"You have got to be fucking kidding."

Fractal kept looking over the reports on her desk. How does a shipment get hijacked on what was the Brockton Bay equivalent of a milk run? To make matters worse, the majority of the supplies weren't even touched. Only one thing was missing from the inventory: Alloy Sigma-4. That substance costs a small fortune to make each time thanks to its specific requirements, and while it was good that nobody was harmed, that sort of thing was meant to be top secret.

But here it was, in black and white.

She kept looking over the facts hoping to piece things together. The locks on the vehicles weren't even so much as scratched, none of the security forces got tipped off, and the boxes in their entirety were taken rather than just the contents. The security feeds on each truck didn't catch anything either. The only known anomaly was the convoy needing to be diverted due to a large scuffle that went on between Mr. Skeltal and an assortment of Wards. A halted bank heist, but it made enough of a mess that Umbrella security didn't want to risk being caught in the crossfire. A sensible act.

More entries brought up the news. The group consisted of Wild Hog, Sorcerer, and Bumble. Those names were new. Reviewing the news footage... they worked fairly well together. But Mr. Skeltal's group was making far too much noise for a heist. She knew the... skeleton? Zombie? The entity was loud and bombastic, but usually it was with a purpose. Shoot and Scoot, usually before the Capes could arrive. This was practically daring others to come at him and being as dangerous as possible.

She may not have been a Thinker, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to piece some of this together. The heist was probably intended to cause people to avoid the battle, and the theft occurred on the diverted route. The only questions were how they managed to get the crates themselves out... and how they knew about the alloy. The latter could have been a security leak; bribes and strange security hacks were an expected hazard when working with a major corporation. The real question was how the former happened. Too many powers could lend itself to that sort of thing to truly narrow it down.

She wished she was a Thinker, it would have been easy to figure it.

There was a sigh as she put her hand on her face. She may not have had a normal human face to pinch the bridge of her nose, but it was the principle of the point.

Only question now was what to do about it. Rigging the containment boxes were out of the question because they had far too much Tinkertech in them as-is. Alloy Sigma-4 had unique properties to allow for quantum effects, so they needed to be stored in a special way up until they were actually incorporated into Tinkertech. Maybe security feeds inside the trucks? It would be relatively inexpensive, but chances were high they'd be broken in the process. She'd have to make sure the hard drives were stored inside the cabin of the truck. Security inside the truck? Too much hassle, and they needed all the space they could get. She wanted to do something, if only because just writing it off as a loss ate at her. No amount of breakthroughs would help Dr. Gore if the materials didn't make it to their intended destination.

How to handle this?

Her train of thought was distracted when a node lit up by her door, before it opened and a man walked in. Blonde hair, blue eyes, somewhat tall. For a man in his forties, he looked remarkably young. Employee benefits, courtesy of Umbrella. "Ah. Mr. Winters, can I help you with something?"

He walked in with a tablet in his hands, eyes occasionally flitting down to the screen. "We ran the tests you wanted concerning the Monitor-class augments. The subjects responded well to inputted commands using the computer, but we found a notable lag when trying to give verbal commands. I think there's an issue with the augments communicating with the organic parts of the brain, neural activity was spotty." He may not have had a doctorate, but ever since being assigned to her, Michael Winters had often been Fractal's go-to for testing experimental augments on the bio-weapons. He had a remarkable talent for finding the more grounded flaws, which let her fine-tune her tinkertech. It was more work, but she found refining to be much more effective than simply brute-forcing a tech.

"Well, we were trying to make them fully controlled. It's not as if we can wave our hands and make them immediate puppets. The data?" He wordlessly tapped a button as the information started to scroll down another screen. It didn't take long to see what he was talking about; the chemical emitters inside the Monitor-class augments had trouble keeping up with how quickly the brain could emit its own natural neurotransmitters. There were time delays between two to three minutes. Vexing.

"Suggestions?"

As always, Michael seemed to have a solution as more documents popped up. "There's been breakthroughs in Neuromorphic Engineering, we could co-opt those principles. Just to make sure we don't get any attempts to hack the end result, we can make a request to one of the Sublevel teams in creating Biosensors. I've seen the artificial brains you've made as well, but I believe incorporating the first two items will let us achieve the desired end result. You're clever enough to marry it all together."

That got Fractal to chuckle a little. "Flatterer. But you're certainly right. I've only skimmed these documents and already I'm getting all kinds of ideas on how to do it. Dr. Gore will no doubt be very pleased." Plus they had a perfect testing ground in the form of the Crucible, the underground monster fighting arena. Somewhat illegal, yes, but plenty of profit. It even got some Capes coming in to test their mettle, so it was yielding priceless data to boot.

But that would be later. Needed to focus on the now. "Good work, Mr. Winters. Keep it up, I'll have some trial augments for you soon enough, just need to make a material to replicate neuroplasticity." Doing a quick search showed that baseline engineers were using a thin layer of cobalt mononitride. A good place to start in modification...

Her thoughts were interrupted again as she heard Michael clear his throat. "Actually... there was one other thing I wanted to bring up." This was unusual. Michael was usually very punctual and upfront with his findings. This was something that bothered him. Even when she gave a silent nod, he looked uncertain. Almost vulnerable. "Is there... any chance you could approve a raise or a bonus? My wife's been hoping to remodel the house, make it a bit more sturdy with everything that's been going on. Gotta look out for the family, you know?"

The more Fractal thought about it, the more it made sense. Mr. Skeltal's actions and roaming local gangs were one thing, but there were rumors of Gold Skull roaming around. It'd make anyone nervous. It was a far cry from Hamilton, that's for sure. "I'll do you one better: Get me the measurements for your house and what you're hoping to have done with it. I'll try to make some construction materials to give your place a bit more oomph than you would on the market. It may not be Endbringer worthy, but I'll make sure it can hold up against a lot of the common threats you'd find around here. Plus it should save you some money on the costs."

Michael's eyes widened for a moment in shock before he laughed nervously. He clearly hadn't been expecting that. "I... ma'am, I don't know what to say. You'd really...?"

"Mr. Winters, you're one of my best workers. You've got your finger on the pulse for most medical developments, and your brainstorming lets me figure out all sorts of wonderful technologies. If it helps you, consider it proof of my vested interest in keeping you safe." There was an awkward pause before Fractal remembered she didn't have a mouth anymore, quickly bringing her hand up to pantomime a smile.

The act only made him snicker a bit more. "Ah, mean thank you. Really, thank you. That'll mean so much to my wife, she's been worried about our daughter's safety here."

That's right, he had a kid. Fractal leaned in a bit as she rested her chin on her arm. "You've mentioned her a few times before... Evie, was it? How's she been handling the move?"

The genuine smile on his face quickly turned to a nervous one. "Ah, I think she's doing well? But she keeps going out at night. I admit I'm worried for her. What if she gets found by a gang? The things some of them can do gets terrifying when I think of her out there, but I... I don't want to control her. But I don't want her to get hurt, either."

That actually got Fractal to pause. That kind of dedication, that kind of family love. It felt alien to her. She knew her loyalty to Dr. Gore was nothing like that, and her friendship with Singularity, while amusing and odd, had a tremendous power imbalance. Sometimes she worried Singularity only tolerated her instead of actually liking her. But that kind of deep concern? That deep love for someone else? She'd never understand it.

She envied him, at this moment. A member of society that she'd forever stand apart from due to her mere existence.

Right, no. This isn't about her. This is about his family. She had to reassure him. "Michael... I'm sure she knows what she's doing. But if you're that worried, I really recommend talking to her. You sound like you two care for each other, so even if it's harrowing, I feel it'll be good for you two in the long run. Let her know how much you want to keep her safe. She'll understand, and you'll figure it out." There was another awkward pause before she remembered to do the pantomime smile. Right.

That seemed to be enough to make him smile again. "Right. Yeah, you're right. I'll try to talk with her. Thanks. I'll get back to work." He gave a quick nod before turning around and heading out the door. Fractal was about to reach for a cup of coffee before he peeked his head back in. "Hey, actually. My wife's doing a seafood dinner in a few days. If it's not too awkward, you want to join us?"

That. What.

"You... you sure? I mean you sure your wife and daughter won't be all..." Fractal leaned back in her chair and threw her arms back. "Blauuuugh! Monster!"

"Fractal, you're doing me a huge favor with the materials. It's the least I could do, and I'll let them know ahead of time." Then he put on something of a smug smile. "Would Snow Crab legs seal the deal?"

Goddamn it. She should have never revealed that weakness of hers. "Augh... fine. Mean fine, I'll be a little awkward about it but I'll try to make it. Just get back to work, Mr. Winters." She made a brushing motion with her hand. "Shoo, shoo."

It was only when he left and the doors closed that she let out a sigh. That would be... anxiety-inducing. But she spoke the truth; Winters was one of her best employees. The less he stressed about his living situation, the better he'd be at testing the augmetics and figuring out alternatives. He wasn't flashy or had superpowers, but the two of them helped get through the minutiae of Tinkering. The boring iterations and number crunching and testing that none of the stories would sing praises about.

But it also only did so much. Especially when there was a thief that had stolen her work.

Fractal submitted a report on a possible security leak and a recommendation to do checks on any employee who had knowledge of the shipment's itinerary. It felt like too little, but maybe it might yield something. For now, it would let her turn her concerns to these new modifications of Monitor-class augments. Most would call it 'mind control', but it was better than another fucking lizard incident.

...then there was her side project. Codenamed '4D'. She was truthfully unsure if it was even possible to do augments on a sapient crystal, but by God she was going to try.

Lot of work, even for someone who didn't sleep.

...maybe she'd call Singularity. His ability to map entirely alien limbs could help her solve a bunch of problems at once.