Moments of Victory 29 (Patreon)

“Well, that was something,” Marcus muttered even as he processed the latest photos he had received, more than happy to significantly increase his resistance to Thinker powers. As far as the powers went, that was more important than super strength.

The more he had learned about the cape scene, the more he realized just how exceptional his power was, and keeping it a secret as long as possible was very important.

However, as he developed the most recent set, he was pondering on the answers he had received from Sarah, or Lisa as she apparently preferred, rather than his increased abilities.

He managed to pull a new trick during the photoshoot. Once she had got too tired, he managed to put her into a meditative state thanks to a biokinetic trick while massaging her, and he used the control power to ask a few questions. Her name — which she struggled with before giving both Sarah and Lisa — was one, which was more of a test.

Unfortunately, it was a delicate dream state. Afraid of her realizing something was wrong, he wasn’t able to ask many questions. Her name was one of them. Her intention for Taylor was another one, which turned out to be recruitment as he expected. She also revealed that she was aware of Taylor’s infiltration, which didn’t surprise him.

What surprised him was the fact that Undersiders were working for Coil. He wasn’t able to ask a lot. Just three questions.

His power was the first question, which was apparently some kind of thinker power with unknown details. His gang was another, which was scarier. Apparently, not only did he have a small army of mercenaries armed with tinkertech, but also he had many contacts in PRT.

Then, his objectives, which was apparently even a mystery to her.

“At least I received my thinker resistance on time,” he muttered. He didn’t know exactly how Coil’s power worked, and how much the resistance would help him avoid his notice, but every little bit counted.

Especially when the villain in question had lodged deep into the organization that was supposed to fight against them. Suddenly, Marcus was far more happy with his decision not to join the heroes with his power. How could he expect them to protect him when they couldn’t protect themselves against a villain.

One positive thing was Tattletale having no evil plans against Taylor. Well, other than trying to convert her to a villain, he was already working on that aspect. However, the reveal about Coil meant that he needed to be even more careful.

“I don’t need to hurry,” he muttered. “I just need to stay here, and focus on getting stronger while finding a way to bring new capes,” he muttered.

His earlier plan of turning into a journalist lost priority once he realized that the situation had impacted his power consumption significantly. He couldn’t go around using Vista’s power on random capes. That way, he would only get a pittance.

Vista’s power might still be applicable in certain situations, particularly when the target in question had a rare power that would combine well with his other abilities, but most of the time, he needed to stick with his studio.

Still, it was not all bad. The combination of Amy, Vicky, and Taylor already gave him a good range of powers, and the inclusion of Tattletale had increased the numbers slightly more. He could try to get other models, but there was one problem.

He had next to no official income. Even renting the studio had been a stretch as far as official records were concerned. And, if he suddenly started to offer five-figured payouts to famous capes, someone would check his finances, bringing everything down.

He needed an actual client. And, to get a client, he needed a decent portfolio, one that might impress any client. He was so tempted to reach out to Vicky and ask her to join the studio as a part-time model. He had no doubt that many local brands would happily hire him if he allowed them to advertise through the sweetheart of Brockton Bay.

But, there were too many problems with it. First, hiring the most popular heroine as a part of his studio would ruin all his efforts to stay under the radar. Everyone would pay attention to him, which was the last thing he wanted.

Then, there was the Carol factor.

Since Vicky was already eighteen, it meant that she was free to get into any deal she wanted. However, that didn’t mean Carol couldn’t do anything. Marcus didn’t know the details of the cape law, but he was sure that Carol could find many legal reasons to block such a deal. Vicky was a part of the New Wave as a part of her hero identity, which probably transferred some image rights to the organization.

It was one of the laws Protectorate used to shamelessly monetize any hero that was a part of their roster, only paying back a pittance.

It was unfair. And, since he had no doubt that Carol would use those laws to control Vicky, it also meant that Vicky was out as a model. So was Amy, for the exact same reason. Taylor was a beautiful young woman, but not enough to let his business bloom unless she was willing to reveal the truth about her powers.

Expanding his business was going to be difficult. It was ironic that the problem he expected to be the biggest, a lack of start-up capital, was the one that had been actually solved.

Some creative thievery had been very effective.

“I need a breakout set,” he muttered to himself. Either that, or he needed to take a risk and walk around in the middle of the night, trying to capture a real battle.

His photos of Vista had been rejected already by all newspapers. Apparently, they had too many similar photos for them to make a difference.

A great disappointment. While he was considering those, he finished developing the pictures of Tattletale he had developed. Power-wise, it only increased his Thinker resistance. A pity, as even a weaker variant of his power would have made his job much easier.

Instead, he spent most of his afternoon browsing the web, writing emails, and sending samples, trying to get some work … but all of his attempts failed.

“Maybe I should try bribery,” he muttered. Tempting. He was willing to pay more than he would receive from the job, but ultimately, he didn’t do it. But, that meant, he had no direct solution. Maybe he should beg Vicky to arrange a photoshoot with New Wave officially.

He had been checking other options, when he received a message. It was from Amy, informing him that she would be wearing the plug tomorrow just like he had asked.

Marcus was amused that she had volunteered that information without any prompting.

He replied, confirming that he would be in the bank.

It was going to be fun. He texted Amy for a bit, which was just starting to get fun when she had been called to an emergency.

No wonder she was suffering from so much stress. He decided to do something nice for her. Maybe meet with her halfway.

He sent a message to Vicky, which turned into a fun discussion when Vicky started to add a few interesting photos. It didn’t trigger his power, but he didn’t need it to trigger his power to enjoy Vicky’s half-naked photos.

It would have helped, of course, but it was certainly not necessary. He continued to chat with her, which had been a good way to distract himself from all the tedious emails he had been sending.

He even managed to learn that Amy was going to be at the bank tomorrow afternoon. He decided to surprise her there.

A fun bank trip was exactly what Amy needed.