Chapter 53: With just a touch
Indra Harmony’s voice report on Diana Jones to Kendrick Rorsche, as per his order to provide surveillance on her.
Rorsche… Before I give you the rest of this report. I’m asking you to reconsider this.
Diana Ulrich can, and will, fuck us up. Her father can. Brian Ulrich is not someone you want to piss off. I know you Rorsche, I… care for us. Even if you do make your mistakes, I look past them. The same way you looked past who I had been and gave me all of this, so please… be smart.
As for what you want to know… she should have never been assigned to Squad 13. With a Silver, and her personal scores and now her achievements with her Mutations — she should have been in Special Operations from the get-go. Especially because of her Silver. We’re not fit to… protect her once word gets around the criminal sphere, her presence in our group is manufactured by some higher authority. I’d wager within a year, she’ll probably be a First-Rank and take control of the squad, if not outgrow it.
Her electricity is volatile, we’ve both seen she can heal and augment her strength to do so. I don’t have a list of what exact mutations she has, it’s locked up like the FIREWALL is guarding it, but the report we’ve gotten… I know it’s fabricated, none of these Mutations make sense for the output she has. Even when taking into account her gene-edited physiology.
She can see through walls, is an expert shot, dent Yttrium Steel, fry Neuroframes with a touch, heal broken bones in a matter of days. And that was all at Tier 0, I don’t know how she’ll change in Tier One.
Physically, her biggest weakness is her reliance on electricity.
Mentally… emotionally… there are many more. She’s quick to anger, has an isolative personality, is in doubt of herself. Her motivation is linked to her biological father, petty rage keeps her going. Her first experience with killing Tongueslasher was largely limited by the Post-Traumatic Stress Negator, but she’s been jaded to death for a long time. I don’t know what she saw, or did, when she was homeless… but as someone who was out on the streets myself, I know she had to do things she never wanted to. She's not one to grow attached to people, but when she does...
In my conversation with her about past relationships, I came to know she’s quite… inexperienced with it. Only one boyfriend, and she’s not too casual. She’s careful with who she gets close to… I can only imagine that has to do with her adoptive father. I don’t know what kind of man sells out his own daughter to get out of a debt, but it’s stayed with her even if she claims to love him. If I had to guess, it’s the reason why she keeps her distance from people. She knows even those who love you can hurt you.
Which is why Yvette Ingrid is the best way to get to her, she’s the only one Diana is truly open with, not that I recommend it. Yvette, from my understanding, is nothing exceptional. She’s frankly average despite being a Luxury Cradleborn, a pretty face but nothing much behind it. I’ll see what I can learn about her…
But Rorsche, understand this…
I’m scared of Diana.
8:12 PM
July 28th
Diana
The first thing I did as bullets fired was to push Yvette into cover, I knew she could take it. We’d tested out her new SIM and it’s main power was the ability to absorb and redirect kinetic energy, her dazed body was thrown back towards a wall, wincing but not hurt.
I didn’t face the same mercy, a whistle of pain screamed up my arm even as I dodged backwards behind a steel desk. The room was cramped, machinery and tables blocking my movement from all over and nearly stumbling over one let a clean shot blow a spurt of blood out my elbow. Not letting it cloud me, I leaped into the cover of a Shard Op’ chair, the metal denting and sparking as it absorbed the stream of bullet fire surrounding me.
Bones were the slowest parts of my body to heal, and my left forearm swung limp. Reading over the Leizhou Pistol, it was at 84% charge, and I quickly absorbed 10% of it — enough to send my body aching and bursting with power. I had to place myself between Yvette and Metal Heavens, to ensure they didn’t have a clear shot. With that in mind, I heaved an arm off the chair and tossed it as hard as I could.
It slammed into the chest of one of the guards, the electricity I’d sent through the metal discharging across the bulky metallic chest he showed off. The stun was enough for me to surge power through my legs, battering into him and my arms grappled around his mechanical limbs to take him as hostage to stop the others from shooting.
His blood burst right on top of me, another bullet shot straight into my stomach. They shot through the bastard to get at me?! My brain cried out in agony, this was bad, really bad! My body was hardy enough that I could wager I’d heal from a bullet wound as long as I was filled with electricity, but even with how tough my bones, muscles and skin had become I couldn’t block them.
No, I couldn’t afford them the moment to shoot. Directing every spark throughout my nervous system until it was a puddle of searing motion, I shot my body straight into a second guard. My fist took off his jaw, the hinges blown apart before I axed my leg into his abdomen.
Then I grabbed his gun. Leaping into cover, I hoisted the unfamiliar rifle into my sight, single-fire and ballistic. Perfect. Seeing my enemies through Electromagnetic Vision, I stayed behind cover as I placed six immaculate shots, electricity fueling every thought in my skull into overdrive. Six thumps followed up, and their shouts all dragged closer to my safety.
“Shit! She’s a cognitive booster!” A larger, more steel-than-man guard shot after me as I repositioned, the bullets whizzing just above my head. “Someone jam that gun!”
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I took out another two before my weapon seized up, black smoke running across its barrel. No problem, at least now they were down to half, but I still had enough power in me to take out these Irons. My fingernails sharpened, growing long and jagged as a fine Gold glow hardened into them.
It was uncomfortable to both harden my body and keep the electricity flowing through it, like overstuffing a turkey made of stone. Moving to engage them, my body blurred as I struck down on one man’s elbow and twisted my heel through his knee, my firearm circling to thwart a rifle’s aim on my head.
A quick bolt of blue into his weapon, the discharge causing him to drop it as I sent another decisive shot into his neck, then I was off to the next. Then the next, and then the next. Until only four more remained, staring down my body covered in blood and oil.
“If you had any smarts, you would fucking run!” I growled from behind a wall.
Their leader, a hefty mechanical man raised his weapon as his steel face looked in my direction. “Yeah… she’s a fucking Gold alright. No other Mutant could do this.”
Then he shot all three of his subordinates in the head.
“What?” I blinked at the three falling bodies.
He didn’t have a proper jaw to smile, it was just a voicebox, but the way his face contorted was the essence of arrogance. “That Golds only going to be mine.”
His body steamed, crimson heat running between the joints as they rumbled like a deep thunder was brewing within them. Something within me grumbled, he felt different compared to the normal goons I’d taken down. More robust, like his presence in the world was defined and solid.
A Bronze Grade and… Tier II, that was what my instincts were yelling at me. A thin chain burst out of both gauntlets he had as hands, lightning wreathed along each wicked link of the weapon.
“Thank you for clearing them out, that makes it easier for me to tear apart! They call me Thundershred! Harmony told me about you!” The twisting arc along his blade whipped forward, thrashing through the metal in its path like a hot blade leaving molten scars. I dodged out from the wall, as it exploded into dust as a whip passed through it with ease.
Out in the open, onslaught engulfed me, each flail coming down or up to smite me into ashes. The output he was unveiling was unprecedented, deadly and rapid in flow. My eyesight blinded me with how vibrant each whip was, like twin serpents of pure energy were winding their bodies to clamp on my heart.
Driven backwards, my heart shook, Yvette and Indra were behind me and if I let him push me then they could be caught in the-
Metal sliced into my stomach.
I felt the impact on the wall before I felt the gash on my midriff, warm and slick and dripping down like a spilled buch, I’d been an inch away from having my guts spilled on the floor. If my body wasn’t as hard as it was… fuck.
Pulling myself up before he could entangle me in another series of thrashings, I kept myself close to the wall, waiting for the opportunity to strike. His chains churned to slam down on me, and I slipped in between both, before clasping my feet on them.
He easily pulled free, taking me off balance, but not so terribly that I couldn’t grab both with my hands. The jagged edges ripped and tore into my flesh like a chainsaw, but storming my Golden energy across my torn flesh until it was as thick as stone let me fasten them firmly in my grip.
Then I stole his electricity, it was like inviting the wrath of a storm into my veins, and each second was tearing my arms to pieces. The energy swarmed up my elbows, curved down my shoulders and nestled deep into the core of my heart — a fire burning out of my control.
“You think you can take this!” He discharged millions of those snapping threads into my body, the chain burning a hot red as the lightning warmed it up, threatening to sear right through my hardened hands.
Hot white became all I could see, a disturbing mass of energy crawling up and down my whole body, leaving trails of agony in its wake. Blood filled my throat, a scream ripping free as every ounce of organic matter in my body was scorched by the storm within.
My jaw seized so hard, I felt a tooth shatter. My muscles contorting until the pressures on my bones were a feather’s weight away from snapping. Every second extended itself, the world moving slower as my brain tried to make use of the power coursing through me, I should have shattered.
I was shattering. But I was also being pieced back together, just as the energy tore me apart, it also rebuilt me anew. Every scorched neuron gave way for a newer, more resilient one. Muscles cycled through destruction and creation, my bones hardening as they splintered. I held on, keeping myself trapped in the agony of a rebirth until his face faltered away from that arrogance.
Both of his arms were torn off before he could even fully realize his fear. I didn’t even need to punch him this time, no, my arm extended itself — and the lightning in my body extended with it. A hot blue-white fork ripped into his chest and sent blood spewing out of his mouth, then he collapsed. Dead.
My hands caught the floor, vibrant sparks snapping off at any metal fortunate enough to be close to me. I stared at my arm, my vision flickering away to a new spectrum as I traced down paths of new electrogenic organs built across my muscle and skin, it was like tattoos ran underneath my visage, visible only to me.
“Fuck!” Indra yelled out, holding a gun out to me. “What the fuck! What the fuck, Diana! You- how! ”
The barrel’s aim shook in her hands, and each indecisive moment was aligned in my head as I saw the flickering threads of indecision run up and down her hand. I, of course, also saw her squeeze the trigger.
Not at me, but at Yvette’s prone body.
My body raced the squeeze of her pistol, and I pushed just far enough to fasten my hand over Yvette and grabbed her out of the way. Then I saw the threads of my inner storm race down my arm, arc into Yvette’s shoulders and dig deep.
Yvette’s Neuroframe coughed its scraps into my face, flickers of warm blood running down my cheek.
“What?” I stared down at my hands, they’d left scorch marks across Yvette’s shoulders, the flesh smoking further. I let go, and the thud of Yvette’s body on the floor left a hollow pit in my heart.
“What?” Tears streamed down my face.
“Indra.” My silver eyes focused on the tear-covered mask of a woman I’d once called my friend. “What did you do?”
“It’s not fair. It’s not fucking-!” Indra couldn’t finish speaking before my fist took her mask clean off and lightning burst through it, revealing a caved in jaw with mechanical pieces and a hose left in. The wet crunch of her skull into the wall was followed by a slump, a trail of blood running down the back of her head as dazed cybernetic eyes faded from light.
I screamed, thunder roared out as a storm of my inner turmoil exploded through the room.