Legacy universe story
by: Set3
Tobias Marshal was following his partner, Phil Dunwhich, down the hall.
Both were clad in swat gear, as they should be, as they are part of a
larger team that was currently clearing out an old apartment building
that housed a group of white supremacists. They had received a tip that
they were going to carry out an attack on a local minority church. Not
willing to take a risk, SWAT was called in. The building was quickly
surrounded and after a quick fire fight at the immediate entrances, they
had to clear each room and floor. Since it was such a large building they
had to split off into two's as one of the suspects they took told them
that there was a bomb somewhere inside. Time was of the essence hence
splitting into two's to cover more ground faster.
Walking down the halls, the two came to a door to the left. Tobias posted
by the door while Phil readied. On both nodded to the other that they
were ready, Phil tried the door and opened it and entered with his MP5 at
the ready as he entered. The room had seen better days as there was grim
all over the walls and floor. The ceiling looked like it was starting to
collapse in the corner. The only furniture in the room was the half
rotted remains of a mattress, the spring wire frame clearly visible
through the material. The immediate room clear, Phil turned to the only
doorway, it's door had been broken off and laying on the floor beside it,
and made his way to it. On reaching the doorway Phil could see that it
led to an empty closet. Relaxing slightly, Phil left and told Tobias that
the room was clear when a man bursts from the room knocking Phil forward.
The man was too close for Tobias to accurately shoot the man without
hitting his partner and elected to grab the man in a bear hug as his
focus was still on Phil. Phil had quickly got up and made his way to the
attacker. Tobias felt the man was about to jump up and use Tobias to
brace himself to kick Phil as he came up. So Tobias dropped him and he
fell to the floor hitting it hard stunning himself. Tobias quickly put a
knee to the man's back pinning him to the floor as he pulled his cuffs
out and secured the man.
"This is blue three, we got a suspect in custody," Phil said into his
radio as he came to Tobias.
"Copy blue three, red two just found the explosives. Continue your sweep
for any stragglers," control replied.
"Will do, blue three out," Phil replied.
Tobias got the man to his knees now that his hands were cuffed behind his
back and got a look at him. Tobias had to laugh once he saw the man. He
was completely shaved bald and had a tattoo of a swastika.
"You really went all out on the skinhead thing didn't you," Tobias goaded
him.
"Fuck you man!" he shout back as he struggled against his binds. "Let me
go! You know we gotta get rid of those filthy people from stealing our
jobs and killing our kids. If we don't do anything to stop these leeches,
how will?"
Tobias' lip quivered in anger, "Sure, and you're so nice and squeaky
clean and live in the ritzy part of town. This is just your summer home
right?" he prodded gesturing around the filthy hallway.
"Fuck you pig!" he shouted back.
"He's obviously gone to Harvard," Phil said with a laugh.
"Definitely a Pulitzer winner here," Tobias quipped as he got up. "Let's
get the rest these assholes rounded up," he told Phil.
Several minutes later they cleared the floor having found two woman that
the group had kidnapped and were using for sex. The women were rushed to
the waiting ambulance to be treated for the abuse they suffered. At the
end of the operation a total of eighteen had been taken into custody,
seven of those were shot when the SWAT teams breached the building and
two of them were killed from the firefight.
After the debriefing and following mountain of paperwork, Tobias and Phil
had taken to a bar after work to celebrate their largely successful day.
"So," Phil started after taking a drink of his beer, "Are you sure that
this'll be your last day on the force? I gotta tell you, I'm going to
miss having you with me," he told Tobias as they clinked their glasses
together.
"You're going to have to find someone else to watch your back when you
forget to check behind the doors," he replied with a smirk.
Phil laughed at that, "Well, I had to give you something to do. So.
What's this part-time.."
"Full-time job now," Tobias corrected.
Phil nodded, "..Full-time job that you have that you can't still work
with me and the guys for?"
Tobias stared at his drink for a moment before shaking his head
dismissively, "Sorry, I can't tell you since I'm not allowed to tell
anyone, but I swear I can make a difference workin' in it," he told him.
Phil snuffed his nose at that, "Yeah well, just be sure to look me up
once in awhile," Phil told him while holding up his glass for another
toast to which Tobias answered in kind. "Now, lets get you the mother of
all hangovers for tomorrow so you can realise the mistake you've made in
leaving the force."
"I'll drink to that," Tobias said as he drank.
"You're going to have to," Phil laughed, drinking his own.
They sat at their table for another hour after which the went their
separate ways.
On reaching home, Tobias tossed his keys on the table and locked the door
before walking into his living room and turned on the TV to watch the
news. As he listened to the news in the background. With a sigh, he wiped
his face with his hands before he looked at the bracelet on his left
wrist. There was a reason for his being vague. In his new job, that was
part time up till now, he is a super hero, one of the developed.
His code-name is Dragon and part of a team called Valiant, a mid-level
super hero team composed of himself and three other people. Copy Cat,
Halt and Reflect, and Evangel.
Compared to his teammates, he was rather embarrassed on how he developed
his powers. He didn't get hit with radiation or took some kind of
chemical. He wasn't part of a super soldier program and he wasn't
brilliant creating awesome technology. And he certainly didn't develop
powers through surviving any tragic event. No, he developed powers
through a small act of kindness. More specifically, he saved the life of
a dragonfly. As it turned out, the spirit of all dragonflies took notice
of him when he idly picked up a dragonfly when it stunned itself by
hitting a cart by the entrance of a grocery store he was walking out of
one day and set it in a safe place for it to recover.
Later that evening the spirit came to him telling him that she was
touched by his kindness and humility as she told him that most would walk
on without notice. And to show her appreciation to him, she bestowed the
spiritual armor of the dragonfly to him. The armor was mostly black in
color with metallic green accents where the light reflected off it. It
hugged his body like a second skin and had smooth chitness design giving
it an insect-like look and covered his entire body including his head.
The helmet sort of reminded him of those old Kamen Rider shows he used to
watch. The armor also came with weapons in the form of a pair of throwing
knives. The armor couldn't allow him to fly, which confused him, but it
enhanced his speed, reflexes, and strength to just beyond human levels.
Tobias smiled to himself as he looked at the bracelet which was how it
looked when his armor was in its dormant state. He hadn't been able to
remove it since he received it but didn't really want to anyways. He had
put this gift to good use using it to fight super villains as well as the
more standard criminals. He liked it and there seemed to be a lot less
paperwork. A quick look at his clock on the TV told him that he should
head for bed. While he didn't expect there to be a world crisis event, it
still paid to be well rested as his experience in the SWAT unit showed
him that exhaustion was as much a lethal enemy on the job as any bad guy
with a gun. He shut everything down and headed for bed and was asleep
minutes after his head hit the pillow.
The next morning Tobias was up and going through his morning routine and
had gone out the door at his usual time and driving off to work. With one
change. Instead of driving to the police station, he headed into the
opposite direction heading to the headquarters for Valiant. After getting
out of his car he headed for the building. On reaching the door he was
met by a girl with long blond hair done up in a pony tail who looked to
be seventeen years old.
"Good morning Dragon," she said to him with a smile.
Tobias smiled back, "Morning Copy Cat," he answered using her code name
in return as they both walked through the door.
Copy Cat was the team's resident tech head. She would often try to copy
powers and other technology she comes across using technology she built
herself. Her uniform consisted of a blue hairband that she wore that had
a functional set of cybernetic cat ears that would twitch and turn to the
slightest sound. A sleeveless blue shirt that seemed to be made of a
glassy material with a circuit pattern instead of real fabric. Her
fingerless gloves and cargo pants seemed to be made out of the same blue
glassy material. The only exception to this was her goggles, although
they had a glassy blue frame, which had orange colored lenses. To cap off
her uniform, she carried a small satchel that was her first invention as
well as her pride and joy. It had the same blue glassy look to it as well
and had dimensional technology built into it. This allowed her to put
pretty much anything she wanted to, regardless of size, into it. She got
the idea from an old cartoon where a character would pull out an anvil
that was twice the size of the character and copied it for her own use.
She even included some sort of warping technology into it so the object
would compact as it was it was put into her satchel. He had to laugh
once, and was thankful it was harmless to humans, when she once shoved a
villain into it when we had no other means of transporting him safely to
a holding cell. The reason she looks seventeen is because of her first,
and only, foray into bio-mechanical suits. Back when she was twenty-one
she had seen a TV show where a character was wearing a suit that made
them look like a completely different, and smaller, person. She then
tried to replicate the effect by creating a bio-mechanical suit that
looked like herself from when she was seventeen. Unfortunately, it seemed
that she made a mistake and locked herself in the suit. Because of the
way she designed it, simply trying to rip it wouldn't work. Even though
she is a full-fledged adult she still, at times, acted like she was
seventeen. In any case, she was an invaluable member to the team.
As the two walked through the lobby they bantered to one another when
Halt and Reflect came walking out of the gym with a towel his shoulders.
"Hey Halt," Copy Cat greeted him as they passed.
"Morning Cat," he replied as he headed off to his room for a shower.
Halt and Reflect, or Halt as most people called him had no real uniform,
usually sticking with a simple pair of jeans and a muscle shirt. His
powers allowed him to stop energy before it hits him and bounce it back
to it origin point. He was well fit and would often brag about his
physique.
Tobias and Copy Cat were soon in the central control room which had a
conference table with chairs around it as well as computers and TV
screens that lined the walls. The TV's were set to various news channels,
the computers were analysing police radio bands for possible super
villain attacks or just regular criminals that were too well equipped for
the regular police force. The two sat down at their separate computers
and went through the logs to review potential new comers, both heroes and
villains coming to the city.
"So where's Evangel?" Tobias asked.
Evangel didn't have a uniform per say but he always wore white clothing
that seemed to make him look like an aristocrat from the last century. He
also wore an incredably long white scarf that was wrapped loosely several
times around his shoulders and the ends still fell to his waist. He
carried a pair of swords at all times. If they weren't in his hands they
were in sheaths that covered only the blades edge. No one in Valiant had
ever seen him eat or drink and despite a few times the had camera's
trained on him out of curiosity, they never saw him sleep either. His
swords, so far, could cut through anything. Tobias thought that he was a
speed booster as he was always able to block what ever came at him or
moved out of the way just in time to avoid injury.
"He went on his vacation two days ago," Copy Cat answered.
"Oh," Tobias replied.
For three days each month, Evangel would disappear. They didn't know
where he went and just considered it his vacation as he was always on
duty otherwise.
Just then an alert sounded and Tobias flicked on the police radio.
"Send back-up, we have a mob here at the mall. Confirmed developed
involvement. I repeat, a developed is instigating a riot! It's.." there
was a female voice that cut off the officer and then the signal went
dead.
Tobias switched off the speaker, Copy Cat had already got up and was
heading to the door, Tobias ran after her. They ran to the roof where
Halt was waiting, still soaking wet from his shower but otherwise dressed
and ready.
Copy Cat pulled out a cube, a teleportation device, from her satchel and
placed it on the ground between the three. The sides slid out providing a
stable platform while the top raised up until it was just above everyone.
Everyone stared at the erected post as it activated. From the team's
perspective it looked like a cross fade you see on TV shows. One second,
they were on the roof of their headquarters, and the next they were on
the roof of the parking lot of the mall where the mob/riot was happening.
Not wasting any time Tobias willed his armor to activate and he was
immediately clad from head to toe in chitiness armor and followed his
team members to the mall's skylight to peer in for a look. What they saw
was a mix of controlled chaos. The men were running around smashing
storefront windows and raiding them of valuables. The women were
alternating between fighting each other and bowing in one direction.
"Oh shit," Copy Cat swore as she saw who it was and went fishing in her
satchel pulling out a pair of goggles and headphones and handing them to
Halt. "It's Princess," she stated with distaste.
Princess is a woman who was so named because she had an obsession of
looking like a princess. She dressed like one, more specifically like a
Disney princess. She was a dangerous developed because her body produced
an aura that drew everyone who looked at her to her. Even her voice had a
hypnotic effect which made it very hard to fight her on her own. She
would often go into large crowds before turning on her power to create an
instant army of people to warship and do her bidding. Last year, she
almost took over the city including half the team as well as other local
heroes. It was thanks to Evangel, who seemed to be immune, and Copy Cat
who had her gadgets to filter out the effects of Princess' powers. Tobias
didn't have his armor active at the time she got him. Copy Cat was able
to make enough earphone and goggles for all the heroes while Evangel ran
interference. After Princess was defeated, all the heroes were
embarrassed to realise that they were fighting with cat ears on their
head.
As for the present, Princess was still building her power base in the
mall and the mob of hypnotised hostages was still relatively small.
Without further adieu, Copy Cat pulled a blue hula hoop out of her
satchel and placed it on the skylight. The hoop sank into the skylight
and after a flash, the glass inside the hula hoop disappeared. Tobias
jumped down the hole first as he pulled out his throwing knives, making
sure he held the pointed ends in his palms so he wouldn't hurt anyone
more than he had to.
"Stop this Princess, before we have to," Tobias told her as Copy Cat and
Halt landed behind him.
The woman gave them a dirty look but seemed largely disinterested before
adding a scowl in Copy Cats direction. "Everyone," she called out.
Everyone turned to her. "Please remove these unsightly peasants' heads
from their bodies, your princess commands it," she told them with a
gesture in the heroes direction. The crowed of people were instantly on
them.
Tobias ducked as a man swung at him with a machete pilfered from a nearby
sporting goods store while blocking a mop a janitor swung down at him.
Tobias grabbed the mop and yanked on it pulling the janitor towards him
off his feet and thrusts his fist into the janitors' stomach. He doubled
over and was, for the moment, out of the fight. The man with the machete
swung at him again while he block the strike with the flat of his knife
while kicking another in the chest as he ran up to him. In one swift
motion, Tobias wrapped his arm around and grabbed the machete away from
the man and flung it up where it stuck in the ceiling. Tobias then
grabbed the man and pulled him over his shoulders and threw him into a
rushing crowd of people knocking them over like bowling pins. With his
immediate area clear for the moment he spared a glance over to his team
mates. Copy Cat had already pulled out an energy rifle with 'crowd
control' written on the side and was firing at the mob when they got too
close to her. Those hit by her rifle straight on were knocked to the
floor while others that were grazed were sent spinning before hitting the
floor. Halt had his own rifle, courtesy of Copy Cat he was sure, and was
shooting it while physically knocking back the ones that made it past his
shooting.
"Copy Cat," he called out as he kicked another back.
"What?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the mob of people trying to
rush her.
"Go and take Princess and we'll cover you!" he told her.
"Kay," she shouted back as she kicked the legs out from under a woman
that managed to get close. Copy cat fired a few more times before turning
around and running towards Princess who was starting to look nervous.
On seeing Copy Cat running towards her Princess pulled two large men she
kept as her guards in front of her as she grabbed some jewellery from the
pile she had everyone collect for her and began to make a brake for it.
Copy Cat ran after her firing her rifle as she went. She hesitated when
she saw a police officer approach her and hit the floor as he shot at
her. She fired back low hitting his legs, the officer spun head over
heels before landing on his back in a daze. Copy Cat didn't waste any
time and continued on. She eventually caught up with Princess who had ran
into a dead end and was trying to open the locked door.
Hallway was empty so Copy Cat put her rifle away in her satchel but she
held the bag in front of her in a taunting motion.
"Get away from me, your princess commands it," Princess cried in fear.
"Not going to happen Princess," Copy Cat replied as she swung her bag in
front of her menacingly, "You've been a naughty little princess and you
need a time out. Now, since I haven't had time to figure out a way to
nullify your powers for transport, you're going to have to take a ride in
the bag," she told her.
Princess screamed, "No please, I'll be good, I promise," she pleaded.
Copy Cat just shook her head like a parent disciplining a child, "We
tried that last time remember? You tried to escape so now you have to get
in the bag," she told her almost condesendly as she stepped closer.
Princess tried her best to back away as much as she could into the corner
as she cried until in one swift motion Copy Cat swung the satchel over
Princess' head and pushed it down. It was almost comical, in a scary sort
of way, to see Princess' legs kicking from the opening of the bag until
Copy Cat grabbed a foot and pushed them the rest of the way in and made
her way back to her team mates where they had gone from fighting the
crowd to helping them as they returned to normal now being out of sight
and sound of Princess. Fortunately, most of the injuries were limited to
bumps bruises and minor cuts. Some from team Valiant but most from
Princess' doing. The worst was an old woman who'd broken her hip.
As the injured were looked over and treated, the police arrived with a
specialised containment unit for Princess. When the police inquired about
where the suspect was and Copy Cat simply held up her satchel and swung
it slightly while giving them a knowing look with her cheshire grin.
Without any further words, or any words for that matter, she walked over
to the containment unit in the police van and closed the door,
disappearing in the back. After a few minutes a muffled scream could be
heard a few seconds later Copy Cat came back out making a show of dusting
off her hands.
"So," Tobias urged, "Did she say why she attacked this time?"
"Apparently, she got wind that a store received a shipment of the Snow
White re-release from Disney," she told them with an amused look on her
face accompanied by a raised eyebrow, "She didn't want to wait or risk
not getting a copy so she went on the warpath."
Halt scoffed at that, "She caused a riot because she wanted a movie that
everyone has at the back of their closet?" Tobias nodded in agreement.
Copy Cat laughed as she agreed with the others before responding in a
mock impression of Princess, "It's a digitally re-mastered blue-ray with
over thirty hours of behind the scenes footage and running commentary of
the director and lead animator," she said before circling her finger
beside her head in the universal indication of crazy. Copy Cat pulled
said blur-ray and handful of jewellery out of her satchel and handed them
to one of the nearby police officers. "She screamed when I took the blue-
ray away from her more than the jewellery. I swear, she's such a child,"
she said with a roll of her eyes.
Tobias raised an eyebrow at that, "Last week, you set up a complex set of
dominos pieces to hit the snooze button on two of your alarm clocks," he
chided her.
She responded by sticking her tongue out at him before breaking into a
grin.
The trio laughed again before checking with the police for anything
further and to ensure they were aware of the containment procedures
needed for transporting Princess. Soon enough, they were back on top of
the mall roof standing in the same spot were in when they arrived. As
Tobias had his armor return to its dormant state Copy Cat pulled out
another cube to teleport them back to their headquarters. After setting
the coordinates, she programed the cube to self-destruct after it sent
them back. Once she set it down it opened up and sent them back home and
then began to rust before bursting into flames that burnt away to ashes,
the hula hoop device they used to get through the skylight returned the
empty space of glass before removing itself from the skylight and self-
destructing as well.
On returning to the roof of their headquarters, Copy Cat knelt down to
retrieve her device. Halt was already on his way inside and Tobias was
about to say something to Copy Cat when he felt a sharp thump hit him in
the back immediately followed by a bright light below his eyes.
Tobias looked down to see what caused the flash of light when his sight
fell on his shadow. At first he couldn't place it why his shadow looked
different until he noticed that the sun was shining through his chest.
Perplexed, Tobias looked down at his chest and saw a few wisps of smoke
leaving his chest. He reached up with a hand and was surprised to see
that he could put his hand into his chest. Tobias then realised that the
reason the sun carried through the chest of his shadow was because HE had
a hole in his chest. His last thought before he collapsed was: "I thought
something like this would hurt." And then his mind fell to darkness as he
heard Copy Cat screaming.
Copy Cat looked up as she heard the discharge of energy just in time to
see Tobias reaching a hand into the hole in his torso before he
collapsed. Copy Cat then screamed out his name, not his code name, and
caught him as he fell. She couldn't think, there wasn't any blood and
when she tried to cover the hole with her hand, she couldn't quite bring
herself to touch the fatal wound. She still screamed.
Halt was on his way back to the exercise room when he heard Copy Cat
start screaming. When he turned around he saw that Dragon was on the
ground and Copy Cat was screaming over him. Halt then looked up to see a
man dressed in traditional Chinese garb standing atop a Chinese dragon
with a canon of some sort strapped to his wrist.
"Drake," Halt spat out the man's name. A villain who had the power to
create solid objects and illusions. He seemed to have a long-running
personal grudge against his teammate Dragon simply because of his code
name. Right now that didn't matter to Halt. Drake obviously hit Dragon
and Copy Cat had gone into hysterics screaming and sobbing not seeming to
notice the man aiming his canon in her direction. Seeing what was going
to happen Halt ran and jumped over his team members, grabbing them both
and bracing himself as he shielded them with his body. Drake fired his
canon and Halt used his power causing the beam of energy to stop inches
from hitting his body and reversing back into the canon causing it to
explode injuring Drake as some shrapnel carved up his arm and some of his
face. Drake fell back with a cry of pain before laughing.
"Now I shall claim the right to truly be called the Dragon," he said as
he had the dragon he was riding carry him away.
It was at this moment that Copy cat regained her senses and jumped up as
she reached into her satchel and pulled out a missile launcher that was a
little too large for a normal person to carry. She had compensated for
this by adding support struts and targeted Drake. When she got a lock she
fired five missiles. Drake dodged the first two easily and formed a pair
of Chinese swords to intercept the next two and had his dragon stop the
last with its body to shield him. Copy Cat roared at this and pulled out
and energy rifle and began firing haphazardly in Drake's direction. A few
minutes later, Drake was out of sight. Copy Cat continued to fire until
Halt grabbed the rifle from her. She turned to Halt with tears streaming
down her face.
"He killed Dragon," she whispered weakly, her lip trembling.
Halt pulled her to him. He couldn't think of anything to say. And telling
her that everything would be okay would just upset her. The short girl
sobbed into Halt's chest soaking his shirt with her tears but he held her
tight regardless until she pushed him away.
"M-maybe I can save him," she blubbered as she hurried over to Tobias'
body, "Help me get him to my workshop. If we can get him there soon
enough, maybe I can rig something up and bring him back," she cradled her
head in her hands trying to think as she paced back in forth. Not seeing
Halt moved, she turned to him, "Come on and help me, I can't carry him
myself."
Halt hesitated until Copy Cap screamed at him to help her again. Halt
wanted to tell her that there was no use and that Dragon was dead but he
could see that Copy Cat was barely holding on. Still, Halt didn't like
the thought of leaving Dragon's body out in the open and moved to pick
his body up all the while Copy Cat was fretting over him. They went at a
careful, but rushed pace, as they descended down into the building until
they reached Copy Cat's workshop. As Halt carried Dragon's body in, Copy
Cat rushed over to one of her work tables and brushed the projects she
was working on off onto the floor, some of the devices fizzled as if to
complain which went unnoticed by Copy Cat whose attention was squarely on
Tobias that Halt was gently placing on the table.
Copy Cat went to his side and looked at him and was briefly disturbed
that his eyes were still open. She closed her eyes to hold back a wave of
sadness before opening them again and using her hand to close his. Dozens
of thoughts ran through her mind at once as she considered what to do
first. She couldn't just leave Tobias laying there with a hole in his
chest but she had so many other things to do before that. His brain was
already starved of oxygen minutes ago. She had to build something to stop
his body from rotting. There was just too many things to do at once for
her to decide which to start first. She began to pace again.
"Uh, Copy Cat?" Halt asked drawing her attention.
"What?!" she snapped looking him straight in the eye with a manic look in
hers.
"Something's happening to his bracelet," He told her as he gestured down
at the trinket as it appeared to grow up Tobias' arm, forming his armor.
"No!" Copy Cat cried out as she grabbed a jig saw and moved dead set on
removing the armored clad arm from Tobias' body only to be stopped by
Halt who grabbed the tool away from her and held her tightly. Copy Cat
struggled against him and kicked at him wherever her heels could reach.
Halt grimaced but held fast.
"Let me go," she ordered him as she continued to struggle, "I need to get
it off him before.."
"You're not cutting his arm off," Halt told her forcefully, "This isn't
like you, you're not thinking straight. How the hell is cutting his arm
off going to bring him back?" he asked her trying to get her to see
reason.
"Shut up," she shouted back. "The damn armor is magic. If it covers him
up then I don't know what will happen and if I can't get it off him then
I can't bring him back!" she cried before she finally went limp. She
sobbed again, "I don't want to loose him," she cried.
Halt turned her around so he could look her in the eye. Her eyes were red
from the crying and her face was slick with her tears as she continued to
cry. The armor was now spreading across his chest as it moved down his
torso and up to his head.
"For all we know, this is supposed to happen," he offered, although he
didn't sound convinced himself. For all he knew, the armor was eating
Dragon.
"I hope so," Copy Cat said listlessly, her senses seeming to return to
her finally, "Because I won't be able to get it off him without losing
him," she said dejectedly with a sniffle as the two watched the armor
slowly swallow Tobias' body until it sealed him in completely. Copy Cat
turned her head before it finished.
----
Tobias felt himself floating as he awoke, memories of his attack came
back to him. While keeping his eyes closed he reached up with his hand
and felt his chest. He was relieved to find that his chest was whole, he
chuckled a little at his unintended pun, marveling slightly at how one
added letter changed the entire meaning of a word. Despite himself, he
felt incredably calm and peaceful. Slowly, he opened his eyes to find
himself in a void. On noticing his surroundings though, the void shifted
into a pleasant grassy shoreline to a large pond. It was the kind of
setting where one would take a nap beside under the guise of lazily
fishing. The sun is warm and the flitting of dragonflies about told
Tobias where he is.
This was where he first met the spirit of all dragonflies. This is the
ethereal planescape that she had summoned him too and given him his armor
and powers.
Looking up behind him, he saw her standing on the small hill above him
looking down at him with a warm, but concerned, smile. Just like last
time, she appeared to be a human woman in her mid-twenties but the way
she carried herself seemed to make her look much older. Clad in only a
simple dress, she began walking down and sat down beside him as she took
in their surroundings and held a finger out as a dragonfly landed on it
briefly before flying off again, her smiling after it.
"It has been a long time since we have met like this," she told him with
a guilty look.
"About four years or so, but I've been busy, so I couldn't come to visit
anyways," he told her trying to lighten the mood.
She nodded, giving him a wry smile, "I have noticed. You have certainly
put the gift I have given you to good use," she said before she grew sad,
"I have brought you back here for a reason, Tobias," she said looking
apprehensive.
Tobias looked off to the pond, "Does it have to do with my being attacked
before coming here?" he inquired, although he already knew the answer.
With a sad smile she nodded her head again, "You were killed in that
attack," she admitted, "Your soul would have moved on had it not been for
my intervention," she explained as tears fell from her eyes, "There has
been so much death at the hands of evil recently and continuously, so
many I couldn't stop. So many kind souls perished," she touched Tobias'
arm lightly as she looked into his eyes, "You have such a kind soul
Tobias,"
Tobias grunted slightly and was about to protest when she put a finger
over his lips to stop him from speaking.
"I might not have been able to save any of those that have perished, but
I can save you," she told him.
Tobias didn't understand, there wasn't much you could do to fix a hole in
the chest, "How?"
She then touched his chest where his injury occurred, "By giving a
portion of myself to you. A small fraction of a sliver, any more would
overwhelm you and what I gave is already too much," she explained as
Tobias felt a warmth spread through his chest to the rest of his body
from where she touched it. She smiled at him sadly, "Now, go and live, I
can only ask that you forgive me for my selfishness," she said before
looking off to the pond.
Tobias was about to ask her what she meant by that when he felt himself
fall away from the idyllic scenery and the spirit woman back into
darkness.
Copy Cat remained in her workshop next to the armored form of Dragon,
Tobias, waiting anxiously for any change. After the armor encompassed
Tobias' body, it reformed into a pod-like container. Solid and black, it
prevented anyone from the outside from seeing in. And, much to Copy Cat's
chargin, immune to the devices she had on hand to scan the internal
structure of the pod. It had been eight hours since and Halt had long
since left having grown both concerned of Copy Cat's unwavering vigil and
bored of the stillness after the armor completed its shift into its
current form. As Copy Cat paced around the pod, she'd pause to put an ear
to it to hear the muted sounds of something shifting inside before going
back to pacing. As she chewed on her nail, she briefly considered using
one of her other devices to open it but with her fear of hurting Tobias
and a promise she made to Halt to not use any weapons on it, she went
back to pacing and chewing on the end of her thumb nail.
She stopped again to think of building a stronger scanning device to
penetrate the shell when she heard a cracking sound. She turned to the
pod to see a small crack on the top. Something, presumably Tobias, pushed
up against the top making the crack slightly bigger.
Copy Cat ran to the door to yell down the hall to tell Halt that
something was happening with Tobias' armored pod. Turning back, Copy Cat
could see that the crack was large enough to see the Tobias' back. She
was thankful that there wasn't any goo of any kind and grateful that from
what she could see, Tobias' wound was healed. She wanted to help open the
pod for him but wasn't sure what to do. Tobias' armor was magic based,
and she long since learned that what's true for science was not true in
the realm of magic. So all she could do was fidget and console herself
that he seemed to be moving by himself. It was then as the more Tobias
pushed out that Copy Cat notice that there wasn't a stich of clothing
that she could see so far. So when Halt finally came in, she pushed him
back out to get some of Tobias' spare clothes that he kept in the
building.
Up until a few minutes ago Tobias felt like he was floating when he
suddenly realised he was stuck curled up and couldn't move. It was so
tight that he couldn't move his arms around to feel his surroundings. So
he tried to push against his enclosure. He felt it give only slightly but
it gave him the incentive to continue to try. Each time he pushed he
could feel it give a little more. He kept going and just when he was
about to collapse from exhaustion, he heard a crack and cool air flow
over his back from where he must have broken it. Spurned by his success,
he renewed his efforts and pushed again resting every few seconds. The
crack was now large enough that fresh air reached his nose and he
breathed in a lungful of fresh air. With a final push, at long last, he
was free from his confines. Sitting upright he sucked in more air as he
threw his arms to his sides to rid himself of the cluster phobia his
confinement brought on.
A gasp drew his attention and he turned his head. Long dark hair fell in
his vision, he quickly brushed it aside as he looked at Copy Cat who had
a nervous look directed at him. He was about to say something while
addressing his longer hair when he saw and felt something on his back.
Twisting himself further looking over his shoulder to see a large pair of
wings, more specifically, dragonfly wings. Tobias turned and looked over
each shoulder and confirmed that the wings were attached to his back. He
was further assured when he felt them twitch.
"What the hell?" inquired Tobias as he tried reaching back to feel them.
"Tobias?" Copy Cat asked unsure of who she was looking at.
"Yes," Tobias responded seeing her slowly put her hand in her satchel.
"If it's really you then what's my name? What's my real name?" she asked
him. She was trying to hide it but Tobias could see the butt of a weapon
she was ready to use just in case.
"Brenda, you're starting to scare me," Tobias said slowly, trying to calm
her down.
It seemed to have work but she still had a worried look on her face,
"That's really you Tobias?" she asked again as she put her weapon back in
her satchel.
Tobias gave her a side-long grin, "I know I seem to have wings now but
it's still me. I'm still Dragon. Just with wings, and longer hair now it
seems," he said as he pulled at a lock of hair that had gotten in his
face again.
"Tobias," Copy Cat started before correcting herself with a pained look,
"Dragon, Those aren't the only things that changed on you," she told him
cautiously.
"What do you..." Tobias started as he looked down at himself and was
rendered speechless by what he saw. It was no longer his body that he
saw. whether you could call it fortunate or unfortunate, his clothes had
vanish affording him with a clear view of his body. He now had a slim
well toned waist, thin feminine limbs, sizable breasts, and a woman's
vagina. The only other thing that stood out was a large blue gemstone
that was imbedded in his chest sitting in place where Drake's attack
struck him.
Tobias' shocking discovery was interrupted when Halt returned muttering
something as he opened the door before stopping in his tracks on seeing a
naked woman with insect wings sitting in the pod made from Tobias' armor
causing his jaw to drop. As Halt stood gaping, Copy Cat, Brenda, walked
over to him and in one swift motion, grabbed the clothing he brought and
pushed him back out the door and closed it in Halt's protesting face.
Brenda turned to Tobias and as she walked to him she quirked her head in
thought before dropping the shirt from the bundle of clothes as she
handed him the pants, "I don't think your shirt will fit you anymore, not
with those wings of yours now. I suppose I have a tube top I can lend
you. Although you're bigger up top than I am but it'll work as a bra till
you get a real one," she said snarkly.
Tobias snatched the pants indignantly from her to cover his new bare
skin. As he was about to stand up to get his pants on, the armor that
made up the pod he was in began to shift. Tobias cried out in a rather
girlish scream as he fell back down to his knees to steady himself. The
armor then seemed to come alive as it was no longer one solid piece and
flowed over Tobias' body like a liquid. It seemed to cover every square
inch of his body save for most of his head. It crept up the back of his
neck and flowed up behind his ears and over them coming forward where
they met covering his forehead. The apparently living armor rippled for a
second before solidifying.
Tobias stood up on the table looking down at the reformed armor that now
encased his equally new body. As he raised his hands to see the changes
he noticed, aside from the slim feminine arms and hands, he took further
notice of his armor. It seemed to be even more form-fitting than before
as well as having a more angular look. The fingertips of his gauntleted
hands ended in deadly points. He checked his waist, getting distracted by
his new bust line, and found he still had his throwing knives. When he
picked one from its sleeve to test its balance, it felt the same as he
remembered but there was something more he could feel, like trying to
remember something on the edge of your mind. Replacing the knife back in
its sleeve, he turned to Copy Cat who startled when she saw him looking
at her.
"Hey Brenda," he said as he hopped down to the floor, "Can you get me a
mirror please? I want to know what I look like."
Copy Cat finally snapped out of her stupor and gave him an annoyed flat
look, "What makes you think I even have a mirror in here?" she asked him,
crossing her arms.
Tobias raised an eyebrow, "I saw you put a kitchen sink in your satchel
once just so you could pull it out for a joke," he said, "If you don't
have one, then I'll go to the washroom and use that," he said as he
started for the door.
As he passed Copy Cat, she grabbed his arm to stop him, "Wait," she said
sounding defeated, "I have a full length mirror, just let me get it out,"
she said as she reached her hand into the satchel. Within the moment, she
did indeed pull out a full length mirror and set it on the floor in front
of Tobias.
Tobias stepped in front of the mirror and was immediately taken aback by
what he saw. His reflection matched that of the spirit of all
dragonflies. He had long straight raven black hair that reached the small
of his back. His face was beautiful and youthful while at the same time
showed a seductive maturity, the only thing missing was the presence that
she projected. He could see that his body was fit even with the armor on.
On his chest, just below his breasts (he swore that he'll never get used
to referring to "his breasts") was a large blue gemstone. Noticing it
from before his armor reformed over him so he could guess that the
gemstone was now a part of his new body. His fingertips tingled when he
touched it.
"Guess that was the part she was talking about," Tobias mumbled to
himself.
"Looks like you're a D-cup," Brenda said as she crossed her arms in
annoyance. "How come you get bigger breasts than me? You aren't even a
real girl!"
Tobias sensed the jealous tone in her voice and decided to prod it by
taking a pose showing off his new chest, "You don't think these are the
indication of a real woman?"
Brenda's face swelled with anger, "Shut up!" she shouted turning her
head, "And why are you so happy about losing your dick anyways? I thought
you macho types would freak out having that happen."
Tobias frowned, "I'm not happy about suddenly transforming into a woman
before waking up. It's probably a combination of my SWAT training and
shock that's preventing me from freaking out right now. Also, there's
this," he said pointing to the gemstone on his chest, "I can't really
explain it but I have faith that the spirit of dragonflies meant well in
doing this. She even apologised saying that if she did any more for me
then I'd lose my soul. Or something to that effect, so if becoming a
physical copy of her is all it takes to keep my life and soul, then I'll
accept it," he said with a wave.
Brenda wanted to spout another insult but decided against it. At least
for now. "So," she started as she Tobias a look up and down, "This is
what the "spirit of all dragonflies" really looks like," she paused
looking thoughtful, "If she's the spirit of ALL dragonflies then wouldn't
that make her a god? Or goddess?"
Tobias smiled at that, "I asked her the same thing when she first
introduced herself to me and she laughed at me and said that anyone
calling themselves "gods" are full of themselves."
Brenda smiled at that, Tobias thought she was going to let out a smart
aleck comment but was surprised when she rushed towards him and threw her
arms around him and began sobbing. Tobias didn't know what to say so he
just put his arms around her in return and held her gently while she
cried.
"I couldn't do anything," Brenda blubbered into Tobias' shoulder, "When
we teleported back, I barely notice Drake standing behind you and when he
shot you..." she paused to wipe her runny nose, "I frozed. He shot you
and I didn't do anything. If Halt wasn't there he would have got me too.
I was useless and couldn't even stop him from getting away! What kind of
a super hero am I that I let my team mate get killed in front of me and
not stop the guy who killed him?" she cried.
Tobias held her more tightly to try and comfort her, "Shh, shh, it's ok.
I'm still here see? Just a little different now," he told her gently.
Brenda shook her head, "No. No, it's not ok. I couldn't think of a way to
bring you back. If it hadn't been for you spirit woman..." she trailed
off into another sob. "I'm sorry," she said quietly holding Tobias
tighter.
They stood there for a few minutes just holding each other in silence. A
quiet knock on the door followed by Halt opening the door and poking his
head in.
"Copy Cat?" he paused when he turned to Tobias giving him a questioning
look, "Dragon?" he asked. Tobias nodded. Halt stared a him a moment
longer before shaking his head deciding, for the moment, to accept
Tobias' answer, "It seems that we made the news," he told them grimly
before leaving assuming that they'd follow.
Brenda seemed to agree with his assessment and left her workshop and
Tobias followed after, thankful that his new armor didn't come with a
pair of heels like he'd known some of the lady hero's had with their
uniforms. A minute later, they were in the control room where they were
when the day started. Halt was sitting at a computer with a web page from
a local news station pulled up, a paused video of a newscast was in the
middle of the screen. Halt turned around to see if they were all there,
on seeing them both looking over his shoulders he turned back and hit the
play button.
The image of a male newscaster came to life, "Our top story today: This
morning, after a notorious criminal "Princess" caused a riot at the local
public mall. Turning patrons in the area into her willing subjects to
pillage the establishments in the mall causing moderate property damage
as well as minor injuries of those she took under her control. Half an
hour later, Team Valiant arrived and made short work in subduing and
capturing the villain. Unfortunately, it seems this may have been ruse as
before this broadcast we have received an amateur video taken of team
Valiant returning and being attacked by the equally notorious criminal
"Drake". We will now play this unaltered," he said as the image switched
over to a video taken by a low grade camera phone but was still good
enough that you could tell who was who.
The video blurred a bit as the camera moved sharply before coming into
focus on the helipad at the roof of the building. A lone figure could be
seen standing on the opposite side of the helipad away from the roof
access door.
The three instantly recognised the figure as Drake.
A second later, on the helipad, a cross fade wipe effect happened and the
team appeared on the helipad. In the video, Halt instantly made his way
to the roof access door. It was when Halt was halfway there that Drake
raised his arm which had a weird cannon strapped to it and fired hitting
Tobias' unarmored body in the back.
Tobias felt a twinge of pain in his chest when he saw that, he wasn't
sure if it was real or just psychosomatic but he had his hand where the
gemstone was anyway to massage the worry away.
Copy Cat screamed and fortunately, due to the crappy quality of the
phone, you couldn't hear her scream out Tobias' name as she caught Dragon
as he fell.
Brenda flinched and grabbed hold onto Tobias' arm when she saw that part.
Halt jumped in front of the two showing his back to Drake who fired
again. The effect of Halt's power made it seem like the video was
switched to reverse as the beam of energy reversed its flow and pulled
back into the cannon and exploded, throwing Drake back and to the ground.
Drake got up quickly and left on his Chinese dragon construct as Copy Cat
got up and began shooting at Drake who quickly left afterwards. A second
later, the video stopped playing and the male newscaster's face
reappeared.
"Shortly after this video was sent in, we received a call from someone
claiming to be Drake saying that he had killed the hero known as Dragon
who is a member of team Valiant. Our experts have yet to identify the man
who was killed in the video and our inquiries to the team have gone
unanswered. Our next story, surviving officials of Boston have come under
fire for deciding to cancel the Boston marathon in consideration for the
attack on the city by Baron Nevermore. Both surviving residents and
recurring attendees as well as a growing community have protested this
decision and have stated that they will hold the marathon regardless of
official's decision to cancel. We have approached some heroes on this
matter and they responded that they will attend the Boston marathon
should it continue as originally scheduled. A proponent for the marathon
has said that they will not allow the attacks of super villains or
terrorists sway them and will continue to attend the marathon as a sign
of solidarity and remembrance to all those who've lost their lives."
Tobias stood back as he looked to Halt, "Ok, Drake was waiting for us,
and?"
Halt just shushed him, saying that there was more in the video.
The male newscaster suddenly paused in mid-sentence, "This just in, the
police transport carrying the earlier stated captured criminal, Princess,
was attacked by Drake. Our sources say that after severely injuring
several police officers, Drake freed Princess before leaving the area.
Two of the five officers at the scene are now in critical condition in
hospital."
Halt stopped the video and pushed back in his chair before turning to the
two behind him, "We were set up. Princess was a diversion while Drake got
set up to ambush us when we got back."
"That can't be right," Brenda protested, "If anyone tries to get in or on
the building then they'd trip the security system."
"Either way," Tobias said while clenching his fists, "Someone's put a hit
out on us and we need to find out who and why."
----
Copy Cat and Halt did a visual inspection of the buildings security
systems and have made a shocking discovery that the system was indeed
sabotaged. Someone, possibly Drake himself, used an energy weapon to
destroy a junction in such a way that prevented the system from alerting
Copy Cat.
Tobias himself, was in the gym learning the new limits of his female
body. Having discovered that he was now more flexible and agile than
before but found the trade-off of not being as strong as before. What
upset him was that he couldn't figure out how to remove his new armor. As
he stared at himself in the mirror of the gym, he took in the new
features of his armor. He had no helmet but he did seem to have a tiara
of some sort that covered his entire forehead that had one large gemstone
in the middle and two smaller ones on either side, the gemstones being
dark blue in color. He felt the edges of the tiara as they ran over his
ears just under his hairline down to the back of his neck where it seemed
to merge with the collor. He turned and looked at his back to the four
dragonfly wings that adorned his back. He felt thankful that they didn't
give the look of faerie wings. It was while he had turned to look at his
side profile he saw a long insect tail-like thing protruding from above
his rear. It looked like a long thick rod sectioned in insect scales. He
tested moving it not sure if it was a part of him like his wings or just
part of his armor. It did move to his command but it didn't flex like an
animal tail, like a cat, but he could still move it with reasonable
effort. Still, he couldn't move it enough to where he could sit
comfortably in a chair which irked him somewhat, having already realised
that even if he could turn off his armor his wings would prevent him from
getting a decent nights sleep and with his new chest it limited his
positions for sleeping.
Shrugging it off for now, he turned to the dummy targets set up at the
other end that he, Copy Cat, and Halt used for target practice. He pulled
his throwing knives out, one in each hand, aim his shot and threw the
first knife. It spun through the air and hit the dummy center mass. A few
seconds later, it disappeared before reappearing on his waist, an
additional part to his original power, and he threw his second at the
next. As it spun towards its target, the throwing knife suddenly split
into three individual knives which all hit three separate dummies. Tobias
was dumbfounded as he watched two of the knives disappear before the
center one faded as well before showing up on his waist like the first
one. He pulled them out again and looked at them, they had never done
that before but decided that he liked this upgrade as he tried again
intentionally willing both his knives to split again as he threw them.
They both split again and two knives hit each of the dummies, two in the
head and two in the center mass. He practiced this several more times
until he was sure he was sure he could control this new power. He looked
over his shoulders at his wings and flexed a muscle in his back causing
them to twitch. He hadn't tried flying yet but with his "death" and the
possibility of someone waiting for them, he wasn't in any hurry to learn
yet.
Copy Cat and Halt returned from repairing the damage and reinforcing the
system as well as adding more security nodes to cover the blind spots
they found. When they started to discus their plans in what to do when an
alert sounded. On checking the wireless, Copy Cat said that there was a
bank robbery that had gone bad. With their current plans on hold, the
three stood together, this time inside, while Copy Cat teleported them
all to the roof top of a nearby building by the bank. The robbers were
well armed but judging from their position on the opposite side of the
street from the bank, the police showed up just as they were taking off.
A ruined car pushed up against a spraying hydrant was evidence of that
hypothesis. The three were immediately in action as one of the robbers
fired a grenade launcher of all things causing one of the police cruisers
to explode. Halt and Copy Cat landed by the police still shooting, Copy
Cat pulling out an energy rifle and handed it to Halt before pulling
another out for herself and began shooting, what ever it hit was
instantly covered in frost. Tobias ran a little further along the roof
top until he was behind the robbers where their attention was lax. As he
dropped down, he threw his knives willing them to split. He hit one
behind both knees causing him to drop. This, unfortunately, drew his
companions attention causing him to hit just one other in the foot with
one of his knives while the others struck harmlessly in the ground. As
soon as he hit the ground he stayed low as he ran to the robbers as he
pulled his knives out again throwing one, willing it to split to hit them
in their hands to force them to drop their weapons. It worked. One of the
two that turned to him got his head blown off from one of the police,
distracting the second as he turned and ducked. Tobias used this to his
advantage he closed the distance with a final push using his throwing
knife in hand to push it into the robbers hand causing him to scream out
as he let go with his shooting hand. Tobias finished up by throwing his
fist in the robbers stomach causing him to double over and collapse. The
final robber was able to turn his weapon on Tobias but he was hit by Copy
Cat's rifle and was covered in frost after which he fell to the ground
shivering. With the crisis over the police began to move in to arrest the
robbers, with the exception to the dead one.
As the police put the robbers away and Copy Cat assuring one that the
affects of her frost rifle were temporary, Tobias' eyes darted around
feeling a little paranoid, rightfully so considering the circumstances,
and was surprised when one officer came up to congratulate him.
"Thanks miss, I heard about what happened to Dragon. I'm sorry to hear
about it, he did a lot of good for the city."
Tobias didn't know what to say. Even though he knew that some hero's have
come back from the dead like Ms. Miracle and more recently Circuit but he
wasn't sure how everyone would react if he told the public that he was
Dragon. No, it would be best for now to let everyone believe that he
really was dead.
"Yeah, I never thought that would happen," he told him honestly.
The officer nodded, "So what's your name?" he asked giving Tobias a
determined look.
Tobias looked over his shoulder, one of his wings caught his attention,
and turned back to the officer, "Dragonfly, my name is Dragonfly," he
told him.
The officer shook his hand, "Good to meet you Dragonfly. I hope you do
team Valiant proud," he said before helping collect evidence.
"Me too," Tobias said, returning to his own team. They returned to the
roof and teleported back to their base. Thankfully, no one was waiting to
off them when they returned. Though that didn't stop everyone from
checking the entire building from top to bottom. Having been satisfied
that everything was unchanged, they went their separate ways. Copy Cat to
her workshop, Halt to the gym, and Tobias went to the room he used when
he had to stay over.
He sat down on his bed silently swearing the fact that until he turned
off his armor he would be unable to use any chair with a backrest. It had
been a long day and he didn't want to dwell on his assassination, feeling
another twinge in his chest, he decided to call it a night. Deciding to
leave the covers as they were, he laid on his side feeling foreign parts
of his body shift from his new breasts to his long hair to even his
wings. He briefly tried sleeping on his front but the uncomfortable
squishiness of his breasts changed his mind for him and fell asleep an
hour later on his side.
It was around midnight when he woke up with a kink in his neck, grumbling
as he got up to stretch. As he walked down the hall, he noticed that the
lights were off yet he could see everything clearly if marred by a
ghostly after image over everything. Tobias looked down at his hands,
seeing the same but slightly different ghost after image over them as
well.
"Weird," he thought as he looked at his surroundings, more specifically
the ghostly after images, "It's like an aura or something," he noted as
he looked around seeing patches of after images along the floor like
footprints. It seemed that every time he turned around there was
something new he discovered about his new body. Once again he had to
admit that the spirit woman who saved him was right about what little she
gave him would be too much for him to handle. He was still avoiding his
body and focusing on his armor and new abilities. He'd seen some newly
developed get overwhelmed by their powers and got consumed by them either
turning to crime or just flat out destroyed themselves. He hoped that
last part didn't happen to him, it wasn't pretty when that happened.
Deciding he had enough of this ghost vision, he went back to his room
deciding that he worked enough of his kinks out to sleep again. Another
fitful hour and he was asleep again.
The next day Tobias woke up with another kink in his neck along with a
stiff shoulder where he then walked down to the kitchen where a sleepy
Brenda was sitting at the table drinking from a coffee pot with one hand
and working on a half-built device of some sort with the other.
"So, what are you building?" Tobias asked her.
Without looking up from the device she replied, "It's a new containment
unit for developed criminals like Princess that use hypnotic effects,"
she explained as she drank from the pot, "This way we won't have to worry
about chasing after them and potentially risking more civilians."
Tobias nodded in agreement before giving her a smirk, "You do realise
that you're drinking from the coffee pot right?"
Brenda looked at the pot for a moment before registering what it truly
was, "Oh. I was wondering why I didn't need to refill it," she said
before taking another drink.
Tobias chuckled at that while he got his breakfast ready, he scowled at
the chair by the table before he turned it around to sit on it sideways.
They both sat in silence, Tobias eating his breakfast and Brenda working
on her device while drinking from her coffee pot.
Not ten minutes later did Brenda look up at Tobias as if noticing him for
the first time that morning, "Are you still wearing that armor?"
Tobias looked down at himself sheepishly, "Yeah, I haven't figured out
how to turn it off yet. And there aren't any clips or anything I can undo
to take it off either," he pulled back a lock of hair that got in his
face behind his ear.
Brenda sat agape at him, "You mean to say you haven't had a bath or
anything since the day you were..." she trailed off looking guilty.
"Magic armor," he said quickly to get her mind off that sore subject,
"Just one of the advantages over normal gear," he said with a weak smile.
"I could have made something like that too but I'd still feel icky at the
end of the day."
Tobias chuckled at her saying "icky". It was little things like that that
made people believe she was the younger than she really was.
"So... What happens now if you need to use the bathroom? It's not like
magic armor comes equipped with depends right?"
Tobias stopped eating, "I've... never thought about that," realising that
he hadn't felt the need to but Brenda's question made him not want to
tempt fate. "I think I'm done with breakfast," he said as he got up and
left the kitchen.
He returned to his room and went to the attached bathroom. He might not
be able to wash his body but he could still wash his face and hair. As he
washed he took note of how silky and smooth his hair is, not to mention
long. The skin on his face felt soft as well. When he was done, he had a
hell off a time drying his long hair. The towel he normally used to dry
himself off with had gone wet and his hair was still damp. Deciding to
let his hair air dry he went back into his bedroom and sat down on the
floor crossing his legs. As he sat up straight, he closed his eyes as he
began to concentrate. It was obvious that his armor was different now,
both in appearance and ability. When he first got his armor it had been
so effortless to use it, from its weapons to simply turning it off and
on. If he was going to master both his armor and his body, he'd have to
start now. Especially if there was someone gunning for them.
Shoving that thought aside for now he cleared his mind again and focused
on his center while steadying his breathing. Ten minutes later he could
feel a tingling in his chest where the gemstone sat, a second later he
felt something leave him while simultaneously feeling his mind and
awareness expand to the whole bedroom. Even with his eyes closed, it was
like he could see his bedroom from several different view points. He
looked at himself from one of these viewpoints to see the ghostly after
image over himself. He moved closer to himself while looking at his room
from the others seeing more ghostly markers. He wasn't sure why but it
felt like the markers were made by him from when he went about his
business like he really was leaving a part of himself behind as if to
prove he had been there. As the view point he used to get a closer look
at himsel