Pain.
As Chimera swept herself over his body, making her way to Teron, aka Terralord’s brain, all she felt from him was an indescribable pain.
His body, despite being super, was damaged and destroyed in most areas.
She could feel the way his bones were grinding on raw nerves, how his exposed skin and muscles burned as stale air and water touched them.
He was in pure agony.
Shut it out, don’t get swept away, we need to find those scientists.
She focused on them, she needed to save them.
Screw Pox, she could grab him later.
Chimera made it to the nerve center, launching herself at his mind.
And what she saw was terrifying.
Teron’s brain was normal like anyone else’s, except for one glaring fact.
The device that Chimera searched for in the other death children was missing from his mind.
Instead, there was a device that Chimera didn’t recognize.
It was ball shaped, with a few dangling wires connected to his cerebral cortex, the top outer part of his brain was littered with the things.
Each and everyone of them was latched to the brain, and a number was counting down on the one she saw nearest to her.
Four minutes left.
What the hell?!
She immediately tried to grab one and contain it inside her.
Three minutes.
That’s too fast? Don’t tell me… are they all set to lower the time if ones of them is removed?!
She had another choice now.
The devices were likely some kind of bomb, set to blow and finish him off for good.
If she tried to save him, the timer might go out and she would lose her chance at finding the scientists and the rendezvous point.
If she searched his mind, she would find it most likely, but Teron would die, and all the evidence he had with him.
…Wait!
Before, she might not have had a chance, but with Livewire…
Yeah, that might work!
She moved to the top of Teron’s scalp as she turned to her friend.
Meghan was giving her a look of nervousness as she stared at Chimera’s form.
“Livewire, I need you to shock his head!”
Livewire gave her a confused look, “you want me to kill him?”
“No! His head is set to blow up in a few minutes, but I think we can short circuit them with your power.”
“My head’s going to blow up?!”
She smacked the idiot across the head as she turned to Livewire.
“Please Livewire, this might be the only chance we have to catch the scientists before Pox does something awful to them!”
“Chimera, you’re not just using this as an excuse, right?”
“Livewire, we don’t have time!”
“... We’re talking about this afterwards okay?”
Livewire placed her hands on Terralord’s head, one on each side of his temple.
“I’m ready, let me know when.”
“One moment, I got to shield his head from the shock.”
Chimera journeyed back inside as she covered his entire head and spinal column.
Sorry, not sorry for this asshole.
She pulled a tendril up and tapped her friend’s hand.
Hit it!
The inside of Teron’s head lit up, arcing electricity sparked through the technology as Chimera did her best to absorb the rest that was trying to arc her way.
The bombs started to short circuit, and soon the lights and countdown were no longer reading.
Yes!
She grabbed the remains of the bombs, just in case, and deep dived into the supervillain’s memories.
,,,
Father was pacing back and forth as the two ate their lunch together.
It was a simple stipulation, as they were related, and Teron was a minor still, even if he did all those crimes himself.
His sandwich was bobbing up and down, and Teron couldn’t help but laugh at the scene.
“What's got you all riled up, old man? Afraid of something?”
His Father stopped, turning to him with a calculating look.
“Your eldest sister is likely planning something, that is what I am worried about.”
Teron rolled his eyes, “why are you so paranoid about Monica? There’s no one more loyal to your cause than her!”
Teron felt a rush as his Father’s face showed a moment of fear.
Oh, what’s going on in dear daddy’s head?
The gift he was given moved around in his hands, stopped only by the metal around them.
Rocks he could use, but metal was out of his reach for some foolish reason.
Nevermind that he could make concrete stronger than steel and denser than tungsten.
It simply wouldn’t give, and he had to puppet metal by inserting a bit of his sand and stone into the implements.
“Your sister is not like the rest of you, she had no obedience device placed inside her head. Not like it would have worked, but unlike you all, I cannot guarantee her loyalty.”
He took a bite, “If she were to find the remnants of… them… she might try to use them for other experiments.”
“Oh, so those were the things you were worried about? No sweat then pops, Monica already found them.”
His Father stopped, “What?!”
Teron felt giddy as his body was flushed with endorphins at his Father’s panic.
“Yeah, the biohazard bags that you left for Aura? She swooped in and swiped those things easily. She even has some kind of control command on her to pry little sweet bedwetters’ secrets open.”
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
“How did she even find out about that?!”
Teron laughed, “oh come on pops, you were gone, and you left Monica in charge. Of course she’s going to put her finger in those pies.”
“She can’t! If she contaminates them, there won’t be any left for the final solution! Damn you Monica!”
Teron was having a blast, the look on his Father’s face a fitting example of the way he would treat his own toys.
How he loved to see them squirm!
“Well, you’ll be happy to know that Monica is coming to save us Father.”
“She’s breaking us out? That’s foolish. There’s no way to do that safely.”
Teron smiled, “except for the visitors, whom might be persuaded to assist us in every way.”
His father’s panic turned to conviction, “then we simply wait, and proceed through their… torture chambers below.”
Teron couldnt help but hold his sides, “those little experiments that the Warden was in charge of? How many of those soldiers did she make?”
“Last I counted, a little over a hundred.”
Teron whistled, “she’s planning something, and that’s our ticket out of this dump.”
Dr. Pox nodded as two guards came to collect them.
“You both have a few visitors, keep it short.”
…
“P-Please, w-we helped you escape, l-let us go!”
“Stop this at once, at least let Claire go!”
They were making their way through the underground labs of the prison as Teron poked the woman with a stone made of coal.
She would flinch after a few hits, and the juices that rushed through him always made him feel better.
“Enough, you two are to obey my orders, as you were instructed. I will not be releasing you until we have escaped the island.”
Teron’s Father turned to face him as the continued their way to the smuggling submarine underneath the prison.
“There may come a time soon when I’ll need you to cover our escape, do you remember where the rendezvous is?”
Teron nodded, “the ChemTech building Headquarters if we get separated from the sub, and the Hero’s League plaza if I have to stay behind.”
“Good, now before we-,”
“Stop! You’re not getting away Pox!”
Oh my, a guest?!
Teron smiled devilishly.
It’s been so long since I ripped a hero apart!
…
Chimera jumped out of the villain’s body, the last vestiges of his life ebbing away.
Well, serves you right you horrid bastard.
Not one to let a food source go to waste, Chimera absorbed the rest of Terralord's body, the last bits of him gone forever.
She noticed as she looked over at the damage that the port was flooding water from the destroyed dry wall.
Deciding to take her new power for a spin, she reached out to the concrete around her and reinforcing the wall.
It was simple, as if she was breathing in and exhaling stone as she saw fit.
This power took no time to absorb too… There's a pattern.
All of the death children’s powers took her no time to absorb, and they all seemed to fit inside her as if they were always made to do so.
This smell’s like Monica’s work… did she plan to use Crimson R against her siblings?
Why are they so loyal to her then? Is it coercion like with Aura, or is it something else?
Either way, she needed to get out of here.
“Livewire, we’re going.”
"Not yet."
"...What?"
Chimera was taken aback by her friend's words.
"Chimera, where are we right now?"
Feeling dumb, but following along Chimera answered, "we're in a prison underground facility."
"Right, and what does that mean exactly?"
Chimera wasn't following.
Her friend karate chopped her on on the head.
"You have a buffet in front of you, and you're not going to take a bite?"
Chimera froze, looking around the prison, and remembering the prisoners above.
"...Holy shit I'm an idiot."
"So long as you know. Let's go help out the guards first and wait for the heroes to arrive. I'm sure they'll want to know about this place, and in the mean time, you can gather some new powers."
Chimera peered up at her friend, her eyes squinting, "this is all a ploy to make me gift you again, isn't it?
Her friend grinned at her, "oh come on, with how many powers you'll get from this place, isn't that sufficient payment?"
Chimera smiled at the self-serving opportunist.
“...Yeah.”
...
"Muscle reinforcement for humans, acid secretion from skin, fire breathing, water breathing, air breathing wait that's normal."
Chimera was doing the equivalent of a supermarket shopping spree after she stole a rich dude's credit card.
The aftermath of the prison riot and subsequent takedown of the convicts left a lot of them out of commission, and with a flair of looking like she was checking their vitals as they passed, Chimera scooped up an impressive amount of gifts.
Most were mundane things like making fire's with your sweat or locking picking with your mind.
While others...
"Fire kinesis, force field generation via magic, nice to have something to use that organ I got from Ms. Magicka, Teron's rock bending."
"That's good, and we still got half the prisoners according to this chart."
Chimera looked over at her friend as she was geeking out with her new technopathy.
Her friend had what was left of a computer desktop on her back, and her eyes were glowing green as the technopathy connected her to the machine.
"Also got the financials from this thing, that Warden was shady as hell Chimera."
"Was she really selling villain parts to a flesh broker?"
Her friend nodded, "It wasn't pretty, but I'm sure you saw some of the victims already. Some were harvested despite getting ready for parole. The witch was using 'prison stabbings' as the reason behind the apparent mystery, and using the crematory in the facility to hide evidence. Still, it's amazing; she kept all of that data on this one desktop, what the hell?!"
Chimera felt her insides cringe.
"No security suites? No firewalls? She just kept it all on this one device?"
"I know right? Ugh it feels dirty just getting access to it this easy, even without the obvious cheat of just asking 'Luna Comp' here."
"That's it's name?"
"Most people name their devices like that, you'd be surprised."
Chimera chuckled at that as she stabbed another tendril into a down prisoner, careful not to show the tendril by grabbing the man's wrist.
"Oh, this guy has a copy ability! Oh, wow..."
Chimera felt a bit nauseous as the power entered her, a split second of dizziness washing over her as she felt something break off of her.
A moment later, her friend was staring at both her and someone else.
Chimera turned her head as the nausea washed away to reveal...
Another Chimera.
"Hey sis."
"Wha...?"
The Chimera clone smiled innocently, "weird right?"
"Yeah, it's like."
"You're brain got split in two?"
"Exactly, but we're still..."
"Connected like an invisible string around our pinkies?"
"Oh god..."
"Yup!"
Chimera felt her insecurities bubble forth as she looked at her... 'free' self smirking at her best friend.
"So, she ever tell you you're a cutie?"
Meghan burst into laugher, "oh no never, hah!"
"She's a bit dense, isn't she?"
Chimera stared at her clone as she shifted between the two people.
"She's got all my knowledge but none of my tact."
Her clone said that with all the bravado an eleven year old body could muster.
"Hey! I'm the big sister here, you can't just go telling her that!"
Her clone pulled down her eye lid and stuck out her tongue.
"We both know you were never going to say it unless she was on death's door, you'll thank me later."
Meghan smiled at the two of them, "while I thank you for the truth, it's fine, I knew."
Clone Chimera looked up at her in shock, "really?!"
"Yeah, I just don't swing that way. Still nice to know my looks are good enough though."
Her friend scratched behind her head in embarrassment
Clone Chimera smiled, "well, if you ever change your mind..."
"Clonemera! Stop!"
Her clone self smiled back with a knowing smirk.
"Well, it's been fun, but I should go before big sis gets all flustered, Ciao!"
With a flourish, her clone self jumped inside Chimera's body, nestling somewhere near her heart.
Chimera could still feel her though, resting beside her heart beat.
Oh my god that was trippy...
She glanced up at her friend, "that was a fever dream right? I wasn't just confessing or anything yeah?"
Her friend chopped her on the head, "come on you horny idiot, we still got to talk to the heroes."
Chimera felt her inner self writhing at the embarrassment she was feeling.
Why?! Damnit, it's not going to be awkward right?
'Oh you precious moron, she's totally fine with you're preference, don't be an idiot and over think things.'
...Clonemera?
'In the flesh, so to speak.'
Chimera felt a headache coming on as her inner self tried to placate her growing worry.
...