Mage Among Superheroes

The best part about patrol days was that we weren't dealing with any specific problems. That was why, when we came across a lab full of super mice and Rodentia, the problem was done once we got as many mice as we could into tiny little power suppressing cages. That was where my job stopped. I wouldn't have to deal with more mice in the future. I also wouldn't have to hear about things like how the lab had a reliable method of replicating powers that might work on humans.

Had being past tense, not present tense. Because Rodentia took it when she let the mice free. But it was fine, because I didn't have to know that.

Midnight felt much the same way. "I'm not hunting mice just because I'm a feline," he grumbled. "I won't be assigned to such… nonsense!"

He couldn't hunt anyway. He was a city cat, not a country cat. No wait, a Celmothian. I also wouldn't expect humans to be able to hunt if they came from the city. Just like nobody should expect city orcs to know how to hunt.

For all that we had nothing more to do with super mice, it sure felt like that regardless. Who knew that releasing hundreds of tiny supers into the city would result in frequent incidents? And those were just the ones we knew about.

But really, how long could this be a problem for? Mice didn't live that long anyway. A few weeks? Months? Maybe a couple years, tops. Though I supposed that last one was more or less how long I had been in New Bay, so it could be considered a quite significant amount of time.

-----

Because I didn't like doing all the utility stuff- and because she did- Bolster was trying to learn how to manage some of the higher tier stuff like Scrying. The Portal Squad had been leveling up at a pretty decent pace with a mix of training and practical experience. They didn't have to engage in combat to level up, but it was still pretty efficient. I'd personally been on a number of missions with them where we got into some serious conflict, which was great for growth if you survived. And we did, so it was great.

It didn't take a crazy amount of mana to cast Scrying, but getting good at it took more effort. The Power Brigade also very much preferred we maximize natural upgrades as much as possible, reasoning that we could later apply point upgrades if necessary. I generally agreed, as I was quite fond of natural upgrades myself. They were a significant part of my strength that put me quite a significant margin ahead of what I would have expected for those my level. In addition to learning spells without points, I found myself hundreds of points ahead of where I should have been.

Actual calculations became difficult because of the masteries. Surely I shouldn't count every upgrade for every possible spell. But counting things just once also seemed incorrect. Perhaps one spell of each tier within their range? When I did some simple calculations along those lines for Advanced Energy Magic the total came out to 1144 points, which was more than the total of 990 I should have had.

I had more proficiency in Advanced Spatial Magic, via the magic of Storage mostly. The point upgrades I had put into that cheapest spell had carried over and were now worth at least 7 times as much. I wasn't sure that made sense, but I supposed it was important to have a good foundation. It was possible I could have exploited things if I knew what was going to happen, dumping points into Storage before it fused into Basic Spatial Magic… or perhaps the imbalance would have made the mastery impossible.

By that metric Advanced Divination Magic was behind with only 9 total upgrades. Perhaps because I had gained the mastery early. Though to be honest, it was mostly because I had spent fewer points on upgrades, as it had more natural upgrades than Energy. Also I didn't know how to fight someone with Divination magic, so I mainly used it as necessary.

Bolster furrowed her brow as she attempted to do as I requested. She was pretty capable, so far. A few natural upgrades, which made things much easier. I wasn't sure why she was having trouble with this. The mists swirled… then dissipated to show nothing but the cube. "Nope," she said. "Can't do it."

"Why not?" I said. "You can outmaneuver Scrying anchors often enough. You should be able to pick out a shifter or something similar pretty easily. Here, let me try."

"I don't think-" she began to protect.

"Behold!" I waved my arms dramatically. "This guy!"

"... That's just a guy."

I shrugged. "Eh, he is right now. But when night falls? This guy will have a tail!"

"You can tell it only happens at night?"

"Nah, I'm just making it up," I said. "I can tell he's got shapeshifting powers, though."

"Does this guy actually have powers?" she asked as he walked along. "Are you sure it's alright to spy on random civilians like-"

The guy threw open his trenchcoat, revealing that he wasn't wearing anything else. I hadn't expected to run into anything like that for someone just wandering around on city streets- though he was just off to the side. In an instant, he was blending into the bricks. Then, his body changed- briefly revealing claws, a tail, and various other transformations before they too aligned with the background.

Then he strode confidently out of the alley in his new form- fully visible.

"Oh hey it's Beastro," I commented.

"Wait what?"

"The supervillain."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Oh! I get it," Bolster nodded. "You already knew it was him. That's how you picked him out."

"Nah. I was just looking for something that matched." I stroked my chin. "You think we should flag this? We'd probably need a warrant before now to arrest him, but having his picture is probably useful." I was going to make sure Shockwave saw this. They'd want to know.

Bolster was glaring at me for some reason.

"What?"

"Are you cosmically lucky or something?"

I shrugged. "Pretty sure that would be a power and I've already got one. Why would you think that anyway?"

"You just randomly picked out Beastro? At a time like this?"

"You'd be surprised what you can see from random ten minute snippets of a super's day," I said. "Also, he's one of the stronger options. Custom limbs? Heightened reflexes? Visual adaptation, full body transformation, the list goes on. I'm saying he's pretty obvious so it's not strange that I picked him up."

"But I can't do it."

I pondered. She'd done decently when we were comparing sensing abilities, but not astounding. Perhaps she needed more practice. "I have an idea," I said. "Maybe you need to get more used to sensing powers."

"And what does that mean?"

"Well, normally I'd send you out on the streets to pick up what you can… but I think we can just start with you looking around Power Brigade HQ for anyone you don't know and trying to figure out what they do."

"I see. And you did this to improve?"

I didn't quite know how to answer that. In Mossley, I had a lot of time where I was out of mana. I couldn't say I was always trying to figure out people's classes, but there was certainly some people watching involved. It was only speculation that it helped me develop to my apparently pretty good level of sensory proficiency. If I was some sort of natural talent, I couldn't really do anything about it.

I nodded. "I've done it plenty." It was true, even for the Power Brigade. "Take notes, and then look them up later to see if you were right."

"I don't have full access to the database," Bolster reminded me.

Oh right. She was still… not new, but not the same rank. Due to starting later and all that. "I can help you confirm your suppositions, if you don't have access to particular individuals."

I made an official note of the training exercise. I doubted anyone would wonder why I was looking up random people in the database, but they might care about Bolster doing so.

"How long?" Bolster asked.

"Let's say an hour per day. And if you happen to be out on the streets, put in some effort into sensing whoever you pass by. Give it two weeks to see if you feel any change." Obviously that wasn't going to make up for years of practice if that was the only difference, but surely she would notice some difference if it could be trained.

-----

Watching the news was part of my job. Or rather, watching whatever news Calculator thought important enough to send to me. I didn't know why he would bother sending me something about the 'supermarket will-o'-wisp' but since he didn't say he expected me to figure it out.

"Wow this video quality is awful," I commented. Midnight nodded. "Why do they even have security cameras that are so poor quality?"

"Insurance," Midnight said. "Probably costs more if they don't have cameras."

The camera focused on an empty section of store- though I could only vaguely tell that as the lights were off. Then the camera practically burned out for a moment, before revealing a flying orb of light. It didn't have hard edges, but instead was quite wobbly. It might not have only been the camera. The will-o'-wisp alighted on a nearby shelf, setting some things on fire. Then it disappeared, and the small fires died out before the suppression systems went off.

I was pretty sure they should have gone off.

"Is that the whole clip?" Midnight asked.

"Apparently there's another six hours of blackness."

"No thermal imaging?" Midnight asked. "Your darkvision doesn't work?"

I shook my head. "Not any better than your feline night eyes. Only what the camera picked up. Adjusting for light levels, this is the best quality." We'd have to be there in person- or have better base video- to see much more.

We did review another twenty minutes of footage- sped up- just to see if there was anything. "There!" Midnight said. "Movement. Something falls down. Let's check the morning tapes?"

"Don't have 'em," I said. "Lemme ask Calculator." I could swear he had to be writing the response as he read the message, because he answered so fast. "Apparently he already asked for it, but they haven't sent it over yet."

"I think there was some movement on the shelves before that?"

"Could be a box finally crumbling apart after the fire," I said. "Let's start at the beginning."

Going frame by frame, the fire actually started on the ground. Probably. The camera washed out quickly, but before that there was a frame or two of lighting that indicated something similar. Then the orb flew up onto the shelf and went out.

I looked at it closely. "I know the quality is bad," I said. "And we're missing a lot. But something about that light looks familiar."

"Right?" Midnight said.

We simultaneously cast the Light spell.

"Nope," I shook my head. "Not that."

"Maybe in a closet? The natural lighting here…"

"The shape is different," I said. "The edges there are wavier. Kinda like," I made vague motions with my hands. "You know?"

"I really don't."

Too bad. That would have been helpful.

I sat and pondered, but I couldn't figure out anything else. Maybe because I was hungry. "We should buy more snacks."

"Snacks aren't good for you," Midnight said. "Get me some too."

Our apartments had kitchens. Neither of us were good cooks, and we made way too much money to worry about the cost. We could order food or go to a restaurant whenever we wanted, so most of our food was made by others. And some of Midnight's food was from cans, but he honestly just liked to have the tuna available rather than eating it most of the time.

If I was going out I might as well slip by this particular supermarket to see if my eyes could pick something out. I heard they didn't even close the store- it wasn't even an official request, which made me wonder why Calculator had bothered to set his eyes on it. But he always had intuition for things. It was just that usually his intuition came with an explanation.