Side-Step KW.2
Chris taped up the last box and set it with the others.
"Fully packed," he mumbled.
He sat on the stripped bed and exhaled.
He left some of the posters up. He didn't want to fold them when Dennis worked so hard to get the actual hero's signatures. He didn't know why his friend liked the Sentai Elite so much, but he did. He even went so far as to ask Kaze to sign her old poster at some point. He even tracked down members who joined the Protectorate and changed their names.
Whenever the Wards went to another city for something, he seemed to find another survivor. Chris wouldn't think any of them wanted to remember what happened in Japan, but they signed the posters.
Dennis' pride and joy was a big group poster depicting the entire Sentai Elite from 2003 with signatures from every surviving member he could get. Not many, but Chris never thought he'd see a poster of such an old team with over a dozen signatures on it.
Chris always thought it weird.
He never asked why Dennis put so much effort into it.
"Sorry…"
He packed Carlos' stuff first. Not for any particular reason. His room was closer? Yeah. Closer. Someone might complain later, but let them. He'd pack their stuff up so their parents didn't have to worry about it.
That should be okay.
Someone in the Youth Guard might complain, but fuck them. All the time wasted sitting with Youth Guard reps could have gone to… something. Something useful.
The Ward's base felt empty. First Sophia, not that he liked her much. Now, Dennis and Carlos. They'd get new teammates he guessed, but that felt wrong in its own way.
You can't replace the dead.
Chris shook his head and rose.
The sound of Alec's game filled the common area.
He didn't see Missy. She yelled at Miss Militia about something, and then she started crying and vanished into her room. She'd yet to come out, and Chris didn't know what to say.
So he did nothing…
He walked past the couch, glancing at the screen.
His feet stopped.
"Isn't that Dennis' game?" Chris asked.
"Yeah," Alec said. "Kind of lame, but he doesn't need it anymore."
Chris' heart shot to his throat. His fists tightened.
Alec tended to be kind of a jerk.
Not mean like Sophia. Sophia seemed hellbent on being a total bitch and Chris really didn't want to use that word. His mother might slap him for even thinking it. But he saw how she treated Missy. How she treated Dennis. Carlos. All of them.
If he felt bad about what happened to her, he felt it solely because no one deserved to die that way.
He certainly didn't like her as a person.
Alec on the other hand? Alec acted like a jerk. He pushed buttons and laughed when people got upset.
But Chris always felt the uncertainty, the confusion.
Like Alec didn't really know what to do, so he just defaulted. Yet, he and Dennis always got along. Of all the people-
"This save file is a mess," Alec grumbled. "All bug types, and not even the good ones? At least Butterfree was in the anime. Who cares about Volbeat? Only Clock would think that's fun. Gonna be a real pain finishing the game with this set up."
Then why not… change it…
Chris' hand loosened.
Alec kept playing.
The only sounds in the room were the controller's.
Chris returned to his workshop and sat down.
His armor stood in an alcove.
Each ding felt like a whole separate failure.
He didn't go high enough. The wave caught the bottom of his board and flipped him. He tried to right himself, but the anti-grav didn't adjust in time.
In his mind the moment lasted forever.
Water all around him. He hit something in the rush. The wave raked him across the street. And then he woke in the hospital with Panacea looking down at him.
He didn't do anything.
He got swatted aside, like he didn't matter.
Topic: Endbringer Tales V.5
In: Boards ► General
TheFallen (Not That Fallen) (Original Poster)
Posted on November 12, 2010:
Well, the last thread got locked. Let's try not to devolve this into a fight over which Endbringer would win in a fight? That's so not why we're here and I'm kind of disgusted I need to say that.
Picking up where we left off;
-Dehli, India, Behemoth, December 10, 2010
-Kurdistan, Iraq, Simurgh, February 25, 2011
-Boston, United States, Leviathan, June 30, 2011
-Behemoth ~ Oct/Nov 2011
(Showing Page 567 of 569)
► BostonRegular
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Damnsel can't just fucking leave, can she?
► 3ndless (The Guy In The Know)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
There's nothing that says she can't.
► Dr. normhuman
Replied on June 31, 2011:
That's something of a misstatement. Simply walking away from an Endbringer fight in this manner is in poor taste. She might find herself the target of other capes for it.
► DanceDanceExecution
Replied on June 31, 2011:
What other capes? I see at least nine of Accord's guys on the casualty list. Butcher is fucking dead (and that usually takes a couple weeks to work itself out). Blasto is high. All the time. Who is going to punish her?
► Char
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Newtype?
► XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Newtype is a Brockton Bay cape tho
► winged_one
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Is she?
► Fenixd0wn
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Got another story for the thread; link.
Apparently after the fight, Newtype's robots found their way into the terminal cancer ward and cheered everyone up. My grandma is there, and they were all pretty worried cause no one told them what was going on. Not blaming staff. I get it. Endbringer shows up. Hundreds of injured and dying. Rough shit.
Anyway, Newtype's robots apparently found their way into the ward and put on Death of a Salesmen. EDIT: They repeated every line twice yes.
► Bagrat (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied on April 26, 2011:
They said every single line twice didn't they? EDIT: Ninja'd.
► Fenixd0wn
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Yup
► Stupendous
Replied on June 31, 2011:
So, question. Colossus is on the summary casualty list online, but I swear I just saw him at the donut shop.
► 3ndless (The Guy In The Know)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
He tends to do that.
► Colossus (Verified Cape)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
HA! I've survived over 1000 mock battles and never lost! It'll take more than some water to defeat me!
► Bagrat (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Probably just a clerical error.
EDIT: Ninja'd. Again. That's like the third cape posting here?
► Clockfan
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Gonna give a last shout out to the joke master.
Bullshit they let Wards anywhere near this crap.
► THEKnee (Verified Cape)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
I'd be dead without Clockblocker. Saw that thing coming right for us. It grabbed him first, and then it just stopped. Heard after the fight the kid used his power on Leviathan and froze it.
Don't knock the Wards. Leviathan don't give a shit how old you are.
► Exclamation! (Guy in the Know)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Damn. First Flash shows up, then Mouse Protector, Colossus and now Knee? Have we ever had this many capes respond to one of these threads?
► Prancer
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Isn't Knee a villain?
► Bagrat (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
He is.
► THEKnee (Verified Cape)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Leviathan don't give a shit what 'side' you on either.
► GossipGurl
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Anyone else hearing the rumors about Leet?
► TinMother (Moderator)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
I'd ask we not speculate about that topic. It's a volatile subject and not the purpose of this thread.
► 3ndless (The Guy In The Know)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
How is people talking about someone (maybe) violating the Endbringer truce not a subject of this thread?
► Bagrat (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Tin mom means it'll get the thread locked. Let's not touch that rail for now. It's just a rumor that picked up randomly.
Chris raised his brow.
He didn't remember seeing Leet anywhere.
He started searching the boards, finding a few sporadic threads. The original posters claimed to have overheard some PRT troopers talking about Leet.
They gave different versions of the same story.
Leet put on a new costume and changed his name, and then tried to sneak up on someone and kill them. Leet offered to help someone and then didn't, putting them in danger. The worst one seemed to imply Leet offered to take someone to the hospital, and then left them in the street with Leviathan barreling toward them.
Only one of the rumors mentioned who he supposedly tried to kill.
Newtype.
People dismissed the rumor mostly. Why would Leet do that? He's goofy, not dangerous. PRT is lying. Thinking about it, Chris didn't know if he believed the story but he didn't think it sounded that far fetched.
It made sense, more than the people on PHO thought.
Amazing how it worked.
Nearly everything ended up on PHO sooner or later, but months later and everyone just forgot it. Something new came along. Some new fight, new cape, new thing to talk and argue about. Did people forget?
Maybe he remembered only because he lived in Brockton?
Chris's fingers hesitated.
He wanted to do something.
► Kid Win (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
I didn't hear anything about this in Boston.
But, Newtype and StarGazer did get Uber and Leet arrested earlier this year. They left the city, and then Uber died because of that big data leak.
Not saying he did do it. Just, it's not like Leet doesn't have a motive. He might blame Newtype for Uber dying.
Chris turned away from the topic with that off his chest.
He'd probably get in trouble. PR didn't like Wards posting as they pleased. No rules against it, but they always insisted the right image needed to be put forward.
Topic: Newtype II
In: Boards ► Capes ► Brockton Bay ► General
3ndless (Guy in the Know) (Original Poster)
Posted on May 4, 2011:
Version III of the Newtype thread.
Newtype is a tinker based in Brockton Bay. She mostly seems to specialize in robotics, being enigmatic, and coming out of left field to slap down anyone she takes offense to (usually villains).
Her team (Celestial Being) includes StarGazer (EDIT: IDK anymore?), Forecast (Thinker?), and Laughter (Thinker/Striker?). She's also apparently now employing Chariot (Tinker), but he doesn't seem to be doing much hero work with her.
EDIT: This isn't the Celestial Being thread; that thread is here. And yes. We know what the logo looks like. Stop shit posting "WTF" comments about it.
(Showing Page 213 of 213)
► BostonRegular
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Seriously. What do you lot put in the water down there?
► TheRed1 (Verified HARO)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
List, list;
Hydrogen dioxide. Chloride, Sodium, Sulfate, Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Bicarbonate, Dromide, Borate, Strontium, Fluoride, and adventure.
► HereforLaffs
Replied on June 31, 2011:
I swear these robots are the reason I'm here. I don't even care about the rest anymore. This kind of shit is enough for me lol
► Flash (Verified Cape) (Wards CE)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Has she always been like this?
► Char
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Like what?
► Flash (Verified Cape) (Wards CE)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Like Chuck Norris decided all the jokes were his biography and he needed to live up to it.
► TheOneThing
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Yes?
► JJStason
Replied on June 31, 2011:
The only thing I've learned about Newtype in six months is the meaning of fear. I get that she's a hero, but she scares me.
► Bagrat (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied on April 26, 2011:
Why?
► JJStason
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Because it's like she's disappointed. At everything. And anyone who lives here has seen how Newtype treats disappointments.
► NTFan
Replied on June 31, 2011:
A whole lot of lasers followed by a surprise upset?
I get that. And that's just Newtype. Kind of feeling that way about StarGazer now.
► 3ndless (The Guy In The Know)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
She hacked my computer… And then she said sorry. Seriously look at this;
"I apologize for accessing your computer without permission. I required additional processing power to run a prediction engine on Leviathan and my own systems were insufficient.
I have restored your corrupted save files in Lung Quest X in recompense."
I totally quit Lung Quest after my save broke…
► Bagrat (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Guess I have to pay up. No way she's a tinker. I don't think Dragon or Hero could hack all those computers and fight Leviathan at the same time.
► Georgios
Replied on June 31, 2011:
I have a bad feeling about this.
► BrocktonBrock
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Technopath. Has to be. She literally controls machines. Maybe she doesn't even have a body, and that's why no one ever sees her. 53 maybe?
► CreepersJeepers
Replied on June 31, 2011:
That story about the Leviathan fight has to be nonsense. There's no way.
► NotaModerator
Replied on June 31, 2011:
Kind of going OT guys. StarGazer has her own thread.
► Flash (Verified Cape) (Wards CE)
Replied on June 31, 2011:
It's not.
Newtype. People talked about her across the boards.
Mostly about the 'fuck it' beam people said she fired. They didn't have a clue. He saw it, and it shocked him. He felt jealous even. The rest talked about StarGazer and whether or not she really did what the stories coming out of Boston said she did.
Chris didn't know. He'd been knocked out the entire time.
Part of him believed it though. After she revealed her team's name people freaked out. What hero puts angel stuff on their logo? Even Haven didn't do that and most people figured they'd get away with it if they tried.
Chris felt alarmed at first.
The entire Wards team sat in on a briefing that reviewed the video, when she pulled that tarp down and looked out. Piggot didn't seem happy, and of course neither did Armsmaster. Stratos and Miss Militia looked worried.
Dennis made a joke.
Do we have audio of her shouting come at me?
Piggot didn't find it funny. In retrospect, most of Dennis' jokes weren't funny. But he tried, and he never stopped trying.
Funny how you don't appreciate people until they're gone.
They went through the rest of the meeting reviewing protocols for interacting with independent hero teams. New Wave existed, but they didn't do much. The Wards rarely needed to wonder how to interact with Vicky or Amy Dallon, or Eric Pelham. They'd all been going to the same schools more or less even before getting powers.
Newtype, Celestial Being, were new and clearly not going away anytime soon.
Her suits. Her robots. Her weapons.
She'd only been a tinker for six months, and she'd done so much.
More than he did.
More than PR let him do.
Chris frowned, eyes shifting toward the stacked papers for his armor design.
He tried to get it approved. He tested the design like the handbook said he should. Simulations. Precise calculations he spent hours ensuring he got right. He tried to present it as being for a crisis, kind of like the alternator cannon. Not something for regular patrols. He proposed the action figures and the events that the PR team might like.
He tried everything.
Too bulky.
Not kid friendly.
Like being kid friendly helped Carlos or Dennis stay alive.
It's bullshit.
Carlos patted his back afterward.
Did your best, Chris.
Dennis laughed.
No robot dates with your girlfriend? Don't worry. I'll cheer you up with a rousing round of teasing you. About how you want robot dates with your girlfriend!
Chris closed his eyes.
He rose and cleared a space on the worktables.
Too derivative, they said. People will just say we're copying Newtype.
Why shouldn't we? She's fighting the gangs while we stand here, and she's winning!
He wished he'd said it aloud.
What did PR know? PR didn't go out there and face off against Endbringers. They didn't even release video footage of the fights! Just casualty reports and accolades! So who fucking cared? What did kid friendliness matter with people dying?
Chris glanced over his shoulder toward the security camera.
He couldn't block it. Not fully. They'd ask him to undo it.
No, he moved a few pieces of half-built equipment in the way to give him blind spots to work in. The camera didn't cover the full room, just the workbench.
Modular.
He glanced around, planning out a path that let him carry components to one of the empty alcoves. He'd cover it. No, cover it and Armsmaster would notice. He'd ask questions.
Unless he didn't see it.
Chris returned to his papers and pulled out some empty sheets. Bend the light. Wrap it around the alcove so it appeared empty. Armsmaster might notice any power fluctuations in an empty alcove.
It didn't take long to assemble.
He easily adapted the field from his anti-grav tech.
He lifted the module, and went over to his normal armor.
He'd fit it there, and then project the field over the adjacent alcove.
A ready answer for any stupid questions.
