Chapter 43 (3349)

Kai and I stand alone inside the laboratory; everyone else has already left. It is truly impressive how much he was able to do with an abandoned warehouse. The next one will be even better. He’s wearing goggles with displays built into the lenses and his traditional lab coat without sleeves. I feel a little rejuvenated after my nap on the way here. I could go home to rest, but there is too much to be done.

“You said that one of the subjects was displaying new powers; explain,” I said.

“Yes, the homeless female subject. You gave her a Manipulator/Alter that can change where their center of gravity originates from and a Manipulator who gains telekinesis over any items they attune. Somehow, the two abilities have birthed a new power. It would be best for you to see rather than hear me explain it,” Kai said.

Kai’s spider limb taps a few times on his tablet, and the wall of screens turns on. It’s displaying footage of the subject floating in her cell three feet above her bed. There are thin strips of brown cloth rotating around her like the rings of Saturn. She looks healthier and more lucid than before. She’s wearing a brown long-sleeve shirt with one sleeve ripped and matching pants. There are two zeros stitched onto the back of her shirt.

“Did you make the outfit?” I asked.

“Y-yes. Sorry, I didn’t think that was what you were going to ask about,” Kai answered.

“Why did you do it?”

“They are numbered, so it is easier to keep track of the subjects. Also, they’re sterile and don’t have any metal, buttons, or zippers,” he answered.

“Smart. What am I looking at?”

“When she first woke up, she was very out of it due to all of the drugs in her system. She was afraid to begin with. Confused about how she gained these new abilities, but as she sobered up, she began to use her new powers gradually. Before long, the subject was doing things that did not line up with what you described as the powers’ capabilities. She has shown the ability to change the center of gravity of objects she is attuned to, as well as the strength of said gravity. When she goes to sleep, those strips of cloth continue to float and spin without any conscious effort on her part. As you can see on the screen, she is now using the gravitational force of the cloth to make herself float. That means that she has manifested at least one new ability, depending on how you want to classify her pseudo-flight. Without a second subject it will be hard to tell whether the combination effect is an aspect of your ability, is unique to Subject Zero, or specifically the two abilities,” Kai explained.

Are you special, Subject Zero, or just the standard of what I can create?

“Fascinating. How is she holding up?”

“Given everything, she is holding up remarkably well. Both physically and mentally. I believe the powers have given her an outlet to focus on. She has not attempted to escape, but she continues to try to make contact during feeding time. Obviously, there has been no acknowledgment or contact,” Kai answered.

“Good. You’ve done well. Until the other two get back with more subjects, we only have Zero to experiment with. Do you have a way to put her to sleep? I want a full scan, and then I’ll give her two new powers to test,” I said.

“Yes, give me a moment,” Kai said, typing on his tablet.

On the screen, I see a bluish-green gas slowly flow into Zero’s cell. She doesn’t notice at first, but she falls onto the bed, coughing as more gas floods the cell. The muted video shows her freaking out, banging the walls and screaming. Does she think we are killing her off? No, you will not die today, Subject Zero. But you might wish you had by the time we are done. Subject Zero crumples onto her bed, completely unconscious. Kai presses another button, and the gas is sucked out of the room. A minute later, a table drone enters the cell and picks up the subject. Thick metal bars wrap around her limbs, neck, forehead, and waist, securing her to the table. It doesn’t take long before the metallic tapping of the drone fills the air as it arrives in front of the doctor and me.

Up close, I cannot sense any change. My ability tells me there are only two powers inside of her that I can sense. So my power is saying they have not combined or, at the very least, are still individually retrievable. I stand off to the side as Kai begins his tests. Scans, bloodwork, bone marrow, and antibodies are all tested and logged over the course of an hour. Weariness and fatigue are knocking at my door by this point but the day is not done. Kai gives me a thumbs up and I place my hand against her arm. I could just take the powers back, but a trump card is not a trump card if people know about it. I retrieve the powers the manual way, feeling the two of them inside me once again.

There is no change to them, no additional features or personality pieces. I look at the sleeping woman. Are you truly a unique anomaly? I used to believe that triggering told you everything about your ability, but this certainly disproves that. Abilities being able to combine was outside the knowledge I received about my power. I need to select the next powers I give her carefully. Anything too strong could be an issue. It occurs to me that two powers are being stored nearby.

“Kai, bring the Cape here. Subject Zero will be getting the two powers I stored inside her.”

“Okay.”

A moment later a new table drone has brought the burn victim formerly known as Offset. She’s hooked up to several tubes, some for fluids and others for breathing. Her limbs have been cut clean off and stitched closed. That is odd. She did not look like this when Vivienne brought her back. I look to the doctor as I place my hands on the Cape to take back the powers. While the five minutes are ticking down, I address the elephant in the room.

“Did you cut her limbs off, Doctor?”

“Oh yeah. I figured it would make it easier to use her to hold powers. She’s alive, but without my machines, she will die. That means you can store the abilities you don’t want to have without worrying if she’ll escape,” Kai answered nonchalantly.

What does he mean by that? Does he know something about the personality pieces?

“What did you just say? Why would there be abilities I don’t want to have?” I asked.

“You know, the side effects of the powers. Clearly, there are some you don’t like dealing with, which is why you had me keep her around to store the more annoying ones,” Kai replied without looking up from his tablet.

He knows. My eyes zip around the room, looking for a weapon, even while my head remains still. I cannot let him know my intentions. If he has figured out the personality pieces, then there is a chance he could figure out the full extent of my power.

“I’m not sure I follow. What side effects are you talking about?” I asked.

“Come on, man. Even if I wasn’t a genius, do you think I wouldn’t notice that I suddenly couldn’t stand the sight or smell of seafood? I’m fucking Japanese, Nobody. I ran tests to see if maybe the Tinkerer power had affected my tastebuds or my brain, but they all came back negative. The only change was you gifting me the ability. Coupled with your mentioning of side effects, made me realize that you knew. It’s conjecture, but you probably know as soon as you take an ability. I don’t mind, for what it’s worth. There are plenty of other proteins out there, and giving up seafood to become a Tinkerer is more than fair trade. Once I deduced all that, I realized with how many powers you’ve taken, there must be side effects you can’t stand to deal with. Then you insisted on keeping a depowered Cape around but subdued and vegetative. I mean, it’s so obvious,” Kai laughed.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

There’s a tray of scalpels to my right. Glasses protect his eyes, but the throat is exposed. Think calmly and rationally, Nobody. Focus on the facts at hand. He does not fully understand the personality pieces, but he is on the right track. He has kept my secrets already and has much more to lose by betraying me. If I kill him, I lose an extremely talented surgeon and Tinkerer. Not to mention, it will be hard to find another unscrupulous doctor. He obeys my orders without question and has a thirst for knowledge that can be exploited in my favor. He is complacent in enough crimes that he cannot possibly turncoat. I can’t kill him; it would be too costly to replace him.

“You caught me. I greatly underestimated your intellect, but I will not make that mistake again. You are correct. Several of the powers have less-than-ideal effects. I appreciate the effort you went through to make it easier to keep her immobile. Is she cognizant of what is happening?”

“No, she is in a medically induced coma and will stay that way forever. So load her up with whatever abilities you don’t want,” Kai said.

“Let’s wait until Tuesday and Isaiah return,” I said.

I five Offset her ability back, freeing me from the compulsive honesty. Kai sends Subject Zero back to her cell, and Offset’s table drone takes her away somewhere. There is not much I can do here until Isaiah and Tuesday get back. I want more powers. I leave Kai and head up to my office to look through the database.

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I lose hours filtering through the database, searching for abilities that interest me—seven Neuvohumans who either have abilities worth stealing or won’t be missed. Phantasmo, Carapace, Big Phish, and the White Knight Militia Group will provide the group with a challenge and me with more powers. Ideas are forming in my head of a way to accelerate my goal of a war. If I can collect enough abilities that mutate the user, like Isaiah’s, I could combine them and create monsters. Set them loose in a city to just destroy and cause mayhem.

A polite knock at my door brings me out of my thoughts. I tell whoever it is to come in. Isaiah and Tuesday walk in, dragging a disheveled and injured man. In the Venn diagram of a school shooter and panty sniffer, Jeremy Swaim falls right in the middle. He is a creepy man with a bony, hunched frame and teeth that are slightly too big for his mouth. You were given such a useful ability, and you chose to use it to be a pervert. What a waste. I quickly stand and approach the two, reaching out for Jeremy.

“I see you made quick work of him,” I said, beginning to siphon away his ability.

“He was a slippery fuck. Chased him for an hour until Tuesday was able to tag him. He fell to the floor convulsing, and I knocked him out,” Isaiah said.

“I told you all you had to do was ask for help,” Tuesday said.

“You're right; how silly of me to assume you would help me from the beginning out of the kindness of your heart,” Isaiah said.

“Glad you agree. So we’re kidnapping homeless people next? Jeez, saying that out loud sure makes it sound like we’re the bad guys,” Tuesday said, frowning.

The timer ends, allowing me to figure out the full extent of Jeremy’s power. He could have been a great Cape or Cowl with his powers. Long-range teleportation, information gathering, and highly mobile, he truly wasted his potential. It figures such an awful human would give me a problematic personality piece. Voyeuristic tendencies are another detrimental piece I need to offload.

“Good and bad are relativistic. There are serial killer cannibals whose religious beliefs declare what they do holy; they believe they are the good guys. A civilian who murders the sitting dictator of their country is considered wrong by the law. It’s all about the frame of mind and the position you view an act from. I’d like to wait a few days before we dispose of Jeremy. You two can move on to retrieving the volunteers in the meantime,” I said.

“What are we going to do with the human trash?” Isaiah asked.

“Tuesday, you can keep him. Do whatever you want with him; just don’t kill him. Ask Kai to use one of the containment rooms,” I answered.

“Golly gee mister, are you sure?” Tuesday said with a transatlantic accent.

“I am a man of my word. Remember, he needs to be alive and in one piece in order to be of use to me.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s like Christmas in July. My mom told me that if I wait for things, good things will happen to me, dude. And now look,” She said, adopting a fratboy voice.

“Before you two leave, is Vivienne back?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s talking to Rorschach now. They both seem happy, so I’m guessing the meeting went well,” Isaiah said.

“Excellent. You’re both free to go,” I said, dismissing them.

Once the two of them have left, I shut the computer off. It's time to find V and go home. My bed awaits me. I find Vivienne in the conference room with Rorschach, and Isaiah was right, both women look quite excited. A pleasant warmth fills my chest, seeing Vivienne joking and smiling. I open the glass door and lean in through the doorway.

“V, it’s time to go,” I said.

“Oh sure, I gotchu boss. I can tell you all about how my meeting went. Spoiler alert, it went fucking great,” Vivienne said.

“That’s good. I need to stop by the lab first, and then I’ll meet you outside.”

“See ya in a few,” Vivienne said, leaving.

“Kai, get the Subject ready. I’ll be down shortly,” I said aloud.

I head back down to the lab, and Kai is waiting with Zero on her table. Diminish and Swaim are the obvious powers to offload. They aren’t the strongest, and neither of them can facilitate escape. Being unable to derive pleasure from anything and wanting to spy on others are not helpful or wanted pieces. I finish transferring the powers, and Kai starts tapping away on his tablet.

“What powers did you give her? I have to adjust her file,” Kai said.

“An Alter who can shrink nonsentient objects by touching them, and a Traveller/Alter/Manipulator who can clone any part of their body, dissolve and rematerialize them anywhere they can see. The pieces still work, and the real body can be reconstituted around them, allowing for teleportation,” I said.

“Noted. I’ll begin the tests and check-up now. Will you be staying?” Kai asked.

“No,” I said, heading for the endless stairway.

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Vivienne’s car takes the last left out of the docks, and I can finally change my helmet back to my mask. I place it back in my backpack next to my gun case and ease back into the seat. My body is so heavy and sore. I feel worse than I did after the docks and after surgery combined.

“So tell me how it went,” I said to Vivienne.

“It went exactly how you said it would. I stopped and got some snacks for my sleeping passenger and drove right up to their estate. The place is huge, by the way, and has a ginormous gate surrounding it. There was security everywhere, black suits and concealed weapons. I drove up and pretended to be a concerned friend of Junior and politely asked to speak to his father. They had to check with the head butler, who wanted to come down and see the young master to verify my claims. Not gonna lie, Nobody, he was a scary ass motherfucker. His suit was perfectly done up, and he had perfect posture. I let it slip that Junior had gotten way over his head with a very bad crowd,” Vivienne said.

“Good thinking, and then what happened?”

“I got my meeting with Gerald McKinney. We spoke inside this humongous library with spotless marbled floors and high ceilings. He was waiting for me when I got there. And he just looked like a regular rich old man. He kinda reminded me of you, actually. One second, he’s playing the father so deeply thankful that his son is okay, and then he switches to a shark, smelling blood in the water. Guy’s eyes narrow, and his smile disappears. He was all, ‘My son has been missing for months, and everyone I sent to find him came back emptyhanded. How did you succeed where so many others failed, young lady?’ And I said everyone you sent failed because a powerful Cowl was keeping him locked up. And then he said, ‘How did you rescue my son from such a powerful Cowl?’ And then I delivered the coldest fucking line, Nobody. I transformed and said by being a more powerful Cowl. DUDE, I was such a badass,” Vivienne giggled.

I cannot imagine what Gerald McKinney felt when she shifted inside of his house.

“And then I transformed back, and he was strictly business. I’m assuming that he’s done deals with Nuevohumans before because he didn’t freak out when I used my power. He did ask about Curtis. Well, he didn’t ask about Curtis cause he doesn’t know about Curtis, but you know what I mean. I told him that the issue had been solved, and that’s when he pulled out his checkbook. He wanted to give me an extremely large sum of money, but I told him that wasn’t why I saved his son. I had brought the bag of cash with me and made sure that it was unzipped so that he could see it. He said he had to repay me somehow. That’s when he offered to do us a favor. It was just like you said, Nobody. Your foresight is fuckin spooky,” Vivienne said.

“So he agreed to invest the money for us?” I asked.

“Kinda? I explained that I planned to start a company, and he offered to help with that. He took the money and gave me a bank card with multiple accounts set up already. He told me that one of the accounts was listed as investments and that any money we put in that one, he would invest for us. I checked everything out on the banking app and he put five hundred thousand in it already. Once we get the cash from the drugs and gold, we can make deposits. We’ll be able to add users to it and eventually transition into getting separate company cards. I think it’s safe to say I did a great job, and you should shower me with compliments and praise. Don't worry, I'm level-headed enough that it won't inflate my ego.”

“Exceptional. And this is why you are my right hand, V. You handled this perfectly, and I'm extremely fortunate to have you. I would be completely and utterly lost without you. You could even say I’m blessed. Oh God, above in heaven, thank you for gifting me this woman,” I said emotionlessly.

“You’re an asshole,’ Vivienne replied.

“Jokes aside, you truly did amazing. You're the most reliable person I have, V. There's a reason you're the only one who knows about me. You're who I trust the most.”

I see Vivienne blush faintly at the praise.

“I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when we arrive,” I said.

“Sweet dreams,” Vivienne said.

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“We're here, Nobody,” Vivienne said, waking me up.

“Thank you. I'm going to be texting you some details on your next target whenever I wake up. That'll either be tonight or tomorrow morning,” I said, getting out of the car.

“Oooooo. Can I have a hint? Will it be a good fight?” She asked.

“It's a white supremacist group. They have four confirmed Nuevohumans and plenty of other nonpowered people. They are a collection of former military, religious extremists, and paranoid doomsday preppers. These are not people you can reason with. They are indoctrinated domestic terrorists, and the world will be a much better place once they have been removed from it. Tuesday will be your backup,” I said.

“You think I need backup?” She asked tentatively.

“V, I would never doubt you or your capabilities. But Tuesday will be there to watch your back and eliminate threats. Remember that you are there to secure the Nuevohumans,” I said.

“Gotcha. It’ll be fun getting to know her.”

“Be careful around her, V.”

Daniel's car is here, but he must be sleeping off a hangover because the house is dead silent when I enter. I take my boots off and trudge up the stairs to my room. My phone vibrates in my pocket, and it’s Maria. Hey, babe, I’m sorry I went through your phone, but please stop ignoring me. I drove by your house, and your dad says you’ve been out, and he hasn’t seen you. I love you, Eryk; please forgive me. I’m too tired to deal with her, and I have no desire to. I hide my backpack and fall into my bed, too exhausted to undress.