Just another reminder of the randomness poll available in SB and SV. You can change your vote anytime, and master control is unlocked by unlocking all the listed aliens.
The votes were pretty polarized, SB liking PAP and SV liking PAI. Once OASIS became an option, things were pretty unanimous. Having the Plumbers was just going to be a hidden joke for the MC to chuckle at while the ambassador part was to imply that 'they' were aliens. OASIS fills the later roll just as well without the MC having to be coy about the first initial.
People also seemed to have the idea that Diamondhead is a Striker. Strikers can create weapons, but Changers can reshape their bodies into weapons.
Lastly, sorry for the delay. Strangely enough, my creativity comes from a tea I drink, which gives a persistent headache from prolonged use. It didn't help that Mardis Gras is very busy for a liquor store in Louisiana.
Time: Saturday, Jan. 1st, 12:25 PM.
Location: Parahuman Response Team HQ
"Ah, the thick and slow moving lifeblood of all administrations: paperwork."
The twenty something year old receptionist chuckled at his metaphor before handing the papers over. "Remember that most of the personal information is optional. It's mostly there if you want to express more open trust in the PRT and Protectorate."
"Thank you miss. I shouldn't be long." He grabbed the offered papers and perused the documents for a few minutes. He did leave most of the optional stuff alone, but he couldn't ignore putting down a home address. The half-truth should be an ironclad armor for his civilian self, and should be pretty funny when the implications sink in for the public. He just had to make sure to paint a benevolent picture.
Next he had to decided which of the twelve power ratings Diamondhead fit into. Brute was obvious, and he was planing to show off his Changer powers as well. As for his Blaster and Shaker powers. As one awesome bug master once said: "While one ace in the hole is good, two are better." He couldn't be 100% sure that his power information wouldn't become public at some point before he wanted it to be. In fact, there is history on PHO that shows PRT officers leaking such information. His secrets will be revealed on his own terms, likely when it's most necessary...or funny. If a foe forced him to reveal his ability to swap forms mid combat, they will have a very bad day.
He handed the young woman his papers and waited smugly. He had to fight to keep himself from looking too smug until the nearby door opened to admit another pair of heavily armored PRT troupers to add to the pair that was already watching over him. "Director Piggot will see you now."
The four formed a trapezoidal formation which boxed him in after Diamondhead walked into it. He was just able to catch the woman gaping at him in incredulity. From there, he allowed the troupers to guide him away from the public section of the PRT HQ, which included a giftshop of all things. The Omnitrix hero glanced up at the sprinklers that populated the ceiling, knowing that they weren't just packing water. He figured that if he did get foamed, he could grow crystals out from his body until he had space to escape. It was fun thinking of such things even if he didn't have to.
They reached an elevator that was only big enough to fit three if them. The ride up proved to be far smoother than any normal elevator had any right to be. The little shifts in g-forces were all the fun in them. He thought with amusement that the PRT sucked the fun out of anything. He was sobered by the idea that the joke was likely true. When they reached the director's door, the officer on the left knocked. They were admitted in in under a minute.
The director was a serious, almost angry looking. Ben was distinctly reminded of the overweight black woman from the "Mine are bigger" scene from Justice League. He hoped that things wouldn't have to resort to dick waving just to keep the peace between them. It was a good thing that he was already planning on throwing her a bone...hopefully. At her back was another PRT trooper, and Clockblocker surprisingly enough. He had expected any of the older heroes, but the time hero would make for a solid defense should he get violent. The kid was a bit professional during the short trip to the PRT HQ, but Ben liked him.
He took notice of the seat provided for him. "Please, take a seat."
"If it's all the same, I'd like to remain standing."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I insist."
He returned her glare. "As do I."
That continued for a while, one bearing a face made of immovable stone, and the other being a stubborn alien. "Fine. Suit yourself." The hero let himself have a little smile. He had always wanted to tell someone that he preferred standing. "Why don't we start with a first hand account of what happened between you and the E88."
"What kind of information are you looking for?" Ben always felt that knowing what others were looking for from him usually got the best results.
Experience failed to remind him that usually people either didn't know what they wanted, or didn't care to share. "Start from the beginning."
"I was out minding my own business when the E88 decided that I was trespassing on public streets. I tuned out his rambling until Alabaster decided that I'd make a good recruit. I...refused, then we fought. They couldn't hurt me much, so it was easy until Purity showed up. The conversation got a bit heated, but things ended with only minor coalateral damage."
"If you were worried about coalateral damage, then why did you provoke them?" If anything, she seemed even more stonefaced.
Diamondhead tilted his head at her question, wondering how she came about that information. "They weren't a threat to me, so I figured that I could bring one of them in."
"Then Purity showed up," she said, interrupting him, "who you also proceeded to provoke."
"To be fair, I was trying to be friendly. Hindsight tells me that mentioning her baby wasn't the best of ideas." That may haven't been obvious at the time, but Piggot's disapproval was. "When I saw that she was willing to test me, I decided to hand Alabaster over to avoid a destructive fight in a populated area." Of course, that was a hindsight explanation. The biggest reason for his surrender was something else entirely.
Director Piggiot sighed noticeably and seemed to struggle with something for a few seconds. "I see. Tell me about your team: powers, goals, strengths, weaknesses, and where you came from."
"I've already provided our goals and origins in the documents you had me fill out, and I feel no need to repeat myself. Our chosen names are pretty telling towards our power sets and appearances. The only thing that we all agreed that you need to know that hasn't already been provided would be our weaknesses."
As he talked, she became less and less expressive...until he mentioned weaknesses. Her following expression could have been called excitement if you were feeling generous. "Why?"
"Let's see. Why don't we use myself as an example." He began pacing back and forth while adopting a lecturing tone. "As you would logically guess, I am remarkably durable. This makes me an excellent frontline combatant in any serious engagement, since I can safely ignore friendly fire while taking the fight directly to the threat. The only thing I really need to worry about is if one of my alies is capable of powerful sonic attacks."
He paused to give them a moment to digest the information. "Triumph."
"Exactly. I am vulnerable to powerful sonic attacks, the exact kind that Triumph can produce. We are alies in this, so it would be very awkward if I were seriously injured simply because he was not aware of my weakness. Knowing our weaknesses will also let you know what situations we will actively avoid."
"So we can trust that the information you give us is accurate."
"Just as we are trusting you not to leverage our weaknesses against us unnecessarily or to release them publicly."
The director almost smiled. "Fine, why don't you start with Ghostfreak."
"Ghostfreak's weakness is light, sunlight especially. He is at his most powerful in absolute darkness. His protective outer skin can protect him from being vaporized, but it limits his power further. He wouldn't last seconds fully exposed against unfiltered sunlight."
"And when can we expect to see him for official testing?"
"I can't be sure."
Her gaze narrowed. "Why not?"
"Because I don't want to commit to a decision on someone else's behalf. Our team doesn't have a leader. I am only our public face."
She looked him over, his blue/green gem-like skin shinning in the light of the room, his strong jawed features, and the way every movement let out a sound like crystal windchimes. "Of course you are. What about else can you share about him."
Diamondhead visibily thought the question over. "His invisibility and intangibility can be neutralized by a certain compound. Your containment foam may contain these compounds. Greymatter would like a sample to analyzed. If I'm wrong, the compound I speak of may prove effective against other individuals capable of intangibility. We'll provide a sample as soon as we're able."
"That's...generous of you." He was pretty sure she was suspicious of the offer.
"Of course. It's only natural to arm our allies against our enemies."
She hummed in thought over his words. "What about XLR8?"
"He is impulsive and can react only so fast to sudden changes in friction. Liberal applications of lubricants, adhesives, and rough surfaces will limit his options."
"Stinkfly."
"His wings don't do well when wet. Any liquid will ground him until dry."
"Greymatter."
Diamondhead chuckled a bit. "By your classification, Grey matter would be a Brute -2." Her raised eyebrows confirmed her desire for elaboration. "He's five inches tall."
"So he's a fun sized hero?"
Clockblocker straitened up at her reproachful glare. When she was satisfied that he was properly mollified, her attention was back on the petro-sapien. "Upgrade."
"Powerful magnetic fields would neutralize him easily. As a freebe, you don't want to be a Tinker against him."
"And I don't suppose that you'll tell me why?"
"We'd like to keep some surprises to ourselves. Think of it like getting a surprise birthday present."
"I hate surprises." He should have seen that response coming. "And the rest?"
"Let me think for a second... Ripjaws doesn't do well out of water, and can't breath if his gills are dehydrated. Heatblasts powers are severely reduced if he's covered in fire suppressants. Wildmut has no eyes and lacks a mouth capable of forming standard words. He uses smell to sense the world around him, so a stink bomb would 'blind' him. Four Arms is large, and has trouble with cramped spaces. I'll bet that Vista would be a nightmare for him to fight."
"And that's all of you. Is there anything you can tell me about your team in general."
Diamondhead smiled. "I was hoping that you would ask." No eyebrows were raised. "The most important weakness of our team as a whole is that only one of us is allowed to be active at any moment. If you see one of us, I can guarantee that no one will see one of the others elsewhere. It is an unfortunate limitations put upon us, but there is nothing we can do about it."
"And you expect me to believe that, on just your word?"
Diamondhead returned her accusing glare with a firm one. "I expected you to come to this conclusion yourself over time, so I saved you the headache. Now I get the feeling that you have trust issues. Perhaps you'd prefer that I feed you false info. At least your paranoia would be justified."
The two glared angrily at one another in a battle of wills. If there was anything that Ben hated with a passion, it was having his integrity questioned. Still, rage was an unpleasant and short lived emotional for him, so he settled into controlled anger. She seemed to take his changed stance as a win. "If you want any of my trust, you'll give us something concrete."
Crystal spikes threatened to spring from his arms at her behavior. He was sure that his arms suddenly resembling an echidna's back would not go over well. "I was planning on power testing, but I'm sorely tempted towards a change in plans." That cowed her stance. Diamondhead relaxed the prickling sensation in his arms. "Clearly this isn't going well. I hope our next meeting will be smoother." He turned toward the door and tried to open it. "It's locked." He checked and saw her giving him the same harsh glare he'd seen a number of times. "You can learn what I'm capable of through power testing, or by me going through your defenses."
Clockblocker looked tense and ready to close the distance at a moment's notice. It wouldn't let him get past the crystalline barrier he'd raise as he tore the door of its hinges. The door unlocking made sure it didn't come to that. "Thank you." He opened it and paused halfway through. "You should treat your allies better. You'll never know whenever you may need their unconditional support."
Time: Saturday, Jan. 1st, 12:58 PM.
Location: Parahuman Response Team HQ
Viktor Romaine had things he loved and things he hated. For starters, he hated that there was an active supervillain with the same name as him within the city. He loved that he worked in the city with one of the highest parahuman-per-capital concentrations of the country. He hated that most of them were unwilling to participate in proper exploration of their powers. And he loved any opportunity to test a new parahuman's abilities...but what was being presented to him was so far beyond the standard, he could scarcely comprehend it.
When DNA samples were extracted from Stinkfly's organic adhesive, he immediately began testing it as per standard procedure. The results he got this morning were mildly interesting, relatively speaking, until he started fact checking. Stinkfly's DNA didn't just spit in the face of Case 53 genetics, it danced a merry jig over the shattered remains of known genetics.
He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was a bit obsessed with the mystery, enough that he nearly ignored an opportunity to put another parahuman through their paces. He read what information was available, a habit that helped avoid stepping on toes, then froze when the pieces fell into place. If everything lined up, he could be in on the discovery of the century. He managed to muster some scepticism, but his excitement was overwhelming.
When he set eyes on Diamondhead, his attention was fully dedicated to determining any distinctive traits. He'd seen nearly everything as a parahuman researcher. What stood out to him the most was so small and inconsequential, the kind of thing that the average person would dismiss without a single thought: four fingers. He would be double checking, but he could not remember any Case 53 having an unusual number of fingers when they had them. He really had to stop relying on memory for such things.
He snapped his self back into focus and held out his hand in greetings. "Hello, Diamondhead. It's a pleasure to meet you."
There was a small delay during which the hero took notice of Viktor. "No problem sir. Will you be presiding over the tests?"
"Yes. I understand that you've identified yourself as a Brute and Changer. The Brute tests are very straight forward, but Changer test are more variable." His mind blanked out, frustrated that the need for pleasantries were delaying his desire to ask the real questions.
"My Changer powers aren't too complicated. I can reshape my arms into simple weapons and grow spikes from anywhere on my body."
"That sounds simple enough. But we'll need to test your speed and variation. Well start with your Brute tests first. We'd also like to have a tissue sample, if we can get one."
"Oh that's easy." The cape held up his hand, which reshaped into a heavily spiked stub. He plucked a spike straight out without any signs of discomfort and handed it over for Viktor to examine. It was fantastic. He was no geologist, but he could best compare it to a fusion of blue quartz and the shine of diamond. A jeweler might consider it valuable, but Viktor was far more interested in its scientific worth.
He wanted to ask, but he felt like when he tried to ask out his significant other. He guessed that the other guy would be bringing it up this time too if ever.
They reached the testing room with the only sounds being the footsteps of the cape and their escorts. The room resembled a normal gym more than anything else, albeit with much heavier duty equipment. The deadlift station was a thick one ton reinforced steel bar designed to withstand 200 tons of gravitational force when used properly. It was connected to weights that matched that limit. The stress test room was where they fired at the cape until something stuck. Their first destination was the punching machine. "Hit this as hard as I can?"
"We'd like three samples please."
Diamondhead smiled and threw a few test punches that were in the heavyweight boxer range. After a few jabs, he threw a powerful blow that easily surpassed anything thrown by Battery or Aegis, coming very close to Glory Girl's record. Two more blows came out, making Viktor nod at the respectable display. "Well done. Now let's see how strong your deadlift is."
Rather than move on, Diamondhead smirked back at him. "What are you talking about? That was just the warmup." Diamondhead's stance changed completely. His feet dug into the floor and his torso twisted away from his target. Viktor had seen enough PRT troopers testing themselves against the machine to know that he was doing something few capes did: putting his full body into the blow. But it still didn't explain the growing force behind each subsequent punch. Diamondhead shattered the Brockton Bay Brute record thrice over, and Viktor swore that he could feel the power of the third blow in his bones.
"Hey guys. What did I miss?" The three normal humans went from sharing nervous glances to visually confirming the addition of Clockblocker and Vista.
"This." Viktor knew that he felt the fourth one.
"Holy fuuuuge-biscuits! Remind me never to tick you off."
"That's nothing. You should see what Four Arms can do." The scientist made a mental note to keep this Four Arms away from the punching machine.
The deadlift station was less surprising, with Diamondhead stopping at ten tons, which made Viktor worry about how the cape was generating the force in his punches. Either way, he wouldn't be tearing out of containment foam on his own. Finally came the stress test.
Time: Saturday, Jan. 1st, 1:58 PM.
Location: Parahuman Response Team HQ
That meeting with Diamondhead could have gone better in Emily Piggot's opinion. She had misjudged how much she could pressure him before he pushed back. Things weren't helped by how different he felt when even compared to normal parahumans. As things ended, she figured it would be best to avoid thinking about Diamondhead until the time came to read his threat assessment. That time came when an even more sheepish than usual Viktor. "Ratings and why."
"Brute 7 and Changer 4 with a sub-rating as a Striker 1. Diamondhead is remarkably durable; with his permission, we hit him with the deadliest weapons we had at our disposal and didn't leave a scratch. He claims that if he is injured, he can regenerate to a point. Alone, those wouldn't be enough to be a 7, until he leverages his Changer power.
"He can produce spikes from anywhere on his body, which he often used to anchor his feet to the ground. That gave him excellent maneuverability and the ability to not be pushed back despite weighing around 500 pounds. His arms can also be reshaped into any simple weapon he can think of, including claws, clubs, swords, shields, spears, and maces.
"His Striker rating is because he can produce the same weapons apart from his body, though it takes time. He also created some ranged weapons at my request. When it came time to put everything together...well, I think seeing it would be best."
Viktor handed over a little storage device which Emily plugged into its dedicated slot. In seconds, she had an image of Diamondhead standing in the middle of the melee combat arena. "So, you guys want to see my worst?"
"We want your best actually, but you've got the idea." Diamondhead chuckled at the joke as he got into a ready stance. "We begin in three...two...one."
Diamondhead took off like a shot and tore through the first inch thick steel target with his clawed fingers as if it were paper then speared another with a pick shaped arm. He followed through to the ground, halting his momentum then throwing himself along the outside of the arena with a shield shaped arm between him and the majority of targets. To Emily, it looked like he was treating the exercise as an actual combat scenario. It was somewhat disturbing how little he cared for the integrity of his 'foes.' Then he started laughing.
"He claimed that it was a psychological tactic." Viktor must have caught her eyes widening. "If you ask me,I think he was enjoying himself...a lot."
He did seem to have a certain maniacal joy about him as he pulled the spikes out of his back the threw one like a boomerang while the other became the sword to his shield. The video continued as Diamondhead eviscerated the defenseless steel cutouts with efficient brutality. Mental images of live troopers overlapped with his victims, making Emily's diabetic blood run cold. His continued laughing didn't help.
She almost forgot to notice that he was approaching a small foam trap that some more sadistic members of the testing staff put in. When he tripped it, a pile of sickly yellow foam encompassed his right leg. The independent hero's guard dropped for a few seconds before he pulled his leg out after only one second. The director's finger found the pause button faster than she ever thought it could. "How?"
"He grew a crystal shell around his leg. Containment foam doesn't work if it's not in direct contact." That explained the Brute 7 rating. No standard weapons they had would be able to suppress him.
The demonstration ended yet the video continued. "Sweet Jesus, remind me never to get on your bad side."
There was a sharp smack to the back of his head, curtousy of Vista. "You already said that."
"I said something like it, and I added emphasis this time."
"No. But one, it was fun, and two, I wanted to show you how I would fight in a worst case scenario. Your director gave me that impression."
He knew…somehow he knew that she would be watching. The smirk on his face like announcing his true intent from rooftops and through speakers. There had to be more to the message, but all she picked up on was a emphatic 'don't mess with me.' "Tell me you managed to get some samples."
The doctor's mood shifted into something much more positive in a blink. "Of course. Diamondhead was very accommodating. He provided a shard of himself within seconds of me asking for it. We even have the created weapons and the foot cast. We won't be short on samples for some time. We already found something fascinating." She didn't bother asking for an explanation that was coming regardless. "Vista brought to my attention that she was having difficulty with the area we piled the samples at. It turns out that they are still alive for a short while after Diamondhead left."
"They're Manton Protected."
"Fascinating, isn't it?" That was one word for it. "If he could figure out how to spread living crystal over the area, he'd be a nightmare for most Shakers. I must get some fresh samples to calculate a timeframe before it becomes just rock."
"Does he know about this?"
He made a show of thinking it over. "I can't say for sure, but I'd give it a 92% no."
That was another quirk of his that irked her. He never could commit to a hard yes or no. She was going to worry about that 8%. "Fine. See if the samples respond to certain sound waves. Involve Triumph as soon as you can…it's his weakness as he says," she added at his questioning expression.
"Ah, of course. Like glass shattering under certain frequencies. That will let us consider him to be a Brute 6 if we can leverage Triumph against him.…Is something the matter?"
He must have caught the few seconds of her rubbing her temples. He sure picked a fine moment to be observant for once. "I'm lost." That was something she hated to admit. "A new team of completely unheard-of and extra abnormal Case 53s popped out of nowhere in the middle of this powderkeg we call home. They even seem to know what there strengths and weakness are. It makes me wonder about some shadow organization of all things."
"Mam, didn't you read his documentation?"
She didn't. New capes always wanted to keep their identities secret, so useful information was a rarity on registration forms. That segue implied that her chief researcher thought that wasn't the case this time.
He put Diamondhead down as his name. Address: Petropia. Race: Petrosapien. Team Name: OASIS - Omni-Assistance in Safeguarding Intelligent Species. "Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?! Don't tell me that you're taking this seriously!"
"It's…plausible." That wasn't the answer she wanted. "As you should know, DNA testing on Case 53s has proven that they are as human as the rest of us." She nearly scoffed at that. "I doubt that we'll be getting a DNA sample from Diamondhead, but the DNA from Stinkfly's goop is only around a 20% match for human DNA so far."
"That only means that he's not human. He could actually be a bio-construct." Dark memories turned her blood cold and made her heart beat against her chest. "I think I prefer the crazy answer."
"Then you're in luck. No matter how what Tinkers do flies in the face of knowable science, they can't go beyond the materials they have to work with. Most of the insects we know of are around a 60% match for human DNA. Bananas are 50%. Stinkfly's DNA is not of this world."
After she took a moment to mentally review the information, she took a deep breath. "Did you ask him about it?" He looked down abashed. "Are you telling me that you came across a claim like that and didn't question it?!"
"I was nervous."
"You are a grown man, not some teenager asking out your crush! We need answers and you let the only source walk out without getting any!" She gave him a few seconds before her final word. "I have a recording of Diamondhead disclosing the weaknesses of his team. I'm willing to entertain the idea that he told the truth if his own weakness checks out. As for everything else, we keep a lid on it. I don't want the kind of panic that even the idea could cause."
"Mam, I think that most people will take the idea of heroic…"
"No! You are not being paid to think. You are being paid to…" She had just realized what she said as a smirk developed on Viktor's face. "Im more worried about the minorities. Now get out of my office!"
"Mam yes mam." After a crisp salute, he was out of her hair. Wishing she could drink, Emily Piggot pulled out her dialysis machine and began a session hours before she usually would. She needed it too. You
Time: Saturday, Jan. 1st, 2:10 PM.
Location: Clements Household
Preparing to leave that morning: check. Unlocking the door and leaving a note: check. Leaving unconventionally and messing around: check. Having an enjoyable random encounter: check. Engaging lifeform lock at exactly noon: check. Having another enjoyable encounter: check. Introducing Diamondhead to the heroes: close enough. Finding a secluded spot to turn human at around 2:20 pm: check. Coming back home to a pair of parental figures who are thankful for at least some kind of notification: two very young looking and frowning faces. "Do you have any idea how worried we were?"
"I do right now." That wasn't the right thing to say. At the least, it left them at a loss for what to say.
Mrs Clements took a cleansing breath "You snuck out without us noticing. This city isn't safe. Madison was just telling us about a cape fight downtown."
Ben pursed his lips to avoid smiling at the mentioning of his recent encounter. It wasn't hard for Mr. Clements to pick up on his lack of a poker face. "You were there, weren't you?" Ben's expression got even tighter. "That was a cape fight! You could have been hurt!" He was really tempted to tell them that it wasn't much of a fight. "Just…go up to your room. We need to talk about this later."
"Okay." Ben returned to his room and turned on his computer. He had researched the villains of Brockton Bay, but his information was imperfect. A dossier on all the local capes and famous ones not tied to one city, along with how he would deal with them, would not be amiss. He also needed to increase the knowledge base that Greymatter can pull from. There was also confirming the price of the lifeform lock. If he was right about it being twice the duration of the transformation, the Omnitrix will be ready at 7. He'd eventually have to build something that can actually analyze the Omnitrix for Greymatter to figure out. Messing around with it without knowing what to do was not a risk he was willing to take.
Most importantly, there were people in trouble as he sat safe in his room. His very first outing was proof of that. He could become the most powerful person there in the world given time, but that wouldn't help any others suffering now. There was so much for to do, so he'd do what he feels like when he feels like it. It worked in his past life.
What he felt like doing was hunting down forced prostitution and rape. They would smell of gunpowder, drugs, sex, and fear, if fear has a distinct smell. He had the perfect alien to find them with.
He spent the next few hours planning for his next excursion, even realizing a potential hiccup to his plan. In the meantime, he began working on his dossier with scientific and Tinker research on the side. At around 6, he heard a knocking at his door. "Ben, can we talk?"
"Sure. Come in."
Mrs. and Mr. Clements wore worried and stern expressions respectively. "Alright son. We talked it over for a while, and came up with a few answers for how you ran out. There's no delicate way to ask this, so I'll come out with it. Benjamin Tennyson, are you a cape?"
Ben could confidently say that he blinked dumbly at the question. By their expressions, there was no point in hiding it. "Hypothetically, what would you say if the answer is yes?"
They shared a glance, during which they somehow communicated that Patricia would take over. "We'd ask you to join the Wards. They're safer, and you can easily get into Arcadia."
"And what if I asked you guys to keep it secret, from the Heroes and Madison?"
Mathew took that without missing a beat. "We're ready to support you on that, but we need to know more."
Ben decided that there was no point in the hypothetical game anymore. "Keeping secrets like that from those close to you usually doesn't work well for long, but I was hoping to keep it long enough to really trust you."
"You don't trust us?"
Ben chuckled at her question. "We've known each other for a day. I'm fairly trusting, but that's a little much." He tried to give them a serious impression. "I'm powerful, and people may want that for themselves. Even if they don't, they still may try messing with something they could never understand. I need to keep the true nature of my abilities secret. The risks are too high not to."
"How high a risk are we talking about son?"
"The worst case is worse than you could imagine. I can't even imagine it, but I refuse to risk it unless I know I can stop it. I'll tell you everything soon, but I want to get settled in first. Next week, okay."
They shared a glance then looked back at him. "Will you stay safe until then?"
He shook his head at her. "I made plans to go out again after 7. I can't sit back when I know I can help."
"And if we forbid it?"
"I can sneak out easily."
"And if we tell the PRT about this?" The two men, one in a much younger body, glared at each other. Eventually, Mathew relented. "Alright, but we want to see you back before midnight. If you're not, we're calling the PRT first thing."
That came as a small surprise. "Oh. I was planning on stopping at 10. I should be home before 11."
They shared another round of nonverbal communication then smiled. "Okay. Now come down. Dinner's ready."
Time: Saturday, Jan. 1st, 7:07 PM.
Location: Shantytown
1/5 Roll=5 - Success
The Omnitrix unlocked close enough to 7 to confirm his theory. With that in mind, he'd have to save lifeform locks for night and emergencies. After reassuring his parental figures, he changed into Upgrade and rode the power lines to near his first encounter as Ghostfreak. "Okay Omnitrix, command code 1-0-1-0, Tennyson, Benjamin. Prepare life form lock for next alien form, set for three hours."
"Acknowledged. Next form will be locked for three hours. Please select new form."
"Wow, that worked. Well, it's time for a wild hunt for Wildmut."
1/5 Roll=4 - Success
A full week delay for this one. I doubt that the next chapter will be much faster: I'm a Zelda fan. The next chapter should be fairly large too. This one's 50% bigger than usual.
I know that people had a high estimation of Diamondhead's power, but I stuck with something more quantifiable than Vilgax survived twelve nukes. I did add a fun surprise though. Which supervillain did Diamondhead potentially tic off again?
Another thing about Master Control, we've seen it a number of times, but I've never seen a concrete way to unlock it. It was always off screen or through random turning of the dials. That uncertainty would make my SI hesitate for fear of triggering something bad. Also, how will Greymatter study something as complex as the Omnitrix when it's stuck on his back.
Finally, it's time for votes, even though I know the results. Who should Wildmut encounter?
[]Shadow Stalker
[]Purity
[]Undersiders
[]Lung/Oni Lee
[]Cluster****it (AKA all of the above.)
