Chương 92: 6.13 How many Samanthas does it take to change a lightbulb?

2104: 03: 14: 22: 10: 21 We'd gone masking practically right after our usual skatepark hangout and grabbing a quick meal together. A couple uneventful hours patrolling later and we were now back at base. Amber sat in front of 'our' computer (I almost never used it), speed-reading through marked text files full of dubiously-obtained information of dubious importance.

Some of the intel in there we'd gotten by ourselves – pulled out of henchies phones, or from hard drives and devices in one of two Motorgang hideouts we'd raided – but most of it came from SentiNet.

The Sentinels were granted unofficial access to things like coast guard records and Portside's customs office – thus the information's dubiously-obtained nature – and for the better part of two weeks, we'd been trying to construct some form of pattern from the noise by combining both masked and mundane data sources, but most of what we found so far was of dubious importance.

Amber's big hope was to discover Motorgang's great plan for Charm, and if that didn't succeed there were still other, smaller schemes to discover.

She focused her efforts on finding overlaps between Motorgang sightings and reports of stolen containers; scouring records of which company's shipments had been found to contain smuggled wares in the past; searching manifestos of outbound shipping that was getting processed unusually quickly, comparing them to a list of companies that were suspected to be Motorgang affiliates. Combined, it should paint a picture of Motorgang's smuggling network, the lifeblood of the gang. That was how Amber explained it anyway.

I got the theory of it, but the practice? The shifting through of documents and the specific tools – mental, digital, physical – used to discover these hidden truths? That stuff was beyond me, lacking in training and experience as I was compared to Amber. As for my opinion on the work itself: I saw the value, but that didn't mean I liked it. Pattern seeking itself could be fun, like in the crime and detective novels I'd been reading recently, but its real-life counterpart was dull drudgery.

There was a lot of junk to sift through to get anything useful, and even if we did find it, it was rarely useful by itself. It was nowhere near as fun a part of masking as going out, being active. On the other hand, it was cool to see the vision take shape. To see the contours of organizations so desperately keen to keep themselves hidden. And finding out what step said organizations would take next? Now that was satisfying.

It's just too bad it was difficult, time-consuming, boring, and often unrewarding to do the work necessary to get to that part. If only Nth-Sight hadn't killed all the rogue augurs, we might've gotten to the fun part much sooner. Or more likely, we'd be counter-augured. As my mind lingered on these less-than-productive thoughts, Amber's excitedly hissy, "Yes!" got my attention.

"You found something?" Amber rapidly moved things around on the monitors and gestured toward all four of the screens, proudly presenting her findings. Photos and news reports, shipping manifestos and import-export data, a collection of Chitterchat messages and MaskedWatch confirmations of sightings; all with dates attached and represented by dots on a map of Charm. I read through them all as quick as I could, recognizing some while others I saw for the first time.

It took me a second to get it, but once I saw it, I understood Amber's excitement. A select number of dates. Reports of incoming and outgoing shipments destined primarily to and from South East Asia – Singapore, Yogyakarta, Salitanabulkaan – overlapping with very public Magistry and Motorgang encounters like the one Amber and I put a stop to.

Add to that that on at least one occasion these ships were caught carrying or preparing to ship out suspect goods – the illegal narcotic Volkana, jewelry and, surprise surprise, illegal 'fossil fuels' – and a picture started to coalesce. I remembered something Michael had said when he came back to Charm a second time. About how a deal of 'Miele & Van Dijk' had fallen through, with them getting replaced by a 'local business' instead.

Replace the electronics business with 'Jannacht Syndicate' and local business with 'Motorgang', and the vague picture crystallized instantly, becoming clear as glass. The fights between the two, the two only gangs in Charm really were staged. It explained why there'd been no casualties on either side and relatively little collateral damage, why they took place in Aberdeen – hero central – more often than not, and why they threw summoned minions and maker constructs at each other rather than henchies.

Whether Magistry's cooperation was part of this scheme or they had their own scheme running didn't matter; they both participated in it equally. Then, a flash of insight coming from a piece of information learned long ago.

"The Principate!" Amber started.

"Wha-" but not even halfway through the question, she got it too. Immediately she started digging through her definitely-carefully-managed-and-accessible digital archives. Like every other place on Earth, South East Asia had many gangs. Also like every other place on Earth, the number of organized crime syndicates spanning multiple cities were rare. Those capable of exporting high volumes from all three of the largest cities in South East Asia were even rarer. In fact, there was only one.

That gang was the Rajaparang, a Singaporean gang of Malay origin. And in our very own city of Charm, we had a group of junior rogue masked with alleged ties to said organization: the Principate. They weren't new to the city – three years and counting, which considering they were still of minority age-wise was a long time – but the ties between them had been explicitly made clear when they arrived: the Rajaparang considered them one of theirs. Yet the Principate weren't villains.

Or if they were, they'd never done anything considered outright villainous. Mostly joyrides on maker-built vehicles, performing dangerous yet never truly harmful stunts. They frequently used their powers in public, but it rarely went beyond showing off. Their most frequent crimes were putting on unauthorized powered shows in the park, and worst of all: light vandalism of public property. Barring that and the one fight with the Jannacht, they barely left collateral damage at all.

As for their roguery: they'd served as 'mercenary guards' and 'bouncers' from time to time and been hired to show up at children's birthdays parties once or twice. Well, they said they were hired; it was unknown whether these shows were always paid or not. If irate parents venting online or on local news were anything to go by it wasn't always the case, but then again, they seem like the types to accept token payments from kids themselves – to spite the parents, if nothing else.

They'd gotten into a scuffle with heroes once or twice, but only with those in their age bracket: Prospectus, Acolytes and junior solo heroes. From the videos I'd seen these all consisted of chases and effectively was the two sides playing around with one another. If you squinted you could call it mutual training, which might be why the Guardians, Wardens et al let them be, refusing to mark them as proper villains as their ties to the Rajaparang would suggest.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. From the Principate's end, they'd never explicitly acknowledged the connection, so people had long been wondering what it was all about. Were they runaways? Disobedient, temporarily-exiled juniors? Did Rajaparang send them here for safety's sake, out of reach from their enemies until they were of age? Or simply children of higherups sent here to enjoy their youth away from their troubled surroundings?

And now, after three years of them being in this city, we might be the first ones to finally find the truth. And finally, after looking for half an hour, Amber found…

"Well, I got nothing," she said, sighing. It seemed like there was no connection between the alleged shipments from Rajaparang and the Principate, nor between the Principate and Motorgang itself. Really, outside that one fight they had with the Jannacht juniors – the one where, apparently, Mauvist had decided to join the group and renounce his evil ways – they had done nothing connected to any of the gangs in Charm. Not even on accident.

"Well," I said, "it could be that they've only started cooperating with them recently. Whatever the deal between Rajaparang and Motorgang is, it hasn't been going on for long – only since right after the Jannacht left at the earliest." Amber raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Oh? How so?" Because Michael's unintended slip told me so.

"Because the Jannacht never struck Portside. If Motorgang and Rajaparang were involved before then that would've been the first place to strike. Instead, the Jannacht struck the railway station. Besides, both Motorgang and Dead Hive are better known for their overland smuggling rounds rather than overseas. Trains and trucks, not ships."

"Hm. Good point," Amber said.

"Still, why would they start now rather than any other time in the past three years?" I shrugged.

"Maybe it's a coincidence and the Principate is not involved?"

"Thankfully, there's an easy way to find out," Amber said. She picked her phone up off the desk.

"Principate 'operates' primarily around Little Europe and Greenside. Doubtless the other Sentinels have run into them once or twice." X While the original plan had been to call Rhennish or maybe Mantellan, the situation quickly turned into the first all-hands of the new and improved Sentinels. Through sheer happenstance, everyone had been available for it – even Naomi, despite the fact that the next day was a school day and it was getting late.

"Good work you two," Rhennish praised us after we explained to everyone what we discovered – for the second time; the first was done in private when we'd informed him of what we found, and he'd praised us then too.

"It is good to know the gangs might be colluding in some manner – intentionally or not." On another screen, Aetherna nodded.

"It explains some of what we've been seeing as well," Doombell said. Unlike the rest of us, she was here by voice only. Likely we caught her in the middle of something else.

"Throughput of different goods since early February," Blade Eater added.

"And in greater volume as well. And here we thought it was simply because they ate Dead Hive, eh?" He needled Doombell, who grumbled.

"Ha! Maybe we'll even have some Rajaparang masked coming about soon enough."

"I hope not," Aetherna said, scowl carrying through her voice.

"Nobody wants another Jannacht Wars so soon."

"Speak for yourself," Blade Eater said.

"My fight with Endoida was great, and Rajaparang is supposed to have more than a few master-speedster combos!"

"And the Principate?" Amber asked, ignoring the byplay.

"Never ran into them directly, no," Rhennish said.

"I doubt they're involved though. Jagar Natha told me they were… not outright outcasts, but not on friendly terms with the Rajaparang."

"I have," Aetherna said.

"Talked to them, that is. They told me they had personal ties to the Rajaparang rather than professional ones. I believe them."

"And considering there has been no evidence of collusion, nor an outright message stating them joining Rajaparang, I doubt that has changed." Rhennish hummed thoughtfully.

"If resentment still lingers, maybe they'd be willing to help?"

"They're juniors," Aetherna objected.

"And if the relation is personal, we might not want to get involved."

"A discussion for another time," Mantellan interjected.

"Let's leave them be and focus on the matter at hand: Motorgang."

"Should be easy to figure out when to strike," Doombell said.

"Wait until there's another fake fight between Magistry and Motorgang, then all available Sentinels move to Portside to intercept whatever goods and masked they sent. Do we have the name of the company they smuggle their goods under?"

"There are a couple. I'll send a list to everyone along with marked timetables of known export dates," Amber said.

"Then that's that, right?" Blade Eater said.

"Not quite," Rhennish said.

"Another encounter between Magistry and Motorgang is also the best time to find out about Magistry's goals in all this."

"Then your team or the Greensiders can figure that out while the rest of us strike Motorgang," Doombell said brusquely, dismissively.

"And split the team? When we don't even know when the next fight will happen, let alone how many of us are able to move out on such a short notice?" Rhennish said.

"If we strike, we'll do it with as great a force as possible. Reduce the risk, increase the success."

"Then we do as I said: strike first, strike fast, and strike hard," Doombell said as brusquely as last time.

"And miss the opportunity to find out about Magistry?" Rhennish asked.

"And let them slip away in the meantime?" Doombell countered.

"To reap greater reward later," Mantellan said. Doombell spat, actually spat on the other side of the line.

"I didn't join so you could interfere with my work."

"Who's the one interfering?" Though it was said quietly, everyone here heard Naomi loud and clear.

"Listen here, you-!" Before Doombell could say whatever insult she had in store, Blade Eater injected himself into the conversation.

"Now now, hotstuff-" Doombell's anger redirected.

"Call me that again and-!"

"You know I'm always game for a fight," Blade Eater said.

"And for a little, ah, stress relief. So let's give the other's what they want, and if you want anything… well, you know how to find me." Groans all around, including from Doombell.

"Gross," Naomi and I said simultaneously.

"Haven't gotten to that part of your education yet?" Blade Eater needled back.

"So!" Rhennish started a bit too loudly.

"We're all in agreement? We let the next fight between the two gangs slip by while trying to discover what Magistry is up to, and after, we regather and plan the next step – including discussing the potential of a coordinated strike against Motorgang. Agreed?"

"What about the heroes?" I piped up.

"Should we tell them about what's going on?" Mixed responses came from that. By her movements next to me, Amber was rolling her eyes. Blade Eater laughed, Doombell scoffed, and Aetherna huffed. Rhennish sighed, his mouth setting in a difficult expression. Mantellan kept staring straight ahead, expression hidden in the shadows as always even as his stance spoke exactly what he thought of the suggestion: nothing.

Even Naomi looked surprised over the other end – not at the responses, but at the fact I asked this question at all. It seemed everyone had already reached a consensus on the question without so much as saying a word. Only Changelinger, standing behind his mentor, looked equally as unsure as I was about all these negative responses. It was Rhennish then, as the official unofficial leader of the Sentinels, that felt called to finally answer me.

"Jester," he began.

"Perhaps your reason for becoming a vigilante… differs from ours, but generally speaking vigilantes wouldn't trust the heroes with- well, they would their lives, but very little else."

"Their networks are too wide," Blade Eater said.

"Too easy for augurs and master hackers to target. You've no idea how much internal information gets leaked on the daily. Spill the beans to the heroes and it's a coin toss on whether the gangs'll know in a week, or in a month. And the only reason it's a coin toss is because the kind of people that manage to get that intel are rarely, ah, altruistic in nature." To be honest, I highly doubted that. Considering how well their strike against the Jannacht went, the heroes' security couldn't be that bad.

"And if we told them: what then?" Aetherna said.

"The Guardians generally don't accept intel received from vigilantes out of hand, and even the Wardens operate on a trust-but-verify model."

"They'll no doubt ruin whatever window of opportunity we gain by trying to confirm the obvious," Doombell added.

"That, and by the time they've gone through the red tape – their own policies, the DLE's, the court system – it'll be months later, and by then it'll be too late. They either move quickly and decisively, or not at all."

"Alright. Fine," I said, annoyed.

"I get it: no telling the heroes." I sincerely thought they were overestimating the failures of the heroes, but I should've expected as much from vigilantes. Rhennish cleared his throat.

"Then, back to the earlier point: everyone agreed with the plan as put forth?" All responded in the affirmative, though Doombell's was more a groan of agreement than anything. Still, she said nothing else, so an agreement it was.

"Good. Then until next we meet." And with that, everyone left. After a second of staring at the 'how would you rate your experience?' screen, I said, "That went well," to Amber, removing my mask again. For the purpose of this conversation, both she and I had naturally put them on. Amber too removed her mask.

"Did it?"

"For a bunch of vigilantes coming together for the first time? I think so. We have plan of action everybody's agreed to, and nobody yelled at each other."

"Not a very high bar to clear." I shrugged.

"I half-expected there to be bloodshed with how you described the state of Charm's vigilantes."

"Difficult to spill blood over the phone," Amber said.

"Besides, there might very well be if Blade Eater and Doombell meet." My nose wrinkled in disgust.

"I doubt it'll be blood they're spilling." Amber grinned.

"Wouldn't surprise me if it's a bit of both."

"Ew!" I pretend-gagged.

"Ew, ew, ew! Stop, don't put those thoughts in my head – soap doesn't reach that far!" All she did was laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up. We'll see who has the last laugh on Sunday." She scowled at the reminder she had (been forced) to go to Millie's birthday party, and this time I was the one laughing.