"Rolling out en masse with orders, warrants, all across the city simultaneously, literally from the crack of dawn." The armored Tinkerer''s lips pursed. "It''s obvious even to a child that you had this action pre-packaged before you even arrived in Brockton Bay. It is also obvious to any child that you are specifically, if not exclusivelywaiting for your arrival,


    "Speaking as the leader of the local branch of the Protectorate, I respectfully request that you explain what the hell you think you''re doing."


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Let me paint the rest of the picture for you then," Tagg barked, getting to his feet. "I have it on good authority from PRT Thinkers and Tinkers--- ones who gave those so-called ''Ziz-blockers'' more than a cursory once over--" (Armsmaster stiffened at the implied insult to his own meticulousness but said nothing) "and they''ve confirmed that they not only can be used to block and break Master/Stranger effects, but with a little adjustment they can be used to amplify them.


    THe room seemed to fill with arctic air, it got so chill. "That''s right," Tagg said, walking around the table to stand by the monitor. "Amplify. Strengthen, direct, even focus... as should have been obvious to anyone when your local heroine Glory Girl started using one that focused her emotion-controlling aura into a beam."


    The image on the screen changed to a world map, one spattered with red dots. "That little fiasco down in Alabama was just one of dozens of incidents worldwide. After Canberra literal hundreds of Capes walked off with these. They returned to their villain teams and their outlaw factions and their cults and their third-world warlords and the YangBan with Mind-Control Tinkertech tucked under their arms


    "--Claimed a chain of islands off the coast of Africa, proclaimed them a sovereign state, and is even now refusing all lawful orders and is threatening to crack open the Birdcage and free its inmates,"


    "And to complete the fun and games, we''ve confirmed that both robots are AIs. Full, Turing-tested AIs. And according to reports the Alliance Tinker who makes them cranks them out by the dozens. And most of them are set to work making more of their own kind."