A/N: So, this is a worm/oc fic with powers taken from reddit. Basically some posts on r/makeyourchoice about these three fantasy groups were so interesting I wanted to do something with their powers, but not necessarily the full oc setting they described. In the oc a person has to choose one powerful being to accept power from, choosing one power, flaw, and skill, but I can never make decisions so I combined them into three powers. So, I have the typical worm/SI with OP powers. The only difference is knowing whatever choice you make the other two will be chosen by others. Three new capes dropped onto Earth Bet, incentivized to hunt each other down. There can be only one.
/t/cyoa/wDadILk
/t/cyoa/5Wg5U4S
/t/cyoa/d9zL6Fr
(This is my first fic. It's not supposed to be good)
Lung was snarling, "...the children, just shoot. Doesn't matter your aim, just shoot. You see one lying on the ground? Shoot the little bitch twice more to be sure. We give them no chances to be clever or lucky, understand?"
And that means the swarm is about 30 seconds from dropping. I think from where I'm standing in an alley near Lung's inspirational speech.
Though if the other two are smart they might intervene to change the course of events. At least whoever the Guardian is should want to. The General of Darkness may want to let it play out like canon.
There are three of us. I don't know anything about what the other two are like beyond a single data point. If they're like me then they were living normal lives before being ripped out of reality into a spiraling corridor of non-space that had either too many or not enough dimensions. At least I hope I wasn't the only one who had to go through that. I ….landed? I woke up in the middle of a street in a city I didn't recognize. I had to find a library to confirm what I suspected, and yeah, different earth. I was actually relieved. You do not pass through dimensions and end up where you began unless it was the drug-trip kind of dimensions. No, I really had fallen through a hole in reality and wound up on a different planet. Even stranger, I recognized what world I was on within a single google search. The word 'parahumans' in a serious news headline was a clear giveaway. I was on earth Bet.
Now, I don't blame you if you imagine this is where I break down in hysterics, as any sane person would upon learning they just landed on a death world with a short fuse. So then why couldn't I help the grin breaking out on my face as I opened up PHO on the library computer? Why couldn't I stop this giddy feeling bubbling up as I began looking for threads on local capes and events. I was aware at that point that my reactions were not making sense, so I pushed away the inexplicable excitement and closed my eyes to focus myself internally.
Okay. I'm on Earth Bet. And…that's a good thing?
And as soon as the question formed in my mind the answer was there. I don't know how, because I can't remember learning the information, it just felt certain in my mind.
I was a cape.
Or I would be when I went out as one. I had powers. Not parahuman ones, much, much better ones. It was so insane I burst out laughing like a weirdo, earning some harsh looks from other library patrons. I pulled my reactions back in but internally, I was screaming.
Of all the fucking things that a power could be, I did not anticipate stealing from Reddit.
There were these posts I liked to scroll through that were like a choose your own adventure path through fictional worlds. The kind of thing that asked you to choose a superpower from a list, or the one that got viral briefly where it was a bunch of characters like Batman and the Terminator and the Predator and others with the prompt; 'Choose two to defend you, the others will hunt you.' That one was an excellent ground for debates, though thankfully the ones in my life did not escalate to the level they did with the 'fight 1 horse sized duck or 100 duck sized horses' debate. That one got ugly. But anyway those posts usually had decent fantasy artwork and were interesting world building. I loved seeing different power systems and rules set in different worlds. Now I had the powers out of one of those fantasy worldbuilding threads.
It was one of the more interesting ones at least, but the laugh had burst out of me in the quiet library because I just could not get over the fact that I had reddit powers, even if they were overpowered.
The original posts were three separate options to join in on a dimensional war in a fantasy setting. You could choose to join the Guardians defending their world from an invading force, and you would take on the abilities of one of the Guardians to fight in the war against the forces of darkness. You could also join the invading force, taking on the abilities of one of the generals. And finally there were the Free Agents, who gave out power and let their followers join either side of the conflict. That was the basis of my power. Our power, if the frustrating not-memory data in my head was right about there being two more. One Guardian. One General of Darkness. And one Free Agent.
That last one was me. When I focused inwards I could see a space like an empty room. No… not empty. Picture a room where you stand in a spotlight, you can't see the walls or ceiling in the shadows past the light. But when you step closer to the edge of the light you can make out shapes just outside the circle. At a cursory glance I'd say they looked like altars, and I have no idea why that word popped into my mind first considering one of them just looks like a a modem tower and one is literally just a storefront, like a counter with a register that looks like a cashier just stepped away. I knew exactly what they were. These were the powers I could receive, and the source of my unquenchable excitement.
I didn't just have the options from the original chyoa. I had access to any of the options for my faction, each powerset was a 'mantle' I could don at will. I knew that I could only hold one mantle at a time, at least at first. My not-memories were certain that my reach would grow in time. I had a feeling that the power-granted information was really going to get on my nerves after a while. I couldn't get this info before landing on earth Bet? Or just have a normal memory that doesn't hurt my head to think too deeply about? Whatever, I only had one more piece of information. I was pretty sure that the other two sides of the chyoa had a person too. All three of us got dropped into Brockton Bay on the first day of canon, sometime tonight Skitter would make her debut stopping Lung from killing the Undersiders. So not only did I have to consider what I wanted to do, I had to try to predict the actions of someone who chose to be a Guardian and someone who chose to be a General of Darkness.
Wait….Chose? What's with this chose bullshit? I didn't choose anything, I just got stuck with the information after the fact. Did the other two actually choose their sides? What after light and dark get chosen does someone just get stuck with the third party option?
.
.
.
And no new information from my dumb annoying power. Stupid fucking brain, I'm definitely punishing you with liquor after Lung.
Okay so the point is there is a Guardian and a Dark General out there in the city with their own version of powers but probably the same information I have. I glanced around but I doubted either one had the same idea to use the library. Unless they were an old woman or a mother on her phone while her daughter is working through a coloring book. So they must have gone somewhere else to prepare. We all had to kill time until tonight, I wonder how they're spending it
I was really waiting for the Guardian to show up. If he was hanging back for a good moment to move now is it. She's heard him order his men to kill children and unless someone steps in…
And the swarm drops on the entire block. Lung and all his men are surrounded by a thick cloud of biting, stinging bugs. The sound is unreal, I'm surprised I could faintly hear the screaming of Lung's men. With a sigh, I step out of the alley into the swarm. I turn to where I remember seeing the crowd of thugs and can hear their screams echoing from. This many bugs have a fucking weight to them, like walking into strong winds, but I walk calmly. I'm getting attacked as much as any of the ABB since I don't think Taylor can sense through her swarm well enough to distinguish me from the normal thugs. I ignored the bites and stings, even they will become part of my strength. I can see orange flashes through the swarm ahead, Lung blasting at the swarm. For the moment I aimed to skirt around Lung to reach where his men were being cocooned. I knew that all the really venomous bugs were being focused on Lung, which will cause him to-
*Fwooooom!*
Lung explodes in a ball of fire ten feet across, sending some of his men flying and clearing part of the swarm. My visibility improved as he lashed out with more fire and more bugs were diverted to distract him. This was when the new arrivals made themselves known.
"You've gone far enough, Lung! This day you're going to the birdcage or you're going down!" Someone further up the street just on the other side of the swarm from me shouted in a voice that must have been impressive as it could barely be heard. The swarm falls silent, like all at once, and man is that creepy. The swarm parts as Skitter allows this new player to be seen.
He's standing at least seven feet tall in a suit of armor that looks vaguely Roman I think? I've never been great with history. The point was he had a full suit of armor with a sword at his side, and he looked like he had been a hero for years. I instantly knew I was looking at the Guardian in the mantle of the legendary commander. That would mean his armor and weapon would be vaguely magical, but still nowhere near capable of stopping Lung. Even his impressive 7ft frame was losing ground to Lung, who was mostly covered in silver scales and standing over eight feet tall at the moment. With every exhale fire crackled in his mouth and around his hands. The air around him shivered in heat distortions. And the longer they waited the bigger he would get.
" 'OO ARR 'OU?" Lung roars out in nearly intelligible gibberish.
"I am Guardian, and with the help of the hero who slowed you down with the swarm, I'm taking you down!"
Yep, that voice can sure project. Is it as obvious to everyone else as it seems to be for me that he's over-projecting on purpose? He's obviously decided that making Taylor's first cape outing firmly heroic will bring her to his side the quickest. Well at least I won't have to remember a new name.
"Wait! Hold up, just wait a minute!" A much smaller voice interrupts from the other end of the street further back past my position. Both Lung and Guardian turn to look past me at the new speaker, ignoring me for the moment.
We all looked to see a man of normal height in a black cowled robe hunched forwards, his hands on his knees as he wheezed for air.
"Hah. Hah. Hah. Had to run here, no brute or mover powers on this one yet. Fuck me, I'm totally late aren't I? Alright first thing's first don't listen to a thing this asshole says!" The newcomer shouts as he straightens, pointing at one of the capes standing in the street.
"Wha- Hey why are you pointing at me!?" Guardian yells.
"He's gonna talk about heroes and try to trap you into a job with the establishment. But the PRT and the Protectorate are corrupt as shit! They let this city become a shithole on purpose, as part of some 'greater good' fucked up scheme. That's not even getting into how they've fucked you over in particular!" The newcomer continues shouting into the air with only a vaguely upward direction. I was almost against my will a little impressed with the audacity to start a sales pitch in the middle of a fucking battlefield parley.
"Stop trying to corrupt a young hero!" Guardian shouts back at the new guy. I caught glimpses of his face as he glanced around, talking to the still swarm, and I saw his lower face covered by a black cloth but light glinted off a small faceted stone protruding from his forehead. So, I know he's using the obsidian monolith.
"Stop trying to indoctrinate a young independent into being a tool of the state that destroyed her city and perpetuated her personal torment, leading her to trigger!"
At this all the silent watching bugs of the swarm break out into a cacophonous buzzing roar for a moment before falling silent again, like control had momentarily slipped.
"Don't talk about people's triggers! It's rude!" Guardian is starting to sound more than a little petulant. However, someone else was much more petulant at being ignored. So Lung expressed his displeasure by exploding.
I was far enough away at this point that I wasn't directly caught in the fire. I was quickly and methodically looting the pockets of ABB who were brought down either by the swarm or Lung's less-than-friendly fire.
Guardian dives out of the way of the wall of fire, rolling and when he regains his feet his form instantly shifts to a much smaller normal human frame. In the next heartbeat his form balloons out again into something like the build of a brown bear. Fur rapidly sprouts all over his body as claws burst out from his fingertips and his musculature ripples as it reforms his body. A third heartbeat, and Guardian in his frenzied behemoth form pounces on Lung, pushing through the flames with speed.
Meanwhile Darkness, who I will be calling such until they actually name themself, has caught the wave of fire on a shield of black light.
"I just want to talk to you. Not every hero is pure, I just wanted to explain to you how the whole 'hero' 'villain' labels aren't the only measure of a cape." Darkness calls out to her as he begins launching blasts of black fire and beams the color of an oil slick at Lung.
I'm using this time to move around the edges of the fight. The two idiots haven't noticed me at all, and Lung seems to have dismissed me as unpowered. I glance down at myself and have to admit it's not a poor assessment. Guardian and Darkness both got costumes with their mantles, or a changer state in Guardian's current case. Their powers came prepackaged to make them look like capes. I was in jeans and a white undershirt, my identity protected only by a black bandanna around the lower half of my face. No cool appearance change for me, at least not with my current mantle. Still, a normal human form means I can quietly slip over to the fire escape leading to the roof a young swarm-controller was hiding on. She was watching me warily as I crested the edge of the building. A thick cloud of bugs took up the corner of the building around her, I'm sure a select group of the best bugs. I slowly raise my arms only holding something visibly too small to be a weapon.
"Hello. I'm also an independent. You don't know me, but I know the two who have already tried to talk you into joining them on your first night out. There's some information you should be aware of before they talk you into anything." Then I hold out my hand palm up, displaying a flashdrive. After a long moment of silence the swarm moved. It passed over my hand in a thick cloud, and receded with the flashdrive.
"You're an independent?" She quietly asks with a bit of doubt.
"We don't all have spiders to weave our suits for us. Later." And, having said everything I needed to, I took a running leap off the building.
Like I said, I have no idea what Guardian and darkness did with their day waiting for this fight to happen, but I was busy preparing. For me that meant assembling information on a stolen flash drive that had all the corruption landmines in the PRT, including the reason her highschool looked the other way with her near-murder, along with a breakdown of who likely knows in the chain of command. The drive outlines potential actions that she could take depending on how she wanted to react, with potential consequences as well. It had similar information on the Undersiders and their mystery boss Coil and finally, the two new guys who were likely to try to recruit her using this information to manipulate her. Hope she has fun with that.
Anway, once I had typed all of that up in the library I still had like nine hours to travel twelve blocks. With nothing to do but kill time I obviously spent it training my new mantle abilities. For the most part I needed combat to do that, but any challenge could induce some growth. I spent nearly nine hours practicing parkour, so when I jumped off that rooftop, I descended the side of the building down into an alley. The moment my feet hit pavement I was running towards where Lung was still being mauled by a behemoth Guardian. Though as I watched, Guardian seemed to freeze. He had been a blur of claws and teeth moving too fast to make out, one that Lung could only weather as his growth slowed, but didn't stop, under the strain of regenerating from the shredding creature. Guardian stood, trembling, audibly heaving for breath.
It seems like he's hit the time limit on his frenzy state. That can't have been a full minute, the limit must be so short because it's the first day he has these powers, probably the first time he's even used that mantle.
The bear-like Guardian popped back into his human size as he released the behemoth's mantle. I'm sure this is where he intended to switch to a different mantle, but what actually happened is he stood there in his human shape (He had a ski mask, jeans and a t-shirt), closed his eyes and appeared to look constipated for about ten seconds.
He…he can't use any mantle. He tried to switch out to avoid the behemoth's cooldown but it still hit him.
I swore and pulled one of the handguns I stole from a downed ABB member and started shooting towards Lung as I ran.
"Hey, wait a minute. Only I'm allowed to kill that idiot!" Darkness shouts and throws up a barrier of black light, catching a blast of fire from cooking the helpless Guardian. Lung was now at least twelve feet tall and with a long tail whipping about. He ignored the gunfire and black flames Darkness was throwing at him and wound up to punch the barrier of black light. Cursing like a creative sailor, Darkness steps closer towards the pair of Lung and Guardian, and shifts something in his power. It was a visual distortion gone so quick it was like a flash, but it seemed like for an instant the crystal shard marking his forehead became a void that erased light. When he stepped to within a few yards of Lung, the giant half lizard man did something unexpected.
He shrank a foot and a half.
This gets his attention. Darkness starts hurriedly retreating and throwing up barriers, but Lung is smashing through them easily. Before he can reach Darkness, The form of Guardian trying to discreetly slip away flickered into an eight foot tall blue-skinned man adorned in far too much gold and jewels to count. I could see he even had gold woven into his beard. The blue man gave a tremendous laugh and darted into the sky. Lung gives an annoyed snarl and turns to the more available annoyance. Darkness is still doing a fighting retreat, but as long as he's in range Lung isn't growing, and as long as Lung isn't growing he is going to do nothing but try to kill the trump causing it. Fortunately for said trump, I had reached them and was there to draw attention.
Lung had been ignoring my sporadically aimed fire, so this time I aimed at his face from near point blank and unloaded the clip. I threw down the weapon and dove away from a cone of fire at least ten feet across that singed my legs as I passed. I pulled out the second of the two guns I had taken from the ABB nearby, along with the largest knife I could find among them. I knew it would do almost nothing to Lung and probably bounce off his scales, but that wasn't the point.
With a roar, Lung charges me faster than anything that big should be able to move. I was thankful for my practice with parkour as I leap with all my strength over Lung's charge. Passing within inches of Lung was like standing in front of a blast furnace, but the baking heat wasn't the only thing I felt.
All of the powers I and those other two have, at least in the original description, are built to grow through combat, and more specifically, danger. Shooting at Lung had been part of combat and counted as experience, but I could feel the growth of my power really kick into gear when I closed the distance with Lung. My strength and agility were probably rising faster than Lung's normal growth, though even slowed by Darkness he was still far stronger than us. Right now I was only an annoyance to Lung, but my strength was growing with every clawed hand I dodged. I was actually managing to kite Lung because my speed kept increasing just enough to dodge. After I slipped under another grab and hopped over Lung's tail-sweep, my hand holding the stolen knife whipped out at Lung's neck. A tremendous clang sounded and I was left holding a handle with the blade snapped off near the hilt. It must have angered Lung though, as instead of turning to direct a blast of fire he just resorted again to bursting out a wave of fire all around his body.
I had been standing in Lung's heat distortion for probably 30 seconds by now, but this was the first fire that hit me directly. I have to fall back and pat several spots on my shirt and old jeans to stop them from catching flame. I was hurt, I likely had fairly bad burns on most of my body. Lung likely would have used the opportunity to end me while I was making sure my hair didn't catch fire, but Guardian was still using hit and run tactics against Lung. He was flying past faster than could be seen and the evidence of his passes were building up. The pavement around Lung was scored with dozens of thin lines, new ones splitting the asphalt with each blue blur ripping past. The wind blades did very little, and I don't think were even piercing his scales anymore, but the ornate golden dagger in Djinn's hand was opening small wounds with each pass.
All three of us hear the sound of a motorcycle approaching. Sometime while we were fighting the swarm had retreated from the block, leaving us in the relative quiet of the angry wildfire that is a fighting Lung. With the knowledge that backup was almost here Guardian and I gave one last push to keep Lung pinned down. I toss aside my broken knife and dive towards Lung one last time. He's running hotter than ever, the heat rippling the air so great I could note the asphalt slowly growing softer beneath his clawed feet. I don't know how long I could fight through heat like that but I only needed a few seconds. I wouldn't have been able to move around Lung if we were the same size, but Lung had grown big enough that my human form was tiny next to him. I was hyper-focused on Lung, tracking his every movement and detail, so I was only vaguely aware of when Armsmaster fired a tranq dart at Lung's back where it bounced off his metallic scales. Time seems to slow for an instant. I can see the Djinn Guardian racing in, Armsmaster firing another dart, and the fire rolling off of Lung. The bastard was going to explode again to knock the tranq away. I pull together the last of my strength, focused with all of the pain in my screaming body. I launched the biggest haymaker I could muster aimed directly at Lung's center of mass. The rolling tongues of flame that covered him seemed to bend out of the path of my fist. I struck right into the center of Lung's sternum and I'm sure surprised him greatly by doing one thing I hadn't managed in the entire short conflict: I moved him.
Not much, but the force of my punch sent the twelve foot tall Lung skidding back a few inches, maybe half a foot. This put him perfectly in the path for the passing Djinn's golden dagger to open a line through the scales over Lung's shoulders. A line that started to close immediately, but not before Armsmaster could make use of the opportunity with another three tranq rounds. There were more shouting and guttering bouts of fire, but Lung quickly started staggering. Within moments he hits the ground and begins slowly shrinking. I stood panting beside his fallen body. Walking up to us was Armsmaster in all his power armor - halberd - beardy style. Swooping down to join us almost soundlessly is the eight foot blue form of the Djinn, who immediately puffed away to just the human-sized form of Guardian in jeans, a t-shirt, and a ski mask. Darkness had withdrawn from the battle just before Armsmaster arrived so he was gone, or more likely meeting with the Undersiders. Fuck this is not a meeting I wanted to make tonight.
With the adrenaline from battle beginning to fade I was increasingly aware of the tremendous number of serious injuries I was sporting. My entire body was for sure covered in at least 1st degree burns. My arms in particular are probably far worse, my knuckles where I punched Lung were absolutely disgusting and I didn't know enough about medicine to say more than that. The worst burns along with a pain on inhales that I knew meant broken ribs were screaming at me louder with each passing moment. I haven't even been paying attention to what Armsmaster and Guardian have been saying, I think they've already exchanged greetings.
Fuck this. I start to slowly shuffle away with the intention of figuring out my lodgings for the night and hopefully longer. That seemed to alarm Halbeard, though I'm pretty sure Guardian was indifferent. What the fuck is he saying? I shook my head briefly and began to focus. The pain of my injuries and aftereffects of combat were pushing me into shock. But my will was unshakeable, and my strength rose to meet any challenge. Keeping my eyes focused and my mind centered on the man's words was a challenge. A tremendous effort after fighting someone so far above my strength level. But effort, pain, and an impossible challenge were exactly the environment my power needed to grow. I gathered myself to deal with Halbeard.
"...- not be moving. You have been severely injured and will only injure yourself more by moving around. Emergency services are en route, please wait for the ambulance, I need to secure Lung."
I had to cough and spit what I'm guessing was mostly blood before I could speak.
"Call Panacea." I grunt at him.
"You'll likely be taken to Brockton General. If there are no other emergency triage patients you'll likely see Panacea there shortly."
"Not for me. Your tinkertech sedatives worked knocking Lung out. Great! But with his regeneration knocked out too, all the venom in his blood is about to hit him. Before you got here there was another hero that slowed Lung down, some bug controller. Whatever they hit him with is still in his system, if you wait to call Panacea he'll have bits rotting off."
He stares at me for a long moment as if reading something, then his jaw tightens.
"Just because you think you understand how tinker tech works-" He begins but I was far beyond having any of this tonight. In an instant my face changes. Nothing has changed, but everything is different as I fix Armsmaster with a gaze of such fixed intensity that the words die in his throat. Armsmaster glares at me for a while but then turns away and makes a call on his radio. I sat down on the curb to wait and lost track of time.
"Do I have your permission to heal you?" The bored and vaguely annoyed tone startled me into focus.
"Huh? Oh….can I make a weird request?"
She had already been reaching for my arm when she froze.
"I don't take requests. If you have things you want to change focus on surviving the night, then hire a plastic surgeon." She says.
"No. This is about power interaction." She looks at me like she's beginning to actually focus on me. I continue, "I'm an adaptive trump-brute. If your healing is going to erase the gains from these injuries I'll pass."
Panacea frowns at me.
"Those are third degree burns on both your arms. Just those alone will likely kill you from infection if I leave them."
"Look, I have more than one way to heal. Check me out, and do whatever you need to make sure I survive tonight. If your healing undoes my brute rating I'll take care of the rest, nothing to worry about." I tell her, offering my slightly less burnt hand. She looks extremely dubious, and I'm reminded again of my need for a real cape costume. But she shrugs with a look of 'I'm too tired to deal with this bullshit' and takes my hand.
"Third degree burns on both arms, worst on left hand. Three broken ribs, four broken fingers and one toe. Torn ligaments, bruising, and lower degree burns pretty much everywhere." She says while staring into the middle distance. I can feel when she begins making changes, and I snatch my hand away from her.
"That's enough. Thanks, but I'll be taking care of the rest myself."
I could feel that the changes she had made essentially reverted the tissue to baseline human. I had the certainty of my instinctual power understanding that my cracked ribs would heal stronger, and my burned hands would grow better skin if only left alone. Panacea protests but no matter what she says I won't let her touch me again. I leave while Guardian is still talking with Halbeard, but I left a business card with Panacea.
Yeah, I was tempted to go with another custom information-bomb flash drive, but I seriously doubt Panacea would have even looked at something a patient tried to give her. She'd have nodded to my face and trashed it the moment I left because she was sure it was another mixtape or something. The card was a foot in the door for future conversations, and was already an account on PHO as an unverified parahuman. I made sure to lock down my name before I left the library.
The Free Agent
I was meditating in some shithole abandoned warehouse in the docks. I learned so much about my powers in that single fight. Thanks to a kind of stupid hero I've seen four different mantles and had some of my suspicions confirmed. Guardian and probably Darkness too were switching out mantles as needed. Guardian started as the commander, then went behemoth to take Lung down quickly, and when that failed he used the Djinn to escape. It's about what I expected them to do.
Now, for the obvious question. Why didn't I do the same?
There were definitely other mantles that could have handled Lung at least somewhat. I could have fought him at range, or just turned into a leviathan and trampled him. I don't think it would have hurt him, but I would have weathered his flames a lot better than my human form. But I chose to focus on only a single mantle, and I chose the one that didn't give me any sudden powers. I went into a battle with the dragon of Kyushu with the body of a normal human, at least at first. Now I was covered in agonizingly painful burns over most of my body. And I couldn't be happier.
I don't know if I was given a choice of the three factions that make up mine and the other two's power, but if I was I would have made the same choice in an instant. Each side had its good points, but out of all the altars to the strange and powerful beings that granted power, only one was priceless. One power, one mantle, that offered exactly no new magic, transformation, or ability. This mantle could barely be felt, and for the entire day leading up to fighting Lung I had been using it and couldn't even tell. This mantle offered no tricks. The mantle of the Free Man is so much more than that.
Under the mantle of the Free Man, my limits are removed. That's it. I didn't get the sudden super strength that Guardian had with the behemoth, but I have the capacity to grow stronger. In this world I guess I should think of it as a Trump-Brute effect. The Free Man starts off weaker than any other mantle, but the gains I made with it are permanent. The other two can switch out powers to fit a situation, until my reach grew to grasp a second mantle I wouldn't be exploring any of them, The Free Man was going to receive all of my attention.
So, meditation. I can feel the progress I've made just from that short fight, and the results were encouraging. An afternoon of parkour had given me more skill in the technique than a normal person could acquire, but did nothing to change my level of physical ability. I got in close to Lung at entirely human levels, and by the time Armsmaster dropped him I was at least a Brute 1-2. That kind of growth outweighed the tremendous stupidity of what I did in my opinion. I didn't let Panacea heal me because I could tell instantly that what she was doing was actually Undoing progress I had made. One of the strengths of the Free Man is the ability to grow from defeat. The burns that covered most of my body? Only make me stronger. Unless a well-meaning biokinetic undoes all the hard-earned injuries. No, I had meant what I told her: I'd handle it myself.
If I'm not switching out the mantle of the Free Man, the only way I could access the healing powers of the Life Warden's mantle is if I can grasp a second mantle. Now, this should have been impossible. The nature of our powers, our mantles, grows with time and experience. Our strength while using a mantle would grow, but also our capacity to grasp a mantle grows with time. I was sure that within weeks I could add a second mantle to my arsenal and really take off in the cape world, but there's no way that was happening on my first night on earth bet. No matter how much I focused I couldn't overcome the limits of time built into my power.
Except here's the thing. I had one mantle, and the powers of the Free Man are beyond broken. The growth just from my short fight with Lung put me in a low brute and mover category, and I used one of the perks during the fight. Two if I count 'What Does Not Kill Me', which was the whole reason I refused healing. The perk would do nothing to heal me, but it would make me heal back stronger. It means that every injury is another step forward. The whole point of the Free Man is unlimited potential for growth. That unlimited growth applied to more than just the strength of my body. Using a second mantle was impossible. But impossibilities are only obstacles to overcome for the Free Man. Absolute limitations that are walls to most people are just a wall to beat your head against until something breaks.
When something broke it inspired new insights into my abilities.
I didn't actually grasp a second mantle, I'm pretty certain that is impossible, but I discovered that I could access a small portion of another mantle's power if I used the reserve of strength the Free Man gifts me with 'Dig Deep'. I wasn't using any of the skills or perks and not even a fraction of the base powers, but for a few brief moments a shimmering light flickered weakly from my hands as my worst burns started to fade away. It was exactly as I had hoped, and this kind of healing didn't undo any of my growth. Actually, it would be accelerated. I grow back stronger whenever injured, and if I can heal rapidly then I've basically become a discount Crawler with none of the ugly. Score.
When I was healed enough to not look like a burn ward escapee I began making my way towards downtown. I still had to see about my living arrangements.
"I'm gonna need a shot glass and a bottle of tequila. It's been one of those days." I say as I take a seat at the corner of the bar, slapping three hundreds down on the bartender looked me over and reached for a bottle with no questions. That's diplomatic of her, to not tell me I looked like shit.
I may have tapped the limitless healing energy of the Life Bringer but I only managed the barest of healings. I was still worked over good: I had three broken ribs, some broken fingers, and some scarring on my forearms that are only mostly healed. My clothing was singed and bloodstained, and I'm absolutely certain that the bartender wouldn't have served me if she couldn't see my money. She returned with a bottle of some brand I didn't recognize, but once I cracked it open the smell that hit me made it clear this was the cheapest of bottom shelf tequila that could be found. Perfect.
"Do you want some like, limes and salt or whatever?" She asks.
"Huh? Oh yeah, that would be great thanks." I tell her then down my first shot. It's official. Shit tequila is constant across dimensions. I've downed three more before the bored bartender returns with a dish of lime wedges and a salt shaker.
"Much appreciated." I nod to her as I pour my fifth shot.
"It must have been some kind of day. Throwing it back like that." The bartender observes.
"Mhmm. Been one long clusterfuck of a day. And it's not even over yet. I shouldn't even be drinking. I've got a meeting shortly." I pick up one of the limes and bite into it.
"Meeting? You planning on meeting someone at the bar?" She asks.
"Actually," I tell her as I slide over an envelope. "I'm here to meet someone upstairs."
She looks at the word written on the front of the envelope and straightens, her whole demeanor changing. She hesitates, then turns and walks into the backroom, taking the envelope with her. I don't mind waiting, I'm pretty sure my alcohol tolerance was enhanced by my powers. Or maybe it was just making my liver stronger by poisoning it. Either way I was not feeling this tequila as much as I should have.
Ten minutes later I'm in Faultline's office sitting across from her impassive welder's mask.
"So you're a mercenary. That doesn't mean we're looking for new members. Why should I take you on? And how do I even know you're a cape?"
I sigh.
"This is gonna keep happening until I get a decent costume. I can demonstrate my powers for you, though not in your office. You won't be disappointed with the power I can bring to your team, especially once I get a better handle on these powers."
"How long have you had your powers?" She asks.
"About nineteen hours, thanks for asking."
"You just triggered today. And you what? Immediately got in a fight?" She gestures at my faded burns.
"Yesterday technically, and it's complicated, but that is the gist of it, yes. Besides my power, what I'm offering is information. If I join you I will tell you everything I know, and that could be very advantageous for you."
"You presume to know my business, and that your information is actually of value to me." She
replies in a cold tone.
I spread my arms placatingly.
"I offer two main subjects of information. The first is valuable to anyone in Brockton Bay, and I'm not the only one offering it. The second is of personal importance to your team, and I'm the only one who can offer it. If I'm wrong in my judgment I'll apologize for wasting your time and leave without protest." I waited a moment for her to react but I received nothing but a nod to continue.
"The first is new information for the city. I didn't just trigger, I cluster-triggered with two others, and I know their powers." Oh she reacted to that. Clusters could produce weak capes or dangerous messes, and Faultline's been in the business long enough to be wary of new unknowns.
"If you're telling the truth, that could end up being valuable information." She says.
"The second point is more tenuous, in that I have no way to prove it easily or quickly. It will be only my word, and I can understand not trusting the word of a stranger on nothing. You can treat it as complete fiction, but even trying to disprove it would be a direction you can take."
"Just get to what this supposed information is and let me make my own assessments."
"Alright. Your team is looking into Case-53s. I, as well as my other two cluster-mates, know the truth about what really happened to them. We know about Cauldron." At my final word Faultline showed more reaction than at anything else in the conversation. She took a long moment to silently gather herself.
"Not many people know that name. And the ones who do are never willing to talk about it." She says slowly.
"They use powerful precog to watch for their name being talked about. I'm a blindspot to thinker powers, but you saying the name out of my presence could be dangerous for your team in the long run."
"That, unfortunately, tracks with what little I've been able to learn about them."
After a moment she turned her attention fully on me, the blank welder's mask hiding what I was sure was an intense gaze.
"Why did you come to me?"
"I knew my information would be valuable to you. Plus my cluster… we got powers from a work of fiction from a different dimension. The 'good guy' was talking to the Protectorate when I last saw him, the 'bad guy' is almost certainly talking to the Undersiders, and that leaves me still looking for a place to sleep."
"If the other two are 'good' and 'bad' then what are you?"
"I'm exactly what I decided to name myself. I'm going the laziest route possible like the Protectorate's likely new member 'Guardian' and just naming myself after the source material. If the Undersiders show up with a new member named 'Darkness' then I won't have to learn any new names at all."
"Well…" She begins after a long silence. "I think pending many, many more in-depth conversations, I can offer trial membership, depending on how your information pans out and how well you fit in with the crew. Welcome aboard, Free Agent."
End of chapter 1