Chapter 1373 - 4.6

Gestation 4.4

April 14th, 2011

I surveyed the battlefield as I approached the Empire Capes, quickening my pace with the use of my tentacles.

Fenja and Menja had both topped out at about thirty feet and stood flanking the edges of the group. Crusader had created about a half-dozen ghosts; Fenja and Menja both had two floating ghosts circling them while one watched Kaiser's back. He had overlaid one ghost with himself, allowing him to fly above the battlefield. Cricket stood atop a school bus near Kaiser, overlooking the area. Night and Fog were tucked away a bit further back, perhaps being used as reserves.

They were the reinforcements from Boston, and I only vaguely knew about their abilities. Night was some kind of Changer, and Fog was a Breaker, if I remembered correctly. I kept an eye out for Hookwolf, ready at any moment for him to spring out.

Kaiser's armor grew and transformed as I approached, reaching about half of my height before stopping. I had to be careful, as although I had the height advantage, Kaiser's suit would have tremendous weight and strength behind each blow. Fenja and Menja each stepped forward, followed by Crusader's ghosts.

"Beast," Kaiser's voice boomed, seemingly carried and amplified by Krieg's aerokinesis as he spoke, "Your rampage ends here. You-"

I cut him off by launching a salvo of artillery blasts from my shoulders, sending explosively-charged rounds at him at speeds fast enough to nearly break the sound barrier. Krieg reacted nearly instantly, generating powerful gale-force winds to shield Kaiser. They blew my shots slightly off course, and I only achieved a glancing blow on Kaiser's suit, which quickly repaired itself.

The rushing force of the winds were nearly strong enough to suck the air from my suit's lungs, and I had to reinforce them further in order to continue supplying oxygen to my suit. Aerokinetics were a real pain to fight against; many of my easier tricks would be negated once again. Surely Krieg had some weakness, if I could just figure it out. Maybe his range, or his power's endurance was limited somehow?

Fenja and Menja both closed in, aiming to use their heightened durability against me. I dodged out of the way of Fenja's attempt to grapple me, trying and failing to avoid Menja's simultaneous spear thrust aimed at my suit's side. I launched another salvo of artillery at Fenja's face, forcing her to back off as the explosions left red welts against her skin, while I twisted away from Menja, her weapon carving a path of destruction through my suit.

I regrew my suit around the spear's shaft before using the majority of my tentacles to shove Menja away from me, crushing a few of Crusader's ghosts with the rest. It took a surprising amount of force to make them pop out of existence – enough to crack the armor of my tentacles – but they weren't too threatening. New ghosts began to form around Crusader to replace the fallen ones, but they remained near the majority of the Empire's Capes rather than trying to approach me once again. The other ghosts surrounding Fenja and Menja began to pull back and reconsolidate.

Menja had lost her hold on the weapon, and I tore it out of myself with my left arm. Fenja and Menja's movements were slow and cumbersome compared to mine, as they were still restricted by some of the limits of human biology. Menja was only off-balance for a few moments, but it was more than enough time for me to whip the spear around and stab her with her own weapon. Her shield didn't come up quickly enough to protect her face.

The spear's head broke off as her right eye burst open like a cracked egg, spilling out a mix of blood and vitreous fluid. Menja wailed in pain, and I took the opportunity to spray down the wound with the most potent nerve agent available to me. It was likely that her increased durability would extend to poison resistance, so I wanted to be absolutely sure that she was knocked out of the fight.

I whipped the butt of the spear – which was already beginning to shrink back to normal size in my grip – around, slamming it into Fenja's throat, shattering the weapon into dozens of pieces. Fenja stumbled, her face a rictus of pain and rage, and I directed a slash at her face with my suit's claws. It left deep scratches across her cheek, and I moved to continue the assault.

A steel javelin bloomed from the ground, launching forward too quickly for me to react. It buried itself in my suit's neck and continued upwards, impaling me on it. I began to react, but the rod of steel tripled, then quadrupled in width, decapitating my suit's head entirely.

I frowned and snatched it up with my tentacles, trying to stem the wave of blood spurting from my suit's neck as I stepped away from the weapon. I reattached my suit's head before another blade launched out and severed my suit at the knee, although it was slightly smaller than the last had been.

My suit very nearly toppled over, made worse as Fenja managed to strike a brutal blow against my suit's torso, sending me slamming against the core and damaging a number of the suit's organs. I quickly repaired the damage and tried to get my bearings, anchoring myself with my tentacles as I repaired the damage to my left leg.

I noticed a wave of mist billowing up from behind Fenja, hiding a figure within it. I retreated a few steps, trying to avoid being flanked, but another large blade cut into the bottom of my heel, locking me in place. I pulled my suit's foot back, shearing the front half of it in two as I freed myself from the blade. The damage quickly healed, but Kaiser was adapting his tactics. In a wide radius around me, giant, twisting metal spikes emerged from the ground, further obstructing my movement. I backpedalled, breaking off the ends of the spikes in my feet as I moved to escape Kaiser's area of effect.

I heard sirens within the neighborhood, and I began to see cars driving past towards Downtown and the Boardwalk. I was glad that the Protectorate had begun the evacuation process, but I could have used some assistance here. Hadn't Velocity promised reinforcements?

The steel within my feet had begun to grow, blossoming out and tearing the bottom section of my suit to tatters. I expelled most of the material, digesting as much of it as I could before conducting rapid repairs. More and more iron was building up within my suit, and perhaps that was Kaiser's plan. Unfortunately for him, he was just feeding me more resources to work with.

I held Fenja off with another blast of artillery, then had to duck in order to avoid a school bus which Menja had launched in my direction. Her movements were feeble and telegraphed, but she was still capable of putting up a fight. The bus slammed into the ground somewhere within the cloud of mist, sending debris out in all directions.

The chunks of metal served as seeds for Kaiser's power, and my surroundings quickly became even more entangled and difficult to traverse. Crusader's ghosts were closing in on me again, and I swatted three of them out of the air with my tentacles. Fog's continual approach had not ceased, and I needed to avoid being tied down and having to face too many Capes at once.

I took all of the iron metabolized from digesting Kaiser's weapons and infused the muscles within my suit's lower half with them, greatly increasing the strength, durability, and weight of the suit's legs. I used this increased strength to launch myself past Fog's mist, partially crushing a school bus underneath my suit as I landed a distance behind Fenja.

I had only inhaled a tiny amount of Fog's mist, but it immediately began to corrode everything it came into contact with inside of my suit. Thankfully, I was able to contain and expel all traces of the gaseous Breaker before it did any serious damage. I needed to consider a counter to Fog, but I had already wasted enough time dealing with him.

The other Capes had begun to reorient themselves to my new position, so I jumped over a different school bus and landed near Kaiser, shattering the asphalt beneath my suit's feet. Krieg stood at Kaiser's side, ready to defend his leader.

I shot everything I had at the pair – artillery, nerve agents, and acids, but Krieg's aerokinesis swept away the attacks within seconds. Kaiser had been attempting to retaliate by targeting my legs again, but my new adaptations prevented him from doing anything beyond skin-deep damage. Instead, he began constructing a wall of blades in order to block off my exit.

I sent two tentacles at Krieg, but he grabbed ahold of them and tore them off. I was momentarily stunned, which gave Kaiser an opening to summon a thick metal rod directed at my suit's torso.

The blow landed, piercing dozens of layers of armor in seconds as it wormed its way into my suit. My core rocketed backwards, and I suffered some injuries from the sudden change in momentum. I dulled the pain, pushing more adrenaline into my system, then tore the rod from the ground. It took me long seconds to pull it from my suit, as Kaiser had covered its entire surface with jutting barbs and sharp points.

All the while, Fenja, Menja, Night, Fog, Crusader, and Cricket were closing in. My escape paths were being narrowed down, one by one. Some of them were in rough shape, but I had been hemmed in by their heavy hitters. Crusader and Cricket had been free to harass me the entire fight; Cricket had been emitting some kind of noise which was slightly disrupting my ability to concentrate.

Fuck it. If they were going to go all-out against me, I would do the same to them.

I chucked the giant steel rod at Kaiser and Krieg. While they were distracted trying to deflect the massive object, I leapt above the pair. I landed in the midst of Crusader's ghosts behind the Empire's leader, not too far from Cricket. Crusader's ghosts began to hack away at me, but I ignored them and sent a tentacle after the ghost containing Crusader's true form.

At the same time, I shot Cricket with my artillery. She was fast enough to dodge most of my attacks, but the explosions rocking the ground around her messed up her timing just enough for one of the artillery shells to punch a hole through her side.

The annoying noise coming from Cricket finally stopped as she collapsed to her knees, and I dealt with Crusader by wrapping a tentacle around his foot and flinging him into the ground. His ghost disappeared as he slammed against the asphalt, bouncing off the ground and impacting the side of a bus with a resounding crunch.

I picked him up with the same tentacle and sent him flying full force at Krieg, whose power instinctively reacted to deflect the obstacle as he turned to face me. Crusader was torn apart, showering both Kaiser and Krieg in what was left of him. His ghosts all winked out of existence, much to the dismay of the gathered Empire Capes.

Menja, meanwhile, had finally succumbed to the nerve agent spreading through her system. Her collapse shook the ground, and the shaking only grew as her giantess form began to seize up. Her shield lay forgotten near her, slowly beginning to shrink. Every errant limb had serious destructive force put behind each motion, but she was beyond help at the moment.

I didn't have time to process the turn of events as Krieg roared out in rage, pulverizing the ground beneath him as he shot towards me like a bullet. I had no time to avoid or deflect him as he hit my torso in the same spot that Kaiser's steel rod had impacted it, getting dangerously close to my tungsten core.

He pounded my suit again and again, tears streaming from his eyes as his face contorted in fury. I struggled to get ahold of him, but eventually managed to pull him from my suit with my tentacles. I tried to crush him within my tentacles' grasp, but he blasted free of my grip. I backed up, rapidly repairing my suit.

Kaiser had kept up his attacks against me, although I had begun to interlace steel into my torso's defenses, rendering most of his attacks on my core useless. I'm sure it upset him to have his power turned against him like this, but I didn't care.

My suspicions were confirmed as he sent a spear up between my suit's legs, tearing into my suit from a new direction. His attacks were gradually becoming less of a threat to me as my suit adapted, with the damage he inflicted repaired more quickly with each blow as I added more and more steel to the suit.

I struck at Krieg with a kick, trying to overwhelm his power's mass limit. However, he redirected my attack, sending me hurtling back towards Kaiser and his wall of blades. Kaiser began growing the wall of blades higher, intent on slicing me in two. Instead, I used my tentacles to propel myself over the blade-wall, putting space between myself and the Empire's remaining Capes.

I crashed through another school bus, tumbling through a fence separating the bus depot from the street beyond. The streets were clear; it seemed the evacuation had been effective, which I was grateful for. A news helicopter's spotlight shone down on me, illuminating my immediate surroundings. It was soon joined by others, casting cones of light across the devastated bus depot.

I ignored them and crossed the street, entering a large empty lot dotted sparsely with vegetation. The Empire Capes were hot in pursuit, spearheaded by Krieg.

He launched himself towards me once again, sending my suit tumbling into a copse of fir trees. My tentacles wrapped around their trunks and anchored my suit in place as I quickly began to take advantage of the situation, consuming as much as I could of the trees before Krieg's attack continued.

He struck me with blow after devastating blow, deflecting everything I threw back at him with Kaiser's assistance. Fenja was closing in, holding the barbed rod of steel which Kaiser had created. Night and Fog trailed behind, trying to catch up. I knew enough about how their powers worked to have steered clear of them thus far, but I would have to confront them eventually.

With a massive exertion of willpower that nearly brought him to his knees, Kaiser created a new wall of blades, hemming me in on all sides and putting a large barrier between Kaiser and I. The wall sprouted just as easily from asphalt as it did from the loose dirt of the open lot, growing until it was nearly double the height of my suit. It began angling inwards the higher it grew, slowly forming a dome around me.

Fenja caught up in time to impale the heavy steel rod through the opening in the top of the dome, but I managed to deflect the blow towards Krieg instead. He stepped back, allowing the rod to drive itself into the dirt below. I clawed at Krieg, but he lifted himself into the air and exited the top of the dome. I had learned better than to try and grab him; my tentacles simply couldn't reach him while he was enraged like this.

This was the first time since my killing of Crusader that Krieg had pulled back from his assault. I learned why when a thick mist began filling the chamber which Kaiser had created. Krieg's aerokinesis sped Fog along, prompting me to make some rapid adaptations to my suit.

The trees near me had been fully absorbed, and I used the sudden glut of biomass to create a series of armored pockets of air within my suit. I sucked in the last uncontaminated air within the chamber into these pockets before fully sealing all openings between my suit and the outside world, creating the beginning of a series of thick protective layers made of a variety of materials.

My suit's original design was completely forgotten at this point, having devolved into a writhing mass of dozens of steel-bound tentacles surrounding a heavily modified torso and pelvis. Organs and fleshy masses with no direct human analogue extended outwards near the base of my suit's tentacles, working to reprocess carbon dioxide back into oxygen with energy provided from excess biomass.

I felt Fog's presence first; he made himself known by tearing through several layers across the surface of my suit nearly instantaneously, only being slowed down by a layer of silicates I had thrown together while trying out different materials.

I expanded that layer, lengthening it into a full shell across my suit's body. It was difficult to move like this, so I compromised by forming it into thick plates across the vast majority of my body instead. With the majority of Fog's avenues for attack cut off, it became much easier to repair the damage he was doing.

Night arrived seconds later, carving deep gouges into my suit's exterior, even managing to wrench off one of my new plates of silicate. I responded by wrapping her up in dozens of tentacles, getting a good sense of her Changer form through touch alone.

She had at least a dozen legs covered by a thick, armored exoskeleton, which shifted impossibly quickly in order to escape my grasp. I began tearing them from her where I could, but she was too slippery for me to get a firm grasp of most of them.

She was doing some serious damage to my suit's exterior, giving Fog openings to use, so I decided to bait them in. I created an artificial 'weak spot' for Night to discover, then allowed her to tear her way into it in an effort to find my core. Fog began to follow her in, but I sealed her within my suit using a mass of tentacles.

Now it was just her and I, and she had nowhere to escape. Fog did his best to corrode the wall of flesh I had created around Night, but I was already reinforcing it with a web of steel and silicates. The thickness of my defenses only increased, not decreased with time, and I began pulling biomass from the nearby trees' roots to continue feeding my struggle against Night.

Entombed within me, it became a simple matter to hack chunks off of her, one after another. They were toxic and impossible for me to digest, so I simply disposed of them by chucking them out of my suit. Fog's efforts seemed to become more frantic with each piece I removed from Night, while she seemed to lose energy the longer I kept at it.

Eventually, all of her limbs had been removed, and only a torso remained. I began pressing down on it, even dipping into my reserve of tungsten in order to create the most efficient weapon possible to use against her.

I felt her form suddenly shrink, and seized the opportunity to tear her apart. Night was quickly reduced to half of a torso and a head, and I connected her to the rest of my suit once she had fallen unconscious, pumping what was left of her full of sedatives as I worked to restore blood-flow.

I expelled the lower half of Night's human body from my suit, and Fog's efforts to attack my suit suddenly ceased. I allowed the portion of him within me to escape, and he reverted from his Breaker state over his broken teammate's remains.

I took the opportunity to spear him through the neck, pulling him into my suit in one quick motion. He joined Night within my suit, and I finally began to revert some of the changes to my suit.

Kaiser had continued growing the dome in over me, piercing my suit in several places with thick blades of steel. Regardless of my restoration of my suit's sensory organs, I wasn't able to tell anything about what was going on outside like this.

I adapted my suit once more and burrowed underground, digging through the soft dirt that filled the empty lot. I tunnelled until I was absolutely sure that I was outside of the dome's range before digging upwards, back towards the surface.

The second I breached back above ground, Fenja was there waiting for me with a murderous expression. She grabbed my suit – which was greatly reduced in height and weight, thanks to Night and Fog's relentless attacks – and hurled it most of the way across the street, back towards the bus depot. She stomped on its pelvis and shattered several bones within the suit before kicking my suit's side, sending me tumbling away. I took the chance to repair most of the damage, spraying a jet of acid at her eyes as I moved to stand.

Krieg – who was sporting a limp – had neared enough to deflect the attack, appearing at Fenja's side, and I felt the urge to groan. Where the hell was the Protectorate!?

"It's not worth it," I heard Krieg say to Fenja over the sound of the winds surrounding him, "The best thing we can do right now is retreat."

"No," Fenja's voice boomed throughout the street, "Not until I avenge Nessa."

Their argument was cut off by several streaks through the night sky, which began to converge on our location.

Yes!

New Wave is here!

Lady Photon, Laserdream, and Glory Girl shot towards us, with Lady Photon and Laserdream descending towards Krieg, while Glory Girl rocketed directly towards Kaiser. Lady Photon and Laserdream began pelting Krieg with lasers; deflecting and controlling normal kinetic forces may have been trivial for him, but deflecting light was apparently beyond his abilities.

The lasers cut through Krieg's costume, causing him to gasp out in pain and drop to the ground quite quickly. Laserdream and her mother turned their efforts towards Fenja, forcing her back into the empty lot. I restrained the already subdued Krieg within my suit, pulling him towards my core and putting him in a day-long coma. I deposited him back onto the ground and brought Night and Fog towards my suit's core, ready to begin rebuilding their bodies.

However, I halted my efforts as my attention was drawn towards the fight between Glory Girl and Kaiser. As she dove towards him, she hurled a ball of condensed energy in his direction, which expanded into Brandish mid-arc. Brandish produced a blade of pure light within each hand and plunged them down towards Kaiser, cutting two long grooves into his armor as she tried to cushion her landing. Kaiser reacted, although he was clearly exhausted from the battle and the death or dismemberment of so many teammates.

He put up less of a fight than I expected as Glory Girl rocketed into him next, sending him tumbling towards where Brandish had landed. He shot blades up from the ground, forcing Glory Girl and Brandish to halt, but Brandish sidestepped the obstruction and ferociously launched herself at Kaiser yet again, catching him off-guard.

Kaiser began trying to form blades underneath her, but she had anticipated his plan and reverted to her energy form moments before Kaiser's blade would have pierced her. She shot into the air followed closely by Glory Girl, who caught up to Brandish and prepared to send her hurtling back towards Kaiser.

I took Kaiser's momentary isolation as an opportunity to hit him with some artillery, tearing into the flesh below the front of his armor and distracting him from the pair of New Wave heroes. I kept up the assault, pushing Kaiser back and forcing him further down the street, away from the towering dome of blades which he had attempted to entomb me within.

Glory Girl dove towards the ground once more, moving to pummel Kaiser into the ground while dropping Brandish off at the same time. Kaiser managed to dodge Glory Girl's attack, but a long-distance laser from Lady Photon dug through a gap in his armor and into his leg, making him scream in agony.

"This is for my daughter," Brandish spat, directing another attack at the weakened leader of the Empire.

She had reformed her blades into one greatsword, which she swept upward with both hands, cleaving the lower half of Kaiser's jaw from his body and partially melting his armor. Kaiser staggered from the attack, putting his hands up to the cauterized wound.

"And this," Brandish continued, "Is for Fleur."

She swept the large blade around and severed Kaiser's right arm at the shoulder. He tried to speak, but his tongue had already been destroyed by Brandish's brutal attacks, which resulted in his words coming out as nothing more than a desperate gurgle.

"Enough, Mom," Glory Girl called, coming to hover besides Brandish, "He's down. Any more and he might die."

Kaiser had dropped to the dirt below, trapped within his suit of armor as his wounds smoked and sizzled. I turned my focus away from him and looked towards Fenja, and was surprised by the sight of her reduced to normal height, being taken into custody by Laserdream and Lady Photon.

The fight was finally over, and the heroes had come out on top.

-

The surviving villains had been placed in a loose circle near Menja; I had confirmed that the giantess was medically brain-dead, although her powers showed no sign of deactivating themselves. She had crushed Cricket at some point during her seizure, and there wasn't really enough left of her for me to attempt to heal. There was even less left of Crusader.

Besides those three, the rest of the present Empire Capes had all been captured and their conditions stabilized, while New Wave combed the area for any hurt or otherwise affected civilians. I only had time for a quick brain scan on Kaiser, and the glimpses I saw were very worrying indeed. I would have to make time to properly analyze the data later.

I had more time to analyze Night and Fog's biology than any of the other villains, and what I saw was extremely odd. I couldn't draw any conclusions just yet, but they were by far the strangest Parahumans I had ever run across.

Kaiser, Krieg, and Fenja would each be receiving day-long naps, along with Night and Fog. I was done fighting the Empire for the night; that fight had been far longer and more strenuous than I had expected. The Protectorate had completely dropped the ball on backing me up, too. It made me feel angry towards them, to be honest.

I finished the last of my healing efforts and reverted the last of the changes to my suit, reducing it back to the measly six-hundred pounds it had weighed before the fight. The excess biomass and steel had been piled up near Menja's body, and I finished expelling the last of the matter just as New Wave's fliers landed around me once more, with Brandish catching a ride from her sister rather than Glory Girl this time.

"Hi, guys," I turned away from the biomass and greeted them, "Thanks for helping me wrap up the fight. I couldn't have done it without you."

New Wave hadn't been who I had expected to come to my aid, but I appreciated their assistance regardless. Their Capes had dismantled opponents whose abilities had seemed insurmountable to me with relative ease; it left me feeling humbled. I had to give my all against these Capes just to draw blood, while they seemed to have a much better grasp of how to coordinate against groups like the Empire.

"After what you've done for this family – healing my daughter, and now this strike against the Empire, I believe I should be the one thanking you," Brandish said, sticking out a hand for me to shake.

"One moment," I said, and opened up the front of my suit – hopefully slowly enough to prevent New Wave from being startled by my emergence from my suit.

I pushed the core open and stepped down from my suit's now-prone form, taking Brandish's still outstretched hand.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, but didn't otherwise react. She had a firm handshake, and her eyes were focused and intense.

"Carol Dallon; it's a pleasure to finally meet you," She introduced herself.

I knew who she was, along with the rest of New Wave's identities. Still, a proper introduction never hurt.

"Um, I'm going by Placenta," I responded, suddenly aware of the woman's age and experience advantage over me.

Lady Photon introduced herself next as Sarah Pelham, followed by her daughter – Crystal Pelham. The pair seemed nice enough, although the heroes all seemed a tad sleep-deprived. I already knew Victoria, of course, so no introductions were needed there.

Carol Dallon began probing for information about what happened during the fight, and I had no reservations about explaining most of the situation to her. She calmly listened as I told the story, interrupting only to ask clarifying questions. Victoria and Crystal, on the other hand, interrupted regularly to give their opinion on my actions from the fight, from which parts were 'awesome' to where I could have improved. I genuinely appreciated their tips and suggestions, and even Sarah Pelham had a few ideas to share.

The biggest suggestion from all of them, of course, was that I should have let them know ahead of time, so we could have coordinated. An understandable mistake, according to the more experienced heroes, one made by many new heroes as they were starting out.

Once I had finished explaining the situation, the Pelhams departed with Victoria to fill in the rest of their group on the night's events. I promised to chat with Victoria soon, and it was soon just Brandish and I left to watch over the unconscious villains.

"I'm surprised the Protectorate hasn't already showed up," I muttered.

"If Sarah or Victoria run across the Protectorate, they'll let them know. Either way, the Protectorate should be here any minute," Brandish responded.

I looked around the ruined depot, filled with twisting spires created by Kaiser's power and the destroyed remains of school buses. Regardless of the victory over the Empire, it had come at a steep cost. I had taken a life; it was a step that I wasn't completely comfortable with, but the alternative would have just resulted in further death and destruction. Carol, on the other hand, didn't seem all-that-bothered by the situation.

"Carol…" I began, reluctant to bring the subject up.

"What's wrong?" Carol asked, reading my facial expressions through my mask.

"I killed someone. I… I've never done that before. I don't really know how to feel about it."

I should have felt mountains of guilt; wasn't it common for people to throw up after taking their first life, even for soldiers? Instead, I just felt a little hollow. The rush of adrenaline was slowly waning, leaving me concerned about the future more than anything else.

"Placenta, you fought eight Capes by yourself for an extended period of time, and all of those Capes were trying their best to kill you. I heard about their assassination attempt on you earlier tonight as well; you didn't do anything but protect yourself."

"But… didn't I go too far?" I asked weakly.

"The Empire is crushed. You gave me the chance to avenge Fleur – which is something that I won't forget, and accomplished something the heroes in the Bay have been striving towards for a generation. No, you didn't go too far, not at all," Carol reassured me, smiling slightly as she glanced at Kaiser's prone form, freed from his armor.

I sighed; she had a point. The initiation to join the gang involved maiming or killing, so it wasn't like any of these people were innocent. I still felt that there could have been a better way to go about things.

Before I could respond, Carol continued, "Not everyone will share my opinion, however. You should prepare yourself for any repercussions that might come as a result of tonight's battle. In case you don't know, I practice criminal law – I'd be willing to represent you myself, but I usually don't take on Cape related cases, as my main focus isn't Parahuman law. Ironic, right?"

I nodded dumbly, trying to process the implications of Carol's words. Was she trying to tell me that I'd be facing legal consequences?

"The good news is, I have contacts who do specialize in working with Capes. Part of the reason I had you heal Kaiser and the others, though I would much prefer them stay crippled, is because it puts us in better standing with the authorities. It's easier to argue that you didn't use excessive force when-"

Carol's unprompted legal advice was cut off by the arrival of Velocity, who surveyed the scene with a grimace.

I carefully stepped away and re-entered my suit, closing it up behind me as Velocity began to speak, "Placenta, you have to come see the Director immediately. We need to discuss the damages-"

Carol interrupted him, "You can't be serious. Shouldn't you be focused on the Empire Capes we just took down?"

Velocity frowned and replied, "I'm just delivering a message from Director Piggot. These Capes will be taken into custody shortly, and this whole… scene will most likely be quarantined until an investigation is completed."

"We got Kaiser," I told him, "Why don't you start your investigation with him?"

Velocity looked over the group of captured villains, inspecting them for injuries.

Finding nothing, he replied, "Personally, I'm glad you took these villains down. The problem is the methods through which you achieved that. This is millions of dollars' worth of damage around us, and there's every possibility that the Empire and other gangs will continue to escalate in response. Again, you need to come in and discuss how to move forwards from here as soon as possible."

That was ridiculous. The Empire did more damage than that every month! If I could've avoided property damage, I would have. The Protectorate clearly didn't have a better plan, as they hadn't done a thing to take down even the minor villains across the Bay recently. Their passive strategy irked me, and besides that...

"Didn't you promise me reinforcements?" I accused Velocity.

Velocity responded quickly, "I would have loved to assist you, but we were busy evacuating the area. Thanks to us, only half a dozen civilians were injured tonight. Just-"

"Is she being detained?" Carol interrupted Velocity with a steely edge to her tone.

"No," Velocity backpedaled, "Nothing like that. Still, it's urgent-"

"Come on, Placenta. I'd like to invite you over, where we can further discuss the situation," Carol offered me a way out.

"We need a report of the series of events that happened here, at the very least," Velocity changed tactics.

"I'll e-mail one to the Protectorate by sunrise. Can I trust that you will guard the villains if we depart, rather than following us?" Carol asked.

"Of course," Velocity said, offended, "You know I'm better than that, Carol."

"Then do the right thing," Carol urged, then began walking at a steady pace up the street.

It was easy for me to keep up with her in my suit, and we quickly headed southeast. It was a fair distance to the Dallon household, but the time spent travelling gave me a bit of time to decompress and talk with Carol.

My suit's enhanced senses allowed me to hear the rumble of Armsmaster's motorcycle, as well as impacts indicating the arrival of Assault and Battery at the bus depot. I was glad to have left when I did, as I was in no condition for another confrontation or difficult situation.

That fight had taken me much closer to death than I ever would have liked to be, and I had to make choices that would be hard to live with.

"Thanks again for helping me out back there," I said to Carol.

"You can count on us from now on," Carol smiled, "Consider yourself a family friend."

I felt a twinge of joy at her words. It felt nice to be appreciated, especially by people who were more experienced than I was. It made me feel like I was growing and finding a new place in the world, filling a void which had existed for so long that I had forgotten about it.

Every member of New Wave had treated me with understanding and respect so far, and they punched far above their weight. There was only one issue… something which had been weighing on me for a while now.

"Thank you, Carol. There's something I need to tell you, though. It's about your daughter."

"Victoria?" Carol asked, a note of concern entering her voice.

I shook my head.

"No, it's not about Victoria," I said, which caused her entire expression to shift, "It's about Amy."

--

A/N: 

Leave your thoughts below!

Edit: Krieg is a short-range kinetic manipulator, not necessarily an aerokinetic, but I gave him an air theme, kind of like how Hookwolf has his wolf theme or Kaiser has his knight theme.

Gestation 4.5

April 14th, 2011

I considered what to say next as Carol asked, "Is she alright? I know she's been struggling recently, but…"

I needed to approach this delicately. I might not have been the biggest fan of Amy, but I wasn't completely certain about putting faith in Carol, either. She had been nothing but kind and heroic thus far, and extended her trust out to me, but I didn't know her well enough to judge how she would react to the news. Rather than telling her the full truth straight away, I decided to probe about the situation a bit further.

"Have you noticed her doing anything odd? Sneaking out, meeting with new people, anything like that?" I asked.

Brandish shook her head and responded, "No, not at all. She just stays in her room; it's been hard to get her to come out…"

At first, I had been worried that Amy had become a villain, but that now seemed unlikely. However, the idea of a Cape just sitting in their room all day, not bothering to use their powers, seemed fundamentally wrong to me.

I wasn't sure about the exact source of the feeling, but it was strong enough that I couldn't just ignore it. I began to make up my mind about telling Carol, genuinely worried about Amy's well-being, not to mention the well-being of her Shard.

"Are you sure?" I pressed, "Nothing at all? No unexpected guests, nothing unusual happening around the house?"

"No. Placenta, what is this about? You're making me worried," Carol frowned.

"Well," I paused, trying to phrase the revelation properly, "Amy… I think she might have had a Trigger Event."

Carol stopped walking, and I stumbled trying to halt myself as well. A complicated series of emotions crossed her face, and I waited for her to speak.

"How sure are you?" Carol asked, her tone completely serious.

"Completely. She has some kind of Master power," I admitted, which caused Carol to visibly flinch.

"I… How could I miss the signs?" Carol muttered, clearly upset, "I didn't want to believe it. I always knew that this day would come, but…"

"Um, maybe I'm missing some context?" I interrupted Carol's spiralling train of thought.

My words seemed to snap Carol out of it, and she collected herself before responding, "I'm sorry – you're right; most of the story isn't public information. Amy… well, she's adopted, as I'm sure you're aware. Her father, though – he was a Master as well."

The pieces slid into place.

"The Rat King," I said quietly.

The Master who had single-handedly purged every one of his foes from the Docks, and even held off the Slaughterhouse Nine in direct combat – with rats of all things. Sure, the Trump aspect of his powers made some of those rats as fast as Velocity, or as tough as the Siberian, or any number of other effects, but it was still a very impressive feat. I struggled to picture him as a father, though.

Carol nodded, her expression grim, "If her power is anything like her father's, then we all have a very good reason to be concerned. How much did you learn about Amy's power?"

"She was controlling an insect in the Wards HQ – it landed on me. I didn't notice anything unusual about it, except that it kind of made me… mad? I don't know, I don't really like bugs either way, so maybe I just reacted badly to its presence. I don't know if she's limited to controlling bugs or not, or if she can grant them powers, or anything else. I wish that I could tell you more."

Carol paused, "... Insects? I see. She's had these powers for months, if she Triggered when I think she did. I could've paid more attention, gotten her help, but… I failed, Placenta. If what you're saying is true, then Amy's been in her room, sitting in the dark, suffering this entire time."

That lined up with the gut feeling I had about Amy's situation, but it still seemed a bit extreme of a way to describe things.

"Woah, I mean, it's not good that she's been hiding her Trigger Event, but isn't that a little bit much? I'm sure-" I began, but Carol cut me off.

"You don't know much about how powers work, do you?"

I should have felt offended, but Carol hadn't intended it as an insult. To be honest, I was out of my depth in this situation. I shook my head, and she continued speaking.

"Powers need to be used. I don't know about you, but I personally can't go more than a few days without putting mine to use. Amy… it's likely she's been denying herself that basic human need," Carol cringed, "It's like not getting food or water. I… I taught both of them about this, knowing they'd both likely Trigger. Maybe I can still make things right," Carol said before pulling out her phone and shooting off several texts.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to confront her about it right away? I mean, you know her better than I do, but-"

"This is the best way," Carol said regretfully, "If things keep going on like this, she might lose control. I couldn't even blame her if she did."

I felt a bit awkward about being a witness to Carol's distress over her adoptive daughter. Judging by what she had just told me about how powers worked, it was absolutely the right call to let Carol know, but I was still worried about why Amy had kept it secret from her family in the first place.

They had given me the impression of a largely healthy and functional family so far, but Amy had apparently decided to let herself suffer rather than reach out or do much of anything to change her situation.

Was she afraid of her own powers? Was she afraid of Carol?

"What are you going to say to Amy?" I asked, my tone becoming worried.

"She needs to know that I- I'm not upset with her. I never wanted her to feel like she couldn't come to me…" Carol was still holding it together, but her voice was thick with emotion.

"It's alright," I comforted her, although I didn't know much about the situation, "I'm sure she'll understand."

"I hope," Carol said sadly.

I moved to pat her on the back with my suit, but she took a deep breath and tried to control her expression before gently rejecting my offer of affection.

"I apologize, Placenta. I shouldn't be acting so unprofessionally. I appreciate that you brought this information to me."

Victoria – still dressed in her costume – arrived before I could respond, slowing from eighty miles an hour to a standstill fast enough to create a strong breeze directed towards Carol and I. She glanced between my suit, which was expressionless as always, and Carol – who was visibly upset – before deciding to speak.

"Hi, Placenta; Hi, Mom. What's with the long face? Your text made it sound like you guys were being attacked by villains or something-"

"Walk with me," Carol ordered, beginning to continue towards the Dallon household.

Victoria began to gently hover off the ground, keeping pace with Carol and I.

"What's going on?" Victoria asked, a bit of her earlier exuberance seeping from her voice.

"Is Amy awake?" Carol asked in lieu of answering Victoria.

"Yeah, she's up," Victoria frowned, "She was asking about why you texted me to come meet you here, Mom. So, what's the big deal, and what does it have to do with Amy?"

"Do you remember what happened when Hookwolf first attacked you? What made him stop from going further?" Carol prompted.

"Yeah, I do. We were all knocked out by someone's Trigger Event. Wait, wait, wait. You're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?" Victoria grew more worried as she spoke.

Carol wordlessly nodded, causing Victoria to start hyperventilating a bit.

"No, there's no way. She'd tell me if that happened; I asked her if she Triggered after the fight, straight up, and she said no. She never lies about things like that!" Victoria asserted, mainly to herself more than to Carol and I.

"Victoria," Carol warned sharply, which made her daughter stop in her tracks.

"It's true," I told Victoria, "I'm sorry."

Victoria very nearly flew off before either of us could speak, but Carol managed to explain a bit more about the situation to her in time to prevent her from rushing back to the Dallon household. Victoria felt a bit betrayed, understandably so, but Carol and I managed to communicate how delicate the situation was to her before anything went wrong.

I felt bad for Victoria, to be honest. I had been meaning to tell her the truth about Amy some time during the next few days, but it had been Carol whom I had told first. Still, it was better for her to find out like this than for her to find out after Amy had already lost control.

Hopefully, that outcome could still be prevented.

We reached the Dallon household shortly, and Victoria flew ahead to the front door despite Carol and I's protests. She nearly knocked it down in her haste to burst it open before calling out for Amy.

I sighed; I really didn't want Amy to think that I was trying to get back at her by doing this, or trying to ruin her life. No, it was nothing personal like that. If I wanted to work with New Wave in the long term, it meant defusing the ticking time-bomb named Amy Dallon. Depending on what her powers were, she could even be useful in the war against Bakuda.

The Dallons lived in a surprisingly modest home, given their celebrity status. Lady Photon – who had changed out of her costume, unlike Victoria – arrived right before we entered the home, and she shared a knowing look with Carol.

I dropped my suit off near the entrance to the home, sliding my mask on as I exited the suit in a hurry. I didn't want to intimidate Amy or appear as if I was ready to pick a fight with her, but I still began creating pesticides throughout Julia just in case Amy decided to use another insect on me. I left my hair down, giving it a chance to breathe after the exhausting Cape fight I had just experienced.

Wordlessly, the three of us entered and headed towards the kitchen, where Victoria had confronted Amy.

"Seriously, Vicky, what are you talking about?" I heard Amy ask nervously.

"Victoria, stop," Carol called, her tone suddenly harsh.

Whatever Victoria was going to say died in her throat, and the three of us joined Victoria standing across from Amy. The mousy, brown-haired girl looked worn-down and exhausted, and not just because of the fact that she was up at four A.M. on a school-day. She glanced between Sarah and Carol before her eyes finally settled on me, causing her to pale significantly.

"You," Amy spat, turning her attention away from Victoria, "What did you do?"

I tried to speak, but Carol bulldozed over me, "Amy, how about we sit down in the dining room? We need to talk about a few things."

"N-no. You can tell me right now," Amy confronted Carol.

Carol sighed, "Alright, then. I should have realized what was going on sooner, Amy. I'm sorry. We know about your secret now, so-"

"WHAT!?" Amy screeched, and a scratching noise from the walls and ceiling began to grow in intensity.

Carol frowned at the interruption, but Amy's panic only grew as she rounded on me, "What did you tell them? WHAT DID YOU TELL THEM!?"

"I-" I began, then continued after Amy paused to take a breath, "You're a Para-"

Amy snarled and launched herself at me, catching the three heroes near me off-guard. Simultaneously, tens of thousands of insects showered down from the home's vents – flying, crawling, and gliding in between the pair of us and the members of New Wave. They formed a complete enough barrier around Amy and I that effectively blocked out all sight and sound, while simultaneously staying far enough away to avoid any insects landing on me or accidentally making contact with my skin.

I was shocked by her attack, and rather reluctant to use my powers against her. If she was in an unstable mental state, further provoking her wouldn't do me any good. If I knocked her out, she might not be able to undo whatever she did to summon all of these bugs, which was a situation I would rather avoid.

I was currently surrounded by way, way more bugs than I was comfortable with. The continuous scraping of chitin distracted and unnerved me, putting me at enough of a disadvantage for Amy to knock me to the floor.

I focused on protecting my head, trying to avoid slamming it into the kitchen's tile floors as best I could as Amy followed me down to the ground, the majority of her weight landing painfully on my lower torso. I tried to push her off, but I was too weak to dislodge her, especially as she intentionally used her weight advantage to pin me in place and rain blows down on me.

She punched me multiple times in the face, pulled my hair, and even slashed at me with her nails. I hardly fought back, trying to get away from her more than anything else. It helped that Julia was soaking up an appreciable amount of the damage. Still, I had a breaking point, and Amy was quickly pushing me towards it. I began preparing to reach up and knock Amy out, consequences be damned, but Victoria burst her way through the barrier of bugs before I could act.

Victoria wrapped Amy up and pulled her off of me before throwing herself between the two of us. Amy held onto my hair, and I yelped in pain as a few strands tore away from my scalp before Amy finally let go.

"Amy, what's gotten into you!?" Victoria cried, "Please, just stop this!"

I took a second to collect myself, my head ringing from the repeated blows. I could have fought back, but on some level, I supposed that I deserved that. I would have reacted just as poorly if someone told my Dad about my powers, for example…

Then again, I was actually using my powers, at the very least. Amy's emotions were clearly close to a boiling point, and she was becoming a danger to herself and others. It especially bothered me that she had targeted my hair; it was one of the few parts of my body that I actually took pride in, and having it damaged hit closer to home than I was used to in my Cape identity. It brought back uncomfortable memories that I'd rather not dwell on.

I would just have to trust that Carol could get the situation under control and keep it that way from now on.

Amy seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in, looking down at the fistful of hair still entangled within her fingers. I winced, crawling a bit away from her as the swarm of insects began to dissipate. I noted a few spiders in the group, indicating that her control expanded to more than just the scientific definition of an insect.

I ended up missing a few words shared between Victoria and Amy, refocusing when they both shot me a glance. The last of the bugs cleared, revealing Sarah and Carol. Both of them wore disapproving expressions as they looked at the three of us.

"Amy Dallon," Carol began, clearly trying to restrain her anger, "I do not allow Cape fights under this roof. I know you're going through a lot, and we're here to support you, but you are not going to use your powers to harm others for as long as you plan on living here. Do you understand?"

"I-" Amy began, struggling to find the right words, "I'm sorry. I… I don't know what came over me."

I still didn't fully understand why Amy had reacted so aggressively, but I could tell pushing her on the topic at the moment was a very bad idea. I stood up from the floor and put a hand up to my mask, feeling my face underneath – which was still partially numb from Amy's attack – and frowned as I felt a large bruise beginning to form.

I would have to think of a way to cover it up before I went home, if I couldn't sneak down to the Womb and heal it outright. I wanted to help Amy with her new powers, maybe offer to make her some bugs, but she had made it clear tonight that she wasn't interested in working with me for the time being.

Well, at the very least, I had gotten New Wave and Amy on the same page. Now that all the secrets were out, Amy could start finally using her powers, and maybe become a bit less likely to lose control so easily.

I felt like something else was at play with her situation, maybe related to the strange vision I had received from my Shard when first creating the relay, but I couldn't focus enough to think about the full implications of that at the moment.

Carol's face softened a bit as she replied, "Your powers are starved, Amy. Something like this was inevitable. I'll be working with you to figure out your power's extent, and I'll set up a plan to help you start using your powers."

"I don't want to use my powers," Amy asserted, "I don't want my powers at all."

The statement nearly made my jaw drop. How could she stand to willingly deny her Shard like that? Even on my most inactive days, I still made tweaks and adjustments to my various creations. Getting powers and not using them was a bit like being born with legs and refusing to walk, or having eyes but refusing to open them.

"Why?" I blurted out before I could help myself.

Sarah, Victoria, and Carol looked similarly concerned, Victoria most of all. All of them wanted to speak, but Amy seemed to have an answer pre-loaded for my question, and was the first to respond as a result.

"Why do you think?" She asked rhetorically, "My powers are terrible. They're villainous. If I had powers like yours, Placenta, I could make a difference. I could actually help people, instead of…"

Carol's frown deepened at Amy's words, but it didn't seem directed towards the brown-haired girl.

"Do you have a limit to how many bugs you can control?" I probed, and she shook her head, "Then walk around and pollinate. Get rid of people's lice. Make bedbug infestations disappear. You really can't find any positive uses for your powers? Farm antivenoms, enough of them to make them affordable for the average person. Sure, NEPEA-5 probably won't let you, but it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

Amy considered my words before responding, "I… I can't. It's not that simple. The sensations… it's all too much. Besides that, I don't trust myself. I'd slip up, hurt someone eventually, and it'd get worse and worse, and everyone would end up hating me."

Amy's self-hating attitude grated on me a bit, but I could relate to the way she felt. Her sensory issues might be something I could help with, but I was satisfied that she was talking to me instead of hurling insults or fists at me, and didn't want to push her too far too quickly.

"None of us hate you, Amy," Carol said, "You don't have to do this alone. We're here for you."

"That's right," Sarah spoke next, "If you'd like, we'll welcome you into New Wave with open arms. We can do things at your pace, make sure you don't get overwhelmed."

Amy's defensive exterior cracked a bit, but she still resisted, "I'm not hurting anyone, even if I ever decided to join. I'm not okay with getting in Cape fights. If you can find me a way to help without hurting people? I don't know; I need to think."

"Amy… it doesn't matter what your powers are. It doesn't matter whether you want to join New Wave or not, though I'd love to fight alongside you. You're still my sister, and I love you either way," Victoria comforted Amy, stepping towards her.

I took that as my cue to back up, making a mumbled comment about giving the family space to work everything out, but Carol broke off and followed me out as I left through the front door. I glanced back in time to see Victoria and Amy sharing an embrace, and felt glad that I had not overly disrupted their sisterly bond as I turned my focus towards Carol.

"Are you alright, Placenta?" She asked seriously.

I nodded, "I'll be fine. I can heal myself, no problem. I- I don't blame Amy; she's going through a lot."

"Thank you. I'm truly sorry that I wasn't able to intervene in time-"

"It's okay," I stressed, "Don't worry. Just… do your best to watch Amy for me."

"I will. I'd ask you to stay and see about healing Mark, but he's… not having a good morning. Maybe he'll feel a bit better this afternoon – Victoria will send you the members of New Wave you've met so far's phone numbers via PHO, if that's alright with you."

I frowned – it would introduce another vulnerability into my secret identity, which was already about as watertight as the Titanic. I needed another solution to my Dad's safety, and I needed to implement it as soon as possible. Several ideas came to mind, but I pushed them out of my head for the moment.

"Sure," I told her, "I'll make sure to send you guys a text."

"Well then," Carol said, straightening slightly as she spoke, "I need to get back to my daughters, though there's much we still need to discuss. Before I forget – here, take this card. I mentioned my lawyer contacts earlier; this is who you'll want representing you. Let me know what he says."

Carol reached into a small compartment in her costume and fished out a plain white business card, which I carefully took from her and deposited it into Julia, flipping it over to read it as it was submerged within the thin layer of biomass surrounding me.

Quinn Calle.

The name wasn't familiar to me. Just one more thing to add to the list, I supposed.

My head still hadn't entirely cleared from Amy's attack on me, and I longed to return to the Womb and give my actual body some much needed rest. Unfortunately, today would be a very busy day, not even counting any New Wave or Empire related tasks I wanted to accomplish.

Carol thanked me once more for letting her know about Amy, and we promised to see each other soon. I was soon on my way to the Boat Graveyard, back within my suit. I had a lot to think about – my meeting with Tattletale was soon, and while I was even more disinclined to trust the Protectorate after they had left me with no support against the Empire, I would likely defer to her judgement call.

My power itched to start making bugs for Amy, but I needed to back off until she calmed down a bit. Her attitude towards her Shard bothered me more than I would have liked to admit, and made me ask a few questions about my own relationship with my Shard.

It was difficult to pinpoint when exactly I started viewing my Shard as a companion, rather than just a mysterious source for powers, and that mentality had begun to leak out into my interactions with other Parahumans. Was I putting Amy's Shard's wellbeing above Amy herself?

Well, I had done all that I could do for the girl, and the rest would be up to New Wave. Hopefully they would have better people-skills than I.

-

I arrived home a while later, careful to cover the bruised portions of my face with a thin layer of Julia's biomass. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for Dad not to give it a second glance. I could have achieved the same effect with makeup, but biomass was simply quicker, more readily available, and the objectively better option for me.

He was in a jubilant mood from the moment he turned the TV on and saw the news of Kaiser's capture. His civilian identity – Max Anders – had leaked to the press, and his role as CEO of Medhall had been exposed. Some combination of a celebration of the Empire's defeat and a protest against Medhall was going on in the heart of Downtown, and the strong hero presence was already struggling to contain the growing crowds.

My Dad actually went off with some of his co-workers to join the protest, and I was tempted to join, if not for my prior obligations. Instead I gave him a hug and waved to him as he drove off, then turned and headed down into the basement. I had managed to get a scan of him, but it wasn't as in-depth as what I needed for my plans. I would just have to try again later.

The Womb was running well, and nothing was particularly urgent or out of the ordinary. I had tons and tons of data to process, but I planned to call Tattletale within the hour. Was there anything else I had time to check up on, before I had to go run yet more errands?

Checking up on Rune, maybe? I wasn't sure if I had knocked her unconscious indefinitely, requiring me to manually wake her up, or if she would wake up of her own volition eventually. Well, either way, she wasn't causing any problems down there, so I could deal with her later – I'd try to fit it into my plans for the day somewhere, maybe later in the evening.

I sighed, exiting my suit before hooking Julia up to the Womb. The feeling of growth encompassed me yet again, and I stretched my proxy's legs before sending it over to rifle through my real body's possessions and take hold of my phone.

Well, time to see whether or not Tattletale's been taking this Bakuda situation seriously.

-

A/N 2: Surprise! I didn't write Carol as super-evil.

I hope her and the other members of New Wave were characterized in an interesting way, and that the series of events was believable.

Carol realizing Amy just spent months locked up in a dark room without getting her fundamental needs met hit her hard, it's why Carol's a bit more forgiving than usual here.

Thanks for waiting so long for the chapter, leave your thoughts below.

Gestation 4.6

April 14th, 2011

"Seriously, how did you manage to fuck things up in the Bay so badly in one night?" Tattletale's exasperated voice came through from her end of the connection.

Apparently, she had gotten her hands on a Tinkertech program designed to allow encrypted communication between our phones, even if the Protectorate tried to intercept the signal. I wasn't certain about installing a program from the villainous Thinker onto my phone, nor did I trust that she had obtained that program legally, but I didn't exactly have a bank account or social media for her to steal the credentials of, even if the program gave her backdoor access.

Maybe I would have to check PHO in a while to check for troll posts under my username if she had ended up managing to log into my account, but that was about the only way I could see the program becoming an issue for me.

"I beat up the Empire. What's the problem?" I asked.

"You publicly unmasked Kaiser, which is already destroying Medhall Corporation financially. With this coinciding with Fortress Construction's decision to move their headquarters to Boston, a lot of people in the Bay are going to be out of work soon. That's going to cause a lot of problems for the Bay's economy, not to mention the knock-on effects from other villains moving in due to the power vacuum which you created. He got what he deserved, but… the crowds of people marching through the streets probably aren't a good sign. You're escalating things, Taylor."

I hated it when she used my real name. Tattletale likely knew that, and got something out of using it anyways. I didn't really want to Master her anymore; communicating with her for too long made me want to turn her into biomass, and I didn't think Mastering her would change that.

"It'll be fine. Now, can we focus on Bakuda?"

"No," She replied, "We aren't just going to glaze over this. You got Empire Capes killed last night. They were hostile towards you before, but now you're their number-one enemy, pretty much. You better hope the Protectorate does a good job of holding them, which they… don't exactly have a good track record of."

"I'll deal with the rest of the Empire, even if a few of their Capes get loose. I get it, you don't want me to kill people. I'm doing my best to avoid it, really. I only killed because I didn't have any other choice. The only person I've been actively trying to kill is Bakuda, and that's the only reason I'm calling you in the first place. Now, are you willing to help or not?"

Tattletale sighed, "I don't have as much information as I'd like; considering how chaotic things are becoming in the Bay, it's not easy to say anything for certain. She could be almost anywhere in the city right now. I can't narrow down where she is, but I've got a good idea of where she isn't."

"And how does that help us at all?" I asked, annoyed.

"One of those possible Tinker labs you mentioned, out near the ocean, doesn't seem to have been visited by Bakuda recently. Maybe she moved out, or maybe another Tinker was using it. Either way, investigating could be a good way to get more clues about her operations. I'd suggest going to the apartment building where you first encountered her, but it's been completely burned down."

"Do you have any idea where her main lab is, or if she even has one?" I asked, processing the information which Tattletale had already shared.

"Not sure. It'll be in the north end of the city somewhere, but I'm not sure if she'd keep the machines controlling her kill-switch in her main base or not. The ABB had a lot of territory when Lung was still in charge, and she's been taking full advantage of that."

"Okay then. Should we tell the Protectorate?"

I heard Tattletale sigh, "It's up to you. I know you're worried about them getting the hostages killed, and I won't lie to you – that's definitely a possibility. That being said, you really don't have the resources to take on Bakuda alone. Even if the Undersiders helped, and even if New Wave helped – it's not enough. If you want to achieve a guaranteed victory over a Tinker, you're probably going to need another Tinker. I know how pissed you're going to be if I definitively give you a wrong answer, so I'm not going to bullshit you and tell you there's zero chance the Protectorate fucks things up. You need to decide whether you're willing to take that risk or not."

What an annoying response. Tattletale had essentially given me a non-answer, and passed the ball back into my court.

"If you need me to get you more information, then I'll do that. Keep looking. I'll figure out a way to pay you, if you give me any worthwhile bits of advice. I'm going to talk to Dragon, but I'll avoid mentioning you to her for now. Try to stay out of trouble until Bakuda is dealt with, alright?"

"Alrighty. Let me know how it goes," Tattletale said, although I got the impression she wasn't very happy about the way the situation had evolved.

Too bad. I didn't really care if she wanted me to exercise restraint; I would see this city cleaned up before Alexandria's arrival, one way or another.

I finished up my discussion with Tattletale and ended the call; I may have wanted to ask her more questions, but feeding her too much information probably wouldn't be a wise choice. She had given me a lead, and investigating it came before any of the other issues I was dealing with, no matter how useful Tattletale's advice could have been in helping me deal with problems like Amy.

I would be sending my proxy out this time, but rather than giving it a human form once again, I created a near-replica of my own suit, but with a decent amount of modifications to its torso. Without the large core required for me to pilot the suit manually, I was able to fit many more organs into the suit than normal, and I made a concerted effort to incorporate more iron into the suit's muscles and overall structure in order to give it more durability. Iron wasn't as strong of a substance as tungsten, but it was certainly much easier for me to get my hands on.

My fight with the Empire had shown the limitations of normal biology, and if I wanted to keep up with opponents at their level or higher, I needed to integrate the lessons which I had learned in my suit's future designs.

I spent most of my time travelling to the potential Tinker lab submerged within the Bay's brackish waters, doing my best to escape the notice of civilians. I didn't want to be tied down signing autographs or dealing with requests – not when I was on a mission with stakes as high as this one.

I was able to emerge near a mostly deserted, sandy beach, and made use of alleyways and back-roads to avoid any large crowds as I neared my destination.

Soon, I came across the potential Tinker lab. From the outside, there was nothing unusual about the location. It was just another abandoned warehouse, albeit with a bit larger of a yard around it than most warehouses in the Bay seemed to have. It looked deserted, without any visible tags from the major gangs in the area.

Still, I was able to smell gunpowder, along with a variety of other exotic scents emanating from one of the warehouse's walls. I sent my proxy forwards, probing the walls of the structure with its tentacles, until I found an area which was disguised using some kind of hard light projection, preventing discovery by trespassers while retaining easy access to the warehouse's interior.

I cautiously pushed on the hard light projection until it faltered, careful to avoid any potential booby traps or signs of an ambush as I entered through the hidden entrance. An odd stench of ammonia was emanating from further within the warehouse, but the building had been sectioned off to create several rooms within it, preventing me from immediately locating the source of the smell.

It was immediately evident that this was not Bakuda's lab, nor was it anything like what I had expected. I had entered through a garage, which held two half-assembled four-by-fours, a motorcycle, and an array of various engine parts and tools scattered across the floor. They all had a gaming theme – the four-by-fours were painted to resemble vehicles from Mario Kart, and the motorcycle was decked out to resemble one of the rides from Tron.

Various posters and interesting pieces of art decorated the walls and sides of the room, each continuing the video game theme – although some of the merchandise was from TV shows and anime, mostly from the eighties and nineties.

The next room was even larger than the garage, and half of it was covered with green-screens, cameras, and stage lights. The other half looked like a fairly normal living room, filled with more gaming merchandise, a flatscreen television so large that it must have been a Tinkertech construct, and a wide selection of retro consoles plugged into said television.

The TV's screen displayed a paused session of Super Smash Bros, with the controllers still laying atop a large plush sofa which sat across from the TV. Despite the obvious signs of habitation, I didn't see or hear anyone currently within what was certainly Über and Leet's lab.

I spotted two rooms, their entrances on either side of the TV, and moved to investigate them further. Neither room revealed anything out of the ordinary; sure, the decor was a bit corny for twenty-something year old men, but there was still no sign of their location.

I enhanced my suit's hearing, trying to detect any sounds, but the TV's audio was too loud for me to hear anything over. I shot out a tentacle and muted its audio, then paused and listened once more.

There.

A set of double doors parallel to the sofa, left partially ajar. The source of the odd smell was coming from that room, and as I made use of my suit's hearing, I began to detect the sound of faint, strained breathing coming from the room's interior.

I directed my proxy towards the room and pushed open the double doors fully, revealing an expansive storage room. Dozens of Tinkertech devices lay in various states of functionality across several shelves, with three elevated platforms in the center of the room taking up a large amount of the floor-space.

Two of the platforms were occupied; one held a set of power-armor which I vaguely recognized from the Halo video game series – although the suit's right arm and both of its legs were disassembled or missing. The next platform only contained the head and torso of a suit, but I wasn't familiar enough with video games to guess at the franchise. Thick chains extended down from the ceiling secured it in place, although it was quite far from being functional.

The final platform was empty, which had some worrying implications.

The back portion of the room was filled by an entire library of video games. Rows and rows of video games – some common, but most far too obscure for me to have ever heard of – filled metal shelves which extended above my suit's head.

I walked towards the archive of games, and the sound of breathing steadily grew louder. Each breath came with a wet gurgling sound, which set me on edge as I locked in on the source of the noise.

Back towards the other end of the archive, a few shelves had been knocked over, spilling hundreds, if not thousands of games across the floor. The ammonia stench had grown until it had become bad enough to make my steps falter, forcing me to shut off my proxy's sense of smell.

The archive continued nearly until the room's back wall, which contained several glass cases and pedestals holding copies of video games, comic books, and consoles which Über and Leet had thought to display separate from everything else, for whatever reason. Only, several of the glass cases were shattered, with their contents smashed or torn apart. Several of the pedestals were in a similar state of ruin.

Why would someone do this?

I doubted that either of the villains would have done something like this themselves; everything I knew about them from their livestreams and PHO threads gave me the impression that they'd rather end their own lives than see so many of their 'precious artifacts' destroyed.

The breathing paused, being replaced by a long series of hacking coughs. It was becoming clear that there was someone underneath the row of shelves, most likely badly injured. I needed to get the crushing weight off of them before anything else, so I used my tentacles to push the shelves and their contents aside, although I nearly dropped them upon seeing what lay underneath.

A pair of legs, clad in a simple pair of jeans, were connected to a large, twisted mass of flesh, vaguely resembling a caricature of a human. The torso had ballooned up, nearly been torn apart in several places, sealed itself, then expanded yet further outward, obscuring both the arms and pelvis from view completely. Several cracks had opened up once again across the mass, which were slowly leaking the foul, ammonia-smelling substance out, forming a thin sheen across much of the body and the beginnings of a puddle on the floor below.

Unlike the arms, the head had not been covered up by the torso's expansion. It was just as bloated as the torso, if not worse. The face, despite its mutilated state, helped me identify this as Über.

The right side of his head had bulged outward, forming a large nodule which inflated and deflated slightly with each breath, possibly indicating that it was connected to the inside of his cheek. His tongue lolled outward, obstructing a significant part of his airway. It had distended, reaching a size that would have almost been comedic in its absurdity, if not for the circumstances.

A fissure had erupted across a significant portion of the front of his face, running from near his left eyebrow all the way down to the corner of the right side of his lip. Smaller 'bubbles', similar to the one on the right side of his face, existed across much of his body's surface. Whether they contained pus, the source of the ammonia stench, or something else entirely, I couldn't be entirely sure.

One of these bubbles had formed near his left cheekbone, and expanded upwards, merging with his left eye. The structure slowly dripped out a mix of pus and vitreous fluid as Über's coughing fit continued.

If my proxy was physically capable of it, I would have begun retching at the sight. This was Bakuda's work, evidently. Über was still alive in there, although part of me desired to mercy-kill him at this point.

Another part of me cried out at the thought of taking his life; if his brain was in good enough condition, then perhaps he could still be saved. I pushed the shelves further away and stepped towards him, preparing to use my proxy in a new way.

Although Über at first seemed to be fully blind and deaf, he had retained enough of his senses and consciousness to be aware of my approach.

He tried to speak, but only succeeded in producing halting, monosyllabic noises. His legs, unchanged by whatever Bakuda had done, tried to push his ruined upper half further away from me, but he didn't really get anywhere.

I could see several broken bones and thick lines of bruises where the shelf had fallen on him, but the wounds weren't bleeding normally. Bakuda had most likely warped his internal organs, creating an unpredictable series of effects.

I reached out and took ahold of his head, causing him to flinch sharply at the sudden contact. Trying to use anesthetics on him took much longer than normal, but he eventually slipped into unconsciousness.

Upon closer examination, he was revealed to be in a worse condition than I had initially thought. Necrosis had begun to set in along several of the more severely warped areas near his back, which would likely lead to septic shock and kill him in a matter of days, if not hours. In order for his wounds to fester that badly, he had to have been here for a significant amount of time already, rotting and unable to move.

I felt bad for him, even knowing his track record of some reprehensible crimes. Nobody deserved a fate like this, and I struggled to understand why Bakuda would do this in the first place.

Über and Leet did their best to avoid actual Cape fights, and I didn't see a good reason for Bakuda to go after them. Then again, there was the absence of Leet, and the missing set of armor. It was possible that Bakuda had decided to get her hands on another Tinker, but why she chose Leet of all people boggled my mind.

Once I got a better sense of Über's vitals, I ended up completely writing off his body. I prepared my suit to host a guest in a crude version of what I had created for Night; without external biokinesis or access to extra biomass, it would be more difficult, but not impossible to maintain blood-flow after decapitation.

I tried to quickly remove Über's head, but whatever spatial warping Bakuda did turned what should have been a simple process into quite the grisly affair. Rather than neatly separating, the remaining flesh attaching his head to the rest of his body stretched out like taffy, far beyond what was normally physically possible, before finally sliding off of the bone in one smooth motion.

I felt the desire to empty my stomach again, but held myself together as I brought his head into my proxy.

Despite Über's villainous status, I would likely free him with no strings attached if I could successfully heal him. I took pity on him, and besides, it wasn't as if he was a real threat. Even Rune posed more of a risk to me than he did; there was very little he could do to me in my proxy form.

As I merged his head with my suit's circulatory system, I finally became able to fully understand just what Bakuda had done. Her bomb had managed to pack more mass into some areas of his body than was physically possible, while 'emptying out' other areas and vastly expanding already existing voids. The only area to have been mostly spared, cruelly enough, was Über's brain itself, except for the area where the bomb itself had been inserted into him.

Because, yes, Bakuda had managed to conduct brain surgery on Über – and most likely Leet, too. That was a very big problem. Bakuda's depravity seemed to know no bounds, and this situation had only served to highlight that fact.

Healing Über would take time, and the spatial anomalies present within him were already starting to give me a headache, even with the added processing power of the Womb's brain. Still, he might be able to shed a bit more light on the situation, if I could manage to get him to wake up.

Worst case scenario, I would have to clone his brain – and its patterns – outright, and dispose of the original copy. Well, it was still a better fate than total death. It all depended on whether I could figure out a way to undo Bakuda's work non-lethally, which would likely take more time to investigate than I could likely afford to spend at the moment.

Either way, the first step was getting back to the Womb. I abandoned any further attempts to search the building for clues, heading back to the Bay at as quick of a pace I could manage without startling or knocking over any pedestrians.

Über's life-signs were still steady, but I wasn't sure if they'd stay that way. I was manually controlling most of his bodily functions, and I would need to hook him up to life-support within the Womb indefinitely, or at least until I could figure out the best way to help him.

I revised my list of tasks for the day; telling Dragon (and the Protectorate by extension, most likely) just got moved way up in my timetable, regardless of my nervousness about the Protectorate's response to the news. Bakuda with Tinker support would be even more of a nightmare than I had anticipated fighting Bakuda to be, even if that Tinker support was apparently involuntary.

Despite my increasing concerns about Bakuda, I still needed to attend to a few other simple tasks before kicking everything off. For example, I had promised to myself to make time to deal with Rune today, and the longer I put it off for, the higher the odds became that I'd forget she was down there outright.

Hopefully, figuring out what to do with her would serve as a pleasant distraction from the horrific events I had just witnessed.

-

A/N 2: Remember that bomb that Bakuda was going to use on Brian? Well, looks like Über got to experience it instead.

I hope I didn't go overboard with the descriptions, because yeah, Bakuda is creating some slaughterhouse-9 level horrors at the moment.

The next chapter is probably going to be a mid-arc Rune interlude. I kind of want to change her first name in this universe, but I'm not sure. What do you think?

Also, I had fun envisioning Über+Leet's mancave/filming studio/Tinker lab base. I hope you all enjoy trying to put the pieces together of what exactly happened before Taylor showed up.