5.1 (nocarename)
I woke up and, as things weren't an immediate disaster, I let the Loop's memories settle in to place.
...Well.
I hadn't been bullied. At all. I was, in fact, friends with Emma Barnes and Sophia Hess and one of the queens of Winslow.
That was, well it was something was what it was.
-0-
It wasn't hard to find Sophia at school. All you had to do was to head for the fields and look the same direction as most of the boys. I had to get closer though.
"Sophia, got a minute?" I asked.
"Sure, what's up Taylor?" she replied without breaking from her stretching.
"I Woke Up this morning," I said with some emphasis.
"Sure. Great. That's why you made it to school?" she asked. She sounded a little confused.
"No, like Woke Up, woke up."
"Oh. So you?" She trailed off, not sure how to ask without giving anything away.
I let a swarm of the male mosquitoes in the field twist into a tight spiral for a few seconds before scattering in a starburst.
"Right. Hell. How long before I get the bees?" she asked.
"No bees," I said, "Not unless you were just stringing me along."
"Nah," she said, "I just figured we had, you know, some kind of loop without you-you, that's all. Figured I'd get to know you a little more."
"Right."
"So, I guess this means that the sleep over is off this weekend?"
I dug a little more into the local memories for the Loop. Right. Besties. "Oh yeah," I said, "And you get to explain it to Emma without mentioning anything like possession or triggering."
"Awesome," said Sophia dryly, "Catch you around?"
"I guess," I said, "Might be nice actually going to school for a little bit without nearly as much crazy."
"Good luck with that," said Sophia, "Something always happens."
I nodded at that and headed off. Some of the guys watching tracked me instead of sticking to Sophia.
Being popular was weird. Hopefully Sam was Awake and things would make sense if I talked to her.
5.2 (The_One_Butcher)
"You're a Pony!"
"Yup! Rainbow Dash's the name, fastest Pegasus in Equestria! Well... Fastest Flyer. Period! I can go Warp seven unassisted, easy."
"You're a Talking Magical Pegasus Pony!"
Yes... I already mentioned that." Rainbow Dash said with a deadpan expression.
"OH MY GOD! IT'S SO CUTE!" Rainbow Dash was outraged. "I AM NOT! I am Rainbow Dash, I am awesome, not cute!" She pouted.
"Daww! She thinks she's rough and tumble! She thinks she's tough! THAT IS SO ADORABLE!"
Asskicking ensued.
1.11 cont (Rex)
Tattletale twigged to Coil acting weird.
Damn.
Obvious in retrospect, I would have noticed it from previous experience even without forewarning, of course Tattletale would notice. At this point she is desperately trying to gather more information on Coil for her mutiny, since she isn't focused on making me stop being suicidal Coil gets even more of her focus. Didn't think she'd jump to a master this fast and then share it with the rest of the group. Irrelevant, I need to cover this up.
First step, mental defenses as high as they go, emotional responses pushed onto swarm, and get into character. Second step-
"It was me. Sorry."
Have whatever plan I was going to come up with get wrecked by Sam. I suppose I should be used to that by this point. I mean, it has been pretty much the entirety of our interactions which didn't involve me trying to kill her for the past couple millennia.
"You're a master?" Grue asked. He voice was tense, and I could tell he was getting ready for a fight. "Why didn't you tell us?" A betrayal to the team, and a threat to the man that would give him his sister, I could see why he'd be pissed.
I stayed silent, but three blocks away a swarm of bugs made noises that sounded suspiciously close to "Are you about to tell them who you are? Cause I don't see them being okay with that right now."
"I knew that all of you would be suspicious about it if I told you from the start. I was not planning to tell you for another three weeks and six days, at which point I would with 96% reliability gained strong enough relationships to avoid serious negative reactions. But Tattletale noticed what I did to Coil." Sam crossed her arms in front of her and started speaking again before anyone could respond to her reveal. "I can share my visions of the future with other person. But whenever I do that there's… contamination."
Inside a currently closed daycare center a Speak & Spell toy activated. "Not quite." It enunciated the empty room. Well, empty aside from the small ant colony that was feasting on the juice stain from little Jonny Chocrane's lunch earlier today. Conveniently, the Speak & Spell had been left out right next to the spill.
"Contamination? What's that supposed to mean?" Regent asked with a carefully nonchalant tone.
"They start to view things the same way I do. Put more value on the things I like, be less inclined to do things I wouldn't approve of." The mind manipulator answered the body manipulator. I think she was trying to look contrite, or embarrassed, but all I could picture was Brutus covered in one of Parian's wool blankets. Heh, post apocalyptic Undersider's daycare had been fun. I should do that again some other time.
"That's still not everything." Tattletale's green eyes were narrowed. That was her 'you are a fascinating mystery that I would love to take the time to gently and thoroughly work my way through with a cup of hot chocolate and someone giving me a foot massage, but you might present a threat to me and my family so I'm going to tear you into confetti. You inconsiderate barbarian.' The intuitionpath continued her deduction. "You can control how strong it is, shape the path of the influences."
Sam nodded. Back at the Speak & Spell & Spill more words were typed out. "3 state. Then interrupt. P. L. S." I considered it. Then I checked my Sciontracker™ and had the ants refuse her request. "If this is a mistake, then you shouldn't manipulate you're way out of an argument with your friends. If this was a plan, then it counts as manipulating me beforehand and the two of us have bigger problems.
Sam shifted her footing in the parking lot while she nodded in response to Tattletale's accusation. I felt a little bit bad about refusing to help her, but there was no way I was going to start automatically jumping to her defense when she pulled something like this. She typed out "Mistake. U. Right." With her voice, she said "I can. Coil didn't care about any of you. He was going to drug Lisa and I to keep as slaves if anything went wrong with the Undersiders. As it is he's planning to string along Grue's case and delay helping Noelle for as long as he can manage." She hugged herself tighter and turned her head to the side. "I can't change anybodies basic nature, all I can do is provide a push in the direction I want."
"And you pushed Coil into valuing the Undersiders as a group. Because we're the most important people in the world to you. You haven't been using your Master powers to mess with us." Tattletale's three statements. I could see how this would be an excellent place to interrupt. "But you've wanted to." Yes, three statements would have been an excellent time to interrupt. Oh well. "Is that what made Skitter so mad at you? No, something else, you di-"
"She said something I didn't like. Things escalated. We've resolved the issue. If we aren't going to be attacking each other on the spot can we head home. It's getting cold out. We can discuss Sam and I not telling you guys the full details of her powers once we get there. I will state for the record she has agreed not to do it to anyone without my express permission. Considering what I've seen happen at Coil's base, everything I could dig up about his history, and what Sam's told me about his real plans, and I emphasize: told, not shown, I don't feel even a little guilty making him less likely to betray us."
I turned to go, confident that Sam would fall into step behind me. This would lead Tattletale to keep pace with her so she could continue questioning Sam. With half the group moving, Regent would follow along out of sheer apathy. Grue would start moving next because having the leader let everyone just walk away from them sends a bad message. Rachel on the other hand would just head back to one of her shelters rather than associate with somebody that had lied to her. I would have to do so much extra work to get back into her good graces.
Still, immediate crisis dealt with. Now for riding the aftershocks. And a Leviathan on the horizon, only nine days out.
But before I settled down for the night there was one more concern I had to attend to.
"We'll get through this. They will forgive you in time." Ants don't do comforting very well.
"I know. Thanks." Speak & Spell's don't do emotion at all.
"We should get you a laptop if we're going to keep using this trick."
"Thanks. Saturday." I chose to assume that Saturday was meant as a questioning invitation. My body nodded and found Sam's hand for a quick squeeze. She was being such a good little girl/endbringer. I might even actually have the slightest bit of trust in our friendship at some point if she kept this up.
5.3 (Focus13)
The figure in white stands over Lung like some pale morose gargoyle. Female, My power identifies. I do another scan of the broken and battered street and can't help but let out an impressed whistle. The road was littered with bodies and massive holes, with the occasional patch of flickering flame, not quite yet dying down. Any ABB member here is definitely going to need medical attention, I note, wincing at those unmoving, bearing second and third degree burns.
My power is running passively, taking info, calculating, categorizing and finally inferring. High powered explosives from the holes, napalm from the still burning flames. Obvious enough, I think, having felt force from the detonations a few blocks over. Ambushed from the positioning of the bodies. Never given a chance to escape eyes flicking back to the woman. No that's not right, girl. Its easier to see her now that she's moved away from Lung, slowly closing distance toward us. Details are made more clear with each step. The white coat crested with lavender is made of fine expensive material even, I don't need my power for that, just countless hours of mall shopping put to use. The upper half of her face is hidden by her hood, but I can tell her facial features to be sharp from the shape and contour of her jaw. But my eyes keep going to her left arm, guess-work power subconsciously drawn to the too-small-to-be practical buckler gracing her forearm. It's silver and gold colored, caressed with converging artistic swirls. 'Some kind of tinker invention?' I mentally wonder, but focus back on her features after a slight stab of pain behind my eyes. Evidently my Thinker ability didn't want to analyze the object. Odd but not altogether uncommon. That's actually the reason for the majority of my Thinker-headaches. Extraneous effort sussing out facts in abnormalities.
Grue moves to intercept, ever the diplomatic one. It's pointless though, she side steps him without a word, eyes locked on mine.
She gently tugs her hood back and looong dark hair spills out everywhere as she stops less than a meter away from me. 'What cape was so casual about revealing their civilian identity?' I think but smile and offer my hand in greeting anyways, trying to convey an aura of casualness. Maybe she was gonna go the New Wave route of hero-ing and this was her debut. Either way she's gone and done the Undersiders a huge favor. She seems to be trusting of us, so might as well meet her halfway. She ignores my outstretched hand, in favor of maintaining an uncomfortable amount of eye contact with me, borderline gaunt features twisting into a look of... Pain?
It's hard to keep the smile and lax body language with what she says next. "Lisa." There's an almost palpable amount of shame in her tone that startles me more than the use of my civilian name. As a result the tight control over my power slips and information collated about her and the encounter floods my thoughts.
Grieved
Explosive Expert
Ashamed
Weapons Expert
Knowledgeable of Me Intimately
Exhausted
High Ranked Mover-Tinker?
Affection Towards Me
...What.
She steps forward to clasp my still outstretched hand while I'm mentally reeling from the info dump and all traces of anguish are gone. Her countenance has gone iron hard and there's a newly lit fire in her eyes. She's close enough now that I can see her dark eyes dilate. Her next statement is so full of fervor it makes my budding panic explode, sending my power into overdrive. "I swear I'll save you. No matter how many times I have to repeat all of this, I'll protect you!"
Devoted
Borderline Obsessed
Spatial Manipulation
Self Sacrificing
Done This before
Knowledgeable
Time Manipulation
Time Traveller
The last bit of info is like a punch to the gut and I flinch, knowing this deluge of info is going to result in one hell of a backlash. Spots dance over my vision and the world seems to press around me. I jerk away from the girl and suck in a breathe through my clenched teeth. Time Travel. That couldn't be right. That seemed impossible, even in a world full of capes. I grip my head, trying impotently to ward off the tsunami of agony I know is incoming. Had my power erred? It happened on occasion, the wrong building block resulting on an incorrect conclusion. I want to reassess the girl, check and see that she wasn't just some ridiculously over-powered Thinker that knew how to put me out with all of two sentences and feigned body language. 'Competitive much?' my subconscious mocks randomly before disappearing.
But she's gone. Without a trace. Not even an afterimage left in her wake. 'Well' I think 'that lends credence to my Mover hypothesis at least.' The others finally godamn move as I nearly sink to the ground. Alec is saying something but I can barely hear him over the sound of my blood pumping in it's veins. 'Time Travel' I think again, absently noting Grue had caught me from falling. 'That's impossible... right?'
5.4 (The_One_Butcher)
Thanks Bulma. Taylor thought as she deposited the three smoking corpses of the Endbringers into the Trash corner at school. The Terrible Trio was crouched in the corner, gibbering in fear. Strangely nobody was doubting they were real. I guess rumor does travel faster than light.
"Miss Hebert?" Asked Mr. Quinlan in an unparalleled display of balls. "Why are you disposing of these corpses at School?"
"Well, Mr. Quinlan, my own house has only one ordinary trashcan and bulk trash isn't covered in our plan. But the school has a full free disposal contract. As I am a student in this school I am allowed to deposit any trash I like here. Including animal carcasses, I've checked!"
5.5 (The_One_Butcher)
Lisa awoke with a start, not in her bed in the loft, but in a golden throne overlooking New York. What woke her up was the door banging open and the unconscious forms of a dozen of the strongest Protectorate Heroes and the corpses of most of the Slaughterhouse Nine being tossed through it by what looked like Scion, but was actually an illusion. It seems as if someone used a power to make sure I stay asleep.
"I have done as you said Mistress." they killed Scion and replaced him, "None now stand in your way. I will now go and fetch your Lust Slaves." They conquered the World in her name while she slept. The Illusion flew away through the window, deliberately leaving her alone.
As if that was their cue, it was, Eidolon and the Siberian burst through the door, both with a Look of utter hatred on their faces.
"This is not what it looks like!"
5.6 (The_One_Butcher)
"I cast Petrificus Totalus!" Taylor spoke as the last member of the Empire 88 squad's arms and legs snapped to his sides and he toppled.
"Good work, Witchcraft! Man, it's really nice to have a high level nonlethal Blaster on the team. The way you mopped those guys up is urk!" with that Aegis went down.
"I've seen you in action now, Witch. I know how to beat you now." a smooth voice came from Aegis prone(but alive) form.
"Cricket and Kaiser! Damn, they got reinforcements!" Clockblocker readied his paper to block ranged attacks and give Taylor cover to shoot from.
"I am a witch. My magic can do a lot more than what you have seen." That got you some smirks and bemused side glances from Clockie.
"Sure." Kaiser began. "But that still means you have to be able to hit us." And with that they began an erratic approach.
Taylor readied her wand: "I cast Confringo!" The Blast shattered one of Kaiser's barriers, but a second had sprung up already. Clockblocker meanwhile had created a barrier and threw deadly lines of frozen silk into Cricket's path.
Kaiser shot a lot of spears at them to which Taylor reacted with a hurried: "I cast Protego!" The shield held under the smaller spears, but was soon battered away with a heavy steel ram.
Doesn't matter, it bought enough time for her finishing move: "I cast BEEEES!"
With that she emptied her subspace pocket.
Which had been filled to the brim.
Fourty Behemoths worth of Bees filled Brockton Bay's street that day.
"Finite Incantatem." Which buzzed to life all at once.
5.7 (The_One_Butcher)
Harry didn't know what was wrong, but somehow nothing was. The Wizarding World made a lot more sense. Dumbledore knew exactly what to do against Voldemort and Snape was perfectly civil and ignored Harry largely. Malfoy was smarmy and manipulative but went about it intelligently. The great Hero was his Mom, not Harry himself and public opinion behaved sensible. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was Remus Lupin and for some reason he managed to stay until the beginning of the Third year when Harry saw the first piece of evidence as to what could have caused all these positive changes. His timetable read Samantha Trelawney instead of Sibyll.
He immediately deduced that Dumbledore had access to a competent Seer. He send out a Ping once again, but didn't get a return. Maybe it was a relatively new Looper?
Divination came around and Harry ascended the steps a few minutes before everyone else. "Ah, I guess my friend forgot to tell me how you do that. Thank you for teaching me, Harry." He felt a Ping. "I find it really refreshing how I can use my abilities freely in this universe without people getting mad and thinking I want to manipulate them! Yes that was me. Yes, that too of course. No other Loopers in this iteration until the reset. SAM. It's for Seer and Mastermind, but my real name is "The Simurgh." or sometimes a derogatory Ziz. Yes I am. Skitter's Universe. Completely. My Creator needed worthy opponents. No, just ignorance. Eidolon. The Power to have three Superpowers he needs at the time. I know, it's really really relaxing! No really. Where I come from everyone but Skitter and the Big Bad is infinitely weaker than me. And in baseline I use my power and telekinesis to give people brain surgery in order to turn them into human time bombs. No one trusts me. They all think that whenever they interact with me it can only end horribly, no matter what they do because I knew they knew I knew at infinitum. The Wizards here are all so welcoming and trusting. Exactly! Sheep are nice things! They are fluffy! That is something good! The other students have assembled."
The trapdoor opened and the other students came into the room. "Yes Miss Granger, I know this room looks like a "new age" kinda shop, but in divination your state of mind is really important. You need to trick your magic into letting it give you a peak into things the universe hasn't calculated yet. You have to outrace the laws of nature. You cannot do that and be fully conscious unless you have a connection to some vastly powerful calculation matrix. That is what we call the Inner Eye. While you find it annoying I would rather not waste too much class time on this I can give you the scientific explanation tomorrow afternoon if you'd like. When other students are interested in your question I will let you speak." She turned to the room at large "So, you have heard the rumor that I often foretell a students death and none of them are dead yet. That is not a testament to my lack of skill in divination but rather the point of foretelling their death. Forewarned is forearmed. If you really want a demonstration of the accuracy of my warnings you can persuade Lavender Brown not to buy a sturdier cage for her pet rabbit. Now we will in this class learn many basic techniques for non-Seers to get glimpses and singular points of data gleaned from the universe itself. The most important part is to get those relevant to you and afterwards to decipher the universe's humor. Many of you have heard of the Grim, the Ghostly Black Dog, the most potent Omen of Death. Fortunately all those Death Omens flitting around right now refer to a lovable black stray who after adoption will be called Snuffles. Sometimes the Situation in which the Prophecy is made is not the one it applies to. Other times there is ambiguity and our choices make the outcome. Dedicated intelligent effort can derail almost any prophecy. Exception to that Rule is this one. If you don't do your homework and don't take this subject seriously you will not get a passing mark. Except for Mister Weasley, he's a natural. Miss Granger and Mister Potter don't need the homework, but need to take it seriously. I like teaching and will toss them out if they try to ruin it for me, so stop it with the Paradoxes!" Here she looked directly at Harry, frowning. The Anchor giggled but raised his hands in a placating guesture.
"Very well. First technique: Tea leaves. Everyone take a cup and follow my instructions. Mr Longbottom and I will demonstrate, then I will go around and tell you if you got a real magical pattern or just something random and you can try again. Then we will identify the Omens and think of possible interpretations and what to do about them." Sam was extremely enthusiastic about that. So many new friends! And they all accepted her for who she was!
1.11 cont (Rex)
It was a relaxed and lazy Friday for the Undersiders. Or at least that was one interpretation of events, the other was that they were all recuperating from the explosive argument that had occurred the previous night. The only reason that Skitter and Sam were still on the team is that Tattletale confirmed they didn't have any malicious plans, hadn't used Sam's brainwashing powers on anybody on the team, and the only thing Sam had done was make Coil less likely to betray them for his own benefit.
Regent had pointed out that that was actually quite decent of her. Sam had declared her intention to help Imp kill his father. This had confused several people, but Regent considered it rather nice of her even if he had no idea who Imp was. The fight had dragged on long into the night until everybody eventually got tired enough to let go of any anger they still felt the need to express.
Bitch was out taking care of her dogs, Lisa had dragged Taylor out on some sort of shopping trip, and Brian was in the kitchen reviewing his bank statements and making sure he had everything ready for the next social worker visit to his apartment. Thus it came to be that a pajama clad Alec and Sam could have a private conversation while simultaneously driving up the blood pressure of every other person that didn't have anything better to do than online multiplayer at 2:30 in the afternoon.
"So you can make people feel any emotion you want while you're touching 'em?" Alec asked with forced casualness. Sam shook her head slightly and tossed a grenade around a blind corner.
"I push them into the same set of emotions that I have in relation to whatever it is I am showing them. The only reason Coil is so noticeable is that he has been double dosing pretty much every moment he can and so many of his questions are about our team."
"You feel pretty strongly about us don't you." More forced casualness, Sam wondered why he bothered. Even without pre-cog the question he really wanted to ask was fairly obvious.
"Yes. I do not really understand all of the things normal people do and think, but I am making good progress and all of you are an important part of that." A quick no scope sniper shot killed an opponent that would have distracted Regent at a critical moment.
"So could you- ah." Regent interrupted himself to dodge back into cover before Rebu1006 could finish locking on with a rocket launcher. A quick roll and some suppressive fire from Steel_Naga put his character in position to slay the top-ranked local player. The match ended in victory fanfare as Regent turned his attention back to Sam. He opened his mouth but his blonde companion cut him off.
"No Jean-Paul, I will not use my powers to forcibly push emotional capacity onto you. Partially because using master powers on teammates is wrong. Partially because Skitter would absolutely kill me if I did." A small smirk flitted across her face before she resumed her serious expression. "But mainly because I am sure you are going to make it on your own, and it will be much more rewarding when you do."
Regent averted his eyes, having Sam sound so open and proud of him was… uncomfortable somehow. "Is that 'I can see the future' sure or 'sappy after school special' sure?"
Sam put her hand on his leg and leaned forward so he could meet her cloth covered eyes. "Can it not be both?" She placed an attempt at a winning smile on her face.
"Heh." Alec snorted. "even I can tell when you're trying too hard ta fake it." He shook his head. "But still, thanks for the parts you did mean."
Sam relaxed back onto the couch. "Then you are welcome for all of it." Regent looked at the hand that remained on his leg. With a mental shrug, he let go of one side of the controller.
"Soo," He placed his hand on hers. She withdrew her hand and looked at him with the most honest sign of surprise he could ever recall seeing on her. She shook her head.
"Sorry, that is part of the human thing I still don't get at all." She turned her attention back to the tv screen, forcibly cutting off her body puppet's inexplicable reaction to redirect blood flows towards its facial structures. "besides, wouldn't want to interfere."
Regent raised an eyebrow but let that comment pass without further questioning. It'd probably all make sense later. The two returned to their game. Rebu1006, IFF7, and Steel_Naga had joined forces with dlobok-llong and were challenging the two of them, Allcount%, and Clockover to a 4 vs. 4 match.
Half an hour later Brian packed his stuff of and made his way out of the loft. He pointedly ignored the victory celebrations of Alec and the person he was playing with. His interruption was ignored when Alec froze in place for a moment before his head whipped around to point at the East wall. Sam had matched his movements and stared intently towards the direction of the boardwalk.
"I feel a great disturbance in the trollforce, my apprentice, as if a great opportunity has been lost." Regent intoned in a semi-mystical tone.
"And yet, my master," Sam replied in a matching tone. "I sense that this loss has opened the door on many other options." The two turned their heads to each other.
"We must learn what has occurred, that we may construct a greater and more perfect trolltunity." Brian was becoming concerned at this point. Partially at whatever those two were planning, and partially because, well, find out one of your teammates can brainwash people to be more like her one day, observe disquieting unity in different teammate the next…
"Or we could just keep playing video games because fuck hard work." Regent broke character.
"I'm okay with this!" Sam declared as she thrust a finger in the air. "Would you like to join us Brian? I predict Predishade is going to log on within the next two minutes."
Brian shrugged. "eh, why not? I'm always ready to team up with the toughest gamer girl in Brockton." He grinned at Sam's fake insulted look.
And so Zorkdarkness joined Jack_King and Eidokid3 in the eternal struggle between Red and Blu.
5.8 (The_One_Butcher)
Dlobok I didn't get at all, Eidokid3 made me Lol.
"What does Eidokid3 stand for?"
"I'm Eidolon's third child."
"Eidolon has kids? No wonder your parents don't have time for you. Who's your Mom?"
"No one. He once had a Superpower that let him have incredibly powerful Para-children. On his own."
"That's fucked up. Who are your siblings?"
"Well, one of them will be in town soon. I can introduce you."
"Sure, I'm looking forward to it."
"You're the only one."
What is Sam going to say about Levi? I reccomend: "Scion is going to be in town in a week. Gives me one hell of a blackout..."
"Fuck it," Regent said, his voice almost inaudible. He was looking at Imp.
When he rose to his feet.
"Hey Shitcrumb!" Regent hollered, backing away from cover, raising both his middlefingers. "Easy-"
Behemoth dropped the flame attack. I could see Yàngbǎn members raising forcefields as he reached out, casting a bolt of lightning in Regent's direction. The forcefields did nothing, not even softening the blow in any measurable way.
Regent Screamed. He didn't just scream, he "The Scream"ed.
The lightning cut off.
Regent was still there.
Behemoth dropped to one knee.
He reached out with one hand and Regent strolled to him at a leisurely pace. He stepped onto the hand, Behemoth deposited him atop his neck and used his dynakinesis to anchor him there and amplify his voice as he shouted: "I AM THE KING OF THE WORLD!"
In the end it was decided that a human controlled Endbringer was better than a free one and Regent agreed to take a No-Sleep modification from a hastily retrieved Panacea and was given Brockton Bay and Skitter's freedom as a bounty.
5.9 (procrastinator)
The Simurgh was the first one they noticed.
It was hard not to, when she suddenly preformed a mid-air loop, turned around and started in the direction of Brockton Bay.
It was the longest warning they had yet of an Endbringer attack and they wanted to take full advantage of it.
Then Dragon reported in. Leviathan was heading in the same direction.
A few hours later, no one was surprised when Behemoth was reported under South America tunneling north.
Debates raged. Some wanted to fight, consensus was that they were attacking Brockton Bay because of a new powerful Parahuman that could take them down recently triggered there, and if they could find out who they could win the war if not the battle.
Eventually they agreed, Brockton Bay would be abandoned. The PRT would help speed up evacuations and pull any capes who wanted to leave out.
A small group got together, mostly Brockton Bay natives, and they agreed that they would not leave. They could see the writing on the wall. This was the last Endbringer fight, the only one that mattered, after this it was likely that the three monsters would keep attacking in a group, better to fight and die now than a long drawn out chase.
Word was quietly sent out, and dozens more came.
They assembled near the beach, close to the place Dragon predicted Behemoth would come up. Tinkers who could gave out whatever they had, even old model weapons that were sitting in storage. The Wards were clustered with the Undersiders, one unlucky fool had tried to convince them to leave, to leave the fighting to the adults. He was ok after Panacea got to him.
Then the rumbling started. A huge shelf of rock arose on the field everyone was watching, and then she swooped in.
Almost immediately every piece of metal in their hands and on their bodies jumped off and flew towards her.
They were so shocked by this they almost didn't notice him landing on the rock with the help of a large wave.
Then the metal started coalescing into shapes the Simurgh grabbed one that started to shape itself into a vaguely gun like object. Another form took shape in front of Leviathan too indistinct to make out.
Then he rose from the ground, like a demon from the pits of Hell. In front of him several huge round objects formed, mostly out of earth. He opened his mouth and everyone tensed as a beam of light came out. But it was only aimed at the small figure on the ground in front of the huge beasts.
"HELLO, BROCKTON BAY!"
Behemoth raised his sticks high, tapped them four times, before bringing them down on his drums. Blazoned on the front was "SKITTER AND THE ENDBRINGERS".
5.10 (Helian05)
Thirty-two times. Thirty-two times I've relived my life. Either I die and the world restarts, or I beat Scion, and the world restarts a few days later. I don't know why, I don't understand what I did wrong, why I'm being punished like this. And make no mistake, that's what this is. It's some form of fucked up punishment. Maybe killing Scion the first time fucked up reality? Maybe he cursed me? Maybe this is just hell.
I've tried doing different things. Not going Khepri for one. I've only managed to beat him once without going Khepri. Now that I know the trick to it though, those times I do go stupid and insane I can beat him fast. Save a few billion lives. Haven't figured out a way to heal myself yet though. Not before Contessa gives me 9mm surgery.
And there have been a few differences, here and there. Not many. Usually not big ones. One time Behemoth and Leviathan didn't exist yet, instead Bohu and Tohu were the first Endbringers. They showed up after we killed the twins in India though. Another time Dad died in the car accident instead of Mom. That one was hard. Thank God for the memories I get at the beginning. I think I spent a week crying when I first woke up in that one, both out of grief and joy.
But this time. This time may have been the worst. I woke up on April 8th again, which was pretty normal. I was in the bathroom again. Again, normal. But this time I was standing outside the stall. With Madison and Sophia. Holding an empty bottle of grape soda.
And then the memories hit.
As I rushed to the sink to throw up, all I could think was "Well, at least now I know why."
5.11 (procrastinator)
Fortuna blearily awoke. Yawning loudly, she hit the snooze button on the alarm and shuffled off to the bathroom. It was important to have some routine in her life before her day of running all over the globe doing incomprehensible things started.
After a good shower and brush, she dressed in her costume and went to pour herself a glass of milk.
She than started to run through her usual list of paths, before preforming a fantastic spit-take.
'3 STEPS?' 'WHAT THE HELL?'
She tried again. 'How do I ensure the survival of humanity from any alien threats?'
-Step 1- "Door to Taylor Hebert's house"
-Step 2- "Make Taylor Hebert the Head of Cauldron"
-Step 3- "Obey Taylor Hebert in all things"
5.12 (Crank Sproket)
Entering their base, the Undersiders were met with an unusual sight. There sitting at the table was Skitter polishing and cleaning something that looked like the barrel of an old anti air gun, but mounted with stock and trigger. The thing looked so heavy it was a miracle the table held. Even more disturbing was the song she was quietly singing to herself during her task.
"Er, Taylor" said Brian "you OK?"
"Sure, why not?" she replied, never looking away from what she was doing. Clicking the last few elements together, Taylor stood up and picked up the gun. When raised straight up, the Undersiders saw that it was much bigger than they thought. It was about 2m whole and looked totally brutal.
"The hell is this Skitter?" Piped in Alec "And where did you get it?"
"She bought it from a gunsmith she knows, but even I don't know WHAT is it" said Lisa.
Skitter cleared her throat and said "It's a Hellsing ARMS Anti-Midian Cannon 'Harkonnen'. It weights 60 kg unloaded, the 30 mm, single-shot breech loader cannon uses various types of shells, including depleted uranium for piercing armored targets and incendiary napalm rounds for destroying large groups of opponents both on land and in the air." she smiled "And I must be going. I have an appointment to keep." As she walked out of the base the Undersiders heard her singing again "... bad man cruising around in a big black limousine..."
5.13 (Crank Sproket)
Brian found Lisa getting drunk in the bar. She was well on her way to unconsciousness judging from the number of empty bottles around her.
"OK... what did Taylor do this time?" asked Brian.
Lisa didn't answer and just slid the book that was also on the counter towards him. Title read "Blowing Up Planets for Fun and Profit" by Skitter and Bakuda.
"Well that's rather Bad, but she's had similar schemes in the past, so why getting drunk now?"
"They are working on the second part, this time about solar systems." She said. Brain looked at her blankly
"Horrible, but still doesn't explain why you want to get drunk."
" They're talking about a trilogy" she replied.
"...let me join you"
5.14 (The_One_Butcher and RitterDesTodes)
"And that is why I like my Purple Alicorn Princess!" Madison finished in spite of Taylor's incessant giggling.
"Taylor!" Mrs. Cardiff scolded, "It was really brave of Madison to be the first today. If you cannot contain yourself maybe you want to be the next to do your Show and Tell? Did you even bring anything?"
"I did Mrs. Cardiff! I rode it to school today, but couldn't bring it into the classroom." Taylor said brightly.
Mrs. Cardiff sighted. "Very well, we will do yours shortly before recess and go outside early."
As the Lesson drew to a close the teacher led the children to recess with five minutes to spare.
"So Taylor, where is your bicycle?" Asked the teacher.
"Bicycle? No, I wanted to show you my Pet! I rode her to school today! Her name is Sam and I really love her, even if she isn't fluffy! SAM! COME HERE."
Which was when the Simurgh glided around the School, where she waited using her precog to avoid detection. The less sheltered half of the class screamed. The smartest quarter of the class started running and the teacher paled and was rooted to the ground in terror. The Simurgh meanwhile lifted Taylor into her arms and hugged her, smiling.
Knowing that escape was futile Mrs. Cardiff instead steeled herself and smiled at Taylor. She vowed to herself to make Taylor her favorite pupil and in turn try to become Taylor's favorite teacher. To become a real friend to Taylor. To make herself really like Taylor.
And the Simurgh would hopefully see that and therefore not do it herself. "So Taylor," she said kindly, "what can you tell us about your friend?"
Taylor meanwhile thought to herself how incredibly badass her kindergarten teacher was.
5.15 (Rex)
I ignored Glady's request to stay behind a few extra minutes. I had more important things to do, like watch paint dry. More immediately I was focused on a possible song I could use in "Skitter: the musical."
It would be something of a challenge to get everything set up in Earth Aleph quickly enough that I could launch a Broadway musical about my adventures, especially with the addendum that I couldn't let anybody know the show was about me. I only had about three or four years after Scion was slain before I was back in the goddamned locker again, but I needed something to in the down time or I'd go even more crazy.
I stared down at the first stanza I had written down. I was thinking of using it for my first night out with Lung. Sure, it was a blatant rip-off of an Earth Dalet movie, but that wouldn't transfer over to Earth Aleph until 2017 even if the barriers weren't put up. So I felt safe from the dangers of copy right infringement.
The moon glows white over Brockton tonight. (a)
Not a hero to be seen (b)
A kingdom of skittering forms (c)
And it looks like I'm the Queen (b)
It was a decent opening, but I knew I could make it better. I had penned up several more versions of the later lyrics and was much more comfortable with them, but this opening was incredibly frustrating. The notebook I had been focusing on was smacked out of my hand and sent flying into a wall.
Ahh yes, speaking of frustrating, it was my friendly neighborhood bullies. They still managed to be incredibly frustrating during the times when I still bothered to go to school. You'd think that roughly two centuries of exposure would make me immune to their influence, but a combination of only keeping up appearances in sporadic loops and the loops now consistently lasting long enough for me to mostly forget about their existence made for an unpleasant relapse whenever I associated with them for long.
They hurled their usual abuse on me and I wondered why I bothered to take it. I could crush them the same way most people crushed ants, my range extended across most of the city by this point, and I was paranoid enough to keep far more than the natural number of combat useful bugs in my immediate presence. Heh.
"The school is buzzing from my swirling swarm inside." I muttered to myself. It wasn't a bad improv. The bullies had changed the focus of their mocking, jeeringly asking me what I was talking about, whether I had gone crazy on them.
"Couldn't keep them out, heaven knows they tried." I spoke louder. Nothing could keep my swarm out, not in any long term basis. And why not let these idiots hear my song, it's not like they could do anything about it anyway. And you know what, I'm not in the mood for this anymore. I'll just pull a Carrie and cover the bitches in a few bugs. It's been such a long time since I did a loop where Taylor Hebert was a notorious villain from the start.
"Don't let them win." I quickly changed the line from the version about not letting Lung kill anyone. This was great. I was so inspired!
"Don't let them see." I called my swarm toward me. No need to bother with subtlety. I dodged a clumsy attempt at a shove from Madison. Heh. Seems that they don't like being ignored in favor of poetry. Well, they'll get more than enough attention for their taste in just a few seconds.
"Be the good girl you've always had to be" I was, usually. Heroics were easier on my conscious and my life was easier when the system was motivated to work in my favor. I'd never really, truly, cut lose and given in to my darker urgings. Because it was wrong, doing those sorts of things to innocent people would make me a monster.
"But it's not real." I breathed out, only realizing the truth of this statement as I made it. Considering I had spoken in verse and even held the note for an appropriate length of time, I may have been thinking about this song a bit to much. Let's see, the next two lines had to rhyme.
"Can't let them know." If I did the sorts of things I was thinking about, all of my friends would turn on me. They'd be so disappointed and disgusted, I'm not sure I could handle that. But my darker impulses had a rebuttal for that.
"Well, they won't know" Next loop all of their memories would be gone. They'd be back to all the people I knew before hand. I just had to decide that this time didn't count. They weren't really my friends, they were just puppets that sounded like it. That was some flimsy logic, and I could already see it leading to trouble later on, but right then I just didn't care.
It seemed the discussion had progressed while I was having my moral epiphany, one of the interchangeable generic bitches had ended up on the floor, and it appeared that Sophia was coming in for a gut punch. Fortunately, my real friends for this loop had arrived.
"Let 'em swarm!" I belted out in uncharacteristic glee as Sophia was buried under a wave of wasps. "Let 'em swarm!" I continued as spiders and beetles and bees and flies and a hundred other types of insects burst out from the walls and ceilings to liberally coat my tormentors. Of course, I didn't stop there. Everywhere in the city that my power could reach I was sowing chaos just for the sake of watching things happen. School was my main focus, but I'd never had problems with multi-tasking.
"Won't hold them back anymore.
Let 'em swarm.
Let 'em swarm.
Run away and slam that door."
Aside from a last minute adjustment inspired by Madison and Emma's retreat, my song was back on the course I had intended for Lung. Pity he happened to be outside my range at the moment, luring a giant rage dragon to Winslow sounded hilarious.
"I don't care,
How you're going to pray
Let my swarm feast on
My bugs never bothered me anyway."
In for a penny, in for a pound. If I was going to embrace my inner monster for a loop I had no intention of half-assing it. Clothes, skin, hair; anything that could be consumed by my insects was free game. Except for Sophia at the moment, I had plans for her. But in order to enact them, I needed to be a bit further away. I directed a few more bugs in between us and turned towards the cafeteria. Maybe it was just because of the cockroaches taste buds, but it seemed that today's mashed potatoes were especially good. I navigated through the halls, granting Sophia a brief respite when I felt I was far enough away. As I expected, she was feeling threatened enough to call for backup.
Good, I could hardly conquer the city in a day if the Protectorate had time to prepare an adequate response. I felt like I was forgetting something… Oh, right. The song!
"Its funny how perspective
Makes everyone seem small
And the forces that once corralled me
Can't effect me at all."
It was true, nothing in this world could provide a real threat to me anymore. Contessa and Eidolon could usually still manage to kill me, but it's not like that had any real effect. I'd even gotten Grey boy'd in one unpleasant loop. While I hadn't enjoyed the after-effects, it's not like it had actually slowed me down at all.
I laughed to myself. This song was such a perfect fit for becoming a full time villain, why had I ever wanted to use it for the first steps of a villain as hesitant as Skitter?
"It's time to show how I can dream. To test the limits and make you scream." My voice was broadcast throughout my swarm, there was no sense in putting on a performance if there wasn't anyone to hear it. Now was there?
"No right, no wrong, no rules for me." I could do anything and none of it would matter. Killing Scion had gone so perfectly and I still wound up back here. I'd let him win and it was locker time. Flee to some uninhabited world, guess where you wake up in a few years! Nothing I did mattered because it was all wiped away like rain on a windshield. "I'm free." I held the note and tried to keep my voice steady. A life devoid of consequences, power enough to break a planet in easy reach, enough time to make every possible choice, and none of it mattered in the least.
"Let 'em swarm.
Let 'em swarm." I claimed my seat on one of the cafeteria tables. Sophia was being slowly being guided in my direction. The first protectorate capes would arrive on the grounds at about the same time she would locate me.
"I am one with the things that fly." I wished that I could make that statement true. If I could just dissolve my brain into my bugs then maybe I could rest for awhile. Let everything just fade away.
"Let 'em swarm, Let 'em swarm" I quieted the part of my swarm in the distance between Sophia and I. I wanted her to hear this next part from my own voice. I locked eyes with her as she burst through the doors.
"You'll never see me die." I gave her a shit eating grin as I made my pronouncement. A quick compression of a line of bugs was enough to block the shadowstate pencil she flung at my head. Silly little Sophia, weren't you listening? Even if you managed to kill me, all that would do is wipe out the rest of this world too. Not that you'll get the chance. Now that you've told Miss Militia and Velocity where I am, I don't need you around anymore.
"You I spare and you I'll slay." The first part of my sentence is directed in the direction of Mrs. Knott and the second is directed towards Mr. Gladly. And everyone else too I supposed. It wasn't like Shadow Stalker was important enough to merit her own line.
"Let my swarm feast on." And so they did. Shadow Stalker was dead in seconds once I decided I didn't want to play with her anymore. I drew my breath in to complete the verse but was interrupted by the explosion of the glass wall behind me. Hannah that clever girl had shifted her sniper rifle into a grenade launcher the second I had pulled her barrel off center. I suppose I should give credit to one of the most experienced heroes in the world, she sometimes even managed to surprise me.
Velocity, on the other hand was nothing impressive. Jumping in through the newly made opening was an obvious move, and when he was in midair, he wouldn't able to maneuver no matter how fast he was. The red blur flipping through the air to crash into the tables made for a mildly amusing visual as he clotheslined himself on a line of spider silk I had thoughtfully prepared for him.
"My power scurries through the air and on the ground." I do hope they didn't expect for just the two of them to be enough. I wasn't hearing any chatter about the e.t.a of any of their other forces.
"My soul is buzzing in humming hives all around." Perhaps if I took down three of their members while keeping time with an improvised melody they would give me something resembling an actual challenge? Speaking of which, I should make sure to quickly eliminate Panacea if I bother with New Wave. She's always such a bother if she knows I'm coming. On the other hand, wasn't that just what I was asking for. My grin widened. I imagined I looked rather manic by this point. But as relaxing as it was to just let it all go and crush my enemies…
"And one thought always remains unto the last.
I'm always looping back. The past is not my past"
They wouldn't understand those lyrics. This version was completely worthless for any other situation. And yet they were the truest thing I had said all day.
"Let 'em swarm. Let 'em swarm." Miss Militia and Velocity had succumbed at some point. I found myself in the school courtyard with no real memory of how I got there. I had held on to the myself as Khepri much longer than usual. Was I still feeling the after affects? How potentially fascinating. If brain damage could carry over to some degree then other things could as well.
"And I'll break like the golden dawn." This had been a triumphant line in the original. But here it was an acknowledgement, if I was gaining damage in the loops, losing out humanity in favor of my shard, then I would end up not better than Scion in the end. I couldn't quite bring myself to care.
"Let 'em swarm. Let 'em swarm." I continued my song, I was close enough to the end that it would be a shame not to finish, even if some of the fun had gone out of it. "Your sheltered world is gone." This line I made louder near the incoming cape forces. Armsmaster ignored me as he so often did, but the wards and the rest were quite disquieted. I decided on a whim to try and keep Clockblocker alive as the heroes massed themselves before me. Vista was trying desperately to give them a bit of space to operate in, and I let her have a bit of success so they could properly appreciate my closing lines.
"Here I stand in the light of day." I struck a defiant pose. This was going to wind up on the internet somehow or another, might as well look as good as I can when it does.
"Let my swarm feast on!" I held the line for just long enough for the heroes to realize how little there actually was left for my bugs to eat. I was confident my kill count surpassed Shatterbird's trigger.
"My bugs never bothered me anyway." My bugs and I spoke that line in a cold, serious voice as I collapsed my swarm into a much tighter mass to block the heroes line of sight. As I began to engage them in earnest it occurred to me that this little stunt would provide an excellent sales pitch to the Nine. I smiled. A group I hadn't actually joined before, an easy way to get Riley to check over my shard, and an excellent excuse to do every naughty little thing I thought of? I was much more confident in my self diagnoses of brain damage because that sounded like an excellent idea. And I always had an easy out if it wasn't.
The last sound that the Brockton Bay Branch of the Protectorate ever heard in that loop had only a vague resemblance to laughter.
A video of Let Them Swarm (5.15) can be found at at the youtube url: watch?v=jrWxyoSksYw