Worm - Justice For All

by SeerKing

When Taylor Hebert Triggered in the Locker, the Entities were slow to act. Instead of the [Queen Administrator], she was gifted with the seed of power known as an [Embryo], which becomes a powerful weapon one month after The Locker. How will this change the world of Earth Bet? Gamer!Taylor! Has a TVTropes page!

8. Session 1-8

Author's Note: Yo. So this is the very last chapter I have pre-written for Justice For All. You know what this means?

Yup, new chapters starting the next time JFA is due to update. It'll be cool. See you next time, in Quest 2.1!

"Iustitia!" – Regular Speech

'Mistress!' – Thoughts/Telepathy

[Justice for All]! – Skill/Ability being used.

Beta'd by BigCC

Session 1.8

That Night

Living Room, Hebert Residence

So then, let's just review the day I've had so far. First, I'd been kidnapped by a powerful, amoral, vengeance-mad Parahuman. After being grabbed off the street by said sleazy nutbar, I'd been forced to spend the next few hours fighting for my life against a seemingly endless army of giant rats and humanoid projections, culminating in a life-or-death duel against the technicolor crazy Hamelin himself. Said duel had nearly resulted in me losing my life at least three times and had culminated in a last-ditch trick using a borrowed laser pistol to Indiana Jones the bastard.

So yeah, it had been a terrifying, stressful, and utterly exhausting day, and that was before I'd gotten home only to find an even more arduous task. Dad had apparently noticed I had gone missing during the event and I had walked into home still wearing my scavenged armor. So, I'd been forced to come clean about everything.

Rather predictably, Dad had not taken it well. He was currently pacing a path in the carpet, trying to keep his temper under control. He didn't blame me for getting kidnapped (though I think he was might peeved at some of the calculated risks I took), so he was likely just trying to get over me getting dragged into that insanity just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Of all the…! Could've been killed…!" I heard him muttering. It was probably going to take a while for him to work all that misplaced, targetless anger out of his system, so, rather than simply sitting around and stewing in my guilt about worrying him, I decided to focus on something a bit more productive: my stats.

Name: Taylor Hebert

Cape Name: Justitia

Gender: Female

Level: 10

Title: None (*)

Job (s): (1) Swordsman (LV6)

(2) Maceman (LV2)

(3) Gunslinger (LV2)

EXP: 273/700

Embryo: Maiden of Justice Iustitia

Embryo Type: Maiden with Arms

Embryo Forms Achieved: 2/7

Stats

HP: 840

STA: 2800

MP: 425

Strength: 52

Toughness: 50

Endurance: 52

Dexterity: 35

Intelligence: 80

Wisdom: 85

Luck: ?

Overall, I was kinda impressed with my stats here. My HP, Stamina and MP had all risen dramatically; for some reason the normal bonuses from my attributes going up hadn't been applied to them until after I had left Hamelin's Dimension Pocket, but Iustitia had stated that the strange energy permeating Hamelin's dimension, created by his 'power leeching' ability of draining and storing the powers of his kidnapped capes, had interfered with my own abilities. She had assured me that she could adjust to bypass such interference in the future while I rested tonight, so it was good for me.

My mental stats were, bluntly put, awesome. I could practically feel my brain working faster than normal, and I hadn't exactly been an academic slouch before. Physically, I was much improved, so much so that I was starting to worry about how I was going to control my own strength. The last thing I wanted to do was break dad's spine the next time I tried to hug him or ripped off some random door and out myself as a parahuman.

'As an Embryo Master, you should have an instinctive control of how much your Stats affect you, Mistress.' Iustitia informed me helpfully, having caught wind of my worries. 'You could no more use your newfound power to harm another by accident than you could unmake the sun.'

Huh. Good to know.

As for my new skills, the one I got with my brand new [Gunslinger] class, [Quickdraw], was kind of like a purely mental speed boost. From the combat initiated until the first shot was fired, my mind would process everything at superspeed, making everything (including myself) seem to move in slow motion, allowing me to draw and aim my first shot with perfect clarity and control. In addition, it also granted a boost to my Dexterity for that first attack. Dexterity, as it so happened, not only influenced my accuracy but my draw speed; making my first shot even faster.

Dexterity also added several other, smaller bonuses to things like my hit chance and control with close combat weapons and my chances of inflicting critical hits.

[Improved Accuracy] was only active if I had a projectile weapon equipped and it gave me a small bonus to my Dexterity based on my [Gunslinger] class' level. Like [Swordsman] and [Maceman], [Gunslinger] was a common job, with the Rare Jobs including things like [Cowboy] and [Deputy], while the Superior Jobs included [Lone Ranger] and [Gundancer].

"…aylor! Taylor!" Dad's voice interrupted my musings and I looked up at him tiredly.

"Hmm?" I looked up from my slight daze. Dad had apparently calmed down enough to stare at me while I zoned out. Letting out a jaw-cracking yawn, I offered him an apologetic smile. "Sorry Dad, I'm feeling bone-dead tired after everything that's happened."

The anger and anxiety on his face softened, and then broke completely as he reflexively yawned too. It was past one in the morning, after all, and neither of us had had anything approaching a normal day thanks to Hamelin.

"OK Little Owl, to bed with you." He said with a sigh. "I'll call in sick for you tomorrow and when I get home, we are going to have a talk about all of this…OK?"

Translation: A lecture on 'Why Taylor's going to join the Wards as soon as the paperwork can be signed' by Daniel 'Danny' Hebert.

I wasn't necessarily against the idea for the most part, but…

"OK Dad. Thanks." I smiled up at him and staggered up to my bedroom, stopping off in the bathroom to clean my teeth and perform the usual last minute ablutions before going to bed.

'The Wards, aside from Aegis, seemed to be nice people.' Iustitia noted as I happily snuggled into my bed. I was never going to take soft sheets and a warm duvet for granted again. 'Why are you so hesitant about joining them?'

I struggled with that for a moment, trying to put my confused feelings into words. 'Because…because the Wards aren't really Capes. They dress the part, sure, and they do get flung into the thick of things every now and again, as today proved, but the main reason they're Wards is twofold; protection and training. Protection from being strong-armed into joining the gangs or killed by them, and given training in how to use their powers. We don't need training in how to use my powers, so the last one's flop for us.'

'But alone, against the combined might of the lawbreakers in this city, we are vulnerable.' Iustitia pointed out softly. 'They would overwhelm us with weight of numbers.'

'If we strode into battle against them as I did against Hamelin's monsters, then yes.' I conceded as I stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. 'But unlike in that dimensional pocket, we don't kill here, Iustitia. Not unless they have a Kill Order on their heads or it's to protect innocent lives. Plus, the gangs are disorganized unless a serious threat shows up. All we have to do is spread our actions out across all of them so it doesn't look as if we're going after them fanatically. Weaken them a bit at a time, keep striking without making ourselves a target. We might not be able to beat them on our own, but we can make a difference and, eventually, the PRT and Protectorate will be able to deliver the finishing blow.'

'You have put a great deal of thought into this, Mistress.' My Embryo said without any surprise in her mental 'voice.'

'When my life's gonna be on the line, of course I'm going to.' I scoffed.

'There's something more, isn't there?' the Maiden Embryo pressed.

'Yes.' I admitted. 'The Wards, as I noted, are not combat Capes by design or intent, usually. They fight every now and again in other cities, but they get more than their fair share of combat in Brockton Bay. That still means they are kept away from actually fighting crime as much as possible. I want to make a difference, Iustitia. I want to uphold justice. But the Protectorate has been failing at it from lack of manpower for years. In this case…I think justice needs to stand alone in order to be effective.'

There was silence for a moment before Iustitia started to laugh.

'Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Indeed! Let us stand alone and enact justice on this city, Mistress!'

[Embryo Evolution! Third Stage Evolution Confirmed!]

Mapping all 504 evolutionary paths…

Selecting best possible evolution for Embryo Master's will and determination…

…Completed.

Third Form: [The Lone Gun and Star of Frontier Justice]!

…what?

Blinking in disbelief, I materialized Iustitia's Third Form in my hand. It resembled an old-fashioned six-shooter revolver from the Old West made out of gleaming silver metal, except it was blocky and rectangular as opposed to cylindrical, with the only exception being the ammo cylinder, which was still round. Also, the whole thing was glowing with ethereal silver light.

I also felt a slight weight on my chest and looked down, seeing a five-pointed silver star pinned to my pajamas over my heart. It had the sword and scales symbol of Iustitia's First Form engraved into the center.

'OK…so what can these bad boys do?' I asked my Embryo.

'Each possesses two abilities, for a total of four.' Iustitia replied. 'The star has [One Riot, One Ranger] and [Always Alone, Never Put To Flight], while the revolver has a standard ability to automatically reload ten seconds after the last chamber is emptied, as well as [Silver Bullet to Strike Down Villainy] and [The Bullet Strikes True].'

[One Riot, One Ranger] was similar to [Order in the Court] in that it let me deal extra damage when faced with multiple enemies. The main difference was that it was a set amount that was granted whenever I was faced with any more than a single enemy at a time. It also offered some impressive bonuses to my Defense and Dexterity at the same time.

[Always Alone, Never Put To Flight] was a Passive Skill that applied subtle pressure to those who fought me. The more enemies I faced and the longer I fought them, the greater this pressure would become until they would eventually break down and run…at least those who weren't strong minded or strong willed. Or even just plain stubborn. It also had a secondary effect that boosted my Dexterity and Damage whenever I was targeting someone that was touched by this skill, and every time I managed to deal damage the pressure on the target would increase.

[Silver Bullet to Strike Down Villainy] could only be used once per day, which kind of sucked, but in exchange it had a very powerful effect. In order to use it, I had to successfully shoot the enemy I wanted to target with the skill at least once before invoking the skill. Once active, all of my attacks against that target, for the rest of the day, would deal triple damage against it, even if I switched to another Form of Iustitia. The downside was that if I did use it, I was then prohibited from attacking the target for five minutes afterwards and it used exactly half of my Stamina, regardless of the actual amount of Stamina I had, in order to invoke the skill.

[The Bullet Strikes True] was a rather useful skill as well. I could spend Stamina or MP in order to make trick shots that would strike only what I wanted them to strike. I could designate the weapons, even a specific part of the weapons, and my bullets would ricochet around until they hit that part. Of course, obstacles could be interposed in the melee of combat, so keeping things as simple as possible was the best idea.

That wasn't all. When Iustitia advanced to her Third Form, the range and strength of the abilities of the other two forms were increased. Not by much, just an extra ten meters, range-wise, and another five points apiece, power wise. Still, I'd take any kind of bonus in a fight, no matter how small.

Letting Iustitia return to her crest in my hand, I started to feel really drowsy. What a day it had been! I was so going to sleep until midday tomorrow.

As I dropped off, I remembered that I still had Kid Win's Laser Pistol in my inventory. I made a note to find a way to return it at some point, with my thanks. It would have been much, much more difficult to defeat Hamelin without it.

The Next Day

Director's Office, PRT Building

Feeling very much refreshed after a good night's sleep and a session with the dialysis machine, Emily Piggot now faced the issue of exactly what to do about Justitia, the new Independent Hero who had, she admitted privately to herself, gone above and beyond the call of duty in saving the Wards, the Undersiders and the two youngest members of New Wave.

"So." She said to Armsmaster and Miss Militia, who were standing in front of her desk along with Deputy Director Renick. "Opinions of the Power Ratings for each of Justitia's known abilities? Let's start with those demonstrated by her 'sword form.'"

"The counter-Shaker skill she uses with the sword is almost certainly a Shaker/Trump effect." Miss Militia mused aloud, leafing through her own notes, and deciding to start with the most basic power they'd heard about. "I'd rate it at Trump/Shaker 3 at least for both range and utility."

"Hm." Armsmaster nodded in agreement, before offering his analysis on the other aspect of that powerset. "The physical ability reduction field she has is a pure Shaker effect though. Shaker 5 or 6. However, since it seems to be mostly designed to counter opponents stronger than her, and can in fact bolster weaker enemies if they're caught in the AoE, could make it a bit problematic to use in larger-scale conflicts. One-on-one against a physically superior foe, its tactical value is immense, but those kinds of fights are few and far between."

"Too much physical ability is sometimes worse than too little, especially if you aren't used to it." Miss Militia countered. "Imagine a baseline human being hit with that and then trying to jump; he'd put himself into a wall. Even a Parahuman would be thrown off balance with that power."

Piggot nodded in agreement. Miss Militia may have turned down the post of Head of the Protectorate ENE due to her disinclination to lead, but she was a very smart and analytical woman without being smug about it.

"Very well. So noted." She entered the rating onto her computer. "And the 'tipstaff' that she possesses?"

"Both abilities she has displayed with it are passive effects that synergize so well together that they may as well be a single power." The Tinker stated clinically, not even looking at his notes. Knowing him, the workaholic had likely memorized the entire document already. "The ability to inflict greater damage when faced by multiple opponents and the ability to amplify the strength of their attacks the more physical stamina you have used up until that point, as well as slowing down the rate at which you expend physical stamina. I'd agree with Kid Win in that combined, it's a Trump/Striker 5. It also synergizes remarkably well with her 'sword and scale' form, one designed to best work in one on one combat, while the other works best when facing multiple enemies."

"I'd rate it slightly higher if she is faced by large numbers of enemies." Miss Militia demurred. "If she was using it when confronted by thirty or so of the ABB or Empire…"

"Yes, agreed. I'll enter it as Trump/Striker 5 (Variable)." The Director nodded. Ratings with 'Variable' in them usually meant that the upper limits of the power either hadn't been plumbed (in the case of Protectorate or Affiliated Capes) or hadn't been witnessed (in the case of Villains, Rogues and Independents). They were usually quite rare, as powers were rarely as flexible or as nebulous as Justitia's powerset seemed to be.

'And she apparently has five more unknown weapon 'evolutions' that she hasn't accessed yet.' The Director shuddered slightly. The variation in the powers that Justitia showed was impressive, but the speed at which she was becoming stronger was also troubling.

"And finally…her 'RPG' powerset." Emily asked evenly. That had been the most difficult part to believe, but she was going to assume it was at least partially true.

"Trump/Shaker 10, easily." Armsmaster stated immediately. "It influences not only herself but her surroundings to a rather astonishing degree. The variation in her 'Job Classes' must allow her to change and adapt to her situation as and when it is required while the 'loot' generation provides an immense resource of materials to assist in her development. Given sufficient time and effort to develop herself, I could see her becoming Triumvirate-tier, even without her 'Embryo' at her side."

"Yes…her projection possesses a power of its own, so it seems." Piggot frowned. "Ranged healing, albeit at a far slower pace than Panacea." Then again Panacea wasn't considered the world's greatest healer for nothing. Most forms of powers that granted healing (which were immensely rare in and of themselves) were slow and/or weak in comparison.

"And it is dependent of Justitia's physical stamina to activate and maintain." Miss Militia pointed out. "We really don't have enough information to put a fully accurate rating on this one, but I'd rate it at as a Shaker 3 for now."

Emily sighed tiredly and nodded before sitting back in her comfortable chair. It was custom made for her and had been one of the few luxuries she indulged in at work, although it was really a necessity as her damaged and corpulent body wore out regular office chairs far too quickly.

"How is the M/S screening going?" she moved on. All of the Protectorate, Wards and New Wave who had watched the final confrontation between Hamelin and Iustitia the previous day had been put into Master/Stranger Protocols as soon as the feed had cut, including herself. It was now roughly time for everyone to leave, but she, Armsmaster and Miss Militia had been released a bit early to get some items on the agenda sorted out.

"Brandish is still furious." Renick said with a tired sigh. With her temporarily indisposed thanks to the Master/Stranger Protocols, he'd taken command of cleaning up the aftermath of Hamelin's attack. The man looked dead on his feet and likely hadn't slept at all last night.

One good thing about M/S Protocols, you literally had nothing better to do than catch up on your sleep.

"Bully for her." Piggot sniffed. "She and the rest of New Wave, are PRT affiliates; when they signed those papers they agreed to follow M/S Protocols as needed when the circumstances were deemed necessary. Anyone else?"

"No, the rest are resigned to the necessity of it, albeit unhappy about it." The PRT ENE Second in Command replied. "It's a good thing that Arcadia agreed to close for the day in the light of yesterday's events, otherwise there might have been questions asked about the Wards' presence. Vista's school accepted the sick note we requested her parents to sign for just such an emergency."

"Good. Any sign that anyone was Mastered?" Given the sheer number of Capes that the man had abducted (several of which they were still working on identifying) she wouldn't put it past the bastard to have some kind of brainwashing ability hidden under that ridiculous cloak of his.

"None." Armsmaster answered gruffly. "Hamelin seemed to have preferred going after less subtle powers aside from the occasional Thinker, such as Tattletale. Even then, they seemed more targets of opportunity than actual targets themselves. Of the roughly two dozen capes we've recovered, we've only identified two Thinkers so far. One lived in the same city as three other abductees so was likely taken when Hamelin was targeting them as well. The other was partnered with another victim, and was likely grabbed alongside their partner, much like Tattletale."

"On the subject of Hamelin." Dragon suddenly pointed out, her projected image appearing on the monitor built into the wall.

"You found him?" Piggot asked sharply, ignoring the Tinker's sudden, unannounced arrival. Given the rather hectic state things were in right now, Emily would gladly ignore a bit of rudeness if it was accompanied by results

The world's foremost Tinker nodded grimly and a small photo of a man resembling Hamelin without the laser hole in the center of his face appeared on the screen to replace her face. Then a family picture replaced it.

"His name was Anthony Lebowski, age thirty-nine." Dragon reported. "Formerly a resident of Albany, Capital District, New York State. Married to Jessica Lebowski, 35, with three children, Angela, 10, Samuel, 7, and Mary-Jane, 3, respectively. Four years ago, the New York Protectorate, including Legend, fought against a large group of Elite led by Upperhand when they were attempting to establish a foothold in New York. A clash between Legend and Upperhand caused some form of feedback explosion that resulted in the destruction of several buildings, including the Lebowski residence, resulting in the death of Mr. Lebowski's wife, children, and parents who had apparently been visiting to celebrate one of their grandchildren's birthday. Two years and one month ago, the Slaughterhouse Nine, as you know, rampaged through Albany, resulting in the death of Mr. Lebowski's girlfriend, Emily Cole, at the hands of either Bonesaw or Shatterbird. It is uncertain at this time which event caused him to Trigger or if he Triggered both times and simply hadn't been active in the Cape scene in a noticeable way after the first event. He went missing a week after the Nine left. Two weeks later, the Independent Hero Mistral vanished without a trace. Mistral was one of the Capes recovered by the Wards from Hamelin's dimensional pocket."

"Dear god in heaven." Emily shook her head, doing her best to not feel pity for the crazy bastard. The man must have snapped after losing someone again after rebuilding his life from the first time. She opened a drawer and pulled out a red form that made the other occupants of the room stiffen slightly; a Kill Order authorization form.

"This form has been signed by Chief Director Costa-Brown, sanctioning the death of Hamelin." She said slowly. "I have also signed it, but not yet dated it. I am leaning towards making the time and date of the legal license to kill authorization yesterday, at the time that the Wards were abducted."

"Why haven't you dated it then?" Renick asked in surprise.

"Because I also received a call from Alexandria yesterday, asking to do what I can to recruit Justitia into the Protectorate." Emily informed him. "I can only suppose that a Thinker informed her of who dealt with Hamelin. Opinions?"

"Do not use the Kill Order as a threat to coerce her." Miss Militia advised immediately.

"She was the one who deliberately set things up as a one-on-one confrontation with him." The Director remarked as she picked up a pen and tapped it against the desk's surface.

"It was a no-win situation." Armsmaster disagreed. "Either Justitia betrayed the Wards, Undersiders and the two New Wave members in order to flee herself, or she stayed behind to let the others go free. She saw that and chose the option that saved as many people as was possible. She was clearly willing to die in order to stop Hamelin's rampage."

This made Piggot raise both eyebrows in surprise. Armsmaster was rarely the type to go against the wishes of those higher up on the food chain than he was. Alexandria's 'request' was a not-so subtle hint to use the Kill Order to apply pressure to Justitia in order to get her into the Wards ASAP. Generally speaking, a request from one of the Triumvirate was usually promptly followed through with, but in this case…

"Agreed." She nodded and scribbled down a specific date and time, indicating yesterday at five minutes to four. She also brought up the Kill Order's digital copy and entered the same numbers.

"Hamelin, the Pied Piper, was rated by Protectorate Thinkers as an A-Class Parahuman in terms of actual threat, but S-Class in terms of his allegorical and potential future threat level, so there is a substantial bounty ready to be released to Justitia for ending his threat, with the thanks of both the United States Government and the Parahuman Response Team." Emily Piggot said crisply. "All members of the Protectorate and Wards are directed to keep an eye out for the Independent Heroine Justitia so we can arrange the transfer of funds to an account for her use. Renick, please file this form in the Cold Vault."

She handed him the Kill Order Authorization Form, which was received very gingerly.

"Yes Director." Miss Militia nodded, Armsmaster a beat behind her.

"Good. Then get to it." She said in dismissal. She still had paperwork to do.