Bad Beat - Chapter 44 - Wonder (Patreon)

Gabriel spent some time confirming that nothing had changed with his body.

There were no extra appendages anywhere, and nothing he already had had changed. Maybe his body looked a bit more sculpted, but there was no six- or eight-pack with zero percent body fat anywhere in sight. His hair was still the same color, and his eyes didn’t glow. Yet, deep inside, he knew his body had changed.

Gabriel wondered if other superheroes felt the same way.

It was really weird to feel new instincts and sensations emerge within him, slowly blending with the ones he had always had. When the ‘switches’ for the Devour and Unleash abilities had first appeared, he had sensed them as distinct points somewhere beyond his conscious mind.

But as time passed, they slowly melted into the rest of his being, becoming less and less of a separate entity and more like something he had known how to do since birth. Turning them on or off felt no more difficult than breathing or blinking.

With Sparky hovering nearby in her drone form, they ran a few more experiments. She slowly began increasing the amperage of the electrical arc shooting into him, and he could feel the tank inside him steadily filling up.

Naturally, the stronger the electrical discharge was, the faster the void filled. He found a few matches, so they also tried fire, which his body absorbed just as easily, leaving his skin at exactly the same temperature as it had been before he stuck his finger into the flame. Sadly, however, the protection didn’t extend to his clothing or anything else he wore.

Just the skin.

This had complicated his life a bit, but Gabriel was still pretty happy with the power he got.

Putting his hand into the tiny freezer compartment built into the ancient refrigerator also showed that he could somehow absorb cold.

Kinetic energy was much weirder.

He tried hitting himself, which did absolutely nothing.

Then he had Sparky ram into him with the drone, first gently, then at increasing speeds. That, he could absorb, but at the same time, he still felt the pain of a small drone made of metal and polymer slamming into his stomach.

Apparently, the power didn’t come with pain resistance or immunity.

“Right. Make a note: don’t try to absorb kinetic energy until I’m durable enough...” he muttered, rubbing his poor stomach while Sparky hovered cheerfully in the air.

Testing other forms of energy would have to wait until he could have Mia come over with her gun. He wanted to see if he could absorb whatever it fired at him.

Then Gabriel tried to unleash the energy stored inside him.

He slowly raised his hand toward one of the small, ancient throw pillows on the couch and reached for the other switch. Just like with manually controlling his breathing, he simply willed it to work.

Gently, of course.

His hand lit up with a white glow for a brief moment before firing a very traditional-looking beam at the pillow. The beam slammed into it, and he watched the cushion cave inward as though a force had struck it. A split second later, the couch groaned beneath the impact, and the faint smell of scorching fabric reached his nose.

He cut off the power, and the light vanished.

“I wonder if I can change what kind of energy I fire,” he mused out loud.

He couldn’t.

No matter what he tried, it always came out the same.

A white beam that appeared to be a combination of kinetic energy and heat. Though he suspected the heat was probably just a byproduct of the kinetic force interacting with the material rather than an inherent part of the beam itself.

He did discover that he could shape the beam, however. It could spread into a wide cone that barely affected whatever it touched, or compress into a narrow, razor-thin line that practically sliced the pillow in two, sending stuffing flying everywhere...

As a final test, feeling the energy stored inside him running low, he fired a small, brief burst of it at himself to see if he could absorb it.

It hurt, but surprisingly, he could.

His palm began to grow warm, while the void inside him seemed to be emptying and filling at the same time.

He cut off the power and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Gabriel didn’t know what use this knowledge would have, but at least he knew it now.

“Now I just need to make something that makes me super durable and resistant to the elements,” he said out loud.

Still, he bounced on the balls of his feet a few times, unable to contain his excitement, and grinned.

“I finally have a superpower!”

Naturally, Sparky chose that exact moment to chime in.

[This unit would like to remind the parental unit that he already had a power.]

He shot the blue projected screen a look.

“Yes. I had one. But this is different!”

[How?]

“It just is,” he insisted, even though he couldn’t articulate the difference.

The drone’s front dipped a fraction, as if Sparky were looking at him with the disappointment of a mother watching her son do something particularly boneheaded.

[Sigh~~]

[Still, if the parental unit has stopped feeling himself up, this unit has something to report.]

“I was not... You know what? Never mind,” Gabriel said, shaking his head. “What’s up?"

[Please direct attention to the projected screen.]

Another screen appeared instantly, displaying a video from one of the many video-sharing sites. Weirdly enough, this world didn’t have the monolithic platforms he had grown used to in his previous world. Instead, there were dozens of major sites and hundreds of smaller ones that people used every day.

Leaning closer to the screen, he saw it was a compilation titled ‘Bombshell Screams Pt. 1’.

For the next minute, he was subjected to a montage of people recorded on every kind of device imaginable, with video quality ranging anywhere from three pixels and a banana to crisp, high-definition, stabilized footage. The clips all followed the same basic pattern. Bombshell would approach someone, exchange a bit of small talk, usually while the man or woman freaked out and asked for an autograph, then grab them before taking off into the sky.

There was a lot of screaming, some begging, and a few people vomiting.

He even spotted himself in one of the grainy recordings, looking completely gobsmacked before his own scream faded into the distance as the person holding the camera desperately tried to follow Bombshell’s flight path.

He glanced at the comment section, but after the third ‘step on me mommy’ comment, he gave up on it.

“How many?” he asked, wondering what the goal was.

Was this something the superhero had decided to do herself for some weird reason, or something Helix had ordered her to do?

[Current count is around 48 recorded events.]

“Anything common between the people she grabbed?” he asked as the video began to replay from the moment he appeared, his tiny scream coming through the drone’s small speaker.

[Not all individuals can be identified due to subpar recordings.]

[This unit tried her hardest.]

[The only thing common between the people approached is that they all live and work around the Thousand Flowers Hotel.]

“That’s not surprising,” Gabriel commented. “But why have Bombshell do it? Why not just hack cameras or use smaller heroes?"

Sparky didn’t answer, just switched to a video where someone had synced the screams to a popular pop song.

“This makes absolutely no sense,” he finally declared after a few minutes of thinking. “But I’m too tired to think about it.”

[This unit will continue looking into this.]

[Good night, parental unit.]

“Good night, Sparky,” he replied with a yawn. Almost on cue, as if the decision itself had triggered it, the events of the day came crashing down on him at once.

He ambled toward his bed and fell face-first into it.

­­**

The next morning, he woke up energized and ready to face whatever the new day threw at him.

Then, as soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, Sparky was there with the drone, projecting several screens where different videos were playing of people grabbed by Bombshell, set to all sorts of music or edited into chaotic arrangements. Someone had even made rudimentary music using the screams. Sparky, unsurprisingly, had managed to find the ones that prominently featured him and his rather high-pitched scream.

“I want you to know that I hate you right now…” he told the sassy AI as he sat down for breakfast. He had an afternoon shift, so he had time to take it easy.

[Good. Goood. Let the hate flow through you.]

[This unit is ready to make use of it.]

Gabriel completely ignored her.

“What’s up with the building? Have the Jackals done anything?” he asked as he began cooking an omelet.

Several reaction GIFs vanished from the projected blue screen as Sparky began her report. Despite being a silly goober most of the time, she at least took this part seriously.

[Reporting: Electric Jackals conducted a sweep of every apartment in the building and questioned all residents.]

[To note: they discovered several unknown methamphetamine labs, and at least one individual growing weed without permission.]

[According to internet chatter, there is also an uptick in Electric Jackal presence on the streets, and several verbal altercations with other gangs have been reported.]

[Based on past data, they are almost ready to escalate.]

[They still require a target, but as soon as they find a suitable one, or the actual thief, they are going to strike.]

“Huh. Who is doing the hunting? Claw?” he asked as he made sure the omelet was cooked perfectly. “I don’t think they have anybody who is into investigation…”

[There has been an increase in super presence in the district.]

[Small-time heroes like Venice Vortex and Chrome Knight were spotted entering the area, but no known fights or altercations have been recorded.]

[Both heroes are affiliated with Helix.]

[Several villains have also been spotted.]

[Velvet Eclipse, Mirrorshade, and Glass Siren have all left the district, claiming it is becoming too dangerous.]

[Iron Scab has arrived with his people and has publicly taken over several warehouses.]

[Nightsoil was spotted near one of the cemeteries.]

[Smog Bride publicly joined the Buzzers.]

“That’s a lot of people. What about the smaller ones?” Gabriel asked as he began to plate up the food.

[Heat Index is still publishing his heat index every day at the same time.]

[Surprisingly accurate.]

[Railyard Prophet has posted another one of his prophecies.]

[Quote: “A hand the man trusts moves the switch when he is not looking.”]

[And the Overpass Witch has started a new video series about the plants she has found under overpasses.]

[Feedback is generally positive.]

[This unit believes it is because she does this in a swimsuit.]

“And I assume there is no news of the supers with Electric Jackals, right?” he asked curiously as he sat down to eat.

[Neither Claw, Longlegs, nor Neon Mirage has been seen since the theft occurred.]

“Bummer…” he mumbled between two bites.

Then something occurred to him. “What about the data we got? I completely forgot about it. What with all the people trying to hunt me down and stuff. Did you manage to crack the encryption?”

[Correct.]

[Smug undertone.]

[The first set of data has allowed this unit to gather 3,123,654 credits from several hidden accounts before the rest of the money was moved elsewhere.]

“Nice! We can use that to buy stuff from my deck,” Gabriel commented.

Having that amount of money would ease some of his worries.

“What about the second set of servers? Anything about Mia’s sister?” he asked, watching the drone anxiously.

However, the drone simply dipped forward, clearly and unexpectedly conveying sadness. Even the usually silent propellers whined in a way that reminded Gabriel of a dog whimpering.

[This unit apologizes.]

[While the encryption was broken, the information was insufficient to determine a clear cause for Mia’s sister’s death.]

“Nothing? Not even a hint?”

[Hint: yes.]

[There are several references to a project she worked on.]

Gabriel let out a sigh, reached into his pants pocket, retrieved his deck, and flipped through the cards before selecting one. He summoned its contents onto the table. A small bottle filled with an almost luminous blue liquid appeared, the fluid sloshing gently inside.

“Any info if the project was related to this?”

[The project name was Blue Lagoon.]

[Addendum: Mia’s sister studied chemistry at San Bernardino Community College.]

“Major bummer…”

A/N: Had a large fun making up backstories for the new supers.

Heat Index can feel how the weather is going to feel, so he makes money by posting the Heat Index for every day at the same time.

Railyard Prophet can predict the future, but his prophecies always use train terminology and are pretty vague.

Iron Scab is a scab that is hired to break picket lines and can imbue his people with power that turns their skin iron.Fun times!