Chapter 5 - 3- Be Prepared

After about an hour of running different tests, I learned a couple things about Resonance. First, all heroes had a time limit of five minutes before I ran out of uptime. I could cancel it at any time before then, too. Second, there was a cooldown period where I could not turn into a hero after using their powers. This seemed to be for three times as long as I had used their powers. Third, I could not shift directly between heroes. I had to switch back to my normal self before I could do a new Resonance. Additionally, I found that it took about three seconds in the fog to shift. That meant at least six seconds of vulnerability. And it made no sense. While playing Overwatch, you could do it as long as you were in the spawn area. And my "spawn area" was wherever I wanted, so what was going on? Maybe it was locked for now?

The last thing I found, with a bit of embarrassment, was that I was always as much myself as possible when I Resonate. When I became Soldier: 76, I was still me, even though my hair turned white and I felt old. If I turned into Zenyatta, on the other hand, I really would turn into a robot. Fine. The embarrassment actually came when I turned into Tracer. Her orange and white suit was adapted to fit me perfectly, and everything was fine.

Then her memories and experience came. Being a pilot, fine. Being lost in time, a little scary but all in the past. Being a girl, weird. Being a lesbian, a combination of weirder and interesting. Because at least the memories were of having a girlfriend and not a boyfriend.

Luckily the Resonance only lasted a few minutes, and the memories drained out of my head. Still embarrassing to remember the memories of the memories.

Now, try saying that five times fast.

I wrote down everything I had learned in the same notebook that I had written down the MCU information. As I was pondering the mysteries of my Resonance power, I heard the doorknob jiggle and unlock.

"Hi mom," I shouted.

"Hi Venn, I'm back!"

"How was Mrs. Edgerton?"

"The old lady is still doing really well. She talked my ear off like she always does. All I wanted to do was make sure she was doing okay, and give her some cookies, but she went off on a tangent about her son, and wondering why your uncle doesn't visit, and on and on and on. Well, she's just a lonely old woman, and she will talk as much as she is given an opportunity. Oh, by the way, while I was coming back here, I got a call from Mrs. Song. She heard about what happened to you at the pool somehow and wants you to drop by soon. You know, show Rachel and the twins that you are fine."

"Okay mom, I'll go visit tomorrow."

Rachel Song. A childhood friend of mine I had no direct experience meeting. She lived just down the street. When we were little, her parents took her to the same park that my parents took me to, which is how we got to know each other.

Come to think of it, her dad was a kung fu master or something like that. Rachel knew it too. Perhaps she could teach me and help me raise my base stats. It definitely wouldn't hurt to get some direct battle experience….

"Venn? What are you thinking about?" My mom shook me out of my thoughts. I guess it was just going to have to wait for later.

"Nothing. Just thinking about seeing Rachel."

Mom had a strange smile on her face. Who knew what she was thinking.

I turned back to my notebook. There was so much to do to prepare. I had to find out all of the details of my power. There had to be a way to improve my uptime. Well, if there was a way, it would probably come naturally through experience. And, ȧssuming that was the case, I arrived at the same questions that most Esports gamers come to: what is the meta? Who do I main?

I started with those who could hit hard in the middle of a fight. Hanzo's Dragonstrike would probably be good to throw through the portal in the Battle of New York. Reinhardt would be a good tank to take on just about anyone. Genji's Dragonblade and mobility would help me to get around the battlefield New York would become. For even more mobility and explosive punch, I couldn't leave out Pharah. Or Tracer. The list kept going on.

Then I listed people that could be applied outside of combat as well, so I could make even more preparations. Winston's tech knowledge would be very useful, and his Primal Rage would also be welcome. With Sombra's hacking skills, I would have a plausible reason to have advanced knowledge from SHIELD. Lastly, supports for search and rescue in the aftermath of the battle.

I sighed. There were too many people I could use. And who knew how improvements would come. If it came too slowly, I might have to cut back and only work on one or two from these lists. At least I had a couple of years to figure things out.

"What the heck happened to the ceiling here!?"

"I have no idea mom! Maybe it was ninjas!"

You know, if I survived long enough to do it.