“No,” I shook my head calmly as we all sat down to a hot turkey sandwich lunch. The High Guard were not elitists, after all. “Specifically, it can copy Spell-Like Abilities that are intrinsic to a person, one at a time, so nothing passive and static, like, say, your invulnerability. I could Copy some uses of your Primal Blast, and probably your ability to fly. I could Copy uses of Comet’s energy absorption, or Flux’s matter rearranging. But something as basic as super-strength or enhanced speed is outside its capabilities.”

“Interesting,” he nodded. “So, you’ve been able to Copy Madrox’s ability to make Duplicates, one at a time, and Callie’s ability to Mimic specifically, but not broadly as they naturally have?”

“That is correct. Let me broadcast what is going on as I turn it on.” Flux had telepathy, and I had skill at using telepathy, so as I activated a use of Mimic, showing them what was happening inside me right now was simplicity.

They all blinked at the very clear mental picture of my Ultra Core inside me, and the new and familiar power matrices that represented each of them revolving around it.

The rush of power I’d gained from each of them had been heady, but naturally they were limits on how much I could ‘retain’. Also, Mimicking Callie’s Mimicked powers was naturally not working, so no Erskine Super-Soldier Template borrowed.

“I expected this after Mimi said she and Callie couldn’t retain an Ultra Core. You can see that the virtua Cores here are not integrating with my Ultra Core. The draw is clearly being maintained by my Copy effect, instead of solidifying into a holding pattern as Callie’s eventually does. When the power fades at my Renewal, the virtua Cores will all be dispersed by my Ultra Core, reverting to base.”

“Impressive shorter-term power possible through synergy, then,” Doc Bronze said thoughtfully. “Could this be retained if you were to Renew it daily, then?”

“I imagine so. It should operate just like tying off and maintaining a long-term spell, requiring close proximity to Callie or Mimi, although, like the Mimicking itself, it is subject to being disrupted.”

There was a moment of surprise around the table. Callie was the first to blurt out, “You can disrupt my Mimicking?” she asked in shock.

“Certainly. Suppress Spell-Like Ability will shut it down for the duration, and a Dispel will do both that and disrupt any active effects at the same time.”

My utterly blasé reply stunned all of them. Mimi glanced around. “Everyone is here. Can you demonstrate this on me?” she asked quickly.

“Of course.” I held up a hand, silver lightnings sparking on my fingertips. “Removing your Primus powers.” There was a pulse, and she jerked, tiny sparks of lightning around her Aura crackling and then gone.

She looked at her hands in shock. “You did it! My embedded Primus Template is gone, completely disrupted!”

I nodded shortly, my hand still raised, silver lightning crackling. “Disrupting all active Templates.” She was about to say something, but everyone watched as silver lightning danced over her again. Her eyes flickered as I left her the Gestalt.

“All Templated powers gone,” she confirmed with a sigh, looking at her hands as I speared more turkey. Good gravy here...

“Suppress SLA.” The silvery lightnings stratified, became more of a glow, and she actually gasped as they came down and shut down her ability to Mimic entirely.

“Wow.” She was a bit dumbfounded. “My whole Mimic field has been shut down completely. I have no abilities but my own. I can’t even sense anyone’s powers!” she admitted.

Callie had an expression on her face somewhere between being impressed and defensive. “I had no idea such abilities existed,” she informed me archly, clearly wondering how to regard me. Obviously, I was a threat to her power-set.

“Biomantic abjuration,” I replied easily. “I could use it on almost everyone here. More pointedly, the higher Valence Flaring version of it incandesces the power that is being disrupted.” With another idle wave of my hand, I lifted the Suppression on Mimi so she could start rebuilding her Templates. As she’d said, everyone was here already.

“Ouch?” Carol Danvers winced, as everyone else did the same, even Zhuli the Lantern.

“That is what it is designed to do,” I agreed. “Originally developed to stop dragons from breathing on annoying wizards and alchemists, as I understand it.”

They laughed despite themselves.

“I had not expected you to be so proficient in such disruptive effects,” Zhuli spoke up in his measured grasp of Human, obviously alien in his pronunciation of the words since he had no instinctive understanding of the language. “Is this similar to the Argent disciplines that allow you to disrupt force structures, and the like? I note they share a similar hue.”

“The Dispelling and Dismissal side of magic, including many Ward variants, is called Silver Magic. Interdiction, Stillflight, and the Dispel and Suppress lines of magic all fall within Silver Magic in general. Argent Savancy to Force is a bit more specialized, but considered a sub-branch of the same discipline,” I confirmed.

“Would such an effect work against my Lantern?” he asked, obviously very interested in the question.

“The power source of your Lantern is Cosmic, which is a step up from straight magic. It would be more difficult, but yes, I could reach out and temporarily shut your Lantern down, prevent something from it from manifesting, or unmake a force structure you assembled... or blow that force structure up.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

All of the High Guard looked at one another in consternation. “You’ve kept that power well-concealed, Dyna,” Doc Bronze said for all of them, everyone nodding. “I can see why The Two have been so free with their gifts to you. Being able to cripple the power of or suppress someone at this table is an incredibly powerful talent.”

“Spell, Doctor. It’s not a Talent. Argent Savancy is merely a specialization, albeit a very useful one,” I corrected him mildly. “The power I have uses a different operating system than just about any spellcaster alive, but magic being what it is, there are variable ways of Casting such things. I imagine with sufficient time and energy you could find psionic or spiritual ways of doing the same thing, and naturally higher-Order Primal, Divine, or Cosmic forces could do likewise.”

They were startled again. “This... is something my Lantern might be able to do?” Zhuli asked, surprised.

“Perhaps? I am not aware of the full capabilities of your Lantern, Master Zhuli. I believe you use a more blunt force approach to Dispelling energies, pitting energy against energy in mutual erosion. True Dispelling is more akin to artful demolition of an object or structure, eliminating its foundation and building blocks so it collapses on its own.” I waved my fork at his Lantern. “All objects of power have conduits within them that channel their energy in multiple ways. You needn’t block all of them. Obstructing a mere handful of them will destroy the cohesiveness of the energy matrix it is trying to build. It is quality vying against quantity.

“I do not mean this as an insult, but your Lantern is all about quantity, size, great power, and area of effect from an unlimited source, its might defined by your own willpower and imagination.

“Dispel-style magic is a case of precision and concentration, not great force, like, mmm, performing surgery to fix something, instead of pumping healing energy into it, or lancing every invading virus instead of heating the whole body to dispose of them.”

“That sounds like something that takes an extraordinary amount of control,” Centurion Lygaete finally contributed, feeling he was on more familiar territory here. “The Nova Force is not so different from the Lantern, merely internal instead of external?” he hazarded.

“Yes,” I agreed. “Control is the mantra of a spellcaster. There is a time for quantity, and there is a time for quality. Both fall into the aspect of control. Sometime you fill the world with fire and flame, and sometimes you rip a one-inch plasma cutter beam through it all. There are times for both.” I nodded at the floating container of the Lantern. “Its job is to provide quantity. The quality it can provide is fixed. It must rely on its wielder for greater control.”

“Is there a mechanism to measure this?” Zhuli asked, furrowing his brow.

“It’s a Caster Level check, pitting one against another. You could call it an instant test of wills, if you like. Your Lantern, for instance, is a Relic-Class item, but it’s still Artifice, and it is quite difficult and pricey to make Artifice at the higher Caster Levels. Most of them just go for raw quantity of power and assume that is enough... and it is, until they run up against someone like me. From what I’ve seen, the Caster Level on your Lantern is the equivalent of a 25.” I tilted my head slightly. “I will break it every time, even with the cosmic energy penalty.” I nodded at him. “The only way to exceed that is for the wielder to exceed that with his control. Obviously, this is nice for a weak user, but at some point, the raw power it can provide will stop, and then there is only more and more control to be applied.

“Thus, the true measure of a Lantern-Bearer is their control, their effect on Caster Level. The rest are just leaning on the Lantern... which is made to be leaned on, so totally not a problem there.”

“But at the highest end, it is a crutch,” the red-skinned Koliguan murmured thoughtfully. “I shall have to meditate on this. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Would that work against my Flared form?” Carol asked quickly, hopping into the opening.

“Specify what ‘that’ is?” I asked her archly.

She paused, rethinking the question. “Could you... Dispel my Flared form?” she asked more precisely.

“Yes. It’s just a buffed energy state. Poof, goes away. No different from magic that helps you shapechange, grow to great size, turns you into a dragon, or whatever. Then Suppress your Energy Absorption ability, and you won’t be able to get the charge-up to Flare again.”

She pursed her lips in consternation. “You sound VERY confident of that...”

“Your power works at a Fifteen or so.” I just inclined my head at the Lantern floating there, and she flushed. “Sure, cosmic energy. But again, quantity of power isn’t quality of power. Your power is based on you, his on whatever gawdawful entities put together his super-Toy. You can surpass it in time... but that’s on you. You’re basically competing against whatever his sponsors are, who are probably a few zillion years older than you. It’s a bit of a head start they have on you.”

“Right, right,” she muttered.

“On the other side of things, what’s the limit on your energy absorption?” I asked in a professional voice.

“That’s... sort of a loaded question,” she admitted. “I can keep absorbing energy, I’ve never reached a limit yet... but how fast I can absorb it at one time does have some limit.”

“And you don’t know it?” I hazarded with a raised eyebrow.

“Vaguely?” she asked with a wince.

“I suggest you find out precisely what that limit is, so you can push it.” I gestured at the floating Lantern. “It’s your power, so it is based on willpower and control, in addition to physical ability. Too many of your abilities rely on it, from overcharging yourself to Flaring yourself to protecting your allies. Flexible, powerful, and widely applicable energy absorption is very powerful at the tactical and strategic level. If you were a Twenty-Five, you could probably suck down the explosion of a nuke without batting an eye.”

Carol pursed her lips. “Now I know why I never talk shop with you. You always make me feel like I’m not working hard enough!” she half-laughed.

“Please. Your biggest challenge is finding the right direction to work in.” I nodded at Centurion Lygaete. “You probably couldn’t accept a Nova Core like him, because your Flare state would blow it apart. But is there anything that says you can’t use your Energy Absorption to make basically the exact same thing for yourself? The powers are almost identical to yours. It basically involves cycling and compressing absorbed energy inside yourself, instead of dispersing and spending it, until you reach levels where the passive reactions from it sustain the same amount of power. Just do it yourself, instead of with an external power.”

Carol’s mouth opened and closed again, and then she rolled her eyes and groaned. Everyone at the table laughed softly.

“Hmm. Very applicable,” agreed Paragon. “The struggle is in making a ‘Comet Core’. I imagine filling it with energy would only take some sunbathing.” He glanced at me knowingly.

“Oh, I am totally going to find if half of Carol’s Energy Absorption is enough to bootstrap my Ultra Core a couple Levels, at least. I’m almost to Seven as is.” Lygaete made an instant face at those words.

“Primus’ powers should basically make the pain and surges from the elevations a cakewalk,” Wrench pointed out knowingly.

“Aye. I’m going right on a sundive after we’re done here. If I can’t keep the Mimicked stuff, fine. I’ll be totally happy with an upgraded Core!” I agreed happily.