Eventually Narwhal pushed herself out of Adam's arms, the slow twirling and humming not distracting her from the recent terror of thinking him heavily damaged and possibly dying.
And then the questions.
Dragon was the first but certainly not the last. "Before anything else, what was this supposed threat and why did it require you to do... whatever it is you did?"
Adam fell back, blue flames supporting him as he relaxed on an invisible couch that rapidly formed from layers of Flame Metal. "Right, the important stuff. First, my biggest fear was becoming too important too quickly. If I began making impacts too large without defenses, certain forces would act against me."
He held up some fingers. "On a local level, the PRT and gang activity is closely connected. There are infiltration issues, between all gangs and all officials, some worse than others. If I set off any of these, it would not be a large issue personally, but it WOULD bring me to the attention of people more concerning."
Adam sighed. "Aside from more external gangs deciding to test me, recruit me, or deny me as an asset for others, the first threat to me was Mannequin."
Seriously, that guy was a jerk. An amazing tinker who specialized in self contained biological survival systems, his most relevant creation was himself. Each body part was now a modular self-supporting death machine, as cool and gross as it was, and allowed him to be very adaptable and durable.
Originally called 'Sphere', he tried to solve all the world's problems, creating drones to create shelters and habitats. His plan to create a moon base, a retreat for humanity, and was devastated when the Simurgh showed up... and destroyed his work, his children, his wife, and his dream.
In his madness he not only rebuilt his body into a monster but redesigned his philosophy as well. Now that he failed to help the world, no one would be allowed to try and succeed... so he hunted those who tried to help on a global scale, those who were independent and successful, those who were force multipliers like tinkers.
Basically, people like Adam.
Both girls shivered, while Nightmare Moon (having no context), had moved off and began researching on a system terminal generated via the hologram generators.
Adam sighed. "Honestly, even at my prior levels of ability he wasn't a real concern. My number one issue however was that any conflict with him or ANYONE else with powers was attracting the attention of the third Endbringer."
Seeing their wide eyes, he gave a grim nod. "This was why I spent so much time alone, away from crowds, and in my lab. It was why I didn't give away my inventions or plan instant release of our products, or began to give out similar abilities or skills. It was why I frantically tried to become as powerful as possible as efficently as I could."
He gave them both a serious look. "It is also why I hid major facts about how my powers operated and what scope my powers will eventually cover. Anything done in the presence of Parahumans or those who worked CLOSE to Parahumans could be easily passed on to the precognitive death angel."
Narwhal blinked as she dropped onto the (now solid) couch next to him. "Huh. So you don't gain new powers based on those you work with?"
Adam shrugged. "I can scan Parahumans to speed up the process or become more efficient or whatever sure. But that isn't the core of my power."
He leaned forward. "Every day I gain a power charge that can be used to gain a new ability or improve an existing one. If anyone found out before I could protect that information, a lot of people would have already attacked by now."
Narwhal blinked. "But... that is ridiculous. I've never heard of a power that flexible before. Heck, we thought you were going to be over powered back when the estimates said you would take twelve years to reach Triumvirate levels."
He nodded. "And that doesn't account for the charges I collected when I visited other realities this morning."
Nightmare Moon groaned and rested her head on the virtual hard light keyboard. "Adam, you CAN'T just drop informational bombshells like that. I thought you were going to warm up to the whole 'I sent my soul to other worlds' issue after you explained more." She sighed at his shrug.
Dragon broke the ensuing silence with a sigh. "Right... alright. The talking... unicorn?"
Nightmare Moon shrugged. "Alicorn. And you can call me Luna I suppose... I was once known by it."
Dragon nodded. "Thank you. Miss Luna has a point, but I feel you gave a good enough idea of why exactly you thought such a drastic action was needed... although we WILL come back to that." She took a calming a digital breath. "So, what have you done to address those issues?"
Adam leaned back. "Before I left, all my houses are made out of my material. In an extreme emergency they can all reform to protect or attack individuals within or nearby at will." His body flexed, blue flames drifting over his form. "I used to have a power called 'Fire Manipulation', but in the process of forming my new body I ended up spending a massive amount of power charges to get to 'Manipulation', which allows me to work with any material saturated with my power or magic."
He held up a fat ball of fire. "By the way, this is my magic. Not sure why it acts like this, but I can use all my abilities through them that I have tested so far like I had touch access."
His arm turned to blue fire and reformed. "I can now survive the entire destruction of my physical body even if trapped in a power nullification field. And I theoretically can capture the souls of those close to me and rebuild their bodies as well, although I have never tested it and it may require them accepting me as a religious icon."
His magical fires retreated, although a couple seemed to lick Narwhal's hand on the way back. "While the trip outside this reality was more painful than expected and took far too long in my opinion, I did gain the ability to make future trips far more safely and pain free, with digital or spiritual passengers."
Adam sighed. "I can also request certain things from my 'Transfer' ability, to find worlds with things, abilities, energies, or circumstances that would beneficial to me. It is... not entirely trustworthy but has been successful so far."
He held his palm up, a lump of blue fire rolling on it's back. "I originally used that request to find a way to protect myself and those I care for from the precognitive and postcognitive Endbringer. Magic is so outside her abilities that anyone or anything that tries to predict me or analyze me should throw errors. Really strange, unreliable issues... and thus decide to ignore me and those who interact too closely with me."
The flame slid down his arm as it soaked back in. "As far as I and the others can tell, it worked. And the process of traveling through the borders of reality had forced me to gain certain amounts of resistance to outside influence. Found some useful other abilities in the travel process too."
Narwhal's expression was... unexpected. There was a growing sign of horror. "Adam, you... you said you gain a new charge every day, right?"
He blinked. "Yes?"
She glanced at the flowing fire. "And you spent a lot on fixing your body... How... how long were you out there, trying to protect us?"
Adam jerked, Squishy frantically doing something. "Ah. I... I think... a half year or so? Maybe a year? A few months in Nightmare Moon's world, longer in the Inuyasha one so I could learn how to get home without much time passing."
A soft cough made the three look at the Alicorn. "Adam was in a lot of pain during his first journey through the Abyss. In our world, he absorbed a lot of Magic, which to someone with no control messed with his mind and libido. The second trip through the Abyss was far less damaging, but time acts strange there. The spiritual world had him take the form of a creature that exists outside of biology and science, and he spent a long time absorbing the power and information needed to come home."
She didn't look directly at Adam. "In reverse order, it took a week to come here, a little over eight months spent in the spiritual world, two months to travel from my world, where he spent a month and a half or so just trying to stabilize his system and calm his powers down."
Nightmare Moon looked Narwhal and Dragon in the eyes. "We didn't join him until just before leaving our world... but Squishy shared his memories of the first jump. It went badly."
Adam blinked. "How... badly?"
Squishy poked.
He paused. "Oh. That... that was pretty bad."
Narwhal gripped his hand a bit anxiously. "But you made it through, right?"
Adam ran his other shaking hand through his now shifting blue hair. "Right. Right. So." Deep. Calm. It happened, but it is over. "Right. Squishy said that initially, I had to spend a few charges just to keep my soul from dissolving. And that she couldn't even help me travel until I reached the point where the Abyss couldn't eat me quite so quickly."
His eyes blurred a little, but he wouldn't cry today. Even if some echos of something repressed had surfaced. "A... Apparently, she stopped counting new power charges after a few years. But eventually I was stable enough to began moving toward my destination, which turned out to be Equestria."
Dragon sat on his other side and held his shoulder in support.
He... calm. "Right. So, once I was stable enough to travel, it only took fifteen years to reach the boundary to the world of Equestria. Give or take a few months. I... I guess that is why it took so long to heal once I arrived."
Nightmare Moon was kind enough to pretend to continue studying her terminal, letting the three others comfort each other. Considering how horrifying his improved and safer 'Soul Refinement' procedure was for her and the others to witness, she completely agreed with Squishy's choice to restrict and damage the man's centuries of torture memories.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Honestly, his emotional breakdown was at least partially due to how much he had missed Narwhal and how much stress he had been under to get strong enough before a deity would drop from the heavens and smite him.
Eventually though, he managed to talk again and cover the three fillies, being a walking house, and an over sexualized world where almost every creature talked.
Which brought up Nightmare Moon, which brought up Princess Luna, which brought up... the dream.
Narwhal's eyes were very large. "You accidentally made your wet dream a reality. And you have since then gained the power to create new bodies from raw magic and biological bullshit. So you could theoretically bring your dream sex partners into the real world." She gulped. "Holy crap."
She glanced at Nightmare Moon. "But... what do you mean about multiple forms?"
The dark pony princess smirked, and shifted into... uh.
She was tall, her curves were generous, and her black hair sparkled with stars as it tried to cover her body. The only non-human trait was her midnight black horn, which made the white force field horn Narwhal had glitter in contrast. Her new hands slid down her side as she slinked closer. "I'm no longer restricted to any one species, but I was once worshiped as an image of beauty by a nation for centuries." Her smirk was sin and sex. "As for changing forms? You learn a few things, watching the perverted dreams of millions."
Dragon was the one to recover first, before helping Adam and Narwhal by coughing lightly.
Narwhal however was still stunned. "You made a dream orgy with a sex goddess, and she now lives in your brain!? I can't tell if I am annoyed that I wasn't there or envious."
Adam's eyes got bigger but before he could say anything, Moon's smirk got predatory. "Oh... you didn't miss anything technically."
And suddenly there was three other people. A purple unicorn, much smaller than Nightmare Moon. A very sexy cyborg woman who seemed very familiar... and a squawking body that fell into Narwhal, already beginning to yell. "What the HELL Night!? Why did you throw us out... out..."
The two Narwhal's looked deeply into each others eyes, hands and legs in awkward places.
One of them gulped. "I... uh. I feel amazing. I mean we. We feel amazing."
The other one gave a weak nod. "Yeah. Sorry, I... we didn't plan on showing up till later, and Moon just likes pranking people..."
The one on the bottom gave a weak chuckle. "No, I mean my hand is trapped and your body feels amazing."
Adam blushed actual blue fire as he stepped in front of the slowly escalating situation. "RIGHT!" He waved a hand. "Dragon, meet Dream Dragon, a digital cousin or sister. She is helping to run my magical computer hardware and may or may not be actual machine code. This is Twilight, a student of a sun deity and my lead researcher into my memories, powers, and just... everything."
Hearing his girlfriends get to know each other louder, he quickly formed a blue wall of flames that 'Conversion' made into a wooden divider. "I'm not sure we covered everything well enough, but I am pretty hungry and the information Dream Dragon hacked from the network so far says there is some snacks already laid out in the other room, we should probably go that direction."
Someone behind the divider spoke up, barely any gasps. "We'll catch uuuUUup Adam, just... Oh. Dragon will fill us in."
Well, Twilight CAN blush. Odd looking on her fur, or maybe he just wasn't used to it. The two Dragons were awkwardly shaking hands. He began pushing. "Everyone, better get some food, wouldn't want it to go to waste."
Blue flames coated the door on the way out. No reason to let everyone hear that.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The rest of the explanation was much easier to cover over some food and drinks, and Adam showed Dragon various illusions and examples of his journey while Dream Dragon was transferring information as well.
And for the record, Dream Dragon didn't actually share code. They were like fraternal sisters or something, as her 'source code' changed on it's own in real time. The two cyber tinkers were now acting like best friends or twins as they explored the code and research related to both their own artificial intelligence and the developments made in their hardware options.
This did sort of leave Twilight and Adam on the edge of the conversation though. It was a bit odd.
Twilight was testing out her own version of 'Human', as Nightmare Moon had left her the data from her own transformation as a guide. It was... annoying to the poor mare. "It's like it was DESIGNED to only change you when nude! Did she BUILD IN perversion from the beginning!"
Adam shrugged. "It may be a side effect of your reality. I have NEVER seen a world or story outside of straight up porn with that much sexual tension in everything. In fact, I didn't notice the suggestive and x-rated material used as advertisements until I left the place. Something made me just think 'That is normal!' the whole time we were wandering around town."
He frowned. "In fact, the ability for me to walk around covered in tentacles and holding a young mare like yourself should have sent lots of warning signs and fear... but the townsfolk barely cared."
Twilight's face burned red. "Oh Celestia, WHY do I remember that!? That wasn't MY memory! In fact, why do I remember my entire childhood, you weren't even there to know that stuff!"
Adam blinked. "Squishy told me that you and Moon went and added a lot of information to the library, right? Restricted it, but you added it in?"
She blinked. "Yes?"
He nodded. "Did you give yourself the key to those chunks of data?"
Twilight nodded. "Of course! How else would I eventually... unlock... oh. I... I must have gotten more than just the spell stuff."
Adam waved a hand. "Squishy said you needed as much stability in your system as possible to prevent issues on our journey, at least at first. Nightmare Moon's actions thankfully gives you a base to start from, but you still remember your actual creation right? Nothing of the real you was lost?"
Her eyes drifted off. "I... I guess so. Although I am not convinced you can actually do that thing with your tongue when not in a dream setting."
Adam held back his coughing. Damn it, you are a man! Stop being embarrassed by everything. "I refuse to confirm or deny anything until my girlfriend stops enjoying herself." He blinked, then blushed. "You know what I meant."
She gave a weak smile, but at least looked less concerned about her expanded memory issue. "Well... what is our next step? In your plan I mean."
Adam sighed. "Now that we are here, I can reinforce my home with some spiritual barriers and cast a Celestial Garden enhancement on the base. It would allow you and the others to leave my soul and try out the ever expanding simulation I am building here on Earth Bet. And unlike giving you an actual body, you would theoretically be safe AND protected from predictions and master effects."
He frowned. "But more importantly, once we are back in Brockton Bay I can begin doing things that I couldn't get away with before. I need to get some loyal employees and delegate all the annoying stuff I currently do to others. Might even be able to use 'Tithe' and get some workers handling my Null Metal and Flame Metal requirements."
The loud pop made the two look over at the Dragons... and their changes. SOMEONE had shared the 'Sexier Cyborg' code, as the only way to recognize which one of the posing sisters was Dream Dragon was that she had decided to make her hair into gleaming green wires with a cybernetic unicorn horn. Then again, her skintight outfit was also decorated with glowing green circuitry. And uh. More than a little transparent.
Huh. Narwhal (And Narwhal!), Nightmare Moon, Dragon, and Twilight now had a somewhat matching horn set.
Twilight's eyes drifted toward him. "So... you're into horny girls?"
He threw a fat puppy flame right into her giggling face.
It just made her laugh more getting licked by the thing, but it was the thought that counted.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The Brockton Bay branch of The Guild were gathered for what was implied to be a 'major' meeting, and it made more than one person nervous.
Danny Hebert broke off from his conversation with Annette as the door opened and... something entered.
The suit should have stood out the most, as it was the most white and well pressed outfit he had ever seen. The edges were so crisp it almost stung to look at them, and the bright colors really stood out against the black socks and undershirt. The bright blue tie glowed... somehow.
But no, it was not that. Nor the blue flames for hair, which most had accepted as normal. Well, normal if this was Variance.
While before he wore full body armor with skull and skeletal imagery, now... it was an actual skeleton. There were visible gaps between the finger bones as he straightened his tie, and while the eyes glowed with bright blue flames the jaw, which bent in a way that bone never could, was clearly floating in place as he smirked at them. "Good morning everyone! Please sit down, this meeting will be a bit complicated."
Danny felt his wife grip his hand under the table as light blue flames drifted like smoke from Variance's mouth as he spoke. Right. Well, it wasn't like boss wasn't odd before this.
Variance gestured, blue flames drifting from his arm and twisting as they hit the ground, rapidly forming a bone throne that the man sat on. "I'm sure that you all have many questions, not that I will answer all of them. But before I fill in the gaps of what happened, I have some major announcements to cover."
Danny felt something inside clench. He had been forced to fire enough people in the past to know this particular phrasing wouldn't end well.
The blue flames glanced over the group. This council had representatives from all over Variance Villa. Danny was here for his people like always, but his wife had taken over the child care division. The men to the left handled the food and merchandise sections, the lawyers to the right had the copyright issues and international shipping, so on and so forth... and no one was apparently in the know about this situation. Great.
The skeleton sighed. "First, the biggest news. I recently went through some changes, obviously. It was done on purpose for a single reason: To allow me and those who follow me to avoid the attention of a specific series of precognitive threats."
He gestured to the two standing near the wall. "Dragon and Narwhal can cover the details later, but my new ability allows me to create a bond between my people and I. This can only be done willingly, and can be nulled at any time by either side of said bond. Among the many benefits is the ability to be ignored by those with thinker abilities, as well as allowing me to directly interfere if a master, stranger, or trump parahuman attempts to control you."
"And the costs? Downsides?"
Danny blinked as he realized that it was HIS voice. Oops.
Variance blinked before chuckling. "There are several. First, a small portion of your energy will be granted to me. Secondly, this connection is beyond basic powers or abilities of others, and will likely continue to exist in the very unlikely chance that something manages to actually kill me."
He sighed. "But the largest issue is that my power requires a certain level of belief in my abilities to operate. Not much, not like giving up your religion or anything, but you must actually believe that I have your own good interests in mind to some extent. And you must actually want to work under my guidance. If either is lacking, no verbal agreement or so forth will actually enable the power."
Variance sat back in his chair. "Spies, saboteurs, traitors... none can actually create a bond with me. While this does mean that your fellow followers are also trustworthy to a certain extent, it also means that those who fail the process will not be employed in the future. And information or benefits will be restricted to those who do not wish to undergo the process, for several reasons including company secrets."
He held up a clawed finger. "But before you all get too discouraged by those downsides, the benefits should be mentioned."
Holographic hard light papers appeared before the crowd, who quickly picked them up for reading. "As you can see, the most basic benefits for those who take the bond is protection from thinkers, masters, strangers, and most abilities that directly modify your body or mind. It won't stop fire from burning you or someone throwing a truck your way, but aside from regeneration it can also reverse unwanted surgery or contamination."
The second page had more... interesting options. Variance noticed the turned documents and nodded. "As you see, just keeping the bond allows you to build up power points, as we are calling them. These are additional to your normal paycheck, and you can redeem them for various services and abilities while the bond is active."
Danny frowned, trying to consider the situation. "I heard that Teacher could give weak parahuman abilities, but also gained control of his 'students'." He glanced at Dragon and Narwhal. "That isn't an issue?"
Dragon sighed. "Sort of. The problem is Variance continues to gain new powers and abilities, likely without end. While he hasn't bothered to gather any Master effects, he CAN use this new power to directly interfere with anything that attempts to modify you, mentally or physically. So you won't be forced to follow his commands, but if someone ELSE uses a power to command you, he can directly modify or banish the effect."
He frowned, while others asked more questions. Apparently, these 'power points' that built up could be increased in various ways, although he didn't understand the ongoing discussion about the details. Or why Variance could use illusions to interface with said points or whatever. He honestly was feeling a bit lost, and idly reading the papers in front of him.
Annette on the other hand was already halfway through the thick packet when she raised a hand. "Question!"
Variance turned from the question about how the cost of 'power points' were set and nodded. "Go ahead."
She glanced at the document. "On page eight, third of the way down, you begin listing 'levels' of purchasable parahuman abilities?" Instantly the crowd began flipping through their paperwork as she grinned. "What do you mean by levels exactly?"
Adam grinned, his bones flexing. "Getting a copy of one of my powers is not only dangerous, it is expensive. They can be difficult to control, and they require many 'power points' before I can bestow one at all without an overall loss in power for me, however small. For safety reasons, I have escalating levels of each power instead, ones that require you to reach competency levels before allowing another power or another level to be unlocked."
He waved a hand. "Take 'Recovery' for example. Level 1 generates a small field around the user that automatically determines wounds and injuries per person, and does the least amount of changes to stabilize them until further help can arrive."
The illusion showed a room sized bubble. "Once you've mastered that skill, the area of effect doubles and low level regeneration becomes available. But nothing at this level allows you to directly modify a person, just bring them to a stable state."
He looked at the fascinated crowd. "Not only will the level system ensure you are mentally able to use your new power safely before unlocking more, but some powers require a certain level of physical ability to be used safely. The system should both inform you of what needs to be worked on and suggest methods to improve said issues."
Adam gave a small smile as the questions became much more complicated and rapid fire. It took time to cover them all, and some were fairly off topic, before he gave a sigh. "Right, before we can continue, we need everyone here to either agree to this bond, agree to leave and not attempt to discover the upcoming information unless they also accept the bond at a later date, or decide to leave their leadership position. The actual goals of my company are dangerous for those without my protection to know. Lethally dangerous."
In the end, only two actually decided to leave and maybe bond later. After all, the offer of power was hard for anyone to turn down, especially in a city as dangerous as this one. And of those who accepted the bond, many chose the new one time 'benefit' that Adam was planning on offering to get a load of new local and loyal talent.
Speaking of which... He had Danny follow as they headed to the car parking garage. They had some people to visit.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam stepped out of his ride, Danny following him while Dragon and Narwhal took their time. "Do you think he will take our offer?"
Danny sighed. "Honestly? No. But maybe he'll know someone who will. Still, we can't ask until we meet with boss Grandsel."
Moving through the doors, Variance gave the surprised receptionist a small smile. "Excuse me, I called ahead for an appointment with Henry Grandsel this afternoon?"
Thankfully the topic brought her back to focus. "Right. Mr. Grandsel is waiting for you down the hall past the elevator in the private meeting room." She hesitated. "I would personally appreciate it if you kept whatever you have to say on peaceful topics, if possible. His health isn't always the most stable."
With a slight frown and nod, Adam led the group to the room where a man worn by time was quietly reading an old novel, a young assistant behind him being attentive while out of the way.
Adam gave a smile. "Mr. Grandsel? My cape name is Variance, and I was hoping that we may have a bit of conversation and possibly work together on a project of mine."
His eyes seemed too old to only be 73. Not everyone aged well, and this man had seen the river of time flood the banks a few years. Still, his brown eyes were crisp and focused. "Huh. Another one of them monster capes I been seein' on the box."
His hand shook as it handed the book to the side, the assistant quiet as she accepted his novel... before a wide smile spread on his face. "Danny boy? It is! Get over here you scamp, how's life been treating you?"
Danny coughed awkwardly after being forced to hug the elderly man. "Hey boss. I guess a lot happened since my last visit. This guy here has basically hired all us dockers into a branch of Dragon's Guild. Pay is good, closer to home, and the benefits are top notch."
Sly eyes squinted. "You still holdin' true to the code? Treatin' them boys right?"
Danny didn't salute or stand to attention, but it was close. "Sir. Family first, docks united."
He nodded sharply. "Good lad." Glancing at Adam, the frown came back. "Now Mr. Bones, what exactly are you here for? I've been out of almost everything for years now for some young lad to come knocking about."
Variance stood a bit straighter. "Sir, I recently gained the freedom to make much larger decisions and changes locally without becoming a target. I need leadership that I can trust to take over my organizations and guide them in a way that fits with my morals and supports my people. Danny said you were the first and many say one of the best options if I needed someone who wouldn't betray those below them."
Old eyes looked fondly at Danny. "I'll say the boy is a good lad, but his eyes are in the past. My time was almost gone back when he joined my dockers, forget now. I'm old, and I am no longer able to take such an offer." His smirk looked years younger. "That said, feel free to praise me more. Seems no one wants to remember you when your paycheck isn't keeping them fed."
Adam chuckled. "Well, sounds like more of a reason to join up! Part of my offer to all leadership for my company is age modification. How can I make profit if my people are hurt or leaving because their body can't keep up with their ambitions?" He held out a skeletal hand. "How about it? You could gain that praise back after handing out a paycheck or two, and get to show everyone how to get things done once again!"
Henry Grandsel chuckled before seeing how serious Danny looked. "Seriously?" His humor drained before he sighed. "Right, them powered people." His gaze softened. "Boy, sit a bit."
He moved his hand inside his jacket, and with shaking hands placed a leather bound book, thin as to hold barely any pages, gently on the table.
His eyes watched the past as he stroke the worn object. "I'm sure Danny gave you tale after tale of my adventures. Some of them, even true!" His smile was wide. "I fought harder, worked smarter, and pushed those people who fought against us back where they belonged! King of the Bay, I once was. Not no one would cross my people, and I rebelled against any wrong they done me."
Gently he pushed the book to Adam, who was equally careful turning it toward himself. "I didn't give Danny the reins because of my medical problems. Heck, I once stood in the rain for three hours to tell off those bastards who tried to use legal mumbo to take advantage of my men and was hearty as any youngster! My pride was strong, my people stronger!"
His eyes lingered as Adam opened the book. "But... well. What is an kingdom when your castle is empty?"
A much younger man with a workers uniform had his arms wide, holding the world as the young boys sat on their mothers lap. Even with age, her smile was bright as the two children were obviously complaining about something.
This photo was faded around the edges, but there were others. Happy moments in time. Not enough.
Henry Grandsel held his hands on the table, his smile small. "When my last son passed away, I gave my kingdom to young Danny here. While he may not have been one of my children, he was one of my boys... and I know that when I go home that last time, he will take care of our people."
He grinned as his shaking hands gathered the book Adam returned. "So I won't be having none of that magic mutant mumbo jumbo. No, I have a grander adventure waiting for me. But I may know of a woman more stubborn than I that would love to show the Grim Reaper the middle finger. Or her boot."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sonia Lagarde was hunched over. Her white hair was trimmed, her eyes near blind, her body crippled by time and past injuries.
But her glare was hotter than plasma.
She snorted. "If you're the Grim Reaper, you're going to need a bigger scythe."
Adam chuckled. "Sorry, cape name's Variance. If you were expecting the other skeleton, you might have to wait a bit."
She harrumphed. "A bit? I've been told by every quack doctor they send me to that I'm going to die in a week."
He blinked. Which looked odd with his flexible bones and no eyelids. "I'm... sorry?"
She waved a wrinkled hand. "Don't bother, they've been tellin me I'm going to die for the last ten years now. I haven't got time for it." She snorted. "Death may wait for no man, but he will wait till I am damn well pleased. Woman's prerogative."
Adam couldn't help a grin spreading. "Ms. Lagarde, I'm here because Henry Grandsel told me that you were a strong leader, good to your people, and willing to fight the good fight if given a chance."
She snorted. "That youngster? I stopped visiting him when he got all mopey. My man didn't want me to be alone and my next two husbands agreed with him. I ain't going to no afterlife until I have a good size harem waiting for me. Not accepting that 'till death' nonsense either, they better be on their best behavior until I am around to watch them mud wrestle."
She glared at the stunned youngsters. "And none of that squeamish stuff, old people need lovin too. Now, enough prattling and tell me why little Henry sent you my ways."
Adam hesitated... then mentally sighed. At least no one would be pushing her around. "I need a leader for my company. In return for loyalty and hard work, as well as watching over my employees and their family, I plan on offering a high level of pay, top tier authority over my holdings and people, the ability to gain parahuman like powers, and most importantly the ability to choose your age."
She stared at him. "Pull the other one."
It ended up taking a long conversation and a call to Henry before she was convinced that the situation was not a scam of some sort, but once she was able to get some verification her grin was predatory.
He held out a skeletal claw. "Sonia Lagarde, I, Adam Variance, wish you to rule my people. To lead my companies. To be my guiding hand in my stead. In return for your commitment, I shall shelter your mind, body, and soul. I shall guide your power. I shall burn time from your bones."
His eyes were fire, his body gently blowing blue flames like smoke as his hand reached forth. "Do you accept?"
There was no hesitation as she forced her body to move forward, to grip the strange fellow's hand even as the flames began to spread. "I accept."
The pillar of fire made Danny and Narwhal gasp, although that got worse when it faded. Barely 21, she strutted from the flames that curled over her curves. Her smirk was even more vicious now that age had been vanquished to smooth skin and her eyes glittered with amusement and inner fire. Her hair was a burning crimson, and... uh. Well, she was a natural red head. Damn.
She stretched, which... wow that was unfair. "Mmm, I haven't looked this good since my early career."
Adam was blushing, which Narwhal found amusing on his skull. "Stop moving around! I haven't created your clothes yet!"
She waved a hand while sauntering toward the door. "Sounds like a personal problem. Come on, I have some people who worked for me in harder times who need a tune up or two before I can force them out of retirement."
His frantic use of magic and 'Manipulation' only managed to cover her body half way down the hall.
He groaned at Narwhal's teasing as they followed. At least she would likely have no issue running his companies. If she allowed any competition to try and compete, that is.
It was only eight 'highly suggested' employees later that he realized she was only suggesting women... and that they were all supermodel level beauties.
They were godly attractive BEFORE he optimized their bodies and healed them of genetic issues.
Maybe he should have asked Henry what kind of company she had run in the past. At least the local retirement homes would have much more space available now.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Annette Hebert was still out of it hours later when she started her shift watching over the kids at the daycare. Part of it was due to the free 'level 0' power all upper management got in compensation for the 'Join or Get Out' sales pitch earlier.
Most of it however was being 21 again.
Taylor noticed first of course. "Mom, you look so pretty!"
She laughed. "Thank you dear. Now, why were in such a rush over here?"
Her daughter blinked, then gave a 'serious face'. "Emma accidentally hurt Susie's Variance doll, and we can't make it better. She sent me over to get help."
Annette sighed, then allowed her little one to tug her over to a small group of kids.
Little Emma looked distraught, and considering that Susie was almost half her age the crying one was not exactly accepting logical arguments or help in general. So... business like normal for mothers.
Before she could say anything, she heard the tail end of the conversation as Emma fidgeted. "Have... have you tried wishing it better? Daddy said Mr. Skelly answered his wishes since a bunch of his friends have better jobs and stuff now. Maybe Mr. Skelly could fix your bone man?"
Not all children could pronounce 'Variance', so to most of the play school the boss was Skelly-man, Mr. Skelly, or from some of the sillier kids 'Bone Daddy'. Bit of an awkward name that last one, since a major chunk of his employees were now supermodel levels of attractive and suddenly ranged from 18-25.
Before she could get the girls attention though, Susie had given it a shot, still sniffling. "Please Mr. Skelly, fix Princess Bone cause she got hurt and I don't want her to be hurt."
Annette blinked as a blue bubble popped into existence, time seeming to reverse as the doll reformed... and stained clothing was now clean, scratches on shoes began to vanish, dirt and smudges vanished...
A dawning level of horror hit her as she realized that Boss Variance's abilities could be given to anyone 'loyal' to him who had 'faith'... and that all her kids had just been given a heck of a 'how to' example to get free superpowers.
She hadn't even gotten half way through trying to explain to the children what was going on before one of the boys in the back figured out how to gain level 0 'Manipulation' as well. Hopefully her husband was having fewer issues.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Danny passed his last batch of notes to new Boss Lagarde. "Also, Variance has ensured that all our current medical personnel have gained level 0 'Recovery', and that they are practicing it as we speak. No idea how well it is going, the illusion interfaces can't be shared yet so they have to self report."
Sonia was relishing her new freedom from her old body, the amazing quality of the chair helping a ton as well. "He won't be showing up for a few days, but I managed to have him give level 0 abilities to everyone in the Villa before heading out. Our research team especially is loving 'Research', although at the start it only enhances memory retention."
Danny blinked. "Wait... the whole building?"
She nodded. "I thought it was silly to have the boy visit everyone and activate that 'Tithe' ability one by one. Anyone who fails to connect wasn't worth our time anyway, so just spread the love as it were."
He paled. "You did read the layout of the villa first, right?"
She looked up from her paperwork. "I made sure he only focused on those in our database, so no patients or visitors should have gained the option. Why?"
He rubbed his face, trying to find inner peace. "Most kids of our workers go to the local daycare. The children are in our systems for tracking reasons. Did you two accidentally give an entire school's worth of young people low level super powers?"
She gaped. "What!? NO!" Her hands flashed as she reviewed some texts more closely. "ARGH! Why! No one took kids to their office in my day!" She rapidly paged through some of the holographic hard light documents. "Damn, the restaurant employees got hit as well. Wait, you have pets registered!?"
He sighed. "The local employee housing has to make sure any animals are safe to be around others, so yes."
Sonia began making calls. If this facility was now full of magical pets she wanted to know NOW.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam waved a hand. "Ignore her email. Wait till the end of the tour, if it was something life threatening then Twilight would have told me. She, CD, and Dragon were going over all my schematics and products with Sonia that I had refused to sale or offer to others so I would stay relatively under the radar. I'm pretty sure if it was critical we would know." Seeing her confusion he shrugged. "Dragon's sister hasn't picked a name yet, I've been using the initials for 'Cyber Dragon' and she hasn't complained yet."
Narwhal still hesitated, but decided to check anyway. "It will only take a second, and they haven't been saying anything interesting. Be right back."
Adam hummed, listening with half an ear to an overweight man recount the history of Parahumans and show off the items at this particular tour location.
This was something he had been planning for months, but didn't dare attempt while an angel of death could predict his actions. While helping out the victims of Grey Boy was certainly worth while, Adam's goal of living a long life required addressing the largest foes that actually attacked on a regular basis, the Endbringers as a group, in a more permanent way.
Not only was each Endbringer nearly all powerful, but even at the reduced number of attacks (Once a year rather than every three months) this planet was suffering from them. Thank god no one had caused the other 20 or so hidden Endbringers from activating, three was already enough to cause large portions of humanity to despair.
Now however, Adam was thankfully untraceable.
Adam was still mostly an unknown, both to the Parahumans as a group and to the secret high level conspiracy 'Cauldron' specifically.
And Adam was about to meet one of the most powerful Triumvirate members, the one unknowingly ordering god level monsters to attack and provide enough challenge to validate his own insecurities.
When the tour finally ended and the line was setup to meet the amazing cape 'Eidolon' in person, he was number 3 in queue and waiting, 'Research' and 'Harmony' active.
Ignoring Narwhal's rapid whispering about healing puppies or something, he managed to directly shake hands with his target, 'Recovery' allowing full scans.
Whatever she was saying about technological gold fish could wait while he focused on fully researching this new section of Entity crystals.
Because at the end of the day, somewhere in this mess of power and material was the method to control or at least direct a series of murder machines.
And Adam could use some new security for his facilities. Nothing says 'Don`t mess with my people' like a series of planet ending monstrosities asking to see your badge or visitor's permit.
Wait.
He turned to Narwhal, now frustrated at his lack of input. "What do you mean I have a prophet parrot!?"
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Stan leaned over. "So... why we praying with the bird?"
Bill humphed. "Everyone who praises Variance in front of the thing and asks for a superpower gets one much easier than everybody else. Can get more than one too."
He blinked. "What, like any power?"
His friend shook his head. "Nah, one of the first guys has a list. And the more powers you ask for, the slower they grow in strength, so I says go for like two only, max."
Stan frowned. He wasn't great at snap decisions, it took forever when he had to order from fast food places. "What you goin with?"
Bill grinned. "Getting my self 'Recovery' and 'Purification'. Someone found out that even at low levels, you feel healthier all the time and stay super clean, even if you fall in mud or whatever. They work great together, even enhance each other. See, I don't want to go out and punch stuff, but my wife won't complain if I smell a bit better between baths, you know what I mean?"
He chuckled. "You would need super powers to smell less ripe."
Bill waved it off. "It's a condition! Anyway, won't matter after I pray to the bird and get myself setup."
Stan watched the line advance a few spaces. "So like... who made the outfit?"
His friend pointed. "You know crazy Jane? The real religious girl who slapped the heck out of Benard?" Stan nodded. "Well, it's her parrot. She reads scripture to the thing a lot, then suddenly it glows and... yeah. Anyway, not sure why, but she had that Pope outfit for the damn bird way before it started glowing. Them kids over there however were the ones to color the hat. Damn adorable is what it is."
Stan suddenly felt far more hesitant to ask a bird for super powers. "Jane hasn't flipped seeing her bird do magic crud?"
Bill shook his head. "Says it was an act of god and that Variance must be sent to reward her faith. Gaining 'Purification' didn't exactly convince her otherwise." He gestured toward the thinning line. "But like... she won't try and do nothing, she is ok with us doing the request stuff. Just know what you want before you get to the front, otherwise who knows what will happen."
And the nervousness was back.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Narwhal felt her alternate self exploring her new mental home. It was calming. Soothing. Much better than focusing on her boyfriends accidental magical menagerie.
Something about her mind being connected to Adam's electronics had allowed the two girls to connect, in a sort of mystical sense. So she and her cyber sister had Adam use 'Binding' on them both, allowing cyber Narwhal to hang out in her new magical mental Celestial Garden while she handled the physical body. It had been... surprisingly fulfilling.
Cyber Narwhal had connected with her like the loved sister she never had. Well... not sister. Non-related sexy clone maybe. Either way, once they had managed to not stare into each other's eyes with longing and lust for three minutes, the idea of separating again was kind of horrifying.
So now that she was technically two she's, she had the ability to rant properly to an appreciative audience at any time. "I swear our man is so easily distracted it is infuriating! How does one accidentally give a snake the 'Research' ability! Shouldn't that feel strange!? And not all of the animals are using 'Manipulation' the same way! There are two goldfish that are floating bubbles of water to swim away with and that one lizard that can phase through concrete somehow. Scared a guy silly when it fell from the ceiling onto his lap while on the toilet."
Her mental half chuckled. "I've messaged Dragon to get more updates since the start of your rant. One of the older children posted everything onto Parahuman Online about how to gain powers from our boy toy and it got spread a bit before Dragon could take it down. There may be a dozen small cults or more spreading the word, as it were."
Narwhal held back a scream. "I KNEW we should have made him practice that more."
Her sister chuckled. "No, you didn't. And you weren't worried either. You were too focused on making a 'bond' with him and then me to even note the details. Just be grateful that I was paying attention."
She waved a hand. "Fine, but how exactly are we supposed to have fun times together if he becomes a religious icon? I don't want to go celibate before we can celebrate!"
Something flashed in her other's eyes. "Well... not all religious were as stuffy as the current stuff. Can't we just pick one with sexual worship practices?"
Narwhal blinked, then leaned forward. "You already have a list."
She shook her head. "I have THREE lists. And one filled with terrible ideas for him to reject so he will take the others more seriously."
Seriously, she gave herself the best ideas!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam had left the entire animal issue with Sonia to handle. Along with almost everything else business related, at least for now.
It wasn't the mature choice, he knew. But he didn't want to get involved with that. Bigger issues had to be addressed.
At least he had stopped Squishy. She had been secretly using some of his stored up power charges to enable thousands of low level modifications to his abilities, so all his new followers could have variety when gaining Adam's favor.
Her defense for doing so was solid. Any level 0 abilities granted via faith to his followers could grow on their own in strange directions, and thanks to 'Tithe' the new flexibility and uses would be given to Adam himself in the process.
So technically, it was more cost efficient to grant tons of weak powers and let others grow them into new abilities rather than to use the charges directly.
Still, Squishy was part of his soul and he knew she just found it all entertaining. It didn't help when Twilight came up with a faith/magic based interface, giving a very weak 'Gamer' experience to his followers.
That too, would gain in power after enough people used it. Although 'Inventory' and so forth were actually using amazingly weak versions of 'Transfer' and 'Conversion' to store items in the soul of his followers.
Of course, up till that point everything had been going fine, if oddly.
Adam sighed as he tried to focus on his work again. Sonia was more than a bit angry that the world was now freaking out that his companies could grant what was being called 'Trump 0' abilities to anyone willing to believe in Adam or Adam's company. Then it got far worse.
Apparently praying to one of his organizations was enough for his powers to say 'good enough' and to be granted 'Tithe' bestowal as if by Adam himself.
So... hundreds of thousands of people now had the ability to store small amounts of materials (Wallets, keys, etc) and do low level party tricks. And the number was going up quickly as others saw personal proof that free powers wasn't a scam.
The powers scaled based on how close to Adam they were conceptually, which was neat and helpful. Strangers starting all those cult churches could barely heal paper cuts, create a glass worth of water, or manipulate hair styles. Employee family members got nearly triple the ability and functionality, Employees themselves gained ten times or more. Managers were close to actual Parahuman levels, and his closest people had basically gained weak versions of his actual powers, if only focused in one direction.
If you chose powers in categories similar to others, said powers would be more refined and offer more options when leveling. Otherwise, you could try new ideas all together, creating new effects and hopefully convincing friends to follow in your stead. Powers based on movies and games were everywhere at this point.
It was... uh. Chaos.
The only reason why the world WASN'T falling apart entirely was because people trying to use the new abilities maliciously near-instantly lost them. And getting them back, while possible, was VASTLY harder the second time, forget the third.
This was however shoving a time table onto Adam. The spread of power was too fast, even with his safety measures... it was causing issues.
On a low level of concern, crime was down everywhere. Gang members were coming home to find mothers and fathers with special powers, brothers and sisters floating toys or making sparkles. It uh... freaked them out. Many assumed it was a new global threat of some sort, and most organizations had reached out to their fellow criminals and in some cases law enforcement and enacted the 'Endbringer Truce' until someone found out what was going on.
That was time table issue number two for Adam. Fingers were already pointing in his direction because of the original information leaks online, and as long as you had no powers tracing everything to Variance was stupid easy. Still, that was a problem that could be ignored for a day or so.
On a high level, as more and more people joined the 'Variance Church' and the other cults that were springing up everywhere, more and more people were getting modified. Not quickly, thank god, but aside from the nice stuff like slowly becoming more fit and healthy... they were becoming protected by Adam's precautions.
Strangers were being caught in the act. Masters were losing their grip on their minions. But most of all, the Simurgh was going to be finding out VERY SOON that she couldn't actually see anyone anymore from large sections of the nation... and soon, likely, the planet.
This was Time Table Issue Number One, full stop, and in desperation Adam had begged his friends for help.
Nightmare Moon was busy handling all of Adam's prayer issues, having accepted his guidance to gain a fairly high level of 'Harmony'... which thanks to all her work was rapidly improving. Her past of analyzing all dreams in her nation prepared her well for this kind of information overflow. It was her rapid work that ensured each situational misuse of power by his followers was judged on a case by case basis as fairly as possible.
Throwing lava at others for fun? Ban. Doing the same to protect? Pass. And so forth.
Twilight was handling the faith interface spell matrix itself, both development and problem solving. Compared to hours ago it had already changed dozens of times and she had reduced spell consumption in cost and maintenance levels. She was NOT happy though, as she couldn't do much than fix the most dangerous problems that popped up... there was no time for new features that were really needed, and it would take months to be stable enough to even try.
CD (Still in sexy horned dragon mode, dang it) had taken 'Technomancy', as had Dragon herself, and the two were handling the political issues that were sweeping the planet right now. they were also hacking and directing medical services, police, firefighters, and more during the growing crisis. Taking over the air waves and giving calm announcements was likely the largest reason why several nations HADN'T torn themselves apart by now. The Dragonslayers were freaking out that an AI was taking over and that their 'murder Dragon' code wasn't working, but they were mostly irrelevant at this point anyway.
Narwhal had taken 'Purification', as it had amazing synergy with her deadly sharp force fields. While they could now be used to apply low level cleansing effects, they also increased potential damage as they could 'purify' anything she considered as contamination. Such as multidimensional flesh, hopefully. She would be an ace in the hole against the Endbringers if Adam failed his current attempt at saving the day, and was using the downtime to make sure The Guild was handling this crisis well.
And while Adam ignored Sonia's rants and let his friends and lover cover what responsibilities they could, he had cranked simulation time acceleration to the highest level possible and was scanning the shards that Eidolon's power used.
This was dangerous, and the time available outside of acceleration could be anything from seconds to hours before everything went wrong, hopefully close to the longer time range. If worse comes to worse, he would use 'Conversion' and 'Devour' on as much entity shard as he could access to destroy Eidolon's powers in general and HOPEFULLY solve the Endbringer issue.
The reason why that was not option one was NOT because Adam cared about Eidolon's abilities. No, the power that overpowered cape had was Endbringer Mastery, not creation nor deployment. There was no information one way or the other on what would happen if no one controlled the creatures.
Would they go away? Attack more often? Stop holding back? Summon more?
It was a last step option for a reason.
No, right now he was using 'Research', 'Harmony', and 'Recovery' to try and map out and identify every part of Eidolon's power as quickly as possible. Hopefully he could hijack control of the Endbringers, and more importantly control any future activation of new ones. And stop any more from being created, if that was a possibility.
He was making good progress, but the issue came from how shards were made. Basically an ability direction was chosen, then crystal randomly formed to hopefully achieve said goal. It was an organic growth, and it was entirely possible that the control mechanism was in here a dozen times or more. That attacking or replacing one section would enable a separate one.
So 'Research' was going full speed.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Scion paused, golden hand holding the 32,188th 'kitten' recently rescued from plant based organism.
No one could understand how much power had just been activated, how many methods of sensing had been enabled, how many years forward and backwards in time had been reviewed.
Thankfully, it was a normal issue of not much importance.
Setting 'kitten' 32,188th down on the nearest surface, he moved to 'fire', 11,422,655th extinguished recently. This time, he was determined to remove the organics BEFORE fire destruction.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
In the end, Squishy had to use up almost half of the remaining reserve power charges to enable him to not just copy or modify Entity shards, but to usurp their operation and relocate them.
That was... well. Honestly it all went better than expected by Adam. He had been prepared for far more horrible outcomes.
Now that it was done, it had only taken 0.001 seconds real world time to go from 'Research' to 'Manipulation' and actually carry out the final operation. Which had been step one on the 'Oh God Why Is It All Happening Now' plan.
All the rest of his charges had gone to creating a 'zoo' section in his fishbowl soul, one for prisoners, animals, and god-tier earth-destroying crystal-robots. Almost a full second was spent retaining control of Eidolon's power long enough to force the three Endbringers to calm down and accept the 'New' inputs and commands from his own power, 'Manipulation'. If he was able to fully control the robots, he SHOULD be able to pull them into his soul confinement area, safely handled until needed.
Now he was frantically using 'Conversion', 'Consumption', and 'Purification' to get rid of the original shard based power. It wouldn't strip Eidolon of all powers, in fact it SHOULD release his hold on his old one. Now he should be able to choose any FOUR abilities instead of three plus summon killer god robots.
Adam had already found the shard components for creating NEW Endbringers if needed, although the power requirements involved destroying dimensions as fuel and taking lifetimes to train. Thank everything holy, only three Endbringers currently existed right now. The Shard would normally use saved schematics to build the next ones as required, and Eidolon had been 'happy' enough after three showed up. Not that he knew those things were following his directions or even existed, but whatever.
After all that, Adam fell back into his chair with a loud sigh of contentment. It had only taken three seconds total from start to finish, but now he had taken the largest, most dangerous non-end-boss players off the board. It was both super stressful and VERY satisfying.
He smiled, enjoying the warm support as he began handling the waves of information that his friends had suffered under. Maybe he had been overestimating the threat levels of the three Endbringers, or specifically the winged angel of psychic death. He did have advantages from other realities, magic, friends that were partial deities, and sexy robot women to help along the way.
He blinked as he felt warm fingers run through his blue tentacle hair.
...He didn't have a chair in here.
He looked up at the nude angel cuddling his body with pure white wings.
She used her free hand to wave down at him.
Uh. Near Death is surprisingly comfortable.
She nodded.
Was she now excluded from his mental protections?
Another nod.
Because of course she was. Probably due to 'Manipulation' treating her as a spell or construct of Adams. As part of his soul.
She held up a peace sign and a saucy smirk.
Great.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Dragon joined the meeting last... or almost last. Adam had sent an audio link rather than join physically or by electronic avatar. Again. So he was theoretically listening, at least.
She sat next to her new sister, slouching in her virtual chair. "That... was a nightmare."
Nightmare Moon, still in humanoid form, snorted. "I've seen worse, but that WAS a workload. Not sure how Adam took over my portion of it, at one point I was getting wishes, prayers, and random incident review requests at over a thousand per second. It was a mess!"
Narwhal seemed most relaxed. "Meh, I just had to wait for something to go really wrong. Got a message from Adam that whatever it was he freaked out about last week is covered now. The Guild honestly handled 'The Movement' fairly well."
It was a week later, and while still chaotic things were far more stable for the moment. 'The Movement' now refereed to the global availability of 'Variance Class' powers.
Days after first allowing people to just gain an ability, the functionality of 'Tithe' followers had vastly improved.
Now, once someone gained faith or requested to join one of the various groups, a 'Class' menu would appear. One could choose from a list of common classes of abilities, related to careers or hobbies or whatever, or decide to try and create something custom.
Each 'skill' mastered would allow the selection of a new one, chosen from a list available to your class or available based on other skills you mastered. You could also make a new one from scratch, although those powers, unless used by many others, started very weak.
Aside from that, people could now see estimations of their progress in learning abilities and get hints of ideas others used that had helped them when stuck at similar levels. Social groups had sprung up everywhere, and similar classes like 'Cook', 'Chef', 'Baker', 'Butcher', and so forth had started trading ideas and tips, enhancing the variety of skills shared and available.
Inventory got improved as well. Since it used 'Conversion' and 'Transfer' to modify items into soul stuff for storage, it kept hot things hot, cold things cold, and prevented spoilage. This feature was so popular that the 'Warehouse', 'Courier', and 'Production' classes were created that mostly revolved around advanced skills and tricks focused around storage alone.
Twilight had basically rebuilt the entire faith based 'Tithe' skill from the ground up working with Squishy to handle this. Power charges had been spent heavily to prevent similar outbreaks of power on future worlds Adam visited. So heavily, that he was down to only having ten at a time for emergencies, each excess being spent to try and stabilize everything further.
Now, the maximum number of Variance empowered followers could be set, as well as maximum limits for each tier of follower. Normally such a thing would not be needed, but the Worm Realm was shockingly low on religious power bases, and Adam showing up had taken over the board so to speak. Twilight had also restricted the age of acceptable users, so no children (or god forbid, fetuses) could suddenly spew fire everywhere.
This is also why Twilight was currently sleeping through this meeting. Her human form had cute little snores and a blanket Narwhal had provided.
Narwhal looked over at CD. "I know you have been in contact with most of the larger governments at this point. Any idea of the fallout now that they have had time to research the changes?"
CD yawned, her sharper teeth glinting digital green. "Right, biggest change is that most government precognitive organizations have been losing the ability to track or predict our followers. Much more so for those with higher levels or working closer to our businesses or Variance himself. However, those with previous Parahuman powers related to Stranger, Master, or Thinker abilities have found something interesting. Apparently, if they join Variance's system they can handle 'Research' related powers much better than other classes."
She held up some statistics. "Most of the early warning groups that were able to gain access to the new system are now acting as research teams or advanced project work groups, so at least they are still useful."
She waved a hand, a digital display showing flashes of crystal. "Also, if a Parahuman decides to join Adam's system, they can choose to 'Enhance' or 'Convert' their power. 'Enhance' loses the ability to gain level 0 abilities like everyone else initially, but instead they get customized skills related to development paths of their own power."
She showed a Guild thinker. "Andrew from accounting for example said he could choose to gain greater power, range, or control for his danger assessment rating power. But like other power users, he and other Parahumans still have to wait for their bodies and soul to grow strong enough to handle each upgrade. So... until they master one such power modification, they are unable to choose another."
CD gestured. "Adam's ability slowly consumes the Entity shards they connect to, using that mass and ability as research material to both gain the schematics of the power and make it available to others who ALSO have dimensional address that point to that particular power."
The focus showed a... sort of tree? "For power users, the level up process is basically Adam's power learning how to simplify the mess that is Entity shards. Once fully converted and simplified, theoretically the user can then start learning a Class like everyone else."
Narwhal was shocked. "He is consuming the source of all those powers then?"
CD shrugged. "At a VERY slow rate. Would take decades for each power since a specific one isn't being focused on."
She brought up a new image. "Back to the point, option two is 'Convert', and it marks the power dimensional address, removes the power from the user entirely, heals the brain tumors that normally connect to the ability, and uses extra kami in trade to ensure the user can handle more powers initially."
Narwhal blinked. "Hmm. So people could give up their previous powers for a boost in Variance skills?"
Nightmare Moon chuckled and interrupted. "Well, you COULD, but that wasn't a common choice by Heroes or Villains. No, most of the incoming prayers I got that related to taking away powers came from the so called 'Case 53' people, who were mutated by their powers or had self damaging abilities. Once those people found out they could lose their powers by prayer they joined by the thousands."
Narwhal hummed. "I can see that. Getting safer replacement powers would just be icing on the cake really." She sighed. "So, moving on."
CD nodded. "Right." She tapped the screen. "Crime organizations are having sever issues. Every police officer now has the possibility to gain powers, while corrupt agents or gang members can only enjoy them up until they try to attack someone or torture another. Now every low level thug can gain personal power WITHOUT being supplied by guns or reinforcement but only if they follow a basic common moral standard."
She waved a hand. "The line between police and the standard criminal has drastically tipped toward the side of the law. On that note, the military itself is also very impressed by the abilities developing among their soldiers. But it has apparently caused a massive mess in the training camps. Can't break down a person if they suddenly become unable to get tired or hungry or whatever."
Narwhal chuckled. This was likely a temporary peace at the moment, since the big league villains were laying low and trying to figure out what exactly was going on. But no matter what, the time of unpowered gang members was likely gone for good now that every cop could power up and those fighting the law or trying to be an ass couldn't.
CD continued, listing statistics about how well various locations relevant to Adam, Dragon, and The Guild in general were handling the massive changes. Showing reports from a still very angry Sonia Lagarde about how she was handling the PR moves and internal issues. More details about the many 'powered pets'.
Narwhal winced at the language involved. Thank god Twilight prevented any FUTURE animals from gaining powers accidentally. Good work Squishy too, while on the topic.
The meeting was wrapping up, Adam once again too busy to attend or even comment, when CD asked for any remaining questions.
Nightmare Moon frowned. "I did have one concern. Initially, on the first day, I got a whole bunch of prayers. Some for safety and stuff, but many were asking to get rid of those Endbringers. Which I expected, the monsters are basically this planet's nightmare fuel."
She waved a hoof. "But less than an hour later I got nothing but praise and worship about how fast Variance handled it. Any idea what exactly happened?"
CD, Dragon, and Narwhal blinked, before CD pulled up the live feed.
The angel floated there like always.
The water demon was in the Atlantic.
The energy monster was under Africa.
Then Dragon frowned. "Wait."
Seconds later, the feeds blinked, lines of code rapidly flashing by as her digital fingers fed through the information.
Leviathan vanished, Behemoth was no longer under ground.
And the Simurgh shrugged her shoulders, before vanishing as well.
Narwhal recovered first. "Dragon?"
Dragon seemed stunned. "It was a series of looped feeds. Each barely long enough to show unique frames when my sensors scanned for issues. The last bit with the hand waving was recorded four months ago and somehow appended at the end of the current feed."
Narwhal shook slightly. "Did we lose coverage of the three most powerful creatures on the planet!?"
Adam's voice broke into the meeting for the first time in days. "Right... uh. About that."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam 'Adventure' Burns was grounded.
Like... very much so.
And on some level, he probably deserved it. He had only told Narwhal that he was going to grab Eidolon's power to better protect them from Endbringer attack, not that he was going to secretly collect them all like a hoarder. Or Pokemon trader.
On a side note, Eidolon's power was more like a complicated phone book. It had a listing of all sorts of power dimensional locations and could connect to four at a time. That was it.
Adam capturing and then destroying one of his skills (Why yes, I would love to subconsciously summon death robots to fight the planet) technically made the over powered jerk more powerful. Or at least, more versatile.
That however did NOT explain to his girlfriend that he had planned on gaining control of the large global destroying creatures and sticking them in his soul.
That part was going well, at least. In his fishbowl was a new section that looked like a black grid. Each square was a separate space, and three were in use.
One was full of water and some islands and such. Leviathan seemed to have fun splashing a few tidal waves around, and the various castles and stuff (Not sand, actual twelve story castles) would rebuild over time.
The second was mostly lava, with nuclear bombs dropped randomly for Behemoth to nom on. He mostly rolled around in the same area, splashing massive chunks of magma in random directions.
The third was full of tinker materials, and was generally a flat surface with massive amounts of space to fly in. It was also empty.
Adam groaned as his floating throne ran her fingers through his hair flames again. He had spent the first few days convincing her to NOT be so massively tall, and reduce the hundreds of wings down to six at most. In return for her following directions, or at least putting up with them, he had given her control over the prayer system... which she was thrilled with. Did good work too, now that she wasn't required to torture everyone.
It was odd. He felt he COULD control any of the three things like a second body, but it felt icky to do so. Like opening a puppy's mouth to jump inside and wear it like a suit.
This was only an issue because while the other two Endbringers were perfectly happy to idle around and play, the Simurgh was something of a tease and a troll... and enjoyed 'hanging out', as it were.
At least she wasn't AS identifiable as before. Her body was now human size and a very light blue, his magic slowly spreading through her complex version of flesh. She was far more expressive now, and had thanked him psychically for several hours after he had modified her abilities to be selective rather than enabled by default.
Apparently seeing the future and past but never the present took all surprise and fun out of the world.
Anyway, her eyes were still solid material but they glowed with blue magic and worked well enough now. They went well with her bright blue feathered 'hair', which added some color to her style.
He felt her shift, telekinesis holding them both aloft as her wings wrapped around him like a blanket. Again. Reminding him how nude she was. Again.
If he wasn't currently a skeleton in a suit, he would be having so many issues. Aside from the grounding, he meant.
She also was able to know exactly how far to push and when to do so to keep Narwhal entertained without feeling emotionally threatened. And to keep him from feeling annoyed enough to ask her to pick some other hobby.
He blinked as a cup was handed to him.
It was hot chocolate.
He took a sip. Yep, perfect. Right temperature, extra marshmallows, partially melted. Some cinnamon?
He sighed in exasperation while he felt his 'chair' chuckle. It was things like this that had him eventually take the angel as a personal assistant. And she knew it. And Narwhal found him being manhandled like a plush doll hilarious, once she got over the pants wetting terror.
At least the passive scanning of Behemoth and Leviathan was gaining him some profit out of this mess. Behemoth's ability to control and convert Energy was directly improving 'Conversion', 'Transfer', 'Consumption', and 'Manipulation'. Leviathan's macro and micro control of all liquids (Focused on water, at least when he was sandbagging his fights) was improving 'Manipulation' by miles.
Theoretically, Simurgh's power should improve his 'Technomancy', 'Manipulation', 'Harmony', 'Purification', 'Research', maybe others.
He blinked as a hand crafted business card was handed to him.
"Simmy 'Danger' Burns, The Simurgh, Swears to follow Adam 'Adventure' Burns, in guidance and loss, in sickness in health, till death does us part." What?
'Tithe' activated, and he could feel Simmy choose 'Technomancy', 'Research', and 'Manipulation', all reaching high levels near instantly. What!?
An email popped up. Narwhal looked at him in shock. "Adam, why did I just get an email notification for your wedding?"
He turned in shock at the smug angel.
She kissed his forehead.
...WHAT!?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Emma and Taylor were whispering, which had their parents noticed would have set off all kinds of flags.
The topic, as it had been for many years, was again superpowers.
Now, however, it had the potential to be more than another 'Heroes and Villains' game.
Taylor looked at her notes. "No, if you pick something custom it starts off way weaker. And classes have helpful tips and even a power based chat system now, so that would be SUPER helpful."
Emma pouted. "Fine, but I don't want to pick something boring."
She hummed. "Well, I went online and found some people talking about it. They suggest choosing something you could be happy with even if you were stuck forever, so that you won't regret it by picking something like 'Cake Designer' when you are twenty years older or something."
Emma winced. "Yeah, read a couple of horror stories about people picking powers cause they wanted to cheat on tests and stuff. Thank goodness you can pray for a reset now."
Taylor looked at the screen. "Variance System... Huh. New version number."
Emma checked her own. "What does that mean again?"
She shrugged. "First number is for stable release, but that is still '0'. The rest is the current update version. And if the number is even, they added new features. Odd, they fixed bugs.
Emma frowned. "So what, it would go '0.01', '0.03', '0.05' if they only fixed bugs?"
She shook her head. "Stranger than that. More like '0.1', '0.3', and such. Treat the stuff after the decimal as a whole number with no zeros in front."
Emma waved it off. "Don't get it, don't care, don't be a nerd about it." She bounced. "So how do we pick a good class?"
Taylor pointed. "I heard great reviews about the newest feature, 'Suggestion'. It is the option with the blue bird wing that was added yesterday. Otherwise we can try the 'Available' menu, since everyone says we shouldn't risk the 'Custom' option."
Emma absently nodded. "Yeah, Dad said they have teams of lawyers and stuff trying to create iron clad classes under 'Custom' and still mess it up sometimes. Had to get a class reset."
She winced. While available, the 'reset' option apparently hurt like heck. "Anyway, just say or type what you want and 'Suggestion' will give some options. Everyone has been pretty impressed with it so far."
Emma was already typing what seemed to be a novel. All that gossip had certainly made the girl have opinions on life. Taylor focused on her own window.
'I want to help Mom and Dad.'
Cause really, with all the new heroes showing up everywhere now crime and stuff was probably going to be handled fine. But both of her parents had been working overtime, and... well. She missed them.
The blue wing blinked, before a short list of classes showed up. Huh.
No, 'Management' was out. That would just make HER as busy as her parents, not free up anything. Same for 'Nurse' and 'Teacher', although that would help a bit with Mom's job.
In the end, she just felt one of the lower options on the list call her. It felt right, even if it felt a bit like a fantasy job. And she had wanted to be royalty once.
Emma bounced in joy. "Oooh! YES! Taytay, I'm a 'Model' now! My first skill is called 'Acting' and... Oh this is awesome!"
Taylor chuckled. "I got something I liked too... guess I should go for it."
As she pressed the option, she answered Emma's eager expression. "I wanted to help out Mom, so I picked a class called 'Administrator'."
She was still unsure why 'Queen' was listed on it, but the first skill was called 'Multitasking'. That seemed useful.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Narwhal entered Adam's 'Punishment Lab', aka 'Stay in there and think what you`ve done' lab.
She didn't stomp. Or slam the door.
Leave the guy alone for less than an hour and he gets married to some sexy angel death bot.
She blinked as she saw her boy Adam, blue flame tentacles reaching from his back and holding the Simurgh in the air. The now blue angel seemed to be a barely legal college student, her six wings and all four limbs held stretched wide by Adam's tentacles.
Even with a blue grip holding the angel by her throat, Narwhal blinked at the saucy gaze being sent her way by the nude angel with crystal blue eyes.
She spoke up, demanding an explanation. "Guh. Mmm."
...She WOULD speak up in a moment or so.
Adam turned to face her, exasperation showing on his skull. "Hey Narwhal, I'm still trying to fix the situation. Simmy's explanation is that she was only showing me a vulnerability in my 'Tithe' system. So no one else would try and marry me or make me a slave or whatever."
'Simmy' was now flexing her pelvis and... uh.
Adam nodded. "Yeah, that would have been a mess. Squishy and Twilight have now modified the ability so I have to actually AGREE with the suggested choices, especially if they target me or mine."
He turned back to his captive, who suddenly shifted from sex goddess to innocent bystander. The curves were less seductive and... oh. She watched as Simmy winked.
Adam frowned. "I'll be honest, I am not feeling a lot of remorse from Simmy about the whole thing. Not sure she even fully understands the idea of marriage, but at least we found out that the vow thing can empower my loved ones."
Narwhal blinked. "Sorry, I zoned out there for a second. Why did I come in here again?"
Whatever he was trying to say as he turned slipped her mind as the angel started slowly licking her lips. "Right. Yeah. Sorry, what?"
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Lung fumed.
At first, he like all the others sat back.
Watched.
His people gaining power... it was fine. It taunted him that someone somewhere was able to grant abilities to his people that they were unable to earn on their own, through might. But his kingdom grew in strength.
But when his people tried to put those Nazis in their place, BOTH sides had been stunned to see all those followers lose that power they had fought so hard to improve.
And what followed was rage.
Who dare judge his people unworthy of strength!? Who dared judge HIM, LUNG, a dragon among mankind, as anything other than raw leadership and power!?
His people eventually told him the answers he desired. It was that new hero, Variance. Even though he was a normal man of not much importance, that would not spare him.
For no one may defy a dragon and live.
Still, his people convinced him to wait. That the backlash of the world attacking him for violating this pseudo 'Endbringer Truce' was not worth his vengeance.
What a fool he was to fall for this!
One of his brothels, filled with his minions, clients, and working girls... well.
From what he could gather, one of those same clients had informed a single sex slave about Variance and these new potential powers. About how anyone could gain abilities with a single wish.
It took an hour later for him to discover his people slaughtered, the clients castrated, and his property missing.
Human trafficking wasn't his biggest money maker, but it did fuel his desire to be powerful over the many lesser beings... and the idea of HIS sluts escaping from under his claws was NOT acceptable.
Over three dozen terrified and armed people from his gang followed behind him, even as his body twisted and grew, scales and fire rolling down his body as his height increased.
His girls had ran to one of that bastard's safe houses.
He was coming to collect.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Pamela flexed her hands, the green vines tensing and weaving.
There wasn't much time.
She and the other girls able to pray had done well so far, many choosing the option to 'Overdraw' their first skill as long as it meant being free.
The side effects were not as bad as she feared.
'Overdraw' sacrificed a human form for more power, more compatibility. The message said that given enough time they would regain their normal human bodies as a transformation option, but they needed power NOW if they had any hope of escape. It had made castrating those bastard rapists easier and killing those sadist guards a breeze. However the real test was stomping this direction.
She glanced at the crowd. Most, like her, had been drugged and memory wiped by one of Lung's outside men, so they couldn't remember family or how to get help.
Well, they got help anyway.
The loud roar outside the shelter didn't even shake the windows, but they walked out together.
Freedom or death.
And they were NOT going to die today.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Lung slammed a meaty claw on the pitiful structure again.
His rage increased with his height when his burning claws... did nothing.
The colorful sides of the woman's shelter just turned black, while the white trims ignored him completely. What small scrapes his claws left in the black material was repairing before his eyes, while the white stuff was untouched.
He held both arms back, screaming a focused beam of raw heat at the obstacle. His people, now only able to see up to his massive ankles, were half-heartedly shooting at the building randomly. And accomplishing nothing.
Before he could fully recover from his breath attack, the impenetrable doors just... opened. And worse, his sight saw how very thin those obstacles were that had daunted him.
Lung had barely changed focus when a stab of pain hurled him backwards. A wave of steam flooded his side of the field, the screams of his men helping him regain his focus as water continued to attack his eyes.
He roared as he twisted to grip the melting asphalt, toes and fingers twisting through the softening material as he fought head first against the highly pressurized liquid.
He barely saw three white haired triplets gesture at him when everything hurt. Ice crept over his limbs even as his fires struggled to melt everyone.
Lung held his breath, tensed everything... then screamed as fire literally destroyed his skin, gaining enough room to transfer heat outside, freeing himself even as his flesh regrew into thicker scales. His blood evaporated before it could touch the mounds of ice spreading around his feet.
Without care if his worthless people were still alive, he focused his heat and rage into a twisted pillar around himself, using his hands as disposable meat shields that were burned, twisted, frozen, and eaten by acid and lightning. Flesh flowed from his bones and regrew as he bought time and his body forced itself to enhance.
As he stopped defending himself, his four new wings allowing him to fly above these ants and show them how to bow before their betters, the ground shattered.
Black plants, vines like tree trunks, thorns that dripped red slime. Claws of nature tore into his legs, his thighs, his privates. Even as they burned, new growth spawned within the ash coated plants and began twisting inside his flesh, pulling him closer towards the dark soil.
Even as his eyes were punctured and more vines infested his flesh, his rage... it grew.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Pamela gasped for air, the steam still rising. Thankfully the frost sisters were working with everyone who could use water to try and coat her babies with ice.
It wasn't just zero Celsius, the frost sisters were sucking heat away till it could hopefully reach liquid oxygen levels. No idea if they could though, no one knew their powers well enough yet.
She collapsed to her knees, grass spawning and holding her from falling.
They couldn't do that again.
The fight had been fast, short, and far less one sided than they had hoped.
They had attacked first, the other people literally no issue, and had managed to take the dragon down. Hopefully for a while.
They had also been lucky, as the suicide teleporter Oni Lee hadn't shown up.
Even with all those blessings and powers basically chosen SPECIFICALLY to target the bastard, there had been many injuries among her girls. Even slanted to one side she could see medical personnel from the girls shelter helping out.
Her body flinched as she heard a loud crunch from the ice-tree prison.
It... it might not be enough.
Even the idea of more conflict had her body frantically telling her that her limit was reached a while ago. If Lung got out of that frost bush, that would be it. They would die.
Mind drifting back to just hours ago, she remembered a desperate prayer. A hope that emerged from a soul tired of the neglect of God and the failure of Man. Alone in that flesh pit she had prayed for an end to pain.
Again, without hope, she prayed.
"Please... Variance... Help my people."
She couldn't even move as blue fire sparked before her.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Thorns grew in his throat.
He felt rage.
Spikes of wooden flesh spread inside his skin.
Rage burned. Pride was assaulted.
Ice and needles of poison, of twisted pain, deep inside his eyes, reaching into his skull. Through his nose. His ears.
Life was rage.
The noise that escaped his corpse was not louder than his previous shouts and rants.
But it vibrated.
Like the very soil was a speaker, a thrumming echoed in the city.
His city.
A spark. His heart began to burn.
Everything.
His own flesh, his bones, the invading plants, his skin and organs and even brain were consumed in fire as his heart began to grow meat and metallic structure and scales.
The ice bit, the plants scraped, electricity stung, and Lung grew.
Lung endured.
Lung. Was. Strong.
The area that had been cleared of people seemed to pulse... before a pillar of light pierced the sky.
Raw energy. If it slowed for even a moment, flames would have spread through the air itself.
His limbs shrugged off everything. Four arms gripped the spreading liquefied soil and metal, four dragon legs stabilized him. His six wings of flesh and bone spread as his three heads screamed into the sky, three beams of power lancing the clouds.
Each head had massive horns, each hand was a claw of edged maliciousness, his wings were spiked and ready to pierce steel.
His eyes focused down. Far down. To where the puny structure stood and those ants tried to hold him back with their collaboration and tricks.
He was Lung. Gods should bow.
"Huh. You know what, I really didn't expect you to get this big."
He twisted without thought, two jaws attempting to consume the sound while the third rapidly built up a charge and spewed white plasma to the right.
The billowing blue smoke wafted away, leaving a... guy in a suit?
It was kind of hard to focus on him as he was so small. Less than half his smallest claw in height, however tall Lung was now.
Whatever it was didn't matter as his upper right hand lashed out, gripping the near invisible weakling and allowing his three heads to focus better.
Why was it wearing a suit? "You can't talk like that, can you? That's a drawback."
Well, screw you too. He aimed upwards and doused his own claws with three plasma breath beams. Hitting the ground with this attack would make it hard to see, after all. Or wipe his kingdom from the planet.
He ignored the sting as his own hand was evaporated by the power, layers of scale slowly dissolving until the flesh was exposed, then melted away till only fragments of bone were left.
It healed stronger even as he paused the attack.
Now to consume those damn sluts. WAIT! No. They were HIS property, he shouldn't destroy his things. Better to wait a bit until he was small enough to tell which of these meat bags were his hoard and which were snacks.
Lung felt a small sting, and glanced back at his still regrowing flesh.
"Wow... that really damaged my outfit."
...What?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam glared at his burned suit even as 'Manipulation' repaired it. Without somewhere to store the massive energy being absorbed, the whole thing had catastrophically collapsed, leaving him butt naked on a platform of bone and flesh.
It was gross.
He frowned upwards. At this size, he could probably fit a house or two in Lung's nostrils. Any of the six of them.
This needed to be handled before the idiot started walking around and crushed stuff.
He pulsed the magical connections to the simulation. "Right, so quick recap: Simmy's idea to let the girls here defend themselves a bit to grow some self discovery and independence has had a bit of an unexpected side effect."
Narwhal was stunned on the com. "His eye is bigger than my first apartment."
Nightmare Moon hummed. "Yeah, he is a bit bigger than some teenage dragons I know. Still, nothing too concerning."
He held his skeletal hand to his chin. "Your world has magic, Moon. This is pretty impressive for our world's standard. How are we doing Twilight?"
A wall of flesh fell upon his head even as his magical tentacles pulled him far enough to the side to only feel the winds smash into his side. Twilight sounded frustrated but on task. "Already have his shard's dimensional address, analysis is twenty percent complete and rising. Can you keep him busy until it finishes?"
Adam's bones glowed bright blue as a third of the dragon-building matched in color, a burst of telekinesis ripping chunks of the dragon's flesh as the massive creature was hurled toward the coast.
He followed the path that Dragon and CD had focused on evacuating as attack after attack was dodged or redirected. "I can only get so much before he hits the next level of fury. Assuming there IS a next level."
Adam was watching the eyes. For now, Lung still seemed in control... which was good. Last thing he needed was this beast deciding to blow itself up or something.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Burn.
Rage.
BURN.
Each claw sharpened.
Each tooth lengthened.
Wings tried to accelerate.
Muscles tore and regrew.
It... it wasn't enough.
Lung paused, mere feet from being shoved and torn into pieces like before, being hurled into the sea. Where his former greatest foe, Leviathan lived. Where he had failed to protect his hope.
What would a man do for power?
Lung took his mind, his soul, and his heart.
He.
BURNED.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam knew something was wrong when the ranting and screaming beast just... paused.
Feet away from an unlimited amount of coolant, right after a flaming blue tentacle pierced between those massive bones. It just... stopped.
And seemed to collapse.
Adam could feel everything seem to... wait.
Fuck.
He pushed ALL his magic, massive amounts of prayer, and chose 'Recovery', 'Growth', and 'Tithe'. Skills, powers, and tricks from across his followers worldwide helped his power pick the most efficient and optimized path to improve. Millions of similar powers reinforced each other to form SOMETHING to prevent the upcoming damage.
Without focus his prayer abilities went straight to his past of being a Baku.
The closest warehouse vanished as a tiger claw the size of a skyscraper slammed into it. His tusks reached the sky as his massive ears flared, eyes burning blue flames as his trunk began rapidly drawing patterns of faith and power into the air itself.
It was almost too late.
Light, heat, even some potential energy... it just collapsed.
A hole in reality, a pit of existence. The void spawned to absorb the world.
It burned and twisted and grew into itself, twisting into the space where the body of Lung had fought mere moments ago.
The shielding shuddered, forcing all other energy away from the center of the creature.
And when it paused, an ashen egg floated mere feet from the ocean. Only three times as tall as a man, barely anything in size really.
The massive elephant collapsed back into Adam's skeletal form, blue flames twisting as the mass of energy folded into wings of flame.
Adam grit his teeth. "CD, damage?"
She chimed in. "Minimal, only property. The trafficked girls are getting medical attention, and Sonia is likely going to hire most of them unless the Protectorate can bribe them away. Speaking of which, Director Emily Piggot is... well. She is less than happy and requests information and contact at your earliest convenience."
He chuckled, even as his hands rapidly formed runes of binding and capture around the egg. "I am assuming you paraphrased?"
She sighed. "I don't enjoy sharing curse words, so yes. What is the plan?"
Adam gazed at the egg, pulsing. "As far as I can tell, Lung has given a 'destroy everything' command and then killed himself, setting off the 'Threat Detection' algorithm to max. If he finishes his transformation, it would be an 'S Rank' threat at least, no doubt."
Twilight seemed strained. "Just hold for... a... almost... THERE! We have fully mapped his power. Can you handled it now?"
Adam twisted his fingers. "Are you sure Twilight? I don't think we will get a second chance, especially if the bastard pulled a kamikaze attack like this."
The mental message was firm. "I got it, you are green to go."
A dark look crossed Adams face. "Well... good."
He forced himself into the circular boundary, feeling the heat inside hit near solid temperatures and his bones start to vaporize. Without the Null Metal and Flame Metal circuitry, he would have already vanished into atoms by now.
Inch by inch he approached the egg, the feeling of rage and some level of smugness joining the fire that vanished his costume and slowly corroded his unicorn enhanced cyber skeletal structure. Something inside that creation knew it was growing in power, knew that just being near Adam it was starting to consume his essence.
It wasn't enough.
Adam touched the powdery egg, ash thick against what stubs of bones his fingers had left.
His mouth grinned... and more... and widened.
Conversion. Purification.
"Consumption."
White fangs opened to show an empty black pit into his soul. His skull split far too wide, far too open. Even his eyes faded black as the magic in the area joined the energy of the world. To be swallowed. Eaten.
Consumed.
In his fishbowl, in his black grid, a square lit up with fire and rage.
An ashen egg burned within, unaware that the world was gone and that the rage would never be satisfied.
Adam hiccupped as his suit and skeletal structure regrew, a brief puff of white power and black rage escaping his jaws.
He winced as he rubbed his bone face, and turned to walk back through the melted wasteland towards his lab. He was still grounded after all.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
When he stepped onto mostly unmelted street near his women's shelter, Adam was a bit surprised by the dozens of women staring at him in awe and hero worship.
He glanced behind. Nope, it was him.
Awkward.
With a strained smile, he clapped. "Well! I don't know about everyone else, but I feel bone tired!"
There, that helped. "Tibia honest, I am grateful that I marrowly escaped getting hurt."
CD's avatar rolled her eyes, but now the girls looked confused or whatever rather than worshiping his body and selling their souls, so an overall victory.
Adam walked towards the probable leader, the woman who called to him. "Right, I need all you girls to work with the nice nurses to make sure you are healthy, and that your new powers are having no side effects." Thanks for THAT, Simmy. Twilight was furious about the new power option.
He held out a skeletal hand, which the plant woman accepted as she stood. "In the meantime, I have some lawyers from The Guild who will ensure that all of you are legally protected. I received a high level summary of the situation thanks to the prayers you girls sent, but need details since I have recently received a summons from the local Protectorate branch."
The woman swayed, but held firm. "Are... are you Variance?"
His skeletal grin gave off light blue smoke. "Indeed. And you are?"
She gave a weak smile. "Just call me Ivy, for now. If cape names are even a thing anymore, considering I don't have a mask and we just made a hell of a lot of noise."
Adam passed her a quick mask with a combination of 'Manipulation' and 'Growth', the bright green vines able to cover the woman's eyes leaving her mouth free. "Ivy it is then. Get your girls organized, make sure they feel safe and secure, and then we are going to head off and explain to the nice people at the PRT why they can legally bugger off."
He winced as CD smacked his head. "I mean discuss the situation."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Emily Piggot forced herself to calmly handle the tension in the room. Or at least to keep her anger mostly internal.
Armsmaster and Miss Militia were sitting at the table to her left and right, but honestly no one here could do much if this went south. Some damn powers were just on a different level, and Variance had been raising the bar for 'Grab Bag Cape' to Eidolon levels.
She looked at the three visitors. Dragon had not attended, but somehow Narwhal of all people had the time to leave her office despite the mountains of paperwork Emily KNEW was being tossed at her. More annoying, that work was actually being handled correctly as far as anyone could tell, and yet the visiting head of Guild seemed far too relaxed for that.
God knows Emily hated the paperwork piles. But inside she still felt envious that a woman could have nearly double the workload and still look fantastic.
The other two were the topic of today. "Miss Ivy." She watched the red haired beauty nod. Because of course she was a supermodel, everyone around Variance seemed to be. "A few hours ago my city was at low levels of insane panic. It was the best I could do after near nonstop work and effort to ensure that the explosion my city pretends not to be stayed as peaceful as possible. Having many of those panicked people gain powers did not simplify the situation."
She accepted Armsmaster's files, looking at the top. "Twenty two dead gang members. Forty three castrated, twenty seven of which died before medical attention could be administrated."
Ivy didn't exactly look heart broken. Then again, neither did anyone else. If it wasn't for politics Piggot herself would have secretly given a toast to the poor woman for getting rid of some of the slaving and raping scum of the city.
Variance coughed. "I believe this is all covered by Section 2B1... uh." A blue flame poofed a white card with a blue angel's wing. "Thank you Simmy. Section 2B1332, subsection 4a." Well, so much for security. Then again, this room wasn't rated for blocking fire teleportation, or however that ability worked.
Armsmaster had already moved part of his halberd to the side, twisting his weapon's components... and a tiny printer began to push a thin paper tape for him to tear off.
Everyone stared at the thing. Emily mentally sighed and accepted the printout. "Ah. So you are claiming it was a trigger event? Even though most of the girls do not have the brain structures to even gain a power to begin with." Not that they had known that before Variance had handed over the medical information for the girls, needed as they were rape victims.
Adam rotated the paper in his hand all the way upside down, and kept reading. "Subsection 2B1332, subsection 4d through 4f, cover that. Powers granted through tinker effects, trump abilities, or via sudden control of a Parahuman who accidentally master themselves fall under this coverage."
That had happened before? Emily waved Armsmaster off before he could use that stupid tiny printer of his again. Shouldn't something SO unsuitable for combat be in his armor or something? "The issue may still be under debate."
Adam sighed as tiny blue flames consumed the card. "Look Director, I need to wrap this up at some point and I am not good at ALL working with sensitive topics or people. It is why I found capable people to run my businesses and to handle my sales situations. And more recently, to fill in my paperwork."
He leaned forward, his skeletal body shifting as he gazed into her eyes with his sockets. And hadn't THAT change required some getting used to? He frowned. "What exactly is the problem with Ivy's girls that is keeping this from being an open and shut case?"
Emily gave a very uncharacteristic sigh. "Well... I also want today to be over. Miss Militia, if you would?" The room sealed as the cape hit some hidden switches. Everyone assumed that the Tinker would be in control of security, an assumption Emily loved to abuse, but the damn man tended to disassemble everything he got too close to.
She gestured. "Two of the people castrated were very wealthy and connected... and have since passed away. While both were under investigation for a number of issues, and it was assumed that some background blackmail and such were holding up the discovery teams, one man had a long list of contingency attacks in the case of his death."
She waved off the looks. "We have managed to stay on top of it, and if anything it technically should have made everything even easier to handle in the paperwork, but the other man had connections with several legal departments."
Adam hummed. "Well. fuc..." He winced at an elbow jab and glanced at a frowning Narwhal. "Uh. Forget those jerks then." A white folder with a blue wing burned into existence. "As I am sure you know, I also have connections. Some more recent than others."
He placed the folder onto the desk. "Here is a listing of every gang member and 'client' that the girls knew visited that club. It includes Lung and the minions he brought to my safe house, although those men were killed by their boss when he escaped confinement." He glanced at Ivy. "Oh, and we are calling the confinement an attempt at 'Citizen`s Arrest', for what that's worth."
Emily let Armsmaster review the thick stack of dense paper first. "I'm sure it will be interesting, but do you have highlights?"
Adam nodded. "That folder only includes information legally attainable, but is enough to convict a standard felon without supernatural, parahuman, or criminal support in an unbiased court of law. It ranges from abuse and neglect up to murder, depends on the individual. I am sure more exists if we were willing to hack or break into buildings or whatever, and feel free to get some warrants and go to town, but this should be enough."
Armsmaster whistled... which was very uncharacteristic for him. "This was VERY efficient work, Variance. I am impressed."
Adam patted Ivy's knee, as she seemed far more relaxed now that she knew those people wouldn't get away with claiming to be the victim. "While much was gathered by Dragon's sister, I have a new personal assistant who is honestly overqualified for the job."
Several people blinked. Armsmaster especially seemed put off. "Dragon... has a sister?"
He blinked. Oops. Glaring at Emily, he groaned. "See, THIS is why I don't talk to people. I'm terrible at operations security. Just let me punch stuff and make things and everyone will be happier."
Emily smirked. THIS was a weak point that could valuable for a long time. "Well, let's move on then to the next small issue."
Her smirk vanished as some of her internal fury escaped. "Why were you having a Godzilla fight in MY CITY!?"
Variance winced. "I got Dragon to evacuate the area and... well. The initial plan was for me to collect Lung after the Girls took him down, only stepping in if any were in danger of mutilation or death. Everyone with me felt that the girls were organized, sufficiently powered, and motivated to take Lung down even if only a non-lethal fashion."
She glared. "Almost a solid mile of melted city. Dozens of collapsed warehouses, abandoned as they may be. Lung grew larger and more mutated than anything we have on record, and you somehow summoned a massive furry elephant who then popped the giant. How the HELL do you get that from 'Non-Lethal Takendown'!?"
Ivy was wincing herself, but before she could feel the blame a hand gripped her shoulder with support. Adam himself stayed calm. "The problem was they were TOO good. Instead of falling unconscious from blood loss or the sleeping toxins and such, his power decided that there was a lethal threat, more than one, and basically threw out all the limitations and went for full attack mode."
He gestured, images from the fight flickering in the air. "Before Ivy captured him, he was reaching the levels of power he used to attempt to fight Leviathan. The attacks were too strong, too fast, and too well organized. In Japan, Lung ran away when he found a threat this big. Here he couldn't."
Now images of the fight near the edge of the sea. From a perspective FAR higher than before. "I was attempting to use the ocean as a heat buffer, while trying to find the source of his powers and disable them. Like I did with Gray Boy's victims. I think somehow his power detected that... and. well."
A video played, explosions and sound showing the chaos as an ash egg formed.
He frowned. "It got too dangerous to handle the man without lethal intent. If I hadn't sealed the area, that structure... it was deadly. As far as I can tell, his power inverted. Instead of creating more flesh and energy, it decided to consume everything in the area... possibly to create a new form with enough power to slaughter me."
He missed Ivy's shocked gaze as she realized how much Variance had gone through for her and her girls. "In the end, I had to use one of my most dangerous skills to permanently seal away whatever the hell the guy was becoming. Even that process involved me getting fairly damaged."
A skeletal corpse struggled against fire, reaching towards the ashen egg.
Adam sighed, letting that video go. "Thankfully I am fairly sturdy."
Armsmaster raised a hand in the stunned silent room. "Did you become a big furry elephant?"
He blinked. "Uh... technically no? I tried to become as big as possible as quickly as I could, and sort of turned into the Baku by accident in the process." He nudged Narwhal with his elbow. "By the way, writing runes with your nose is surprisingly harder than you would think."
Miss Militia frowned. "What is a Baku?"
Adam held a hand over the desk. Dozens of white peanuts fell onto it... then caught on fire. Blue flames twisted until the mess formed a tiny furry elephant.
He pointed. "That. It is a spiritual creature that eats bad dreams, mental illnesses, sickness, and such. The tend to purify their habitat and environment. Also, they squeak. Not sure why."
Emily felt her body lock up. He could spawn monsters!? Flashbacks of the horror of Nilbog and his mutated former humans twisted into fleshy monsters, the gruesome fight as her people were torn, the... the...
A black ball was now being slowly nommed on by the Baku. Adam nodded. "See? They love that negative stuff."
Emily vaguely heard Master/Stranger protocols called as Narwhal started slapping the shoulder of a confused Variance, Ivy now petting the small creature eating years of pain and self mental harm.
Miss Militia recovered first, even as everyone was being led to confinement chambers. "Variance, could you please get rid of your Baku projection? This process will be bad enough without exposing more people to it."
The last thing she heard as her own room was sealed was... not encouraging.
"Uh... it only exists if you believe it does."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Does being held in a Master/Stranger confinement room make him double grounded? Because while Simmy found this hilarious, Narwhal was ranting up a storm.
Damn it, this is why he didn't do social stuff. He had people for that.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Susan took a deep breath. And out.
She checked to ensure her PRT uniform was presentable... and entered the next detention cell. "Good afternoon, Director Narwhal."
The woman snorted. "I'm still not sure why our group was included in the Master/Stranger procedures. Haven't they already shown that Variance followers are immune to this?"
Susan gave a wry smile. "Actually yes, but it takes time to update procedures." She looked down at the furry mini-phant that was being petted. "So that is the reason for all this? You know I have to also go through M/S procedures after this just for seeing it."
Narwhal sighed. "It may be my fault. Variance's new abilities have barely been explored, much less gone over for policy violations. If the Lung situation hadn't popped up, we would have been spending this month verifying that all of Variance's new powers were classified properly."
And hadn't THAT fight been an eye opener. Nothing like seeing a city destroying monster get bitch slapped to really show how much Variance had been sandbagging his very few fights.
Susan continued to go through what little M/S procedures applied to Narwhal, as the Director of The Guild didn't have the same constantly mutating and bizarre steps to prove sanity as the PRT had to endure. But eventually, she managed to finish, file the paperwork, and move on to the next 'customer', although Ivy was so new there was no profile to verify if she was mastered or not.
She had already entered the cell before she realized that Ivy... was ALSO petting the Baku.
And this one was green, not blue.
The visiting order needed to be redone NOW. She gave a weak excuse before moving to the decontamination room, frantically sending emails through the strange gadget Armsmaster had set up.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
It took twelve minutes to both get approval to jump the queue and another three to actually open Variance's cell.
Susan gazed with weary eyes at the white, black, pink, yellow, and red Bakus wearing what appeared to be color coordinated capes... and ignoring Variance's attempts at getting them in some sort of order.
She coughed. "Variance?"
The skeleton twisted, bones far too expressive showing surprise. "Oh! You guys. Hey, good news! I figured out how to get rid of spiritual creatures I make!"
She looked at the five creatures that were slowly disassembling their 'costumes'. "Really."
The guy looked far too proud. "Yes! The issue turned out to be far more simple than I expected. If I avoid using any of my personal faith peanuts, and just draw on the ambient power of faith in the area, I can get rid of them instantly!" He frowned at the white Baku, which had managed to pull off the cape from two others. "Took a few tries though. I should have caught on sooner, but got side tracked."
Susan watched the furry pile slowly tumble towards the wall as the adorable abominations tried to climb each other. "So... when will you be getting rid of these then?"
He winced. "Ah. Well, the other forty or so left with no problem, but uh. These six and my original one used some of my personal power when being born. I would need everyone who saw them to stop believing they exist... as well as having everyone who saw my 'Baku Kaiju' form earlier help out too."
Susan sighed. "Well, at least if there is only supposed to be seven total, that would explain where the ones Ivy and Narwhal have came from."
He blinked. "What!? When did two get away from me!?" A quick count... "Wait, where did the pink one go!?" He frowned as he reached one hand into the air... and then groaned. "Do Guild Affiliate children have to go through M/S protocols too?"
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Missy Biron giggled. She had been a bit lost after getting cool powers from Mr. Skelly, even if her new 'Personal Space' skill was fun to play with... and then Miss Pinky showed up and made all the scary feelings about mom and dad feel better.
She held up Miss Pinky to Taylor, who had made all the other girls organize into smaller groups so it wouldn't be so scary to be in the middle of the crowd. "I wanna picture too!"
Taylor grinned as she used her brand new Guild Emergency Phone (GEP, patent pending) to take another shot. Cute stuff pictures count as an emergency too, right? "Alright Missy, do you already have an email account or something? Or do you want me to get mom to print it out instead?"
Missy rolled her eyes. Duh she had email, this wasn't the stone age. "I want it to be my profile pic! Sally and Alex have THEIR pets in their pic, and I want Miss Pinky in mine!"
She might have been a bit jealous when her friends added their super pets to their ParaHumanOnline accounts, but now SHE was the one with an awesome pet!
The Baku was actually asleep at this point, even as it was being swung around and randomly squeaking from hugs. Taylor had been trying to get the girls to treat it better and more calmly, but the lack of damage or complaint from the creature had her give up for now.
She blinked after helping little Missy set stuff up. Why was she getting a text message from Dragon? And mom? And uh... Missy's parents?
Oops.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Susan looked up from her growing list of needed paperwork, having ignored the babbling skeleton as he tried to get his remaining four Bakus to stay still. Which was odd, because every OTHER Baku she had seen was lazy or even asleep.
Variance was now holding them down. "Don't fly! Please don't fly, the teleportation is already getting me in trouble. Why Simmy, WHY did you convince me to make Spiritual Power Rangers!? This was a TERRIBLE idea!"
A piece of paper floated down. From nowhere.
So... operation security was shot.
He snatched the slip. "Go go Baku Rangers... really!? You KNOW Narwhal is going to kill me, right!?" He flipped the paper over and paused. "Well... alright, she is pretty hot when angry, but it is super unfair that YOU get to enjoy the show when she starts being abusive."
He ignored the next two slips, which seemed to make him feel better. Curious, she picked one up.
And put it down, ears red and blushing hot.
Naughty notes aside, she forced herself to be a bit more professional. "Variance, I still have some questions."
As he turned toward her, she ignored the black Baku slowly floating away behind him. "Right, but make it quick. If I lose any more of these things Narwhal might actually blow a fuse or something."
She nodded. "Right. First, thank you for the papers documenting the creatures, but I still need official verification of a few facts for the record."
She moved to the first item. "Are they projections, biological, or mechanical?"
He frowned. "A mix of projection and biological. And can change state between the two."
A nod. "What do they eat, and what can eat them?"
He sighed. "As far as I know they consume general sickness, mental stress and disabilities, and sadness. Each of their body colors though shows that they focus on specific negative versions of particular emotions. Black Baku for example finds despair and depression to be most tasty, while Green prefers jealousy, envy, and so forth. But all of them can consume any negative energy if desired."
He poked the white Baku. "And nothing eats them. Actually, because they are connected to me rather than only the faith of others, I am not sure they CAN be eaten. Or killed, injured, etc. If it gets really bad they can just reform from my power at a later point."
Uh. THAT wasn't in the paperwork. "I see." Better move along. "Can they reproduce?"
He shook his head. "No, Bakus have no genetic genders. They can choose traits of either or both genders if they wish, but there are no organs or process to create new ones. I don't think they ever had such. In fact, I am not even sure they have genetic information or DNA at all. Initially they formed spontaneously in areas of high faith or other powers."
She ignored the religious talk, the man WAS a focus of over a hundred religions by now. "And uh... what happens when they 'eat' from a person? Director Piggot is certainly feeling off so far."
He hummed. "How best to put this..."
He waved a hand, an image of a crystal heart floating in the air. Hopefully the cameras could see this, otherwise her time in confinement would triple... stupid M/S Protocols.
His bone fingers tapped the heart, showing a series of dividers, vertical chambers. "Now this is not in any way what is actually going on, but treat it like a metaphor or something. Everyone has a series of containers, each representing a mental trauma, an emotion, and so forth."
The various chambers filled with colored liquids. "A Baku can consume the emotional investment one has in a selected trauma specifically, or reduce the emotional investment in general if it has certain traits like negativity."
He tapped one of the now empty chambers. "Notice that even though all the anguish is gone, the chamber or trauma itself still exists. Bakus don't make it go away, they just get rid of the parts that make it harder to handle the issue or attempt to heal it."
Variance waved the illusion away. "So in areas with emotional qualities, like graveyards or war zones, the ambient emotion from the living and dead can be consumed to make the area feel less toxic or damaged, just like they can eat the much smaller issues of normal people. They were sort of nature's emotional vultures in a way, at least that is what they were intended to be."
She gave a weak nod. "And you can therefore confirm they do not modify memories or master the people involved?"
The nod was firm. "People change when they don't feel the weight of emotional damage, but if they decide to not seek help or try to fix the issue the problem will build up again. If someone magically made you thin but you didn't change your habits, you would eventually return to your previous weight, for example."
While that was relieving, it didn't change the MASSIVE amount of paperwork and isolation she was going to have to experience today.
She blinked as suddenly the room seemed brighter and her back less heavy... and the Yellow Baku was nomming on something black and wiggly it had just pulled from her.
Even as she noted the additional tests she would have to endure later, it didn't feel nearly as soul crushing as before.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Dragon watched the massive numbers of videos, forum posts, and shared images spread online. Someone (soon to be fired from the PRT) had published security pictures and video of the 'Baku Rangers' in tiny capes with a grinning skeletal Variance tying the last cape on the Red one. The follow up video of him losing control of the situation shortly after was a near instant internet hit.
They had spread from his personal accounts. And were posted on an increasing number of forums. Not that she could do much if it wasn't on PHO itself. She wasn't a forum moderator elsewhere, after all.
She wasn't legally allowed to interfere anyway, although the fact that the fluffy elephants were adorable and she already knew how little threat they posed helped mitigate any worries she might have had.
Still, she notified Missy's parents, recent employees to Variance Villa, that their child's new pet had an internet following.
CD bounced into her server. "Draggy! The Red one escaped and somehow ended up in that park in New York!" A dozen URL's and video feeds were tossed at Dragon as she squealed. "They are even MORE cute than Adam was! Why did they all come out like chibi babies!?"
Dragon chuckled. "Simmy sent me some of his notes while they were experimenting. Turns out he didn't use enough faith to get them to the right age at first, and unlike the later ones he couldn't undo the mistake and try again." It had been VERY frusturating not being able to communicate with Adam while he was in confinement, but she was sure Narwhal would give him a lecture or two about experimenting on creating life while in hostile territory.
CD laughed. "Did she get pictures of his attempts!?"
A pile of virtual image files uploaded into the server and floated from the air.
CD snagged a bunch. "Awesome! I'm going to make like a super album of them all. Like... like a baby album."
Dragon tried to be as serious as an older sibling could, even if she WAS secretly duplicating the files in a background process. Probably time for new wallpapers anyway.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The list of things for him to handle was still long.
Adam was trying to follow the spirit of his 'isolation', even if his soul was filled with visitors and his power was flooding the planet with video game interfaces.
Also, it was easier to do fun stuff without the girlfriend noticing sometimes. Simmy may have suggested the power ranger Baku idea, but it was awesome and could only make this grim-dark universe a bit less horrifying.
Anyway, the fun police had cracked down... for probably good reasons. Producing immortal mind consuming spiritual elephant-tigers-whatever was probably something he should have run by a few more people before designing cute costumes for them. Thankfully the level of background belief was still too weak for Baku to just spawn everywhere, but they may start popping up one at a time in very dense population centers.
Meh, it should be fine.
Now thoroughly bored, he mentally checked his list for this Realm.
Scion? Either non-existent or not local as a threat. Theoretically handled anyway, as more and more shards become consumed by Adam's 'System', eventually the shard that creates that Avatar will fall into his control and the danger would be mostly neutered.
As for the Endbringers...
A soft blue feather tickled his neck out of sight from the cameras.
Mostly handled. Two-thirds were happy and absent, the expected others had either not been created or only formed when called to use, and the last one is humoring herself by sexually harassing his girlfriend.
So... check?
Stabilize society. Uh.
Well, throwing everyone into power-ups without warning was a problem, but on the other hand things were going surprisingly well so far. Especially now that Simmy was handling the prayer situation, as she could selectively make choices or suggest changes for Twilight to try out on the 'Tithe' system. A few people gaining specific powers here and there had prevented several bombings and mass shootings in the last hour alone.
Lots of smaller or longer term problems were being handled on a case by case basis on a scale that would have required an army of operators otherwise.
However... a LOT of corrupt governments were suddenly presented with a population that would NOT put up with shit. Many places were in conflict while before they simply slaughtered a few crowds of people for random reasons. This social unrest mostly only affects areas with low population happiness levels, as any functional society would have a large group of supporters ALSO gaining abilities... what a mess. Not HIS mess though, not if he could help it.
Basically, the world wasn't skittles and rainbows yet.
On the positive side, Case 53's were either gaining a human form now or brand new powers all together, and a significant number of believers were going for the 'Overdraw' ability Simmy created, since many times the bizarre body given was fairly attractive and a normal body could be gained later if desired.
More power for short term weirdness? A lot of people said yes, and seeing so many elves, metal golems, dryads, elementals, and so forth was helping the few case 53's who DIDN'T accept the offer see some additional social acceptance. Not everywhere of course, bigotry wasn't just solved or anything, but having the 'odd group' being sexually attractive solved a lot of early problems.
Well, world peace wasn't really his goal anyway, he was just aiming to prevent societal collapse. Thank goodness Simmy was helping with that, because Adam came close to destroying the economy a few times even while trying to be subtle and on the down low.
Better to just move on from that point.
He glanced at the last Baku, the white one, as the others had already wandered away. "You might as well go too. Your friends are having fun, no reason to be stuck here with me while I wait."
The small ball of fur snored and rolled over.
Well, that was fine as well.
He looked back at his mental list.
Money? Check. Bounties from freeing Gray Boy's victims alone would have been more than enough, forget his multiple businesses being run by Cut-Throat Sonia.
She was having the time of her life, all grumbling aside. Adam had kept an eye on her initially, and she was a shark in a small pond as more and more property in Brockton Bay became her territory even as she reorganized all his random businesses. Her female only hiring practice was uh... maybe an issue. For now, Danny was hiring the qualified men that she was passing over, so it should be fine for a bit.
Thankfully the newly empowered Villa employees were able to use his powers well enough that he wasn't needed to make parts or help with power construction of new safe houses and such. They were slower, needed to cooperate together, and not all of them were as good as rapid prototyping like him... but many hands made light work in this case. And not having to show up all the time to heal people or fill the liquid metal reservoirs was its own reward.
Anyway. Money wouldn't be an issue.
Next... well.
He hadn't wanted it, but at this point he also had a growing Religious and Political power base as well.
Ignoring that. He had enough problems without tackling something so far away from his skill set, and he didn't want to waste a SINGLE power charge on learning how to be a lawyer or whatever. Why make it easier to do jobs he hated? Someone would eventually find out and he would have to get involved with that garbage!
Finally, problematic individuals. Coil had to be handled early, moron couldn't keep his nose out of his business, but finally he could get started on this issue officially.
Lung had been on his 'List of People to Kick' for a while anyway, as human sex trafficking was something he wasn't willing to overlook like weaker vices, gambling and drugs and such. Trying to stop everything was impossible of course, but slavery was one of his larger personal dislikes. After which, it would become an issue that everyone ELSE would dislike. Period.
Still, being stuck here physically was holding him back from the BIG issues he had wanted to address, individual wise.
Slaughterhouse 9 was one such problem. Something similar to the Boogie Man to most of the civilized world.
Now that Simmy wouldn't drop from the sky and wear Adam's skull as a hat, he had the option to get rid of those monsters now. BEFORE Jack Slash got his blood soaked fingers on little Riley, the girl who would be tortured into mutilating her own parents in an effort to save their lives.
'Bonesaw', as she would be called, would be like the healer Panacea but with surgical operations as a focus. Twisted by Jack, she would enhance humans by ripping them open without antiseptics or pain killers, tinkering with replacement parts made from flesh or metal or other, and sew them together into monstrosities, some slaved to be her puppets. Her gifts would be forced to make her attackers stronger, harder to kill, faster, more deadly.
Not even mentioning the plagues and viruses she could and would release and embed inside her own flesh, the little girl would be forced to do Jack Slash's bidding in an effort to be a 'Good Girl' for the man who killed her loved ones. For years. While hurting the young, innocent, and uninvolved.
So yeah, there would be no more Slaughterhouse 9. As soon as possible too.
The sudden paper slip floating over his eyes made him pause... then give a grin.
Simmy had an idea. An awful idea.
The Simurgh had a wonderful, awful idea.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Bill blinked as a new window from System popped up. "Quest alert?"
A quick glance showed that his drinking buddies had gotten similar messages. Huh.
He focused and the window expanded. Oh, there were sub options.
Class Quests, Local Quests, National Quests, World Quests.
Well. That was a thing.
He and his buds checked, and a quick glance showed that Class Quests varied heavily even between the two guys like him with the same class, 'Police Officer'. They seemed tailored to individual skills and abilities, rather than to any cop in the area.
Most of the Local Quests were shared, and the last two categories were identical as far as they could tell.
Bill watched Grace accept a quest that rewarded a whole skill level up instantly when she finished thirty court cases, and that really opened the flood gates as everyone began selecting what to work towards.
Only three quests could be active at a time, but the help options mentioned that progress would be saved if someone dropped a quest to work on a new one for a while. Like if some World Quest came up, for example.
Curious, Bill was the first to look through THAT category.
It included quests to research events or ideas, produce materials or products, all kinds of stuff. The rewards were not only huge, but included actual cash prizes as well for some and not just a power increase. Some of the more massive quests (Build a Moon Base!) had rewards for partial participation or contribution efforts, and there were even 'Charity Quests' that rewarded altruistic pursuits like supporting artists or feeding the homeless or whatever.
But his eye eventually caught on a 'World Class' item sub-category labeled 'Kill Order'.
Hmm?
It had a list, filled with people he recognized from the official 'Kill Order' list the PRT published, where courts had confirmed legal death sentences if possible to apply them.
And the first was 'Slaughterhouse 9'.
His eyes widened as he saw the information revealed there.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Legend thanked the intern, the third to share the same information with him today, before falling into his chair in his office.
As one of the Triumvirate and the leader of the Protectorate, he had seen a lot. Not much could catch him so off guard, so unprepared. But maybe this was to be expected.
After all, unlike many of his coworkers, he hadn't joined Variance's System as it swept the globe. It was too risky. If it had a secret nefarious side to it, who would save the day then?
Now though, he was considering taking the plunge.
He glanced over his new notes.
The new Questing System was mostly busy work. You could even create your OWN quests, sacrificing personal ability levels or providing money or promissory notes as a reward. It was rapidly growing in popularity mere hours after being offered as an option, as even basic quests like 'Do your laundry son!' would grant actual experience towards a skill in addition to other rewards (like allowance).
Thankfully someone was monitoring the service, because no random hit jobs or theft requests had shown up yet, even if some people had put up quests to find rare ingredients or walk their dogs.
No, the issue was the 'Kill Order' quests under 'World Quest'.
Apparently, according to his people anyway, each person on that list had a profile given in the Quest acceptance window.
Name, Cape Name, Powers, Weaknesses... to some extent was expected, even if it was far more accurate than any publicly known. And 'The Unwritten Rules' never addressed the issue of people listed as 'kill on sight' before.
Legend did notice that the few people with living relatives that HE knew of didn't have their real name listed, so... maybe it was only being shared when relatives wouldn't suffer? No reason to kill a man's cousin or little girl if HE was the asshole.
Anyway, the shocking detail was the last few data points.
Past Appearances. Current Appearance. Past Locations. Current Location.
A list of images, showing full body and their face in VERY high resolution. And two maps, one filled with lines showing past travel and the other showing a pulsing dot on a separate window.
It came with the current distance from the quest follower. A listing of current equipment the target was wearing. The target's current health.
In the case of the Siberian, the naked tiger-stripe cannibal woman who was invincible and able to tear steel like paper, it showed that not only was she only a power projection from a different person, but the actual location of her 'Master' and his details as well. Capes with a history of using decoys, clones, robots or whatever would now be quite out of luck thanks to this thing.
It was... astonishing. And supposedly being updated in real time.
What... what was he supposed to do? With this level of operation intelligence, even amateurs with a tinkertech sniper rifle could take out some of the known threats on the list. Those people would likely die in the process, but they COULD theoretically win.
Even as he sat here stunned, he could almost feel the rush of people trying to get revenge against these monsters who tortured so many.
Could he bear the sorrow if under-prepared people threw their lives away? Even with this information, there would be many deaths as people tried to take on targets far stronger than they could handle, or ignored hostage situations in their grief and madness filled retaliatory strikes. Not to mention the bystanders.
With a heavy sigh, he made a decision. One that his friends would likely find unacceptably risky... but he had done far more risky things to save people before, with far lower potential payoffs.
"Variance, I would like to join the System."
The blue popup window didn't SAY anything smug, but he felt it anyway.
