Kai is waiting for me when I walk down the stairs—surrounded by his four-legged cylinder drones and a single flying one. It’s a small orb the size of a tennis ball with a camera attached to the front of it. Four rotors extend out in each cardinal direction, keeping it afloat. The power is still limiting him from adding weapons to them.
“Welcome, Nobody. I hope you find this place is up to your standard,” Kai said nervously.
“You performed excellently with the limited time and resources. Your work here has given me several ideas for some very lucrative business ventures. I’m very pleased with what you’ve done to disguise the building. If I was to voice a suggestion. It would be that the door gives away the image you’ve worked so hard to create,” I said.
Kai shifts slightly in place at my praise.
“Yes, the door was an unfortunate compromise I had to make. To get the level of security we need, the entrance had to be made the way it is.”
“The entrance is fine as is. It wasn’t a real complaint. The rest of the place accomplishes the goal you set out to. Getting discovered at this point would be catastrophic,” I said.
“Honestly, the reason I went so over the top is because I ran into a problem on the first day of construction.” My silence encourages him to continue. “The docks have a large homeless population, and one of them wandered over to investigate during construction. She came, begging for money. I tossed her some cash I had lying around. Haven’t seen any of them since, so I think my modifications have worked to hide us,” Kai said hesitantly.
“You handled it well. Chin up, Kai, you exceeded my expectations,” I said.
“Oh, thank you. Do you want to see the lab now?” Kai asked.
“Before that, how are you adjusting to the Tinkerer powers? Have you noticed any changes or side effects?” I asked. Now that Aubrey has forgotten everything, I can’t use her as a benchmark for my ability.
He loosens up at my question, relaxing as he realizes he isn’t in danger. “It’s incredible, like almost unbelievable. I have all this knowledge that’s nestled in my brain: circuitry, motors, and artificial pathing programs. But I have run into the TIDE already,” Kai said.
“I’m not too familiar with Tinkerers, so what is the tide?” I asked.
“T.I.D.E. It’s an acronym for Technological Inhibiting Dissociation Effect. It’s a type of mental affliction that prevents Tinkerers from circumventing their specialization. For example, I tried to scale up my construction drones to be the size of motorcycles and suddenly found myself on the floor, unaware of how I got there. It seems like my ability considers drones to be of a certain size. Same thing would happen if I tried to use any of the motherboards or processing units to build a computer. I can create fantastical technology but only to be used in my drones,” he said.
In retrospect, it makes sense. It also explains why there hasn’t been a benevolent Tinkerer who used their ability to elevate all of humanity’s tech level. I wonder if we can figure out a workaround for it. If I were to give Kai another Tinkerer ability, would he be able to use one specialization to alter the other? There are so many things we need to explore and experiment with.
“Fascinating. Perhaps the two of us will be able to figure out a way to circumvent the tide.”
“You can’t circumvent the Tide. The name came before the acronym. Because it’s like fighting the ocean; you can’t,” Kai said.
“Doctor, we are already striving for the impossible. The Tide is just another problem for us to solve. But for now, why don’t we head down to the lab, and you can show me what you’ve built?” I asked.
“Right away, sir,” Kai responded.
He’s nervous around me. From what Vivienne told me, he has no problem mouthing off or being assertive with everyone but me. I reward competency, and he is extremely competent, so why is he afraid?
I follow Kai through the door leading to our subterranean laboratory. Multiple flights of stairs greet me. I thought it’d have an elevator, at the very least. I don’t mind the monotonous cardio as we descend six stories down. The stairs end in a brightly lit hallway with cameras covering the ceiling. I notice that some of the metal plates making up the hallway look like they’re offset from the rest. Is that where the weapons are hidden? I did tell him this had to be secure and that no one could be allowed to leave the lab once imprisoned. The hallway ends in a solid iron door with a keypad.
“The passcode is 674128. Upon your instructions, nobody else knows the code,” Kai said, typing in the code for me to see.
The door hisses before it slides into the wall. My eyes can’t believe the scale of what I see. A room the same size as the warehouse above it, with twenty locked hatches all equally apart. To my right are several operating tables complete with restraints and metallic surgical limbs. All around me are Kai’s previous Tinkerer gadgets and creations. On my left is Kai’s drone workshop, with half-finished pieces and parts all over the place. One of the walls has a giant screen on it, made up of dozens of televisions and monitors. The screen shows the rooms below each hatch. Each room has a cot, toilet, and sink. These are the cells I wanted. All of them are built to withstand nearly anything a Neuvohuman can throw at it. Below it is a desk with a few keyboards and computers set up. The computers are showing the hallway, the staircase, the entrance, and this room we’re in. There are wheeled whiteboards strewn about everywhere. I can’t help but walk around, exploring everything. This is brilliant. When I finally stop moving, I see Kai staring at me awkwardly.
“Kai, you have done well, very well. You and I will make history here,” I said.
“I’m relieved it meets your needs. I did the best I could with the limited time. I’ll admit I was worried about your reaction. Would you like me to go over everything with you?” He asked.
“Put your worries aside. Please show me what you’ve built. I prefer to be well acquainted with everything under my control.”
Kai begins to explain the cells he’s made when the large screen flashes, showing a woman banging at the entrance. She’s mid-forties, light-skinned, and doesn’t look well. Her clothes are dirty and torn, and she isn’t wearing any shoes. And a willing participant appears.
“What is she doing back here?” Kai asked.
“And this would be the homeless person from before?”
“Yes. She probably just used the money I gave her to get high. I didn’t think she’d come back here,” Kai answered.
“Let her in.”
“Are you sure? Isn’t this place supposed to be a secret?” Kai asked.
“Yes, but considering she knows it exists, you’ve already failed once to protect this base’s secrecy. Don’t fret, though; we now have our first test subject,” I said.
“Okay,” Kai said.
He presses a button on one of the keyboards in front of the computers, and I see the door open. The woman walks in, looking around for anyone but finding no one. Her irregular way of walking and constantly jerking her head around means she’s currently high.
“You can’t use your drones for anything other than their intended purpose, but see if you can corral her to us using them,” I said.
Kai nods and presses a few buttons on his keyboard, sending the drones marching out of the room and upstairs. The robots surround her and scare her into going through the double doors. There aren’t any cameras in the second half of the building, so I can’t follow her adventure. As she enters the stairway, I can see her stumbling down the stairs, screaming. It doesn’t take her long to get down to our level. She enters the hallway screaming as Kai’s construction drones climb across the walls and ceiling after her. Her face is stricken with panic as she runs down the hallway. Without the cameras, I wouldn’t even be able to hear her pounding on the steel slab, begging to be let in.
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“Go get her and keep her quiet,” I said.
Kai makes his way over to one of the benches with all of his TinkerTech. He rummages around and grabs a syringe with a clear liquid inside. He punches in the code for the door, and the woman comes crashing through, falling on her face. She continues screaming as she crawls away from the drones until Kai jams the syringe into her neck. She spasms slightly before going still.
“Do a full physical and intake on her. I want a profile on her to reference after every test we do. Once that’s done, we’ll begin. Do you need anything from me, or would you prefer to work solo? This isn’t a test. If this will go smoother without me watching over your shoulder, then say so,” I said.
Kai doesn’t respond, watching me intensely. He’s looking to see if this is a trick. Unfortunately for him, the whole point of my helmet is to make me faceless and inscrutable. Quit trying, Kai, and just trust that I’m not the vicious monster you’ve created in your mind.
“Respectfully, so respectfully, my work would get done quicker if I was alone. Only if that’s okay with you, that is,” Kai said nervously.
The sycophantic pleading and tiptoeing around me is scraping at my patience. First Maria with her ridiculous surprise, and now my criminal doctor is scared of offering his opinion. It’s taking everything I have to put a lid on Punch’s aggressive tendencies. I do not need a yes-man. If he cannot get over this fear, I’ll have to find someone else. I need to nip this in the bud.
“Kai, are you afraid of me?”
“Wha- What?” Kai asked.
“You are nervous around me, unconfident, and worst of all subservient. We are creating an empire here, and you were chosen to help build it. Where did the cocky bastard who tried to extort me for all I have go? The one who gave me a deadline and a threat? You are one of four people who know I exist. Do you understand the trust and confidence I’ve extended to you? Your life isn’t in danger, Kai. I am not some impulsively violent psychopath who will strike you if you disagree. You are part of my inner circle, and I take care of my people. I’ll give you space; I’ll be in my office while you work. Send a drone when you’re finished. Remember this: the difference between a king and a tyrant is that one rules by belief and the other by terror.”
“And which one are you?” Kai asked.
“I am neither a king nor a tyrant; I’m a conqueror. And I think you’ll find conquering is a lot nicer than being conquered,” I said, walking away.
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I lose track of time while using the database, and it isn’t until the drone finally slams into my office door that I break out of it. How long was it tapping at my door before Kai resorted to that? I sign out of the database and follow the drone to the lab. I’m so close to figuring out the secrets of my power, and I’m as cold as the day I was born. The sooner we can start working on the addict, the sooner I can offload Diminish’s power. As soon as I walk through the door, I see the woman unconscious on one of Kai’s tables. He has her hooked up to several different machines with their own displays. He’s holding a tablet in his left hand while his spidery right arm taps away at it.
“I have a full profile of her done minus her personal information. She has a lot of different stimulants and hallucinogens in her blood. She’s missing several teeth, suffering from malnutrition, and has two cracked ribs. None of it’s life-threatening, but I’ve got her on an IV of Nutrimeno fluid. Depending on how long our research takes, we’ll need to meet with a supplier of it,” Kai said.
This is a marked improvement over the stuttering mess. I doubt we’ll have a relationship similar to the one I have with Vivienne, but being frank and professional is acceptable.
“Let me know once you’re close to running out, and we’ll determine a course of action. None of our subjects will be leaving, but I don’t want starvation to affect the results possibly. Keep her alive, and get her clean. The first test we’ll do is the effect of giving someone two powers. This is perhaps the most important test, so make sure you keep a record of everything,” I said.
“What abilities are you going to give her? We should keep track in case certain ability-specific phenomena manifest. You haven’t given anybody two abilities, and there’s no telling what might happen.”
I place my hand against her bound wrist and think over what two abilities to give her. In terms of which powers to give her, there are only two that come to mind: Erisate’s and Froggy’s. Neither power nor the associated personality piece is all that valuable. He’s right about being careful in case something goes wrong. On the off chance that multiple powers can kill a person, I’ll need to use the third part of my ability to retrieve the powers immediately. I’ll explain it away that powers return to me when their users die. No one can ever know about it, not even Vivienne. My anonymity matters less than my secret.
“I’m giving her the following abilities: a Manipulator/Alter that can change where their center of gravity originates from and a Manipulator who gains telekinesis over items they imbue with an internal energy,” I said.
“Got it. Entering all of that into her profile,” Kai said.
I focus on the collection inside me, all ten powers nestled safely. In the back of my consciousness is the vague sense of where Isaiah, Vivienne, and Aubrey are, thanks to our connection. With Kai being so close to me, the sense is much stronger, and I can pinpoint his movements. Am I stalling? Take a deep breath, and begin. There’s no trouble with starting the transfer, and I’m even able to do both at the same time. The five minutes seem to drag on but also feel too short. She doesn’t move or change in any visible way.
“It’s done. What are her vitals looking like?” I asked.
“She’s completely stable, no elevated heart rate or abnormal readings on any of the sensors. As far as I can tell, she’s exactly the same as she was prior. I’ll continue to monitor her for the next couple of hours, and then I’ll place her in a cell.”
“I trust you to alert me if anything else transpires, doctor. I’ll be in my office.”
So far, she is a success, but is she an outlier or the average? Can everyone accept two abilities, or is she special? We need more test subjects—a good amount to test on. Transients will be easier to disappear and dispose of than affluent citizens. It isn’t exactly hard to find people who slip through the cracks in Crimton.
I leave the lab behind me and start my trek up the staircase again. Kai needs to put in an elevator. I’m going to end up with over a hundred thousand steps without it. Vivienne should be done soon. The Cape she’s after isn’t powerful, just tough. Isaiah is in more danger than her, but I do not doubt that he’ll succeed.
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Vivienne arrives back at the base first, dragging a burned Cape behind her. The woman’s brown skin is pink and charred. Offset isn’t dead, or Vivienne wouldn’t have brought her back, but she looks worse than Callback did after his fight with V. She must’ve put up quite the fight to look this bad by the end of it. The ability to transfer injuries to another person is so incredibly valuable. I wonder what her gift will be. We meet up in front of the entrance to the laboratory staircase. Vivienne flashes me a cocky grin.
“Her power is fucking dope, Nobody. Like obviously, you know, 'cause you sent me after her, but in action, it is insane. I had to keep shifting back and forth to heal the injuries she was passing on to me. I’ve never been on the losing end of a battle of attrition before, and it was awesome. I had to wait her out until I was giving off enough heat to fucking cook her. She found out she couldn’t pass off burns to my shifted form and tapped the fuck out from pain,” Vivienne said.
I place my bare hand against the charred Cape’s neck and start to steal her power. “Excellent, Vivienne. How did talks with the gang go?”
“Everyone agreed, minus these three bitches. They want nothing to do with Neuvohumans or me. They’re just scared. Those three are no longer a part of the gang. I put Casper and Goblin in charge and told them about the changes you suggested. The two of them told me they could make it work, and I have a plan to meet them in about a week for the drop off of the coke. I gotta say I really like having minions,” she said.
“You have to decide what type of leader you want to be. You can be a steady guiding hand or a strong, fierce grip. Either trust them to follow your instructions or constantly micromanage everything. Just remember that people are more willing to do what you ask if it’s something already in their nature. You can not teach a fish to fly, and you can not make an attack hound out of a purse puppy. Decide soon. What you’re doing could become helpful, but your project cannot interfere with what we’re doing, V. I will kill every last one of them before I let them jeopardize our goals,” I said.
“I know, Nobody. I understand, and I’m not gonna fuck anything up.”
“Actions over words. Now, Isaiah has the key to the next step in my plan, but until he gets here, let’s drop our guest off with the doctor,” I said as the power transfer ends.
Offset’s ability allows her to shift injuries, wounds, diseases, and sickness onto other people. There’s a limit to it; she can’t pass a missing limb or any kind of permanent damage. The ability is still incredibly powerful. Unfortunately, she has given me another problematic piece—honesty, bordering on compulsion. Being unable to lie as Nobody isn’t that big of an issue, but my Eryk persona cannot exist without lying—another setback to deal with. Relax, it’s a problem for later.
On the bright side, I have a solution to one of my problems right in front of me. I’ll see if Kai can keep her alive, and then I’ll dump Diminish and Punch’s personality pieces onto her. I don’t want her healed; we can leave her as is. Vivienne carries Offset down the stairs for me, leaving her in front of the door.
“I’ve got it from here, V.”
“Do you have anything else you need me to do?” Vivienne asked.
I pause to think about it. “No. You’re free to go. I’ll text you when it’s time to leave.”
I wait until I hear her walking up the stairs before I enter the door code. It isn’t that I don’t trust Vivienne, but the fewer people who know about a secret, the less chance there is of it getting out. I punch the code in and drag Offset through the door. Kai’s back is to me, but his head turns as I enter. His eyes hone in on Offset’s body as I drag her in.
“Got us another volunteer. I’ve already removed her ability. Just the bare minimum for treatment, keep her alive, not comfortable. Do not waste any of your resources on her,” I said.
“Alrighty. Have you already picked out which abilities you want to give her?” Kai asked me.
“Yes, I have. I’ll be giving her a touch-based Alter that can shrink inorganic objects and a Caster that can create kinetic projections from their extremities. Are you confident in the cells you’ve made? Because it’s your life that will be at risk if they escape,” I said.
“Every single cell is bulletproof and constructed out of reinforced concrete with metal plates and rebar inside. I have an anesthetic gas, flame-dampening foam, and several sedative cocktails that will activate if they try to escape. I can make adjustments if you decide to start holding tier fours, but for what we’re dealing with, it’s more than enough,” Kai said.
“Good to hear, doctor,” I said.
One of the nearby mechanical arms lifts Offset up, placing her on his table. He holds his hand up, and a different mechanical arm deposits a syringe in it. The syringe has a chunky blue mixture inside it. Kai jams it into her chest, fully injecting the contents into her.
“There, that’ll stabilize her long enough for you to give the powers and me to run my tests,” Kai said.
“What was that strange concoction?”
“It’s another trade-off mixture similar to what I used on you. Except this one helps with blood clotting and infection. Considering how much burn damage and bleeding Vivienne caused, she’ll need it,” Kai said.
“You said it was a trade-off, but what’s the negative?” I asked.
“Oh, it causes terrible nightmares and periodic pulses of nerve pain,” Kai answered without looking up at me.
What a disconnect for a doctor to have. Does he even see patients as people? I’m tempted to give her Constrictor’s power as well, but I settle for the two most immediate problems. Kai backs up while I transfer the powers over. Now we’ll see what happens if I give a previous Neuvohuman two abilities.
“Done. How is our first guest doing?” I asked.
“She hasn’t woken up yet, but she’s in her cell now.”
“I’ll leave you with your patients. There won’t be any new additions for the next few days, so feel free to tinker. The more you know about your ability, the better,” I said.