Outsider Chronicles: Full Metal Worm

You know, there were a lot of things I was expecting when I got reborn into a world of traumatized Superheroes. Becoming one of those heroes was actually pretty high up my list, but when your a Tinker whos main trick only needs a bit of chalk, thats Bullshit on a whole other level!

Well, this should be fun if nothing else. Its something thats been rattling around in my head for a while and I couldn't resist. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Soooo, my death was lame. I mean, getting killed by a box full of paint cans falling on your head isn't exactly something to brag about. I knew I hated art for a reason. Still, at least I got a new life out of it. Oh yeah, I ended up getting reincarnated. I'm still not entirely sure why, but after I died, I woke up again as a baby.

Growing up was simultaneously easy and incredibly frustrating. What? I'd like to see any of you sit through pre-school again without tearing your hair out. Still, I've learnt from my mistakes, so I got through school with no problems and high grades. Or at least, that was the plan. See, the world I had been reborn into wasn't exactly normal, not when there were people flying around in silly costumes. Yeah, I'd been reborn into a world full of crazy people with superpowers. Unfortunately, it wasn't a world like Marvel or DC where the Heroes always win. On no, I wasn't that lucky. The world I'd been reborn into was that of Worm.

Hmm, I think that someone might be playing with me. Why? Well, my family were extremely recognizable, but none of them had anything to do with Worm. I was the oldest child, with a younger sister named Victoria and my Parents were named Victor and Alexandria while our family name was Powered. Yeahhh, thats not normal in the slightest. Fortunately, it seems that Alchemy is not a thing in this world cus it was still modern day and Mum wasn't a brain in a jar. Instead she worked as the chief of research and development of PRT ENE while my Dad served as the head of the Troopers. My sister on the other hand was a perfectly normal, if sharp tongued, little girl. Who happened to be best friends with Missy Biron. Thats not really relevant though.

None of my family had any powers (other than my Dad being a mountain of muscle and my Mum being scary smart) and we lived in the nice part of town, well away from all the Gangs. On the surface, I should have very little to worry about. Just go to school, get a good education and fuck of as far away as possible as soon as I got the chance. The problem is that I couldn't help being incredibly worried. Brockton Bay is dangerous at the best of times, but knowing what I did about what was on the way made it even worse. I didn't want any of my family to end up on the wrong end of Leviathan, the Slaughterhouse Nine or anyone else that would hit the city in the future. That said, I had no idea what I could possible to to prevent it without powers and theres no fucking way I'd be approaching the Cauldron any time soon.

Despite my best efforts, my mind spent most of the time stewing over the thoughts in the back of my head for the vast majority of the time, mostly out of sight, but always there and driving me absolutely nuts. I was well aware of the fact that that much stress was rather bad for me and I think my family could tell I was bothered by something considering that my sister spent a lot of time trying to take my mind of it. It rarely worked unfortunately, but I appreciated the effort nonetheless.

Unfortunately, my reasonably quiet life came to an end in a rather spectacular fashion. The first indication that something was wrong was when the phone rang and, after answering it, Mum dropped her coffee. I could tell by the look on her face that something had happened, something bad. That was proven when Mum rushed out of the house, pausing only to tell me to look after my sister, who had just entered the room looking extremely sleepy. Four hours later saw Mum returning, looking haggard and pale, to find us on the couch, Vicky fast asleep in my arms and me wide awake and worried as hell.

"What happened?" I asked before Mum could say anything.

Mum sighed and dropped into the armchair.

"I suppose there's no point in keeping it from you," she said, "Your Father was involved in a fight between the E88 and the ABB downtown. The PRT tried to break it up, but when the Capes arrived, things got...nasty. Victor...he went down when Hookwolf went after some bystanders to try and distract the Protectorate Heroes. He took a knife to the chest, so close it nearly hit his Heart."

My eyes went wide.

"Don't worry, Panacea managed to stabilize him in time," said Mum before I could ask, "It was touch and go for a while, but he'll pull through."

I let out a sigh of relief and slumped back against the back of the sofa, being careful not to wake up my sister as I did.

"Thats a relief," I muttered.

Mum nodded as she closed her eyes and rested her head back against the back of her chair.

"The Doctors want to keep him in for observation," she said, "I wanted to stay, but they kicked me out. Said I should go home and get some rest since he won't be waking up until tomorrow."

"Good advice," I said with a wide yawn.

Now that the crisis had been resolved, my body decided to remind me that it was two in the morning and I had school tomorrow.

"Indeed," said Mum, "Now go on, get to bed. You've got school tomorrow after all."

"Don't remind me," I muttered as I got to my feet and gently picked up my Sister.

Vicky shifted in her sleep and mumbled, but didn't wake up. I carried her upstairs and put her to bed, before heading to my own. However, I quickly found myself unable to sleep as I stared up at the ceiling, my mind awhirl. My Dad was alive, but I was well aware of how close he had come to death. I'd lost count of the number of times he'd been hospitalized in the line of duty and, while Panacea often helped out, it was also common for her to be too busy or for him to outright refuse healing as his wounds weren't to bad. It was only a matter of time before something happened that Panacea couldn't heal and then…

I shuddered at the thought and rolled over onto my side. Despite my sisters caustic tongue, we were a close and loving family. The idea of any part of it being torn away...it made me want to cry. I couldn't let it happen, but I have no idea what to do to prevent it. If only I had powers, I could possibly do something to help…

Darknessspacetwistingmonstrocitiesashardhertlingtowardsme…

I sat bolt upright, my eyes going wide as it felt like my mind opened and countless ideas, bits of knowledge and calculations started pouring in. Without thinking, I threw off my covers, staggered over to my desk and started drawing.

RINGGGGGGG!

I jolted awake as someone shook my shoulder, shooting upright, only to let out a yelp of pain as my shoulders cracked. I blinked a few times as I tried to figure out why I could only see white, before I realized I had a bit of paper stuck to my cheek. I quickly pulled it off and realized that I'd fallen asleep at my desk (and had apparently drooled all over my notebook), but not before filling up a huge number of bits of paper with drawings, symbols and calculations that would be complete gibberish to anyone else but made perfect sense to me.

I got to my feet and stretched, wincing at the familiar sensation of stiff muscles stretching, before shutting off my alarm and sitting back down. I had to get ready for school, but the first job was to see what I'd done last night and hide it before my Mum or Dad found it. If they did, they'd probably make me join the Wards and, while I had no problem with them on an individual bases, I didn't want to become a PR tool and never get the chance to actually use my powers in a fight.

I picked up the top bit of paper and was immediately met with an uncomfortably familiar circle and a set of calculations that just so happened to meet the exact elemental makeup of the Human body for the average adult. My eyebrows shot up and I started flipping through the rest of the papers. Human Transmutation, Unstable Energy Production, Oxygen Manipulation, Medical Circles meant to close wounds, a Circle designed to create a Stone, Chimera creation, Homunculus creation, methods of gathering Alchemic energy to create weapons, Memory Partition and Thought Acceleration and so many other notes, theories and calculations. My power had somehow hooked me into every single version of Alchemy I'd ever heard of and more! I knew how to perform a successful Human Transmutation, how to create three different types of Homunculus, about four methods of creating a Philosopher's Stone and a frankly obscene number of methods of achieving immortality, most of which would likely earn me a one way trip to the Birdcage, if not a Kill Order on the spot. Fuck, I could probably create a Grail or a root to the Root! Screw hiding them, I was burning these as soon as I could! I had all the information in my head, but until I figured out a good way of encrypting my notes, there is no fucking way I'm leaving them laying around!

I quickly turned on my shredder and put the sheaf if notes in the tray, before covering it with my duvet to muffle the sound and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Three days later, I headed out early in the morning to find somewhere to actually do some Alchemy. It was the weekend, which made it the perfect time to do so, and I'd finally managed to figure out a way to stitch a Circle onto some gloves, just in case I needed a weapon. My first stop was the Docks. It might be infested with druggies, but it also had a lot of out of the way areas and bits of rubbish I could use. I did my best to ignore all the dodgy dealings going down in the alleyways as I made my way through the streets with my hood up and my head down. I wasn't about to try anything without some serious firepower and I really didn't fancy getting into a tussle with any Capes before I'd had chance to make some real weapons.

Fortunately, my choice of a ragged looking hoodie, jeans and tired bag made the perfect camouflage in these parts and I was able to find a suitable location for my lab without getting jumped by anyone. My first job upon finding a good place was to use Alchemy to seal the place up tight, fixing all the leaks and making it bloody hard for anyone to get in without blowing the wall down. Or having Alchemy. With that done, I got out my supplies, which was a box of chalk and some random broken bits of crockery and forgotten nicknacks from the back of my wardrobe, and went to work.

My intention was to turn the warehouse into a lab that would allow me to perform all forms of Alchemy I had in my head. The FM style was good and would likely be my go to style since it didn't really have that many downsides, but I wasn't even close to be limited to that. I really, REALLY wanted to try my hand at making some Kakugane, if only because they were EXTREMELY handy to have in the field. Hell, I could make them into a belt or something for my family so they could gain the advantage of the enhanced regeneration provided simply by holding one. Plus, a Buso Renkin would be useful no matter what, even if they could be a tad deadly.

Before I could create one though, I needed a proper lab. To that end, I gathered metal, wood and the large number of broken bottles that littered the floor and set to work. I transmuted a large number of workbenches and plenty of lab equipment, including glasswork, and a few items that no one but an Alchemist would be able to recognize. It took me hours to finish, but by lunchtime I was happy with my setup. With that done, I set to work on the long process of gathering and focusing Alchemical energy into a piece of lead that would give rise to the first of my Kakugane (or Nuclei to use the western term. I prefered Kakugane though). The process would take a while to be completed, but that was fine. I needed some time to put together some of my other bits of equipment.

Most notably was the gloves I had in mind. Composed of Alchemically created Ignition cloth, you can probably guess what they did. Yep, I'd replicated Mustangs gloves. I also created some special Alchemical cloth with which to construct my costume, although that would have to wait. My powers came with a huge number of options, but I wasn't confident I could actually pull of making a costume with them. Instead, I intended to try and approach Parian to see if she'd help, although as it turned out, I didn't need to worry.

I also discovered that my powers might be even more bullshit than I previously thought. Why? Well, after accidentally creating an Alchemy bench, I somehow managed to distill a blood red fluid from a mixture of my sandwich and a few mushrooms I found growing in the corner of the warehouse that I'm pretty sure would be able to heal just about anything short of losing a limb. Oh, and the Alchemy Bench I made? Yeah, it was the one from Skyrim. What the actual fuck.

The sound of a kettle boiling over drew my attention away from the impossible red liquid that was sitting innocently on my workbench and to the bubbling cauldrons that contained the first of my Kakugane. I headed over, pulling on some thick gloves as I did, before grabbing a pair of tongues and reaching into the cauldron. There was a loud hiss and a billow of steam as I pulled out the lump of lead that had changed from a simple lump of dark gray metal to a hexagonal medallion made of what looked like polished steel with an Amalgam symbol stamped on one side. It didn't have any numbers, but I'd probably have to add them.

I took the Alchemical weapon over to my bench and dunked it in the pot of water on the side to cool it off. After waiting for the resulting cloud of steam to clear, I pulled it out and carefully examined it for any flaws. After finding none, I stripped off my gloves and picked up my creation. Despite being made of metal and having just been dumped in ice water, it was warm and seemed to pulse faintly in time with my heart beats. I could already feel its powers working, causing the cuts and burns I'd picked up over the course of the day setting my stuff up to tingle as my bodies healing was drastically sped up. I took a deep breath. There was one more test to do to make sure everything was perfect. I tightened my grip on the Kakugane, steeled my heart and reached for my fighting spirit.

"Buso Renkin!"

The Kakugane opened and light poured out, wrapping around me as it transformed into...silver material? I blinked as my Buso Renkin finished forming and stared down at my hands, which were now covered in a pair of dark blue gloves with a white Amalgam symbol on the back.

"Em, did that just happen?" I said out loud.

I stepped across the room to the mirror I'd transmuted earlier for when I actually made my costume and stared at my new outfit. It consisted of an overcoat and military cap made of silver fabric with blue linings, buttons and the peak of the hat, dark blue gloves and black trousers and boots. The coat had a very high collar, enough that it completely hid the lower part of my face, while my cap served to hide my hair and eyes from view. I gaped at the image in the mirror, before I snatched up a nearby chunk of metal and stabbed it into my arm. Well, I tried to at least. The metal just bounced off a layer of silver hexagons that appeared on the surface of my coat at the point of impact.

"Silver Skin...my Buso Renkin is Silver Skin," I said weakly as I watched the hexagons fade from view, "Well...this will make things easier."

Mainly because the stupid thing was pretty much invulnerable. Seriously, with this thing on, I could probably qualify for a high level Brute based soul on durability. Its capable of tanking a blast from a house sized napalm bomb without a scratch, was completely resistant to ABC weaponry and could operate as a spacesuit. Fuck, with it on I could probably tank a hit from Alexandria and not be hurt and it regenerated so damn quick if it was broken that it put Glory Girls force field to shame! Plus, it doubled as a rocking costume. Sure it didn't have any defensive abilities (unless you counted turning into an indestructible prison), but I had other skills to serve that role.

"Hmm, this might actually bump up my timeline," I mused as I adjusted my hat.

I had intended to hold off a bit so I could get my costume just right, but now, with Silver Skin, I literally could not do better. Sure, my weapons needed more work and some testing, but I could fight pretty well and I was strong. Not as strong as my Dad and I was definitely no Brute, but I could take on any gangbangers who I encountered. Plus, I'm pretty sure Silver Skin did actually give a boost to strength considering some of the stuff Bravo pulled off. I'd need to test that at some point, but for now I'd just have to make sure I don't break anyone to badly. I grinned as I cracked my knuckles. This was gonna be fun!

And with that I'm done. So, what do you think of this utterly broken power? Technically, Alex is a Tinker, but you can bet that no one will believe him considering what he can pull off with a bit of chalk. Thats actually why I gave him Silver Skin. Its lack of direct offensive abilities helps balance him out a little. Plus its fucking cool.

In keeping with the Powered family naming theme, our heroes name is Alexander.

Incidentally, I'm not exaggerating when it comes to the defensive powers of Silver Skin. At all. While wearing it, he might as well be a high level Brute in terms of sheer defensive power. Hell, I'm pretty sure it could even defend him from the Siberian and most Masters. It worked against Victors life drain after all.

I based Alex's Silver Skin on the Captains outfit from Hellsing, albeit changed to match the colours of the Buso Renkin. As cool as the original one was, I just like the military look.

I also plan for a few other characters to get their hands on Kakugane through various means and not just the good guys either. Incidentally, I wonder what would happen if a Victor went up against Scion...I imagine that it wouldn't end well for whatever was nearby.

As far as Alex's power is concerned, if its called Alchemy, he can use it. Whether its from FMA, Type MOON, Skyrim or Buso Renkin, he can use it to its full potential. However, he doesn't get any shortcuts, so he won't be making any Philosophers Stones any time soon and hes limited by the rules of each skillset.

And with that I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!