I could not sleep.

My head was filled with ideas. Specifically ideas for a variety of different kinds of vehicles. There wasn't any urge to build them.

I read on PHO, that many tinkers went into fugues, if they didn't build something in a while, or if they had a sudden idea - a 'eureka moment' if you will.

I haven't had any such urge to build, but it had only been less than an hour since I got the perk so I may be wrong on what may or may not happen.

I doubted that it could affect me though, seeing as Gamer's Mind should protect me from all forms of mental effects...though there was a big problem with that.

Technically speaking, all emotions are things that affect the mind, hence they should also be termed as 'mental effects'.

So, having Gamer's Mind shouldn't really allow me to feel...anything if it blocks 'all mental effects'. As far as I know, the only thing it did for me was clear my depression, and make me happier.

And while I appreciate what Gamer's Mind does, I really do, I don't really like thinking about that. Because, if it could make me happier, couldn't it also do the opposite? Shouldn't it be able to do what it actually says on the tin?

…

So...I'm changing the subject. No existential crisis, I will not be entertaining you today.

I tried for another hour, but after I spent said hour tossing and turning, I gave up.

Taking a pen and an empty notebook out of my inventory, I sat down on my desk. The perk had said that I could recreate the things I created using the perk if I had a sufficiently high enough int.

But why such a wording? While I didn't have a 'photographic' or if you wanted to be technical, 'eidetic' memory, it was good enough that I should be able to remember everything I do.

So, this point would be moot. Because, if I remember doing something, I should be able to replicate it just as easily.

Somehow I didn't think it was that easy.

Whatever, I guess I'll find out once I actually get to it.

It took a moment for me to focus on the schematics, even though it had been literally all I could think about while lying on my bed.

Finally getting it, I started sketching.

It took a while; I don't know exactly how long. I kinda zoned out there, trying to understand the schematics while drawing them. It was...really weird. Anything I didn't understand, my power was happy to give me a crash course on, it was like reading a book, but I wasn't able to understand most of what my power was trying to tell me.

It was...frustrating. Since I got this power, I was able to read and understand literally all the books I read. So, not being able to understand something was a bitch to get over.

After a while, I sighed.

This wasn't working.

Trying to understand this was like trying to understand why Emma left me. Easy to find out, but in the end result makes no sense. Like two and two equaling five instead of four.

There was one vehicle schematic that took almost all the research done in the field of quantum physics and threw it out the window.

At least it would, in the way I interpreted it on paper.

I could theoretically build a vehicle that helps me understand all the bullshit my power was spouting, but that would just take all the fun out of the challenge.

I put it on the back burner for now. There was only so much 'challenge' I could handle before wanting to blow something up.

Also, how a machine that would increase my intelligence could classify as a vehicle of all things, was a mystery to me.

...Well, not really a mystery. I guess you could make it so that the vehicle connects to your brain and allows you to control said vehicle telepathically, causing an increase in intelligence as a side effect. Or in some other way, I don't know. I don't know, goddammit!

You know what, fuck waiting. I had 248 sp right now, and 41 in int.

I'm sure nothing would happen if I used it up a bit.

I opened my Status box, and clicked on it.

Are you sure you want to spend your SP on your int?

A/D

I clicked accept.

How much would you like to spend?

Hmm, spending 9 points would bring me up to 50, or I could spend more to bring it all the way up to 100.

You know what, 50 is enough for now I think.

Ping!

Your Int has reached 50! You get the perk - Eidetic Memory.

Reaching 50 in int gave me a perk...why didn't the same happen for my physical stats?

Ah, because they were much easier to increase.

The answers were coming to me more fluidly. It was easier to understand now. Faster.

I wouldn't say there was a lot of difference in speed, but there was definitely a huge difference in the level of understanding, in my opinion.

It was like I reached a milestone. Which meant that there were more milestones.

I grinned, if my int had a milestone at 50, then both luk and wis probably do as well. My physical stats would have one either at 75 or 100, with 100 being more probable.

It would take 101 more points for me to reach the first milestone in all my other stats. I had 239 sp right now.

It was tempting, but I resisted. I had too much wis to fall prey to frustration and desire...well, two times in less than an hour at least.

Ask me again in an hour.

I clicked on the perk I just got.

Eidetic Memory: You now remember everything you see. It doesn't matter if you just glanced at it. This doesn't work properly if you are inebriated.

Huh, okay. So, it being able to bypass whatever memory restriction Squealer's perk had was fifty-fifty. Well, not exactly fifty-fift - you get the idea.

I didn't know whether or not whatever 'trance' the perk might put me in would be considered as an inebriated state or not.

I considered increasing my int stat once again, before discarding it, again. I'm sure Future Taylor would be better equipped to handle it.

I looked over the ideas I've drawn on paper.

I glanced down at the schematic I'd been drawing.

The easier stuff I was able to breeze through. Radiation free energy? Pfft. Easy peasy.

Jets able to travel hundreds of times the speed of sound? Ugh, did that yesterday.

Tanks able to blast Lung into the Simurph? Duh.

Anything related to quantum physics? Nope.

Okay, so turns out quantum mechanics was beyond me (for now). Well, not beyond beyond, just beyond beyond.

Get it?

Basically, I could formulate theories, dozens of years ahead of the ones published now, but actually putting those theories into use? Yeah, I wasn't sure how to do that.

Hours later I stopped, finally finishing what I was working on. A sort of vehicle that would be able to survive off of a pound of garbage, for a year. It was actually really easy to build. Well, relatively at least.

Obviously I didn't actually build it. I made a schematic representation (a coherent one this time), that anybody intelligent enough could understand.

The most complicated vehicle that I could understand - well partially at least - given time and resources, was based on quantum physics. A vehicle that would theoretically phase through matter using the principle of quantum tunneling and duplicating the properties of a subatomic particle.

As you might imagine, this theory led to me banging my head against the wall.

The amount of energy and the esoteric materials this type of vehicle would require was absolute bullshit. And that was just one idea for one vehicle

Honestly, it was really annoying to go back to square one and I knew that if I stayed thinking too long, I would end up spending another fifty points on my int and bring it up to a hundred.

Soo, I decided to go and read all the papers written on quantum physics on the internet.

No, I'm not going to watch memes all night. Definitely not.

I turned around, to check the time.

2:09

...Okay, so I might have been a little dramatic when I said it had been hours.

This was actually a good thing, cause, I was honestly thinking of playing hooky today. Dad definitely wouldn't approve, and I would have had to think of a lie to tell Olivia, cause she would definitely ask.

But, since I have until morning, I can use the computer to my heart's content.

I switched on our computer and waited.

Then waited some more.

Aaand a bit more.

I let out an aggrieved sigh and got up. Maybe I'd put off upgrading my computer for too long.

The wait was boring. My mind thought of all the ways I could upgrade my computer to make it so fast that it would make that hypersonic jet in my schematics look slow.

Okay, so that may be an exaggeration, but I'm sure with enough research I could make a computer that could be on a similarly high tech level.

Understanding something and coming up with an idea were two different things, after all.

I groaned.

Dad was still asleep, and I suppose I could look at the papers on my phone.

Buut, my computer was just too freaking slow, so I decided to go out and find some materials I might need to upgrade the computer.

I mean, I should probably think of how to upgrade the computer, before setting out to find materials, but hey, I was making this up as I go, so just stay with me alright.

Casting Muffle on myself, I quickly made my way out of the house, only to stop at the near the porch, when I caught sight of dad's car.

It was...shit.

Okay, that was mean. It was...really, low tech.

Yeah - I gave a decisive nod - it was just low tech.

I'd always known that, but now I felt an urge to make it better.

Ah, so this was the feeling the perk evoked.

Taking out another empty notebook, I started noting (heh) down the feelings I was experiencing.

I opened my Book of Powers and quickly wrote down, Feelings: Squealer perk edition, on a new page.

Hmm, was that a bit too on the nose?

...Nah.

Anyway, I'd never thought about it before, but I know I could have improved upon dad's car.

This (Describe that strange Tinker Pert feeling)Buut, it was different. I mean obviously I hadn't actually thought about it. There were only twenty four hours in a day after all, and I hadn't wanted to stretch myself too thin.

Now, there was a weird tingle in the back of my mind.

I turned away from the car, the tingle did not reduce, nor did it increase.

"Fascinating,"

The next few hours - actual hours this time, I kept checking - I spent testing this feeling.

Doing various stuff like taking the car apart, or putting it back together. The former lessened the feeling, while the latter magnifies it.

My guess was that the perk was screaming at me for being an idiot and not changing things.

Doing stuff different, but not contradictory made no change in the instinct, at least as far as I could feel; while doing something stupid - like trying to replace the gearbox with a donut box - led to high spikes in pain.

It was amazing!

I never gave in to the feeling. I wasn't ready for that yet. After I set up some cameras and find out to override it, either at will or through some other means, then, and only then will I consider it.

The perk seemed to be semi-cogitized. Like bacteria. All it knows to do is the things it's programmed to do.

Humming in thought, I put the book back in my inventory.

It was morning already and the sun was starting to peek through the sky. I needed to go make breakfast for dad and tell him about the huge amount of money that we now owned.

Huh, actually, I never checked that, did I?

Hmm, I can't really tell dad that I have a lot of money, without making sure it was legit…

Goddammit, why the heck didn't I think of it before?

Ugh.

I opened my inventory. Unlike the other things in my inventory, there was no picture, just a numerical value.

$210,023.52

The 23 dollars were the ones I already had. I pulled them out first and inspected them.

Hmm, they were the same. Four, five dollar notes, three one dollars, and fifty two cents. All worn, one even had the same tare at the edge it had when I had first put it in.

Okay, placing it on the table in front of me, I pulled out five hundred dollars this time.

Five pristine hundred dollar bills appeared on my hand.

I took a little more time inspecting these, there weren't any identifying marks, well other than the one all notes have.

I'd thought that this was the money my power somehow collected whenever I took a warehouse down, but the lack of any identifying marks signified otherwise. I mean nobody really expects druggies to keep their money clean.

Holy crap, this means that I basically have two thousand new dollar notes.

...If this doesn't crash the economy, I don't know what will.

Pausing, I decided to try something different.

I tried to pull out a fifty dollar note, a twenty dollar note, and a ten dollar note.

One fifty, one twenty, and one ten dollar note appeared on my hand.

These were just as pristine as the five, hundred dollars before.

Hmm, what about cents?

I looked at the coin on my hand.

Yeah, I guess I can take that as a yes.

Okay then, what about foreign denominations?

I tried to pull out 60 yen, instead, 60 dollars appeared on my hand. Well, that was a bit disappointing.

I bit my lip, thinking about it.

Meh, in the end, I still have two hundred thousand dollars. Taking out my Powers book, I quickly wrote down all my findings in it.

Dad came down an hour later. He grunted 'morning' at me, before sitting down.

"Morning, dad."

I put his plate in front of him, before sitting down myself.

"Dad," I started, after a few moments of silence. "You know how I said, I was taking down the Merchants yesterday…"

He blinked, "Oh yes, how did it go?"

"Well," I paused, all dramatic sentences need to have a pause. Just as I had thought, dad leaned in. "I took them down."

His eyes widened, "Y-you took them down?!"

I grinned, "Yep!"

"In a day?!"

"In less than five hours," I corrected with a cheeky grin.

"That's amazing, Taylor!"

I preened at his praise. "Eh, it was nothing."

He chuckled in disbelief at my answer.

I cleared my throat, "So, you know how my power gives me rewards for doing things right."

He nodded, albeit a little confused at the sudden change in topic.

"Well, we now have two hundred thousand dollars."

He choked on the chicken. Quickly, I patted his back, "Sorry, but did you just say two hundred thousand dollars."

I grinned at him.

"Oh my god. I need to sit down for this."

I chuckled, "You are sitting, dad."

I paused for a moment, before continuing. "And it's all yours now."

His eyes widened comically. "What?!"

"Yep!" I placed my hand on my chin. "Well, I might need some money every now and then, but if I get similar amounts on taking down other gangs, I might not need it."

Well, I definitely wouldn't need it, but dad wouldn't take it otherwise.

"Is this," He cleared his throat, "Is this money real?"

"Yep! I checked it myself."

"Jesus Crist, Taylor. That...is a lot of money."

I smiled at him, "Yeah, but, you might not be able to use it all at once. People might get suspicious."

Dad shook his head, but he was smiling.

"You can finally get the ferry running again." I continued. It wouldn't be immediate, even two hundred thousand wasn't enough for that, but in a year or two, it would be ready.

"Thank you,"

"Aww," I made my way across the table and wrapped my arms around him. "You're welcome."

We stayed like that for a while.

I declined dad's offer to drop me off and ran all the way to school. I didn't want to be there when he saw what I'd done to his car.

...Plus I didn't want to keep Olivia waiting for too long.

Throughout the run to school, I all but kept my head on the sky. If seeing just one car - dad's car, but still one - had made me feel like I wanted to tear it apart and build it anew, I didn't want to know what seeing dozens of vehicles moving on the street would do to me.

And, since we lived in the, well not poor, but definitely the lower middle class region, a lot of the vehicles could be improved upon in many, many ways.

Which meant that I needed to go really slow if I didn't want to crash into something. Faster than a normal human for sure, but not enough to reach Arcadia within minutes, which I could do if I went as fast as I normally did.

Aerokinesis helped, I couldn't use it to feel the molecules in the air, or any such cool thing. But I could make gusts of wind in front of me constantly, so I would at least have an idea of the things that were in front of me.

I definitely would have tripped more than once, if not for my dex.

I frowned upon reaching the area, where Olivia normally waits for me. It was almost 8, and their still wasn't any sign of Olivia.

I texted her. I had never seen her missing school. If she couldn't wait she would have texted me, probably.

I waited a few more minutes, before sighing and walking in. I had English first thing in the morning, and dad would throw a fit if he knew I bunked that class.

The day passed quickly.

I had looked forward to parahuman studies, with the information of what I had done, yesterday coming to light, but it seemed that the PRT was keeping a tight lid on the dismantling of the Merchants, for now.

I hadn't checked PHO yet, so I didn't know if somebody had caught me on camera. I doubted that since I was invisible for most of the time.

Soon, it was lunchtime and I was a little bummed out. Turns out Olivia hadn't come today.

I slouched down on the table, slowly the table we usually sat at. I stared off into the distance, not really focusing on anything.

On a completely unrelated note, the couple of kids that sat on the table directly in front of mine quickly vacated.

"Okay, calm down grumpy pants. We don't need another irritable emo on our hands."

My elbow slipped from the table, and without the support it provided, my head banged against the table.

"Last I remember, you were the one the resident emo." Carlos said, chuckling.

Sam huffed, crossing her arms. "It was just a phase."

"Goddammit!" I glared at Sam, who was grinning with too much amusement. "Don't just sneak up on me!"

...I totally could have stopped myself from falling.

Sam giggled, "I've been here for the past fifteen minutes, Tay."

I flushed, dex, why have you betrayed me?!

"Watching you glare at those poor kids was epic."

Chris snorted, "They're older than us Sam."

I blinked, innocently. "What kids." When guilty, act dumb.

"Taylor, they looked like they were about to shit themselves." I ignored Carlos.

Sam rolled her eyes, opting to ignore him too, she said. "You know, the ones that normally sit there." She pointed at the table that was directly in my line of sight.

I glared at her, good naturedly, "You have no proof."

She grinned, pulling out her phone. "Don't I?"

Holding it up in front of me, she started playing a video of me glaring at our seniors. There was giggling in the background that I knew was Sam.

I moved to snatch the phone out of her hands, but let her keep it.

"Hence, you, my dear TayTay, are guilty of scaring the shit out of a bunch of seniors."

Maybe, I should have snatched it out of her hand.

Chris hit the table with his water bottle. "Court is now adjourned."

"I'll get you all! Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but one day, one day, when you least expect it, I'll make you regret it, I make you ALL regret it!"

My voice progressively became more and more theatrical, as I tried my best to imitate a stereotypical Mouse Protector villain. Halfway through the monologue, I even stood up, raising my right hand above my head in a fist.

Carlos was chuckling, Chris was laughing out loud, and Sam was giggling. I grinned.

Over the last month, the four of us had gotten a lot closer. Maybe not as close as Olivia and I, but I could definitely say that they were my friends.

It was honestly amazing, to say the least.

...I got kicked out of the cafeteria for 'disturbing the atmosphere'.

I cast Invisibility.

With the fall of the Merchants, both the gangs would be scrambling to get their shit in order.

More to put on a defensive front, than to take over the Merchants territory.

To say it wasn't liked, was an understatement.

The Merchants territory was filled with mostly homeless people and squatters.

That was why Skidmark had been allowed to keep his 'territory' for so long.

But I digress.

I wasn't going to attack the Empire this fast. There were things I needed to do, and with the Empire on high alert, I couldn't take them down in one sweep anyway.

Today's was basically to find more materials for my computer, and dad's previous car.

Yes, previous. Well, not yet, this weekend, we had plans to go to a car dealership and get one.

To say he was angry at me for wrecking his car was an understatement.

The materials would be useful because I am planning to upgrade it (the car) in different ways.

It would take a while since I'm first doing it in the mundane means, rather than use the perk bullshit.

I might steal some nazi's car, so I can test my perk.

The need to build a vehicle was starting to get unbearable now. It had been less than a day, and already it was taking everything in my power to just control myself around any sort of vehicle.

Gamer's Mind should protect me from these things, but it didn't.

I think it might be because it thought of the perk as a part of 'itself', so it left it aside, like defective lysosomes, that don't kill themselves and cause the death of the cell as a result.

I made my way through the border between the Empire and the ABB. A lot of the people living in his area sold things late into the night so that they could pay for the 'protection racket'.

Plus, it wasn't really that late.

In the end, it took browsing through eight shops, and about a few thousand dollars.

Okay, so I splurged a little, sue me.

The money was definitely going to the Empire, but I was going to take them down by next Saturday at the latest, so it didn't really matter.

I will be visiting the Trainyard tomorrow, so I didn't mind that I got only a few of the items I needed.

I put them all in my inventory and left for home.

Halfway through there, my spidey sense blared at me, from all directions.

I flinched at the sudden sensation. Unlike the previous times, there wasn't a simple tingle. Instead it felt like someone was trying to turn my head to pulp, by hitting it with a hammer, and succeeding.

My adrenaline gland was working overtime along with my heart, my breaths were fast and hard and I leapt from the building I was standing on. The roof cracked and crumpled in on itself under the sudden increase in pressure. I cast Telekinetic Blast on myself, angling it in so that it would push me upwards.

It didn't have much force behind it, but paired along with Aerokinesis, it proved very valuable. I didn't know what would cause Spidey Sense to go off like that, but I'd rather be safe, than sorry.

The building on top of which I was standing, along with its surrounding buildings exploded in a blaze of fire and debris.

I stared in shock at it, before the fact that - it was less than ten feet below me - caught up to my brain.

I tried casting Mana Shield, but I was too slow. The blast reached me almost immediately, knocking me out of balance, and sending me careening towards the ground.

-1500HP!

Pain exploded in every part of my body, and I screamed in agony. The pain itself lasted only a moment, but it still felt like forever.

Losing consciousness was a relief.

Sry for the late chap, i'll try to update faster. Also, thanks to Vorlos for beta-ing :)

REVIEWS!