The Detective

“This is Detective Richards,” the voice beings as soon as I pick up, “...and I have to know: What did you DO?!”

I blink a few times, “Filled out a report?”

The line is dead for a bit… I kind of get the impression that the detective is counting to ten… and then he continues, “Look, the department is practically having a civil war over here. The chief keeps insisting those two obviously-fake FBI agents are legit officers, despite that it’s plain as day from the identical badges - one each of the FBI, the CIA, and our local department. Worse, the cash in their wallets have matching serial numbers, and what’s completely impossible? The two Johns have MATCHING FINGERPRINTS. Seriously, that can’t happen. We ran ‘em through the computer three bloody times, then did them by hand, twice. What. Did. You. DO?”

I consider… eh, he won't believe it anyway, “I went through the local children's hospital and cured almost everyone of almost everything with power I picked up at a restaurant.” I'm skipping some steps, but… yeah, it's nuts.

The line goes silent again, “So I have you to thank,” he eventually responds.

Umm, what?

I hear him take a breath, "My daughter, Jenny. Brain tumor. It went malignant before she had symptoms, and the radiation and chemo were barely slowing it down. The doctors said surgery was out of the question: I was planning her funeral. Then, one morning a few days ago, she was perfectly fine. I'm a detective, I couldn't leave it at that. I dug… EVERY kid was better… including some from the MORGUE.”

“Three from the morgue,” I specify, “before we ran out of power for that portion for the night. Only one kid got her arm back for related reasons.”

“...and that's how I know you're legit.” The detective pauses a moment, and moves on: “Some suits went around, told everyone to keep it quiet with some vague story about national security… and the news was silent. Social media was silent. Divine intervention for hundreds of kids… and NOTHING.”

“Some people did break ranks…” I take a breath, “...and lost their social media accounts almost instantly, their videos and posts deleted… they left up a bunch of the folks making fun of the originals, though.”

“That…” Detective Richards pauses, “...fits. Better than everyone just moving on with their lives after a straight-up…” the man stops, “...she's not going to lose her soul or anything, is she?”

“She's fine, they're all fine,” I reassure him, “it was a gift given freely, no strings, I just wanted to do something good.” Didn't cost me… well, I suppose if that's what brought me to the attention of the BMM, then maybe it did cost me. Hmm. Well… it would have happened eventually anyway.

“That's good…” he takes a breath, “...my big question now is ‘why?’ Why are the fake FBI agents doing this?”

“‘Why?’ Because they're a shadowy organization.” I shrug, “That's just what they do.”

“In bad internet fiction, maybe…” the detective laughs, “...but in real life, only ****-addled idiots do something for no reason… and they don't end up with the kind of manpower needed to pull off something like that. No, there’s a reason they’re covering it all up: Usually it boils down to greed of gain or a lust for power for the kinds of folks that would have those resources. Finding out specifically why, and who’s backing them… well, that kind of thing is literally my job… and you’ve given me a place to start.”

Investigation… I can design minions and boost them thanks to Spheres of power… the Computers skill from Starfinder has hacking… yeah… “Thanks. Also… my resources are growing. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know.”

“What kind of things can you do?” The detective asks the obvious question.

I shrug, not that he can see, “Lots of things. Specifically useful? Dunno yet. But if you run into an intractable problem… even if it's on an unrelated case… let me know, I'll see what I can do.”

The phone keeps relaying, “Thanks… and good news, with the ‘civil war’ going on, he's not looking over my shoulder. I can work on basically anything I want for the next couple of days because everyone's very insistent that showing him the evidence, again, will get him to actually think.”

I pause a moment, “I'm guessing ignoring presented evidence is out of character for him?”

“Very,” the detective confirms.

I nod slowly, “I'd like to get in the same room with him, then; do you know his schedule?”

“His office hours are basic business hours, as he mostly handles coordination, budgeting, and other things that generally aren't immediate life and **** stuff,” the detective answers easily, “but getting an appointment right now…”

“Oh, I don't plan to get an appointment,” I smile, “I just need to know when and where he'll be. Getting into the police station will be trivial, and I don't even need to talk to him, just get close enough for a few minutes; he won't even know I'm there. Do you have desk hours? I'll need someone to point him out.”

“I have a desk, but my hours are as needed. It's more a place to type away from my wife. When's good for you?”

I consider, “Are you at the station now,?”

“Yes.”

I nod, “I'll head right over; see you soon.”

“Sure, see you soon.”

I chuckle, “Heh, not exactly,” and hang up, letting him chew on that as I glance out the window and start using the Warp sphere and a Swift Fly spell (which would normally last a single round, but is permanent for me) to head that way, traveling at some hundred fifty miles an hour (by teleporting six hundred forty feet every three seconds to another spot in the air: Warp plus Quickened Warp, plus a move action to fly in the right direction).

The trip goes pretty fast. I bypass doors and security in the same way: Nobody can see me, and I don't need to wait for anyone to open a door now, and flight lets me hang out at the ceiling where nobody will walk into me. The station's security just can't handle a flying invisible teleporter.

I recognize Detective Richards from when he gave me a ride; he still seems puzzled by my closing statements… and that's fine. A Fleeting Vocal Alteration spell followed by a Fleeting Message spell, and I'm in his ear, “Detective Richards?” He jumps slightly and looks around; I chuckle and keep going, “Don't bother. I'm invisible, and also didn't bother to check in at the front desk.”

He picks up his cell and holds it to his head, “So that's why the ‘not exactly’ response.” He pauses, “...and also the distinct lack of anyone on the hospital security cameras.”

“Yes. It actually takes effort to let anyone see me,” I shrug, not that he can tell, “So where's the chief?”

“He's the graying fat guy in an argument with two detectives and the prosecuting attorney over there,” Detective Richards nods at a small conference room with the blinds open.

“Thanks. Back in a bit,” I Warp over into an open space in the room.

“...that I've dealt with before,” the Chief is partway through a sentence when I arrive.

“When?” a young woman counters,and the chief's eyebrows furrow a moment, but he doesn't answer, so the woman continues, “With the matching badges for the FBI, CIA, and your department, it is a trivial court case. How are you not…” I stop paying attention to her, because I just got a ping from a detection spell I've been leaving running:

Detect Magic.

A little concentration, and I confirm an Enchantment aura. So I add Enchantment Sight to the mix… which immediately shows that the chief is being mind-controlled by some form of compulsion from the emerald hue I'm seeing around his head. Now, I don't have Dispel Magic yet - that's a third level spell on my list, and I haven't prepared it from a discounted source… but there's more than one way to get rid of a spell. Given that my casting is at will, there's a little first level gem from Spell Compendium: Resurgence. The effect is pretty minor, it grants a new save to end an ongoing effect… provided the original effect could be resisted. That actually covers a LOT of things that normally require much higher level fix-it spells, and that makes it a gem of a spell. It's hardly a garuntee… but there's no ‘only once’ clause, and it's just a first level spell. So I just start quietly using my Mythic ring and free metamagic to spam the spell with Reach Spell applied until the enchantment goes away.

After forty failures, I pause, and cast a few buffs on the Chief: Ascendant Spell Heroism, Resistance, Protection From Evil, and Protection From Good (you never know, it might have been done by someone with good intentions). After that, it only takes three.

What is this guy, an NPC?

He pauses for a moment as I watch the Enchantment vanish, “You know what? You're right.” He frowns deeply and mutters, “...and I have no idea why I didn't…” he pauses again, and speaks up, “Yeah, book 'em. We have the brutes cold on impersonating an officer and counterfeiting. See if you can work the **** chick in too… even though she wasn't carrying a badge, the fact that she suggested we look at theirs makes it pretty clear she was aiding and…”

Smiling, I Warp back over to the ceiling above Detective Richards’ desk before the chief finishes his sentence, then use the Message spell again, “Done. He was suffering from mind control. I've removed that, and made it a bit harder for anyone else to add more.” Also made him twenty percent more likely to succeed at anything he does… but eh, I'm sure it's fine. “He just approved booking the lot of them.”

“So you just freed him, you didn't…” the detective trails off.

I consider, “...mind control him myself?” I shake my head, “Could have, didn't. MAKING someone agree with you… eugh, no. Mind control can go to some very dark places. I did end up boosting him, though, as luck was not with him.”

The detective tilts his head, “‘Boost him’?”

“Yeah. A couple spells to improve his odds of breaking free… one of which will make him a bit more skilled at basically everything he tries,” I shrug. Why…oh. You're going to ask for power.

“Does it cost you anything?” Yeah, that's where he's going with that.

“A little time,” of which I now have as much as I want… I no longer age, and am really hard to put down. I can even duplicate Cyclic Reincarnation to keep people with me… as long as we maintain good relations within our little pantheon, but I'm the keystone, so in the worst case scenario I make myself my own high priest and settle for ‘just’ Mythic 9. I'd lose Overcome Curse and a few odds & ends. Nothing major.

“In that case…” he licks his lips, “Can I get some magic too?”

There we go. “I suppose…” and consider… ah, there we go… I give him the same package I gave the chief, plus an Anthropomorphic Transformation from the Alteration sphere in Spheres of Power: With Greater Changes and **** Changes, that lets me apply six things to him at my Spheres caster level of six. I give him a fly, Burrow, and swim speed (from Elemental Transformation), Fey Skin (from Fey Body) so he's harder to hurt (how common is cold iron, really? Simple iron and steel don't do it in game), Beam from Orb Transformation (so he's never unarmed... also, eye lazors!), and Web (from Vermin Transformation: Good for trapping bad guys). I also give him fast healing from a casting of Celestial Healing, Air Bubble so he can always breathe, Energy Resistance five times (once for each standard element), all of the basic stat boosting spells, and the same boosts I gave the chief. I also can't quite stop myself from sneaking one tiny little thing in as a cosmetic change with the Alteration… but that's okay, I can reverse it later if he gets too upset.

“All right… this is the first time I've put so much into a…” I pause, “...baseline human, but done,” I inform him after the minute or so it takes. “You should be able to fly, shoot laser beams from your eyes, be safe from being buried… do watch out for actual concrete, though… swim like a fish, and throw entangling webs from your hands. Your skin should turn a knife most of the time, you'll heal very quickly, and you should be stronger, faster, tougher, and so on.”

“So you can turn people into…” he begins.

I cut him off before he names the proprietary hero that did inspire a couple of my choices, “Not nearly to the cinematic level, no. The eye lasers are only good for thirty feet, and are only going to hit like a good deer rifle; you won't be burning holes in tanks. Your speed in the air is only about the same as your speed on the ground, and you won't be able to turn as quickly. You can lift more than you used to, sure, but you won't be throwing cars around. Your skin will usually stop a fist and often a knife, but a good handgun will absolutely hurt, and a strong guy with a baseball bat will still be able to do a number on you if you're sloppy. And so on. You're not invulnerable, just a little boosted.” Yet. I can eventually change that… after I get another few levels under my belt.

“So a bit better than a vest and a couple years of combat training…” he nods. “Thank you.”

Heh, don't thank me yet… “Have fun with it. Anything else as long as I'm here?”

“I obviously don't have much for you yet…” he chuckles, “I'll call when I do.”

“Okay,” I smile, “I'll take off and leave you to your work.”

“Take care,” the detective nods, and ‘hangs up’, putting his phone back in his pocket.

I Warp out, and head home, thinking about setting up my own item manufacturing….