Chapter 3 -||

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Thomas Calvert, the man of mystery and shadow, ex-member of the PRT's special forces, secret Supervillian Coil, the genius with an unlimited future... vomited into the toilet.

Again.

It had started with a mild twinge, like a headache. So mild he had ignored it for several days.

Then he had used his power, the ability to feel and experience two timelines split from one choice, to go inspect the visiting Parahuman, Variance. Determine if he should use his mercenaries to capture and torture the boy for a while, find his family for future blackmail, maybe cut some body parts off, basic stuff.

Not like the child would remember it anyway.

He had barely stepped in the room when everything in that timeline stopped. He didn't die, he didn't even feel anything go wrong... but his ability just stopped working, but continued trying.

For hours.

Eventually his safe timeline managed to cut the other one down, but the minor headache had jumped in power to a throb.

And didn't go away.

Something about this Variance had made his Thinker ability sort of... spin. Like light entering a maze of mirrors, it didn't stop or get blocked.

It just... kept trying. And failing. Forever.

Thankfully the healing bastard was being kept in a small restricted area for now, but the idea of this mental hazard wandering around HIS city was beyond crossing the line.

So... he tried to 'fix' the issue.

One timeline, he had a gang fight 'accidentally' shoot some civilians, this Variance included, as they fought through the building.

That timeline was going to be dropped anyway, after all that new healer, Panacea, and her sister (whoever) had both died, and he wanted her power under his thumb eventually.

Then the head mercenary reported that boy's corpse twitched... and everything became fire.

Everywhere.

If it was just normal fire, maybe he wouldn't have felt such terror... but the fire was alive.

Spiders the size of towers, snakes like trains, and some sort of giant jellyfish that was so large only the tentacles reached the ground... they covered the city and sky.

Again, he was underground.

it should have been enough.

The fire was alive and SMART. Civilians went from terror to confused as fire literally turned into clothing and armor, gang members were either chained with flaming metal without a burn on them or...vaporized. Like Hookwolf.

When Lung came out, Coil had felt some hope that more of Variance's abilities would be exposed, something usable in the future, some weakness exposed... until the dragon lost all his fire and began to melt.

Each attempt at fire would turn into small orbs of what his records called 'Null Metal', which both removed a good part of his battle ability and made the ground treacherous to move on.

And then... his base had been located. Like the fire had known roughly WHERE to look, his base had been blazing above ground as fire snakes and creatures burrowed and twisted, melted and searched.

Seeing the door melt to his last resort room, he ended the timeline.

The timeline should have ended at that point.

A face that looked part skull and mostly fire had entered the room... and the timeline went blank again.

It took slightly LONGER to shut down his ability this time.

He didn't try another attempt for a week after that.

Still, the fear that this man would be able to go anywhere, turning Thomas into a coma patient waiting to occur... the risks were too high.

Each further attempt that occurred taught new lessons... well, at least he learned to not attack others.

As long as only Variance was injured, the reprisals would be short and straight forward.

The one time he had attempted to use hostages... things did not go well.

This boy liked fire FAR too much.

He had eventually burned almost all his resources and hidden assets, but after a couple of tries he FINALLY convinced that flame menace (Healer? Bullshit.) that Director Piggot was an uncooperative ass, that he should head home and stop wasting his damn time here in COIL'S city.

His agents had stated that Variance had left the state before he ended his 'safe' timeline.

At which point, he found out... that this timeline didn't match what he had been experiencing.

In fact, the agent who moments ago had been informing him of code green... had died hours earlier in some mugging.

There was no record of the call.

And Variance now had a massive home/mansion thing.

And may be staying. Possibly forever.

In shock, he ended up looking at the home through one of the many nearby cameras deployed and hijacked for his use.

It only took a few seconds before the most intense, crippling pain he had ever experienced forced him to the ground, where even after crawling to the bathroom he was forced to stay.

Something about Variance's power made HIS ability fail. Be inaccurate.

Something about this child was world breaking.

He felt nausea again.

This wasn't caused by the boy's power directly... he had felt something like this around that damn fedora woman before.

It was a recoil, recoil from trying to work against someone beyond his ability to control.

The idea that this random bastard had the same effect on him as trying to control encounters with Endbringers was horrifying.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam Burns was having a much more relaxed work schedule than usual.

It was towards the end of the day, after Narwhal and Dragon had returned from shopping, that he had bothered to go online and check out PHO's reaction... which was numerous.

He had high definition video of their trip, but he wasn't exactly a professional photographer... extra pics wouldn't hurt.

Just in case, he forwarded some links to Narwhal and Dragon, asking if they minded him uploading some higher resolution video of the event for their fans.

It was humorous that despite being a computer, Dragon responded SECOND. Narwhal had clear exhibitionist tendencies, so showing her body off online got a vote before Dragon could finish her objections. The video was already trending faster than 'Tin Mother' could censor it, not that she was trying hard.

Adam was not really that surprised, he had known Narwhal for weeks now and dating her required understanding how she felt about social norms.

No, he was just enjoying the ensuing argument between two hot holograms in his room.

Dragon was blushing near the door. "No no no! I can't believe you got me to wear HALF that stuff in the first place!"

Of course, part of the reason she was blushing in the FIRST place was Narwhal's arms draped around her neck. She was NOT used to close contact. "Oh come on, Tess. You know you were rocking those bikinis."

The 'cyborg' was trying to push the taller, curvier woman away without touching her.

It wasn't working.

Narwhal was swishing her hips, nearly forcing the other woman into some strange dance. "You didn't seem to be complaining so hard when we forwarded those pictures to Armsmaster..."

Dragon's jaw dropped. "I... I thought you were KIDDING about that!"

And that distraction costed her, as Narwhal got her away from the wall and was slowly twirling them both around the room. "I was kidding about sending the pictures of you changing or half nude, but swimsuits were meant to be seen! You know you rocked that two piece."

Clearing his throat, Adam clapped. "And on that note, I am glad to say Armsmaster probably agrees, seeing as he has accepted an invitation to dinner tonight. I also invited New Wave, but... uh." He sighed. "Well, let's just say they claimed prior arrangements."

Amy's 'Mother' may have been a BIT miffed about the new charity, not so much that her daughter now got paid almost as much as SHE did as a lawyer, but more because her authority had been challenged on some level.

Still, even if he didn't see Amy or Victoria as often, he was glad to have hopefully prevented future issues on some level for the young biomancer.

Even now, Dragon's lawyers were working towards extending the charities 'Truce' status to apply to healing in general, hopefully allowing and even encouraging Rogue Healers to have more stability and longer, safer lives.

A dead medic is a useless medic.

Oh, Dragon had frozen. Right, the Armsmaster thing. "On a side note Dragon, I've been improving the equipment in the 'guest' lab downstairs. Does Armsmaster have any requirements for his work?"

Uh. No, she was still out. It must be a bad freakout, because she was ignoring Narwhal's increasingly perverse harassment. The tall beauty went from poking her cheek, to patting her shoulder, to poking her... uh...

Dragon jerked. "EEK! NO! Bad Narwhal!"

And now Narwhal was running away cackling while Dragon chased her with a rolled up newspaper. This... this must happen more than he realized. For one thing, that newspaper was not a recent edition.

Idly, Adam considered how nice it was watching a woman wearing a too-loose shirt being chased by a sexy cyborg. Well, back to work.

The drone network was now being supported by a set of roof entrances, allowing them to stop by and swap Magma Orbs thanks to an automated system up there. One Orb would last for months at least, but he still had them being swapped out on a weekly basis, just in case some issue came up.

Right now, each new drone was being Orb-ed up and leaving, with a staggered return scheduled so that eventually it would have a steady stream of returns and exchanges instead of huge crowds as the number of droids hit higher.

Their default range and flight path had already been submitted by Dragon to local authorities, though those regulations had been loosened for years thanks to all the various tinkers and flying capes now.

Thankfully the NUMBER of drones was not legally restricted... though after this, they may be.

As of an hour ago, there were over 37 drones already covering the city at a very high altitude.

His official website now had a secured login page that displayed a live map of Brockton Bay, one that didn't show nearly the same level of detail that the REAL data provided, but better than satellite imagery.

Not that satellites were allowed thanks to the Simurgh. She seemed to hate anything in orbit.

Anyway, accounts had been distributed to local police, ambulance, and firefighting crews. Software was using pattern analysis to not only generate traffic predictions and reports, but to detect fires, road damage, and so forth.

The page also provided GPS applications that not only helped one get around the city, avoiding road damage from wear and tear or whatever, but also displayed cape conflicts or ongoing crimes while routing the user to use a safer set of directions. It should reduce first response delays and help save tons of lives.

Dragon had asked for (and was given) accounts to the higher resolution version for personal use... so Armsmaster likely had the feed as well.

The data feed was detailed enough for the existing simulation software to generate models, so Dragon could 'teleport' anywhere being scanned by drones, and (thanks to the hard light projectors), talk to people or direct assistance.

Not that she would for now. Just being able to determine if a situation needed police or PRT assistance invisibly was enough, and anonymous calls didn't reveal her ability to be on literally every street corner if needed.

While a strong part of Adam's heart wanted to go out and help the people (I'm going to punch crime in the justice!), this new service had already called in and stopped dozens of assaults, a few burglaries, and a couple of attempted rape attempts, even after he had restricted the public version of his site from showing private property or secure/government facilities in detail.

The local fire departments in particular were VERY happy with their new 'neighbor', due again to Dragon. After she made a few personal drones, she realized Adam's growing collection was becoming... very large, meaning she could focus on other projects.

So she changed tasks, and her personal printer was now making shirts, long-sleeved gloves, and thigh-high socks out of Flame Metal.

Flame cloth for Firefighters, to his bemusement.

Fire equipment was not just heavy and expensive, but by its very nature an insulator. Thus, while it keeps the deadly heat out, the internal human heat builds up.

Adam's metal changed things. Now any body heat or gap in the protective suit that went above 'slightly cool' would simply charge this under layer of clothing. That it also prevented the touching equipment from overheating as quickly was a bonus.

Even without being stab proof and bullet resistant, the Fire Department loved the stuff. And while Dragon had supplied the local facilities for free, Garden Industries was receiving similar orders by the bucket for more. It hadn't taken long at all for everyone else to want heat-regulating armor under suits as well, although priority was being given to firefighters, health professionals, police, and lastly the PRT.

Thank goodness he had made those printers... though at this rate, he should get moving on making an actual 'Production Floor' downstairs.

Since the house had been extending downwards for a while now... downstairs had room.

Lots of room.

With a sigh and a series of burning metal claws and arms branching from his back, he began walking toward the central elevator.

He COULD go through the floor, but got teased earlier for 'laziness'.

She's lucky she is so fine looking.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Narwhal couldn't stop her smile if she tried as she and Dragon 'teleported' around 'town', the hologram allowing easy transition between the many simulated places.

Honestly, at this level of technological advancement, she could only tell it was a simulation thanks to the useful and easy popups that Adam's creation provided her.

The extra rest from using her new 'cyber collar' alone had improved her attitude and health, and if it helped with her ownership fetish no one needed to know.

Another paper swat refocused her on 'escaping', and with a smirk she chose a new location: Back at the boardwalk!

Dragon was so focused on Newspaper Justice it took a second or two to realize that they were now running THROUGH the crowds.

Literally. Adam's drones didn't force a solid hologram unless the user WANTED to interact with stuff, so the two beauties were passing through people like ghosts until Dragon blushed red, tried to hide the rolled up paper, and started stammering apologies.

The crowd was surprisingly taking the situation well, if the sudden surprise-turn-to-signature-signing was an indication.

That the two were ABLE to sign the various things being pushed at them was thanks to the Drone combining hard light force fields with mild ignition points, allowing them to 'burn' signatures safely on each item.

So no signing girls boobs today. Unless they were into that. Mmm.

She was again pulled from her thoughts by a young girl who was staring with awe at Narwhal's huge height. "Aw... Why you not wearing pants? Mommy makes me wear pants."

Ignoring the child's flustered mother, she grinned. "And you SHOULD listen to your Mom. You can't choose whether or not to wear pants on your own until you are a grownup." She frowned. "Even then, you would be surprised at how many people will argue about it."

Dragon forced herself to mentally center a bit, pushing forward. "Don't listen too closely to Narwhal sweetie. She's nice, but not everyone has the same ideas about fashion."

The child's smile was adorable. "Thanks robot lady! Mom, I want to be a robot too!"

The adult's sigh was exasperated. "I thought you wanted to be a truck?"

Her distracted "I want to be a truck robot!" was pushed back as the crowd shuffled.

The impromptu gathering settled a bit as they formed something like a line, a cynical part of Dragon assuming it was to better gawk at their 'costumes'.

Even though a small part of her was happy that, even wearing a shirt and jeans, she still seemed to be attractive to others.

Colin should like that. Maybe tighter pants?

While she was distracted, one older, fairly fit man eventually fell into the expected trope. "Narwhal! You need a date sometime!?"

He ignored the groans... someone would ask eventually anyway, why not him?

For the first time in a long time, Narwhal was able to give a NEW answer with a grin, rather than the usual random dribble. "Nah, got a man for now, and Dragon's working up her courage to ask her own."

The expected chaos hit the internet seconds later.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Dragon cooked dinner.

It was an amazing thing to watch, knowing that the pans and tools and such were all being held by a hard light hologram of a sexy cyborg.

Still, it took experimentation to get this going. Initially, Narwhal and Dragon had tried to create and use virtual pans and such directly, but the heat needed to cook was beyond what the hologram could handle. This version was too weak, anyway. It would be improved eventually.

Thankfully using a hologram hand would work perfectly well, as anything strong enough to damage the illusion was also strong enough to cause an actual burn or injury... which a good cook shouldn't experience anyway.

That said, Dragon had made some things called 'Butter Tarts' and 'Nova Scotian Lobster Rolls' which smelled amazing. Adam even got to eat a couple of 'practice' runs, and even with the burned edges they had tasted awesome!

So when Armsmaster rolled up on his sweet tech bike (Thank you 'Technomancy', schematic yoink!) and got to try out the underground parking garage, Dragon already had a table set up and was frantically fussing over everything.

The bearded man's outfit was mostly non-armor, surprisingly enough, with a functional mechanical visor instead of his normal helmet. Adam suspected Narwhal had sent the man a dress code, one which Dragon was clearly enjoying at the moment. "I was expected?"

Narwhal grinned as she moved out of the way, ushering him in. "Of course, Armsmaster! Variance and Dragon are in the dining room." She motioned toward a wall of lockers. "You can secure any non-necessary equipment here if you wish, just pick a locker that is unused."

He seemed to approve of the idea, if the half dozen tiny gadgets he put away were any indication, and then joined Adam and Dragon who were... well, Adam was talking, Dragon was still trying to straighten out forks and stuff.

His reaction to watching a half-machine woman bent over the dining table to straighten dishes loaded with food was... noticeable. Which for him, was jaw dropping shock.

Adam coughed, both to warn Dragon and give Armsmaster a chance to recover. "Ah, good to see you again Armsmaster! I've been eager to show you my new place. I hope you have room for a large meal, Dragon has worked very hard preparing all this."

The visor-covered man blinked. "Really? I thought you were restricted to your home facility." He walked forward, somewhat smoothly taking the blushing cyborg's hand and being FAR more suave than expected. "I am blessed to meet you in person, Miss Ri... Dragon."

Ooh, the kiss on the hand was a nice touch.

Dragon seemed to glow as she smiled back. "You can use my name here, Armsmaster. Both Variance and Narwhal know my real name is Tess Richter."

Adam chuckled. "And I can't exactly have a secret identity, but I have chosen Adam 'Adventure' Burns to represent me." He glanced at Narwhal. "I actually still don't know Narwhal's name, which surprised me... she isn't exactly shy about anything else."

Narwhal groaned. "It's a bit embarrassing though." With a sigh, she held out a hand to Dragon's crush. "Hi, I'm Scarlett Walker. No, please don't call me that. Narwhal is a cooler name anyway."

Adam blinked, nearly missing the man's "Nice to meet you Miss Walker." and Colin Wallis introducing himself in the background. Sounded like a mix between scarlet woman and street walker. What a jerk move by her parents.

Thankfully the conversation rolled along thanks to Dragon. "So you know I was bound pretty badly to my base of operations, right?" Seeing him nod, she continued. "I recently made some breakthroughs, and thanks to some technology made by Variance, we can now make these devices."

She gestured to the side, where the collar schematic floated in the air. "That is how Narwhal is here now, for example. It allows you to create, control, and experience life via an avatar assuming you have the information streams and the hardware to work with it."

Well... that was all true. Even if it implied she herself was using one. Sneaky.

Dragon pointed around the room. "Adam built this house to have all kinds of holo-projectors and hard-light projectors, along with sensors and speakers and such. So anyone with one of these devices and permission can basically let their body rest and get things done in a virtual world that overlaps the real world."

Seeing the gleam in his eye, Adam chuckled. "Before you ask, 'Yes' Armsmaster. You may have my schematics and some example equipment. And even though Narwhal insists on them looking like fetish neck chokers, you can probably build the parts into your existing helmets, labs and such."

Adam felt an arm slide down his shoulders, a hot chin resting on his shoulder. "It doesn't just LOOK like a fetish choker." She took it down to a whisper. "I'll show you more later..."

Well. Cough. "Hey, how about this amazing food Dragon whipped up, right? Armsmaster, ask her about how she figured out how to cook for the first time, from literally a country away." Please stop looking this way, SHE'S the one with an exhibition streak.

Not that he would ask her to stop. Thankfully the other couple were quickly distracted by each other so Adam could sneak a pinch without being caught.

The whisper in his ear shivered. "Ooohhmm."

Well... that didn't help him cool down at all.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The dinner was eaten, and appreciated... but with three tinkers in the house they got side-tracked quickly. And when Dragon and Armsmaster went into Dragon's lab... well, Adam snuck away for a night of movie watching and couch cuddling.

That Narwhal had received that skin tight Null Metal suit in the mail made it even nicer.

However, it did set up a new goal the next day. One of the first goals Adam had set in quite a while.

He wanted to take Narwhal out on a real date.

Thankfully, Faultline's Crew (While still technically Villains, although nothing as evil as Coil or Slaughterhouse 9 or whatever) were already running the nightclub Palanquin near Lord Street right here in Brockton Bay.

Honestly, they were basically mercenaries... and he had a lot of cash. Hmm.

So, first step: Get in contact with Faultline's Parahuman Crew, convince them to let him modify the place. Or set up a drone. Or somehow get in the equipment to allow remote people to drink there.

Actually, now that he thought about it, remote access to a virtual/real bar could be a big sales feature for the club. Maybe this was the way to market his Virtual Collars that Narwhal was trying to make even more risque.

Wait... no, crud. He needed to make that number two priority.

Number one: He needed an actual costume. One he could wear out, eat and drink with, and so forth. Right now his outfit was a mix of random heavy robot armor and boxes, not exactly dating material.

He had power charges to burn anyway.

Pulling up a mirror polished slab of metal, he swapped to 'Research' and... let it loose.

Dozens of simulations later, he had the fundamental design concept... thousands later he had a working production model.

Switch to 'Flame Manipulation' and... here we go.

Thin layer of 'Flame Metal', smallest weave possible and skin tight. Set to a comfortable temperature, this stuff was so thin it wouldn't really resist even a knife... but it was really there to handle temperature regulation. No over/under heating for this superhero, thank you.

Two charges had to be used, one to allow 'Flame Metal' the property of selective permeability, one to allow the passage of body senses and filtered air flow. Now a fully body enclosed suit would still let his hair out, specific light bandwidths to pass through, and specific gasses to also be allowed to travel.

Basically the thin layer would act as goggles, headphones, and a basic air filter.

Anyway, this stuff was so light that letting sensation travel through it made it feel like nudity.

So... more layers.

The very dark red under-suit (Near black even) was covered in an equally thin grey layer of 'Null Metal' scales. Again, too thin alone to resist blades, but it stuck to the base level and together the two layered material was both soft and flexible.

This would be a layer of insulation, though it had to have gaps for the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. You could still see the near-black under-layer at those points as a series of circles. Still, this thin level of 'Null Metal' would prevent most energy based issues like Victoria's emotional broadcast and lower exposure surface area to radiation, etc.

Looking downward, Adam sighed. Skin tight indeed... and he wasn't Narwhal. Clearly physically fit and endowed though.

Might make her wear something like this one day.

Most of his body was silver-gray now, the silver layer out in a scale pattern to distribute what little impact it could, with black holes for his senses pretty evident.

So... third layer. 'Flame Metal' again, over everything including the eye holes. This external layer made him look solid black again, but he could change the surface temperature to hide from thermal detection or handle hot situations. An extreme version of the existing Fire Fighter's suit.

More importantly, if someone somehow started using a power to heat up or freeze his actual body, now he could absorb that energy and shove it into this outer layer, separated by a film of Null insulation.

Together, the three layers was as thick as pantyhose, and the durability was enough to be basically knife-proof, and heavily knife resistant at the eyes and other openings hidden by the outer layer.

And finally, the armor. Thick as a switch blade edge, layers of matte white Null Metal began forming on the outside of his arms, shoulders, back, chest, legs, knees, shins... The layers touching himself or where his body would normally flex or move were still deep deep black-red, but the white outer layer was like an exoskeleton.

The blade thick layers of Null Metal were staggered, with the highest level bone white and the one closest to the suit dull gray, giving the illusion of out of focus visible skeletal system that covered most of his body.

His head shook slightly as a solid mask of 'bone' made from 'Null Metal' grew thick, the upgrades allowing his flaming red hair to easily blaze through the back. The material covering the eyes was clear Null Metal, but his mouth, ears, and nose had thick, near black Null Metal interlocking segments.

With a thought his 'eyes' converted the deep blackish red behind it clear, allowing his burning eyes to be more obviously displayed and distracting for others.

And with even more concentration, his hair both shrank in length... and compressed into blue fire. Less evil.

Oh... That also transformed his eyes into blue flames. Neat.

The mirror showed a tall skeleton with blue burning hair and eyes. Switching to 'Technomancy', his hair became green wires and his eyes glowed with data streams.

This... was nice.

Glancing downward, he sighed again. Too. Damn. Exposed.

This stuff, even at the thickest regions, was only a half inch thick or so. Not enough to hide the shape of his muscles or... parts.

'Research' said this was the minimum amount of coverage to give good armor and support without requiring a giant robot suit.

Which... well, he would end up making a giant robot suit at SOME point, it just seemed like a neat idea.

Common sense, on the other hand, said 'Put on some damn clothes!'

Swapping to 'Research' (Oooh, paper hair and eyeball skeleton looked awesome!), it only took a few real world seconds to have a design.

'Flame Manipulation' returned... and from the ground up, cloth and plates made from flames crafted a dark black tuxedo. Crisp, fitted... everyone loved a Dapper Skeleton.

Checking his tie and cuffs, he felt something was missing... Ah.

It took another charge, allowing 'Flame Manipulation' manifested objects to mirror a target... but it was worth it.

His mirror image showed a black gash across his skeletal lips, which formed into a skeletal grin.

Now he could eat and drink on outings. Even if the skeletal mouth was a tiny bit... fangish.

A quick change made the teeth more box shaped rather than a maw full of needles. Much better.

Tall stance, straightening his tie... His bony face flexed, reflecting blue flaming eyes and his handsome smirk.

His hands, white bone over black covered fingers, moving to straighten his bright blue tie... the only part of his outfit not black or white.

Narwhal wandered in, chuckling. "Adam, we may have to break into Dragon's lab when morning comes or He won't remember to go home... to... uh..."

Her eyes were wide as the tall skeleton man stalked toward her.

A hand of bones stroked her chin. "My dear, would you care to accompany me on a moonlit walk?"

Her eyes went unfocused. "I had a goth phase as a child that suddenly became relevant." Her hands moved over the (slightly emphasized) muscled outfit. "Mmmm... Mamma like."

Uh... he probably wasn't supposed to hear that last part. Based on the drooling though, she was impressed.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Once he had woke up from the late night movie/cuddle session, Adam reluctantly untangled from Narwhal and went to get breakfast going.

It took three tries to get Dragon and Armsmaster out of her lab, but eventually they both showed up for breakfast. Dragon's serving was a virtual copy of Armsmaster's, but neither complained about it.

Armsmaster broke off his stare at the blue flamed dapper skeleton before he gave a slight cough. "Variance, despite my appreciation for all you have done for Dragon, especially recently, I regret that I must deliver a managerial message."

Adam grinned, his flexible skeletal mask adding a certain flavor to it. "A directive from the Director, so to speak?"

Armsmaster sighed. "Indeed. While the initial orders given and followed during the end of your stay had both the appearance and clearance codes of legitimate commands, we now have an ongoing case to determine how a third party managed to intercept and modify our internal documentation."

He was apparently cutting his pancakes into very efficient bite sized pieces. "While I can not comment on an ongoing case, I and PRT's highest levels of leadership wish to apologize for our failure to prevent outside influence on our behaviors."

When Dragon nudged him, he glanced over... and sighed. "In summary, I and Director Piggot extend sincere apologies, and wish to inform you that your treatment was unreasonable and unexpected."

Adam glanced at Dragon, who gave a tiny nod. "Well, considering how happy I am with my current situation, new house, etc... we can let the issue go for now. Who was the one behind the orders?"

The bearded man grimaced. "Signs point toward only a few options if it a local threat. Both Empire 88, and those that follow the same Nazi doctrine, are unlikely. Several of the individuals discovered do not fit within their 'acceptable criteria', so to speak."

He frowned. "Merchant interference is unlikely, as structure and long term planning is not among their hallmarks. Lung's Asian Bad Boys were marked out for similar reasons as the Empire, as none of the suspects had enough Asian relations to give it high probability."

Armsmaster tapped the table. "I had considered the remote possibility that the team of Uber and Leet were involved, as your recent economic actions had affected the gaming scene pretty heavily affected the gaming market as a whole... but Dragon informed me that they are potentially future coworkers for your organization, and both had alibis which disproved the theory."

With a sigh, he continued. "By elimination, we believe the mercenary employer Coil is most likely, assuming this isn't an out of city issue that was recently discovered." His armor lit up... oh, he and Dragon got his systems access to the holo-projectors. Neat.

The online webpage with Coil's data rotated. He frowned. "Sadly, the public page has about all the information WE have, with minor differences. We are not entirely sure he even HAS powers."

Adam hummed. "He probably does, because otherwise he would not have threatened this level of exposure to get rid of me so blatantly." Probably. "Not sure what it would be-" Lie. "-But it must be something so valuable that he didn't want to risk me getting close enough for my power to be 'inspired' by it."

Armsmaster frowned. "Maybe... but not probable enough to use as proof. I will keep it in mind though."

Adam paused. He couldn't give away too much... but... "You know, if he managed to get someone inside the facilities, then several things may be true." He held up some fingers. "First, he may be a master, commanding others to follow commands. Second, a stranger able to wander around and make changes. Three, a thinker that can gain electronic access... maybe. You didn't tell me how exactly the breech in security occurred."

Armsmaster's reply was dry. "Nor will I."

Adam shrugged. "Fair enough. Finally, he may have hooks within PRT itself. Blackmail on employees, hostages, torture sessions..." A frown. "Memory related power? It would be a stronger kind of stranger ability... there are just too many ways I could see someone pulling this stunt off."

Dragon tapped her chin. "If we assume that the attack happened after you healed that Parahuman, then maybe that itself is what scared him or her into action. Him, if it was Coil. Which means he wouldn't just be able to modify high level orders, but to observe our actions while you were healing."

Armsmaster's eyes lit up. "THAT is what was bothering me. Now I have an entire new set of hardware to test with possible leads."

Watching Armsmaster deftly head to the garage (Dragon hovering along), Adam chuckled as he began cleaning up the meal. He had things to do anyway, and Narwhal had to stay 'home' in Toronto and get paperwork done for now.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam glanced up at the faded sign... should be the place.

The office building was worn, by time and by past violence, faded as it was. He idly walked up to the front entrance, ignoring the few stares from the random people on the street.

He had put on a black fedora over his 'hair', so he was a simple tall skeleton with blue flamed eyes in a VERY nice suit. It felt... glorious.

He entered the lobby, and got directions from the woman working the front desk. She looked as worn down by circumstances like the rest of this part of the city, but her movements were professional and she barely shivered when meeting his 'eyes'. A buzzed message later and some directions, and she sent him off.

Knocking on the labeled office door, a muffled 'Come in!' had him enter with self-confidence and a smile.

The man behind the desk had the signs of thinning hair, but the demeanor of a giant held down by responsibilities and bad news. The two much larger, muscle bound men behind him were standing... heavily.

Not threats, but more promises.

The skeletal smile was honest. "Good day, gentlemen. My Parahuman name is Variance, and I work for 'The Guild' under the direct guidance of Tinker Dragon and Director Narwhal." He held out a skeletal hand.

The movement of the two masses behind the balding man stopped when the man raised a hand... one that then reached out to shake Adam's own, as his small frame towered below everyone.

It was impressive that one so small filled the room so well... A leader with only hope and determination keeping him together.

His thin glasses didn't make his smile less deadly. "Danny Hebert, Spokesperson and Head of Hiring for Brockton Bay's Dockworkers Association. Please, sit."

The chair was slightly lower and far less comfortable than it looked, but Adam's height made it not matter that much. "And your associates?"

Danny shrugged. "They are just enjoying a nice break from duties. No need to pay attention to them." The two loomed silently.

Adam grinned. "Well, our audience aside, I hear that your people have less work than expected for another year in a row... and I want to talk contracts about having some of your human resources work in my facilities."

Danny frowned. "I don't know what you heard, but we keep out of cape stuff when possible. Escalates too quick, too dangerous. We don't do minion work either."

Adam sighed. "This city is too dangerous, period. But no, I don't need peons, I need skilled men and women who know how to do honest work for honest pay." He pulled out some paperwork. "One moment, please."

With a wave of his hand, flames rapidly formed a short sub-table to work with... and the two large slabs of muscles were holding VERY large firearms.

Those were not tinkertech, but they were also NOT legal.

Thankfully, Danny had already waved them down as he accepted the first bundle of paper. "These are?"

Adam handed the two other bundles over. "Three types of pre-written contracts, a base start for further negotiations." He watched Danny rapidly scan through them. "The first bundle would be a one time contract, to be negotiated from scratch in the future. The second is a multiyear contract with certain requirements and restrictions, but contractual exclusivity: Only Dock Workers or Guild Workers allowed."

He pulled another copy of the documents from his bag. "The last bundle would be a long term employment contract, one where Dockworkers would have first right of refusal on any jobs required in this distribution region. Guild jobs would have to pass your desk first before others can even bid to win them, although that one has stronger restrictions on the Dockworkers Association as a whole."

He stopped talking, seeing Danny's raised hand... letting the man go through the lawyer mumbo, taking notes. After a few passes over several minutes, Danny hit a buzzer and handed the third set of documents to a thin man who then silently left.

He turned to Adam. "Young man, I am responsible for hundreds of families. I am not just trying to get a good deal or a short-term buck, but to ensure the continued survival of my people in very trying times." He gestured for the second copy of the third batch of contracts, checking for issues. "I need long term solutions."

He began going through the notes. "The pay listed seems unusually generous before negotiation even begins. The work itself does not seem to be something that requires a history of dock work experience. The benefit plans are overly generous, the restriction clauses suspiciously loose, and worst of all I can't see why you decided to work with our Association in this situation in the first place."

Adam held up some fingers. "They pay thing is in compensation for the level of secrecy required for any workers on my billets. That actually covers a number of your issues really, as I believe well paid employees are more loyal employees."

He continued. "Also, Dragon and I are both Canadian, and Canada has strong opinions on healthcare which have not been duplicated in the American Healthcare System." He looked at Danny. "In other words, we want healthy, non-contagious employees working in our shop. Thus the large medical and leave benefits. The desire for our employees to have and raise future employees is why we offer paid birth leave for BOTH parents, and why childcare is provided on site."

Dragon loved the idea of having kids in the house anyway, and having parents downstairs while the kids are taken care of upstairs would prevent all kinds of issues.

Leaning back, Adam was amused to see his deep sigh created a lightly floating ball of blue flame that faded away. "And honestly, your Association is lacking a future with that damn ocean Endbringer out there. And I need some trustworthy people to work in my factory, making sure my machines can make the very profitable computers, game consoles, and virtual reality collars."

He looked directly at Danny. "The biggest reason for me to focus on loyalty and honesty is that my facility is also my home, and I want to ensure my friends and family, little as it is right now, is kept safe."

Danny paused... tapping the table for bit.

With a sign, he stood again, arm out. "I am intrigued and willing to continue negotiations, Variance, assuming we can add language reducing or eliminating external Parahuman involvement where possible."

Adam groaned. "What? Why! I'm a Parahuman, my boss and friends are Parahumans, it doesn't mean we have fleas or something."

Danny chuckled, "My wife had a bit of history with charismatic Parahumans, and we are a bit hesitant to work with someone who can build up an international powerful company in less than a year." Seeing the skeletal expression he grinned. "You and your company are both more than a bit well known online, and my wife works in an education facility that has benefited from one of your charities. So I've heard things. Though... the skeletal thing was unexpected."

Adam grinned, thin blue flames trickling up his skull, around his black fedora. "But it looks cool, right?"

Both walls of muscles behind the man gave a light chuckle as Danny laughed. "I admit, the intimidation went down when I figured out you were going for 'Mysterious Stranger' feeling." His mirth faded. "How long until the facilities are fully operational? The contract made them seem expansive."

Adam groused, sulking a little. "They took FOREVER! Even with my powers it was hours of work. It's ready to go as of 3am this morning though. I just need people who can follow orders, not get hurt, and keep their mouth shut so no Villains try to bomb my house with pie or something."

Seeing their confusion he sighed. "After entering America I was attacked by a man with tractors, my fear of the absurd hasn't gone away."

Danny gave a solemn nod. "Could the tractors turn into smaller robots?"

Adam paused... "No?"

Danny sighed. "So they were not Trans-farmers."

Seeing the meat-muscles chuckle, Adam grinned. "I like you. Lets do some law junk."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

In the end, the deal was a godsend for the Dockworkers and a convenient way to get workers for Adam. He had drastically underestimated how large his 'production floor' would be, and after some final decisions had decided to focus on ease of non-powered maintenance over space compaction.

So when he got home, it only took a bit for him to remodel the back of his home to have loading/unloading docks (Designed from what he saw when visiting Danny), a separate ramp leading to a separate underground parking garage, a set of offices, and a few other odds and ends.

The Cafeteria, Gym, Workout Room, Pool, Game Room (He knew Leet and Uber would want one, so why waste time?), and the one that drew the most interest when interviewing the random Dock Workers; a safe and secure play area and child care center.

Dragon tried to look innocent, but somehow digital profiles for child care professionals were waiting on him when he got home. Well, it made that part easier.

Over the next four days going back and forth to the docks, Danny loosened up around 'Boss Bone-daddy' (Thank you Narwhal, that won't be embarrassing at all) and ended up mentioning that his wife was looking for local work to avoid the long drives through heavy traffic to her college.

They had a kid they wanted to take better care of and the constant long commute really made their schedule complicated.

And as Adam still had room and need for more 'hands on deck', as it were... Taylor Hebert and Anne Hebert ended up joining the child care center, one as a customer and the other as a care worker.

Danny found it slightly sad that working for this Canadian company offered more financial compensation to his wife than her years of work at her classes, but... well. Anne felt that there was some background stuff keeping the woman from being promoted at her college. Exposed criminal history or sexism, either way the new job had better overall benefits.

So being able to be closer to her husband, bring her child, and not pay/cook for breakfast/lunch/dinner if desired... well, the choice was pretty obvious.

As all the dockworkers got into the new routine and the manufacturing floor began production, dozens of kids were upstairs playing and so forth.

Adam quickly learned to soundproof both the production floor and the child care area, and the cafeteria required hiring more workers as 24 hour food staff...

Basically, Adam started outsourcing local human resource acquirement to Danny and all the legal stuff to Dragon.

As he wasted a whole night hugging a giantess with a three foot horn on a soft couch, he spent another charge enhancing the 'Technomancy' simulation power, as he had done for the last week or so.

Sometimes, he thought as the movie continued, even life in a world dark as this one has good moments.

Oh, he knew Coil was targeting him. But that was an issue for tomorrow, now that his company had local workers and the facility was running.

But tomorrow...

He silently sent his Cybernetic Warfare Software Suite commands from all 789 drones currently cruising high above the city.

Tomorrow he would have a conversation with a certain serpent.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam woke at 0415, still on the couch.

Thankfully his 'Peak' human form was fully rested, and his more efficient organs had reduced his need to use the restroom as often... so he could just relax, enjoying the virtual body of his girlfriend wrapped in his arms.

It was Saturday after all, and Narwhal had taken a break to go home, get in bed, and then reconnect to his house virtually for the end of the movies.

Still, he had things to do.

Quick 'Technomancy', and he fell virtually down into the abyss.

His simulation programs had three stages.

First, input. Sound, touch, smell, taste, that feeling of people near you, and of course visual data. From his body, his machines on his 'Golden Garden' network, his drones, and from the 'Celestial Garden' that was even now growing in complexity downstairs.

Dragon's new system was modular, and each component could be printed by her advanced production tools down there. The system as a whole grew in ability over time, and the framework was designed to handle each module as they were attached. That she was able to use the improved hard-light projectors to create structure, support, and molds for the 3d printers was an unexpected bonus.

And all her sensor data in that collection of systems was also being fed into his simulation. With her permission, of course.

Second Stage was the part his power was helping most in: Virtual Modeling.

His power was creating worlds of virtual models and collaborating unlimited data. All that input was being used to not only create ONE planet sized model (99.999% or more of it dark, he was still creating drones after all), but to also have it gain accuracy the more recent the data was.

It was too complex for any current computer, and he felt Dragon was suspecting exactly what level of crazy was needed for her to avatar around like this... but this stage was the shortcut.

All those models were exported in vastly reduced quality for the digital maps, non-Dragon avatars like Narwhal and very soon Armsmaster, and the various software/hardware testing platforms that Guild engineers were already testing with.

The third stage, interaction, was being run on two levels. One that handled Dragon's substantial digital weight... no, there had to be a way to say that where Narwhal wouldn't claim he was calling her fat. One that handled Dragon's... digital complexity? Sure.

The other one had to be dumbed down a bit so the humans connecting to it wouldn't explode (Or at least, not freak out) about how detailed and realistic everything was. It had to be 'fake' enough that they would not fear being lost or imprisoned, loosing grip on which was reality.

So the three stages: Input, Model, Interact. Together they allowed the best cross country dating service every designed... and apart, the best tools for research, investigation, and remote access.

Adam's mental acceleration hit the room as his virtual being spread through the city.

He wasn't just looking for Coil, he was taking the local digital world for a review.

Silently, he began detecting every digital device in this city, and a few miles into the outskirts as well. If he tried to download or install anything on this scale, the entire network would crash from too much data.

Instead, he passively watched through the advanced sensors on all the drones as a digital model was being constructed. Every button press, every memory cell change in the hardware, every disk spin... it was all being simultaneously recorded for further analysis.

Then he targeted all the items that had power or were on standby... and began creating very tiny hard-light interfaces, connected to each exposed port. USB, mouse, monitor, nearly all electronic devices had extra input/output options.

With direct hardware access, gaining full control of those devices was trivial... if slow. Adam went steady but surely, attempting to avoid any spikes in traffic or hardware use as much as possible.

It took twenty minutes of real world cuddling before his thousands of virtual hours gained him access.

Now his simulated digital model was receiving FAR more input. New input.

His own moral code however was a bit of a hindrance.

So before his curiosity could overpower him, he had an automated sweep determine on each device which person and/or faction it belonged to... and without storing that data, dropped everything not related to Coil, viruses, keyloggers, back-doors, etc.

Everyone infected or already hosed suddenly got infected again. A generic virus already existing online, modified to look defective. Like many more advanced programs, this virus would clear off all other infections on the machine (Have to be clean to run better for the hackers!) and appear to send all the hacked data to a faulty IP due to inexperience.

That happened enough in the real world that people would curse and move on, so it shouldn't cause issues. It was also a pleasant surprise to see so many 'Garden' systems already circulating in the area.

Now he had a map of Coil related hardware, ranging from cameras, hacked phones and cameras, and of course... his lair.

Adam grinned. This was FAR too soon in canon for all the expected advantages, tinkertech, and Parahumans that Coil normally ran nearby.

His base was still an underground Endbringer survival shelter, although it took a few seconds to find it and begin compromise procedures with his Cybernetic Warfare Suite. It was deep AND shielded, even if construction was ongoing.

Twenty seconds later and his virtual avatar was exploring the facility without bothering to project an actual hologram. The base itself was now providing information to his simulation, so he had all the time in the world to give a look or two.

Each step was another dozen files examined, more systems being carefully copied for review, another infection expanded.

At this pace of thought, the world was silent in the simulation. Men and a few women in heavy military gear frozen in half step march, actual turrets pointed at various doors he walked through, construction crews in mid-work expanding this facility.

It was with glee that Adam found the most valuable of treasure.

A mercenary on a smoke break.

Leaving 'Technomancy' with commands to continue the 'slow' takeover, fast as it actually was, he felt his power swell as he enabled 'Fire Manipulation'.

Time to use up some power charges... no.

This should be handled in a more useful, generic fashion than just stuffing everything into one power like this.

Time for Squishy to gain a new leg.

Four charges to use.

Miles away, wrapped lovingly around his warm exhibitionist girlfriend, Adam Burns whispered.

"Conversion."

Un-Socketable, like Squishy, but in return...

Matter to Potential Energy. Vibration to Potential Energy. Light to Potential Energy. Potential Energy to Combustion.

Pain ripped through his mind.

'Fire Manipulation' lost 'Combustion to Metal', 'Research' lost a list of items including radio waves and sound that could convert 'to Digital Data', 'Technomancy' lost 'Digital Data to Simulation' as well as 'Digital Data to Memory' and 'Memory to Digital Data'.

Squishy waved her new sparkly wand, made of eye numbing shapes and colors. It was held by her new fifth leg... and it had a very girly pink star on the tip.

Lovely. Just... great.

Well, she seemed happy.

His mental projection looked back at the smoldering cigarette dropped in the waste bucket.

With 'Fire Manipulation', body miles away, he smirked.

"Rapid Conversion."

Within the metal bucket, the cigarette stub flashed to a small bundle of concentrated fire... then to solid gray Null Metal... then to a thin, wire sized snake.

Watching the thin noodle snake climb the wall silently, Adam nodded.

He shall be named Shoestring. Kaa's... little, little brother.

None of the guards noticed the hole Shoestring incinerated through the ceiling as he began heading towards the Infirmary.

Why WAS Coil there anyway? He was being injected with several liquids as well.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam blinked as he reviewed the ex-filtrated data. Specifically, Coil's encrypted personal 'How I used my power' logs, which he kept for future reference and prevent wasted 'timelines.'

Apparently, Variance's power was causing... breakdowns. Somehow.

These drugs were a final attempt to disable Coil's body and give him time to recover, and that had required dozens of split 'timelines' to verify which treatment was safe.

Some of these chemicals and drugs were scary dangerous. Made the chemical cocktail he would later use to drug children look like candy.

But right now he was in the middle of a drug induced coma to actually get some sleep for the first time in over three days.

Adam watched Shoestring slither through the newly slagged hole in the wall and reach the extra medical bed there.

A thought was enough for the snake to flash into fire, then consume the entire structure with 'Conversion'... which reformed into a new costumed and armored body of 'Variance'.

The blue flames in his eyes flashed as he felt himself settle into the new body, skeleton shielding and all. Mental acceleration had fallen away, and he stepped forward.

Why speak to this man? What would be the point?

His hand gently gripped Coil's skull.

Under his armor, his body flexed.

'Research.'

Paper hair fluttered into existence as his bone-armored hand instigated deep inspection.

His power was spinning. Near collapse, actually. Over and over again, parts of his brain heated to dangerous levels before the tumor carefully shut each section down temporarily.

Like the other Parahuman he examined, the interface was ugly. Inefficient. Fractured.

And yet... his power pierced the dimensional portal to the massive crystal planet beyond.

His eyes dimmed, body slumping...

And his mind expanded.

This shard was focused on three aspects: Gathering Real-time Reality Input, Crafting Scenarios with said input, Self Mastering to Ensure Selected Scenario Followed.

If his power wasn't crippled to near death, he would be able to not simply create two 'timelines. No, he could have crafted fifty or more 'options' when simulating reality, and generate a small summary about expected dangers and outcomes.

Another painful spike in Adam's skull... and suddenly the strain of running the 'Technomancy' simulation, something that had always burned in the background but was ignored carefully... vanished.

In his mind, Squishy was doing a little dance of victory... his power had learned from this shard enough to improve the way the simulation ran.

By a lot.

Adam quickly dumped as much 'Research' info as possible from the scan into digital memories with 'Conversion'.

Too bad about the 'Global Input' method. It wasn't good enough to enhance 'Research' itself, as its ability boiled down to 'Ask Shard Network for Global Simulation Table'... so pointless to Adam himself.

And the self-mastering stuff wasn't useful yet either. Maybe it would help 'Recovery' handle mastering attempts in the future...

He would need to go over it with 'Research', 'Technomancy', and 'Recovery' later.

He swapped to 'Recovery', his eyes pulsing with life as he carefully... damaged the man.

Adam could argue that crippling this man's power tumors was an act of healing, as this was the cause of the Villain's coma and many of his recent health issues.

He could even point out that he had already removed all the dangerous tinker-drugs that (Without a power to suppress) would have killed Coil's body instantly.

But as he swapped to 'Technomancy', putting the underground base on lock-down as per standard drill procedures and passing an anonymous tip to Armsmaster... he knew the real reason.

Coil was nonredeemable. Tested by much power, tested and failed.

And Adam wouldn't risk his people. Any person willing to steal and drug children, murder and rape...

Well, Variance had been planning a few future 'accidents' in the future anyway.

Trying not to think of the darker crimes this snake man had gleefully mentioned in that damned journal of his, 'Variance' fell back from the flame body, which formed into raw fire... and died away as no fuel was available.

Coil would not escape anyway, now that his body was set to 'Triage' at the lowest level.

He was medically stable, but people needed the ability to move limbs, talk, or roll over to escape the massive number of Capes and police arriving at the unlocked facility full of locked up 'guards' and computers granting admin access to anyone wandering by.

What a long, soul-depressing 23 minutes.

With a sigh, Adam felt Narwhal mumble something adorable as she wiggled.

Dang it, he STILL needed to go to that damned night club.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

"Get up."

No. Narwhal is warm and Adam was enjoying cuddles.

"Variance."

Ah. "Good morning Dragon." He forced the simulation to duplicate his current setup, disabled the hard-light interactions, and stood up.

Narwhal and 'Adam' were still cuddling as he ignored Dragon, walking toward the kitchen.

Dragon was still tapping her foot. "Good morning Adam. Anything you want to talk about? Something to confess?"

Adam chuckled. "If you are asking, yes I like big butts even if I can lie. And I think I will make omelettes today."

Dragon followed with a huff. "Be serious. I had all kinds of questions sent my way this morning from Armsmaster about what you did today."

He hummed. "First of all, I do not intend to hide anything from you nor Narwhal when she wakes up, so don't be so tense. Secondly..." Ah, there were plenty of eggs. "I will not confirm nor deny that I may or may not have taken certain actions this morning. At least, on the record."

Waving her toward a chair, he continued cooking. "Let's go through the list of things that are true, even if some people may misinterpret it."

Seeing Dragon settle into place, he gave a smile and turned back to the stove. "For the last day or so I have not physically left this house. Last night until you saw me, I did not physically move from that couch. I receive daily briefings from software that analyzes the current news through a custom machine I constructed called 'Golden Garden'."

All true. "I do not know everything that happened this morning..." Technically true, but he knew much. "But I do claim that the burden of proof otherwise needs to be on the accuser."

Dragon was frowning. "That is the 'official' line?"

Adam turned, carefully pushing the ham-and-cheese omelette onto a clean plate before digitally duplicating it for Dragon and (When she woke) Narwhal. "Hypothetically, through sources that are not traceable to me or anyone else, I may have been aware of an individual likely to have infiltrated the PRT as mentioned via a few days ago by Armsmaster."

Seeing her eyes widen, he nodded. "In the process of investigating the criminals location, a completely unexpected, untraceable..." He grinned at her dry expression. "Did I mention unexpected? Right. Anyway, a freak virus somehow got installed on all kinds of infected and compromised hardware in the city. Theoretically."

Hmm... should have cooked the onions longer. "The virus was crap, it cleaned systems and 'accidentally' exposed itself while failing to install correctly. This possibly exposed the systems of... let's choose a random Villain like Coil for an example."

He grinned as Dragon's head fell into her hands. "I wonder if anyone reported an anonymous tip to the various law enforcement agencies."

Dragon sighed and started cutting up her omelette. "I need a full report, Variance. Political pressure requires it."

Adam chuckled. "What a coincidence! I just finished two, one 'official' and one 'theoretical'. They should be in your inbox three minutes ago."

Neither mentioned how he had reached out from home miles away to handicap someone's power. That wouldn't be written down anywhere.

Dragon groaned as she got up to get some digital orange juice. "Well, this will work for now. But I am still not enthusiastic with some of the implications from the theoretical report."

Adam swallowed another bite. "I was willing to stay out of the situation temporarily before I found out that he had infiltrated the PRT to an unacceptable degree and was gaining actual authority while being a criminal. Ignoring the massive security risk that scenario describes already, the ability to influence which gang to focus law enforcement efforts on was too dangerous."

Seeing her glare, he coughed. "Theoretically."

Narwhal stumbled into the room, following the wall with one hand towards the coffee.

Her askew shirt and exposed thighs were glorious.

She blinked drowsily at the standoff between Adam and Dragon. "Wha? No, you got beard man, stay away from my skele-bear."

And thus the conversation was derailed.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

After a few more discussions and some promises to talk more before exterminating a potential crime syndicate, Adam was basically grounded for a few days to let the situation calm down.

And... it WAS causing waves. Apparently finding a huge base partially filled with plastic explosives and a growing army of mercenaries was a good news cycle topic.

Worse, the longer the investigation went on, the more and more scandalous details were exposed. Bribery, blackmail, illegal weapons, illegal drugs, more and more interesting info was being released to the public.

Sadly, THIS was the stuff left over after careful censorship and story spinning. It was that drastic.

Like Adam thought, Thomas Calvert was a bad, bad person.

On the positive side, Adam's name was left out of the mess. A couple of 'discrete' emails between Dragon and Armsmaster gave the bearded man permission to take over the credit to avoid causing Adam problems... which the man felt fine doing, considering how much investigation he had done before Variance had stomped over everything at the last second.

Seriously, somehow WITHOUT Adam's advantages Armsmaster had narrowed down the base location to three blocks in the same time frame. With less resources, time, and clues.

It was impressive.

Anyway, Adam wasted his days building up charges for Squishy, updating software and hardware designs, and entertaining the children at the child care center.

At this point, the mothers and friends of the employees downstairs had started using the place as a daycare on its own, as the security was top notch and the facilities was getting amazing word of mouth and digital reviews.

Adam ended up creating a kids movie theater, hard-light hologram based games, and tiny holographic recreations of stuff for the kids to mess with (The city, famous places, sandcastles)... well, it was popular.

The big draw he was making became something similar to a cross between bowling and miniature golf with the kids (Ranging from eight years old to fourteen) enthusiastically making suggestions.

The bowling balls were holograms, and would only interact with reality when bowled or with the course itself to prevent injuries. Each hole had tiny 'people' doing stuff, trying to block the players, being 'squished' before popping back up cheering, and so forth. The tiny cities would pop like fireworks, and the hazards ranged from giant lamas to zombie princesses or pirate dragons, depending on what each random kid wanted at the time.

It was a large hit so far, and Adam had already decided to make this section stick around till people got tired of it.

On a side note, holographic hard-light slip-n-slides and water slides were popular as well with kids and parents alike, as it couldn't really wet clothing but still allowed sliding fun. A dry water park was not only possible, but as the users were floating in hard-light holograms the 'water' stayed perfectly clean. Adam still felt odd 'swimming' in the stuff though.

The best part of him doing this though, was how quickly the kids learned to ignore his skeletal costume.

Staying still and making stuff had sped up the acceptance process a lot, and even now some of the younger kids had received stuffed skeleton Variance dolls that Dragon had whipped up.

Marketing loved them, and Narwhal had insisted that he send her a few too, although she paid in snuggles.

The rest of his evenings while being punished, after separating from the kid area, was dedicated to the new clinic he had set up. This one connected to the front street, near his personal garage.

The idea was to allow all his employees, the kids, and visitors to get free health care while he was in town, while actual nurses and doctors were hired to handle any issues if he was out of state. Or off planet.

Adam grumbled. He had to be the ONLY person with three sets of subterranean garages now. One in the back for employees, one in the front for medical patients, and the now gated front entrance for personal visitors.

Anyway, with Dragon's confidence in legal matters allowing him to do all kinds of house modifications, his vertical home was rapidly turning into an embedded city of its own. Danny (As head of Human Resources) was behind this craziness 100%, all the time.

Turns out that dock-working man was an amazing social creature. The Variance Villa (As Narwhal insisted on calling it) now had a 24 hour medical, cooking, and maintenance staff that ran in shifts. Thanks to Danny, several failing businesses around town were willing to move locations into the vertical village which rapidly formed into a mall... an expanding mall.

The underground lake, park, and so forth meant that things were getting so deep that elevators were mandatory. Huge ones, that ran like vertical trains in a huge loop so that each time one left another arrived within minutes. It was odd.

Thankfully, Dragon was purchasing the surrounding property one chunk at a time for further expansion. As each spot was purchased, Adam would use 'Conversion' to transform the surfaces into future resources while carefully shifting parts of his house into side clusters. Due to the default installation of security sensors and holographic projectors, it was rapidly turning into the largest gated community he had ever heard of before.

The new bar alone was pulling in cash at an unexpected level, especially since the childcare services allowed parents to unwind without worry.

Anyway, this had meant that Adam's 'grounding' had ended up turning into a massive number of construction projects. The loading docks that normally shipped the finished products from his manufacturing floors had to grow and multiply to handle the additional shipping of supplies and resources so that the restaurants and businesses downstairs could operate.

It was why he split traffic: Workers/Supplies on the back road, guests/patients on the front road. Even then he had to secretly use 'Conversion' on the pavement on both sides, creating textured 'asphalt' that was much stronger and made from Flame Metal.

That... might have been illegal. But those two roads were near indestructible now and were in pristine condition all the way back to the major highways in both directions. With new (Unofficial) signs that were larger, easier to read, and... might have mentioned 'Variance Villa' by name. Maybe.

Due to the amount of conflict and paperwork those changes made with the Mayors office ("How are our workers supposed to modify those things!?"), Dragon may have expanded Adam's grounding time and increased the rules for him to follow. Stupid "Don't remodel the city without permission" rules.

Anyway, time passed and he finally had an appointment with the club 'Palanquin' soon. He could FINALLY take Narwhal on a (virtual) date! It would be awesome.

Well... not that the cute fun stuff that they were doing each night didn't count so far. And they might have gone a bit further than before... maybe a lot more.

Thank God he installed all those sensors, that video was going in his permanent memory.