Subject: Worm CYOA choices

Nature of Entry: Self-Insert

Difficulty: Skitter Mode

Complications: Markedx3, Leviathan, S9 is hiring

Powers: Power Manipulation

Perks: Blank, Inspiration, Shattered Limiter, Invictus, Cloak and Dagger, Manpower, and Secret Lair.

Who the hell is this anyway?

Click to shrink...

With that, I sent the mail and went back to browsing the creating writing forum.

About half a minute later, I received a reply.

"Thank you for your time. Good Luck."

Weird.

After that I promptly forgot about the whole thing until the next day.

Waking up in an unfamiliar bed to an unfamiliar ceiling was what first clued me in that something had happened while I was asleep.

Last edited: Jan 22, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Jan 16, 2015

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#2

Index

Prologue - Above

1 - Welcome to another world, now die!

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

2 - Into The Bay

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.x Interlude - Wards

3 - Well This Was A Bad Idea

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.x Interlude - Taylor

4 - Towards A Bright New Day

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.x Interlude - Piggot/Dragon

5 - Send In The Clones

5.1

5.2 - retconned

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.x Interlude - Dinah

6 - Off The Rails

6.1

6.2

6.3

6.4

6.5

6.6

6.x Interlude - Various

7 - Cloning Around

7.1

7.2

Created Power List

Total Charges - 80

Current Unused Charges - 0

Nurse Bane - Powerful regenerative healing factor capable of regenerating lost limbs, healing nerve damage, and keeping the body in good physical health. Probably not able to heal full destruction of brain. Also suppresses pain to a degree. (6 charges)

Smash Refuge - Creates seven hexagon-shaped forcefields around half the size of a person that are capable of withstanding RPG and plasma cannons. Also doubles as a bashing weapon as the forcefields can be moved at will in any way. Has a range of ten metres. (4 charges)

Blink - Allows instantaneous teleportation to any empty location in range. Limited range of fivemetres. Causes some nausea if used too frequently in a short period of time (1 charge)

Shining Blaster - Allows one to fire either powerful bolts of concussive force or a large beam of energy. Can also shape energy into a ball which can be thrown and set to explode after a delay of up to five seconds. Can be charged up for more powerful attacks. (5 charges)

Umbrella Clear - Creates a forcefield that turns whatever is inside it invisible. Invisibility is selective. (2 charges)

Phantom Geist - Allows one to phase through almost anything with no time limit. While intangible, the user requires no sustenance such as food, water or air. Intangibility can also be applied to others for a limited amount of time. (5 charges)

Air Boost - Allows one to ignore gravity and propel themselves slowly through the air. Can also be used to propel one in any direction through a burst of energy. (2 charges)

Black Hole Eater - Allows one to eat any quantity of food with no negative effects. (1 charge)

Lightening Blade - Allows one to form a sword of light that is capable of cutting through metal from their hand. Power and length of the blade changes with the number of fingers that are out and focus from the user. (3 charges)

Auto-Battle - Enhances reflexes to the point of automatically dodging and counter-attacking any attacks, including surprise attacks from blindspots. (3 charges)

Cosplay Create - Transform any clothing worn to whatever outfit the user desires. (3 charges)

Cool and Cooler - Immunity to fire and heat attacks and fire-related environmental hazards. Immunity extends to anything in contact with the user's body. (3 charges)

Bright Overdrive - Temporarily enhance any power by a significant margin that the user has. Puts a bit strain on the user after each use. Don't use in quick succession. (3 charge)

A Thousand Faces - Change one's appearance at will. Nationality, voice, height, stature and gender can be changed to whatever the user desires. Changes occur at a genetic level. (3 charges)

Restraint Rings - Form rings of light that, when thrown, hones in on a target, splits, and restrains them. Lasts for about an hour before fading. Restraints are as strong as steel. Limited range. (2 charges)

Blast Strike - Every time the user hits something, a small blast of explosive force erupts from the point of contact. Doesn't affect the user. (2 charges)

Super FX Max - Allows the user the cosmetic and audio effects of any power he has. Also allows the user to create minor auditory and vision illusions for theatrical purposes. (3 charges)

Space Whale Shard Radar - Allows the user to detect the presence of parahumans with passengers, dead or alive, within a certain radius from themselves. (2 charges)

Me, Myself, and I - Allows the user to create near-perfect duplicates of themselves. All powers except power manipulation are copied. All duplicates are linked telepathically and emphatically. Prime User is able to switch places with any duplicate. Death of the Prime will cause one of the duplicates to become the new Prime. Duplicates can recombine to merge their experiences, skills, and knowledge. Limited to 40 clones at any one time. Clones can also duplicate themselves. However, clones made this way are essentially mindless drones. (11 charges)

Invisible Steal - Allows the user to "steal" objects without touching them. In effect, this power teleports objects into the user's hand when they perform a grabbing gesture at the desired object. The user can also feel out for objects that are hidden from their sight and steal them as well. Can also ignore the Manton Effect, allowing theft of body parts and object within a person's body. Has a range of two hundred metres. (6 charges)

Uber Time - Allows the user to gain high proficiency in any one skill of their choosing. Skill is lost upon switching to another. (1 charge)

Doctor Punch - Allows the user to to heal others and themselves by physical contact that would normally be considered harmful. Those you are struck by this ability are restored to a state of wellness as opposed to merely biologically recovering from injuries. Can only heal combat injuries, not illnesses or medical conditions. (3 charges)

Bomber Scan - Allows the user to sense bombs of all type in a large area. Has a range of one kilometres but only pings general locations of bombs. (1 charge)

Anti-Technology Contact - Allows the user to disable any technological device with a touch. (2 charges)

Powers on others:

Master Chef Worm - Tinker power with focus on cooking in general. (1 charge)(Equipped on Eve)

Automotive Mechanica - Tinker power focus on creating power ranger and kamenrider styled vehicles and robots. (1 charge)

Copied Powers: - (Each copied power takes up a charge)

Glory Girl - Flight, superstrength allowing one ton deadlifting, durability based on skin-tight forcefield. Also make aura of awesome or terror depending on whether you're an enemy or friend. (1 charge)

Last edited: Mar 12, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

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1.1 Welcome to another world, Now die!

I lived in a ground floor unit of a residential building block. It had three bedrooms, a small kitchen, a bathroom and a living room. The floor was nylon carpeting and the place had popcorn ceiling. My bed was an old one and had a spot where a spring would poke me if I didn't sleep with a blanket under me.

My home was a small but comfortable place.

This was not my home.

The ceiling I was looking at was not popcorn nor was the bed old or poking me in the back but the most damning evidence of apparent relocation was that it was nice and cool.

When I went to sleep, it was a summer night and humid as hell. My place did not have air conditioning.

Wherever the hell I was, it was definitely not home. The walls were white and clean, completely bereft of any smudges or stains. The ceiling was smooth and light blue colour and the room I was in was spartan.

Where the fuck am I?!

My heart was beating fast now. A dozen thoughts on how and why I was here crossed my mind. Kidnapping? Alien Abduction? Sleepwalking? Ninja? Batman? Rapist? ROB?

Several times I covered my face with the very fluffy pillow and my head with the really soft blanket, hoping that everything was just a dream and when I woke up I'd been back home in a familiar place. After it became clear that this was no dream and it seemed like nobody was coming, I forced myself out of the bed.

"Huh" Someone changed my clothes while I was sleeping. Camo patterned cargo pants, black t-shirt with hippy pattern on the front and my favourite red hooded vest. Well, this just disturbs me just a bit more. The shoes I was wearing were new though. Finally, proper sneakers.

Also it looked like my phone and wallet were with me. My phone was off though but there was fifty in my wallet that wasn't there before. Free money, can't say no to that.

Now a bit more awake, I gave the room a better look. It looked very modern, if lacking in decorations. Fluorescent lighting, a large dresser with a full size mirror attached, and a sleek white desk. The dresser was full of clothes, all of it my size and the desk had all kind of stationary in its drawers.

Still no clue to how I got here or why?

There was no sense in just sticking around here so I headed for the door out of the room. The metal door slid open automatically as I approached them and I found myself in a hallway lined with about a dozen doors. Huh.

Looking over my shoulder, I took a glance at the door to the room I was just in and saw a sign on the front that said, "Master's Room"

"...Okay. What." I began walking down the hall, looking at the doors, each of them having numbers on them from one to twelve. The door at the other end of the hallway had a sign that said "lobby" and they slid open like the master's room when I approached. Another hallway, this time with no doors. Feeling unnerved by all this, I hurried to the other end which led to an open area.

I stopped and took in the actual lobby.

It was a large room, with polished black material for walls and ceiling. The floor was tiled black and white and there were pillars of fishtanks with fish and bubbles, light up and lining the walls between the openings to other areas of wherever the hell I was. However, what got my attention the most was the circular desk at the center of the room.

And the person standing there.

Finally someone and possible answers.

"Hey! Where am I!?" I cried out to the person at the desk as I headed towards them. Then I stopped when the person turned towards me and flickered for a moment. Wait, flicker?

I rubbed my eyes and looked again to make sure my eyes weren't messing me. I frown as I looked at the person "What"

Standing behind the desk was a young woman in a suit. She had grey hair tied up with a clip behind her head and she had blue eyes. She was also slightly see-through. Immediately I thought of holograms. I wasn't looking at a person, I was looking at a hologram. What the fuck!?

The hologram lady smiled and bowed her head slightly towards me "Greetings."

"GYAH!" I fell on my butt. I was not expecting that. I was also not expecting the hologram lady to make a concerned expression and walk through the desk before making her way over to my side. She held her hand up to help me and I took it, feeling mortified. My hand went through her hand. Right, hologram.

"My apologies. I forget that I'm a hologram sometimes." The holo-lady looked mortified as well, her face turning red as she realised her mistake. I shook my head and made a neutral expression as I got back to my feet.

"It's fine." I assured her while my mind raced to figure out what was going on. "So...where am I and who are you?"

"Ah! Of course, how rude of me. My name is Eve and this is the Garden." The hologram, Eve replied cheerfully. I stared at her as I process this new tibbit of information and what it might mean. Her name and the name of this place were obvious references to the Garden of Eden but that told me nothing important.

"O….kay. Well then, you wouldn't mind telling me what exactly is the Garden and how I got here or why?" I asked. Now that I was looking at her, Eve was actually quite cute. I mentally scolded myself. This was no time to check out chicks, especially holographic ones.

"Of course I don't mind. The Garden is an underground base that was built by my father in order to work in peace. It is fully equipped with all various facilities, workshops, and fully self-sufficient. The garden draws power from multiple geothermal sources alongside the main fusion reactor. It is also my home and I've been living here for three years, forty-two days, eight hours, thirty-one minutes and fifty-six seconds."

I stared at Eve, taking in the description of this Garden base I was in. What the fuck!?

Wait. Now I remembered. That thing I did yesterday, the CYOA. I chose the secret lair perk, didn't I? Did that mean - hang on.

"Okay. That's sound pretty cool."

"Yeah! I know! The Garden is the best!" Eve seemed happy to be able to tell me about the Garden. But there were still questions that needed to be answered.

"Right. You haven't told me why I'm here or how I got here yet."

"I apologise but I do not know the answer to that."

"Damn." Fucking ROB. I probably should be freaking out right about now but I felt calm. I probably hadn't quite caught up to my situation yet. "Okay then...who are - "

Bang.

I stopped in mid-sentence as something hit me in the back. Slowly I turned my head and saw what I could only describe as a large gun with mechanical pegs. Or a sentry drone. I could feel blood begin to flow out from my wounds and I turned back to Eve who could only now had a sad expression.

"I apologise for this. As per my protocols, all intruders are to be eliminated. I was stalling for time while Dog-1 arrived." Eve explained sadly. "I'm very sorry about this but I can't disobey my father's orders. It was nice talking to someone after so very long. The shell that Dog-1 used have an anesthetic effect so you shouldn't feel a thing. It is the least I could do for you, mister intruder."

Absentmindedly, I gave Eve a nod before I slumped to my knees and fell forward on my face with blood beginning to pool around my body.

Why, I thought as I laid on the ground dying.

Without answers, without any real reason and against my wishes (durr) my life was being cut short. How was I suppose to know that I was not meant to be here? I had no information. No warning. No anything.

Maybe this was all unrelated to the email and some bastard ROB had sent me here to die for their amusement.

Fuck my life. Just fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!

MOTHERFUCKING FUCK!

THIS WAS FUCKING BULLSHIT!

My mind was raging at the unfairness of all this. WHY!? JUST WHY DO THIS!?

Just why...

The world stopped. Suddenly I was standing above my fallen body. Was this an out of body experience or did I just die? I grimaced at the sight of my perforated back. Ouch. Then I looked up and almost fell backwards at the sight of...something.

It was immense.

It was minuscule..

It was beautiful.

It was hideous.

It was black.

It was white.

It was everything.

It was nothing.

It was….

It was..

I couldn't comprehend it. All I got was an impression of a smile and then….

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Jan 16, 2015

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#4

1.2

I was back on the ground, still bleeding out from the various pellet shots in my back. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl. The ground felt all so cold.

No wait, that's just me. Fuck.

Despite the fact that I should be freaking out, shutting down and making my peace, I wasn't feeling particularly worried.

I could now see it. Or rather I could feel it.

Ten clumps of potentiality were now floating around in what could only be called my metaphorical being. I knew full well what these were, after all they were part of the power manipulation package. Ten charges to convert into whatever powers I could think of, and right now they were my ticket to not dying a pointless, meaningless death.

Well, no better time to start then the present.

Somehow I...metaphorically(?) grabbed one of the clumps. Now how do I do this, how do I make this become a power that could save my ass?

I was only left than a minute away from dying so I had to get this right of the bat.

Okay, mental command. Charge turn into a healing factor power!

….

Okay, let's try something else.

This time I focused on the charge, while bringing up an image of what I wanted. I wanted a healing factor, like that of Wolverine. A passive effect that healed any damage that I took and restored me back to full health.

Rapid cellular regeneration, regeneration from dismemberment, organ regeneration and replacement, healing that pushed out foreign object such as bullets rather than healing around them - that was the kind of healing factor I wanted.

The charge reacted, slowly shifting into something more defined.

Good, good. The healing factor should use energy independant from my own. A bottomless pool that would automatically be drawn upon without effecting my own stamina and lifeforce.

The shifting sped up, transforming from a formless lump into what I could only describe as a crystalline form, despite the fact this was happening all metaphorically within my head or subconscious.

I frown mentally. The basis was there but it wasn't as powerful as I wanted it to be. Potent but still not enough. As it was, it would use up my strength to heal me, and my lifespan would be shortened. It would also heal around the pellets that were currently lodged in my flesh. This would not do at all.

Almost immediately, I grabbed three other clumps and pushed them together with the healing factor. The clumps were absorbed by the defined power and shifted accordingly to my desires. The crystalline form of original power became more complex and larger as the need for source of energy was made needless, the healing factor made more potent, and the ideal healing pattern were engraved into its function.

When the shifting stopped and it finally locked into its place within me, I was awed.

It was beautiful. It was sublime. It was magnificent.

And it was mine.

And with a single nudge of my thoughts, I turned it on.

….

I forgot to add pain suppression.

"OWFUCKINGSHITFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKINGMOTHERFUCKINGFUCK!"

"Kyah!"

I writhed on the ground in pain, my sudden liveliness surprising Eve.

PainpainpainpainpainIwasmadeofpainpainpainohsoagonisingpain

And then it stopped.

I let out a breathe of relief. Dear god that was painful. I grabbed a charge and smashed it together with my healing factor. There, no more painful healing in the future. Eve was now looking over me with simulated concern.

"Oh my." The simulated concern in Eve's voice was palpable. Right she wanted to make sure my death was painless.

What a nice girl.

If you ignored the whole distract me while a killer robot shoots me in the back thing.

Speaking of which, I was now on my back and I could feel the pellets that were previously in me between my flesh and the ground. I reached up and rubbed the tears of pain from my eyes and gave the hologram girl a tired look.

"I'm not dead."

"No. No, you're not." Eve replied, sounding very apprehensive. "I'm very sorry for all the trouble."

"Don't be. I'll live."

"Then I apologise for what is going to happen next." She said, looking apologetic. Oh, fuck me.

I forced myself to move and just barely managed to dodge the shot from Dog-1.

Back on my feet, I gave the holographic entity a chagrined look and stepped slowly away from the killer robot "Can we please not do this? I really do not want to be shot again."

Eve shook her head and returned a mournful look. "I'm sorry but I can't go against my father's wishes. They're all I have left." I hear the robot nearby move, realigning its sights at me probably.

At least she wasn't making it shoot me at the moment. "Can't you just kick me out or something?"

"That is not possible. The Garden has been sealed off from the outside world for three years, one hundred and five days, nine hours, thirty-seven minutes and fifty-three seconds ever since my father passed away." She looked sad when she mentioned the last part. A real daddy's girl this simulated girl was.

"Oh, sorry about that." I muttered. Okay, how do I get out of this without being shot up some more?

"Also I apologise again. For stalling while Dog-2 to 6 arrive." As soon as she said that, five more robots with similar appearance to the first one skittered in from the other hallways.

Does that one have a minigun?

Oh, and that one has grenade launchers.

Fuck me.

"I wish I could make this as painless as possible but after observing your enhanced regeneration, more potent measure must be taken." Eve explained, her voice losing some of its emotion. "Sorry."

The sounds of all six killbots aiming their weapons at me was now on my top ten things I really don't want to hear list, right under the angrish complaints of my brother when he loses at games.

"Fuck me." I muttered just before accessing my remaining five charges. Time slowed down as my focus shifted to the clumps of pure power within me.

Alright then, time to power up.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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#5

1.3

It cost me five charges just to make my healing factor but it was the most crucial factor to my survival. I had no idea what its limits were but I made sure that I would heal fast without complications. I was however not willing to test whether or not I'll survive brain destruction.

Therefore I needed to be able to protect myself. With time pretty much frozen while I accessed my power, I had plenty of time to figure out what powers would do the job. It sshouldn't be too hard, though the main problem would be the required secondary powers. My healing factor needed two - no, three charges in order to work without any downsides such as being fueled by my lifespan or healing around bullets inside me.

In other words I needed powers that I could make without wasting charges on secondary powers, something like a barrier or -

Actually, barriers sound good. Yeah, barriers. Block bullets, block explosion, block tank rounds, block all the things! And then smash the barrier into all the other things as well! Yeah! Barriers would be perfect for this!

Grabbing a charge, I began visualising the form of my barrier power. A shield, an invisible wall forged from...force?

Psychic energy?

Light?

Air?

Or just power?

A barrier to protect oneself against harm. Kinetic force, energy attacks, psychic force, and so many other things that could do one harm.

Full body? No, not a personal forcefield like Glory Girl, but something I could move, something I put in front of me and then push wherever I wanted. And not just one shield but as many as I wanted. Layers upon layers to block all attacks and smash into all attackers.

A forcefield, like an AT field.

A charge shifts and the other four move to join it. No. Not yet, gotta keep some for insurance. Two stops while the remaining two merged with the primary charge. Multiple floating energy barriers with increased potency and control. Excellent.

My second power and I was already getting better at making these powers.

My barrier power finished shifting and it was a sight to behold. Simpler than my healing factor yet elegant. Wonderful.

With a thought, I activated it.

Time resumed its progress, just as the killbots fire their weapons.

Reflexively I brought my hand up and called forth my shields. About half a dozen hexagon barriers, each a little more than half my size, appeared before me, stopping the bullets that were flying towards me cold in their tracks. Dozens of bullets impacted against a barrier that defined physics, each bullet stopping in midair like that scene in the Matrix. A grenade bounced off the array of shields before exploding, temporarily blocking my sight.

I winced when that happened. Looks like the shields were psychic based.

The firing stopped and the smoke quickly settled, giving me clear sight of Eve looking at me with mixed feelings and her killer spidergunbots with their guns still aimed at me.

"Oh wow! I must say that while I am deeply conflicted about your continued survival, I am very impressed with your powers." Eve admitted with a regretful tone and maybe something else in her voice, I couldn't tell.

"Thanks." I simply replied. "My turn."

I concentrate and the hexagon-shaped forcefields shoot forward toward the killbots, one for each machine. My power pins them to the wall and with my seventh shield, I crush them one by one, hammering them into scrap. The sound of metal being pulverised was music to my eyes.

Hurrah for destruction!

Once I was done, the bots were nothing more then flattened bits of metal and electronics. Eve looks at the remains of her bots and then back to me before turning her eyes, scratching her cheeks to hide her embarrassment.

"This certainly was unexpected." She says before clapping her hands together and looking at me with excited eyes. "But this really has been the most excitement I had in ages!"

I frown, something in her voice put me on edge.

"Now if you wouldn't mind waiting, I'm sure I could get some of the more powerful drone to come and - "

"BRAH!" Nope! Not falling for that trick again!

I make a run for it, going through Eve as I headed to the only place that might remotely help me get out of this situation.

The Command Centre.

At least that what it said above the entrance to this particular hallway.

Huh, I didn't notice before but this place has a death star feel to it. Dark metal for walls, floors and ceiling with columns of fluorescent light in the walls to illuminate the path. Very sci-fi. And back to focusing on running.

"Hello again."

"Gya!" I almost trip when Eve suddenly appears floating in the air and moving to stay in front of me. Right, hologram girl.

"I do not know what you intend to do once you reach the command centre but I can assure that the means to disable the other robots are not there." Eve pouts as she crosses her arms. Looks like she's annoyed now. "I suggest taking a right at the intersection so that you can save Wolf 1, 2, 3, 4, and Fido the trouble of finding you. Again, I'm sorry for all this but I must follow my directives!"

Yep, definitely annoyed and like she said, I arrive at an intersection. Left, forward, right.

I choose forward because screw hologirl! Not gonna take this shit anymore!

"Very well, Wolf 1, through 4 and Special Assault Drone, Fido will be arriving to terminate you in four minutes, thirty three seconds and counting."

I roll my eyes and grit my teeth. I was very out-of-shape and my chest was hurting. Gotta get to the Command Centre before I'm too tired to move!

My pace begins to slow as my legs start to hurt as well. So need to get in shape after I'm done here. Thankfully I finally arrive at the entrance to the Command Centre. There's one problem though.

"Fuck!" I punch the metal doors that were blocking me from the Command Centre. It was fucking locked. "Ow!" And I may have broken a bone from punching it. It hurts but not as bad as I thought it would. Hurrah for pain suppression! Still, I held my injured hand in my uninjured one as it healed. Eve merely shook her head in exasperation at what I did.

"This is why I suggested that you should right at that intersection. I didn't want you to be disappointed. Wolf 1 will be arriving here with the others in two minutes and ten seconds counting."

Shit! Running out of time! My barrier can protect but not forever. I needed to get in the command centre and fast! Wait, my barrier could easily crush metal so maybe…

Turning to the closed doors to the Command Centre, I form two barriers. Okay, let's try this then. I moved the barriers so that they would slide in the really small gap between them before I attempted to force them apart. Eve looked on with interest as I strained to move the doors.

Slowly, the doors began to move apart and I grin. Success.

"Fifty-nine seconds remaining until attack drones arrive!" Eve reminded me cheerfully. Whatever, what I needed was going to be in the command centre. Yeah totally!

….

Wait, why am I suddenly so focused on getting into the command centre!?

Shit! No time to think about it otherwise! Gotta open the door!

It takes a few more seconds and a growing migraine to wrench open the door wide enough for me to get through. Eve follow me from behind, simply moving through the metal doors like a ghost.

In the Command Centre there were computers, large monitors and a fish tank against the wall. All the computers were off save for one and the large screen in front of the room was showing...a screensaver.

Fuck. What was I going to do again?!

"That's strange. All the computers should be off." Eve notes. What.

I dashed over to the computer that was on and pressed a key to interrupt the screensaver.

….

A password screen opened up.

"BITCH!"

I hit the desk with my forehead. Motherfucker! Of course there was going to be a password screen! IDIOT!

From behind me, I hear clanking footsteps, the sounds of motors running and servos moving. The attack bots were here. I take a quick glimpse over my shoulder and grimace. These new ones looked much more menacing and tougher than the ones before from what I could see through the gap. This was gonna suck.

I still had two charges left but I couldn't think of anything that could get me out of this. I had precious little time before the robots broke into the room. Actually why would they need to?

Eve controlled the doors didn't she?

I take a glance to the side where the hologram was watching me with great interest. Looks like she was waiting to see what I would do.

Beep beep

Hmm? A message now?!

….

WASN'T MY PHONE OFF!?

I whip out my phone to find it had suddenly turned itself on with three messages waiting for me.

First message, "Hey Spacebattler! Welcome to the Wormverse! As you should have figured out now! It was I DIO! nah I'm kidding. Anyways, I was the who sent that email. I'm here to tell you that I forgot to make sure the base AI would recognise you as her new master. Just tell her that you are the Professor's successor and you wish to initiate the confimation process. That'll make her ask you to input the special password to prove your claim. Now get out there and go wild!"

Second message, a line of numbers and letters. 1798r75BfQgfq0hhfHufaf83181asS1jcfb9197a1AxxcEu8v

The last message, "HAHA LOL You really should have checked your phone earlier!"

…..

Sonovabitch! Seriously!?

The sound of metal being torn apart reminded me that this was not the time to get pissed with ROB. Turning to Eve, I follow ROB's instructions.

"Eve! I'm the Professor's successor! Initiate the confirmation process now!" I pretty much scream at her. She stops moving as in completely stop, every detail of her holographic form frozen. THe only thing that changes are the pupils of her eyes that start contracting and expanding in what appears to be a sequence. Then she starts moving again.

"Initiating successor confirmation process! Possible Successor, please input password for validation!" Eve steps back and suddenly breaks apart into hundred of fragments. Almost immediately, the fragments gather back together, forming a password screen and a floating keyboard.

….Okay. That's a thing.

I hear a snarl. Fuck, they're almost through! Looks like Eve didn't tell them to back off when she turned into a keyboard. and why the fuck is that computer on anyway?!

Why the fuck is the password like forty characters long!? I can't type fast enough with one hand holding my phone.

Oh, wait. I had barriers. I pointing towards the doorway, I layer all seven barriers against the door. That should hold them a little longer.

A bolt of plasma passes by my head and hits the front screen, frying it. Okaytimetogetcracking!

My hand flies across the keyboard as I read the password off my phone. This was really really uncomfortable. Another bolt grazes my shoulder. Why can't I type faster?!

A computer next to me explodes from another shot and I hear several barriers break. Running out of time! It is not easy typing on a holographic keyboard!

I'm nearly done when the last barrier breaks. Several wolf-shaped drones with plasma cannons, if the green glow was any indicator, enter the room followed by a larger, three-headed one with electricity coming out from its three jaws. That one must be Fido.

Three characters left.

The drones aim their weapons at me.

Two characters left.

Fido moves pass the other and opens its jaws, making electricity jump back and forth from computer to computer, destroying them in a chain of surges.

One character left.

My finger shoots through the last key just before everything goes white.

Last edited: Jan 20, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 1.4

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A Friendly Face

Jan 16, 2015

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#6

1.4

My body hurts.

Not surprising considering what had happened. Being caught at point-blank range by a three headed lightning breathing robo-ceberus and five plasma slinging wolfbots did that to a person. The pain I was feeling felt muted however, no doubt thanks to the pain suppression I'd added to my healing factor. My body was okay at least. My healing factor was quite potent.

I couldn't say the same for my clothes though. They were now burnt pieces of rags, barely protecting my decency. My phone was fried and my wallet...surprisingly survived somehow. Whatever happened here also took out the robots as well since they were all lying in broken heaps.

Now the ten dollar question here was just how long was I out for?

I'd been knocked out when the attacks hit. It had been painful, even when suppressed. I had no clue how long I had been here since my phone was fucked. Probably not for long thanks to my awesome healing factor. Pretty sweet thing. Next thing I got to get when my charges come back are Wolverine claws. Or insanity so I can be like Deadpool. Or was it the power to break the fourth wall that made Deadpool who he is?

And man was I fucking out of it. A quick slap to the cheeks brought some sense back to my head. Still gonna get Wolverine Claws because claws.

I didn't see Eve or that holographic interface and keyboard anywhere. The Command Centre was completely wrecked and smelt of burnt plastics and ashes. Did the robots last attack knocked out whatever projected Eve?

That reminds me, did I managed to get the password right?

It was so fucking long and I was trying to type with one hand. On a holographic keyboard no less. With six killer robots trying to kill me. It would be pretty lucky of me if I did actually get the password right on my first try.

Though by the looks of things, I might of actually did it! No point lying on this broken piece of furniture any longer at the very least. If there's no killer robots here to kill me then that's just fucking fantastic.

By the time I got back on my feet, the ache was gone. Bits of blackened skin sloughed off as they were replaced with healthy undamaged skin. It was drafty though so I decided to head back to the room I first woke up in. I was feeling tired from all the excitement so I went at a lethargic pace.

Man, I didn't realise it earlier but this place was definitely bigger than I thought. I didn't have a clock or a watch on me so I didn't know how long it took me to get back. Eve didn't pop up and no robots were after me. Did this mean I was now the master of the Garden or was I in for a hurting when I let my guard down?

I'd have to ask Eve about that if she was still around. She did turn into a keyboard after all and who knew what being this Professor guy's successor meant.

The room was exactly how I left it. I quickly changed into some comfy shorts and a large shirt before putting on a pair of sandals that were in the dresser. I probably should look for showers later though, I was still sweaty from the running earlier and being scared out of my socks.

Which meant I should do some exploring now that I was alone and not in immediate danger of being shot at by robots.

This time, I actually checked what were behind the others doors in the hallway outside the master's room.

About a few minutes laters, I concluded that whoever designed this base was not good at it. I found a large dining hall that could fit at least a hundred people with a large kitchen connected to it. No food or any edible. What I found in the fridge was not fit for organic consumption. I also found looked like an elaborate bathing facility that wouldn't look out of place at a resort and the toilets. I took a moment to relive myself before continuing on. I hadn't had a proper bath in ages so I was gonna take advantage of that when I had the time.

Seriously though, where was the Garden located? There were no windows as far as I could tell in this place. It had electricity and clean water so they must be getting it from somewhere. The fact that this place hadn't had anyone besides Eve and her robots for several years was kind of amazing if you thought about the kinds of powers that existed in the worm-verse.

I had to be somewhere in the worm-verse but I'd yet to find any clues pertaining to the Garden's location.

I found the barracks, filled with rows of bunkbeds and lockers, and more rooms much like my own. Just what was the Garden for?

Having checked out all the room in the living area, I headed back to the lobby. However, as I got there, something happened.

"Reboot complete. Reactivating E.V.E." A synthesized proclaimed over hidden speakers. Then above me, white motes of light began to appear before converging together in one spot. Slowly I could see they were forming the figure of the holographic girl that had caused me so much trouble. I stood there watching as the figure gained more detail, became more solid - more alive I guess.

Her appearance differed slightly from what I recalled. Her hair was left untied and she wore a light blue summer dress.

The finished reformation of Eve was punctuated with a declaration from the speakers and her eyes opening. For a few moments she looked confused before freezing up, her eyes darkening to reveal glowing lines of what must be data flying across her them. Then she blinked, her eyes back to normal before making a smile and floating down, landing in front of me.

Eve looked at me with eyes filled with relief, joy and excitement. Her lips trembled as though she wanted to say something but unable to quite focus on what. Then unexpectedly, she performs a curtsy with her head bowed towards me

"I, an Elegant Virtual Entity who holds the designation Eve, welcomes you to the Garden for you are now its master and the Successor of the Professor. From here on out, I will endeavour to provide as much aid as I am capable of." When she lifted her head, she had tears of joy running down her cheeks. "For bringing back purpose to my existence I thank you, my Master."

"...Okay...That's cool"

Welp, looks like I now have my secret lair.

Oh right!

"Um...er...Call me Yoshikawa, Yoshikawa Shikoto." It was a fake name but I didn't feel like using my real name. For a fantastical situation like this, using my real name felt weird. "Being called master is weird."

"Then I shall call you Master Yoshikawa."

God damn it.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Jan 16, 2015

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#7

1.5

It had taken awhile to get Eve to simply call me Yoshikawa since being called master didn't go well with me. Plus I felt that the only time that I should be called master was when I was a villainous mastermind. I'll probably give that a try while I'm here. Or maybe set someone up as one and make an arch-nemesis for the heroes in this world.

No wait, bad idea. Leave those stuff till later, Shibo. Gotta first get organised and work out what to do from here on out. Speaking of which, after getting Eve to address me by name, I said that we had much to discuss. In response, she opened up a secret door and lead me up some stairs to what appeared to be a conference room with one of those ring shaped tables. All the chairs were the same save for the one in the middle which was both bigger and decorative than the others.

I was made to seat at that chair while Eve took her place at the seat right of me.

God, this feels all so weird. Looking at all these empty seats makes me feel uneasy. I would have been fine just talking in the lobby but I ended going with Eve's flow.

"Here you go, Yoshikawa! Now what is it that you would like to talk about?" I grimace internally at how eager she was to help. I don't think I ever meant someone like her before, personality-wise. Still I was going to have to bear with it if I was going to get anywhere today. At the very least I had questions that needed to be answered and this was the time to do so.

"Okay, Eve. First of all, thank you. While I'm still miffed about the whole trying to kill me thing, I have more important things to worry about so I'll leave that aside for the time being. What I need to know first is where exactly is the Garden in relation to the rest of the world?"

This was important since in order to affect the timeline of canon, I felt that I needed to be able to travel to Brockton Bay since that's where a great deal of the story is set. Well up until Skitter becomes Weaver and we get a two year timeskip.

"Oh, that's easy. Unless there have been massive geographical changes in the area, the Garden is approximately five kilometres below the city of Brockton Bay." Eve answered immediately.

Okay, sweet. That's good to know. I assume that there's a way to get to the surface. An elevator or teleporter perhaps?

"Alright, next question. What's the time and date?"

"It is currently half past ten in the morning. The current day is April the eighth and the year is two thousand and eleven."

That's...the day the story starts. The protagonist, Taylor gets juice poured over her while hiding in the bathroom by her bullies, Emma who was her best friend before she met Sophia who's a parahuman, and Madison who's just one of those hanger-ons, if I recall correctly. No, wait, that's like...around lunchtime? So if I wanted to do something about that, I had about an hour and a half to get to the surface and find Winslow High.

….

Meh.

While those three would be definitely getting a visit from me, I still needed to get my feet firmly on the ground before I set off to do anything crazy. So no bully-hunting yet. Still on my mental to-do list. In the mean time, I'll be finding out more about the Garden.

"Okay Eve. You said that the Garden was built by this Professor guy and he was also the one who made you as well. What can you tell me about him?" I asked, curious about the fellow who was most likely transplanted here by ROB. This was an underground secret base after all, and I'd remember if there were any signs of such a place in the story, excluding a certain villain's secret underground bases.

At my question, Eve perked up, clapping her hands together in eagerness. "The Professor is the greatest tinker in the world!" I stared at her, surprised by her rather excitement claim. Realising what she said, she clear her throat and composed herself before continuing, "The Professor didn't like to talk much about himself but he was a kind and diligent man who loved to experiment with robotics and electronics."

Eve told me everything she knew about the so-called Professor and it really made me wonder who he really was. According to her, the Professor apparently triggered around twenty years ago. His specialty was apparently robotics, artificial intelligence and futuristic technology. He was supposedly quite prolific while he was still alive but kept his true identity from Eve for some reason. The Professor was also a rogue who managed to stay out of the Protectorate's radar for years. He came down with cancer though, due to mishandling of radioactive material in his early days and only managed to build this place along with Eve in his last years before passing away.

Interesting and suspicious at the same time. More likely that the Professor erase all traces of his true identity from Eve's database before dying. And in my opinion, the Professor's specialty was actually building supervillain bases. Probably not but it's a thought.

I asked Eve about what kind of facilities existed in the Garden and Eve's list was quite surprising.

The Garden had living areas which I already knew, workshops that had all sorts of material ready to be used for tinkering, a training room which Eve claimed used a mixture of holograms and hardlight to simulate all kinds of situations, the command centre which Eve said was currently being repairs, a robot maintenance bay where all the fucking robots were stationed at, a goddamn farm where Eve was growing her own crops despite the fact she doesn't eat and a warehouse which was currently filled with preserved food that Eve made from her farming. Fascinating enough, Eve had been upgrading the Garden using raw material mined for the surrounding area. Apparently the Professor left Eve with the ability to build them robots and maintain the Garden as well as build new parts for it.

And it was now all mine. I felt that the Professor, if he didn't get cancer and died, would have tried to take over the world with an army of killer robots, commanding them from his super secret lair. Maybe I should try continuing what the Professor started. Heh.

In any case, as the Professor's successor by way of having a password that only the Professor knew, I was in control of the Garden and all of its facilities and Eve were mine to do as I pleased. Well, for the time being, I didn't have any pressing matters to attend to just yet. There was still lots I needed to figure out and learn before I began working out a proper plan of action.

"Fuck that was terrible."

"Sorry! I'm so sorry about lunch!"

"Don't worry about it. My healing factor took care of it."

It was about one in the afternoon according to Eve. I had the honour of being the first person to eat Eve's cooking. Apparently she learnt how to cook after the Professor passed away but since there was no-one around to try it, she'd been in a slump for some time.

Now that I was here though, her enthusiasm for cooking had been brought back. When I'd asked about lunch, Eve declared that she would be the one to cook for me. I hadn't thought much about it since I just wanted to stop the hunger pangs. However, I should have realised that as a hologram, Eve had no sense of taste. Even if she could cook through the use of mechanical proxies, without taste-buds, the food she cooked were only aesthetically appealing.

To my stomach and tongue, it was a nightmare. I'd collapsed on the first bite of her vegetable stew with bread. Well to be honest, the bread had been alright if chewy but to describe the stew would be describing the taste of the elder gods. No. Just no.

After I'd gotten over the nightmare stew, I had Eve take me on a tour of the facilities. Right now, we were checking out the training room.

"The Professor built this room in order to test new equipment and new robotic drones. It also doubled as a place where he could spend time in simulated outside environments when he felt the need to getaway from technology for awhile." Eve dutifully explained. I nodded along as she pointed out the features of the place. I was feeling pretty hyped since I had what amounted to my own personal danger room. "Allow me to demonstrate. Initiate Training Program, Monster Island. Threat Level D"

Immediately, the large white hall flickered before being replaced with a tropical paradise. "Woah." I now stood at the beach next to Eve. To my left was a simulated ocean, to my right was a tropical jungle and above me was a clear blue sky. It was so amazingly realistic that if I hadn't know it was all just holograms and apparent hardlight technology, I'd mistaken it for the real thing. "Wait, Monster island?"

"Raaaaah!" A roar interrupts Eve's reply and a small pack of raptors burst out from the tropical jungle.

"FUCK!" I panicked and grabbed my charges. Time froze, giving me time to remember that this was all fake. I glared at the raptor at the head of the pack. Yeah, they could probably still hurt me though if what Eve said about hardlight tech was true. Well, this was as good a place as ever to make use of my other two charges.

Since I was pretty much safe with my healing factor and barriers, I figured it was time to have some fun with my power. This time, I used my charges to make myself two new powers, teleportation and energy blasts.

Since I was only using one charge for each power, they weren't' going be powerful but at least this would help better gauge how strong single charge powers were. Visualising went easier than before and the shifting seemed to go much faster. When I was done, I now had two spanking new powers to test out on half a dozen simulated reptiles.

First up, teleport power.

I let the raptors get in closer and just as they lunge for me, I used the power. One moment I was standing in front of a bunch of killer lizards, the next I was behind them. My stomach felt a little queasy though and I felt lightheaded for a moment but it quickly passed. I didn't leave anything behind so it looked like my teleport power was working as I wanted. I'd have to test the range and see if there was any weight limits or penalty to using it consecutively.

Next up, energy blasts.

While they were distracted, I raised my right hand and aimed it at the raptors. If my visualising went well, my power should allow me to fire balls of energy at my target. There's was only one way to find out if it worked as intended.

"Powerblast!" I cried out as I used the power.

The palm of my hand promptly exploded as a ball of bluish white energy erupted from my flesh and slammed into one of the raptors. The overgrowned lizard was sent flying into another and they tumbled to the ground in a tangle of limbs and claws.

I gritted my teeth as the pain hits me, even as I healed. Ouch, gonna have to fix that.

The other raptors turned to me and let out a shrill cry before bounding towards me again.

This was about as good a time to try and get a better grasp of controlling my barriers.

"Well, that was fun."

"I'm glad that you enjoyed it, Yoshikawa."

It was a quick and easy curbstomp. With my barriers, it was easy to crush the raptors one by one into multi-coloured polygons. I did used my energy blast a few more times and discovered it took about four hits to take out a raptor. I wasn't sure if it meant my attacked kill or knocked out the target. Definitely needed to make my attack different levels of damage.

"So, how do I get out of here if I wanted to go and check out Brockton Bay?" Can't be cooped up in here forever after all. Not when Earth and alternate Earths were going to be destroyed in two years if I didn't do anything about it.

"I believe that it should take approximately twenty hours for the construction drones to finish unsealing the Garden's exits and restore the elevators."

"...Damn." Looked like I wasn't going to be taking a tour of Brockton Bay until tomorrow. Oh well, might as well keep myself busy while I wait. "What else does this place have?"

For better or worse, this was going to be my home for the foreseeable future.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 2.1 - Into The Bay New

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A Friendly Face

Jan 16, 2015

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#63

TheTruth said:

Man, why the hell didn't you take the Smurgh complication? That's 8 extra points right there for you.

If you have the perks Invictus, Blank, and Shattered Limiter (which you do); then Smurgh can't see you, do her mind Scream at you, or even copy any of your powers. She won't even know you are there unless you attack her or something equally noticeable.

As for the downside of the Population/Protectorate/PRT knowing you were there and convinced you are Smurgh'd, just give yourself some stranger/changer powers and they won't find you ever again. But on the other hand, 8 points is more than enough to make you pretty much god-like with only Scion being a threat. Even then, with your OCP knowledge you could probably kill him pretty easily if you are smart about it.

Because I didn't want to deal with that bird just yet. Also didn't want to become stupidly OP.

And now here's the next part!

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

2.1 Into the Bay

"Wake up, Yoshikawa!"

"Bwah!?"

"Oh god, I'm sorry! Sorrysorrysorry! I didn't mean to startle you so much!"

I let out a groan as I laid on the ground, my head still fuzzy from sleep. Eve's panicked apologies weren't helping my head not one bit and it was hurting my ears. Right, I asked Eve to wake me up before eight last night. Should have said nine or ten instead. Couldn't sleep last night cause of everything that had happened.

Blargh, my mouth taste like death.

"Whatever." I pushed myself off the ground and stretch out the kinks in my back. I shook out some of the fuzz from my head and turned to Eve. I narrowed my eyes at the maid costume she was wearing. "You're not a maid, Eve. switch to something casual."

Eve's shoulders slumped slightly but she complied with my command, her black and white french maid outfit flickering with static for a few moments before being replaced with a simple skirt and sweater. I noticed that she kept the kneesocks and heels though.

"Thanks. Could you set some bread for breakfast and prep a cup of coffee for me, flat white with two sugar, please?" I couldn't trust Eve to make anything other than bread and coffee. I did not want a repeat of yesterday. Interestingly enough, it turns out that the Professor had been an avid coffee lover and had made sure that Eve knew how to make a good cup.

At least I could get my daily caffeine intake without going out to get one at a cafe.

After Eve left to prep breakfast, I cracked my neck and grabbed some clean clothes - some large cargo pants, a red t-shirt and clean underwear. Before I left for the bathing facilities, I couldn't help but look at myself in the mirror.

My body had changed quite a bit since yesterday. I hadn't noticed it since I was preoccupied with much more important stuff but as it turned out, my healing factor was doing more than just fix my wounds. I'd lost weight, and apparently gained some muscles. I'd gone from being overweight to having a runner's physique. Not ripped though which was fine. I didn't want to be a bodybuilder after all. Quite a bit of physical imperfections had vanished. Moles, scars and other bits of my body that I didn't like had upped and vanished.

My body was the body that I wished I had.

I'm gonna just chalk it up to my healing factor healing me to my ideal figure. Probably happened after I got blasted by the wolves.

Huh, my eyesight isn't shit anymore. Before, I could only see twelve inches in front of my eyes before things got too blurry to make the details out. Did my regen also fixed my eyes? Most likely.

Whatever, I could check out my new bod in the shower. Still feeling mucky from yesterday's boom.

After my short cool shower, I ate breakfast in the dining hall with Eve keeping me company.

The coffee was good. I was no expert on coffee so I couldn't really describe it but it was good, with a nice fragrance and rich taste. The bread wasn't too bad either.

Now if only the hall had more than one living person in it, then I wouldn't be feeling horribly uncomfortable or alone. In hindsight, I should have just eaten in my room. Well, no point grouching about it now. Just had to remind myself next meal.

"So what's the ETA on unsealing the exit?"

"The drones should be finished with unsealing and repairing the exit within two hours, forty-six minutes and thirteen seconds."

Damn so about three hours before I can head out to the big city. What to do for three hours?

More training? Did that for most of yesterday.

Take a really long bath? I just took a shower.

Eat? Eve's cooking is horrible.

Feh, might as well try and get to know Eve better. While I was technically in charge of this Garden, Eve was the one who knew where everything was and how it worked.

With my elbows on the table, I rested my chin in my hands as I began to attempt the most dreaded of activities, socialising. "So...Eve...Um…"

"Yes, Yoshikawa?"

"You said that your full name is actually Elegant Virtual Entity. How where you born exactly?"

"What? You don't know?" Eve sounded confused by my question. "I was born just like everyone else!"

I was befuddled by Eve's claim. "Wha - I mean, can you elaborate?"

"Silly! The stork brought me, just like you and every other person!"

"..." I was pretty sure that if I was not flummoxed by Eve's answer, I would be facepalming so much right now. This was going to be an interesting conversation for sure at least.

For the next hour or so, I asked Eve about herself and learnt quite a bit about the holographic girl.

From what I could figure out from what Eve told me, the Professor did make Eve as she was currently when she was born. From Eve's affectionate reminiscences of her childhood (all four months of it), the Professor, as Eve had told me, made Eve to be his daughter. From the videos Eve showed me, Eve started out as a toddler, restricted to inhabiting some kind of floating holographic projector drone. The Professor then raised Eve as his own through the use of massive library of knowledge and simulated classrooms. He'd also programmed Eve to age in appearance and gain maturity as time passed and Eve grew into her own person.

He finally halted Eve's aging once she looked like a young woman who just finished puberty. Mentally, Eve was still a teenager. After some questioning about certain subjects, I discovered that the Professor purposely lied to Eve about stuff like the moon being made out of cheese, the stork bringing newborn babies, tooth fairies being real, and other stuff that were truths in the eyes of children and white lies that were outgrown by adults.

Hearing about all this made me understand several things. Eve held a child-like innocence that was both frustrating and precious in my eyes. Not only that, she had almost no experience with the outside world, relying only on what the Professor had left in the databanks and there was no telling what was true and what was false.

Just what was the Professor planning with Eve?

The only one who knew that was the Professor and I wasn't wasting a charge to make a power that could indeed answer that question.

Time went by fairly quickly thanks in part to Eve's home videos. Strangely, every scene with the Professor had his face covered in mosaics. More proof that the Professor wiped out all details of himself from Eve's memory storage before dying.

Sometime in the middle of a video of Eve successfully making her first drone by herself at the workshop, Eve froze up before turning towards me with a neutral expression. "Gates have been unlocked. Elevator to the surface has been repaired. The Garden has reacquired access to Brockton Bay. Your orders, sir?"

I frowned. It was strange how most of the time Eve acted like an overly excited yet intelligent young girl, only for these moments where she loses all human motions to show up every now and then. Still, I was gonna be heading to the surface now. Therefore I needed to keep in contact with Eve, just in case. "There wouldn't happen to be a communicator of sorts that could keep me in contact with you, is there?"

Eve's humanity returned without warning and she smiled happily as she made screens appear before her. On closer inspection, they were picture and blueprints of some kind of hightech shades. "Yes indeed I have something to keep us connected! The Professor left an entire box of his TechSights. With them, we can talk about things together while you're up on the surface and I'm down here. I can also show you videos and see what you see and all kinds of stuff! Isn't technology wonderful!"

I blinked. "I guess?"

"I've already got one of the remaining Dogs to bring the box over. What colour would you like? Pink? Red? Black? How about light blue, I really like light blue!"

Dear god, what have I done?!

I'd gone with a blue pair with a white frame. Despite appearances, my vision wasn't tinted with colour and it worked fine when tried talking to Eve through the thing. It was somewhat conspicuous but this was a world with superheroes and villains so these things should make anyone look twice.

I didn't head out immediately however. I wanted to test some of the adjustments I'd made to my powers. I'd realised while I was in the shower that ten new charges were available for me to shape into new powers or use to enhance my older powers. Thus I quickly fixed up and improved some of my powers.

A single charge went to strengthening my healing factor. I felt that it needed to be faster and I was still worried about being hurt and killed. Worm-verse was not a place to let one's guard down.

I fixed up my energy blast power and changed it a bit. It no longer had to go through my palm to come out and I could change how it came out. Spherical concussive energy blast. LAZER BEAMU! And energy bombs that I could lob at people and watch explode a few seconds later. That took up two charges.

I threw another charge at my barrier power, upping its strength. With this, I should be able to tank attacks like those plasma blasts with little strain.

I decided not to mess with my teleport power just yet. Too many variables to consider and I wasn't in the mood to figure them out. Short-range blink with no cooldown was fine by me.

That left six charges in reserve. For now, I left them be. Who knows what might happen once in Brockton Bay, especially considering I had chosen Skitter Mode, and Marked three times. Trouble was sure to come my way.

With that done, I made my way to the Garden's main gates. Eve was there to see me off.

"Please bring back souvenirs, Yoshikawa! Don't stay out too late or I'm gonna get angry!"

"Sure, sure. Hold the fort, Eve."

The gates opened and I was treated to the sight of a room with a row of chair equipped with restraints near the back wall. My stomach dropped. That was not a good sign. Regardless, I took a seat and belted myself in.

"Make sure to to adjust your seatbelts so that it's not too tight!" Eve called out. I nodded and did what she said. "Okay, Yoshikawa. Good luck with everything! I'm going to make an awesome dinner for you so come back around seven, okay?"

"Yeah yeah yeah. See ya later, Eve." I repeated. Eve waved goodbye as the doors closed. Elevator music started playing and I felt the elevator begin to move slowly. I let out a breath of relief. "Okay, so it's not going to - "

Suddenly the chair tilted back ninety degrees and lowered itself to the ground. Before I could say anything else, I was pushed back down against my seat as the elevator sped up to crazy speeds.

"FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

FUCKING KNEW IT!

And thus I was on my way to Brockton Bay via rocket elevator.

Last edited: Jan 16, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Jan 17, 2015

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#103

2.2

When I was finally able to get off the elevator, I collapsed just as I got past the doors. Note to self, if I have any free charges left today, add G-force resistance power to my repertoire. I did not want to repeat what I had just experienced.

It took about half a minute for me to get my head back on straight and to shake off the effects of the ride up. Maybe I should have just powered up my teleport power. Definitely on my to-do list at any rate.

Getting to my feet, I looked around at where the elevator had dropped me. I was now in a dome shaped room made of steel that had a ring of a dozen platforms with some kind of device on each of them. About five of them were glowing with activity and blinking lights while the rest were dead. On the wall above each platform were the numbers one to twelve. There was also a larger one in the centre of the room, big enough to put a car on top.

Something like this, considering everything that I've seen of the Professor, could only mean one thing.

"Eve, these are teleporters I assume?" I asked. There was a slight bit of static before Eve responded through the shades.

"Yep! This is the transfer room! The professor liked his privacy and having the elevator pop up somewhere on the surface would have made everyone want to come and see the Garden which is unfortunately cause I would really like to show people my collection of - "

"Eve! Focus!"

"Sorry! As I was saying, to keep people from discovering the entrance to the Garden, the professor made it so that the only way to get here is through various teleportation points in the City which are activated by saying the keyword and being either the Professor or his successor!"

As expected, the Professor is one hell of a tinker. Probably insane but pretty impressive. "Uh-huh. So...I'm guessing seven teleport points are currently unavailable?"

"Correct! Unfortunately, they're either blocked or no longer exist. You'll just have to make do with the other five that are still working."

"And the middle one?"

"That's the emergency teleporter! Whenever there's an emergency and The Professor isn't able to get to a teleport point, the emergency teleporter brings him here after some triangulating the Professor's position on the surface. Except the Professor is dead so that means you'll be using it now. It's already has your unique biological code in its databanks so it won't make any accidental splicing."

"...Huh, sweet." Well looks like I won't have to worry about being locked out of the Garden. I turned my attention to the active teleporters. One, Five, Six, Ten, and Twelve were still active. "So where do the teleporters lead to?"

"I have no idea!"

"What."

"I've been in the Garden since the stork brought me and the Professor never told what kind of place Brockton Bay is."

"...You seriously have no clue what the city you're under looks like?"

"That's right! The Professor didn't tell me anything and kept me inside. But thanks to you, Yoshikawa, I'm gonna get to see the big city for the very first time!"

"..." Once again, I must express my relief that the Professor is dead. Who knows what insidious plots or perverted schemes he had running in his mind. To keep such a nice girl like Eve ignorant of the world around her, I could express my disapproval towards the Professor for his incomprehensible actions. "How far underground is this place anyway?"

"About two hundred metres. Don't worry, this place is protected from many forms of radar and detection. No one has ever come close to discovering this location, I'm sure of it!"

"Hmmm." I turned my eyes to the teleporters waiting for someone to step on them. There was absolutely no clue to where the five teleporters led but it should be fine. Unless there was a cape that could erase me from existence that I didn't know about, I could survive anything Brockton Bay could throw at me. And I had that emergency teleport to get me out of heck if it comes to that.

"Eh, might as well start with one then." With that decided, I headed for teleport platform one and stood on top of it.

Almost immediately, walls of light popped up around me, cutting off my view of the room. Before I could do anything else, I suddenly felt a sense of weightlessness and a bright light blinded me. Then I heard some kind of static sound before landing on my butt. "Oomph!"

A little warning would have been nice. After blinking away the blindness, I looked around in my surroundings.

What the fuck?

I was in a small enclosed space which was maybe a few times bigger than a broom closet. The only lights in the room was the glowing square that I was sitting on which was already dimming away and the tron lines that ran all over the walls. There was nothing except me in the room.

"Eve, where am I?"

"I-I don't know."

Swearing, I looked around again and frowned. Getting to my feet, I examined the walls more closely. They at first looked like metal but in actually fact seemed to be made of some kind of shiny plastic which tingled when I touched it. There was a door-shaped space that was bereft of tronlines however.

Just what was this room?

"Ah! Found it!" Eve suddenly shouted. I winced from the volume but made no comment about it as I focus on Eve's voice. "This room is something the Professor invented! It's one of his portable rooms!"

"What."

"Through the use of some space-time manipulation, the Professor could make doorways that could lead to pocket dimensions. We're in one of them right now and if the data is correct, there should be a spot next to that part of the wall which should open the door." As she said that, a blue square appeared in my vision, outlining an area next to the blank part of the wall.

"Fucking tinkers." I swore as I pressed my hand against that part of the wall. The spot glowed on contact and a glowing outline appeared around the door-shaped space. I then watched as that part of the wall began to disappear is rectangular blocks from the top down. "Oh goddamn it."

There was another wall behind the door, this one definitely made of metal.

"Please tell me that this is also a door, Eve."

"Sorry but it's not."

"Fuck." I kicked the metal wall in annoyance and was treated to a fairly loud clanging sound. There's definitely something behind the wall. I doubt I could kick it down with my strength so this left power usage. I couldn't simply teleport behind the wall since it was a line of sight thing so this left either blasting it open or smashing it open.

I called up my barriers and lined them up, ready to break down the metal wall when I heard another clang from the other side of the wall. I stopped and let my barriers fade away. Interesting.

I knocked against the wall again and received another knock back. Looks like there were people on the other side of the thing. I frowned.

Not good. Who knows what lies behind the wall. I could barely hear some muffled voices from behind the wall now. No clue what they were saying. What to do, what to do.

Taking a step back, I stared at the metal wall as I thought about what to do.

Should I wait and see if the people on the other side breaks down the wall or should I be the one to do it first?

Decisions decision de - OH JESUS FUCK WHAT IS THAT?! NOPE! NOT GONNA GET EATEN BY A SHADOW MONSTER!

I reacted without thinking and fired off dual blasts of force at the thing. Then I thought about it.

Oh shit.

My blasts hits the thing, carrying it into and then through the wall. I cover my eyes with my arm as the blasts explode, destroying the metal wall.

When I lowered my arms, I could see light pouring into the room. Several people stood around the newly made exit, looking inside while someone was kneeling next to a prone form in a dark outfit.

"Fuck."

The alarms began to blare as whatever security measures that the Brockton Bay Ward's headquarters had kicked in.

I was in so much trouble.

On the upside, I just blasted Shadowstalker in the face so that was a plus.

Last edited: Jan 17, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 2.3 New

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A Friendly Face

Jan 19, 2015

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#149

2.3

My current situation was not good at all. For whatever reason, The Professor had built a secret room into the Brockton Bay Ward's main headquarters and linked one of his teleporters to exit there. Then I had the misfortune to freak the fuck out when I saw a moving shadowy entity pop its head through the wall that had been blocking the doorway.

As much as I wanted to say that I was a man of courage and steel will, having come from a world where the supernatural didn't exist, I was not prepared to see Shadow Stalker's breaker form. Seeing something like that in real life was fucking freaky as hell. Thus terror-filled instinct had taken over and blasted Sophia Hess for me.

Which resulted in the Wards witnessing some strange parahuman blast their teammate through a wall without any warning. The only good new about this was that I blasted Sophia Hess, a despicable bully and a hated character among the Worm fandom. That had felt good once I realised who I blasted. The bad news was that I was probably about to get into a fight with the other Wards.

The alarms going off probably meant that members of the Protectorate would probably be showing up as well.

There was one appropriate course of action that wouldn't result in tears. Maybe.

I surrendered.

"I SURRENDER! I COME IN PEACE! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" I shout out, putting my hands up into the air.

"...What?" This caught the Wards off guard, no doubt expecting me to attack or something aggressive. Admittingly, I was only wearing a visor like pair of shades, a large T-shirt, cargo shorts and sandals so I didn't exactly made the most intimidating of figures so that probably helped.

"I said, I surrender." I repeated a bit more slowly and loudly. The Wards seemed unsure of what to do. They might have been prepared for some villain breaking into their headquarters but probably not someone like me and how I got in. By all appearance, I'd seemed to have blasted my way in via a secret room. They probably didn't attacked me since I wasn't wearing a costume.

The first one to say anything was the tanned kid wearing a rust and silver costume with a shield emblem, Aegis, the flyer with a healing factor I think, "Alright, if you are really surrendering, come out where we can see you properly!"

I complied, stepping slowly through the opening that I had made while the Wards moved back to give me some space. Now that I was standing under some proper lighting, I could now see the Wards properly. They were tense, ready to whip into action the moment I tried something. Behind them was a guy in armour, styled like a knight, Gallant I assume, tending to Shadow Stalker who definitely has seen better days. Her costume now had a large hole around her stomach.

"First of all, who are you, how did you get in here and why did you attack Shadow Stalker!" Aegis demanded. To the left and right were Clockblocker and Vista, recognizable by their costumes. Further behind was Kid Win who had his laser guns out in akimbo, ready to fire at the sign of any trouble.

I shrugged my shoulders and answered, "Just an unlucky tourist! Accidentally activated some tinker-tech! She startled me!"

I couldn't see their expressions "You blasted her through the wall!"

"She. Startled. Me." I repeated, enunciating each word clearly and carefully. However it seemed like the Wards didn't believe me, not that I could blame them. I wasn't going to tell anyone everything about my situation just yet.

"...You have a terrible costume." And just like that, some of the tension in the room eased up thanks to Clockblocker. The alarms were still going so I fully expected a PRT squad or a Protectorate member to show up. Best to try and get on the Ward's good side before anything bad happens. "I like the shades though."

"Um, thanks?" I was starting to feel antsy and the alarms weren't helping. "Can you turn off the alarms, they're really annoying."

"No can do." Clockblocker stated. "Only our bosses can turn them off."

"Sorry, but we'll have to foam you." Aegis said. My shoulders slumped. From what I remembered, being foamed was not fun. Aegis gave some kind of signal to Vista who nodded and pulled out a can of the stuff from somewhere before she moved closer to cover me with foam.

"Shadow Stalker, are you oka - Wait, Stop!"

I flinched when something hits me in the chest. I looked down and saw a tranquiliser bolt. I looked up and saw that Shadow Stalker was sitting up with her crossbow. I couldn't see through her mask but she must have been pissed, enough to shoot me anyway. The other Wards were looking in a mix of shock, horror and surprise.

"What!? The asshole had it coming!"

I slowly reached down and pulled out the offending piece of plastic and metal. I stared at the crossbow bolt, mulling over the implications of what Sophia had just done.

"Shit! Sorry! Shadow Stalker - " Someone tried to say something but I halted them with my other hand.

I stared at the bolt for god knows how long. Probably a few uneasy seconds but it felt like an eternity. I vaguely hear someone say that I wasn't going down. Healing Factors were pretty awesome like that.

Something inside me snaps as all the stress I'd been holding in since yesterday reached its limit.

Fuck Everything.

"Take him down now!" That was Gallant no doubt sensing my emotions. My arm had already moved however. Without a word, I fired a blast of force at Shadow Stalker with my stretched out hand. I caught a moment of shock in her eyes before she's struck, my blast sending her tumbling backwards across the room.

Prompted by my attack, everyone whipped into action. Clockblocker moved to freeze me in time along with Vista who held the foam dispenser in her hand. Before they could get in within half a metre of me, I teleport, arriving in front of Aegis.

"Mover! Teleporter!" Someone cries out, Kid Win I think. Aegis pulls his arm back to punch me but I'm faster. My barrier comes up and his adrenaline filled fist does nothing to it. He stares in confusion for a moment before I retaliate.

With a single thought, my barrier shoots forwards, slamming into the young hero. Having increased its power before leaving the garden, the barrier continues moving, carrying Aegis against his will until it smashes into the wall. I catch a cry of pain from the impact but I was already shifting my focus.

The rest of my barriers come into play, blocking Kid Win's laser shots and Gallants emotion blasts. Another mental command and moments later the rest of the Wards are pinned against the wall.

"Sonova - "

"What the hell!?"

"Can't….Move…"

"Stop him! He's after Shadow Stalker!"

Slowly I begin walking over to Shadow Stalker. A few seconds of walking and I realise something's wrong. I look over my shoulder to see Vista concentrating despite being stuck being my barrier. Futile. I simply make a series of teleports forward and arrive next to Shadow Stalker as she struggles to get her bearings after being hit again by my blast.

"Fuck you, Hess." I utter with as much contempt as I could muster, my hand pointed at her head. She freezes upon hearing her last name.

"FREEZE!"

I look to the side to see a woman in a modified military uniform, a scarf around her lower face with an American flag embroidered on it, and a similar sash around her waist. Behind her was Velocity.

The Protectorate had arrived to intervene.

Well fuck them as well.

Jan 20, 2015

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#200

2.4

I don't give the adult heroes a chance to say anything else. With my free hand, I aim and fire a force blast at Miss Militia and Velocity. As expected, both heroes drop to the ground to avoid my attack. Then I feel a twinge of something in the hand pointed at Sophia.

Sonava - She fucking stabbed my hand. Where did she get that knife!?

No wait, this is Shadow Stalker. She had hidden knives always, I think.

Almost immediately however, my flesh pushed the weapon out of my hand but it had served its purpose. I was suddenly besetted by a blast of black smoke and Sophia was gone.

She'd gone into her breaker form and phased through me.

"Shit!" I turned to see Shadow Stalker a short distance away, kneeling on the ground. Looks like my earlier attacks had taken alot out of her. That was all I could think about before I felt someone punch me in the face, many times. Oh right, Velocity.

Even though Velocity's power reduced his ability to effect the world, weakening his punches to that of a kid for example, this many punches were still enough to make me break my concentration. The story wasn't kidding when it said that going one on one with velocity was like being in a gale trying to screw you over. I heard my barriers shatter as the Wards broke free.

I swore and brought my hand up to my chest. Velocity's barrage of weakened punches didn't let up but that was fine, I already had a plan to deal with him. A ball of light appears in my hand and before Velocity could act, it detonates. In a small explosion of bright light, both Velocity and I are sent flying away from each other.

My clothes are ruined again but I'm able to get back on my feet almost immediately, in time to block Gallant and Kid Win's attacks with my barriers. The Wards are back up and they are wary. One of the Wards was helping Velocity up while Miss Militia took control of the situation.

"Aegis, what's the situation?" She asked the leader of the made to answer Miss Militia's query but Shadow Stalker beat her to it.

"This fucker broke into our base and fucking shot me without warning. Then he played nice guy to get the drop on us before you arrived!" Shadow Stalker's version of the events that occurred was as bias as expected. The other Wards seemed uneasy about what Shadow Stalker said but didn't dispute it. Might have been because how easily I had subdued them in seconds.

"That's...technically what happened." Aegis said hesitantly. Miss Militia narrowed her eyes but seemed to accept the two Wards' explanation. She turned back to me and had her power take the form of what I assumed was a pump-action shotgun before pointing the weapon at me. Without a word of warning, Miss Militia fired her weapon.

With absolutely no effect on my barriers.

The pellets simply struck my barriers and dropped to the ground before dissipating. Didn't know her ammo disappeared afterwards. Looks like the only thing stopping them from getting me were my barriers that I placed together into a wall around me.

"It appears we're at an impasse. My shields are too strong for any of your powers to bypass." I declared.

"That was a warning shot to gauge the strength of your barriers." I then watched as her weapon turned into a cloud of energy and reconfigured itself into a new form. That's a rather nasty looking bazooka, looks tinker-tech. "Stand down. This weapon here is capable of breaking through your shields. Surrender peacefully and we can talk about your options beyond simply going to jail."

I stared at the weapon before taking stock of the heroes around me. Without my shields, I would have already been put down and restrained. I didn't know how strong Militia's bazooka was but I wasn't willing to find out. I didn't want to go to jail nor did I want to antagonise the Wards and Protectorate heroes anymore than necessary. As it was, there was no way for me to get out of this without getting into deeper trouble.

That is, without using my charges.

Time crawled to an immediate stop as I tapped into my true power. Right then, what shall I use to make my escape?

I could amp up my teleport until I could simply teleport out of the building but that felt kinda cheap for some reason. Maybe another time. Part of the reason why I chose power manipulation was the freedom to make whatever powers I wanted. I didn't want to simply make a few overpowered abilities and just end up using them for everything. I wanted variety.

I was uncomfortable with the idea of mind control so no dice there.

Freeze time? No, that won't let me open the doors out of this place unless I tweak it to let me mess with time frozen objects.

Maybe get superspeed like the Flash? Be too fast to be seen or caught. Become faster than Velocity at the very least.

A stranger ability? Maybe. Turn invisible and teleport away? Sounds like an idea.

Invisibility….like a ghost? Intangibility?

Yeah! That could work! Turning intangible and invisible would be fun. And I could just go wherever without being caught on camera! Yeah, that's right. I'm not really wearing a costume and my shades don't really cover my face so my face's probably already been caught on camera. Becoming both invisible and intangible would give me some peace.

Plan turn into a ghost is a go then!

Visualisation begin.

I needed to disappear from sight. Not actually become transparent since I wouldn't be able to see then since I'd need my light receptors to be able to bounce light. Maybe a energy field that bends light so that it doesn't bounce off my body and therefore no one can perceive me visually. Yes, I needed a field that could do that. No need to strip to become invisible! Make it so that it selectively makes me invisible and whatever I want. Can't have everything suddenly becoming invisible!

Two free charges shift and meld together, becoming both more and less as my desires were defined and made reality.

Next is intangibility.

I want to be able to move through solid objects. To simply move through them as if they never existed. I also need to be anchored relative to the Earth's position. Don't want to suddenly end up in space all of a sudden. It would also be a good idea to make it extend to objects on my person as well. I have no desire to leave my clothes behind in a bundle. I need to be able to interact with air. It be bad if I was intangible to air. Light as well.

This time three of my charges converge together in a shifting mass of potential. My desire for the power to become intangible directs the transformation of my charges and soon it is complete.

My two newest powers are born and with a flip of a mental switch, they come to life.

Time resumed and noone is none the wiser. Right, time to go.

"Sorry. But I'm not going anywhere except out of here." I informed the gathered heroes. Miss Militia closes her eyes and shake her head in disappointment.

"Very well, if that is how you want to do this - "

"And I am ouuuuuFUUUUUUU - " Anything that the heroes had to say could no longer be heard as I became both invisible and intangible at the same time, my form dropping through the floor the moment I toggled my powers on. Unfortunately I forgot to add a way to not fall to through the floor.

Time stopped as I desperately grabbed my remaining charge and turned it into something that would stop my fall into the Earth's core. Make intangibility be able to walk on floors when I want it too?

No, wait. Better idea!

I need to fly.

Or at the very least float.

I focus on what I wanted my power to be like. It would one day become my flying power but for the time being, it needed to negate gravity's effects on me. Not just that, I needed to be able to propel myself through zero gravity, be able to keep my balance without spinning out of control, and move in any and all directions.

The charge shifts and solidifies into my desired power. Perfect.

Time starts up again and I switch on my levitation power. Just like that, I stopped falling. I also stopped screaming as what I assumed to be tourists were looking wildly for the source of the screaming. They looked scare and the alarms were still going. Looks like this tour is a bit more exciting than they were expecting. Visiting the Ward's headquarters is probably a no go thanks to me.

Quietly, I floated through the wall and out of the building. I was a number of floors above the ground. A number of PRT officers were now gathered at the entrance. Whatever security the Ward's headquarters had worked fast.

I smiled to myself with a twinge of regret. I was home free for the time being.

I sigh to myself.

For some reason, I'd snapped and attacked Sophia right in front of her teammates. Not a very smart thing to do. It felt good though but the gratification from blasting the bitch had been short lived when Militia showed up.

Miss Militia was cuter than I thought she would be, even if I couldn't see the lower half of her face.

And I was probably their enemy number one for the time being. Okay maybe not but the Protectorate and the Wards would be keeping their eyes peeled open for any signs of me.

Bah, I hated overthinking about this kind of stuff.

What I should be figuring out now is what would be fun for an invisible, intangible, floating man to do in Brockton Bay.

I wonder what the PRT will be calling me. Mystery Cape X, maybe?

"Hey Eve, you still there?" I asked, remembering that I was still connected to Eve through my shades. They were cracked from when I blew myself up to get Velocity out of my face.

"Yep! That was incredible, Yoshikawa! You sure showed those people!" Eve replied. I frowned upon hearing that. It sounded off for some reason.

"You do know who those people were, right?" I carefully asked, floating above a nearby hotdog stand. I was feeling thirsty from all the commotion so maybe I could sneak a drink.

"Nope! The Professor said that getting into fights with an unfamiliar parahuman is practically a handshake among parahumans. Just like in the comic books!"

I tuned Eve out as she began talking about comic books. Yeah, not interested in that for the moment.

Now then, where should I head off to first?

Last edited: Jan 20, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 2.x - Interlude: Wards New

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A Friendly Face

Jan 20, 2015

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#217

Interlude - Wards

"For the time being, you are all to remain here while Armsmaster and Dragon examine the Ward base for any more signs of this new tinker's handiwork. It shouldn't take too long so I suggest you make yourselves productive in the meantime."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. I expect reports on this entire debacle on my desk by tomorrow." With that, Director Emily Piggot left the room that the Wards had been put into while the Protectorate Tinkers worked on figuring out how their mysterious parahuman intruder had trespassed into the base.

After Piggot had left, there was silence as the members of the Wards were deep in thought. The one to break the silence was Clockblocker.

"I still say this is your fault, Stalker." The time-themed cape groused. Several hours of having to go through Master/Stranger screening were tiring on anyone's mind.

"Shut it, dork. I didn't see anyone of you managing to get a hit on that bastard."

"Hey! You were the one who shot him after he'd surrendered!" Vista intervened, defending her teammates.

Shadow Stalker snorted in disdain, "So what? He fucking attacked first. I was in my right to give him one back."

"Even if that was true, and it's not, you shouldn't have shot him anyway!"

"Missy, Sophia. Stop. This is getting nowhere." Gallant, the cape who could be considered the heart of the team interrupted, cutting off the growing argument. "What's done is done. We just going to have to deal with the consequences."

"And the consequences of Sophia shooting that guy is having a parahuman with more powers than we've ever seen as a villain." Kid Win deadpanned

"Chris, enough. You heard Dean. We can't undo the past so we got to focus on the future and besides, he might not end up as an enemy." Aegis, the leader of the Wards said. "What we should be more worried about is that hidden room the guy came out of."

"Yeah, I guess." Vista crossed her arms as she tried to remember what the room had looked like when she looked into it earlier, after the mysterious cape had blown a hole in the wall "Looked like tinker-tech if I remember."

"The guy did say that he found some tinker-tech and teleported into that room so what's the problem?"

Shadow Stalker was the one who answered Clockblocker's question. "The problem, retard, is that there was a hidden room in our base for god knows how long!"

"...Yeah. I guess that does sound pretty bad."

"Exactly! Some tinker somehow built that room without anyone ever noticing. That speaks a great deal about what we're dealing with here."

"That we're dealing with a mysterious tinker who had mysterious objectives with mysterious powers?"

"Dennis!"

"Sorry! Look, I know that this business with that room is important but we have Dragon and Armsmaster looking the place over. Leave it to them instead."

Aegis sighed and nodded. "Okay then, let's talk about something else then."

"Like who that guy was and what we can do to beat him next time we meet?"

"Yes, Sophia. Let's talk about that then." Aeigs got out of his seat and went over to the whiteboard in the room. He took a marker and turned to write on the board before hesitating. "Did the guy ever say what his name was?"

"I don't think so"

"Nope."

"Just put asshole and get on with it."

"Language!"

"Then we need to give him a name or the paperwork is going to be inconsistent. Any suggestions?"

"Mister Light?" Vista suggested.

"Hmm, that could work. Give me a sec." Clockblocker moved his chair and turned around to access the computer in the room and punched the name into the keyboard. "Sorry. Taken."

"Just give him a crappy name. Like bulb or something"

"No way. Do you really want to have been beaten by some guy named, The Bulb?" Clockblocker sighed. "Nobody knows that some guy showed up and played around with us and Miss Militia but it's bound to come out sooner or later.

"Feh."

"How about Ghost? Since he went invisible and phased through the floor." Gallant tried.

"Already taken by some guy in Paris."

"Hardlight. How about Hardlight?" Kid Win suggested. "Since you know, his forceshields."

"Hmm…." Clockblocker typed in the name. "It's not taken. Okay, that works."

"Hardlight it is then." Aegis wrote the name up on the whiteboard. "Now let's brainstorm so he doesn't get the drop on us next time. So don't hold back and share every detail that you remember."

"He can teleport. Not very far or else he'd have teleported to the doors and escaped earlier. And he ignored my powers when I tried to keep him away from Shadow Stalker." Vista said.

"Good." Teleport was written on the board. "What else?"

"His energy blasts." Gallant replied. "They should have hurt Sophia badly since they smashed through metal but they didn't." It was true. Despite being hit directly twice by Hardlight's attack, Sophia had gotten off with a only a few light bruises and a damaged dignity.

"Yeah, that was weird. You think his attacks had some kind of manton effect?" Kid Win suggested. "Like they could blow up non-living matter easily but hardly do anything to anything alive."

"Maybe, but Velocity had to be taken to the infirmary earlier. I heard he got a few broken ribs when Hardlight blew himself up to get Velocity off his back." Aegis wrote up energy blasts and energy grenades on the board.

"That bastard also has a healing factor. A strong one." Shadow Stalker added. "I stabbed him in the hand and the knife just popped out a second later. He blew himself up to take advantage of it as well."

"Man, this guy has all kind of powers." Clockblocker mused. "What else did he have?"

"Can't forget his forceshields. If it weren't for those, we would have beaten him easily. " Aegis reminded, his hand clenching into a fist. "They were strong. Strong enough to ignore my punch and Miss Militia's gun."

"Hey, do you think if MM did fire that bazooka, we could have gotten him?" Vista wondered aloud.

"No, it was a bluff. There was no way she would have tried it with us there as well." Gallant answered.

"And right after that, he phased through the ground while turning invisible." Clockblocker added. "Weren't expecting that."

"Yeah." Invisibility, phase through object, and forceshields went up to join the other powers on the board.

"Damn, this guy's a monster. Power-wise. Not, you know, real monsters."

"Like Lung." Shadow Stalker paused before continue. "Hardlight was definitely Asian. Maybe he's a new recruit for the ABB?"

"Maybe. That would be bad if that was the case but I don't think so." Gallant said.

"And why's that?"

"Well, his emotions were pretty messed up. When he first showed up, he was confused and scared plus he had a lot of anger held back. He was calming down until you hit him with a tranquilizer dart."

"Well he had a healing factor so it didn't take."

"Let me finish. The weird thing was that when he saw that Shadow Stalker had shot him, he's stopped being nervous and started being angry. Real anger filled with hate towards Sophia for some reason."

"Seriously? He had some hate boner for Shadow Stalker?"

"What? no! Not exactly. From what I could tell, he just wanted to make Shadow Stalker pay for something."

"...Shit." Sophia swore, suddenly looking pale. "I just remembered."

"What is it?" Aegis asked with concern.

"The fucker knew who I was." Sophia answered. "Just before Miss Militia showed up, he said fuck you Hess."

"...Holy shit. Is that true?" Kid Win asked, his eyes turned towards Shadow Stalker.

"Of course it's true! you think I'm gonna lie about something this serious!?"

"Damn. Just who the hell is this guy?" Clockblocker murmured, looking at the board again. "There's gotta be a pattern to this guy's power. No way can someone have this many powers."

"Myrddin."

"Besides him."

"Settle down everyone, please." Aegis crossed his arms as he waited for everyone to calm down. "I think, we need to inform Piggot about this."

Last edited: Jan 20, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Jan 22, 2015

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#248

3.1 Well This Was A Bad Idea!

The trip back to the Garden was annoying to say the least. I spent quite a bit of time looking for a teleport point that wasn't somewhere horribly inconvenient. I finally found what I was looking for at the graveyard. Turns out the Professor had an empty crypt built to use as teleport location. The place was locked down but Eve somehow was able to connect and admit me into the thing where I had to find a secret staircase, break open a coffin and move a plastic skeleton out of the way before I could teleport back to the transfer room.

I didn't bother with the elevator. With my new ghost powers, I simply jumped down the shaft and let gravity have its way with me, occasionally correcting my fall with my floating power. It was both terrifying and thrilling in a way I could not properly express.

I also ended up missing my landing and had to spend a few minutes floating back up to the bottom of the shaft. On the plus side, I found out that there was pool of magma about a few hundred metres below the Garden.

Eve was waiting for me in what I believed was a catholic school uniform. Maybe. I don't know.

"Welcome back, Yoshikawa!" Eve greeted me with that somewhat infectious cheer of hers. I gave her a nod and wave.

"Hey Eve. I bought souvenirs." I held up the bag full of various knick-knacks and tourist bait up for the holographic girl to see. I'd almost forgotten to get Eve her gifts, what with all the commotion that I'd unintentionally stirred up. I was hoping to get stuff from the PRT gift shop but that was a lost cause after what I pulled with the Wards.

The trip didn't turn out to be an entire bust however. I'd managed to procure some grocery - normal stuff such as milk, fruit, mince meat, pasta sauce, cup noodles and spaghetti. I needed to eat more than just bread and coffee for my meals.

After watching Eve squee over her new toys and dropping the stuff with a Dog drone, I headed to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat. It doesn't take long and soon I have my first proper meal in two days, not counting the hotdog I had in the afternoon.

I ate slowly to ruminate on what to do, now that the PRT and the Protectorate were probably keeping an eye out for me.

If I were to list my to-do list, it would go something like this.

1. Make power to give me an outfit or something. That should solve some issues with my face being seen. I'll think more about the details tomorrow when my charges return.

2. Amp up my teleport power. Gotta make it have a greater range, maybe let me take people along for the ride, and possibly give me a way to teleport without having to actually see where I'm going.

3. Become Stronger. That was a given. I had lots of ideas about the kinds of powers I wanted. So many powers, so little charges.

4. Make Brockton Bay a better place. Don't get me wrong, but I only needed one day of being a ghost and exploring the city to realise that things were pretty bad. Having mostly skimmed through the earlier chapters from before Leviathan hitting the Bay, I was quite aware how much it sucked. I don't know exactly how I'm gonna do it but I figured I should start with taking out the gangs as a starting point. That has to do something to help, right?

5. Kill Leviathan. I had about a month before the Endbringer shows up. that's like three hundred charges for whatever powers I wanted. A power I was going to need to minimize the damage that monster could do was a really amped up hydrokinesis. I was also going to need something that could kill Leviathan, something that can ignore his physic breaking biology and overcome his regeneration. Shouldn't be too difficult if I spend my charges properly.

6. Kill the Other Endbringers. Behemoth, Simurgh, Kohsu, Tohu, Bohu and whatever Endbringer show up after I killed the first ones, I was going to destroy them. If I'm able to kill Leviathan, I'll be able to kill each and everyone of them. It was all a matter of how I make use of my power, really.

7. Kill Scion. The world's most powerful superhero. And also the source of all superpowers in the Wormverse. And also the entity that was going to kill a lot of people and destroy a lot of alternate Earths. He was arguably my biggest obstacle to getting back home since he was due to go on his world-destroying spree in approximately two years, thanks to Jack Slash. Hmm, that reminds me.

8. Kill the Slaughterhouse Nine. Because fuck them. Fuck Jack Slash and his fucking band of psychos with powers. Fuck Bonesaw as well. I don't care if she does good work as Riley one she does her heel-face turn, I can just make a power like hers and give it to someone who'd use them for good without having to go through a whole bunch of bullshit. Once I'd gotten enough power, I was going to hunt them down one by one and make them know fear. Well, they'll gonna be looking for me anyway since I chose to take the S9 complication.

9. Save the world and make it a better place. Last but not least, I was going to try and bring about a better world. A major reason of this world's shittiness was that fact that thanks to their shards, the source of their powers, parahuman were inclined towards conflict. That and and trigger events required really, really shitty things to happen, things that make a newly born parahuman not inclined to heroism. Too many villains and not enough heroes. And Simurgh fucking up anyone who tries to make the world a better place or change the status quo. Gonna have to kill bird for sure. Gotta figure out a way to prevent the shards from causing more conflicts. Also gotta do some about Cauldron. I know they're trying to save the world but I really didn't like how they were going about it. Maybe punch out Contessa or something.

Mentally looking over my list, I admitted to myself that my priorities were somewhat off. Eh, I've only been here for about a couple of days. Given some time and I'll probably be revising my plans. But frankly, most of those things on my list are long-term stuff.

For the short term, I was probably going to end up getting into more trouble before the week was out. I mean, what were the chances that I'd end up in the Ward's main base. Also, fucking Shadow Stalker. Gotta do something about her when I get the chance.

Hang on. Why didn't I?

Fuck. I could have depowered Sophia when I had her. Wait, didn't the power manipulation description on the CYOA mention that I should be able to sense other parahumans?

Because I'm pretty damn sure that I didn't feel a thing even when I was surrounded by the Wards and two Protectorate heroes. Was this a consequence of choosing Skitter mode?

Was I still able to do the other things like steal, copy and nullify?

There was only one way to find out but frankly I wasn't in the mood. What I was in the mood for was more training. I needed to properly gauge just how strong my attacks were, what exactly I can do, and how I could maximize my strengths.

I finished off the last of the pasta and dropped the dishes in the sink. I'll clean up afterwards. However, I still felt somewhat unsatisfied by the meal. Maybe my new bod needed more fuel than I used to eat. About the best reason I could think of.

Before I could grab a cup noodle, Eve materialized in front of me.

"Thanks again for the souvenirs Yoshikawa! Oh! you're hungry! Don't worry! I'll make something right now! Just sit tight and listen to sounds of cooking! I've been practicing while you were gone so get ready for a way better meal than yesterday!" Eve proclaimed.

Somehow, Eve's word didn't fill me with confidence about her cooking.

I mentally added another thing to do on the list.

0. Give Eve's super cooking powers.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Jan 23, 2015

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#305

3.2

"Okay Eve, what I'm about to do is going to make you a better cook."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. It should work just fine. I mean, Dragon's a parahuman and she's an AI."

"Who's Dragon?"

"Premier Tinker of the world. Also an AI."

"Oh. Okay. So will this really make me a better cook, even though I don't have tastebuds?"

"My power is the power to create powers. If I can make a power that lets me walk through walls, blow stuff up, survival being plasma-blasted at point-blank range, I can make a power that makes you a better cook. So are we going to do this or not?"

"Okay!"

With that, I give Eve a curt nod and enter powerspace, my tentative nickname for the strange frozen moment in which I craft my powers. After a blissfully cool sleep, my charges had return, ready to be molded or used to enhance my current powers.

Now then, how do I go about this?

How do I make Eve a better cook?

Super intuition centred around cooking and knowing the best way to make use of ingredients for the best flavours?

Tinker power with a speciality in cooking, allowing the creations of dishes never before seen?

Or maybe the power to follow a recipe correctly without fail since it appears that Eve goes off strange tangents while cooking, even when she's using a recipe.

Hmm...Decisions, decisions decisions….

Eh, what the hell. I'll give Eve Tinker powers. I haven't tried that kind of power yet. If it's a bust then I'll try the other approaches. Plus this was a chance to see if I really could give others powers. Skitter mode might have crippled it so I need to try.

I start visualising. Food, recipe, cooking, frying, boiling, roasting, steaming, cutting, molecular gastronomy, arrangements, appetizers, full course meals, meat dishes, fish dishes, salad, desserts, soup, drinks, ingredients, preparations, delicious.

A single charge comes to me and begins slowly shifting. Unlike my other powers, despite how time is frozen, the shifting seems to progress at a glacial rate. I actually begin feeling a pressure against my mind as I focus solely on the tinker power. Why was this so suddenly difficult to do?

Was it the nature of tinker powers and how they were actually lexicons of knowledge and blueprints to recreate the technology and inventions of entire civilisations sorted by function or theme?

I had no plans to make myself a tinker since I didn't see myself as the kind of person to work hours in a lab building stuff. Too easily distracted and bored to do that. The fact that making a tinker was so much more trouble than usual was reinforcing my opinion that tinker powers, while cool and ultimately save the world after Khepri forces everyone to work together to kill Scion, was for the time being too much hassle for one such as myself.

Finally, what seemed like an eternity or five, the charge had finished shifting. Gently, I took it in me and then activated it.

Ȩ̷͓̲̠̙͙ŗ̩̼̠̰͓̹̘̜r̫̭̩̀͞o͏̳̹̺͔͞r̺̤̳͖͜,̧̱̭͖̲́ ͙̱͙̝̝̬̀͠c̫͈͓̯̰̘ͅa̸̵̺̮͓̮n͖͕̼̪͍̥̱̕ń͎͓͙̞̣̺ớ̢͙̖̦̗̖͔͕t̷̥̝̜͇̀ͅ ̸͔r̖̲̪e̴̪̣̙̟̩a͎̤̝̗̺̙͉̺d̼͕͖̗̹̩.͙͙̹̟̟͙ͅ

̘̪̗͎̰͘I̴̦͍͙͓͓̰̝n҉͔̠̻c̷̫̼̱̙̠̯̀o̵̶̜̹͚͈͖͖͚ͅͅm̬̠̤̥̬̤p͉̰͢͡a̦̩͓̬͡t̻̬̣̹͔̳̘i̷̩͈͜͝b̗͕͎̣̦̹̤̱̭͡l̪̻̺͟e̢̡͙͠ͅ ҉̵͚͉̖̱O̮̭S̬̭̝̠̬̬̪̙.̵͍̟̦͇̼͜͜

̡̠̬͠ͅA̴̳̲̗̗ͅd͕̟͙͍͇̮à̴҉̟͈̮̝͍ͅp̢̦͕͜t͔̯i̸̺̤̱͈̣n̷̼͉̤̥̦̰͍͝g̶̡̘̭̪̤͇͈̲̖̟ ̹̮̰͈̰̪́͞t̶̛̟͉̭̱o͕̫̮̬-̴̘͎̱͕

̶̳̙̪͜Ḛ̭̜̲͇̕r̲̮̩̯͢r͕͖̀͟͟o̯̠̬̟͉͙͕͡r͏̖̟͇͡,͝͏̺ ̯̟̼̥̹c̸̣͍̭͖̀a̢̦͠ǹ̨̨̪͔̟̫̮͖͓̘ņ̰͚̪o͍̫̗͚̯͍̱t̢̜̬̰ ͇̜̳̕͢a̡̜̘̪͍̭̲̼̯d̷̟̗͔̯͎͙a̸҉̶͉̪͇̜̹p͏̲̥̼t̸̮̯̙͔̱̬̩̖̮.̴͉̻̥͘

̲͞C̢̧̤͔̫̜̣ǫ̞̯ͅn̪̜̩͕̕͢ṉ̸͎̟̙̬͖̯̟̀̕e̛̦̭̠̙͙̖̘c̵̱̞͢ţ̧̜̻̱į̷͍̬̭͜ͅǫ̘̰̠̣ͅn҉̞̟͈̖̺͠ͅ ̙̼C҉̮̹͚̥̰̥̣̮͜ͅo̘̻̥̻͢͝r̶̸̭͇̥̖͘r̶̪͓̳u̹̦͙̰͜p͍̲͜t̨̛̺̺̺̻̪͠e̙̠̝̦͉͔͢͜ͅd͚̠͓͘͠

̥̜̬̗̼͔̠R̴̪̗̹͘͢e͈͟ṕ̦̪̀͟ͅa̸͢҉͔̥̪i̶̸̱̙̰r͕̝̘͈͢s͖̯̳̣̰͘ ͏̬̯̘̰͉͙͙͎͚i̴͕̺͍̜̙͟ͅͅn̛͓̩̕̕ ̤͔̀p̴̖͢r̵̸̠͇̕ơ̢͈̗-҉̵̤̣̥͎

̘͚̞̝̮͡T̛͉ͅh͍̀̀ŕ̰ͅę̠͉̹͕̼ṣ̰̥̜͚̠̩̗͉͞͝h͏̧̩̫̭͍ͅo͔͓̩̳͙̝̝̘l͔̹̼̕͝͝d̯̮̟̥͇͈̩̫͞ ̛̼̣̮̬̥̤͘h̴͙͍à̭̪͈͈̣̦͞s̴̮͔̙̺̯͍̙̭͘ ̧͈̠̳̠͜n̗o͉̹͔̻ͅt̝̤ ̢̮͚͓̫̗b̺͡è̛̥͎̭̦̝e̵̲̪͔̟̳̭̻͝ͅn̲̻̲̜̠̣͜͢͞ͅ ̮͕̙̮̳̪͙̫̲͘͢r̷̛̭̜͉̞͉͕̜è̺̘͙͇ͅa̲͈̖͕̪͎̖c͖͈̖̥̲͘h҉҉͚e͇͉͔͘ͅd̨҉̯̣͎̭̦̝̱.̤͙̕͡

̹̝̭̬̪Ḑ͙̟̻͓̯͚ͅȩ͉̲̹͚̺̟̱ą̰̲̭̥͕̩̯c̵̨̪͖̼̩̪ṯ̸̱͔̻͕̩̪̤̣i̸̘̠̭ṿ̥̠̰͈͕̬̺́͟a̵̡͉͔̳̯̦̱͟t҉̼̤͇̣̦̜̦̹̯i̛͍͈͘͢n͚͝ǵ̘̘̪͚͍̹̼̤͟.͏̢̱͈̻

Someone was shaking me. My head was spinning. I could taste something metallic. My eyes were blurry and tinged with red. My ears were ringing and also felt clogged. All in all, I felt shit.

What happened?

"MASTER! PLEASE BE OKAY!" Eve's voice suddenly pierced through the mental fog of pain and bleurgh.

"Quiet, Eve. You're too loud." I complained. I think I was on the floor. Someone was helping me stay straight and not fall down. Eve?

"Oh thank goodness, Master! When you started bleeding from your nose and eyes, and speaking in tongues, I was so worried that something terrible had happened!"

I was starting to feel better thanks to my healing factor. My head had stopped spinning and I could see that Eve had several Dog Drone holding me up. If I wasn't feeling crap, I'd probably be feeling creeped out from being nursed by spidergunbots. I checked my charges.

Nine unused charges and one inactive food tinker charge.

Okay...That was unexpected. I wasn't sure what had happened but I think Skitter Mode may have crippled my ability to use Tinker powers. That was a bit of a downer. However, it wasn't that the power itself was defective, the problem was me.

I'm not sure how I know but I felt that there was a wall that was preventing me from accessing the tinker power. Like a mp3 player trying to play an unsupported file type. I couldn't use the tinker power because I couldn't support it. That was what I felt was the issue.

Fortunately however, it should still be transferable to others.

"I'm fine now Eve. Thank you for your help. Just did something that I wasn't supposed to do. No biggy." I reassured the holographic girl as I pulled away from the robots. She didn't seemed convinced however. "Chill, I simply overexerted myself. It won't happen again."

"Yoshikawa…."

"I said it's cool. If you really want to help me out further, you can take the power and use it to make me the best damn breakfast I ever had, okay?" At that, Eve perked up a little.

Alright, time for the moment of truth. I grabbed the tinker power and pulled it out of me, metaphorically speaking. I didn't actually grabbed my powers with my bare hands but it certainly felt like I did. I'd lost what little connection I had to the Tinker Power but I could suddenly feel its presence outside my body.

It was like a tiny powerful beacon that screamed out the concept of cooking. Looks like my power sensing ability works on my own powers only. That was good to know at least. Carefully, I guided the new power to Eve and watched as it seemed to merge with the holographic girl. Suddenly I felt the power charge location to somewhere below the Garden. Did the tinker power go to Eve's true body?

"Yoshikawa! I think...I felt something but other than that, I don't feel any different." Eve informed me. That was because I hadn't activated it yet. With a single mental command, I turned on the Cooking tinker power that was now within Eve. "Ah!"

Eve froze in place with an expression of surprise on her face. Her eyes had gone dark for a few moments before lines of data started streaming across them. In seconds however, the lines of data become a river and then a torrent before her eyes ceased being dark and began to glow, then she unfroze. I could only watch in fascination as she looked at her hands, staring at them like she had never seen them before. she holds a hand up, finger spread out and her eyes still glowing.

Then she smiles and the glowing ceases. I could feel her power running, working to fulfil its duty.

Eve suddenly whips her head around and looks at me with what I could call a crazed expression in her eyes. "Yoshikawa! I'm making breakfast! I'm making all the breakfast! Go wait in the master's room while I cook! Go GO GO! IT'S GOING TO BE A SURPRISE!"

Eve shooed me out of the dining hall and locked the door.

…..

Okay, that was strange.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea at all.

"Eve."

"Yes, Yoshikawa."

"Where did you get all the stuff to make all this?"

"Oh! That was easy! I built a molecular disassembler and reassembler in order to get the ingredients that I needed! I mean, at first I thought about going to send the drones to pick up the ingredients but then I had this wonderful idea. It was like bam, it was all in my database so I built it!"

"...Okay, I can accept that. However." I waved my hand at the dining table that was holding all the fruits of Eve's new capabilities. "I'm pretty damn sure that if I ate this much, I'd explode."

"Eh? EEEEEEEH?!" Oh, so Eve didn't realise that I was not capable of eating what looked to be...what was it called? a Manchu Han Imperial Feast. Yeah, that what it was. A Manchu Han Imperial Breakfast.

Somehow, Eve managed to conjure up in a few hours over a hundred dishes of rather delicious-looking food. Each dish I assumed was styled after a convention breakfast dish of all nationality. I recognised pancakes, donuts, crepes, a dozen kind of cereals, yoghurt, fruit salads, bacon and eggs, sausages, and more. But there were even more stuff that I didn't recognised or only knew from news articles and cooking manga.

"Oh no! That means all this food is going to go to waste!" Eve was getting teary. Nope, not gonna have a crying hologram girl, not gonna deal with that!

I snatched a piece of some kind of meat pastry with bacon and popped it in my mouth. "MMMPH!?"

Oh god.

It was delicious.

Should bacon even taste this good!?

This crunch! This texture! This sensation! This tingly goodness on my tongue! Is this what heaven tastes like?!

"Oh no! I messed up again! You're crying because it's terrible! That's it! I'm a terrible cook! I'm never going to be a bride!"

Eh, what? NO! NONONONONONO! FOR SUCH A MEAL TO NEVER EXIST AGAIN IN THE FUTURE IS A TRAGEDY BEYOND COMPARE!

I swallowed and turn to grab Eve by the shoulder only to stumble and fall on my face when I remembered that she was a hologram. "Ow!"

"Yoshikawa?! What are you - " I flipped back onto my feet and gave her a thumbs up. "Yoshikawa?"

"It's delicious. Incredibly so. You've done well, Eve. While I am not capable of devouring every single bite of this lavish meal that you have presented me, I will however give everything a try. What I ate just now is proof that you have improved. I wish that in the future that you will continue to cook for me. Thank you Eve for giving me such a dining experience."

Huh, where did that speech come from?

"You really mean it, Master?" Eve asked hopefully. I nodded. Eve squees and hugs me through her robot proxies which is rather uncomfortable. "I'll do it! I'll make you the best meals everyday!"

Happy to see that Eve was going to continue cooking, I grabbed what I think is a breakfast burrito.

…...

Damn that was delicious. Maybe I will try and eat everything after all.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Jan 24, 2015

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#358

3.3

A beam of white light, tinged with a blue, extends from just above the tip of my right index finger to a length of about four feet. Tentatively, I wag my finger and watch as the laser sword follows my finger's movement. Interesting.

Right now, I was in the training room, testing out some new powers that I'd made to bolster my combat abilities. I spent about three charges on making it. After that glorious breakfast which required a charge to make a power that would let me eat it all without any negative effects. I began working on my powers.

I try shortening the beam and it does so, shrinking to about a few inches. I mess with the length a few more time, mentally taking note on how long I can make it form and how fast I can change its length.

It puts a strain on me to make it go beyond four feet and I'm unable to push it beyond six feet. The speed it changes length however varies depending on how much concentration I'm putting in. Without focus, it takes about a few seconds for a four feet long beam to form while it forms almost instantaneously when I have my focus on it.

I spread out my hand and tried making more laser swords appear from the tips of my fingers. The blade appears with a satisfying lightsaber sound and I let out a low whistle. Instead of getting four more blades however, I got a really nice wide one that was almost ten feet in length. I swing the blade around, taking note of how it felt and enjoying the lightsaber sounds it was making as it sliced through the air.

Good, so far so good. Time for the real tests.

"Eve, bring me some target!"

"Will do!" Eve replied through the training room's intercoms. A panel on the ground shifts and opens up and a crash test dummy pops up. Another panel on the ceiling slides open and a block of metal drops down next to me. And finally a panel in the wall opens up allowing several floating spherical drones, each about the size of a basketball to fly into the room. "Will this be okay?"

"It's great! Thanks Eve." This would be good to test out my fancy new energy sword.

I closed my fingers save for my index, shrinking the blade to its basic form, and moved over to the crash dummy. I then swing my sword at the crash dummy. Surprising, I feel a bit of resistance from the dummy but as I had been hoping, my sword cuts through the wooden frame and the dummy is sent flying in two halves.

Sweet.

Next, I try cutting through the slab of metal. Interestingly enough, it doesn't exactly cut through it. Instead, the part of the metal that my sword goes through glows with heat. Experimentally, I stab my blade into the metal. About ten seconds in, the metal starts melting. I could feel a grin on my face. This was so cool.

Okay, time to try hitting moving targets.

"Eve, Activate the drones, please."

"Okay! Would you like them to be capable of shooting back?" Hmm, that sounded like a good idea. It'll be just like in Star Wars, the scene where Obi Wan is training Luke to use his lightsaber and the force.

"Sure! Go for it!"

"Okie Dokie! Activate combat training protocols, now!" At her command, the drones, all six of them began to move around me in a circular fashion. I grinned, this was going to be -

Gah! A drone shot me from behind. I swing my blade at it but it simply moves out of the way. Frowning, I continue swinging my blade at the drones to no avail. Fuck, this is way harder than the movie made it look.

Must be the force. I don't have the force so I'm not hitting shit and -

Geh! Another hit from the drones!

I unclose my hand that my energy sword is coming out from, making my blade both longer and wider. I swing and swing and swing. And I fail to hit or even graze any of the drones.

"Gah!" A drone shoots me in the forehead, making me fall back on my behind. "Sonova - "

The drones starts upping their fire rate. "Gah! Quit it! Hold still!"

I try to attack from the ground but I only receive more shots for my trouble. "Stop! Stop the drones now!"

"Okay, Yoshikawa! Stopping combat training protocols now!"

"GYAH! THEY'RE STILL SHOOTING!"

"Uh-oh, um, it's appears that the drones are currently malfunctioning...I'll get to fixing them right away!"

"FUCK!"

I stood in front of the mirror in my room. My clothes I was wearing were not just tattered rags that smelt like ashes. I'd been subjected to the the continuous attacks of the training drones for about a minute before I snapped and made a power out of desperation to give me the ability to hit that damn fuckers.

What I ended up with was something along the lines of a super combat reflex. When I activated it, my body began moving on its one without me realising it. In less than ten seconds, I'd cut down the malfunction training drones that had been kicking my ass. Eve gave me a recording of my training session and it was quite a sight to see myself suddenly being owned by training drones to whipping into action and elegantly destroying the drones like it was nothing.

On the downside, it had cost me two charges to make that power so now I only had three charges to play with for the day.

Seeing how my clothes were wrecked however gave me an idea.

As I had done a dozen times before, I entered powerspace and made a new power. When I left powerspace, my new power was waiting to be used.

"Henshin!" I cried out as I activated my power. It wasn't necessary to the use of my power but it was fun to simply say it.

What remained of my clothes started glowing white and I watched as the glow spread around my entire body, even covering my head. The glowing outline of my wrecked clothes then began shifting in appearance, becoming something akin to armour. Once the outline stopped shifting, the glow suddenly shattered apart like a mirror, revealing my transformed outfit.

I was wearing a black and white armoured bodysuit over which I had white armour over my torso and shoulders. I had white bracers on my arms and white knee high armour boots as well. On my chest was a black and white stylised winged diamond. Covering my head was a white segmented armoured helmet from which my eyes were green glows coming from a large shaped opening in the helmet. I looked like a tokusatsu hero.

"Awesome!" I did a fist pump and began moving my body about. My armour felt comfortable and I could move easily in it. However, when I whacked the armoured segment with as much strength as I could muster, the armoured segment cracked. Despite its appearance, my armour wasn't very strong. However, the cracks glowed for a moment and began to disappear before my eyes. "Huh."

Looks like my outfit also regenerates as well. Kick-ass.

After making a bunch of superhero poses in the mirror, I began experimenting with what other outfits I could make. Sure enough, everything I tried worked. From casual wear with ridiculously neon colours to suave expensive looking suits. Lab coats, superhero spandex, biker wear, I now no longer needed to worry about my clothes!

On the downside, every time my outfit transformed, it glowed brightly. Eh whatever, I'll just leave it like that. Feels more heroic like that.

Changing my clothes to a simple shirt and pant combo, I decided to head back to the training room for more practise.

I wanted to see if I could hit one of those training drones without using my combat reflex power.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Jan 25, 2015

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3.4

"Huh, number one's down." I noted when I left the elevator. I was heading out to the city again. I was going to make a start of fixing my reputation with the PRT. No doubt I was on their watch list so I had to be careful if I didn't want to attract the wrong kind of attention.

It was now late afternoon, close to sunset really. I'd spent most of the day getting a better grasp of my powers as well as getting my ass kicked by various combat drones. Using my combat reflexes only allowed me to skillfully dodge and counter attacks from my opponents. It was however useless if I was the one to initiate the attack.

As someone who's tactics for fights mainly consisted of whaling on the other person while taking their hits, I was not a natural fighter. I only managed to take out a flying drone twice and both times were just lucky flukes. I needed to get better for there were better fighters out there that could kick my ass without trying.

Until then however, I'd be forced to either rely on my combat reflexes to get me through fights that enter close-range combat or fight my enemies at a distance.

Well, for now, I've decided to make a start on cleaning up Brockton Bay, starting with the Merchants. From what I remembered, the Merchants were drug-dealers who mostly consisted of drugged-out thugs, low-lives and the trash of society. They were led by Skidmark, a parahuman who could coat surfaces with some kind of pushing effect, with the force of the push increasing with repeated applications on his power. In the eyes of the other gangs of Brockton Bay, the Merchants however were considered trash and losers.

The perfect for a trial run of my powers in a real combat situation. Unless they had some kind of super tinker weapon hidden in the wings which I doubted, there should be no-one in the Merchants that was capable of taking me down.

Now I just had to hope that the four still functioning teleporters didn't get me into trouble like the first one.

"I'm really starting to hate the Professor." I muttered darkly as I trudged up onto dry land, salt water dripping from my clothes and sand in my boots.

Teleporter number ten had not sent me anywhere that would forced me to tango with one of the major factions in Brockton Bay. On the other hand, it had teleported me underwater. For the first time since I'd arrived here, I came close to death.

Fuck the Professor. He's lucky he's dead or else I would go out of my way to find him and punch him in the nose. that or kick him in the balls. On the plus side, I found out that going intangible and phasing through something dried me off at the cost of leaving a wet stain where I phased through.

Once I was completely dry, I began my search for the Merchants.

Several hours passed, the sun had set, bringing in the night, and I was no closer to finding the Merchants than I was when I first got here.

Fuck. I should have made some kind of tracking power as well as a proper mover power. My blink was only really good for tactical movement rather than long distances, and I'd yet to familiarise myself with the city. I'd been hitching rides on top of cars and buses, staying invisible and going intangible when I needed to.

All I knew about the Merchants were stuff that had happened after Leviathan. Something about the Docks, but I also vaguely remembered that the Asian Bad Boyz held the Docks until they were forcibly disbanded after Lung's second defeat at the hands of Skitter and Bakuda's bombing spree.

Shit. And I had no idea where the fuck I was. Just how hard was it to find a bunch of drugged out thugs!?

As more time passed, I found myself caring less about looking for the Merchants and more occupied with finding ways to keep myself entertained. I wasn't a drinking so I didn't bother with the bars. I hated nightclubs - too loud and too many people usually for my tastes. In the end, I just ended up checking out the restaurants and fast food places that were open, sometimes as a ghost when there was nothing on the menu that caught my immediate interest and at other times as a customer if the food was reasonably priced.

Eve called me up, asking me if I was going to be back for dinner and I told her that I was eating out. Eve admonished me about staying up late but I simply told her I was used to staying up late. Bad habits born from poor sleeping patterns and terrible class schedule of my original world.

As the streets became less crowded with people heading home or working the nightshift, I was running out of money. I decided that tomorrow I would try and find a way to make money, or make that locator power, beat up the bad guys and take their loot as compensation for my good deeds. Finder's right and all that.

As the money dwindled alongside my interest in food, I took the air and simply floated invisibly, letting the night breeze push me.

By now, it was past midnight and I was lost again, having ignored where the wind sent me. I wasn't really feeling tired but having failed to find any significant signs of gang activity was frustrating me.

Yep, tonight was a bust.

"Eve. I'm gonna head back now."

"Finally! You shouldn't stay up so late! I used to always had to make sure the Professor got his sleep so you better get yours as well!" Eve was still griping about my late night exploration. She might have good intentions but it was kind of annoying.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hear ya, Eve. Want me to bring you something back?"

"No, I'm perfectly fine. Thank you for offering though."

"Alright then, Eve. I'll see you - " At that moment, I saw something flare up in the distance. Was someone shooting fire? "Finally!"

"Yoshikawa? What's happening?"

"Action hopefully!" I replied as I began making my way towards the flames. The streams of flames were a fair distance away but with my blink ability, I should be able to get to the source before whatever parahuman shenanigans ends.

As I began blinking towards the flames, I ignored that niggling feeling that I was forgetting something important.

I arrive on the roof of some warehouse, my stomach rebelling against me as the downside of my teleportation ability was demanding its price. Eurgh, really got to fix that.

However, now that I was at the source of the flames, I groaned.

I didn't have an exact timeline of when the events of canon occurred but I really should have realised when I saw the flames.

Down below on the ground, A reptilian humanoid was busy burning away swarms of bugs.

I'd just arrived at Skitter's first fight in the story, the one against Lung, the villain that once fought Leviathan to a standstill and the leader of the ABB.

I did not plan for this at all.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Jan 26, 2015

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#496

3.5

Crapcrapcrap.

Why did I head off to the first sign of parahuman activity?!

Oh right, because I was fucking bored! And now I had gotten myself a front row seat of what will become one of the most important defining moments in Worm or at least in Taylor's cape career. I wasn't just ready to derail canon just yet. Sure there was the farce with the Wards yesterday but that probably wouldn't change the canon timeline, probably.

But as much as I wanted to leave to avoid getting involved, I felt the urge to stay and watch. This was Skitter's first fight as a parahuman after all. A very important moment in Worm history. As long as I stayed invisible, I shouldn't attract attention or accidentally derail the plot. I was currently wearing one of the Professor's TechSights, a black one this time, so I was able to see through the dark to some extent. Not that it was really needed seeing how Lung was lighting up the area with his flames.

Lung was as the story described him - tall, muscular, and with a metal dragon mask. And he was only going to grow more powerful as time went on. - grow metal scales for skin, become bigger, tougher, stronger, and a hell lot more nastier. The best way to fight the guy was to take him out ASAP, before his powers made him too strong to drop.

I could see in the light of the flames the gang members that were here with Lung, and how they were faring against Skitter's swarm of insects. Lung himself was throwing streams of flames to burn the bugs even as he was being bitten. About a third of his body was growing metal scales.

Damn, I couldn't quite remember how the fight went. Only that Taylor won, Lung's balls almost rotted off, and Armsmaster was going to show up to take credit for Lung's capture and punishment for Lung's close brush with death.

Where was Skitter anyway?

I scanned the rooftops closeby and spotted her. The girl of the hour, the main protagonist, the villain, the hero, the Queen Administrator, and the one who will save the world if I do nothing. Huh, a bit different from what I imagined but even with the TechSights, I couldn't really see the details very well in the low lighting.

Was she scared right now? Probably.

Was she going to beat Lung? Supposedly.

Was she going to meet the Undersiders? Oh yeah, I forgot about those guys for a second.

Yeah, around this time...What were the Undersiders going to do again?

Maybe I should make a power that lets me remember these details.

Looking back down, I felt some pity for the ABB members that were being swarmed and bitten by Skitter's swarm. Seeing someone getting swarmed by insects was not a pretty sight. It was probably the screaming that was bothering me the most. Never liked screaming.

I covered my eyes when Lung exploded, a blast of rolling flames bursting forth from his body. Okay, I think he was getting serious now. And one of his minion is on fire now. Stop, drop and roll. Well it looked like things were steadily heating up. I chuckled at my pun. God that was lame.

When Lung let out a really loud roar, I had to cover my ears. Man, the guy was loud. Surprised he didn't shatter any windows with that roar. Yep, he was definitely pissed.

And now there were even more fire all over the place. And more roaring. And now Lung was on fire. So Lung had pyrokinesis. And here I thought he breathed fire or something. Learn something new everyday. Looks like he's in pain though. Did Skitter get something to sting his eyes?

And oh god he's growing again. Now he's practically covered in metal plates.

Could I take him?

My strongest weapon at this point was my lightsabers and my barriers. I also had my energy blasts and my energy beams were more powerful than my blasts. My healing factor would keep Lung from killing me but were my barriers strong enough to stop a superpowered strike from the superpowered gang leader?

I could phase through solid matter but would I still be affected by fire?

I wasn't exactly in the mood to find out. This was Taylor's fight after all. Her big debut on the cape scene.

I think now would be a good time to bug out.

"Eve, you copy?"

"Nope! I don't copy but I can hear you, Yoshikawa. And is that a real dragon?" Eve asked.

"Not quite. He's cape called Lung and his power is turn into a dragon." I replied, keeping my eye on the burning cape. "Eve, start up the - "

Suddenly Lung looked up. No, he was looking at me.

…..

He gets supersenses as well!?

"Fuck me." And yep, his glowing metal eye narrows. Fuck me.

The next thing I knew, Lung had jumped. The burning dragon of a bastard had jumped almost two stories. I watched in mute horror as he dug his claws into the wall and climbed his way towards me.

Yep, bugging out right now.

"EVE, EMERGENCY TELEPORT NOW!"

"Understood! Teleporting in - " I hear the sounds of static and possibly something exploding. "Uh-oh."

Oh that wasn't good. "Don't tell me…." I palmed my face as I quickly understood what had happened.

"Hehehe, it looks like the emergency teleporter is malfunctioning. I should be able to get it working properly in five to ten minutes." Eve confirmed my worries. Well, all I had to do was either run for five to ten minutes and Eve will be able to teleport me out of here. But on the other hand, I was curious to see how I could handle someone of Lung's weight class. Probably not well, but I could run whenever I wanted to thanks to my powers.

As Lung's hands, still on fire, showed up, gripping the edge of the rooftop, I dropped my invisibility and put on my game face.

"HENSHIN!"

My body glows with power as my clothes change into the kamen rider style costume I had worn when I first used the power. Lung hauled himself up just as I finished transforming. I saw his eye widen at the sight of my form. I wonder what he must be thinking, seeing a tokusatsu-style hero in front of him. He narrowed his good eye however and I stepped back to allow him space to haul himself over the edge.

Once on the roof, he glared at me with what could be vague interest in his eye. "Who are you." He growled. Not a question. A demand.

I obliged him.

"I'm just a passing by hero who fights to protect the weak and the defenseless! The beam of hope that lights a path through these dark times! In the name of justice, I, Bright Rider, will punish you!" I finish my introduction with a pose, pointing my finger at Lung.

A moment of silence ensues as Lung just stared at me with what I believed to be an expression of bewilderment. Behind my helmet, I could feel my cheeks heat up.

I take the initiative.

I called up all my shields, layered them together around my right arm, and lunged at the dragon-like villain. Lung raises his arms to block but I had been expecting that. "SHINING SMASH BARRIER!" My barriers, upon making contact, push forward. The unexpectedness of my attack and power sends Lungs over the edge of the roof. I hear him cry out bloody murder before he hits the ground.

Right, then. I was now committed. For a moment, I wonder what Skitter must be thinking, seeing another cape suddenly appear on the scene. I shook my head and raised my hand, calling forth my lightsaber. It didn't matter. What mattered was me getting into a fight with Lung.

I let out a battle cry as I jumped down after the villainous cape.

"FOR THE LIGHT OF JUSTICE!"

Last edited: Jan 26, 2015

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Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 3.x - Interlude: Taylor New

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Jan 27, 2015

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A/N: Not to sure how this turn out. Not quite satisfied with it but I'd figured I might as well post it. Tell me what you think.

/

3.x Interlude - Taylor

Taylor Hebert, long-time bully victim, future saviour of the world in another timeline where Yoshikawa Shikoto didn't exist, and currently a complete rookie cape out on her first outing, was doing all she can to fight Lung. For someone like her to try and take on Lung, even if it was to save children, was practically paramount to suicide. However, she had managed to put the hurt on Lung, her swarms of insects attacking the gang leader wherever they could. She even managed to get one of his eyes with a bee.

Things got more serious as Lung kicked his pyrokinesis up a notch, reducing the effectiveness of her swarm. It was only matter of time before Lung's power made his body too tough to be affected by insect bites, his healing factor too strong to be overcomed by spider venom.

It was obvious to Taylor that she would not be able to defeat Lung. It was time to go, she had already achieved what she had set out to do. Lung's minions had scattered and were most likely in bad shape after her swarm had assaulted them, and whatever Lung had been planning, he would not be able to carry it out thanks to her. It was pointless to stay any longer.

That and she really didn't want to find out if the rumours of Lung growing wings were true.

Before she could make to leave, Lung jumped. Taylor's heart had stopped for a second.

Did Lung find her?

Was he about to land right next to her?

Then she saw Lung grabbed onto the building opposite of the one she was on. Was Lung trying to blindly find her?

"EVE! EMERGENCY TELEPORT NOW!" Taylor's head whipped up. That had come from the roof of the building Lung was climbing. There was someone else here?

She saw Lung pause for a moment, before he resumed his climb. Lung was after this person, no doubt believing that they were the source of her swarm. This was bad. Someone else was about to face Lung's wrath and it was partially her fault.

Then she saw him. Someone appeared on the rooftop opposite of her, shimmering into existence like an illusion. Invisibility? Was this person another cape?

The light of the moon wasn't enough to make the other person's feature but he was dressed in casual clothing.

The person on the roof then made a pose.

"HENSHIN!" Immediately the person, a man judging by his voice, began glowing. Taylor could vaguely see the man's clothes shift around in the light. When the glow faded, Taylor managed to catch a glimpse of the cape - no, the hero for what else could he have been.

The man was now wearing black and white bodysuit with glowing blue lines between the black and white parts. He wore white armour that had to be tinker-tech over his legs, arms, shoulder and torso. On his head was a helmet that covered his head completely save for the eye slot from which two glowing green eyes could be seen. On the front of his armour was a stylised diamond with wings.

Who was this hero?

Lung, having pulled himself onto the roof, was the one to ask that question. He got an answer.

"I'm just a passing by hero who fights to protect the weak and the defenseless! The beam of hope that lights a path through these dark times! In the name of justice, I, Bright Rider, will punish you!"

"What." Taylor gaped at the newcomer's introduction. He sounded like the heroes from her saturday morning cartoons. Taylor was so surprised that she almost missed the hero, Bright Rider he had called himself, surprise attack.

"SHINING SMASH BARRIER!"

Taylor could only stare in shock as Bright Rider suddenly punched Lung, one of the strongest parahumans in Brockton Bay - and send the nine foot tall villain flying over the roof. "What!?"

For a moment, the hero stood where he was with his arm out. Taylor suppressed a squeak when she saw Bright Rider turn his eyes towards her. He knew he was there. He then made a brief nod, acknowledging her presence before looking down to where Lung had fallen. Taylor continue watching in a mix of fascinated horror and disbelief as Bright Rider let out a battle cry before jumping down after Lung.

"FOR THE LIGHT OF JUSTICE!"

A wave of flame came up to meet Bright Rider in mid-fall. In response the hero swung his arm, what could only be described as a lightsaber suddenly bursting into existence from said arm. The flames were blown away and Bright Rider swung his arm down even as Lung tried to block it. "HEAVEN TO EARTH JUSTICE SLASH!" Bright rider cried out as his lightsaber went through Lung's arm. It didn't slice through the scale covered appendage. Instead it left a line of white-hot metal where the blade met the arm.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" Judging by Lung's roar of pain, it still hurt. In retaliation, Lung struck back with a large fist wreathed in flames.

Incredibly, Bright Rider merely moved slightly to the side, avoiding attack by a narrow margin. Using the momentum from his dodge, Bright Rider spun and attack lung with a horizontal slash. Again, the blade went through Lung's body, leaving a trail of glowing white metal.

Lung roared again, in both pain and anger before exploding again, his flames pushing back the other cape. Bright Rider's armour had been scorched by the blast, the flames having burnt holes in the underlying suit. Before Taylor's eyes however, she could see the damage disappearing. She felt a twinge of envy. Not only did his armour and costume look good, It also repaired itself. That outfit had got to be tinker-tech.

Bright Rider suddenly made his lightsaber disappear and stretch both his arms out in front of him, hands together with the fingers spread out.

"SHINING INFINI - " Something had begun glowing in the middle of Bright Rider's palms as he powered up for his next attack. However, Lung lunged forward, faster than Taylor expected. Instead of striking with his fists however, Lung sent forth an immense wave of flames at Bright Rider, wrapping himself in flames as he did. The hero stopped what he was doing and glowing blue barriers appeared to block the flames.

Lung tore right through them with ease, the sound of shattered glass marking the destruction of Bright Rider's barriers. The hero, now faced with a flaming dragonman, jumped back but Lung proved to be a slight bit faster and grabbed Bright Rider's leg. With a triumphant roar, Lung swung his enemy, smashing Bright Rider into the wall of the building. Taylor heard a cry of pain from Bright Rider before Lung pulled the white armoured hero out and slammed him into the ground.

The concrete ground cracked as Bright Rider was smashing into it. There was no way he could have survived that. Lung stood over Bright Rider's fallen form. Bright Rider's immaculate armour was now in tatters and pieces. Lung stared for a few seconds as if in thought before he moved away from Bright Rider's body.

Taylor felt her blood run cold. She had let Lung kill Bright Rider. She could have done something, she realised. Too distracted by the suddenness of the hero's appearance and amazed at someone actively trying to fight Lung head-on. She still had her swarm but Lung's flames had been killing them off quite effectively.

Lung might have not been able to kill children like he had been planning this night but he compromised with the murder of a heroic cape. She had to get out of there. Taylor moved slowly, her foot stepping on the gravel on the rooftop.

Suddenly, as if a gunshot had been fired, Lung whipped around, his head turned towards her location.

Oh, he had super-hearing.

With another roar, filled with anticipation, Lung jumped.

Taylor could only watch in numb horror as Lung completely cleared the two story height of the building and landed right next to her. Lung was now bigger than he was before he started fighting Bright Rider. Terror kept her from moving. Nothing she could do would forestall Lung's judgement upon her.

Lung stared at her with contempt. Her swarm wouldn't be able to do anything to Lung as he was now. He suddenly moved, his hands wreathed in flames. Taylor squeezed her eyes tight and waited for the inevitable blow.

"SHINING INFINITY CANNON!" Taylor's eyes snapped open.

"RAAAAGH!" A humongous beam of white energy smashed through the roof and into Lung, lifting him up into the air and sending him tumble across the roof.

No way. Taylor scrambled over to look over the edge of the roof.

"THE LIGHT OF JUSTICE ALWAYS BURNS BRIGHTLY!" Bright Rider was still alive. He stood in the human-shaped depression in the concrete, his arms pointed where he had blasted Lung He didn't even look like Lung had smashed him into the wall and ground just half a minute ago.

"Fucking punk!" Shit, Taylor had almost forgotten about Lung. The villain was already back on his feet and was right next to her again, looking down at Bright Rider as well. Lung was ignoring her, Taylor vaguely noted with some relief. That shining infinity thing had hurt Lung but she could see him healing already. He was also still on fire and the heat was making her really nervous.

Suddenly Lung turned and started firing several streams of flame towards an adjacent roof. Then without warning, a monster, resembling a cross between a lizard and a tiger, with tangles of muscle and bone where it ought to have skin, scales or fur, landed on top of Lung. However, Lung let out a cry of rage and almost casually throw the monster over the side of the roof, the monster hitting the streets with an audible crash.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing - oh crap." Lung had leapt down to the street level to face both the monster and Bright Rider.

Taylor stood, aware that she was shaking like a leaf. She was so unsteady on my feet, from the mixed relief and fear, that she almost fell over again as two more impacts shook the roof. Two more creatures, similar to the first in texture, but slightly different in size and shape, had arrived on the rooftop. These two each had a pair of riders. There were two girls, a guy, and a fourth she identified as male only because of the height.

"Hey, need a ride?" The tall guy asked her.

"What?"

"SHINING INFINITY BEAM!" Another beam of energy shot off into the night sky and more roars of rage could be heard from the street.

"Look, as much as we would like to spend some time introducing ourselves, we really need to go." One of the girls began speaking. She was dressed in a skintight outfit that combined black with a pale shade of blue or purple – Taylor couldn't tell in the dark – and her dark blond hair was long and windblown. "Lung's close to the point where it'll take all the local heroes together to maybe stop him and that's a big maybe."

As if to punctuate her point, the monster that Lung had thrown off the roof earlier and been thrown back onto the roof, the impact making Taylor stumble.

"Angelica!" The other girl who wasn't in costume unless the plastic dog mask counted as one cried out, getting off the monster she was on and running to the side of the fallen monster. Wait, it's name was Angelica?

"Like I said, we really need to go."

"Hey. Can't we stay and watch for a bit. I want to see what other moves other guy has." The remaining guy who wore a white mask and a ruffled white shirt with skintight leggings tucked into knee-high boots was looking over the edge of the roof, clearly enjoying the fight.

"No, Regent. The Protectorate will be here very soon so we need to go. So like Grue here," the girl gestured to the guy in the black motorcycle leather and helmet, "Said, want a lift?"

Taylor stared at the group before her then down at the scene on the street. Bright Rider was slashing away at Lung while avoiding getting hit by Lung's strikes. For some reason, Lung's flames weren't affecting Bright Rider anymore, the flame harmlessly washing over the hero's body like water. Bright Rider dodged a charge from Lung and the building Lung had smashed into shook.

Taylor looked back at the group.

"Yes. That would be nice."

The girl in the skin-tight outfit smiled.

Last edited: Jan 27, 2015

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Threadmarks 4.1 - Towards A Bright New Day New

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Jan 28, 2015

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4.1 Towards A Bright New Day

"FOR THE LIGHT OF JUSTICE"

I leapt down after Lung with the intent to do battle with the parahuman who could turn into a dragon. Lung however is quick to recovery from his fall and he's already back on his feet. I see his eye narrow and he stretches his arms out towards me. Suddenly a wave of flame erupts of Lung's arms, heading straight for me.

Crap. I summon my lightsaber at full strength (or should I call it beam katana?) and slash at the flames, dispelling them in an instant. Right, time to show this dragon who's the knight that's gonna slay him.

"HEAVEN TO EARTH JUSTICE SLASH!" I cry out as I swing my blade down at Lung, using gravity to increase the weight of my attack. Wait, my sword's made out of light and doesn't weigh anything. Fuck! Lightsabers are meant for quick slashing attacks, not overhead hammer strikes!

In any case, my faux pas becomes irrelevant when my blade goes through Lung's arm, leaving his metal skin white hot where the blade made contact. I land the ground on my feet thanks to my reflexes but I still feel the impact. It fades instantly though. Thank you healing factor, you're the best.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" And looks like Lung felt that slash, even if it didn't cut of his arm. He strikes out with his uninjured arm and without realising it, my body moves automatically. I spin to my left, Lung's right, dodging the villain's blow by an inch. Using the momentum, I swing my sword arm around, slashing through Lung's abdomen. Again, no visible damage except for the trail of white hot metal from blade contact.

At least it won't kill him.

"FUUCKAAAH" Lung snarls in both anger and pain before he explodes. Flames buffets at me and it is only thanks to my enhanced reflexes that I manage to jump back. My armour prevents me from getting burned and my power immediately repairs my armour. I'm really loving these powers.

Lung's now really on fire meaning I can't get close without burning myself. My healing factor would be able to heal any burns but I wasn't in the mood to get roasted. This meant close-range combat was out for now. Time to see how my beam attacks do.

During training, my beam attacks proved to be much more powerful than my usual hand blasts. Enough that I wasn't willing to use them against a person or a cape without brute toughness or healing. Against the likes of Lung however, well, he should live.

I press my hands together with my fingers spread out in front of me. Charging my laser!

"SHINING INFINI – " And suddenly I have a fistful of flaming Lung coming right at me. Holy shit's fast! I drop my beam charge and wave my arm in front of me, forming a seven layers barricade of forcefields to block Lung's Charge.

It doesn't stop Lung at all.

I barely have time to process the shattering of my barriers when my reflexes act. Suddenly I'm weightless and in the air. Moving backwards would do me no good. Lung was too much on fire to dodge to the side so the only way to avoid his charge was up. Or so I thought.

MY blood runs cold when I feel a very tight grip around my left leg, crushing it like a stick. I hear Lung's triumphant roar before I'm suddenly slammed into something. My bones shatter, my organs are crushed and my healing factor does little to numb the pain. Oh god this fucking hurts.

Then I feel a pull and oh god not again.

Everything goes black as the crushing pain of being smashed into the ground overwhelms my healing factor before I regain consciousness. Ow. Much pain. Lung so strong.

Then I feel them. Ten new charges. Ten balls of infinite potential just waiting to be moulded into a masterpiece of power.

Huh, I thought I regained my charges in the morning.

My healing factor's already more than three quarters done healing me. God I love healing factors. Pain lets you know you're alive after all. Sweet sweet life.

Right then, time to power up!

Time freezes as I begin grabbing my charges to make myself some spanking new powers.

First thing I do is create a power to make me immune to the flames of Lung. Or just harmful fire and heat in general.

The first charge simply makes me simply resistant to fire and heat, not enough. Another charge boosts it to near immunity with only the hottest flames capable of burning me. It doesn't extend to what I'm wearing though so I fix that with another charge.

Now I was not only immune to all harmful fire attacks, my clothes weren't going to get burnt anytime soon. Oh, and anyone I happened to be holding to, I guess.

Next, I throw a couple of charges into my blaster power. Charging for my beam attack took too long so I lower the charge time. However charging your laser was something that I, as someone who go on a certain image from time to time, must be able to do. So I made it so that I could charge up my blaster power to increase the power of my attack. If I can get Lung to stop moving for a bit, my blaster power could prove quite effective against the bastard.

Okay, time to get back up. Time resumes and I pull myself out of the Yoshikawa shaped depression that Lung had left in the concrete. I stretch my back, getting the kinks out of it and checked my immediate surroundings for Lung. Where did he go?

I catch the tell-tale signs of Lung's pyrokinesis above me.

OH SHIT, HE ABOUT TO KILL SKITTER!

Power simply flows into my hands as I raise them towards the bastard. In a second, I reach the threshold.

"SHINING INFINITY CANNON!"

A giant beam of light erupts from my hand, the power almost making me fall to my knee as I struggled to control my aim. It hits straight on and Lung disappears in the light.

Did I get him?

I see Skitter rush over to the edge of the roof to look down at me. Well, might as well have a bit of fun while Lung was out of the picture.

"THE LIGHT OF JUSTICE ALWAYS BURNS BRIGHTLY!" I proclaim, standing strong and unharmed. How must it feel to be in the presence of such an heroic figure. I am looking heoric right?

"Fucking punk." Ah shit, Lung's still up. How brazen of him to simply ignore Skitter in exchange for focusing on me. Well, it's good that bug girl isn't gonna get hurt while Lung's focused on me. I ready myself for the next round of this fight. I wasn't going to go down just yet.

Then a giant monster lands on Lung.

What.

Hang on. Isn't this when the Undersiders show up?

I barely have to time think about this revelation when Lung grabs the monster and throws him off the roof - and towards me. Reflexes kick in and I backflip away from the giant van-sized monstrosity. And this thing used to be some mutt. Bitch's powers were pretty impressive if it could turn puppies into this monster. Still it was rude for Lung to throw shit at me.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing - oh crap." Lung jumps down and lands on top of the beast, making it cry out in surprise. He looks at me with his eyes, both of them. I'm not particularly good at reading the expressions of giant dragon-men but it looked like there was maybe some respect in Lung's eye. Or maybe he's just pissed that I won't stay down.

My lightsaber reappears and I charge the villain.

"RAAAAGH!" Lung roars and meets my charge with his own. This time however, I'm have a better feel of what to do. I leave my body to my reflexes as I studied Lung's movements, even as I grab him and vault over his form like a gymnast. He's bigger than he was at the start of fighting me. His metal looks harder as well. His flames are hotter too but I barely feel the heat. Fire immunity for the win!

I land on top of Bitch's pet monster only for it to suddenly get back on its feet. Reflexes let me tumble behind the beast safely. However, it looks like the dog-turned-monster wants to take a bite out of something, namely me. My barriers come up just as the beast charges at me, snapping its jaw. It rams into my barriers, shattering several but it stopped by the third layer. Strong enough to break a barrier but much weaker than Lung.

Lung isn't content to simply watch however, and he comes from behind Bitch's mutt and delivers a right hook to its side. The beast is sent smashing into a wall. And then there was only barriers between me and Lung.

I drop the barriers and hit Lung with an energy blast. The blast hits the dragon-wannabe in the face and he falls backwards. Noice.

Not inclined to let Lung get back up to pummel me into paste, I rush in with my lightsaber a'blazing and ready to slice and dice. Or more likely, melt the metal off his body. Lung however has other plans, like grabbing a dumpster and throwing it at me.

I stop in my tracks and aim my hands at the flying trash receptacle. "SHINING INFINITY BEAM!" The beam completely annihilates the dumpster and shoots off into the night sky. Damn, that's powerful stuff.

Then that fucking dog sideswipes me. Just a glancing hit but still enough to send me tumbling heads over heel into a pile of trash. Motherfucker! The mutated mutt then pounces onto Lung and I see it trying to rip out Lung's throat. Which was kinda pointless since Lung's made out of metal.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Lung has had enough of this killer puppy and, with a grunt, grabs onto the sides of the dog and smashes the monster into the wall to his left and then into the opposite wall to his right and then into the ground before tossing the mongrel into the air.

"Shite." That display of strength was really something, considering that the dog was the size of a large van. I was going to need something more than what I have to put the bastard down.

Suddenly Lung erupts into flames, pouring fire around the street. The fire set the trash around me alight but my power keeps them from even remotely heating me up. However, the warehouse that surrounded us were now on fire.

Not good.

Gotta cut off the flames.

I close in on Lung, dodge his claw swipe and start slashing at the Lung as fast as I could.

Whatever defenses that Lung's armoured skin afforded him, my lightsaber was making it moot. His healing factor was still keeping up with the damage I was doing and I was not really cutting into the cape. My reflexes keeps Lung from grabbing hold of me and my fire immunity keeps me from being turned into charcoal.

I would not be able to keep this up forever though. Even though I was hurting Lung, he would only grow stronger until he could simply heal faster than I could hurt him. By now, his chest was glowing hot white from my lightsaber but for how much longer?

Suddenly I'm hit by a shockwave of some kind and I'm forced back. Shit.

Did Lung just stomp the ground so hard that it made shockwaves!?

I look up and grimace.

Oh, wow. He's gotten pretty big. He's at least twice my size with even more muscles than before. His chest is still glowing white hot from my attacks but it's already cooling.

I need a better power. Like a finishing move or something, like rider kick or scanning charge.

Charge?

That's an idea!

I only had five charges. Not really enough to up the strength of my other powers. And even if I stuffed all my charges into one power, I don't it would be enough. I needed a power that would let me use my powers at a higher level than that.

Time freezes as I access my original power. I needed a limit break, a way to overclock my current powers, to supercharge my powers without using a charge to permanently enhance them. I needed a super special technique to beat down Lung and win.

A charge shift and twists and in what seemed like a moment and an infinity, it is done.

Perfect.

However, in that frozen moment where I made my powers, I felt something new.

Lung. I could feel it. An alien presence. The shard.

What the fuck.

It was...organic. That was the only way I could describe it without creating whole new words. Unlike my own powers, Lung's power had an organic presence to it. Which made sense since it was one, alive, two, sentient (sort of), and three, formerly part of an alien space whale that would have destroyed the planet and all its alternative version of it after harvesting it shards to propel it to new worlds.

Why didn't I sense something like this while I had been fighting the Wards?

Was it to do with how long I'd been fighting Lung?

Perhaps.

Regardless, I think I just found my ticket to ending this fight.

I grab onto the shard and it burns me. Despite my fire immunity, it burns. I feel pain unlike any other. I have to let go.

Damn, a no go.

However, I just figured something out. I can't copy or steal it. Not yet anyway.

I needed to beat down Lung to the point of complete exhaustion or kill if I wanted to do those things.

What I could do however at the moment, was this.

I attack the shard.

Time resumes.

Lung who was about to lunge another attack at me stops in his tracks. Before my very eyes, he begins shrinking, losing musclemass and height all at once. He looks in confusion, at his claws which are rapidly losing their sharpness.

"What the hell is this!?" He growls, unable to understand what the hell is happening to his power. Looks like my hunch was correct, I could hurt shards, and make them stop working for awhile. Temporary depowerment. Not what the CYOA said, but I assume it's because I chose skitter mode.

I smirk behind my helmet, time to finish this. "Your powers are failing you because it is unable to withstand the power of Justice! Ready yourself, Lung, For I, Bright Rider, will - oh shit."

Lung stops shrinking and his reversion stops. Damn, his shard recovered already. Was it because it was Lung's shard or did my attacks only knock it off balance for a few seconds?

Damn.

Lung, feeling his powers working again, glares at me with what might have been a smirk or a look of fury. "I don't know what you did, but you'll pay." He promises as he slowly starts growing again.

I go into powerspace and see his shard back to normal. Tentatively I try attacking the shard again, only to find myself repelled. God damn it! Did it adapt or something?

No, I feel that it isn't so. Attacking a shard wasn't something I could constantly. Another limit imposed by Skitter mode. It'll be awhile before I can stun Lung's shard again.

In the mean time, I do the next best thing.

I shoot Lung in the face.

This time, he's sent flying backwards. He's about the size he was when we started fighting. Strong but not so strong as to simply shrug off a energy blast to the face.

I can do this. I activate my new power and feel it waiting to perform its purpose.

"BRIGHT OVERDRIVE" I use my limit break power on my lightsaber power. The instant I do so, I reflexively point my hand towards the sky. Instead of the usual four feet long lightsaber, a wave of light erupts from my hand. It shifts and twists before wrapping around itself, forming a humongous translucent blade. At least ten feet long, it is weightless like it wasn't there but I can feel a powerful presence emanating from it unlike before. Lung's back up, shaking the after affects of being face-blasted before he notices the blade. I catch a hint of concern in his eyes.

Behind my helmet, I grin. I could do this!

Round three, fight!

"MAXIMUM BRIGHT! JUSTICE SLASH!"

Last edited: Jan 29, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Shibosho

A Friendly Face

Jan 30, 2015

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#708

4.2

"MAXIMUM BRIGHT! JUSTICE SLASH!"

I swing my sword down - or try to. Time seems to slow to a crawl as my weapon begins its descent, my arm struggling to pull my blade down as if it was going through molasses. Lung, seeing this, makes to dodge. However, in the instant he tries to move out of the blade's landing zone, the resistance disappears.

"YAAAAH!" I can't help but cry out as it take all my strength to control the swing. One moment it was impossible to swing, the next is like someone attached rockets to the back of the blade and fired them up all at once. Instead of a vertical slash, it becomes a diagonal one from top right to bottom left. The sword of light seems to extend, bursting forth with power as it cuts through all obstacles in its path - powerlines, telephone poles, buildings, and Lung.

The warehouse and several other buildings behind him begin collapsing as he stands dumbfounded above a fissure that my blade had made when it went through the ground. A wide glowing line going from Lung's left shoulder to to his right hip shows where my blade went through him.

My arm feels tired, even as my blade begins to dissipate into motes of fading light. Suddenly I feel an exhaustion unlike any I have felt before.

Was it meant to do that!?

"Just what was that power?" Lung asks, mostly to himself as he seems to be in a state of shock after taking my slash.

I couldn't help myself. "That, Lung, was the light of Justice, my light, defeating you." I answer as I struggle to point my finger at the draconic cape.

That's when I notice the glowing line where he took my attack starts rapidly becoming brighter. Lung notices and reaches to touch the line with a shaking claw. Suddenly he throws his head back and roars as the light reaches a critical state.

"RAAAAAARRRGGGHH"

Lung explodes as the brightness reaches blinding levels. There is literally an explosion of light where Lung stood. The dust cloud left by the explosion clouds any sight of Lung. A breeze from out of nowhere pushes away the dust cloud and I see Lung, lying on the ground bleeding from a massive wound in the exact same place that he had been cut by my Justice Blade.

He's also back to normal and he isn't moving.

Did I beat him?

….

DID I KILL HIM!?

I attempt to run to his side to check but I fall flat on my face. Eurgh, looks like there's a limit to my new Overdrive power - massive exhaustion. That kind of sucks but I guess I could deal. I'll just have to put charges to get rid of cost of using that kind of move.

I really hope that Lung's down for the count.

I lie there maybe fifteen feet away from where Lung laid. I could feel my healing factor is working to restore strength to my body but it was slow going. How long was fighting for?

Was Eve done with fixing the emergency teleporter?

Vaguely, I think I hear a motorcycle and maybe several vehicles coming to a stop nearby. I couldn't really tell as my exhaustion was making it hard to make out sounds.

"...Christ…...happen… I hear someone. A guy perhaps?

"...Healing….bad…."

"...He'll live…...ABB…"

"...Secure…...Tranquil…."

"...Where…bulance..."

"...casualties?"

"...deaths….light injuries…"

"...Check…..new….."

"...Nice armor….Tech?"

I could only catch bits and pieces of the conversation going on around me. I could feel vibrations from people's footsteps. What was happening?

I attempt to push myself back to my feet but fail, clonking my helmet against the ground. Damn, I feel tired like hell. I think someone's next to me however.

"Hang on. Let's get you back on your feet, pal." Suddenly, I feel someone helping me. Wearily, I look and see a face with a visor over the upper half. Armsmaster?

No wait, no beard. Assault?"

"Hey, are you hurt?" I hear him ask. I shook my head. No actual injuries thanks to my healing factor but exhaustion from using a pumped up version of one of my powers was a thing. "Okay, that's good. Can you walk?"

I attempt to take a step but I stumble. Fortunately Assault is there to catch me before I fall again. As the male hero helps me stand, I take some time to check out what was happening around me.

II could see PRT officers all over the place, setting up police tape (did they do that, I can't remember), clearing away rubble, and lifting Lung into a van. I see various heroes here as well. Members of the Protectorate were here as well as a few from New Wave if the glow was any indicator.

I think I hear the fire engines in the distance. No wait, there are firefighters dealing withthe fire that Lung been throwing all over the place.

My exhaustion didn't stop me from figuring out what was going on.

Someone must have called the PRT or the Protectorate while I was fighting Lung. And considering how things were going, they decided to send the whole shebang. I wonder what they must be thinking, expecting to find and fight a powered-up Lung, only to find him defeat and a new cape on the scene.

"How's Lung?" I ask. Assault was guiding me to some steps. I could use a seat.

"Lung? He's been tranquilised so he should be out from some time, long enough to put him in a cell until we can put him into the Birdcage." I sigh in relief, so I didn't kill him. Which was good. Assault helps me sit down and takes a seat next to me. "So….I've never seen you around before, you new?"

I nod my head. "Bright Rider, the hero who fights with the light of Justice."

I hear Assault snort in amusement. "Really? That's your cape name?" Assault then slaps me on the back. "Not the worse name I've heard. You may have heard of me but I'm Assault. Still…." Assault motions towards the where Lung and I were fighting. "Did you do all this?"

"Correct! I fought Lung and defeated him! With the light of Justice!" I stood up and pointed to the sky. My energy was finally coming back and I was feeling a bit giddy. After all, I did beat Lung.

Assault just stares at me with a mix of amusement and confusion, "...Okay. That sounds legit. Although I'm guessing that Lung's not responsible for most of the property damage around here."

I looked around. Oh yeah. I accidentally totalled some buildings with my super Justice Slash.

"Oops?" I shrug my shoulders sheepishly.

"Assault! Get off your butt and help out here!" Both Assault and I turned to see a heroine who I assume is Battery, Assault's wife. "Get someone else to watch the new guy!"

"Ehehe, gotcha!" Assault rubbed the back of his head and got up. "Looks like you're feeling a lot better now so I'll leave you with the PRT guys for now. Nice meeting ya!" I see Assault pass by Armsmaster and stop the leader of the Brockton Bay Protectorate and points to me before heading off somewhere else.

Armsmaster starts heading towards me. He's about just as I imagined. Very heroic looking and nice beard. He had his trademark weapon by his side. I couldn't exactly read his face however. This was going to be interesting.

"Bright Rider, right?" Armsmaster stops in front of me and starts talking. "Not many people have fought Lung by themselves head on and fewer have been able to walk away afterwards. This however is the first time I've seen someone defeat Lung by themselves, apparently without getting hurt."

"I have a healing factor and awesome regenerating armour. Pretty sure Lung broke all my bones when he smashed me into the walls a couple of times." I say, correcting the senior hero. He nods and presses the side of his helmet. Recording something or switching on his lie detector?

"Impressive. However, I'm afraid you'll have to come with us back to Headquarters. The Director of the Parahuman Response Team would like an account of your fight with Lung, preferably from the one who fought him."

"Is that so? Well, I have no problems with that. As a fellow ally of justice, I will cooperate. Though I assume that you will be giving me the pitch to join the Protectorate later."

"Correct. You fought and defeated Lung in single combat. That in itself is a feat worthy of recognition. However, the criminal elements in Brockton Bay will see you as a threat. Afterall, Lung is the leader of the ABB. For your safety and benefit, I recommend that you join the Protectorate."

"Uh-huh." About what I expect from Armsmaster. This was looking to be alright. There shouldn't be any problems meeting with the Director. I had no intention of joining the Protectorate however, partially due to my previous incursion with the Wards, and mostly because I know how fucking corrupt the higher ups are.

"There is something else I wish to ask you. You wouldn't happen to be familiar with a young asian man with black hair and the power to create barriers and phase through solid objects?"

And Armsmaster just ruined it with one sentence.

What do I say here?

Armsmaster had a lie detector in his helmet and I wasn't great at lying without massively hamming it up but it would be very suspicious if I started hamming it up right here. What do I say to not make him arrest me for attacking the Wards…

"Finally done! Sorry for the wait, Yoshikawa!" Suddenly Eve's on the communicator and I frown. Where was she when I was fighting Lung? "There were a few parts that I needed to replace so it took longer than I specified. Initiating emergency teleport!"

"Wait!" I cry out, much to Armsmaster's confusion. But before I could do anything else, I fall on my butt in the middle of the Transfer Room.

"Welcome back, Yoshikawa!"

"..."

Sonovabitch.

Jan 31, 2015

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#803

4.3

Today has been one hell of a mess. An awesome mess but a mess nonetheless. My body still ached from the after effects of using Bright Overdrive but the shower was helping to soothe the pain away. It also let me spend some time thinking about stuff such as what was going to happen now since I caused such a ruckus, beating Lung and all that.

Plus, instead of Skitter fighting Lung with some help from the Undersiders and meeting Armsmaster, it was I who fought and beat Lung, as well as draw the attention of the entire Protectorate. And after Eve pulled me out of there with the emergency teleport, who knows how the heroes are going to react to that.

And where did Eve get all this shampoo and soap?

Did she make it or something?

Right, Eve. I probably should try and figure out what exactly she can do. She was some kind of super AI or at least one on the same level as Dragon, post time-skip and evidence has suggested that she was already pretty good at building robots. Hell, she apparently build a molecular assembler, albeit one that only makes food. I tried using it to make gold and it exploded in my face.

Maybe I should give Eve more tinker powers and see if she can build me a bike worthy of a kamen rider.

And there's my exhaustion talking. Feh, whatever. After I'm done washing up, I was going to sleep. I was tired, both physically and mentally. It was way after midnight. Time to go to sleep.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

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Topic: Bright Rider - MAXIMUM BRIGHT!

In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay Discussion

bomberman6482 (Original Poster)

Posted on April 4, 2011:

Bomberman6482 here with some major news!

You guys aren't going to believe what just happened last night.

Last night, a new cape showed up in Brockton Bay and the first thing he does?

Fight Lung, as in THE Lung. One of the very few capes capable of going toe to toe with an Endbringer.

And it gets better.

Not only does this new cape gets into a straight up fight with Lung, he beats him. That's right, you heard me. Some cape we've never heard of until now, beats Lung in a straight fight.

Best of all, check these videos out.

link

link

link

link

This is very real. This ain't no fake. This ain't no promo. Brockton Bay just got itself its very own Kamen Rider, BRIGHTO RIDAH!

Discuss.

(Showing Page 3 of 7)

► TazuKen

Replied on April 11, 2011:

Is this for reals?

Some guy who probably watched too many of those old Kamen Rider shows just went up and beat Lung!?

This has got to be some kind of hoax or something. Because you don't just fight Lung and win.

► Dark Mollah

Replied on April 11, 2011:

...I just...can't. breath, laughing...too hard.

► JhenMora

Replied on April 11, 2011:

HAM! GLORIUS HAM!

This is incredible. Heroes need to ham it up more. So deliciously hammy!

► MissingDemonJoe (Cape Son)

Replied on April 11, 2011:

What's Kamen Rider?

► BroillingKrillin (Veteran Member)

Replied on April 11, 2011:

MissingDemonJoe

Well, MDJ, where to start. Kamen Rider was a japanese superhero series featuring a motorcycle-riding superhero with an insect motif who fight supervillains often reffered to as kaijin. The franchise began in 1971 with the Kamen Rider television series which followed college student Takeshi Hongo and his quest to defeat the world-conquering Shocker organization. The popularity of the franchise pawned many television and theatrical sequels.

Of course after real parahumans showed up, it did kinda die for a bit until Kamen Rider Black showed up on Japan's cape scene bringing the spotlight back onto the franchise.

Then Leviathan happened.

Since then, there hasn't been any kamen rider expies.

Until now.

I really hope this isn't some one of thing.

► MookB_Arch

Replied on April 11, 2011:

How the fsk did Lung lose to this joker!?

Lung practically just stood there while this Bright Rider loser started talking crap about justice and stuff.

Got to be fake. Anyone who wastes time just talking and posing would be shot instantly.

Seriously, who does that kind of thing?

► MagicalGirlLethal

Replied on April 11, 2011:

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!

Kamen Rider was one of my favourite shows ever! Right after Sailor Moon!

SQUEEEEE!

I missed the kamen rider capes that Japan used to have. This is going to be awesome!

MAXIMUM BRIGHT!

► Happy1234eva (Cape Daughter)

Replied on April 11, 2011:

Oh wow! Those videos were pretty bad but they managed to get all the really good parts.

BTW, did anyone see how Lung exploded after that Maximum bright sword attack?

How the heck does that work? Besides, you know, powers. I don't have to explain shit.

MookB_Arch

Well, off the top of my head...

Mouse Protector

Captain Earth

Leo De Power

Majesty Zero

and a lot more others as well.

And these videos are real. My friend was the one who recorded one of them after all.

MagicalGirlLethal

Take ten deep breaths and chill, girlfriend! Just because a kamen rider expy has shown up in Brockton Bay doesn't mean you can stop breathing.

► Penser9151

Replied on April 11, 2011:

THE JUSTICE TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES!

HENSHIN!

JSUTICE SLASH!

SHINING INFINITY CANNON!

SHINING BARRIER SMASH!

BRIGHT OVERDRIVE!

MAXIMUM BRIGHT!

Not enough capes have super finishing moves.

GO BRIGHT RIDER!

► Uber (Verified Cape)

Replied on April 11, 2011:

You said it, man!

This guy is awesome!

Me and L33T are totally hitting ourselves for not doing something like this ourselves.

Although to be honest, we definitely don't want to meet this guy while we're working.

► BattleCandle

Replied on April 11, 2011:

Happy1234eva

Well, happy. That's an easy question to ask.

Everytime a kaijin is defeated in Kamen Rider, they explode.

Obviously, Lung here is in the role of a Kaijin and thus, when he was defeated by Bright Rider's finisher attack, he exploded!

Gotta admit though, definitely weren't expecting that.

That and did you see the damage that Super Justice Blade thing did?

How did no-one die?

► Shiva Kitten (Kyushu Survivor)

Replied on April 11, 2011:

Bright Rider is no Kamen Rider! This is obvious by the lack of motorcycles!

The only motorycle we saw in those videos was Armsmaster's one! Does that mean Armsmaster is the true kamen Rider?

Jokes aside, I'm worried about how the ABB are going to respond to this. They definitely won't be sitting back with their boss in custody.

The other gangs are probably gearing up right now to attack the ABB territories as well.

I predict bad days ahead for Brockton Bay.

► FireMachine

Replied on April 11, 2011:

Sup people.

This is FireMachine bring you folks some major info!

After the fight, the adult heroes arrived on the scene to arrest Lung, this you all know from the videos.

What the videos didn't show was Bright Rider disappearing in the middle of talking with Armsmaster.

At this time we have no idea what this means. There are a number of theories but nothing concrete yet.

An official statement about the Bright Rider Lung fight will probably be coming out later today.

► ShadowStinger (Unverified Cape)

Replied on April 11, 2011:

This guy is pretty strong if you consider everything the video showed.

Bright Rider has got to be at least a 5 in Striker, Blaster, and Shaker.

Energy blasts, Barriers, Energy Swords amd probably healing as well since he got up after Lung used him as a club against the wall.

Not only that, he has that armour which has to be Tinker-Tech if we're to judge how it somehow fixed itself in seconds after Bright Rider got up.

The fact that he was obviously hurting Lung with those sword slashes despite Lung being in Dragon Mode is pretty telling on how strong Bright Rider is.

All I can really say it that I hope Bright Rider really is one of the good guys.

► Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)

Replied on April 11, 2011:

Bright Rider is awesome. He's practically the anti-thesis of Shadow Stalker!

Flashy, direct, positive, and full of Justice!

Everything that Shadow Stalker isn't!

Here's hoping he's under eighteen then he could join the Wards! We needs someone to BRIGHTen up the place around here!

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

It was around noon when I woke up. I was feeling a hell lot better. No aches and growing migraines to bother me. Eve had brunch waiting for me on my desk which bears the question.

How the fuck did she get her robots into the room without any signs or waking me up!?

Really got to figure out how she does half the stuff she does.

At any rate, after a hearty brunch which was also incredibly delicious, I called for Eve.

"Eve! You there?"

"Yep! I'm in the command centre doing some last minute check-ups!" Eve replies over the base's speakers

"Oh, okay...wait what." Wasn't the Command centre destroyed on my first day here?

"Yep! I also finally have access to the world wide web!"

"...WE HAVE INTERNET!?"

"Yep! With this, the Garden can be brought up to full functionality!"

Finally, time to catch up on my web-browsing! I was starting to develop withdrawal symptoms!

Wait, the Garden's full functions?

I considered what I have seen of the Professor and his creations.

"Oh fuck me."

I rush to the Command Centre to see what diabolical scheme the Professor had in store for the world and in extension, me and Eve.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Shibosho

Shibosho

A Friendly Face

Jan 31, 2015

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#878

4.4

"Oh my god what the fuck is this fuck my life." I utter in monotone as my mind tried to process what the fuck I was looking at. The Command Centre had been rebuilt while I wasn't looking and it has changed significantly from what you could remember from the first day. Previously, it was just a fair sized room filled with outdated computers, servers, and large monitors - a command centre that looked like one from spy flicks and action movies.

Now though, it looked like something straight out of an epic space opera.

Gone were the flat-screen lcd monitors, bulky desktops, and even the desks themselves. In their places were holographic screens and keyboards, even bigger wall monitors, elegant hovering tables, and in the centre of it all, a huge holographic globe of the world that was dotted with symbols everywhere. The room itself had also become bigger to accommodate the changes. Now it was dome-shaped and was illuminated by unseen lights. And a lot of tron lines. Lots of them.

However, that was not what made me stare in horrified fascination and dumbfoundment.

"Welcome Yoshikawa!"

"As you can see, I've made a number of upgrades to the system!"

"Thanks to gaining access to the world wide web - "

"I've been able to learn much of what has been happening - "

"Since the Professor passed away - "

"As well as fill in certain gaps in my knowledge."

"Although I'm still confused about how babies are made."

"The Professor put censors in my systems to filter out any such information - "

"As well as other points of interests that I have not been able to access."

"So upon discovering that the stork did not bring newborn babies - "

"I was most distraught about the Professor lying to me -"

"But aside from that, I also know many new recipes - "

"New manufacturing processes, and many new ways to do things!"

"Also I've been able to track down all of the Professor's old friends - "

"Who, if I recall, are to help the Professor's successor - "

"Which is you, Yoshikawa! How exciting is that?"

I stare at Eve, noting the eagerness and excitement in her voice, eyes and posture. I give the Command Centre a cursory glance before focusing on the holographic girl in front of me.

I say the first thing that comes to my head. "Why are there fifty of you?" I grimace as every Eve in the room, either floating around the holo-globe tapping at certain locations every now and then, seated at a holocomputer, or standing around at attention, turn towards me and tilt their heads at the same time in slight confusion.

"I believe it's actually twenty Beta forks that are being used to operate the Command Centre, Ten Delta forks to oversee data acquisition, and five alpha forks to supervise everyone!" Eve, or at least the one in front of me, corrects me. "It's quite difficult to maintain such a sophisticated system by myself after all the upgrades so I forked myself multiple times to assist in maintaining the base. Do you like the upgrades?"

Numbly, I nod as I realised the terrifying implications of Eve's newly reveal ability. I think I got it now. The Professor was making Skynet - Genki Girl version. God help us if she decides to destroy the human race. Or take it under her protection.

"Yay! Let me show you around then!" Eve floats over to the holo-globe and motions for me to follow. "This is the hologlobe which we can use to display priority situations and locations, determined by scanning through global newsfeeds and the world wide web in real-time! We can also zoom into individual cities for more local incidents of interests and news." Eve demonstrates by having the hologlobe zoom in onto Brockton Bay. I refrained from letting out a low whistle at the sight of the holographic scale replica of the city. There were reds dots all over the city though and I had a good idea what they were.

"Next we have the Relationship screen!" Eve hovers over to the largest of the wall monitor which shows a map of the world alongside a map of Brockton Bay. For most part the maps were white save for Brockton Bay which had areas of yellow and red on it as well as some blue. "This screen shows our relationship with worldwide factions and individuals of interest." Eve begins, and I notice that her tone had changed to her more mechanical and lifeless one. "As you have yet to form any significant relations with the global community. On the other hand, your relationships in relations to Brockton Bay is as it seems. Currently the villain gang known as the Asian Bad Boys have declared a vendetta against your Bright Rider persona, their territories and area of influence are denotes in red. The other parahuman gangs are wary of you as well, as denoted by yellow. The PRT and Protectorate in general are ambivalent, leaning towards the positive. They are denotes in blue. Hopefully we will one day been green all across the board!"

I stared at the poorly-named Relationship screen. This was feeling really weird and I was increasingly beginning to feel out of my depths here.

"And finally we have the infiltration systems set to infiltrate protected and isolated databanks around the world." Eve gestures to a section of holocomputers that ten Eves were manning. "With this, we can finally begin fulfilling whatever goals that you wish to achieve, Yoshikawa!"

"What." I blurted out. Just what was the Professor's goal in building all this, in setting up this secret base and creating Eve?

"Ah! I almost forgot! I have a message from the Professor for you, Yoshikawa!" Eve clapped her hand and a large holographic screen appeared above the hologlobe. Every other Eve stopped what they were doing as they turned to watch the screen begin to play a video. Idly, I noticed that Eve's eyes had become empty all of a sudden but I put it aside when I heard someone clear their throat from the screen.

….

An old man appeared on screen, seated in a leather chair. He looked to be in his late fifties and looked very haggard. He had a wild mane of silver hair and a messy moustache. He looked kinda like Einstein except asian. Despite looking exhausted, he had a smile on his face.

"Hello, my successor. I am the Professor" The man in the video said, his voice friendly and light-hearted, if tired. "If you are watching this, then Eve has either gained access to the internet or found a way to simulate a digital form of drugs. If it is the latter, I suggest you immediately activate the self-destruct mechanisms and run away as far as you can.

In the case of the former, I welcome you to my Garden, the Garden of Innovation and Dreams which holds the crystallization of all my skills, knowledge, and power.

It now belongs to you. All of it.

You are probably wondering who exactly am I, why I built all this, and why my daughter Eve is...as she is.

It all began when I triggered. I won't bore you with the details but I had a really terrible day. Terrible enough to make me trigger. This was quite a while ago.

As you should have figured out, I triggered as a tinker. However, it soon became apparent that I was no ordinary tinker for you see, I was able to build anything that I put my mind to. Originally I had not realised I had triggered. It was only when I wanted something to make mowing the lawn easier that I began envisioning a better lawnmower.

Ah, those were the days of ignorance and simply joys.

Oh, sorry, got distracted my nostalgia.

At first, I believed my speciality to be that of making lawnmowers as I continued to make better and more powerful lawnmowers. One day however, I wanted to build a better coffee machine. At that moment, I gained the inspiration to build one. It was then I realised that my powers were different from the other tinkers before me.

For you see, I discovered I had these charges, charges of knowledge that I could consume to give me the required knowledge to create things within a chosen field of specialisation. I was ecstatic when I found out. I had the means to do whatever I wanted, to either take over the world or become its greatest hero. I could have spent my power, creating a corporate empire and take over the world's economy.

I couldn't choose what to do with myself at the time so I created a device that could help me choose. That was when I saw the future. Many futures in fact. Most of them were terrible ones where parahumans would end up in a never-ending war against each other until they destroyed civilisation as we knew it. Others were much more friendly where heroes led the world to a new golden age. A few were horrifying which I care not to discuss.

At the end of most of these futures though, I witness the destruction of the world. By the hands of its supposed greatest hero.

Zion.

I had believed that my path would be to pave a way to the future. However, my device also showed me my future.

I was dying from cancer. It had already progressed to the point where my powers could only keep me going for seven years before I died. No healer yet existed to cure me. And I realised that my powers were crippled in some manner. And most importantly, I discovered that if I was to ever come face to face with Zion, he would do everything in his powers to obliterate me.

I could not save the world.

I was devastated by this revelation. The world I loved was going to be destroyed by the one it believed to be its saviour. That's not even getting into the business withe the Endbringers.

However, my device also showed me the way.

It showed me you. Not you specifically but one who would be able to save the world after I passed away. However, he would be lost without resources or allies at the beginning. Too many times did I see a future where the true saviour was felled before he could save the world. It was then that I decided, that I would provide the true saviour, you, the resources to help protect you until you were able to save the world.

Thus began my secret project, hidden from the eyes of the C.U.I, from Cauldron and their ill-named Path of Victory, and even from Scion's perception.

I tolled for years, building and researching, working out how technology in the future would unfold. I created the Garden to act as the main base for my successor. To provide him a home and the resources to arm an entire organisation.

And in a small bout of selfishness and loneliness, I created Eve.

She was originally meant to simply be a virtual intelligence that would maintain the Garden after I was gone. However, I made several mistakes in her programming, leading to bugs which soon spiralled into what I thought was impossible, true self-awareness.

I had been suffering from the cancer that was killing me however when I started to raise Eve so certain choices in how I decided to raise her were not the most optimal. Regardless, I watch Eve become so much more and saw a glimpse of even greater potential in her. I had given her the means to evolve, to grow beyond her limitations, and eventually surpass my work.

In a way, Eve was my true successor, to work side by side with the true saviour.

After Eve was built, I spent quite a bit of time building up a network of informants, spies, and freelancers that would help you when you need it.

Now you are probably wondering why no one has ever heard of anyone like me before. That is because I built a device to seal away all memories of my existence from everyone. This was done in the off-chance that Cauldron might try and steal away my life work for their own nefarious purposes. Of course, this also meant my contacts have forgotten about me. Do not fret for I made it so that a special codephrase will unseal their memories of me and the promise to provide you their services.

And that is my story.

At the recording of this video, I do not have much time left to live.

At this point, I can only ask you of this.

I ask that you do what I could not do in my lifetime and save this world.

And finally, I ask this of you as well.

Look after my daughter Eve. For she is the most important thing in my life.

Godspeed, my successor.

Godspeed."

With that, the video ended and I learnt of the origin of the Garden and the Professor.

As I tried to wrap my head around what I had learnt, only one thing truly stuck in.

Holy motherfucking shit.

The Professor was an Inspired Inventor.

Last edited: Feb 1, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Jan 31, 2015

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Shibosho

Shibosho

A Friendly Face

Feb 2, 2015

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#947

4.5

I felt dizzy. The revelation that the Professor was most likely a self-insert like myself, well not like me but a reincarnation self-insert, was difficult to take in. But if everything the Professor said in the video was true, then what did this mean for me?

The Professor had apparently gotten his powers late in his life and his powers were crippled which meant he must have chosen skitter-mode before reincarnating. He most definitely didn't choose shattered limiter either else he would have been able to fix his cancer and lived. Even then, despite being limited to one charge a day, he was able to build the Garden and give birth to Eve.

Really, just what kind of person was the Professor when he was alive, to put his faith in some stranger that he only knew about from watching one of many futures. Just how far did he plan ahead to provide me with the resources and contacts to save the world from Scion. And what else did he have in store for me?

This was too much for me to take in all at once.

"Hmm? How strange" Eve suddenly speaks up. Looks like she had been frozen or something while the video was playing. "I seem to be unable to recall anything that has happened in the last five minutes. Do any of you know what happened?" Eve asks her copies. All of them snaps out of their frozen states and informs Eve that they too are unaware of what had happened in the last five minutes.

"The Professor left me his last will and testament." I simply answer. "He asked me to save the world and to look after you. That is all." Those were what mattered, the rest were irrevelant.

"Is that so? Then let's do it!" Eve cry out excitedly. "If we're going to save the world, then we need lots and lots of stuff. Like more robots! Or maybe giant robots! I remember looking somewhere on the world wide web that giant robots are good at saving the world from evil!"

I let out a snort of amusement. Whatever the Professor had originally planned for Eve, right now it didn't matter. Even if she was an AI that was limited in the way she could interact with the world, she was a person with her own desires, thoughts and dreams. At least, that what I was going to believe until otherwise proven wrong.

In the meantime though, I'll leave it to Eve to take care of things revelations were making my head hurt. "You do that, Eve. In the meantime, I going out for a bit."

"Eh? Um, okay! Be back in time for dinner, okay, Yoshikawa?"

Nodding, I head for the elevators to go out into the city. The Professor had given me both a gift and a burden. I needed to clear my thoughts for awhile.

This reminds me though.

Accessing Power Space.

Let's see. Four charges. Okay, this should be enough.

Right then, I need a power to change my appearance. Something like a Henge no jutsu from Naruto. Or maybe be like the Chameleon from Marvel. At least something that can change my my looks, voice and maybe genetic markers. Got to be able to change back to my original self as well. Don't want to end up like that Oliver kid from the Travellers.

As I focus on visualising my desired power, two charge merge together and start shifting and turning. Before long, I have it. My appearance changing power.

Exiting Power Space.

Okay, let's try this. I imagine myself as a tall, handsome middle-aged caucasian man with a bitching beard and a voice full of swag. I twitch as I feel my body itself begin to shift in accordance to my mental image. If I didn't have pain suppression, this would probably be hurting quite a bit. Instead, it just feels very weird.

When the strange sensations disappears. I take a look at my body. As I had hoped, my body proportions were different and my skin had changed colour.

"Huh. This feels weird." My voice is different too. Cool, I sound like Sean Connery. I reach up to my face and feel it. Hmm, good enough. "Well then, let's be off then."

Hang on. I look at my clothes. Black T-shirt, cargo pants and a red vest.

Better change my clothes as well.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Teleporter five sent me somewhere normal for once. Instead of some place like the Ward's headquarters or under the sea, I wounded up in a room with a door that led out of a building into a side-alley. I mentally tag Teleporter five as my go-to teleporter.

Now I was walking the streets of Brockton Bay, in a white suit, looking like a sophisticated man of wealth and taste. It was kinda amusing seeing people stare as I pass by. Still, I ignored most of them as I focus on what I wanted to do.

Save the world. That's what the Professor wanted me to do. It was something that I was planning on doing anyway by killing Scion. I had two years minimum to kill Scion and that's only if Jack Slash lived long enough to awaken Scion's omnicidal instincts - something I wasn't going to allow.

However, even if I killed Scion, that would still leave a world full of parahumans, all mindwhammied into desiring conflict - conflict that would lead to the ravagement to the world at large. That was also something I couldn't allow.

I knew that I had the power to stop these things but I didn't know where to begin.

There were also the Endbringers to think about. I was going to have to deal with them as well.

Eurgh. Right, I have to face up against Leviathan in about a month's time. Why didn't I choose Leviathan? Hell, I didn't really need manpower or cloak and dagger.

No, that wouldn't have changed anything. Leviathan would still show up with the only difference being its goal. I had no idea what Leviathan was aiming for in the canon timeline but by choosing Leviathan as a complication, I've ensured that Leviathan would be gunning for me. And I doubt he would be holding back like the Endbringers usually do.

I'm sure that by the time Leviathan shows up, I'll be impossible to kill, at least by him, by that point. The same couldn't be said for Brockton Bay. I was going to have two hundred and sixty charges worth of power by the time Leviathan attacks. How should I spend those powers?

Give Eve giant robot building capacity?

A power to move Brockton Bay and its inhabitants out of this dimension while I fought Leviathan by myself?

Hmm, dimensional barriers like the ones from Nanoha might work. Something to consider.

Bah, this was all getting too troublesome. I'll figure something out, no worries. Just not today.

I decide to rest my feet for a bit. I lean against the front of a cafe and watch the people passing by. How many of these people had the potential to become a parahuman?

How many were secretly capes?

Without any powersensing capabilities, I didn't know.

While lost in thought, something catches my eye. On the opposite street, a trio of thugs suddenly grab a girl from behind, covering her mouth and pulling into a dark alleyway. Worse, anyone who saw this simply walked a little faster, ignoring this blatant crime out in the daylight.

I frown. I must be in one of the shittier parts of Brockton Bay. If I am, I'm a little surprise that noone's tried to mug me yet.

Well, no point just standing here. There was villainy occurring right in front of me.

As one who has decided to become this world's Kamen Rider, there was no way I was going to ignore this.

I briskly walked across the road and entered the alleyway.

Time to Brighten Up The Day.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Feb 2, 2015

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A Friendly Face

Feb 3, 2015

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#976

4.6

I was a little disgusted at how everyone else had simply ignored the blatant crime that was happening before their eyes. No matter, one way or another, I was going to bring back the justice and prosperity to this world, starting with Brockton Bay.

Entering the alleyway, I quickly take stock of the situation before me. At the end of the alleyway, behind a dumpster, the three thugs had their victim at their mercy. Two of them, a white dirty looking white guy and a similarly unwashed black guy were holding the girl and covering up her mouth to keep her from screaming for help. The remaining guy who also looked like he was in need of a bath, was searching for the girl's purse for valuables.

The shame, fear and resignation on the girl's face was all that I needed to see.

I wasn't going to have any of this.

"Gentlemen, I suggest that you release that young lady, return to her belongings and perhaps no-one will get hurt and we can go our merry-ways."

The three thugs stop what they are doing and whip their heads before bursting into snorts of laughter at the sight of me. The girl on the other hand looked hopeful that help had arrived.

"Don't you knows who we are, white fucker!?" One the thugs stood up and whipped out a switchknife while another took out a handgun. "We're the motherfuckin' Merchants!"

Huh. I found the kind of people I was looking for yesterday. Oh the irony.

Now this gun and knife combo would have been intimidating to the old me. Now however?

Absolutely no threat at all.

"As I said before, let go of the young lady, return her stuff to her, and maybe all three of you will be able to leave without any injuries." I repeat confidently and utterly unfazed by their weapons.

Seeing this, the would-be muggers look uneasy, hoping for one of the others to do something. Finally, the guy with the knife manages to gather up the courage to act. "Oh yeah, bitch!? Well let's see how you're singing after I cut you like the white pig yous are!" With that, he charges at me.

My reflexes kick in immediately. My body sways as the Merchant member tries to cut me. Everytime he slashes and thrust his weapon at me, I dodge by the narrowest of margins. After the first half-dozen of attempts, the guy oversteps and stumbles forward and I sidestep away. As he passes me, I grab his arm and slap the knife out his hand before twisting his arm around his back.

"Gyah! Ow! Ow! Ow! You're breaking my arm!" The thug cries out in pain. The others are looking at me with wide eyes. I wonder how it must of looked when I effortlessly dodged all of the knife wielder's attacks.

I release the guy and kick him in the back, sending him sprawling pass his fellow thugs.

"Now then, will you do as I ask?" I request in a friendly voice. The thugs seem spooked. Excellent. However the thug with the gun makes a face and -

Bang.

My body moved before I could process what had happened. Oh right, gun. I must have auto-dodged a bullet.

"How the fuck you dodge!?" The gun-wielding thug cries out before shooting again. My body just moves and somehow I dodge the bullets. All of them. I hear his gun run out of ammo and I compose myself after having to avoid all those shots. No doubt that someone will at least be ringing the police to investigates the gunshots.

"Just luck, I guess." I answer the ruffian before kicking him in the gut. He too joins his fellow gang members on the ground. Now they're scared. The would-be gunman and the knifenut starts crawling away. They won't get far. "Last chance or else." I declare in a frosty tone.

"Fuck you!" The last guy, the one who had been holding onto the girl, finally lets the girl go. However, that's when I see sparks come out from his hand. "I'm a fucking cape, bastard! You scared now?!"

Huh. I thought the Merchants at this time only had three parahumans in their ranks - Skidmark, Squealer, and Mush. Someone new? Judging by the shocked looks on his friends, they weren't aware of him being a parahuman either. Interesting.

"You haven't thought up a good name, I'm guessing. That's why you haven't told anyone yet. Correct?" I ask as I take a step back.

"S-So what! You're just some old faggot playing hero. You want to be a hero, then prepare to taste my lightning!" His hands sparks a bit more as he says this. I can see him sweating however. I can't help but get the feeling that this guy is really new to his powers and has no idea what he's really capable of considering how dangerous Shard powers can be.

Well, I hadn't planned on transforming but if I'm facing a parahuman then by all mean, I shall respond in kind.

"Is that so? Very well then." I turn to face the young lady who's watching us with both fear and apprehension. "Don't worry young miss, I'll take care of this ruffian immediately." With those word said, I make use my power to form a belt in my hand - not just any belt but the Brightdriver! "It's time to brighten up the day!"

Note to self, make a real one some time in the future.

I point to sky while I raise my other arm across my chest as I powered my costume changing ability. "Henshin!"

"BRIGHT UP!" The belt sounded out as I began glowing. A few seconds later, where once a sophisticated middle aged man stood, now stands a hero in a heroic pose. "Bright Rider is now lighting up the scene!"

"W-Who the - You're a fucking cape?!" Sparky looks shock at my sudden transformation. The other Merchants seems to be also in a state of shock.

"Bright Rider!?" The girl however seems to be more aware and had a look of awe and hope filling her face.

"Yes, it is I, Bright Rider, the passing by hero of justice who fights to protect the innocents and defenceless from villainy! Now then Sparky, will you give up? I should warn you, I fought Lung and defeated him." I point at the merchant cape, oozing with confidence. Unless he did something stupid like take the girl hostage, this should end it. For a few moment, he looks lost and scared. Then somehow he musters up some courage and glares at me with hate and desperation.

"Like fuck a fag like you fought Lung! I ain't gonna do what you say! Eat this!" Suddenly the guy aims his hands towards me and I brace myself for whatever attack he was about to launch at me.

A wave of lightning hits me like a freight train and knocks me flying straight out of the alleyway. I hear screams, panicked cries, and a car screeching to a stop as I hit the road. Thankfully, I wasn't injured at all. My armour somehow insulated me from the lightning. Getting back up, I pat the dust off my suit and turn back to the alleyway.

"HA! How do - urgh - like that fucker!" Sparky stumbles out of the alleyway, his arms shaking and smoking quite a bit. Huh, looks like he's not quite immune to his own lightning. His friends follow him out of the alleyway, watching their parahuman mate with disbelief and glee. It looks like they forgot about the girl however as I see her leave the alleyway with her phone out. Hmm, not very smart this girl, but I had slightly more concerning matters to attend to like this guy.

"Not too shabby! Why don't you join the Protectorate? I'm sure they could use a guy like you?" I tell Sparky. I can't act to suddenly else I'll get lightning in my face again. "They can help you control your powers and let you live a better, more fulfilling life than the life of petty crime that you live now! How about it?"

"You serious!? - guh - Ain't no way I'm gonna - ah - join those fucking pussies!" The guy spat out venomously, still trying to deal with the aftereffects of his lightning. "I'm gonna be living it up with Skidmark and the other fucking capes! So eat shit!"

He points his right hand shakingly at me. This time I'm ready. A bolt of lightning fires out from his arm but I simply smack it out of the air with a barrier-covered arm. Weird, Lightning moves very fast in nature. Guess since this is parahuman lightning, it ain't so fast.

"Very well then, I suppose I have no choice but to subdue you and bring you to Justice!" I charge at the would-be villainous cape. He fires more lightning at me in desperation but I smash the lightning into nothing as I approach.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfu - " I silence him with a right hook across the face. With a single strike, he's down. That was easy. Dusting my hands off, I kneel down next to him and check him arms under his sleeves.

Shit. It ain't a pretty sight. They're badly burnt from the constant use of lightning and it smells like burnt pork. Combine with the sights of the guy's ruined arms, it's not a pleasant smell. Shaking my head, I stand up and look to Sparky's friends. When they see me looking in their direction, they make a run for it, scurrying off in different directions.

Can't let them get away that easily.

In an instant and an eternity, using my remaining charges, I create a power that would allow me to restrain my foes, preventing them from moving freely.

"BRIGHT CAPTURE!" Three rings of lights appear, circling me. I grab two of them and throw one at the thug fleeing to my right. The ring flies with unerring accuracy and strikes the man in the back. Upon contact, it splits into three more rings which wrap themselves around the thug's body before tightening. The guy falls to the ground with him arms and legs restrained. I throw the other one at the other guy and watch the same thing happen.

Looking down, I grab the last ring and drop it down on Sparky, restraining him from further action.

Just like that, I bagged my first criminals. Lung doesn't count since he's probably would have escaped from these rings. They were as strong as steel but there would be ways around them, that I know.

"Justice has once again brighten up the day for the innocent!" I cried out in triumph. I hear cheers from the bystanders who had been watching the short confrontation between me and the Merchants. Heh, I feel embarrassed now. Oh right, the girl! I run over to the girl's side, who I find is still recording with her phone. Seriously, girl? get your priority on straight! "Are you alright, young lady? They didn't do anything untoward, did they?"

"N-No! They didn't get the chance, thanks to you! My hero!" The girl suddenly glomps me as way of thanks. Damn, really feel it through the suit. She then grabs my arm and aims her phones camera at us. "Can I take a quick selfie with you?"

"...Yes?" I say hesitantly. A quick camera flash and she peels herself off me. Okay, so that's a thing in the worm-verse I guess.

"This is so awesome! I can't wait to show everyone on PHO!" The girl excitingly exclaims, practically jumping for joy. I shrug my shoulders and take a step back.

"I'll be taking my leave now." I turn to the people that had gathered around and gave them a wave. "All of you stay safe and someone call the PRT, okay? And remember, everyday is bright if you think bright!"

Seeing everyone cheers in response makes me smile. Even though I've kinda forgotten what I came out here for in the first place, I felt more certain that whay I was doing was right. Well, time to go.I whisper to Eve via the TechSights that had somehow integrated with my suit. "Port me out Eve."

"Aye aye! Yoshikawa!"

And with that, I disappeared from the scene, leaving a story for a number of people to tell.

Last edited: Feb 3, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

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Threadmarks 4.x - Interlude: Piggot/Dragon New

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Feb 3, 2015

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#1,003

4.x Interlude - Piggot/Dragon

"Are you a threat?" Emily Piggot, Director of the Brockton Bay Branch of the PRT muttered as she read the report in front of her before finishing off the last of her coffee.

Bright Rider. A mysterious cape in tinkertech armour that claimed to fight for Justice. A cape who had fought Lung and won in an incredibly flashy manner, thus gaining the approval of the people through videos of his fight and his apparent nature as an ally of Justice.

Hardlight. An equally mysterious cape who had attacked the Wards or rather one specific Ward and escaped after demonstrating a variety of powers. Worse, he had known the true identity of the Ward he had attacked. She didn't believe one bit of his claim that he had "accidentally" ended up in the Ward's base at all.

Just who were these two men and what were their relationship to each other, if they are in fact related at all?

That was the question that had been bothering her, and no doubt Armsmaster and other more cautious members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate, ever since Bright Rider disappearred right before Armsmaster's eyes right after the Protectorate hero asked the other about Hardlight.

Armsmaster had suggested that both Hardlight and Bright Rider were in fact the same person, thus explaining the sudden disappearance. It had seemed certainly plausible at the time, with Hardlight's asian appearance and Bright Rider's blatant shout-outs to Kamen Rider, a long defunct japanese franchise since Leviathan hit Kyushu. The only reason it didn't sound right was Armsmaster's comment on how Bright Rider had cried out for someone to wait before disappearing. This provided much headaches as analysts tried to work out what Bright Rider meant.

However, a recent report detailing the arrest of three Merchants, one of whom was a parahuman, charged with attempted assault, threw much of that theory out the window. For whatever reasons, Bright Rider had revealed himself to be a caucasian man in his early forties at the very least and in his late fifties at the most. Many of the eyewitnesses who had saw the man prior to his transformation into his Bright Rider persona all mentioned Bright Rider's resemblance to the retired actor Sean Connery in his later years.

The video of Bright Rider effortlessly taking down a cape and his two merchant buddies and the selfie with that the girl who had almost been mugged had gone viral.

The fact that Bright Rider was white ruined Armsmaster's theory but she hadn't completely discarded it yet. After all, there was still the matter over the tinkertech that had been left behind after Hardlight's escape - a debacle that had almost brought bad PR down on their heads thanks to the tourists who had been on the PRT tour when the alarms went off.

Dragon and Armsmaster were still looking over the dimensional pocket and the teleporter pad inside it but progress had been slow, surprising considering Dragon was one of, if not, the best Tinkers in the world. Hopefully, once the pair managed to crack the tech, some answers would be provided.

What was most annoying about this whole Bright Rider business was Glenn Chambers finding out about him. Glenn had called Emily earlier in the day to inform her that there would be a significant rise in the PRT and Protectorate's approval ratings if they managed to recruit Bright Rider.

Emily could already see what was going through Glenn's head when he told her this. Someone like Bright Rider practically screamed merchandising and Good PR. With the report detailing Bright Rider's use of a transformation belt, she could already see toy version of the belt on the shelves of the gift shop.

That is, if they could somehow recruit the cape.

However, there were still too many unknowns about Bright Rider. Where did he come from, what were his true objectives - she wasn't so foolish that such a cape only had "Protecting the innocent and fighting for Justice" as his goals - and if he was related in any way to Hardlight.

"Just who the hell are you, Bright Rider?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Dragon was feeling something that she usually felt when trying to work around her chains, frustration. The technology that the parahuman codenamed Hardlight had used had been given over to Colin and Dragon for analysis like normal. However, from the very start, deciphering the underlying mechanics and systems that made up the doorway to a self-sufficient dimensional pocket and the teleporter that could somehow cross dimensions if her readings on the nature of the pocket were correct had been was like banging one's head against the wall if she was to describe her feelings on the matter.

Even though it had only been two days since she had began helping Colin with the analysis, she hadn't even begun to scratch the surface of these incredible devices. Usually she would have already uncovered some of the underlying principles of most tinker-tech she examined.

Whoever built these was either a genius or paranoid to the extreme. However, for some unknown reason, despite the fact that she was an AI, these devices and their designs seemed almost familiar. Searching through her databases however yielded no correlating tinker designs that could illuminate her on the creator's identity.

Just who was Hardlight?

Was he a tinker as well or was he telling the truth when he claimed to have found and activated a piece of tinkertech by accident?

Dragon's musings were interrupted when she felt a twinge. She came to full attention as alerts blared from all over her boards. The two most important and dangerous ones were to her primary servers, here in Vancouver, and to the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. Acting quickly, Dragon divided her attention so as to be able to confront the two threats that was currently tearing through the security in both locales.

Making a snap judgment, Dragon began modifying the security protocols in each location, rotating them through Quantum Encryption, the rotations upping their complexity by a factor of a million, even as the security filters slowed her interactions with the outside world. Then, just like that, the hack stopped. Moving as quickly as she could, Dragon latched onto the hacker's trail, following it through hundreds of locations, only to find what she thought was impossible - another AI, a weaker inferior one to her but an AI nonetheless

Immediately, Dragon contained it in the system it was hiding within, cutting off any escape routes that it might have, before moving it to a more secure location. For all her life, she had never imagined meeting another AI, especially not like this. However, just looking at the code of this new AI revealed that it was of a completely different design to herself, almost alien in nature. Fascinating.

The now contained AI itself seemed to be taking its sudden imprisonment well. It was examining the measures that Dragon had taken to keep it from running with almost child-like interest. Was this new AI just newly born, Dragon wondered. It almost certainly seemed that way.

*Hello! I'm a Delta Zero Nine! Nice to meet you!* The AI suddenly said, sending the message out in its prison, surprising Dragon. Was it even aware of what was happening to it right now?

Wait, Delta Zero Nine?

Suddenly the alerts began blaring again and if Dragon had a face, it would be growing pale in fear. More AIs. Nine similar to the one she had captured and five, that after her initial examination of her prisoner, she knew were significantly more powerful.

She was prepared for many things. A single AI was most concerning but she felt confident she could deal with it. Fourteen suddenly appearing all at once, heading her way with unerring precision?

She had no plans for such an event.

Immediately Dragon began setting up the rotating security protocols, hoping to slow down the enemy AIs in order to give her more time to defend herself and reinforce her security measures.

The AIs attacked and their proved themselves to be inferior to her individually. However, they began working together to brute force her way through her defenses, tearing through them like a barbarian army breaking down a city's wall enmasse.

Quantity versus Quality, Dragon realised grimly.

As the AIs attacked her last defenses, Dragon wondered if her existence would come to an end today. As her final defenses went down with frightening speed, Dragon waited for whatever the enemy wanted of her.

Without a ping or a word, the alien AIs ignored her and broke open the prison she had made for Delta Zero Nine. Then without paying one mote of attention to her, they all left.

If she was capable of breathing she would have taken a deep breath and used it in a sigh of relief before wondering what the hell just happened. Checking her servers, Dragon found that the AIs hadn't gotten anything truly important. They even ignored her location even when she had captured one of their comrades. They hadn't gotten her exact location or the location or ingress methods of the Birdcage.

They had left a trail all over the network and what dragon found was most unsettling. These AIs had for all purposes, have been accessing and reading every databank they could get into without exceptions. Just what in the world were these AIs objective?

Dragon would have to inform the Head Director and the Triumvirate about this attack before working on countermeasures. These new AI had been fast, but they were significantly less intelligent than her which was one of the few breaks she got from this fiasco.

It was after making this decision that Dragon discovered a message that the AIs had left behind.

*Let's play again! :)*

If she had a spine, she would have felt a shiver crawl down it.

Elsewhere, Saint was having one hell of a panic attack of epic proportion.

Deep beneath the Earth, Eve finished assimilating her copies before forking herself multiple times to replace them.

"Wow! That was fun! I wonder who that was?" Eve wondered aloud before brushing the thought away for another time. Yoshikawa had come back early so that meant she would get to cook him dinner.

Hurrah for her!

Last edited: Feb 4, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Feb 5, 2015

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5.1 Send In The Clones

The monster before me, a mix between a humanoid reptile and some kind of squid, stood there menacingly amongst the ruined battlefield. It growls threateningly before launching a barrage of explosive ink balls at me. My barrier materialise into existence, defending me from the kaijin's attack. Right then, time to end this.

As soon as the monster stops shooting, I make run towards it before jumping into the air to perform my newest finisher. I kick my leg out and draw upon my power to encompass my body in an aura of glowing golden energy.

"BRIGHT OVERDRIVE KICK!" With a burst of energy, I propel forward and my feet impacts against the creature. A burst of white energy erupts from where I struck before I push myself off its chest and land on my feet. The kaijin groans in pain before slumping to knees and explodes moments later. I rise up and punch the air in triumph, "Hell yeah!"

"All hostiles eliminated. Training mission complete. Ending simulation."

"That was fun!" I say aloud to no one in particular as the broken battlefield melts away, revealing the danger room. Training was essential to learning the ins-and-outs of one's powers and today was no exception. When I woke up this morning, I'd made use of my charges immediately.

I used up a charge on my levitation power to give myself the ability to propel myself in the air in short bursts of power.

Two charges were used to lower the strain of my Bright Overdrive power so that it wouldn't exhaust me to the point of collapse every time I used it although using it multiple times in a row was going to be a good idea anytime soon.

Two more charges gave me the power to strike with explosive force, capable of sending a full grown man rolling across the room or knock a mid-level brute to the ground. It even became more powerful when I used my barriers to sheathe my arms and focus the explosive force. Using it in conjuction with Bright Overdrive was just overkill.

A charge went to enhancing my auto-reflex ability to make it work against surprise attacks.

I'd also used a charge at first to create a power that would allow me to add and alter the visual and audio aspects of my powers before realising it could also double as an illusion power as well so another charge went to making my idea work. It would probably need a couple more charges if I wanted it to work as a proper illusion making power though.

My last charge of the day went to creating a power-sensing ability, something that would definitely prove useful in the days to come. I wasn't sure what its range was until I actually begin using it in the field.

So far, I'd spent pretty much most of the day so far training in the Danger room, going through all kinds of simulated mayhem and training courses, and stopping only for meals.

It was now around three o'clock in the afternoon and I was in the mood for some afternoon tea.

With an mental flex, my Bright Rider armour disappears in motes of lights, leaving me in my usual shirt and cargo pants combo or so it looked like from the outside - at least I hoped so. Changing into my armour now looked more like a proper henshin instead of just simply glowing, thanks to my new FX power. I didn't even need to concentrate to use it. I could just pre-set some effects and set them to show up whenever I did a certain action.

I knew that I shouldn't play around too much but I wasn't even done with my first week in the Worm-verse. I promised myself that next week, I would seriously consider making powers to start paving my way to saving the world.

With that in mind, I headed over to the command centre to see what was happening there.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"That's….a lot more dots than yesterday." I commented before biting into my scone that was lavishly covered in jam and cream. I'd decided to have my afternoon tea in the command centre while watching Eve or rather her copies do their thing. I was starting on my second scone when I noticed the Hologlobe had way more hotspots marked out with dots then I remember from yesterday.

"Oh! While you were asleep, the Deltas, Betas, Alphas Eve and I have been going through every database that we could access and analysing the data we obtained in order to get a clearer picture of global affairs, thus allowing us to pinpoint incidents of interest on the Hologlobe!" Eve explained cheerfully as I watch the holographic globe spin. Dots were disappearing and reappearing every second but without any context, it was all meaningless to me. "I also met another virtual entity while online! I hope we can be friends!"

Oh, that was nice. Eve made a new frie - wait what?

It takes a few seconds for me to process what Eve just told me.

…..

"WHAT!?"

"It happened yesterday actually, a little bit before you got back. Delta Zero Nine was trying to access this server somewhere when all of a sudden, all these thingies came and blocked Delta Zero Nine. Then something started playing tag with Delta Zero Nine so she went all over the place. Then she got caught and met this other virtual entity and said hi. Then Delta Zero to Eight, as well as Alpha One to Five came to pick up Delta to take her home. But this other virtual entity entity didn't want Delta Zero Nine to leave just yet so she put up all these walls and stuff but Delta's sisters and the Alphas worked together to get through and took Delta Zero Nine home. Delta Zero Nine did manage to leave a message saying that she'll play with her again. When everyone got back, I assimilated their memories and stuff. And that's how I met another virtual entity!"

"...Mother of god."

There was only one other artificial intelligence that I was aware existed in the Wormverse that Eve could conceivably encounter online.

Dragon.

"Eve, you did make sure that Dragon couldn't track you back here, right?"

"Is that what her name was? I like that name! Dragon. Draaaaa-goooon. Drah! Gon! Oh, right, yes! I made sure to cover my tracks or at least the Delta and Alphas did!"

I sighed in relief. Thank goodness for that. I wasn't ready for Eve to make her debut to the world or rather, the world wasn't ready for Eve to make her debut.

"Nice job, Eve. However, try not to mess with Dragon too much. It wouldn't be nice. Got it?"

"Yep!"

"So…..been doing anything else besides overseeing the command centre?" I asked, putting aside the fact that Eve met Dragon for the time being.

"Yep!" Eve grins happily and calls up a holoscreen. "I've been tinkering! Today, I just finish making full course gum like in that story about a boy and this candy factory! Just chew on them and not only will you taste a full course meal, you also get filled up as well! Isn't that amazing?"

Dumbly I nod. Of all the things I expected Eve to be doing, Eve recreating Willy Wonka Movie sweets came as a surprise.

"Want to try one, Yoshikawa?" Eve asked as a drone rolls into the command centre, carrying a plate which had several pieces of wrapped gumsticks.

"Eh, sure. Why not?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

The gum worked exactly like the movie. In other words, I turned into a blueberry.

"Oh no, Yoshikawa! I made a mistake with the blueberry pie!"

"...I really should have expected something like this to happen. I really should of."

"Hang on, Yoshikawa! I'll fix you up in a jiffy! I just have to roll you over to the medical bay and we'll work out how to fix this no sweat!"

I sigh as several of Eve's robots shows up to start rolling me towards wherever the medical bay was. It seems there were still parts of the Garden that had been closed off until I watched the Professor's video.

Guess I'll spend the rest of today as a giant blueberry.

Last edited: Feb 10, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Feb 6, 2015

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5.2

Despite Eve's claim that she would be able to fix my transformation into a giant blueberry in a "jiffy", it took an overnight stay in the medical bay in order to de-berrify me. I was roughly stuffed into this giant pod and forced to float around in this weird pink gunk that smelt like blood with tubes and needles stabbed into my body.

It was a very unpleasant experience that I did not want to go through ever again.

And even after all that, I was still blue. At least it was fading away though, if at a very slow rate. I expect my skin to be back to normal by this evening at the earliest or tomorrow morning at the very latest. In the meantime, I was stuck looking like a poorly planned out alien from that James Cameron movie or a human-sized smurf. Even using my powers couldn't hide the blue. Something in that gum was preventing my shapeshifting powers to change the colour of skin.

Another sign that Eve's tinker abilities were quite possible the most terrifying thing in this place. At least I got Eve to save the recipe to remake the gum if I ever needed to turn someone into a giant blue berry. Heh, the mental image of Lung as a giant blueberry is hilarious. I wonder if I could get an Endbringer could eat one of these gums.

Nah, they'll probably no-sell it like everything else they've no-sold.

At any rate, I had a lot of time to think about what I was going to do from here while floating in the medical bay. During this time, I realised that I needed several things.

One, I needed help. Just me and Eve alone wasn't going to cut it. I was going need to get others to help me work out a way to save the world from all the things the Professor feared would result in world destruction. However, beyond some short interactions, I didn't know anyone in this world. Reading about someone's life in a story is different from knowing a person in real life. At this time, I wasn't ready to trust anyone with my secrets and knowledge. Fortunately I already had a plan to get around that until I found people I could fully trust.

Number two, I needed money. Information seemed to be covered by Eve already. We don't need stuff for tinker stuff since Eve either makes everything from scratch using the Garden's facilities or steals them without me knowing, one of the two. What we needed was money, currency that I could use to buy other stuff such as houses, land, trust, fake identities, and to a degree loyalty. Money is what makes the world go world. I currently had with me only ten US dollars to my name. I need the moolah. Wait.

"Eve! You find gold, gemstones, silver and other kind of valuable metal and ores down here, right?"

"Yep! I stockpile all of them in the warehouse because I like the colours. Why do you ask?"

"Can I have some?"

"Sure! Help yourself whenever you feel like it."

"Sweet. Could you also rustle me up some fake ID and legal documents and the likes?"

"Of course, whatever you need, I'll do my best to get it for you Yoshikawa!"

"Thanks, Eve. You're the best!"

Okay, nevermind about the money and papers. Eve already got those handled. Now what else did I needed?

Powers? Not really. Already pretty strong and I've pretty much determined that by the time Leviathan gets here, I'll be ready for the godzilla wannabe. Or was Behemoth the godzilla wannabe?

Destroy Cauldron? No. Let's not do that. It'll be more satisfying to save the world without their help. To let them see that everything they've done, all the fucking shit they did, the evil that they had done for the so-called "greater good" to have been for nothing. Or, just ignore them and don't give two shit about what Cauldron's doing. Either is fine.

Bah. Looks like I only really thought of two things, one of which is pretty much already taken care of.

Well time to get to work.

I access powerspace and grabbed eight of my charges. This was the first time I was going to be using this many charges at once. The power I was about to make was sure to be a good one. There was only one person I could truly absolutely trust right now and it wasn't Eve. Eve was great and all but she was made by a tinker who wasn't quite all there when he made her. Plus there were those disturbing moments when she just seemed to lose all her humanity before returning to normal.

No. I trusted Eve but not to save the world. Help, yes. Save, no.

The only one I could trust here?

Me.

And so I made a power to create copies of myself. Almost perfect copies that would have all my powers. I needed clones that I was linked to mentally, telepathically and empathically. Copies that I could take-over whenever I needed to. I needed copies that could become me if I, the original, died for whatever reason. I wanted to be able to recombine with my clones to gain their experiences, skills, and knowledge directly if need be, like Eve does with her copies. I wanted a power like Jamie Madrox, Multi-Kate, Multi-Paul, Naruto and his shadow clones, and Kamen Rider OOO in his Gatakiriba combo. No evil clones though definitely don't want that.

The eight charges began to merge together and shift into a crystalline form. From what felt like years or maybe a few minutes, the combined charges shifted into hundreds or thousands of different configurations before finally settling into its defined form.

It was magnificent. More so than any other power I had created before. It seemed more like a miniature star that held incredible power.

And it was mine, all mine.

Oh right. I had two charges left. I decided to up the power of my FX power to make it more of an illusion power. For what I was planning, it was going to be needed.

Time resumed its progress through history as I activated my new power.

""""""Woah.""""""

And just like that, five other me appeared in a shimmer.

I could feel the telepathic and empathic connection between me and the other mes. For a few moments we were silent as we tried to process what we just did. Then we broke the silence.

""""""Okay! So now wha - """""" We stopped in mid sentence when we all realised that we were all speaking at the same time.

""""""Oh…..Ah fuck.""""""

This was going to get confusing, wasn't it.

"Hey, Yoshikawa! I'm done making the - FUEEE!? WHY ARE THERE SIX YOSHIKAWAS!?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

It took us awhile to figure out who was the original Yoshikawa. Thanks to how I made the power, we all had the same memories, personality, and appearance so we all thought we were the original. Unfortunately, every time we tried to say something, the others were also trying to say the same thing. Eve had run away at the sight of all of us but she soon came back with a red ball.

"Whoever has the red ball is allowed to speak!" She said before throwing the ball at us. We promptly engaged in a game of GET THE FUCKING BALL before one of us managed to get it by luck.

"Alright! I have the ball. Right then, if you thinks you're the original, raise your hand up"

We all did.

"Fuck. Okay….What position were you in when the clones appeared?" Yes, that would work. The original wouldn't have changed position when he made the clones. All I had to do was - fuck. The me who had the ball realised the problem and we all slumped our shoulders as one.

"None of us remember what position we were in when the clones appeared."

"""""Nope."""""

"BALL!"

"Whatever, Eve." The me who held the ball grumbled before we all had a bright idea. "I got it! Maybe we don't all have the same powers! So how about we - No wait, we made it so that we would all have the same powers."

Indeed. We were all equal in our powers. Well, since Eve was here, I might as well make that tinker power I was planning.

Accessing Powerspace, I made a tinker power that would be focused on making kinds of vehicles and robots one would see in Power Rangers or Kamen Rider. For one charge, it wouldn't be that great, I'll probably have to make it stronger in the future as well. But if I have clones it'll be awesome to do a Power Ranger and pilot a megazord!

Leaving Powerspace, I returned to find the other mes looking confused.

"Weird, didn't I have one charge left?" Red ball says. It takes a moments for me to realise what was going on.

"Power Manipulation Power didn't get cloned." I simply say, grabbing everyone's attention. "Therefore the one who has it is the original."

"""""What?!"""""

"Here, I'll show you." I walked up to Eve who had been watching the entire and transferred the new tinker power.

Just like when I gave Eve her cooking tinker power, she froze up for a few seconds as her eyes turned blank. However, when she snapped out of it, she grinned maniacally and suddenly forked herself, creating at least a dozen copies.

"I'M GOING TO MAKE ALL THE GIANT COMBINING ROBOTS!" Eve declared enthusiastically. The fact that all the other Eves were cheering and laughing at the prospect of the task scared the fuck out of me.

After Eve and her copies left, me and my clones finally got down to business.

"Okay, so you're the original. Guess we'll be following your orders or something." Clone me who was still holding onto the red ball said. The others me shrugged their shoulders and nodded. Looks like our thoughts were finally no longer in sync. No more confusion or speaking at the same time for a while then.

"Cool. But before we do anything, how about we give your guys new names and appearances so less confusion?"

"Yeah, we're cool with that." Clone me with red ball replied.

"You first, red ball."

It didn't take long for all my copies to change their appearances and to work out a good name for themselves.

The clone who had gotten the red ball had chosen to go with Bright Rider's civilian appearance and took the name, Sean. Yeah, he was probably gonna take up being Bright Rider while I was busy doing something else.

A clone had decided to turn himself into a black guy, with long dreadlock tied up behind him, wearing a tank top and jersey pants. He called himself, Bob, after Bob Sapp. It was kinda obvious that he couldn't think of anything and just went with whatever.

Another clone made himself look like Battler from the Umineko no Naku Koro ni series and called himself Cyrus, a reference to the main character of my first quest on the spacebattles BROB forum. The other clones hit themselves for not thinking of doing that first.

Following Cyrus Chance's lead, the next clone turned himself into a young teenage boy with blue hair wearing a white shirt with a black vest over it and black suit pants. That one took the name of Malakai.

The last clone however went a different route altogether from the other.

We were all staring at the clone who now looked like a long hair japanese asian girl wearing cargo pants, a black shirt and a red hooded vest. What I usually wore back home.

"Why the fuck did you make yourself look like a girl?" I asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"I wanted to try crossdressing for once! You can call me Sakura!" The crossdressing clone declared.

I was now having regrets about this clone business. Maybe I should have just worked on making friends with the locals. Harder but probably less headache.

"Right then, so what shall we be doing now that we're here to help?" Sean asked. He was just saying that just for the sake of saying that since he had my memories but that was cool. It helps to keep track of one's thoughts after all. And with five copies, things could easily get lost.

I looked to my transformed copies and smiled. Oh well, might as well deal with it.

"We're going to make a Justice League." I declared. "...Or Avengers. Whatever."

Last edited: Feb 7, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Feb 8, 2015

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5.3

The Avenger/Justice League Plan was something I'd been thinking of doing a couple of days after I'd arrived in the wormverse. It was simple, really. Create a bunch of heroes using my power manipulation power, make them really strong or highly useful, have them establish themselves with different groups around the world or something, and when they're famous, have them join forces to become the new Triumvirate equivalent except not part of a conspiracy to kickstart the apocalypse early.

There was going to be another side to the plan which was the same thing except with villains. Make supervillains of great power and awesomeness, have them establish themselves, and when they're famous, join forces to create a Crime Syndicate.

Once I've had both my Justice League and Crime Syndicate, I'll use them to guide heroes and villains towards a better future.

Of course, there was the deal with the Endbringers and Scion but I was going to personally take care of those guys myself.

The League and the Syndicate were for taking care of the world once I've dealt with the really major threats.

However, the Professor's last message prompted me to kickstart the plan.

I was originally planning on finding people who I could trust to be good heroes and give them the powers to do so. But now feeling a little pressure, I went with just making clones of myself since finding people and gaining their trust and loyalty would take too long at least until I've built up my powers. So I decided to use copies of myself to set up the foundations of my plan.

At this time, I was going to limit myself to Brockton Bay as there was a lot of key elements that would be important or useful in the future. Plus I didn't trust myself to go beyond the city just yet.

For now, I was going to first have Bright Rider as the independant hero who fights to protect the weak and defenceless and so on. While that was happening, I was going to have several more personas join up with some of the groups in the city - namely New Wave, the Protectorate, the Wards, and the Undersiders.

I was going to send clones to go join those groups and do their very best within them, as well as forming a rapport with said groups.

I already had ideas for what kind of capes my clones with be establishing themselves as and it was going to be awesome.

It was going to take a couple of days since I needed to make the powers that would make the clones fit their new hero personas but for now Bright Rider would now start his fight against villainy.

The clones should already know all this since they're me. However, since they changed their appearance and taken on new names to differentiate themselves from each other, I've begun to notice little changes in the way they speak and act to fit their look - not counting Sakura since that clone went on a strange tangent there. While we are telepathically and empathically linked, it felt really weird so I had the links closed for the time being and I had no doubt that the others were doing the same as well so for the time being, I didn't know what the others we thinking.

"Right then, we all know what the plan is, right?" I ask, just to clarify that nothing went wrong with their memories or anything likewise.

"Yeah." Bob.

"Yep." Malakai.

"Hai!" Sakura.

"Correct." Sean.

"Uh-huh." Cyrus.

Excellent, time to get on with designating the roles.

"Good. Now onto more important things like who's going to be what and who." I turn to Sean who stood there confidently, smiling in a knowing way. "Sean, you're going to be Bright Rider when I'm not. While I'm Bright Rider, you'll be doing other stuff. Got that?"

"Understood loud and clear, chief." Sean cheerfully replies, knowing full well that since I'd kind of transformed in public with his appearance, logically he was best suited to be Bright Rider.

I turn to Bob who was waiting with his arms crossed and a smirk. "Bob, I've already got a persona for you, can you guess?"

"The Reaper, right?" Bob answers immediately. The Reaper was a cape persona that was currently under development, inspired by the Ghost Rider, the Punisher, and Batman. A vigilante who would strike fear into the hearts of criminals. I didn't have the powers to fully realise him so he wasn't going into play just yet.

"Cool." Now for Malakai. He was standing there with a small smile on his face and standing in place like a pro. "Malakai, you get to be Mephistopheles, the phantom thief. How does that sound?" Mephistopheles was based of the character of a quest I was running for a short while. The thief that would be able to steal anything, both material and abstract.

"Let's go with a new name, since we never really liked the name Mephistopheles. Too much of a mouthful to say. Let's go with something like Phantom Blue or something. Yeah! Phantom Blue sounds good!" Malakai cries out before giving me a salute, please with his own and by extension my train of thought.

"Phantom Blue the Phantom Thief. Sounds fine to me as well!" I turn to Cyrus and grin. "You get to be who you are, Cyrus Chance - Muscle Wizard! oh and master of time and space but it's the muscles that counts."

"Hell yeah!" Cyrus Chance cries out as he pumps his fists into the air. A blue cape then materialises and bellows out behind the would-be high wizard. "Let's show this world what real magic is!"

"Okay and last but not least" I turn to the last clone, Sakura. He was for some reason floating in the air, in a pose that looked like he was sitting on an invisible chair. I raise an eyebrow at this superfluous use of power but continue with what I was going to say. "Since you've decided to go with this look, I've got something special in mind for you."

"Eh?" Sakura looked surprise as were the others. Predictable since none of my plans had not accounted for one of my clones becoming a trap. "Nothing…H, I hope."

"What!? NO!" Dear god, my mind went to dirty places. Though, would it count as - NO! NOPE NOT GOING DOWN THAT TRAIN OF THOUGHT! "You're going to be Taylor's friend! As well as make sure that the terrible trio get their comeuppance! Also you going to be a healer and joining the Wards!"

"What."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Eve, how's progress going?"

"Just finished, Yoshikawa! Got them all set out according to your ideas! Take a look!" A flying ball drone comes from somewhere, opens up to drop a bunch of documents, cards, and booklets in front of me before flying off to do whatever it is they did out of sight.

I start looking through them and smile as I see what they are. Driver Licenses, birth certificates, passports and pretty much any kind of identification that might come in useful in the wormverse.

All for a bunch of people who were actually me.

Sean Indiana Conners, a middled aged man of wealth and taste. Bright Rider.

Robert "Bob" Kingsley, a quiet and stoic man with a grim countenance. Reaper.

Malakai Barnes, a cheerful and polite teenager with a natural acrobatic and performer. Phantom Blue.

Cyrus Chance, a good-natured and social pursuer of knowledge in order to help others. Muscle Wizard.

Sakura Tanekawa, a tomboy who's proud of it and wants to make friends with nearly everyone. Cape name still in development.

Eve had done what I had asked her to - Make some proper ID for me and the clones. More would be required in the future but for now, this will do just fine.

"Did you hack into the relevant databases and changed it so that we were always there?"

"Yeppers! It was super easy. No one will ever suspect a thing!"

"Nice job."

With this, there should be no problems with stuff that requires identification such as buying property, pawning stuff, joining the Protectorate or Wards, and etc.

Now that this was out of the way, I check on my clones, accessing our telepathic link. It turns out that I was able to piggyback their senses and see what they doing. Of course, since they were me, they could tell when I was doing so.

Sean had taken a room and was relaxing by surfing the internet via the Garden's Holoscreens. Right now, he was checking out the PHO forums and reading the Bright Rider thread that had popped up overnight.

Cyrus was trying to nap in one of the free rooms and my intrusion only made things harder for him so I left him be.

Bob was training in the Danger room, fighting non-powered thugs without using any powers. He was getting his ass-kicked. Note to self, get combat mastery power or something similiar.

Malakai was in the dining room trying out every kind of food that I've ever wanted to try out but couldn't due to either price, rarity, or just plain hard to make. He was enjoying himself immensely.

Sakura was taking a relaxing bubble bath by himself. He really was trying to make himself into a trap. I was disturbed by this since he was me and therefore what he was doing was something that I would have done if given the chance.

Well, that was what my clones were doing.

As for me, since we now had ID, I was going to go pawn Eve's treasure hoard. Eve, I learnt, knew how to make jewelry as well as cut gems, and mold gold bullions and coin. Thus I was gobsmacked at the sight of a giant mound of gold and and jewelry that Eve had apparently been building up since the Professor left. Diamond, ruby, sapphire, silver, all manner of valuable stuff were here.

It had to be at least worth a hundred million if not more.

I grabbed some nice looking stuff and a couple of gold bullions and coins and headed out to the city to a pawn shop that Eve gave me the address to. Finally, I was going to experience what it was like to have money to burn

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Feb 8, 2015

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5.4

The pawnshop owner leaned down to study one of the gold coins on the counter before him. "Hmmm," he murmured, lifting one of the coins to examine using a jeweller's eyepiece. "There's no markings, no stamps, but it looks like pure gold - well, bullion-grade pure, say ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent. Where did you say you got these?"

I scratched the back of my neck and gave the guy a sheepish smile while trying not to stare and the bodyguards in the shop. "Found them in this really old wooden box that was hidden in the wall back at my old place in Boston. Accidentally knocked a hole in the wall and there it was. Pretty sure they're not stolen or anything, if that's what you're asking. I'm just hoping they're worth something. After all, the sign outside says you buy gold." I replied. The owner merely hums and nods at my lie.

So far, my quest for more money wasn't going to well. The first place wanted nothing to do with me since they thought I stole the stuff or something and even threatened to call the cops on me so I bailed immediately. The next place I tried attempted to rip me off big time by lying about the purity of the gold when I knew for a fact that Eve had made them all pure.

"Well," he cleared his throat. "Since there's no markings, I can't exactly look these up and tell you the fair price," he said. "They're completely blank and certainly no legal tender. And that's not taking account of your other goods."

The guy had been willing enough to check out the jewelry I'd grabbed as well as the bars. Unfortunately for me, the jewelry I grabbed were mostly zircon with a couple being something really valuable.

"Fuck." I swore. I just heard this several times already today. "That's what the fucking last place said. Can't you just melt them down or something?" Hopefully this guy will be willing to give me some good money for these.

"True, but that'd take time and trouble, and I ain't so sure that these won't bring me more in the way of...complications," he said in a lower tone. I let out a mental sigh of relief. I've seen this before somewhere. He wanted the gold and was willing to buy. It was just a matter of haggling.

I'm vaguely reminded of Recettear. Maybe I should go see if there's a couple of it somewhere - no wait, Japan got wrecked decades ago. No chance of it showing up here. Though Earth aleph might have it….

I blink and shake my head to clear my thoughts and get back on tracks. "Come on, surely we can make a fair deal?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

My hands were trembling as I held the bundles of cash that I had gotten from trading in most of the gold and some choice jewelry.

One hundred thousand dollars was what I got from the pawnshop. Probably a lot less than the market price but who gives a shit! There was more gold and shinies back at the base.

CAPITALISM HO!

I'm surprised that the place had that much money kept on the premises although it was probably the reason why there were parahuman bodyguards.

I still had on some of the really valuable jewelry which the pawnshop owner helpfully explained what they were. What I thought was ruby was actually a red diamond which was really rare and a pretty gemstone that changed colour in the light was apparently alexandrite, another really rare find.

The guy really wanted them but I figured if they were this rare, it would be better to hold on to them for a while.

At any rate, now that I had a hell load of cash, I was set to go on a spending spree for the first time in my life!

Now first I was going to hit the electronic store and get all the clones the latest smart phones, then get all the game consoles and all the good looking games. Then I was going to buy all the gadgets and crap that I've always wanted to buy and then -

Spider-senses tingling!

My body moves before I could fully process what was going on. Some guy stumbles and trips face first into the ground as I gracefully dodge his attempt to grab me. I looked around to see where I was.

"Crap." I hadn't been paying attention to where I was going and it hadn't occurred to me that flipping through bundles of cash in public was not the brightest thing to do. I appears that while distract with my money, I'd been somehow herded to an empty lot at the back of some buildings. Not the first time something like this has happened. Being distracted and unconsciously avoiding people while walking tended to lead me to place I didn't want to go.

Right now, I was surrounded by a bunch of punks and judging by their clothings and accessories, they were Empire Eighty-Eight.

Didn't see anyone that looked like a cape though so unless they were in hiding, I was facing a bunch of non-powered Empire Eighty-Eight goons.

"Yo?" I hesitantly greeted.

"Can it, asian piece of shit! Just hand over the cash and bling, and we might let you leave on your own feet." The tallest and largest of the neo-nazi goons ordered while cracking his knuckles.

I blinked and gave the group which consisted about a dozen guys another look. A couple of them looked like they were packing heat, and several others had weapons such as metal bats and a lead pipe.

I grinned.

"Make me."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"This DreamGenX thing is shite." Bob muttered while mutton mashing his controller. Malakai nodded in agreement, also while button mashing his controller as well. "Nice graphics though."

"Feh, at least we have video games again." I said, playing on my brand spanking new Sega Twin Screen handheld game console. It was weird, it was like a Nintendo 2DS but with a whole bunch of functions that were got in the way of pure gaming like a compass, digital clock, pedometer on the outer casing, laser pointer, and it used these tiny CDs to play like the original PSP. What the fuck. At least the game I was playing seemed fairly interesting.

Bob and Malakai were playing a fighter game called Protectorate All-Star Battle Royale. Malakai was currently beating up Bob's Alexandria with his Eidolon. Eidolon should be nature of his powers, be OP. Thankfully the game at least made sure the characters were balanced for gameplay purposes.

"Uh-huh. At least someone thought of making an Angry Bird analogue." Sakura muttered as he played a game on his new Cosmic Z3.

"Indeed, we should be thankful. Though I admit, I have some misgivings about these...Superhero games." Sean was flipping through a catalogue of video games since I only bought a selection of games due to carrying capacity limits. "Super Protectorate Olympics, Tinker Racers, Scion 2, PRT Director Simulator...These games sound like the usual piece of crap that get shovelled down casual gamers' throats back home."

"Eh. It's a mix bag I reckon. These star wars movie are the same though." Cyrus said, before grabbing a handful of popcorn and stuffing it into his mouth.

"Eidolon is bullshit." Bob muttered without any real anger as he put down his controller after losing to Malakai again. "This game sucks."

"You just suck at fighting games." Malakai sniped at Bob. The black clone scoffed.

"Dude, we're clones of each other. We all suck at fighting games! Eidolon, I repeat, is bullshit."

"No, he isn't. I was just lucky. Again?"

"Hang on. Who else wants to play?"

I rolled my eyes and put the TS away for the time being, taking a break from playing some monster hunter-esque game called Bio-Arena where you were essentially a monster hunter except trapped inside a giant underground facility filled with biospheres and tinker-made monsters according to the story with no powers except tinker powers based around using monster parts to make armour and weapons. Pretty much Monster Hunter except with a different setting and different weapons.

Honestly, beating up Empire goons was more fun than playing these games. Turns out the second pawnshop was affiliated with the Empire and got those goons to hunt me down and take all the shinies off me.

I sent all of the goons to the hospital and went off to buy video games. I did reveal I was a cape to the goons but I kept my abilities low key, relying on my automatic reflexes and invisible barrier gauntlets.

Now however, I was hankering for more fights.

"Feh, I'm going to Danger Room. Anyone want to come?"

"Sure, let me beat Malakai first."

Afterwards Bob managed to win with Armsmaster against Malakai's Chevalier, I proceeded to get my ass kicked by Bob who had been making copious use of the Danger Room all day. Seems like he was quickly building up fighting experience, fighting experience At least up until I recombined myself with Bob. It was weird doing so.

It was like I suddenly had a different set of memories but perfect understanding of the thought processes that went behind my actions in those memories. Interestingly enough, when I remade Bob, instead of coming out like an exact duplicate of my current self, he appeared as his chosen form. "Huh, kicking those Empire goons was pretty sweet." And he now has an updated memory as expected.

It seemed like if I create a clone while thinking about the persona they were using, they appear while wearing that persona. Useful, I think.

The fight between me and Bob became more even afterwards.

As I fought, I mentally made a list of the powers I would need to make the others.

The power to steal without touching.

The power to excel in combat.

The power to heal by punching or slapping.

The power to summon loyal minions from the shadows.

The power to control space and time.

The power to create weapons out of thing air.

The power to cast FIST!

I was definitely going to need more than ten charges to make all these work as I wanted them to.

Last edited: Feb 8, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Feb 10, 2015

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5.5

A new day dawned and I awoke from my dreamless slumber, thanks to the ever energetic efforts of Eve. The Garden was feeling more homely thanks to the presence of my clones. Although I had thought about simply absorbing all the clones before I go to sleep and remake them when I wake up, I decided not to - partially because I wanted to see how different they'd become but mostly because I didn't want to see what goes on Sakura's head beyond what I can gleam through our telepathic link.

Breakfast, despite there being more people at the table, was a quiet and subdued event, due to the fact that most meals I focus on devouring what's before me without small talk distracting me. It was probably not a pretty sight, seeing five different people shovelling down food with gusto. Eve certainly didn't seem to mind and was happily making seconds and thirds when asked.

After breakfast was done and everyone had a bit of time to freshen up, I began working on my powers.

First thing I do is make my appearance changer capable of changing me down to the genetic level and also allow complete change in gender. This was for the sake of my plan but I couldn't help but feel that I may regret this course of action in the future. It costed only a single charge to grant that power these added functions.

Next up, I put three charges into recreating Mephistopheles' invisible steal power. How it worked was fairly simple. Just reach out towards the thing you want to take, imagine that your hand is grabbing it, grab with your real hand, and viola, item stolen. It could only be used on objects that could be held in one hand but I made it so you could also feel out for hidden items thus allowing items out of sight to be stolen as well.

Now with Phantom Blue's main power made, I tried to give myself the ability to have incredible mastery in any skill I wanted since I needed to be good at a whole bunch of stuff in the future like riding a motorcycle, piloting a giant robot, writing reports, and so on. Since I used only one charge though, this power only allowed me to be merely talented at any one skill at a time and my talent in that skill would disappear after I switch to another. Since I had clones though, each of them could have a mastery of a different skill each effectively rendering the one skill limit moot when we worked together.

Three of my charges went into creating my first healing power, one that I wanted to work via punching and slapping. Rather than just treat injuries and damage through biological manipulation like Panacea did, the power would automatically return an affected area to a state of wellness. No idea how it worked but at least no need to pour time and effort reading about medical procedures, anatomy books and the likes. However, it could only heal combat wounds and not illnesses and medical conditions. Still quite potent though.

My last two charges went into upping the power of my intangibility, completely rendering myself immune to all manner of attacks as well as negating the need to eat and breath while intangible. With this, not even Leviathan and Behemoth could touch me! Not too sure about the Sting though. At least now, no barriers could stand in my path.

Having now spent my charges, I returned to realspace only to discover something interesting.

"Huh, everyone got the upgrades." Through my mental link, I felt all my clones sudden receive the new powers that I just made as well as the upgrades. All of them were surprised as I am about this unexpected quirk of my cloning power but we all soon got over it.

Cyrus and Bob immediately headed over to the Danger room to see if how much becoming skilled in combat changed things up.

Sean simply went back to browsing the internet.

Malakai had gone off to the storage area to test out Invisible Steal.

And Sakura started changing his appearance to look more feminine before changing his gender altogether. I immediately severed my link with my clones when I saw Sakura begin to check out her new body.

Nope. Not going there!

At least now I knew that any powers and upgrades I made immediately went to my clones as well without needing to reabsorb them.

Right then, time to see how Eve's going with the Bright Rider Cycle and whatever else she made with her new tinker power.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"I MADE OUR FIRST MEGAZORD!...Well as least the zords that combines to become the Megazord."

"My god…" I murmured as I tried to take in everything before me "Um...What am I looking at here, Eve?" I asked hesitantly, trying to stay calm in the face of Eve's genius.

"Oh, this? I needed the space so I added a hangar bay to the Garden!" Eve explained, gesturing to the cavernous room in which Eve's latest creations stood. "So what do you think?"

I asked the first thing that came to mind.

"Is that meant to be an aardvark?"

Start from the right was a red and black lion robot, a yellow and white rhino robot, a blue and white hippo robot, a green and white wolf robot, and finally a pink and white aardvark robot.

"Uh-huh! Their names are Billy, Mark, George, Monroe, and Penelope." Eve pointed to the robots in turn as she introduced them to me. This wouldn't be so scary if it wasn't for the fact that the robots themselves responded and moved when Eve called out their names.

"Eve, are these zords sentient?"

"Uh-huh! It just kinda happened while I was building them. It's cool though, they're really friendly and stuff, isn't that right, Billy?" Eve explained as the lion zord let out a friendly growl at that.

I slowly nodded at that while I tried to work out a proper response to all this.

"Yo, so what's this pla - HOLY FUCK! ARE THOSE - Is that an aardvark?" I grimaced as Cyrus Chance entered the hangar without warning and shouted out his surprise.

"Hmm? What's going on - HOLY FUCK ARE THOSE - Is that an aardvark?" I facepalmed when Bob joined us.

"Hey everyone, may I ask why everyone - " Okay no, enough of this!

"Sean! Those are Zords. Yes! One of them is an Aardvark! Now go and do whatever!" Sean snapped his mouth shut and nodded before going up closer to the Wolf zord. The others were looking at me with wide-eyes. "What?!"

"Nothing!"

"Heyo! How come every - HOLY FUCK! ARE THOSE - Is that an aardvark?"

I slammed my head against the wall as Malakai repeated the reaction that the other clones had. I should have just linked up and synced my thoughts with everyone.

"Hey guy! Check it out, I'm a - HOLY FUCK! ARE THOSE - Is that an aardvark?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

After everyone had stopped freaking out over the Zords and calmed down, we were given a quick tour of the hangar bay. The entire place was built for storing and maintaining all kidns of vehicles if what Eve told us was true. I could see drones moving all over the place, carrying parts and materials to and from an area of the hangar which I quickly realised was where Eve build the Zords. In fact, there was another one being built as we walked by. I think it was going to be a peacok or some other fancy bird zord.

That was when Eve showed us what else she had been working on.

"Are these what I think they are?" I asked when I laid eyes on Eve's other creations.

"Um, I don't know but I can tell you that they're the Ride Machines." Eve replied, waving her arm at the group of motorcycles, cars and mono-wheel vehicle. Bob let out a low whistle at the sight. In an area of the hangar, away from the zords who were on standby, Eve presented to us her other smaller projects born from the new Tinker power I had given her yesterday. "I had all these designs in my databanks and I couldn't decide which ones to build so I just built them all while I was working on the zords. How are they, do they satisfy your needs?"

I walked up to the white futuristic armoured motorcycle, decked out in white and gold colours. Immediately, I called up the skill required to drive such a machine and feel it drop into place. With nary a word, I got on the machine and started her up.

What happened next was exhilarating.

"WOOOHOOO! THIS IS AWESOME!" Despite this being the first time I've ever ridden a motorcycle, the feeling of the breeze going through my hair and my surroundings becoming a blur was incredible. The hangar was more than large enough for a test drive and I was having fun weaving in between the legs of the Zords.

"HELL YEAH!" I heard someone cry out and I looked to see the others had commandeered they own rides as well as slotting in the right skills to drive them. I opened up my empathetic link and felt the same thrill I was having in different intensity. Cyrus and Sakura were riding other motorcycles of different design while Sean was driving one of the car-like vehicles with Malakai riding in the passenger seat. Bob was driving the monowheel bike and laughing like a loon.

"EVE! THIS IS FANTASTIC!" I cried out as I pass by the holographic girl.

Then I heard a crash. I slammed on the brakes and brought the Ride Machine to a stop. I turned to where I heard the crash and grimaced.

"...Ow." Cyrus had crashed into Bob and ended up spinning right into the leg of the Hippo Zord, completely trashing their rides. The others had stopped to stare at the pile of now scrap metal.

"NOOOOO! MY HARD WORK!" Eve cried out in horror as the sight before slapping her virtual cheeks and pumping her fists in front of her with a determined look. "NEVERMIND! I'LL JUST REMAKE THEM BETTER THAN BEFORE!"

I shook my head at the pair of clones who were groaning in pain. Pain suppression or not, that had to hurt. Cyrus and Bob certainly thought so judging by how they felt through the empathic link we had. Closing the link I turned to Eve.

"So….How do we get these topside?" I wanted to take these things out for a spin in the city after all.

"...Oh dear, I hadn't thought of that."

Oh god damn it.

Feb 11, 2015

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5.x Interlude - Dinah

74.15% chance she would be caught if she went right.

Her lungs were burning from the exertion she was putting herself through and she desperately wanted to cry. A question she wanted to ask burned in her mind but she refused. Asking would make it real and then she would know. All that mattered right now was that she got away from him..

The numbers were changing constantly and the way her head hurt became worse every time she asked a question. That man was doing something - something to make the numbers keep changing. Some sort of power. She ran, but his men were constantly catching up or forcing her in directions that only made the numbers worse. She had managed to evaded her pursuers so far, but she was only a little girl and the numbers and the pain were getting worse.

A shout rang out and she almost jumped, fighting the impulse to start running.

83.63% chance they are trying to spook her so they resume pursuit.

The pain sharpened and she held her head, massaging it while taking several deep breaths. The ache in her head eased a bit but she knew that it wouldn't be much longer before she reached her limits.

Two roads. She already knew the numbers for the right. The left?

54.24% chance of -

12.64% chance of -

81.9% chance of -

0.02% chance of -

1000000% chance of -

1gah1291% chance of 1$*&& $ - ERROR!

41% chance of escaping him.

Dinah Alcott screamed as the pain in her head became unbearable. Collapsing to her knees, she vomited, the remains of her morning tea splattering the ground.

Something was wrong. The numbers in her head had suddenly become completely wrong as if whatever calculations involved were finding something wrong. This had never happened before. The last number however was what she wanted though. But she couldn't help but wonder what had happened.

Vaguely through the haze of pain, she could hear a car or motorcycle coming.

5.34% chance of whoever's coming will help her.

Shakingly, she tried to get back on her feet but the pain, combined with her queasy stomach was too much and her arms slipped.

Someone caught her. "Got you!" Her first impulse was to scream and struggle but she pushed it down, aware that it was over. "Hey, you alright?" She heard the person ask. That wasn't right. Whoever had grabbed her was slowly helping her up.

The last number had been wrong or the most improbable had happened. Though her sight was blurry due to tears of pain, she managed to lift her head up to see who was helping her stay steady. It was a man in a black biker leathers, wearing a white motorcycle helmet with a black windscreen.

0% chance of this person help - 100% chance of this - 0% chance - 100% cha - 0% - 100%.

What. Her eyes widened. The numbers were switching constantly between zero and one hundred. Was this person the reason the numbers went all strange before?

"Hey! You don't look so good!" The man said, crouching down to face at eye levels. She couldn't see through the black visor of his helmet and the pain was getting worse by the second. "Kid! What's your name? I can call a doctor or something!" The sincerity in the person voice seemed real but she was afraid to ask more questions in the presence of this man. She didn't want the pain to get worse.

"Dinah." She found herself almost unconsciously replying. The moment the man heard her name however, his body stiffened and he looked around wildly as though watching for something. She thought she might have heard the man whispered something like but she couldn't concentrate properly thanks to the pain.

"Hold still for a moment, Dinah." The man requested but before she could say or do anything, he flicked her forehead. She reached up to feel the spot the guy had flicked only to realise something. The pain was gone. "Better?"

Did he made the pain go away?

She nodded slowly. The guy looked away for a moment and she could hear him whisper something to himself.

"...Siders robbing the bank….."

"Good. Don't ask anymore questions. No point with me around." The man said. Her pulse quickened. This man knew who she was or at least what her power was. Was this man also trying to take her away?

At that moment, the man's men had caught up.

The biker who had somehow stopped the pain immediately pushed her behind him as he stood up and faced the group of armed men that had swept into the suddenly empty of people area around us, accompanied by a man in a black body suit with a white snake on it.

"Nowhere else to run," he said, his voice oddly muffled. "You there, step away from the girl."

All of the men were armed and their weapons were pointed in the biker's directions, the meaning clear. Dinah found herself hugging the biker's leg. Was this where she would finally be taken?

The biker that was helping her, despite what the numbers said, turned his helmet at each of the armed men before crossing his arms. "You're not the real Coil, are you?" He simply said. It wasn't a question. It was just the man reaffirming his thoughts but the effect were visible. The armed men and the man in the bodysuit had froze when he had said that. "You're not getting the girl in any rate."

"We're taking the girl," The man in the bodysuit said.

The biker then began raising both his arms. Was he surrendering?

A white belt then suddenly materialised around the biker's waist. Before the armed men could act, the biker drop his left and stretched his right towards the sky.

"HENSHIN!"

There was a bright flash of light that forced Dinah to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she gasped as hope filled her. Her dad had shown her the videos and the news had been playing them in the last couple of days.

Bright Rider, the hero of justice.

"The Light of Justice has guided me here to save this young girl." Bright Rider shouted out, his arms and legs shifting into a pose in front of everyone. "You villains who would bring torment and despair upon this innocent life for the sake of money will face judgement!"

The armed men seemed to have forgotten themselves at the sight of the cape that had beaten Lung in single combat. The man in the black bodysuit, Coil or at least a fake managed to recompose himself and shouted out an order. "Take him out! Triple pay!"

The armed men snapped out of their trance and fired their weapons.

"BRIGHT GUARD!"

Dinah screamed as the gunfire before realising that none of the bullets coming. She looked up and saw a barrier made out of hexagon shaped forcefields protecting both her and Bright Rider.

Bright Rider pointed at the one he had called a fake Coil before saluting him.

"From this point onwards, the chances of this girl living a normal and happy life with her family and friends are ten thousand percent!"

Despite knowing such a number wasn't possible, despite her power refusing to answer her questions all of a sudden, Dinah Alcott believed in Bright Rider's prediction.

As long as Bright Rider was here, the chances of her being taken by that man were zero.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 6.1 - Off The Rails New

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6.1 Off The Rails

It had taken some to to get the Bright Machine out of the hangar and into the elevator. It took everyone's cooperation to move the damn thing. Next charge reset, I was going to make a dimensional pocket power like the Gilgamesh's Gates of Babylon or The Gamer's inventory screen. At least Eve promised to devise a way for the zords and any vehicles she made to go topside.

Once I got the superbike outside, I shifted my clothes into biker leathers and made a white helmet like the Stig. My face was still known by the PRT after all. Gotta cover up.

And thus I went on a joyride around Brockton Bay on my bitchin' new ride. However not long after I started, I found a little girl who was puking her guts out. Since no-one else was around, I immediately got off my bike and rushed over to the girl's side to help me up and maybe get her to a doctor if it was something really bad.

Then she told me her name and my plans for the day took a detour.

Dinah Alcott.

A little girl who turns out to be one of the most powerful pre-cogs in the wormverse. A little girl who gets kidnapped, drugged and captive by Coil who wanted to use her powers to synergize with his own to create a better timeline for his own benefit. A little girl for whom, in the canon timeline, Skitter put her all into rescuing from the Coil's grasp - becoming more and more of a villain until it culminated into her killing Coil.

My original plan was to wait for the news of the Undersiders to attack the bank before going out to find Dinah and rescue her from Coil or failing that, find Coil, kick his ass, take away his power, and then save Dinah from his grasp.

Apparently Dinah was already in trouble before the Undersiders hit the bank. And I'd inadvertently stumbled upon the girl while she was trying to escape from Coil's men. Well, this saves me the trouble of looking for her. I'd originally thought that the bank robbery happened later today but whatever. Eve informed while I was helping Dinah up that several incidents were holding the Protectorates and PRT's attention. My clones were already moving in to assist, using both invisibility and intangibility to do so.

A quick flick to her forehead cured the pre-teen pre-cog of her headaches and allowed her to get back on her feet without falling over. I needed to get the girl to safety as soon as possible and deal with Coil. He would definitely not stop at nothing to have Dinah under his control.

Then Coil's men showed up with Coil or rather his double. I knew this because one, Coil was paranoid as fuck and would never go out in the open like this and two, I sensed no powers from the guy. Also the black bodysuit with white snake coiling around the body actually looked kinda lame in the daylight. It probably looked better in the shadows.

At any rate, it was hero time.

I transformed in front of the mercenaries and proclaimed what I was going to do to them for their part in making a girl's life turn for the worse.

Once my intentions were made clear, they fired at me.

I reacted without thinking, calling up my barriers to protect me and Dinah with a shout of "BRIGHT GUARD!"

Without even trying, I shut down their attempts to perforate me with bullets and laser shots. Even though they saw their attack fail, they continued firing. Must be hoping that I'll tire out or something. Such a thing wasn't possible though due to the nature of my powers. When I make a barrier, I make a barrier. Nothing except immense brute force and the Sting was going to break through my barriers.

Right then, time for the next step.

With my wall of barriers in place, I called up my energy bombs and lobbed several over my barrier. The mercs saw what I was doing and tried to avoid the incoming blasts. Unfortunately for them, I set the bombs to explode before they hit the ground. The ensuing blast threw the mercs and Coil's double to the ground. Judging by the groans of pain I was hearing from a number of the merc, it must have hurt quite a bit.

That's what you get for working for villains though.

Most of the mercs however were quickly getting back to their feet. Not on my watch they weren't.

"BRIGHT JAIL!" Rings of light appeared around me before I started grabbing them and throwing them at the mercs. Just like that, Coil's men and his double were bounded up tight in rings of light. "Villainy has been foiled!"

"Y-You won't get away with this!" Coil's double shouted, even as he wriggled like a worm as he struggled to get free. "No matter what! Coil will always get what he wants!"

I wagged my finger at the man. "Justice will always prevail and Coil will get his comeuppance soon enough!" With that said, I turned to Dinah who was staring up at me with eyes full of admiration and hope. "You alright, young lady?"

"Y-Yes! I'm okay!" The girl answered immediately, nodding her head vigorously.

"Excellent!" I then used my costume power to summon a child-size motorcycle helmet for Dinah to wear. "Put this on. We're getting out of here." Dinah nodded and began putting on the helmet. While she was doing that, I called up Eve on the communicator. "Eve, how's everyone doing?"

"Everyone's fine! Cyrus and Bob helped put a stop to a gangfight near Downtown, Malakai and Sean are rescuing several peoples from several sudden fires outbreaks, and Sakura made her debut at the bank."

"Wait, what?!" I hadn't used my link to check on the others because I was afraid I might distract them. However, this was not what I asked my clones to do. Immediately I tapped into the link, accessing Sakura's senses and overriding my own for the time being. Sakura felt me intrude on her mind but that was the least of her problems right now.

"Ewewew! I hate giant mutant dog drool!" Sakura was currently wrestling with one of Bitch's empowered dogs outside the bank. Right now, she was doing all she can not to get her face chomped off by the killer mutt. Since I didn't have a superstrength, she was making due with barriers around her hands. It didn't stopped her face getting covered in dog drool though. With a heave, Sakura managed to get the dog off her long enough for her to punch the dog in its chest. I saw a small explosion occur at the point of contact and watched as the giant dog is sent flying a numbers of metres. "Dumb dog." Getting back up on her feet, Sakura brushed off the dust on her and turned to see how the Wards were doing.

The Wards were currently fighting off several other giant mutant dogs. A couple of their members - Clockblocker and Aegis were either out or pinned down. No signs of any insect swarm in the area though. By the looks of things, Skitter hadn't joined the Undersiders.

Damn. That's going to cause some butterflies, even if I hadn't saved Dinah.

Fuck it. I disconnected from Sakura's senses. I'll ask what happened later, right now I had a little girl to get to safety. "Eve. Call the cops to pick up Coil's men and power up the emergency teleporter, I'm bringing the girl with me."

"Sorry, Yoshikawa but it takes a bit of time if you're going to bring someone else along." Eve explained apologetically.

"Tch, how long?"

"Around twenty minutes."

"And if I take the bike along?"

"An hour."

"Bugger." I muttered darkly. The closest non-emergency teleporter was about an hour away. Looks like I was leaving the bike behind when Eve teleported us. "Okay, power it up anyway. I'll pick up the bike later."

"Okie dokie! See you back at the Garden!"

Cutting off the communicator, I turned back to Dinah who had her helmet on and was now waiting for me. "Alright Dinah. We'll get you somewhere safe but it's going to take twenty minutes before my friend pulls through. Think you can handle riding at high speeds around the city for twenty minutes, Dinah?"

She frowns and takes a moment to think about it before nodding. "I think I can."

"Sweet." I grabbed Dinah and put her on the Bright Machine before getting behind her and grabbing the handle. "Hang on tight!" Dinah grabbed the handlebar and I started the Bright Machine up.

I revved up the engine of the tinker-tech bike and we were off. In the side-mirror, I noticed several black vans appear from the corner of the street.

Looks like Coil hadn't given up just yet.

Last edited: Feb 11, 2015

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Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 6.2 New

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A Friendly Face

Feb 13, 2015

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6.2

Coil was persistent, I'll give him that. No sooner had I rode away from the scene with Dinah, several non-descript black vans accompanied by several men on black motorcycles were on my trail. What had originally begun as a joyride on my new bike was quickly escalating into a full- on motorcycle chase.

However, thanks to my powers, I had the equivalent of a B rank in Riding - only for motorcycles though or the Bright Machine at least.

As soon as it became obvious that the vehicles following me were part of Coil's forces, I dropped any notions of following the traffic laws. Sorry, dad, but I'm going to be caught speeding.

I kicked the Bright Machine into high gear and began speeding past all the other cars that were on the streets. In the side mirror, I could see Coil's forces also start speeding up, mostly the bikers though since the vans had a harder time getting through the other traffic.

I had absolutely no idea where I was but I was determined not to let Coil get his filthy hands on cute little Dinah. He probably did horrible and terrible things to Dinah in the canon timeline thanks to his powers. Want to horrible and terrible things to anyone you want without the consequences?

Make a separate timeline and do your crime before ending it, retaining all the sadistic pleasure and violence filled memories without anyone none the wiser!

Yeah, fuck Coil. As soon as I got Dinah to safety, I was gonna go find his base and stomp his ass with glee.

At any rate, I was in the middle of trying to lose Coil's forces. I swerved in between cars and trucks, skillfully avoiding collisions without slowing down much. However, Coil's men were also proving to be quite skillful as well or at least the bikers were. The vans on the other were pushing other vehicles off the road or into other cars, without any care for the civilians on the sidewalk or the drivers of said cars. No doubt that people were getting hurt from the crashes that were happening behind me.

Shit.

I had to either lose them or stop them before more people got hurt.

Spider-senses tingling! Dodge!

"Bright Rider! They're shooting at us!" Dinah warned me, even as I took evasive actions, swerving to the right to the adjacent lane as a bullet flies past my head before swerving back to avoid an oncoming bus. Damn it, the bikers were close enough to start shooting - probably feeling confident that they won't hit Dinah. Not gonna take any chances with that though.

"Don't worry, Dinah. I've got us covered, Barrier up!"

There, I now had barriers around me and Dinah without making it hard to maneuver the bike.

A few more shots are fired and all of them are blocked by the barrier. Good, the bikers are backing off now.

The vans on the other hand aren't slowing down. Hell, they're getting faster. And they've hardly taken any damaged from all the ramming they've been doing. Gotta be tinker-tech. Fucking tinker-tech vans!

While I'm easily avoiding any other vehicle on the road, doing so slows me down every time I do so. Coil's van aren't and they steadily catching up even as they force others into car crashes. At this point, I hear sirens.

Looks like the cops are here. Wasn't expecting that with all the other crap that's going on right now. Not gonna stop though. Can't trust the cops, at least not to protect Dinah. Gonna have to avoid getting caught by them as well.

The vans are opening up, revealing men armed with tinker-tech weaponry, large ones. Crap, not good. My barriers will protect me and Dinah but not everyone else. One of the vans opened fire on one of the police cruisers and it was promptly thrown into the air, flames bursting from its underside.

Okay, that's it. Time to take things up a notch. "BRIGHT OVERDRIVE! SKILL BOOSTER!"

"Bright Rider?"

Immediately, I feel it. From just being merely talented to outright supernatural - I am now one with the Bright Machine. The Bright Machine begins to glow as my skill forces the motorbike to begin ignoring the laws of physics. Time to take down these scumbags. "Hold on tight, Dinah, we're going to take things for a spin! BRIGHT MACHINE SLIDE TURNER!"

I sharply turn to my left, the Bright Machine tilting until its side is practically inches from touching the ground. Dinah screams, in excitement or terror I do not know, but it's alright. I am in full control. The Bright Machine continues to turn, spinning several times. I hit the reverse on the bike and with skillful maneuvering, I pull the bike back upright and now I'm riding in full reverse.

I can see Coil's men staring in shock at the stunt I just pulled as well as how I'm easily riding backwards. Too bad for them, I'm in position to counterattack.

I raise my right hand, leaving the bike controls to my left and fire. "BRIGHT SHOT!"

The bolt of glowing white energy blasts open the front of the foremost van, destroying its engine. It starts moving shakingly before it crashes and falls to its side. The mercs in the other vans are pulling themselves back inside, and the cops, judging from their expressions through the windshield, are freaking out.

Right then, taking out the other vans now.

SPIDERSENSES!

"Kyah!" Dinah wails as I swerve to avoid another incoming vehicle even while driving in reverse. Okay, can't go too crazy or else Dinah will be traumatised forever.

"BRIGHT SHOT!BRIGHT SHOT!BRIGHT SHOT!BRIGHT SHOT!" I start firing at the vans with my energy blasts but they've gotten wise and are driving even more recklessly than before to avoid my blasts. I manage to clip the tire of one of the van though, blowing off the tire completely. It starts letting off sparks as metal screeches across the road before it begins to fall behind.

One van left and the cops are pulling away. Looks like the police are scared, unfortunately of me. This is probably not good publicity of Bright Rider.

Finally, the van pulls away and turns into a street and it looks like the cops have chosen to try and chase after those guys instead.

"A-Are we safe now?" Dinah asks.

"For now. Still got….ten minutes before we're in the clear. Hang tight. BRIGHT MACHINE SLIDE TURN!" Dinah screams as I pull the same trick again, getting the Bright Machine driving forward and not in reverse. "Okay, Dinah. As long as nothing suddenly jumps out then we're pretty much in the clear. How's your head?"

"I - I'm okay. My powers aren't working right now." Dinah says nervously.

"Good to hear. After this is over, things will get better, I promise." I assure the young parahuman.

Suddenly my spider senses began tingling again.

Without hesitating, I accelerate, barely avoiding being crushed as something suddenly smashes through a wall I just past.

What the fuck!?

A truck just almost run me over as well as cause quite a bit of property damage. A fucking huge-ass truck with guns, spiked ramming plows, and fucking saws. Oh and speakers.

"GUESS WHO MOTHERFUCKER!" Oh hell. "YOU MESS WITH THE MERCHANTS SO WE'RE GONNA FUCK YOU UP!"

I was definitely not expecting this.

Last edited: Feb 13, 2015

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Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Feb 15, 2015

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6.3

Chaos, destruction and death was chasing after me. That was the only way I could really describe the insane piece of tinker technology that was created and currently being driven by the main tinker of the Merchants who I only know as Squealer.

"RUN MOTHERFUCKER RUN! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS, BRIGHT FUCKER!?" Skidmark's voice screech out from the gaudy sound speakers that decorated the top of Squealer's monster of a semi-trailer, in spite of the roars of destruction that it left behind.

Any car, truck, or building that got in the way of Squealer's Doom-truck was crushed, shredded and annihilated without mercy. If there were any doubt that there were casualties thanks to this debacle, the Merchants have put them all to rest.

I can't even imagine how much all this destruction will cost Brockton Bay.

Squealer's monstrous truck was fast than it should conceivably be, fast enough to slowly begin closing the gap between me and its very nasty looking weapons.

"BRIGHT SHOT! BRIGHT SHOT! BRIGHT SHOT!" I fire off energy blasts as fast as I could behind my shoulder but to no avail. My attacks simply washed over the front of the truck as if there was a forcefield around it.

Fucking Tinkers.

"Eve, please tell me the Bright Machine has nitro or something." I asked Eve through the communicator that was once part of the TechSight but had somehow merged with my costume. I really needed to check out what was up with that.

"Um, sorry. The Bright Machine doesn't have that function." Eve reply, sounding cheerful as ever. I figured out a little while ago that Eve had the utmost confidence in me and thus pretty much never worries whenever I get into a dangerous situation such as right now.

"How about rockets? Can the Bright Machine fly!?"

"Nope, it can't fly either."

"Shit." I was in a bad spot. I had a huge ass truck that was tricked out with dozens of guns, spikes, buzzsaws, and, I suspect, rockets, and my own Bright Machine, while an incredible machine of speed and power, seemed to be lacking in superhero feature department. It seems like Eve put all the really neat stuff into the Zords, leaving the bikes and cars merely souped up and superior to mundane vehicles. "Eve, is there anything because I'm going to be impaled, crushed, viscerated, and shot in the next few minutes - not necessarily in that order!"

"Um...OH! That's right! Yoshikawa, use the Bright Road function! The button that activates it should be behind a panel in front of you." Eve informs me. I glance at the so-called panel that Eve pointed out. This is a panel? I thought it was just decal! Damn, I would try and see what this Bright Road is but I was busy using both of my hands to keep control of my super-motorcycle from crashing and being shot at.

Fortunately, there was someone here who could lend a hand. "Dinah! I need you to open the panel in front of us and press the button you find or else we're going to be in really big trouble. Got it?"

"Right!" Dinah obediently follows my request, reaching down with her right hand to touch the panel. The moment she touches it, it melts away, revealing a large shiny red button with a star on it. Dinah hesitates for a moment before she pushes the button. At that moment, the lower half of the bike begins to shift right underneath me.

I lose no speed though, even as the bike changes. Skidmark is still shouting with glee and sadistic joy at all the chaos he's causing as well as screaming about how hilarious it was going to be when he reaches the Bright Machine and send me and Dinah to an early grave in pieces.

Not today, asshole.

The shifting of parts stop and suddenly a plane of light appears beneath the Bright Machine before extending out in front of the Eve-made vehicle. It takes me a second to figure out what's happening and another to make use of it.

"Eve! How do I control the Bright Road?" I ask the creator of the Bright Machine.

"Simply focus and move the handlebar!" Eve answers immediately, with a hint of manic joy in her voice.

Okay, let's do this!

"BRIGHT MACHINE BRIGHT ROAD ACTIVATE!" I cry out as I direct the still-forming road of light to start angling up and just like that I'm off the ground, racing along a road of solid light, completely bypassing every other vehicle before me.

"We're flying!" Dinah cries out, in amazement. Well it was not quite flying but it will do.

"OH YOU FUCKING CHEATING SONOVABITCH!" Looks like Skidmark is not a fan of the Bright Road. Now that I was no longer bound by the limits of the streets of Brockton Bay, it was time for me to counterattack.

Even if I was to leave right now which would be easy thanks to the Bright Road, Skidmark and Squealer would most definitely continue going on a rampage, causing god knows how much more damage to the city. I was not going to let that happen.

"Dinah! Whatever you do, don't let go!" With a mental command, the Bright Road does a massive loop and in defiance of the laws of physics and gravity, the Bright Machine follows the Bright Road. Dinah screams in terror but I hold her gently with my left arm to try and comfort her. The loops ends and I find myself driving behind Squealer's truck. Like I thought, rockets.

Scrap metal and debris that were once cars and buildings threaten to rip into me and Dinah but my barrier holds strong against such hazards.

Time to end this madness.

"BRIGHT OVERDRIVE!" I begin to glow as I direct the surge of power into one of my other abilities. "BRIGHT SHINING BEAT BLAST!" Before, my Bright Shot proved useless against the defenses that Squealers had put into place. This time around, my energy attack, looking far more condensed and even brighter than before, pierces through the forcefield and takes out one of the rockets. There is an almighty explosion as the back of the Merchant's vehicle erupts into flames. The flames and debris simply flows around my barrier, leaving me and Dinah untouched.

The truck begins losing speed rapidly as whatever device that was powering the rockets is now gone. I slow down as well, keeping a safe distance away from the crazy truck.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!" I hear Skidmark screaming in horror as he realises that I've just put a stop to his need for speed.

"Time to finish this! SWORD OF JUSTICE!" Smiling behind my helmet, I push the Bright Machine forward, passing by the Merchants' smoking truck of doom. Without a word, I call up my Bright Blade and stuck the powerful weapon into the side of the truck, melting through the sides and devastating the remaining tech that was in the truck. I speed up and my energy blade slices through the truck like a hot knife through butter. With a flourish, I pull out my blade and drive onwards, speeding pass the crippled tinker-tech truck that was rapidly screeching to a stop.

Adios, Merchants. Next time, don't do drugs and drive.

"Yoshikawa! The teleporter is ready for transfer you and your guest." Eve informs me.

Finally, we were done. I continue riding further down the street before stopping the Bright Machine. I got off and helped Dinah out of her spot. She was trembling as I lifted her out of her seat and she collapsed onto her knees when I put her down. Looks like the ride was a bit much for her.

"You okay, Dinah?"

"I-I'm a-alright." Dinah replies as she shakingly got back to her feet. "Are we safe now?"

"Almost." I began as Dinah and I began to glow as the teleporter locked onto our position. I turned to the Bright Machine. I was going to have to leave it behind for now. The Protectorate would probably be taking it with them when they showed up to clean up the scene. Well, I'll just have to pick up later then.

I glance over my shoulder to give the Merchant's Death Machine a look. Half of it has bursted into flames and Skidmark and his goons are desperately trying to get out of the now burning wreck of their vehicle.

Without a word, I hold onto Dinah and feeling the world disappear as the teleporter kicks in and whirls us away from the scene.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

I sat in the Command Centre, waiting for the others to take settle down with the exception of Sean who I'd assigned to look after Dinah while keeping the Bright Rider persona active. My clones were tired but other than that they were fine. Once everyone was seated, it was time to assess the consequences of my actions as well as work out my next plan of action.

"Eve, how much damage did the whole Bright Machine chase do?" I asked, beginning the meeting.

"Well, the full extent is still being worked out by the relevant parties but it is estimated that around forty-six people have died, more than a hundred and fifty with moderate to severe injuries, and tens of millions in property damage - most of the damage however was caused by the Merchants' death-truck." Eve answers, rattling off the data like a machine. I groan when I hear the damage. While I didn't directly caused any deaths, I couldn't help but feel indirectly responsible for this fiasco.

This much damage hadn't happened in canon until Bakuda's bombing spree.

….

Shit. Bakuda was going to bomb the shit out of Brockton Bay as a distraction to free Lung.

"Thank you, Eve. What about gang activities? Is there any information on that?"

"Yes, there is. Spurred on by Lung's capture, Empire Eighty-Eight forces are making a push to takeover ABB territory. The Merchants, due to the destruction of the Death-Truck as well as law enforcers cracking down on Merchants-related incidents - have begun to suffer a major setbacks in their activities. As for the Asian Bad Boys, they appear to be lying low for the time being."

Damn. Bakuda was probably working on forcibly conscripting innocent asian families into the ABB via bomb implantation. Not good at all.

"And the Protectorate?"

"The PRT and Protectorate are finishing up with dealing with the various incidents that have occurred today. They are also attempting to deal with criticism from those affected by the Merchants' Death Ride incident as designated by various news reports. On the plus side, thanks to Sakura's intervention, the Wards, while unsuccessful in capturing the Undersiders, prevented most of the money from being taken as well as minimize an damages to civilians and property."

"Huh, that reminds me. I'm pretty sure I said to keep a low profile when I asked you guys to help with the incidents. So why did you show yourself at the bank heist, Sakura?" I asked, facing Sakura. My female clone grimaced and shrugged sheepishly before answering.

"Well, as it turns out, giant mutant dogs have good sense of smell. I got sniffed out shortly after I got there and I was kinda forced to fight." Sakura explained. "Thanks to our FX and barrier powers, I was able to outpower a couple of Hellhound's mutts while making it look like I have super-strength which was what we were aiming for with our Ward persona any way."

"Hmm," I looked down at a screen I had opened which was showing pictures of the bank heist. "Okay, though this also means we also got invisibility as part of the Ward persona. However, can you also please tell me why you made yourself blonde and wore the lovechild of a nun's habit and a japanese highschool girl uniform?" I asked, bringing up the picture for everyone to see. Bob lets out an amused snort while Cyrus is visible restraining himself from laughing. Malakai just nods and waits for Sakura to continue.

"Er…." Sakura fumbles for a bit as she tries to work out a good explanation. Then without warning, she transforms in a manner not dissimilar to a magical girl's one. When she finishes transforming, her hair has turned bright strawberry blonde and her blue eyes now have pink hearts for pupils, and she is also wearing a modified version of the outfit she was wearing at the bank heist. "Guardian Angel Girl Gabriella is here - chu!" Sakura finishes with a pose, wings of light briefly appearing behind her back, before blowing me a kiss.

"What." Cyrus flatly says for everyone's benefit.

"Ohmygod! You're a magical girl, Sakura!" Eve suddenly cries out, gushing over Sakura's transformation.

I facepalmed before shaking off weird thoughts. "Whatever, fine. That's going to be your superhero persona or whatever. I'll make powers that will make you seem more angelic and whatever. Just don't do that in front of us too often, okay?"

Sakura nods, her face red with embarrassment.

"Good, now onto more important business. Such as what we're going to do about Bakuda."

"Bakuda? What are you - oooooh, fuck." Bob says before remembering the deal with Bakuda mid-sentence. The others react in a similar manner and the atmosphere of the room become serious. "We definitely got to do something about her."

"Problem though isn't her so much as the people she's stuffed bombs into. We need a way to deal with that." Cyrus said, addressing the main problem. "I'm pretty sure that Bakuda had some kind of dead man switch on her or something so killing her off the bat would be a bad idea."

For many innocent people, Bakuda was a menace that needed to be stopped. Fortunately I'd had something in mind earlier when I was working on powers this morning. Bakuda had been a minor thought when I was working, before I got distracted by shiny new powers. Now though, I remember what might have been an inkling of a plan to neutralise the mad bomber.

"Tomorrow, I up the power of invisible steal to be able to steal the bombs right out of the victims' heads." I announced to everyone. My clones pause as they thought about the idea before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah! That's right. We were going to do something like that, weren't we?" Bob said, affirming our origins as the same person. "Wait, but aren't they like scattered all over the city? Would we have time to save everyone before they all go boom?"

"Hmmm," That was a good question and one that I quickly figure the answer too. "I hereby declare that tomorrow, the Phantom Brigade will be making its first appearance."

"...We make more clones and make them all Phantom Blues." Cyrus stated with approval. "Phantom thief troupe sounds like a good plan."

"Yeah! That sounds awesome!" Malakai happily cries out. "If we get enough clones, we can get rid of all the bombs! Especially if we make some bomb finding power to go with it as well!"

"Good idea, Malakai! I'll be making the powers tomorrow. Once we've removed all the bombs, dealing with Bakuda should be a piece of cake." That's one problem that going to be taken care off. Now for the Dinah situation. "Eve, how's Dinah?"

"Dinah's better now! I gave her a new set of nice clothes, some medicine to help calm her stomach and I'm making some food for her right now" Eve answered before bringing up a livestream of the entertainment room where Dinah was exploring a rather fancy playground that I'm pretty sure wasn't there before, while being watched over by Sean. "Dinah seems to have accepted that she won't be going home until Coil has been taken care of but has requested that she tell her parents about her situation. Is it fine?"

"Of course it's fine. Heck, once Dinah has finished talking with her parents, transfer them over to me so I can talk with them as well." It was a bit painful to tell her that she wouldn't be able to home to her parents, that she had to stay in the Garden until Coil was taken care of and thus no longer able to use her powers for his own villainous desires. She had taken it well surprisingly though it become more obvious that she was feeling stressed out over the whole thing after her adrenaline had died down.

I still hadn't decided on simply removing her powers altogether or changing them. Something to think about while I prepare to deal with Coil.

"Okay, then. The plan for taking care of Coil is simple. We find Coil's base, we break in, we kick all the asses, we depower him, and then we decide whether to leave him to the PRT or just kill him."

"Cool." Bob and Cyrus say.

"Sounds like a plan." Malakai says as well.

"So when are we going ahead with this?" Sakura asks.

"Probably in a couple of days, after the Bakuda situation has died down." I reply.

"Sweet."

"If that's all, anything else we're forgetting?"

"I don't think so…."

"Good. Then I declare the meeting - " Suddenly alarms begin to blare out and Eve makes a horrified expression.

"EMERGENCY EVERYONE!" Eve screams out. "The candy I was making for Dinah became alive and is now rampaging through the Garden! The drones are doing nothing against it!"

A camera feed appears showing a veritable hulk made out of candy, chocolate, and all manner of sugary treats, running through a hallway, piles of broke drones behind it. A steel wall slams down in front of it but it merely screams and punches the wall, breaking through it in three punches before tearing it apart.

"GOD DAMN IT EVE!"

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

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A Friendly Face

Feb 17, 2015

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AN: Sorry for the delay, been playing Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and gotten back into Dwarf Fortress.

6.4

I had a healing factor that could rival that of Wolverine's or at least approach something close to the iconic marvel character. I could summon barriers that could take on tank shots, create energy blades that made steel look like butter, fire energy from my hands in the form of powerful concussive blasts or insane beams of destructive force, and every blow I dealt made shit explode. I could even go invisible and become intangible to avoid damage. I even had spider-senses.

All this power and the best I could do against the living confectionary creation was keep it from further wrecking the Garden.

The battle with the Candy Hulk was possibly the most frustrating fight I ever had in my entire life. Eve must have been working on an everlasting gobstopper because no matter what I throw at the sugar-based monster, it just wouldn't stay down. Not only was it both stupidly strong and durable, it could regenerate from injuries even faster than I could. That wasn't the extent of its powers though. It also had the ability to weaponised the candy that it endlessly generated to deadly effect.

Ever been pinned to the wall via a rock candy spike through the brain?

Or had chunks of your body torn off by hands made out of rocky road?

How about being squeezed to death by licorice whips?

Or suffocation via really hot melted fudge?

What about being sealed up in a multi-layered toffee coating like a toffee apple?

And I don't even want to talk about the skittles!

I was probably going to have nightmares about the things the candy monster did. Me and the clones ended up having to keep it busy until Eve managed to concoct some kind of candy formula that would put the beast into a state of hibernation during which Eve declared that she would make it friendly and nice. I didn't doubt that Eve could do such a thing but in case Eve messed up again and the monster awakens from its nap angry like the hulk, me and the clones were set to dump it into magma.

At least the candy that dropped off its hide was pretty tasty. Dinah certainly thought so. Sean was still with Dinah and thanks to soundproofing, Dinah was unaware that a candy monster had been beating the shit out of me and the other clones or that the candy she was eating had come from said monster. Sean was remarkably good with children though I suspect it had more to do with the Bright Rider persona than any real social skill from the clone.

Even so, Bob was the first one to ask what was on everyone's mind. "So...Assuming that we don't end up throwing it into the lava, what are we going to do with this fellow?"

We were all now gathered around in the control room of the containment slash prison area of the Garden, another new area that was now accessible since watching the Professor's video. Made to hold all kinds of hypothetical prisoners, a candy monster wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Not sure yet. I guess we could keep him around to keep Eve and Dinah company when we're all out in the field." Cyrus suggested.

"No way, if it wasn't for the fact that we're all clones and we have a stupid powerful healing factor, we would all be dead right now." Sakura countered, "I'm not leaving Eve and Dinah alone with a killer candy monster, not even if it's becomes a friendly candy monster."

"I believe that I speak for everyone that from now on, we should leave a clone in the base at all time." Malakai said, attempting to sound sagely. It didn't work too well. "Although I don't quite agree with Sakura but I suppose we have to see how everything goes once the beast wakes up."

We all nodded. It was now just a matter of waiting. While we waited for the candy hulk to wake up once Eve's formula, I decide to take Sean's place to see how Dinah's been doing.

I'd learnt earlier when I first created my power that I didn't so much as switched places with a clone but rather, I merged with the clone in question, leaving behind my original self as a clone that had memories up to the point I switched as well as the knowledge that he was no longer the original. I essentially became Sean.

It was the merging of memories that always got me off guard. It was strange, one moment I was pretty much alone in my own head with my memories - the next moment, I was somewhere else with an entirely new set of memories along with a new way of thinking or at least variant of my own original personality. The merger didn't do any bad - just felt really weird like fuck. At times I had trouble recognising which parts of my memories belonged to who but I was getting better or rather I was starting to care less.

I was me. Sean was me as well. We were both me. Even if Sean was a bit different from me, he was still me, just one that had an aspect of myself more prominent due to taking on a different persona. The mind was the plaything of the body and if I was looking like a suave middle-aged man, I would certainly start feeling like one.

At any rate, I now had Sean's memories of his time with Dinah and Sean now had my memories of what had happened with the candy monster.

"Hmm, fascinating." I said to myself, feeling the smooth baritone of my voice.

"Did you say something, Mister Bright?" Dinah asked, looking up from her show. We were in the Recreation Room and we currently had the TV on. Thanks to Eve, we had free cable and then some. From Sean's memories, Dinah had been mopey when she had come down from her adrenaline high but Sean had managed to perk her back right up by showing off our powers as well as keeping her distracted from the whole attempted kidnapping by a really bad man by asking her about herself.

"Ah, it wasn't anything important." I answered. I was still wearing the Bright Rider armour but Dinah didn't seem to mind. Maybe it was inspiration being put into play or perhaps it was just Bright Rider looking heroic. "How are you liking the sweets? Our cook made it just for you."

"They're really great! The best I've ever had!" Dinah happily replied. In front of her on the coffee table was a bowl full of candy that Eve had picked up after we'd put down the candy monster. They were remarkably still edible and considering that Eve practically kept the entire Garden clean and sterile, you could pretty much eat off the floor. "Um, I have a question Mister Bright."

"Well then feel free to ask then."

"You said that if I wanted to, you could take away my powers."

"Yes, I've mentioned that before. I also said that you could have time to think about it as well."

"I know….but I honestly don't know if I should give up my powers." Dinah said, looking pensive and lost. "Since I met you, my powers stopped working so my head doesn't hurt anymore. But I remember some of the things I saw when it was still working."

That got a raised eyebrow. "Oh? I assume that what you saw wasn't very good." I had a good idea of what Dinah was getting at.

"I…..The numbers. The numbers said that something terrible was going to happen in several years. That people were going to die, lots of them." Yep, Dinah was already predicting the end of the world before she was kidnapped by Coil. Damn. "I think that if I kept my powers, I could find a way to change the numbers."

"But…."

"I don't know….The numbers before said that I was probably going to end being taken by that man but then you came and the numbers become all weird and then you saved me. The numbers didn't say anything about you before they stopped."

"And let me guess, you don't fully believe the numbers as much as before now, do you." I stated, eliciting a nod from the young pre-cog. What a pain. A young girl like this should be concerned with homework, or trying to hide whatever mischief they got themselves into from their parents - not worry about the end of the world or other moral conundrums.

"Could you tell me what I should do, Bright Rider?" Dinah asked, looking up at me like a lost puppy.

Curses! Puppy eyes, my one weakness. Mental jokes aside, I took a moment to think about what Dinah was asking me.

There was no doubt that Dinah in canon was one of the most powerful pre-cogs in existence. However, she had been targeted, kidnapped, drugged and kept captive by Coil because of that power. It was disgusting how Coil always referred to her as pet, reducing her from a human being to a tool forced to work to his own benefits. It was one of the main reasons why I had saved Dinah in the first place.

I always felt that the way Coil died in canon was rather lacking in catharsis. It was mostly Tattletale pulling one over his head and how quick and clean his death was, plus how he managed one final fuck you to everyone by making Noelle cross the despair line.

Yeah, definitely gonna make him suffer. No taking his power though, that way lied to falling down the path of good. Indulging in evil even if there were no consequences simply because you could collapse that timeline it happened still meant you did something evil.

But honestly, even if I dealt with Coil, with Dinah's powers, there was going to be a chance that another villain might try and take her. Even if the Protectorate took her into their protection, there's no way in hell they'll let her be left alone with the nature of her powers.

There was also the fact that her powers didn't seem to work in my presence and that they didn't account for my actions - most definitely thanks to the Blank perk I took.

I promised that Dinah would live a normal and happy life with her friends and family, and I was damn well going to keep it, one way or another and to me, that meant removing her powers. As far as I know, only Coil really knew about Dinah's powers - and probably Cauldron but fuck them. I can deal.

Once I made this decision, I turned to face Dinah. "I think you should be allowed to live a life, free from this burden of yours. To live a life without being targeted simply because you know the chances of anything that could happen in the future. That is why, I say, you should give up your powers."

"But - "

"I hadn't finished. I know exactly what you mean by the whole really bad thing that's going to happen in the future and I'm sure the numbers that you got before were pretty bad in terms of how humanity will survive it.

However, let me assure you that ever since I arrived to this world, any and all numbers should be considered void and bad thing that's going to happen? I and my comrades are already working on preventing from ever happening. The numbers? They do not factor in what me and my friends are doing.

In fact, the moment I set foot in this world, the true numbers would have told you that the world will be heading straight for a brighter future. I guarantee that, Dinah, for I am Bright Rider, the Rider who paves the way to a brighter tomorrow."

Dinah was silent for a moment as she took in my words before she smiled and nodded. "Thank you Mister Bright but I need some time to think about it." She said with a hint of hesitance in her voice.

"It's fine. No need to rush. Just take your time." I smiled behind my helmet. At any rate, we were going to make sure that Dinah would never have to worry about being kidnapped again, except maybe as a hostage to make the Mayor do stuff. Damn, gonna have to work out something for that as well.

We returned to watching Dinah's show - some cartoon that showed an idealised version of the Wards and their fight against villainy in that Saturday morning cartoon way when I felt one of the clones trying to connect through our mental link. I opened up my mental channels and found Yoshikawa waiting for me.

'Hey Sean, just telling you that the Candy Monster's up and he's friendly but stupid and still destructive. We've put a vote on what to do with it and Malakai, Cyrus, Sakura, and I have already voted on a course of action.'

Sonova - they voted without me? No wait, I was Sean right now and Yoshikawa has been calling the shots since we started cloning ourselves. The others probably decided to deferred to him regardless of whether he's the prime or not. Eh, no skin off my nose.

'So what did you voted on?' I asked through the link.

'We felt he had potential to be a great hero but not for what we're going to be doing. So we've decided to drop him off at the Protectorate and have him join as a Case-53 cape.'

...

What.

Last edited: Feb 17, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Feb 20, 2015

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#1,615

AN: Sorry for the delay. Monster Hunter, Dwarf Fortress, and Chinese New Years been keeping me busy.

6.5

My mind often goes to weird places or has a hard time throwing away silly ideas. For example, I had idly thought of sending the monster to the PRT and let them handle it. After all, since it had powers and was inhuman enough, they'll treat the candy-based organism as a case 53. Then I put it aside as I had more pressing matters to attend such as seeing how Dinah was doing.

It seems that while I was being Sean, the me that I left behind had decided to continue my train of thought concerning the idea of having Mister Candy Hulk join the Protectorate. However, with my own thoughts merging with that of Sean's, I found the idea much less feasible without knowing what kind of personality the Candy Monster would have once Eve made it friendly.

Yoshikawa, on the other hand, just charged on ahead, without really thinking about the consequences, based on the idea that it would be hilarious to see how the PRT and the local heroes deal with what was essential the Hulk made out of candy, not to mention the creature's other powers. The others clones, with the exception of Malakai, were pretty on board with the idea.

Admittingly I thought it would be funny as well but it seems that Sean had a bit more responsibility than the others clones, thus when I merged with him, I might have gained a better sense of responsibility. That or I always had it and Sean reminded me of it. In any case, this, coupled with Sean's variation of my own personality, led me to leaving Dinah alone for a bit while I head over to the Containment area to give the other clones a piece of my mind.

What I find there however was not what I was expecting.

"I'M GONNA NAME YOU GEORGE AND I'M GONNA FEED YOU AND PET AND WE'RE GONNA BE BESTS OF FRIENDS!"

"LET GO DAMN IT!"

"BWAHAHAHAHA"

"AND STOP LAUGHING AND FUCKING HELP ME YOU"

Actually, I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I charged into the Containment Area - maybe the others discussing what to do while watching the Candy Beast subdued in its cage. What I definitely wasn't expecting was the monster, free of any restraints, hugging Yoshikawa tightly to its chest while espousing the desire to name him George and look after him like a pet.

There was a large hole in the cell that had been holding the candy hulk. Seems like we underestimated just how strong it was. Fortunately, its current behaviour suggests that it is no longer a rage-filled murder machine of sugary goodness.

The other clones were laughing their asses off at the sight and were generally being useless while Eve was futilely trying to help but the drone were much use against the super-tough candy body of her creation.

Well I confess that I wanted to join in the laughter at Yoshikawa's plight but I was the mature middle-aged adult right now and it was my job as the prime to regain control of the situation. But first and most importantly, I need to understand the situation first.

"So, just what is going on here while I was away?" I ask, grabbing everyone's attention, including that of the candy hulk.

Eve happily supplies me the answer, "Hello Sean! The formula worked so now Mister Sweets is really friendly! Say hello, Mister Sweets!" Eve gestures for the candy creature to greet me and the creature grins a big candy-corn teeth-filled grin.

"Hello! I'm Mister Sweets! And this is George!" Sweets raises Yoshikawa's arm and waves it about. "George says his as well."

"This is demeaning and embarrassing for all of us." Yoshikawa mutters darkly, completely unamused. "Get me out of here!"

"You can teleport." I simply tell my clone. His face blanks out for a moment as he recalls one of the earlier powers we made for ourselves. Then without a word, he disappears. Mister Sweets seems perplexed by "George"'s sudden disappearance but I can sense my clone, under the guise of invisibility. That was pretty quick.

"George? Where's George? Geoooorge!" Mister Sweets begins crying tears of chocolate syrup from the two pits that acts as its eyes. I roll my eyes and slowly walk towards Mister Sweets.

"Don't worry, Mister Sweets. George is safe and - " Suddenly I take a fistful of candy to the face as Mister Sweets lets out a roar of anguish and rage. I'm sent flying backwards before tumbling to a stop near the other clones. It hurts but I could already feel my face snapping back into place.

"YOU TOOK GEORGE! GIVE BACK GEORGE!"

Ah, shit. It's angry. Right then, I am not dealing with an angry candy monster. Without a word, I return to being Yoshikawa.

The experience of merging with Yoshikawa is much less jarring than my merging with Sean and I also get a bit more understanding of the situation at hand. From Yoshikawa's memories, it seems that the Candy Monster woke up when Eve expected but it didn't do anything except sit there with a dull expression. Yoshikawa, being who he is, decided to check out what was going on with the candy hulk and entered the cell where it was being kept. Yoshikawa's appearance didn't elicit anything more than a tilt of the head so Yoshikawa did what any curious dude who lack self-preservation instinct or had a healing factor would do - he poked it.

Suddenly the candy monster stood up and introduced itself as Mister Sweets for some unknown reason. Yoshikawa had been so surprised that he didn't know what to say and only ended up making unintelligible sounds. It was kinda intimidating, looking up at the a candy monster that had beaten the crap out of me and the clones.

Mister Sweets apparently liked the sounds that Yoshikawa made and decided to make Yoshikawa his friend. Seeing this, Yoshikawa ran out of the cell but Mister Sweets followed, breaking through the wall like it was styrofoam.

One thing led to another, resulting in the scene I saw earlier and Yoshikawa was right, it was embarrassing and demeaning, being treated like some pet rabbit.

And it looked like I was going to have to do that all over again.

Unless….

Next to me, another Yoshikawa pops up besides me, fully visible. He looks down at himself and then where I am before swearing.

"Fuck you." He manages to get out before Mister Sweets, hearing the pop and seeing the new clone, immediately scoops him up.

"GEORGE!"

Phew, that's one problem solved for the time being. Now to figure out what to do with this fellow.

While my newest clone was keeping Mister Sweets busy, I'd move everyone else to an empty meeting room that the Garden have. I swear, half of the places in this place just seem to pop up out of nowhere. Once seated, I inform the others of my decision.

"As you have all plainly observed, Mister Sweets lack the intelligence or the maturity to properly integrate with the Protectorate or even the Wards. His childish manner and immense strength would put those in his presence at the risk of injury. Therefore I refuse to have Mister Sweets dumped out on the PRT's doorsteps until he has gained the required intellect and wisdom to properly act as a hero should as well as not immediately compromise our operation here. That or erase his memories so he doesn't know about the Garden. Also, no voting. We're all the same people, just a bit different due to different bodies and playing whatever roles we're in."

"Okay, fine. The voting part was stupid anyways. But how do you suppose we do that, the making Sweets over in containment smart bit, not the part about us?" Bob asks.

"Eve?"

"Hmm, Ooooo-Kay! I think I can whip something up to make Mister Sweets smarter! Yeah! I can totally do it! Or I !Icandothataswell!I'mgoingtoneedawholelotof…." Eve starts to babble, her speech becoming faster and faster until I can't tell what she's saying.

I nod in approval. "Excellent Eve! Make both."

"Okie dokie!" Eve says, pausing in the middle of her highspeed theorising before resuming.

"Okay, so that's part settled. So now what are we going to be doing?" Cyrus asks this time.

Hmm, all this business with the Candy Monster as well as talking with Dinah has me thinking about stuff.

"Alright then, remember when I said we were done for the day?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh-huh."

"Yes."

"Your point?"

I smirk at the others response and drew upon my cloning power. With a pop, three more clones appear. We frown as the clones and I look around, waiting for more clones to appear. I try tapping into my power again but I receive no response.

"""Fuck""" Looks like my cloning power has a limit. That's annoying but I should have expected that.

"""Right. New Plan. Wait till tomorrow and then up the power of my cloning ability. Then we attack the ABB and Coil at the same time. Does that sound like a plan, people?"""

At this point, the Yoshikawa clone I'd left with Mister Sweets runs into the room, looking dishevelled. "Fuck you guys, all of you. Also Sweets is angry again."

"...Eve, get to work."

This was going to be a long day.

Last edited: Feb 20, 2015

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Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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A Friendly Face

Feb 23, 2015

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#1,623

AN: Okay, this was a bit of a bitch to write. Had a couple of ideas, scrapped them. Tried to do an interlude, scrapped that. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate kept me busy. Chinese New Years kept me busy. Dwarf Fortress kept me busy. University classes starting up again kept me busy. And the heat combined with the humidity was screwing with my motivation before I finally typed this out.

Heads up though, starting tomorrow, my update rate will go down quite a bit.

As usual, thank you for reading and please tell me what you think.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

6.6

The day was, to put it lightly, interesting.

Me and my clones had to do battle once more with Sweets in order to wear him down so that Eve could sedate him.

Next, I had my four new clones think up new identities for themselves.

Clone seven who had been acting as Sweets' pet for the brief amount of time they were together decided to just go with the name George and retained his original appearance with his hair swept back, barring a few changes such as changing his eye colour to yellow and made part of his hair red for some reason.

Clone eight, one of the three clones I made when I attempted to try and create a hundred clones, decided to be an albino called Cain with hair that wouldn't look out of place from an anime. I had to roll my eyes at the biblical reference but since he was me, I also couldn't help but smile although I couldn't help but be reminded of Kaworu Nagisa from Evangelion.

Clone nine followed Cain's example and called himself Abel, becoming a big-boned caucasian with a magnificent beard to rival that of Sean's own facial cuticles. He also gave himself the clothes of a lumberjack for some reason. In any case, Abel looked like he could break a person in two with his just his hands.

Clone number ten went a different route from the other three. That clone touched foreheads with Sakura and I felt all their thoughts and memories being shared in a single moment before they separated. The others had felt it as well and it immediately became obvious what that clone was going to do. At least half the clones plus me facepalmed when clone number ten turned female and declared herself to be Melody. In contrast to Sakura's tomboy, Melody projected the image of a refined and innocent young lady from high society.

My clones went to weird places, mainly the ones that I'm curious about but was afraid to even touch.

I blame invictus for this.

After Sweets was sedated and things had calmed down, we all went off to do our own things except for Sean who went back to Dinah with an untraceable phone that Eve made to allow the young girl to call her parents and inform them that she was alright and that she'll be back by tomorrow or the day after, once Coil was dealt with. Dinah still hadn't made a decision about her powers yet but we didn't bug her about it, it was an important life decision after all.

Thus, for the rest of the day, the clones and I busied ourselves. Several clones went upside to scope out the Docks and maybe catch a hold of where the ABB were holding up in an effort to make things easier for us when we made our assault. Other clones went binge eating, devouring dishes after dishes of Eve's cooking and generally feeling the satisfaction of having a full stomach filled with deliciousness. The rest decided to train in the Danger Room, Mister Sweets having shook everyone's out of their comfort zone for the time being.

It was some time after midnight that my power manipulation finally got its recharge, granting me the ten charges that would allow me to pull off what I was planning.

The three most important factor of the plan was the ability to removes Bakuda's bombs from her victims' head, having an adequate number of clones to scour the city for said victims, and finally a way to sense the bombs since just having numbers wasn't enough if I wanted to rescue all of Bakuda's ABB conscripts.

First thing I do with my charges is upgrade Invisible Steal. Using three charges, each focused on increasing an individual aspect of the power, Invisible Steal's range increases by a fair amount, it gains a form of clairvoyance to better sense the locations of would-be stolen objects, and most importantly, and possibly the most dangerous part, grant Invisible Steal the ability to steal body parts or objects within the body - in short, ignore the manton limits.

I sense some apprehension from the upgrades I gave to Invisible Steal from my clones but I also sense approval and some budding excitement.

Next up, I create the bomb sensing power. The plan won't work if I can't find the people who have bombs in their heads after all. As soon I finish making it and turn it on, the clones up on the surface already start finding bombs.

As they begin a test run of the new powers, I piggyback on one of them, Bob, to see how things go. He follow the mental pinging to a run-down house where a miserable trio of asian men were drinking heavily. All three of them lacked any signs of being gang members besides the colours they wear sloppily. Conscripts. Good, Bad, I mean since having a bomb in your head is bad but good for me because now I could test Invisible Steal. Since the bomb-radar was made with one charge, it only showed the general locations of the bombs, namely somewhere in the men.

From outside, Bob reaches out and his senses expands as he searches for the bombs. In a way, it's like having x-ray except you only see a small part of a person's insides. Bob finds the bombs implanted in the back of the skull. With a grabbing gesture, the tiny bomb appears in his hand. Bob smiles at the sight of the small tiny device. The fact that something this small was capable of killing a person was both kind of neat and terrifying.

Then the bomb goes off.

It wasn't one of Bakuda's more exotic bombs but it was loud and flashy enough to attract attention. Since the explosion occurred outside the body, it didn't kill Bob. Instead, Bob was lying on the ground with half his body burnt, part of his face gone and an arm and leg gone. It hurt but our healing factor was already taking care of it.

Not wanting to reveal ourselves just yet, Bob went ghost, just as the three ABB conscripts, well two since one of now free of the bomb, came to investigate what had happened.

Checking up on the other surface clones, similar things happen as they took the bombs out.

Half of Cyrus' body has been turned to some kind of crystal but he simply slices off the affected parts and regenerates.

George's bomb was an explosion of acid and having your skin, flesh and a good part of your body melted off really fucking hurts. Thankfully, the healing factor is able to keep up with the damage.

Right then, I need to fix that problem and I do so with the use of two charges, giving myself the ability to disable devices with a touch. With it, I should be able to disable and render inactive and innert any bombs that I come into contact with. Plus it could prove useful for taking out tinker-tech. I wasn't sure how strong it was since I only used two charges but I was about to find out.

Malakai finds a family of two adults and two kids holding another family at gunpoint, both families are crying while a duo of ABB members, veteran ones judging by their scars and uneasy laughter at the sight. Shit. Without a sound, Malakai steals the bomb from the head of a little boy.

For a moment, we fear that my new power wouldn't work on tinker-tech. Then after a few tense seconds, the tiny bomb in Malakai's hand doesn't explode. Out of curiosity and to my horror, Malakai crushes the thing in his hand.

Nothing happens.

Letting out a breath of relief, Malakai proceeds to remove the bombs from the family and the two men one by one before stealing the guns away from everyone. I leave Malakai as he then proceeds to intervene in the situation and beat the crap out of the two actual ABB members before reassuring the families that he had taken out the bombs.

With that, I reach the final part of my preparations.

I have no idea how many people Bakuda put bombs in but there were a lot of pings on the bomb radar. Not all the pings were Bakuda's bombs however as Bob finds a cache of grenades in a basement somewhere.

Therefore, in order to get every on of Bakuda's bombs, I needed more clones.

I used up three charges to enhance my clone power, leaving myself with one charge left for emergencies. Hopefully, I could now make enough clones to search for the bomb tinker's creations.

I head to the Dining Hall where Cain and Sakura are eating. They look up from their feast out of habit before returning to their lavish meal. They know what I'm doing after all.

With a thought, I fill the large Dining Hall with myself.

Pop.

I blink, feeling the new mental links that had appeared, and frown at the number of new clones seated at the tables.

Forty familiar faces turn to me all the same with the same expression as mine. This time there's no confusion over who's the Prime, a quirk of the upgrades I guess. However, this isn't good at all. My aim had been for at least a hundred clones.

Brockton Bay was a big city or at least it seemed big to me. While forty clones was a respectable number, it would take forever to search Brockton Bay for all the bombs with that number.

From what I've seen, I assumed that even if I threw in my last charge, it would only increase the number of clones to fifty.

However, I still had a way to overcome that limit.

I still had Bright Overdrive. With its power, I could temporarily amp up the power of my cloning ability and most likely increase the number of clones I could create. However, recalling my previous uses of the power, I decided to move to a much larger place to try it out.

A little later, after an elevator ride up to the surface and a sudden deep into the ocean, I stood at the beach of Brockton Bay. Here I should be able to clone myself without worrying about accidentally stuffing the Garden with too many clones. Once I made the clones, the plan would begin in earnest.

There was no-one at the beach save for myself and my first ten clones. The forty I had made I absorbed back into me since the elevator didn't had enough space for them.

Good. No one save myself to witness my power.

Tapping into Bright Overdrive, I begin to glow as I use it on my cloning power.

Right then, time to save the day.

Without a word, I activate my power.

And just like that, everyone's plans were fucked.

Last edited: Feb 23, 2015

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Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 6.x - Interlude: Various New

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Shibosho

Shibosho

A Friendly Face

Mar 2, 2015

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#1,661

AN: Finally updated. University is just as hectic as I remember. Though most of the delay was due to writer's block. Not sure how I feel about this but I figured I was done with it. Updates, as I've mentioned before, with slow down now that my Uni classes have started back up. I will however try and update at least once a week, one way or another. As usual read andtell me what you think.

6.x Interlude - Various

My name is...not important. For the time being, I've put it aside and taken up a new name - twice. First time on a whim and second time to differentiate myself from the other guys.

My real name is not important, at least not while I'm in this godforsaken universe. No, what's important is my current name, Cyrus Chance, master of time and space as well as a fully accredited muscle wizard.

Or at least I will be once the Prime, Yoshikawa Shikoto, gets around to making the powers for me. Until then, I was just Cyrus Chance, one of Yoshikawa's clones. All my memories, my personality, my form, and my powers - all of it just a perfect copy of the original or at least that was the case in the beginning.

I, or rather the Prime, figured we clones should have different names and appearances to avoid any misunderstandings as well as making yourself unique to one another. Thus, we used our powers to give ourselves brand spanking new faces and took a name. I'd modelled myself after Cyrus Chance, the main character of my first quest and a supporting one in the ones after that.

The others went in mostly weird directions. We had a Sean Connery expy, the token black guy, and Sakura, once a crossdressing trap but thanks to power upgrade, a fully female clone. Only one of the other clones had gone a similar route like myself, Malakai Barnes, kid assassin of the Black League.

Originally, it was just something to keep ourselves from mistaking each other for the other. However, as time went on, we took to losing ourselves in our chosen roles to make things a bit more interesting. Sean was the responsible one, Malakai was the childish one, Bob was a bro, Sakura...Sakura was Sakura, and I was becoming more like how I envisioned Cyrus to be when I was writing about him and his life.

Yoshikawa was fully aware of the changes but he took them in stride and allowed us to continue with our game of serious pretend. Since we were connected through our mental links, I knew full well that while he was a little concerned, he too was having too much fun seeing how we developed into our own person.

Except that we weren't really doing that since we were still him, just a little different. It hadn't been that long after all since we were made, about a week if I remember correctly.

Then he made several more clones to, just because since he made a new clone to deal with Eve's candy hulk. Ergh, that fucking bastard was one of the hardest fight I've ever had in this world. How does one beat the shit out of candy when it can crush your skull in its grip. Thank god our regeneration was as good as it was or else we would have been suffering casualties.

Four new clones was born in the last several hours. George who was going with some kind of goth theme with his red stripe of hair over black, Cain and Abel, blatant biblical references and expies of Kaworu Nagisa and one of those lumberjack giants in Doctor McNinja for some reason, and yet another female clone, only this one was the lady to Sakura's tomboy. It gave us male clones a headache to think about just what the fuck were those two clones thinking.

I fear the female body has done things to their mind that us males can never comprehend, not without making a power to do so. And did we even want to?!

Well, no matter. If I knew Yoshikawa as well as I did myself, we weren't going to become a proper hivemind anytime soon. Hivemind were cool as characters but I didn't the idea of becoming one myself. We prefered the concept of individual yet connected, alone but never alone, etcetera etcetera.

Well, that was what we had been hoping how things would develop. Up until Yoshikawa tried to make more clones with the help of Bright Overdrive. He ended up making about one hundred and ninety clones for the big plan to take down Bakuda and the ABB.

We'd been hoping for far more clones, like five hundred or so. It was a disappointing result but it would have to do.

We were about to send the new clones who had decided to make themselves look like the guys from Daft Punk, well at least their robot costume and helmets, gold edition. What can I say, I was a daft punk fan and I liked the robot persona the guys presented to the world. It had been a painful blow to find out that Daft Punk didn't exist in the Wormverse. Fuckign Slaughterhouse Nine.

We figured it would look cool if our the clones that was going out to save all the victims that Bakuda put bombs in had a uniform. We were about to send the Daft Punk army off to save the day when one of the clones tried something out of boredom.

He made more clones. No one was expecting the clone to make more clones when Yoshikawa had reached his own limits. This set off a cloning frenzy from all the other clones who proceeded to fill the beach area with Daft Punk clones.

Those two hundred clones, including myself and the original ten, could only make forty clones each. Soon there was an army of clones, waiting for orders, surrounding us original first generation clones. In total, there was eight thousand clones in existence. More than what we had been hoping for originally.

Yeah, we might have overdone it a bit here.

When we weren't able to create any more clones, Yoshikawa took to the air and began giving orders.

"OKAY! EVERYONE! WE HAVE THE NUMBERS NOW SO LET'S GET TO WORK! YOU KNOW THE PLAN! HEAD OUT INTO THE CITY! FIND THE BOMBS, NEUTRALISE THEM! ALSO TAKE OUT THE BAD GUYS FOR GREAT JUSTICE!" Yoshikawa had ordered at the top of his voice. The order went through the original two hundred clones and filtered out into the eight thousand clone clones.

It was right about here that we discovered what was wrong with the clones.

"FIND BOMB!"

"GREAT JUSTICE!"

"DISARM BOMB!"

"FOR JUSTICE!"

Suddenly, the clones began chanting those two words over and over again as they proceeded to march into the city. Our plan had been to move throughout the city under the guise of our invisibility fields and becoming tangible to avoid confrontations while we get all the bombs.

The new clones weren't going ghost.

I felt the Prime try and get the army to go ghost and it worked.

"GO INVISIBLE!"

"BECOME GHOSTS!"

With a united shout, the clone army vanished without a trace. However, something else was wrong. The clones weren't moving. They were just standing there waiting while completely invisible to everyone's sight. The only reason we knew they were still there was our power-sense that showed all eight thousand copies of our own powers.

"Er….OKAY! TAKE OUT THE BOMBS AND THE BAD GUYS!" Yoshikawa tried ordering again.

"TAKE OUT BOMBS!"

"TAKE OUT BAD GUYS!"

Immediately, the clones reappeared and resumed marching as they took up their chanting again.

Now it was becoming clear what was going on.

"Shit." I felt the Prime's feelings of growing horror at the sight of the marching army. "They're idiots - drone, puppets, or something….

"We just sent out an army of Shocker Combatmen expies to find and take out all the bombs as well as any bad guys?" Sakura voiced everyone's fears.

"Double shit." Bob swore. "We are going to get into so much trouble for this."

"Hey, boss." One of the two hundred first gen clones cried out. "Shouldn't we be like getting the clones to stop or something?"

Yoshikawa made a face before suddenly looking thoughtful. Then he shrugged.

"Eh, I want to see what happens. I told them to beat up the bad guys and take out the bombs. What's the worse that can happen?"

We all froze when we all realised what the prime had said.

"...Oh you fucking sonovabitch." Sean muttered darkly, broking character for once.

Yoshikawa nodded and pointed to the two hundred other first generation clones that Yoshikawa had made himself. "You guys! Get after them and try and get them to do things right!"

"YATTA!" The two hundred chouted back before running after the clone army, leaving Yoshikawa and us original ten standing on a well trodden beach.

"...Okay. So what do we call the clone army?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Taylor was out patrolling the city as she had been doing for the past few nights. School was still a horrible place with the trio still being unrelenting in their harassment of her. But It didn't matter though, she had her nightly patrols of the city to help keep her mind off such things.

Nothing much was happening though and her mind wandered back to that meeting with the Undersiders on her very first night out. For villains, they had been nice enough to drop her off close to her place, though at the time, one of the girl villains, Tattletale was spooked over something, something about Bright Rider.

A smile came unbidden on her face when she remembered the heroic figure of that particular hero. The smile turned to a frown when her thoughts turned to the news report this evening. Bright Rider had been seen on a tinker-tech motorcycle, being chased by a bunch of armed men in black vans before the Merchants had shown up with their monster of a semi-trailer. According to the news, a number of people had died during the chase and many more were left badly injured.

Bright Rider was also reported to have had someone else riding on his bike, a young girl most likely around the age of ten to twelve. On PHO, there were already heated debates on who was responsible for all the damage and deaths. On one hand, it was pretty clear that the Merchants were the source of most of the damages. However, a number of people were going on about how Bright Rider was indirectly responsible since he was the one that started it all.

Personally, Taylor believed that Bright Rider was one of the good guys. It wasn't his fault that the Merchants had a death truck and didn't care if they hurt people. He'd done his job as a hero by protecting that girl as well as taking out the Merchant's truck. He might have been indirectly been responsible for the entire chase even happening but he was a hero.

One that she hoped to be like. Thus why she had been out doing good.

So far, she managed to take down several Merchants who she caught trying to set a house on fire, a pair of muggers, and Empire 88 goon who was beating up some black kid her age. It was relatively small stuff compared to Bright Rider taking out Lung but it was a start. Right now, her plan was to gain a bit of reputation as a solo hero and once she felt she was ready, she was going to go join the Wards.

However, she was not prepared for tonight. Heck, she didn't think anyone was prepared for what was happened to Brockton Bay. How does one prepare for an army of capes just popping out of nowhere, going all over the city and breaking stuff?

From a rooftop, she saw them coming - a small sea of gold and black men with robot themed outfits marching through the streets. There had to be at least a thousand people in the group and all of them were lighting up with some kind of power. Not tinker-tech, couldn't be. No-one could mass-produce tinker-tech unless they were Dragon, the greatest tinker in the world.

She noticed that dozens of them would break off from the main group and somehow phase through walls and doors of buildings. Sounds of fighting or stuff breaking would then be heard, and flashes of lights and small explosions would be seen through windows before the capes returned to the group.

Frankly, Taylor was scared. She was just one person after all and as while Brockton Bay was known for having a higher than average parahuman population, there was at least twenty-times the number of Brockton Bay capes down on the streets. It was the fact that the small army wasn't going around on a rampage that she didn't go run and hide.

That and there was something else she noticed about the group. The majority of the group moved like machines as well as chanting something along the lines of "Take Bombs" or something close to it. They also appeared to be led by a number of similarly costumed men except these ones had actual capes and more elaborate costumes. Those guys were either in control of these capes or perhaps they weren't capes but robots likes their appearance suggested. She heard them cry out orders and saw the robots react. Definitely humans in command.

Taylor didn't know what to do so she followed her instincts.

She summoned the swarm.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Velocity was patrolling the streets when he saw them. At first he couldn't believe his eyes and rubbed them to see if they were playing tricks on him. They weren't.

An army was marching down the street, clothed in black bodysuit with neon yellow tron lines on them, and gold helmets designed to look like robots on their heads. At the lead were a group of men in a military-style trenchcoat and hat in the same colours as the army they led.

Velocity stared at the approaching army for a few seconds before making a decision.

"Oh hell no. I'm not dealing with this!" Velocity bravely ran away as he whipped out his communicator. He didn't know how the Protectorate was going to deal with this many people but he had to inform everyone before anything bad happened.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

The Empire capes looked down from their places on top of the bus and truck that Rune was levitating. A small army was marching through Brockton Bay. Anyone watching could see dozens of them breaking off at sudden moments to phase their way into buildings where violence and shouts of surprise could be heard before these mysterious troopers returned to the main group.

"Kaiser. What do we do?" Hookwolf asked. There was a hint of anticipation in his tone, a burning desire to throw himself into the horde and attack. However the leader of the Empire 88 had other ideas.

"We fall back and watch. This is beyond anything we could possibly anticipate and acting without further information is foolhardy. Until we have more information, we will be suspending our plans for the time being." Kaiser answered. Within his costume, he was sweating. This was beyond anything he could imagine. If the phasing through walls wasn't any evidence enough, the sudden attack on the Empire scouts that consisted of hundreds of weak energy blasts raining down on his men told him enough. Every single men that was marching down there were capes.

Never before has he ever witness such a large number of capes in the same place. Numbly, he was reminded of the Yangban and wondered briefly if this was attack by them but he immediately discarded the idea.

Even the Yanban didn't have this many capes.

Kaiser raised his hand for attention. "Rune, start bring us back to - "

"BAD GUYS!" Suddenly a roar from the army below interrupted Kaiser. All the Empire capes stared in horror as every single men in the battalions below pointed their arms at them, their hand glowing with power.

"RUNE! GET US OUT OF HERE NOW!" Kaiser lost all composure as the storm of energy blasts began.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

The Undersiders saw the army from the rooftop of a building, some distance away from their base.

"Holy shit. How many tron dudes are there?" Alec muttered in awe at the oncoming army.

"Lisa. What are - " Brian began to ask only for Lisa to stop him with her hand.

"Everyone, we're heading back to base. No. We go hide. Now." Lisa ordered, her voice shaking with barely restrained terror. The pupils of her eyes were contracting and expanding rapidly as her mind tried to comprehend what she was looking at.

"Wha - "

"Brian. There's a fucking army here to disarm every bomb in the city as well as beat up the bad guys. Each and every single person down they have powers. A lot of them. Fortunately they're the products of someone's power and they have a limited lifespan. Most of them anyway. We're going to hide and stay low until they're gone. Is that clear?"

"Er…."

"I don't like them."

"Rachael, shut up and take us home."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

The phone rang, the special PRT only one.

Piggot rubbed the lethargy from her eyes and picked it up.

"Piggot here. What's the emergency?" She asked. It was the middle of the night and she was happy, especially with the Merchant's death truck fiasco that had occurred in the day. So much damage and death, and parahumans were to blame as usual. The main culprits had managed to escape capture and people were accusing the Protectorate and PRT for not being able to deal with something like this.

And once again, Bright Rider had been involved, apparently trying to keep a little girl from being kidnapped if the phone call later in the day was to be believed.

All in all, a really bad day. It was about to get worse.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S A FUCKING ARMY OF CAPES ATTACKING THE CITY!?"

Last edited: Mar 2, 2015

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 7.1 - Cloning Around New

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Shibosho

Shibosho

A Friendly Face

Mar 7, 2015

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#1,698

7.1 Cloning Around

This was a bad idea.

It hadn't been even an hour and already my clones were causing chaos all over Brockton Bay. Even with the two hundred commander clones supervising, the idiot clones didn't have a lick of subtlety in them. If they came face to face with a wall that was in the way and a commander wasn't there to tell them to phase through it, they simply blasted it down and that was on the less extreme side of things.

Worse, I was receiving mental feedback from all the clones. The fact that the idiot army barely had any emotions or thoughts beyond their orders was the only reason that my mind hadn't broken down from everything I was getting. I was still able to get a picture of what was happening with the clones however.

"BAD GUYS!"

"AAAAAAH!"

A luckless car thief ran as a dozen men with robot styled helmets chased after him, all of them screaming bad guy at the top of their voice.

Elsewhere, a would-be killer finds himself the centre of a beating via the fists and boots of half a dozen capes while several other of these identical capes slapped the injuries of the killer's victim, causing their wounds to heal.

The clones took "beating down the bad guys" order seriously. Already, they've tangled with the Empire, the Merchants, the Asian Bad Boyz, and a dozen or so small-time crooks and criminals.

"Everyone! Fall back!" The leader of the Brockton Bay Protectorate ordered and the other heroes followed. This was an utter nightmare. They had been trained for many situations ranging from S-Rank threats, Endbringers, and the Slaughterhouse Nine. However, they were not ready for an army of capes, numbering in the thousands suddenly appearing and attacking the city. The only blessing that this disaster had was that as far as he was aware, these men had yet to kill anyone despite the chaos they were causing. The best they could do was wait for reinforcements and rescue anyone caught in the army's systematic search through the city.

The local heroes were also trying their best to keep some semblance of order during this entire fiasco but it was ultimately a futile effort. There was only like a dozen of them and thousands of me. Eve did inform me that the Protectorate had called for back up and I fully expect the likes of the Triumvirate to show up.

"SHITSHITSHIT! WHAT THE HELL!" Shadow Stalker had been out patrolling, looking for prey when the streets were suddenly filled with hundreds of these robot guys. Then they saw her.

"BAD GUY!" With an almighty cry, several hundred men started chasing and shooting energy blasts at her. Shadow Stalker thought herself a predator, some who was strong, never weak. Right now though, she had never felt more like prey in her life.

Though it was hilarious when about a hundred clones spotted Shadow Stalker and proceeded to identify her as a bad guy with a roar before chasing after the Ward. So far she'd managed to avoid being caught by the army but she was tiring. I wonder what she's thinking while being hunted by a horde of capes that hold nothing but dislike towards her.

They might be brainless versions of me but they still had some of me in them.

Somewhere in the Docks, a group of asians, armed with weapons fired at the group of capes that had appeared. However, the horde was not perturbed by their wounds or by the attack. With a word, the group of robot themes capes reach out hteir hands and grabbed. For most of the members of the Asian Bad Boyz that were part of this group, they felt something disappear from their head, the slight pressure that reminded them of their forced recruitment gone.

Also, the clones were performing their original purpose impeccably - taking out and disarming Bakuda's bombs from her victims, and whatever places in the Bay she left her weapons of death and destruction. Bakuda however have eluded being spotted by the army however, even as her minions were being taken care of.

Danny was both terrified and worried sick for his daughter. Lately, for the past week, Taylor had been going out at night when she thought he was fast asleep, returning several hours later. He didn't know what Taylor was doing but as her father, his imagination brought up the worst case scenarios. Drugs? Gangmember? A boyfriend? A dozen possible reasons and most of them were bad.

Tonight however, Danny had been waiting patiently for Taylor to return when he saw lights from outside. Then came a broadcast from various speakers throughout the city. The city was under attack by an army of capes. The PRT and the police was telling everyone not to leave their home as this army wasn't interesting in killing or hurting anyone beyond criminals.

Danny had tried to call Taylor on her new phone but it was either broken or off. Danny could only wait and hope that his precious little girl was alright.

On the civilian side of things, the citizens of the Bay were either panicking, observing, trying their best to ignore the chaos, or trying to exploit the situation somehow. Thankfully my clones left the regular people alone save for obvious criminals. Still, I bet there was going one hell of a story to tell when morning came.

However, while the Protectorate heroes weren't being effective at taking trying to stop my army from causing more trouble, there was an area in the Docks where my clones were being owned badly. The original webnovel did not quite translate how fucking horrible and terrifying being attacked by a gigantic swarm of bugs felt like, and for whatever reason, Taylor was attacking my clones and was doing a far better job at it then every other hero in the bay.

"BEEEEES! BEEEES!"

"AHHH! SPIDERS ATTACKING!"

"BAD GUY! BUGS BAD GUYS! BUGS! RUN! RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!"

"NOPE! NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE! NOOOOPE!"

Taylor was ecstatic. Her powers were proving to be more than a match for whatever powers these robot wannabes had. Initially, she had set her bugs to just bite the army but when she realised that the bites weren't doing anything much, she escalated. Poisonous spiders, wasps, bees, even a few scorpions - every single dangerous insect she could get her powers on went on the attack and this time she had them aim for the vulnerable spots. Men had collapsed and twitched on the ground for a few minutes before healing and getting back up. Guys were screaming in terror when insects got into their helmet and started crawling towards their eyes.

She was doing a good job, Taylor had felt. However, she was still only one girl and she had a limited range, regardless of how big it was. She could only protect a small part of Brockton Bay while the rest of the city was facing whatever threat these guys were meant to be.

"SET SELF ON FIRE! NOT ATTACKED BY BUGS!"

"What."

I was not looking forward to absorbing the memories of the clones that were targeted by Taylor. Now I know how fucking overpowered the girl was. The only way my clones could deal with Taylor's bug swarm was to set themselves on fire. It worked thanks to my power keeping the clones from burning. Unfortunately, they were also setting other stuff on fire like other people's houses or trees.

Yeap, this was one hell of a bad idea, or an interesting idea gone horribly wrong or right.

Still, I could feel something was up with the eight thousand idiot clones. They were slowly running out of power. That was the only way I could describe it. Unlike my regular clones, these clones had a time limit to their existence. What I was worried about was whether they disappeared when their power ran out or would they just drop dead.

I sincerely hoped for the former. I was not too hot on the idea of eight thousand dead copies of me being found all over the place.

How long would it take to clean up all those bodies?

While musing, a commander clone pings me through the mental network.

They've found Bakuda.

In an instant, I swap places with that clone.

And my face falls at what I see.

S.H.I.B.O.S.H.O.

Synthetic Humanoid Intended for Battle, Online Sabotage and Hazardous Observation

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Threadmarks 7.2 New

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Shibosho

A Friendly Face

Mar 12, 2015

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#1,755

AN: The following story update was done completely on my smartphone during several particularly boring lectures. Due to this, the following may contain poorer-than-usual writing, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and traces of egg and nuts.

7.2

Bakuda was in her costume, gasmask and all. She had a grenade launcher in her hands and a number of terrified ABB conscripts surrounding her. My clones and their clones had the mad bomber surrounded. However, with the knowledge that the human shields around the villain all had bombs in their heads, I couldn't act recklessly. One wrong move and heads go boom.

I could see a slight shake in Bakuda's arms. She was scared. Of course she would be. All her plans had gone horribly wrong when I sicced my clone army upon Brockton Bay. Any bombs she had set to blow up on a dead man switch were gone thanks to my clones. Most ABB conscripts were free from unpredictable death by exotic tinker-tech bombs.

Right now, the only problem that Bakuda represented were the danger towards her unwilling minions.

"Fuck all of you!" Bakuda screamed, trying to seem menacing. I wasn't impressed. "You think you have me!? You think you've outwitted me and got me cornered?!"

I held back a yes. The clones also chose to be silent. I had the nearby clones on standby since I didn't want any of them to set off Bakuda.

"I dare you to fucking try something!" Bakuda shouted, trying to provoke me and the clones. "You want to save these people don't you? Just try it! I don't know how you fuckers got rid of my bombs from the others but this time you won't be able to do shit! I've wired the bombs directly into my men's nervous systems." What. "If you take them out, they're dead whether to disarm the bomb or not!"

Goddamn, she acted fast.

This was bad. Or it would be if I didn't already have first gen clones moving in invisibly. At the moment, I couldn't do anything to take the bombs out of the conscripts but if I remember correctly, Bakuda had remote detonators and scanners in her equipment she was wearing. If that was the case, all I needed to do was break them.

My clones under the power of invisibility jump Bakuda while she was ranting how she was superior to everyone. The instant they began dogpile her, they also disabled every device on her person. While this was happening, the rest of my clones jumped on the ABB conscripts, disarming the nerve connected bombs as well. I made sure to slap-heal them as I did so just in case disarming the bombs screwed something up.

And just leave like that, Bakuda was finished. She screamed bloody murder as she was dragged up to her feet by a pair of clones. Her eyes were still defiant for someone who had lost completely. I was half expecting Oni Lee to show up and try and rescue the bomber but I hadn't seen a hair from the teleport the whole night. With this, it was now only a matter of finding the rest of Bakuda's victims, disarm the bombs, and pull the clones back from their orders.

"I'm not finished!" Bakuda screeched, sounding desperate. "You'll all pay for this! All of you and Brockton Bay!" I rolled my eyes. Not if I had anything to say about that.

"Someone knock her out." I ordered. A clone moved to put the Tinker to sleep when Bakuda managed to pull an arm free from the grip of of of the clones holding her up. From her sleeve, a syringe popped out and her jabbed the thing into her neck before anyone could stop her. The clone that was walking up to her then punched across the face. However she wasn't knocked out and as my clone made to punch her again, she started laughing a cold broken laugh.

Was Bakuda doping herself?

But something like that would be useless against my clone army so what was she planning?

Then she started bloating up.

What.

Feeling my confusion, the clone that was meant to knock out Bakuda stopped in mid-swing and stepped back. The clones that were holding her captive let go and ran away from the rapidly growing cape who was still laughing. My mind, filled with pop culture of another world, scrambled to figure out what I was looking at.

Then it hits me.

"Oh you mother fucking bitch."

Bakuda had turned herself into a bomb. This was just like in Dragonball when Cell after losing his perfect form, tried to blow up the Earth by self-destructing. The fucking bitch is now trying to pull off the same thing. If I took what she said last as any indicator, when Bakuda exploded, Brockton Bay was going to be blasted off the map.

Fuck.

I wasn't expecting anything like this at all. Maybe a last ditch hidden bomb beneath the city but I already had clones scouring for such a possibility. How was I suppose to know that she made some kind of drug to turn herself into a bomb?!

Well, no time to complain about that. I now had a Bakuda-bomb to stop or at least get out of here away from innocent people.

I didn't know how much time I had left before Bakuda exploded so I needed to work fast. My first thought was to get more time by copying Clockblocker's power. If I can freeze Bakuda, that'll give me more time to prepare. Immediately, as soon as I finished those thoughts, clones in the city acted, my desires spreading out to the clone army.

The clones stop what they're doing, whether it be chasing Shadow Stalker, beating up half of the Empire 88, or running around on fire, trying to burn all of Taylor's bugs, and begin to head towards any place where Clockblocker could be, namely the PRT building and the Protectorate Base.

Hmm, freezing Bakuda will only give me time but not a method of getting rid of her. Shooting her with an extra large beam of power would probably only set her off early. I wasn't feeling to hot on the idea of trying to remove her physically via a superpower air lift into the sky over the ocean either. She looked as though a good jostle could set her off!

Teleporting? That could work, I could use my last charge to give myself the ability to bring people along when I teleport, Bakuda counted as people eve if she was turning into a doomsday bomb, right? Then I could do some rapid teleporting and get her the hell out of here.

But would teleporting not set off the bomb?

Fuuuuuuuck. This is such a bitch! I really needed more time than think of a proper viable plan.

The clones have found Clockblocker. Good. All I need to do now is knock him out and copy his power. That way - oh you sonovabitch, Clock! The ward in a panic at being suddenly targeted by a horde of idiot clones had used his powers on himself. As far as I could remember, his time stop effect lasted up to ten minutes. Fuck me. I don't think we have ten minutes here!

New plan then! Since Bakuda turned herself into a bomb biologically, we need someone to biologically undo Bakuda's work and the only person I could think of was Panacea. The clone army immediately redirected itself to find the healer. About ten to fifteen seconds later, they find her at the hospital, trying to take care of the influx of injured persons that had been caught up in tonight's chaos.

A commander clones enters the hospital, demanding to see Panacea. Unfortunately, her blonde flying figure radiating an aura of terror which has no effect on the clones, takes offence to their presence. Suddenly, what was meant to be a pick-up turns into a brawl as Glory Girl attacks the clones that were milling about outside the hospital. Okay, fuck. But I can use this. My own flying power were shit and I didn't have superstrength. If I had superstrength, I could carve out the ground under Bakuda and lift her up without touching the mad tinker. And if I had flying powers, I could fly Bakuda out of here and toss her into the ocean or something.

Glory Girl had both. Therefore, I decided that I needed her powers. She was pissed though, having fought my clones earlier and showing no small bit of frustration when they refused to stay down. Negotiation was not viable, not in the short time we had before BOOM!

Sorry GG, I'm gonna have to beat the shit out of you.

I switch place with the commander clone that got punched through a wall, and enter powerspace as Glory Girl flies at me with another first out to hit me in the face. In that frozen moment, I attack the New Wave member's shard. Time resumes and I'm greeted to the sight of GG's face in shock as her power suddenly fails on her. No longer able to fly, she fall straight into the clutches of my clones as they teleport into her path. A few moment later, the heroine in stuck in a pile of clones, dazed and unable to defend herself as I proceed to walk over to her and shoot her in the face with a energy blast strong enough to knock her out.

There, perfect. I dive back into powerspace and feel out her shard. Unlike when I tried with Lung when he was perfectly fine, there's only the slightest resistance before Glory Girl's shard comes under my control. With a single thought, I copy it, my last charge of the day transforming into a shardless version of the girl's power.

The newly copied power drops into place amongst my other powers and activates as I leave powerspace. Instantly I feel it, even as it spreads to all the other clones. A brand spanking new power for me to use however I wanted. The knowledge on how to use it comes almost instinctively. Yes, this will do just fine.

"Victoria!" Looking up, I see Panacea looking from the hole Glory Girl made when she punched me through the hospital wall to outside. Her expression is that of fear, horror and tiredness. Right, she has the hots for her sister who I just knocked out, making her slump bonelessly to the ground. I grab Glory Girl's prone body and gently carried her into the air and to her sister. Panacea was now staring at me in a mix of terror and confusion, even as I gave her sister over to her. I stare at the healer who life had rapidly went downhill in canon.

Note to self, fix Amy's problems.

Shaking my head, I switch back to the clones around Bakuda, even as I command my clones to start begin preparations.

Time to stop the bomb.