Done!

Having ensured that Danny was now a parahuman, I completely absorbed his soul and took his place, adapting to life in a physical body. If you think about it, Danny Hebert got lucky. He won't end up in the Squeezer. In fact, he became me, and I became him. I now had access to all the donor body's memories, habits, and behaviors. I could pretend to be the real Danny Hebert so well that even his daughter wouldn't suspect a thing.

I spent the rest of the night in a daze, adapting to human existence. In some sense, it was me who got eaten today and turned into a parahuman. Such a thing doesn't pass easily. By morning, I had recovered enough to get up and more or less consciously check out the body I had acquired.

Danny was a tall, thin man 'in his forties' with age-appropriate ailments. He worked for the Dockworkers Association, handling the hiring of his subordinates for various jobs. Essentially, the dockworkers hadn't been dockworkers for a long time. The association united members of the 'working class' who believed that working for 'Uncle Danny' could solve all their problems. Well, working for me would definitely solve all their problems.

While making breakfast, I tried to figure out what power my shard gave me. It quickly became clear that I could now 'create' a small patch of black fog next to me. It was unclear what this thing was for until I combined the fog with my favorite mug. As a result, I had one less mug.

This black ephemeral substance easily destroyed any matter it touched. 'Dematerialization' wasn't instant but quite fast. If this thing worked on people as well, it could be considered a mega-cheat. I could control the fog from a few meters away, essentially possessing a ranged weapon capable of punching a hole in the head of anyone who dared oppose me in seconds.

There was another aspect to using this power. Just like with telekinesis in my previous game, I could 'feel' all the matter in the surrounding world. This ability was still quite weak, but I was sure that soon I would be able to look around without turning my head, see through walls, under the ground, and onto roofs. It was a 'stealth assassin' strategy: come, see, kill. Overall, not a bad option. After all, charging at the enemy bare-chested wasn't my style.

However, my attempt to use the shard's power for ritual magic and Chaos summoning was disappointing. The quality of energy emitted by the shard was quite poor, making its efficiency low. To use it this way, it would need to be enhanced first. Well, even Rome wasn't built in a day. I had more or less figured out my abilities; now it was time to start 'recruiting' subordinates. Taylor was first on my list of future minions. Danny had a strong influence on her, so I thought I could brainwash her and turn 'daddy's girl' into a proper combat unit, rather than a mindless champion of good and morality.

Deciding not to delay, I headed straight to the hospital where Taylor was admitted. By the time I arrived, she was already awake, and the doctor allowed me to visit her for ten minutes.

"Hi, bunny. How are you?" - I began playing the role of Danny Hebert.

"I'm okay, Dad" - Taylor replied, not taking her eyes off her hands, which she was nervously wringing atop the blanket. She was half-sitting in bed, leaning on a pillow.

"I was so worried about you, sweetheart. But now everything will be fine. Well, go ahead, tell me." - I smiled softly.

"Tell what?" - Taylor looked at me with fear.

"Everything!" - I responded in a steel voice of an experienced inquisitor. Just that one word made her flinch and shrink, lowering her gaze. - "Who, what, where, when, with whom, and how much. Spill it all!"

"I... they..." - The victim broke down and started crying, recounting the story of her miserable life among the sharks of world capitalism. Surprisingly, Taylor managed to summarize the bullying at school in five minutes.

"I see" - I concluded. - "And what are you going to do next?"

"Well... I don't know" - Taylor said, running out of options.

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"Understood" - I confirmed the already known diagnosis. - "So, you're not planning to take responsibility for your actions?"

"What? Responsibility?" - She looked at me in confusion.

"Responsibility. There's such a word, you know."

"Responsibility for what?" - The patient, whom I had already begun brainwashing, snapped. - "For them bullying me?"

"Exactly!" - I nodded, piercing her with the gaze of a prosecutor. - "Think about where your actions have led. Instead of fighting back, you allowed those little bitches to torment you. This gave them a sense of impunity and permissiveness, under which they completely degraded morally, losing touch with reality. Did you even think about what they would do after training on you to bully others? They won't stop. They'll poison the lives of dozens or even hundreds of people. As a result, all these future victims will be on your conscience because you couldn't prevent the emergence of such monsters in human form."

"But what could I do?" - Taylor shouted, shaken to the core by my accusations.

"That's what I want you to tell me. Our time is up for today, but tomorrow I'll come, and I want to hear from you what you can do to prevent the emergence of more victims like yourself. Who knows, maybe tomorrow they'll kill you and start tormenting someone else. And you'll be responsible for that. Remember, Good should come with fists. Or even with a hammer, splattered with the brains of the Evil it got rid of."

With these words, I stand up from the chair, gave Taylor a final reproachful look, and left the room, leaving the stunned victim gasping for words. Let's see what this hen will come up with after a day of thinking. I doubt it will be anything worthwhile, but she'll be ready to hear my plan for establishing justice.

After that, I went to the Dockworkers Association office, where I met with my colleague who sometimes helped me with work matters. It was quite strange to 'remember' how we had gone through fire and water together, but it helped me convincingly play my role without getting distracted by details.

"Hi, Kurt" - I said, entering the shabby office.

"Hi. How's Taylor?" - he asked.

"She'll alive" - I sighed. - "Listen, I need to take a week off. With this unexpected mess, I need some time to sort things out."

"I understand" - he nodded. - "Honestly, there's no work for you in the next couple of weeks."

"Yes, and that's a problem" - I agreed. - "I've been thinking about it, and I believe it's time we should stop hoping someone would show mercy and give us decent jobs. We need to take care of ourselves."

"What are you suggesting?" - Kurt squinted, sensing my confidence.

"Nothing specific yet. But I have some ideas" - I evaded a clear answer. - "While I'm away, I'd like you and the guys to discuss what we can do to start making money with minimal investment. Just plant the idea and gather suggestions. When I return, we'll meet and discuss it. Well, I'm off."

"You've given me a task" - Kurt scratched his head, a worker who hadn't come up with a single decent business idea in his life.

"Just don't think of investing money anywhere!" - I startled him with a final remark before leaving.

"What money?" - I heard his surprised question as I walked through the door, but I didn't answer. I knew there wasn't a penny among them.

Actually, the dockworkers did have money, but it was their personal savings. Danny also had a stash for a rainy day, so I went to the bank and withdrew four hundred dollars—a substantial sum by local standards.

With this amount, I went to an acquaintance who worked as a reporter and was keen on various sensations.

"Hi, Larry" - I greeted, entering the small office at the 'Eastern Herald.'

"Danny Hebert?" - He recognized me after a few seconds of scrutiny.

"The one and only" - I nodded, sitting down across from him. - "Do you need a scandalous sensation involving heroes, the PRT, and money laundering?"

"Do you even have to ask? Spill it!"

Half an hour later, I left, leaving two hundred dollars with the corrupt journalist, ready to blow a sensational story out of the smallest fruit fly. My plan to avenge the 'Bitch Trio' was to gradually turn Taylor into a compliant maniac, willing to do anything in the name of Good and Justice. I had to save this city, and I shall save it, whether it want it or not.

The rest of the day I spent training my abilities. While everything was fine with perceiving the surrounding world, the 'black fog' bitterly disappointed me. It turned out to be completely ineffective on people. Even when I maximized the fog's density and surrounded a person with it, their clothes disintegrated into rags in seconds, but the person felt no discomfort at all.