Arcturus was having a wonderful day.

And it all really started after the situation with Blackrock Prison.

The recent jailbreak, accompanied by the very lucrative deal that he had going with his little brother, sent his accounts into the highest point he had seen in years.

Being the kind of man that Arcturus was, he believed in the power of numbers.

As long as his numbers were higher than the one that he did business with, all was swell.

And that lovely incident happened when he got a call from a wonderful person.

His niece.

As the scream from his latest acquisition sang a sweet tune in his ear, Arcturus remembered the words her melodic voice gave him.

“Uncle, I need you to bust out Father, what’s your price?”

Arcturus gave her a massive number, to which she bargained down about half the amount.

Oh baby girl, you make your uncle proud.

He never told her that he gave her the family discount, but he had a feeling that his lovable niece knew.

She was a smart one.

Maybe too smart, as she did have a knack for getting what she wanted, but Arcturus knew that better than anyone.

After all, it was his gift to his baby brother that gave her that power she had now.

Tiberius always wanted to be the hero of the age, the savior of mankind with a capital S.

And, being the man that Arcturus was, he helped out his family.

With his own gift.

All of his cloned children had a gift courtesy of their uncle, and just because he was the youngest, Arcturus gave little Gideon two.

The young always get spoiled, that is what his momma always said.

‘It’s because they’re the last child you have sweetheart, it aint because we love you less or nothing! It’s because we want the last one to know how much family matters to us.’

Arcturus knew, and he realized it after his momma passed.

“You take care of your family, even if they spit at ya. Don’t you think so Carl?”

“Let me go please!”

“Oh Carl, we both know that aint gonna happen. You had five months to come up with five grand, and you spent it all on them boosters kids use nowadays. I can’t trust you to pay me back Carl, so I’m calling the debt.”

“Archie! Archie come on, just give me one more week! I’ll have your money, I swear!”

Arcturus shook his head, “Carl, we both know you’re gonna do a runner if I letcha go. Don’t mock me, thinking I’m a fool.”

Arcturus took a cleaver to the man’s cyber prosthetic limb, separating the pseudo nerves that were built into his implant.

The scream he heard from Carl felt like an old Earth song, one that was made for dancing.

“Ahh Carl, you spoil me brother! That right there is a lovely tune you got going for me.”

“Oh God! I think it’s feedbacking the- AHHNH!”

The sparks coming from his now detached limb spoke like a lover to Arcturus.

It was almost as lovely as the one his mother sang to him before she passed.

After an invigorating breath of air, he got to work, slicing the flesh from his bones and keeping the man alive as he did it.

After all, good music made any work feel that much more bearable, and sometimes gave you inspiration for more!

“Oh damn, that is a good one! Hey Carl! I thought about this program for a new robot suit my little nephew was working on, how ‘bouts I let you drive it around eh?”

“AHHH! AHHHHH!!!”

“Brother, that doesn’t sound like a no to me! Let’s get you all suited up, we got to take you on a night around town!”

Arcturus got to work as he put the human torso into a machine that clamped down on Carl’s sockets, sucking him into the metal monstrosity.

“I got spurs that jingle jangle jingle~.”

A soft red alarm played over his work bench.

“Would you look at that? Got some new meat for my table. Ya hear that Carl? You’ll get to test those dancing legs yet!”

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

“Understood. Commencing start up procedure…”

Arcturus smiled as the blank stare in Carl’s eyes glowed red from the lens that was forced into his skull.

Meanwhile, he cycled through the various grafts his body held, shifting to a form that he loved the most.

He had muscles across his body, his eyes glowed with red fire, while the rest of his skin was covered in scales.

“HOT DAMN! LET’S GET TO IT CARL!”

“ENGAGING!”

…

Chimera turned to a blob as she and Lark rolled down the stairs to an exceptionally long stairway.

It took a good ten seconds before they finally reached the bottom.

When they both came to, the place that they found themselves in was something out of a horror movie.

The entire place looked like a mix between a slaughterhouse and a medical ward.

Medical equipment was over people who were still wide awake, some with their eyes bloodshot as different forceps and utensils forced them open.

The IVs and the medical equipment looked dirty, like it never saw the inside of a cleaning facility of any kind.

Saws were still in some people, who were screaming as the blades moved on their own.

Chimera felt vomit reach her lips as she saw the state of the people.

“Help me! Please!”

“It’s sawing off my leg!”

“I’ll kill you, Mr. Flesh!”

Chimera felt her stomach lurch at the amount of viscera that was surrounding the place.

Lark shook her head as she turned from the carnage.

“This is one of Mr. Flesh’s harvesting facilities. People, experiments, it doesn’t matter as long as he gets his pound of flesh.”

Chimera walked towards the people on the tables and started releasing them, using a tendril to both break the saws and stab the victims with healing solutions.

Ten people were freed by the time a large metallic noise started making its way towards them.

“Lark, get these people out of here!”

“R-Right! Hey, morons! This way!”

Lark led them all up the stairs, some looking back at Chimera with grateful nods and smiles.

Except one.

“I’m with you girly! Let’s bet this asshole down!”

Chimera nodded at the odd old man, whose gangly arms and sharp eyebrows made him look like a cartoon character.

He also had a bit of a belly, which Chimera figured was due to the booze that was coming off of him.

“Citizen, I’m with the young adult squad of the Hero’s League. I would advise that you evacuate with the other-”

“Oh pipe down prissy pants, I aint leaving till that fleshmonger gets a fireball to the crotch. Names Booze, and I’m a retired hero.”

“Booze?”

Chimera could safely say she had never heard of a hero named Booze before, but the way the old man carried himself spoke of experience.

The stance, the look, and despite the lack of pants, he seemed ready to go.

“We need to take him alive sir, can I count on you not to kill him?”

Booze turned to stare at Chimera, “he’s a damn shapeshifter lassy. A dangerous one that can graft parts to his body from those poor souls he takes from. Fireballs to the crotch might just piss him off, but I doubt it would kill the monster.”

Booze stretched himself for a bit, “been a while since I took down a villain, but I got a good feeling about this young’in. What’s your name?”

“Chimera sir, I’m also a shapeshifter.”

Booze nodded, “probably genetic I figure. Some of the boys at the League were working on stuff like that back when I was on guard duty.”

“W-Wait, you were working there?”

Just as Booze was about to answer her, Chimera braced herself as a ten foot metal monstrosity bashed through the double doors from the otherside of the room.

Chimera felt squeamish as she stared at the horror in front of her.

The poor soul that was running the thing had a vacant look in his eyes, with red lights shining through the pupils. His ‘arms’ were sucked into a metal grinder that seemed to connect to his spine and brain. The same was for all the sockets that he seemed to be missing.

Arms that ended in blades, and legs that were jagged and spiked.

The vacant eyes turned to stare at Chimera.

“Hero acknowledged. Code verified, designation. Chimera.”

It turned to Booze.

“Hero acknowledged, Code verified, designation Booze.”

The macabre metal man’s body lit up as he rushed towards Booze with a swipe, his legs and body hissing with hydraulics.

“Smart move ya big calculator, but not fast enough.”

Booze pulled out a vodka bottle and proceeded to down the bottle in three gulps, a massive bulge of the liquid flowing into his gullet.

“Move missy!”

Chimera did, jumping off to the side as Booze bounced back and moved to the side of the machine man.

A great gulp of air later, and Booze clacked his teeth together as a blast of fire sailed from his mouth and into the soft circuitry that the machine’s armor did not protect.

Still, the metal man did not stop in his pursuit, launching slash and kicks as fast as it could.

“I got this clown little girl! Watch out for the Flesh man!”

Chimera stared in confusion at the strange words, until she felt a blast a wind launch itself at her.

It felt like a cannon as it launched itself back at her with a whomp!

She crashed into the wall with a thud.

Chimera shook herself as she bounced off the surface to land on the ground in a ready stance.

Cycling through her gifts, she built herself into a powerhouse with strength, super speed, and electricity, along with her clones in reserve and her aeromancy as a back-up.

“Oh darling, you look like something I might see in a mirror on my more curious days.”

Chimera pushed off of the floor as her powers settled into her flesh.

As her eyes rested on the… man? In front of her, her eyes rested on the facial features specifically.

A slightly larger smile, that split his face from ear to ear.

It was like staring at a male version of her old boss’ face.

“Salutations, I’m Arcturus Poxus, but you may call me, Mr. Flesh."