That fact that he is human was never in doubt." Piggot flatly replied, "No matter how much prosthetics he installs on himself, he'll always be flesh and blood."
[Brockton Bay Sanitation Site]
Two eyeballs, two arms, two legs, a spine, heart, lung, a few litres of blood and other miscellaneous organs including fifteen feet of intestines etc. All stowed away in their own neat little drawers in my now full cryo-freezer.
There was practically an entire human in there!
I should know- I was that human. The word 'Was' being the most important part of that sentence. But now, after a very productive few days, I was definitely something more. I gained a lot of weight (mostly metal), but on the bright side, I now was definitely a lot less unfuckable.
"Men, hide your (AI) wives, because the new and improved Magos is about to arrive."
Estimated time to blessed activation: 4h 14m 47s 271ms.
[Protectorate HQ a.k.a. 'The Rig']
Sighing, Piggot turned her attention to the rest of the room. "Let's begin this briefing properly. Starting with his arrival in the bay. How did he slip past us? Anyone?"
"Magos' arrival and startup base can be explained easily enough." Battery spoke up- the woman speedster in grey and cobalt finding it easy to take the initiative, "He must have walked through the wilderness and arrived at the far edge of the Brockton Bay landfill. We didn't find out, because that is an area that we haven't patrolled in more than a year."
"That part is understandable, we can't possibly patrol the entire city as often as we'd like…" Piggot commiserated, "Alright, next question: How was an unknown Tinker able to distribute his software so widely and freely?"
"If I may, Director Piggot, I can answer that question." A woman with dark hair and without a definable ethnicity spoke up from the laptop she was broadcasting to. Dragon, the famous but reclusive Canadian tinker, was one of the consultants that Piggot had asked to attend.
"Please do so." Piggot nodded- gesturing for the Canadian to continue.
"When the videogame Call 4 Duty initially reached 100,000 concurrent players within six hours, the Guild judged it reasonable cause to suspect it as a form of possible tinker attack. I myself was the one who combed through the game's code to look for abnormalities, and found that there were none. It was just a regular video game that had gotten very popular."
"And Magos- a rogue tinker- being able to make millions out of it was no cause for concern?" Piggot clarified with a doubtful tone.
"At the time, Magos was not known at all." Dragon pursed her lips, "And even if he was, The Guild cannot investigate the mundane jobs of capes as it crosses the line of the unwritten rules in terms of cape secret identities and their day jobs. If the videogame was tinkertech, it would have been a different story, but it was not."
Piggot pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Alright, but then Magos strolled into the centre of the city, filed his taxes and strolled away." She grunted, "Apparently, we received calls from civilians about his coming and going. But somehow, no one responded to them and neither was I informed."
Armsmaster came with an explanation.
"One of the callers had identified Magos to be speaking with Carol Dallon under a legal capacity." He revealed, "And you had previously instructed us not to bother Mrs. Dallon when she is speaking with clients. Shadow Stalker was able to confirm her identity at a distance and our hotline immediately dropped the issue as previously ordered."
"Unfortunate, but understandable." Piggot sighed, "And yes, the order still stands: Don't bother cape lawyers speaking with their cape clients. We don't need to risk a superpowered fight and a superpowered lawsuit in a single encounter. Again."
"I said that I was sorry." Assault sniffed in his seat. He knew who he was.
"We're doing great so far, team." Piggot deadpanned as she clicked her remote at the projector. "Now, someone explain how we missed this."
And the video on the wall showed what can only be described as an 'Evil Lair.' A great monolithic structure that looked like the cross between a baroque cathedral and an industrial oil refinery. Great metal pipes weaved around gothic flying buttresses and stabbed into the sides of the dark-stoned structure.
Stained glass windows decorated the outer walls of the structure as much as large grinding cogs and gears did. A great metal smokestack completed the image as it belched out thick, black smoke into the sky.
The video also had audio, the thoom of massive pistons and the deep rumble of factory works echoed out from the interior. A strange electronic chittering was being broadcasted across the grounds as well- sounding like someone had assembled a hundred computer printers into a choir and had them try to sing gospel music.
At least we never have to utter the sentence: 'The villain's lair could be anywhere: We'll never find him now!'" Clockblocker piped up, unable to stop himself from cracking a joke. And a few of the Wards and Assault had to hold back their laughter while Piggot just glared at him like she wanted to destroy him with laser vision.
"-shutting up now, Ma'am." Clockblocker squeaked, and even while wearing the featureless helmet of his armoured cape costume, he managed to convey his nervousness.
"Magos, once again utilising Mrs. Dallon's legal services, applied for both a business and building permit. And received them. The building plan is actually available to the public." Dragon elaborated- projecting the building plan of the evil lair.
"Carol and I will have to have a talk after this." Piggot groaned- rubbing her eyes, "Alright, let's start with the building, what do we know? Thomas, this is your area of expertise."
The lanky (almost emaciated) black man in the navy blue suit nodded. However Piggot didn't hold it against her old teammate, after that shitshow in Ellisberg, they were both scarred in different ways. But at least, he seemed to be doing well for himself as the CEO of Fortress Constructions. Endbringer shelters were something every city could use.
"A 'Mars Pattern Command' as Magos has named his lair. Worryingly martial name…" Calvert observed. "Circular layout, six stories-tall, 3500 square metres… Foundations are dug so deep that it's as if he was constructing a skyscraper rather than this mid-rise building. Walls are 2.4 metres of solid concrete and reinforced to a greater degree than my endbringer shelters. The flying buttresses only increase structural integrity even further. Most of the stained glass windows are just decorations over solid walls. Only entrances are one on the roof and another on the side- each one covered by a metre-thick steel doors, with the main entrance being a gargantuan sliding door that must weigh at least 300 metric tons…"
Piggot drew her lips into a thin line even as Calvert continued.