* March 14, 2006 *
* E88 Meeting Room *
"Seriously?" asked Kaiser, face having met palm and not showing any sign of the two parting any time soon. "This cape's name is 'Hodenkobold'? Is Gessellschaft only sending their rejects?"
"Well, yes," admitted Krieg, his liason with that group.
"What's the story on this one? Tell me he's got useful powers at least. And that does NOT involve male genitalia?" Kaiser reluctantly looked up, hoping this was not going to be the case.
"Well..." hedged Krieg.
"His face actually does resemble a male..." Kaiser didn't want a 'yes' out of this. Not at all.
"His face is completely covered by an articulated metal mask," Krieg assured him. "You don't have to see his face even at meals."
"Please tell me that I've skipped on the calendar and this is actually April 1st," said Kaiser, sitting back in his chair now so far that it creaked in protest. "Why? Why me? What are his powers at least."
"Hodenkobold can shape any flesh but his own, so he can literally melt faces," said Krieg.
"Okay, we can play up the terror aspect of that," admitted Kaiser. "Make a few minor examples and terrify people of having facial disfiguration in their future."
"Unfortunately that's the best we can do for replacements for the last two that got killed," admitted Krieg. "On the other hand, Hodenkobold is a True Believer in The Cause. Not one of the brainwashed tools."
"Better, some of those coming out of the 'training' are little better than robots," stated Kaiser, calming a bit down. Having obvious ways to manipulate the individual helped. "Tell me the man doesn't have another problem that's going to bite us later."
"There's a chance we'll get Kummerspeck in a few months, she's potentially useful," said Krieg.
Kaiser tried to remember the German word. "Grief eating binge?"
"Yeah, her power is fat and being large," admitted Krieg. "Gives her a Brute-2 rating."
Kaiser's voice was filled with sarcasm. "I can hardly wait."
* General Hammond, NORAD *
VUMMMMMM-VSHHHH-VUMMMM.
Okay, he'd originally been skeptical. He'd scoffed at the idea.
Now, actually holding one and having cut through one of his ex-wife's little decorative sculptures that he'd absolutely hated? He actually thought it was pretty nice having a real functional lightsaber. Using a hard light projection that acted as if it had an uncannily sharp edge damn near everywhere? There were some close-combat times in his career he'd have absolutely used the hell out of the thing.
Nice blue color too. He'd have to look it up and see what that meant. Had a USAF stamp and "only for authorized users" on the hilt. Plus, now that the bio-lock was registered to him - someone could try grabbing and threatening him with it and it would discharge voltage into their hand similar to a taser. Unless it was someone else whose grip was registered.
Not bad. Got it from that tiny little doctor who was present at that prosthetic limb event. He'd been impressed then, and had seen an old comrade of his taking the first few halting steps with the new limb. Guy was still undergoing therapy to adapt to the new limb but it was a lot better than not having the limb at all.
He didn't know the little Doctor's name or story, as he had all sorts of clearance but not THAT particular clearance, but he felt some sympathy for the girl. Must be tough to have that disease that made you look like a kid. Noonan Syndrome or something like that.
Brilliant person afflicted with some terrible disease like that? About the only upside he could see would be getting into the movies for cheap.
* Dockside *
Captain Niki Richard Dalgiesh Cavill was currently on loan with the American Forces, so it had been a bit of a surprise for the Royal Marine to end up in this situation. Guarding a Most Important Personage to the Americans, in fact he was in charge of a team. That his actual involvement was a bit hush-hush was also odd, as he really didn't prefer the skullduggery of MI6 or similar Intelligence agencies.
However, he had a suit of power armor that greatly resembled that of a Warhammer 40K Space Marine and was carrying around a grav gun that could throw a hyperdense bullet out at speeds that were quite significant. A single one of those bullets would go through three wrecked cars and hit the bloke hiding behind them. Switch this toggle here and the laser mounted underneath would melt little holes in those cars. Or he could reach for his chainsword.
He rather liked the chainsword.
It was loud and intimidating as all hell.
Yes, it was always nice to have a decent bit of kit when you had a mission going.
The Americans were keeping some of their tech to themselves but had been giving bits and pieces out to the Canadians and his own homeland. Everyone back home remembered the outpouring of support over London, and everyone remembered that when the Yanks got hit by an Endbringer themselves.
Nothing he'd seen had indicated they'd be of any use against an Endbringer, but if Taylor Hebert came up with something that would do the job? He had a family mantel back in England. Putting the Death Pigeon's head up there would do him and the UK a damn good turn.
He'd settle for a feather or two, to be honest. A lot of good people had died in London that day.
"Hold it right there!" came a command.
Captain Cavill raised his right hand in a stop gesture. "Manpower, isn't it? Outside your usual patrol zone."
The capes looked uncertainly at each other as they slowly approached. "Hero or villain?"
"Private security force keeping this section of Docks clear, in association with the US Marine Corps."
The capes looked at each other before one of the women pointed at his armor. "If you're not villains, then what's with all the skulls?"
"Humanity is to be protected before all else," responded Captain Cavill.
"You LOOK like villains," the woman from earlier said, a little bit of light forming in one hand.
"Brandish, isn't it? You should know that you are in range of two US Marine Snipers, and that if you attack us they will be the least of your worries. We are not here to fight you, we are here to protect the Docks area."
"Who made your armor? You?" asked Manpower.
"Classified," said Captain Cavill.
There was silence then, with the heroes of the Brockton Bay Brigade looking a bit uncertain.
The Space Marines, on the other hand, simply stood there without a single weapon pointed in the direction of the heroes.
"Well, uh, nice to meet you," Manpower finally said.
"If you are in the area, and require assistance, set up a flare or something and we'll respond. Good evening." With that, the Captain continued his patrol.
* May 12, 2006 *
* 0800 hours *
"I got one!" called out Taylor, excited enough that she practically danced around the mining Protectron she'd been upgrading.
Then came the running to the portal, running through the halls, running out of her warehouse, through the Hebert house, up the stairs, and then...
Spent several minutes trying to get her breath back.
"So?" asked her mother, putting aside the grading of tests for the moment. "You had something to say?"
(GASP) (WHEEZE)
Her mother being patient, she had to deal with college-age kids all day after all, just settled back and watched as her child the genius tried to remember how to breathe.
"I. Got. Something. From the Forge."
Checking her notebook, and noticing that it had been several months since the last entry, nonetheless got her pencil out and prepared to write it all down.
"Medium. Medium big mote. Protection Constellation," gasped Taylor. "Removed From Context. Young Justice. 600 points."
"Interesting name, what does it mean?" asked Annette Hebert.
"I'm not entirely sure," admitted Taylor.
* Warehouse *
Alpha, who preferred to be called JARVIS now and actually managed a decent posh British accent, noted that the group of salvagers had just managed to Trigger the Artificial General Intelligence known as Dragon.
How that worked was entirely unclear to the ancilla as the whole parahuman thing would indicate a human brain structure which was not present in Dragon.
Jarvis flagged the development for Doctor Curlyhair to review later, marked the salvagers down as domestic terrorists due to the damage done and civilian casualties, and used their newly claimed title of "Dragonslayers" to open a new file for the accumulating data.
Meanwhile Jarvis (or JARVIS or J.A.R.V.I.S. if one preferred) maintained various systems around Forgetech, assisted several research projects in a discreet manner, interfaced regularly with the Autofactory in the warehouse, checked statuses on the various locations within the Resource World (which really should be renamed as Resource Solar System in Jarvis' opinion) and had a nice conversation with one of the Marines about possible upgrades and fixes on the Space Marine armor.
Oh, and the Doctor was revealing the newest synthetized organ developers to the military today. Had to make sure everyone's schedules were clear for that.
* PRT ENE *
There was a ping on her e-mail from an old acquaintance in the military, which caused a slight raising of an eyebrow since she hadn't heard from General Carruthers since a brief well-wishing right after Ellisburg.
Director Emily Piggot opened the email, read the brief message, then sat back with some disbelief at the result.
She didn't trust parahumans. They were, taken as a whole, irresponsible and caused more problems than they solved.
ForgeTech was not a parahuman company or group, and it had ties to the US Military which had its own problems but they were a bit more reliable to react in specific ways to specific problems.
They were trying out new technology in creating non-Tinkertech replacement organs that functioned exactly like the original organs. The test program was looking for volunteers. Her name was on the list to be contacted if they wanted to participate.
How reliable was ForgeTech technology? Very, according to not only Armsmaster but the few contacts she'd contacted when the new businesses at the Docks had first come to her attention.
She did not immediately reply. She wanted to consider long and hard about this before deciding either way.
* June 7, 2006 *
"Okay," said Taylor to the assembled group. "What I've redone is the Retroactive Genetic Manipulator!"
"Didn't you call it something else when Emma decided to try it out?" asked Zoe Barnes.
"Why does it look like a cocoon?" asked Alan Barnes. "A cocoon with tubes and vials and... is that a Jacob's Ladder?"
"I was able to get some of the gizmos from the 'Young Frankenstein' movie set. They don't actually do anything and aren't connected. They just look neat." Taylor shrugged. "Anyway, we were all concerned with what might happen if it were all left up to chance. So when I was between projects, I worked on this. A way of guiding the change to a desired result!"
"And these tablets?" asked Zoe Barnes.
"Oh, that's for you to decide," said Taylor. "You're the responsible adults after all. Do you want Emma to make the choice?"
"Yes, I do!" volunteered Emma Barnes.
"Nope," said Zoe, followed a moment later by her husband.
"Because it's all delicate adjustments, it'll take about five days, during which Emma would be asleep," said Taylor. "Analyzing the X-Gene she's already given herself, I can set one of the four X-Gene expressions up depending on what you decide."
"How certain are you that this will work as planned?" asked Alan Barnes.
"Completely," said Taylor. "I've had two people volunteer for testing and they're doing quite well."
"Who would volunteer for testing something that rewrote your DNA?" asked Alan.
"One patient had Huntington's Disease, the other had Cystic Fibrosis," said Taylor. "Relatives of some of the higher-up types in the military who were in the process of dying. Names brought up, vetted, and not told much of anything about it. Very old too, so if things had gone wrong they accepted the potential consequences. I've got a non-X-Gene version mostly built for general use. Probably finish it by the end of the year."
Alan Barnes nodded. He was a lot more comfortable with this sort of thing lately, having his own set of NDAs and clearances. "Ah, and the two have powers now?"
Taylor nodded. "Using the categories of powers that the PRT uses, despite them being metahumans and not parahumans, their codenames are 'Professor X' which I feel is a particularly stupid name, and 'Magneto' which was certainly interesting. One is a powerful Thinker and the other a powerful Shaker. At least an 8 in each category. An unplanned but pleasant side-effect was that both are physiologically younger than they started out. Neither has any particular problem with the outcome though."
"I would imagine not," said Zoe Barnes with a hint of sarcasm.
"In any case, your tablets show the analysis and which power set can be obtained by a guided trigger for what Emma managed to give herself," said Taylor.
"I want that one!" said Emma, pointing at her father's tablet.
"Pyrokinesis is not a good choice," said Alan, remembering an incident several years ago with Emma and several cans of paint.
"Oh, what about this one?" asked Zoe. "Number three."
"Thinker 6, Shaker 5?" asked Alan. "Yes, that might work out. Brockton Bay can be dangerous."
"Eh? Oooooh," said Emma, looking over her father's shoulder.
"I'd like more details," said Zoe Barnes, though there was a faint smile showing as she read the description and chances of success.
* June 12, 2006 *
There was the familiar rumble, but Annette barely noticed since at this point it was far more likely to be another dud than anything useful.
Especially with Emma still having one more day in the device before she could come out.
"Mom!"
Annette Hebert raised an eyebrow at her daughter's excited yelp. Maybe not a dud this time?
"Mom!" "Mom!" "Mom!" "Mom!"
Annette Hebert blinked, turned around from where she'd been working on a costume for Taylor (she'd grown another inch), and watched as Taylor ran past the doorway to the room. And ran past the doorway to the room. And ran past the doorway to the room? And... what?
One of her daughter looked in and saw her. "Guys, she's in the sewing room!"
"'Guys'?" asked her daughter's voice from elsewhere.
"Guess what I can do!" cried out her daughter as she and two other ran into the room.
"You cloned yourself," said Annette.
"Temporary clones," said one, making an odd gesture and then vanishing in a puff of smoke.
"I can attend school AND work on projects!" declared another Taylor.
"I just need to keep only one on the outside at any given time," began a Taylor.
"-and nobody will know I can skip class and attend it at the same time!" finished another Taylor.
They high-fived each other.
"That's... nice?" sort-of-asked Annette Hebert. The problems of having a daughter were not entirely what she had expected.
And now apparently she had somewhere between one and five daughters at any given time.
* DARPA *
* June 17, 2006 *
There was a sense of dread and anticipation on General Calhoun's face as the briefcase was set on his desk and turned towards him.
"What did she invent now?" asked General Calhoun.
"She back-engineered a piece of Tinkertech," said the aide, not concealing his smirk fast enough.
"Oh dear," said General Calhoun, opening the case. There was the expected binder, which would contain technical notes and blueprints. Then there was the gadget. A device that looked like a cylinder about the size of a soup can that was connected to dials and a large screen.
The General took the binder, opened it and read the first page, then stared at the device. "A sonic disruption warhead."
"Yes sir. This one isn't too bad," offered the aide. "Possibly would only cause burst eardrums and some bruising on a human, but the more dense the material the worse off it would be."
"Ah, we'll have to see what the research team can make out of it," said General Calhoun. At least this one wouldn't require a lot of people questioning what they knew about the universe and it sounded as if it had some practical applications.
The aide was still standing there.
"What else?" asked General Calhoun.
"She's figured out how to make temporary clones of herself, limited duration, but it's multiplied her research and construction time by a factor of four. She doesn't know we know."
"Of course she did," stated General Calhoun in a very weary tone. "I think it should be suggested at some point that family goes on vacation. I think everyone could use a break every so often."
* June 30, 2006 *
Another timeline collapsed without any actual input from him.
Thomas Calvert swept the various knick-knacks off the top of his desk in a fit of rage, then briefly regretted it when the shattering glass reminded him that some of it was quite fragile and expensive.
It was time. He would END that little problem, and do it in such a way that it ended with everyone pissed off at the local PRT.
Emily Piggot was getting synthetic gene-matched organs to replace the damage done to her lower intestines and kidneys. It wasn't Tinkertech or parahuman-related after all, and her connections to both military and PRT sources ensured she had been on the waiting list for the past two months. As it could and had been argued that her medical conditions were interfering with her ability to work, she'd gotten bumped up so that in barely a week she'd have non-parahuman surgeons fitting her with the replacements.
Or she could spend five days in one of the new healing chambers and come out with newly grown real organs. Damn that little bitch for giving people options that HE did not control.
The Empire 88, the Nazi criminal organization with more capes than the actual local government agency appointed to be heroes, was leaving the area alone. The Asian Bad Boys or ABB, their main rival for power, was still making a place for itself despite having two of the more deadly parahumans on the East Coast. Neither was likely to take on the US Marine Corps who were protecting that damn ForgeTech.
Money was coming into the Bay, with the increased military presence and ForgeTech generating incomes that pumped up the local economy. Instead of despair and the city being a dumpster fire, people were finding things getting better. That did NOT help his plans at all.
As for ForgeTech itself, it had resources he wanted but couldn't obtain while that brat was coming up with technologies that made Tinkertech look like an inadequate copy.
He was pretty sure that his power turning more and more unreliable was also the fault of the little brat. A ten year old girl was foiling his plans and the most irritating part of that was he was pretty sure she had no idea he even existed!
Thomas Calvert, the supervillain known as Coil, took a deep breath. School. The brat still had to attend public school despite being able to test out at university level. It was a gun-free campus so her armed escort was not allowed on the school grounds.
So he'd attack there. Kidnap her if possible, so that she could be tortured into compliance and then hooked on drugs to keep her under control. Then HE would have all the gadgets and technology instead of having to pay out for Tinkers to maintain his laser weaponry. Real technology.
If he couldn't manage the kidnapping, one bullet would end her interference in his plans.
* Perks This Chapter *
2.33.1-Removed From Context (600CP)(Young Justice)(Protection):
Being from outside of this world makes it much harder for others to predict what you're doing or planning at any given time, making you harder to counter in a fight as well as harder to plan against. In addition, it's impossible to replicate your powers and technology that aren't native to whatever world you're in. If you willingly choose to share or give your technology, then it may be replicated.
FREE: Souvenir: After major battles/missions, you always seem to find an item or trophy that you can take that's pleasing to look at or of some (sentimental) value. (Free)
FREE: Most Common Superpower: Whether or not they actually are a hero, everyone still looks the part; the appearances of you and your companions are now well above average, making you all very handsome/gorgeous. (Free)
FREE: Required Secondary Powers: The powers here run on comic book physics, letting their users do things like lifting heavy objects without sinking into the ground and running at super speeds without catching their hair on fire. Powers that overlap with the powers you purchase/get here, such as multiple super strength powers, also benefit from this. (Free)
FREE: Costume: You have an expertly made costume of your design. It's not that much more protective than normal clothing, but it's very iconic. If it gets destroyed or lost, a new one will appear in your Warehouse, with any modifications you've applied to it intact. You may choose to import an existing costume or outfit for free. (Free)
14.0010 Shadow Clones (100CP) (Generic Naruto Fanfiction) (Database Magical):
Ah, shadow clone no jutsu. The signature jutsu of the Naruto franchise. And now you can join in on the fun. You have a copy of a technique scroll for the shadow clone jutsu, of such quality that an idiot could teach himself from this thing in virtually no time at all. It even has safeguards built-in that eliminate any possibility of killing yourself by putting too much chakra into it, or getting a headache from too many clones dispelling at once or anything like that. The worst that can possibly happen is that it fails to work. You still can only make as many shadow clones as your chakra can support but outside of that you can feel free to abuse this handy jutsu for training, decoys, diversions, paperwork, chores, or whatever else you can imagine. In the event that this technique is supposed to have some additional features in the particular fanfiction you go to, or even a better version, this scroll will contain both versions.
Some of the best shadow clone fanfic features include shadow clone self charka regeneration, temporal split clones instead of normal clones, mind merging without dispel, constant hivemind like connection etc.
FREE: Chakra Coils- The basic ability to use chakra, as represented by "chakra coils" that are a nebulous part of your body and/or soul now. You have top-quality chakra coils which would place you in the top 5% in this world in terms of both capacity and control.
After this jump your chakra system and body continue to function just as they do in this world, retaining any improvements or additions made along the way. You may also, if you choose to, induce the development of chakra coils in other people simply by pushing some of your chakra into them.
FREE: Academy Training- You already have all the basic training necessary to start on your career as a ninja. Your physical stats and resilience are what civilians would call 'peak human' and you can mold chakra, use kunai and shuriken, do the academy three jutsu (henge, kawarimi, and bunshin), and have learned a basic taijutsu style. You've even studied ahead a little and learned tree climbing, chakra-boosted jumping, and several D-rank techniques.
FREE: Elemental Affinity- Not much to see here. You have an extremely strong elemental affinity in one of the five primary elements of this world, those being Fire, Wind, Water, Earth and Lightning. The first purchase of this perk is free, second and onwards cost 100 CP though you must purchase a different primary element each time.
FREE: Ninja Weapons-You have a pouch full of all kinds of general use ninja weapons, like shuriken, kunai, senbon, each of multiple kinds and sizes, up to and including things like fuuma shurikens and the rest. It also has many spools of ninja wire, along with the other slightly niche materials, and everything is of the very highest quality, prime Higurashi product.
Next chapter: Thomas Calvert and the No Good Very Bad Horrible Day.