Mr. Deception
Prologue
Neil Deitrik seems a bit different. Not so much that you can quite put your finger on why, just not quite "right". Neil is a man of thousands of disguises. Well more like four, but who is counting. Using his powers of illusion and radiation, Neil fights the good fight. Not that he would know the difference, but it's the fight that was picked for him. Neil lives in Paragon City. In a city that's not quite "right" he fits right in. Animated by 'magic', powered by an atomic core, Neil is an Automaton. Much more sophisticated than the crude Automatons created by Nemesis, Neil is here to keep the citizens of Paragon City safe. If he has to crack a few skulls along the way, then that's what he will do.
The Beginning
Anti-Matter twirled the wrench on one finger. The automaton was coming together nicely, there were only a few wires left to attach and it would be time to test it out. It was his best design since he had quit collaborating with Neuron. It was so far ahead of the Praetorian Clockwork that cleaned the streets of Praetoria that it was like comparing a human to a Neanderthal. Neuron would be in for a shock for sure. This automaton could put him back in favor with Cole. Not that he wanted his Praetor title back; there was only one thing he was interested in. Regardless of what it took he was determined to get that one thing. Nothing would stand in his way.
Introspection
“Sir, the primary field stabilizers are online.”
“Good. Please check the Secondary units and start feeding power to the magnetic dampening circuits.”
“Yes sir. This will be a crowning achievement for you sir.”
Mumbles…
The large circular object near the far wall starts to pulse with blue and purple light. The pulsation gets louder with each second. Soon the air crackles with energy and the noise is deafening near the object.
“Sir, the Primary field is destabilizing. I am increasing the power to the magnetic dampening clamps.”
“Shut it down. I don’t want to have to rebuild all of this like we did last month.”
“Yes Sir.”
Anti-Matter gazed at the Automaton with regret. It was nearly perfect. So why hadn’t he presented it to Cole? He sighed and went back to analyzing the data from the last test, but his mind kept drifting back to her. Why couldn’t she see that he was the one? No one else had done as much for the Empire as he had. No one else even came close to his genius. He slammed his fist down on the table, breaking a glass that had once held a drink. Curse Cole for his admonishment. He hadn’t deserved to have his title stripped away. It was all for the Empire!
The Preview
The large circular object once again thrummed with life. This time the noise was considerably less. You could actually stand next to it and not have instantaneous hearing loss. The blue and purple light got bright with each passing second. Suddenly there was a sound like someone inhaling. It was so loud and unexpected Anti-Matter jumped with surprise. It was done! A mad laugh sounded throughout the laboratory.
“Sir, are you alright?”
“Better than alright. It’s done! Cole will appoint me as his right hand. I’ll have power undreamed of!”
Again the mad laughter rang out. It was quite apparent that the man was power drunk and crazy to boot.
“Prepare the drone. Toss it gently through the portal and stand back. I don’t want you to get drawn in unexpectedly.”
“Yes Sir. Might I ask where the portal goes to?”
“Another dimension, another time, who knows? It’s a mystery…”
Anti-Matter danced around the table singing over and over. “Mystery, mystery… Woohoo, it’s a mystery…” He suddenly stopped and faced the Automaton. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Sir you need rest.”
Anti-Matter picked up the gear lying on the table and threw it at the automaton who deftly dodged the piece of metal. “How dare you, insolent…” The rest was lost in a sputtering rage.
“Perhaps you are right. Record the drone for three hours and recall it. I am going to go clean up and get some rest.”
The Release
The automaton looked at the portal. The three hour window was up and he had sent the drone the recall transmission. It should have been back by now. He looked at the portal again and decided to walk over closer to it to see if he could hear anything above the din that it was producing.
The automaton leaned closer. Nothing could be heard but the noise of the portal generator. A little closer; what was that???
The drone had been hovering over Talos Island for the last three hours. It’s battery was on the last legs. The memory units on board were full of data on the inhabitants, the geography as well as the radio, TV, and computer traffic that it had picked up. It was a gold mine of information. And it was time to go back home. It headed back to the spot in the alley where it had appeared out of nowhere. It started an orbital location routine to try to find the portal recall spot. On its 26th orbit it found it.
Confusion
The automaton stumbled, its gyros howling at the sudden change in direction as they stopped the shift in momentum. The irises in his eyes narrowed at the shift to daylight. He stood straighter and looked around. If he could have felt panic, this would have been a good time to experience it. The sensory overload was almost enough to have to shut down unnecessary functions. He had never been outdoors before. His memory files had data on the outdoors, but it was nothing like what he was experiencing. The sights, smells, and even the taste of the air were different. It would have been euphoric for a being of flesh and blood. As it was, all he did was catalog it for future use and possible study.
He realized that he needed to find the portal. He initiated the same basic orbital location routine that the drone had used. Soon he was above the building where he had appeared. Logic told him that he had missed the Portal, so he tried again to no avail. After the fifth try he realized that the Portal was no longer operating and that he would not be getting back to the lab this evening.
He commenced to walk around and explore this new world. There were people walking on the street. No one even glanced twice at him or thought him to be strange. There were a lot weirder things walking around Paragon City than an automaton for people to gawk at.
He passed by stores and high rise buildings. There was a bay off to his right with ships and cargo on a pier. A woman screamed a high and throaty cry for help. A blur flashed by him that manifested into a man who whipped into an alley. Soon a thug exited the alleyway flying a short distance to fall to the ground unmoving. The man reappeared and attached a device to the thug. In a matter of seconds the thug disappeared from view. As the woman staggered from the alleyway, she thanked the man profusely. He responded; “That’s alright ma’am, it’s what a hero does.”
The automaton searched its memory for references to the word “hero”. Nothing came up. He filed the word away for future study and walked on down the street.
Breaking Point
Anti-Matter woke from his rest and went back to the lab. He started to examine the data from the drone and was totally immersed in what he found. A whole dimension to be plundered and destroyed! What a find! He cackled merrily as he examined the things that could be brought back to Praetoria. Eventually he found himself thirsty and call to the automaton for a drink. Silence was the reply.
It took him a while to realize that the automaton was nowhere to be found. The more he searched, the angrier he became. He started throwing things around the laboratory in a mad rage. The laboratory soon became a pile of paper, parts and assorted clutter as he raged around it cursing the automaton at the top of his lungs. He restarted the Portal device in an attempt to retrieve the machine, but in his rage he had ripped wiring and other controls loose. A fire started and the Portal machine exploded in a brilliant shower of sparks. There would be no retrieval any time soon.
Blending in
In the past few days the automaton had found it easy to make a bit of money by cleaning and helping others as he had helped Anti-Matter. He started taking note of the social aspect of his surroundings and decided that clothing would be a good start to looking more normal. Of course having never worn clothes before he was at a loss as to style or function. He walked into a clothing store and picked out a shirt, pants and a trench coat. This would sound like a nice ensemble until you realized that the shirt was maroon and the pants and trench coat were bright florescent green.
Dressed as for the street he returned to his explorations. Since his arrival on Primal Earth, he had learned a lot about the people and the culture. He now knew what a hero and a villain was and that Paragon City was full of them. There seemed to be a struggle for power between the two forces that ebbed and flowed like a tide. This did not interest him in the least. His mission was to get back to Praetoria as soon as he could.
Change is good
The blast lifted him up and over the fence and deposited him roughly against the concrete wall. His servo’s whined and the gyro’s that stabilized his movements shrieked in protest. He lay there while his computer reprocessed the last few seconds of data and decided on a course of action.
As he stood up a villain ran out of the hole in the wall with a huge bag in one hand. The villain ran over a young girl as he made his getaway. Something in the automaton clicked hard and new programs started running. Programs that he had never seen or ran before. He had to stop the villain. Praetoria was forgotten and nothing else mattered but keeping the populace safe.
He took two steps and launched himself into the air and flew in the direction that the villain had escaped. As he approached the villain a plan came together. Spectral images popped out in front of the villain and started attacking. Radiation from his central core landed on the villain and caused him to slow and loose coordination. With a wave of his hand the automaton blinded the villain. Soon the villain was lying at his feet. A police officer walked up and placed a device on the villain who soon disappeared.
“So, you took this guy down huh?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Where is your ID card?”
“ID card sir?”
“Your hero ID authorizing you to arrest and protect.”
“I do not have one of those sir.”
“hmmm… You need to get one before you do anything like this again. If you had killed this guy you would be in a lot of trouble. Here is the address. Go down and tell the registrar that Detective Croquette sent you.”
The good fight
“Your name sir?”, The registrar looked up expectantly.
“Name? I do not have one.”
“You need a name sir. One that will be identified with your hero persona.”
“I do not have a name.”
The registrar sighed. It was always the same with robots. They never had a name and seemed incapable of making one up.
“What sort of powers do you have? The ones you will use to fight crime.”
“I make visions and illusions in the opponents mind. They see and do as I direct. I can deceive the opponent into believing in the illusion so strongly that they will fall from sheer terror and fear.”
“So you practice the art of Deception?”
“That would be correct sir.”
“Mr. Deception will be your name. Sign here.”
Bus tokens.
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