Scion Seeks Advice

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.

Betad by Malcolm Tent, Beans, Priapus, Old man of the mountain, Mike God of Lore

The Guild of Gamers: The Gambler

Chapter 09: Scion Seeks Advice

– Missy Biron (Vista) –

Their patrol went about as she expected, guiding the extremely powerful new cape around as they chatted about what being a Ward was actually like, occasionally getting stopped by civilians who wanted their autographs or to ask questions about whatever.

Sett happily admitted he was joining the Wards, and he seemed to have a talent for public relations, (she couldn't tell if it was something he trained or just his natural personality). The contrast between his admittedly intimidating looks and his golden-retriever personality made him very popular as he posed for pictures with fans and chatted with civilians with his usual grin.

She had heard some people cooing over how cute she looked, guiding the far taller, muscled demon around, her childish dress-like costume looking more silly than usual next to Sett's heavy metal leather outfit, (which Vicky apparently picked for him). She tried to ignore them, reminding herself that Sett respected her as a proper cape even if the public didn't.

Of course, a lot of attention was drawn by Sett's dog. Cape Pets were always popular but also uncommon since most masked Capes couldn't actually have their pet attached to their cape persona, or they'd risk being tracked down by it. Sett and King didn't have that worry, and King definitely drew a lot of attention (if she wasn't trying to not look childish, even she'd have wanted to rub her face in all that fur).

…still, today, she'd learned something new. Brockton Bay had a large goth population, and they adored Sett. She'd never seen so many girls in dark clothes and heavy makeup with skin that looked like it had never seen sunlight.

Where had they all come from? Sure, she'd seen some around occasionally, but they'd basically descended upon the Boardwalk en masse when it got out that Sett was here. The fact that Sett did indeed like the same type of music, after they shared some with him, seemed to raise him to the position of Goth Icon, and they'd barely managed to get anywhere with the constant interruptions, but this was a PR patrol so she guessed they were achieving their goal.

Still, it was kinda annoying to watch Sett get swarmed by fans that seemed to forget she was even there. Not that she wanted to get dragged into a conversation about gothic rock since admitting she preferred pop music would not help her case. Sett did try to involve her; it was kinda sweet, to be honest, but he was the new big thing. Nothing would stop people from wanting a piece of him.

"Is it always this hectic?" Sett asked, pulling himself away from the latest group of goths; what would that even be? A pack? A swarm? Probably a murder of goths.

"You're a new hero and one that's already made some pretty massive waves. I know you've made some public appearances before, but being seen patrolling the Boardwalk with a Ward is always going to attract a lot of attention. It'll die down somewhat after the actual announcement," Missy explained easily; she'd seen it enough times, even if Sett was undeniably getting way more attention than usual.

Clock was probably crying bitter tears that Sett had cornered the Goth Girl Groupie market already.

…had Violet met Sett yet? Their invisible team-mate might not talk much, but Missy was pretty sure Violet was pretty hard into the goth scene herself. Well, that should be interesting, if nothing else.

As they moved, a flash of light above them made her act immediately, shifting the space above them to stretch it out and put half a mile between them and whatever that light was. It was a necessary action in a city with Purity in it, but as she felt the stretched space just snap back, she blinked in shock as she looked up into the indifferent face of Scion, holding some girl in a gas mask under his arm.

"Hey, Scion! What brings you here today?" Sett asked, watching Scion land and letting go of the girl, who fell face-first onto the floor, seemingly frozen in shock. Sett, being Sett, helped her rise, but she seemed terrified, shaking as she tried not to look at Scion.

Still, Sett did something, Scion's eyebrow-raising ever-so-slightly as the air around them shimmered for a second, but Scion didn't mention it, and she had no idea what to do herself.

"I require your advice," Scion said grimly, looking at the girl he brought with him. "This is Alice, she is a villain, she tried to blow up her school. Should I kill her?"

Alice snapped her head towards Scion's uncaring stare and then looked at Sett, who was still helping her stand, Sett's happy face dropping to a concerned frown. Scion left no doubt that a single word from Sett would see the apparent villain summarily executed on the spot.

"Did you, Alice?" Sett asked, making the girl shudder at his almost blank tone.

"I- No?" Alice tried as Scion glowed with golden energy for a second as she yelped in fear. "Yes, yes, I did! I'm sorry!"

"And why did you do that?" Sett asked, blinking as Alice shuddered, but Scion simply tapped her as his finger glowed for a moment.

"They gave me a B-minus! Me! I've always been an A-plus student, and they gave me a B-minus!" Alice admitted, both Sett and Missy blinking and sharing a look of pure befuddlement. "So when I got my powers, I just wanted to make them give me the grade I deserved. The stupid fat teacher was just jealous that I'm smarter than him anyway. I wasn't actually going to blow up the school… I think?"

"So, should I kill her?" Scion asked, making Alice shriek and cower, moving from apologising to complaining about how unfair this all was, that she was too smart to die like this, throwing herself at Sett's legs and hugging them as she pleaded for her life.

"No, you did the right thing, bud; we'll take it from here," Sett said, holding out his fist, which Scion stared at for a moment before he reached forward and fist-bumped Sett with a nod. Sett's first glowing gold for a second as Scion closed his eyes in silent satisfaction before stepping back.

"I see. I shall return," Scion said with a grave nod, vanishing in another flash of light, making Alice freeze as she rose to her feet on extremely shaky legs.

Turning, Alice made a break for it as Vista casually made the next meter of pavement three miles long, making Sett give her an impressed grin.

"Alice, is that your real name or your cape name? Don't worry, nobody else can hear us at the moment," Sett explained kindly as Missy warped the ground, so that Alice ran back towards them. Alice froze, breathing heavily as she swivelled her head between the two of them.

"L-let me go, or I swear I'll blow us all up," Alice said, pulling out a grenade that Scion had apparently not bothered to take away from her, priming it as Missy's eyes widened. Was this lunatic serious? 

"Hm, no, I don't think you will," Sett said, stepping forward until he was almost pressed against Alice. "You don't want to die, and we aren't going to hurt you. Why don't you put that down, and we can go to the Rig and talk about this like grown-ups?" 

"I- I swear I'll do it," Alice whimpered. Sett was almost a foot taller than her as he looked down at her, clearly intimidating despite his gentle demeanour. "I won't go to the Birdcage. I'd rather die!"

Considering she was trying to blow up a school, Missy wouldn't be surprised if the Birdcage did get thrown around, but Alice clearly had delusions of superiority if she thought it would be seriously considered for some dumb girl throwing a tantrum.

"Birdcage? I don't think we need to do that; you haven't hurt anyone yet, have you?" Sett asked kindly, his voice soothing and calm despite being stood next to an unstable tinker with a fucking tinkertech bomb. "There's no need to throw your life away like this. I won't let you."

Taking her hand, which was still holding the grenade, Alice whimpered as he pried it open with surprising gentleness and took the bomb from her hand, opening a small portal and tossing it through. Having been disarmed, Alice seemed to basically collapse in on herself, rambling under her breath as she shook back and forth.

"Vista, what should we do?" Sett asked, placing a hand on Alice's shoulder as he tried to calm her down, giving her a look over his shoulder as she blinked. "You're the most experienced hero here. It's your call."

"We- we need to take her in, even if she hasn't hurt anyone. I'm afraid she'll do something drastic if we leave her alone," Vista replied, gathering herself and reminding herself that she was the experienced one here. "Can you make a portal to where you dropped off Skidmark? I'll call ahead and let them know we're coming."

"I can. Just let me know when you want it," Sett said, leaving her to call Console as Sett whispered to Alice, promising that things were going to be okay. Lunatic or not, she genuinely felt a hint of sympathy for the mad woman who just threatened to blow them all up.

Before long, Sett opened a rift in space and guided the barely responsive Alice through the portal, where Alexandria was waiting for them.

"One hell of a patrol, huh?" Sett asked, giving her a smile as she laughed despite the chaos.

"Just another day in Brockton Bay."

– Rebecca Costa-Brown (Alexandria) –

"She's a bomb tinker, a highly unstable one at that," Director Piggot spat out as Rebecca stared back at her blankly. "You can't be serious."

"Some of the bombs she left in Cornell have been studied by Watchdog; she has amazing potential. Yes, she tried to blow up her university, but nobody was harmed, and this all falls under her trigger event. Locking her away for life would be a hard push even for the most ruthless court, and sending her to prison for a shorter time would just make her more likely to become a villain when she got out, whether through doing her time or a break-out," Rebecca replied coldly, seeing the veins on Piggot's forehead bulge in rage.

"But you want to make her a Ward when she's just threatened to blow up two other Wards in a suicidal final fuck you," Piggot argued, looking over at where Vista and Sett were sat, Vista looking a little awkward.

Alice's power was very useful. Numberman suggested that she'd be a useful recruit, and she wanted to test a theory of her own. She wouldn't let Piggot waste this.

"Because she was afraid we were going to Birdcage her, once Sett convinced her that she wouldn't be facing that fate, she allowed herself to be disarmed and came in willingly," Rebecca replied. "Sett, do you believe she genuinely planned to kill herself and you?"

"Nope, she really didn't want to die; she was just scared. Besides, she's apparently really smart, and she just watched Vista twist space into a pretzel. Throwing a grenade at Vista isn't exactly a smart thing. It'd never reach her," Sett said, praising his partner for this patrol as Missy blushed slightly under her mask. "It was a last desperate attempt to avoid the Birdcage."

Piggot scowled at Sett's words, but Rebecca smiled triumphantly.

"Exactly my thoughts. Shadow Stalker's probation was a great success; as such, I'd like to see if this can be repeated with Alice. Have you not been asking for more funding and capes for years? Announcing three new Wards at once would certainly warrant an increase in funding for such a successful Ward program," Rebecca pointed out, seeing Emily seethe at the realisation that she wasn't going to win this.

"Surely it would make more sense to send her to another branch?" Emily tried, but Rebecca shut that down immediately. "Perhaps Legend would like her back; she is from New York after all…"

"No, I believe Brockton Bay will be the best place for her; separating her from the Cornell bomber is going to be important. Luckily, Sett wisely prevented anyone from listening in to their conversation, so nobody really knows what the entire situation was about at the moment," Rebecca explained. "Besides, Brockton Bay has Armsmaster who should serve as a good example as a fellow Tinker."

That was bullshit, and everyone but Sett seemed to know it. Armsmaster took on the responsibility of being the leader of the Wards program but seemed entirely unsuited for it. Since she'd got here, she'd already considered putting Miss Militia or Elastigirl in charge of the Brockton Bay Wards, since Armsmaster's lack of social skills and his complete focus on his Tinkering made him a poor choice.

Kid Win still didn't know his speciality, even being 'mentored' by one of the best Tinkers the PRT had, and subtle questions had proven that Armsmaster barely made time for his protege, let alone the other Wards.

Given the new importance of the Brockton Bay Wards, it wouldn't do for them to be guided by someone who was likely to antagonise Sett. It was of the utmost priority that Sett thrive in the PRT and enjoy his time here. 

Especially now that Scion was bringing Capes to Sett like a cat bringing its owner a dead bird.

"Armsmaster is hardly fit to handle an unstable girl who will likely make a bomb to blow up the Rig the first time she's left alone; unstable Tinkers need more care than Armsmaster can provide," Emily countered.

"If Alice being a Tinker is the problem, I could swap her power with someone else's for a while?" Sett offered as everyone paused, looking at him.

"You can- of course, you can," Emily sighed.

"Yup, I've never used it before, but I have a power that lets me swap two people's powers. It does some funky power-level thing where if you swap a strong power with a weak one, the stronger one will get a more powerful version of the weak power and vice versa," Sett explained easily. "So if we swapped say… Skidmark and Alexandria, Alexandria would get a souped-up version of Skiddy's while Skidmark would get a laughably weak version of Alexandria's power."

…seriously, what was with Sett's powers?

"Or we could just give her my new power since it's similar. Oh yeah, I got the power to make floating orbs that explode on contact. I call it Minefield," Sett explained with a grin, holding out his hand as a black orb appeared above it. "She gets a new explosion power and doesn't build a nuke or anything. Ooh, I have an idea. I give Minefield to Armsmaster, then we swap the power so the Big Boy Tinker gets the Tinker power for a while; he should be able to do some cool stuff with two Tinker powers."

"That is an interesting idea. We could give Alice her own power back later when she has calmed down and his social problems aside. Armsmaster is one of the best tinkers in the PRT," Rebecca praised, giving Sett a nod. She wanted to see this power swapping in action; it definitely sounded like it had some serious potential. 

So many villains had incredibly useful powers; it was why Cauldron had the Birdcage made so they could keep powers around, and there were plenty of unimportant powers that could be traded away even with this strange limitation of the 'power levels' not changing.

Piggot seethed in her seat, having realised that this battle was lost. 

– Sett –

Missy and I leave the two very interesting women alone, those two definitely don't get along, and I get the feeling Director Piggot would have preferred that we weren't there for that argument, but Alexandria insisted.

"Whew, that was intense," Missy admits as we head towards the Wards section. "I get the feeling Piggot isn't thrilled to have Alexandria around."

"I think they both have their own ideas of who is in charge, and those ideas definitely don't match," I agree.

"Yeah, I know Piggot is the Director, but that's Alexandria, plus it doesn't seem fair to Alice to lock her up and throw away the key over her trigger event," Missy whispers as if Piggot is going to hunt her down for disagreeing.

"She's an… intense woman, but I guess you gotta be to end up a Director," I say, shrugging as I give Missy a smile. "Good work today."

"Same to you, Sett. This really isn't what I expected from our first patrol, but it's better for you to get used to Brockton Bay's insanity immediately, I guess," Missy laughs. "Were you that sure I'd be able to deal with the grenade?" 

"I mean, yeah?" I reply, making her blush. "You've been at this for years, in Brockton Bay. Sure, it's a tinkertech grenade, but I imagine it's hardly your first time dealing with a grenade."

I could have made a portal for the grenade to go through, though it was more risky when I got close. I imagine Vista, who has been at this a lot longer, would have dealt with this much easier.

"Heh, you're not wrong. Fucking Oni Lee," Vista mumbles, the curse surprising me, but it's cute coming from such a sweet girl. "I was in the Wards for two weeks before I first ran into that nutjob and his infinite grenade spam."

"Ouch, but that just proves I was right. You could handle a crying teenage girl, even if she was holding a grenade," I praise, giving her a smile.

"Where did you send the grenade anyway?" Vista asks, making me shrug.

"Space, I figured it wouldn't hurt anyone if I just dropped it on the moon," I explain, seeing her stumble as she freezes midstep. "I worked out how to make them one way, so the atmosphere didn't get vacuumed out or whatever."

"God, you're scarily powerful," Vista says, sighing. "Glad you're on our side."

"I'm pretty glad I'm on your side as well," I agree, making her grin before she pauses as we enter the surprisingly empty Ward's room. 

Vista pauses for a moment, giving me a look for a moment before she reaches up and removes her visor, giving me a smile. You know, I thought with the all-green outfit, her eyes would be Blue or something as a disguise, but they're actually a rather nice green.

"Since we're going to be teammates, you can call me Missy. It saves me having to wear the visor whenever you're around," Missy explains. 

"It's nice to meet you, Missy. I'm Sett but don't tell anyone," I joke, making her grin. 

"Your secret is safe with me," Missy promises, giving me a wave as she heads to her room. 

Feats Achieved

 [Become a Goth Icon] [First Ward Patrol] [Defeat Bakuda] [Recruit Bakuda into the Wards]

Rewards: One Roll (rolled), One Heroic Roll (will grant something useful for a hero), Three Rolls. Two Heroic Rolls.

So, fun fact. Most of the Feats were set up with the belief that canon would somewhat survive, stupid mistake, honestly. Bakuda was supposed to be a massive threat, not a crying teenage girl hugging your leg. I'd call you a lucky bastard, but we're so far beyond that.

Alice would have been called Bakuda? Huh. Go me! Or more like, go Scion! My amazing good luck charm strikes again. I already rolled the Goth Icon roll while I was getting surrounded and occasionally molested by hot goth girls, getting my new Minefield power, a rare power.

[Minefield] - Rare

You can create floating opaque spheres in the area around you. Anything that touches a sphere causes it to explode with the force of a grenade.

It's nice, but I have my magic. Also, the orbs aren't that strong. My hellfire is better when I escalate. 

Basically, Scion just delivered me five rolls because I didn't like him enough already, apparently. With the first roll already done, that leaves six more rolls to do. Effectively, Scion is my favourite person in the entire world, and I'm not even sleeping with him.

Also, that's seven out of the ten I need for my curse. Sure, my power would have been an Epic if I hadn't gotten cursed, but hey, a Rare is still pretty damn good. If I'd rolled Divine, I might be crying bitter tears, but I could drop the curse right now and call it a day.

That said, I want that optional objective.

Still, should I really roll them all right now? Oh, who the fuck am I kidding? Come to Daddy. 

Let's start with the regular rolls and see what my good luck charm has brought for me today.

Results: Epic Perk (Reduced to Rare), Common Perk (Reduced to Junk), Uncommon Item (Reduced to Common).

I won't deny that the reductions hurt my soul, but I push through and remind myself of the end goal: completing my optional objective and getting some mystery reward.

[Noctis Cape] - Rare

You no longer require sleep and have perfect recollection.

[Wet Panties Detection] - Junk

You can now sense when someone has wet their panties, whether in terror or arousal.

[Endless Roll of Duct Tape] - Common

A roll of regular duct tape that will never run out, the engineer's best friend. 

I have God of Crafting and an Endless Roll of Duct Tape. Fear me. Also, not needing sleep adds to my magic studying time, so that's nice; the Junk perk I could do without, but it doesn't hurt either.

I am considering stopping my quest now, but the sunk cost fallacy demands that I leave it active now that I've rolled three of the extra rolls. I only need six more, and I'll be done. It'd be stupid to stop now.

Results: Epic Power (Reduced to Rare), Mythical Power (Reduced to Legendary), Epic Tome (Reduced to Rare)

Man, I roll well. 

You have no idea. 

I'm a little sad to lose a Mythical, but it's not the end of the world, and I can't complain about these rolls.

[Tinker Speciality: Augmentation] - Rare

You have the ability to create incredibly advanced Augmentations, such as the Cyberware of Cyberpunk or Augmentations of Deus Ex.

[Regeneration] - Legendary 

You have a powerful regeneration factor, making you nearly unkillable by conventional means. You will heal from most wounds in seconds and regrow limbs in hours.

[Tome of the Beacon (Order Affinity)] - Rare

Sweet, Regeneration meshes very well with my Escalation since it means I can stay in the fight longer and continue to grow stronger all the while, which is a very useful ability to have. Another Order tome is also a fun one, and with God of Crafting, it's nice to have a Tinker ability as well.

Maybe I'll lend it to Armsmaster; I'm honestly curious what he could do with three Tinker abilities at the same time. I know people keep hinting that he might not be the most social person, but he's supposed to be really badass, and isn't that more important than being good at talking?

– Alice Satsuki –

Watching as Sett walked in, she hid her frown as she reminded herself that she was only alive because Sett convinced Scion not to kill her. This was ridiculous; she had an amazing power, and they wanted to take it away?

And yet, the idea of having her power swapped with a more combat-oriented blaster power made her perk up, a little voice inside her telling her to go along with it. She was seventeen, she'd graduate from the Wards in a few months and as long as she behaved during that time, she'd be let out, and the university bombing wouldn't be put on her record.

"Ah, right on time. Sett, Alice has agreed to join the Wards on a probationary period, and as such, we'd like to go with your plan of exchanging her power with someone else's for a short time," Alexandria said, greeting Sett, who perked up. "I believe swapping your 'minefield' power with her Tinker power was a good suggestion, so the only real question is if you still want to grant it to Armsmaster beforehand or just swap it and take the power yourself."

Armsmaster perked up himself, but a look from Alexandria cut him off before he could speak. She'd already heard him talk, and he seemed to have his head up his ass. 

"I think it's best to swap it. I'm busy with my 'magic' studies anyway, so I don't want to add a Tinker power on top of it just yet," Sett said, making Armsmaster smile ever-so-slightly.

"An efficient decision. As one of the premier Tinkers in the world, I'm better suited to get the most out of her power while she is on probation," Armsmaster agreed, unable to take his head out of his ass.

"Shame Dragon isn't here so he could give my power to an actually impressive Tinker," Alice spat out, but Armsmaster barely even glanced her way.

"Yup, it's why I'm considering lending you my Tinker power as well. It's better that I focus on one thing, and you could probably do some cool stuff with it," Sett agreed, making them all blink before Alexandria sighed.

"You got another power since our last discussion… three hours ago?" Alexandria asked, making him pause.

"Oh, I got two new powers, became a Noctis cape, and also got a new spellbook. It's been a busy day," Sett answered happily. "I got an Augmentation tinker speciality and a powerful healing factor."

"Of course you did," Alexandria said, shaking her head. "We can come back to this later if you're ready. I'd like to watch you grant your Minefield power to Armsmaster."

"Sure, it's not like it's complicated," Sett said, walking over and just poking Armsmaster on the chest. "Done."

…what?

"He's telling the truth. I can feel the new power within me and how to use it," Armsmaster agreed, holding out his arm as a small black orb appeared in front of him before Armsmaster closed his hand and the orb vanished.

"Okay, now I want you to 'exchange' Minefield with Alice's power," Alexandria said, moving on quickly to hide her shock at how easily Sett could pass out powers like candy.

"Done," Sett said as she felt the weight of all those plans in her head vanishing, instead left with the knowledge of how to summon and control her 'mines'. 

She could see the sheer shock on everyone's faces at how easily he'd done it, not even a gesture, but her mind was still reeling from the sudden shift. Somewhere deep in her mind, she could almost hear a tiny voice freaking the fuck out, but she focused and held out her hand.

Appearing above it, she watched as the same black opaque orb appeared in front of her, but she focused for a moment. She was better than Armsmaster, and she could prove it. Remnants of her real power called out to her as she grinned, taking the orb and watching as it changed colours to a light blue.

Now it was an EMP mine, and with another thought, she changed it again to a knock-out gas, the voice in her head cheering in sheer joy as she proved how goddamn good she was. She couldn't make bombs as grand as the ones her tinker power would have allowed her, but being able to make mines of any type she could imagine was certainly not bad.

"Oh, wow, you're good," Sett praised. "I wonder if it's because your original power was so similar to your new one?" 

"Hm, a power synergy, perhaps? Armsmaster, do you have her tinker power?" Alexandria asked, making Armsmaster nod.

"I can feel so many plans for explosives of every kind in my mind, and it is meshing with my own miniaturisation and efficiency specialisation. I can already think of several potential improvements to my loadout with the ability to make all manner of bombs, including non-lethal anti-brute explosives for the likes of Lung," Armsmaster explained.

"Alice, what exactly are you doing with those mines?" Alexandria asked, her tone reminding Alice that she was playing with bombs in front of a member of the Triumvirate while on probation.

"I think my subconscious remembers all the plans for the different types of explosives, so I just tried to change the mine I was making into a different type," Alice said quickly, not wanting her to have Sett take away her new toy.

"Impressive; that would certainly make your Minefield power more versatile in combat," Alexandria praised. "Sett, Minefield wasn't supposed to be able to make different types of mines?"

"Nope, not as far as I know. It always made them the same for me, just regular fragmentation mines," Sett agreed. "Honestly, it's like it's made for you. You can keep that when you get off probation."

She froze as he said that, her mind screaming at her to not fuck this up. This was even better than not getting sent to jail. She could leave the Wards with both her power and Minefield? That was a major power upgrade for her, no matter what she decided to do afterwards.

And all she had to do was behave herself for a few months?

She could play hero for a prize like that, and naturally, she'd be the best hero, who wasn't named Scion or Sett because those two were a special kind of broken. Who the fuck just casually developed three new powers in a few hours?

"Now, I realise this is short notice, but we have decided it would be best to announce all three of the new Wards at the same time. As such, you'll be announced in three days alongside Sett and another recruit," Alexandria explained, making Alice nod easily. She didn't want to waste time anyway; she needed to play around with her new power and see what it could do. "Fortunately, the PR team is still here dealing with the other recruit's costume and name, which is proving troublesome. I'm afraid the next couple of days will be very busy for you."

"I can handle it," Alice scoffed. "I can handle anything."

– Colin Wallis (Armsmaster) –

In truth, he hadn't been thrilled at the idea of another constantly-growing Cape joining the Brockton Bay team, not after watching Dauntless freely grow in power with no real effort on his part. Sett sounded like Dauntless but much more powerful, gaining entire new powers for no reason, so he'd quickly imagined Sett to be a miniature Dauntless who didn't try and just succeeded despite not putting in the effort.

"And you don't mind just giving this away?" Colin asked, making Sett shrug.

He'd quickly changed his mind.

"It's still my power. I can take it back later, and I will want it back eventually, but for now, I'm focused on studying the 'magic' tomes my power keeps giving me. I just don't really have the time for tinkering on a serious level, you know?" Sett agreed, making Colin nod seriously.

"Of course, to become a truly great Tinker requires considerable dedication and time. It is something that you need to devote your entire being to," Colin agreed, glad that Sett understood this. "I'd be honoured to hold onto your Augmentation speciality, even just temporarily."

Tapping him again, he felt his mind expand as so many wonderful plans flooded his thoughts. He had always been so limited by his human form, but now he could think of so many ways to improve himself in ways that would have been impossible beforehand. 

Both Alice's explosives specialisation and Sett's augmentation worked with his own, allowing him to make the blueprints they could make so much more efficient, new ideas constantly filling his head. 

"Thank you, Sett. I will put your power to very good use," Colin promised, making Sett nod easily. 

"I'm sure you will. Have fun!" Sett said cheerfully. "I'm gonna go find Emma and leave you to do your tinkering."

"Of course, thank you again, Sett," Colin said, itching to get to his workshop as soon as possible but remembering that Alexandria would be less than pleased if he forgot his social skills around the PRT's new golden goose.

As Sett wandered off, he couldn't bring himself to mind the intense focus the PRT had on Sett now. His power had so much potential, and Sett showed no hesitation in sharing that power with the rest of the PRT, understanding that he couldn't do everything alone.

No, helping Sett thrive was just logical because Sett brought the rest of his allies up with him as he rose. 

Smiling, Colin wondered what other Tinker powers Sett might develop, even as he started the blueprints for his next creation.

– Emma Barnes –

"So, you still haven't decided?" Sett asked as they cuddled on the couch, watching a movie.

"I have made plenty of suggestions, but it turns out that fire powers are common; most of the good names are taken. Or they have had other issues with my ideas, and all of their ideas were awful; you know one of the PR suggestions was matchstick?" Emma scoffed. "I'm one of the strongest Pyrokinetic capes in history, and they wanted to call me matchstick."

"Oof, I thought they were supposed to be good at this?" Sett asked, making her scoff again.

"They've had some good suggestions, and my costume is already complete, but the name is being a real pain. I met some of the Wards earlier, though, and they seem nice. I really think this is going to be great," Emma said, her excitement clear as she placed her head on Sett's shoulder. "It does look like we're going to go with a name related to the sun since most fire-based names end up sounding villainous. We'll see."

Some movement made her sit up, looking over at where Vista had walked in, hesitating.

"Hey, Vista, wanna join us? We're just watching some old cowboy movies," Sett offered easily. "I've made some really good popcorn."

"Erm, isn't this a couple thing?" Vista asked, making Emma shake her head.

"No, not at all. We wouldn't be in the Ward living room if it was. Don't worry; cuddling is about as much PDA as we're going to do," Emma joked, making Vista smile awkwardly. "I'm Emma, by the way. I'll be joining the Wards soon; I just don't have my cape name yet."

"Right, I heard about you. It'll be nice to have another girl on the team. Besides Shadow Stalker, I mean," Vista corrected quickly, likely remembering that she and Sett were friends with Sophia. "I'm Missy, might as well unmask, since we're going to be teammates."

Exchanging pleasantries, Missy left to get changed and came back shortly afterwards, joining them as Emma looked at her carefully. Was that the beginning of a crush she could see Missy developing? 

She didn't think Missy herself was aware of it, but it looked like Sett had stolen another heart as he focused on the movie, occasionally tossing a piece of popcorn to King, who was lying on the floor in front of them. Didn't Sophia say that Missy was crushing on Gallant? 

Well, wouldn't Sett be pleased if she helped his harem grow even more? It just made sense for Sett to get all the girls, and it would secure her place as his head girl if she helped him get them. 

Missy and Sett already seemed comfortable with each other, joking and chatting as the ye olde cowboy movie played. The room grew busier still as Clockblocker and Kid Win arrived, or Dennis and Chris, and she didn't miss Chris sneaking a look at her when he thought nobody would notice.

She'd met these two and Dash earlier and was unsurprised that Chris seemed to develop his own crush on her, hiding his sadness when he noticed that she was cuddling with Sett while Sett and Dennis joked around. 

Chris was more awkward than his jokester of a teammate and clearly had some serious self-esteem issues that being around the man that was Sett wasn't helping. She'd heard from Sophia that Chris didn't even know how to use his own power. Honestly, Chris wouldn't have survived a week in Winslow.

She could see why Sophia made fun of him but mentally shook her head and reminded herself that she was better than that now. Sett deserved better than a petty bully as his lover, and she'd be the best version of herself for him.

They would be the power couple to end all power couples, superstars and superheroes, side by side. She'd already started her plans to have Madison, the cape groupie that she was, bouncing on Sett's cock as a present for her lover, and she wasn't going to stop there.

After the gift Sett had given her, she'd return the favour by getting him every girl he could possibly want because he deserved the world. 

Now, if only the PR team would stop being stubborn and let her name herself after Nephthys, Set's consort (and sister) in the mythos. But nooooo, naming yourself after a goddess was apparently against the rules, stupid Glenn and his idiotic Hawaiian shirt.

Settling down to watch the next movie, she cuddled into Sett's side more, wondering if she could get away with giving him a handjob? Maybe if she got a blanket… no, don't push it. Not yet, anyway. She should wait until they'd been announced to the public before she started pushing things. 

For now, she'd settle for cuddling, sending Sophia a selfie telling her what she was missing while she was on patrol before she settled in, having already told her parents she was spending the night in the Ward rooms since they'd been given their rooms already.

Apparently, the Ward section might be getting expanded soon since Brockton Bay's Ward team was now the biggest in the entire PRT, but for now, they at least had space for their own rooms, as bland as they were. She'd have to decorate hers soon.

Everything was going pretty well for her, and the hot demon she was currently cuddling was the cause, making her smile and plant a kiss on his cheek, surprising him as he looked at her in confusion, but she just smiled secretly and turned back to the movie.

Yeah, her life was pretty good.

– Taylor Hebert –

Emma's disappearance had sparked an intense amount of suspicion in her, especially when she spied on Madison and the other groupies and still didn't find Emma after school, so she'd started investigating.

Emma wasn't at home either, but Alan and Zoe were. Once upon a time, they were almost family to her; now, she spied on them as she tried to listen to their hushed conversation. Focusing as she tried to understand their words through the bugs, she'd managed to sneak in.

Several words stood out, and her heart ran cold.

Sett. Powers. Ward. PRT.

No. No, you had to be fucking kidding her, that just wasn't… that wasn't fair.

Emma had always wanted to be a heroine; they used to play heroes and villains when they were younger and Emma always had to be the hero, throwing a tantrum if anyone else got to play Alexandria.

Emma had powers. Emma, her tormentor, her betrayer, had gained powers and was joining the fucking Wards. Emma was going to be a hero. 

The shard of ice in her chest turned to a burning inferno of rage as she shunted her emotions onto her horde, thousands of bugs buzzing angrily as Taylor glared at her former best friend's house through a thousand eyes.

That was why Emma apparently 'had a new obsession' as Sophia put it; Emma had gotten superpowers and moved on to bigger and better things, leaving her in the trash. That was where she'd met Sett, through the Wards since she'd heard he was joining them.

She'd met the new hero and already got him wrapped around his finger, tricking him into thinking she wasn't a cruel, ice-hearted piece of trash, and with her new boy toy and hero life, Emma just didn't care about messing with her anymore.

Taylor Hebert was her old plaything, one she'd grown past, but that wasn't going to happen.

Emma didn't get to just go and become a fucking superhero after everything she'd done; that wasn't going to happen. 

She didn't know how, but Emma Barnes was going to pay for every last injustice.

— Bonus Scene — Dragon

Sett was undeniably a game-changer with his utterly insane levels of development. He put every other Trump in the world to shame, even Eidolon, by her own personal judgement. 

Just his Horn of Plenty and Decanter of Endless Water held so much potential, even without the rest of his utterly insane powers. Gatemaker, as he called it, would allow rapid deployment anywhere in the world, making preparing for Endbringer battles a much more efficient process. She was already working with the PRT to arrange for a facility that could serve as a hub with Gates to every PRT division, allowing instantaneous travel between branches for emergencies. 

His willingness to share his powers spoke well of the young hero, but right now, she was ever-so-slightly wishing he'd been a bit more selfish.

"No, Colin, I won't help you cut out your heart," Dragon sighed, even as she looked over the plans Colin had sent her for his new replacement heart, with all the benefits that replacing his heart and spine with a new artificial upgrade would provide. 

Mentally facepalming, she listened to Colin as he tried to convince her that this was absolutely a good idea and that he wasn't just butchering himself for fun. This was going to be a long conversation.

Her efficiency-obsessed friend could be rather stubborn at times, but as she went over the plans, she paused in confusion, going over them again with a confused look on her avatar. These plans weren't black-boxed. Colin, in his fervour to upgrade himself beyond the limitations of humanity, hadn't seemed to have noticed, but the plans he had made lacked the black box that all tinkertech had, and yet it was undeniably very advanced technology.

Technology that she could understand perfectly.

But as Colin switched tactics, she was briefly distracted.

"What- No, I won't help you replace your eyes either," Dragon sighed. "Colin, this tech needs testing on someone that isn't you before I, or the PRT, would even consider letting you go through with these operations you're planning."

Listening to Colin, she sighed as she pulled out her secret weapon.

"Colin, if you cut off a single limb, I'm advising the PRT to have Sett take away both new specialisations," Dragon threatened, speaking as if she were talking to a particularly stubborn child.