Rover 1.5
I stood there tapping my foot.
Bitch's only plan was coming here and freeing the dogs. Anything further level of thought simply wasn't taken on that front. With that being the case it seemed obvious to me what I needed to do next if I was gonna continue with this venture.
I needed to take command.
"No plan won't do. We need something even if it's only a loose idea. Before we can even get there though we need to understand what we can each do. What are your powers?"
"I empower my dogs. They get a lot bigger and stronger. They can take a little beating while they're like that. Good for riding too."
"How do you give them commands once they're empowered? Is it some sort of mind control or…"
Bitch shook her head. "No, I have to train them, same as any dog. Verbal commands and otherwise for everything."
"If I need you to send a dog to me if we split up could you? Or are they not trained for that?"
"Send them to you no, not unless you were close enough for me to point you out to them. They won't be familiar enough with you to go to you off a name alone without line of sight. If I tell one to stay with you they can return to me if you tell them 'Return'. What about you, what all do you have in that suit?"
"My suit is mostly just defense. Heavy armor and a shield to boot, even if the shield goes down my suits armor can take a beating. It's built to be heavy and the alloy it's made out of will be hard for most people to get through. Its power armor, so on top of getting hit hard I can hit back hard as well assuming something turns into fist to fist. Got something pretty nasty in the left forearm. It's not normally intended for combat but in a pinch it definitely can be used for it. Other than that I got my DM1. Plasma gun, very lethal but there's a setting to swap to a different energy projectile that only does concussive force."
Taking a knee I let my gun fall to my side with its sling. Opening the control panel on my forearm I launched my drone again.
"I'm going to do a more thorough sweep of the building before we decide how we are doing this. I don't want any nasty surprises going in. Especially ones we could have known about by scouting ahead."
Bitch simply nodded, looking over my shoulder at the video feed my drone began to relay back.
Flying around the building once more I zoomed in on the two guys still out back with the truck. This time taking a closer look, I notice radios on both of their belts. Continuing to fly around I try to peek through any windows but find all of them covered in some way.
"Shit, no real line of sight inside, the sensor package on this thing is not sophisticated enough to go through walls. This whole drone was too much of a rush job… We're going to be blind on what's inside." I circle my drone around back once more and zoom in on the two outside. "These two here, they have radios on their belts. We take them first and secure the truck and their radios. We can change the frequency on them and use them to keep in touch once we breach inside."
Bitch looked away from my display back to me. "Are we splitting up?"
"Yes, it will be faster that way. I'm hoping Hookwolf nor any of the Empire's other capes are here when we go in. Obviously we won't know for sure until we're inside but assuming we get lucky we want to be in and out as quickly as possible. Best way to do that would be to split the workload. Have you hit these kinds of fighting rings before?" I turn to her and ask.
She nods. "Yeah, why?"
"How are they normally laid out inside?"
"Normally they have everyone in the largest room with the ring in the center. That's where most of the people will be. Ringmaster, guards, people attending. But they'll normally have a few offices in the back, along with a room to house all the dogs in crates or cages."
"Would you say this door right here probably leads to the kennel then? It's the door they were unloading the dogs at before you got here." I said, pointing at the drone's feed pointed at the door in question.
"If that's where they were unloading then most likely."
"In that case that's where you'll enter. I'm going to take a guess and say you know more about dog handling than I do. You'll secure the dogs and get them loaded onto the truck. Meanwhile I'll enter through the front door. I'll beeline to the main fighting ring and take out the people running the show. I'll go in before you, hopefully drawing people and attention away from the kennel in the back. Once I have the front under control I'll stay there to hold it down." I stop briefly looking to make sure she's with me. The slight nodding of her head telling me she is. "Chances are someone will raise the alarm to the Empire at large. So plan for capes to be coming if they aren't here already. If any show or you run into any going in, call it out. I'll drop what I'm doing and come help. If I run into cape interference unless I say otherwise keep loading the dogs. I'll buy you time until you can finish."
"Works for me." She responds with a nod.
"Alright, just in case we don't leave together for some reason, tell me where exactly the dogs are going after this. Worst case we can meet up there if we have to leave separately.
After Bitch gave me the location we both began our approach to the back entrance. I wanted to take down the two out back quietly. Something I was annoyingly not well equipped to do in my heavy suit of power armor. So I improvised the best I could.
Bitch and her now empowered dog approached from one side of the alley. But before they could be noticed I sent in my drone once more. Flying straight at one of the grunts I used it as a battering ram as it slammed into one's chest. Knocking him to the ground before having it shoot off back into the air. The other grunt startled at the sudden hit and run, turned to look at my drone as it flew into the air.
Bitch took advantage of the distraction. Sending in her dogs as they rushed in before either man could collect themselves and sound the alarm. The one still standing being thrown into a wall by a charging monster as the other, dazed, finally got his bearings and looked up to see a dog now standing over him growling.
Bitch, upon closing the distance, proceeded to give both the beat down of their life.
By the time I returned my drone and made my way to the back, both men were down for the count.
Bitch tossed me one of the radios and I affixed it to my guns sling.
"I'm putting mine on frequency 187.3, you got that?" I asked her.
"Yeah yeah, I got it."
"Alright, I'm going around to the main entrance. I'll radio you once I've secured the fighting ring itself. You do the same for the kennel."
I didn't wait for a response. Already moving as fast as I could in my suit to the place I had decided on breaching my way inside.
Wrapping around onto the main sidewalk by the front entrance I pulled out the radio. "This is Novax, Bitch do you hear me?"
"I hear you."
"Alright, let's get this party started. Breaching in three, two, one…"
With my gun on lethal I put a few rounds of plasma into the center of the double doors where the lock would be. That section of the metal door melted instantly. Immediately I followed up with a kick, the door slamming open.
Inside I found myself in a large open space. From the looks of it this building used to be some sort of grocery store at some point. At the center, some makeshift stands and a ring for the dogs sat. The stands filled with spectators. Up on an elevated podium by the ring a man stood wide eyed with a microphone in his hand. I guess I interrupted his introduction of the night's festivities. For a moment I stood in the doorway, taking in all the looks of surprise from across the building from guards, spectators and all the other Empire assholes putting this whole thing on. The first thing I noticed.
No capes.
Well isn't that something.
I flipped the setting on the DM1. The inside of the barrel changed from glowing blue to green as its firing mode changed to nonlethal. I brought it up to aim from my hip as I laid my second land on the top of my gun.
"Knock knock assholes."
I squeezed the trigger and didn't let go.
Bursts of green concussive energy came from the barrel of my gun. The flurry of automatic fire streaked across the room, slamming into whoever was unlucky enough to be in the way as I slowly advanced into the room.
I tried to keep my shots hitting only the actual gang members running the show… but I'd be lying if I said I cared about any of the sick fucks here to watch dogs rip each other apart suffering what would amount to the same force as a hard punch.
I didn't bother turning on my personal shield. Without any capes or some real serious firepower the kind of bullets I'd receive in returning fire weren't going to be penetrating the kind of armor I was packing.
Something everyone here would find out the hard way. As the various gang members finally began to produce weapons of their own. Handguns, a couple of small SMGs, a shotgun or two and even someone who pulled an assault rifle out from somewhere. All of them opened fire and I was met with a hailstorm of bullets as they all began to take cover in the stands and various boxes and crates that surrounded the ring.
The spectators scattered, scrambling for the nearest exits as me and the Nazis exchanged fire. Bullets pinged off my armor helplessly as I continued my steady advance.
Occasionally one of the grunts would take a hit or two and stagger. I wasn't very focused on hitting my shots. Intending for my salvo to act as suppressive fire instead keep them in one place so I could close the distance.
The whole situation made me feel invincible. I felt like the Terminator from that one Aleph movie. Just walking carelessly towards my targets as they helplessly unloaded every bullet they had in my direction. Probably a bad headspace to let fester.
Once I was close enough I activated my deconstructor in my left arm. Having set it to ignore organic material beforehand, I began targeting and reclaiming their guns straight out of their hands.
The looks on their faces as they each watched their firearms seemingly dissolve in their hands were priceless.
I had reclaimed six guns when they finally got smart and started to scatter, making it for any exit they thought they could make it too. I simply stood where I was and let them. I didn't have the means to restrain any of them nor was it the goal. Getting the dogs out and securing my truck was all I cared about today.
For the first time since I entered, the building was finally silent.
The main ring and surrounding space was empty except for myself.
One of them would definitely be calling for some sort of response backed with capes. Bitch would hopefully be faster loading than it would take for them to get here. But I had accepted that was inevitable even if I attempted to stop it from happening. Too many people in the building and no means to stop and restrain them all without some slipping through. Nor did I have the means to jam their communications.
I reached and grabbed my radio.
"Bitch come in. The main room is secure. How's the back?"
It took a moment but eventually Bitch responded. "Backs fine. Found the kennel, working on getting the dogs out now."
"Nice. Let me know when you're done. I'm holding down the front as planned in case we get company. If we do, I'll keep them busy long enough for you to finish loading."
"I'll work fast. We got lucky, busted in before they started moving dogs into the ring to fight."
"Yeah, I think I caught the announcer just as he was about to get things started."
I stood guard in the main room. Waiting for Bitch to finish loading the dogs in the back. Some time later I finally heard from Bitch again.
"Loading the last few dogs now. We can go soon."
"Nice, alright I'm going to go ahead and head your way now-"
I stop myself as I see three people enter through the front door.
Shit.
Walking in, the group is led at the front by a shirtless man in a metal wolf mask. The two behind him are a man, shirtless, with a tiger mask and a woman with a cage around her face.
"Bitch," I quickly said into my radio "We got company. Hookwolf, Stormtiger and Cricket."
"Motherfucker!" Bitch growled over the radio. "Stall them, I'm almost finished."
I turned on my shield. Blue energy wrapped around me as I turned and faced a band of Empire capes once again.
The three capes stopped on the other side of the room. Hookwolf surveying the scene before turning my way.
"I guess today was a good day to stop by after all. I gotta stay dipshit. If you wanted to die you could have just asked nicely without going out of your way to fuck over my shit. Who the fuck are you anyway."
Fuck it might as well commit. "You can call me Novax. Also, didn't you know? Waving the Nazi flag automatically puts a giant please come fuck up my shit sign on your forehead. Or did you not get that memo when you signed up?"
He laughed.
"The new girls got a bit of spunk. Well I'm feeling nice today… Kaisers been wanting a tinker added to the ranks, the last one he tried hiring didn't go so well, pretty sure she skipped town. But you're here now… I'll make you a deal, how about you come listen to the sales pitch and sign up and in return I don't cut off all of your limbs?"
They think I'm someone new? Well no reason to correct them.
"Hmm… sounds like a good offer, except for… well, all of it. Counter offer, you fuck off and I don't shoot you in the balls?"
Hookwolfs blades began to protrude from his skin and Stormtiger and Cricket began to spread out to his side.
"Snarky little bitch… I guess Kaiser wouldn't mind a tinker without legs. You only need your arms to tinker after all."
Hookwolfs body changed. Once a man, now a giant wolf shaped mass of blades and hooks stood in its place.
He charged.
I primed my gun, preparing to meet his charge with plasma when somewhere behind me I heard a shout.
"Brutus, Judas, Angelica HURT!"
Bursting from the back rooms Bitch's dogs smashed through the wall and dashed into the room. The biggest of the three jumped over me and slammed into Hookwolf. Blades met flesh and Hookwolf began shredding into the dog before another slammed into his side and sent him flying across the room.
With Hookwolf preoccupied I turn to Stormtiger and Cricket. I raised my rifle and opened fire with bursts of green energy. Both capes immediately began moving. Cricket dodged and weaved with reflexes well beyond a normal person's capabilities as she ran past me and towards Bitch.
I began to turn to intercept when suddenly I felt an explosion of air hit my side. My shield flaring under the impact.
Stormtiger.
I turned his way in time to see him swipe his arm down. His semi-transparent claws of condensed air left his hand flying towards me. Slamming into my front with another loud explosion. My eyes dart inside my helmet to look at my shields status and my eyebrows shoot up. This wasn't the best I could have done for a personal shield, that I knew, but Stormtiger's air slashes hit it way harder than I would have expected. If I stand here and just take hits like before my shield will go down at this rate, and while I trust my armor I'd rather not test it against Stormtigers powers if I can avoid it.
"Angelica, Return!" Bitch calls out from behind me.
Angelica rushes back to Bitch to protect her from Cricket as Brutus and Judas continue to tag team Hookwolf. I spare a glance their way. Both are visibly torn up, hard not to when your opponent is a giant mass of blades. But thankfully her dogs in this state seem to be able to take a bit of a beating. The dogs circle him, each taking turns to run in and out while the other grabs his attention. Ultimately their game of hit and run is one of attrition, and that is a game they will lose as each pass leaves them more and more shredded with little damage they can really do other than keep him busy. But there's nothing I can do about that except focus on my fight and end it quickly so I can help.
Speaking of that fight I do my best to side step another air blade. Just narrowly dodging, my armor making it difficult as it's bulk makes it hard to be agile. I begin firing while moving to the nearest piece of cover I can find, a support pillar. Stormtiger, having moved into the stands, using the seats as cover as he continuously pops up to send more air slashes my way.
Neither of us are making any headway. What hits he lands are soaked up by my shield. Any hits I land quite frankly aren't enough to put and keep someone down with only a few shots.
This isn't working. I need to finish this so I can move to help Bitch or her dogs. Whichever seems like they need more help.
My attention is dragged Bitch's way as I suddenly hear Angelica begin to whine and yelp. Looking over… I don't know what's happening. Angelica is on the ground doing her best to cover her ears with her paws as Cricket rushes past and engages Bitch directly.
Despite knowing and being able to recognize all three of them, I admittedly don't really know the powers of Cricket. Sound based maybe? Dog's can hear frequencies humans can't, maybe it's possible she's doing something only dogs can hear. But then why aren't Judas and Brutus also freaking out? Localized effect maybe? Some weird power control or range limitation? There is a bit of distance to the two of them.
I don't have time to think about it in depth before I'm forced to continue exchanging fire with Stormtiger.
Not for long though as a shout of pain pulls my attention behind me again.
Bitch is on the ground. Blood stains her pants as it seeps from a wound on her left leg. Cricket stands above her, flicking blood off of one of her two scythe shaped blades as she steps forward to bring the second one down in another strike.
Instincts I didn't have a month ago kicked in before I could really think about what I was about to do. Dropping down onto a knee I raise my gun, fire mode switching, as I take aim and open fire. Cricket averts her swing, despite not looking my way she somehow realized the shot coming her way. Her reflexes fast, but having not actually seen them coming like before she was slower. Too slow to avoid it. The plasma hits her in the head, her skin burns away in an instant as her skull melts.
Cricket body hits the ground with a thump.
Threat eliminated, ally saved was the only real thought I had.
I turn expecting to have to deal with an incredibly pissed off Stormtiger. Instead I'm suddenly aware of the sound of metal as an angry Hookwolf is charging towards me. The two dogs down further back, having finally lost their battle against the rampaging metal beast.
"YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD!"
Hookwolf slams into my side as my shield flickers under the assault of his blades. The impact threw me across the room close to the wall. I immediately climb to my feet only to find Hookwolf tackling me once more as we go through the wall out onto the main street. We hit the street, my shield finally failing and I'm greeted to screeching metal as his blades meet my armor.
As I hit the ground I lift my legs and use them and my arms to use Hookwolfs momentum against him as I throw him over and past me. He hits the ground and skids across the street coming to a stop at the sidewalk on the other side.
We both scramble back to our feet. The sounds of battle behind me as I hear Stormtiger engage Bitch's last remaining dog inside.
I get up faster. Bringing up my gun and firing bolts of blue plasma. Parts of his body turning into molten slag as the shots connect.
Hookwolf snarls as he charges forward to slam into me.
This time I prepare myself, digging in my feet as I fire three more shots before he can close the distance. Then throwing my gun behind me with the sling I reach out and grab Hookwolf by the jaw as he attempts to tackle me once more and bring his jaw down on my head. Metal screeches against metal as his blades attempt to tear into my armor. The impact made me slide backwards, this time I stayed on my feet as I used his momentum again to throw him to the side past me.
He doesn't go far this time. Immediately turning to come for me again.
I'm sick of this. I once more pop out the nano-deconstructor and fire it at Hookwolf. His metal body began to dissolve. Screaming out in pain he begins to scramble backwards but I advance to keep him in range.
More and more of his metal body dissolves, the mass sucking itself through the nanite beam and into my mass storages.
He finally stops scrambling backwards and turns around to run out of range.
Once out of my range he turns around, about half of his mass gone. His body shifting as he attempts to reform his wolfy image as best he can with what metal is left in his body.
I reach for my rifle, only to find it not there. I look behind me, my plasma gun laying on the floor. The sling having been cut in me and Hookwolf's last collision.
I dash back to grab my gun, Hookwolf immediately attempts to attack me in the rear but I turn around the moment I hear him move. Deconstructor raised the beam fires the moment he entered my range. Once more he scrambles backwards quickly getting away as more of his mass is eaten away. While he backs off for the second time I reach my rifle, picking it up in one arm. Standing up I begin laying into him with plasma, firing from the hip. What parts are left of him turning to slag with every shot that connects.
The writing was on the wall about which way this fight was headed. Realizing his situation the metal wolf turned and ran. Disappearing into a nearby alley.
I stood still in the street for a moment just to ensure he wasn't coming back before rushing back inside to check on Bitch and Stormtiger.
I stop when I notice out of the corner of my eye someone further down the road on the sidewalk. Phone in hand.
I'm being recorded?
I turn and look at them. The moment they realized the fighting was over and the victor was focused on them they turned and ran.
How do people have such poor survival skills that they'd stay to record a cape fight yet are still smart enough to run the moment that same capes look their way?
Ridiculous.
Getting inside Stormtiger is on the ground, alive, but mauled and unconscious thanks to Bitch's final dog. All three dogs seemingly unharmed, now no longer giant monsters and instead back to their usual selves.
I look in the direction of Cricket's body. I… I don't feel bad about it. I feel like I should feel something, anything deep down. But at the same time some part of me brushes it off, saying that I shouldn't feel bad over neutralizing an enemy combatant…
Fuck. I don't have time to unpack this right now.
Bitch limped towards me. Part of her shirt was torn off and tied around her leg.
"You okay?" I asked.
Bitch looked up at me, freezing for a second. I can't help but notice her glance at Cricket's corpse before finally responding. "I'm fine, it wasn't a deep cut, just lost my balance trying to dodge it."
"Are you going to be able to patch it up? It looks like it will need stitches."
She nods. "I have teammates, they can take care of it... We should get the dogs moved. Let's… get out of here."
We make our way out the back to the truck. Leaving a dead Cricket and mauled Stormtiger behind us.
I grab my duffle bag that I had stashed in a nearby dumpster. Throwing it in the back with the dogs before hopping in the driver's seat and driving us away to Bitch's makeshift dog shelter.
Our drop off point takes me back into the docks. Upon arriving I help her out of the passenger seat before quickly getting to work unloading the back of the truck while Bitch calls her apparent teammates to come take her somewhere to stitch up her leg.
The truck eventually emptied. I go and find Bitch to say my goodbyes.
"Alright I've unloaded your dogs. Pleasure doing business with you but it's time for my part of the deal. I'm leaving with the truck."
Bitch looks up at me, sitting down on a chair holding pressure on her leg. She simply nods, a look in her eye I can't quite make out. Whatever, it doesn't matter.
I climb into the truck. Turning on the ignition I drive, leaving Bitch and Brockton Bay behind me.
It had been a day since I'd driven out of the bay. The damage my suit had taken was already repaired. The nanite suite got the repairs done over the past day while I worked on other projects. I had pulled the moving truck onto a backroad somewhere outside of the bay for the time being. Tucked it behind some trees on some dirt road that seemed rarely used.
I hadn't spent much time unpacking my blatant killing of Cricket. Having been in combat twice now I'd come to notice a distinct change in my psyche the moment shit hit the fan. When I pulled the trigger I didn't even think, only acted and that terrified me a little bit. Was it really that easy for me to take another life now? Would I kill on instinct again if the situation was right?
Even now after the fact with time to contemplate… I simply didn't feel anything overt about it. They were an enemy, an ally was possibly in imminent mortal danger and I eliminated the threat. Case closed. Yet I knew I should have at least felt something negative from taking another life, regardless of the circumstances.
At best I felt bad that'd I didn't feel bad.
That was a problem.
I wasn't emotionless, that much I knew from the nights I would cry myself to sleep about dad when I couldn't distract myself with thoughts of my work. But when it came to committing acts of violence and apparently killing, I felt like a completely different person. It was like someone had taken a knife and cut a part of who I am out and grafted something else in its place.
It was jarring. It felt like I was another person looking at another from the outside, judging them. Except I was both people in this scenario.
More importantly, the whole thing made me feel violated. That whatever my powers had done to me when I got them was some gross violation of my person. I didn't want to slip into a routine of killing people without a second thought…
I needed to do better. This could easily become a slippery slope going forward. Especially with how dangerous my tech can be. How easy it could be to escalate to murder.
Yet maybe my solution lies there. Perhaps the solution to ensure I don't kill again on reflex is to remove myself from combat entirely. Ideally I should be controlling my units far from the front anyways. Not directly in harm's way.
Maybe that level of separation from imminent danger would keep me grounded enough to think things through better in the moment and to not succumb to whatever the fuck was going on with my head.
I could only hope.
Getting too anxious I pushed it to the back of my mind for future Taylor to deal with.
That night I worked on an important project. I had printed a few extra batteries for energy storage for it. As well as setting up a small radar antenna.
I wasn't going to use it as radar however.
I was going to use it to find mass.
Up until now I had only been acquiring mass using reclaim. Something that wouldn't be sustainable in the long run. I needed a constant source of mass that could be collected automatically without my input. Mass fabricators was one solution to this. Machines that turned energy into mass. But the energy requirements were intense and rarely worthwhile to operate without a large economic base already established.
No, I needed mass extractors.
Mass extractors were rather self explanatory. Automatic mining machines that would collect mass. They could be set up on any sort of metal deposit for an ideal yield but the problem there was that inevitably the deposit would run out. Which was why they were meant to instead mine mass points.
Mass points being a term used to describe locations in the world where the quantum barrier between dimensions was weaker than normal. Often a natural occurrence without any real danger. However, these points could be exploited. Mass extractors could be placed in these locations to quantum tunnel through the weakened barrier, breach through and pull mass essentially from the ether infinitely. There was a limit to the rate the mass came in and only one extractor could work each mass point unless you wanted to create… well problems. But it was essentially an endless supply of mass.
Finding these points was the purpose of my current project. I'd be sending out a pulse of energy from the antenna that, if it came into contact with a mass point, would bounce back. This way I could figure out the best direction to go from here. Hopefully I could find and set up around a cluster of mass points.
Setting up the connections from the batteries to the antenna I hard linked my laptop and started the program I quickly threw together to show me the GPS locations of any points my pulse finds.
Hitting the button all of my energy storage drains empty as the pulse fires. If my calculations are correct it should have been enough energy to cover about a eighty mile radius.
I sat and waited for the return pings. The earliest came from Brockton Bay. Four mass points spaced out inside the city. Useless to me right now. I could send engineers in to establish a base in Brockton down the line once I had a main base established elsewhere. Take advantage of those points and reclaim the rest of the boat graveyard. But for the time being I needed a spot that was remote. Or at least somewhere no one knew me or was looking for me.
I continued staring at the screen as more pings came in. Most of the mass points that came back were singular.
Annoying.
Finally my eyebrows shot up as a mass cluster appeared on my screen. Four points in total, with six other outliers close enough that I wouldn't have to go far to establish forward operating bases to take advantage of them. That… that would be perfect, so much potential mass to get me going. Now the only question was just where exactly was this… located… huh.
…
I could make this work.
The drive wasn't too bad. Abandoning the truck, it had served its purpose. I snuck under the cover of darkness into what was going to make my new home.
The Middlesex Fells Reservation was beautiful, and a perfect hiding spot to avoid detection. So as long as I stayed away from any hiking paths. But thankfully the mass points were deeper into the forest away from said paths so I'd be in the clear for a bit.
I set my stuff down somewhere in between all four points. Setting up my constructor I set it to work excavating a hole in the ground. I was going to build myself a bunker and expand from there.
Moment the bunker was done, it was time for some serious economic build up. More power generators, storage and getting mass extractors online on the four points in the forest. Then it would be working towards the MACU and getting my first units online.
Once I had a sizable force both in units and economy I'd expand out. Claim the rest of the mass points nearby. I wasn't as lucky with the rest that were near my new home. My initial four would be the only ones hidden in a forest, the rest were to my south, in the sprawling city that surrounded the reservation.
I'd have to do some research on the parahuman elements here. While no one in town knew I was here, eventually that would change. I'd almost inevitably come into conflict with some group when it came time to expand into the outlying mass points. I'd need to be well informed of the cape scene, especially how the villains worked in this city.
After all, Boston is a very different place from Brockton Bay.
(A/N: Rover comes to an end. For some reason this has been the hardest chapter to write so far, probably rewrote it about 4 different times. I really wanted to keep the game mechanic of only being able to build mass extractors in specific locations and this was my solution. It seemed to me like a great way to drive conflict by forcing Taylor to seek out certain locations that are already "claimed" by someone else. Also not entirely sure if I did Cricket's power 100% correctly, there may have been some creative liberties there but I'm not too worried about it since she's not going to be around going forward. Also still not sure action is my strong suit but it's not going to stop me from trying. Short interlude next either today or tomorrow, mainly to go over what the PRT knows and has been doing to a point. Then it's Boston time.)
414Interlude Anterior
Brockton Bay
PRT Headquarters
This year was cursed.
It had to be. It seemed like ever since the turn of the year it was one shit show thrown her way after another. Director Piggot swore if shit kept hitting the fan like it had she was going to have a stroke.
It all started a week into January. A report forwarded to the PRT regarding a runaway. Enough circumstantial evidence and probable trigger events to indicate a new tinker. It started off pretty standard. The girl, if she truly had triggered, would have had her identity blown wide open by anyone who had seen the police file.
The files were restricted, the appropriate NDA's sent and signed, the whole works.
Then Armsmaster, likely hoping to have another tinker's work to examine should we manage to recruit her, started looking into the girl's situation. To put together a profile to better identify where she could have gone or some other bullshit like that. Starting with looking into one of the possible trigger events. An incident at Shadow Stalker's school that earned the girl a hospital visit.
Shoved into a locker filled with waste products, at least that's what the police report had stated. No one was coming forward in the student body or the teaching staff with any useful information. Of course Armsmaster then decided he'd simply ask Shadow Stalker if she knew anything, after all she went to the damn school, she'd have to have heard something on the matter.
It made sense she had to admit.
Only everything fucking exploded in their faces the moment the questions started rolling. All it took was one for the proverbial gates of hell to open.
Do you know who shoved her in the locker?
No.
Lies.
Armsmaster's lie detector, that he was so insistent on using in every single fucking conversation caught her in a lie.
The questions got harder, the lies kept coming. Things became more and more serious and eventually Armsmaster pulled Stalker's phone records. Something that he didn't even need a warrant for as a result of the conditions set in her probation.
That's when everything really went to shit.
The girl's locker stay was entirely orchestrated by Stalker and two of her psychotic friends. Thankfully her team were able to prevent a PR nightmare and Stalkers involvement was swept under the rug. The two other girls were left to the regular police, they had been charged with something. As to with what she didn't really give a fuck so as long as the involvement of a Ward didn't come out or else Glenn Chambers would come down to her branch to strangle her.
Shadow Stalker, the little bitch, frankly still had use. Her probation conditions were changed. And she got a new handler too, after she ensured the best possible legal fucking for the last one.
Not to mention she had her transferred to Arcadia where her fellow Wards could keep an eye on her and ensure she wasn't being a little psychotic fuck.
She hoped the little shit was still fuming from being restricted to console duty the past month. She fully intended to keep the restriction longer unless something came up they could use her powerset for.
On top of all of that she still had to worry about the damn runaway.
Empire 88, Coil, ABB, none of the three major powers in town had their own tinker. The only possible exception was maybe Coil. But every altercation his mercenaries had with the Empire downtown that involved tinker tech could be traced to a known third party supplier.
If the girl truly was a tinker, the last thing she needed was any of them grabbing her off the street and getting her to arm any capes or otherwise with tinker tech. That would shift the already delicate balance of power in the city.
She hoped they would find her first.
They didn't.
About two weeks after she ran and the PR nightmare fell into their hands, the Empire and ABB had a cape altercation on the border of the docks. By the time Assault and Battery got on scene both sides were already disengaging, Rune carrying the Empire's capes away. Nothing was left except to clean up.
At least until Battery noticed blunt metal bolts scattered throughout the alley and scraps that were determined to be parts of broken tinker tech.
That led to a more thorough investigation. Armsmaster determined the broken pieces were likely from some sort of weapon, the metal bolts backing this. They traced the trail of discarded ammunition back to an office in an abandoned warehouse. Unlike the rest of the building the room had been somewhat cleaned, and lived in. Hair samples were eventually found and agents were sent undercover to recover samples from the girl's home.
They were a match.
They had found where their now confirmed runaway tinker was staying. Only now she was gone.
They had responded right at the tail end of a press gang attempt that had been interrupted by Oni Lee by their best guess.
As far as they could tell the Empire didn't succeed. No one out of the ordinary was seen leaving on Rune's flying objects. So that left the question.
Where the fuck did she go?
They hadn't found a corpse. Yet neither did they have any lead on where she had gone. Almost a month passed since without a sighting, they were beginning to believe she may have fled the city. Except now as of last night they may have had another sighting, the purpose of her current meeting.
She looked across her desk at Armsmaster, he had just arrived to give his report. She didn't feel like waiting for the usual meeting with the entire Protectorate to figure out what the fuck had happened last night.
Clearing her throat she got things started. "I've got one dead Nazi, and another in a cell. What the fuck happened last night."
Armsmaster sat up straight. "Last night at 0300 there was an altercation on Smith Street in an old grocery store that spilled out into the street. The building was being used by Hookwolf to run one of his dog fighting rings. At our best guess somewhere around 0250 two individuals hit the location. One we know, Hellhound. Nothing unusual there, it matches with everything else we have on her file. However, what is unusual is her company. A previously unknown tinker. We didn't receive a call until the fighting broke out into the street, by the time we arrived on scene the place was empty with the exception of Stormtiger."
"Is it her? The runaway?" Piggot asked, leaning in.
Armsmaster shook his head. "I haven't been able to come up with anything that proves it. Nothing was left at the scene I can tie back to her." Pressing several buttons on his gauntlet, a video pulled up on the computer in front of her. "This footage is all we really have outside of what little we were able to get out of Stormtiger's questioning. It was posted online this morning. Some civilian who happened to be nearby when the fight spilled outside the building." He paused it and zoomed in on a figure in metal armor with glowing blue eyes, staring down Hookwolf. "From our interrogation of Stormtiger they go by the name Novax. I've run a check and that name hasn't been used anywhere else as far as I can tell. I've even run a search on the symbol on their chest and got nothing there either. Unless anything comes to light to link them to our runaway, code name Gauss. I'd say they're either someone new who has taken a lot of time to prep before their debut or a rebrand. On account of the sophistication of their tech I've been able to glean from the footage. A level of which I don't think we'd be seeing from a girl living on the street for a month. Regardless, from what we got out of Stormtiger, Novax was responsible for killing Cricket."
Piggot rubbed her temple. "Jesus Christ… Do we have any idea if this was a one off team-up or does Hellhound and the rest of those teenage burglar wannabe's have a tinker in their corner. Because if they do, with Cricket's death this is a serious escalation from them and I don't want Ward's responding to them anymore without a Protectorate member present if that's the case. Hell even if it was a one off thing, the potential carnage from the Empire seeking revenge is going to cause problems."
Armsmaster shook his head. "Unfortunately we've got nothing that points to either situation. Time will tell if this was a one off occurrence."
Piggot sighed. "An unknown then great. Guess it doesn't matter either way, the Empire will probably gun for the Undersiders regardless due to Hellhound's involvement. Hopefully the loss of two capes doesn't give Coil or Lung the confidence to make any major pushes. The last thing we need is a full scale gang war right now, if for no other reason than my own fucking sanity." Closing out the video on her computer she turned back to Armsmaster. "Label Novax a villain for now unless we get more information. They can be reduced to a violent vigilante depending on future behavior. Regardless, if we find them have them brought in. At the very least we have leverage now should they turn out to be more heroically inclined."
Piggot stood up. Walking to the window overlooking the city. "Dismissed."
Location: Continental United States
Date: ??-??-201?
He sat on the fire escape. Beer in one hand, his head in the other.
Why was everything so shit. His life was falling apart.
Why wasn't he just good enough? No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't find any work and the bills were stacking up. The eviction notice had been sent the day before.
Every job he did manage to get didn't last.
Halfassed they said.
He was rushing too fast they said.
Bullshit.
They were the ones who wanted shit done so fast. How else was he supposed to meet their deadlines if he didn't cut corners, push himself to the limit? It wasn't his fault.
The others could get it done without shoddy work they'd say.
BULLSHIT!
He'd seen their work, it was no fucking better!
It wasn't his fault they wanted him to work so fast.
It wasn't his fault he couldn't build fast enough.
It wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't…
Hyperventilating. He suddenly froze.
The view of his city street in front of him replaced with a vision of two huge creatures dancing among the stars.
It was beautiful.
He wouldn't remember any of it.