Number Man Edits

[Wokistan]

Upgrading intelligence and powers.

Powers
Paralysis Inducement/Biological Manipulation/Pressure Points through math.

• There's a member of one of Teacher's elite squads named Dripfeed. He's a martial artist further enhanced by Teacher to be granted a "death touch" as a Thinker power, giving him an instinctual understanding of where to strike to wreak havoc on the body.

Dripfeed disappeared into the rooms at one side of the hall. Their martial arts expert with further expertise granted by Teacher. (…) Dripfeed was fighting a young woman who was dissolving into bands of flesh. The bands cut the soldier. But he fought back. He slipped past reaching bands, ducking low, then stepped in close. Fingers stabbed at flesh, targeting specific areas. Where the flesh wasn't yet dissolved with her power, Dripfeed's death touch did its work. Each hit used a thinker power to figure out ways to convince the body to produce its own poisons or work counter to its own interests. She coughed loudly, then expelled a mouthful of vomit with a third cough. One hit could be enough, without medical care to reverse its effects. Heart arrhythmia that cascaded into heart failure. Carbon Dioxide bubbles manifesting in the bloodstream as the result of very specific wavelengths. Clots were forced to form by impacted sites of damage, that would immediately float free and lead to stroke. Dripfeed could be sadistic, too, leaving people brain damaged and drooling, or paralyzed and aware.
	~ Dying 15.x​

• This isn't like Panacea or whatever where she's actually manipulating biology with her touch, this Thinker power just lets him strike in the right place at the right time. These are things that can actually happen in real life. That heart arrhythmia thing for example has caused kids to die in baseball games after taking a baseball to the chest at a really unfortunate time.
• As for why this applies to Number Man:

The boy ascended the stairs, adjusting his glasses. A Harbinger. The Wasp Commander and the others turned guns on him, and bands of flesh reached out to grab those guns. He felt a stab of fear. Harbingers were not to be ****** with, given the records. (…) None of this suited anything. Why had he lost, with his elite soldiers? Why a ******* Harbinger? One of the worst potential threats in the list of enemies he'd been briefed on.
	~ Dying 15.x​

• A Number Boy is a threat that's entirely beyond the abilities of this parahuman squad, and thoroughly trounces them with casual ease when he shows up to support Sveta and Ashley. He's also just a Thinker, but a Thinker with a power that can be applied to almost anything because it's just math. They've shown this sort of combat aptitude before, so it would be weird for the far superior combat/general thinker to be unable to do stuff that a Teacher made combat thinker can do.

• There's also how that Number Boy paralyzes the squad leader with a hit of his own. This hit also would have resulted in the squad leader's death, but the process was expedited with a bullet to the head.

The boy stepped forward, two weird stuttering steps like he was dancing or feinting, before he lunged forward, closing the distance, and struck the Wasp Commander. The world spun as the Wasp Commander stepped back, found no footing, and fell into the hole. His head cracked hard against concrete, and he felt his special knowledge flee him, his regular thoughts scattering into darkness and brightness, stillness, and noise. He tried to lift his arms and legs and found them too heavy. The boy smiled, looking down at him.
	~ Dying 15.x​

• Number Man himself is superior to the clones of him at age 12 and with the exception of the weird twin sense thing they got going on he's going to be able to do anything they can do better.

• Him being able to blow up that guy's skull with a pen probably would count as pressure points in itself.

Intelligence
Intelligence to probably Extraordinary Genius. This doesn't matter as much since the feats themselves > the title, but here it is anyways:

Extraordinary Genius: Individuals whose knowledge spreads over many fields of science and who vastly surpass the intellects of the smartest humans on Earth. At this level, many are capable of creating futuristic technology, executing complex strategies even under high pressure, and potentially even accurately predicting the future through sheer mental calculations, or outperforming supercomputers. This is where super scientists of exceptional scientific knowledge begin to appear.

So, let's go through this.

• "Individuals whose knowledge spreads over many fields of science and who vastly surpass the intellects of the smartest humans on Earth."

Off the top of my head he's got math, physics, ballistics, politics, demolitions, construction, economics, and hacking. Alexandria (Worm) can match the smartest non Tinkers with computers, and his Thinker power vastly eclipses her own. He's also able to "generate money from thin air" and greatly refine Cauldron's power vials, which are made out of the brain dead body of an alien god that Contessa's power won't tell her shit about.

• At this level, many are capable of creating futuristic technology

Power vials, and the most efficient designs possible.

• executing complex strategies even under high pressure

Basically every fight he or his clones get in to. He's integral to Cauldron secretly controlling the whole world and predicted the apocalypse several years early, and controlled the world's economy before Gold Morning and after it he and his wife were able to get currency up and running again, under the pressure of "billions of people had just died, several worlds are uninhabitable, and nobody knows what the **** is going on".

• and potentially even accurately predicting the future through sheer mental calculations

Constantly.

• or outperforming supercomputers.

Tattletale thought he might have been able to hack and fix Dragon. Other people who could potentially do this include:

• Teacher's army of thousands of Tinkers and Thinkers all working together
• Saint (Has a backdoor into her system)
• Andrew Richter (Made Dragon, he's also long dead)
• Dragon herself

It's hardly an expansive list.

So yeah, pressure points, bio manip, paralysis manip, extraordinary genius. Tell me what you think.

 

[Promestein]

I'd say Limited Biological Manipulation.

I'm good with this.

 

[Damage3245]

All looks fine to me.

 

[Wokistan]

dmua specifically said he didn't want to see this because I am too far ahead of him in Ward, so I'll apply this but leave it open if people have late complaints.