A/N: So, officially my first Worm fanfic, and it's crack. I'm getting back to my roots.
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WORM! THE MUSICAL!
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Disclaimer: Worm was created by Wildbow.
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"All right," Director Piggot said, just the faintest bit of dryness entering her voice as she surveyed the members of the Protectorate in the conference room. "Let's try this again. What happened? Without the song and dance."
It was a measure of how weirder than normal the day was that she meant this literally.
"13:23 hours, we received a call from Shadow Stalker reporting that Winslow public school and much of the surrounding area had been affected by a wide area Master effect," Armsmaster began, and the display showed a map of the area of a circle superimposed upon it. "Later analysis showed the effect extended over two blocks. Shadow Stalker's report was sang in power ballad format in the key of A-flat major, in quadruple meter at a tempo of 137 beats per minute. This immediately raised a flag and she confirmed in the final stanza of her report that she herself was under the effect, but that it did not seem to be affecting her reasoning. This was later found to be incorrect when she gave an aria confessing to a protracted bullying campaign of a fellow student while at the time believing it to be an internal monologue."
"Monologuing," Assault snickered as Battery elbowed him. "Rookie mistake."
"We will discuss that later," Piggot said. "Continue with the sequence of events. And leave out the musical minutiae."
Armsmaster nodded. "PRT and Protectorate assets were deployed in conjunction with the BBPD to isolate the area to prevent entry. It was found that civilians who managed to exit the area of effect reverted to normal, with many expressing confusion as to what had happened and in several instances severely out of breath and with minor sore throat from protracted singing. A triage center was established to deal with those with minor injuries resulting in leaving the effect and losing the granted physical coordination and choreography, as well as broken bones from those who had been in the middle of physical stunts when they had left the effect."
"At 14:07 hours, the boundary of the Master effect increased, bringing Triumph and I into the area of effect. I began tap dancing despite having no history of either training or inclination in any form of dance while becoming simultaneously compelled to convert one of my halberds into a combination Theremin and guitar synthesizer. I then proceeded to perform an improvisational piece that synchronized with my tap dancing, despite no prior training in musical theory and no history of interest in music," Armsmaster reported stoically. "Triumph was similarly compelled to engage in what I am informed was known as 'street dance' and began passively using his powers to manipulate surrounding sound into cohesive harmony. In coordination with my tap dancing and halberd playing, I began to sing, despite no previous training, of my intention to save the day, with Triumph providing vocal harmonies. Affected civilians began to center on us, providing backup vocals, choruses, improvisational music and sound effects. This continued until the area of effect contracted once more, to about its original dimensions, and I immediately ordered the cordon be pushed back further in case the fluctuation should happen again. The area was then declared a quarantine zone."
"We continued to receive information from the area from videos posted online, indicating that the effect does not seem to disable Bystander Syndrome in the affected individuals," Miss Militia said, and if her voice was a touch wry, it was not exactly uncalled for. "Shadow Stalker's confession aria being one of them. Fortunately, she did not explicitly state her identity as a Ward, but it was a close thing, and a literary analysis of the transcript strongly hints at it."
"Exact measurements of the dimensions of the effect were taken using disarmed volunteers on retrieval lines, and were were able to map out the area and approximate center of the phenomenon," Armaster continued. "At 21:41 hours, the Master effect suddenly collapsed. A retrieval team was sent to detain Shadow Stalker while Miss Militia and Battery went to investigate the center of the phenomenon. They found an unconscious student in a locker full of toxic biological wastes, conforming to the violent gangster rap portion of Shadow Stalker's confession. The student was moved to Brockton General and under heavy guard. She is tentatively identified to be the cause of the Master effect, who likely triggered as a result of her incarceration. She has since been identified as Taylor Hebert, temporarily designated Aoide."
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- To be continued…!
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A/N: So, Taylor Triggers as a Master/Trump that gives people in an area a Thinker power for massive choreography, lyrical rhyme and improvisational music; a hivemind to coordinate all of this together, and a compulsion to sing and dance. The effect would be stronger around parahumans, making them the centerpiece of any choreography.
Please review, C&C welcome.
Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.