So ever since Monday I've had a problem. It's that I don't know whether or not I've been getting anything out of my exercise. You see I'm normally made out of slime now. I've been feeling a lot better about that since I was able to figure out how to turn human again. Really puts a load off of my mind. To solve my issue of workout effectiveness I've been turning myself human for my runs. Not sure if it makes any difference, so I timed myself on Tuesday and I've been keeping a journal of my morning and evening run times. Mornings as human, evenings as slime in human form. I gotta say I'm kind of fast as a slime. Gives me some sort of mover rating, but I'm not really sure how high it is. It's to the point where I'm going out after dark to hide how fast I am from the neighbors.
It's Saturday morning right now, and I'm in the middle of my morning run. The timeline splits into a fake one, but I ignore it. Coil's power is very useful and active, but I'm not risking it. Only time I used it in-between now and when Emma got 'kidnapped' was when I tested out leaking Sophia's identity. I mean he's probably noticed something by now, what with the kidnapping and all. I'm just lucky-
*CRACK*
I trip and fall in the -ONE- timeline I have available to me. I get up as my hands start shaking. Oh shit, did what I think just happened happen? Nobody around me is panicking over the sound of a goddamn gunshot. I think I've been shot. I turn myself into human shaped slime just in case and purposely throttle my speed. I start 'jogging' to the nearest corner store to go to the bathroom and wash my 'scraped' hands. You know, I think I'll just stop going out as a human. Forever.
As I sit here quietly panicking, I realize something. It was probably Coil who did this. Why? Who cares. The timeline split and I was put to death in the fake one. Was it a message? A test? Prelude to recruitment? Well assuming he doesn't know I can use his power I'm sure as hell not gonna let him know with my response. Even if he does know and doesn't want me to know, that can still be used to my advantage for a time. Makes my head hurt for a bit, but I power through it.
I manage to put myself together enough to buy something small and finish my 'run.' Hopefully I didn't give anything away. Dad is angry at home.
"Bad news?"
"PRT assholes denied us the transfer, and sent us a lopsided Wards contract with way too many NDAs attached. You let me worry about that though, you got self defense classes to take." He sets the papers down on the coffee table. "Are you alright Taylor? You seem nervous."
"It can wait until tonight. Like you said I got a self defense class to get to." He grunts and drives me there in relative silence. At least we both have good taste in music.
The self defense class goes fine. Thankfully I'm able to dial back my strength and speed down to normal levels. Not my endurance though. More training I can get in at a time, the faster it all goes in the long run. Helps that getting slammed into the mat no longer hurts at all. A regular glutton for punishment I am. After that Dad picks me up.
Unfortunately another fake timeline opened up in the middle of class, and I got accosted in it right after it ended. One lone asshole backed me into an alleyway and would just not give up. Managed to get me in a hold from behind and got real grabby before I was finally just done with him. I engulfed his forearm with mine, twisted his, and elongated my fingers to poke him in the eyes. He screamed. Then he went limp and stopped screaming. What, can't handle a little bad touch of your own? I turn around to voice the thought only to find... my eye poke went a little bit deeper than I thought it did. Oh. If I still had a stomach it would be roiling at the sight. His walkie talkie crackles to life.
"Agent, report. What's going on." I gingerly pick it up from the dead man. Time to put on a brave face.
"Your 'agent' is super dead. You the chucklefuck who's been having your boys stalk a fifteen year old girl?" There. That should cover my tracks when I go after whoever's following me. That gunshot earlier didn't come out of nowhere after all.
"Oh-ho-ho, you have me all wrong miss Hebert. I'm not having them stalk a fifteen year old girl. They're keeping tabs on a fifteen year old Parahuman. A very employable Parahuman by all accounts. One who's already been unmasked at that. I'm not even the only one doing it!"
"Yes. Very impressive. Calling the PRT now."
"Could you wait a minute on that? I have a proposal that you might want to hear." I look to the corpse I made.
"Does this proposal involve rape in an alleyway?"
"Ra- No! No it does not! I did not order that man to do anything of the sort! I was merely trying to get your measure. See how quickly you could deal with the situation. One insignificant grunt would never be able to kill a Parahuman of your calibre, that much I knew. Say, do you need any help taking care of the body? The police, or your father, are bound to come across this situation sooner or later." I look at the walkie talkie and consider my response.
I settle on chucking it onto the roof. Asshole had me killed earlier today to 'get my measure.' Not really interested in his anemic ass kissing efforts. Now to get rid of the body. I pump myself back up to stronkness and drag the body behind a dumpster. Then I start dissolving the thing from the inside out. This is really fucking gross. But with my nausealess biology, it's better than dealing with either the cops or my Dad. Both for different reasons naturally. All told it will still raise some questions about what happened when somebody finds the bloodstained uniform, but won't be immediately flagged as a murder. By the time it would have been, the timeline will have long since collapsed. I take his gun though. Storage of a firearm in my slime seems safe enough, especially when I have my acid ruin all the ammunition.
Actually, you know what? Where did all that body mass go? Aw, who cares. I'll do some more in depth power testing later. When I'm sure I'm not being watched.
I was attacked two more times over the weekend. I've started going out with shape shifted clothes so I'm not so restricted when it happens. Technically naked, but I don't really have the biology right now to make it weird. Once was with three men instead of one. I led them through some neighborhood back alleys and picked them off one by one. After that the same three men tried to take my Dad hostage. I pretended to surrender to get close enough to my Dad to go for the gun against his temple. Wasn't much of a struggle really. I waited until his guard was down, let the zip tie pass through me, and wrenched it away from any dangerous trajectory. Then I did my little through the eyes trick on all three of them before they knew what hit them. That timeline I did have to deal with the PRT. Dad reminded me not to say a word until I got to talk to our lawyer there, so I didn't this time. Didn't stop them from arresting me though.
Those two fuckery attempts took place today on Sunday. Before and after my self defense classes. I've been taking my daily 'runs' through the neighborhood ever since Saturday morning to figure out if I'm being watched at home. Turns out I have been. Found five strange vans in the general neighborhood keeping an eye out. Makes sense. Can't really use any sniper nests, what with this being an occupied residential neighborhood. Two were filled with Coil's men. One with E88 gangers. Not sure about the other two. They didn't have any obvious gang affiliations, so I left them alone.
I killed everybody in the three targeted surveillance vans. No fucking hesitation. Dissolved a small circle into the floor of all three them then started killing. Assholes keep putting me and Dad and danger with no hesitation and I am done with their shit. One of them got a shot off on me when I was clearing the second van, so I'm probably going to have law enforcement over here pretty soon. Going to have to hurry up and not bother with disposing of the bodies. All in all I killed seven of Coil's men and four of Kaiser's. In both timelines too. Barely got home before the PRT started knocking on our door. I make sure to put on some actual pajamas this time. Getting booked in without actual clothes on was a bit awkward, even more than I assume is usual with how the searches work. A few minutes pass before I hear Dad bellowing up at me.
"Taylor we have guests! Get dressed and get down here!" I do put all the usual articles of clothing on. Don't want to deal with any unpleasantness arising from that.
"Yes Dad?" As I walk down the stairs. I stop as I see Armsmaster and Miss Militia in our living room.
"What's going on here?"
"There were shots fired two streets down from here." Answers Miss Militia. "When we arrived on scene they found multiple surveillance vans filled with dead mercenaries and gang members."
"Now you see here!"
"Mr Hebert please calm down, nobody is blaming you or your daughter for anything." From Armsmaster. "Even if you were responsible nobody would be pressing charges. That would just drive you into the gang's embrace. Now, have you had enough time to consider enrolling your daughter into the Wards?"
"Oh that's low. You couldn't even wait two whole days since your extortionist offer before trying to trump up some charges to point at us? You can fuck right off with that shit. We'll see you in court." The two heroes look at each other.
"Extortionist? Sir I heard it straight from the horse's mouth. Director Piggot gave you the transfer you wanted." Dad narrows his eyes at them.
"Bullshit!" Miss Militia moves to talk, but Armsmaster motions for her to stop. He starts tapping at one of his gauntlets. A few seconds pass before a voice I've never heard before starts playing.
"Attach as many NDAs as you can to the agreement and give them what they want. Give him a Wards brochure too, just in case the Empire comes poking around to recruit his daughter."
"Straight from the horse's mouth." He says, somewhat smugly.
Dad stares at him for a good few seconds.
"Are you recording this conversation?" Things went rapidly downhill after that.
Powers gained this chapter
Environmental Tolerance IV III (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (400CP) (300CP)
You are not damaged by hazardous environments, though this does not provide you a method of propulsion.
I: You no longer need to breathe and do not suffer from temperatures between -100C and +100C (-150F to +200F). You are immune to most radiation (up to about 1,000 mSv; the amount experienced during unshielded exposure to space).
II: As tier I, plus you do not suffer from temperatures below 1500C (+2700F) or the effects of pressure lower than 1000 atmospheres (including the effects of vacuum). You are immune to the effects of radiation at all levels.
III: As tier II, but the protection extends to any non-magical environmental source.
IV: As tier III, but the protection extends to magical environments such as energy planes.