I pretty much just mimicked my last two level ups, dropping extra points into Luck and Intelligence to keep pushing the stat higher and closer to giving me access to my book on Paradox Assessment while the Catch Up feature randomized until settling on my Style, bumping its base score up to 12.

While I considered which of my skills I wanted to Augment, something I sort of thought I'd have to wait at least another day for since I hadn't actually been expecting to get yet another level up, I opened up my B.E.L.T. and absorbed The Burden of Mass. Almost predictably, my Weighted Clothes ability evolved into one called Density Shift, although it didn't offer to let me migrate the single Augmentation the older ability had.

"Density Shift. Level 1 Activated Continuous Ability. Up to 5 targets of your choice within your Local Area have the single largest piece of clothing or armor suddenly weigh up to 500 pounds or 5 times heavier than it actually is, whichever is higher. All affected targets immediately take 1000 points of force damage and an additional 100 points of force damage every 3 seconds for the time this ability is activated. Affected enemies are either Stunned, Pinned, or Slowed depending on their Strength stat. This ability costs 500 points of Stamina to activate and an additional 50 points of Stamina every second you maintain the ability and has a 1 minute 30 second cooldown starting from the moment you end the ability or are struck hard enough to break your concentration."

The simple fact that it was no longer isolated to just clothing was a huge boon in itself, but being able to maintain a constant stream of damage on several targets while effectively keeping them pinned could be a game changer as well. It would really come down to if the Droid's outer plating counted as "armor" or not, though I really couldn't imagine a scenario where it wasn't. And as nice as the ability could possibly be, it really wasn't at the top of my list to Augment either.

Though the skill always seemed to work in the background, making it hard to tell when it was actually working, I had a hard time not considering my passive ability Misfortune Abound. It had only just become available to Augment again and after just a bit more consideration, briefly leaning toward both my newer Adaptive Reserves and the third possible Augmentation for Sting Like a Bee, I decided that a little more bad luck for my enemies was never a bad thing.

"Misfortune Abound. Level 3 Passive Ability. While in combat, cause all enemies within your local area to have a chance equal to 2% for every 1 point of Luck you have minus their current level for something "bad" to happen to them. This has a maximum effective chance for negative effects of 85%, any additional amount over this limit increases potential damage by .10% for each 1% overflow. After this ability procs, no further enemies can be affected by this ability for at least 15 seconds. "Bad" outcomes include but are not limited to: Tripping over shoelaces, getting dust in eyes, losing grip on their weapon, stepping into an environmental hazard, or accidentally targeting their ally. Damage applied from any of these outcomes is amplified by (base level) 25%."

"First Modification Option! Murphy's Wake! Whenever Misfortune Abound procs, the area surrounding five feet out from the enemy is turned into a Negative Vibe Zone at a percentage equal to half of the total of your Luck minus the enemies Luck. This modification combos off of your Domino Effect Augmentation, affecting all enemies hit by the initial wave. Any Vibe Zones created that are not overlapping will count as separate zones, with the percentage being determined by the highest negative percentage amongst the enemies within them."

"Second Modification Option! Critical Failure! All "bad" events now have a flat 15% chance to become catastrophic, increasing their damage multiplier by 500% but adding a 3-second cooldown increase to Misfortune Abound's trigger timer."

"Third Modification Option! Bad Luck Battery! Whenever Misfortune Abound procs, you absorb residual probability energy, converting it into power. Gain a 25% Movement Speed and 50% increase to all non-ability based Damage buff titled Karmic Balance for 5 seconds per enemy affected. If three or more enemies are hit within 15 seconds, trigger Overcharge, causing your next activated ability to cost 50% less Stamina (refunded after the ability is used) and deal 25% bonus damage (calculated based on the total after initial strike damage.)"

I was once again impressed by the quality of the modification choices I had been given, having remembered how some of my earlier augmentation options had seemed less than beneficial. After just a bit of prodding of Angie, I discovered that that wasn't by chance or coincidence. It was a mix between my increasing level and my overall better understanding of ability creation and how my powers worked. The further I leveled, the better and more specific the augmentations would become, which really just further made me wonder what the hell was up with the relatively short timeframes I had been given prior to disabling my Acceptance Matrix.

Regardless, I didn't want to freak out over that detail for too long and focused in on the modifications. Although the possibility of dropping new Negative Vibe Zones was tempting, adding that modification meant I would have to be far more vigilant about activating my Area Sense to be able to identify them. Because unless I had available Vibe Anchors, those zones could be just as dangerous to my allies as it would be for my enemies.

The second option was attractive, since a huge boost to damage could be enough to put down some of the weaker enemies, but the extended cooldown to its ability to proc simply meant it would be all that much less useful. It was the third option that held my attention the longest.

The buff I'd be getting from the ability proccing was not only, well… a buff, but it also meant if I was paying close enough attention, I could actually tell when the people I was fighting against had been hit by a wave of bad luck. With my Luck as high as it was, the odds of the ability proccing and granting me the buff, including the minor Overcharge modifier that was built into it, made it really feel like the obvious choice. Jon barely had to say a word about the process, listening in as I talked the possibilities over with myself before simply agreeing with my decision as I selected the third.

With that handled, relatively confident in my choice, and the others all busy, I decided to head back to the Team Book Nook, intent on transcribing my Stamina Management book for all of the others to use. While BrainCraft had said it would only take him around a half hour to get the device ready, I couldn't quite sit still and figured it was probably better to just take the hour, that way if Brain's estimates were off, I didn't get antsy knowing I still had quite a big bit of information to pass on.

Freak had insisted he was probably going to be fine and didn't see the point of Swansong following him around "just in case." While I thought that might mean she'd stick around the base and hang out, something I was finding myself kind of wanting after the already chaotic day we had had, she was actually relieved, insisting she had to get back home for at least a little while.

Jon at least stayed in my ear while I worked on the transcription process, something that was essentially akin to holding a pen that came with the room and just… letting my arm move on its own over a tablet embedded into the desk, all while concentrating on the knowledge I wanted to pass on. But even with him trying to seem like he was just casually chatting with me, keeping me updated as both Pinky and Freak managed to scoop up their respective tokens before anyone could confront them, I could tell that just like me, he was waiting to continue our earlier conversation.

It ended up being a good thing that I decided to tackle the book, because I was only just walking out of the Team Book Nook when BrainCraft popped out of the Mechanic's Den, a new device held in his hands as he jumped in surprise at nearly running into me.

"Ah, Loophole, good timing," he said, twirling the device atop one of his hands. "This was actually quite interesting to get working. I ended up getting slightly distracted rereading through the code while everything was printing because I wanted to see if I could understand what was happening to create the Dead Zone."

"Did you, uh… figure it out?" I asked, turning toward the lounge as he followed along.

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"Partially. It's odd. There are bits of a few different coding languages, but there are random characters and symbols that I've never seen before, in entire strings between relatively normal looking instructions," he replied, holding the cylindrical black device out toward me. "I might take some time to try and decipher what the symbols mean, but without any sort of legend to work off of, it's probably a lost cause, it'll really just be a matter of how hard I want to bang my head into it trying to brute force an answer."

"For, uh… what purpose?" I asked, taking the device from him and turning it over in my hands as I looked at him out of the corner of my eye.

"Nothing nefarious," he said, a small sigh escaping him. "Believe it or not, having Super Intelligence unfortunately comes with the side effect of wanting to know more and more, about basically everything. Which makes it all the more frustrating when you can't figure out what makes something tick."

"I suppose I can understand that," I said with a nod, looking up to catch as Jon jumped to his feet, his eyes wide.

"Does it work?"

Instead of answering, BrainCraft materialized another bit of tech into his hand, this one appearing to be some sort of small, disc-like device that began shining at the edges and floating up and over his head, sparking up as a thin, nearly transparent lime green dome around his body. He reached up, rapping a knuckle on the barrier twice before nodding in approval and looking my way.

"I have this activated with my Technomancy. Loophole, go ahead and activate the device, there's a small switch on the thinner end that will activate the field and there's a dial on the other end underneath a small display that will adjust the size. It's currently set to a 5 foot diameter which is its lowest setting, but it can go up to around 500 feet total, though the larger the area affected, the shorter time the field will last," BrainCraft explained.

That last detail caught me off guard as my finger hovered over the switch and I looked back up to him slightly confused.

"They don't last forever? How? SnakeBite had been kept in a room that was permanently a Dead Zone… and Clockwork Tyrant had me trapped in a warehouse, are you saying I would have been able to get out eventually even if Freak hadn't busted me out?"

"I can't say for sure, not enough data. It's possible that SnakeBite's Safe House was supplied with fresh devices regularly to prevent any lapse and since Freak did break you out, we can't say for sure if it would have died out eventually," BrainCraft said, poking at his barrier a few more times as he explained. "That said, it's also possible that TechWarden had some other way to implement the Dead Zones prior to Hydramental appearing with the one he had, be it some sort of trophy placed in the Display Cases or just a way he was able to alter the code. Again, it's hard to say for sure, there's just not enough data for me to go off of."

"Huh… so, how long does it last?" I asked, flicking the device on and watching as the device over BrainCrafts head sputtered out in an instant. It fell down and landed on his head as he let out a small "oof" in response before he reached up and rubbed at the spot where it had bounced off of. I mentally probed to see if I could hear Angie and sure enough, there was no response. Since I could still use my own powers, my ability still not diminished by the Dead Zone, not being able to hear her was another surefire way to know the device was in fact working.

"This is all estimates mind you, without actually testing it ourselves at the various sizes we can't say for sure, but based on the internal power source being nothing more complicated than standard lithium ion technology, I would say at its five foot diameter that will last around two and a half hours of continuous use before it was burned out. At 500? Maybe 5 minutes?"

"Hmm, okay, do we just replace the batteries or do we have to make new ones?" I asked, flipping the device off, though I notably didn't offer the device back over to him.

"New ones. It's hard to explain since I haven't exactly figured out how the printers work, but they print them whole with the batteries merged into the design, same with the coding that The First provided in his notes. So once one burns out, you'll need to use a new one, though I can't image you are planning on having one of these activated all that often that we will need to print multiple up and if it's all the same, I think it's better if we only keep a few on hand. It's better to not run the chance of someone else getting their hands on these since we know that Pickpocket is a feature."

"Yeah, probably a good idea," I agreed with a nod, twirling the device in my hand again. "I do want to hold onto this one though, I've got a few other things I want to test and if I do run into Hydramental, it would be nice to be able to power him down."

"Not a bad idea. It also might not be a terrible idea to try and use it when you do eventually tackle the Barracuda issue, I know we still have that somewhere on the agenda in all of this craziness and it would be interesting to see if you could talk him down or get him to disable his matrix while the connection is severed," BrainCraft offered.

"That's… also not a bad idea actually," I said, pulling the device into my B.E.L.T. before I looked over, meeting Jon's eyes.

"True, though I don't know if I'd invite them in to the squad either. I think freeing him for TechWarden's control and then taking Skim up on his offer of "capturing" them is probably the best choice," Jon said, his eyes shifting over to the door, clearly on the same page.

"Thanks for getting this built up so quickly Brain, hopefully it helps put some of this craziness to bed," I said, looking back at him with an appreciative grin, hoping to head off the conversation and give us an excuse to slip out for a few minutes.

"Of course, it is part of my role in the team. Though I can't exactly take all the credit, those printers have made building things vastly easier since I don't have to source as many of the parts any more," he replied with a shrug, turning back toward the hallway. "Now I'm sure you and Codex have something to chat about that you don't want me to hear, that much seems relatively obvious, so I'm going to go back to tinkering with a few of my other inventions. I'm sure Pinky will be trying to corral us into some madness after Axio's announcement and I'd rather get my work done while I have the quiet."

"Huh, thanks," I said, slightly caught off guard that BrainCraft had known exactly what we were after. I looked over to Jon who simply shrugged and nodded toward the door with a bit of excitement. I was just about to agree with him when Swansong's door opened up and she pushed through it, her face far redder than I had ever seen it before. Her abrupt entrance even caused BrainCraft to stop in his tracks, turning in surprise though I was the one who addressed her. "Hey Swan… Is everything okay?"

She was breathing a bit heavily as she shut the door behind her, turning to hide her face behind a curtain of her red hair as she briskly walked toward the kitchen.

"Yes, yes, it's okay," she said hurriedly, taking the opportunity to hide her face further as she clearly tried to calm down. She finally moved to pull the fridge open, fishing a bottle of water out of it far slower than she probably needed to. "My parents just uh…" she started to say, turning around, finally letting us see her face again as the redness dimmed ever so slowly. "They were asking where I'd been so much lately, especially with everything going on in the city."

I looked over at Jon, raising a brow slightly in confusion before looking back over to her.

"O…kay… Did they figure out your Secret Identity? Do we need to go fight off a Critical Threat?" I asked, preparing myself for some sort of trouble.

"Worse," she groaned, leaning back onto the counter of the kitchen. "One of my mom's friends saw us walking in the park the other night and took a picture of us holding hands… they were peppering me with questions and I basically had to tell them I was escaping off the fire escape to go to work because I had been called in. I don't think they bought it though and my mom is still texting me asking for more and more details..."

BrainCraft let out a sigh, shaking his head with a laugh before he continued out of the room without another word. I couldn't help but share his reaction, bursting out in my own minor laugh that I only stopped when she crossed her arms in a huff.

"It's not funny… my mom is really nosy… she didn't even care that I told her that we had just started seeing each other, she's already trying to get me to invite you over for dinner," she said, moving a bit more animatedly than I was used to seeing her. She quickly reached up to bury her face in her hands to hide her blush reigniting. It probably didn't help that I let out another small laugh, but could you really blame me?

All the insanity going on around us. The conspiracies. The powers and people all trying to pull the strings and control things? With literally all of that going on, the idea that she was getting embarrassed about her mom inquiring about her love life was just absurd enough that I couldn't help myself.

"For what it's worth, Loophole is great with parents. He's so afraid of offending anyone, I doubt your dad would be worried about "his little girl" at all," Jon said with his own chuckle and I shot my own look over at him, which only caused him to laugh harder.

"That's not the point! We only just started seeing each other!" Swansong complained again with another groan. I walked across the room, following my instincts as I gave her a light hug and patted her on the back. She was stiff for a minute before slowly relaxing, letting out a slow breath into my chest as she softened. "You get it… right?"

"Yeah, I get it," I said, rubbing her back before I pulled away. "It is a little funny though, just the absurdity of it compared to everything else going on."

"That's fair," she said with a nod before looking toward the hallway that BrainCraft had exited through. "I take it everything is going okay with him?"

"More or less," I said, letting her change the subject before rematerializing the Dead Zone device into my hand. "He did get one of these made up and working, so we at least have this trump card to work with if Hydramental tries any more of his bullshit."

"Speaking of which…" Jon said, clearing his throat as his eyes widened and he very obviously looked back toward the door leading to our Safe House.

"Right…" I said, trailing off and looking over at Swansong. Even though I was sure I could trust her, Christopher had insisted that the less people that knew, the better. Which meant I really wasn't going to have this chat in the Squad Base where the whole team could overhear if they just happened to walk into the room. "I uh, I got to fill Codex in on a few more things under the cover of this thing… you don't mind if we slip back into the Safe House for a bit... right?"

"Ah... right, all the normal insanity we are dealing with…" she said, eyeing the device. "Can we just maybe make it not take over the rest of our night?"

"I'll do my best… but I think we both know that's not fully within my control."

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