2.2(?)
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My first thought was getting to Arcadia. I knew most of The Wards along Panacea and Glory Girl attended the school, and I really,
really, wanted Glory Girl's absolute shield.
But then I realized two things. First; that suddenly arriving at Arcadia and asking for the local superheroines would raise quite a few flags with the local authorities. And second; that even if they were at school, I had no real reason to go there at the moment. Attempting to get a copy of their powers, in broad daylight, while they were on their civilian identities, just screamed bad idea. Especially since I needed to at least grow big enough engulf them (or –thankfully- a clone) and assimilate them.
Instead, I simply started walking around. I talked for a small while with the old couple at the Bookstore, I browsed around the Boardwalk and bought some furniture, amenities and electronics for my home (they would be delivered later), and once the sun reached its apex, started walking back home. But once I reached my domicile, I continued forward, towards the docks. I hadn't investigated that side of the city yet after all.
I was honestly wary. The more I advanced the more the city seemed to simply crumble. From the pristine sight of the Boardwalk, I reached a place where weeds grew wildly out of the asphalt, enormous potholes littered the streets, vagrants roamed on the alleys, and the dilapidated buildings seemed to be moments away from crumbling down. It was simply depressing.
But above all, the presence of a gang, the ABB –clearly recognizable by the countless graffiti- , seemed to grow almost exponentially the more I walked, until suddenly the poverty halted completely and the gang presence flared. I raised an eyebrow as I saw the highly opulent buildings around me, clearly oriental in design. The most eye-catching and biggest one was the "Rising Dragon Casino". But there were was a little bit of everything around the place, from restaurants and simple stores, to 'massage parlors' that at a simple glance were clearly brothels in all but name. It was a small China(Asian?)town completely dominated by a gang.
I continued walking, and headed towards the casino. Out of curiosity more than anything.
If I remembered correctly this was the one the Undersiders had stolen after all, and I kind of understood when I entered. The place was opulence personified. Red, gold and green decorated the place in extraordinary quantities, statues and fountains stood tall all around the place. And even at noon, the place seemed to hold a lot of people. Above all, I hadn't seen a single guard so far except two men at the entrance.
Shaking my head, I turned around and left.
I only received a few glares from –clearly- ABB members, but it seemed they were not brazen enough to mug someone in broad daylight. Especially if it might be a customer.
Not wanting to have to deal with any possible trouble, I hailed the nearest cab as I wondered where to go. Without purpose, and not knowing anyone in the city, I decided to just go home.
I slept for the first time since arriving to Earth-Bet. It was restful.
The next day, I received my new furniture, and finally received a delivery from my lawyers. My identity wasn't ready yet, but if anything, I knew Numberman was efficient. Quickly skimming the contents, I stored six checkbooks, and the matching debit cards inside my own Bag of Holding. It seems that while I have a single national account with enough money for my emancipation to look above board, most of my money was located in numbered foreign accounts. I didn't care that much to be honest.
Stretching a little, I decided to head out towards the Boardwalk, and decided to finally deal with my transportation Issue. Walking was nice, but unless I grew wings and started flying around, quickly reaching somewhere was going to be a pain in the ass.
After retrieving my Love Magnet to ease the deal, a few thousand dollars later I acquired an old black F-150 from a nearby used car lot. Happily driving away, I headed home once again.
Today I felt like doing something good, to test my powers, and I certainly couldn't do it in my new car. Once I parked on the garage, I quickly browsed for a specific book, and in a short time found it. "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." Stood by my hands as I leafed to the page I had folded earlier and started reading.
…-dial made of the juice of the fire-flowers that ... -ends are hurt, a few..." Whispers of Father Christmas started appearing inside my head, as I pulled out a small red cordial, before storing it safely inside my bag of holding. I shook my head, and quickly stashed all the books away.
I would certainly need to stop using Libromancy until the voices went away. Then I might get some fire-flowers from Narnia… they sounded promising.
Still, making sure that I was as ready as I could be, I walked to my back-yard and concentrated on the changes I wanted to do. To start with, I can't suit myself to scare people -as fun as that might be. I also don't think spandex is something I can even contemplate wearing. Some kind of Armor it is then.
In a few moments,
silver, form-fitting armor started to grow around my body at the same time I improved all my muscles to support myself. Blue designs of bioluminescent micro-organisms worked to highlight my form and give a more heroic look, and my face
became a helmet mostly covered in a reflective, light blue smooth surface. To avoid any trouble, I then picked up Doombringer from within me, and placed it on my back. Immediately my biological armor covered the sheath and stuck it in place. A small tendril then held the handle, just in case.
After looking at myself with a few tentacles, and deeming my look heroic enough, I did a last change. Carefully inspecting the horse-shoe shaped Love Magnet in my hands, I decided to place it against my torso. Creating a glowing omega (Ω) symbol on the middle of my chest. There, now I even have a logo for PR and Merchandising if that ever comes up. Any similarity to Cauldron is purely coincidental.
Flexing my fingers, and then stretching a little, I marveled at the complexity of the systems within the armor. It was not only a simple armor after all, no, my own tinker powers, along my study of alien biology, gave me lots,
lots of inhuman improvements. Amongst them; To start with, I no longer had any organs I did not need. Which were pretty much all.
An array of microscopic filaments that gather sensory and spatial information through intermittent pulses covered my whole being, which then was fed into my central nervous system and then into my core in real time. It was weird being able to suddenly see, smell, hear, and feel with all your body at the same time in colors I had never seen before. But in a few moments I was able to control it and it felt natural.
Aside that, my heart and lungs stopped existing, as instead, I munchinked having access to unlimited biomass and biokinesis to sustain my body. In fact, my Bag of Holding now rested inside my cranial cavity next to my time turner, for now almost my whole torso was taken up by an enormous brain that should allow me to fly and do a myriad of minor psychic tricks, while subconsciously managing my bio-kinesis to keep the body at peak efficiency. The wonders of Tyranid and Zerg biology!
Finally, I twitched a mental switch, and my armor became a chameleonic carapace allowing me to leave unnoticed. Concentrating, I started slowly rising, until I suddenly was up in the skies! I was flying! I was freaking flying!
I could fly!
I wasn't really going that fast, for that I needed wings and a bigger body (something I needed to fix), but I was giddy! A turn here, a barrel roll there! The feeling of flying was simply freeing, it felt good!
I could not help but laugh as I flew over Brockton Bay and inspected the city. I felt powerful, as if I could take anyone and win. And I knew it was true! I felt like going and challenging Lung to fight. I knew that was a very bad Idea though, so I simply continued flying.
Calming myself a little after a while, I decided where to go next. To the Hospital. I needed to find how quickly I could heal, and in the way, I was sure the PRT and maybe Panacea would be called.
Lowering my camouflage, I flew towards the biggest hospital I saw on my earlier flyover as a silver and blue streak. It was time to work.
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A.N. I don't like this chapter at all. I know where I want to go, I know how I'm going to get there. But I'm a lost on how to reach where I want to go... if you understand what I mean... For example, I already have a few chapters written after the Armsmaster Interlude, and I know what is going to happen in the Casino. I also have planned a few events in-between. But I'm missing what to do meanwhile and my muse isn't working.
