Chapter 88: Storm of shards
August?
Diana
Was Stormspinner a Parasyte? Or a Fractured? I didn’t have the time to dwell on it before the box tipped over and shards of metal came chasing me down, their dagger-like ends aimed to spear at me. A whirlwind of metal aimed to rip me apart and I had no way of escaping.
My cuffs deactivated at the last second, a sweet release that exploded as I generated a pulse of kinetic force through my legs that propelled me above the stream of slashing metal. Then, it curved like a bend in a river to chase upwards.
Gritting, my skin and muscles compacted to take the blow, they razed into the flesh of my legs and arms but my bones by now were significantly stronger due to all the Fangtooth Mutagen I’d absorbed.
I landed, filled with metal quills quivering and shaking through my flesh. They tugged and pulled me off balance each second, like they were strings attached to my puppet-body, but I had enough strength to keep my feet planted.
Stormspinner opened her mouth wide, twitching and emanating beast-like groans… then her Shardware arm moved forward. It stretched, the joints snapping off to be connected by bare electrical threads as it forced the wrecked scraps into the shape of a spear that launched from her arm.
I sparked power through my body, bursting to the left of the spear to take advantage of the MAL’s lowered defenses. Then my electricity zapped out of me, and I found my body lifted into the air by my legs like a rope had snatched them up.
The metal shards… conducted electricity away from me. And the more charged they were, the stronger her control over them — I desperately searched for a way to escape being suspended upside down in the air. That spear flew back into her shoulder, transforming and sliding into an arm once more.
I gasped as bits of the metal lodged in my legs ejected and returned to the arm, a bright spark glowing over the limb… refining it.
”I knew a Technician BUG was the way to go!” Soul Killer was all too happy about this.
This was ridiculous, he was training Stormspinner on me? Fuck this, and fuck being stuck in the air! At least, the scraps she’d taken to join her arm again had left my suspension shaky, and I also weighed more than my body suggested. Reaching into my Kinetic Catalyst cells rather than my muscular tissues, I squeezed careful dribbles of energy into them while avoiding supplying any more to the electromagnetic daggers.
My kinetic cells ached for release, pinching out all the shards and letting me back on the ground with solid footing. Alright, focus on kinetic manipulation over electric… that was the key!
Soul Killer had to say something to spoil my mood. “Alright, time to actually start things — look out from above you!”
What now? I split my focus to look above while shards spurned to strike from my left, and groaned as I saw crates of Shardware being toppled down from the elevator’s entrance — their metallic and electrical bits raining down into the arena.
Stormspinner mindlessly flicked sparking spears into the rain of steel, bringing them to life under her control immediately. They went from falling down to racing down, my body working overtime as knives stabbed into the ground chasing me like a razor wind. Since I’d dodged the initial assault, I granted myself the mercy of my electrical strength, careening past rivers and whips of metal to find an opening to attack.
My eyes burned silver to witness a greyscale world of an electrical storm, it wasn’t by any means powerful but the intensity of the Warp Energy behind it granted motion that threatened to tear me to shreds if I stayed still. One stray blade nicked my ear, another scraping against my rib and a third shard sliced my cheek. Then a hundred more came with deadlier intentions.
I could dodge most of the attacks, but the stray shrapnel was what got me, leeching whatever electrical energy it could from my body to only improve the ferocity of the larger pieces. I’d seen Stormspinner’s precision in the hotel, accurate as a sniper and as fast as a machine gun with the forks or knives she manipulated, in comparison this was shotgun after shotgun wielded like a tidal wave.
Shit, shit - I had no choice. I needed the extra brainpower to handle this much coming for me or in seconds I would be turned into a pincushion. My brain ached as electricity channeled through the specialized neurons that had built up inside of it. And for a few seconds, the world slowed down and I could make sense of the rainstorm of daggers honing on me.
One attack. That was all I needed to land on the frenzied BUG inside of her, then Stormspinner’s life as a MAL would end. Allowing my Warp Energy to reign as hot as it wanted, I sent thick chords of power up my legs and arms, instantly whipping away from my position to just a few feet beyond the Fractured Stormspinner.
Her eyes followed me, and she grinned like desert was laid in front of her. I couldn’t stop myself now, but I could see the tracings of the electromagnetic waves within my silver eyes, pulling towards me.
Gritting for the onslaught, I summoned everything in me to focus my power into my right hand — a thundering claw that I jabbed into her throat-
My breath stiffened, images of Yvette and how my power had ended her screaming at me. I regained control quickly, but the brief hesitation had let Stormspinner bring her MALware arm up to block my jab.
All of the electricity sunk into the limb, morphing it further as it melted and readjusted. Then pain stabbed through me from all over as the Shards imploded towards me and her. My back cried out, even with toughened muscles, skin and bone the metal blades had dug deep and vitally.
My breath hitched as it became painful to inhale, and that only worsened my internal Warp Storage as it stormed into my wounds to regenerate them. As my body tried to push the wounds close, the shards only dug deeper, more viscerally into me.
I tried to seize their electrical charge, hoping to draw it back into me, but the pain distracted me too much to draw it in… no, it was my only way. I managed to draw quite a bit back into me, lessening the force they used to pierce through me, but they also stole back what they could. Stormspinner’s arm formed into a blade, raising it high up to cleave me in two.
My hand caught the weapon, focusing as much Warp Energy into the hardened hand bones that were all that remained between me and death. Fuck, my Warp Energy was being drawn too many places at once under Compact Tissue and Mutagenic Drain, I was emptying out like a bucket with holes.
I gripped my free hand over Stormspinner’s flesh arm, pinning my claws through her skin until clotted blood dripped through. Poking one more hole into my reserves, I began to drain the Bronze out from her.
We struggled, neither giving in, my only advantage being my Gold Grade against the wounds, fatigue and falling manipulation of my Energy. I felt my back tear open? How close were those blades to piercing through into my heart now? My spinal cord? Once that happened… I was dead.
But I couldn’t let that happen, I had to burn everything. Even myself.
So I released my electrical absorption over the shards, loosening my skin and muscle, allowing them to dig as deep as they could. While I gave everything else to the hand draining Warp Energy from Stormspinner… and now, as Bronze veins dug into my body — her Mutagen.
Absorbing Mutagen…
Unable to absorb all Mutagen… partial Mutagen absorption identified…
It was slow, and my body collapsed as one of the daggers poked out through my stomach, but I never let go of that arm. Draining the warp Energy, though, had caused Stormspinner’s metallic limb to weaken and melt, allowing me to yank the limb off and focus both hands on stealing away the power inside of her.
Absorbing Mutagen…
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Electromagnetic Telekinesis… 13%/35%
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Iron] Bioelectrogenesis… 24%/31%
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Conductivity Alteration… 18%/55%
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Iron] Electromagnetic Resonance… 14%/17%
I couldn’t absorb anymore before the torn MALware arm came flying back, kicking away just in time to avoid being sliced into two. Even now, I could feel the various blades deep in my body, ripping through me…
But I could also feel the warmth as Mutagen and stolen Warp Energy burned in my heart, spreading it’s heat to the wounds… and into the shards.
Capacity has reached Bronze I
Iron-Grade Capacity Boon: All Electrical-type Mutations have their Gene Capacity reduced by 1.
Tier I Mutation: Bioelectrogenesis has reached 100% Development, additional Meta-Mutations have occurred. Increased absorption of Electrical energy; Warp Energy conversion to Electrical energy is much more efficient.
Tier I Mutation: Compact Tissues has gained an additional Meta-Mutation. Increased selective conductivity through organic tissues. Development 93%
Tier I Mutation: Electrical Neurogenesis has gained additional Meta-Mutations. Baseline mental processing ability increased; greater effect of electrical energy on mental processing ability. Development 78%.
Tier I Mutation: Electromagnetic Vision has gained additional Meta-Mutations. Increased sensitivity to electromagnetic fields; increased precision of viewing electromagnetic activity. Development 74%.
Tier I Mutation: Kinetic Catalyst has gained an additional Meta-Mutation. Greater conversion of electrical energy into kinetic output. Development 60%.
Tier I Mutation: Mutagenic Drain has gained an additional Meta-Mutation. Increased ability to drain Mutagen from Adapters. Development: 51%
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Electromagnetic Telekinesis has been acquired: The Adapter can manipulate any object emitting an electromagnetic field using their Warp Energy… additional Meta-Mutations have occurred. The Adapter can slightly influence the conductivity of materials around them. Development: 8% [9 (8) Gene Capacity]
I could barely feel a thing between the nauseating pain and fatigue all through me, but the new tingling of these tiny shards quivering through my body was instinctual. I gripped them with my mind, burning away the Bronze Energy that was manipulating them to replace it with my Gold.
Then I pulled them out. Blood poured out from each wound which soon clogged up under the draining effects of my own regeneration. It took me a second to realize that I had my own floating phalanx of shards floating at my control, their presence neatly felt though my enhanced vision and skin.
It was like a vibration attuned to my own heartbeat, thrumming in accordance with the laws I set upon it. Another swarm of daggers and bee-sized shrapnel flew with the intent of devouring me, I kicked and leaped, my own miniature swarm following as easily as breathing.
They weren’t the fastest, but they were simple and obedient. I kited away the attacking storm, feeling the MAL controlling Stormspinner’s body more acutely than ever, she was weakened and dulled by my vampiristic drain — but not dead. She didn’t have any protective Mutagen, her body only slightly strengthened by the natural boost of metabolism across the Tiers.
One hit. That was all I needed. I called upon my stream of metal, lining them up to fall in my hand where I intensified the electric charge within them. They sang in joy, gladly falling into the shape I wished them to take. A javelin no larger than my forearm.
The good thing about these low grade MALs was that they knew nothing but killing, they didn’t care about preserving their own life as long as it meant taking a human’s.
I heaved the muscles of my right arm, catalyzing the conversion of my electrical strength into a kinetic release that shot the javelin like a ballista. If the MAL had just reserved even a few scraps of what they were using to assault me, then maybe my aim would have been thrown off.
That wasn’t the case here. My javelin tore through her throat exactly how I wanted it to, the slight control I had over its trajectory combined with my attunement to the metal curved it right up to attack her brainstem. The body went slack, and the whizzing metal that flurried around like bees collapsed and clattered around me.
“Bravo! An astounding performance!” Soul Killer applauded from over the comms. “Now go on! Take the rest of her Mutagen!”
I held back my scoff, even if I hated them, it was the right thing for me to do. Approaching her body, I didn’t feel like it was right to leave the javelin there… so I called it back to my hand, it flew back obediently, cold blood stuck to it.
Not wanting to stare at it, I let go, letting it clatter on the ground as I kneeled in front of Stormspinner’s body.
Soul Killer could turn the dead into his minions. Control them.
I controlled my fears, that sort of power was unheard off, even among The Founders. This group, The Uncaged, were beyond terrifying.
My Gold Energy wrapped around the bloody wound I’d left on her, sinking in to drain out the remaining Mutagen…
Absorbing Mutagen…
It was slow, tedious, and since she was dead there was no Warp Energy for me to take. Yet, I wasn’t just absorbing her Tier II Mutagen, I was also taking everything she’d trained up and worked for across the decades — from Tier 0 to Tier II.
Tier 0 Mutagen Absorbed:
* [Iron] Electrical Sensitivity
Tier I Mutagen Absorbed:
* [Iron] Electromagnetic Sensitivity
* [Bronze] Electromagnetic Control
Tier II Mutagen Absorbed:
* [Bronze] Electromagnetic Telekinesis
* [Iron] Bioelectrogenesis
* [Bronze] Conductivity Alteration
* [Iron] Electromagnetic Resonance
Tier I Mutation: Electrical Neurogenesis has gained additional Meta-Mutations. Increased ability to decipher Electromagnetic stimuli. Development: 83%
Tier I Mutation: Electromagnetic Vision has gained an additional Meta-Mutation. Increased field of vision. Development 79%.
Tier I Mutation: Mutagenic Drain has gained an additional Meta-Mutation. Increased speed of draining Mutagen: 58%
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Electromagnetic Telekinesis has gained additional Meta-Mutations. Increased control over materials the Adapter has charged; Adapter can alter the conductivity of materials using their Warp Energy. Development: 16%
Across the decade of her having a SIM… she still had less mutations than what I was currently developing. The weight of a Gold Grade had never been so heavy.
Consuming Stormspinner’s Mutagen might have been the largest boost in strength I’d ever received, all the more to make me question Soul Killer’s intent.
My cuffs drained my freedom, tearing it away as they activated. Ms. Kaisel’s body strolled through the door, happily grinning at the sight of my success. “Oh, this is something else, yes.. I think you’re nearly there!”
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”Nearly what?” I couldn’t hold back my anger. “What the fuck are you planning!”
Soul Killer just laughed to themself, taking a glance at the door. “Come in, I43.”
I34? That white-haired woman who was scorned at me? True to the word, she came in, her eyes seemingly normal.
“Now you see, I43 has her problems with you, Diana.” Soul Killer giggled. “So we’ll settle it with a good old fashioned duel. What do you say?”
“I’m not killing someone just because we disagree!” I took a step forward, but I43 stepped between me and Soul Killer.
”Whatever Mutations you have, I’ll have him put them in me!” Frost danced on her tongue, and I couldn’t believe what she was saying.
“You want Soul Killer’s approval?”
“Yes, I do.” Her irises turned red and white, soulless. “They all do… because that’s how I made them.”
“Made?” All of this was too much, however long I’d spent here was too much. “I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Oh please, try.” Soul Killer said from within her body. “Now you’ll fight, whether you like it or not. The only choice you have is whether I let you use your powers or not.”
I wished I could tear these metal cuffs right off me, but not until I was sure of it. They were built to withstand a Gold’s might after all. “Fine! I’ll fight!”
At least, that’s what I wanted them to think… but I needed my mutations for this. Ms. Kaisel’s body left the field, while I43 took back control of her body and stood center-ground, while I waited for my powers to release.
My cuffs pinged a light, and Warp Energy flowed unrestrained.
“Fight.” I could feel Soul Killer’s enthusiasm on the speaker.
A storm of chilly wind spun around I43, icy armor growing from her fingertips up her arm.
My eyesight swept into the metal around me, searching and honing for any piece with electricity. Yeah, a small fragment of what seemed to be a Shardware leg had a generator attached to it, and my Warp Energy extended through the air… it seemed like the further away I tried to manipulate, the more Energy I needed to do so.
I’d figure out all the details of telekinesis later, for now, I called upon that metal as I43 charged at me. The sharp metal flew into her side — and I leaped like a thunderbolt. My hand gripped over her mouth, and in one smooth push I drove her head into the ground, blood and cracks spread over the concrete.
It was one nasty concussion, and it would draw out the Warp Energy in her system to recover it… I felt the swell of Bronze flow through her body, and I sent out drills of my own Gold to intercept it, urging them into my hand.
Whatever Mutation Soul-Killer had forced into those he controlled, it had to be in their brains. I just hoped this would be enough for me to…
My instincts warned me, as instead of Bronze veins — scarlet and black drew up my arms.
Hostile Mutagen Detected…
Partial absorption of Tier II Mutagen: [Titanium] Soul-Death… 1%/2%
I gagged from the foulness of it, like I’d allowed sewer-water to crawl up my arteries, but it was worth it — I was cleaning Soul Killer’s influence out of her body!
Or so… I thought. No, I was inviting it into mine.
20%…
45%…
70%…
I leaped away, my hands shuddering as I tried to seize control of them. But now… now they were moving again to the aching I43.
”Stop.” I yelled, but it only came out as a whisper. “Stop…”
64%…
56%…
45%…
I was cleaning it out, but my hands were already wrapped around her throat. My Warp Energy began to move without my consent, reaching back into her body, resisting it was like trying to tell your heart to stop beating, I could only manage meager shakes.
36%…
66%…
96%…
Tier II Mutagen: [Titanium] Soul-Death has been completely absorbed… cleansing Hostile Mutagen.
90%…
84%…
76%…
68%…
“Oh you have got to be kidding me!” Soul Killer screamed from over the speaker. “No. No. It’s fine, now you know she can do it.”
20%…
12%…
4%…
Hostile Mutagen cleansed.
Gaining control of my body was a rush of adrenaline, I’d never felt it hit me so harshly before. If I’d not resisted a second later than I had, they would have gotten me up to a hundred percent. “So that’s your plan?”
Have me absorb a higher Tier version of his Mutagen? I shuddered, that had been too close. Still, it worked, clarity drew in I43’s eyes as she pulled herself up.
”Wha- what’s happening? Where am I?” I43 grabbed her head, but blood began to leak across her skin, nose, ears and eyes. “Urgh! What- no!”
She shook until an unnatural stiffness came to her. Soulless eyes returned, and Soul Killer spoke once more, laughing even as blood ripped free of it’s vessels. “Oh Diana! It’ll take more than that! You need to drain all of it!”
Soul Killer attacked me now, launching out a wall of freezing wind from their palms, I gathered myself and threw my legs to the side. I moved faster than I ever thought I could, but I43 was quick — maybe quicker than me.
Soul Killer’s fist connected to my jaw, cracking through even its hardened form and sending me reeling. I stumbled back, watching as I43’s crumpled fist began to snap back into its natural form.
“You are the most infuriating lab rat I have ever had!” Soul Killer summoned a sphere of cold around them, draining my body as I felt… Warp Energy leaking out of me alongside my heat. “Maybe I should just kill you and see what’s in that SIM of yours!”
I kept myself warm and active by wreathing lightning through my body, thrumming my heart as I instigated all of my cells to burn in activity so that the cold didn’t hurt. I swept my arm as a curtain of lightning arced into the metallic shards around me, charging them with life as I puppeteered the imaginary strings connected to them.
They flew, slashing and stabbing into I43’s neck and body, yet she stayed standing, her steps approaching me. Soul Killer ripped one of the blades out from I43’s neck, more focused on screaming at me. “But I can’t fucking kill you now, can I! Mr. R wants you alive, Diana! I need to figure out why!”
With what Warp Energy I had on me, I decided to bite my tongue and pounce into the eye of the storm. There was some body-enhancement she had, but I43 was still a Bronze, they didn’t have as many Mutations as a Gold or Silver. At most: manipulating the temperature of the environment around her, resisting the cold, regenerating, and her supernatural muscle strength had to be all she could use.
I landed my kick in her stomach, feeling bones crack from the impact, and shot a fray of electricity out of my fingertips into her arm. I43’s body buckled and jerked, but I had no time to feel guilty about any of this as the freezing cold drained my stamina.
My claws sharpened, I tore through the flesh of her wrists. Both of her hands fell to the ground, and the redirection of the Warp Energy into the wounds weakened the storm enough that I could bring my strength back to her.
Soul Killer tried to resist, but a headbutt smashed their nose to bits, and another smash into the ground gave me the leverage to begin stealing away the Mutagen controlling her.
Right, I’d only taken out Soul-Death, it was Soul-Forfeit that let Soul Killer manipulate these people. I needed to take something deeper, wrench it out from the core of her Mutations… but how deep could I dig before it got fatal?
Absorbing Mutagen…
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Heat Drain 12%/51%
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Frost Manipulation 3%/42%
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Cold Resistance 4%/39%
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Heat-Draining Musculature 15%/32%
No… I wasn’t digging deep enough, these were only her active Mutations, the ones currently developing! I needed to pull more, faster, further!
Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Heat Drain
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Frost Manipulation 14%/42%
Partial Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Cold Resistance 17%/39%
Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Heat-Draining Musculature
Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Titanium] Soul-Death
What? Why wasn’t I… Soul Killer just grinned with the soulless eyes unmoving, but the more I took from her… the more blood ripped free out of her body. I was killing her.
Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Frost Telekinesis
Tier II Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Cold Resistance
Partial Tier I Mutagen Absorbed: [Bronze] Heat Metabolism 1%/100%
Partial Tier I Mutagen Absorbed: [Silver] Vampiristic Drain 1%/100%
Partial Tier I Mutagen Absorbed: [Titanium] Soul-Forfeit 1%/100%
Okay, I’d reached deep enough now that every second that passed made her eyes clear up… yet all I saw breaking through as I struggled her power into me was pain. Pain and fear.
“Stop.” I43 croaked out. “Stop… it hurts!”
“Just please… hold on!” I tried to sound hopeful, but I could see I43’s body falling apart as I took more from her. “Any moment now and you’ll be fine!”
Partial Tier I Mutagen absorbed: [Iron] Heat Metabolism 64%/100%
Partial Tier I Mutagen absorbed: [Silver] Vampiristic Drain 74%/100%
Partial Tier I Mutagen absorbed: [Titanium] Soul-Forfeit 32%/100%
“Any moment…” I whispered… but the words only went to my ears.
“…any moment.”
Tier I Mutagen absorbed: [Bronze] Heat Metabolism
Tier I Mutagen absorbed: [Silver] Vampiristic Drain
Partial Tier I Mutagen absorbed: [Titanium] Soul-Forfeit 78%/100%
Partial Tier 0 Mutagen absorbed: [Iron] Heat Sense 1%/100%
Partial Tier 0 Mutagen absorbed: [Iron] Efficient Metabolism 1%/100%
Come. On.
Blood frothed out from her mouth the moment I had done it.
Tier I Mutagen absorbed: [Titanium] Soul-Forfeit
Partial Tier 0 Mutagen absorbed: [Iron] Heat Sense 56%/100%
Partial Tier 0 Mutagen absorbed: [Iron] Efficient Metabolism 87%/100%
“Please.” I whispered… “Please stay alive.”
I could feel a heartbeat, weak and fading… but those red eyes were gone. I’d removed Soul Killer’s influence… I’d taken it all away. She had to be fine.
”What’s your name?” My voice came weakly as I stared into those bloodshot eyes. “Come on? Tell me.”
Through a blood-filled mouth, I heard her ragged voice break through. “I-Irene…”
Then her heart went silent.
Soul Killer came through the open door, clapping as I still held Irene’s cheek. My Warp Cuffs still hadn’t activated, so I charged at that opportunity. “You bastard!”
My fist stopped inches from their face… right, I’d still absorbed the hostile Mutagen. They had some control over me.
45%...
33%…
My cuffs activated, seizing my strength, but not my fury as my fist rattled in front of Kaisel's face. “Why?!”
I swung anyway, but a blinding mess of red light impacted me. I hadn't even properly understood what they just did, but I felt force crushing me into the floor as Soul Killer walked ahead to Irene's body.
“Oh, I was just testing to see if you could do it.” Soul Killer curiously looked between me and Irene. “You know, in all of the ways I have experienced death. That is certainly one of the more… excruciating methods. To have the essence of your very organic blueprint ripped out? Unimaginably painful!”
“When is this going to stop!” I still went for another punch as soon the red force disappeared, but my fist barely budged her. Kaisel’s body was unbelievably stiff for someone so small.
Soul Killer laughed it off. “Stop? Whatever gave you that impression? There’s many ways to break a person, Diana, but in my experience… The best one is time. Knowing that it’s passing by you and those around you will forget about you, and you’ll be helpless to change it. It’s… been around a week since you’ve been here. I wonder how many weeks it’ll take, before you’re mine. And, you will be, there’s no doubt in my head.”
“Oh just you fucking wait!” I could bite metal in half with the scorn rumbling in my bones. “I’ll tear down everything-”
“You know, Anthony was actually up there a few hours ago. Curious, I wonder how he found out about this place? I’ll have to look into it.” Soul Killer stared up at the elevator’s hole.
”Anthony?” I felt my heart escape my brain. “What is he… What did you do?”
“Nothing… yet.” Soul Killer sighed. “I’ll have to see if he comes back, but I’m expecting him to be a wonderful asset here! Why, I already got his aunt and mother, I’d love to get the whole family!”
I had my suspicions about Anabelle since she’d had those same Soulless eyes, but Anthony’s mother? Juliet? “What did you do to Juliet Grazhe?”
“Ah, I didn't do much. She got in touch with a few acquaintances of mine in her drive to investigate me, she became troublesome too. She died, as you know.” Soul Killer didn’t look one bit apologetic.
My breath hitched, I feared the answer he would give to this. “This acquaintance… Does one happen to be a Platinum Grade MAL at the center of the Net?”
For the first time, Soul Killer looked geniunely surprised, but more than that, they were amused. “How did you know that?”
———
I didn’t figure out anything else by the time I was back in my cell. All I knew was that things had gone from bad to worse.
The Uncaged had the backing of a MALtitan. The Allseeing.
Probably the worst possible MALtitan to support an anti-Founder, anti-human group. This meant a lot of things, for one… I was almost positive that Metal Heavens were also being influenced by The Uncaged if not downright working for them. They worshiped the MALtitan as their god.
Second, even if the MALtitan was securely held behind The FIREWALL and couldn’t breach it’s full weight out… it was still observing and communicating to the outside world somehow. I needed to tell this to Archangel.
Third, The Uncaged could wreak havoc during the fifth Swarm… if they weren’t stopped before that, there was no telling what could happen to any of us, to New California. To the world.
”Fuck my life…” I didn’t ask for any of this. For the Gold Implant, for the power to kill as easily as breathing, I didn’t.
But it had come to me. I needed to take the responsibility that came with it. Anthony was out there to help me, maybe Ripley as well or my dad’s employees. This wasn’t going to end well if they didn’t have help, I wasn’t anywhere close to figuring out how to contact them… but I resolved myself.
The only choice was to escape as quickly as possible. If I could reach Tier II soon, then I know I could do it, but otherwise… my Mutations were coming along nicely.
Irene, thank you, thanks to you… I know it’s possible.
I could remove Soul Killer’s influence from people. It’s dangerous, to both myself and others. But I could do it.
Mutagen Absorbed:
Tier 0:
* [Iron] Heat Sense
* [Iron] Efficient Metabolism
Tier I:
* [Bronze] Heat Metabolism
* [Silver] Vampiristic Drain
* [Titanium] Soul-Forfeit
Tier II:
* [Bronze] Heat Drain
* [Bronze] Heat-Draining Musculature
* [Bronze] Frost Manipulation
* [Bronze] Cold Resistance
* [Bronze] Soul-Death
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Electrical Neurogenesis has gained an additional Meta-Mutation. Increased metabolic efficiency of the Nervous System. Development: 90%
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Compact Tissues has reached 100% Development, additional Meta-Mutations have occured. Massive improvement to metabolic effect of electricity on all organic tissues; Increase to muscle strength during usage of the Mutation.
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Mineral Assimilation has gained additional Meta-Mutations. Increased distribution of metallic material into organic matter; increase to elasticity and strength of muscle and skin tissue. Development: 73%
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Electromagnetic Vision has gained an additional Meta-Mutation. Increased ability to detect Warp Energy manipulation using sight. Development: 87%
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Mutagenic Drain has gained additional Meta-Mutations. Increased permanent strength effects with absorption of Mutagenic Material; reduced passive digestion of the Adapter’s own Warp Energy. Development: 68%
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Kinetic Catalyst has gained an additional Meta-Mutation. Passive absorption of heat to charge kinetic cells without involvement of direct absorption. Development: 70%
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Electromagnetic Telekinesis has gained additional Meta-Mutations. Increased precision and efficiency of Telekinetic effects; increased ability to magnify superconductive properties of cold objects. Development: 31%
Tier I Mutation: [Gold] Electrical Flash-Freeze has been acquired: Instantly absorb the heat of an object to produce an electrical current. Additional Meta-Mutations have occurred. Increased resistance to colder temperatures; Increased speed of heat absorption. Development: 11%
Gene Overview:-
* Electrical Neurogenesis [Cognition] [83%] [6 (5)GC]
* Compact Tissues [Integrity] [93%] [8 GC]
* Mineral Assimilation [Alteration/Integrity] [64%] [12 GC]
* Bioelectrogenesis [Energy/Metabolism] [100%] [6 (5)GC]
* Electromagnetic Vision [Cognition] [79%] [6 (5)GC]
* Mutagenic Drain [Metabolism/Alteration] [58%] [1 GC]
* Kinetic Catalyst [Metabolism] [60%] [7 GC]
* Electromagnetic Telekinesis [Energy] [16%] [9 (8)GC]
* Electrical Flash-Freeze [11%] [9 (8)GC]
Integrity: [Bronze I]
Energy: [Bronze II]
Capacity: [Bronze I]
Grade: [Gold III]
Gene Capacitance: 58/60
Development: 83%
I was the only one who could do it.