Blaze1992: Also wonder if that NOM can be utilized to drain power/mana from various sources.
NeoNazo356: The NOM is only able to absorb CHEMICAL energy. In the book, the Nanosuit (2.0) using the NOM sucked a corpse dry like some kind of tick, so it basically "digests" chemical energy and turns it into suit-ready energy. For a mana-draining app, it'd need to be magically augmented. Also, it can't be used to drain energy from a wall outlet, the NOM is specifically designed to absorb the "metabolic energy" "of battlefield carrion".
You know how a spider will inject stomach acid into its captured prey, and then drink it up like a "flesh smoothie"? It basically does that, but with "more science".
*FALLOUT*
Following their harrowing encounter with the Radioactive Man and their initial rad scrubbing, the Freelancers were carted off to one of C.E.L.L.'s private medical facilities. While their helmets filtered out gasses and fine particulates, their combat armor was far from air-tight, so while none of them had been on the receiving end of any direct radiation blasts -apart from Night Snake-, they would still have to go through additional radiation cleansings before they were allowed to return to The Bunker.
While there were non-affiliated facilities that were closer where they could receive the same treatment, they would all be forced to answer some very uncomfortable questions, hence the need for some off-the-books treatment at a facility where no-one would ask any questions.
Once they had arrived, the irradiated Freelancers were decontaminated a second time before being hurriedly ferried into the quarantine wing, each of them stepping into an airtight plexiglass room with a toilet, bed, and computer terminal, the middle of which they immediately crashed onto until their follow-up treatments were flown in.
*FALLOUT*
C.E.L.L. Quarantine Facility
November 11, 08:29 EST
The following morning, the Freelancers were administered granulocyte colony-stimulating factor proteins to promote the growth of white blood cells that had been lost in the initial exposure to the Radioactive Man. Because aforementioned proteins were top-of-the-line Hargreave & Rasch Biomedical pharmaseuticals, the downtime until they were cleared to leave quarantine would be much shorter than your run-of-the-mill treatments. The fact that the Freelancers by default had all taken a battery of immunoboosters to help maintain peak physical health at all corners of the globe under many physical stressors meant even with their initial exposure, they were still better off than the average person.
There was a bit of spontaneous vomiting when they first woke up after their rather exhausting mission, but the fact it had only occurred the morning after meant they'd been exposed to a rather minimal dose.
Now that they were conscious, they Freelancers were made abreast of their accommodations for the duration of their quarantine. While each cell had a computer terminal, direct access to the internet was not given, so as to prevent any type of security breach that a desperately-ill patient might cause. Instead, the patients would send queries to an on-site handler who would provide the aforementioned data be it movies, books, etc. In addition to an intercom system that'd allow patients to communicate with one another, each cell had electrically-polarizing window coatings that could change the transparent glass to translucent, allowing them to preserve their dignity.
Blood tests were run bright-and-early, after which the quarantine patients were given a breakfast loaded up with vitamins and minerals. Like most hospital food, the taste wasn't really that engaging, hence the Freelancers engaged with one another instead.
"So... You must be Illinois," Virgil hummed as he beheld the unfamiliar face in their ranks; the man who had used FaceCamo to impersonate Dr. Palmer. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too. Glad I could meet the new guy in-person," Illinois replied. He was a man of average height, 5 feet 9 inches, Caucasian with brown hair and brown eyes making him rather plain-looking; a huge plus for an infiltration specialist who might have to ditch their disguise and vanish into a crowd.
"So... What exactly ousted you as a spy?" Virgil asked, bringing up the most-prevalent question on his mind. "I don't mean any offense, you very clearly fooled the guy at the beginning, hell, you even tricked Palmer when you first put your new face on, but the fact your FaceCamo could be seen through at all... well... When the Titanium Man saw through your disguise, I almost shit a brick in my suit."
"Well... FaceCamo technology is derived from OctoCamo, which was reverse-engineered from Russian Cold War tech, so they're among the leading experts in foiling electronic facial disguises," Illinois answered. "I had no idea they'd have a FaceCamo-foiling scanner on-hand, so being ousted like that kinda caught me by surprise."
"So basically, the US and Russia can't infiltrate one anothers sensitive locations using FaceCamo because both sides know how to spot it?" Virgil asked.
"Pretty much. We simply traded one Cold War for another," Illinois shrugged. "Some infiltration specialists will actually go under the knife for the sake of their work, but that method tends to lose effectiveness with subsequent treatments because of increased downtime and buildup of subcutaneous scar tissue, which is why I've been fielding newer and newer iterations of FaceCamo."
"Given it can fool people at point-blank range, I'm not sure how much better you could get than that," Virgil hummed, remembering some of Old Snake's stories from the Guns of the Patriots mission.
"Well, no disguise is perfect, but you can get pretty damn close," Illinois chuckled.
"Hey, Wash," South spoke up. "Thanks... For getting me out of the fryer the way you did. One second later and Radioactive Man would've nuked me like a microwave burrito."
"How'd you know your suit would keep your safe?" North asked.
" . . . I didn't," the brunette answered, causing the twins to stare at him wide-eyed.
"Wait... You mean you seriously threw yourself under the radioactive bus without knowing if you'd be safe or not!?" South gawped exasperatedly.
"It's more like I assumed I'd have a better chance of surviving a direct hit from a rad blast than you would," Virgil answered. "Besides, my body kinda moved on its own."
"Well, sounds like the kinda thing a hero would say," Illinois said with a smile, only for Virgil to audibly click his tongue in annoyance. "Uh... Touched nerve?"
"More like the whole nervous system," Connie hummed. "So... What're you reading?" she asked, noticing through the whole conversation Virgil had been slouched over his terminal.
"Not much. Just brushing up on my history is all," the brunette replied, glad his security clearance still held water even... wherever they were.
"Oh, you mean for your GED?" York asked.
"No, this isn't a school thing. I'm just going over the old data files on Solid Snake and his predecessors."
" . . . Okay, why?" South asked.
"Because if we don't learn from the past, we're doomed to repeat it, and I'd rather not get butt-fucked like the first Boss was when she was basically ordered to defect to the Communists and was then branded a traitor for it," the brunette said bitterly.
"Well... uh... That's... pretty important... I guess," North hummed, not sure who to respond to all that being unloaded on them in one go.
"Wait, you mean you can really be ordered to go rogue like that?" South asked, utterly shocked.
"Only in the absolute worst-case scenario," Carolina stated. "If The Joy hadn't done what she did, the Russians would've gotten their hands on the Philosopher's Legacy, and the Cold War would've turned out much differently."
"Ah, so you know her story as well," Virgil hummed.
"Yeah. Once I got the necessary security clearance, I decided to look into it since The Joy's defection seemed a little... out-of-character for her," the red-head answered. The fact that CryNet Systems entered a joint venture with FOXHOUND made the acquisition of that related data much easier. "And you're right about not wanting to get screwed over. Politicians can smell ignorance like blood in water, and they will take advantage of it."
"Guess we should all be glad Superman has more than two brain cells to rub together, otherwise we'd all be out of a job," South chuckled. "If the guy put too much weight in the value of being a patriot despite being a literal alien, he might've gotten suckered into becoming a government stooge."
"A fascist Superman. Now that's a terrifying though," North hummed.
"Well, there's still time for Superman to fuck up," Virgil hummed.
"Meh, a communist Superman would be worse," South stated, imagining him with a hammer & sickle on his chest.
"I think a British Superman would be a hoot," Illinois chuckled, imagining him with the symbol of the United Kingdom instead.
"A gay Superman would be really funny," Connie said with a wide grin, imagining him hitting on his "best friend" Jimmy Olsen.
"Are we really having this conversation right now?" Carolina asked as the gathered Freelancers entered into a lighthearted debate about which versions of Superman would be good, bad, or gut-bustingly hilarious.
"Yes. Yes we are," York hummed while Virgil went back to his studies.
*FALLOUT*
C.E.L.L. Quarantine Facility
November 12, 14:08 EST
The following morning, it was revealed to the quarantined Freelancers that the only one of them with internal contamination was Night Snake. As such, he was carted away from the others, returning several hours later after they'd finished their breakfast looking much worse for wear.
"Hey uh... Wash. You're looking... horrible," South hummed plainly as she stared at Virgil across the way.
"I feel horrible," he grumbled, gurgling pitiably into the porcelain throne like a dying whale.
"Holy crap, what did they do to you?" Connie asked as she looked at his color-drained pallor.
"Nano-scrub for any irradiated cells in my bloodstream," Virgil groaned tiredly, recalling what he'd been told before they hooked up intravenous needles to his arms and legs. "If this is the sort of thing dialysis patients have to go through, I'm glad to still have working kidneys."
"Well, at least nothing happened to your bone marrow. That would've been a bitch and a half to replace," North hummed.
"Well, the day's still young. He might have to go through that too," South contemplated.
"Ooooogh..." Virgil groaned.
" . . . Hey Wash."
"You mean me?" Virgil asked.
"Yeah, you. Who else would I call 'Wash'?"
"You guys are not going to let me live that down, are you?" Virgil deadpanned, having learned the other Freelancers had begun calling him "Washington" behind his back after leaning of his McGuffin whenever someone asked for his name.
"Nope! I think it's kinda cute," Connie chuckled. "It's like you're one of us!"
"One of us. One of us. One of us," Illinois chanted.
"Please stop. My head's still pounding," Virgil groaned as he held his head.
"Getting back to the topic at hand. Wash, what's your retirement plan?" South asked.
"Where'd this come from?" the pallor-drained teen asked with a raised brow.
"Well, given I almost got nuked like a microwave burrito, I guess I got to thinking about what I'd do in my golden years if I lived through all this craziness," South replied.
"I'm not even eighteen yet, and I don't plan on dying anytime soon, so I don't have a retirement plan yet," Virgil answered flatly. "What about you guys? If you don't go MIA or KIA, what're your retirement plans going to be like."
"Well..." Illinois hummed, going first. "Maybe I'll retire to a private island with an entire bar's worth of spiced rum, and a red sailboat," the man sighed wistfully.
"That's... oddly specific," Virgil said after processing that.
"Well, I always wanted a red sailboat ever since I was a kid."
"Then where the hell did the 'entire bar's worth of spiced rum' come in?"
"Well... Let's just say things got pretty crazy before I became a super-soldier," the man chuckled.
"You go through 'an entire bar's worth of spiced rum', and your retirement's going to end really quickly," Virgil deadpanned.
"Well, you know what they say. You only live once," Illinois shrugged.
"Unless the nerds in R&D find a way to digitize your mind and Freaky Friday you into cloned bodies. Then you can toss that saying right out the window," South said flippantly. "Hell, they might even find a way to put people in robot bodies."
"Pass," most of the Freelancers said unanimously.
"So, anyone else in the mood to share?" Virgil found himself asking. "Carolina?"
"Honestly... I never thought of a life outside the uniform," the red-head replied. "Sitting on my ass all day doing nothing sounds really boring, so I'll probably just become an instructor, raise the future generation of Freelancers if the program lasts that long."
"If they ever clean up New York, I might go back to my hometown, open up a bar," York hummed. His hometown was smack dab in the middle of the Infected Zone, so he wouldn't even be able to visit, maybe not ever.
"I'll probably travel the world, see new places, soak in as much culture as I can," North added with a smile.
"I guess I'll travel... If I feel like it..." South said noncommittally.
"What about you, Connie? What're you going to do if you live through all this?" Virgil asked.
"Honestly...?" the brunette said as she turned her eyes to him. "I'm not sure," she returned as the youngest member of the on-site Freelancers.
"Welcome to the club," Virgil chuckled, feeling a little better after that lighthearted discussion.
*FALLOUT*
C.E.L.L. Quarantine Facility
November 13
In the days that followed, amidst the numerous rad scrubbings and related treatments he had to endure, Virgil was kept abreast of what had happened to Peter Parker and Ray Palmer after the rescuers had parted ways from the rescuees.
It wasn't that he was particularly invested in their well-being or anything, but given all the time he'd have to spend in quarantine, he decided to indulge his idle curiosity; a curiosity that was readily satisfied in-turn, despite being bottom-of-the-totem-pole, because he'd prevented the whole of his team from "glowing in the dark" as Otacon so-frankly put it.
On Peter Parker's side of things, despite spending 72 hours in Russian custody, aside from a little bit of rough treatment and maybe a little psychological trauma, after a good meal and plenty of sleep, he was well-enough to return to school the very next day. Because involvement with super villain-related incidents were uncommon, yet not completely unheard of, all it really took to have his absences waived was a bit of documentation from the FBI. Of course, since the whole thing was being investigated, all mention of the Russians was redacted to avoid sparking an international incident before the US had all the facts straight.
Since Gotham was basically "super villain central", no-one really bat an eye once it got out that Peter had been held hostage in order to get to his uncle, the known leading expert in molecular physics. Especially since said leading expert had debuted a real-life shrink ray a couple years back; albeit with the caveat of where anything shrunk violently explodes like a pulp fiction death ray.
Of course, the thing that Virgil was really worried about was Peter being exposed as some kind of metahuman following their mission.
Sure, people by-large tended to worship the ground the Justice League walked on, but not all mutants or metahumans were that lucky. Hell, pretty much every mutant or metahuman not-associated with the Justice League was treated like a quote/unquote "menace", reviled and despised for something they couldn't control; part of the reason their population had become largely centralized to the island nation of Genosha, with very few pockets of mutants and metas living on the mainland. Or at least, those who were openly mutant or meta.
Fortunately, those that were witness to Peter Parker's superhuman feats were extremely limited. Radioactive Man had been otherwise preoccupied, and Titanium Man wasn't privy to anything that happened outside of his sight cone. All but one of the non-powered hired muscle were dead, leaving only one witness, but aforementioned witness had received so much cranial trauma it'd be a wonder if the guy remembered his own name, let alone the name and face of the kid who'd done the legendary quadruple back flip before flying double kicking him through a wall of crates.
As such, since Peter Parker's superhuman feats weren't prevalent to the nature of the ongoing investigation, with the only credible witnesses being the Freelancers themselves, it was pretty easy to sweep the whole thing under the rug.
Peter Parker had been through enough as it was. There wasn't any need to oust him as some kind of "freak" on top of whatever trauma he'd be carrying with him after this.
For Ray Palmer on the other hand, things were far from simple.
All things considered, Dr. Palmer's outing as a metahuman went incredibly well. All of his research had been above-board, published in his many official research papers and theses since his college years, so it wasn't like he'd been hiding the capability of using molecular shrinkage to become an SPB; it was simply something he didn't need to inform others about since, up until that night, all of the utilization of his tech on a humanoid subject had been largely theoretical.
Because the threat of Unstable Compressed Matter was now revealed to be something foreign powers were interested in, Dr. Palmer had subsequently fallen under more scrutiny than usual. Despite this added oversight however, he was still free to continue his research as he had before, and as a happy side-effect of this oversight, the potential of another familial kidnapping for the sake of coercing the fruit of his research from him was now less-likely to occur in the future.
As for what kind of metahuman Dr. Palmer was, within certain circles it had been revealed that the scientist's meta-ability was "the ability to retain molecular cohesion"; an ability that would've gone undiscovered had he gone into literally any other field of research. As for why his prototype Atom Suit hadn't subsequently exploded as it changed size, the best explanation Dr. Palmer had given was that because the suit "linked to his bio-electric field", it too benefited from his meta-ability of [Molecular Super-cohesion].
Of course, given the man had shrinking powers, and his mentor too had shrinking powers, it had been speculated for a while that Ray Palmer becoming The Atom was a passing-of-the-torch of sorts between master and apprentice.
However, subsequent investigations into the matter revealed that not to be the case. As a result of their falling-out years ago, no formalized exchange of research data had taken place between them, so it was ruled out as simple coincidence that Dr. Palmer could shrink himself in similar fashion to Dr. Pym. The only actual involvement between them had been within the space of the week prior when Ray contacted Dr. Pym for help. Other than that brief instance of contact, Dr. Pym's status as a recluse remained largely unbroken.
Surviving a supervillain-related incident was kind of a big deal, but Virgil only hoped that Peter didn't let his "fifteen minutes of fame" go to his head. As for Dr. Palmer, well... The guy had an identity outside of being a Hero, so Virgil could tolerate him more than the bulk of the Justice League who were held up on a pedestal like the gods coming down from Olympus.
Once his curiosity regarding the two had been sated, Virgil went back to his academic studies.
At least until he was called away for additional treatments by the staff, or dragged into an impromptu movie night with the gang.
*FALLOUT*
The Bunker: Nanosuit Lab
November 13, 20:30 EST
"Director. Here are the final results for Washington's tests before we let him out of quarantine tomorrow," Dr. Yumeno said through the Codec line, doubly-secure than any other transmission normally used.
"Washington?"
"Just an inside joke among the Freelancers. Whenever someone asked his name on his previous outings, he'd give them a McGuffin in the form of 'Special Agent Washington', and once the recordings became available, the others Freelancers simply started calling him that for the duration of their quarantine," the doctor answered.
"Hmmm… Well, as I recall, the call sign Washington isn't yet taken. Making the boy a Freelancer might help with team cohesion if made official. But more on that later, did his T.B.I. as a result of exposure to the Radioactive Man cause any… complications?"
"None in the slightest. Between the pre-existing radiation shielding of the Nanosuit and the bleed-out of the NOM-converted energy, the radiation he was actually exposed to was largely negligible. While he did get the worst of it, the nanomachines in his body have been a great help in mitigating any long-term damage. Also, since he consented for clinical trials in addition to his work fielding medical nanotech, we were also able to administer prototype radiation treatments, which have proved largely successful in remedying his condition."
Aforementioned treatments had been out of the prototype stage for a while now after passing the preliminary stage of animal testing, but finding human volunteers who were willing to irradiate themselves for the sake of collecting points of data were far and few between.
"So then there weren't any issues with the Metallic Archaea's introduction to his bloodstream?"
"None in the slightest, though admittedly, at this stage it'd only be safe to apply intravenously amidst pre-existing medical nanotech," Dr. Yumeno lamented. "It's fortunate we had a fresh culture on hand, otherwise Washington's downtime would've been much more significant."
"That's good to hear. Still, with how-unprepared the Freelancers were for an encounter with a gamma mutant, I might have to direct more funds into miniaturizing radiation shielding technology or maximizing rad-resistant textiles. The Nanosuit won't always be available to tackle such obstacles in the others' stead, and we're far from having enough data to mass-produce more in any cost-effective fashion."
"I'm sure they'd all appreciate it," the doctor nodded.
"Moving onto the other thing I asked you to look into. Has his Growth Potential been… diluted, by his civilian lifestyle up until now?"
"Surprisingly enough, no," Dr. Yumeno answered in an amazed tone. "The boy's a fast learner, startlingly so. It's fortunate he took up archery as a hobby prior to us finding him, otherwise his genetic predisposition for being a marksman could've been squandered," he elaborated answered. "Based on Freelancer testimony, his information-absorption falls well within projected values for a human being with amplified Growth Potential. The rate at which he's digesting his educational material adds further credence to support this hypothesis. His information absorption and memory retention are leagues above that of those of an unaugmented specimen in his own age bracket."
"Excellent. His present pace is adequate, so for the time being, we won't make any significant external changes to his routine or medication. No need to fix what isn't broken, as the saying goes."
"So keep outside influence to a minimum. Got it," Dr. Yumeno nodded. "Do you think we should schedule an introduction with Code Talker? He's taken a bit of an interest in the past Snakes and Bosses, and his browsing history through our files shows he's taken a particular interest in the exploits of Venom Snake. A face-to-face meeting with the Old Diné might be very enlightening."
"No… No, let's let the specimen mature a little first. We wouldn't want him to be put under any undue duress before he's ready for the truth, now would we?"
"Of course, sir."
*FALLOUT*
AN:
More clues sprinkled about, and the added context makes certain feats at the very beginning of the story make more sense. Unlike most "fast burn" FanFiction where the MC already has their power and "identity" sorted out, in this "slow burn" story, Virgil has to "grow into" his "identity" before any significant forays into the world of DCAU's Earth-12 can take place.
Hope you Review with comments or questions.
P.S.
In case you aren't already aware, a while back I published a new My Hero Academia fanfiction in honor of the late & great Stan "The Man" Lee, so if you've enjoyed this, or Giant-Slayer, I really think you'll be able to enjoy Vigorous Vitality. If you're into MHA, or just my stories in particular, give it a read. Hope to hear from you soon.