I took a deep breath and activated the Slow Down variant of Timekeeper's Control.

Everything came to a near standstill as I tried to weigh all of my options.

Obviously I had no desire to even remotely put myself in any sort of debt to TechWarden. Even if the book was exactly what it said it was, taking it would always put me in his debt, especially with the potential that even I could see the knowledge would offer. If I could, say, learn the code that made the Dead Zone's work, then maybe I could infuse that code into my Local Area, effectively disabling any other Augment that got close enough to me.

Granted, it was entirely possible the knowledge would act more like my Venom or Engineering knowledge, granting me more passive boons rather than letting me create abilities to affect the world around me, but if there was even a one percent chance that it was possible… Well it was why I was tempted.

If I made the wrong move here… Skim would at best be taken hostage, possibly get killed, and at worst be turned into some sort of mind controlled slave. But… there was every chance that was going to happen no matter what I did.

As much as I wanted to save everybody… I couldn't be everywhere at once. And while I could only rewind up to five and a half minutes, it wasn't like I didn't have any clue as to where Skim could be. Nobody could save everyone…

But… no… that was wrong. I wasn't alone, and while I did have a limited window to work with, I had a team that was far more mobile than they might appear to be at first glance. Taking another few seconds of my extended perception, I tried to focus on what I did know and how I could handle things.

I had just talked to Skim a few hours ago and while a few hours was a long time, based almost solely on how he had been acting so far, I had to hope that TechWarden had been as lazy as possible with his capture. Because as much as I had feared his interference on my life, there was something about him that felt like an arrogant man who was only pretending to be in control.

The background of the projected video had been practically non-descript, which wasn't exactly hard to do since I had seen the forges and knew they had plenty of blank walls they could have used as a backdrop. Though if they had captured him at the base, then there would be at least some of Mr. Factory's gear nearby, not to mention the literal giant egg. Someone with Tech in their name almost had to be obsessed with controlling every bit of technology they could find… right?

While there wasn't a guarantee that I'd be able to get anything out of TechWarden, with my Time Bank still rather full, I could risk having to use a few extra seconds just to see if I could get the arrogant man to let something slip.

In the twenty seconds I had taken to think things through, only two seconds had passed in reality. Time quickly sped back to normal as I released the power and stared down at the speaker, pointedly not looking at the book.

"What exactly do you need me for? Can't you just trace Mr. Factory's location through the Forge you've already invaded to take Skim hostage?"

"I've got eyes on another Non-Sapient. Level 24 Elite named Hot Air Hank," Swansong reported though I stopped paying attention the moment I heard TechWarden scoff.

"Mr. Factory has… safeguards that prevent me from accessing his systems. The moment my men got anywhere near it, several different barriers sprang up to prevent access to them. It's no matter though, with enough time I'll be able to break his systems, especially if he's focused on you. If you were to work with me, we could coordinate and solve both of our problems at the exact same time."

That was all I needed to hear and I set my jaw, my mind putting together a plan as fast as I possibly could, even if it was shoddy.

"Codex, time?"

"Time?" Jon asked, practically surprised by the sudden request. "Oh it's uh… five minutes twenty-two seconds, why? What are you going to-"

"-close enough, he might be able to trace the signal coming off of that thing but it's going to take them just a few minutes to get over there. So Loophole-""

"Scratch that, we've got new information. Tell Dusk and Brain to head over to Glen Oaks in East Queens, we need to locate the last Droid Forge now, Skim is being held prisoner there," I ordered, cutting Jon off. Time clipped in a moment I used every bit of the five and a half minutes I could rewind and I wasted none of it as my mind settled back into place.

"Pinky, you're still hidden from sight, break off from here and start booking it that way, Codex might need to give you directions, but get me confirmation the moment you, Brain, or Dusk have eyes on the Forge. You're going to be assaulting it on a rescue mission, but there's some sort of weird fire monkey thing you might need to fight, I'm sure you'll have a blast with that."

"Oh you do not need to tell me twice," Pinky said giddily.

"Good, now we've got at least two Non-Sapients close by. Freak and Swan, I need you to get eyes on them as soon as possible. Once Pinky is in position near the Forge… well… be ready to brawl. As for me? I'm gonna keep this asshole talking until we are all ready to move. We're going to get both Barracuda and Skim out of harm's way… and maybe into police custody just so they're out of our hair. Codex, set a timer but plan to reset it once Pinky is ready to infiltrate the Forge."

It was practically music to my ears as everyone in comms range let out acknowledgements without a single question. While it had always been a risk to let the others in the squad in on my ability to rewind things, my sudden interruptions with completely new information hardly necessitated follow ups that would be answered simply by "I already saw it happen." I took a deep breath and pretended to collect myself, remembering that at this point, I had only just cursed at TechWarden.

"Sorry, sorry, that was uncalled for," I said, lifting my hands up defensively. I was never a great actor and I wasn't actually sure how much TechWarden could actually see through the device, but I was just going to have to hope I was right about how arrogant he was. "I'm sure you understand, you never know when a psychopath is going to try and kill you, gotta take precautions. Let me guess, you insulted Axio's code or style sheet and now he wants to make you his personal bitch?"

"My, you may be more astute than I give you credit for," TechWarden said, his voice coming out mildly surprised. "Though I wouldn't use such crude language. Let's just say Axio sees me as a threat and has made eliminating me one of his primary goals."

"That's rough, buddy," I said, trying not to sound too condescending. "Ever consider he might have a point seeing you as a threat? You don't really seem to give two fucks about the rules of the game. Or other people for that matter."

"Uh… Loophole, is this really how you should be talking if you're trying to keep him from going off the rails?" Jon asked cautiously.

"He's a bully," I said back. "He's got Skim in chains and was prepared to torture him pretty much the moment I asked what he planned to do if I didn't want to 'work with him'."

"He wants you to work with him?... It's not just some ploy to mind control you?" he asked, still a bit confused.

"Could be, he also tried to offer me a book with Level 9 Coding Knowledge, but it almost had to be tampered with," I explained, the speaker crackling back to life, bringing our tangent to a halt.

"I don't care about the game because it was stupid for the glory of our powers to be locked behind the banality of it in the first place. Your powers alone… they have such potential, Loophole, and yet you waste it. You could quite literally warp reality and yet all you do is throw punches."

"That seems to be a pretty popular opinion," I said with a shrug, looking away from the speaker briefly to scan the area, trying to find the Non-Sapients the others had pointed out but coming up empty. "Then again, I've been kicking ass so far and I could give two shits about your opinion of my powers."

"He knows about your powers?!" Jon asked, though I pointedly ignored him. For as good at most of this as he was, he still seemed to have a hard time reconciling the fact that he didn't get to keep his memories from my rewinds. That said, I also knew that speaking out loud was just how he processed things.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"My god you are obnoxious aren't you. I was already pretty sure of it based on those "speeches" you try to give whenever a camera is nearby, but you might just give The First a run for his money in terms of how full of yourself you are."

"Hey I'll take that as a compliment. Maybe you're not such a bad guy TechWarden… You know; if you don't count the kidnapping, brainwashing, murder, and something tells me you've probably littered a few times too. That's not good for the environment, y'know?"

"Are you quite finished making your little jokes? My patience is growing thin," TechWarden said, sounding tired. I could hear him clear his throat before he continued. "You seem to be under the impression that you know who I am and what I want based on, what, a single conversation where you believed I was that useless dunce SnakeBite?"

"Useless?" I asked, biting my tongue. It was interesting how even though I had purposefully taken the conversation a different direction, TechWarden had still found a way to poke that metaphorical bear. Hell, it was practically word for word if I wasn't mistaken. "You seemed to have a lot of use for him. I know it's been a few days, but unless you're senile I'd think you'd remember that I saw that little room you were keeping him in."

"Brain and Dusk just arrived in Glen Oaks and are scanning every building they can see. Pinky's up to speed and is about two and a half, maybe three minutes out still," Jon reported.

"I've got eyes on a Non-Sapient. Heh, dude's name is Ice Box Ian. That's so damn dumb," Freak laughed.

"His connection to the Augmentation Array was useful, the moment you killed him, you took even that small bit of good away. And now he's thrown off into the trash, where plebians like him belong," TechWarden said. His tone made it perfectly clear. Regardless of his words, it wasn't just Sal that he perceived to be beneath him. He had made it clear already that he believed he was the reason we had our powers at all, and for that reason alone he was our superior.

Although the situation was still tense, I made a mental note to send Calypso a message. I was going to need to talk to Christopher as soon as I could. If anyone would know why TechWarden seemed to believe that he was responsible for our powers, it felt like it had to be him. Hell, maybe he could shed some light on just what the hell the man's deal was all together.

"Or what, do you think so little of the man that you've already wiped your hands clean of what you did?" TechWarden spat, clearly trying to provoke me.

"You're right… I did kill him. Because for him, death was better than living in the continued torture you put him through day after day. Unlike some people, I don't kill just because someone is in my way. There's always a way to stop people without taking a life… But SnakeBite did teach me that there always has to be a line, and for some, taking their lives is going to be a mercy that I don't think you'll ever understand," I said, unable to keep the venom out of my own tone.

"Hmmm, and here I was going to offer to restrain Hydramental for you and call it recompense for the project you stole from me, but it sounds like you'd just try to kill him to keep him away from me too, wouldn't you?"

"Well look at that, you're a bit more astute than I was giving you credit for," I said, throwing the line back at him. "So how bout you stop wasting my time and tell me why you made Barracuda knock himself out, what do you think you're gonna talk me into doing for you?"

"I can see another Non-Sapient, this one is uh… Hot Air Hank? Level 24 Elite, peeking out an ally about 25 feet up the road from you Loophole," Swansong interjected.

"Well it's really quite simple Loophole and I'm sure you'll understand the benefits of my proposal if you can stop acting like a child for even a minute. You see, I believe an old… acquaintance of mine has been working with your nemesis, Hydramental."

"Oh? Are you and Mr. Factory pals? Go to grade school together or something?" I asked, unable to stop myself from taunting him again. "What's he got to do with me?"

"Besides the general destruction he's brought to your city and the help he's given to Hydramental? Believe it or not, up until he got involved, I had Hydramental handled for you. It was supposed to be an… olive branch."

"Wow you are a terrible gift giver," I said, intending for it to be a joke but feeling my anger rising. I just couldn't fathom how someone could have such a high opinion of themselves that they actually could treat other people like they were a commodity. "For the record, brainwashing someone isn't an olive branch. You need some serious mental help."

"And that is where my line for disrespect is," TechWarden sneered as the holographic projection on the device powered on. "I would have preferred if we could talk as colleagues, but I suppose coercion works just as well."

"We've got eyes on the Forge, uh… Pinky wants to know if you care if the Forge is left standing or not?" Jon asked as the projection flickered, Skim's chained up form appearing just as it had before with the monkey-man still standing next to him.

"Left Standing?… what?" I asked.

"She's been moving in as straight of a line as she possibly can, building up Relentless this whole time. Give her the go ahead and she's going to crash through it," he explained.

"Well that's not what I told her to do but… well I guess we don't really need it standing… Maybe that will stop whatever the egg is doing. Fuck it, tell her to go for it. How long until impact?"

"Twenty-five seconds or so, she's about six blocks away on a straightaway."

"So to be clear here, your whole plan was to first try to talk with me without explaining, pretty much anything and then when I didn't bite, threaten to torture someone I barely know to get me to do… once again, you really haven't explained what the fuck you actually need me for," I said, looking away before I could watch the monkey burn Skim's unconscious form. "Let me guess, now you're gonna tell me it's not important and try to bribe me with some sort of consumable item, thinking it will make me change my mind? Are you actually good at this or have you just lucked your way through life? Because seriously, I built you up as this much bigger threat in my mind and so far you have been really, really disappointing."

"How I handle my business is-"

"Actually, you know what, I don't care," I said, cutting him off. I had been mentally counting the seconds down and was really hoping I had timed this right. It would be embarrassing if I had to rewind things just to get it right… and a bit of a waste of time. "Even if I could look past all of the utterly fucked up shit you've done or the obvious god complex you have; why the fuck would I want to work with someone that can be beaten so damn easily."

There was a loud BOOM that echoed through the speaker, the holographic video suddenly becoming obfuscated as a cloud of dust spread through the room. The project warbled slightly and TechWarden let out some question of panic that I never heard, because I drove my fist down and into the device as hard as I could.

"Freak, get the ice guy, I'll handle Hank. Swansong, give us Hercules and Hermes," I ordered, my Area Sense spreading out as I rushed toward the alley Swansong had called out.

As I moved, I pointedly rushed past Barracuda, materializing and dropping the Dead Zone device right next to him. It might not have been a great idea, but on the off chance TechWarden could reactivate him from his KOed status, I decided it was worth the risk to leave the device behind. Not to mention if Techwarden could still see what was going on, I'd rather only give away that we had the device, not that we had it and that I was unaffected by it.

"You know, if TechWarden didn't have a grudge against you already, that whole, 'I don't see you as a threat monologue' you just gave him," Jon said, though I could hear the laugh he tried to hide. "Not saying any of it was wrong, just… maybe we should get you some lessons on dealing with people so you don't keep making more enemies."

"Oh trust me, I fully intend to visit the bookstore later," I said, zipping past an alley just as a big, barrel-chested man jumped out of it. A large, fire-coated hand reached for me and missed as I turned in the air, skidding to a halt on the ground as I stared back at the man. "Well come on, I don't got all day," I taunted, a smile quickly crossing my face as I scanned him.

"Hot Air Hank. Level 24 (Elite) S.H.A.D.E. Defender. This is a non-Sapient Augmented NPC."

"Is… did TechWarden make a department with the acronym… Shade… That's… holy crap, that is so stupid," Jon said, echoing nearly the very thought that passed through my mind.

"It's like he wanted people to know he was the bad guy or something," Freak laughed. I heard several sounds of crashes before a beam of blue light shot into the air behind Hank, the nearby building getting coated with a line of ice. "Iceboy here is fast."

Hank finally moved, his feet spreading wider as he overdramatically started to take a deep breath in. It was almost comical… until his stomach began to inflate. It was small at first and I prepared myself for some form of fire breath. It made the most sense given the flaming hand I had already seen. But he didn't stop when his stomach was obviously full. It grew, first until it looked like a basketball had been stapled to his stomach, then until it was practically the size of a yoga ball.

"Um… what is-"

A glowing, orange light suddenly burst across Hank's skin, cutting Jon off when he exploded in a violent burst. It sent me flying backwards with my head rattling as I went skidding across the pavement end over end until I finally came to a stop. Even with my ears ringing, I could hear the sounds of screams. The sounds of metal grinding… and the sounds of buildings collapsing as it became evident that Hank had self destructed with the force of a warhead.

My health had taken a dangerously large hit and I didn't even try to be specific as I rewound time, picking ten seconds and finding myself right in the middle of Freak talking about Ice Box Ian's speed.

Hank was just starting to spread his feet wide when I used Echo Step and appeared directly in front of him, his eyes nearly bursting out of his head in shock as I continued to move, slamming a fist into his gut and unloading 3000 points of my Stamina into a Mass Driver, sending him hurtling backwards. Without missing a beat, plus seeing just how much damage he took from the single attack, I followed it up with Quantum EchoStrike, unleashing it on the man again and again until he was laying limp nearly fifteen feet away from the bench Barracuda was still unconscious on.

I was actually rather proud of myself, seeing that a clear KO symbol was hovering over Hank's head. The Sal clones had always managed to slip away, and the vipers who took the temporary injections turned to dust, even when I had tried to take them out nonlethally. It felt good to see- The KO symbol never wavered, but Hank's body began to glow and before I could react, it detonated. This explosion wasn't nearly as big. In fact, it didn't seem to leave any damage to the street at all

That said... seeing the viscera left behind... well let's just say I probably wasn't going to be eating dinner later.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.