Endbringers Hate Paperwork Part 16 (Patreon)

"Got it!" Cloud called out as he slipped past Taylor and Amy on his way to fighting the boss that was trying to nail Kara with lightning while she finished off the rest of the magic users.

Taylor missed her shot with her eldritch blast when a translucent window appeared in front of her, informing her that she'd just unlocked a copy of Cloud's new ability. "Nice."

Kara twisted to avoid a blast of fire and swept her heat vision over the group of magic users, causing them to turn into motes of light and vanish. "They're getting better."

"I noticed!" Barbara replied cheerfully as she danced backwards, barely avoiding the dragon's claws. She brought her new sword down on the dragon's wrist and frowned when it merely glanced off its skin without leaving a scratch. "I'm going to need some help."

Myst pulled his attention off Cloud's rather short and brutal fight with the boss and grabbed the dragon with telekinesis. "I've got it!"

Alec worked on shooting the dragon with his new gun, not because it was actually doing something but because his aim was improving with every shot. "We're going to need better weapons."

Noelle dashed over and punched the dragon in the head, causing it to explode into motes of light. "Leave the dragons to the brutes."

"Just saying," Alec replied with a grin as he scanned the area for more monsters. His grin slipped from his face when he saw the green skinned humanoid in robes that was slowly walking towards the group holding a lantern in one hand and a knife in the other. "Is that a fucking Tonberry?"

"Yeah, don't get close," Cloud warned them as he brought his sword up to hack it apart.

"Don't kill it!" Myst snapped as he lifted the tonberry off the ground with telekinesis and stole the monster's knife. "I want to try something." He pulled Victor out of his spatial ring and used a copy of his power to steal the tonberry's Chef Knife skill, picking up the creature's general skill with a knife and its ability to instantly kill creatures with a blade. "Your world has some nasty monsters."

"You get used to it," Cloud replied as he walked back over to the group.

"Can I see your bracelet for a minute?" Taylor asked Myst.

"Sure," Myst replied as he dropped his arm so that Taylor could look at the bracelet filled with materia. "What's up?"

Taylor reached up and poked one of the materia with her finger, picking up the ability to steal things with magic spells and attacks. She quickly poked the rest of the materia, picking up the rest of the abilities they granted. "Cloud's wish wasn't limited to his friends, it's a party buff."

Myst carefully poked the one of the materia in his bracer and smiled when he realized that he could use the All ability to hit all of the enemies in the area with a melee attack or even modify his eldritch blast to hit multiple targets. "That's broken as hell," he muttered as he touched the rest of the materia, picking up copies of their abilities.

Cloud smiled as he thought about the rest of his friends. "Good to know."

Myst took the bracelet off and levitated it down to Amy. "Pass it around, they should be able to use the rest of the abilities even if they don't have enough mana for the comet."

Amy touched each of the materia then handed the bracelet to her sister and turned to look at Barbara. "Speaking of abilities, do you want a permanent boost to your strength and durability?"

Barbara considered the question for a couple of seconds, weighing the benefits against the feelings of selling out that were probably left over from training with Bruce. "I'd love a boost."

Taylor flew over and carefully poked the tonberry's tail, picking up the ability to create tonberry minions.

"Can you make her Kryptonian?" Kara asked Amy, tired of worrying about her friend getting hurt or killed on the off chance that someone caught her without her force field belt.

"Let me check," Amy said as she reached out and grabbed Kara and Barbara's hands so she could get a better idea of their genetics.

Vicky finished touching the materia then passed the bracelet to Noelle. "I wouldn't mind being a Kryptonian."

"Same!" Yuffie squealed, looking forward to being a super fast ninja.

"Go for it," Kara suggested, curious if they could convert people into Kryptonians so her species wouldn't go extinct.

Amy nimbled on her bottom lip when she realized that she didn't have enough information. "I'm going to need more examples of Kryptonians."

"I can do that," Myst replied as he used his summoning power to look through timelines and dimensions for Kryptonians that looked like Barbara. He smiled when he found an alternate and Kryptonian version of Barbara from a world where she was a detective on Krypton. "I found a Kryptonian girl that looks like she could be Barbara's younger sister."

'Sorry Bruce, being human is overrated,' Barbara thought as she smiled at Myst. "Works for me."

Myst focused and summoned the teenage version of Barbara from a week before her planet would explode. "Do you have a minute?"

Gor-Don glanced around then focused on the giant. "What's going on, where am I? Who are you?..." she trailed off when she noticed Barbara. "Why does she look like my mother?"

"I'm not that old," Barbara complained as she studied the girl that Myst had summoned, surprised by how much she looked like a younger version of her if you ignored the weird off white pajamas that she was wearing.

"In no particular order, I'm Myst and you're in a pocket dimension. I summoned you because we're trying to fix my friend's genetic issues."

"Genetic issues?" Gor-Don asked.

"She's human," Myst replied with a shrug. "Tell you what, if you let us run some non-invasive tests, I'll see if I can figure out a way to save your life when your planet explodes in seven days."

"Great, Gry was right about the earthquakes," she grumbled. "What do I need to do?"

"Let me touch your hand," Amy said as she reached out with the hand that had been touching Kara and touched the other Kryptonian's hand, trying to get an idea of what she'd have to change. "This could take a couple of minutes."

"We're not going anywhere," Myst assured her as he scanned through alternate dimensions for a hero that could save Barbara's life and might have a chance to save her world. He scowled when he saw a version of Darkseid kill a version of Mon-El that was almost as powerful as Kara despite his lantern ring. 'You'd think someone would have killed the bastard,' he mused as he summoned Mon-El a second before he was hit with Darkseid's omega beams, causing the hero to stumble backwards when he found himself somewhere unexpected rather than writhing on the ground in agony or dead.

"What's going on?! Where's Darkseid?!" Mon-El demanded as he scanned the surrounding area for threats, trying to keep an eye on everyone in the group.

"Relax, you're not dead yet," Myst told the man that looked like a younger Johnny Depp in a black and red costume with a cape.

Mon-El stared at Myst. "That's supposed to make me relax? If we can't stop him, he's going to destroy Metropolis! You need to send me back!"

"Being alive is generally better than being dead," Myst argued as he glanced at the green lantern ring the hero was wearing, wondering if he could talk him into making some temporary copies. "If I send you back right now, you'll be dead."

"You should probably explain that time is frozen in his dimension while he's here," Taylor explained as she flew back over.

"Right, sorry. My power basically drops everyone I summon back in their bodies a split second after I send them home or the timer expires, which means you don't have to worry about Darkseid destroying everything while you're gone," Myst assured him.

"Good to know," Gor-Don muttered, hoping she could figure out a way to save her planet.

Mon-El sighed in relief. "Why did you summon me?"

"You're familiar with the concept of multiple dimensions, right?" Myst asked, wanting to make sure Mon-El was familiar with the concept.

"I'm familiar with the concept," Mon-El replied, not seeing a point in admitting that he'd been to a number of different dimensions and timelines over the last couple of years, since he didn't really trust the giant even if he could see the energy field around Kara that let him know that she had similar powers.

Myst gestured towards the Kryptonian Gor-Don. "She has a week before Krypton explodes in her dimension, killing her and everyone she loves if we can't stop it."

"Sorry," Mon-El offered, not sure what else to say.

"Sorry? You're a Green Lantern, can't you do something?" Gor-Don demanded.

Mon-El glanced down at his ring. "I might be a lantern but you're talking about stabilizing a runaway reaction powerful enough to shatter a planet. You'd need at least a dozen lanterns or a couple of guardians."

"How many temporary rings can you make?" Myst asked thoughtfully, fairly sure Barbara's team had enough willpower to use a lantern ring.

"It wouldn't help. Even if I was authorized to create duplicate rings or operate in the system, you don't have enough time to train everyone that you'd have to train," Mon-El warned her.

"How long would it take to train everyone?" Barbara asked, unwilling to let a bunch of people die if she could help it.

"For the basics? A couple of hours," Mon-El admitted. "For what you're talking about? A couple of months or years of constant training or someone with a singular talent for the use of a Green lantern ring."

"What about cloning Mon-El?" Taylor asked, knowing Myst could clone people if Noelle was in the area.

Mon-El turned and stared at Taylor. "Daxamites aren't any easier to clone than Kryptonians and cloning people would take time we don't have."

Noelle turned to look at Othala's clone. "Could you fix the world with a wish?"

Othala's clone focused on Gor-Don's world, trying to get an idea of how to fix her planet. "It wouldn't help, Darkseid would just figure out another way to destroy the planet."

"What does Darkseid have to do with the core exploding?" Gor-Don asked.

"Your version of Darkseid wanted Krypton out of the way so he arranged for the mining technology to be 'invented' which lets him destroy a culture with advanced technology that would have been a threat well in advance of them becoming a threat," she explained.

"What about rescuing anyone that isn't particularly xenophobic and stealing a bunch of tech?" Myst asked thoughtfully.

"That I can do," Othala's clone replied with a grin. "Speaking of wishes, I need an actual name."

"Genie? Djinn?" Myst suggested, not sure what type of name she wanted.

"Gin?" Alec suggested with a smirk.

"Just because I have a bottle doesn't mean I'm naming myself after a drink," she told Alec then looked at Myst. "I'm not stealing Genie or Jeannie's name and Djinn is like calling someone human."

"What about Jen or Jennifer?" Taylor suggested.

The genie considered the name for a couple of seconds then smiled. "Jen works, it's short for Jennifer and fits the theme without being too on the nose."

"I can't help you steal technology," Mon-El warned them after mentally consulting with his ring.

"How about helping us salvage things so the children we rescue won't lose their cultural heritage?" Myst asked, not sure how strict the rules were for his version of the Green Lanterns.

"You'd still need permission to operate in the Rao system," Mon-El pointed out.

Myst glared at the green lantern ring. "Screw it, can you make me a Builder without damaging my ability to summon people?"

Jen read Myst's mind to figure out what he was talking about then checked to see if she could grant his wish. "Technically, but you'd lose most of your telekinesis."

Myst spent a couple of seconds weighing the ability to build just about anything and everything against his ability to toss buildings with telekinesis before deciding that he'd rather have the ability to build things with magic than an insane amount of telekinesis. "How much would I keep?"

"About twenty pounds, it would get turned into a knack," Jen explained, knowing he'd understand even if the rest of the people were looking at them in confusion.

'Easy come, easy go,' Myst mused as he turned to look at the monster he was holding in the air.

"Maybe you should wait until we're not in the Item World before you make a wish that could screw us over, this should be the last boss," Lisa suggested.

"Fair point," Myst admitted. "Speaking of bad ideas, we should probably check to see if Captain can get a decent ability from Crawler."

"Fairy dust?" Lisa asked thoughtfully, not sure it would help but fairly sure it wouldn't hurt.

"Not a bad idea," Myst agreed as he pulled a bag of fairy dust out of his spatial ring. "His ability to adapt to attacks should give us an edge if we can figure out how to share it."

"He's still a homicidal lunatic. What are you going to do if he's immune to telekinesis?" Brian asked, not particularly happy about the idea of being anywhere near Crawler.

Myst gestured towards the ledge. "Last I checked, he can't fly and Noelle and I can hit him hard enough to send him sailing into the abyss."

"Easily," Noelle agreed, trying not to think of the damage she'd caused during some of her rages.

"Not to mention we have a couple of Kryptonian level fighters here," Myst added, knowing Kara could dropkick him into orbit before he even hit the ground if she wanted.

"Can you conjure a screen so he can't see us?" Alec asked hopefully.

Jen gestured and conjured a floating one way screen that they could see through but would keep anyone Myst summoned from seeing them.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Yuffie asked with a pout.

"What's a crawler?" Cloud asked, wondering why everyone was nervous.

"He's basically a mutated cape that gets more durable every time he's damaged to a significant amount," Myst explained, wanting to give Cloud a head's up in case things turned into more of a fight than he was expecting. "Summoning." He focused on the Crawler from their version of Worm and activated his summoning ability, causing a hideous van sized monster to appear in front of them.

"What the fuck?!" Crawler demanded as he found himself in a strange location.

Myst lifted the creature into the air and tossed a bag of fairy dust at him, causing him to instantly change back into a normal person and drop a couple of feet closer to the ground as he had to get a better grip. "Go!"

Taylor jumped forward and touched his leg, rather happy that he was facing away from her since he didn't have any clothes on. She turned and sprinted back to the group, ignoring the floating pages on her HUD. "Got it!"

Myst let Crawler vanish. "Anything good?"

Taylor checked to make sure Crawler wasn't behind her then looked at the unlocks. "Adaptive Mutation, you basically turn into a mutated monster but you get a lot stronger. I also picked up Adaptive Defenses, which just provides defense without mutating you."

"Why would anyone pick the first option?" Aerith asked.

"Better combat ability and a lack of intelligence?" Taylor offered, not sure anyone would if they had a choice.

"Considering Crawler was a couple of bad days away from a useless form, I'll stick with the defenses without turning myself into a monster," Myst stated, hoping that Crawler didn't use this as an excuse to go on a rampage.

Lisa glanced at Rachel and her dogs, glad that she wasn't causing trouble. "Are you summoning the rest?" she asked Myst.

"That's the idea," Myst replied as he walked over to the edge of the platform. "I'm going to start with Hatchet Face. He has enhanced durability and strength, as well as the ability to nullify parahuman powers. It shouldn't work on the Kryptonians or Cloud and his friends. On the off chance that he's in range, he'll just drop into the void or get dismissed and we can try to grab the rest of them but his power should make it easier to deal with the rest of the Nine."

"How strong is he?" Kara asked.

"Strong enough to hurt himself and durable enough to survive being run over by a steamroller," Myst offered, not actually sure how strong he was. He focused on the area over the abyss, wanting to make sure Hatchet Face would fall to his death if his telekinesis cut out. "Incoming." He summoned a scared looking man with a shaved head and a nasty looking hatchet. He ripped the hatchet away from the deranged serial killer and let it drop into the abyss.

"What the fuck?!" Hatchet Face complained as he lost his hatchet and found himself floating above a dark abyss without the ability to move his head.

Myst copied the cape's power and used it, creating an aura that suppressed everyone's parahuman powers.

[That's annoying], Administrator complained as she ignored the repeated requests to shut down her host's powers.

He wrapped a telekinetic hand around the man, pinning his arms in place and hauling him over to the edge of the platform so that Taylor could touch him. "Looks like we got lucky, you're up."

Taylor flew over and touched the crazy cape's leg then flew back over to the group when she picked up a couple of unlocks. "Got it."

'Her powers shouldn't work in his aura, unless Myst can control what he's suppressing?' Lisa mused, mentally added a couple of numbers to Taylor's trump rating.

Myst moved Hatchet Face a couple of feet away then focused and summoned Manton. He grabbed the dirty looking bum before he could fall to his death. "You're up."

Manton scowled as he tried and failed to summon the Siberian. "What the fuck?!"

Taylor flew over and tapped the cape then bolted back over to the group when she realized that he was the Siberian's controller thanks to the unlock she picked up.

"Who the fuck are you?" Hatchet Face demanded, not recognizing the voice.

Myst pulled a bag of fairy dust out of his inventory and hit Manton with it on the off chance that it would help. He let Manton vanish and summoned Burnscar, catching the young woman before she could fall into the abyss.

"Shit!" Burnscar shouted when she found herself floating over the abyss.

Myst hit her with fairy dust.

"What the fuck was that?!" Burnscar demanded, glad Riley wasn't around to glare at her about swearing.

"Glitter, I'm trying to fix your power," Myst replied then let the girl vanish, hoping the dust helped since her power was responsible for driving her insane.

"Do you think the dust will actually help?" Alec asked.

"We can hope," Myst replied as he focused on the area above the edge of the platform.

"I'm going to kill you!" Hatchet Face shouted.

"Not today," Myst replied as he clamped the man's jaw shut so he wouldn't have to listen to his complaining. "I'm going to summon Bonesaw and dust her. If you see any spores or viruses, use your super breath and kill the tonberry, I don't want to take any chances."

"Got it," Kara agreed.

Myst pulled a bag of fairy dust out of his inventory and tossed it as he summoned Bonesaw.

Bonesaw barely noticed the feeling of something soft hitting her in the back when she found herself floating in a strange location filled with stars. "Neat!" She stared as bits and pieces of her cyberware fell into the abyss. "What's going on?"

"I wanted to give you a heads up that Hatchet Face was probably going to try to kill you without Jack and I wanted to fix your head, your power has been screwing with it," Myst explained.

Hatchet Face gave Bonesaw a twisted smile. "Not a bad idea, if you're not going to help me kill capes, I'll just have to start with the rest of the team and save you for last."

"Crawler is going to eat you," Bonesaw told him, fairly sure she could talk the idiots into fighting while she left with the Siberian since he wasn't playing nice.

Myst let Hatchet Face vanish, not seeing a point in keeping him around.

"You're not playing fair," Bonesaw complained with a pout that looked creepy and yet strangely adorable on the girl's face.

"Not even remotely," Myst agreed as he turned his attention to the tonberry and ripped it apart with telekinesis, causing the level to finish and dropping them back in the warehouse minus Bonesaw. "So much for cheating."

"Who was the crazy girl?" Yuffie asked, wanting an explanation that actually made sense.

"Riley got recruited by a group of sociopaths when she was six and turned into a monster, I'm hoping the dust can help," Myst admitted as he glanced around the warehouse. "I'll give you the cliff notes version while we're splitting the loot."

"Cool," Yuffie replied with a grin, looking forward to seeing what they'd won.