4.1 (The_One_Butcher)
Armsmaster summarized: "Today at eleven hundred Lung and his Gang show up suddenly in our containment cells. While we are still looking for the Teleporter who's done that the Simurgh is hit by some kind of beam and explodes. Then a Tinker Vessel claiming to be the Starship Enterprise crash-lands in the Bay and started to broadcast: "Don't mind us, we aren't even here. Really, look the other way, we've got a Prime Directive to keep. Our course is clear: We will give the Credit for the capture, the Endbringer Kill and the Enterprise to Leet."
"Wait, WHAT?" Director Piggot looked at Armsmaster as if he lost his mind. Well, he did, quite a number of Loops ago, but he thinks he's more stable now than before.
"It's easy really. If it's Leet we'll seem informed. If it's not, well it was just a clever strategy to draw out the real Hero, because no Tinker in this world will want his work to be associated with that bozo. Also it's just geeky enough to be him. If he build a powerful matter reassembler able to teleport things and even destroy Endbringers, he totally would pack it into the Enterprise."
At that point Piggot pressed the Master/Stranger Button under her desk with her toe. Because either Armsmaster has really gone insane with envy or there was someone controlling him. Armsmaster seemed different these last months, first she thought it was just his relationship with Dragon, but there was clearly more at work.
Armsmaster, whose Visor informed him of the Button Press just thought:"Not again... Maybe I should get acting lessons..."
4.2 (The_One_Butcher)
"Her Name is Massive.", Miss Militia explained to Armsmaster, "She's supernaturally proficient with any weapon she touches, from a knife to a scramjet. She triggered yesterday and proceeded to kill Lung with a pebble. You will build her something nonleathal and you will work together with Dragon and Flechette to give her something with maximum penetration."
"And... Why?"
"Because.", the new cape said, "When I hold a projectile weapon and look at pictures of Endbringers there's always one specific tiny little spot I want to shoot. And it's not where something else might traditionally keep it's brain."
"So..."
"Hit it's Weak Spot for Massive Damage."
"It seems you have a Massive Problem Bakuda." Clockblocker groaned. Really, that girl would be a really good addition to the team. If it weren't for that awful pun...
"Ouch," She gloated to the downed Tattletale, "Seems like you will have a Massive headache in the Morning."
"Man, Piggot gave me a Massive amount of Paperwork for that Joke..."
"Jack Slash! I have killed Leviathan and the Simurgh! You are just a little worm due some Massive retribution!
"Oh, I seem to have a Massive Problem." Scion said, prompting Kid Win to shoot at him and hitting Massive instead, whose lower body disintegrated.
Her last words were: "You Massive fool..."
4.3 (The_One_Butcher)
"Taylor?", Danny asked his daughter, "I found this Bachelor's certificate under your bed. I never knew you took university courses in Biology... And now that I asked at the University they tell me you also have a Master's and are currently working on your promovation? So you're some kind of super-Genius and didn't even tell me?"
"Eh, I wanted to wait and surprise you with my PhD. I mean, what would be more awesome, "Hey Dad, I tested out of High School!" or "It's Doctor Hebert, thank you very much!"
Her father looked at her with a dumbfounded look. Then he sank to his knees. "I don't even know my own daughter anymore..."
Taylor frowned. "Somehow that's not the reaction a father should have to find out his daughter is getting a PhD..."
Danny snapped his head up. "Er... yes, Taylor... I am disappointed you didn't tell me you tested out of high school, but I am very proud of you. I am mostly disappointed in myself that I didn't notice. I must have been a horrible father since... Anyway, you graduated High School and got two degrees! I say we're eating out for the next three days!"
Taylor smiled. She completely forgot how much she loved her father in the last few Millennia. The whole "Doctor Bees!" thing could wait.
4.4 (The_One_Butcher)
* Topic: The Next Attack. In: BoardsWorld NewsMain Simurgh (Original Poster)(Moderator) (Veteran Member) (Confirmed Endbringer)
Posted on April 16th, 2011:
You guys got any Suggestions?
(Showing Page 127 of 127)
Simurgh (Original Poster) (Moderator) (Veteran Member) (Confirmed Endbringer)
Replied on April 16th, 2011:
Those are all basically "NOT HERE!" Booooring... I hoped you'd give me some good ideas! I was hoping for some experienced locals listing reasons why their town would be a good target.
I'm thinking China. There's a really funny chain-reaction when I kill... Ah, Spoilers, but trust me, it's going to be hilarious!
Lev might hit North America first though, I set him up with a Date there. I'm a little anxious about it though... her future's a little hazy lately, damn Alcott brat...
* Topic: Ziz's : BoardsSite NewsMain Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted on April 16th, 2011:
Tinmother has given the long term Troll and often banned but always somehow recreated account "Simurgh" Moderator status, Veteran Member and the badge (Confirmed Endbringer). The question is: Are you Insane?
(Showing Page 1 of 15)
Tinmother (Moderator)
Replied on April 16th, 2011:
I found a way to finally ban her in a way her constant hacking of the site couldn't reverse. Next thing I know my house was on fire and a meteor exploded my car. My laptop mysteriously survived and a swarm of cockroaches jumping from the roof onto the keyboard entered the address of a website for speculation about the next Endbringer attack on a topic called "your ass".
Simurgh (Moderator) (Veteran Member) (Confirmed Endbringer)
Replied on April 16th, 2011:
I might need a sockpuppet account, because now it's too easy.
4.5 (The_One_Butcher)
I wonder why I never did this before... I could have done this at any time after that Dragonball Loop...
"So..." Armsmaster asked the new Heroine in her red and blue outfit. "Your name is..."
"Supergirl!"
"Yeah, I was afraid of that..."
"So..." Armsmaster asked the new Heroine in her red and blue outfit. "Your name is..."
"Spidergirl!"
"Yeah, I was afraid of that..."
"So..." Armsmaster asked the new Heroine in her Black leather outfit. "Your name is..."
"Batgirl."
"Yeah, I was afraid of that..."
"So..." Armsmaster asked the new Heroine in her Black leather outfit. "Your name is..."
"Catwoman."
"Yeah, I was afraid of that..."
"So..." Armsmaster asked the new Heroine in her Brown leather outfit. "Your name is..."
"Squirrelgirl!"
"Yeah, I was afraid of that..."
"So..." Armsmistress asked the new Hero in his red and blue outfit. "Your name is..."
"Spiderman."
"Yeah, I was afraid of that..."
"So..." Armsmaster asked the new Heroine in her red and blue outfit. "Your name is..."
"Captain America!"
"Yeah, I was afraid of that..."
"It's Unisex!"
"So..." Weaver asked the new Hero in his Black outfit. "Your name is..."
"Batman."
The Leader of the BBP considered the Teenage Hero. "Actually, that's really fitting. Good call Colin."
"WHAT? How do you know my name?"
...
On second thought, her loop memories don't contain any Batman Comics. "So you're not Awake?"
"What do you mean? Am I not talking to you?"
"Eh... No, one of my lesser known powers acting up. It's suggesting an apprenticeship with Dragon. I'm sure I can get you one."
To see Arms... Batman look that ecstatic is a rare sight. Mainly I want Dragon to collect a lot of footage of Colin as a teenage Batman.
1.11 cont (Rex)
"You must understand, Undersiders, I do not use fear as Lung did, or manipulation as Kaiser does. I would have you work alongside me because you know I am the person that is best equipped to provide what you desire, and that nobody else can or will give you a better offer. You, in turn, are the group best suited to forward my agendas."
Coil prattled on about his plans to take the city. I still remembered the anxiety I had felt the first time I rode in this car. Although I wonder if that would have been true if he had peppered his speech with quite so many little compliments and subtly praising turns of phrase. Sam really had been doing a number on him.
I could still see the old Coil in there. He was just as willing to kill and torture and blackmail to get his way. Still kept that old preference for being the devil that people made deals with. However, that devil had apparently decided to adopt a couple of kids and turned into a doting grandfather whenever they were involved.
To be honest, it was a little creepy. Especially when I remembered one of his kinks I had discovered from when I hadn't learned that constant surveillance of absolutely everyone in my range wasn't necessary. Getting a bullet to the back of the head courtesy of Contessa or the Number Man was still preferable to accidently listening to Squealer and Skidmark.
"Skitter," Coil spoke, interrupting my thoughts. "I came prepared, tonight, with offers in mind for the rest of your team. I can help care for Bitch's collections of rescued dogs, and help ensure less animals need rescue in the future. Grue is relying on me for a personal matter, and he knows that my taking power can only ensure that things go his way without difficulty. Delphi was already informed of my plans the same as Tattletale and has given me the terms of her allegiance. You and you alone, Skitter, have me wondering what you desire at the end of things."
Tattletale, to my left, leaned forward again, interest clear on her face.
I had to be convincing. No way was I going to let something slip past the radar and alert Tattletale now. Loops where she figured out that I had heard this offer before tended to damage my friendships with the rest of the group and that caused all sorts of difficulties down the line. So I maintained my occlumency to the highest degree I could manage and gave serious thought to what I wanted out of this loop.
I decided to be honest with Coil for once.
"I value the safety of my friends and family, humanity in general, and myself, in that order. The other gangs, the drugs, the poverty they all get in the way of that. I joined up with the Undersiders because I was looking for a group of friends I could have fun with. We were going to end up trying to eliminate all the other forces in town eventually, so if you can cut out half the problems and take up the burden of actually running a city then that's fine by me. My price is that you play it straight with me and mine. Do that, and I'll destroy every obstacle in the path of that shiny golden future." I finished speaking and kept my head firmly focused towards Coil. In truth, I was looking through my bugs' eyes to gauge the reaction of not only him, but also Sam and Tattletale.
Sam was staring into space, fiddling with the end of the spider silk bandanna wrapped over her eyes. She didn't need to give any indication of where her attention was focused, so for all I knew she was inspecting the winning numbers of next month's lottery. I'd tried to emphasize the importance of friendship and the protection thereof but I wasn't sure if it had sunk in the way I wanted.
Tattletale was giving me a look. It was her 'She actually meant that, has the power to follow through with what she said, and despite the fact that I should find this comforting I feel as though I should be suffering some sort of existential crisis' face. Tattletale could display some very complex expressions and I had eventually learned to read them exceedingly well. It was so hard to get a straight answer out of her about her emotions otherwise. This face in particular was familiar to me because she tended to show it whenever I announced my intentions to do something that was well outside of what she thought I could accomplish but her power told her I believed to be a foregone conclusion.
I secretly relished every opportunity I had to see that look on her face. I not so secretly relished the face she displayed after I had proved my beliefs correct. Shocked and admiring awe was somehow so very appealing on Lisa.
Coil shook his head in reply to my demands, "Not something I can really offer in good conscience, Miss Skitter.."
He raised his hand to stop me before I could open my mouth. Not that I was going to, but he did. "What you're asking for, I already intended to do. To give it to you as a gift would be little different than offering you an amount in cash, when I already intend to give you as much money as you require."
"So you're going to improve Brockton Bay, and keep your employees safe?" I said, carefully.
"Don't get me wrong. I will not claim to be a good person – I assure you I am not. That said, you are likely to discover I am a proud man. I would consider it a catastrophic failure on my part if this city and its people did not thrive under our rule, a tremendous blow to my ego."
I nodded. He would and had been quite upset about that sort of thing, in timelines where I had arranged for such. The implication that he would be sharing the power was a new twist. Sam's direct work, or merely because his precious precog wasn't a drug addict this time? Note to self: investigate conditions necessary to make Dinah work for Coil voluntarily. Coil tended to provide challenges over the widest number of loops following the same scenario, but always got screwed over by Dinah and the more long term consequences of his decisions. Without those problems he could start being an obstacle again in some of my less explored routes.
Coil continued, "Our desires on individual subjects may differ, however. I would argue there will always be crime, always be drugs, always be some sort of danger for you and your team to face."
"I'm not saying there won't. I'm just saying that there's room for improvement. When I was in grade six, more of my classmates could explain what a K-hole was than name a dozen countries. And it would get boring without a little bit of risk."
"I cannot promise quick fixes, Skitter. What I will tell you is that individuals like yourselves would control territories and be responsible for maintaining your own kind of order in those areas, with whatever means you saw fit. Over time, people would adjust to this, crime rates would decrease. I would simultaneously be controlling the flow of product into the city, reducing the distribution of most drugs, while making other, more benign product available in their place. Crime and drugs cannot be conquered, but they are animals I believe I can tame."
"And the city itself?" I read from my mental script. His delivery and word choice was just different enough that I felt the need to pay attention, but not enough for me to improvise new lines when the old ones worked so well, "Fixing the ferry?"
"Yes. Rest assured, if you were to accept my offer, I would want you to contact me and speak up at any time you felt I was not following through in any department. I want this city to be our shining jewel. I might be a proud man, but I would rather you injure that pride, even provoke it intentionally, rather than let me be complacent."
I nodded once, slowly.
"I have said my piece, then. I leave you to consider it, Undersiders. I recognize that this is not what you signed on for, in the beginning. I know it might not have the same appeal in the scope of costumed hijinks, and I'm prepared for the fact that that this might lead you to refuse this offer. All I hope is that if you do refuse me, if you decide you are more comfortable as simple uncommon criminals, that our prior arrangement will stand."
"You've invested this much in us, and if we say no, we can just walk away?" Regent asked him.
Coil spread his hands a bit, "What would you see me do, Regent? Murder you? Threaten you? Orchestrate an arrest? All of my most valuable information assets are on this team. Any attempt on my part is almost guaranteed to fail, and you may count it as a compliment that I would not want any of you escaping the attempt and coming after me as a dedicated adversary. If one of you were to turn traitor on the rest and I could count on the rest of your support to help me eliminate them, then yes, maybe I would succeed on those counts, but I'd much prefer to keep you all as friends."
He knocked on the window behind him. Immediately, the limousine slowed down and pulled over. As I glanced outside, I saw we were in the Docks.
"Think on the subject. Discuss it and get back to me with your reply, the sooner the better, and please no later than a week from now. Tattletale, Delphi, it should be obvious, but I formally free you from all stipulations in your contract requiring you to keep my identity as your sponsor private. You may give my contact information to your teammates."
"Sure thing," Tattletale replied. Sam nodded distractedly alongside her.
"And before I forget, I arranged individual accounts for each of you with a supervillain banker by the name of The Number Man, as paying for tonight's job in bills, naturally, was unfeasible. My men will provide you with your account information and the instructions for accessing these accounts as you retrieve your dogs."
Grue extended a hand, "I'm not sure what we'll do, whether we'll take this deal, but it's been good working with you thus far, and I hope to continue."
Coil took Grue's hand and shook it, firm, "Likewise, Grue, Undersiders. I hope you have an excellent evening and look forward to hearing from you." He nodded his head at Sam as we exited his limousine. As we collected the last of the dogs and Coil's Limousine drove away, Tattletale turned from where she had been staring at the limo the entire time the rest of us were attending to Bitch's dogs.
"Guys, we might have a slight problem." She said, crossing her arms across her chest. "Coil had us as his expendable force, he was a literal psychopath and didn't have an actual care for us at all. But he meant every single word he said in the car and is almost starting to consider himself paternal towards us."
"The first part's annoying, and the last bit's kinda creepy, but I'm failing to see how the boss liking us is a problem." Regent drawled in response. I could understand his sentiments, anyone coming off paternal was a problem as far as Regent was concerned, and Coil was not a good pick.
"Because unless somebody was fucking with his head, there's no way he would be that concerned about anyone. That isn't the man that hired us."
Oops.
I suppressed my desire to glare at Sam.
4.6 (The_One_Butcher)
The Heroes stood in silent vigil, waiting for the new Endbringer to show herself. Armsmaster, whose living room and workshop was destroyed every time the Simurgh attacked, each time in more and more improbable coincidences, hefted his new halberd. Speculation on the new and improved Endbringer had run rampant for these last two months. Armsmaster had prepared for a possible Tinker-Endbringer. His loadout was ready for all kinds of Electronic disrupting and metalworking. He had a second Halberd ready, should it become necessary to destroy lots of small fireproof robots, a logical next step. Dragon was going to go for concussive blasts, acids and nanofilament-cutters. She was preparing for something like Nilbog, a hoarde of custom but biological Monsters.
Which was when Administrator rose over the Horizon.
"Witness." an eldritch whisper came from a small mass of bugs that had snuck up on them. "The birth of a shardling."
A hurried conversation came through the wire. "Should we try to interfere? If Administrator has a Main body it could be there. Maybe we can interrupt their reproductive cycle and make sure there are no new Endbringers, ever!"
"I don't detect anything but the usual bugs. A high concentration, yes forming a dome." Dragon intervened. "Also it might jeopardize this tenuous arrangement with the Endbringers. Deaths to Endbringers are a rarity nowadays, the Economy recovered. We cannot risk it."
"But," Armsmaster countered, "the Endbringers are learning, improving themselves. They become ever stronger and better. We are fighting a delaying action, while time is on their side!"
"Politics. Orders from above. Also the Triumvirate and the PRT seems to think that humanity gains in power faster than the shardlings. While they do learn, they do so only slowly and sluggishly. We'll see today if we can afford to wait. It seems a low risk experiment to them, while breaking the "second truce" bears risk right now, which to them seems a lot more dire."
The Dome solidified and a muted flash shone through it. Then it dispersed. A cry of anguish rose over the Battlefield as they beheld the fearsome form of...
...
Hello? I said a cry of anguish rose over the Battlefield! Hey! Why aren't you covering in fear?
Well... Okay, there was a silence instead.
There was a silence instead, as the Heroes waited for the other shoe to drop. Then finally there were cries of anguish, which through a trick of the acoustics of the Battlefield sounded suspiciously like incredulous laughter.
"Uhm, Hi. My... my name is Fluttershy. And... I'm gonna be your Endbringer today... If you don't mind that is..." The horrible Monstrosity shrunk into herself and Squeaked.
Casualties shot up, even as Dragon shouted over the com-link.
"THE NEW ENDBRINGER APPEARED! ACCORD, WE NEED TWO HUNDRED KILOGRAM OF INSULIN YESTERDAY!"
4.7 (misterq)
Taylor laughed as she flew off from the school roof. It was still amazing to her how well people treated a girl that rode around everywhere on the back of a giant bee - a girl who also carried several jars of bees in a bandoleer (bee-ndoleer?), and used a weapon consisting nothing more than a giant angrily buzzing burlap sack simply labeled 'BEE-IN BAG!'
Now it was just a matter to think of a good cape name.
Bee Keeper? Nope.
Queen Bee? Nah.
Honey Pot? Definitely no.
4.8 (The_One_Butcher)
Finally. When somehow all attempts at creating a distraction failed, Coil had to try and kidnap the Alcott brat one try at a time. Coil was just about to collapse the reality where he didn't kidnap his little pet when he slipped and mashed his face on the keyboard. He blacked out for a bit. When he came too he was covered in Cockroaches, which fell from a hole in his ceiling. He looked up in his safe reality, where there was no such hole and scooted his chair away. In the other reality he shook himself free from the roaches and looked at his screen.
In his wild flailing he somehow opened the Parahumans Online Board.
* Topic: The Next Attack. In: BoardsWorld NewsEndbringers Simurgh (Original Poster)
Posted on April 28th, 2011:
Your Ass.
USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST
(Showing Page 1 of 1)
Tinmother (Moderator)
Replied on April 28th, 2011:
I keep banning you! Why won't it work? Stop it!
The last two words were highlighted. He collapsed that reality and vowed to leave Dinah Alcott well alone.
4.9 (The_One_Butcher)
"Hello! I'm going to make you my minions!" Uber turned around to look at the UC which has somehow managed to sneak up on them.
"I don't think that's how it works." He said dryly and leveled his Diamond Sword(made of an extremely durable blue aluminum oxide crystal) at her.
"Oh, yes, that is how it works! Because I have the very best power and will use it to make you my minions!" The girl smiled at them brightly. "Come on, try to guess my power! It's going to be SO AWESOME on the Video." She coughed and intoned. "I will defeat you with my awesome Powers!"
Uber and Leet did love nothing so much as playing along. "You have Super Strength!"
The girl wipped on the balls of her feet. "Nope!"
"Flight?"
"Nope!"
"You're durable?"
"Nope!"
"You can shoot Lasers?"
"Nope!"
"You can make amazing gadgets."
"Nope!"
"You can use mind control?" "Nope!" "You have minions or other stuff you control?" "Nope!" "Telekinesis?" "Nope!" "You can perform any kind of special attack or defense?" "Nope!" "Do you know Kung Fu?"
The girl just smiled. "Not yet..."
They looked at each other in a practiced fashion and said in unison: "Then what can you do?"
"This! Game Saved." The Girl shuddered and looked up. "Urgh... Dammit! Well, this time I will dodge left and then I can finally defeat you!"
Uber and Leet let the implications sink in. "Oh fuck." It was a one sided beat down.
"My name is Player One." The two of them bowed deeply.
"We apologize Mistress, we didn't realize you were the Player One."
"Rise. You won't need to kneel ever again, because, together we will rule the world!" She declared defiantly to the heavens. "Game Saved!" With that she shuddered and slumped in defeat.
"Sadly I have still not managed to keep Scion from getting so bored he destroys the world. I think the Key is that we should NOT kill the Endbringers this time."
Uber and Leet paled even further. "I'll spend the next few subjective centuries psychoanalyzing the Endbringers..."
Player continued to have explosive mood swings each time she saved. It was justified, seeing as for her subjective years or Centuries passed each time. They always wondered weather they were in the final timeline or going to be wiped like RAM. One day that fear became dreadful reality.
"Game Saved. Fuck this, I'm taking a Vacation! I'm going to see weather or not I can get Panacea to make out with me and fix my eyesight during the Endbringer attack today. Go on, YOLO! I'm not keeping this timeline anyway.
Uber and Leet exchanged horrified glances.
4.10 (Zulaq)
"Lung just isn't a challenge anymore", she mused aloud to herself, "Maybe I should give him some more ramp-up time before breaking out insectizilla next time." Fighting a giant dragon using masses of insects formed into an even larger beast just didn't have the same appeal as it did the first time she pulled this trick.
With just a fraction of her focus, she directed the venomous insects which made up Insectizilla's 'hands' to bite Lung and deliver the payload of poison which she calculated would be enough to knock him out. Now she had about three minutes to prepare for Armsmaster's arrival, should she go with plan A, and offer to join the Protectorate as a Case 53 cape, or let Armsamster draw his own-
Slurp.
Darn, she was out of lemonade.
"Want another one?" A woman handed Taylor another drink from behind her.
"Thanks-" Only centuries of experience with Imp kept Taylor from jumping out of her chair. Instead, she calmly put the drink on the table next to her chair, while assessing the woman with her bugs without getting out of her chair.
The woman was white-haired, tall, well endowed, tanned and wearing an outfit which Taylor was certain would get her arrested for indecent exposure, if any cop could gather their wits at the woman's ethereal beauty. Oh, and she had appeared so suddenly that Taylor had had no warning whatsoever of her approach before she was handing her the drink.
Calmly, Taylor got out of her chair in order to face her visitor. As she looked at her with her own eyes, Taylor could tell that she had never come across this woman before, but the obvious look of recognition and assessment told her that this woman did know something about her. Then Taylor noticed the red markings on the woman's face, and she had to resist the urge to facepalm, she didn't want to deal with this right now.
"What's a goddess doing here? Urd told me you guys were going to stay away until my next fused loop."
The woman laughed, it was cheerful, but had an unnerving undertone. "I'm sure my daughter is keeping her promise. Although, she must be tearing her hair out at the idea of me being here and not being able to intervene because of it. She always does worry like that."
Taylor rubbed her temple. "I repeat, how is a goddess doing here?"
The woman frowned slightly, "I'm not a goddess, silly." She smiled once more. "I'm Hild, and I represent the other side-"
Tayor did not like the sound of that, but Hild continued to speak before she could interrupt.
"-And I'm here to fill you in on the details that my daughter probably missed."
"First off, Urd never mentioned having a mother," Taylor pointed out, "Second, what do you mean, you represent the other side?"
Hild gave a huff, arms on her hips "That is so like her, to forget her dear old mother. Just because I run Hell-"
Taylor froze.
"-And rule over all the demons-"
Taylor gaped.
"-doesn't mean she can get away with not introducing such an interesting friend to her mother."
Taylor regarded Hild with an extremely cautious gaze, and began assessing exactly what insects she had at her disposal. "What exactly does the leader of Hell want with me?"
"Oh, they just call me the Daimakaichō," Hild gave Taylor a slight dismissive hand wave, "It's more appropriate. And I just want to be your friend."
Taylor was quick to reply, "I have plenty of friends, thanks."
Hild gave another dismissive gesture, "You have plenty of mortal friends, and they don't even have a clue who you are most of the time. Why, I bet you've never even told them what you are even when they are awake."
Hild's face grew sad. "That's no way for someone to live, you need someone to be a true friend. Your mortal friends are a fine stopgap, but eventually you will lose your ability to really relate to them."
Taylor was quick to find a comeback, "What about the gods? Belldandy could make a great friend. I don't think I'm desperate enough to become besties with the devil."
Hild scowled. "The goddesses are the reason you're in this situation in the first place. If they had just done their jobs, then you wouldn't be reliving the same few years over and over again, and this world wouldn't be the hellhole it is. They want you to clean up their mess."
"And besides, they've already decided your future for you. That whole bit about 'We will welcome you as one of us', what they really mean is that you'll just become one of the many, many gods who run around at the whim of my husband, fixing brush fires and errors for eternity."
Taylor snorted, "And I suppose that you have some fancy counteroffer where I'll come work for you. Become one of your lackeys instead."
Hild laughed uproariously. "I've got plenty of minions already, I don't need another sycophant." Hild smiled conspiratorially at Taylor, "I'll tell you what, I'll play this straight, no lying, no deception, what I'm about to say is the absolute truth, I'd even put it in a contract."
Taylor braced herself, not believing the self-proclaimed devil for a moment, but remembering what Urd had told her about contracts and their inviolability.
"I want you to be my friend, plain and simple. There are so few beings who I meet who are not either one of my own, regard me as pure evil or totally unable to grasp the levels of reality I work on. In fact, there's all of one, and even He's as far above me as I am above a common mortal."
"The idea of having someone who can be friends with me is something I gave up on a long time ago, but in you I see the chance for someone who might be more than some business relationship, and it's intoxicating."
Taylor was about to reply, but Hild put a finger on her lips. "Shh, you don't have to make a decision now, we have eternity after all. I just wanted to meet you, and let you know my intentions." Hild turned around and started walking to the edge of the warehouse roof. "I'll be going now, but expect me to pop in every now and then."
She turned to face Taylor once more. "Bye." She blew a kiss at Taylor and waved her right hand, then vanished.
Taylor gradually lowered herself into her chair, she had a lot to think about.
4.11 (Zulaq)
Taylor Woke up in bed. As had become standard for her, she reviewed her in-loop memories for departures from her baseline.
It seemed that this loop was pretty much identical to her first time around, although she did have a different power than normal. Taylor shrugged, she'd gotten used to the loops throwing odd powers at her.
This time her power was…
Heat vision.
Ok. A bit more straight forward than her usual powers, but she could work with this.
And so the villians of Brocton Bay learned to fear the mighty heroine, Heat! She who's eyes of justice punished any crime she spotted.
Unfortunately, a month after she started the villains of the city decided to team up in order to stop her. And while Taylor was good, she didn't have the same situational awareness as she normally did, and was sniped by Victor.
Biomanipulation.
Alright, Taylor had to resist the urge to pump her fist, she had Pancea's power! Oh the things she could do with this…
Two weeks later Brocton Bay was abandoned as wave after wave of giant mutant beetles overwhelmed the city's heroes.
Elemental Transmutation
Currency manipulation isn't that bad a crime, Taylor wondered to herself, at least in her book. Sure, a little gold here and there, some speculation on the future value of certain hard-to-get materials, nothing too big.
It certainly didn't warrant the Birdcage, she thought to herself as she transmuted String Theory's arm into uranium at the Tinker's urging.
Therapeutic Punching
Really.
Her power was to make people saner by punching them.
Taylor honestly had no idea what she was going to do with that.
"Oh look, it's Taylor! It's a wonder she ever got out of the mental institution!"
I punched the girl who had made the comment. She started sobbing, but they weren't tears of pain.
"Oh my god! Taylor, I'm so sorry! Waaa! I'm such a terrible person!"
4.12 (The_One_Butcher)
"So your power is some kind of Pocket Dimension?" Alexandria Boggled.
"Yeah. I can put any nonliving thing into it. And apparently Endbringers don't count as alive."
"So when you just walked up to Leviathan..."
"I put him into my pocket. Boom, no Endbringer.. However there's a high probability that upon my death everything inside it will burst forth."
Alexandria cut her off. "Panacea will from now on spend all of her time with you. Shielders and Thinkers will guard you in shifts."
Pocket, such an unassuming name for the greatest Cape alive, smiled. "I should maybe check what he's doing."
Alexandria looked alarmed, so Taylor reassured her: "Don't worry, I won't have to open a portal or let him out for that. I can check completely safely." She closed her eyes.
"Oh fuck!" Taylor caused every near cape to nearly have a heart attack. "I forgot about the Afterimage!"
Alexandria tensed. "What will happen when your Pocket is full?" She hurried. "Will it burst? Will it explode violently? How much time do we have before he's freed?"
"Naw," Taylor said sadly, "I can just dump the water every forty hours or so. No chance of Leviathan escaping by accident during that. And it wouldn't explode, Leviathan would just crush himself."
She looked up with a crestfallen expression: "But now my lunch is all soggy..."
A few Loops later Taylor was shoved into the Locker... Only to have thirty Endbringers burst from it.
She made sure there were witnesses who, along with Sophia, miraculously survived. The newspaper titled "Grateful Endbringers honor local girl." with her Picture both in and out of mask was her new most prized posession.
Next time Sam was awake she would have her personally deliver a Mother's Day present for Sophia from each of them.
4.13 (bobbananaville)
"I don't get you." 'Twilight' glanced up at Rainbow Dash, confused by what the speedster said. "I mean, not you as in Twilight Sparkle, you as in 'Phantom Looper'. Why do you do that?"
"Um… Rainbow, what're you talking about?" The purple unicorn frowned, and Dash could have almost been convinced that she really didn't comprehend what Dash spoke of but for the nigh-imperceptible widening of her eyes. "I don't…"
"You don't have to keep the act up; I know you're looping; Twilight's the anchor, after all. You can go back to acting out her lines all you want later, but please just answer me: why do so many people like to take her place and act exactly as she would? Why do so many loopers like this ghosting thing?" At this point, Rainbow Dash noticed that her tone was becoming more insistent, and tried to tone down a bit. "I mean, y'know, if you're fine with telling me."
'Twilight Sparkle' didn't answer; her eyes were wide, and Rainbow started questioning whether this rendition of Twilight really was native to the loops - there had been quite a few loops wherein the non-looping Twilight existed, though the looping version of her always existed simultaneously. "Maybe I should just go back home and pretend that I didn't-"
"No!" The purple unicorn almost shouted. She quieted down before continuing. "No, don't do that. It's alright; I'm a ghost looper, yeah." Rainbow Dash sighed in relief, glad that she hadn't embarrassed herself by acting insane. "It's… Well, in my baseline, my life wasn't particularly great. I was bullied, and when I ended up with friends I still had trouble trusting them. I had trouble trusting anybody, actually." Her eyes were downcast now.
"Uh huh. So that's why you're acting as a ghost-looper?" Rainbow frowned; there weren't enough details for her to work up much sympathy, and she didn't quite get how this could be the reason why this girl - she needed to find out her real name, actually - would give up most, if not all, autonomy in decision making in order to experience Twilight Sparkle's life.
"Well, yeah!" The ghost-looper's looked back up at the pegasus as her frown turned upside down. "Twilight Sparkle was in a position like mine - she wasn't bullied, mind, but she was isolated and didn't have much social experience. Unlike me, though, she was given the assignment of learning about friendship. In her place, I've the loop just spending time with my - her - friends, putting my life in their hands and vice versa. I stu- she studies friendship like a science and becomes better for it. I thought that if I could experience her life, I could become better too."
Rainbow Dash nodded, a smile forming. "Well, I guess that makes sense. Still, if you've been Twilight until now, I suppose I haven't introduced myself to you yet." She raised her hoof. "My name's Rainbow Dash, and I can clear the skies in ten seconds flat! And go around the world, but that's a footnote. You?"
The purple unicorn hesitated for a second before reciprocating, placing her hoof against Rainbow's. "Call me Skitter."
4.14 (bobbananaville)
Rainbow Dash wasn't used to Awakening with no in-loop memories; usually whenever she entered a loop, she had something with which she could immediately evaluate the world she had entered along with a preset(?) role to fill. At the very least, her pre-awake self had existed and had influenced the world around her prior to her amnesia.
In this case, however, Rainbow Dash found that she'd materialized in front of a high school right when students had begun pouring in. Everybody stopped to stare at the pegasus (for she was in her baseline form, though this didn't consciously register yet); some had brought out phones and were closing in to take pictures; others were backing away in fear. Pressured as she was, the rainbow-maned Pegasus did the first thing she could think of: she bolted.
"A winged equine creature was seen outside Arcadia High this morning. Eyewitness reports say that it had materialized 'out of nowhere' and 'vanished' before any pictures could be taken, but the being was described as having 'blue fur' and 'a rainbow-like mane'. In addition, speeds reaching past mach five - five times the speed of sound - were recorded above Brockton Bay by the local Protectorate division at around same time."
Taylor's eyes widened. "You know it?" Lisa asked before she took a bite out of her burger.
Taylor took a moment to swallow her bacon-wrapped sausage. "Oh, uh, yeah. I replaced her loop's anchor just last loop; her name's Rainbow Dash. Didn't expect her to end up here." Taylor clicked a link on her browser and immediately snorted. "Look, there's a topic here called 'Equine Endbringer'."
"Why's that funny? Is she harmless or something?"
Taylor snorted again and shook her head. "Hell no; she could probably take down Levathian and Behemoth with ease - well, any long-lived looper could, but she's still powerful. It's just funny; thinking that Rainbow Dash, of all people, could be feared as a potential Endbringer."
"It makes sense, though," Lisa commented. "'Rainbow Dash' clearly isn't human. She came quite literally out of nowhere, and has enough power to accelerate to mach five immediately. So far, the only other known powerful non-humans are the Endbringers and Scion - and after the Simurgh, I doubt many people will treat it as a potential ally." She raised an eyebrow when Taylor's response was muffled by another bacon-wrapped sausage. "That's, er, a lot of meat you're eating."
Taylor swallowed what she was chewing (Swallowing without bothering to finish chewing didn't seem healthy, Lisa noted.) "I spent the last five years stuck with a diet of dandelions and hay. Excuse me if I want to pig out."
"What are the chances she'll stay in Brockton Bay for the next five hours?" Taylor asked her fellow looper.
"Ninety eight point six percent," Dinah replied, licking her ice-cream cone. "Eighty seven percent chance you'll find her in the next five hours if you search the docks. Oh, don't look surprised, Taylor, it was easy to predict where you were going with this."
Taylor nodded. "Er, right, thanks. Sorry for making you use your power like this, Dinah."
"No worries," the girl replied. "You going to kill Coil before he tries to kidnap me again?"
Taylor nodded. "I'll try, anyway; you know how hard it is to deal with his power." Dinah winced in sympathy. "I need to meet Rainbow first, though. I don't think she knows much about Earth Bet, and I don't want her doing anything rash here, like ascend."
"Ascend?"
"Yeah; she grows a horn and doubles in size. She becomes extremely powerful then, and she might cause a panic." Taylor chuckled as she remembered the previous loop, wherein Rainbow Dash pranked Celeastia by sabotaging Taylor's ascension (with her permission) and ascending in her place. Seeing the Princess' face as her plans fell to pieces was almost priceless. "She's pretty awesome, actually; I'll make sure she meets you before the loop is done. Alright, I'm off now. Thanks for the help!"
When Rainbow Dash discovered that she couldn't open her subspace pocket, she immediately thought of Eiken. But no; she still had all of her looper abilities, she just couldn't get access to her stuff. Which sucked, because without it she couldn't get a spare laptop or phone to scour the internet with. That meant she had to settle with what she could glean from newspapers and magazines.
Which was still a lot, mind; she'd found out that world was filled with superheroes and supervillains, most superheroes were in an organized, government approved group called the Protectorate, there were various amnesiacs with inhuman traits known as case fifty threes (she considered the idea that she could pose as one), and there were by beings known as 'Endbringers' which seemed to happen quite regularly. Still, what she learned wasn't quite enough for her to make any decisions as to what she could do that loop.
"Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow's ears perked up, and the cyan pegasus turned to look at the source; a girl in a black and gray suit that completely covered her. "I'm Skitter; we met last loop? Well, last loop for me, in any rate. I'm a local looper here in Brockton Bay."
"Hey, yeah! You're the one that ghosted for Twilight!" Rainbow grinned upon remembering the girl. "I didn't expect this place to have any locals, though; I can't open my pocket, so I thought this was a read-only loop."
"Oh, right, the subspace pocket. With all of the tinker tech laying around, subspace pockets had to be turned off to prevent corruption in other loops."
Rainbow nodded, saving her question (What is tinker tech?) for later. "I don't suppose you could give me a rundown of the baseline?"
"Long version or very long version?"
"There's no short version?" Taylor shook her head.
4.15 (The_One_Butcher)
Twilight awoke buried in filth. Oh... Nope, nope, noperooni, not dealing with that. A flash and she was two hundred meter up, immaculate and an Alicorn, waiting for her Loop Memories. Oh, a Bullying Campaign. A really bad friendship problem. That's exactly her field of expertise! And a Loop in the Hub. No, wait, there's Superheroes and... Giant Monsters? Mass Murderers? Nope, that's going to stop ASAP. She retrieved the other Elements of Harmony from her subspace Pocket and started casting Divinations.
One Rainbow Mind Hug and a few tearful days later a plan was formed. Or rather enough courage gathered to start looking for a solution.
The phone on Julia Roberts' desk rang. She took it and answered with the kindest voice she could muster, which, in the case of retired Superhero Empathy, was indeed kind. "Protectorate Main, Councelling, Roberts speaking. How can I help you."
"Hello. I Have an unbelievable problem. I have really suddenly and unexpectedly become a parahuman." The voice on the other end was tired and empty.
"That is a problem our Department specializes in. Don't worry, we will help you to the best of our abilities to overcome this trying time. Ask anything, I will try to help and if you want you can come to any PRT Building on short notice to recieve help. If you don't want to reveal your identity, don't worry, we are plenty discreed."
"Well I guess I should start from the beginning, but it's really quite unbelievable. You probably will think it's a prank call, I wouldn't believe myself. When I realized what was going on I spend the last few days crying." He sounded like it too. Triggers were always traumatic, but that voice was like his whole life came crashing down and there was nothing pleasant left to live for.
"Don't worry. I'm a professional. I would say I've heard stranger, but I was surprised often in the past. Even so, I want to help you and thus I will believe anything you tell me. If that means that I'm gonna be pranked a few times, that doesn't matter. Even If nearly all calls here were prank calls, helping one man avoid the fate of Villainy would be worth it."
"Well, well, Okay. When I woke up on Wednesday I was surrounded by most of the Slaughterhouse Nine."
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"Nono, that wasn't the worst part, although it was a pretty frightening moment. I took a second to recognize them, and then they started screaming and running away." What? Well maybe he got some kind of fear power? Oh... A power that made anyone afraid of you. Maybe even uncontrollable? It was likely given the man was so broken up about it. But better not jump to conclusions so early. "I tried to run too, because, let's face it, what else do you do in that situation, but I ran into Crawler who hadn't moved and just screamed. Bonesaw was backed to a wall and shaking like a leaf, shrinking into herself. For one moment I felt sorry for her, until I remembered who she was. Anyway, I scrambled away from Crawler, who twisted and turned and patted himself. He screamed "What happened to me? Oh God, what happened to me." I looked around and saw that Bonesaw was staring wide eyed at Mannequin who in turn examined himself, just as Crawler was. I wanted to know what was going on and that was when it hit me..." The man trailed off.
So... his power makes people panic and be afraid of each other? No... That wouldn't explain Crawler and Mannequin. When the man didn't answer she asked in a small voice: "Sir, what was it?" Soft, small, afraid. Just like the man must have felt.
"I remembered that I was Jack Slash..." What? Oh... That... That was really unbelievable. It was a good story, but no, she didn't believe it at all. Good thing she was so good at acting. Famous for it even in Aleph! Damn sods didn't pay her a cent... Stupid trigger event, ruining her acting career...
Her voice was free of any disbelief when she spoke again: "So, you lost your Memory?"
"No. Well, yes. We don't know who I was before, but... We can't be... them What they did... I... I can't even think of one of these things without..." The man on the other side broke down crying again. Whoohee, that sounds realistic. It's not like her power couldn't be fooled, but damn, that guy was at least some kind of parahuman. "Sir... If we can confirm your story, confirm it in any way, we'll help you."
Dragon watched the shaking little Girl as Alexandria, Eidolon and Gallant homed in on her, slowly circling closer. A mile away on a hilltop were the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine, minus the Siberian. It smelled like a trap. It was one at least in one direction. Legend was near, hiding in a cloud, the Hill was trapped with a fuel air explosive, enough to kill Jack, Shatterbird, Hatchet Face and maybe even Mannequin and Miasma. If they were even real. Burnscar could probably survive any kind of fireball and Crawler would probably not even get a scratch. A Stealth Bomber with three massive containment foam Missles as well as her new self regenerating Suit were to follow up the Detonation.
Surprisingly everything checked out. All Thinkers and Strangers consulted confirmed that they didn't want to kill anyone ever again. The New Nine didn't know where the Siberian was, that was a shame, because that probably meant the Siberian was immune to whatever happened to them. Bonesaw wanted to use her power to save as many lives as possible in order to maybe one day bring the total to positive. Mannequin wanted to start designing Ecological repair units and Terraformers again, as well as better anti-Endbringer shelters. Shatterbird, Hatchet Face, Burnscar, Crawler and Jack became Superheroes in the Protectorate. The PR was a nightmare, but in the End it was accepted that someone wiped their minds and put new people into the Slaughterhouse Nine. The unknown Hero wasn't found, probably because a power as scary as that meant he wanted to lay low and not use it on anyone short of the Nine.
A fansite for the Soul Reaper with suggestions sprang up and shortly after Heartbreaker, Butcher, Valefor and Eligas had an epiphany and turned themselves in.
The Damsel of Distress too, with many theatrics, wanted to once again convince people she was actually a scary Supervillain by claiming Soul Reaper had claimed her. But the Empaths said there was no change in her personality so she was simply carted of to Prison for a few weeks and put on a normal Probation.