CANS OF WORMS
by Louis IX

Check first chapter for disclaimer and global warnings. This chapter's about the PRT ratings: are they equivalent to being a cape? Two individuals beg to differ. Additional warning: Bonesaw at work (again). 'nuf said.

Powerless

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Where Harry met Sally

Before the Slaughterhouse Nine were "scheduled" to come to Brockton Bay, they "visited" a couple towns. In one of them, in our instance of that universe, Bonesaw made a somewhat tragic decision. For her.

Already an expert in the human and parahuman anatomy, whether body and brain, she wanted to get herself a faithful bodyguard for when Jack left her alone – because he was always going on errands, nowadays, and only his presence guaranteed that she wouldn't be killed by the others. Or worse.

In the process, she captured several candidates, and went to work. The first two died, the first because she had been too enthusiastic when operating him, and the second because she had been too sloppy – no need for gory details as to what they ended up as.

The third one, Harry, was six-foot-six and muscled. A star athlete during his youth, he was already a peak human among the mundane population, and had joined the army after high school. Here on leave, he had been visiting his family. Especially his little sister Mary, who was a frail little thing – mentally deficient, and almost paraplegic, the girl was often bullied, and she loved when her brother came. Especially at school, where he could expose her bullies away – he was not only a soldier, but he had also trained to be with the best of them: the counterespionage black ops. Or something. And his training allowed him to notice the hidden smiles and shifting glances that betrayed the truth when addressing his enemies… and the bullies.

Bonesaw didn't care about any of this: all she saw was the physical body, and she asked Jack to kidnap him. Soon, he was unconscious and latched upon her operating table. As to his little sister, she was kept alive as an incentive to not resist, if he woke up. She was chained in the far corner of the room.

And she went to work. Using her favourite scalpel, which she nick-named Sally. As a proper little girl, she had a name for each of her toys, after all.

Initially, she wanted to apply everything she had already tried on others. But with such a prime example of humanity at her disposal, more ideas kept coming, and she entered what is called a "Tinker fugue" – a state where a Tinker creates a masterwork item… or, in her case, a body. Such fugues could last a long time, and Jack had other things to do, so he left her.

Bit by bit, Harry received every enhancement Bonesaw had ever devised… and more. It started by his skeleton, which she covered in metal fibres, after modifying key bones so that they could elongate or shorten by using new muscles. Using the same idea, she created foot-long claws that he'd be able to unsheathe by using other additional muscles. Each of his muscles, old and new, got increases in strength, too. And his immune system got a shot of various immunities, too (mostly to counter the agents she had already created and kept aside for future plagues).

The nervous system received another overhaul to become more efficient. And because playing with nerves made the body move, and the young man was starting to awake from his forced slumber… and panic at feeling his insides violated, she started working on his brain immediately, lowering his pain threshold massively. She also injected a heavy dose of morphine in his body – she had plans to add a control element in his brain, later.

Bonesaw wanted to add a Corona Pollentia (and the Gemma), to make the man a parahuman on top of everything. But as it would make him more resistant to her manipulations, she had decided to keep that for the end, leaving his cranium open for further surgery. Still, having the grey organ in front of her gave her the opportunity to apply to his neurons the same chemicals and techniques that accelerated the nervous system, increasing his mental acuity.

And then, because she had fallen in love with her mobile phone and wanted to include something she had already tested (and wanted for herself, at some point), she created a biological nodule that could emit and receive radio waves. With select neurons on it, it acted as a Bluetooth peripheral for remote control, audio, and video… which she linked directly to Harry's nerves. Given the setup, if he had a phone (or computer) connected to the internet, he would have the world's knowledge one thought away.

After that part, the bio-tinker worked on his skin, which received the upgrades she wanted to give to all members her team: a subdermal armour able to absorb shocks and heal itself faster than normal (with a lattice that protected his brain and nervous system from Master effects). Her fugue made that healing much faster, in fact, as she noticed wounds closing automatically as if the sides were magnets – she could keep them open with tools (without bleeding, even), but if pressed together, the sides would join without leaving a scar.

As she moved to the side to extract the parahuman brain she had kept for the express purpose of transferring a Corona Pollentia (and Gemma), Bonesaw left the young man in full view of his sister Mary.

Mary had just awoken, and she saw her big brother being drawn and quartered… and she panicked. She felt useless, and wanted him to be able to protect her, as was their habit.

The resulting trigger event had its usual impact on nearby parahumans: instant unconsciousness. Bonesaw being the only one there, she collapsed. And as Mary expressed her powers for the first time, Harry found his body suddenly healed, purged of the morphine, and his open wounds closing – his cranium, mainly.

Able to move for the first time in hours, he flexed his new muscles, and his bonds broke – the reinforced harness wasn't enough to counter both his increased strength and his claws. Falling clumsily to the ground, he actually found said claws embedded in the body there – and, as luck would have it, he only pierced the back of Bonesaw's head, slashing through the parahuman abilities that had lodged there. The girl wouldn't be able to manipulate anyone's biology, now… including her own.

He didn't know that, though, and, wanting to be thorough, he snapped her neck. Thankfully for Mary's peace of mind, he did so with his back to her, before freeing her. But he didn't carry her out immediately, his military knowledge letting him know that there were probably other enemies around.

Not having received the last add-on Bonesaw had thought of, Harry was not a parahuman at all. Despite this, he could have a Brute rating of 7 if one followed the PRT's guidelines: made to establish ways to "take care" of a threat, such a rating required having "more than one typical trained parahuman" to be dealt with. And he could be such a problem, given that his strength and resiliency were already on par with high-level parahumans.

He wasn't only a Brute, though: he was also above peak human condition in other categories. Such as Mover: being able to run faster than Olympic sprinters, even when carrying people, would give him a rating of 2. Thanks to his memory and speed of thought, as well as his resistance to Master effects and Bluetooth mental connectivity, he would also be considered as Thinker 3.

His intensive military training granting him basic abilities with melee ability, his increased strength and thought processes (for aiming at vulnerabilities), he could be considered as Striker 3. Special forces were also trained in various ranged weapons, including guns, and his enhancing aim would grant him a Blaster rating of 2. Same with tactically-deployed explosives, for Shaker 1, as well as the ability to recognize and repair vehicles and weapons on the field, for Tinker 1.

Stealth and infiltration were also the bread and butter of the operatives, and Harry had two new abilities that would increase his Stranger rating to 4: the increased use of his mind to extract information out of people, and his new ability to manipulate his own body shape. With Bonesaw's work on making a few bones able to change size, he could be taller or smaller (by one foot and a half, going from five feet up to eight), but also broader in the shoulders. And that was also able to give him a Changer rating of 1.

Brute 7, Stranger 4, Thinker 3, Striker 3, Mover 2, Blaster 2, Shaker 1, Tinker 1, Changer 1. Not bad, for someone who wasn't a parahuman.

Especially when comparing to Mary, who was one, now. Mary had no enhanced strength or durability, and was still more frail than baseline humans. In some cases, the PRT issued negative threat ratings, and she deserved a Brute -2. Mover -2, too, for her lack of mobility. Thinker -2 for her mental handicap. Striker -2 for her total shyness and total inability to enter a fight. In fact, she would be in the negative for most, if not all the categories. Yes, because, while she has a power, it was one that "only" allowed her to heal one person remotely – and she didn't fathom doing this for anyone apart her brother, as of yet. And there is no category for targeted remote healing, Blaster being remote damage.

As a baseline (if peak) human, Harry was experienced in fighting almost anything, even parahumans. As an augmented quasi-parahuman, he would be able to tackle the worst of them. In fact, he was especially thankful not to be a parahuman, when he erupted from the basement stairs: on top of being the worst of the worst, the two men in the room had Trump abilities that had helped them against other parahumans.

As it was, they were caught flat-footed, their pesky Trump ability of no use. Harry doesn't suffer from Hatchet Face's nullification field. And isn't subject to Jack Slash's ability to predict his moves. Still, the leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine is a vicious knife wielder, and could have won… if Harry wasn't both sturdier and healed from afar by his sister. Even with her still being in the basement, she could hear the sound of battle, and wished hard for her brother to stay alive.

Shatterbird thought herself immune to attack when she flew through the missing window, but she was killed by the expedient way of a two-by-four thrown as a javelin… so hard that it impaled her through the chest.

The sounds had brought someone from the next room, another young woman named Cherish. She was simply ignored, at first, because her Master power wasn't working on him. He would have let her be, but she started on his sister, who wailed in answer, so he snapped her neck too. And then he entered the next room.

Burnscar was sleeping there, so deeply that Harry thought it unnatural – the needle next to her body was a clear indication that he was right.

Another man was there, too, seeming stoned out of his gourd. But as soon as he noticed his presence, he frowned… and the Siberian appeared between them. The beast was dangerous, but Harry had realized that the man had some sort of control on it, and took two high-speed jumps to evade the black-and-white striped woman and punch the defenceless man… who appeared not so defenceless, given that the monstrous apparition disappeared when he was knocked out. And then died.

As a member of the elite of the military, Harry had been briefed on the major S-class threats, and knew of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and of the fact that there were two more members in their current roster. Members that he didn't know how to fight, but members who appeared to be somewhere else, thankfully.

Still, without their charismatic leader and their invulnerable immunity-provider, they could be tackled by the proper authorities – which were, in their case, parahumans of comparable powers, implying Triumvirate level.

Returning to the basement, he found several things. Mary was there, of course, anxiously waiting for him. But there were also clothes that Bonesaw had seen to before starting her work on him and the others – and given that she didn't really have to pay for things, once their group was in town, she had selected several outfits, in different styles and cuts. Given that his own clothes were shredded, he took one, a suit, and pulled it on, Mary clapping her hands at seeing him in such a dashing ensemble.

He bagged the ones that were his size and took his phone and watch. Thanks to Bonesaw's mutterings, he knew he had Bluetooth connectivity in his brain – and wasn't that a realization that he was a kind of Frankenstein monster! But his training brought him calm and purpose, and he merely linked his phone (and watch) to his brain. Using the new nerves while he lifted and carried his sister out of the slaughter house, he manipulated his phone to call his superior.

An hour later, the Triumvirate had taken care of Mannequin and Crawler, and had discovered Burnscar – the girl was still asleep, and they established that she was more a victim than a willing participant. After a time in a Parahuman Asylum, she was shipped to Faultline's crew to live with her friend Labyrinth.

Meanwhile, Alexandria and Legend knocked at his family house – Eidolon considered himself far removed from the "meet and greet" the other two wanted to do with the Slaughterhouse Slaughterer (you can thank the media for the title).

It took quite a while to prove that, no, he wasn't a parahuman, and didn't want to be shown everywhere as the one who took down the creeps. He was even ready to tell them that, yes, he may have ratings, but his sister didn't despite being one, when he realized something: parahumans were like humans. And bullies with superpowers would probably kill her in an instant. Even "regular" parahumans with super-strength could hurt her without meaning to. That meant that he didn't volunteer information that would induct her into the Protectorate. He would protect her, as he had always done.

Still, they weren't there to recruit him, but to indicate that, as the one who had taken care of most of their members, he was eligible for the bounty carried by the kill order. And he did. Take the bounty, that is.

Then, remembering what had happened to him, he went to Brockton Bay with his sister. Panacea being monopolized with healing, and his way blocked by several hangers-on (like Panacea's "mother"), he sought other bio-tinkers. Given that he had been upgraded by a villain, he had few qualms to get another to improve his sister. With the amount he was paying, and the certainty that he could plough through the man's defences, he got Blasto to agree to his terms.

And Mary got much healthier, with better legs, and arms, too. And a better understanding of things. The only drawback was her new nature: with his plant-based powers, the man had transformed her, and her whole body now had a few plant traits. When sad, she would stand still and "take root" – if she happened to be barefoot and outside, her feet would elongate and dig the soil for nutrients. She could take energy from photosynthesis. And if she was happy, she could make flowers erupt on her body.

And, whatever the case, she could still heal her brother from afar – with her own Bluetooth implement, she could even synchronize with him, and do so when he was engaged in lethal missions. She learned to heal others, too, but she needed to see them, and the better way was by using line of sight. Her brother? She could heal him anywhere.

She still had no threat rating.

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To be continued… err…

Author's Notes: Just a thought experiment.