Director Tagg

I checked the cloning vats one last time, while the computer finished the calculations.

"And are you sure we can't extract any tissue from Gavel?" I asked for the third time today.

"No sir. He has fully crystallized. If there are any parts of him that are yet viable for extraction, they are too out of reach. Anything we use to dig through will either get crystallized or propagate further crystallization inwards, destroying any living tissue left." The computer answered.

"His shard is unsalvageable then." I sighed, "Well at least we managed to get the rest of them. You even got Legend. I'm impressed."

"Thank you sir." The computer replied, before pinging me.

"The calculations are done? Great. Model the process after Riley's work yesterday and upload it onto the droid doctors. We'll need them today.

As for these, re-trigger them and get me their shards by the end of the day. I'll need to start on shardwork soon if we are to leave this world within the month." I stretched, cracked my knuckles and turned around in my chair to find String Theory skipping around, examining the clones.

"Clones huh? Why didn't I think of that? Could've probably used Legend to do the moon job easier."

"And how exactly would you go about getting Legend's tissue samples?" I asked intrigued.

"A woman has her secrets~" She whispered, in a sultry voice, leaning close to my ears.

I instantly felt blood rush down under, as I shook my head, laughing the horny away.

"You know Legend is gay, right? Or was, technically."

"Well, that remains to be seen." She said, crossing her arms around her chest.

"There is nothing to be seen. It's already out in the open. He's even got a kid. With his husband." I replied.

"...oh." She muttered, her eyes flickering with dissonance, as she fell into thought.

"A lot's changed while I was in the hole huh?" She added sadly, her shoulders falling, her eyes betraying nostalgia and regrets.

I felt a pang of pain for her. I was in a similar situation.

I hadn't seen my parents for what, four years now.

Sometimes at night as I lay awake, I wonder how they're doing?

Do they miss me? Was I brought here as a copy or am I the real me?

How long will it take me to find a way back home?

And when I do, will I feel the same as her? Will everything have changed so much I won't even remember how it used to be?

Will Ma and Pa still even be there? Or will I find their graves and an empty house? Or worse, someone else living in it?

Will I even be able to find it once I get there?

My memories of that time are already fading and fast. I fear, even with the backups I made, I'll be too far gone soon to ever return home again.

Silently I checked the Project Country Roads simulation progress again.

Still stuck at 3 percent.

I felt my stomach drop.

I shook my head.

No. No time for such thoughts. I need to look forward.

"How long were you in?" I asked, taking her hand in mine, more to comfort myself than her, and gave it a squeeze.

Event the records of her capture were fudged. Some accounts said she was arrested after the moon threat, others mention her escaping and getting captured later, after months of hiding, sometimes years. Probably out of fear that she would create a time machine to get back to the past someday and change it. Or someone else sufficiently motivated would, like the thanda capes for example.

"I got caught around the time I was sixteen soooo, about eight years or so. You lose track of time when all you see out the window is a pitch black void and the lights are always on everywhere." She answered, after a thought.

"Well, at least you'll have time to catch up on everything you've missed, now that you don't have to work anymore." I said, getting up.

"I suppose you're right. Maybe I'll even find time to hire that Gigolo you recommended." She teased, returning to her playful tone.

"Maybe you will." I said, chuckling.

For a time we walked without a word between us, until finally she broke the silence, just as we reached the vacuum shuttle.

"You know, if you want someone to take contraceptives, try making it less obvious next time" She said, gloating with a smug smile when she spotted the look of surprise on my face.

"Yet you still ate the pudding." I said.

"And it tasted shit, every bite." She replied cheekily.

"Then why?" I asked.

"I wonder why...." She said, looking me in the eyes, and pulled me into a gentle kiss, as the shuttle came to halt.

"Wha-" I exclaimed, half dazed, confused, as the shuttle opened into the lobby leading to the quarantine zone.

String Theory just giggled at my expression and skipping away ahead of me.

I shook my head, even as my heart skipped a beat, taking a sip of mega seed juice.

My mind sharpened and my feelings settled, before I followed, keeping tabs on her via my contacts.

She was unlikely to do much harm now, without her shard, but still.

I caught up to her just as she reached the quarantined zone and entered, finding the droids, Star and the others waiting for us.

"Took your sweet time coming here. Who's that?" Paige asked, her tone turning hostile when she spotted String Theory.

"Just a stowaway. She's getting deported." I replied.

"I prefer surprise passenger, thank you very much." String Theory interjected.

"And I'm leaving of my own accord."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." I said.

"Oh I know what helps me sleep well at night." She replied, licking her lips as she eyed my crotch.

"Gross." I cried.

"Nyquil." She replied, cheekily, wriggling her eyebrows, "What did you think I meant?"

I rolled my eyes, and opened the portal to Brockton Bay, while Paige eyed me suspiciously, ultimately choosing to keep quiet as we stepped out into the city.

Exiting the portal, I walked out onto the warehouse by the docks, and found a crowd waiting for me already, headed by Panacea, Weld and someone from the PRT that the computer identified at Director Tagg.

I remembered him vaguely as the asshole director of some big city PRT branch, Chicago maybe?

Beyond that and the fact that he too the worst possible, most pyrrhic option everytime he got involved in a parahuman incident, I knew little about him.

But just that was enough to give me an idea of how much of a headache this guy was going to be.

Aside from him, there were others that I noticed too.

The Yangban for one, in greater numbers than before.

So were the Russian Red Gauntlet,

I sighed.

Just what I get for opening a portal to the Bay across the world.

But I can deal with them if they try anything.

And retreat is always an option.

So no worries there, I suppose.

I set up the camera and threw a small metal slip onto the floor, which unfurled into a desk and chair set-up.

"Alright everyone, let's get on with it! Grounds rules f-"

"GameBreaker! Under the authority of the PRT and the government of the United States of America, under the Parahumans Act of 1990, you are hereby under arrest for possession of weapons of mass destruction, jail break, trespassing of federal property, vandalism, treaso-"

I just burst out laughing, right in his face, causing him to stop mid sentence.

"Ohohoho. Boyo. This is funny. You.... you're a funny man, Mr. Tagg." I laughed, clutching my stomach, nanging my fist on the table.

"Is this a joke to you?" James Tagg asked.

"Is it not?" I asked, looking uo and into his eyes as he glared back at me.

"So you're serious? Really?" I said, pushing my hair back with one hand, and sat back straight.

"Just surrender already, GameBreaker! Or else we'll be forced to use other, more drastic measures." He said, taking a step forward, trying to cut an imposing figure.

"You government goons, I swear. You guys just have that one dialogue running on repeat in your minds don't you? Or is it a script they provide you at discount villain school? 'Just surrender or we'll be forced to resort to drastic measures. Blah blah blah."

"Resistance will only add more years to your sentence." He said, his eyes flitting to someone in the crowd.

"And what if I say no?" I smiled, amused.

"Then you'll have forced our hand." He said, as a force tried to envelop me, attempting to push into my body.

My anti mind control earpiece reacted instantly and a charge crackled across my forcefield rebuffing the intruder.

"Did you seriously just try to master me?" I asked, furious.

James Tagg's face flashed a surprused look for a moment before he regained his composure.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied.

"Of course you don't. Of course you don't." I nodded.

"Computer, locate the person who tried to master me."

A holoscreen popped up from the table and a beam of light shot out towards a man in the crowd.

An albino man with pink eyes hidden under a baseball cap and medical mask.

"And who's that pokemon?" I asked.

"Pretender. Affiliated with the Las Vegas Protectorate and Cauldron. Master 10. Ability to possess people's bodies."

"There we go. Now are you still going to deny it or..."

"Pretender is not affiliated with me. I have no idea what he's doing here. This is completely unrelated to me and the PRT." Tagg replied with lawyerspeak almost as if he had practiced it.

"Oh really? Because I swear I saw you look at him right before he tried to possess me. Actually, why don't we find out? Computer, trace Mr. Tagg's eye when he threatened me."

The holoscreen displayed a still image of Tagg looking at Pretender moment's prior.

"Wow, what a coincidence, isn't bit, Mr. Tagg. One moment you threaten me, and you just happen to look at the one Master in the crowd you claim you didn't even know was here, and immediately after that he tries to possess me. Truly, either my luck is bizarre or you are lying little shit. Amd my money's on the latter.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't try to shift the topic. You are under arrest GameBreaker. And I highly advise you surre-" Tagg said, eyeing my camera.

I smiled deviously.

"Oh, this is about the camera isn't it? You think I'll just act like a baby lamb in front of the camera out of some sense of what? Showmanship? Integrity? Social Currency?" I saw his eyes flicker with uncertainty for a moment, his confidence shaken.

"Let me clear that up for you then, Mr. Tagg. Computer, target Pretender. Hit him with a ..... let's see. What would be an appropriate punishment for you?"

I thought for a moment.

"It's not his fault. I was here of my own free will. I'm a Cauldron agent, you said so yourself! This has nothing to do with the PRT!" Pretender shouted out.

"You know, somehow I don't believe you." I laughed, "Oh! I know! Computer, hit him with a Morphizer XE, setting reversal."

A portal opened up above Pretender as he tried to make a run for it, hitting him with a pink beam of energy.

Pretender screamed as his body turning inside out, his innards becoming his skin while his skin retreated inwards. By the end of the painful transformation, he looked more like science lab dummy than the albino boy toy he was.

"Gnyaaargh!" He scream in pain as his nerve endings popped one by one, inflicting unimaginable pain on him.

Instinctively, he used his power to lash out at others, trying to escape his body into someone else's.

"Oh no no no! You are not going anywhere, little buddy. You are not possessing anyone else, ever again." I said, pushing my technokinesis into his body forcefully, popping his shard, destroying his powers permanently.

Pretender of course was too busy screaming in agony to notice it though, as he flailed about on the floor, writhing in pain while the crowd parted away from him, leaving him alone, helpless, with no one wanting to be possessed by him.

I turned to the man again and basked in the fear finally reflecting in his eyes with glee.

"Now where were we, Mr.Tagg?"