Payback was touching a hand to LEDs bloodied forehead, it was just after the fight we had for the purpose of making him hurt, but also, I thought LED might like a fight, but well. with powers I was rediscovering that part of me as well.
A quick flash of white and LED was looking completely new, as if he never went into a fight at all.
“That really is a cheat power” I said, shaking my head.
“You could get something similar though” Payback said as he stepped over to me, stopping just in front of me and raising his hand. “You ready?” he asked.
“Yeah” I confirmed, doing the familiar work of activating my power, the more active matrix now responding easily.
He thought his hand to my forehead, the slight red haze over it vanishing with the touch, going into me.
The first time he used his powers on me it had been just a wink of white and nothing, this time though I felt it, multiple somethings settling all over me. The matrix of my power brushing over them. They felt like shards of a concept I hadn't encountered yet, embedded into my body, only visible to my matrix, as they appeared as normal injuries otherwise.
I used the same technique of reaching to what I felt was paybacks power with the tendrils or feelers that my matrix now had, touching over paybacks power, all we had discussed about it through the days helping me more rapidly understand everything about it, easily finding the concept of causality, it was particularly attuned to injuries, attacks and their consequences.
The injuries I was inflicted with were multiple instances of consequences, from my own attacks. I felt my matrix copying the bits and pieces that made him capable of feeling at this aspect of reality, now I felt confident that if he cured me, I wouldn’t be so blind to it, I had an anchor now.
I was controlling my power to not mutate myself for the first time, as the injuries, even if caused in such a fancy manner, were still just that; injuries.
My mutation would have no problem overriding them and getting me to top condition, but through my power I could feel that they were like shards, the shapes on my matrix sensitive to causality telling me acutely that these injuries carried a particular signature with them; Mine.
And I could tell that I could manipulate the concept of causality on myself to a limited degree. if they related to attacks or injuries.
Maybe it would expand a bit more when payback cured me, so I could see the other side of the effect, but for now, I could erase what had made the injuries possible as I was the one who did the attacks, so I did, erasing the cause of the consequence, the injuries simply vanished, not being possible to exist.
I thought about it, feeling the new capability, it seemed useless, but if there were some powers that depended of me attacking them to cause some effect, I could work around it, maybe curses? Something like that.
“So, did it work?” Payback asked looking my completely healed appearance.
“Yeah, your powers already heal you we can't really tell what did what” Spyglass said spinning a pointed finger in my direction gesturing to my whole body.
“I did get something; it isn't that useful now though. besides countering paybacks abilities on me” I told them “But I also got some feelers for causality effects, so any power that uses it is now fair game”
I smiled at them, “so thanks, Payback."
“Don’t mind it man.” Payback said shaking off my thanks. “You're like a puppy whenever your power gets anything new” he pointed out laughing.
“I don’t look like a puppy I’m an old man” I exclaimed affronted. “Appreciate your elders' thankfulness”
“Man, I don’t think you’re older than me, can't tell anymore” Payback said, tilting his head. A frown on his face as he considered something he had just now realized.
“I wouldn’t say so.” LED said. “I think you’ve not been looking at a mirror too much since you’ve been here at the UnderBarn, but you look much younger than when we recruited you.”
“And it's not only the awful hair being gone.” Spyglass said.
“What? But I didn’t even get any longevity related power.” I said in confusion.
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“True but a lot of regeneration powers restore the bodies to an optimal condition, yours appear to be that way” Payback said crossing his arms with a pensive face.
I thought about the numerous times that I mutated my skin, muscles and even bones, changing completely only to then again revert back to a normal form, would it return all my cells to the same stage? The age expressed, or does it use the perfect blueprint of my DNA? Or whatever the mechanism was, as I couldn’t analyze the means my power used, different from how I could analyze other powers, and the bits I added to the matrix. It would be like an eye looking at itself.
I reminded myself to look closely at the mirror when I went to bath today, leaving the matter aside for now.
After that Payback went away with Spyglass. LED and I stayed to do our morning exercises and stamina training together, after that we finished up and went to take baths, it wasn’t the first time after a morning training that I took a shower at the same time as LED, he didn’t seem to mind one bit, I want used to using one of these communal club showers so it was a little weird, but you got used to it quickly, nothing weird about it in fact, just normally take your shower.
I looked at the mirror and saw that my skin was much smoother than I remembered, the marks of expression that had started to become much more pronounced in the last years had disappeared. In the week I had spent at the UnderBarn, it would be reasonable to think at least my beard would be growing again, the problem was that my mutations didn’t let time for the hairs to grow, every time my skin turned to a different thing, the hair went with it, resetting their growth.
Would that be a trademark of me then? The bald mutant, I laughed at myself in the mirror, I didn’t mind that part at all, was a low price to pay for power, it did make me remember an old manga superhero though, I could only hope that I got that strong one day.
I wrapped one of the available towels around myself, and went to my room, changing into casual clothes and going down to have lunch, the motions routine at this point. At the table with everyone, I spoke up during a lull in the general conversation;
“So, I was thinking I should pick a codename after all, as we’ll be going to a mission soon.”
“It's good, it’s been too long even.” LED said
“Your nickname would end up being joey” Payback joked.
“Have you finally accepted the handle of meatball?” Spotlight said with a smirk.
“Seriously now, people. I will not take anything like Turtle or Meatshield hold your horses.” I shook my head with a smile on my face.
“So, what do you actually have in mind?” Swordjuice asked me.
“Hmm so I thought of some possibilities, first something like adaptive or morphosis”
The people at the table made some dubious faces. Glassmetal speaking first. “I mean they aren’t bad”
“Just doesn't seem to fit though, with the rest I mean.” Swordjuice completed the thought.
“I know I know, so I thought better and came up with revenant you know because I just come back from seemingly dead”
“It’s a good one but it does give the idea of undead, and aren't you one of the more secretive types? The enemy would know that you probably regenerate.” LED said.
“Make sense, what about Envy then?”
“Oh, it goes with your hunger.” Spyglass said “But do you really want that tied to you?”
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to slip up into more power hungriness.” I said, shaking my head.
“What about something like Matrix?” Spyglass suggested. Remembering me that she was the first to interact with my power.
“Eh? I hadn't thought about that one, for how I describe my power right?”
“It’s a good one, its vague enough that people wouldn't get it, and who know about it, gets it” Swordjuice gave her opinion nodding along.
“And it means a medium that something grows on or off, something like that” Glassmetal said also into the idea.
“It does seem very fitting” LED nodded as well.
“Yes yes, I approve of your pick, fleshling” Spotlight said.
“Okay, it’s chosen then.” I looked around the table, they seemed expectant of something, maybe for me to say it.
“I’m Matrix.”
They all smiled. Seeming like that was what they were waiting for.
“Welcome to the team, Matrix.” LED said the others following with variations of the same welcome, it was nice, it made it official somehow, Joseph was no more from now on.
Now I was the Dawnbreaker Matrix.
“Now that everyone is gathered, minus Victor, but he won't go on the mission anyway. And neither will you two.” LED said pointing at Glassmetal and Swordjuice.
Glassmetal seemed relieved while Swordjuice just sighed “Just as expected.”
“Yes, as for the rest of us we will be parting tomorrow at first light, so we will use the rest of today to gather supplies, Matrix.” it took me a second but I reacted to the name noting he was referring to me already with it.
“Yes?”
“We ordered clothes more suited to operation for you, more durable. although they might get destroyed considering your powers, it won't matter if they do, so don’t worry.”
“Okay, thanks” I said, not having expected something like that.
“Sure, now for the mission. We’ll take a car to Cascavel city, there we will encounter our contact, it is a revolution sympathizer that works at the city power training and acclimatizing unit, he got wind of this new powered because he had participated in some revolutionary encounters before.”
Everyone was paying attention nodding along as LED described the situation.
“Now, he triggered to an information gathering power, the information of what type exactly haven't arrived on us, but those types are rare and important, the Neodyms have the stake at contracting him but the Sulphals will try to secretly poach him before anyone, faking his disappearances or going all the way and making him vanish, as these powers in our hands is very bad for them as well.”
I glanced at Spyglass, seeing as she was one of these types and by what I understood, big part of the reason this group stayed out of the governments grasp.
One of the reasons she must still be with us was that, any of the four families, the military or the gangues would like to have someone like her in their ranks, and more often than not, if they couldn’t have it, it was better if no one could.
Our mission is to encounter him before any of them, and then he can choose if he joins us or if he just goes to one of the bunkers.