I shouldn't have done it.

I really shouldn't have done it.

I regret my life choices.

And I curse myself from last night who was moronic enough to risk it. I hope he rots in hell… wait.

…

Shit. Damn it!

I facepalm, feeling myself even more aggravated than before. It looks like I had developed a severe case of hitting my own foot with an axe. Or hitting my foot on an axe. Both applied, really.

As for the reason why I was cursing and swearing…

… well. Let's just say, finding yourself in a rundown alleyway, with memories that seem to almost pop at you, pointing out that you've just gained powers that you selected in a World-specific CYOA last night for shits and giggles and have been transported to the aforementioned world as well… well, it has a certain effect on people.

Now, normally, something like this could be the start of a glorious adventure. I mean, it's not every day you find yourself whisked away to another freaking world, and with powers to boot!

Oh, yeah. Speaking of powers, I can at least admit I have a really strong one. Heck, it might just be the strongest in the world! … In time. The sheer versatility and growth prospects of it are tremendous. It's where it shines the most.

… Of course, the one major caveat is that right now, in this very instance, I'm just the average Joe. I don't have super strength, super speed, super senses, super anything, really. Neither do I have some mystical energy (Mana, Chi—and the other dozen variations of it, Psionics, Zero Point Energy, Archane Energy, etc.) that I can mold and shoot at my enemies as an offense—not that I have any enemies, yet— or create a Barrier or make myself resistant/immune to harm.

No, I just have a vague sense of… something, something that feels like small motes of light. And I have 5 of them right now.

As for what they can do…?

Heh, well, like I said, it has tremendous potential.

In essence, I am a Trump. Yes, with a capital T, and written in italics.

To give some details: I can mess with other people's powers in all sorts of ways. I can shut them down, amp them up, tweak them, copy them, or even steal them completely if I feel like it. Swapping powers between people or stacking multiple abilities onto someone is a piece of cake for me. I don't have to touch them to do it either. I have this metaphorical spherical shell around me with a radius of roughly 50 meters.

Now, that number is purely a guess I pulled right out of my ass. I don't actually have a definite number for it. But it is around that, I believe. As a more visual-friendly statistic, I'm pretty sure it is equivalent to roughly five standard city buses. Or roughly the length of two tennis courts lined up end to end. Pretty sure they're around 24-25m in length. It's been a while since I've done anything Tenis-related, so my knowledge is a bit fudgy. (A/N: A standard tennis court is about 23.77 meters long.)

On top of that, I get five charges a day to create totally new powers from scratch. They're also stackable; if I decide not to use them within 24 hours, the unused charges get carried through to the next day's batch. That's pretty neat.

I seem to perceive these 'charges' as 'motes of light' that are just there at the back of my consciousness, like bright glimmering stars. Each charge can make a power that's pretty strong on its own, rated around 4-5 on the Threat Assessment of the local law enforcement here; which goes from 1 to 10, by the way, with anything beyond 10 considered beyond the norm and a definite S-class threat.

Now, 4-5 on the Threat Assessment isn't actually game-breaking, not at all. It's very much street-level. But I can combine charges to make something even more powerful and/or potent. Each of these charges allows for roughly an increase of ~1.5 additional rating points in the aforementioned Threat Assessment. But that's not a hard or even good statistic. In fact, it has a sort of random element. As, depending on the type of upgrade or modification I make, the rating can go up from just 1 point to even up to 3 points, under some very extreme circumstances.

Honestly, the problem here isn't my own ability's randomness but the nature of Threat Assessment itself which makes it harder to portray the numerical increment gained from the charges. The number rating of the Threat Assessment is more a ballpark scale for the threat to a team, rather than any indication of the raw strength of an ability. A different scale might be better suited, but I couldn't think of one right now. And it seemed fitting to use the local system, despite its limitations.

Anyway, moving on, I can also sense anyone with powers in a wide area around me. This area is different from the one where I can act and affect on powers. This is probably closer to 10 Km in radius, which is large. And no, I don't actually have a good visualization for such a distance.

-x-

I used the aforementioned sense to check if there were any Parahumans nearby. I got 'pings' for a bunch of them scattered around and in groups in the form of a mental radar, but thankfully none seemed to be close by or heading in my area specifically. Good. Because I didn't need that kind of heat immediately after my transmigration.

-x-

Any powers I create using the charges are under my control until I decide to give them away. If I ever needed a boost, I could use these charges to enhance my own abilities or anyone else's. And if I change my mind, I can always undo any modifications I've made, though I won't get those charges back.

Basically, I'm the ultimate power broker, limited only by what I want to do with it.

-x-

Looking around, my new surroundings were… unpleasant.

The alleyway somehow seemed dirty despite not having any openly visible litter. The open garbage bins a bit further away seemed to be filled with foul-smelling rot that I could smell from even here, if barely. The puddle-covered street—which suggested it had rained not long ago— was likely what added to the effect and showed the poor condition of the holes-ridden road itself. That, and the fact that the walls were marred with pot marks and filth. I could even see a faded sign on one of the buildings that felt vaguely familiar.

Now, I talked about my powers, and, from various hints above, it's fairly easy to guess the world I was in.

…

Sighing, I once again cursed my past self for filling that Worm CYOA.

Look what happened, you idiot. You're now in Brockton Fucking Bay. Hell, indeed.

After my momentary bout of self-incrimination and frustration, with not a small amount of panic at the whole situation, I eventually calmed down enough to notice my surroundings and then, I quickly decided that, no, it's not the place I wanted to stick around.

First things first, I need to stop dilly-dallying and create an ability.

Being in Worm is suffering. Being in Brockton Bay, especially in an empty alleyway, is an open invitation to be mugged or beaten by some gangbanger. Kinda sucks that I didn't fit either of the two major gangs' 'Acceptable' skin tone and race. I wasn't Caucasian. No, I wasn't "white" in general. My skin tone was close to a light wheatish complexion, common among people of my country, but a minority here. So, naturally, the resident Nazi gang would not appreciate my existence.

I also wasn't Asian. Okay, that's incorrect. I am Asian. But not one that fits the bill for most when they think of Asians. Most people, when they think 'Asian,' think of people from one of the East Asian countries: Japanese, Chinese, or Korean, with maybe Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Cambodian, Laotian, and Singaporean also fitting the bill. However, Asia is a big continent (the biggest, really) and also covers other countries with people who differ in looks and skin tones. The most prominent would be the group of countries around the Indian subcontinent: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, etc. Then, there are also Middle Eastern countries with somewhat similar features as those from the Indian subcontinent. But I digress.

The point is, I wasn't East Asian and thus didn't fit ABB's 'Okay' list of people. So, I wasn't safe from them either.

Lastly, there were the Merchants, but nobody is safe from those rotten fuckers. Ugh, just thinking of their existence made me feel revulsed.

Let's not even think of the slimy snake Coil. If he found out about me, he'd stop at nothing to get me. Fuck him. He's already on my shit list even if he's done nothing to me yet.

So, back to the original point. I needed to use my powers and create an ability that'd let me exist without some random gang banger suddenly coming out of the woodwork and mugging me or beating me to half-death for having the wrong skin color and nationality.

Okay, so, what'd be the best thing to create.

I had begun pacing back and forth in the alleyway, not trying to leave despite the possible risks. I wanted to create my first power before I did anything else. My situation right now was very volatile and I was vulnerable—

Oh FUCK!

I halted mid-step during my thinking walk, suddenly remembering a very crucial detail about the world I was in. In fact, this should have been the first thing that I should've thought about, even before the gangs.

I need mental protection, ASAP! From Caul—

I slapped my hand on my mouth, even though I wasn't actually speaking. Fuck, I'd almost said(did thinking even count?) the Taboo word in this world.

I frantically looked around to see if there were any sudden portals or fedora-wearing boogiewoman in my vicinity.

Not finding anything even after some time of searching, I finally let out a sigh of relief.

Right. Blank. That's what I need before anything.

Focusing inward, I immediately set forth to create the 'Blank,' a popular skill/feature in Worm-fics that allows protection from Thinkers and Masters.

Earth Bet had some really dangerous beings with those power classifications. I couldn't even say their name without the risk of getting royally fucked.

I knew it was a stupid decision to not choose the Blank from the CYOA options list itself, given it was so cheap. But I just thought that I could create my own rather than wasting points.

… Which, I suppose, was what I will be doing now.

From my mental landscape what vaguely resembled a dark, cloudy night sky with just 5 prominent motes of lights like giant stars, I 'grasped' one and used it to will the creation of Blank.

It really was that easy, creating a skill. I just needed to define the features and let the power work out the nitty-gritty details. However, the more detailed explanation I gave, the closer to my requirement the skill/ability it'd make.

For the Blank skill, I had the following definition:

—Blank—

Provides absolute immunity to Thinkers, Masters, Strangers, Trumps, and Tinkers who can affect your mind through Tinker or technological means. You're completely invisible to them; to those powers, you simply don't exist. They cannot even work around you.

Cost: 10 charges

I grimaced at the cost. For every skill/ability I tried to create, I had an instinctive knowledge of the cost associated with it.

Blank was something I needed definitely and immediately. But I had over-reached with my definition, hoping to gain a lot in just one skill. The result was, as expected, a high cost. I could save my charges for 2 days and get this perfect skill but it just wasn't feasible. I didn't believe I could exist for days without any sort of protection. Not in this city.

Blank wasn't all that I needed right now, either. I also needed to save charges for the skill I was originally going to create before my sudden drastic revelation. I tried to add a bit of my original power to this skill itself, hoping I could maybe smart the System. But the result was, sadly, about what I expected: A very high cost.

So, with a resigned sigh, I tried to reduce the cost and let the skill appropriately modify to fit the bill.

For only two motes, the resultant blank had the following description:

—Blank—

Provides resistance up to high-level Thinkers and Masters. You're not completely invisible/immune to them, but it's much harder for them to model or control you.

Cost: 2 charges

It was no good. Sure, it made me resistant to a lot of Masters and Thinkers and made it harder for them to fuck me over, but for the actual top threats, this just wasn't good enough. Just resistance wasn't good enough in the first place. I needed immunity. I wasn't even sure this could fully hinder Coil, forget Path to Victory, though it'd probably mess with his powers a little.

Adding two more motes to it, and tweaking the definition a few times to get the desired result, the outcome was much better.

—Blank—

Provides near immunity up to and including most high-level Thinkers and Masters. You're not completely invisible or immune to them if they're really strong, but it's very hard for them to model/path or control you. Some very strong Thinker powers can, however, work around you in due time, with enough data.

Cost: 4 charges

It… was still a compromise, to be honest. I still wasn't happy with the result but I also couldn't afford anything more.

On a positive note, even this was still a pretty decent protection against most Thinkers and Masters, including Tattletale's "Sherlock on Steroids" peri-cognition power or Coil the Snake's "Timeline Dividing/Save Scumming" precognition/simulation power. Maybe even against those two. But I doubted it was a good enough protection against them.

However, I just needed to stay alive for a day and put more charges to make it a blanket protection against at least Thinkers and Masters. I knew it was possible with just 2 additional motes which I didn't have. In fact, with 3 charges, I was absolutely certain even PTV couldn't do jack to me and Simmy couldn't fuck with my mind or trace my past and future. And since I knew that Brockton Bay didn't have any powerful Masters, I could focus on Thinkers first and then Masters.

Really, the only Masters in Brockton Bay were Skitter(arthropod controller, thus irrelevant), Regent(I wasn't immune to his brand of Mastering but he'd have to work real hard trying to control my nervous system; enough time to give me a chance to either subdue or escape him), and finally Galant(I was also immune to his emotion sensing and emotion blast powers). I couldn't remember any other Masters in Brockton Bay. Depending on the timeline, there may have been more. So, I was relatively safe from Masters. High-level Thinkers were still my bane though.

Sighing, I applied the power to myself, feeling… absolutely nothing.

Well, that was to be expected.

The skill didn't have any perceivable effect.

I'd have to add to this power in the upcoming days to make it the perfect blanket protection that I originally wanted.

Feeling somewhat safer now that I wouldn't immediately be fucked if I even thought of Cauldron or Contessa (who knows, it's probably true), I could move on to the next agenda.

I had a single charge left and I needed something that'd protect me from the mess of Brockton Bay and allow me to stay relatively hidden for the time being.

Firstly, Brute, Tinker, Blaster, Striker, and Trump were out. None of these classifications helped me with my current conundrum of needing privacy and safety from gangs and other problems and a single charge would simply not be powerful enough as a defense.

Mover, Shaker, and Thinker each had skills that I could create that'd be useful but again, a single charge wouldn't allow for a good enough escape, hiding, or perception ability.

Mastering people… on Earth Bet… yeah, that's actually a really good idea. No, really. If I want a fast-track to Birdcage, I mean. Sure, that might allow me to gain access to some really powerful abilities. But it came with some serious risks too. Risks I wasn't willing to take yet. Somehow I highly doubted I'd be able to take control of, say, Faerie Queen's powers and escape from Birdcage quick enough. Nah, I'd be dead before I got the chance, most likely. Though, it was good to know that I could do that if I ever came close to her.

A Changer power would be a good option. I could blend in with the crowd.

Breaker powers were also not bad. I could develop an intangible, invisible breaker state and try staying in that state until I gain more charges. It'd also provide some much-needed defense.

Really, Breaker was a good option. The problem: With just one charge, I couldn't create a Breaker power with the above specifications. Actually, I could, but it'd have limitations such as limited duration or stamina cost or some caveat like being unable to affect the world or turning blind as light can't touch you when you're invisible. I'd have to do some tests to find out the exact limitations.

Stranger was a good option too. It'd be nice to have a power like Imp/Aisha. But when I tried creating it, it required at least 2 charges to create a power resembling hers.

Heck, with just 3 charges, I could disappear from both mental perception and most mundane electronic sensors and remain hidden for as long as I wanted.

Fuck. Maybe I should've thought things through before rushing it with Blank. Was it actually worth it to create Blank when I could have gotten a much more potent version of Imp's Perception Blocking powers?

Maybe not.

But the fear of Contessa's PTV and Simmy the Uncanny Angel made me nervous as hell. I couldn't rest assured until I had some protection against those two.

Screw it, it is what it is. I couldn't undo it now.

Having gotten tired from all the walking I was doing, I sat on a small set of stairs, which had dried enough to not wet my pants, and which led to the backdoor of some boarded building. Seated, I tried to think of the description of the skill I needed.

In the end, Imp's power was perfect for my current situation. I just needed to hide away and stay out of line of sight and mind until I had a day or two to build my powers. I didn't have time to train using a Breaker power.

I had no doubt I'd grow really strong, really quick. Especially if I could copy some of the more useful and potent abilities of the capes in this city. But all that'd require me to be somehow close enough to them without them noticing.

In that, Imp's power provided the perfect opportunity.

—Phantom Presence—

You are effectively unnoticeable to others, causing them to forget your presence. When active, your presence is so subtly erased from memory that people may not remember you were there at all. You can also make yourself consciously visible if desired, though it is not easy and requires constant effort. While in this state, you remain detectable by scent and technology but it is extremely difficult to link the former to your specific presence.

Cost: 1 charge

I didn't actually remember the exact description of Imp's power and my description was mostly a close approximation of what I thought it was and what I needed from the skill. Also, I had to add the clauses about scent and technology to make it cost one charge rather than the two it was showing otherwise, so it had to be put there as a compromise.

In time, I'd probably want to improve this skill as well. Definitely remove the three prominent limitations: detection by smell and technology and the inability to easily shut it down. But for now, this would have to do.

I hit the metaphorical Save and Apply buttons and I was effectively imperceptible to everyone! … In theory. I still had no way to check that until I got close to other people.

Though, now I was sure even Tattletale couldn't use her powers to find me with my combination of Phantom Presence and Blank powers. Her power would likely give vague or garbage results which would make her guesses useless.

Finally feeling relatively safe, I decided it was time to leave this empty alley and explore the wider world! ... By which I mean a section of Brockton Bay.

… Yay.

Alright. Let's see what hell really looks like.

-x-