Ablation

Taylor

“I wanna kiss you.” Amy says. Wow and here I thought she wanted something earth shattering. I chuckle and lean closer to her.

“Say no more, babygirl,” I say in the most stereotypical macho boy voice. “Taytay’s got you.”

Amy was about to protest or say something but hearing those words in that order must have been a first for her. I can almost see the reboot screen light up behind her eyes.

“Wait, no. That's not what I wanted to say. Also what?!”

“Ah. You wanted to say “I wanna kiss you passionately. Of course Amy, just no tongue.” I say, laughing inside.

“Wh- but-”

“Oh fine. With tongue.” I lean closer and Amy looks so torn between pushing me away or just letting it happen, still making those cute squawk sounds trying to step away from me. I stop of course. “Okay okay. What did you actually want to talk about?”

“Uh.. right. What's your power?” She asks me, brows furrowed and mouth downturned in a frown.

“Hm.” I grab her hand, knowing that skin contact calms her down and gives her a bigger sense of control over the situation. She's ready to confront me about it so showing a bit of trust would go a long way. A quick disarming and unexpected weirdo behavior also helped off balance her, putting her on the back foot. “When I touch stuff, I know it's full uhh… solid composition. So as long as it's past a certain threshold of solidity, I can feel it. Like you're mostly water but that water is mostly jelly. So I can feel it. Everything except your tears, spit, blood and piss, actually, I can affect.” She looks weirded out, but that's fine. I'm not trying to fool her or lie to her. But I'm explaining my power in a way that it sounds very much unlike what PRT thinks my power is. “Then, I am also aware of two specific qualities any solid I touch possesses. That's Armor and HP. Uhh, please don't spread that around though, I don't want to be associated with Uber and Leet.” I add belatedly.

“Oh, of course. Who would want to associate with those?” Amy asks. Somewhere in Downtown office buildings, one Carol Dallon sneezes, thinking that probably one of those two losers is badmouthing her.

“So yeah. I can then siphon those qualities into a.. uh, like a pocket dimension or other storage type. And reapply it on anything else I want.”

“Oh! So if you drain a person’s HP, you can.. heal someone else who's injured?” Amy asks, clearly interested in that aspect of my power.

“Ehhh, to a point. I think I can make injuries less severe but I can't heal them outright. Remember how you healed me during study group time?”

“Uh huh.”

“Wouldn't have happened if I could heal, right?”

“Oh yeah. That makes sense.”

“So I can technically add extra HP to people but that'd be like temp HP.”

“So it goes down first?”

“Nnnaaaah. No. I wish it did. It acts more like… the damage you take is taken as it's percentage depending on how much of your HP is temp. So you got as much HP as temp HP? Damage is halved. You have 10 HP and 30 temp HP? Damage is quartered. Etc etc.”

“Huh. That's still cool. Kind of like what Fenja and Menja do. Ugh, I wish Vicky was here, she loves talking about powers. I can't explain them quite as well, but it also works with proportions, and theirs kinda… uh, square? Like they grow bigger, that's one degree of damage reduction by making the source comparatively smaller. Then they have the breaker state, reducing damage again. Ugh, I wish I could touch them while they're getting injured. It's fascinating.” Wow, she's rambling. That's nice to hear, actually. She looks more alive than usual too.

Amy must have caught me looking at her weird cause she went beet red and coughed into her unoccupied hand. “So, yeah. Armor stuff?”

“That's a lot more straightforward. Let's say you got 1 armor as a baseline human.” She nods. “And 10 armor in… well, steel plate. I can take the steel plate and you, and swap your armor scores.”

“Holy shit! So like… you can be as protected as if you're wearing full plate without actually wearing it?”

“Exactly!”

“Oh wow. You got such a nice power. And then there's me.” She suddenly lost the luster in her eyes when she segued into that. “Sometimes I think about how much happier I'd be if I had a simple Brute power or something like force fields. Not only do I look different from my adopted family, even my powers are off theme. And I kinda hate healing people.” She squeezes my hand and chuckles. “Well, sometimes it results in nice things. But yea. My power is not just healing.”

I squeeze her hand back. “Yeah, I kinda guessed as much.” She looks up at me, quizzically. “All powers have some method of offense. Except for Thinkers, they suck ass.” She snorts.

“Yeah. My power is complete and utter control of biology.” She says like she didn't just drop a fucking bombshell. What?

“What?”

“Yeah. It's called biokinesis. I can kinda fake healing people by molding their flesh back to how it thinks it's supposed to be. Is all. And powers want to be used. That's what Vicky says the scientists found out. And that's why my family goes on patrols consistently despite claiming to try living normal lives. Cause they grow stir crazy when they spend too long not doing shit with powers.”

“But don't you heal all the time?” I ask, knowing she wanted me to ask that and had a response ready for it.

“Yeah. Powers apparently also hate doing the same thing over and over again. Or, mine does. She's kind of a cunt like that.”

“Huh. So you wanna do other stuff?”

“Yeah… yeah, kinda. I've been fiddling with making functional cure-all medicine lately. Mini Mark the 3rd being my trusty lab assistant.” She takes out said rat from her pocket.

“Oh hi Mark.” I do grabby motions with my free hand and Amy plops him down on it.

“Yeah. I kinda got carried away and set him up to also be my emergency multitool.” She says.

“How so?”

“Watch.” She yoinks him back and suddenly Mini Mark turns into a bony gun. “This is his needler gun mode for especially flighty patients that don't want me getting closer to them.” Holy fuck. Mini Mark then turns into a tentacled eldritch horror with a mushroom cap. “This is his sensor mode where he can detect any chemical traces two hundred times more effectively than dogs. And also conveniently has a mini map on his mini mushroom cap for ease of use.” She turns Mini Mark into a knife next, and it starts humming. “I also modded him to be my emergency vibroblade for when someone or something inorganic tries to trap me or attack me. Can cut through most non-metals and some metals too!” I stare at Mini Mark the 3rd, suddenly gaining a new level of fear of this little guy.

“So you want to mod me?” I ask with trepidation.

“Oh, no no no. I wanna upgrade you!” Amy says, looking kind of deranged and starting to hyperventilate. “I wanna give you titanium-laced bones, upgrade your muscles to be stronger than hydraulic presses, make you see new colors. Oh I want it so much.” She collects herself then, and adds in a less crazy tone. “Also, what do you think about sometimes being a catgirl?”

“Huh?” I wasn't quite ready for that.

“Right. Scratch that.”

“Was that a pun?”

“Huh?” Now it's her turn to huh.

“Catgirl and scratches.”

“Oh. No, I… maybe? So do you?”

“Do I?”

“Want to be a catgirl sometimes?”

“Hmm. I don't know, Amy. Seems kind of like a major leap in our relationship.” I chuckle. "I didn't know you were into that, of you freaky~"

“I didn't mean sexually!.. I mean unless you want to?”

“No. Not yet maybe.”

“Darn.”

“Still. No catgirl stuff. But I can agree to upgrades.” I pause. “Wait a minute.” I see Amy start sweating profusely. “Did you upgrade me when I got admitted to BB general?” She's shaking. “And then each time we touched after that?”

“How about that kiss earlier? With tongue!” Amy tries to rush me but I hold her up by her armpits.

“Amy Dallon. Did you biotinker on me without my consent?”

“Uh, fuck shit. Fuck!” She tries to wiggle out of my grip for a solid minute as I stare her down, unimpressed by her antics. She gives up soon and goes limp. “Yeah. I'm sorry. No wait! I'm not!” I raise my eyebrow at her. “I deserved that! As a treat!”

“Really now?”

“And- and you didn't get harmed in any way! I actually made you stronger!”

“My power comes with strength boosts.”

“I- I made your boobs bigger? By like half a cup?” 

“I appreciate that but I could get that with surgery if I wanted to.”

“Yeah but they're natural? And- and same sized! And I made your left leg like an eighth of an inch longer so you stand straight!”

“Did you or are you doing it right now and claiming you did it before?”

“I'm not even touching you!” I look down at her pinky lightly touching my elbow. She yanks it back like my skin is on fire. “Okay yes.” She grumbles.

In the end, I made her kneel while holding an A4 paper with “I'm Amy Dallon and I gave my gf top surgery without her consent” written on it. I snap a photo, making sure to catch her grumpy face in it and send it to the Tough Crowd group chat and my game chat. Oh right, they didn't know I was dating anyone.

“Well, what do you have to say for yourself, young lady?” I ask her sternly, which makes her fidget. Oh, I'm saving this one for later. Mommy issues go brr and I'm 100% learning lawyer lingo tonight. Oedipus, Freud, I owe you.

“I'm sorry. I'll ask for consent next time and tell you what exactly I want to do.” She says, looking down at the floor.

“Okay. Apology accepted.” I say and pull her up on her feet. “I forgive you.” I give her a firm hug. She still makes that sound like all the air in her lungs got squeezed out. She looks absolutely dazed. Huh. She must have expected me to lord this over her for longer, reminding her of her mistakes to ‘drive the message in’. Probably what her mother does usually. I'll do none of that. Hooray to having a not total piece of shit dad who raised me properly... Up to like the last two years.

“Just like that?” She asks, voice muffled by my clothes.

“Just like that.” I confirm. “I'm still kinda upset about it, but that's natural. People need time to process things. But yeah, sure. As long as you let me know what exactly you want to do to me, I'm fine with it. And I will keep it a secret, I promise.” She sags in my embrace.

“Pinch me. I think I'm dreaming.” She says, voice still muffled. I move to pinch her and she scrambles away from my hand. “Wait wait wait! Don't actually pinch me! I'm ticklish!” Oh? I catch her by the hoodie and pull her closer to me, one hand grabbing her by the waist and wiggling my fingers. “Bahahahah! No! Mercy! Mercy! Uncle!” I, the merciful and benevolent ruler I am, release her after she squirms in my grasp long enough. She winds down and takes a step back from me, still grabbing her sides for protection. “Don't do that! I'm still self conscious about my body.”

“Aw, but I like it. You're soft and very nice to grab.” She reddens. “And so fun to tease.” She reddens more.

“Uh. So, about that kiss.”

“You still want it?”

“Yeah.”

I lean in and kiss her on the cheek. Oh she looks so betrayed.

“On the lips, woman!” She demands and pulls me… or rather pulls herself to me for a proper kiss. She doesn't linger for long and steps back, sighing in contentment. “Wow okay. That was… real nice." Totally agreed. "Much better than kissing tomatoes and steak.”

I snort. “You were practicing on steak?”

She sputters in indignation. “And you didn't?”

“I did. This is also kind of my first kiss.” I say.

“Kind of?”

“Uhh, I believe I am an entirely different person from the twelve year old me. Also that doesn't count cause I was a child.”

“Oh yeah. I also tricked Vicky into practicing with me before she got together with Dean but we were like.. thirteen at the time. I wasn't even aware I was into girls back then. Just thought ‘wow, wouldn't it be crazy if I kissed my sister?’ which.. ugh. Please forget I just said that.”

“So you're a siscon?”

“PLEASE FORGET I JUST SAID THAT!”

“Oof. Okay. Oversharing is a bitch and I think we both suffer that debilitating condition. I'll forget you ever said that if you promise to seek out professional help.”

“Uhh.. Carol doesn't believe in therapy.”

“She what now?”

“Don't fix what's not broken. And she for sure isn't broken. So there's no way she could raise her kids broken. So they aren't broken either… is kind of her train of thought. Abridged, of course. She said it in a much more lengthy and lawyery way.”

“Amy. I think your mom is kind of a n

ut.”

“Don't I know it.” She sighs and perks right back up. “So! About those experiments!”