System Supervillain, Chapter 124

Chapter 124 – Ready

Of course, even though I said I was going to save points, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to look over my abilities, and see if there wasn’t something I could do. My biggest weakness, at the moment, was a lack of long-range mobility. My various ice effects could easily give me short-range mobility, either through ice slides or floating about as a mist. However, the System started throwing out error messages when I tried to increase that speed too much.

It was true that I had that System Teleport I’d given myself, but teleporting in someplace was the exact opposite of ‘subtle’. Sure, I could teleport to the moon and back, but that was point-to-point. Didn’t allow for much in the way of exploration, or taking subtle approaches to a target. Yes, it was set up so that I couldn’t accidentally teleport myself into a wall, or something equally horrible, but I was still just hopping from point to point, which wouldn’t let me get the details between those points. That was a great way to find yourself in a trap, or to miss a spot where you could set your own trap. I needed more flexibility. I needed flight.

I reconfigured the noncombat powers of my blade into an elemental control, giving me a couple extra points to play with. Not much, but it should be enough. Then, I went into the System Powers section of my Status, and began playing with points.

System Powers

Cost

Description

END

6

System Flight Wings – Flight 3m, Usable Underwater (+1/4), No Turn Mode (+1/4), MegaScale (1m = 1000 km, +3/4), Usable Simultaneously (up to 16 people at once, +1 1/4). (22 Active Points). Restrainable (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Physical Manifestation (-1/4), Conditional Power (Does not work in intense magnetic fields, -1/4), Limited Power (Cannot use in Atmosphere, -1 1/2)

2

Quick back of the napkin math said that this would allow me to fly at speeds that were completely insane on Earth. My SPD in costume was 6, which basically meant that I acted every 2 seconds, given the System’s nature. This power let me fly 3000km every two seconds. This was speedster-level shenanigans, here.

Of course, being able to fly at such speeds wasn’t terribly useful in most situations. There was such a thing as being too fast, obviously. But I had other abilities I could use for those situations. Sure, I could fly from New York to LA in a couple seconds at that speed, but teleporting would be more subtle, since flying at Mach Oh Fuck through the atmosphere was GOING to be noticed, full stop.

However, I wasn’t thinking of New York to LA with this power, so restricting it to out of atmosphere wasn’t a problem. I was thinking ship-to-ship. Yes, it would still take me a bit over a minute to fly from Earth to the Moon, but I could teleport there in an instant, anyways. This would have let me fly between Gel-nak ships, giving me more methods of attack. Not having a ‘turn mode’ meant that I could basically do a 90-degree turn on a dime, giving me insane maneuverability.

More importantly, this wasn’t something that was restricted to me, alone. I could give this power, temporarily, to fifteen other people, with them each being able to fly separately. Everyone on the team had the Life Support abilities for Self-Contained Breathing, Low-Pressure/Vacuum, High Radiation, and Intense Cold, even if it was only on their costume or a transformation, meaning that they were safe in most of the conditions for deep space. They didn’t all have my level of SPD, so they would be flying at different speeds, but it still gave all of Devastation more options, which was important.

Next, I needed to set my powers for the fight. The Emperor was almost certainly going to be a powerful combatant, with powerful guards. I was going to have to cheat, and cheat hard if I was going to stand a chance. Fortunately, I knew how to cheat.

Mutant Powers

Cost

Description

END

127

Cryokinetics – Variable Power Pool, 85 Base + 42 Control cost. Powers can be changed as half-phase action (+1/2), No skill roll required (+1) (190 Active Points). Pool only: Limited Class of Powers Available (Only Ice/Cold powers, -1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Concentration (0 DCV, -1/2). All slots: Conditional Power (Does not work in High Heat, -1/4)

Cryokinetics allows Iceblade to display any power or powers with the Ice/Cold descriptor, so long as the power(s) do not come to more than 85 Active Points. Changing the manifested powers requires a moment of concentration and some hand gestures to guide his thought processes. Powers manifested in this way do not work in High Heat.

I had a point left over, so dropped it into my Cryokinetics pool. Didn’t change much, but an extra point was an extra point. And it gave me just that little bit of extra flexibility I needed for what I had planned.

Power Configuration

Cost

Description

END

24

Frozen Armor – Armor (20 PD/20 ED) (60 Active Points). Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END, -1/2), Visible (-1/4), Costs Endurance Only to Activate (-1/4), Physical Manifestation (-1/4), Conditional Power (Does not work in High Heat, -1/4)

Icy plates cover Iceblade’s body, providing an impressive extra layer of defense against attacks, with the slight downside of the ice being quite obvious in its intended purpose.

12

37

Niflheim – Change Environment 1m radius (-5 Temperature Level Adjustment, Long-Lasting: Permanent), Megascale (1m = 10000 km, +1 1/4) (83 Active Points). Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END, -1/2), No Range (-1/2), Conditional Power (Does not work in High Heat, -1/4)

With a wave of his hand, Iceblade plunges a massive area of land into eternal winter, a lingering reminder of the cost of angering him.

16

24

Creeping Frost – Energy Blast 7d6, Costs END Only to Activate (+1/4), Continuous (+1) (79 Active Points). Restrainable (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), Cannot Use Targeting (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4), Conditional Power (Does not work in high heat, -1/4)

With a touch, Iceblade causes a patch of frost to begin growing across a creature’s body, dealing continual damage so long as he can maintain the effect.

7

The Frozen Armor power was an old friend by this point. More than once, it had saved my hide from attacks that otherwise would have wrecked me. I was never going to say no to more defense when dealing with tough foes. I quickly activated the armor, so I could passively recover the END used.

Niflheim was my plan for really screwing with the Gel-nak. It was END-intensive, but worth it. Something like this was completely impossible for me, before the System. I was a mutant, not a mage, after all. This was more akin to a curse, than anything, but the System didn’t care about that kind of thing. It was a Cold/Ice power, and my power pool let me make any Cold/Ice power I wanted, so long as it fit the points.

Creeping Frost was something I came up with to fill the extra points. I just needed to touch someone, pay the END to start it up, and the effect would continue damaging them again and again. Not really powerful enough to do much against normal foes, but against creatures who had a weakness to Cold? It should supply some constant damage, which ought to help tip the fight in my favor.

Satisfied with my changes, I looked at the time readout in my cowl’s HUD. Almost time to go. As if right on cue, the sound of dial-up internet screamed from the hotel phone, and Web Mistress appeared with her ‘victims’, who looked surprisingly upbeat. FX was now sporting a white leather dog collar around her throat, with ‘FX’ printed on the silver tag in front. I assumed it had more functions than just looking nice against her dark skin. Titania… looked the same, but if I knew my sister, she had definitely improved the girl’s abilities in some way.

The military ‘helpfully’ sent a couple cars for us. Not that we couldn’t have gotten to the staging ground under our own power, but it made everyone feel better if the supervillains were at least nominally under observation, and not just being allowed to roam wherever they wanted. That was the kind of thing that gave people ulcers, under normal conditions. Sure, they were being more lenient now, given the situation, but that didn’t mean they had to like it.

The ride to the staging ground was a quiet one. Everyone had their ‘game face’ on. Like me, everyone was in costume, or in their most powerful transformation. They were ready to fight.

This wasn’t some fun little romp through town, after all. This was going to be dangerous, and everyone knew it. However, all my girls were ready and willing to go. Some because they were still heroines at heart, the rest because I was going, and because their kids were on Earth, and they didn’t much care for alien empires threatening them.

In that way, we weren’t really any different from any of the other heroes and villains who had come out to resist the Gel-nak, or even just those villains who ‘went on vacation’, so that the heroes could go and focus on the invaders. The general attitude, in the supervillain community, was that we could go back to attacking each other or continuing our plots and plans once the immediate threat was done. More specifically, once the portals were closed, and the remaining Gel-nak cleaned up, things would go back to normal, or as normal as they could.

“Oy, Icy!” Silver Cutlass called out as we exited the vehicle. “Where ya been, huh? We thought that when you left the other day, you’d be causing come trouble for the lizards, but no one’s seen any sign of your work.”

I chuckled at the villainess, and said, “Come on, Silver. You talked to my girls, so you should know I’m not the type to get overexcited and let things loose prematurely. But, to answer your question, we laid low in a Guild-sponsored hotel nearby. There was a good chance that, if the Gel-nak found out I was in the area, they’d report back to the Emperor about it. You know, what with me being the reason their whole invasion fleet is out of commission.

“Now, normally I wouldn’t oppose doing something to rile up the lizards and make them nervous. Nervous enemies tend to get skittish, and start making mistakes, which is great for me, usually. However, if the Emperor hears about that, then he might decide to leave, which means we won’t get the chance to try and take him out, or he’ll surround himself with a bunch of guards, making my life more difficult. Worst case? He decides to bring all the guys he can through the portal and make a big push, personally, which would be a fucking headache for everyone.”

There was a bit of small-talk and banter after that, but mostly we were just waiting until, finally, the military convoy rolled into the stadium parking lot, with Green Knight and the other heroes he’d picked for his team riding along. In the middle of the convoy, there was a flatbed truck with an object covered in a tarp and tied down very securely. Not that I blamed them. You didn’t want to let some things get jostled about in transport.

I nodded as I walked up to Green Knight as the soldiers began unstrapping the thing, and removed the tarp. “Is it armed?”

He shook his head, and held up a secure briefcase shackled to his wrist. He opened the case, and turned it to show me a silver rod, about five inches long, and a bit less than one inch wide. Say thirteen centimeters by two centimeters, using the local measurements. “Hardware disconnect. Need to insert this rod for the system to arm. Didn’t want there to be any ‘accidents’ on the road. With your team, you shouldn’t have any trouble with the electronic components, but the technicians zeroed out the encryption anyways. Purposefully letting a technopath get a look at the encryption was considered a bad idea.”

“That’s fine,” I said, retrieving the rod. “Just shows that they have a healthy respect for her abilities.”

I grinned under my mask as I jumped up, on to the flatbed, took a look at the warhead. The place the rod was supposed to go was obvious, thanks to the bright yellow-and-black warnings printed there. Without a second thought, I inserted the rod, causing several panels to light up. Normally, those panels would be hidden inside the missile, out of view, presumably.

I took a breath, and drew my sword. I hadn’t shown this trick to anyone outside of my team. Usually, when I was storing things away, any outsiders still there were either dead or unconscious, so they couldn’t really tell anyone about it.

Iceblade uses Fuyu no Jumon (Winter’s Spell).

Iceblade: 35/40 END

“Sā, fuyu no sōko o akemashou.”

As I spoke the command phrase, which roughly translated to, “Now, open the storehouse of winter,” a disk of icy blue light appeared next to the blade’s tip. As I drew the blade down, it expanded, until it engulfed the warhead, depositing it in the pocket dimension I claimed. A flick of the blade, and the portal closed.

Stolen Victory landed next to me, and grabbed the blade. Not hard, just enough to draw blood. After all, the enchantments on the blade made it so that I could not sheathe it again, once drawn, until it had tasted blood, either mine, or that of another. The purpose of the enchantment was to remind me to always be deliberate about when and where I drew my sword, since it was an act that could not be undone lightly.

I nodded to her as I sheathed the blade, and then looked back to Green Knight. “All right. It is time for us to get underway. We’ll be no contact until after the deed is done, and we are back in London. The lizards won’t know what hit them.”

Green Knight just nodded, grimly. “Give them hell, Iceblade.”