[April 11th 2011 ; 01:53 PM]
"Let's talk"
"Alright, what do you want to talk about ?" I answer.
"Well, first explain what happened."
"Well, I think Weaver should start."
The girl startles at my comment but nods nonetheless. We spent the next few minutes explaining what happened to Armsmaster, who besides some comments (Agreeing with my Undersiders hypothesis and commending the fact that we thought to get Lung away from civilians and important structures), he listened to our tale without complaint.
"... To be honest, I almost died." Weaver finishes the report with a grim comment.
"That is why we have the Wards program, to help underage Parahumans such as you get accustomed to their powers, and to keep them as safe as possible while they fight to make a change in the world." He honestly said it so matter of factly, as if he was reading from some sort of sheet.
The Wards were the under-eighteen subdivision of the Protectorate, and Brockton Bay did have its own team of Wards, with the same naming convention as the Protectorate; The Wards East-North-East.
"I... don't really like teenage drama." And that was it, that was her excuse.
I mean, It's probably not that simple, but she doesn't have the luxury to stay independent without a team for too long, the statistics paint a fairly grim picture of independent hero survival rates, so unless you're really sneaky, or very powerful (Like me!) That's not really an option unless you have an actual, factual, convincing argument otherwise.
For most capes in Brockton Bay, you either shack up or man up, because every single group is chomping at the bit to increase their number of capes, and they may not take no for an answer.
"I- uh, I ought to go now." She says.
"Wait!" You say. "Armsmaster, do you have a pen and paper ?"
I didn't know why asked him, but the legend just nondescriptly pulled out a notebook and a pen from his motorcycle. Armsmaster's specialization is known to allow him to put a lot of shit in one machine, but this is ridiculous.
But I go with it, writing both my number and PHO handle on a page and ripping it off, handing it to the teenage cape.
"Here you go, this has my PHO handle and my number, you can contact me anytime you want if you need help. You can't afford to stay alone, not in Brockton Bay."
She hesitates for a while. "I don't have a phone, but I will contact you through PHO." She eventually grabs the paper and bolts it in a random direction.
"Well, that was that." You attempt to break the ice.
"Yes, it was noble of you to do what you did." He says. "As a member of the Protectorate, I cannot offer such services to non-affiliated Parahumans, so I couldn't do anything about it. And her reaction to the Wards pitch meant I shouldn't insist on recruitment."
"I agree, her power looks to be very potent, but it has very obvious weaknesses that can be easily filled by being inside a team." Armsmaster agrees with a nod. "Anyway, is there any chance I could register today as an Independent Hero and Rogue?"
"I don't see why not, but may I ask why would you register as a Rogue? Your powers did not seem to have any obvious production capacity."
"Well, I would like to talk about that in a more private setting."
Armsmaster pauses for a while.
"I am obligated to inform you that the survival rate for Independent Capes is less than 20% over the first six months. Your safety goes up immediately upon joining the Protectorate, we offer the resources, training, and backup necessary for you to maximize your efforts in being a Hero."
"Ah... I'm sorry to say that I'm not able to join the Protectorate, some of the restrictions put on Protectorate heroes and the PRT's general protocols would hinder my capabilities more than they could help. My set of skills simply have significant incompatibility with government methods." You take a breath. "Something that I think will be more and more obvious to you as time goes on."
"I do not understand, but I respect your position."
This is strange, Armsmaster was way more approachable than I thought he would be, PHO has anecdotal evidence and quotes from many people who interacted with him that describe him as a "Human-Robot who only thinks about work". Apparently, conversation with the man is often stilted and awkward, and he is pretty anti-social.
I mean sure, his language was pretty formal throughout the conversation, but he was pretty cordial and respectful, minded himself, and acted very politely to both me and Weaver.
"Your defeat of Lung and his subsequent capture will paint a target on your back. Weaver has not been identified and did not play a role as obvious as you did, but by your testimonies, many ABB members were able to see you and escaped from this event. With your unmasked nature, they will definitely be able to identify you and attack you whenever you aren't prepared. So keep that in mind."
"I know, thank you. Is there any more information that may be relevant?"
"Yes." I didn't think he'd say that! "It is known that Lung intercepted a holding truck holding Bakuda, a mixed-race Bostonian Tinker who held Cornell hostage and was thwarted by the New York Protectorate. She may have been either forcibly recruited by the Gang or executed due to refusal, but the latter option is far less likely."
"Shit, does anyone knows her specialty?"
"We believe it is Bombs."
"Bombs?!"
"Yes, Bombs, or one-use items, but again, the second one is far less likely."
"Shit! And can Oni Lee's clones clone tinker tech?"
"That is a concern for us, yes."
"So the suicide teleporting bomber who uses his clones to detonate cloned grenades on his enemies has a Tinker that can make him Tinker Grenades?!" You take a deep breath. "Fuck!"
Armsmaster just stares at me.
I cough out of embarrassment. "Sorry about my misconduct, this was the worst time possible to capture Lung, with him gone, the E88 will smell blood, and they may or may not know the existence of Bakuda. So the ABB will have to raise hell either to damage the E88 enough for them to back off..."
"Or attempt to break out Lung." Armsmaster finishes for you.
I look up to the sky and take a deep, deep breath. "FUUUUUUCK!"
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[April 11th 2011 ; 02:07 PM]
It took a while for me to calm down, but I did. The PRT and BBPD came through rather quickly and were quite thankful for the triage that we did previously.
Both I and Armsmaster were stationed next to the holding truck, guarding Lung's unconscious body in case they tried something, and headed to the PHQ.
The Protectorate ENE Headquarters, simply referred to as the PHQ is a refitted oil rig that sits in the ocean beyond the coast of Brockton Bay.
The PHQ is a floating base of operations that serves as the base of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. It is outfitted with a forcefield bubble and a missile defense system. It is visible from pretty much any point on the Docks, including the Boardwalk. The forcefield made everything seen through it look oversaturated, like a TV with bad picture settings.
The structure was a marvel of architectural design with its arches and spires, lit by tinted spotlights and set on a beautiful platform with hard edges and sweeping lines.
It also has a forcefield bridge that is used to fro and to the Base over the ocean! How cool is that?!
The first thing we met after going there was another member of the Protectorate, one Miss Militia.
Dark-haired and olive-skinned, Miss Militia wears a scarf and sash around her waist patterned after the American flag, and stylized, fitted army fatigues that accentuate her curves. She is probably the second or third most famous member of the local Protectorate.
Her iconic green hard light construct hangs on her left side pocket, constantly shifting from different handheld mundane weapons.
[Picture of Miss Militia]
"Armsmaster, this must be the new Parahuman?" She greets.
Armsmaster nods. "Yes, Accelerator. I will lead him to the conference room to sign registration papers." He answers.
She turns toward you, her eyes crinkling as a sign of a smile. "Do not mind him, Accelerator, was it?" I nod. "Armsmaster really doesn't do conversation, so he can seem a bit cranky."
"Oh, no worries at all." I turn to Armsmaster.
He nods in response and gestures with his hands to follow.
"I will get the forms." Says Militia. "Which one were they?"
"Independent Hero and Rogue" Answers the blue-clad Hero.
"Ah."
I follow Armsmaster to a nondescript conference room, the windows are uncovered, showing Brockton Bay in all her glory.
"That's a nice view." You comment, to no response.
We sit in silence, after which Militia brings the forms and sits next to me. Armsmaster had already left, he is a busy man after all.
The amount of paperwork is humongous, this is definitely a plot by the PRT to force people to join the Protectorate!
At my dumbfounded look, Militia lets out a laugh. "Most of them are actually for the Rogue registration, there is a great amount of scrutiny towards capes who want to monetize their powers." She says.
I flip through the different forms for a while.
"I can actually discard about three-fifths of these forms."
She raises an eyebrow. "Why is that."
"Well, laws that regulate Parahuman's involvement in business -Especially the NEPEA-5 bill- do so by limiting the freedom given to those parahumans in a secret identity. So any business registered through a cape persona faces more backlash from the government, but I don't have a secret identity, so most of this doesn't apply to me."
"I didn't know that."
"Yeah, in addition to that, I'm not really selling my power?" I pause. "No, it would be more accurate to say that the involvement of my power is very indirect."
"So..."
"So my products are completely Mundane, different, but mundane."
I reshuffle the paperwork, leaving any unnecessary papers to the side, and begin to fill the rest.
"May I ask, what exactly are you selling?"
I chuckle. "That sounded like you were talking about drugs." Miss Militia awkwardly laughs back. "But I'd like to speak about that when I have everything prepared." I put wipe my forehead in contemplation. "You know what, is it possible to get a meeting with someone on top of the PRT soon? I'd like to peddle my wares if you know what I mean."
"I'd have to call for permission first, please wait here."
She leaves for a while so I just fill up the forms, in impeccable timing, Miss Militia enters just as I'm about to finish the last piece of paperwork.
"Aaaand, that's done." I look up to the Heroine. "So, what's the verdict?"
"The Director has some time after tomorrow if that is okay for you."
"Perfect! When and where?"
"The PRT base, at 5:15 AM."
I stand up, extending my hand for a handshake. "I'll be there."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[April 11th 2011 ; 10:34 PM]
After yesterday, they escorted me back to shore, and I went back home.
I had to take the bus back, which was kinda awkward due to the stares, but I managed. I really need to get some sort of vehicle to move throughout the city without using my powers, maybe some kick-ass red motorcycle?
I like red if you didn't notice.
So after I woke up and did a morning routine, I prepared for my meeting today. I had asked my corporate acquaintances and friends to look for a trustworthy firm, one that is above-ground and as transparent as possible.
So I went with the recommendation of Jackson, who actually spoke quite well about his own firm. They aren't actually based in Brockton Bay but they have a shit ton of funding and like to recruit locally.
I had a meeting arranged with the local Partner in half at 11 PM, so I approached their building 10 minutes before.
I had bought a cane with me, for some reason I'm too used to having an umbrella outdoors, but ever since I got my powers I didn't really need to do that, so I replaced it with a short cane.
The security guards gave me the side-eye as I went to the reception, the receptionist was a beautiful young woman who gave me a pleasant smile.
"Welcome to Kirk & Clark, how can we help you?"
"Ah, hello. I have an appointment for 11 o'clock. With Mr. Harrisson, I believe."
She fiddled with her keyboard. "Yes, Mr. Amel Hanover?" I nod. "Great. Mr. Harrisson is waiting for you on the 4th floor, it's the first office by the entrance, you can't miss it."
"Thank you."
On the 4th floor, I was met with a jovial-looking 50-ish-old man, he wore a non-descript suit and cheerfully extended a hand toward me.
"Mr. Hanover! It is nice to meet you, Jackson spoke well of your character!"
I finish his handshake. "Likewise, you can call me Amel though."
"Of course, Amel. Call me Henry" He mentions the door to his office with his hand. "Shall we?"
I silently follow him inside.
"Please, take a seat." He said, sighing in relief as he did the same. "Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea maybe?"
"Just water please."
"Water it is." He pressed the speaker on his phone. "Cory, can you bring me a coffee, and water for my friend here."
"Sure thing, boss." A voice echoed from the speaker.
"Alriiiight." He claps his hands. "So! I hear you have something you need my help with?"
"Well, I'd like to start a business, so I thought I might need some lawyering done."
He chuckles. "That is true." He scratches his chin. "So, not that I don't like the pleasantries, but what does this business entail exactly?"
"I think it's better to show rather than tell." I pull out a USB from my bag and slide it across the table. "Can you open this? There's footage I want you to check."
Henry hesitates but plugs in the USB and launches the video. His expression is skeptical at first but slowly morphs into chock.
"That- That's you?" He asks incredulously, pointing at the screen.
"Yeah yeah, please ignore the part where I'm bashing Lung's skull in." I interject. "What I want you to focus is on that Gun."
Mr. Harrison is still dumbfounded, but I feel his sight shifting nonetheless.
"That gun, is a creation of mine, see how it staggers Lung? If it weren't for his regeneration, he would have been knocked out, with THAT, size doesn't matter, you could be a 3-foot-long midget or a 15-foot giant, it wouldn't matter as long as you have a brain and a nervous system." I smirk. "Best part? I'm not a Tinker."
Henry's secretary chose an impeccable time to get in, his boss laid back on his chair, pale and shellshock, while I was serenely sitting there all serene and happy.
The poor man just stood at the entrance, all confused. "Is everything good, Boss?"
"Uh.. Yeah, yeah.." He takes off his glasses and wipes his brows. "Just, just, put everything on the table."
"Oh... Alright, boss." He hands me the water and puts the coffee in front of Henry.
I mouth a thank you, which he returns with a nod.
"Al-Alright, so what you're telling me is that you can make tinkertech, that everyone can understand?!"
"No, not really." I take a sip out of the water bottle. "It's not tinker tech, Tinkers just get schematics and instructions on how to make a machine that conforms to their specialization, I don't get that."
"You could say, however, that my power gave me a boost, so to say, in terms of instinctual understanding of physics. I'm sure any random guy who gets these powers will be able to use that to get a better sense of balance or be able to pull some Habinger-esque bullshit maneuver."
"But I was lucky because I had the necessary knowledge to put that instinctive understanding, into concrete, real, conscious knowledge that allows me to think up technology years ahead of its time." I point to the screen. "See the camera? That thing is attached to my drone. A drone that can easily go up to speeds of 90 mph, and has audio and optic scanners that can scan up to the surrounding 300 square meters for any criminal/suspect activity while never getting empty of power for an indefinite time, courtesy of my proprietary solar panel technology that is effectively 5 times better than any version out in the market. All that with just some scraps and repurposed electronic devices."
"All of that without any of the Blackboxed bullshit! No more handmade future technology, no more unending, constant maintenance requirements." I move my index finger, pointing it at my temple. "And I've got a whole lot more just sitting on my nogging, squatting, just waiting desperately to get the fuck out."
I stand up, uncaring for the screeching of the chair as it scrapes the floor, and offer my open hand to the man.
"I've got a meeting with Director Piggot of the PRT tomorrow, where I'm hoping to start an enterprise that will shake the world. How about you be my lawyer?"
[April 11th 2011 ; 09:36 AM]
It didn't take long for Harrison to go full tilt into preparing for the meeting, as a partner of his firm, he had the power to call in an army of associates and have them prepare a solid frame for both the company that I'm planning to sell my products through, but also all the financial details for a deal with the PRT.
We spoke a lot about what exactly we were planning to do, and I gave him my opinion on how I wanted the start this enterprise. I was pleasantly surprised by his agreement since money wasn't really the goal for me.
"I'm a full-fledged Brocktonite, Son. Do you know how many better job offers I refused elsewhere? Money was never the priority." He said.
I came back home and checked out PHO, and sure enough, I've had a message from Weaver.
Parahumans Online, abbreviated to PHO, is the "go-to" website about capes. The main website displays recent international news about parahumans, and it also includes a cape wiki, message boards with private message functionality, a chatroom, and other information on cape groups and events.
Its popularity stems from the fact that it is common knowledge that it was made by Dragon Tech, and so it is implied that it is a side project of Dragon's.
[A.N: The last remark is all fanon, although Wildbow did hint at the fact that it was the truth.]
[01:12 AM]►Book_Owl: Hi
[01:12 AM]►Book_Owl: this is wver
[01:20 AM]►Book_Owl: tattletale sent me a message
[01:20 AM]►Book_Owl: https://parahumans.net/threads/Bug.854277/
[01:20 AM]►Book_Owl: i found it here
I checked out the link, and soon enough there was a message.
Subject:
Bug
Owe you one. Would like to repay the favor. Meet?
Send a message,
Tt.
So it was true, she did save the Undersiders.
The Undersiders are thieves operating on a "get in, get out" mindset when pulling off their heists, using their abilities to guarantee success. They only fought to ensure their escape.
I couldn't find a lot about them in the wikis, especially Tattletale. What we do know is that they have four members, Grue, Hellhound, Regent, and Tattletale.
Grue's power is to generate clouds of smoke-like darkness that erase all light and mute sounds. It also interferes with microwaves, radio frequencies, radiation, and certain Breaker powers such as those possessed by Shadow Stalker and Velocity. He does not actually 'see' this darkness, he is aware of its location and when it is affected but it does not obscure his vision in the least. It's like Batman's dream power.
Hellhound can empower dogs into monstrous creatures, they are known to be able to push around Hookwolf, one of the Empire 88's heavy hitters, and control them.
Regent can make certain parts of another person's body spasm, comments say that it is deceptively powerful, and was responsible for many of their getaways.
Almost nothing is known about Tattletale, all we know is that she has some sort of Thinker power and that she claims to be 'psychic'. But everyone knows Telepathy is actually impossible, some powers can be poor imitations of it, or be able to reliably mimic it, which is probably the case here.
People also claim that she is a smug prick, who likes to ferret and publicize her enemy's secrets in the open.
From what I knew of Grue and Hellhound, they were both marginally successful B-list villains who had been barely scraping by. Now both were on a team that was pulling high-profile heists and confounding even the likes of Armsmaster. The two of them seemed totally different in methodology and style, and if I remember right, both Grue and Hellhound had lived in different cities prior to teaming up and setting roots in Brockton Bay.
This all screams Tattletale.
The fact that she is messaging Weaver and not me paints a clear picture. The Undersiders are recruiting, and they don't think they can recruit me.
They definitely know I was culpable in bringing Lung down, it's trending in the Brockton Bay PHO, but then here comes the question, why approach Weaver?
I pull up an empty piece of paper and a pen, putting my observations on paper so that I can comprehend them better.
In front of Weaver, I put in Teenager, Antisocial, and Heroic. She's obviously underage, and both her shyness and her comment about teenage drama suggest she's either antisocial or attention-starved, and she attacked Lung, the worst, most terrifying cape on the block because she heard he was going to kill children.
Then I put in Tattletale under the Undersiders, with a Thinker on the side.
Now it is possible that the Undersiders will offer recruitment to any teenage Parahuman they meet, which is possible. However, I can't exclude the fact that Tattletale may have been able to deduce something about Weaver that may have convinced the hero to join her.
If she did, then what is it? She calls herself psychic, which means she either can make deductions from contact with other people, or she has some sort of psychometry or precognition that feeds her information about other people, I think precognition may be more likely since she has a habit of speaking people's words as they happen.
I move back to the keyboard, sending a message back to Weaver.
[09:49 AM]►Accelerator(Unverified Cape): Alright
[09:49 AM]►Accelerator(Unverified Cape): This is probably a recruitment pitch
[09:49 AM]►Accelerator(Unverified Cape): You have two choices
[09:49 AM]►Accelerator(Unverified Cape): Either you tell her no or you meet her
[09:49 AM]►Accelerator(Unverified Cape): I'd recommend the former but you should probably chat with her for a bit, and try to figure out something.
[09:50 AM]►Accelerator(Unverified Cape): And DONT OUT YOURSELF nor ask her to do so herself
[09:50 AM]►Accelerator(Unverified Cape): Seriously, I may not have a secret identity but parahumans are very sensitive about it, not even the Protectorate messes with other people's civilian identity
I had made a new PHO account before my first patrol to represent myself on the site, the Unverified Hero tag is because people got my hero name from the PRT's public database and leaks from PRT employees, then realized that my account was literally made the same day.
I decided not to patrol today and video-called Harrison to hammer out some last details about tomorrow's meeting, we agreed not to meet again until before the agreed time, since he has to run around tomorrow and prepare some things that have nothing to do with me, so aside from some comments here and there, I'm not really needed from his side of things.
I was waiting for a reply from Weaver before I just said fuck it and started researching some more stuff about the general Parahuman landscape.
[A.N: Info dump coming up, skip if you already know this stuff.]
For all of the 120 capes of the Bay, there are two actual heroic factions, the most obvious one is the Protectorate. The Wards count too, but they are practically useless due to their limitations.
There are seven members in the current roster.
Armsmaster, the current leader and Tinker of the heroes is an old veteran who is infamous for always having countermeasures for local villains. His specialty is rumored to be Miniaturisation and efficiency, it is broad enough that he can make most things and is able to take inspiration from most Tinkers.
Miss Militia, most famous for being part of the original Ward team in New York, is also a veteran, literally. Her main power is a green energy attachment that can turn into projections of any mundane weapon, it can range from guns to bazookas to nuclear bombs. Her ability as a Noctis Cape -Parahumans who don't need sleep- and her eidetic memory make her an immensely skilled and competent member and is said to stay most of the time in standby at the PHQ.
Dauntless, a new addition to the team, is very famous due to most people believing him to be capable of possibly matching members of the Triumvirate in the future. His power is to get a "charge" per day that he can imbue items with, the more charges he puts in an item the more powerful it is.
Velocity is the local speedster, he has a Breaker state that allows him to slow down his own time, however, he isn't able to affect objects and people the same way in that state, and has to come out of it in order to do something significant.
Assault and Battery, heh, are a famous duo that is rumored to be married irl, Assault has kinetic energy manipulation, while Battery can stay still to charge her power into more speed, strength, or durability, the longer she stays still the better the boost.
Triumph is a recent Ward graduate and has a Brute rating along with a sonic roar, pretty simple but surprisingly effective.
The Wards, even though they don't matter, have six members. some have to be watched out for.
Aegis, the leader after Triumph's graduation, is a basic Alexandria package, as in flight, and a Brute rating that comes from his ability to make some of his body parts act like others and his healing factor. If his heart stops beating? Then his kidney will suddenly have the ability to pump blood. There was a case where he lost his sight and suddenly began to see from his skin.
Gallant, a Tinker who specializes in emotion manipulation, can make those laser blasts that have kinetic energy but are also capable of inducing emotions like "calmness" and "anger".
Kid Win is another Tinker, no one knows his specialization but he has Lazer pistols and a floating skateboard, pretty cool but nothing impressive.
Shadow Stalker was an anti-hero vigilante before getting recruited, it was not confirmed, but people believe that she was forcefully inducted into the wards as a probationary member. She uses a crossbow and can turn both herself and her arrows into intangible shadows.
Vista, however, is the one to look out for. She was rated Shaker 9, and while she is just 12 years old, she has the most experience as Ward as she triggered at 9. It is common knowledge that capes who trigger that early are often very powerful, and Vista perfectly fills that mold. She has the ability to warp space in her surroundings, shit like infinite corridors, and walking into a door only to come out another are common occurrences next to her. For all the PRT try to put her in cutesy bitsy costumes and child-friendly clothes, give her a taser and she'd destroy most capes in the city, if it wasn't for Labyrinth, then she'd probably be the strongest Shaker in East America.
The last hero group are New Wave, they originally started as a group of 6 capes known as the Brockton Bay Brigade, and are all unmasked capes with public civilian identities.
They were a big advocate of cape accountability, that secret identities are unfairly used by villains to be able to escape the law, and that it is not fair for normal people to have to live with that.
They were at the height of their popularity when they took out Marquis, who as an infamous "noble" gang leader who advocated and actively enforced "morals between criminals", as in basic rules of honor between criminals and leaving normal civilians out of harm's war. He was a ruthless motherfucker though, and both the fledgling Empire and the heroes were scared shitless out of him, he was truly the Lung of his day.
But when an E88 mook targeted Fleur, a member of the group, in her civilian identity and shot her in the head, their whole momentum stopped in its tracks. The culprit is said to be publicly executed by Kaiser due to breaking the Unwritten Rules, and that was that. Lighstar (Fleur's Boyfriend, and Brandish and Lady Photon's brother) left the city out of dejection, while Brandish and Lady Photon shacked up with the remaining members.
Now they are a family group, upon which the parents are kind of passively present while the children actually do Hero stuff, the children are:
Laserdream, Daughter of Lady Photon and Manpower, with flight, a personal forcefield, and 'hard light' blasts.
Shielder, Laserdream's brother, has powers similar to his sister but has very powerful shields in exchange for weaker blasts.
Glory Girl, the golden girl of the city, is the Daughter of Flashbang and Brandish. Has flight, invincibility, and enhanced strength, combined with an aura that makes her allies more inclined to like, respect, and look up to her, while making her terrifying and intimidating to her enemies.
Panacea, arguably the only thing that is holding this city together, the best healer in the world, and the adopted daughter of Flashbang and Brandish, has the ability to heal any and all injuries/illnesses that a person can have outside of their brain, cancer, tumors, HIV, a stopped heart, literally anything. She is the reason the heroes can fight with their all in the city, and come back the next day brand new, if not very exhausted. While the villains (who don't regenerate or don't have a healer) have to wait several days to months in order to do anything else.
Yeah, Panacea is neutral territory, you don't touch her, you don't approach her, and if someone tries something, you won't just have heroes on your ass, but every single person she saved the life of, including a huge amount of parahumans that participate in Endbringer battles, heroes and villains included, as she volunteers for every single one of them.
Rule #1 of Brockton, don't fuck with Panacea.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
[April 12th 2011 ; 05:10 AM]
Weaver never texted me back yesterday, so I thought that she didn't have easy access to an internet connection and stopped at that.
The next day I was accompanied by Harrison as we entered the PRT HG, while the Protectorate HQ(PHQ) was this shining beacon of heroism meant to inspire hope and safety for its observers, the PRT's was the typical, boring heavily fortified/guarded government building.
We were instantly greeted and recognized by the receptionist, who quickly stood up and directed us toward our meeting room.
The woman didn't talk much, aside from some comments here and there about their facilities, and we quickly found ourselves in a conference room.
As she left us in front of the entrance and left, Harrison whispered in my ear. "I will let you take the room, and I'll interject whenever I'm needed."
I nod and enter.
The thing that I quickly recognized was the familiar blue armor of Armsmaster, who sat at the side of an obese woman with steel-grey eyes and a bleached blonde bob-style haircut wearing a navy blue jacket and skirt. She had a simple laptop open at the table.
For all her unhealthy appearance, her face was stoic and indifferent, and she radiated a certain sense of unyielding authority that you couldn't ignore.
"Mr. Amel." She greeted in a clipped tone. "Please take a seat."
"Of course, Ma'am." I smile and gesture towards Harrison. "I hope you won't be opposed to the presence of my lawyer, I had to get some consultation about my business."
Harrison greeted the both of them from afar. "Hello, you can call me Henry."
I nod toward Armsmaster while taking a seat, which he gave one in return.
"Mr Amel." Said Piggot. "I heard you have something to propose to me."
I chuckle. "Straight to business, I see? Well, I don't mind it."
Henry pulls out several papers and a USB out of his suitcase and puts them on the table. "We are here to propose a product to the PRT as a whole, and not just the local branch." He began.
"The specific product is the stun gun that I showcased on my first appearance as a parahuman-"
The woman interrupts me with a tired sigh. "Mr Hamel, as you well know, selling Tinker tech is a tricky matter, not only would it require constant maintenance from you, but the nature of it in itself would limit mass production, the weapon is quite interesting I admit, but the cost of these two factors enough would outweigh any utility we can get from the weapon."
"It's not Tinkertech." I interrupt before she continues with her charade.
At this point, I think I got the gist of Piggot's personality, she's the overworked but capable boss type, who doesn't put up with what she considers "bullshit" and enjoys putting people who annoy her down.
I got to break her out of her mindset first.
"Ma'am, my weapon is completely self-replicable and can be understood by any competent scientist over a certain period of time, but can be easily built through mundane materials and methods, it is a simple and effective method of incapacitation that can work on 90% percent of Parahumans."
I almost smirk at her dumbfounded expression (which for her are just raised eyebrows and the slightest gaping mouth) and the sound of Armsmaster slowly leaning over the table.
"This may not be as good as Containment Foam at neutralizing Brutes and such, but it is much easier to hit someone with a laser than it is with slowly hardening foam." I pause. "Every PRT trooper in the world can easily be equipped with one of those, it is actually slightly costlier than their current standard issue pistols, but can be much cheaper long term as instead of ammo, it only uses constantly evolving batteries that can be charged with any random socket, no need to spend money on bullets."
I didn't give them time to pause and think, so pushed the USB in the table even further in. "The USB has the actual blueprints of the weapon, which I trust you'll safeguard. And if you analyze it you'll notice that the reason it works is not because of the power of the lasers, but rather their natures. Currently, the equipment needed to be able to generate a laser equivalent to one of Kid Win's shots would need to be the size of this room."
"But as long as the laser can gain access to a person's nervous system, they'll use the body's faculties against itself to knock them unconscious. The fight against Lung showcased that it can slow down biologically based regenerators, and with enough bolts, you could even stop their healing factor completely."
And then, Silence.
Harrison slowly chuckles at their immovable bodies. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
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