Prologue (Pt. 3)

--- Maya ---

During her escape she’d been cutting it extremely close, and if she’d needed her COMP or AI for anything else, then she’d have been, shit out of luck. Meaning her first priority was to upgrade her COMP’s battery storage to better accommodate her needs.

Now practically speaking, her COMP was already storing an obscene amount of power equal to a good dozen or so car batteries. Admittedly she was only capable of storing that much due to the unique nature of her Function () letting her somehow store more energy in less space.

In full disclosure, she only understood half of the mechanics behind the COMP’s battery and only knew it had something to do with the theory of relativity. Beyond that she honestly had no idea what she was doing.

(I do too, know what I’m doing! You’re just not smart enough to understand it!)

(I am you.)

(…)

(…)

(Shut up.)

Purposely ignoring anything else her more reasonable half had to say, she continued working on her improvements to her battery. What’s more, proving that she did in fact know what she was doing, she completed her upgrade using even fewer parts than she’d estimated needing.

(Just to be clear, you are sure we don’t need those right?)

(Yes, because I’m a fucking genius!)

If it wasn’t for her little sister still sleeping behind her she would’ve broken into a maniacal laughter.

(Actually, you know what?)

“Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!” She began laughing quietly to herself.

Scene Consequences

-COMP Battery improved by 5 units.

--Thanks to Critical half of resources (rounded up) have been refunded.

-New Software and Hardware upgrades unlocked.

Having worked through her emotions -and most of the night- she’d finally devoted some of her significant brainpower to figuring out why (the fuck) her parents hadn’t noticed her being kidnapped.

First she’d spent most of her summer vacation disappearing for the majority of the day to try and piece together however the hell her programs worked. So, her not showing up at home for a day wouldn’t raise any red flags until after dinner. (Which thanks to my own brilliance I was able to attend, even if I skipped it.)

That combined with the usual hectic chaos caused by having four kids, meant she’d slipped under her parents’ radar, (not that they don’t love me.)

She shook her head away from the depressing thought and forced herself to focus on happier thoughts, a truly healthy coping mechanism.

(Hey, keep the commentary to yourself!)

(I thought the commentary was my job?)

(No, the narration is, the commentary isn’t!)

(Suit, yourself.)

“Uh, you okay, sis?” A voice asked from behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder, noticing a shaggy headed ten-year-old sitting up in the bed opposite of hers.

“Just plotting how to take over the tri-state area.” She told her younger sister Isabella, before turning back to her desk so she could continue arguing with the voices in her head.

“Aren’t mad scientists supposed to try and take over the world?” Izzy asked sluggishly, likely assuming she was making plans for one of her games. (Like everyone does…)

“Do you know how much paperwork you get stuck with taking over the world?” She asked her sister seriously. “Sure, it seems like a fun idea getting to tell everyone what to do, until you realize once you control everything you have to manage all of it. I mean sure you could delegate to minions, but half of them are going to try and stab you in the back and take the whole operation over for themselves.”

She was so glad she was smart enough to notice that, unlike the half-wit M.A.D.s who somehow thought trying to conquer the world was a good idea.

(Delusions of grandeur the lot of them…) She thought in a manner reminiscent of a pot calling a kettle black.

(Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!)

“Then why the tri-state area?” Her sister asked, drawing her away from another argument.

“Oh, I figure I can pawn them off on you guys and then sit back and enjoy my dues.” She answered dismissively.

Izzy thought about it for a moment before nodding. “I could make a decent warlord. But what about the whole stabbing you in the back thing?”

“Meh, I’d have a failsafe to destroy you all.”

“What you don’t trust your baby sister?”

She couldn’t help but give a snort of amusement. “Hermanita, why do you think I have a thirty-six-digit alpha-numeric password on my computer?”

Isabella shrugged, likely remembering the three or four time she’d been caught reading someone else’s diary. “Point taken.”

(I thought we did it to hide our smut?)

(Speaking of, we should probably update our firewalls at some point given the sheer quantity you two have downloaded.)

(Like you don’t enjoy your slash fics.)

(I enjoy them for the plot.)

(Sure~)

“You coming down to breakfast?” Isabella asked, more than used to her elder sister’s tendency to blank out for several moments as she argued with herself, even if she wasn’t aware of the fact Maya’s thoughts tended to argue back.

Shaking her head and dragging her thoughts back into the present, Maya told her, “I’ll be down in a little while; I just have to finish up what I’m doing here.” while gesturing to the few screws she still had to reattach to her COMP.

“Alright then.” Izzy yawned as she made her way out of the room.

With her little sister gone, -and those last few screws returned to their proper place- she returned her focus back to her more Mask oriented thoughts, as she contemplated what to do with her brilliant mind, and scientific prowess.

Originally her game plan had been to join a less than morally upstanding group of individuals in the hopes of making enough money to try and help her family, who despite her parents’ assurances -(She’d done the math. She knew they were lying.)- weren’t in the best place financially.

Unfortunately, the city’s criminal element had tried to kidnap her, effectively pissing her off to the point where she’d (make them rue the day they thought to cross Maya Williams!!!)

(Why are you the main personality again?)

(Because I’m awesome?)

(Right…)

So, given how her criminal endeavors had ended before they’d even begun, she was going with her back-up plan of becoming a heroic mask! (After all no one cares if you steal from criminals…)

(Except for the criminals.)

(Meh, they already pissed me off so fuck those guys.)

(You’re going to get us killed you know that?)

(Hey, just go back to narrating shit!)

(…)

(Well?)

(Err-mph.)

This path also came with the added bonus of earning her parents pride and affection, something she was mildly starved of as a middle child.

(I do not have fucking middle child syndrome you asshole!!!)

(…)

(…)

(Are you done yelling at yourself?)

(For now…)

Now, of course to continue down this dangerous career path there were a number of things she needed to take care of and prepare before even thinking about going out into the night.

(Such as a cool costume!)

(Yes, that is very important, but there are other things too.)

Regardless, there was plenty of time to take care of all of that, she just need to get started.