Manual

"You know that guy?" Clockblocker asked as Flechette joined him. "What did he give you?"

"Only a little. I met him a few days ago." Flechette answered, "I think he might be parahuman but I can't prove it. He gave me a little wooden stamp for some reason?"

"Seriously?" Clockblocker asked, "did you tell Piggy about him?"

"No. I don't want to scare him off." Flechette said. As she did, she palmed the stamp, pressing it against her thumb. She didn't really think about it until she was abruptly confused about what the hell she was doing. She looked down at her thumb, which was inked with a blue starburst symbol, and frowned. "Shit. Hey, Shadowstalker. You still manning the console?"

"No, I subbed in." Vista's voice crackled over the headset. "She went out on patrol solo after she decked me."

"She what? Never mind, that's a problem for later." Flechette sighed. "I think I just had an encounter with a new cape. Stranger class; I could have sworn I knew the guy when we were talking. He handed me a stamp for some reason. I think I might need to get this analyzed. Hopefully it's just some kind of calling card, but I think I need to cut this patrol short."

••••••••••

Gil ran as hard as he could, but he couldn't reasonably be expected to keep up with a woman who could pass through walls and seemingly fly in short bursts. He lost her, but she had been moving in a broadly straight line so he continued along his route. Unfortunately, that meant he was a guy with a large backpack traveling alone through a bad part of town.

He was accosted by a pair of shirtless men and one woman. One of the men was taller than Gil and reasonably fit. He had greasy, unkempt hair and hefted a heavy wooden baseball bat. Despite his clear physical superiority, he had a glazed look in his eyes. He sluggishly climbed to his feet as the shorter man waved a knife towards Gil.

"Hey! Let's see what this asshole's got!"

Gil was mildly offended that they hadn't even tried to extort him first. What is a city coming to when you can't even rely on muggers to prefer a peaceful transfer of wealth without commencing hostilities?

Gil dropped Blackpaw into the middle of the trio, and the wolf behaved exactly as Gil hoped: he immediately ripped a chunk out of the smaller man's leg. Gil commended the woman for her sound tactical reasoning, allowing her to run like hell. Unfortunately, the bigger man brought his baseball bat down on the wolf with an audible crack. Gil rushed him, knifing him in the side while he was distracted, then recalled Blackpaw into the ball. The wolf would hopefully survive if he was kept in stasis until the portal closed, assuming the full heal wasn't a one time thing.

Gil aimed a swift kick at the smaller man's gut, then ducked away from the big guy. He had a knife sticking out of his side, but for some reason he still thought he might win this fight. Desperation, perhaps. Then again, maybe he was just extremely high. Gil focused on defense, hoping that the serious wound would drain the man's strength quickly. He didn't have to wait all that long; once Rose released Flechette, she returned to her nearest anchor. She was winded, but had enough strength to blindside the man; he had not been expecting a sword to pop out of Gil's bag and fly towards him.

"Bad choice, mates. Lucky for you, I have a deal for ya." Gil said to the two men after a few more judicious stomps. "Whichever one of you sells your soul to me first gets to live. No way I'll get a super to make that deal today."

The smaller of the two men gurgled something incomprehensible through a broken jaw. Frankly, Gil had no clue what he said. He checked his tablet though, and found Wayne Pence (Merchants Thug, T1 no name) proudly displayed among his retinue. He was sold, as promised, immediately. Somewhere nearby, he probably wondered where his two buddies were.

Wayne Pence: lesser gacha roll

Gacha Roll: worse of 2 rolls 9/15

15: shop unlock or discount

Unlock: Addiction Defense now available in shop for 10 credits

Gil cut the other man's throat, then searched his pockets. Gil wasn't particularly bloodthirsty, but as a general rule he considered an attempt on his life grounds for total annihilation. It was a slightly myopic view, but one that most high paying clients ascribed to anyway. He wouldn't get dinged for it unless he went full murder hobo. He might not get in trouble even if he did, assuming he remembered to take notes.

The man didn't have much worth mentioning. The bat was probably the most valuable thing that the big guy owned, depending on the quality of the mysterious powder that was in his pockets. His jeans were filthy, but he had a wallet that contained a little bit of cash and a few ribbons hanging from his belt loops for some reason. Gil tossed it all in his bag to sort later, save the bat which he kept in his hand. It wouldn't hurt to be a bit more openly armed, and the Durst family sword didn't exactly blend in.

He fled the scene of the crime. Technically in most countries like this it was probably better to report that you were forced to kill in self defense. Gil wasn't excessively worried about the cops finding him, to be honest. He was planning to do worse in this world, and his only regret was that he'd killed someone from the wrong gang. It would have been great if he'd been able to accidentally knock out someone from E88 in passing.

"Who?" Rose's voice was faint, barely audible over Gil's breathing. He was too busy sprinting away from the scene of the crime to answer, but knowing how hard it was for her to talk while exhausted he did his best to remember the question. He was running in the general direction he'd seen the superheroine go, but to be honest he doubted he'd see her. He was pretty sure she was Shadowstalker, and with a name like that she wasn't going to be easy to find.

https://postimg.cc/s15B5TXZ

She was a superhero, and hadn't intervened in his little brawl on either side. That either meant she was far enough ahead of him that she hadn't seen anything, or that she simply didn't care. He was guessing the former; why would someone patrol, even performatively, if they didn't intend to smack around random poorly armed thugs mid-robbery?

He stopped in an alley to catch his breath. The fact that he'd tripped over a crack in the pavement and scraped up his hands and arms from running too fast may have contributed to his choice of location, of course. He drank from his waterskin.

"They attacked me." He explained belatedly. "No real clue why. I probably just intruded on their territory. Maybe they wanted the backpack. I'd have preferred to avoid it; even selling that guy was barely worth the trouble. What kind of reward is the ability to burn credits on one of the more niche defenses?"

Rose was silent. Gil unfocused his eyes and was able to glimpse her leaning against the wall, as exhausted as he was in her own way. Unfortunately, he didn't have long to rest; he heard gunfire in the distance and started jogging towards it. It was, perhaps, a stupid thing to do. He didn't keep his job by making optimal decisions; he kept his job by making decisions that curious idiots might make and then surviving.

The first thing he saw was a gigantic blonde valkyrie, several stories tall and with a generous hourglass figure. She was wearing armor that was a bit more form fitting than necessary, but did cover most of her skin. Gil placed it at about a 6 out of ten on the practicality spectrum, and the fact that she was tanking blasts from a rocket launcher definitely added a point to that score. She was mostly catching them on a huge shield emblazoned with a bird of some sort, but she was still taking the hits like a champ.

Gil ducked behind some rubble and assessed the situation. Men wearing metallic wolf masks swarmed around the giantess's feet, and were fighting what appeared to be the same soldiers Gil had seen guarding the Wards HQ. A man in red body armor was brawling with a man in a Tiger mask, and Gil guessed that Tiger boy was with the other men in animal masks. Given the combination of generic Norse theming and specifically lupine masks for the mooks, Gil assumed he was looking as a raid by Fenrir's Chosen, a subgroup of Empire 88.

"Rose, try to find Shadowstalker." Gil ordered. "She's wearing a cloak and a black bodysuit. If I heard this fight going on, I bet she did too."

As the ghost flitted away, Gil peeked his head out again to assess the combat. The men with the PRT seemed to be fighting with some intention of subduing the enemy instead of killing them. A very laudable goal for law enforcement who can pull it off, but one that gave them a distinct disadvantage. Given their numbers and superior discipline, the PRT really should have been winning this if they just went all out.

Gil smiled. He dug though his bag, and pulled out a glassy sphere full of swirling white smoke. He had two.

Orb of Berserking Mist: Releases a cloud that drives all non-sapient creatures into a berserk fury, causing them to indiscriminately attempt to kill anyone they see. Sapient creatures will instead become highly irritable and reckless, which will inflame existing tensions to the point of violence but will prioritize those they already have beef with.

Gil hefted the orb, got a running start, and threw it into the mass of soldiers and violent gang members. Surprise attacks were allowed. How about forcing someone else to fight on his behalf? He didn't stick around to see what happened, instead ducking back into the alleyway and hiding in a dumpster.