The Nobody Man

[PenPirate]

The problem with Mike is that he has the intelligence of someone who's been a junkie since high-school on everything from meth to hard drugs combined with the skills of trained PRT agents, actors, doctors, and plenty of other people.
(Not saying that being a junkie is caused by being stupid, but it generally effects your brain especially during development.)

 

[PenPirate]

Mike Coenac, The Fragment
-Snake in the grass-​

---

Wandering through the Docks could wait. I needed a costume, something to make me pop from the scenery. Something to let them know I wasn't to be ignored. And that wouldn't be hard- most of the shit my competitors were wearing looked straight out of some tailor's drug-trip. Bakuda was a pushover, anyways- a stiff breeze might take her down before I got there.

Trekking through town in this gear would be difficult at best, so the first order of business would be scrapping. Everyone knew that the Trainyard was a pile of junk with broken trains in it, so it was a popular spot for the homeless and the odd bargain-bin tinker alike. Rumor had it that a new player was lurking around - some greaseball in a giant suit of metal armor, but I figured it was just some baseless schlock.

Walking there took a bit, but I got there eventually. My scruffy suit and fancy-schmancy shoes were useless for digging around, but with my experience I only stepped on a empty bag or used-up syringe a single time. My trusty old break in the fence looked like a pack of rats had scurried through it, but that was just the normal state of affairs.

Slowly twisting my body through the jagged bits of wire and metal, I winced as I see a short guy with curly hair digging through a pile of trash. While I was sitting there gawking, he pulled out a fractured modem as I watched with my belly touching the dirt below me. His face was obscured, only pure luck having left him facing away from me. There was no way I'd slip by him if he took his eyes off that hunk of scrap- fuck, he was turning around! My legs were still twisting through the gate, so I could do nothing but struggle futilely while he spun around.

"Holy shitsticks, man! You alright?" The words seemed to come out in a flurry of sound as he stretched an arm out to me in a panic. I floundered for a response before settling on a grunt of affirmation, before prying myself out and getting to my feet.

"Uh, yeah. you rooting around for shit too?" I said once I managed to get my bearings. "Course, man! This shit sells like its gold to Trainwreck, why wouldn't I?" I stared blankly at him for a second before the cape name sunk in. A thought wriggled into my head, making me chuckle internally. "Trainwreck? I don't give a rat's ass about Trainwreck. I'm just trying to find a pair of good, sturdy shoes. Maybe even some solid travel clothing, if I'm lucky."

He just looked at me for a second before a smile bloomed on his face. "A pair of shoes and clothes? Man, that's easy-peasy! Here, how about this- you carry some of the junk to Trainwreck's little fort, and I'll buy you that stuff lickety-split!" I smirked back at him, but for a different reason. Here I was thinking I'd have to weasel my way into meeting this bargain-bin trash king, but this gullible fuck was just leading me straight in!

"You've got a deal, buddy!" I reached out my hand to him, and he clasped my hand with his free arm. After giving it a hearty shake, he passed over the broken modem to me. "Great, man! Name's Jerry by the way- figured we should get acquainted before this little extravaganza!" He resumed digging through the trash as he talked, glee filling his voice. Fuck, this Trainwreck guy must be loaded!

Wait- what was I even doing, listening to this chump prattle on and shit? Why would I even have to bother with any of this politics bullshit when I can just steal his body! It even gave me a ticket straight to the head-honcho himself, easy! I could just take Kevin's body, take Train- wait, no, no. I can't effect capes, that's- wait, huh... hm...

My head buzzed for a moment, and a sense of strong vertigo overcame my senses. My distracted scrapping came back to bite me right at that moment, my ring finger getting a nasty cut from rusted metal. I groaned in pain, waving over Kevin.

"Oh, fuck man, are you alright?" The poor guy ran over to me, a genuine look of concern painting his face. The last thing he heard was the utterance of "No, but I will be." as I grasped his arm. And then, there was one.

 

[PenPirate]

Mike Coenac, The Fragment
-Two peas in a pod-​

---

I shook the blissful feeling of new flesh off as I slipped out of my own decaying body's grasp. My Nobody simply stood there blankly as memories clicked into place within me.

Trainwreck was, by all accounts, a greaseball. That was the first thing that popped into mind from my few encounters with the scrapheap of a man. He smelled terrible, and whenever his helmet retracted you could see more acne then face. My memories were shockingly blank on any other details of him- the main feature of his that stuck out was the power armor he wore constantly.

It put me off for a moment, my mind whirring as I continued the almost muscle-memory activity of junk collecting. All sorts of shit passed through my hands and was subsequently carried off by my Nobody. By the time I snapped back to reality, I noticed that my Nobody has just been sticking shit into itself and leaking goo, causing sparks to fly out of the functioning electronics.

I nearly fucking socked it in the face before I remembered that it was mindless servant. "Fucking MORON! Carry it, you dumbshit, carry it!" I yelled, heedless of any risk. My newfound memories of the place told me this used to be ABB territory, but that it'd been conspicuously abandoned and taken up by Trainwreck.

Fury petering out, I ordered it to follow me with whatever it could scoop up and the rest of the scrap inside of it. Trainwreck's base wasn't very far from here, anyway- he lived out of a train car that he'd managed to fix into a hut. I figured I could get there by walking at a brisk pace for a few minutes. Turns out, Jerry wasn't the kind of guy to walk a mile to deliver scrap. I'd give him a high-five for the decision making, but he wasn't in right now.

My Nobody stumbled behind me, heavily weighed down by its injuries. Nobody really interrupted me as I stalked through heaps of trash and rubble, probably due to the relative uselessness and consequent emptiness of the place as a whole. After the ABB has packed up and vanished, all that was left was fortifications, blood stains, and debris. It was eerie- the only part of the scenery even worth mentioning was the dull humming of machinery only noticeable with effort. In one of the many piles, I could see a small bronze doorknob poking out.

That was the entrance to Trainwreck's 'lair'. If you could even call it that, that is. I shuffled up to it while my Nobody hovered to the left of me. I turned the knob to the left three times, tapping my foot idly. With a groaning creak, a small window emerged right in front of my face.

"Yeah, what is it?" grumbled a coarse voice from within. Bingo! That was Trainwreck, all right. "Just a new delivery, of course! I heard you're in the market for... electronics?" I chattered, keeping up the facade. "Well, you've got one thing right. Come on in, Jerry." The window expanded into an entrance right before my eyes, jostling garbage to the ground beneath it. Exposed was a metallic cube of a room, with a chipped wooden table at standing height and a grill with no stand leaning onto the wall. I could see a hatch in the corner of the room, but I had never been inside.

Behind that table was Trainwreck, in all of his 'glory'. His head was the normal lump, with a small wire-cord tying his thin hair into a ponytail. His metal goggles stared into me, and fumes spilled from the motor attached to the back of his suit. "So... the electronics. Where are they?" He curtly asked me, tapping the table and almost denting it in the process.

I thought and thought, but I couldn't come up with a way to jump him and not get pulverized in the process. From what I knew, this guy didn't know jack shit about nothing. Total amnesiac, no television, no newspapers. That gave me an idea, actually. He didn't know about my supposed 'demise', so he might just believe that my Nobody was a cape. It'd be a fucking tough sell, sure- but I'd conned smarter in my life.

"Trainwreck, listen- there's no way to put this politely my man, so let me just show you. Husk! Get in here, you lout!" I hollered, mentally ordering my Nobody to make its way into the room through the entrance. Trainwreck's face tensed at the call, and he outright readied himself for a fight when he saw my Nobody.

"What kind of game are you playing, inviting a cape into my place without even asking!" He fumed at me, before turning his head to my Nobody and glaring. I fumbled for an answer before he could pound my face in. "He's... he's mute, Trainwreck. Found him laying outside speared by all this shit, unable to move or nothin." He glared back at me for a moment but slowly nodded his head.

The door slammed shut behind me in an instant, with no movement from him giving away a button press or a lever pull. Shit, shit, this was not going to plan at all! Ignorant to my internal meltdown, he said something I never could have expected.

"I think me and your friend here might be in the same boat, Jerry. Does he happen to have a strange tattoo?"

 

[PenPirate]

Might be a bit of a controversial post, but I'm thinking of rewriting this. The beginning isn't good IMO, and the whole story kind of went in off in a weird direction. Been hard for me to get the creative juices flowing for it for a while as well. What do ya'll think?

 

[PenPirate]

The rewrite is out, people! Only two chapters so far, but they're much longer. More coming soon!

The Nobody Man - Rewrite Superhero

Mike Coenac's a failure in every sense of the word. He's destitute, barely skirting along by sleeping in an empty shipping container and pushing drugs for the Merchants. His only saving grace is the Cauldron vial he's managed to chug down, giving him powers he doesn't fully understand. Bad...

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

It's pretty different, but it still has the original's vague story outline. You'll find that some things are different, and some are the same. I won't spoil what's changed, but I think everything I've edited to make Mike's journey go a different direction is for the best, in both coherency in the wider Worm storyline as well as quality. Hope you all enjoy it.

Life's been rough, but I'm enjoying the rewrite a lot. Might not be of the best quality, of course, but it should (emphasis on should) be much better. Thanks for reading, everybody, and know that my smile grows a little wider at every like or comment I get. I read every single one, I even check who's viewing the thread every time I write. It never fails to make me smile.

Even if you have criticism, or you think my writing is utter dogshit, I'd still appreciate feedback. Hell, if you like a specific aspect, mention it.

Cheers, Penny out.