Sentinel - Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Chapter 6

Adam floated in space, a helmet on his head and his earpiece in just in case anyone needed him. Pink energy glowed between his hands as he spent his energy generating Nitrogen-16, something he'd never heard of before. Google could be such a miracle worker. He'd researched radioactive isotopes with extremely energetic gamma emissions, and Nitrogen-16 had caught his attention.

When Nitrogen-16 undergoes beta decay, it releases a staggering 7 Million electron volts (MeV) gamma ray. To put that in perspective, medical X-rays are typically around 0.1 MeV. The main place Nitrogen-16 occurred was in the cooling water of active nuclear power plants. It only had a half-life of seven seconds so while it was highly radioactive, it didn't last long.

He was going through all that effort to abuse his newest trait, Glowing One. Using Eve's power he could produce any radioactive element he wanted. Thus using his own energy reserves to slowly but permanently increase his physical stats. Unfortunately, he didn't recover all the energy he spent making the elements since atoms produced by the decay continued to exist.

In short, he was using his own energy to permanently buff himself inefficiently.

Until he went into space and floated in front of the sun with his Radiation Absorption ability active at the same time. Absorbing solar radiation helped replenish his energy reserves making the process a lot more efficient. He was still slowly losing energy, overall, but it was a trickle compared to the torrent it would have otherwise been.

The process was boring as hell though and left him reminiscing over his morning.

-----Line Break-----

Adam yawned as he slowly woke up. As he moved to stretch, he felt a weight against the right side of his body. Opening his eyes he looked to the side and saw Kate deep asleep cuddled up next to him. He smiled warmly at the sight. They hadn't done anything last not, not even a kiss. They'd watched a movie, then decided to call it a night. Kate insisted on sleeping over, but they were both wearing appropriate outfits to sleep in.

As he was watching her, she began to move, then yawned while he eyes fluttered open. It took her a moment to focus, but when she did, she gave him a bright smile, “G'morning.”

“Good morning. How did you sleep?”

She stretched with a soft groan before she answered, “I slept well. You make a very comfortable pillow.”

Adam chuckled and used his arm to pull her a little tighter against his body, “You're pretty comfortable yourself.”

They lay in silence for a few more minutes before Adam finally admitted aloud, “I really need to use the bathroom.”

Kate giggled then rolled off of his arm and jumped to her feet, “Too bad! I'm first!”

He watched, chuckling, as she took off for his bathroom. He might need to look into a bigger place when his lease was up. At least moving would be super easy with an army of super strong clones. He could probably do it all in less than an hour.

After getting out of bed, he went to pull out some of his clothes, before pausing and deciding there was no need. A flash of Eve's power and he was dressed in a simple outfit of jeans and a t-shirt. By the time Kate left the bathroom, he was pretty much ready for the day.

Once he finished his bathroom business, he made his way to the kitchen and got to work making breakfast for them as well as prepping some stuff for their lunch. It really would be hard to eat food he hadn't cooked after dinner last night. He might as well get used to it now.

Kate, one more dressed in the outfit she'd worn for their date walked into the kitchen while sniffing the air, “That smells amazing.”

Adam looked at the food he was making then back to Kate, “It's just some bacon, eggs, and toast. But, you're right. My skill is pure bullshit if just this smells so goddamn good.”

Kate laughed and sat at the table while Adam served them both breakfast. They dug in and groaned from the flavor. Such a simple meal had no right to taste so goddamn good!

-----Line Break-----

After breakfast, he'd dropped Kate off at the Teen Team tower. Rex had been asleep still, Eve hadn't been there, and Robot was at the scene of the invasion. Kate wanted to spend more time getting used to her improved abilities so she'd gone directly to the training room. With nothing else to take his attention, at the moment, Adam had decided to head into space and make radioactive isotopes where it wouldn't hurt anyone.

Unfortunately, it was a very boring process and he was getting annoyed with it. So, he stopped making the impossibly radioactive material and took a page from his traits description, he made a handful of just extremely radioactive radium chips. There was no way he was eating them though. Instead he stuffed them into his pockets and let them do their thing.

While his energy reserves filled from the radium and solar radiation, he got to work on something near and dear to his heart.

Lifting his hands wide and high, pink energy roared to life as he made something out of nothing. Shining new metal appeared floating nearby already formed into thick curving beams. As he worked more and more of what was clearly a frame came together.

Adam grinned at the sight of what would, eventually, be his own personal spaceship. He was building one of his favorites from Star Wars, and no it wasn't the Millenium Falcon. He was making his own personal X-70B Phantom. It was the ship used by the Operative in the Star Wars The Old Republic MMO.

At least that was what the exterior and shape was going to be. The problem was that the plans were thousands of years old, relatively speaking. So, the X-70B needed to be upgraded with more modern internals. For that, he was using the plans for the personal ship of Darth Maul, The Scimitar. Combining the two gave him a luxurious ship with modern electronics, hyper drive, computers, weapons, and, most importantly, stealth systems. The Scimitar used the most powerful cloaking technology in the Star Wars universe to render the ship invisible to both scanners and visual inspection.

All of that would be combined with a luxurious interior including wood paneling, soft seating, and even a nice lounge to relax in. Frankly, it would be like flying a high class hotel room though space.

Aside from upgrading the electronics, he was also upgrading the materials. Wherever possible he was replacing durasteel with beskar. The main beams and the exterior layers were all going to be an alloy of beskar and cortosis. A good combination of strength and energy absorption. He wanted his hull to be as strong as possible because he was completely unsure just how the ship's shields would stand up to the weapons of alien ships. He simply had nothing to compare it to or to test it with.

Better safe than sorry.

Besides, he didn't have to pay for any of it. The ships he was basing his off of would cost tens of millions of credits alone. Adding beskar and cortosis would make the ship as expensive as some planets entire economies!

If he ever had the chance to go to the Star Wars universe, he would have to make sure his ship came with him so he could show it off.

Adam snorted to himself at that thought, “Yeah. Right.”

Thanks to the Radium in his pockets and the solar radiation from the sun, he was able to keep his energy reserves mostly filled. Beskar took a serious amount of energy to make. If he hadn't already drained so much radioactive waste to increase his energy reserves, he might not have had enough to actually make beskar.

“Sentinel.”

Adam paused in his work at the sound of Ceil's voice in his ear, “Cecil.”

“I'd like for you to join Robot and myself at the invasion site.”

“I'll be there in a few minutes.”

The line went silent leaving Adam in silence once more. A wave of pink energy rolled down his body transforming his street clothes into his superhero uniform and dispersing the radium chips. Properly dressed, he swapped in Route and aimed where the line told him too. Frankly, from space, he could only tell the basics of where he needed to go. That little ability helped out more than he'd expected it to.

Blasting through the atmosphere, he followed the guideline directly to the area the Flaxans had invaded. The bodies had been cleaned up but there were still bloodstains and large pieces of machinery, smashed vehicles, and other signs of the battle. It was easy enough to spot Cecil and Robot examining one of the tanks he'd destroyed with a thermal detonator.

As he landed, Robot and Cecil turned to face him, “Sentinel, good timing. Robot was just explaining why the Flaxans fled.”

“Indeed.” Robot gestured to the clearly rusty tank pieces, “Their time axis is different from our own. A day for us could be decades to them.”

Sentinel looked at the wreck and frowned, “So, they could attack again any moment after having had possibly decades to upgrade their equipment and prepare contingencies to use against us specifically?”

Cecil grunted in annoyance while Robot answered, “That's correct. Director Stedman and I agree that our best chance to turn the tide is to surprise them. That means you are our main hope for defeating them.”

Cecil cut in, “Omni-Man will be able to provide a helping hand when the Flaxans return. That should give us another edge. Even so, I want you to work closely with Robot to create and produce anything you think might be helpful against the next invasion wave.”

Sentinel considered it and then nodded, “I think droids would be our best bet for dealing with the Flaxans. We could also build and deploy portable shield generators to protect people and property from damage.” He rubbed his chin, “Or use them as a prison to lock the Flaxans and their portals into a specific area.”

“Intriguing ideas.” His head swiveled to face Cecil, “The shields would be especially useful. I suggest that Sentinel and I get to work on it immediately.”

Cecil nodded, “Do it.” then teleported out.

Sentinel looked toward Robot, “See you at the tower?”

Robot nodded, “I will have a drone there ready and waiting.”

Sentinel rocketed into the air and made his way toward the Teen Team base. As promised, there was another copy of Robot waiting for him upon arrival. As he landed, he looked at the drone, “I think we should create a personal shield for all members of the team. Another layer of protection will never be a bad thing.”

“I agree. Unfortunately, such a measure will not work for Kate. Her clones only replicate what she has within a few millimeters of her skin. Thus her skintight suit and lack of any weaponry.”

Sentinel sighed, “That sucks.. but I can make a copy of her suit made out of a beskar and cortosis weave that should greatly increase her durability.”

“An excellent idea.”

As they'd been speaking Robot had led them into his workshop. He stepped in front of a computer screen and typed in a few commands that pulled up schematics of his chassis' exterior, “I would like to request your help with upgrading the exterior of my chassis. Using what you granted me, I was able to design a model that would be the most efficient use of the new materials. Additionally, if you could provide more tibanna gas, I could use it to improve my weapons.”

Sentinel nodded, “Sure thing Robot. Though with how much material I'll need to create, I'll probably need to fly out of the atmosphere a few times to recharge with some solar radiation.”

“Actually, that will not be necessary. I've designed and built a gamma radiation ray capable of firing directed beams of gamma radiation. It was only possible thanks to the magnetic envelope technology of the blaster you gave me allowing me to project a magnetic field to keep the gamma radiation in line.”

Sentinel chuckled, “Wow, that's impressively fast integration of new technology.”

“I use electromagnetism in a lot of my own work, including the fastenings that hold my body together. It wasn't so different as to be difficult to integrate.”

Sentinel let pink energy roll down his body changing into something more comfortable to work in, “Excellent. In that case, let's work on your chassis first, then Kate's uniform. After that I can create the personal force field generators.”

“Very well, you may begin when ready, Adam”

Adam nodded and raised his hands while they glowed with pink energy. It was time for Teen Team to get a serious upgrade.

-----Line Break-----

“Wait. Wait. Waitwaitwait. WAIT! Are you telling me, you two fucking nerds, made personal force field generators for everyone?!”

Adam smirked at Rex's question and tossed over a belt with several moderately large blocky attachments. Rex caught it out of the air and grunted, “FUCK! That's heavy.”

Adam inclined his head in agreement, “It is, but the weight is necessary due to the power requirements. The power packs can be replaced and Robot has already upgraded his ride to carry several spares as well as a few charging stations. At full charge the shield will hold for thirty minutes under heavy sustained fire. However!”

Here he paused to look Rex, Eve, and Kate in the eyes, “These shields only protect against energy weapons. A regular bullet will pass through them as if they aren't there. This should be an issue since the Flaxans only used energy weapons.”

Robot picked up when he stopped, “Unfortunately, Kate, we couldn't get the shield generators any smaller. Unfortunately, this means it will not be of much use to your clones.”

Kate sighed and looked resigned while muttering, “Figures.”

“While the shield generator is mostly useless to you, Adam and I worked together to create you a new suit.” As he said so, he pushed a small box toward her, “We kept the design the same but we wove beskar and cortosis throughout it. Testing proved it to be bullet resistant to anything short of anti-material weapons or armor piercing rounds. By my calculations, it should also be able to handle around five direct hits from Flaxan weaponry.”

Kate opened the box and looked at her new suit with a slight frown, “Are you sure? It doesn't look any different.”

“We strived to keep it as close as possible to the one you have no so it would be possible for your clones to replicate it in the hopes that more would survive combat encounters.”

Kate looked at Robot then her gaze shifted to Adam where it softened. She was one hundred percent certain that the upgraded suit was his idea, “Thank you. Both of you.”

“Hey! Why the fuck don't we get awesome suits?!”

Adam gave Rex a flat look, “Because you get a force field. We don't know how long we have before the Flaxans return so we're prioritizing. The shield will have to do for now.”

He turned his gaze to Eve, “I'd suggest getting a good long look at Kate's outfit so you can copy its composition when making your own costume in the future.”

Eve's eyes widened in surprise, then she smiled, “Thanks, that'll be helpful.” She pointed a finger at Adam and gave him a mildly accusatory look, “But you still owe me several spars!”

Adam rolled his eyes in exasperation, “I'll get to it when I can, promise. But priorities!”

Eve pouted playfully while crossing her arms under her breasts, “Fine.”

He turned back to Rex, “As for you, we did design something you can use.” He looked at Robot, “Robot?”

Robot pulled out another box and set it on the table then pushed it toward Rex, “Using the blaster Adam gave me as a basis, I was able to design a special device that will allow you to use your kinetic charging to charge tibanna gas and fire it as a bolt. My calculations show that the tibanna gas will act as an amplifier for your ability much as it does for a blaster. You will be able to control the amount of tibanna gas used thus controlling the power of your explosions.”

Rex ripped the box open like a kid on Christmas day. His eyes widened dramatically as he looked at the specially designed gauntlets within. He stared for a moment before letting out a reverent, “Fuck yes.”

“Within the gloves are lines for each finger. By feeding your energy through the lines you can move it into the modified blasters. The move fingers you send energy down, the more tibanna gas you will use and the larger the resulting explosion will be.”

Rex lifted one of the gloves while Robot explained how to use them. Robot had wanted to write instructions, but Adam had pointed out that Rex wouldn't read them. Rex gazed lovingly at the gauntlet in his hand and smiled, “I'm in love.”

Eve slapped the back of Rex's head, “Gee. Thanks.”

“Awwww! C'mon babe! You know what I meant!”

Eve rolled her eyes and turned away with a playful huff. Adam and Kate chuckled at the interaction. Robot gave it a moment before he continued, “I have also, with help from Adam, upgraded my chassis with an alloy of beskar and cortosis. All of these upgrade should improve our overall team effectiveness drastically.”

That got some cheers from the other three members of the team who hadn't been involved in the upgrades. Robot let it go for a moment before he continued, “Additionally, Adam and I have created portable shield generators that will can be deployed to protect civilians and infrastructure alike.” He gestured to two different devices, “The small one will produce a shield wall ten meters wide and five meters tall.”

He turned and gestured to a much larger version of the shield generator behind them, “This one is a smart shield that, when deployed, will scan its surroundings and generate a shaped shield to protect as much infrastructure as possible.”

Adam chimed in, “Robot did the vast majority of the programming with that one. Without him I could have only made a basic dome.”

Eve chimed in, “You two did amazing work. With these upgrades and new gear we can do a lot more to stop those Flaxan guys on their next attempt.”

“Good.”

Everyone quickly turned at the sound of the foreign voice, though several of them recognized it. Cecil stood off to the side, “Your preparations will be extremely helpful. I've also come to deliver some good news. Omni-Man will be available for the next assault by the Flaxans.”

Rex threw his arms in the air, “FUCK YES!”

Eve, more rational than Rex, asked, “What about the Guardians of the Globe? No one's seen them in days.”

Cecil glanced at Adam, “You didn't tell them?”

Adam shrugged, “I didn't think I was allowed to. It's a big deal.”

Cecil considered that for a moment, then nodded, “Good.” His gaze swept over the Teen Team, “The Guardians of the Globe, all of them, were murdered the night before the Flaxan invasion. The only person on scene to survive was Omni-Man, but he was beaten nearly to death and in a coma until this morning. Adam's healing woke him up faster than expected.”

Everyone stared at Cecil in shock at the news. Rex summed it up nicely, “Jesus fucking Christ!”

Kate looked at Adam, “Since when can you heal?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Just a couple days. It's super weird. I literally punch people better.”

Kate snorted, “You punch people to heal them?!”

“Moving on.” Everyone turned to face Cecil, “I just wanted you guys to be aware and ready...” He trailed off as a beeping sound suddenly came from a large machine on the other side of the room.

Robot straightened up, “That's the Flaxan portal detector. They're coming.”

Cecil grunted, “Good thing I'm here then, I can teleport you all nearby.” He reached up to touch his earpiece, “Donald, have the teleporter prepped.” He lowered his hands, “Get changed and grab your gear. It's time to go to war.”

-----Line Break-----

Dozens of Sentinel's clones flew through the air carrying dozens of shield generators to various locations surrounding the site where the Flaxans were invading from. He was the only one fast enough to get them in place before more damage could be done. Thankfully, his lovely girlfriend, the now heavily protected Dupli-kate was on scene and putting her new armor to good use saving civilians.

Just the thought of her being better protected lifted his mood.

While his clones were putting down the shield generators, his original body was hovering in the air waiting for them to finish and merge with his body. He couldn't swap which power he was using in Power Mimicry until then.

His vantage point made it easy for him to see how things were developing on the ground below. They'd been right, the Flaxans had made specific counter measures to deal with Teen Team and Invincible. When Rex tried to use some of his normal disks as explosives, the Flaxans produced a gun that actually reversed their direction and sent them back at Rex. Swapping to his new gauntlets had him raining down explosions upon them with wild abandon as they once again had no countermeasures.

For Robot, they fired some sort of pyramid device that split into four triangles which all attached to his body and emitted enough electrical energy for arcs to roll off of him and into his flying jet-bike and disable it. Thanks to the cortosis weaved into his new beskar chassis, Robot himself was completely unaffected. In fact, he ignored the devices and used the arcing electricity coming from them to fry any Flaxans that approached too closely.

For Kate they brought out ground based weapons that fired more of a beam than a bolt. This let them turn the weapons to follow her in an attempt to kill her and any clones she spawned. Unfortunately for them, between her improved speed, agility, and armor they couldn't even singe a single hair on any of Kates heads.

The only time she got hit was when she used her body as a physical shield for a civilian she was evacuating. Once more, her improved physical abilities proved to be a massive boon as she could easily lift and run with a full grown man in her arms and not feel any strain from it.

In the case of Eve, they made small flying balls that seemed to lock onto her and flew toward her at high speed. She was able to focus through the weapons fire of the Flaxans thanks to her new shield and destroyed all of them. Though the fourth one did open and looked like it was aimed right for her head. Adam wasn't sure what it would have done if it managed to latch on, but it never got the chance.

As for Mark, or rather Invincible, he hadn't been given any kind of upgrades. Frankly, no one on Teen Team really knew him all that well. All they knew was that he went to the same high school as Eve did. She'd brought him to the tower after school the day before and introduced him officially to the group. He seemed like an okay, if nervous, guy. Adam could sympathize with Invincible as he'd felt almost the exact same way back when he'd started as a hero just a few short months ago.

Invincible's lack of upgrades proved to be a problem for him. Four tanks, working in tandem, had fired continuous energy beams that had pinned him down. While he couldn't move, a group of four Flaxans had moved in with different weapons that looked more like high tech flame throwers. When the beams ended, the Flaxans with the strange packs fired out a weird grey goo that slammed into Invincible and pinned him to the leg of one of their tanks.

Seeing that Invincible couldn't get free from the material let Sentinel realize the weapons were probably designed with him in mind as well. A single counter measure for the two flying bricks. It made sense and, judging from how Invincible couldn't free himself, it was highly effective and durable.

One of the Flaxans, clearly holding a grudge, started pummeling the hell out of Invincible's face. Fortunately for the new hero, the Flaxans strength was nowhere near enough to actually hurt him. It looked more like the Flaxan was just venting his rage. If it looked like it might get worse, Sentinel planned to intervene. Until then, he had his role to fulfill.

Thankfully, the first half of his job was fulfilled when the last clone finished setting its force field generator. All the buildings were now protected and the civilians were either evacuated or behind a force field.

With all of his clones returned, Sentinel swapped out his Tinker – Star Wars ability for Explosive Sweat and began expelling a wave of a dozen clones. As he did so, he flew down toward the ground bringing the group with him. His clones all split off and began ravaging the Flaxan army with explosions.

Kate, no longer escorting civilians, joined in the offensive. As a team, everyone came together and began to throw the Flaxans back.

While a large number of his clones were beating the hell out of the Flaxans, one made its way to Invincible. The poor guy was still stuck and getting pummeled by the really pissed off Flaxan. As he got closer, Sentinel could guess why the Flaxan had a bone to pick, the guys eye was covered in a nasty scar and he'd clearly lost sight in it. Definitely a personal grudge.

Oh well.

Sentinel slammed a fist into the side of the Flaxan's head as he came in hot and sent the green alien flying through the air to slam into one of the tanks. With the Flaxan down, for the moment, he reached down and grabbed Invincible's hands, “Performance issues?”

Invincible gaped and spluttered making Senintel laugh. He'd learned that a sense of humor was an absolute must to deal with such shitty situations. It was either laugh, or cry, and he would rather laugh. He could cry later, if he felt the need.

Getting a firm grip on Invincible's hands he looked down at him, “Ready?”

Invincible nodded and Sentinel pulled with all of his might. It turned out the gray goo had some stretch to it so he managed to rip Invincible free. Grinning at each other, they turned and joined the curb stomp that the invasion was becoming.

He blitzed toward a Flaxan soldier that had leveled his gun at himself and Invicible. He saw the alien soldier's eyes widen at his sheer speed. It didn't save him as Sentinel grabbed his wrist and raised it high into the air. He felt something crack under his hand and watched as the Flaxan began rapidly aging.

Over by Robot, another Sentiel turned to him, “Their wristbands!”

Robot nodded and knelt down to rip the wristband off of a defeated Flaxan, “Guard me while I isolate the frequency they're using.”

Sentinel stepped in front of Robot and let the machine do his work. In less than a minute he isolated the frequency and sent out a massive pulse that had all the wristbands on the Flaxans sparking and failing. With their tech disabled, the Flaxans began to age rapidly once more. They didn't hesitate to call for a full retreat. Though one copy of Sentinel did see the vengeful Flaxan trying to get them to stay and fight. He failed and retreated with the rest.

After the portal closed, Sentinel stood with the rest of Teen Team, plus Invincible, and looked around. Casualties hadn't been non-existent, but they had been minimized. As had property damage. Most of it was the remains of the first wave of the invasion.

Putting two and two together, Sentinel looked at Robot, “This is the second time that they've come through on this very spot.”

“You are correct. I believe they have no choice on where they open their portals. This is most likely due not just to our planet being another dimension, but also a different time stream.”

Rex scoffed, “Who cares about that?! I want to know where the fuck Omni-Man was!”

As if summoned by his name, Omni-Man descended directly in front of them, “I was here, but you all clearly had everything under control. If things had gone bad, I would have intervened.”

Omni-Man's gaze swept over the group, though they paused on Sentinel long enough for the others to notice. Then, without another word, he shot of into the sky with enough force to cause a small shockwave.

Sentinel sighed and looked to Robot, “I think we need to spend some time making more shield generators to further reinforce this area. I highly doubt this is over.” He looked toward where the portal had been, “If we preemptively reinforce the area, we can cut down on the casualties even more and I won't have to spend time setting them out again.”

“I agree. Though I suggest we make new units with additional security to keep it from being stolen, hacked, copied, or otherwise disturbed.”

Sentinel nodded in agreement while splitting into dozens of clones that took off to collect the generators, “I agree.”

-----Line Break-----

Robot stood before all the members of Teen Team, plus Invincible, “Due to how busy Sentinel and myself have been something important has been pushed to the side for some time. Now that we have a spare moment, I wish to formally welcome Sentinel as the newest member of Teen Team.”

Everyone politely clapped. It wasn't like his joining the team was a surprise or unknown to everyone, but it was still nice to officially announce his joining to the whole team and one guest.

With the announcement by Robot finished, Sentinel spoke up, “Thanks for the welcome! I want to invite everyone to a dinner I'll be making as a small celebration for the official welcome.”

Kate's head whipped around and stared at him with a deep hunger that had nothing to do with their budding romance. He grinned playfully at her. They had both confirmed that food not cooked by him was almost unpalatable to them now. It was a bit of a problem, but not an insurmountable one. Other food could be eaten, it's not like its nutritional value was suddenly less, it just wasn't as pleasant as it used to be.

After his announcement, Sentinel split into two and sent a clone off with Robot to Robot's private lab.

Sentinel stepped into the Teen Team kitchen and began cooking away while the clone of him was also in stepped Robots lab helping him design new protections for the mobile smart shield emitters. Sentinel was nearly useless, but only nearly. He was able to dig little tidbits out of his Tinker ability to help improve things Robot suggested. Robot would then further refine the idea and then implement it.

While he was cooking he decided to go over the list of rewards he'd been ignoring.

[Feat Achieved! Defend against the 2nd wave of the Flaxan invasion with minimum casualties. +1 Platinum Gacha Ticket.]

[Feat Achieved! Drastically improve Teen Teams performance during the 2nd wave of the Flaxan invasion. +1 Silver Gacha Ticket.]

[Feat Achieved! Become a full fledged member of the Teen Team. +1 Gold Gacha Ticket.]

It had been a while since he'd gotten so many tickets in a row and he expected that the stronger he got, the less often he would see such a thing. He decided to work his way up the rarity scale.

'Roll the silver ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Tinker – Minimization, Rare Ability, Allows you to build, construct, and design contraptions or machines that are minimized and smaller versions of existing technology. Like creating a hyper compact nuclear reactor that can fit in an apartment, a building-sized supercomputer into a laptop, etc. Whatever technology exists, you can create a far smaller version of it without sacrificing quality and reducing energy consumption. Provided you already know to build said technology.]

Sentinel looked over the result of his first roll and smiled. It didn't let him build anything new, but he could already see several ways in which it could be used, such as making the shield belts much smaller and less bulky. He could also use it to pack a lot more into the limited space of the ship he was in the process of building in space.

'Roll the gold ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Phantom Sensation, Rare Ability, Allows you to project sensations of what you can do to someone in your line of sight without actually affecting them physically. You can project the sensation of groping, licking, scratching, choking, burning, stabbing, hanging, etc. provided you could actually do those things to your target without the ability.]

After reading the description of his newest ability, Sentinel had the biggest smile imaginable. It was a perfect ability for someone in a wonderful new relationship. The less pleasant uses for the ability were blatantly ignored for the more teen hormone fueled possibilities the new ability represented. He paused when he realized that the ability couldn't be used on himself, which kind of sucked.

Additionally, Phantom Sensation was officially his fifteenth ability meaning he'd just unlocked his fourth slot. That would definitely come in handy with how many worthwhile abilities he'd gained.

'Roll the platinum ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Edict, Elite Ability, Edict allows you to put rules on people by touching them and expending energy. Edicts force rules on targets that they must follow, like not being able to drink milk or forcing them to go to a certain location at certain times or making them unable to wear clothes in a certain room. The target will feel an incredible mental compulsion to follow your edicts. The stronger a target is in relation to you, the harder it is to place an edict on them. If an edict goes against a target's self-preservation instincts, it will be exponentially harder to set.]

Sentinel stared at his last roll and frowned at the implications. No matter how the ability was broken down, it was straight up mind control. Even so, he could see uses for it. If he was strong enough he could use it to force villains to stop being villains, forever. But... was that the right thing to do?

His trepidation about the ability grew and he wondered if he should even mention it to anyone at all, Cecil included. He could already see just how paranoid people would become around him if he mentioned the ability and what it could do. He... he needed time to think about what he wanted to do with the situation he now found himself in.

Pushing it aside to think on later, he refocused on cooking for Teen Team. Maybe a bit of procrastination was a good thing sometimes.

-----Line Break-----

“Holy fucking shit this is the best fucking thing I've ever had in my mouth!”

Sentinel, still in costume because Invincible was around, chuckled at Rex's reaction to the food he'd cooked. Everyone else around the table was too busy moaning in pleasure at the flavor exploding in their mouth. Even Kate, who'd been eating his food for a couple days now, had her eyes closed in bliss.

After swallowing her bite of food, Eve looked at Sentinel in full seriousness, “Marry me.”

Rex jumped in right behind her, “Fuck that! Marry me!”

Kate glared at both of them, “Fuck you both! He's my boyfriend so I get first dibs at marriage!”

Robot silently watched the interaction between his fellow team members with hidden curiosity and a small amount of regret that he couldn't taste what was apparently a delicious meal.

Invincible, feeling slightly out of place, didn't add anything verbally. However, his enjoyment of the food was obvious as he continued to eat it with clear signs of joy.

After all the marriage proposals, everyone was once again silently eating the food Sentinel had prepared for them. Sentinel watched as the two first timers across from him, Eve and Rex, seemed to have the same experience that he and Kate had had the first time. An epiphany of some sort.

Rex slowly chewed his food while looking at Eve. Really looking at her. He loved her. She was his first love. Yet he had cheated on her, more than once, and every time she forgave him because he made some stupid excuse. Seeing her flying with Invincible as they came to the tower from their school, he'd thought she might be cheating on him. Now he realized that would never happen.

Therein lay the problem. Eve would never cheat on him but he knew, for certain, that he would cheat on her again. The question was... why? The answer was, he loved Eve, but he didn't see them going the distance. He cheated because he was looking for something. He just didn't know what. And... Well, Eve didn't deserve that.

He needed to break up with her, for good. He knew that would hurt her, but it would be better for them in the long run. He knew if he was honest that they could at least remain as friends. That was something he really wanted so he definitely needed to do it before he fucked up again and ruined their relationship forever.

Eve happily ate what had to be the best meal in the entire world. As she ate it, her power dissected the way the atoms were arranged so she could replicate it later and enjoy the flavor once again anytime she wanted. She so badly wanted to share this experience with her parents but... Well, her parents were hard to deal with.

She remembered how her parents thought of her even before she got her powers, when she was only more intelligent than a normal child. That's what it really came down to with them, normal. They were normal and wanted a normal child, something she could never be. Even if she did what they wanted and gave up being a superhero, it wouldn't change who she was at heart.

She wanted to help people.

That was probably why she liked Adam, Sentinel, so much. All he wanted to do was help people. It was in his every action from the time he debuted as a hero all those months ago. She smiled at the memory of the first time she'd met him. A bank was being robbed, pretty standard really, and the Teen Team was kicking ass. While they were doing that, she noticed another teen in a ski mask without shoes flying around and helping out anyone who got caught in the crossfire.

Rex hadn't been wrong to make fun of his lack of shoes, it's what stuck in her mind the most. Then he'd gotten himself a real costume and... well damn he filled it out nicely. Rex was pretty ripped, something she really enjoyed on him. Adam was perfectly sculpted with the looks of a male model to go with it. And, to top it all off, he was an artist in his spare time!

Then there was his power. He still hadn't explained it in detail, but what they did know was mind blowing. His power was pure bullshit, and that was coming from her! She could use her power to reshape reality itself. It was even more powerful in extreme moments when she overcame the blocks put on her in the womb. At full power there was literally nothing she couldn't do.

That made her pause. Adam had copied her power, but he didn't have her limitations. Even so, he'd never said or done anything that could reveal the aspects of it she kept hidden. It was something she greatly appreciated, she hadn't even had to ask him to do that. If people knew she had to power to affect them... well, they would be terrified of her.

Adam knew the full limits of her power and hadn't changed how he treated her in the slightest. She really appreciated that. Hell, she appreciated everything about Adam. He was dating her best friend and treating her like a queen, from what Kate had told her.

God she was so jealous!

…

Shit. She was jealous. Not just friendly jealous, but really jealous. She... liked Adam. That was a problem. She was with Rex, and loved him. Adam was with Kate and they were so sickeningly cute together. She decided that she needed to keep that hidden. She didn't know how things would play out in the future, but there was no way in hell she was going to get between Adam and Kate. Kate deserved to have some happiness in her life and she wouldn't get in the way of it.

Robot watched and wished, not for the first time, that he had a normal body. He might not be great with emotions, but even he could see the absolute joy on the faces of everyone as they ate Sentinel's food. He'd never experienced eating food, but he'd witnessed it more than enough to tell when someone truly enjoyed what they were eating.

Everyone was more than enjoying the food.

It wasn't until the plates were cleaned of every scrap that people began to talk again. Rex was the first to speak as he stared at Sentinel, “You better fucking cook for us from now on! This shit was too fucking good! Just thinking about eating anything else is making me upset!” He pointed an accusatory finger at Sentinel, “You better know how to make fucking pizza!”

Eve giggled but back Rex up, “He's not wrong. I don't think I can go back to eating anything else either. The food I make has nothing on this.”

Kate just smirked knowingly. She'd already been addicted to Sentinel's food since their first date. It was nice to see she wasn't the only one whose palette was being completely destroyed by his cooking. Step one to her dastardly plan to begin dating both Adam and Eve, get Eve addicted to his food! Getting Sentinel to cook dinner for everyone had been something she wanted to do. The fact that he just volunteered to do it was amazing. Seeing the reactions of everyone else was pretty fun as well. Sentinel's food really was divine.

Now she just needed to drag Adam off for some time alone. He deserved a proper snog for putting in the effort of making dinner to celebrate his official joining of the Teen Team. Someone else should have cooked... or more likely ordered something. She wasn't sure if anyone else in Teen Team could actually cook. She sure as hell couldn't, Robot didn't eat, Rex's idea of cooking was instant ramen, and Eve just used her power to make food.

Honestly, it might be a good thing to get Adam to cook for them all the time. His food not only tasted beyond great, but there was also... more to it. Every time she ate his food, she felt so energetic. She'd taken to hitting the training room after every meal just to burn off the excess energy. It didn't hurt that her newfound physique burned calories like crazy. She could probably live off of pizza and candy without gaining a single pound even if she lounged around all day every day.

She owed him one hell of a kiss for the upgrade!

-----Line Break-----

Cecil read and reread the report Adam had sent him on the growth of his abilities. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, “This is bullshit.”

“Sir?”

Cecil handed the printed email over to Donald, “Adam.”

Even without having read the message, Donald now understood Cecil's apparent frustration. He quickly read the message himself and let out a small sigh, “This is...”

“It's bullshit is what it is Donald. I'm just glad we got him to those waste sites before he gained that Glowing One trait. Even so, he spends so much time in space using Atom Eve's power to make radioactive elements and working on that ship of his that he's growing stronger by the day. Not to mention that gamma ray that Robot developed just to provide him more energy while they're working.”

Donald looked concerned, “Are you worried he'll become uncontrollable?”

“Always. Though I do think the odds of it are low. He's still focused on saving people and I can work with that. The fact he was even willing to tell us about his Edict ability speaks volumes about his intentions. There's also the technology he's given us. You've seen the reports on the effectiveness of the bacta tanks.”

“Yes, sir. The engineering department is still singing his praised over his prosthetic designs. The nerve interfaces alone are revolutionary.”

Cecil looked up at the multitude of screens displaying information about events happening all over the world. Nothing major was happening at the moment, much to his relief. He slid his hands into the pockets of his pants and sighed, “We're only using a portion of what he gave us and it's still advanced our technology at least a hundred years, if not more. Then there's the technology he deployed against the Flaxans second wave and the upgrades he's doled out to the Teen Team. Their effectiveness has improved to a dramatic degree and I think it's only going to grow with his new Tinker - Minimization ability.”

Donald considered Cecil's words then probed, “What will we do next?”

“Let him grow Donald. It's all we can do. I wont have potentially the worlds strongest human assassinated over fear of an unlikely future.” His eyes narrowed, “Still, we need to be careful. Hopefully, once we find a way to deal with the Flaxans for good, his growth will slow down and we'll have time to adapt.” He sighed deeply, “Hope isn't enough though. Start a new whiteroom project, Project Terminus. Classification, Omega-Black.”

Donald jerked in surprise before cautiously asking, “Sir... are you sure? If he somehow found out it could turn him against us.”

Cecil grimaced but answered, “What happens if Adam decides we're the enemy? The day we stop preparing for what could go wrong is the day we get people killed.”

“Yes, sir.”

-----Line Break-----

Adam was smiling happily as he relaxed on his couch with a Kate on each arm. It was kind of weird to him having a girl on each arm, even if they were the same, but Kate insisted. Since she shared senses between all copies of herself, she got double the cuddles. It was something that made her happy and Adam wasn't about to complain about having a gorgeous girl on each of his arms.

It had been a few days since the last Flaxan invasion so Adam and Kate decided to take the night off and have themselves a date. Of course, neither was far from a phone in case of an emergency. They'd taken the day and flown down to Florida and spent the day on the beaches of Daytona Beach. Seeing Kate in a bikini had done things to Adam. They'd spent hours playing in the water and sunning on the sand. Adam had even had a little fun building a sand castle. The memory of rubbing sunscreen onto Kate would be one he'd cherish for a long time.

After spending the day having fun in the sun, they'd retired to his place to cool down and relax some more while a copy of himself made them dinner. Ever since he'd made food for the Teen Team, he'd become their personal chef. Thankfully, Kate's ability had come in clutch. He'd made a bunch of clones and rented some space to do a lot of cooking at once. Even reheated, his food was still significantly better than anything else on Earth.

Just as the movie was getting interesting, there was a loud knock on his door. Both he and the Kates looked at the door before one Kate turned to him and asked, “Expecting company?”

Adam shook his head, “Nope.”

The clone in the kitchen cooking, split out another clone and it went to open the door. Adam smiled brightly, “Eve!” He grabbed his sister and pulled her into a tight hug, “What brings you by?”

Eve Cross happily hugged her brother back, then playfully pushed him away, “You don't call, you don't write. I was getting worried.”

Adam rolled his eyes while stepping back into his apartment, “I texted you yesterday.”

Eve playfully whined, “But that was soooo long ago!”

After stepping into his apartment, she paused and raised an eyebrow at the scene that greeted her, “What's all this then?”

Her gaze swept over the copy of her brother sitting on the couch with a copy of the same woman under each arm. Meanwhile there was yet another copy of her brother in the kitchen cooking something that smelled truly heavenly.

The Adam that had opened the door stepped back into the kitchen and merged with the one cooking, he was the one who spoke, “Just having a relaxing day with my girlfriend. Which you knew because I told you I would be yesterday!”

Eve grinned wickedly and walked into the living room, “I know. Why do you think I came over?”

Adam rolled both sets of eyes while the one on the couch huffed, “Of course you did. Introductions first! Eve Cross...”

“Ewww using our last name?”

“Shut up. Eve, meet Kate Cha, my girlfriend. Kate, this is my annoying little sister, Eve.”

Kate chuckled when Eve interjected, “I'm only thirty minutes younger!”

“And yet, this is the result.”

Eve stuck her tongue out at Adam before she offered her hand to one of the Kates with a smile, “Nice to finally meet you Kate. Mom and I have been trying to get Adam to bring you home for dinner all week!”

Kate accepted the offer of a hand shake and shook hands with Eve, “It's nice to meet you Eve. You know, my best friends name is Eve.”

Eve grinned broadly, “Atom Eve on Teen Team, right? Don't worry! You can just think of me as the prettier Eve.”

Eve mock preened and did a little twirl. She had reason to be a little conceited about her looks. As handsome as Adam was, Eve was just as attractive. Dark wavy hair down past her shoulders set off her pale skin and emerald green eyes. While Adam was well built, Eve had all the right curves in all the right places giving her wide hips and ample assets. Something Kate appreciated.

Kate chuckled, “So, checking up on your brother?”

Eve shrugged in a carefree manner, “A little, yeah. But mostly I was just bored. Unlike Adam over there, I haven't figured out what I want to do with my life. And since I don't share his artistic talent, I can't make thousands of dollars off of one drawing.”

Adam chuckled, “Admit it, you like having the shower all to yourself in the morning.”

Eve paused, then laughed, “I do!”

Seeing Kate's curious look, Adam explained, “For years it was a war to see who got the bathroom first in the morning. At one point it got so bad we were waking up at three in the morning just to get there first. Mom had to put her foot down and make it more civilized. She forced us to take turns.”

Eve giggled while Kate laughed. Once they calmed down, Adam offered, “Dinner will be ready soon. Do you want to stick around Eve?”

Eve gave him the biggest 'duh' look she could mutter, “After smelling that how could you possibly think I would say 'no' to a dinner invite? When did you get so good at cooking anyway?”

“It's just one of the perks of my power.”

Eve pouted dramatically, “It's still so unfair that you got a super power and I didn't! We're twins!”

“Well...”

Eve's eyes widened, “What?! Did you get something you can share?! Like you promised?!”

Adam nodded, “I did, but you'll need to wait a few more days. I only get it once every ten days and I used it five days ago. In five more days I'll have one for you and in fifteen I'll have another for Mom.”

Eve was practically vibrating in place, “What is it?!”

“It's called the Heart Shaped Herb. It will make you a low grade superhuman with heightened reflexes and senses.”

Eve's eyes were glittering, “So cool!”

Adam nodded, “I was also planning to come over and give you and Mom a few things to protect you. I'll do it all at the same time.”

Eve's happy look immediately faded into an outrageous pout, “What?! But I want it noooooow.”

Kate giggled at the byplay while Adam rolled his eyes, “Patience is a virtue, Eve. Now, sit down and shut up. We're watching a movie until dinner is ready.”

With a playful huff, Eve sat down next to one of the Kates with a grin, “Fine.” She sighed, “I hate waiting.”

-----Line Break-----

Sentinel blasted through the air toward his target. As he got close he launched a haymaker directly at his opponents head. Invincible raised his arm and caught the punch on it. The collision echoed like thunder. Invincible counted with a straight punch aimed at Sentinel's nose. Sentinel twisted his head out of the way and countered with a powerful kick that slammed into Invincible's side and sent him cartwheeling through the air.

Sentinel didn't hesitate to charge right after the other flailing hero. Invincible quickly caught himself and spotted Sentinel coming in hot. The two clashed again sending out shock waves every time one of them managed to land a blow on the other. The fighting was rather fierce and neither was holding back. There was no need to worry about injuries with Sentinel's ability to heal.

Following the teenage pair as they wailed on each other was Invincible's father, Omni-Man. Hadn't learning that been a surprise for Sentinel? Invincible had invited Sentinel to a spar since he wanted to train with someone closer to his own level of strength. Otherwise it was training against his father who was significantly more powerful and always handing Invincible his ass.

Frankly, Invincible felt a lot better fighting against someone else who seemed to only be slightly better than him at it. Though, he was pleased to note, he was the stronger one.

A massive explosion sent Invincible flying through the air like a rocket while he flipped every which way while trying to regain his balance. Of course, being stronger didn't mean everything when his opponent had so many tricks up his sleeve.

Invincible cracked his knuckles and charged at Sentinel as fast as he could. His fist lashed out and slammed into his nose with a loud CRUNCH! The force of the blow sent Sentinel flipping away head over heels. Sentinel quickly recovered and carefully touched his nose and, with a grunt, snapped it back into place.

His gaze snapped over to where Omni-Man was watching them. This seemed like a perfect opportunity. If anyone could stop him it would be the strongest man in the world. He took a breath and shouted, “Omni-Man, I'm going to try something I've avoided trying. If I lose control knock my ass out!”

Omni-Man's gaze narrowed, but the man nodded in acceptance.

Sentinel smirked behind his mask and swapped Explosive Sweat out for Minotaur. He activated the never before used ability. The change was immediate and drastic. Sentinel's whole body drastically expanded in every dimension. He grew taller, his shoulders grew wider, and his muscle mass increased dramatically. At the same time his feet collapsed into themselves then split in half becoming hooves. The biggest change was to his head as it transformed into a massive bull's head complete with large sharp horns.

Sentinel, Invincible, and Omni-Man all took a moment to observe the changes Sentinel had undergone. Sentinel lifted his hands and slowly curled his much larger hands into fists. He exhaled, steam flowing from his large nostrils, “This feels weird.”

“You look weird!”

Sentinel's head snapped in the direction of Invincible who looked mildly freaked out. His eyes narrowed in annoyance at the comment. Power rippled through his body when he moved with sudden force and accelerated directly toward Invincible with a deep growl that definitely didn't belong to an herbivore.

Invincible's entire body screamed shocked while a gigantic meaty fist came flying at his face. The punch landed with a resounding boom that sent Invincible careening off into the distance. He recovered quickly, but the now significantly stronger Sentinel was already there with another giant punch coming directly toward Invincible's face.

“Jesus!”

Invincible ducked and counterattacked with a heavy blow to Sentinel's ribs that sent a shock through his entire body. Sentinel ignored it and clasped his hands together over his head. He brought them down in a powerful hammer blow that drove Invincible toward the ground.

The spar became significantly more brutal as the pair traded heavy blows that would have easily killed a normal human being.

By the time Omni-Man jumped into the spar, the two had been fighting for nearly an hour and were looking a bit worse for wear. While using Minotaur had improved Sentinel's strength and durability, it had also given him a healing factor that left him looking fine, even though he was covered in splotches of blood on his uniform from healed injuries.

Invincible, on the other hand, was covered in bruises, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, and one eye swollen shut.

Omni-Man effortlessly held Sentinel in place while he struggled to continue going after Invincible. Omni-Man spoke calmly while easily restraining Sentinel by his horns, “Calm down or I will calm you down.”

Sentinel, too angry to understand or care, suddenly felt like he'd been hit by a freight train. Omni-Man's fist slammed into his stomach with unrelenting force and sent him down through the air to slam into the mountains below with enough force to cause an explosion and create a crater several feet deep.

Sentinel groaned and fought to remain conscious. He'd fought Invincible for an hour but a single blow from Omni-Man had him struggling to stay awake. He recovered in a few seconds but had enough clarity of mind to deactivate Minotaur. His body swiftly changed back to his normal one. He looked up at Omni-Man and Invincible both hovering over him. He nodded to Omni-Man, “Thanks.”

The older man studied him for a moment, then nodded, “You did good.” His gaze shifted to Invincible, “You improved quite a bit. Well done.”

Sentinel floated out of his crater while swapping Minotaur for Physical Therapy. He came to a stop in front of Invincible and grinned, “Let's get you healed up.”

He cracked his knuckles with a bit of menace and a smile that was just a bit too wide. Invincible looked between Omni-Man and the sadistic looking Sentinel, “Uhm... maybe I don't need it?”

“Too bad!” Sentinel's fist slammed into Invincible's face with a thunderous boom. Unlike what might have been expected, Invincible didn't go flying. Instead, his wounds faded from the healing energy of the punch.

“That's weird as hell. I felt the hit, but it was weak and now I feel better.”

Sentinel slammed another blow into Invincible's face, “I think the only reason it even moved Omni-Man's head in the hospital was because he was unconscious.”

Omni-Man chimed in, “That is the only reason it would have moved me. While your power is impressive, it's not nearly enough to truly harm me.”

Sentinel chuckled, “Yeah, I still have a very long way to go. Got any advice?”

“Perhaps later.” He turned to Invincible, “It's time to go.”

Invincible looked slightly conflicted but waved to Sentinel, “See you later.”

Watching the pair fly off, Sentinel considered what he'd learned from the spar and the one blow Omni-Man had landed on him. He definitely had a long way to go before he was at the upper echelons of power among heroes. Not that he had much use for more power as anything other than a means to save more lives.

He shot off into the sky and made his way toward space. He wanted to spend some time bathing in solar radiation while working on his spaceship.

-----Line Break-----

Adam smiled to himself as he sat in the cockpit of his spaceship. Oh, the ship was nowhere near complete and the cockpit was little more than beams and a few exterior panels, but he'd gotten a little excited and put a chair in early. There were no consoles and little to distinguish it, but he knew it was where he could sit when piloting his ship and the view of earth from it was divine.

Sitting in the seat, bathing in solar radiation and Nitrogen-16, while working on his ship had become something he did for at least a few hours over the last couple of days. He'd finally finished the entire frame which came out to eighty meters long and ninety-four meters wide at the widest. That was a LOT of beskar, he just hoped it was worth the effort. Though it wasn't like he was building a warship, just a shuttle with some bite to it.

“Sentinel.”

Adam straightened up at Cecil's voice, “Problem?”

“They're back.”

Adam silently swore, “I'm on my way.”

He shot out of the seat of his ship while pink energy rolled down his body and covered him in his suit. He pushed himself instantly to maximum speed, the Flaxans needed to be taught a lesson to not come back once and for all.

AN

10k words

I promise, next chapter is the last time we'll see the Flaxans for a while. We'll begin moving down the series timeline after that. Just keep in mind, from what I can tell, Season 1 was roughly 1 year long give or take a couple of months. Seasons 2 and 3 are a single year since the 1 year anniversary of Chicago is near the end of Season 3. Then season 4 is another full year by itself. So, there's a lot of time in all four seasons to play with and I have ideas.

At this point it's only been 10 days since the first Flaxan invasion. I've covered what's happened during those days pretty extensively to set the world and begin the relationship building and butterflies. It'll take a little longer for them to build up.

The biggest one I want your guys' opinion on. Should Adam + Mark working together beat Nolan at the end of Season 1 when Nolan goes apeshit?

I ask because it would be pretty easy for me to have Adam NOT be around for the confrontation. If he is, then the odds of Adam + Mark being enough to beat Nolan is pretty good odds. Especially if Adam gets a decent roll to use in combination with Nolan's own power stored in Power Mimicry.

However! If Nolan is beaten and captured, he never leaves his post on Earth. If he doesn't leave, the other Viltrumites don't come to visit and the war against them is postponed. It will still happen, it'll just be further away.

Also, we won't meet Anissa for a long time and she seems to be a fan favorite. And no, I wouldn't put her into a relationship with Adam... Though Mark would be single...

Thoughts for a long time from now. So, what do you guys think? Beat Nolan or not? I got ideas for either case.

Until next time!