I was so tempted to stick in PHO interlude in here talking about the heist to troll everyone, but I decided to be a benevolent overlord author instead.
Chapter 10:
(19th March 2011)
I managed to convince Uncle Danny to drop me and Taylor off at the library so I could 'work on a school project'.
"So what're you up to? You're still not allowed on PHO till you apologise to Glory Girl."
"I need to visit my workshop for dialysis." I explained. "And the library is as good an excuse as any."
"What do you need dialysis for? And what workshop?"
"The chemical my symbiote makes will end up making my eyes glow if the blood concentration gets too high." I shrugged. "It's a harmless side effect. What do you mean what workshop? I'm a tinker. Of course I have a workshop."
"And why is this the first I've heard about it?"
Huh. Did I forget to tell Taylor I have a workshop? Whoops.
"Sorry Taylor. I kinda forgot to tell you. It's really cool though. It's an old abandoned brewery that I've repurposed the vats for life support tanks. And before you worry I found it using Fluffles the First. I'm not stupid enough to wander about the docks exploring abandoned warehouses in my actual body."
"Well that's reassuring at least but I'm still not comfortable with you having your workshop in such a dangerous place."
"It's not that bad. This area of the docks is usually pretty deserted and I'm small so it's easy to find places to hide." I explained. "Can you use your bugs to scout ahead as we go? I normally use Fluffles for it but she's still at home and it takes up time to use her to scout properly."
"Sure. I can always use more practice." She replied.
We eventually crossed over into the docks. The trip was uneventful and much, much faster with Taylor using her OP bug omniscience to scout ahead for us. We had to detour a bit to avoid some ABB thugs but other than that it was no problem.
She grumbled a bit as she squeezed herself through the tiny gap I used as an entrance. Once inside I eagerly dragged her around proudly showing off my admittedly meagre amount of tinkertech. Hopefully that'll change once we bring her mom back. I can't wait to have a bustling workshop full of critters and gear for every occasion.
[Anticipation]
I had the feeling my power thought the same. Eventually though I settled down on my crate (why did I forget to get a chair?) and was hooking myself up to the dialysis/refiner machine. I was about to start explaining what it was and how it worked when Taylor suddenly interrupted me.
"Addy why is there a group of capes entering the factory next door?" My big sister asked in her 'this answer is going to give me a headache' tone.
She uses that tone a lot actually. She needs to worry less or she'll turn her really nice hair grey.
"Oh that's the Undersiders. They're my neighbours." I answered helpfully, deciding to go for the truth.
"What."
"They're small time villains. I jacked into their utilities so I could have water and power for my workshop." I explained, my voice reasonable.
"You made your workshop right next door to a group of teenage villains. What the hell Addy?" Ah here we go. Taylor's gonna try blow things out of proportion again because she has trouble seeing my genius.
"Well they don't know I'm here. I don't use much power yet or make much noise. That might change in the future but I'll have Khanivore ready by then to deal with anyone who wants to attack my workshop." I shrugged.
"Addy this is serious. There are villains right next door. One of them is even playing video games right now." She waved her hand in what I assumed was the direction of the Undersider's couch.
"It's fine Tay. I've spied on them a bit." I felt a bit bad lying, but this was a great way to tell her about them. "They're not really bad people. They just got screwed over by things. Bi-Hellhound just wants to look after dogs. Regent is a bit of an ass but just wants to play video games. Grue is an idiot but he's only doing crime to get money to help out his little sister. Tattletale got recruited at gunpoint and forced to be a villain by the Undersiders' boss, who she hates but can't escape from."
"And their boss is?"
"Coil. He's a creepy pedophile Bond villain wannabe that wants to rule the city. None of the Undersiders know they work for him, except Tattletale who as mentioned hates his creepy pedo guts."
"Okay I'm not happy with you, a young girl, setting up your workshop right next door to the people working for a pedophile. Really not happy."
"It's not that bad. I can tinker remotely via Fluffles the Second so I hardly ever need to be here."
"Well that's a bit better but I still don't like it. In future I want to be with you when you come here just to make sure no villains kidnap you."
"Fine." I sighed. That didn't really bother me too much and having Taylor around certainly made the travel time a lot faster. Then I had a great excuse to further justify why this was such a great spot for a workshop. "Anyway setting up my workshop here lets me keep an eye on the Undersiders so I can figure out how to take down Coil."
Taylor thought for a moment. "That's surprisingly reasonable. Did you think of that excuse before or after you set up your workshop?"
Damnit Taylor why do you have to be so smart?
"After." I grumbled and she let out an amused snort.
"Okay so not coming here anymore without me." She waited for me to nod to make sure I was agreeing to her new rule. Happy with my acquiescence she gestured at the machine I was hooked into. "So how long does this take."
"About an hour to get the chemical out my body and after that it depends on how many power potions I want to make. The important part is just me doing the dialysis since I can just use Fluffles to handle the rest, including carrying the bottled powers back home."
"Okay so what powers were you thinking of making for me?"
"First up and most important. There's one that makes bees like I can make crows. That one is perfect for you since it means you'll never be without insects to use."
"Okay I can see that one being useful."
"After that I'd suggest defensive stuff. You've got options of regen, a forcefield barrier, a minor defensive brute rating, invisibility, that sort of stuff." I began listing off on my fingers. "Since you're a master I figured it'd be good to give you lots of powers to make it harder for people to kill you before you drown them in biblical plagues."
"Okay One: I'm not going to be drowning people in biblical plagues-" "Yet!" "- Two: that does sound fairly reasonable. How do the barrier and invisibility ones work?"
"Well the barrier is basically a skintight bulletproof forcefield that breaks after taking a bunch of damage after which it'll recharge. The invisibility power lets you go invisible but drains energy while you're moving so the best option is to get into position and then just sit still invisibly. It also lets you see people through walls for extra scouting power."
"Why the hell does the invisibility power come with x-ray vision?"
"Dunno." I shrugged, rather than get into the perversion potential of the Peeping Tom power which I was totally planning to grab for completely unrelated reasons when I was older and my body could handle more plasmids. "Anyway, bees, barrier and invisibility. That's three and your body should be able to handle five which means you've got two more. Depending on how often you plan to use these extra powers I'd maybe suggest grabbing the one that'll let your body create a chemical it can convert into energy to fuel them with. I've got it that one."
She thought about that and asked more questions, especially about the other active powers I could do but seemed disappointed when it basically boiled down to blaster powers and the face there were options for flight powers.
Eventually my big sister settled on her choice. "Okay so the bees, barrier, invisibility, regeneration and that energy regenerating power sound the best for me."
Right cool. So that's Insect Swarm, Peeping Tom, Barrier, Speedy Recovery and Metabolic Eve. I'll get those synthesising asap for her. Then I remembered something. "Oh yeah. I should probably warn you about the side effects." Especially since she seems to get really hung up about those for some weird reason.
"Addy. Did you deliberately drink weird power potion things despite knowing you'd have to deal with side effects?" Her voice got a little tight.
"Nope. I don't have to worry about those side effects since I have my symbiote. People without a symbiote have to worry about side effects due to how the chemical it produces works."
"Well what does this chemical do?"
"Well it sorta encourages the creation of stem cells that can differentiate into any type of cell including a bunch of unique ones that allow for the powers. The issue is they aren't completely stable so need to be constantly updated with more of the chemical. Side effects happen if you don't get regular doses because the chemical ends up replacing most of your native tissue with the unstable stem versions."
Taylor stared at me for an uncomfortably long moment before holding her head in her hands. "You gave yourself tinkertech cancer. Why Addy? Why would you give yourself tinkertech cancer?
"Magical tinkertech cancer." I corrected, then paused. "Wait no. It's benign magical tinkertech cancer. Anyway it's perfectly safe. My sea slug constantly makes the chemical so I don't need to worry about running out and suffering the side effects. At worst I'll just be a little tall when I'm older."
"So what are the side effects for people who aren't crazy enough to shove a sea slugs inside themselves?"
I thought for a moment before answering. "Well it includes stuff like: bleeding from eyes, nose and mouth, death, hallucinations, heterochromia iridum, blindness, cutis laxa, hormone imbalance, varicose veins, insomnia, jaundice, lesions, crystal formations on the skin, memory loss, vitiligo, paranoia, rashes, shingles, spider veins, swollen gums, syndactyly, tooth loss, tumours, and insanity."
I paused, trying to recall I there anything else I might be forgetting.
[Reminder]
"Oh!" I snapped my fingers as the last bit I was missing came to mind. "And hair loss."
"Those're horrible." She replied, face aghast.
Yup, trust Taylor to focus on the hair loss.
"Yup. The funny sounding ones are really nasty. Anyway those only happen if people don't get regular infusions of the chemical and I'd never let you run out."
"Addy I am not drinking anything that could cause that. Even if the powers are 'cool'."
"I could make a sea slug for you. Then you won't need to worry at all and you'll have regeneration like I do which means you can get another power since you won't need the drinkable version."
Taylor stood there thinking. For a quite a while. I could just picture the debate going on in her head.
"What are the exact side effects to having a sea slug put inside me?" She asked finally.
"Okay there's the regeneration which I guess counts as a side effect. You might grow a little taller but even if you do it won't be much since you're already mostly grown. If you don't get the chemical regularly filtered out your body your eyes will start to glow and eventually your skin might get a little grey-ish. That's easily fixed since it's caused by an excess of the chemical and will go away quickly once it's filtered out."
"Well that doesn't sound too bad." She hedged. "How often do you need to filter out the chemical?"
"Once a week should be good. I haven't actually tested to see how long it takes for my eyes to start glowing. The best part is these powers and the regeneration will work even if we end up fighting power nullifiers."
"Hmm alright. I guess you can make a sea slug for me."
"YES!" I cheered. I wanted to jump as well but I needed to sit still while the machine filtered ADAM out of my blood. "I'll get started on one when we get home."
I was practically giddy inside. Taylor trusted me enough to let me tinker on her. Best sister ever. I'm going to make her totally overpowered.
[Agreement. Ping/Outgoing>Local/Queen Administrator>: Smugness]
"Since I don't need that regeneration power anymore I was thinking maybe picking the teleportation power."
[Ping/Incoming>Local/Queen Administrator>: Indignation. Irritation]
"Hmm yeah that sounds cool. I'm jealous you have so many options. I need to get bigger before my body can handle more powers."
"Oh no." Taylor replied blandly with a roll of her eyes. "I can't cram myself full of unstable tinkertech powers. What a pity."
"Ah well. That's what critters are for." I grinned back. Then I told her about what I was planning to put into my Critter 53 now that I knew what plasmids she was going for. Taylor added her opinions and we continued discussing options and strategy ideas until the machine was done with extracting ADAM from me. After that I set the order of plasmids to synthesise (Fluffles could carry them over later tonight) and we headed home, making way better time with Taylor doing the scouting for us. Bug powers OP!
When we got home Uncle Danny was reading some Wards brochures on the couch. For a moment I was worried that Missy might've thought I was a precog instead of believing that I knew a precog but then I remembered that Taylor and I had the same brochures in our goodie bags as well. I'm not too sure what else is in there since I only had a brief look before we were led off to the car.
I went off to get Taylor's sea slug incubating while Taylor went and made lunch for us. A couple chicken-mayo toasties later we were going through our goodie bags. There were Wards brochures, a 50% off coupon for the Rig gift shop, a bunch of promotional photos, a decorative fridge magnet and a Ward themed key-chain (I traded mine with Taylor) that I attached to my phone.
I was about to put my goodies upstairs when Uncle Danny called Taylor and I into the living room. He was sitting there thoughtfully and had still had that Wards brochure in his hands, having reread it while he was eating lunch.
"Girls." He addressed us. "You'd tell me if you powers right?"
Taylor and I blinked at him with that deer in the headlights look. I was the first to respond. "Of course Uncle Danny. We'd never keep something important like that a secret. We could get to join the Wards and be heroes and make the city better."
Uncle Danny looked a little skeptically at me but didn't push the issue. "Okay. Because I was talking to Missy's uncle, Ethan, and he said that sometimes children can develop powers after traumatic experiences, and well..." He explained.
"If I was going to get powers it'd have been when Mom..." Taylor trailed off and I gave her a hug.
"Well I'm as much a cape as Taylor is." I answered, feeling pretty good about being able to lie by telling the truth. "Though it would be cool to fly or shoot laser beams or something."
"I guess you're right. I hesitate to think what mayhem you would get up to without supervision if you did have powers. You were bad enough the one time we left you alone and you decided to get drunk and shave half your hair off." He chuckled and Taylor started choking because she was busy trying to swallow nervously and laugh at the same time. I elbowed her in the thigh. She shouldn't laugh at Uncle Danny's terrible jokes. That'll only encourage him to do worse and start telling actual Dad Jokes.
"It was one time and I learnt my lesson and I promised not to do it again." I grumbled which brought out laughter from my family.
"So did you girls have fun today?" Uncle Danny was a lot more lively and less depressed than normal. I guess he had fun socialising with other parents and exchanging embarrassing stories or whatever it was parents did with each other when not minding children.
"Yeah it was interesting meeting the Wards. It was a pity we had to leave early because Addy was grounded since it'd have been nice to meet Triumph and get his opinion on what changing from the Wards to Protectorate is like."
"I had fun but being grounded sucks. I wanted to try talk to Kid Win some more." I really wanted to tell help him out and tell him what his specialty is and why are Uncle Danny and Taylor smirking at me like that?
"In future stay out of the rum and maybe you can spend more time." Uncle Danny commented with a chuckle.
(22nd March 2011)
I sighed as I looked at the tacky as hell pouches and webbing I'd gotten together for Khanivore over the last few days. My idea to hit Medhall was a great one but I needed a way to get the loot out afterwards, especially since neither me nor Taylor could get a van to carry it in. Some pilfered rope, stolen tarp, a net Fluffles had nicked from some fishing boat and a whole lot of stubbornness had resulted in an extremely ugly but at least functional pouch harness thing for Khanivore to cram all the loot into.
I was going to make something similar for Fluffles the Second but it was looked so awful it seemed to have a negative cuteness effect that drained cuteness not only from the wearer but things around it. I scrapped that idea immediately as a result.
Nothing but pretty ribbons for Fluffles the Second. [Agreement]
Also my friends are jerks for teasing me in school. Just because I'm a badass but like cute things doesn't make me secretly girly. It just means I have hidden depth of character. And I do not have a crush on Kid Win! I'm just feeling a connection via tinker solidarity that has nothing to with how nice his smile is or how his hair is just the right shade of red.
At least Taylor understood it was tinker solidarity when I explained why I wanted to swap key-chains with her. Besides an Aegis one suits her much better since they're both sticks in the mud sometimes. Taylor's amused smile must mean she agreed with me.
The annoying part is how busy my week has been so far and it's not even Wednesday yet. I've been working on this stuff for Khanivore since sunday and haven't got any real tinkering in yet. At least my power is easing up on my usual tinker brain-itch, and I'm getting a vague feeling of anticipation for tomorrow when Khanivore is ready.
(23rd March 2011)
I slowly pulled myself out of the life support tank, giving my muscles a good stretch as I did so and taking my first breath of air with this new body. My tail twitched with excitement as I looked around, everything so much smaller than I'm used to. I clenched and unclenched my hands into fists before wiggling each of my fingers.
Oh this is nice.
I looked down at my much smaller, frail human body resting on the sleeping bag I'd brought with. Damn real me is tiny. I felt the sudden urge to put ribbons on my little body like I do with Fluffles.
Hmm, maybe later when Taylor isn't around.
"Okay that's a lot bigger than I though it'd be." Taylor commented, hand idly running over her belly where I'd had to cut her open to implant the sea slug. It'd be fully healed in a couple hours. Mine was.
I lay down and stood up, ignoring the disorientation when running two bodies at one, using a tentacle to help steady my little body as I climbed to my feet. "That's because I'm awesome." I grinned at Taylor before turning and smiling at Khanivore laying down majestically on the ground and walked over to the bench holding the collection of plasmids, vigors and tonics I was going to use on it.
[Excitement]
Actually I'm just going to refer to everything as plasmids. That's much easier than trying to remember the differences between them all.
I began feeding the fifteen different plasmids into Khanivores waiting maw, grinning like a loon. I now understand the 'never attack a tinker in their workshop' thing. People attacking mine are going to get seriously fucked over if they try. As soon as Khanivore has everything my plan is get home so I can then practice piloting until I'm used to the body. Picking up the stuff Fluffles couldn't from the Scrapyard seemed like a good test run. I'll get some extra stuff for building the vita-chamber with and get practice in at the same time.
Tomorrow we'll be going loud. Even better the PRT has a big press conference thing scheduled tomorrow to announce some new Ward. I'm a little worried because I can't think of who it could be. I know the current roster is Aegis, Kid Win, Gallant, Clockblocker, Vista and Miss Edgelord Shadow Stalker. Did I accidentally butterfly in another new Ward just by existing?
Oh wait. I warned them about Dinah. A bit odd how quick they're pushing the Ward stuff through. I thought it'd take longer for paperwork and costuming and all the other bureaucratic crap to get pushed through but I guess they really don't want to take chances with the Pedosnake about.
Ah well. Point is it means the heroes should doing general PR showboating and thus be well away from Medhall when I hit it tomorrow. I've got my escape route planned. Taylor will be nearby with a massive swarm prepared and ready to go once the Nazis try for a counter-attack.
I cackled to myself as I fed Khanivore yet another plasmid, feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation.
[Data. Conflict. Anticipation]
(24th March 2011)
It was in a nice little coffee shop right by Medhall that Taylor and I set up for the heist. Taylor wanted to do this late at night but eventually fell to my logic that doing it during the day when the new Wards debut was scheduled would mean less heroes could accidentally get caught in the crossfire as they'd all be busy doing PR stuff elsewhere. That and I had to promise not to hurt any civilians of course.
Why Taylor had to remind me of that I'm not sure.
Although some of the potential bystanders could probably do with a little hurting. I'd gotten some glares and other unfriendly looks by some of the locals on the way here with Taylor, but nobody actually started trouble with us for which I was thankful. I'd hate to have the heist ruined early because some Empire sympathisers or actual gang members wanted to start shit because my sperm donor happened to be Asian.
I did make a mental note to myself to smash up the cafe's front window when I made my escape. That'll teach them to employ racist assholes, or to at least train their baristas in proper customer service. That lady was exceptionally rude.
I sipped at my hot chocolate and focused on maneuvering Khanivore into position, my three metre tall critter slipping silently and invisible down the street while Taylor sipped at her own drink and pulled out some homework to give the illusion of being busy.
"I should be in range." I commented as my critter grew closer.
"Yeah I've got you." Taylor replied as I felt some flies tuck themselves near the tentacles on my critter's head. I slowed down a bit to give them time to settle on properly. I took another sip of my hot chocolate before resting my head comfortably on my arm so I could focus properly on piloting Khanivore's body.
I slowed down and ducked into an alleyway, immediately noting how much cleaner and less smelly it was compared the ones over on our side of town. Uncle Danny's taxes in action I guess, paying for all the amenities the wealthier side of the city gets to enjoy. Shaking my head at this I set my teleportation marker down in the alley, giving me a nice retreat option. Old memories of MMOs pvp servers reminding me that one always should have an exit route.
Dropping the marker briefly dropped my invisibility but that was quickly restored. Time to hurry this up. Khanivore could only survive for a couple hours outside of the life support tank and every plasmid I used lowered that timer as it burnt off it's energy reserves.
I ducked back out and onto the street, deftly dodging around vehicles that didn't know I was there.
"You want the fifth floor first." I heard Taylor say quietly to my smaller body. In my larger one I let off an unseen, toothy grin. I dropped my invisibility right outside the front doors and roared.
Wow that is much cooler than when I do it as Fluffles.
Ignoring the panicked screams of civilians around me I smashed my way through the doors, crouching down and moving on all fours as I made my way inside. I kept my head-tail close to my body, making it look like an actual tail. It'd be a nice surprise later. Taylor continued to offer directions as I rushed through the hallways, being careful not to hurt anyone and making plenty of threatening noises to ensure they cleared the way ahead of me. I used my Charge power as often as I could, using it quickly close distances when the area ahead of me was clear.
This is so much fun! I have to do this again sometime.
[Agreement. Data]
"Nazis are getting into costume."
"Which ones?" I spared the time to ask.
"Kaiser, his set of arm candy and Krieg. Kaiser's also calling in reinforcements."
"Thanks." I said, mulling it over as I barreled my way up the stairs to the radiology department. Before long I was where I was smashing my way through a too small doorway into the room they kept their very, very expensive MRI scanner. I growled at the people cowering in the corner before turning my attention to the machine.
I split my head-tail apart into it's four constituent tentacles and jammed them into the machine, tearing off pieces. Smaller bits I tucked into the pouches on my side while one larger chunk I simply wrapped a pair of tentacles around and carried off with me.
"Did you just make that doctor pee himself?" Taylor asked as I maneuvered out the room.
"Yup. The nurse too."
"You are having far too much fun with this." She sighed. "Take the next left."
I followed directions again, moving through the hospital and growling at the people in my way before smashing into a storage room. I didn't have any items in particular in mind so this was just grabbing whatever caught my fancy. I ripped apart a cardioverter and shoved some the internals into my pouch before turning to what looked like a ventilator.
That swiftly got gutted for bits too.
"Okay I think I got enough." I informed Taylor as I pocketed all sorts of miscellaneous equipment, my makeshift pouches filling up quickly.
"I'll guide you out. Be careful though. Krieg is moving in on your position."
"'Kay." I followed her directions back to the stairs, intending to follow them down till I found an emergency exit.
I could just teleport out but where's the fun in that? I wanna pound some Nazis into the ground.
[Excitement. Conflict.]
Besides if I don't show off my teleportation then I can hold it in reserve.
I turned a corner, one of my tentacles lashing out with electricity and launching a bolt of said electricity right at Krieg who'd been coming my way. I didn't even need Taylor's advanced warning since I could see him through the walls but it was appreciated nonetheless.
I tried to remember what his power was as the electrobolt hit him, causing him to drop to the ground and spasm violently. Ah I remember now. It's some form of kinetic energy manipulation which was confirmed when I felt an odd bit of resistance as I passed his still spasming body. I gave him another jolt of electricity just for good measure.
"Kaiser's arm candy is outside waiting for you." Taylor informed me.
"How are they tracking me?"
"Security cameras. They've got Nazis in the security control room coordinating everything."
"Ah Right." That makes sense. "When you bringing in the bugs?"
"Once you and the Nazi Playbunnies are clear of the hospital."
"'Kay. Just make sure to go after me too so it looks like we aren't on the same side. Khanivore can take some bug bites no problem."
"Of course. Okay now left then right."
I burst out of an emergency exit back into the fresh air. The street was rapidly clearing although there were plenty rubberneckers with cellphones out busy recording. Standing right in front of me were Fenja and Menja, already standing at twice my already impressive size.
"You made a big mistake coming here." The shield lady said. I just shrugged my shoulders, dropped the piece of MRI scanner I'd been carrying in my tentacles and followed it off by flipping her off with a sharky grin.
I really hope that someone makes a gif of that.
The spear lady took offence to that and lunged at me a lot faster than I expected. I ducked down slower than I wanted and her spear scraped across the defensive plating on my head, carving a furrow in my the once beautiful and unmarred white bone. One of my defensive plasmids kicked in, releasing a burst of electricity that drew a small yelp from my attacker.
Oh Static Discharge you were such a good idea.
[Agreement]
I lashed out at her with one of my free tentacles but the strike was blocked by her sister's shield. My other free tentacle sparked with electricity before lashing out with an electro bolt which had much less of an effect than it should've. Their stupid breaker effect was annoying.
We traded attacks for a while. I took another blow to my head when Taylor repositioned my actual body to hide us under the table at the cafe. It'd be pretty conspicuous if we were sitting there enjoying our drinks while there was a cape fight going on down the street. I know Brockton Bay was used to them but that was stretching things just a bit.
Aside from that we were fairly well matched. My speed and regeneration matched against their teamwork and bullshit breaker effect. I could probably take either of them one on one, but together they were doing rather well at holding me off. I was about to try something new when the swarm Taylor had prepared earlier rose out from the storm drains and surrounded us.
"Attention Nazis and ugly monster. Stand down. You are under arrest." The swarm 'spoke' authoritatively.
"I'm not ugly." I muttered to Taylor.
"Shush you." She replied, booping me on the nose. Then her swarm spoke again. "Lower your weapons and drop the stolen goods. You have five seconds to comply."
I'll admit it sounded creepy as hell. Taylor is so kickass.
I ignored swarm's ultimatum and launched another blast of electricity at the twins and our fight quickly resumed. Moments later the swarm descended. I'll admit it was scary as hell, even if the worst Taylor could do to this body was sting out my eyes. It's not like Khanivore needed to breathe.
Still, I thought shoving insects into my mouth was a bit uncalled for. At least she was doing it to the twins too though I'm guessing it was more to keep them off balance and less to actually drown them in insects considering they were able to splutter and cough bugs out their mouths without much issue. The pathetic Nazis were looking pretty distressed when really they should be feeling grateful that my big sister was feeling merciful. They still had their eyes after all. If she was being serious they'd be blind and choking on spider webs right now. I did get a number of good hits in while they were dealing with bugs attacking their faces.
"Rune and Alabaster incoming." Taylor commented to me.
I was busy trying to pull spear lady's spear from her when a red blur rushed around me before resolving nearby into the form of local speedster hero, Velocity. I mentally scoffed because he was absolutely useless for this sort of fight. Kinda typical really. The heroes are useless even when they're on the scene too.
Taylor buzzed some information at him while I pounced at the shield lady, having given up on trying to get the spear away from the other sister for the moment. I bit as deep as I could into her shoulder (which was nowhere as deep as I wanted) while stabbing with electricity imbued tentacles. It was working okay-ish until a spear punched through my chest from behind. I glanced down at it and coughed up a bit of blood due to the pierced lung. That was annoying.
A blast of solid-feeling electricity came from above hitting all three of us. The twins pulled back from each other and I took the moment to pull myself free of the spear. Electricity can't actually hurt me.
"Dauntless is here." Taylor informed me.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. It's not like she'd notice anyway with my head tucked against her shoulder as we hid under the table. "I noticed."
Shield lady shifted to blocking lighting blasts from the airborne hero. Velocity was nowhere in sight. Spear lady moved into position to cover her sister from me but both twins were having difficulty with all the insects attacking their faces. I'm guessing she hoped her spear would've done more damage but joke's on her. I only have lungs for making noises, not because I need to breath. Who needs vital organs when you're as kickass as me.
Dauntless continued taking potshots with his arclance at the three of us, shield lady handled it on the Nazi side whereas I just ignored the attacks completely.
Then Alabaster showed up firing at me with a pistol like some sort of idiot. A blast of electricity soon put him on his ass. Sure he reset moments later but I just did it again. It was kinda cathartic being able to blast at Nazis. I flung another blast of electricity at the giant to distract her before turning and grabbing onto the albino Nazi with a tentacle. He made an amusing club to beat his fellow Nazi with. I could hear sirens sounding in the distance.
Moments later Armsmaster arrived on his Armscycletm, leaping off and drawing his halberd as the fancy tinkertech motorbike drew itself to a sudden stop and automatically deployed it's side stand to rest on. My eyes flicked from the advancing hero to the pile of very expensive tinkertech on wheels behind him.
I want.
I tossed my living club at the approaching hero who ducked under the flailing Nazi. That was fine. I missed one target but hit another as the Nazi crashed through the window of the cafe we were hiding in. Luckily we were hidden way in the back and I kept my real body's head down just in case he might decide to take a pot shot at me due to the shape of my eyes.
I was now in a three-way brawl between Armsmaster and spear lady and I was having the time of my life. Armsmaster was a lot better with his weapon that the Valkyrie was. It also helped that he was being ignored by the insects as opposed to the two of us. I was having loads of fun. Even Alabaster was fun to fight since I could really lethal without worrying. I did lose part of one of my tentacles to Armsmaster's halberd which was painful and annoying. Above us Dauntless was dealing with shots from Rune while still trying to keep the other twin pinned.
Alabaster launched himself back into the brawl as well, swinging a fire axe he'd suddenly gotten from somewhere.
"More heroes incoming." Taylor informed me.
"Right I'll start making my escape. Can you distract the Nazis for a sec?"
Insects swarmed harder at the Nazis I was fighting, giving me a chance to shift my focus to Armsmaster. He dodged backwards against my swing freeing me up to grab Alabaster. I tossed the albino to the ground and then flipped a parked car over to crush him beneath it. I lost another tentacle to Armsmaster for the trouble when my back was turned, but at least the immortal Nazi should be kept out the fight for a bit. He's more annoying than threatening, like one of those little yappy dogs people carry in handbags.
I used my Charge power again to retreat back to the chunk of MRI scanner I'd dropped at the start of the fight, scooping it up with my two uninjured tentacles. I then Charged twice in quick succession to put myself next to the Armscycletm before I hammered into it with both fists in an overhead blow. Electricity blasted out from it, some sort defense system that I ignored by dint of being immune to the attack. Stomping down on the mangled motorbike I grabbed the other side and twisted.
Armsmaster let out a pained whine as I tore his fancy tinkertech motorbike in half. I let out a hissing gurgle in reply, not as cool since one of my lungs was flooded with blood. Then I picked up the larger chunk of brutalised vehicle and teleported back to the marker I'd set earlier, abandoning the fight.
"Really Addy? Was that really necessary?" Taylor sighed at me.
"I want it for parts." I replied. "What's happening now?" I was moving Khanivore as quickly as I could northwards towards the Bay, ignoring invisibility on the return trip and just dashing right down the road, using Charges wherever I could to speed up. I caused a couple minor traffic accidents but I don't think anyone was actually hurt.
"Miss Militia and Triumph just arrived. They're helping Armsmaster take down the twins now that Dauntless is free to focus on Rune. I'm also ruining the villains' day by getting bugs in their everything."
"Where's Kaiser?"
"Velocity has him sort of pinned inside. I managed to get Krieg webbed down and Kaizer was on his way to free him until I directed Velocity at the problem. He rescued Krieg but they can't fully disengage because Velocity is too fast and I'm harrying them both with bugs."
"Nice."
Khanivore soon hit the bayside where I paused and dropped the half of the Armscycletm I'd run off with. Now was the tricky bit. I crawled Fluffles out from her hiding place and inspected the chunk of stolen tinkertech, using my power to identify any obvious trackers or bits that looked interesting. Like that superconductive metal alloy. Armsmaster has all the best toys. Occasionally I swapped control back to Khanivore to tear things off or expose more of the internals.
Once I'd decided on what I wanted and what to leave behind I ducked Fluffles back into hiding and swapped control fully back to my larger critter, who had faded back to invisibility when left idle. I tore out the bits I wanted and shoved them into a pouch, leaving a gutted husk and the obvious trackers behind. Then I jumped over the side and into the water below.
I sank quickly and began making my way along the bottom back to the workshop. I didn't have much uptime left before Khanivore needed to be back in the life support tank but the water was helping a lot, increasing my regeneration and energy due to another power I'd shoved inside it. Oh Bioshock you are the coolest spec ever.
"How's things going?"
"Wrapping it up. Kaiser and Krieg got away in the end. Kaiser sealed an entire corridor off with metal and they retreated to get out of costume. The twins are both down and stuck in containment foam. Alabaster is still under the car. Rune escaped but Dauntless is chasing her. Armsmaster took Miss Militia's motorbike and is headed off north. He looks angry."
"He's probably following the trackers I left behind."
"Did you really have to smash his bike? He's a hero."
"He can replace it easily enough and this way I'll definitely have the stuff needed to bring your mom back."
"Okay I don't really like it but I guess you're right. We should probably leave now that things are wrapping up. You okay to be moved?"
"Yeah, Khanivore's deep in the bay at the moment. I'm gonna dump the Armscycle bits in a safe place before I take everything else to the Workshop. Not sure I got rid of all the trackers just yet and that'll take time to sort out. I can spare a moment to focus on moving myself for now but it'll need to be quick. I want to make sure they can't track me."
I kept my hoodie up and my head down as I clung to my big sister like a scared child, letting her lead us away from the winding down cape fight. Deep inside though I was feeling extremely happy with myself. Today had been so much fun.
[Data. Satisfaction]
A/N
Hopefully the heist scene wasn't too bad.
My Muse: Have them rob a hospital.
Me: Okay that sounds like fun.
Me Later: I haven't been to hospital in years! Why did I even agree to this?
My Muse: Haha Addy go brrrrrrrrrr
