章 49: The Shrink

The training area on the rig was a clinical white with occasional signs of use; scuff marks on the walls, small divots on the ground, or discolored areas that seemingly weren't damaged enough to demand immediate repairs.

Me and the rest of the Wards watched as Armsmaster accessed a wall-mounted terminal and started configuring the test area, causing padded pillars to rise out of the ground, and LED targets to reveal themselves on a nearby wall. Opposite the targets, another wall descended, revealing some sort of obstacle course that was reconfiguring itself to Armsmaster's specifications.

"Is this where all our taxes go, then?" I couldn't help but remark. This was X-Men danger room-type stuff, even then I wouldn't be surprised if a holodeck was attached to this place too.

"Yeah, it's something." Vista hummed.

"The only thing taxes would have paid for is the materials, the rest was designed, created, and implemented by PRT Tinkers. And no, before you ask, they were paid the same they usually would be." Armsmaster drawls, pressing a final few buttons as he turns to face us.

"We will be in the observation deck, wait on my word to begin testing." he states, headed over to the area behind the raised window.

-----------------------

"So, any bets on his ratings?" Dennis questions as they all get comfortable in the observation deck.

"Weren't you just pissing your pants?" Missy, better known as Vista remarks.

"Language." Armsmaster chimes in from where he sat at the control terminal.

"Earlier? Yeah. But right now I'm not standing face to face with a cannibal." he raises a hand to cut off Missy's protest, "Dress it up how you want but that kid's dangerous. Whether it's a factor of his powers or his situation, he's done stuff that most of us would never think of." he shakes his head, "Just being around him makes me feel like I'm inside the lion's pen at a zoo."

"How long will it be til' he loses it and turns on us, is my question..." Triumph/Rory adds.

"All of you, I assure you we will take every precaution available to ensure nothing of the sort happens. We'll be monitoring him constantly and providing therapy that'd have Adolf Hitler reevaluating his life choices. He won't be able to go to the bathroom without us knowing about it, and he'll be fully rehabilitated before we dare allow him to represent us."

Aegis, known as Carlos crosses his arms, "Regardless, he's gonna be our new teammate. Let's judge him for what he does now instead of what he was forced to do." he looks to Dennis, "Fifty bucks he gets at least a Brute five."

The ginger grinned, "You're on, Chief."

"Loser bet, he might not be tough but he has high-brute level healing." Missy states.

Armsmaster leans towards a microphone, "Kieu, step to the padded pillar labelled one."

One of the cat-cape's feline ears twitch in response to the sudden audio stimuli. Shrugging his shoulders, he steps to the nearest pillar before glancing at the window questioningly.

"When you're ready, please strike the padded area as hard as you can."

"I'm gonna say at least three hundred kilos." Carlos said.

"Nah, way more than that. His mover rating looked tied to his strength to me." Kid Win/Chris pointed out.

"Maybe..."

The cat boy sheds his jacket and tosses it to one side of the room before rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. He cracks his knuckles and focuses on the target, waiting there momentarily.

"Hey, what's that!?" Dennis asked aloud when blue circuit-like markings began crawling down Kieu's arm down to his fist.

"Some sort of enhancement, probably." Chris speculated.

Before anyone else could get a word in Kieu suddenly flickered, his fist striking the target so quickly most of them missed it. The clap of force as the padding deformed under the weight of the punch could be heard even behind the reinforced glass of the observation deck.

The Wards looked over to the terminal and blinked as the number shot up, past 300 kilograms to a gutwrenching 1.7 tons worth of force, around 16000 joules worth of force; enough to splatter the head of a regular human with relative ease.

"God damn!" Chris exclaims.

"I'll be taking that fifty fucks, Chief." Dennis smirks victoriously.

"Yeah, yeah..."

"Kieu, approach the next text; the thin steel bar opposite you." summon a weapon and strike it."

"Summon a weapon?" Missy mutters in confusion. "Did he do that against Lung?"

"No?" Chris answered unsurely. "I don't think he would've hid it against that monster..."

"So, either he's figuring out new aspects of his powers..." Rory started, only for Dennis to continue with a beleaguered look, "Or he's growing..."

"Ain't that a scary thought..." Gallant/Dean muttered.

"Why's it always the psychos who get the best powers?" Chris groans.

A loud clang interrupts the group, prompting them to focus back on the testing area where Kieu was stepping back from the target with blue particles fading around him.

"Er, what happened?"

"His summoned knives aren't very durable." Armsmaster states as he reads through the results, "Duller than the average kitchen knife too, it seems."

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POV : Kieu

The battery of tests had started fun at first, from punching stuff to the agility course, but then devolved to answering questions on how my abilities actually functioned. Most capes had an intuitive understanding of their powers, so it wasn't disingenuous of me to simply say, "I have a well of energy inside me that I can manipulate.". This explained my Projection and Reinforcement Magecraft, along with any other abilities I 'created' in future.

After all the basic stuff was done, Armsmaster went ahead with testing my 'immunity' to powers. This involved Gallant blasting me with what I now knew to be 'mind blasts' of some sort, instead of the Tinker tech shit PHO claimed it to be.

Thankfully his ability seemed completely ineffective on me, his attempts to induce maddening joy and other emotions on me all failing, unless you counted my amusement at how he slouched at his failure.

After that was Clockblocker, who attempted to freeze me in time for a couple seconds. It didn't work, leaving him standing awkwardly with his hand on my shoulder, visibly trembling. What a pussy, and they call me the cat!

Next was Vista who trapped me in a 'Treadmill', and, surprisingly, it worked. It was an incredibly disconcerting feeling to know how helpless you are against someone so young. The solution to this problem was clear, however. Since she wasn't able to trap Oni Lee, I needed to learn how Vergil teleported soon.

Last was Triumph, who reared back and screamed an ungodly sound into my face. My enhanced senses picked up everything and immediately sent me sprawling to the ground in agony, feeling as if my brain was leaking out of my ears.

"Holy shit! I think you killed him!" Clockblocker shouted, only causing me further pain.

"Shuuuud uuuuuppp!" I slurred, feeling the urge to vomit from the intense vertigo I was experiencing.

"Just leave him, if he can heal getting incinerated he can heal his eardrums." Armsmaster assured them, not that I could make out his words in my current state. "Go, back to your break, he's got another appointment to get to."

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I rest my face in my hands as the man opposite me waits for some answer I'm not entirely sure of. An old, balding man with thick glasses and chewing on the back of a pen, barely blinking as he looks at me imploringly.

"Now, Kieu, if we're going to get anywhere you have to be honest with me. You're a very smart young man, you know why you're here, what the PRT needs from you. But, I'm more interested in what we can do for you. Is that okay?" Benny, my new therapist calmly inquired.

...

My lack of response doesn't deter the man, who continues staring at me like I'm the most fascinating piece of bullshit art he's ever seen. Sighing, tired from the day of stress, tests, and being watched constantly, I look to him, "Go on then, ask your questions..."

The sides of his lips turn slightly upwards with a suppressed smile which was all but clear in his eyes, "Well, to start, how was your day?"

"My day...?"

"Yes, your day."

"Why? Aren't you here to dig out my secrets and mail them to your masters?"

"While I am here to evaluate your mental health, my main purpose is simple. I'm here to talk, offer alternate points of view, see where you can make adjustments in your life, and most importantly... Listen."

I blink at him.

"We can start wherever you like, if you want to talk about your day, we can, if you want to talk about something you saw in the news, we can. If you've had a bad day and you'd rather keep it to yourself, that's also okay."

"The hourly paycheck doesn't hurt, I'm sure." I drawl.

He chuckles, "You'd be right in that. Of course, the less open you are with me, the less I can say to my 'masters' as you put it. Which means harsher observation, restrictions, and severely less freedom. So, how was your day, Kieu?"

I sigh once more, "So-so, punching stuff is fun but having your eardrums exploded less so."

"Oh?" he hums, making a note.

"Yeah..." I trail off, not offering anything else on the matter.

"Are you usually so, apathetic about pain and injury? If I was subjected to such a thing I'd be in the corner crying." Benny said.

"It used to affect me but-, not anymore. I've had more injuries than I can count, it hurts for a bit, but fades quickly. After that you learn to forget, unless it's something truly memorable."

"Something memorable compared to everything else? I can scarcely imagine." he intones, ear turned to me attentively.

"Like, getting burned alive by Lung... Or having your leg hacked off." I make a chopping motion at my leg, the one which Skidmark had miraculously removed in the past.

"Mmm." he hums, somehow sensing my wish to change the subject, "What about the Wards? Any thoughts on your to-be teammates?"

I tilt my head in thought, a lone feline ear twitching despite myself. "Vista's the only one not visibly scared of me. Other than Browbeat who I can't make heads or tails of, guy's like a brick wall, socially and physically. Aegis tried to put on a front but, I could tell he wasn't as welcoming as he presented."

"How so?"

"The small things, his steps towards me were shorter than those away, his posture remained guarded, and his hands... He had to resist balling them into fists." I explained with clinical observation.

"Are you this attentive every time you meet someone?" Benny questioned.

I nod, "Call it part of my powers. I can hear the breaths people around me take and how shallow they are, how light their steps are, minute twitches in their facial expressions, the focus of their eyes..."

"You have no idea how annoying it is to find everyone you meet staring at..." I trail off. Even enemy capes stared at my ears, these disgusting abnormalities I'd been cursed with.

"And me? What have you gleaned from our encounter thus far?" Benny's voice cuts off my dour thoughts.

"You? Hm." I ponder, "You've trained your practice well, your posture is open, you're intentionally expressive, and all of your movements thus far have been slow, to ease me into your presence... But I can still tell you're not as comfortable around me as you'd like me to think." I state.

"Oh? Why would you say that?" he asks, not a twitch in his face.

"Because you've remained in that same 'relaxed' posture since I arrived. A normal person shifts occasionally, moving the point where they place their weight to stay comfortable. You? You haven't budged from that 'I'm your friend and just want to listen, crossed leg' bull." I eye him with suspicion. "I'd honestly be more relaxed if you weren't trying too hard. I'm scary, I've hurt a lot of people, and you're right to fear me."

Benny keeps his eyes locked on my cat-like ones, before eventually looking down at his watch and humming. "I'll take your criticism for our next session Kieu. Unless you'd rather I hand the job over to someone else? But know while you are correct in your assumption, my wariness is more a factor of instinct than fear, or prejudice. I am well aware with what you are capable of, yet I am still here."

"Continue if you want, it's not like I'll magically find a therapist willing to tell the PRT to shove off." I stand and move for the door, "Great talk, but I don't think you'll find anything from digging. I'm not crazy." with that I exit and head to my room with my escort of a dozen or so PRT guards.