Rex made it to AG Brennus’ office on ti. The monkey-vents made his travels through the box both easy and less eventful. He didn’t have to interract with the sounds of every twisted individual and haywire piece of machinery.
All he had to do was run. Or flow, to be more exact. He used the journey as a ans to affiliate himself with his new powers.
If Jungle-Fire was an offensive-support style elent, Jungle-Water was much more of a defensive-utility elent. From what he’d learned, he could nullify the impact of projectiles by surrounding his body in a dense layer of flowing water, he could beco corporeal— most likely due to humans being largely made of water, and he could establish a sort of connection with tropical flora grown from water he controlled.
He still had to test the offensive potential in real ti.
At a later ti of course.
When he stepped into AG Brennus office, he found the man sitting and exhausted. He wasn’t wearing his usual armored coat. Instead he just wore his black thermal undershirt and held his sword by the poml like a cane.
His hair wasn’t its usual spiky grey. It was black and lowcut like a basic military man. He was also about ten pounds lighter and three inches shorter. It was like he lost all of his wild physical characteristics and was more normalized.
Then his skin and hair shimred in a way that made Rex blink a few tis. It also made him speak.
"AG Brennus..... you’re an Inheritence Ability user?"
He looked up at Rex and suddenly grew larger and more densely muscled at the sight of him, "Not quite. I’m a Variant Inheritor."
"Like Victor’s brother." Rex said— more so to himself than anyone else.
"Precisely. Only I didn’t shift the world on its axis." AG Brennus said angrily.
If Rex’s sleep deprived mory served him correctly, he was always aware of AG Brennus having so sort of mind divining based perception ability.
He didn’t seem keen on sharing as he stood up— now over eight feet tall.
"Where are your team mbers?" AG Brennus asked.
"I’m not sure. I ca as soon as I could..... I was actually on the verge of genetics scanning when one of my training mates went wild—"
"We’ll cover you. All of our resources are currently being poured into detaining Private First-Class Hugo, handling the press and mainting global relations in the wake of a power shift." AG Brennus explained.
Rex didn’t need further explanation. He experienced enough himself to understand how the entire world could change drastically and it was all up to chance. Entire families ans guilds predicated on cultivated their genetic strength and building tech around their specified power were now up in the air. So people would grow stronger— like Rex, others would be left to be determined like Victor. And even worse, so would beco sothing entirely new. Like Simon. He went from a near nobody looking to gain so traction and sponsorship for his family and was now a near continental threat with no control over what was once a simple Psionic conjuration ability.
The door swung open.
Lyra stepped in with half of her strawberry golden hair in coils for curling and the other half falling to her shoulders in beautiful spinning bundles.
She didn’t wear a dress as usual and instead wore black sweats, a sports bra and a holster that hid two pistols under her arms.
"This all better count as overti." Lyra said with wide eyes.
AG Brennus beca smaller as he adressed her. His stubble faded. His skin gained a bronze hue. Almost Rex’s color and his overall appearance beca younger. More handso. He even got neck tattoos.
Lyra raised an eyebrow, "The worlds ending and you look more handso than usual, Alpha-General."
"Now is not the ti for flattery." AG Brennus replied.
"You did it...." Lyra mumbled as she ford up beside Rex.
AG Brennus began to pace behind his desk. Everyti he passed Rex he changed. Larger and more monstrous looking. Everyti he passed Lyra he beca more handso and masculine.
It was bizzare to watch. Rex was beginning to realize he wasn’t aware.
"Hey, how are you holding up?" Lyra whispered to Rex.
Rex shrugged, "I’ve been better. But I’m alright."
"Upgrade?" Lyra asked.
"Arguably." Rex replied.
"Well don’t tease , what changed?" Lyra asked.
Rex flicked his head over to the bottle of water on AG Brennus’ desk. With his hands behind his back he strained his focus, feeling for the moisture and flowing chaos in the cup.
As soon as he did, purple sparks blood like jungle flowers inside the cup of water. In response to his mind and transford mana, the water began to vortex and spin into a violent controlled hurricane. It grew so vicious that the cup began to crack and shake until it spilled over a handful of important docunts.
"Oh— shit!" Rex whispered as AG Brennus spun around from across the room and ran over.
"What the hell?!" He scrambled over his desk.
Lyra tried not to laugh. Which seed insane considering the context.
The door opened again.
"WHAT?!" AG Brennus slamd his fists against the desk of wet papers.
"I was summoned, Alpha-General."
Lyra and Rex recognized Cpt. Camo’s voice. AG Brennus looked like he saw sothing else.
The interaction caused them both to turn around.
Cpt. Camo stood in the doorway. He wore his usual blend of modernized tech and old school woven Kevlar military gear underneath his dark poncho. Only now it wasn’t slung over one of his overgrown scaled arms. His arms were normal. All of him was normal.
Except for his head.
His head was now reptilian and covered in black stripped green scales. He stared at them all with yellow slitted eyes that blinked sideways.
"Oh damn....."
"How the hell did you get in here?" AG Brennus asked.
"Have you seen out there?" Cpt Camo asked, "It’s pure chaos on the docs. When you’ve got a being of pure Psionic energy running rampant and about five other kids hot on his heels, the last thing folks are worried about is a man with a dragon-head."
"Speak for yourself." Sgt Isadora pushed past him from behind with her hand trained on her shotgun as she eyeballed him.
She ford up beside Rex and Lyra and made a face at them, "Why couldn’t either of you be the ones to beco freakfaces?"
"Because that would make you happy." Lyra winked.
Isadora rolled her eyes.
Cpt Camo burped a fireball and joined the others.
"Ok, for the most part, you’re all alive. None of you are what we’d classify as Flux-Frayed. Your mana is intact— if only slightly changed, and you’re fit for duty. We don’t have the ti for field testing. Learn your limits on the job."
"The job?" Lyra asked.
"You think I brought you here for a date?" AG Brennus asked.
"The fact that you turn into a hot guy every ti you talk to her makes think so." Isadora said.
AG Brennus looked over to Sgt Isadora and was suddenly an old man, "If we weren’t in an ergency you’d be pushing until your chest explodes."
Sgt Isadora didn’t react.
"If it isn’t obvious, today you’ll be joining the jungle-monkeys in Inheritence Ability User containnt operations. Also called IAUCO. Your current kits aren’t efficient enough for the job but I had the smiths and ammo-laborers bring these." AG Brennus pulled four guns out of his desk.
They were box shaped handguns with barrels that hung down as low as the grip and had rifle sights on them made of hardlight technology to not add weight. The ammunition stores were shown in a glowing ter along the barrel— which also allowed them to view the electrical cartridges.
"What is this?" Rex asked.
"They’re Gen-Sleeper Pistols." AG Brennus said, "In the event that an Inheritence Ability user goes wild. Like what’s happening now, you can use these handguns to forcibly make their mana grafted genes enter a dormant state. You just have to be a good shot. And be lucky. This model is over a hundred years old so don’t expect perfection. But it’s all we’ve got." AG Brennus explained.
"How do they work?" Rex asked.
Cpt. Camo snarled, "Amatuers. It depends on your targets ability. An Inheritence Ability user with a muscle manipulation power had his mana signature grafted to genes involved in muscular function and developnt. Hit him in the quad. Or the glute. Elent conjurors tend to be the mind. Headshot. You get the point."
"Yea." Rex replied as he leaned forward and picked up his pistol.
AG Brennus looked at the others, causing his appearance to beco a collage of variations of himself at different ages, weights, heights and shades. The only thing that remained the sa was his stressed facial expression.
"The hell are you waiting for?! Get your gun and get in the field! I’ve sent the coordinates on primary targets to your jet gps database." AG Brennus said quickly.
The others grabbed their guns and followed Rex as he headed out of the office.
All he thought then was, "I wish I paid more attention to my classmates."
That and the fact that he’d never been angrier at what ca with a day off from school.
Work?
Both.
Plus.
"Syphen...."
He had to find an excuse to break away from the others to check on his pride. Or else he’d risk sending the Chaleon IV on a new mission they wouldn’t return from.
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