Power Unlocked: Cursed Spirit Manipulation: Roppongi Cursed Spirit Summoning.
Power Unlocked: Pain Killer.
Power Unlocked: Cursed Womb Death Painting Physiology.
Power Unlocked: Ultra Cannon.
Power Unlocked: Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing.
Power Unlocked: Slaughter Demon Summoning.
The Wards had been simultaneously a boon…and yet a disappointment. Sophia had been given the ability to summon the Roppongi Spirit, a troll-like creature covered in hair that could only be seen by parahumans but could turn intangible and harm both humans and capes. A creature cunning enough to take hostages and ambush others, but instinctively knew how weak it is, and would run if confronted with the possibility of death.
Ironic.
However, it showed him something new; he could be given vagabond cursed spirits, but they would appear under the constraints of Cursed Sprirt Manipulation.
That meant that there was a possibility of summoning a Finger Bearer, and whilst he didn't exactly know which parahuman could grant him that power, the fact that it was a possibility was still extremely enticing.
Clockblocker had given him Painkiller, a power that stopped existing injuries from getting any worse. It couldn't heal wounds but he could stop bleeding and reduce the pain for anyone he applied it to. However, any injuries sustained after the technique's application would be unaffected. It was a disappointment; he had been hoping for Projection Sorcery, but he could possibly get that from Velocity. It was a good triage power, but useless compared to the abilities of Idle Transfiguration. He doubted he'd ever use it.
Aegis had given him Cursed Womb Physiology, which was certainly a surprise. He had expected some type of Brute power to be sure, but the physiology of something like Choso and his brothers had come out of the left field. With hindsight though, it made sense. The Cursed Wombs were physically much stronger than the average human, could take a ton more damage than the average sorcerer, and couldn't be killed by stuff like Reversed Cursed Technique-infused blows, which could easily kill curses. It made them extremely similar to Aegis, whose non-standard biology let him take lethal hits and come back for more. However, it also meant that his blood was toxic/poisonous, and he'd have to be careful with that. All in all, the power would be useful to his clones, who didn't have a strong base body.
Gallant had given him Ultra Cannon, a Blaster power that was a lot stronger than the Ward's own power, but it made sense as well; there wasn't an emotion affecting cursed technique, but there were a lot of Blaster powers in JJK. Another offensive power that his clones could use for their missions.
Browbeat had been both the most powerful ability so far, but had also given him a disappointing conclusion. Idle Transfiguration could not heal mental illnesses, not if they had been part of the body since birth. They were integrated into the soul at that point, and there was nothing that could change that. Mental Illnesses that were a result of trauma would probably be the same, but he would prefer to test that at his leisure.
That aside, the power that Browbeat had provided was confusing.
Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing.
An application of Idle Transfiguration, Mahito's supposed 'true form.' It should have been a power that he'd already had, but as soon as he had gotten the power from Browbeat, he had felt something being filled, like a hole within himself that he hadn't been aware of.
It shouldn't have been that surprising; gaining Kuruoushi had given him partial access to Cursed Spirit Manipulation, only allowing him to summon only the Cockroach Spirit. So Cursed Techniques might have been broken down, with various extension techniques being hidden within different parahumans. But this meant that he was both at a disadvantage and an advantage; it meant that he had a lot more options, and whilst he might not get a main technique, getting extension techniques would almost certainly make up for that. However, that meant that certain powers might be on the other side of the globe.
Imagine Limitless, the power he was about to get; he believed that Vista had the ability. However, with the revelation that Browbeat's power had given him, there was a possibility that Vista merely had the Neutral Limitless, as in the invisible barrier that automatically protected Gojo. Three different people might have possession of Blue, Red, and Purple, and he wouldn't know where to find them. They could be part of the Yangban, the Guild, the Suits, the Protectorate, or the Elite.
Or they could just be dead, and the power was lost to him.
Awesome.
Kid Win was another disappointment; he had gained a weapon, Slaughter Demon, which had interesting implications for other Tinkers like Armsmaster or Dragon, but it wasn't a particularly powerful Cursed Tool; useful for Grade Two and everything below that, but weak against Grade One Enemies, and useless against Special Grades.
Sorta like Kid Win. Strong in theory, but in reality, he was only able to handle street-level threats with assistance.
"Everybody seems to be in good health so far," he said as he removed his hand from Kid Win. "Though a few of you could stand to eat more healthily. Too much fats and oils will only drag you down in the future."
Sophia only rolled her eyes, but Clockblocker and Kid Win had sheepish looks on their face.
"I thought you could do something useful, like make us tougher," Sophia asked rudely. "Since you're apparently giving out upgrades to every sleezebag politician that walks in."
He raised an eyebrow.
"And how did you get that information?"
To his surprise, Gallant let out a nervous cough.
"Yeah, sorry, that's on me," the emotional Blaster said sheepishly. "Amy noticed and recognized a lot of people that came in for your healing today. Some of those people had asked her for improvements when she had first started out, and she saw some of those people come out of the hospital looking a lot different than then when they entered. She told Vicky, Vicky told me, and I told the team."
"It's not that simple," Mahito said, annoyance filling his voice, mostly because this conversation was an obstacle to obtaining Limitless. "A lot of those changes I did were cosmetic, merely skin deep. Adding a few muscles and making someone look more toned is simple enough for Panacea to do. None of you are exactly fat, and you're fitter than eighty percent of teens in this city, considering the work you do, so it'd be useless to you. If you want something like bulletproof skin or bone plates on top of your muscles, you need to go to Piggot and your parents for that. Those kinds of adjustments aren't just something to be handed out. They'll change your way of life significantly, and in a situation where something goes wrong later and if Panacea or I'm not there, then you're fucked."
Idle Transfiguration could do it easily; he didn't have to think about where each piece went, after all. The power would fill in the gaps for him, and make the visions in his mind come true. But modifications were something that Piggot was strict about. He could do them in other cities if other Directors and heroes asked for them, but not in Brockton; Piggot kept her dislike of how his powers worked under control, but since he knew what to look for, it was obvious to see how she grimaced whenever his hands went anywhere near her. No matter how useful it would be, the woman wouldn't allow him to modify any of her men, and that included the Wards.
Sophia opened her mouth to say something undoubtedly stupid, but he cut her off before she could continue.
"Look, before we continue with this waste of my time, can I at least get Vista checked over?" he said sharply. And he regretted it instantly. He couldn't seem too eager; yes, the Limitless was worth the risk, but he still didn't want anyone to guess what might be happening, as slim as that possibility might be.
"Sorry, sorry," Aegis said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "Go ahead."
He held his hand out to Vista.
"May I examine you?"
Hesitantly, she took off her glove and grabbed his hand.
"Um, what does this 'examination' entail anyway?"
"I'm mostly just giving your body an in-depth once over, from the layers of your skin all the way down to your cells. I'm normally much faster; when I use my power, I mostly tell it to fill in the blanks. For wounds like cuts and burns, they regenerate new flesh and consume the old injured parts for fuel. But I have to be careful of things like cancer; not a really good idea for my power to fill in the blanks of something like that. Giving an examination lets me check to see if there's any unknown cancer cells or genetic anomalies that doctors in previous examinations missed-"
Power Unlocked: Sky Manipulation.
When he looked back at that incident, he realized that he should have handled his emotions better. But the annoyance of having to deal with a brat like Sophia and how she had delayed the acquisition of what he thoughtwould have been the Limitless, had briefly exploded into full-out anger.
Almost immediately, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"Everything alright?"
Gallant stood behind him, one hand on his shoulder, and the other faintly glowing.
Right…I forgot. I might not have a natural enemy like Itadori Yuji here, but there is a foe here I can't afford to underestimate.
Dean Stansfield. Aka, Gallant.
It wasn't Gallant's offensive power that was the worry. It was the emotion-sensing that was the biggest issue. He wasn't sure how powerful it was, but he gave it an estimate; Sage Naruto's ability to sense negative emotion.
Even with all the powers in this world, Gallant was one of the few he actually feared. The boy, if clever enough to figure out all the clues, could expose him.
He had to think of something to cover up his anger. Quickly.
"There's a deep scar on Vista's chest," he said. "It looks like whatever cut her actually scraped against her sternum. And then it looks like she had a drunk monkey sew the wound back together. Is this the kind of healthcare that the Wards are normally given? If so, I'll have to talk to Piggot about firing her current medical staff."
"Wait, cut on her sternum?" Clockblocker asked, confused. "But Vista's never been hurt anywhere near there, has she?"
The youngest Ward's face turned an interesting shade of red.
"This…may have been from a sort of…an unsanctioned patrol?"
As the other members of the Wards began to scold her (minus Shadow Stalker, who just made snide comments in the background), he let out a small huff of relief.
Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe Gallant was nowhere near figuring out that he wasn't a Case 53.
But he really didn't want to chance it.
************************************************************
The rest of the day was just spent doing paperwork and chatting with the Wards. The paperwork was, of course, ridiculous. It mostly asked about how many people he healed, any difficulties he faced whilst healing them, chances of a relapse, the date and time they were healed, whether or not he had healed them before, and that sort of thing. Something that would normally be light, if he didn't have to do it for every single patient he had met that day. Oh, he remembered them just fine; the photographs that came with each paper helped him remember what their soul had looked like, and how he had healed them. It was just tedious, and he kept finding things to distract himself from it.
This was why at eleven at night, when all the Wards had gone home, he was still there in the common room, mulishly checking boxes and briefly describing what he had done. Apparently, just writing, 'I healed them' was insufficient.
Maybe if he had been a little less focused on his task, he would have heard Velyra walking into the room. But he doubted it. The woman moved like a shadow.
"Still working?" her familiar voice called from behind him
"How the hell did you even get in here without the alarms going off?"
He could hear the cheeky smile in her voice. "Who said I ever left? Maybe I was behind you the entire time."
"And the other Wards never managed to see you?"
"People don't try too hard to find things that are out of place unless they know something is wrong. Makes it easier to slip into places where you're not supposed to be."
A minute later, she sat down in front of him, a sharp grin on her face.
"So, how's paperwork going?"
"Like shit," he retorted.
She snickered at his annoyance. "Yeah, the less glamorous side of the superhero business. You know, I had to do a lot of paperwork too. Mostly stuff like 'Why'd you beat the absolute shit out of that Tinker?' and 'Could you have beat the shit out of him a little gentler?' and also 'Why'd you break his pelvis specifically?'"
He raised an eyebrow.
"What? He was a dick. Kept making thrusting movements with his hips at me when he took shots, and only at me."
"So you made him immobile?"
"Cask fixed him, in the end, and they shipped him off to Atlanta," she said with a shrug. "But yeah, everyone does paperwork. Tinkers have to log in what stuff they used, Brutes have to mention the amount of force they used, Masters have to talk about how they used their powers, etc, etc."
"Good to know that I'm not the only one who has to go through this shit," he muttered, ticking off a few more boxes.
"Chin up. You're the golden boy; they've taken so much of the unnecessary shit out of it for you, so all you have to do is tick boxes and write a few sentences."
Power Unlocked: Cursed Spirit Manipulation: Rainbow Dragon Summoning.
Huh. his clone must have gotten Lung already. That was fast.
Wait, was today canon's start?
Holy shit. He had forgotten the dates of basically everything; the only thing he remembered was how the events flowed one after the other. First, it was the Lung fight, then the Bakuda bombings, then the Empire outing, then the Leviathan fight.
Shit, what was he supposed to do for Bakuda? Aside from being a Tinker, there wasn't anything that could distinguish her from any other random human. He figured he knew how his clone had found Lung; the man was in a constant Brute state and was also capable of using pyrokinesis at any time. It would make sense if his blood/iron levels would be much hotter than anyone else in the ABB territory.
How would his clone find Bakuda?
He didn't-
"Mahito?"
He blinked as he came back to himself and suppressed the urge to flinch.
Velyra's face was very close to his, and her hand was on his, her eyes filled with concern.
"You alright?" she asked softly.
"Y-yeah," he stammered.
Control yourself, idiot. Don't read into things that aren't there.
"Just…just thinking, you know?"
"About what?"
"Healing," he said quickly. He had to force his heart to slow down, and it still felt like it was going a mile a minute. "It's just hitting me now, you know? How many people are depending on me and my healing. They'll keep bringing in special cases, things that normal doctors can't handle. Slaughterhouse Nine victims, victims of villain attacks, kids hit by unstable tinkertech, maybe even Case 53's-"
"What?"
This time, it was Velyra who blinked at him.
"Oh, yeah. Well, Case 53's obviously aren't natural. All of them have amnesia, wake up away from society, often disabled, and one of the few categories of capes that suffer from lack of Manton Limits; you don't need to be a genius to realize that they're some sort of power-based experiment gone wrong. I haven't really done any research into it, but if it's just a body-based change, it should be easy enough to fix. I can even try right now."
Despite Idle Transfiguration being 'on' at all times, he didn't just peek into random people's souls, only when he was healing. But it shouldn't be too hard to just fix her body, and use her soul as a guide to figure out what she used to look like-
Her hand pulled away quickly, still within reach, but no longer touching his.
He wanted to reach out for it.
Stop thinking stupid fucking thoughts. You're not here to pine over someone who's an obstacle to your goals. You're here to get rich, get famous, get power, and kill the golden fuckhead.
"...I am going to tell you another secret," she whispered. "Not one with NDAs, but a personal one. And I would reallyappreciate it if this information never left this room."
Oh. Okay.
He nodded.
"I…I have dreams. Dreams which I think, are from where I was-who I was. I don't remember names or faces, but…impressions. I think it was cold. It was always cold. Maybe it's because I woke up in Antarctica, but waking up in the snow feels right. I remember the murmurs of men and women, the smell of cooking meat, the sound of crackling fire. A few words that I can only guess the meaning of, from the tone and situations they were used in.
"And I remember feeling…sick. Weak. Tired, constantly. I hate dreaming because that is the only time I remember that bone-deep exhaustion that always plagued me. I think…I was part of a family or tribe. We used animal furs-I recognized the smell. I remember being covered in them, constantly. It's why my costume involves so many pieces of them.
"Other Case 53's, they talk about how they hate their bodies, how they feel that they don't fit in anywhere. But me?
"I love this. I love this body. I love the speed it gives me. I love the strength I was gifted. I can taste every single ingredient in every meal. I can put scratches in steel if I want to. Almost everything I pick up feels like a feather. Whatever past I had…if healing me means going back to being that weak child struggling to survive a never-ending winter…I don't want it.
"I like looking at myself in the mirror. Even if other people don't like looking at me."
Her yellow eyes dilated as she smiled at him, her hand reaching for his again.
"Well, most people, at any rate."
"...I understand," he replied after a short while. "My life…whatever life I led, before I appeared in Brockton…I don't care for it. This is a new start for me. I don't want to look back at what I left behind."
I will never go back to being that pathetic child again.
Her eyes softened, and she seemed to lean in even closer.
"Two puzzle pieces from entirely different puzzles," she murmured. "Normally, that would mean that there would be no chance of us fitting together."
Her fingers intertwined with his.
Power Acquired: Ten Shadows Shikigami: Merged Beast Agito Summoning.
"Maybe we're special pieces that happen to break the rules," he replied. The atmosphere was strange, unfamiliar. But he liked it, oddly enough. "Sometimes, the most unexpected combinations can create the prettiest of pictures."
A soft smile appeared on Velyra's face, and for once, her mouthful of fangs didn't look threatening.
The mask-up alarm blared throughout the Wards common room, and less than a minute later, Velocity entered.
"Hey, Mahito, sorry to bother you, but Armmaster just came in with Lung, and said he needed your help-oh. Oh shit. Um…sorry," the man said awkwardly, realizing how close the two of them were. "Really sorry about this guys, but…Lung's gonna die in like, five minutes, and Armsmaster has mangled the first part of his name. And his spine."
Mahito quirked an eyebrow as he realized that their hands were still connected.
"You know in the movies, the people holding hands usually jump apart when someone enters the room."
The seven-foot-tall woman cocked her head to the side in curiosity.
"Why would I do that? I am not ashamed of what I'm doing."
This girl's gonna kill me.
************************************************************
Twenty minutes earlier
"Console to Armsmaster: we just got a tip of a cape battle, about three miles from you, near the center of ABB territory. Combatants are Lung and the new cockroach cape, codenamed Fester."
"Roger," Armsmaaster said. "Be there in three."
His mind was racing almost as fast as his motorcycle was.
Fester had appeared about a week ago, staging a massive attack on ABB territory, with conflicting accounts of his appearance. Some said he was a man. Some said he looked like a roach given human form. Others said that the mass of roaches was Fester. Regardless of that, Fester had been the last one to encounter Oni Lee, and it was presumed that the teleporter was dead.
On the one hand, Colin wasn't about to shed any tears for the psychopath who had killed and maimed so many civilains, troopers, and heroes without a care in the world. If Lee had died, then his life would have suddenly become a lot easier. But on the other hand, it meant that Fester was extremely dangerous, heroically inclined or not. Most capes test the waters, go against the small fry, take out a few thugs, and slowly escalate.
They don't maim several dozen gang members and kill off one of the stronger capes in the Bay on their first recorded outing. The only possibility that he figured was Fester was an old player wearing a new face or a complete psychopath.
He understood wanting to hurt bad guys. He knew what it was like; that rage in wanting to make people who had done wrong pay with pain. It was why he had joined the strike teams back then, making a name for himself as he took out threat after threat without discrimination.
But torture? Killing? You build up to those, little by little. It's hard, to cause another human being pain. It's hard to just see your fellow man in pain, unless you were densitized to it. If you saw an old man fall down in the street, ten times out of then, you and several others would rush forward and help him get back up.
Taking a man's life? Even if you hated that person, killing is hard.
So, he had to be careful with this. He needed to make sure he had his halrbed ready, and his armor sealed. Regrettably, he hadn't had time to finish bug-proofing his suit. Too much to do for the Endbringer Detection System, and not enough time to do it. Not to mention, his midfield sleep schedule was giving diminishing returns.
He couldn't move like he used to.
Up ahead, he saw a gout of flame erupt from a nearby alleyway before a black mass extinguished it with its sheer weight.
Gotcha.
He zoomed forward, coming to a screeching halt at the mouth of the alleyway, one hand on his halberd ready for battle-
"...Dear God," he whispered.
And found himself fighting not to lose his dinner.
Roaches. Huge ones, nearly as big as his hand, squirming, scratching, crawling biting…something hidden under a mound of them. Something that was releasing muffled screams.
Something that revealed flashes of white bone every few seconds.
And off to the side was one of the most horrific creatures he had ever seen. A giant humanoid roach with a light brown exoskeleton and four beefy human-looking arms that just seemed out of place. A black shroud extended from its head, covering its wings, but he could see them as it moved. Its face was disgusting; six long antennae protruding from it, eight separate sets of eyes in different places, and human-like teeth behind its multi-layered jaw.
And it was munching on a thick leg the size of a mattress, those human teeth and layered jaw going into over time as the beast dug into its meal with glee.
"Iron, iron, thick, rich iron," it moaned in between bites. "Master is too good to me; never before have I feasted on prey so rich in iron. Finally, a proper feast. Delicious, absolutely delicious!"
Killitkillitkillitkillitkillitkillitkillitkillit!
Calm yourself. Breathe. You're Armsmaster. Do not act rashly.
You've got this.
"Unknown parahuman!" he roared, brandishing his halberd at the thing. "Cease and desist immediately! Cannibalism is a crime in all fifty states, as of the 2009 Siberian Act! Console, send back up to my location post haste; Master-Class parahuman Fester has been found!"
The thing turned to him with frightening speed. Much faster than he was used to fighting. Slower than Velocity, but faster than Battery.
"You dare?" it hissed angrily. "You dare intrude upon my feast, and imagine that you will not join it? You think the false iron you wear around your body can resist my teeth?!"
"Kururoushi," a voice said from behind him. "Calm yourself. The hero is only doing his job."
Armmsaster turned instantly.
A boy was standing behind him. Mid-length black hair that reached the back of his neck and deep blue eyes, with heavy eyebags underneath them. He wore some kind of uniform; a loose white uniform jacket with sleeves that stopped at his forearms, along with slender blue jeans that tucked into white sneakers that matched his jacket. Strapped to his back was a sheathed sword; a katana, he surmised from the shape of the scabbard.
But what really caught his attention was the mask covering the lower half of his case.
A black and gold half-mask of a snarling demon.
Looks like we can confirm Lee's death, Colin thought with a grimace.
Out loud, he said, "Tell your friend to stand down, now, or I'll be forced to escalate."
The boy gave Colin a questioning look.
"Kurourushi? He's not my friend; he's my servant."
"I don't care what he is; make. Him. Stop."
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why are you so intent on saving him?" the boy asked. "He is a monster. A rapist, a slaver, a thug, and a menace. He has no family to look after. He wasn't tricked or misguided. He's someone who should have never received the power that he was given. Why save him?"
"...you cannot selectively apply justice," Armmaster ground out. "You cannot pick and choose who dies and who gets a trial. No matter what he did, no matter how many he hurt, he has a right to be judged and sentenced like anyone else."
"Not a good enough reason to let him live, though. Why should someone who disregards the rights of other humans get to have his respected? You don't think the families he's destroyed will get peace from knowing he's nothing more than a pile of bones? His living says we value his life over the lives that he's taken, the lives of his victims. Every day he lives means from here on out, every crime he commits is on your head. It'd be better to just finish him now."
"Not how it works," Armsmaster shot back. 'You think sinking to his level makes you any better? You think murder is the answer? It starts here, but where does it end? And what happens if you kill the wrong person one day? A bystander, a patsy, a fall guy, a man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time? Trials let us figure out the facts, and help us realize exactly who he hurt. The information he can give us on his operations can help us capture his allies, informants, and suppliers. We can reopen cold cases, find missing people, and put an end to families suffering when they see him behind bars."
"Trust me; I want him dead even more than you. I've attended the funerals of good men and women because of that sack of shit. But we have to do things by the book. He needs to go into custody. People need to realize that the system can work. Vigilante justice isn't the answer here. Please. Stop your creature, and let me take him in, and we can even talk about waiving your crimes."
The look the boy shot him was full of confusion.
"You…you really believe that, don't you? You really believe this is the best way to do things. I thought you were just an attention seeker. To think, you had these kinds of convictions hidden within you, even at this stage-"
His eyes crinkled in a way that Colin recognized as a smile; Miss Militia did it often enough that he'd have to be blind not to recognize it.
But instead of exuding warmth, the boy's hidden smile felt a lot more…malicious.
"You're really cool, Armsmaster."
It was too late when he heard the scrape of chitin on concrete from his side. He could only bring his arms up in an X-formation to guard his face and torso as the Cockroach creature darted forward, a single arm coming in for a punch.
His armor was made of a titanium-steel alloy, designed to take heavy hits, high temperatures, and powerful projectiles. He had taken hits from nearly every Brute in the city and gotten back up right after. He didn't doubt that Fester-Kurourushi-was powerful, but he doubted it would be anything stronger than Lung at full strength.
The hit made his armor buckle and break, the bones in his arms following a second later. He had thought the hit would be enough to send his sliding back; strong enough to pose an obstacle, but nothing his armor couldn't handle.
He was sent flying out of the alleyway, his back slamming into a car hard enough to leave an indent, shattering the windows and setting off its obnoxious alarm.
He lost consciousness. Only for a few minutes, but when he came to, he realized that his arms were on fire, and that the boy was kneeling in front of him.
God, it hurts…
His pain-numbing system must've been destroyed in the attack.
Hah. The attack. Not the battle, not the fight. The attack. A single blow had utterly crushed him.
A soft pat on his cheek brought him back to the present.
"Ne, Armsmaster, you alive?" the boy asked, genuine concern in his voice. "I told Kurourushi to go easy on you. Then again, easy for him is disastrous for a human like you."
He let out a groan of pain.
"Oh, you are alive. Man, you really are cool. I'm glad."
He could hear the faint wail of PRT sirens quickly approaching.
Where's Velocity? They should have sent him or Dauntless first.
"Kuruoushi's fending off your friends while we have a quick chat," the boy said, answering his question.
"The points that you brought up were very interesting…but ultimately not convincing enough. You're right that the courts work, and that the justice process can dig up more answers than me, but I don't feel right letting them go off to jail without a souvenir. So, I'll make a deal with you; I will make sure that every villain and or thug will be alive. I can't promise just how alive they'll be afterward, but I can promise their heart will be beating by the time you reach them."
"We'll…stop you," he gasped. "You can't…get away."
"See? There's that determination. I admire it, I truly do. I think that in this city, you'll be the only one to properly challenge me."
The boy stood up, gave him a cheeky wave, and walked away.
The last thing Colin saw before the darkness took him again…was Lung's skeleton, still in the alleyway, scraps of flesh pulsing as his regeneration did everything in its power to keep its host alive.
****************************************************************
What the hell is wrong with me?
Those were the thoughts running through Velyra's mind as she silently watched her charge (potential partner? Friend? Ugh, this was so confusing) put one hand on Lung, and the other on Armsmaster, healing them both. Lung was barely more than a thin layer of muscle attached to bone; she could see his veins as they grew.
Mahito had a look of utter concentration on his face as he worked, but every now and then, his eyes would flick upward and meet hers.
No fear. No disgust. No wariness.
When was the last time someone had looked into her eyes and smiled? When was the time someone had let her touch them without flinching?
As much as she liked her body, she also understood that she was dangerous to the average human. Her skin was smooth in one direction, but could easily cut up someone if they touched her in the wrong one. Her fangs were comparable to hypodermic needles, and her tongue was rough enough to strip bones dry of meat. Her hair was just a bunch of quills, and if she wasn't careful with her nails, she could nick someone.
She couldn't cuddle with people. She couldn't kiss someone without hurting them. You couldn't even run your fingers through her hair without getting jabbed a million times.
Her first month after waking up, and the only people who could touch her were Brutes. In that aspect, she understood her fellow Case 53's agony.
Human touch was a luxury she had resigned herself to forgoing. The number of Brutes tough enough to withstand her body could be counted on one hand, and a decent portion of them were villains.
She had taken a gamble with Mahito today. She had noticed him touching her on the 'wrong' side of her skin without bleeding. Maybe his skin was naturally tough, maybe he was shapeshifting his body to accommodate hers.
But she wanted to believe it was because…becuase they fit together. The way their fingers had intertwined. Her grey skin over his pale hand. The way his hand seemed so small in her hands…
She shouldn't be getting this attached to him. She didn't understand what had happened in the bathroom at that restaurant, or why he was lying about being a Case 53. He could be some kind of infiltrator or spy.
But…the look in his eyes when he healed someone…the gentle way he comforted patients…that awkward surprised laughter that came from him when someone who had been healed pulled him into a hug-
He was compassionate. He was kind. She liked his laugh and his dry humor. That look of wonder that entered his eyes when he started healing someone.
She just wanted someone who could touch her. Someone she could touch.
Someone she could love.
"I don't need him healed up all the way," Armsmaster said roughly, grabbing her attention. It seemed that he had recovered fully, thanks to Mahito's healing. "Just make sure he can breathe, talk, and be transported. His body will take care of the rest. And if you can keep him asleep for a day, do that as well. I need to start working on a new power armor model."
Then her new leader's eyes went to her.
"Tomorrow morning, we'll have a quick rundown on the new parahumans, Fester and Kurourushi-"
Mahito flinched at that name. A minuscule one, but a flinch nonetheless.
Wonderful. Another indecipherable secret.
"And you can properly prepare yourself if you run into them," Amrmsmaster finished. "I doubt it, but it doesn't hurt to prepare."
"I understand sir."
"Have a good night sir!" Mahito said cheerfully. She let out a small giggle at the overexaggerated salute he shot their boss. Armsmaster, to his credit, merely rolled his eyes.
"Great, just what I need; another guy who thinks he's a comedian," he grumbled as he walked out of the sick bay.
A minute later, Mahito let go of Lung.
"Alright, that should be enough to hold him over. I'll alert the troopers to come to foam him and take him to his cell," her charge said.
Lung looked marginally better. He had skin now, which was a major improvement considering what he had looked like before, but he was still emaciated, and his face had metal-looking scales flaking off.
Why was his head spared when he was nearly eaten alive?
"I'll escort you to your room," she declared.
He shot her an annoyed look.
"What, you gonna protect me from all the nasty bad guys hiding in the government building full of superheroes?"
She smirked and leaned in closer. "Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to spend a little more time with you. Who knows what kind of trouble we might get into together?"
She heard him suddenly suck in a breath before he abruptly turned and started walking away.
"You play too damn much," he muttered under his breath.
"Who said I was playing?" she said with a cackle. Just because he couldn't blush(or could stop himself from doing so) didn't mean she couldn't see his reactions.
She wanted to have something with him, whether it was as a friend, or something more.
But first, she needed to make sure that he wasn't a danger to the city.
No matter her feelings on the matter, she was a hero first and foremost.