Renovation 4.1
March 27th, 2011. 11:30 AM
Basilia Rubio
I punched Victoria Dallon in the face, fire exploding outward in a concussive impact. She let out a muffled shout and bounced three times, her shield breaking and then reforming within seconds. Her aura blasted out in a frontal wave, and I grit my teeth, burning the induced emotions within my core.
BOOM!
Jets of fire and air accelerated me like a bullet, and I threw punches and kicks weighed down by mass effect induced weight at the last second. The five layers of her shield burst with the rapid succession of punches, biotic kicks, and flame. Instead of stopping as I expected, she lashed out with her entire arm covered in orange-yellow fire. A single swipe of my own shielded me from the attacks as I bent it into harmless cinders. My arm shot out until I held a flame to her neck. And she stopped.
"Not bad…" I removed myself from her, the discomfort from being so close to a sweaty heaving girl becoming a little much for me.
The brute flyer groaned. "That's not fair at all, I
have hand to hand combat training!" I grinned and brushed my hair back with the tip of my right hand.
"I have a theory that this might be a result of my power, give it time." Victoria wasn't what I would call dumb…easily angered and prone to fits but dumb no. Her skills were excellent, and I only beat her because of my fast learning and greater experience with bending.
Victoria smiled, though it diminished when I saw her eyes widen. "Oh…shit you have a shower here right?"
I blinked. "Yes. Why?" She beamed.
"I've got a date with Dean, we planned it out at least two days ago!" Her panic was real and the amusement I derived from it was also real.
"Go ahead then, there's nothing stopping you." She beamed again.
"Great! So Amy can stick around for a while, right?" This time my happiness was curdled but I didn't let it show on my face.
"Sure…that should be fine." I gave her a wobbly grin.
"Thanks…I know I can't
force you to be friends but she seems to like you guys well enough." Her smile was sad, and her aura projected awkwardness in a rather literal sense.
"Yeah yeah, take a shower already and then leave to make out with your boyfriend." She blushed slightly and I rolled my eyes as she flew from the scene at top speed. An accelerometer check showed she had broken a new record, hitting over 160 miles per hour. I was probably going to have to take a shower myself, since I had worked up a good sweat.
It had been a busy couple of days since I started helping Dragon and Armsmaster on their little projects. Their algorithm was
brilliant, but I had a far wider variety of advanced civilizations to choose from. Strangely enough the Salarians had a lot of math that related to predicting the future to some extent or the other. Apparently it was the result of close study of certain mystics within their own population. The Salarians were fairly lacking in any interaction with the spirits, but the existence of the metaphysical wasn't unknown to them.
It didn't matter much to me however, since it did it's job in rapidly speeding up the creation of a complete Endbringer prediction program. It's functionality would likely be better, but at the current juncture it would be a minor improvement. I had also been studying Dragon's code under the pretense of a complex coding problem. I had also figured out why Armsmaster had been so odd…Dragon's little venture had knocked a few things loose and they tipped him off to her true nature.
Dragon's father had been brilliant…and the few books he had published on coding proved that his power had synergized well with this natural talent. Some of what he had rivaled the AI algorithms of the
Quarians. In brief instances I had even caught glimpses of other civilizations…but for now I was limited to those who utilized Eezo in their technology.
I had been benefitting quite handily from my little deal, and had even received some samples of Tinkertech including a cape who made a 3D optical computer. It had taken me maybe about ten minutes to deduce what I needed from the tech. Power consumption for my omni-tools had dropped, and I could increase data capacity by a large margin.
I had also been getting a small but steady trickle of unrefined Eezo, maybe about a quarter to a half kilogram a day. Practically nothing but Armsmaster mentioned certain trends that would give me a better chance to seek out deposits. That added up to another twenty kilograms a day.
There had been an internal decision to start getting a little more bold with what I was planning to give out, more advanced eezo-less suits and eventually various forms of tech that benefit greatly from the unnatural bullshitium.
There were many changes being made for my own suit…kinetic barriers were tough but they had their vulnerabilities. One of the things I was figuring out was an energy barrier on a scale above omni-armor, allowing for a triple redundant system. Most of the issue was
power but combining shard magic and Eezo could make a suitably dense energy source.
I sighed, turning away from the sparring area to another spot where I could see Amy and Taylor in the same area. The healer was looking frustrated, as she pulled on a wobbly stream of water. I could see Taylor's lips moving but I couldn't hear what she was saying from where I was. Amy replied with a scowl and Taylor looked rebuffed by the comment. The brunette shook her head, leaving the biokinetic behind, moving at a brisk pace.
"Taylor?" I felt the urge to comfort her, not liking her negative expression. She had the look of a woman who had places to be, brushing her pretty dark hair with a rather serious expression.
She glanced down with a very small smile, hazel eyes shining. "Hey Basilia…could you stay with Amy for a bit?" I felt my smile die. "She's being difficult, and my dad had some news I needed to hear in person."
"S-Sure of course, I don't mind at all." I lied to her face, and she stared at me for a minute.
…
"Thank you." With a roll of her eyes she grabbed me into a tight bear hug. So I hugged back, warmth spreading at the sudden affectionate touch. She let go quickly, but her touch lingered for a moment. "Bye…" I sighed as she brushed her feet along the floor like the airbender she was.
Now I was alone with Vicky taking a shower, and Amy wallowing near the koi pond. Vicky had been the easiest to warm up to, for all her shit she was readily more stable than little miss Nilbog. I could check up on some situations like
Bakuda turning vigilante, but that had been going pretty well. I did keep an eye on her, and I'm pretty sure she had stolen some of my tech and turned it into a bomb.
No Eezo thank god…she'd probably accidentally take out the eastern seaboard.
Damn…I was going to take a shower and then come back…it's not like I have anything else to do today.
___
March 27th, 2011. 12:00 PM
Basilia Rubio
I watched my reflection in the clear koi pond, crossing my arms under my bust and pouting at my appearance. I had over two months to adjust to this face and at times it still didn't sink in. The fact it had been so easy to ignore was either a testament to the direness of my reality, or a true lack of care of what I looked like. I had never been overly protective of my gender or other such nonsense, but that didn't mean that
this didn't piss me off.
I just couldn't do anything about it in the first place. I
could ask Panacea but I didn't want her to touch me for even a second. I doubt she would be willing to help anyhow, it wasn't really in character for her to be that altruistic.
"I thought you were going to help me?" The aforementioned biokinetic popped back into my vision, and I stopped the dance of my fingers on my omni-tool.
I frowned, rolling my shoulders and hearing them crack with a satisfying feeling. "Sorry, I've been working on a few things…mostly working out certain aspects of my power." My tinker ability was clearly far more versatile than I expected, where before I could only probe at foreign Tinkertech with technological sensors, a good examination was good enough these days.
Most of my hardware licensing and patents these days were put on autopilot, and I was getting calls for hardware purchases from local police. In a town like this it made sense, but I needed to be careful.
Amy leaned over, and I barely kept my hand from hiding the holographic screen.
"Are those…DNA sequences?" Her eyes lit up very slightly, and I could feel her power turn its attention toward me. I didn't let any of my feelings on that get expressed on my face.
"Yes. I have at least a few hundred thousand of them, they seem to be the genes of a wide variety of alien species. Most of them are non-sapient but there are a few exceptions."
"Alien?" She looked reasonably skeptical. I flicked a finger toward one of my recent studied species.
The projection increased to show a blue woman with six tentacles attached tautly to her scalp. She wore the standard form fitting affair of her species, her body encompassed in a biotic nimbus.
"Indeed, this is an Asari…an alien species with mammalian-like traits, as well as some remnants from their ichthyosaur-like ancestors. They evolved on an Eezo heavy planet that allowed for a rapid rate of mutation, becoming an all biotic species."
Her expression was odd. "Why are they so…humanoid then? They're supposed to be aliens, right?"
"I never said that their evolution was
completely natural, because a lot of what they can do is not
possible."
"Hmm…" she didn't seem to get it herself, but it wouldn't be difficult.
"They're a monogender species, with three different nervous systems, an electric organ in their brain, an impossibly well designed skeletal system and to reproduce require bioelectrical energy from a partner through mind melding."
Her mouth opened and then shut, and the bright blush on her face told me her thoughts had gone to a rather lewd place. "Someone… really wanted blue alien space women didn't they?"
I couldn't help but laugh. "Heh…it gets worse than that, they can make conscious alterations to their offspring, so each generation is a
little tougher, and a little smarter than the previous generation. They can live to more than one thousand years of age, and their biotics are
absurd. Some of them could apparently laugh while getting pummeled by plasma artillery."
Fucking terrifying was what it was…I knew Taylor was going to figure something out once she worked up the nerve to get an implant. Using shardtech and an Auto-Doc had made a difficult and specialized surgery into a half hour trip to the dentist. I had also fixed up the remaining damage from whatever had happened to me…didn't want to gamble my life with supercancer. Ended up getting a basic genemod packet, improving physical fitness and knocking out or suppressed genes that could be detrimental to myself or my…children…
Huh. I…don't really think a lot about the fact I can get pregnant.
…
…
Anyway.
"If their evolution was guided, why would they be so…schizophrenic?" She tried to approach me but stopped short at the expression on my face
"Who knows…maybe there was more than one person working on it, or maybe they wanted a race that was both strong and seductive. An infiltrator or sorts…" my power could bring up technology and even a hint of culture, but there was little else available besides evolutionary history.
Panacea nodded and found her voice again. "If you have the DNA of alien species. Could you somehow…recreate them?" Her tone was meek, her dark eyes scanning me repeatedly.
"Oh
easily, every single sample has four to ten times the viable amount of unique gene sequences to create a stable population. It's probably not a good idea with some of them…"
"Which ones…" I pulled out a single sample from a hidden pocket, a still living piece of rachni derived chitin. Her hand lifted in a motion I expected, and my own curiosity negated my common sense. Her pupils dilated, and her face went slack. "What in the name of…
what is that?" She reared back like she was burned.
A different genetic sequence was displayed, one that was incredibly unique in comparison to the disconcertingly similar sequences of the other races. A single hologram showed a fully grown rachni queen, pedipalps flickering curiously.
"That would be the Rachni…a race of psychic alien bugs capable of passing their memory through their genes. They can communicate across vast distances, a natural result of both their biology and their unique souls." Taylor's suit had actually
enhanced her power, acting like a boost to her already huge range. An extra half of a block of range to her nine block range.
"And if you can make them again…so you're pretty much a biotinker too?" Her finger brushed against the sample again, her eyes looking elsewhere.
My brows snapped together. "That's not exactly unexpected, I'm literally
selling and patenting an artificial organism right this second." I still couldn't believe I had gotten away with that.
"
I could make it better…" I quirked an eyebrow, and half smiled at the mortified expression of Panacea. She might be bitchy at times, and I couldn't really stand to be in the room with her for more than five minutes but I did promise Taylor that I would help her…
Dammit.
"I'm sure you could Amy," I lifted my shoulders. "But the fact you're practicing waterbending instead tells me that's not happening." She pouted, her expression fairly annoyed by the remark.
"What am I doing wrong? Vicky is picking up her fire manipulation…"
"Firebending." I said lowly.
She glared. "
Firebending really fast but I don't…I'm not making any progress." Her fists were bunched up tightly, and I saw an expression I commonly mirrored.
Frustration…anger…resentment…it wasn't at all the right emotions for the elements she had been gifting.
"Pana…Amy…what do you think of when you use your bending?" Apparently Taylor was very good at guilt tripping.
Her eyes were stormy, and she pulled on the water in the pond with an aggressive slash. The koi were disturbed by the violent unsteady wave…
"It's just a power…I have to learn how to use it so I don't hurt someone." I clicked my tongue, finding the answer a little disappointing.
I tapped her forehead with a finger. "That's the problem, you're treating bending like your biokinetic powers. Bending is about more than just power, it's a part of your soul. It's something that'll pass on to your children if you ever have any. It's a gift, and your lack of appreciation for it…doesn't really help in mastering it." I hoped I wasn't laying it on too thick. But while the circumstances were terrible for my own gaining of bending, that didn't mean I hated the powers. I just would have preferred a less traumatizing route.
"But you just use your power to fight." She accused me, and I gave her a look. I flicked my wrist, and her hair was blown back by a playful gust of wind. The healer sputtered, and I let a giggle out
"I use my bending all the time for all sorts of mundane things, this isn't like Parahuman powers that are geared towards fighting. You can use waterbending to clean dishes, airbending to move around or even play silly games. You aren't obligated to fight with them." Her dark expression didn't diminish in the slightest.
"Oh…let me guess you can heal with it too?" Her smile wasn't what I would call nice.
"Waterbending works like that, it uses water as a catalyst for redirecting energy paths. It doesn't really work as well for internal injuries though. I think you can also use Firebending to sense an imbalance of energy however…I imagine most bending disciplines have
some medical applications. They're tools, bending is not inherently weaponizable."
I pulled on the water, the liquid moving with the slow fluid motions of my arms. I formed it into a blob, compressing it and shaping it like clay. In about a minute of hard work I made a crude but adorable ice pikachu, the electric mouse smiling as I froze the water solid. It dropped in between Amy's legs, and she stared at the rendition with wide eyes.
"Uhh…"
I smirked. "He's cute isn't he? Can you believe waterbending is the hardest element for me to control?"
"Really?" Amy's tone was less questioning and skeptical this time around, and I felt my shoulders relax.
I nodded. "I'm not really the most
adaptable and amiable person in the world," she snorted. "Waterbending is all about adaptability, about the bonds between those you care about." It's not
perfect mind you, but that's how waterbenders tend to be, though
who they consider important is going to vary. A narcissistic waterbender can have a community of
one.
The mention of the people she cares about seems to have stung a fair amount and I actually felt bad for her. Even at their worst most of my family
did love me, even if sometimes they were shit at showing it. Amy had Victoria…but that bridge is pretty much burned without a few years of therapy. Especially since this was a mix of her sister's aura and the age she got adopted at.
"And airbending?" That made me smile, and I held myself aloft in the space between landings as I hopped.
"Airbending is the element of
freedom, which…I imagine you don't get a lot of." Her wince was a fine answer. "Honestly you need more friends, I'm not sure what else to tell you." Therapy should honestly be going through a boom right now, but my own searching had found nothing of the sort.
Typical.
"Right…" Amy pushed herself off the pretty park bench I had made myself using slices of air and…
some slices of water. "Because that's so easy for you isn't it?"
"You're serious right?" Her puzzled look made me groan. This meant she was even crazier than I thought if she believed a g—girl with aspergers was
good at making friends. I shook myself. "Nevermind, you ever done Tai chi before?"
"Sometimes Carol would make me do it for health reasons." That was a good answer.
"Then we'll make use of that, waterbending is all about the flow of energy. Using fluid motions to turn an opponent's own forces against them." I formed a stance, one of the first things I had managed to figure out. Amy mirrored me, shuffling her smaller feet and shifting her legs to get it roughly right.
I started us off, sticking my tongue out as I flowed from move to move. Amy was more stuttery, and her stream of water was being acted upon in the same way. My own example of streaming the water was far more smooth, but was beneath the stability of a master.
"I think I'm getting it." Her initial frustration was melting away as she was given a more concrete model to work off of. "This is…really…soothing." All the tight lines of stress and tiredness drifted away, and I saw only Amy instead of Panacea or the Red Queen to be.
"Good…focus on that feeling. Bending is something to treasure and hold on to…a gift." I whispered, the wavering of my stream fading as I put all my concentration into holding liquid H20 together.
Amy was just physically fit enough to follow the moves and katas, and her natural fascination with her bending added power to her metaphysical abilities.
…
Then her whip of water popped like a balloon, splashing its contents all over my
white tank top. I bit back a harsh comment, and the mortified expression of Amy was
almost worth the cold uncomfortable feeling of my shirt getting wet.
"Oh god I'm so sorry!" My lips quirked into a smile, the freckled girl waving her arms and sending out a blast of air and water. My wet shirt rustled in the breeze and I chuckled. "I didn't mean to do that! I…"
"It's fine, it was an accident. I've done worse…one time I ended up setting Taylor on fire." Her self admonishment halted, and the mental image apparently tickled her humorous sensibilities. Since she started to laugh…it was a nice laugh. Happier than her usual cynicism and myopia.
"R-Really? You set her on fire?" The corner of her eyes crinkled, her cheeks reddening.
I placed a hand on my face, grinning. "Yep. I'm just lucky that the lowest layer of her suit is pretty fire retardant…if I had burned her
hair." My body quivered, only pain lied on that route. Taylor absolutely loved her hair, and that was a good way to get my ass kicked by the Escalation Queen.
Amy nodded, her attention elsewhere and her face turning a lovely shade of pink.
"Basilia?" She was wringing her hands together, coughing awkwardly in a tone of embarrassment. I glanced over to her, and came to the obvious conclusion.
I looked down at my chest, the water turning the thin fabric
transparent and giving Amy an eyeful of what I had below. A comment came to mind and I couldn't resist making it into reality.
I cocked a hip with a playful smug smirk. "What…like what you see?" Amy sputtered, and I stopped breathing as I chuckled at her expense. My brand of humor had always been a quick and sudden one liner when one wasn't expected.
It always got my family into fits since it was so uncharacteristic.
"Shut up." She looked away, but I could see her taking tiny peeks every so often
I rolled my eyes, and a flick of the wrist removed the water from my person. Leaving only small splotches of the source of life on this planet.
Heh.
"So now that you've established some more control, what's say you and I work a little more with some individual moves the—" a silent alert lit up my omni-tool, and I let out a hiss.
A Golem crept its way up to me, holding a mask, I placed the object on my face as the metamaterial contorted to my face, and projected an illusion composed of holographic light.
A door was flung open, and I could see that Brandish was on the warpath, closely flanked by a far more relaxed Lady Photon. The public healer ducked behind me, and I barely kept still when a thumb touched my back. Amy Dallon might be on a potential path for recovery, but that didn't mean she was mentally healthy.
The neglectful cape marched toward us, her hands
smoldering and the ground cracking with each step she took. I gaped once the sight sunk in, and Amy hid behind me even further.
Her sister tried grabbing her but failed, and I was brought into a sudden stare down as the lawyer cape came into my personal space.
"Hmm…it seems like it would be quite easy to make a case of assault with a Parahuman power. If you were responsible for…this." She gripped the burning flames in both her hands.
I quirked an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure I commissioned a lawyer from your company? You also can't sue another victim of the so-called 'assault' you're speaking of." I crossed my arms, squaring my shoulders and injecting confidence into my voice.
"Excuse me?" Carol Dallon spoke, the ground cracking with her uncontrolled power.
"I'm not the cause of this awakening, just one of its first cases. Even if one capable of manipulating this Second Wave to some extent. I can't stop it…I'm not even sure how I could." Unless ripping the life out everyone's souls was an option, and the mechanics of that was not knowledge I had stored up. It wouldn't work either…the side effects would be catastrophic.
"Second Wave?" Sarah Pelham was the one responding, her thin light eyebrows furrowed.
"No one knows how the phenomena of Parahumans started right?" I said carefully, the fact that I knew the truth behind the reality of Parahumanity was a liability.
"No there's theories and speculations about how powers came about, why do you ask?" Lady Photon talked with a curious tilt of her head.
"
That right there is a repeat of history, if from a different source." Lady Photon's hesitant smile broke. "A little more predictable but a lot more widespread in scope, and in its effect on global civilization." Veda had spoken of great empires forged on the backs of benders, brutal nations with brutal and horrific practices. Empires that survived centuries, committing atrocity after atrocity until they were struck down by the hands of a demi-god.
"Widespread…by how much?" I didn't want to say…and Brandish's gaze was like battery acid on the back of my neck.
"Lets just say it won't be
only capes who start getting abilities like your sister." Lady Photon looked mildly ill at the thought.
Brandish scoffed. "Amy we are taking you home, we've already talked about the things both you and Victoria have left unsaid about this tinker. Now come along, we're
leaving." The blaster breaker didn't keep the conversation going when she saw the uneasy expression that Amy was giving her. The pond was rippling, and a bead of sweat dropped down the healer's forehead.
"I…I…no…" Amy whispered harshly, and Brandish stepped back like she had been slapped. "I'm not…I'm not going."
"Amy come here this
instant, we are leaving." Carol's hands were set aflame, writhing with unhealthy emotions. She started to approach and was stopped by her sister, the woman shaking her head at the blonde's actions.
"Carol…stop…you're escalating the situation much more than it has to be. It's obvious why your daughters are here. You've seen Vicky, and whatever this Second Wave is it must have happened to the both of them. If Erudition has experience, then they must have asked for help."
I nodded at her perfect assessment of what had happened. That had been sometime during the 25th after I had met the civilian identity of
Purity including the baby that Skitter would one day shoot in the face…
yeah not a good thing to remember.
"I have no reason to trust some tinker who showed up out of nowhere," Brandish's distrust was made known. "For all we know she was the cause of these…these new powers!" I shut my eyes, and spoke.
"Why are you so angry? What's the
real reason…? It can't just be because of me." Of all the New Wave capes Brandish had been the most psychologically fucked besides good old Panacea.
"Because they
lied to me…because they trusted some nobody after they were attacked!" Brandish yelled out the truth, her eyes burning with a mix of betrayal and contempt. I unfortunately already knew which emotion was directed toward a specific Dallon sister.
I sighed. "That sounds like it's
your problem rather than one that should concern me," I rubbed my chin methodically. "I'll be honest, I didn't think they were actually going to keep
anything secret, the only reason this didn't get out sooner was because we got attacked by literal Nazis. Then there was that other problem…so I'm sorry on that front."
"So why are we not going after Victoria? She wasn't the only one who lied." The flying sister was puzzled by her sister's behavior. "I don't mean to…belittle Amy, but Vicky has a lot more initiative than her sister." Amy looked a little insulted but nodded with understanding.
"I…because…" her flaming fists flickered, her eyes darting between us with an uncertain look. Lady Photon's expression shifted from confusion to a dawning sense of horror.
"Carol…I think we need to talk about a few things…" She placed her hand on her sister's shoulders. Her stare was intense, when she turned her gaze. "Keep my niece safe would you?"
"I—sure?"
Lady Photon began to guide her sister, the harsh woman unable to escape from the iron hard grip. "Okay. Amy…call us if you need us, there is a lot I need to sort out between your mother and I."
"Sure…" the healer's tone was soft.
"Carol we are leaving." The sister left no room for argument, and the lawyer kept her trap shut. She didn't attempt to pull away or argue any more than usual, her jaw setting as they stepped back from the new winding exit. Drones circled them, doing their thing.
…
"God this is why I never wanted to get involved." I groaned, a headache pulsing in anticipation of future headaches.
"You knew we had problems?" Amy asked, and I felt my expression contort in a violent way. She lifted her hands up defensively. "O-Okay…sorry?
I'd probably have driven you away if you tried anyway…"
I hate this planet so much sometimes.
"Well that's going to bite me in the ass," I stated simply, turning to Amy. "We…we should get back to waterbending training, I need some relaxation before I meet up with Dragon for a test of one of my creations. You can come along if you like…" I half heartedly offered.
"Whatever." She made the stance, and I began to bring up the ones I had yet to show her.
"Right…the little move I taught you is called streaming the water…"
___
March 27th, 2011. 1:45 PM
Basilia Rubio
I tore off the enormous tarp covering the form of the Kodiak shuttle, it's dense armor gleaming in the light made by the gigantic bulbs above us. Panacea's eyes were as wide as dinner plates as the shuttle was unveiled.
I had made some minor reconfiguration changes to the dimensional shifter, compressing the grown entity matter down to a sphere about the size of a large basketball. I had managed to get a file on Professor's Haywire's work, so the ship could make a split second halfway jump into another reality before reappearing elsewhere. This was mainly so I wouldn't need to use the active stealth systems of the shuttle as well as an experiment for interdimensional travel.
This utilized a great quantity of energy, so I could only make four or five jumps without
killing the synthetic shard-machine. Normally modifying and lobotomizing the alien equivalent of a child would be disconcerting, but Entities didn't really care about stuff like that…they were basically machines after all.
Not that I would abuse it, that's just a recipe for hurting it more than necessary.
Also they self modify all the damn time anyway…
"Are you doing to come along, or do you want to wait here?" I was okay with either outcome really.
"I'll go…" I gave a silent thumbs up as a shuttle door opened up with no fanfare. I skipped over to the front of the shuttle, giggling excitedly at the prospect of testing out the full systems in a more open environment.
I pointed her to the useless co-pilot seat. "Welcome to the Kodiak drop shuttle for all your orbital delivery needs and interstellar hops." So I felt a little whimsical, who could blame me?
I get to test a spaceship with Dragon!
"That's a good on—" I tapped the optotronic hardlight interface, quickly sending a message to the mechanized shard-machine. A flash of encoded light made its way through its fractal form and…
There was a sound like shattering glass and roaring wind, and the thrusters did their job. We accelerated at hundreds of G's…completely unnoticed to Panacea as we entered a foreign reality for fifteen seconds. The shuttle reentered reality about 100 kilometers deeper inland, and the thrusters were tuned down to very nearly nothing. A mass suppression field allowed for anti-gravity, and a VI landed the shuttle automatically in a small base that Dragon apparently had at her disposal.
"Is that Dragon?" A large suit not much smaller than the shuttle waved happily, and I waved back from the glass far stronger than steel and tough enough to bounce everything short of an autocannon, all it placed on the side doors of the shuttle. "How did we get here so fast…did we teleport?" Her questions were endearing, and I responded readily.
"I'm sure you've heard of Professor Haywire before right?" Amy was looking at me in a new light.
"You didn't." She said, blinking her dark eyes at me.
"I didn't." The freckled girl was befuddled. "It would be more accurate to say I shunted us in between this reality and another reality, which is a little less costly than punching through dimensional boundaries. It's just that this shuttle can accelerate at hundreds of G's with little difficulty due to its oversized drive core. So we moved very fast rather than true teleportation." A Kodiak would only take a couple of seconds at best to leave orbit, and would fly past the moon in less than ten minutes without jumping to FTL. So you could imagine the acceleration profiles of true fighters and frigates.
The dimensional shunt was something not too dissimilar to what Labyrinth could do, something between dimension 1 and dimension 2…a dimension 1.5 if you would. A lot less energy usage, and useful for avoiding obstacles…and even useful defensively. But since it's only a
partial shunt, it'll still take damage from attacks. It'll just be diminished somewhat…
There was a light thunk as the shuttle landed on a pad provided by the secret AI. The door opened to expose the sunlight on our heads, and I jumped out with Panacea in tow. The healer yelped as we bounded four or five meters in an instant. The Tinker wasn't surprised because I had already mentioned that a potential guest was incoming.
I waved. "Hello Dragon. How are you?" I had already placed on my lovely armor, including the helmet for safety reasons. Amy still had her kinetic barriers because of some incident where some Merchant shot her due to their gang starting to fall apart. Apparently Squealer had been sent far enough away that she was pretty much lost to the gang, no Tinker means no Tinkertech vehicles. Add the fact they never had territory to begin with, so they're pretty much screwed. So a few members are doing stupider things than usual to get by.
"It's good to know you're in good health Erudition." Dragon greeted me kindly with her Newfoundland accent. "I see you've brought along a member of New Wave." Her tone was a little accusing but in the way that an older sibling would tease someone.
"She wanted to come along and there wasn't a legal reason to say no. So I did." I probably wouldn't be able to bring her on the test for regulatory reasons but I have no issue with that. Kinetic barriers wouldn't save a person from an orbital drop.
I could hear the questions that Dragon had but she was polite enough to not ask them for at least the time being.
"Alright then…Panacea would you come to this side?" The AI pointed to the protective barrier she was behind, and I nodded to the healer. She hopped over with a tiny spring in her step, her airbending coming to the forefront. Again Dragon was staring, and I kept my fidgeting to a minimum. I had already been preparing for the inevitable, and my monitoring of news through my new VI brought a number of things into the light.
"Okay Dragon so everything is pretty much filled out right? Paperwork, legal permission and all?" The truck sized suit nodded its long serpentine neck.
"It's taken some time but since I'm quite well known we were able to cut through a fair amount of red tape." I bowed my head in thanks…the AI chuckled lightly.
"Well if that's all?" She shook her head, and the suit opened up to spit out a rectangular metallic frame about a meter and a half in length. A mix of titanium, aluminum, steel, and space rated composites. It utilized the same 3D crystal computers that Texan tinker made, and all its tech was as cutting edge as possible.
"This is one of my latest satellites, would you be willing to drop it off?" Dragon asked politely and I nodded. When she tried to pass it on physically I waved my hand.
A combination of
lift and
pull dragged the heavy thing in my direction and out of Dragon's clawed fingers. Around half a metric ton, yet it had enough equipment to equal the capabilities of a satellite ten times its size. I released my biotic grip, and it landed softly on the floor of the Kodiak.
"Of course, should we start the test now or are we on a schedule?" I switched from direct verbal communication to radio, the shuttle door closing with an electric hum. I went back to the pilot's seats, the micro-fusion reactor sending a steady stream of electricity into the drive core.
"
Now would be fine…are you certain you need to pilot the ship?" Her concern was sweet but unwarranted, I already had suitable back up plans.
"Yes, should I give you a warning or…?" The tinker chuffed.
"
That would be nice yes…"
I chortled. "Alright then…we are taking lift off in three, two, one…"
"
Wait she was being ser—"
Instead of a loud roar there was a solid
bzzump as the shuttle accelerated, reaching supersonic speeds in less than a second. I didn't feel more than a very slight pressure on my body as the shuttle took off. The mass effect field was modulated by the complex emitters, shaping the field in a specific geometric architecture to increase the efficiency of the field. The engines the ship had available could
break orbit on their own…but only by the slimmest of margins due to their insane power.
As it made orbit, I moved from my pilot seat and shoved the medium sized satellite into a compartment that would open up to vacuum. Once I reached the target orbit, I would test
one mass effect jump before returning back down. The virtual windows came to life, the door windows darkening as the ship leapt past the layers of the atmosphere that still acted like gas. I was in the thermosphere, over 80 kilometers up and rising quickly. The shuttle pulsed out with its sensor package.
FADAR covered most of the orbital plane, and thankfully the Simurgh was on the literal opposite end of the planet from us. Different forms of FTL accelerated scanners did their job, picking up somewhere around 20 satellites in our orbital plane. There were in total around 800 artificial satellites, and a headcount for Earth Aleph would put their number at about 2500, more than my Earth at any rate.
For now…SpaceX has launched like what…100+ satellites in a few months? Give it time…
Even so I was keeping an eye on her, and news reports indicated that Scion was saving a bunch of kittens from a fire…
one at a time.
I was more worried about the Simurgh than the big guy however, if Cauldron going to different Earths wasn't triggering him, a short jump that wouldn't even come close to the moon should be no issue. Again records showed that she hadn't bothered to clear out earth's orbit, she had only really attacked projects involving leaving the system or gaining the ability to do so…
Like Sphere.
"
Have…you reached the target orbit?" Dragon sounded out from the radio, and I checked my altitude.
"We have reached an orbit of 650 kilometers, is that the right spot?" I questioned her, keeping an eye out using passive sensors.
Gravitometers, electromagnetic sensors from gamma to infrared. Armsmaster had gifted me with tech for picking out interdimensional effects, though they were only barely sensitive enough to pick up on power related phenomena on their own. I had managed to find out some of the tech's unique tricks, and combined them with my own affinity for hyperdimensional phenomena.
"
It is…I've been starting up my satellite's systems, could you release it?"
"Yep." I replied cheerily, and an external camera let me see the satellite as it drifted away at great speed. I could see thrusters activate, as well as a high efficiency solar array fanning out as it rolled into position. A mix of high resolution camera, RADAR and other scanners began to spool up.
"
Thank you, this is much easier and less time consuming than the rockets I usually use." The rockets used by Dragon were technologically impressive but despite their tinkery nature they were still limited by the rocket equation.
…
…
"Are you sure this is a good idea? I've already tested what I needed to…anything more is…" I kept my trap shut, staring at the surveillance of the Simurgh for a moment. She wasn't moving, curled up into her cocoon of innumerable wings, their shapes giving off a disturbing air despite being thousands of miles away.
"
It's perfectly safe, a short jump into geostationary orbit is a worthwhile test." I expected Dragon to be more careful and she was kind of scaring me now. But it was also very exciting…the only reason this was allowed was because of the leeway the government gave to Dragon. As long as we didn't do something stupid like ripping a mile wide hole between Bet and Aleph or Leeroy Jenkining Ziz in her perch this test would be allowed.
"Okay then…" I pressed a number of inputs, and the drive core spooled up into a far higher capacity, specialized projectors and effectors shifting the field geometry into a shape more made for FTL.
I stared at the Simurgh one last time, and my VI didn't stop its surveillance of the Warrior's activities. So far he is still saving kittens…one at a time.
The thrusters went up to full throttle, and the mass suppression field's strength went up a hundredfold. I could feel the shape and warping of dark energy, my nerves twitching before…
The ship
lurched, hitting 100C for far less than a blink of an eye. I was now about 42,164 kilometers above the surface of the planet. The light speed barrier had been broken, and shivers ran up and down my spine. The monitor sighted the Simurgh, and it hadn't moved even an inch.
But I swore I saw her curled up a little more.
A live video saw Scion twitch, eyebrows furrowing and pausing in his rescue of a mewling kitten. Apparently this was incident 98 in the last two months where he had acted off…
Not…reassuring. Not at all…
"
Erudition…are you there?" It took a quarter of a second for the transmission from Dragon to come through, since she was still limited to light speed communication.
"I am." I did have FTL comms, but I hadn't bothered to give Dragon a line. A foolish mistake, but it was fixable. The virtual windows had nearly perfect fidelity, but I wasn't drawn to them. Instead the single porthole in the shuttle was what got my mind racing.
The Earth covered more than half the space I could see, and I felt the water in my mouth evaporate at the sight.
I was in space.
Before I had been excited and drawn into a phase of tinkering, inventing and power assisted engineering. It was all coming back to me then, seeing that blue marble from below. I could make out North America, as well as a few other continents…
One little blue marble hanging in the vastness of space, that one little world held all of humanity. A hundred billion humans had lived and died on that third rocky planet from the sun. Every mother, every father and child, every king and dictator, the most drug addled waste of space to the greatest and most well known saints and heroes. The worst and best of humanity had all lived and died on this blue marble.
We were all so small in the end weren't we?
This was one of a trillion trillion more, a number of parallels that would boggle the human mind, and one of a billion other worlds in the Milky Way galaxy with an equally enormous number of counterparts.
It…grated on me then…that people didn't realize how little some of their squabbles really mattered…they had retracted inward…lost the appreciation of living in a world that had allowed intelligent life to flourish.
I wonder if Sphere had understood this when he built his moonbase, if he had twisted it into something ugly and horrible in his grief and madness.
"
Erudition?" I turned away from the view, and passed back a message.
"I'm alright, I'm good." I reassured her, and guided the ship into a second jump. The lurch of destroying Causality and Relativity with a simple flick of a finger was gut churning. But
magnificent.
I followed my instincts as I took control of the ship, wondering if being able to pilot a spaceship without learning how to even
drive a car was a Thinker ability. Within seconds I could make out the Dragon facility, the shuttle's thrusters adjusting as I took the vessel down into a landing position.
I could see Panacea watching me, her eyes churning with emotion…though I wasn't entirely sure
what it was. Again I hadn't wanted to get involved but I had been given little choice then. New Wave and Danny were just the start, there were thousands upon thousands of people in the city who would develop bending, who would develop powers. Around 70,000 or so…nearly ten percent of the
global Parahuman in a single city. The only hope was that since they weren't gained through horrific trauma, the people would thus be more stable.
The shuttle doors opened for a third time, and I started to feel weary again even with the high from breaking past the speed of light over one hundred times. The fact it was still only a fraction of what it was capable of at full throttle was…beyond incredible.
It had taken me only about two and a half months to figure out a method of FTL travel. I mean…I
did cheat since I had the knowledge crammed into my tiny human skull but still…
I rubbed my arms with a slowly growing smile, one that Amy questioned even as she stepped onto the shuttle. The test flight had been a complete success beyond my wildest dreams, but that was limited to somewhere below the moon not for energy and experiment restraint like normal shard powers, but for my own safety.
I
needed somewhere safer, a place where I could test the more powerful and dangerous tech I had available without the chance of getting someone hurt. My dimensional transference machinery wasn't quite ready, and I had no damn clue on how to teleport to a parallel Spirit World. So who would be able to help me?
…
Oh.
Dammit I'm an
idiot…I'll just ask Labyrinth, she asked for shamanistic training anyhow. There needs to be at
least one other shaman so I don't go mad dealing with all these spirits…
Especially Centralis…fucking cryptic jackass.
"Are we going to take off?" Amy asked out of the blue, and with a flushed face I got the thing moving.
Fly home in a dimensional shunt, make a plan
later.
___
March 28th, 2011. 4:10 PM
Emily Piggot
It's too damn early for this and it's already past four. I shook my head, wishing it was early enough to excuse another coffee. I tried to bring my focus back to our little situation.
"Alright, would someone like to
explain what is going on?" I caught the Wards attention, and I could see them all pale under my harsh gaze. Vista was the apparent perpetrator of whatever training accident had just happened under Miss Militia's watch.
I grimaced as my rapid movement left my atrophied muscles sore, and the strange sight around where Vista had been standing wasn't much better. The ground itself around her had been warped and melted, and pieces of steel had rusted to powder. The fourteen year old was holding her hands, biting her lip, her face twisted in pain as blue sparked off her skin.
My hands twitched, reaching out to
something before I caught myself. I wasn't going to let some phantom sense get in the way of
doing my job.
Clockblocker spoke up tentatively, brushing his red hair through his shattered helmet. "We were training?" I glared and he kept going. "Right Vista was practicing her power on us, she wanted to test if she could use her warping on projectiles." The usually irreverent Ward didn't bother to put any spin on the incident for once. "Well it worked…but then she tried something else…said she saw that tinker making it with that thing that was attacking the Empire."
Of course…damn tinker was giving me a headache.
"What exactly did you do?" I turned to Vista, my scowl not diminishing. The cape had been a lot of trouble lately, and the complaints from her parents had been making it difficult to procure her for patrols.
Thankfully that was calming down within another week.
The blonde blushed. "I tried to…twist my power around my hand, make a vortex like what Erudition could use. It didn't work…but
something else came out anyway, I'm not even sure what it was." She clenched her fists, and I blinked at the spark of blue-white.
What even was that?
"—at are you doing here? Weren't you working with Dragon…" I could hear loud footsteps, and to my surprise Armsmaster had appeared, pushing past Miss Militia with urgency. He moved with purpose, holding a small cube of Tinkertech.
"I need to speak with the Director, I've compiled the data that Erudition updated me with confidence. We…" the tinker paused, taking in the scenery for what it was.
The data…right…Erudition had been forthcoming with the only caveat being to keep the information sealed for as long as possible. I hadn't been pleased but I could understand her fears. A supermaterial that is easily weaponized with even a small amount of creativity, and that unlike Tinkertech could be spread and learned…
And with the small supply she would be a target as would Brockton Bay, so I understood.
Then someone tried to steal the data from Armsmaster's own office…the only reason his security didn't fail was because of Erudition.
"Does this relate to that certain substance?" The scans had been clear, there was some strange foreign element
infused into a Wards nervous system and trying to remove it would likely kill her. That the same had happened to Armsmaster was no less problematic. "Because I haven't had much time to look over everything I've needed." Too much time was spent answering questions from the Chief Director, because a Ward getting even
temporarily kidnapped was a black mark.
"Yes Director," he spoke quickly and concisely, and a single press of his armor sent a wide pulse. "Element Zero has been mentioned to grant people powers once their nervous system has been contaminated in the right configuration. Usually through exposure during birth or through surgical and biomedical methods."
Of course it does.
"This is in your report yes?" He nodded, and I rubbed my forehead. "Has Erudition given you any
more information?"
"Yes…but it would be best to not speak of it here, discreteness is…needed." His tone was disquieting, and I had a sinking feeling that accident's like Vista's wouldn't be the last in
godforsaken city.
"What about Vista…this new power is far more dangerous than her
normal power," I sighed. "She has no control, and that makes her a liability." I could see the girl wince, her hands tightening into balls. Hmm…should I say something to comfort her?
…
No.
That would be ridiculous.
"Erudition is capable of teaching her…" of course she can. "But she wrote up a basic guide to at least get Vista started. Though she did recommend heavy shielding, as well as a watch of medical professionals on standby."
"Why?"
Armsmaster scratched his face with a scowl. "She said there was a good chance that experimentation could lead to a terribly large explosion."
"On what scale?" Because from what I had gleaned Erudition was not a small thinker, it didn't bode well if she was worried.
"Enough to destroy a small building." His reply was unnervingly flat. I decided to ask a few more questions before we would retreat to a newly built meeting room with greater isolation than the current ones.
"What exactly is she capable of?"
"All of it revolves around manipulation of mass and gravity, with more specialized techniques capable of manipulating the states of matter, energy, as well as particle physics…"
That sounds…
horrifically dangerous.
"We're going to have to get
her expertise again." The only reason I wasn't going to try to bring that tinker to heel was because in my gut I
knew it wouldn't work. Especially since it was unnecessary with how willing she is to work with us when prompted.
"Yes."
This city was getting stranger by the day.
___
AN: So Arc 4 is going to be mostly a build up to the following Arcs, with 5 being a little over halfway done and two chapters longer than the Arcs so far. It won't be
just power training but it's not going to be a conflict heavy Arc.
Besides that I feel a little iffy on my characterization of Carol. From what I've gleamed, she seems like someone who was naturally very good at being manipulative and guilt tripping. The idea here is that's she's off her game for…a number of reasons.
Not too sure it worked honestly but I hope this is enjoyed regardless.
