{Host, Peter has accepted}
{??? is now a named fragment}
{Fable Fusion Protocol_Phase 3 initiated}
{Integration Reset_New Parameters Accepted}
{Integration 32%}
{New Parameters Added}
{Slot Class Added}
{Slot Growth Added}
{Slot Tier Added}
{Slot Trait Added}
{All Abilities Revaluated_ Parameters Set}
{Fragment Identity Established
Fragment Tire: Beyonder_Zenith+
Fragment Type: Progenitor
Fragment Class: Origin}
{Fable Fusion Protocol_Phase 3 Initiation Complete}
...
"Huff...Huff...Huff...Huff"
Peter was lying on his back in the front yard of his house. He just finished a ten-kilometre run around the block, after which he did a hundred sit-ups, a hundred push-ups, and a hundred squats, and by God, it hurt like hell.
Right now, it even hurts to breathe
His muscles burned, his bones ached, and he was sweating from everywhere and exhausted to the bone.
Not to mention the pain in his stomach and lungs and the increasing feeling he had in his stomach to just hurl out the contents of his stomach.
But this was all natural.
He couldn't explain it, like a compulsion that was beyond his control, he just had to do this.
It also helped him gather his thoughts and think about the recent developments in his now fucked up life.
The development had something to do with his new 'abilities'.
That's right, he had powers now.
He woke with a weird feeling this morning, a recurring thought that something was wrong with him at that moment.
It took him a while to get used to it, the fact that he now had abilities and that, for some reason, he just naturally knew what they were and how to use them.
He was alive because he was immortal now. He had something that was bound to him, an entity that would never let him die.
Said entity also may have warped his thoughts in his messed-up state weeks ago. But now there was no need for that anymore since it got what it wanted, and Peter was aware of it
Ajin…
That is what it was called. He theorized that his newfound knowledge of how these abilities worked or something was just a side-effect of having this ability. Maybe this was just how those 'Mutant' abilities functioned; that's probably how they knew what they could do when they developed their powers.
He knew that there were people out there who could do fantastical things, abilities that made them akin to Gods rather than humans. They were called mutants.
Out of Most super-powered groups, among the strange and the natural, they were by far the most popular and most likely answer to where his powers came from.
The government had it out for them, calling them abominations and a curse on humankind.
The media didn't help, and the Mutants' increasing occurrence made things worse for them as their abilities tend to get dangerous and out of control when they first activate it.
They differed from Mata-Humans as they got their abilities through natural means, meaning they are humans who developed their abilities naturally and always had the capacity to develop these abilities since birth, while Meta-humans got their powers through various other superficial, accidental, or supernatural means.
There were rumours going around the internet, videos, blogs, and websites about a superhero team of mutants called the X-Men or something that helped mutants everywhere and took care of mutant villains.
He read up on them when there were public debates about whether Spider-Woman was one of them, a Mutant, or a Meta-Human.
To sum it up, his lizard serum made him a Meta-human, but his current abilities made him a Mutant, or something greater, at least that was the feeling he had about it, like he was just a level above mutants.
He also credited his unnaturally calm, logical, and accepting state to his abilities.
Turns out his emotions were dampened, it was a trait of sorts of one of his abilities, which explained his lack of reaction to his current situation.
This helped keep him in a calm and rational state, this way he could properly think about things.
It was also a double-edged sword, since if his emotional and mental state went past a certain threshold, he'd be prone to violent, brash, and suicidal tendencies. Especially if he ever got into a fight against something or someone stronger than him, He knew that he would challenge whatever it was until he was left standing.
That was now a part of his nature. He had this hunger for battle, this urge to fight, to grow stronger and experience battle with his fists; his body, his very being. So he could put everything back to how it was. Or something along that line of thought.
He got excited just thinking about it.
Peter figured that he would eventually run across a villain or something like that. The world was changing, and there were a ton of them out there, more popping up every other day.
He knew he could take on some things. He wasn't sure how powerful villains or heroes were, but he was rather confident in his abilities. He also had the power to cancel out supernatural phenomena.
How effective it was depended entirely on the nature of what he was cancelling out. He erased supernatural phenomena to a degree. He would have to use it to figure out how it worked, since just knowing how it worked can only do so much for him.
He realized that he could get stronger with enough effort. He wasn't sure how strong he would get yet. A part of him was dying to find out.
He understood what he needed to do going forward.
He had hours to ponder it. He had come up with a better plan since his mind was clearer than ever, without his Ajin twisting his thoughts.
What he wanted to do before was stupid. He realized that with his new powers, he could just walk into wherever Poindexter was and kill him, kill all of them.
No one could stop him. He was immortal after all, but then he would be no better than those other killers with powers out there. A villain.
No, he had to be smart about this, he would kill them, that was a fact, those people took something precious from Peter, he didn't see them as human anymore, just the scum of society that he needed to clean up.
But before that, he would make their life hell, to do that, he needed resources, money, and a suit.
He planned to wear a normal stylized urban ninja-type outfit and wrap himself in the bandages his Ajin granted him for an extra layer of protection, mobility, and aesthetics.
He would use the bandages the same way Spider-Woman used her webs.
Yeah, he would play the hero, of sorts, no, something more like an anti-hero, he couldn't picture himself leaving those thugs off with just a punch, not at all, no, he'd leave them with broken bones and twisted limbs.
If they could carry around loaded guns that could take life with a single pull of a trigger, do whatever they wanted, and move on with a smile, then they should be more than happy to take a beating, too.
If they were capable of killing others, then they should be capable of handling themselves when subjected to a little violence.
And seeing as he needed resources and a base of operations, why not just steal from criminals? It's not like the cops would care if some drug dealer or weapons dealer's cash went missing after some no-named superhero beat them down.
Yeah, he could do that. He would spend the next month preparing, learning all he could about the criminals in this city. How they operated, who they were, and where they were.
School starts in a few weeks, so he had a month and a half to prepare.
He needed to train. His powers would help him in a fight, but he needed to learn how to actually fight. He was sure he only needed a few weeks to learn some martial arts and build on that to develop his own way of fighting.
He sat up after a couple of minutes, taking repeated deep breaths. He rummaged in his left pocket to pull out the ad he had found stamped on one of the notice boards near one of the parks close to home.
"Martial Arts and Self-Defence Training with Sensei Colleen Wing, this could work," He read aloud, uncrumpling the folded paper in his hands. There was a picture of the Yin-Yang signs with two martial artists in a high kick position, with the words he read in large black fonts.
It had the contact details written out at the bottom along with their address.
This could work. Peter thought to himself.
This could really work.
Peter pushed himself to his feet for a stretch. His body ached with every movement.
After learning all he needed to, he would target the criminal operations with connections to Wilson Fisk.
And just to avoid suspicion, he would play hero to build a reputation as some dark defender that punished criminals but helped people.
While slowly rooting out and destroying all of Fisk's operations, dragging them into the light, he was sure that eventually he would meet Poindexter and give them what was coming to them.
But for now, he had to plan and prepare.
Peter finished his stretch and made his way into his house to prepare breakfast. He still had to visit Aunt May. He felt guilty that he hadn't been there for a while, with everything that was happening.
He had to buy some flowers too.
Not to mention his appointment with his therapist.
After that, he would check out Colleen Wings Martial Arts Dojo.
Yeah, it's all coming together now. All I need is time and preparation, and money, a lot of money, a superhero's gotta have a hideout.
He had to plan this out now as he made his way in, he made a mental note of what he learnt about his powers.
Supernatural fighting instincts, abnormal strength increase, and growth, enhanced senses, immortality through death, the manifestation of an abstract entity, and the manifestation and usage of bandages, incredibly durable bandages with no set limit to the length and number of manifestations, also the increasing urge to drink blood, not my blood though, but I think I'll keep that one under control, for now, don't know where that one would lead to. Now I can cancel out supernatural phenomenon too...
He would try to learn as much as he could about his powers in the next month. The urge to drink blood was getting stronger, too, and normal food was starting to taste odd and stale.
He stopped for a hot dog on his run, only it didn't taste like a hot dog.
Maybe they were connected somehow, that ever-present feeling that they were was still there. He trusted it since it was yet to be proven wrong.
He went into his home for his much-needed shower, his thoughts clouded by his abilities.
.....
-Location unknown-
Sitting on a balcony and busking under the glow of the morning sun was a well-dressed bald man.
The man was seemingly lost in thought as he stared into the evergreen yard surrounding his balcony.
Something happened last night, something he didn't understand, a feeling he was far too familiar with. He checked with Cerebro, but he couldn't find the source, just a location.
New York City. He thought to himself.
It appeared like a beacon to his psychic senses, but only for a moment, and then subsequently vanished without a trace as quickly as it appeared, like a lightning strike or a flash of light.
Something was out there, something new. He could detect mutants within a small radius of himself, but this particular one basically assaulted his senses.
This was a mutant, he was sure of that, but one of a different kind, and he had to find this mutant before others did. Others with unsavoury intentions or worse.
As a foremost expert in his field, he was intimately familiar with mutants and how their presence felt to him, including a way to identify their different levels of power.
Giving it some thought, he concluded why it all felt so odd: this new mutant was different from the average mutant.
Maybe an offshoot of the mutant race or a completely different variant. Times were changing, one could never tell how history chooses to write itself, only manipulate the outcome under a certain narrative.
His research on mutants throughout history only served to reinforce his point. They've existed since the dawn of time and remained unknown even in this era of science.
Whatever the reason happened to be, he was curious to find out. He had an inkling of what type of mutant this man might be.
He was not the only one to sense this new mutant. He had to prepare the team before it was too late. Before others discover this one.
"Professor?" A soft feminine voice interrupted his train of thought.
"Ah, Miss Grey" The Professor replied.
-Chapter End-