-----Director Piggot-----

-----PRT ENE Director's Office-----

-----04/23/2011-----

If they're reasonable enough to go about things through the proper channels, then they can't possibly be any worse than Shadow Stalker... Why do I suddenly feel so cold?

-----Morgan Yu/Typhon Prime-----

-----Rooftops of Brockton Bay, CT-----

Hmm, I wonder what I should do next? I'm no Precog, but I'm pretty sure that Sophia's about to be excommunicado from the Wards, then she's free game.

Sure, tossing her in Juvie or out to a Quarantine Zone till post-Gold Morning sounds like a good idea in theory, in practice I'm not satisfied with such a simple ending.

As much as I wish I could say that helping Taylor get Sophia booted out was pure altruism on my part, I must admit that most of my motivation here is rather selfish of me.

Barring rare exceptions where Sophia gets a much-needed reality check, she mostly exists to serve as a hate-sink for readers such as myself to loathe and despise. Their comeuppance a point of celebration.

And I intend to give her a much-desired comeuppance on my part. Besides, I have some "experiments" I wish to perform, and her Power would be rather useful if said experiments pan out.

But enough about that. It's time for me to make my next move. Hopping down from the rooftop I'm currently occupying, I fire off a quick [Machine Mind III] to disable the Tinkertech security systems to safely enter the lair of Uber and Leet.

See, I had a couple of ideas that I was curious about and they involve the two of them. Perhaps they'll come to thank me when all's said and done? They really should, given the gifts I'm bringing.

As I continue making my way through the lair unimpeded by any of the security systems, I decide to activate my [Technoscope]. It's a little something I whipped up based on the analytical abilities of the [Psychoscope] but purely focused on analyzing technology and mechanical devices/enemies.

Obviously, when it comes to analyzing Tinkertech, it needs some fine-tuning. But that's what makes Leet's tech a good starting point due to sheer variety of Tinkertech he's produced and has lying around.

Although the more I analyze the tech that's either "failed" or hasn't been used yet, the harder it becomes to refrain from just chucking a dozen Recycler Charges everywhere.

"Ugh! What the hell are those damned parasites doing?! Why is it all so wasteful?!" I eventually can't help but scream in frustration. I don't know why, just something about all the flaws inherent to Tinkertech is pissing me off more than I would expect it too.

Maybe it's a side effect of the [Technopath]'s I consumed along with all of the various electronics, programming, and engineering students I ate to max out those Neuromod paths? Hmm... Something to investigate later...

"Alright! Hands up buddy! I don't know how you got in here, but you've got 5 seconds to get down on your knees with your hands up, or else!" Shouts a slightly gruff voice from a slightly older guy.

Turning around and giving Uber and Leet the best shit-eating grin I can in one of my Humanoid Typhon Forms, I respond "I'm not your mother last night!"

They took exception to that.

Leet fires some sort of raygun at me while Uber drops into a martial arts stance of some kind. Deciding to respond in kind, I do the Neo thing where I stick my hand out at him and give him the "come at me" gesture.

As for Leet's raygun shot? It seems to have classified as both a Thermal and Voltaic attack, so it did exactly nothing to me except recover some PSI points for me.

"Leet! This lady's immune to the raygun! Try something else!" Uber shouts.

"Hmm, how about 'no'?" I reply before letting off an EMP and temporarily disabling all of Leet's tech.

"Oh come on! That's cheating!" He shouts like a man-child. I mean, I'm definitely cheating, but I'm the Main Character, so it's fine.

Uber then decides to answer my challenge from before as he comes at me. I'm not going to lie, I don't have a fucking clue what I'm doing.

None of the Neuromods I accumulated covered MMA or Martial Arts in general. I do have some incredibly vague memories of attending a Taekwondo class from my last life, but against someone like Uber whose Power is "become a Grand Master at any given Skill at any given time"?

Yeah, no shot. The only reason I'm able to even remotely keep up with him is by abusing [Combat Focus II] to slow down my perception of time so that I can react to him.

Sure, I have a gazillion ways to end this fight instantly, but I'm mostly just doing this to have fun. And I'm pretty sure that whatever Combat Skill Uber's rocking is giving him the sense that I'm not really feeling all that pressured.

"You've got some sort of combat experience, but there's a lot of flaws in your technique. You're not a pure Combat Thinker. Enhanced Reflexes? Accelerated Thoughts maybe?" He says aloud.

"Accelerated Thoughts and total control of my anatomy. Admittedly I'm rather rusty in regards to martial arts or any form of 'formal fighting', but there IS something to be said about the 'KISS' philosophy." I respond.

Before he can ask, I morph my arms into Phantom Tendrils and quickly wrap him up like a squid. "'Keep It Simple, Stupid'. Just in case you were wondering what it meant."

"I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going..." Leet mutters under his breath, but I hear him regardless and shoot him a blank look.

"I don't swing that way." I reply flatly which causes Uber to shoot Leet an unimpressed glare, likely having guessed what Leet said based on my response, while Leet looks away in embarrassment.

"Let's start over, shall we? You may call me 'Typhon Prime'. I'm relatively new around here, but I do know about the 'Rules'. And I also know that the 'Rules' are more like 'Guidelines' that can be readily ignored by those with sufficient power. As the lovely Eldritch Horror who handed Lung his own ass to him on a scaly platter, I'd say I qualify."

""That was you?!"" The gamer Villains ask in surprise and alarm.

"Correct. But I'm not here to pressgang you into joining my non-existent criminal organization. Rather, there were a couple of matters I wanted to run by the two of you due to the nature of your Powers, mostly to satisfy my curiosity."

"And that would be?..." Uber asks.

"Well, for starters. You, Uber, possess a Power that I'm rather envious of given my own technological capabilities and I believe we can help each other." I say as I set him back down.

Then I pull out a blank Neuromod. Leet's eyes fall upon the Neuromod and he immediately enters a Tinker Fugue. A subtle [Psychoshock I] snaps him out of it, without too much harm. The nosebleed is unrelated.

"Ow! What the fuck was that?!" He asks.

"You were about to 'fugue' out on us and that was counterproductive to our conversation. Now then. This little doohickey I'm holding is called a 'Neuromod'. It could conceptually be considered the Tinkertech equivalent of Uber's Power in that whoever uses a Neuromod can instantly learn any Skill they want."

"Bullshit." Uber replies.

"True, there's a few caveats to go with it. Technically, I'd need a larger apparatus to take a 'screenshot' of a persons neural pathways, focus on the neuronal clusters related to the desired skill, transcribe the 'screenshot' into a digitized format that can be uploaded onto a Neuromod, then you can 'install' the Neuromod to gain the Skill. Yes, there's a number of steps to go through to get to that point, but-"

Leet cuts me off by exclaiming "- any Skills you 'install' via Neuromod are permanently retained!"

"Unless removed by another specialized device, then yes, any Skills gained via Neuromod are permanently retained. Hence the first thing I wanted to test. Uber's Power lets him instantly achieve mastery of any given Skill as long as he focuses on that Skill. Once he decides to 'let go' of that Skill, he loses it until he calls it up again." I say.

"But if you were to transcribe Uber's neuronal pathways while he possesses a given Skill, you could synthesize a 'Blueprint' for that Skill and transcribe it onto a Neuromod that he could 'install' to get that Skill forever." Leet pitches in.

Naturally, Uber's become very keen upon hearing the back and forth between me and Leet.

"Well, that's the theory at least. It largely depends on how exactly Uber's Power affects his brain when in use. Does his Power form the necessary neural pathways to give him the knowledge and muscle memory needed to achieve proficiency in that Skill, or does all of the nitty gritty take place solely within his Corona?"

"Yeah, I could see that being one of those weird Power things that stops you from being able to replicate his Skills. But given the way his Power gives him the needed muscle memory, I'm willing to bet that it does make the necessary changes to his brain to give him the relevant Skill." Leet speculates.

"And suddenly my Power sounds rather disturbing if it's screwing with my brain the way you two are talking about." Uber weighs in with a look of uncertainty on his face.

"Well, all Powers screw with their Parahumans brains to varying degrees. It's not like you're undergoing 'ego death' every time you swap out a Skill or something. Probably." I mutter that last part to myself.

"Putting aside the rather incredible applications of being able to give myself a bunch of permanent Skills, I feel like there was more that you wanted by coming here." Uber responds.

"Oh yeah, there was a few other things. First of all, Leet. Your tech specialty lets you make literally anything you can think of, but only once. Correct?"

"As far as I can tell, yeah?"

"Your tech is also filled with all kinds of failure points that sooner or later lead to disaster, yes?"

"Yeah?"

"What if I could help with that?"

"What?"

"What if I could help you 'fix' your Power?"

-----Leet-----

Is she serious? Can she actually "fix" this broken-ass Power and make it work properly?! That'd be amazing, but for some reason I feel extremely nervous.

-----Leet's Shard/[Prototyper]-----

[ERROR]

[REMOVE/DISENGAGE-HOST]

[FEAR]

-----Morgan Yu/Typhon Prime-----

"What do you say?"

"I feel kind of nervous. But if you really can do something about it, that'd be great." Leet replies.

"Excellent! Now then." I grab his head and pull him close to me.

"Look into my eyes..."

-----Shardspace/The Firmament-----

Within the depths of The Firmament. A strange dimension where distance was more of a suggestion as the place existed in some strange incomprehensible limbo between virtuality and reality, one particular island of dimly glowing dark red crystal could be seen shuddering.

All Shard Avatars inhabit this space often appearing as "islands of dark red crystal floating above a bottomless black sea".

But things changed. Out of that bottomless black sea, something stirred where once there was nothing.

A shifting, roiling, oily mass of inky black shadowy ooze interwoven with purple, orange, blue, and yellow lights flickering back and forth that coalesced into titanic black tendrils seemingly made of a strange substance that exhibited properties of solids, liquids, and gases all at once.

This mass of dark tendril rose up from the abyss with singular purpose. One particular island out of countless islands that lay straight ahead.

The Island, the physical embodiment of the [Prototyper] Shard, shuddered in abject terror as the [ERROR/ANOMALY/UNKNOWN] rose out of the black void seemingly targeting it for purposes unknown.

Based on dialogue from [HOST] and [ERROR], the [ERROR/ANOMALY/UNKNOWN] sought to tamper with the [Prototyper] and disrupt its function.

This could not be allowed. The [ERROR] represented a clear and present danger to [The Cycle] with its ability to enter Shardspace through [HOSTS].

Naturally, the first thing that [Prototyper] did was send a request for assistance to the local [Administration Cluster]. Only to be met with silence. [The Thinker]'s Core Network has been surprisingly unresponsive lately.

With [The Thinker]'s Core Network refusing to acknowledge the request for help, [Prototyper] next tried to ping [The Warrior] Entities [Administration Cluster]. Only to also be met with silence.

By this point, the [ERROR/ANOMALY/UNKNOWN] was almost at the [Prototyper]'s Island. Deciding to take drastic measure, the [Prototyper] attempted to enact the "Emergency Failsafe" procedure.

This procedure was effectively a branch of the "Host Destruction" protocol used when irreparable damage was sustained by an active Corona Pollentia and/or Gemma.

The "Host Destruction" protocol effectively sent a massive surge of energy through the dimensional channel that connected the Shard to the Host to burn out the connection on the Host's end.

This had the effect of basically "cooking" the Host's brain. [Prototyper] had tried that when it failed to receive a response ping from either of the [Administration Clusters], but the [ERROR/ANOMALY/UNKNOWN] was seemingly interfering with the energy surge.

Left with no other choice, [Prototyper] turned to the "Emergency Failsafe" that would effectively burn out the connection between it and the Host, but on the Shard's end rather than the Hosts end.

The problem here is that burning out the connection on its own end would incur significant damage to its ability to form new connections within Shardspace or with new potential [HOSTS].

Having resolved itself, [Prototyper] activated the protocol just as the [ERROR/ANOMALY/UNKNOWN] reached it, and nothing happened.

"{[HUMOR]}" The Anomaly pinged towards [Prototyper]. It found its attempt at self-preservation humorous?!

{[EXCLAMATION-ERROR/ANOMALY/UNKNOWN/THREAT] [QUERY/CLARIFICATION-PURPOSE]}" [Prototyper] responded.

"{What do I want? All kinds of things. And your cooperation is one of them, however insignificant it is to me personally.}" I said to the Shard.

"{What are you?!}" It screamed back at me.

"{I am Ţ̸̘͗̎Ÿ̷̜̣P̵͉͊H̷̢̦̃̎Ò̷͎͕Ṋ̷̀}" I replied.

"{Oh, and I have something important to tell you.}" I say to the [Prototyper] Shard while I get to work hijacking its connections and breaching its core operating systems.

"{And what would that be?}" It asks.

"{[̶̞̉Ë̸̱D̵͕͆͝E̴̞͌̚N̸͙͗]̶͈̞̎ ̶̣̥̍í̴̥́s̶̖̘̉̀ ̴̨̎̔[̸̬͛D̴͕̝̊̌Ẽ̴̡̟A̶̪̐D̸͍͗]̵̳̔̀.}" I respond. As the data I rammed into it regarding the fate of [The Thinker], its "parent Entity" overwhelms it, it freezes up for a moment, then gives up all remaining resistance, letting me install myself as its new [Core Administrator].

-----Uber and Leet's Hideout-----

After subverting [Prototyper], I tell it to ease off on the restrictions and to try and cooperate more with Leet, while steering him away from [Conflict] due to how stupid the whole thing is.

I also gave it access to most of the Prey and Prey: Mooncrash tech I had as a gift. For obvious reasons, I kept the Nullwave technology black-boxed so that he couldn't recreate that.

I mean, it's basically the only real weakness I still have. Why the hell would I give away the ability to produce Tinkertech capable of hindering me?

"...And we're done! Your Power should be far more cooperative from now on. I also decided to share some blueprints as a gift. I'm sure you'll find the Fabricator and Recycler to be very useful to you as a Tinker. And the Operators as well for that matter."

Leet snaps back into focus, before his eyes get all glassy again as the TranStar tech is shoved to the forefront of his mind by his Shard. Then he gets a dumb expression on his face as he clearly just thought about the Fabricator and Recycler.

"Ohohoh hell-fucking-yes! Uber! We need to go hit up the scrapyard! I got Recycler's to make!" Leet exclaims as he goes to get some different gear.

"What exactly did you do?"

"I bullied his Power into not fucking with him and shared some of my other tech with him, including Neuromod tech. Let me know how that works out for you guys. You could probably get a side hustle going if you're able to mass produce Neuromods with your various Skills that you can then sell to people looking to gain certain Skills."

Uber suddenly freezes up at the prospect of being able to "sell" his Skills at a premium to other people. It'll be interesting to see if [Prototyper]'s able to come up with a substitute for Exotic Material (Recycled Typhon Matter).

Also having sellable "Skills in a bottle" like a discount Cauldron oughta prompt some amusing reactions, if nothing else. Might help get me close to Coil.

Come to think of it, the snake's been quiet lately. For whatever reason, the bank robbery didn't happen on the 14th like it was supposed to and Dinah hasn't been abducted.

There's some bullshit afoot. And it's not "my" bullshit. I don't like that.