Chapter 42: Rampage FOMO

Chapter 42: Rampage FOMO

***Chemestro***

“Chemestro, fancy meeting you here.” Metalon said as Chemestro entered the Tinker’s office.

Metalon was a swarthy fellow with a wide frame, and an abysmal 5-34 win-loss ratio who’d gotten out of the super game a long time ago. Nowadays he supplied information, tinker-tech, and acted as a bookie.

He must’ve found out that taking bets on super matchups was more profitable than fighting them.

“It’s not unexpected. I wanted information on Paradox, and you offered it.”

“I...see.” Metalon said. “I suppose I should stick with business.”

“That would be appreciated,” Chemestro said, sitting in front of him. He only had another half hour left on his self-imposed time limit on information gathering.

“Now, about payment, That’ll be ten million dollars or comparable services rendered. I’ve got a lovely matchup you could take part in tomorrow night against a young speedster. A girl. I hear she burns right out of her clothes.”

Metalon waggled his eyebrows for some reason.

“So?” Chemestro asked. Whether a speedster was clothed or not really didn’t have anything to do with their ability to fight.

“So, umm....money then?” Metalon

“Barter, hopefully.” Chemestro said, selecting the ceiling above them and making it permeable to the barrels he’d placed on the roof on the way in. Chemestro caught them by lowering the pressure above them to nil, lowering them gently onto the floor.

The two blue barrels sat there beside him, and Chemestro placed a possessive hand on the barrel.

“This is nitro.”

“Nitroglycerin?”

“Nitro. The drug.”

It was a doping method used by Nexus officials in emergencies and provided excellent combat performance boosts with only minor side-effects. Exhaustion, muscle tearing, and the like.

It was also highly restricted.

“Mind cracking them open?” Metalon aked.

“Not at all,” Chemestro said, taking a glass off of Metalon’s desk and making a pinhole section of the barrel permeable, allowing it to fill the bottom of the glass before he handed it over.

The drug had a pungent, vinegary smell that crawled into the nostril, with an acrid aftertaste.

“Ugh, yeah, that’s nitro,” Metalon said, wafting it under his nose and making a face before setting the glass aside.

“Each barrel is worth eight million. It should more than compensate you for the difficulty of reselling it. No one knows I have these, as I made them myself, and produced the raw ingredients using my powers.”

“Don’t want Nexus checking your bank statements, huh?” Metalon asked.

“It would be more accurate to say I want them to like what they see.” Chemestro shrugged.

“Say no more, that’s fair compensation. I will now tell you what I know about Paradox.” Metalon said, getting started.

“First of all, this is something that very few people know:”

Chemestro leaned forward in his seat unconsciously.

“Paradox is Hexen’s son.”

“I already knew that.” Chemestro said, standing.

“Hold your horses, kid,” Metalon said, holding up his hand. “I’m just covering all the bases so you can’t accuse me of skipping something.”

I don’t have any horses. And what does he mean by covering bases? The basic feel of what he just said felt like he was asking him to wait, because he was going to cover the basics in case there was something in there that Chemestro wasn’t aware of.

Chemestro approved of that sentiment. He sat back down.

“Paradox is one of the few people who have used his real name as his super name, likely because it’s so unusual that few people would bother to think it’s not a pseudonym.”

“Five foot ten, green eyes, black hair, Born to Claudette Zauberer, who was in turn born to Queen Marigold Zauberer of Manita.”

Chemestro gave Metalon a flat stare.

“Your boy’s a prince!” Metalon explained. “Or well...a princess’s son? Is that a duke? Idunno. It doesn’t matter, Manita no longer exists, so it’s kind of a moot point.”

“Anything I can use? Something I couldn’t have learned using Google?” Chemestro said.

“Alright, I’ve saved the best for last. Do not speak about this in polite company because there’s a chance you’ll get killed for it. Paradox’s father is actually...”

Chemestro leaned forward in his seat.

“Darryl Zauberer, formerly Darryl Collins!”

Chemestro stood, turning to leave.

“They met when Darryl was in prison for holding the city hostage as The Mechanaut.”

Chemestro froze.

“That balding beaknose is one of the most dangerous men in the city?”

“I thought that information might provide some context in why your father pitted you against Hexen’s son.”

Mechanaut was one of Neuron’s greatest rivals.

Chemestro’s stomach soured as he realized his conflict with Paradox was a byproduct of his father’s rivalry with another tinker. He’d also been denied critical information. It made him feel small and meaningless. Like a pawn.

He swallowed the feeling back down and buried it where it belonged.

“What else?”

And now for the information that no one else knows:” Metalon said, waggling his fingers dramatically.

“Paradox is not a tinker.” The information broker said.

“What do you mean?”

“The kid is a mage. The effects of each of his rays and weapons are magical in nature. The gadgets on his forearms are so much theater designed to obfuscate his actual abilities.”

“Where does he get the armor then?” Chemestro asked.

Heather and Perry followed him up to the cops, who had their palms resting on their firearms, for all the good it would do them.

“I surrender myself to Nexus custody,” Chromelord said, holding out his wrists. “I just committed several acts of vandalism and assault in and around the john Wayne bodega. I am a super, and my handle is Chromelord. I have super strength, durability, and can teleport through any object with a reflective enough surface to see a clear reflection.”

“I am currently under the control of a type three mind control device, will not attempt to escape and will follow the orders of any police or Nexus personnel, until the compulsion expires in approximately twenty-eight minutes.”

“I was captured by Paradox and Wraith.”

Chromelord proceeded to give Perry and Heather’s bounty deposit ID’s.

“You’re right,” Heather said, nodding appreciatively “That is convenient.”

“I call it the noob hunter,” Perry said, rolling one of the darts back and forth in his finger.

Against any super with decent defenses, it was useless, but for a newly minted, rampaging super, it was an ideal solution.

The blood-contract it enforced was such:

Find and surrender to the nearest police or nexus officer.

Admit to any crimes committed immediately prior to darting.

Identify oneself, then accurately describe their abilities.

Mention the mind control (required by law) along with the time limit. Follow the directions of any officer of the police or Nexus.

Do not try to escape.

And finally, give credit for the capture to Paradox and Wraith.

“After Dazzle got away, I wanted a more sure thing, ya know? Rampaging noobs are worth fifty grand apiece.” Perry said.

Perry could make about ten Mk.3’s after tax and splitting the reward with Wraith. He was about 600 supplies worth behind on his order for Locust.

“How’d it go through his skin if he was super durable?” Heather asked

“I made an algorithm that can estimate a super’s durability over the course of a fight, it adjusts the air pressure in the tube up or down as necessary.”

“It’s also very sharp,” Perry said, inspecting the needle, which was not only insanely sharp, but over forty times stronger than it should’ve been. Perry’s biggest worry was the dart going through people.

Hence the algorithm.

“You know, hospitals actually pay good money for syringes and scalpels that can penetrate bruiser skin.” One of the nearby officers said, drawing their attention to him. The officer got jittery at the armored figure and spandex wearing girl staring at him.

“Ahem, good job, capes.” He said, tipping his hat before overly casually walking away.

Congratulations! You are now a level 4 Garage Tinker.

Paradox Zauberer (Perry Z.)

Class: Garage Tinker

Level 4

HP: 5

Body: 4

Stability: 4

Nerve: 8

Attunement: 18

Free Points:5

XP to next level 2441

“Whoop!” Perry shouted, fist-pumping in full armor. “That capture put me over the limit. Level four, baby!”

Nearly two weeks of working out ‘till exhaustion and one good capture later, and Perry had hit his next level.

“Let’s get back to the lair and see what progress we can make on the stealth hyperweave.”

Fifteen minutes later, they trotted down the staircase leading to Perry’s lair, finding the lights on and the nostalgic smell of burning metal wafting through the air until it hit the rumbling vents in the ceiling.

Hardcase was in the middle of the room, with a huge floodlight shining down on her. The tiny girl was wearing one of Perry’s oversized shirts, which hung nearly down to her knees.

She had goggles and ear protection on and was currently using an angle grinder to clean up a new component for her mech-suit.

Beside her was her mech suit, and a computer and workbench he didn’t recognize. It was a drop in the bucket compared to the size of the room, so it didn’t bother him that much.

“It looks like Hardcase is finally moving in with you.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Perry said with a shrug. “I’d have company that understood basic physics for once.”

“It’s true, you do need someone to teach you a lesson in physics.” Heather said, waving a fist at him.

The noise of the angle grinder cut off suddenly as Hardcase noticed their approach.

“Oh!” Hardcase said as they approached, taking off her hearing protection. “I’m sorry, I just...Paradox has so much more room than my basement and his grinders never need their blades changed, and...

Perry glanced down to the shirt she was wearing.

F.B.I.

FEMALE BODY INSPECTOR

“Really, Perry?” Heather asked, looking at him with mild disgust.

“Sorry about the shirt,” Perry said. “It seemed funny at the time.”

“Oh, OH!” Hardcase’s eyes widened, looking down at the oversized shirt. “I’m sorry, I just got oil all over mine and went through the lockers and found this huge stack of shirts and thought it would be okay if I borrowed one. I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” She hustled over to the lockers.

“Didn’t I apologize first?” Perry asked.

“Yeah, but that’s not how she heard it.” Heather said.

“It’s fine!” Perry called after her. “Keep your shirt on!” Or not, you know...whatever.