Sentinel - Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Chapter 9

Sentinel arrived at the site of the battle between the Guardians and the forces Machine Head had bought. He didn't even have to stop, his Mangekyo Sharingan eyes letting him take in and process the entire scene in an instant. The massive open space on the top floor was trashed. Bodies and blood were everywhere.

On the side of the villains, Kursk, Magmaniac, Tether Tyrant, and Furnace were all down. They'd clearly had the absolute shit beat out of them. Considering how strong the Guardians and Invincible were that wasn't a shock in the least. Even as a team, they wouldn't have been able to do a damn thing against the Guardians. Hell, Dupli-Kate could probably handle all of them on her own.

On the side of the heroes, Black Sampson was down without his armor on and what looked like a completely shattered left arm, his body crumpled into a ball near the wall he'd clearly been thrown into. Shrinking Rae was unconscious on a pile of rubble with a bloody nose but looked otherwise alright. Rex was face down in a puddle of blood, but still breathing. Robot wasn't far away from Rex, The damage to his chassis didn't look all that bad, but there was no telling what condition Rudy was in inside of it.

Eve was in the far back, near the stairs and looked like she was in horrendous condition. It looked like both of her legs had been crushed and her head bashed into the stairs railing hard enough to leave a deep dent. Invincible was on the ground, his condition looked to be the worst of them all. Something massive and heavy, probably the lion-mans huge mace, had been slammed into his stomach with enough force to crush all the way through his body.

His gaze found Kate next to last. There were at least a dozen of her bodies torn limb from limb, electrocuted, and burned while one last one was injured and unconscious near the pile of her own smoking corpses. The final thing he noted were the last two conscious and or standing people in the room actively fighting. Standing over the clearly injured hulking form of Monster Girl's transformation was the giant lion-man with two chunks of debris in his hands.

It didn't take a genius to see the lion-mans clear intent to crush Monster Girl's skull and that just would NOT be happening!

With a sonic boom that shattered the windows of the highrise, Sentinel instantly accelerated to well beyond the speed of sound. In less than the blink of an eye he crossed the space between himself and the lion-man. His fist, powered by all that speed and his full unrestrained might slammed into the side of the beats head with the force of a missile.

Battle Beast roared in shock as his body flipped through the air and slammed into, then through the outer wall of the building. Sentinel could hear him roaring in frustration as he fell through the air. Sentinel stopped, just for a second, but it was long enough for half a dozen clones of himself to appear in the room.

The original took off after Battle Beast while the clones remained behind.

With the clones.

One copy of Sentinel shot across the room toward the only two completely uninjured individuals in the room, Isotope and Machine Head. Before he got halfway across the room, Isotope vanished with a flash of green light. With Isotope gone, the clone redirected and grabbed Machine Head by the throat, a second later he was devoured by a swirl in space and deposited in the Kamui dimension. Good luck to Isotope rescuing him from there.

While one clone dealt with Machine Head, the others spread out among the heroes and began doing the one thing Titan, the only witness awake to see it, expected. They all began to pound the ever loving shit out of the worst wounded heroes, Atom Eve, Invincible, Black Samson, Monster Girl, and Shrinking Rae.

To the absolute shock of the villain, the heavy blows, strong enough to shake the entire floor, didn't hurt the heroes but instead began to rapidly heal them.

The copy that captured Machine Head made its way toward Rex and dragged him over to Kate so he could use Physical Therapy to punch them both back to full health. In less than a minute, the less damaged heroes were back on their feet while Invincible, Atom Eve, and Black Samson were still getting slapped around.

Rudy was the only one not getting any form of healing. While Sentinel healed the others, Rudy's Robot power armor rose to its feet and swayed slightly. One of the clones approached, “You alright?”

The armor nodded, “Concussion, I believe.” He looked at Sentinel, “The others?”

“I'll have all of them back in top shape in a few moments. Another me is still fighting that lion beast.”

“Be careful, that one is the one who defeated all of us. We took down the other villains with ease. He tore us apart one by one.” He looked to where Monster Girl was finally sitting up, his shoulders sagging in relief, “Thank you for coming, Sentinel.”

White light suddenly erupted from the area where a Sentinel had been working on Black Samson. Wave of light rippled out of the large mans body as it hovered over the ground. Bolts of electricity rippled off of and around him until the waves of light faded away and he slumped to the ground unconscious. A slap from the Sentinel by him showed he was fully healed, but still out.

Within a few minutes, everyone bar Invincible was fully healed, his injuries were by far the worst.

In all the commotion, no one noticed Titan slipping away quietly.

With the Original.

Sentinel blasted out of the tower and immediately spotted the white lion falling through the air. He shot down with all the speed he could gather and shot toward the beast while his eyes began spinning. The world between them warped into a spiral that sucked both of them into the Kamui dimension, far from where Machine Head would be deposited.

Battle Beast slammed into one of the innumerable, randomly arranged, and differently sized rectangular prisms amongst the dark and seemingly endless void with enough force to shatter it and send up a cloud of dust. With a vicious growl, Battle Beast burst out of the cloud and flew toward Sentinel with just the power of his leap.

Battle Beast roared as he flew, “Finally! A challenge!”

Sentinel scowled behind his mask, “Is that why you hurt my friends?!”

Battle Beast roared and swung his mace with both hands directly at Sentinel's head. Sentinel ducked, spun around behind the flying lion, and slammed his fist into the beasts back. Battle Beast sped through the air and slammed into another prism, shattering it with a roar.

Battle Beast rose to his feet, “YES! MORE! GIVE! ME! MORE!”

He charged at Sentinel, jumping from foothold to foothold with impressive agility and force giving himself a fair amount of speed. Sentinel braced his feet on the ground. Battle Beast swung his mace again. Instead of dodging, Sentinel caught the mace on his forearm. A loud snap echoed out from the impact as the mace easily folded his arm like a piece of paper.

Sentinel jumped back to gain some distance while cradling his arm. He grit his teeth through the pain while his High Speed Regeneration kicked in full force. He stared at Battle Beast while he threw his arm out with enough force to snap the bone back in place, the wound healing rapidly leaving only blood behind.

He grinned viciously beneath his mask while the blood covered Battle Beast licked his chops, “Yes, this will be a glorious battle!”

Sentinel stood taller, “No. No it wont.”

The world around him rippled as all of his clones entered the Kamui dimension. Battle Beast looked at the group and grinned, “So many strong opponents!”

His joy vanished when they all slid into Sentinel just leaving one copy once more. The moment they did, Sentinel tapped into a power he'd only tested once before, Omni-Man's full strength. Between it, Super, and all the strength he'd gained from absorbing radiation, he was officially stronger than Omni-Man. He wasn't merely adding Omni-Man's strength to his own. He was stacking it on top of everything he'd already accumulated.

In that moment he was the strongest being on Earth bar none.

Then, Sentinel moved.

Battle Beast's senses were amazing, powerful, and precise. His eyes didn't register the visible shock wave of Sentinel's explosive movement. His ears didn't register the earth shattering sonic boom that came from Sentinel accelerating from zero to hypersonic instantly. The only thing Battle Beast's senses registered were mind shattering pain.

Sentinel's fist crashed into Battle Beasts jaw with force on a scale Sentinel couldn't describe if asked. He could feel bone bending and then shattering under his fist. The world around them shook from the shock of the impact. Everything seemed to freeze, just for a moment, then Battle Beast was blasting through the air fast enough to break the sound barrier with his body.

While Battle Beast roared with frustration and rage, Sentinel blasted past him, spun around, and drove his knee into the monster's back with bone crushing force. Battle Beast bent around his knee, his mouth flying wide while a geyser of blood shot out of his mouth. Sentinel drew his knee back and spun around to slam his heel into Battle Beast's stomach with all the force he could bring to bare. Battle Beast's whole body bent in the exact opposite direction while another fountain of blood poured out of his maw.

In a show of just how durable and well seasoned of a warrior Battle Beast was, the giant cat tried to recover, his claws coming toward Sentinel's head in an attempt to claw his eyes out. Unfortunately for the cat, Sentinel was in no mood to play. Before the claws made it even half way toward his head, Sentinel was somewhere else with his fist slamming into Battle Beast with extreme force.

A flurry of blows hammered into Battle Beast, driving him into the ground. When the dust settled, Battle Beast lay in a crater covered in blood and beyond broken. But, he was alive. His golden eyes stared up at Sentinel and the only emotion he could place on the look he was giving, was joy.

“Yessss.” Battle Beast rasped through his broken jaw, “Nowwww. I. Die in. Gloriousssss battllllle.”

Sentinel stared down at Battle Beast, his jaw set in a determined grimace, “No, you don't get what you want.” He slammed his fist into the beast once more, only this time he used Physical Therapy to heal some of the damage he'd done, “You're going to prison.”

Though he'd healed Battle Beast some, it was nothing in comparison to the damage he'd done. Battle Beast wouldn't be back up to strength anytime soon. Space swirled around them and deposited them back in the real world at the top of Machine Head's tower where everyone was waiting, along with Cecil and dozens of GDA agents and doctors.

The others were being double checked to make sure Sentienl's healing hadn't missed anything. The other villains were all in different restraints meant to deal with their various abilities. Cecil was the first to spot him, “Sentinel, you're back.” He looked down at Battle Beast, “And victorious it seems.”

Battle Beast growled. Cecil smirked and faced Sentinel, “Good work, kid. What about Machine Head?”

Next to Sentinel space swirled and the crime boss was deposited on the ground, “Right here.”

Machine Head looked around, surrounded by heroes in perfect health and GDA agents armed to the teeth, “WeEEeellll Fuck.”

Cecil chuckled, “Wiser words.” His gaze moved back to Sentinel, “Take a break, kid. You and the Guardians have earned it after a bust this big.”

Sentinel nodded and made his way over to where Kate and Eve were standing next to each other. He spotted that they were holding hands to comfort each other, it brought a smile to his face. As he stepped in front of them, he pulled both of them into his arms for a hug. Kate smiled happily and wrapped her free arm around him. Meanwhile, Eve let out a squeak and looked slightly uncomfortable. Though, a moment later, she was leaning into the hug as well.

After what the pair of women had been through they needed a moment to feel safe and comfortable.

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

[Feat Achieved! Defeat Battle Beast in one-on-one combat. +1 Legendary Gacha Ticket.]

[Feat Achieved! Become Battle Beast's sole focus. +1 Gold Gacha Ticket.]

[Feat Achieved! Save the Guardians of the Globe from annihilation. +1 Platinum Gacha Ticket.]

Adam looked over his rewards for saving his friends. He didn't know how to feel about it. On the one hand, he'd saved his friends and that mattered. But... being rewarded for it? He didn't know how to feel at, essentially, being paid for doing what he would have done regardless.

He gently moved his arm, tightening his embrace around Kate. The Guardians had all celebrated surviving against Battle Beast for hours. Adam had joined them, double checking that everyone was okay. It turned out, they were better than okay, somehow his Physical Therapy had literally beaten Black Samson's original powers into him.

Which lead to...

[Feat Achieved! Return Black Samson's powers. +1 Bronze Gacha Ticket.]

Apparently Black Samson getting his powers back wasn't that big of a deal. Just another thing he didn't know how to feel about.

Kate moving against him drew his attention to her. She smiled up at him, her brown eyes shining, “Hey, why so serious?”

Adam sighed and let himself relax. Kate's chuckle drew his attention. Seeing his curiosity, she answered his unasked question, “Eve is just being silly over in her room.”

Adam nodded in understanding. After what had happened to her, Eve was unsurprisingly a little shell shocked from being beaten so badly by Battle Beast. So, Kate had volunteered to spend the night with her so she could relax and feel safer with a friend around. Adam had zero issues with that. If Eve needed the comfort of time with her best friend, so be it. It wasn't like Kate couldn't be in two places at once.

“How is she doing?”

Kate sighed, “She's upset and probably a little traumatized. She's never been beaten that bad before and it scared her. The damage that monster did to her legs... if not for you she might have actually had some serious lasting damage even with the GDA's excellent health care.”

Adam sighed, “I just with none of you needed my healing at all.”

Kate sighed and pushed herself up so she was looking down at him, “Listen here mister. We kicked the SHIT out of everyone that was there. If that monster hadn't been there, we would have had it handled with ease. We took down everyone else in less than a minute while he fought Invincible. It was only then that he took us apart.”

She poked his nose, “And that won't happen next time because you're going to do something stupidly nice to make us all stronger and to protect us. Because that's what you do.”

Seeing he understood, Kate lay back down and snuggled into his chest, “Now, relax.”

Adam sighed and gave in to his girlfriends demand. He relaxed and looked at his gacha tickets, 'Roll the bronze ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Root, Common Ability, Allows you to grow ethereal roots that dig into the ground, rooting you in place but allowing you to drain the energy and nutrients from the ground to accelerate your vitality and energy regeneration.]

It wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't very useful since he could just hit the upper atmosphere or space to absorb solar radiation to recover his energy. It might have some niche use. Eh, whatever.

“What are you doing?”

Adam glanced at Kate. She was looking at him in mild accusation. He chuckled lightly, “Getting stronger?”

Kate's eyes widened, “You're getting new powers? Right now?!”

Adam looked up at the ceiling, “Yeah. It's all delayed from the tower battle. I'll tell you what I get when I'm finished.”

'Roll a gold ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Blessing of Hestia, Rare Trait, You are a child blessed by Hestia, the goddess of Hearth. You have resistance to all mental effects and negative ailments. Your body is way healthier and people feel more comfortable around you due to the natural aura you have around you.]

“Whoa whoa whoa, what just happened? You just became a lot more comfortable.”

Adam chuckled at Kate's question, “Okay, so maybe I won't wait until I'm done. The first roll I got was kind of useless, it lets me root myself to the ground to increase my recovery. The second one, is what is making me so comfortable, it's called Blessing of Hestia. It helps with mental effects and negative ailments while making people more comfortable around me.”

“You are one strange man.” She kissed his cheek, “You're also one hundred percent bullshit.”

Adam chuckled and didn't argue, 'Roll the platinum ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Beach Key, Elite Item, An ornate key that, when turned in a sufficiently large space, creates a portal leading into a pocket dimension that is 10 km x 10 km x 10 km in size that contains a beach that leads into a sea filled with sea life. Perfect for fishing or taking a relaxing vacation. The gate that leads outside the dimension is always open and leads to where the entrance was last opened.]

Adam sat up, excited, “Oh hell yeah!”

Kate huffed and sat up next to him, “What?”

Adam grinned, “Bring Eve in here, we're going on a short vacation without leaving this room.”

Kate looked confused, but nodded since she trusted Adam. While he waited for Eve and Kate's clone to arrive, he decided to finish his rolls, 'Roll the legendary ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Code of Immortality, Mythical Trait, Code Geass - You are marked by the Code of Immortality by an imitation of C's World. Whenever you get fatally wounded, are sick or are otherwise unable to function, parts of you will get instantly replaced by a pocket dimension constantly producing replacement parts for your existence, constantly keeping you healthy, ageless and alive. This includes your mind and soul. The only way to keep you dead is to either separate you from your dimension, exhaust your lives faster than they can be reproduced or kill you with a spatial attack. In addition, you are capable of granting individuals Geass', a power that manifests in their eyes, the exact function and power depends on the potential of the individual. You can always sense the individual you have given a Geass to, and those they deem closest to them.]

Adam's eyes slowly grew wider and wider as he read over the description of his newest trait, “Holy fucking shitballs.”

Eve paused at the door and stared at a topless Adam, “What the fuck?”

Adam shook his head, “Sorry, I just... well I just got some stuff from the tower incident. The last one is a fucking doozy.”

Eve and the Kate clone with her walked into the room while closing the door. Eve looked confused and tried to lead him to continue, “Oooookay?”

Adam hopped out of the bed with a smile, “It can wait a minute! Let's get to why you're here.”

He walked over to an open area and pulled a small key out of nowhere. He stuck it into the air and gave it a twist. All of them watched with shock as a swirling blue portal opened in the bedroom. Once it reached about ten feet in diameter, the center cleared to show a pristine beach on the other side, “How about we relax under the sun while at a completely private beach? It's ten cubic kilometers of absolute freedom. No people, no problems, just surf and sun.”

He turned to take in the shocked looks on the faces of Kate and Eve. His grin grew to match the joy and excitement he was feeling, “C'mon! Let's go!”

Eve looked between him and the portal, “But... what if we get stuck on the other side? Or what if something happens and they need us?”

Adam smiled, “The gate leading out of the dimension is always open and will lead to the last place I opened it, which is right here. But! I can also just keep it open so if something happens we can be contacted on radios still. And if that's not enough, we can stick close enough to the portal to hear if someone shouts.”

Eve bit her lip, looking conflicted, but then she smiled, “Let's do it.”

Adam stepped through the portal first. The transition was instant as he went from the cool air conditioning of Kate's bedroom in the Guardians base to the humidity and warmth of a tropical island. The scents and sounds all agreed with what he was feeling on his skin. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn he was on a beach somewhere like Florida or the Caribbean.

Kate stepped next to him with a bright grin, “This is pretty great.”

Eve stepped to his other side, “This... feels so real.” She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, “Even to my senses it all feels real.”

Adam smirked and tapped into Eve's power to change his jeans into a pair of beach shorts. He stepped forward and turned to face the girls, “I'll let Eve help you get changed Kate.”

Kate smirked playfully, “Oh?”

His grin grew teasing, “If I made it, it would basically be nothing but string.”

Kate rolled her eyes while Eve blushed lightly and scolded him softly, “Perv.”

While the girls walked off of the beach a bit to talk some fashion before changing, he made his ways onto the golden sand and created several beach lounges, a couple of sunshades, and a cooler filled with ice, soda, and some simple sandwiches. It turned out, conjured food using Eve's power wasn't as good as when he cooked it himself. A super weird aspect to his power, but it also explained why Eve couldn't replicate his food.

By the time he was done, the girls were walking back to him. He looked them over and gave out an appreciative whistle. Mostly for Kate. She had gotten Eve to transform her nightwear into a purple bikini and sheer purple sarong. It showed off her body in a delightful way.

Eve... Eve was wearing a one piece that looked like her super hero outfit minus the cloth around her hips that made her hero outfit look like shorts. She'd also removed the long sleeves, gloves, and boots. Instead of all that, she had a pink sarong to match Kate's. A part of him was a little disappointed to not see Eve in something a little more revealing.

As the pair stepped close, Kate spoke first, “So, what was the big shocking thing you got before we came here?”

“Well...” he scratched his chin, “It's a really complicated one.”

Instead of trying to explain in his own words, he basically read the powers description word for word to them. Both gaped at him in shock, though Eve spoke first, “Wait! You're fucking IMMORTAL?!”

Adam nodded, “Unless very specific circumstances happen, yeah.”

Kate spoke up, “And you can give other people some eye-based power called a Geass?”

He nodded again, “That's right. In fact, I'm happy to give the pair of you powers right now, if you want.”

Kate nodded eagerly, “Hell yeah!”

Both Kate and Adam looked toward Eve who smiled a little wanly, “Do I even need another power?”

Adam shrugged, “Why the hell not? I'm going to offer it to all the Guardians. I think having something as a back up would be worthwhile.”

Eve bit her lip in indecision so Kate made an offer, “How about I got first, and you decide after we see what I get?”

Eve slowly nodded, “Alright.”

Adam stepped closer to Kate, “Okay now... how do I... Oh! Well, that was easy.”

Kate stared at him, “What, you did it?”

Adam nodded, “I did. I'm... not really sure how you activate it though.”

Kate huffed, amused, “I see. Well, we'll figure it out.”

She walked over to one of the lounges, which he'd made four of, and split into two. She instantly froze, “Oh... OH!”

When both Kates turned to face Adam and Eve, they were both surprised to see a shimmering mark in their right eyes. Moving closer, Adam could see that the mark looked like an incomplete circle around her iris, the open section being at the top and looking more like a crescent. From near the two ends of the crescent lines came out like wings. Another line bisected the bottom of the crescent while another started in the center of her pupil and pointed up.. He studied her curiously, “So, what does it do?”

The Kates frowned and spoke in unison, “It's hard to describe. Normally all copies of me are independent but connected telepathically. What one knows, we all know. There's no 'original' me or if there ever was, she'd long dead. When one of me dies, the oldest one becomes the newest. That's how its worked since I was a kid.”

They tilted their heads, “Now... I think the best description would be 'hive mind'. Instead of two mes connected by telepathy, it's more like one me controlling both bodies. I can see through both sets of eyes, hear through both sets of ears, and feel everything both bodies feel. It's... strange, but it feels almost natural at the same time.”

Eve looked fascinated, “That's... kind of cool. Can you turn it off?”

Kate paused and tilted her heads in thought. Then nodded, “Yeah, I think I can.”

She closed all of her eyes and focused for a moment, when she opened them, the sigil was gone. She looked at herself, “It feels kind of weird to be back to the telepathy.” The other Kate nodded, “I know what you mean.”

Eve looked between them, “So, you know how to control it?”

One Kate nodded, “Yeah. It's kind of like using a muscle you've always had, but never used by itself before.” She slammed her fist into her hand, “Oh! It's like trying to raise just one eyebrow!”

Eve raised an eyebrow in question, prompting Kate to point at her, “Yeah! Just like that. Now try to raise just the other one.”

Eve frowned and a look of concentration came over her as she tried to do just that, “It's... weird.”

Kate nodded, “Exactly!”

Finally, Eve turned to look at Adam, “I suppose... you could give it to me too.”

Adam grinned and snapped his fingers, just for effect, “Done.”

Eve frowned, “Now what?”

Kate chimed in, “try using your power. That's how mine triggered.”

Eve nodded and waved her hand, pink energy coming to life as she formed a small shield of hardened air. She gasped while both Kate and Adam saw the same sigil appear in her eye. Eve ignored both of them while she turned in every direction to look at different things, “I can see it all... It's...”

Kate, impatient, asked, “What do you see?”

Eve looked directly at her, “My power gives me a deep understanding of atoms and the molecular structure of things. It's what allows me to manipulate atoms so easily. But this... this goes beyond the surface level I've always used. I can see not just the composition of things, but I can now see and understand the fundamental structures and functions of things.”

She raised her hands and conjured up a nine millimeter handgun, “Before, when I saw a gun I could see the metals, plastics, and other things that made it and how they were put together. Now I see that and how all the mechanisms work, what the stress points are, and so much more. Right now, if someone pointed this gun at me, I could change the smallest amount of matter within it to render it completely useless, or ready to catastrophically fail.”

Adam clapped his hands together, “That's awesome, now put it away and lets get to relaxing!”

Adam made his way over to one of the lounges and lay down. On his left he was joined by a Kate, while Eve took the one to his right and another Kate lay down to her right. They didn't talk, nothing needed to be said. They just lay out in the sun bathing in its perfect rays.

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

Adam sat leaned back in a comfortable chair on his space station. His mind connected to the high powered central computer that put the combined computing power of Earth to shame. The screen flashed with complex plans for a powered armored suit.

He'd gotten Tinker – Armor a little while back but hadn't really had a chance to look into it much. Now he was wishing he had sooner. His curiosity of the references within it, specifically the Iron Man Suit. The technology making it up was purely Earth tech making it something that could possibly be mass produced.

The only flaw was the power source. Granted, a small reactor the size of a softball capable of putting out gigajoules of power was beyond amazing. The radiation, not so much. There was also the problem that it ran on Palladium. Palladium was currently the third most expensive precious metal on Earth, only just behind Gold and Platinum.

While he could produce Palladium, he couldn't be the sole supplier of it to the GDA. Solving that particular problem was why he currently had all five of his Tinker abilities active, even Erotics. Who knew what might be hiding in that perverted technology?

So far, the best he could do was extreme density batteries that would let an Iron Man suit run for several hours at full blast, and longer with relaxed usage. A far cry from the weeks an Arc Reactor could power the suits. The power draw became worse once he started to upgrade the Iron Man suit using other technologies from Star Wars, Ecology, Minimization, and yes, even Erotics. Believe it or not, Erotics had some of the most impressive lubricants and coolants among all of his Tinker fields.

“This suit is most impressive, Adam. Even without using any of your exotic materials, it is capable of easily withstanding a direct hit from a tanks main cannon. It's array of weaponry is also quite impressive, even more impressive than my current suit's.”

Adam grinned, though he kept his eyes closed while he spoke, “We'll design you a whole new suit, Rudy. We can't have the GDA even coming close to what you're capable of. I'm aiming for mass production with this model. With yours we can go all in on the exotic materials and special weapons.”

“I would, like that. Very much.”

Adam grinned, “Besides, you have your unique look as well.”

Rudy chuckled, “Yes, I do. Though I am considering an update to it as a mark of my new status.”

“If that's what you want. Though I'd suggest at least sticking to the same color. It's kind of iconic for you.”

“Noted.”

Silence fell once more while they returned to designing the GDA Issue Iron Man Armor MK.1. Cecil would have to suck it up and deal with needing to recharge the armors after they'd seen use. Fortunately, it was easy enough for Adam to come up with a compact high output fusion generator the size of a mini-fridge. All of which didn't require a single exotic material to function.

If Cecil hadn't explained just how dangerous it would be to put his plans out there, Adam would have published the schematics for the fusion generator on the internet. Cecil had explained, carefully, how not just villains, but even governments would turn the fusion generators into fusion bombs within days of him publishing the blueprints.

On the bright side, Cecil had given his okay for Adam to publicly publish several designs for prosthetic limbs and mechanical organs. They were all high tech, but didn't include anything Cecil would consider to be 'military grade' within them. The most basic models could be manufactured in just about any machine shop on Earth. Though the neural interface required a more high-tech facility to produce. The whole tech line used universal connectors so a neural interface could connect to any of the prosthetics companies produced.

At this point he was pretty much a name known throughout the world. His Celebrity curse ensured people could point him out even if they barely knew about him. It was kind of embarrassing if he was being honest. That's why he'd decided to take some time off with Rudy to work on some automated systems and armor designs.

After he finished his current design, he disconnected from the computer and sat up. Rudy glanced at him and asked, “Going to check on your 'baby' now?”

Adam grinned, “Damn right.”

Rudy nodded then closed his eyes and relaxed, his mind still connected to the central computer and going over the advanced designs with a fine toothed comb. It was always good to have someone double check and it let Rudy learn new design concepts and ideas at an accelerated pace.

Adam walked through a long corridor until he came to the door at the end. As he approached the door it hissed open to reveal a massive open area, a dry dock. Sitting in the dry dock was his X-70B Phantom. Droids were crawling all over the exterior of the ship running scans and diagnostics. He watched them for a few minutes, then used the open lift to get down to the ground floor.

He walked toward the starboard side of the ship where a ramp was lowered. He climbed it and stepped into the airlock where he had to wait for it to cycle. Thankfully, that process was streamlined and only took a few seconds. He stepped through the airlock and into a hallway. To his right was the front of the ship, and to his left was the rear.

Turning to his right he made his way down the hallway and into the main hold which looked more like a large living room. The floors were polished wood, with couches and chairs arrayed around the room facing the central holocomputer. It was connected to the network that was still being built throughout the galaxy.

From the entrance to the main hold if he turned left he could enter the large conference room, which could easily be converted into any other kind of room rather easily. To his right was the entrance to the medical bay which contained all of the cutting edge technology available to him up to and including a 2-1B surgical droid.

He walked across the room, ignoring the R2 Astromech units rolling around double checking every inch of the interior. The R2's weren't the newest or greatest, being decades older than the top of the line, but they were iconic! Almost directly across from the entrance into the main hold was a door that he made his way to. It hissed open to reveal another hallway, this one shorter.

Stepping into it showed two doors directly to his left and right. The door to the right led to the Captains Quarters. He'd decked the room out in the most exquisite and high tech things he could find. It even had a full theater setup with high quality surround sound. Frankly, he'd rather live in the Phantom than in his apartment at this point!

To the left was the door to the forward escape pod. Hopefully it would never need to be used. But hope for the best, prepare for the worst. If he ever did have to use it, whoever was responsible for that need would pay dearly.

Walking to the end of the hallway led into the room he'd come for, the bridge. Stepping onto it brought a huge smile to his face. There were two consoles, each fully capable of piloting the ship accompanied by two wide comfortable seats. In between them was the heart of warp drive, the navicomputer.

Thanks to the exploration probes, they'd been able to map space out by thousands of light years. Due to the blind jumps they'd lost forty percent of the probes they sent out, but it still proved worthwhile. They'd found half a dozen planets that seemed capable of supporting life as they knew it. Though they would need to send more specialized probes to those sites to make sure. The hyperlane exploratory probes sensors were geared more for gravity than in depth planetary scanning.

Adam sat down in front of the right console and began typing in commands. Lines of code scrolled up the screen as the main computer ran diagnostics on every system in the ship. He smiled and sat back to watch the screen. If the diagnostics all came back green, which they should, the ship would be ready for its shakedown cruise.

It had taken almost six months to get to the point where the ship was flight ready. It could have been completed sooner, if he hadn't gone all out on using exotic materials and been limited by how fast he could produce materials for it. If he'd been willing to compromise and use materials available on Earth it could have been built in weeks.

That was back then though. With the current amount of automation available to him he could build a new Phantom made of earth materials in a matter of days. It would be drastically downgraded and lack the stealth systems, but it would be capable of faster than light travel at least. Nowhere near as fast as his Phantom, but still FTL.

A few minutes later and the screen stopped scrolling and Adam grinned broadly at the display, “All systems green. She's ready.” He reached for a switch on the console and flicked it, “Phantom to control.”

Rudy's voice came over the speakers, “Control here, how's the ship?”

“The final diagnostic came back all green. She's ready for a test flight and then a shakedown cruise.”

“Understood. I'll contact Cecil and inform him that the strange ship flying around and constantly appearing and disappearing from his scans is you playing around with your new ship.”

“Not just yet. I need to pick up Kate and Eve, I made a promise to take them for all the firsts on the Phantom.”

“I see. I'll still inform Cecil. Let me know when you're returned.”

Adam shut off the communication console and started swapping out his powers. He removed all the tinker abilities to swap in his standard set, Power Mimicry, Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan, High Speed Regeneration, and Super. Super only maintained a slot due to it granting him flight. While both the powers of Atom Eve and Omni-Man within Power Mimicry could give him flight, it kept him from using any other power. Eve's power was just too convenient to not have readily available for use.

Space in front of him swirled and scooped him into the Kamui dimension for a second before he exited it within his arrival room in the Guardians base. Stepping out, he made his way to the main console room and was surprised to see it empty. Shrugging, he walked over to the door for Kate's room and knocked. After waiting a bit and not getting an answer, he decided to check the next most logical place, the gym.

Stepping inside he spotted several copies of Kate around another that that was using the bench press. He quietly watched as she easily lifted what had to be several tons, according to the display. He and Rudy had installed an extremely powerful system that used electromagnets to increase the weight. It was always nice to see her lifting several tons.

Was it wrong that knowing she could bench press him turned him on?

Not too far away, he saw Atom Eve sparring with Monster Girl. Eve was focusing on smaller more precise transmutations to inhibit and hinder Monster Girl. Given how annoyed Monster Girl sounded as she yelled at Atom Eve, it seemed to be working pretty well.

He stayed off to the side and didn't want to interrupt. It was kind of interesting to watch Atom Eve and Monster Girl going at it. Especially given Monster Girl's curse. Pseudo-immortality she might have, but getting constantly younger had to suck. Lucky for her, Rudy was on the case and looking for a solution. Adam expected his first solution would be a robot of some sort. It was kind of obvious given his brother's specialty.

He jumped slightly when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. Kate's giggle let him know who'd gotten the drop on him. She stepped next to him with a bright smile and watched the spar, “They've been going at it for almost an hour. Monster Girl had sworn eternal vengeance against you for giving Eve so many ideas.”

Adam chuckled, “Did she now? Well, I'll just have to drop Rudy in her path and let them blush at each other as a distraction.”

Kate playfully slapped his shoulder, “That's mean. You should totally do it.”

Together they watched as the spar between Monster Girl and Atom Eve continued for another five minutes before Eve ended it by turning the floor liquid and then solidifying it around Monster Girl's feet.

After begin released and transforming back to her human form, Monster Girl spotted Adam and pointed an accusatory finger at him, “This is all your fault! Eve used to be fun to fight! Now she's all tricky and sneaky! It's annoying!”

Adam chuckled, “Sorry. If I could offer you advice too, I would. But your curse is pretty straight forward. I suppose I could design some tech with Rudy to go with your monster form.” He rubbed his chin, “An armored exoskeleton to further enhance your strength and durability maybe? Could pack a ton of weapons and gizmos into it for you.”

Monster Girl, Amanda, rolled her eyes, “I'm not really into that kind of stuff.”

“Then there's not much I can do, yet. Maybe if I get some ability related to magic or biology, but I've got nothing like that yet.”

Monster Girl huffed, “You are such bullshit. But... Thanks.”

Eve chimed in then, “So, what brings you by?”

Grinning, Adam replied, “I came to pick up you and Kate. The Phantom is ready for a quick test flight. After that, it'll be ready for its shakedown cruise.”

All three women in the area looked surprised. Kate jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck, “That's fucking awesome!”

Eve grinned widely, “Hell yeah! When do we go?”

“Well we can head to the station to do a quick trip around the solar system to double check all the systems while they're in action. After that, I just need to make some arrangements for us to be away with Cecil.”

“I am so fucking jealous right now!”

The trio looked to Monster Girl. Adam smiled softly, “Rudy's already working on his own ship. I'm sure when it's done he'd be happy to take you for a spin in his.”

It was very hard not to coo at the light reddening of Monster Girl's cheeks. He only withheld because he knew she was actually in her mid-twenties and it would be rather insulting to her. Not to mention, he still had very fresh memories of how horrendous puberty was. He was approaching nineteen but sometimes he felt like he was still in the middle of those awful hormones. Poor Monster Girl was right smack dab in the middle of it. He did not envy her.

“So, you two up for a quick flight around the solar system?”

Eve and Kate both nodded excitedly. His eyes shifted from their natural emerald green to the red and black of his Mangekyo Sharingan. A swirl covered them all as he teleported the girls and himself to the dry dock with the Phantom in it. He'd chosen a high spot they could see the entire thing from.

Seeing both girls staring at the ship in awe made all the effort worth it. He let it sink in for a bit then teleported them down to the boarding ramp, “Go ahead, explore.”

Neither girl needed a written invitation. Both bolted up the ramp. Adam followed a little slower with a playful grin. The girls didn't know how to cycle the airlock. Once he stepped into the room, he was immediately under the gaze of two annoyed women. Having grown up with a twin sister and his mother raising him alone after his father died, he was an expert on recognizing when he was in danger of feminine wrath.

He quickly showed the girls how to cycle the airlock for his own safety.

The tour didn't take too long, but Eve seemed pleased to find that the crew quarters, which were currently set up as a second captains cabin, were nearly on the opposite side of the ship from the actual captain's cabin. She knew what Kate and Adam would be doing in there and didn't want to hear it.

Adam led them into the cockpit where they sat on a bench seat together while he took the captains chair. Kate and Eve both looked curious though it was Kate who asked, “Will you be teaching me how to fly this thing?”

“Oh! Me too!” Eve chimed in.

Adam looked over his shoulder and grinned, “Sure. It's actually not that hard to fly it in space since it's so empty. Flying it in atmosphere isn't much different from flying a jet. Though all the automated systems make it pretty easy. In space it's more just point and accelerate. For hyperspace, one of the astromech works with the navicomputer to plot the course to the destination. Once the course is plotted, it's set and forget because everything after that is automatic.”

“Huh.” Eve began, “I expected it to be a lot harder.”

Adam nodded, “You would think so, until you realize the Star Wars universe has had spaceships and hypderdrives for over twenty thousand years. That's a long time to make the technology as simple as possible. Add to that my ability to make even that technology smaller with Tinker – Minimization and I can pack a ton of automation and computational power into this baby to make everything even easier.”

Kate whistled, “That's fucking impressive.”

“It is, isn't it?” Adam questioned while he leaned forward and flicked the communication switch, “Phantom to control. We're ready for take off.”

Rudy's voice came over the speakers, “Opening the bay doors. You're free to launch.”

They all watched as a blue shield came to life just before the bay doors slid open to reveal the blackness of space. Adam's hands danced over the controls. The engine came to life with a soft hum, the repulsors on the bottom of the ship roared to life lifting the ship off of the deck. They could hear the thunk of the landing gear sealing in place leaving noting but a smooth hull.

Grabbing the controls, Adam slowly pushed the throttle forward. The ship slowly accelerated. He waited until they'd crossed the shield threshold and into space. He looked over his shoulder with a grin, “You ready?”

After both girls gave enthusiastic agreements, he slammed the throttle forward. There was a feeling of acceleration as the ship went from barely faster than drifting to the Phantom's maximum sub-light speed. Thanks to the inertia dampeners the riders only felt a minuscule portion of the acceleration pushing them into their seats.

Kate and Eve both laughed at the feeling and watched out the window. After about a minute Kate sighed, “And now it's boring. How did space become boring in a minute?!”

“Because there's nothing to see. We're going faster than any humans have gone before, roughly two point five million kilometers per hour. Or zero point two three percent (0.23%) the speed of light. Here, let's try something.”

He looked at the scanner and turned the ship until the center of the screen showed a small red dot, “That's Mars. Do you want to know just how vast space is?” He chuckled, “Even going at two point five million kilometers and hour, it would take us over one hundred hours to get there from where we started in the asteroid belt.”

All three of them sat in silent awe at the sheer distances involved.

Finally, Adam returned to checking the readings on his display and was happy to see everything was still in the green. He took the wheel and turned them around heading back toward the asteroid belt, “Alright, while we fly back to find an asteroid to try the weapons on, I want to give the stealth systems a try.”

He opened the communicator, “Phantom to Control, I'm about to engage the stealth systems.”

“I'll keep an eye on all of our scanners.” Rudy's voice replied.

“Engaging.” He flipped a single switch.

They continued to fly for a minute or so before Rudy's voice came over the speakers once more, “All scans show nothing. You're completely invisible. I even attempted to locate you visually given your last known location and speed. All stealth systems seem to be running perfectly.”

“Excellent. That should make it safer for us to go out into the unknown. We know the Viltrumites are friendly but I highly doubt ever race out there is as nice as them.”

“It is wise to avoid conflict or causing conflict on accident. For all we know some race out there could be highly xenophobic and take you being in their territory as an act of war.”

Adam nodded in agreement with Rudy, “Alright, disengaging the stealth systems and heading for the target asteroid for the weapons test.”

“Copy. I'll have the scanners focused on you to check all the energy readings.”

The trio spent the next few hours putting the ship through its paces.

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

Cecil stuffed his hands in his pockets while leveling a flat gaze at Adam, “Seriously, kid?”

Adam looked a little defensive, “What? It's just for a week. Just think about what this will mean for humanity and the GDA. This will be the first step in humanity moving into the stars, to becoming a multi-planet species. The world we want to check out shows signs of being Earth-like, it could be a potential new home for humanity. It's just two days there, three days scanning and maybe exploring, then two days back.”

Cecil sighed, “I get it, kid, I do. But you're one of the strongest heroes on the planet.”

“Exactly! One of. You've got Invincible, Omni-Man, and the rest of the Guardians. Not to mention Rudy has done some serious upgrading lately. His most recent suit is nearly as strong as I am. He can cover whatever you might need me for. I've already given you enough technology that it'll be years before you catch up.”

“Alright, alright. You've made your point. Fine. I don't like it, but one week isn't that long.” Cecil pointed a finger at Adam, “Just one week! Then I want you three back here. Got it?”

“I promise Cecil. We'll be back in a week. With the Phantom's speed and stealth systems we should be able to avoid any conflicts with aliens or anything else that could slow us down. Besides, if there's a real emergency you can get a hold of us and I can teleport us back to Earth with Kamui.”

Cecil thought about that, then nodded, “Fair point. Are you sure this communication system of yours really is instant?”

Adam nodded, “Yes, it is.” His eyes flashed red as he opened a small portal and pulled out a small communicator. He quickly pressed the button on it, “Rudy, you there?”

“I am.”

“Thanks for answering, I was just showing Cecil how well the HoloNet works. Tell him how long it would take for a normal radio communication to reach where you are.”

“Given the current position of Earth relative to our location in the asteroid belt, it would take approximately twenty-two minutes and thirty-five seconds for a radio signal to reach me.”

Cecil hummed, “I admit, that is impressive. And the signal will remain this strong at your destination?”

“Yup. I can also send back any information we scan, or give you access to the information live as it come in by letting you log into the ships storage. The HoloNet is basically the internet in space.”

“Fine, kid, fine. You've got your week. But if I call, I expect you to drop everything and get back here. Got it?”

Adam nodded, “Deal. You call, we'll come.”

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

Adam struggled with his nerves while sitting in the captains seat of the Phantom. Behind him Kate and Eve both looked equally nervous and excited. Adam fought to keep his hand from shaking as he guided the ship into position, “Phantom to Control, we're ready.”

“Control here, godspeed Phantom.”

Rudy's voice was calm and collected, as always. They'd run every diagnostic and simulation they could. The technology was well tested and had been successfully used by hundreds of probes at that point. Even so, they were all about to be the first humans to enter hyperspace.

Adam took a deep breath, “See you on the other side.”

Looking over his shoulder he asked, “Are you two ready?”

Both girls nodded, Kate speaking for them, “Yes. Let's do it!”

He turned back to the view screen and grinned, “In three... two... one... Engage!”

His hand pulled down the hyperdrive lever. In front of them the pinpricks of light that were stars began to stretch into lines of light while the hyperdrive engine hummed to life. There was a slight jolt through the whole ship as the lines of light became a whirling tunnel of swirling blues.

All three stared, mesmerized, at the sight in front of them. Adam's heart slowly calmed down the longer they were in hypserspace without instantly having their atoms scattered around space from a catastrophic hyperdrive failure. On the plus side, if such a failure did happen, none of them would feel a thing.

[Feat Achieved! Travel further than humanity ever has before! +1 Gold Gacha Ticket.]

[Feat Achieved! Be one of the first humans to travel in hyperspace! +1 Legendary Gacha Ticket.]

Adam looked over his rewards and smiled, these felt earned.

“This is amazing.”

Adam turned his seat around to look at the girls and smiled at Eve, “Yeah, it is. Congrats! Not only have you two traveled farther from earth than anything humanity has done, so far, but you're among the first humans to travel in hyperspace!”

Both girls giggled at his enthusiasm. Though when they calmed down, Eve was the one to ask, “Now what?”

Adam shrugged, “It's going to take fourteen jumps and two days for us to arrive at our destination. We don't really have a good name for it yet so we're calling it the Alpha Site. It's the nearest Earth-like planet to us. Or, we at least think it is. The probes we've sent out aren't designed for in depth scans of solar systems. The probe data just suggests a high probability of the planet we're heading for being Earth-like.”

Kate frowned, “So, we might get there and find out it's nothing worthwhile?”

Adam shrugged, “Possibly. But that's half the fun! We'll be the first humans in that solar system, the first to see an alien planet so far away with our naked eyes! And, even if it's a bust, we've got environmental suits so we could still land and explore. It'd be another first for humanity. I plan to record the whole thing.”

Eve perked up, “That sounds awesome. But, what do we do until we get there?”

Adam shrugged, “Relax? We're connected to the internet through the HoloNet, so you can browse the internet, stream shows, and do whatever else you want. Hell, your cell phones still work. Oh! Since we're on a pleasure cruise, the conference room was converted into a large bathroom, including a sauna and whirlpool tub to relax in.”

Adam climbed to his feet and stretched, “Our first stop is in about three hours.” He reached down and patted the top of a red R2 unit sitting next to him, “R2 here will handle the transition to the second leg.”

The droid let out several affirmative sounding beeps. He could have installed a vocorder to give the R2 unit a voice, but he liked the beeps and whoops more. He stepped out of the cockpit, Eve and Kate following behind him, and made his way into the main hold where he turned on the holo-projector and grabbed the remote for it.

Sitting down on the couch, he was soon joined by Kate on his right while Eve sat on her right. He looked toward them and smiled, “So, what are you two in the mood for?”

It took some discussion, but soon they were watching a movie. While thegirls focused on it, he focused on his system, 'Roll the golden ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Makeover, Common Ability, Allows you to change anything about yourself that is purely cosmetic, like the color of your abilities, the color of your hair, the shape of your pupils, the color of your skin, etc.]

Well, it felt kind of like a waste of a gold ticket to get a common ability. On the other hand... now he could change the pink color when using Eve's abilities. He didn't hate pink, but it would be awesome to change it and make it more distinguishable from hers. It would also let him use it a bit more freely than Eve herself did. He still wanted to know why she held back so much, but it was none of his business and he would still respect it.

Most of the time.

'Roll the legendary ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Tinker – Bio(III), Legendary Ability, This Tinker ability allows you to build technological constructs or contraptions related to biology and living organisms. Such as homunculi vats, completely overhauling biology, genetic alteration, creating and designing living beings from scratch. You can even create incredibly potent viruses.]

He studied his last result and really wished he'd had it back when they were cloning Rudy's new body. With it being his twenty-fifth ability it had opened a new slot and slid itself in. He could see half a dozen ways that the process of cloning Rudy's new body could have been improved. Hell, just cleaning out the older useless DNA, or junk DNA, that still hung around in humans could have made a huge difference and made the process easier. There were also a lot of improvements he could have made to Rudy's body to enhance it.

Oh well. He could now see ways to make improvements. Hell, he was already planning one for himself. He'd just need to get Mark to give him a drop of blood. Giving himself Viltrumite genetics would make it so he no longer had to use Super and could free up that slot. Not to mention, it would make his base form significantly stronger.

It was a enticing possibility, but one he could wait out the next week for. Not to mention he would need to make all the necessary equipment for the procedure. He paused, and slowly a grin spread across his face. He could enhance everyone! Just the thought of every member of the Guardians being part Viltrumite sent a thrill down his spine.

Oh, the world was NOT ready for what this new ability of his could unleash. He'd have to be extra careful with it. He didn't want to make his friends strong, only for it to get out of control and destroy the world. He would definitely have to proceed carefully.

There was no way in hell he was telling Cecil about this until the vacation was over. He was one hundred percent certain Cecil would demand they turn around right then. He wasn't going to ruin their vacation just to mass produce super soldiers for Cecil. In fact... he'd have to be extremely strict about who he chose to enhance.

That could all wait, for now. It was time to relax. He draped his arm over Kate's shoulder and relaxed. For now, he was going to enjoy the movie with his girlfriend.

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

“Holy shit. Aside from different continent shapes, that could be Earth.”

Eve wasn't wrong. Both Adam and Kate fully agreed with her. Adam was sitting in the captains chair looking over the intense scans that the ship was performing on the planet they were looking down on. There were no signs of satellites in the space around the planet so if there was civilization, it was pre-space.

He looked at the scans from the atmosphere, “Oxygen levels are about ten percent higher than Earth and there's no sign of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So the usage of fossil fuels seems unlikely.”

Before he could read more, the speakers came to life, “Adam, answer right fucking now!”

Adam blinked at the urgent tone of Cecil's voice suddenly coming through. He quickly opened the channel, “Cecil? What's going on?”

“Omni-Man has lost his fucking mind. I need you back here, now!”

“Omni-Man... what?”

He and the girls stared at the speaker in shock as Cecil explained, “Omni-Man killed the Guardians of the Globe. We don't know why and we've been investigating. He's been exposed now and he's gone off the deep end. He's already killed several agents and now he's hunting for Invincible. I need you here, now. You and Invincible are our only hope against him.”

Adam gripped his hands into fists, “Right. I'll be right there.”

His eyes shifted as he activated his Kamui and shifted himself and the girls into the Kamui dimension. Eve waved her hands transforming all of their casual clothing into their superhero costumes. Adam's eyes spun but he felt resistance to exiting where he wanted for the first time since he'd gained the ability.

Undeterred, he poured more power into his eyes trying to force his way through the resistance. He flinched as he felt a sensation akin to a hot needle being stabbed into his eyes.

“Adam! Your eyes!”

Adam reached up to touch just under his eye and slowly pulled his hand away, his fingers were covered in blood, “The hell?”

He shook his head, so what if he was bleeding? His regeneration would take care of it. Instead, he focused on trying to get to Earth once more. The moment he tried he screamed in pain and slammed his hands over his eyes where thick rivulets of blood dripped from beneath them.

Kate and Eve were both instantly at his side checking him over. Kate, worry clear in her tone, asked, “What's wrong?”

Adam shuddered from the residual pain, “I... I think it's too far.”

Kate and Eve looked at each other from behind Adam. The same question in their eyes, 'now what?'

AN

Another 10k words done and dusted.

As always, lots going on. This would have been done sooner, but I was sick for a few days and couldn't get any work done on it. All better now.

As always, let me know what you think of the chapter!