57) Stepbrother, what are you doing?

There was an audible crackling sound as new material knitted itself together to replace my bones that had been burned to shattered stubs and ash.

Phoenix seemed to shrink away as he took a step back, but that was just the size alteration wearing off of me as my now Rank 4 Force based Brute power disrupted the effects of the weaker Genius device.

Of course, I was only dimly aware of all of this, despite my Weird power getting pushed up past its theoretical 4, all the way up to a 5, I still lacked the mental capacity to use it at that high of a rank to choose to do anything consciously.

Unconsciously…

My Trigger could have been a healing ability. Reaching out with all my desire to fix my dead friends in the smashed up bus, and to tear them free of the wreckage, was the basis of my power.

My realization that they were beyond help is what twisted, and limited it into what I ended up with.

Whatever was boosting my power, was activating it on the level it could have been. Namely, healing people.

Every single person we had hurt on the way into the base. All at once.

It was also giving all of them some of my Force based Brute power, and linking me mentally with all of them.

As well as someone else.

[ It’s alright. As soon as we finish healing everyone the link with them will drop. ]

I wasn't the only one healing people. Stepbrother was using my power even as he was boosting it.

[ Your power is amazing. We can reach halfway across the moon, even while you are reaching here from Earth. And it’s not just injuries. It’s cancers, failing vision, anything that you recognize as something wrong with a human body. ]

Is there someone in my head with me?

Creepy. No wonder I freak people out when I’m the one doing this.

My head rocked to the side. I looked up in irritation as the shallow cuts Shrike had made trying to tear my head off healed up almost instantly.

She glared back at me.

“I’m trying to have a conversation here. Do you mind?”

How are you using my power?

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[ It's what I do. I link to other people's Powers and make them work the way they were supposed to work. At full power. For both of us. ]

We’re supposed to steal you, or the machine we thought was you. Or I was supposed to destroy the machine to keep it out of everyone's hands?

[ ...Are you? ]

I stood up. “No.”

[ Good. I don’t want to be destroyed. It sounds like it would hurt. ]

Falco’s entire criminal gang as well as the Talon family was facing off against me. "Stepbrother is a person, not a machine. I was supposed to wreak it to keep it out of your hands and the government so it can't be used against… any of us."

I held my hands out to the side. “That plan is off the board. So I’m just looking for a ride home at this point.”

An electronic tweet came from the door as it opened. Standing on the other side was a young boy. Dark skinned with his hair shaved down to his scalp, and dressed in butter yellow surgical scrubs.

He made a go back gesture as a few concerned looking people clustered behind him before he nodded at us. “Well. Let’s get going.”

Falco held up his hand as if to stop him. “Wait. You’re the booster? Stepbrother.”

The kind nodded again with a grimace. “Call me Larry. And my Power is duplication, the boosting is just a side effect of whoever's Power I'm linking to. We should get going."

While I could still feel my link with the kid, the one I had with all the wounded and injured people in the base and several other spots hundreds of miles all around began to fade. However my powers worked, without an injury to heal, I was losing the connection.

Shrike closed in on the kid. “Why didn’t we feel your power linking up with any of us?” She gestured at her two brothers.

The kid shrugged. “You never Triggered, or inherited that connection to wherever the Powers come from. Your Powers are all innate even if they draw on the same sources. I can’t link to you or either of them.”

He smiled. "But that means you can still Trigger. So don't feel like you're being denied. It's more like you're in cheat mode. Double dipping."

Turning from Shrike he began heading down a hallway we had passed by earlier. “If we shut down the Teleport block down this way, your Transporter should be able to skip us out between the branes.”

Falco took a few long strides to catch up with the kid. “You seem pretty smart for what, a ten year old?”

The kid nodded again. "Twelve, but I age slow. When I link with a Power that alters the body rather than just giving someone a Power, some of it becomes permanent depending on how long I'm linked. And they don't realize how many people they let get close enough to me to copy were Genius 1 and 2s.”

Falco looked thoughtful. “So you’re copying my powers right now.”

Larry grinned, “Yes, I hope you don’t mind. I’ve never met a Quick before, and you got the type of it that I can keep.”

Coming up to a discrete unmarked door, the kid looked at the passcard lock which beeped open as Buzz cursed. “Dam, it’s never that quick for me. But I can see how you did it. ...it’s better that way. Faster.”

The room inside was a gantry overlooking something several stories tall, of which we could only see the top of it as the rest of it was in a deep pit before us. Two turrets with something lethal looking mounted on them unfolded from the ceiling.

Buzz held up his hand, "I got one!" Larry glared at the other. "I got mine, now let's turn them on the blocker.”

The turrets spun and began shooting out pea sized beads of brightly glowing light. Each burst sent a burst of heat across the room before they flew out and began punching holes of melting metal into the blocker.

Heron looked out toward the outer wall. “I got a way out. But only out onto the surface. Teamster, we need the suits.”

Phoenix held his hand out towards me as I reached for my suit as Teamster spilled it out onto the floor. "No, I think you're going to have to find your own way home. Or if I understand how it works, abandoned Pyrope here while you wake up back on Earth."

Heron sighed. “Yeah, Nics. That was the plan, I just wasn’t going to fill her in on it so she doesn't try to take me hostage or something to force us to take her with us.” He rubbed his forehead. “Engineers…”

Shrike moved to put herself between me and the white feathered brother.

Larry made eye contact with me. [ Just stand down. This is part of my plan. ]

I raised my hands in surrender and took a step back. “Fine. I don’t want to make this a thing. Or ruin a chance for us to work together again in the future. We don’t have to go out of our way to be dicks.”

The green feathered Talon sister continued to give me looks of distrust until both of her brothers were suited up. Only then did she hastily begin to pull her suit on.

The kid was helped into one of the spare suits as well and the entire gang gathered together as Heron explained that he needed closer contact, "to thread the needle out of here.”

A moment later, only Larry and I were left standing in the room.

He pulled off his helmet. “Teamster’s power was enough to slip me loose from the transfer.”

“Now I can explain why I brought you here.”