"What!?" she cried in shock. "But... But I can't have cancer! I'm a vegan!" the horrified scientist cried, her voice filled with shock and disbelief. Realizing what he had just blurted out, Dr. Lindsay was visibly trying to get the researcher's attention.
"Don't worry! I'm almost positive that it's only in stage one... There's no sign of any cancerous cells in your abdominal cavity or lymphatic system. Even if you have to undergo surgery, there's every chance you'll be perfectly fine..." The asian doctor spoke quickly, obviously trying to reassure his colleague that she was going to be alright. Miralda sat quietly for a moment, slowly regaining her calm. Armsmaster helpfully provided the woman with a miniature tissue from a dispenser on the thigh of his Tinkertech armor, which she used to dry the few tears that had managed to squeeze their way out of her glassy-looking eyes. With her dignity restored, the middle aged woman stared at the empowered doctor in vexation.
"Aren't you supposed to be a Doctor? Next time lead with the good news," reply Miralda with vinegar in her tone. It was obvious that she was still troubled by her impromptu diagnosis; the entire time she was speaking, the researcher had been straightening the lapels of her lab coat over and over with slightly trembling hands.
"Christ, how's that for a first test of his new power..." Miralda muttered to herself.
"I'm sorry Carmen," said the medical Doctor with a sigh. "When I turned to look at you, the tumor stood out like a sore thumb… I couldn't not see it." He paused, gulping nervously. "It shocked the hell out of me," he finished lamely. Lindsay cocked his head. "Do you want me to heal it for you?" he asked gently.
"Negative." interrupted Armsmaster abruptly. His voice was hard. "We still have to complete the rest of PomPoko's power assessment, follow by your own, before you are cleared to use the active portion of your new powers. Doubly so in this case, Doctor, as your abilities directly affect human biology." Dr. Lindsay's head dropped toward the ground, crestfallen.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Armsmaster is right," agreed Miralda. "I don't think I'm in any direct danger from… the cancer… right?" She stared at Lindsay intently, waiting for him to reply.
"Right. You'll be fine for months, at the least," said the young doctor, doing his best to reassure her. He smiled thinly. "Hell, bigger tumors than yours have been successfully resorbed into the body; there's a small chance that it might go away on its own without intervention."
"If you like, I have a copy of Othala's power," I offered. "I could heal you with the regeneration ledning aspect of her power," I suggested. I doubted that they would take me up on the offer, but I felt compelled to make it. An expression of chagrin briefly crossed Armsmaster's face at my words.
"I apologize, PomPoko, but I'm afraid we will have to decline; until your power assessment is complete, we cannot accept any medical assistance unless it's during a life or death situation." To his credit, Armsmaster didn't appear to be happy about turning me down. Miralda nodded her head, indicating that she agreed with the Protectorate leader.
I had to remind myself that while I knew my powers were entirely safe and side-effect free, these people did not. After having been terrorized by asshole Trumps like Teacher, Bonesaw, and Psychosoma, I could hardly blame the PRT for being cautious of powers that enhanced or changed human beings… Powers like those were some of the scariest Parahuman abilities in existence.
"I understand." I said. "I appreciate that you're looking our for your people, Armsmaster, and of course I will abide by your request. Shall we continue the tests?"
After Miralda scanned Dr. Lindsay's brain several more times while he used his sensory ability, the doctor left the room to go through his own power evaluation in a different part of the building. A trio of PRT stormtroops who had volunteered for enhancement took his place as test subjects. Evidently they'd been waiting for James to leave, because they entered mere moments after he left I didn't know for sure, as I was refraining from using my extra-sensory powers at the moment out of courtesy of the PRT and Protectorate privacy.
I glanced at the three soldiers as they made the way into the testing room. Two of them were burly looking men, and the final trooper was a woman who looked so tough that she likely ate nails for breakfast. Despite the fact that I had created an entire race of badass warrior women, I found myself slightly impressed by the newcomer's appearance and demeanor. Human women seldom if ever looked so formidable.
"Armsmaster," said the first soldier through the door, while saluting the parahuman crisply. "Doctor Miralda," he said, nodding to the scientist.
Doctor Miralda returned the soldier's nod with a wan smile on her face; her earlier good mood was long gone. The news that she had cancer was obviously still strongly affecting Carmen Miralda, and I didn't blame her a bit for it. Humans were such fragile creatures; the fact that something as precious as a sentient being's life could be snuffed out by something as simple as a cell replication error was jarring after half a decade of living as a God in a world of immortal superwomen. I would need to think about the so-call 'human condition' later; there had to be something I could do about all of the pointless death and misery in the world now that I had these powers.
I had my super-secret plan of course, but there had to be something I could do in the here-and-now as well. Of course, that would all have to come after I'd built up some trust; I didn't need to have half the world fighting me while I was trying to cure them. Gaining the endorsement of the PRT was an excellent first step on the path of becoming a 'respectable' member of the hero/rogue community.
As I sat in contemplation, the other two soldiers exchanged greetings with Armsmaster and Doctor Miralda. The good Doctor then kindly proceed to introduce me to the trio of soldiers. The first man through the door, a short, swarthy fellow who identified himself as Sergeant Aaron Moreau, took my hand and gave it a good shake. Moreau was extremely strong for an unenhanced human; had I still been saddled with my mortal form, the hearty shake he gave me might have actually broken bones. The female trooper was introduced as Corporal Agnes Underfoot, and her grip turned out to be even stronger than the Sergeant's… an extremely impressive feat that cause me to lift an eyebrow in response, drawing a giggle from her.
Agnes was a heavily muscled woman of medium height who was so brawny that she was easily half as wide as she was tall. All of the fat on her body seemed to be concentrated in her breasts, which were very impressive for a human. If she wasn't at least an E or F-cup, then I'd eat my hakama. The female soldier's face was almost pretty, but her features seemed to be set in a permanent scowl, detracting from her appearance.
Agnes proceeded to immediately prove my pigeonholing of her completely wrong when she returned my smile and let out a laugh at my antics as we shook hands. The honest smile on her face transformed the muscular stormtrooper from 'almost pretty' to 'striking', causing me to cock another eyebrow in surprise. She smirked at me and then released my hand, stepping back so that the third PRT trooper could introduce himself. My eyes followed her swaying rear as she rejoined the Sergeant, the slight interest I had in the woman growing slightly at the sight of her juicy looking rear end.
Private Charles 'Chucky' Killingsworth was a tall, lightly muscled young man of maybe twenty years old. I was a bit surprised that the PRT accepted agents so young; I'd thought that they were more like the police, who required extensive training or a degree, rather than the military, who tended to take all comers so long as they were healthy. Chucky was effusive in his greeting, shaking my hand rapidly up and down as he told me how pleased he was to make my acquaintance, how glad he was to be getting superpowers, and how big of a fan he was of my short yet impressive career as a hero in Brockton Bay. I shook my head and chuckled ruefully at the young man's enthusiasm as he moved to once again stand beside his compatriots. Agnes smirked at me and Sgt. Aaron laughed out loud at the antics of his overly friendly subordinate; evidently they were quite used to his effusiveness.
"Alright, Sergeant, you're first on the list for enhancement testing. PomPoko has indicated that he's OK with taking requests; do you know what kind of power you'd like?" asked Armsmaster.
"I get to pick what powers I get?" he asked me, a puzzled look on his face. "Well don't that beat all!" He laughed uproariously. "I thought that you just, I don't know, activated our untapped parahuman potential, or something like that…?" he asked, trailing off.
"Not at all, Sergeant," I said. "The process I use to imbue others with powers is nothing like a natural parahuman triggering. I actually construct the powers myself, and then transfer them over to the recipient. The powers bond with…" I paused, everyone in the room staring at me in rapt attention.
"This is going to sound odd, and I don't mean any offense to those of you who are religious, but the powers I construct are immaterial, composed only of energy that has been given form by my abilities. These immaterial powers bond with the part of a person that's immaterial… their 'aura', or 'soul', if you will. Once bonded, these powers become a permanent part of your being. I could remove them at a later time, but I doubt there's any other way of separating them from someone I've empowered than through my own abilities."
The other people in the room stared at me in surprise, different expressions on their faces as they struggled to digest the information I'd just given them. Finally, Armsmaster spoke.
"What happens when the energy the power is composed of runs out?" he asked me.
"The short answer is that it doesn't. The powers are composed of energy, but it's a stable matrix that doesn't change, unless the ability itself grows or changes over time as a function of itself. The superpowers I create, as far as I can tell, are fueled by the background radiation of the very multiverse itself. Theoretically, the powers I build will run forever… or at least until all of the energy in the multiverse has been used up, quadrillions of years from now." I chuckled at the thought, wondering if I would still be around at that point. There wasn't any reason that I shouldn't be, I suppose, if I decided that I wanted to live that long.
"That is ludicrous." stated Armsmaster. "How do these non-corporeal powers draw energy from 'the multiverse'? And what makes you so sure that the soul exists, and that it's not just an illusion created by your powers to make transferring them easier?" I smiled at Armsmaster.
"I could spend days explaining the incredible, mind bogglingly terrifying information that I've discovered about the nature of reality with my powers... but now is neither the time nor the place. I would, however, be happy to talk shop with you after the testing is done, Armsmaster." He nodded, conceding my point, and, I suspect, accepting my invitation. "Regardless of exactly how my abilities work, we are here to test their effectiveness and determine if there are any mental or other side effects to their use. Shall we get back to doing so?"
"Of course," said Armsmaster politely, "I didn't mean to offend you or speak out of turn. Please proceed."
"Sorry for waylaying the conversation, Sergeant Moreau. As I was saying, I the powers I provide aren't an artefact of the coronas pollentia and gemma, like the typical parahuman, but rather an integral part of your being. Because of that, those empowered aren't limited to 'choosing' the way their powers manifest by surviving a traumatic experience in a particular way, like parahumans typically are. I have the ability to create a great many different powers, even those which no parahuman would ever receive, like the Healing suite that I made for your Doctor Lindsay earlier."
"Anything I want? So you could give me the same powers as Eidolon?" he asked me challengingly.
I paused, bringing my hand up to rub my chin in thought. Could I create an Eidolon-like power? The ability to pick any (three? five?) powers at will, depending on what you needed to solve a particular situation, would be an absurdly potent tool... and not one that I would trust to the average person. It was also something that I would need to spend some times working on, if I didn't intend to 'cheat' by simply willing a superpower like that into being with Power Manipulation charges.
"I could create a power like Eidolon's," I told him, causing the man to freeze up in shock. "But I haven't yet, and it would take time… maybe weeks or even months to learn how to put something like that together. Creating the ability to have any power at will would be an interesting test of my abilities…" I trailed off. "For today though, Sergeant, you will have to content yourself with a somewhat less potent ability, I'm afraid."
"Well, shit," he said grinning hugely. The pearly white color of the soldier's well cared for teeth contrasted enormously with his extremely dark skin tone. "I guess I'll have to settle for becoming a mere superman rather than a demigod." He paused in thought for a moment before speaking again.
"What do you recommend?" Moreau finally asked.
"Ah! Well, I have several abilities that I've previously constructed. My first idea for the PRT was to build a set of standardized powers to assist in the capture and detainment of parahuman criminals. To that effect, I created a powerset that combines the standard Alexandria package with a blaster power that can render anything with a nervous system unconscious from up to 50 meters away. The full list of abilities for this set include supersonic flight, super strength, enhanced durability, enhanced cognition with an eidetic memory, and the aforementioned Blaster power. You'd be about a Brute 6, Mover 5, and Blaster 4." The three PRT soldiers were practically salivating, and Armsmaster's fists were clenched tighter than a conservative's pocketbook.
"Hot damn, Mr. PomPoko! And you can give that package to all of our boys?" Asked the Sergeant.
"Certainly. There's also two other packages that you might be interested in. Early on in my career, I put together a powerset that I've never had cause to use or to gift to another person, simply because of its relatively impracticality for my purposes. It's a Changer power that allows the wielder to transform into a dragon made out of golden light, complete with ridiculous levels of super strength and durability… possibly on par with that of an Endbringer. It also includes flight, super cognition, and laser breath that either burns, cuts, or both… at the holder's discretion, of course. If you choose this power, then you may also manifest bits and pieces of the transformation at will, rather than fully transforming." Oh, look... I'd stunned them again.
"I designed this power for Endbringer suppression and large-scale combat, but I've not had cause to do either of those quite yet. If you like, Sergeant, then the power is yours." Moreau gulped, and then shared a look with Armsmaster, who replied to the PRT trooper's look of bafflement with a shrug.
"What's the third option?" He asked. The short, stocky man's voice had gone bone dry.
"The third option is a pure utility power that I created shortly after the "Solar Dragon" package. It's a Shaker type power that allows the user to create, telekinetically manipulate, and destroy most any type of non-living matter in a twenty meter radius around themselves. There are a few restrictions, however; no potent radiologicals or hazardous chemicals in gaseous states, unless certain safety conditions are met beforehand… common sense restrictions like that. It was designed for construction; I'd envisioned a squad of people using this power to put up skyscrapers and public works infrastructure in seconds or minutes instead of months or years... Imagine rebuilding entire cities in days after disasters and Endbringer attacks."
Armsmaster was doing that thing where he was leaking his emotions all over the place again; this time, however, it was pure distilled desire that he was broadcasting. I hadn't really considered it, but this power would be a Tinker's wet dream; with it, Armsmaster would be able to build any of his inventions in seconds.
"Shit! You don't do anything small, do you? I will most definitely take that last one. I was in the Army Corps of Engineers, Mr. PomPoko, and my C.O. would beat me black and blue if passed up on a power like that." Armsmaster wasn't the only one coveting my short-range matter-kinesis power; the good Sergeant already looked as if Christmas had come early this year, and he hadn't even received his 'gift' yet.
It was the work of minutes for Doctor Miralda to connect the swarthy ex-military man to her brain scanner, after which I repeated the slow version of my empowering process on the new volunteer. I charitably included a potent regeneration suite, super strength, and superhuman durability with the Construction Package, as I doubted that Sergeant Moreau was going to be quitting combat anytime soon. I would much rather give him a little too much power than not enough, as I would hate to see the genial soldier die in the field soon after receiving superpowers… Especially due to something as plebian as a bullet hole or knife wound.
Once more, the other people in the room were treated to the sight of one of their colleagues' appearance changing subtly as the regeneration power took effect. The version I'd been handing out included a subtle Changer component that caused its user's body to alter itself to match their idea of their 'best self'. It wouldn't turn a man into a woman, or a very tall European into a very short African, but it would alter facial features and proportions to large degree to match the true desires of the empowered individual.
Evidently Sergeant Moreau's desire was to be taller, because under the influence of the regeneration power he grew nine inches in less than a minute. His skin also became about three shades lighter, and his facial features handsomer and more refined. During his transformation, there was an embarrassing moment where the Sergeant had to reach down and frantically adjust his pants when the crotch area suddenly became too small for the rapidly swelling genitals filling it. Thankfully, he didn't have to disrobe as his expanded reproductive organs managed to fit within the distressed garment once he pushed his dick down one formerly loose pant leg, and his balls down the other. Carmen and Agnes were staring at the outline of Moreau's enormous new package with surprise on their faces, and in Corporal Underfoot's case, what appeared to be acute interest. Armsmaster looked halfway between embarrassed and surprised at the PRT troopers 'improvements'.
"You didn't mention that this powerset included physical changes," he said, half accusingly. I nodded in response.
"I included elements of enhanced strength, durability and regeneration, just as I did for Dr. Lindsay, as the last two powersets didn't include any other physical enhancements. The regeneration library that I typically use has a feature that causes the wielder's body to regenerate into their ideal self image upon the first use... so long as it's not terribly divergent from their base form. It would appear that Sergeant Moreau's ideal self is… a bit more well endowed than he was previously." I explained with a grin.
"Da-yum, Sarge!" Said the Corporal with a leer on her face. "You need any help slaying that monster?" She laughed heartily. "How about I go get a containment foam sprayer so that we can lock that bad boy down?"
"Geesus kuh-riste," Said Killingsworth, joining in on the ribbing. "Ya'll compensating for something there, Sergeant?" He chuckled as Moreau glared at him, a slight blush visible under his suddenly lighter skin tone.
"Yeah, yeah laugh it up you pair uh fuckin' numbskulls. Once I'm back on active, then I guarantee you won't have any time to laugh!" That statement shut the pair right up, and they watched his retreating form warily as the squad leader was led out of the room by a lab assistant Miralda had called down a moment ago.
"Well, guess I'm up next," announced Agnes with the look of a small child in a particularly vast candy shop on her face.
The heavily muscled woman hopped into the recently vacated chair after pulling the ribbons that had been holding her long brown hair up in a ponytail. Even though she wasn't the type of woman I was typically attracted to, I found myself entertaining a brief fantasy about the PRT Corporal. I smiled at her as I tried to imagine what she would do if she ever discovered that what I was packing downstairs made her boss's newly enlarged genitals look like an infant's. I discarded my idle fantasy when the woman starring in it began to speak.
"I really like the idea of turning into a dragon… but can you make it a real, live, flesh and blood dragon, rather than one made out of golden light?" she asked with a blush and a plaintive look on her face.
"I've always wanted to be a dragon…" whispered Agnes quietly to herself.
The Corporal's eyes were full of longing, and her lower lip stuck out in a pout, making me wonder why I had ever thought that she was only 'almost pretty'. Even with all of her muscles, Agnes was fucking adorable. Smiling, I gave the female trooper a wink and a huge grin.
"I think I can do that, Agnes. Give me a few minutes, and I'll see what I can whip up for you," I dove headlong into my powers, looking for the components that I would need for the power that the twenty-something muscle-girl had requested.
"Thank you," she said softly. The female trooper blushed, looking away from me for a moment. "And please, call me Nessie." I smiled and nodded, making the young woman blush even brighter.
"I will… Nessie," I said, putting a little bit of emphasis on her nickname. The Corporal's blush grew even brighter at my words, causing Killingsworth to let out an immature chuckle.
I used the Prime Shapeshifting ability as the base for the power after locking it down so that it would only allow the user to morph into a twenty meter long silver dragon, their original form, or any combination of the two states that they could dream up. This power already included an insane degree of regeneration as one of its components, so I simply tacked on the 'ideal self' aspect and otherwise left it be. The unified Changer power bestowed 'fuck you' levels of regeneration... the kind of regeneration that Czarnians would call bullshit on. I figured Agnes… Nessie… would be pretty happy with her new ability to regrow entire limbs within seconds, with the same amount of effort other people used to take a breath of air.
I folded in a slightly reduced level of super strength and durability than the Solar Dragon power contained, due to the extremely enhanced levels of regeneration, and then upgraded the self-levitation package to major hypersonic flight. After that, I mixed in a scaled-down copy of my unified hard light blaster power for the breath weapon. Nessie would be able to either knock people unconscious, cut, burn, or hit with kinetic force depending on which of those options she chose to utilize. She could even use combinations of the three, but that would detract from the amount of power she could bring to bare using single effects.Finally, I mixed in the same mental enhancements that I'd given my original dragon transformation power, though of course these were the newer, more powerful version of those same abilities. Trimming here and tucking there, I enhanced each aspect of the power individually where needed before putting the finished product together into a single coherent package. After giving the finished power a final boost, I was done. I looked over my work critically, nodding in satisfaction when I found not a single flaw. In the end, I was quite glad that Agnes had asked me to 'modify' the power, as the original had been a hacked-together kludge compared to this piece of artistry. Unlike its predecessor, the Silver Dragon package was a powerset that I was proud to have built.
"Alright, I've finished it up," I told my crowd of onlookers. "Please make sure to use this power outdoors, or in a room with lots of space when you transform the first few times… It would be a shame to destroy such a fine building as this. Eventually you will be able to selectively transform parts of yourself so that you can use aspects of your power while still in a smaller, mostly human form... but that skill is not going to come to you instantly." I wanted to make sure that she knew the consequences for unleashing her power indiscriminately. Gulping, Agnes nodded her head up and down nervously.
"I understand, Mr. PomPoko." She smiled shyly, "What color am I going to be in my dragon form?" she asked quietly. I grinned back, happy at her obvious excitement at the prospect of becoming a creature of legend.
"You'll be a Silver Dragon. Is that OK?" I asked. Doctor Miralda had finished connecting the soldier up to the Tinkertech scanner by this point, so Agnes was rocking the wire-covered colander look as she replied to my question.
"Wow, really!? Omigawd!!! Silver Dragons are my absolute favorite! I used to RP as a silver draconic heritage sorcerer back in college…" Realizing where she was, she quickly went silent as a huge blush broke out on her light skinned face.
"God, damnit…" Nessie mumbled to herself in the tiny little voice I was coming to realize she used whenever she was embarrassed. It was fucking adorable.
Me, Armsmaster, Moreu, and Doctor Miralda all laughed in tandem, causing the female soldier's blush to deepen. For his part, Private Killingsworth just looked confused. Finishing up her dry chuckle, Miralda decided to extend an olive branch to the mortified military woman.
"It's alright, dear… I know your secret shame. Back in the day, I used to play as an elven bard." Said the elderly scientist. She shared an awkward fist bump with the embarrassed Corporal, whose cheeks were still crimson.
"Shit… I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I played as a Dwarven ranger back in the corps," muttered Moreau under his breath, just loud enough for the rest of us to hear.
"Half-Orc berserker," I said with a smile. Everyone in the room turned to look at me in surprise. A moment later Armsmaster spoke, contributing to our incredibly geeky confession-fest with his two cents.
"I always preferred playing as a human artificer, myself," he stoically supplied.
Everyone in the room save for Killingsworth broke out into peals of riotous laughter, the normally restrained Tinker included. I was happy to note that Nessie joined in on our revelry this time, evidently over her moment of embarrassment. The confused youngster that he was, Private Killingsworth was staring at the rest of us like we had gone insane. When we noticed the bewildered look on his face it only made the five of us laugh all the harder. It was one of the best moments I'd experienced in this dimension since coming to Earth Bet.
"Y'all's crazy," muttered the sullen looking PRT Private.
When everyone had finally calmed down we got back to work, a more relieved looking Miralda reattaching a few sensors that had come loose from the female soldier's headgear during Agnes's bout of uncontrolled laughter.
"Alright, PomPoko… I'm ready when you are," Supplied the Doctor. I nodded to show that I understood.
"I'm starting… Now!" I told her. I proceeded to transfer the Silver Dragon package over to Private Underfoot in slow-motion.
The empowerment process was soon over, and Agnes's 'ideal self' regeneration power kicked in. Like the others, all of the small defects on her body simply disappeared, her skin becoming silky smooth even as it began practically glowing with good health. I watched in bemusement as the ripped corporal's muscles slowly grew smaller and more defined… denser, maybe? Afterward, a thin layer of smooth, feminine padding began to creep into her more defined muscle groups, providing a delightfully feminine smoothness to the young woman's incredibly fit body.
The PRT soldier looked a little less like a bodybuilder and more like a particularly thickset swimmer now, thought I knew that dangerous amounts of muscle mass were still present under a very thin layer of soft padding and epidermis. I smirked as her breasts grew a little, changing from a normal looking E or F-cup into firm, gravity defying looking G or H-cups.
Corporal Underfoot's PRT-issued shirt creaked as her bust expanded, and for a moment I wondered if it would be torn asunder. Thankfully (only for her) the growth of her now massive breasts stopped just before the garment would have been destroyed by her new weapons-grade titties. Perhaps the most striking change was to Agnes's face; before, her features had been quite nice, but not exactly top-tier. While she was still recognizable as her former self, now Agnes Underfoot was gorgeous... easily a '10' after the power had finished molding her body into the one she'd always wanted. I gave Nessie a critical once over; the military woman was almost as pretty as a Pokolyptian girl now… not an easy feat to accomplish.
I looked the Corporal up and down appraisingly, my mostly soft penis throbbing gently as I wondered if she would be interested in a date or a hookup. I cleared my mind, suddenly remembering that she likely did not share Pokolyptian beliefs and customs when it came to dating and sexuality. Humans, I recalled, tended to attach a greater degree of significance to both sex and intimate relationships, as well as almost always desiring exclusivity in their partners… something that I was completely unwilling to give now, due to the abundance of relationships I was involved in. Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask the woman out when she got done with her Master/Stranger quarantine and power testing in a few days; the worst she could do would be to say 'no'. I wasn't the type to let something… or someone I wanted slip away without even trying.
"Woah... " whispered Chucky, sporting a blush. "Corporal, you got hotter!" Agnes Underfoot blinked her eyes at me, her long, dark lashes fluttering coquettishly as she took in her colleague's words.
"Is that so?" she asked while staring me directly in the eyes. Nessie was blushing as she stared at me, her face tinted a bright red. I nodded my agreement to her, smirking as I did so, my eyes casually roaming her delectable looking body; she had even more muscles than Lydia, and all in a an extremely hot feminine package.
Smiling happily, likely due to my obvious attraction to her, Agnes broke eye contact with me to examine what she could see of her upgraded body. Carmen helpfull presented her with a mirrored compact that she appeared to have hastily dug out of her handbag. Agnes gasped as she looked at her face in the mirror, a transcendent smile slowly growing as she took in her new looks.
"Holy shit…" she whispered, trailing off. The soldier girl turned to look at me, tears of joy falling from her eyes. "I…" She gulped before continuing. "I'm actually pretty now…"
"Just…" she paused, as if unsure of what to say. "Thank you." she eventually muttered in her 'tiny voice' as tears rolled down her cheeks.
I stepped forward and placed a hand on the Corporal's shoulder as the Doctor worked to remove her from the mind reading machine. There weren't going to be any additional scans for Nessie... not in here at least. Not with the power that she had chosen. It would be far too dangerous for the Corporal to attempt to use her powers indoors at the moment, untrained as she was; her new Changer form was nearly the size of the PRT building.
"You are very welcome, Nessie," I told her with a friendly smile. "And by the way… you were pretty even before I gave you powers."
When she was free of the machine, Agnes took two quick steps forward and threw her arms around my chest in a bone crushing hug. I gently hugged the much shorter woman back, fighting my shuddering love muscle's desire to becoming massively erect from being this close to such a beautiful woman. My cock had been conditioned to instantly rise to the occasion in situations like these over the last five years due to the incredibly frequent bouts of sex that I'd been treated to each day by scores of gorgeous, ever-horny Pokolyptian women. It was extremely jarring to be back amongst normal homo sapiens, where things like hugs and kisses between men and women didn't nearly always lead to at least half a dozen rounds of ridiculously hot sex, and sometimes even an impromptu orgy between everyone who was nearby at the time.
After a long moment Corporal Underfoot let me go. When I got a look at her face I noticed that her eyes were dry again, her tears of happiness having run their course as she cried into my chest. Nessie met my gaze with a sunny smile on her face and an incandescent blush, her eyes boring into mine; if she had been a Pokolyptian, I would have taken her right then and there. We exchanged goodbyes (and phone numbers) just before the stacked, muscular trooper was lead out of the room and (presumably) somewhere outdoors for power testing. I smiled at the Corporal's retreating form, wondering how my harem would react to me dating a human.
Knowing my girls, they would either be happy for me, or in the case of Lydia, the twins, and Lispeth (especially Lispeth), they would try to get into Agnes's pants as well. They were my girls, but like me the members of my harem were incredibly horny people with massive libidos, all of whom enjoyed having sex with a large variety of partners. As I stared at Ms. Underfoot's firm, sexy ass as she sashayed out of the room, I realized that I wouldn't blame my girls one bit if they did try to get a piece of the incredibly sexy woman for themselves.
Having had quite enough daydreaming for the moment, I looked around. Doctor Miralda was carefully not paying attention to my interactions with the Corporal. I noticed that Armsmaster was taking notes using some kind of neural or eye-based keyboard system integrated into his helmet. He was writing details about the Corporal's reaction to her changes, wondering if any of her physical enhancements had been made deliberately by myself, and if so to what end. Though the brain monitor hadn't picked up any mental side effects from my powers so far, he wrote down a note that he should double check Corporal Underfoot for anomalous brain activity during her power testing during the 'working' M/S quarantine that she was even now being prepared to undergo.
I frowned. It was fairly obvious that Agnes's physical changes and actions toward me had been completely voluntary and self-driven… and in fact, Armsmaster knew that they had been… I could tell that much from his emotions and actions… he wasn't the type of guy to keep it to himself or let me continue if he suspected I had been Mastering his people. The Tinker wasn't being malicious, either... just incredibly thorough. And I completely understood; better a dozen people in quarantine than a single Master or Stranger foothold situation from the Protectorate's point of view. I didn't like that they didn't trust me from the get-go, but I didn't begrudge them their tests and verifications. 'Trust but verify' was just good sense in a world filled with random-seeming superpowers.
Even a relatively weak human Master could do untold amounts of damage; someone like me Mastering a bunch of newly empowered parahumans would be a literal nightmare scenario. I had no doubt that even now, the higher ups in the PRT and Protectorate were preparing contingency plans to kill me off if I showed even a hint of becoming a threat to their organizations. Again, I didn't blame them for this; it's what I would have done in their place. How else could normal people defend themselves against superhumans, other than through the judicious use of overwhelming force?
"So, Armsmaster… Doctor Miralda… Do we have any more volunteers for empowerment today?" I asked, trying to get them to break away from their respective computer-based tasks for a moment.
"There are just two more to empower." replied Miralda. "Both parahumans this time; we want to see what effects your powers have on people with existing Parahuman abilities." She paused, looking at Armsmaster for a moment. He nodded, as if answering some unstated question. Miralda continued.
"We also have someone who volunteered to be healed by you directly, if you choose to do so. Extremely effective healers are so incredibly valuable that, even with all of your other powers, we would like to get you cleared to use healing abilities as soon as possible in case they are needed." I nodded, indicating that I understood.
"So, which Parahumans am I going to enhance? Any of them members of the local Protectorate?" I queried. Armsmaster looked weary for a moment before he answered.
"After your first meeting, Velocity was extremely interested in your offer to 'fix' his power. He was the first person to volunteer to have you test your abilities on him, actually." I remembered the hurt look on the hero's face when his boss had declined my offer on his behalf. I was very happy to be allowed to help the ineffectual speedster; no one should be forced to use a broken power like the one he wielded.
"We also have an out of town cape who the Protectorate is very curious to see what you can do with," added Miralda. "His name is Weld, and he's a member of the Wards in Chicago. Are you familiar with 'Case 53' class parahumans?" I nodded my assent, and she continued.
"There are a lot of very unfortunate people who you would make incredibly happy if you can do anything for his condition." I blinked my eyes in confusion. Weld had volunteered to have his powers modified? He was probably interested to see if I could reverse the 'monstrous' transformation that he had gone through at Cauldron's hands. How very interesting! Armsmaster frowned at the scientist's words.
"Personally, I was against the idea of involving any of the Wards in the first round of testing, but the higher-ups insisted… contingent, of course, on the fact that we didn't find any side effects in the first round of testing on normal, unpowered humans. Preliminary results show no detrimental mental contamination or changes as a result of your Trump ability, so we are going ahead with parahuman testing," stated Armsmaster with a frown.
"Doctor Miralda, can you please have your assistant call in Velocity?" he asked. It was the work of minutes to summon the frantic speedster. The costume-clad Mover sported a mad grin as he looked up at me, his face filled with hope and determination. The young man was practically vibrating with excitement."So, do you think you can fix my power so that I can interact with the world around me when I'm moving really fast?" he asked eagerly.
"I am positive that I can," I told him with a smile while examining the cape. Velocity was maybe twenty-five, though I suspected that he was even younger than that. I could tell that despite his very serious occupation, the young man was still a child at heart. I decided that I liked him; I would do my best to give this kid a world class power by the time I was done with him.
Miralda connected Velocity to her brain scanner, this time with Armsmaster helping her. The miniaturization Tinker added several extra sensors to the speedster's body. Using my Tinker skills, I identified the purposes of a few of these new instruments. Most of the additional sensors seemed to be there to monitor the coronas pollentia and gemma, likely to see what interactions my Trump power had with the organs linked to parahuman powers and potential. I wondered how shocked they would be when the organs went completely dormant after I crushed the speedster's Shard.
"Velocity," I said, getting the flighty young man's attention. He turned to look at me. "I am going to explain the procedure that I plan to use to modify your powers. If you have questions at any point just let me know." The costumed hero nodded, indicating that he understood.
"The first thing I plan to do," I explained, "is to make a copy of your parahuman power. I will then modify it, removing the limitations that prevent you from interacting with normal matter. I'm going to achieve this by altering the mechanism your power operates on. Rather than shifting your mass into alternate dimensions to increase your speed without harming your body, I will modify your power so that it increases your speed outright, while providing a protective field for you and anything you're touching so that you cannot be harmed while using your power."
"With this first change, you will be substantially faster than before… perhaps three to five times as fast as you were previously. You will also be tougher; the protective ability will provide you with a selectively permeable, intent based personal force field, much like Glory Girl's. This field will soak up kinetic and thermal energy and use it to strengthen itself." Velocity stared at me with wide eyes. I flashed him a quick grin and then continued speaking.
"Once I'm finished modifying the copy of your power in my possession, I will be replacing your existing powerset with the patched version." He nodded again, indicating that he understood everything I had told him.
"During this process, I can remove or modify any part of your powerset, as well as adding additional features to it." The speedster looked at me stark surprise.
"Add what to it, exactly?" asked the speedster. My casual admittance that I could heavily alter his powers seemed to have unsettled him to a degree… though he still seemed incredibly excited.
"I like to add a very nice regeneration package, as well as super strength and durability as a standard upgrade. I call this the 'survivability package'. In addition to those basic features, there are a few different directions we can go with regards to your power," I suggested. Velocity, looking overwhelmed by this point, motioned for me to continue. Armsmaster stared at me with his eyes narrowed; I don't think he liked the slight theatricality that I enjoyed adding to these conversations.
'Really, Armsmaster?' I thought 'What's the point of doing anything if you aren't having fun doing it?' Ignoring the sourpuss standing in the corner, I continued telling Velocity how I was planning to improve his life, speaking even more cheerfully than before.
"The first option is that I can tweak your power for extreme speed, with all else secondary to that. You'll be the fastest speedster alive by far when I'm finished. And yes, that does include Leviathan… even when he's in the water."
"Exactly how fast are we talking here?" he asked excitedly, practically salivating at the possibility of being able to move that quickly. I smiled at his question. "Ever heard of 'The Flash'?" I asked him jovially. The protectorate cape's eyes bulged out.
"Your second choice is that I can add a suite of other Mover abilities to your powerset, giving you a lot more options. I can add super fast flight, long range teleportation, and portal creation, turning you into an incredibly versatile 'Super Mover'." I paused for a moment while he wrapped his head around what I'd just said.
"The last option is that we leave your superspeed at its basic repaired level, and I add a little used powerset of my own called 'Mobile Invulnerability'." A big, toothy smile broke out over my face when Velocity gave me a questioning look. I responded to his implied question with an overt query of my own.
"Ever hear of Newton's first law…? To bastardize it: 'An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.'" I gave him an evil grin.
"With Mobile Invulnerability, you are exempt from annoying things like the normal laws of physics; you will remain in motion until you choose to stop, and no natural phenomena will be able to so much as slow you down. If someone stands in your path, then they will either move or get bowled over, and even if they out-mass you by a ratio of a million to one it's not going to matter one iota; they'll be knocked aside as easily as motes of dust in a tornado," I laughed at his stunned expression. "And the best part? While you're in motion, you're completely invulnerable to damage… as well as most other parahuman abilities."
Armsmaster was doing that thing again where he simultaneously ground his teeth together while looking incredibly constipated. I was almost certain it was his way of showing that he was jealous, which made sense… Most other parahumans had been given large amount of instantly usable power directly after triggering, and he was forced to work his ass off for every bit of combat effectiveness he possessed. And here I was, just handing out powers like they were popcorn or party favors…
Shit like that had to sting. Still… it wasn't like I planned to stiff him when the Tinker's turn for an upgrade rolled around. Heh… I might just have to come up with something special for ol' Armsy… The few times he'd let go of his work persona, like when we were talking about D&D a little while ago, he actually seemed like a fairly cool dude. It would be nice to see more of that side of the overly uptight Protectorate leader… I might even find that he is 'friend material' if he learns how to pull the stick out of his ass a little more frequently.
While I was studying Armsmaster and ruminating, Velocity made his decision.
"As tempting as being the world's fastest speedster or a 'super mover' sounds, I'd like to go with the 'Mobile Invulnerability' upgrade… it would pretty much make me a speedier version of The Juggernaut from those old 'Marvel' comics, right?" asked the visibly excited cape.
"Bingo!" I said with a smile. "In that case, I'm already set as I have that particular powerset pre-prepared." I turned to look at the venerable Doctor Miralda. "You ready with the gizmos, Doc?" I asked her. Miralda gave me a nod and a not-all-there smile, reminding me that of the earlier ugliness with her abrupt diagnosis. I promised myself that she would get better... one way or another.
"I will proceed on your mark, Doctor." I advised her.
"Mark." said Miralda a moment later. I began slowly passing along the powerset that I'd quickly prepared, one which combined the repaired version of velocity's own powerset, along with the Survivability package and Mobile Invulnerability.
I had combined the three sets of superhuman abilities and then enhanced the finished product using Power Manipulation, as was my standard procedure by now. I studied the new powerset critically as it slowly slid from the light of my soul and over to Velocity's… for all of the power within the Silver Dragon package I'd given Nessie, this new powerset was probably the strongest ability I'd handed out to date. I would easily rate it as being stronger than Alexandria of the Triumvirate's own power, though it didn't include flight… Though the lack of flight wasn't really a hard limitation, as 'up' was a valid direction as far as Mobile Invulnerability was concerned; the power in question seemed to give even less of a fuck about gravity than it did about inertia.
If I was correct, then using this powerset, Velocity should be more than a match for the middle Endbringer. If he was even halfway intelligent with it's use, the the speedster would be able to at least stalemate Leviathan if he went all out… maybe even kill it. Oh, he'd be able to run rings around the other two Endbringers as well if they came a callin', but Behemoth was too much of a Brute for Velocity to kill with his new abilities, and the Simurgh had better mobility thanks to her telekinetic flight and dodging. I suppose I could have given Velocity true flight on top of everything else, but that was overkill. I wasn't trying to make him into an Eidolon killer, after all… just an extremely powerful parahuman. I figured that I had done enough for him with what he had been given. He would easily be head and shoulders above his peers, easily able to put the kibosh on guys like Crawler or Lung all day long.
When the empowerment process was complete, I was treated to my first surprise of the day. Somehow, the regeneration package that I'd imbued Velocity with had mutated. A time freeze and a handful of seconds of study allowed me understand what had just happened. Evidently, there had been a particularly fortuitous interaction between the energy redirection component of Mobile Invulnerability and the regeneration package, allowing dozens of times more power than normal to be shunted into the regeneration power, increasing the speed and scope of its ability enormously.
My first clue that something odd had happened was when the hero sitting in front of us spontaneously transformed from a healthy young man into his early twenties into an absolutely stunning young woman. Jaws dropped as Armsmaster and Doctor Miralda took in Velocity's altered appearance; the lithe twenty-something's much more curvaceous body suddenly filled out his (Her? Her.) costume in new and interesting ways. The mighty curves that Velocity now possessed threatened to tear through the thin material of her outfit, prompting me to act. With a wave of my hand, suddenly the neo female's costume was resized and restyled into a more feminine cut that fit her newly voluptuous body perfectly.
"What is the meaning of this?" Armsmaster barked out, his eyes rapidly flitting between myself and his transmogrified colleague. An intense blush colored his face beneath his helmet. A long look at Velocity showed her to be both enraptured by her new body and intensely embarrassed; she declined to comment, so I figured I better before Armsmaster got bitchy and whipped it out… his Tinkertech Halberd, that is, not his 'little halberd'.
"Well, well well... If I had know your had gender dysmorphia, then I would have offered to transform you outright, Miss Velocity." I said, chuckling ruefully. "As it is, an unforeseen interaction between the Mobile Invulnerability package that I imbued you with and my standard transformative regeneration power allowed the 'ideal self' component to draw much more power than normal from the fabric of the universe, increasing its scope and rate of regeneration enormously. Simply put, at it's best, the power I gave you should have turned you into a very girly man… not into a full woman like you've become... even if that was how you saw yourself inside. If you like, I can reverse the-"
"NO!" shouted Velocity suddenly, before slapping both of her hands across her mouth at her hasty declaration. "No." she repeated, much more quietly, but just as firmly as before.
"I've always thought of myself… Always wanted to be a woman, but I could never get up the courage to admit it to anyone else... even to my family or to my doctor. I've avoided dating, avoided making friend or getting involved socially with anyone because of this, so that I wouldn't have to 'conform'," she admitted bitterly. "Now that I actually have what I want, there is nothing that would ever make me go back to the way I was before." The lovely brunette woman began to cry, a small smile showing that they were happy tears. "I don't know what I could ever do to thank you, Pompoko… If this hadn't happened, then I would have probably have kept it hidden and been miserable forever… You have no idea what it was like, being trapped in a body that never felt like it was truly mine..."
Armsmaster stared at his colleague with an odd look on his face, as if he couldn't understand the words coming out of her mouth. Finally, however, he snorted inaudibly and began taking notes with his in-built computer, mostly a transcript of Velocity's words and messages to his future self to follow up with the PRT medical staff who would undoubtedly be running tests on the gender swapped speedster. He didn't seem mad… just pensive. I gave Velocity a warm smile.
"I'm very happy for you, miss Velocity." I told her with a wink. She blushed adorably; Velocity had been tall and lithe as a man, and his female form had followed suit, being around five foot nine inches in height with a modest bust and a fiendishly cute heart shaped face. The only divergence from the 'slim athletic' archetype was her thick, round bubble butt, which practically begged to be squeezed and slapped. All in all, she made a gorgeous young woman, and I was happy that I had played a part in allowing her to realize her true self.
"Well, I have to admit, even in all of my years working for the PRT I have never seen anything like that," admitted Miralda, a true smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "If you would be so kind, Mr. Pompoko, could you check Velocity to see if he's…" she snickered and then smiled wider. "If she's in store for any more surprises due to the power interaction that strengthened her regenerative powers?" I nodded, and then dove into my power senses, focusing them solely on the newly female parahuman who was still sitting in Doctor Miralda's chair.
"Sure thing, Doctor." I told her while scanning Velocity. It took perhaps three minutes to complete my work, and in the end I had a pretty good idea of what had happened. I happily supplied this information to both Armsmaster and Carmen, who were eagerly awaiting my synopsis.
"I'm happy to say that the powers I gave you are even stronger than I had thought them to be, Ms. Velocity," I told the blushing girl; every time I called the neo-female 'Miss', her face lit up redder than a tomato. She was so adorable that I wanted nothing more than to fill her up with my thick cock right here… but alas, human sexual mores prevented me from even making the offer.
"I had intended to give you a combination of abilities that would put you on par with an average member of the Triumvirate, but you're even stronger than that, now, thanks to the way the sub-powers combined. Basically, Mobile Invulnerability feeds off of 'speed', which your speedster power is giving it continually due to your enhanced reflexes and normal body motions, strengthening each and every part of your new powerset. You will find yourself far more resilient than I had intended you to be, perhaps on par with Alexandria herself… and that's without even getting up to speed. Once you get moving, then you will undoubtedly be the strongest and most durable Brute on the planet… and yes, that includes Behemoth. Likewise, your regeneration and kinetic and inertial redirection powers have been greatly increased, allowing you to both survive and dish out massive amounts of punishment." I concluded.
"My God…" whispered Miralda in shock, her hand covering her mouth. Armsmaster was staring at the newly vagina'd Velocity in horror, his eyes opened wider than I had ever seen them.
"Is…" stated the Tinker, before clearing his throat. "Is this power interaction permanent?" he finally asked.
"Yes," I told the Tinker with a smile. "Say hello to the seventh or eighth most powerful being in the world, and the new potential 'Endbringer Killer'!" I announced with a chuckle. "And in light of your powerup, Miss, I would like to both offer and strongly recommend an additional upgrade… an anti-Master suite of my own design, which will insure that no one takes control of you now that you qualify as a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction'. What do you think?" I sighed when I glanced back to Velocity, only to find that she had passed out from shock, slumped over in the mind chair.
"Kids these days…" I muttered in a disgusted sounding tone of voice. Armsmaster facepalmed at my blase attitude, and the aged Doctor snorted. Not wanting to have to clean up any messes if she was compromised, I popped over a copy of my 'Master-Proof' powerset to Velocity… I did not want to see what someone like Valefor or the Simurgh could do with access to her powers. I would apologize later if I needed to, but protecting the lives of thousands was more important than consent for the upgrade at the moment. I would make sure to apologize later and remove the anti-Master powers if she wished… along with her other powers besides the repaired original if she was foolish enough to decline my offer to provide her an absolute defense against human controlling capes.
"Well… that was interesting." muttered Armsmaster under his breath. He eyed the unconscious Velocity critically, though there was more than a hint of compassion present in his steely gaze. Not for the first time, I reflected on just how utterly unfair it was that I could see beneath these people's disguises… the things that regular, unmasked people tended to conceal were written large on the features which they believed obstructed, allowing me an unprecedentedly intimate look at their feelings. I seriously doubted that Armsmaster would have approved had he known about that particular ability.
"Indubitably." I agreed, causing Carmen to snort again. "Shall we proceed with the next volunteer? Weld, I believe you said her name was?" I asked with a grin and a waggle of my eyebrows.
"Our next volunteer is called Weld, and he is male," Armsmaster told me in a perfectly level tone of voice. God, he made such a perfect 'straight man'! I gave the Tinker a huge toothy smile in response. Gesturing to Velocity, I provided the perfect rebuttal to his assertion.
"That's what you said about that guy!" I retorted, my voice laced with mock-outrage.
Her cancer apparently forgotten, at least for the moment, Doctor Carmen Miralda laughed so hard that she nearly choked. Armsmaster grumbled as if upset, but something seemed off. Even with all of my sensory abilities, I almost missed the tiny smirk on his face; the fucker had known that I would make a joke, and had actually set me up to deliver it!
I resolved then and there that Colin Wallis and I would be friends one way or another… with a sense of humor like that, then deep down the Protectorate leader had to be cool.
View in Thread
Expo Onethousandone, Dec 15, 2016Report
#49Like+ QuoteReply