Nine-to-Five: The Busy Slate

Interlude: The Busy Slate

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There were over a hundred million pets in the United States. The exact number varied depending on the methodology used to determine it. Regardless, even if you narrow the scope to a large metropolitan area like Port Stanley, the number of pets would still be above a million.

Many of those pets went missing every year. Between 13% to 17% by his estimates.

Most were recovered. Some weren’t.

Conclusion: Thousands of pets never saw their homes again.

That would not stand.

Over the past several months, Slate had been working tirelessly on a program that would help people locate their pets whenever they went missing.  It was some of his best work if he had to be honest. The program didn’t work with cats, but that was acceptable. Cats were not true companions but rather an opportunistic race that sometimes threw in their lot with humanity.

Slate did not care for cats.

Creating an algorithm that would use animal behavioral patterns to predict future actions had been the easy part. The real challenge had been mapping out the entirety of Port Stanley to create a virtual replica of the city. Not because it was beyond his capabilities. Far from it. However, there was a limit to how much freedom he had in the city. As a result, several flights had been required to do the necessary scanning without drawing too much attention to himself. Even then, Slate had received quite a few complaints from the commissioner.

The laws regarding superheroes were, in Slate’s opinion, in dire need of improvement.

It was only natural. Exceeds had first appeared during the Great War, the World War as some called it. Though several scientists had theorized that Exceeds had existed long before that—some going as far as to say the first Exceeds had appeared thousands of years ago—it had been Jonathan Danner who brought the world to a halt.

Unfortunately, the world did not remain that way for long.

Once the world became aware of one man with powers, the governments from around the world had quickly sounded the call for more, and many had been the ones who came forward. The existence of Exceeds before Jonathan Danner may be theoretical, but the actions of his contemporaries were well-documented.

When the hostilities were renewed, it had been with Exceeds on all sides. Exceeds had completely changed warfare as humanity knew it. Modern Goliaths without a single David to stop them. While several counter-Exceed measures were devised during the Great War, not one was as reliable as pitting Exceed against Exceed.

When the war was over, Exceeds were national heroes beloved by the public.

When the war was over, Exceeds were weapons of war feared by their own governments.

Slate suspected this contradiction had given rise to the modern superhero. It certainly shaped all future legislation. When the Great War was over, Exceeds returned to their homes. Many were content to never fight again. Others were restless to do more. Why stop themselves from doing good? Why not fight the crime they saw perpetuated on the streets?

That was how it started. A few at first. Then young Exceeds had followed the example of their elders. Kids were taught that Exceeds won the war. That they were heroes. What was that if not an impetus to act?

As Exceed activity in the streets grew, the government grew restless. As some Exceeds turned to crime and ran into other Exceeds, resulting in the first super-powered battles within the United States borders, the people grew restless. It was not long before laws limiting the actions of Exceeds were passed by congress.

Despite many revisions, protests, and controversies, the bottom line was fairly straightforward. CHEM was in charge of regulating Exceeds within the United States. Exceeds working for CHEM were not allowed to operate within a city unless they were called in by local authorities.

Different states (and even different cities within the same state) had different attitudes towards superheroes. Some were fairly accepting of superheroes and even encouraged them to work with the police. Others were not quite enthused to welcome Exceeds.

Despite (or maybe because) being close to one of the largest CHEM facilities in the country, Port Stanley was one of the cities most reluctant to allow superheroes to operate within its borders.

This left Slate with very little to do in terms of actual hero-ing.

Today marked an exception. Today, Slate was free to explore Port Stanley at his leisure.

In matters involving other Exceeds, CHEM always had supremacy. This referred not only to supervillain attacks but also to matters such as making first contact with newly discovered Exceeds. It was in the latter function that Slate had been dispatched into the city.

After reading the police reports, Slate could only agree with Director Williams' conclusion. Repeated muggings stopped on the same night by a highly agile assailant. All signs pointed to it being the actions of an Exceed. A vigilante.

Vigilantes were a gray area of the law. CHEM largely allowed them to exist because they were not technically bound by the same restrictions as CHEM. It was not rare for CHEM to cooperate with several vigilantes and even fund a few of them to get around particularly bothersome legislation.

A beep alerted Slate. The scan of the alley below him was finished. From what he had pieced together from the testimonies gathered by the police, it was here where the vigilante stopped their first mugging. A pity there had been no blood samples to analyze here. That would have made things so much simpler.

With a roar from his thrusters, Slate flew off to the site of the vigilante's second intervention.

Normally, a vigilante who had done something so perfectly harmless as stopping a few muggings with minimal incidents would not merit this type of investigation. However, this vigilante appeared the same night many members of the Rough Diamonds went missing. If the vigilante was related to their disappearance, it was of utmost importance that they locate him.

The Rough Diamonds were their first major lead to the mysterious drug, soma. Director Williams had been on its trail for well over a year now. She would not let a random happenstance stop her. That was why she had sent Slate into the city instead of anyone else.

On a personal level, Slate could admit to some sadness that it was his tracking capabilities that had seen him chosen for the job. Usually, first contact agents would be selected for their friendly, approachable manner. Slate aspired to be known by such characteristics.

In fact, Slate was reasonably sure he met the criteria for friendly. It was approachable he had problems with. At ten feet fall and five feet wide, Slate was heavy machinery in more than one sense of the word. A bulky metal soldier with visible gears.

He would not be surprised if, in addition to his state-of-the-art scanners, Director Williams had sent him into the city to annoy the commissioner.

Slate's co-workers often told him he should fashion something slimmer or just hang out of his armor to help put people at ease. While the thought was appreciated, those people did not fully comprehend his situation.

Even Director Williams did not know the truth of Slate. Only one person did.

It was often said honesty was the best policy, but his father had told him the fewer people knew about him, the better. The world already had a hard time accepting Exceed despite having had decades to do so. The idea of artificial intelligence was one they had to be eased into gradually.

By Slate’s estimates, the best time to come out should be somewhere in the next century.

That was fine.

Slate could be patient.

~~~

Codename: Slate
Height: 10’2
Age: 6
Birthday: January 2
Favorite Food: N/A