Chapter 15: 12 Conference

I pulled the phone away from my head to give my ear a chance to recover from Tattletale's borderline scream. I made a note to recalibrate the speaker. My custom work on the device had boosted the output a little too much, though it did an excellent job of conveying the thinker's mood.

"I'm guessing this is about my visit to the hospital last night." I kept my tone level as I spoke. This didn't feel like the time to push my luck.

"You're God damn right it is. Do you have the slightest idea what you've done?"

I took a breath. "I told you, I knew what I was signing up for, but things weren't sitting right. I took it upon myself to resolve them."

"Resolve? You seriously think you resolved..." She cut herself off and I swear I could hear teeth grinding through the phone.

"What?" There was a spike of anxiety worming itself into my mind. I knew there would be repercussions to this, but from the way Tattletale was acting I doubted it was something as simple as a new cape revealing himself without alerting her in advance.

"We need to meet. I can't do this over the phone. There are things I need to ask and apparently a lot more things that you need to know."

Well, that didn't bode well. This was clearly more than just petty frustration. There was an actual note of concern to her voice that contrasted uncomfortably with her usually smug demeanor. I still didn't believe that Tattletale had my best interests at heart. That said we were entangled enough that if something was bothering her this much there was no chance I would be insulated from the fallout. And vice versa, I suppose.

How bad could this have gone? Revealing a new tinker and healer was big news, but it shouldn't have cause any major disruptions. Othala had been active for years without provoking any major response. Even Leet was rumored to have some level of healing tech, if just to explain the shorter recovery times from the massive array of injuries he and Uber were usually sporting after their broadcasts.

Something else was going on here. Was it connected to the rest of our conversation? The only thing that jumped out at me was my predictions about Bakuda. If anything was happening on that front I needed to find out immediately.

"I can head over now. Should we meet at your place?"

"God no." There was a frustrated sigh through the phone. "Alec figured out something was wrong and has been making an ass of himself all day. I can't deal with that right now. Meet me at the courtyard two factories over."

"I'll be there..." The call cut off. Okay, how comfortable did I feel going into this? Not very, but when calibrated to the usual level of discomfort I felt on things surrounding the Undersiders it wasn't that bad. I was less concerned about an ambush than I was about how serious this news could be. I was acutely aware of how much of a ticking clock I was on in terms of the ABB's response. Really I should have pressed Tattletale for information on them earlier, but I had been both exhausted and heavily preoccupied yesterday. I was going to have to make up for lost time.

I turn to Garment who seemed to have finished saying goodbye to her locker full of protectively cocooned outfits. "Change in plans. I've got to get to a meeting."

She gave me an affirmative gesture and we headed through the maze of lockers back to the entrance. The attendant raised an eyebrow when he saw us but didn't say anything as we climbed on the bike and pulled out of the parking lot.

The sun was getting heavy in the sky as we headed towards the docks and our shadows were beginning to stretch across the road ahead of us. I sped along a rough approximation of the route I had trudged the previous day and felt relief over no longer being shackled to the sidewalks and bus. Still, all good things must come to an end, particularly if you weren't willing to parade your new transforming super bike in front of a thinker with questionable loyalties. I started looking for quiet alleys when we were a few blocks away from the Undersiders' base. Fortunately this area was rife with them and was low traffic enough that I didn't need to worry about running into anyone while accessing my workshop.

With Garment's clothes and most of my furniture removed the entry room was looking cavernously empty. A five meter cube was actually a serious amount of space, which was evident by how easy it was to park the bike. I could probably have ridden it straight in with no real issue.

I considered my next move. I was fairly confident about this meeting not being a threat, but I didn't want to get caught off-guard like I'd been with the Empire capes. Even if Tattletale wasn't a threat at this point there were any number of other things that could go wrong. I needed to bring some reagents with me, and my motorcycle jacket wasn't a good vehicle for that.

Actually it would be best to leave the jacket all together. I didn't know how much information Tattletale would be able to pull just from my presence. Leaving my motorcycle and showing up with a jacket that says 'I own a motorcycle' would be kind of pointless.

That did leave me with my earlier problem. The consequence of bespoke clothing was distinct lack of baggy pockets. I might be able to manage the reagents for a few formula, but they would be blindingly obvious in these clothes. Using any of my belt pouches or bandoleer would only be more blatant. It looked like I would have to go into this a bit under equipped for my liking.

Garment gave me a quizzical gesture when she saw me removing my jacket.

"Tattletale is really good at picking up information. I don't want to tip her off more than I have to." I folded the jacket over my hand only for Garment to take it and store it with much more care. "I don't want to give her any concrete hints about the bike, and since I don't have a change of clothes that means going in a t-shirt."

She made a signal for me to stop and moved over to a storage trunk that had been spared her purge of the entryway. If I remembered correctly it contained a few books, loose writing supplies, and various other items I couldn't find a place for. It was basically my junk drawer.

None of those items were present when Garment opened the lid. Instead the trunk was filled to the brim with clothes which proceeded to float out and circle around me.

"I thought you left all of that at the apartment."

Garment seemed horrified by the thought. Apparently she'd taken the precaution of ensuring I'd have an adequate wardrobe in the event something like this came up. Well, adequate by Garment's standards, positively excessive by the metrics of any reasonable person.

The various items were spinning around me as Garment looked on in considerations. She seemed to be leaning heavily towards the suit, and while that may have been a power move for most negotiations it wasn't something I wanted to get into with Tattletale.

"Look, I just need a different jacket, one with enough pockets that I can take some reagents with me incase anything happens."

Garment seemed a bit disappointed, but relented and produced a dark grey jacket with epaulets on the shoulders and two sets of front pockets. Also another shirt because apparently my current one didn't go with it at all. Given my history her constant criticism of my appearance and dress sense seemed like the kind of thing that should bother me more than it did. That was probably because, unlike what I was used to, it came from this odd place of encouraging improvement rather than leaving things at the insult. It was kind of weird, but in a good way.

The jacket was still slightly fitted, but the pockets were enough for me to carry a few sets of reagents without being obvious about my loadout. It occurred to me that I could have just asked Garment to make me something new. With the speed she had demonstrated when sewing her current outfit she would probably have managed a coat that could conceal half my stock of reagents while also being incredibly fashion forward. I guess I still wasn't used to having someone that capable and dependable at my disposal.

I checked the time, then nodded to Garment.

"Right, I need to get moving. I'm going to have to leave you in here for now."

Garment placed an arm in front of the door and shook her helmet before indicating towards herself.

"Uh, no. Definitely not. I can't take that risk. There's no way Tattletale won't be able to see through this." I indicated to her biker outfit. "If she finds out then that means their boss finds out. I'm not putting you in that kind of danger."

She mimed thinking for a moment, then indicated an idea. She reached up and pulled off the glove from one 'hand', then folded it and indicated the inside pocket of my coat.

Right. Of course. I had gotten caught up in the illusion. Garment didn't need to hold this shape. I could take her as the gloves and she wouldn't be impaired in the slightest. I didn't know if she'd be able to see or hear anything from inside my jacket, but I didn't know how her senses worked to begin with. Or what the range of her telekinesis was. Or the limits of its strength. Or exactly how much information she could get with her fashion divination thing. Actually the only power that had even been close to properly explored was her ability to exchange money directly for materials. Everything else was still kind of nebulous.

"Okay, that works, but you have to stay quiet." She made a sarcastic motion towards where her mouth would be. "You know what I mean. Don't do anything to give away your presence. I don't know how good her thinker power is. She might be able to pick something up just from how I'm behaving, so please don't make it any easier for her."

Garment nodded, then appeared to take off the other glove with an invisible hand. She placed them in the inside pocket of my jacket and 'patted' the outside of the coat. Crazy precise telekinesis. Which apparently could extend through fabric because instead of having the biker outfit collapse in a pile she started to mime taking it off, which prompted me to turn my back to her again. I'll give her credit, she could really sell that illusion.

When I turned around her helmet and outfit were neatly placed on the desk with the boots sitting on the floor next to it. It was a little odd still knowing she was there but not having anything to focus on.

"Garment?" In response my jacket straightened itself and I felt wrinkles smooth out of my clothing. "Alright, good. But none of that when we're outside." There was the slightest tug on my sleeve in response.

I sealed my workshop and entered the docks in an outfit that, while less flashy, was still leagues above my normal style. While covering the last few blocks all my previous concerns flowed to the forefront of my mind. Was there any chance the ABB had an inside line on the PRT? I would give better odds of the Empire having a mole, but you didn't stay a successful gang without some information sources. If they had gotten tipped off that a tinker was working to counter them they could have accelerated their plans. One thing everyone knew was not to give a tinker prep time. My knives had more than proven themselves and if they expected to be facing that level of force I could see them doing something drastic and stupid.

What about the rest of what I'd said? There were barely any details on the Undersiders, so if Tattletale was upset about that I had little sympathy for her. They had ditched their low profile with that public job and the breadcrumbs of information I shared were nothing compared to their public demonstration.

This could be about my rushed debut. I had made a pretty strong statement by taking credit for the knives and demonstrating my formulas. Without context on their requirements or limitations they could have come across as a lot more dangerous than they actually were. Escape might have looked like a serious and unrestrained teleportation power and Force Field could be mistaken for total invincibility if all you saw was the first hit being negated. I had been keeping that formula up continuously as a precaution ever since. The hope was that it would buy me enough time to get something else deployed in the event of an attack. What kind of brute rating would tanking a hit from Glory Girl net you? God, I hoped they weren't going wild with the threat assessment.

As I neared the meeting place I put those thoughts out of my mind. I needed to be on point for this discussion and dwelling on hypotheticals wouldn't help now. It was easy enough to figure out which of the industrial buildings Tattletale had been talking about. This area of the Docks was littered with them. I made my way into the large loading yard of what had probably been a supply building for a nearby abandoned factory. The yard had high concrete walls and reminded me disturbingly of one of those old style prisons, the types that were built like fortresses. The sinking sun stretched the shadows of the walls over the area leaving only a sliver of the far end illuminated. The blaze of light served to highlight the form of Tattletale, perched on top of a loading dock and staring down at me as I entered the yard.

I wondered if she made a conscious decision to go for the most dramatic placement possible, or if it was something she instinctively defaulted to. Was it part of her power, or did she just have a personality that liked to make the biggest impact she could? Either way the fact that she seemed to be trying to at least subconsciously create a power dynamic in this discussion wasn't a good sign.

As I approached I was able to make out the long skirt and tightly buttoned jacket she was wearing along with an expression that did not look happy in the slightest. She waited for me to reach her side of the courtyard before even acknowledging my presence. Slowly she descended the steps from the loading dock, but stayed high enough to let her keep a height advantage over me. It was a transparent power play, but this close I could see a disheveled edge to her appearance. It was enough to make me a bit nervous. Whatever she wanted to talk about had clearly been weighing on her, and would probably be weighing on me in short order.

She stood there seething for a few moments before finally speaking.

"You healed Panacea."

There was a serious amount of stress on the word 'healed'. I kept my expression neutral and nodded in response.

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

I watched for her reaction. It was hard to tell where she was going with this. I couldn't conceive of a situation where she would want Panacea to stay injured. She seemed to be struggling to determine just how to handle the situation.

"Do I have a problem with Panacea no longer being hurt? No, I do not have a problem with that. That might be the only part of this that I don't have a problem with."

I didn't like where this was going. "What, did people have a bad reaction when she showed up without injuries?"

There was a brief flash where Tattletale seemed to return to her usual smug expression before the weight of the situation bore down on her again. "Panacea didn't show up without injuries. She hasn't shown up at all. That girl hasn't left the PRT headquarters since you pulled your little stunt."

"What? But that..." I checked my watch. "that was like twenty hours ago. What kind of debrief are they doing?"

"Debrief." Tattletale muttered the word under her breath before turning back to me. "You hit her with an unknown healing effect." Her tone shifted slightly on the word 'healing'. "Did you really think they were going to let her walk out of there without checking for every possible complication?"

"Oh, right." Ok, that made sense, but even with all the tests they could perform and assuming they would have called in specialists, what could possibly be taking this long? "What, are they holding her for the results of blood cultures or something?"

"No, they finished the tests in a few hours." I waited as Tattletale stood on the steps to the loading dock looking down at me and clearly enjoying my confusion. It became obvious she wasn't going to provide more information without prompting.

"So why hasn't she left?"

"She's being held under Master Stranger protocols."

She was clearly delivering the information to maximize the impact. I wish I could say that I was above the manipulation, that I wasn't letting her get to me, but it was so shocking I just didn't know how to react. I ignored her obvious pleasure at seeing the effect of her announcement and pressed forward.

"Why the hell are they using Master Stranger protocols?"

"Do you want the reasons chronologically or in order of significance?"

I grit my teeth. "This is serious."

"Yes. Yes it is. I'm glad I finally have you on the right page." I gave her a harsh look and she let out a sigh. "That 'debrief' you mentioned? It took place under Armsmaster's new lie detector. Apparently she had an adverse reaction to some of the questions. 'Emotional Instability'. It was enough for them to order a Voight-Kampff assessment and a period of isolation."

"They can do that?"

"They can if your guardian consents. Brandish has been dealing with the rest of the fallout from your little chat. She was more than happy to hand her daughter off while she played damage control."

"What fallout?"

She gave me a condescending look. "Here's a hint. Brandish and Photon Mom aren't speaking to each other and Manpower moved out of the Pelham house."

I blinked. "They actually got into that stuff?"

Tattletale grit her teeth. "They got into everything."

"Everything? Seriously?"

She seemed split between enjoyment of my confusion and frustration at my ignorance. "An unknown cape shows up with claims of serious power including thinker insight that provides information on other capes and the Protectorate. What did you think they were going to do?"

Not this, which was clearly stupid. I figured they would be focused on the Undersiders more than me. A new parahuman appeared that not only has some serious power but also the ability to gain inside information on hero teams? Of course they would freak.

"You're getting it now. Good." She gave me a hard look. "They got the closest thing to a transcript that they could squeeze out of Panacea, then set about verifying as much of it as they could. As an 'assessment of the claimed thinker power'."

The full weight was starting to hit me. "How, how bad is this?"

The blond girl let out a slow breath. "It's not good. Their 'verifications' have probably caused more chaos than the information ever could. Not just in New Wave, the Protectorate's scrambling."

I tried to remember what I'd done that could have set them off, but Tattletale cut in before I could piece things together.

"Here's one tidbit. The Protectorate is going to do a Ward exchange. Aegis and Gallant are being cycled out to give them 'time to recover'."

"Ok, you can't blame me for that." I may have made the knives but I didn't plan the bank job or put them into action. The thought of it brought back the waves of frustration connected to that particular debacle. The absolute stupidity of the Undersiders' plan. The moronic response from the Wards. The insanity of a system that let teenagers manage something that serious. Kid Win's artillery based attempted murder. Taylor's excessive force. Glory Girl's recklessness. Taylor's other excessive force. Tattletale's clandestine activities. Panacea's threats of inflicting terminal illnesses. Taylor's third excessive force. Regents destruction of property. Taylor's forth internet famous excessive force with a side of 'Oh God, why did I give her a magic weapon?'.

"No, I'll give you that one." She conceded. "Something like this was probably coming anyway, they've just accelerated things. The point is who they're exchanging them with."

Once again Tattletale seemed more than happy to leave me trying to figure things out until I ended up begging her for information. She was probably doing everything she could to get me to bear some of the stress she'd endured over this mess.

"So who are they being traded for and why is it my fault?"

"Aegis is being sent to Boston in exchange for Weld. Case 53 ward, living metal guy. Gallant is going to New York and the Brockton team is getting Flechette, a striker/blaster." She looked me square in the eyes. "Boston and New York. Can you think of any reason those teams in particular would be eager for some outreach?"

Yes, God damn it. Was every random statement I made being picked over by the PRT.

"You can probably count on every random statement being picked over by the PRT."

I hated when she did that, and from the look on her face she probably knew it.

"So in addition to changing the local roster and throwing New Wave into chaos you managed to get Director Piggott under review, both for questioning her mental competence and that stuff about ward actions. They've got priority action from the Think Tank to assess this. Oh, and someone leaked all of this to the Youth Guard, so they're up in arms and probably mobilizing for a full investigation."

"Ok, I get it. I've kicked the hornet's nest here. Everyone's up in arms and I probably screwed myself over six ways from Sunday. Why are you so upset about it?"

"Because they think I did it!" Her voice echoed around the small courtyard. I let it die down before I even tried to piece that together.

"Sorry, what? How the hell does that make any sense?"

She grit her teeth before replying. "The prevailing theory is, rather than dealing with two thinkers appearing out of nowhere, they just have a single powerful one. That debrief included everything they could get out of her, including what happened in the bank." There was just the slightest hint of regret in her tone. "The idea is I sent you in with a script of things to say in order to cause disruptions, since it apparently fits my 'modus operandi'." She shook her head. "Which also means all the chaos you unleashed with your stupid stunt is being attributed to me as well."

Tattletale didn't seem like the most humble person in the world and I had a hard time seeing the problem she'd have with being thought smarter than she actually was. "Is that a bad thing?"

She gave me a sour look. "They've provisionally increased my rating by two points. Thinker 8."

And things fell into place. "That's bad."

She actually laughed. "Yes. 'Bad'. That's what you could call it. Engagement only by full teams of parahumans. PRT priority on evacuating civilians. Oh, and I get specific countermeasures."

"What are you looking at?" I'd heard about some of the custom measures in place for high rated capes and they were universally severe and unpleasant.

She looked grim. "At the moment it's mandatory audio blackouts. Noise canceling earplugs with radio link between team members. Zero engagement permitted. In the event of capture complete mute and blinder restraints."

God, that was severe. No wonder she was pissed. Countermeasures of that level were just asking for something to go wrong. "They're going to dial those back eventually, right? Classifications need approval, it's not like local directors can just hand out anything they want."

"Eventually can take a hell of a long time. And meanwhile I get to live with all the fun that new classification brings with it." She gave me a vindictive look. "We both do."

Right, the girl stuck in the PRT because she got nervous during an interview, which was apparently enough for them to assume I had mind control powers. "You know I don't actually have master powers."

Her expression softened slightly. "Yeah, I picked up on how you felt about that. Panacea, she's kind of messed up."

I nodded. "I got that from my powers."

"Yeah, but like specifically messed up." She gave me a direct look. "Amy's in love with her sister."

I stared at her. "Glory Girl? Seriously?"

She nodded. "Probably tried to keep from admitting it and got flagged as an outside influence. There was wonky stuff around it on the tests, so it came across as unnatural."

Suddenly things fell into place. "Fuck."

"What?"

"Fuck, so that's what it was about." I grit my teeth as the full implications hit me.

Tattletale gave me a very annoyed expression that from her elevated position came off like an irritated cat. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

The act of directly asking for information seemed almost physically painful for her. I considered if I should share what I'd figured out. Well, at this point it couldn't do much more harm.

"My power warned me about being close to Glory Girl. I wasn't sure why, I figured it was either some specific power interaction or it meant that her aura..."

"Her aura induces emotions. Long term exposure, especially for a developing brain, changes emotional response and conditions reactions. Holy shit, Glory Girl brainwashed her sister."

I cringed at how excited she was over this. I could only imagine what she was planning to do with this information. Still... "You think if that comes out I can avoid being labeled as a master?"

She took a breath. "Probably not, at least not before my 'engagement procedures' get rolled back. This is going to take ages to get sorted. Even if tests came back clean they could still have held her for up to twenty four hours. With this level of uncertainty and the fact that there actually is a mental effect in play it could take days, potentially even weeks before they figure out what's going on and clear her for release."

God damn it. That would weeks with the best healer the city, actually probably the entire country, out of commission. A disaster in any situation, much less when there was a bombing spree in the works. And with suspicion on my abilities I doubt they're going to be comfortable if I try to step up and fill the gap.

Tattletale was watching the dance of emotions across my face with more enjoyment that was probably appropriate. "Plus, even if you get cleared for Panacea, there's still that thing with Persephone's Rainbow."

I looked at her blankly. "I'm sorry, Persephone's what?"

She grinned at that. "You haven't been online since Alec showed that thread. The PRT were too slow with official statements so the cape fans started coming up with their own details. They've got names for everything you've made."

I felt a twist of concern. "The internet named those knives? The internet?"

Tattletale seemed way too happy about this. "Oh yes. Taylor's knife was dubbed the Scarab's Fang."

"That name makes absolutely no sense."

"And baton is the Lance of Ammut."

I cringed. "Which is clearly not a lance. And what does it have to do with a crocodile lion thing?"

She ignored my questions and happily continued down her list.

"For Alec and Brian you have Usurper's Plot and Perdition."

Those weren't completely terrible providing you could get past how over dramatic they were. "What about you and Rachel?"

She showed her teeth. "Mine was named Ad Hominem."

"Attacking the person, not the argument?" Tattletale seemed quite pleased about that. "And Rachel?"

"Well, it was going to be something along the lines of Bastard, but another name won out in the end."

I took a breath. "Which was?"

"Clarent."

"Clarent. As in the king Arthur sword Clarent?"

"It did bring down a knight and sent him scurrying to New York to try to buy some new armor, though he's probably dressing that up as a noble quest or something."

That broke me out of my train of thought. "Hold on, buying armor? I thought he made that himself?"

"Oh, right. Gallant's not a tinker. Empath who can shoot emotion blasts. The armor was made by Kid Win. He just had the money to pay for it and the maintenance. With Kid Win both on review and trying to rebuild what he lost in the fight Gallant needs to find somewhere else to buy his powers."

The phrase 'buy his powers' triggered something from my passenger, but I didn't have the time to figure out what it meant at the moment. From Tattletale's reaction she clearly saw it, but elected not to comment on the matter.

"This is getting off topic. What the hell is Persephone's Rainbow?"

She really seemed to be enjoying this. "PRT techs seem to follow PHO threads and decided to stick with that naming convention. Persephone's Rainbow is what they dubbed that little token of affection you gave Panacea."

I felt my guts twist. That stupid over decorated little trinket. Why hadn't I just handed over a material sample?

"Alright. So they named it something stupid." I ignored how she was grinning down at me. "What does that have to do with mastering people?"

"Apparently..." She drew out the word. "Some technician spent fifteen minutes staring at the thing while 'fascinated by the iridescence of the petals'. It was enough to raise warnings of a possible memetic object and triggered containment protocols with staged and controlled assessments."

I stared at her blankly. "They think I can tie mind control effects to objects?"

"Yes, that is the theory they're working with."

The weight of the situation was bearing down on me. "I have to deal with a master rating because one girl didn't want to admit a crush and somebody else stared too long at a piece of jewelry?"

"That's right." Her tone had absolutely no sympathy in it.

Well this was horrible. "So they think I'm a master tinker." She shifted to an expression with a cruel edge to it. "What?"

"Right now they have you with provisional ratings in master, thinker, mover, brute, and shaker."

I ran through the list, connecting the classifications to the various abilities I'd demonstrated. "All that on top of tinker?" She stayed silent. "As a tinker sub-classification?"

"Nope." She gave me a vindictive look. "There's no tinker classification."

I looked at her in shock. "How the hell did that happen?"

"Apparently, according to Armsmaster's assessment, the items he was able to examine didn't demonstrate conventional signs of workmanship. Furthermore there were indications that suggested the 'direct application of a parahuman ability'. His recommendation was for a shaker classification."

Damn it. This is why I've been holding off any public announcement. They'd only seen the magic bullshit, not all the work I put into those things. "What, they think I just willed these things out of the air?"

"That's about it." She grinned wider. "Oh, and they're also suggesting the power profile indicates a second generation Empire cape."

Well, that was just... "Fuck."

"Ex-act-ly." Tattletale was looking vindicated, but there were signs of exhaustion leaking into her expression. I knew she had some inside access on the Protectorate. How long had she been digging into this? I was guessing this meeting was as much about sharing the pain as it was about informing an ally to pressing developments.

Did we even count as allies anymore? She was clearly irate, but nothing indicated she wanted to break off our arrangement. I could only guess at what her boss thought of this mess, but if he was using the Undersiders as a cat's paw then that elevated threat assessment would be nothing but an advantage for him. Response procedures like the ones they'd approved for Tattletals could let him bait the Protectorate to a level that just wasn't possible with a conventional team. Depending on the length of his reach I could see him taking steps to keep the classification from getting resolved.

I looked up at Tattletale and considered my next move. I still didn't particularly like or trust her, despite my passenger's feelings on the matter. Still, her self-interest was probably served by keeping me in the picture. I could count on that at least.

"So, where do we go from here?"

She deflated a bit at the question. "For the moment? We both try to avoid the fallout. Oh, and you need to get yourself a cape name post haste."

Right, they had a tendency to come up with their own labels for new capes. I grimaced at the possibilities that could be in the works. "Have they stuck me with anything yet?"

"Officially you currently have an incident number, but if you don't get a proper debut within the next few days there's a good chance you're going to get stuck with Mammon.

I blinked in surprise. "Seriously? Isn't that like a greed demon or something? How the hell does that work?"

"Remember all that online nonsense? The discussion somehow made it over to a jeweler's forum. That started a debate over the appraisal of the workmanship on what you made for us." Her tone was vaguely accusatory. I had the feeling she still wasn't that happy with my personalizations for the knives. "And it was a big number. That got posted back on PHO. Between that and you're stunt with the hairpin there's this association with corruption and wealth. That led to somebody thinking it would be clever to mash the concepts together. Hence, Mammon"

I felt almost ill at the idea. Taylor hadn't looked that happy with her cape name, but Egyptian god was a lot better than demon lord. Honestly I was surprised that name was still on the market, what with the Fallen running around.

"I'll make sure to come up with something." Suddenly finding the perfect name was a lot less important than just getting a non-villainous one. Really, anything would be better than being stuck with that moniker.

She nodded and looked me in the eyes. "As for our arrangement we have something to discuss." She walked down the steps and closed the last of the distance to me. "Healing. How much?"

I couldn't' hide my surprise. "Excuse me?"

"Terms of arrangement. Price and schedule negotiation for services. What do you charge for healing?"

I blanked. "Aren't you upset I kept this hidden?"

She shook her head. "I knew you were keeping some things from us. I didn't push on the subject. If I had maybe I could have given some advice that would have let you avoid this mess. That's on me, but it's not what we're talking about here. Things are going to be harder for all of us going forward." She said the last sentence through gritted teeth. "So, what is it going to cost us for that thing you threw at Panacea last night?"

I looked down at her, but only saw the stress that had been clearly wearing on her for the last day. I didn't particularly like our arrangement, or how naturally manipulative Tattletale was. With my passenger reigning in his reactions I could process that better. Still, I needed support to make it through the coming storm. She had illicitly sourced but essential information I absolutely required. Plus Taylor was still important. I couldn't afford to cut off my support.

"Market."

"Market?"

"Yeah, market rate. Work out what the cost of the medical care would have been for whatever the issue is. That's what I'll charge. You'll just get it all at once instead of needing weeks of recovery."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You know that's robbery right? That you could get away with charging so much more for that service?"

I nodded. "Call it a good relationship discount." I glanced towards the exit of the yard and the city beyond it. "Maybe it'll be incentive to keep me informed enough to manage what's coming."

She seemed to understand and took a moment to consider things. "Piggot? She's blacklisted you. Even beyond suspicion over your healing. No support, resources, or collaboration from the local Protectorate. She ordered limited contact and priority dispatch response for any appearances. Officially you're wanted for questioning, which is as much as they can do now, especially with the scrutiny she's under."

Well that was awful. I think my passenger was probably right about his assessment. Still, I hadn't intended to poke that particular bear this early. I put that out of my mind and shifted to the topic that was my original concern.

"Thanks for the heads up." I swallowed. "What about the ABB?"

Tattletale thought for a moment. "Piggot doesn't want to take any action that would validate your predictions. The other departments have eyes on her now, and her reputation was pretty shaky to begin with."

Right, and that was before I questioned her sanity. Shit, if I had accidently made things worse by trying to warn Panacea...

"Do you have anything on the ABB?"

She shook her head. "They've been unusually quiet. Some feelers going out, but whatever is happening they're still preparing for it." She looked directly at me. "Your power says it's going to be bad."

It was barely a question, but I nodded in response. "One of the worst I've gotten so far."

"I'll see what I can find, but it might take a few days. Lung isn't planned to be moved until next week, and the Protectorate is mostly focused on tomorrow's presentation of the new Wards."

"Thank you." I fished out my cellphone. "I've managed a secure line, so you can reach me if there's an emergency. I can work on something for the rest of the team..."

"Don't worry about it." She let out a sigh. "You really put your foot in it, you know that right?"

"Yeah. I'm not sorry about healing Panacea, but the rest of it could have been handled better."

She scoffed. "That's an understatement."

"But I'll deal with it."

"If you say so." She didn't sound convinced.

I nodded grimly. "Call me if anything comes up."

She gave me a reserved nod. "Take care of yourself."

We went our separate ways as we left the factory yard. I took a longer route through the docks than was necessary as I picked over the conversation. Things were significantly worse than I'd feared. Just twenty hours after I'd given the first hint of my power and things were going off the rails. I hadn't thought I would have a good reputation with the Protectorate after working with the Undersiders, but a blanket contact ban seemed counterproductive. Even if the goal was to bring me in that kind of thing would just make it harder.

Enough questionable decisions had come out of the local PRT that I had seriously wondered if they were compromised. My passenger wasn't giving me that sense and you should never attribute to malice what can be blamed on gross incompetence. At any other point I would have called the local director being under review a good thing, but we were headed into a disaster and needed all the help we could get.

Then there was the Undersiders' boss. This nebulous criminal overlord who I knew nothing about. There were only a few types of parahumans who consistently worked from behind the scenes. Nothing I'd seen indicated he was a master or tinker, so that just left thinker.

A thinker making a power play meant things would get complicated. What's more, the fact that he had a stream of information on me when I knew nothing about him was nerve wracking. Really I only had one defense, and it's the same one used as a standard PRT countermeasure for thinkers. The same one I've been employing against the strongest thinker on the planet.

Limit available information.

See, there's a terrifying element to being a tinker, particularly a strong tinker. Most people would assume that your top concern should be a visit from the Slaughterhouse Nine. They had a serial killer who specifically targeted tinkers with the power to change the world. They also had Bonesaw, who not only permanently tainted wet and medical tinkers in the eyes of the public, but took an active interest in anyone working in that field.

That was terrifying, and something I was certainly concerned about, but it wasn't my biggest concern. The problem wasn't Mannequin. It was the person who had turned Sphere into Mannequin. The Simurgh.

Endbringers were largely thought to be random in their attacks, but there were signs of direction. Hits to vital resources, major initiatives, or even specific individuals who had a chance to change the world. It didn't always match up, but then who could track every possible cape in every city? When one of the Endbringers could see the future what hope did anyone have? What could a normal person do against someone with the power to predict their every move?

This was the kind of thing that ended up debated and discussed extensively online. There was one solution that was believed to be at least sort of effective, and anyone could do it. No matter what, no precognition was perfect. There were blind spots. Scion was the best known one. There was anecdotal evidence about being able to disrupt foresight powers by timing your actions based on Scion sightings. The Endbringers were another, but no one wanted to try to base their plans around them. There was a third that was significantly less well known than the other two.

Apparently precognition couldn't predict the effects of a trigger event. There was even less evidence for this than the other two possibilities, but rumors suggested foresight thinkers had been stumped when they encountered a fresh trigger. Still, that wasn't the kind of thing you could count on to disrupt precognition. It wasn't like a person got new and unknown powers with enough frequency to be able to use it as a determining factor for their future actions.

That is, unless they were connected to a massive celestial array of powerful tinker abilities that were continuously being granted to them.

I didn't know what my next power would be. My passenger, who had the capacity to predict future events, didn't know what my next power would be. From the look of things Tattletale couldn't figure out the array of powers I was being granted, much less predict what was coming. Everything I knew about how this operated suggested that it was my only hope to disrupt precognition.

The principle was simple, do nothing that would attract attention until you got enough power to handle the situation, then act immediately and without restraint. For the Simurgh that meant avoiding anything that brought down Endbringers. So no commercially released tinker tech, no global scale projects, and no mass uplift. As appealing as the GroundBridge project was it would be limited to personal use, not mass transport or deployments. There would be no wide scale deployment of technology, not until there was no doubt that I could handle whatever they could throw at me.

It wasn't a guaranteed strategy, but it was the best idea I could come up with. If it didn't work then there was nothing stopping that bitch from dropping out of the sky, destroying everything I'd done, jacking all of my technical knowledge, and mind warping me past the point of no return. It was the only plan I could come up with to get the slightest bit of agency over my life.

If that strategy was good enough for the Simurgh then it should work on any thinker. It didn't matter if they worked by analysis, precognition, spying, or modeling. I was basing my actions on something that I could not predict, that to the best of my knowledge no one could predict. With the Undersiders' boss it was the only plan I could come up with to deal with the anxiety over my complete lack of information. Endure his presence until I was sure I was strong enough, then strike immediately. It might not work perfectly, but it was the most thinker proof stratagem I could come up with.

Once I had taken enough turns through the city to be sure I wasn't being followed I found another alley. I picked a convenient door and accessed my workshop. There was a tug at my sleeve and I took Garment's gloves out of my jacket pocket. They floated in a way that gave the impression that someone had taken them from my hand, and then appeared to be pulled onto the hands of someone in front of me.

Once again the biker outfit started being picked up and put on in a way the made it feel intrusive to watch. I diverted my eyes until I saw the helmet get picked up by a now fully 'dressed' Garment.

"So," I turned to her. "What did you think of Tattletale?"

Garment's gestures seemed to indicate Tattletale's jacket, skirt, and shoes with a fairly negative take on them.

"Really? I thought she looked pretty fashionable."

Garment patted me on the arm in a gesture that suggested she was dealing with a particularly slow child.

"Alright. Anything else?"

She gave me an irreverent motion. Fashion had been critiqued, so what else was there? The sense I got was less that she didn't care about any of the other aspects and more that she trusted me to be able to deal with it. It was actually a pretty big vote of confidence and came across as fairly reassuring.

I changed into my other jacket and wheeled the motorcycle out into the alley. Garment jumped onto the back as I sealed the workshop. As I was getting ready to mount up I felt the Celestial Forge again. It was another mote from the Size constellation and a big one at that, the same strength as Life Fiber Spool or Master Builder. When the connection was made I found out exactly how strong it was.

The mote was called Nanite Removal and Control. It was tangentially connected with Nanite Sciences, but much more powerful. This wasn't information on nanites, this power actually filled my body with them. Innumerable atomic scale machines were now bonded to me at a molecular level. There was even some aspect of the power that would continually replenish my supply if it was ever depleted. The nanites were unprogramed so if I wanted to use them for manufacturing, physical enhancement, or more esoteric functions I would have to find a safe method of extracting them and code the functions into them directly. However, there was one nanite application that I could manage. I had the full breath of nanotech healing at my fingertips.

Direct application of my nanites could address almost any medical issue, up to full mutations. Shockingly I might actually be a better healer than Panacea. This kind of healing could easily address brain damage and even managed to cheat on conservation of mass by rebuilding body parts from nothing but nanotech. She would still have me beat on whatever her other biological control powers were, but this healing was massively more potent than what my Light Alchemy could manage.

The third aspect of this power was just as powerful. Nanite Removal and Control. That was the name of the ability and completely described its core aspect. I could control any nanobot or nanite based technology I encountered. I could even absorb nanites into my body in massive volumes. It was an even more flagrant violation of conservation of mass than what my healing could manage. Unfortunately it was an aspect of the power rather than a technology that could be recreated. It would remain on the same level of mystery as my workshop key or Fashion reinforcement.

With that control aspect all my fears regarding rampant nanotech were suddenly a lot less significant. Even if I decided to make something catastrophic like gray goo I would be able to directly control the technology in the field, or just absorb the nanomachines for later reprocessing. This one power shaved months off of my schedule. The only remaining elements of the nanite project were the construction of the containment vessel and the programming of the specific application.

I looked down at my hand and focused on activating the nanites in my system. There was a sound reminiscent of an electric motor as glowing blue lines spread across my arm like printed circuitry. I could feel the tiny machines inside my body checking for damage and making incidental repairs. That was another point. I could heal myself. It took focus and wasn't as good as regeneration, but it addressed every possible medical issue from injury to infection to poisoning. As long as I was conscious I could manage a complete restoration in a matter of seconds.

It was a powerful ability and a big step forward, but it wasn't enough. Not enough to act against the Undersiders' boss, not enough to take a stand against the Endbringers. Not enough to oppose any of the other major factions that were operating in the world. But it brought me a bit closer. There were more powerful motes than this one. With enough of them I could afford to make a real change.

Until then I would have to endure. I would make what difference I could at the level where it was safe to operate. I didn't like it, I wished I could do more, but it was my best chance of being able to make things better, someday.

I mounted my bike and rode off in the direction of my apartment. I was going to have a busy night.

Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

Nanite Removal and Control (Generator Rex) 400:

Many in this world would consider this is your most important ability, you can control nanites and absorb them into yourself, reverting dangerous mutations and can help people regain control of themselves. At first however this power will only work on willing targets, and will not work on incurable, especially virulent nanite infested EVOs. However with training and time, your powers can grow to circumvent these rules. Your greatest limitation is the fact that as you absorb nanites your reservoirs fill to the breaking point, causing dangerous flare ups and renders your abilities unstable. You can purge these nanities, but figuring out how to do so in a safe way with a large amount of unstable nanites may take some effort.

After this Jump your nanites can be used to heal people, whether of wounds, diseases, or possibly even mutations or others turned into a monster. Success will vary depending on factors, a mystical curse is probably beyond your nanites, a really out of this world super virus might be cured, but that's iffy.

If you happen to run into other nanites in other jumps, you could control and manipulate them as well.