Friday, July 20, 2018: 11:30 AM

  I woke up from my sleep with a strong desire to get more progress done. I started out early, before sunrise again, and immediately got my morning meditation done. There was still some tea left from yesterday, so I re-flavored it to be coffee, and drank deeply, enjoying the slight energy bump. After finishing it off, I gathered up the Mini-Avengers and instructed them on working on the next batch of Extrication Gloves of Stabilization. After that first hour, I reviewed what I could do at this moment, and looked over at the three, multiple cavity coffers.

  I know that I will need fifteen uses of the Constant Heat spell to get all five variations of, but I already had the shaped materials for the Constant Heat base energy, so I took the three coffers, and the three shaped stones, and cast the spell three times, each time putting the newly enspelled stone into the appropriate coffer, before closing the lids. Then I started working on the last needed Visor of the Ashen Path alone, until the Mini-Avengers were done with the batch of gloves, and could come to help me finish the Visor of Ashen Path off. It was about ten in the morning when we were done with everything today, and Bright-Eyes came up to me and looked at me pointedly. I reflexively cast Truespeak and spoke to Bright-Eyes.

  She apparently had been thinking over the offer over the night, and said that she will take the offer. I told her that I was glad to hear it, but that it would take at least a few days for me to make the item. I added that the creatures that were conjured would not be a food supply, that they would disappear after being killed. Bright-Eyes shrugged with a malicious glint in her eyes, and said that the food that I supply is sufficient for her and her babies, and that the learning of the act and the process were the most important part. I nodded, accepting her feline ways, and got up to check my phone for any notes that I might have missed.

  There was a silenced message that I guess was sent in such a way to not disturb me. It was a notice from Jonathan that stated that the stones would be at his office by ten. I sighed, noting that they were likely already there, and decided to go pick up what I could. I changed my gear to look like a regular set of garments, nothing extravagant or ostentatious, and grabbed the bike, and let Rex know that I would be heading out, but coming back fairly soon. Rex sighed and responded back much easier that he would like to go out hunting again.

  I had forgotten that the Truespeak was still in effect, to make the conversation with him that much easier. I replied back to him that I would be getting back fairly soon so he could easily go out after that. He sighed, and went back to napping with the kittens on him. I noted mentally that I really needed to get a test run out on the gloves to make sure that they worked right. I grabbed the pairs of them that were done, and headed out the roll up door.

  The ride there to Merchant Bank, where Jonathan’s “cover” was, was initially fairly quiet. Suddenly, a feral, foul-tempered, one eyed, scarred grey tomcat ran in front of my bike at an intersection and I felt an almost supernatural dread of the thing, but tamped it down quickly. I quickly swerved my bike while braking to avoid hitting the thing, and I managed to just barely miss being hit by a claw swipe in retaliation. I yelled at it to get out of the road, hoping that the Truespeak would allow the message to pass easily, and all that I got from the cat was “Murder-Death-Kill. Murder-Death-Kill. Swallow all the vampires.” It threw me off, and replied that I wasn’t a Vampire. Then this monster of a cat looked at me, really looked at me, sniffed once and said, “No, you are no vampire, you just smell of blood and arcane.” It ran off back into the alleyway, mentally repeating the same mantra of “Murder-Death-Kill. Murder-Death-Kill. Swallow all the vampires.”.

  I gathered my thoughts and continued on my path, a little shaken, but none the worse for wear. I figured I would let Jonathan know about this, because this was a fairly different circumstance than normal. This is a little worrying though, ‘Do Vampires exist here?’ was a thought heavy on my mind, the rest of the trip there. By the time I got there, Jonathan was already waiting for me. I asked if he had a few minutes, and he told me that we could go sit in his office to talk.

  We walked into the office and we both sat down. He opened up by asking me what the issue was. I told him that I wasn’t certain, but I wanted to know if S.H.I.E.L.D. has any records of cats that hunt vampires, or even vampires on this planet? Jonathan joked about some rumor he heard about a “Hellcow” named Bessie, but that he thought that they were just rumors. I looked at him oddly, and asked if there were more things lurking around than just that.

  Jonathan kind of scratched his head, and said that he wasn’t certain, but that I should probably tell him exactly what happened. He recorded everything dutifully, and when I was done, he looked at me and asked what I thought about all of it. I told him that it was a warning of sorts, although I didn’t have any expectation to ever see the cat again, as it didn’t strike me as an entity that would be sticking around. Jonathan nodded thoughtfully and asked if there was anything else that I needed to update. I realized that I needed to update my current capabilities.

  I asked him if he had the time for me to update my list of known capabilities. After a few minutes of going through a copy of what they had of me initially for me, I realized that I had come fairly far in such a short period of time. I decided to hold back on the information about what the Black Butterfly had given me, as it isn’t a guarantee that I can always perform the needed obedience every day, which would limit my capabilities and prevent me from doing what needs to be done, if they are expected for the task. Once I was done updating my abilities, I gave Jonathan the list that I had finished for him. He whistled a bit as he read it and noted that this is a LARGE increase in spellcasting capability. I shrugged and said that it was indeed a big increase, but that this was due to the convergence of a couple different factors that helped catch up in my spellcasting ability.

  Jonathan listened as I told him this, and then asked me if I was planning on taking any special feats going forward, with a kind of smirk on his face. I thought about it, and said that I was planning on getting the ability to forge magical rings, and maybe some increases in the arcana that I know. Jonathan processed it with a nod, and made a note in the file. He thanked me for being forthright, and keeping the abilities up to date. He did key in on me losing an ability, but I noted that I had chosen to “forget” that arcana in order to learn something more useful.

  Jonathan changed the subject slightly, and offered up that the supplies that I had asked for had come in. I smiled and thanked him for letting me know, and asked if he wanted to let me take them with me, or if he wanted to dole them out. Jonathan shrugged and said that honestly, there have been line items in his expense report that were more than this, that as long as I can follow through with that promise, S.H.I.E.L.D. would make sure that I can keep getting these kinds of things. I told him that I would likely have one of each of the varieties by Monday morning. Jonathan thanked me and told me that he looked forward to it.

  Then I brought up the other reason why I was here. I asked him that since I had several pairs of the gloves, I was hoping that I could get his push to have the rescue squads test them. Jonathan pondered it for a minute and asked what exactly they did. I told him that they had the features of stabilizing a person that is dying with a touch, and that they self cleaned and sanitized on command. Jonathan asked me to demonstrate the cleaning, to which I had him get some coffee, and then pour it on a pair of the gloves. When it was good and stained, I said the command word written on the tag on the inside (which I showed Jonathan), and he nodded thoughtfully. I told him that between the goggles and the gloves, there was something that the Emergency Medical Technicians could do, even if it is just to keep people alive until they get to the hospital.

  Jonathan thought about it for a little while more, and picked up his phone to place a call. There was a bit of back and forth after the introductions, but it was clear that he was talking to someone in the city. The conversation went back and forth between the two, on the phone, before Jonathan got a smile on his face. He said that they would get the samples to the Norfolk Fire and Rescue stations, one pair each. He hung up the cell phone and asked me to follow him, and bring both the goggles and the gloves.

  I did, and we went into a conference room of sorts. When we got in, he checked around, and asked me to change my clothing to look something like this; showing me a person in a short white button up robe with safety goggles on and dress pants underneath. I did so and then he asked me to sit down, as we had a script to discuss. As we talked, he revealed that he was going to record a short introduction for the items, and how they worked. He added that we were not going to call them “magic”, only that they are nano-fabricated and bio-electrically powered. That the “command word” was a non-common word coded for usage to prevent inadvertent activation, and that the goggles were an advanced form of augmented reality tech that did a rapid scan for bodily trauma levels and pulse.

  We hashed out the details and recorded a short documentary of the effects and “how they worked” in technical terms. Jonathan was certain that since the gloves were only looking for a specific set of words, it shouldn’t be unbelievable that they could work for everyone, rather than just one person. With our recording set, Jonathan huddled me into his S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV and we drove to the Fire Chief’s Office. I fine-tuned my outfit to be similar to, but not exactly the same, as the initial outfit I was disguised in for the skit. Jonathan remarked that Natasha would definitely LOVE something that did what I could with my outfit, to which I said that I could probably whip something up once I knew what else she would want it to do.

  We finally got to the Fire Chief’s Office, and were ushered in. The Fire Chief was a brusque man that introduced himself as Jeffery Wise, proclaimed that he had been with the Department for almost forty years, and Fire Chief for a decade, and added that he did not have a lot of time to waste. Jonathan cleared his throat and mentioned that we were here from S.H.I.E.L.D., and that this wouldn’t take but a few minutes. He sat down, and Jonathan gave the floor to me. I started to go into a speech about how I was a S.H.I.E.L.D. researcher and fabricator that had developed some technology that could assist first responders for triage purposes and recovery from mass casualties.

  The Fire Chief looked at me a bit askew, and asked me how I thought that the safety glasses and gloves would help with that. I took out the SHAPE goggles, as we called them, and handed him a pair, and asked him to look at us and see what they show. He took the goggles, put them on, and looked at us. He told us that they both say “Healthy”. I told him that the goggles do NOT show sensitive patient information, so that they won’t run afoul of any Patient Privacy Issues.

  He asked me to go through what the different things that they might say are. I explained everything while Jonathan listened to us, to make sure I didn’t get too far off the rails. The Fire Chief said that if this worked, then it would certainly help those who you can see. That was when I brought up that he should look through a wall or door, and see if he can recognize the ratings. He looked and noted that he saw a “healthy”, before walking out of the office and checking in the office next to him.

  Once he came back, before he could say anything, I told him that it was a thirty foot range. He nodded thoughtfully, and asked what the limitations were. I looked over to Jonathan, who gave me a nod, and then I told him that it was about a foot of water or wood, six inches of stone, one to three inches of metal. Some other materials might block it more or less. He nodded thoughtfully and said that this did give opportunities in situations where there were collapsed buildings and the like.

  The Fire Chief noted that these were indeed nice items, and pivoted to Agent Smith, and asked if S.H.I.E.L.D. has been using them. Before Agent Smith could answer, I offered up that there have been multiple Agents who field tested these before we decided to turn them over to Norfolk. I continued with telling him that this is being offered to Norfolk first, as part of a pilot program, to see if the equipment can be included in with established doctrine, to make the response more effective, as in most instances. I added that S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents would be better served with more… detailed information about the people that they are looking at. Fire Chief Wise nodded after that, saying that he could understand that.

  I continued with the gloves, noting their name, Mustang Gloves, and that they employ “Harmonic Resonance Technology” to stop internal bleeding for those who are touched. They also self sanitize by disposing of the materials through their mechanism, although that function needs to be activated, which it utilizes a high end incorporated voice recognition technology, keyed in on a singular term that is printed on the tag on the inside. The stabilization technology mainly seeks to stop bleeding by enhancing platelet action in the patient by being close enough/contacting the patient. These gloves will stop the bleeding within six seconds of contact. I cautioned him that if there is sustained heavy bleeding, it might require extended contact.

  Fire Chief Wise listened along and said that this made sense, as more severe wounds can even bleed through the best of bandages. I nodded and said that these gloves will have the body start working to stop the bleeding itself. I went through a prepared visualization that S.H.I.E.L.D. had whipped up as a potential aid. The Fire Chief nodded along with my explanation as we went along with the visualization.

  I finished up the proposal with the point that a) these items would be available for free for the trial, and after as long as you can put them into good use, b) the gloves and goggles are all universal fit, and c) if these work for you, S.H.I.E.L.D. can arrange getting more for you, at cost. The Fire Chief thought about it for a minute, and shrugged, before saying that since it was free, he’d be glad to have them sorted out to each of the Ambulance crews, as available. I thanked him, and said that we would have the next eight pairs of the SHAPE Goggles tomorrow. Fire Chief Wise stood up and shook both of our hands, saying that he was glad that S.H.I.E.L.D. was looking to help out the communities in these times of strife and chaos. Agent Smith replied that it was just something that we could do to help out in these tough times.

  Agent Smith thought for a second, and said that we can provide the training to each individual crew with a video presentation that we prepared. The Fire Chief looked at us and smiled, saying that this would definitely help with getting the program off and running. As we walked out, I asked Agent Smith if we could drop by the Storage Unit before we went to instruct the different units, as I had promised Rex that he could get some hunting time today. Agent Smith laughed and said that we could definitely do that. I thanked him and we got ready to go relieve Rex of his requirement to be at the storage unit.

  As we arrived, Agent Smith told me to go ahead on in, that he would be in shortly. Rex was tutoring the kittens in proper roaring technique. One of them actually pronounced the phrase, “Fear Me” in Draconic with their meow, “I’gra Ve”. I was dutifully impressed, and told Rex that he was doing a good job. He responded back to me in Draconic that he was going to teach them that phrase, and the words for food, water, shelter, and attention.

  I laughed as Jonathan came into the unit with a stack of four large boxes. I immediately went to help him, putting them on the Levitating Table in the center of the room. He huffed a little, saying that those were unreasonably bulky. I asked if they were what I thought that they might be, and he said that they were. I opened the first box, and saw that it was full of large pieces of rough snowflake obsidian.

  I smiled and opened up the next box, showing large, fist sized quartz points. None of them were “show quality”, but they weren’t being enchanted, just enspelled, so quality only mattered so much. Then the next box held an amount of rough jade, of similar sizes. I smiled as I looked at the last box, and asked if this one was the fullerite or amber. Jonathan told me to open it up and find out, and I did, finding what was termed, “Indonesian Amber” in large chunks, cloudy and nothing internal, but still functional for what I need.

  I smiled and asked if he thought that we had a few minutes, so that I could check to make sure that these will work. Jonathan smiled and said that we did. I opened up the box that was selected for S.H.I.E.L.D., that already had the heat based Constant Heat enspelled stone in it. I selected one of each of the stones, set them in their appropriate cavities, and used my arcane powers four times in a row, once for each of the new energies. For the quartz point, I focused the clear cold that was associated with it back throughout time, and cast the spell, focusing through the feat.

  Just as I finished the incantation, I put the stone into its place on the opposite end of the five compartment box. Picking up the next stone, the Snowflake Obsidian, I focused on the conceptualization of acidity, and how this stone represents it. Again, after six seconds, the snowflake obsidian was emitting an acrid field, not strong enough to damage items, but sufficient to sanitize and repel vermin, so I placed it next to the cold stone at the end. Picking up the Black Jade next, I focused on the vibrational aspects still resonant within it, and how it can produce subtle tones when struck properly. Again, after the requisite time, the jade started vibrating on its own, and I placed it into the second spot in the line of five.

  Lastly, I grabbed the appropriate piece of Indonesian Amber, and focused on the electrical charge building up in it. Slowly initially, then exponentially faster, the Amber started to build its charge, like the heat stone did for heating, and the cold stone did for cooling. Before it could hurt me by shocking me, I placed this new stone in the middle compartment of the box for S.H.I.E.L.D. Quickly, whispering to myself almost, I cast five Stick cantrips in succession, one for each of the stones to the interior of the box. Then, thinking to myself, I decided for a little bit more, and pulled out a sheet of paper.

  I carefully sliced it into five pieces, and wrote a brief description and the name of each of the stones. The first stone was the Phoenix Core, and it was a constant seven hundred degrees Celsius, at least from what Tony Stark had declared. The next in line was the Blight Stone, which had a surface that was constantly acting like an extremely strong acid when it contacted humidity, and continually slightly acidified the air around it, sanitizing things in a small area before the effect denatures, and repelling bugs and vermin, and acidifying water that is passed over it. The next in line, the Galvanic Spark, had a constant electrical potential, and was ionizing the air around it slightly, causing dust motes and similar things to lump together and then fall out of the air. This too, had a limited range.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Next, was the Sonus Chord. This was an interesting one, as it had a constant vibrational effect on it, creating an extremely strong vibrational effect on contact, and reducing the amplitude of sounds in the area around it. The final stone in the box, the Gelid Heart, is constantly cold, and cools off the area around it to almost freezing. I didn’t have any actual specifics for four out of the five stones, so I couldn’t label them as such, and just gave them generalities. I used the Stick cantrip liberally to adhere the paper to the front of each stone’s cavity, and then finally, another one to adhere the top shut.

  All of these were just precautions so that the box didn’t inadvertently open and cause damage to something while it was in transit. Ten pounds of force would allow one to open the box, remove a label, or remove a stone, depending on which is the subject of the force. I took one last look at the box, and then handed it to Jonathan, who had been sitting at the table, watching all of this. Jonathan asked me if this was what I had promised S.H.I.E.L.D., and I told him that it was, and that they were getting access to the stones before even Tony Stark, as long as they kept it secret. Jonathan promised that they would, to which I hoped that it would remain a secret for at least a week, but expected more like a day at most, even with Tony being distracted by his current situation.

  With that business done, Jonathan asked what the deal was with the kittens and the mother cat. I told him that they were just some strays that had been malnourished, and that I had taken them in to help them get better, until they decided to leave or stay in the future school that I would start, assuming that people were willing to work with me for the school. As I went on about my plans, Jonathan looked to be listening intently. This was probably useful information. I apologized for the interruption, paused to cast Truespeak again, and then asked Bright-Eyes if she would be okay with being alone with her kittens here for a while, or if she wanted to go out and try hunting in the immediate area?

  Bright-Eyes woke up, and told me that they would be fine sleeping for a while in the tent, since they had their needs met for the day. I thanked her, and turned to Rex, and told him that he was welcome to go and hunt as he desired. Rex brightened substantially, used his hood to change into an eagle, and left the tent and then the storage unit. Jonathan asked if I had used that spell to talk with them both again, and I told him that I had, and that while I could not pass it on to others, it was a fairly useful way to talk to anything that wasn’t mindless. With everything taken care of, and the Unseen Servant mindfully enhancing the remaining items from the pile (gloves and goggles), I escorted Jonathan back out of the tent and then out of the unit, past the again diminishing piles of bags of salt, and into the open air.

  Jonathan snickered that I certainly went through salt fast, and I shrugged, mentioning that each pair of gloves requires roughly six and a half bags of salt, while the goggles need five and a half bags each at least. Jonathan nodded, saying that this was a lot of salt to move at one time, but hoped that the synthetic gems would help with that. I offered up that with sufficient quantity, it would at least be easier to store them and handle them. I sent Jonathan out to go make copies of whatever materials that we would need to hand out, while Rex was hunting, so that I could finish up on some projects. Jonathan nodded and said that he would be back in half an hour or so.

  After Jonathan left, I burned another three activations of my higher Arcana, casting Constant Heat in the cold, acid, and sonic energy alterations, making another Gelid Heart, Blight Stone, and a Sonus Chord, placing them in the chambered box for Stark Industries and Tony Stark. I used the Stick cantrip liberally again, this time leaving any further information other than the name blank. Better for Tony to try and figure everything out himself. After that, I stepped out of the tent into the storage unit and cast an Ears of the City spell, my pocket full of brick pieces getting a little lighter for the spell’s consumption. Thankfully, there was not any gang violence whispered about or plans in the making, but there were some sightings and mentions of that feral looking tomcat in other places.

  I’m pretty sure it was the same one, even though it was seen in vastly different areas that were very far apart from each other, like miles apart from each other, at almost the same time. Just the tomcat rushing out of a different alley, getting close to someone, sniffing them, and shaking his head before running back into the alley. Just on a flippant whim, I cast Ears of the City again, with a focus on Vampires. Now… Now I am concerned. I actually got results.

  Nothing concrete, and mainly not rumors of anything local, yet, but certainly rumors of an individual named Blade, who I could only guess is a Dhampir, even if they say he is a “Daywalker”. He was a vampire hunter, who had been operating in a place called “Hell’s Kitchen” in New York City. There were rumors about him fighting a group of vampires there. That meant that there WERE vampires in this world, or people were seriously deluded. There were a lot of other minor rumors associated with Blade and Vampires as a whole, and apparently silver affects them here, for some reason.

  Knowing that Vampires were real, I decided to look into other creatures, and see what else there were rumors of on this planet. Rumors aren’t facts, obviously, but at least it is better to prepare for possibilities than never know about them at all. All this will have to be verified with some Page-Bound Epiphany work, but that’s after I get the initial work done on the second and third sets of stones. Firing up Ears of the City again, I decided for a more generalized question of what all there might be out there. Apparently, there are werewolves, vampires, and even an entity named Ghost Rider that punishes the wicked, Asgardians, Dark Elves, Dwarves, giants, and even more creatures.

  There was a creature down in some place called, the “Florida Everglades”, known as Man-Thing, some creatures or entities known as Mindless Ones, entities called Eternals and Deviants. Then there were the aliens, like the Chitauri and the Out-riders, that had come along with Thanos, and even rumors of what I would know as a young Treant, and possibly rumors about giants as well? No mention about what type they were, but that they were extremely strong and healed quickly. I started dictating for an Unseen Servant to write for me, of all of the different areas of inquiry for future research. There are a LOT of things I did not know about this world, especially the side associated with heroics, and I felt that I was going to end up immersed in this, if the encounter with the tomcat was any indication.

  As I was waiting for Agent Smith to get back, I realized that I should bone up on my medical knowledge, just in case someone else asks me medical related questions. I walked over to my small library and cast Scholar’s Touch on the series of medical and technical texts that I had acquired over time. After fifteen books, I felt that I didn’t have anything left that I could reasonably review from those books, so I just reviewed my notes book again. There is so much that is different about this city than Magnimar, and this world than my home world. I’ll just have to take it in stride.

  With about fifteen minutes done of the thirty that Agent Smith had specified, I spent some time mentally reviewing our previous meeting with Fire Chief Wise, and what kinds of things he asked and what might be good to focus on. By the time that Agent Smith was back, I had a fairly good idea of how to maximize our impact with minimizing our time. Agent Smith came back into the storage unit about three minutes shy of the thirty he had offered up, and asked if I was prepared. I told him that I was, and that we should get this done as soon as possible, as I had some things that I needed to talk to him about. Agent Smith looked at me oddly and we both left the storage unit, before I locked the gate back up, and we got into his vehicle. As we headed to the first of fifteen stops, I knew that it was going to be a long day.

  ****************

  Friday, July 20, 2018: 8:30 PM

  Wow, this was a fairly long, but ultimately satisfying, day. With fifteen different branches to get the gloves to, and seven to prototype the goggles, this was an arduous task. The worst part was letting the branches that couldn’t use the goggles, because we lacked the supply of them, that they would be getting a set tomorrow as they were shipped in. The crews were not as welcoming of the thought that only one of the two individuals would be able to possess and use the gloves, but when they found out that they actually were “one size fits all”, and actually meant it, they were a bit more welcoming. Jonathan added that this was a pilot program, so we wanted to get a good sample size and some usage in the field before we fully committed to this model/configuration.

  After Jonathan smoothed it over, and we got a pair into the hands of every branch (along with him bringing lunch for each crew, when we got there), we headed back to his office so I could pick up my S.H.I.E.L.D. bike and he could continue with his day. After I got back, I spent more time studying and using cantrips to do everything that I could, maintaining two available slots for the possibility of needing to use a Cure Light Wounds spell. It was five o’clock when Jonathan dropped by, coming in person to tell me that he just got an interesting, but informal, report from the Fire Chief, about one of the crews that had both the goggles and the gloves. Apparently, they had gotten called out to a possible gunshot victim. They found the individual, and he was on death’s door on the way back to Norfolk Sentara.

  Due to the gloves, they managed to get him safely to the hospital, and they saved his life. This was just one instance, but if this panned out over multiple instances, this would revolutionize life saving techniques in this city. Saving one life might be thought of as a fluke, but if it repeats, then who knows how wide they will want to spread this. Agent Smith offered to tell me the name of who was saved, but I declined, saying that just knowing that someone was saved is the best thing. Agent Smith offered up that if this did pan out, the city might demand that we take the warehouse early.

  I told him that this is a nice thought, but that, barring any other issues, the original order would be done by the end of the week anyway, as the visors were already completed too, leaving only more goggles and gloves, and possibly two or three days worth of work. Jonathan nodded, taking that information in, and asked if there were more ways to increase production. I offered up that getting students would be the best way, as once they were sufficiently trained, I could have them head teams of dedicated wrights, and then different branches can work on different items. Jonathan asked if I would need more of what was needed for the dedicated wrights initially, and I told him that yes, indeed it would be. Jonathan took down some notes in his phone before asking if I wanted to head out to eat to celebrate.

  I thought about it, and finally agreed, saying that it can be a good celebration on the thought that the City Council would be completely for fulfilling the agreement now. As Jonathan and I left, we made our way to the SUV again, and headed to the Granby Street Pizza Parlor, and I informed Jonathan of the order that Captain America had made when he had come through. We both got what we desired and then sat down to eat and drink. Jonathan offered that he was planning on submitting all of this up to his superiors in S.H.I.E.L.D., and that I should also expect S.H.I.E.L.D. to want to look into getting something made.

  Between bites, I offered up that I could probably put the enchantments on things other than the base forms that I had been using, if that is a concern. Jonathan seemed to perk up with that, and mentioned that he would also pass that up, but added, with my inference, that each new sample might need to be tested to ensure that it works first. We finished off our early dinner, and I told him that I was going to be ready to start back on the grind tomorrow. When we finished up our meal we walked out of the Pizzeria to Jonathan’s SUV, we got stopped by a panhandler who wanted money. The man was very angry, and was starting to curse at us and was reaching for something behind his back.

  I moved swiftly to get his attention away from Jonathan and any others, and focus it on myself. I focused on subtly emphasizing the “apparent value” of the clothing my Power Suit was emulating. This worked, as he focused on me, demanded money from me, calling me, “rich boy”. I smiled and tried to disarm the conflict, telling him that I could easily get him a meal, and possibly set him up for the night in a hotel if needed. He yelled he didn’t want food or a room, he wanted money.

  Then he pulled out his hidden “knife” he was holding and tried to stab me. I use “knife” only in the most loose of terms. It was more of a wrapped handle around a jagged piece of metal. It didn’t help him much, since I was still wearing the Umbral Zephyr, the knife almost shattered on the material of my armor. He looked up at me, as I let the illusion that my Power Suit was maintaining dissipate, and was speechless.

  Suddenly in my full, superhero attire, I told him that that REALLY wasn’t wise, as I quickly dropped into my Running Hunter’s Stance, and could instantly smell a sharp, sweet, rotten smell on him. I figured quickly that he was agitated from some kind of narcotic or addiction, and ended the conflict as quickly as I could. Using my cesti, I hit him with a Weakening weapon Prana infused strike. He dropped the knife as strength was sapped from him, and slowly slumped into unconsciousness. Thinking quickly, I ensured that he was just unconscious and not in danger of dying, and tied him up.

  When he was secure, I cast Cure Light Wounds on him and woke him up. He wasn’t making sense and was muttering something about flame smoke and plastic glass, and it being “mine-mine, and only mine-mine”. I looked over at Jonathan, even though he couldn’t see my face from the helmet that had reappeared when the disguise was dropped, he knew that I was looking at him for answers. Agent Smith told me that he was likely in the throes of addiction, and that he would handle contacting authorities. He also cautioned me that it would be good to get this new armor set up with some automated recording equipment, in case I needed to justify a bust or something.

  I thought about it, and said that it wasn’t the worst idea, that I might want S.H.I.E.L.D. to propose something that could fit the bill. Jonathan said that he would refer it to his higher ups. The police were there shortly after, having already been contacted by someone else while we were talking. They walked up to me, and surprisingly shook my hand readily, and addressed me as Verdigris. The officer seemed cautious as he led me to the side and asked if I could remove the helmet.

  I did so, and then he questioned me about what happened. I told him a fairly quick, yet detailed description of everything that had happened once Agent Smith and I had left the Pizzeria. The officer asked if I knew that he would strike at someone when I focused his attention on me. I truthfully told him that I didn’t know that he would, but that he had the means and capability, and that I would have preferred it to strike me, someone who could heal, rather than a civilian. The interview ended after that, with him telling me that since I was a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., there wasn’t even anything that they could do, if there was merit, which, in this circumstance, he did not see that there was, since I used the least lethal means I could, rather than shooting the druggie.

  We shook hands and the police got the irritated indigent into the back of their car, before taking him off. Jonathan muttered something about a secret not being a secret anymore, and I shrugged, saying that honestly, it was bound to happen sooner or later anyway, and better in a non-lethal encounter than a lethal one. Jonathan added that this did mean that it was a bit easier for him, but that I wouldn’t be able to do as much in the way of dark ops. I nodded and told him that neither Verdigris nor Curtis Zine could, but maybe someone else in the future, with a different scope of abilities and powers, could possibly be an option.

  Jonathan smiled with that insinuation and said that he would keep that in mind, but focus my uses through S.H.I.E.L.D. on more sunlight operations. I nodded with the hidden meaning, and told Jonathan that I was sure that he had things to do, that I was going to use some of the abilities of this new armor to get home. We shook hands and I started to run at a brisk pace, while still in my Running Hunter Stance, at a forty-five degree angle to the pavement, getting over fifty feet above the ground, and in line with the roof that I was aiming for. I landed on it and started running and jumping between building rooftops. This was certainly easier than back in Magnimar, since the roofs here were flat, even if not universally even.

  I jumped over streets with minimal worry, as with both the glide effect from my armor, and increased jumping capability from my stance, I cleared side roads and alleys with ease. Every time I needed to cross more than a side street however, or needed vertical distance, I had to activate another usage of Air Walk from my armor. I had five six second bursts of this before it would run out, but my glide effect was consistent at least. I’d run up eighty feet and start gliding from the top, getting another four hundred feet of distance, or at least until it was safe to drop down to the rooftops to continue running. I was fine until I got past Bob’s Gunshop, near the vicinity of the cemetery, where easily traversed and close in buildings ended.

  I took one final up slope run up from the last flat topped building, for twelve seconds, and glided for over eight hundred and fifty feet after reaching my apogee of one hundred and seventy feet above ground level, to land comfortably less than two blocks away from the Storage Unit. It was less than three minutes of running and jumping. It certainly wasn’t anything of the nature that Rex could do, but it was a definite increase in movement capability. Maybe some increases to my personal speed to make better usage of it will be in order. I got close enough to the storage unit that I could get away with it, and used my last spell to Vanish.

  Sneaking to the Storage Unit, I reckoned that this “secret lair” was going to be burned faster than I had allotted for. Hopefully, it can work out that I get the warehouse up and going before this place gets burned. Maybe I’ll try to cash in a favor from Stark Industries AND S.H.I.E.L.D. to maximize the security of the new place. It can’t hurt to have the best of technology, spycraft, AND magic. It was still early, but it felt like a week had gone by in just these few hours.

  Since I knew that I should at least have Tony’s surprise ready, just in case I get some feedback from him through Pepper, regarding S.H.I.E.L.D. getting access to those other stones first. Realizing this, I decided to maximize what I could do for the day even further, and use that magic bedroll to regain my arcana (except for the two portions that I used for the Cure Light Wounds and Vanish spells. Bright-Eyes and the kittens all clambered on top of me, when I got up on my floating cot and pulled that enchanted blanket over me. They seemed most welcome to join me for the short nap, especially with Rex taking some time to come back. After an hour of napping, I woke up fully refreshed, and started deliberately moving, which Bright-Eyes took the hint for, and helped extricate her kittens from the folds of the blankets, and down onto the floor.

  Meditating for fifteen minutes recovered the magic that I could, and refreshed my arcana ability almost completely. Quickly, I finished off all of the needed spells to finish Tony Stark’s batch, and even enspelled my own set of stones. This would give me a set of one of each of them in case I needed to experiment. I still had a fair amount of higher level spells that I could burn through, and I didn’t want to spend hours on any specific spells like that, so I cast Page-Bound Epiphany on each of the major subjects that I had uncovered with the previous Ears of the City spells I had cast. This left me with several branches of information that I would have to have a conversation with Wong about, especially with the encounter with the tomcat today.

  Before I started, I cast a Tears to Wine spell on a gallon of water, and took a drink, to get me prepared for this kind of deep study. I started with the subject of Blade, then I moved on to vampires as a whole, and then werewolves as well. Continuing down the line, I got what I could for “Ghost Rider” and then the Asgardians, dark elves, dwarves, and finally giants. The amount of information that I got on all of these subjects was… thorough. I had transferred the information into the blank books, creating an even larger library for me to reference later.

  With my arcana expended again, I meditated on the events of the day, along with the hopes that the near future would be a lot quieter than today has been. After a day like today, I think a bit of a return to the old grind of taking out gangs and criminals would be in order. I waited for Rex to return before settling in for the night myself. His day of fishing had been successful as well, and he had even brought home a large fish for the feline residents. A very encouraging day, all things considered.

  Note, here are the five stones, by name, and what they do. The Sonus Chord was the hardest one to figure out actually, which is probably why I retreated to game effects to make it more of a "slightly beneficial" effect:

  Phoenix Core: Any Igneous Stone becomes one of these when it is the recipient of the Constant Heat (Heat) spell. It heats the stone to 1292 Deg F, and a 20 cubic foot area around it (around 1.68’ radius sphere) is heated to (but not above) 70 deg F.

  Galvanic Node: Fulgurite or Amber becomes one of these when it is the recipient of the Constant Heat (Electricity) spell. It supercharges the stone to 24kW potential, and mildly ionizes the air in a 20 cubic foot area around it, the quantifiable measure for this is that it makes the air ion density of around it 10,000 to 20,000 negative ions per cubic centimeter.

  Blight Stone: Obsidian or Pyrite becomes one of these when it is the recipient of the Constant Heat (Acid) spell. It permanently sheaths the stone in a strong acid (PH of 1), and acidifies the air around it in a 20 cubic foot sphere, while also acidifying liquids that contact it to a pH of 5.

  Vermin Repellent: This would function similar to the repel vermin spell, but as a permanent effect in a small area. This is a very useful utility, especially for protecting food, supplies, or sensitive areas.

  Sterilization: This implies that within the area, bacteria, fungi, and other microscopic organisms cannot survive or grow, or are killed. This is incredibly useful for hygiene, preventing disease, and preserving perishable goods (food, scrolls, certain alchemical reagents).

  Gelid Heart: Any Quartz, Tillite, or Cyrolite becomes this when it is the recipient of the Constant Heat (Cold) spell. It cools the stone to -100 Degrees F, and a 20 cubic foot area around it (in a 1.68’ radius sphere) is cooled to 35 degrees F.

  Sonus Chord: Any lithophone stone that gains a permanent vibration when it is the recipient of the Constant Heat (Sonic) spell. Within a 20 cubic foot area around it (approximately a 2.7 ft radius sphere), a field of subtle, calming resonances is created.

  Creatures within the area gain a +2 morale bonus on Will saving throws against all mind-affecting effects (including fear, charm, compulsion, phantasm, and patterns). This reflects enhanced mental fortitude and inner peace.

  Furthermore, prolonged exposure to the field has a soothing effect:

  When a creature within the area takes a full 8 hours of rest, they remove one additional point of ability damage or ability drain (if any) and gain +1 HP per Hit Die back in natural healing.

  While within the area, creatures gain a +2 competence bonus on Knowledge checks (any type), as the harmonious vibrations aid in recall and mental organization.