Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by
The Guild of Gamers: The High Roller
Chapter 09: Preemptive Strike
– Dinah Alcott –
"It was a really good idea, though!" Sebastian complained with a sad frown.
"There's a 93% chance that it really wasn't," Dinah countered with a playfully scolding tone. "I don't know why you're so interested in this Taylor, but my power insists that actively antagonising her will cause major setbacks in our operations."
"Fucking Queen of Escalation," Sebastian mumbled as they headed to their destination.
"Oh, you can do that. 96% chance that Taylor grows super-attached to you if you bring back her mother. Fucking her would be really easy," Dinah assured him, patting him on the back. "There's a 98% chance she'd sell herself into slavery for her mother being returned from the dead. As long as you're kinder than she expects, which isn't hard, she'd grow attached basically immediately and do whatever you want. She's very morally flexible."
"...it's just not the same. My epic battle-" Sebastian mumbled, sighing. "Fine. I would be remiss to ignore the advice of my Oracle."
"You'll feel better after you have her under you!" Dinah encouraged, pausing and dismounting her lion as they reached their destination. Skipping over to the door, she knocked on it three times with a wide smile on her lips.
As the door opened, she gave the woman a beaming smile.
"Hi, Mom!" Dinah greeted. Her mother hesitated, spotting the still pouting Sebastian and Lionel, before she invited them in.
As Rory and her father spotted Sebastian, she hid a smile. There was a 100% chance that this was going to be a very funny dinner.
– Sebastian Fairfax –
"I can't help but feel a certain tension here," I muse, stroking my chin as Triumph glare at me. [Peace Zone] is doing it's work and preventing this from ending in a fight, but I get the feeling he doesn't like me. At least the food is good. Dinah picked out a great wine as well. Well, Dinah made Lisa pick out a great wine since she only likes juice.
"You kidnapped my cousin," the hero grits out.
"Don't be silly, Rory. Kidnapping victims don't call home to arrange a dinner. If anything, I kidnapped myself," Dinah waves off, digging in to her mother's cooking. There are more than a few Protectorate Heroes lurking nearby, but none of them are dumb enough to attack me.
"I- Dinah, you can understand why we've been so concerned, honey," Dinah's mother tries, and Dinah just nods.
"Yup! You're worried I'm being molested," Dinah agrees, her father choking on his drink. "Don't worry, I'm not."
"D-Dinah!" Rory sputters.
"What? That was your main worry, right? I know Sebby is a bit of a pervert, but he's the second least likely person here to molest me."
"Nobody is- wait, second?" her father mutters.
"Lionel is the first," Dinah explains as Lionel gives an agreeing roar. Ah, that makes sense. One cannot molest without hands. An uncomfortable silence falls over the room, her mother glancing at both Rory and her husband suspiciously. "Oh, don't be like that. You're all under 5%. Sebby is at 0.7%. There's a 1.2% chance that Dad molests me, a 1.4% for Rory and a 2.5% chance for you, Mom."
"W-what?!" her father sputters. "I mean, stop talking about getting molested."
"I was just trying to explain why you're being stupid to worry about it! Those are good numbers!" Dinah counters. "Besides, there's a higher chance of me molesting Sebby than there is of him molesting me."
"Wait, what's that percentage?" I ask, and Dinah just gives me a mysterious smile.
"Spoilers," Dinah counters.
"Nobody is getting molested," Rory shouts, face flushed. Has he been drinking? He seems a little unstable.
"Well, let's not jump to conclusions. It's still early," Dinah replies condescendingly. I'm starting to think she just came back here to make her family burst blood vessels. "The point is, I'm not kidnapped, being abused or enslaved by a terrible villain. I am a villain."
"Dinah! Don't say that," her mother shouts, but Dinah just gives her a villainous smile. It's rather adorable.
"It's the truth. Sebby would be useless without me," Dinah boasts.
"I was doing fine before you joined up!" I retort.
"Yes, and you're doing amazing now that you have me," Dinah counters, and I can't refute that point. "Which is why I arranged this little meeting. Rory, stop trying to convince the PRT to 'rescue' me. I don't need, or want, rescuing. There's a 83% chance you get a lot of people hurt if you keep pushing for this. I am a villain, the King's Oracle, and if they tried to 'save' me, I'd put them down. I'm freer now than I ever was before, and if it wasn't for the powers Sebby had given me, I'd be in far worse condition, having to be kept sedated on tinkertech painkillers to stop my power from overwhelming me."
"But you have the powers now-" her mom tries, but Dinah cuts her off.
"And Sebby would let me keep them, even if I retired. Right?" Dinah asks.
"I'd be sad to see you go, but you've been instrumental in the early setup and I reward good work," I agree. "Even if I'd be 'useless' without you."
She sticks her tongue out at me for a moment, before turning back to her parents.
"And yet, I'm going to go back with him because this is the life I want. I'd like to be able to come home whenever I want without worrying about some well-meaning but otherwise doomed Protectorate 'Hero' trying to grab me, and I can't do that while you're all pushing for them to 'save me'," Dinah explains. Ah, that's why she set this up. "All you're achieving is increasing the odds of my criminal organisation coming into conflict with the heroes, which is a fight you'll lose. If you ever want to see me again, you'll drop this ridiculous effort to 'save' me, before I have to show you all just how much of a villain I can be."
She really has grown fast, delivering her ultimatum with a smile on her face. I'm so proud.
"Dinah-" Rory starts, trailing off as she rises and brushes her dress off.
"I'll be coming back for dinner next week, alone. If you're smart, no heroes will show up with the delusions of 'saving' me from the big bad Sebastian. It'd be a shame if I had to kill them. Tell Uncle Roy I said hi!" Dinah says, wiping her mouth. "Come on, Sebby. We're done here."
"It was a pleasure to meet you all," I say graciously, taking her father's hand and shaking it. He seems a little shellshocked, but he mumbles something back as I leave with Dinah. As we leave, I swear I hear an argument breaking out over her mother being a potential child molester, but Dinah just giggles as we get back into the car. "Did you enjoy yourself?"
"I had to show them that I'm not the innocent, headache-ridden girl they remember. It was this or publicly execute someone, and even then, they'd assume I was mastered. If I want a good relationship with my family, this is the first step in getting them to accept the new and improved me," Dinah agrees with a smug smile. "I am a villain, and I'm proud of it. We're doing more for Brockton than the heroes and government ever have. In such a short amount of time, you've brought all three major gangs under your control, and we have genuine peace because there's no power vacuum for any outsiders to slip into."
"What's the chance of a major threat taking an interest in Brockton Bay within the next month?" I ask, making her pause for a moment as her nose scrunches up in thought.
"79% and rising with each passing day," Dinah admits. "I'll work with Lisa to identify the most likely suspect. The Teeth are high on the list, though. Same with the Slaughterhouse Nine."
"Then we had better get ready for our unwelcome visitors," I agree, rubbing my chin. "What was that about you molesting me?"
"Oh, don't be a baby. The chance is still super low, for the same reason that the chance of you molesting me is low. You can't molest the willing," Dinah waves off. "I'm waiting until I'm a little older, first."
"Very logical," I praise, patting her hair as our driver takes us back to one of our hideouts. From there, it's just a quick portal to the true hideout. I like to make appearances around my new turf. I personally control the richer districts that Coil once ruled, aside from the part of the city that was quarantined after Amy's little disaster. Between Amy, my Tinker allies, and my growing minions, we're clearing that place up and removing the rubble so it'll be prime real estate.
The rest of the city is carved up between the Iron Empire and the Hyakki Yagyō. The Merchants have pulled back and onto their new mobile fortress. It's essentially a floating drug lab, party boat and brothel. They don't need to hold territory because they'll remain on the move, spreading their goods across the coast.
I've made some changes to how they operate to bring them up to my standards, of course, but Captain Skid understands that I can take him from being a joke to a genuine power. He has nothing to lose but some run-down drug dens and everything to gain. I've given all the Merchants [Waterborn] and [Flight] so they can 'swim' at a hundred miles per hour underwater, while being empowered by the water and not needing to breathe. They'll be true nautical terrors. In exchange, the Merchants are swivelling toward willing girls and party drugs instead of the hardest stuff. I've also given several Merchants [Peace Zone] to make the party boat a place of neutrality where violence isn't permitted.
Despite Dinah's words, I do notice that she seems a little down as we return to the mansion, but I know how to fix that. [Wonderland] really is the ultimate power when it comes to fun, and turning the entire mansion into rubber for us to bounce around on takes her mind off any threats she may or may not have delivered to her family.
Once she's cheered up, I call for a meeting. You see, I do not find the idea of sitting on my hands and waiting for threats like the Slaughterhouse Nine to come to me. Why should they get to make a mess of my city? No, if the Nine are one of the potential threats, then it only benefits me to strike first and strike hard.
After all, what's a little psychological warfare amongst enemies?
"84.6% chance this causes the Nine to splinter and self-distruct," Dinah confirms with a giggle as I explain my plan. Lisa sighs, but I think she enjoys the chaos at this point and agrees to find my targets for me. With [Tracker], it doesn't take her long.
– Jacob Black (Jack Slash) –
There was something in the air that had him on guard, but for the life of him he couldn't pinpoint what was causing this… wrongness. On their trek across the country to Brockton Bay where their newest member was waiting, he'd decided to stop over at a small village for a little fun. He had a group of problem children that needed to let off some steam, after all.
Everything was going fine. The one hero this town had died once Siberian got bored of playing cat and mouse, and they'd be gone before any reinforcements could arrive. So, why did he feel so… off? He put it aside, confident in their untouchability as he whistled to himself, wandering through the burning streets.
A scream made him pause. Not that screaming was an unusual sound for him to hear, but it was a scream he was familiar with. Changing directions, he wandered toward the source, wondering what had his adorable Bonesaw so agitated.
She was playing with the other children when he last saw her, so why would-
"No, no, I'm not, I'm a good girl!" Riley cried, pleaded to the figures in front of her. It took Jack a moment to place them, before he instantly felt his paranoia skyrocket. Mauled and burned, the figures were unmistakably Riley's very dead parents. "I'm not a monster, I'm not a bad girl!"
This- this didn't make any sense. This wasn't- they were in the middle of nowhere, and entirely unpredictable. How could anyone know that-
A roar distracted him next, cutting off his attempt to speak to Bonesaw. Turning, he saw Siberian lunging at Crawler in a bloody fury. But why- hanging out of Crawler's mouth was the upper-half of a teenage girl, and for the life of him, Jack just couldn't comprehend why this sight would send Siberian into a bloodthirsty rage, but he understood the emotion behind the roar. Grief, horror, hatred. It- they'd killed tens of thousands, why would Siberian care for this one in particular?
"No, nonononono, I didn't mean to- I didn't- oh god, I'm sorry, please don't leave me," Riley begged, rushing to her dying parents, mauled by her own spiders. No, Riley wasn't supposed to feel-
His confusion was cut off as suddenly, painfully, he felt his body begin to tear apart. His mind raced, staring down at his bloodsoaked shirt in bafflement as cut after cut appeared all over his body. A pained scream left him, confusion muddling his mind before he realised.
He knew those cuts. He'd done those cuts to his many victims tonight, and now each and every one was slowly carving into his flesh, hitting the non-lethal spots first. He'd dragged out many of the kills tonight, in preparation for the long drive to Brockton Bay, and he'd gotten good at knowing where he could cut that wouldn't kill his toys fast. Now, each of those drawn-out slashes was reappearing all over his body. He felt his cock get peeled, an eyeball pierced, and an ear fall off. All he could do was scream, but Bonesaw, his only chance, was too distraught to even notice.
Why- why was this happening to him?! This wasn't fair…
Then, as if the phantom tormenting him had gotten bored, every single cut he had done today struck him all at once, and he couldn't even scream as his body was shredded in an instant.
– Hatchet Face –
Hatchet Face took pride in reducing powerful capes to quivering worms. To watch their pride fall as their powers failed them. He thrived off the way so many powerful heroes and heroines would break and beg for their lives when their precious powers were unable to stop him. Their tears as they were made useless were delicious.
He did not appreciate being on the other side of things, desperately slashing his hatchet at the fucking lion that was currently eating his face. Each cut vanished as fast as he could inflict it, only for it to reappear on his body. The lion, uncaring of his screams and confusion, continued to gnaw on his skull. He was extremely durable, but that just meant he got to live longer as the lion clawed and bit him over and over again. Struggling under the beast, he finally managed to kick it off him, scrambling to his feet. He couldn't hurt it, because all his worst wounds had been the ones he had tried to inflict on the bastard animal.
Despite having killed dozens of powerful heroes, Hatchet Face turned and ran. Siberian could deal with this stupid animal, he was-
His musing were interrupted by a deafening crack, and he let out a scream of pain as his knees were suddenly inverted, his legs folded up in a highly irregular and damn painful way. He fell face first into the mud, his arms snapping next as the lion pounced on him and began chewing all over again.
His precious durability became a curse, unable to move but durable enough to survive what felt like hours as the lion gnawed, clawed and bit him all over, finally managing to get an arm off. As it chewed on his severed limb, he dragged himself along the floor with his remaining hand, cursing whoever was doing this and trying to find Bonesaw to fix him up. He'd be fine as long as he found-
A cheerful whistling made him pause, turning back to see a strange figure wearing a tophat strolling along, swinging Hatchet Face's hatchet experimentally, an ugly gaudy belt around his waist.
…wait, was he whistling Rule Britannia?
He tried to speak, but his lion-gnawed throat just let out a pained sound as the figure approached and without a single word, swung the hatchet down with incredible force. In an instant, it dug into his neck, getting caught on his spine. The man tilted his head before frowning, pulling it back and swinging two more times until his spine broke and his head came off.
Maybe it was his power mocking him, the power he'd been so proud of betraying him, but his mind kept moving for just a few seconds more as the man picked up the head before dropping it and kicking it like a ball.
The lion leapt into the air, grabbing his head and happily slobbering over it as it chewed on its new toy. Hatchet Face could only cry bitter tears as he watched the man wander off, moving on without a care.
– William Manton (Siberian) –
Breathing heavily, he looked down at the corpse he'd retrieved from Crawler's gullet after ripping the bastard's core out. Crawler had frequently bothered him for a fight, and he'd always had Siberian refuse, seeing no reason to indulge the masochist.
Right up until he'd seen Crawler descending on a woman that he could never mistake for anyone else. He wasn't stupid, this was Fairfax's work. He'd shown the ability to bring back the dead, and how else could his daughter have been here?
He saw Crawler moving forward and made Siberian speak, demanding that Crawler stop. Crawler, being Crawler, took that as a challenge. A way to finally make the Siberian fight him. Well, he'd gotten what he wanted, and the Siberian's claws had ripped him to pieces, cleaving through his nearly-unbreakable hide without even stopping until he finally ripped out Crawler's heart and ate it.
Too late to stop Crawler from biting his daughter in half, however. He stared at her corpse, uncaring of the chaos around him, his mind racing. He needed to find Fairfax. He needed her bringing back again! Nothing else mattered, nothing at-
So focused on the Siberian's vision, he didn't notice the threat until it was far too late. A blade at his throat, slicing it open before he could do anything but gasp. As he stopped focusing on Siberian, he stumbled forward, clutching his ruined throat to try and stop the bleeding, spotting a figure in a black skintight outfit and a red Japanese oni mask staring down at him.
"W-wait!" William sputtered out desperately, his word garbled by his sliced throat. "I-information! I hab information! Sebastian will want-"
The figure responded with an almost lazy gesture, unclipping a grenade from his bandoleer and tossing it at William's feet before he turned to ash. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he identified his killer as Oni Lee, but entirely too late as the world erupted into fire and pain, and he knew no more.
– Alan Gramme (Mannequin) –
He was not amused.
Frozen in time, he could only watch as the insane woman giggled in triumph.
"This, this, is the big bad Mannequin?" Alice asked, having introduced herself thanks to her considerable ego. "God, I overprepared. A single time grenade and you can't even move, can you? How does it feel, Sphere, to knwo you're going to die to a superior Tinker?"
He had much he wanted to say. He could say none of it. He once had a module in his suit that could counter Grey Boy's bubbles, just in case, but he had long since replaced it after Grey Boy's death. It was… embarrasing to be stuck there, in stasis, as the mad bomber moved around him, alternating between boasting and planting bombs around his body.
"Know you died as a stepping stone to my rise as the greatest Tinker in the world, Gramme," Alice said with a superior tone. He wished to kill her, to rip her apart, piece by piece, but she left through a portal, and all he could do was wait. Under him, over a hundred grenades sat, and he knew he was doomed. Despite her ego, her creations were… impressive, and all he could do was wait for them to go off.
When the stasis failed, he tried to move. Every single bomb went off exactly 0.0001 second later. He was fast.
He was not that fast.
The fifth explosion killed him.
The area didn't stop blowing up for another eighteen more minutes.
– Amelia Lavere –
Her new boss was absolutely batshit insane.
But, that said, he wasn't stupid.
It was a fine line to walk between genius and insanity, and Sebastian had blurred that line considerably. When he barged into her lab and told her 'Come on, we're going to go destroy the Slaughterhouse Nine', she assumed he'd finally fully lost it.
Maybe he had.
"I'm a bad girl, I'm a bad girl," Bonesaw mumbled to herself, rocking back and forth. Life would be easier if Sebastian didn't want to collect villainesses like trading cards, but the mad fucker actually wanted to keep Bonesaw.
And naturally, he'd decided that she, the girl who almost destroyed Brockton Bay in a tantrum, was the best mentor for Bonesaw. He'd seen a raging fire and decided to try to put it out by pouring oil onto it. She supposed she should just be glad that Nilbog was a man, otherwise he'd probably be next.
"Are you going to kill me?" Bonesaw asked as Amy worked on removing the ungodly amount of diseases she was carrying inside her. Bonesaw truly was a amazing, in a horrifying way, because she had everything from a contagious supercancer to the literal black plauge inside her body, without showing any signs of trouble. Amy paused, seeing the hope in Bonesaw's eyes. All the work Jack Slash had done to convince Bonesaw that she was a 'good girl' was decimated with one little pair of reanimated parents.
"No," Amy responded simply. "You don't deserve to die."
"Yes, I do," Bonesaw responded, her tone hollow and dead.
"You misunderstand. You haven't earned the right to die and run away from the messes you've made. You don't get to just die and escape your responsibilities," Amy cut in. Bonesaw blinked, her eyes staring at Amy in confusion. "You're a bad girl. Death is a reward that bad girls like us aren't allowed until we've earned it."
Bonesaw, or Riley, she supposed, physically flinched back at the words 'bad girl', her psyche well and truly fucked up. Lisa had been the one to tell her what to say, and in a way, Amy understood. A part of her had wanted to die after she second-triggered, knowing she had killed thousands of people, innocent people, in her rampage. But she didn't deserve that right, to just run away from what she'd done. Riley didn't either.
"...then what do I have to do?" Riley asked, her voice near silent. She flinched at the sound of a scream in the distance. Amy didn't, she knew it was just Hatchet Face being eaten alive. He had it coming.
"Be a good girl," Amy replied simply, offering her hand to Riley. After years of being the little sister, and a shitty incestous one at that, it felt oddly satisfying as Riley took her hand. "If you slip up, I'll kill you slowly."
"Okay," Riley mumbled, following her back to the lab. She had missed having a sibling, since she didn't exactly treat her Vicky in a sisterly way.
Fuck, she really was as mad as Sebastian, wasn't she?
"W-what are we doing?" Riley finally asked.
"Curing cancer, first," Amy explained, leading her into the lab.
"...I thought you said I had to be good. Why are all these people chained up?" Riley asked and Amy just shook her head.
"Don't be silly. Bad things are fine when they happen to bad people. It's far more humane than experimenting on animals," Amy reassured her. "These are all bad men and women. They're going to pay for their crimes by helping us save the world."
"And then they can die?" Riley asked, eyes wide.
"Exactly!" Amy agreed cheerfully. "Now, let's get you a lab coat, and we can get started."
It was pretty cool to be the big sister.
– Sebastian King –
I am almost disappointed with how easy killing some of these guys was. This is the Slaugherhouse Nine? The infamous murder hobos that seem unstoppable, always ten steps ahead?
Was Jack truly so reliant on his cheat code power that once he had it taken away, he died so pathetically?
[Injury Redistribution Upgrade Quest] Complete
Objective: Defeat five capes with Injury Redistribution. (5/5)
Objective: Save twenty-five lives with Injury Redistribution. (25/25)
Reward: Radius Increase, Redistribution Window Increased
Well, at least he served as a useful tool for this. He didn't even notice how many of his victims disappeared after he was bored with them. I'm just so… fucking disappointed. At the very least, his reputation will ensure that my star rises considerably from this.
But this honestly felt like stealing candy from a baby. A couple of resurrections and they fell apart. I make a mental note to have Jack's body stuffed into the resurrection sarcophagus so I can beat him to death later for disappointing me.
Feats Achieved: Defeat Jack Slash, one roll. Defeat Hatchet Face, one roll. Defeat Crawler, two rolls. Defeat Siberian, two rolls. Defeat Mannequin, two rolls. Defeat Burnscar, one roll. Defeat Shatterbird, one roll. Recruit Bonesaw, two rolls. Twelve Rolls granted.
Burnscar and Shatterbird weren't even a challenge. I just shot Shatterbird in the head with [Bullseye] and she died without even realising anything was wrong. It's truly amusing how many 'deadly' capes are vulnerable to a bullet to the back, especially when that bullet is made by my pet Tinker and her love of explosives.
She went from cackling like a Saturday morning cartoon villain to her brain matter being sprayed across the closest wall. Lisa was right, Bonesaw had improved her teammates to be more durable, but that just means you need to hit them even harder.
And as Burnscar learnt, [History Repeats] doesn't give a damn about your durability. If it broke your arm years ago, it'll break your far more durable arm today. Most Capes have countless old wounds, and opening them all at once is a cheat code of my own.
Roll with Advantage Unlocked. Consume an extra roll to roll three dice and take the highest roll.
Ah, how amusing. A way to massively reduce the chance of rolling a curse, at the cost of less pulls? Well, I'd be a fool not to take advantage of this new feature. Gaining a smaller amount of more powerful pulls is more useful than getting a large collection of weaker stuff.
Rolling with Advantage. Results: Rare, Legendary, Epic, Uncommon, Rare, Divine
There we go. As I said, a few good pulls are better than a pile of mediocre ones, and not a single curse in sight.
[Building: Sci-Fi Bunker] - Rare
An underground bunker filled with advanced technology and materials. Comes with everything one would need to survive an apocalypse, nuclear or otherwise.
Ah, Amelia should appreciate this. Or at the very least, Lisa should appreciate my newest recruit no longer being inside the mansion. She seems oddly concerned about Riley. I tried telling her it would be fine, but she still doubts my genius. Dinah even backed me up!
She's going to get grey hairs if she keeps worrying like this.
[Flechette: Stinger] - Legendary
Imbue any attack with absolute inviolability, no matter what, this projectile cannot be stopped, even by dimensional boundaries or reality-warping.
How… interesting. When is the next Endbringer attack, again?
[Healing Aura] - Epic
You can exude an aura that heals others in a small radius around you. Within this area of effect, vitality is refreshed, pain is relieved, open wounds visibly close, and infections are eliminated. Bones will even be set properly, given enough time in your aura. The more serious the injury, the more difficult it is and the longer it takes to heal. You can, with enough focus, exempt individuals from this effect.
And this? This is going to be a big seller. Everyone loves healers, and the power to simply buy your own is going to increase my profits massively.
[Tinker Speciality: Repair] - Uncommon
Allows you to build technological constructs or contraptions related to maintaining and repairing technology. You can repair, maintain, and use any Tinkertech you find. You can also combine Tinkertech into something that combines the functions of the two inventions. Any Tinkertech you repair or maintain will, in the future, last longer.
Another big seller, I suspect. Toybox already adore me, but the more I sell them, the more reliant on me they become. [Renewal] already helps cut down on maintenance, but this allows them to upgrade and combine Tinkertech, as well as use Tinkertech made by other Tinkers.
[Tinker Speciality: Capture and Restraint] - Rare
Allows you to build technological constructs or contraptions related to capturing and restraining individuals such as power-suppressing cuffs, containment foam, durable cells, etc.
I don't think I'll be selling this one. Maybe I'll set up a store to sell the creations, but I don't feel like sharing power-suppressing technology.
[Save and Reload] - Divine
You can place up to ten save points, which you can reload to at any time, and you will automatically return to it upon your death. You also get an automatic one that saves at midnight every night.
And now it begins. The universe itself has accepted my rightful rule over the fabric of time.
As it should be.
Now I'm allowed to fuck with Taylor, right?
…I'll ask Dinah first.
— Bonus Scene — Rebecca Costa-Brown (Alexandria)
Sebastian remained unpredictable.
It was almost his gimmick at this point, making Watchdog (and Contessa) cry in frustration as they failed to wrap their heads around anything he did. In truth, she didn't really care. Yes, he was a blind spot that was so active that it was constantly disrupting Contessa's Paths, but…
Well, they had Hero back. More than that, they'd bought every single Tinker related power from Sebastian and stacked them onto Hero, as well as Blank itself to prevent the Endbringers or Scion from seeing him.
Yes, Sebastian was rapidly spreading across the world but realistically? She didn't give a damn.
As she listened to the report of Sebastian taking the fight to the Nine, she kept a serious expression on her face. In truth? She was thrilled. Siberian, Manton, was gone as was his little band of psychopaths. With both Sebastian's growing powers and Hero's creations, they now had two silver bullets against Scion and she was less willing to tolerate the Nine and other monsters like them.
"I'm sorry, did you just say he turned back time?" Rebecca asked, getting a nod from Dragon.
"As far as we can tell, yes," Dragon admitted, a mixture of pleasure and frustration in her tone. "The village was set back to before the Nine arrived; they all thought it was an entire week earlier. As ridiculous as it sounds, it seems Bakuda set off a… time bomb of sorts, reverting the entire village to before the Nine arrived. Sebastian claimed as much when we cautiously approached him for information. Evidently, one of the Tinker specialisations he developed was simply called 'Time', but it is not one he sells."
Well, she already knew that. She had access to the full store, not just the stuff he showed for the public. Hero had that same specialisation, after all.
"Approach Bakuda about using it to burst the Greyboy bubbles. I want our Tinkers to see it in action and analyse the potential danger. We need to keep good relations with Fairfax; the dangers of crossing him are… unpleasant," Rebecca ordered, getting a wave of begrudging agreements. Even the most hardliner Director understood the threat of a villain who could create a seemingly infinite amount of capes to throw at them.
While he may call himself a villain, Fairfax rarely actually did anything villainous beyond killing other villains. Brockton Bay's crime rate had been slashed to a fraction in the short amount of time since his arrival. While he was a little megaloamanical, that was hardly a problem given the one true enemy.
Sebastian was, while incredibly powerful, more or less harmless as long as you indulged his madness and didn't get in his way.
Author's Note: I mentioned Sett offhandedly while rolling. The next roll was a 100. Sett remained broken, even in other stories.
Written: 19/09/2025