Seizure 18.11
More time passed, and, thankfully, Herb came back in time for the next Replicant. We got ready, with him sitting, trying to meditate in the center of a circle of Air Barriers and Air Blades, ready to, if need be, eliminate the threat in an instant. I was willing to hear out whoever the last Replicant was, but, if things looked bad, I had no qualms putting them down.
We made sure to position ourselves so that no one was in Herb's
Copycat range, which had, over the last few months, had grown to just over fifty feet. The only one left he could copy was
me, and, useful as my powers were, I started off at near the bottom of the barrel in combat capability, and so would the Replicant.
And so I waited, and waited, Quinn watching out of range but ready to throw things into lockdown if needed. If we had more traditional Tinkers, we could've used them, but Gauge's overpowered time-related abilities, even if they didn't work on me, would still give the Replicant theoretically infinite time to plan and respond.
Watching Herb, I'd reviewed Quinn's logs, so knew that, when the time came, the Replicant would pop into existence nearby, in an instant, with no warning whatsoever. However, there seemed to be a range to it, and thus why we'd cleared out a storage bay for this.
Honestly, I was a little impressed, as Herb had not only not forgotten, or 'forgotten', to show up, but was deep in meditation, waiting, ready, and. . .
is he snoring?
Yes.
Yes he was.
Well, at least he'd shown up, and all of the others had shown up when he was asleep, so maybe that was a requirement.
Wait, I can check, I realized mentally opening my 'eyes' to See the inferno of his power.
The
Replication power was. . .
complicated. It worked as a kind of hub, creating the other versions of Herb but it wasn't a straight copy, there was an intricate mechanism that
tweaked them, to make each different, each with its own qualities, though there did seem to be an underlying commonality of loyalty to the source.
However, that very 'loyalty' was not a straightforward thing, as seen by the fact that Curtis tried to rip out my throat the first time we'd met, and Smith's pseudo-cuckolding of Herb, pseudo in the fact that, when I'd quietly asked around, Herb had tiptoed around Kayden, giving her space and never actually
going for it. Smith
had, and Kayden, apparently a fan of dominant men, had gone along with it, doubly so as it had confirmed to her. . . previous worldview, even if she'd managed to not be
openly racist anymore.
Looking
deeper I Saw that the system had no 'source must be asleep' requirement, and furthermore worked by 'pinging' the source. It didn't work on a tether system, like my own costume, which meant that, once created, there was no way to track the Replicants. It was only watching it that I Saw it activate, the power flaring for a moment, before flickering as if in response to a half-dozen different gusts, before it flared again, billowing out wards, feeling out the area, before it started to coalesce.
Pulling back, I readied my attacks, as, between instants, the power flexed and the Replicant appeared.
It was Curtis.
The Replicant looked at me, frowning, before he reached out, and took a few cautious, flowing steps, hand hitting the invisible air wall, snatching it back in an instant. "Not bad, Vee," he purred, eyes squinting as he tried to make out the defenses, but either failed or was a better actor than I expected. "You gonna let me out, or you wanna dance?"
I considered
not doing so, but, while. . .
unpleasant, Curtis had calmed down since his first creation. As such, I released the barriers, but made sure to do so a little sloppily,
just in case, the breeze from the decompressing air lightly blowing the Replicant's Jheri curls.
Curtis nodded, and started to slowly stride for the door, stopping at my, "Thanks." While I couldn't be sure, I had a strong feeling that the Replicant had let himself be killed to buy us more time. I might be wrong, but given how completely unsurprised he'd been to find himself in a kill-box, I likely wasn't.
In response, the Replicant's step hesitated, just for a second, and he shrugged. "Don't know what you're talkin' bout. Asshole's not gonna get lucky twice."
Translation:
next time it won't be me that arrives.
I nodded, "Then good hunting." The Replicant snorted, smirked, and left.
Shaking my head, I walked over to the sleeping Herb, nudging him with my boot as he snorted, coming awake fully. "I'm not sleepin'!" he declared, and I was sure, if I pressed him, he'd return with some sort of 'technically I wasn't anymore!' defense, so I just rolled my eyes.
"Sure you were," I replied dryly. "Since you were awake, I guess I don't need to tell you that it was Curtis that showed up, and left, but next time it'll probably be number ten."
The other man blinked owlishly at me, looking around the large empty room. "Oh, uh, yeah. And then he left. Which I know. 'Cause I wasn't sleeping."
"Exactly," I agreed, as if speaking to a smile child. "So why don't you go to your room and get some rest, since you weren't sleeping. We'll do this again next week."
"Yeah!" he agreed, jumping to his feet easily, super-strength making the motion simple. "Seeya then!"
Striding out the door, I sighed, and went back to my office, to Walk the Path of another Vial.
<AB>
Time continued to roll on, stopping for no one, but, once more, without incident. I did make a trip to heal Mache's mother, who was suffering from some genetic ailment that modern medicine couldn't handle. There were Tinker drugs that could've done the job, but those were
stupidly expensive, and most Healers had powers that could be sorted into the category of 'combat medicine', which, given that
all powers were supposed to be combat powers, made a certain amount of sense.
If Mache's mother had lost a limb, or was somehow otherwise injured, they might've been able to help, but powers weren't meant to help, they were meant to hurt, and it was only something incredibly open ended like Panacea's that could handle even that sort of thing. Given that I was fairly certain her power was meant to make
bioweapons, then being able to tweak people like she did made sense. My
own ability to just go '
Get Better' still annoyed her, though she had asked for me to do so less and less as time went on.
In fact, I hadn't seen her since the Simurgh fight.
Regardless, Mache had been brought onboard the civilian apparatus of the city, still unnamed, and was settling in. Given my ability to just
See her power, I'd suggested training her myself, and while Quinn had pointed out that it would be a sub-optimal use of my time, I'd put my foot down on that. We might not be putting her into a combat role, but not only was New Brockton Bay
not completely safe, with the Zones nearby, but the girl was a
Natural Trigger.
It had not been that much of an issue, likely
because of the Zones nearby, but, while it hadn't caused any issues lately, powers
needed to be used. We'd managed to direct their efforts, but, for whatever reason, normal experimentation with powers outside of combat
rarely happened. It was my hope that by working with her, that by giving a new use or twelve for her power to chew on, it'd be satisfied and calm the heck down.
Her faux-Bank Heist, however well intentioned, had likely been something her Shard had pushed for, and, while nothing had gone wrong
that time, that sort of thing was what we needed to
avoid.
But that was scheduled for next week, and until then I'd had time to kill. Well, not really time to kill, just time to devote to my lower priority projects. The pacification of the Green Zones was now
fully complete, every anomaly either eliminated, closed off, or, when possible, moved to a more secure location. In that, with my control over air, I was uniquely qualified, as, while a poor man's Telekinesis, it was a poor man's
Telekinesis, and let me 'handle' many things that, were they to actually be touched, or even approached, would likely have
killed people.
And then there were buildings to grow as Dryad, Vials from Herb, Truth, and
Tyrone of all people to Path, and, of course, the entirety of the Yellow Zone to tackle, where things got. . . Interesting. I was more hesitant to bring others with me on those runs, given the Master, Shaker, and Stranger Anomalies that ran rampant through the streets, though I'd
tried to keep to my word and bring a partner when handling them. However, when it was two in the morning and the pale, luminous being that only stalked a certain road at night needed to be handled, sometimes it was best to do it alone.
That one, despite looking humanoid, had been an odd Master/Shaker effect, a little like the Siberian in the fact that what you saw was a projection.
Unlike the Siberean, it wasn't invincible due to dimensional BS, it just tried to shape itself to match what you wanted.
At first, approaching it carefully, it'd tried to shape itself to appear like an old girlfriend, one who, while I'd hoped things had tured out better, had, well, hadn't been what I thought she was, the anger and sadness loosening the tight feeling in my heart that seeing her had evoked. Then it tried to shift to Taylor, who, while she said she understood my actions, had not come to see me since the last time we talked, about two weeks ago.
That had hurt a bit more, but, as I ignored the Anomaly that slowly sauntered towards me, the sound it made, laden with its power, blocked from reaching me, and having the repeating patterns of some kind of song, I blocked myself from that as well. I had done
nothing wrong, and, while she had been helping me, that was neither her responsibility, nor her duty. I
had appreciated the help, but, if I wasn't what she thought I was, then I wasn't going to
make her stay.
Even if some part of me wanted to do so.
Because some part of me wanted to do so.
The Pseudo-Taylor reached me, crooning inaudibly, before it suddenly shot a long, thin, taloned hand forward for my chest, the claws deforming on the wall of air separating us.
"Right, sorry, forgot about you," I apologized, having been lost in thought, mildly annoyed at the creature, likely in response to the Master effect it was using, but it was slight, relying on more
normal methods to theoretically drop my defenses. As the Projection, face still set in a caring, compassionate, and sympathetic smile as it once again tried to tear out my heart, only to, again, be stopped by the wall of air.
Limited intelligence, if any, only basic adaptability, I thought, as it
had shaped itself to me, and walked around some of the rubble on the ground, but the attack method was as mindlessly basic as most non-creature-based Anomalies were. Dangerous, of course, if you weren't prepared, but if you were it became manageable. Heck, from the damage it was doing to the air shield as it lashed out for my chest a third time, in almost the exact same way, its footing from the being repelled the only thing determining the attack. Taking a few steps back, bringing the air shield with me, it continued to sing and tried again to tear out my heart when it got in range, human-like hands morphing into claws the moment before it struck.
Opening my eyes to try and See it, as that sometimes let me gain an insight into Anomalies, I caught a flicker of
something. However, before I could understood it, the projection shuddered, its shape deforming as it tried to turn to something else, arms and legs melding into the main body, the white woman almost lamia-like, before, with what would've been an ear-piercing scream, it exploded.
As bits of pure-white matter, almost jelly-like in consistency, splattered the landscape I just stared on, confused.
"Well. . . that happened," I commented to the landscape, as the bits of projection started to evaporate, disappearing in seconds. Waiting for another minute, it didn't reform, so I shrugged, flew upwards, and moved onto the next Anomaly, a humanoid rabbit that could only be seen moving around the Yellow Zone every few nights.
<AB>
I was finishing up my nocturnal Zone clearing, the lunar lagamorph having evaded me, when, stopping on a crumbling rooftop at the Red/Yellow Edge, some large, deep blue ivy slowly working it's way up the building, I stopped to watch the sunrise.
It was. . . nice, but, at the same time, it felt. . . lonely.
I wasn't sure how long I stayed there, Quinn's voice surprising me as it called,
"Vejovis?"
Blinking, I stretched, noticing the a strand of ivy had started to make its way up towards me, but it still had a good fifty feet left to go as I lifted off, the plant almost seeming. . .
disappointed? "What's up?" I replied, getting enough altitude that I could bypass the Anomalies below. It
would be faster to teleport, but given I was almost certain Cauldron was keeping eyes on me, flying the flag like this should reassure them that
I wasn't the one out there, and causing detours in Fortuna's Path.
"
Were going to have an incursion," my vizier replied, and I smiled, glad to have something to do.
"What sector is it coming from, and what is it? Is it insects? Please tell me it's insects?" I asked, wanting it to be true, for reasons I didn't really want to look closely at.
"
Sector Seven-M, and it's not insects," I was informed. "
At least, not the Anomalous kind."
Hearing the directionality, I'd swung around to the southeast, the city divided into twelve sections, like a clock, and the letter indicating how far it was from the center of the city, located in the middle of the Red Zone. However. . . "But, that's deep in the Green. Are they diggers?"
"Of a sort," Overwatch agreed enigmatically, continuing before I started to get annoyed. "
It's a team of independent heroes. They're coming in a few hours to try to mine the Stilling Crystals." I frowned, not sure what he was talking about. "
The ones you gave the Protectorate, during their tour."
"Oh,
those!" I exclaimed, having forgotten about them in the overwhelming tide of Anomalies I'd dealt with since. "Fucking
why?"
The other man sighed. "
Why are rare materials with anomalous materials being stolen?" he asked rhetorically. "
I might have to consult our Thinkers."
Rolling my eyes, I made my way towards the location in question. "Okay, fine, but why didn't they just, you know
ask us for some? It'll be a bit dangerous, but no more than, I don't know, hydrochloric acid."
"They have," Quinn revealed, "However they have been told it will cost quite a bit, and they could only receive it after the PRT has finished their analysis, which normally takes six months for academic or commercial use without special dispensation. Given our current relationship with them, and the nature of this location as an 'experiment', it is likely those dispensation will not be issued. It appears that some do not want to wait, nor pay the price that Toybox suggested."
"They'd know," I replied, surprised that all of this went on behind the scenes. Part of me wanted to complain that
I hadn't been told about this, but, I'd already set policy when I'd shared it with the PRT, sold the GISS corpse to Flamel, and then there was our entire Crimson & Obsidian Oak lumber production. Nothing here was new, and, knowing the answer, I asked, "How much of it were you willing to sell?"
Overwatch's answer was what I thought. "It would depend on the properties of the crystal, but no more than half without receiving approval. The team that will attempt to rob us has just reached the edge of the city. There have four members: Shieldwall, a female Shaker who creates sharp-edged floating heater-shields and has some control over them, Resonance, a male Brute/Striker whose hits have a sonic effect that shakes apart what he hits, Tinder, a female Blaster/Striker that can make what she touches catch fire for several minutes afterwards, and Chirality, a female Tinker that specializes in technology that transmutes items."
Floating high, around two miles up, around the altitude of
helicopters, I looked down at the ground below, trying to pick them out. With
Power Sight my regular sight had risen to superhuman levels, and I could make out the details of everything down below me, but there were a
lot of details to take in. On the bright side,
I had time, their arrival at the metal dome distantly under my feet still close to an hour from now.
"Should I call the others?" Quinn asked, as I watched, and I considered that.
I kind of wanted to handle it myself, but. . . should I? "Are any of the 'Cousins' up and available?" I requested. Mouse thought that eight oclock only occurred once per day, as did most of the teens, but if some of the others were up, I wouldn't say no to someone watching my back.
"Nick is, should I have him travel to your location?" Overwatch replied.
I shook my head, creating a dagger and Marking it, tossing it so it'd hit a clear rooftop on the other side of the path of our thieves. "Have him meet me in my office."
Teleporting back, I got ready to set up the trap.
Steal from me and mine, will you?
