Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely for recreational purposes
AN: And here is the second chapter. Enjoy.
XXX
Stepping through the opening as it formed, I felt the hard carapace under my feet give way to a woven, fur-like covering under my feet as I used a towel to dry my hair after stepping out of a shower to get rid of the byproducts of using a Host Armor. I grimaced slightly, while the use of the 'Wonder Snot' was needed to fully commune with my Host Armor and ensure that I could control it as if it was my own body, that didn't make it any less annoying to deal with, especially since I had to be naked to use a Host Armor. I was still working to create a subtle work-around that could be used to get the same result without me having to be submerged in what was, effectively, a massive mucus membrane.
Sighing to myself as I wrapped the towel around my shoulders as I moved into my workshop, looking over the well lit room as I saw the Host Armor in question standing off to one side, the head having retracted back and the collar having folded back. The opening that had created was large enough for me to slip into, being where my body rested while I controlled the armor, something that was a strange and interesting sensation, especially given the fact that the suit transferred all physical sensations to me, meaning that I could feel wind over my entire body when I flew.
... Definitely not something one got used to quickly, that was for sure.
Walking over to the Host Armor, I moved to the side and lifted up a specific piece of the shell, it having come unlocked after I had left the armor and allowed me to see the organic port within as I connected to it with an organic wire from a bio-tech device to the side. A push and twist, and the connection was made, a flurry of colours suddenly appearing on a small, previously blank, section of the wall as pigmentations rapidly shifted and changed, testing to ensure that they were working in the proper manner that they should have been. I smiled as I saw the tests finish and information starting to flow, data about both the armor and myself being shown within the bio-screen as I saw it as a wire-like frame flashing in colours, annotated with different shapes and short-handed codes that made it easy to understand what was being meant by what. I knew the system well enough to translate it automatically, but anyone else would have had a much greater difficulty in doing it. Pressing on it with two fingers, I pulled them apart and watched the image zoom in, quickly moving at my command as I shifted the image around and watched the data responding as I looked at a visual feed from the input, the memories of the Host Armor itself.
I watched back over the footage for a specific point, flashing through it until I reached for what I was looking for.
"There we go..." I muttered as I looked at the exact point when I had felt Glory Girl's Aura hit me for the first time and caused me to take a step back in caution. I frowned as I zoomed in on the part of my brain that was effected, the shifts in brain chemistry having been recorded and were now there for me to see. I watched as my brain was hit by a flood of serotonin and dopamine, feel-good chemicals that are commonly released as part of emotional responses for happiness, among other things. Furrowing my brows, I looked closer still, seeing the effect, but failing to see either the cause or the mechanism by which my brain was manipulated. I saw neither, but I definitely the way it happened and made a note of it. I'd look into it further, but I'd have preferred to have some kind of defense against it first before I went and did anything else.
Looking at the bio-screen for a moment longer before wiping my hand over it, dismissing it as I considered my ever-growing, self-appointed, list of things to do.
"Well... May as well get started..." I muttered to myself with a slight smile, at least I could start with the fun and interesting stuff first.
XXX
The outside of my base wasn't anything particularly impressive, a few dozen metres tall and looking like a rather thick tree, the branches were fake and all of the various leafs were, in truth, specialized membranes to catch sounds and vibrations through the air. The bark was a false appearance, really a layer of carefully grown and shaped carapace to hide the true nature of it all as tendrils of flesh threaded through the upper 'branches'. Stripped of all the concealment that I had carefully applied to allow my home to remain hidden, one could remark that it might look like the concept art of Nushi from Lost Planet three. That wasn't through any particular work on my part, merely a point of happenstance as I had been crafting the organic structure into form.
Still, even with all the time I had put into crafting it's concealments, I had also put in an equally large, or greater, amount of time into crafting the defenses by which any intruder would be dealt with. Super Light Cells clusters dotted the outside of the bark, hidden under retractable panels and acting as a way of pelting anything that came close with organically produced laser-light. Bio-rockets were hidden in the upper branches while a dozen holes and ports in the bark allowed for Casting guns and light Bore cannons, the former firing hardened waste fragments while the latter fired short-lived grubs to eat a target from the inside out. Surrounding the area, I had all manner of bio-tech plants ranging from the fungi minefields of the Boom Shrooms, the impassable fields of bladed Sawgrass, waiting patches filled with Razor Willows or other, far more dangerous, creations that awaited someone stupid enough to try and head straight for my base.
Still, such things were not attacking indiscriminately. No, they were directed and controlled from my base, my Lair. If someone wondered into the killing field, then I would be informed first before anything was done. If I allowed it, the intruder would die a horrid death from a dozen different causes, perhaps even eaten alive by the swarms of bio-tech insects that I had in hives throughout the area, or something else, but I doubted that anyone was living to tell the tale of surviving the gauntlet to attack my base and escape.
Regardless, I found myself needing to upgrade all of this with even greater numbers of defenses and bio-tech defenses with the revelation of where I was.
Such things pushed me to look for other things, other options to add to the already impressive defenses of my home, both offensively and defensively even as I tried to consider what to add that I hadn't already added. The entire thing made for an interesting thought exercise even as I layered armor on top of armor, Bio-Force Field emitters upon multiple redundancies, crafted circulatory systems intent on carrying poisons, toxins, acids and corrosive agents designed to eat anyone alive, should they have intended to force an entry point. Internally, much the same could be said as sensory systems quickly lined corridors and numerous weapons were crafted into the walls. Organic blast doors, Bio-Force Fields and numerous area-denial systems were built into the chambers and corridors both above and below ground in an complex system designed to defeat Movers and Strangers who might try and bypass the defenses.
Strangers could be potentially defeated by simply using different sensory inputs to detect them. Movers could be defeated by preventing them from moving in one way or another. I ensured that everything was built to an exacting standard with the intention that any hostile forces, or intruders that came from a... Certain group, didn't make it far, or even make it in passed the first step.
Still, I had my doubts about what my defenses could stop even as I resided at the very heart of my complex, a hidden room surrounded by armor belts and regenerative systems. My lab was the heart of my fortress, a bulwark against any assault that I planned to continuously update with any and all improvements I made. It was meant as a panic room as well as a lab, but the fact it served as my lab also acted as a bonus for my rampant paranoia.
Within said lab, I stood before a console that was covered in flesh and carefully cultured muscles, exposed nerves and needles of bone with a monitor made from a complex mesh of colour changing pigments. Beyond the console, a massive pod, currently empty, lay in wait as I pulled my hands free from the console as the screen went blank and I saw the clear membrane of the pod retract into the floor and ceiling in turn as a sigh escaped my lips.
"Well... Here goes... Something..." I muttered to myself with a certain level of apprehension as I stepped into the pod, it closed behind me as I felt oxygenating liquid pooling around my legs before slowly rising, moving up my shins to my thighs before crossing my waist and moving over the pair of thin shorts I was wearing as a matter of course. I felt the cold sensation of the liquid running up my spin, slowly lifting me up as I felt something attaching to my skin below the waterline and hold me in place even as I started floating in the yellow liquid and just breathed normally even as it passed my mouth and covered me completely.
Panic filled me at the thought of liquid filling me even as I forced it down, breathing normally even as the utterly alien sensation filled me of liquid filling my lungs, yet I wasn't drowning like I should have been. A tingling sensation ran up my spine a moment later, needles of bone and keratin slipping through my skin and making contact with nerves and veins as I felt injections across my body. Pain flared through me for a moment before everything faded into darkness.
My last thoughts as unconsciousness took me were that I hoped this worked...
XXX
"So, what can you tell me about this new Bio-Tinker... 'Dreadnaught' that you encountered, Armsmaster?" Asked Director Emily Piggot even as she gazed over at a screen displaying the utterly alien form of the new Bio-Tinker as she suppressed the involuntary shiver as she looked at it. Flashes of old memories played out through the Director's mind as she looked at the utterly inhuman creature, reminded of the Goblins of Nilbog as she remembered the disaster of Ellisburg with fresh pain. The pain of seeing comrades being torn apart and of seeing civilians being used as little more than food by the inhuman, and cartoonish-looking, creatures of the mad Master Cape. Still, she still thanked God for small mercies as she looked at the 'Host Armor', and thanked God and Scion once more for utterly different design of the creature. The massive creature that, according to Armsmaster, was a suit of biological Power Armor was clearly designed for an inhuman appearance, it's form designed for function over some kind of aesthetic preference with thick plates of armor, scales and multiple visible weapons, not to mention a dozen hidden ones that Armsmaster hadn't seen until he reviewed footage taken and posted on PHO.
"Difficult to say, Director. Psychological modeling won't be effective until we can get a baseline of behavior and personality down, something that I can't do from a single meeting, let alone the limited amount of footage that we have of Dreadnaught in action. Truth detection methods are also slightly less than effective, my prototype Lie detector wasn't able to come up with anything conclusive thanks to the slitted speech he spoke with. Not only that, but based on the size of the armor, and the way it moved, I would guess that it was less armor and more like an exoskeleton with his real body being confined within the main body. Given his neutral body language throughout our conversation, I would say that such a thing is likely. Dragon was with me and her own suite of psychological modeling tools were about as effective as mine." Armsmaster stated as he stood before the Director in his full costume, fresh from the field to give his report. Piggot had already seen it, Armsmaster having already sent her a draft of it using a transcriber and complex system of Tinker-tech shortcuts that he had built into his network, lab and armor.
"And about his capabilities and offer of tinkertech?" Piggot asked next, skimming over to the summary that was added around Dreadnaught working on some kind of regenerative fluid and wishing to have it tested before being released. Few Tinkers sought such things out, even fewer Bio-Tinkers bothered with it, especially since a majority of them had chosen to fall on the other side of the Law. However, the opportunity was too good to a pass over, especially when one considered the potential lives that such a creation could save if it was allowed to go into some level of production, assuming that such a thing was possible. Armsmaster seemed to pause at the question, giving it consideration before he spoke once more.
"In terms of capabilities, I would give Dreadnaught a solid Tinker 7 with sub ratings in Thinker, Mover, Brute, Blaster and Striker, due to his 'Host Armor' as he called his Power Armor. Mover due to the flight capabilities of the armor and his land-speed, Thinker for his reaction time, Brute for the strength of the armor, Blaster for the multiple projectile weapons built into the armor, and Striker for the resin and web-like substances that were extruded by the armor. Chemical analysis shows that both substances were far stronger than naturally possible for any currently existing creature in the animal kingdom. A cross-reference of that analysis shows that the webs have more in common with carbon-nanotubes than with natural spider silk while the resin is more like some kind of cement than anything naturally produced." Armsmaster reported easily as Piggot nodded along, information flashing through her monitor as she brought it up in response, mostly to remind her of key points as she went along with the Tinker's report.
"And the tinkertech he was offering?" Armsmaster seemed to pause in consideration as he seemed to gather his thoughts before speaking.
"I'm not a Biotinker, Director, so I'm afraid that such things are not my area of expertise. However, I can say that I ran the basic facts I have by Dragon and she agreed that, if it worked as described, we could be looking at the beginnings of a truly universal medicine. Currently, our best guess is that Dreadnaught might be looking at a early stage prototype of finished mark one design, but if either are even remotely as capable as we predict, then we cannot afford to let this one go, Director. The advantages alone, it would be game changing, especially if we have it in the field to use in case someone falls into a critical condition with Panacea not reaching them in time." Armsmaster stated with full confidence as Piggot nodded in turn. The Director fully understood the implications and agreed, such a valuable material could not be allowed to slip through the fingers of the PRT and Protectorate, and Piggot would be damned if she allowed it to happen on her watch.
"The implications of such a resource are not lost on me, Armsmaster. For that reason, I want you to see what you can do to expedite testing of it. I don't care what you have to do to get it done, so long as you do so. If you have to call in others to assist you, then please, do so. When it comes to the final trials of the material in question, we could probably speed things up further by having Panacea present to check the work it does. If that doesn't get it green-light for mass production, then I don't know what will." Piggot responded even as Armsmaster nodded and turned to leave, recognizing the dismissal for what it was as he turned to leave, already probably considering the most efficient methods of testing the new materials to the absolute extreme in the shortest possible amount of time.
Then again, Piggot could hardly blame him, her own memories providing her with reminders of situations where such a miracle product could have saved lives...
XXX
Slipping through the door of the Hospital, Glory Girl smiled as she saw her sister already there, waiting for her as she walked briskly towards the woman known as the world's best Healer before wrapping her arms around the woman in question and holding tight, careful not to let her strength get out of hand.
"Hey Ames!" Glory Girl remarked excitedly as she nearly bounced on the spot with the news that she now had, thinking that it would mean the world to her sister. The Healer smiled at the contact, leaning slightly into the touch of her sister as the Aura washed over the both of them even as she wrapped her arms around her sister in turn.
"Hey Vicky, how have things been? Anything interesting happen while you were out?" Amy asked as she reluctantly pulled away from her sister's warmth and stood before her sister, who smiled widely in turn with a half-hearted shrug even as they started walking out the door.
"Not much, was mostly quiet today." Vicky said, trying to seem coy as she smiled widely even as Amy narrowed her eyes in response to the attempt, far too used to her sister's antics to be fooled for a moment.
"'Mostly'?" Panacea asked with a raised eyebrow before Vicky smiled widely, her hands up in mock surrender.
"Ok! Ok! I'll share!" She said with an exaggerated motion even as Amy crossed her arms over and stared her sister down in silence as Vicky scratched the back of her head nervously.
"Ok... Uh, so, I was doing a petrol of Downtown when I heard something happening, figuring I should look into it, I saw one of Squealer's junk heaps beside an upturned Medhall truck, probably trying to steal the shipments in it or something, I don't know." Vicky said with a sigh. Amy nodded and gestured for her to continue, knowing that something else had probably happened, if only due to the sheer amount of effort that she was putting into evading her sister's attention.
"Ok, so I got there to stop them after flying at full speed, dropped down, ready for a fight, only to find them already taken care of. A new Cape had beat me to the punch and had already taken out Squealer and Skidmark, plus a few dozen Merchants, and literally gift wrapped them for Armsmaster and the PRT." Vicky finished with a sheepish look to her face as she itched her cheek a bit with a bright smile even as Amy nodded with a pleasant look to her face. Internally, she let go of any worries she might have had for the day, glad she wouldn't need to bail her sister out from a near-death for someone that she attacked with a flying tackle.
Again.
"A new Cape?" Amy asked, her words loaded with questions as Vicky nodded happily as they moved along at a sedate pace.
"Yeah, big guy who said his name was Dreadnaught. I caught him when he was munching on a piece of metal that he'd ripped out of Squealer's mobile junkyard. He was pretty damn big, too. Well over six foot, and then some, and looked like someone crossed a lizard with a crow and made it stand on two legs, plus a few dozen extra eyes, spikes and what looked like plates of bone. Guy was also packing some serious power behind him, too." Vicky remarked with a casual ease born of someone that had lived as a Cape for most of her live, completely unfazed by the bizarre nature of some powers. Amy nodded at that, cupping her chin in thought at that before asking her own question in turn.
"So... He's some kind of Changer? A Case 53?" Amy asked, getting a shake of the head in turn as Vicky smiled slightly.
"Nope!" Vicky exclaimed happily as she popped the 'p' before continuing. "Armsmaster asked him what his powers were, Dreadnaught said he was a cross between Tinker and some kind of Striker or Shaper. The best part is that he's a Bio-Tinker with an ability to manipulate any kind of flesh but Human flesh." Amy heard that and nearly skipped a step at that as her eyes shot wide at hearing that. Vicky could guess what she was thinking, especially due to just how rare heroically-inclined Bio-Tinkers were, mostly due to the heavy restrictions that the PRT and Protectorate often placed on any Tinker or Cape with the ability to even remotely interact with the Human body. Even then, Vicky knew Dreadnaught was more or a Rogue than anything else, with slight Heroic leanings.
If he was out and about, and saw a crime in progress, he'd help, but unless he saw something, he'd do nothing. Not something she fully agreed with, mind, but something that she could grudgingly understand. Still, as she spoke, She grinned widely as she came to the best part.
"Anyway! After the fight was finished, Dread talked with Armsmaster and asked about having some tech of his tested before he started making it in large amounts, the technical stuff flew right over my head, but the best I figured, he wanted to make some kind of healing cream or something like that. Said it was base off stem cells and some kind of bacteria I can't even pronounce." Vicky said with a grin as she saw Amy pause in her step, eyes suddenly going very wide as she looped an arm around her sister's shoulder and pulled her close.
"You know what that means, right Ames?! You won't need to work so hard! You can relax!" The Brute offered with a jubilant smirk at the thought, finally being able to get her sister to relax for a change as she pulled her sister closer as Panacea came closer in turn, wrapping arms around the blonde girl and burying her face in her shoulder and long hair.
"... I'd... I'd like that..." Amy managed out with a slight smile even as tears of despair and joy intermingled as she tried to balance her self-imposed duty against her need to make her sister happy, something that was difficult to consider, but she finally decided that duty could take a backseat for a change once this material proved itself. If it worked as advertised, then Panacea already fully planned to thank this 'Dreadnaught' for all he did.
Maybe he could make better use out of the power they seemed to share than she could, certainly, it sounded that he was already off to a better start than she was...
XXX
Awareness came back to me in an instant as I felt the rush of liquid rushing away from my body even as I felt needles pulling free from my skin even as I twitched and felt my muscles contract and my brain itch and spike with pain as the new additions slotted into place. Neural rewrites meant that I could use the new abilities I now had as if I had been born with them, but that didn't help the fact that the changes still needed to settle, especially given the sheer length and breadth of the changes I had undergone in order to make it all work. The membrane me chose that moment to unseal, causing the remaining liquid to suddenly rush out from around me as I grimaced in slight pain and reacted with a speed that shouldn't have been possible for a, relatively, normal Human. I landed easily and jumped to my feet without issue, a headache raging in the core of my brain, but something I was used to from a lifetime of dealing with such things via just bearing through it. Looking down, I looked at my hands and saw the difference immediately.
For one thing, I was no longer a skinny as hell bastard with more flab than anything else. My arms were well muscled with a solid definition, looking like they were primed for use rather than for display like those of a body-builder. Looking down, I saw my abs and felt a grin stretch across my face as I saw the six-pack that was now present to replace what had originally been a mini-keg. Still, pushing such thoughts away, I moved passed the superficial differences between how I looked and how I now looked and found myself grinning like a loon as the options registered in the back of my mind. There was no discomfort at having them, it was like a sheathed blade that was always there, a comforting weight that was always present as I reached for one and slowly drew it from my mind.
Within a moment, I felt my skin tingle as I looked to my left hand and saw sparks dancing across my skin and between my fingers for a moment even as claws extended from my hand and the flesh of my forearm changed as I tapped into a few more changes. Thick hide and scales suddenly covered my arm as claws over five centimetres long slowly grew from the newly enlarged limb even as I watched them grow. I smirked as the dark hide finished growing as I flexed the new muscles and allowed myself to feel proud at what I had done, even with the consideration of just how stupid it had been.
Then again, I was a fan of the old saying: "If it's stupid, but it works, then it's not stupid."
A thought, and the changes reverted a second later as I suddenly found myself with a normal limb once more. My grin didn't move a nanometre as I saw that happen, the success of what I had done and the feelings of pride I got from knowing that it had worked were all I needed to know even as I worked through the pain. Said pain was growing less and less pronounced with each passing moment as I took fresh steps into the world without difficulty.
Moving to the edge of my lab, I pressed a point on the wall and watched as muscles shifted to reveal the passage beyond and my Host Armor awaiting me as I smirked widely. I didn't have anything else to do, especially with the Medical Fluid still being distilled and the sample for the PRT not being ready for another day, at the least.
... Stretching my legs sounded like a good idea, along with a rather nice flight.
XXX
Swooping through the sky was something I was rapidly coming to enjoy as I banked sharply and turned before diving through the clouds and diving for the deck, my wings tucking in as I suddenly headed for the surface of the bay before flaring my wings wide. The sudden pressure and G-forces being put on me should have caused me to black out, I felt them hitting my body, yet there was no creeping darkness at the edge of my vision, not feeling of being about to black out and certainly no feeling of fear as I felt completely in control. Thoughts turned into actions faster than I thought possible before they shifted, my wings making minor corrections as I suddenly spun around and flew along the surface of the dark water. Moonlight bounced off the water as a trail of it was left in the air behind me, pulled up by my sudden passage and disrupted further by the Bio-thrusters hidden between the feathers of my wings. Another thought and a shift of weight before I suddenly tipped one way before tipping the other in a lazy swaying motion even as my wing tips touched the surface of the water, easily slipping through the resistance offered by the water even as I moved onwards without difficulty.
I felt the splash of water even as wind shot by me, I felt it rushing by my face, over my body and along my legs, the connection to my Host Armor ensuring that I was completely aware of everything around me as I banked sharply again before twisting in and flapping my wings again, gaining altitude just as I neared the Docks and pulled up before spreading my wings again, further this time. The massive surface area acting like a massive airbrake as my feet touched the ground without pause even as they tucked away behind me.
Across the reptilian face of my Host Armor, I was sure one could have seen the massive smirk that was an exact copy of the one that crossed my face as I stretched out, feeling the changes, even the initial benefits of having not trained them were impressive. The changes had been extensive, but worth it as I felt my armor far better than I thought possible, a connection between myself and the Host Armor that meant we might as well have been one and the same, a man and his horse, as it were.
Still, for all that, I couldn't wait to consider what to do once I got home, the ideas already flowing as I wondered what to train first. Should I train my ability to project Lightning and create Bio-Force Fields first? Should I train my Metamorphic abilities first and then train with all my current Forms? Should I train my reflexes and gain better control of my body now that it basically ran on fibre-optic wires? The chose were multitude as I considered each of them even as I turned and looked back out at the calm water of the bay.
The scene was one of serenity, a false calm that could have reflected the city rather well at the current moment; calm until something caused a ripple, creating a tidal wave once it had sufficient chance to grow. The end result of a dozen fights between capes of one side or another had ensure that violence was always present, merely hiding under the surface, waiting for a chance. Still, it was nice to enjoy...
... For a moment.
A growl suddenly filled the air behind me as I suddenly became aware of the fact I wasn't alone as I cursed myself for not noticing sooner. Superior abilities didn't mean that I could let my guard down, especially not to admire the background, and certainly not in Brockton Bay, because Brockton Bay clearly couldn't have nice things...
I turned to look over my head just as a pair of monster dogs the size of a bus stepped into the light, their bodies covered in spikes and thick plates of bio-armor even as drool dripped from their muzzles before I looked beyond them to see a figure behind them, a person wearing thick clothing, a ragged hoodie with a corner-store dog mask of a growling bulldog with a spiked collar.
It didn't take a genius to figure out who the figure was.
"Brutus! Angelica! Hurt!" The person I assumed to be Bitch shouted.
... So much for a quiet evening...
XXX
AN: So... What do you think?