase you choose. No code, no ride. We will keep the phrase boring. Boring is harder to guess.

DANNY:
Medical response. If she’s hurt during training or during the weekly patrol, I get the call before the press does. Keep me out of spin. Keep her out of press conferences.

RAYMOND:
Affirmed. Family first, not optics. The media office can learn patience. We have a binder for it.

[Phoenix swipes. Trollface. Taylor’s eyebrows jump, then drop. She looks at me, not Raymond.]

THINKING DANNY:
She keeps her voice careful. The edge underneath is an old cut. She wants the work. She wants the gear. She wants a schedule that overlaps with someone she trusts. I hear it. I don’t repeat it. Knowing is enough.

DANNY:
Therapy. Make it easy. No grading. No punishment in a friendly wrapper. If she says she’s going, that’s the end of the conversation.

RAYMOND:
Access is low friction, in the building and outside. No black mark for using it. Safety is the metric, and we enforce it. Notes get read, not filed and forgotten.

DANNY:
Contact chain. Nights fail where you forgot to look. If I call, someone answers. If I ask for eyes, someone with eyes goes to her.

RAYMOND:
Confirmed. Live voice. Live presence. If you get voicemail, I owe coffee and an apology, in that order. Good coffee, not punishment coffee.

DANNY:
Privacy. Names and addresses break fast and don’t fix clean. If a reporter plays games, call me first. If a rival plays games, call me faster.

RAYMOND:
Carefulness is a habit. Faster is the principle when harm starts sniffing around. I can Sharpie it on my hand if that boosts confidence.

DANNY:
Boundaries on appearances. No recruiting pitches using her likeness. No staging her next to someone who needs a photo op. If you want her at a community night, you ask her and you ask me. If I say no, that’s a no.

RAYMOND:
We’ll route all appearances through the same approval path as operations. No back doors. No surprises. I dislike surprises almost as much as lawyers do.

DANNY:
Probation window. First four weeks are training first, patrol second, zero discretionary interventions. She builds rhythm and understands the board. Four, she can volunteer for one extra patrol every week. That stays volunteer, not expectation.

RAYMOND:
That is workable. We can publish a four-week plan with milestones and a first four-week review. If she wants more after that, she asks. If she wants less, she says it. Paper will match reality.

THINKING DANNY:
This is where the hook usually hides. I don’t see it on the page. That doesn’t mean it isn’t in the room. I’m here for the page.

[Phoenix swipes. Philosoraptor. Taylor nods once like she filed the idea where she’ll find it.]

DANNY:
Grievance path. If she’s told to do something that violates safety or ethics, she stops, says stop, and calls me. No retaliation. No freezing her out. No schedules that look like punishment while pretending they aren’t.

RAYMOND:
Agreed. We will write a stop clause and a no retaliation clause with examples. We will add an escalation ladder that reaches me directly. If retaliation appears, I want the chance to end a career with due process.

DANNY:
What I want to avoid. I don’t want Taylor used as a symbol. I don’t want Taylor carrying the weight of adults who should know better. I don’t want Taylor choosing between someone she cares about and a procedure you forgot to teach. I don’t want Taylor alone in a room where the plan fell apart, and people act like that’s normal.

RAYMOND:
What I want to avoid. Overextension, heroics, and the illusion that instinct replaces training. Also, meetings about preventable messes. We can collaborate on all four.

[Phoenix swipes. Doge again. Taylor tries not to grin and looks exactly fifteen.]

TAYLOR:
I’ll play by the rules if the rules are where I can see them. I’ll follow orders if the orders fit the situation and the person giving them knows why. I’ll add hours if I’m steady and school is steady. I’ll walk back if I need to, and I won’t let pride dig the hole deeper. I want this. Please let me have it, and stand behind me when I say Slow down.

THINKING DANNY:
That is the whole ask. Training. Gear. Time in rooms that make sense. A schedule that lines up with a person she trusts. We both know it. We don’t say it.

DANNY:
If Taylor adds hours, she tells me first. If Taylor needs out, she says it, and we do it. That rule is not up for debate. Policy can keep up.

RAYMOND:
Agreed. Simplicity helps in the field. Honesty too, when we use it.

DANNY:
Next steps. Send me the redlined draft. Include the step back clause, the no retaliation clause, the media guardrails, the equipment list, and the schedule template. We will sign when the language says what the room said.

RAYMOND:
You’ll have it today. Orientation would be Saturday morning if she accepts. Gear fitting at eleven. ICS overview at noon. Scenario block after lunch. We will bribe participants with pizza, which is ethically complex but effective.

THINKING DANNY:
I can live with that. She can walk out after any block and call it a day. That exit matters most.

[Raymond nods and steps into the hall to take a call. The glass door settles.]

[Taylor slides an inch toward Phoenix. Phoenix mirrors the inch. The tablet becomes their small stage.]

[Phoenix brings up Grumpy Cat, then Rage Comic, then Trollface in quick succession. Taylor tries to school her face and only gets the edges.]

TAYLOR:
If I ask for extra blocks, I’ll text you first. Pacing keeps hands and keeps friends. If I need air, I’ll say it. You don’t have to guess.

DANNY:
I hear you. I’ll hold you to that, and I’ll hold them to this paper. The rest is calendars, rides, and locking up after.

THINKING DANNY:
That’s the shape. A partner. A square of floor. Two people sharing it without speeches. A friend learning daylight who needs a steady witness. A city that does better when good rules get followed and bad ones get deleted.

[Raymond returns with a short nod. Danny collects the folder. Taylor pockets her phone. Phoenix clicks the case shut.]

RAYMOND:
For the record. I appreciate coherent parents. It makes my job resemble a profession.

DANNY:
For the record. I appreciate you writing what you mean.

RAYMOND:
Dangerous precedent, that. Let’s keep it going.

THINKING DANNY:
Baseline holds at one patrol per week. Training leads. Extra hours will grow where the right people stand close. That’s fine if she’s the one planting them and if the exits work. Reconciliation block is coming. Four weeks to learn the rhythm, eight weeks to test the load. Twelve and sixteen sit next to each other in my head and refuse to move. Both are mine in the ways that count.

[They stand. The door opens. The hallway carries the afternoon forward.]

THINKING DANNY:
We step into that and try to hold our promises where someone can see them.

Chapter Text

Dropped into a blaster mess today.
One of the NOVA squads blocked a robbery, and Sugarhouse Sentinel showed up to yank the loot back.
I rolled in mid-fight, so I don’t even know who got hit.
The room smelled like maple and smoke, and everyone was yelling over the hiss of the pans.

Pern put me on evac and collect:
“No heroics. Get our people out. Bag the weird.”
I kept the line open and did exactly that.

The fight was inside a sugarhouse (funny enough), with steam everywhere and bad sight lines.

Sentinel was carving lanes for her people to evac, though.
The floor was wet and loud, and every ricochet sounded like a coin in a cup.

The storage tags Tsunade and I cooked up in science class were finally ready.
They ate her light balls and even a few beam slices like the paper was hungry.
I grabbed what I could reach and kept dodging and weaving in bird form.

Everyone local knows the name Sugarhouse Sentinel.
She sounds old school, and she acts like she stepped right out of 1989.
She moved like she’d done this a thousand times and wanted us to notice.

Her power has been a question mark forever.
People say heat balls and ice lasers, then move on.
But since NOVA is probably going to keep crossing paths with her now, guesses aren’t good enough.

I dropped the haul at the lab once the team was stable:
Thirteen spheres.
Six beams.
I wrote the counts on the bag twice so nobody would ask.

Dr Müller took one look and told me to eat something while he made the room safe, the rest is his show:

…

Official: PRT: SCIENCE!: Preliminary Results Chat (record it before you forget it!)

CarambaQuantico [Mod] >>

Posting this before the coffee crash wins. Twelve hours on benches. Instruments behaved. I will keep it plain.

Sugarhouse Sentinel first. Civil age is 66. In person she reads late 30s because the power pays her back in little slices of time. She runs with the Keepers. Think winter volunteer corps that treats the county line like the edge of the map. Her effect is thermal. She calls organic or inorganic before she shoots. A clean hit pulls a third of the target heat. A bright ball appears and spends about a minute and a half bouncing and leaving tidy coin burns. É batata que o relógio manda, a energia só finge que manda. [The timer is what matters.]

Her daughter is Maplelight. Civil age is 44. Same family of effect with calmer delivery. Slow draw by type. Stores charge. Spends it to keep a person walking. Hits like a bat, not like a torch. No time refunds. No glamour. She is the one you want when the wind bites and the ambulance is still on the far side of the county.

We did not have either cape in person. We had artifacts. Ward Phoenix brought thirteen spheres and six beam segments in paper seals. I knew Phoenix could lock down objects. I did not expect a paper that could hold a slice of a power and keep its clock. Selos de papel que guardam comportamento, não só coisa. [Paper seals preserve the effect.]

On release the spheres behaved like the rumor that would not sit still for instruments. They do not fade by use. They end by time. Call it ninety seconds with a short side near 87 and a long side near 95. Early contacts burn. Late contacts burn the same. Thermal cameras put peak heat where it starts and leave it there until the light dies. No slope. No mercy from the clock. O tempo é rei, o resto bate continência. [Time is in charge.]

Beam segments behaved the same way. Open one in a test bay with a valid target and it performs the full three-second draw like a metronome. At the end, you get a fresh sphere with a full window. The segment does not care about the donor. It cares about the rule and the countdown.

Deposit marks read like tiny craters. Hot rim and cooler center. You see it on steel. You see it on damp cloth. You can coax it on frosted wood if the sphere returns to the same spot. Water stays friendly. Drop a sphere into a bucket and you get one perfect ring ripple and a polite hiss. No flash. No chain. Água é advogada de defesa com carteira assinada. [Water mitigates.]

Here is the part that asks textbooks to sit down. Pulling a third of a person’s heat in three seconds should be lethal. Case reviews do not show that outcome. People shiver, stumble, then recover with blankets and warm fluids. We ran phantoms with sensors and saw the same shape. Skin and near-surface blood take the insult. Core dips less and rebounds if you fix the basics. My read is that the power obeys a floor inside living targets. It will punish reaction time. It will not push hearts off a cliff. Jeitinho de vida mínima garantida. [There is a floor on harm.]

Typing rules are petty and reliable. A tool in your hand makes you count as connected for organic. A free-standing barrier that is not touching anyone breaks the link and gives the Sugarhouse Sentinel a small strain when the shot fizzles. Clothing with trapped air beats pure R values. Foil blankets are not suggestions. They are treatments. Spray and fog blunt the burn when the ball starts tapping the room. A wet sack on a long net will park the thing and let the clock grind it down. Do not get clever with shiny steel in tight rooms. Você monta um pinball do capeta sem querer. [Avoid reflective steel in tight rooms.]

Beam visibility refuses to showmanship. No bright line. Just shimmer. Absorb starts at contact and runs a clean three-count. If you are timing a push, do not trust your eyes. Count in your head and move on two.

Collision testing without the Sugarhouse Sentinel in the room still told us a few things. Two spheres of the same kind met with a sharp noise and a low-pressure wave. Teeth felt odd for a breath and then the room settled. Opposite kinds met with a soft flash and a measurable bump in background temperature at floor level. No lingering light. No mess. With the Sugarhouse Sentinel present, you would expect her health markers to jump. We did not have her. All we can say is the bookwork is finished and left nothing dirty behind.

Sphere size stays constant. Always a plum. Always bright. That, plus a constant window, forces two bad options. Either the 1/3 claim hides a cap on what any shot can truly take, or the ball is topped from somewhere so presentation never changes. I do not love either. I will plan around what I can measure. Poder com cara de termodinâmica e alma de relógio. [This is about timing.]

A word about Phoenix. Those paper seals did not hold things. They held behaviors with clocks. That means the seal cares about rules, not edges. We need a clean program to test limits. Start with a heat lamp field or a fogger cone that you can stop and start. Build to a tethered sphere inside a cage. If Phoenix can pause that without breaking it, we have a new class of tool. Put ethics in the room at the start. Put maintenance in the room too. Cada jeitinho vira puxadinho no manual. [We will need to update procedures.]

Side note before I forget. Test how far Phoenix can go with sealing things that are not objects. If the paper can hold a power segment, maybe it can hold other field effects for study. Bring a thinker field only with consent and guardrails. Volta pro assunto. [Continue.]

Practical notes for anyone who will face this in weather. Split your team so spheres do not find each other unless you want them to cancel or to feed the Sugarhouse Sentinel. Use fog and water to soak the deposit. Carry foil. Carry wet sacks and a long net. Expect the last second to burn like the first. Do not count on decay. If Phoenix says an empty patch of air is busy, believe it and keep your hands out. Se a Phoenix falar, assina embaixo. [Trust Phoenix.]

Open questions that kept me longer than planned:
Why do late contacts look as hot as early ones?
Where does the bookkeeping live when the donor is not present?
Why do three correct hits on a cold, tired person stop short of catastrophe?
Why does an opposite meet feel like the room exhaled and then forgot?

Honest answer for tonight. This is a timing engine that paints with heat. The timer is real and obedient. The energy story will keep lying to your intuition. I am logging everything before memory blurs. Boa noite. [Good night.]

Se der ruim, me chama que eu finjo que não ouvi.
- Dr. Albert Müller

Chapter Text

So…
It might have been a mistake, but people have been complaining about the boat graveyard as long as I’ve been alive.

Plus, as cool as my power is, this was the first time I've had a perk that would just
pop away one of the Bay's biggest issues.

But this, the Y-Gun?

Point at the big one, the one that started it all, and hold for a few seconds, and it’s done.

Y-Gun - Gantz
Base Cost: 300cp
Lore:
Black spheres conscript the unlucky into lethal hunts across crowded modern cities each night.
Combat suits and strange devices appear between missions after brutal resets of body and memory.
Teams chase points and prizes while targets vanish cleanly with unsettling, clinical precision.
Right and wrong blur as technology erases obstacles and silence fills the space left behind.
Details:
Handheld emitter sized like a short carbine with an under-barrel drum and twin-ring sight. A half pull starts a three-second lock on one visible nonliving object. On lock, the drum launches a capsule that bursts into micro nodes and lays a faint lattice over the surface. The lattice maps rigid connections by welds, bolts, rivets, solder, adhesive, and crystalline grain. On fire, the lattice swaps the captured mass into the nearest uninhabited dimension. All living tissue is excluded, and all items worn or carried by a living being are excluded. Straps on a wearer stay with them and detach at the target anchors. Objects only resting on the target remain, while fastened cargo goes if truly connected. No blast heat, light, or force on nearby air, water, or structures. The lock fails if the capsule cannot reach the target within ten seconds. If this occurs, the shot dissolves, and the lock resets. After firing, the core locks out and self-recharges over one day. A side ring fills during recharge, and the gun arms again when it closes.
Addons: -0cp The option to return the Y-Gun to your inventory. If used, it will return after 1 week, and the old one will dissolve. However, if you take this option, then the Y-Gun will be fully usable by others, even enemies, until the respawn timer is complete.
Final Cost: 300cp
Bank: 1950cp

The perk even said it “swaps the captured mass into the nearest uninhabited dimension” and “No blast heat, light, or force on nearby air, water, or structures.”
It’s basically perfect, just point, and suddenly the bay gets better.

I mean, the like 60 people falling into the water were a surprise, but there were a bunch of people filming me, so the authorities knew right away, and they all got rescued.
Plus most of them were arrested, since the cops really did not like going there, it was de facto safe territory for some drug cartel or another.

I wasn’t expecting a lecture from Emily, but to be honest, I could tell her heart wasn't in it.

In the end, I just told her that my power was random, but let her keep the Y-Gun as long as she promised to be the one to have it and to actually use it (most of the boat graveyard is still there) and to not hand it off to some scientist who would take it apart and leave it broken in some warehouse like all that Tinkertech the military wasted so much money on in the 70’s.

…

Oh, and I wish I’d thought of it before using it, but I enchanted it and managed to get Efficiency 3, Unbreaking 1.

I guess it’s down to 13 hours reload, though, if the Obelisks or Enchanter’s “Tower” is having any effect on that or not, I have no idea. I have not really tested much outside the Enchanter’s Tower, since that's just a waste of resources, and the Obelisks seem to be more consistent with spells than effects… I think.

…

I could really use some more video game perks like the Y-Gun!

I mean, Magic is great, but other than writing down the perks, I can't really figure out what's interacting with what, and how.
Plus the ones I'm afraid to record anywhere, like that sealing one, that could be nothing, or could work to solve Ash Beast in one go… I just don't know.
But what I do know is it is better to hold that in my back pocket than to tell a government that already seems to be bugging Emily to tighten my leash that I MIGHT be capable of even temporarily untriggering someone.

So please, power… if I have any say in this, I could really use some kind of HUD power:

Claw Shard - The Book of the New Sun
Base Cost: -200cp
Lore:
Severian, forgetful torturer, exiled through citadels and jungles, chasing mercy, fleeing night.
With Claw and Terminus Est, he heals and harms, remakes fate, bends light.
Through war and masks, he devours memory, becomes Autarch, wagers Urth on strange rite.
Time arcs, the White Fountain answers, New Sun dawns, mercy crowned in radiant might.
Details:
A thumb-sized gem, it heals one severe wound per week when pressed to flesh, and it glows faintly near mortal danger without telling you what kind.
Addons: -25cp Body Integration. Rather than an object that can be lost or a spell that can be forgotten, it’s now your fingernails, granting you fingernails with the hardness of a gem, that need never be cut again.
Final Cost: -225cp
Bank: 1650cp

So, is it all RNG then?
I’d almost say yes, except that addon looks almost like my power throwing me a bone, what with the whole “Rather than an object that can be lost or a spell that can be forgotten” part…

…

In less confusing news, Firewatch now has a Protectorate Liaison, since Velocity has offered to mentor Grue, and because Armsmaster wants him working with the Protectorate Wards, so having Velocity mentor them and Grue at the same time is the loophole to allow that.

Either way, I’m cool with it, and apparently Robin was already friends with the Firewatch team, so it works.

It also gives me a new excuse to meet Ruby again, because she’s cute and likes me more than Missy, which is rare.
It's been one of the downsides to this whole cape thing that I haven't been able to see people like little Ruby Swoyer or Jade, one of my few friends who seemed more like my friend than Missy’s.

Even if we ran in different circles most of the time, what with her living in the middle of ABB territory and me and Missy being (implied) Empire, given our skin and Missy's "internship."
I wonder what she’s been up to…

Chapter Text

Official: Wards: National Wards Chat

HaloEffect [Mod] >> Boston Bruins doing their annual hope then pain routine
HaloEffect [Mod] >> the affective forecasting here is bleak and I say that with love

GroundControl >> Data says 52 to 48 if the goalie wakes up
GroundControl >> if the penalty kill keeps bleeding, then ETA to heartbreak is Sunday
GroundControl >> we could still steal it if the neutral zone isn't a highway

FerrousBueller [Mod] >> I can fabricate a tiny cup out of scrap so hope has a prop

Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> I will watch the highlights later
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> if anyone clips just the fights send the link

GroundControl >> Celtics look fine
GroundControl >> if the bench minutes hold then we coast

HaloEffect [Mod] >> coasting sounds illegal and I am here for it
HaloEffect [Mod] >> someone tell Boston to stop making me have feelings

OShallNotPass >> Please keep the feelings off the incident report
OShallNotPass >> Thank you

[SkyRider] changed their name to [KitJockey]

KitJockey >> ok quick drop before the thread leaves orbit
KitJockey>> plates for Saga boots, simple metal plates that attach under the shoes
KitJockey >> hit the latch and they pop out into ice skates
KitJockey >> Saga put Frost Walker on them so yes water is floor now

HaloEffect [Mod] >> Bay Glide
HaloEffect [Mod] >> optics are free money and the confidence placebo is real lol

Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> I put the enchant on them
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> Frost Walker
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> Jesus cosplay unlocked

GroundControl >> If water is floor then patrol can cross the ferry lane without the dock shuffle
GroundControl >> spacing stays three and we keep line of sight clear

KitJockey >> also I am dumb for not realizing the Lego thing when Saga told me months ago
KitJockey >> my power would not give me long fall boots
KitJockey >> would not even start
KitJockey >> but it threw together a little mod for Saga's leather boots in no time
KitJockey >> that was the hint
KitJockey >> I am a kit-basher and I should have acted like one

HaloEffect [Mod] >> confirmation bias ate you
HaloEffect [Mod] >> happens
HaloEffect [Mod] >> you get cookies for admitting it and also for inventing Bay Glide

Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> I have an impact softener for feet
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> I can add it to a different attachment if Chris makes one

KitJockey >> yes!
KitJockey >> I can make the thing for the softener
KitJockey >> give me your measurements and I will make it click

GroundControl >> Shipping to Boston is fine
GroundControl >> we log it as a test and keep notes on landing force and crack radius

HaloEffect [Mod] >> I want the before and after pictures
HaloEffect [Mod] >> people love a clean improvement graph with a happy story arc

KitJockey >> Saga are you in for more builds
KitJockey >> my power was extra happy on this one because it was a colab.
KitJockey >> I think it likes cooperating more than solo work...

Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> Yes
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> if you can make an artificial diamond maker like Armsmaster and Dragon
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> I can make the Wards Brute 6 for defense while we are in the city
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> Like Firewatch.

HaloEffect [Mod] >> ENE's Era of Sparkly Violence Returns!

GroundControl >> A civic-minded sparkle
GroundControl >> Armor that spikes durability while inside the city grid reshapes patrol plans
GroundControl >> lead pair can anchor the pier head and the reserve can screen
GroundControl >> response time falls and route risk drops

KitJockey >> I can try the diamond maker
KitJockey >> I know the feel I want
KitJockey >> if it clicks we can plate shins and forearms first then chest
KitJockey >> keep weight sane so nobody hates me

HaloEffect [Mod] >> chest plates that do not ruin silhouettes
HaloEffect [Mod] >> I am begging you
HaloEffect [Mod] >> ask me how I know...

GroundControl >> We can start with tiles then move to larger panels if look is clean
GroundControl >> small wins first then scale

OShallNotPass >> Break in
OShallNotPass >> As Wards Leader I am setting priority
OShallNotPass >> Chris you prioritize the diamond maker path
OShallNotPass >> Saga you prioritize this collaboration
OShallNotPass >> We will schedule a controlled test and sign off after impact survives

GroundControl >> Seconded as PRT Wards Leader
GroundControl >> Strategic value on that armor cannot be understated
GroundControl >> patrol survivability climbs and we gain control of the choke points

HaloEffect [Mod] >> Also the morale bump is not a small thing
HaloEffect [Mod] >> people move better when they believe bullets bounce

FerrousBueller [Mod] >> I will clear bench space and lay out a polite mountain of clamps
FerrousBueller [Mod] >> the first clang belongs to all of us 🛠️

KitJockey >> Aye Aye, Captain!
KitJockey >> I will start sketching tonight
KitJockey >> if the feel is right I can have a first try in the morning 

Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> Agreed
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> I can enchant a sample so we see behavior fast
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> we start small and hit it with a hammer, then Carlos, then Vicky.

GroundControl >> We log hammer hits by location and count
GroundControl >> shin
GroundControl >> forearm
GroundControl >> chest center
GroundControl >> we publish the short version so patrol understands what will break and what will not

HaloEffect [Mod] >> I will write the short version in human words
HaloEffect [Mod] >> You are harder to break here
HaloEffect [Mod] >> Think Tank, not Strongman
HaloEffect [Mod] >> Brute 6 toughness is a whole other ballgame from Brute 6 strength.

KitJockey >> Power Armor splits the sliders,
KitJockey >> It can raise strength and raise durability separately,
KitJockey >> Not like Brute capes that tend to get a go up in both at the same rate.

OShallNotPass >> Yes. 
OShallNotPass >> I will make sure people keep this in mind.

GroundControl >>Seconded.

HaloEffect [Mod] >> tldr pls do not bench press the pier for likes. lol

OShallNotPass >> Good.
OShallNotPass >> We keep the humor in chat and the caution on patrol
OShallNotPass >> Call me after the first impact round and we will brag after that

KitJockey >> Boston pair for Weld gets boxed with a note
KitJockey >> do not test off the John Hancock Tower on day one
KitJockey >> I am putting that in writing so nobody gets ideas

FerrousBueller [Mod] >> I would never
FerrousBueller [Mod] >> on day one...

GroundControl >> Back to sports for the room while the builders peel off
GroundControl >> Bruins still need a goalie who wakes up and chooses competence

HaloEffect [Mod] >> rude but true
HaloEffect [Mod] >> Bay Glide debut tomorrow
HaloEffect [Mod] >> I am making the sticker tonight

Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> make a small one for the boots
Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> I want it to grin at people

KitJockey >> I can laser a grin into the plate if the plate behaves
KitJockey >> not a promise yet

GroundControl >> Noted
GroundControl >> we test first then we decorate

OShallNotPass >> Thank you
OShallNotPass >> I appreciate the restraint

HaloEffect [Mod] >> clip me into the first glide
HaloEffect [Mod] >> I will not eat water in public
HaloEffect [Mod] >> probably

Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> I will spot you

KitJockey >> I will hold the phone and pretend it is for science

FerrousBueller [Mod] >> I will sweep the pier when you are done
FerrousBueller [Mod] >> the dock union is less strict than the sidewalk union

GroundControl >> Thread returns to sports in three
GroundControl >> two
GroundControl >> one

HaloEffect [Mod] >> Bruins in six if the goalie remembers he is paid
HaloEffect [Mod] >> Celtics in five if the bench is not sleepy

Birds4Brainz [Queen] >> I still want only fights

KitJockey >> I want only wins

OShallNotPass >> I want only reports filed on time

GroundControl >> Dream big, everyone!

FerrousBueller [Mod] >> Back to work and to hope
FerrousBueller [Mod] >> both are heavy and worth carrying

Chapter Text

The chapel smells like wet wool and burned coffee.
The heat ticks like a tired metronome.
Four flags wait up front, and four families watch the cloth like it might answer back.
Breath moves in shallow tides that never reach the shore.
Cloth whispers when someone shifts.
A coin taps a thigh like a nervous clock.

I count the room and keep it quiet.
Hands tell more truth than faces, so I watch fingers on programs, thumbs on phone screens, knuckles whitening on purse straps.
I listen for the little sounds that leak out when people try to be stone.
Leather creaks.
Shoes scuff tile.
The organ breathes and almost loses the beat.

Mother in blue keeps smoothing the first fold like gentleness can rewind time.
If I sign, she’ll say we spent another life to prove we care, then she’ll fall apart in a kitchen that smells like dish soap.
If I don’t, she’ll call a council friend from church and ask why her son died for nothing.
She’s against the order either way, because the only right answer is the one no one can give her.

Father beside her stares through the pulpit and curls the program with his grip.
If I sign, he’ll tell me we traded his child for someone else’s and learned nothing.
If I don’t, he’ll stop taking calls and learn the budget book by heart and use it like a slow knife.
He’s against, and he’ll make it policy.

Older sister with the neat braid keeps one hand on her mother and scans the aisle like a bodyguard.
If I sign, she’ll give one clean quote about cycles we never break by shooting faster.
If I don’t, she’ll call me kind and then call me coward five minutes later.
She’s against, softly first, sharply after.

Kid brother in the bad suit watches the rifles like a movie that might let him step inside.
If I sign, he’ll try to enlist and a range officer will teach him grief doesn’t make a hand steady.
If I don’t, he’ll build a crowd online and put my name in the first post.
He’s for the order because motion feels better than ache.

Grandfather with the cane stands without shaking.
His mouth is a line that knows how to bury people.
If I sign, he’ll nod once and take his family home on time.
If I don’t, he’ll sit back down and refuse to move until the hall is empty.
He’s for it and he hates that he is.

The chaplain moves like a medic for the soul and lays clean gauze over dirty wounds.
His verbs spread pain thin enough to breathe.
If I sign, he’ll say I chose blood while patience was still on the table, and he’ll mean it.
If I don’t, he’ll say witness saves lives, and he’ll mean that too.
He’s against as practice, not posture.
He wants fewer flags, not better speeches.

Miss Militia holds the aisle with eyes on hands and exits, not faces.
If I sign, she’ll defend the timing in public and argue the method in private, and she’ll be right in both rooms.
If I don’t, she’ll come back with a plan that has clocks and names, and she’ll be right there too.
She’s for whatever saves bodies this week.
Today that leans yes.

The unit lieutenant wears hollow cheeks and a ledger behind the eyes.
He’s already redrawn next week twice.
If I sign, he’ll send his people to bed and come back ready to move.
If I don’t, he’ll triple corners and stop trusting the building.
He’s strongly for the order because he counts triangles and wants to stop.

The union rep in the back rows counts everything without looking down.
If I sign, she’ll open with thanks through her teeth and close with staffing numbers.
If I don’t, she’ll call a vote and win it.
She’s for the order in the short run and for my head in the long run.
Both are true and she knows it.

The detective with gray at his temples hasn’t slept and keeps mapping exits with his eyes.
If I sign, he’ll clear his board and draw the retaliation map before breakfast.
If I don’t, he’ll wait for the next body to pick the order for him and he won’t forgive me for that.
He’s strongly for it and already building the second play.

The medical examiner stands by the wall with a hand on her bag.
She watches faces, not flags, because faces tell her what numbers won’t.
If I sign, she’ll write the next report anyway and the math won’t comfort anyone.
If I don’t, she’ll write two more and stop coming here for a month.
She’s against the order and for reality, and she’ll keep the handwriting neat either way.

The city dispatcher twists a simple ring and listens without moving.
She knows which calls end in static.
If I sign, she’ll sleep a little longer for three nights.
If I don’t, she’ll start turning the ring faster when the phones light up.
She’s for the order and she hates that it helps.

The armorer studies boots like they’re a ledger.
If I sign, he’ll finally get the purchase orders he’s filed since spring.
If I don’t, he’ll issue older plates with a look that says he warned us.
He’s for it and thinks it’s late.

The ERT medic touches the velcro at her cuff like a tic.
If I sign, she’ll pack a cleaner kit and still expect screams.
If I don’t, she’ll double stock tourniquets and pretend it’s enough.
She’s against on the level where hands shake after the sirens cut out.

The rookie trooper watches the chaplain like church might set his sights.
If I sign, he’ll say finally in a locker room and ride steadier for a week.
If I don’t, he’ll ride angrier, and angry gets sloppy, and sloppy writes names on more flags.
He’s for the order because he hasn’t learned how long weeks can get.

The sergeant with the ruined knuckle stands like a doorframe.
If I sign, he’ll clap one shoulder and call it overdue.
If I don’t, he’ll take the next hit himself and tell me he chose to.
He’s strongly for it and won’t hide it.

The tech analyst hugs a laptop like a shield.
If I sign, she’ll strip three phones and map the ripple.
If I don’t, she’ll bury me in heat maps until I choke on dots.
She sounds neutral and she’s for the cleaner outcome.
Today that’s the order.

The public defender sits near the aisle with a shut notebook.
If I sign, she’ll say state violence never cured the harm it claims to fix.
If I don’t, she’ll say we’re laundering decay through inaction.
She’s strongly against and brought lines that will bite.

The community organizer squeezes a folded flyer and watches every badge like a test.
If I sign, he’ll march tomorrow and his chant will use my name.
If I don’t, he’ll march next week and use it anyway.
He’s against and he’s loud and his grief is honest.

The business owner who sends coffee to stations sits stiff and sober.
If I sign, he’ll donate again and say it was time.
If I don’t, he’ll still donate and ask for a meeting about delivery routes.
He’s for the order and for the cameras that come with it.

The mayor’s chief of staff hovers like weather.
If I sign, he’ll script a podium line about steady hands.
If I don’t, he’ll sell unity and a task force that eats months.
He’s for whatever polls clean.
Today that leans yes.

The state liaison reads faces like spreadsheets.
If I sign, she’ll send two legal memos by dinner and a budget note by morning.
If I don’t, she’ll send five memos and warn me about hearings.
She’s for clarity.
The order is clarity.

The federal desk officer is a black suit with careful shoes.
If I sign, he’ll murmur that interagency support is available.
If I don’t, he’ll murmur that it remains available and copy more people.
He’s for alignment and he’ll call it alignment either way.

The guard at the back door taps a coin on his thigh and thinks no one hears it.
If I sign, he’ll stop tapping for one day.
If I don’t, the coin will skip faster when the first radio crackles.
He’s for it at the level where breath wants less work.

The reporter in the careful suit aims for neutral and lands on hungry.
If I sign, he’ll quote two critics for balance and sleep well.
If I don’t, he’ll quote three grieving parents for patience and sleep just as well.
He’s for the story and against dull days.

The council aide in row three texts under the program and smiles without teeth.
If I sign, she’ll park her boss at my elbow and call it shared responsibility.
If I don’t, she’ll book a radio hit about oversight and balloons.
She’s for the order when it comes with a lens.

The retired captain stands by a pillar with posture that could hold the roof.
If I sign, he’ll say we forgot how to do this fast and clean and at dawn.
If I don’t, he’ll say the city went soft.
He’s strongly for it and stuck in a calendar that no longer exists.

The survivor from last winter holds a cane across her knees and doesn’t blink.
If I sign, she’ll squeeze my hand in a hallway and say thank you without a smile.
If I don’t, she’ll avoid my eyes and count steps to the door.
She’s for it and the scar on her calf is a vote that never changes.

The teacher from the block sits near the aisle, knuckles around a pen.
If I sign, she’ll tell her students grownups finally protected the morning bus.
If I don’t, she’ll tell them to hurry inside and keep their heads down.
She’s for it and she’ll pay for that with letters from parents.

The shop steward from sanitation smells like cold diesel and grief.
If I sign, he’ll move crews past the hot blocks with fewer calls.
If I don’t, he’ll reroute trucks and lose hours and patience.
He’s for, and he’ll say it into a microphone if someone asks.

Saga stands a half step off the front row and decides to do it perfectly.
She doesn’t speak.
She doesn’t sign.
She won’t judge me.
She’ll ask one question either way and it’ll land where it hurts.
If I sign, she’ll ask who I saved and I’ll need to answer with names.
If I don’t, she’ll ask how many more I’m willing to spend and that will need names too.
She’s the only clear water in a room of waves.
She makes the currents visible.

Lung isn’t here and still is.
He answers in fire or doesn’t answer at all.
Boredom in a man like that lights itself.
The daughter isn’t here and shapes every thought anyway.
A small hand on a big fuse.
She feeds him and tunes him and keeps him aimed.
If I sign, she won’t scream.
She’ll measure and pick a target that speaks a sentence.
If I don’t, she’ll add a part to a device that already works and wait for me to stumble in public.

Oni Lee keeps slipping.
Shorter jumps.
Stranger choices.
Louder landings.
If I sign, there’ll be a gap where he stood and some of the noise will die down.
If I don’t, the drift will keep eating his mind and the city will keep paying one room at a time.

The folding drill begins and the room leans toward the first triangle like a small task can hold a big day together.
The heat ticks.
The organ breathes.
Cloth whispers.
Hands move like the fabric might bruise.
How it looks matters, so the order of steps matters.
If I sign in front of families, I anchor grief to ink.
It’ll look clean now and weak later.
If I move it and lock it to my name, I anchor it to the last interviews, the last calls, and what the girl can field inside forty eight hours.

My hip aches.
I stand anyway.
People notice who sits, who hides, who leaves early.
I won’t give anyone an easy line.

I reach into the bag.
The folder weighs more than paper.
The pen clip bites my thumb like a small truth.
The organ lands the last chord and the room exhales like it needed permission.
Winter air slides in when the back door opens and it smells like snow.

I sign.

Strong for rises like heat.
The sergeant’s jaw unclenches.
The detective starts a list.
The dispatcher lets the ring go still.
The retired captain stops shaking his head.
The shop steward squares his shoulders.
The teacher breathes.

Strong against pulls like a tide.
The chaplain closes his eyes and counts for both of us.
The public defender writes a line that’ll bite.
The mother in blue flinches at the latch.
The organizer studies the door and starts to plan.
The medical examiner looks down and presses her lips thin.

Most people sit in the middle and hate it.
They’ll say we chose the least bad fire.
They’ll say we chose it late.
They’ll say we chose it too fast.
They’ll still show up tomorrow, and that’s the part that saves anyone.

Saga doesn’t look at me.
She will, later.
She’ll ask the question she promised herself to ask.
Who did I save.
I’ll answer with names and keep counting until the numbers stop moving.
The flags start their slow walk.
Cloth whispers.
Breath finds the shore.
The heat keeps ticking.
The snow smell sharpens like a clean blade.

Chapter Text

So… the money issue might not be “solved,” but I guess I might be able to give Taylor and Laurance a paycheck now.
I got a new perk, and though it’s a bit expensive, it's one of the ones that's just a minor quirk in a game but absolutely crazy in real life.

Loot Magnet - Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony
Base Cost: -150cp
Lore & Details:
This world’s an alternate seventeenth century where England planted its first colony on Mars.
Red deserts stretch under brass skies while Spanish clockwork airships duel above the canals.
The native Martians watch Earth’s empires bring war, faith, and greed to their world.
Sir Walter Raleigh, an exile looking for redemption, caught between crusades and alien warlords.
Jamestown stands as a flickering outpost of survival and pride, held together by lightning shields, iron guns, and people too stubborn to give up.
---
10 minutes per day, all loose and forgotten change within 10 meters slides into your pockets.
Addons:
-50cp Money teleports to your Inventory.
-100cp - 25 meters / 30 Minutes
-150cp - 50 meters / 1 Hour
-200cp - 100 meters / 2 Hours
-250cp - 150 meters / 3 Hours
-300cp - 200 meters / 4 Hours
-350cp - 250 meters / 5 Hours
-400cp - 300 meters / 6 Hours
-450cp - 350 meters / 7 Hours
-500cp - 400 meters / 8 Hours
Final Cost: -900cp
Bank: 2100cp

So, I did the obvious, and flew around at my fastest speed that I can hold for hours.
(About 60mph in bigger bird form at 1.8x speed for about 4 hours if I don't need to cast anything.)

Theoretically, I was just doing another search for where the ABB capes had bunkered down, but in practice, I was collecting more than $20k!
The only downside is that I don't have any handy Inventory money converter, just 120,000 nickels and dimes, and about 25 square miles of city that’ll never be this profitable again.

Man, am I glad Bet doesn't have the 1-cent coins anymore like Aleph still does!

Though I'm going to run out of city soon at this rate…
Well, I guess I just need an excuse to fly around NYC a bit and I’d be golden…

That or a perk that would turn all these nickels and dimes into money people won’t cuss me out for giving them….

Chlorophyte Extractinator – Terraria
Base Cost: -50cp
Lore & Details:
This world’s a patchwork of wild lands where magic and madness rule the map.
Floating islands drift over jungles and deserts while dungeons sprawl under your feet.
The ground’s alive with monsters and minerals both waiting to kill or reward you.
Every cave’s a gamble and every sunrise means something new to fight.
You start with a stick and end up rewriting the world, one pick swing and bad decision at a time.
---
Feed any loose fine aggregate, such as sand, silt, sawdust, or drill cuttings.
The drum converts bulk into a truly randomized ore, gem, or fossil bit.
Does not accept organic material.
Max generation 1 per day.
Addons:
-50cp - An Inventory option for waste disposal rather than a physical tool.
-50cp - Max generation 2 per day.
-100cp - Max generation 3 per day.
-150cp - Max generation 4 per day.
-200cp - Max generation 5 per day.
-250cp - Max generation 6 per day.
-300cp - Max generation 7 per day.
-350cp - Max generation 8 per day.
-400cp - Max generation 9 per day.
-450cp - Max generation 10 per day.
Final Cost: -400cp
Bank: 1200cp

The copper coins are interesting, and the Palladium ore was gonna net me a few hundred in tinker budget, but I traded it to Armsmaster through Dragon to get them to help Chris finish his Diamond Maker so I can finally start armoring up the Wards.

I haven't told anyone about the Adamantite yet.
It’s cool, but I wanna save it up till I either get a smelting power, or just want something big from Dragon.

Chapter Text

Missy had a good idea.
I took her to pet Samson the Donkey to calm down after another day of not funding the ABB capes, when she asked about the Ninja I’ve mentioned knowing.

It seems obvious in hindsight, especially with how it took Tenkō no Tomo a day to find at least 6 bases they seem to rotate between, and Asuka even snuck in and got pictures of them.

Asuka and Albus are the only ones sticking around for the raid we're planning, though.
But that makes sense since their all about sneaking… and assassinations.

But Emily says it’s best if a Hero takes down Oni-Lee for the public's good.
Even if Tenkō no Tomo are about as trusted as that type can get, their still officially Parahuman Mercenaries, and that would just give an unneeded confidence boost to all the would be bounty hunters out there.

---

On the other side of things, The Empire’s been dealing with the Hookwolf vs Kaiser thing still, so The Dockworkers have been pushing into ABB territory, instead of them.

Taylor knows if she helps, it just makes them look more gang-like and might get her marked as a Villain, so she’s just been pacing back and forth in HQ, seeming worried.

But it’s not all good news, since we now have proof that The Adepts and The Red Hand have opened Branches in the Bay. I guess they figured there was enough of an Opening, so they jumped in.

It’s better than a Brockton bay version of the Boston Games, but still annoying that we’d been pushing the gangs back a bit, and now new ones pop into the hole.

Still, The Red Hand are basically just what the Undersiders were pretending to be, minimally offensive thieves.

While the Adepts are a bigger deal, we've probably only got a few of their mid-level members looking to get a branch of their own. Plus, they have a thing about not holding territory so much as specific locations, so it’s still an improvement over last year if this is where it stops for new gangs moving in.

---

In less local news, Mr. Graham has been sweet-talking the Canadians somehow, since their now offering to pay for a building for NOVA so long as it’s in Canada.

According to Vicky, that would indicate we're a more Canadian/Guild-like group than a PRT/Protectorate one. But that is already true since Parahumans and Regular Humans in the same chain of command is more of a Guild thing anyway.

Either way, we've now got an official HQ in St. Stephen, New Brunswick (Canada).

It’s not huge, but it can fit all up to 1000 people in a pinch, and Mr. Graham talked Tsunade to moving there, so I guess I’ll be going up there for my Science/Ninja-Magic/Medical Lessons now.

---

Oh, and I'm actually getting a dedicated workshop thanks to Dragon!

I guess she was part of why NOVA got a building, since she has a base in Saint-Andrews, New Brunswick.
A town about 30 minutes down the road that is the closest thing that area has to a port.

But she doesn't really use it for tinkering, just as a base for her Mechs to deploy to New England when needed, since it’s right next to the border.
So there's a whole Tinker lab, and Dragon said it would help her a bunch if a Hero made visible appearances there every few days.
So now I have a full lab to play around with, in trade for a weekly patrol of St. Andrews.
But it’s only got like 10K people, so that won't take more than 30 minutes.

…

I had history today, and asked about New Brunswick and the two towns, and the only interesting detail is that apparently, those are some of the rare places where the Bet version has more people than the Aleph one.
Despite Aleph having like 1.5x our population, their towns tend to be smaller, and cities are WAY bigger.

Makes sense, I guess, what with them only needing to rebuild two buildings, not all of NYC.
So people probably aren't thinking about Endbringers when choosing where to live there.

Either way, St. Stephen is like 5x bigger since it’s where a lot of Canadians who commute into the US moved after Newfoundland sank, and even if it’s lost some of that population boom, it’s still got 25K.
While Saint Andrews is mostly just bigger because New Brunswick in general is bigger, and with Leviathan wrecking ships in the 80s and capes in general taking opportunities where they can, Earth-Bet shipping is way more mobile and focused on efficiency and speed than those slow-moving mega ships like Aleph has.

I mean, I live in a harbor and the only Containership I've ever seen is the one that used to be blocking the way out at Brockton Bay.
So unlike Aleph, Saint Andrews and other little towns have more sea trade, since people want to have a lot of options with shipping, and even big companies are more likely to use small and medium boats and ports than like on Aleph.

---

But that's enough history, I haven't rolled in a few days, and haven't broken my streak about making a journal entry every time I do, so here goes:

It Just Works - Meme Culture
Base Cost: -50cp
Lore & Details:
Originating with Steve Jobs, “It Just Works.” has come to embody the feeling of “I'm a smart person, don't worry about how, just know that it does.” Turned into a meme largely after Bethesda Softworks director Todd Howard’s use of this phrase to describe a game many would love and hate due to its numerous bugs and glitches. This phrase has remained in the popular zeitgeist ever since.
---
Respond with “It Just Works.” and whoever is questioning your plans, creations, and/or strategy will react as if you’d just given them a sound and reasonable explanation. (Info-dump cut-scene skip button, in perk form.)
Addons:
-50cp a stranger effect so that any observers also experience the “sound and reasonable” effect and stop questioning you. Basically, turning any recording of you saying “It Just Works.” into a memetic stranger effect, preventing people from becoming suspicious or doubtful of you.
Final Cost: -100cp
Bank: 900cp

MSF Mouse Droid - Ewoks (1986)
Base Cost: -50cp
Lore & Details:
The MSF line of the Mouse Droid was designed to have increased mobility as well as to be capable of repairing each other and acting somewhat in a secretarial role, with audio and visual recording capabilities, and enough intelligence to react to conversational requests.
---
You gain 10 MSF series Mouse Droids. They will follow orders and clean any location you leave them in. Past iterations of this droid have continued operations for thousands of years if left undisturbed for that time.
Addons:
-50cp A stranger effect. While these droids would seem like obvious tinkertech to anyone seeing them, and thus become a likely target for thieves if left unattended, this effect renders them the same, mundane but vaguely cute impression they had in their original setting.
-50cp +10 MSF series Mouse Droids.
-100cp +10 MSF series Mouse Droids.
-150cp +10 MSF series Mouse Droids.
Final Cost: -150cp
Bank: 800cp

Well, ok.

Emily is strangely interested in these guys after I described them, so she gets 8, and Mr. Graham gets 6 for NOVA HQ.
And the rest of us who think they're basically just cuter little vacuum cleaners get to see who can turn these into the more effective counter-espionage force, lol.

Missy also gets 2 since she thinks their adorable and wanted one.
But your supposed to keep them in pairs so they can repair each other.

The other 4 can go to my new lab in Saint Andrews to clean it up… and watch out for thieves too, I guess.

Chapter Text

Rude.

…

I was all involved in the search for the ABB capes, then we finally find them, and I get sent over to HQ to stand guard all day!

The worst part is, they were right!
The Chosen (Hookwolf’s E88) attacked, and it was only all of us under 18 Wards being in the same place that sent him and his minions off.

It’s annoying, and I can't even complain because they were right to have kept a reserve.

Even though Lung and Nuwa got away (along with a huge chunk of the gang’s non-powered), their still out of the city, and Oni-Lee’s dead, which was the whole point.

The whole day went good.
Not perfect, but there are a bunch of ways it could have gone bad and didn't.
And I'm upset about it!

It would've been easier being upset if something had gone bad, but instead the only hitch was that a ramped-up Lung can stalemate the Protectorate for offense, even with my armor's protection.

But even there, it wasn't an issue because they kited him out of town before he got too big, and for once, I guess he grew for speed, not fire, because he got away.

Velocity chased him for a bit, but got called back once it would've taken the rest more than 30 minutes to catch up with him.

Nuwa got away with a bunch of the gang's remaining members, but most of Firewatch + Carlos, Dean, and Vicky (the 18+ wards) still got like 30 of them and one of the most violent lieutenants.
“Madugo” was the leader of the Southeast Asian parts of the ABB, and for a guy whose name literally means “Gory” in his native Filipino, I think it's clear where he got his reputation.

So, today was a success, and my whole part in it was taking pot-shots at Hookwolf and teleporting teammates out of danger with Fox.

Though it would have been nice if Missy would’ve been able to finish her Solar lens to melt Hookwolf.
But it was too cloudy, and he was too quick to retreat once the minion's clothes started to catch on fire, so it didn't happen, unfortunately.

---

Oh, and no injuries, thanks to Addison.

I also found out why he STILL doesn't have a costume.
Apparently, he’s afraid of PR, and so long as he keeps refusing Hero names and costumes, he doesn’t have to do any of it.

Missy and Chris think he’s a genius for this, but I‘m pretty sure it’s gonna bite him when he runs out of time and gets slapped with “Boo Boo Buddy” or something stupid like that.

…

Also I rolled but it’s just another PR Perk, so I called it a night on rolls.

Gold - Red Rising
Base Cost: -50cp
Lore & Details:
Humanity sprawls across the solar system in a strict color caste, engineered so each person reads as role, rank, and polished purpose.
A lowborn Red is remade into a Gold to infiltrate the ruling caste and spark revolt from within, a one-life gamble to topple centuries of rule.
The series turns that gamble into total war, asking whether overthrowing a cruel order births freedom or just another crown, and what surviving the furnace of revolution leaves behind.
---
You appear gilded and blonde, hair like braided sun, skin warmed to coin, eyes opalescent and sharp, features honed to statuesque calm.
Blood, grime, or exhaustion only adds weathered grandeur.
Onlookers will remember your silhouette as luminous authority.
Addons:
N/A
Final Cost: -50cp
Bank: 875cp

I almost didn't take this one, but I figure Blonde is already close enough to Golden that people might not notice.
So obviously Emily did immediately, which is how I got found out for hiding rolls, but all that led to was a discussion about the money power, and what I was supposed to do with hundreds of thousands of Nickels and Dimes.

Answer?
Pretty obvious given who I'm talking to, but give it to the PRT and get Tinker Budget.

When I brought up the tinker budget only being to build stuff, which I can justify in the paperwork (aka for Ward's usage, not for things like supporting NOVA).
Emily offered to trade it but said I’d need to take a loss on behalf of the caffeine budget.
So we went back and forth for a while, then I gave her the coins and accepted one of those Visa cards, which they give informants and bounty hunters with 92.5% of what I gave her in cash… or well, in digital money, but close enough.

---

I asked how long she thought that 7.5% would last, and Emily said a week??

I thought she was joking, but no.
Apparently, the Caffeine budget for the New England PRT branches comes out to like 20k Per Week.

It really puts into perspective how expensive things are.
I really thought I was going places with this fund, but in reality, I've got less of a budget than Emily does for her departments to spend on Caffeine, for the next three months!

---

Oh, and the PR team’s almost finished getting pictures with everyone using the Y-Gun, so I guess there's going to be a grand reopening thing tomorrow, where they want me and Emily to cut a ribbon, then she'll make some kind of “New City” speech now that the ABB got run out of town.

Not that big a Deal, but Taylor's really pumped about it, so I'm doing my best to match her energy.
Though it’s hard to get really pumped about… having like 5 ships a day, show up and unload some stuff before leaving later.

Plus, they're already doing that, since the first thing they did with the Y-Gun was clear a path to the Dockworkers.

…

Seeing it in the mirror, I'm not sure how Emily noticed?
Like, my hair just looks like I'm standing in the sun, even when I'm not.
It's not much of a change, but I guess I forgot Emily’s still the Kingslayer, since she clocked it instantly, in a way that took me 10 minutes of looking in a mirror to pin down.

Chapter Text

We did the PR thing.
There was even a pretty big ship in the background, so it worked out for the pictures.

Emily made a speech about the city entering an era of new hope and possibility, and we all politely forgot that this city is still full of Nazi’s and thanks to the new gangs, the number of villains actually went up, if anything.
Then she cut the ribbon and ‘opened the bay to new possibilities!’… or something cheesy like that.

Still, Lung and Oni-Lee were a particularly scary combo before they got a tinker, so the situation certainly feels better, if nothing else.

Plus, fireworks are always nice.
Albus even taught me a firework spell, just for that PR event.

…

In other news, I found out that Albus and Tenkō no Tomo found out about the building where my new Lab is at St. Andrews and decided to move in there.
I guess Dragon owns the building and doesn't care about it beyond that her Mech’s are left alone, so it works out.

Asuka says she wants the clan to have a territory of its own… but like a heroic one, I guess.

Not protection or anything, but Albus’s shack was just a house, and the Building in an area already pretty well covered by the Guild.
But the lab at St. Andrews is a whole base, and in an area with minor importance to a whole region, but no real defenders aside from a mostly theoretical effort on Dragon’s part.

So, I authorized them to use any of the cash they’d gotten, plus 100k, which is most of what I've gotten from the money gathering perk, to fortify the Passamaquoddy Bay on my behalf.
It all seemed kinda larp-ish, but I guess Tenkō no Tomo is theoretically a Feudal Clan in service to a Feudal-Lord… aka me.

So, I'm giving them resources in order to protect an area that will be de facto mine in Cape terms.
What with NOVA-HQ 30 minutes away, and my vassal's HQ there, and it being my lab and the storage house of one of my allies.

The whole thing feels kind of strange, but within a few days, I’ve gone from having never heard of Saint-Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, to being its Lady-Protector.

Still, everyone agrees that it was basically a sitting duck, being kind of important, but undefended with NOVA-HQ nearby, but still far enough to let villains get away if needed.
Plus, almost everyone agrees that something needed to be there, so it might as well be my personal base, to be looked after by the clan when I'm not around.

…

The St. Andrews thing might have been just in time, too, because a NOVA squad got pictures of Lung fighting a local gang already… in Saint John, New Brunswick.

He barely moved!
Just left the bay for a slightly smaller city nearby.
Hell, it probably would've been St Stephen where the new NOVA-HQ is if that town were a bit bigger!
He literally just found the first port city out of Emily's jurisdiction with more than 50k people in it and set down!

Well, fine, if he does end up settling there (and we don't hear about him getting in a fight somewhere else soon), then I guess it becomes NOVA’s job to keep him from really becoming it's King.
What with NOVA-HQ and My Lab only being about an hour away, making us the nearest parahuman support for that poor little Guild Department.

I mean, he was stalemating the BB-Protectorate for years, and E88 at its strongest!
There's no way the locals will be able to keep up…

Chapter Text

Welp.

Lung is here to stay, and so am I.

---

We've started to build up NOVA in this area around Maine and New Brunswick.

The dream of all of New England and The Maritimes is still a thing, with a few teams still expanding in Vermont and Nova Scotia, but mostly we're a Maine/New-Brunswick organization for now.
As part of that, I tested a bunch of people and handed out the last few non-master Powers I could from Ars magica. 

But the best of them was probably Team Leader Valerez, who got Creo-Animal, and Rachel, who got Muto-Animal.
Rachel is over the moon with healing and shapeshifting her dogs, and is willing to put up with the pseudo dog projections Valerez makes now.

---

Albus has been buying up little chunks of land to put outposts in, so we can hopefully make some kind of Rapid Response over to Saint John if needed.
Plus, some of the middle-aged members of The Clan have been seeking out positions in different towns in the area, so we start to integrate and keep an eye on New Brunswick fully rather than just the surface-level stuff they’d been doing.

So far, the main areas that were focused on, other than Saint Andrews itself are that unfortunately placed Nuclear Power Plant and Eastport, Maine.

Eastport is in a similar position as Saint Andrews, except for the part where someone blew up its docks a few decades ago as part of some final showdown between a hero and villain.

Still, its been long enough since then that its a somewhat important local port for the US side of the Border now.

---

On my end, I've mostly just been making a low-key version of my good boots for the clan and a more thematic one for NOVA employees. Plus a bit of armor when I've got the Mana to spare, now that the first iteration of the Wards-armor is mostly done.

Along with using the Money perk on different towns every day to get a feel for the area, and to collect more cash for operations.
Especially since it’s been pointed out that Mr. Graham’s not a cape.
So there's nothing illegal about him investing in stable stocks to use the dividends like an operations fund for the stuff NOVA can get from the Perk-Generated funds each employee is paid from.

It’s been really busy between the different creations, the way school has been ramping up in the hopes of getting me into Online High School this August, and the setup now that NOVA has an A-Class threat to keep an eye on.

…

The roll is great, though I really wish I’d rolled it before all the paperwork for managing NOVA we've all been doing.
Still, team leads and COs will be very nice and hopefully decrease the amount of crap that gets sent upstairs by the grunts.

Home Office - Library of Ruina
Base Cost: 500cp
Lore & Details:
The City is a sprawling corporate meat grinder where miracles, monsters, and body mods are just part of the urban budget.
You work as a Fixer, a licensed problem solver who takes contracts for anything that normal people or even syndicates are too scared, too fragile, or too politically exposed to touch.
Every Fixer belongs to an Office and lives and dies by its grade, starting as disposable grade nine fodder and clawing their way up toward the rare high-grade elites who can clash with Wings and urban legends.
Your life is paperwork, debt, and spectacular violence, and every job is a gamble where the payout might buy you better gear and status or just pay for someone else to mop what is left of you off the pavement.
---
You’ve come into possession of an Office, an entirely independent one. Currently, it’s staffed by a modest company of extremely loyal Fixers who are equally adept at administrative work and the sanctioned violence expected of them.
You have 25 points.
A Grade 1 is 13 points
A Grade 2 is 11 points
A Grade 3 is 9 points
A Grade 4 is 7 points
A Grade 5 is 5 points
A Grade 6 is 4 points
A Grade 7 is 3 points
A Grade 8 is 2 points
And you have as many Grade 9s as you have points to spend.
Addons:
-50cp All new employees include confirmable backgrounds and a fund to pay them so long as they stay in your service.
-0cp More Staff 1: +25 points, but no Grades above 5.
-50cp More Staff 2 (Requires MS1): +25 Points, but no Grades above 6.
-100cp More Staff 3 (Requires MS1+2): +25 Points, but no Grades above 7.
-150cp More Staff 4 (Requires MS1-3): +25 Points, but no Grades above 8.
-200cp More Staff 5 (Requires MS1-4): +25 Points, but no Grades above 9.
-500cp +14 Points, no strings attached.
-500cp All Grade 1s are now Colors.
Final Cost: -850cp
Bank: 1200cp

I wish I knew what a Grade 1 meant, but the memories have got nothing here, and since that could be 13 new NOVA members, I just can't risk it…

Luckily, I’ve got the points for most of the “More Staff” options, so I'm sending 25 Raymond's way, since Firewatch has been taking on a bunch of roles, beyond just bodyguarding me.
I was tempted to make it 50, but I just can't help but remember how much 200 has gotten in the past, so I held back.

So, NOVA just got 100 members who can do admin and fighting!
We're really starting to feel like proper law enforcement at this point…

Chapter Text

One of the Ninjas who got a job as a manager at a canning factory has been making friends with a family who live right down the road from the Nuclear power plant.
I guess it’s a big enough deal that it has its own history of villain attacks.
Which is lucky since apparently the ABB has already been sniffing around.
It’s all the more reason to have people in the area, if only to keep Lung’s people away.

---

For myself, I’ve been looking into the local area and the points of interest where NOVA will likely need to focus our defence.

So far, what I’ve found is:
1. Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station - The big target
2. Trivium Packaging Canada - less important, but isolated and would hurt the locals a lot to lose it.
3. Charlotte County Hospital - Near NOVA HQ
4. A.F. Theriault & Son's Fish Boat Factory - A large part of why St. Andrews is a regional port, and the others aren't.
5. The Ganong Chocolate Factory & Museum - Near NOVA HQ
6. St. Croix River’s Hydroelectric Milltown Dam - Important but no known villains particularly close to it.

And a few that were going to need to hope the Guild can defend.
Because even if we went straight over, our response time would still be like an hour, unless it’s small enough for me to deal with on my own.
1. Irving Oil - Multiple locations, all vulnerable to villain attacks.
2. Saint John & Saint Joseph Regional Hospital - Multiple locations, all vulnerable to villain attacks.
3. Port Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada - Largest Port in The Maritimes, and it's just as vulnerable as the one in BB, but would be MUCH more devastating if it were blocked off.
4. Saint John Airport - A bit further away, but still a concern.

---

The perk this time was pretty helpful, even if it’s a bit low-key.

If nothing else, I can finally show people what it’s like to roll, so long as I remember to keep them away from that damned powers list and its revealing of my secrets.

Celestial Grimoire - The Celestial System
Base Cost: -25cp
Lore & Details:
The Celestial Grimoire isn’t written, it is grown.
A living book that grows new pages whenever it’s chosen dares to ask the universe a question.
Every page is a bargain, inked in starlight on one side and in quiet personal cost on the other.
It whispers patterns, designs, spells, and devices that have never existed before, yet each revelation pulls its wielder a little further from the life they once knew.
Those who bear it do not just learn, they are rewritten until they match the Grimoire’s Glory.
---
A self-updating list of all your accepted perks.
Includes a summary of the Perk, the date it was accepted, and the CP cost. Also allows you to refer back to the exact wording of any Perk and to have a physical object to interact with for rolling and considering new perks.
Addons:
-0cp Standard Stranger and Recall-Function for the Celestial Grimoire
Final Cost: -25cp
Bank: 525cp

Chapter Text

Movie nights on their days together kind of grew in sideways, and Ethan never really remembered when they had officially become a thing, only that sometime in the last few months Saga stopped standing by the door the whole time and started actually sitting down while the movie played.
The apartment showed clear signs of a full evening already, with pizza boxes pushed to one end of the table, soda cans clustered like little monuments, and Missy’s math notebook half open on the chair near the hallway where she had clearly abandoned it the second Ethan had said they were done.
The only light in the room came from the TV and from the dull glow of the city sliding in through the window, which made the whole space feel smaller and warmer than it usually did.

He sat in the middle of the couch like always, partly because the girls liked that and partly because it let him reach things without getting up, one hand still holding the remote loosely, the other resting along the back of the cushions.
Elene owned the right corner, tucked into it with her feet up and a blanket over her legs, hair pulled back in a way that meant she had written off the possibility of leaving the house again tonight.
Missy parked herself between Ethan and the coffee table, cross legged, popcorn bowl in front of her like a tiny fort, another blanket draped over her shoulders.
Saga had taken the old spare armchair by the window, the one that was technically just furniture but had become hers by habit, and she sat in it with her socks still on and her arms folded, close enough to be part of the shape of the group while still clearly separate.

The movie was already running, no logos or menus left, just the old man in his tiny house doing the same morning routine with the same grumpy determination, and Ethan watched him bang his cane against the floor and adjust his glasses and felt that little uncomfortable twist of recognition sit in his chest.
He thought briefly that if any of them pointed that out he might actually walk out just to make a point, then admitted to himself that he probably would not, because the couch was comfortable and the kid leaning against his side was warm and he was tired from the day.

Elene’s face was calm but not blank, the way it got when she was watching people more than plot, and he could tell from the way her eyes tracked the old man’s movements that she was already locked in.
Missy was doing her usual thing, staring like the TV might quiz her later, mouth moving as she silently repeated parts of the boyscout’s little speech about helping seniors, probably editing it in her head into something she thought would actually work better.
She had been the favored one in her old house, showered with toys and treats every time she made a noise, so watching a kid work this hard to be helpful hit somewhere strange in her, halfway between admiration and confusion.

Saga sat back in the armchair with that not quite relaxed posture that said she was here because she had chosen to be here, not because she trusted the situation yet.
The old man yelling at workers and the kid falling off the porch did not get much of a reaction from her, maybe a little tightening at the corner of her mouth when the old man snapped, but that could just have been annoyance.
Her parents had saved their soft voices and gentle faces for Missy, and for Saga they had kept the sharp looks and the tones that cut, so old people being snappish on screen probably slid off her defenses most of the time.

When the first flashback hit, the one with the little boy stepping into that broken down clubhouse, Ethan shifted his attention away from the screen on purpose and watched his people instead.
The little girl in the movie swung in on a rope and started talking about adventure and the wilderness and all the things she would do, and Missy lit up like someone had flipped a switch, eyes wide, face softening, body leaning forward without her realizing it.
That kind of wild freedom and that kind of fearless joy had never really been encouraged for her either, because her parents had been too busy buying her things to really watch who she was, and seeing it on screen clearly scratched some itch in her.
Elene smiled, not a big grin, just this small real curve of the mouth that said the energy of the kid on screen reminded her of a younger Missy or maybe a younger version of herself that never got to run around like that.
Her thumb rubbed slowly over the back of Ethan’s hand where it rested near her hip, and he realized she had tangled their fingers together somewhere in the last few minutes without him noticing exactly when it happened.
He squeezed back a little and she did not pull away, which still felt like a win even after all the years they had been doing this.
Saga watched that clubhouse scene with a different kind of focus, and Ethan saw the way her eyes went sharp when the girl showed off her scrapbook full of places and dreams and big hopes that had clearly been there for a long time.
Saga’s childhood had come with rules and punishments and long stretches of being ignored until someone needed someone to yell at, not scrapbooks and words like someday and we will go there together, so that scene probably hit her less like nostalgia and more like a catalog of things she never got.
He saw one of her fingers start tapping against the arm of the chair, quick and nervous, then stop dead when she noticed it.

The balloons lifted the house into the sky, bright colors throwing moving shadows across their living room, sliding over the pizza boxes and the framed photos and the old lamp they kept meaning to replace.
Ethan watched the old man’s face shift from anger to something like quiet joy as the house cleared the cityscape, and he felt his own chest loosen a hair in response, which annoyed him more than he could explain.
He checked the girls again instead of thinking about it.
Missy leaned just that bit more against his arm as the house drifted through clouds, her fingers tightening on the edge of the blanket, eyes wide with the kind of wonder he wished she got to have more often.
She had spent too much of her childhood in the back seats of cars going from one appointment to another, one activity to another, or hiding in corners when her parents’ parties got too loud, so simple wonder still felt like borrowed clothing sometimes.
Elene had that look she got whenever a story teased the idea of choosing your own path, a kind of hopeful sadness that he had seen on her face in real hospital rooms and at real funerals.
Saga’s shoulders dropped a little during the balloon flight, barely noticeable, but enough that Ethan could tell the constant fight or flight tension in her had eased one notch.
She had never had a house that felt like a safe place, much less one that could pick up and leave when the world got too loud, so maybe there was something in the image that worked for her, even if she refused to smile about it.

The jungle scenes came in with the weird bird and the dog, and the whole tone shifted around them in the room.
Missy actually barked out a laugh when the bird knocked the kid over and tried to eat his chocolate, then clapped a hand over her mouth out of old habit before remembering nobody was going to tell her to hush here.
Elene giggled more quietly, shoulders shaking once, and even let a soft snort escape when the talking dog introduced himself, which made Ethan grin because he always liked it when she forgot to be composed for five seconds.
Saga’s mouth twitched upward at the bird, the tiniest tug, almost more of a memory of a smile than the real thing, and Ethan caught it because he had been watching.
Her eyes crinkled just slightly when the dog started talking about his collar and how he was a good dog, and for a few seconds she looked less like a kid waiting for the floor to drop out from under her and more like a teenager who just genuinely liked that the dog was stupid and kind.
She caught herself, though, and the expression smoothed away, arms folding tighter, body pulling back into the safe habits.

Then the movie swung back into one of those flashbacks again, and the wedding rolled in all at once, and the air in the apartment went softer just like before, even though nobody said a word.
The couple from the clubhouse, older now, dressed up, nervous and smiling on that little hill surrounded by people who loved them and wanted to see them happy, and the music swelling in that way that was simple and honest.
Elene’s fingers tightened on his as the vows started, and Ethan let his thumb rub slow circles over the back of her hand, feeling the tiny tremor there even while her face stayed mostly calm.
She had never really had an easy clean family backdrop for their own marriage either, family who did not quite get capes, coworkers who thought marrying a colleague was asking for trouble, higher ups who saw them as a scheduling nightmare waiting to happen.
Watching a wedding where nothing went wrong and nobody scowled felt like a weird kind of fantasy even beyond the talking dogs and floating houses.

Missy watched that scene like she was trying to memorize it, eyes shining, mouth parted, blanket nearly slipping off one shoulder.
Her parents had loved to throw parties, big loud ones with too much food and not enough boundaries, but the tenderness on screen had never once shown up in her kitchen or living room growing up.
When the cartoon couple sat together on their little couch afterward, eating cake from a shared plate and looking at their new home like it was the best thing in the world, she inhaled sharply, as if the idea of affection that quiet hurt as much as it healed.

Saga’s expression did something tight and strange during the wedding montage, and Ethan knew that look from the times he had pushed too hard and hit some landmine by mistake.
There was anger there, and something like grief, and also this flat kind of disbelief, because everything on screen screamed this is normal, this is how it should be, and that had never been her normal.
Her parents’ idea of family had been control and punishment and turning her into a problem every time she breathed wrong, and watching a world where a kid like the bride had grown into someone loved for all her loudness and strangeness was probably getting under her skin more than any tragic plot point.

As the story moved through the years for that cartoon couple, showing them fixing up the house, working, laughing, hitting those slow and fast patches, the reactions in the living room stayed out of synch in a way that made sense.
Missy winced slightly when the couple argued and then worked it out without anyone getting screamed at or belittled, because that was not how fights usually ended in her old house.
Elene smiled softly at the little quiet moments, hands brushing, inside jokes, weather reports that meant more than the words, because she recognized those from their own life.
Saga stared hardest at the scenes where disappointment landed and nobody blamed the wrong person for it, and Ethan could see her trying to process that concept like a foreign language.

Then came the storm, and the crashing, and the moment the house really broke, and even though Ethan knew it was coming this time, his body still reacted like he was in some beat up transport again.
He felt himself lean forward, like he could take some of the hit with his own shoulders, and when the house finally fell and scraped and lay ruined, something behind his ribs punched outward in a way he did not enjoy.
His eyes burned, and he told himself he could just blink it off, but one tear slipped anyway, hot and annoying on his cheek.
He swore under his breath, not quite loud enough for anyone to call him on it, and lifted his hand to wipe it away.
Before his fingers reached his skin, the air on the rug in front of him rippled, and a large grey shape pushed through.
The wolf appeared in that quiet way they always did, one second nothing, next second big body, thick fur, long legs, claws tapping lightly against the wood under the rug.
Its eyes went to Saga first, just for a heartbeat, and Ethan saw the way Saga’s gaze met it, sharp and focused, the same way she looked at incoming threats on a mission.
For a long time, these wolves had only ever walked up to Saga herself, or to Missy, when those two cried, and even then only after Saga allowed it.
This time the animal flicked its attention from her down to Ethan instead, and then moved toward him without waiting for any hand gesture or spoken word.
That tiny shift told him more than any speech would have.
The wolf sat in front of him, solid and warm and way bigger up close than on nature shows, and it pressed its broad head against his knee with a kind of stubborn patience.
Ethan stared at it for a second, feeling his heart beat a little too fast, then dropped his free hand into its fur because not doing that would have been weird at that point.
The coat was thick and surprisingly soft, and the simple weight of the animal leaning into him grounded him faster than any breathing exercise he had ever been told to try.

He lifted his eyes to Saga again and saw that she had not ordered it away.
Her shoulders were tense and her jaw tight, but she watched him and the wolf with this small wary softness that he did not see often.
She could have called the animal back with just a thought if she wanted, he had seen it happen before when strangers were around, but she did not.
For the first time, she was letting this strange comforting part of her power reach past herself and Missy and touch the adults too, and that meant something she probably would never admit.