BETWEEN 52ND AND 53RD, CLEARED VIPER DEN. HELL’S KITCHEN, NYC
NEIGHBORHOOD: CLAIMED BY GUARDIAN: LOOPHOLE (CONTESTED)
CITY: UNCLAIMED (BLOCKED BY TIMER)
CURRENT PHASE POINTS: 3140
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“You know, that timing is starting to get painfully obvious.”
“What timing?”
“The timing where the cop’s always arrive right after I finish taking these assholes down,” I said with a sigh, stretching my hands out and cracking my knuckles.
“What? Do you want to have to sit around here babysitting the scene until the police arrive?” Angie asked. I was moving my way back toward the building when I noticed Jon trying to get my attention out of the corner of my eye. I lifted a hand to wave, trying to dismiss him but he moved parallel, trying to get closer.
“Thank you for the help, I have to secure the rest of this building,” I said hurriedly, picking up the pace and moving past the knocked out guard.
“No dude wait, we need to talk!” He called after me. The door was just closing, cutting him off as I heard, “I know-”
“Hmm,” Angie mused as I escaped further into the building.
“Hmm what?”
“Oh nothing, just curious is all,” She said without elaborating further. I decided to double check the building, looking for any clues or secrets that had been left behind. “Like, I know you’re trying to be all secret, hush hush, about your big plan. By the way, it's totally not working. But if your goal is to get Mr. Blue Eyes to 'accidentally' guess that you’re Loophole so that he can be clued in, wouldn’t talking to him be a great way to go about it?”
“Yeah, but you said anything obvious would count as me attempting to circumvent the Secret Identity rule. Truth be told, he’s my best friend and we’ve known each other since we were in kindergarten. I literally don’t know how to talk to Jon without falling into stupid habits that he’d immediately recognize,” I admitted. “I just think that’s a bit of a risk.”
My phone icon shook as I peeked into a room at the back of the first floor. It was a large room with crates stacked to the ceiling lining either of the walls but scant else to be seen. On the back wall there was a door held ajar by a single brick. I pulled open the new text I had received and eyed it curiously.
I stopped in my tracks as I reread the message twice and looked back over my shoulder.
“How…” I murmured as I wondered if I was jumping to conclusions. I mean, if he had figured it out, then wouldn’t he have led with that in any sort of text? While I wasn't quite sure how I could check, I figured the easiest way would be to lie and see how he responded.
“Yeah that doesn’t really help… and I can’t just ask either… have I mentioned that I hate this stupid rule?” I said as I turned from the backroom and headed back up the stairs to the second floor. I had been in such a rush moving the fight, I hadn’t really taken the time to look over the large room the Vipers had been hanging out in. While the phase points I had gained did seem to indicate that I had cleared the Den, it couldn’t really hurt to double check it all.
“A few times yeah, you’re kinda getting annoying about it.”
“Excuse me, I’m getting annoy- no… no… I’m not engaging,” I said, stopping myself from taking whatever bait she was trying to set me up with. After everything I had gone through today, it just felt like there was something that wasn't quite adding up. It left me with an odd knot in my stomach that I really wanted to get rid of. “Well if he did figure it out, then I guess I just massively over-thought this, but still...”
“I don't know... I think you'd need to have put at least a little bit of thought into it first if you were trying to overthink it, right?” Angie said and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You do realize I talk to you more when you’re actually helpful right?” I poked through a few of the desks that were nearest to the stairs, finding they had largely been emptied out of everything but random papers and office supplies.
“Yeah but where’s the fun in that, hell you just laughed at that last one. Do you realize I have my own running game to see the longest you’ll let me ramble without actually getting to the point?”
“Do you have any opinion at all on what Jon’s text means?” I asked, trying to get us back on topic. I moved toward the offices lining the far wall and headed for the room Gio had been hanging out in.
“I think it means that he thought you should head out the back, which seemed pretty clear to me. Then again, you’re up here on the second floor poking around for trinkets and baubles. You know, even though you can hear the tone in my voice, his text messages are just text messages right?” Angie said. Though most of the office was bare, I found that the bottom drawer of the lone desk had an empty vial tray that must have held the mysterious serum that Gio had injected himself with. I had been hoping for maybe another journal like the one I had found in Sal’s safe, or maybe even another key, but it really did seem like I was just wasting time. “I mean really, it's like you are trying to think yourself out of this small victory.”
“I… I suppose you aren’t technically wrong…” I said. I walked back over toward the front of the windows and looked down through the windows at the front of the building. The small crowd that had been there to watch my fight had quickly grown, and flashing red and blue lights were now barring either side of the road. I couldn’t see Jon’s normal beanie anywhere on the edges of the crowd and had to assume he was already heading back toward the apartment. “Okay, let’s say in theory he has figured it out, or at least he thinks he has figured it out. If I were to attempt to ask him something, would you still have to give me a warning that I’m going to violate the rule?”
“Loophole, honey… you’re overthinking again.”
“Please don’t call me honey…” I said as I started to climb back down the stairs and headed for the exit in the back room.
“Yeah it felt wrong… Look, if you want to know if he’s figured it out… you just have to quit stalling, go home and then you can put this nonsense to bed,” Angie said, clearly a bit exasperated. It felt like an odd shift from her normal attitude but it was hard to try to say she was wrong. I took one more look up the alley toward the scene of my fight and decided it was probably better not to try to weave my way through that crowd, even out of my costume. “And for the record, that’s just the talk of clueing the blue-eyed cutie in, it’s far too early for you to be sleeping already.”
I headed for the opposite side of the alley, disabling my gear before exiting onto the sidewalk. It shimmered and vanished back into the dimensional void that was my B.E.L.T. and I blended into the crowd as I headed back toward the apartment.
“I’m really jealous of the Augments that have more mobility in their powerset,” I mused as I stood shoulder to shoulder with a large group waiting at the crosswalk. “Any chance I can unlock like, a Loophole-mobile? Nope, that’s definitely not a name that’s going to stick.”
“Yeah… I almost don’t want to help you now… But rules are rules,” Angie said with a long drawn out sigh. “Okay. For the most part, practically every powerset does come with the capacity for movement augmentation, think of Super Strength. It’s not necessarily built for speed or moving quickly, but Augments with variations of the skill can still travel long distances with super strength powered jumps. Similarly, a wind based augment can eventually learn to manipulate the air around them to glide. It just takes a little bit of creative thinking and more than a little bit of practice. Generally speaking, movement based abilities will be tied in to your Stamina bar.”
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“Hmm, I guess that makes sense,” I said as I followed the crowd and crossed the street. I had been trying to distract myself as I walked but it barely did a thing as I eyed the phone icon again. “I really hope he knows, it’ll make all of this so much easier.”
“Are you finally going to tell me why it’s so important that he was clued in? And don't just say it's cause he's your best friend. There are plenty of people who've taken the Secret Identity rule seriously enough not to tempt fate. Why do you need to do it?”
I thought about it for a minute and shrugged. There really was no reason for me to keep it a secret from her anymore, but part of me still wanted to at least drag it out a few moments longer.
“Not sure, I feel like you’re gonna make fun of me for it. Besides, can’t you just find whatever you want in my brain?”
“Ehhhh not whatever I want. I know I’ve joked about it, but while memories created and information gained after the Augmentation are clear, stuff from before really requires prompting you for me to access,” She explained. I kept expecting her to turn it into a joke but she caught me off guard as an unexpected level of sincerity entered her tone. “The problem with Mr. Blue Eyes is that there’s simply too many memories that you have of him and bringing him up just makes you think of how much more he knows about all of this than you. Which, you know, sure I can see how that might be helpful and all, but I feel like if you stopped wasting your time and focused on your abilities you’d figure it out plenty fine on your own too. Whether you believe me or not, my job as your Personal A.I. is to assist you, be it providing motivation to act or distraction to keep you from becoming too wound up. Understanding this would allow me to better perform my duties. I promise I won’t make fun of you, I just want to understand.”
I stopped at Tio’s diner and peered through the window. Jon had said to meet back at the apartment but I couldn’t help but check just to be sure. After waiting a few more seconds, I started to walk again, letting Angie linger in the silence for a few minutes as I covered the last block and a half to the apartment.
“He’s family. Or at least he’s the closest thing I really have left,” I explained.
“Don’t you live in your Uncle’s apartment?”
“Well... yeah, but he was my Great-Uncle, my grandma’s brother Chris. Funnily enough Jon actually really liked him when we were growing up because Uncle Chris was just as big of a computer and video game nerd as Jon is now. He passed away a few years ago; Jon and I took over the apartment cause it was rent-controlled and Mr. Greyson was willing to let us in on the lease,” I said. “And before you ask, my grandma also passed away, though that was just last year…”
“What about your parents?”
“My dad overdosed when I was three and my mom was in a car accident when I was six. Not exactly the luckiest childhood ever, but after that I moved from Long Island into the city to live with my Grandma across the hall from Jon’s family. Suddenly I was going to the same school as him, so my Grandma and his mom would take turns driving, and before I knew it I was practically in his living room every afternoon, having family dinner and playing board games like it was completely normal. Hell, even his extended family treated us like we were part of the crew whenever they visited, they didn’t even think twice about it. Holidays, birthdays, the whole nine yards, they were there. I know it sounds cheesy, but until this I don’t think there’s a single thing we didn’t know about each other,” I explained as I stopped in front of the apartment building. “It just doesn’t feel right doing this without him knowing. Not to mention it would make it actually easier to relax at home. And that goes without adding in the benefits of his Augment obsession.”
“Hmm, thank you for sharing that with me,” was all that came from Angie as silence descended on us. Her unusually tame response left me off kilter and I decided to leave it alone.
Though I halfway expected to find him waiting in the lobby, he was nowhere to be found and it left me second guessing myself all over again. I hesitated one last time at the front door before I pushed it open. Jon was sitting on the couch, his tablet in hand as he moved a finger back and forth along the screen. As soon as he noticed me, he dropped the device to the side and leapt to his feet.
“Dude! That was so friggin epic! I mean, I still have literally no idea what those powers are but you were-”
“Wait. So you actually know? How long?” I said, cutting him off. I held my breath as I waited for Angie to chirp up that the Secret Identity rule had been violated. But after several long seconds, I let the air out and felt a small weight get lifted from my shoulders.
Jon was practically buzzing with excitement as he seemed to be looking me up and down, almost appraisingly. It made me feel like I was some sort of show dog and as I went to move, he moved alongside me. I slowly made my way from the front door over into our meager living room, trying to give him the chance to speak up.
“I mean, truth be told I was a little suspicious when you first woke back up. But I was about 70% sure after you fought those bikers right up the street not even 10 minutes after you left the diner. It wasn’t quite the biggest leap to make. That bumped up to a solid 90% after Mr. Russo texted me this morning to see how you were recovering… you know… after you supposedly left to buy a phone on his dime. When you randomly mentioned the bikers near your 'new jobsite' I kinda figured you were going to just finally tell me but you didn't so I had almost convinced myself that I was just reading too far into things... But then the thing that really sealed the deal was when you just didn’t come bursting out of that flower shop the moment I texted you that Loophole… er… you… were outside.”
“Well there ya go,” She said, almost pleasantly surprised, “Looks like you did overthink it.”
“Not-”
“Now now? Yeah I’ll give yah a minute,” Angie laughed, her voice fading off into silence.
“Damn… and here I was trying to figure out how exactly I was gonna clue you in,” I said as I flopped down onto the couch. “More or less have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off as I tried to make it work.”
“Yeah see, you being an Augment is stupidly cool and all, but that's actually been the bigger mystery for me. I've been trying to figure out why you wouldn’t just tell me about it either. Like, there were really only a few things I could think of that would even explain why you hadn't come bursting out of your room yelling about your super powers,” he said as he picked up his tablet and dropped onto the couch next to me.
“Ah yeah…” I said and bit my tongue. I wasn’t sure if that was going to be a topic that would come up with this, but I hadn’t exactly come up with how I’d answer him either. Though to be fair, I did think I had at least another day before he was going to put all the pieces together.
“Yeah, at first I figured it was just some sort of FBI thing, maybe they had put a tracking device in you or something that could monitor if you let information slip. But shit, I couldn’t actually imagine that keeping you from telling me. You've never been good at biting your tongue when there's something you know I'd like to know. Hell you called me not five minutes after you lost your virginity.”
“Actually that was you,” I said and he slapped me on my shoulder.
“Let’s stay on topic Loophole,” he said almost giddily. He reached over for his tablet and I noticed it was paused on a shot of Gio smacking me across the street.
“Okay, so what's your point? I mean, even if for some reason I couldn't tell you, isn't it simply cool enough to know that I do have powers?” I asked, looking away from the screen and slowing my breathing. I found myself feeling jittery, and even though I had just sat down, I got to my feet and headed over toward the kitchen.
“I’m honestly not sure, because when I try to convince myself, even I have to admit I sound insane. But it’s something you said at the diner last night that I haven’t been able to get out of my head,” He said and I heard him toss his tablet back onto the couch.
“Uh oh…”
“Uh oh what?” I asked but Angie didn’t speak up.
“I’ve said a lot of things… you’re gonna have to be specific,” I said with an uneasy laugh. The next few moments probably only lasted a second or two, but it felt just like when Angie read a description to me. It was almost like he was waiting for me to turn back toward him, and I didn’t make him wait any longer as time finally seemed to move.
“We had been talking about how Loophole... again you... didn't have any polish or combos within your powerset just yet. I was explaining what I meant by it when out of nowhere you just up and said, 'It’s almost like they are just playing a game',” He said and I felt my stomach drop. “Like, of all the wild theories you could have thrown out there, that was the one you went with. Without any real build up either. It was the weirdest thing to jump to, even weirder given it was coming from you. And like, of course I had the stupid thought about it when you first woke up but that was before I started to really consider if you had actually somehow gotten Augmented.”
“I uh…” I said, finding myself at a loss for words. I expected for thunder, or warnings to start to invade my senses. But as the seconds passed, nothing happened. Angie wasn’t even speaking up and my gut twisted. Jon’s eyes gleamed with a mix of excitement and hesitation, his voice was steady but laced with an undercurrent of uncertainty as he began to speak again.
“I started looking at everything differently, imagining it from the perspective of a game, like you were bound by some kind of system. Sure, it was a crazy thought, but I mean, no one really knows how the Augmentation Array works or stays up in the sky either, right? So, I figured there had to be some kind of underlying rules, something you’d be forced to follow even if you wanted to break it. And if that’s true, then maybe there’s a way to test it. A long shot, maybe, but worth a try.” Jon took a breath, his gaze intense as he looked right at me. “Here’s what I want to do. Look me in the eye and just tell me, straight up... is this all, Augments and everything, one big game?” His voice softened, yet his stare didn’t falter. “I’m not expecting a full answer. If you try to dodge it, maybe that’s just your way of confirming it without actually saying it. And if you can’t say anything at all? Well... I think that’d say more than enough.”
There was the crackle of a speaker in my head and as Angie started to speak to announce a new achievement, she was suddenly cut off. Jon was walking toward me still, but his progress slowed down mid step to practically a snail’s pace as my perception sped up. A slow, almost disturbed laugh echoed in my head as Axio’s voice cut in. When the laughter stopped, his tone was far from the same excited, almost crazed voice he used during his last few announcements. Instead he sounded collected and triumphant in a way that left a chill running down my spine.
“New Achievement. Rulebreaker. I’ll tell you about this in a minute, Augment. But first, I think it’s time you and I had a little chat. We're long overdue.”