Wildcard Assembly's Squad Base,

Multiple Locations

Current Phase Points:

199690

Current Ascension Tokens Applied:

45

End of Phase Two: 23

D:06H:10M:42S

Part of me might have expected Tempest's Wrath to show up while we were battling the Ozian assortment of animals but apparently, luck was working in our favor. After we shot across the city, Freak and Pinky both intently arguing about who got to fight the bear the entire way over, we crashed down in Dewitt Clinton Park and went to battle with the raging beasts, fending them off and taking them down as what had felt like a small group of civilians watched from the nearby buildings.

I still had a hard time believing that even with all the danger, all the chaos running amok in the city that people were so willing to put themselves in harm's way just to get a front row seat to a fight between people with superpowers and robotic animals. Though… When I thought about it that way I supposed that there was a small, very childish part of me that might have remembered being just as excited by the idea of super heroes as Jon had been over a decade ago.

When all was said and done, between Crowdpleaser and Team Victory gains we each received, at least, another 2870 Phase Points. We also received the promised A+:Tier squad base loot box from completing the Crime Alert that had been created for the droids and every member of the squad scooped up an F:Tier loot box for an achievement named No Rest For the Wicked for, as a squad, handling over twenty-five separate encounters over the course of a single hour thanks to all of the cleanup we had been doing in Central Park.

On top of that; Freak leveled up and got the Combo Master Phase Point gain for the first time which got him a nice extra chunk of Phase Points, and Pinky received an extra A:Tier loot box from an achievement called Bear-Handed Brawl that must have been made up on the spot. Because even with all the other insanity, I simply refused to believe there was a specific achievement for getting into a fight with a bear before Pinky squared off with the Clockwork Bear, especially with that pun of a name.

We had only just gotten back to the base about ten minutes before noon when we had finally gotten done with the Crime Alert and our Park Cleanup initiative. We had missed grabbing the 10AM one given our focus on talking through our issues, with Barracuda managing to scoop it up only a bit before we had even gotten to the base. No one cared to go out and try to steal it from him, especially with Freak more than ready to head back out to claim the newer token and all of our Point totals now eclipsing the required 100,000 points. But even without that one or the real need to add the points we still decided to add the three newest tokens that we had acquired to the total.

Once that was done, Freak was quick to head back for the tunnel exit. While they might have been able to get back to the area in time to use the Token Tracking array, and that was a big might with how close in time it was until the spawn, neither BrainCraft nor Pinky decided to make the trip back to California. With everything going on in the city, plus the fact that The Colony out there were really only making outright violent moves on the days that Axio wanted them to, they both agreed it would be better if we weren't waiting for Duskbreaker's transport times in the event of another sudden attack.

Of course, even though we had just spent the better part of an hour and a half destroying droids all throughout the park, the moment Freak stepped back outside of the tunnel, several more droids pounced on him. Logically, it made no sense. While we hadn't exactly gone in with a plan other than "search and destroy" and we were understandably a bit distracted going over our recent discoveries, I had been at least trying to see if I could spot some hidden Droid Forge that had been snuck into the park under our noses.

Nothing I could see indicated anything of the sort, so the only explanation that I had was that there must have been a Forge or some sort of stockpile in a building close enough to Central Park that they were just being deployed as we cleared them out. It would at the very least explain why there seemed to be a lag time between us destroying them and new ones appearing. Honestly, the steady pace of them appearing was almost a boon for us, even if it was getting annoying having to deal with them every time we stepped out the door.

Just from that half hour alone, beyond the physical rewards we were sitting on to open, I was pretty sure everyone had been able to raise at least one or two of their abilities by a level. While none of my own abilities leveled, my Super Luck did advance to Level 7, though that only modified the passive luck gain to .7% for every point of Luck. Though, with my Luck Stat over a hundred as long as my Pendant of Paramount Ascension was equipped, that meant I essentially had a 72% chance for things to go my way.

Or… maybe just work out in a way that was at the very least in my favor?

To be honest, neither Angie nor Jon had a good explanation for just what that meant or how much it actually affected in the grand scheme of things. Since the P.A.I. databases didn't include breakdowns of powersets outside of what was available to us to explain our powers, there wasn't exactly a way to confirm just what was being affected by my Super Luck. I also had my Luck Bomb I could use to bolster things further, but that ability was even more nebulous than the power that had spawned it. Sure, it had certainly seemed like it was useful for opening our loot boxes, but with the things we were going to attempt, it seemed incredibly irresponsible to use the ability for that when it still had a sixteen hour cooldown.

But even with my Super Luck on my side, that didn't change the fact that the moment Freak encountered the droids, something I was more than prepared to go out and help with, there was yet another Crime Alert that flashed through my vision.

"Crime Alert! An Intrepid Endeavor! Sorry Loophole, no break for you! Several large, Clockwork Crabs have been spotted climbing up the hull of the USS Intrepid and are attempting to… hehe… claw their way into it. What are they after? Are you just going to sit there and let them get away with it?! Am I just going to keep asking rhetorical questions?! No… No I'm not. Come on Loophole, go get to work. Reward: You will receive your choice of an A:Tier personal or squad base loot box upon completion of this alert. Tiers will lower for excessive destruction to this iconic museum."

"And of course there's another one…" I groaned. Though I was annoyed, I was also hamming it up just a bit after BrainCraft confirmed he had the bugs back in place. "This has got to be the most Crime Alert's I've seen since the start of Phase One…"

"Aw no fair, I didn't get one," Pinky pouted.

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"You can always go outside and help Freak out, he's still fighting the Gorillas," Jon said and Pinky seemed to take a moment to consider this.

Although we had to believe that Mr. Factory and Hydramental knew about Jon, once BrainCraft activated the bugs and confirmed he couldn't be heard, we had a decision that had to be made. If we actively replied to him out loud when he said something, if someone was listening in, they'd know there was an auditory dead zone within our base. This was, as BrainCraft pointed out, a potential giveaway that we knew more than we were letting on and we were quick to decide that if anyone needed to reply to him, they'd do it internally.

"I'm going to go take care of this… has Freak cleared out the droids?"

"No, actually there's more that just came out of the trees, Pinky. He's probably fine, but it's probably a better idea if you just go out and help him," Jon said before Pinky pretended, for no real reason since the bugs were audio only, to look at a non existent watch.

"I should probably get a move on and go help him out, he uh... just, like, messaged me to let me know that more apparently showed up," she said, slightly stitled and I rolled my eyes as she started to jog off toward the tunnel exit. We were really going to have to get on the same page about how we acted, though I had sort of unilaterally decided on rebugging the base without asking anyone else's opinions too, so I couldn't exactly judge anyone for winging it on our first attempt at espionage. I just had to hope it wouldn't make it too obvious that we were up to something.

"I'm going the other way, I don't want to risk getting caught up in that fight with the combat happening so close to home in Hell's Kitchen," I said, though this time I made sure to do it internally. Although I could and would use my Spectrum Veil to hide my exit, because… well I mean… come on, it was where my home was and I sure as hell didn't want to put anyone else's lives in danger.

"Want me to come with? I'm still connected through your Safe House instead of mine," Swansong asked, a brow raised but I shook my head.

"I don't have an ability that-" I started to say before stopping and realizing just what I was saying.

I didn't have an ability yet, but I sure as hell had more than enough knowledge on Optical Refraction that I could just make one. For as easy as it was for me to actually get the system to generate new abilities, I had been really, really bad about creating new ones. It was certainly something to think about when I didn't have to rush out to fight a bunch of crabs, but I was definitely going to need to make it a point to actually take more time to think of other possible things I could do with my already pretty wide knowledge base. With barely more than a thought of what I needed, a new prompt sprang to life.

"New Ability! Cloak of Invisibility. Careful Loophole, you're actually starting to impress me a little bit and I'd hate it if you let me down by suddenly becoming an idiot again. Though, you did wait a long time before you even considered making another ability with that bit of knowledge you've been sitting on and-... okay you know what, I can feel you wanting me to get to the point instead of giving you a lecture on how narrowly you've used most of your Knowledge skills and I really do want to see you crack some crab legs. This ability turns all biological things inside of yourLocal Area invisible for as long as you have it activated. This ability costs 500 points of Stamina per second of use."

That was a relatively high cost to use and the fact that it happened for everything in the zone was a bit… broader than I had been intending for it to be, but it would do for the moment. If anything, when I really had time, I was sure I could create something bit more constrained, but with nothing appearing after a few moments of consideration, I decided it wasn't worth trying to sit around forcing it to happen. I nodded as the window vanished. My eyes refocused as I gave Swansong a smile.

"Okay, I've got something that will work. Let's move," I said out loud, reaching out and lightly taking Swansong's hand as I went to pull her along with me toward the Safe House door.

End of Phase Two: 23

D:06H:01M:33S

"Cameras are set to start recording in 5… 4… 3…" Mr. Factory said, slowly trailing off as he reached up and tapped a button on a wrist-mounted control panel.

"You can't be sure that he's actually about to appear, can you?" Hydramental asked, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at the array of monitors covering the wall. They were jumping through various different camera feeds coming from Clockwork Falcons perched all over Hell's Kitchen, focused on doors on top of roofs and fire escapes on different buildings.

"It's almost insulting that you are still doubting my sources," Mr. Factory said. The goggles on his welding mask changed as he started to scan between the monitors, one of the lenses adjusting as he focused in on a single one of them for just a moment.

"Calm your shit down, I'm actually not trying to be insulting this time. You're the one who said they were unreliable just this morning. It's kinda fucking weird that suddenly everything's all fine and dandy," Hydramental sneered.

"I also told you I was sure that issue would be resolved. If there's one thing you can count on when it comes to tech Augments, it's their need to listen in on everything," Mr. Factory said, just a bit more smug than Hydramental was used to hearing from him.

"You know he can go invisible right? Unless you got thermal vision on this shit, how do you expect cameras to catch him?" Hydramental asked, opting to move on to the next possible flaw in Factory's plan.

"No, no thermal vision, though that would be a good upgrade if I decide to keep using these designs once we're done here," Mr. Factory said, reaching up and tapping at the base of his mask. "But… with enough data points and a computer that can analyze all of it, well… I say we'll need to feed seventy… maybe eighty percent of our remaining stockpile into Hell's Kitchen and Central Park to confirm exactly which building he's leaving from, especially since we have to account for the number that are being destroyed by Tempest's Wrath."

"That bitch is really getting on my nerves. Has been on a rampage and destroyed multiple cities in Canada, shows up here once and then suddenly, what, she's got a fucking hard on for killing robots instead?" Hydramental spat. Even though he wanted to be the one who finished Loophole off, he would have been more than okay with it had the girl finished the job, especially since he could have swooped in, taken her out in the aftermath and retaken his rightful place as a hero in the eyes of the people with Loophole no longer in his way.

"Unfortunately not every person who gets Augmented is mentally stable, even with the Acceptance Matrix in place," Mr. Factory said, pointedly not looking over at the Augment he had cautiously taken under his wing. Instead, he moved his attention to another monitor, this one focused on a fire escape as a window right next to it opened. He stared at it for a moment, watching every aspect of it from the curtains to the way the fire escaped rattled slightly in the wind. "I'm sure she has her reasons and we'll still have more than enough in the stockpile for tomorrow. I've already set aside a few of the more… capable units to make sure Loophole can't stay to play with Chucky after he hatches."

"I still can't believe you named it," Hydramental said, both his main form and his yellow clad form charging the electrical coil powering that fortress rolling their eyes.

"Blame it on the designers and Axio's stupid control over our abilities. Everything's got to have a name and in a video game, a "boss" needs to have a name to qualify for extra power," Mr. Factory said with a sigh, his inability to speak to exacts about Christopher and the others that had worked on the early project still system enforced to the point of annoyance for him.

"Yeah… but after cartoon characters?"

"Technically Chucky was also a horror monster," Mr. Factory corrected him, his head snapping to the side to a monitor showing the Clockwork Crabs climbing around on the abandoned USS Intrepid museum. There was a streak of orange that appeared before one of the crabs was sent flying from the side of the ship with a powerful blow. Mr. Factory reached back to his wrist, clicking another button, stopping all of the recordings coming in from the array of Clockwork Falcons. "Okay, now we have a timeframe for his departure. Time to start eliminating exit points."

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