In the meantime, while the agreement was finalized, I decided to get some fresh air. Being cooped up for several hours doing tinker work was fun and all. But it was almost lunchtime and I needed to take a break. Amaya did want to follow me but I would rather not have a bright green scientist following me around.
However, just as I reached the door to the apartment building, a navy-blue suited man stopped me. Pulling out a badge, he flashed it to me before taking a step back. "My name is Michael Smithson of the Parahuman Response Team. May I ask, are you Nathan Leong who lives in this building?"
I glanced at him up and down. I don't… think that I did anything noteworthy? Nothing villainous and definitely nothing that would scream 'I'm a Cape' from the rooftops. Narrowing my eyes, I took a step forward. "I plead the Fifth."
The man coughed awkwardly into his fist. "You're not under arrest. Actually, I have a letter that is of the utmost importance to you." Reaching into his inner coat he pulled out an envelope and handed it to me. Tearing it open, I briefly skimmed through it to get the gist of the letter.
"Alright. So I just have to go to the PRTHQ and give…" I quirked an eyebrow. "Further clarification on my testimony?"
Michael nodded. "That is correct. It's an urgent call, so I hope you can go as soon as possible."
Pressing my lips into a thin line, I stared at Michael for a moment before tucking the letter away. "I'm afraid my testimony is as accurate as it could be. If I try to clarify my statements, I'm afraid I might misremember or alter my memories of the event to be more inaccurate." Complete bullshit of course but I wasn't going anywhere near the PRTHQ or the Rig unless I was physically dragged there kicking and screaming.
The Celestial Forge interrupted our conversation. Unluckily, it missed its shot on the Vehicles Domain Constellation. Sad. A mode of transportation would be nice. Or perhaps a garage as well?
Michael frowned slightly. "I'm afraid that's out of my hands, sir." He shook his head. "This is an official request from the PRT and–"
"And!" I interrupted him while raising my hand. "I shall politely and firmly refuse your request for now." Michael blinked at me before scowling.
"If you do not cooperate, things may get worse for you." Michael warned. I... don't think he was allowed to do so? If there was one thing I had learnt about American police was that probable cause was a thing and authorities generally needed that.
Letting out a sigh, I shook my head. "I'll think about it then." A shorthand for 'never in a million years'. I stepped past the man and kept walking. Glancing back, the man shot me a certain look before turning away and pulling out his phone. Unfortunately, I couldn't eavesdrop on it but it sounded pretty serious if they were glaring daggers at me.
Rounding the corner, I wondered what that was all about. It sounded pretty serious and Loremaster pinned his reason for approaching me as some form of concern and importance, with a certain undercurrent of something while he was talking to me. I frowned slightly. I couldn't quite pinpoint exactly what it was but it was definitely a negative emotion. Annoyance maybe?
But I seriously doubted that they knew I was Cape. If they did, they wouldn't dress it up as 'reviewing and clarifying my testimony'. I was pretty sure they would pretty explicitly just tell me. Maybe send their capes in the civilian IDs over to try and convince me to come or something similar. Or just straight up send a cape over. Whichever seemed most convenient for them.
So it was definitely not that… But it was definitely parahuman-related. Else they would hand it to the BBPD. I let out a soft sigh. There wasn't enough there to draw a definitive conclusion in any direction. Maybe they really wanted me to go to the PRT HQ to clarify my testimony and I was just being paranoid? Who knew?
Making my way to a local Italian restaurant, I went to the very back of the restaurant, away from the lunch rush, ordered a simple meal and waited as my order arrived. As I waited in the booth, I saw a certain dirty-blonde girl dart into the restaurant with me and made her way over. Sliding into my booth, I smiled slightly as I let the Thinker sit opposite me.
She looked rather tired, with dark circles around her eyes but still had that upbeat, smug look on her face. Though on closer inspection it felt a little forced. Her clothes were a bit nicer, hugging her figure slightly more than yesterday. I wasn't too sure if that was because she thought it would distract me or if it was just her choice of the day.
As for her intentions… Loremaster still gave me a sense of curiosity. However, it was slightly different. Instead of a mild curiosity like yesterday, like how one might look at an interesting novelty item, today's curiosity was stronger and deeper. It wasn't a one-off thing anymore. She was serious about me.
Which sounded wrong but whatever.
Sitting up slightly, I made the first move. I shouldn't allow her to lead the conversation. "Heya, Lisa. Didn't think I'd meet you here again." I smiled slightly as I tilted my head. "This a frequent haunt of yours?"
"Mhm." She nodded. "Same here. I thought it would be a few days before we met again." An absolute bold-faced lie. She must have tracked me here. Not sure how. But given that she managed to figure out that Taylor was at the library over text messages in PHO, I wasn't sure if there was any piece of information she couldn't ferret out given enough time.
"Any recommendations? I had already ordered a mushroom and truffle sauce spaghetti, but I'll be sure to keep yours in mind when I come back." I smiled as I handed the menu over to her. Grabbing it, she quickly glanced through it, most likely a token action rather than actually looking at anything within.
Humming, she glanced at me. "Any preferences?" An honest question or probing me? I tried to think of what she might glean from simply my taste for food and came up a little short.
I hummed for a moment before shrugging my shoulders. "Surprise me." Well, even if I wanted to, I couldn't make a decision anyway.
Lisa gave me a slight smile. Listing off a few dishes, they were safe recommendations. With Savant, I could easily pull up the images on the menu and noticed that a good few of them were being eaten by other customers. It was just likely that Lisa used her power to figure out which were being eaten by the majority and said those as it was that she was actually recommending them.
"Will you be ordering something?" I asked as a waiter walked over and placed down my lunch as well as a glass of water. "Maybe we could share." I said with a flirting grin. Lisa gave a kind smile in response but didn't comment on it. Carnal Artist and Loremaster gave me a general sense that she wasn't interested. Carnal could, given some time, probably manage to drop some flirty lines that might get Lisa riled up though her power didn't exactly allow for that.
And I'm sure she had picked it up. Her eyes flickered slightly between my plate and face before shaking her head. "Maybe a drink. I'm not particularly hungry." Yea, I was 80 to 90% certain she was here for me specifically.
"Well that's fine. But you shouldn't starve yourself. Perhaps a side dish instead?" I asked casually. "I'll be paying."
Lisa frowned slightly but agreed to it. Ordering a set of fries, it didn't take long for the two of us to return to our verbal tightrope sparring. I was getting a bit better at leveraging Loremaster to figure out why she was asking certain questions. And Carnal Artist was surprisingly good at dropping the occasional smug double entendre that would throw Lisa a little off-guard. Enough that I could deflect the conversation and regain some ground.
Now I wasn't sure if True Hero Potential also worked with verbal acuity but Savant's Understanding was definitely helping. It pointed out what worked in the conversation and what didn't, the small movements of Lisa's face and details. It was helping with my strategy of mostly staying on the defence, allowing Lisa to throw herself more into the conversation and allowing Savant to draw more information from her.
"Well, I haven't really got the chance to–" I cut myself off as Lisa groaned in pain.
Alarmed slightly, I reached over to grab her shoulder in concern. "Hey, are you okay?" I mentally kicked myself the moment I said it. Of course not, you moron. She had overworked her Thinker power… Or maybe she already had and this was just her limit.
A waiter walked over, his eyes furrowed with concern. "Is your date okay?"
Immediately a pained smile came to my face. Date? Lisa? Maybe when I figure out how to null her powers. "Sorry. It's fine. It's just that time of month, you know?" I gave him a sheepish smile. A look of embarrassment crossed his face while another waitress gave Lisa a pitying look.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a bottle of painkillers. She grabbed two and quickly popped them into her mouth and dry-swallowed them. (The psychopath. Everyone knows you need to take a drink of water when swallowing pills.) Sighing, she continued to massage her temples while I awkwardly sat with her. There really wasn't anything to do other than to continue eating, so I waited until she recovered enough.
Letting out a long breath, Lisa glanced up at me. "Really? 'That time of month'?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Stopped them from asking anymore questions, didn't it?" I remarked with a smirk. Shooting me an annoyed glare, Lisa grabbed a fry and popped it into her mouth. "But are you really okay? It seems really bad." The moment I finished my words, Lisa winced again. Rubbing her head, she took a moment to compose herself.
I was certain that she was constantly using her powers on me the moment she walked in, but not to this extent. And definitely not to the point where she got a thinker headache. I don't quite know her limits since Thinker headaches were mostly by the whim of the Shard as an arbitrary limit on Thinkers. However, she did figure out the presence and location of Endbringer cores during EB attacks so I doubt it was a low wall.
If that was the case, how much of her power did she 'use' on me for her to get a migraine? Definitely a lot given how she was looking. But why? Shouldn't her powers easily give her any information she wanted from me? Unless, of course, her powers weren't working on me. Not in the sense like Zion that I was a blank by how she was still able to use her power on me in the first place. But enough that she was overusing it to figure out my intentions.
"I'll be fine." Lisa replied as she rubbed her head. "It's just… Well, you know how it is." She gave an attempt at a smug smile that would have been better if she wasn't nursing a migraine beneath it. Loremaster provided a sense of unyieldingness and determination from her, an unwillingness to give up. Furrowing my eyebrow, I shook my head.
"Maybe you should head home. Sleep it off. We can table this conversation for a later date." I said. I couldn't tell how bad it was, but assuming she was working her power since this morning to figure out where I was, plus even more when we had our conversation, she might get an aneurysm pretty soon. Plus those slight dark circles around her eyes… Did she stay up yesterday using her powers then as well?
"I'm fine." She replied rather stubbornly.
"You're clearly not." I gestured to her hand that was continuously nursing her temple. "Head home. Go. Rest."
Lisa bit her lip, clearly weighing both options in her head. Stay and ride out the migraine or leave and possibly stop needling me for information. "Well what if you're wrong and I'm actually fine?" She snarked as she let out a short huff.
"Well if I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. It ain't that deep." I stared right into her eyes. "Sometimes, you gotta accept that the conclusions that you make aren't infallible." A tense pause passed between us. Judging by how she didn't cry out in pain, I was guessing that she was restraining her power really hard.
"Look. You need to rest. I can see the dark circles around your eyes. Either you rest now, or your body is going to make you take that rest." I stated. "Go. We can meet some other time."
Lisa stared at me, gnawing on her lip as her fingers pressed into her temple. I was about 60% sure she was still using her power on me, though I was surprised she didn't cry in pain again. After a moment, Lisa sighed. "Fine." She stood up. Though not before stealing the last fry and staring right into my eyes as she placed it into her mouth. "Don't make me wait for too long." She said rather cheekily despite the pain she was in.
Waving my hand, I leaned back in my seat. "I promise. See you soon." I watched as the Thinker staggered out the door. After a brief moment, I glanced around the restaurant for any other unexpected surprises. Maybe Crystal walking up to me as well? That would be something. However, no other characters came up and interrupted my meal.
Polishing off the rest of the spaghetti, I made a mental note to deal with Lisa's powers later and put her out of my mind. After that, I wondered what I should do for the rest of the day. Tinkering was an option, but I would rather wait until Toybox contacted me again for the contract and I got my money. The next best option was working on my Free Mote 'True Hero Potential'.
The Celestial Forge threw out the length of energy while I was thinking about how to improve that, wrapping around a Star in the Small-Scale Magical Supplies Constellation. A low one to be sure but even low hanging Stars had their purpose.
This perk was 'Pixie Dust' and it allowed me to constantly produce… Pixie Dust whenever I wanted. It was an ability that can be controlled thankfully, so I wouldn't be shedding sparkling dust wherever I walked. Using it, I can choose to fly, as well as making other things fly by sprinkling it over the object in question.
Inanimate objects will simply fly rather easily with some amount of control given to its rider. However, for living beings, they must have the sincere desire to fly along with… happy and carefree emotions… I blinked for a moment. I think I heard the sound of a glass pane shattering. What was that sound? It was the sound of the entire cast of Worm flying out the window as possible users.
It also had a side benefit that I wouldn't be affected by particulates in the air I breathed in. So things like smoke, smog, ashes, or whatever wouldn't impact my breathing in any way. Though, I expect that it only applies to the physical particles themselves and not any other magical or chemical effects that they might inflict. So I may be able to snort glass dust without any complications now or in the future, but toxic mist will still poison me.
Well… I guess I didn't need that flight pack anymore. I think. I mean, if I cover every part of my body and start emitting Pixie Dust, would people be able to see it? Or does it appear around my body in an aura? If it does get produce from my skin, then does that mean it will build up in my clothes? Will it fade? If I remember correctly Pixie Dust was used up as an object flew, so there must be a limit to how long Pixie Dust could imbue an object.
More testing would be required…
In any case, I turned my attention back to my previous thought. The best way I could describe True Hero Potential was that it was an increase of limits. Imagine all living things having a limit, a barrier that they simply cannot cross under any circumstance. A human can only run so fast, or lift so much before their bodies simply break under the strain. True Hero Potential took those limits and brought them to high heaven. I could train harder, lift heavier than any person could ever do, and run faster than any human.
It basically gave me an avenue to a decent Brute, and Mover ratings and increased magic if I was reading the description correctly. It would take a while, but given time, I could definitely reach those heights.
So in order to get swole. I needed a place to train in the first place. Which meant I had to get to a gym. A brief search brought up a few gyms around the city. Some were very clearly Empire businesses, so I immediately eliminated those from contention.
A thought came to my mind. Wasn't Brian's dad also a boxer? Then he should be in one of the gym's right? Another brief search with 'Laborn' along with 'gym' got me a hit. An old post on a forum promoting a boxing lesson by one 'James Laborn'. However, when I tried to look up the gym that they were promoting in the first place, it was closed down a few years back.
But it was a good start. Searching 'James Laborn' and boxing got a few more hits, some articles about an old boxing middleweight fighter from a couple decades back and had a pretty good record too. Sorting through the more recent stuff, there was a thread on PHO's BB boxing section with some dude asking about what happened to James.
A little more digging… blah blah blah. He served in the army… Ah, here we go. He was a personal coach and boxing teacher. From the commenter's words, he was also pretty damn good at his job too. The gym that he was coaching at was situated fairly up south, a little past the Downtown area.
Welp, it's time to take a look. I stood up and headed out. Catching a bus, I got into a seat and took a route that would put me pretty close to the gym in question. Taking a seat, I waited patiently for my station to be called.
The bus ride was pretty entertaining. Unlike my late night ride, a few Empire members got on, and caught sight of the ABB members sitting at the back. A tense atmosphere settled over the bus that suffocated the passengers, like everyone was holding their breaths and waiting for the powder keg to blow.
Unfortunately, it passed without much incident. Getting off, the timebomb rolled away while I stretched my back. Walking over to the gym entrance, there were only a few people sitting inside. Carefully taking a step in, a man wearing a tanktop waved me over.
"Welcome to Punchline Gym. What can I do for you?" The receptionist, a man by the name of Harry, greeted. He was buff and built like a tank but had a rather soft voice. A weird juxtaposition.
"Um… I was just wondering how much for a membership here?" I asked.
Harry nodded. "Right, membership… It'll be $20 per month or $200 if you want a yearly membership. That's just for gym access. There's also 3-month and 6-month options if that's more your style. If you want boxing coaching, those are an additional cost per month, so for an extra $29, you can get weekly coaching by one of our mentors… or if you prefer a biweekly coaching, that's another option you–"
I very quickly tuned him out. Was the gym this expensive? In my past life, I usually just did a jog around the block every week or so. I had zero frame of reference on how expensive a gym was or whether I was being ripped off.
Seeing that he was losing me, Harry quickly reeled it back. "Of course these prices may seem a little high, but compared to the benefits you can reap, it's practically a steal. We have a large selection of equipment available to you and our coaches are professionals, including former Brockton Bay middleweight professional boxer, James Laborn!"
I pretended to sound interested. "Professional boxer?" I echoed. "Sounds reputable indeed."
Harry nodded. "In fact, you seem like a nice guy. So I'll even throw in a little something for you. Sign up now, and if you aren't happy with the gym, you can cancel within a week and we won't charge you at all. How's that sound?" He made a few finger guns. "Eh? Pretty good deal right? You can even work out, try out our boxing lessons, and then at the end of the week, bounce. Simple as that!"
I took a deep breath. Loremaster knew that he was absolutely desperate to get me to sign up. But I needed it and fuck it, having a former middleweight champion would be useful to learn boxing from. Yes, I was also going to learn boxing. As good as Crane Style was, it was a defensive style first and foremost. A proper offensive CQC style would work wonders. "Put it in writing and let's go then."
After some amount of paperwork, I got a shiny new membership card in my hands. Walking in, there weren't a lot of people around but Harry was right when he said there was quite the selection of equipment available. At the corner of the gym, there were a few punching bags and speed bags as well as a black man practicing his footwork.
"Mr Laborn?" I got his attention. Shooting a glance over, he stopped and pulled off his boxing gloves. Walking over, he gave me a once over. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt along with some sneakers. Not exactly one would call exercise clothes.
His face looked fairly dismissive, but he still replied professionally without any tone of displeasure. "That's me. What do you need?"
"Oh, I just wanted to get acquainted with the teacher beforehand. Just signed up and–" He shook his head as he put his gloves back on.
"Don't waste my time then." He turned his attention back to the punching bag. However, I stepped in front of him.
"Actually. I had some prior training in martial arts and I was wondering if it'll make a discernible difference if I learnt boxing as well?" That got his attention.
Dropping his guard, he glanced at my arms. "What did you learn?"
"Well… it's a bit hard to explain…" I trailed off. "How about a spar?"
James snorted. "Brave. I'll humour you then." He grabbed some hand wraps and an extra set of gloves and tossed it over. "I'll be waiting in the ring."
Was it a good idea? Probably not. The only thing I really had were instincts and knowledge basically forced into my brain by the Forge. In terms of my physique, I was absolutely going to get bodied. On the other hand, Crane style also had a few tricks to redirect the force of an opponent's attack back to them. So maybe I'll be fairly fine?
Wrapping my hands up, I pulled on the gloves despite the Crane style did require my hands to be free. I hoped that it wouldn't be too sure of an issue. And I pulled on the head protector for obvious reasons along with other protective gear. Although this was a spar, let's practice basic safety procedures. Hopping into the ring, James stared at me and curled his lip slightly but didn't say anything else.
Leet… definitely wasn't exactly the best opponent to test my combat skills against so I was getting fairly excited to actually test where I stood on the totem pole. James bounced on the balls of his feet, warming up his body. "We'll go until one of us says stop or you hit the mat."
Nodding, I made note that he specifically said 'you'. Okay then. Let's try our best. I fell into a basic guard position. A little less tight compared to a boxing guard since I was using Crane style for the most part but still covering my chest and sides. James counted us down. With each moment that passed, I could feel my heart rate picking up and each breath being deeper.
"Go."
Immediately, I dodged to the left. The boxing glove whizzed overhead, barely nicking the headgear. Pulling back, James showed a little more wariness as he kept his eyes on me. I blinked for a moment. Huh.
Loremaster showed intentions to an extent. Like how I knew Lisa approached me out of curiosity or when Harry wanted me to sign on as a member. Due to the fact that it was trained using arguments, knowing why a person was arguing with you was just as important as what they were arguing for. So why couldn't it also be applied to combat as well?
Wariness shifted to aggression and I was already moving to deflect his punch even before he completed his movements to start it. The moment his arm extended halfway out, my lower arm caught his elbow, and forced it aside. A counterattack came immediately after but he quickly backed away before it could connect.
"Not bad." He admitted.
"Thanks." I breathed back. Okay. Proper combat was a lot different than I had expected. Loremaster could tell that he wasn't going to attack so I could take my time observing how he was moving. Savant worked to keep track of how he was moving, the stance he was taking and filing it all away for later. I could barely suppress a smile. A form of clairvoyance and accelerated learning.
Oh yea. We were cooking with gas.
However, Loremaster wasn't exactly a mind-reader. Yes it could tell when he was attacking, but it couldn't tell what he was throwing. A lesson that I very quickly learnt as a hook punch caught my side and I stumbled away. Nursing the blow, I let out a breath while Savant was processing everything I was seeing.
Savant's Understanding wasn't absorbing how to box, but it was also figuring out exactly how to box like James. His fighting style, the way he moved, the punches he would throw, all of it was being integrated into a mental model of the man.
Yes, Loremaster couldn't predict what came next. But Savant could. Coupled with my extensive memories of training with Crane style and what would have been a match in James' favour due to his much better physique and actual experience became a little more even. I still did get hit with the occasional blindside or sudden switch-up, like when I had expected an uppercut but he suddenly switched into a gut punch that knocked the wind out of me. But the longer I fought, the more Savant had to work with and the more robust my defense became.
"I've seen enough." James said rather matter-of-factly and my heart rate skyrocketed. Those were never words you ever wanna hear in a fight. Dropping his guard, he walked over and tossed his gloves aside. "Are you some sort of fighting prodigy?"
The Celestial Forge threw out its tendril again and missed a Star on the Small-Scale Mundane Supplies Constellation.
Ah. "I guess you could say that." I lied immediately. Excessive humbleness was a form of arrogance. Shrugging, I pulled off my gear. "I don't exactly know what I'm doing though."
"Fair. It's hard to tell what you're doing if you only do it instinctively." James reached over to grab a water bottle. "You were predicting my moves and intentions even before I struck. It wasn't perfect, but that slight edge made our spar a lot more even." He took a drink and let out a sigh. "However, there were some issues with your form."
James made a so-so movement with his hand. "It's kinda like your movements aren't tailored to your body, like you were expecting yourself to be stronger. I noticed it a lot when you deflected my attacks specifically, when my arm didn't move as much as you expected to and you drove more power when you realized that. It's a small thing but in a fight, every small thing matters. You probably need to work out more to get more explosive power behind your deflections and really force your opponent's attacks aside."
"Another thing is that your body isn't fit enough. You were flagging at the end there right?" I nodded shamefully. "Thought so. Honestly, if you can build up your muscles and endurance, I expect you to put up a pretty decent fight."
"Ah… but I really only signed up for… like gym use and boxing coaching." I pointed at the reception counter.
"No personal training?" James narrowed his eyes. "Not to say that it's bad… but personally, having a good personal trainer, especially when you're starting out, can be great for your future growth. Think of it like building up a strong foundation early on. With a good base, you can progress much further before plateauing."
I nodded in understanding. I was kinda hoping that I could just research a bunch of nutritional content and use Savant's to just cruise me along. "Yea but… I don't think I have the funds for a personal trainer along with everything else…?"
James snorted. "Bah, I'll be your personal trainer. And before you say anything, consider it a sort of… investment into your future. I expect a good showing from you alright?" I nodded slowly as the man clapped me on the back. Was this really Brian's father?
"Come on. Class will be starting soon." James pushed me aside. "And be sure to get some proper gym clothes next time."
A/N: PRT invites, another Lisa 'coincidental' meet (not my favorite section of this chapter but October Nixia had placed it in and I'm stuck reaping the consequences), and gym. Because we all need a little Brat in a CF fic. Also gym membership pricing is horrible to look up. Boxing gyms doubly so. Is it by session? By class? 1 Month period? Separate to the gym? Or a part of it? It felt like every gym I looked at had a different pricing model. And we get to my favorite portion of this fic. Perk interactions!
New Perk:
-Pixie Dust (Peter Pan) (100CP)
Most if not all fairies constantly produce the magical substance of fairy dust around their body, such that a trail follows wherever you fly. People and even objects as large as ships, when covered in the sparkling dust, gain the ability to fly. However, while inanimate things can fly without any challenge, people wishing to fly must have sincere faith and happy, carefree emotions. You can constantly emit pixie dust at will and even surround you with a cloud of fairy dust. The perk also enables you to breathe easily without choking on pixie dust or other particles, such that you could breathe and talk even with smoke all around you. If you are not a fairy, you will be looked at quite strangely by others, but things are often strange in Neverland so that's hardly a bad thing.