Chapter 49 Building my OPness
"We're recovering in Paris. Give us a minute before you go in; they're fully armed, with a mind controller leading them." I called out next to Cass as I spoke through her mike. I breathed in and out as another of my skills clicked over, and I felt my body start recovering from the grenade launcher wounds.
Going from low superhuman to mid superhuman regeneration was a decent increase. I could now grow back limbs with enough time, and small wounds would be gone in a day or two. Additionally, I needed two hours less sleep for a full night's rest. Wolverine was in a weird spot where he could theoretically stay awake forever but didn't, for some reason.
It was probably a self-imposed limiter on his power, unconsciously placed on himself to appear more human. Speaking of which, muscle growth and power. If he could regenerate endlessly, he should be a hulking giant from his muscles constantly tearing and healing.
I still wasn’t fully up to par yet as my mana continued to recover. I yelled out, “When Batman gives us the go-ahead to go back, wake me up. My mana is far too low to help.” I sat down in the dirty alleyway and began to meditate again. At twenty-two breaths, I was shaken awake.
Still not much, about thirty percent left. That’s enough for two portals, and it might knock me unconscious trying. I asked Cass, “You haven’t used much mana. Do you want to portal us in?” With a look of resolve, she nodded in affirmation. She didn’t have a staff but kept the spells on the plates and used them like a remote to activate.
It was about the same mana, but she liked the smaller size and flexibility having them separate gave. We portal back in on a rooftop across the street from the bank. The vehicles they had shown up in were on fire, and several explosions went off inside the building as we watched. Batman must have sent his Batmobile to autopilot as it wasn’t visible from the street.
Several of the mind-controlled men were just aiming down the road and firing without anything to target. It was clear to see they were going for as much damage as possible, as another vehicle exploded, shattering the windows nearby. My unpreparedness couldn’t be understated. I should have been able to handle them all myself by now, and I was disappointed I couldn’t.
After we figure this out, I’m going to put my nose to the grindstone so if something like this happens again, I’ll have plenty of options to deal with it. I grabbed Steph and jumped down twenty feet, landing on a terrace before jumping down and stepping on a shield platform before landing on the ground. Cass just jumped from the roof and rolled, not losing much momentum.
The fall distance might have been fatal if she wasn’t enhanced, but it didn’t even slow her down as her body naturally adapted to its limits faster than mine did. She constantly pushed herself so she knew exactly what was possible. I set Steph down before she ran, turning back towards me. “You know I have a grapple gun, right? I could have just attached it to the building and jumped off.”
Yeah, I wasn’t sure how they worked, but the guns they used were strong enough to pull them up or slow their descent enough to safely jump off without risking injury… You don’t think about that if you don’t see it regularly. Bruce could make millions with that invention, but kept it for himself and a few he deemed worthy.
I knocked out the two gunmen outside and slapped on some zip ties that probably wouldn’t stop their mind-controlled strength anyway. I really should have left it for one of the girls since they had their bat cuffs or whatever. Why did the mind control guy have to show up the day I decided to become a hero?
The urge to not pull my punches was rapidly growing as I became irritated with the whole situation. I took in a few deep breaths before I entered the bank again. A spray of bullets I blocked with a barrier sealed my feelings as I looked for the culprit and didn’t find who I was expecting. Doctor Psycho, who was clearly under mind control, was the only villain I saw.
He was mentally holding Batman at bay while Cassandra blocked bullets from striking the downed Batman. A bullet into his leg, practically exploding his kneecap, was enough for him to break eye contact with Batman, breaking the mental battle they were having. I used my barrier like Captain America, blocking bullets while running towards a hypnotized person and smashing them against the wall.
After clearing up the mooks, I looked around for anyone else. Is anyone around here? Just Doctor Psycho. Then, I felt dread. This guy knew what he was doing. We have another veteran using proxies to fight. He wouldn’t ever reveal him-. A man began clapping from a corner. I almost burst out laughing as he did so.
He was not only inexperienced, but I bet he’s going to have a gloating speech before revealing he has stronger than average psychic powers. “Ahh it appears the Bat finally left his cave. And he brought two little birdies with him! That’s good… Uh, who are you?”
I smirked as I ran at him. “I’m the Juggernaut bitch!” His eyes went wide, and he barely made it above me before I slammed into him. Shit, he’s a flier. He flew over to Doctor Psycho and picked him up as I fired at him, trying to bring him down. I made a portal in front of him and jumped through, landing on his back as he tried to fly away.
Grabbing his arms made him drop Doctor Psycho in the room, and he slammed me against the doorframe, trying to free himself before escaping, but I held firm. A moment later, we were taking off into the air, and I could feel my powers being drained from me. Ahh, he picked the boost bundle from the bundle list. That didn’t make sense unless…
He was also grouped with another 100 member who picked the controller bundle. I wasn’t about to let him flip the rules against me, so I pulled out my knife and stabbed him in the neck, bleeding him to death. I felt the rush of power hit me, and I burst out laughing at how lucky I was.