POV Rio
Not long after dealing a crippling blow against organized crime, I finished assimilating Rabbit of Caerbannog and got a really interesting template after that. I got Jedi Knight Nahdar Vebb from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Now, he wasn't the greatest in terms of strength, but he brought some interesting tools to the equation. The first to note was that Nahdar was a barely graduated Jedi Knight when he died, and moreover, he's a Jedi Healer, not necessarily a combatant. That's not to say he was useless in battle, as he did manage to survive a weakened and tired General Grievous for a couple of seconds before being killed by a blaster. But... He did destroy a couple of magnaguards before that; it was something.
In terms of gear, I got the Jedi Robes, which provided no protection, but they looked cool. Then, of course, the real prize, which was my very own Lightsaber.
Psssh
"Hehehehe," I laugh with a happy smile.
I cut a few things with it before putting it away for now.
The real prize I got from this template was the ability to use the Force. Normally, the Force is useless without the energy source of the Star Wars Galaxy, but as with all the templates, that is solved for me. I could use the Force despite there being no greater energy source to draw from. It would remain to be seen if all the powers translated properly or not as Nahdar was skilled in some Force Techniques, but again, the Jedi was a very recently promoted Jedi Knight in a time of war, where some standards might have slipped combined with the fact he can use Force Healing, which is a rare gift and you can imagine that his power ceiling wasn't the highest. But for now, it would do.
I did notice a possible issue with the system adaptation in this case. It might restrict my ability to go beyond Nahdar's Force abilities. In gaming terms, I might be stuck with a mana bar of 100 no matter how much I train. I can learn new spells or techniques, but the total energy I can draw from will never be more than that original 100. Strictly speaking, I can't exactly blame the system for this, as this is somewhat accurate to the source material, with Midichlorians usually measuring the total power of a Force Wielder.
'Hmm, you know, I wonder if my total max is actually much higher than Nahdar's base due to getting other templates from Star Wars. If I recall my lore correctly, then everyone has Midichlorians in varying levels; it's just that most are well below the needed level to become a Jedi.'
I had gotten Han Solo and Eirtama Ballory previously, which, while the second one wasn't that useful in terms of Midichlorians, it was feasible that Han Solo might have had a decent Midichlorian count. Of course, I had no way of checking, as technically I didn't have Midichlorians even in my transformed state, I didn't seem to have anything odd with my body. I know because I looked already, as I was interested in maybe doing some experiments with Midichlorians.
'Oh, well, I'm sure I will be able to tell once I finish assimilating Nahdar.'
The last thing I gained from the template was the species. Nahdar was a Mon Calamari, a species that thrived underwater, which meant I could eventually swim really fast and breathe underwater just fine. Though I could already do this thanks to the Shifter Belt, who knows, maybe they stacked, and I was now even faster underwater.
In either case, it would remain to be seen what this entire template would give me once I was done. But for now, I had somewhere to be. I had been tracking down some interesting movements from General Ross, and specifically, where they had been leading to.
General Ross had become desperate to capture the Hulk, and desperation can make people do some really stupid things. Such as stealing experimental super soldier serums from the government and then sending all these serums to a scientist who just so happens to have access to Banner's radioactive blood in order to create a potential super weapon. Or at least that is what I imagine they think will happen. I, on the other hand, was far more skeptical of their success chances.
I was also tracking Bruce Banner as he slowly made his way to Grayburn College to meet with that very same scientist who was creating an Abomination, whether they realised it or not. That was where I was also headed now. To preferably stop Banner from getting captured.
POV Shift Samuel Sterns
"General, I've studied the samples you gave me, but I'm still not confident this will work. If we overshoot this by even the smallest integer, we're dealing with concentrations with extraordinary levels of toxicity..." I warn.
"Enough. Just administer the serum, Emil can handle it," Ross demands from his distant observation room.
Gulp
I started activating the injectors and then looked at the readings from the numerous devices connected to him.
"Vitals are spiking but still within acceptable parameters. Muscle mass is increasing rapidly. Brain functions are stable," I say with sweat nearly pouring down my face from the immense heat Emil was giving off during the transformation.
The transformation was stable, but that was what worried me the most. The foreign and unknown DNA was adapting and growing at an alarming rate, and I instinctively felt something wasn't right, like some thought in the back of my head knew something was off, but I couldn't name it, and yet my body kept going anyway. My original idea was to create a panacea, a vaccine to prevent all diseases, but this was more along the lines of a weapons program. I didn't help that the samples Ross gave me were of unknown origin and of such low quantity that if this failed, we might not have enough to try again.
Emil started increasing in size massively, but by the time he had grown five times his original size, he started to shrink as his muscle mass started constricting massively. I even noticed strange brain activity.
'There's a spike in the Neo-Cortex, but why would the long-term memory be affected? Perhaps he is remembering something?'
I watch the scans as piece by piece of the brain is lit up massively and then goes back to base level again. The entire transformation from start to finish took around 30 minutes. leaving Emil visibly changed. His mass had increased by a factor of 4, but his size had only increased by an inch or two in height and width.
"Dr Stern, report," Ross orders.
"Vitals are stable, the transformation worked perfectly. Arguably too perfectly," I murmur the last part to myself.
Emil opens his eyes, and I instantly feel something is dangerously wrong, but before I can say a thing, my vision goes dark.
POV Shift "Emil Blonsky"
As soon as I wake up, I kill the human near me and absorb his memories. A group of more humans arrives and start yelling at me to put the human I had down, but I kill them as well and absorb what they know.
'I have been asleep for so long. Have all my brethren been slain by those invaders? Or perhaps humans did it.'
If the humans did it, they were good at keeping such knowledge secret. But I had a feeling that wasn't the case. I could almost feel it. The invaders were still here. One was even somewhat close.
'It's time to hunt.'
POV Shift Rio
I look around Stern's laboratory and find it to be utterly ordinary. Basically, nothing of interest was here. I could tell at one point it had been used to experiment on Banner's blood, but everything had been cleared out. I was at least able to retrieve some data that hadn't been properly erased. That data was enough to confirm that I was dealing with the right person.
'Okay, now where did he go?'
I pull out the compass, and it points me in the right direction. But before I could even start my search, I found the place thanks to the sounds of an explosion. When I arrived, I found several destroyed armored trucks and bodies strewn across the place. I picked up some bullet fragments and noticed how they had been completely flattened.
'Interesting.'
The other thing of note was the way in which everyone had been killed. All of them had their necks snapped or heads removed, but oddly enough, their brains were... melted. Or perhaps liquified was more accurate. I move deeper into the facility and find that basically everything is the same.
'Something must have just escaped. But let's see who is responsible for this.'
I keep looking until I find who I was looking for, Dr Sterns.
"Cum Mortuus in Lingua Mortua," I cast.
"Ughhhhh! Aaaah!" the body groans in pain as it twitches and snaps into place as the spirit of the recent deceased rises to speak with me.
"What happened here?" I ask.
"I... I created a monster... It killed me..." Stern says raspily.
"Do you have anything left here on how it was made?" I ask.
"Y-Yes... There the computer... It holds my research..." Stern says while looking towards the computer in question, as he can't move his arms that well.
I walk over to the computer and check to make sure it is still working. Once I did that, I started downloading everything on it for later inspection.
"Is there anything else?" I ask.
"Rah! Rosss! H-He did thissss! S-S-Stop h-h-him!" Stern stutters as his spirit starts to rip itself apart.
I release the spell, and his body falls to the ground in a broken heap.
"I hate that spell, it always makes me feel gross," I mumble before I start collecting what I have left and leaving the facility right as some police show up.
My next stop would be to see Dr Banner and offer him a place to stay for the time being. The Watchtower could easily contain someone like the Hulk, as certain sections were built to handle Wonder Woman and Superman sparring. The MCU Hulk was strong but not quite that level, at least not without getting really angry, which is also why I added some extra Minecraft blocks, which take a really long time to break through without the proper tool.