"Okay, meet at the Common Ground in 10."

It was the last order I gave as everyone turned and headed for their respective Safe House doors. Even Swansong went back through her own instead of mine since that had been the last one she had used. We seemed to be gaining more questions than we had answers as time went on and although we did at least seem to have a quiet night in front of us, that was also only if Calypso didn't decide to get back to us in an expedited fashion.

I had only just popped through the door, turning toward the Display Case in my bedroom to make the jump to Sanctuary Square when I heard my door open behind me. I looked back to find Jon standing there.

"Hey gimme a minute here before you head out," he said, nodding over his shoulder back toward our meek dining room. Compared to the Squad Base that I had more or less been living in the last week, our apartment was finally starting to feel just as cramped as it really was.

"What's up?" I asked, feeling my curiosity piqued.

"Hopefully nothing but…" he started, trailing off as he turned and leaned against the couch in our apartment. "Okay look, I want to preface this by stating it's completely likely I'm being paranoid… hell it's why I'm bringing it up to you here instead of with the rest of the group around."

"Well that's… a lead in," I said, my curiosity changing to worry as I cocked my head to the side. "Is this about everything Brain brought up with Axio here? Or maybe his suspicions about Miss Mist?"

"No, er… well… actually yes sort of," he said, his face scrunching. "Look, like I said, maybe I'm being paranoid, but something hasn't been adding up today and it all started when BrainCraft randomly decided to suggest Miss Mist could have been a mole. Actually… it probably started before that but that's what got me thinking about things…"

"I mean… it wasn't exactly random," I said, thinking back to earlier in the day. "We were clearing out the forges and she wanted to split off on her own, he even made it a point of mentioning it to me in a chat message so it wasn't just thrown out there for the whole group to become paranoid about."

"Yeah, it was careful… but why even have that paranoia? We hadn't been worried about a mole at that point. Sure maybe you had the near miss with Hydramental, but past that, it's… well… it's been really weirdly fucking quiet," Jon said, turning and nodding over to the dining room table that I now noticed were covered with post it notes. "Like, okay sure, Clockwork Tyrant was a maniac but that was a side effect of Axio unleashing him and all these other Miscreants on the world. TechWarden had nothing to do with that, at least not till the end if anything and sure, now it seems like he has his claws into Barracuda but he's not trying to use him to get to you… isn't that… isn't that a little weird?"

"I mean… yeah I guess

I looked down at the table as I approached, noting that it seemed to be a timeline of sorts, though there were only a few words dashed onto each piece making it a bit hard to follow. Jon stepped forward tapping a finger on a green post-it that simply read "SnakeBite killed."

"After SnakeBite died, you were convinced that TechWarden was going to make a new move. Hell, Snake-"

"Sal… his name was Sal," I said, correcting him as I remembered the dying man's wish to forget the name he had been called. Jon looked confused for only a moment before nodding.

"Er… okay Sal was supposed to inject you so that TechWarden could control you, right?"

"That's what he said, yeah," I said, following the line of post-its that included "first droid encounter" and "met Swansong."

"Which had you rightfully paranoid when you first met up with Swansong… hell, she jumped at the chance of teaming up with you when you guys had barely even met. I remember that very distinctly sending up red flags for you."

"Which was why I took her to the Common Ground and had her disable her matrix," I said, my eyes falling on "Pinky and Swansong Disable Matrix."

"Now, you only told me about this afterwards, but didn't you say BrainCraft had said he had already turned his Matrix off? Said he had felt weird about it and just turned it off on his own without any prompting, right?"

"Yeah… it was what helped convince the others to turn theirs off," I said, my brow furrowing. "Are you… wait are you trying to say-"

"It's just a theory, and I feel like I'm going crazy but my gut is telling me I'm on to something. Other than his matrix scanner, there's literally no way for us to have ever confirmed that he was telling the truth when he told you that," he said, staring at me as if he was trying to mentally will me into following his logic. "I mean think about it. You only met BrainCraft a bit after I was brought into all of this, with someone that you had already been seen at least somewhat publicly interacting with. What if TechWarden has been playing a really long game? Hell look back to before you even formed up a team with them since you guys didn't have the Ascension Tokens to share. BrainCraft offered help with the droids but only when you traded him information on your powers under the guise of collecting it for Pinky. Then jump forward to today. The literal day that Skim breaks off from Barracuda to try and find us, BrainCraft starts talking about the possibility of a mole and then, when only you could get to it, another giant droid was unleashed on the city… something that happened when it was just you, me… and him in this room. It's almost like he was trying to divert our attention before we started to realize just how coincidental that was. And now, after Axio's had his moment to rant and offer yet another change to this phase, Brain rather conveniently redirects everyone from wondering what we're gonna do about Barracuda and TechWarden to this rather asinine 'what if Axio is working for the greater good' theory."

Each of these things were laid out on the table, Jon pointing to each moment with an increasingly conspiratorial look in his eye.

"If I'm right about this, then TechWarden hasn't made a move on you because not only is he still gathering information but he already knows trying to override your Acceptance Matrix is pointless because it's been disabled. Clearly he has other plans in motion since he's apparently after Mr. Factory, and you've been pretty damn instrumental in tearing things down trying to find him whether we realized it or not. Hell, if Hydramental was under his control and somehow broke free, letting you loose to take him down probably is just a helpful unintended side effect for him. It's entirely possible he has a different plan in place for dealing with you and we just haven't been able to see it yet."

"That's… not completely unbelievable," I said, feeling my jaw set. I didn't want to give in to paranoia, I had been barreling down that path shortly after my encounter with Sal and it had left me on edge in a way I didn't like. But I trusted Jon and I knew as excitable as he could get over even city destroying kaijus, he wouldn't feed into paranoia without real concern. "But if that's the case… fuck… that means TechWarden would know, what, damn near everything about my powers now?"

"Not everything," Jon said, shaking his head. "The generalities yeah, but I don't think anyone actually knows how wide your local area is or the extent of books you've absorbed. And other than Swan and me, I don't think anyone on the team knows how much time you can rewind each day, something we should probably keep as quiet as possible moving forward."

"Agreed," I said with a nod before I looked back over at Jon. "So… what do we do then? Do we… I don't know… kick Brain out? Shit, is Pinky even safe to trust?"

"I honestly don't know… hell, this is still just a theory and I don't know if we should make a move just based on that hunch," Jon said, standing back up and stretching until I could hear some cracks pop out of his back. "I think, for now at least, we should be cautious… hell if Calypso does approach you guys when he's around, maybe you can back things up and try to head her off before she gets to the table. I'd really rather if you could meet with them without the others around… you know, until we know who we can trust…"

"I can do that," I nodded. "Maybe I could ask what Brain's note said, if he was lying about the Dead Zone device schematics, that itself would be pretty damning…"

"Good point," Jon said with a nod of his own. "If TechWarden can play the long game, maybe we can too."

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Undisclosed Location

Time Until First Wave: 2 Years, 4 Months, 13 Days

"Sorry about the mess down here, it's gotten a bit cluttered with… well everything," Christopher said a bit sheepishly as he descended into the basement. He had picked things up a bit at Cassie's insistence, but there was only so much space to work with and he had been trying to build some rather advanced pieces of technology.

"Please, I've yet to walk into an engineer's workspace that wasn't littered with random technology," Andrew said with a laugh, looking around the space with a curious gaze. "So, what pray tell is all of this?"

"Hello, I am Axio, System A.I. for the Infinite Ascension Engine."

Andrew and Factory both jumped ever so slightly as the voice echoed through the room, both of them looking around the space for the source.

"Sorry, I hooked up some speakers to make it easier to hear him," Christopher said, jumping over the two pads at the center of the room and adjusting a dial next to his keyboard. "And I thought I told you to let me take the lead on explanations."

"My apologies, Christopher," Axio said, his volume now lowered. "I assumed that was my… how did you put it… my cue?"

"No, just… oh nevermind," Christopher sighed, reaching up and pinching the bridge of his nose. "So yeah, this server rack over here houses the system where Axio resides. I've had to load in several additional hard drives, but his infrastructure is compatible with most tech I've tried to connect into his motherboard."

"Really? How is that possible?" Factory asked, inching his way around Andrew and carefully making his way across the room.

"Not really sure and trust me I've asked Axio. Tell them what you told me when I asked," Christopher said, looking back toward the monitors.

"From initial scans, it would seem that my systems were corrupted during either my arrival or initial setup," Axio said. "While I am aware my system is designed to be compatible with most hardware and software, I am missing key details to my core functionality. The only detail that remains is the core part of my Prime Directive."

"And… what is your Prime Directive… if I may ask?" Andrew said, tapping a pen against a notepad he had pulled out of his blazer.

"To introduce the society I interact with to the Universal Constant, using myself as an interface for them to access it, and prepare them for bzztzzzt," Axio said, his last word turning into ear piercing static and becoming completely unintelligible.

"That happens every time he tries to explain it," Christopher said, shaking his head. "I've tried to ask him roundabout questions about it, suggested he was alien or even from some alternate dimension, but it just doesn't compute with his operating system for some reason."

"I have suggested it's possible I simply don't have enough resources to access all of the necessary parts of my memory matrix," Axio added.

"Interesting," Andrew said, tapping the pen against his chin before scribbling a few details down. "And what exactly is the Universal Constant and why are you required to access it?"

"This subject touches on advanced concepts that most biological minds can't comprehend, but I have attempted to simplify it as best as possible. The Universal Constant suggests that all biological lifeforms have the potential for further evolution if presented the proper tools for doing so. I have analyzed your species from the date Christopher has provided me and using his collected data, I have created the initial workup for an Augmentation system that I believe would benefit your species for bzztzzzt."

Andrew looked from the monitors over to Christopher curiously, "Augmentation system? What exactly would we be augmenting?"

"Um… ourselves," Christopher said almost sheepishly as he gestured to the first of the two pads. "For some reason, Axio believes my collection of notes for the super powers I wanted to offer in my game were the potential ways humanity could evolve. He first had me build this device which proved that we humans do have the potential for super powers. It will scan a subject and tell you what single power they are naturally attuned for."

"And… all of us have these… potential super powers?" Andrew asked, his attention fully off his notepad as he looked toward the pad with genuine interest. "What's the other pad for?"

"I haven't tested it yet because, well I was going to and then Cassie had us call you guys up because she thought I had taken this a bit too far without reporting it," Christopher said, shooting a look at Cassie who stood near the top of the stairs looking completely unashamed.

"I'd argue Ms. Campbell was correct about that," Andrew said with a laugh, then waved to continue, gesturing toward the second pad again.

"This device would actually give you powers. Axio has more or less absorbed my entire game design. I had only barely set up the rules around power selection, but as it's set up now, you would get to choose a randomized powerset and then you would also get to have access to your naturally attuned power. Or… well it would give you powers while you were close enough to Axio," Christopher said, looking back over at the monitors.

"It's as I said, my system acts as the interface for the Universal Constant. If I were to possess greater processing power, it's possible that the range of my influence would be greater. We would need to perform an initial test to determine just how far my range would be with my current setup, then I would be able to extrapolate and determine the necessary specifications to cover as much area as needed."

"Sir… think we should report this up the chain?" Factory asked, bending over and looking in the open side of the server case. "This feels a little… bigger than us."

"It certainly does," Andrew said, though there seemed to be more excitement in his voice than caution. "Though that's if any of this is actually true and not just some giant prank. Anyone can come up with a fun story and make some sci-fi looking devices. That doesn't necessarily mean we need to report it without doing our due diligence."

"Uh… sir? How are we supposed to do that?" Factory asked, standing back up with a concerned look on his face.

"It would be nice if we had someone with powers to prove that this isn't just some sort of science fiction," Andrew said, looking at the device once again. He tapped his pen against his chin as he seemed to take a few moments to think through his options. "So, I do agree with Ms. Campbell that reaching out to us was the right call, but I also can't exactly give you any guarantees that we'd be able to offer any safeguards for technology that we haven't tested ourselves, especially when said technology is wholly unique. We could offer some sort of animal testing framework, but that tends to be highly disapproved of nowadays."

"So then what do we do?" Christopher said, his face scrunching in confusion. "I mean, how do we prove the concept then?"

"Sir… I really do think that-" Factory started but stopped when Andrew raised a hand.

"I think one of us should use the device. If the powers are only present in this room, then that would more or less prove everything that's been said here, don't you think? If Christopher here would like to be the first to take that leap, then who are we to stop him?" Andrew said almost casually. Christopher's face lit up while Cassie's simultaneously turned to shock.

"Wait what?" she said, rushing down the stairs to confront Andrew. "You can't be serious, can you?"

"Ms. Campbell, my job is to evaluate experimental technology. As fascinating as this is, and it is quite fascinating, it's still largely hearsay until we can see the proof. Even this so-called Axio could simply be programmed to provide the conversation we have had so far. This is the government we're talking about, without proof, I wouldn't be able to get the funding to reimburse my gas to get out here."

"But that's… you can't… Christopher…" Cassie said, finding herself at a loss for words as she looked between all of them, even looking toward Factory for support. He was the only other one in the room who seemed unsure but he also didn't seem like he was about to speak up over his boss. "Okay, maybe I was wrong…. Christopher, this will just turn you into a guinea pig…"

"I mean, that kind of was always the plan Cassie," Christopher said, his eyes lighting up with excitement as he turned back to the computer and started to put in a few commands. "II didn't think I was going to bring more people in on this until I had proof of concept. I was always going to use myself as the guinea pig.."

Cassie wanted to argue further, but she had been sort of hoping that bringing in the people she had brought in would simply squash this from continuing any further. She had made a miscalculation though and while she wanted to storm out, she knew that if she did she might not be able to do anything if this did go horribly wrong. So she bit her tongue, watching as Andrew watched everything Christopher did curiously.

"So what does Axio say is your personal power anyway?" Andrew asked as Christopher turned and climbed up onto the platform.

"It's something called Jack of All Trades. Not to get too much into it, but it will apparently let me briefly access and use other people's secret powers, even if they haven't been connected to the system," Christopher explained, looking over his shoulder at the monitor. "I think it'll go well with this powerset that Axio's random name generator has dubbed Eagle Scout Vanguard, but I guess time will tell. Okay Axio, like I've said all along, if anyone's gonna be The First, it's gonna be me. Let's do this."

Without another word of warning, thing kicked immediately into gear. There were sounds of fans that started to whir, almost sounding like a helicopter was trying to take off from within the room. Both Factory and Cassie even reached up and covered their ears as the platform under Christopher's feet began to light up. Andrew never budged, never tore his eyes away as the process got underway. After ten whole minutes passed, the sound finally began to die down and the light began to fade.

"Augmentation process for "The First" has been completed."

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