DC Technomancer: Chapter 5

Starting with his spinal damage, Victor went through the meticulous process of removing the foreign shrapnel lodged in his nervous center, the largest of which was the size of a grain of rice. 

It was also the riskiest part of the procedure, even though Victor’s consciousness wasn’t in his body, he didn’t want to find out what would happen if he experienced a stroke or something similar. 

 Despite the risks Victor didn’t feel the slightest bit nervous, he had researched every file Nex had to offer with the slightest relevance to medicine and surgical operations. That combined with the MedPod’s capabilities Nex calculated that Victor had a 98% success rate. So it wasn’t any surprise when Victor extracted the last piece of shrapnel thirty minutes ahead of schedule. 

 But Victor’s job was far from done, while some of the shrapnel had been surface level most of it had embedded deep into the bone meaning Victor had to chip away to get at the debris leaving behind a patch work of tiny holes and craters. 

‘Now the challenging part,’ With a mental nudge Victor sunk the MedPod’s mechanical arms into the holes across his spine. The needle-thin limbs were by far the most sophisticated part of the MedPod, and the reason why Victor needed Silas’ help with building the machine. 

Not for his technical expertise, but to use his access to some of the most sophisticated tech on the planet including  rudimentary nano machines capable of forming a hive mind to seamlessly create programmable matter. 

The arms swarming over Victor’s back disconnected from the pod and burrowed into his spine before tapping into the nerves underneath. Even outside his body Victor felt an electrical shock as the nanites started to modify his nervous system, like they were programmed too. 

Normally neurons communicated through electronic signals transmitted through cellular membranes but with the nanintes Victor could connect every nerve through a network of  super conductive nanowires allowing his body to keep up with the immense processing speed of his enhanced mind. 

The entire transformation only took a matter of seconds and as it finished Victor’s spine turned pitched black and gained a metallic sheen, ‘Good now even a point blank fifty caliber bullet won’t leave a scratch.’ 

[Victor we only have ten minutes before the alert will be sent out] 

Grunting in response Victor quickly stitched up his back before returning to his body.  Opening his eyes Victor held his breath before reaching down and triggering the automatic release springing the lid open. 

The gel holding Victor in place deflated as the coagulant solution spilling out onto the ground. Taking a gasping breath Victor stumbled out of the Medpod as he adjusted to his new body. 

[Victor we must move now]

“Just give me a damn second!” Victor shouted back out loud as he connected to Star Lab’s security system and activated every alarm possible. The next instant the room was awash with flashing lights and blaring sirens but Victor tuned it out as he walked over to the MedPod and ripped off the control panel. 

Finding the main circuit board Victor took out the fuse before walking over to the wall and disconnecting the coolant line, ‘Alright now we can leave.’ 

---

Stepping out of the elevator Victor looked on as a stampede of researchers and lab technicians rushed past him with confused and terrified looks on their faces, ‘Hmm, maybe there’ll be less casualties than we expected.’ 

[Indeed, they are responding far more calmly than we expected. There’s also a chance that they improved security measures and emergency protocols after the explosion that put you into a coma] 

Victor shrugged as he joined those evacuating, ‘It won’t matter, that MedPod was connected to the building's gas line and AC once it goes off..’ 

Before Victor could finish his thought the entire building shook to its core as a wave of hot air washed through the hallway, ‘There it is.’ 

---

Running out the front doors Victor was surprised to find that an emergency response team was already on site swarming with police, EMTs and firefighters. It was absolute chaos which was perfect for Victor as he slipped away unnoticed to the parking lot. 

As Victor peeled out onto the road in his newly acquired car there was a bright flash of light followed by a loud bang, ‘And there goes the gas line.’

Looking over, Victor stared at the flaming wreckage that was Star Labs, ‘How large was the blast radius again?’ 

[With the explosion originating from so far underground most of the blast was contained. The fire only appears to be so severe due to the flames spreading through the building's AC and ventilation system. I suspect at most fifty feet] 

‘That should make a good headline, keep everyone's attention, make a nice smoke screen so we can slip out of town.’ Victor joked as he took his hands off the wheel and leaned back in his seat, controlling the car with his mind.  

 ‘How long before we reach gotham?’ 

[9 hours forty seven minutes and five seconds]
[Though that is subject to change if predicted traffic patterns hold up] 

‘Add a few hours to that, at some point I need to get some clothes and food that doesn’t come in a liquid form.’  

[Very well searching for suitable locations]
[Once we reached gotham city how quickly do you plan on executing your grand design]

Victor took in a deep breath before exhaling through his nose, “There’s no time to waste, by the end of year I’m going to rule gotham. A city like that is a dime a dozen, a corrupt upper class, crime lords by the handful and a lower class that's been exploited and forgotten about for decades.” 

[What about Batman?] 

‘I would like to say he’s just one man, but with his resources and his feats in the comics I can’t afford to underestimate him. Though from what I remember from the comics his one weakness is his own moral code. I just need to appeal to that, make him think our goals complement each other. Then it's only a matter of time before I’m too entrenched in the city for him to do anything about it.’