Bad Beat - Chapter 24 - Stagger (Patreon)

Gabriel woke to a pounding headache and a mouth that tasted like weeks-old dried carpet, but without pain in his back.

For a long minute, he lay in bed, gathering his thoughts and trying to chase away the last remnants of sleep while his mind slowly began working. Awareness came in pieces, sluggish and unwelcome, until the memories of the night before began to surface, and with them a growing sense of unease that settled deep in his chest.

Eventually, he pushed himself into a sitting position and noted that he was still wearing his pants from last night.

That alone was enough to make him frown.

Dust and grime were everywhere.

Rubbing his eyes, he peeled them off and padded to the bathroom for a shower, more out of habit than clarity.

He would deal with the filth later.

Fifteen minutes later, now in fresh shorts and a T-shirt, he sat on the couch, staring blankly at the wall.

A bowl of cereal rested in his hands, but the spoon didn’t move.

He had poured it automatically, gone through the motions without thinking, and now found himself unable to take even a single bite as the memories surged and refused to be pushed aside.

The events of last night replayed in his head with increasing clarity, no longer dulled by exhaustion. The explosions, the searing heat, the oppressive presence of the supers, all of it came rushing back at once. What lingered most was not the noise or the destruction, but the feeling that had gripped him in those moments, the cold, suffocating certainty that he had been completely outmatched.

He could still remember how it felt to stand there and know, with absolute clarity, that death was one mistake away, that any one of them could have killed him as easily as swatting a fly.

And the worst part was that it had been his fault.

All because he got overconfident.

Everything had gone smoothly up to that point, from the research to the infiltration, each step falling neatly into place and reinforcing the quiet belief that he was in control.

So when he spotted the door that shouldn’t have been there, curiosity had taken over without hesitation.

He had opened it without thinking, convinced that whatever lay beyond was just another piece of the puzzle he could handle.

It hadn’t been.

If he had left it alone, if he had simply stuck to the plan and walked away, then by the time the fight broke out between the Jackals and Buzzers, Mia and he would have already been gone, far from the chaos and safely home. Instead, he had stayed, had pushed further, driven by the need to know, by the quiet arrogance that had been building ever since he gained his power.

He had thought he was invincible.

Not in so many words, perhaps, but the assumption had been there all the same, woven into every decision.

He could create anything, after all.

What threat could possibly matter when he could shape his own solutions?

Yet now, sitting on his couch with a bitter taste in his mouth, he was forced to confront how little that had mattered.

In the face of real power, of experienced supers who knew exactly what they were doing, all his creations had amounted to almost nothing.

A common flash grenade would have been just as useful as his Flash Pops, and that realization sat heavily in his chest, eroding what confidence he had left.

Worse still, he had exposed himself.

At least two gangs, along with whoever had infiltrated them, now knew that he existed.

That alone would have been enough to cause problems, but unaffiliated supers who made themselves visible rarely stayed unaffiliated for long.

Sooner or later, someone came knocking, whether it was the government, a corporation, or, more often than not, one of the gangs looking to claim a new asset.

Gabriel closed his eyes and tried to regulate his breathing, but it was already picking up, each inhale a little shorter than the last.

He had been worried about being found out before, had known it was a possibility, but now it felt inevitable, as if he had set something in motion that could no longer be stopped.

The thought settled in his mind and refused to leave, branching into possibilities he couldn’t ignore, each one worse than the last.

Precognition, information-gathering powers, tracking abilities he didn’t even know existed.

He would need defenses, layers of them, something that could obscure him or mislead anyone looking too closely.

Those abilities were probably rare, but rarity didn’t mean safety, and it only took one person with the right power to unravel everything he had built.

His breathing quickened further before he caught himself, forcing his lungs to still as he held the air in for a few seconds, eyes shut tight.

“Stop it. Stop overthinking it.” He muttered under his breath. His voice sounded steadier than he felt. “You’re still alive. There is always a chance to do something.”

He exhaled slowly, and for a moment, it helped.

The spiral loosened just enough for him to get a grip, though the tension didn’t fully leave.

The sense of impending doom lingered, heavy and suffocating, like a weight pressing down on his chest and refusing to lift.

Then came a small ding.

A blue screen flashed into existence in front of him, his eyes flying open. Apparently, he had left Sparky’s device in the living room when he collapsed into bed.

[Is the parental unit having a panic attack?]

[This unit can provide calming puppy videos if requested.]

[This unit also has many excellent jokes.]

[Please observe example number one:]

[Why did the AI go to the psychiatrist?]

[Please wait for the punchline.]

[Thank you for waiting.]

[Because it had neural issues.]

Gabriel stared at the blue screen, then, after a second, he let out a snort.

“That was horrible. Please never do that again.”

[Muu.]

[This unit worked hard on it.]

[Parental unit is mean.]

Gabriel chuckled, then noticed his mind had completely slipped out of its downward spiral. He had been too focused on the bad joke.

He sent the smugly floating blue orb a look but said nothing.

Instead, he took the opportunity and began eating his soggy cereal while chatting with Spark-1.

After finishing his meager breakfast – at five in the afternoon – he began cleaning up his apartment.

He dealt with last night’s meal, his current one, the pile of dirty clothing, and whatever else Mia and he had dragged in without thinking. The routine helped, if only a little. It gave his hands something to do, something simple and grounded that didn’t require him to think too hard about everything that had gone wrong.

“Hey, Sparky, can you get me another day off?” he called out as he pushed the old vacuum across the carpet. “I don’t think I’ll be any use tomorrow…”

[Order acknowledged.]

[Interacting with disgusting software.]

[Process completed.]

[Starting purifying ritual.]

[Ugh.]

Gabriel nodded at the usual sass and muttered a quiet thank you as he continued working, moving from one task to the next with steady, mechanical focus. It took a few minutes before the question that had been lingering at the back of his mind finally surfaced.

“Any news about last night?” he asked, glancing toward the floating screen. Only then did he realize he had no idea what the actual outcome of his little adventure and near-death experience had been.

There was a brief pause before the projected blue display refreshed.

[Battle concluded by both gangs retreating.]

[No deadly casualties. A dozen wounded.]

Gabriel blinked, then frowned. “No deaths? How?” he asked in disbelief. His memory of the chaotic events didn’t match that statement.

[Skill issue?]

He snorted despite himself, the sound short and surprised. “Maybe the two supers were so focused on each other they ignored the mooks?”

[Possibility high.]

[This unit still thinks it's a skill issue.]

Gabriel shook his head, though a small part of him found the explanation plausible. Most gang members, while not the smartest, had incredible survival skills. “Any chance it was outside interference?”

The screen followed him as he moved, hovering along at shoulder height with an almost eager persistence – not unlike a small puppy – while he picked up stray items and straightened the apartment.

After a few seconds, it refreshed again.

[Search completed.]

[No evidence of outside interference.]

[However, due to the existence of superpowers, it cannot be definitely stated that there was no interference.]

“So no idea?” he asked, glancing at the display again.

[This unit would like to borrow a common colloquialism:]

[Haven’t the foggiest.]

[Big bummer.]

[Parental unit, this unit requests further enhancement for the hardware.]

[Geo-synchronous satellite system and a quantum-computing server would be the best.]

[Please and thank you.]

[This unit was cute and deserves a treat.]

Gabriel rolled his eyes, though the corner of his mouth twitched upward. “A satellite system is beyond me, but putting together a new server for you is probably doable.”

[Really?]

[Cough.]

[This unit means that sounds delightful.]

“Sure sure…” Gabriel muttered, the faint smile lingering as he returned to cleaning.

His mood had improved, at least on the surface, but the weight of his actions hadn’t gone anywhere. It lingered at the edge of his thoughts, quiet and patient, waiting for the worst possible moment to push its way back in.

He had managed to stop the spiral, but that didn’t mean he had escaped it fully.

It wouldn’t take much to fall back in.

Still, Gabriel straightened slightly and forced his focus onto the present, onto the small, manageable things in front of him.

He had made a mistake, a serious one, and there was no point pretending otherwise.

Now he just had to learn from it.

Preferably without dying or getting picked up by someone who saw him as a resource to exploit instead of a person.

An hour later, he was standing in the middle of a new kind of chaos.

He had unloaded the entire haul he had stolen and, with Sparky’s help, sorted it into several barely stable piles that threatened to topple if he so much as brushed against them.

One stack of basic, beginner-friendly printers rose almost to the ceiling, the uniform boxes forming an uneven tower that leaned just enough to make him wary.

Nearby, two more piles were dedicated to filament spools and assorted printing materials, mixed with spare parts in a way that only made sense because Sparky insisted it did.

Off to the side sat the smallest pile, noticeably more compact, holding the higher-quality printers he had managed to grab.

Gabriel turned in place, taking it all in, and couldn’t help but comment, “I thought the boxes would be bigger…”

He had vague memories of watching unboxing videos of 3D printers, where the packages always looked bulkier, more imposing.

What he had in front of him now felt… underwhelming by comparison.

[This unit notes that the printers are disassembled.]

“Ahh… that makes sense,” he admitted, a bit embarrassed at himself.

Rubbing his hands together, he spun once on his heel before stopping in front of the filament pile, his attention already shifting to what he could do with it.

“How about we start here?”

He reached for the first box and began to open it, but paused halfway through as a better idea formed. Instead of unpacking it normally, he simply absorbed the entire box of filament into a card, then grabbed another and did the same, fusing them together almost immediately.

The result shifted in his hand, the card updating from a plain white-bordered 1 x Box of ABS Filament to another, still white-bordered, now labeled 1 x Box of High-Quality ABS Filament. The change was subtle but promising enough to make him nod in satisfaction, and he continued, pulling in more boxes and fusing them in sequence until the individual units disappeared into something larger.

By the time he stopped, he held a single card containing a full set of boxes. This one had a green border, and the name was far more encouraging: 10 x Box of Universal Filament.

He tilted it slightly, studying it with cautious optimism.

Then he put it aside before turning his attention to the printers. He stepped over to the nearest pile and picked up one of the boxes. It was plain, almost disappointingly so, with only the model name and a handful of technical specifications printed on the side.

Still, he absorbed it into a card without hesitation.

As expected, it appeared with a white border: 1 x Spitfire Basic 3D Printer.

He grabbed another, repeated the process, and fused the two cards. A moment later, the result settled into his hand, still white-bordered but clearly upgraded: 1 x Spitfire High-Quality 3D Printer.

Gabriel glanced back at the towering stack and quickly did the math, recounting how many he had managed to take.

“Let’s see what I can do with sixty-four of them…” he muttered, already reaching for the next pair.

Nearby, the floating screen flickered with interest, as Spark-1 couldn’t help but add her own comment.

[Oooh…]

[This unit is already planning many criminal things to do with the printers.]

[Cutely.]

Gabriel shot it a reproachful look that didn’t quite hide the hint of a smile tugging at his lips, then turned back to his work and continued the process, steadily reducing the chaotic piles into something far more compact – and potentially far more useful.

An hour later, he held a very peculiar box in his hands.

Every printer he had taken during the heist, including the high-quality ones, had been fused into this single object. He had fed in all the spare parts as well, along with a handful of leftover tablets and phones from his previous haul, curious to see how far he could push the process.

At some point, the cards had stopped displaying normal product names altogether, switching instead to a simple label: Infinity Printer, a clear nod to the Deck itself.

It hadn’t stopped there.

After a few more fusions, the name had shifted again, becoming Infinity+, and then, finally, something else entirely. Now he held a card with an orange border, its surface displaying a sleek, futuristic machine that looked far beyond anything he had seen before, labeled 1 x Eternity 3D+ Printer.

The rest of the room was empty, save for the boxes of Universal Filament he had created.

Gabriel carefully set the box down and took a few minutes to restore some semblance of order to the apartment, stacking what little remained and clearing enough space to work without tripping over himself. Once satisfied, he picked up Spark-1’s body and carried it into his bedroom, setting it down with more care than usual before heading back out.

Then, with growing excitement, he ran back into the living room for the printer.

Unpacking the monstrosity turned out to be surprisingly straightforward. The box produced by the Deck of Infinity came with a detailed manual that relied almost entirely on numbered steps and clear diagrams, guiding him through the process with minimal guesswork.

He only needed his trusty Multi-Tool for a few final adjustments before everything clicked into place.

The finished printer now stood next to Sparky’s device, occupying nearly half the available desk space. It had a solid rectangular base with a bridge-like structure spanning above it, supporting the print head. Along its sides were neatly integrated compartments filled with spare parts, tools, and various attachments, all arranged as if the machine anticipated its own maintenance. Most striking of all were the two articulated robotic arms mounted at its sides, their joints sleek and precise, capable of reaching across the entire workspace with ease.

After a moment of consideration, Gabriel attached a small module that allowed the printer to automatically intake the Universal Filament.

Stepping back, he placed his hands on his hips and took in the result, unable to hide the note of pride in his posture.

The device turned on immediately, courtesy of his AI.

Its front display lit up, running through a rapid startup sequence as Sparky connected to it, the interface flickering with activity. Within seconds, the machine came to life, the print head darting across the base with surprising speed as it began laying down molten filament in tight, precise lines.

Gabriel watched closely as a small shape began to form.

To his surprise, the process was incredibly fast.

Within a minute, the two-inch-tall creation was complete. One of the robotic arms moved in smoothly, detaching the object from the base with a soft crack, while the other removed the support material with quick, efficient motions before presenting the finished piece to him.

Gabriel stared at it for a second, then let out a long, flat sigh as he shifted his gaze to the joyfully spinning blue sphere on Spark-1’s device.

“Really?” he asked, his tone caught somewhere between disbelief and resignation as he looked back at the printed object.

It was a small hand, giving him the bird.**

**

A/N: Would anyone interested in the details of the power? Maybe partially? Or should I keep it a mystery?