Scene break*
Benji was frustrated at his results, only three good hits, four went under, two went over, his swings had ten centimeters off center, and his good hits were glancing blows, and that was with rather slow and aimed strokes, sure Benji could hit generally where he wanted, the lightsaber could and would cause grievous wounds even with glancing blows, the issue is that he needs better control on a killing stroke.
Still he knows that he will improve with time and pinpoint accuracy will never really happen, unless it was one of those pins with colored plastic balls as heads, which still is a good hallmark. Benji knows that he lacks the proper muscle memory, his 'memories' both Ranma's and the Jedi/Sith mix told him how to move, his 'new' memories had some swordplay practice as well, but nothing heavily serious, enough that he was an skilled amateur, and adding his 'real' memories only added a little to it.
In the end it all comes to practice, practice and practice, drills, forms, routines, repeated ad nauseatum and ad infinitum, all his memories agree with that, so Benji clears the area, it was nearing the time to return home and the less physical training aspects, as meditation and psychic control, plus Benji was considering messing with another light blade.
In his related memories, most of the factions that used light blades tended to lean too much on battle blades of high power, but some jedi would and did build 'lesser' blades for minor tasks and precision cutting, and Benji is considering making a light blade somewhere between a X-Acto knife and a small carving blade in a metal pen configuration, as a more discreet version of his test light pen knife, after all toying and twirling a pen is far more inconspicuous than doing the same with a flashlight.
Scene break*
Benji learned that the telekinesis was far more versatile than he remembered reading on Perry Rhodan or seeing on Star Wars movies and games, it was mentally demanding and weary, but Benji could use telekinesis to cut things in a molecular to atomic level, it was much harder than cutting in a normal level, but it allowed for far cleaner and precise cuts, surprisingly enough, the idea was mastered on the Sith side, though Gucky was aware of it but didn't use it and couldn't use it to cause atomic explosions to happen like Ivan Goratchin could nor he could destabilize the structure or bonds, just cut objects into smaller parts, still perfect for cutting the crystal blocks for his blades.
The cut off parts could be used and it what the source of the crystal for Benji's light scalpel, he had purchased a few fancy pens for that kind of use anyway, he selected one that is a bit over five inches long and comfortably thick, like a good pen is, it isn't a capped one, and the push button is locked in place, it wouldn't work as a pen anymore, but that was unimportant.
The light blade is more of a needle, with an adjustable length of one centimeter to two inches, it would make cutting things for parts much easier, and also makes fine cuts on the synthetic sapphire that requires no polishing afterwards. Benji moves to the ground floor twirling the pen, he is tired and with a very minor tiredness headache, but he is happy with his day's results, and is planning dinner with a positive mood.
Scene break*
January ended and February started and Benji started to feel closer to the level of skill, ability, fitness and prowess of his implanted memories, sure nowhere near close of Ranma's level at the beginning of the manga, but closer to Akane's level, he isn't the most acrobatic fighter at the moment, but he was already par to a break dancer or gymnast with baseline alone, adding basic spirit energy/ki boosting and he was near Olympic level, with 'force' boosting he was close to movie level jedi from the second/newer trilogy.
And that boosted Benji's confidence and made him far more comfortable in going back to school, sadly his lightsaber was left home, he wasn't keen on taking up on heroics, but it was something that he was forced to do, apparently Taylor would be involved in the masquerade in one way or another, so has to do so as well, the rather faint 'imprint' of Taylor that he had, which was less noticeable, useful and present than Navi from Zelda Ocarina of Time, buzzed with desire to be a hero.
More jaded and mature, Benji wasn't keen on being a hero, if forced to be one he will follow the Punisher model, god knows that Brockton Bay needs the Punisher touch badly, Benji is sure that good old Frank Castle would be driven barking mad with the state of the city.
Benji's choice of outfit was selected for freedom of motion, practicality, warmth and pockets, ankle tall steel toed black leather boots, thick denim pants slightly loose, a sturdy black leather belt, a t-shirt, flannel shirt and hoodie jacket combo, in dark blue, dark greens and dark grey selection.
Hooked on his waist and tucked on his right side pocket is his new key chain, a thin steel chain and paracord weave with a sturdy lobster style clasp hooked on his belt loop, his keys nestled inside his pocket alongside the light pocket knife disguised as a flashlight, he left his wallet home and was using a much thinner leather wallet with just the bare essentials, his student ID, library card and a few bills, a slightly more substantial amount was hidden inside a small kubotan stick that has a screw base and a hollow core.
On his backpack his books and notebooks, for Benji wasn't a big deal lug all his books, he used to do the same in his school days as well, he has a pocket knife tucked into his pants, clipped to his belt from the inside, a medium length assisted opening blade with no real frills, a plain and simple one with a wooden finish to make it look less scary.
Benji was of course wearing his spy gear, with empty memories ready for a full day of recording, Benji turns on the recordings just before getting out of the bus, it requires easily dismissed acts to do so, as pressing the start/stop button for the stopwatch while in the main display of the watch, and a three seconds long press on the end of the glasses's frame right side leg, both which can be dismissed as nothing of importance.
In terms of powers and abilities Benji knew that he could rely heavily on the Gucky powerset if he needs to, the 'force powers' were still on a very basic level and was better not to rely too much on them, especially the projection powers such as push, wave/repulse, lightning, even choke, more 'passive' abilities were working okay, such as minor precognition, it was essentially seconds worth of advance warning when focusing one something, or a minor danger sense, the boosting was a crapshoot for now, Benji wasn't able to consistently get the output right.
Ranma's 'powers' were better on the physical boosting, its passives require no active pushing or prodding to work, and adding all the small things of Ranma's set with the others, Benji is sure that he won't have trouble if the need arises, as long it isn't something dramatic like a major cape battle, and in a more normal scale he feels ready and able to deal with virtually everything, and he plans on trying to push for a transfer to Arcadia again, this time backed with the evidence recorded with his gear on top of the other evidence that he had.
Scene break*
Benji found the school worse than he remembered, in both of his memory sets, Ranma's wasn't considered valid, he wasn't studious when it came with school subjects, he loved reading, but he saw little use for the brunt of what was taught and he learned more from personal research and studies for his fanfics, not counting TV, than he did from school, and few of the day's classes before lunch, the current 'period', were tolerable, and home economics is the only what he was looking forward to, ironically enough it was both because he likes cooking, and because the bitch trio hated and didn't have that class.
Benji dodged the trio as much as he could, his new powers made easy to avoid them in the breaks, and in class he could use them to harass them as needed, as well counter any 'pranks of opportunity', he also 'perverted' his powers, using them to grope, pinch, tease and overall stimulate them in sexual ways, while broke their concentration when trying to bully him, made them cause scenes and humiliates them.
His telekinesis allowed him to feel things up, no pleasure, pair or anything like that, but still he got tactile like feedback, so he could feel the texture of what he is holding or feeling up, but when he got destructive, then he wouldn't get as much feedback like that, just enough to know if he is crushing, breaking or tearing things.
The best part for Benji, is that he managed to get them in trouble by making them hit other students or the teacher, or by hitting the teacher with a telekinetic flick making him or her turn just in time to see whichever of the trio about to strike with something, or plainly make the trio think that they were groped by someone near and make a scene, especially it was a teacher.
However Benji wasn't going to stick around for lunch, he ducks out of school and teleport away once out of sight towards an alley near the nearest Subway shop to have lunch, quality wise Benji found that the American shops were superior than the ones that he went on Brazil and the cookies didn't give the taste of feeling of being sweetened with low calorie artificial sweeteners, and with his monetary leeway he could splurge a bit.
The restaurant was surprisingly packed and Benji ended sharing a table with a blonde girl around his age, she wasn't familiar to him, not that it she would be even if she went to his school, since he didn't really knew everyone, she did eye him somewhat strangely, but beyond a polite greeting she didn't say anything else and they ate in silence.
Scene break*
Lisa was honestly surprised with how her lunch turned, she had to get out of the base because Alec was getting on her nerves, Coil was giving her trouble and she is still chaffing under his rule, that she would meet a perfect stranger essentially immune to her power was a shock, the sharp insight that she normally gets from watching someone doesn't come, straining the best that she could get was superficial and meaningless stuff, like he liked the chipotle sauce and was eager to try the crunchy peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.
In a way it was refreshing not to learn every little secret from the boy, in another it was annoying and frustrating, she was used to learning everything or as close of about someone as she could get with minimal observation, it scared to be back to what she used to consider normal before triggering, and risking a thinker headache she tries to get a better read on him.
Scene break*
Benji was a bit surprised with the scrutiny that he was getting, he could tell that the girl is a cape, and the more she focuses on trying to figure him with her powers the more access he gets to her mind and memories, he notices a minor twitch when he figures that she was a reluctant villain. 'She got a ping on my emotional state.' Benji said reading the surface thought. 'And is confused about what caused it, she couldn't find a reason for a feeling of pity and desire to help.'
While he got a general picture of her situation, Benji couldn't get details, his telepathy isn't up to the level that he could gently and unnoticeably brush through her memories for information, that would come with far more practice, he can see her wincing and feeling the headache starting on her mind, it made the read get a 'filter' or 'haze', it doesn't affect him or the reading, but he could tell that was there with more than her mental complaints.
"Anything wrong?" Benji asks politely, as her frown was easily visible. "Migraine." She answered as level as she could. "It is a regular thing, happens when I stress too much with a problem, it is nothing serious." Benji nods at that, she was telling the truth, just omitting the real cause, Benji makes a mental note to 'tag' the girl, Lisa, as she called herself, not her true name, which he got as well, but given how negatively charged it is for her, he decides to use the one that she picked herself. As much as he didn't want to got heroing, he might as well do it to rescue a girl who otherwise wouldn't choose a life of crime.
Scene break*
Once back home Benji moves to the basement and sets to work on his second lightsaber, at first he considered making another Tenchi style hilt, but he decided to try another hilt/guard style and after going through his mental rolodex of cool swords that he liked the design, he settled with a Benihime style, it was somewhat similar to the Tenchi style on the guard, but more traditional Japanese on the design, if you ignore the odd pommel, but he did like the design and was surprisingly easy to work.
Benji had already finished the construction of the guts of the blade, the guard/emitter shroud, Benji used bronze instead of steel and polymer for most of the construction, the polymer will be only used to insulate and pad the insides, Earth Bet had a shortage of anime thanks to what happened to Japan, still some was imported from Earth Aleph to bolster the little that was produced locally, between his memory and the few images from the internet Benji had good references but not main details, which he didn't mind much as long he got the shape right.
His part of the basement was slowly turning into a workshop, which worries Benji, Danny sooner or later would notice that, but Benji is afraid of moving it to his training base, and in the Hebert house Benji can't really invest on machines to work the hilts, without the machines making the space inside the hilt was labor, time and psychic intensive, requiring far more time than it would with a endmill and other machines.
Unless he had a really good and reliable location for a base Benji wasn't going to invest on heavy machinery, equipment and materials, he already has issues with his training base, it is just a whim away from being found, sure his light scalpel helped working the bronze and carving out the material, but it was very time consuming, and the welding goggles are uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time.
Still Benji endures, taking the maxim used on Ranma that everything is training, so he keeps working, using his powers to remove molten and hot material from the ingot of bronze that he is carving, shaping it cold with telekinesis, as he could exert crushing pressures with it, getting stronger the more he practices, precise as well, there is a real difference between a combat crush and precise pressure, combat crush was far more forgiving with force fluctuations and weaker pressure areas, where being precise is after all about precision, just enough force applied constantly, in as many areas as needed, inside and out.
One thing that Benji secretly installed in the house was motion sensors at the doors, in particular the front, back and basement doors, rigged to an alarm so if he gets too focused or distracted working/training in the basement he would snap out to hide things, he was trying to get that system to work on his training base, to both alert him of intrusions there and to get alerts from the house when there, no success there, he had to keep splitting his attention, which was also good training, Gucky could multitask with his psychic powers and the Jedi/Sith training also relies in expanded awareness and multitasking, even Ranma leaned heavily on it, it was part of why he was so good learning martial arts and adapting them on the fly, he could learn as he fought someone, so he had to see everything, feel everything and think about everything in high speeds to not get beaten.
Scene break*
Benji liked the army and navy surplus store, while in the past he didn't buy much there, beyond what little gear he needed for his short time as a boy scout, now Benji was buying rather cheap military grade stuff, being realistic Benji knows that he won't get a costume/uniform/outfit for being a hero anytime soon, using mass produced parts to make something able to endure combat yet cheap enough to be easy to replace was a must.
Pants, belts, load bearing equipment, balaclava masks, pouches, gloves, a few K-bar knives, blankets, tarps, empty ammo cans, trench coats, electronic earplugs, and other odds ends, such as first aid kits, rations, stoves, mess kits and cots. The clerk didn't raise an eyebrow at Benji's purchases, it wasn't even odd gives the city and how some people were into prepping.
While Benji didn't find anything great there, he had enough to start a improvised battle dress uniform, he would need more stuff then alter stuff until it gets to something usable and practical.
The Hebert family monetary situation wasn't good even before Annette's death, Annette stretched the family's budget with coupons, a habit that Benji's Hebert memories said that he kept, paired with his own memories of harsh times, Benji was pretty avid with couponing, it helped putting food on the table, hiding the inflow of stolen money into the family's budget, since Danny didn't really do much more than gather newspapers, adds and other sources of coupons, most of the dockworkers actually helped by giving Danny newspapers, magazines, adds and stuff with coupons.
While dealing with that took time, Benji felt that investing the time with it helped, the cutting of the coupons was something that they did as a family and was something that they kept doing, and was one of their interactions beyond meals, random conversations and talking about their days.
Danny didn't even complain about it, as Annette's and then Benji's stance on it helped keep the costs low, keep food on the table, the house and themselves clean, Benji wasn't like some people that he watched in that one TV show, that got thousands of toothbrushes, countless useless things.
Given Endbringers, gangs and other disasters, Benji could understand keep supplies of everything, and he could accept getting toothpaste, toothbrushes, tissues and other small items to make kits to donate for the homeless, disaster victims and other unfortunate people, Benji did that as he could remember and keeps doing it mostly to lessen the blow if his illegal acts are discovered, plus what his family couldn't use could help those in need, careful use of coupons did give out plenty of long shelf life food, the designated pantry and storage area of the basement couldn't fit everything, so donating some away was a must, because Benji refuses to waste food and throw it away.
Presently Benji is more focused on building a bigger stash of food, hygiene products, bottled water, cleaning products and so on, because he knows that shit will hit the fan and he will be splattered by it, plus if he does get a base having supplies there doesn't hurt either.
Danny arrives home to find Benji cutting and coupons. "Do I see a shopping trip in the future?" Danny asks mildly, mostly amused by it. "Yes." Benji answered. "Some of the old coupons are near expiring, plus there are sales to take advantage off as well." "Should I leave the truck with you?" Danny asks curious, it took some string pulling and favors, but he had gotten Benji a driver's license, it was restricted, but allowed him to drive to the market alone if needed.
"It will save time." Benji answered, he didn't really had that much practice driving, ironically his Hebert memories have more hours behind the wheel than his real self, which added a bit to his confidence, in his real life he wasn't the most experienced driver and if he could he would rather not drive at all. "I could shop while you are working and pick you up when I am done."
"Just tell me when." Danny replied with a nod. "Are we making any of those relief kits?" Annette started that practice, making small 'travel' kits to send to FEMA alongside canned or dry food, mostly they send their surplus hygiene goods. "I think that we might get a hundred or so." Benji answered. "They practically give away toothbrushes, floss and paste." They also keep some kits in the basement in case of local emergencies, not counting their own personal stash of the stuff for their own use.
Danny nods with a smile, while he couldn't do much to help especially with their monetary situation, every bit helps, specially with frequent Endbringer attacks and other catastrophes, even small they are doing their part to help the relief. "Anything for dinner?" Danny asks. "I made a chicken potpie." Benji answered. "It is baking." "Great I will take a shower and come back here to help you with those." Danny replied, Benji nods and turns his focus back to the cutting of the coupons.
Scene break*
Life went on, Benji saw little to no change on his life, Emma, Sophia and Madison were still bothering him, but now more subtly, from what he could read from them they are getting some heat, Sophia from the PRT and Emma from her father, however that made the duo angrier at Benji and instead of stopping they are trying to escalate as secretly as possible, but he was avoiding the worse stuff thanks to telepathy.
His Benihime style saber was finished, the weight, balance and feel were totally different from his Tenchi style, even without the frills that the anime sword had, still it was proving to be a good one, his skill level was increasing all across the board as well.
His plans on getting a base weren't really proceeding and Benji ended just sealing the abandoned house from the inside with a mixture of boards, metal bars and wire fencing bolted and screwed on the inside of the doors and windows, which made him a bit more comfortable in leaving more valuable things there, as well a stash of supplies.
The news of a Endbringer attack on Australia worried Benji a bit, he really doesn't know if he is up to that level of conflict, it only served to make him step up his training as much as he could.
Benji still has trouble with getting materials for his projects, he struck a tentative friendship with Uber and L33t, the duo even dropped their cut when selling Benji parts when he asked for them. Then there was the somewhat awkward conversation where they asked Benji if he wanted to be their minion, not the hired muscle kind.
Benji refused the offer and took it as the offer of friendship that it was, he was willing to hang out with the two when gaming, he isn't a tinker, his projects while advanced, were small stuff to advance his training or make his 'costume', with lots of effort and building everything from parts and systems, Benji jury rigged and crafted a stinger training drone.
It took two weeks for Benji to get the thing built, it was still jerky when flying/floating, but it works well enough, Benji nursed plenty of welts from its low power stinging blasts, but he is slowly improving both his dodging, parrying and blocking abilities, blast reflection was still spotty, he couldn't aim it yet, but his swordplay is getting better thanks to it.
Presently Benji is once again facing the high tech disco ball, as he called it, the firing and flying pattern is random, it is voice and force activated, so he can call stops or pauses as needed, at the first level of difficulty Benji was still missing six out of ten bolts with the parry/deflection, dodging he is doing a bit better floating around seven or eight out of ten bolts.
The thinner blade made the parry harder, using the flat made easier, it takes getting used to, but Benji didn't really feel like using the classical rod blade, dodging a bolt of light, which strikes harmlessly at the purloined mats, Benji tries to anticipate the next one, being faster than bullets it means that Benji had to dodge or block before it is fired and learn to tell what to block, what to dodge and what to reflect, of course that would take more drones to simulate multiple shooters.
In the end Benji was just happy that he isn't striking himself with the blade anymore, he got a few painful welts and burns early on, fortunately Benji never used the saber in lethal mode, so it was spared missing parts, still pain does wonders to teach someone how to not do something, with some telekinetic aid Benji wasn't hitting himself no matter how close the blade came to his body.
Practicing more destructive powers were far more troublesome than martial arts and sword work, 'force' lighting could be loud, while sound proofed, the basement wasn't the best place for training it, the basic level was already pushing, higher power levels were worse, grip, throw, crush, pull and push could be worked there as long he doesn't go too overboard, wave/repulse is completely out, Benji had scouted a few out of place locations away from the city, but it was still not the best and he had to avoid using them frequently.
Scene break*
Looking at his 'costume' Benji wasn't happy, sure it looked okay, like something out of a FPS or a TPS game, between brute ratings being common and the combat styles that he is learning he added kneepads and elbow pads to it, to harden his blows and to provide protection when sliding, similarly to the back plates on the LBE rig that he assembled, the formerly army green clothes were dyed black for the trousers and dark blue for the pullover top, the LBE was dyed dark leather brown and following the Punisher's method and reasoning he added a white chest plate to the LBE, the plate is just a group of pouches stitched together as a single unit, it was like that when he bought and it was meant to be a side or waist attachment for pistol magazines, but for Benji it worked better as a easy reach pocket set with things that he believes to be useful, yet not important enough that breaking would ruin his day, after all the plate is there mostly to draw fire to his center mass, where he can parry with ease, the homemade trauma plate also helps.
He had added light armor in the form of altered dirt bike armor, with their original plates replaced with a basic space alloy from Perry Rhodan's universe, it wasn't easy to manufacture, but between lightsaber tech, over/furnace grade bricks and building material and telekinesis Benji had the lightweight but resistant plates to cover his shins, thighs, arms and shoulders, all painted to match the body part that it was protecting, his main issue is headgear, thanks to his glasses he would need some corrective lens of some kind, a helmet would be a pain to wear and restrict sight and hearing, however he doesn't want to got without a mask.
He had a ninja style black mask for now, it was thinner than a balaclava or sky mask, he was planning to build a choker with a voice altering device, but he didn't have luck with it, and creating his 'Batman voice' was hard and tricky, having to practice with a computer and without real time help, and takes a lot of concentration as well, it was getting easier with time, but none of his memories save Ranma's had practice with that kind of thing, and Ranma used it mostly with his girl side.
Benji really didn't want to go out as a hero or something on those lines, but he knows that whatever force that placed him in place of Taylor would screw him up he doesn't cooperate at some level, ROBs normally want certain checkpoints done regardless of what is done or achieved there, in some cases they want to see different ways of responding to said points.
Benji had practiced with the costume, it would be stupid not to, he had created 'sheaths', closer to holsters or clips, for his swords, they are solid and hold onto the hilts strongly, preventing accidental releases or drops, while a dual wielding style is still a bit beyond his skill level, he could use it if he wasn't too fancy with it, but single sword use was his strongest suit at the moment, followed by a sword and dagger mix.
"Aw shit…" Benji hisses as he feels Taylor Navi bugging him about going out as a hero, he is sure that she is the ROB's way of ensure that he at least tries acting as a costumed something, because it was up to him alone he wouldn't do it, and if he had to it would be after years of training.
Benji moves to the basement's half bath, while it has no shower, the sink and toilet works, he kept some stuff there, as the contact lens that he had ordered for himself, and the mirror to help put the damn things on, once those are in place and his glasses stored safely, Benji changes into his 'under armor' a set of silk trousers and long sleeved shirt, it will help prevent chaffing, a cup will help protect him from random blows to the crotch, then he moves to put on the battle gear, over the mask he puts on a pair of blue tinted shooting goggles/sport sunglasses hybrid with a spy cam and microphone on it, giving him a wide range of sight with a reduced loss of peripheral sight, he could add some LED lights attachment to the frame's legs, it came on the kit, but he decided against it, on his ears the electronic plugs that filter out shots and other possibly damaging sounds to a safer level without deafening him.
Benji looks at the full body mirror that he had pilfered from the school, he looked like a cosplayer or a wannabe game soldier, but next to no skin is showing on his, his gloves are secure, the rig is okay, nothing is feeling out of place or uncomfortable, well the cup isn't the most comfortable thing ever, but it wasn't bad, hidden under his LBE is the Beretta that he stole from the school along side two extra magazines for it, just in case.
Taking a deep breath, Benji closes his eyes and focuses on a empty alley far from his neighborhood seeing if is secure and hidden, he was about to teleport away when inspiration struck him, if he was going to go and be a hero, even if going on the Punisher route, he could try lightening up a bit, a swift teleport to his bedroom will help there, he rummages on his closet until he finds what he wanted, a camouflaged baseball style cap with classic woodland camouflage pattern, he never wore it and was still on the package, he adjusts the plastic strap and puts it on over his ninja mask, his smile hidden by the fabric and then he teleports away beginning his life as unwilling hero.
Scene break*
'Yeah this is good.' Benji said to himself. 'Nothing is happening, no need to go and act out.' Of course if Benji really wanted to, he could try and find a crime or something by lowering the filters of his telepathy, he is just using it to detect lifeforms around him, keeping some focus to detect if he is spotted, and avoiding people while walking through the alleyways and other deserted areas of his selected patrol area in the docks.
"Aw fuck…" Benji cursed when he picked angry and murderous thoughts, not the kind that indicated a crime of passion, nor the kind that was just frustration and essentially harmless, but ones of premeditation, focusing on those thoughts Benji grimaces as the ABB were planning to kill some 'kids', the definition of said kids isn't clear, the leader is older than the intended victims and the 'kids' could be used pejoratively.
What is clear is that the gang plans on murdering a group of people before the night is over, using their minds as a starting point Benji searches for a good teleport spot, he finds one in the roof of the building that the gang left and teleports there, where he catches the leader, Lung, giving his final orders to his men.
Benji grits his teeth, he counted fifty three gang members there, not counting Lung, most armed, the brunt have knives, bats, clubs and similar medium to small melee weapons, fifteen have guns, pistols of different kinds, ranging from Saturday night special kind of revolvers, cheap semi-auto pistols, to a couple of pricier pistols, fortunately nothing heavier than a forty five.
Thanks to the very combat experienced memories and minds, Benji was making a swift battle plan and assigning threat levels and locating the most dangerous targets, the ones with firearms and Lung, his mind is warring on the level of force to use, for his surprise the Gucky mindset advocated a lethal approach with no bullshit and overwhelming force, Ranma's mindset was advocating for a non-lethal approach with plenty of showboating and saving Lung for the last, to fight a powerful opponent that only grows stronger making the fight harder and more challenging, the force user mindset was in the middle ground, it dismisses the showboating and flash maneuvers from Ranma, it approves a more permanent take down of dangerous targets by crippling the ones with guns, and going for the kill with Lung, the others could be put down with the sabers non-lethal mode set to stun.
And after a few painful burns Benji 'rememered' how to adjust the intensity on the training mode blades, while overall non or less than lethal, in the highest level of damage the blade could kill if enough damage is given to the target, between burning, electrical and blunt force damage, in the lowest, which became Benji's norm after his fourth burn and figuring how to reduce the level, the blade gave a shock similar to a strong shock pen and caused redness to the skin similar to a sunburn.
A lower than max level would knock out people and give painful burns not as bad as in the max level, oddly enough when used against anything not skin or flesh the blade could cause lots of damage, burning off clothes, melting metal, it couldn't cut through metal, but would dent and shove it away with the strike.
His glasses are picking the speech from Lung and recording everything, paranoid Benji wanted the evidence in case things turn pear shaped, after all who knows if that monster had lawyers on his payroll. Benji knew that he could try another tactic and call the police, but Taylor was insistent, he had to do it himself, with a deep breath Benji readies himself as Lung closes up his speech. "…the children, just shoot. Doesn't matter your aim, just shoot. You see one lying on the ground? Shoot the little bitch twice more to be sure. We give them no chances to be clever or lucky, understand?"
Seeing the mental images of what Lung wanted to do with his intended victims was enough to make Benji willing to go lethal on him, especially as the gang bangers were all willing to shoot to kill, all of them had killed in the past, and Benji learned that sadly all of them had guns, the ones that he couldn't see were because their owners liked being close and personal, and a few of them were hoping for girls to rape, and that made Benji change the saber's mode to full power and lethal mode, he hates rapists.
As Benji uses a 'force' boosted jump to get into fighting range he lowers the setting to stun as he idea crosses his mind, Benji lands hard on the street in front of Lung, smashing both blades on the shoulders and chest of the villainous cape, with a force push alongside it sending the masked man smashing hard against the opposing building.
Benji knows that it will take time for the cape to recover from that, long enough for him to send a message to any gangster and wannabe gangster, he pounces at the closest one while swinging his arms hard, the sabers now back to lethal mode, the gang banger hardly had time to process what happened to his leader before losing both arms, his right leg and getting a cut and vicious burn to his gut where his gun was hidden, the molten metal causing even more damage to the man.
Before the man could scream in pain Benji was already mauling another one. 'Asians are very image centered.' Benji knew that and knew how they tend to react to scars, loss of limbs and other things that give negative image and how they hated 'imperfect' or 'damaged' people. 'Leaving them crippled to life will scare them more than death alone.'
Benji hacked down his fourth gangster, the second that suffered a genital removal surgery, his second rapist, the first lost everything from crotch down and both arms, the lightsabers cauterizing the wounds and preventing bleeding, unless they hit their heads or get on heavy shock they should all live, not that Benji cares.
Switching his left hand blade to non-lethal Benji slices downward on another gangster's face, over his right eye, Benji carves a deep groove down the man's face and chest, his right blade looping off the man's left arm, a sharp ninety degrees change in angle, telekinesis assisted, and Benji removes the man's legs and testicles, another sharp change of angle and off goes the man's right hand.
Benji throws the Benihime blade at a gangster that drew his gun, said gangster gets a long cut on the entire length of his arm, his hand turned into ground meat thanks to the ammo cooking off in the melted magazine, the saber turned buzz saw makes a sharp turn and slices off the man's legs on the return trip.
While 'distracted' with that Benji was busy with another gangster, Benji moves to the next side of meat to be carved, with a one handed slash Benji lops off the man's arm, his left hand outstretched behind him just in time to grab the sword by the hilt, then Benji slices with the newly recovered blade carving off the man's legs.
The insight from Ranma was shocked with the violence, even with the memory of 'The Code' Benji couldn't care less about it, untrained or not, those were criminals by choice and not by lack of other ways, while he did steal and commit some crimes, he doesn't intend to make that a living, nor harmed others doing it, nor took pleasure terrorizing, raping, beating and humiliating people.
Oddly enough Benji could draw from Gucky's experiences, the man, Benji doesn't consider Gucky an animal, lived centuries as a soldier, had a body count higher than any army or many armies combined, while unsure of the cipher, the small in size being was capable of massive feats and on his long life as a soldier killed countless enemies, destroyed ships, even planets in the line of duty, fun loving, nice, kind, generous and playful, were all adjectives that matched him well, he was all that and more, a loyal friend, a prankster who knew where the line is and took revenge pranks well, however he was a extremely well trained and experienced soldier, and Benji could tap into the techniques and methods that he had to deal with the experiences of killing and fighting.
Another body hits the ground, a cacophony of screams and moans fill the street, the stench of burnt flesh, fabrics of many kinds, sewage and metal fills the air, Benji stands still for the first time since he landed, the gangsters were all down and no longer a threat.
Benji turns to where Lung was, the tall Asian male stumbled out of the building where he landed, Benji waits for the villain to do something. Lung was fuming, literally and figuratively, smoke rising from behind his mask, Benji could see the burnt welts on the man's chest, still not fully healed, saber damage was very hard to heal and nearly always scar, Benji turns off the sabers and sheathes it, intending to make the already angry man angrier at the dismissal, it worked.
Lung was too angry for words and expels a massive volley of fire at Benji from his mouth and hands, Benji blocks it before it impacts on him with a telekinetic shield, still the fire had 'weight' a impact that rattled Benji's stance a bit, Lung keeps advancing, keeping the stream of fire, Benji grins under the mask, Lung was underestimating Benji and overestimating himself badly.
Benji concedes that the man has good reasons for it, he had faced some of the most powerful beings in the world and either won or scored ties, however Benji wasn't using his full potential, so Lung's own potential was just barely above what Benji was using or used against him, nowhere near enough to tank a force lighting, which he charges with his left hand, holding the shield with his right hand.
Lung was surprised when out of the curtain of fire a bolt of lighting erupts and smashes at his chest with bone shattering force, he felt his skin vaporize and flesh burn, his regeneration working overtime to prevent the lighting from digging deeper, failing at it slowly, his heart contracts viciously, his muscles seize up and he is unable to keep his fire breath and the blasts from his hands going, Benji sends a stronger burst with followed by a weak push, it makes the now even taller man stumble back a couple of steps.
Benji charges at Lung who tries to front kick Benji away, Benji grins under his mask and slashes off the offending limb at mid thigh, Benji leaps over the taller man and slices off his left arm up at the shoulder, using telekinesis Benji shifts midair, helping his body to move and changing his momentum, he hits the wall of the building at Lung's back and leaps from it, changing the blade to non-lethal mode he smashes it at the back of Lung's head.
The man that was falling backwards is pushed forward as Benji twists his body and lands smoothly on his feet as Lung hits the curb face down. "Not so tough now, huh slaver?" Benji asks disdainfully. Lung roars in anger and pain, Benji gestures with his left hand and lifts the larger man telekinetically.
Lung tries in vain grip the ground, but is futile, he is lifted upright a good foot above the curb, Lung tries to fire another breath of fire, but Benji uses choke and makes impossible for it to happen, instead of a breath of fire is just a puff of fire. "Nuh huh." Benji said mockingly, tsking at Lung. "Your breath is really bad you know, I can smell it through my mask, it is that bad, anyway let's cut you down to side, you are too big for your breaches."
Lung tries to scream 'I am Lung! You are nothing!' but the force choke prevents that, Benji cuts off Lung's leg at crotch height, the man is an unrepentant rapist and a slave trader. Lung screams in pain, Benji allowed that, then Benji carves off the man's right arm at shoulder length, turning off his microphone Benji then asks. "Were are your money, drug, guns and slave stashes?"
Lung says nothing, barely aware of the question, Benji turns the microphone back on while he got a mental list of locations out of the man's mind, then Benji stabs Lung in the heart with the saber in stun mode and holds it in place until his mind shuts off and drifts into unconsciousness.
Benji let Lung fall and carves off the re-growth of Lung's limbs, ensuring that it will take months before he is fighting shape, a pulse check ensures that the man is alive, not that Benji cares much if he lives or dies. "You can come out now." Benji said turning to an alley. "Or I will consider you hostile."
"Please don't!" A female voice responded immediately, Benji saw a group of four teenagers and three dog like monsters leaving the alley. "You really saved us a lot of trouble," The tallest of the group told Benji, his voice was deep, masculine, but muffled by the helmet he wore. He was dressed entirely in black, a costume Benji realized was basically motorcycle leathers and a motorcycle helmet. The only thing that made him think it was a costume was the visor of his helmet. The full-face visor was sculpted to look like a stylized skull, and was as black as the rest of his costume, with only the faint highlights of reflected light on the surface to give a sense of what it was. It was one of those costumes that people put together out of what they can scrounge up, and it wasn't half bad if you didn't look too close, if anything looked better than his own. "You have our thanks for that."
The biker slowly gestures to his companions in a non-threatening way. "When we got word Lung was aiming to come after us tonight, we were pretty freaked." He told Benji levelly, explaining why they are there, trying his best to not make Benji consider them enemies, they saw what he did to Lung. "We were arguing strategy for the better part of the day. We eventually decided, fuck it we are already screwed, we meet him halfway. Wing it. Not my usual way of doing things, but yeah, the best way to give us a fighting chance."
"So you are the kids that they wanted to kill." Benji said with his 'Batman voice, prodding the unconscious Lung with his boot. "Why?" "We did a job against an ABB site." A blonde girl answers, she was dressed in a skintight outfit that combined black with a pale shade of blue or purple, he couldn't tell it well thanks to his tinted glasses and the glow of the blade, and her dark blond hair was long and moving with the wind. "He wanted revenge for that."
Benji could tell that was truth, and saw who the girl was, he had almost forgotten about Lisa, and there she was in front of him alongside her team, Benji turns off the sword. The biker, Brian according to Lisa's memories, relieved at the sign of a modicum of trust, stepped forward and gestures towards Lisa.
"Introductions, that is Tattletale. I am Grue." Grue said cordially. "The girl with the dogs-" he pointed to the other girl, the one who had whistled and directed the monsters. She wasn't in costume unless one counted a plaid skirt, army boots, a torn-up sleeveless T-shirt and a hard plastic, dollar store rottweiler mask as a costume, which Benji honestly couldn't, unless it was a rush job, and learning that those monsters were dogs were a bit surprising. "We call her Bitch, her preference, but in the interests of being family friendly and politically correct, the good guys and media decided to call her Hellhound instead. Last and certainly least, we have Regent."
"Hey! Fuck you, Grue." Regent retorted, with a chuckle and a tone of voice that made it clear he wasn't really that offended, and his thoughts made sure that he wasn't either. He was wearing a white mask, not quite as decorative or made up as the ones I associated with the carnivals in Venice, but similar. He placed a silver coronet around his short black curls, and wore a ruffled white shirt with skintight leggings tucked into knee-high boots. The outfit was very renaissance faire. He had a build that made me think more of a dancer than a bodybuilder.
Which ironically was the kind of build that Benji was aiming for, lean but strong, also easy to hide under regular clothes, he was fit, but until his trigger or awakening it wasn't there, partly to blame for lack of money to properly sustain a lifestyle to get it, plus the bullying did make Benji take rather long periods of time without training, which also added to it.
"Seems a bit pointless to ask." Grue said. "But are you hurt? I mean there are a lot of guys on the ground." "He isn't." Tattletale retorted uneasily, Benji wasn't the only one who recognized the other, for Lisa her inability to read Benji made him very easy to recognize, still she can read the scene. "They haven't come close to hitting him, and Lung, the one with the ability to do so was taken out easily."
"What she said." Benji added, thanks to his array of powers and skills it was easy to control the flow of the battle, the few shots fired were either blocked or he sent them astray with telekinesis. Tattletale smiles a bit, she saw his amusement and that he wasn't feeling aggressive towards them. "Got a name?" She asks with a vulpine smile. "Because I can't see jedi on this scene."
Benji snorts at her comment, Tattletale could feel his mirth and a splash of nostalgia. "What you know about the jedi is only what the jedi choose to show." Benji replied. "And the name is Captain Ninja."