This piece of insanity by the Worm CYOA stories that are circulating on Space Battles and Sufficient Velocity, as well as a Jack Slash Peggy Sue story I saw. Please enjoy responsibly.
Slash and Burn (Worm CYOA)
Installment 1:
Entry: Reincarnation
Difficulty: Hard (+3)
Powers: Eidolon (-2) and Power Manipulator (-2)
Companions: N/A
Perks: Blank (-1), Shattered Limited (-1), Invictus (-1), Inspiration (-1), Cloak And Dagger (-1), Manpower (-1)
Complications: Markedx3 (+3), The Slaughterhouse is Hiring (+4)
Reincarnation Backstory: Jack Slash, somewhere in New Hampshire near Brockton Bay.
Hehehehehehe….
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHH!
WHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA!
+S&B+
I wake up with a start and look around in confusion, then two sets of memories settle into place, one which explains why I am here in this bed, the other explaining that I'm a fictional character.
Huh.
I wonder for an instant if I've been mastered, before the world seems to tilt on its side and invert as my power shifts and warps. I can feel the new power meshing with my second set of memories, my own power and old memories drowning in the ocean of power, fading, weakening, slipping away…
+S&B+
Excellent. I'd hoped I'd win out over that of Jack's or should I say, old Jack's memories. See, the CYOA says that the memories are meshed flawlessly and the personality is set by me, and the powers are explained in my backstory as well, so my justification was that the memories come with the powers, making Jack Slash, me, not a total monster, but rather a megalomaniacal one. My new memories and personality were carried over by the new powers.
Or at least that's my Watsonian explanation, and it's the one I'm sticking with since I'm now in my own story. At least I've got broken powers with which to power trip with.
Anyway, it's time for Jack Sash to save the world… "HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Uncle Jack, what's so funny? You aren't playing with anyone," a young girl's voice asks.
I sit up in bed, a faint trace of embarrassment from my second life on the edge of my awareness. It's a cute little girl with blue hair, blue eyes, healthy skin, and blood covered surgeon's scrubs.
"Nothing, just thinking about a wonderful idea I just had, my little Bonesaw," I tell her, reaching out with my power manipulation. Teacher could buff people while at the same time implanting subtle mind control, so why couldn't I do the same. Given the targets, I don't think most people would object. At least about that.
I send one of my ten charges into her power, slightly strengthening her tinker abilities while at the same time slaving it and it's user to my own power. Well, not exactly 'slaving,' more like a subtle control that helps makes them believe in me and what I say so that they will never turn against me.
Egregious violation of human rights? Absolutely. Valid targets? Hell yes.
I instinctively know that three of my Eidolon powers (which I'll now call Jackpot powers to avoid confusion and to stroke my new, magnificent ego since I'm much better than Eidolon) are a stranger power to prevent my compatriots from suspecting or stopping me, a thinker power to locate my targets, and a teleportation power to instantly appear next to them.
I focus on Bonesaw for a moment. "Be a dear and gather everyone together, we need to have a family talk."
Bonesaw nods. "Okay Uncle Jack."
"Good girl," I tell as I ruffle her hair, before teleporting to Dr. Manton and tagging him with another of my Loyalty Power charges before repeating the process with the others over the course of a about a minute.
Make that 43 seconds. Thinker powers for the win!
With the Slaughterhouse now gathered around the living room the house we had commandeered, I began to lay out my play trusting in my Inspiration Perk and my eight Loyalty Power charges to help them go along with me.
"We are gods, my friends, my family," I say. "We belong at the top, but we have been played."
I looked around and saw their mix of curiosity and promise of violence. Siberian frowned, sitting on a chair. Actually, come to think of it, I might have to do more than just give them the power of loyalty. Maybe something to stop all the murdering. Meh, it could wait.
"The Simurgh has been using her powers to make us her tools, but gods are no tools. This realization has given me something I thought I would never have: a second Trigger." With that I levitat into the air as rainbow light swirled around me.
I saw Bonesaw frown. "But aren't second triggers supposed to be induced by long term suffering?"
Shatterbird frowned from where she sat perched on an armchair. "The why haven't we seen more?"
I snap my fingers, creating a thunderclap. "An important question, but not one we need to answer at the moment. What is important is that we fix this, and I have a way. I can now pick and choose any powers I want and am now as strong as Eidolon in a fight; no I am better, obviously. What's important now is that one of my powers has shown me a way to fix this and assert ourselves as the gods we are.
"Now I know that you think this life is enough, and frankly, it's great, but it's not enough, we deserve more, we need more, and I'll tell you why. We are feared, as we should be, but we are not respected, worshiped by those beneath us, the merely human, as we should be. We deserve their adoration for our greatness, each and every one of us, and that's what I plan on doing now. Making us once and for all the masters of this sandbox we call Earth so that we can reshape it to our whim, instead of playing by others' rules as we have with the Endbringers.
"Now you may question my logic in this, but think, they each have to power to kill all life on Earth several times over, so why don't they? Because they want to play with us. But are we toys? No! We are the Slaughterhouse Nine and we are no one's toys. They are our toys, and we're going to remind every single person on or near this planet of that fact. And with my power I now know a way to kill all three Endbringers and make our world come to fruition because we're going to be changing the rules, for all of them."
+S&B+
I had managed to leverage my thinker powers into convincing the others into following my lead, in part because of my Loyalty power, and now we were preparing to go to our next destination: Brockton Bay.
I was busy packing my collection of knives and considering what to spend my last two Power Manipulation charges of the day on when Bonesaw came into my room, watching me carefully. The others were away and her caution seem odd. "What's wrong, Bonesaw?"
She stood there for a moment, tense, before saying, asking, "You're not Uncle Jack?" She tilted her head in curiosity. "You're behaving differently, and they are too. You did something to him, too us."
I crouch in front of her and look her in the eyes. "Not exactly, Riley… I'm newer, better. And I'll probably pick a different name soon, to help things along. Might change my body too."
She stands silently for a long time, studying me with her eyes and her implants. After a long silence, she nodded. "I can help with that."
"I'm glad for any help you can give me, Riley."
She shuffles her feet for a moment before looking around, checking if anyone else is nearby. "When you stop being Jack Slash, can I be someone else too?"
I shrug. "Want to do it yourself or do you want me to give you a shape shifter power?"
She grinned. "Both!"
+S&B+
We watch the swarm of bugs get burned away by Lung as he quiet literally explodes, sending fire everywhere. His attacker tries to slip away, but Lung hears the sound of gravel being stepped on and leaps across the street and two stories up, slamming into the wall before he begins to climb the rest of the way to the roof.
"Showtime!"
The two of us teleport to the roof of the warehouse, Aegle next to the bug cape and me on the edge of the roof so that I can look down into Lung's eyes.
I smirk down at him. "So, you are the one they call Lung, the raging dragon man?" He growls and continues to climb up. "Well, I am Hyperion," I prepare five different blaster powers at once,
"AND I AM THE LIGHT OF JUSTICE!"
With that I unleash all five of my glowing bright blaster powers on him at once with an intensity brighter than the sun, slamming him into the ground with such force that the whole building shook, the night was temporarily banished, and a cloud of hot dust was sent into the air.
"Also known as Jack Slash," I quietly add.
I then teleport over to Taylor Hebert – though of course I'm not supposed to know that – and Aegle. She seems a bit shaken at the sudden rescue, so I hold out my glowing silver and white hand and introduce myself, "Hi, I'm Hyperion and this is my partner Aegle."
Aegle smiles, "You did a good job fighting him with your bugs, what's your name?"
Yes, I, Jack Slash Self Insert, am recruiting Skitter for my "superhero" team. Probably not the best thought out plan, but whatever, I'm not really seeing a problem with this.
+S&B+
If one were to read Jack Slash's planner, they would find: (As a note, based on the Worm CYOA, Jack Slash has 10 Power Creation charges per day.)
Day 1: Loyalty Power (1) X 8 (Distributed to the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine); Empower Jackpot Power X 2
Day 2: (Empathy Upgrade to all Loyalty Power holders and Hyperion [this last is a precaution against sliding back into EVIL]); Form and Clothing Shapeshifting (5) X 2 (1 Distributed to Bonesaw)
Day 3: Empower Jackpot Power X 8; Blink Teleportation (2) (Distributed to Aegle)
A/N: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Readers: I'll need a good name for S&B!Protagonist and Riley's seven new "superhero" teammates, do you have any suggestions?
Okay, so why did I pick The Slaughterhouse is Hiring? Well, I am in the Slaughterhouse, and it is hiring, and I'd say Jack considers himself interesting. It also balances out the fact that by picking Jack Slash I'm pretty much making myself (or rather my Jack Slash/SI hybrid) a huge target.
This is a humor story, and the S&B!Jack Slash is now a "Good Guy," or at least as close as power-driven mind modification and the insertion of another life's memories can get. Also, please be aware that this character IS NOT ME AT ALL!