Blackbird 2.2
I continued to perform regular patrols at night with my Enforcers. The school, Fort Bluff I was calling it, had six Enforcers and two engineers now. The conversion of the building into the fortress I imagined was a work in progress, but it was coming along nicely.
Bunker Hill was also making a good headway. A new reactor design was nearing completion to solve my power problems more efficiently.
Despite all my patrols, I still hadn't had a single run in with the PRT or any of the heroes. I found it a little surprising. I always patrolled and handed out aid in the same areas around the school. I knew I was being noticed, I'd personally observed people taking pictures or videos of my drones patrolling. I would have thought that I would have been approached in some way. Yet so far it seemed they were oblivious to my presence, that, or they simply didn't care.
I ended up running into Markus every night, often striking up conversations with him while handing out packages. I'd ended up learning quite a bit about the man. Turned out he was originally a Brockton Bay native. About a decade or so ago, he moved here in search of work after losing his job, and unfortunately didn't get lucky in finding anything. Hence his current living situation. Overall, he seemed like a good dude and I enjoyed our nighttime conversations. I'd gotten a little too deprived of social interaction the past two months with everything going on, so I looked forward to our interactions.
I ran into him again tonight as he approached my MKII on its nightly rounds.
"Well if it isn't my new favorite cape! How are you doing, Novax?" He greeted me with a smile.
"Pretty good Markus. How's tonight treating you? No one giving you or anyone else any trouble is there?"
"Nah, word about your robots has spread like wildfire over the past couple days. Not many people are willing to poke around and cause trouble right now around here. You appeared out of nowhere, and people are a little too spooked to try till they get you figured out better."
"Really? That would explain why I only ran into any crime my first two nights. Since then, it's been nothing but giving out stuff to people in need."
"Speaking of you and your activities, people have been asking around about you. Even stopped some buddies of mine you've handed packages to and started asking them questions."
Huh, guess I've caught someone's attention after all. "Any idea who?"
"Nothing concrete, but from what my friends tell me, they reek of law enforcement, and I'm not talking the kind for people like me. Kinda weird to be honest. You'd think if they wanted to know something about you, they'd just ask you directly. It's not like you've done anything wrong since you've shown up."
I winced. "Yeah… I may have left a bad impression in Brockton Bay before coming here."
He raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"I may or may not have put a hole in a villain's head before leaving the Bay. It was my first real outing so… I don't think I ended up in the PRT's good books off that one."
Markus blinked. Pausing for a moment before he responded. "Whose head did you blow off?"
"Cricket, Empire."
"A fucking neo-Nazi? Bah, you did the world a favor on that one. If anything, you should get a fucking gold star if you ask me."
I snorted. "Regardless, I checked and the PRT in Brockton labelled me a villain. Granted, the rest of the circumstances surrounding that didn't really help how it looked."
Markus shrugged. "Hey, not my place to judge what ya did before coming here. Not even been a week, and you've helped me out and a few of my friends without asking for anything in return. I figured I'd give you a heads up as a favor. Least I can do."
I tossed him one of the packages. "Thanks Markus, you stay safe. I'll see you around tomorrow night?"
"You betcha, man's gotta eat after all." He said with a wink, before wandering off in a different direction.
Well. So much for them being oblivious.
I had my units finish up their patrols for the night and then returned everyone back to base. The next day, with a heightened awareness after my talk with Markus, I was going over the camera feeds around Fort Bluff when I noticed something.
A van parked across the street. I remembered it being parked near the school the day prior… and the day before that. I pulled up the video feed from the external camera for the past few days. As I thought, it had pulled up the day after my first patrol. Occasionally it would leave for a time before returning to a new spot.
Not only that, but I also noticed several other vehicles following the same pattern. They'd be sitting still for the majority of the day. Only ever leaving for ten minutes at a time before returning. But always parked somewhere in view of the school. Of Fort Bluff.
That's when it hit me.
I was the fucking oblivious one. I'd been under surveillance and I hadn't even noticed till Markus had brought it to my attention that the PRT were likely asking around about me. They had been watching me for several days now.
Thinking about it now, it made sense. The PRT in Boston didn't have a lot to go on other than the villain label given to me by the PRT ENE. That and the knowledge that I had escalated to killing Cricket, and went toe to toe with a heavy hitter like Hookwolf while working alongside another villain. Outside of that, all they knew was that I had appeared in their city rather suddenly, moved into an abandoned school with a newer suit and a small squad of human sized robots. Doing patrols and handing out stuff to the homeless.
I had expected the PRT to be more heavy handed in their approach. Yet it made sense in hindsight they wouldn't be so direct as to head straight into a meeting someone who they probably considered both dangerous and sending mixed signals as to where they fell into the whole hero and villain dichotomy.
So as long as I wasn't causing trouble, it made more sense to simply watch me from a distance until they were better informed how to handle me, or I did something to force their hand.
They were probably trying to figure out what I was doing here, what my angle was so to speak.
Well, at least I know what they are up to now. I'd need to keep an eye open for the PRT's surveillance teams now. If for no other reason than to know where they were.
Now that I think about it… are the PRT the only one's putting eyes on Fort Bluff? They might not be the only ones…
Something to keep in mind and look out for.
Speaking of surveillance, I needed to do some more of my own. I had decided on a duo of villains to try and pursue in the city.
Now that I knew the PRT were deciding to watch from a distance for the time being, going after my target would make for a good opportunity to make contact with the heroes on my own terms. Depending on how long the PRT kept their arm's length approach.
Orchard, the human trafficking duo. I had already set several scripts and bots to trawl the dark web for anything related to them I could find. I figured that for a duo who specialized in selling custom slaves, there had to be a way to contact them and place an order. I was hoping to find something on the dark web that I could trace back somewhere here in Boston.
That was only one prong of my approach, however. The other was my new unit design. The Phantom. Based off of the tier three Blackbird Spy plane. It was a much cheaper, smaller and tier zero acceptable spy plane replacement. About ten feet in length with a twenty-foot wingspan.
I hadn't actually built one yet. I didn't even have anywhere for it to take off and land yet. Even despite its ability for a vertical take-off. But the retractable landing pad for the roof was in the construction queue. Once built, it would allow me to fly passes over Boston and use its gimbal cam and Omni sensor package to assist in my search.
Nothing had changed in the PRT's stance by the end of the week. Blacked out vehicles watched from a distance, and tails followed the MKII and Enforcers on their patrols.
I acted like I didn't know they were there. Didn't want to risk spooking them by reacting to their surveillance. I was taking the fact they had kept to simply watching me for the entire week without trying to barge in as a good sign.
They hadn't attempted to poke around inside the school any. In fact, not a soul seemed willing to step foot on any of the land barring the sidewalk that touched the school. The only exception had been some teenagers.
I had seen them coming with the external cameras when they approached the building a day ago. At best guess I figured they were up to normal delinquent teenage nonsense. Graffiti or vandalism inside an abandoned building. I guessed there was a chance they somehow didn't know I had taken the place over. The PRT in Boston hadn't put out a statement about me yet. So if they hadn't heard through word of mouth or the right places on local cape forums online, it was possible.
I never found out what exactly they were trying to do, however. They didn't get far, stopped from coming any closer by none other than a member of the local Protectorate. My first sighting of one of the heroes.
I had been watching and waiting, expecting for a PRT agent to jump out of one of the vehicles parked nearby and rush up to stop them when I spotted trails of silver light coming in fast from a few blocks over.
Dovetail, one of the Boston Protectorate's two fliers. I had read up on her and the other members here when I got to Boston. In a pink and grey high collar trench coat and an almost owl shaped mask, she was supposedly faster than her more manoeuvrable counterpart, Aerobat.
She descended from the sky, dropping in front of the boys and shooing them off fast before giving my building a look and taking back off into the sky back from where she came.
Figures they'd have someone fast on standby in case someone tried walking inside unknowingly.
Aside from the PRT, I hadn't spotted anything that pointed to surveillance from any of the gangs in town. But in their case, I knew less of what to look for.
I carried on, however. I halted all progress in Fort Bluff temporarily and in most of Bunker Hill so I could put all of my resources towards the new finished reactor design. Though first, I put everything towards a Phantom and its retractable launchpad.
I had to make a new room for the reactor. Thirty feet wide, thirty feet long and twenty feet tall. My first version of a fusion reactor I based off the tier two EG 200 reactor. Putting everything I had into it and the space to house it, it would be finished over the next four days once the Phantom completed.
In the meantime, while I waited for it to finish, I'd focus my own time between my patrols. Talking to Markus. And more importantly, digging into the dark web to try and find a lead on Orchard.
My web based search for supervillains was not going well. In hindsight, the PRT had probably tried the same approach I was, and they hadn't managed to track down the duo yet either.
Maybe if I had a dedicated hacking suite I'd be having more luck, but that was yet more work pulling me from more important projects.
Frustrated, I decided to expand my search using the Phantom. I figured if Orchard was based here in Boston, they have to have a rather unique space to house their operations. Somewhere large enough to house, alter and store their unwilling slaves. Yet inconspicuous enough to not draw attention.
It would have to be somewhere out there… my Phantom just might be able to find it. Its radar and Omni sensor would be strong enough to pierce through buildings and at least give me a layout of the floor plan of anything it flies over. Should even be able to pick up stuff underground up to a certain depth. A grid sweep of the city might pick up something that stood out as a potential hideout for a duo of slavers.
It wouldn't hurt to try. Worst case, even if I don't find who I'm looking for I'm bound to find something interesting.
I set the Phantom to deploy and perform a grid sweep of Boston. Its landing pad was built inside one of the classrooms. An elevator raising it up to the ceiling where a hanger door was built to allow access to the sky above. Performing a vertical take off, it flew off into the evening sky. Flying north to start and work its way south.
It didn't fly off alone, however. Dovetail made an appearance once more. I watched from the gimbal cam as trails of silver light followed far in the distance, tailing the Phantom from a distance. At least for a while, the Phantom was faster and pulled away, eventually losing her. Then when it got to the starting point I designated, it began its search.
Line by line, it flew over the grid I had set for it. Scanning everything below with its Omni sensor package. I sat and watched as the data came in. Personally looking for anything that caught my eye, hoping to get lucky.
Lucky I was not.
Sure there were several places that came up as odd that I made note of. But otherwise it was hard to say any one place was without a doubt a human trafficking ring. Even if there was, there was no guarantee it would have been Orchard.
The information from the sweep would come in handy at some point, I was sure. But it didn't help me with my current plot. I was beginning to understand why Orchard had never been found and only heard off in the first place.
It might be time to shift my focus. Stick to improving my response to unpowered crime. Expanding my patrol radius and using the Phantom to help find and guide my Enforcers to crime. Taking the next step in my outreach. Also beginning plans for the eventual next mass point expansion.
That and I should get a hacking suite programmed…
I groaned and added it to my to-do list.
On my patrols the next night, I found Markus in his usual hangout spot.
"Novax! Well if it isn't my favorite walking grocery store." He said with a shit eating grin. "Come on in, I cleaned up just for you." Chuckling, he motioned to the dirty alleyway he was calling home.
I laughed. "I'm impressed, you've really cleaned the place up. Is that a new couch?" I pointed to a bucket he didn't have the night before, flipped upside down to use as a seat. "Looks like a great place to lay down and take a nap."
He led out a hearty laugh. "It sure is, how kind of you to notice."
"Say, Markus, think you could do something for me?"
Markus suddenly gave me a sour look. "I thought you weren't looking for henchmen."
"Wha- no it's not lik-"
Markus cut me off as he started cackling. "I'm just fucking you with girl. Now hit me, what is it you need?"
"Jerk." I said playfully. "I'm planning to stop handing out food and stuff on patrols. Going to set up a dedicated spot for people to come to instead so that they can come when they need to rather than having to go out of their way to try and intercept my patrol routes in the middle of the night. Think you could spread the word to all the usual suspects for me?"
"Ah, converting over to a soup kitchen? Not a bad idea. Yeah, don't worry about all the other losers like me." He gave me a lopsided grin. "I'll make sure they know where to go now for a bite to eat."
"Hey, don't say that. Being down on your luck doesn't make you a loser."
He smiled. "Whatever you say, kid."
"Kid? Who says I'm a ki-"
"Oh, don't give me that nonsense, I'm not an idiot. I can hear it in your voice. You're on the younger side. Not that it's a problem. I'm not gonna go around telling someone with powers what to do with them. But don't insult my intelligence."
I sat in silence for a moment before responding. "You're annoyingly observant, you know that right?"
He flashed me another grin. "Damn straight."
I chuckled. "Not gonna start giving me life advice, are you?"
"Oh hell no. Do I look like someone who has made good decisions in life? Besides, you're not my kid, teenagers are a pain in the ass already. I'm not gonna try and lecture one with powers to boot. But if you ever need adult wisdom, you know where I hang around, alright kid?"
"Yeah, I'll keep it in mind, old man. I'm going to open the soup kitchen tomorrow, so I better see your ass there at the school parking lot. Got it?"
Markus gave me a mocking salute and grin, "Sir yes Sir!"
"It's yes ma'am you ass." I say as I throw the usual care package directly at his head.
He dodges, but just barely. I'm already leaving before he has time for another retort, his laughing slowly faded behind me.
I like Markus. He felt like a fun if sometimes annoying uncle whenever I was talking to him. But he was also very useful as a confidante. He had the ears and respect of a lot of the homeless around this area. As a result, if anyone ever saw or heard anything going on out in the streets it typically would find its way to Markus at some point. Which now, with our budding friendship and the fact that he knows I'll give a little extra free food for it, means it also eventually finds its way to me.
I had the MKII continue on its way. I was looking forward to the new reactor finishing. It would give me the extra power I'd need to upgrade not only the mass extractors but my production capabilities as well.
I'd need the extra economy for building the MACU when it came time. It wasn't going to be cheap. Plus, it would need a dedicated assembly yard for its production alone, just like an ACU would. If I kept up the current rate of progress, distractions included, I was expecting I'd have my MACU, at least under construction, by the end of this month or at the worst early next month.
In the meantime, though, I still had to manage constant expansions and working on my image. This weird… standoff? Whatever you'd call it between me and the PRT was a little nerve racking. Even though I wasn't actually in the school, part of me was still worried that regardless of everything I had done to change public perception of me, they would still barge in one day looking for an arrest.
I knew at this point I should probably just approach them myself. But part of me couldn't help but think back to my time in Winslow. Going to what counted as the authorities there had never ended well for me. I wasn't so optimistic to assume doing the same here would suddenly change that pattern.
Yet I knew that eventual confrontation was coming. A problem for later.
For now, it was time to prepare for my soup kitchen.
(A/N: Got that second update out after all. Still in the early bits of getting into Boston so things may be a little slower action wise, but things will eventually pick up though don't worry. Remember, certain parties aren't in Boston currently. Huge thanks to starlit over in the Cauldron discord for beta reading this one for me.)