26 HQ Arrives

The next day. Ed's basement lab. 'Time to fix my face.' He reached for one of Dupe's dead bodies. He previously had over 1,000 of them from his earlier experiments. He burned them all to ash and kept one for his facial surgery. He used his powers to melt a small amount of skin and tissue to meld into his own face. He watched in a mirror as the transformations occurred.

The wounds and burns covering his face slowly began to heal. However, he chose to leave the burn scar that Jake had given him behind. The rest of his face was completely back to normal. Next, he tackled his body. Every wound healed, and the skin now looked perfect. It was even better than his previous skin which had held some acne.

Last was his metal limbs. This was the hard part. He had to recreate all of them with his new designs in mind. He stripped the crude flesh paste he had used to cover the metal limbs previously. Then he shrunk the metal limbs and gears to be as small as ordinary arm, leg, and hand bones. He turned towards a large pile of flesh he had set aside.

'I'm quite lucky. The guard squad ran into that fire mutant fox which almost killed me last time. Its flames couldn't breach the mech hulls. The water the mechs used countered the fox perfectly. With it also missing a limb, it ended up being a pretty easy battle for the guards.' He began to melt the muscle and nerve systems of the fox and covered the metal limbs with the flesh.

'Gotta line the nerves up just right…' He carefully attached the nerves to the gears that made up the finger joints and palm. He then connected the nerves to the ball used for the wrist and to the flexible pipe which made up the elbow. The muscle covered the nerves, making it look like a skinless human arm. 'I'll try attaching this before finishing the other limbs.'

His flesh melted where he would have a shoulder and arm if he wasn't limbless. The fleshy metal arm melted as well and connected to his body. It took him several tries to properly melt all of the mutant nerves in the arm and his own nerves to attach them together. He was covered in sweat by the time he succeeded.

He flexed his new arm muscles without using any mana. The muscles tightened together showing a strong bicep in the process. 'This looks so damn freaky without skin. It stings a bit to. Should I have skipped the pain nerves? Hmm, I think I should keep them. Might be useful someday. Weird, I don't feel any kind of rejection from the foreign tissue like Dupe did. Is it due to my powers?' He covered the arm in skin from the mutant fox. It now looked like a completely ordinary human arm.

'Time to give it a test drive.' He aimed with his new right arm at the nearby steel wall. He had to melt the flesh covering his palm when he wanted to use the flame mana-battery or wind mana-battery in his arm. He poured his mana into the two batteries and a compact stream of fire shot out from the arm. It melted a small amount of the steel wall but caused no significant damage.

'Hmm. Since I shrunk the metal arm down to the size of bone, the stream has become much more compact. It seems to be better for single combat, but weaker for multiple enemies. Oh well, everything has a tradeoff in life.' He finished his work on the other limbs and connected them all to his body. He smiled as he gazed into the mirror. 'I look way better now. Dupe spread a rumor that I'd be visiting a surgeon for my scars, so everything should be good to go for now.'

He left the basement and met up with Dupe. "Yo! Calm down about the whole 2nd awakening thing yet?"

Nick glared at him for a moment and then sighed, "I'm over it. Scary bastard." He held out a hand towards Ed.

"Hmm?" He grabbed the hand in confusion and they shook hands.

"Our business partnership is now over." Nick smiled.

"What?!" Ed's eyes narrowed. "You plan on selling out my location to the government or sinner groups?"

"Nope!" He shook his head. "Let's be friends from now on. This is no longer a business partnership, but a friendship instead! Sound good?"

Ed rose an eyebrow and examined Dupe carefully. 'Since I have feeling in my arms now, I might as well test it…' He lifted a hand to Dupe's forehead to see if he had a fever. "You don't seem to be sick? Have you gone insane because of the experiments? That would make sense, all things considered…"

"Quit screwing around!" Nick frowned as he slapped his hand away. "I learned something the other day. You must pick your friends and your business partners carefully. Each one deserves a different level of trust, sincerity, and cooperation. You are a dogshit business partner! However, I think you might be worth befriending. So, no more doing sketchy shit to me okay?"

"Haha!" He laughed. "You don't trust me as a business partner, but you do trust me as a friend? You've really lost it. Sure, let's be friends then."

"Good. By the way, why did you leave one of the burn scars on your face?" Nick questioned.

"This?" Ed rubbed his skin near his left eye. "It serves two purposes. First, it gives me an excuse to hate espers, which is convenient for my plans in Sinless. Second, and more importantly, I'll pay the bastard Jake back someday with interest. Maybe I'll fix it after then."

"Oh." He nodded. "Anyways, Sinless HQ should be here soon. Any idea how or where they're showing up?"

"No clue." Ed shook his head. "The former leader might have known, but I don't. All I know is that everyone in the base was told a month ago that they'd arrive today. I imagine we'll"

A loud sound interrupted him mid-speech. Ten steam quadcopters flew overhead. They hovered 10 meters above some nearby skyscrapers. Men began to jump out from the quadcopters! Each one was in a 2-meter tall mech suit. Ed could barely see them carrying weapons he had never seen before. 'This must be Sinless HQ? Where did the quadcopters come from though?'

…

Sinless HQ perspective. Captain Fang.

Captain Fang stood in front of his group of men in his quadcopter. He was the man in charge of this entire operation. He was of Chinese descent but had moved to Europe after joining Sinless. "Listen up! This place isn't like home. The espers run wild in the west. They gave up controlling the espers in favor of granting them freedom. They've abandoned the ordinary people and forsaken technology in favor of esper's power. We're here to help our downtrodden brothers, while increasing Sinless prestige!"

"Captain!" one of the men yelled. "We've been to the west plenty of times, but never seem to make a major difference in the long-term. Why do we keep bothering with them?"

"99 failures and 1 success is still a success now isn't it?!" He replied. "We can't expand our lines to the west permanently. We lack manpower and resources. However, we may someday find the right partners to expand Sinless in the west as much as it has in the east. Keep your eyes open for such a person. If we don't find him today, then maybe we'll find him next time! Now, let's go! Hoorah!"

"HOORAH!" The other men yelled in reply.

The men put on helmets and began to jump from the quadcopter. Each of them was wearing a 2-meter tall exo suit. They were often mistaken for miniature mech suits due to the similar looks. Captain Fang stared at himself in the window before jumping. His suit was constructed from a mix of steel alloy and mutant leather. It was painted black with his rank painted red on his arm and chest plate. The helmet had a glass visor, which was the biggest weak point of the suit. A large red fist was painted on the back of the chest armor.

He jumped down from the quadcopter and fell over 10 meters before slamming into the ground. Small cracks appeared on the surface of the roof, but he was completely unharmed. The entire exo suit contained a special gel that reduced impact from any type of physical damage. It could block bullets, reduce fall damage, and provide better protection against blunt force. It was a Sinless exclusive technology manufactured from secret mutant byproducts.

Captain Fang held a hand up to his helmet and pressed a small button. "This is your captain. Status report."

"All clear captain. No signs of mutants nearby. Mana-radio is experiencing no interference from any nearby mana-waves."

"Understood. We're taking the quick way down then."

The captain and his 10 men all lined up at the end of the building. They each aimed one arm at the edge of the roof. Then they used their other hand to press a switch on the arm taking aim. A grapple fired from each of their arms and penetrated directly through the concrete roof. They each began to jump down the side of the building. They repeatedly pushed off from the building wall, fell some distance, and swung back onto the wall. Nine other squads of 10 men each from the other quadcopters could be seen doing the same. They were all under Captain Fang's command.

They soon reached the bottom of their respective buildings. They pressed a switch on their arms and the grapples forcefully separated from the building and returned to them. They automatically wound back into their exo suits. They were several neighborhoods away from the local Sinless base. "All squads. I want you to clean up the nearby neighborhoods and rendezvous at the flare within 15 minutes." He pulled out a steam flare gun and fired at a nearby tall building. A flare releasing red flames shot from the gun and lit a small fire atop the building.

"Understood captain!" The voices of each squad leader came through on his mini mana-radio built into his helmet.

He turned to the men behind him. "Rails on. Weapons ready."

"Yes captain!"

The men rose their feet and kicked the bottom of their heels onto the ground. It caused four wheels on the bottom of each boot to appear. The boots were much larger than ordinary boots to begin with. Each one contained a miniature steam engine between the bottom of the boot and the sole. Two small exhaust pipes stuck out of the back of each boot.

A small whistling sound could be heard as steam poured out of the back of the boots. The men began to skate as fast as a steam wagon as they traveled through the city streets. The wind rushed past them as they easily dodged, weaved, and jumped through any debris in their way.

"Snipers. Take point."

"Yes captain!"

Two men separated from the squad and aimed at the top of a nearby building. Two grapples fired out to the top of the building and embedded in the concrete. They jumped onto the building wall and pressed a switch on their arms. The grapple began to retract while staying embedded in the concrete. The wheels on their boots made it easy for them to quickly climb to the top of the building.

The two men pulled large steam rifles from their backs. They each took a long tube and twisted it on the end of their rifle. Then they laid down and aimed through their scopes. "We're in position captain."

"Good. Sending pheromones now." The captain opened a pouch on his tactical belt and pulled out a small glass vial. He opened the stopper and threw it a distance away. It shattered and released some pink powder, but nothing else seemed to happen. "They'll be here soon. Everyone, get in position."

The squad took position in a small one-story building. It left a clear line of sight for the snipers to assist. Two men held large steam hand cannons. It took two hands to barely hold one. Each one took over a window and took aim. The captain and six other men held steam revolver rifles. They were like ordinary steam rifles but could shoot 6 rounds each. The final two men held steam double barrel shotguns.

Several minutes later.

Loud roars began to ring through the air. A horde of mutants could be seen heading towards them. "Weapons free." The captain said.

The two snipers on the roof took aim and fired. Ordinary lead bullets shot from the rifles while a large blast of steam exited from the side. They had to wait 30 seconds between shots to gather enough steam for another shot.

No one else fired yet. They couldn't waste their limited ammunition. Soon, the horde grew closer. The captain and six other riflemen began firing. Streams of steam exited the top of the rifles, making it difficult to see. It took several shots to take down weaker mutants, while the stronger mutants weren't impacted at all.

The two shotgunners didn't wait inside. Steam shot from their skates as they closed in on the mutants. They took aim and fired at the slightly stronger mutant's heads. The recoil forced their skates backwards, but they easily adapted and continued kiting the mutants.

The two hand cannoneers continued to wait for further orders.

"They've gotten close enough. Permission to use mana-ammunition. Cannons free."

"Yes captain!"

The two hand cannoneers grinned as they pulled out small lead cannonballs. However, the ammunition glowed slightly red. They took aim and fired. Boom! Two large explosions rang out as the cannonballs slammed into the horde of mutants. Fire spread everywhere. Several strong mutants among the horde died. The cannoneers waved away the large amount of steam that exited their cannons and began to reload to shoot again.

The snipers started loading bullets that glowed silver. They aimed for only the strongest mutants and fired. Miniature explosions could be seen as mutant heads blew up and electricity scattered around them. Some weaker mutants in the vicinity were paralyzed in the process.

The riflemen loaded bullets that glowed slightly green. A burst of green wind trailed behind each bullet, propelling them at much faster speeds. The ordinary steam revolver rifles had turned into the weapons gunning down the most mutants. The wind completely made up for their weak firepower.

The two shotgunners kept some distance while loading bullets releasing a black aura. Each time they fired, a black mist would encompass the surrounding area. The weaker mutants flesh corroded as they touched the mist. The stronger mutants were slowed down.

It was only five minutes later that all the mutants lay dead in a messy pile of flesh and bones. Captain Fang spoke, "Search them for mana-cores and move on. We don't have the time or resources to collect the other materials for now. You have five minutes. Then we're heading to the rendezvous point."

"Yes captain!"