System Supervillain, Chapter 191 (Patreon)

Chapter 191 – Handover

Silver Knight was not exactly thrilled to be taking this meeting. In fact, he was very much unhappy to be forced into taking this meeting, but it was necessary. He was, after all, the one who suggested this whole thing, and the one who promised payment in the form of technology to the supervillain.

The Deflector Field module he’d built as the villain’s payment had been an interesting challenge, which he admittedly did not get enough of these days. Oh, the base component’s design was simple enough. It was a plug-in that could be attached at the back of the neck in the standard upgrade port the Tailors put into costumes they made. Standard ports were useful like that. When activated, the field would cover the user’s forearms and any weapon they might be holding in an invisible forcefield, allowing them to deflect ranged attacks. Basic work, really.

Getting the whole thing down to where it only required a single point of XP to use was the challenging part. The Environmental Control that was Iceblade’s Cowl helped in that regard, as did the Real Armor and Restrainable limitations, which meant the device required maintenance, and that he couldn’t deflect attacks while grappled, but that stlll left it costing 4 XP, not 1.

First, he’d put on a Limited Power restriction, so that activating the field would void stealth for as long as it was on. Then, making it cost END to activate. Still not enough, but Increased Endurance Cost with a x7 multiplier did the trick. And the restrictions were primarily in software and resistors put inside the piece, meaning that the device could be gradually upgraded as the user gained more XP. It was, if he was being honest, a fine piece of work.

More importantly, it was a purely defensive piece of work, without even the ability to reflect attacks back at the attacker. That meant he did not have to worry about his invention being used to harm other heroes or civilians. Well, Iceblade had a reputation for only targeting civilians if they were part of an organization he was targeting, but it was still something that would have weighed on him, if he’d made something offensive in nature. Yes, a purely ideological stance would say that even the defensive gear was aiding a villain in their villainy, but someone that purely ideological wouldn’t have contracted a supervillain to sneak into an enemy facility that they could not legally search. Silver Knight liked to believe that he was far too practical and logical for that.

Of course, just because he had to be here for this meeting, didn’t mean he would be here alone. Originally, it would have been just him and Electra, who he’d used to contact the villain in the first place. However, Iceblade’s message indicated that he had ‘guests’ to deliver into the New York Knights’ custody, and the information he had uncovered was something that the heroes needed to hear. That was ominous enough that Silver Knight had called in the entire team. Iceblade was not one prone to hyperbole, after all.

The next issue was where, exactly, to have the meeting. They couldn’t meet at the Knights’ headquarters, because things that happened there were subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, and heroes openly collaborating with villains was very much something that would cause issues for the team in the future, and would definitely ruin any criminal cases that arose out of this event. Fortunately, there was a warehouse owned by one of Silver Knight’s companies, in his civilian guise, that would allow them to ‘capture’ or ‘rescue’ the people Iceblade wanted to turn over, before he ‘escaped’. All legal enough to stand up to basic scrutiny, and not something that would immediately taint future criminal cases.

Not that everyone on the team was happy about this, of course. Silver Knight could practically hear Mechana’s frown through her suit as she leaned against one of the columns supporting the warehouse’s roof. “This is a bad idea, SK. We should just take him down. Nothing good ever comes from interacting with Iceblade.”

Firebolt shook his head. “As much as I’d normally agree with you, Mechana, we need to face reality. Last time we fought, Iceblade handily took on five of us on his own, and did not seem to be struggling. If he called in the rest of Devastation, we would be well and truly outclassed, and you know it. And you know that Web Mistress will probably be waiting in the wings, even if she isn’t here in person. Do you think your firewalls can keep her out of your armor?”

Prohibition sighed. “He’s right. More importantly, trying to do something like that would incur Iceblade’s wrath. We all know what he does to people he believes have betrayed him. I don’t know about you, but I would rather not be the reason my family ends up with their heads on pikes, or sold to some South American brothel.”

Lifeline shook his head. “The debate is pointless, anyways. Iceblade is many things, but he is not a liar, and he isn’t one who backs out of a deal, once it is made, unless the other side breaks the deal first. The job Silver Knight contracted was to infiltrate the base and find evidence that could be used to stop any attacks or false-flag actions that the SDI may be planning, without drawing in anyone not involved, or causing collateral damage. If Iceblade is calling for a meet, then he will have done that. Which means we should focus less on how much we dislike the man, or his methods, and instead prepare for whatever he brings us.”

The conversation was cut off by the scream of dial-up internet, coming from Mechana’s suit. The next moment, sixteen figures were standing next to the power-armored heroine. Six were immediately recognizable to anyone in the hero business. Iceblade, Web Mistress, Stolen Victory, Pyra, Foxtrot, and Titania. All members of Devastation, with four of them being former members of the Squadron Supreme.

It was the other ten individuals that were surprising. All ten were wearing simple handcuffs, but did not look to be resisting. Eight of them were wearing lab coats and were clearly processing what they had been exposed to. The other two were a man in a simple suit, and a woman in a skirt that went down to her knees, but looked tight enough that it could have been painted on. They were definitely different from the rest.

Silver Knight stepped forward before Mechana could say anything. The fact that they were able to use Mechana’s suit as the entry port for Web Mistress’s ‘digital teleportation’ ability, that Storm Watch had seen, and reported on, meant that her suit was not as secure as they believed. Given Mechana’s temper, it was best to cut off that argument before it got started.

“Iceblade,” Silver Knight nodded. “You mentioned that there were ‘guests’ to hand over, so I brought the rest of the team. Though I admit that I did not expect you to bring us captives for interrogation. That is not typically your modus operandi. Did something happen that made you think they needed to be handled differently?”

It was a polite enough way of asking about why he’d taken prisoners, considering that his M.O. for his entire career centered around anyone at the site of his attacks ending up dead, or free to go, often unharmed. Other than the occasional abduction, he never took prisoners. And most of the abductions were planned things, where the attack was designed to acquire the person, for one reason or another. Other than when he briefly kidnapped Electra a few years ago, the number of times he had taken prisoners not as part of the express focus of the attack could be counted on one hand.

Iceblade nodded once, and when he spoke, his voice had a tone that was deceptively calm. The battle computer in Silver Knight’s armor brought up comparative analysis between Iceblade’s words, and voice samples from different sources over the years. The analysis suggested that the villain was controlling himself. Something about the base had angered him.

“The building was, indeed, and SDI base. Or, rather, they were building the base into the basement. They had turrets on closed networks with hardwired connections, zero wireless interactivity, everything air-gapped from any system with an external connection. Inside, they had SDI troopers in full power armor running security, but they kept them out of sight from the locals, to ensure that they did not draw too much attention. They were prepared to deal with street-level or even mid-level supers, possibly even mid-level super teams, depending on what powers the supers had, and their defenses. It was not enough to threaten me, but it would have been a problem for anyone attempting to raid the place more traditionally.”

Aegis took a deep, calming breath. Clearly, he, too, had caught something in the way Iceblade was speaking, and was forcing himself to calm down, and think. “And you defeated the guards, obviously. So, what did you find in this basement?”

The “The SDI was turning the Syracuse facility into their new North American headquarters. Apparently, after the setback in Houston, they decided that their new headquarters needed to be somewhere far enough from the normal centers of superhuman violence, so they would be less likely to have an alien invasion drop down on top of them, like what happened to their last headquarters.

“Aside from some more guards, who were quickly dispatched, there were some giant robots there to help with ‘containment’. The SDI calls them Sentinels, and the three I found were prototypes. Prototypes that were eight meters tall, and four wide, heavily armored, capable of projecting forcefields, and had a variety of weaponry. If I hadn’t called in other members of Devastation, then there was a good chance that I would have been overwhelmed, and probably forced to retreat, if they didn’t have some kind of field in place to prevent that.”

Silver Knight’s mind raced as he considered the possibilities. Robots specialized in combatting supers would be a problematic foe, especially if they were advanced to the point where they could adapt to changing conditions. Three prototypes together meant that they were probably about to start testing. “So, the threat I was concerned about, would it have been a test of these Sentinels on superhumans?”

Iceblade shook his head. “The Sentinels are a ‘containment’ plan, one of several SDI is working on in order to try and undercut and eliminate superhuman influence in the world, until exclusion simply seems natural. According to the scientists, the eventual goal is for the Sentinels to advance to the point where they can replace teams like the New York Knights, or even the Squadron Supreme. Once there is no need for superheroes, working on expelling all supers simply becomes a matter of painting them all as supervillains, or potential supervillains.”

Electra cursed under her breath. “That’s low, but expected out of a group like the SDI. But you haven’t mentioned why you are so upset, or why you decided to capture all these people.”

Silver Knight’s armor sensors flagged aggression spikes not just from Iceblade, but from all the women with him, while at the same time recording fear indicators from the captured individuals. Clearly, they knew something, and had already been informed about how Iceblade and the others felt about it. Considering that the former Squadron Supreme members were just as upset, the SDI’s plans must have been particularly abhorrent, and likely not simply targeting villains.

When he spoke, Iceblade’s words could freeze mercury. “While we had the ‘guests’ in the digital world, I had Web Mistress make a few alterations. Nothing to change their memories, personality, or anything like that. However, they now are physically incapable of lying, even by omission, and have an extremely strong psychological trigger to protect superhumans. While you will definitely want North American SDI Director Max Hopkins to tell you all about his political connections, and how SDI gets all its funding, these scientists were working on several ‘containment’ projects. Project Sentinel is the least offensive of them, though Project Colonial is on a larger scale. But I know you will all be very interested in Project Chlorine. As is the Guild when I give them copies of what I’ve learned.”