Chapter 39: 4-8 Ripples

2000, August 27: Washington, DC, USA

I made a bottle of Petricite Elixir in my basement last night and left it in Armsmaster's mailbox in the morning. Not ten minutes later, I received a prompt but scripted thank you email from the overly serious man.

On another note, Hero returned late last night.

I decided to give him the morning to decompress and spent the time working on my own. I made some Sunstone, sketched runic matrices for the Worldstone, then sketched some designs for my armor when I got tired of that.

The matrices were the most complicated piece of runework I'd ever attempted. The closes comparison I could make was to coding a new program or video game, not that I knew much about either. Each bit of "code" needed to do something different and in a specific sequence to get the effect I desired. There was the common matrix for mana absorption so the Worldstone could take in mana from me. Another would release a steady pulse of mana like a beacon atop a lighthouse, allowing the Wayfinder to latch on to the specific signature.

I also set the foundations for future adjustments by setting aside several more matrices designed to scan a region, interface with nearby wardstones, and take on some of the burden of portal generation from the Wayfinder. It was my hope that after the fiasco with Hero was done, I could make a Worldstone that covered the entire metro area. That way, it could play a more active role in threat response.

Finally, I called out the most approachable member of Cauldron for lunch.

"Hello, Hero," I greeted him, making sure to bow and seem extremely polite. One benefit of the ridiculous kayfabe PR forced on me was that it was easier to hide my nervousness. My Ymelo token hovered merrily by my head. We were both in our costumes, or what passed for one in my case, and out in public. "Thank you for meeting me."

He'd insisted on a place called Tonic At Quigley's, a restaurant on G Street that used to be a pharmacy. It was a popular watering hole for George Washington University students and federal employees alike but afforded us some privacy by virtue of being a three story restaurant. The university dorms, State Department, Red Cross headquarters, and more were all within three blocks, making it an extremely well-situated business.

The food was nothing spectacular, but was affordable, tasty, and easily accessible.

The armored blonde waved away my greeting with a friendly grin. "None of that, Hyunmu. I really enjoy meeting my Wards. I've been meaning to check in with you anyway but things got a little hectic in New York. Sorry for that, you kids should always be my priority."

The trouble was, I knew he was a member of Cauldron. I knew he at least tacitly condoned some horrible things in the name of the greater good. But either this man was schizophrenic or a deceiver on par with LeBlanc because I couldn't for the life of me sense even a shred of duplicity in his greeting. He seemed like a genuine, friendly man who showed sincere concern for a Ward who had been through a traumatic experience. Even through the Oracle's Elixir, I couldn't spy any difference in expressions, heart rate, breathing, or muscular impulses that might have indicated deceit.

I, somewhat hesitantly, was forced to conclude once again that Hero was indeed as nice as he seemed. Alexandria may not have been remembering him with rose-tinted glasses; he truly might be the best of them.

"There is nothing to apologize for," I spoke, playing up my accent. I dipped my waist a little, a half-bow that advertised a willingness to sink into a senseless apology-spiral that would only leave us both looking like idiots.

"Holy shit, that's Hero," I heard the hostess gasp the moment we walked in. She was a rather chubby looking woman in her twenties, probably a grad student trying to pay the bills.

Thankfully, this being a Sunday, there weren't many patrons. I still felt as awkward as a three-flippered turtle standing around while he gave her an autograph. Then that turned into several waitresses arguing about who'd get to serve us, which led to the manager coming out to see what's going on, only for him to pose for a selfie so he could put the picture up on the wall next to presidents and other notable patrons. Never mind that there were four other pictures of Hero already. Then they asked me for autographs too, mostly out of pity.

We were seated in a corner booth on the third floor… eventually.

"Sorry about that," he said with a sheepish chuckle. "It's been a while since I've visited my alma mater. I used to eat here all the time back before I got my power. I still do sometimes. Hope you don't mind my nostalgia trip."

"Of course not, sir. I didn't know you went to GWU though."

"Not many do. Secret identities, you understand. I wasn't in the best health so I barely attended truth be told, but I ate here pretty often after a visit to the hospital as a treat to myself. It wasn't much, but man did it mean the world to me at the time."

"I am glad you can indulge a little more now," I said honestly. "I do not need to worry about your failing health, do I?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I got better, I promise. So, how are things?" he asked, changing the subject. Seeing how I was the first tinker with medical applications, he likely didn't want to explain how his multiple organ problems, migraines, and diabetes were cured. Less he had to allude to a Cauldron vial, the better from his perspective.

I went along with the shift in topic, no need to dig for information I already knew. I also wasn't sure how much I could talk about in public. Eating with Hero was very different from grabbing some Tex-Mex from El Jefe's with the Wards. I could see at least four patrons and a waitress not so subtly trying to listen in. "Things are better…"

Seeing me gesture towards them, he smiled and unclipped a blue toy whale from his belt about the size of a golf ball and placed it on the table. "It cancels sound waves and shorts out listening devices," he answered my unasked question. "Originally a Bluesong creation that I adapted to my own kit. Cute, huh?"

"That explains the whale theme. I enjoyed working with Metalmaru and the other tinkers to develop a new Petricite alloy. I think I will simply call it Neo-Petricite."

"I'm glad. How is Dr. Kazmar? I know you've been going in to see him every week. And you can drop the accent. I still have no clue what Powell was thinking."

I shrugged and relaxed. "The doc's alright. He's a bit confused about me though."

"How so?"

"I'm too smart."

"And humble," he teased.

"Humility and I are mortal enemies," I drawled. "No, really. He'll couch it in as much psychobabble jargon as he likes, but that's the gist of it. I don't talk like an eight year old. I don't process information like an eight year old. I don't behave like an eight year old. Most of all, I don't handle trauma like an eight year old.

"He has no idea how to deal with me because he's expecting some traumatized kid, and to an extent, I am. On the other hand, I'm also someone who's perfectly capable of coping through that trauma. I'm not saying I'm some once in a generation prodigy or anything, but I don't behave like I should so he seems really conflicted on how to treat me. Sometimes, he talks to me like you are now, as an adult, but other times, he brings me chocolate bars and asks me to draw my emotions."

"Hyunmu, I know that you're smart, brilliant even, but you do need to take the sessions seriously. They're for your own good."

"I do," I defended. "I'm pretty open with him, actually. Thing is, he's not the first psychiatrist to not have a clue about me. When I first came to the states, I saw this doctor named Owens. She legit thought I was sociopathic for a good while because I don't react to emotional stimulus like someone my age should. It took a while, but her professional opinion was that my trigger event and subsequent physical therapy forced me to mature at an accelerated rate."

He smiled though it was a little bittersweet. "Yes, I read the files. It wasn't always as detailed as I'd like, but her recommendations were pretty clear. Maybe that's the problem, huh? We keep expecting you to break down like any other kid and you're… not. Did you know? Even Lexi thinks you're a genius from what brief interaction she's had with you. And trust me, impressing her isn't easy. I just wish you didn't have to grow up so fast. Powers. Circumstance. Doesn't matter what caused it."

"If it makes you feel better, I really do appreciate Dr. Kazmar. He's trying and it's not so bad to just talk to someone for an hour. Sure, he isn't making up some behavioral modification plan for me or anything, but he's a great listener."

"That does make me feel better. Sometimes, all we can ask for is someone to listen to our troubles."

We nodded solemnly. I saw the waitress approach and tapped a finger against the wood before pointing behind me.

"She's coming."

Hero tweaked the whale ornament a certain way and I could hear my surroundings again.

"Thanks. Oracle's Elixir, huh? That's a good name."

"Hello, Hero, sir. And… Hyunmu?" she asked, the foreign word not quite rolling from her tongue.

I nodded with a soft smile. "Yes, I am a new Ward. It is a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," I said, accent back.

"Do you know what you want, sweetie?"

I gestured towards my senior. "Please take his order first. It is courtesy."

"Right, can I get an eggs benedict and an order of tater tots for the table?" he said. "If it helps, they have great chicken wings. Have you tried mambo sauce yet?"

"I have not, sir. What is it?"

"It's a DC regional sauce. Think sweet and sour sauce with the smokiness of barbeque sauce. You should have it at least once."

"That sounds excellent," I said, handing the menu back to the waitress. "I'll have that, please."

As she walked away, Hero tapped the whale and the silence was back. "You're really good at keeping up that accent."

"It's not much different than what I did as Rubedo. Besides, I'm just copying mom's accent. Did you see my original debut?"

"No, I didn't. What'd you do?"

"Ms. Youngston, the PR head in Phoenix, had me throw the script behind me and pretend I was going off the cuff. I could read everything with the Oracle's so it was fine. She wanted me to show some 'youthful candor,' apparently. Whatever that means."

"Heh, you could be an actor if being a hero doesn't work out for you."

"I could, but that sounds boring."

We shared a grin. "So, what did you want to talk to me about? You wanted to ask me something, right? Is it a new project?"

"Kind of," I said. "I would like to delay my costume construction for at least one more week. Ideally two. I figured you're the man who can make it happen."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Oh, thank God. Is it because you can't think of a cool design? Because I can help with that."

"No thanks, I'd rather not look like a streetlight," I drawled.

"Hey," he whined back goodnaturedly. "I look like at least three streetlights."

"Heh. Well, jokes aside, I have a different project that I want to prioritize. It's something I call the Worldstone."

Hero was silent as I told him about the project that might well save his life. Now that we were talking about business, I could see how he became the universally respected icon he was. He may have been a goofball, but he could turn it off like a switch the moment things got serious.

"So…" he began, "let me get this straight. The Worldstone is an anchor that these Wayfinders can teleport to?"

"That's the gist. It'll work from anywhere in the world, an instant recall to portal someone out of danger, but it can become much more than that. I think that if I bury some wards around the DC metro area and carve a relief of the area into the Worldstone, it can also be used to create portals to and from anywhere in DC. Think about it. Immediate evacuation of civilians in the event of an emergency. Instant deployment of troopers or medics as needed."

"That does sound good, but why are you so focused on this?"

'Because you're going to die,' I wanted to shout. Instead I said, "DC is my city now, Hero. I want this to be my proof of concept. If I can do this, and if I made one for major cities across the world… Imagine… an endbringer battle with no casualties. I might be able to pull it off. I know that if I can prove this works, it'll be something far more valuable than anything I can achieve by pounding pavement.

"Stingray, my old Wards Leader, once told me that being a hero is about doing the most good however we can. Well, this is how I can do the most good."

We briefly put the conversation on hold so the waitress could give us our food. The wings were good, though not the best. The mambo sauce was a bit too sweet for me.

Hero nodded slowly as he chewed on a piece of biscuit. He then looked at me with a proud smile. "She sounds like a wonderful girl," he said. "And… I agree. If the Worldstone works as promised, you'll have built a safety net like nothing else. I'll talk to the chief director."

'Yes!' I crowed in my mind. "Thank you, Hero," I said earnestly. Now I only needed to make a healing potion on steroids and my plan to yoink him away from danger was a go.

X

I returned to the lab with my belly full and satisfied that my plan could go ahead. With the Blitzshield ready and my costume on hold, I only had the Worldstone and Wayfinder to work through.

To start, I measured out fifty pounds of fossilized wood on what used to be a tree trunk then popped an Elixir of Iron for the added strength. I needed the Worldstone to be one whole piece, easier to engrave runic matrices, so I had to make a single large cut. I weighed south of seventy pounds soaking wet so even fifty was a bit of a stretch for me without enhancements.

As I was rolling the tree trunk onto a cart, it hit me: Iron wasn't the only elixir I had. Wrath… I had thus far avoided using it for obvious reasons, but… My gaze flickered to the Ymelo hovering by my head. That would require some testing…

I whistled a jaunty tune as I shoved my cart towards some of the communal work stations. This one was designed specifically for cutting larger materials down to size. Pyrotechnical built it so it used some kind of hyper-dense plasma wire, but damned if I knew how he got it that hot or that focused. He didn't use it often enough to warrant keeping it to himself so it became communal property.

Soon, ash and lime joined the chunk of rock-tree in a vat. At fifteen crystals per hour, the conversion to usable Petricite still took a massive three hours and change. Had I tried this before I merged with the Glacial Augment Keystone, I would have tired myself out after a full day of this. Or more likely, been forced to waste several days tuning my mana as I tried to break up the monumental task before me into manageable chunks.

I then loaded up on snacks to quell the munchies before returning back to the materials conversion process. I had my Petricite. I now needed the Water of Life to infuse into the Petricite so I can get my relic stone. Then and only then could I finally start making the actual Worldstone.