Boosted Villainy Part 17 (Patreon)

S. Vicky smiled as the last scene finished and the credits started rolling. "Stitch is pretty awesome for an alien engine of destruction."

"Yeah, he's adorable," Myst agreed as he pulled his phone out to check the time.

"I was expecting a bit more bloodshed," S. Amy admitted, thinking about some of the other movies she'd seen or heard about with bio-tinker villains. "How much time do we have?"

"Fifteen to twenty minutes," Myst replied with a yawn. "Just enough time to break the universe and grab some coffee."

"Now you're just being overly dramatic," S. Rose teased.

"Probably," Myst replied as he pulled his remote out of his inventory. He pushed energy into the power button on his remote, giving it the ability to temporarily disable and reenable a parahuman's powers. "That should let me temporarily disable powers."

"That's useful but you should probably start with the healing ring," S. Amy warned him, wanting to make sure he didn't forget.

"Probably," Myst agreed as he focused on his inventory ring and pushed power into it, giving it the ability to heal people and fix mental issues. "Done and I still have plenty of energy to play with the remote," he mused as he glanced over the buttons, trying to figure out what else he needed to upgrade.

"Or you could upgrade the gloves," S. Vicky suggested. “Maybe something that makes it less likely for people to steal them.”

“Also a good idea.” Myst focused on his power copying gloves and pushed energy into them. "And done, that will let me fake a trump ability and hand out powers by touch rather than making people wear the gloves."

"It would certainly cut down on people trying to steal them," S. Vicky teased.

"Speaking of handing out powers, can you give my original a copy of her powers?" S. Kid Win asked as he gestured towards C. Squealer. "Or Hacksaw’s? Modulation is a nice broad field, but I’m kinda easily distracted so giving me something to focus on would probably help."

"It's on the list," Myst said as he pushed energy into the gloves, boosting them so he could copy three powers and could feel that copying a third power would probably take the better part of a day. He pushed a touch of power into the gloves to let them change into bracelets. "I'll need a bunch of gloves but that should let us copy or hand out three powers per cape."

"Do the Travelers have any useful powers?" C. Squealer asked, looking forward to having a power she could show off that didn’t involve spending a couple of days in a garage.

"Sundancer has an aura that normalizes temperature which I'll be handing out," Myst said, looking forward to acquiring her ability to create a miniature sun. "Genesis has the ability to create projections. Ballistic has the ability to imbue any inorganic object he touches with kinetic energy, sending it flying at ballistic speeds, thus the name. Trickster has the ability to swap objects of a similar weight and size and Oliver's main power is fantastic, the ability to acquire and quickly master skills would give us an entire crew of highly skilled techs in weeks or months rather than years or decades."

"He's the one that's always changing appearance, right?" S. Rose asked, wondering if the changes would stick around.

"Yeah," Myst agreed. "I'm hoping I can figure out how to fix Noelle's powers using the information from his powers."

"Sounds like a good way to screw something up in her head," S. Amy warned him. "You'd probably have more luck just making a clone and getting a different powerset or finding some capes that you don't care about and experimenting."

"That's plan B," Myst admitted as he focused on his cleaning and repair gloves and pushed energy into them, giving them the power to manipulate the shape of inorganic matter. "That should let me fix the windows and spruce the place up a bit."

"How much energy do you have left?" S. Rose asked.

"Enough for another decent item or a couple of small boosts, why?" Myst asked as he headed over to the table where he'd stashed the plastic gloves so he could start boosting his power copying gloves.

"The animated movie got me thinking about old Disney movies, do you think you could make a scrying mirror for finding capes?" she asked hopefully.

"It's worth a try," Myst replied as he grabbed the box of gloves and started boosting his power copying gloves. "Grab your costumes if you're coming with me, otherwise, hang loose and watch another movie."

"Have fun," C. Squealer said as she walked over to change the DVD.

"I'll settle for productive," Myst replied, hoping he could heal the Travelers before they flipped out and decided it was some type of trap due to being Simurgh bombs. 'One step at a time, boost the gloves, boost the ring then worry about healing everyone before they decide to make things worse.'

0o0o0

"Twenty says the guy waits for the last minute," Trickster grumbled as he checked his phone for the seventh time in the last couple of minutes.

Sundancer glanced at Genesis who was sitting in her wheelchair wearing a domino mask, trying to look like she wasn't over the moon about the prospect of getting healed. "Considering the meeting was set up through Accord, he'll probably be on time to the minute."

Genesis turned to look as the door to the private dining room opened and three capes walked in wearing normal looking street clothes with jester caps and theater masks being their only concession to concealing their secret identities. "Can you really heal me?!" she blurted out before they could even begin introductions.

"Compared to Noelle, your problem is a lot easier to deal with," Myst assured her as he glanced between the potentially unstable capes, 'copying' them with Taylor's power so he could collect their powers without being suspicious. "Do you want me to start with Genesis?" he asked the group.

"Yes!" Genesis exclaimed, before Trickster could say something stupid and mess things up.

"Go for it," Trickster agreed, not particularly happy with the meeting, because he didn't trust unknown capes regardless of who vouched for them, but willing to put up with it because Noelle had asked.

Myst slowly walked over to the young woman in a wheelchair, keeping his hands visible so he didn't startle any of the unstable capes. "I just need to tap your hand and you'll be as good as new." He reached out and tapped Jess's hand with his ring, restoring her to perfect health and causing her legs to fill out.

Genesis blinked a couple of times then stood up, grabbing the table when she started to fall forward. "I thought you said you healed me."

"How long have you been stuck in a chair?" Myst asked. "Your body is healed, but your brain hasn’t worked your legs for a while, besides they’re probably asleep."

Genesis sighed in relief and smiled at the cape as she found she could stand and move about, albeit slowly but with growing competence. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Myst replied as he turned to look at Sundancer. "Next."

"The rest of us aren't injured," Trickster argued defensively, not sure why he wanted to mess with the rest of them but getting a bad feeling about it.

"It also heals old scars and exhaustion and gives you a tune up," Myst replied as he reached out and tapped Sundancer's hand and healed her when she brought her hand up.

"That's like having a cup of coffee or a shower," Sundancer said with a smile.

Myst updated his copy of Sundancer and Genesis then turned to look at Ballistic. "What about you, do you have any previous injuries you want to take care of?"

"No, leave off," Trickster ordered, not sure what the hell was wrong with his team.

"I like KFC, my arteries probably have more oil than OPEC," Ballistic replied with amusement as he reached his hand out. "Go for it."

"Nasty habit," Myst joked as he healed Ballistic, wanting to make sure all of the Simurgh's modifications were dealt with before the next part of the plan.

"The fuck man? He probably needs touch to master you," Trickster warned them, not sure why they were just going along with things, even if he had healed Noelle, she'd been weird and told him to finish his deal with Accord before coming to the bay to see her.

'So much for him being reasonable.' Myst updated Ballistic's shadow copy as he pulled his remote out of his inventory. "Do you want to see a trick?" he asked Genesis.

"Sure," Genesis replied as she wiggled her toes and kicked her feet up, getting a feel for moving them again.

Myst put his finger on the power button then pointed the remote at Trickster and pushed the button. "Presto," he said as he waved with his left hand, pointed the remote at Ballistic and pushed the button, sealing his powers, "you're a muggle Harry." He quickly did the same thing to the rest of the Travelers, sealing their powers.

"What are you talking…" Trickster trailed off as he realized his power was gone. "What did you do to my power!"

Myst lunged forward and grabbed Trickster's wrist with his left hand. "I shut it down, I didn't want you doing something stupid."

"Attack!" Trickster ordered as he tried to yank his wrist out of Myst's grasp. "What the fuck?!" he complained when he couldn't even move the other cape's hand. "He's a brute!"

"No shit," Myst replied sarcastically as he healed Trickster, wanting to cure his mental issues or at least put a large dent in them and get rid of any lingering Simurgh effects.

"No one moves, no one gets hurt," S. Vicky warned them as Myst pointed the remote at Genesis

"Please," S. Rose added, fairly sure Vicky wasn't helping.

"What do you want?" Sundancer asked warily, more than a little disturbed that she couldn't feel her power waiting to be used.

"Calm down, I'm acting in your best interest," Myst assured them as he worked on copying Trickster's power, figuring it might come in useful, especially since it basically swapped targets without ripping them apart and reassembling them at the destination.

"Bullshit!" Trickster argued, glaring at Myst.

Myst let go of Trickster's wrist. "Your team was exposed to the Simurgh when you got dropped on Earth Bet. My power cures master effects, including hers, which means I need to heal Oliver before he leaves."

"You're insane if you think we're going to trust you!" Trickster snapped as he swung his cane at Myst's head, still rather keyed up.

Myst caught the cane with his left hand. "What part of brute did you miss?"

"What did you do to Noelle? She doesn't want to see me!" Trickster complained. "You're going to tell-" whatever else he was going to say was cut off when Myst hit the mute button and he lost his voice.

“She told you to finish the contract with Accord first, not that she didn’t want to see you,” Myst said, rolling his eyes. “You’re more dramatic than a teenage girl going through a goth phase.”

"Did you just mute him?" Genesis asked in disbelief, glad that she had a table to lean against.

"Yep," Myst replied with amusement as he shoved Trickster towards S. Vicky. "Make sure he doesn't escape."

"Sure," S. Vicky replied as she glared at Trickster. "Don't do anything else stupid."

Trickster flipped S. Vicky off, silently swearing up a storm.

"Do you have an extra one?" Ballistic asked hopefully.

Myst laughed. "I wish."

Oliver stepped forward with his hands held out. "If it helps, go ahead and heal me, it would be a relief not having to worry about her."

Myst grabbed Oliver's hand and healed him, wanting to make sure he was sane. 'Increased skill acquisition and retention and I'd have to activate his appearance altering power, that works.' He quickly started copying Oliver's powers, looking forward to spreading the powers around. "Thanks for being reasonable."

"You healed Noelle and Genesis," Oliver replied with a shrug, fairly sure Myst wouldn't have let him leave without getting healed.

Myst finished copying Oliver's powers then used Panacea's power to look at Oliver's corona pollentia, trying to get an idea how to modify Noelle's connection to her shard so she wouldn't turn into a monster again. 'I'll probably have to run some tests or grab Bonesaw and get a second opinion.'

"Trouble?" Oliver asked when he didn't let go.

"Sorry," Myst replied as he let go of Oliver's hand. "I was studying your connection to see if I could figure out how to hack Noelle's power."

"Did you learn anything interesting?" Oliver asked, hoping Myst could help Noelle.

"Not as much as I'd like but more than I was expecting." Myst pointed at Oliver and pushed the power button. He updated his shadow copy, wanting one that wasn't screwed over by the Simurgh.

"Are you just going to leave him muted?" S. Vicky asked with amusement.

Myst pointed the remote at Trickster and unmuted him. "Better?"

"Fu-," Trickster stopped when he realized he could talk. "Where the hell did you get a remote that can silence people?"

"I made it," Myst replied smugly.

"You're an asshole, you know that right?" Trickster complained, calming down as he realized he was still pissed, since if he was mastered he wouldn’t mind whatever the guy did.

"Only occasionally," Myst replied with a shrug. "I was just trying to make sure no one got trigger happy and that everyone got healed, Sundancer's power is terrifying."

Trickster glanced at Marissa. "It's certainly destructive."

"Yeah," Sundancer muttered, more than a little terrified by her own power.

Genesis glanced between Myst and Trickster. "What happens now?"

Myst turned to look at Genesis. "That depends, if you actually want to get back to Earth Aleph I can probably help you out in a week or two."

"You can get us back?" Ballistic asked hopefully.

"Assuming I can fix the targeting issues," Myst admitted as he re-enabled their powers and updated the shadow copies of the entire team, wanting to have sane shadow clones. "On that note, I've got a bit of a drive and a couple of things to take care of so I'll let you get sleep or whatever you're going to do."

"Why doesn't Noelle want me in the Bay?" Trickster asked as Myst headed for the door.

Myst stopped and looked at Trickster. "I'm pretty sure she just wants to make sure there aren't any hard feelings with Accord. I also told her how long it would probably take to find a cure and finish the portal."

"I wouldn't worry about it," S. Rose assured him then opened the door for Myst. "Take care and best of luck with your legs, Genesis."

"Thanks again!" Genesis told them, wishing she could jump over there and hug them.

"You're welcome," Myst replied, glad that he could help the Traveler's out. 'I'm not sure I'd have done better considering the Simurgh and Noelle's issues.'

"Why go to all this trouble?" Trickster asked. “This all seems too good to be true.”

"I take care of my people. Noelle agreed to help with a couple of jobs and it wasn't that far out of the way," Myst replied then walked out, wanting to leave before Trickster demanded more information or said something that got him in trouble on the off chance that Accord had the room bugged. 'I really need to figure out a way to deal with parahumans’ conflict drive and masters in general.'

'What about an orb that creates an aura that heals, restores sanity and removes and prevents master type effects that also deals with the conflict drive,' S. Rose suggested.

'It's worth a shot,' Myst admitted as they walked over to the waiting area where the manager was standing.

"Do you need anything else?" the manager asked.

"No." Myst shook his head. "Thank you for letting us use your private room."

"It was my pleasure," the manager replied with a friendly smile.

Myst headed for the exit, wanting to leave before he ran into trouble and not particularly interested in digging into the manager's connection to Accord.

"Now what?" S. Vicky asked once they were outside.

“Now we find some glass recycling bins and make a crystal ball,” Myst replied as they headed for the street. 'I want to test the gloves and see if I can get Rose's idea to work.'

'It's worth a shot,' S. Rose replied mentally. 'Did you get everything you wanted?'

"Enough to justify the trip." Myst glanced both ways then headed across the deserted street, wanting to be out of the city before last call rolled around and they had to deal with drunks. 'Let's see if we can track down the Teeth on our way out.'

"The PHO should have a decent idea where they are or at least places to avoid," S. Vicky said, looking forward to clashing with an actual gang that she could punch.

"It's worth a try," Myst replied.

0o0o0

"Fucking assholes," Myst complained as he stalked towards the group of thieves wearing bone masks and blood covered body parts that were in the process of looting a free clinic. He wasn't sure if the Butcher's aura extended far enough to affect him or if it was just the site of a bunch of degenerate pieces of shit looting a free clinic that had caused him to leave the 'safety' of the RV but he was angry enough not to care and he was reasonably sure his deflection ring, force field, and regeneration would be enough to keep him safe.

'If you see the Butcher, let me know,' Myst ordered his shadows as he used Taylor's power to copy the large beast that was screaming at a pair of heroes trying to hide behind a cadillac for cover. He pointed his remote at the creature and pushed the power button, causing the cape to transform back to his normal form. He smiled coldly when the cape's head exploded a second later with a crack of thunder as one of the police or PRT snipers took the chance to deal with the annoying cape.

"Eat hubcap!" S. Vicky shouted as she tossed a hubcap at the group of thugs, trying to figure out where the capes were since even the unpowered people in the gang wore costumes.

Myst smiled when one of the thugs raised his hands and filled the area in front of him with hundreds of small force fields, causing the hubcap to bounce off. He copied the cape then pointed the remote at the man and pushed the power button, causing the force fields to vanish.

Officer Smith adjusted her aim and put a round through Vex's head, knowing that she'd be dealing with a ton of paperwork if she survived the fight but wanting the bastards that had crippled her younger sister off the streets. She turned her attention to shooting the rest of the gang members, fairly sure the Butcher was going to show up and 'save' her from the paperwork, but willing to make the trade if it meant the rest of them were permanently dealt with.

Myst stared as the gang members started dropping, surprised that someone was actually doing the intelligent thing for a couple of seconds before he pulled his attention away from the one sided fight and looked for the Butcher. He yanked the remote into position when he saw a woman with nasty looking mask and a bow appear on a balcony with a blast of fire and pushed the button. He manifested S. Amy next to the depowered cape.

S. Amy reached out, grabbed the Butcher's neck and dropped her unconscious then vanished, not wanting to be caught on camera as she was not only unmasked but actually completely naked. 'We need to figure out a better way to do that.'

'I'm aware,' Myst replied as he slipped his remote in his inventory and headed for the balcony, wanting to drop the Butcher in his ring before someone killed her or tried to lock her up which would likely result in her escaping to rebuild the gang.

"Fuck!" Lightstar cursed as he hid behind the car, waiting for his powers to return. 'I should have stayed retired.'

"No shit," Dazzler replied sarcastically, hoping that whoever was filling the air with bullets was a decent shot and on their side.

Myst flew up to the balcony, grabbed the Butcher, and shoved her into his inventory.

Bastion peeked out of the alley, trying to find the Butcher before she found him. 'Where the hell are the police? They'd be a nice distraction right about now.' He listened as the gunshots stopped and the night went disturbingly quiet. "Fuck this shit," he grumbled as he ran out into the street, knowing he could take a couple of hits before his force fields gave out. He turned and glared at the unfamiliar cape floating next to a balcony. "Where did the Butcher go?"

Myst turned to look at the cape he was reasonably sure was Bastion given the fact that he could create force fields. "She teleported." He gestured down the street as he used Taylor's power to copy the 'hero'.

"Hero or villain?" Bastion demanded.

"I was in the area and figured I'd help," Myst replied as he floated back down to the ground. "Thankfully, the cops had it under control."

"Cops, right," Bastion muttered. "Independent?"

"Yeah, just passing through," Myst replied as he headed towards the pair of officers that were trying to apply first aid to a third officer. "I'm a healer, do you need assistance?" he asked, keeping his hands visible.

"What does it look like?!" one of the cops snapped.

"I'm legally required to ask if people are conscious," Myst replied as he landed and walked the last couple of feet. He tapped the injured officer with his ring, causing a bullet to push out of his arm as his flesh flowed back together.

"Fucking hell, the pain's gone," the previously injured officer blurted, feeling wide awake and pain free, including the persistant pain in his knee from when he'd taken a bad fall a couple of years ago.

"How often can you do that?" the female officer with a rifle asked.

"Often enough," Myst admitted. "Let me guess, you have someone you want healed?"

"My sister," Officer Smith admitted. "She got paralyzed in an attack six months ago."

"We also have a bunch of officers on the reserve list because of injuries," the other officer added as he scanned the surrounding area, expecting the Butcher or one of the other capes to show up.

"Normally I don't do requests, but it's Christmas and you did one hell of a job. How quickly can you get everyone to the station?" Myst asked, figuring he might as well get some good will and reward the officer for doing the right thing and killing the thugs.

She looked at the other officer. "Thirty minutes?"

"Probably forty, it's the middle of the night," the other officer replied. "I can call the desk and they can start making calls if you're willing to help?"

Myst glanced between the two police officers that cared enough to do their jobs in the middle of the night on Christmas. 'Screw it, I'll have plenty of time to deal with Winslow and the cargo ship before it gets light.' He glanced at the red haired man in his thirties that was walking over with a man wearing a glitter covered costume with tinted safety glasses and a bandana to hide his identity. "Make the calls, I have a couple of hours I can spare to make sure we get everyone."

"Any sign of the Butcher?" Lightstar asked as he walked over.

Myst pulled his attention off the overly sparkly cape and looked at the officer. "Officially, she left."

"Unofficially?" Officer Smith asked.

"One of my teammates captured her, she's stuck in a pocket dimension," Myst replied with a grin. "Feel free to clean up the Teeth while she's gone."

"How long can they hold her?" Lightstar asked.

Myst used Taylor's power to copy the red haired cape that wasn't wearing a mask. "Long enough, we should be able to figure out a way to permanently depower her, which would keep the Butcher from jumping bodies again."

"How did you pull that off?" the previously injured cop asked.

Myst shook his head. "Sorry, I'd rather not have details of my powers end up on the boards. I just figured you'd want to know to prepare for the Teeth's rampage when they realize the Butcher is gone or captured."

"Thanks," he replied as his partner pulled out a cell phone and called the sergeant, wanting to let him know that they'd found a healer and to start calling people.

"Let someone know if you start hearing voices," the other officer warned Myst.

'Too late for that,' S. Rose teased as she walked over with S. Vicky following her.

'Hush,' Myst replied with a smile at Rose. 'At least I managed to copy Vex and Aminos which means we can grab their powers later.'

'I'm just glad a dozen lunatics are dead,' S. Rose replied, wishing the same thing would happen to the gangs in the Bay.

'I should probably avoid talking, he'd probably recognize my voice,' S. Vicky warned Myst.

'You know him?' Myst asked her as he used Taylor's power to copy the glitter covered costume.

'He's my uncle, he left the group a couple of years ago,' S. Vicky explained.

'Small world,' Myst replied, wondering if that was caused by his penny or just random chance.

"This is going to be a mess…" the male officer that hadn't been hurt trailed off as a PRT vehicle pulled up. "Yep, death by paperwork." He grinned, not really caring about the heat they’d brought down on themselves by doing their job and not what the PRT wanted them to limit themselves to.