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The Good Life: Showmanship (ch. 66)
🕑 Added 2024-10-04 14:54:03 +0000 UTCGetting the jitters was a pretty normal part of life. No one was immune to it -- I sure wasn't. Back before it all began, before the ball really started rolling and I crossed the Rubicon, I had been anxious and uncertain about going through with being Heartless. I had taken over the gangs of New York, but I could have just taken the kick up and vanished without a trace. I hadn't been on anyone's radar at that point. The Seven had no clue I existed.
I had been excited at enacting a childhood dream, but I had been about as nervous as I had been excited. So, I understood how the people of the University felt well enough. They were smart. Brilliant, even.
But they found themselves in competition with everyone else in the city who could call themselves smart or brilliant.
Those doubts would start to whisper in the back of their minds as they saw other geniuses and what they created. Were they as smart? Was what they created worse? How did they compare? Better? Worse? Perhaps they should have built something different. Or maybe they saw something and realized that they could have built it and built it better. All of it built an invisible pressure on everyone on campus as they fussed over every single minute detail, hoping and praying that they would get the big break that they hoped for.
And, inevitably, some people cracked under that pressure. It was only natural. Just because you were a brilliant inventor didn't mean that you were good in front of a crowd. The thought that you could make a fool of yourself was a paralyzing one for many. So, they tried to take the edge off their anxiety. They smoked. They went to a brothel for some good ol’ post-nut clarity. They drank…
Or, they got their hands on the newest drug in town, that just so happened to give them exactly what they needed.
Joy.
“They're practically offering themselves up on a silver platter,” I remarked drily, seated on a ledge on the roof of the University, watching all of it with my Room. I could tell who exactly was cracking under the pressure, and who was buckling down and putting in the work. I could tell what they were creating, too. Just as I could tell what would appeal and what wouldn't, even if it was useful. Because, in events like these, showmanship mattered more than substance.
“Intelligence doesn't equal wisdom, it seems,” Robin said, giving me a rather pointed look that I pretended not to notice. “Yoruichi and Sukuna have done their part in this scheme of yours. We have enough for a warehouse, temporarily. Sukuna had also procured a local drug called Shimmer, which has transformative properties,” she added and I had to smile.
Sukuna had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. He was a stubborn guy, so it wasn't enough to lead him to water. You had to trick him into drinking it while letting him think it was his idea. I recognized that in him because I was the same exact way.
Shimmer also sounded nice. From what I had heard of it, it sounded almost exactly what Shaun had been looking for to combine FEV and Compound V. So I might have a nice power boost coming my way once the portal opened.
“That was nice of him,” I said, leaning back and propping myself up with my hands as my feet kicked back and forth. “Things going well there?”
“As to be expected, for the most part. The situation is developing,” Robin replied with a small shrug of her shoulders. No matter what, between Yoruichi and Sukuna, I figured they had it handled in the Undercity. “Asami has been using Rumi to keep an eye on their actions. I expect you'll get a stern talking to once Asami feels like she's in a position to deliver an ultimatum.”
“Yeah, I figured,” I admitted with a shrug. Yoruichi was pretty cagey on the details, but she apparently knew how to create a death cult, and Sukuna was Sukuna, so that talk was always going to happen. “She's going to wait until after we get put on the map, because then her leverage is going to be stronger. She'll pull on my leash so that I'll pull on theirs.” The balance was fun, but I had to admit, I was finding Asami to be a little too predictable.
Part of that was me stacking the deck in my favor, but I had to admit, I did expect more from her now that her hands weren't tied up with the ‘Greater Good.’
That being said, it was dangerous to underestimate her, so I had to be careful. if I tipped my hand too early it would end up blowing up in my face, so I had to keep her in the dark as long as I could.
Which is why I had settled on this approach. “Feels like everyone is in position,” I said, my gaze lifting upwards to the sky above to see an unfamiliar tapestry of stars. Most of the people on campus were working through the night, using every last second that they had available to perfect their creations. There were a solid dozen that had caught my attention, but my focus was on three of them in particular.
The window of opportunity was small to grab all three, especially when no one would notice their brief disappearance. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a knock-out vapor stick that Fallout had produced back in its heyday and snapped it. Immediately, the knock out gas rose up from it, but I grabbed it all and did a quick Shambles.
The air around my targets was swapped, directly around their nose. Almost immediately, their heads sagged before they were out like a couple of lights. Then, with another Shambles, they were put in a moving trolly that discreetly carried them to the hidey hole that Robin had secured for us with the help of Yoruichi and Sukuna. Actually… “Have they settled on a name, yet? For the gang?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Robin replied as I brought us down to the ground at the edge of my Room. “I do hope you'll be a little more creative than ‘Vought’ though. Or the Eight.”
“That hurts. That was hurtful, Robin,” I sighed. Everyone was a critic.
“Perhaps it would be best to leave the naming to them. It is their organization, after all. You, officially speaking, are completely unconnected to it.” She continued, just rubbing salt into the wound as I wordlessly created another Room and brought us to a workshop.
Even up here at the top, there was disparity in wealth. The base they had found was a trinket shop whose owner was just greedy enough to take a bribe to look the other way, and not peek behind the door to the basement that he was letting us borrow. It was there that I was greeted with the familiar sight of the Synth machine. A variation, at least. It was a model that was developed by the Institute but never utilized simply because they never got to the stage of their plan where they sought to expand beyond the Commonwealth.
It was connected to a pod where I deposited one of the kidnapped inventors, who was still out like a light. Attaching the sticky things to his head, I took a DNA sample that I then fed into the Synth machine. While it came to life, stitching together a body, I took out an IV bag and hooked it up to the guy that was just slumbering away, completely oblivious as to what was happening to him.
Better for him that way, honestly. I imagine he'd be pretty upset to see all of the scientific and engineering knowledge he had accumulated in his thirty odd years of life dripping out of him in a gray fluid. Math, science, blueprints -- they floated in the gray goop that slowly filled up with the use of my power. In particular, when I used an Amp-Room to speed the progress along.
The whole process would take about an hour. Giving me time to siphon off everything that these guys knew and create Synths of them, which would take their place while the originals got killed by the memory transfer. From there, the Synths would follow a predetermined path. One would kill himself before Progress Day, while the other two would sabotage ‘their’ inventions before vanishing into obscurity.
Actually getting hands on with the process of creating synths, it really made Shaun’s remark about them clear -- Synths weren’t people. They were highly sophisticated toasters working off a personality template. A template that I could then modify at will.
It wasn't a process I could repeat endlessly. Not only because people would grow suspicious about a jump in people burning out, but because each Synth ate a chunk of a fusion cores power and I only had so many on hand. Once the portal reopened, things would change, but even then I'd have to remain cautious.
After all, I wouldn't put it past Asami to have found a way to detect Synths.
Which is why I couldn't afford to put any in the company that we were launching.
“So,” I started, tossing myself onto a couch as the whole process got started, looking at Robin. “How are you feeling about things?”
“Interested, but I am rather cross that you bet your life so easily once again,” Robin said, striding towards me and my lips curled into a smile as she smoothly sat in my lap. “I understand you have no real attachment to it, but I would be rather sad to see you die because of your own foolishness.”
“Sorry, sorry -- it's just the one thing that I know both Rumi and Asami are gunning for,” I admitted.
“Find something else they want,” Robin scolded lightly as I rested a hand on her thigh, feeling smooth skin under my palm. “This game of yours is a dangerous one, Law. Asami is far better equipped to handle high society than you are. If you aren't careful, then you could very well lose this bet of yours.”
I pursed my lips at the warning -- I wasn't taking things lightly, but I seemed to have worried Robin more than I thought I had. “Okay. What are you thinking?”
That got a slight smile from her, “You're doing well subverting the cards that she has in her hand. And putting cards in your own. But, there is one thing you're failing to do -- you're not putting cards in her hand.” Robin said, making me tilt my head with a frown. “Just as you did with Cinder in Vought -- you had a spy in their company until the very end, and when it came to the fight, you removed her from play.”
Ah. That's what she meant. “Can't be Cinder again. Asami hates her. Can't be you either, because you're a known quantity,” I said, following the train of thought. More than that, Asami’s gaze was going to be fixed on everyone -- Robin, Yoruichi, Sukuna, and Cinder when she gets here. Every time they made a move, Asami would make sure she knew about it.
“It would be best to recruit amongst the locals. And to obscure your actions from her,” Robin agreed.
“I can think of a few ways to do that. How would you feel about being a distraction?” I asked her, my hand gliding up her leg to the edge of her short skirt. “I put you and Cinder in obvious, but useful places. Asami starts trying to curtail you two, and because of that she misses what we're really doing.”
Robin placed a hand on my wandering one and guided it to pushing up her skirt, her gaze teasing and amused. “I think I would like that. What do you have in mind?”
“Well, I could use someone in the university staff,” I said, my smile growing when Robin laughed gently.
She was smiling as she looked down at me, “I didn't expect for you to have a teacher fetish, Law.”
“Of course I do. Who doesn't have the hots for teacher?” I asked, grinning unrepentantly. “We snag the current history professor, brain drain him, and make sure you get the spot.” Which would let Robin target potential recruits in the university as well as find more people we could recruit. I was less sure about what to do with Cinder, but she had been a pretty solid informant when she wasn't trying to betray me.
Putting Cinder under one of the major players in the city -- a council member like Heimerdinger, or someone well known like Jayce. Someone visible for Asami to react to. An obvious play, but one that she would expect from me because I'm almost certain that Asami was underestimating me.
Robin slid my hand up until it rested on her ass as she shifted to straddle me, “I think I like the sound of that. But you'll have to earn your grades from me, Law.”
“I know I like the sound of that.”
…
Progress Day arrived and the whole city was rejoicing. It was a bit like Christmas, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving all rolled into a single holiday-- you had the outrageous parties where people were just getting drunk and celebrating. You had the family get togethers where people exchanged gifts, thankful for all that they had. Then, and most importantly, you had the actual stars of the show -- the scientists. The inventors. The people who catapulted Piltover, and the Undercity, into the future.
At the beating heart of it all was the university.
“I didn't expect for you to be a silent partner in all of this,” I remarked to Asami as we stood outside of the theater that the presentation would be happening. It was basically a giant game of show and tell, when it came right down to it. Around the university, there were stands and stages for all the inventions but there was no stage greater than the one at the university, as it was only used by students and alumni.
“Are you complaining?” Asami questioned as she proved that she wasn't any different from the dozens of other geniuses at this school, because like so many of them she was crouched before her invention, triple checking the bolts just to sooth her anxiety.
The invention was of the style of this world and, I had to give it to Asami -- she really was brilliant in a one-of-a-kind kind of way. Not only was she able to replicate a key technology that we picked up in Fallout, she was able to recreate it in a completely different style of technology. It was clunkier, certainly, with several large gears within the frame. It came up to my waist, and probably weighed a good hundred pounds, which was why it was on a dolly to help move it around.
“No, just surprised,” I admitted, and this was why I liked playing with her because that was a move I hadn't seen coming. “I figured you'd rather pull teeth than let me be the sole face of the company,” I continued, tilting my head at her. I had a few guesses for her motivations, but nothing concrete. With the two of us as the public face -- the creator and the salesman -- she could check me a lot easier. When I said one thing, she could say another.
That was a pretty big advantage to give up. Meaning she had a card up her sleeve that convinced her it was a worthy sacrifice.
It could just be Asami giving me enough rope to hang myself with, but that didn't feel right. She was up to something, and I almost couldn't wait to find out what.
“At least you're aware of it,” Asami sighed, taking a step back.
“Kinda hard to miss,” I replied, watching her. I was looking for a hint, but she was giving me nothing. With her acting as the silent partner, I got all the credit. Whatever influence we gained would be mine and mine alone. That felt like part of her plan, but it couldn't be all of it. It couldn't be a simple pitfall of waiting for me to talk to someone smarter than me about what was being created and inadvertently revealing that I was too dumb to build it.
Could it?
“You have your goals in this world. I have mine,” Asami answered simply, not giving anything away. I didn't think she would, but now the mystery of it was nagging at me in the back of my mind. “Unless you want me to hold your hand through the presentation?” She asked, her tone carrying a hint of a mocking undertone.
I offered her a patient smile, “Nah, I got it all handled already. See you at the after party?”
“Preferably not,” Asami replied and I just laughed, accepting the answer for what it was before grabbing hold of the machine and wheeling it down the walkway into the back room where all the other scientists were gathering. The room was filled to the brim with littering and nervous scientists, all of them tinkering with their creations.
Throwing open a Room, I found that the theater was filled to the absolute brim with people. It brought back fond memories if my first real debut as Heartless -- crashing Lamplighter's memorial. Or was it his wake? I couldn't remember. What I did remember was that the stadium had been filled to the brim with members of high society. A-list actors, top tier producers, some of the richest and most powerful people to be found in America..
This had the same overall feel. Every seat in the theater was the best seat in the house, after all. All of them eager to get on the ground floor of what Piltover’s best and brightest had to offer.
I also gave Asami's creation a quick look over to find that there weren't any signs of sabotage like I had half expected. I had the combined knowledge of three brilliant scientists and engineers kicking around my noggin, so if the sabotage was there, then she was subtle with it. What I did find, however, was Asami's name on the list of people with something to show off.
So that's what her play was. She was developing a reputation independent of me. Clever. Especially when I felt her enter my Room with her own project. That was fine.
I had my own tricks to play, so I went ahead to prepare the stage for them. Including actually turning on the invention. The whole process only took a few minutes, and it finished just in time because by the time I got back…
The show began.
“Friends, colleagues, and citizens of our fair city -- welcome to this year's celebration of Progress Day! I know you're all tittering with excitement over what our brightest minds have created this year. I know I certainly am!” Heimerdinger declared, taking to the stage before the crowd with a familiar confidence. One that was well earned, since from what I understood, he had done the opening speech every year for the past two hundred years. “Every year I am amazed and in awe of what is created -- from the inventions that provide an answer to a small personal problem, to inventions that shake the very foundations of Runeterra.”
Ah. I saw where this was going. “Today is a day where we celebrate those that push us another step forward to tomorrow. In my three hundred and eighteen years very few things have remained constant, but progress is one of those few. So, it is my privilege and my honor to welcome you all on this auspicious day! A day when our fair city takes not only a step, but a leap forward!”
There was clapping and cheering as I recognized the speech as a primer for the unveiling of what the spire was. I couldn't see them from my position behind the curtain, but it was pretty easy to mark out those who were already in the know.
In these kinds of situations, it was generally best to go first or last as everything in between could run together. It was the best way to stand out. Both me and Asami were fairly middle of the pack, but that was fine as one of my Synths was up first.
His machine sputtered and died before he could properly reveal what it was. He was quickly hurried off the stage while the true designs for the invention resided in my head. There were a quite few muttering at the lackluster start, but before long, things picked up. Invention after invention was shown off, some garnering interest while others were quickly dismissed. Heimerdinger was pretty optimistic about all of them, eying each one with a child-like joy and a fatherly pride, but he was the only one.
Greed. That's what I sensed from the room. Everyone was just looking for the next big thing.
And when it was my turn, I decided to give it to them.
With a practiced smile, I rolled my contraption onto the stage, a spotlight following me until I arrived at the very center of it. The crowd was dark, making it difficult to see -- that was on purpose, I imagine. But I could still pick out the key players, each of whom had a private booth.
Heimerdinger watched on from above, recognizing me and perking up. With him was Jayce and a man that I didn't recognize, who sat with a crutch at his side.
There were members of the council -- few were of interest honestly, as I had been keeping an eye on them with my Room. The short balding man was a moron. The tall skinny guy wasn't much better. Their names were Hoskel and Salo respectively. There was one council member missing, though -- a sickly man with the name Stevan Ferros. But, according to my precursory research, he seemed to be largely out of the picture because of his poor constitution.
However, the rest were the ones I was paying close attention to.
A robot, as far as I could tell, was the most interesting. His body completely made of metal with clockwork gears ticking. He hadn't said much, and as interesting as I found a real life android even now, he hadn't given much of a reaction to anything. Even with the muted emotions I sensed from him. His name was Bolbok.
The other members of the council were all women -- a bald dark skinned woman with a ticking gear necklace. Shoola was her name.
A family of three was in another booth -- Cassandra Kiramman was the councilor, and she was a refined Milf, I had to say. She was bothered by her graying hair but chose to highlight it rather than hide it, and she carried herself with the apostolic poshness of old money. Her husband was younger, more of a trophy husband I think, as he kept his nose out of anything political. Together, they had a daughter in her late teens -- Caitlyn Kiramman.
She was excitable, watching all the inventions with delight. Bright blue hair and eyes, and if I cared to, I could carry the whispers to her parents wondering what I would be presenting.
Then, lastly, there was Mel Medarda. Dark skinned, dark hair, she stood out with how exotic she looked compared to those around her. Golden jewelry was woven into her hair, and her make up was highlighted with gold, as was the white and golden dress that she wore. She, more than any other, was the one that made plays on the Council and she was the one whose attention I was trying to catch. Though, I suppose any member of the Council would do.
“My name is Trafalgar D. Water Law. If that's too much of a mouthful for you, then just call me Law,” I introduced myself, making sure my voice carried to those with deep pockets and the Councilors. “But first, I have an announcement to make,” I said, reaching into my coat and Shambling a piece that I had prepared for my presentation.
I wasn't much of a salesman, but I had a real talent for showmanship.
Acting like I pulled a control panel from under my vest, I presented it to the crowd with an easy smile on my face. “This here is the control panel to the universities fluid generators.” I announced, and there was a stirring there. “If you would notice, the lever says off. That is because, roughly an hour ago, I turned off the power generation to the university before ripping this doodad off. Sorry, Professor Heimerdinger, I'll be sure to put it back.” I added, giving a cheeky smile.
That got people's interest. The clever ones leaned forward, asking themselves a question. For the slower ones, I spoke it out loud. “Now, I know what you're thinking -- ‘If the whole power grid is down, then how is it that the lights are still on?’” My smile grew, “That is because, for the past hour, my fusion generator has been fluidlessly providing power for the entire university.”
Electricity was weird here. They didn't transfer electricity through wires, instead they transferred it through a conductive fluid. The same fluid they refined from the gasses that the Undercity mined. Honestly, calling it electricity was a bit of a stretch in the first place as the fluid itself provided power.
That got a muttering, but I only carried the words of a chosen few to my ears.
“Arrange an invitation for the grand reveal. Technology like that will either need to be suppressed or cultivated.” Mel decided easily, watching me from above. The secretary that she had with her bowed her head before she stepped back to carry out the order.
Heimerdinger, on the other hand, was simply delighted. “Fascinating! Simply fascinating! I don't see any cables or hook ups! Is he transmitting the power through the air?”
The sickly man with the crutch responded, stroking his chin, “I cannot think of another way, if he is being honest.” No idea who he was, but given he was seated with some of the most important people in the city, I’m guessing he was someone of note. If only because of who he knew.
They talked, muttering amongst themselves, but I was hardly done. “What my presentation is about is the utilization of energy. Hextech isn't merely revolutionary because it harnessed the power of magic through technological means,” I said, throwing some fluff at the Man of Tomorrow. Jayce leaned in, clearly pleased to hear his work praised and curious where exactly I would go with this. “It's revolutionary in how it utilizes what once was a form of energy that was, until recently, untouched.”
Hextech was what made Jayce important, but I hadn't seen much of the stuff myself. It wasn't something that was in the hands of the public yet -- but there were signs of it. Hextech being used to let airships triple in size without increasing the demand on reagents necessary for flight. Things like that.
“It was that forward thinking that inspired what I am calling the Fusion Generator. Through a patented design, the Fusion Generator can not only sustain the entire campus… but it can do the same for household products,” I continued, my smile growing until it consumed my face.
There was a spike of panic from Asami as she realized I had gone off script. At the same time, there was a surge of interest from the crowd -- an alternative source of power was one thing, but one with immediate practical applications? That was a whole different beast. It was the difference between knowing that someone had mastered electricity and seeing them light up a room with the light bulb.
I hadn't known what play Asami would be going with, so I had prepared an alternative in case she decided to sabotage the invention she gave me. It was why I had stolen the knowledge from the three scientists -- partly, so that I would be able to hold a conversation if I was pressed about the inventions, but also so I could build my own contraption. As I spoke, and on cue, one of the designated helpers pushed my second invention onto the stage.
It was a shitty knockoff version of a Mr. Handy. The same bulbous body with several arms, each equipped with a different tool, only instead of a thruster keeping it aloft, it had what were basically spider legs. There was immediate interest but I continued on, “Through the contactless power supply of the Fusion Generator, you can power your house hold Mr. Handy with but a flick of a switch!” I did exactly that, and the Mr. Handy came to life.
The legs unfurled, lifting the body up while the eyes spun and zeroed in. “Through the use of no less than a dozen proprietary technologies, your Mr. Handy has the solution for just about every problem you can think of! With thirty six attachment modules, you can have him sweep your floor!” I continued, reaching into the same imaginary pocket in my vest to grab a prepared bag of dirt before sprinkling it on the ground.
Without further input, the Mr. Handy switched to the appropriate attachments -- a sweeper and a broom -- and began cleaning it up. There were sounds of awe now, but that wasn't why I was chuckling. Asami was fuming behind the curtain, realizing what I had done but not sure how I managed it. “From cleaning your windows, dusting your rafters, to polishing your silverware -- Mr. Handy can do it all!”
Then I held up a finger, “Alas, that is what I would like to say. You see, as revolutionary as I might find my creations, I understand that there are those that are too… attached to what is familiar. After all, not everyone will want to have a Fusion Generator in their manor. And it is that which brings me to my proudest creation of the night. The Microfusion Cell!” I accounted, reaching into the same pocket and producing the Microfusion Cell from Fallout.
I had plenty. I wasn't sure what we would be dealing with here, so I had snuck in a bunch inside of the container I sent Yoruichi and Sukuna too. Just in case I needed to start an armed revolution of some kind and wanted to have the tech advantage.
“The Microfusion Cell holds barely a fraction of the power of the Fusion Generator, but it comes with one single advantage -- mobility,” I continued, opening up a hatch in the Mr. Handy and placing the cell inside. “It can be slotted into devices, such as the Mr. Handy, which grants it freedom from relying on external power sources. No wires, no connections. Near unlimited range so, should you wish, you can send your Mr. Handy out into the city to purchase groceries, or walk a pet. The possibilities are endless!”
That was how you did it, I thought as I dropped to a theatrical bow, “And that, concludes my presentation.”
I had hit them with a three piece combo -- alternative power generation, then practical and advanced robotics, and then ended it with a battery that could be utilized in many other potential inventions.
To confirm my thoughts, I was answered with thunderous applause.
The city didn't know it yet, but they were already eating out of the palm of my hand.
