Nobilis spoke calmly and with confidence, There are other Paths to take. I simply took the sum total of your actions, and the information we have before us, and have given you the selection in a simply to understand format.

  “I don’t want to take over the world and be worshipped,” Ethan replied. He felt the resolve hardening in his mind. “I’m not going to do that. I won’t do that…unless there is no other choice.”

  Very well.

  -----

  [Path 1 Chosen. Uploading sub-Mission parameters to achieve chosen Path.]

  -----

  Ethan saw the black screen in his vision, with golden lettering that began to slowly scroll out a list of various tasks and events. Much like a quest log in a video game, or a checklist he would take to the grocery store. Items that he would need to accomplish. Starting small, just how he was hoping to.

  -----

  [Mission: Secure the city of Los Angeles.]

  [A.) Resolve the “Villain of the Week” that Cheat Code will send. REPEATING.]

  [B.) Resolve Full Metal Gangster’s hold over his territory.]

  [C.) Build up the Imbued Initiative to handle threats even in your absence.]

  -----

  “That makes it easy,” Ethan said.

  You are welcome. These are the most vital steps to securing your foothold here in Los Angeles. I will work on and calculate with Coordinator on county, then state, then region, then national, and finally, international milestones. It should help to streamline our process and ensure efficiency.

  Ethan was about to reply but his phone rang again. Checking the contact, he saw it was Fred. “Hey there,” he said as he answered.

  “Hey, Radiance! Good news, got that house you wanted. I just need you to come by the agency to sign the paperwork.”

  “I can be there now, if you want.”

  “Just need a few signatures, that’s all. Merch sales have already skyrocketed – especially with that save with the volcano. I’ve taken the liberty of putting all the bills and whatnot in the agency’s name, and I can just split off a portion of your cut of profits to cover expenses. Can’t have someone tracking the real you down, eh?”

  “Thanks, Fred,” Ethan replied. “You’re a good man.”

  “Nah, I’m a sleezeball, dirtbag, and shark. But, I watch out for my own. Head on over.” The phone hung up.

  Ethan stood up, “Heaven’s Gate.” He walked through the portal and into the office. “Where’s the papers I need to sign?”

  Ethan finished up the paperwork and took his leave, traveling to the tower with Heaven’s Gate, and then over to the Imbued Initiative. This caused Walter to jump slightly as he turned. “Oh, Radiance. You startled me.”

  Ethan shook his head, “Sorry to do that. How are things going? I haven’t heard any call from you.”

  Walter chuckled and went to a laptop, turning it around and pulling up a website. The same website with the information that Ethan had given The Coordinate. “Well, The IRE updated their database – I’m guessing they got in contact with you?” Ethan nodded, and Walter continued with brimming confidence, “With that level of information, I figured the best use of your Abilities is going to be for dealing with Imbued we can’t handle, or search and rescue, or emergency response when healing is needed.”

  Ethan looked around and didn’t spot any other Imbued, “What about the rest? The Bolts, Tyra, Big Jim?”

  Walter leaned against the table and adjusted his tie, loosening it a bit. “Tyra is a college student, and to be frank, turning into various dinosaurs is a neat power…but does not have many out-of-combat purposes. I’m putting her to work as various aquatic dinos to help clean up the ocean nearby – but that’s about all her powers are good for.” He sighed and reached one hand up to rub his eye, “The Bolt Twins are dealing with minor crimes from non-Imbued. Super Speed makes them really freaking hard to deal with for anyone who is not an Imbued.”

  “And Big Jim?”

  “Right. He’s helping train up the local PD, the sheriffs, and some feds in how to handle Imbued contacts. He’s playing up the villain.” Walter chuckled and shook his head, “Honestly, things are going well.”

  Ethan waited for a pin to drop. The silence dragged on as he waited for the cliché to kick in. But it didn’t. “Good thing you didn’t jinx us there,” he said with a slight chuckle.

  Walter gestured to the stairwell, “Come on downstairs to the workshop. You can help me test something out. I’ve been working on an Imbued restraint device to prevent…odd types of movement, like your warping.” He turned and began walking, and as Ethan followed, he heard the man mutter, “Just one step to dealing with imprisoning Imbued.”

  “I understand,” Ethan replied. “Keeping them in artificial comas seems fucked up. It would be nice if you could find a way to suppress and contain their powers.”

  “Abilities,” Walter said as he glanced back before opening the door and descending the stairs. “Power is what the Abilities come from. For you, it’s Holy. For me, it’s Knowledge. For the Bolt Twins, it’s Speed. Big Jim? Manliness.” He chuckled, “Think of Power categorization like an overarching descriptor, and Abilites fall under the umbrella. What I’m trying to do with this invention is to isolate movement-based Abilities and restrict them.”

  They reached the next level down and Walter pulled out a key, clicking it into the lock and opening the heavy, metal door. It was once a parking garage, but had been heavily fortified with concrete and steel plates, and turned into a workshop. Ethan saw all types of machines he had seen on various YouTube videos, such as lathes and 3D printers. Walter waved him over to a steel box.

  “The idea I had was that we get our Abilities from The Archive. It’s a chain, you see, from Archive, through Curator, to us. If we can isolate a link in that chain, then we should be able to temporarily disable it.” He sighed, “But I need something truly weird to test it on. The Bolt Twins just have Super Speed – they aren’t doing anything but moving really fast.” He glanced at Ethan, “But you have portals and other warping capabilities. It’s an outlier. A starting point for me to try and isolate…weird movement Abilities.” He said “weird” with air quotes.

  Ethan looked at the steel box all around the outside. It looked like it had been machined to exacting specifications, and there were all types of nodes on the outside. “You promise to let me out?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Walter chuckled and pointed at the door, where he opened it and Ethan saw there was no type of locking mechanism at all. “It is a prototype – I wouldn’t risk locking someone inside. What if it malfunctioned and they couldn’t get out at all?” He shook his head, “Plus, I can’t risk killing our premier hero. You’re an icon.”

  Ethan blushed under the helmet at the praise, “Well, thanks for that. Okay, how does this work? I just go inside, you shut the door, and I try warping?”

  “Yup!” Walter replied. “In you go.” Ethan walked into the dark, steel cube and Walter shut the door. Ethan could hear the man’s voice through the walls. “I’m turning it on now. You might hear a whining noise – like a car braking with really low brake pads.”

  Ethan winced as he heard the high-pitched whine. Walter’s voice shouted from outside. “Try to warp!”

  “Heaven’s Gate,” Ethan said. The portal opened next to him, leading to the skyscraper. “Nope!” he shouted, “I can do portals!”

  “I said warp!”

  Ethan let Heaven’s Gate stop, and froze. “I haven’t used my Leap of Faith when I couldn’t see my destination.”

  The whining noise stopped, and Walter opened the door with a slight look of exasperation, “I don’t need you to leave the box. Try warping from one side of it to the other.” He shut the door again, and the whining picked up.

  “Leap of Faith,” Ethan said, intending to warp to the other side of the metal box.

  Instead, pain coursed through him. Nobilis sounded concerned, Ethan! You- he was cut off.

  Ethan screamed, feeling pain jolt along his whole body as his sight went dim, the armor on him became very heavy, and he gasped in pain. The whining noise ended, and the door opened. The second the door opened, Nobilis’ voice came back.

  Oh, thank The Entity. This Walter has constructed some device that fully severed me from you, and therefore you from The Archive. It is dangerous.

  Walter looked panicked, “Shit. You okay?”

  Ethan’s vision came back and he could feel his strength return. He pushed himself up from the floor of the steel box, gasping. “I was…separated from my curator. I lost…all my powers.”

  Walter looked floored, “Holy shit…I mean, I know I was smart, but I was just doing guesswork. We need to test this out on someone else; make sure it works the same.” He tapped a hidden earpiece and spoke rapidly, “Blue or Red, come to the workshop. I need to test something.”

  Ethan stumbled out of the box and looked back at it as Nobilis spoke. I have spoken with The Entity. He has a workaround if that should happen again.

  Don’t roll out that update to everyone, Ethan replied in his mind as he stood upright and took a few deep breaths as he recovered from the fact that his powers were just stripped from him. I don’t want to lose my powers.

  Abilities and your Power source. But, I understand your intent. Do not worry, The Entity is “in your corner” to an extent given your goals – you are in the clear. This type of device will be ineffective against you in the future. Others whose goals do not align with The Entity’s? Well, to use Its words, “Let them rot. When they perish, I will get them regardless.”

  What about others trying to do good?

  They’ll be protected as well, until they start to go against whatever master plan- he cut off, and came back a few seconds later. I cannot speak of that.

  Ethan had an inkling as to what he was going to say. “The Entity’s master plan,” he muttered.

  Walter looked over at him, “What’s that?”

  “Nothing,” Ethan replied as he rested a hand on his sword hilt. There is more to figure out about The Entity. But I have to approach It cautiously. I'm not losing my powers.

  A few seconds longer passed and Red Bolt zipped into place. Ethan had seen her coming thanks to his visual processing speed, but there was no way he could have ever kept up with her. “What’s up?” she asked, her clothing slightly torn in places.

  “It worked on Radiance. Get in, and we’ll test it on you.”

  She scoffed, “Why me? Why not Big Jim?”

  “You got here fast. He’s a slowpoke.”

  Red Bolt sighed and stepped into the metal box.

  Ethan saw Walter go to a workbench behind the box, begin typing on a keyboard, and then the whining kicked up. “Okay!” the man shouted, “Try moving fast!”

  There was a scream, and then Walter slammed the big, red, emergency stop button. He raced to the door and flung it open. Red Bolt was on the ground, gasping as her body twitched for a few seconds. But then, she seemed to get her bearings again, and in a flash she stood up, grabbed Walter by the neck, and began to squeeze. “The fuck was that?!”

  Ethan began to take a step forward, but Walter held up a hand as he gasped out, “Just a test!”

  Red Bolt sounded furious under her helm. “You fucking could have warned me that it would do that!”

  “Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence,” he said. “I need a third test to confirm.”

  Ethan approached and put a hand on Red Bolt’s shoulder, “Calm down. It was a test, you’re okay, no lasting injury. Just…temporary power loss.”

  She turned her head, and he could swear he could feel her ire-filled gaze. “We need a third test?” She moved Walter to the cube, “Why not you?”

  “It’s only calibrated to movement-based Abilities! I don’t have any of those!” he glanced past her, to Ethan, “And now we know that warping counts, portals don’t and your speed is technically a movement-based-”

  She set him down and growled, “No shit, Sherlock. I move my whole body when using my power!”

  “Ability,” Walter corrected. "I'll find someone else to test it on. But, it seems like I inadvertently developed something to cut off all connection to the Power source." He sounded proud at that, "But it only triggers off of movement-based Abilities. I'll need to test to fix it up."

  She let out an exasperated, aggravated sigh. “I’m going home. I’m done for today. Send the boy scout if you have problems.” She ran off, going up the stairs and exiting the workshop.

  Walter let out a sigh of his own and rubbed his neck, “I…” he looked to Ethan, “Sorry about that.”

  Ethan looked at the cube, “It’s a start to some type of Imbued containment system. But it needs work.” He looked back to Walter, “I don’t mind helping you work on this, but it needs refinement. We can’t subject people to torturous pain.”

  “I’ll study up and see what I can do.” Walter looked around the Workshop, “Thanks, Ethan-”

  Ethan drew his sword and had it at Walter’s neck in the blink of an eye. “How do you know who I am?”

  Walter frowned, “Shit, I let it slip, didn’t I?” he shook his head, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to let it slip.”

  “How. Do. You. Know?” Ethan asked, furious, expressing that with every word punctuated.

  “It wasn’t hard to figure out who you were. Especially before you got your nice upgraded, untrackable, and untraceable phone there. Don’t worry! I scrubbed all the other information out there.” He looked down at the sword, “Mind lowering that?”

  Ethan did so, “You removed all information about me?”

  Walter nodded, then tapped his temple, “I’m the only one who knows your identity.”

  Aside from the agent and his agency folk, Nobilis added. But they are bound by Fred Lark’s Ability to not speak of you – this one, he could be tortured to talking and revealing who you are. And Cheat Code knows, but he cannot harm you or Treya or your family, thanks to my little act of duplicity.

  Walter continued, “I don’t ever, ever intend to use that against you…but…well, you’ve seen Justice League stuff, right? How Batman has a ton of contingencies for different heroes?” Ethan nodded, and Walter gestured to the laptop, “I’m working on that. For every Imbued across the world that The Coordinate has put together.” He walked over and tapped the laptop, “I have a backup, in case I die. My…very dear friend…if I die, they have a metaphorical switch they can flip, and all these contingencies get sent to The Coordinate for the IRE to access.”

  Ethan was torn. On one hand, having contingencies in place for every Imbued was a very smart play; in case someone else went full dictator like he could have done with the whole “god-emperor” Path he was presented with. But on the other hand, it also exposed him to his only real permanent weakness – Treya, and to an extent, his parents and sister. But he had a workaround to that – he could bring them to his Sanctuary…but then they couldn’t leave.

  Finally, after a few tense moments, Ethan spoke softly. “This stays between you and me. No one else knows about these contingencies except us, right?”

  “Correct,” Walter said as he leaned against the desk, seemingly having forgotten that Ethan had pulled a sword on him and Red Bolt had choked him a few minutes ago. “I am sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but to be frank, I had hoped to keep this secret from everyone. The less people that know, the better.”

  “Agreed.”

  Walter chuckled, “I know I’m no Batman – I have no ninja training, or dead parents for a dramatic backstory, or any motivation except I want to help make the world a better place…but, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who watches the watchmen?” He walked across the room and began unpacking a series of crates. “I can damned sure be a blend of Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark, though.” He began pulling out components of some type of metal carapace.

  Ethan walked over, sheathing his sword. “Iron Man suit?” he asked.

  Walter looked back, “Eventually so I am not totally defenseless. And, I’ll be making you all accessories to help boost your efficacy. But that will take a while – I have to run more tests.”

  “Very well. Let me know if you need me. Heaven’s Gate,” Ethan departed and went to the skyscraper.

  As I start climbing the Rising Stars lists, you'll be seeing shouts on chapters. They were inevitable, and it's part of the Royal Road process. Important announcements will always be in the pre-chapter author notes!