Balmas

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Yes, and simultaneously no? I mean, he's been in classes, with children, of the same approximate age, being taught stuff by a teacher, but if you look at the offical records, he's never set foot in a school or received a degree.

He's never felt so out of place in his life.

Which makes no damn sense, by the way. I mean, these are the kinds of people for whom genetic perfection was guaranteed approximately six months before conception. Anybody whose parents didn't have the money to ensure such was the case couldn't afford to attend here. And since winning the genetic lottery wasn't enough, the students have had to improve on perfection. Green eyes? Go for it. Wings? Hell yeah. Typhoid yellow floor-length Sailor Moon animatronic hair? The sky, your parent's bank accounts, and the current trends are the limit.

Compared to the polychromatic zoo around him, Victor cannot help but feel... plain. Dammit, he can make wings on the fly, convert his body into a freakin' miniature jetplane if he wanted to, but there's a not-inconsiderable part of him feels envious of being able to just... decide to graft on new limbs as desired. And he's realizing, too late, that posing as a talent scout disguised as a student requires that the students think he's worth paying attention to.

And, also, some functional knowledge of how Aristeia is played, but that's a different problem.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Now look, if--Bode--come on man, I have a camouflage robot right there--okay they're doing this this is happening right now.

Heading out into public was not part of the plan, not before he had at least one fall-back relationship established. But if this is what Bode wants, this is what Bode gets. He has to have a plan, right? Right?

Gulp.

Right. So, Neo Chaos Spire. The rich and powerful, the elite, playground of the riche-nouveau. He's not important enough for there to be wanted posters on every corner, disturbing the fantastically wealthy, but it's still unnerving to see his face staring out at him from under "have you seen this man." So, the best way to do this? Probably two best ways that he can think of--jam as many cameras as he can. Make it seem like it's just a malfunction and pray that the security guard playing on his phone doesn't think to question how come all the cameras surrounding an intersection are going down at once. And that the cameras are all broadcasting on the same narrow band.

Okay, so plan A has its flaws. Which is why plan B--assume holographic disguise--is probably the one he'll go with. It has its flaws, as there are cameras that can pierce this kind of stuff, and he needs to sync up his actions with the disguise, but most of the things in the spy-counterspy actions are focused on invisibility and the piercing thereof. Hopefully, just looking like someone else will keep him from more than casual glances.

[Always Prepared: 8.]

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Sorry for inactivity. I've been fighitng a nasty cold for the past few days and will try to get something up later today

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

I could be wrong, but I think that's either my 4th or 5th XP. Anybody else remember whether I'm leveling up or not?

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

"Hello, Victor," he said, unlimbering his enormous sniper rifle. Even folded it looks like the main battle cannon of a TAG, and the Thermo-Optic Camouflage cape he's wearing is Corporate Champion grade. Prometheus didn't spare a dime when it came to outfitting Bode. "Did you know that Angel-IKA is commentating an Aristeia! game? I was thinking about going to watch. I suspect Dominus is planning something related to that."

@Thanqol

Victor opens his mouth. Victor shuts his mouth. You know what, that wasn't how he planned this conversation going, but fuck it, it's as good a place as any to start. "I didn't, no. What exactly is there to heist at one of those games?"

He's boiling with questions, but if there's one thing he's learned, it's that he didn't pay enough attention to Prometheus. And he'll be damned if he makes the same mistake now. So as he listens to Bode, he's doing all he can to... shit, does the same body language even apply? Bode is something new entirely, but he's doing his damnedest to try to figure out what he's thinking. Like, does he actually like Victor?

Somehow, that question is topping all the rest.

[4 on pierce the mask. Marking XP.]

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Brainstorm!

You have gone underground. You have retreated to your secret lab. You have had time, information, years of preparation and the assistance of your old AI. You have a mission to destroy a corrupt government and overthrow the president (of AEGIS). I have two questions: Have you built a mecha suit? And, how big is your mecha suit?

While you're telling me about your preparation work for what will be the grand struggle of your life, tell us a bit about your secret lair, your downtime and what you're doing to stave off the descent into outright supervillainy.

@Thanqol

Why does everybody always assume that Victor has a giant robot suit? Look, go to any of the local hacker forums, ask a random person what size their giant robot is, and you'll get a blank stare. Building a giant robot is all well and good for corporations. After all, they steal enough money from their workers and tenants that they can measure each other's robot dicks against each other. But for the average person, who doesn't have nigh-infinite resources, building a giant robot is a sucker's game. The corps' robot is always going to be bigger than yours, or they'll have the resources to fund an army of smaller robots. And even if he did have a robot capable of going toe-to-toe with all of AEGIS's might, you know that a robot like that would invite all of the other megacorps to temporarily put aside a their differences for an all-corp smackdown of this arrogant pretender.

That's why not one of his suits is larger than an above-average TAG. Smaller suits are more efficient; they can pack enough of a punch to be a credible threat, they're a harder target to hit, they can be faster and more evasive, and it's much easier to buy parts for them. (Seriously. Just go to the supermarket and try to buy alumisteel in the amounts needed to provide armor for a hundred-foot-tall kaiju-slaying robot. He'll wait.) It also means that he doesn't need to put all his eggs in one basket--this one can be the zoomie suit purpose built for out-flying and out-maneuvering missiles, this one packs power armor into a bracelet, this one is built to counter hardlight technology, this one shoves every chameleon technology he could smuggle or steal into one package, and so on.

As for the lair... do we have to call it a lair? Heroes don't have lairs. Heroes have hideouts. You don't call the ManCave a lair, and it's quite literally built in a cave, complete with stalactites and dripping ceilings that are a nightmare to keep out of the supercomputer. No, his hideout, thank you very much, is sensible, clean, dare he even say a little bit cozy? He made it out of what used to be a subway station, back before some megacorp or other decided that public transit was less profitable than forcing everybody to purchase their own individual one-man vehicle. Its entrances are boarded up and cemented over, and most of them only show up in old archival metro maps. But it's a decent enough shelter--spacious, with plenty of room for a rudimentary workshop, some storage, a quick backdoor through some plastered-over sheetrock, and even a computer, though the lag is atrocious down here.

And Victor is very, most definitely, not descending into supervillainy. He's been pondering. Thinking over what Victoria said, right before she punched him through several walls. After all, why not build up his own power? Make his own corporation? Decide to use his mind to... to... He can't quite bring himself to even think it.

Oh, sure, he can invent. He can create. His nanobot designs are well-patented, and those alone would probably make him a millionaire if he went public. But the problem he keeps running into is that he's only one man. And if he brings in other workers to produce his product, then he is morally obliged to pay them what they're worth. If they produce something worth two hundred dollars, then their work is worth that full amount, and that's what they deserve to take home. The only reason he'd make a corporation is to build enough power and money to compete with the other corporations, and the only way he could do that is to descend to the same strategies he started out to fight.

So that's been fun.

Really, he's mostly just been working to figure out ways to contact Bound Eage, Mami, and Sara without immediately having every corp down on him. He needs Bound Eagle to... well, apologize would still take priority. And then negotiate, and then plan. Baby steps.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Dear [Insert Reader Name here]!
We at AmzNoble Publishing know that you, our readers, are a discerning crew, and no doubt have grown fond of certain characters. However, following unfortunate recent events, we regret that your subscription to "The Brainstorm and Friends Power Hour" has been cancelled indefinitely.

But don't worry! We understand the value of a good distraction from your impending mortality! As such, and based on your read history, we've graciously decided that you'll like some of our other comics of an antiheroic bent! As such, we've subscribed you to "Angel: Rogue Discordian," and "Corporal Popp: Guardsman of the Gods." Your subscription cost in AmzBucks has been adjusted accordingly.

You're welcome.
Sincerely,
Jordan Beesknees, Junior Assistant Editor-In-Chief.