Running wasn’t difficult for any of us. Mary with her enhanced physique, Sue had her robotic limbs, and I was a flying drone.

in other good news, it seemed like I was right about the area of effect of whatever was keeping me stuck in my drone, as we got farther away from the assassin, I could feel my faculties slowly returning to me. I wasn't all there yet, but it was definitely an improvement.

In other not so good news, Howard had apparently broken free of the vines he was wrapped in and was chasing us. He was running at top speed, spouting curses, and promising death when he caught up, all while still shooting at us. I tried once again to create the portal shield that I had used to block the spike, rather than the one-sided wormhole appearing all I got was a distinct feeling of ‘No.” Thus we were all forced to avoid the bullets in the best way we could, Which mostly consisted of zig-zagging and using our powers in the most defensive ways we could think of, on the bright side of all of this the eye I had shot out still hadn't grown back completely, which meant Howard wasn't as sure-shotted as he should be.

“We should get back into a populated are-AH!” Mary advised as another bullet thunked into her arm shield, “I highly doubt that he would follow us there.”

I sent over a mental nod.

“I don't know about that greenie, this guy doesn't seem to care very much for sapient life.”

Sue had had a point as well. They were both looking at me now,

{Wait? What, am I supposed to make the final decision?!}

“You are the one I charge, right?” Sue stated raising an eyebrow.

{of training your powers! Shelly handles things otherwise!!! I'm less than a month old!!!} I said beginning to charge another energy shot, This one being infused with kinetic force.

“You do still have the final vote Mr.Bac.”

{Ummm… I think we should find Shelly and Max. strength in numbers and all of that.} I said firing the blast backward and striking Harold in the nose. He growled but didn’t seem all that affected this time.

“How are we supposed to find them?!”

{I know exactly where they are. I can see through Shel’s drone, They're leaving the library… surrounded by armed guards…” I paused, I’d have to ask about that later “Whatever, the problem is getting to them, my connection still isn't complete enough to communicate } I sighed, {If you guys were a little smaller, I could take you with me through a portal.}

“Exactly how much smaller…” Sue huffed.

{My current maximum is,} I took a second to check on my status

[Spacial tunneling (bend space to create wormholes through space and matter. Bypasses all physical material and lessens distance needed to get to a location. Current wormhole diameter limit: 1 foot 3 inches. Current distance reduction: 25%]

No improvement.

{Only a little more than one foot}

“I guess if you dismembered me, I could fit…” Mary stated, “But what about Sue…”

“I can't fit through that!!!” the cyborg hissed “Plus I know you're apparently Mrs. Masochist, but cutting you to bits seems counterproductive. And would probably take longer than we have with this guy chasing us.“

“I’M NOT A MASOCHIST!!!” Mary whisper-shouted as we ducked into a hidden alcove as we turned, the corner letting the assassin run past.

“uh-huh. Anyway, I think our best course of action is to hide. We can't use the portal, we can't fight this guy, and we really shouldn't go near other people when we have a murder on our tail. What we need is a distraction. And I know just the girl who can provide it,” she said pulling a flask from her pocket and taking a sip, before I could say anything her body began to glow and change. Within seconds Sue was no longer standing in front of us, in her place was a slightly bewildered-looking Peggy.

She glanced around, her ever-present smile in place despite her confusion, after a second she seemed to stare blankly at nothing, and her smile faltered into a groan.

“I very much don’t like this idea…”

{What idea if I can ask?}

“Well it’s…”

By the time Peggy got done with her explanation, I realized I also very much didn't like this idea.

It involved one of her abilities [Summon undead] And one of my droninjas.

In truth, it was probably a good plan, except for the fact that it involved one of my droninjas, which may I remind you are a part of me now -as much as your finger is a part of you- being blown up, or otherwise destroyed. The plan was made even less savory by the fact that Peggy could apparently feel through her undead. It was nowhere near as intense as her real body (lucky…) but to put it in her own eloquent words…

“Things still hurt!!!”

“I'm sorry but I don't see how it's that bad,” Mary shrugged, “It's not even your actual body.”

“Wha- Wait, I remember what you told us about your powers. H-have you ever felt pain before?”

“No”

{I think Peggy can show you if you want.}

“Is This really the time to do this?” Peggy asked.

{It’ll only take a second}

Peggy looked unsure but Mary nodded.

“Are you sure you know what you're asking for?”

“Sure. I'm curious, I guess… I was born for my powers so I've always had…this trait. But I do understand the concept of pain, it feels bad, I'm not stupid. I’ve always wondered if everyone's just overac-GHAAAAH!!!”

Peggy’s hands began to glow a dark purple color for a second as Mary tensed up and screamed. As soon as it started it stopped Peggy looking apologetic and Mary looking shaken.

“I-is that what pain is like? S-seriously? All the time?! Why would people…? but some people willingly…!? But BDSM!!!”

“That was only the equivalent of a light pinch…” Peggy said becoming even more apologetic

I had had a hunch that that was what Peggy’s [Pain conduit] ability did. I had just wanted to test if it would work on Mary, That may have seemed cruel, but it was my first step to her training regimen ‘make sure she knows what she's taking for granted’ this was probably a bad time to do it but it was an opportunity I didn't think I could miss. It definitely wasn't because she was the only person who didn't have to take part in this stupid fucking plan. No.

{Anyway, Let's get this over with…} I said ignoring the glare from Mary.

Peggy’s shoulders slumped as she sighed.

With her brows furrowed she began to activate her power.

Mary and I watched awestruck as purple lines of light began to draw themselves in the air, forming first a circle then crossing over itself to form a sort of pentagram. From there it began to spin until it was nothing but a blur of purple. That was when it seemed to open like a door and out stepped a single skeleton. It was completely disembodied, with no muscle or skin or anything like that. It was just… a skeleton, standing around practically motionless as if there was nothing wrong with it existing. But honestly who was I to be surprised.

Mary moved up to the bones and poke them in the ribs, it didn't react not seeming to notice, but Peggy let out a squeak of surprise.

“D-don’t do that! I’m ticklish.”

“So… this is you?”

“Not really… it's more like a part of me, I guess. Less like a clone, more like a limb.” she shuddered as she looked at the skeleton, “it's gross…and creepy, I know. but it's what I have to work with,” ‘Why didn’t I get the ability to summon unicorns or something?’ she only thought the last part, her smile becoming a little more forced, “Now, let's get this over with.”

“Wait one second,” Mary said taking a change of clothes out of her bag and handing them to the skeleton, “Put these on.”

“Okay,” We all stared in silence for a couple long seconds “Well, turn around…”

Mary rolled her eyes, and I would have done the same if I had the necessary hardware, but we both turned as the skeleton dressed.

“Done, let’s go Bac.”

I nodded with one of my droninjas shadowstepped into the shade where the neck met the skull and partitioned a portion of my mind to take control, making sure to not let any of my actual consciousness sleep through only what I needed to control and see.

I rode atop Peggy’s summoned monster, my robotic feet sunk slightly into the shadow to avoid falling, as she walked to the area where we had last seen Howard. Once we got close Peggy began to run. She ran until we felt that we were too far away and then turned around, running in a slightly different direction and repeating the process. The idea was to bait the assassin with Peggy’s skeleton’s humanoid silhouette and my droninja Which, I was sure he would remember due to the stabbing, and use them to lure him away from where we were actually hiding. I never said it was a master plan, Alright. I only said it might be good.

After a few cycles of running back and forth, we were about to give up. I was sure how it had somehow seen past our plan (Admittedly not too exceptional of a feat) or just wasn’t anywhere near here anymore, maybe he had just kept running in a straight line after he lost us. I was once again wrong. A bullet came flying out of seemingly nowhere forcing me to duck my droninja into the shadows to avoid it.

“’ou can run, but ‘t won’t last. You’re dead.” The sensation of containment tried to overcome me again, failed this time due to my main consciousness not being in the droninja, Luckily it was clear Howard couldn't tell that as he continued chasing us as if nothing was wrong.

We Turned a corner, leading him away from our hideout at the skeleton’s top speed.

We were forced to dodge and weave as the assassin began shooting at u. Another turn to keep us away from large groups of people while Mary, and Peggy’s real body, along with my drone, Began hiking it away

“We are far enough away now I think we're good”

The skeleton nodded, unable to speak without Peggy’s actual voice box around to do it for her.

She turned and I resigned myself to the destruction of this droninja, pulling my mind out of it,

The last thing I saw As I exited was Howard's shout of

“What!? A FUC’N Skeleto-!!!” cut off as Peggy threw a bony punch his face and I sent my droninja instructions to attack.

We ran on for a bit as we knew Howard was most likely still on our trail I had felt my droninja destruction in the form of an error that very nearly made me crash about a minute ago [DRONINJAS AVAILABLE: 3], and Peggy had nearly collapsed as her skeleton was crushed into dust, It was most definitely worth it though as based on my log of the drone ninjas last moments they had put up a good fight managing the draw quite a lot of blood from the C rank meta.

in the rewards spoke for themselves

[Heavy combatant injured

(Rank C3

+240 STR for wounding a metabeing two full ranks higher than your group's highest-ranking member) /3 for team effort

Earnings doubled due to system boon

Total STRENGTH earned: 160

You have leveled up! Your rank is now F-3.

System boon: +100% skill (Ability/trait) adaptation speed. Duration: Days: 28, Hours: 23, Minutes: 59

STR needed for next powerup: 1000]

Finally! I leveled up again. Felt like it had been forever, I thought gaining power was supposed to be easy in the early stages. I wasn't sure how useful the Boone was gonna be but I would take what I could get it might even be useful if I could find new things that I could you do with my powers. I’d experiment when I got home.

To my surprise, I also had a few other notifications. I mentally clicked on them and prompts began appearing in my mind’s eye.

[Congratulations! Through continuous use of your powers in a form outside of your current abilities or traits, you have adapted a new ability.

Spacial rebound: ability (

“Right back at ya!”

When there is no exit the only way forward is to return.

Create a pit in space in front of you, any projectiles that enter this field are sent back at their firers at double entry-speed.

Cooldown: 15 minutes

Diameter limit: 5ft

“You got a useful skill out of forgetting to put an exit on your wormhole. Talk beginner’s luck”]

[Congratulations! Through continuous use of your powers in a form outside of your current abilities or traits, you have adapted a new ability.

Energy bolt: ability (

“Ka-me-ha-me…”

Create orbs of condensed energy to fire at your foes, bolt can be charged to increase damage and range.

Energy types: Electrical. Heat, Kinetic

Maximum charge time: 6 seconds

Cooldown: 3 seconds + charge time

“You found a way to shoot things good for you! In all honesty, you earned this one for popping that guy's eye. Hilarious”]

These messages were… snarky… why were they snarky? Sure, the other messages I had gotten when I had checked out my new ‘skills’ had been lighthearted and sometimes reference media but those had felt more like Prewritten jokes. This was snark. You could tell the difference if you lived with Shelly.

I was getting that uneasy feeling again… should I address it? should I care?

I mean I had just gotten my first offensive ability, my excitement grew as I thought about it, I finally had a way to actually attack! Well, I had had my droninjas but now I had an ability! Plus a defensive one. Goodbye noncombatant status!

I mentally grinned as I looked over my status!

[Name: Bac

Species: Artificial life form (software-based)

Powers: Spacial warping-20, Energy manipulation-40, Technopathy-30.

Abilities: Spacial tunneling, limited telepathy (sub-ability: telepathic scan), Spacial rebound, Energy bolt

Traits: unbound consciousness, self-powering, Destructive analysis

STRENGTH needed for next powerup: 1000

Current STR: 260

Unassigned STR: 170

Power ranking: F-3(subcombatant)

System boons: STR gain doubled for the next five days, +100% skill (Ability/trait) adaptation speed. Duration: Days: 28, Hours: 23, Minutes: 57]

All in all, despite the hazards my first day out in the world was turning out pretty well.