Novice 1.A Interlude

Director Piggot

It had been a busy day for the PRT and the Protectorate, and the people gathered in the meeting room were all looking forward to going home and relaxing for a while. Even Armsmaster's usually stoic face was showing the fatigue he had been through, as they were starting to near the end of the day's debriefing.

"In the aftermath, the empire drove the merchant thugs out of the area and gave chase to the last car leaving the area. It may have been a mere test if Squealer could produce multiple easier to maintain vehicles for the Merchants, but this show of force was certainly alarming. The fact the merchants were capable of attacking simultaneously at five different locations with cars armed with heavy weapons capable of breaking the empire owned businesses and causing serious damage to the surrounding areas means that they can no longer be taken lightly." Armsmaster finished his report with a grim look on his face.

"I managed to examine one of the wrecks driven off road, after the merchants in question had torn off the gun and made a run for it, but unfortunately they seemed to have it rigged to destroy anything important with the pull of a switch once it was no longer able to run. I pulled out a few pieces to examine later in my laboratory, but I believe most of Squealer's 'improvements' are too heavily blackboxed to be of any real use to us, even after refining the designs."

While Armsmaster might consider examining the parts worth further interest, Director Piggot did not. The vehicles had proven dangerous, but also rather fragile once they were hit with something stronger than handguns and rifles. Rune had wrecked one, Hookwolf had taken down two, and Assault and Battery had managed to actually force one off road for Armsmaster to examine after Squealer's own car pulled off a rather disturbing vanishing trick. She was far more concerned about that particular vehicle rather than the others.

"That thing was heavier than it looked, and the gun mounted on the back was no joke either. I don't think I would want to fight against more than one of those, or one handled by people who aren't heavily self-medicated." Assault just had to throw his own bit in, but it was relatively tame given their serious mood.

"As for the other matter. One of the casualties of the recent attack was a civilian, who either triggered on the scene or had triggered earlier but remained quiet and out of sight until now. They were taken to a hospital, but their body was already recovering when Panacea was brought in to examine the patient just in case." Triumph was restating this, but it did tie in with what remained.

"He was willing to come along to PRT for power testing and a short interview concerning his situation. He was notably reluctant to join Protectorate officially, but did not seem inclined to work for any of the gangs either. I had an emergency call for assistance at that time so I had to leave, but requested Gallant to take over." He paused at this point noticing the director was glaring at him.

"And what made you decide to send a Ward to deal with a potentially unfriendly, possibly only recently triggered cape with suspected brute powers ?" Her tone made it clear she wanted Triumph to have a very good answer to that.

"With all due respect ma'am, I believed it was the best choice. The man was young, and I believed he would be more willing to talk with Gallant than with me. I was needed elsewhere, and I believed that Gallant is mature enough to handle the matter, and might even provide some additional insight to the man in question. He would also know not to use his own powers or otherwise provoke a response from our guest."

"We will discuss this at length later on, but in the meanwhile I have a short report here from Gallant. I trust you have already read through it?" The director waited until seeing that Triumph gave a somewhat reluctant nod.

"Gallant noted the man in question was initially somewhat receptive but with strangely muted emotional response, before seeming to tense up, and become more wary. Gallant's observations were similar to my own in that the man in question did not appear to consider joining the gangs an option he would willingly take, but he was still resistant to the idea of working with the Protectorate for some unknown reason."

"Why is this man so important? On the paper he is listed as Brute 2 with sub-rating of Mover 1, peak-human but entirely within human limits other than his slow-acting regeneration and apparent damage reduction abilities. He refused the blood examination but the observation from the hospital notes he should have bled to death if not for his powers." Battery sounded honestly curious at this point.

"It is because of what is not in the official papers. Gallant isn't the only one who was having a difficult time coming up with any answers about the man. The Watchdog was requested to provide some additional insight. Their answer came back as 'inconclusive'." Piggot watched the people look at one another in understanding.

"He has some kind of a stranger effect? Why is that not in his file?" Battery tapped on the file on the table, even as Miss Militia looked over her own copy.

"These are the copies that will be available to the rest of the Protectorate and PRT. I imagine you want the last bit kept from the merely restricted files and instead only added to the confidential files?" Miss Militia's question was met with a brief nod.

"Why is this information about this 'Scholar' kept out of the files? Also, what was this guy thinking picking a name making him sound like a thinker when he's a brute?" Assault had managed to stay serious for most of the meeting, so the director decided not to comment on the second question or its importance.

"It is because it appears to be a constant effect he is not possibly even aware of. It may be similar to Glory Girl's aura, manifesting passively to keep him from being read, masking his presence from thinker powers. The fact Gallant got some insight into the man up close but Watchdog's remote attempts provided no additional information also lends credence to the current theory. The fact he tensed up may be similar to Glory Girl's aura flaring up to intimidate her enemies, a response not entirely under the man's own control. As it stands, it is an ability that may leave him unmasked if it gets out to the gangs. I would prefer this information is kept within the PRT ENE's confidential files for now, we will release it if it becomes apparent he intends to use his powers for criminal purposes." Director Piggot may not like the capes too much, but she was not going to just provoke a currently neutral figure into becoming an enemy. Small push to bring him over to Protectorate's side might bear more fruit in the future if they handled things right.

Besides, the man's abilities were hardly impressive enough to warrant too much caution, it was more a matter of respecting the unwritten rules and not exposing his identity unnecessarily. Unfortunately by the time the watchdog's report had come in the man had already left the building, and had not been seen since he had walked away and out of the cameras range.

"If this is all I have to get to my lab." Armsmaster was getting somewhat impatient. His coffee was already gone, and the man would only get more aggravated if kept from tinkering much longer. For all his knowledge and skills with technology, socially he was far from a pleasant man to deal with. At least he was competent when it came to taking down the criminal capes, Piggot thought to herself grimly.

"Very well, meeting adjourned."

Thomas Calvert

Standing at an onsite office in a suit and wearing a safety helmet, Thomas Calvert was reviewing the plans for the latest construction site his company had secured for itself. The shelter would be utilizing some of the new additions Dragon had managed to reverse-engineer from samples of a villainous tinker's base defenses and reinforcements a few months back. Getting his hands on a copy of those would mean his underground base would be getting an upgrade as well in due time.

He was still suffering from a headache after his power had chosen to act up a short while back. He had chosen to stay in his 'safe' timeline, at work, while the one where he had been at PRT and actually witnessed the recent trigger, 'Scholar' completing his power testing.

Looking at the man and his results had not seemed too interesting, until he had began to experience a slowly growing migraine starting to make him uncomfortable. The feeling had built up, and when he had been listening in on the man talking with Gallant a short time later the sensation had lead to physical nausea. It had got to a point he was starting to experience a slight vertigo and worry about fainting at the PRT building and having to go through a brain scan to make sure he was alright.

Dropping that timeline had cost him a chance to bid on a secondary construction effort, a minor loss he could accept, but the fact that this 'Scholar' seemed to make him experience such symptoms lead him to believe the man could become a problem later on.

He finished up going through the paperwork, signing a few documents and taking his own copies along with him in his briefcase he left the construction site, removing the helmet only once he was safely inside his car.

Pulling out a phone, he heard it ring a couple of times as the tinker-tech built in the phone secured the line.

"Yes?" The tired voice answering sounded somewhat muffled. It was no surprise with this particular employee though. They preferred to be active at night anyway.

"I have a possible job for you. There's a new cape in town, currently using the name 'Scholar'. Low-brute, at least on the surface, but possibly something more. I need you to investigate and find out what you can." He preferred to know whether the man could be an asset or if he would be a problem after all, and what approach he should take with this.

"Couldn't this have waited until later?" The voice on the other end sounded somewhat grumpy, but soon spoke again. "Send me the information you have and I'll look into it, but I'm expecting the bonus if this is something you cannot do yourself."

Calvert might not like it, but he was willing to pay extra when necessary. He simply did not want his employees to get greedy. That tended to inevitably result in needing to hire replacements.

"I'll pay for results, and according to what you can find. I don't have other jobs planned for you right now so please be as thorough as you can." It was not really a request but having some manners was better than the alternative. He was no Skidmark, thank you very much.

"Fine. I'll see what I can find and report in when I have some answers, have the files sent and I'll look at them after a shower." After that he heard the click and dial-tone, knowing his employee was going to get to it soon.

He considered asking his pet thinker to take a closer look as well, but then decided against it. If his recent migraine was any indication of what exposure to the man could do to a thinker then he did not want to risk having her caught due to a medical issue. Her power already came with its own migraines after all. Though if she managed to displease him then assigning her to looking around for some additional information in one timeline might be worthwhile.

Putting his phone away and starting the car, Thomas Calvert headed off, the plans for structural reinforcements reverse-engineered from a 'defensive fortification tinker' safely tucked away in his briefcase.

He split the timelines, heading home in one and sending a word to a contact who would send the files for him, while heading over to the base in person in another, intent on having those files forwarded as soon as possible.

Author's Note: A small response to a question posed after last chapter. There was no use of power by Gallant taking place, it was more of an overreaction by the MC to what they thought was power use, while in reality he just honestly thought Gallant had a relaxing friendly presence about him. No power use there, beyond the rather passive emotional vision which would not really have shown.

In short, MC jumped to conclusions and got defensive. They are someone who read Worm long ago, then read a large number of fanworks, and does not have a retroactive perfect memory to tell what is wrong and what is right. In short, it is an in-character mistake by the MC.