Paramount City was full of heroes and villains. It was full of different areas and neighborhoods, each catering to certain types and levels. Those boundaries helped to keep the people safe; there was very little for a high level villain to gain in a low level zone, and so they rarely ventured into those areas.
Two such low level zones were Chancery Hills and Decker Row. Tensions between heroes and villains in those areas had been building for a long time, and they had finally boiled over into fighting in the streets. At first there had been large scale battles with dozens of supers throwing down all at once. That only lasted the first few days.
It didn’t take long for people to realize just how dangerous such large battles were. While it was easy to die from an unseen blow, it was incredibly difficult to get the credit for any kill that happens around you. So the larger battles quickly evolved into quick, running skirmishes and ambushes in the streets. Combatants would sweep in, hit hard, and then scatter before the clash could draw additional enemies to the fight.
These fights went on day and night all across both areas. It had been happening for nearly two weeks, and it showed no sign of slowing down. If you were outside your base, there was almost nowhere that could truly be counted as safe. Among those few safe places, only one was owned by a player. That place was the Gadget Forge, and its status was no coincidence.
In the early days of the fighting the shop’s owner, Lightforge, had demonstrated the merits of his wares against heroes and villains alike. The people that he had slapped down had taken it badly, but any thoughts of revenge were quickly quashed by the stronger individuals in the area. No one was enthusiastic about someone selling to both sides, but few were willing to risk him actually taking a side.
So while there was fighting going on all around, his shop was quiet. He was working hard on his next creation, assembling parts together and fine tuning the effects that he wanted to create. It was good work, but he was really just keeping his hands busy. He was waiting for something, and it should come any moment.
You have reached level 10!
Free Points: 4
You have gained a new Ability for Gadgeteer:
Name: Merge
Type: Crafting
You can combine two items with the same type. The resulting item will possess the effects of both items. Merging identical items will result in a copy of the item at a higher quality level.
The quality of merged items is dependent on your level.
You have gained a new Ability for Hard Light Construct:
Name: Shining Step
Type: Mobility
Charges: 2
Duration: 1 sec
Cooldown: 10 sec
Create a platform of solidified light to use as a foothold in midair. Platforms are susceptible to enemy attacks. Each charge has a separate cooldown.
There it was. It had taken him nearly two months, but he’d finally reached level ten. It was depressing if he thought about it for too long, so he chose not to. Instead he assigned his new stat points and checked his own profile.
Name: Lightforge
Alignment: Neutral
Level: 10
Power Set 1: Hard Light Construct
* Light Dagger
* Light Shield
* Prism Hammer
* Shatter Blow
* Shining Step
Power Set 2: Gadgeteer
* Inspect
* Repair
* Upgrade
* Salvage
* Construct
* Merge
Synergy Abilities:
* Sabotage
Stats:
Health Points (HP): 692/692
Ability Points (AP): 582/582
Strength: 20
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 24
Aura: 24
Regardless of the speed, it was good progress. Under ordinary circumstances, this was about the point where he would start moving out of the area to start fighting greater threats than the starter areas could offer. It was where the game truly started, as the NPC criminals didn’t gain powers of any kind until around level 12.
He had no plans to leave the shop that he’d spent so much time on. It had come a long way from the empty facade that he’d started with. Now there were a handful of shelves sharing the space with him, each one demonstrating the kinds of equipment that customers could buy from him. He even had a bargain bin that he kept right next to the door. Its contents came with no guarantee of functioning correctly, but they would almost certainly hurt someone eventually.
He wasn’t completely alone in his little workshop, either. His drone, now upgraded a half dozen times, flew a steady patrol around the exterior of the building, scanning the nearby areas for anything that might approach. And the inside of the shop had a new robot standing guard. It stood on four legs, but he hated calling it a ‘dog.’ It looked more like a gun with legs, which was also a more accurate description of its function.
The drone sent a quick message as someone approached the shop. Lightforge saw the message and sighed, removing his goggles and tossing them to the robot dog, which snatched them out of the air and trotted to the door with them. A few moments later, Circe came strutting through the door, pausing just long enough to take the goggles from the robotic guardian before proceeding to stand right in front of him.
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“Hey there, Lightforge. How’s business?”
“Better every day. But aren’t you the one who added a backdoor to this place so no one would see villains coming and going through the front?”
“You think anyone saw me come in? How cute. Besides, how else would I collect your nifty goggles before coming inside?”
“I still don’t get that. What’s your problem with my goggles?”
“I don’t have a problem with them. My problem is with you, or anyone else, using them to gather information about me. After all, a girl has to have her secrets.”
He sighed and shrugged. After his accidental discovery, he’d spent a couple of days setting up a wireless connection between his goggles and the digital directory on his computer. Now the goggles truly served like the old in-game HUD, providing him the basic details about everyone he met. Circe had liked the idea, but had been adamant that he not find out her exact details. Her obsession with secrecy was truly incredible.
“Uh huh. Something tells me that nothing I ever create could ever discover all of your secrets.”
“Maybe not, but I prefer not to risk it.”
Recently, Circe had been coming by almost every day. Usually it was just to pass time and annoy him, but every once in a while she had something more for him. But regardless of the circumstances, he had to follow their little song and dance, so he restrained himself to just a roll of his eyes.
“Sure, whatever you say. Can I help you with something, or did you just drop by to chat?”
“Just to chat. I just want to say that I’m rather impressed with the progress that you’ve made here.”
“Thanks. And I guess I should admit that I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“You’re welcome. And I’m happy to see that my investment is paying off. So what’s your newest brilliant invention? I’m dying of curiosity here.”
“Oh really? Well, I had this idea–”
Lightforge cut himself off as his drone sent him another alert. A few moments later a fight in progress came spilling out from a side street. It was difficult to tell from the mass of bodies, but there looked to be at least eight or nine people in the tangled scrum. That was odd; fights involving superpowers rarely devolved into that sort of mess. There should have been at least a little space between the combatants. Maybe there was some power in play?
His mind wandered as he kept an eye on the fight. He’d made his position very clear, but that wasn’t a guarantee. People could easily make bad decisions in the heat of battle. That proved itself true as one of the fighters stumbled away from the heap and made a beeline straight for his front door.
As the man approached, Lightforge took a moment to glance to his side. As he had expected, Circe had vanished. Good. Better not to make this any more complicated than it needed to be.
The man half-stumbled, half-crashed through the front door, knocking over the bargain bin as he fell onto his face. Lightforge winced and held his breath, but nothing blew up, so that was a good sign. He hadn’t moved from behind his workbench, and chose to force his salesman smile onto his face.
“Careful there. Things in the bargain bin aren’t exactly stable. How can I help you?”
The man struggled to his feet and took one look around the shop before diving toward a display holding a futuristic-looking gun. It looked like something out of an old black and white serial. He didn’t even glance at the shopkeeper, eyes locked on his goal.
“Gun. Need guns. I’m gonna kill those little [BLEEPS].”
“Sure you are. That’s a good choice there, but I’ll warn you that it’s one of the pricier gadgets that I’ve made. It was shockingly complex to put together. So what’s your price range?”
The man finally looked at him, but didn’t respond. He simply grabbed the gun off the shelf and made for the door. Before he could make it three steps he found himself looking down the barrel of a gun the size of a dog. There was an ominous hum as the inside of the gun began to glow. The man turned back to scream at the shopkeeper.
“What the [BLEEP] is wrong with you! Those villains jumped us, and they’re killing my friends. Move the [BLEEPING] robot!”
“Hm, I guess you have a point. This isn’t a great environment for clear thinking. Drone, can you slow things down for me?”
As an afterthought he pulled his goggles over his eyes and looked outside at the fight. The names and numbers were scattered and confusing, but it was enough. The strongest members of the skirmish were level 6, so there was nothing to fear about sending his drone in all by itself.
It zipped through the air and came to a halt just above the struggling group. He was changing and upgrading it all the time, and it was about to show off one of the most recent additions. A small spike emerged from the bottom of the drone and released arcs of purple and green lightning. The attack hit all of the combatants at virtually the same time and they all froze.
That was only half because of the electrical attack. At Lightforge’s level, it only caused slowing instead of full paralysis. The rest of the momentary pause came from the sheer surprise that everyone had been attacked all at once. They slowly untangled themselves and looked to the drone, which still hung in the air directly above them. One even had the brilliant idea to throw a glowing knife at it.
Huh. Hard Light Construct. This was the first time that Lightforge had seen someone else with one of his powers. Too bad that they’d decided to be hostile. The drone dodged the attack and swooped down to hit the offender directly. They spasmed briefly and crumpled, more thoroughly stunned now that they were taking the attack at point blank range.
With a heavy sigh, Lightforge marched out of his shop and glared down at the group. The one who’d tried to snatch a gun was hurrying behind him. He took in the sight of them and shook his head.
“Alright, that’s enough from all of you. I have an eager customer over here, and he can’t focus while you’re fighting.”
By now their stunned silence was all mental as they tried to come to terms with his declaration. From the outside it seemed ridiculous. How could one man make demands while outnumbered this badly?
In a few words? Blind confidence. Lightforge smirked as he took in the expressions and saw resolve waver in more than one.
“All of you are strong enough to have been around for a little while. As such, the odds are good that you’ve at least heard of me, your friendly neighborhood gadgeteer. If not, then let me explain the rules to you. I’m staying out of the fighting, so keep it away from me. Do that and you’re welcome in my shop. Ignore that very simple rule and you’ll quickly find your enemies sporting shiny new gear.”
It would be nice if that little spiel was a spur of the moment thing, but it wasn’t. He’d given some version of it more times than he cared to think about over the past couple of weeks. Sometimes it worked perfectly, and other times it got messier.
As the fighters came out of their stupor, he realized that this time was going to be one of the messy ones. They didn’t look embarrassed or cowed, they just looked annoyed. Several were visibly working themselves up in preparation to take their anger out on him.
Lightforge sighed and checked the time. This version of the speech had run a little short, so he might have to spend some time stalling. He reached into his inventory and pulled out a special device that he called the Rat King. It was just a bunch of grenades with their pins tied together with a single rope. He’d used it in the first big battle of the little war going on in the neighborhood.
Now it dangled from his hand, grenades scraping against one another. It was a precarious position, with several looking ready to drop loose at any moment. He grinned at the suddenly wary faces in front of him.
“I’m glad I have your attention. I don’t know how many of you this thing would kill, and I doubt you want to find out. So how about everyone walks away and I show my lovely customer the weapons that he came to buy before things can get any worse.”
Explosions sounded in the distance, loud and growing louder. Lightforge grinned and theatrically raised both arms to the sides.
“Nevermind, it’s already too late.”
Cannoneer and Sunbird crashed to the ground on either side of him, with Circe and Gray Guardian appearing from under an illusion moments later. Lightforge’s hammer appeared in his hand, and his two robots finished up the little formation.
The new arrivals finally broke the will of the onlookers. They turned and began to walk away until only the stunned attempted thief remained. Lightforge put an arm over the man’s shoulder and ushered him back towards the shop.
“There, now you have plenty of time to consider. Let’s go talk about how I can get you better equipped. And maybe you can think about proper etiquette when you’re inside someone else’s house.”