System Supervillain, Book 8 Prologue (Patreon)

Sorry for this being a bit late. I was flying from Atlanta to Seattle for SakuraCon. But it is still Thursday on the West Coast, so I'm technically fine! Right?

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Capes & Cowls Forum, General Chat)

Message of the Day: Remember, Capes & Cowls is ‘neutral ground’. Keep it civil, and if you try to track someone through our site, it will not end well for you.

Speedy, AngelEyes, Victory, HotStuff, Jester, Freedom, Aegis, Stars, Emerald, Snowflake, MagicGurl, RedHot, Scholar, CantSeeMe, Turbo, DontYouWantMeBaby, KoolAidMan, SliceNDice, Destroyer, Inquisitor, Narrator, Chummer, TheWhiteHat, TripleThreat, LuckyDice, GrimDark, RazzleDazzle, DarkAngel, Chiller, Sparky, MultiMe, Stepford, Dollmaker, Mindtaker, MrRoboto, ItsyBitsySpider, Valkyrie, TitaniumTits, Lolth, InfoGirl, ScoopGirl, HolyBlessing, and DonJuan are in the chat.

Turbo: Heard on the news that things are starting to settle down in Chicago.

Emerald: Finally! There were some concerns that what was happening in Chicago might spiral out of control and cause the rest of the Midwest to start having problems.

HolyBlessing: Really? I mean, I get that Chicago is important, but that important?

Valkyrie: Think of it like the power grid. You start having major problems in one area, and it increases the draw in outlying areas, potentially leading to cascade failures.

MagicGurl: Or like how when there’s a natural disaster, first responder crews from all over will head over to help with the crisis and cleanup. Great for the affected area, but that means less fire trucks in other areas, and if something else happens, then suddenly you may have a situation that is too big for the locals to handle, and so on.

Emerald: Exactly. Storm Front did a good job managing the needs of Chicago versus the rest of the state, from what I’ve seen. The only time the other areas were left severely shorthanded was during the assault on the Krazy Klown Klan.

Valkyrie: We did our best.

Stars: Hey, Valkyrie, the Klowns were using some kind of pocket dimension for their Karnival, right? How did you break in? Most of the dimension hoppers have been severely restricted since the System came online.

Valkyrie: We… had help.

CantSeeMe: Help? Did you call in another hero team?

Jester: And if you had access to help, why didn’t you clean out the Klowns sooner?

Chiller: Because they didn’t have the help available, until I approached them with a deal.

ScoopGirl: Wait, you helped Storm Front get into the Karnival? Why?

Chiller: I was on a date, and the Klowns made me have to go home early with their antics. I was most displeased.

Jester: Well, we all know how you get when you’re ‘displeased’ with someone. But why help Storm Front, and not go yourself?

Chiller: Three reasons. First, I didn’t care how the Klowns were dealt with, so long as they were dealt with, and Storm Front were quite eager to get Firebug back before he could star in their games.

Stepford: And that way, they take all the risk.

Chiller: True. Second, making deals and holding to them is simply good business. It means that people are more likely to deal with me in the future, rather than view me and mine as simply something to capture or destroy. They only have to get lucky once, after all.

AngelEyes: Unless you use that angel healer you ‘recruited’ to resurrect you.

Chiller: I’d rather not find out the hard way about any side effects or conditions her power has, thank you.

AngelEyes: Fair enough.

ScoopGirl: What’s the third reason?

Chiller: The third reason is that I was paid for my team’s services. Quite nicely, if I do say so myself.

LuckyDice: What did you wring out of them?

Chiller: Nothing too extreme. I just kept a couple of their members as companions for twenty-four hours, once they were done with the Klowns.

Valkyrie: It was much more than twenty-four hours!

Stepford: Ooh, you got a taste of the Valkyrie, then?

Chiller: And Impulse. But yes, Valkyrie, it really was twenty-four hours. I picked you up at 9AM sharp and delivered you back at 9AM sharp the next day. Just as promised.

Valkyrie: You didn’t say that those 24 hours would be spent in one of Web Mistress’s digital worlds, with time sped up! We were there for twenty-four days!

Chiller: No, you were only there for twenty-four hours, even if you experienced twenty-four days of fun.

TripleThreat: So, always read the fine print, huh? Got it.

Lolth: That’s just smart, no matter who you’re dealing with.

ScoopGirl: Hey, this just came across my desk. Things aren’t completely calm in Chicago, yet. Some super just hit a business in Kenwood, Reedman Medical Claims Billing Solutions. Ten dead, two missing, according to my source in the PD.

Victory: That would be the Chicago branch of the SDI.

LuckyDice: Figures that a former member of the Squadron Supreme would know where the SDI hides out.

ScoopGirl: If it was SDI, then this makes even less sense. Apparently, there was no sign of combat. Just a bunch of bodies that just… lay there and let someone kill them. The only different one was the guy on the front desk. He was missing a chunk of his torso, which is why they know it was a super.

TheWhiteHat: Whoever it was, must have struck fast. The Chicago SDI is not as heavily fortified as other branches, since they didn’t want to attract the Squadron’s attention in their own back yard, but they would have had teleporter facilities to call in reinforcements. Schematics I found suggest that there were multiple panic buttons, and no one managed to hit any of them?

Chiller: Sounds like whoever it was knew exactly what they were doing, and how to get it. Impressive.

TripleThreat: You mean it wasn’t you?

Chiller: If I ever move against the SDI directly, there will be no question of whether or not it was me.

TripleThreat: Fair enough. But if not you, who?

ScoopGirl: The hard drive for the surveillance system is missing. So, whoever did it didn’t have the tech-savvy to edit the cameras on the fly.

Narrator: Computers and their programming are a narrative development I have not yet embraced.

Chiller: That has to be Storybreaker, right?

Narrator: Indeed, frozen blade of vengeance. With you taking the Squadron off the board, I turned my thoughts of avenging my capture and incarceration to the one who betrayed me, and her friend. The side characters in the way were of little import, so I quickly wrote them out of the story.

TheWhiteHat: This makes a lot more sense, now. The manager of Chicago SDI was one of the ones who tipped off the Squadron about Storybreaker’s location. She was apparently a friend of someone who knew him, and convinced her to turn him in.

Turbo: Damn. And they didn’t think he’d come find them?

AngelEyes: It has been over two years since he busted out of Blackreach. They probably believed that, if he was going to attack, he would have done so by now.

Narrator: True, I had all but given up my thoughts of vengeance on the two, for I was in no place to take on the Squadron in their own home. With them gone, however, I seized upon the opportunity, and got my due.

Stepford: Well, congratulations, then, on a successful revenge!

MrRoboto: Oh, Stepford, I was glad to get the invite to your birthday party. I will be bringing party favors, of course.

Mindtaker: Naturally, as shall I.

Chiller: And Web Mistress cooked up a gift that she is certain that you’ll enjoy.

Stepford: Sigh. She read my browser history, didn’t she?

Lolth: To be fair, I did that years ago. But don’t worry, I did the same to all the mind controllers.

Dollmaker: Well, I can’t really complain, since all of us have done research on potential threats, or potential targets. It is the best way of protecting yourself.

Speedy: Is anyone else nervous about all these mindcontrollers and hackers getting together for a party?