Built Different [Cyborg Superhero ProgFant]

Belle stepped back from the edge of the rooftop and raised an eyebrow. "You alright? You look like you're trying to work out if you left the stove on."

I escaped my heavy thoughts for a moment and grunted.

[Back when I was attacked. I removed a timed explosive from the Meteor, but I can't remember if I disarmed it or not.]

She furrowed her brow.

[Plus, those firearms could be part of the illegal operation I'm trying to track down.]

"That is uncharacteristically careless for you. It's not surprising, given the stress you've been under lately." The hero gave another glance at the target building across the street. "Where did it happen?"

[South end of Hartle Road.]

Her eyes glazed over for a moment and she crossed her arms. "Slight property damage caused by small arms fire. Three targets hospitalized, the remainder arrested with minor injuries. All firearms confiscated by the police, and no reports of any explosion."

[We can see that information?]

"No, but I can." Belle's eyes refocused, and she gave me a wry smile. "A certain cop in the right position was a part of the church. That's… as much as I'll say on that matter."

It was easy enough to imagine she could have run a minor spy network within the church. You caught more flies with honey rather than vinegar, or something. Still, I appreciated her comforting my nerves.

[Thank you. Even though I am injured less, I still feel like every week is exhausting in one way or another.]

"We get decent paid leave for burn-out. The League would have a tough time buying it considering how new you are, though. I doubt they'd openly acknowledge all the other bullshit you have going on." Belle gestured across the street. "Head back in the game?"

[Yes. Let's get this over with.]

Ignoring my amnesia, I had always had a reasonable memory. Mistakes were often made, but I held myself accountable for a certain amount of competency. Of course, knowing that I had either Boss or the League covering over any errors made during my contract days, it put a question mark over my successes.

The fact that I couldn't remember disconnecting the explosives, or that I wanted to leave the area before questioning the gang, was slightly concerning. With the Heroism Arena in a couple of days, mistakes like that could cost me more than some embarrassment with the League of Heroes.

I frowned and tapped at the side of my neck. No nutritional cannister.

Symptom or cause? I was pretty sure that I had put a new one in this morning. It hadn't broken in the firefight, and it was unlikely any of the people I had met today could have stolen it without me noticing. I pulled a spare one from one of my pouches and clicked it into the slot. Immediately, soothing comfort flooded through my system.

"Running on an empty tank?" Belle shook her head and sighed. "If you get injured, Roxy will break my neck."

Even as my overworked mind soothed and the troubles weighing on me lightened, part of me knew something was wrong. Rather than annoy her any longer with the unexplained loose end, I put my focus on the mission.

A minor villain who had been syphoning power from the energy grid. With a bit more restraint and patience, he probably would have gotten away with it, but the company had flagged up the spikes with the League and they'd done a little research. Only slightly over the level of trouble the police would deal with, the pair of us had only been assigned the mission by request.

Belle's request. After our adventures in the wasteland, she had gotten a taste for actual action. Bored with the usual tasks the League had been giving her, she wanted a change. Unfortunately, they'd only sign off on that if she took someone with more practical experience - but she had wanted to hang out with me, anyway.

[I'll be fine. This is pretty straightforward.]

She murmured something under her breath that I didn't catch. As far as we knew, the villain didn't have a gang or anyone to back them up. The electricity drain was for building a weapon, but the intel said it was in early production. Now that I was thinking a little clearer, I should know it can't be as simple as bursting through the wall to kick an unprepared scientist in the head.

The part of me who was rather done with the day still hoped it would be that easy.

"As planned, then. We'll go in through the disused fire escape on this rear side of the building." Belle gestured across the street. "Work our way down quietly once inside and trying not to accidentally murder the target."

[Our most difficult task yet.]

"Between haphazard acts of god and your unrestrained firepower, yeah." She rolled her eyes. "Time to move then, at your command?"

I nodded for us to continue. She handed me an idol that had been carved from green jade - a slim likeness of the fae demi-god she drew her power from. It looked like a mix of a goat and a butterfly, simplified and stretched out. Slightly too wide to fit down the barrel of my gun-arm, which we were both in mixed opinion about. I raised my left arm and fired my grapple across the street.

The end landed on the roof opposite and stuck in place thanks to the foam. I took a few steps backward until the line was taut, and then I ran to the edge of the roof. V-Force drives in my legs burst into life and I leaped as high as possible. The winch mechanism that controlled the grapple line whirred as it pulled me full force.

It wasn't the largest gaps as the road below wasn't wide, but through the combined tech I had at my disposal - I made the distance. I landed into a roll across the new building. Dropped the idol as the grapple line whirred back up into place. There was a hum in the air, and Belle vanished from her position and appeared beside me.

"Short distances are more disorientating, believe it or not." She shook her head before picking the idol up off of the floor. "But that's about as far as I can go without a full circle."

I nodded, still not really mentally accepting that she could teleport. Considering I had faux demonic magic fueling my blood, I couldn't really be the judge of what was plausible. Superpowers by nature were… beyond normal comprehension.

[Follow my lead. Mission starts now.]

As much as I took some of the League rules as rough guidelines instead, when it came down to it, I had to act professional. With some of the Directors wanting to get rid of me, I didn't want to give them any additional excuses to push me out.

Belle followed me as we went to the side of the roof where the aged metal fire escape led halfway down the building. The lower half had long since collapsed. We could get two floors down, which should be closer enough.

We made it halfway down the first set of creaking steps before I held my hand up, and we paused.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

[Tripwire.]

If there was any tangible proof my brain was now functioning as it should, it was in spotting the dark wire going from the brick wall to the metal railing opposite. It would have blended in to the surroundings even better if the stairs weren't part rusty.

I crouched down, removing the tools from my belt to disable it. Something that reminded me of that time not so long ago where I stole that data drive. Although it had been heavily implied it was all a setup or test from the League, I had filed the whole event under the past, of which I had moved on from.

From the looks of it, the wire was just an alarm system. Probably mounted inside.

"Would it be safer to just step over it?"

I paused and turned my head to look up at Belle as she stood a few steps higher than me.

[Typically, yes. As it is also easily removed, it can be beneficial to do so in case there are further traps or we have to frequent this direction and forget.]

"Fair enough."

It had been a while since covert actions were a necessity. So much so that having Belle hover over my shoulder almost made me question what I was doing. Perhaps my contract days would have been less reckless if I had some regular oversight.

With both ends pinned taut with the stands affixed to the stairs, I cut the center of the wire and allowed it to fall slack. Silence pointed to success. We continued down the rest of the fire escape until the part that had come away from the wall and now lay in a heap beside the dumpster below. Rather than try the door, I pointed to the nearby window.

Much less likely to be trapped or locked. The gloom inside told me that this floor wasn't being used. With the hero's reluctant acceptance, I took the teleportation idol and grappled my way off of the stairs and against the wall so I could step over to the window. Part of me wished we had just rushed this and kicked a hole in the bottom floor. Win via surprise tactics.

A little too risky, and my brain was still recovering from the day so far. Unfortunately, fate wasn't too kind to me. As I went to see if I could push the window up with my foot, my boot slipped on the rotting window ledge and I kicked straight through the thin glass. Not wanting to waste any time, the rest of me followed.

Something of a squeeze, but the press of my coat through the opening muffled some of the breaking glass sound. I awkwardly dropped to my knees and raised my gun-arm up.

An old bedroom, probably. Mattress had been taken, and the wooden furniture was piled up in one corner, mostly deteriorated. Door was closed. Other than aged debris, there wasn't anything of interest in the room.

A slight hum ran through the dirty carpet.

I placed the idol on the floor and allowed Belle to teleport in. She spun in place for a moment, her eyes rolling as she held her hand over her mouth as if she would throw up. It would be nice if she could let me have that magic spell, and we could find a way to engrave it on a shotgun shell.

Although, teleporting into the middle of an opponent sounded violently reckless and not especially heroic. Shame.

Once she had got her head in the right place, I went and tried the door. Unlocked, but stiff. A little force had it open, and I peered through to a darkened hallway. This made sense. If the villain required a large amount of power, then all electric in the rest of the building would have been rerouted to his pet project.

As such, the rest of the floor had clearly been abandoned. More dust and decay with every step, until we found the staircase down. The hum of machinery was clear from here. Not really moving parts, but just the vibration of power running through whatever was set up down there.

We were about to find out.

I kept my eyes open on the way down, but the villain hadn't thought to put any further traps. It also appeared my impromptu entrance had been muffled by both the distance and the workings of their machines.

With the two of us here, I started thinking that it was overkill. One well-placed Nerve shot and this would be over. Belle could shield me just in case they had some odd weapon and knew I was there.

Down two floors and now there was light. The sound had grown slightly louder, but it was more of a vibration through the foundations of the building more than anything else. All the windows on the way down were boarded over, and every door shut. Reaching the ground floor, every opening in sight was covered by tarps as well. No light would reach the outside world, even at night.

He had set up his makeshift workshop in what was once a wide lobby. This may have been a hotel at some point, but now the space was cluttered with long desks, metal parts, and more dark gray tarps. At either side of the room were tall machines with spinning spirals at the top. Energy arced and crackled around them as they moved.

In the center was a comparatively short man. Early 20s—which was younger than most mad scientists I'd come across—and dressed in light blue overalls. Surprisingly, not covered in grease. He was currently facing away from us, hunched over one of the desks. By his posture and brief movements, I assumed he had magnifying goggles on and was working on circuit boards or similar tech.

I'd seen Clara do the same on occasion.

As I frowned and raised my gun-arm slowly, I couldn't help but think the villains in the city needed a helping hand. Not just to be arrested. After rolling around in enough of the seedy underworld, I knew how criminals ticked, to some degree. For example, this villain should have taken more time thinking about security. A few cameras placed in the right areas. Motion sensors. Even just a more composed use of the energy grid to not alert authorities.

Instead of that advice, all I had to offer him was a Nerve shot.

I fired, and the payload peppered his back before he even had the chance to turn around. He twisted in place, dropping from the chair to slump on the floor, taking with him whatever electronics he was working on.

Belle put the dome shield around us by instinct, anticipating that things weren't going to be that simple.

But they were.

After a few moments of silence, I walked over to the unconscious man and put the cuffs on him, while the hero pulled a face.

[You should know better that being a hero isn't always-]

"Yeah, yeah. Shut it, Dubs." She rolled her eyes and looked over the tables labored with equipment. "This doesn't help my confidence in taking more active missions. I did literally nothing, except make myself dizzy twice."

[I won't tell anyone if you want to kick him in the shin.]

Belle sighed. "No. As soon as Clara is finished with you, I'm getting her to build me a weapon."

That was fair. The League was still in the dark about the charged crystals we had stolen for ourselves, but since Belle had been able to use those powered rifles, there was nothing to say we couldn't make something less lethal for her to use in the city.

[As soon as she does, you can train it with me.]

Her ire softened slightly. "Thanks, Dubs. Briefing didn't say we had to do anything about the energy or tech, right? They'll send in a team to clean up."

[Correct. Although, I am going to go around the room and take pictures of everything in case the tech is useful to Clara.]

Against the rules, most likely. But I was a vigilante. Or just self-serving. I valued my success and continued existence more than I cared for the rules the League wanted me to follow. We were aligned… and possibly would stay that way for the long haul. It was difficult to plan a future with new surprises butting in to my life regularly.

The rest of the mission was a simple process, ending with us passing over the villain and building to the aftercare team. Belle still had a bit of grumpiness to her even after I dropped her back home, but reminding her we needed a team meeting as soon as possible seemed to cheer her up. Spending time with the rest of the Disasters was unexpectedly comforting for me as well.

A thought that lingered with me until I got home. Upon getting there, I had barely enough time to share a hug and exchange of information with Roxy before she had to go off for her own patrol. She'd be back early nighttime, so we decided that the team meeting could be tomorrow. Kingston hadn't filled me in on exactly when we'd be going to the wastes in the north… but time was limited.

I decided to fill what remained of my afternoon with exercise. A rarity, but I found the basement kept my mind off of Immutable and what the World Government might be planning. After my cannister ran dry, I went to the kitchen to replenish and found it was dusk already. Warlock was splayed out on the kitchen island, which was probably a place he shouldn't be. He looked too comfortable and content for me to move him, however.

Instead, I retired to the living room. Left the light off, the only illumination coming from the kitchen. Sat on the couch and stared at the television. Didn't turn it on, but it was a focal point while my imagination span back up, picturing worst-case scenarios for the Arena.

I almost didn't notice Clara appear in the doorway.

Then again, she was light on her feet. I furrowed my brow as she wasn't in her workwear for a change, instead just wearing a soft blue nightie. The green of her eyes glowed in the darkness as she stepped over.

[Taking a rare break from the workshop?]

She smiled as she reached me, but instead of sitting down, she climbed atop me, straddling my leg. "My mind is on other things tonight, Gunquake."

[Oh?]

I sat in a state of partial exhaustion and confusion. The techie ran one hand along the barrel of my gun-arm as she leaned in closer and gave me a soft kiss on my cheek.

[This is unexpected.]

"Just something I've wanted to do for a long time." She kissed me again, the softness of her lips a contrast to the slight sharp pain in my arm.

As she moved back away, her hand held a small syringe. Empty.

[What was that?]

Clara tilted her head to the side, blurring as my vision started to warp and fade. Her smile turned into something more of a wry grin, looking demonic as I couldn't focus. There was just green light.

I tried to speak, but words wouldn't reach my vocalizer. Her voice filtered in through my ears, muted, as the green glow obscuring my vision slowly faded to black.

"Your usefulness has run its course, Agent W."