She pressed a button and Victoria watched the injector gun fill it's injection reservoir to the brim before a bead of dark, rust-coloured liquid formed on the injector tip, "Okay, ready?"
Hebert sighed, "As I'll ever be. Is Amy going to okay leaving on her own?"
Ida nodded, "I pointed out the fast exit when we were coming in, she'll be fine." She glanced back at the door, "I have some drones following her just in case. But that's all the more reason to clear out our territory of hostile Tinkerlife and anyone else." Walking over to Hebert, Victoria watched as Ida giggled, "Why not strike a pose before I inject you?"
Hebert sighed before putting a rather sloppy double-bicep pose, "I feel stupid." Ida giggled before placing the injector gun to Hebert's arm, "Ah! Shit that's freezing, did you put it in the freezer?"
Ida shrugged, and pulled the trigger.
Victoria jumped at the sudden gasp of pleasure as Ida stepped backwards and started watching as Hebert rubbed her arm, "Oh, I'm definitely feeling it now. Uuuurggh, oh yeah..." Victoria was in a perfect position to grab the small monocular she kept for when she wanted to boy-watch under the pretence of looking for crime and she quickly focused on Hebert's arm.
"Keep the pose Taylor!" Ida yelled and Victoria watched as Taylor raised her arms and...
"Holy shit..." Victoria whispered as she watched veins begin to visibly pulse as muscles began swell under the girl's skin, "What the hell is-"
The muscles suddenly bulged violently outwards, staggering Hebert as she moaned in a mixture of agony and pleasure, "Ooh shit, any chance you could do something about the pain next time?"
Ida shrugged, "Sorry, no can do. It's for your safety and sanity."
Hebert didn't reply as she screamed, doubling over as muscles began to bulge on her shoulder as the serum flowed through her bloodstream.
And high above, watching the transformation as skin split apart to reveal pulsing muscle, bones cracked and lengthened, and to Victoria's blush the girl's breasts started to expand.
'That Ida girl, Noriko, said she didn't know what would happen if it was injected into a Brute. Hebert is probably not a Brute, and from her comment is likely a Master. If that...stuff, can give a person a Brute rating while-'
She watched as skin split open and an extra pair of arms flailed and flexed as blood pumped into rapidly expanding muscle, a tail quickly wiggling loose to whip and slash at the air as Hebert's face stretched and took on a vaguely reptilian cast.
'Woah. If I wasn't watching, I wouldn't have recognised her. If Amy knew...'
If Amy knew, would she still want to take part in this? Or would she jump at the chance to do something without being seen as Panacea?
And if Amy got involved...if Amy got involved, would there be space for another?
Victoria watched as large bulges on Hebert's back swelled further until the skin split open to reveal large, fleshy membranes that pulsed gently before bumps began to move along the surface and with only a few twitches to show Hebert's reaction, large insects began to crawl out, shaking clear slime off their wings before taking to the air.
It was the most bizarre, grossest thing she had ever seen as Hebert stood up from where she had fallen on her hands and knees during the transformation and roared, her expression one of pleasure as Ida stepped forward with a pair of devices.
"God damn, I hate to admit it, but that's a fucking rush." Hebert gushed in a rough, growling purr as she flexed her four arms and watched muscle break through skin.
Victoria on the other hand, was already slinking out with a blush on her cheeks and feeling damp.
'I need to get out of here before I get caught anyway.'
As she flew off to head home, she couldn't get the look of pleasure and contented peace out of her mind.
* * *
Chapter 6: Dragon's Gateway Battle
"Washington Gateway Forward Air Control to inbound transport. Please state your name, ID-code and intent."
"Washington FAC, this is Dragon, Ident-Code: Sierra-Bravo-Dog-Niner-Two-Five, Guild representative. I am inbound with several of my suits to provide security for the prisoner transfer from Earth-Zayin."
"Understood. Transmit authorisation and flight plans."
"Transmitting now." As the upload began, Dragon's digital avatar leaned back in her virtual seat and smiled gently while her suits began shifting in their launch cradles in preparation for the air-drop in front of the portal.
Intimidation was a necessary component to the transfers from Earth-Zayin since rumours and stories about the Brockton Bay Altered District and Neo-Mombasa had reached Earth-Zayin's population of superhumans easily; stories and rumours of a new and easy life made criminals and terrorists confident, aggressive.
"Dragon, this is Washington FAC. Authorisation is clean. Drop your suits when ready."
Dragon's avatar smiled as her suits growled out a pleased electronic noise, "Initiating drop now. I can see the first prisoners coming through." With a thought the launch cradles shifted as doors opened along the sides of the large dropship she was piloting. Already her directional microphones were picking up the sounds of Altered, mostly criminals, starting to flaunt their abilities and powers despite standing on front of an array of Tinker and Hypertech weaponry.
Dragon focused on one individual; a large, muscular Asian teen with a close-cropped haircut was getting in the face of the State Department official responsible for the transfer, "...don't have the fucking balls to take me on! I'm a member of the Hundred Red Demons, and we're going to rule whatever little shit-hole you send us, because you can't match this!"
He raised his arm, the limb transforming into a large bladed claw, and Dragon tittered. Hookwolf's transformation was a more intimidating sight but it was time for her to step in. With a mental push the launch cradles fired; all eyes looked up at her dropship as six of her iconic warsuits dropped out of the sky.
First to land was her humanoid Roland suit: an armoured draconic knight designed for general-purpose duties, famous for when she used it to kill Saint and his crew after the Dalet Para-AI known as Eris liberated her.
Flaring its wing-jets and crossing its arms as the suit gently landed behind the State Department official, eight-feet of hyperalloys and super-conductive electro-active nano-polymer muscles stared down at the teenager and his bladed claw-arm. He sneered, clearly unimpressed.
His expression changed when the other five landed.
Second to land with a roaring of jets was Grendel, her riot-suppression suit. Studded with tear-gas launchers, rubber bullet guns and containment foam sprayers, the thick squat shape of Grendel balefully glared at the teen before bellowing in challenge.
Then came the serpentine Hydra, landing with the assistance of jump-jets in it's legs as it's six heads menaced the teen with the multi-purpose cannons in its many maws.
Landing next were her twin battlesuits, the Geminis, built in the classical european dragon style. Unlike the first three these were pure anti-Brute suits, designed with heavy armour and powerful short-range weapons designed to punch through invulnerable skin and cause lasting damage to regenerators.
But what took away the breaths of the civilians and criminals beings forced through the portal was the landing of Dragon's sixth armour: Balaur.
The massive suit, one that required it's own specialised launch cradle and built specifically to face down Apex-package parahumans, roared in challenge as it rose to it's full eighteen-foot height and displayed it's massive armoured form in a clear intimidation measure as Dragon activated infrasonic systems designed to instigate fear and intimidation.
The State Department official nodded to Dragon's Roland suit, "Thank you for arriving so promptly Dragon." He turned to the teenage, "And as you can see Mister Mori, we here in the United States and Earth-Bet don't give a damn for your former life. You are our world, and you will live by our rules. And if you don't?"
Dragon directed the Roland to lash out with a punch that knocked the teen off his feet and the rep nodded, "Thank you for making my point Dragon. This goes for the rest of you!" He shouted at the growing crowd, "Don't think that just because Parahumans are less numerous than Altered that you can just flout our rules and laws. Our costumed heroes are more than capable of enacting lethal force and many have the capability to bring any of you down if you act up."
He pointed at a waiting convoy of massive armoured transport trucks, along with several huge aircraft, "You will be divided equally amongst the transports heading for Neo-Mombasa and Brockton Bay. You will obey the orders of the transfer staff and will you not resist. Lethal force is now in effect until you are all at your intended destinations. Now please approach the processing gates."
In the silence it was a family that approached the processing gates first, Dragon's sensors ascertaining that only the children were Altered as the parents were human. She sent a priority request to keep them together before turning her sensor equipment on the dropship outwards to keep an eye out for any threats.
It wasn't without precedent. Apex would often grab some Altered who matched their preferred profile and many criminal groups knew the value of the Altered as well. Until every prisoner was on board the aircraft heading to Africa or on the trucks heading to Brockton Bay, there was still the danger of an attack.
A steady trickle of people, mostly civilians, began to head towards the gates after the family was cleared and placed on one of the Brockton Bay trucks. Soon, the actual criminals and terrorists realised that there was no point in standing around and began heading towards the gates as well.
Dragon's suits began spreading out to stop anyone from trying to run for it, but the AI's attention was also being taken up by the necessary busywork of running the Guild while Narwhal was on maternity leave, along with keeping an eye on several former Birdcage prisoners that had been granted parole.
One of particular had her attention. The woman known as the Black Sword had remained in Brockton Bay for some time now, and there was a good chance she was putting down roots. Her UAV passed over the Brockton Bay Altered District and saw that the additional construction was well and truly under way now.
Thank goodness for hypertech, Tinkers and an active local economy based on what the world called 'Cape Tourism' where people came to the city to see and perhaps be involved in a violent but often carefully planned and staged show by both heroes and villains.
Just about every major criminal group saw the profit in this. Tourists were more likely to pay to simply have a picture taken with the likes of drug dealers, rapists and murderers simply because they were famous or engaged in the charade that consumed Brockton Bay. Dragon knew that in Brockton Bay alone the ABB and E88 practically sold their own merchandise alongside Protectorate, Altered, and even the local Apex cell got in on the action.
At the reminder of the chaotically-divided parahuman supremacist/mercenary group, Dragon tuned Balaur's sensors outwards and began tapping the local Air Force radar networks, an orbiting satellite, and a nearby pair of AWAC-H's for additional quality.
Nothing. There was no unusual air or ground traffic around the Washington Gateway, not even a trace of the rare few capes in Apex or other groups interested in Altered who could enter and exit space at will. Usually...usually there was at least twenty to seventy spies from various cape groups across the country and from overseas.
So why was there—
The Roland's head snapped up as Dragon shouted, "Incoming!" Soldiers grabbed their weapons as the other suits scrambled out of the way as a black orb slammed down into the concrete, sending a plume of crushed debris and dust into the air as Dragon accessed the Emergency Response Channel, "This is Dragon to all US military forces in the area! Code Black! I repeat, Code Black! We have a Crawler on the gateway!"
"Roger that, we're scrambling all available air and ground assets now. Continue the prisoner transfer. That is your top priority."
"Roger that, will continue the transfer!" Dragon turned to several soldiers, "Get them through the gates! Now!"
They quickly saluted and ran off to begin forcing the criminals to cooperate while the civilians were already running towards the gates, which were now being thrown open as Dragon's suits began opening fire alongside the defensive guns at the black sphere.
A black sphere that was rapidly unfurling into a giant, eighty-foot-long robot centipede that ignored the storm of bullets, railgun slugs, lasers, plasma and ion beams to rear up on it's rear legs to reveal huge blades along with a mass of squirming tentacles as the machine glared at the crowds of Altered who were rushing towards the gates, before unleashing an electronic roar.
Seconds later, Balaur rammed into it, and the battle was on as Roland raised an arm to reveal a large energy cannon while the free hand yanked a sword from a scabbard.
Dragon smiled at the memory of taking Saint's own sword and cutting him open with it. For all that she was grateful for the work of her father, Andrew Richter, he had been a terrible judge of character when he hired Pellick.
But that was the past, as she directed Hydra to unload a stream of powerful energy fields to destabilise the armour as the Gemini suits unloaded their weaponry into the robotic centipede as the Balaur wrestled with it. A cannon shot rang out and Balaur jerked to the side as a hyper-allow sabot smashed into the centipede's head.
Dragon smiled fiercely in her virtual space as the gunship shifted into position and opened ports to reveal banks of guns that swivelled to lock onto the centipede before Dragon shouted through Roland, "Get clear!"
Soldiers broke away as Balaur released the centipede just in time for a barrage of cannon-fire to hammer the machine but it managed to lash out with one of it's blades, cutting into the leg of Grendel, and wrap itself around the armour before squeezing. Grendel roared but the enemy machine was too powerful and in a spray of coolant and other liquids the suit was crushed beyond recognition.
It proved a costly mistake as with a scream of engines a flight of F-29's came in low and fired their missiles, knocking the machine backwards just in time for the tanks to roll in.
Dragon charged the Balaur in again, the giant draconic warsuit opening it's mouth to issue a bellowing roar, and the centipede lashed out to slash across the left side of the suit's head before Balaur slammed it's massive bulk into the centipede and rolled across the concrete.
