Cooperation

Sleeping as early as I had would inevitable lead to an early morning and thanks to the enchantments on my bed I woke perfectly ready to start the day, at 3 am in the morning. What does a parahuman cape do at 3 am, tinker, at least if they were a tinker and had the resources for it. And resources I had in abundance and with the new powers I had gained yesterday it was time to build my own computer. First I took another look at the fabricator I had gotten days ago, it was in pristine condition and with a few tabs and some materials, courtesy of Amanda and her handymen, the small non-combat snakes, the fabricator got to work creating computer chips centuries ahead of anything produced on this planet before. Quantum computers might have been possible for some tinkers, but seven state processing chips were as alien as magic to even the most advanced tinkers, otherwise someone would have long since created a virtual reality. A single one of theses processors could store all data humanity had produced to this day and wouldn't even be filled by half. Now that I accessed the fabricator I knew how to build it myself, it wasn't that hard and with enchantments added into the mix I could build a new one at any time, it was fascinating how clear my understanding of technology had become. But I wouldn't spend my morning marveling at things I already understood and could replicate. I had stuff to do, speaking of things to do, I still hadn't finished my civilian bracelet, that would have to be prioritized right now.

Armanda had done a good job hiding all my stuff and finishing the bracelet was a matter of minutes, my new craftsman powers helped immensely with knowing how to hold something in the right position and how to carve in a smooth manner. I hadn't known just how many mistakes in my carving posture I had made previously, but now with the perfect knowledge and experience to do so, I could see a different world opening up before me. Because I was working the time was halved again and after finishing and putting on the bracelet I decided to ride the wave of success and build my own computer, safe and secure in the knowledge that nothing would get through my new shields and that they would react to any thread automatically.

I looked through the phones and laptops Amanda had stored from my first heist and realized almost immediately that I would have to scrap them all. They just weren't compatible with my newly fabricated processing chips. Luckily for me, the moment I touched the devices I could understand them perfectly, even so far that I knew how to upgrade them to fit my purpose. The only real problem was that I didn't have a way to fabricate plastic casings right now. Reprogramming and upgrading the fabricator to produce all the necessary parts was the easy part and went even faster than I estimated. Getting all the unnecessary part out of the casing of a dragon tech laptop was very finicky work, because I couldn't use the light to destroy or even remove them. Something like reducing the efficiency or removing vital parts of a working system was anathema to the light, so I had to do it by hand. Thankfully crafting was something I could do and my new knowledge helped removing everything without damaging the casing. Getting the newly manufactured parts into the casing was literally child's play with the help of light restoring and rebuilding something went so smooth, I think the light even helped a few times positioning parts in just the right way to increase efficiency.

That was how I found myself sitting on my bed at 6 am in the morning, marveling at the piece of technology I had created, not that it looked any different than a common dragon tech laptop and if anyone ever found it and started it without being recognized by the enchantment on the keyboard they would only find a blank dragon operating system. Only those with similar aura and control over light could use the hidden operating system, or at least they would be, said system didn't exist yet. Right now I was running a bastardised version of the dragon OS and trying to get it to actually use all available resources. Right now, the best OS in the world, as far as I knew, was barely able to access 0.0001% of the total operating power. I would have to create a completely different programming language to really take advantage of the operating power, but while I could now hack into most systems I wasn't quite knowledgeable enough to create my own. Improving and adapting the dragon OS only gave me so much, which was already better than anything else on the planet, besides maybe a few personal tinker projects from some of the best tinkers in the world.

It was frustrating to be limited, not by hardware and crafting knowledge, but by the lack of understanding for software and programming languages. At least I managed to cobble together an untraceable router from multiple cell phones and two more laptops, which was now giving me access to the wonders that were the internet. Admittedly, browsing had never been that fast before and I wondered just how much bandwidth I was stealing from the PRT buildings around me. In any case I managed to log into PHO with a new account in seconds, because it was work, and proceeded to finally get the information I had been lacking so desperately. Armsmaster, local hero and premier tinker had captured Lung and if rumors were true been demoted for using unsafe and untested tinker narcotics. I didn't think he was trying to produce drugs to enslave the Wards like that one guy Void Cowboy claimed, but now that I knew that the Empire was trying to take over ABB territory while Lung was incapacitated, the amount of emergencies and the palpable tension in the building made sense. The Empire had more capes than the Protectorate and even if the Wards where included they were heavily outgunned which meant any sortie could lead unpowered police officers into direct confrontations with E88 capes while the heroes where busy dealing with their own parahuman aggressors.

No wonder Mr. Rodriguez had brought his daughters into the safety of this apartment, I bet he wasn't the only one who didn't feel at that comfortable with the thought that the Empire was extending their reach in all areas across the city. Things had gone from bad to worse after Lungs capture.

The only question was, what was I going to do with that information. It didn't really seem necessary to increase the pressure on the PRT anymore, they desperately needed every parahuman right now and while I didn't want to see my sister fight the Empire, there was no denying that the PRT did a good job keeping the Wards alive. Maybe I should spend some time collecting more information and building up instead of increasing the pressure. But going out had been so much fun and now that I had started I didn't want to just sit back and let others do the work. This was a hard decision but in the end I decided to not make a decision at all, I had other options. This could be a test for my mysterious advisor Captain Jack Sparrow, interesting what PHO had to say about that character.

I wrote a note:

'To the worst captain I have ever heard of

I have a mouse problem under the lowest cupboard, might need your help to decide what to do with it.

Good video recommendation, try the Boston slither"

It was hilarious to say the least to see my silly slither spread into other cities that fast. Über and L33t had even posted a dancing instruction video with a few new moves for me to copy. It was kind of unfair just how good Über could dance and make even the most ridicilous move look good, but he couldn't do the sideways slither in the air. Glory Girl had done that. I wondered how all of them had found the time for it, but then I went back to the News about fights between E88 and the Protectorate/PRT and noticed that New Wave hadn't been active during any of those fights. Maybe mine and my sisters actions had left a bigger mark than I thought. In any case, this was a challenge and I would need to respond if I wanted to build on my image.

But first I had to go down and eat breakfast. Leaving Armanda and crew to do the cleanup and hiding of my stuff, I went to freshen up and leave for the cafeteria. I left my note tucked to the inside of my door. Captain Jack would find it there and I placed a single small snake in the perfect position to watch him, when he entered the door. Sharing my senses with the smaller snakes was disorienting and took a lot of effort, but with Amanda as a go between I could somehow manage it, as long as no one distracted me.

Luckily for me, the cafeteria was as empty as it could be, only a few kitchen workers where busy restocking and they didn't bother me in any way. I ate slowly and halfway through my meal I noticed someone enter my room. Sadly he was good, dressed in a complete uniform without nameplate, no special marking to recognize him with and his head hidden in the shadow of a police cap. The only thing I could say about him was that he was on the smaller side and male, everything else was hidden. He barely spent a few seconds to read the note and then left something behind, it looked like on of those old style walkie-talkies, but it had clearly been modified, protruding cables and all.

I didn't know how to feel, I hadn't learned anything new, but people looking into my interactions with him would have the same difficulties so that wasn't all bad. Him having left a way for me to contact him was good, but I didn't know why he hadn't already informed the PRT. It didn't make sense for a police officer to not strengthen the forces on the sides of good. There were things in play here I didn't understand and that could proof deadly. I needed that information and the only person I could think of was either the same person who posed the questions or Mr. Rodriguez, who should know if there were any issues between the Police and PRT, who I didn't know if I could trust. I couldn't ask the Youth Guard, questions of this nature wouldn't look good and lead to increased scrutiny. For the moment, I didn't have any other choice but trust in the worst pirate ever, he already knew too much anyway.

Having lost my appetite, I left behind the rest of my breakfast and went back to my rooms. Finding the modified radiophone where I knew the Captain had left it. There was already a message and it read:

'Nice try kid, but you can't expect a captain to be afraid of snakes, we hunt them to spice up rum. This is secure, text only.'

So he had noticed the watching snake, not that much of a surprise, he was a cop after all, it was their job to notice things. More interesting was what I could feel from the radiophone. The way it had been modified, the protocols for data transmission through radio waves weren't the work of an amateur. I could do better, totally different leagues better, but this was the work of a tech specialist and moderately secure, even better secured if no one knew about it. The end-to-end encryption was hardcoded and as long as no one got their hands on the phone are used some serious decryption software the messages would stay secret. This was a lot more than I expected, more than a common police officer could reasonably provide, if this whole operation went up in flames my mysterious captain would feel the heat as well. He might not have been sloppy, but this wasn't the work of an amateur.

it was time to ask my question so I wrote:

'Drunkard, I just couldn't help myself, at least I left your rum untouched. Will the goody-shoes lose their footing if I continue playing on the beach? Any recommendations for play-spots? I am for a line, not the MVPs. Recommendations? What's your stakes?'

I spent the time waiting for an answer reading the magazines I had acquired from the boardwalk. Surprisingly the most often mentioned cape wasn't a Hero or Villain at all, Parian was apparently a fashion and entertainment cape operating as advertisement on the boardwalk, she obviously hadn't been there when I hit, but I would have to be on the lockout for her in the future. Her main income came from different stores who hired her as well as city sponsored events which made her a kind of mascot of the city similar in how the PRT sometimes used the Ward to garner public approval. Cape tourism was an observable phenomena in Brockton Bay, which lead to the question if those people were crazy to come to a city with Lung, Hookwulf and Oni Lee, capes that had killed dozens if not hundreds. People were dying to gang and cape violence every day and the only reason Brockton's population didn't decline was the massive number of immigrants streaming into the US from Africa, Mexico and other places.

My radiophone dinged, the message read:

'I like your mindset, a true pirate, for recommendations I need to know more. Why villain? Why PRT? My stakes are my own, just know I will support as long as you stay clean. Beach is not a good place, to important for majority income, you got lucky.'

Of course, he knew almost everything about me and I had to tell him more, but god forbid I gained any more information about him. I could simply hack the thing, but I wasn't certain I could deal with finding out who it was, not knowing gave me an excuse for not doing anything drastic. I couldn't make him forget and I wasn't ready to murder someone in cold blood, didn't even know if he didn't have safeties in place in case I offed him. No, as long as he didn't interfere directly and allowed me to follow my plans unhindered I would leave it for the future. I wrote back:

'Need to grab attention and pull resources so they field Tornado, I am Nemesis, make sure safe by being possessive enemy. More freedom.'

As I wrote this I heard my new computer, which I had shut down and was inside Armanda, make a sound like the chime of a heavenly bell. Sending the message I was even more confused because I knew that it had been my laptop despite it being impossible for sound to pass trough Amanda and the laptop should have been in stasis inside her. How did I know? Because there wasn't an answer forthcoming I ordered Amanda to give me the laptop.

The screen was on, displaying a beautiful picture of an old medieval castle in such a perfectly restored state that I would have thought it to be newly build if I hadn't been able to feel the weight of the years on it, even through the picture. Below the picture was an ownership dead, apparently my power had given me a castle, fully furnished with state of the art technology and a lab years ahead of anything produced by normal means. The list of equipment was extensive and frankly ridicilous, both because some of the stuff couldn't have existed without basic principles that hadn't been discovered and because even dragon could have never afforded such a lab. A gene-sequencer and a bio-tank where just some of the things I had never heard of but instinctively understood to be state of the art technology years in the future.

One look out of the window stunned me a second time, there was my castle, just like the pictures had shown. It towered over the bay like it had been build to defend against maritime attacks and serve as a last bastion for the people of Brockton Bay. A quick check on the network showed that, yes the Nightcastle had existed for centuries and had recently been bought and renovated by a mysterious investor. My new power had just casually changed the entire history of this city and with it the memories and experiences of everyone who had ever been to Brockton Bay, if I hadn't already known from the light, that my power was overpowered and completely different from ordinary parahuman powers I would have all the proof I needed now. I guess I would have to make some time to check out my new castle and hope I could get in without a key, because there weren't any hints in how to access it in the ownership document. The same documents which had been sealed and authenticated by the local government and the state governor. This was mindboggling.

The radiophone dinged. The message read:

'That could actually work, I am impressed. Recommend playing nuisance at public appearances, aim for reputation. I can get you data if you look into something for me. Best locations are headquarters, piggy bank, public venues and governmental offices. Even the smallest messes get blown up there. Increase your appearances, decrease actual villainy and claim resistance against policies as motive. Ttyl boomer'

Who the fuck was that asshole calling boomer, I am 12, as expected of a drunkard. The rest was good, attacking the public perception would force a response and without more crimes to pin they would have to go easy. I didn't particularly want to appear at public venues, to many innocent children, even neutral capes could attract the attention of more aggressive capes and I wouldn't be able to control collateral damage. Public offices was way better. But I was intrigued by the offer of more data for a favor, couldn't hurt to check. I wrote:

'Tell me more about favour?'

Not even a few seconds later I got an answer that read:

'Smt strange at schools, particularly Winslow, disappearances at Medhall, mostly interns, locations of drug plantations, Faultline new member and girl farms outside city limit. Equal exchange, bring proof.'

There was no need to think about it. I knew what girl farm meant and the moment I read it a picture of my sisters state after her trigger flashed trough my head. I could have killed in that moment, I would have if those bastards had still lived. My reply was a simple:

'It will be done!'

It was time for Desu to wake once more.