Okay, you say. So I got a handle on shapeshifting, at least learned the basics of summoning up electricity, and even had the forethought of examining my
equipment and making sure I could repair stuff. So what does a would-be heroine do to follow it up?
Actually, I spent most of that evening using the MIDS Hero designer to come up with ideas. Since I had Marvel-Kara's memories and skills, it stood to
reason my electrical power should be that powerful too. The piddling little bolt I'd pulled off of one hand was the weakest attack in the game, and was a
tiny drop in the bucket by Marvel-Kara standards. But as I studied and compared notes, I realized the two characters were closer in power than I thought. Or
should be, at any rate. The Marvel version had Monstrous damage every ten seconds. The City of Heroes character could fire less powerful bolts on average, but
had a really powerful sniper power. Assuming they approached the same power level around there somewhere, then 'Zapp' should be roughly what I was
doing regularly before. And might again if I could get a handle on the power level. But for now, best to roll with the punches and master what I already had
before I started messing with stuff I didn't understand.
I think I mentioned before that I wasn't weirding out as much over stuff I actually had done versus what these new memories said. I just treated it like
more knowledge. Of course, some of it still weirded me out something fierce, like Kara's many trysts with her girlfriend Cassandra. Considering her
girlfriend enjoyed the close mental communion that accompanied sex with a telepath, Kara and Cassandra indulged in it fairly often. And I tried very hard not to get too hung up on those memories. I mean, they weren't real, right? Even if I could still remember the last
time Cassie and I had made love...
I stopped that train of thought and focused on what I was doing. Bad enough that a figment of my imagination was in a steady relationship, but to think that it
had a more active sex life was just adding insult to injury. So best to let it slide and focus on what I was doing.
While working with the MIDS designer, I realized there was a problem. If this duplication thing allowed me to have CoH Kara's powers, then it stood to
reason I should be able to use "enhancements" to improve them. The problem is, what the hell is an enhancement in real life? Is it more training? Or
something else?
The MIDS designer listed a whole lot of strange radiations and mutagenic compounds for the mutation origin character, but damned if I was going to expose
myself to weird genetic mutagens... assuming I could even find something like that here. No, there had to be a more reasonable way. And after thinking about it, I knew what it was. But it would have to wait for the next day.
I awoke the next morning, somewhere around ten-ish. After taking care of the basics (and verifying I was still a guy during this, yes), I went out to hunt up a
good testing environment.
Ottawa is blessed with an abundance of many things. One of them is a line of industrial-strength power towers which run through a section of provincial land
behind a high school near where I live. And if you've ever seen shows of people holding up fluorescent light bulbs under those things, you'll know that
sometimes - if the transformers up top are in bad shape - the insulation frays and you get excess power radiated into the environment.
In the Marvel game, my character had enjoyed a brief power spike when in the Savage Lands, blamed on all the radiant electrical power in the region. If that
had any basis in reality, my power should be improved around the towers. Practicing around these towers would get me
used to a heightened level of power, and I'd learn to generate more power, more often, thus increasing the strength of my bursts. Thus, my available power
would grow as well. As for the in-game accuracy, I had a theory, which I tested with the targeting system.
I'd found the salvage storage in that strange dimensional otherwhere everything was stored. And one of the items of salvage I had was a rare item: A
military grade Head's-Up Display. Fitting that to the arm-computer had taken some time, but eventually with the functionality added, the standard HUD I was
issued was now capable of acting as a targeting system in conjunction with my powers. So I practiced with the tiny electrical power, following the crosshair as
it moved around my field of view, shooting tree stumps and patches of ground in the stretch of forest around the power towers every time the crosshair turned
red. I got pretty good at it too, although I noticed my accuracy sort of fell off when I didn't use it. Oh well, more to work with in the future. For now,
it was enough that I had a short-term boost which made me more accurate.
Eventually I got up the nerve to fire a two-handed burst, and boy was it more powerful. Each bolt of lightning made a snap-crack sound, very different from the video game. They didn't sizzle in the air like the game either. They flashed through the
air so fast, it left a brilliant afterimage on the retina before fading away. And the bigger, double-handed bolt sounded like a rifle shot on reverb, with
echoes that must have been heard off in the community.
I got some distance at that point. I know the police get calls about firecrackers and possible gunshots. I didn't want to stick around in case they came
looking. But that made it harder to practice as well, if every time I fired off a bolt it sounded like I was firing a rifle. This would take some thought.
I knew I would eventually have other issues. Washing the costume wasn't a problem. The roommates were pretty oblivious to each other's activities, so I
could manage that without them noticing. But as Kara I'd have to wear something new eventually. And while I'd
been tossing back and forth the idea of recruiting my sister, I didn't know how she'd react to the whole thing. I'd have to think about it. On the
other hand, what she didn't know about picking out perfect outfits and accessorizing wasn't worth knowing, so she was the ideal person to get help from. If I could just work up the guts to explain all this to her.
I mulled this over in the shower after my practice run. An unexpected side effect of all the practice was that it was getting easier to use the powers. Less
tiring. I could only hope this effect carried over for all the other training I'd have to do later.And I dreaded what came next.
According to my memory, Foxfire had just begun to master the power of flight. She'd done so much the same way Marvel-Kara had. The original character had
the ability to generate pure kinetic force in addition to electricity. So personal forcefields, flight, and stuff like that should be possible. In-game, it was
my justification for her developing a flight power, and why she was so resistant to damage. But that was for later.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.
equipment and making sure I could repair stuff. So what does a would-be heroine do to follow it up?
Actually, I spent most of that evening using the MIDS Hero designer to come up with ideas. Since I had Marvel-Kara's memories and skills, it stood to
reason my electrical power should be that powerful too. The piddling little bolt I'd pulled off of one hand was the weakest attack in the game, and was a
tiny drop in the bucket by Marvel-Kara standards. But as I studied and compared notes, I realized the two characters were closer in power than I thought. Or
should be, at any rate. The Marvel version had Monstrous damage every ten seconds. The City of Heroes character could fire less powerful bolts on average, but
had a really powerful sniper power. Assuming they approached the same power level around there somewhere, then 'Zapp' should be roughly what I was
doing regularly before. And might again if I could get a handle on the power level. But for now, best to roll with the punches and master what I already had
before I started messing with stuff I didn't understand.
I think I mentioned before that I wasn't weirding out as much over stuff I actually had done versus what these new memories said. I just treated it like
more knowledge. Of course, some of it still weirded me out something fierce, like Kara's many trysts with her girlfriend Cassandra. Considering her
girlfriend enjoyed the close mental communion that accompanied sex with a telepath, Kara and Cassandra indulged in it fairly often. And I tried very hard not to get too hung up on those memories. I mean, they weren't real, right? Even if I could still remember the last
time Cassie and I had made love...
I stopped that train of thought and focused on what I was doing. Bad enough that a figment of my imagination was in a steady relationship, but to think that it
had a more active sex life was just adding insult to injury. So best to let it slide and focus on what I was doing.
While working with the MIDS designer, I realized there was a problem. If this duplication thing allowed me to have CoH Kara's powers, then it stood to
reason I should be able to use "enhancements" to improve them. The problem is, what the hell is an enhancement in real life? Is it more training? Or
something else?
The MIDS designer listed a whole lot of strange radiations and mutagenic compounds for the mutation origin character, but damned if I was going to expose
myself to weird genetic mutagens... assuming I could even find something like that here. No, there had to be a more reasonable way. And after thinking about it, I knew what it was. But it would have to wait for the next day.
I awoke the next morning, somewhere around ten-ish. After taking care of the basics (and verifying I was still a guy during this, yes), I went out to hunt up a
good testing environment.
Ottawa is blessed with an abundance of many things. One of them is a line of industrial-strength power towers which run through a section of provincial land
behind a high school near where I live. And if you've ever seen shows of people holding up fluorescent light bulbs under those things, you'll know that
sometimes - if the transformers up top are in bad shape - the insulation frays and you get excess power radiated into the environment.
In the Marvel game, my character had enjoyed a brief power spike when in the Savage Lands, blamed on all the radiant electrical power in the region. If that
had any basis in reality, my power should be improved around the towers. Practicing around these towers would get me
used to a heightened level of power, and I'd learn to generate more power, more often, thus increasing the strength of my bursts. Thus, my available power
would grow as well. As for the in-game accuracy, I had a theory, which I tested with the targeting system.
I'd found the salvage storage in that strange dimensional otherwhere everything was stored. And one of the items of salvage I had was a rare item: A
military grade Head's-Up Display. Fitting that to the arm-computer had taken some time, but eventually with the functionality added, the standard HUD I was
issued was now capable of acting as a targeting system in conjunction with my powers. So I practiced with the tiny electrical power, following the crosshair as
it moved around my field of view, shooting tree stumps and patches of ground in the stretch of forest around the power towers every time the crosshair turned
red. I got pretty good at it too, although I noticed my accuracy sort of fell off when I didn't use it. Oh well, more to work with in the future. For now,
it was enough that I had a short-term boost which made me more accurate.
Eventually I got up the nerve to fire a two-handed burst, and boy was it more powerful. Each bolt of lightning made a snap-crack sound, very different from the video game. They didn't sizzle in the air like the game either. They flashed through the
air so fast, it left a brilliant afterimage on the retina before fading away. And the bigger, double-handed bolt sounded like a rifle shot on reverb, with
echoes that must have been heard off in the community.
I got some distance at that point. I know the police get calls about firecrackers and possible gunshots. I didn't want to stick around in case they came
looking. But that made it harder to practice as well, if every time I fired off a bolt it sounded like I was firing a rifle. This would take some thought.
I knew I would eventually have other issues. Washing the costume wasn't a problem. The roommates were pretty oblivious to each other's activities, so I
could manage that without them noticing. But as Kara I'd have to wear something new eventually. And while I'd
been tossing back and forth the idea of recruiting my sister, I didn't know how she'd react to the whole thing. I'd have to think about it. On the
other hand, what she didn't know about picking out perfect outfits and accessorizing wasn't worth knowing, so she was the ideal person to get help from. If I could just work up the guts to explain all this to her.
I mulled this over in the shower after my practice run. An unexpected side effect of all the practice was that it was getting easier to use the powers. Less
tiring. I could only hope this effect carried over for all the other training I'd have to do later.And I dreaded what came next.
According to my memory, Foxfire had just begun to master the power of flight. She'd done so much the same way Marvel-Kara had. The original character had
the ability to generate pure kinetic force in addition to electricity. So personal forcefields, flight, and stuff like that should be possible. In-game, it was
my justification for her developing a flight power, and why she was so resistant to damage. But that was for later.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.