A Gang of One 1 (Patreon)

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If I made Amalgamate to be a little more in-line with average parahuman capabilities. For a given definition of being in line. Then this is its "successor" to the spirit of it. Kind of.

A Gang of One

Chapter 1

-VB-

Taylor Hebert

"Who are they?" she asked Tattletale as a trio of unfamiliar capes walked in. Armored and armed in completely blacked out scrap-lookalike equipment, all three of them shared intense narrowed brown eyes peering through narrow slits of their helmets and the dark brown hair that poked out here and there. She hadn't seen them before but Tattletale might have… but she would have told them who they were if she knew.

Were they new to the city like the Travelers?

Tattletale stared at them quizzically for a moment. "They are cocky. They think they can win against most of us here," she huffed and looked away. "But I've never seen them before. Leave the new guys be."

And soon, the villains' meeting at Somer's Rock started.

As Tattletale told her it would be, it was a power jocking and personality clashing "dick measuring" contest. All of it felt petty to her, but she didn't interfere; it was neither her position nor did she want this meeting to end unsuccessfully.

When the discussion about the truce came up, she realized that the villains were operating in a much more flexible manner than the Protectorate.

She begrudgingly admired that.

Plans got hashed out on who would attack which known ABB strongholds.

"We will attack this location by ourselves," the new guys spoke up together, and they did so while interrupting Kaiser.

The white supremacist leader glared at them. "Who are you to cut off the words of a king?" he demanded.

"A local. We are Hive. We don't care what you think or do. We will attack that location by ourselves."

They refused to budge after all. No negotiations, debates, or threats moved them. In the end, the villains let the "Hive" do as they wanted, but it was clear that there was no respect directed towards them.

-VB-

Colin Wallis

Armsmaster glared at the screen showing the remains of the city block where "Hive," a new villain, had fought Bakuda and won by killing her while neutralizing whatever it was that she used to detonate her bombs. He also made off with nearly all of the Tinkertech that wasn't bolted down or to a person.

As for the city block, it was a charred and ruined mess.

"The mayor is officially requesting that portion of the city to be condemned," Director Piggot grunted with a glare. "Considering just how many anomalous effects are at play, it probably will happen. However, this is Brockton Bay. Being condemned just means free real estate to the capes and criminals alike. I am not about to let anyone settle there, so there will be patrol adjustments. As for Hive…" she glanced at him. "How big od a threat is he?"

"Villain known as Hive, or Brockton Bay Hive due to other capes using the name, is a grab bag cape that has so far shown three abilities: self-cloning, individual resurrection, and pocket space," he said to the rest of the meeting room filled with Protectorate heroes and local branch PRT captains. "While there isn't enough evidence for a concrete conclusion, Hive and his clones show coordination on a level close to that of a gestalt consciousness."

"What does that mean?" Triumph asked sheepishly.

"Hive mind," Assault replied with a yawn. "One mind, many bodies. Also, it's in his name."

"Assault is correct," Colin replied. "Retrieved bodies of the clones showed no communications technology of any kind."

"How did he disable Bakuda's Tinkertech, then?" Miss Militia asked with a frown. "You told us that what few working samples of her Tinkertech we have in our possession are volatile."

"They are. It is why, in my opinion, Hive must be a Tinker as well. While he might be a trained bomb defuser, the expediency of his success makes that unlikely."

"What's his preliminary threat rating, then?" Velocity asked. As he was often the first responder, he always wanted to know the general ratings of a cape.

He looked at everyone once in a sweeping turn of his face. "Master/Thinker/Breaker 4, Shaker 3, Tinker 0," he answered. "Cumulative rating of 7+." It was slightly above Brockton Bay's average cumulative rating but lower than Protectorate rating.

"He will never be alone, will he?" Battery asked with a frown.

"No," Renick responded. "Video we managed to salvage showed us that Hive is a cautious fighter. He waited for Bakuda and her minions to overextend before punishing her for it, and always kept her on her toes by sniping at her from afar."

"How many clones was he fighting her with?" Triumph asked.

"Latest confirmed number was eight."

Assault whistled.

"He is also frighteningly accurate with his weapons with an observed accuracy of 73% at over one hundred meters with burst fire from a rifle of unknown make and model. He also prefers to use explosive ammunition against hardened targets " Colin added with a grunt.

"So … it'll be like fighting self-multiplying Miss Militia with all of your equipment," Velocity bemoaned.

"Inaccurate but not incorrect.”

Colin saw Assault subtly roll his eyes at his words but ignored it. Bringing his behavior to the forefront would only steer the meeting away from its focus, and the former villain was unlikely to change.

“This Hive is not going to be a fun guy to be around,” said man drawled. “Not very much ant of him.” He looked around expectantly. “Get it? Ants and hive? They grow fungi for food-”

Battery pinched him.

Assault’s yelp was satisfying to hear.

-VB-

Mary Wang

“I am not one to believe that power corrupts,” one of them spoke up while tying her down to the obviously bloody and well-used operating table. “Rather power pulls out the true character of its wielder. Ans we learned very quickly that while we may be kind at times, we are selfish at our hearts."

“Please, please, please-!” she sobbed as she struggled in the rusty steel clasps.

“Sorry if the work area is not sanitary,” the monster apologized as if she was here willingly or as if she was a patient at a clinic. “The last person to sit there had to be vacated expeditiously. He didn’t take really well to the augmentation that we graciously provided, you see.”

Just then, she heard creaky wheels running along, and her head snapped to the side. Her eyes widened when, through the doorway that they dragged her through, she saw a cart being pulled away with organs, bones, and prosthetics.

She saw a gas mask among the pile of organs and metals.

“We’re too curious,” the monster continued to talk as if there was nothing wrong with what it was doing. “We’re too … we want to see what we can do, not what we should do. I know, it’s so cliche, right?” Then he suddenly clapped his hands, and Mary realized that she was completely tied down. “Alright, let’s get started! That said, I am not a complete monster.”

The blood spoke otherwise, but Mary didn’t dare to provoke the demon in human skin.

“The purpose of our experiment here is to see how well we can incorporate technological designs from different universes. We already tried this with our bodies, but unfortunately, the nature of our powers prevent any meaningful observations from being made.” It sighed. “It’s a travesty.”

It pulled out a laminated paper from somewhere behind its back, and showed it to her.

They were options.

Options for non-negotiable prosthetic upgrades.

She sobbed.

“These prosthetics are from the New Eden galaxy. Very advanced, even by Tinkertech standard. Most of the upgrades you see before you are neural implants. Don’t worry; we’ve already determined that these are benign at worst and benefactory at best. That said, we are … upgrading most of the implants so that you can use them to safely access the rest of the augments that we intend to install in you. So, from this catalogue, please choose which ones you will like within five minutes. If you cannot choose in that period of time, then we will determine which ones are best suited for you and go through with our choices.”

It stood there, holding the “catalogue.”

Her heart pounded in her ears and she - she -

She sobbed.

“Please let me go!”

“I’m sorry, but you associated yourself with acceptable targets. We cannot allow you to simply leave, at least not before we have enough hold on you.”

“I just wanted to be safe from having a bomb shoved into my head! Is that so fucking wrong?!” she screamed and thrashed, but the restraints were too strong and her own ears were assaulted by her echoing screams.

The monster tilted its helmeted head. “Of course not, but all actions have consequences. You chose to join hands with those who we have classified as acceptable targets. I’m sure you have your reasons like you said, but you could have run away from the city that the gang was in and that is enough of a reason for us to ignore whatever reason you said you had. Four minutes remaining, miss.”

She thrashed and screamed as the monster who just killed over a hundred people belittled her survival. “What do you know about living?! You’re a fucking cap-!”

“And we got our powers after watching my brothers, sisters, mother, and father burn. We only managed to save our youngest sister, but even with our technology, healing her will take months. We watched your gang do this because my family refused to pay for protection. FOR THEIR CHOICE, MY FAMILY PAID A PRICE.”

She shivered.

The monster calmed down, and for the first time, she saw its eyes smile. “It is now your turn. I care not for your reason, only your choice and its consequence. Two minutes and fifteen seconds remaining, miss.”

She shuddered.

Oh.

Oh God.

She was going to die here, wasn’t she? Either that or this monster was going to turn her into a monster puppet.

Mary sobbed. “I didn’t want to die…!”

“So you say, miss. Two minutes.”

As she cried, she said the names of the options that looked and sounded like the least painful.

“We see, we see. You truly just do want to survive. Augmentations that will give you the most chances of survival at the cost of pain.”

She stared at him with eyes free-flowing with tears.

She shook her head but then clamps appeared and kept her face forward.

“No no no no-!”

“Then we shall begin with the operation that no one wants to start with but is for the best: the eyes. Fortunately for us, we have no oaths or regulations that require us to … use medication on you.”

Something moved in the upper periphery of her vision.

Before she could look up, it jumped her face.

Something touched her eyes and then pushed in.

Mary screamed to the sound of her eyeballs popping and drills grinding into her skull.

-VB-

A/N: Mary Wang’s scene is a reference to Neyetrix’s latest video, “Your OCs don’t belong to you.” Fun video. No, Mary Wang is not Bakuda.

A/N 2: The “pile of organs and metals” was Bakuda after we finished experimenting on her. Sadly, it seems that we cannot transfer powers between hosts.

Build:
Magecraft, Gamer (Rust), Door Me, Tech Reproduction Tinker, Panacea, Hive Mind, Apex, Cloak Mark II, Cloak Mark III, Mental Barrier, Trumped the Trump, Backup, Negentropy, Extended Range, Homecoming, Monologue, Poor, Slaughterhouse 8, Endbringer Target, Corona Pollentia, Orphaned, Homeless, Tinfoil Hat, Fallen Worship
Unconscious Geas: Endbringer Cultists are Friends!
Conscious Geas: Be polite to your enemies