I had told myself I was going to put everything on hold except for the new reactor, but it didn't feel right waiting to set up the soup kitchen. People were beginning to depend on me for food, I couldn't let them go hungry long. I ended up choosing to divert enough resources away to start its construction alongside the reactor.
Connected to the school was a small park, for the children to play back when the school was still in operation. In the far corner of the park was where I planned to set up my food based operations. With resources diverted exclusively between the new reactor and the soup kitchen, the two Engineers at Fort Bluff had nothing else to do.
The MKII and four of the six Enforcers that I currently had at Fort Bluff escorted the Engineers out of the school to begin construction. Part of me was a little worried about the PRT, up until now they hadn't actually seen me building anything. Sure they had eyes on the school but they had no way of knowing what was going on inside, only my movements in and out of the building. I was worried exactly how they were going to respond to watching an entire soup kitchen being built, seemingly out of nothing.
They were definitely going to get an up close and personal look at what my Engineers can do now. One of the vans I had identified as one of the PRT's surveillance teams was parked just on the opposite side of the road from where I was setting everything up.
The layout for my soup kitchen wasn't going to be anything grand from the get go. A small building, around the size of a trailer, was going to serve as the kitchen itself. Serving food to anyone that came around looking for a warm meal. In front of the kitchen was going to be a seating area, sitting under a canopy to keep it covered for when it rained.
The two Engineers were set to construct the tables and chairs first before moving onto the kitchen building itself, finally finishing with the canopy. The MKII, unlike its previous iteration, had a full nano-constructor kit in its forearm, rather than just a deconstructor. Despite this, I didn't set it to assist in the construction. Mainly because my mass storage was empty, the reactor and this new project at this point was being completely funded by the income from the mass extractors. The MKII was there for a different reason, namely keeping up the facade of me being inside the suit. It was there so that it seemed like I was personally inspecting and watching the construction take place, which I was, but in reality I was doing it from a comfy chair in a different part of the city. I wanted them to continue to think I was solely based out of the school.
Bottlenecked by mass and now with a second major project also under construction, not only was the reactor now even further delayed, but the kitchen was also going to take longer than I would have liked. I was starting in the early morning and it wouldn't be until the evening the next day before completion. Not that there isn't other stuff I can do in the meantime to occupy myself.
For instance, contemplating what he PRT was up to.
The closest surveillance team I had identified were quite literally parked a stone's throw away. I was honestly surprised it hadn't driven away already, but for whatever reason they remained. I guess they figured I didn't know I was being watched to begin with and so as I didn't seem to notice them they didn't have a reason to move from the up close view. I wondered what was going on inside, oh to be a fly on the wall. I could only imagine what was going through their minds as they watched my Engineers in action.
Alas, I was neither a fly nor given the powers to control them.
Suddenly, I found myself pulled from my thoughts as the van pulled out in somewhat of a hurry. I sat, confused at the sudden exit, at least I did until I realized the way the MKII was facing. I had gotten so used to moving the MKII to mimic what I was looking at when out and about, that I had turned it in their direction, staring at them for… honestly I'm not sure how long.
That is awkward.
I quickly did a quick scan of the school's camera's to check the other vehicles I had marked as surveillance and sure enough all of them, although not in a hurry like the first, were pulling away leaving the area.
Whoops.
Nothing I could do about that now though, so I left two Enforcers with the Engineers and took the MKII and the rest of the Enforcers back inside. I needed to catch up on some sleep, then work on blueprints before my patrol tonight.
Four Enforcers and the MKII made up tonight's patrol, with the Phantom in the air to provide surveillance. I was hoping I'd actually find some crime to stop tonight, since starting my patrols I had only found and stopped two muggings. According to Markus, part of the reason I hadn't been finding anything was my own fault. My sudden appearance and very prominent patrols had sent anyone in this area down to the ground, at least until they had a better idea of what the new kid on the block could do.
Tonight however, I had the Phantom as my eyes in the sky, but that wasn't my only new trick I had up my sleeve. I had put in the work to tap into the BPD radio dispatch, any call the police got I'd hear about. Honestly, I would have done this sooner if I had just thought about it. Hell, I didn't even really need to do it myself, police scanners already existed.
I thought about trying to do the same for the PRT but I didn't want to accidentally piss them off too much before I knew where my stance with them was for certain here in Boston. That and it would have taken me more time and actually committing to making a proper hacking suite due to the encryption that they use being much more sophisticated.
Regardless, I was out in force, at least by my current unit numbers. Everyone split into three groups, two groups of two Enforcers and then the MKII on it's own. Each group patrolled independently but stayed close enough that they could all converge on a single location if needed with relative haste.
The PRT's surveillance was still nowhere to be seen after they had pulled out this morning. I didn't recognize any of the tails I was used to seeing for my patrols, either they were still gone or they had changed it up someway and I was missing them entirely.
As my patrol went on I worked on some new designs on the side, keeping the feeds from my units on the other monitors. Occasionally speaking to the homeless through the MKII as I was known to do along with a few other individuals that felt comfortable approaching it to ask questions, typically about my usual aid or the soup kitchen. Markus seemed to be holding true to his word about letting people know about my plans for it.
Around an hour and some change into the night's usual activities I was roused from my work on a troop transport design by my personalized police scanner sending me an alert. Something was happening on the edge of the area I had designated as my operational range.
I quickly pulled the tab up on my computer to see what it was. A silent alarm for breaking and entering… at a butcher's shop?
Odd. But I'm not going to get picky about the crime, especially after a week of nothing but a couple of muggings.
I diverted all three squads in its direction, the Phantom flying ahead to scout. The MKII would take the longest to get there, with both of the Enforcer squads getting there staggered, but relatively at the same time. The Phantom would be first however, reaching the shop it soared high overhead, I directed its sensors to the ground as I zoomed in with the gimbal camera while it entered a holding pattern above.
At the front of the store I spotted the perpetrators getaway vehicle, or should I say vehicles. A moving van and a sedan. Zooming in I spotted one of the perpetrators loading an entire carcass into the back of the van. A large looking creature with the head of a rhinoceros and the body of a gorilla, a cape, or a cape creation. Shortly after they threw the carcass into the back, a man in a top hat walked out the back carrying a smaller chunk of meat.
Villains, stealing meat? Odd, but now wasn't the time for questions on why, that would come after I had them restrained. My Enforcers were only about a minute out, the MKII a little bit after that, then it was game time.
I continued monitoring the capes while my units closed in. Top Hat and the Gorilla went back inside, two others walked outside after they went in, also carrying meat to load into the van. One man in bulky black armor and a woman in black armor emblazoned with red suns.
The two pairs came in and out. Each time returning with more meat as they threw it haphazardly into the back of their vehicle. Eventually both Enforcer squads had arrived, each sitting out of view on both ends of the street as they waited for the slower MKII to arrive before engaging.
Or at least that was the plan. With the MKII still a little more than a minute out I watched from above as the robbers began climbing into their two vehicles, ready to pull away.
Shit. My Enforcers are fast but they won't keep up with an actual vehicle on the road. It's either I engage now or I watch as they pull away with their spoils, uncontested. Either I engage now, or not at all.
Making my decision all four Enforcers exit their hiding places and begin their advance from opposite ends of the street. I order an Enforcer coming from the East to engage and disable the van with their stolen meat. Machine gun fire erupts on the street as the Enforcer dumps multiple bursts of gunfire into the engine block and front two tires.
Their reaction is instant, Top Hat dives out of the passenger side of the van, taking cover from the direction of the gunfire. The gorilla slams open the back doors of the van, stepping out and also taking cover, looking in the direction of the two Enforcers to the east.
The man and woman in black body armor jump out of their sedan. The woman diving for cover inside the shop. The man takes cover behind the sedan, in the process of doing so he spots my other two Enforcers advancing from the west.
"Two more, other side!" He calls out.
"Me and Genesis get the east, you and Sundancer take the west!" Top Hat yells back.
Two names I'm not familiar with, I'll have to look into them later.
The man in body armor doesn't respond, instead he pulls a metal cylinder from one of the pouches on his chest and aims it in the direction of my Enforcers to the west. A sonic boom cracks out across the street as the metal cylinder suddenly shoots out, faster than sound. It slams into the left arm of an Enforcer, right in the joint of the elbow. Immediately I began getting alerts of critical damage, total loss of its weapons systems in that arm.
"Holy shit." Okay, this guy is most definitely not small fish in terms of firepower.
Both Enforcers to the west begin evasive maneuvers, moving to cover when possible, dodging and weaving when not as they continue their steady advance. All four Enforcers on both sides open up with a salvo of pepper balls as they swap to less lethal ammunition. Another sonic boom cracks out as another cylinder just misses the same Enforcer as before. The man diving down to cover as the Enforcers return fire.
I don't get to give the west much thought however, as suddenly I receive an alert of an unintended spatial displacement as one of the two Enforcers to the east suddenly appears at the back of the van. In its place the Gorilla, Genesis, rears back and throws a punch into the side of the second Enforcer.
The Enforcer is sent flying across the road from the blow, slamming into a parked car setting off its alarm, the armor on its side bent inwards. My control screen is filled with alerts of damage, definitely a brute. Granted, betting the giant rhino gorilla was a brute would be easy money, but it was nice and alarming to have confirmation.
At the same time the displaced Enforcer was taking advantage of its sudden new location. Rounding the corner from behind the van it went after Top Hat, who was already circling around the front of the van to avoid it. Trying to hide, and while he may be able to break line of sight from the Enforcer, my Phantom still had a birds eye view of the battle to direct it. Even better, the Enforcer was now behind the man in armor too.
"Ballistic behind!" Top Hat's voice screamed out as my Enforcer came around.
Almost instantly the man in black armor, who had already been ducking behind cover, rubbing at his eyes due to dust from the pepper balls hitting and exploding around him, pulled a handful of something from a pouch and haphazardly threw them in the Enforcer's direction while still rubbing his eyes with his other arm.
Another series of bangs rang out as a handful of ball bearings slammed into the Enforcer and the side of the van. Like a hypersonic shotgun the ball bearings tore into the sides of both. The Enforcer suffering critical damage, multiple critical systems destroyed, it was done for. In its final moments it underwent anti-theft protocols. Every unit in my arsenal once destroyed, in their last moments would have failsafes kick in to prevent a third party from retrieving anything worthwhile for reverse engineering or in-depth analysis. Systems fried themselves, memory banks sent back to command before being wiped, the hard drives shredding themselves inside the unit, quantum nodes short circuiting, before finally the entire unit would detonate if the damage hadn't been severe enough to already do so.
The shredded Enforcer whined and sparked before its batteries surged and it was engulfed in flames as it detonated, blowing an even larger hole into the side of the van than what was there from the ball bearings a moment before. Pieces of shrapnel flew as Ballistic dived to the ground, managing to avoid injury from flying shrapnel.
"For fuck sakes Trickster, what did we say about swapping people into the back line without saying anything!" Ballistic screamed before wiping his eyes again and throwing another cylinder at the Enforcer he had already damaged to the east.
"And what did we say about throwing multiple things at once! Think about the collateral!" Top Hat, no, Trickster yelled back.
Meanwhile, Genesis and the lone Enforcer were doing the battle equivalent of a dance. The Enforcer was constantly on the back foot, side stepping from punches and swipes, while firing into Genesis with pepper balls to the face. Said pepper balls were working, in impairing her vision at least. But as far as I could tell outside of that impairment it was doing little else. They were seemingly ignoring the pain, like it wasn't even there. I ordered that unit to swap to rubber bullets instead, hoping they would have better effect at slowing them down until the MKII got there.
Despite her vision impairment, the Enforcer wasn't excelling with its evasive maneuvering and was unable to do more than narrowly dodge each strike, unable to create distance. Genesis was strong, and the punch she had landed had fucked up something inside to do with it's sensors. As a result it wasn't detecting the incoming attacks as quickly as it should, not without my personal intervention, taking control of it manually. But I had three- no two other Enforcers to worry about still.
I quickly checked for the arrival time of the MKII, still about forty seconds out, the entire fight hadn't even lasted that long so far despite it feeling otherwise. And I was already down an Enforcer, with two others damaged. Not terribly surprising, the Enforcers were designed to be foot soldiers, to overwhelm enmasse when capes were concerned. Or act as supporting elements to something like the MKII, not acting as the primary fighting force. Especially not with only four, but I was working with what I had.
Once more an alert snagged my attention, the undamaged Enforcer to the west had just been narrowly hit by a ball bearing by Ballistic. Somehow only coming away with damage to the armor of the shoulder. If not for the pepper balls I might have already lost both Enforcers on the western side. While neither had landed a direct shot with a pepper ball to his face, the powder that kicked up from the balls exploding on impact had gotten in his eyes. He was fighting through the pain, and succeeding, but it was messing with his aim. Causing him to miss shots and allow my Enforcers to dodge in instances where it normally wouldn't be possible.
Ballistic prepared for another volley of objects to throw at the same Enforcer. Seeing an opportunity, I ordered the other one with the damaged arm to charge in, close the distance. It began to charge as several more booms filled the air as Ballistic launched another volley focused on the wrong Enforcer, hitting it however in the knee causing the entire lower leg to break off. I thought this might be the tipping point for the western side despite the loss of a limb.
Until all of my monitors blared with alarms.
The girl. The one they called Sundancer, I had forgotten about her.
She had ducked inside the store at the beginning while running for cover. I had ignored her thus far while I dealt with the others. Now, she stepped outside with what I could only describe as a miniature sun in her hands, bigger than a baseball, but smaller than a basketball in size.
"Down!" She yelled. As Trickster and Ballistic hit the floor once more. The sun shot out from her hands in the direction of the two Enforcers on the left. The one missing a leg was far enough away, the other one however…
The light was blinding, as it soared towards the Enforcer, the road cracked before melting under the intense heat. As it got closer the Enforcer's status screamed with warnings of excessive heat, as its armor glowed and eventually began to melt away as it turned into molten slag. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared on the battlefield, the sun blinked out of existence.
Immediately afterwards Ballistic jumped up and sent out another cylinder at the other Enforcer. Hitting it in the eye, destroying it.
As this was happening my last Enforcer finally lost its dance with Genesis. They finally managed to grab it by the arm, picking it up and slamming it to the ground before sitting on top of it and sending several punches into its eye. Realizing it was going to be destroyed with them on top of it, I tried to turn off the failsafes remotely, I had no way of knowing if they were durable enough to survive the Enforcer going up in flames right under them. It's failsafes activated before I had a chance to send the override however, the Enforcer exploding in their face.
Left now with only a birds eye view, I watched from above as Genesis's body collapsed and began to melt.
Did I just accidentally kill someone? Fuck. That was not going to help me with the PRT if I did. I looked at the other three villains and saw a lack of alarm regarding their teammate's sudden dissolving state. Maybe it was fine? That or they really didn't care for them, I had no way of knowing at the moment though.
The MKII was close, quite literally around the corner, but I gave it the order to stop. The MKII was tough, way stronger than an Enforcer, as it was designed to be. But both Sundancer and Ballistic clearly had the means to take it out, especially if it was alone without support.
Didn't matter how strong my shield was if a literal miniature sun was thrown at it.
No point in risking losing another unit when I was strapped for mass to build more until the reactor was complete. It sucked, but I'd have to accept the defeat. At the very least I got some good data to make improvements to the Enforcers' combat AI.
The remaining three villains took off on foot, the back tire of the sedan had melted from the miniature sun passing by it. I didn't bother to follow with the Phantom either, I was worried about the off chance that they would look up to check for fliers and one of them would notice it following them. Ballistic could probably shoot it down if they did, it would be an unnecessary loss.
Once they were far enough away I had the MKII approach the street as I took in the devastation. Part of the street was scorched in a line, an Enforcer at the end of it, now no more than a pile of molten slag. The van they had come in was an absolute mess, and on fire. The entire back ripped apart from Ballistic's attack and the Enforcer's self-destruct. The front of the butchers shop was ruined, mostly from them breaking in, but part of it had also seen the destruction from Sundancer's sun as she had sent it out from within. Various building holes in the street and the surrounding buildings from Ballistic's attacks that had missed and kept going, hitting whatever had been behind the Enforcers at the time.
I sighed, before ordering the MKII to reclaim the Enforcers, putting their mass back into the quantum network, immediately being sucked up from storage and put towards the soup kitchen and reactor construction.
After a few minutes all of the Enforcer remains had been reclaimed. I contemplated reclaiming the ruined truck and van, but I didn't know if they were stolen or not. I'd feel like a dick if they were and someone couldn't claim it on their insurance because the car literally didn't exist anymore, dismantled down the last atom. That and I was sure law enforcement were going to be here soon, maybe they'd find some evidence in one of the two vehicles, I didn't want to tamper with the scene just in case.
Speaking of the devil, I could hear sirens in the distance through the MKII. Looking from the Phantom's camera I could see the green and white lights of the PRT in the distance.
I stopped, wondering if I should stay. Make this my meeting with the local PRT and the Protectorate.
No. Not until I had the reactor finished and I had the spare mass to build units again. I couldn't guarantee that the MKII wouldn't get overwhelmed and taken down with a protracted fight with the Protectorate if it came down to it and they came in force. Not that I wanted it to come to that, but still.
Better to return and lick my wounds. Today was an unfortunate loss, but it was one I could learn from. I definitely needed something other than the Enforcer or the MKII, something to act as muscle when the MKII couldn't be present. That and I really needed to finish my troop transport. All of tonight's issues of having to engage too early, staggered response time and not being able to pursue if they drove away would have all been solved if I had one.
Just more projects to finish on an ever expanding list.
I issued the return order to the Phantom and MKII and began to lose myself in my other work, starting a file on the capes I had just encountered. They hadn't come up in my initial research into Boston. Or at least I was doing that until the audio feed from the MKII dragged me back. The sounds of gusts of wind.
It wasn't a windy day.
I had my answer for the source of the wind a heartbeat later, Aerobat in his blue jumpsuit and fluffy jacket, surrounded by circulating arctic wind, rounded the corner in the air, cutting off the MKII's path.
It seemed the Protectorate was done watching from a distance.
I had the MKII get into a ready stance, unsure of exactly what was about to transpire. Aerobat hovered in the air in front, slowly descending until he was a few feet off the ground. I wanted to have the MKII look around, scan for any other Protectorate capes nearby to prevent getting flanked if this was going to turn into a battle, but I didn't fully know what Aerobat was capable of and I didn't want to give him an opening. More importantly I didn't know what the grenades on his belt were capable of, so instead I stared at him.
"You gonna fight me?" I called out.
He paused. "Uh, preferable no. Aren't you, like… trying to be a good guy?"
Wait. What, this is how this is going to go?
I had the MKII relax its stance before I responded. "Yeah I am… sorry… wasn't sure how this meeting was going to play out."
"How did you think it was going to play out?" He asked with a nervous chuckle.
"I… honestly I'm not sure. I just figured the worst when all you guys did was watch me from a distance for a week straight."
I don't trust this.
He laughed, this time the nervousness gone, before putting his hand to his ear and speaking into a communicator hidden underneath his blue fluffy hat. "Found them Dovetail, also you owe me twenty dollars. She noticed the surveillance way earlier than this morning."
"You were making bets on how soon I'd notice your surveillance teams?"
Aerobat looked embarrassed briefly before he responded. "Uh… yes? That sounds bad. Technically, I didn't make the bet until today after you stared down McKinney and West's van. And I didn't make it because I think the agents are bad at their jobs. It's just… well… tinkers you know? I figured you'd have some scanner or something and would have noticed sooner is all."
I didn't know what to say to that so I said nothing at all. Aerobat and the MKII stood there in awkward silence before he finally broke the silence with a cough.
"So… uh. You mind coming in with us, or well me, us once Dovetail gets here. Not that you're like, under arrest, you're not. But we would like to have a conversation with you, Bastion and Armstrong in particular… so… follow me?"
Wait just like that, invite me down to talk to the people in charge? Surely this is a trap.
"This isn't a trap… right?"
"What? No, no, no-"
That's what someone setting a trap would say.
"It's not a trap." A new, female voice broke my train of thought. Coming over top of a nearby building, Dovetail hovered down. Luminous slivers of light falling from beneath her, forcefields ballooned out every time one hit the ground, only to immediately be dispersed by Dovetail as she landed. "The Director and Bastion just want to have a conversation with you. They were originally going to send someone tomorrow, but when a caller from that robbery reported seeing you in an altercation with the ones responsible they decided to try for tonight instead, assuming you were willing. We had been hoping you would have stayed on the scene rather than having to haphazardly shoot off in different directions to find which way you went."
I didn't trust this. It all seemed too good to be true, too friendly. But at the same time there wasn't much I'd be risking by sending the MKII with them, and potentially a lot to gain. Worst case I'd have to self destruct the MKII, pull my remaining Engineers and Enforcers within Fort Bluff with my internal defenses, hold out until I have the reactor complete and can build units again. Maybe delay the reactor entirely and push more Enforcers out right away depending if they actually try to take the school, but that still only becomes reality if this is some sort of trap.
Fuck it, even if this somehow spirals into me losing my entire foothold I still have Bunker Hill in the reservation. They won't find me inside the school, and I'm confident they won't be able to trace me back here if it came to it.
"Fuck it, why not. Hope you guys have a ride cause this suit doesn't fly."
Aerobat chuckled. "Yeah we can get you a ride in one of the PRT transports. They should still be back at the butcher's shop. We'll walk back with ya."
Both Aerobat and Dovetail walked up the the MKII, giving a nod it followed alongside them and walked back towards the butcher's shop and the PRT vehicles waiting there.
I tried making conversation on the way. "I got to say I really didn't expect my first meeting with you guys to be this…"
"This what?" Dovetail asked.
"Peaceful…"
She turned her head in confusion. "What made you think it wouldn't be?"
She should know why.
"I mean… you guys labeled me a villain… well not you guys, the PRT department in Brockton, but… still."
Aerobat smiled. "I can see why you'd assume the worst. But to be fair the PRT here in Boston is run a lot differently than in Brockton. Armstrong likes to give the benefit of the doubt, hope for the best in people before he assumes the worst. Your… altercation back in Brockton he saw as a one off occurrence. Especially when the moment you showed your face here you started feeding homeless people and stopping crime."
"Even after Brockton's department labeled me a villain?"
"Yeah. I can't say they were wrong to label you that way at first back up in the Bay. From what I hear the Director up there likes to jump on what she perceives as problems before they can get worse, and I can definitely see how from the information they had at the time would lead them to make the call that they did. But they really should have kept that label internal, not sure why they put it in a public statement, someone really dropped the ball there. Unless we thought you were going to be a threat to civilians down here we would have kept it in house until we were sure, especially if it was your first appearance. Armstrong insists on it, always looking to turn potential bad eggs into good ones. Shouting to the public that those eggs are villains tends to muddy any chances of convincing them of their own free will to sign up."
"Huh…" I'll believe it when I see it.
Eventually we reached the butcher's shop once more. The scene is now crawling with PRT as forensics teams collect evidence and document the crime scene.
"Part of the conversation they want is a debrief on all this by the way." Dovetail said, pulling me from my thoughts.
"That's… fair… for the record most of this wasn't me. Well, except for the bullet holes in the truck, that was me."
She huffed with amusement. "Save it for the big wigs, that way you don't have to explain it twice cause I'm not writing this down."
Hopping into the back of one of the PRT's armored transports we soon pulled away, heading towards downtown Boston where the PRT and Protectorate HQs were located.
Sitting in the back with Aerobat, Dovetail and a few PRT troopers, I couldn't help but feel a little tense, though I wasn't sure if everyone else felt the same.
"So… Dovetail, why did you join the Boston Protectorate? I thought you were a more itinerant member, moving around all the time and all that."
Dovetail looked surprised, most likely expecting to ride the entire way in silence. "I still am, an itinerant member that is. I came to Boston to help out last time Butcher and the Teeth came through. Things are actually pretty decent here in Boston whenever the Butcher isn't in town and I was looking to relax a bit rather than immediately going to another shitshow somewhere else. So I decided I'd stick around till the Butcher came through again."
"What about you?" Aerobat said, jumping into the conversation. "What brought you to Boston from the Bay?"
Fishing for information maybe? Eh, no real reason to lie. I already know the PRT know my identity from my fuck up when I ran away.
"The fact that no one here would know to look for me until I wanted them to."
I couldn't see his eyes but I could tell he was raising an eyebrow at that statement.
"Looking to avoid reprisal after... well you know."
"Not really, that was actually my second run in with the Empire, they almost press ganged me a couple weeks after I got my powers. I had already been planning to skip town when I ran into them again."
Aerobat was getting ready to ask another question when Dovetail cut him off.
"Let's save all the questions for when we get to HQ and she sees Armstrong and Bastion. Otherwise she's going to have to say all this twice."
He looked a little disappointed, but he nodded his head and leaned back. We spent the rest of the ride listening to the troopers make small talk once they realized we were done.
Eventually we got downtown, the PRT HQ building and the Protectorate HQ sat side by side, a floating land bridge connecting the two buildings. A perimeter wall surrounded both on all sides. Pulling in, I was taken into the underground parking garage.
"Alright, this is where we part ways." Dovetail started. "Me and batboy-"
"I am not going by tha-"
"Still have a patrol to finish up, sit tight with the troopers. Another member of the Protectorate should be down shortly to escort you upstairs."
The MKII gave Dovetail and Aerobat a nod. "Alright, you guys enjoy your patrol. See you around I guess."
They both gave me a smile before walking back outside and taking off into the air.
The next thing I knew there I was, or my MKII was, just sitting in the PRT's parking garage with a couple of Troopers. No trap yet, but I wasn't going to lower my suspicions just yet.
A few minutes later my escort arrived in the parking deck. A tall imposing man in body armor, his chest piece designed to look like a keg, with a bandolier of miniature kegs adorned around his waist. A long brown beard peeked out from his bucket helmet. Cask, another member of the Protectorate I had read up on. He was originally a member of the Protectorate division down in Raleigh, NC, before he transferred up here. He had a specialization in creating special mixtures that had a variety of applications, anything from healing to temporarily granting trump-like effects.
"Novax I presume." His deep voice boomed.
"That would be me."
He motioned to follow. "This way."
Cask and the two Troopers from the initial transport led me to what I can only describe as an interrogation room.
A few more points got added back into the trap column. Maybe my empty suit would get arrested after all.
"The Director and Bastion will be with you shortly. Will you need a brute grade chair for your suit? Or is it light enough to sit down?"
"Definitely need a brute grade chair."
Cask gave me a nod. "Someone will bring one in soon then." Then without another word the man turned and left. A PRT Agent entered shortly after with a new chair for the MKII to sit in.
Having it take a seat I was left to my own thoughts as I waited for the Director and Bastion to show.
I sat in my chair, tapping my finger against the armrest as I stared at the view from the MKII's camera. Despite how well this was seeming to go so far I still didn't like it. I had been playing along so far, while keeping my eyes open for some sort of angle. Part of me felt certain this was going to go sideways at any moment, I was just waiting to see how.
I didn't get to contemplate what ifs for very long before the door to the room opened once more.
Walking in was a short overweight black man in a suit, his nose crooked and with a grey beard and receding hairline. I assumed this was the Director, only because I was told he was coming. He didn't look the part of a major authority figure in the cape scene as a PRT Director. Instead he looked more like someone's grandfather, granted a very angry looking grandfather. Either he was currently pissed off or the man had a horrible case of resting bitch face, I was leaning towards the latter due to the way his jaw and forehead gave off a perpetual look of him glaring.
Alongside him a taller man walked in. In red plated armor with black accents, Bastion sported a full face covering with a visor, only his blond hair was left uncovered on the top of his head. My research into the local heroes had been a little more interesting when I got to him. Aside from learning about his ability to make force and deflector fields, I also learned he had been embroiled in some PR scandal recently. He got caught on video blowing up in some kid's face who had asked him for an autograph and wouldn't take no for an answer. Apparently something he said was insensitive and now his position as Protectorate lead was being questioned online, but no word had come out about his status from official sources, outside of the PR department trying to save face with pre written apologies and attempts to distance his daughter, a Ward here in Boston by the name of Blockade, from being linked to the scandal by way of familial relation.
"Novax." Director Armstrong reached across the table, his hand outstretched to shake the MKII's. "Thank you for coming in, I was happy to hear you were willing to come talk to us. Especially with how late it is." He chuckled, gesturing with a cup of coffee he had in one of his hands. "Can we get you anything to drink? If your suit doesn't have a way to drink without fully taking off your helmet we can get you a domino mask if needed."
His voice was cheerful, completely betraying the angry look his face kept, even despite his smile. Definitely resting bitch face.
The MKII reached out and shook his hand. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm fine." Couldn't drink it anyways.
Bastion sat, crossing his arms, before giving off a huff. "Let's get down to business then."
Now he sounded how I would have assumed Armstrong to. Pissed off and angry.
Armstrong sat down, before starting the conversation. "There's a few things we'd like to talk to you about. But I'd like to start with the most pressing one. It is the PRT's responsibility to look out for and prevent large scale parahuman threats, I don't start off bringing this up to suggest you are one, but there are some concerns that have been brought up in regards to your technology. Specifically your robots…"
The suggestion wasn't a surprise to me. From the moment I knew what I was capable of I knew I had the capability of becoming what the PRT would consider an S-Class threat. That and the fact that comparisons would be made between me and an already existing one. Something I needed to nip in the bud the best I could.
I cut Armstrong off before he could continue. "Some of my units are capable of construction, whether that be buildings or more units, but they can't do so freely. I have to personally assign them to the task and they can't do anything other than what I explicitly command them to do. They aren't self aware, they are semi-autonomous at best. They can adapt and respond to stimuli around them but only to the best of their ability within the programming I've given them. Otherwise they rely on my direction via direct commands or preprogrammed instructions. They can't add to their own code nor will I ever allow it. Even if they somehow could, they all have failsafes built in, one press of a button and every single one of them self-destructs. If they did somehow gain intelligence and rise up, which I want to reiterate is not possible as they can't add onto their own code, should they kill me it still wouldn't stop the self-destruct failsafes as I have additional failsafes that are triggered in the event of my death to initiate the self-destruct in everything I've built. My units are not going to rise up, my tech is not a second Machine Army in the making. Does that cover all of your concerns?"
Armstrong and Bastion shared a brief glance before they turned my way again.
"If I didn't know any better I'd have thought you had access to my list of questions. Though I guess someone with your abilities would recognize the comparisons and the concerns that would arise." Armstrong chuckled as he finished.
"Good to know there is at least one tinker in town that doesn't need to be threatened with a pre-signed kill order to not be an idiot with their creations." Bastion blurted out.
Wait what?
Armstrong gave him the briefest of glares before quickly following up, turning back with a smile. "Just so we are clear, to avoid any misconceptions, you are not getting a pre-signed kill order regarding your robots. Bastion was referring to the situation with our local wet tinker Blasto. In place specifically if he starts making creations capable of procreating or self replicating. All around a topic that isn't necessary right now, wouldn't you agree Bastion?" He said, emphasizing the last part.
Bastion looked at him. Whatever facial expression he had was covered by his mask. He stayed silent.
There was definitely some tension between the two of them, tension that didn't seem to have been caused by this meeting. My mind wandered back to the apparent scandal regarding Bastion. A thought for later.
I broke the short silence."I take it you also want to hear about tonight and my… altercation back in Brockton."
"That we would." Armstrong started with a smile. "I've been paying attention ever since the report crossed my desk of you being spotted in Boston. I take it you want to become a hero?"
"That was the plan. For the record I didn't go into that fight planning to kill anyone. Nor did I know that Bitch-"
Both Armstrong and Bastion interrupted me.
"Who?"
"What?"
"The villain I was working with, she calls herself Bitch, though I think you guys call her Hellhound?" They both shared a glance before nodding at me to continue. "I didn't know she was a villain at the time. We just happened to cross paths and when she told me she was wanting to free all the dogs at the dog fighting ring, I offered to help. Things… just happened to escalate when Hookwolf showed up."
I gave both of them a summary of both fights, primarily the one with the Empire. Bitch getting downed, Cricket standing over her ready to deliver a potentially fatal blow, my quick reaction that put her down for good. Though I left out any mention of the mental changes my power brought about that led to that reaction.
After I finished, Armstrong spoke. "Thank you for giving us a rundown on everything that happened. While the PRT ENE labeled you a villain off the little information they had, you're now in my jurisdiction, and between what you've done since coming to my city and what you've told us today we will be relabeling you internally, and once the PR department figures out how to spin it, externally a vigilante.
I blinked. Just like that?
Despite having no way to know what my face looked like at that moment, he must have anticipated I'd be confused by such a sudden change like that after a brief conversation.
"I recognize sometimes parahumans get a bumpy start to this life. It's not something I like to penalize them for, especially when the good they are doing or could do far outweighs the bad. Some people like to paint this life as a game because of all the costumes and the silly names, talking about it like it's a game of cops and robbers, but despite all that it very much is not. To put it bluntly, shit happens, I see no reason why you should be labeled a villain and penalized for one decision made in the heat of the moment of your first outing that prevented a villain from, as you believed, killing another person who at the time was an ally who you were assisting in freeing abused animals. An act I would very much call heroic regardless of the labels of the person doing it. Let me be clear though, I will not condone a vigilante that takes the law and others lives into their own hands. I don't want to hear about anyone else being killed by your hand in Boston unless there are extreme extenuating circumstances or a kill order in effect. Is that clear?"
I felt like I had just been chastised by my grandfather. "Of course."
"On the same note of your status, I would highly recommend you sign up and join the-"
"I have no interest in being a Ward." I interrupted, seeing where he was going.
Both Armstrong and Bastion froze.
"Ward?"
"You're a fucking minor?"
"Yeah, I had enough teenage drama when I was still going to school. I don't want that but with powers involved thank you very- wait a minute. You guys literally know my identity, what do you mean am I a minor?"
They shared a look. This time one of concern.
Oh here we go.
"If we do, the connection has not been made to your current cape identity." Bastion finally said.
"Oh. Well, on that note forget I said that, even if you guys will probably put two and two together later."
Armstrong let out a long sigh. "This changes a few things, though I doubt any lecture I could give right now, if my guess about your current living situations regarding that school is correct, would actually convince you of anything. So I'll move on for now. There are several aspects of the cape scene here in Boston we need to talk about." He gestured to Bastion to continue for him.
"Any new vigilante or independent hero that we aren't sure already understands the lay of the land here gets a similar spiel. So listen very carefully. This isn't Brockton Bay, where every gang or clique with superpowers is skirmishing over territory and petty disputes. After the Boston Games all the current big shots around here signed onto an agreement fronted by Accord. Not every group in town is signed on, but the majority are, the few that didn't still follow most of the rules because they're beneficial to them. They just hate giving Accord even more power. Fights over territory, personal shit and a whole lot of other nonsense that would normally see us rushing to respond to a fight between villains that's tearing up parts of the city, gets handled behind closed doors instead. Biweekly the villains meet up at the Moot. It's a neutral meeting ground where they hash out problems and make sure no one is making too much noise. There is an unspoken agreement between us and the villains here. You don't push things too far and we won't either. Do not escalate shit in this city. All it takes is one Moot meeting for every major villain group in town to respond in kind until you're dead or pushed out, which makes more work for us and causes destruction we don't need. That doesn't mean don't try and put criminals or villains behind bars, but use some common sense when you're doing it. Also, I can not stress this enough. Do. Not. Fuck. With. The. Moot. It is hands off, period. Every cape in town knows this, every vigilante knows this, every hero knows this, every villain knows this. As long as the Moot keeps villains settling disputes behind closed doors and not fighting over it in the streets, we want it to continue. If you figure out where it is, which you probably will eventually as most capes do, leave it the fuck alone unless they invite you to attended, got it?"
"Invite me to attend?" I asked.
Why would I be invited to a meeting between villains?
Amstrong answered my unspoken question. "Accord, or even some of the other villains, do occasionally invite local vigilantes and independent heroes. Typically this is when a new unwanted group is trying to move in or when an independent villain new to town is causing too much trouble. Mostly to get everyone on the same page that they are open season until they get taken off the board. Though occasionally they get invited for other reasons. We believe there is a reasonable chance Accord will approach you with an invitation to a Moot relatively soon."
"Wait, why would he be inviting me to a Moot?"
"Because the way most of the villains see it right now you're holding territory." Bastion grunted.
…
What? "I'm not holding territory? I'm not a gang."
Armstrong grabbed my attention with a cough. "While that may be true, that may not be how some groups here in Boston will see it. You've completely seized and taken over a building, which we will be circling back around to, and have been patrolling its immediate vicinity with a slowly growing force of robots. Regardless of your label, any party conducting themselves this way that isn't connected to a government law enforcement agency is going to be seen as taking territory. Especially when said building was illegally seized."
I winced, I hadn't thought about that fact when I set up shop… and now that I think about it Bunker Hill is built underneath what is considered a state park… also probably illegal.
"The fact that the school was slated for demolition and is still owned by the city has given me some leeway in regards to you… seizing it. While the mayor isn't happy, I've managed to convince him to allow us to not push for charges due to your outreach to the homeless and the fact you appear to be using it to increase your outreach efforts. He's hoping he can spin your efforts in feeding the homeless as sanctioned and encouraged behavior to help his eventual reelection efforts. So do keep that up, otherwise legally I'm going to have difficulty maintaining the stance you aren't a villain on an organizational level."
I sighed. Unsure to be happy or annoyed I was already being taken advantage of politically by some sleeze bag in a suit without even meeting them. "I didn't plan on stopping…"
Armstrong smiled. "Good, that makes all of our lives easier then."
"Another thing-" Bastion cut back in. "-the Teeth, you don't have to worry about them now, but Boston is a regular stopping point for them. They bounce between us and New York and wherever they feel like stopping in between. They've left New York already which means they will be hopping between places while they move back here. They never stay for more than a month but when they get here all hell is going to break loose. When that happens, get in touch, stay in line, work with us, and for the love of God do not try and kill the Butcher. Got it?"
"Yep" I said, popping the 'p'.
"Next on the agenda, power testing and submitting some of your tech for analy-" Bastion didn't get a chance to finish as I cut him off.
"Not happening."
"Listen kid-"
"Don't call me a fucking kid. No one is getting access to my tinkertech. End of discussion."
I could tell by his body language I pissed him off, but before he could respond Armstrong cut him off.
"That's enough. Let's not get heated over this. Novax, if you don't wish to undergo power testing that is fine, that's your choice. But, there are some Protectorate tinkers that have been made aware and have become interested in your tech after this morning. If you'd be willing, they'd love to take a look and have a chat with you."
I wonder who… but the answer wouldn't matter. "The answer remains the same."
I didn't want anyone getting any up close look at my technology if I could help it. That's knowledge that could be used against me. That and a part of me felt incredibly protective over my tech. Something I hadn't put much thought into until now, part of me couldn't wonder if the intense protective feeling was really me or yet another way my powers had fucked with my head.
Armstrong sighed. "That is perfectly acceptable." He checked his watch. "We should probably wrap this up as late as it is, we've covered all the main points I wanted to touch on, but I do have one more thing. You're wondering what my angle is, aren't you?"
I paused. I wasn't expecting that.
"Yes."
"Well, I'll be blunt. Ideally I want you as a Ward, and one day a member of the Protectorate. Me and several others have seen enough to have an idea of the potential you have as a tinker. I'd love nothing more than to have you sign on and utilize the resources at our disposal to help you reach your full potential."
I wondered if he still would if he knew what that potential was.
He continued. "But I recognize you have no desire for that at this time. In the meantime, I would like you to at least work with us when possible and I hope in doing so we can convince you to change your mind. Now, do you have any questions for us?"
That… felt a lot more sincere than I was anticipating…
"No… I can't say I do."
"Perfect, now I would like an easier way for us to contact you rather than going in person every single time, if that is at all possible." He asked.
I'd have to set something up that they couldn't trace back to Bunker hill, but otherwise that might not be a bad idea. "I can reach out and get you a way to contact me in a few days… once I finish a project I'm working on."
Armstrong smiled. "Fantastic, well I believe we are done for now. Me and Bastion have some business to attend to. Some Troopers will escort you back to the garage and drive you back. Have a good night Novax."
"You as well." I responded.
The two left the room, and soon after my MKII was back in a PRT transport and on the way back to Fort Bluff. I had a lot to unpack after that conversation. Bastion seemed like an ass, but Armstrong…
He seemed… like he actually cared. Something I wasn't prepared for. I didn't mind trying to work with the Protectorate either… well maybe not Bastion, something about him rubbed me the wrong wa-
An alert grabbed my attention at Fort Bluff. Looking at the cameras, a blacked out car pulled up to the front of the school. Stepping out was a man in a suit, with a porcelain mask that was divided down the middle, white on one side and black on the other. He walked up to the front door, sliding a letter underneath the door, before walking back into the car which then drove off.
What the hell?
Not wanting to wait for the MKII to arrive I sent one of the two remaining Enforcers to investigate.
Picking up the letter I had the Enforcer open it and hold the contents up to its camera.
…
…
…
Well.
It seemed Armstrong was right.
Inside was an invitation to the next Moot in ten days, with Accord's signature on the bottom.