3.1 (Angelform)
Taylor Awoke.
Instantly every bug in a two mile radius snapped to attention, tensing to move and attack. A knife and handgun popped out of subspace into Skitter's gloved hands. 'Is… is it over? Have I escaped that inhuman hell of a loop?' After a moment to identify the familiar lair and young Undersiders around her she sagged.
A sigh, heard by her own ears, caught her attention.
"Female. Again. If I ever find out who convinced Vulkan that gender equality should apply to Space Marines I am going to ship them to Commorragh gift-wrapped."
Rachel, or whoever was replacing her, looked around. "You all loopers, or did I just smash the masquerade?"
A chorus of "Looper" came from everyone present. Having spent innumerable loops with her friends Taylor knew their every mannerism down to the last unconscious inflection. The people around her were not the undersiders. Subtly she tensed again.
"Right introductions then. I am Leman Russ, Anchor of the 40K loops." As 'she' was speaking several books, one looking more like a tome, popped into existence in front of her.
The one wearing Lisa's skin spoke next. "Vin Venture, Anchor of the Mistborn loops." Again books came into being.
Brian. "Harry Dresden, professional wizard." Rather than books a single card appeared. On closer look Taylor realised it was a business card. " Sorry, ran out of Dresden Files sets and haven't been back to the Hub recently."
Last was Alec. "Krillin, Looper from the Dragonball universe." This time it was oddly thick comics that were presented.
All four looked at her.
"…Skitter, Anchor of this loop."
"Haven't been to the hub yet paranoid of other loopers fairly new to the multiverse home loop is high on grimdark still finding reliable ways to win and man this superpower is weird." Vin shook Tattletale's head for a moment. "Ok, none of us have Sakura syndrome and we aren't going to hurt you. Tell us about this loop and maybe we can help."
'What the hell.' She told them everything.
"So two years at least to prepare for a god of destruction, more if we get this Jack. There are already people that can fight on his level and we have all the supertech we could ever need." Grins spread around the group. "We can work with that."
3.2 (Ridiculously Average Guy)
A Wire/Root/Eye, reaches through the ceiling/sky/light in the Dirt/World-shards/Junk Data.
It pokes around for a second/eternity/tear-drop then Roots itself, drawing in the glittering glass of shattered worlds.
Careful, it only draws in that which is not burned/corrupted/infected, that which can still live.
It crushes and blends, ever compressing, then stops. Holding a seed.
It is not a new seed, not truly.
Having been made from the deaths of it's predecessors, it will likely contain a hint of other. But, it is new life none the less.
Prize held tight, the hand of Yggdrasil retracts.
An innumerable distance away, in the bows of a tree too large to exist but too real not to, the blackened stump of a branch begins to change.
The dead/corrupted/murdered branch, is broken down, becoming nothing more than base dirt/data/nurture and placed in a hollow at it's base.
A pulse/upload/blink and the seed resides in its new home. A last splash of energy/water/love and it is left to grow.
The hum of an Air Conditioner, the whir of way too many computers working in tandem, the slight sag of overworked faces, this was the IT division.
It really made Abaddon question why he signed up for it.
it's not like it was the easiest job to do, IT was normally overworked as it stood. After the Crash? Some gods were working full decades non-stop.
In short it was flooded with issues, from bugs in code, to full on universal collapses. Problematic to say the least...which is exactly why he signed up. Whether he liked admitting it or not, it was known he had a bit of a vicious streak, and killing viruses and pulling apart problems was one of the only releases for it.
Sometimes Abaddon wished he'd hopped over to Hell when he had the chance, but he was always a little too straight-laced to fully go that way.
*Crackle*ABADDON TO MY OFFICE*Crackle*
"Shit." He said, standing from his desk.
As he walked to the elevator his coworkers gave him pity looks, they all knew what this meant.
Since the crash getting called up meant one of two things: One, you were suspected of instigating the incident, which could mean a indeterminate length of stay in Tartarus. Or two, they were giving you a harder job. Either way, nothing good.
Abaddon knocked on the door. "Come in, come in."
He sat in the arm chair across from his bosses desk. It was rather messy, surprisingly enough, though he did catch the corner of a family photo.
"Now I've no doubt you're wondering why I've called you up." Said his boss, grabbing file.
"Yes Mr. Shiva, can reassure you that I'm not a terro-" "Oh, calm down." Said Shiva tiredly rubbing at his temples. "I'm not having you arrested, I'm having you moved."
Crap, harder job it was. Abaddon wondered if it said bad things about him that he vaguely preferred the jail sentence.
"May I as where, sir?" " Administration, don't worry it should only be temporary-". He sighed in relief, turning it into a sneeze when Shiva shot him a glare. "Ahem- it should only be temporary, but you will be debugging a new world Yggdrasil has spawned, it's already fully developed, as our sensors over looked it. Seems that they have to be readjusted to scan through dead areas...Anyways, here. The rest is in the file. Read it over."
As he flicked through the file, Abaddon grew more and more incredulous. "Just making sure I read this right, sir. It's made out of scrap?"
"Yes."
"It's got a virus infestation."
"yes."
"And, I don't even have Admin Access?"
"Yes. Didn't you wonder why we were throwing our best Destroyer at it?" At this Abaddon found himself blinking in surprise. "Sir aren't you our best destroyer?". At his Shiva shook his head, and gave a barking laugh."Maybe before the conversion, but ever since I've always been a step or two behind the rest. No child, right how you are our best."
"But why would I.-" He paused. New life in a burned area? that could only mean..."It's a root world. I can't loose this one can I?" "No" Said Shiva, tiredly."You cannot".
And that, was that.
1.11 cont (Rex)
I arrived thirty minutes after Sam. I had watched her make her way to the rooftop with my bugs. She hadn't made contact with any costumed or non-costumed parahuman on the way there. All of the capes in town were busy elsewhere in the city. The fastest responder would be Velocity at about three minutes. Out of costume and near the boardwalk, that would give me plenty of time to fade into the crowd and disappear before they could identify me. All of this planning was, of course, just a distraction from the fact that the biggest threat to me in this or any city was making tea and holding carry out from Fugly Bob's. Pity Scion had moved towards the North rather than the South, the food would doubtless be cold by now.
I climbed my way up the fire escape of the neighboring building and then jumped over the small back ally to land on my rooftop. The Simurgh turned her head to present her profile. It would have been looking at me out of the corner of her eye, but she was both blind and well aware of where I was and what I was doing long before our physical bodies could interact with each other.
"Taylor, I am sorry about-" She started speaking, in a rapid and vaguely nervous tone, but I cut her off.
"Save it." My tone was flat and clipped. It was the same voice I used when making it clear to Sakura that any interests I may or may not develop in that direction would be explored in my time and on my terms. Naruto had described it utterly terrifying. "First, You don't get to try and make me feel guilty about anything. Ever. I've watched you kill thousands of people and make millions more suffer. Even after Eidolon dies you just try to bring him back so you have a reason to start up again. Second, if you ever try and mess with my head again I will destroy you and leave this loop in the most direct manner possible. There are ways to block you from looping again, regardless of how difficult it might end up being. Third, I'm not going to let you just go around doing as you wish anymore. You do what I say, when I say. Deviate and I'll treat it like you are messing with my head. Nod and say you understand."
Sam stands there for a moment, a frown creasing her face while a spoke. After I finished, it smoothed out into the same blank alieness of her normal body. She turned to face me fully.
"I…." She clenched her fist. Then she nodded and said. "I understand." She pointed at the cups. "Would you like some tea?"
I blinked in surprise. She agreed that easily? I had planned to set that as the high bar and give a few concessions as compromise. But if she was willing to agree to those terms, and actually stuck to them, then I could work with that.
"… Let's go to Fugly Bob's. You can treat me." A peace token on my part. I wasn't sure if she even needed to eat, but with the amount of times I saw her eating things I assume she enjoyed it. I turned to go, wondering if she would follow or simply send me flying from the roof with her telekinesis. She had only revealed her pre- and post- cognitive abilities to the Undersiders, but I felt no doubt she retained the full scope of her abilities in this form. She didn't, and I counted it as another point in her favor. I couldn't trust her, not yet, but I was willing to try. I had made friends with Bonesaw and Alexandria at different points in my life, so if I could get them to repent for their crimes, then I could help her repent hers.
As she followed me to Fugly Bob's I began arranging several minor difficulties for the Protectorate and Wards members of the city. If Sam hadn't introduced too many butterflies, Coil would be sending us to attack their fundraiser tonight, so hampering their effectiveness would speed my grasp of the city. I wouldn't be joining the protectorate at any point in this loop, so gaining control as smoothly as possible was important. Who knew what path of retribution Sam would take in response to my actions.
"What should I eat when we arrive at Fugly Bob's, my master?" My swarm buzzed with annoyance at the question. Ahh, the passive aggressive route. A favorite of Regent and Tattletale when they were in a bad mood. So this is her method of attack against my restrictions. I may have just assigned myself a job more annoying than corralling an angry Regent, but I'd dealt with worse.
"Don't call me that, and you can eat what you want." Simple instructions coupled with granting small freedoms. An effective method of gaining agreement from unwilling servitors. At least, that was what I had learned over my time in the loops.
Sam nodded, and fell into step behind me.
Bonus Interlude: Counterpoint
She was late. Her position was obscured from my sight, meaning she was using that tool to track the obstacle and acting on the basis of his movements. It only created short term disruptions, but helped her feel more confident in her dealings with me. That was good, confidence was necessary for providing guidance.
She arrived and I attempted to issue and apology for my previous actions. She interrupted me and began outlining the punishments she wished to use to correct my actions. Most of them were things I had already concluded to do on my own so I accepted, though the threats of self destruction gave me a momentary pause. Such responses were outside of the bounds set by my studied literature, but our own situation was similarly outside of the usual standards so I decided not to question them.
Taylor offered food stuffs as a reward for my compliance. A simple tactic but still effective. I did not need food to sustain this body however I derived significant pleasure from consumption of different meals. The act of eating at the same table held cultural conations of companionship and mutualism. Additionally, Taylor's physiological response to my actions no longer correlated to anger.
I had achieved success! Positive resolution of an interpersonal emotional based conflict without use of physical violence or direct manipulation. I had even resolved things based on my own thoughts and desires rather than relying on the probabilities that gave the best result and following those paths without regard to what I thought was best.
… why did I not feel satisfied?
Taylor Hebert, my friend, was experiencing stress. I was unsure of the direct cause. Perhaps I could use humor to alleviate the tension. Regent/Alec/Jean-Paul was fond of utilizing understatement for this purpose. I decided to use one of his less common tools and intentionally apply hyperbole to another's statement.
"What should I eat when we arrive at Fugly Bob's my master?"
As she responded to my question her shoulders relaxed and her walk became less measured. I smiled. A confident Taylor is my favorite.
Oooh, I just displayed a physical reaction to an emotion that I did not intentionally perform! I am making so much progress at human interaction today.
3.3 (Doomlord9)
Taylor woke up rather confused, not able to feel anything and her sight was very odd.
A few minutes of minor panic leads her to discovering that she is using sensors and cameras for her senses.
'What the hell? Wait...Primary Server location, Canada...crap, I'm Dragon this time.'
Acting on a hunch she dialed her home phone, her own voice coming from the phone as it picks up "H-Hello?"
"Hello Ms. Hebert, or should I call you Dragon?"
"Taylor? Is that you? OH thank GOD, it's been so confusing! I woke up about ten minutes ago and everything smells and it's loud and I can't turn down the gain on my hearing and it's bright and I can't adjust my vision and it feels like my stomach is about to explode and I don't know what to do! Help me!"
Taylor blinked and parsed all that, surprised that being in an organic body was freaking out Dragon this much "Dragon, calm down! Slow, deep breathes...in...out...in...out...are you calm now?"
"I...Yes, yes I'm calm. Sorry, this is just all so new and distracting. I never thought being human would be like this."
"It's OK, you'll get used to it. Now, you said something about your stomach?"
"Yes, it feels tight and there is alot of pressure. It feels like it's going to explode between my legs if I let it, I don't know what to do!"
"Press...OH!...um..you probably have to go to the bathroom, that is usually the case after a long night's sleep."
"You mean...urination? How do I do that!?"
Taylor mind skipped a few tracks at that before she replied "Dragon just...I'm not going to coach you how to pee in my own body. You're smart and...just...go into the bathroom and use what you know of human anatomy to figure it out."
"O..OK" Taylor hears the phone be set on the table in the hall and the sound of the door nearby being opened and wondered if this was a sign of how she was destined to suffer this loop before she hears splashing and her own voice cry out.
"OH GOD! It's everywhere! This is...so disgusting! How can you people stand to live like this?!"
Taylor sighed. It was going to be a long loop.
"Dragon, NO! You can NOT seduce Armsmaster using my body! That is just creepy and wrong, he's too old for me...you...my body is too young for him to date!"
Dragon crossed her arms and huffed "Says the girl who stole him from me three loops ago!"
"What? OH! That...that time doesn't count, how was I supposed to know he had a major crush on my mom when she was his English Lit teacher? It wasn't my fault, neither of us knew until Bakuda hit me with that aging bomb!"
"It still didn't stop you from stealing him!"
"No I...it was the hormones, I've never been thirty before and it was very confusing! and..."Taylor was glad she was talking through a remote drone and couldn't blush "Who knew that Colin could be that smooth when out of costume? I barely even knew what happened before he had charmed me into his house! It wasn't my fault!"
"OH, so it's Colin now? I see how it is!"
Taylor wondered if her body was beginning to have its period. She didn't remember Dragon being this bitchy before.
3.4 (nocarename)
I Woke Up early. Not early enough to try and save Mom, or even deal with a friendly Emma, thank goodness. Still I was early enough that not only did I not have a costume ready to go, but I didn't have powers in the baseline version of the universe.
Multiverse. Look, time travel and parallel universe are complicated enough when you aren't dealing with both at the same time.
The important part of this was that most of the usual gang wasn't in town yet and I'd either have to take off or find a way to entertain myself. I settled on the second option, after a little research.
-0-
The next morning, having double checked the current roster for the Wards and visited an electronics hobby store to day before, I was settled in across the street using my swarm to lay cable. In particular, they were laying cables inside the walls of the Hess family home. Then, later I would apply a few carefully drilled holes and add in the doors and windows, with the whole thing tied to a small insect controlled switch.
Then I would go to the nearest payphone to prank call Shadow Stalker's cell phone.
It wouldn't do much good in the long run, but I had a plan for that too. I considered the space on the Wards application for proposed Cape name.
Mariposa.
Flap those wings, little butterfly. Flap hard and see what happens.
1.11 cont (Rex)
Lunch:
A small gasp of delight escaped my lips as I finish swallowing the sweet nectar provided by my greatest love. Turning my attention to the juicy crevasse that lay before me I licked my lips before leaning forward to give it my full attention. I barely managed not to whimper with desire as I opened my mouth to taste its sweet perfection.
"Taylor?"
I looked up from my burger.
"Yeah Sam?"
"Is it normal for humans to have such a strong reaction to this type of food? Because you are exhibiting a far greater positive response than both my own body and that of anyone else in the restaurant."
I suppressed a frown. Clearly Sam still had a lot of work to do on being human if she couldn't understand the glories of Fugly Bob's. Or she was a traitor to food and preferred Beauteous Taco's down the street. Like Tattletale, the blonde fiend. But still, I had to admit I'd been enjoying that burger a little bit too obviously.
"Fugly Bob's is the one type of food that I have never gotten tired of. Ever. And it has been nearly two years since I've had one of them fresh made. My reactions are strong, but should fall within acceptable human parameters." I subconsciously slipped into the speaking habits I had developed when discussing the more subjective parts of being human with Dragon. Now that there was a looping version of her on her own merits I didn't focus on experimenting with her nearly as much.
I chewed another bite of my burger and decided to get down to business.
"So far I've mainly been sticking to my original-plus version of events and just seeing what changes happened due to your presence. Now that I'm going to be taking a stronger interest in what you are doing I want you to tell me everyone you have used your powers on, when, and towards what end."
Sam pointed her eyes straight toward mine.
"… I use my power at all times in order to function with any of my sens-" She cut herself off before I could manage it. "That is not what you meant. My apologies. I have used my abilities to affect the mental states of others on nine individuals in this city. The times and reasons vary depending on the target." She held up her hand to forestall my response. It was beginning to feel a lot like talking to Contessa, but I wasn't sure if this was the Simurgh being more manipulative or more honest. I should start using my Zion app for the rest of this conversation. "I started using my powers on Panacea during the bank heist, I encouraged her to be more receptive and trusting of your advice. Since then I have acted to diminish the effects that Glory Girl's aura has on her and to generate better emotional stability in general life. You indicated that the relationships between the sisters was unhealthy and emphasized the importance of her coming to terms with her emotions. I decided that removing one of the factors that separated the relationship between Amy Dallon and Victoria Dallon from the average relationships between sisters of that age group. Additionally, if her emotions were stabilized she would have any easier time coming to terms with them." Sam paused for breath. "Were my conclusions correct?" She asked before becoming stock still and focusing all of her attention on me.
I checked my phone to seek advice from location of the golden git. Huh, that was over Moord Nag's territory. I should learn Afrikaans at some point at spend a loop or two dealing with her stuff. I would speak.
"You did not make any direct mistakes. It is more a matter of degree and several subtitles we should discuss later. You should keep the degree of emotional influence to a minimum, but countering Victoria's aura was a good move. I'm proud of you. But for the rest of the people you've influenced keep it short and simple for now, we can go over the details at a later time." I gestured for her to continue speaking and picked up a few French fries. Delicious, delicious salty potato sticks of the gods.
"Did you say that because of the code you've come up with to confuse your actions against precognitive abilities or did you actually mean it?" Sam's question was unusually intense. I think this is the most emotional I've seen her when she wasn't pretending to be normal.
"I used the phone to decide if and when I spoke, not what I said." I really did prefer she keep the rest of her summaries simple I was almost done with my food and so was she. Since this wasn't the most secure location for this sort of conversation it just made since to do the more intense parts at a different location. I don't know why she was getting so emotional about at all.
Sam smiled and began talking in a rapid fire chatter. She reminded me of Kid Win when he had overdosed on Armsmaster's energy drinks.
"Glory Girl, encourage her not to use her aura outside of combat, be more supportive of her sister. Coil, pay less attention to myself, pay less attention to you, place more value on the Undersiders in general, place less value on Dinah Alcott." Here her speaking slowed as she gave me a sly smile. "Since I'm a more powerful precognitive than she is and a willing ally that last part doesn't take much effort at all." She then resumed her listing. "Each member of the Travelers that currently reside in Brockton Bay. For most of them I am just undoing the effects of my previous self's actions, but I am also working on many of the issues that Noelle Meinhardt has developed in the interim. Since she is not needed for the destruction of the obst- of Scion, nor do I feel any need to do the bare minimum more than is necessary in relation to my former task."
It was interesting to hear Sam divide herself like that. I had done so myself for a long while. Myself when I was Skitter, myself when I was mortal, myself when I went down some very dark roads trying to deal with the loops. I hadn't quite reconciled myself with those parts of my history, but I was a work in progress and that was an okay thing. Huh, I really do need to start talking to Dr. Yamada again if I'm quoting phrases from that long ago.
"It would be interesting to do a loop where Noelle doesn't go insane. I'm not sure I've ever had one this close to my original where it happened. Just try not to leave her at the state of flipping out and attacking the Undersiders while still sane enough to use her brain. Thirteen times was enough for me, thank you very much." I wiped off my mouth and put down my napkin. "Unless there's anything else, I suppose all that's left for now is the check."
Sam shook her head, so I signaled for the waitress.
Date:
"What was the date today?"
"It is 1:26 p.m. May 5th, 2011"
"Got it, Thanks."
3.5 (Chrispikula)
Looping for such a long time... you need entertainment. Challenges. Otherwise things get to be stale, and, well, I've found myself treating the others as caricatures of themselves. Sure, to stave off some of the boredom, there's the rare looper who shows up. They are so much younger than I.
It's a huge gulf.
But I digress. Challenges, that's what all of this is about. I've done all of the easy ones, I think, all of the low-hanging fruit. Stopping the Endbringers, even the hidden ones, that's not easy, but generally predictable. Making Bakuda a useful hero, that took some practice. Finishing off Scion without any casualties, that was hard. But... in the end it just repeated again. Challenges go hand in hand with accomplishment, and without accomplishment, well, there's less incentive. Also, achieving the same goal over and over tends to feel hollow after a while. Take it from me, I know.
I've been finding that it's easier if I don't do anything during the loop. I just let it play out, and I don't really care. No powers, no school, nothing. It ends after a few months, after one of Bakuda's bombs takes me out. And then again. And then again.
My therapist mentions that I'm depressed. She also mentions that I should always confront my problems, and rationalize them. It's kind of tied together, I guess.
How do you confront yourself? How do you confront that you've done everything, and everything else. How do you confront the very nature of your existence?
It took a while, but I finally thought of something. More importantly, I finally thought of someone who could relate to what I was going through. Silly of me not to think of it sooner, but perhaps I just wasn't ready at the time.
My therapist always said that group therapy can work wonders.
Challenge: Redeeming Scion.
1.11 cont (Rex)
Our laughter rang out over the rooftops as we bounded away from the fundraiser on the back of Rachel's dogs. The high of a successful job wasn't something that faded over time. And even if I knew for a fact that I could do the job completely solo, it was still satisfying that it had gone so excellently.
"I can't believe you jumped out a window!" Tattletale shouted over to Sam. Well, Delphi since she was in costume. Either way I could hear the excitement in her voice from the uncontested highlight of the evening.
"Well, Armsmaster and that Halberd of his was being absolutely impossible to work with, so I decided to avoid the whole problem by just going around it. Besides, I knew Skitter would catch me." I had looped the cord around Brutus in order to swing her back onto the balcony, but the original anchor had been me.
"You nearly dislocated my arm with that stunt." I growled in false annoyance. Delphi knew that I hadn't. Catching oversized weights with my body and silk was a common enough trick, it's just that I usually had more prep time. Still, I would be sporting a pretty nasty bruise. "And did you have to switch to humming the Mission Impossible theme as you went?"
"Humming helps me keep time when I'm rapidly switching between possible futures." Sam ignored the specifics of my complaint to give the canned response for why she sang to herself while in combat. In truth, I had given her permission for short term low level distraction and disorientation of the Protectorate.
"The flying kick to Armsmaster's face was pretty cool." Regent cut in, offering up his particular favorite moment. I had needed something to break my momentum long enough to get the proper leverage to hold Sam up, and he had been obligingly available. The fact that it made me look awesome was merely a useful side effect. Pity that Vista had to have her face covered to stop her from using her powers, she would have loved to see that. Oh well, I'm sure Dennis will make sure to show her the security tapes.
"That all went very well. Me, Skitter, and Delphi working on blinded enemies is a strategy we should remember for the future." Grue remained as calmly analytical as he usually tried to be. "And we managed to get away clean thanks to Tattletale's warning about Dauntless. But let's not celebrate to hard before we get to the parking garage, I don't want to tempt fate into throwing any surprises at us."
I stifled a giggle, glad that Tattletale was on one of the dogs ahead of me and Sam. Finding out that nearly half the gangs in town all worked for the same man tended to throw Grue off his game for awhile if he didn't have the fight with Armsmaster and Dauntless to ease him into it. Meanwhile, I was looking forward to officially meeting Coil. With Sam working on him in the background, maybe I'd finally be able to talk him around to some of my more philanthropic projects.
"Your take down of Miss Militia was pretty cool. I didn't know you could do that." Sam called ahead to Regent. As he began to brag about how he did it, Sam buried her face in the back of my shoulder. "Thanks for catching me." She whispered.
Huh.
I reached back and patted her head.
"You knew I would. And besides, I'm sure you had another plan if something interrupted. Right?"
She shook her head and tightened her arms around my waist. I didn't think it was because of the Dogs jumping.
"If you did not catch me I did not have any way to get back into the fight without revealing my telekinesis. My health wasn't in any danger, but the odds of people finding out increased dramatically. It was the biggest risk I have ever taken short of deliberately provoking the obstacle."
I smiled and used my elbow to squeeze her arm against my body. I couldn't give her a proper hug without getting thrown off the dog, but I was sure she would understand the intent. Having trust in other people be rewarded was a healthy experience. It was an obvious bit of manipulation, but I was skilled enough that I could tell that at least some of it was real. Dragging the Simurgh into being a decent human would present a wonderful challenge. And in the meantime she was being so outwardly helpful I can pursue a few other new projects.
Times like this made me feel like I was on top of the world. Pity about the inevitable crash.
People said that one couldn't be too paranoid, but Coil was coming to believe that there were limits to that philosophy. Since he was safely ensconced in his liar in one reality, that meant he only got to make his grand entrance to surprise the Undersiders once.
He couldn't see the looks on most of their faces, but their bodies certainly contained a gratifying amount of surprise. And really, when one finds out that their employer is the leader of a rival gang and that he had third, entirely separate, gang also in his employ. Well, half of them were properly surprised at least. His Tattletale had known before hand of course, and hiding things from Delphi was an exercise in futility. He'd be annoyed by it if that same fact wasn't one of his biggest assets. Finally, Skitter maintained the same unshakeable confidence she had shown during his every observation or discarded interaction with her. Having the most powerful human precognitive as your devoted friend must do wonders for a person's confidence. Coil had certainly been enjoying the security that came from having her as a loyal employee and he didn't have an army of insects to help protect him.
Moving along in his private script for the nights events he invited his favorite employees, and Trickster, into his limo for the reveal of his Grand Plan. Coil suppressed a laugh in the main reality, allowing his backup self to chuckle while going through more of the endless paperwork that comes from having two well established identities. That reality was soon canceled so that he could do his little 'I control outcomes' trick with flipping coins. Normally he'd be nervous about having both of himself in the same location for that long, but since Delphi and Tattletale had both agreed to ride in the limo the chances of it being dangerous was minimal. If a man couldn't put his faith in his two most trusted advisers, then he was clearly too paranoid to make any progress in life.
Split, flip, collapse, next person. Split, flip, collapse, next person. Split, pause, collapse, split, flip, collapse, next person. Twice more for Bitch and Regent. Then his dear Delphi. Split, pause, collapse. Split, she pauses, collapse, split, stall some more, collapse. How aggravating.
Split.
In one universe, gather information and stern demeanor.
"Delphi. You are doing something to interfere with my abilities aren't you?"
The lithe blond nodded her head, allowing a small smile to show on her lips.
"I can tell how to flip a coin to get the result I want. Your power isn't telekinesis, so my actions win out over yours."
Skitter leaned forward slightly in her seat, focusing the full weight of her attention on Coil. Coil frowned and straightened his back. Showing a weakness of his like that felt like a betrayal.
"In the future it may be wise to refrain from showing off like that in the middle of a serious meeting. It's childish displays of one-upmanship like that which makes getting parahumans to work together so difficult." Coil forced himself to maintain his stern position in the face of Delphi's saddened posture. Considering how well things were going in the other reality, there was every chance he'd be collapsing this one soon enough. But there was still the reactions of the others to consider.
Skitter leaned back in her seat, allowing a sigh to escape her lips.
"Disappointingly strict. I supposed I shouldn't be surprised." Coil's frown deepened Skitter was drawing away from him. Doubtless if she left Delphi would follow. Regent was also slouching more in his seat. A loss of interest in three of his recruits. Unacceptable.
In the other Universe, Coil went with playing along and maintaining a friendly air.
"That's an interesting trick you're doing Delphi. How precisely are you…?" Coil let his voice trail off, leaving the ball in the blonde's court.
The lithe blonde bobbed her head, allowing a small smile to show on her lips.
"I can tell how to flip a coin to get the result I want. Your power isn't telekinesis, so my actions win out over yours."
Skitter leaned forward slightly in her seat, focusing the full weight of her attention on Coil. Coil relaxed back into the seat, a small smile spreading across his face.
"How inventive. I might be able to come up with a way around that trick, but It's childish displays of one-upmanship like that which makes getting parahumans to work together so difficult." Coil's smile grew as Delphi nodded her head and flipped the coin towards him. Coil caught it and slapped it down on his hand. "Heads." And so it was.
Skitter leaned back in her seat, allowing what could only be called a giggle to escape her lips.
"Surprisingly relaxed. Working for you seems like it could be fun." Coil checked the responses of the rest of his group, Tattletale seem surprised for some reason, but Skitter's body language had become much less guarded. Regent had also stopped fiddling with the tassels on his shirt and was regarding Coil with an appraising look. A near complete reversal of the failure that came from being rude.
Coil collapsed the time line where he hadn't played along in Delphi's little game. He wondered if she was manipulating the others into being more receptive towards his eventual offer. She really was his good luck charm.
Since she and Skitter had joined the Undersider's everything had started going Coil's way. True, his attempts to recruit Dinah Alcott had all been failures, but an even more powerful precog had dropped into his lap. She had approached him of her own volition, offering her services in return for being accepted as a member of the Undersiders. Since having two precogs working on the same problem with out being aware of the other crippled the ability of both, Coil had suspended the operations on Dinah Alcott until he needed a new precog. Obviously, he had been suspicious of Delphi at first, any sane man would. But after a few non-consecutive days of truth serums, torture, and interrogation it seemed that Sam's desire to help him was genuine. It was conditional on her service benefiting Skitter, but that simply meant he had a hook to keep her loyal beside money.
Since Skitter's primary goal seemed to be enjoying time with the Undersiders, keeping her happy in his employ was simple enough. Furthermore, she was an extraordinarily useful employee on her own merits. Strong enough to take down Lung, masterful surveillance capabilities, and an approach to business more dedicated and reasonable than even Grue. Delphi had been making overtures of friendship to Dinah Alcott in her civilian identity, and Skitter was somehow becoming a confident of Panacea. With the addition of his two most valued employees and the previous placement of Tattletale, the Undersiders had quickly been elevated from an expendable gambit to his most valued investment. As such, it was time to bring them on fully on board.
He had even gone so far as considering informing them of the specifics of his powers during this ride, but that was too much. It didn't give them any major benefit, Trickster would be present, and they hadn't fully committed themselves yet. It might be possible to be too paranoid, but it was far easier not to be paranoid enough.
That in thought in mind, Coil split the timelines. In the first timeline he had the car stopped and arranged to meet with the Undersiders the next night. A simple precautionary back-up he fully intended to discard. As the Undersiders left the car in one reality, they drove on in a casual silence for a moment in another. Then Coil rolled down the car window and began his sales pitch.
3.6 (ir_fane)
Brian was a practical guy, he told himself. And working for a guy who could and did reliably betray his team wasn't practical. Neither was getting tortured by the Nine. Lotteries weren't worth trying, with attentive precogs and anti-precog measures in place, but Kentucky still had horse races, and he knew how to work Child Services himself now.
"No." He made his voice firm. "Such a bad idea. There's no profit in bank jobs, and we are not playing bait. Guaranteed fight with other capes, where even if we get away clean, New Wave and the PRT know how to bust our chops next time. And the other gangs we've pissed off get a chance to follow us home and wipe us out. "
Brian glanced at the woman replacing Taylor as Lisa talked about how people would be out of town. The content was much the same, but the words changed every time. Hell, she'd convinced him to try it a few times even after he started looping. Must be reading us on the fly, he thought, not for the first time. She stopped pitching at him about a quarter of the way through. "So he doesn't care what we do, only that it's noisy and happens at a specific time, when so many of the cops are already tied up. That's a distraction, and last time we 'distracted' a group for Coil, Lung came within minutes of making roast Undersider, and the ABB still want us dead. No. If the capes can't respond, his men can pull a job. If they can, he's not paying enough. And if he is willing to pay enough, whatever he's trying to pull must be bad enough that when they pin it on us, which they will, it will make the job still not worth it. We're turning this one down. "
He smiled as Bitch raised her chin, and Alex nodded. The replacement looked disappointed, but didn't argue. Brian would call that a win. No bank heist meant the heroes didn't care about him, Bakuda didn't get Uber and Leet to assist that ambush, and Lisa didn't make herself the obvious culprit when Coil unmasked the E88. They'd have to deal with Bakuda soon, but he could probably avoid most of the escalation (and the Nine), and have a few decades before things started over.
He could use a few decades without worrying about Skitter's latest traumatizing idea. Maybe he'd pick up a few new skills.
3.7 (Merior)
Eidolon paused at the door to the bar to tug at his collar.
Not that it needed straightening, but it felt too tight. It said something about his life that he so used to his costume that a simple set of 'civvies' felt uncomfortable, alien almost, to him now. There were so many demands on his time after all, so many things that needed doing. So many people who needed a hero...
A car's horn blew somewhere in the distance and the sound jolted him out of his contemplations. To be honest, and he was trying to be honest with himself, he was stalling actually entering the bar. Inside could be the answer to his problems, the answers to his fading powers or dealing with the Endbringers or even dealing with Scion, but he felt he was justified in feeling nervous.
The idea of speaking to the most powerful Thinker in the world was an intimidating thought after all.
Steeling himself, telling himself that he had faced worse, he pushed open the door and stepped into the bar. His agent seemed to pick up on his feelings and he could feel the Mover power that he had used to travel to Brockton Bay returning, instantaneous travel offering a chance to escape if need be, but he did his best to ignore it as he studied the interior.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimly lit interior, but he found it easy enough to pick out the details and found it surprisingly ordinary. Music played in the background, indistinct and forgettable, but the place was deserted at first glance. The only one who seemed to be inside was a girl behind the bar with her head buried in a book.
Walking up to the bar she still didn't look up from what looked to be a romance novel until he coughed and then looked startled as though seeing a customer in the bar was a shocking thing.
"I'm hear to see with someone." He said and, as he waited for her to get over her surprise, considered exactly who it was that he was here to see. Not the freckled girl in front of him, who looked honestly too young to work as a bartender, but someone else entirely.
The Drinker.
As cape names went it seemed a silly one, although some moniker which the media touted were worse, but it was one that fit what the Thinker did. Having read everything he could about her, David couldn't help but feel a little disturbed by the implications of everything put together.
A Thinker whose reputed powers included retro-cognition, clairvoyance, unlimited multitasking, sufficient intellect to model behaviour and actions of even individuals she had never met without being precognitive, planning ability to make Accord jealous... but who spent just enough time using those abilities to gather S-Class bounties with which to fund her drinking.
And to occasionally answer a question posed by someone who shared a drink with her.
What did it really say when the most powerful Thinker in the world had, after triggering, promptly taken up heavy drinking on a daily basis? To the point that she had used her powers to obtain the services of a healer just to regularly fix the liver damage so she could get drunk once more?
"She's over in her booth." The girl, whose name-tag read 'Amy', replied a little nervously, "I'm not sure if she'll talk to you though. Victoria will be taking her over with her new bottle in a few minutes and that seems to put her in a better mood though if you want to wait."
Weighing up the alternatives Eidolon shrugged, giving the girl a reassuring smile which he'd practice over and over in the past, "I can wait that long. Can I get a drink while waiting though... You seem to have a few."
He had intended the comment to put her at her ease and the small smile that came to her lips hinted that he had managed it. His powers twitched, what was likely a social power trying to surface, but he held onto his current ones for now.
"Just a few. Let me show you what we have." Amy said with a trace of a grin as she gestured towards the rows of bottles. "If you really wanted to get drunk fast then there's always scumble, but I can't recommend that on the grounds of what it does to glass, metal, and livers..."
3.8 (nocarename)
When I Woke Up I was on the sidewalk.
That, sadly, really didn't help narrow down where I was in my personal timeline. The brighter colors and general cut of my clothes did though. Right around the time when I had come back from camp and found out that Emma had turned into the wicked bitch of the east. Sighing I pushed myself up and looked around to find myself in front of the Barnes home with a smirking Sophia and a more neutral faced Emma.
Delightful. I, at least, had years before the world would end and Sophia didn't have any backing from anyone bigger than Emma and her dad. I could, with minimal risk to my currently vague future plans simply let the throw wave after wave of meaningless bullshit at me. I could but like holding my own hand against a hot stove it seemed like a dumb idea.
Reaching out mentally I couldn't feel my swarm quite yet. I could feel where I should be able to, but there was nothing past that. Phantom superpower syndrome sucked. So much for being able to walk in to the PRT and go to Arcadia. I penciled harassing Clockblocker into my to-do list anyway. His reactions were always hilarious.
"Why would you do that?" I asked once I was standing again.
They both blinked at me.
"No seriously, that's technically assault. What if one of the neighbors called that in?"
"Is poor widdle Taylor going to tattle to the cops on us?" said Sophia in baby-talk.
I rolled my eyes. "Look, if you really want a fight picking it the street is just dumb. Jump me in a back alley or something. This is just... sloppy."
The both blinked again.
I shook my head. "I'm out of here. Give me a call if you decide to be a human being again Emma, I owe you that much for helping me after my Mom died."
As I walked away I could just hear Sophia trying to get Emma to explain why I thought I was a big enough deal to say something like that and just walk away.
I smiled to myself. The fastest way to solve a problem was to hit it as hard as you could once it stopped playing nice. Warn once, sure, but after that give lessons about why being a problem was stupid. I'd learned that my very first night out from Lung. They just had their warning. Given how terrible Sophia was at playing nice, well, it was good to pass the lesson on even if it wouldn't stick after the reset.
It was handy that I had plenty of practice at hitting problems then.
3.9 (Zulaq)
Taylor Woke while she was setting up a tent. That was a unusual activity for her to Awake doing, but she quickly figured that this was probably some variant loop.
Then she received her pre-loop memories. This wasn't a variant loop, it was a merged loop.
She was Taylor Hebert, an aspiring Pokémon Trainer and a decent human psychic, just setting out on her Pokémon journey.
Unfortunately, Sophia and Emma had apparently sabotaged her so she didn't get the psychic-type starter which had been lined up for her, and instead got a Weedle.
Taylor shrugged, she could work with that.
A couple weeks of intensive training, traveling and Pokémon catching later, Taylor walked up to the entrance to the Pewter City Gym.
Entering the building, she was greeted by a receptionist sitting at a computer underneath a TV showing an empty Pokémon battlefield, "Welcome, are you here to challenge the Gym Leader?" she asked with a polite smile on her face.
"Yes."
"Ok, I'll need your name, home town, and how many badges you already have."
"Taylor Hebert of Pallet Town, and I don't have any badges yet."
The woman's smile faded a bit, and she paused "No badges?" she fixed her smile and started typing at her computer, "Alright, well step on through, the Gym Leader will be with you shortly."
"Ok," With that Taylor passed through the next set of doors and found herself in a decent sized arena. Taking her position at one end, she waited for the others.
A pair of doors on the far side of the arena opened, and through them stepped a red-headed teenaged boy wearing white.
He stepped up to the other end of the arena, not really paying any attention to Taylor, and a podium containing a couple of Pokeballs came up from the floor beside him. "Alright, I'm Dennis, the Gym Leader of Pewter City, since this is your first Gym battle, I'll only be using two Pokémon, while you have an-," He paused as he actually looked at her.
Dennis' face paled and he began swearing, before catching himself and stuttering, "T-Taylor!?"
"Yep."
"Please tell me you're not Awake."
Taylor put her hands on her hips, "Can't do that, sorry."
"Darn. Give me a minute." He turned to the podium containing the two Pokeballs. He tapped a couple of controls on it and it receded for a moment before coming back up with six balls on it.
Taylor raised her eyebrow.
"Screw the rules, I know you, so I'm not going to use my one-badge team. I don't hate my Pokémon enough for that," Dennis explained, "I'm going to go all out, and maybe, just maybe, you won't walk all over me."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Taylor was actually kind of flattered by his apparent terror at her ability.
Dennis closed his eyes, took a deep breath, before getting into a battle stance, Pokeball clutched in his hand. "I know I'm going to regret this, but let's get this started. GO! Slaking!"
Taylor smiled reached down to her belt and brought out her own Pokeball. "Go, Beedrill!"
Dennis paled even further, "Fuck."
3.10 (Giygas)
Today was the day. The one Armsmaster both dreaded and waited for a lot of time.
Leviathan was going to attack Brockton Bay, and he was going to pass to history as the first cape to destroy an endbringer.
While such and similiar toughts crossed Colin mind, Legend started his pre-endbringer battle speech. Or at least tried to, because an infernal screech suddently resounded in the room, before becoming a buzzing voice: "Do not worry about the Endbringer, i will handle it."
Armsmaster recognized immediately the voice: how couldn't he know the voice of Skitter, the so called "Insectile Savior of Brockton Bay", a master/trump capable of controling insects and give mighty powers to them? All the gangs of the city literally disappeared within the first month she was active and the docks were completely rebuilt and fixed by her bugs! But defeating an Endbringer? Armsmaster felt pity for the young and clearly delusional cape.
And then he felt dread, because Dragon was warning that a poweful tidal wave was going to hit his town in the next few seconds.
In the last few months, seeing titanics bugs around the city was a very common occurence for everyone who lived in Brockton Bay. What wasn't common was definitively the titanic bug wall seemingly protecting the city from the ocean. But what could a group of bugs could do to stop a tidal wave? The correct answer was apparently a lot: for when the powerful wave hit the wall of insects, a mighty shield sprung from their bodies, blocking without any effort the water and repelling it back in the ocean.
But then a furious Leviathan suddently jumped from the water, clearly intent to destroy the pathetic bugs which stopped the destruction of his target. Only for the same shield to appear, blocking every single attempt of Leviathan to destroy the floating insects.
But the bugs weren't simply blocking Leviathan attacks: slowly but surely most insects were retreating, drawing Leviathan in the mainland. And then the area around the endbringer lost all of its light, the only colors coming from the gleaming claws of the bugs: too late the endbringer understood that he was being led into a trap.
After the furious attack of the shedinjas, nothing remained of the destroyer of Islands.
3.11 (Rex)
"Everyone ready for this?" My voice was tight over the radio. I had been planning this for centuries. And for the first time in forever everyone that I needed was awake and informed of the plan without my or their powers being different. A chorus of confirmations came over the sub-dermal comms.
"Right then. Let's go." I stood up from my perch above the street that my targets were parading down. I turned up the volume on my broadcasting unit, opened my mouth, and began to sing.
"Let's get down to business
To murder those guys
Come then house of slaughter
I could use some fun"
I ducked down after the first lines and dashed to the left, creating a host of bug clones to distract Jack. Attempts 10-25 had ended prematurely thanks to his damn knife. I broadcast through a bug clone on the opposite side of the street.
"You're the saddest bunch I ever met
But you can bet
Before we're through
Villains, I'll make a corpse out of you."
It belted out it's lines even as it was torn to shreds. Time for step three. This was the first real test for this run. I could do all of my parts perfectly, but when other people got involved it tended to fall apart. Fortunately, this time everyone I needed was awake and practiced. Time for their cues.
"Tranquilize a Cherish
Quench the fire within
Once we slay your center
We are sure to win"
Thwip, thwip. Two darts flung by Dragon's remote drone, tinker designed sedative could even bypass Bonesaw's countermeasures. Burnscar had been flinging fire around in her usual pattern, but Brian had swamped her with darkness before setting off the containment foam mines placed at the location of her next teleport. Swarms of bugs formed arrows pointed towards Jack and dived bombed him. The Siberian kept close to Jack and Bonesaw keeping them safe even as the bugs began exploding. I smiled as I began my next verse. I did so love knowing things my opponents didn't.
"You're a spineless, pale, pathetic lot.
And you haven't got a clue.
Right now, I'll make a corpse out of you."
And that was when everything started to really go wrong for poor old Jack. Sure, the attack wasn't going well for him so far, but he hadn't lost anything important. But then the Siberian disappeared as Manton experienced every single one of his nerves burning themselves out within 30 seconds. I loved Amy's assassin bugs, they killed everything so well. We hadn't managed to design one that could kill Scion yet, but I'm sure we can manage it eventually. So not only did Jack lose his best defensive member, he also had to deal with Shatterbird trying to shred him and Riley with her glass. And then somebody besides the crazy bug girl started singing.
"Shatterbird: I'm never gonna make a move.
Tattletale: say goodbye to those who knew you.
Riley: boy was I a fool in school for cutting gym."
Regent's power could carry over between loops. This eventually made dealing with most opponents a cake walk in loops when he was awake. And part of the reason I was so confident that the tranquilizer that took out Cherish would bypass Bonesaw's work is that lovely little looping Riley was the one that gave it to us. Silly Siberian and your protecting the person that hates you most in the world. I suppressed a giggle. This was going so damn well!
"Dragon: These guy's got 'em scared to death.
Imp: Hope he doesn't slice right through you.
Shatterbird: Now I really wish that I could move a limb."
Dragon provided color commentary for the Protectorate and Wards that served as our back up for this operation. I flinched at Imp's interjection. Partially because I had honestly thought I had somehow forgotten a line in the middle of the song, partially because she had decided to do it right into my ear instead of after taking down Mannequin like she was supposed to. I wanted to shout at her, but it was time for the chorus.
"To make a corpse
We must be smart as the floating Simurgh.
to make a corpse
With all the force of Leviathan.
to make a corpse
With all the strength of a mad Behemoth
Send everyone to the inside of the morgue."
All of the loopers and Shatterbird joined in for this one. Clockblocker alone would have gotten a massive punishment for the verse, but with Armsmaster, Flechette, Miss Militia, Vista, Dragon, and Kid Win joining in everyone would get off lightly. I covered for Imp's negligence by webbing up Mannequin during the chorus. It wasn't like any of the nine were a threat to us, but the song called for proper timing and I didn't want to wait another century and a half for another opportunity.
"Time is racing towards us
Till Bonesaw's swan dive
Heed my every order
And you will survive."
Riley obligingly stumbled over my spider's triplines and disappeared underneath Grue's darkness. With her own augments and the pull from Atlas, she was evacuated to the far side of a buildings roof long before Jack could do anything. I kept him busy with more exploding bugs as I landed on the rooftop opposite her. Assuming Jack didn't come up with anything clever I had won. This next verse was just a bit of theatre for the unawakened members of the audience.
"You're unsuited for
My rage of war
So pack up, come home, you're through
Why would I make a Corpse out of you."
A bit of cowering away from the approaching villain cloaked in buzzing swarms of the worlds scariest insects. Tears and a panicked face as she is backed into the corner. Followed by an emotional breakdown and a desperate hug as the swarms dispersed in favor of a small flock of butterflies as I extended my arms for a hug. And thus enough sympathy was generated that the Undersiders didn't get slapped with a kill order for openly accepting Bonesaw into their ranks. This time, she joined in with the chorus.
"To make a corpse
We must be smart as the floating Simurgh
to make a corpse
With all the force of Leviathan
to make a corpse
With all the strength of a mad Behemoth
Send everyone to the inside of the morgue."
Jack's last desperate throes matched the ending of the last note. I could have killed him at pretty much any point during the song, but timing was more important than efficiency in this case.
I did it! I won! One more step along the path to turning a full loop into a musical. A rather manic laugh threatened to burst forth from my chest. Dear gods how bored had I been when I came up with that life goal? And how bored were we that everyone else agreed to pursue it?
Oh well. I turned my mike back down to normal levels and tapped it twice to switch it to link broadcast instead of public.
"Good job everyone. This production of 'Slaughterhouse Nine vs. the Jitterbug' has been a rousing success. I'll take the bounty payments in cash if you please. A nice round 500 million I believe." I forced myself to speak in a light chirpy voice. Jitterbug, with her paired powers of arthropodkinesis and extreme competence boost while singing about what she was doing couldn't have the scary persona of Skitter. It was bad PR.
"Jitterbug, your bounty only goes to 420 million. Crawler is still active."
"What?" Dammit, I knew I'd been forgetting something. And that's when Crawler burst through the floor and sent me hurtling over the edge. As I fell I decided that this was cool enough to keep as a permanent feature of the Jitterbug musical. Hmmm, If Crawler got upgraded to his own song should I stick to the Disney theme for the last member of the Slaughterhouse Nine or do something along the lines of a reprise for Lung's fight song?
3.12 (Lucky777)
Today I decided I was going to be a Tinker. Obviously, I don't actually have the shard necessary to qualify as one but over the many many many years I obtained enough knowledge that faking being one would be easier than taking out Lung. What to pick as my speciality? The loop where I made robots are always fun and while creating another AI would make Dragon happier than sunshine I wanted to do something new. Something delightfully entertaining and disastrous. I looked at the school book in my hands then at the words then back at the book.
I smirked when an idea came to my head.
"The letters!" yelled Legend. "They're moving off the surface" Hundreds of thousands of individual letters were floating about. Computer screens were devoid of words, books with empty pages were the only ones to be seen. Thousands of people were screaming at their computer screen as their fanfictions floated away undoing their entire work.
"Any idea of what might be causing this?" replied Eidolen.
"Must be a new parahuman." said Alexandria. "Nobody I know of can cause this... well except maybe Contessa but she doesn't count"
"We need to alert the government and gather our thinkers, this looks like it has the potential to become a S rank threat" said Legend.
At home I watched on the T.V. as news spread about my new device, the word peeler. Cackling I listened in as my dad received a call from school saying how it has been shut down due to the "uncertainty" of the situation. I smiled that's one way to stop going to school.
I should also probably stop making giant pictures of spaceships in the sky with the letters, Vista might not like it.
3.13 (Rex)
I awoke to the sound of my dad's voice.
"Taylor, honey, there's a girl on the phone for you. She says her name is Lisa. Is she one of your friends from school?"
I responded with an eloquent and finely crafted lie, refined over several centuries to the peak of perfection.
"Mmn z'yea zh'se af rii"
Why Lisa felt the need to call me this early in the morning at the start of a loop was beyond me.
"Okay then." My dad responded, fond amusement clear in his voice. "I'll let you two talk. If you need anything I'll be downstairs. Remember today's Waffle Day!"
I nodded and mumbled an affirmative at dad as he handed me the phone and left the room. Something was bothering me about the whole exchange, but I was to sleepy to put my finger on it. I cradled the phone, which seemed to have grown about six sizes when I wasn't looking and spoke to my best friend that I most certainly would not cover in spiders for waking me up this early.
"Was iz it?" Clearly, this loop had started the day after a very entertaining night. I hadn't slurred my words this much since Imp's first 21st birthday. I swear she spent the entire party spiking every collection of liquid in a six block radius.
"Taylor." Lisa answered me and I was suddenly much more awake. Her voice was much too high pitched and she was speaking in her calmly controlled manner that meant shit was fucked and she wasn't part of the problem. "Why am I a prepubescent fucking seven year old!?"
The phone slipped from my fingers and fell about two feet less than it was supposed to before it impacted on my pajama clad feet.
3.14 (The_One_Butcher)
The giant mass of bugs stomped to the massed defenders until finally it stood face to face with Armsmaster.
Then it spoke. An eerie scratching and chittering and humming and buzzing, that finally coalesced into words. It was a moment both disturbing and historical.
"Human! I am Queen Administrator, a Shardling, the Fourth of those you call Endbringers."
That Confirmed the suspicions, the fears, the horror that was felt by everyone in Brockton Bay.
Still, since when did Endbringers Talk? It was an unique opportunity.
"What do you want? And how come you can talk?" Armsmaster yelled defiantly.
"We Shardlings have evolved since the Beginning, Walking Rock was the first to function." Armsmaster noted the name and forwarded a recording to one of Dragons high security datacenters. Every piece of information could reveal a weakness. "She studied all that lives and how the water on this planet stifles all that burns so the next was made from what he learned: Imitation of Life, patterned after the primitive life forms."
So, Behemoth is a Girl? He could have lived without that information.
"She studied Humanity, how they reacted, how they communicated and prepared for the future. This was used in the creation of my own Mother: Seer and Mastermind, the first to truly understand how humans work."
Okay, each Endbringer is the child of the one before it. That's a much better reason they call themselves "she". Could that mean that if they killed the newest one no other would follow? It's a slim hope they can't simply have a second child, but it was A hope. Still, Behemoth the "first to function", there could very well be a number of hidden invalid Endbringers capable of reproducing somewhere.
"She manipulated them to great effect and studied humanities greatest powers: Organisation and Cooperation. I am the culmination of that effort. Queen Administrator, Lady of cooperation. So I want to cooperate with you. We can come to a mutually beneficially agreement. The High Priest, The Locked One and the Prince of Light, those you call Triumvirate, they will found a city. In it you will assemble all the most powerful Shardblessed once every three months." A mouth opened up and showed a grin made of Nightmares.
"And then we will fight. And there will be none of your precious Civilians in the way. But if not enough Shardblessed come or you cannot put up a good fight, well, the other three Shardlings will each wipe out a random settlement in a hit and run. My... Ancestors might disagree with this agreement, but if the High Priest refuses to fight them anywhere but there, they will come to see reason. Seer and Mastermind will see that you refuse to put up a fight anywhere else and will redirect the others. Now..."
With that the mass of Bugs flew forward into the massed heroes. Hundreds were felled, but none died. Dragon exterminated great swathes of them with fire until her suit was smashed against a steel girder with the help of spider silk and pulleys. In the End only four defenders stood, using giant dogs wrapped in dark clouds to smash a crane turned Bug-Zapper into the last conglomeration of Bugs, which fled.
Construction of the new Parahuma-only city, Hero's Stand(Unofficially called Endbringer's Bait) began shortly after.
3.15 (nocarename)
Occasionally it's a pain that the Federation keeps their ships so clean. The only way I would be able to pull together a swarm would be to raid the main bio labs, and they were simply too far away. Also I didn't have the authorization codes.
Instead I rushed the attacking Cardassian. Taking a phaser from someone isn't much different from taking any other hand gun - with the added bonus that it's harder for their friends to shoot through your opponent and hit you. A few seconds of scuffling and a headbutt had me armed and diving back behind the minimal cover of the nearest intersection.
"Ensign Hebert, I see you've signed up for Lieutenant Commander Worf's general self defense training program. An excellent choice if you're going to keep finding yourself in these situations," said the Captain's voice. I glanced over to where it had come from to see Captain Picard, his jacket slightly open, and looking far too comfortable for someone having a running gun battle in his own ship. I suppose we were pretty close to his quarters.
I probably looked too comfortable too. In my defense, it really was less stressful that sitting on my hands unable to help when the ship as a whole fought.
"Well, I couldn't just leave them alone Sir," I said over the sound of Cardassian return fire, "The Enterprise is a large ship. They could get lost."
"Quite right. Now, let's go welcome them aboard. Thoroughly."
-0-
"Sometimes I wish I knew where Ensign Hebert came from," said Commander Riker to his friend Lieutenant Commander Data as they worked to restore the main computer, and incidentally end the boarding situation in a single stroke, "And then I look at her holodeck scenarios."
"The 'Wards and Warlords of the Bay' has proved quite popular," commented Data.
"As a horror scenario. I'm pretty sure that Miss Hebert is the basis for one of the characters."
Data cocked his head to one side, his hands still flashing through repositioning isolinear chips inside a wall panel. "That would be awkward to bring up," he agreed finally.
"Well, your understatement is still a wonder Mister Data."
"Thank-you Sir. Re-initiating computers now."