When Rocky stepped in, he found Viktor at the alchemy table, his quiet face lit by faint expectation.
"L, you came at the right time. The first batch of Compound V is about to finish."
Once the materials arrived, Viktor started production. This entire run was for their own people, so he did not waste effort on alternate formulations.
Before long, the first vial came off the line.
A blue liquid rested in a glass tube comparable to the Soldier Serum.
Rocky accepted the vial from Viktor, set it on the bench for a quick diagnostic, and confirmed the profile. No issues.
"Alright, Vik. Inject me."
With the checks clean, Rocky did not hesitate. He already had Soldier Serum in his system, and Tyrant-grade cyberware backed him. Side effects would not be a concern today.
The lab's surgical bay was ready. Viktor guided him onto the chair and brought the monitors online. Soldier Serum had taught Viktor this rhythm; his hands were sure even with an unknown drug.
The injection entered clean. This time, the reaction did not.
As Compound V spread, muscles bunched under Rocky's skin. His face tightened. His body folded a little against the pain.
Compound V worked at the gene level. Rewriting the origin of a body never feels gentle.
Viktor caught Rocky's shoulder and steadied him, worry printing across his features.
Then Tyrant kicked in. Pain Editor engaged, cutting signal at the spine. The spasm line on the display settled. The overclocked strength and stability of the Tyrant platform damped the rest of the abnormal responses.
Rocky's breathing evened. The transformation crested and passed.
He sat up on the chair in one smooth motion.
"How do you feel, L?" Viktor asked, letting out his own breath.
"Fine. It hurt, but the Pain Editor did its job. Without one, this would be rough."
Rocky had planned to feel the raw reaction once, so he had delayed the Pain Editor at the start—the verdict: very painful, not fatal. With a full Soldier Serum base, you can ride it out if you can stand the pain.
He closed his eyes and reached for whatever the serum had awakened.
Viktor watched, puzzled, as Rocky reached out and took hold of a power cable snaking from one instrument to another.
Light arced. The lab fell dark.
Power cut?
"What just happened?" Even calm Viktor raised his voice. This tower sat in the municipal core, not Santo Domingo. Power did not just die here.
The lights returned almost at once.
"Easy, Vik. I was testing the ability," Rocky said as the room brightened.
"The ability lets you control electricity?" Viktor asked.
Rocky shook his head.
"Not control. Absorb."
He drew a pistol, aimed at his own forearm, and fired.
The muzzle sparked hard, but the round drooped out of the air as it neared him, as if it had lost its will to move, and tapped the floor without force.
That was the gift Compound V had dealt him.
Energy absorption.
Like the Black King in X-Men, he could take in energy in any form and then release it. The blackout had been him pulling the local electrical load into himself through the line. The bullet had lost its kinetic energy to the same sink and simply fell.
With absorption in play, conventional physical attacks no longer meant much.
There was a limit. The body could only hold so much. Push past the ceiling and the energy inside would tear him apart and leave a backlash that would not forgive.
"This is the effect of Compound V?" Viktor said, voice tight with real surprise despite bracing himself for something unusual.
"Yes and no. This is what Compound V gave me. Each person gets something different. Some very strong, some not."
Rocky stood, feeling the weight and motion of the energy now pooled inside. He was nowhere near full.
Curious about the ceiling, he pulled a heavy machine gun from storage and passed it to Viktor.
"Vik. Fire at me. I want to see the limit."
Viktor eyed the gun, then Rocky.
"Are you sure? This might not be smart."
"It cannot hurt me now. Let it rip."
"Alright."
Viktor set the gun, squeezed the trigger, and poured a stream of metal across the room.
Every round sagged as it neared Rocky and fell harmlessly at his feet.
The spent slugs built a small hill on the tiles. Inside, Rocky felt the reservoir deepen, pressure stacking like a tide that kept stepping higher.
"Vik! What are you doing?"
The shout came from the door.
They both turned. Rebecca, Jackie, and David stood there, eyes wide at the scene spread across the floor and the machine gun smoking in Viktor's hands.