My workshop had been wrecked. Seems like the Nine had found it and left some gifts left behind. Traps of the deadly and painful variety, but nothing that I couldn't avoid in theory. In practice, I had already learnt my lesson by underestimating them once.There likely wasn't anything of value left, all of it plundered by the two Tinkers. I already had my revenge on one, thanks to Armsmaster.Now, I sat on the roof, on top of one of Brockton Bay's tallest structures, overlooking the sleeping city. The night was cold, and I could clearly feel it through my damaged implants. Internal heating was supposed to keep me warm, but Siberian had wrecked most of the non-vital systems with her casual tossing of heavy vehicles.The equipment I had now was as such: the Burya gun, the vibration blade, my damaged implants and finally… the rifle. The latter was what I had spent most of my time working on, being easily the most complex of all the devices I had built.I brought it out of its bag and began setting up. The engine within it started whirring, magnets shifting into position. Blue lights shone to the side, my lone companion.This technology never became available to the public in my world. Being considered too dangerous, Tsunami chose to keep it under wraps in the event of another corporate war, only using it in private missions. To their credit, no netrunner had ever breached so far into their servers to get the schematics for it, and most of the scientists working on it had been disposed of.At the time I only copied it down because of a whim. A moment's curiosity.The Tsunami Amaterasu turned on, and I connected it to the port on the back of my neck. A flood of data reached my mind, putting a strain on my brain. The amount of info did not trouble me, but there was a limit to what a human brain could handle, even with side-processors to handle the load.Still, I waited.And waited.Hours passed, the moon rose to its apex and then began to descend.Finally, a notification reached me. An intercepted message from the PRT.'SOS BONESAW' followed by a specific address. Panacea's house. I hoped that she had taken my advice.I quickly moved the scope in that direction. Immediately I spotted fire and violence.Bonesaw was nowhere to be seen, but three hulking monstrosities were fighting New Wave and Miss Militia. One of the monsters grabbed Glory Girl by the leg and crashed her against the ground, breaking the field and leaving her defenseless. He, or 'it', tried to finish the job, moving forward to crush her skull in a swift motion. I noted the similarities between it and Hatchet Face, a known past member of the Nine, though a gasping mouth was stitched to its back.She would die without help. I did not hesitate.The smell of ionized air reached me. A blue line cut across the night sky, faster than sound. Followed by the thundering roar of the sonic boom.Hatchet Face head exploded in blue flames, precisely pierced in such a way to make sure Glory Girl was not harmed by the lingering fire.One down. Two to go.Miss Militia was trying her best to shoot down another of the monsters: this one transformed into a smoke-like form, disappearing then reappearing close to Miss Militia even as she desperately tried to put some distance in between. The hero was holding a hand against her abdomen, blood pooling beneath her fingers. The wound was sizzling, the same smoke as the one the monster used emanating from it.The moment it began to reappear I pressed the trigger: a bullet ignited inside its brain, incinerating everything within the skull. It also released a very weak cleansing agent in the air with the flames, nothing too strong, but hopefully enough to slow down whatever Bonesaw had prepared. If Panacea was around she would handle the rest.Miss Militia looked wide-eyed at what just happened, falling to one knee, coughing. Her wound wasn't sizzling anymore. She spoke into her earpiece, but I could not easily breach into that secure line. Dragon was no slouch when it came to virtual security.I pointed the scope at the final of the three monsters. New Wave did not hold back as light blast shredded it to pieces, only for it to regenerate the moment the attack passed through. Laserdream left to go help Glory Girl.A bullet wouldn't be enough to take that monster down, but there clearly was no need. The heroes were handling it, as it wasn't able to move between each attack.Miss Militia put an end to the fight by slotting in a foam canister in a materialized weapon, trapping it within.A message reached me not long after.Dragon.'Was it you?''Yes'. I sent back, then began a call."He could have died." The synthetic voice answered, anger barely escaping. Mh. She was talking about Armsmaster."He did kill Mannequin. I'm sure he is happy about that.""He could have died." Dragon simply repeated. I may have misunderstood the dynamic of their relationship. There was more than friendship here, but I did not ask. Nor did I answer. A silent moment passed.Sighing, Dragon changed the topic."... Bonesaw is nowhere to be seen. I almost sent a drone to follow her, but with Shatterbird in the city there was no reliable way to keep track of her. It wasn't worth the risk of angering her. She probably used the sewers to move.""Panacea?.""She's fine, far away from the battle. Your warning probably saved her life. You've gained a lot of goodwill between that tip and stopping Mannequin, not to mention that your involvement in stopping the Chosen some weeks back has been noticed. Which makes your actions at the PRT headquarters even more baffling.""I needed resources" Shrugging, I answered, even if Dragon couldn't see me. Moving my right arm, I admired the steel lining the cyberware. The one from Dragon's own suit. "I helped the Undersiders to protect the civilian identity of Shadow Stalker, and because I believe they can be allies rather than threats."Having said that, I sent her the coordinates of my exact location, along with some schematics."Here, a rough prototype to diminish Shatterbird's influence on your equipment. It creates a weak internal frequency that should form a destructive interference with her own power. It only works in very small closed equipment - like one of your suits. I'd guess you can probably reverse engineer it and improve upon it yourself. Though, hopefully, you won't need to use it."Dragon didn't answer, seemingly analyzing the data I sent along. It was through a very secure channel, so neither of us worried about malicious programs hidden in the files."This is incredible work. I may be able to participate in hunting the Nine within 48 hours.""I'm going to act within the day. Hopefully putting an end to most of them.""..."Again Dragon was quiet for a while. While talking I had disassembled the Amaterasu and put it away.It wasn't until I left the roof and got into the elevator that Dragon spoke again."Blackwall. We need to address your civilian identity and connection to a Ward.""I suppose we do." I sighed. "I've left that identity behind. I'm not Andrea Blackwell anymore. I'm just the- I'm just Blackwall." Having 'the' in front of the name was something I'd like to avoid. It was dehumanizing… People used it to refer to Siberian - The Siberian, exactly because of that."Your behaviour does not really suit a fresh trigger. Your skills and powers speak of-""I'm not a parahuman." I interrupted Dragon. "Think of me more like a Tinker creation. Or a Master minion. I'm no more Andrea Blackwell than I am the arm that Siberian took from me. It's just a shell."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it."It's not enough. You've shown to have memories of confidential information.""I'm sorry. It has to be enough." My voice was calm as I continued. "I wish to collaborate with you. Take down the Nine. Help against the Endbringers and other S-Class threats like them."And extinguish Scion."But I can't be anchored down by a person I no longer am. If it helps, I have enough information about every parahuman living in this city that I could compromise every one, but I never plan to release it even if you put out a warrant for me. We both know this isn't fully unusual for a powerful enough thinker, and we also both know that you need all the help you can get.""...okay. That is… Good. I needed to bring it up, and yes you are right. There is precedent to what you are talking about, especially if you admit to a thinker power."Mh?Odd. She changed her tune oddly quickly. As though she was forcing herself to speak on those topics. The synthetic voice made it impossible to truly understand her emotions, but there were still some things to infer in how she approached the topics and left them just as quickly.Something to keep in mind, I suppose."Then we can skip the preamble." I pressed the 'stop' button in the elevator, and climbed up the shaft. I walked the rest of the way down. "We're in the midst of a S-Class threat. I know that the PRT brings emergency Tinker caches to Endbringer fights, and that some of them haven't been removed from the HQ after Leviathan."Dragon immediately understood what I was asking.
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The sun had just begun to rise when the last van arrived. In total there were four, each filled to the brim with raw materials and mobile work stations. Nothing compared to what the PHQ itself had available, and barely worse than my own workshop.This was the 'tinker-cache' that would be made available shortly before Endbringer fights. If it was confirmed that it wasn't the Simurgh, that is. They wouldn't compare to a fully developed workshop, but would suffice.The PRT didn't gift me this equipment, though. They merely loaned it to me."I think this is it, lady uh…" The young man, Kid Win, was checking a notepad he had with him. He was unsure on how to refer to me, mostly because of the similarity between my 'cape' name and this body's actual surname."Blackwall." Miss Militia finished his sentence. She narrowed her eyes, keeping me in her sight at all times.The Director had allowed me to have access to these resources, but only on the condition of constant monitoring. It was expensive stuff, and they didn't trust me to not steal it. More than that, they wanted to make sure I did not use it to cause more problems.Together with the Ward and the Protectorate hero, there were a number of officers. All armed to the teeth.I was flattered, more than anything. Not that I planned to actually cause any problems. Dragon had decided to extend me some trust, and I would not betray it.We were not too far away from the Wards HQ, in an abandoned building, or, more precisely, in the parking lot of an abandoned building. If I tried anything then the rest of the Wards would swoop down. Followed by every Protectorate hero within the city.Glancing at the cameras that had been quickly installed in all corners, I got to work. Taking crates out with one hand turned out to be frustrating but not impossible. Miss Militia kept quiet, while Kid Win observed carefully. He even offered to help, before Miss Militia chastised him and told him to stand back."The villain groups are meeting tonight. To discuss how to deal with the Nine. If you could be there as well then it would set a good precedent." Miss Militia said."Mh." I thought for a moment, weighing my options. Such a gathering would be easily spotted by the Nine, and Jack would love the opportunity to cause havoc. But Miss Militia was right, this could be a good chance to establish a working alliance with every parahuman in the city."I will think about it." I said even as I already decided on what to do. One option stood among the rest as the best in this situation, given my tools and enemies.Miss Militia nodded in response, then left me to my work.And so I got started.
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"That… Can't be good for you…" Kid Win commented as he watched me slowly pull out cables and veins from my left stump. The wound had been extremely rough, as the Siberian had taken her sweet time to crush the arm before tearing it off. That meant a lot of the connections had been damaged and would need to be replaced."Local anaesthesia." I answered, lying. The child did not need to know about the pain I was going through, especially as I could easily hide it from my face.It was busy work, slowly removing damaged cables and tying off the necessary artificial veins so I would not bleed to death. Not that I could do much more as I waited for the various 3d printers to finish.Dragon had provided me with a left arm prosthetic already, but I would need to modify to fit my specification."Uh uh…" Kid Win muttered, but I could tell there was something else in his tone."Ask." I said. Kid Win looked to Miss Militia for permission, to which she gave a brief nod."...how can you stand modifying your body to such a degree? You're basically not human anymore.""Is Weld a human?" I asked."That's-""Are you?"Kid Win shut up. And began to think. Then answered:"Weld and I both are humans. I think. I think? It makes sense, to me at least.""I agree. You are humans. Not because of what materials make up your body, or whether you're 'para' or not. There's more to people than just that.""It's pretty arrogant to say you know what defines a human." Miss Militia commented from the side. She was still wary of me."...true. Then let me rephrase what I said. You see yourself as human, not because of flesh, blood and feelings, but through an intrinsic understanding of identity. Similarly, I found that I don't much care about what my body is made up of, as long as it helps me do what needs to be done.""And what is that?" Miss Militia asked, slightly more interested in the conversation.Kill Scion. And…"Save the world. Safeguard humanity." I smiled. "Which includes Weld, and you too, Kid Win.""...what about the Nine?" The boy asked. Miss Militia winced."Do I consider them human, you mean?""Yes.""Of course I do." I almost bit my tongue as I pulled out a particularly long cable that had gotten stuck. "To do otherwise is to forget that they had a choice.""A choice." Kid Win repeated."A choice. Yes. Though…"Maybe it was Kid Win's curiosity. His innocence. Or maybe I was beginning to get lonely, now that I was restrained to a singular instance of being. In any case, I decided to share some of what I knew."...though there is more to that. To why parahumans are whirlpools of violence. It is not a coincidence."Kid Win did not know how to answer that, but what surprised me the most was what Miss Militia said next."You remember it too?" She asked, hope in her voice."Remember what?"She lowered her shoulders, dejected."The dreams. It doesn't matter…"Mh.Miss Militia couldn't sleep as a noctis cape. Dreams…"No, please," I asked:"Tell me."