—:—:—:—:—:—

Act 01 : Opening Act 03

—:—:—:—:—:—

Dad and I had talked for nearly an hour after he'd calmed down a bit, and he was adamant that he didn't want me to go out without at least basic knowledge on fighting, and had called one of his close friends in the Dockworkers Association, a bald man he introduced as Kurt. Had he not had skin similar in colour to onyx, I would've been concerned about him being an Empire goon.

The man was large, being quite broad and clearly being used to manual labour, but was actually just shorter than myself. That did not, however, mean he was unable to put me on my backside, parahuman abilities or not. And indeed, my dad told him I was a parahuman, and Kurt had instructed me to come at him however I thought best, and my power gave me little hints, but Kurt fought dirty.

So, here I was, laying on the basement floor, which we had cleared out over the past week, sweating like mad, whilst my torturer looked like he could still go another round. "Well Danny; she's got potential, I'll give her that much" He said, handing me a bottle of water. "However…" He helped me up. "You strike as though you're intending to just brush your hand against me, rather than properly hit me, or as though you're trying to hold a weapon" He took a sip of his own bottle. "So, what's going on up there?" He asked.

I sighed. He knew, so I might as well explain it to him. "Some of the weapons I see in my head are… brutal, to say the least. One of them, the one which I'm styling my own on, only needs me to brush my hand against somebody" I said.

"And then?" It was dad who asked.

"A coil of wire rapidly uncoils inside them" I said, receiving a grimace from dad, and a whistle from Kurt.

"Yeah. I can see why your power tries to make you fight like you do Twinkle Toes" Kurt said. 'Twinkle Toes'? Really? Did I really move like that?

"Alright Danny; I'll help your girl fight like a proper fighter, though I think Lacy'll be better for her" What did Aunt Lacy have to do with this?

"You think so?" Dad asked, receiving an amused snort from Kurt.

"She's the only person I know who can put me on my ass" Kurt replied, as he and dad went back upstairs, leaving me to contemplate on how to better fight. Especially if I wanted to not resort to using the Harlequin's Kiss. Or any of the other lethal weapons.

I shuddered at the thought of the Harlequin's Embrace. Seriously! What sadistic person thought it'd be a good idea for me to know these!? I thought I could hear somebody laughing, but dismissed it as my imagination. Thinking on it, I needed to finish my costume, the holosuit, and the holofield. I grinned thinking of those two items. I'm pretty sure I might be able to beat my foes by simple causing intense nausea, and my making them throw up… eew, gross.

—

Opening my eyes, I looked down at the item in front of me. It was clearly a rifle of some description, only I knew that it wouldn't function as such. Basing it on the idea for the 'Death Spinner', I created a weapon that would fire a net of wraithbone wire, that would wrap around and contain anyone caught properly by it. Though the wire was thin, it was far from weak, and I felt that only upper-tier brutes would be able to escape it. I named this weapon a 'Web Spinner', and I had two of them that would attach to my forearms.

Sadly, they only had a limited number of shots, though I was trying to figure out how to get them to regenerate ammo internally, though the wire was able to make more of itself as it spread further out to entangle someone. I had considered a pair of hand cannons that fired two inch sleep shards, but my aim… wasn't the best…

It sucked, okay. The web spinner had a degree of tracking before the projectile suddenly exploded into the web, but trying to hit somebody with an unguided projectile would require practice. Lots of practice. Placing the flute down, I sat on my bed, and closed my eyes, trying to focus on a different tune I could hear.

This time, I found something… different. I felt myself stretching, in a way that defied words. I could feel myself reaching for something. A… vessel. But not physically. But why? What was I trying to accomplish? Cutting the effect off, I felt my mind and body return to normal. It wasn't something I wanted to experience again, but it had a purpose. Now, I just had to figure out exactly what purpose.

Cutting myself off from that tune, I followed a different tune, I explored the possibilities of biomancy, the ability to shape biological matter. The things I could do to myself or to others was… astounding, and all it would take is a little time and a bit of imagination. However, I followed the idea of making myself stronger, faster, smarter even, amplify the bioelectricity of my nerves and use it as a weapon. The possibilities came to me quickly, but I forced myself to stop. There was such a thing as taking it too far, and I needed to be careful; I knew, from research, that the PRT had a bias against any Parahuman that could manipulate biology, Nilbog coming to mind, and ones like Panacea were monitored closely. Her healing was clearly biological manipulation, as healing itself was usually either limited to rapid regeneration, or a part of something else.

Sighing to myself, I decided to test the power in a small way. With a thought, my hair changed colour from dark brown to a bright crimson. I giggled. It was such a childish thing, yet I could change the colour of my hair on a whim. Forcing myself to focus, my hair turned back to my natural dark brown. I could do whatever I wanted to myself or to others. I could see how easily people can get carried away with their power.

Testing another thing, I tried to see if I could fix my eyesight, and when I opened my eyes, everything looked… out of focus. Removing my glasses, I gasped at how everything looked. My eyesight was perfect, more than perfect, actually; everything seemed brighter and darker, as if I could see more colours than before. It was… incredible, to say the least.

I could see in my mind new doors opening, new possibilities, a thousand new songs could now be heard.

—:—:—:—:—:—

Happy New Year!

'Tis all I have, see ya.