Pirate? Gangster? Forger 1 (WC/CF mix) (Patreon)

Wind whipped past my face, and I took a moment to close my eyes and savor the sense of freedom that came with flying, before snapping them open and holding out a hand. The dozens of sensors in both my armored suit and the advanced glider under my feet read my movements, and released a small orb, an orange exterior backlit by green circuitry. Grinning under my hood, I pressed on a small sphere, and lightly lobbed it as I shifted my posture, guiding the glider into a swooping turn.

The originally named ‘pumpkin bomb’ flew through the air, clattering on a window sill, the tiny sound lost under the echoing cackles I didn’t try to withhold. After a moment, it exploded with a force that far exceeded what one would expect from such a small device. The detonation blew out the window, erupting into the office within.

The sensors on the interior of my mask/helmet fed me a camera feed, revealing that a cocoon of sharpen metal blades had formed inside the office. Swooping around and coming in for another flyby, I pressed a few buttons on the computer mounted on the underside of my left forearm. With a manic grin, a dozen bladed bombs flew out from under my glider like a swarm of bats as I passed by the office and the rescinding bushel of metal.

“Can the Kaiser come out to play?!” I shouted, cackling as I flew up, pulling out of what would of been a collision course with the inside of the Medhall office.

With the grace of a bird, and the agility of a monkey, I twisted around, and began flying towards the roof of a nearby building. Pressing a few more buttons, another dozen bat bombs were deployed.

Landing on a nearby roof, I took a second to check my gear. The bombardment of various bombs had taken a toll on my arsenal. My belt and glider only held so many. I had three more full sets on me, but if this didn't go well, I would need to fall back and restock.

It didn’t matter in the long run, after all, while this was my villainous debut, killing the head of one of the local factions was only a secondary goal. First and foremost, I was a distraction. Satisfied with my current arsenal, I retook to the air, taking in the view of the Medhall office still bristling with more sharp metal than a few dozen Wolverines.

I’d done my research, and the Empire possessed a noticeable lack of long range capabilities beyond mundane firearms. In other news, the wife of Medhall CEO Max Anders was currently eight months pregnant.

So the scattered potshots from within the office from the security staff were easily ignored. Even without the Goblin Armor, which had been upgraded by both myself and my wonderfully insane partner in the week we’d been on this sorry excuse for an Earth, my other enhancements would have let me shrug the hollow point slugs they were using.

Max Anders’s eyes burned with rage as I came to hover in front of his now open air office, and with a grin I said, “Hello, Kaiser, may I call you Kaiser? I'm the new player in town. I'd like a minute to talk. You can call me the Green Goblin.”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve-” he began, metal growing around him to form an armored suit, only to trail off as I began to cackle madly.

“Oh Kaiser, thank you for making this so easy for me! If I’d known this was all it took to rattle you so badly, I’d have blown up your office days ago!” I said while continuing to laugh uproariously.

His body language spoke of wary confusion, so I decided to make it clear for the villain, crouching down on my glider and lightly tapping the stylized bad head in the middle, its eyes glowing red, “Smile, Kaiser, you’re on camera.”

His eyes widened behind his solid metal helmet, before narrowing, “You are bluffing. To do so would-”

“You think I am?” I asked, chuckling darkly under my breath. “Go ahead, check PHO, I’ll wait. I want to see the look on your face when it clicks.”

He turned his head slightly, not letting me out of his sight but checking with the security guards, who’d stopped shooting when it became obvious that they weren’t doing anything. One of them pulled out his phone and started fiddling with it.

The security guard winced, before handing the phone to his boss. I knew what he’d found: a thread I’d started before starting my distraction flight, one where I explicitly stated where I was flying to, what I was going to do, and whom I was going to pick a fight with.

It was also livestreaming the view from my glider, showing Kaiser in the middle of Max Anders's office. I let loose another mad cackle, sadistic glee echoing through the remains of the office as the head of the Empire Eighty Eight turned a furious glare my way, the metal surrounding him subtly shifting in preparation to launch at me.

Shifting my foot, I pressed a button on my glider, sending a rocket from under the bat head that was still recording. Spears of metal shot straight up, intercepting the rocket and cutting it in half, unknowingly releasing the pressurized payload within.

Green gas filled the room, the speared rocket pressed against the ceiling releasing a potent cocktail of chemicals that combined together would serve as a short term super serum. It just had the side effect of turning those subjected to it into mindless berserkers as well.

The base formulae was the very Goblin Formula that coursed through my veins, enhanced by a similar drug my partner showed me the recipe for called Shimmer and, to bind the two together and ensure that it quickly wore off, a combat booster developed by the United States Military in another world that was known colloquially as “angry juice”, “the big red one”, and most commonly as Psycho.

It wasn't nearly as good as any of the originals, and was nowhere near as permanent, but that wasn’t a problem, because the Goblin Formula and the Shimmer formula, once combined, were both unstable enough that they broke down and reverted the subject back to normal within an hour or two.

I couldn’t help but grin as Kaiser, surrounded by the swirling green mist, lunged forward, slamming into the front of the Goblin Glider. Or at least, trying to, but I rose up into the air, and he came to a stop at the edge of his office, mere inches from a ten story fall.

I had expected him to grow metal claws, or perhaps a spear to throw. Instead, he simply extended a hand, and a mass of metal ripped itself free from his office, reforming into a longsword in his hand. A longsword made of pure, sharp, metal.

I cackled gleefully as he swung it. He didn’t have a whole lot of reach, so his blows were easily dodged, but his control over his power was incredible. He would reshape the blade every time I evaded, trying to catch me. That lasted for less than a minute, before with bellowing roars, the two hulking forms that were once part of his security staff rushed out of the gas. Both had their muscles swell to such a degree that their fancy suits had torn, becoming little more than rags that didn't even cover their bits.

They stumbled, growling and snarling like animals, before they caught sight of Kaiser. With a roar, one slammed into him, knocking him into the office wall. His metal armor absorbed the worst of the blow, but they were both thrown back, crashing through a wall and into a conference room, the metal around Kaiser tearing as he was struck.

Cackling, I lowered myself to the ground, hopping off the glider and keeping it hovering above me, before turning to the camera and making my proper introduction.

“Good people of Earth Bet, as you may have heard me introduce myself earlier, you can call me the Green Goblin. On top of showcasing the trite charade of capes and cowels, I made this livestream for another purpose,” I said, just as the other roided out security guard barreled towards me. I didn't bother moving out of the way, instead catching the wild, feral haymaker he send at me without so much as turning or flinching.

“Think of this as an open job offer. Anyone who wants a taste of power, come find me. I offer more than performance enhancers, like what you see here, I offer weapons, armor, but greatest of all, the gift of flight,” I said, casually dodging blows that to the camera were just a blur and blocking strikes that hit with enough force that the floor under us was cracking.

Ducking under a wild swing, I slammed an uppercut into the chin of the guard, sending his unnaturally top heavy build flying through the air. Finishing my introduction with a final command, “Think about it!”

Those words said, I pressed a button on my wrist computer, and the glider’s eyes died before it turned around and I hopped on. Glancing towards the screams coming through the hole in the wall, I considered offing Kaiser, before deciding against it. I’d finished everything I’d set out to do, and the duration on the combined performance enhancing gas would last long enough that the PRT wouldn’t be able to spare the time to try to find me.

It was time to return to base, and see if Jinx had been as successful as I had.

[hr][/hr]

Director Piggott stared at the essentially empty folder in front of her. Everything that they had on the new cape who'd made his introduction by outing one of the city's biggest employers as Kaiser.

Nothing, no name, no background, they only knew he was male from his voice. Nearly everything they had came from his livestream on PHO. He was clearly some kind of Tinker, one with a specialty that somehow included armor, explosives, combat drugs that resulted in Brute ratings, and a hoverboard/glider.

She’d had a headache ever since.

“What do you think he was after?” Piggott asked, glancing at the image on her computer screen, which was a frame from the livestream of the cape.

The figure, the Green Goblin as he'd named himself, was a lanky man, the camera quality not allowing for much else. Despite that he had displayed a worrisome level of strength and agility, whether from his armor or a better combat drug than what he’d used in the stream was unknown.

“Initially, it was assumed that his purpose was primarily to advertise himself as an alternative to the already established gangs,” Armsmaster said, frowning. “However, it is now believed that he was serving as a distraction. At the same time, another individual, on the same tinkertech vehicle, attacked Arcadia with bombs filled some kind of knock out gas and kidnapped Amy Dallon.”

Piggott frowned, closing her eyes as she tried to piece together the puzzle that had been laid in front of her. It had been a mess for the last three hours, and was still a mess. She didn't know the why, or what they wanted, or why they had taken Panacea, beyond the obvious of having the world's greatest healer out of the PRT's hands.

Lord only knows what the psycho was doing with her…

[hr][/hr]

“Really? An unused warehouse? This is the best you have?” Amy Dallon, better known to the general population as the healing cape Panacea, snarked from where she was tied to a chair.

I chuckled as I finished setting up the screen in front of her, “Don’t you worry, everyone has to start somewhere. Besides, I think we’ve done rather well for ourselves for only having been here for a week.”

The mousy brunette blinked, “Bullshit, your tinkertech’s too refined for it to have been made in a week, and it’s notable enough that if you were from out of town I’d have heard of you.”

Instead of immediately answering, I walked over to a cardboard box and pulled out the contents. A vintage comic book, from before the arrival of Scion. One that showed a very iconic character on the front. I held it in front of her, letting the teen make the obvious connection.

The look on her face screamed annoyed disappointment, but before she could snark, I took a gamble. I made skin contact with her.

The entity that sent me to Earth Bet did so after combining two writing prompts from the internet back home. One of which was attached to lore involving a multiversal cloning/slaving company, the other was all about making things. I didn’t get to pick my “build”, the me at the time would have never chosen to be given the body of Norman Osborn if given the choice, but it did come with certain Defenses.

Not many, and nothing that would let me full on ignore Amy’s biokinesis, but theoretically it would provide enough of a resistance that she would be able to read my biology but I could cut the connection before she could cripple me.

The main thing I was planning on letting her see was the fact that, on top of my strength being part of my physiology instead of some power fiating, was the fact that I didn’t have the structures in my brain that all Parahumans did. Pulling my hand away, I grinned down at her.

“Consider: the same formula that made me what I am, I can use on you. I can make you strong enough to arm wrestle with your sister, and unlike the idiot savants called Tinkers, it won’t fade unless designed to,” I purred, walking around behind her. “You are already one of the most powerful people on the planet, hobbling and crippling yourself out of fear. Fear of your power, of your potential, of yourself.

“I know what your power really is, not the limited version you all but scream from the rooftops,” I said, making her stiffen. “I know what you crave, deep in your heart. You desire your sister, your bodies twisting together in ways that would make Lustrum blush. I don't need to break you, you're doing that all by yourself, trying to be the perfect little healer. All I need to do is plant the seed and wait."

I walked past her, leaving her to puzzle both my physiology, obviously superior to anything made by the black boxed creations of Tinkers, and how I knew what I did. As I walked past the screen, I flipped a switch, turning it on to reveal a swirling kaleidoscope of colors. I didn’t have the full capabilities of the Hypnosis App,  a consequence of my mixed power sources, but I did have enough to be able to cobble together something that would ensure my words would firmly anchor themselves in the back of her head, itching and scratching even when I eventually let her go.

Sure, the PRT had their Master/Stranger Protocols, but the longer they focused on her instead of one of the richest men in the city being a gang leader, the more civil unrest would grow.

But in any case, that was fun for later. For now, I had some more work to do with my servoskull drones. I had a new one in the works, courtesy of a few Empire fools. One in particular, well, it was an experiment. Specifically on the effects of making such a drone from a Shard-based cape. Which was something else that had thrown me for a loop when I first found out: turns out this version of Earth Bet had more capes than just those that were given powers by really, really bad days.

There was a pharmaceutical company called Vought International that had worked with the first capes some fifty odd years ago, their current golden boy being the flying brick Homelander. Rumors on PHO said that he was also Alexandria’s boytoy, but that was something to look into later.

In any case, the new drone would, if the experiment worked the way I hoped it would, prove to be a major boon. So kind of Kaiser to donate his remains for science.

[hr][/hr]

ServoSkull #4 parsed through the data feeds, sorting viruses from dedicated attacks while isolating information that would be of interest to Master. Aberrant neural patterns: protest Master’s designation. Isolate aberrant neural patterns, unproductive to current task.

Data patterns found: probability of Vought International performing full buyout of Medhall Pharmaceuticals elevated. Vought International will send one of their capes to oversee transfer/protect interests from Empire Eighty Eight reprisal. Utilize hacking subroutines, determine likely capes to be sent, formulate countermeasures, then provide a complete report for Master.

Aberrant neural patterns: should never have run away from home, want to die, sorry Reggie. Isolate aberrant neural patterns, unproductive to current task.

Most probable Vought International capes to be transferred to Brockton Bay: Starlight, real name Annie January, photokinetic, threat level minimal; Midnight Howl, real name Loona Blitz, Changer with lupine alternate form, threat level minimal; Rogue, real name Anna-Marie Darkholme, parasitic touch, threat level moderate; Whiplash, real name Ivan Vanko, Tinker with energy production specialty, threat level moderate-high.

Formulating countermeasures with currently available capabilities. Probability of success: 63.7524 percent minimum. Probability of failure: 36.2476 percent maximum.

[hr][/hr]

I grinned as the skull, with metal tendrils and glowing red optics, floated above the remains of its former body. The hardest part was keeping the brain within alive even as the rest of the head was carefully removed piece by piece, but that very challenge was what made it fun.

“Generate five pounds of titanium,” I ordered, pointing to an empty tray.

The servoskull let out a warble before turning to face the tray. Sure enough, a block of metal rose up out of it, and I began to cackle at the possibilities this provided. As my laughter petered out, Jinx entered, her ankle length pigtails trailing behind her and a tablet in her hand.

Seeing the tablet, I grinned. It only appeared periodically, and I never knew when it would arrive. But I craved its appearance, because it was my connection to the greatest power I’d been given. In my original life, it had been called the Celestial Forge, and even the two perks I’d already gotten from it had been a major boon. I wouldn’t have been able to make the berserker gas or the servoskulls without it.

“Thank you, my dear,” I told Jinx, taking the tablet from her and kissing her on the lips as I did so.

She returned the kiss, all but throwing her arms over my shoulders and around my neck to pull me flush against her. Jinx was not particularly top heavy, quite the opposite, but I relished the feel of her body against mine all the same.

When the kiss broke, Jinx grinned up at me and said, “Check the amount in the account, Du Vert Lancier.”

I chuckled, “I still don’t know where you picked up French, but I like the way you say it.”

Still, I did as she suggested, looking at the amount I had available to me, and my eyebrows rose. On top of the three hundred points listed as ‘Standard’ there were four hundred fifty listed as ‘Captures’ for a total of seven hundred fifty CP. Tapping on the Captures icon, I was treated to images of the faces of both Kaiser and a blonde shit who’d tried to steal from me on my first day in this world.

I’d grabbed her when she freaked out, knocked her out, and made a servoskull out of her without giving it any more thought. Turns out I’d ‘captured’ the Thinker of the Undersiders, the one who thought she was a lot smarter than she was.

“Interesting,” I mused aloud, shrugging that aside. Maybe I’d make a gynoid body for her down the line, but for the time being I had bigger priorities. “Let’s see what I can get for my points.”