Boosted Villainy Part 3 (Patreon)

Myst stared at the stacks of money sitting on the hotel bed, surprised that it had turned out to be just over two hundred and twenty thousand dollars. On the upside it certainly helped his conscience and the lingering doubts about the man's connection to the Empire were put to rest. 'More money than I've ever seen outside of the movies,' he mused then started putting the stacks back in his bag. 'I'm going to need to upgrade my wallet to store everything and give me proper change, maybe a stranger effect so no one pays attention to how much I have.'

'I'll probably need some type of stranger ability I can turn on and off if I'm going to be wandering around, maybe on my hat, so no one notices that I'm in costume? No, I'll probably want people looking at me while I'm in costume, maybe a bandana? If I cover my mouth like a ninja, they'll treat things as perfectly normal or have it be a S.E.P. field?' he mused, figuring that might actually work better. 'It would let me ask questions and talk to people and they wouldn't question it unless someone brought it up later, maybe not even then. It's worth playing with.'

He shook his head then walked over and put the chair back under the door. He snagged the extra fries he hadn't gotten to and crawled back into bed and turned the television on, glad that the enthusiastic couple next door had finally stopped, at least for the moment.

Thankfully, between the adrenaline crash and the fact that he'd only gotten a couple of hours of sleep earlier meant that he slept hard enough that he didn’t awake until ten, which gave him plenty of time to get the key back to the manager before he needed to check out after getting a rather long shower.

After that he walked/jogged to the locksmith. He smiled at the lady behind the counter. "My kid has a school project, can I buy some keys?"

"I've got a bunch of mistakes, ten bucks?" she offered, knowing that was more than she'd get for scrapping them.

"Sure," Myst replied as he pulled a ten out of his wallet as the woman collected a box filled with keys. "Thanks."

"No problem," the woman replied as she traded the box for the money. "Do you need anything else?"

"Not currently, but I'll keep you in mind if I do," Myst assured her then left. He walked around the corner then pulled his keychain out and started upgrading his key, causing the keys to vanish like there was a hole in the bottom of the box. He managed to upgrade the magic key three times between the keys on the chain and the keys in the box, leaving two extra keys on the chain. He tossed the cardboard box into his bag and looked at the key with his glasses. 'Fits and unlocks most types of locks, well worth ten dollars.'

He pulled his notebook out and looked at his map. 'Okay, I'm here, the party supply store is over there, five blocks? Shouldn't take that long,' he mused as he started walking, fairly sure he could get some of what he needed at the party shop.

Myst enjoyed the walk, mostly because he didn't have anywhere else to be and wasn't worried about money anymore. He stopped in front of the party supply shop and put the map away then walked into the shop and glanced around at the colorful collection of party favors.

"Something I can help you with?" the clerk behind the counter asked as he studied the middle aged man that was looking around.

Myst turned to look at the clerk. "Where can I find the party rings?"

"Aisle seven," the clerk replied as he brought up the cameras so he could watch the man with the backpack in case he stole something as he looked a bit shifty.

"Thanks," Myst replied as he headed for aisle seven. He quickly found the packages of fake rings that he wanted and grabbed two. 'Colorful rhinestone rings, 12.99 for 72, just over 26 for 144 rings. If that works, I can always come back.' He walked back out of the aisle. "Temporary tattoos?"

"Aisle five," the clerk replied.

"Thanks," Myst replied as he headed to the fifth aisle and looked through the collection, grabbing two packs, giving him 144 tattoos. He walked back out of the aisles. "Bulk sunglasses?"

"End of aisle four," the clerk replied after a moment's thought.

"Thanks," Myst replied as he shifted his purchases and headed over to grab the sunglasses.

"What now?" the clerk asked when Myst walked back over with the box of sunglasses.

"Not sure, cheap bracelets?" Myst asked, figuring they'd come in handy later and he had the money.

"In that volume, you're going to want snap bracelets," the clerk suggested as he walked over to the second aisle and grabbed a box of a hundred and fifty. "This work?"

"Yep," Myst agreed cheerfully. "That should do it."

"Cool," the clerk replied as he started ringing everything up.

Myst pulled a hundred out of his wallet and handed it to the clerk. "Thanks."

"That's what they pay me for," the clerk replied with a grin.

Myst grinned when he noticed the case of silly string on the shelf behind the clerk along with some web shooters that used the silly string to web your friends. He pulled out another hundred. "Four web shooters and a case of silly string."

"I'm required to warn you that you shouldn't abuse the silly string but yeah, have fun," the clerk joked as he grabbed the case and rang it up.

Myst collected the bags and the change then left. He glanced around to make sure no one was looking, then stuffed the bags in his backpack and headed towards the used car lot, mostly because he needed a place to store his stuff and possibly crash if he needed to. He made it two blocks then paused when he saw a bank. He pulled a five out of his wallet then walked into the back and over to the teller. "Can I get rolls of pennies?"

"Of course," the woman replied, giving him ten rolls of pennies for the five. "Have a good day."

"Thanks," Myst replied as he turned and headed for the door. 'That should let me boost the penny twenty five times and improve my luck a decent amount.' He waited until he left the bank and the parking lot then he pulled the lucky penny out of his back pocket and started upgrading it as he walked along, the coins vanishing from the rolls as he walked.

He grinned as he reached a bus station right when the bus was pulling up, saving him a bit of a walk.

0o0o0

"I found it!" Leet exclaimed in excitement.

"Found what?" Uber asked without looking away from his video game.

"A bag of holding!" Leet squealed.

"Please tell me you didn't resurrect that nightmare," Uber replied with a shiver as he remembered the portable hole incident.

"No, but I found someone that has a bag of holding, my program flagged it, he put way too much shit in his bag," Leet explained smugly.

"Yeah, right, is this another false alarm?" Uber asked.

"Look at the damned footage, there's no way he fit all of his crap in his backpack," Leet replied as he brought the laptop over for Uber to look at.

Uber finished killing his targets then turned to look, watching as Leet played the clip and the guy put a couple of shopping backs worth of crap in a normal sized backpack without a bulge. "Okay, I'm willing to admit that there is something suspicious going on there."

"You think?" Leet asked smugly.

"Have you considered the fact that he might just be a cape?" Uber asked. “Doubt he’s Vista but he might be Circus.”

"Either way, we could use a loot man," Leet joked, unwilling to give up on the chance to get a bag of holding.

"How did that work out with Circus?" Uber asked.

"We don't talk about that," Leet complained. "If he can make the bags, we can probably buy it or trade something for it."

"That's assuming he's willing to go anywhere near your stuff," Uber replied.

"Fair," Leet admitted. "Still, we won't know until we try."

0o0o0

Myst wasn't entirely sure he believed the used car salesman about the quality of the van sized RV or the claim that the suspiciously brown stain on the passenger seat wasn't blood but he wasn't particularly concerned as he was planning on enchanting it to stay clean and repair itself. "Any suggestions on a wrecking yard where I can replace the seat?"

"Frank's Auto, near the docks, they have all sorts of trucks and vans, plus he's cheap. I'm not sure he's all there in the head, but he's cheap and he doesn't ask questions," the salesman replied without missing a beat.

"The paperwork looks legit and the mechanic said it was fine so I think we're done, right?" Myst asked.

"Everything checks out," the man replied as he tossed Myst the key, happy that the guy had paid in cash as it made everything easier. "Go north until Lincoln then turn right, three blocks, you can't miss it."

"Thanks," Myst replied as he tossed his bag in the passenger seat. He got in the van, then started it, shifted it into drive and left the lot, wondering if he was going to have to go back and beat the shit out of him for selling him a questionable rig or if the mechanic was trustworthy. 'I'm going to need to replace the seats and upgrade the space but at least it's a start.'

He headed down the street, making a mental note to enchant the mirrors or replace them as they weren't as large as he would have liked. 'Boosting the shocks would be a good idea and the tires, no point in having tires that someone can destroy with a spike strip and if I upgrade the frame, I'll be able to drive through Hookwolf.'

"I'm having way too much fun with this, there’s no such thing," Myst mused as he checked the radio, a touch annoyed when he found nothing but static once he swapped the channel off the one station that came in. 'Yeah, that needs replacing. I should probably find someone that can rewire everything. That reminds me, I need to check the laptop to make sure he doesn't have any tracking software.'

He pulled off the road at Sparky's Taco, figuring he'd get a bite to eat and take the time to upgrade his ring before he swung by the salvage yard. He pulled into a parking spot and turned the van off. He opened his bag and pulled the collection of plastic rings out and started boosting his ring. It didn't take all that long before he hit a point where it didn't feel like it was having the effect he wanted.

Myst looked at the ring with his glasses, noticing that the sapphire was at least twice as large as it had been before he'd started upgrading it. "4096 deflection and 720 reduction in time, that's twelve hours and no change, yeah, pretty sure that's a hard limit."

He swapped to upgrading his sunglasses using the mass produced pieces of crap to upgrade the glasses, doing his best to ignore the glitching in the 'display' every time he upgraded them. "That's probably enough until I expand the enchantment," he muttered as he put the glasses away and pulled the laptop out. "On second thought, I'm grabbing a taco first, then I'm messing with his stuff."

He briefly considered leaving the bag in the van before remembering how much money was in it and deciding that he'd take it with him. He grabbed the laptop and the bag then headed for the restaurant after locking the door.

Thankfully, it didn't take him all that long to order and figure out that the original owner wasn't particularly tech savvy because it didn't have tracking software or even decent security and by that he meant the password was written on a sticky note taped to the computer. A quick search of image file extensions let him know that dealing with that particular problem was going to have to wait until he wasn't in public as some of the names implied some type of porn and there were kids in the surrounding tables.

Myst checked the previous owner's financial files then quickly scrapped the file and the banking program, mostly because that seemed traceable and a step too far. He spent the next couple of minutes looking through the registry for suspicious programs while he waited for his food.

0o0o0

Myst closed the laptop after changing the computer's name and deleting the previous owner's collection of perfectly legal if less than appealing pictures of fat women. He glanced around the interior of the mini RV, fairly sure it would be a halfway decent place to spend time once he finished upgrading and expanding everything so he had room to stretch out. 'Okay, you have a place to stay, a ring that should give you a decent force field and enough cash to get started, what else do you need?'

'Cosmic power? No, I don't need cosmic power, I just want it,' Myst mused as he rested his head against the wall, trying to let some of the tension drain away. 'Jokes and dreams aside, what do I need?'

"Precog," he muttered after a couple of seconds, fairly sure he was living on borrowed time before Scion or the Simurgh noticed his power or the butterflies he was causing to her plans and dealt with him in a way he wouldn't survive. 'I need something that stops Scion and the Simurgh from ruining my day and keeps me off of Contessa's radar, preferably in a way they won't notice and sooner rather than later.'

'That shouldn't take my entire charge, do I need to upgrade my RV today? No, but it would be nice and I'd actually be able to get a decent amount of sleep. Flight? It would make things easier but I also need a way to deal with Parahumans.'

"You could always un-fuck their heads," he muttered sarcastically then frowned when he realized that he could probably make something that would cure mental health issues along with physical health issues. 'Okay, what about stealing or transferring powers? That's probably going to take a bit of work, can I build it in pieces?'

'I didn't have any trouble upgrading my ring. What makes the most sense thematically? Gloves,' he answered himself, his mind conjuring an image of making gloves that let him copy powers at a touch and toss harmless or at least mostly harmless lightning. He glanced over at the stained front seat. 'I should probably make a wand of cleaning when I get a chance.'

'I'm going to need a decent pair of gloves and a couple of boxes of plastic gloves to upgrade them,' he mused as he walked over, sat down in the driver's seat and started the RV. 'I should probably swing by the party shop to grab a box of wands for the healing wand.'

"I also need to find someone to talk to before I go completely nuts," he muttered as he shifted the RV into drive then promptly hit the brake and shifted it back into park when he felt his energy pool refill. He glanced at the clock. 'Twelve o'clock, yeah, that fits.'

He focused on the RV and pushed a bit of his energy into it, enchanting it with a weak S.E.P. field that he could adjust and that wouldn't affect him, mostly because he didn't want to accidentally forget about it. 'That should take care of thieves or at least help.'

He added a minor shapeshifting enchant to the RV so that it could change colors then put his seatbelt on, shifted back into drive and headed towards the exit, fairly sure the mall would have the shops he wanted.

0o0o0

Myst barely waited until he got out of the garden shop before he cut the tag on his new polyester and rubber work gloves with his nail cutters and enchanted the gloves with power copying, burning through half of the energy in his pool. He looked at the gloves with his sunglasses. 'Touching someone for four hours with the gloves will give you a weaker magic based copy of one of their powers. Nearly useless in combat, but that's a hell of a lot better than I was expecting for the initial enchantment.'

He put the gloves in his pocket then started walking, enjoying being able to walk through a crowd without worrying about masks. His smile vanished when he spotted a pair of girls walking the other way, a moderately attractive redhead and a girl with dark skin that had a floating identification tag above her head.

Parahuman

Power: Shadow state

Weakness: Electricity

'What the hell?' Myst asked himself then pulled his sunglasses off and looked at the two teenage girls that looked perfectly normal. 'Right, the glasses.' He put the sunglasses back on and kept walking, not seeing a reason to start something in the middle of the mall. 'Just keep walking, don't do anything noticeable.'

"What are you looking at, freak?" Emma sneered, having noticed the way the middle aged man was looking through her and Sophia, as if they were beneath him.

"A spoiled rotten bitch and her attack dog," Myst replied matter of factly as he kept walking towards the new age shop, wondering if he'd screwed up the enchantment on his lucky penny as running into Emma and Sophia was certainly some type of luck, just not the kind he wanted.

"What?!" Emma blurted, not used to people insulting her to her face.

"What did you call me?!" Sophia demanded.

Myst ignored them as he continued walking, wishing he'd grabbed a taser so he could just knock the bitch unconscious, hogtie her and hand her over to the PRT, sadly, he doubted they'd have a sense of humor about the whole thing.

"Get back here!" Sophia snapped and promptly slipped and went sprawling as she stepped on someone's spilled drink, slamming head first into the glass storefront and knocking herself unconscious when Myst stepped out of the way, purely by chance.

"How dare you!" Emma shrieked hysterically, as she stepped forward and slapped Myst across the face before she promptly dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, as the security guard (who just happened to have seen Emma harass a disabled girl at a mall photoshoot a month before) caught her unprovoked attack on body cam, and opted to tase her.

“Can you tell me what happened?” the guard calmly requested, hitting a button on her taser and popping out the spent cartridge, ignoring the twitching redhead who was laying in a slowly growing pool of yellow liquid.

Myst looked at the young female security guard that was reloading her taser. "No idea, they just went crazy."

“Yeah, I’m not really all that surprised,” she said with a chuckle.

“I take it you know them?” Myst asked curiously.

"I've run into them before, my sister goes to the same school as they do," the security guard explained. “Thankfully, we have all this on camera so we won’t need your testimony and I can justify my use of force… probably.”

"Best of luck with that," Myst replied, wondering if he'd boosted his lucky penny too much. 'Nah, they like going to the mall and it's the holiday season, it's probably fine,' he assured himself as he walked into the new age shop.

He smiled as he glanced around the shop at the various crystals, candles, jewelry, tarot cards and books on display. 'I should probably grab a necklace with a crystal and a globe for scrying,' he mused as he walked over towards the second of the shop with wands. 'Carved dragon wands, wands with feathers, wands with crystals.'

He spent a couple of minutes looking over the wands before he picked up a solid looking wooden wand with a carved dragon on the handle and a purple crystal for a tip. He gave the wand a bit of a wave to get a feel for it then headed over to the section with a bunch of bracelets.

"Is there something I can help you with?" the twenty something year old clerk asked as she walked over.

"No clue, I'm just trying to find something that fits," Myst admitted as he turned to look at the girl dressed like she was going to a ren faire. He picked up a silver bracelet with a celtic knotwork that had a large amethyst on the face. "Seems a bit cheap."

"There's a tinker in Seattle that makes the gems, they are cheap," the clerk admitted.

"Makes sense." Myst slipped the heavy bracelet on his wrist and wiggled his hand a bit to test the fit. "It's surprisingly comfortable."

"They do good work," the clerk replied.

Myst walked over to look through the collection of random crystals that were in baskets. He picked out thirty semi precious chunks of amethyst and moved them to a plastic tray then walked over to the collection of rings. He spent a couple of minutes looking through the various celtic themed rings before he found a silver ring with a decent sized artificial sapphire that had a nice celtic knotwork pattern on the band that fit his ring finger. "That should work."

"Nice choice," the clerk agreed with a grin.

Myst walked back over to the baskets filled with random semi precious gems and picked out fifteen pieces of sapphire. "That should do it."

"Gifts?" the clerk asked as she started ringing up his purchases.

"The stones are," Myst replied as he set his purchases on the counter. "Do I need to take the bracelet off?"

"You're fine," the clerk replied as she finished ringing everything up.

Myst pulled his wallet out and paid her.

"What do you want me to do with the gems?" the clerk asked.

"Just stick them in a bag," Myst replied, not particularly worried about the gems as he was planning on sacrificing them to boost his gear.