There were multiple effects from the large-scale distraction that I had been a part of. Some affected me directly, others just indirectly as an inhabitant of New Brunsburg. One of the direct effects was that Metis was now an official Powered Criminal, colloquially called a Villain. What made me chuckle was the fact that as ‘Known Associates’ Anath was listed, not with name but a description, so she had never given her name to anyone who carried it further. Well, unless you wanted to build a brand, so to speak, there was just no need to do so. Oh, and I had been paid for the job, not a lot but it was a start.

Another direct effect was that I had a load of data to sift through, some results they had were validating some of my previous theories on the inner workings of the universe, other results did the opposite and forced me to get rid of some assumptions and change my models to adhere to the results they had. Some, I wanted to test myself as they were contradicting in unexpected, seemingly illogical ways. But that was just part and parcel of being a scientist, old theories were murdered by the dastardly fiend called reality.

For the general results, even I was unsure just who had hired enough Powereds to commit fifteen different crimes over the course of three days and make a utter fool out of the League, resulting in a general sense of unease and fear spreading across the city. The average citizen was not a fan of uncontrolled power, they wanted the organisations they knew and foolishly trusted to hold a monopoly on power, hoping that it would never be wielded against them.

To combat the public perception, the League had called in reinforcements from other parts of the country and increased their presence all over town. They were showing their flag and almost daring any villain to go against them. I would not dare, there was no need to do so. I had something I wanted to do but I had time. One of the experiments mentioned in the data had been carried out by a private laboratory and I would have to pay them a visit. There was science to be had.

So, for the next weeks, I kept my head down, not even going into my base and suspending the use of surveillance drones, no need to have them detected. It was unlikely that they were detected, as they were small, made out of plastic and only in use if their colour matched the sky above them but it was not impossible so caution won out.

Instead I focused on the data, absorbing it and refining my own theories based on their results. Some related to the theories I had based my Plasma Cannon on and gave me ideas for a contained plasma-field giving me frictionless hover-capabilities to build into my boots. I would have to improve those ideas until I got to the point I could build a prototype based on them but it was a start. And if it worked, I would gain an awesome tool for my toolbox.

“You’ve got mail.” Galatea broke into my musings.

I pulled up the window she had shunted onto my desktop, looking who had contacted me. Once more, it was Anath. She apologized for the stunt she had pulled in the forest and wanted to know if I would be interested in making some money. Well, money was nice but it was not a motivation. On the other hand, getting to know Anath better was certainly worth something, knowing Powered muscle could come in useful down the line.

If she was motivated by money, I could simply pay her as a henchwomen. People motivated by money were the most useful in my opinion. I had read that the classical motivations were MICE. Money, Ideology, Coercion and Ego. Taking myself as an example, in a way. I was motivated by Ego. It wasn’t that I needed to prove myself that I was superior, I needed to prove it to the world to achieve a different goal. The eco-terrorists that had tried to blow up the powerplant were likely motivated by Ideology and thus complicated to exploit but rather predictable in their actions.

If Anath was motivated by money, I could work with it. Paying money was simple and most of the time, the one paid would follow the money. I just had to make sure that there was no reason for her to gain the impression that working against me could make her more money.

The last motivation, coercion was a double-edged sword and I wanted to stay far away from it. Sure, threatening someone could work but it could also backfire, big way. I could, for example, try to force Anath to do my bidding by threatening to expose her real identity but if she called my threat and I went through with it, I would be a person non-grata in the Powered community. In addition, the first time one displayed vulnerability, the coerced person would do anything to exploit it and get rid of you.

But back to the message Anath had sent me. She wanted to know if I was interested in busting up a drug deal. She had somehow found out time and location of the deal but was unsure if she had the ability to take down the gang’s muscle she suspected of being there, so she wanted back-up. She stipulated that all drugs would be destroyed and we would split the cash between the two of us.

I had no love for drug-dealers and busting up a gang would get me some publicity so it was a enticing proposal. I just had to make sure that it was legit and Anath was not up to shenanigans but most likely the two dealing parties would look for an open and out of the way location to prevent trouble so I could use my drones to scout the situation out.

I sent an affirmative reply to Anath, asking for specifics and a meeting place.

And just like that, I found myself on a small shipping container with Anath, watching a street gang wait on their supplier. To prepare myself for the party, I had stocked up on party-favors. The gang had a few unpowered members standing around as security so I wanted to start off the party with a bang. A flash-bang. Creating a small launcher for flash-bangs was childsplay and I now had it holstered opposite of my railgun. The launcher would allow me to shoot a few grenades as a time-on-target salvo, letting them explode simultaneously about two meters off the ground, a perfect way to say hello.

Anath would then move in, taking the money and knocking possible Powered resistance down while I provided overwatch with my Plasma-Cannon. I had even procured a small earbud receiver for Anath, so I could pass on information without simply shouting. The connection was encrypted but not to an extremely high level so I would have to be careful what to say. Not that I planned to say all that much.

We did not have to wait long, a great plus-point for the gang’s supplier, they were punctual. At the appointed time, on the dot, a convoy of three large SUVs rolled onto the lot, parking in a formation to allow quick get-away while giving each other cover. Not too shabby, for drug-dealers. When I saw that the drivers all stayed in the cars with the motor running, I pulled my railgun in addition to the grenade-launcher, planning to demolish the cars so they were stuck.

“Four seconds.” I told Anath and readied the launcher before shooting four flash-bangs in high and precise arcs. The calculations for that feat were childsplay for Galatea so I had just to aim at the vectors she gave me and pull the trigger.

At two seconds, Anath started moving, getting as close to the action as possible, without exposing herself to the flash-bangs.

At three-point-five seconds, I moved into line-of-sight of the cars, aiming my railgun.

At four seconds, the slapping bang of a railgun-slug breaking the sound-barrier battled with the simultaneous explosion of four flash-bangs for acoustic dominance. I was the only one who could enjoy the battle, all the others were either busy looking for their senses or they had stuck their head in the ground to avoid getting stunned silly.

At five seconds, all three SUVs needed a new engine after my railgun had scrapped the old one. Anath was moving over the fallen gangbangers to get to the cash. The gangbangers had done us a favour and brought the cash in two gym-bags that were easy to spot and check.

After she had done the check, she flung the two bags into my direction before moving on to the cars. I was a little surprised, she had said that she had no interest in the drugs so we should just destroy them but I had figured we were after the money. Well, no skin off my back.

She broke open the trunks and tossed three briefcases into the open. One of the gangbangers was back on his feet by now and charged her. I watched as she used some kind of martial-arts toss, augmented with super-human strength to propel her attacker into a nearby container, denting it’s wall. So far, she did not need my help.

“Metis, burn that shit!” She suddenly yelled out. Burn a pile of drugs? Why not.

My Plasma-Cannon was pre-charged so it only took the blink of an eye to ready a load of low-pressure, high temperature plasma and the night was illuminated by the angry red of my hot-plasma bolts. Well, the drugs did not burn. They simply evaporated in the brutal inferno of the boiling plasma, leaving nothing behind but an area of slagged earth.

“Retreat, flash incoming.” I spoke into Anath’s earbud and launched another salvo of grenades, this time without any fancy trajectories, simply four flash-bangs at the four corners, followed up with four smoke-bombs for good measure.

Anath listened to me and had taken off as soon as I told her to, avoiding the flash once more and picking up the cash-bags before regrouping with me. Together, we made our way through back-alleys and into the forest, once more using a clearing to talk.

“Thank you. It’s a lot easier to do things like that if someone has your back. It’s funny, you know.” she said, for once without any snark in her voice. “I don’t know anything about you, but if I just judge you by your actions, I feel that I can trust you. You had me in an incredibly vulnerable position and did not take advantage…” she trailed off.

“As I said before, I abhor slavery. Would you be willing to work together in the future?” I asked.

“Yes, sure. You have a way to contact me.”

With that, she took one of the two bags of cash and walked away.