Silhouette

James twiddled his thumbs as he waited for his and Sam's results. Doctor Drake had been distrusting about the whole magical contract thing and had questioned James on how he had gotten his hands on them, he had refused to answer of course - though perhaps simply telling her a friend would have done the trick, since technically it was a Mischief member who went to get the scrolls for him after Solvent had finished dealing with Mesker.

It had taken a lot of pleading and promising the doctor that the two of them would let themselves be taken to a specialized hospital in case their results showcased any uncontrollable threat to the safety of Zalcien, but in the end, she agreed to sign both confidentiality contracts, one between her and Sam and the other between them and James.

Sam hadn't even been bothered by the fact James included him in the contract, he knew that although on this outing they were acting like friends in the end they were still employer and employee. Silhouette had secrets and he wouldn't risk letting them be divulged.

The testing itself was quick. There may not have been a needle involved but the two items still looked like syringes, although bulkier than any James had ever seen in real life and with a solid white barrel rather than a transparent one, he wasn't exactly sure what it was made of. Beyond that, the syringes' needles had been replaced by small crystals that looked like stereotypical diamonds.

And considering how much I paid for this whole thing, that doesn't seem too far-fetched...

Realistically speaking they were probably some sort of magical stones, but that didn't matter all that much in the end. Doctor Drake had taken a "syringe" and put the diamond tip on Sam's skin, at which point the small stone began to glow for a few seconds before it stopped, gaining a blurred gray hue. She had done the same with the other syringe on James, and predictably the crystal became black. She had then stood up and walked to the actual examination room and miniature lab, separated from the more administrative area of the room by half a wall.

And here they were, waiting. She had told them the device she used to analyze the results could take some time, especially in case they were complex, whatever that meant.

Sam's eyes, which had been closed so far as he was trying to take a nap, opened wide and stared at James as he idly tapped his foot, his old shoe slowly falling apart as the sole began to detach.

"Could you please stop?"

He raised his head and looked at him - though the gesture was unnecessary considering how his senses worked, James preferred acting more like a person in his 'human' form.

"What?"

"Your foot."

James stared down at the troublemaking limb.

"Oh. Sorry."

"I didn't think you'd be this stressed."

James sighed.

"Well, as you can see, I'm not exactly normal. And you know what I can do. What it could mean."

At that Sam turned pensive, thinking back to what he knew of Silhouette's infusion ability and how much it appeared to break the laws of physics, such as vastly improving materials or turning batteries into nigh-infinite power sources when kept in the dark.

"Yeah. Yeah..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So... I'm guessing those contracts come from one of our new neighbors?"

"Mesker Duskenfer, some sort of hermit wizard. An agreeable man, although very greedy."

"How much?"

"Let's just say I may have to cut down on pastries distribution until the shop is set up and running."

"Ouch. And our salaries?"

"Still assured."

"Good, good."

"And you? How are your little projects going?"

"It's... Progressing. An energy shield is a new venture. I'm more used to physical stuff."

"You can put the shield project on hold for now and focus on something else if you wish. I'm certain a simple shield that people could fold into an armguard or something similar would be more than enough for them."

"No, I have to finish a functional shield prototype first. I'm Techlord, not Techpeasent."

"Maybe something one-time use then? It'd be easier to make, plus people would have to come back to recharge it which would increase our profits."

"I thought your goal was to better the world, not make money."

"It is. But with more funds, we could get better equipment and materials, which means better products. And better salaries for you and the others."

"I haven't talked to them much, but they seem like a nice bunch."

"They're... Quite something. By the way, I wanted to ask, would you want to join us down there?"

"Meh, I have what I need where I am. Plus, I can't help Goliath with stuff if I'm not around."

"How is he progressing so far?"

"He's not bad. He has troubles with everything electronic, but he has a tinkerer's eyes. He's always planning new gadgets for his siblings. I'd say his biggest problem though is his focus."

"How so?"

"He jumps from one idea to the other all the time, and whenever he does focus on one thing he always changes his mind somehow. Like that time he wanted to start using those weird tentacles things you have laying around as cables for a machine, before immediately switching gears and designing a pair of electric whips, all of that while I was teaching him about wielding."

"It's good to know he's having fun. I should probably take some time for them, I've just been so busy lately."

"Oh, they'll love it. It'll also give me a break from all that Captain Cyan stuff."

The sound of glass shattering came from the lab hidden behind the wall traveling half the room and the duo immediately stood up, James' shadow growing longer and various gadgets wiring to life beneath Sam's clothes, both ready to fight. Just as he got ready to step forward James stopped and sat back down, much to Sam's confusion.

"Doc?"

"Im- Impossible..."

The woman's voice was shaky and frightened, seeing his boss wouldn't go check Sam walked ahead and peeked his head around the corner to make sure the medical professional was safe.

"Doc, are you alright?"

The draconic duck hybrid stared at the small screen of a white machine in front of her, both of their syringes plugged in lower down. At her palmed feet were shards of broken glass with black marking on them, probably some kind of beaker, and a rag. Had she used the time the machine took to process their results to clean up?

"Doc, is there any problem?"

Her head snapped toward him, her brown eyes with burning amber slits fixed on his much more regular ones, her jaws grinding her bill shut before she exploded in hysteria.

"YES! YOUR FRIEND IS THE PROBLEM!"

Of course, it was at that point that James stepped in, carefully walking in the doctor's view while keeping some distance between them.

"Is something wrong with my results, doctor?"

"OF COURSE THERE IS! YOU TEST POSITIVE FOR EVERYTHING!"

"Everything, doctor?"

"EVERYTHING! BODY! MIND! SOUL! MIGHT! WILL! FAITH! EVEN CREATION AND DESTRUCTION, AND LET'S NOT FORGET TRANSFORMATION! HOW?"

Sam took a look at his boss and saw him in a new light. A few of those he had guessed, but EVERY Aspect? That... That was something BIG. At least now he knew why his boss was so worried about privacy, he might have not been sure but he had to have had some suspicion of what would happen.

James, for his part, could only speak a single word.

"Oh."

His mind, however, had something else to say.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

"OH? OH? AN 'OH?' WON'T CUT IT! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS MEANS?"

Sam shrugged and answered for his boss.

"That he'll have to be careful but he could become the biggest Super this city has ever seen?"

"NO! YES! NO! YES!"

"Could you make up your mind, doctor? And maybe stop screaming?"

"SORRY, I HAVE TO LET IT ALL OUT AND I HAVE VERY GOOD LUNGS!"

"No problem. And you, boss? Are gonna say something?"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

"Give a minute, Sam. This... Is a bit much."

"Sure, no problem."

"Thank you."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

"So, since I'm compelled to keep all of this secret anyway, can I ask a few questions?"

"If you wish. Your contracts involved not making use of anything you'll learn against me or mine anyway."

"Thanks, boss. So, doctor, how rare is this? I'm pretty sure I would've heard of it if anyone had every Aspect in Zalcien."

"IT DOESN'T HAPPEN! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! NEITHER CORE NOR VESSEL IS MEANT TO ACCOMMODATE EVERY ASPECT, IT'S LIKE PUTTING EVERY SEA AND RIVER AND POND AND AQUARIUM AND POOL AND WATERFALL IN A SINGULAR GLASS!"

"Oh. Well, it ain't that impossible now, is it?"

"THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!"

"Doctor, you said both 'vessel' - I assume the body - and Core can hold Aspects, so where are mine?"

"BOTH! SOMEHOW! WHICH IS IMPOSSIBLE! AN ASPECT IS HELD IN ONE OR THE OTHER, NOT BOTH!"

"That's... Odd. I don't think I have a Core. I've looked and felt around inside my body multiple times and never felt one."

"WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?"

I DON'T KNOOOW-

"That's not for you to know, doctor."

"YOU! YOU... You..."

"Oh, are you done screaming doc? Do you need some water?"

"No, thank you... I have something here..."

She stood up on the tip of her clawed toes and reached inside a cupboard, opening it and taking out a bottle filled with a clear red liquid she gulped down in one go, massaging her sore throat with her free clawed hand, its orange scales hard to see beneath the transparent latex. Once she was done drinking down the bottle's content she set it aside, empty, and sighed.

"Better. Now then, excuse my lack of professionalism but this sort of thing doesn't happen every day. It never does, technically, so you can understand my confusion."

"I must ask, doctor, does my condition have any negative effect?"

"Beyond the broken laws of reality as we know it, no. Somehow you're not unstable and about to explode if you try to do anything at all, which is a miracle. Normally the more Aspects an individual or item holds the stronger yet fragile it is, if there is any sort of unbalance one Aspect might overtake the others, creating a chain reaction of broken powers that wind up destroying the vessel."

"I thought Aspects mixed to create new powers?"

"Yes, and that's where the problem lies. A vehicle that can swim? Easy. One that can also go underwater? Of course, it's even easier to build than one that can only go underwater. A submarine that flies and goes through lava as well as digs underground and flies in the vast expanse of space? It's insane, even for a Super with large resources."

"I see. Yet you say I don't suffer from this?"

"Yes. If my readings are correct - and at this point, I hope they aren't and this is just a faulty test - instead of naturally competing against one another your Aspects are disciplined, for a lack of a better term. They each rest independently, waiting and ready for use, though they do appear to be connected. To keep on the theme of metaphors, your Aspects are different nations and for some reason, instead of waging a great war as it goes on any other continent, they all decided to play nice and sign a treaty that formed a great alliance. Which I must state, again, makes no sense."

"I... I see. Anything else?"

"Well, you have an overwhelming affinity for shadows, and though it doesn't suppress your other affinities it does restrict them."

"In other words?"

"Anything you try to do on the magical front will be tainted by shadows. You can't throw fireballs but you can throw balls of blazing darkness, for example."

"Oh."

"And, to add onto the bizarreness that is you, you somehow possess every bloodline registered in the system and even some that aren't."

"Which means?"

"If this reading is correct, you somehow have draconic, fae, demonic, angelic, spiritual, divine, elemental, undead, unliving, celestial, abyssal, and eldritch ancestry. All at equal levels."

"This doesn't sound healthy."

"If you disregard the impossibility of having an undead ancestor in the first place, the rest isn't that odd. Remnants of them are quite common in many people's blood, the issue here is that they're all equal and relatively recent, like great-great-grandparents - which, before you ask, is relatively powerful considering the power behind these bloodlines."

"So what you're saying is that, beyond the obvious threat of people interested in someone with every Aspect, there is no negative impact?"

"Not for you, no. But I heavily recommend you go to the Hero Union right now or let me make call them to make sure you are safe."

"No, I don't think I will."

Her eyes widened.

"Why? This is..."

"I quite enjoy my freedom, and since the both of you signed a contract, this secret won't leave this room."

"You... You're right, I signed a contract, there's nothing I can do to stop you. But please, please reconsider your choice. Take some time to think about it. This isn't just about you, mister James."

"You're right, it isn't, which is exactly why I can't just go ahead and give myself up to the Union. Good day, doctor."

"Uh, bo- James, you forgot my results."

"Ah, sorry. Doctor, what are Techlord's results?"

"No significant bloodline, no noteworthy affinity, Mind Aspect. But please, I beg of you-"

"Until next time, Doctor Drake."

James left, one of his arms elongating to hold onto Sam's own and drag him outside along with him, all under the worried, scared, and somewhat furious gaze of the doctor.

Soon enough their footsteps grew silent and she heard the door of the clinic close shut. Though she had lost her nerve at what she had discovered and had been foolish enough to sign this stupid contract in the first place, the draconic duck hybrid had an idea on how to share her discovery. Aspect tests were costly to make and needed to be heavily cleaned out before they could be used again, a process so intensive that it needed to be done in a specialized facility in the main city, in a subsection of the Union's Headquarters. As soon as they received her tests sent for cleaning, they would detect something odd and investigate. It was just a matter of time and...

Wait, where were the tests?