Slime 8: Slime And Consequences

* Tuesday. January 11, 2011 *

* 0511 hours *

[Infiltration of Side-Phasic Shard Complete]

[Upgraded Primary Site.]

[Infiltration of ArmorBlade Shard begun.]

[Network Security spoofed.]

[Using plundered resources.]

[Per Taylor Request, Process titled 'Arrr, Avast Ye Swabs']

Taylor's slime body shifted a bit on the pillow.

School today, do the homework, hit the DWU pile of to-be-refurbished.

She wanted a tablet. Those looked like they'd be handy to keep her schedule organized, have a book to read. Because she could store it in her storage stomach and pull it out when she needed it - it wasn't something else the Terrible Trio could just take away from her and break.

[Analysis of 'L33t Power Armor' complete.]

[Pattern stored. Able to replicate in total or in part as long as requisite materials can be supplied.]

"Oh, that's cool," said Taylor, who paused at a thought. "I wonder how I can contact the guy. I mean, he's a villain and all but I really should ask for permission before I make copies of his stuff."

[ParaHumans Online?]

"That's an idea. Though I thought they didn't allow villains on the boards," said Taylor, bouncing downstairs and to the aged (but clean and running better than it used to) computer. Then having to wait for the dial-up connection and slow slow slow transmission.

"There's no 'L33t' but there is a 'Leet'," said Taylor as she sent a quick message through the system.

[Probability of correct user: 58%.]

"Well, that's better than nothing," said Taylor, glancing at the window. Still dark outside. "Hey, Great Sage, why don't we see what the internet says about the new hero Bounceback!"

[Probability this is a bad idea: 89%.]

"Oh, how bad can it be?" asked Taylor.

* 0712 hours *

Seeing Taylor with an expression of shocked horror was enough to put Danny into a rage.

Finding out it was just something she saw online was a great relief.

Seeing what had put her in that state put him back into rage.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot he could do about that as it was the internet after all.

Maybe he should see if one of the Union's lawyers could do something. At least get it off the Goggle homepage where a casual search for Bounceback images would pull up this 'fanart'.

* 1135 hours *

"You see this?"

"See what?"

"This?"

"Dude, that's a private e-mail. How would I have seen it?"

"Well, look at it now. What do you think?"

"Bounceback got that Mjolnir armor that blew up repaired? And thinks she can mass produce it? Is that even possible?"

"I couldn't do it. That doesn't mean another Tinker with the right specialty couldn't."

"I dunno about that whole Tinker specialty stuff. That could just be internet rumor. If she CAN do it, she ought to make some changes to avoid legal problems though. We're villains so we can ignore it, but she's a hero-type. Supposedly."

"She's just a cute little slime. Heh."

"How about this? She produces one with some cosmetic changes and takes the parts out that stress the wearer's body out. If I remember right, even with that undersuit, you were sore for a couple of weeks after wearing it."

"Yeah, but then I made that awesome massage chair."

"Huh. If we got that to her, you think she could repair THAT?"

"I like that thought. I like that a lot."

"So we just change up the outer casing, simplify these parts, and..."

"You're getting better with that program."

"According to what I read, she's at the Dockworkers place. We can leave the massage chair there, she can fix it as payment."

"Gotcha. And if she can fix THAT, who knows what else she could fix."

"This could be the beginning of a beautiful thing."

"Or it could all come down around our ears in a heartbeat, because we're villains and she's not. Supposedly."

"You doubting that she's a hero?"

"Dude. I tried looking her up. The fanart, the fanfiction... there are people out there next to whom we appear as paragons of virtue and tastefulness."

"That bad? Already? I mean, she's only been out in public a week. AND all indication is that she's underage."

"Don't underestimate the perverseness of the general public. Also there are a lot of monster-cape haters and, well, the other kind. And they're already doing flame-wars between them."

"Ah, the internet. It is a silly place. Let us avoid it."

"Oh, a Holy Grail reference before noon. Nice."

* Elsewhere *

"On the road again. I can't wait to be on the road again. The life I love is makin' murder with my friends. And I can't wait to get on the road again..."

"Crawler. Shut up. You couldn't carry a tune if you used a wheelbarrow and straps."

"...but I'm BORED."

"Mistah Jack, if you hadn't sliced through the radio..."

"There was a fly damnit!"

"How about this? We stop at the next place and NOT kill them if the food's decent?"

"But if we don't how can I dangle hope in front of them and then snatch it away? Seriously, we're the Slaughterhouse Nine not the Slaughtermostly Nine."

"Last time they were so nervous they spilled butter on the fries and you KNOW what my lactose intolerance did then."

"We'll just point out that they're going to die slower if they pull that shit."

"I'm just saying, all knife and no carrot isn't a good way to motivate."

"Still bored. Maybe a sea shanty?"

"Maybe next time we steal more than one busted up RV?"

"Oh, there once was a ship that put to sea..."

"No, Crawler!"

"99 Bottles of beer on the wall..."

"SHUT UP, Crawler!"

* Taylor *

"Huh. There actually is a thing called 'Brain Bleach' and a guy named Cask sells it on the internet. Learn something new everyday. That's a lot of disclaimers though."

"I would imagine so," said Danny Hebert, looking over her shoulder. "'Dulls neural pathways showing above common level stressors' - not sure that it isn't just plain alcohol."

Taylor plopped down into blue-blob form. "Not sure it would affect me anyway."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing you do that, Little Owl," noted Danny.

"Huh. News alert. Slaughterhouse Nine spotted when they were carjacking in Lawrence Kansas. And apparently Jack Slash doesn't know how to drive stick shift because he got mad at the pickup truck he tried to steal and is now attacking it. Got to give the one streaming this some credit for being brave enough to get it recorded, even if they had enough sense they'd be running instead."

"They tried to steal an eighteen-wheeler last year according to the comments. Nobody in that crowd knew how to run the gears. Abandoned the vehicle fifty yards down the road. Had to burn the thing though because apparently Bonesaw left a present behind."

[Restrictions on Queen Administrator reduced to 15%. Estimated time to completion - 51 hours.]

[Currently three additional Processor units and four Energy units are 99% complete. Time for full activation - 6 hours.]

"That's good," said Taylor, who then glanced at her father. "Great Sage is apparently also something called Queen Administrator which can't tell me anything because of some restrictions. Apparently I'll know more in 51 hours when the restrictions are broken through."

[Merger of Great Sage and Queen Administrator will take place immediately after restrictions are broken. Approximate time - an additional 37 seconds.]

* Cauldron *

"The Path changed," said Contessa as she sagged into a chair. "I still lack information for modeling, but for some reason the decrease in the number of steps is there when we involve Bounceback."

"She's just able to stretch, and throw out spider-webs, and shapechange, right?" asked the Numbers Man from where he was contemplating a stack of sandwiches.

"Dibs on the chicken salad," said Eidolon, glancing at the same plate. "So, she got some power she hasn't revealed yet?"

"So, what does the Path say when you do involve Bounceback?" asked Alexandria, still a bit perturbed that her call to Piggot had been interrupted by Contessa. She understood that Path to Victory, Contessa's Agent, used advanced modeling techniques so close to precognition that it was nearly impossible to beat her - but there were blind spots and the occasional error due to incomplete information.

"Bring flowers to the grave of one Anne Rose Hebert on a specific day. Talk to her father while there, establishing a connection that can later be used for associating with Bounceback," said Contessa. She shrugged a little. It wouldn't be the first time the Path had given her some really odd steps in solving a problem. Wouldn't be the last either.

"Ah, this is the good stuff," said Eidolon after he made short work of one of the chicken salad sandwiches.

"On to the next item, which is the turf war between the Avenging Maasai and the Manifesto in New Orleans," began Alexandria.

* Taylor/Bounceback *

"Believe it or not, I'm swinging through air, never thought I could be so free," sang Bounceback as she tapped a web-thread to a rooftop and then reeled it back into her body. She was getting a lot faster at that, which was the whole point of getting practice.

"Among your many powers," came a dry-sounding comment from above, "I have to say - singing isn't one of them."

"Ah, Glory Girl!" said Bounceback, still maintaining her humanoid slime-form to get around. "Damn, you show zero effort on the whole flying thing don't you? How does that even work?"

Glory Girl did a quick mid-air piroutte. "I just fly."

"Seriously how does that work? Anti-gravity field? Where's the thrust come from? You obviously aren't doing anything to provide lift or expel reaction mass..." Bounceback settled onto a rooftop in order to look the blonde cape over.

"It... I don't know. Powers just work. Physics just looks the other way or something," said Glory Girl.

"Huh. You've got some kind of forcefield around you and it deforms when you are flying," said Bounceback.

"How can you tell?" asked Glory Girl, sounding slightly nervous for some reason.

"Oh, I have an echolocation sense running as well as a couple of other senses," said Bounceback, shifting to the blob form. "Your forcefield is mostly skin-tight but it shifts around a bit as you fly. I can also see it through heat sense as a shimmer. Really pretty when it sparkles like that."

"I... honestly did not know that," admitted Glory Girl.

The little blue deflated-sphere formed little eye-circles and then squinted them. "Are you doing something with it? It's extending a bit towards me."

"Oh, hang on, aura," said Glory Girl, who then paused. "Wait. See if you feel this."

The forcefield rippled a bit in her direction again, this time more forcibly. "Yeah. I can see you're doing something, but I'm not sure what."

"You're immune to my aura," noted Glory Girl. "I was blasting you with it and you didn't even notice."

"Oh? Well, that's handy I suppose," said Bounceback.

[Answer: Great Sage is able to provide mental protection against psychic or mentally affecting powers.]

[Analysis of Emotional Surge power complete. Learned Extra Skill: Intimidate.]

"Yeah, I wonder if you flew around with me, if I could learn how to fly. THAT would really be handy," mused Bounceback.

"You can LEARN powers?" asked Glory Girl. "That is SO broken."

"You can fly without paying any attention to physics. Who wouldn't want that?" asked Bounceback.

Glory Girl did a little loop-de-loop using her powers. "You suppose you can TEACH powers? Cause being able to fly with Panacea instead of just carrying her would be great."

"I think that's just a matter of my slime-powers being able to copy stuff," said Bounceback. "Maybe. I think it'd take a lot of work at the very least."

[Answer: Currently impossible. Will require more data.]

"Actually, you're less slime and more a very thick pudding from what I've seen." Glory Girl shrugged. "Sure, I can take you for a flight. Just don't slime me, okay?"

"Score! It's a promise!"

* Armsmaster *

There were programs that looked for certain activities in order to spot newly triggered parahumans.

Brutes, Strikers, Blasters - local Police or Fire Departments would spot damage to local structures as the individual learned to control and use their abilities and report it. Sometimes it would be subtle, most of the time less so.

Movers and Shakers could be more difficult, but would usually be spotted and commented on various social media. Especially certain websites where security personnel reviewed footage and noted anomalies. Breakers and Thinkers were an odd bunch, as hard or harder to spot in the early stages than Strangers. In the case of Thinkers, the most common feature to give them away was the Thinker headache and meds to put off the pain. Tylenol overdose was one such flag.

Most of the programs for spotting early stage parahuman development were justifiably targeted towards human Masters. They were also among the hardest to pin down because of their minions.

Trumps were usually spotted early just because various capes would remark on powers suddenly shifting or disappearing.

Changers were pretty obvious when they were first spotted.

Tinkers were the one everyone thought of though as those tells were the most obvious. Buying or stealing metals or finished components in order to build their gadgetry. The scrapyard on Rorschach suddenly depleted of 95% of inventory was a big red flag. As was the Dockworkers Union suddenly putting in requisitions for rare earths and harder-to-get metals.

He had to admit the online auction with several classic cars and refurbished industrial equipment was not something he'd normally expect but when you put that together with the other two points it all pointed to the Dockworkers Union having a new Tinker. Possibly one whose area of specialty was recycling or repair.

Either specialty, if true, would dovetail nicely with being part of a larger organization. Unfortunately, with Bounceback being associated with the Dockworkers - they already were. An organization or business with one cape wasn't uncommon - unless that cape had powers that gave them an advantage at work they were not subject to NEPEA laws. So a parahuman with the ability to quench fires could not be a firefighter, but they could potentially be a taxi driver or bicycle courier.

The Tinker refurbishing cars however? That would neatly fit into the 'unfair competition with non-parahumans' which was the whole purpose of the NEPEA laws. That a Union of any kind would have such was kind of ironic since the Unions had been one of the major pushing forces behind the passage of those same laws.

Ah, it was a charity auction. That might provide a loophole, but Armsmaster would admit that he wasn't a lawyer and didn't know the volumes that was the subject of parahuman law. The Dockworkers had a medical and work-related accident fund that ticket sales went towards. Armsmaster nodded slightly as he went through the brief descriptions and then flagged it for the Legal Department. If it was in danger of breaking those laws then notifying the Union about the potential legal problem might foster good relations between the Union and the PRT. At the very least, he couldn't see it hurting.

Oh. They did have some very nice refurbished vehicles. That tow truck might be something worth putting in the ten dollars for a ticket, if Transport had an opening for such. Forwarded email to that department.

Motorcycles too. Not that they had anything that... Oh. A 1940 Indian 440 four cylinder in mint condition. Didn't Hannah have a birthday coming up? She'd appreciate that. And bought with the electronic ticket sent to her.

Yes, a Tinker at the Dockworkers Union who was at least sensible enough that they hadn't immediately put together some power armor and sought a solo career by doing something unwise like challenging Lung. Possible Repair or Recycling specialty. Flagged for potential followup by the ThinkTank or Analysis to go over...

Microwave popcorn? Why did the Dockworkers Union order that much microwave popcorn? And why did that pop up on a program specifically looking for parahuman power emergence?

* Taylor *

[Data on flight added to anti-gravitational effect from DragonTech stealth drone.]

"Well, that's good enough for now," said Taylor as they landed in front of the hospital.

"So what is it you're doing here?" asked Glory Girl.

"Testing. The Docs want me to heal a few people so they can look them over. That way when there's an emergency and they need someone to handle their triage cases and such - they can call me in with an idea of what all I can do," answered Taylor. "Takes some of the load off your sister when things are getting messy."

"She'll appreciate that," admitted Glory Girl. "Hey, you can shapechange, right?"

"Within limits," said Taylor, shifting from blue blob to human-shaped blue gel girl.

"Can you transform to look exactly like me? Think of the pranks. Think of the alibis!" said Glory Girl.

"Sorry, can't do that. I've got a shaped gel girl, human form, the streamlined rest form, and a couple of others, but that's about it," explained Taylor as they walked through the lobby. "I can't imitate specific people like that."

[Data: Current forms for Mimicry: Giant Spider, Slime, Human Mimicry (minimal, full), Bird form (DNA analysis and backtrack still in progress), Giant Serpent, Giant Bat, Monster Crab, Titanic Centipede, Wolf]

"Pity, it'd be cool if a hostage situation they see me and tell me to stay put, then the real me goes in from the back and ka-pow," mused Glory Girl. "Have you met Amy yet?"

Taylor glanced towards the orderly who said something about "she's here but so is Gloryhole" into his phone, but wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

* Amy *

Touching one of Bounceback's healed patients was interesting. Some form of accelerated time with stimulation of the body's own repair functions from what she could tell. A form of regeneration?

Touching Bounceback herself was MUCH more interesting.

She was essentially, in this form at least, a multicellular one-celled organism. What looked like blue jello was actually a mass of cells that could all switch functions and roles in the beat of a heart she didn't actually have. The overall look was more like a one-celled organism but so completely alien to anything she was used to seeing that her sister actually had to pry her fingers away.

She'd found someone that she couldn't affect on anything like a permanent basis. If she tried, Bounceback's body would literally bounce back to normal after analyzing the hell out of what she'd done and countering it.

What made this even more freaky and amazing was the distinct impression that her power was both freaked out and fascinated by the blue girl who was looking very concerned at her.

"Sorry, that was a bit distracting," said Amy, still staring at the slime-girl.

"Sis? 'A bit'? It took three minutes and I had to pry your hand off hers," said Glory Girl. "Are you all right? You were completely out of it."

"EVERYONE STAY CHILL AND NOBODY NEEDS TO GET HURT!" yelled someone.

"Huh?" said Glory Girl just before some blaster effect knocked her through a wall.

Seeing shrapnel in the air, Bounceback engulfed Panacea automatically to protect her.