By the time the first of the knights reached Danny, feeling had returned to his arm and the bleeding mostly stopped. He felt an uncomfortable tightness when clenching his fist, and head felt light from the blood loss. Fortunately, it wasn’t enough to disable him. Danny rose from cover to find only two knights left. He spotted Jose’s female companion in the distance dragging away another knight. One stood in the middle of the road, frantically looking around while the injured knight continued her advance towards him.

Instead of charging, Danny let his opponent come to him. Running headfirst towards an unknown opponent had proven itself as an almost grave mistake. The knight had proven an even greater threat while injured. First, Danny took a deep breath in and exhaled slow. Then he cleared his mind of every thought and focused on the approaching knight.

Just as Danny was about to get his arms pulsing again, he sensed something new. It radiated from the knight’s chest and more from the conjured blade. His eyes also saw the strange existence, but it wasn't just the hand-mouths that detected it. It looked like a translucent film barely managing to hold shape. Then as Desert Jackal’s Reflexes took effect and time slowed, Danny felt a similar energy flow from his solar plexus and into his spine. It travelled to his brain before spreading to his extremities.

Is that aether?

When the knight slashed at Danny, he didn’t counter with a strike. Instead, he grabbed her and let his palm-mouths feed. The sucking sensation returned, and he feasted on aether. The exhaustion that followed after recovering from an injury faded and the tiredness in his arm-hollows faded, too. When the knight tried fighting back, Danny adjusted his hold to put pressure on the injured shoulder. She screamed and continued fighting to break free, but the struggle weakened with every passing second.

With his opponent under reasonable control, Danny directed one floating eye to Jose and his companions. He caught the tail end of the fight. The knights appeared to have varying power sets. Jose held his opponent up against the wall while one of his two companions thrashed on the ground, peeling off his smoking body armour.

Black fluid sprayed from the gaps in the rift creature’s helmet, spraying Jose’s chest. The fluid ate away at the plates and fumes rose from them, but the man didn’t flinch. He held the knight until his companion returned from the van holding a strange fire extinguisher. Danny recognised the woman. She had conducted the medical tests on Danny. Fenrir’s intelligence called her Boudica.

Boudica sprayed the knight with thick blue foam. It hardened around her head instantly and Jose stepped away. They put heavy cuffs on her wrists and ankles. Jose picked the knight up before shoving her in the truck. Before they could close the rear door, Danny guided the floating eye inside.

When Danny returned his attention to his opponent, he was pleased to discover that she had gone limp. Kabandha’s tongues eagerly swirled inside the hollows of his forearm, but he didn’t get the opportunity to devour the essence. The last remaining knight was upon him. Much to his surprise, she fell into a lunging stance six feet away before thrusting her rapier. She didn’t move, but the blade shot at him. Danny barely sidestepped the weapon, before hopping backwards.

The weapon hadn’t stretched as he previously assumed. It was her arm. The limb retracted before whipping towards him again. Danny ducked under the attack. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as his palm-mouths heard the blade cut through air. Golden light had spread from the hilt along the rapier, widening it, and creating tapering edges.

When Danny tried closing the distance, the knight retracted her arm, and the armour segments clinked as they came together. Her legs swelled and the segments covering her knees popped off. The leather bands holding the greaves together popped too. When the knight leapt, the limbs returned to their normal size, and she flew backwards several metres. As soon as she landed, the arm shot towards him again.

Danny didn’t bother sidestepping. Instead, he angled his body, letting the blade strike his body armour. The edge sliced through the armour as it shot past, leaving a deep scratch in his chest armour. Much to his relief, it didn’t go any deeper. Danny grabbed stretched arm at the wrist and pulled with all of his strength.

A surprised cry escaped the knight as she lost her balance. Danny reached her before he could recover. He launched a palm strike at her neck and released a point-blank sonic blast. Her head whipped back and Danny heard several cracks. For good measure, Danny grabbed the knight by the neck, squeezed with all of his might, and put his weight behind pushing her down. He felt more bones breaking, and he didn’t doubt she would stay on the ground. Kabandha’s tongue shot out of the palm-mouth and snaked its way under the helmet and into her mouth.

Ignoring the notifications on his HoloScreen, Danny returned his attention to the drained knight. She no longer lay where he’d left her. With just one eye out, he hadn’t kept track of her. Danny studied his surroundings, worried she’d sneak up on him. Then he glimpsed Boudica dragging her into the alley with the truck. The second eye only reported darkness. Danny had never tested the range on the eyes and didn’t know whether his plan would work, but he kept his hopes up.

You have fed Kabandha.

He gives you power in return.

Kabandha has never feasted on a knight from the Court of Hearts. He gives you two options:

Armoury of the Heart Singing Weapons Elastic Tension

The sound of fighting reached Danny’s ears. As Jose’s truck pulled out of the street, the portals on it closed, but that didn’t mean the primary rift near Holloway Road Station had disappeared. The supers fighting in the area would need him, and Danny hoped to be in the best possible state to help them. Fighting the knights and the injuries he suffered clarified that he still had plenty of growing to do. As a weakling, he’d never make Islington safe or complete Kabandha’s quest.

Danny didn’t have the time to think long about which essence ability to pick. It was technically his first outing as an asset. As a result, his range of abilities weren’t clear to the public and League. It didn’t matter if he picked an ability that didn’t match his power set as long as it didn’t deviate too much.

Armoury of the Heart didn’t fit at all and would likely require him to carry base weapons for reinforcement and Danny refused to do so. Singing Weapons didn’t fit the brief either. If he used bladed weapons, it would’ve been perfect. While studying what he could achieve with sound and vibrations, Danny had covered the subject of vibro weapons, too. High frequencies significantly increased piercing and cutting power. Unfortunately, blunt weapons wouldn’t benefit as much from Singing Weapons.

Vibro-hammers weakened the target surface with vibrations. Danny worried getting the most out of the essence power would require prolonged contact, forcing him to grapple more. Instead, Danny focused on Elastic Tension. The vision that accompanied it didn’t show him stretch. Instead, Danny saw himself moving faster and hitting harder. His biceps, thighs, and calves appeared to expand under his clothes, but didn’t swell like the knight’s. Danny picked the ability while devouring another power bar.

Once a female squire of the Court of Hearts has proven herself, the tyrant queen feeds them essence from creatures in her menagerie. As aces of the queen’s deck, they act as the sword, leading the lesser troops and feeding on them to accomplish the queen’s directives when necessary.

Threat Level: E

Destructiveness: E

Killability: C

---------------------------

Might: E

Survivability: E

Recovery: D

Mobility: D

Spark: D

----------------------------

Powers: Enhanced Sight and Hearing, Sonic Blasts, Durable Arms, Metabolic Regeneration, Desert Jackal’s Reflexes, Aether Drain, Elastic Tension

Classification: Bruiser/Stalker

A smile spread across Danny’s lips as he jogged towards the ongoing fight. His Might and Mobility had both increased. Danny didn’t know whether it was the essence ability alone, a combination of several, or compatibility with his core abilities. As he ran, Danny felt his muscles squirm and shift. When he flexed a muscle, they moved and tensed significantly more than ever before. On a whim Danny tensed his calf and thigh muscles. When he released them, his strides carried him further and faster before his limbs returned to their normal state.