The keys on the new phone were crystalline, and seemed to vibrate under his big fingers. He found he could press the keys with his power just by looking at them, instead of having to struggle with the little things.

It had obviously been prepared specifically for him. He was impressed despite himself.

“There’s numbers in there for people you’ve probably never contacted directly, and you likely never will, but only from this phone.” He swallowed once as he considered who might be in that file.

The big leagues...

“Since you’ve got the power, you will be called if there is a need for you. You are expected to respond. In return, we won’t impede your ability to move around the world. There will be compensation, if appropriate.”

Ohhhhh, spontaneous employment always paid top-gold...

“In addition, I hear you’re taking up vamp and were-hunting in the States?”

It wasn’t a question. “SHIELD offered a quiet bounty on ‘em, they’re starting to be a problem. I also asked the Consulate there if the Tribal bounty might apply...”

“I’ll approve it. Verified kills and possible kills. Intelligence you salvage will help us lead you to your next targets. I can refer you to some States people to work with if you like.”

“Can’t hurt, ma’am,” he agreed carefully, tucking his new phone away. He was aware it would probably allow them to track him, but when Sama Rantha said she wouldn’t bother him, she meant it. If she had cared to shut him down, he would have been taken out of the game a long time ago.

“This sorceress you are working with, what’s the reason behind her card-dealing?” Sama asked him directly.

“Honestly, ma’am, I don’t really understand it. There are plenty of other ways she could be making a lot more money, and she’s even doing some of those, too.” Such as sending him down to Brazil to pick up loads of cheap amethysts, then purifying, melding, and Energizing them with magic. It was like being asked to go buy the world’s best grapes for himself!... and it was a whole lot easier to do so now.

“Then it’s about recognition and connections with the players. Interesting. How powerful is she?”

He winced, and coughed. Sama inclined her head, waiting. “Delta,” he finally admitted. “She doesn’t have the huge area spells some of the Casters do, but her single-target stuff is top-grade, and she has enormous versatility in the types of magic she is using.”

“Will she be hunting with you?” Sama asked curiously.

“If I feel I need her, she’ll come. If I don’t, she has other things to do.”

“Casters always do. Are you starting up a relationship with Stephen Strange?”

“The Doc has agreed to supply us information on the whereabouts of vamps and packs. Doing favors for him in return works for me, and feels like the right way to go about it. Dealer says I’m an Avatar of earth, and that is how the elemental types do business.”

Sama’s blue eyes glittered. “She’s sharp, then. I trust she can also Teleport?”

“Her range is limited, and she can generally only go someplace she can see or where she’s already been, but yeah, she can hop around,” he acknowledged.

Sama pulled out another cell phone, this one more normal in appearance. “Congratulate her, she’s in the big leagues now,” she said, handing it over. Hill took it with a wry expression, wondering how Dyna would take it. “I’ll be giving her a call to get more specifics about her skills. I don’t want to send her into something she can’t reach or handle.”

“She might be thrilled, she might be irritated, I dunno,” he admitted, eying the playing-card keys on the phone with amusement despite himself. “But she’s smart, real smart. She’ll figure things out.”

“Good to know. On average, something happens once a day on the planet that we have to send someone or someones to go take care of. We try to spread the load out, but sometimes shit blows up, things go public, and we have to bring in the big guns.”

Once a day...

Three simple words, but suddenly he felt like there was a whole lot of shit that had been going on that he knew nothing about, and he’d thought himself pretty well-informed.

“Doc Strange got one of these?” he wondered aloud, putting the second phone away.

“Yes, but the Vishanti Sorcerers primarily help by shuttling around people to get to locations. We don’t usually call on them to fight unless we have to.”

Which probably means they have their own problems they are watching out for, he mused to himself. “I’m probably going to be really surprised at some of those names, ain’t I?” he asked aloud.

“Oh, some of them don’t want to be on the list, that’s certain, and some were pretty vocal about it, so we removed them from the list.

“The rest of them stopped complaining.”

Hill considered some Big Names who had gone missing over the last decade. Vortivor, self-styled the Ivory Count, a powerful sorcerer; the Dune Master, who’d terrorized the Sahara; El Toro Diablo, a true strongman and burning bastard from Mexico who Hill had actually tussled with a couple times; The Dupe, who’d had literally hundreds of himself scattered around the planet; and Piranha, a powerful water-manipulator from Brazil.

Just gone. Nobody knew what happened to them, wondering if they ran off somewhere, retired somewhere, or someone had offed them. Every single one of the Dupes was gone, and with it one of the best information networks in the world.

Hill was pretty sure they were all off any list permanently, now.

“Only got one planet. All my stuff is here,” he murmured, acknowledging her point.

“Good lad.” She patted his arm, turning to stroll off as her Null faded away from around him. She walked around the other side of a tree, and then her footsteps were gone and she didn’t appear beyond it.

Quiet, clean. He couldn’t feel a whisper of how she had done it, especially since as a Null she wasn’t supposed to be able to do so.

He sighed to himself, and strolled off in another direction. He had a couple stops to make back here, and then he could go back and give Dyna the ‘good news’.

---------

I took the modified Vaccine from Mr. Hill with some amusement, tossing him a deep purple amethyst, all nice and Earth-Energized. Despite himself, he caught it and popped it right into his mouth, sucking on it loudly.

“Done any exploring of yours?” I asked him, and he shook his head.

I opened up the contacts list, and didn’t go through it, just putting in his name, and The Mountain popped up.

Tellingly, no phone number to or from was actually showing. “See if I’m in your Contacts.”

With surprisingly little difficulty, he manipulated his own phone, and input The Dealer. “Huh,” he nodded.

“Must be a joint database. Don’t make personal calls on it unless you want someone listening in.”

“Awww, dammit. I have to carry two phones around?” he grumbled, staring at it.

I noted that would be very inconvenient for people, and if they put trackers in here anyways...

I whizzed through the applications, and stopped on Private Line. I flipped it open, and began whizzing through the pages and instructions. “I stand corrected. You can put in a serial card and have this work as your standard phone. Give me your old phone.”

He handed it over, and I quickly downloaded the apps and files there into his new Crystal Vaccine, telling him what to do as I did so. When I was done, I pulled out the serial card, inserted it into his new phone, and a second later the display changed to match his old phone precisely. The crystal keys even turned a normal matte-black instead of looking so eye-catching.

“See that diamond there? That’s the underlying, true operating system. Open it if you want to mess around with the stuff in there.

“Other than that, this is operating just like a normal phone. TCT doesn’t even know you’ve switched phones.” And so Tribal Communication Tech lost a chance to market a new phone plan to The Mountain. Hurt them deeply, I know...

I was pretty sure the Hag was the majority shareholder in TCT, anyway.

“This gonna be a problem, switching between your identities?” he asked, satisfied as he pocketed his new phone. If he needed to abandon a number, he could just remove the serial card and switch it.

“I think their discretion is pretty high. I won’t worry about it.” And I wouldn’t, truly. “Should be an interesting conversation when she calls.”

“We’ve got our first target tonight. Sort of a test run. The Mick has the van ready, Castle is finishing his prepwork, and I’m playing backup. I’ve been referred to a guy name of Blade as someone to work with.”

“Oh? The Daywalker?” As normal, he looked non-plussed by me knowing as much as I did. “Very anti-vampire, not so much weres. Might grow into that job. Definitely knows his vamps, however.”

“Noted. This is a were pack, based in Trenton. Send at least a few west a year, infecting locals. Test run, mostly.”

“Silver or suck.” I bopped his fist, and he returned it.

-------

“Hold it up.”

Most of them were dazzled by all the tech around us. The Baxter Building didn’t actually have any other tenants, because it didn’t need them, and nobody wanted to risk being in a building that had already been attacked several times by deranged Powered over the past few months.

Richards made enough money off patents to afford the place as it was, but really, the fusion reactor taking up four floors of the building sold enough power back to the electric grid to pay for everything.

Parker was babbling about superconductors and neodymium magnets and flux capacitors and other stuff, while everyone else was sort of nodding along as I led the trainee team on the tour.

They were all here on Saturday, not about to pass up the chance to tour the Baxter Building and meet the FF. The girls were especially keen to meet Johnny Storm, although I noted to all of them he was over the age limit and to not even think about getting involved with him until they graduated.

It didn’t dampen their enthusiasm at all, of course. He was a handsome young superhero they didn’t have to train with every day.

When I showed them into my lab, I had them all spread out and look at all the stuff around there.

There was lots of glassware, lots of electronics, and even mechanical stuff there and there. There was storage off to the sides, some of the contents of the containers glowing, and processes were boiling and bubbling and shining and dripping, being spun and carved and sparking and glowing and everything here and there.