Chapter 23

A few weeks later we had just released the evening class, and Lucy and I were cuddled together on the couch when there was a knock on the door. She grabbed the remote and changed the TV to the front camera, then smiled. After giving me a kiss she went to open the door and Di and Fang came in.

The girls hugged, then Lucy got onto her kneed and hugged Fang also. I had stood by them and hugged Di, then scratched the top of Fang’s head as Lucy got a bone we had saved out of the fridge, and a glass of wine for Di.

We exchanged a few pleasantries, and she told me that the next month she was taking another trip out of town for a few months. I smiled and nodded, and Lucy softly said she would miss her.

Di chuckled, and said she was not going anywhere. “You see, this is my second pregnancy now, so I know what to expect. I’m about to enter my third trimester, and at that point I can’t be Dire Wolf anymore. Each time I change the baby will shift position, and last time she moved to a position that was painful when I changed back. So no more changing until the time of the birth.”

Thankfully this was already planned, and I told her I would take her territory for the next six months or so. I then asked her about what we had talked about years before, and she laughed. “Oh no, this time it is Dire Wolf that is having the baby. The doctors again tried to urge me to do it as Dianne, but I refuse. I needed an episiotomy last time, morphine, and it hurt like hell. But I know that as Dire, none of that will be needed. In this form I can ignore what little pain I feel, these hips were made to push out kids, and even if there is a little tearing within a few hours I will heal, no stitches needed. No, I already told Control Medical that this time I am doing it, and they have no say in the matter.”

I raised my glass to her and grinned, and said that was just how it had to be sometimes. “So, is that what brought you here?”

“Oh no, but you need to contact us in the next week or so to be retested. Both Chris and Alicia showed some amazing new abilities as you know, and we want to see if we can learn some new ones from you also.”

I had already talked to Bohica about that, and I said I would make the time in the next two weeks to do them. “So how is the testing going other than that?”

“Well, we now have six more Paladins in our district. But most will not be doing street duties. But one has accepted a position with Control Security.”

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Six of them, but none will take the street?”

“Well, three are under the age of 18. Of the others, one is a Doctor, so is exempt from anything other than disaster recovery at their request. Another is a low level speedster, but simply does not want to do street duty. She is wealthy on her own, so she does not need the money. And the last, his power is too deadly for street use.”

I jerked, and Lucy looked puzzled. “Wait, too deadly? Is that possible? How deadly are they?”

“Well, this case is hardly unique. Actually, quite a few fall into that category. Most pyros, for example. We keep them in the Paladin Reserve, and do pay them a partial stipend each month. But look at the kinds of things Clint and I stop, or Bohica. We can use our strength carefully, to just subdue them. But what can a pyro do but burn them to a crisp? Now we have some that have fine control of their powers, we do use them on patrol. Firebolt can send out balls of fire ranging from a birthday candle to a large fireball, up to twenty meters away. So he can just send those out at somebody, and most get the hint and give up. But these others, many can do nothing beyond ‘full power – burn to a crisp’. Good if facing a Rogue, but for most crimes it would be excessive force.”

“Wow, I never thought of it like that before. Is that what is up with the new guy?”

“Oh no, I will send you his profile tomorrow, Clint. We want you to work with him, see if he can find another way to use his abilities.” She finished her glass and held it out to Lucy, and she refilled our glasses before Di continued.

“Clint, his Paladin name is ‘Cobra’. And, well, he spits venom. It was known early on, but deemed not a Paladin level ability. But since then, he has trained himself. He can now spit it up to thirty meters. Hit somebody in the eyes or mucus membranes, and it is burning and blinding I am told. Not fatal we don’t think, unless it is left on them for a long period of time or gets in the bloodstream. Originally, he could only spit it a few feet, but now his distance and power are impressive. So he is a Paladin, and will be working Control Security. We figure he can work mostly in Rogue Control, and on the bag team.”

I nodded, as that was indeed a good use. The bag team came in after we caught a Rogue, to transport them to a secure holding facility. And with an ability like that, it might help in case one tries to get loose. Even a Rogue with invulnerability and super strength would hesitate if they realized one of the guards could spit venom into their face.

“So are there many others like that?” Lucy asked.

“Oh, maybe five percent of Paladins fall into that category. Queen Kong is another, which is why she only responds to a few events a year. Another is Mole Man. He has this ability to tunnel through the ground as fast as a man can jog. But the problem there, how often is that really useful? It is a strong power without a doubt, but if he was used often he would destroy the underground infrastructure of a city. But he is how we are going to use Cobra. He lives in Oregon, and works for Control doing things like laying out the tunnels between safe houses. He does the initial survey, and digs a pilot tunnel if there is not one we can use already in place.”

“Then there are the secret Paladins” I explained. “We talked about those before, ones with powers that are unique, so work exclusively for Control and never on the street.”

“Oh, we got a new one of those also, Clint. But their case is unique, as they are already a Paladin. You see, we have confirmed that a new mutation is that they can influence other mutants. Not mind control, but other mutants are more inclined to go along with them. And we are also looking for the reverse and alternates of that in case they exist. Say somebody is the reverse, and mutants want to reject anything they suggest. Or if their ability only affects non-mutants.”

“Wait, so somebody can influence a mutant against their will? Di, that’s absolutely frightening.”

“Relax, Clint. Yes, it is strong, but not that strong. It is more, say if you were 60-40 against doing something. If they pitched it to you, you might suddenly decide it was really a good idea and go along with it. Say at a stakeout you were asked to hide in the water, I know you hate getting wet. They might ask you, and you would decide after that it really was not that bad. But say if they asked you to leave Lucy, you would of course be automatically against that and it would have no effect. It just makes us more agreeable so long as it is not completely objectionable.”

“OK, so like a high charisma in a game. They could talk me into something, but if it is something I would never do it would have no effect on me.”

“Exactly, and it only works on other mutants. Which for a street Paladin like ourselves you can see it could come in handy. Say in talking down somebody that by inclination is not bad, but frightened or out of control.”

“Like Ice Girl, right?”

“Yes, exactly like Stacy! She was just frightened, but is a good kid. And no, it is not me with that power. I was just able to get her to calm down by talking with her, and Fang here helped because he is a good doggie.” I reached out and scratched behind his ears as Di explained to Lucy who Stacy was.

“Oh, and the new training area will be up in a week or so. I still want to hold the first session of the month for the kids there. Adults are also welcome, maybe we can even get some mentorships going between them. The back wall is already up, five feet thick of reinforced concrete. The classroom is being built now, it will be ready by the first of the month.”

“Oh, that’s awesome! Trust me, Bo and Alicia will be there each time.”

I nodded, then realized something. “Di, how about dinner this weekend, the seven of us. You and Doug, as well as Bo, Alicia, and Gloria. In fact, ask Dr. Tran to come along also. This is something I am not sure if any of you have thought about or not.”

She looked at me strangely, and I saw Fang perk his head up too. “Clint, you sound so serious. What brought this on?”

“Well, the relationship between Bo and Alicia is common knowledge. But not that she is a Paladin. I have only trained with her as Alicia, I have yet to actually meet Gabor. But how is that going to be handled? If Gabor gets linked to Bohica, that means that it he will get linked to Alicia also.

“Shit! I can’t believe I never thought of that. OK, let me think for a bit.” She closed her eyes for about a minute, and I noticed that she closed her eyes the entire time, and Fang laid his head in her lap as she did so. The entire time, she gently stroked his head.

“OK, I agree. And yes, Dr. Tran should come also. But I think I have a solution. Bohica will not be her mentor as they wanted, I will be her mentor. Physically I am not up to his level, but it might be a good solution as I have no strong connection to them. Or you can be her mentor, same thing.”

I nodded, and said we could all hash that out and let Alicia decide. “But for training, it might be best if you arrive with Gabor. But she should start training with the other mutants and future Paladins now, so we can get her ready if she wants street duty.”

“Oh, trust me there, she does. That girl idolizes Bo, and wants to be just like him when she grows up. But her mutations are not as strong, just a bit stronger than the Punisher was. Limited invulnerability, more than Punisher but not to the level of Bohica. And much stronger in strength. The Punisher broke femurs, we think Gabor could shatter them. Plus others, like that she can swim like a fish.”

“Are you sure that’s a mutation?” Lucy asked, and Di nodded.

“Oh, yes. You see, Alicia can’t swim at all. But as Gabor, he can swim like you would not believe. Oh, we have discovered dozens of weird mutations in the last month. Like over half of Mutants can determine north with ease. Or that some can walk through a completely dark room and avoid obstacles.”

“What, like a bat, they have SONAR?”

“Oh no, Clint. They are calling it ‘electroreception’, or ‘cat whisker sensing’. They do not actually see the object, are not even aware it is really there. But they do sense it, and will move to avoid it if it is in their way. Tell me, are you exceptionally quiet if you need to be?”

I thought about that, and nodded. “But that might also be my training from when I was in the Army. I was like most city kids when I joined, but I eventually got quite adept at moving through the woods without a sound. So on me it might just be my training. I rarely use it though, as I rarely work in the woods anymore, I work the city streets.”

“Well, we will be testing you for it anyways. And a lot of others. One of those we are talking about now is how some invulnerabilities will factor in. We have discovered a handful with immunity to acid, and others with an immunity to alkali. And some are immune to both. One they are discussing for Paladin Reserve, as she has no real strong mutations. But she is completely invulnerable to both. She can stick her hand into a vat of sulfuric acid and feel nothing. We are thinking she could be useful in disaster recovery, say in the event of a chemical spill.”

“Wait, test her against people like Cobra. A lot of poisons are simply strong acids or alkali. She might be immune to them also.”

She nodded, and after closing her eyes a second said she would bring that up at the next meeting. “However, that will not always be the case. Cobra for example has an actual neurotoxin. We know his venom is also acidic, but there are neurotoxins in it also so she would not be immune to that. Good idea, we will check for others.”

And when I went to the Control facility on the Island the next week. They had taken over one of the gyms, and the guy running the test was Dr. Singer. He walked me into the changing room where I got into a huge green jumpsuit. I laughed as I put it on, and asked if there was a reason for that.

“Oh, not for people like you, but for the Greater Chameleons it can be. We have some that assume massive sizes, and if a test was to provoke a change they would burst regular clothing. This is just a precaution against that happening. You are already a Chameleon, and we have never discovered a regular Chameleon changing to another form yet. But we never know, it could happen.”

I nodded, and he then walked me through the tests. Well, some of the results were interesting. Acid and alkali did affect me, but not fully. A spot on my arm did lose hair under the acid, but my skin was only mildly irritated. But one thing that surprised me was my immunity to heat and cold. I passed the sweatbox and freezer test just fine, but also to my surprise dry ice had no affect against my naked skin, nor did hot metal, so long as it was under 400 degrees.

“I thought that was just because of my thick hide” I said, as Dr. Singer was writing up the notes.

“Nope, mutation. That is why we test at the ear lobe and webbing between your fingers. That is some of the thinnest and most sensitive skin, so we know it is not just callus or anything like that. That might be what saved you from the Roaster that time. Your hair I suspect is just normal hair, and it burned off. But your mutation includes a limited heat invulnerability, so you simply shrugged off maybe two thirds of his heat. The same is likely true if you faced against a cryo. A strong one would get through, but not the full impact.”

“Well, as my battle suits are now made of Kevlar and nomex, that will be less of a problem in the future. It took me weeks to fully grow my hair out after that.”

He laughed, and we moved to the pools next. And sure enough, neither the ice bath or sauna affected me, but as I already knew swimming was not easy. We talked about that during lunch, and Dr. Singer agreed that it was likely what I had thought. I was simply so big, that like a bear or horse I could swim, but not very fast or efficiently.

But I was naturally positively buoyant, so it was a lot of work to become submerged. That surprised me, and Dr. Singer also as he said that he would have expected the opposite, seeing as I had a high muscle density and low fat density.

“New mutation” he said, as he made a note. “That has to be one, as muscle is more dense than fat, so in a normal person with your body fat ratios you would be barely buoyant with your lungs full of air, and possibly negative with all of the air expelled. But you are not, so I suspect this is a new one.”

But I discovered I did not have the “cat whisker sensing’ that Di told me about. I was made to walk across a dark room twice, and each time I was bumping into and tripping over things. So that ability was simply my own, and not a mutation.

But I was able to find north every time they spun me on a large playground carousel. I could dampen out some loud noises, but that was limited. And this time I got a much more in depth eye and hearing test.

At the end of the day we were in his office, as Dr. Singer was going over the preliminary results. “OK, you are much stronger than we ever thought. Your vision goes about twenty percent deeper into the infrared and ultraviolet than normal humans. Do colors look strange to you now?”

“Well, now that you mention it, yes. I did notice that some colors looked off, I thought it was just these eyes I got after I mutated.”

“It is, but because they cover a wider spectrum than normal humans. That we are actually finding is common, as humans actually have some of the most limited vision among mammals. And some animals can see really deep into both spectrums. Take a butterfly. They vision is so deep in the ultraviolet that what looks like a white flower to us may to them have other colors mixed in. We simply can’t see the differences.”