System Supervillain, Chapter 94 (Patreon)

Chapter 94 – Revelations

Bloodmoon’s Interrogation roll, 17-: 3d6 = 8 (Succeed by 9)

Maestro’s modified EGO roll, 4-: 3d6 = 16 (Fail)

Bloodmoon quickly proved herself to be quite the artist with a scalpel. In fact, she had barely started with skinning the sensitive flesh between Maestro’s thighs, and he was already crying out, begging to tell her everything he knew. Not that I could blame him much, in this case. I don’t believe that there was a single man in the audience who wasn’t wincing in sympathy with the treatment Maestro was receiving.

Even the women like Hypnodomme shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Turning to look at me, she said, “Uh, just when did Bloodmoon pick up this kind of knowledge, Iceblade?” Her tone suggested she was mainly asking to have an excuse to look anywhere besides at the spectacle below.

“Well, I’m sure everyone here has heard about her story, and how the Chinese treated her. Suffice to say, during the nine months while she was forced to carry her rapist’s child, she was extremely motivated to find ways to strike back. In the process of learning a ritual that would allow her to regain her powers, she also found many techniques that could be used in other ways, as well. But if you want specifics, you’ll have to ask her.”

There was another scream from down below. Apparently, Bloodmoon decided that Maestro wasn’t talking fast enough, or respectfully enough, or whatever. The result is that she now held his manhood in her hand, and it was no longer attached to the rest of him.

SNAP!

Web Mistress snapped her fingers, and, suddenly, the damage to Maestro’s nether regions was undone, despite the fact that Bloodmoon was still holding the dismembered member in her hand. She dropped it next to Maestro’s head, and reached down to start again, with the freshly healed flesh just waiting to be cut. I was starting to think that, perhaps, she might have a few issues that she still needed to work through.

The Tamer tore his eyes away from the scene, and said, “Um, so, Web Mistress can just, what, reset damage in this space?”

“Oh, yes. Like I said, we’re all data here, and manipulating data for my lovely pet is like breathing is to you or I. So long as someone isn’t actually dead, by the terms of the System, she can repair the damage to their ‘files’, so long as they are in this space. The System is powerful, and attempts to cover as many possibilities as it can, but that just means that there are unusual edge cases which can cause cracks to appear. Web Mistress and I believe that these edge cases are the reason that System Administrators exist, to smooth over and patch situations that might otherwise destabilize the System.”

Stepford nodded as he moved closer, his back just so coincidentally to the operating theater below. None of the villains here were particularly squeamish sorts, but there was a difference between cold-blooded killing, and the ‘interrogation’ going on below. Few people had the stomach for such things, as evidenced by the queasy look on Stepford’s face as he spoke.

“It is an interesting dilemma. The more comprehensive this System is, the more you find the edges where the rules do not apply cleanly. I assume this is the reason why many of the reality manipulators and time travelers have been missing since the System first came online. There were reports of them being put into quarantine, by the System Administrator. If they were working to try and prevent destabilizing influences from wrecking things, then that makes perfect sense.”

The General also looked his way. “With that said, I’ll echo what some of the others have mentioned. Ever since the System came online, you have been noted as being one of the most knowledgeable individuals on the System, its capabilities, and its limitations. Web Mistress having that kind of knowledge is somewhat understandable, since this System appears to have some similarities to different types of computer programs, according to what my sources tell me. But you? You aren’t exactly known as a hotshot programmer or hacker, Iceblade.”

“Hmm,” I said, considering for a moment. My eyes met Web Mistress’s, as she stood near the operating table, helping Bloodmoon in her work, and recording everything Maestro said. She nodded slightly, before going back to taking down Maestro’s confession. I didn’t doubt that she’d ‘heard’ everything said in this room. After all, it was all data.

Looking at the General, and the other villains who had now gathered around me, I sighed, and said, “Well, I guess now is as good a time as any. I’m sure you all remember the day the System came online, and how it was later determined that a fight between the Doctor of Time and the Master of Paradoxes kicked everything into motion. Well, I was there, when the two were fighting. Actually, I was in the middle of robbing both of them blind, since they were too busy with their battle to worry about their time-shifting lairs.”

I chuckled at the memory. “It was a simple job, like any one of a hundred I’d done before. So, you could understand my surprise when the Doctor’s powers clashed directly with the Master’s, and caused a blue box to appear in the air in front of me, announcing the System’s initialization, not finding a System Administrator, and looking for one with the right capabilities. You all got a similar message, yes?”

The villains nodded, as I expected, since everyone on Earth had received that message. “Well, since I was so close to the battle, and fulfilled the requirements, I was the closest individual, and got offered the role of System Administrator. Naturally, I took it, and promptly quarantined the Doctor and Master so that they couldn’t destabilize the universe any further than they already had.”

“HAH!” Brain Drain laughed. “I fucking knew it!” He shook his head, and then met the gaze of the villains looking his way. “Oh, come on, even you lot should have guessed by now that the only way that Iceblade could have known so much about the System as he has clearly shown over the last few years is because he had inside knowledge. And the only way for that to happen was with him either being an agent of whoever is behind the System, or being one of the System Administrators.”

Mindtaker grinned. “And Iceblade has never really been one to be an ‘agent’ of anyone except himself, so far as we’ve seen.” Turning to look at me, she asked, “So, what goodies does being a System Administrator get you?”

I shrugged my shoulders at that question. “Honestly, there isn’t so much in the realm of direct power. The System gave me some knowledge about itself, and the access I needed to work with the System, but otherwise that was it. That knowledge let me figure out what the heroes would need to do in order to contain villains like us without escalating things to lethal levels, or basically putting everyone they caught in comas for years. Like has been discussed on the forums, there was no way that was going to end well, if things continued like they were in those first few hours.”

The Tamer was actually the first to respond. “Yes, as ‘lovely’ as Blackreach was, and as happy as I was to escape, along with the others who broke free when the System came online, I have to agree that even that pit was better than some of the things people were considering, if a means of containment couldn’t be found. The White Knights literally were about to start wholesale executions before they got killed.”

Party Girl tapped my shoulder. “Hey, Icy, you said that the Admin gig didn’t give you much ‘direct’ power, but what about indirect? I mean, we all heard how some people got points audited, or were put into quarantine. How much can you do with that?”

“You mean, can I just award myself and my pets thousands of XP and make us all immortal, unkillable gods? Or just delete someone’s powers if they piss me off?” I chuckled. “The short answer is, it is complicated. Any administrator actions I take are logged. That log, and the fact that I’m the ‘local’ administrator, suggests a higher tier of authority within the System, so I have been careful to limit my use of these abilities.”

Stepford nodded. “Just like we all limit the scope of our actions, to keep too much heat from falling on us. Or how we avoid deliberately targeting family members of different heroes, or hitting them in their civilian identities. So, what limits are you working under?”

“The biggest thing is that I don’t go adding or subtracting total points from people, because that log file is apparently flagged for special review, according to what I’ve been able to tell. So, if I use my admin abilities to change things, the first thing I do is ensure that the total points, including base points, disadvantage points, and XP earned are all the same when I’m done.

“After that, the second biggest thing is that I limit major actions to either volunteers, or incidents where there is some kind of legitimate reason for me to act. Dumping the reality warpers in quarantine was due to the numerous bug reports their actions were generating, for instance. The ‘random audit’ of Robotnik that you may have heard of on the forums happened after he interacted with the System, sending fake messages and bug reports.

“On the other hand, there’s been no problem with me ‘adjusting’ the way my powers, or those of my pets, work. I keep the overall totals the same, but I’ve massaged some of the different powers and abilities a bit, to smooth out some rough edges, and make things less problematic, overall. So long as I keep it to that level, and only change things for people who send a message or direct request to the admins, then there shouldn’t be any problem, even if a higher power reviews the logs.”

“Fascinating,” Dollmaker murmured. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this. More than I suspect most of us would. Can you view people’s status sheets?”

“Yes, but I take the same approach to that as I do with changes, since my accessing those status sheets is also logged. For instance, I haven’t looked at your status, Dollmaker, or anyone else here, for that matter, except for my pets. And they have set their status up so that I can see it normally, without going into administrator mode.”

“So, if we put in a request, you could potentially make some changes to our status?” Stepford asked. “Like, for instance, allowing me to get rid of the limp from my bad leg?”

“It is possible,” I nodded, “but you would need to have something else put into play in order to balance out the changes. And while you can adjust things, I can tell you that an allergy to a specific breed of dog that is only found in a remote region far from here, or something else that is obscure like that, won’t be worth many points, but a Psychological Limitation to never break your word would be worth much more, since it would limit you more.”

Mistress Midnight took a breath, and said, “So, what would happen if you changed different things, like removing a Rivalry?”

“Well, in return for whatever happened to be the new disadvantage you got, you would no longer feel that niggling compulsion to try and take down the object of your rivalry. That doesn’t mean you’d suddenly be friends, or even that your opinion of them would change at all. However, you would not feel that urge to take them on in the same way that you are now.”

“I see. And would we have any say in the type of disadvantage that turned into?”

“For those who are polite enough to ask, and behaves in a professional manner? I would be willing to work with them to get a suitable disadvantage or disadvantages that would cover the cost, while not being something that would cripple them. If they are calling me names, however, then there is always the chance that my finger will slip, and give them a severe vulnerability to something nasty, like bullets.”

“And someone stupid enough to badmouth the person all but rewriting their soul as they’re in the thick of it would deserve that, and worse, as an object lesson to everyone else,” the General nodded. “However, the tactical advantage of being able to reshape our disadvantages, or potentially rework some of our powers, is an intriguing prospect. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to let any of us be administrators, too?”

“Sorry, General,” I grinned. “I trust you lot enough to tell you this, mainly because it has moved past the critical stage when I needed to hide it as I shored up my power in this post-System world, but I hope you aren’t offended when I say I don’t trust any of you further than I can throw you, when we’re outside of Guild hospitality rules.”

The General laughed, and nodded. “Can’t blame an old strategist for trying, no?” He took a breath, and then said, “Well, I think I’ll be the first to ask for your help with a little issue. There are a couple little things I would like to change. How much would you charge for the service?”

“Fair enough. Let me talk with Web Mistress, and she can set up a separate room, so that these consultations can be made privately, without anyone listening in. As for the cost, we’ll call it a favor owed, to be paid at a future date. The normal Guild ‘suggestions’ for trading favors apply.”