System Supervillain, Book 10 Prologue

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Capes & Cowls Forum, General Chat)

Message of the Day: Remember, Capes & Cowls is ‘neutral ground’. Keep it civil, and if you try to track someone through our site, it will not end well for you.

Speedy, AngelEyes, Victory, HotStuff, Jester, Freedom, Aegis, Stars, Emerald, Snowflake, MagicGurl, RedHot, Scholar, CantSeeMe, Turbo, DontYouWantMeBaby, KoolAidMan, SliceNDice, Destroyer, Inquisitor, Narrator, PartyGurl, Chummer, TheWhiteHat, TripleThreat, LuckyDice, GrimDark, RazzleDazzle, DarkAngel, Chiller, Sparky, MultiMe, Stepford, Dollmaker, Quickfoot, Mindtaker, MrRoboto, ItsyBitsySpider, Valkyrie, TitaniumTits, Lolth, InfoGirl, ScoopGirl, HolyBlessing, and DonJuan are in the chat.

Stars: So, what happened then?

Quickfoot: Patriot decided to take his new slut and go form his own team. But, he quickly found out that, after he quit Storm Watch, that meant his hero license was rescinded, meaning he needs to either become a vigilante, or find another team to join up with. And no one in the region is going to take him on, not with all the lawsuits he has already, and leading around some naked bimbo on a leash.

LuckyDice: So, that really is LifeHack, back from wherever the System put all the reality warpers?

Quickfoot: Yes, confirmed it with her, and with the International Superhuman Register. It is her. Except she’s somehow been brainwashed into being a devoted love slave to Patriot.

MagicGurl: Hmm. That sounds similar to certain types of enthrallment or slave curses practiced by certain dark magic traditions.

MultiMe: You said the note was signed by Iceblade?

Quickfoot: Yeah, Patriot was the only one who couldn’t plainly see that this was some way of him fucking with the team. Why, though, we aren’t sure.

TitaniumTits: He was probably just bored.

Fabricator has entered the chat.

Slicer has entered the chat.

DevilsDaughter has entered the chat.

Emperor has entered the chat.

ADMIN: Account ‘Warpsmith’ has been Archived.

ADMIN: Account ‘LordOfAll’ has been Archived.

ADMIN: Account ‘[Redacted]’ has been Archived.

LuckyDice: What, wait. HOW? ALL OF THEM AT ONCE? AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHERS?

MagicGurl: Lay off the caps, Dice. We’re all wondering, but shouting isn’t the way to do it.

PartyGurl: DD! You’re back! Oh, we’re going to party SO hard!

DevilsDaughter: Hello to you, too,  PG. I see you’re still living, or unliving, up to your name, hmm?

PartyGurl: You know it! But how did you get out of wherever you were?

Fabricator: Probably the same way I got out. The System Administrator was asked by the Guild to ‘work through the accounts’.

TitaniumTits: Meaning, what?

Chiller: Meaning, they paid me quite well to go in and adjudicate on the different people in Quarantine, so that their accounts could be properly reactivated or archived. They were beginning to worry about possible security issues if accounts were left in limbo for too long.

LuckyDice: Wait, you’re the System Administrator? And have been all this time?

Chiller: Yes.

Slicer: Oy! I got a bone to pick with you, mister System Administrator! What the hell did you do to my powers? And why am I being forced to wear this fucking dog collar?

Chiller: Starting with the collar, it is a reminder to you, and those you meet, that there are consequences for trying to break the System. The fact that I’ve tied your powers to it, and made it so that only an Administrator can take it off, just helps reinforce that bit of ‘consequences’, without turning it into a major vulnerability. I also had to go through and tweak people’s powers a bit, so that they fit within the points the System allotted them, and wouldn’t cause any more trouble.

Chiller: As for your powers, specifically, you were too weak to support any of the more robust abilities that would have allowed you to mimic reality warping with the System, so I gave you a variety of ‘cutting’ type attacks and powers. If you are unsatisfied, you can always put in a support ticket and ask for an audit.

MrRoboto: Don’t do it. Bastard has a sick sense of humor with his audits.

Emperor: As grateful as I am to be out, and back to my people, if you had such power, why did you not use it beforehand?

Chiller: Which part? The letting you out of Quarantine, or the changing people’s powers bit?

Emperor: Both, if you would.

Chiller: Well, the reason I waited until now to let people out of Quarantine was that, at first, I had other things going on, and was still learning about the System, myself. The Quarantine wasn’t going anywhere, and wasn’t hurting me, so I had no reason to bother with it until the Guild contacted me.

CantSeeMe: How did the Guild know you were the Administrator?

Chiller: They guessed, as some people on this forum had, that I had some deeper connection to the System than they did, since I was able to get back on my feet so quickly after the Initialization. I went in for a checkup, and the Physicians asked me about it.

CantSeeMe: And you actually answered honestly?

Chiller: No reason not to. As for what they wanted, they knew I wouldn’t agree to neutrality clauses, so they just asked me to do consulting work now and then for the Guild, when ‘extraordinary situations’ arise.

SliceNDice: Such as?

Chiller: Victim under a curse that is slowly transforming them, but they can’t speak because of how badly the curse has progressed. I told them what they needed to know about the curse, and they called their specialists in to deal with it. Won’t go into any further detail than that.

Emperor: And why don’t you use your ability to change people more?

Chiller: Because I limit myself. Using my Administrator privileges to read an individual’s status is one thing, using them to adjust it is something else entirely. I only do that when there is a ticket in the system, and I never add or subtract total points from their sheet.

TitaniumTits: You expect us to believe that you had a ticket allowing you to ‘adjust’ Lady Victory? Or turning Titan into Titania?

Chiller: Of course not. Because I didn’t use my Administrator privileges on either of them. There are other powers that can transform people, you know. And Titania was changed because she was brought into a realm where everyone and everything is data, and I have one of the world’s best hands at data manipulation on my team.

Lolth: Flatterer.

Victory: Sadly, he’s right. He used a Transform power on me.

Quickfoot: So, Iceblade, why the fuck did you give Patriot a naked Brazilian girl?

Chiller: Because LifeHack was a bit too unaccustomed to the idea of ‘consequences’, so I felt it was best to tie her down somehow, and make sure that there would be someone else looking over her. If you’re asking why I chose Patriot? Because he’s too much of an idiot to question things, and I knew it would cause a bit of harmless mayhem.

LuckyDice: What about the three accounts that just got ‘Archived’?

Chiller: I purged them from the database of reality.

Slicer: Wait, you can do that?

Chiller: Yes, one of the Administrator functions is the option to permanently purge anyone or anything in Quarantine, removing all trace of them, with no chance of return.

GrimDark: Well, remind me not to do anything that gets me sent to Quarantine.

Chiller: Don’t worry, Grim. Quarantine only kicks in if you do something to destabilize the System. Don’t try and break reality, and you won’t have a problem.

DevilsDaughter: By the way, Iceblade, I just wanted to say that breakfast in bed was scrumptious. As was the shower after.

PartyGurl: Wait, you and Icy? GIRL, GIVE ME THE TEA!

DevilsDaughter: Come to Paris, and I’ll tell you everything, PG. Blow by blow.

PartyGurl: Ooh! I gotta book a flight!

PartyGurl has left the chat.