Word Play 4 (Patreon)

Word Play
Chapter 4

-VB-

Did my power give me more powers every morning? Because it certainly felt that way to me when I found two more powers upon waking up. Classy and Better. Better was a very broad word, and its current effect, Tinker, allowed me to convert an object into tinkertech that does the original object's job but better.

I kept Better and sacrificed Classy to expand its power classification to include Striker. It can now allow me to slowly improve an object.

Oh.

This was a much weaker version of Dauntless's power.

Well, shoot. I just hit the jackpot.

Okay. Okay.

Umm. Well shit, I just gave away the one Tinkertech I made to my projection that I could try my new power on. Actually, what was my projection doing right now?

-VB-

Krrr.

One fucking blink! That’s all it fucking took, and this motherfucking dipshit moved halfway into the alley!

“Shit shit shit, hot sauce maggot-dipping cum scum!” Skidmark yelled even as his hands shook.

No, they weren’t shaking because they were turning to stone ever since he looked at the eyes of that fucking God’s limp-dicking sucking pigeon!

He dared not look away, however. That’s what got Mush killed. That’s what got Squealer killed. It was only after two of his minions died that he realized how this thing moved and killed.

But he had to blink sometime, and he’d run and run and run and run…!

His grimace flattened to a blank when the back of his shoe struck something very solid.

He looked back reflexively before he realized-!

KrrrRRR!

“URK!” Adam choked as he got lifted up against the brick wall he’d run into and struggled within the grasp of the statue.

His bulging eyes looked down at the angel.

It was serene and blank just a moment ago.

Now, it was snarling up at him with jagged fangs that belonged on a mauling tiger.

He’s fucked.

He’s fucked.

He’s fucked so hard and … and … it held a cellphone with its other hand?

It was ringing and on speaker.

“Ah. Ah. Hello?”

Mush?!

“Mush! Get the fuck over here! I need help, you lucky shit clusterfuck!”

“Ah. Sorry. I don’t think I can do that, boss.”

Air was running out.

“There’s more than one of them, boss.”

Skidmark felt his heart drop.

This thing that tanked one of Squealer’s explosive tank round wasn’t by itself?

“Besides, I don’t think I can help you personally, boss.”

“Why the bleeding fuck not, Mush?! It’s me, Skidmark! Your boss!”

“I know, boss. But… I’m not alive.”

“Then how the fuck-?!”

“The angel that’s still in our garage. What takes on the image of an angel becomes an angel, boss. You looked into its eyes, didn’t you?”

“No no no no no -!”

“Sorry, boss. One of our boys found us and looked into its eyes. I think it was only two minutes or something, boss, before he became one of them.”

“Shit, fuck, lemme out! LET ME OUT!” Skidmark screamed for anyone to hear him.

His hands felt heavier every second.

He was going to become one of these dipshits! He was Skidmark! He wasn’t-!

“Ah. Just to let you know, boss, I’m not alive.”

“YOU SAID THAT!”

His eyes were watering and then … he blinked.

Nothing changed.

“Huh?”

“The garage angel tore out my vocal cord, boss. I’m not alive.”

“NOOOOO!!!!”

“And you’re turning into one of them. They want that to finish.”

Skidmark sobbed like he only ever did once when his nieces died in a hit and run.

“NO!” he sobbed even as his shoulders got heavier.

“Sorry, boss. At least, you’ll be alive, right?”

No more than five minutes later, Skidmark ceased to be.

-VB-

United States Department of Parahuman Affairs
Parahuman Response Team
East-North-East Branch
377 5th St, Brockton Bay 03844

File Number ------
Requester ------
Language: English
Source File Information: PRT_AUDIO_FILE_2011.4.13

Participants “Mush” & Agent -----

Abbreviation
MS Mush Impersonator
RA Responding Agent
DL Dauntless

MS Ah. Ah. Hello?

RA Hello, this is PRT ENE Non-Emergency Office. May I have your name?

MS Ah. I think you know this voice as Mush.

RA … Sir, please understand that there is a heavy penalty for impersonating a known parahuman and prank calling any state or federal office.

MS Yeah, that’s why I said this voice is Mush. Mush is dead.

RA … May I have your name, sir?

MS Oh. Umm. The angel doesn’t have a name. It used to but it doesn’t anymore.

RA Angel, sir? [RA contacts Protectorate and shares the call. The responding Protectorate hero, Dauntless, opts to remain silent]

MS Yeah. The police knows us already, right? Our First killed some of our - sorry, not the angel’s but the Merchant’s - people.

RA … I am unfamiliar, sir. May I ask why you have contacted our office?

MS Ah. Well, the angels. The stone angels. They’re happy.

RA Happy?

MS Yes, miss. They’re, uh, happy. There’s a lot of food in the bay.

RA Something tells me that you don’t mean fish…

MS No. The angels, uh, eat humans.

RA [cursing in the background for a moment before she responds] And how does that involve calling us?

MS Because the angels are unhappy with you.

RA Excuse me?

MS The heroes. One of them can really hurt the angels. Clockblocker.

RA …

MS The angels want to kill him.

RA You are threate-

MS Miss. I’m not threatening. The angels are.

RA And how are the angels using Mush’s voice?

MS Ah. They ripped my throat out and took my vocal cord. A bit of my brain, too.

RA [There is a minute of silence as the RA digests the information]

MS The angels think that this is funny. [Noises of groaning and shrieking metals fill the phone call.] That’s the angels. They’re laughing.

[RA is too shaken to answer, and Dauntless takes over the call]

DL Hello, Mush. This is Dauntless.

MS Ah. Um, hi, Dauntless. I guess it’s good to hear from you.

DL Is it?

MS It is. Maybe you can get the angels to stop using my brain and vocal cord. I can feel the insects biting. Oh, by the way, Skid is dead. Squeals, too.

DL … The Merchants are gone?

MS Yeah. The angels killed them for a lack of a better term. Can’t tell you how they did that. They won’t let me.

DL Mush, I’ll just call you Mush, I need you to tell me what they are planning to do.

MS Oh. I can do that. They didn’t think about that, and pigeons are staring at us. The angel using me and the phone is here in the Docks but the other two? They’re making their way towards your headquarter. I wish you good l-.

[Call terminates]

-VB-

I was just about to take a bite into my lunch sandwich (Subway existed even here) when two things happened.

First, I got more powers! Four of them at once, in fact: Environmental, Understanding, Rehabilitation, and Responsibility.

I yeeted Responsibility, Understanding, and Rehabilitation like tough-on-crime politicians always did with theirs.

Now, I wasn’t sure about Environmental, though. While it was a very good term, it already came as a Shaker power that didn’t let me control the environment around me. It just gave me data on how to balance it. Fantastic power for an environmental scientist and activist but horrible for someone who wanted to fuck around with superpowers. I dumped it, too.

Those four tier-1 charges became two tier-2 charges, and I applied both of them into Better 2 to expand its power classifications. It showed me how to improve any kind of process, though limited to normal things (Thinker), and improved my biology (Brute)? Nice.

The second thing that happened was my projection returning to me.

“Oh hey!” I greeted the Weeping Angel with a smile and closed eyes. “How have you been?”

I felt its hands give me an up and down pat along the shoulders as if my projection was my nanny trying to figure out if I needed something before it gently brought one of my hands up and wrote letters on my palm with its bare finger.

“Hmm? You want my help with something.”

I felt the air shake from its nod. My projection was a very fast and heavy boy.

“Sure! I’ll help. What are you even doing, anyway?” I paused to let it explain itself on my palm again. “Ooh, you’re hitting the bad guys, huh? Maybe we can become the only bad guys in Brockton Bay? Maybe even become the big bad horror?” I chuckled as my projection paused. “Well-. Hmm? You think Clockblocker can hurt you? I mean, well, he does stop time. He might be able to mess with you, huh? Even if you are a projection, you are based on the actual Weeping Angel, so stopping time would … starve you, maybe? That’s bad.” I hummed after saying that before snapping my fingers in realization. “I mean, we’re baddies anyway, but killing a Ward is a bit too much. Why not find his dad in this hospital and threaten him? I mean, can you imagine what kind of terror will run through their minds when they find you standing over his nearly comatose dad?” I chuckled. “... I mean it’s better than killing the kid, right?”

The angel gave me a “yes” written out on my palm before it bade me goodbye and left my dingy motel room.

… Right, what was I doing again?

Oh yeah! Let’s test out a combination of Better 2’s passive Brute upgrade with Horrify 4’s Changer!

…

How about …

Hmm. I’ll need some room to do it, but what kind of change would it have on a horror?

I chuckled giddily.

Ah, playing with powers was the best!