15

Finishing up in the gym, I was walking out without a speck of soreness on my body. Just took a warm shower and let Gourmet Cells do all the regeneration for me. Although by the end of it, I was feeling quite hungry. Not that it should be a surprise I suppose. It wasn't like Gourmet Cells pulled mass from nothing.

Heading back home was a fairly easy experience. Taking a bus ride back to my actual home to not raise too many suspicions, I stuck my portal in the closet door and stepped right on through back into my secret base. Until my lease ended at the end of January, I had to at least give the impression that I was living in my single-room apartment.

Amaya wasn't anywhere to be seen. Clicking the portalmaker, I gave a brief check around my workshop and I saw her busy tinkering with some components in the workshop. A stand was set up with a few wires trailing some else. Hefting a beanbag in her hand, Amaya reeled back and punted it straight at the stand.

I held my breath for a moment before it simply sailed through without any harm. Frowning in annoyance, Amaya grabbed a brick instead and launched it. The brick soared through the air before it struck the stand and was immediately sent flying back at her. Ducking her head with practiced ease, the brick flew overhead and landed on a mat set up behind her.

"Ah, you're back." Amaya spoke up. "Your gloves are there on the table." She gestured towards it while still looking at the stand. They looked like two futuristic gauntlets, with a shiny metal plate exterior, reminiscent of knight's gauntlets mixed with Iron Man. Walking over, I slipped them on and was surprised at how comfortable they were despite the mess of wires and plates on them. Granted, there were some restrictions in my hands but not as much as I was expecting.

Lifting my hand, I shot off a quick, weak blast against the wall. The hard light cylinder slammed into it before breaking apart like a water hose and quickly fading away. Shooting a few more quick blasts and I found that they were pretty responsive to my commands with little to no recoil. And the recoil that I was experiencing was minimal enough that I could hold it steady without issue.

"Nice." I nodded as I slipped them off. "Good work." Amaya stole a glance at me and preened slightly. "What about the vector shield? Got it working?" I walked over and looked at the device hooked up to the stand. I was impressed at how quickly she managed to recreate my kinetic redirector. Her version was a little bigger and more complete, without any of Hammer Jammer's annoying design choices. Though it looked like my prototype was disassembled and reassembled multiple times on the corner. Not like it mattered since it was just a prototype.

Turning to me, she shot another glance at the stand before making a 'so-so' gesture. "Kinda. I got a usable version of your… kinetic redirector working." She said with a slightly disgusted look. "However, it works on exclusively physical contact." Her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "And it's proving stubborn to alter."

"What seems to be the issue?" I cocked my head as I inspected the stand.

"Your machine is altering the structure on a molecular level, changing the 'density'," Amaya made rather large air quotes around the word, "of the object it's attached to. Originally I wanted it to work on your body directly but that quickly didn't end well."

I would sure hope so. I don't think having strong vibrations travelling and bouncing around in my body was a good idea.

"So instead, I tried to pull the effect outside of the object into an aura similar to Accelerator's AIM field." Amaya stated. "But doing so is like pulling teeth. I'm not sure which perk is stubbornly resisting the altering of the design, but it's being a pain in the ass. I manage to do so anyway, but the power drain and computational load skyrockets when dealing with gases." She threw another beanbag, this time nailing the stand and sending it flying back.

Humming, I tried to ask Machine Madness for help. And it spun around for a moment, with blueprints and designs springing to mind before being discarded. Bits and pieces of each device being pulled out to add to a new device before useless parts were stripped away once again and replaced with other components. I quickly realised that I was looking at an 'evolution' of a device in real time.

Like Amaya said, creating a 'vector shield' in the air was difficult given that air itself was constantly moving and changing.

But there was a way to do it.

"What if we… didn't pull the kinetic redirection away from the object the device it's attached to." I suggested.

Amaya turned to look at me, her eyes furrowed. "Lemme guess, you want to project that effect into the object coming directly at the person." She replied. Nodding, I prompted Machine Madness for a possible blueprint. And it responded in kind. The resulting device was large and nauseatingly complex. The first problem was actually projecting such an effect to an object not directly attached to the components made to alter the physical properties in the first place.

The second was actually causing the object coming at you to change directions. Remember, this device wasn't affecting vectors but more of the vibrations caused by kinetic impacts. Technically, yes it was 'reflecting and refracting' kinetic energy due to the movements of the molecules in the waves of the vibration. But not vectors.

Which meant it was going to have to be creative in altering physical composition to make the object suddenly change direction without imparting another force on it. Newton's Laws of Motion? What was that?

Therefore what ended up coming out was something so dumb and complex that it was the size of a small bus and had the power draw of a skyscraper to run all of its calculations.

Amaya must have caught my face since she shot a knowing smile at me. "See why it's difficult?"

"Says you." I shot back with an annoyed grimace. "What was the description of 'A Stroke of Genius'? 'The laws of science may seem hard and inflexible to others but in your hands they bend and flex like a stripper on a pole'?"

Amaya shrugged her shoulders. "I said 'difficult', not 'impossible'." She had the absolute smuggest smile on her face, rivaling Lisa's in terms of smugness. "Sketch the blueprint Machine Madness for me. It'll be good to use your power as a jumping off point for me."

Well, I guess that… I let out a sigh. "Fine." I walked over to the table. "Y'know I was planning to cook something for lunch given that we have a proper kitchen now. Pass you an offer to join me to help or something…" I shot a look over to her.

"That's sweet of you." Amaya used what I was going to refer to her 'teasing flirt' voice. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her come closer and wrap her arms around my shoulders as she brought her mouth closer to my ear. "Perhaps we could do that for dinner?" She purred into my ear.

Her breath tickled my ear as she pressed herself into my back. "Mmm… Since you're doing so much for me… Should I give you a reward?" Her hands crept down, reaching lower and lower. Using my free hand, I grabbed her wrists to stop her advance.

"Stop. I already told you. Date first." I shot a glance over my shoulder to see her pouting face.

Crossing her arms, Amaya pulled away and I let her hands slip away. "But we already went all the way…"

"After you made me very worried for your wellbeing and I came back to you masturbating on the bed." I shot back with a slight frown. "Hell, I don't even know how you sent me those texts in the first place. What the hell?"

Amaya made a slight 'o' with her lips and I was reminded of her blowjob with no help from Savant as it provided a very vivid memory. I could feel my blood pooling in my crotch. "Oh that. I bought a prepaid phone with the money you gave me."

A prepaid… alright. I conceded that made some sense. "Still you pissed me off enough and made me have angry sex with you. Like fine. Whatever. I'm still holding to that promise of a date first." I leveled a finger at Amaya.

"Is that a challenge I hear?" Amaya licked her lips as she stared at me.

I suddenly didn't feel very comfortable being near her. Raising my eyebrows, I shifted my seat ever so slowly and carefully away from her. "Maybe…?" Amaya's face broke out into a wide grin. "Hold up. Ground rules. First, both of us must consent to it. So no somnophilia, using the neuraljack or anything like that." Amaya immediately pouted. Nail on the head I suppose. "Secondly, you cannot use the same tactic as the first time, tricking me that you're in danger and then revealing that you're actually fine and presenting yourself or something. Got it?"

I racked my head for a moment. "And… you have three days to do it. I'll go on a date with you in three days. If you manage to win and get me to fuck you in three days, you win. Else, I win." I finished.

Amaya's eyes glimmered with excitement. No doubt her Stroke of Genius was now focused on trying to win this little game.

The Celestial Forge awakened, breaking the both of us out of our train of thoughts. However, due to my luck and the drainage of all the energy from the previous roll, the Forge missed its grasp on the Aides Constellation.

Amaya pouted as the tendril of energy slinked back. "Aww… I wanted a friend." She grinned at me as she said so. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I breathed a soft sigh of relief. I don't think I could handle another Amaya.

The green-haired woman leaned against the table as I sketched the blueprint Machine Madness provided. "Say…" Amaya spoke up as she watched me. "What were you going to put these devices on?"

"The shield." I raised my left hand, "and my trench coat. But kinetic redirection inside fabrics would tear it apart so…" I shrugged my shoulders. "Can't help with that."

"Couldn't you just… reinforce it with magic then?" Amaya said. My sketch stopped for a moment as I remembered that yes, I had magic now. And I buried my face into my hands as I let out a long sigh, expelling as much air as I could from my lungs. Glancing at Amaya, she let out a small smile as she ruffled my hair. "It happens to the best of us."

Welp. I guess I needed to test that idea out then.

The afternoon was spent between sketching and preparing lunch. Well, Amaya was preparing lunch while I used Slacking Off to buy some time to help out. She wasn't particularly against it, but did say that I should spend the time gained from Slacking Off on some other project rather than lunch. But I insisted otherwise. After all, I now needed a lot more food to get through the day. Luckily this place restocked itself every so often so I wouldn't put a dent in my funds just simply trying to survive.

Inspirational Pull helped out a lot more than expected as well. I didn't think it would be too useful when cooking a meal but it did pick out better ingredients that would mesh with the dish we were trying to make. In the end, the fried noodles that we prepared tasted so much better than my memories provided.

"Hmm…" Amaya hummed while she looked over the veritable pile of noodles I was consuming. Despite tasting good, they still lacked a little… something. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but it felt like it was lacking somewhat. "Do you think I should make a high-calorie snack bar for you?"

Glancing over, I nodded. Swallowing the noodles, I set the empty bowl to the side. "Yea… but it's not like we have any biotech to work with to even start. We'll have to make do with store-bought for now." I started working on my fourth bowl for the afternoon. Reaching over, I handed the stack of papers over. "Here's the design that you wanted."

Amaya raised an eyebrow as she looked over the dizzying amount of information. Flipping through it, she nodded her head. "I can work with this." She nodded. "I'll be in my room if you need me." She grabbed her bowl and shuffled off, her eyes glued to the machinery and circuitry I had provided.

Finishing lunch, I made my way back to the workshop. I still had some time before I needed to go in for my first day in the Union. So I might as well get the kinetic redirector over with and finally start on the hat tonight when I return.

And Amaya was right. Using Enchantment magic to settle a simple durability boost, I hooked up the piece of fabric to the kinetic redirector Amaya had made. And lo and behold! When I applied a ludicrous amount of kinetic energy to hit via high speed hammer, the fabric didn't blow apart like before.

Testing it for a bit longer, the upper limit of the fabric was actually a lot higher than I had expected. I placed it at around the same level as the steel I was testing earlier. However, I did find another small issue.

When attached to the device, fabrics became a lot more stiff.

Large movements, such as picking up the steel and fabric and moving it around, weren't affected by kinetic redirection since it wasn't really 'vibrations' that moved the object, but the entire object moving all at once. Same with throwing, tossing or other large movements that acted upon the entire object rather than just a portion of it. Which made sense. If it stopped all types of kinetic energy, you'd have an immovable object which served zero purpose.

However, small movements, like say moving around the fabric did activate the kinetic redirection, making fabrics stiffer and harder to deform. It didn't particularly matter with metal since you didn't want it to deform in the first place but the flexibility of fabric was a bit more important.

I let out a breath. Making it such that there was a threshold before the redirection effect activated was the easiest solution that came to mind. However, there was a small problem with that. Needles, technically, didn't need a lot of kinetic energy to harm me. Same thing with a lot of small, sharp things. Which fell into Amaya's problem of 'filtering out what is and isn't harmful to a person'. And frankly, I couldn't be fucked to bash my head against that wall.

Instead, I tried something a little more… esoteric in nature. Layering another enchantment on top of the durability enchantment already present on the fabric. Since the original kinetic redirection was technically an enchantment, it was surprisingly easy for me to use Loremaster and Magic Skill to translate it over to a proper enchantment.

Of course, I had to finagle with the magic quite a bit, cutting corners and haphazardly linking mana together, but I got it working. The enchantment wasn't exactly pretty but it would do for now and acted pretty similarly to Machine Madness's version. Except instead of altering physical properties, this was just straight up magic.

Just magic. Kinetic energy just bounced around and out of the fabric it was tied to. No need to worry about pesky things like density or virtual mass, it just did the thing I wanted it to. Which saved me quite a number of headaches. The problem of 'fabric tearing itself if impact was too strong' was still a problem though if I didn't have the durability enchantment on.

This version of kinetic redirection also didn't affect the flexibility of clothes thankfully. Why? I couldn't quite tell you. Looking at both, they should do the exact same thing but one affected clothes flexibility while another didn't. Plus, the magical version had a lower limit on the redirection threshold, with energy 'bleeding through' the fabric if the impact was strong enough.

However, unlike Machine Madness, the enchantment stayed and continued to work, unlike the machine version which burnt out.

I guess this was the side effect of translating the Shard's effect into two very different bases? It made some sense I suppose.

With that out of the way, I settled on how to integrate the kinetic redirection effect into my equipment. Shield gets the machine version while clothes get the magic version plus a durability enhancement. I made a note of it and stuck it on the fridge as well as on the table of my workshop so I didn't forget.

The shield was easy enough. I used some extra components and the prototype redirector from this morning to get a working version up and running. It wasn't too difficult, especially since Amaya had ripped it apart for me anyway so I could replan its internals. Combined with the insights I could glean from Amaya's own interpretation of my stuff, Machine Madness and Hammer Jammer worked perfectly in tandem to make a more streamlined and efficient version of the one from this morning.

It still required quite a bit of power, but hey it was all good. Attaching it to the shield was a bit harder since it was quite the bulky item and the shield wasn't exactly spacious. However, I did manage to slide it into position, where it wouldn't press uncomfortably into my arms while still being at the center of the shield.

Testing its deployment capabilities, it was a tad slower given that I was using pistons to effectively launch the plates on either side. However, it was an easy redesign to render that small problem moot. And by easy redesign, I meant completely redoing the internals so the kinetic energy of the launcher fell into the 'moving the entire thing at once' rather than 'slamming a piston into it so hard it popped out'.

I threw the redesigned parts into the CNC machine to be milled before I changed and headed back through the closet door to start heading to the Dockworkers' Union. Danny did say a uniform would be provided so I brought a ziplock bag along and a decently sized backpack along to shove my clothes in before heading out.

"Excuse me." A pair of PRT officers interrupted my path out. The first was a short-haired tomboyish woman, standing a head shorter than me. The second was a taller man with light brown hair and a slight smile on his face. "Are you Nathan Leong who lives in this building?"

I took a breath. "Who's asking?"

"My name is Ethan Jones." The man took a step forward and extended a hand. "And this is my partner in more ways than one, Gwen Jones." He pointedly ignored her scowl. "We're here on behalf of the PRT." I shook his hands in response. Ethan… Assault? Kinda looks like him based on the fanart I had seen. And I assumed that the tomboy was Battery. I was a little wary being next to two Protectorate members, especially two of the fastest members.

I idly removed the portal to my base in my closet. "And what can I do for you two?" I pulled my hand away from Ethan and took a step back.

"Perhaps we should take this talk inside." Ethan said. "It's about the attack on Saturday."

"I'm afraid I'll have to take a raincheck." I tried to step past them. "If I delay any longer, I'll be late for work."

"At the Dockworkers' Union?" Ethan interrupted. "We've already called ahead. We have some time right now." He had an easygoing smile on his face. I could keep pushing, but it seemed like they covered their bases with this. Preventing me from using the Union to ignore them, sending Assault and Battery to chase me if I ran, I wouldn't be too surprised if a few hidden PRT vans were set up around the block to keep an eye on me.

A tense pause passed as I spotted a few cameras pointing at me. Well, I was certain I should probably bring this to a more private location. "Please follow me then." I made my way back up. Unlocking the door to my room, I allowed them inside before shutting the door behind me. The two heroes took a look around before motioning for them to sit down.

"So… what is it that the PRT wants with me?" I asked as I took a look at the two of them. Loremaster got a general sense of duty from Gwen, while Ethan was a bit more looser and less uptight. However, both of them were here for a specific reason. A mix of apprehension while clearly being deliberate with their actions.

"We would like you to come with us into the PRT HQ." Gwen said. "You're not in trouble or under arrest, but we do need you to come with us."

I shook my head. "I already told the previous guy that came in, I already gave my statement and there's nothing I could say that wasn't said then." If there was one thing that I knew when dealing with someone with more authority than you, just act clueless. They won't know what to do if you don't say anything.

"Sir, we have reason to suspect that you're in danger." Gwen said. An interesting proposal but I wasn't quite sure where they were going with this. "We cannot say much else due to safety and privacy concerns so we wish to bring you to the PRT HQ so we can tell you the full story." She said with gravitas. Loremaster said that she truly believed what she was saying though Ethan was a little more skeptical.

The Celestial Forge awakened and missed a swing on the Smut Protection Constellation. I frowned slightly. At this rate, I was gonna get another 'Lab Partner' or something.

Taking a deep breath, I bit my lip. The only few real dangers I knew of was Coil from Lisa, though I doubted he would do anything for now. Or that he did and I managed to slip away in his other timelines. The other was of course Leet and his accomplice Uber, but Uber didn't know my identity and Leet was arrested. However, it wasn't like I could simply deny such a thing without looking too suspicious.

After all, the PRT walking up to you and telling you that you're in danger raised several concerns. Most of them parahuman.

I weighed the decision in my mind. The best option was to simply go with them. However, walking into the lion's den wasn't particularly what I wanted right now. On the other hand, I couldn't brush aside such a statement without some amount of suspicion. And if they already think that I was a parahuman, brushing it aside might only intensify the concerns. At the very least, if they try to trap me in, I could use my key to walk straight out.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. "Alright then. Let's head to the PRT HQ and see what you have to say."

Heading to the PRT building, it was just as the story described. A lot of barred windows on its exterior with a giant logo with the letters 'P.R.T' hanging on the front. The car I was sitting in was pretty comfortable, all black leather and nice headrests which were a plush Assault and Battery. Nice joke, I suppose.

The car pulled into the gantry manned by two PRT officers. Rolling down the windows, Ethan handed his card to the officer. "Just bringing in Mr Nathan here." He jabbed a finger to the back. Peering inside, he took a look before nodding.

"Let them in!" The guard called out. The barrier lifted and the car trudged down into the underground carpark. The tinted windows plus the pisspoor lighting made it hard to make out the outside but I was pretty sure I could spot Armsmaster's motorcycle as well as a large amount of standardized PRT vans.

Pulling to a stop, the three of us got off and they led me to an elevator. Scanning his keycard, Ethan jabbed the button bringing us to the twelfth floor. Glancing at me, he asked. "Have you ever been into the PRT HQ?"

"Not really. I mean everyone's been here and anything on the tours can be found on PHO anyway." I shrugged. "I never saw the point." I replied. Ethan nodded as he listened to my answer.

"That's fair I suppose." Ethan turned around and started walking backwards. "Say, when this is over, what do you think of an exclusive private tour, courtesy of me? Hell, I might even let you see some parts that aren't exclusive to the public." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows which made Gwen jab his side again.

"Kidding. Kidding." He staggered and walked a bit drunkenly. "Mostly." He added before immediately dodging Gwen's next hit. "Think about it would you?" Although his words were a bit offhanded, I did pick up some amount of… hmm desperation wasn't quite the right word for it. But a sort of urgency to push me to accept.

It was a good disguise for a recruitment pitch. Most likely they were planning to spring the fact that I was the one who defeated Leet on me, cite a low survival rate for independent heroes, and then use the tour to show off their resources and toss me a recruitment pitch. Let's see how much I got correct.

"Right this way." Ethan opened the door into a relatively brightly lit room, with a single table with two chairs on opposite sides, as well as a one-way mirror on one of the walls. Walking in, Ethan shut the door behind me as I took a seat on a chair.

"If this is an interrogation, I would like to call for a lawyer." I called out in the empty room as I took a seat. Due to how the mirror was placed, they were facing the door as well, so slipping out wouldn't be perfect unless I could blind them as well. Glancing up, I could spot seams along the ceiling, probably containment foam launchers.

The chair was a little uncomfortable and stiffer than what I would have liked. The ventilation was a little too loud. And the lights, a little harsh. Frowning, I waited patiently before a new set of faces arrived. This time it was the recognizable… face wasn't the right word. The recognizable… visage of Miss Militia, with her stars and stripes bandanna and form-hugging army fatigues.

Following alongside her was another PRT officer who walked in wearing a formal suit and tie with a certain confidence in his movements. Sitting down opposite me, the man looked over a file he was carrying in his hands. "Do you want some water…? Tea? Coffee?"

I shook my head. "I'm good, thanks."

"No worries, no worries." He replied. "I hope the ride here wasn't too bumpy." I wanted to slap this dude across the face. His words felt like they had a second meaning to them. Or something that he was implying and expecting me to understand. God, it was like talking to Lisa but at least Lisa was pretty to look at. This guy just felt slimy to talk to, like he would scam a grandma of all her cash if he could.

"Your name is Nathan Leong, yes?" I nodded my head. "Yes. My name is Hubert Limbourgh and this is, of course, Miss Militia. We have brought you here because we believe that you're in danger. I believe you remember the Uber and Leet attack last Saturday?"

"Yes. I should remember. I participated in it." I replied. "Please get to the point. It's my first day today and I would prefer to get this over with now."

"Mr Leong, it is our belief that you ended the attack early by defeating Leet. I don't think I need to tell you that a parahuman acting–" I raised a hand to cut him off.

Clearing my throat, I shook my head. "I'm sorry but I'm not a parahuman."

Hubert had a bit of a brittle smile. "Mr Leong, it is in both our best interest that you don't lie. The PRT–"

I cut him off again. "And once again I'm telling you, I'm not a parahuman." I glanced at both of them. "I believe that there are two growths in every parahuman brain? Check it if you don't believe me. I don't have either of them." I spoke with conviction, channeling a little of my Solar memories.

Hubert cleared his throat and shot a glance at Miss Militia. The second-in-command of the PRT nodded and started speaking. "Mr Leong, do you remember any highly stressful day before the 1st of January? Any blackouts or fainting spells?"

I thought for a moment. A token amount of time so I didn't seem too eager before I replied. "Nope."

"None at all?" Miss Militia spoke.

"Nope." I confirmed.

I had a distinct feeling that I threw a wrench into their plans. "If that's all you brought me here for, then I'm afraid that this is a waste of my time." I stood up suddenly. Walking to the door, I reached for the knob and I heard Miss Militia's voice interrupt my steps.

"Although you may not be a parahuman, we have reason to believe that you are the one who took down Leet." Turning around, I stared at the Gun Hero.

"And how do you think I managed to take down a tinker without any powers? Although Uber and Leet are jokes in the community, there are still parahumans at the end of the day." I shook my head as I raised my hands. "I'm not that dumb to run and confront them without any equipment."

The three of us sat (I stood) in silence. Staring at the one-way mirror, I tried to think what the people behind could be doing. I mean Armsmaster should be there. He had the lie detector after all that would be useful for verifying my statements. Maybe the director if they seriously considered recruiting me. And maybe some other people. Not sure who though.

A voice crackled to life over the speaker. "Mr Leong, we have reason to believe that you are indeed the one who took down Leet." Another trooper came in and slid a file over. Looking over it, I used my Solar memories to keep myself calm. They were getting really annoyed that I kept standing them up, huh?

"Interesting theory. However, I can confirm that it's false." I replied as I turned the file over to them. "If you read my testimony, I moved through this hallway," I continued from the last point of view to a bathroom. "I hid on top of the walls of the cubicles, out of sight of any roaming robots. This… path that you had drawn out for me is ludicrous at best."

"We also have testimonies from your team members that you were not with them–" My face broke into no small amount of annoyance.

"We split up at the end of the stream? What are you even insinuating?" I frowned at the one-way mirror.

".... most of the group managed to regroup afterwards. Leaving you conspicuously absent."

"That's bullshit. I talked with Johnny afterwards and he only met up with two other people out of the six of us. Even if you said that, there would still be another person to account for." I shot back while keeping myself calm.

"We verified her location and she was not close to the–"

I crossed my arms and stared at the mirror. "And you believe her testimony but cast doubt on mine? I believe the phrase you're looking for is 'double standard'."

I didn't bother to respond to the rest of their arguments. Although it was fairly alarming how much they managed to dig up. However, it wasn't like they could do anything about me. I said I wasn't, that this was all coincidences, and they legally speaking couldn't force me into the Protectorate. Unless they wanted to drum up some phony charges and hold them over my head unless I joined…

But what were the chances of that happening? I'm sure they aren't that idiotic to possibly burn a bridge to a possible hero.

I was pretty sure we were coming up to half an hour and my ears were getting a bit sore from all the blabbering. I scanned across the entire mirror. Shaking my head, I headed towards the door. "This is a waste of time. I shouldn't have come here. It's clear that you have a conclusion and are cherry-picking evidence to lead towards it."

Walking out, two PRT troopers grabbed my arms to prevent me from going any further. I didn't struggle out of their grip but I carefully pushed them off. "Let me out of here."

They paused for a moment as if listening for orders. "Understood. We'll escort you to the entrance." The two troopers led me to a different elevator before pressing the first floor button. Heading down, the ride was uneventful as the doors opened and I stepped out into the open lobby of the PRT building.

Shooting a glance behind me, I walked out of the building and took a bus to the Docks. Assholes. At the very least, drive me to my job.

"Nathan!" A man walked over as I made my way to the DWU building. "I thought the PRT said you had to come in for something?" From his nametag, this was apparently Kurt. The friend of Danny's.

I nodded. "Yea. Had to come in to clarify my testimony or something." I lied through my teeth.

The Celestial Forge spun up again. This time… missing a swing at the Lewd Magic Constellation. I took a deep breath. No. This can't be real…

"I see. Yea… I think Johnny and his daughter had to do something similar as well." They did? Huh. They probably didn't get accused of being the one who beat up Leet so… Hm… "Come right this way." He led me to the second floor before pushing a door open. The smell of dust and lemon air freshener mixed together in a way that made me wish I could actually forget things.

"Here's your new uniform. Three sets. Two to wear on alternate days and one for emergencies." I raised my eyebrow and I gave them a look over. High-vis stripes, with white and blue colour scheme. As well as a hardhat. Though I only received one.

"Oh thanks." I bowed my head slightly. "Umm… by the way, I didn't see Danny while I was coming in?" I asked out of false curiosity.

Kurt frowned slightly. "Family emergency unfortunately. He didn't say much more than that." Well then… I guess I would have to wait until he returned until I could broach the subject with him. Was there a point though? I mean, I could buy something as a 'get well soon' gift for Taylor. Would that be weird? I felt like it would be weird. But also if I have a decent relationship with Danny, then maybe not?

We would see, I suppose.

Changing into my uniform, I tossed my bag into the locker before heading out with Kurt to take a familiarizing tour around what was considered to be the 'Dockworkers' Union Territory'. The Docks weren't usually gang infested. The major player was the ABB but there were Empire stashes and Merchant drug dens as well due to the abandonment of factories and warehouses that made for great bases.

The DWU's work was mostly handling the occasional shipments made to the Docks via trucks. Due to the Docks being so overrun, they had to rely on the DWU to take all the goods off them and then ship them to the respective businesses. A much easier set up than say having a fleet of vans heading from the major port or distribution center to every business in Brockton Bay and racking up a massive amount of costs. Why do that when the Dockworkers could handle that final stretch of distribution for you?

It wasn't like there was anything else for them to do with their shipping industry gutted.

Which was also the part of the reason why gangs wanted the DWU out. If they could take over such a business, it would be hundreds of times easier for them to smuggle things in and out of the city. However, it also made things difficult since the gangs relied on said distribution for their own businesses, and would never allow another gang to control that. In essence, they begrudgingly allowed the existence of the Union since it was better than another gang.

"So your job is to keep track of the warehouse inventory, and what gets shipped in and out." Kurt explained as we headed into one of the warehouses I was helping out in. "Your warehouse manager is Franklin, just follow his lead and you can't do anything wrong." He patted me on the back.

Franklin was a nice guy and briefly explained what was going on. Due to the gang-ridden area, and the relative distance of the warehouses to the main building, they did occasionally get some 'jokers' who decided that they should rob the DWU.

"Though if it ever happens… here." He tossed me an airhorn. "Just give it a nice long press and they'll scamper off in a heartbeat."

"And… What if they don't?" I raised an eyebrow and I slid it into my Union-provided toolbelt.

"Well…" Franklin shifted around to reveal a pistol stowed in his trousers. "They will."

Suppressing a cough, I nodded my head as he pointed out how to keep track of each product stored in the building. "Not afraid of the gangs retaliating?"

He scoffed and pulled his face into a sneer. "Retaliating? For what? If they hit the warehouses, guess what businesses would start doing? Lobbying for the removal of gangs from the Docks. Without our service finishing that last few miles of distribution for the companies, suddenly their bottomline is hurt. And in America, the bottomline is everything for a company." Franklin shook his head. "The gangs aren't stupid. Except for maybe the Merchants." He added as an afterthought.

Eventually, Franklin finished up his explanation of my duties and left me on my own. Well, I can't say it was fulfilling since it was kinda menial work. With Savant helping with memory, I could easily keep track and memorise everything in the area, even with trucks occasionally coming in to load up a new shipment.

In the meantime, I spent the rest of my time using Hammer Jammer to do some detail on Erstein's hat. I let out a sigh in the mind-numbing boredom of the warehouse. Was it too much to ask for a villain attack right now?

A/N: Not particularly happy with this chapter. Unfortunately.