Stealing My Way To Power

Cole walked home with a calm gait as he wandered the street at night. His escape from his not so daring heist had just finished. Coming out of that place with his smoke spanning the street and civilians running about was easy. Not that he expected it to be difficult.

As always he swapped outfits plenty of times making sure to stay out of the eyeline of any camera. Brockton Bay did not really have a good habit of keeping cameras working on most streets. Only businesses usually had them, and they were only on the inside.

The various gangs did not really want to be monitored in their dealings after all. There were more in the part of town he was in as this was PRT territory but they still got busted constantly. Armsmaster had a patrol route that was dedicated to repairing their surveillance cameras which were rather public.

This time he made sure to slink his way to his apartment complex as he did not want to walk around with his face right now. He knew that he had been rather reckless lately so having his mug being recognized walking about in this late hour would be strange. Especially since it was completely out of character for him.

So it took him a little longer than he wanted to get to his apartment complex but he was able to avoid the eyeline of most people. He changed his clothes to his regular attire at the side entrance after verifying that he was completely and utterly not being watched. Then he headed up to his apartment feeling wary again.

So far he had avoided talking to his Father but eventually, his Father would be inside the apartment when Cole came back. It was only a matter of time since he was testing that boundary so god damn often.

Still, as he looked over the gains in his System he knew that his outings were worth the price. At least he hoped that would be the case.

His key entered the lock of their door and opened it up with a loud click. The inside of the apartment was dark which had Cole letting out a sigh of relief for a moment. Cole made to turn the lights on and go to his room but when he did so he caught sight of his Father.

The man was sitting at the dining room table with a clear glass that was filled with some sort of amber liquid. Alcohol from the scent in the air and the small red shade of his Father's usual pale skin. The man in question was staring at Cole with near-bloodshot eyes as he calmly drank from the cup.

There was silence in the air as Son and Father looked at each other. Cole wanted to say a number of things to disarm the scenario playing out but he felt his words fail him. The look in his Father's eyes was not something he was used to seeing. It was the look that he held all those years ago when he broke apart at his mother's death.

It was the look of a broken man struggling along with life if only for the things in front of him. It was a bitter reminder of what both of them lost that day. So even as the lies started swirling inside of his head he could not voice them. Not now….Maybe not ever.

Perhaps his father could read the look on Cole's face as he chose to break the silence that hung in the air.

"You were home all day. That's the story and you are going to stick to it." His Father's gruff voice spoke out as he calmly swirled the liquid in his cup. Perhaps dissatisfied with the amount left in it he stood and poured more alcohol in said cup.

"What?" Cole questioned with an odd look on his face. He understood what his Father was saying but they made no sense to him.

"You heard what I said….You were home all day. I was worried about how you were handling things so I made sure you stuck around here today." His Father shot out gruffly as he downed the drink in his hand before looking at the bottle for a moment. He then put it down and let out a sigh facing Cole once more.

The words finally started to make a little sense but as Cole heard them he felt a dread start to build in his gut. There was no way his Father was saying what he thought he was saying. There was no way that the man before him was going to be this….perceptive.

Cole felt the need to lie. To spin a tale about what he was doing today. A story about visiting the library and trying to find some sort of loophole to get Tammi out of prison in the endless law books. Maybe a different tale about sitting at the docks lost in thought as the ocean's currents drifted with his mood. Anything but the truth of what happened today but the look in his Father's eyes killed those lies once again.

He knew. There was no doubt in his Father's eyes about what happened today. He may not know all the various small details that happened today but he knew the secrets that Cole was trying to hold back.

His Father knew that Cole was a Cape and that he was the one who broke Tammi out of prison. Maybe he already had information about the heist Cole was doing tonight. Maybe he even knew how odd Cole was acting lately in comparison to the despairing child that he was before.

Whatever his Father knew it was enough to be certain. So why was he essentially trying to set up an alibi for Cole? Thoughts swirled in his head but he needed his Father to answer those speculations instead of his own mind.

"Why?" A simple question that embodied the complicated mood that was going around Cole. Was this some sort of ploy to keep him out of the PRT's hands? An alibi so Cole would have no problems blending in with the Empire's Capes?

That would make sense from what he knew about his Father's ardent belief in the Empire's cause but it did not feel right. If it was that then he would not be as torn up as he was right now. That hollow look in his eyes and the alcohol he was consuming recklessly would not fit that theory.

So what was it? What was going on?

"You're my son Cole." His father spoke out simply while looking at the bottle again. As if trying to decide if he could perhaps drink a little more and still function. The gritted teeth and his gaze tearing away from it told the story about that.

Those were simple words. One's that Cole knew like the back of his hand but the weight behind them hit him like a truck. He looked away from his Father with emotions swirling inside of his chest.

"You know they would want you to tell them. That someone like me is very valuable to the Empire. That if they had me the cause you fight for would be within your reach. At least in this city." Cole spoke out his words stumbling out of his mouth in a ramble. He did not want to say these things but he had to know. He had to see the look in his Father's eyes and the will behind them.

His Father let out a long sigh as he looked over at Cole. Another tense moment as more words felt like stumbling out of his disordered mind but that gaze froze him in this time.

"You know how I feel Cole….I might want you to be like me Cole but it is all about your safety. You are all I have of her Cole. I can't lose you. So I never wanted you to live a life like this. I've seen fights between Capes and I don't want you a part of that. I've seen Kaiser impale men with a flick of his hands, and I've seen trucks the size of tanks toppling buildings with mounted guns raining into crowds. I have seen that blasted Dragon tear apart men and burn them to ashes…I don't want that for you." His Father rambled out with eyes on the verge of tears.

"If I told them about you, that would be your life, nothing but fighting and bleeding for a cause you don't even believe in. What kind of father would I be if I let that happen to you? What kind of man would that make me?" More rambling words spilled out of the man as he looked at a far-off distance. "Carol would have killed me herself if I even dared think that way." His father let out with a bitter chuckle as the melancholic memory played across his face.

Cole was feeling in a similar state as he heard his Father's words. No matter the differences between the two men they both desperately wanted each other to be safe. That was a truth that finally became clear to Cole.

The lines in the sand that divided them morally could not hold back the bonds that formed them. Cole might wish for his father to be that jovial man once more instead of a hate-filled thug. His Father might wish for his son to see the danger that this den of sin showed and to join the cause. Both of those things can be true, just like the care they have can be true.

Cole looked at his Father ramble about and felt lost. Like the world he built around him did not quite make sense any longer. There was a moment where the both of them looked at each other before silence fell again.

All Cole knew was that even if his Father wanted certain things he would not betray Cole like this. That was a line that could not be crossed no matter what. Cole bit his lip before nodding and heading to his room his head filled with thoughts and heavy feelings.

As the door closed behind him he felt like he was drawing a different line in the sand while crossing others. Cole may hate what his Father had become but just like that man Cole wanted nothing but the best for him.

Cole sat on his bed and just thought for a moment. He had been far too reckless with his actions. Everything he had done since the night he had triggered was just split-second decision after split-second decision. He knew why he was doing it but that did not mean the consequences of his actions were not being felt.

He saved Tammi because her staying in prison was literally breaking him apart. He stopped Taylor from losing her flute because he could not bear to see the alternative. He fought Glory Girl instead of running revealing more of what he was capable of because he wanted to prove his superiority. He made a public cocky heist because it was easier than planning things out.

Everything just kept happening over and over and he did not have a single second to just digest what was happening around him. As he lay on his bed he knew that he could have done plenty differently. If he only thought about things instead of acting he could have saved himself some worries now….but it felt like had to do something or he would lose something else….Whatever no use crying over spilled milk.

He was just going to have to deal with the consequences of what he had wrought with a clear mind.

It would be naive to consider his secret identity to be secret by this point. Breaking Tammi out of prison and only her was a mistake that he was paying for now. The Empire knew everything about his life and they knew exactly how much he cared for her. 

So they obviously knew something funky was going on, hell his Father was able to piece it together so the literal superhuman gang should be able to as well. The PRT as well since his record of visiting Tammi was clear coupled with his appearance during those times well that pointed to a trigger event.

He was bound to have people watching him from now on. If only to prove what they already suspected. He let out a sigh at having to face this but it was all of his actions that led to this.

At least he had a way of working around these newfound constraints. He had a large amount of energy to work with stealing new powers would do wonders for him.

He wanted to steal Vicktor's power for the synergy but he held off on it again. It would make gathering energy easier but it would not help his current predicament and he was amassing energy at a decent enough rate to ignore Vicktor for now.

No, he needed to be in multiple places at once and thankfully he lived in a world of superpowers. So stealing the power of someone with the power to clone themselves would be helpful.

As he ran through the various Capes on his list he started to frown. There were plenty of Capes who could clone themselves but most of them came with severe drawbacks and lacked the subtlety he needed.

Blasto might work but that would require setting up a lab and cloning himself. It would take time he did not have and resources that would be difficult to gather. He was also not quite sure if Blasto's clones were sentient enough to work as a body double.

Oni-lee clones were temporary and led to ego death. Spree was just budget clones that died in seconds. Crusader made ghost copies so it would not help him here even if taking from the Empire would be nice. Echindia was too strong of a power and making evil copies is fucking horrible for him.

The only person that would work well with what he needed was Prism. That girl could split herself into three copies and as long as one clone lived she could transfer into that clone. It would make an excellent fail-safe. The issue he was having was she was a hero. Cole did not really want to fuck with people actually trying to make this shit hole better.

She was also someone studying directly underneath Legend meaning she was a hot subject to touch. Her losing her powers suddenly would draw a lot of heat if he managed to get over his hesitance of fucking with heroes.

It fucking sucks because it was exactly what he needed right now. Cole was only operating off of the Capes he recalled from reading Worm so maybe there were others?

This was a real world he was living in now so there were bound to be differences. Cole considered shopping around on the net for a couple of days before stealing anything but then he remembered he had another world to steal from.

Jujutsu Kaisen had a wide variety of Curse techniques to steal from and a clone technique should be pretty cheap. Cole went through all the characters he could steal from frowning before smiling as he remembered one.

It was a rather minor character who did not even have a name in the series. The guy was one of the assassins aiming for the bounty on Riko. The chump did not even have a face as he wore a bag over his head the entire time. Which made him slightly more noticeable for a mob but really showcased his mob status.

The Bag Head cursed technique was to clone himself. He could also swap positions with any of his clones. Meaning he could use those clones as a body double and a nice safe get away from his various heists.

Trickster's teleportation was great but long distance get aways were not in the cards with that ability. This technique would cover the weakness of Trickster's teleportation. He could rely on Trickster's power for combat as it was more convenient as it did not draw on his limited Cursed Energy. It was also rather convenient to mess with other people using it.

[Theft in process.]

[Target Identified.]

[Hook thrown.]

[Bypassing protections.]

[Theft successful.]

[The Theft System has stolen The Cursed Technique Body Double.]

[Comment from victim: I still have my technique? I'm fucking dead how does that work out!? Wait, if you are going to steal that can you help a guy out and get him out of hell!!!???]

[Do you wish to leave a comment.]

He declined to leave a message again as the dude was one of the guys trying to kill an innocent girl for cash. Cole could have left a mocking message but the guy was already in hell so there was no point in messing with him now. He really did not want demonic beings to notice him when he messed with their realms.

Sure, the Theft System had a pretty good track record for being able to steal things unnoticed by god-like entities but who knows when that will change.

Technically Trickster's power was from a dead shard so it did not even notice when he took it so he did not have any real data on that just yet….maybe he should avoid stealing powers from active Shards. He did not want to set off the space whale when he had a whole multiverse to steal from. 

Cole accepted the new technique in his mind and let out a happy smile at it. The technique worked as he expected it but he was limited to 4 perfect clones for now which was okay in his books. He only wanted the thing as an escape plan and to take some heat off of his public identity.

He could sustain at most two clones in a long-term time frame and only one if he wanted to teleport often with it. Cole tested out how it felt using the power.

A purple goo grew out of his shadow expanding and molding into a perfect copy of himself. It was rather disturbing seeing that goop twist and deform to fit his image but he would get over it eventually. As soon as the clone finished forming a sort of hive mind built up inside of him.

The clone was distinctly him and would act without his input but it was also subservient to his whims. He could get it to do anything he wanted and he constantly shared his vision and perspective with it. It was strange seeing the room around him from two different angles but he was able to push through it rather easily.

It must have been another facet of the technique making the hive mind something the user could accept. This move might not be as crazy as Shadow Clones in sheer number but the added parts of it made this move really useful for a thief like him.

Since these things were supposed to be a perfect copy he tried to get it to use Tricker's power. The clone followed the order perfectly and swapped his pillow with the other one on the bed.

That was good. It made these clones increasingly conveinty. Cole tried to get them to access the System and its inventory but that did not end up working. It appeared the System was out of the rules for this. It was to be expected but slightly disappointing.

He wondered if thefts from the Clone would allow him to gain energy. The System only fed off of the action of theft so using his clones to steal should still work out. He was not planning on doing that as his inventory was a major part of his theft prowesses but it would be good to know.

Cole dispelled the clone and watched as it dissolved into that purple goo that slinked back into his shadow. Cole was honestly wondering how far he could push this technique as it was rather useful even if the original user was a joke.

Cole looked over the amount of energy he had left and while it was not a lot it was enough to open yet another world up for thefts. If he did not steal on a whim before he never would have had Jujutsu Kaisen opened up and that place was already paying for itself with just one theft. So having yet another place opened up should be good.

Even if he gets pure trash in the first theft.

[Theft in process.]

[Hook thrown.]

[World found.]

[Target identified.]

[Bypassing protections.]

[Theft Successful.]

[The Theft System has stolen Anna Kyoyama's Fundoshi.]

[Comment from victim: I am going to track you down and slowly roast you alive then I am going to have wolves feast on your burnt corpse you creep! WHY WOULD YOU STEAL THAT!? PERVERT!!!!!!!!]

[Would you like to leave a comment.]

Cole froze for a moment gaping at the message before him. He was expecting to get a rather poor item as stealing was bound to be random but this was….something else. Not only did he get something completely and utterly useless but he made an enemy who wanted to gut him. 

He was tempted to leave a comment to explain himself but what was the point of that? It would only lead to more trouble in the long haul. It was better to just pretend like it never happened. So Cole closed the comment screen.

Cole made a joke about stealing Glory Girl's panties but it appeared he officially crossed the line and stole a priestess's undergarments. He looked over at his inventory where the item was just sitting menacingly and put it on the very last page.

He could have tried to dispose of the item but that would require taking it out of his inventory and touching it. Considering how upset Anna was she was probably wearing them….So they get chucked into the back of the inventory and Cole tries to brainwash himself into forgetting they were there.

Despite the rather poor first theft the world it opened up was interesting. Shaman King had some interesting mechanics but not ones he was too familiar with. That show was something he watched when he was a kid and the anime apparently did not follow the real story very well.

Cole wondered how the sprites of Shaman King and Cursed Energy would interact with each other. Would they boost his Cursed Energy pool working like Rika did for Yuta? No, wait all that energy was from him all she did was stick around when she died.

Still, a guardian sprite had to have some sort of synergy with the Cursed Energy of Jujustu Kaisen.

Then again those sprites were not exactly that impressive. At least from what he could recall maybe they got ridiculously strong but from what he remembered he was better off opening new worlds or stealing from Jujutsu Kaisen.

Cole wished he could read the manga here to get a better handle on this but Japan got nuked by that giant fucking fish. So there was no anime here on Earth bet. Truly Cole lived in the darkest timeline.

Well, Earth Alpha traded often with Earth Bet so maybe he would be able to get a copy of Shamen King from them. Actually, he could steal a copy from Jujutsu Kaisen as it would be rather cheap. It would still be a waste of energy so he wanted to wait to see if he could find it here but having knowledge of how that world worked would do him wonders.

For now, he was out of energy in his system so he needed to steal more things to get built up again. Thankfully he had a perfect alibi and escape mechanism now. Even if the PRT caught him they would let him keep his mask out of respect for the unwritten rules and he could escape as long as they did not keep him sedated twenty four seven.

It was not like they were going to throw a petty thief into the Bird Cage. He was perfectly fine with playing the dashing rogue instead of the gang lord enforcing his rules on the city. 

Cole might stand a shot at escaping the Bird Cage using his ability but he really did not want to risk that. Being trapped in a prison filled with the worst of what humanity could offer did not sound like a pleasant time.

With this technique, he could hang out with Tammi while expanding his power set. The girl was feeling pretty fragile right now and having Cole by her side while he got things ready for her to transfer to his school would be good for her.

A part of him just wanted to spend hours holding onto her and staring into her eyes. So this was equally pleasant for him.