As it turned out, being home-schooled required prior approval from an official of my school district before I could actually be removed from school. Legally, I was was still enrolled at Winslow until they agreed to let me leave, which was infuriating. Fortunately, nothing prevented Dad from sending more permission slips excusing me from classes while he negotiated my withdrawal. I think he was a little frustrated at not having been at my second meeting with the PRT, so I suspected Principal Blackwell was about to have a rather unpleasant meeting. I didn't think she would resist my withdrawal too much, though; after all, it wasn't like I didn't have a really, really good justification.
I had made sure to get the PRT's agreement to secure an unconditional transfer to Arcadia in writing, though not as part of the Wards contract. Once we verified that everything was legally binding, Dad and I signed both documents. While he dealt with the school, I would be undergoing power testing. My experimentation with the containment foam had given me a few more ideas, and I thought I finally had a way to use the more unpredictable aspect of my power safely.
In the morning, while Dad went to meet with Blackwell, I visited the library to compile a list of materials I would need to study the subjects required by law. I had agreed that my studies would need to continue through the summer months in order to be ready for Arcadia, so I needed about four and a half months worth of materials. Resources for History and English were fairly easy to find; Science was a bit harder, and I would probably have to buy a math textbook. Computer Science (though not required by the state curriculum) was a subject with plenty of materials online, but unfortunately we didn't have an internet connection at home. Or computers. But there was no issue with me taking my "classes" in the library, so that would be no obstacle.
With the homeschooling research out of the way, I turned my attention to powers research. My new idea called for knowledge not so much about specific liquids, but rather about the professionals who were likely to know about them. In medicine alone, there were over a hundred sub-disciplines, and understanding their specialties was necessary for my new plan. I looked at the descriptions of various sub-disciplines of medicine,
pharmacology, chemistry, biology, and engineering. I was skimming, for the most part - I didn't need a detailed description yet, just an overview of the subject matter covered by each sub-discipline.
A little bit after lunchtime, I headed down to the PRT building to sign the paperwork and have my powers tested. The PRT had a threat assessment system which they used to classify capes according to the types of challenge they would provide in a fight. The idea of labeling people according to the danger they posed sounded a bit hostile to me, but I supposed that one couldn't be too paranoid when dealing with capes. I was also curious about what my own rating would be. From the materials I had been given, I was pretty sure I had the striker classification. Would I count as a tinker, though? I didn't actually have any specialized knowledge guiding my power.
Oh, and I had also settled on a name.
After dropping off the signed forms, I went to the PRT building's power testing facility, a room the size of a small gymnasium. There were large weights for testing strength, a high ceiling for flyers, an obstacle course for various types of mover, piles of assorted electronic parts, some target dummies...and in one area near the door, a table with numerous containers. I suspected that was for me. Assault and a labcoat-wearing technician sort of gave it away.
"Hi," I said, shaking Assault's hand. "Hey," he said, grinning. I made sure to shake the lab tech's hand too - his name was Ali, as it turned out. I was a little surprised to see him there, rather than Armsmaster or Miss Militia. "You have a name picked out yet?" said Assault.
I nodded. "Call me Wellspring." I'd picked the name to try emphasize the positive aspects of my power, and to try to get away from any associations with poisons.
"Ooh, I like it. Well, Wellspring -" he paused for a moment, looking pleased at the repetition, "-looks like it's just us today. The rest of the protectorate is busy with an event outside town."
"Sorry if I made you miss-"
He laughed. "Sorry? You gave me a great excuse to skip, kid. I should thank you. I'd take watching cool new powers over boring political stuff any day. Strictly speaking, there doesn't need to be a hero here at all, but...tradition."
I nodded. "So how does this work, exactly?"
"First, you describe how your powers work as best you can," said Ali, "then you demonstrate. We've provided a number of containers for you to use."
I nodded. "Makes sense. So my powers are basically - I have to be touching a container. Then I sort of - ask my powers for whatever I want, and it starts filling the container with that substance. I can only do homogeneous liquids, although the viscosity doesn't seem to matter."
"Man, you must be popular at parties," said Assault. I winced.
"What counts as a container?" said Ali.
"Uh, pretty much anything non-porous with sides and a basin," I said. "It has to be oriented so that liquid will pool in the bottom and not flow out. If I tip the container over, my power stops filling it."
"Could you fill one of these with water?" he said, handing me a glass beaker. I shrugged, and reached for my power. After about ten seconds, he had me stop.
"It always fills at 1.12 oz per second, no matter what the liquid is," I said. "I don't know why."
"Huh," said Assault, "So it isn't like you could flood a street or anything."
"Not immediately, no."
"Wait - is there a size limit to the containers?"
I shook my head. "As long as it's non-porous and enclosed, anything will do. But it's always the same rate, so if I try to fill a room, it takes a while for the floor to even become damp."
Assault nodded. "Yeah, but still, you could glue everything to the floor if you had enough time."
Well, the surface area of the glue would cause it to harden before catching anybody, but it was definitely an application I intended to explore when I found the right substance.
"What about temperature limits?" said Ali.
I shook my head. "As long as it's liquid, it doesn't matter how hot or cold it is." To prove it, I filled two heavily insulated containers with molten iron and liquid nitrogen, respectively.
"Hey, can you do gold?" said Assault. I obliged. "Wow. You know, power like this, you're going to be rolling in the money."
"I was told there are some limits on what I can sell, but basically-yeah."
I showed them a few other examples with various interesting properties. I produced some beer at Assault's request, though Ali seemed irritated by this ("Consumption of unknown parahuman-derived substances is discouraged, Assault"), and some containment foam, which seemed to amaze them both more than I thought it warranted. It wasn't really any different from anything else I had showed them.
"Next, we need to test your Manton limitations," said Ali.
"Manton limitations?"
Ali explained the Manton effect to me. Apparently, most powers did not affect living creatures directly, and the ones that did tended to only affect living creatures. There were exceptions like Narwhal, but those were very rare.
"I see," I said. "Well, I can't fill my own mouth with water."
Ali nodded. "Self limitations are often present even when the power can affect other people, like Panacea's power. We assume that this is to protect the user."
"I, uh, haven't tried using my power on anybody else," I said. Ali picked up a cage I hadn't seen from behind the table. It contained a single white rat. "Can you use your power on this rat?" he asked.
I touched the rat's head, wondering if it was going to bite me. It seemed pretty complacent, though. As much as I tried, my power wouldn't register anything as a container. I shook my head. "No, I can't."
"Got it. Confirmed Manton Limitation." he made a note on his clipboard. I wondered whether to be disappointed or relieved. Being able to generate liquids inside of a human being sounded a little horrifying.
"Hey, Wellspring," said Assault, "Armsmaster said your power can make new liquids too. Unknown ones."
I nodded. "It's a bit more dangerous, though. If I don't know what I'm creating, there can be unpredictable side effects."
"He said you should probably avoid using it, yeah. Sort of like a Monkey's Paw."
"Yeah, that's pretty accurate. I think I've found a way around that, though." I smiled, and explained. "If I was to ask for something that can numb the pain of a toothache, it might give me some deadly toxin that shuts down my nervous system. But if I ask for something that dentists use to numb the pain of a toothache...I mean, it's not new, but it's still something I didn't know to ask for specifically."
His eyes widened a little. "I think you just earned yourself a thinker rating."
"Can you show us?" said Ali. He looked impressed as well.
"Sure," I said. "What should I make?"
"How about something to neutralize an arbitrary acid?"
I partially filled a container with diluted hydrochloric acid, and then paused for a moment. "How will we know if it is neutralized?" Ali opened a box and held up a pH strip. I nodded. Ok power - give me something chemists use to neutralize hydrochloric acid. I was careful not to think would use, since my power seemed to have trouble with the present unreal conditional tense.
The acid started to bubble and fizz. I kept my power on until it stopped. Ali dipped the pH strip, which turned blue. "Over-neutralized a bit into the alkaline, but basically successful," he said.
"Handy," said Assault. "Ok, so you can reproduce tinkertech, as long as it's liquid. What about parahuman substances?"
"Sure," I said. "Although it might be volume limited."
"How so?" said Ali.
"Sometimes, my power just shuts off after a certain amount of a substance is produced. I haven't been able to figure out why. It hurts a bit - like when I ask for something it can't create for whatever reason. It happened with the medicine I made to heal some comatose people - Armsmaster took those for testing. Actually, do you know anything about what happened with that?"
They shook their heads. "Well, I've been thinking that it might have something to do with whether the substance has properties beyond what chemistry would suggest, which would probably include some parahuman liquids. I don't know for sure though - testing that theory is dangerous, and I haven't had that much time since I figured out I could ask for unknown liquids."
"It's only unknown liquids that are dangerous though, right?" said Assault.
I nodded.
"Okay, so let's try a known parahuman-derived liquid. Have you heard of Faultline's crew?"
I had read something about it. Mercenaries, though they didn't take jobs in Brockton Bay, and consequently didn't really qualify as a villainous threat . I had focused more on the gangs.
"Sort of. Why?"
"They have this one Case 53 - you know what those are?"
Monstrous capes cursed with powers that made it impossible for them to have a secret identity. "Yes, I've heard of those."
"Well, his name is Newter. He's orange, and his power fills his bodily fluids with hallucinogens."
Wow. Ok, I'm interested.
"No evidence has been found that his...drug is addictive or has any long-term effects on his victims," said Ali, "and it is extremely potent, even diluted. Skin contact is enough to completely incapacitate pretty much anybody."
My eyes widened. A perfectly safe drug with no side effects that could nonlethally disable any combatant? Why couldn't my power have just given me that?
"Do you think you can produce that drug?"
I thought for a moment. If the hallucinogen was a liquid that was simply mixed with his other body fluids, I could probably produce it directly. If his power was instead causing his body fluids to take on hallucinogenic properties, I would need to replicate the body fluids directly. The first option seemed...cleaner, so I opted to try that first.
"Ok, I'll give it a try."
I touched a glass beaker and focused my power. Give me the substance that makes Newter's body fluids hallucinogenic. A spike of pain. I shook my head to clear it. Ok, option two. Give me Newter's - wait, was this legal?
"Um, is it legal to recreate somebody's body fluids? Don't they have rights over their DNA or something?"
The two of them stared at me. Finally, Ali said, "I don't think there are any laws against this." Assault shrugged.
"Could I have that in writing?"
Ali frowned. "I don't think that is necessary-"
"Please. I've already come close to serious legal trouble once. I don't want it to happen again."
Ali shrugged, and scribbled something down on a piece of paper verifying that the reproduction of Newter's body fluids was done at the request of the PRT. Assault smiled. "You take the law pretty seriously, don't you?"
I nodded. I checked the piece of paper that Ali had signed and slipped it into my pocket. Now the only question was which body fluid to use. I decided that saliva was probably the least disgusting option.
I focused on the beaker. Give me Newter's saliva. My power reacted - for less than a second. A small covering of liquid coated the bottom of the beaker, and my head began to ache.
Unfortunate. This did give me an opportunity to figure out the limits of my power, though. I noticed that the two of them were still waiting expectantly. They hadn't realized that I had already started. Okay, maybe something else? Power, give me Newter's blood.
As I thought this, I realized that it sounded a bit villainous. Maybe I should have done sweat? All body fluids were pretty disgusting.
Surprisingly, there were no issues this time. The beaker filled with blood, albeit slowly. "Hey, nice!" said Assault. "Also kind of gross, but nice! Does that make her a trump?" he asked Ali.
"We'll review her classification later, but probably" said the tech.
"Awesome! It looks like you have a pretty great weapon, kid."
"Actually, there was kind of an issue with-"
My words were interrupted by a ringing sound. Assault frowned, and drew out his phone. "Aaand we're going to have to cut this short. It looks like the Undersiders are attacking Bay Central. Hey, Wellspring, wanna stop a bank robbery? The Wards will be there."
