Give the goth girl a tattoo

Gil and Rose walked through the Ziggurat, checking the tier 1s. Quite a few, balding, middle aged drunks, plenty of dorky teenagers, and a few annoying animal sidekicks. If you looked very hard you would occasionally find someone with a baseline level of competence in one blue collar trade or another, but since Gil didn’t need a plumber that was a non-starter.

As one might expect, especially when you were wading through the dregs, tier 1 companions were the worst. Attractive women with domestic skills were a common t1 format, and were of course grabbed within moments.

Anyone with the a good personality or the slightest sex appeal would be snatched up to serve as a fixer upper. After all, giving testers some kind of method to power up or mentally alter their companions was pretty damn common. Senile old folks were practically looked at like loot boxes, since old people were often more impressive when they were young and Everlasting Talent was downright common.

He swept his eyes over the tier 2s, who were all guaranteed to have some kind of redeeming qualities, but gave up quickly. Nobody he could see would be worth keeping. Maybe if he’d been able to identify “main characters” like Snow he’d be able to print money, but even they wouldn’t usually sell for more than one credit plus some other bonus.

“Yeah,” Gil said with a sigh, “Nothing better than the goblins. So anyway, there were only a few things left to discuss.”

“Oh?” Rose asked, “What would those be?”

“I mentioned the procedure with Zena and Snow?” He said, “Remember, I captured your Flechette half with a stamp as well. I wanted to discuss the options with you before I did any such thing, especially because they are not retroactive changes.”

The two went over the list in his tablet, ignoring an angry New York landlord in a tank top yelling in the background. Rose’s eyebrow arched ever higher as she saw some of the options.

“Attracted to men.” She asked, deadpan. “It would have been convenient, I suppose. My parents tried to set me up with several young men when I was still alive. I never saw the appeal.”

“I’ll admit it’s tempting, but not a good choice right now.” Gil said, teasing. “It’s one of the most common tags. If either of us really wanted it, I could apply it with this card.”

He held up the Shiho card. He had quickly checked its price earlier, and it was marked as being fairly inexpensive, similar to the Materia. Miraculous in practice, but common for his “world.” He might be able to find a similar deal to the one he just made, but having one card in reserve seemed best.

“Not to mention that a tattoo advertising your love of dick would be incredibly tasteless.”

“Indeed it would,” Rose said with a smirk. “What is this one? M I L F?”

She spelled out the acronym one letter at a time.

“Mother I’d like to fuck.” Gil explained, “Likely it would make you older. That has a real chance of massively backfiring, but if it worked retroactively then you’d probably become an adult. That might mean less oversight.”

“I can apply to transfer to the Protectorate already.” She said, “I’m legally an adult. The only reason I haven’t is because I don’t know if it’s worth the trouble. Especially with me pursuing Missy.”

“Missy?” Gil asked.

“Vista. She’s also eighteen.” Rose explained, “So was Shadow Stalker. They didn’t want to shake things up by transferring out half the team all at once, especially since we have a new provisional leader and lost two men. Flechette was only transferred from New York to shore up the team.”

Gil considered it.

“If we don’t pull you out, that might be a good idea.” He said, “Am I right to assume the adult team has more prestige? What about their lineup? Are any of them single?”

“I’m not sure about Triumph or Armsmaster, but I know **** and Battery are an item.” Rose said, pursing her lips. “If Miss Militia is dating anyone, she keeps it under wraps. She’s very popular and the team leader, so people would certainly be talking about it if she let slip any hints. Why?”

“I might be able to insert myself into one of their lives.” Gil explained, “I’ve got a magic item lined up that can make something true into old news. So, if you or I seduced someone in the protectorate…”

“Then we could become their significant other as far as anyone knows.” She said, finishing his though. “In that case, I should clarify that only Battery and Miss Militia are women.”

“Drat.” Gil said, then shrugged. “Try to get close to them if you can, especially Miss Militia, but don’t compromise your cover. Anyway, back to the task at hand. Mind or Information defense are probably some of the strongest defensive tags for you, since being mentally compromised or exposed are the only things I’m not sure if I can undo with a card.”

“You mentioned rarity.” She said, “are they rare tags?”

“Somewhat?” Gil said, “but not exceptionally so, no.”

“Is there anything that would make me better at the specific task at hand?” Rose asked, “or something completely irreplaceable, like that leveling tag you gave the elf?”

“No on leveling, or any of the really overpowered stuff like Deity.” Gil said, “Uh… how about this one? Succubus. Do you know what those are?”

“Yes, in both worlds.” She said, “Are you telling me that there are worlds without the concept of a sex demon?”

“Not always by that title.” He said defensively. “Are you sure? It’ll look bad if you suddenly sprout horns or something.”

“If that happens, I’ll either explain it away or go rogue.” Rose said with a shrug. “I get the impression I’ll be leaving eventually.”

“Sure, but I want to pull you out when we are ready to do so, on our own terms.” Gil explained, “Your world seems to be the most dangerous I’ve encountered so far, which also means it has the most resources for me to gather.”

“Just do it.” Rose said, “There is a girl that the old Flechette was fond of, and I’ve continued to deliver her supplies. She would likely accept me as an ally, if I went to her hat in hand. She’s even got superpowers.”

“Not bad.” Gil said, stroking his chin. “Try to build bridges with her and this Miss Militia if you can. Oh, and another thing. Are there any pretty girls among the villains in your city? Ones that would be a net positive if they just vanished, and that you know the approximate location of.”

“Ones you can spirit away and twist around your finger like you did that Snow girl, you mean.” Rose said wryly. “Hmm. Menja and Squealer are both high ranking members of their respective organizations. Both shapely blondes, though Menja has much more muscle on her bones. Othala, Rune, and Night as well, though they are somewhat less actively unpleasant. They are all fairly visible and I know their approximate locations.”

“A lot of hot blonde supervillainesses in Brockton Bay?” Gil asked.

“There’s also an entire family of blonde heroines as well, come to think of it.” Rose said, agreeing, “And of course Missy.”

“So those are the only ones you know of?”

“The only ones that meet all your criteria.” Rose clarified. “I’m not precisely sure where most of the female Undersiders or Travelers are except Hellhound and Skitter. The former is not particularly attractive by my estimate, and the latter is currently holding territory we are not prepared to move into. Removing her would destabilize the area and rid a lot of people of their primary source of food and water. Purity is the only thing keeping her underlings from being just as bad as the Chosen, if only just, and Faultline’s crew has enough of a sense of honor that they aren’t particularly odious in the grand scheme of things.”

“You… thought about this before I asked, didn’t you?” Gil asked, smiling.

“Obviously.” Rose said primly, “There’s enough of Lily in here that I’d like to leave this city in a better state than I found it, if it isn’t too inconvenient, and it seems only fair to use you to do so. Now, back to the task at hand. The succubus tag. If I am to choose, I want that one.”

“You know what, sure.” Gil said, “Go nuts. While you’re at it, take these.”

Gil handed her a stone tablet, similar to the Seru creatures when they were inactive. He explained how to direct the parasite, and for good measure he handed her the bottle of Liquid Consent. Once he did, he navigated through his menu and selected the Succubus tag for Rose.

She winced with pain and leaned forward as lines of flame traced out an image on her back. It was over in moments, and luckily there were no obvious signs of the change. Gil couldn’t even see the image of batlike wings etched into her shoulder blades, not with her armored suit still on.

“Feel any different?” Gil asked, “New magic powers?”

“I believe so…” Rose said, frowning. “I don’t know what they are though. It feels similar to when I… Lily, first triggered. I have a new muscle that I know I can flex, but I don’t know what it does.”

“Do you want me to see if I can convince someone to let you experiment?” Gil asked, checking his tablet. “I’ve still got a good bit of time. We’d need to give them something for it, probably, but I’m sure someone here would be up for it. Or at least willing to let you fuck with their underlings.”

“Yes, that would be wise,” Rose agreed, “Let’s not take too long, however.”

••••••••••

Yeah that last poll wasn’t super conclusive so I decided to make some completed builds based on what people voted up. Let’s see which of these actually appeal.

https://strawpoll.com/w4nWWEWbQnA