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 someone in PR 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, 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.
I hated being woken up from my sleep.
I hated it even more when the reason was an Endbringer.
I sat at my computer in my new lab, going through any information I could parse through on the web. An alarm had been triggered by a script I had set up to alert me whenever an Endbringer attack was reported online.
The Simurgh had descended on Canberra, Australia. Late afternoon over there, but middle of the night on my side of the world.
There was no point in me trying to attend, I had no way to get there on my own. More importantly I knew I wasn't ready for a fight like that. Which left me here, scanning the news and internet for what was going on a world away. If out of nothing but morbid curiosity.
It had been two weeks since I broke ground on what I was amusingly calling Bunker Hill. My underground complex has progressed nicely. I officially felt like I had a real home with my new living quarters. The wonders a bed, shower and hot food that doesn't taste like cardboard can do for one's mental health.
On top of that I had added a lab and a room for storing power generators which I was slowly filling with a larger version of the one in my power armor.
The mass extractors were in place, or at least my current smaller version of one was. About ten feet tall. Upgrades would come in time, whether that be a better, bigger redesign or in the fashion more typical for the extractors I didn't know yet.
The mass points tend to be on or near the surface, but the zone does tend to go underground a little bit regardless. So I was keeping them underground to avoid the risk of detection. Narrow tunnels sprawling out from my current hub for the off chance I needed to physically access them. Eventually I'd be forced to move them to the surface, the zone not extending deep enough to fully cover up a full scale extractor underground and still keep the essential drill bit inside the required area. But it would do for now.
Closing out the various news sites I had opened I looked at my construction queues. The MACU design wasn't finished. I was getting faster in making new blueprints thanks to both experience and better hardware to work on. Despite this, the need to create designs for all my other needs did take away time and prevent me from solely working on the MACU.
Not much I could change about it.
But I had made enough progress on the two key components to do something similar to what I did with my power armor. I took the progress I had made to install a functioning quantum controller and C&C module wired into my new computer in the lab. The bandwidth was, to be frank, shit. I wouldn't be capable of managing anywhere near the levels I had planned for the MACU. But it let me get everything I had so far off the ground without constant manual input or waiting on the final MACU design.
I had already gotten some blueprints done for my first units. The first few builds were making my life much easier. Two drones based off the Rover drones from the tier two engineering kennel assisted around the base with maintenance and building projects. Alongside the two mini Rovers, standing at around three feet tall my first true engineer was also complete.
Together they headed new construction efforts in my young but growing compound.
A warehouse space for constructing and storing units was being dug out. After that an adjoining room to house a quantum gate sometime in the future.
Sending out units directly from the reservation seemed like a bad idea, they would eventually be noticed and people would be led right to me.
Something I didn't feel like repeating again after my first incident with the E88.
Instead I planned to set up a proxy base somewhere in the city. Somewhere obvious and conscious to act as a front for my operations. Quantum gates eventually connecting the two sites.
After looking over the other projects in the queue I minimized the window and frowned as I looked at my personal notes I had on my… current public status.
I had looked into whether or not anything had been said or came out of the man who recorded the tail end of my fight with Hookwolf or with the death of Cricket. Speculation on PHO on the Brockton Bay section had gone wild over the footage and her death once it was posted and eventually the PRT ENE put out a statement about it.
The PRT ENE had labeled me as a villain. Which pissed me the fuck off. Granted I won't say I can't see why they did. I did kill another villain while hitting a gang location, alongside a person who I now knew was yet another villain. Not exactly a good look. But regardless I wasn't happy about it. For multiple reasons.
On one hand, I didn't want to be a villain. On the other, I knew eventually I'd reach the point of having my ACU. Ignoring the rest of the things I'd be capable of… the ACU would probably scare people shit-less if for no other reason than its size. Let alone the things I could do with it.
I had to admit that a giant 40-meter mech appearing out of nowhere controlled by an unknown entity would be a bad look and likely bring a very negative, likely violent response my way.
A giant 40-meter mech appearing out of nowhere controlled by a villain whose only known activity was blowing someone's head apart before disappearing into the shadows? Yeah, I could see that going over well.
There was so much good I could do once I reached that stage of production with my tech. Mass produce food, medical supplies, rebuild cities after Endbringer attacks, go after S-Class threats. Hell, maybe I could bring an end to the warlords in Africa. But unless I wanted the same world I wanted to help to immediately come after me in a panic, I've realized it would probably be for the best if I was a known and active entity.
More importantly a known entity with a better reputation. I could only hope the saying about first impressions would make an exception here.
As a result I didn't see simply sitting in my bunker and hiding away until I had the pinnacle of my capabilities in my hands as the correct course of action. I need to be seen. To be known and have a reputation that I could use to hopefully at least get a neutral response to my eventual…
Well I'd say rise but that sounds a little evil but it's the best I can think of at the moment.
Getting up from my chair with a stretch, I left the lab and headed back for bed. Tomorrow I'd begin doing more research on the local cape scene and begin making plans for my debut in Boston. I wanted to hit the ground running. I'd been putting off in-depth research on the area while getting my base to the point it was at now.
For now though.
Sleep.
Boston was a very different city from Brockton Bay. Back in my hometown I had grown accustomed to the constant struggle between the main parahuman gangs as they vied over territory in the city.
Boston was a very different city.
I had mainly looked at the Boston threads on PHO and information put out by the local PRT about parahuman groups and crime in the city. The kind of stuff they put out so citizens could stay informed about who they could encounter and where. After all, a block makes a difference and all that.
From what I found the main power bloc in the city was actually an alliance of several parahuman gangs working at some level of cooperation.
Following the end of a power vacuum called the Boston Games, an effort headed by a villain named Accord, convinced several other criminal elements in the city to come to some sort of agreement. From the sources I had online I didn't really have a good idea of what the exact terms of said agreement were, but I did know as a result there weren't really any territorial struggles on the streets in any major way. Crime was a lot more lowkey, at least by those involved in the power bloc.
As far as who was involved in said bloc, best I could find the agreement was held primarily between five groups each separated into two sub-blocs. One in the northern part of the city including Accord and his Ambassadors in Charlestown, a branch of Dark Society in East Boston and Eagle Hill and finally The Unmasked operating somewhere out of Cambridge. The second power block existed in the southern half of the city made up of Mourning Glory in South Boston and Mystics Mass in South End.
These groups based from what I could find online seemed to mostly work together and settle disputes outside of straight up conflict. But more importantly they were known to band together to push out new powers coming into the city that messed with their status quo.
These were not the only groups however. Some of the city's criminal elements were at odds with the main power bloc and didn't hold themselves to whatever agreement was in place.
Blastergem in East Allston. Most notable due to the presence of a wet tinker by the name of Blasto.
Digger's Bikers. A mostly transient biker group. However, according to people on PHO and some PRT information resources. They apparently were known to have a dedicated presence in the Brookline.
Both groups were friendly with one another and somewhat antagonistic against the main power bloc. They would butt heads occasionally. Maybe have a skirmish here and there but typically neither side wanted it to escalate into full blown war. The main bloc likely not wanting a war on the streets to hurt their bottom line and the other side not wanting to bring the full force of the alliance down on their heads.
Orchard was another notable presence. If for no other reason than the fact everyone hated their guts and was out for their heads. A duo, specializing in kidnapping and altering people into tailor made slaves. The moment I had learned about their presence I quickly moved them to the top of my shit list on principle.
Of course there were plenty of other independent villains or smaller groups that didn't hold territory. The Four, Mullen Brothers, the duo Fog and Night, as well as a few groups or individuals that lost out in the Games but stuck around even if only in part.
However, the group that was my main concern in my new home were the Teeth.
The one group outside Orchard that was basically open season. Except they had both the firepower and the desire to try and return the favor to all involved.
Much like Digger's Bikers, they were mainly transient. Yet they had permanent cells in not only Boston but New York. The Boston cell apparently was somewhere around Malden. A little too close to my personal Bunker Hill for my liking.
Currently it seemed from what I could find, that the main body of the Teeth were out of town. Doing something down near New York. There was no telling when they would come back up to Boston. As they were known for moving in between the two and anywhere in between based on the whims of the Butcher. Visiting both cells with a level of regularity.
The Butcher. The real reason I was afraid of the Teeth. Not because they were so powerful I didn't think I couldn't put them down if it came to it. But because of what would happen if I did.
I did not want fourteen other voices in my head driving me insane.
I was already writing scripts for all my future units to swap away from and completely disallow the use of any form of lethal weaponry the moment they made an appearance on the battlefield. Even if it meant shutting down on the spot and ceasing all action. I didn't want to take any chances if they came back to town and I didn't expect it. Not until I had some form of containment plan in place, if it was even possible.
A problem to plan for, but not one currently on my plate.
My current problem was finding a spot for my proxy to go. A more sophisticated version of my scouting drone was already deployed through a hidden elevator to the surface I had in the reservation. Flying through the city searching for a suitable location while I viewed its cameras and sensors from my bunker.
Eventually I found my spot when I investigated the closet mass point in the city.
Southwest of the reservation and Northeast of East Arlington there was an abandoned Elementary school that was no longer used and had been labeled for demolition due to being structurally unsound. A good option that the city probably wouldn't get too mad over considering they were going to just tear it down anyway. Better yet, the mass point was right in the center of the building.
Now I just needed prepare to send in my first units to set up shop inside.
Another week had gone by and it was now the beginning of March. I watched as my new and taller Mark Two Power Armor with a bag over its shoulder, a new engineer and two of my new Enforcer units deployed up to the surface through one of my hidden elevators in the forest.
The MKII, while still designed for me to personally pilot it if needed, was intended for me to remotely control it. While some backups would be required in case of it being destroyed I planned for only one to ever be present on the field. I wanted something unique to represent myself even though I wasn't going to be physically present. I felt it would do good for optics for people to feel there was truly a person out there to talk to rather than a girl talking through a bunch of identical remote controlled robots.
My MKII led the way as the Enforcers held the rear. The three foot tall engineer fell into the center of the column. The Enforcers, designed after and mimicking the look of a Mech Marine but sleeker and more nimble with actual hands, stood at five foot ten. I had designed them to act as my foot soldiers for my burgeoning line of street level units. Tier 0 if you will.
They moved under the cover of darkness. I wasn't too worried if they were spotted since I didn't plan on them returning from where they came. Still, I did my best to ensure they avoided attention until they reached their destination. Inevitably, they were most definitely spotted by civilians, especially when they had to cross the Mystic River. But otherwise they got to their destination unaccosted.
Setting up inside I set the engineer to sure up the structural integrity in the classroom my beautiful mass point laid inside. Before queuing up the current extractor design and initial base infrastructure. Radar, cameras, interior defenses, a standalone constructor for future unit production.
Setting one of the Enforcers to guard the engineer I sent out the MKII with the other Enforcer for my first real patrol. I wanted to hit the ground running tonight while my engineer got things going at the school.
I didn't plan to get into any major fights like my first outing in Brockton Bay. Instead I hoped to do some outreach to begin to change my public image. I had prepared some aid packages in the bag the MKII was carrying to hand out to the homeless.
I don't consider myself homeless anymore now. But from the time I did I had a new level of sympathy for people in that situation. Especially since not everyone had powers like mine to fix their situation or chose to be there like I did. Now being in a better place I wanted to help others out.
Going southeast from the school it took me a few blocks before I found my first hunkered in an alley in a bundle of blankets. A middle aged Caucasian man with balding hair.
Walking up to him, Enforcer in tow, I immediately felt bad as I watched the man almost jump out of his skin when he noticed the MKII coming towards him. He immediately scurried backwards until he backed into the side of the dumpster in the alley.
"I-I don't want any trouble! Please!"
Poor guy. I can't really blame him. My Enforcer isn't exactly designed to look calming. The towering six foot eight height of the new MKII probably doesn't help either. I could see myself freaking out too if I suddenly saw it stomping towards me.
"It's okay! I'm not here to hurt you." I try to reassure him through my suits speaker. "I just wanted to see if you'd like an aid package. I put them together to hand out to people living on the street. Would you like one?" I had the suit slowly drop to a knee as I spoke.
The man blinked. Scared, he seemed to calm mostly out of confusion. "A… an aid package?"
"Yeah!" I said trying to inject as much cheer into my voice as possible. "Some food, toiletries, water and other stuff you might need."
"Um… s-sure?"
Handing him one, he gingerly takes it from the MKII's hand.
"Thanks… um… wow this is fucking weird. Are you… new?" He asked, bewildered.
"New around here. You can call me Novax." I raised my suit's hand, offering a handshake.
Reluctantly he reached up and shook it. "Novax… I'll remember it. I'm Markus. Are you… is this going to be a regular thing you do? Just walk around and hand stuff out to the homeless?"
"Yep! Well it might not always be me, I might have my drones do it sometimes but I'd like to make this a regular thing. So make sure to spread the word. I'd rather not give everyone a heart attack when I approach them."
He chuckled. "Uh, yeah sure. I'll mention it to any in the same boat I come across… um… why are you doing this?" Skepticism in his voice.
I paused. "What do you mean? Do I need a reason to help people?" I asked, confused.
"It's just… you capes, even the heroic ones, tend to focus on… well… not stuff like this? Typically when a cape comes up to people like me with offers of support it's them looking for a henchmen or something, you know?"
"That's… fair to be honest. But no, just trying to help. I was homeless myself for a short while. I know how much it can suck so I just want to help others in that situation."
Markus smiled. "Well… thank you. That's very kind."
I have the MKII nod before beginning to turn and move on. "Take care, and remember to let others know!"
Markus waved goodbye as I left.
I continued the patrol for a couple more hours. Getting a few more care packages handed out.
I was constantly scanning for the PRT or Protectorate. I knew eventually I'd run into them or more likely I'd be approached by them. I just didn't know how that eventual meeting would go. I was hoping well. Yet, it looked like my first night out would be uneventful in that department.
Same for actual crime as well.
I eventually began to turn both units back to base when I heard a woman screaming in an alley. Immediately I sent both in that direction, the faster Enforcer breaking into a run.
Rounding the corner, two men had the woman pinned to the wall, hand covering her mouth to muffle her screams.
"It's just a purse and a phone bitch stop screaming." One man said, holding a knife. "Just hand it and any other valuables ov-" He stopped and turned, finally realizing the new figure in the mouth of the alley.
The men and the women all froze. Staring at the Enforcer as blue light emitted from its cyclops eye, scanning the alley in front of it.
A mugging… the perfect low level crime to respond to as the Enforcer's trial run.
I ordered the Enforcer to engage. These muggers have become my unknowing guinea pigs.
The Enforcer's cyclops eye glowed brightly, scanning the alley once more, tagging both men as enemies requiring less lethal force and the woman as an innocent bystander. Both arms bent at the elbow as its thick forearms faced forward at hip level.
It's robotic voice filled the alley as it began to shout commands. "CEASE AND DESIST!"
The Enforcers had two barrels built into their forearms. A smaller one on the top and a bigger one on the bottom.
Loud bangs let out as the Enforcer opened fire with the lower barrels. Cartridges expelled from the lower forearm as bean bag rounds fired into the two men.
"HALT ALL CRIMINAL ACTIVITY! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE! SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY!"
Both men stumbled backwards under the initial barrage. The one holding the woman loses his grip on her. The woman,taking advantage, pulled away and hit the ground, crawling away from the two of them.
Detecting that the woman was no longer in close proximity to her two assailants, the beanbag rounds ceased. Immediately followed by the smaller barrel opening fire as a stream of pepper balls fired out.
"FUCK!"
"MY EYES!"
Both scream as pepper balls turn into dust on impact. Getting in their eyes. They both begin to stumble around unable to see as pepper balls continue to hit them before both fall to the ground.
"SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!"
"We surrender!"
"We surrender just fucking stop!"
Halting it's fire the Enforcer moved forward, a compartment opening in its leg as it grabbed zip ties from within and began restraining them both.
"YOU ARE BEING RESTRAINED! DO NOT RESIST!"
I have the MKII finally walk into the alley and approach the woman, who is completely still as she stares at the Enforcer.
"Are you alright?" I ask through the MKII's speaker.
Her head darts in the MKII's direction. She tenses briefly before relaxing. "I am now, holy shit this is the last time I stay out this late and walk home. I take it that… Whatever that thing is, is yours? "
"The Enforcer is mine, yes. It has my emblem on it after all." I say pointing to the one on my, or I should say the MKII's chest.
She looks back examining the Enforcer once more. "So it does. Well thank you. Thank you so much. I was worried they might not have stopped at my purse…" She shivered. "I don't want to think about that though."
"It's my pleasure to help. I was heading back home for the night but I'll leave the Enforcer here with you while you call and wait for the police. I can monitor it remotely, directly control it if needed. Will you be fine if I do that?" Hopefully it would only be the police that come and I can have the Enforcer run out of here before there's a chance of the PRT being called due to parahuman involvement.
If it was earlier in the night I would have stayed. Bit the bullet and had my first encounter with the heroes. But now this late I was simply too tired to want to deal with it.
"Oh yeah, that would be great. Thank you again. Who are you by the way? I forgot to ask."
"Novax."
"Well thank you very much Novax, I hope you have a good night!" She gave me a bright smile.
With a nod the MKII turned and left headed back to base.
I turned my attention to the Enforcer as I watched and waited as the woman called the police. Two police cars eventually pulled up. Seeing the need for my Enforcer having passed I sent the order for it to return to base.
Running out of the alley I heard the cops swear and pull their guns in a panic as my Enforcer ran out of the alley and down the road. Guess they weren't ready to have a five foot ten hunk of metal running at them at full speed.
I set it to twist through some alleys in hopes of avoiding any tails. While the point of the proxy base was to be conspicuous that didn't mean I wanted visitors on night one. Even if I haven't been full stealth about it so far.
The MKII and Enforcer eventually returned to base and I set the MKII to stand inside while the Enforcers were set to patrol inside the school. The Engineer in the meantime had been hard at work. It looked like all the initial tasks I had given it would be done before lunch tomorrow.
Hopefully by tomorrow I'd have a couple more Enforcers and another Engineer built on site.
Meanwhile I'd continue work in Bunker Hill. Mainly in the build power and energy department. I really needed to design a more powerful nano I could use for unit construction. Or better yet graduate to a full on protocrafter. I hadn't yet simply due to bottlenecks. One of the biggest things keeping me from getting better infrastructure for unit production was the simple fact of the power draw it would need. I rubbed my hands through my hair. It was always something slowing my progress.
I don't have a blueprint for this so I have to take time away from the MACU to make it and do the programming.
There isn't enough mass in storage or the mass points aren't generating enough to sustain all projects at full build speed.
Not enough engineers or powerful enough constructors to build it as fast as I wanted.
The power grid can't sustain the new engineers building at once and now I'm power stalling.
A constant game of whack-a-mole between my four bottlenecks.
It was exhausting at times. But ultimately it was just the nature of my tech. It wasn't the worst thing in the world. Due to that same nature I was able to progress and do things at a pace other tinkers could only dream of, I'm sure. But that didn't mean I couldn't still vent about my own frustrations with it.
Especially the power problems. My current power generator solution simply wasn't cutting it. I needed something new. A new generator or reactor… which I didn't have a blueprint for and would need to take more time away from designing the MACU's critical systems.
I groaned.
Whatever, it would be fine. Even an avalanche starts small. I'd get there in the end.
I opened and named a new project at my workstation for a new reactor and then got up to go to bed. I'd begin it properly in the morning. At the very least I could consider today a success.
After today the PRT would definitely know I'm here in Boston after stopping the muggers and scaring the hell out of the cops. Albeit unintentionally on the latter. Now it would just be a matter of time before my first run in with the local heroes. Hopefully I can get some more crimes stopped and outreach done before then. Give me a better chance of talking them into not trying to arrest an empty suit on site
As funny as that would be.
I continued to perform regular patrols at night with my Enforcers. The school, Fort Bluff I was calling it, had six Enforcers and two engineers now. The conversion of the building into the fortress I imagined was a work in progress, but it was coming along nicely.
Bunker Hill was also making a good headway. A new reactor design was nearing completion to solve my power problems more efficiently.
Despite all my patrols, I still hadn't had a single run in with the PRT or any of the heroes. I found it a little surprising. I always patrolled and handed out aid in the same areas around the school. I knew I was being noticed, I'd personally observed people taking pictures or videos of my drones patrolling. I would have thought that I would have been approached in some way. Yet so far it seemed they were oblivious to my presence, that, or they simply didn't care.
I ended up running into Markus every night, often striking up conversations with him while handing out packages. I'd ended up learning quite a bit about the man. Turned out he was originally a Brockton Bay native. About a decade or so ago, he moved here in search of work after losing his job, and unfortunately didn't get lucky in finding anything. Hence his current living situation. Overall, he seemed like a good dude and I enjoyed our nighttime conversations. I'd gotten a little too deprived of social interaction the past two months with everything going on, so I looked forward to our interactions.
I ran into him again tonight as he approached my MKII on its nightly rounds.
"Well if it isn't my new favorite cape! How are you doing, Novax?" He greeted me with a smile.
"Pretty good Markus. How's tonight treating you? No one giving you or anyone else any trouble is there?"
"Nah, word about your robots has spread like wildfire over the past couple days. Not many people are willing to poke around and cause trouble right now around here. You appeared out of nowhere, and people are a little too spooked to try till they get you figured out better."
"Really? That would explain why I only ran into any crime my first two nights. Since then, it's been nothing but giving out stuff to people in need."
"Speaking of you and your activities, people have been asking around about you. Even stopped some buddies of mine you've handed packages to and started asking them questions."
Huh, guess I've caught someone's attention after all. "Any idea who?"
"Nothing concrete, but from what my friends tell me, they reek of law enforcement, and I'm not talking the kind for people like me. Kinda weird to be honest. You'd think if they wanted to know something about you, they'd just ask you directly. It's not like you've done anything wrong since you've shown up."
I winced. "Yeah… I may have left a bad impression in Brockton Bay before coming here."
He raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"I may or may not have put a hole in a villain's head before leaving the Bay. It was my first real outing so… I don't think I ended up in the PRT's good books off that one."
Markus blinked. Pausing for a moment before he responded. "Whose head did you blow off?"
"Cricket, Empire."
"A fucking neo-Nazi? Bah, you did the world a favor on that one. If anything, you should get a fucking gold star if you ask me."
I snorted. "Regardless, I checked and the PRT in Brockton labelled me a villain. Granted, the rest of the circumstances surrounding that didn't really help how it looked."
Markus shrugged. "Hey, not my place to judge what ya did before coming here. Not even been a week, and you've helped me out and a few of my friends without asking for anything in return. I figured I'd give you a heads up as a favor. Least I can do."
I tossed him one of the packages. "Thanks Markus, you stay safe. I'll see you around tomorrow night?"
"You betcha, man's gotta eat after all." He said with a wink, before wandering off in a different direction.
Well. So much for them being oblivious.
I had my units finish up their patrols for the night and then returned everyone back to base. The next day, with a heightened awareness after my talk with Markus, I was going over the camera feeds around Fort Bluff when I noticed something.
A van parked across the street. I remembered it being parked near the school the day prior… and the day before that. I pulled up the video feed from the external camera for the past few days. As I thought, it had pulled up the day after my first patrol. Occasionally it would leave for a time before returning to a new spot.
Not only that, but I also noticed several other vehicles following the same pattern. They'd be sitting still for the majority of the day. Only ever leaving for ten minutes at a time before returning. But always parked somewhere in view of the school. Of Fort Bluff.
That's when it hit me.
I was the fucking oblivious one. I'd been under surveillance and I hadn't even noticed till Markus had brought it to my attention that the PRT were likely asking around about me. They had been watching me for several days now.
Thinking about it now, it made sense. The PRT in Boston didn't have a lot to go on other than the villain label given to me by the PRT ENE. That and the knowledge that I had escalated to killing Cricket, and went toe to toe with a heavy hitter like Hookwolf while working alongside another villain. Outside of that, all they knew was that I had appeared in their city rather suddenly, moved into an abandoned school with a newer suit and a small squad of human sized robots. Doing patrols and handing out stuff to the homeless.
I had expected the PRT to be more heavy handed in their approach. Yet it made sense in hindsight they wouldn't be so direct as to head straight into a meeting someone who they probably considered both dangerous and sending mixed signals as to where they fell into the whole hero and villain dichotomy.
So as long as I wasn't causing trouble, it made more sense to simply watch me from a distance until they were better informed how to handle me, or I did something to force their hand.
They were probably trying to figure out what I was doing here, what my angle was so to speak.
Well, at least I know what they are up to now. I'd need to keep an eye open for the PRT's surveillance teams now. If for no other reason than to know where they were.
Now that I think about it… are the PRT the only one's putting eyes on Fort Bluff? They might not be the only ones…
Something to keep in mind and look out for.
Speaking of surveillance, I needed to do some more of my own. I had decided on a duo of villains to try and pursue in the city.
Now that I knew the PRT were deciding to watch from a distance for the time being, going after my target would make for a good opportunity to make contact with the heroes on my own terms. Depending on how long the PRT kept their arm's length approach.
Orchard, the human trafficking duo. I had already set several scripts and bots to trawl the dark web for anything related to them I could find. I figured that for a duo who specialized in selling custom slaves, there had to be a way to contact them and place an order. I was hoping to find something on the dark web that I could trace back somewhere here in Boston.
That was only one prong of my approach, however. The other was my new unit design. The Phantom. Based off of the tier three Blackbird Spy plane. It was a much cheaper, smaller and tier zero acceptable spy plane replacement. About ten feet in length with a twenty-foot wingspan.
I hadn't actually built one yet. I didn't even have anywhere for it to take off and land yet. Even despite its ability for a vertical take-off. But the retractable landing pad for the roof was in the construction queue. Once built, it would allow me to fly passes over Boston and use its gimbal cam and Omni sensor package to assist in my search.
Nothing had changed in the PRT's stance by the end of the week. Blacked out vehicles watched from a distance, and tails followed the MKII and Enforcers on their patrols.
I acted like I didn't know they were there. Didn't want to risk spooking them by reacting to their surveillance. I was taking the fact they had kept to simply watching me for the entire week without trying to barge in as a good sign.
They hadn't attempted to poke around inside the school any. In fact, not a soul seemed willing to step foot on any of the land barring the sidewalk that touched the school. The only exception had been some teenagers.
I had seen them coming with the external cameras when they approached the building a day ago. At best guess I figured they were up to normal delinquent teenage nonsense. Graffiti or vandalism inside an abandoned building. I guessed there was a chance they somehow didn't know I had taken the place over. The PRT in Boston hadn't put out a statement about me yet. So if they hadn't heard through word of mouth or the right places on local cape forums online, it was possible.
I never found out what exactly they were trying to do, however. They didn't get far, stopped from coming any closer by none other than a member of the local Protectorate. My first sighting of one of the heroes.
I had been watching and waiting, expecting for a PRT agent to jump out of one of the vehicles parked nearby and rush up to stop them when I spotted trails of silver light coming in fast from a few blocks over.
Dovetail, one of the Boston Protectorate's two fliers. I had read up on her and the other members here when I got to Boston. In a pink and grey high collar trench coat and an almost owl shaped mask, she was supposedly faster than her more manoeuvrable counterpart, Aerobat.
She descended from the sky, dropping in front of the boys and shooing them off fast before giving my building a look and taking back off into the sky back from where she came.
Figures they'd have someone fast on standby in case someone tried walking inside unknowingly.
Aside from the PRT, I hadn't spotted anything that pointed to surveillance from any of the gangs in town. But in their case, I knew less of what to look for.
I carried on, however. I halted all progress in Fort Bluff temporarily and in most of Bunker Hill so I could put all of my resources towards the new finished reactor design. Though first, I put everything towards a Phantom and its retractable launchpad.
I had to make a new room for the reactor. Thirty feet wide, thirty feet long and twenty feet tall. My first version of a fusion reactor I based off the tier two EG 200 reactor. Putting everything I had into it and the space to house it, it would be finished over the next four days once the Phantom completed.
In the meantime, while I waited for it to finish, I'd focus my own time between my patrols. Talking to Markus. And more importantly, digging into the dark web to try and find a lead on Orchard.
My web based search for supervillains was not going well. In hindsight, the PRT had probably tried the same approach I was, and they hadn't managed to track down the duo yet either.
Maybe if I had a dedicated hacking suite I'd be having more luck, but that was yet more work pulling me from more important projects.
Frustrated, I decided to expand my search using the Phantom. I figured if Orchard was based here in Boston, they have to have a rather unique space to house their operations. Somewhere large enough to house, alter and store their unwilling slaves. Yet inconspicuous enough to not draw attention.
It would have to be somewhere out there… my Phantom just might be able to find it. Its radar and Omni sensor would be strong enough to pierce through buildings and at least give me a layout of the floor plan of anything it flies over. Should even be able to pick up stuff underground up to a certain depth. A grid sweep of the city might pick up something that stood out as a potential hideout for a duo of slavers.
It wouldn't hurt to try. Worst case, even if I don't find who I'm looking for I'm bound to find something interesting.
I set the Phantom to deploy and perform a grid sweep of Boston. Its landing pad was built inside one of the classrooms. An elevator raising it up to the ceiling where a hanger door was built to allow access to the sky above. Performing a vertical take off, it flew off into the evening sky. Flying north to start and work its way south.
It didn't fly off alone, however. Dovetail made an appearance once more. I watched from the gimbal cam as trails of silver light followed far in the distance, tailing the Phantom from a distance. At least for a while, the Phantom was faster and pulled away, eventually losing her. Then when it got to the starting point I designated, it began its search.
Line by line, it flew over the grid I had set for it. Scanning everything below with its Omni sensor package. I sat and watched as the data came in. Personally looking for anything that caught my eye, hoping to get lucky.
Lucky I was not.
Sure there were several places that came up as odd that I made note of. But otherwise it was hard to say any one place was without a doubt a human trafficking ring. Even if there was, there was no guarantee it would have been Orchard.
The information from the sweep would come in handy at some point, I was sure. But it didn't help me with my current plot. I was beginning to understand why Orchard had never been found and only heard off in the first place.
It might be time to shift my focus. Stick to improving my response to unpowered crime. Expanding my patrol radius and using the Phantom to help find and guide my Enforcers to crime. Taking the next step in my outreach. Also beginning plans for the eventual next mass point expansion.
That and I should get a hacking suite programmed…
I groaned and added it to my to-do list.
On my patrols the next night, I found Markus in his usual hangout spot.
"Novax! Well if it isn't my favorite walking grocery store." He said with a shit eating grin. "Come on in, I cleaned up just for you." Chuckling, he motioned to the dirty alleyway he was calling home.
I laughed. "I'm impressed, you've really cleaned the place up. Is that a new couch?" I pointed to a bucket he didn't have the night before, flipped upside down to use as a seat. "Looks like a great place to lay down and take a nap."
He led out a hearty laugh. "It sure is, how kind of you to notice."
"Say, Markus, think you could do something for me?"
Markus suddenly gave me a sour look. "I thought you weren't looking for henchmen."
"Wha- no it's not lik-"
Markus cut me off as he started cackling. "I'm just fucking you with girl. Now hit me, what is it you need?"
"Jerk." I said playfully. "I'm planning to stop handing out food and stuff on patrols. Going to set up a dedicated spot for people to come to instead so that they can come when they need to rather than having to go out of their way to try and intercept my patrol routes in the middle of the night. Think you could spread the word to all the usual suspects for me?"
"Ah, converting over to a soup kitchen? Not a bad idea. Yeah, don't worry about all the other losers like me." He gave me a lopsided grin. "I'll make sure they know where to go now for a bite to eat."
"Hey, don't say that. Being down on your luck doesn't make you a loser."
He smiled. "Whatever you say, kid."
"Kid? Who says I'm a ki-"
"Oh, don't give me that nonsense, I'm not an idiot. I can hear it in your voice. You're on the younger side. Not that it's a problem. I'm not gonna go around telling someone with powers what to do with them. But don't insult my intelligence."
I sat in silence for a moment before responding. "You're annoyingly observant, you know that right?"
He flashed me another grin. "Damn straight."
I chuckled. "Not gonna start giving me life advice, are you?"
"Oh hell no. Do I look like someone who has made good decisions in life? Besides, you're not my kid, teenagers are a pain in the ass already. I'm not gonna try and lecture one with powers to boot. But if you ever need adult wisdom, you know where I hang around, alright kid?"
"Yeah, I'll keep it in mind, old man. I'm going to open the soup kitchen tomorrow, so I better see your ass there at the school parking lot. Got it?"
Markus gave me a mocking salute and grin, "Sir yes Sir!"
"It's yes ma'am you ass." I say as I throw the usual care package directly at his head.
He dodges, but just barely. I'm already leaving before he has time for another retort, his laughing slowly faded behind me.
I like Markus. He felt like a fun if sometimes annoying uncle whenever I was talking to him. But he was also very useful as a confidante. He had the ears and respect of a lot of the homeless around this area. As a result, if anyone ever saw or heard anything going on out in the streets it typically would find its way to Markus at some point. Which now, with our budding friendship and the fact that he knows I'll give a little extra free food for it, means it also eventually finds its way to me.
I had the MKII continue on its way. I was looking forward to the new reactor finishing. It would give me the extra power I'd need to upgrade not only the mass extractors but my production capabilities as well.
I'd need the extra economy for building the MACU when it came time. It wasn't going to be cheap. Plus, it would need a dedicated assembly yard for its production alone, just like an ACU would. If I kept up the current rate of progress, distractions included, I was expecting I'd have my MACU, at least under construction, by the end of this month or at the worst early next month.
In the meantime, though, I still had to manage constant expansions and working on my image. This weird… standoff? Whatever you'd call it between me and the PRT was a little nerve racking. Even though I wasn't actually in the school, part of me was still worried that regardless of everything I had done to change public perception of me, they would still barge in one day looking for an arrest.
I knew at this point I should probably just approach them myself. But part of me couldn't help but think back to my time in Winslow. Going to what counted as the authorities there had never ended well for me. I wasn't so optimistic to assume doing the same here would suddenly change that pattern.
Yet I knew that eventual confrontation was coming. A problem for later.
For now, it was time to prepare for my soup kitchen.