Projections in Worm Part 7 (Patreon)

Danny pulled his attention away from the door Taylor had just walked through the kitchen door to put the dishes in the sink and focused on her lifelike projection. "You're going to keep her safe, right?"

"I'll do my best. Between her regeneration and the fact that she should be at least four blocks away from danger, she should be safe enough but I'm planning on making sure she's as safe as I can without locking her in a tower," Myst assured Danny.

"As much as I'd love to, I doubt locking her in a tower would make her any safer," Danny admitted. "Do you know where powers come from?"

"Just because I'm the result of a power doesn't mean I have all of the answers," Myst replied as he grabbed a mutated beetle out of his coffee can and held it out towards Danny. "On that note, do you want regeneration? I don't need Taylor worrying about your safety while she's running around trying to make the city a better place."

"Side effects?" Danny asked.

"Less pain, more energy and possible hair growth," Myst offered.

"So no increased aggression or need for conflict?" he asked thinking about some of the stuff Annette had said about capes.

"No, giving you a couple of powers isn't going to make you a cape or at least it doesn't make you a parahuman," Myst assured him.

"Do you know how much you're influencing Taylor towards conflict?" Danny asked in a whisper.

[Hopefully none], Taylor grumbled as she turned off the water and headed back towards the living room.

"I'm just one part of her power. I'm certainly not encouraging her to get hurt or to go looking for fights but this is Brockton Bay, the chances of never running into trouble are vanishingly small," Myst replied as Taylor walked in. "Speaking of powers, we should probably get you kitted out with regeneration and temperature normalization."

"Temperature normalization?" Danny asked as Taylor walked over and sat down on the couch next to Myst.

"One of the capes I made a deal with has a field around her that normalizes extreme temperatures as a side power, mostly so she doesn't kill herself with her primary power," Myst explained as he handed the mutated beetle to Taylor.

Taylor studied the creepy looking bug. "How many legs are these supposed to have?"

"Six," Myst replied as he loaned her his ability to acquire powers via death and the bug his regeneration. "Let's start with regeneration, go ahead and crush it when you're," he smiled when Taylor crushed the bug, "ready."

Danny glanced between Taylor and Myst then sighed and held out his hand. "Fine, I'll take flight and all of the defensive abilities you're offering."

"Excellent, does that mean you'll help if Taylor needs a lift somewhere for cape business?" Myst asked as he grabbed another bug and handed it to Danny, swapping the powers around so that he'd get regeneration when he crushed it. "Go ahead and crush it."

"Within reason," Danny replied and crushed the bug. He blinked when several half forgotten injuries repaired themselves and the background pain he hadn't even realized was still there faded away, leaving him feeling better than he'd felt in years. "Have you considered volunteering at the hospital?"

"I'd rather just give one of the nurses the power to share her regeneration with patients, that way I don't have to stick around and the job gets done. It would also give Panacea a break and decrease her stress level if she only had to come in on weekends for the tourists with medical issues that regeneration won't fix," Myst explained as he grabbed another bug and set things up to give Danny flight. He looked at Taylor. "We're going to need a bowl of water to give him a force field, can you get it?"

"You couldn't have asked when I was in the kitchen?" Taylor asked as she bounced up and headed for the kitchen.

"Sorry, I forgot," Myst replied as he handed Danny the bug. "Go ahead and crush it for flight."

Danny crushed the bug. "Have you considered selling powers? I can think of a couple of jobs that would be a lot easier if the crew that had increased strength or even flight. Then again, that would be another link to Taylor, wouldn't it?"

"She's the first person I saved, I'm always going to have a link but I doubt anyone will look all that close after a couple of weeks of saving people, especially if I offer brute packages to the more honest officers on the force and regeneration to the nurses or doctors at the hospital. I wouldn't mind offering some tinkering ability to some of the dockworkers, I think they could do some amazing things with boats given the chance."

"Tinkering?" Danny asked.

"I'm working on rehabilitating Squealer, do you know of any machine shops on the docks that are up for sale?" Myst asked hopefully.

Danny thought about some of the contracts the Union had with some of the local businesses to keep an eye on things. "None that are up for sale but I know the guy that owns one of the docks that has a machine shop that would probably sell, if only because he moved to Florida and doesn't like dealing with the city. Most of the tools and some of the machinery walked off over the last couple of years but the building should be solid and it's on the water."

"How much does he want for it? I have the bounty from Skidmark and Mush and the cash from their stash, I can probably get more by raiding the Empire if I have to but I'd love having a place where we can turn out interesting boats."

"Actually, I have a feeling we could get it for a song along with some healing. He's old and his knees are just good enough that the doctor's won't replace them but bad enough they cause him a decent amount of pain when the weather turns," Danny said thoughtfully.

"It's worth a try," Myst replied as Taylor walked in with a bowl of water. "Before I get carried away handing out powers, did you want to try to get in touch with Kid Win? We can probably talk Victoria into making the offer off the books."

Taylor glanced at her father. "It would give us the ability to hand out tinker packages which would be useful."

Danny shook his head. "Except tinkertech requires a lot of maintenance."

"That's just repeat business and it's not like people wouldn't be expecting it," Myst pointed out.

"Where are you going to make the call from?" Danny asked.

"About three and a half blocks away unless you want to take a drive?" Myst asked, knowing it was probably better to make the call from further away.

Danny considered the question, weighing his options then smiled when he noticed Taylor's hopeful look. "Might as well, we could use a couple of things from the store."

"Let's finish handing out the basics then we can look for ingredients for fantastic home cooked meals," Myst said as he set up the next bug, figuring the combination of regeneration and a force field would keep Danny safe enough.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Fantastic home cooked meals? Does that mean you can cook?"

"Okay, fantastic might be pushing it but I know how to cook a halfway decent collection of food." Myst handed the bug to Danny. "Just stick it under the water and hold it there if you can't crush it, it might take a minute or two."

Taylor handed the bowl of water to her father. "I'm next."

Danny dunked the bug, keeping pressure on it in case it stopped projecting its force field. "What are you planning after you make a deal with Kid Win?"

"I wouldn't mind snagging a copy of Uber's power, it would go nicely with the boosted learning speed power I picked up earlier." Myst grinned as he pictured handing the skills out to everyone in a class of students then seeing how far they could get in a week of dedicated training. "I'll have to run some tests but if people keep the skills they learn while boosted, we should be able to do a lot of cross training without having to hand out a bunch of learning abilities to everyone."

Danny smiled as he sensed a chance to toss the DWA more jobs. "I know some people that would probably be interested depending on how much it paid."

Taylor glanced at Myst. "Sounds good to me, what do you think?"

Myst grinned at Taylor, glad that she was pretty reasonable. "I'm sure we can work something out."

0o0o0

"Myst," Vicky said as she flew down and landed in front of the cafe where Myst was sitting on a chair playing with a gameboy. She glanced at the coffee can on the table with beetles crawling over the bottom of the can. 'At least she came prepared.'

Kid Win glanced around the mostly empty street then flew down and stepped off his hoverboard. "Hi."

Myst grinned at the tinker. "Nice board."

"Thanks, so Vicky said you could help figure out my specialty, can you?" Kid Win asked hopefully.

"Sure, that's easy enough," Myst replied as he loaned Kid Win his mental list ability. "Let me guess, it's not lasers?"

Kid Win smiled as he realized what his power was and why he'd been having so much trouble with it. "Modular design, I should have been building things to fit together, not trying to build finished products."

Myst glanced at Vicky then looked back at Kid Win. "Cool, how much did Vicky tell you about my powers?"

"Just that you were a Trump and that you had a power you could loan out that gave people a mental list of their powers, there's more isn't there?" Kid Win asked.

"Officially? Nope, nada, zilch," Myst said with a grin.

"Unofficially?" Kid Win asked.

"Unofficially, I can basically hand out knock off copies of my powers or allow people to share knock off copies of their powers," Myst explained.

"And by hand out, he means you get to keep everything permanently," Vicky added with a grin.

"How many?" Kid Win blurted out, his mind jumping to Eidolon and the Faerie Queen.

"I have flight, a power that drastically improves my ability to learn skills, high tier regeneration, a minor brute package that includes durability, a decent amount of strength that doesn't come with more than a basic increase to durability and an ability that should protect you from extreme temperature. Vicky says you're a hero with a decent reputation so I'm willing to share two of those for a copy of your power," Myst offered.

Vicky snorted. "Do you know how valuable Tinkers are? You can do at least three."

[It's worth it], Taylor suggested.

[I know.] Myst pouted at Vicky. "Who's side are you on?"

"Fine, fine, I'll be quiet," Vicky replied with a grin, completely unrepentant as she could tell that she hadn't annoyed Myst.

"How about regeneration, flight, the skill package and the Brute package that comes with increased durability for a copy of my ability," Kid Win offered.

"Four powers?" Myst asked, trying not to laugh while pouting.

"It's dangerous being a hero and Tinkers are awesome," Kid Win pointed out, hoping she didn't just blow him off and leave.

"Fine." Myst grabbed a bug from the can and handed Kid Win the ability to share powers. "Just focus on the bug and shove your power into it."

Kid Win mentally checked the new power then shoved his Tinker ability into the bug, trusting that Vicky wouldn't suggest making the deal if it was going to screw him over. He had a feeling Armsmaster was going to scream at him when he found out but picking up a power that might help with his Dyscalculia was worth a couple of lectures and being benched for a couple of months if not longer. "That should do it."

Myst crushed the bug then retrieved his powers and checked his new Tinker ability. [Sweet, his power is awesome, it's basically building components that we can fit together.]

[Nice], Taylor replied, happy that she was going to be able to pick up a decent Tinker rating.

"Good?" Kid Win asked nervously, hoping everything worked.

"Nice. I'm a girl of my word." He grabbed another bug and handed Kid Win the ability to acquire powers via killing things and the bug all of the durability he'd managed to scrape together fighting the gremlins and his starting abilities and most of his strength that hadn't come from Noelle. Let's start with durability and strength, it makes it easier to hand out regeneration."

"Thanks," Kid Win said, accepting the bug and doing his best to crush it before he tossed it back to Myst. "You might have given it a bit too much durability."

Myst picked up the empty plastic ice cream dish and dropped the beetle into it then held it up. "In that case, just shoot it."

"That works." Kid Win pulled his pistol and positioned it so the beam would go into the air after going through the bug. He took a quick glance around then shot the container, hoping that no one reported him on PHO.

Myst grabbed another bug and loaded it up with regeneration. "You'll probably have to keep grinding on it for a couple of seconds until it's actually dead."

"Can I get a copy of the regeneration?" Vicky asked hopefully.

Myst handed the bug to Kid Win then turned to look at Vicky. "Sure, I still owe you for the shield."

"You gave her a copy of your shield?" Kid Win asked as he worked on crushing the bug enough that it couldn't regenerate.

"Unofficially yes, officially no, and it wouldn't be polite to hand it out without her permission," Myst explained.

[Yeah, that boat has sailed], Taylor said as she added a bag of noodles to the cart.

Vicky shrugged. "She gave me an off switch for my aura, it's nice not having to think about it."

[You and Danny don't count, you're like family], Myst replied as he grabbed another bug and gave it a copy of the learning ability then handed it to Kid Win when he felt his regeneration return.

"That was a pain in the ass, I think it suffocated," Kid Win grumbled, easily crushing the next bug.

"On the upside, you should be pretty damned hard to kill," Myst offered as he grabbed another bug, gave it flight and handed it to Kid Win. "Last one."

Kid Win crushed the bug. "Now what?"

Myst transferred his ability to acquire powers via death to Vicky then loaned Kid Win his mental list and grabbed another beetle from the coffee can. "Take a second and check your powers while I give Vicky regeneration." He boosted the bug with regeneration and the skill boosting power then handed it to Vicky. "Do you want the skill package?"

"Hell yeah," Vicky replied excitedly.

Kid Win smiled as he floated off the ground a couple of inches, happy with his flight ability even if his hoverboard was faster. "This makes flying around on a hoverboard slightly less insane."

"In that case, Vicky smash," Myst teased as he held up his thumb and finger a centimeter apart.

Vicky laughed. "You've been talking to Amy, haven't you?"

Myst grinned at Vicky. "Nah, it just seemed amusing, is there a story there?"

"Nope," Vicky lied as she crushed the bug, moving her thumb back and forth a couple of times until she managed to actually kill it.

"In that case, let's cover expectations." He looked at Kid Win. "I'm not expecting you to lie but I'd appreciate it if you didn't volunteer any information you don't have to, I'd rather not have the PRT lock me in a gilded cage for the rest of my life or have one of the gangs after me."

"Someone is going to notice eventually," Kid Win warned her.

"With any luck, I'll have a couple more weeks to gather a decent collection of powers before they decide to toss a wrench into my plans. Speaking of plans, I'm Myst_of_Darkness on PHO, if you think Gallant, Vista and Clockblocker would keep their mouths shut, feel free to let them know I can give them more powers."

"What about Aegis?" Kid Win asked.

Myst shook his head. "Aegis is the team leader, they'd crucify him if he knew about my powers and didn't report it."

"Any reason you're not moving?" Clockblock asked over the com system.

"Shit," Kid Win muttered then activated his com system. "Fans, I'll get moving in a second."

"Cool, just wanted to make sure you hadn't run into a problem," Clockblocker replied.

"Thanks for the help and I'll let them know, I've got to get going," Kid Win said as he stepped back on his hoverboard.

Myst pulled his powers back. "No worries, best of luck."

"Have fun." Vicky waited for Kid Win to leave then looked at Myst. "Can I ask where you got regeneration?"

"You can ask, doesn't mean I'm going to give you an answer." Myst grinned at her. "Speaking of healing, I should be able to hand out a regeneration power that would let someone loan it to people, do you think Amy would know some decent nurses?"

Vicky laughed. "Sure, she's normally a decent judge of character when she's not being snarky and she's met most of them in the city."

[We're heading to the checkout stand, is there anything you need?], Taylor asked as she grabbed a large bottle of apple juice from the shelf.

[Let me get to the alley then you can grab me and I'll take a look.] Myst smiled as he picked up his gameboy and the coffee can of bugs. "Cool, have her drop me a line with names and concerns, I need to get going."

[Sounds good], Taylor replied. "She's almost done."

Danny still wasn't sure what to make of Taylor's projection but it was nice to see Taylor happy and almost bubbly again and the ability to hand out powers could help the city or get them in a lot of trouble, which left him unsure how to feel about the whole thing. "I'm not in a hurry."

Vicky pulled her attention away from the bugs in the can. "Thanks, I'll let Amy know."

"You're welcome, heroes have to stick together." Myst headed for the alley so he could vanish without anyone seeing him.

0o0o0

"Let me get this straight, you want to use me as a test subject?" Squealer asked, simplifying Myst's explanation down to the basics.

"More or less," Myst agreed. "Are you saying the appearance test was a failure? Or that changing your voice into something more pleasing to the ear was a mistake?"

Squealer snorted. "No, I'm saying that just because a couple of tests were successful doesn't mean the rest of them will be. You're talking about jumping into a twisted world tied to my soul or at least mind and body and cutting away flaws and personality traits until I don't even recognize the girl that's left."

"Not to be blunt but…" Myst trailed off, not sure how to finish the statement without coming off as a complete asshole.

[There's blunt and then there's that], Taylor pointed out, absently browsing PHO, trying to get a bit more familiar with the cape culture or at least the various capes in the area now that she might run into one. [Remind me to never ask if a dress makes me look fat.]

[It's almost never the dress's fault], Myst replied.

"Point," Sherrel admitted after a couple of seconds of thought, not sure who she was anymore now that she was clean for the first time in years. "I'm not sure I recognize myself now, I look like a runway model."

"With a smashing set of tits, a healthy appetite and a face that could launch a thousand ships without makeup," Myst said, appreciating the fact that she'd ditched the dirty clothes she'd been wearing to soak in the hot springs. "How about this, I'll jump in and kill a couple of monsters then come out and you can tell me if you feel different?"

"As in one step at a time?" Sherrel asked, fairly sure she was nuts to even consider letting a parahuman carve away at her 'flaws'. 'Of course, the other side of the coin is destroying my flaws should improve my powers and mental health, fuck it can't get worse.'

"One step at a time," Myst agreed, fairly sure he'd have been nervous if someone offered to grind away his flaws and possibly change his personality in exchange for a chance at more power, mostly because he was fairly sure he would have taken it given the right situation and how much he needed the boost.

Squealer closed her eyes, trying to remember anyone that had believed in her and coming up short, even her parents had never believed she'd amount to much of anything. "Screw it, work your voodoo magic. I'm a wreck and I'm broken but I want to be better and I know I'm not getting there on my own. The only thing I have going for me is tinkering, I want to wipe the floor with Armsmaster, so let's do this."

"Sounds good." Myst wasn't sure spite was the best motivator but it at least it was a vaguely friendly goal if you squinted. [Let's do this before she changes her mind.]

Taylor focused and projected Myst into Squealer, not sure if she should be surprised or disappointed when Myst appeared on the roof of a rusted car in what looked suspiciously like a junkyard that had been turned into a toxic waste dump from a bad movie. [Yeah, that's cheerful.]

"Not even a little," Myst muttered when the stench of the place hit his nose, causing his stomach to lurch. He glanced around at the rusted half sunken wrecks sticking out of the oily green sludge that covered the ground. He flinched when he noticed a zombie wading through the waist high sludge in a trashy hot pink plastic shirt that clung to the zombie's rotting flesh.

Taylor stared at the zombie. [What the hell is wrong with her?]

[I wouldn't even know where to start], Myst replied as he pulled a gun out of his purse shaped bag and shot the zombie twice when the first shot didn't 'kill' it. He sighed in relief as the zombie turned into motes of black light and vanished. [It's a start.]

[How many zombies do you want to kill before you check on her?] Taylor asked.

[At least a couple], Myst replied as he took to the air and flew towards a group of zombies he could see in the distance, making sure to stay away from the stacks of cars as none of them looked particularly stable.

[Works for me], Taylor replied, not seeing a reason to rush.

0o0o0