Mass Craft 2

Chapter edited by: Pids
Betareader: BigTofu, Impish Oni, StandAside

***

Mass Craft

Chapter 2

July 2nd 2007
Brockton Bay
The boat graveyard
07:00 AM

I finally loaded as much metal and electronics as I could rip from the boats. Some people had already clearly gone before me to harvest them, but they left things that were too heavy or complicated to transport and that was a good thing. I wasn’t bothered, transferring them to my warehouse with my silver key.

Not worried for my identity or being found out at all, as I wore my N7 armor, my face was completely obfuscated by my helmet. But my armor clearly designated me as female. I continued ripping metal panels and circuit boards from the bridges of the ships. I had gone through my fifth ship already and got enough metal to make some drones and my ride. I wanted to make a Mako and build more cloaking devices and weapons.

I walked into the beached cargo ship’s depths at super speed and was surprised to find that there were shipping containers inside. I used my X-Ray vision to see what was inside and found myself to be doubly excited by my find. It was full of steel coils. I decided to take everything, even the shipping containers to put into the workshop.

I found myself lugging the twenty shipping containers into my place. I didn’t even notice the time passing, it had taken me three hours to do all the work as soundlessly and carefully as possible to not breach the containers. I stripped the aluminium from most of the ship as well. I think I had enough material to turn into Omni-gel as well.

"That’s a wrap, now let's go back home." I said as I left the remains of the cargo ship.

With a biotic jump, I was out of the ship, landing on the concrete ground of the dock. Walking down the trail leading out of the graveyard, I familiarized myself with the landscape, to be able to find my way more easily for my next scavenging foray. I could have flown away, but this was the easy solution. Like Nova had said last night, we needed to be familiar with the lay of the land.

Brockton Bay’s atmosphere was heavy, I could smell the fear and the despair emanating from it. It was actually painful with my budding telepathic abilities to let my psychic senses out. The negative emotional miasma was a bit too much, if I wanted to live in this city for a long time, I needed to make it go away. I couldn’t even imagine how it is for Nova or Miranda to be in this city.

I was about to fly away after engaging my tactical cloak when I reached the boat graveyard’s exit, ten people surrounded me. I wasn’t surprised by it, I had heard them when I was approaching the exit, but I thought they were scavenging like me. Suddenly, the cloying smell of gasoline, burnt rubber, and melted plastic became so overpowering that I activated the self-cleaning electrostatic precipitation system of my mask filter, to filter the air.

"Well, well, well, lookit there. We have some canned tinker girl delivered to us!" A man with a mask that covered the top half of his face, the lower half of his face was dark skinned, with badly chapped lips and teeth that looked like someone who wanted to compete with Gollum. His goons didn’t look any better, they barely had enough clothes to cobble together and look presentable, they didn’t look healthy at all, they looked as if the wind could knock them over at any moment.

Oh please don't tell me I am going to have to fight already? I looked at the sky and blamed Lilith for this encounter barely hours after I arrived on this shitty world. I decided to completely ignore those bastards who call themselves the merchants. Because of course I remembered who I was being blocked by, the fucker with the mask sounded like Skidmark.

When I walked toward him, I stopped before him and said, “Out of the way.” My voice echoed with a sinister echo.

Thankfully my voice synthesizer was on, I could sense the fear and doubts filling everyone gathered here. Some of them were too drugged to understand the threat that I represented of course. The fact that my armor looked brand new and badass didn’t go through their drug addled minds.

Skidmark walked right into my own personal space and it was at this point that I thanked all the gods that my helmet was filtrating the air.  “Or what, you cum guzzling bitch? What chu gonna fuckin do?”

It was too bad that he couldn’t see me smile; I raised my hand toward him and said, “This.”

With purple and blue light covering my entire body, biotic power suddenly filled me and I lifted five of the merchant goons in the air with my power.

Skidmark used his deflector field to move away from me at great speed and shouted, “Boys! Fuck her up!!”

The rest of the mooks that weren’t floating in the air because of my biotic lift took pistols out of their pants, some even had Uzis. They pointed their peashooters at me, it was funny. I didn’t move, my kinetic barrier flaring as they began shooting at me. For over ten seconds the staccato of weapons going live was heard as they emptied their ammunition at me. My kinetic barrier was more than enough to stop twenty first century weaponry.

Skidmark began to sweat as he began to panic. “What the fuck are you doing, you shit eating mongrels?! Cap the bitch!!”

I had enough of this, they weren’t worth my time, so I threw a biotic slam at everyone here. The power lifted everyone ten meters into the air and slammed them into the ground. I heard a lot of bones breaking and I didn’t care at all. Unfortunately, Skidmark escaped this fate by deploying his power and somehow cushioning his fall.

“You think you won, bitch! Imma get you, piss on you, shoot you with my best coke and gangrape you with ma boys, till you're so freaking fucking happy to take it any time I'd fuckin want or ma Boys like the Tinker whore you really are!”

I took my SMG from behind me, it unfolded in my arms and I pointed it at Skidmark who had eyes big like saucers and quickly deployed his deflector fields, applying multiple layers before him. It might work with normal bullets, but I was going to use a mass accelerator weapon.

"Say hello to my little friend!" I fired, the automatic fire began to overwhelm his fields and then when it completely disappeared, I fired a slug at his groin.

BANG! ZOOM! Blood exploded from where his dick was. “Aaaaah!”

I laughed, but with a sinister tint to my voice, the synthesizer was awesome and a nice touch to strike fear into your foes. I used a biotic throw on the floating merchants and they all sailed into a wall or a boat. Most of them were mewling in pain or KO, I shrugged and at super speed I  gathered them near Skidmark who was crying like a baby. When I stopped near him he looked at me with hatred. “Y-you… fu-ckin’ biatch… You shot me in the dick!!!”

I laughed again. That didn’t please him at all and he screamed, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, WHORE?!”

I took my Asari Disciple pistol after placing my SMG on its slot behind me and walked to Skidmark and pointed my pistol at his face. “Skidhole, just be happy I didn't give you a second anus, I’m pretty sure that would make them happy to share you in prison.”

There was the fear that I expected to see, it didn’t make me feel better at all. Skidmark was a bottom feeder that preyed on the weak to survive, he wasn’t worth my time, so I decided not to kill him. “Though, with how you smell, I don’t see anyone becoming your butt buddy.”

“Go... fuck... yoursel-” He said but didn’t finish as he was fired upon.

Not by me, but by someone else. I turned my telepathy on full and now I knew that I wasn’t alone, this sensation, this coldness… This was Nova. “Call down the thunder, and you’ll reap the whirlwind.” I heard her say through our tactical net.

Yes, it was her alright. I needed a callsign, we hadn’t discussed it yet, but there was one I really liked. “Battletech to Ghost. Report.” There, Nova should know it’s me, as only I and Miranda knew her profession.

The voice of my teammate was neutral as she said, “I know what you are going to say, but I hate parasites like him, we should just kill him.”

I didn’t think she was wrong, I looked at Skidmark rolling on the ground and screaming ‘My Balls, My Balls!’ over and over again. He was obviously bleeding out. *If he dies, he dies.* I shrugged. "Stop whining!"

“This isn’t the impression I want to give to the local authorities, he won’t die, at least not yet.” I said to Nova, who giggled at the ‘yet’ and I smiled at that too.

Nova was suddenly at my side, her cloaking device deactivated. “Okay… But next time, I will terminate him.” Then she disappeared again.

The girl was stalking me, I guess she meant it when she said that she was watching me. My Omni-tool revealed itself with a movement of my arm and I began to call the police. I didn’t want to deal with the PRT just yet.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Mass Craft _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

...Miss Militia...

Miss Militia didn’t like the feel of this situation, the police had called them to come to collect Skidmark or at least accompany the ambulance that was going to take him to the hospital after an altercation with another parahuman. Many ambulances and police squad cars were visible when she arrived at the entrance of the Boat graveyard. A PRT squad car was following her while she moved to the altercation area.

She stopped her bike before the entrance, but not in a way that would block the ambulances from exiting through the road. EMTs were taking care of multiple people on stretchers. Then there were the officers guarding the area after securing it. Amongst them, there was the silhouette of a tall person in black armor that looked completely hermetic as far as Miss Militia could see. The chest plate, gauntlets, pauldrons, helmet and greaves all looked brand new and well made.

Miss Militia didn’t believe that this new Parahuman was new at all, the armor also looked more feminine, so she surmised that it was a woman who meant business. The way she held herself and moved as she spoke to the pair of detectives before her screamed ‘military’. The kurd woman unsaddled from her bike and walked toward the armored woman and detectives, her weapon shifting to a Beretta M9 from a Colt M1911A1.

The PRT agents followed her stride with professionalism and had foam sprayer tanks on their backs, and seemed to not react to the blatant hostility sent their way by the police officers. They crossed the perimeter after showing their credentials to the officer guarding it. Miss Militia’s eyes fell on the fallen form of Skidmark, he was clearly unconscious and the EMT were clearly taking care of his wounds. They reported to her after she asked the level of injury he had received.

Miss Militia was shocked as she received the report, she turned toward the armored woman who was looking at her or at least in her direction. While the PRT agents decided to do their job the kurd woman moved toward the tinker.

The woman’s voice was clearly being obfuscated by some kind of synthesizer when Miss Militia heard her talk. "Ah, the Protectorate and PRT are finally here, I can finally leave. Detective Torres and Wagner, it was a pleasure to meet you." The woman slightly bowed her head.

"For us as well, Ma'am." Detective Allie Torres, one of the most belligerent police officers who didn’t like the protectorate or PRT one iota, replied.

Miss Militia raised a hand and power walked toward the dark armored form. "Wait, please stay, we need your statement!"

The armored figure turned to Miss Militia, suddenly she looked commanding and rather… imposing. Despite herself, the Kurd woman put her hand on her weapon. Miss Militia would have thought that the woman clearly had a villain alignment if it wasn’t for her heroic work and good relationship with the police.

"I don't think so, I left my statement with the police. Good bye, Miss Militia, I am a fan by the way!" She waved at Miss Militia before disappearing in a haze of purple light, clearly invisible.

That was mind blowing, Miss Militia understood that this new player in Brockton was clearly not your run of the mill new trigger; her armor looked well made, and her possessing cloaking technology? It was too much. Miss Militia turned to Torres and her partner and asked with a glare, "Why didn't you stop her, Detective?"

Torres looked at the protectorate ‘hero’ as if she was crazy. "Why should we? She gave her statement, a way to contact her and even gave us a recording from the action. And what’s more, this was a case of legitimate self defense as Skidmark threatened rape on Battletech. Isn’t that against your so called Unwritten Rules, the no rape thing? To me, the guy getting castrated isn’t that bad.”

Miss Militia didn’t agree, that much violence was bad. But she was surrounded by people who were jaded and thought her colleagues and department were useless so she didn’t say anything. But she reacted to the name Detective Torres had just said, the name of the… let’s call her vigilante for now. "Battletech?"

Wagner was the one to answer her. "That’s her Nom de Guerre."

Miss Militia took a notepad and turned her pistol into a fountain pen and wrote the name of the new vigilante while also adding on it what she had observed, *She's clearly a tinker who relies on infiltration, she should have a Stranger rating.* The heroine noticed that it was everything she knew about the armored woman.

She turned to Torres and asked, “Can you procure the recording that she gave you?”

Wagner looked at Torres who shrugged, then the woman simply took a flat device from her breast pocket. It was clearly a USB flash drive, but of a make that Miss Militia had never seen before. “Here, it’s eye opening on what happened here. We already made a copy from the USB storage device she made on the spot.”

“Made?” Miss Militia raised an eyebrow, confused by that statement.

“Well, there was a glowing orange hologram on her left arm and then she produced this...” Torres pointed at the flash drive in Miss Militia’s hand.  “...by ‘fabricating’ it like she said.”

Suddenly, Miss Militia paid more attention to what the police woman had just said, the threat rating that Battletech possessed suddenly rose up a notch in her mind. She could build things on the spot, never had Miss Militia seen such feats and specialization from a tinker before. After she asked more things about the new vigilante, she decided to excuse herself from them. “Thank you, Detectives. I will of course contact you later to obtain Battletech's statement. We'll now escort Skidmark, while you take care of his subordinates.”

“Sure.” Torres gave her a taunting smile.

Miss Militia said nothing, rivalry between agencies for law enforcement were pretty normal. The PRT agents and her quickly escorted Skidmark to the hospital, where he would be under heavy guard. Then she returned to the Rig where she had her friend and colleague, Armsmaster, analyze the USB flash drive in her possession. There were no bad surprises on it, so it was safe to plug into their system. Then Armsmaster and her began to watch the footage of what happened.

It started with the POV of Battletech who was exiting the boat graveyard, then she was suddenly surrounded by the merchants. She didn’t answer to Skidmark and his provocations, then demanded to be let to leave. Skidmark refused to let her pass, then she swiftly went on the offensive.

The two protectorate heroes were shocked by the powerful display of Battletech’s abilities. Armsmaster was already coming up with theories of what those fields Battletech generated were; and what’s more, it was clear that she was going easy on the merchants.

“She’s dangerous, Miss Militia.” Armsmaster simply said, then he added, “She’s not only a tinker, but a blaster as well. Interesting combination.”

“What more can you tell me, Colin?” Miss Militia asked.

She didn’t want to have to fight the woman, if this was clearly what she could do. Armsmaster zoomed on a shot from the helmet cam that the PRT agents had taken of Battletech before she left. Armsmaster showed her how the armor of the woman was crafted with quality in mind. “She’s not a recent trigger at all, but I don’t remember seeing someone with comparable power or technology. The way she moves and acts screams military to me, Battletech may be from the armed forces.”

“Great, we have a trained vigilante on our hands.” Miss Militia lamented, but she wasn’t afraid. If the worst happened she would do her duty.

“But there’s worse news, Miss Militia.” Armsmaster continued to play with the videos, zooming on the scene where Battletech spoke to Skidmark.

“Oh, then don’t leave me in the dark Colin.” Miss Militia said sarcastically as she took off her bandana and glared at the tinker.

“She’s not alone.” The tinker revealed as they saw Skidmark's body being hit by another salvo. The man began to roll on the ground and scream.

Miss Militia had had enough, Battletech didn’t work alone, she had a team with her. She should have expected it, the Military was all about teamwork. Was she black ops? She knew how the system worked and that was why she didn’t want to play by the PRT rules and left?

Miss Militia took her phone and called the PRT’s director and said, when he answered the call, "Director Richardson, we may have a problem."

At the end of the day, Battletech received the following threat rating, Tinker 4/Blaster 5/Stranger 4/Shaker 2. To show how dangerous she was, for the foreseeable future, stranger protocoles would be enabled.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Mass Craft _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

...Miranda Lawson…

Grimalkin boulevard
Jane’s building

Miranda was tired and afraid. She had been spending all her time reading on the internet about the local laws in the USA. This goddamn planet didn’t make any sense. Ilium and Omega were safer than this entire world! She couldn’t understand how laws like Nepea-5 passed! It should have caused a goddamn civil war on this continent.

She stood up and went to get a can of mead that she drank with relish and then plopped down onto the sofa with her head on a cushion. The truth was, there was something terribly wrong with this country. Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression, they ran rampant like nothing she had expected to see on Earth. It wasn’t like she couldn’t understand why the law passed, the rich were afraid to lose their monopoly, they were afraid.

Without knowledge of the entities Miranda would support the bill... until the Endbringers came. While Nepea-5 would be important to prevent job loss, those… capes were capable of monumental resource creation. Now, in the advent of the Endbringers those resources were vital. The alternative would be losing jobs, or having family members lose jobs, because their employers decided to cut costs and choose someone with powers like Golem or that local villain, Kaiser, as their supplier instead of the human-owned Industrial Mining LLC.

One of the changes to this law she would make was that she'd support taxing parahumans heavily and put a great deal of regulations around masters and bio-tinkers. But with her awareness of those pesky shards enabling their 'conflict drive,' to Miranda however, it was pretty much guaranteed the above would fail.

But she was aware of the entities, so she'd support the bill because it pushed parahumans to "vent" in the cops and robbers game against other capes instead of going against normals. It was, however, a stop gap measure. Because in the end, it was a dumb as fuck bill that massively hindered overall productivity and incentivized capes to turn villain. It was purely populist.

And now almost twenty-five years later, the Heroes were outnumbered by the Villains because the parahumans who would live off of their powers and who would have preferred to continue to work were forced to either become criminals or join the Protectorate.

But that wasn’t all! *Earth Bet is a crappy place to live in a lot of big ways: Endbringers, random murderhobos, etc.*

However, it also struck Miranda as a crappy place to live in a lot of small ways; things that would normally be considered "first world problems." Such as Japan turning into a third-world country meaning that there was no more anime to be found on Earth Bet! No more VN, LN, Manga, video games. Seriously, that concerned Miranda more than the actual collateral the Leviathan attack caused. Damnit, how was she supposed to get through life without her guilty pleasure?

Miranda rose from the sofa and strode toward the metallic window. She had a direct view over the Bay and the Rig. It was supposed to make people safe, but when Miranda looked at the state of the city she could only see a monument to the failure of this ‘fair’ city's protectors.

No money was getting put into infrastructure or poverty relief because the Protectorate just needed a massive base offshore full of missile defenses and force-fields. And of course they put it within sight of the coastline to rub it in the faces of all those poor people.

She materialized her Omni-tool when she received a ping from her notification program from PHO. Web forums like reddit or 4chan were terrible because whenever Miranda seemed to criticize Dragon or the PRT a dozen accounts came out of nowhere to tear her apart. That was clearly showing the ravenette how fascist this place had become. Miranda hated this place, she regretted having accepted Lilith’s offer. She wished she was still on the Citadel.

Miranda put her hand on the transparent metal and looked more and more at the city. She scowled at the view of the city and then quoted, “Sometimes, you have to destroy something in order to build something better.”

***

A/N: So guys you know about Worm, the webnovel right? The first world Jane and co found themselves in is this one.

This is the list of worlds we are going to write about:

Worm (current one)

The 100

Appleseed

Patlabor

Cowboy Bebop

Ghost in the shell

Code Geass

Gundam 00

Gate: Thus the Japanese Self-Defense Force Fought There

Harry Potter

Gantz

The Irregular at Magic High School

Highschool of the Dead

Macross the Original

(More to come...)