19

Chapter 19: Ripple 2-10

Beta'd by BigCC

"Damn you Sophia!" - Speech

'Why, Emma?' - Thought

Ripple 2.10

+++Coil+++

Minutes before...

Timelines A & B

Coil leaned back in his chair; eyes locked on the screen in front of his as it displayed the various from the helmet cams Strike Team Bravo all wore, listening attentively to his ear piece tuned to their comm channel. The frequency for both the camera feeds and the comm system were heavily encrypted using a program purchased from Toybox and were set to a discrete frequency. All basic, sensible precautions when one was partaking in illegal activity in a location where Dragon often stuck her metaphorical electronic nose.

He doubted it would be enough to stop her from hacking the feed if she became aware of it, but it would at least buy him time to sever the feed before it could be traced back to him. Combined with the fact that Dragon never acted without a warrant or similar legal authorization, of which either his spies or his other position would hopefully make him well aware of beforehand, and he considered his communication network reasonably secure.

In Timeline A, he'd already sent his men into the house with orders to basically tear the place apart until they found his soon-to-be pet.

In Timeline B, he'd kept his mercenaries back for the time being, keeping the timeline 'safe' for now.

It took his men roughly five minutes to finally locate the girl, who'd hidden in a small upstairs closet. An utterly clichéd location, but not entirely unexpected considering they were dealing with a scared preteen. Sadly, the ruckus his men's searching had caused seemed to have alerted the housekeeper, who'd been gossiping with a neighbor over the backyard fence. The fool woman had immediately rushed in and quickly been dispatched by his men, but he'd already received an alert that the neighbor had called 911.

An unnecessary complication, but one quickly rectified. With a thought, Coil ended Timeline A before immediately splitting the remaining timeline again and began issuing orders.

Timeline B: "Bravo Team, action is a go. Enter the building as quickly and quietly as possible using Plan Tango-Omega. Target should be hiding in the second floor linen closet, third door on the right from the stairs. Do not damage the merchandise. Repeat, no damage is to be caused to the package."

Timeline C: "Bravo Team, continue on standby. Still awaiting confirmation on package location."

The man behind Coil's mask sat back and smirked so smugly that his other 'pet' would be put to shame. This was why he'd traded in so much money and promised favors in exchange for a Precog-Thinker Vial from Cauldron. There was simply nothing that rivaled the sense of power he got from always being able to win, no matter how many tries he had to attempt. Constant successes no matter what he tried. No consequences for any errors. Such sweet, sweet nectar.

Alexandria types? Bah, nothing but barbarians banging their chest at the world.

Blasters? Hah, anything they could accomplish could be gained just as easily with a well-trained sniper or a suitably placed bomb.

No, he had obtained the truest form of power, the ability to guarantee a perfectly planned operation without any risk of outside circumstance or unknown variables interfering. The power to plan a strike so perfectly that his foes would be helpless to even slow him down…and utterly unaware of any failed attempts or victories they manage to obtain.

With his power, he was the only one who ever won. There was nothing sweeter than that.

It took his mercenaries less than two minutes to retrieve his pet this time, and without even alerting the housekeeper. Already tasting his victory as his men emerged carrying the bound form of his new Pet, Coil immediately and gleefully ended the split as soon as they entered the van and sped off, discarding Timeline C this time and immediately splitting Timeline B again.

Timeline B: "Change from Bait and Switch Plan Tango-Omega to Plan Oscar-Whiskey-Lima. Use Route 9-Baker."

Timeline D: "Continue on Route 7-Alpha as planned."

All of the prepared evac routes had their own advantages and disadvantages, but each of them were designed to pass through the smallest amount of gang territory as possible via circuitous routes. Route 7-Alpha, for instance, was a fairly calm and meandering route at a sedate pace going through most of Brockton Bay before switching plates and returning to base. 9-Baker used a faster spiraling-out route before returning to base. They also took different directions after leaving the Alcott family's neighborhood.

After several minutes and no visual signs of pursuit in either Timeline, Coil was beginning to believe it was all over bar the kicking. So far everything had gone just as he'd planned, as per usual. The only hiccup was that his Undersiders had managed to escape the bank robbery unscathed. He'd hoped to draw them deeper into his debt by arranging either a release or escape from custody once they'd been caught, but they'd managed to escape the encirclement by simple expedient of using the bank's back entrance, which had been left largely unguarded save for two police cruisers.

Quite WHY the Wards, PRT, or police hadn't thought to more evenly distribute their forces in their encirclement was beyond his understanding. The Wards could possibly be excused due to their youth and lack of any experience in dealing with hostage situations, while the BBPD likely hadn't had any say in entire affair after the PRT arrived. The PRT, on the hand, were very much culpable for this embarrassment; standard protocol alone should have had all entrances covered or sealed to prevent the Capes from escaping any way other than through the massed PRT troopers and Wards.

'Someone was clearly being lazy while the Protectorate and senior staff were out.' the supervillain thought with a scowl. 'Once Thomas Calvert returns to work tomorrow and gets ahold of the after-action report, whoever was in charge of the PRT quick-response force for the day is going to suffer for their incompetence.'

Yes, it would be primarily because that incompetence had resulted in one of his secondary goals for the day's operations falling through, but even in Brockton Bay there needed to be at least the appearance of competency from the PRT, even if it was simply to ensure that his own plans went smoothly.

Suddenly his comm link was lit up with exclamations of shock across both timelines, forcing Coil up and at attention, his previous thoughts discarded as his main objective came under fire.

"Shit! This is Bravo Actual to Command!" the seasoned merc who he'd assigned to lead Bravo Team cursed aloud across both timelines near simultaneously. He continued a moment later sub-vocally. "We are being pursued! Enemy is a fly-boy, using some form of water-based weaponry!"

'Water? Damnit, something must have caused Riptide to go on day patrol!' the Thinker quickly deduced the cause of this interference. 'It seems that my Tattletale wasn't simply making excuses this time. I shall have to devote a few more resources to ensure that she can actually make a proper evaluation of my future Tinker post-haste.'

That train of thought lasted for only a fraction of a second before Coil refocused on the problem before him. Riptide must have witnessed the kidnapping of Dinah Alcott and was now in pursuit of his men in both timelines in an attempt to save her. Obviously, this would not be allowed to pass. His Pet was a vital part of his future plans, and he wasn't going to allow some greenhorn 'hero' to interfere.

He quickly barked out his orders across both timelines.

Timeline B: "Arms free! Unlock the gun ports and open fire! If standard arms are ineffective, you are free to use the special attachments!"

Timeline D: "Evasive Maneuvering, full focus! Do not let that Cape near the package!"

Both instances of his mercenary team quickly moved to obey; he'd selected Bravo Team for their obedience and ability to follow orders. All the better to ensure the safe retrieval of his new pet.

In Timeline B the concealed ports along the sides and back of his modified transport van were quickly unlocked and opened, allowing his men to open fire at the origin of the surges of water that seemed to be attempting to rip the tires off the bottom of their transport. This also allowed Coil, via the still-operating helmet cams of his men, to get his first good look at the Tinker who'd been a secondary target of his for over a month now.

Their head, chest, forearms and lower legs were all covered in white armor, with dark blue fabric (that looked suspiciously like Kevlar) covering the rest of their body. A pair of large, glowing blue draconic wings extended from a device attached to their back, keeping them aloft, while a pair of glaring orange eyes stared down at the transport van carrying his Pet.

The entire image might have been somewhat intimidating for most people, especially with the large surges of water the Cape kept launching intermittently, but Coil had survived Ellisburg. Compared to the ravening horde of biological freaks that Nilbog had unleashed, this was nothing more than an annoyance.

In Timeline D, he grimaced in annoyance as the full-on flight his mercenaries were attempting proved both impractical and fruitless. The Tinker's flying device was not only faster than any speed the van could achieve on the cramped city streets, but the maneuverability offered by flight meant that any attempt to outmaneuver the Cape using traffic or obstacles were utterly pointless.

In Timeline B, the constant gunfire, which quickly switched to laser-fire after the first few moments of pointless shooting, seemed to have done nothing more than annoy the Tinker, which caused the situation to go from bad to worse. The Tinker raised a single hand, their gauntlet lighting up as a truly massive surge of water emerged from within their gauntlet and reshaped itself into a massive clawed hand that quickly shot forward and ripped the reinforced rear doors off the van like they were made of cardboard, much to the frustration and fear of the gathered mercenaries, who quickly redoubled their fire in an attempt to push the pursuing cape back.

''Hydrokinetic Emulation' technology indeed. That level of control and power seems far beyond any Hydrokinetic I've ever seen barring Leviathan himself.' Coil pondered, his thoughts turning covetous as he thought of what he could accomplish with a select team of mercenaries equipped with that kind of tech, each effectively turned into a Tinker 0 like the Dragonslayers.

Pushing those thoughts away for the moment, he refocused on the current objective. Once he had his new pet appropriately collared and chained, he could turn his focus on acquiring Riptide.

"Fuck!" he heard one of his mercenaries swear through his earpiece in Timeline D. "We can't shake this damn bastard!"

"Bravo-3, shut your hole and start shooting!" Bravo-Actual barked out. "Command, Evasive Maneuvering has failed! Switching to active defense! All men, open fire in five round bursts on my mark! Fire!"

Coil looked between the two timelines, a frown forming on his lips. This was…an unexpected development. Normally, he was careful enough to keep at least one of his timelines 'safe' in order to retry or cancel an operation if anything unexpected occurred. Unfortunately, his…excitement at finally obtaining his Pet had caused him to make a critical mistake and now both timelines were under threat.

He still couldn't understand how it had happened; he'd had Creep on overwatch to monitor the skies nearby while the abduction occurred just in case Glory Girl accidentally flew by at the worst possible time. A cape sporting giant, luminescent wings should have been a clear issue and reported in.

He was going to have words with the fool after this was over. If the man had let his…proclivities distract him, then the man would be terminated in as slow and painful a manner as Coil could achieve.

Suddenly, disaster seemed to strike both timelines simultaneously.

In Timeline B, Riptide had finally succeeded in destroying on of the transport's reinforced tires with some form of water blade whip, causing the van to swerve violently off to one side and slam head-on into the wall of a building.

In Timeline D, Riptide also managed to destroy one of the wheels, but this time it caused the speeding van to crash into a car on the opposite side of the road, the resulting crash sending the van flipping over onto its side.

In Timeline B, Riptide didn't even hesitate to land and start stalking toward the van, whips of water extending out from both of their gauntlets. Both lashed out with eye-searing speed to snatch and pull the rifles free from the mercenaries' hands as they tried to recover and bring them to bear. Moments later the whips lashed out again and began to pummel the still-shocked men with a clinical, almost inspiringly precise, manner that spoke of immense control paired with a deep, powerful fury.

Apparently, a child being kidnapped was something of a sore point for Riptide, for whatever reason. Coil absently made a mental note of that, it might prove useful in preparing an eventual strategy to capture the Tinker.

In Timeline D, things had degraded to an even less optimal position. Riptide had delayed a few seconds before descending for some reason (likely checking the occupants of the other vehicle), allowing the mercenaries to regain their feet. Unfortunately, one of them had decided that it would be a wonderful idea to grab Dinah Alcott and hold her hostage. The idiot was currently holding a pistol to the preteen's bagged head.

"Back the fuck off right now or I'll shoot the brat! I'll fucking do it!" the mercenary, Coil absently identified him as Bravo-3 via his helmet cam, shouted hysterically.

"Pull that trigger and it'll be the last mistake you ever make." Riptide stated ominously, their voice obviously altered by some form of voice changer. "Drop your weapon and step away from the kid, and you'll go to jail mostly whole and unharmed."

"This is Command to Bravo-3. Damage the package in any way and if the Cape doesn't kill you, I fucking will!" Timeline D Coil spat through the radio.

"Fuck you! FUCK YOU ALL!" the man screamed in a panic before actually pulling the damn trigger. Coil was forced to watch in frustrated outrage as the worthless imbecile put a bullet right through his Pet's head.

Watching Riptide extend a multitude of bladed strands of water from both gauntlets and quickly reduce the cunt into bloody chunks was only slightly mollifying.

Growling in frustration, Coil dropped Timeline D. It was utterly untenable now, nothing more could be acquired. As long as Dinah Alcott lived, he would be able to make another attempt to acquire his Pet. Dead, she was utterly worthless to him.

"Very well, Riptide." he murmured softly. "You may have her…for now. This is only a minor delay at worst. Soon enough both of you will be mine!"

Now he had best start trying to salvage what he could. He needed to get his men either released or liberated from wherever they were eventually put after they were arrested. He also needed to…question Creep about his failure to notice Riptide in time.

He also made a note to have a playroom set up. Bravo-3 had just unwittingly volunteered to be his personal stress-relief for the next couple weeks as he dealt with the frustrations, headaches, and annoyances today had caused. Once he'd grown bored with the man's screams, he'd simply have him disposed of permanently.

+++Riptide+++

Same Time

Streets of Brockton Bay

I looked down in slight shock at the small girl who had just passed out in my arms. Had she just told me that she was a Thinker? Had she just...really?

If there was one thing Dodge had made clear to me, it was that as a lone Parahuman, your secret identity was your most valuable commodity and you needed to protect it with everything you had. You never, ever, shared that information with anyone you didn't trust implicitly and even then, you didn't do that unless you felt you had to.

It was one of the bigger reasons a number of Capes preferred to stay independent or at least only affiliated with the Protectorate, since any Cape who joined had to reveal their identity to several members of the local PRT's upper branch, and it was almost inevitable that other PRT members would eventually find out or piece it together through osmosis if nothing else.

I could easily see the concern. Even before I got my powers, everyone knew that the gangs had to have close to a dozen moles spread out in the PRT, and that was just the locals. Who knew how deep the national gangs, like the Elite, had their fingers in the PRT?

And this girl, whoever she was, had just pretty much outed herself to me in a plea of desperation. She knew, somehow, that she wasn't safe at home; she knew that something like this could, no would, happen again. Of course, the girl obviously didn't feel safe at home anymore if she'd just been snatched from there. I'd personally seen the bastards I'd just trapped under a ton of Containment Goo around me drag her out of her home. She was just lucky I'd been doing an invisible roving patrol today or there was a chance no one would have ever realized what happened.

Shaking myself out of my shocked daze, I quickly set to work. With a quick motion, I extended another whip out of my Aqua Blaster and grabbed a couple of the rifles that they'd been using to fire lasers at me. Bringing them closer, I quickly noticed the obvious Tinkertech attachments attached to the underside of the barrel. Attaching them to my back via a quick manipulation of hydrokinesis and a small application of Goo, I gently adjusted the girl in my arms and took off. The cloaking system came on immediately and enshrouded the both of us as I turned us towards the Nevermore.

"Amphitrite, I'm heading back, one rescued girl in tow." I said softly over the radio. "Have Salacia stop what she's doing and clear a workbench for me to use; I have a couple of pieces of Tinkertech to examine."

"Acknowledged, Mistress Riptide." my VI replied. "Should I have a cell prepped for your...guest?"

"No!" I snapped back, before quickly reining myself in. Neither of my VI knew what the kid had just gone through. "I'll put her in the apartment I've been preparing for myself. The poor girl's already blacked out from what looks like some kind of severe migraine…I think it might be one of those Thinker Headaches I read about on PHO. Do painkillers actually help with those?"

"I'm afraid that research indicates that most over-the-counter medicines do not have any notable effects, Mistress." Amphitrite offered. "Nor do normal prescription painkillers. It seems that it takes something to a Class-A narcotic or opiate to have any real effect, but most of those are highly addictive and can have long-term negative side-effects on the human body if used regularly. I would recommend against any such treatment."

"Definitely not!" I agreed fervently with a shake of my head. I would sooner die than even touch that kind of Merchant-grade filth, let alone administer to a girl even younger than me. "Well, we'll do what we can to help her out. Once she's recovered a bit then maybe she can tell me what the hell is going on in my city that has someone trying to kidnap a minor in broad daylight."

+++Dinah Alcott+++

Later

Dinah severely regretted everything as she started to regain consciousness, causing her head to immediately start pulsing in pure agony. She had experimented with her powers a bit, but she'd only ever pushed them as far she had before she'd collapsed twice in the past. Both times had been shortly after she'd gotten her powers, before she'd learned to associate her headaches with overusing them and understood the limitation of her abilities. Still, the experiences were enough to let her know that the next day or so was going to be very unpleasant.

"You awake now, kid?" a familiar voice asked, and Dinah opened eyes immediately shot open on reflex to see who had spoken. She'd half expected to be blinded and in pain from the light, but surprisingly she wasn't. The lighting in the room she was in was dim and soft, causing a negligible amount of pain...well, negligible compared to the throbbing pain her Thinker Headache was already causing anyway.

She was lying on a rather plush bed, with the sheets pulled up and tucked in, rather embarrassingly. The room was a silvery color, and was almost completely empty aside from the bed. Her savior was leaning against a wall, now missing the backpack and most of her armor, instead simply dressed in a loose full bodysuit of dark blue material.

"Y-Yeah...I'm awake." Dinah answered in a whisper. "Wh-where...?"

"My base." the armored figure replied. "You said not to take you home, so I wasn't left with much in the way of options. Thinker Headache aside, are you alright?"

Sitting up (and grateful she was still wearing her clothes), Dinah quickly ran her hands over her body, twitching and moving everything she could to be sure, before nodding hesitantly.

"Good, glad to see you weren't hurt in that ruckus. Now, if you don't know who I am already, I'm called Riptide and I recently started working in the Bay as an Independent Hero." the Cape introduced themselves. "I have to say that stumbling across your kidnapping today was very...unexpected. If it isn't too much to ask, can I get an idea of what happened, and exactly why were you kidnapped?"

"I...I Triggered a bit less than half a year ago..." Dinah said slowly. "My...my power is a Thinker type...I can predict things. Anything that can be calculated by percentages, I can predict."

"A Precog..." Riptide whispered. "And you're so young...damn, you must be powerful. No wonder someone came after you."

"Wh-what do you mean? What does my age have to do with my powers?" the girl asked in slight confusion.

"It's a popular theory in Parahuman Studies that the younger a person is when they Trigger, the stronger their Parahuman abilities tend to become." the Thinker answered slowly. "The local Protectorate Wards has one of the best-known examples; Vista is about your age, if not a bit older, and she's had her powers for a couple of years now. She's also considered the strongest Shaker on the East Coast, with the only one who can rival her being Labyrinth, another young Trigger. While you're likely not the youngest person to have triggered, the fact that you're not even a teenager yet means your power is likely going to be…strong. Extremely strong."

That…kind of put things in perspective for Dinah.

"What I don't understand is how brazen the people who tried this were acting. It was still broad daylight out their for fu…fudge's sake." Riptide mused, quickly censoring herself. Dinah resisted the urge to snort, she was twelve, not five. "That kind of stupid boldness, it makes no sense. None of the big players in the Bay would do something that crazy. There wasn't even any way to guarantee you'd ever work with your kidnappers to make it worth the risk."

"I…I likely wouldn't have had a choice." Dinah put in softly, sounding somewhat bitter. "I can't really control it. If someone asks me a question that my power can answer, it just sort of activates. No matter what I do, I can't stop it."

"That's…that's…." Riptide seemed lost for a moment. "How many people have seen you use your powers?"

"Everyone in my class at school, but I think that everyone just thought I was being snarky." the preteen offered with a pout. "My parents as well."

"But someone who knew what they were looking for could have identified an actual Parahuman power at work." the Thinker offered heavily, one hand automatically going for their head only to stop at their mask. "Ugh…right. So, at the moment I don't even know your real name, and while I think the Unwritten Rules don't even come close to covering this kind of situation, I'm going to respect them as far as not asking for your real name just yet. If you trust me enough to give it to me on your own later, that's your choice. For the moment, you need a codename I can call you. Given your powers…how does 'Augury' sound?"

"What's it mean?" Dinah asked curiously. She'd never thought of having a cape name before.

"An augury is an old-fashioned way of telling the future used way back in the times of Ancient Greece and the like." Riptide explained. "The priests of the gods used to cast auguries when asked by petitioners. Your power is very much like this in vein. How often is it wrong though?"

"Never." the young Thinker shook her head. "As long as I've had it, my power has never been wrong about something."

"...wow...OK, that lends credence to my theory about how powerful you are, kid." the Tinker shook their head. "I'll look up the PRT's Power Testing Protocol for Thinkers so we can see exactly how strong you are later, but I'm going to be busy for the next few hours taking apart some Tinkertech doodads that the scumbags who grabbed you had on them to see if I can identify their maker. If you think you can stomach some food, just ask for some aloud and it'll be delivered to you. Just...ask before you go wandering off. I'm still working on finishing this place and there's no telling what you could accidentally walk into if you go out on your own."

"OK." Dinah nodded obediently before looking Riptide in the eyes (eyeholes?). 'Chance I can trust this person to stop me from being kidnapped again?'

~99.00099867658%~

Even with the renewed throbbing in her head that asking that question had caused, she thought it was worth it to have the answer.

"My name is Dinah Alcott." she said firmly, not looking away from the glowing eyes of her savior. "I'm the mayor's niece. Thank you so much for saving me."

The Tinker looked at her for a moment before walking over and gently patting her on the head in a friendly way.

"No problem, Dinah." Riptide said with a nod. "It's a part of the job. Now, I'd better be off. If we want to find out who tried this and see them busted, then I've got work to do."

As the Tinker left the room, Dinah snuggled back into the bed and almost instantly fell asleep again, her exhaustion at the day's events overcoming her.

+++Riptide/Taylor Hebert+++

Later

Lab, SS Nevermore

Frowning, I examined the two attachments on the bench before me, one of which I'd opened up, exposing its inner workings. They had been explicitly designed to be clipped onto the part of a battle rifle where flashlights were usually attached, which made sense; no recoil meant there was no chance of them getting ripped off when fired.

Compared to some of the Tinkertech I'd made myself or simply seen while working with Toybox, this stuff seemed pretty…basic. Not quite slapdash but it was obviously designed to allow the Tinker to assemble it quickly. Likely the closest thing to mass produced Tinkertech as you'd find outside of Dragon's work. Something that the Tinker who built it could quickly slap-together with the least amount of time and effort involved.

"Mistress, the local news sites are beginning to announce the kidnapping of Dinah Alcott." Amphitrite informed me.

"Huh, that was quick. Then again, she is the mayor's niece." I mused aloud. "Are they trying to pin the blame on me, or is it being attributed to someone else?"

The part of me that was still bitter about everything was already grousing about how this just showed how unfair the system was. Dozens of people (women mostly) vanished in Brockton Bay every year, only to turn up turning up tricks in some brothel, and no one ever did more than a perfunctory investigation. But someone related to an 'important' bigwig goes missing and suddenly it's a 'crisis' and everyone and their mother is called in to help.

No offense to Dinah, kid didn't have any more control of the system than I did. Still, my grudge against authority still got the better of me sometimes.

"No mention is made of persons responsible, Mistress." my VI replied helpfully. "A statement from the police declines to make any comment on an ongoing investigation, and there is literally nothing from the PRT."

"That's odd." I frowned. I'd left the kidnapping bastards secured up to their eyeballs in my Goo when I'd left the van with Dinah. I knew that the PRT, and probably most of the Bay by this point, at least knew that Riptide existed as well, so why weren't they immediately associating me attacking a van full of heavily armed men in combat armor with a high-profile kidnapping on the same day was a bit puzzling.

From what Dodge had passed on about the local Protectorate and PRT presence, the ENE Director loathed Parahumans, so he/she (I couldn't remember which) should have leapt at the chance to lay the blame for such a high-profile kidnapping at my feet. Then again, Dodge had also said that, in spite of their prejudice, the local director was as professional as they came, so it was possible that, combined with the short time since the kidnapping (around four hours ago), whoever they were was taking the time to conduct a proper investigation.

"Mistress, I have finished running a scan of the device you brought in through my database." Amphitrite stated. "They are produced by Pyrotechnical of Toybox. They are a regular creation of his, a 'discount laser rifle attachment' that is sold in bulk at a regular price. They are noted to be less expensive than a full laser rifle, but extremely short-lived, only have a set number of shot before they burn out and need to be disposed of."

I honestly shouldn't have been surprised by this, but I was. Toybox had been upright and frank about the fact that they did business with villains. I just hadn't expected to actually encounter a villain who bought from Toybox in my own damn city.

"OK..." I let out a breath and mentally cracked my knuckles. "Contact Toybox, Dodge for preference."

"Compliance." my V.I. stated. I walked over to the computer stool attached to her main hub and sat down, grabbing a headset. It was something that was a part of the built-in communications system. Lowering the mic, I waited for Amphitrite to connect me to Toybox.

"Hello? Riptide?" Dodge's voice came over the headphones a moment later. He sounded a bit out of breath.

"Hey, Dodge." I offered. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Nah, just...a bit out of shape is all." he replied. "Stupid stairs...anyway, what can I do for you? You don't usually call this early..."

"Yeah, got a problem. Someone was using Toybox tech in a crime earlier today." I told him.

"Not unusual, we do sell to villains, Riptide." he reminded me casually.

"This wasn't just a crime, Dodge...it was a gross violation of the Unwritten Rules." I said firmly.

There was silence for a moment. "...well, now you have my undivided attention." Dodge said slowly, sounding serious. "What happened?"

"A kid, and I'm not mentioning any names, was just kidnapped out of their home earlier today by a group of what I think were mercenaries sporting Tinkertech laser attachments on their rifles." I explained bluntly, glad to see he was taking this seriously. "The kid involved was an out-of-costume Independent Parahuman who's currently going by the codename 'Augury' and has asked me to take them into protective custody. I snagged two of the rifles with the attachments when I stopped the kidnapping, but the other eight were still on the scene when I left. I don't know who your other customers in The Bay are and I won't ask you to break client confidentiality, but I figured you needed to know that one of your clients likes to play it fast and loose with the Unwritten Rules and has earned a spot at the top of my shitlist."

Dodge was thoughtfully quiet for a moment, before he responded. "If these laser attachments you mentioned were Toybox tech then they're probably Pyrotechnical's work." Dodge stated. "Open one up, there should be a serial number on the inside of the casing."

I grabbed the one I'd been working on disassembling and quickly found the number. "PT-0378673759568BY-C." I read off quickly.

There was another brief pause. "Alright, well that checks out at least. That's definitely one of ours, and it was even sold nearby. Armsmaster'll have already impounded the other eight by now…well, while I can't break confidentiality, I can tell you that the guy who bought those will be officially blacklisted if I can confirm the kidnapping part of your story. The Unwritten Rules are one of the few things keeping Parahumans from devolving into total anarchy, and anyone who violates them the way you described is not someone we can trust to do business with. The Cape involved okay?"

"Augury's fine, just tired and drained by everything that happened. She's sleeping it off in my base at the moment." I offered with a sigh. "Hopefully I'll be able to get a handle on this situation before it gets any worse. I've already got enough on my plate working on my base and the order that Waterworks took on. I do not need to deal with another clusterfuck right now."

"That's life as a Cape, Riptide. Nothing is ever quick and simple." Dodge told me frankly. "Now I'd better go, I've got some things to look into. Oh, and if you could have Amphitrite send me pictures of the two laser attachments you have to our secure email address, it would be a big help in getting the ball rolling."

"Sure thing." I agreed. "I'll have her send them to you in the next five minutes."

We cut the conversation off shortly after that. I quickly had Amphitrite send the pictures off to Toybox before slumping forward to rest my head against my workbench. I was starting to feel just a bit overwhelmed after everything that happened today.

"Amphitrite, have my work queue changed immediately. I want as many of my base defenses up and running as quickly as I can get them assembled." I stated grimly as I pushed myself back up. "I'll also want a temporary costume assembled for our guest for when we eventually take her home."

"Reordering work queue now, Mistress." Amphitrite replied obediently.

"Also...look up Mayor Roy Christner's public schedule for the next week." I added as an afterthought. "Once I can get some idea about exactly how powerful Dinah is, I'll be dropping in on the mayor to have a quick word."