Super Science
Ch. 143: New Additions, New Finds
After the public announcement to the news outlets ended and after answering about a thousand questions from the hungry reporters, Izuku and Egon finally retreated back to the comfort and safety of the facility. The two men took a well-deserved break in the staff room after getting control over that rabid crowd of reporters. They had only been relaxing for a few minutes when Honey Lemon interrupted their break.
"Professor, Doctor, a moment of your time?" she asked them.
"Yes, Honey Lemon. What is it?" Egon asked while swallowing a donut.
"A recent raid has been successful in retrieving more of our lost property." She explained it in brief.
"Excellent to hear. But was that all you wanted to tell us?" Izuku prompted her.
"No, there is more. You see, we also obtained some new…let's call them additions to our lab." She told them with a tone of unease.
Both men briefly glanced at one another before looking back at the woman. Egon said, "Oh, so something was made with our tech. No surprise there. What was it?"
"You should see for yourself; you may not believe your eyes." Honey Lemon told him, breathing out a stressed raspberry.
"That's quite the statement, knowing what we do on the daily." Izuku inputted while following the woman with his mentor.
The woman led the two men into a small testing room that had many robotic arms descending from the ceilings, walls, and floors. Seemingly arranging the room in a certain way as boxes, crates, and Mimicuties were arranged and moved around. At the center of all this excitement was what looked like a large metal suit standing perfectly erect in what looked like a device specifically made to hold it in place. The two beds stared at the suit in confusion, knowing that it wasn't one of their creations, and Honey Lemon began to explain.
Motioning to the suit, it turned around and showed a very human mouth sticking out of the lower part of the metallic helmet. "This is Alex Murphy, an American Police officer in Detroit. He was in a terrible accident, leading to the loss of….his entire body. A company called Omni Consumer Products, or O.C.P., used our tech to rebuild him, turning him into…well, a cyborg."
The two men looked over the metallic-covered man, and Egon eventually asked, already feeling regret from each word spoken, "When you say 'lost his body,' how much?"
Honey Lemon made an uncomfortable expression at his question and pressed a button on a nearby console that made several of the robotic arms around them begin to remove and dismantle the robotic body until only the human bits were left, being held up on the equivalent of a human-sized action figure stand.
When the two men saw what remained of the man, they both freaked out in their own way, with Izuku yelling, "JESUS CHRIST!" before doubling over and vomiting on the floor.
Egon stood there, legs crossed, body hugged, and biting his fist. Withmplexion, he said, he said, "There is no right way to react to that."
After Izuku empties his stomach, he wipes his mouth and asks in terror, "Is he-?!"
But Honey Lemon quickly assured him, "Alive, yes, but asleep. They basically made him an organic machine. He runs on fuel, is built like a tank, and has chips in his brain to control him like a computer. He was being used to take care of the city's crime. His workload quadrupled over time. We got him just in time," she explained.
"Does he know about his…situation?" Egon asked after uncurling from himself.
"We don't know," she admitted.
Egon thought for a bit while Izuku cleaned himself up. Then, after concluding, he said, "Let's wake him up and find out. It's the least we can do."
Izuku nods in agreement, while Honey Lemon looks unsure but still agrees. To keep the man calm, they take him to a different room, somewhere a bit darker and quieter. Once there, Honey Lemon gives them a pad with the controls and schematics of Alex's inner workings. So Egon hits him on a button and waits for him to wake up.
After a bit, Alex finally stirred, and Egon called out, "Alex? Alex Murphy? Mr Murphy, are you there? Are you with us?"
"Yes," Alex replied, his eyes still closed.
"Good, you're awake," Egon said in relief.
"Where…am I?" Alex asks as he forces his eyes open.
"I understand you're confused and curious, Alex, but I need to ask you some questions." Izuku jumps in, making the man look around for the new voice. "You do know who you are?" Izuku inquired.
"Alex Murphy, officer of the DPD. Husband of Sheena Murphy and father of Alice Murphy. I'm 43 years old and-" Alex begins to rambler off, appearing more alert.
But Egon stops him and says, "Don't strain yourself; we just wanted to be sure you remembered." Alex calms down as he looks for the voices. Seeing his growing distress, Izuku and Egon move into his line of sight, and the blonde man asks, "Do you remember the last thing that happened before you passed out?"
Alex looks around as if trying to remember and repeating pieces. He says, "I remember…I remembered going with my buddies on a call, but it was a trap. Gunfire, screaming, a loud sound, and then…darkness. Then I remember being on an operation table." Alex becomes overstimulated too fast, and Egon is forced to use the calming feature in the man. After Alex calms down, he asks, "Am I in the hospital?"
Izuku shakes his head and informs him, "Not exactly. Alex, I don't know how to tell you this, but you were in a terrible accident. The doctors managed to save you, but at a high cost."
"What do you mean?" Alex asked in a slight panic, then demanded, "Show me!"
Both scientists look at one another before looking back at the man, where Izuku says with an uncomfortable expression, "If you insist."
A machine turns the man in one direction, where a large mirror rises from the ground and shows Alex the full scale of his 'accident.' It was far worse than he imagined! His body, if you could call it that, was nearly gone, with the exception of his brain, face, right arm, the bones that connect them, lungs, and heart. Both of them were inside a glass tube shaped to them.
Alex looked in horror at his state and could only say as years filled his eyes, "My God. No. This can't be. This is a lie."
Izuku and Egon walked into his line of sight, and the man said, in a pity tone, "I'm sorry, Alex. This is everything that was left of you."
"How did I-? How was I-? I remembered walking; I remember doing so much after I got out of the hospital. What was all that?" Alex stammered out.
"That's because this was acting as your body," Izuku told him as a machine arm held his robot body aloft and in his view.
Alex looked at the suit, then back at Izuku, where he asked, "My body?"
"The doctors worked with the OCP to make you into a cyborg," Izuku explained in short.
"No," Alex whispered in an unbelieving tone.
"Then they used you to start cleaning up Detroit. We got to you before they could break you." Egon added.
Alex closed his eyes, shook his head, and said, as tears rolled down his face, "This is a nightmare."
"I'm sorry, but it isn't," Izuku told him in a calm and meek tone, bordering on sadness himself.
After Alex cried for a bit, Egon asked serious questions, such as, "Alex, what do you want to do now?"
Alex looked up at the man and asked back, "What do you mean?"
"We can augment you, take out the controls, and give you back your free will. Then put you back in the suit." Egon explained.
But Alex didn't think long as he immediately answered, "No. Turn me off."
"What?" Izuku inquired, thinking he had heard wrong.
Alex gave a raspy breath before firmly telling them, "Turn. Me. Off! I don't want to live like this. This…this is not living! Let me die the death I deserve and not as a ghost in the machine." The two scientists looked at one another, clearly not expecting this but not denying the possibility. Alex took a few calming breaths before telling them, "Thank you for at least letting me know the truth."
Just before Egon could give the order, Izuku asked Alex, "Are you sure you want to do that?"
"Yes," he replied affirmatively.
"What about your wife? What about your daughter?" Izuku inquired, getting the man's attention. Suddenly, Izuku ran up to the man, pulled up his pad, and showed him a picture of his wife and daughter. The sight of it made him freeze. Izuku exclaimed, "They're still out there. Waiting for you to come back. Holding out hope. You may not be whole, but you're still you. You're still Alex Murphy."
Alex said nothing in reply, just staring at the picture of his family and caressing it with his one good arm.
Izuku pulled the pad away and tapped on it a bit before showing him several pictures of Detroit and asking, "And what about the city you swore to protect? You may have been used, but you cleaned up so much crime in that short time." He explained while showing before-and-after pictures of several spots now free of crime.
Alex was shocked and couldn't say a thing until Izuku pulled the pad away, looked him in the eyes, and asked seriously, "Are you sure you still want to die?"
Alex took a long time to answer, but when he finally did, he closed his eyes and said in an affirmative tone, "No. I don't." Izuku and Egon looked relieved, but then Alex followed up by saying with unease, "But they have them. I know they do. I know what they'll do."
"Then let us help," Egon told him, making the man stare in confusion. Then, Egon continued, "Well, take out everything they were using to control you; you go back and pretend like you're still their puppet. Meanwhile, we'll do our best to free your family."
"You'd do that?" Alex asked as the two men nod
But he narrows his eyes and says in a suspicious tone, "How can I trust you?"
"If we didn't want you to trust us, we'd never show you…yourself. We'd never take away your control and make you ours, wouldn't we?" Egon countered.
Alex said nothing for a while once more, but when he did, the only thing he said was a small "Thank you."
Egon grabbed a nearby robot and told it, "Take Alex to Hatsume and Wily, and tell them to give him back his free will using these schematics." Then, he handed the robot a pad with all of the robot man's controls.
"Yes, sir." The droid replied, taking the pad and using its connection to the facility system to move Alex to his next destination.
Once that was done, Egon looked back at Honey Lemon, who had something in her arms, and asked, "What else you got?"
Honey Lemon adjusted the bundle in his arms and explained, "Well, he's a little sleepy, but I'd like you to meet Bendy the Ink Demon."
When the bundle opened, it revealed a small child-sized creature with the appearance of a 1920 rubber-hose cartoon character. It looked like a little devil with horns and a tail, a white face, a bowtie, gloves, and boots, and was monochromatic. When he made eye contact with the two men, he gave them a big, droopy, toothy smile.
"Bendy?" the two men question in unison.
Izuku reached out and touched the very top of Bendy's head, where he felt something come off. After pulling his finger back, it was stained black, and he inquired, "Is he…made of ink?"
"As the name suggests." Honey Lemon says with a shrug.
"What is he? What can he do? Where'd he come from?" Izuku asked rapid-fire questions, already getting excited as he took notes.
"Mostly ink. And he's kinda like a rubber hose character, working off cartoon logic. Also, he really likes bacon-flavored stuff." Honey Lemon explained.
"Eww, I don't even like normal bacon," Egon said while making a face and sticking out his tongue, which Bendy tried to copy.
"As for where he came from, some old guy called Joey Drew got his hands on our tech and made him alongside a bunch of others," the woman explained in more detail.
"Others!?" the two men exclaimed in shock.
Looking around and seeing nothing but them and little Bendy, Izuku questions, "Where are they?"
"Oh, Bendy is the only one left. When Joey Drew's place was raided, his other creations fought back. Two copies of a character called Alice Angel, Boris the Wolf, a copy of Joey's old friend Henry Stine, some crazy guy called Sammy Laurence, and a couple more. Bendy was the only one who didn't fight and lived." Honey Lemon recounted the report. "Apparently, he was trying to get his old cartoon series back into motion by creating real-life characters," she added in an explanation for the man's actions.
"Wait a second…Wait a second!" Egon suddenly half yelled, getting everyone's attention and making Bendy snuggle closer to Honey Lemon in fear of his loud voice. Egon studied the little creature for a minute before snapping his fingers and saying in excitement, "I know him! Yeah, it's all coming back now! That's Bendy, the dancing demon! I used to watch old reruns of his cartoons when I was a kid. My parents were fans of that show! I was so sad to know it only had 12 seasons."
"Only?!" Izuku shot back.
"Wait, what happened to Joey Drew?" Egon asked Honey Lemon, ignoring Izuku's comment.
"That's what I was getting at. When the raid happened, Joey, in his advanced age, suffered a massive heart attack and collapsed on the floor. They tried to resuscitate him but to no avail." she explained in full.
Egon pouted like a child upon hearing this. Crossing his arms, he said, "That's a shame. I always wanted to meet him."
Suddenly, the automatic door to the room they were in burst open, and Angelo and Dante walked in—or rather, crawled. Both demon men were on their hands and feet like animals, sniffing the ground like dogs. They made a few rounds around the room, and the three scientists just stood and watched them go.
Eventually, Izuku piped up and said, "Uh, Angelo?"
Angelo, who was nearby Izuku, stopped sniffing and picked his head up to greet, "Oh, hi, Izuku. Hey doctor. Hey, another person I don't care about."
This comment makes Honey Lemon scour in his direction as he continues to sniff the ground. Which is when Egon asks, "What are you doing?"
"Sniffing," Angelo said quickly as he continued.
"I can see that. I mean, why are you and Dante sniffing around?" Izuku chimed in.
"The two of us picked up on some demonic ichor in the air and are tracking it to find the source," Angelo explained before going back to sniffing.
Both men looked at Dante, where Izuku inquired, "We? Since when did you and Dante become so buddy-buddy? I thought he was petrified of you?"
"I eventually saw all his tricks and became numb to it," Dante answered while sniffing a robot arm that looked highly uncomfortable.
"It's no fun trying to scare him if he doesn't react." Angelo groped while blowing a raspberry. "So we got to talking, got to thinking, got to-." Angelo began to list off as he got to the last part and spoke sensually.
Luckily, Egon cut him off fast and stated, "Please don't finish that sentence."
"We didn't bang. He's just messing with you." Dante assured the men while Honey Lemon blushed at the thought.
"Okay, but why are you even sniffing out demons when Dante is right there?" Egon inquires while pointing to the other demon man, who is sniffing a different robot arm.
"I know what Dante smells like. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sniffing around. There's another demon on the mortal plane, and I intend to find it." Angelo exclaimed as he began to sniff and move around even faster.
As the scientists had their eyes on the first Demon Man. The other one managed to sneak up behind them and sniffed right up to Bendy in Honey Lemon's arms.
After sniffing the small, ink-made imp, he said, "Hey, Angie, I think it's this little guy."
"Angie?" everyone repeated and confused.
"It's what my friends call me." Angelo clarified as he walked up to the tiny black and white creature and put his nose onto him while taking a few sniffs. Pulling back and wiping the ink from his face, he confirms, "Yep, it's definitely this little guy. He reeks of demonic ichor."
"Who? Bendy? Is he a demon? But he's made of ink." Izuku questions as he tries to collect his thoughts.
Suddenly, Angelo's face revealed a look of surprise, and he exclaimed with excitement, "Wait, that's Bendy?! I love watching his old cartoons! My mom has all twelve seasons on DVD."
Now, Egon looked shocked. With jealousy, he exclaimed to Angelo, "WHAT!? Do you have the limited 12-season collector's edition? They don't even make those anymore; you can't even get them online because people hoard them. I have to pirate the old episodes if I want to watch them."
"AHEM!" Honey Lemon coughs aloud, getting everyone's attention, where she infers, "I think we're missing the point here. How is Bendy a demon? I know he was created from a character that was called one, but surely he isn't one."
Angela waves his hand dismissively and tells her, "Say what you like, but this little guy is a genuine demon."
"Then why doesn't he act like one? He's more like a five-year-old child. He gets spooked by his own hiccups." Honey Lemon asks with confusion as Bendy suddenly gives a small hiccup and then jumps and fright like a spooky dog.
Angelo casually shrugs and explains, "I guess something went wrong with whoever did the ritual and made him like…this."
"Ritual?" everyone questions in unison.
"You know you can summon demons from hell, right?" Angelo inquires if everyone looks at one another before nodding. "Well, some people have found you can actually bind a demon to a physical object, giving them a mortal anchor to tether themselves to, kinda like how Morgot created the Fell Beasts, Vampires, Werewolves, and Dragons in the Lord of the Rings using regular animals and dark spirits. So long as it's physical, a demon can be put into it. And in this guy's case, it was ink." Angelo explains in full.
"So what should we do with him?" Egon prompted him.
"In my opinion, you should axe him while the time is right," Angelo answers honestly.
"What?!" everyone but Dante exclaimed.
Angelo rolls his eyes at them and fires, "Don't act so surprised. He may look sweet and cute and innocent, but he's still a demon. He's like a chimpanzee. He's cute when small but a threat when he's older. He may be mentally stunted from what happened during his mending process with the ink, but that'll eventually heal, and the demon within will not be so sweet and cute."
"He's right, you know. I've seen plenty of demons in hell be born, cute and sweet and seemingly innocent on the transform, even without any outside stimulation. They turn into absolute monsters," Dante tries to coax them gently.
Before Izuku could panic at making such a harsh decision in such a fast time, Egon stepped in and stated, "Then we'll cross that bridge when we get there."
Angelo shrugs casually and tells them before he begins to leave, "Your funeral? But if he gets too outta hand for you, know where to reach me."
"Hold it!" Izuku yells as Angelo starts to vanish. Staring angrily at the man with his arms crossed, Izuku asks rhetorically, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"OH! Um…" Angelo briefly panics as he tries to figure out what he means. Only for the half-demon to approach Izuku and kiss his cheek while saying, "Bye." and then promptly vanish into his own shadow.
Everyone stood in shock at this exchange, especially Egon, who looked ready to start a Witch Hunt for the demon. Izuku touched his cheek, clearly taken by surprise, and yelled, "That wasn't what I was referring to!"
Trying to defer the current topic and atmosphere, Egon turns to the blushing Honey Lemon and asks her, "Do you have anything else for show and tell?"
Honey Lemon shakes herself back to reality and tells him while handing Bendy off to Dante, "Two more, actually."
She then leads the man to a temporary holding room designed like a bedroom for little girls. Inside the room are two young girls of different ages. One is around twelve and has long green hair and green eyes. The other is around four and has short brown hair and two small deer antlers sticking out of her head. Both girls don't look too pleased, even though they seem to be having fun.
The two girls stopped what they were doing and looked at the two scientists as Honey Lemon explained, "These two weren't caught in a raid but came under… different circumstances."
"Different circumstances?" Izuku repeated.
"The two of them are related to…him," she said in a hushed and vague tone while handing off a pad with the info on it. Egon and Izuku took a look, and as they read, their eyes grew wider and wider.
"Seriously?" Egon asked, pulling his eyes from the information. Honey Lemon quietly nodded. "He had more kids," he insisted, and she confirmed with a silent nod.
As Egon tried to digest all this information, Izuku fixed his glasses and dryly joked, "For an old guy, he sure gets around."
Honey Lemon then turned to the girls and introduced them: "The green one is Lorna Dane; she has the power of magnesia. And the girl with the antlers is Nina Gurzsky; she can talk to and control animals."
"I know a guy from the U.A. with that same quirk," Izuku added, making Nina smile slightly at the thought.
Egon then crouched down to the children's eye level and said, in a kind voice, "Hey, kids, I know you're probably scared and confused right now, but I can assure you that you're safe here."
Lorna looked like she wanted to say something, but she couldn't. Nina ran up to Egon, grabbed his coat, and stated, "I want my daddy. Where is Daddy?"
Egon tried to suppress his uncomfortable expression but couldn't. He ended up telling her, "I'm sorry, Nina, but I'm afraid we can't get you your daddy. He's somewhere we can't find him."
"I want Daddy." Nina pouted sadly as she looked at the ground.
Egon then scooped the girl into his leg and asked her while booping the top of her nose, "Say, would you like to go play? I have a daughter who's around your age, and she needs a friend just like you."
"Okay," Nina replied in a repressed tone full of sadness as Egon handed the girl off to Honey Lemon.
Once the two women were gone, Izuku approached Lorna and asked, "How'd you like to meet someone as well?"
But before Lorna could reply or deny the request, Egon pulled him back and said, "Izuku," in a low, warning tone.
Izuku pulled him off and shot back in a hushed tone, "They're gonna find out eventually. Might as well tell the truth."
Egon sighs and slumps his shoulders. "If you say so," he says.
Lorna agreed to the request, but she didn't deny it either, so Izuku led her to the employee housing area where Wanda and Pietro lived. Izuku first went into Pietro's room and found him and his sister decorating it.
So he knocked on the wall beside him and said, "Wanda, Pietro. Are you busy?"
The twins turned from their work, and Pietro replied, "Not at all, Izuku. What is it?"
"There's someone I'd like you to meet." Izuku vaguely stated, making the twins look at one another before looking back at him, where Izuku stood aside and allowed the young girl to step in. Motioning to her, Izuku told them, "Meet Lorna Dane. You're…sister."
"What?" they both yelled in shock.
"More specifically, your half-sister." Izuku specifies.
"Father had more kids?" Pietro blurted out without thinking, slapping his hand over his mouth.
Wanda looked at him with a stressed expression, and Pietro looked much the same.
"He did," Izuku confirmed.
They both realized that Izuku knew what they knew! Trying to keep a cool head under pressure, Wanda acted quickly and said, "Pietro, could you take Lorna? I have to speak to the doctor."
Izuku knew he was in trouble. Even though Wanda had been here a short time, Izuku quickly realized that she only called him a doctor when he did something she wasn't pleased with.
Pulling him out into the hallway and her room, Wanda huffed and sat on her bed. Looking at the ground, she asked, "How much do you know?"
Izuku took a seat beside her and answered, "About you two? Not much, just the underlying basics."
"Being the child of Magneto is basic?" Wanda asked back, shooting him a look.
Izuku waved off her suspicions and explained in more detail, "Don't take it the wrong way. When we investigated you two, we just happened to find it. I was curious whether you knew yourself."
Wanda nods and tells him, "We did. Mother told us before she died."
Then, the two teens sat in awkward silence, and tension built between them. Finally, Waves broke the ice by asking, "So, what's your plan now?"
Izuku shook his head and explained, "No plan at all. If you think we'll do something with this information, you're wrong. We have enough problems as it is. The last thing we need is everyone finding out we're housing the children of one of the most powerful terrorists in the world."
Wanda looked back at the ground and asked with a quiver in her tone, "Do you think…we're like him?"
Izuku could see this was something that had been eating away at her for a while now, so he placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder and told her, "You are what you make of yourself. You may be your father's daughter, but you don't have to be him. He is a part, not the whole. You're not Magneto; you're Wanda Maximof."
Without warning, Wanda threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, saying, in a tearful yet thankful tone, "Thank you, Doctor."
"Call me Izuku, Wanda," Izuku said while hugging her back.
"Thank you, Izuku." she corrected herself.
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