As it turned out, having a good reason to get out of bed was an excellent motivator towards going to classes.

You felt... good. Better than you’d felt in so very, very long that it was almost incomprehensible how wonderful this felt. You’d been stretching your fingers, so to speak, gearing up for war. And now the body suit which you wore pretty much everywhere compressed itself against your skin as you willed some of it to burrow into your body in as unobtrusive a manner as was possible. You extended some of its mass inward in fungus-like hyphae, using your connection with it to keep it as neutral as possible.

You could probably do something with that, though you realized that when you weren’t paying attention some of the materials which burrowed into you would recede. You could only barely keep the suit looking like you’d gained a couple of pounds, and had to fully detach the mask in order to keep it from ruining the effect.

Followed by your usual, baggy clothing, and you managed the illusion of complete normality even with the bulk of the suit.

Not perfect but it just felt right.

“You’re looking kinda chipper today. Had a good night sleep Amy?”

You turned, then smiled. It was one of your classmates, a young woman whose name escaped you for the moment, pretty, cheerful and consistently smiling. Normally she annoyed you to no end, though today you found that her presence had a slightly different effect.

…it stirred an unfamiliar hunger. You weren’t sure you liked the feeling.

Luminous brown eyes shone from a small cute face, East Indian in decent if you guessed correctly, and her constantly frizzled hair framed it well in your opinion. You didn’t remember if you’d ever ‘tasted’ her before, and resisted the urge to do so now. You’d always known that the girl was a bit of a cape fan, she made it her business to greet you whenever she could even when it was only with little things, and even your usual grumpy demeanor hadn’t permanently scared her off.

“Yeah, feeling pretty good, had a really productive day yesterday.” Really productive. You estimated that before the end of the week you’d have enough biomass to actually make an actual dent in the rodent populations.

“Oh were you part of that?” She asked a look of both surprise and delight crossing her face as she did, you on the other hand could only furrow your eyebrow at the unexpected question; wondering briefly if you’d tipped something off.

No no… paranoia wasn’t healthy, and besides, if anyone knew what you’d been doing, they’d all come down on you like a cascade of bricks.

“Oh... sorry I guess I assumed you’d have heard.” The girl shrunk back from her excitement looking slightly abashed. “Last night the PRT captured Lung. The fight went down dockside. But the details are kinda sketchy right now though, Armsmaster seems to have claimed it. It’s been all over the morning papers.”

Oh... ok that you hadn’t heard.

“Oh... Lung. How’d they even get him down?” You wondered out loud. The regenerating, pyrokinetic dragon-man was nothing if not resilient, resisting the best and most coordinated efforts of the protectorate in ever escalating battle which had ultimately been given up on as the only true alternative would be a fight which could topple the city. And besides that, he’d fought an Endbringer once, to a near standstill, having beaten back Leviathan himself.

You could only imagine him in your hands.

“No one really knows yet, everyone’s being pretty hush hush about it. Other than the fact that Armsmaster brought him in. That must have been a crazy fight.” The girl smiled again, looking almost wistful.

That hunger again welled up inside of you.

“Parahuman fights... are usually pretty dammed scary. Take it from the one who fixes up the aftermath… it’s gets down right brutal.” You spoke again, pulling her down from her cape induced high. She at least had the decency to look sheepish about it.

“Yeah... I know. It’s crazy and it’s dangerous. But man what kind of awesome it must be to HAVE the power?” She spoke almost unthinkingly then after a moment finally realized just to whom she’d said it. “Oh... yeah… ah…”

“It veers wildly between pretty awesome and pretty fucked up.” You shrug your shoulders and admit. You stop, then look the girl over again. Pretty and willing. You almost wonder her name. “You know... what would you do if you had powers anyway?”

“... I… you know, I guess I’d just try to make everything better. I mean that feels like the right thing to do?” You kinda liked how her frazzled hair seemed to settle as her excitement cooled.

“Hmm… not a bad answer, if a bit standard.” You reply with a light smile. It wasn’t a bad answer... it was a terrible one. You stop and visibly consider something before reaching out your hand towards her. “May I?”

It is a mere moment of incomprehension before she reaches back towards you, taking your hand. A quick scan tells you her every ill, the cold she’d had a few months back still leaving antibodies and a few rogue viral particles along the lines you trace within her. It feels a good bit faster now than it had before, leaving you in ‘contact’ with a fair portion of her body after only a few seconds of contact. You’re contact speed seems to have at least doubled.

An echoing murmur in her chest signified a weak heart, the hole in it where one of the arterial walls should have been reads to be a mutation within her intrinsically, a birth defect passed down throughout her family.

You could truly ‘taste’ the thrill which seemed to surge though her body at the very idea of being in contact with you, tempting you to reinforce, and heighten it. But you were anything but subtle with such a tool, and this place was far too public. No instead you quirked your brow in a plain display of false efforts, and even more fake concern.

“Have you always had a hole in your heart?” You asked as if you hadn’t already known.

“Yeah. It’s always been there... Is why I’m such a stick, can do track or anything like it. Too much exertion and...” She admitted.

“Would you like that to change?” You asked, practically pretending that it was spur of the moment. You couldn’t help but smile at the initial shock which morphed into glee upon her face, her fuzzy hair practically rising up in imitation of her mood.

“YES!” She almost shouted, before catching herself. “Yes yes yes... I... please do.”

“Done.” You seal the deal, making her healthy... making her future children healthy as well.

“Oh… wow... I don’t know what to say.” The girl honestly sounded overwhelmed, you’d heard that tone of voice a million times before. You all but ignored it.

“... would you like more?” You offer blithely, almost in a matter of fact tone. “I can do a lot more. If you want… healthier than you ever were.”

You wondered almost why you were doing this. A whim? A strong desire? Or maybe it was just her eagerness which had caught you? The girl was certainly nothing special, no prettier than you could make someone, no more friendly or loyal than you could create within a nights work.

Nothing special about her in anyway.

Maybe that was the attraction? She wasn’t an enemy, she wasn’t someone needed to care about in any way. Starstruck as she was, you knew she’d hardly ever say no, even as eagerly you anticipated the words which would come out of her mouth. A desire to be reshaped, molded and made more.

It just made you want to make her.

“Yes... what would I need to give you?” She spoke in hushed tones.

“Nothing.”

Everything.

You had her hook line and sinker... but you didn’t know what you wanted to do with her.

[] You wanted to remake her, make her YOURS utterly.
[] You liked her, she’s pretty and a groupie. Maybe you can use her in some way... kisses seem like a good currency.
[] Meh, just give her an extra tune up. This was a bad whim to follow…
[] Write in.




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