บท 122: eh
* April 11, 2008 *
A rain-slicked road. A late day of catching up on paperwork.
Annette Hebert reached out while waiting at a red light, flicking open a panel on her dashboard, and activated a couple of the toggles revealed there.
One caused her seat to warm up and helped banish the chill. The other switch caused all the windows to defog rapidly.
After a moment she reached out and touched another toggle. "Jarvis?"
"You rang, Madam?"
"Can you let Danny and Taylor know I'm going to be a bit late," said Annette as the light changed and she began edging forward. With the link established it was hand's free after all. "Traffic's pretty bad and-"
It was at that point that a large SUV driven entirely too fast for the road conditions blew through the intersection and was about to smash into the side of her car like an angry Brute. She just had a moment to realize what the screech and looming impact was about when...
(BLIP!)
Her car wasn't there anymore for an entire ten seconds. At which point the onboard system determined the danger had passed.
(BLIP!)
Then it was back in normal space and she could hear the crash of the same SUV smashing into other vehicles.
"She put it in anyway," realized Annette a moment later before she maneuvered her car to the side of the road.
"Yes, Ma'am," responded Jarvis. "I am monitoring the situation. A 911 call is underway and I am forwarding information to them."
"I'm fine, Jarvis, but I am remaining on scene for the police when they arrive." Annette Hebert looked at the twisted wreck of vehicles and had no trouble imagining what would have happened to her had her daughter's work not detected the danger and activated.
She decided that she would avoid scolding her daughter for putting that sort of thing in her car despite telling her not to some time back.
Not this time at least.
Two of the Astartes landed nearby almost as soon as she'd put her phone away, except the armor looked a bit different.
"Astartes?"
"Yes, Missus Hebert? Oh, the armor. It's new. Couple of upgrades introducing some new tech. Three, start directing traffic until the police can take over."
"Roger that," said Astartes Three.
The driver of the black SUV got out, started angrily stomping in her direction, visibly noticed the large power armor standing there regarding him, scowled and went back to his SUV.
* April 12 2008 *
Saturday. Not a school day. She had a different routine for non-school days.
0700: Get up. Make her shadow clones to go off and do their various daily tasks.
0705: Back to bed.
0706: Kick the shadow clones that were also trying to go back to bed out.
Her shadow clones were all doing the usual things that they did on a daily basis.
One and Two were building helicarrier parts that were a bit difficult for the shipyards to handle.
Three would tend potions in the Witch House, eventually joining Four in magical research.
Four and Five were on Upgrades when those were a concern. When there were no new developments, they would go on to work on individual projects - Four going through the magical library and researching this 'magic' stuff. Five would work on upgrading existing equipment with newer technologies. Like the Astartes - who were charged with protecting ForgeTech in general and her family in particular.
That was kind of important to her.
Six and Seven were on various databases, seeing what could be extracted and managed with their current resources and equipment. The Necron database was especially full of things that required things which required other things just to make the simple stuff.
Eight was working on clothing and accessories for Dragon Couture today. Sometimes inspiration would strike. Sometimes she filled the wastebasket with balled up paper from designs that just didn't match what she wanted.
0830: Bathroom, breakfast, then work on her own ninja techniques and the physical stuff, as only the original benefitted from purely physical exercise. She had the Tai Chi skills down at this point, and the Konohagakure taijutsu, but some additional work wouldn't hurt - and it would increase her chakra/aura levels and magical reserves at the same time.
1130: Lunch, discussion with her parents about what was going on and what she was doing it to. Or something like that.
1230: Survey of her resource world, checking in with the various gynoids, androids, robots, and artificial lifeforms.
1430: Further interrogation of the Simurgh, all the questions she'd written down over the past week. While doing that she had clones Four and Five standing by to further decipher the language the Simurgh and Endbringers used amongst themselves.
1630: Leaves Simurgh with a TV set to a channel with a one-way datastream sent into the otherwise-void of the prison. She isn't into torturing prisoners even with the Simurgh's record after all. Whether the Simurgh was cooperative or not and to what degree determines what channel it is set on. As it turns out, the Simurgh actually does like cat videos.
1635: Helps mother prepare dinner, except that it ends up mostly the other way around as her Artiste perk makes whatever she is cooking/helping with become that much better.
1745: Dinner with family, sometimes extended to include either the Barnes family, Lucy, or another friend she's made from school or work associate from either her mother or father.
1815: Go around near-comatose guests if any, cleanup from dinner.
1850: Check availability of materials from Resource System and have fun either building things herself or getting together with her friends to do something. Today she was building a Danger Room in one of the warehouses. Something from an old comic book, but the Marines had gotten excited about it so...
2155: Shower. Snack. Brush teeth. Bedtime.
* April 14, 2008 *
* PRT ENE Conference Room Theta *
"-and that takes care of most of the patrol routes, Triumph. Currently we don't have major problems with the Azn Bad Boys as they've been keeping a low profile, especially since the Simurgh was taken down. Likewise the Empire 88 have had a few clashes with the ABB and some other groups, but nothing compared to what they'd been doing just a few years ago."
"ForgeTech?" asked Triumph. As the son of the mayor, he knew something about the major players in the Bay and the impact they'd had.
"The economy picking up and the presence of the military base are certainly contributing factors," admitted Renick. "That said, the Empire and ABB both are criminal presences and engage in criminal activities."
"I understand," said Triumph.
"In the case of the Empire, it's dog-fighting rings, protection rackets, prostitution, drugs and weapon smuggling. For the ABB, it is protection, prostitution, drugs and weapon smuggling, gambling, and unlicensed street vendors."
"I thought human smuggling was something both gangs did," noted Triumph aloud.
"No proof, and when that rumor was going around ForgeTech did offer the statement that if it happened to any of their members or families - it would be military rules of engagement." Renick shrugged. "Both gangs stated that they had ceased such operations some time ago and such rumors were without basis."
"Ah," said Triumph.
"There are legal problems with the military actually doing that," continued Renick. "Though admittedly such laws have gotten a lot less enforced the past couple of decades due to parahuman villains doing parahuman villainry. The mercenaries hired by ForgeTech on the other hand, have been known to follow the 'two warnings and there won't be a third' sort of thing."
"The 'Astartes' right?" asked Triumph.
"There are also rumors of parahumans operating in the Docks but so far that's all we've gotten are rumors," added Deputy Director Renick. "Though considering what we've seen of Doctor Curlyhair's technology, I wouldn't be surprised if these sightings were some form of barely comprehensible science. Especially after seeing the dragon."
Triumph blinked a couple of times, opened his mouth to say something, stopped, closed his mouth, considered, opened it again, closed it again, and finally offered the simple interrogative. "'Dragon'?"
Renick seemed mildly amused by something as he toggled the screen that had shown the patrol routes. A little Asian girl in normal street clothing, looking over a game of mahjongg, except that she had a winged dragon sitting on one shoulder. In the looping video clip, the dragon appeared to be indicating what her next move should be.
"Hah?" asked Triumph.
"The dragon, as you can see, is about twice the length of a cat but half as bulky," said Renick. "Apparently it started out as an iguana. At this point, national policy is to accept that if Doctor Curlyhair decides something is possible - it is and we should just ignore it and get out of her way. Though we do occasionally send a 'we saw what you did there and could you please not do that again' message. Nobody wants to see a breeding population of dragons in the city even if it would curb the pigeon infestation."
"Right," said Triumph, still trying to deal with the idea of someone having a pet dragon much less one that apparently knew how to play mahjongg.
"On to the more important things," said Renick. "One of our current concerns is that the next Endbringer attack is overdue and all monitoring of the two remainders indicate they've stopped moving entirely. Nobody, at least at my level, knows what this means or why - other than the Simurgh getting put in a box."
"Tourism is way up," noted Triumph. "Anything special to keep in mind about that?"
* Tagg *
There were many problems crossing his desk, but this particular package was not one of them.
He unpacked it and set the packing aside as he held the little three-inch cube and did something he rarely did.
James T. Tagg held the heavy little glistening white cube in his hand and smiled.
He'd investigated and there was sufficient information available at his level that he could be certain that 'Doctor Curlyhair' was not a parahuman. A genius in this age of information where she could advance various sciences by a leap worthy of a Mover-3. If Leonardo Da Vinci or Isaac Newton had had access to the wealth of information available through computers, how much further would their own brilliance have taken them?
There was something comforting in that a straight-up human had come up with devices that put a typical Tinker to shame. It was further comforting to hold a chunk of the "Bin Chicken of Doom" and to know that the Endbringer had basically been pokeballed.
Not that he was really familiar with pokemon or such, though he could pick a pikachu out of a line up of other cartoon animals.
His division had a few new weapons to use, this also contributed to his (relatively) good mood. Having normal soldiers getting equipment that would help keep them alive was a very good thing in his book.
It had been difficult to get ahold of the little cube, but he felt that having that little curio was well worth the effort.
* Celestial Warehouse, Cathedral *
"I'm putting together a team. People with special abilities," said Taylor. "You see, I believe enemies are coming."
"Stop right there. I'm in."
"We're in. You know that, Tay."
Danny Hebert nodded at his daughter. "Which enemies?"
"Slaughterhouse, one group of Fallen, at least two CUI teams, one Gesellschaft team, and the Teeth." Doctor Curlyhair looked towards the display. "The Medusa Protocol ought to deal with the Butcher."
"Is the term descriptive?" asked Annette Hebert.
"Yes," said Taylor.
"We already have our own hardsuits," said Danny Hebert. "Though mine keeps having to be adjusted."
Emma activated her "mutant" power, surrounded by the scarlet energy field that emulated power armor. "Armor is in."
Lucy nodded. "Not sure my 'escape' power is going to be of use, but I'm in."
"Rowl rar," indicated Smaug, the winged iguana sounding as if he were agreeing.
"Those are the obvious enemies," said Doctor Curlyhair, "there is one more and a rather bigger problem."
The gathered individuals all looked at the display.
"You're sure?" asked Danny.
"Yes, eventually he is going to be a very big problem. I can't go into details and we can't tell anyone because of precogs and other Thinkers that could tip him off." Doctor Curlyhair shook her head slightly. "I have learned things interrogating and studying the Simurgh and finally cracking their communications through subspace."
There was the usual noise of the constellations turning, and a lock on, which caused Taylor to go blank as she thought through the ramifications of this new addition.
"What was that?" asked Lucy.
"Manifestation of a technological breakthrough accelerated by some highly classified device," explained Taylor, who trusted Lucy at this point but she was keeping some things secret to just make sure it didn't get back to enemies. Because, as indicated, there were precogs and other Thinkers out there.
"Ah," said Lucy. Classified was classified.
"So, do I get a power?" asked Anne Barnes.
"Your parents have signed off on it, they think you're responsible enough, so we'll see," said Taylor. So far it had all been easy enough and she'd made more X-Gene material. With the Chrysalis table it would be even faster. Which reminded her. "How's Zephron enjoying his power? Turning into a literal man-of-steel has to have some pluses."
"What about Scrapyard Sam? He got X-Gene treatment, right?" asked Lucy. "I met him the other day in the Yard. First dog I've ever said 'hi' to that said 'hello' back."
"The metadog? Yeah, very high intelligence for a dog, also developing some telepathic and telekinetic abilities," replied Taylor. "He's definitely a good boy."
"Magneto and Professor X aren't available, are they?" asked Annette, directing her question to Danny.
"Not regularly, they apparently have plans but I think if there's a final fight we can probably get them to drop things and join in," said Danny.
"Healers," said Anne abruptly. On seeing everyone looking at her, she swallowed nervously but continued. "It's the usual trio in games. You need a tank, someone who can take a beating, a damage-dealer, and a healer to keep everyone from dying."
"I don't expect anything like a video game," noted Taylor. "We also don't have to go with the X-Gene, it's just the easiest method of empowering someone. Cybernetics, ninja training, magical training, we have options."
"'Magic'?" asked Lucy.
Taylor waved it off. "Just utilizing quantum entanglement field interactions by unorthodox means."
[System Alert: Crunch period scheduled in 48 hours. Allow for downtime lasting no longer than one hour.]
"Anyway," said Taylor to cover that little message, "Anne? You wanted powers? I think I can get things started."
* April 15, 2008 *
"Okay, I found out what 'crunch' meant," said Taylor over the breakfast table.
"And that is?" prompted her mother.
"All those 'perks' are going to get combined, fused, simplified. Or at least a lot of them." Taylor took a few moments to chew on the mushroom omelet she'd plated. Needed ketchup, so she added that while speaking. "For example, all the medical knowledge perks get fused into one larger perk that includes the supporting knowledge. Equipment already has mostly been combined. And..."
The two parents looked to each other, familiar with how Taylor reacted to her Celestial Forge coming up with something and then actually providing it.
"Okay, wow," said Taylor, the twelve year old shaking her head. "Yesterday I got the ability to design 'bigger on the inside' stuff. Today I got more android and robot designs and a dedicated way to build them."
"Are these stronger than the 'Nier' series?" asked Annette.
"No, even more limited honestly," said Taylor. "I'll have to uprate them, later I guess. They're all paired with and use a specific weapon and some of them are fairly niche or not as good as the weapons I can make..."
"You thought of something," observed Danny, coming over and handing a cup of tea to his wife.
"Yeah, if I combine..." Taylor's eyes flicked around a few times as her mouth moved silently. "Yeah. That will work. If I combine T-Doll technology, Nier gynoids, and Necron tech? I can make not only make Sisters of Battle. I can make Sisters of Silence."
"That's good?" asked Danny.
"I read up on a lot of Warhammer 40K after I realized that not only were the Astartes fond of the setting, one of my knowledge bases is FROM that setting." Taylor made a face. "Too grimdark for my tastes, but some of the aesthetics are okay. Thing is, I think I can make something similar to the Sisters of Silence - who could negate multi-dimensional crap like demonic entities and such. So, maybe negating parahuman powers within a deployable field."
"The PRT would hate that," said Danny.
"The PRT would love that," said Annette.
Her parents looked at each other, raising eyebrows in an odd synchronicity.
"They would hate that because something that negates their own capes would be seen as a threat," said Danny.
"They would love having access to such effects themselves because it would make capturing and keeping criminals a great deal easier," pointed out Annette.
"I'm not looking to give out this technology," countered Taylor.
"Easy," said Annette, not breaking her gaze over at her husband. "Just make a 'Sister of Silence' available for their use as a Trump effect Nullifier."
"Would it affect your own abilities?" asked Danny, not breaking his own locked gaze.
"No. And before you two go further, would you mind taking it elsewhere?" asked Taylor, the twelve year old sounding quite put off.
"I do believe we should reconvene this discussion elsewhere," agreed Danny.
"Perhaps, in this single instance, we can agree," indicated Annette.
Taylor shook her head as the two left. She knew all the biology involved as she DID have extensive medical knowledge. That didn't mean she wanted to see her parents engage in that activity.
Though if she DID get a little sister, she was going to have to see about an AI nanny or something to take care of the child.
That could be a summer project.
But for now, there were updates to be made, projects to start, and technological bases to explore.
Also magic. Being able to fly and throw massive energy attacks would be good - though she'd make an exosuit so she didn't cause people to start with the whole 'parahuman' nonsense with her again.
It was just magic or technology, but government types could be SO insistent on their labels.
* Perks This Chapter *
38.11.1-Dimensional Addition or Subtraction (400CP)(Generic Builder)(Size):
While any Builder's claimed space may be stretched or limited according to the Builder's ability and preferences, you have an exceptional knack for expanding or shrinking the space inside of your claimed areas, chests that have several rooms inside of them, police boxes that are the size of a large house, a forest that has trails that are merely a block or two when they should be far longer or even turning that child's backyard into an entire magical forest with enough skill.
FREE: Scan: Builders have an amazing ability to scan technology, items and creatures with an eye for recreating them via blueprints you can create via this skill. You start off with the ability to scan basic structures, creatures and tools such as simple homes, stores, low class minions and basic crafting tools that don't give any bonuses. This ability grows with skill.
19.53.1-The Third 90Wisher (600CP)(Girl's Frontline)(Technology Knowledge):
Being an ex-90wish scientist isn't mandatory, but your technological expertise in the field of androids is on par with that of Persica and Lycoris, and in some ways is actually more advanced, as while they've been playing with their specific technologies, you've cooked up something of your own. Any T-Dolls you construct or at least participate in the design of can be upgraded with your personal brand of improvements, whatever they happen to be. With the time and resources, Jumper, you could easily develop truly sentient T-Dolls, or create models with military-grade toughness or firepower while maintaining their cutesy appearance and attitudes, or something cooler, like tank-girls!...Wait a minute.
FREE: Point the Barrel That Way: Everyone knows what a gun is, and after World War III, everyone knew which way to point them, just in case. You've mastered the basics of gun safety and can handle any firearm without risk of personal injury - not necessarily accurately, but at least you're not a danger to yourself anymore. Just everyone else.
FREE: Assembly Line: While in this world, you can spend resources (ammunition, rations, spare parts and man-hours) to make T-Dolls the normal way...OR you can do it the more fun way, by shoving said resources into a gacha app on your phone/computer/whatever tech you have and seeing what comes out the other side.
This gives you less direct control of what comes out, but it does allow you to churn out large amounts of T-Dolls, as this method is several times faster than the norm, and the T-Doll appears on your base as soon as its construction timer is complete (ranging from 15 minutes to a full day, depending on the relative rarity and power level of the T-Doll; see Wiki for examples/details).
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