cf

Apparently, the bean was a touch screen, as soon as C6 had gotten it connected to a power source the front section had lit up with a fully interactable display showing the amount of power coming in, the type of power it was, and how much was being given to each stone.

That in and of itself had been quite the discovery, the Bean was capable of making up to a dozen Energy Crystals at a time, and C6 had taken full advantage of that. He had managed to get a Crystal that contained enough power for a week run off the machine while I slept and had integrated it into the armor. He had actually expressed disappointment in not being able to find a way to brute force the kinetic barriers and had apologized for his shoddy work.

..Yeah, I was begging to think C6 was a bit of a perfectionist, also, he was scarily capable, the things he did reminding me constantly that between the two of us he truly was the brains of the operation, while for the moment I was just the face and decision-maker.

Apparently, the Forge took exception to that line of thinking though, because it choose the exact moment I was thinking that to give its first skull rattling report for the day.

Forge Connection to Domain:Knowledge: Reverse Engineering, Perks, Wonderland Mind (Project Arms) (600CP) has failed, you have 400CP banked, May it Kindle your Forge!

Interestingly it was yet another miss, which, while it meant no new abilities now, boded well for the chance that I may hit a high power node the next time the Forge rumbled to life, that was a bit exciting, but until that time I had other things to do, starting with patting C6 fondly on his rounded cranium once more.

Having done so, and received a happy beep in return, I moved on to the more exciting part of the day, actually trying the armor on. While I wasn't exactly flying around in an Iron Man suit or anything nearly that crazy the armor did have jump jets capable of fifteen feet of vertical thrust or fifteen seconds of sustained burn if I was willing to accept the system going offline for the next three minutes afterward.

And that was really cool, it was also fairly dangerous if the padding and reinforcement to the armor frame were done incorrectly since the thrust could well break my spine or powder my organs if I were to hit something.

Fortunately, as I can't say enough, C6 was the clutches research assistant ever and had simulated a few hundred different setups before adjusting the armor to follow the design he thought would best suit me.

All that left me to do was to actually don the undersuit and the armor and then figure out how to use it, going to meet the protectorate with fancy armor and samples of technology was all well and good but if I fell on my face because I couldn't control my tech correctly it might somewhat undermine the image I was going for.

So it was, with a mix of excitement and slight trepidation that I donned my armor for the first time, starting with the hardsuit, a skin-tight suit with a series of biosensors flush against my skin to monitor my condition and plug-in slots to connect to the armor itself on the outside. After that I assembled the armor piece by piece around myself with the help of C6, first snapping the legs and boots into place and checking the articulation in the knees and joints before moving on to the chest piece and then each arm.

All in all even with C6 running diagnostics every few minutes and us running tests on each joint and internal connection to each piece it only took me a little over fifteen minutes to be armored up except for my helmet and Omni-Tool on my right arm. I had briefly considered not taking the Omni-Tool with me, for fear that I could end up destroyed or seized or something if things went wrong.

Except, again, C6 was already ahead of me and had backed up the data contained in the Tool into his own databanks, proving once more he was the greatest helper in existence. Now having no reason to not take the Omni-Tool with me now I slipped it onto the slot made for it on my right arm, giving it a moment to run through a connection and boot loop with the armor before it flashed once briefly on my arm to show it was connected and then went dormant.

All that was left was the helmet itself and I wasted no time in snapping it on over my head, my vision reduced for a moment only to the inside of the helmet visor before it snapped into sync with the rest of the suit, and the helmet locks clicked shut.

Having achieved a full lock the system HUD booted itself up, granting me sight of the rest of the room again as well as filling my vision with various symbols, most of which denoted the current status of the armor and were organized in a little drop-down icon on the top right, easy to see and expand just by focusing my eyes on it and squirting or blinking at it.

Everything in fact was controlled by eye movements inside the helmet and I quickly found myself overwhelmed by half a dozen different displays I had accidentally opened at the same time. Sighing, over the next ten minutes I carefully and painstakingly slowly closed and minimized the various displays back to their normal unobtrusive form before gingerly testing my field of motion and vision in the armor.

It was definitely different, while the armor wasn't heavy and it was built in a way that most of the weight it had was pushed into the floor rather than onto the operator it still took a certain amount of muscle to move it around and there was a constant feeling of being surrounded tightly by something. Like the feeling, you would get when wrapping your whole body tightly in a thick blanket, except without the stifling sensation it can bring.

The inside of the armor was completely environmentally controlled, able to heat and cool the interior as necessary and carrying an hour of onboard air if it should become necessary.

All in all, while it was certainly a different feeling after an hour or two of just walking around, jogging, and sprinting I was getting used to the feel of the armor wrapped around me quickly.

In fact, I was actually becoming quite comfortable with the sensation of it surrounding me, though, alas, the helmet may have sound dampeners installed but it could do nothing to save my poor brain from the boom second report of the Forge.

Forge Connection to Domain: Assistants, Perk, Digital Ally | Dum-E and U (Marvel Cinematic Universe Vol. 1) (100CP) has succeeded, Infinite are Those who Wish to Glory in the Wonders of the Forgemaster! You have 400CP remaining, stand by for an additional roll.

Forge Connection to Domain:Crafting: Magical Items, Perk, Natural Remedies | Artificer (Twokinds) (600CP) has failed, you have 400CP remaining, stand by for an additional roll

Forge Connection to Domain:Crafting: Metallurgy, Perk, Skyforge (The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim) (200CP) has succeeded, All the World shall serve as the Forgemasters anvil!

You have 200CP remaining, stand by for an additional roll

Forge Connection to Domain: Protection, Perk, Blank II (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (200CP) has succeeded, Non shall tarnish the Glory of the Forgemaster! You have 0CP remaining, there will be no more additional rolls.

I tripped and fell over in shock at the latest Celestial Nodes to be collected, falling to the ground with a clatter of armor plates and cursing. Blank Two! I had actually someway somehow managed to stumble my way onto one of the most important powers to have in this miserable hellverse known as Worm.

Finally, I was safe from people watching, me, safe from people looking at me and knowing my every thought and feeling just with a glance, I was safe, I was….was….I was being watched.

I could feel the eyes on me now, the way they measured and followed my every move, invaded my every private moment, and incorporated my every thought and aspiration into their calculations, into their plans to make me a puppet.

No more, I was my own man, and now I could remove two of the most terrifying specters that had been looming over me since I arrived in this world, for a moment I concentrated, and then, with a small barely noticeable blip I ceased to exist.

Myself, my companions, and to an extent my creations were now no longer pieces on the board for any side, regardless of their power. If they wanted to fight us, to attack us they would have to do it like anyone else, relying on power and skill to carry the day, rather than already knowing every move we would make and countering it with no effort.

If they wanted information, they would have to bargain with me or wring it from me the old-fashioned way, no more plucking it from me with but a glance and a thought.

If they wanted to kill me then they would have to face me, rather than destroy me through a thousand well-placed proxies and small seemingly random events. Now, nearly uniquely on this planet, the fate of me and mine was our own, we made our own destiny and no one had the ability to decide it for us.

It was grand and I was giddy, giddy enough that for a moment I just laid on the floor and laughed, all but ready to try and do snow angels on the floor just from the sheer liberating joy that was bursting through my every vein and cell of my body.

I was free! Free of one of the most terrifying power sets in Worm, now it was just the masters I needed to develop a defense against. I just couldn't help but laugh and laugh and I didn't stop until several very loud insistent beeps came over the coms system of my armor, apparently, while C6 was just as happy as I that we no longer had a sword of Damocles hanging over our necks he did not condone how rude I was being by not greeting our newest companions, even if he privately confided, some of them were a bit….slow.

Honestly, until he said something I had pretty much just blocked out everything else I had gotten off of that most fortuitous of Celestial Node grabs. A quick ping of my personal nodes to remind myself later and I was blinking again, this time in bemusement.

Huh, not only had I somehow got the Skyforge, practically a mainstay of any Celestial Forge fic worth its salt, but I had also received two of Tony Stark's AI. Though to call the Dum-E bots AI was being fairly generous with the term, they were closer to V.I. than AI but had just enough of a spark to them to squeak past. I now had four of the things, and, while an articulating robot arm on wheels at first seemed kind of ridiculous, their utility was soon proven when they swooped in and began helping C6 begin unhooking one of the small Omni-Printers, following the directions of my second new Companions and one of Tony's creations that did very much earn the moniker of A.I. even if she was a bit limited in things that extended beyond the scope of her focus.

F.I.D.A, or Forgemasters Inherent Digital Assistant had immediately arrived in the warehouse, collated any and all information pertaining to my work, my plans, and what powers and perks were available to me, and began organizing them for maximum efficiency.

Part of that plan for Efficiency was to see if based on the wording of the Skyforges description things actually had to be made in the skyforge itself, or if they just had to be made close to it.

If it was the latter then it would allow greatly increased strength in all future creations, proving to be particularly useful in the fields of armor and weaponry. I knew all of this, because, almost before I had even gotten off the floor F.I.D.A. had flashed a communique to my HUD and then started coordinating with C6, asking for any personal observations he had made that may aid her in her task of ensuring my schedule remained well balanced and my personal life satisfying.

I would probably have interjected myself into their conversation about the time F.I.D.A began to enquire as to if I had any current personal attachment to anyone yet, but the Forge was apparently on a roll today and chose that moment to deliver its booming report.

Forge Connection to Domain:Facilities: Magical, Perk, Workshop (Generic Naruto Fanfiction) (400CP) has failed, you have 100CP banked, may it Kindle your Forge!

Eh, not really gonna sweat a miss right now, especially since the last series of misses had done so good by me, if the Forge wanted to take its dear sweet time and build up to grabbing a larger Node or a hoard of the smaller ones I was all for it.

In the meantime, I had other more pressing matters, like the fact the F.I.D.A apparently had a theory on why my last attempt to study the D for Dummy books had gone so badly. "Alright then F.I.D.A., lay it on me."

"There is nothing to lay upon you, I merely wish to communicate to you my theories," she paused, "unless, of course, you are speaking in metaphor, and you meant for me to lay my theories upon you, if so then yes, I shall veritably crush you beneath my theorems."

Well, that was….great? "Um.. yeah… hey, make a note to look up slang terms and how to use them, please."

"Of course, I shall endeavor to ensure my grasp upon this" slang" is masterful so that I might serve to arrange your schedule with higher efficiency."

Well, not really the reason I wanted her to look stuff up but I could roll with it. "Right, so, what exactly did you think I was doing wrong with studying the other night?"

F.I.D.A. "cleared" her throat, though why she would bother to emulate the sound was beyond me, probably as part of some socialization program Tony had baked into her, or as part of her base personality files.

"Technically speaking you were doing nothing "wrong", you utilized the perk in a slightly non-standard manner, but it was well within the activation and use parameters."

I frowned, if I used the perk right why the brain pain? Was my own theory on my brain not being able to handle the amount of information at one time correct? If so, how could I mitigate it? The perks it offered were too powerful to not try and take advantage of in some manner.

F.I.D.A. went on, "as you had surmised the root of the problem lay in the amount of information you attempted to take in, while you are the Forgemaster and thus all knowledge falls within your domain, you have not yet had the opportunity to forge your mind and body to their true majesty, for the moment, you are limited to what a normal man can handle, and three day's straight of studying with scant breaks between them is well beyond those limits."

My heart sank at my newly acquired assistant's words, I had suspected it, sure, but to have it confirmed was a bit of a blow, I had been pretty excited to be able to shoot ahead in my knowledge, but to be denied because I was merely human had a strange kind of bitterness welling up in my stomach and leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

"Is there nothing I can do?" I asked, frowning unhappily, though the fact I was wearing a fully enclosed helmet made the gesture rather pointless.

F.I.D.A. responded immediately to my question, likely having been waiting for me to ask. "There are several things that you could do, among them includes the installation of bionic devices to help with memory storage, memory retention, and recall, or utilizing the age regression potions you have access to to de-age yourself into a child and thus increase your neural plasticity."

Yeaaaah, none of those sounded like a viable path right now, though she got props for originality with the aging back into a child idea, even if I was half sure that probably wouldn't actually work.

"Um….No offense F.I.D.A., but I think I'll pass on both, especially the turning back into a child part.

Fortunately, FIDA wasn't deterred by my refusal of her first few options and continued on unbothered.

"Of course Forgemaster, that is your prerogative, now, if you are unwilling to effect technological improvement upon yourself or to de-age yourself for improved learning speeds I have a variety of other options as well. "

Ho boy, I wasn't sure if I should be excited at her potential solutions or if I should be concerned but I gave her the go-ahead to continue on anyway.

"Firstly, I could work up a basic schedule for you, I would monitor the time you spend on each lesson and when you reached a certain time limit I would signal you to cease your learning and either drop the time enhancement or go and spend your efforts on something else, in an effort to allow your mind to digest the information you had subjected it too."

"Alternatively" she continued, "and this would be contingent on the ability to actually do so, but if the textbooks could be scanned by your Omni-Tool or by the sensors that foreman C6 possesses, I could catalog each one and display them to you in an easier to digest version, this plan also has the potential to benefit from the inherit boost this particular perk applies when there are more then one "helpers" involved in a project, it may well speed your progress along immensely."

Well, both of those particular ideas were better than aging myself back to kindergarten or shoving cybernetic augments that I currently had no way of understanding into my head and I gave the go-ahead for them to try the scanning idea first, detaching my Omni-Tool and handing it off to the now apparently dubbed "foreman" of the warehouse.

Said foreman rolled off booping happily to complete his newly assigned task, while FIDA continued her questioning of me.

"Very good Forgemaster, now, would you like me to pencil in an extended studying session for the day? My modeling shows that regardless of the result of the Omni-Tool scans with my help you should be able to make significant strides in your studies."

Rather than reply immediately I instead gritted my teeth and waited for the rining from the Forge's later report to pass.

Forge Connection to Domain:Quality: Durability, Perk, A Monument to Time Itself (Warhammer Fantasy - Tomb Kings) (400CP) has failed, you have 200CP banked, May it Kindle Your Forge!

Huh, another miss huh? Seemed like those were happening more and more lately, but oh well, other things needed my attention more than pondering the implausibilities of the Celestial Forge grafted to my soul, things like actually answering my patiently waiting assistant A.I.

"....No," I decided after a moment of consideration, "I'd rather use the accelerated time to continue learning to maneuver and control the armor, and to focus on preparing the samples for the PRT and Protectorate, I can study after I'm sure I won't make a fool of myself."

Speaking of the PRT and Protectorate…I should probably schedule a meeting with them, just showing up out of the blue would be a dick move, and given the patrol schedules and the way the Bay was on any given day, there was no guarantee that anyone would even be available to meet with me, which would defeat the purpose of the visit.

I fully intended to leave a small sample of my Omni-Gel and Medi-Gel behind to allow them to test it, seeing as an endorsement from either of their organizations was probably the best way to ensure I would be allowed to circulate it widely about through any companies I may create.

Hopefully, having proven that my tech is reliable once, (or twice, depending on how you look at it) I would have an easier time with any kind of improvements I would need to get for the wide variety of tech contained in the colonial database that I fully intended to utilize to the maximum degree I was capable of.

Despite my current lack of eezo the fact that there were blueprints for a whole colony gave me dozens upon dozens of designs I could still use and that would easily find a place in the world today….probably right before I made better versions as I got more Celestial Nodes from the Forge, but oh well, my end goal was to uplift a species and carry them to the stars, I wasn't going to worry overly much about a few products becoming obsolete early on.

All of that would serve a purpose in the future and most probably in the wider world, but my main desire to have a representative from the Protectorate was a desire to build relationships, to "network" as my old business professor might say.

Having good relations with the people who would in many ways be my colleagues could only help, especially in a high-stress job such as being a Cape in Brockton Bay. That said, I wasn't about to go rushing out today, better to take the time to use my simulated time perk to really get our production capabilities up and iron out any kinks there may be, no doubt it would get boring but….it would be worth it.

I had arrived on a Monday, and it was my fourth day since I had arrived, putting me just after the middle of the week on Thursday, If I scheduled my meeting with the protectorate on the coming Monday that would give me roughly twelve days of simulated time to play around with, plenty enough to prepare for the meeting and work on base Omni-Gel production, even if I probably wouldn't run the simulated time constantly.

In the end, I was wrong, I didn't get twelve days of simulated time, I got eight because towards the end of the week I had been getting a bit too cocky about using the built-in jump jets in the armor and had managed to crash headfirst into the wall hard enough that FIDA declared it was time to stop practicing and rest.

That in effect put the kibosh on any further use of the simulated time for production but I was fine with that. I may not have run all the simulated time constantly, (I had to sleep sometimes, after all.) But the constant practice with the armor combined with the fact that the plan to scan the D for Dummies textbooks was workable and me taking on FIDA's lessons had been wearing on me.

My latest crash had been at least partly me being in a bit of a lurch and not focusing as much as I should have, rather than just pure cockiness.

The results had been worth it though, beyond becoming mostly competent with my armor and preparing the samples of Omni and Medi-Gel for the Protectorate showcase, a lot of small dangling threads had been tied up over the last eight(subjective) days. The weapons issue for one, given that we lacked the eezo required to create true Mass Effect style railguns we had been forced to improvise.

Said improvisation came in the two forms. The first was not even a gun at all but instead, a weapon labeled as a technical launcher, a small boxy device that can be mounted on armor, (either the back, the shoulder, or the hips) and synced with your Omni-Tool for tracking.

It was a mic of fabricator and grenade launcher, a very small Omni Fabricator making the grenades it fired and then the targeting data from the Omni-Tool sending them flying towards the enemy.

It was already a pretty nice system and the fact it came with various grenade options, ranging from incendiary to electric, to gas, and the fabricator in the launcher itself was configurable to all of them made it extremely versatile as well.

The second, more standard option had been taking the frame of a Mattoc rifle that had been in the colonial database and revamping it to use a small Energy crystal to make a more conventional railgun.

Apparently, between FIDA and C6 they had figured out a way to use the increased power options the Energy crystals provided to make a relatively crude railgun. I say relatively because, while it lacked the power and sheer compactness of the Mass Effect weapons, and had to fire larger ammunition, about the size of a 9mm round to make up for it, it still punched way above conventional firearms in sheer power.

It had actually been a bit of a problem due to over-penetration, but a quick rework had had a sensor installed to help measure range and the makeup of the target and modulate power output accordingly.

The end result was a big grey wedge of a gun, and it weighed in at around twelve pounds when fully loaded, which was not exactly light for a weapon I needed to carry around and try and whole steady and aim with but the overall firepower it supplied was to nice to miss out on.

Besides, I could just magnetize it to the armor if I wasn't using it, which was a nice bonus feature C6 had added, or the Forman, as he now insisted on being called after FIDA's comment on the first day.

Beyond the armament issue, we had found that the skyforge did indeed provide its strengthening effect to anything the fire's light fell upon during the creation process, including the things actually inside the Omni printers, despite not actually being directly in the fire's light themself.

FIDA had promptly moved the whole of our first set up to the skyforge and then ordered the construction of another as well, giving us two Large Omni-Printers apiece, each fed by two small Omni printers benefiting from the Skyforges buffs.

Between my perk from Subnautica for adding armor to things and the Skyforge, the plates coming out of those particular printers were made of pretty stern stuff, and a plan for a new suit of armor made of the plate and better optimized for the Energy crystals, Tech launchers and the last interesting upgrade we had found in the colonial database had been planned.

Said discovery being a cloaking system similar to what Kasumi Goto and several other specters and enemies had used in the games. It was a bit of a power hog, and it wasn't perfect, quick movements or a particularly attentive gaze could still detect it, but it had put my worries about stealth and being followed to and from the Rig to rest, besides, C6 was fairly certain he could get the power drawl down and increase its efficiency in the new series of armor he was planning with FIDA.

We had used most of the garage stockpile by now though, so the plans to expand Omni-Gel production or produce any new armor had been put on temporary hold until after the meeting, the hope is that I could perhaps secure some kind of limited salvage rights to the Boat graveyard in some capacity.

After a few days of having not heard from the Forge the sudden booming report it sent reverberating through my head had clutching my head and groaning, I had managed to forget how jarring and loud it could be.

Forge Connection to Domain: Time, Perk, Goibnu (Irish Mythology) (600CP) has failed, you have 300CP banked, May it Kindle Your Forge!

And yet another miss..huh. Oh, well, I had been working hard the last couple of (subjective) days and I had the meeting with the Protectorate in the morning, bright and early actually as FIDA apparently believed in promptness and had scheduled it for 9 A.M, an hour after they officially opened to the public.

It was time for a break, Honestly, I was craving a nice steak and to just sit down but alas, my steaks had been sacrificed for the greater good, the steaks have been our best source of biomass for the Medi-Gel and that stuff took a surprising amount of biomass to create even a comparatively small amount of gel.

It was worth it without a doubt, the stuff was a real lifesaver but it had briefly had me wondering if the price for progress wasn't too high. Right up until C6 got impatient, and snatched the packs of steaks out of my hands and rolled off cheerfully beeping.

It had been a dark day indeed and I was feeling the repercussions of that day even now, as I settled instead for a can of soup and collapsed into an armchair on the front porch of my house. I had spent the last eight subjective days inside the warehouse, and getting out into the early evening air felt wonderful, besides, having the neighbors see me and not think I was either a total recluse or dead was probably a good thing.

Though, on the topic of neighbors, I couldn't help but notice that….there weren't that many, a lot of the houses had old for sale signs and overgrown yards around them. It was kind of surprising at first but I guess if you could afford to live in a Gated Community you could probably afford to move away from the Bay and find somewhere safer to live.

It was a depressing thought, that people just looking for a safe quiet life would have to flee the town to get it, and it wasn't one I greatly enjoyed, especially not when I was trying to relax after a hard week.

Of course, the booming announcement from the Forge wasn't particularly enjoyable either, even if the discomfort it brought came along with a hint of anticipation as well, what would I get this time? A hit? Or a miss? I never knew and it was a strange kind of anxious pleasure I received each time it happened.

Forge Connection to Domain:Knowledge: Future Tech, Perk, Goibnu (Irish Mythology) (600CP) has failed, you have 400CP remaining, May it Kindle Your Forge!

Ah, another miss, a bit of a shame, but not having a new Celestial Node or a series of Celestial Nodes digest did allow me the luxury of just sitting on the porch and enjoying the evening. Tomorrow would be a big day, but for the rest of tonight, it was time to relax.

There were pros and cons to being a Noctis cape. On the one hand, you ended up having to find ways to fill the time that sleep normally would take, and all too often in a city like Brockton Bay that time was filled with reports or some other form of work, rather than any form of leisure time.

However, the flip side of that was that you were never groggy in the morning if you had an early appointment to keep and a late night before. Watching Assualt's head dip and nearly hit the conference room table for the third time in the last ten minutes had Hannah Washington, better known as Miss Militia deciding that for today at the very least the pros of being a Noctis cape outweighed the Cons.

While it was admittedly Assult's own fault he was here this early in the morning, having been unable to contain his usual brand of humor in their last weekly meeting and thus relegated to meeting the new cape that had scheduled a meet and greet today, it was not his fault that his shift the night before had been extended by several hours when a shootout between Merchants and ABB had had him first breaking the fight up and then spending several hours giving after-action reports.

From what Hannah knew he hadn't gotten home until early this morning, and he had to be back at the Rig well before the Nine AM meeting so they could prepare for it. Never let it be said that Hannah was heartless, however, for in her benevolence, (and after the second time he had nearly fallen asleep) she had acquired for him that live giving substance known as coffee.

The fact that it was cafeteria coffee from the Rig and thus tasted like and had the consistency of mud was something that Ethan had been too thankful, (or exhausted) to comment on. Hannah was actually just starting to wonder if she would have time to make another coffee run for the poor zombie seated across from her when the PA system in the corner of the room chimed.

A security operator informed Ethan and her that the new cape had entered the building and was being escorted to the conference room now. She gave the cameras a thankful nod, before turning to skim the folder of information she had been given earlier in the week.

Not that she needed to, as part and parcel of being a Noctis cape she had a perfect recall but it gave her something to occupy her eyes and hands with and took her attention off the rapidly blinking and trying to awaken zombie that had replaced her teammate.

Not much was known about the new arrival, he was male, he was over eighteen and thus not interested in the Wards, and he was a self-admitted tinker and he had submitted alongside his request for a meet and greet a request for some of his technology to be verified.

The meet and greet was not unusual, a bit strange if he didn't want to join the Protectorate but a desire to meet the capes you were sharing the city with and to open up potential lines of communication was to be commended, not turned away.

A request to test and verify technology on the other hand… was very much a surprise, tinkers tended to be fiercely protective of their technology and offended at the idea that anyone else may "verify" or "okay" it for use.

All in all the mood for this particular meeting was cautiously optimistic, while the cape was unknown that he was willing to cooperate this way, and indeed take the initiative in reaching out to them spoke well of the chances for future cooperation, it was just on her to ensure he left with a good impression of the Protectorate and more widely of the PRT as well.

Roughly ten minutes after the warning from the security agent and a soft chime echoed through the room, informing them that the new cape was approaching and finally serving to pull Assult back to the land of the awake and the alive.

Carefully, she folded the folder closed and then folder her hands over it, straightening in her chair and preparing the greet the man as he walked through the doors, Ethan doing a passable imitation of her own posture even through his exhaustion, one last yawn slipping out that he quickly stifled as the room chimed once more a few seconds before the door opened.

Her first thought, on seeing the man being ushered into the room by one of the PRT troopers was that there was no way this was a freshly triggered cape. He was too well equipped to be, the armor he wore was sleek and well fitted, with no rough edges or any evidence of slapdash construction that all too often marked fresh tinkers' equipment.

Her second thought and proof positive that the Protectorate PR department was full of masters was that his fully enclosed helmet was much too intimidating for patrols, people not being able to see his face would be put ill at ease.

Fortunately, she was able to shake the specters of the PR department from her mind quickly, (for now, they would be back, they always came back) and rose to greet the man smoothly, noting as she did a short hitch in his step before he reached out to return the handshake.

Hannah was confused for a moment before the probable reason for his hesitation dawned on her, and she smiled, her PR training ensuring that her eyes had just the right amount of crinkle in the corners to make it more apparent what she was doing.

"I expect you were thinking Armsmaster was going to be here to talk to you, but he was called away on business out of state, I assure you, however, both myself and Assult are more than qualified to conduct this meeting sir..? She trailed off while maintaining her eye smile while talking to him, noting how he was careful with shaking her hand, only applying enough pressure to make his handshake firm but not crushing, something she appreciated with the way even his hands appeared to be armored.

The cape inclined his head and took a polite step back, before responding. "No, it's no problem at all, I was just surprised for a moment there, I'm sure you guy's known your business inside and out. " He seemed to realize she had been asking for his name as much as explaining her immediate boss's absence a second after he finished taking because he hurriedly added, "You can call me Forgemaster" he shrugged a hint self-deprecating. "Not the most original name, I know, but I think it works for me."

Assault chose that moment to interject himself into the conversation, sliding in before anything could become awkward and offering his own handshake. "Well, with the amount of time we spend out in the city I can't claim to quite know the inside here, but I can walk you through the outside with my eyes closed."

"Heh, I'm sure, I heard about that gunfight you broke up last night, it never stops being crazy to me hearing about all the gunfights and cape fights on the news."

Ethan shrugged, his obvious exhaustion bleeding through in the motion despite how he tried to hide it. "Welcome to the Bay, man, it may be crazy but it's home, ya know?"

The New Cape, Forgemaster, nodded, "I do know, though I'm new to the area myself, that was actually why I wanted to meet with you all, to see about doing something to help you all and the city out."

Having a tinker wearing armor of his quality mention helping had both herself and Assult's attention perking up, and obviously seeing that he had their attention he raised a hand to the small case he had hanging off the side of his armor at the waist. Hannah allowed it, going along with the flow of the conversation, she had intended to start the meeting with some questions and an attempt to establish his motives but if he wanted to get to show off his tech-first that was fine.

With a brief tug the container came off from where it had been apparently magnetized to the armor, and after a quick look at Assult for permission he stepped over to the table to set it down. The case itself now that she could get a better look at it was not overly large, more two small metal squares with a divider between them than a true box.

Forgemaster half-turned to face both Hannah and Assult, gently patting the top of the container as he did. "I mentioned in my email that I wanted to get some stuff verified, well, this is the first of what I have to offer."

He patted the right side of the case, "On this side, I have what I call Omni-Gel, it's a programable substance that when paired with the correct printing machine can be made into pretty well any mundane material or thing you can think of, provided that enough base stock is fed in to create the gel."

Hannah blinked at that statement, and beside her Assult also reacted, leaning forward a bit to scrutinize the container more closely. Was he saying it was..

"Nanotech?" Assault blurted beating her to her own question and being much less delicate with his, while shooting the box a wary glance.

Forgemaster waggled a hand, "yes and no, see the Gel itself is akin to nanotech in that it is a series of small machines that can be programmed to serve a function, however it is limited to creation, not destruction."

Hannah and Assult shared a look and seeing that he hadn't necessarily convinced them Forgemaster went on. "In its base state the Gel is completely harmless," he paused, then shrugged," unless you eat it or rub it in your eyes or something I guess, but the point is it can't hurt you, the printer is what does the breaking down into more gel and to do that you would have to be able to fit inside the chamber for it."

Hannah nodded and relaxed, Ethan, doing the same beside her. "So to confirm, it can't dissolve anyone? Ethan asked, not unfairly in her opinion, in her long career first as a ward and then as a full-blown protectorate member, Hannah had seen her fair share of faulty and haywire tinker tech.

"No," Forgemaster confirmed, "the Omni-Gel doesn't even have that ability, it doesn't really have any ability at all except to be shaped by the proper machines."

That was good, and a huge relief, being in a room with active nanotech wasn't something Hannah was particularly enthused by, but this didn't seem to be that.

Forgemaster cleared his throat before continuing his explanation, "It is really useful for fabrication purposes though, like I said, if you have the right machine you can fabricate just about anything with it., he gestured down at himself, I actually fabricated this suit out of Omni-Gel, it's that versatile."

He started to say something else but then paused for a second, similarly to how he had when he first stepped in, before shaking his head slightly and continuing on. "The Gel in the other capsule is almost the same except instead becoming of materials like Omni-Gel, Medi-Gel is meant to be used for medical use."

Hannah raised an eyebrow, this time beating Assult to the question. "Medical use how? You said that this Omni-Gel could be fabiracted into nearly anything, does the Medi-Gel work similarly?"

If it did, and if it could be approved for use…it would be huge, Hannah could actually feel a trill of excitement at the idea. Forgemaster's headshake dispelled that excitement.

"Unfortunatly not, no, that's a far more amazing invention then what I have currently. No, Medi-Gel is used for treating wounds, gunshots, stab wounds, burns, even broken limbs to an extent, it will form a steriel seal over the wound and seal it shut, preventing infection, stopping bleeding, and serving to help hold the area together until help can arrive."

So not a miracle cure capable of being programmed into anything they needed, but the description for the "Medi-Gel" still seemed like it could be extremely useful, Hannah had seen to many people wounded and injured that just couldn't get to help in time in her career and ths sounded like something that could help prevent that.

Still, as intresting as that all was there jobs wern't to test the technology, they were there to talk to Forgemaster and get a feel for the cape, and to see if he would be amenable to membership in the Protectorate.

Basic conversation soon proved he was not willing to join the protectorate, he was interest in working with them, and he had no problem corroborating and helping out if necessary but in his own words he was "too stubborn to listen to someone constantly telling me what I can and can't do, the government does that enough already."

She wasn't too torn up over the refusal, everybody in the room had pretty much expected that answer, otherwise he would have approached the situation differently but it was her job to ask and so she did, with his refusal out of the way they could now move on to the more pertinent information that her bosses wanted, namely, what this new tinker was planning on doing.

His answer was….suprising.

"I want to start a business, improve the economy and try to get the city back on it's feet." His answer was quick, earnest but with a rehearsed quality to it, he had obviously expected this question, as he expected her obvious follow up of how he planned to maintain any tinker tech he sold.

His answer that what he sold was not tinker tech was a surprise, though when he explained that was why he had brought the samples of his work to be tested it started to make sense. He planned to get the Protectoate and PRT to vouch for his technology not being tinker tech.

Assault had the pleasure of asking the next fairly obviosue question this time.

"You can understand tinker tech?" he asked, surprise coloring his voice.

As he had caused to do several times this meeting Forgemaster waggled a wand back and forth. "I can understand and extrapolate a decent amount of what my power gives me, but I also have a lot I can't do anything with at all right now, whether because i lack the background knowledge or need to do something to understand it all I'm not sure."

Hannah suddenly wished she had tried a bit harder with the recruitment pitch, if Forgemaster could understand tinker tech, even if only some of it then the Protectorate was going to want him. Part of her wanted to push another recruitment attempt on him but something about the stiff way he was holding himself and the way his mirrored gold visor turned to face her head-on told her that would be a bad idea.

He wasn't threatening, he just looked….ready. Which was fair enough on his part, he had probably come expecting to be harassed after the reveal of his abilities, so out of respect for the man seated across from her she refrained from doing so, something he appreciated if the slight tilt of his helmet was anything to go by.

Conversation from there dried up somewhat, Hannah was unwilling to push him on the Tinker tech issue and he seemed happy enough to speak only when spoken to or to answer any questions he thought they might have.

He did have a request pertaining to salvaging right in the boat graveyard but as that was the purview of the city she couldn't offer him anything towards that goal, he would need to speak to the mayor about it.

Half an hour later, perhaps a full hour after they started at nine AM they were wrapping up their conversation, Forgemaster having listened to several bits of advice about the city and giving out two business cards to both of them in case they needed to contact him for some reason.

Then he left, a new cape in the bay willingly coming to treat with the Protectorate, no threats, no violence, not even strong language, just a request to be able to gather scrap no one wanted in peace and an offering of his work to be verified to be safe or not.

It was one of the nicer first meetings Hannah had had with her fellow capes, and she wished Forgemaster the best as he was leaving appreciating if nothing else how easy he had made the whole process.

Then he was out the door and it was back to planning patrol routes, managing the wards, trying to find coffee for a now once again flagging Ethan and preparing to write up a report on her own thoughts regarding the meeting she had just had, to be attached to Ethan's report and both of them attached to the camera recording of the interaction….Hannah missed the nice quiet meeting room and the calm cape she had interviewed already.

End of Chapter CP Total=100

Total CP Spent This Chapter=1100

Powers/Knowledge/Items/Companions Gained this Chapter=

Digital Ally | Dum-E and U (Marvel Cinematic Universe Vol. 1) (100CP)

Digital Ally (50CP)

Ready and waiting! This A.I. is not truly sapient, but it is still capable of performing extremely complex tasks like controlling a small army of robots or managing the infrastructure of a technologically advanced base... at the same time as overseeing a battlefield and relaying tactical data to you. You can design its personality and appearance to suit your needs, and even give it a classy accent! If you wish, you may import an A.I. or companion into this role.

Dum-E and U (50CP)

Okay these robots may not do much, but they've got spirit! ...whatever passes for spirit in robots. Taking the form of single robot arms on treads, they try to do their best to aid you around your home and fulfill your wishes. Along with excellent pattern recognition they're unusually good at assisting with fabrication and mechanical construction of electronics. Just be mindful that you need to word things properly.

Skyforge (The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim) (200CP)

An ancient, mysterious, eagle themed forge added to your warehouse. Any metal items crafted at the forge will be significantly harder and stronger for it. Something about the fires.

Blank II (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (200CP)

Abilities which gather information about your past, present, or future do not work on you. This includes scrying, divination, mind reading, and even cold reading and lie detection. This ability not only affects your immediate person but also provides a degree of protection to items and people around you, making it difficult to predict the past, present, or future of any group you move with or vessel you travel on. If you have the Essential Mutuality perk, your affected companions gain the full benefit of your Blank perk even if they are acting independently.

I: You are immune to all supernatural and technological abilities and devices which perform the functions described above. You simply do not register to such abilities, though your own abilities function normally. Purely mundane skills at cold reading or lie detection will be less effective, but still function to some degree. Dsc: Sch/Ass/Arc/Sup/Lch/Bea/Dra/Exp/Hea

II: Even mundane versions of the above items do not function against you. Furthermore, you are able to detect when someone is actively attempting to discern such information through supernatural or technological abilities or devices and feed them false information of the type they expect. Thus, you can feed an image of yourself asleep in bed to a scrying spell while you're secretly across town beating up thugs or you can have a truth detection spell return 'truth' when you are telling a lie. Note that this does not protect you from compulsions to tell the truth or share information directly. Additionally, any items which you create have a measure of this protection, making it difficult to predict actions directly relying on those items and making it impossible to detect the items themselves with most supernatural abilities.

Toggle (Young Justice) (100CP)

Toggle allows its user to forgo learning to control their powers by simply allowing them to turn their powers off when they aren't needed. This can be done per power, so there isn't a need to go without the ability to teleport because you don't want to use your super strength. Also works on out of Jump powers. You can think of this like a dial. It can be on, or full power, as well as off, or no power, and anywhere in between those two states.

Alchemical Tome (My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic) (400CP)

A large book containing hundreds upon hundreds of recipes for magical poultices and potions and it even guides you on how to make your own potions. If purchased multiple times you will have books with rarer and more unique recipes until the fourth purchase which contains a book with merely five recipes, all of them truly legendary in potency.

Costumer (Terraria - Journey's End) (100CP)

Many objects, especially with regards to armor, place function over form. Now, you don't have to settle for armor that is good but an eyesore. You can take any item you possess and 'overlay' it on top of a similar item, changing the second item's appearance to match the first, while maintaining all of its functionality, protective qualities, etc.