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Bio Forge Master (Rewrite) by Throwaway1971

Books » Private Rated: M, English, Romance, Words: 137k+, Favs: 57, Follows: 75, Published: Dec 12, 2023 Updated: Mar 15, 2024

29Chapter 24: 21

Bio-Forge Master

Chapter 21

Fran Moss (puppet)

Did Fran ever say he loved his multitasking ability? Because he really, really does. It allowed him to effectively do multiple things at once, most of the time he used it in concert with his psychic powers or to run multiple trains of thought. Text and lurk on PHO on occasion. But it showed its worth when he was working on multiple projects.

His first primary focus was to get his Patches body back in order, and he was largely successful. Many of the organs had to be reclaimed and rebuilt, as long as entire portions of his skeleton. Some of the cybernetics in his brain were on the fritz, and the intracerebral antenna was damaged.

Not that he truly needed it, but when controlling multiple bodies, it made them stand out. It certainly kept accidental possessions down (don't ask, just psionic growing pains).

Though after that was sorted while Patches worked on the car for Esper, repairing and upgrading it using all the cool shit he had gotten from his latest rolls, such as a plug-in hydrogen hybrid rotary hydrogen pistonless engines, ( a mouthful) to replace the already incredibly impressive engine of the boss 429's already formidable NASCAR engine, simply because he could do better than 1960s technology, the new engine was a pain to manufacture, but it paid off tremendously, especially due to the insane power, he originally considered a hydrogen fuel cell, but the internal combustion could be throttled and fixed much more easily, besides a muscle car needs to do Vrooms!

The engines took some work from Feel It Out but they were more than worth the price, with a ridiculous eight hundred horsepower and weighing only two hundred pounds, more powerful than a semi-truck and lighter than Taylor.

The pocket dimensions he already had neatly solved the problem of storing hydrogen as well as access to the Trans-AM system, which triples its speed, power, and durability for three minutes, during this time it is covered in distinct pink-red GM particles, basically… Kaioken for cars.

It's strange that the power gave him knowledge of GM particles but decided this use specifically, there were other and easier uses for the GM particles, it was like being given a heating system for cars before being told how the motor operated, and the more he looked at the Trans-AM system the more disjointed it felt, it was clearly a very advanced and specific use of the particle, heck he probably could make it into a beam by mixing it with a copy of the infection beam, but replacing the virus obviously.

In-wheel drives deliver that power into the asphalt via magitech motors, allowing for things like sideways parking and even more space inside the vehicle. The airless extra-wide tires are made of Pseudo-Protodermis, allowing them to regenerate by giving them a bath in an amniotic solution, thus never requiring extras whilst delivering more power and improving braking.

The Magitech Active Ultra-suspensions (or MAUs for short) allow the car to survive falling several stories onto its wheels with no damage to itself or the passengers. Not to mention that gave a smooth driving experience, you could drive through the most pothole-riddled road and not even notice!

The systems from the Trans-AM system also required inertial dampeners as part of their function, so the components aren't crushed by the movement, and those got installed into the car too, they could have gone entirely without seatbelts, but he of course still put them on, no need to commit the star fleet mistake.

On the more esoteric side it, of course, has force fields, capable of stopping any bullet that isn't a fifty-caliber minimum. This magitech force field can be used for several less conventional purposes than basic defense, such as a Bobbin-tank-like function of projecting a thin road underneath the car, allowing it to drive over difficult terrains like mud, snow, or sand it cannot however fully support the car in the air.

Not to mention can also be used to project wings and rotors, allowing the car to fly at similar speeds as a propeller plane for a short period of time. Ten to twenty minutes possibly, however that is pure speculation on his part.

It also had an AI as intelligent as a horse, self-drive, internet, and a Rhotuka launcher with multiple options, stasis and neural disruption being his top priorities. Cause fuck whoever tried to fuck with his baby!

He worked on while experimenting with Legacy Lived, specifically the mention of drawing information from blood.

Besides having the Butcher's blood sample, he had dozens of other samples thanks to the Portable Examination Station. So obviously he used the other samples before the Butcher to test his ability, and while it was largely a bust with the information being either largely irrelevant (such as politics of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), or useless (such as horse riding and pre-industrial farming) if interesting (such as various cooking recipes from the 1800s), or the information had simply degraded too much to glean anything useful. Honestly, it was more useless but interesting information than anything else, really.

But it served its point and gave him enough experience to feel confident in using it on the Butcher's blood sample, and boy was he glad to do it!

While the information itself was rather disjointed, no doubt due to the unique circumstances of the Butcher, it was a treasure trove of information. And while there was nothing useless, Fran mainly focused on all the caches of money and other goods the Butcher had stashed all over the country.

Esper was actually out checking the caches in Brockton Bay, though he wasn't sure if anything would be in them. It's been years after all, and the chances are good that they've already been found and looted.

Another thing he was working on was what he called Drug Amnesia (name pending) and it does what it sounds like it does. Not only did she not know she was a drug user, but she would also be able to remember what she took and wouldn't know how to get it either way.

"Actually... did Aisha ever tell me her moms' name?"

A component of the Drug Amnesia was also 'Pharmacophobia' in the same vein as Hydrophobia in rabies patients, they would have a similarly violent reaction against taking recreational drugs. However, this effect was simply too drastic to use often, so until the Merchants were dealt with this drug couldn't be used in mass.

Regardless of potential issues, Fran was monitoring her closely and growing more pleased with the drug! She woke up and after freaking out about the mess (who knew Aisha's mom used to be a clean freak?) she had been working like a mad woman! What's even better, when she found her drug paraphernalia she trashed it, threw any drugs that weren't prescription in the toilet, and from what Fran could tell she was well on her way to fixing her life!

Fran considered actually telling Aisha that he finally did what she had been asking for but decided against it. If anything, Aisha could consider it a little bit of payback for all the teasing and mischief she had put her through! Besides, the thought of Aisha's mom asking if she was taking drugs amused him.

Now he found himself considering something he probably should've done sooner. While he and his two lovers had hung out and frankly done everything couples are supposed to do, they never made it official had they? Yeah, a date sounded rather nice honestly… but where though?

As he sat in a massage chair he had built (Aisha bet he couldn't build something that wasn't pure bullshit, he won that bet by the way) he pulled his phone out and started looking up potential spots he could take the two out to. But the question was should they go out as Dr. Patches, Rabbit, and Scylla or not?

And no this had nothing to do with the fact that he had completed their costumes… okay maybe just like… twenty-five percent reason…

"Oh… this sounds like a good place…" There were some good reviews, some from Laserdream and Glory girl in fact, "A nice casual place… cape-friendly too."

It came as a surprise to Fran but outside of Brockton Bay many places like restaurants, stores, and so on weren't all that cape friendly. Some even had a strict no-cape policy… which is amusing because… well how the fuck do you enforce that policy? Yeah, not many parahumans were bulletproof, but many parahumans have a faster reaction time compared to regular humans.

And honestly the 'law' was horribly prejudiced and nearly impossible to really enforce... but Bet was already hitting most of the Dystopian Hellhole checklists so... kind of par the course honestly.

Though now that the thought occurred to him, does Weld just… absorb bullets shot at him? According to PHO he absorbs metal that he touches. Which in turn led to Fran wondering how he would react to Protodermis? If only he could've got a sample of the Wards metal these questions wouldn't be bothering him!

"Stupid professional paranoid PRT…"

Thank God Weld sends fans paperclips from his own metal and gave him the medical documents on his metal skin, Fran couldn't have recreated Protodermis in anything short of a nuclear reactor, but Weld metal he had the perfect bypass as turning his metal into Protodermis was incredibly easy with Feel It Out.

He doubted that Weld could've sent anything more substantial; however, paper clips are expected in letters, no one notices paperclips in a letter, not even from the metal Ward, not even whatever officer reads their letters. Which was a rather large oversight on the PRT's end, but Fran certainly benefited from their error. With that paperclip Fran was finally able to nail down the proper combination of elements, now he could synthesize Protodermis in limited amounts.

Said amounts would increase as he refined and perfected the process.

Fran would later learn, after doing some research online, that the PRT can't actually read their Wards' correspondence without a warrant, and that it was only done under the suspicions of a Master cape's influence.

So, Weld was in the clear, and in his defense, he could claim it was an error on his part. He's pretty sure the Ward had created paperclips before and that they were always discarded. It may have been just a single-page letter, but after years of practice answering letters with his own unlimited metal paper clips, he could have done it purely by accident.

Shaking his head, Fran started going through the process of reserving a table for him and the girls. Then he decided to… address the elephant in the room, so to say. Honestly, he wasn't even surprised that this even happened, especially given just how poorly psychic powers were defined from the F.E.A.R franchise.

"So…"

"Well, it could be worse, we could be like that Butcher cunt."

"Besides we are still connected, we believe this is a result of unexpected psionic development coupled with severe brain trauma that the cunt caused. She rattled our bell pretty hard in Boston. Honestly, I'm kinda looking forward to leading the bitch on a merry chase through the country while stealing her shit!"

"Not to mention stealing shit from other villains! Don't forget you're our tourist so share plenty of memories with us!"

"Well, at least this way I'll never be lonely in my head again."

It wasn't a displeasing development either, actually, the more he thought about it he was surprised it didn't happen sooner. All his bodies possess brains that have been extensively modified through surgical, genetic, and cybernetic augments.

Each brain by itself is essentially a supercomputer in pure processing power, never mind data crunching ability. If anything, Fran imagined if he went back, he could easily find the signs of his pseudo-MPD.

Still, there was nothing to do about it. Besides, out of everything that could've happened, this was the one scenario he could easily live with. They were still one collective personality, just different facets of said personality.

While they were still one Esper and Patches were capable of possessing different thoughts and opinions. And even when they disagreed on something, they couldn't really betray each other.

Honestly, now that Fran thought about it, it seemed to him like he had turned into a Stepford Cuckoos from X-men. They were Three-in-One.

That… comforted him, oddly enough, knowing that he'd never be alone again.

"Oi, lover boy! We still need to tell the girls! So, are we going to do this in our civvies or in costume?"

"Does this mean that Taylor and Aisha have three boyfriends, technically?"

"Asking the real questions aren't ya Patches?"

Rubbing his face with a sigh, Fran decided to do some busy work, if only so he could get used to his new situation. Besides, he was curious as to how similar yet different the personalities were, it was subtle, but there were faint differences.

"God… I don't want to even begin imagining what Aisha will think…"

"Something-Something one-man gang bang?"

"... Yeah, that sounds about right…"

Lisa Wilburn/Tattletale

A simple goddamn smash and grab her pert ass!

She did her research, scoped out the safe house, and investigated as much as she could without the gangers realizing what she was doing. She got as much data as she could from observation before taking it to other venues of information gathering.

PHO may be a haven for tinfoil hats and perverts, but if you're patient enough, you can learn all sorts of interesting things. You can gauge how the 'cold' gang war is going, and watching the Merchant's one collective braincell try to work is always good for a laugh!

And while it wasn't exactly pertinent, it was interesting to see the socio-political impact of the new healer on the block, not to mention his two assistants. Especially when Rabbit folded Hookwolf like a damn lawn chair! Though their presence has been a boon all the way around, that clinic he's starting up increased the local tourism, which in turn gave a boost to the gangs and the PRT at the same time as both forces moved to defend the new source of wealth.

Not that Tattletale bet that Patches would be intimidated by any of the gangs, hell the man had the sheer testicular fortitude to throw hands with the goddamn Butcher and survived! No way are neo-Nazis, junkies, or goddamn Asian gangers going to intimidate that man!

Though she will admit she probably spent more time than she should've in PRT's systems, metaphorically watching Piggot gnashing her teeth over there being a cape hospital. She didn't know if it was due to the NEPEA-5 or her own bias towards parahumans in general, but the Director didn't like it and wanted it shut down yesterday!

The fact that the man legally purchased the prosperity and actually filed taxes for it infuriated Piggot and if her powers weren't lying was driving her up the wall out of sheer paranoia for whatever reason. Actually, now that she thought about the PRT in general was buzzing about the massive cape-owned business.

Not that they could do anything about it, which probably pissed them off even more, as Patches was crossing all his T's and dotting all his I's to make everything nice and legal.

"Heh, fuck you NEPEA-5!" Tattletale might have a little grudge against that bit of legislature for fully justified reasons in her opinion!

In fact, if she wasn't mistaken, he was a few days away from opening his doors, and she wondered if she could cash in a favor to get her, and her team looked at before they started having to pay for his services. She figured the chances were pretty good honestly, and she wondered if he could work on animals as well. She knew Bitch would love him forever if he could.

Well, as much as the dog-shaped teenager could love anyone.

Hissing under her breath she pulled her phone out and texted Patches.

[well, well, well, look who comes to me after-] His snark was justified, but Tattletale had no time to indulge it!

[shut up, my leg has melted and Regent is going to die in 27 minutes]

There was a pause of three seconds whilst Patches processed the information [sigh, where are you]

Tattletales just shot him the address as she bit the dog's rein and tried not to scream as the burning pain started getting to her.

[right, go to that one coffee shop glory girl goes to that in know you know, I'm here in a costumed date, try to lose him before getting here if possible]

[thx]

Putting her phone away, she told Bitch where to go, a mercifully close café that she knew about from researching New Wave.

The girl just grunted and directed her dogs, with the rest of the team holding on for dear life!

Fran Moss/Patches (Original)

"Fran, who were those guys?" Taylor asked over the neural link.

"Just some teenagers going through a rebellious phase pretending to be villains, Aisha, prepare your water abilities. Taylor, do you trust me?" Patches responded over the neural link as his tentacled girlfriend gave him little tentacle-sucker kisses on his cheek and got ready to make use of her hydrokinetic powers.

"I do." Taylor replied.

Just as she confirmed her trust the street exploded in flames and the sound of a furious dragon filled the air, Patches ignored the sound and instead focused on the Undersiders who came to a stop and all but collapsed. The monster dogs all but spent and each of them burned to various degrees, the worst being Regent (who was also suffering some gunshot wounds along with his burns) and Tattletale.

Quickly assessing the situation, he deemed that Tattletale could wait and started tending to Regent.

"FRAN! DRAGON!" Taylor nearly screamed, just seconds away from transforming, as Scylla used her powers to contain the fires.

"Do you trust me, Taylor?" Patches asked again as he started performing triage on Regent, not even acknowledging the fact that a Rage Dragon was barreling toward them.

"I DO NOW DO SOMETHING!" Rabbit screamed at him.

Patches just looked at her and smiled, "Help me tend to these patients, Scylla, make sure the fire doesn't spread. How about we let Armsmaster earn his paycheck, hmm?"

Rabbit nearly screamed at him if the sound of a motorcycle roaring didn't catch her attention. She looked and saw Armsmaster tearing down the street with his halberd out and ready, and… were those fucking missiles shooting from his bike!?

Armsmaster

A Few Minutes Ago

He honestly couldn't understand what had gotten the Director so upset, no he knew the reason, he just didn't understand. While providing his services to Accord of Boston did muddy the waters, but it did not add any new potential threat from Accord, as capes in good health are paradoxically always considered less dangerous, and he had been nothing but heroic if a bit mischievous, and while his attempts to misdirect people as to the nature of his powers is irritating the action in itself was perfectly logical.

The fact that he addressed and acknowledged Director Piggots trauma on PHO confirmed that he was hiding his power set not out of any sense of deception but in respect to the Director… and, possibly, so the Director wouldn't do anything illogical until his reputation as a hero was more solid.

A detail that Dragon commented about and after a few seconds of consideration he agreed with fully. Though he was glad that Dr. Patches had recently dropped his deception regarding his power now.

Another irritation he found himself dealing with was Sophia Hess breaking her hand, leading her to claim that she was assaulted at school by a newly triggered parahuman by the name of Taylor Hebert, whom she proceeded to defame. This of course led to him requesting her phone to verify something, as he asked Dragon to look into this Taylor Hebert girl. This in turn led to him discovering some text messages that… brought into question everything Sophia had reported… along with evidence that she had repeatedly violated her parole.

Sophia was currently under investigation and under house arrest on the Rig until the investigation was completed.

[Lung sighted chasing the Undersiders down William Street near the Boardwalk]

Questions of how the message bypassed his system and the countless security measures, along with his prior thoughts about illogical teenagers and Directors, could wait as he immediately course-corrected and accelerated toward where Lung had been sighted. And immediately his thoughts focused on the Dragon of Kyushu.

The largest black mark on ENE Protectorate, or at least the most memorable.

As he drove past strategies came to mind, some effective and others not. Lung is the veritable Moby Dick of Brockton Bay, of Japanese-Chinese descent, favorite food: Unagi and black pork shabu-shabu, enjoys listening to classical string musicals and Japanese jazz, loves silk sheets, collecting priceless Asian antiquities and large exotic lizards.

As he came closer to the location he heard Lung's voice, he frowned. Analyzing the pitch and depth, Armsmaster estimated Lung had already ramped up to some degree… possibly by fifteen percent, given a five percent margin of error. Flicking a switch with his thumb, he initialized the HESH (High Explosive Squash Head) micro-missiles (which he had special dispensation to use against Lung alone) before he grabbed his halberd with his other hand and held it ready.

Already he could see the comparisons to a jousting knight on PHO. Despite what many believed, he was capable of humor and did in fact see the irony of it all.

Armsmaster had clashed with the Dragon roughly a dozen times since he came to the Bay and had only 'won' three of those fights. If he could manage a win without back up it would do his reputation good, however, he wasn't going to prioritize his own reputation over the possible casualties and had already messaged for backup.

Finally coming up to the street itself, Armsmaster saw Lung, roughly eight feet tall and silver scales started to sprout from his skin. He also saw Patches, already tending to the Undersiders… However, Lung is the bigger issue currently. However, he did approve of the one that must've been Scylla using some impressive hydrokinetic powers to keep the fire contained and from spreading.

Nodding he activated the targeting program and as soon as Lung was locked on Armsmaster opened fire with the HESH micro-missiles while he did a double check to ensure the Lung tranquilizer was prepped.

As the missiles flew and impacted Lung, the impact of the missiles sending visible ripples through his body as the very water on his body transmitted the shockwave, Armsmaster couldn't help but find Dr. Patches dedication to healing to be impressive. Even with everything going on around him, he never slowed from his healing.

He quickly put it from his mind and increased the speed and held his halberd at the ready, a pneumatic needle jutting from it ready to inject the tranquilizer. He had roughly ten seconds to inject the tranquilizer before his regeneration kicked in and he started escalating to the point the tranquilizer wouldn't be effective.

And with that, he triggered the booster he had installed in his bike a few months back.

Taylor Hebert/Rabbit

"We are in position, boss man."

Rabbit just focused on helping Patches and not on the fact that they had a Rage Dragon coming down on them, or the fact that Armsmaster was firing missiles at him while jousting, or the fact that her boyfriend was suffering from some weird form of Multiple Personality Disorder. No, instead she focused on keeping the girl, who she is pretty sure is Tattletale, from making her leg even worse!

Honestly, all she wanted was a chance to actually have a date with her boyfriend! Maybe even try holding his hand! Is that really so much to ask? Maybe after this, they could get back to their date?

Though looking at the shape the rest of the Undersiders were in she really doubted that was going to happen, and with another sigh, she pushed Tattletale back down.

"You're suffering from severe burns, lay down until Dr. Patches can get to you." She said trying to keep calm, though she was itching to transform and see if she could kick Lung into next week, but… she trusted her boyfriend.

"No shit Sherlock!" Tattletale hissed, though Rabbit didn't let it bother her… the pain would make anyone snappy and while she lacked the medical know-how of her boyfriend and girlfriend, she was pretty sure Tattletale was going into shock or something similar.

And when he said that they should let Armsmaster earn his paycheck, she'd let him. Besides Esper was lurking somewhere, no doubt ready to rip Lung apart telekinetically if Armsmaster's strategy didn't work.

"This does not count as a date."

The fact that Patches and Scylla laughed made her blush, she didn't mean to broadcast that!

Tattletale just looked at her with a grin, "Helluva date huh? Ah, think… Can you and the doc fix us up?" She asked.

"It's up to him, but I figure it's a solid bet." Rabbit said with a shrug as she looked up to see Armsmaster now fighting Lung… how did she miss that? Looking around she then noticed… is that Faultline's crew? When did they get here? Why were they here?

"Its the fire chiiiiiiief" Tattletale said whilst she poured the ice water into her molten leg, "He -ieeeee has a contract with Faultline for firefighting help, PRT can't touch them without having to volunteer capes for fires."

Well, that answers that then.

Focusing back on Tattletale, she couldn't help but overheard a small talk between Scylla and… Something the Snail? Honestly, she couldn't really remember his name.

"You wouldn't happen to be one of us, would you?" He asked politely.

Scylla chuckled as she continued using her water abilities to contain the flames along with whatever the guy was using as well, "Nah, just a changer." She answered freely.

"Ah, well, perhaps we can schedule a meeting with Dr. Patches?" The guy asked, "We've heard rumors of his abilities and well…" He just trailed off… perhaps not sure what more to say?

"Sure, no prob! Our clinic's opening in a day or two. Feel free to come in, we'll figure out some sort of schedule system eventually." Scylla said.

"Okay, this isn't working. Esper? Our turn." Dr. Patches broadcasted.

Eventually, she heard Dr. Patches talking to the lizard guy, Newter or something? As she listened in, she wondered if anyone had confused his name for Neuter before.

"So, like you heal anybody, right?" Newter asked, "Even villains?"

"If they pay a fee, then yes." Dr. Patches answered, "Accord paid well, but I also had to work on all his… unsymmetrical Ambassadors and general underlings. I wouldn't ask your crew to pay the same amount, of course." He explained as he continued his ad hoc surgery on Regent, "You do realize that bullets are supposed to stay on the outside, and blood stays on the inside, yes?"

"F-Fuck you doc!" Regent groaned.

"You're not my type, unfortunately." Dr. Patches quipped, "Cute, I won't lie, but not my type."

"G-Gay!" Regent said with a laugh.

"Bi actually and I'm very comfortable with my sexuality." Dr. Patches responded, "Besides I'm the 'Thirst Trap Doc' or so I've been called on PHO. I know what people say about my ass."

"My ass is still better…" Regent retorted with a wheezy laugh.

"It's okay to have your own opinion, even if you're wrong." Dr. Patches retorted with a chuckle, "Now shut up and let me finish up."

"You're all heart doc." Regent sassed.

"I have two, actually, and various redundancies throughout my body." Dr. Patches said.

Risking a glance over towards them, Rabbit couldn't help but giggle at just how stunned Newter looked.

Lung then turned to them, sending a fireball that was intercepted by an invisible force field

Dr. Patches just shrugged before he moved on to Tattletale.

"MOTHERFUCKER STOP GETTING IN FIGHTS WITH SUPER STRONG CAPES, GODDAMNIT!" Esper yelled at him before he focused at the raging dragon, "And you shut the fuck up too!"

Suddenly Lung's roars of rage stopped as his snout was clamped shut, and if her eyes weren't mistaken his nostrils were pinned close as well?

"Ah, I see what he's doing here." Honestly, it was a very novel approach to subduing Lung… hell she was pretty sure it had never been done before, "Smart too, muscles for opening the jaw are weak in every animal, and lips had a lot of weak muscles"

"Well, considering the shape of his skull when he transforms, it's rather obvious." Dr. Patches commented, "Also, no one tried before because you can't choke someone without getting closer, present company excluded."

It applied the minimum force to the opponent's most vital weakness in a way they can't counter it without being a hand down, cutting a big Gordian knot.

Though she supposed Alexandria could do it.

"Huh… I don't think Lung's regeneration can counter oxygen deprivation…" Is all that Rabbit could think.

Lung was forced to open his lips with his hand in an awkward motion, however in doing so he gave an opening to Armsmaster who lunged and stabbed the needle into the dragon's throat. Lung's pyrokinesis flared in response, engulfing Armsmaster in a raging inferno before he was sent flying twenty feet with a kick to the chest, doing a full backflip in air before hitting the ground.

It was at that moment that Oni Lee appeared in the field from nowhere like all teleporters do in combat with three other clones around Esper, each wielding one of those long sushi knives, each focusing on a part of his body, the legs, the hand holding Lung with a Vader choke, the heart and the back of the neck.

Rabbit felt her heart jump into her mouth, thinking it was over, only for Esper start glowing red and make a sweeping motion with his free hand and snatch the clones and original serial suicide bomber up in his power. He made a twisting motion and pulled their masks up, blocking their sight before slamming the teleporters into Lung, three of the clones dissipating on impact, before he made a gesture with his thumb like opening a soda bottle… and a bunch of pins hit the ground!?

Lung seemed to understand what was happening by how violently he started to struggle, tearing his own soldier and punching his open claw hand through Oni-Lee's torso trying desperately to get the bombs off of him, and screaming in panic.

Rabbit felt The Route scream for cover and ducked over Tattletale as all the grenades exploded at once, a giant multicolored flare combined with red ribbons in what looked like slow motion, until finally it all the explosion collapsed into a single ball of crushed flesh that fell to the earth with a wet thud.

And only after a few seconds did she look up and see that… those grenades were certainly some sort of tinker-tech given just how… varied the effects were, the cloud was static in the air, blue glow, and about one hundred feet tall, definitely tinker tech and beyond her understanding.

"Holy shit… you just killed Lung and Oni Lee!" Exclaimed Tattletale, no tears would be shed for the two, one was a fucking robot, and the other was a sex slaving Rage Dragon, but all the same it was shocking.

Rabbit knew that the balance of power had been utterly destroyed, and all she thought was about damn time. However, she wasn't looking forward to the surge of clients that would go to the clinic as a result of the coming gang war.

"Piggy is going to be soooooo pissed! hihihii~" Tattletale giggled almost deliriously.

"Rabbit, pick her up." Dr. Patches said before he looked at the leader of Faultline's crew, "Can you give us a ride to my clinic? Street surgery only works so much."

Rabbit wanted to snort at that, she knew damn well that Dr. Patches could perform open-heart surgery in the middle of an alley if he had to.

"Sure." Faultline said, "Though, we're going to arrange an appointment for my crew, Spitfire got a few burns saving a couple from the bowling alley next door, and Newter and Gregor both have their reasons, deal?"

"Deal." Dr. Patches said before looking at Esper, "So how are you going to top this one?" He asked dryly.

"Eh, maybe I'll put that massive tanker somewhere it can be salvaged?" Esper shrugged, clearly exhausted, "And then I'm going on that road trip!"

"Of course you are. Bloody showoff." Dr. Patches grumbled.

"Says the man that threw hands with the Butcher and survived to meme about it." Esper retorted before he started to walk off.

Though not before he 'yoinked' Grue's leather jacket, not that the guy was in any shape to do anything about it other than yell at Esper who whistled for a motorbike that showed up out of nowhere driving itself and drove off.

Though he did stop when Armsmaster grumbled at him from the floor, the man had most of his bones broken and all the skin on his face he'd burn, he had no lips in his face, as it had been burned to the gums, only bared teeth, how he managed to point his lance at Esper and pronounce 'stop' was beyond her, Esper gave him a face of pity and gently levitated him towards Patches when Armsmaster finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

Patches had the decency to lug Armsmaster to bring him with them to the hospital before telling the PRT line, they took the decision to have him drop in the hospital under Panacea's care, they drove off before Fran even saw the girl. He also injected him with some pain-suppressor to counter the pain the man was in no doubt.

"Shame to see his famous goatee go." Thought Esper over the neural link.

"Anyway, Patches, I'll call in a few days! My car better be ready by the time I'm done with the Boat Graveyard!" Esper shouted before he rode off on the bike.

"Man, psychic powers are bullshit…" Rabbit just grunted as everyone started helping the Undersiders and the dogs off the large van.

She didn't envy whoever would have to deal with the whole mess that just occurred

Fran Moss/Patches (Original)

It didn't take too long to arrive at the clinic and get everyone inside. While it was still bare-bones it provided proper working space, asking Gregor, Scylla, and Rabbit with the Undersiders Dr. Patches resumed questioning Newter. His previous ones were mainly about his hallucinogenic sweat and how much it would cost to get a sample.

Now he was in doctor mode.

"Now please just try to answer these to the best of your ability, it will help me determine what sort of treatment you need." He said calmly as Scylla prepped the surgery, "Do you have anything unusual in your diet? Do you require more water because your skin is wet, do you suffer from frostbite due to skin humidity?" He added curiously.

"Ah, my diet is pretty normal, though I eat more meat than everyone else. I'm a thirsty bitch." That got a chuckle from Dr. Patches, "And sometimes, it's why I'm rarely seen during winter or whenever it's freezing."

"Hmm, that's interesting." Dr. Patches said, "Well until I can properly examine you I can only provide speculation. I assume the others on your team also require my services?"

That's when Faultline spoke up, approaching him and… trying to intimidate him? Dr. Patches just chuckled and absentmindedly waved his hand.

"Miss, I got into a fistfight with the Butcher and survived to meme about it." He said dryly, "So, can you skip all the posturing and answer my question?"

Faultline grumbled while Newter laughed, a giggle from Spitfire, and even Gregor chuckled faintly, "Shaddup you three!" She huffed… sounding like a total mom while doing it before looking at him, "Yeah, We have another member named Labyrinth, and her power… really messes with her. I'm not sure what you can all do, but… can't hurt to ask now can it?"

"No, not at all." Dr. Patches said thoughtfully, "I… assume by 'messing with her' you mean mentally?"

Faultlline nodded with a grimace, obviously not really wanting to talk details and potential weaknesses to an unknown but soldiered on regardless, "Yeah. She has her good days and bad days. On her good days she's like any other twenty-year-old, but on bad days, well…"

"I think I get the picture." Dr. Patches said, "I assume her power is somehow connected to how she perceives the world? And the more… delirious she is the more potent it can be?"

"Pretty much." Spitfire commented, "Think you can help her, doc?"

"I can certainly try." Dr. Patches said, already formulating possible treatments that could help her without completely removing her power, "Now if you'll excuse me. I have a team of rebellious teenagers and some dogs to heal."

And with that he turned around and went into the surgeries.

[Celestial Forge]

Gained CP: 300

Available CP: 600

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