Chapter 01
Lily was fairly certain she was dead. Floating in an apparently empty, misty space with some unseen source of light giving a faint illumination to the surroundings certainly gave that impression to her, along with the fact she was weightless, just floating in the air. She had tried to move around and look for answers, shout, plead for aid, and nothing had come of it.
Working at an office, she was a young woman in her late twenties, and had done reasonably well for herself in professional life. She was not too ambitious but worked hard and was diligent about her duties when on the clock, but perfectly content to just relax on her time off. She didn't really consider herself a saint by any means, but neither did she regard herself as a bad person. Somewhat selfish at times, but hardly more than anyone else, and willing to reach out to help another from time to time.
Yet after all that, she found herself stuck in what seemed to be some sort of a limbo. Lost and forgotten. She had raged, pleaded, cried, tried to shout out and bargain for a second chance at life, anything. It felt like it had been a long time already, despite the fact there was no real way to tell, with the unchanging nature of the place she found herself in.
Sighing quietly as she looked at her hands, she saw the translucent look about them. Her hands were still there, but she could see through them. Closing her eyes still concealed things from her, she wasn't seeing through her eye-lids, but holding her hand to her face had let her still see through it perfectly fine.
It was just one of those freaky oddities that made her pretty certain she was dead. She was having some difficulties accepting it at first, but after all the crying and raging, she had come to a point where she had started to admit that it was likely true. True acceptance was not quite there yet, she was reluctant to leave a life behind if there was any chance to get back among the living. Yet at the same time, she had shouted so loud and so long, she was pretty sure if she had an actual body her throat would be so horrifyingly sore by now she didn't like to think about it.
Worst of all, she couldn't recall how it might have happened. She had vague memories of heading out to work the start of the day, getting to her car in the icy weather, and reaching her place of work. Going through the day at the office, preparing to leave, and then, nothing. The rest of the memories seemed to cut off, blacked out.
She was not sure if she had been in some car-accident on the road, killed by someone in the parking lot, or what had happened. She had even considered the possibility someone had simply yanked her from where she was, and dropped her off in this damnable limbo without any warning. The aggravating fact was that she simply did not know.
Lily had waited and screamed out for someone to explain things to her eventually, with no effect. She had tried to just wait patiently and politely, but with nothing going on and all the horrifying thoughts about existential dread pushing to the surface looking at her translucent hands, she had ended up shouting.
She had made plenty of mistakes in her life, but tried to keep going without giving them too much power over her. She had made the best of the situations as they came, and had managed to get herself in a comfortable enough position that she had not been feeling too much pressure on her life. True, things might have been occasionally a bit boring, but she amused herself with various means.
She enjoyed her share of movies, watching some interesting series, reading, browsing the net. She had enjoyed looking up things on a few forums, enjoying the stories and fan-fiction that some people put together. She had lurked and followed a few stories quite eagerly, waiting to see where the authors would take their characters next.
Now, she was left cursing in the empty space about boredom, uncertainty, and the frustration of so many stories she had been amused by now being left in unfinished state in her mind as well. It was just a little extra push of misery on her, but she would have really wanted to keep following those stories at least, but of course this damned limbo denied her even such means of entertainment. Left to suffer alone and bored.
"Congratulations, Congratulations, you've been chosen to be the newest member of the Celestial Menagerie! Isn't that great?"
The sudden booming voice caused her to yelp and flail her arms as she spun in the air doing a flip, before managing to stabilize herself. Looking around confused, she saw nobody else around, only concealing mist.
"Who am I and what's the Celestial Menagerie, you ask. Well, allow me to explain. I'm an omni-dimensional being and one of the founders of the Celestial Menagerie. It's an organization dedicated to the preservation of life across the multiverse. To do so we search for individuals like you."
She blinked while still trying to find the source of the voice, finding her own voice failing her, no sound coming from her throat even as she tried to speak up and ask some questions, both about what had happened to her and this apparent offer.
"You see you possess an extremely rare and unique quality, your soul is at the same time very resilient but also very adaptable. Once we find someone like you, we engrave on their soul the pattern of a living creature so this pattern can be forever preserved, and should something happen to this particular species, we can use the pattern to recreate it elsewhere."
Lily was shocked and began waving frantically on hearing that idea. The idea of someone messing with her soul did definitely set her at ease, she was not thrilled by that idea.
"Hum, what do you mean you don't want to have anything engraved into your soul? I assure you the process is completely painless and it's for a good cause. In addition, it's not without benefit for you, once the pattern has been engraved you can use it to summon a copy of that creature completely subservient to you. Does that help?"
Lily was gritting her teeth together, annoyed, still waving her hands, and pointing at her throat, wanting to be able to talk.
"How can the Celestial Menagerie help preserve countless creatures, if people like you are that rare and can only preserve one creature? And what happens when you die? Ah, I see the confusion, but I didn't finish explaining. After the first pattern has been engraved your soul will slowly adapt and grow, allowing us to engrave one more creature and continuing like that we can preserve an impressive amount of creatures. As for dying, well first most of the creatures you will be able to summon have unique ability and power, and can help protect you. And second, as I said the pattern will be engraved on your soul, and a soul is eternal. A few exotic effects can damage or in rare cases destroy a soul, but the very fact of engraving patterns on your soul will reinforce it, making you way more resistant to such effects. Does that answer your question?"
Not really, she thought grimly. She lowered one arm, waving the other in the air in a manner similar to a student trying to get the teacher's attention. Apparently the panicked waving wasn't working after all. She still pointed at her throat.
"No, sorry we don't give you the possibility of refusing, souls like yours are too rare for that. I'm mostly talking to you as a courtesy. Now you're going to wake up, and you'll gain the knowledge on how to summon your first creatures. Two things before I need to go, first you might want to revisit your definition of a living creature, you might be surprised otherwise. Second, we also include in the Celestial Menagerie a number of minor powers to help you, think of it as a bonus. I'm going to continue my search for more beings like you and I wish you luck with your new power."
After the voice quieted down, Lily felt herself suddenly falling at the mist, like gravity had just suddenly been returned after all that time waiting around, a yelp escaping her throat again, an indignant annoyance towards the voice and whatever being that was for denying her the chance to even ask some questions properly before it dropped this all on her, but as she fell through the mist, she felt herself falling asleep regardless, everything going black.
Waking up on top of a bed in an unfamiliar bedroom, Lily let out a small groan as she got up and out of the bed. Dressed in her underwear and a simple t-shirt, she looked about a bit confused, the bedroom was relatively neat if sparsely furnished, but a mirror close by on a closet door allowed her to get a good look at herself.
She had changed, that much was obvious. Her hair was straight and black, reaching just past her shoulders, the previous dark brown shade and the curls she was used to both obviously missing. Her eyes had taken a cold blue shade to them, replacing the old light brown shade she was used to. Not to mention her face had changed. It was little things, small adjustments to her nose and her cheekbones. She looked nicer, a little more attractive. The smooth, clear skin had a fair bit to do with it most likely, the fair complexion she had. Gone were little imperfections that had bothered her slightly before.
Leaving the bedroom, she looked around the place she found herself in. It appeared to be a small one-story house in a somewhat poorer neighborhood from the looks of it, the house itself in a somewhat worn down state. She had a bedroom, a kitchen, a decent living room, as well as a small bathroom with a shower, and a small utility room that was more of a closet really, with a washing machine.
She confirmed the closet held clothes matching her current size, and decided to start the day with a quick shower, trying to clear her head. Taking a moment to cook up something to eat, she had a bit of toast and some fried eggs ready in a short order.
Looking around a bit for more clues about her location soon after, she paused as she noticed a few that had her shiver a little uncomfortably. On one of the walls, a calendar stated it was March 2011. On the living room table, a folded up map had its cover up, 'Brockton Bay' marked on top of it.
That was enough to give her a pretty good idea of where the hell she had been dropped. This was not back in her old life, her body had changed, her apparent place to stay had changed, but more importantly, the world she found herself in had definitely changed. That in itself had her tremble and clench her hands into fists, trying to calm down her heartbeat and steady herself.
She was in Earth-Bet. The place where everything seemed to be getting worse, a world occupied by super-powered villains, ruthless gangs and murderhoboes, as well as huge monsters dead-set on destroying what was left of the civilization, bit by bit. Without even trying to mention the surviving Entity and the potential outcome of a confrontation in the future.
Lily shook her head and shivered, this was not good at all. She kept searching for a while, finding a wallet and a flip-phone in the bedroom in a drawer at the night-stand. There was also a bunch of papers in a file folder awaiting, along with a pair of keys in a key-chain. Bringing these over to the living room, he laid the items down on the table, checking them through.
The wallet contained a debit slash ATM card she could use, as well as a post-it-note with a pin-code. There was a driver's license, issued to Lilian Forester. It was not her old last name, but apparently it was what she had been given here. She kept her first name, though she still preferred the more familiar Lily. In addition to that, there was some cash, 50 in total.
The flip-phone had no past calls, no recorded messages. It did note it was Saturday 26th of March. Giving her a more exact date. That gave her roughly two weeks before things kicked off, if she recalled things right. She was pretty sure the story she remembered reading got started on the 8th of April. That didn't give a lot of time to prepare for what would likely follow. If things were going to go as she recalled, in bits and pieces, she would have to be really careful about the way the bombs would start going off eventually.
Checking on the papers, she found she had some manner of background and history in this world, though she had no real memories of it. Grimacing, she flipped through the papers a bit disgusted, and sighed after a moment. There was a lot of details thrown in to remember, some pictures to show her about things she should logically know, but ultimately it could be summarized in a rather short form.
Her old life sucked. She was born to a small town, with parents that had stayed together when her mom got pregnant with her older brother, and she and her brother had often heard them fighting and arguing growing up. Her brother headed off to college full of hope, but got into partying and using drugs, starting a rather nasty descent. She had headed elsewhere to study, getting into a small-time college herself, and studying Business Administration.
Then the Slaughterhouse 9 had rolled in at her home town, and butchered everyone there. Her parents had died, and all she had left of her family were a few distant cousins that wanted nothing to do with her, as well as a mooching brother who was possibly a reason why her other relatives were wary of her as well.
She was 21, she had got herself a three year degree in Business Administration which wasn't really all that helpful when she arrived in Brockton Bay. She had come after a job offer she had got at a local office. Being an office drone paid her bills, covering the rent, the utilities, and the groceries, without leaving her too much extra.
Her key-chain contained a house-key as well as a car-key, to an old used car that was still in decent repair that she had been using to get to work and back. She was still more or less regarded as a newcomer at the office, getting all the annoying work shoved onto her, and was just trying to get through it.
Putting the papers down, she rubbed her forehead while groaning out loudly. She thought she was done with the gopher-work that early stay at the office had been like, only to find out she had to do it all over again it seemed. Worse, this world wasn't exactly safe, and the work was not necessarily all that stable. It might put some money in her pocket and cover some basic bills, but she was hardly thrilled by it at all.
As her thoughts turned back at the matter of the engraving on her very soul, she thought about what she had experienced, and trembled a little. She could vaguely sense something was there, connected to her, just waiting to be called. Thinking about it, she could envision a tether reaching towards her, touching on it, she felt a bit of curiosity and eagerness, a sense of warmth. She could vaguely see a mental image of an upright slug, only with small arms at its sides, as well as a shade of green. She was fairly sure it had a rather large lower jaw, but she felt she would need to summon it to her presence to really see and know.
It didn't feel hostile though, and the windows were covered. Taking a breath, she hesitated a moment, and then mentally gave the tether a small pull. She had a moment's feel of something approaching, and a need to choose where it would appear close to her, choosing an open patch of floor quickly, almost instinctively, before the creature just seemed to fade in, one moment there was nothing, then the next second a translucent image appeared and became more solid before it was no longer translucent at all, and the creature moved.
It was indeed an odd, upright slug, with small arms at its sides. It had a large pair of lips, the lower jaw more prominent because of these lips, a peachy underbelly and arms, but green back with black spots along it. The creature was looking around curious, seeming rather excited. She could feel the curiosity through the bond, even as she approached a bit hesitantly.
"Uh, hi there?" She waved a little, looking at the creature, that looked back at her curious and attentive.
"You don't really talk, do you?" She asked a bit awkward, and saw the slug-creature shake its head at her. Great. At least it seemed to understand her, and be able to answer her.
"Figures. Okay, so, we are living in a somewhat dangerous place now. I may need to call upon you to help me out later, I would rather avoid getting in any trouble with the people on this world, but I figure chances are that we might get involved one way or another. So I may call you out to help me in some tense situations. Can you handle being in danger?" She felt a bit guilty about the thought of summoning this creature in the middle of a fight later on, but at the same time she was pretty sure if the choice was between calling upon this creature engraved in her soul to protect her or dying horribly at the hands of one of the gangs in the city, she would definitely call on the creature and then try and make her escape in a hurry.
Seeing the creature nod and proudly pat its fist on its chest, she smiled a bit at it. It was willing, though she did not know if it would prove capable of really doing more than being a distraction really. Time would tell. She would honestly rather avoid getting involved in the scene of heroes and villains, but she would prefer to have at least a basic plan in mind if things did go badly.
Lily did recall that she would likely gain more summons in time, so perhaps things were not as bleak as they looked to be at that present moment, but she wasn't going to count on that. She'd rather prepare for the worst even if she hoped for the best. That included considering packing up a bag and preparing to leave town in a hurry later on. If Brockton Bay was going to go through a bomb tinker's rampage, she would much rather get the hell away from it if she couldn't protect herself otherwise.
Another thought hit her without warning. Did she have any protections against being detected by one of the more dangerous presences in the world? She did not know, and that in itself was a scary thought. Thinking of it, she swallowed and looked at the creature at her side, before focusing on sending it back where it came from. The experience was a little odd, she saw the creature vanish with a quiet pop, a lot faster than the first time arriving.
She felt the connection was still there, but it was muted. She instinctively now knew that she could not summon the creature again until tomorrow. Roughly 24 hours since it had last been summoned. From the start of the time it had been summoned instead of the end though, so if she summoned one in the morning and kept it till a late hour, she could still summon another again the following morning.
It would take some getting used to. She was quietly wary about the thought of attracting attention from a winged monster in the sky, or a certain suit-clad, fedora-wearing woman appearing through a portal to put a bullet into her head.
Neither of them seemed intent on appearing to ruin her day on the spot at least, so she figured chances were they were not paying attention to her at least yet, and given her power might not be shard-based like theirs, perhaps they were not aware of it. Yet.
She would have to hope she would get her hands on something that would block their sight just in case however, because what feeble protections the anonymity brought her right now would likely not last too long if things started getting in motion and things began to happen.
Lung's capture would be lighting a match, Bakuda's bombing spree would be dropping it into the gasoline soaking the city, and Leviathan's arrival would put out the fire but wash away many who would have survived the flames only to die in the tide.
She wasn't exactly keen on staying in the city, but she doubted her account held enough cash to do a runner anytime soon, and if she wanted to keep getting more money, she probably had to get to work the coming Monday. Which would likely see her stuck trying to get through that annoyance for two or three weeks. Chances were that when the bombing spree began there would be a lot of people either not showing up to work or trying to work remotely to avoid the worst of the danger. Speaking of, she glanced about and smirked a little finding an old laptop computer around at least, on a shelf in the bedroom.
Booting it up at the living room, she was relieved to find there was even a wireless signal that it caught right away. She didn't need the charger at that moment, the laptop's battery had a fair bit of power. She noted the laptop didn't appear to contain that much work files, not much in the way of games either. It did have some bookmarks though, including a few news-sites, as well as Parahumans Online forums.
She had a work email, as well as a more casual one, but she did not have an account on PHO. Neither was she intent on making one. She did take a little bit of time to browse that though, trying to calm her nerves, and get a better feel for things.
There was no real mention of the Ruby Dreams casino, but some comments were made how ABB had looked particularly ticked off earlier that month. That could be them, but she had no way to say for sure. Unfortunately the Cornell University bomb-threat had happened, and was debated on the forums already.
The bomber in question was supposedly arrested, but there had not been any statements since then. She was pretty sure Lung had sprung the woman from jail later on, having her join, or it could be she was lucky and she was in custody. She wasn't going to put any money on that guess however, she really didn't think she would be that lucky.
There was sufficient evidence that she was having a real hard time denying her new reality being as shitty as it seemed. She had been dropped off in the setting of Worm, on Earth-Bet, without even knowing if she had any sort of protection against the abilities of a few scary boogeymen in the setting. She could only hope so.
Author's Note: Alright, I'm giving the Celestial Menagerie a try, and will be writing this story with a more loose plan in mind for what may happen in the future chapters, subject to change as dice-rolls indicate. I will write a chapter, and the points gained through it will be spent to roll for new creatures and powers to appear in the next chapter.
Spoiler: Listing
EDIT: Corrected a Typo
Last edited: Dec 11, 2021
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FrozenTome
Dec 7, 2021
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Threadmarks Chapter 02 - First Steps, Faltering
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Dec 7, 2021
#2
Chapter 02
Lily spent a while browsing the net, and scouring through what local news she could get from PHO, before closing the laptop down. Examining the map, she found that while she was at south docks area, closer to Arcadia and the downtown area than Winslow. It was a neighborhood that wasn't as badly off as some of the others, but still not exactly in a good shape. A bit more distant from the Trainyard and the Merchants hanging around there, but uncomfortably close to areas that the Empire 88 held, if the information present on the net was to be trusted.
Not that she was likely to be first on their list of undesirables to attack, but she really didn't like the idea of living anywhere near actual Nazis. She detested the idea that the abominable ideology had not died with the second world war, but at the same time, she believed people were free to believe in what they wanted. She personally just found their intent to inflict violence on anyone different to be disgusting.
Unfortunately, the bay was in a bad shape, the ABB, the Asian gangs united under one banner, under Lung's iron grip, were definitely trouble. She would avoid any areas belonging to them unless she had some serious power at her disposal, and even then she would prefer to keep her distance. She was not keen on learning whether or not the persistent rumors of what went on in their territory were true or not.
Merchants were drug-peddlers who used their own product. The fact they were willing to do that might have made them seem too messed up to pose a serious threat, but unfortunately being drugged up like that also left them highly unpredictable, and liable to cause a lot of trouble in the city. She was not keen on running into any of them either, but with any luck, she would not have to, not anytime soon at least.
She had powers, so she was pretty sure she would eventually get involved in some way. She would prefer to see her powers actually grow to be somewhat more useful first however. At the present time, all she had was her slug-creature, and she wasn't really sure it would help too much, beyond possibly freaking someone out the first time they saw it. Unfortunately it would also out her as a cape most likely.
Distasteful as it was, she would need to bide her time, just keep on doing her job and watching how things unfolded, before trying to get some more power. Perhaps some other creature would eventually add to her options and give her a chance to try and make some changes. Unfortunately she was not convinced her powers offered a reasonable mask to her against a few people that might intervene and stop her on the spot if they considered her an actual threat.
Though chances were, that they would, hopefully, disregard her presence for the time being. They might not see her, or might not consider her important enough to merit any attention now. That didn't really improve her odds of surviving too much though. The world of Earth-Bet was not a kind one to bystanders either. Being in an Endbringer shelter when an attack came might just make her one of the statistics of lives lost in an attack. Wandering out in the city might make her a statistic of the gang-violence going on.
Drawing a deep breath and sighing quietly, she looked at the map, and noted where her workplace was. The map had a few spots marked with little stickers, making them easier to locate. Driving to the commercial district meant going further away from the shore, so if she was at work when Leviathan eventually came wandering in, she might be at a better place for evacuations. Though the effectiveness of those shelters still troubled her.
In all honesty, she hoped she would gain more from her situation, the mention of gaining some power alongside the engraved patterns of various creatures certainly had her wonder what might be possible in time. She had a few weeks before Bakuda got going, more than a month before Leviathan, but at the same time she got a rather strong feeling that trying to inform Protectorate of either of those two events ahead of time would cause ripples and have people looking for a new Tinker, or more likely claim it a simple hoax, since the Endbringers and their attacks were a blind-spot for vast majority of people.
That wasn't going to help. Sighing quietly, she glanced at a few other landmarks. Small smile crossing her lips briefly as she noted the bank, the gallery, and a few other places were marked. Including the Undersiders base. Redmond Welding huh. Not that she had any interest in meeting with any of them.
Frankly, she felt very strong reluctance to deal with Tattletale, and had no interest whatsoever in drawing Coil's attention towards her. If she did, she would have to start making preparations to have the man dead as soon as possible, because she honestly did not like the possibilities the man's power offered him, and she had no interest in finding out about them either.
Getting up from the couch, the map folded up again, she stretched out and considered whether to just stay indoors for the day, or to take a look somewhere in the city. She felt getting cooped up inside would be a safer option, but also a boring one. She was in another world, albeit a reasonably normal looking one, on the surface.
Going to the boardwalk and having a look around, taking a look at the Protectorate base in the bay itself, and other ideas played around on her mind as options.
Lily was considering this when there was a small shiver going through her, a curious feeling of something attaching itself to her, feeling a new tether linking her to something else. She felt it in her mind, but this time, more inanimate than alive. The vague outline resembling a card.
Pulling on it, she blinked when she found herself holding what appeared to be a rather fancy tarot card of some sort, with the sun and the moon hanging off of a winged image above, a scale of a sort. The name beneath, the Libra, making her blink. She could also feel a bit of power within the card. Just touching it, she felt it course through her.
She could use it to discern truth, but it would expend some form of energy. Simply having the card out, summoned, did not require it, but using it would. It didn't come alone though. Lifting her other hand, she felt a black wooden wand appear in her grasp, smooth and polished, a comfortable grip on it, and another touch of power felt running through it.
She snorted. Okay, she got a weird creature at first, and then she got a card dealing with truth and a magic wand. She found it a bit funny, but but not really all that helpful. She was pretty sure she could use the card a few different ways, being able to detect lies would not expend much energy, but forcing someone to tell the truth would. The wand would help with targeted effects, and possibly otherwise, but a more passive effect that just called for a little bit of energy to initiate in the first place wasn't that draining.
Humming, she swung the wand's tip down, and blinked as she followed a bit of what appeared instinctive know-how given to her when she held the card. The wand grew into a staff, not particularly long one, it resembled a gentleman's cane more than a full blown wooden stave of some fantasy wizard. Holding it, she could tell that she could switch the wand and the staff between those forms easily, and on knocking on the ground she could expend the energy she had in herself in a short order to create a short term area effect enforcing truth within it as well. That would drain her of said energy fast, but it could certainly prove useful in some cases.
Unfortunately she didn't believe she had much use for it right now. Letting go of the staff saw it vanish, but she didn't dismiss the card yet. She had it, and as long as she did, she could freely call the staff or wand back as needed, and use its power. Slipping it to a pocket for now, she let out a breath.
Okay, the powers would grow, she would gain more summons, and possibly more powers to go with the creatures, in time. She wasn't sure of the rate she would gain things at, but she was hopeful it would let her grow in power in the time she had to prepare, and prepare her better for what lay in the horizon. Surviving things she knew about was just the beginning, because in all honesty, a large part of her was just screaming for her to get the hell out of there.
To leave Brockton Bay, and to try and find a way to live elsewhere, to try and gain in power and get strong enough to leave Earth Bet behind. The thought of what might happen in two years time did trouble her, but that would be a matter to worry about when that time drew closer. Frankly, she didn't know enough about her power just yet to really know what to expect from the future.
She really needed to clear her head. Sighing, she decided to head on out. Checking that she had the keys, the phone, and the wallet with her, she got a coat on to add to her current outfit. Old jeans and a blouse worked well enough for now, she was just having a look around anyway. The coat was warm, which would be good since she was planning to go by the coast at the boardwalk, to see the Rig at the distance.
Getting out of the house, she made sure to bring the map with her. She had looked at the route she would have to take, and got on the move quietly. The drive seeing the state of urban decay going on in the city, the many closed store-fronts, the boarded up windows in some cases, and buildings that had been damaged a long time from the looks of it, but abandoned rather than repaired. It was a grim reminder of the fact things were not good in the city, or the whole country honestly. Then again, other nations were not really much better off, they had their own share of issues, with the Asian countries in particularly nasty predicament dealing with the Yangban and the Chinese Union-Imperial forces. That was a powder-keg just waiting for a match if she'd ever seen one.
Driving on following the street-signs, she pulled the car to park in front of a small shop that was open at that time, and checked on the map. She was going the right way alright, just needed to go down further along the way than she expected.
Continuing quietly, she drove as close to the boardwalk as was reasonable to do, pulling over to a parking garage that looked to be in somewhat decent shape. Sure, it had some graffiti and tags on it, but the cars seemed to be largely left alone. Could be it was because the board-walk was close enough that a car-alarm tripping might bring some people to respond to trouble in a short order, perhaps. After all, it would hurt tourism is a visitor's car got stolen while they were enjoying the local scenery.
Getting out and walking out onto the boardwalk, she found a definite change in the surroundings. The place was a lot cleaner, and there were small crowds going about, even if it was a Saturday morning, when he expected most folks to stay away for a while yet.
There was definitely some tourists, a fair number gathered on a wooden deck by a small restaurant there, lots of cameras held up taking pictures at the direction of the Protectorate Rig, and the light-bridge that was currently in use too.
Excited gossip about Armsmaster being on his way to patrol seemed to be spreading, but she paid it less attention than many of the others. Exciting as it might be to see an actual hero, and tinker-tech, she was not exactly a fan of the man. His behavior before he learned a little humility had cost peoples lives, and at the present time she preferred to have the first hero or heroine she saw to be someone a little more respectable in her eyes, so as to not taint the image in her head.
Not that things were ever simple. Things were tense in this world, and the line blurred with the circumstances. She visited a small bakery relatively close, getting herself a simple muffin to eat and paying for it briefly, walking around looking while nibbling on her meal.
Looking around a few people walking about and talking, she could feel the card in her back pocket reminding her of its existence. Of being able to connect with it and by feeding it a little magic, discern truth and the lies from what she heard. She brushed that thought off of her mind, but smiled quietly. It might prove useful at some point, but right now she didn't really see a reason to do so. She was fairly certain if she spent the energy it had, she might not be able to call upon it again until it had recovered. Which would be tomorrow, she idly noted, a passing though that just felt right.
There was no comprehensive guide to this in her mind, but little helpful nudges did aid. At the same time it left her more than a little wary about the future. She wasn't really sure what to expect.
Seeing a pair of enforcers on patrol, she continued walking past them while finishing her muffin, and dropping the paper the pastry had come with into the trash-bin, she continued on her way. They didn't seem interested in her, she wasn't a bum making the scene look worse, nor was she causing trouble or even littering. She might not be a wealthy tourist, but she had shown some patronage in the area.
There was some little show going on further off, some kids gathered to watch. For a moment she was thrilled thinking it might be Sabah, or rather her cape identity, Parian. Unfortunately it turned out to be another performer, this one juggling a few pins. She could respect the skill that went to it, but she had no real interest on watching that, and so she continued on.
No obvious gang-members were walking the boardwalk, but she felt a few people she passed were possibly linked to E88. She took a seat relatively close, ordering herself a coffee with the passing waiter, and resting back a bit, while focusing on trying to overhear the men.
Unfortunately the distance between them, the bit of noise going on around the area, and their lowered tone meant she was not really hearing anything clear enough. She didn't plan to try and move closer either. Waiting for the coffee, she took a small sip on it while resting back in the seat, opening her flip phone and idly checking on a few of its options.
She certainly missed having a smart phone in her grasp, but she'd make do. She was fairly certain there would be something on the market, the question was what the prices might be. Tinker-tech options were likely studied closely by tech-companies for any ideas outside of the black-boxed pieces, but she didn't expect the tech here to be more advanced than back home, outside of the actual tinker-tech. She figured the prices would also be a bit much for someone living on a more tight budget at the time.
Her phone chimed at the time, and she blinked in confusion, before noticing that there was a message from her brother in this world. She grimaced slightly at the message, sighing quietly and staring at it for a moment.
Hey Lil sis, sorry to bother you but really need some cash. Can't cover my rent this month and the landlord's getting kinda pissed off about it. The job I had going for a bit paid decently but some uptight old lady messed it up for me. Complained about bad service. Fucking hell, she was in foul mood and took it out on me, I'm innocent here. Still left me in trouble. Just need 200. Please sis?
She silently closed the message without replying to it right away. She didn't really even know what her bank account held, and she was pretty sure any money sent her brother's way would not be money she would be getting back. Then again, if she refused to help him, then chances were he might just turn up in Brockton Bay and crash on her couch and eat her fridge empty.
Then again, she might just be assuming too much about the situation, but the papers she had read did leave an impression about her newly gained relative that was far from flattering. She considered just visiting the bank to check and see about her finances, idly wondering if she should instead try logging in on her laptop at home to the bank on-line, and check the account that way. It would certainly be more convenient. The problem was she didn't really recall finding the papers with the numbers to type on the screen, the account nor the pass-code.
She paused momentarily and silently groaned. She could just check it at an ATM anyway. Keep it simple, she reminded herself. Ugh, that was an embarrassing bit of confusion to have, but it did remind her that there were parts of her new life here that would still need to be checked.
She noticed the group of men that had been talking together departing, and caught sight of a sleeve on their suit only partly covering a tattoo of some sort on their wrist, but it was too brief to really say anything. She could just be a touch paranoid, but she preferred to keep her eyes and ears open when in a new city.
Walking along for a bit, she found an alcove holding an ATM machine, having figured there would be one set up close by where the tourists tended to roam. Carefully checking her surroundings, she then moved forward to enter her card, tapping in her pin code while covering her hand tapping the code in with another.
The total was soon visible on the screen, and she grimaced. Alright, she saw a few past transactions and what was on the account. Her pay was monthly at the end of the month, and she paid her rent at the start of the month. What remained, she took a chunk of in cash for grocery bills, and spent a bit more on gas. She idly noted her account had roughly 250 in spending money, and what she saved up after groceries and gas was roughly 100 a month. Not a big increase, her pay sucked. While she did have a little cash, if she 'borrowed' that money to her brother, she would take a large chomp out of what she had saved up. She probably already had to budget what she spent on food rather sharply. She grimaced. Yeah, seriously not fun.
She withdrew another 20 and added it to her wallet, before getting ready to leave. Taking her card and her money, she stored them away and headed off. Seeing a girl running a bit fast further ahead she moved back to the wall her hands in her pockets. Seeing the girl pass, she was not sure but she figured chances were they were a pick-pocket. Something about the way they had looked around at people, and seemed to focus at rushing the way she had come from after she left the ATM, she was more than a little wary.
At least she seemed to have figured the opportunity was lost when she dodged aside fast, likely going after some easier prey. Then again, she might be wrong, and accusing an innocent person of a crime they were not going to commit in the first place.
She preferred to be a bit cynical and wary regardless. Making her way back to her car, she headed back home quietly, thinking about the state of her groceries. She was fine for the weekend. She wasn't too keen on getting back to work on the Monday, even less so with the whole office scene here unknown to her. She'd just have to see how it turned out.
As she reached the residential area, she soon followed a few somewhat familiar road-signs she had noted when she got on the move earlier, and arrived to the still unfamiliar front yard of her house here. Pulling the car on the driveway, she got out, and headed back inside. Closing the door behind her and letting out a weary sigh.
Little fresh air, a look around, it helped but at the same time it didn't really provide any good answers to her. She was torn between caution and a desire to act, but she was not planning to rush ahead when changes were she would just manage to get herself killed if she acted rashly. She lacked a companion that she could expect to actually make a difference in a fight if things got rough.
At that thought, she felt a small shiver go through her body, and a new tethering sensation, a connection taking place. This one giving her a little chill momentarily, before a sense of excitement and curiosity came through the connection. She wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but focusing a little like she had done with the card, she saw the vague shifting outline of an orb surrounded by misty cloud of a sort.
Focusing on it there indoors, she pulled gently on the tether, calling on it, and saw the little creature appear with a poof. Flying in the air, she saw a creature that seemed only partially solid, a sphere with a simple face in it among mist circling it and seeming to shift like a burning flame. She felt a chill around it, but not enough to harm her. The creature itself seemed to maintain enough distance to not harm her.
She stood silent and smiled, marveling a bit at the creature. This time she was rather curious, the creature was both eerie and otherworldly, and yet in its own way kind of cute. She felt the excitement and caution within the creature before her, intent on not accidentally harming her in any way.
"Hey there little fellow. I'm Lily. Nice to meet you." She smiled a little, and saw the little sphere nod slightly in a manner that might have been a bow given its lack of a real body. Still no words to answer her though.
"I wish the circumstances were a little better, I am still trying to figure out what to do. Having a connection to you and others is amazing, but at the same time I am a little overwhelmed because not only did this connection come to me by surprise, but I also found myself far away from home and familiar situation, in a life that is not looking exactly comfortable for me in the short-term at least." She smiled a bit awkwardly as she looked at the little creature, feeling it was good to vent.
"I am not sure how dangerous it might turn out to be just yet. Chances are I might have to call upon you another time to ask you to help me out of some trouble. There are some people in this city that would do a lot of harm to others if it made them some profit. People who would harm others for their own twisted amusement. Even if I did leave, there are more out there in this world, and I don't exactly have a lot of resources or options at my disposal right now." She let out a heavy sigh at this.
"So I am hoping you would be willing to help me out if I ever get in danger, help me get away from troublemakers or helping take them down. If it is in possible." She looked at the creature a bit uncertain. Flying in the air freely, it seemed quite interesting, but at the same time she did not know what the creature was capable of. The light chill around it certainly seemed to suggest it might have some control over ice, but it might just be that the creature naturally cooled its surroundings.
In answer, the little figure floated a little higher and she suddenly saw what seemed to be thin edges in the air, wind blowing, before she realized they were like thin icy blades that slashed around fast before breaking apart and vanishing only to be replaced by others. She blinked quietly at this and looked at the creature a bit relieved.
She wasn't sure how effective the wind-blades partly coated in ice might be, but it was more options than she had a moment before.
"Thank you." She smiled and nodded in grateful manner.
Author's Note: We are starting off a little slow, but I do plan to get things moving a little faster with a single protagonist than I did with previous stories with multiple characters giving their point of view. Lily is in a situation that she feels is overwhelming her a bit, but at the same time she hasn't had that much time to digest it all yet.
We've got our first new summons, and the story is off to a start. I don't know what my update ratio for this will be, I aim to try and keep the updates at least weekly, but if I am feeling more inspired, I will drop additional chapters in. I don't plan to commit to more than a single update a week given I don't know what lays ahead, but that's a starting point. Any extra chapters will depend on my muse and the current circumstances.
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Threadmarks Chapter 03 - Dealing with Initial Headaches
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FrozenTome
Dec 9, 2021
#7
Chapter 03
After dismissing her floating little ice spirit, Lily spent a little time just resting back, browsing a little more wikis on the net, and checking on the television shows going on. Additional information about the world she was in and the current events might prove useful at some point, but in all honesty, she was mostly just trying to take a little time for herself, and let it all sink in with its implications.
So far, it seemed like she wasn't about to freak out and start screaming, raging, pleading, begging, or anything such. After the experience in the endless space within the mist she felt like a grim acceptance had just slipped in place all too easily for her to be all that comfortable about it, but at the same time she was aware of it.
Chances were, there might be more going on about her powers than was readily available for her inspection at the time. Still, she needed to figure a few more things out. Sighing quietly as she glanced at a clock on the wall, she decided she might as well test one of her powers. Holding up the card, the libra, she called her brother's number in silence while trying to push a little energy into the card, a small touch of innate know-how it provided letting it connect, and she felt the effect settling in place. Just in time too, as she heard call connect.
"Hi sis. Any chance you could send me the money I asked? I really need it. I had some money, but I was supposed to get a paycheck soon, and figured I'd cover the rest of the rent I owed with that, so I spent it. Can't really get my money back either. So yeah, kind of would really need the money."
She knew what he said was true. The fact remained she was pretty sure that he was leaving a lot out, including what he had spent that money on, or why he had not thought to pay the rent with it first and making any other purchases after he had got his hands on the paycheck.
"What did you buy that you can't return, and please don't tell me it was drugs." She needed to confirm this one right away.
"No, it wasn't drugs, I'm clean sis. Mostly. Just a little weed, for the nerves, none of the big stuff. But this was for real, I had to get new work clothes, managed to mess the old ones. Had to spend money to make money. At least I thought it'd work, before that nasty old bitch ruined my job."
Partial truth, the first part was partly lies, but the part about needing some work clothes was real. As was the admission about the weed. So chances were he had got himself some weed with the money in addition to the work-clothes. Hopefully he wasn't using anything worse. It genuinely made her feel a bit sorry for the guy, getting addicted to stuff like that was something she definitely wanted to avoid.
"Ugh. I will see what I can do, but at most I can give you a hundred bucks, I don't have any more spare cash around, my job isn't paying well here. I'll need you to pay me back as soon as you can, too." She decided she would stretch that far, keeping some money at hand in case of surprises, but a hundred bucks she could offer, and it would either confirm to her she could not trust her brother at all, or show that the papers were exaggerating the trouble he could be. Unfortunately she was pretty sure it would be the first result.
"Aw come on, sis, please, I need two hundred, I don't think the landlord will accept me not paying the full amount soon, and I already checked I can't squeeze out another hundred anywhere else either."
Truth, though she was pretty sure he was also laying it a little thick in desperation, trying to play on her guilt.
"Sorry, but I really don't have the money. I've spent my money on rent, groceries, something decent to wear to work, and had my own share of extra expenses with my car before. I don't have the money to lend you more than a hundred, and even that I will need you to pay back as soon as possible. If I lend you that hundred, will you promise to pay it back? Will I get it back?"
"Fuck, fine, fine. Send me the hundred bucks and I'll try and reason with the landlord and get another hundred somehow quick. I'll pay you back as soon as I can, promise."
Lie. Complete and utter lie. The guy was not only not going to try and convince the landlord to take just a hundred, nor was he going to pay her back. She felt a little uncomfortable chill go down her spine. She would lend him that money, and it would be gone, but she worried what kind of idea he might have in his head to try and get out of his situation then.
"Alright, I'll send it as soon as I can. Just please don't spend it on drugs or get caught up in anything criminal alright? I don't want to lose the last remaining member of my family here." She really hoped it was not going to come to that, but she was still waiting for reply with a sense of dread.
"I promise sis, I'll do what I can to get out of this hole, the damn bitch ruined my work but I'll find a way. Look, please try and get the money sent today, I promise this is the last time I'll bother you about it."
She felt the lie about the last part, but he wasn't lying about someone else ruining his job. Though she was pretty sure if she pressed, she would not like hearing the full circumstances behind his loss of a job either. She also noticed he avoided directly answering her questions about where she'd spend the money or about doing something criminal. It in itself was telling.
"Alright. Just don't get yourself in more trouble." She finished the call, and sighed.
This life was not really her own, but something she had been dropped in. She didn't really even know the guy beyond what she had read in the papers or observed then and there. Yet she didn't want to leave the guy entirely on his own to suffer, especially when she considered the possibility of them trying to move in with her if they got kicked out of their own apartment back wherever they were.
She sighed wearily, and went to check on the laptop. Thankfully, the local bank's web-page was easy enough to find. The request for login required a few numbers, which she looked through her papers for a while to find. Tapping the numbers in and hitting confirmation, she was logged into the web-bank, and found her past transactions and account details.
230.00 sat in her account at the time, her paycheck apparently tended to come on the last workday of the month. She paid her rent by 3rd of the next month, and withdrew enough to cover groceries, and paid a few bills on-line. Resulting in a net-increase of 100 in the account monthly.
Checking back further in the history, she winced. She had lent out 100 to her brother 3 months ago, and 200 just 2 months before that. It was obvious the mooching part had continued for a while. Given her limited finances, she figured her brother already knew to not expect to get much more out of her, but she was still pissed at not having checked before to confirm this pattern.
Sighing, she directed a transfer of 100 to her brother's account, and confirmed it. Leaving her with 130 in her account, when she logged out.
That was when she felt a new connection snapping in place, making her blink. She felt a brief emotion of curiosity through the link, and saw a brief image, distorted as it was, in her mind of a creature with rather wicked claws, hovering in the air with what appeared to be a jet of flame at the bottom of its feet, holding it aloft. Something rather fast and mobile, and vicious by the looks of those claws it had. Not something she would be letting loose in her apartment, she had already felt the chill earlier, those flames might set something on fire.
Still, she was fairly certain it would prove an effective surprise for any would be muggers or worse she might run across within the city. She would prefer to avoid outing herself as a cape if she could, but if it came down to it, she'd rather call a summon and deal with the aftermath than allow herself to be harmed.
Lily was relieved the amount of creatures she could call upon was growing relatively fast, at least at first. It gave her a lot more options. She wasn't exactly confident her slug-creature would be very helpful in the event of a fight, but perhaps it might just surprise her. Still, more options meant she would feel a bit more confident going forward.
She had no idea of whether or not the rapid growth of her soul was an initial effect that would slow down later on, or if it would be like this for a while. Either way, the whole situation was a lot to swallow, and she had to wonder how she would handle it in the long run.
She might eventually need to get herself a costume just in case, if she had to call upon her creatures somewhere in public. In all honesty, she figured that situation might push her to step up at some point. She didn't really feel confident in staying a rogue, especially without something worthwhile to offer, nor did she have any interest in villainy, screwed up as the laws already were she did not feel interested in making things worse herself. As for the Protectorate, she was not interested in all the red-tape that would drop on her, along with all the other issues, involving her privacy and more.
Though perhaps she might eventually sign up as an independent, register herself and admit a few powers, making herself known but maintaining some distance from the bureaucracy that tied people down. The appeal of some more money at her disposal certainly interested her more than the drone-work at the office, but she wasn't going to let herself be bound by their rules just for a little extra income, especially when chances were that it would get her killed sooner or later.
So, she would take some time to think things through still, but the path she could consider for the future was that of an independent hero, if the laws permitted a hero to confiscate some funds from a crime-scene as she had read in some stories, it might offer her some support. Although having extra funds at her disposal might raise more than a few eyebrows, and draw attention to her.
For now, she would pay it relatively safe for a couple of days, see what the weekend brought with it, and go to work on the coming Monday. The papers had a bit about the office, including a small drawing of the work-space on the floor she would be getting off at, and where to find her desk. The papers had noted she had finished another project before this weekend, so she likely would be getting a 'new assignment' sometime next week rather than being thrown confused and lost into an older one that she had no idea about.
Not that it was a big improvement, she had very little idea about what to expect from the work. Sure, she had worked at an office before, but it took a while to get used to the people and the details of the work and all that. Hopefully it would become clearer when the time came.
Sighing a bit wearily, she wondered why her arrival here was without any convenient memories of the 'life already lived', or a blank slate with a bigger bank account. Then again, she might just have to be grateful she did not get dropped down in an alley somewhere without any local money at all and without an actual identity existing at all.
Trying to reassure herself that she would be fine, she stretched out a bit and then moved to turn on the television and watch it for a while, to distract herself from the whole mess for a little while. Worrying too much would do more harm than good anyway.
Checking the programs for a while, she found herself rather annoyed. Lots of annoying and boring shows, some crazy ones, and documentaries about various stuff. The last one might have been of some use, if not for the fact that he wasn't really sure what to think of them. Propaganda, wild theories, and misunderstood bits and pieces of real information. She found herself growing a bit aggravated at it in a short order, turning the television off again.
That wasn't really any relief. She wasn't keen on watching cartoons or some backstabbing drama or the exaggerated comedy routines either. It might be she was just not in the mood to relax with television shows, so she decided to return to her laptop and check up on a few other things.
Her wiki-trawling before had provided her with some information, checking the PHO had given some idea of things going on in the bay, but looking around for a bit, she looked up information on Uber and Leet. What she found had her grimace slightly.
Yeah, the gamer-duo of villains was pretty messed up. More so than most stories she had read showed.
They were not puckish rogues trying to live a life of mirth and whimsy with video-games and pranks, they were juvenile bullies who had got their hands on some power and were perfectly happy slapping the world in the face with more misery with their escapades to make their own lives a bigger thrill. Amoral, cruel, and thinking themselves funny, they were definitely not people she would want to run into.
Looking around, she did find a site where they showed broadcasts, but most of their older videos were for subscribers, a few high-lights and clips were available for perusal though. She grimaced a bit at checking a few of them, further reinforcing her idea that they were reckless idiots and amoral bastards. There was little regard for civilians getting hurt by their stunts or even their own minions suffering from malfunctions of their gear, though majority of the malfunctions seemed to happen only when Leet himself was close.
Huh, perhaps there was something to the theory that Leet's shard wanted to kill him. She didn't really feel sympathy towards the villainous gamer-duo however, as they were a hazard that she too might run into during her stay in the city. They staged their crimes seemingly randomly while looking for fame and some fortune in form of loot, and innocent people could easily get caught in crossfire.
The gangs were bad enough, but even small time villains were obviously a blight on the city. The fact that the Protectorate and local PRT forces were left underfunded, understaffed and overworked was not raising her opinion about the Protectorate as a whole any higher. She could tip her hat off to the heroes for achieving what they could, but there was too much messed up stuff going on for them, and too many traitors selling them out to the gangs or other crooks.
Nonetheless, as she finished the last of the free clips on their site, she grimaced slightly. They didn't flat out announce when a new stream was going to start, but there was options to subscribe and follow their antics. She was pretty sure it would not be going out live most likely, or at least not starting before they were already in motion, to give the Protectorate or PRT precious little time to get in motion once their broadcasting began at another crime-scene of theirs. Might also be they would just show the recording after action rather than doing things live.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a new connection settling in, this one feeling a lot more ominous, and she winced as she suddenly felt like someone had thrown a bucket's worth of cold water on her head, leaving her pinching her eyes shut and reaching up to rub her forehead.
SCP-299. She had gained a freaking SCP. An anomaly that could potentially turn an area into an S-Class hazard, and get her into a lot of hot water. The information she gained was in form of reports, similar to what she recalled reading on the 'Secure Contain Protect' web-page in the past, though she hadn't read that many, a few amusing ones when she got pointed at the site in the past.
These things, these anomalies, were serious danger in a lot of cases. She wasn't sure what to think of it, but hoped that things would not go wrong in a short order. At least her power gave her a comforting feeling that she could dismiss the creature on the spot when she wanted, and it would not leave anything behind. So even if she did summon it, it would not leave lasting presence in the world.
Still, she was pretty sure if she summoned this thing somewhere, and someone got scratched by it, this anomaly could leave someone writhing in horrible pain.
The thing was, this whole thing was like a strange tree, thick upper branches hiding it from view from above if hidden in a forest, but anything scratched by lower branches, that were changed, would result in the victim starting to shift into another copy of the creature. At least normally.
She wasn't sure, but she was pretty sure the limitations to not allow creatures to reproduce might hinder this effect, but chances were it would still shred the insides of a creature that got too close and got stung by the anomaly.
Which meant it would be on the list of things to leave the hell alone unless she was in rather extreme situation. Not that she expected much help from this either, it was a freaking stationary tree.
Then again, the files did mention some slightly alarming comments about the roots and their ability to spread the infection. Yeah, she wasn't really keen on calling upon this creature at all if it could be avoided. Even if its effects vanished when it was dismissed, she was pretty sure the experience of getting stung would likely be rather horrifying, and she wasn't keen on seeing how that would turn out.
It might be something to throw down if she was chased by Crawler from the Slaughterhouse 9, but besides that, she wasn't keen on trying to call upon it at all. She could see too many ways that could potentially go wrong, and far too many thoughts about a signed kill-order or a one-way ticket to birdcage.
Best to leave that thing be. She winced and rubbed her forehead, before letting out a long-suffering breath. She wasn't sure why this was something that ought to be preserved and kept alive as an engraving in her very soul, but she would accept it, she had little choice. She was still a bit wary about it, and preferred to leave it be.
Moments later, another rush of information came, though this one was different. Memories that looked like experiencing life as a scout of some sort, wilderness survival lessons. If she was out on her own in the wilderness, it would help her out a fair bit. Those lessons sank in her mind surprisingly easily, there to call upon if needed, but a lot less invasive than the apparent report shoved into place like that. Perhaps it was due to it seeming like recalling taking lessons rather than a printed out lessons that were burned in place along with the new connection she had formed.
So far, she had mainly gained creatures, but this was the first time she learned new skills. Perhaps in time she would gain some powers independent of the creatures themselves as well, though she wasn't going to be counting on that. The creatures seemed to take priority, and while the skills learned were useful, they were not supernatural or really thinker-worthy either.
Closing the tab in the browser, she let out a short breath while starting to check on a few other options. Seeing if there were various services available on-line that she was used to in her old life. Not looking for them by name directly but a description. A few had something similar, others provided no results or results that were way different.
Parallel paths, some ideas were likely not present yet at all, others might be in the works, and some had been tried with varying results, some more successful than others. She had given it a look at least. Checking on a few familiar boards, she snorted. Okay, some familiar ones, but vastly different kinds of stories and content. Some stories based on various books, movies and so on, and more than a few promising looking ones about Battletech for instance.
Might be worth looking into later. She could appreciate a little distraction away from all this after all, and the television wasn't doing it for her. Nothing really written about Worm, which was hardly surprising. Lots of cape-fiction on some sections, but most of that was on PHO, rather than the other more familiar boards.
Smiling a little nevertheless, she decided to waste some time reading what the local boards had to offer. She missed a few good stories from back home that she would not get to see continued after being dropped here, but checking what new options were there was going to prove interesting.
At least for a short time, but she was soon gritting her teeth together frustrated. She should have figured. More than a few of the stories flat-out jammed Parahumans and in many cases rather well known parahumans into the stories and set them loose to change the world they were in for the better without Endbringers or S-class threats around in those world, though they did have some of their own.
Though it seemed some settings like Warhammer 40k were still around and considered even more grim that the world they currently lived in, resulting in some people joking that compared to that, their lives were rather comfy and luxurious. She winced a bit at those comments quietly.
Earth-Bet was not in a good state, and while those worlds in stories they joked about were grim, their own world might only have a few more measly years to go if things were to unfold the way they had in at least one that had been documented in the world of her origin by Wildbow, whether it was a matter of everything written being true somewhere else, or the author having some inspiration from nightmares about the world she now found herself in. She didn't know what all lay out there, and what was the reason behind things known on the other side, but since she was here on Earth-Bet living it, she was going to treat what she knew as a warning of just how bad it could go, and just how close to the edge it had all come down at.
She silently wished she could distract herself, but after having seen what drugs did to her brother and recalling her father's behavior when he had drank a bit too much, she wasn't keen to cloud her mind in such ways. True, her father wasn't a violent man even drunk, but the kind of things and attitude the old man got when he had drank more than was reasonable had soured her opinion of such.
She would have just gone to lay down and try and rest a bit, but it was too early in the Saturday to do so. Unfortunately the troubling thoughts were floating around in her mind, refusing to let her just unwind and relax. Sighing a bit irritated, she looked for some paper and a couple of pencils, and then began to write. Best to not commit anything of it in writing in electronic form.
She needed to write down a few things to get them out of her head. Just in case, she didn't really elaborate, using short terms and one-word notes in her notes, just lining them up one after another. It only had to make sense to her. Having it all written down and seeing it before her might help her put it together, sort it through in her head and get some peace from it.
She might not be freaking out, but she was definitely feeling the pressure and tension, and it was not fun at all.
Author's Note: I'll keep the offered advice in mind going ahead, I do intend to try and keep things a bit random as it is an extra challenge and interesting in its own way. I will still consider it a smart policy to not let the dice rolls rule to the point of ruin.
Skipping ahead a bit with the next chapter, to the next day.
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Dec 9, 2021
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Threadmarks Chapter 04 - DIY Testing
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Dec 11, 2021
#13
Chapter 04
The Sunday morning saw Lily feeling a bit more clear-headed. She had expected to freak out at some point or another, but ultimately it seemed that whatever changes were being brought upon her by the changes to her soul also gave her a measure of control that kept her from reacting that way. Sipping on the coffee the next morning, she felt a fair bit better. Worrying on things and having all sorts of thoughts in her head, she had tried to read through all the papers and do some looking around on the net for a while, before finally crashing into the bed and surprisingly, getting a rather good night's sleep despite her concerns.
Which left her feeling a lot better. The warm shower, followed by a simple enough meal and some coffee in the morning had her feeling a remarkable improvement to her mood compared to the previous day. Alright, she had been more than a little tense through the first day. Perhaps excessively so. It was not everyday a person woke up to another life in another world, let alone a world they knew to be potentially just a few years away from their personal apocalypse.
Lily was still not sure what to think of her power. It was definitely different from the powers generally encountered in this world, and the fact it would keep growing certainly made her wonder about potential implications. She was a master rather than a brute or breaker however, she summoned others to assist her, rather than getting on the battlefield herself as it were. The bit of skill in wilderness survival was one thing, but unless her power decided to surprise her with a physical boost to her abilities as well, she would likely need to be rather careful about things.
She did want to take a bit of time to test out her powers somewhat. Unfortunately she was also rather certain that there was a solid chance that it would draw attention, and places like the boat-graveyard would be carefully watched by multiple parties for just that sort of things. Trying anything in the trainyard would get likely get the Merchants attention too. Leaving the city and trying it somewhere in the wilderness might work, but it was hardly a guarantee.
Lily might still do that though. It would be better to take a bit of precaution after all, and the worst she 'd lose from it would be a bit of gas driving off and returning. She was doubtful they would pay attention to a single car leaving the city for a short while and returning. It was unlikely they would be that paranoid.
So far, she had three summons she could consider calling upon. The slug-creature, her cold spirit, and the newly gained flying figure with vicious claws. She considered the anomaly a bit too hazardous to call upon at least in most circumstances, and while the card and the wand that came with it were interesting, they were not ones that she could test that easily alone. The phone-call had given her some ideas, but to a limited degree. She would probably need to try them out more in the future.
If her growth continued the way it had so far, then chances were that by the time things kicked into more swift motion she might have a lot more companions at her sides, but chances were it would slow down at some point. Though she did consider the possibility of going through more interesting, dangerous events might possibly push it to grow faster.
If it was a matter of experience and letting the soul grow through facing challenges, then it would make sense for things to improve faster when things were tense and there was more at stake. She'd see how it would turn out. In that way though, it would certainly make sense why she was dropped into the setting she had found herself in. It was certainly full of challenges and surprises that would push a person to their limits.
She was definitely very intent on keeping a long distance from some of the folks out there though. Heartbreaker was one person she was never intent on allowing anywhere near her, and if the Slaughterhouse 9 rolled into the city, she might be torn between fleeing for her life, or throwing away caution and using all the summons at her disposal to try and remove their threat in a hurry.
At the present time, she was more inclined to run, but if she gained more powerful summons before that came to be, she would certainly consider the possibilities of removing those murderous maniacs from the board not only to preserve a few more lives by stopping their murder-spree, but by denying Jack Slash the chance to influence Scion into kick-starting the apocalypse ahead of schedule.
Finishing the last of her coffee, Lily took a short moment to check on her attire in a mirror. Smiling and nodding at her reflection, she let out a small breath, and then moved over to snatch a book off of a shelf, to check on the maps inside. The collection of maps inside showed a good view of the different states, while she flipped over to the local map, and nodded quietly to herself.
She didn't really need to drive that far away from the city to find some areas that would be somewhat obscured, having some woods around would help conceal her actions somewhat. While she did consider it a little risky to be going out to test things, there was a touch of curiosity she felt that needed to be sated.
Taking the map with her, she headed over to the car, and was soon on the move. She didn't keep any of her creatures summoned and with her, but could feel their comforting presence tethered to her, a light connection she could feel offering some comfort and support in emotions, along with a hint of curiosity by a few. It was a bit amusing considering these creatures genuinely felt eager to be out, making her feel a little guilty about keeping them resting within, so to speak, but at the same time she was not interested in getting the Protectorate pressuring her to join, or the E88 showing up to try and convince her of their rhetoric.
White woman with a power to summon all sorts of creatures might make them curious to take her in and see if she would prove useful, but she did not appreciate their hateful nature towards others nor have any interest on joining their group. If anything, she'd rather see them all destroyed and driven away. They were a disgusting presence in the city, but then again, she wasn't feeling particularly fond of any of the gangs.
She focused on driving and trying to push those thoughts of her mind for now. It was a sad state of affairs when the local PRT and Protectorate were left with so little support and set up to fail by their superiors as part of an elaborate test on how superhuman feudalism would work out. She was personally keen on seeing that it would be a failed experiment by messing with the variables, but that would potentially bring her to the map for people she would rather avoid.
Still, if Coil could be taken down and removed from the city, she was pretty sure she would take the chance. Removing Lung and his human trafficking efforts would be a definite improvement. Removing any trace of Nazis from the city would be a push for a better state. Removing the Merchants would see a disgusting group of thugs removed.
Yet at the same time she would quietly admit to herself that removing criminals would not be the same as removing crime. It would just create a power-vacuum that other gangs or would-be-villainous capes might try and fill in themselves, to seize territory to call their own and try and build up their own power-base in turn. Honestly, she felt more than a little tired at just how messed up the whole situation was to her sensibilities, but then again she was not originally from this world, and viewed it through a different sort of a lens than the locals would. She had access to information she could hardly share, but which colored her views and opinions of things to a notable degree from time to time.
Having reached the city limits by now, she kept going, and followed the main road towards Boston for a while, before slipping off at an intersection, towards the wooded area. Continuing on, she paused at the side of the road a while later to check on the map, assuring herself that she was going the right way, and had not missed the intersection she had to take. There was just more little side-paths on the road than she had realized at the first glance before.
Continuing on, she eventually arrived to the area she had chosen for this. An old camping ground that had been left be for a while already, it might see some activity later in the summer, but not at this time. The gates were closed, but there was nothing else around for a fair while, and she parked the car at the yard outside the gates, moving a bit back. Walking to the woods a bit of way aside from the camp but close enough to get to her car without issue, she focused on calling up her connections.
In a rush, the three creatures she had thought about earlier each appeared, her big-lipped slug creature with two hands, the familiar sphere with misty flames of a strange sort appearing along with a light chill, the third and new creature appearing like a strange bug, flame-jets at their feet providing them flight, their arms like a vicious pair of pincers ready to snap and rend, claw-like in their making.
She was grateful all of them appeared to be perfectly willing to obey her and not harm her, more curious and eager looking around when called out so. She smiled a bit before drawing a breath, and then spoke.
"Alright, I haven't exactly been able to let you out to show what you can do out in the city. I hope that you are alright with that, the situation is just that it is not easy to call upon you without drawing a lot of attention that might cause trouble later. However, today we are a bit of a distance away from the city, and I was hoping that you would be willing to show me what you can really do." She smiled a little looking at the three creatures each responding happily, the slug creature nodding and parting its lips to let a long tongue flop on the ground before it, making her blink. The spirit of ice or whatever it might be seeming to twirl happily and float a bit higher, before nodding its apparent head excitedly. The last one, the newcomer, actually saluting her with its pincer-claw, making her blink.
"Okay, so, we'll start off by doing a bit of demonstration. Do you feel you can do some damage to the trees here showing your capabilities without harming yourself?" She smiled a bit and they began.
Her slug-creature slashed its tongue in the air at the direction of tree before it, splattering it with some spit, but not doing any real harm that she could see. She was a bit unsure about calling on that creature to help her out in a fight. Really not sure if it would be able to help her, but she got a small feeling it might at the very least disgust some of her enemies with a sloppy kiss or a lick, and brought a short chuckle from her lips at the thought of an upset, pissed off Hookwolf going nuclear at being target of such treatment.
The little flying orb displayed vicious slashes of cold wind cutting into the tree before it, hacking away with force that she was pretty sure could prove lethal to any non-brute in a short order, and the pace at which it could deliver those strikes might make lesser brutes hesitate as well.
As for the last creature, it dived down from above in a harsh slash with both claws, cutting a thinner young tree in two in its passing, slashing deep gouges into another thicker tree just as easily. Those claws looked perfectly suited for tearing through metal, let alone flesh or wood. She was pretty sure that the last creature would be an overkill against most normal thugs, but then again, it was also armored, its carapace-armor looking strong enough to protect it from some strikes. She was hardly sure of that theory, but it was something to consider.
Following that, she asked them to show what else they could do, watching at their demonstrations. She let out a small sigh soon enough and dismissed her slug-creature who looked a bit tired and bored while the other two were demonstrating different ways to use their own abilities.
Dismissing the slug-creature, she had to admit, her little spirit was rather vicious when it wanted to, but it seemed it could also send those wind-blows more blunted and seemingly intent on pushing and slamming, not quite so lethal that way. Still hardly perfect, it showed it took the bark off of the trees it hit, so it might cause internal injuries with the force needed to shove.
As for the jet-fire slasher, the swooping strikes made that creature a rather useful skirmisher, but it appeared to rely more on its mobility than the protection its armored looks might provide, making her wonder if the armored look of its carapace was misleading. She wasn't keen on injuring her creature just to figure out its tolerances, although learning it the hard way in a fight was hardly any better. Still, she was feeling rather proud of those two.
"Great job you two. I am relieved to see that the two of you are ready for trouble if it comes snooping around. I am hoping it will not be necessary, but in this world, in the city I'm staying at in particular, it might become a necessity to be ready. So if I am summoning you in the city, it might mean that things have gone wrong and I need help. I'll let you know when I call you however." She smiled at the two, and received a solemn pair of nods from the two. Smiling, she let out a small breath.
"Okay, now, I need to see how far away from me you can go. Can you start heading directly away from me, in that direction, and stop after either a mile or as far away as you can go without vanishing, whichever comes first?" She asked the two of them, and made a gesture towards where the woods were somewhat sparse, and the map said the path itself was forested but clear for a while.
The two of them nodded, and got off, flying along that way. She waited a while, before feeling a connection strain, and pause. It didn't vanish. She took a breath, and began walking along after the two. There was a bit of rough terrain to cross, but hardly excessive. Following along, she made her way towards them, she was not sure how far they were, but she got a general impression of comfort and some guidance. She came close soon enough, and found the two of them paused in place, waiting on her. Her spirit a bit closer to her, the skirmisher flying in place a bit further ahead, its claw waving in the air.
Okay, she wasn't sure of exact length, but it was more than a quarter-mile, but not probably by a lot. Fifteen or sixteen hundred feet or so perhaps? She was just guessing though, she'd have to figure out a better way to measure, especially given the uneven terrain made it harder to really get a good impression of how far she had traveled.
"Alright, thank you. Lets head on back towards my car. Can you show me the way there?" She smiled a bit, and the two of them joined her, flying a bit ahead of her, back towards the way they came. She was quietly following along behind them, soon enough returning to the area that they had torn partly apart with their earlier demonstrations. Her car wasn't too far away, along with the camp.
"Okay, thank you. I think I shall be headed back to the city now, so until next time." Lily waved at the two of them, and smiled watching the skirmisher wave back, before she dismissed the two, returning them back to where they came from. Feeling of comfort and amusement within the connection they shared after the little time out, taken for a walk, so to speak.
She was planning on leaving when she felt a pair of new connections reaching towards her, forming. She found herself surprised, but pulled on those connections lightly, calling on the creatures to appear before her, and took a step back in surprise when they appeared from thin air.
First of them was a lizard of some sort, three horns adorning its head like a crown, a green shade of scales covering it with a purple line back along its spine giving it an interesting touch of color, its underside a paler shade.
The second one was a large wolf-like creature, with a muscular build, large ears, and vicious claws and powerful jaw that clearly hinted at it being a dangerous predator. She was lucky it appeared to be perfectly willing to listen to her rather than devour her, because she was pretty sure if that thing was hostile, that would be it for her. Hell, she wouldn't bet money on most lower-tier brutes being willing to engage that thing without some serious back-up just in case either.
"Okay, hello. I was just testing out things with others who have joined me, so you had a rather good timing." She smiled at the two creatures, which looked around a bit curious at their surroundings, the lizard shifting its gaze from one spot to another, the large wolf-like, canine creature sniffing and glancing about curious as well.
"Would you mind demonstrating some of your attacks on some of these trees here, if it doesn't harm you in turn?" She glanced at the large canine creature and its claws, before glancing at the lizard.
The horned lizard seemed almost smug for a moment, lifting its head and seeming to inhale deep before lowering its head and blowing, but instead of puffing out some air, a shimmer in the air appeared for just a fraction of a second before a blast of light scorched a hole through a tree, and another behind it, and had managed to carve a hole through a rock behind that as well, making her jump.
"Damn." She swallowed. The attack was a direct line, but the damage it did was definitely noteworthy. She went to check the closest tree, only to pause on hearing it snap, and fall over at the spot the hole had been blown through it, the other, thicker tree beyond surviving still standing, but she was pretty sure it was going to die too, with a hole like that put through it.
The canine creature snorted, and moved over, slashing at the damaged remains, causing the tree to fall over. Slashing a few smaller trees cutting them down without effort, and leaping at a larger tree swiping down in a raking pattern, tearing deep gashes after its claws before sinking its teeth into the bark, tearing away a good chunk of wood seeming to show off as well.
Okay, if her skirmisher was a threat to a low-tier brute, her canine creature was likely able to give a more serious brute a definite challenge. As for the horned lizard, the lack of wings and the relatively small size were the only reason she didn't outright call it a dragon. Because that looked a scary lot like a breath weapon in form of a lightning bolt of some sort, except it wasn't really lightning given the way it acted, as much as an energy lance of some sort. Still scary.
"Alright, you can consider me impressed." She nod her head and chuckled. "Question, can you do that again?" She asked the lizard, which seemed to make it seem a bit curious, before tilting its head a bit, before shaking it. She got the impression from the feelings it kind of could, but it would require something. She wasn't really sure, the impressions based on feeling and an inhuman body-language was a guess-work with riddles involved that she could misunderstand completely. At the very least, it felt like it could, if it got a chance to rest, or if something else happened.
"Is it the energy? You need to replenish it somehow, eating, sleeping?" She asked this, seeing the creature nod at the options other than eating. So not up to food, but sleeping would help.
"Something else helps too though?" Another nod. Considering it a bit, she felt the bit of energy inside of herself, and called up her wand. The creature seemed to almost smirk in a smug manner.
"You need energy, magic? You can refill yourself and blast again if you get more magic? You get more magic by sleeping, or from another?" She wondered, and saw the creature nod. Sighing quietly, she wondered about that. She wasn't sure she could really transfer any of it so easily, and it was unlikely there were other people with actual magic here.
"Most people here don't have magic, they have parahuman powers. I am not sure if you can use that." She blinked as she saw the creature simply nod at that last part.
"Huh. You can?" Another nod. "How do you-" She saw the creature make a swiping gesture with its claw grinning.
"Steal? You can steal energy?" She blinked at the nod. "Okay, that might help against some of them, but freak out others." She considered the possibilities of it however. If the creature could flat out deny parahuman powers to some opponents and use it to fuel its own abilities, that could be a definite asset in a difficult situation.
"As for you, well you are definitely distinctive, distinguished. Those swipes and bites would scare of a number of troublemakers. I don't think it would scare of all of them, but it would limit the number of people willing to step up to try and cause you trouble. Just not sure if you could put down some foes without harming them though. The locals tend to prefer crooks brought in alive."
The wolf-creature merely huffed, and lifted its paw near a thinner tree-trunk, back-handing it with its paw, the smack breaking the tree-trunk with force. That'd bruise, possibly damage organs inside too, or break bones. A bit more moderation to its power in those swipes or slams though, and it could definitely be a scary foe, while teaching it non-lethal methods might be a more challenging task. At least the creature seemed smart enough to try and figure out ways how that could happen.
She had dismissed the two of them and sent them back home, getting back in the car to get on her way back home to Brockton Bay, when she felt a little shiver rushing through her. She didn't really gain memories and skill like the first time around, but instead, she got a vague feeling that anything she tried to teach to her creatures would have increased gains for them now. She could help them squeeze out the most of any training she could provide for them, and surpass some limitations.
That was definitely a game-changer again. If her creatures were able to improve and get stronger still, then what she had with them now was a starting point. Not only was she growing as more creatures were engraved upon her soul, but her creatures could rise in power as well. Capes who could grow in power were rare enough already, but a master that could grow in strength with creatures that could grow in their own strength as well, she quietly felt that the power at her fingertips was definitely far more than she had initially thought.
Perhaps even enough to help tilt the odds in her favor and open up some options, in time, to changing the looming threat facing the world itself. Though that would still likely be years away if it was even possible in the first place.
Getting behind the wheel, she got on the move to head on out, quietly wondering about what she had learned, and silently wondering what people would think if and when someone found the devastated area her creatures had practiced at.
Author's Notes: I'm not really keeping any clear schedule for this, but I do try and keep writing when inspiration is flowing. I make no promises for more than 1 update a week, but I hope the inspiration is sparking more often.
Additionally, I'm considering making an informational post at some point, gathering up the creatures gained so far as well as the powers themselves, for easier perusal later. Though I wager it would need updates after reach chapter. Still figure it better than to cram all the information in each chapter even if under a spoiler.
Spoiler: Listing
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FrozenTome
Dec 11, 2021
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Threadmarks Chapter 05 - To Act or Not ?
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Dec 14, 2021
#19
Chapter 05
The week had started with a bit of awkwardness, with Lily returning to work at a place she did not remember working at before at all. Thankfully it seemed that her first day didn't offer much surprises. On Tuesday, she got her new assignment, and began to go through the papers. She had spent most of the yesterday familiarizing herself with the systems, and finding them reasonably familiar, and a few handy notebooks in her drawers containing a number of passwords and how-to guides she found rather useful.
Thursday rolled around, and the end of March. The original story had kicked in motion in April, and she figured things would start to get more active then. She had been a bit unsure what to think of the fact there had not been any new connections formed since her practice in the forest, but given that she had already gained a lot in a relatively short time, she had not really felt like complaining too much, as she had to admit her power might be weird by local standards, but not a bad one to have at all.
She had done some casual chatting with her co-workers, brief comments about the previous project having been a pain and how everyone was just glad it was done. Comments about the new one and what surprises they could expect. She had felt more than a bit wary about someone asking a question she should know but did not have an answer for, but thankfully that had not happened.
Lily felt rather relieved when she got out of the office and headed over to the small parking lot nearby, getting to her car. The first week would soon be over and she was fairly confident she could settle to a routine doing work along the week there if necessary, though she did hope she would be able to make herself money to live on without spending all those hours at the office at some point.
Her thoughts on it were interrupted when there was a loud bang and sound of twisting metal somewhat further ahead, making her pause and glance that way. There was an armed and armored bus driven up through the wall of a shop she was pretty sure supported the Empire 88, if somewhat subtly. The racist owners still provided service for 'undesirables', but their attitude while doing it was rather clear, and unwelcoming. She had seen it before.
So given that the vehicle-tinker in the city was Squealer, who's boyfriend and boss was Skidmark, the black-skinned leader of the Merchants, she grimaced at the thought of a gang-fight starting up at the same block as where her workplace was.
The crashing and banging noises inside the building gave way to gunfire and shouting, the front of the bus firmly wedged inside the building, the back windows partly opened, armored plating lowered enough for gun-barrels to poke out, firing shots into the air scaring people off and causing panic, but not outright shooting into the crowd at least.
Shit. Lily wasn't really sure she was ready to go out as a hero, she didn't have a costume or anything such ready. However, she had accepted that things could go wrong in a hurry in the city, and had a small bag in the car. Opening it, she pulled out one of those plain white theater masks that seemed suited for newcomers without a clear identity yet.
It was a question of if she wanted to get involved or not, it was probably Nazis versus drug-dealers, but at the same time, she was pretty sure innocent people would get hurt too, civilian casualties pushing her to act.
The first thing she did, was rapidly phone the PRT line. The call connected rather quickly, a polite male voice heard on the line.
"PRT ENE, how may I help?"
"There's a gunfight going on near the corner of 11th and Reyes street, an armored bus just drove right into the storefront, and there's been a series of rather noise bangs and other noises in addition to gunfire from the building. I haven't got a clear sight of any parahumans but I figure chances are that Squealer might be involved with a vehicle like that being involved."
"Alright Ma'am, we've already got a notice of the incident and helps is on its way. Please stay clear of the incident site and don't put yourself in any danger, but if you can provide any other information you believe might help it would be appreciated."
She considered a short moment, then speaking back.
"The gunmen at the back of the bus fired out from the opened slots in the windows but aimed up enough to not hit the people, just scaring them away, but I think the fighting inside is more bloody given some of the yells and screams that can be heard from the distance, but I don't know if there's anything useful in that. I'm going to move back and get some distance from the site, just felt I needed to call it in just in case nobody else had done so yet."
She heard the person on the other end tried to say something more but she ended the call. She let out a small breath and grimaced. She really didn't want to mess with the gangs, and draw their attention upon herself, but at the same time, she wasn't keen on just standing aside and letting things like this continue.
She had called the incident in as a civilian, but glancing at the bag with the mask she considered her response as one of the capes in the city. She inhaled deeply and then let out a sigh. She could move away and let this go on, and hope there would not be notice about civilian casualties in the papers later. Or she could step in and possibly escalate the already volatile situation further, but also possibly prevent some casualties by her own intervention.
Grimacing a bit, she considered the situation, and bit her lip. She took her bag, hurrying along a bit out of sight to an alley close by. Once there, she opened the bag, and pulled out the white theater mask, the joyful grin of comedy evident on it rather than the frown of tragedy.
Putting the mask on quietly, she felt out her connections to her creatures, and called upon her frosty little ice spirit first, followed quickly by the skirmisher of hers. She had found during the passing few days that by examining her connection and feeling it, she could get a name for them. Holding the connection, it took a bit of focus, but it gave her some idea of what they were, even without calling upon them.
Her ice spirit was, ironically enough, called Frosty. As for her flying skirmisher with natural flame-jets, it was called Geruta, a name that had no real meaning to her, so she was pretty sure they were not something right out of her own head.
"There's a group of criminals, gang-members inside a nearby building, attacking others. They drove a damned bus right into the building, and probably unloaded a bunch of people inside in a hurry. I want you two to break in and try and disable those criminals, try and keep it non-lethal if you can. You can definitely hurt them, but try not to kill them." She gestured at the end of the alley, and saw the two creatures flying off in a hurry, heading for the site.
Taking a breath, she considered things. She had sent a couple of creatures to try and see if they could make a difference, but the bus was blocking the way and might allow the gang to make a hasty exit afterwards, pulling out of the building and driving off again, if it hadn't suffered damage from the crash. Which would normally be pretty certain, but with the potential tinker-tech involved, she wasn't going to bet on it.
Pulling on her connections again, she summoned two more in a hurry, causing her two newcomers, the wingless dragon, Therva, appearing before her. Besides it, a wild canine creature, a hulking wolf like creature with excessive muscle stretched and growled slightly, seeming to sense her emotions in turn. Ravager. Yeah, that was a name that inspired confidence in the creature's self-restraint and control alright.
"Alright, we got a bit of trouble ahead, a bus crashed into a building with armed thugs unleashed inside to do damage and cause trouble. I am not sure what their objective here is other than to make trouble, but the building might be a business belonging to another gang in the city, they certainly appear racist enough to make it plausible. The bus itself is pretty well armored and there's gunmen inside it, making it dangerous for any police that might arrive to get close." She inhaled deeply, hearing gunfire behind her as well.
"I need you two to make sure that bus isn't going to go anywhere, slash tires, tear holes through the armor and get in, and disable the gunners inside without killing them, whatever you can do that should help. I sent Frosty and Geruta inside to attack the thugs fighting in the building already ahead." She looked at the two creatures nodding quickly at her words.
"Go, your first priority should be to prevent civilians from being hurt, but taking down the thugs without killing them and wrecking their ride is right after it. I would rather these thugs aren't in any condition to resist arrest, but in a condition that they aren't going to perish on their way to the prison or the hospital." She admitted to herself that she didn't genuinely feel too much sympathy for drug-peddling bastards but at the same time crossing the line to killing people was something she felt should be reserved for the worst offenders only. People who couldn't be changed away from the path they'd taken, or who threatened too many other lives if they kept living to allow such a risk to be taken.
As her summons hurried out of the alley, she hesitated to follow, choosing to instead wait a moment. Soon enough however, the gunfire intensified and creaking and whining metal got loud, making her move to the alley entrance and have a look for herself.
Ravager had torn off armor plating and leaped right into the bus itself, tearing through the insides and one gun-man thrown out through the open window onto the street as well, with the her dragon-creature, Therva, having slipped inside the building itself by now. Though given some of the creaking came from the forward section of the bus, she felt somewhat confident that the vehicle would not be going anywhere, with or without the thugs.
"Fuck! Fuck! SHIT! YOU DAMN MONSTER!" The screaming voice of an angry woman came out loud a moment before she felt her connection with the Therva snap back at her, a near deafening boom sounding out loud from inside.
"Fucking thing wrecked my RIDE!" The angry squealing voice inside made her grimace slightly, but even if she was aware that her Therva had been violently dismissed and sent on cool-down, it had apparently managed to do its job. It also made it seem more apparent that Squealer was present then.
She only had two more summons at her hands, and her frog-creature was unlikely to play a large role in things anytime soon. As for her wand and the card, she didn't feel they would offer much help at the time either.
Ravager smacked the last of the gunmen at the back of the bus into a wall hard enough to likely leave them with a concussion. Tearing through the guns, and getting a few shots into its chest on approach, the muscular build and tough flesh kept the bullets from doing much more than pissing it off. At the same time its companion had torn through the controls with its claws, swiping over the panels and blasting the engine block with enough force to melt a hole right through it and into the storefront.
It was only at that noise that the screeching woman had rushed back there from the storefront, dressed in torn, trashed clothing with multiple oil-stains and tools hanging at her side. The one the ride belonged to most likely. Ravager saw her pitching a fit and lifting a weird looking gun, before a blast at close range tore into the open mouth of the lizard creature, Therva.
Trying to intimidate the crazed woman with its teeth had proven a bad idea, as the shot shredded the inside of its throat and caused the Therva to jerk back and vanish a moment later. Its hide could probably handle a shot like that, but swallowing it like that was not going to work out well for it.
Ravager rushed forward as the woman screeched and yelled some words, trying to reload her gun there, bright red shells of some sort stuffed in the back of the four-barreled thing that was way too short, looking like a scrap-creation of nightmarish intentions. At least it was not able to fire again right away.
Leaping at the woman, the Ravager grinned, only to let out a surprised "yip!" as the ground before the woman sent the hulking wolf-creature smashing into a wall, as its feet lost all traction on the ground and it was sent flying against the bricks and concrete, smashing through the paneling and into the support wall with force.
"Mothafuckin' mutt's goin' home in a doggybag!" The dark skinned, tall man with yellowish, partly blackened teeth yelling at the side was lifting up a large long gun of its own, aiming at Ravager, even as it jumped hastily out of the way, the first blast breaking a nasty hole in the wall where the Ravager had just been.
"Sit, bitch, sit!" The man growled and shot again, and the next dodge from the Ravager had it step on another slick spot that sent it slamming into a wall with a new yelp, moment before a gunshot in the head gave it a monster of a headache, blood dripping down. "Play dead!"
Fuck it, no more mister nice beast.
Slamming through the upstairs window and shoving a gunman back when they had been aiming at a group of unarmed and panicked people, Geruta took care at not swiping at them with its claws, delivering a more blunt punch with its plated claw's back. Twisting and turning, it swiped down at another gun raised at it up close, a gunshot hitting its leg but barely scratching its hide.
Twirling in close quarters, its flame-jets burnt people and made them panic and scream, but they were the robbers and thugs, so that was fine. Not like they were going to die. Flame in the face might ruin their eyes and leave them gasping for breath but it was not like they were going to-
Oh, okay, that guy died. Inhaled the heat and the flames in their lungs probably. Um, shit.
Geruta's momentary distraction cost it, as another gun-man got its sights on its back and unloaded a full burst, not caring they were hitting their buddies on the ground near it as well, laughing manically instead.
Screeching and trying to turn, the Geruta kicked its jets into narrower, hotter burn and delivered a hammer-like slam in their chest. The sound of breaking bones and the figure hitting the wall was satisfying, before the Geruta realized it wasn't supposed to kill. Yeah, that wasn't going as planned. Not as planned at all.
Frosty snickered to itself as it floated in the air, the group of six gunmen on the floor, their guns covered partly with ice and hail, their bodies bruised and battered. Unleashing bursts of cold wind at them with force, Frosty had hammered the gunners down in a short order, keeping it from being lethal force, but the cold and the bruising discouraged them from pursuing the people that Frosty had managed to protect from their attacks.
The outfits they wore were professional for service industry, waiters, cooks, a clerk of some sort. They had taken the time that Frosty had given them to seek shelter.
Looking around, Frosty could see some gun-men killed before its intervention. While the attackers were trashy, there were more gunmen inside that were less well armed, but armed nevertheless, with curious tattoos and some of them with rather short hair. The other gang-members most likely.
Frosty wasn't happy that so many people had already died, but it felt good at what it had done. It was following orders and making sure nobody had to suffer worse than some frost-bite when it was around, the criminals seemed to learn not to fire at it again after it had dodged a few initial bursts and started to hammer in on them with its wind.
Inside a PRT van hurrying towards the scene with another, the guy on the passenger seat up front held the radio in his grip a bit shaken, swallowing.
"Say again console, please repeat that."
"A witness on the phone from a second floor window above saw a number of unknown creatures entering the building, two fliers at the second floor level, two on the ground breaking into the bus and from the looks and sound of it, attacking the possible merchant thugs."
The trooper grit his teeth together at that. Facing the unknown was a regular thing for them, but information helped them prepare and respond to various threats better, having something completely unknown and new in the situation would make it more difficult for them to intervene. They had Assault and Battery on board so they should be able to handle it, but unfortunately the others were busy elsewhere. At best, they might get Velocity added to the site, but Miss Militia and Armsmaster were busy on ABB territory trying to chase down Oni-Lee and a couple of Empire capes that had been pushing into Lung's territory after something.
"What about the police?" He inquired to check on that.
"Some basic barricades are being set up a bit further off, not approaching the storefront itself, they expected to not be able to do much to stop it if its one of Squealer's vehicles, but they did want to give some of their improvements a try. Might not be necessary, the way those things are tearing into the bus though." Another voice responded.
It was sounding like they were going to have some interesting time ahead of themselves soon.
Lily grimaced as she felt the anger off of her Ravager, and the apparent shock from her Geruta. She could not communicate with them like this, and the connection from a distance gave less impressions than she would have preferred. She didn't know what they knew, what was going on, what they faced. She lacked the communication abilities for that.
She was not planning on going closer and getting in the line of fire however, she was far too squishy for that. Instead, she waited quietly for the reinforcements to arrive. The police sirens had come relatively close before, and then paused, so they were likely near but more focused on stopping the thugs from fleeing, and possibly waiting on the PRT to arrive.
Biting her lower lip as she considered what she could have done differently, whether or not she would have been better off following her creatures to battle, if her going in close enough to summon her creatures to the site was a mistake, even if masked, she wasn't really changing her looks enough to avoid being recognized if someone did snoop around local cameras later, and caught sight of her in just that mask and her regular clothes.
While she considered the multiple what-if situations, she felt a new connection reaching towards her, a new creature engraved upon her soul. Shivering slightly and swallowing, she felt it settle in place. Another flier, a feel for it a bit more mystical, energized, if she had to try and describe it. Axe Flapper, the name came to her, and the mental image she got was a bit peculiar. Pear shaped lower body and axe-like blades for its feet, and sharp wings, as well as sharp head. The whole thing was edgy, quite literally.
The first connection had barely settled in as she felt another one reaching out to her, and curiosity mingled with a strange sense of calm and ease, before a stabbing headache hit her. Information flooding her mind in a short order, having her gasp for breath, trying to keep her balance in the alley.
After several days with no new connections, she got more the moment she got into a fight, and her creatures were facing thugs in a violent combat. She grimaced. Perhaps her power did have some form of conflict drive, or perhaps it was just that the experience she was having somehow bolstered the soul to grow stronger.
Nevertheless, she knew she had gained a new SCP anomaly, and while this SCP-173-DE was less likely to get her a kill-order on the spot, it was still an anomaly that she would have to study more carefully before even considering summoning it. Yet this one she felt she should get in touch with, to try and understand it at least. It was exciting and different after all, even if potentially dangerous and alarming presence.
She knew she would need to face her share of trouble in this world, in this city in particular. She had not been keen on diving head-first into it, especially when she felt she was still unsure about herself and the power she had through her creatures, but reality was what it was, and the call to arms had been made.
She had chosen to respond, not wanting to take the risk of further civilian casualties, putting aside her suspicions of the gang-affiliation of these people, because there was a real chance that there were unarmed people being shot and killed by drug-addled lunatics. Hell, chances were their initial attack slamming through the front wall had already killed innocent people.
She felt her connection with Geruta twitch, as the creature was dismissed. Violently so. Something had hurt it badly enough to cause a second summon to vanish. The loud screeching and gunfire on the store-front had her wincing a bit, but the loud cursing by a man and a woman along with the beastly roars of her Ravager at least sounded like her creature was keeping some of the worse offenders occupied for now.
Then she saw the PRT vans pulling over close by, a group of troopers rushing out one, a man in a red suit as well as a woman wearing a darker blue one with more electric circuit-lines in her outfit following right after.
Assault and Battery were on the scene. She tried to stay back, out of sight. She didn't really feel like stepping up to talk with them without a costume, and just a mask, but she was pretty sure one of the troopers noticed her. Sure enough, a moment later she found herself face-to-face with the woman in the circuit-showing outfit, standing before her wary, ready to act. The man in red rushing up closer as well, standing there ready to offer his own support, though grinning slightly.
"Well now, first day out and getting involved in a scene like this? Ballsy, but that's the excitement of youth. Those creatures yours?" Assault inquired a bit flippantly but grinning in a friendly manner, while Battery seemed to be sizing her up as a threat.
"Yes, I only got my powers recently. I told them to try and disable the bus and prevent the gunmen from killing more people. To try and take the gunmen down alive as well. Unfortunately my creatures are losing, I've already lost two of the four, and I can't call them back right away." She responded a bit warily, not wanting to admit she had more summons at her disposal, but figuring if they had been spotted, then the chances they knew of all four were there, and a more open and honest front would serve her better here.
She still intended to limit the information she was going to give out.
"Alright, anything you can tell us about the situation inside?" Assault inquired, only to have her shake her head.
"I don't know, I am as vulnerable as any other civilian, I sent my creatures in with instructions but I stayed outside myself."
She felt a small bit of heat in her body, a new power settling in. Similar to the way she felt earlier she could train creatures to be better, stronger, faster, tougher, smarter and so on, now she had an apparent boost just waiting inside to be placed upon one of her summons, to make them stronger and tougher in a hurry. Only one at a time, but if she had that earlier, perhaps the fight would have been going better for her creatures.
"We'll talk about this later, don't leave the scene." Battery cut Assault off, nodding towards the storefront where a loud crashing sound could be heard along with a new pained 'yip', while she felt a spike of pain from her Ravager, mixed with shock and a lot of anger and fury. Damn-it, she really needed a better way to tell what was going on when she hung back.
Author's Notes: Lily did gain a power to train her creatures faster, but has not been able to do so much with that during the work-week, not without taking frequent trips out of the city and possibly catching other people's attention earlier. Yet she's taken a step in response to something happening too close for her to ignore it, and we'll see the aftermath and fallout that will come from that soon enough.
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FrozenTome
Dec 14, 2021
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Threadmarks Chapter 06 - Testing (my patience)
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Dec 20, 2021
#25
Chapter 06
The Ravager scratched the floor with its claws trying to charge and take a swipe with its claws at Skidmark again, only for those claws to be pushed back even as they scraped over the floor digging lines into the surface, the floor itself trying to push it back while Skidmark shot the beast in the head again at close range, backing away a bit another hand gesturing ahead in front of him.
The damn bastard was really getting on the canine creature's nerves, the string of expletives and annoyed shouts getting to its ears too. The woman that had shot down the hound's companion earlier was trying to yank something out from beneath the large vehicle they had rode in on, or some kind of hollow section at the bottom of it maybe. There was a large hatch lifted and she was cussing while dragging out some two-wheeled thing from there, shouting at the man.
At that time the new shot in its face had the Ravager cursing and losing its grip on its advance, being flung at a wall with force, causing it to collapse a bit out of sight behind the trashed counter, while the man laughed mockingly. Ravager really wanted to go out and claw the man's face off, but kept trying to remind itself of what it had been told.
Taking these bastards down would be good, but it was having a bit of difficulty pulling that off, because that weird guy kept making the floor betray Ravager. It had leaped over a couple and surprised the man, getting a good chomp in on the man's left arm, but the bastard shot Ravager in the mouth and made the canine back away spitting out the burnt taste and blood from its mouth, the shot failing to kill the Ravager but it had left it in a worse state.
At least the cursing bastard was not escaping without some harm even if it irritated Ravager to even consider the possibility of being beaten, but it would need to learn more of its foes later. Too bad the boss wasn't close, the boss could tell it what to do, instruct it better. Listening to boss would help, but the boss wasn't strong enough for this. Cunning though, that was what the Ravager expected from the boss. The others made the big bastard's pack lose, and Ravager would keep the big bastard from going up and messing with the smaller members of the pack.
Just then, two new arrivals came in, a man in red and a woman in blue. The woman rushing in and smacking a wrench out of the other woman's hand in a hurry, while the man in red kicked off the ground and onto the back of the other man. Grinning widely, Ravager looked at the scene.
They might not be allies exactly, but they were enemies of its enemies, and if taking down those two was what boss wanted, then helping those two new arrivals do it was certainly going to get Ravager some praise.
Rushing in and surprising the two men trying to fight one another then and there, fast strikes exchanged between the two and the big bastard trying to cause more slippery pushy floor effects around it, they turned to look just in time for Ravager to tackle the big ugly trashy-guy, and sit down on his chest barking happily, claws on the man's shoulders.
The incredulous look from the man in red was amusing enough that Ravager snickered and laughed in a manner similar to a hyena, seeming to make the man focus again, while the trashy big bastard beneath was bellowing a new line of insults and trying to wriggle free. Thankfully the woman in blue had also managed to detain the trashy woman who had hurt Ravager's companion before and caused them to disappear.
Yes, Ravager was feeling pretty confident that there would be some 'good boy' comments ahead, and wagged his tail eagerly.
Skidmark was shouting things that Ravager didn't understand but he was pretty sure the bastard's complaints were not worth listening to anyway. The man in red meanwhile had began to grin and pulled out a pair of hand-cuffs from a pocket, holding them up. Ravager nod a bit and moved enough for the man to snap the cuffs on one wrist, and then the other, holding the man secure. Only then did Ravager move entirely off of the man he had sat on.
Yep, at the end, Ravager was proud of what it had achieved, and panted happily looking at the two newcomers, listening them talking to one another. Though Ravager tilted its head confused on hearing the man calling the woman in blue 'puppy'. She looked all grown up to him, and human, not one of its kind.
Lily sighed quietly as she waited silently for any news. The PRT forces close by entered the building following the heroes. There was a bit of noise and loud yelling from inside, followed by a sight of the guy in red, Assault, being thrown out through the broken window with force. Banging noises followed by loud hiss, followed by a bit more noise as Assault rushed back inside.
She shook her head. She really needed better insight on what was going on in there, but at the same time she also preferred to maintain a bit of distance since she was a relatively soft target herself. Having one of her creatures stay around close to protect her might have worked, but she had limited number of soul-engraved creatures at her side for now who would also be able to put up a fight. She wasn't keen on putting them in harms way, but at the same time she knew how things were in the city, and she did need to get stronger.
Sooner or later a fight would have found her anyway, and it was better that she and her minions were better prepared for it. She did note the arrival of another cape on the scene. The rushing figure of Velocity appearing in a short order, talking with the PRT commander on the scene, and moving inside.
Lily muttered quietly to herself, before maybe ten minutes later the PRT forces began to head out, escorting a number of cuffed crooks from inside, more than a few suffering from some nasty frost-bite from the looks of it. Her floating little ice spirit, Frosty, following along twirling in the air amused. She let out a breath in relief. No conflict between her creatures and the 'good guys' at least.
Ravager left too, looking rather bloodied and beaten, but also giving off a feeling of smug satisfaction that had her blinking, but reaching over to pet on the Ravager's head once it stepped before her, she smiled at it amused, and waiting. Caressing the Ravager's head like petting a puppy, despite the fact its muscular frame was definitely intimidating enough that if she didn't feel their connection, she wouldn't have dared to come close.
It was weird how much easier it was to trust the creature to not harm her when she could feel the positively joyful response she got from just scratching right behind the ears, almost making her chuckle. She didn't, because she didn't know if it would hurt her creature's feelings. She was happy how well they had done, even if this had been a rushed engagement with less advise for them than she would have wanted to give.
She had not known what to say, and could not really follow them into the scene with so many guns around and feeling all too vulnerable herself. That was something she'd need to fix in time. Sighing quietly at the time, she waited silently for a time, figuring they'd want to talk to her at some point, especially given her creatures had been involved in the fighting.
Waiting for a moment, she saw Velocity stepping outside, followed shortly after by Assault. The man in red bodysuit headed over towards her, and she watched him a bit warily, arms crossed, a bit wary of the man, despite him being a hero. The city wasn't exactly in the best shape, and the PRT and Protectorate were barely holding onto status quo. So she half-expected a recruitment attempt that she wasn't too keen on.
"Those creatures of yours are quite surprising. Strong enough to do enough damage to the battle-bus those junkies managed to put together, despite all the protection and Squealer's tinker-tech device supposed to give it more durability." He chuckled in a relaxed manner, looking at her in a relaxed fashion.
"I figure its best to start off with good news. So! We got the gangers present, a few may have rushed off through the back door at some point or another, but we got those that were in the building. We also got our hands on Squealer and Skidmark, which is a bit surprising in itself. Skidmark did try and put up a lot of resistance even once cuffed, using his power, but he got foamed and they're now chipping him out just enough to carry his foamed figure into a van later." He flashed a grin at this.
"Now for the bad news then. Sorry to say but your creatures managed to not only disable people, but seriously injure and apparently kill a couple of them. Given that there was firearms being used and your creatures were likely attacked themselves, it might be passed off as self-defense." He paused.
"Unfortunately, that gets pretty iffy right quick when it deals with creatures rather than people, and master's projections might not enjoy the same level of protection." He winced. "Given you didn't appear to have any real control or oversight of what went on indoors, it should hopefully not reflect back on you, but you might be pushed to attend some training and power testing by the boss lady in exchange for forgetting about what took place. She doesn't exactly like capes crossing any limits."
Lily was fairly sure it could be just said Piggot didn't like capes, and leave it at that. Her reaction was not likely to be a good one, even less so if her creatures had actually managed to kill someone. She had hoped it would not come to that, but it had been a possibility when she joined in the engagement.
"Given how they charged in and guns were firing inside the building, I found it best to try and at least stop the attack on civilians and try and hinder the crooks enough to buy time for a response to get here." She spoke up in turn, sighing briefly at the time. She wasn't too happy about how this had all turned out, and not having a costume and a name to go with it wasn't helping. Hell, even the mask was just something that had been acquired just in case something happened.
"Admirable intentions, but there's a reason why they insist on training. Hey, I am all for less criminals around and more behind the bars, but the higher ups want things done clean and presentable. Dead bodies don't exactly inspire a lot of confidence." He remarked a bit more sharply, while Lily fought down a wince that she felt coming up at that thought.
"Given the way they were shooting, I imagine they already managed to kill a number of people. So it might be my creatures tried to disarm someone and found themselves pressed at a corner where the choice was between allowing someone to kill others, or to take a single life. I do not know, I cannot see through the eyes of my creations here." She let out a breath. "I gave them instructions and I know they try and follow them to the best of their capabilities." She watched him a bit warily.
"That may be, but unfortunately I am going to have to ask you to come ride along to the PRT HQ to explain this all and take part in a debriefing."
She sat back in the room she had been left in, annoyed after repeating her story four times already. Starting off when she had mentioned being in her civilian identity, which she refused to share, witnessing the attack. Putting on the mask in a hurry for some privacy, and calling upon her creatures, sending them in to intervene. She had remarked she was pretty sure an alert had already been made at that point, and was aiming to either stop the crooks or buy the officials time to get there.
It was an irritating matter of repeating herself, having already dismissed her remaining two summons. Leaving her with just her wand and the card for truth, as well as her slug-creature, that with its arms almost reminded her of a frog actually, especially given its large mouth.
Lips. Her ridiculous first creature was called Lips. Embarrassing enough, but she wasn't keen on summoning it here because after the others, she didn't feel comfortable showing that creature to the others here, especially as she didn't get a strong impression it would be able to provide her much help anyway.
She had come along mainly because she didn't want to try and run, and trying to maintain a more cordial relationship with the PRT and Protectorate might be good. Though after all the interrogation attempts wearing at her, she found her patience truly tested. These people seemed to want to make her repeat herself over and over, and it was making her feel more than a little annoyed.
Not to mention her car was still close to the scene and she didn't exactly have powers that would allow her to move around the city at ease, so after this she would have to see if they'd provide her a ride back close to the area or what, and ultimately the whole scenario just left a foul taste in her mouth. She would have much rather avoided any complications of having to deal with the PRT this early.
She was starting to feel a bit hungry, when she felt a familiar feeling of a new connection forming, before blinking quietly. She was wearing the mask, but right at that time she really wished she could have dropped her face against the counter and groan.
Her newest creature was a little cutesy creature resembling a cherry, and was named Cheery. She wasn't really sure that it would be much help here either, and worse, she felt like it was something that made a pun about her hunger. She shuddered as she wondered if her power offered her an edible creature just for a cheap laugh at her, or if the universe was just perverse enough that this was all a matter of random luck.
Sighing quietly while she waited, she wondered just how long they intended to keep her waiting.
"So walk me through this one more time." The interviewing person before her was a pencil-thin man in an officious suit and with a somewhat nasally voice that was really starting to get on her nerves, as she listened to them talking.
"We've been over this six times already. What do you expect me to say that you haven't already heard?" She looked at the man in annoyed manner, while he coughed and adjusted his glasses.
"Ma'am, we have a protocol we need to follow, and seeing as you were involved in an incident that caused a fatality, I strongly suggest you co-operate with us fully in this investigation."
"I've already told you what took place, and I am getting pretty damn tired of repeating myself." She inhaled deep and let out a sigh. "I did not intend to come out as a cape anytime soon, I wanted more time to prepare, and think things through, and get ready. I ended up responding to a situation that had sparked right in front of me, and got involved. I am tired, and annoyed, and I really would like to get out and back there so I could go about my business." She remarked a bit more sharply than was perhaps necessary.
"I am sorry ma'am, but we have to go through this again." He responded, and she barely held in a growl out of her own throat, feeling a lot more sympathetic towards the thought of Ravager taking a bite out of Skidmark after dealing with an irritating bastard of her own for long enough. The guy might not be as bad as Skidmark, but as far as irritation went, they were both rather top-notch.
The whole situation was ridiculous in her opinion, as she lay back in the small 'guest room' that was a glorified jail-cell in her opinion. They insisted on keeping her there on the grounds of wanting to investigate the matter fully, and yet there had been a few pushes already towards unmasking and possibly joining the Protectorate for continued supervision and guidance that would result in more lenient treatment to her.
If she had been feeling negative towards joining the Protectorate before, she definitely was now. She was getting to a point where she was about ready to call for a lawyer. They had tried to insist on her handing off her bag and other items, but she had flat out refused, declaring they had no business on touching any of it as none of her belongings had been brought into the scene itself, and she had stayed out of it personally as well.
They had insisted and tried to pressure her, but she had not relented, and so she had kept her phone for instance. Not that it helped her position any, with the battery out and the little chip removed so it wasn't giving her location and identity constantly. She was pretty sure anyone half-competent at rooting out a real identity would be able to already put together her real identity anyway, but the smaller the possibility was and the more trouble she would give to anyone trying to get it, the better in her opinion.
She was just so damn fed up with the Protectorate and PRT for their treatment of her. Hell, she had helped them catch Skidmark and Squealer, and they were treating her like she was a criminal herself. In all honesty, she could see why some people might be pushed over the edge to go vigilante or villain simply because the bureaucracy going around here was such effing bullshit that she was just fed up with it already.
Feeling another connection settling in, she silently snorted. Teagore. She got a weird pig-like creature with weird bits of armored plating, and silently shook her head. Yeah, that was about what she thought of the PRT and Protectorate right about then. Armored Pigs. It was insulting, and more than a little hurtful, but fucking hell, they'd shown her very little courtesy and way too much suspicion and pressure on her shoulders for her to be willing to consider them in a nicer manner.
At least they couldn't keep her there longer than twenty-four hours, but that would mean missing work most likely, and given how the boss was, an unexplained and unexcused absence would reflect rather poorly on her. She wasn't looking forward to seeing the outcome of that either.
Part of her felt a bit bitter, it seemed that there would be no real benefit for handing over two criminal capes and helping the Protectorate capture them, nor was she able to make money off of captured thugs handed in, no bounty, no loot, nothing. The whole thing stank and she wasn't happy with the end results at all.
Grumbling quietly, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
The next day came, and with it, another set of interviews and questioning, before finally, 23 hours and thirty minutes after her arrival to Protectorate, on the 1st of April, she was finally allowed to go. She had refused to unmask, refused to join the Protectorate, refused to take any power-testing they offered, and flat out refused to go to any of the offered courses and training.
She was just so damn tired of it all, and the nasally voiced irritating twerps drunk on their imaginary power and bloated sense of self-worth were just making her feel like taking a swing at someone soon if she didn't leave. Of course, they offered no real courtesy like a ride back, instead, she was let go at the lobby, and free to walk out on her own. Mask still in place.
It was like they were intentionally giving her a middle-finger refusing to even let her leave through a less public entrance or dropping her off somewhere else, instead they made her leave out in the open drawing attention to her when she didn't want any, and raising more questions and comments, people even taking photos.
Yeah, screw Brockton Bay, and Screw director Piggot, and the rest of the sorry lot. She might have been dropped into the city and left with a rather lousy start to a new life there, but she didn't really feel any strong roots in this place for herself, nor any real warm fuzzy feelings that would make her feel like she needed to stay. Hell, knowing some of the stuff that might be laying ahead, she was even tempted to leave just to avoid having to deal with some of the bullshit in the first place.
It was amazing how the people in charge managed to piss her off so bad in such a short time, but in all honesty, she was also confused about it. If Piggot saw her as a serious threat that needed to be shackled, then she would have expected her to press even harder down on her, but she had not. If she intended to try and press her down to force her to sign something and be recruited, she would have expected someone more reasonable.
Instead, the whole thing smelt heavy-handed and crude, stupid and flat out messed up. She had been somewhat respectful towards Assault and Battery, had not really talked with Velocity, but had ended up at PRT rather than Protectorate's care, and had not been confronted by cape talking to another cape, but bureaucrats, and instead of a more jovial friendly atmosphere or even pressure from a gruff more veteran cape, they threw people at her who were not likely to bend her to their will but to infuriate her.
She gave some thought to the possibility of someone like Coil managing to pull some strings to get her side-lined and treated with such hostility she would leave the Protectorate and PRT behind with a bad impression of the two in her mind, but even so, she would have expected the man to try and dig in more into her through some cat's paws if that was so. Sighing in irritation, she headed out quietly, with as much dignity as she could muster.
Getting away from the building, she felt more than a little tired and worn out. She really didn't want to be there, didn't want to deal with any of that shit. Slipping away a bit further, to a small alley, she quietly removed her mask, and sighed, storing it away. She was tempted to just call a cab to get home or to get to her car, when there was a bit of noise, a drunken hobo with a knife getting up.
"Your wallet or your life missy!" He growled, missing a couple of teeth, while eyeing her in a manner that she found particularly disgusting.
Her eyebrow twitching, she barely kept herself from summoning her Lips to give the guy a kiss and a tight hug then and there, would serve the bastard right, but she wasn't going to abuse her powers like that. Seeing how the guy was barely managing to even stand straight, she instead turned and walked out at a fast step, hearing the guy shout and curse behind her, before stumbling over the trash loudly as she kept walking away in a hurry.
Fucking hell, it wasn't her day, but she was fed up with that matter for now. She grit her teeth together continuing on. Damn, it was a bit away from PRT HQ but this was supposed to be among the safer neighborhoods, and yet a bum like that could just start trying to intimidate her on the spot and expect her to comply? Yeah, it really about summed up her thoughts about the amount of effort the PRT and Protectorate put into trying to make the city a better place.
As she was walking towards a bus-stop as she planned on looking for a route to get closer to her car to retrieve it, she felt a new connection settling in yet again. Different from before, it was not a creature, but instead, a small rush of information into her head.
Now, after all that, she was suddenly given the power to know exactly where any of her summoned creatures were, at any time, as well as a new boost she could grant them. She had gained a boost that she could put on any of her creatures to improve their strength before, but this one was different, giving them more energy. She silently wondered if she could stack them together on the same creature, to make a single one of her summons that much more scary to face for any would-be thugs bothering her in the future.
Such a shame she couldn't put any of that on herself, it might have meant she would be less vulnerable target without her creatures close.
Author's Note: Considering whether or not to add an Interlude chapter to follow this one to give a view of the others involved in the matter. Might continue with a regular chapter, but the thought of interlude is there since I figure it might be good to answer some questions that might have sparked from this.
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Dec 20, 2021
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Threadmarks Interlude A
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Dec 21, 2021
#33
Interlude A
Director Piggot arrived to work early on the Friday morning, tired and annoyed, and still feeling particularly miserable after the dialysis she had gone through. Her wrecked body ached and gave her the usual reminders of just how bad things could get if you put your trust in capes, children who got their hands on powers and thought they could change the world, children that would flee in blind panic, untrained and unorganized, not able to stand their ground when it mattered most.
She might be harsh on them, but after what had happened to her at Ellisburg, she had very little reason to trust or respect any capes. The ones that she had in the city were meant to help try and stop the criminals from getting away with everything they did, yet not only had they been locked in status quo rather than improving things, the situation had been getting progressively worse and worse over the years.
Case in point, last night was a major embarrassment and annoyance to the PRT ENE and the local Protectorate forces. When the fighting broke out between Empire and ABB and the capes were involved in larger numbers, the Protectorate had to respond quickly, and the PRT were right at their heels to try and provide support.
She would have stayed at her office to coordinate, if not for the fact that her doctor had pretty much told her that if she didn't go home and get the delayed dialysis then and there, she would be suspended on medical grounds because the damned hag refused to budge about things when they considered her health too close to the edge.
Irritating, but she had gone through with it, left others in charge for the short time period it would take to go through the dialysis, get some rest, and return. She wasn't feeling any better about things when they had a master able to create projections of damned monsters in their interrogation rooms to sort out, either. That particular one brought back way too many bad memories of Ellisburg.
She had made sure to leave strict orders for Armsmaster to take over interrogation as soon as the man was back. He was the head of local Protectorate and would need to handle things in her absence, and hopefully have a clear report waiting for her on her return.
Nodding to her secretary while passing through into her office, Director Piggot moved behind her desk, booting up her computer, and frowning at the lack of a written report in her in-folder at the desk. Checking on the files on her computer she noted several reports from last night, but nothing from Armsmaster. Gritting her teeth together annoyed, she took a deep breath, before picking up the phone.
The phone rang several times without getting picked up, before an automated message played. "Armsmaster is currently unavailable, please try again later."
If the man was injured, she would have known about it in the reports from others. So chances were the man was tinkering, rather than getting her the report she wanted. Letting out a heavy sigh, she pulled up the preliminary interrogation files from the conversation she had ordered before leaving for the night, and paused. Blinking, and staring.
There were eight copies of the transcripts waiting her, with video-logs of them as well. Staring at the files in question, she started the first one, listening quietly, watching the whole situation play out.
"-instructed them to try and take down the gunners, non-lethally, and to prevent the loss of life in the building." The woman's voice was clear and while nervous, she didn't seem to hesitate about her words.
"That does not change the fact that there were casualties that were not caused by guns, and are attributed to your creatures." The whiny, nasally voice of the interviewing officer made her blink and grimace. Did they have to send that particular fellow in? She seriously wondered about it, because while that man was good about paperwork, they hardly had an interrogator training that this situation would have called for.
Listening for a while, she began to go through the reports. Almost snarling as she reviewed things. Same questions, similar answers, the content was the same, phrased a little differently, they had been trying to trip her to reveal additional information, pressure her about the people hurt and killed in the fight, and try and convince her to sign up, unmask, and go through power-testing, as well as take a number of mandated courses.
Instead of getting the woman to break however, they had only irritated her, and the repeated interviews had clearly soured her attitude towards the process as time went on. No signs of Armsmaster showing up, no indication the man had reported in at all.
She dialed another number, and waited for a moment.
"Security Office here." The voice on the other end responded.
"Henderson, why is there no indication of Armsmaster carrying out an interview of our new cape from yesterday?"
"Ma'am Director, we did contact him but he briefly and bluntly informed us that he was busy, and instructed us to contact Miss Militia instead. Which we could not, given how she's in hospital alongside Triumph, recovering from the events last night."
She'd got that report even before she turned in for her dialysis last night. Miss Militia and Triumph had been responding to a larger E88 members move in the ABB territory with intent to detain and capture some of their criminal capes or at least prevent the situation from escalating further, only to get in crossfire between the gangs, along with their troopers. No deaths, but twelve people, including the two capes, were in hospital for the time being. Two of the troopers would need Panacea's help if they were to return to active duty.
"Are you telling me that Armsmaster has ignored direct orders to focus on his tinkering?" Director Piggot kept her voice level, but she was pretty sure Henderson could tell just how angry she got just hearing that.
"Ma'am, I can only provide the facts I know, anything else would be assumption. Armsmaster responded only briefly to our attempt to contact him informing us he was currently busy, and instructed us to contact Miss Militia instead. After that, he has not responded to attempts to contact him. Reports from others indicate that he made his way to the Rig in a hurry following the battle with Lung."
The director really tried to keep her temper from flaring, but the simmering anger beneath the surface was enough to make her want to strangle that man sometimes.
"Very well, I will take care of that as soon as I can. However, I am curious as to why such repeated attempts were made in absence of Armsmaster's involvement." Her tone demanded answers, and she knew the man on the line knew it too.
"Respectfully, ma'am, I handed over responsibility of that to captain Rowling last night an hour after failing to reach either Armsmaster or Miss Militia. They followed the instructions on trying to gain additional information on the cape in question, as well as pressuring them in order to get them to join, agree to the power-testing, and accepting guilt over the loss of life at the scene."
Piggot felt a headache rising as she heard that, grunting annoyed and squeezing the phone roughly in her grip.
"Captain Rowling is not exactly suited for the role, and plays favorites with her men. Additionally she and her squad are hardly trained for the task." She really wanted to find out where along the line someone had messed up as bad as that.
"That is true ma'am, but the demand for getting the job done had been made, and the usual squad under Captain Tanner was not available due to the fact they had deployed on the field and most of them are still in medical, getting patched up from what injuries they suffered. They'll be back on duty tomorrow, but needed some time off, a few of them that would have been good for this job having been sedated to deal with the pain while recovering from some of their burns."
Right, Armsmaster had taken that squad, along with a few others, as reinforcements to try and stop Lung before he reached category four size. Unfortunately, Lung had managed to get driven to category three before the PRT could intervene, and while the Empire rushed out leaving PRT holding Lung back to stop him from rampaging through the city and causing more losses, they had suffered some damage to their own ranks.
"Instruct Rowling and her squad to stop it, they're only managing to make things worse at this point. Given that there's no confirmation of her signing anything, agreeing to any testing, or even considering joining at this point, I find it difficult to believe pressing any further will have any beneficial effects."
"I'll see to it that they will receive the news, though they have another interrogation session already going on to report on afterwards."
Piggot silently wondered if she could get away with assigning Armsmaster and Rowlings to some shit-shoveling duties or equivalent for a few weeks for this screw-up, but unfortunately it seemed like they'd need all their manpower in the coming months if things were going to stay as tense and loaded up as they were now.
"Incoming Call: Director Piggot."
The synthetic voice announcing the call inside Armsmaster's lab resulted in the man putting down his halberd with an irritated huff. He had been working on the new tranquilizers to use against Lung that were mixed with chemicals that would hopefully mitigate his regeneration factor and allow the tranquilizer dose to do their work. It would likely still call for a dose big enough to kill a regular man, but he had been comparing recorded combat data and regeneration speed from the fight to earlier footage and cooking up a few variants that could be used, mainly in how large a dose would need to be applied depending on the stage the man had grown into.
He really didn't need interference with this, the math was precise and each step of the process had to be done carefully to create as efficient solution to the problem as possible, and had required him to make some plans for the new changes to his halberd's auto-injector system to allow him to deliver measured doses and input the precise mixture to deploy at a particular time, as well as maintaining the ability to deliver separate, regular doses for captive thugs that could be knocked out with a simple injector shot without worrying about a damned regeneration factor.
"Accept the call." He sighed a bit grumpily, before moving towards a screen on the wall, a small camera above it focusing on his face, the helmet set aside as he worked. Not that it would have been any help, Lung's last attack had trashed and blackened a fair bit of his outfit, and singed his beard too. The small expanding face-cover had saved him from worse facial burns, but had got jammed under the heat, its thermal shielding barely holding in the first place. His armor needed that damn gap because the PR department insisted without it he would pass for an inhumane robot rather than a hero he was meant to be.
Shows what they knew, that weak point could have got him seriously hurt if he hadn't put in a few extras to deploy in case of a scenario like that. Perhaps he ought to look into possible air-tank option and filter add-on in case of other hostile environments. Thought to consider later-
"Armsmaster. Care to explain why I hear you have been shirking your duties in favor of tinkering when we had a potential recruit at best and a possible careless vigilante at worst at our hands? A master who creates monsters at that?" Director Piggot looked angry, and sounded angry. She was never in a good mood after her dialysis. She always found ways to interfere with his time in the laboratory. Unpleasant woman.
"I was struck by inspiration following the fight with Lung, and the matter could be easily resolved by one of the other capes. I delegated the matter to Miss Militia, if she refused she could hand it over to someone else. I had to get started on my project while I had the idea fresh in my mind and sort through the combat-data from earlier to-"
"No, what you needed to do, was follow orders and protocol and either show up in person, or make sure another cape was on the scene to take over and return to your damned tinkering after it was certain there was a cape taking care of it." Director Piggot sighed wearily.
"Right now the woman has been interrogated repeatedly by unsuitable people and has been getting less and less interested in joining, and standing firm with her claims of what happened, seemingly unmoved about the fact that her creatures caused some loss of life on the scene." Director Piggot looked at him accusingly. Could she possibly be implying it was his fault? Ridiculous. He was a busy man, and besides, his expertise lay with tech, not social skills. He might have some helpful programs assisting him with that, but surely the task there required someone else to carry it through.
"You have the leverage with what took place, use it." He replied bluntly, while the director looked like she was about to blow into shouting at him. Irrelevant, she was wasting his time with this interruption.
"That might have been an option earlier, but if we used that now she would be more liable to snap." Director Piggot glared at him, and Colin Wallis found himself staring back at her. Why did she keep insisting on taking his time away from tinkering when there was science to be done?
"Doesn't that make it simple? If she snaps, she either goes to jail, or gets pressed into service." He remarked sharply. True, it might not be the preferable method of recruitment, but they could use another cape in their ranks, especially one with a leash on her to keep her from acting out, and not another Gloryhound stealing his spot-light like that damned brat. Future member of Triumvirate tier capes, bah.
"If she was going to snap violently, she might have done it by the fifth time Rowling's group tried to pressure her in those talks. No, she is more likely to demand a lawyer and clam up entirely." Director Piggot was massaging her forehead, and gave him one of those looks that Dragon had referred to as "if looks could kill, you would already be dead" sort of looks. Meaning the director was very serious and angry then.
"Irrelevant. She has caused casualties, then she is guilty of a crime, and the lawyers would have a hard time arguing in her favor anyway." He paused momentarily. "Additionally, even if Brandish was willing to hear her out, it is unlikely she would provide assistance to this new cape as she is resisting her accountability in the recent actions."
Director Piggot stared at him coldly, and he frowned. How much longer was she going to insist on wasting his valuable time? He could be tinkering!
Thomas Calvert was reviewing the files about the interrogation sessions silently, while nursing a small headache. Thanks to his interference, a few of his one-time favors had been used to press in specific fashion at the woman at different times, carrying out multiple interviews to press her to crack, to get her to slip.
Each of them also gave him a chance to try another way, pressuring her even harder in one time-line while keeping on pushing down at her in the 'safe' time-line. By the end of it, she would be so fed up with Protectorate the chances of her joining would be negligible at best, and he should have more information at his disposal.
That was what he had thought, but unfortunately it proved her more stubborn than he had imagined. Threatening jail-time and charges pressed on her didn't phase the woman, mentioning the birdcage had been called as the bluff it was, and outright demands to unmask had seen her clam up other than demanding a lawyer, and wasting time he couldn't bother with.
So the end result was less than pleasing. He didn't know her name, or more about her powers than what the PRT had observed so far. Assault had still not turned in his report, while Battery had handed one in before she and Assault had retired for the night, exhausted. The Protectorate and PRT were severely understaffed.
He considered the possibilities of recruiting the woman later on, but so far he was uncertain whether or not she would be worth the effort. Stubborn individuals like that could be difficult to handle, and he needed a more clear picture of what she wanted and what her goals were if he was to pull on her strings and make her dance along to his tune.
That said, she was vulnerable herself, so perhaps seeing her released would allow him to confront her with some mercenaries in a few throw-away time-lines. Potentially capture her for interrogation without needing to bother with some niceties like the PRT had if she proved entertaining enough and a potential asset.
Trying to go for a soft-sell would have to wait if the other means didn't work. Keeping a safe time-line without any interaction would probably be the best bet as long as she remained an unknown quantity however, and he was not in a particular rush.
The best thing about it all was that she'd got a bad impression already before he even interfered. The dominoes had just lined up perfectly for him to take advantage of them, and he merely seized the opportunity. Sometimes luck really was on his side.
Author's Note: Not as long as the regular chapters, not really all that expansive either, but I hope this gives a bit of insight of how the ball was dropped on this issue. I'll admit Interludes are definitely not my strong point, but I might sprinkle a few in now and then to give a little look from the outside at a few cases.
That said, I am also torn whether or not to award any points from Interludes or not. They take place around the main character, but are not their direct experiences after all. Could reward only half the regular points for interludes or not give any points to the main character from them at all, just keeping them aside as additional content without a direct link to the points.
Either way, if I do add points from them, they will not be added instantly but later on, if at all.
Next actual chapter is under writing.
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FrozenTome
Dec 21, 2021
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Threadmarks Chapter 07 - Moving Forward
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Dec 22, 2021
#40
Chapter 07
Once Lily was back home with her car, she let out a tired sigh as she put her phone back together. The card returned in place, the battery back where it belonged, and powering it on, tapping in her pin-code, and done. She was pretty sure the end-result of missing work would cause her some headache later, but she briefly checked on her pay. It had gone through for the last month at least, so even if she did end up getting fired, she at least had that bit of money at hand then.
She had retrieved her car, and returned to her apartment, feeling more than a little worn out by the whole episode. She had genuinely hoped to be able to make a difference, and change things for the better eventually, but she had found a lot of obstacles in her way even before this. Now, she was starting to wonder if things were notably worse than she anticipated, the treatment she'd received was certainly not encouraging her to consider the Protectorate and PRT as allies or even a friendly faction. She'd rather avoid doing something blatantly illegal and getting on their bad side, but she also wasn't feeling all that charitable towards them either for now.
She did acknowledge that from the sounds of it and the news she got just browsing the net a bit at home, things had been ridiculously tense and aggressive yesterday, and today was looking like there was still smoldering fires of conflict going on, but street-level fights between gang-members rather than attacks by capes, so it was less damaging to the surroundings at least, and less likely to pull the PRT and Protectorate on the move.
Sighing rather wearily, she figured she might feel better again after a weekend's rest, but in all honesty she wasn't sure if staying in Brockton Bay was a lost cause. She might not know much about the other places and what went down there, but at the same time the idea of putting some distance between herself and some of the people in the city wasn't entirely unappealing. Unfortunately that would be a difficult task with the way things were, she didn't exactly have the money to uproot her life and move off without even any idea of a job that would support her elsewhere.
No, best to try and take things step at a time. For now, she had to see how the next Monday would turn out. If she got in trouble for missing a day of work or if it would be less of a problem than she thought it might be. With any luck, she would just have to play catch up, maybe lose one day's pay for the missed workday, and expect a black mark on her record for it, but her mind did slip on the worse possibilities.
Still, it was Brockton Bay, and the nearby attack had scared off a fair number of people. She would deal with the end results as they came, but for now, there was other things on her mind as well.
Namely the fact that upon leaving the PRT and taking the trip to retrieve her car, she had felt a new connection snap in place, and this time, it was definitely an impressive one. Majestic even. She felt a bit shaky at the feel of it, similar to her first spirit of frost, Frosty, she had gained another spiritual creature, if she could call them that, in form of a Qilin.
It looked like a unicorn, with a green mane flowing along it almost like live fire, the tail similar in the impression it left on her mind. Too big to summon discretely anywhere close by, but at the same time she was fairly certain she could have called upon the Qilin and rode through the city in a hurry if she had not cared for being more subtle.
Of course, it should help her in her cape identity to arrive and depart from a scene in a hurry, and the fact the spirit beast Qilin also felt like it was also held a rather strong potential for growth and power definitely made her feel it would be a great asset to have at her side in a crisis.
It had managed to do wonders to lift her mood from the previous depressive thoughts the PRT treatment had left her with, and given her a small encouraging feeling through their link, making her consider the option of just taking some time away from the PRT and others for now. Perhaps she would try again at some point, see if she could get a more friendly relation going. She wasn't too keen on making any gestures of friendship towards people who treated her that poorly, but she did try and remind herself that so far, it was PRT who had an issue with her, not so much other capes.
Assault had even seemed a little apologetic about having to drag her along, and while Battery was wary, she was all business and not in any way rude or insulting really. Just tense in a combat scenario and an unknown master who's affiliation and full powers they did not know. She could accept that, she hadn't made any attempt to antagonize her after all.
That said, she had to consider the fact she was already pulled into acting before she was ready once, and she had got a sour taste in her mouth from the aftermath. She would need to make sure her preparations were finished, which would mean getting some manner of a costume together, even if it would likely be a cheap budget choice.
Civilian clothes and an emergency mask were not a good combo, that had been more of a rushed reaction because she felt that if she walked away with people being shot so close when she had power to make a difference, it might leave her with lasting regrets.
Even so, she had hurried to act and the results had not been pleasant, the treatment she got set her a bit on the edge, wary about the Protectorate and the PRT, and cautious about any future interactions with them. She considered contacting New Wave, and discussing with them about things, but at the same time she wasn't that sure she wanted to get too close to Brandish.
She was not exactly the sort of a person she felt comfortable around, after all. Then again, trying to be open and friendly with some people on the more heroic side wasn't a bad idea. She didn't want to get approached by gang members looking to add her to their lines. Merchants likely didn't care about what the cape was like, as long as he or she was willing to fight for them, ABB would likely want to see her dead because she was not Asian, and the Empire, well they would not appreciate her opinion about their origins and behavior either.
Coil was an issue she might have to deal with eventually, but for now, she simply hoped she didn't get his attention focused on her, not for long at least. The man was a bastard, but one with their finger in many pies already, and occupied by various schemes. She could hope they were too busy with other matters and too focused on trying to get their hands on Dinah to take too much of interest in her yet.
That did bring to mind the fact that she'd have to interfere at that point at least. Personally, she was content to leave Taylor to sink or swim on her own. Many people seemed to focus on trying to help the girl and change her life for the better if they got caught up in this world, but in her own opinion, the girl might have been bullied and tormented for too long already.
Lily did not feel she would be able to connect with Taylor too easily, and chances were that the girl would be extremely wary of someone supposedly showing empathy and support towards her all of a sudden. She had no reason to interact with the girl, and her motivation would puzzle Taylor and leave her guarded.
No, chances were that she couldn't influence things for the better there at all. As for Dinah, if she was present at the right time to prevent a kidnapping, that might just piss off Coil and get him to come after her in retaliation, but it would also perhaps provide Dinah with a bit more time in the meanwhile. Then again, chances were that if she got involved, Coil might just decide to drop that time-line, call off the attack to begin with, and instead strike at a later time, possibly hurting the girl's parents to get to her.
Unfortunately she could not just rely on what little she knew, because every change she brought twisted the future knowledge further away from the truth, a snap-shot of a potential path was worthless in a world where her actions would alter some results. It might just be a ripple on the surface of a very deep lake, but with the number of thinkers and powers able to pick up on things, she might cause changes that would make her know-how obsolete in a short order anyway.
Better she tried to do something rather than just sitting on her hands and wishing things were better. Be the change you want to see in the world, she reminded herself quietly after a bit of thought.
She had moved over to do some food preparation in order to get a proper meal for herself while thinking, considering the situation further. She was gaining new creatures over time, but it was not exactly a clear pattern. The first days seemed more rushed, then there had been a short pause before more came to her, once she got more involved with the scene when the Merchants attacked, and her time with PRT hospitality had left her a bit in a foul mood. Yet the few weaker creatures gained during her captivity had given way to a more powerful one soon after she walked out.
It made her wonder. If she would be rewarded more for putting herself in the line of duty, and helping others out with her powers, then it might make it more worthwhile yet. Selfish as it might be, she felt she would be in a better position if she gained in strength, gained more creatures, and saw her creatures grow in their own power as well. She felt tempted to take some time off, go in the woods, and train with them. Try and see if she could push them further. To see what her newly gained unicorn, or rather the Qilin as it was called, would be able to add to the situation. The mobility of a creature able to carry her along was already a nice boon in her mind, but she got a feel there was a lot more to it than just that.
As she was considering this, and taking care of not burning any of the food she was working on, she felt a new connection reaching out and forming, giving her the mental impression of a massive creature, a mixture of tiger and wolf, with a name she couldn't really pronounce how it should be, the closest she got would be Roen. She blinked, because it gave her the impression of there being a lot more to it, beyond just its size and mixed heritage, it was an animal but one with powerful abilities, similar to her Qilin perhaps.
Huh, she had a strong feeling that her latest two arrivals would prove very interesting in case she did get pulled into another conflict sometime soon. She would still rather be prepared and get a chance to meet her creatures somewhere private and safe before having to call upon their aid in a fight. Yet the Qilin would already be a big presence that might damage her ceiling if summoned at her house, and the new creature, Roen, was flat out. It would not be summoned indoors unless she wanted to start looking for a new place to stay. The impression she got of it was not one meant to be called indoors, ever.
Then again, if that happened, it likely would not be indoors much longer unless the space happened to be a lot bigger than her current home. She did shake her head amused at the thought of dropping that little surprise on the Nazis if they came to threaten her thought. Fenja and Menja would have a real trial by fire against a massive beast like that, even if its tiger side didn't quite match any Nordic legends, its wolf part would certainly fit.
Shaking the thought out of her mind for the moment, she continued with her food preparations, intent on just taking a chance to eat, relax, and think about things for a bit.
Saturday morning saw Lily feeling a lot better. She had calmed down after the mess with the PRT earlier. She was still not planning to really reach out to them or go through power-testing, but she would try and treat them professionally as long as they were willing to extend the same courtesy. Taking a time to talk with Brandish and the others in New Wave was probably a good idea, getting her a chance to meet with some heroic capes and establishing herself as someone who wanted to be on the side of heroes at the end, despite her poor treatment earlier.
She might not receive a particularly warm reception if she mentioned her situation with the PRT, but they would likely learn of it soon enough. If she gave her own version of the events at least, they would have more than just the PRT line of information to go on. At the end, she had helped take down two enemy capes, even if it was through her creatures rather than going out in person. She still had to remain relatively close anyway.
She would have to keep a bit of distance from Panacea, if she scanned her and found no evidence of Corona Pollentia or Gemma despite her having powers, in the form of her creatures, it might cause a lot more awkward questions to surface. Chances were she would not be able to keep it a complete secret for long, but anything that her enemies did not know, might be used to surprise them, and hopefully make it hurt.
She had looked on the things on the net, finding very little about the situation had been reported. The capture of Skidmark and Squealer had been reported, but it was rather quiet otherwise. Some comments about serious damage being done to the Merchants vehicle, a few pictures of the aftermath, and comments about how Lung's attack against Squealer's usual invisible battle-beast of a car some time before must have left them in a rush to slap together something that ugly to lead a raid.
The only real comment from PRT was basically saying that the two Merchant capes had been apprehended at the scene, along with a bunch of armed thugs that had been shooting up the place. There was no real mention of the capes beyond the Merchants, though a few pictures had been taken of the store-front afterwards.
Perhaps even Brockton Bay residents were more likely to take cover with Merchants shooting around wildly rather than stopping by to watch and snap pictures. She had actually half-expected that there would be pictures about her creatures already out in the open, or at least some comments about weird sightings.
No, the closest that it came to that was the pictures on the side of the bus, torn apart at the back, where her creatures had made their way in and disabled the gun-men driving folks off to begin with. Some brief talk about who among the capes in the area might be involved, but that was just wild speculation.
She let out a small breath, leaning back in her chair. The news of her being on the scene had not been leaked, but at the time she was a little torn. On one hand, it was a relief, even if some people were already on the know now, unfortunately. On the other, she felt a bit annoyed at the lack of speculation. Guess that was the weird appeal of the cape life. People who did stuff got noticed, and the effect it might have on people to have others commenting about their actions might be amusing for a short while.
Lily regarded it would probably prove itself rather toxic relationship soon enough though. The tabloids were as nasty in Earth-Bet as they were back home, and some comments made in some of them were pretty absurd. She had not really bought them but heard enough gossip and saw some magazines left about at the office at times too, to know some examples of moronic ideas.
Taking a little time to get a shower, as well as having a meal, she glanced on-line to look for some additional information on New Wave. There was a fair amount to look through, but unfortunately there wasn't exactly a phone number announced there that one could call to contact them directly. Fair enough, she got a feeling such a number would have been a target for a lot of harassment from some morons.
They might have on-line presence on PHO and other places, but she wasn't keen on trying to approach them there. Appearing on their front door wearing a mask and ringing the doorbell might get some wary looks and suspicion, going in unmasked had its share of other risks.
Taking a small breath, she debated the good and the bad sides of the matter, and finally reached a decision. She'd go visit them, unmasked, and talk about her situation. Being new to the scene, without a costume or anything, recently gained her powers and still learning of them, and a vague idea of what she could do. Out in the open with them, though not mentioning her last name.
It felt a bit of a risky step, but at the same time, it might help with some of the suspicions, and she wasn't against the idea of summoning one of her cuter creatures, like Frosty, to show up as an example. Cheery might be a little cute, but seemed unlikely to really offer any help in a potential fight, so that was not a creature to call upon. Many others were a bit too large to call upon indoors out of sight.
Besides, she did want to get moving ahead with things, and delaying it over and over again was unlikely to do more than leave her procrastinating until the choice was taken out of her hands, and circumstances forced her on the move with her powers. Seize the day, she told herself a bit grimly.
Oh damn, she wasn't really ready at all, but at the same time she figured the only way was forward.
Driving over relatively close to the Dallon residence was easy enough, their home was listed as one of the advantages of living in the area, with capes close by in case of an emergency, appealing to some. It let the people still managing to sell houses in Brockton Bay to charge a bit more for a chance to live close to a cape family, even if people in general were expected to give them some room and not act like morons. The novelty might have worn down a little over time, but the presence of heroes so close might still be an effective means to encourage people to part with a little more cash to live close by.
That in mind, she left her car a bit further off, at the parking lot of a small store not too far away from the residential area. It still left her a bit of a walk to take, but it wasn't too bad. Besides, she was already showing up at their door unmasked, leaving her car on their driveway might have drawn a bit more interest to it and the license plate, and lead back to her identity for others too. Right now, busy-bodies that might see her approach would most likely not have too much reason to care.
Walking up towards the front door she hesitated a bit considering what she was going to say, and how to go about this all, but silently tried to calm herself down. She was just going to introduce herself, explain her situation, and ask for some advice they might have, speaking openly, and try and politely side-step any possible insensitive questions such as how she had gained her powers to begin with. Though if she was to mention her parents got killed by Slaughterhouse 9 and her brother was draining her measly funds rather regularly she might give the impression there had been a mounting pressure over a fair period of time.
Still, she felt more than a little doubt as she made her way over closer to the front door, until finally, she pushed the doorbell.
It was then and there that she felt a new connection snap in place, a bit of awareness. Not a creature this time, but a bit more alarming ability. Designated target, she learned the name, was a shaker/master effect similar to Glory Girl's aura in a way, in that it would have a small master effect on those people who she considered her foes, to target the creature with this power active on it instead of anything else.
Meaning if she got a creature that could tank a lot of harm, this thing could draw their attention and focus fully upon it. Alternatively, giving the ability to a more swift and evasive creature and watch the enemies waste their time and get frustrated trying to attack that target while her other creatures could strike at them more freely. It would also potentially help her in a combat situation, distracting people from trying to kill her and instead focusing on taking out her creature.
It in itself was already a significant little boost to her survival rate, and felt like a good sign that the path she had chosen was the correct one. Still, she would likely choose to be quiet about it, especially since it was technically a master effect still, even if a rather limited one. Masters were feared and disliked for a reason, given some of the monsters that did walk around on Earth-Bet.
One of which she would have to be very careful to avoid. Thankfully the bastard in question tended to stay in Canada and she had no interest whatsoever of going close enough for them to work their abilities on her, ever, if she had a choice on that. Though perhaps in the future she might gain a power or creature capable of protecting her from such harm, but until then, she was going to be very careful on such matters.
Hesitating a bit, she inhaled deeply, and rang the doorbell. Then she waited. It was the weekend, and it was still not noon, so chances were there was someone home, but that remained to be seen. She waited quietly for a moment, before finally, a tired looking man holding a coffee mug opened the door, dressed in sweat-shirt and sweat-pants, wearing thick white socks, and looking to be sweating a bit.
"Can I help you?" The man spoke, and she found herself staring. Mark Dallon, alias Flashbang, was a lot more attractive man in person than he had ever sounded like in the story. Then again, the lasting depression that the man seemed to go through wasn't doing him any favors, but considering the way the whole family there was dysfunctional at times, it was something rather easily overlooked.
"Ahh, hello." She smiled a bit awkward, before lowering her voice slightly.
"I am a new cape, haven't picked up a name or a costume yet, but I was hoping you and the others in New Wave might be willing to sit down and give me a better idea of what I might be getting myself into. I would have called, but there's not exactly a phone-number listed on New Wave's site." She smiled a bit awkward.
"Right now is not a very good time." He said this a bit bluntly, but then shook his head, inhaling deeply and putting on a smile, a bit forced but at the same time friendly.
"Still, if you want to leave your number I can give it to Carol later to call you, or you could return here at three in the afternoon when she is back." He explained this while watching her more closely. Perhaps trying to figure out if she was serious or someone just trying to fake having powers to get closer to his family.
Sadly, she didn't see that being an entirely impossible scenario, crazy fans could do worse she figured.
"I am willing to leave my number, and show up again after three if that would be alright. Do you have a pen and paper at hand?" She waited for a moment as he retrieved some, before giving out her number, and her first name. Given she'd already shared her phone-number, they would be able to figure out the last name easily enough as well, but she had decided to at least give it a try.
When the door closed soon after, she let out a small breath and headed back towards her car. Right, back in a few hours. Not like she had struggled pushing ahead the first time, but hey, hopefully it would get a little easier over time.
Author's Note: I looked back at the Celestial Menagerie document and noted that it has changed a fair bit. Some categories have been reworked and old rolls would have resulted in different picks in some cases.
I am going to keep the rolls I made and the results I wrote down for them before from using the catalog that was available at the time in that form, but I will not be doing more rolls ahead of time now till I catch up to where I am with those. I left myself a little lee-way, rolling for chapter 9's gains already, when working on chapter 7. Two chapters ahead seemed like not pushing it too far ahead, before I noticed the level of changes in a relatively short time.
So if someone wonders why my categories and creature choices don't match the numbers in the menagerie document now, I figured it was worth noting they did, but using an outdated version unfortunately. This is not the case with all of them, just a few, such as the Bugsnax, and Metroid.
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Last edited: Dec 22, 2021
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Dec 22, 2021
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Threadmarks Chapter 08 - Setting on a Path
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Dec 26, 2021
#47
Chapter 08
Trying to waste some time while waiting for the New Wave members to be present, or for at least having Carol Dallon present, Lily took a little time to check out a local market in the meanwhile. Walking around looking at what people had put up for sale, there might have been some bargains to be made, though the state of her finances meant she wasn't exactly able to take advantage of some of those offers. That didn't mean she couldn't entertain herself having a look, and considering she might run into something useful on offer for a price she could meet, it was not a bad way to relax for a bit, and get her mind off of the meeting ahead, if she did manage to get one in the first place.
Nonetheless, the time passed, and soon enough it was the time that Mark had suggested. Just past three in the afternoon, she was returning towards the Dallon residence, looking about a bit nervous again. Having left her car back further off, she walked the rest of the way figuring it was a better option still. She didn't really expect her identity to be all that interesting to most folks if she did not appear in costume, but given who she was intent on visiting, chances were someone might be a little curious.
Though hopefully it would not draw that much attention to her. It didn't seem like a lot of attention was being paid to some less known capes, vigilantes and small heroes or villains, who didn't really make waves. Brockton Bay had some, Sere being an example, who didn't get much notice until later on. Then again, Sere wasn't really pushing too much, a few odd notions about stopping some minor gang crime here and there.
As it was, Lily was a bit wary of the Protectorate and PRT, and figured a possible chat with New Wave might help her out. She considered the option of leaving Brockton Bay and heading off to Boston or something similar, but she wasn't keen on taking that option just yet. Despite some disappointments and annoyance, she wasn't too happy with the idea of just uprooting her current life on a whim, and heading off because of a few bad impressions.
Yet at the same time, she felt a bit wary. New Wave had its own issues, and Carol Dallon was smack dab in the middle of a lot of things going wrong. Powers tended to manifest with people who were inherently broken by what they went through, and while second generation had it easier than first, Carol's situation had not been good, and refusing to get any help had not done the woman any favors.
Lily could understand it, even sympathize somewhat, but she also felt it was stupid not getting help, at least trying it. Unfortunately there were people who were certain they had things in check and did not want others to interfere with their business, leading to some tension and agitation. As it was, she could just deal with the New Wave as they were, and hope for the best.
If Carol was willing to listen, and offer some advice, she would gladly listen. She might not agree with all of it, but it was still advice from a veteran. It was with that thought in mind that she walked the last of the steps along their yard, and to the front door. Raising her hand and ringing the doorbell.
It took a few seconds, but a lot less than the last time around, before the door was opened by the woman who she had come to meet. Unfortunately her expression was a bit wary, as she spoke up.
"Yes, how can I help you?" Her tone might have been somewhat polite but there was steel in her gaze, and she got a feeling she best have a good reason to be interrupting her time.
"Ah, hello there. I am Lily, I stopped by earlier and spoke with Mister Dallon briefly at the door then, asking if you might have some advice for a just starting out new cape? I left my phone-number and he suggested I show back here after three, once you were home. He didn't tell you?" She sounded a bit uncertain at the end, recalling briefly that Mark's depression might not have done him any favors on that matter.
"Mark didn't mention it." She remarked briefly, but she seemed a little less wary about her at least. Still guarded. "Still, I might be able to spare a short time. Though before I consider letting you in, I do need to know what kind of power we are talking about." She seemed a bit wary.
"Master, the sort that summons minions. I can call upon a few different kinds of creatures with small abilities of their own, but if I have to dismiss them or someone strikes one of them down, I cannot summon that creature again until the next day." She figured best policy with this woman was to be a bit more up-front about stuff.
Carol looked at her quite warily, before moving a bit aside, opening the door and gesturing her to step inside. Once she got into the hallway, she closed the door and turned to face her.
"Summon one of your creatures to prove your claims." Her tone brooked no argument, and Lily nod simply before making a gesture in the air, gently giving a light tap on her connection with Frosty, seeing the eager little ice-spirit appear in a puff of snow-flakes indoors, twirling in the air the icy flames around the little orb showing it was rather cheerful even as it brought a slight chill with it as it appeared.
"This is Frosty, one of the first creatures I got when I gained my power. Frosty is a cryokinetic, though so far that has mainly showed itself in using gusts of ice-cold wind delivering hard smacks against thugs and causing frost-bite to chill guns in the thugs grips or giving them mild frostbite. Making it harder for them to keep fighting. Given that Frosty is a bit smaller and more elusive target, Frosty survived the first encounter with a bit of danger unharmed."
Lily found Carol's look at her suspicious and wary, as the woman crossed her arms and took a deep breath. Seeming to pause however, she shook her head, and instead lead Lily over to the living room, gesturing at a couch before taking a seat in an armchair facing it a moment later.
"Alright, let me start off by asking why you have come to us specifically instead of getting in touch with the Protectorate?" Carol's tone made that sound more like an accusation rather than question, but Lily drew a breath before answering.
"I have ran into Assault and Battery at the scene of a crime when Merchants attacked a nearby restaurant rather viciously, close to my civilian identity's workplace. I was close by, without a costume, without a name thought out yet. I did have an emergency mask though. I made a call to the authorities in my civilian identity, before slipping to an alley close by, to summon my creatures. I cannot communicate with them mentally or anything, they obey verbal commands and follow instructions. I gave my creatures a series of commands, to take down the gunmen inside alive, and then stayed back." She hesitated somewhat at this stage.
"Assault and Battery arrived soon after, by that time, out of the four creatures I had, two had been defeated. The remaining two were helping keep the gunmen from killing more people, seeking to disable without killing. Unfortunately I learned that my stronger summon, a low-level brute of a sort, had ran into some trouble after damaging the Merchants ride, with Skidmark and Squealer present at the scene of crime."
Carol blinked before lifting her hand up a bit, a single finger held up for a moment.
"You are telling me that you took part in a fight with two of Merchant capes and several armed thugs with guns with no practice or proper oversight by more trained capes?" Her tone a bit cold as she spoke, and that had nothing to do with Frosty.
"I had to stay back, I am hardly bulletproof, so I gave my creatures commands and stayed at the alley out of sight. I don't believe I can move too far away from my creatures without them vanishing, so I stayed close by just in case. My intent was to prevent loss of life, and make time for the police or PRT and Protectorate to reach the scene." She clarified her intentions at the woman staring at her in a way that made her feel a bit hesitant about the idea of coming to talk with these people.
"I have heard of that scene already. The Protectorate released only limited amount of information to public about it, but we did hear a bit." Probably through Vicky's boyfriend letting something slip, Lily thought somewhat quietly.
"Included in that information was the presence of a new cape, but one who's creatures managed to cause a couple of deaths of armed thugs at the scene. Which makes me wonder just how strong is the leash you have on those creatures, and just how obedient are they since it is apparent that lives were lost because they weren't following their instructions properly." The accusatory tone was harder to miss this time around, and Lily got a very nasty feeling she was less than impressed about her attempt to help out at that scene to begin with.
"Unfortunately I heard the same. The PRT seemed less than happy about the results, though I would like to argue that without the intervention there might have been more dead people present, and the Merchants would have likely got away before a response would have arrived on the scene." Lily sought to defend herself, which was apparently the exact wrong thing to do with Carol Dallon.
"Do you even realize how lucky you are that they are not holding you accountable for what you did? You are practically a civilian just starting out without any training, without any proper guidance, and rely on non-human creatures that you have admitted you have far less oversight and control over than I would like, and have caused deaths through negligent use of your powers? I think it is very arrogant of you to show up on our doorstep hoping for some advice, when you have already shown yourself perfectly capable of rushing in unprepared and causing people to get hurt or worse." Carol's glare was not a pleasant one to see at all. Sheesh, the sheer hostility she had in that moment made Lily wonder just how toxic the atmosphere in the house might be most of the time.
"Honestly, the one intelligent thing you have done is to at least realize you are in over your head and seek out some help. Unfortunately, I am not sure I can teach you anything with my limited time and the amount of work already resting on my shoulders. I would recommend you get in touch with the Protectorate and take whatever lessons and training they may offer you, and work to prevent yourself from repeating the mistakes you have already made before." The tone was a bit less angry and accusatory, but at the same time it held a steel in its edge, a forceful pressure that the sharp look in her eyes seemed to reinforce.
She was laying down the law and how it had to be in her opinion, and Lily got a strong feeling that the woman expected to get her way and browbeat her into agreeing just so she could wash her hands off of Lily and push her into the Protectorate's grasp. For someone who had once fought for integrity and unmasking, she seemed perfectly willing to toss her away to their lines. Perhaps because she was not a member of the family. Perhaps because she didn't want to risk having a loose cannon like her known to associate with her family. It was disappointing, she had honestly expected more from the woman, hoping the things she had heard were exaggerations, but it appeared to not be the case.
She did consider the chance this was just not a good time and she had cornered the woman at home, but she would have expected to see a door slammed in her face instead of being invited in and lectured like this in such a case.
"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Carol's tone was challenging and a bit haughty, while she watched Lily and her creature a bit disdainfully.
"It is obvious that I am unlikely to receive much of the advice I hoped to gain from a more experienced, veteran cape here, and that the situation is one where my presence is unwanted. I shall take my leave, and not bother either you or your family again." Lily spoke seriously while getting up, not dismissing her Frosty yet but glancing at the doorway.
"Hmh. So you are going to run away and from your tone, I take it you have no interest in taking responsibility and approaching the Protectorate?" Carol's tone was a bit icy, and a touch of contempt was apparent. She was really giving some disturbing vibes about how she was reacting to the situation, and that was leaving Lily feeling quite wary. She needed to deescalate and leave.
"I have already spent time in PRT care and waited patiently for the Protectorate to approach me in that time, but they decided not to. I was released, and to my understanding the situation was resolved for the time being. I was hoping to learn how to avoid trouble in the future, to improve myself." Lily got got up, and headed out at a steady walk, her Frosty flying after her, while Carol watched her warily.
"I apologize for the inconvenience, and will endeavor to avoid your family in the future."
That said, Lily headed out, dismissing her Frosty before actually opening the door, making her way outside. Closing the door behind her, she made her way off, silently cursing in her head. She was not sure if it was because Mark failed to tell her and she was already worn down and tired from something else, if it was just that she did not like what she had already heard, if her power somehow rubbed her wrong, or what was up there, but that atmosphere was definitely not encouraging her to stay.
Protectorate, PRT, and New Wave were all showing themselves in a worse light than she recalled, and she had no real interest in joining the gangs. Going independent as a vigilante or a hero was not all that appealing without further training and some security, leaving the city had a little more appeal after all this, but at the same time she was quite aware that her finances would not allow it.
She would have to see how things turned out the coming Monday, but in the meanwhile, she was seeing a lot of unpleasant signs in the horizon about how things were shaping up. Brockton Bay seemed to be setting up to ruin her day, her week, her whole month, maybe even her year. It was not making her feel too eager to stay, but leaving the city behind would mean securing a new job elsewhere, which was easier said than done, and even then it might take a while for her to be able to pull off a move, and departing would throw things into a bit of a chaos for a while.
Honestly, had she known how unstable her future might be in a short order, she would not have 'lent' her brother anything, especially as she was fairly certain she would not see any of it ever again. She doubted her brother would even pay her back if they happened to win the lottery one day. They'd not care about their debts, rather they'd try and enjoy their life and leave her behind as part of the 'baggage' if she was right about the way he seemed to deal with the world and its challenges.
Making her way back to her car, she reluctantly started it up again, heading back home. All that time waiting, wasted, because the person she had hoped to be able to provide her with some reasonable advice and possible cautionary tales about the do and don't parts of the cape-life had proven themselves unwilling to give her much of a chance.
The first impression had apparently already been made through others based on what had happened, and she had reached a decision even before Lily began her tale, once she knew who she was. That left a bad taste in her mouth, but Lily consoled herself in that at the very least, she had given it a chance. If she had never tried, she wouldn't know if it could have turned out for the better. Sure, it sucked that the plan hadn't worked, but rather had backfired on her, but that was life.
She was rolling with the punches, but she sincerely hoped to gain enough strength to be able to stand up on her own and to hopefully make some extra money to cover the expenses she was facing. Cape life sounded a lot more fun in stories she had read about, but living it and facing all the grit and dirt in her way, the obstacles and challenges smacking her right int the face before sucker-punching her in the jaw the next instant had left her less than eager about charging forth.
Then again, it was a necessary part of growth. She had made plans and tried to move forward, made some hopeful attempts to reach a more pleasant outcome, and while she had hoped it would turn out better, she had not put all her hopes on it turning out for the best.
The one thing that really annoyed her about the whole mess was that the PRT had held her for the 24 hours that they could, causing her to miss work, leaving her civilian identity troubled because the PRT decided they would be dicks about their treatment of her, for no good reason honestly.
If they wanted to pressure her, they could have found better ways after seeing how stubborn she could be. If they wanted to try and tack those charges on her for what had taken place, they could have tried to make it stick, and while it would have hurt her funds, she would have got herself a lawyer, and taken the bills to be paid later for seeing the matter resolved. Leaving it hanging like a sword of Damocles didn't really appeal to her at all.
She felt reasonably confident they could have slapped her down with the charges by now if they intended to.
She didn't count out the possibility of them trying to use it to establish a pattern later on if she got involved in fighting crime and people got hurt or even killed, so that certainly made things a little more difficult. She was hardly strong and tough enough to enter the fray herself, and that limited her options.
She felt a new connection forming as she arrived to her home, getting out of the car and heading inside. The mental image was a weird mixture between a green frog and a monkey of some sort, making her blink quietly.
Clabbert, she thought to herself. Weird little creature that looked like it would fit in one of those fantasy novels as a bit of a weird exotic animal. It even looked like it had a little red gem in its forehead, before she realized it was a pustule. A bit disgusting, she quietly thought to herself, but left it be. At least that creature seemed smaller and less intimidating than the others. Probably more of a curious pet than a combat summon then.
Closing the door behind her, she moved to the couch, slumping down and groaning quietly. The whole day was looking bad, the things had honestly went down the drain the moment the PRT and Protectorate stepped in. She could have ignored that scene and walked away, perhaps she should have. Yet at the same time she got a feeling if she did, she would not have experienced as much 'growth' as she had. Then again, she wasn't sure if going through the pain was worth it to get a silly little crossbreed of a toad and a monkey for it.
Then again, there was the Qilin that she had received earlier, she was waiting on trying to summon that one again, but she got a lot more hope on that. She was quietly hopeful it would be able to do something that this city could certainly appreciate. If it was a creature that could help heal people, it would most likely be a lot easier to accept.
Not to mention the mental image of riding on a creature resembling an Unicorn did have an appeal to it, a silly but fun mental image she could cherish even when in a bit of a foul mood. Unfortunately she wasn't exactly in a position to try and summon it to her side inside the city itself.
She did give some thought on trying to find a suitable, empty warehouses to use for some testing. Enough open space to summon something and spend a bit of time talking with them, it might help. But it would also risk being caught, being seen, either in person or on cameras.
As much as she disliked the red-tape about Protectorate, she had to admit that if they had not dropped the ball, she might have considered at least some associate-level contacts with them and possibly agreeing to power-testing of a couple of her creatures. The fact they would be able to grow in power certainly helped, as it would help make any scans they did inaccurate in time, and perhaps leave her enemies underestimating her.
Then again, the way things had come apart had left her with very little interest in working together with some people there. She had considered whether to get involved with some of the events at all, and had decided ultimately that while she did want to survive, she wasn't going to even try and get in touch with Taylor Hebert or the Undersiders. She really did not want to get involved with Coil, though she was tempted to interfere with the kidnapping of Dinah during the bank-robbery scene. It would be risky, and foolhardy, but preventing her capture might change her life for the better, and while Coil could likely still try and arrange her kidnapping from PRT care or on her way back home from there, it would cause the man more headaches and hopefully an ulcer.
She was pretty sure the damned Youth Guard would rage about wanting the girl to be able to go home to meet with her family rather than keeping her safe, giving Coil an opportunity to kidnap and vanish the girl to his dungeon at a later time. So if she did intervene to help Dinah, it would mean she had chosen to put herself in the line of fire to confront and eliminate Coil sooner rather than later, because the man would be coming after her as well.
Still, she'd rather get active participant than just being a quiet reacting side in that matter sooner rather than later, because she was fairly certain that things would already be altered to go a different way since she had arrived, and in all honesty, she considered Coil a threat that would probably interfere with her life sooner or later. Trying to solve the matter before the viper in the grass tried to take a bite at her was just deciding to act before the man could start arranging for things to fall on her like a sack of bricks.
As she wondered how, a new connection reached out to her, and made her blink, as a word entered her mind. Eidolons. Not like the cape, but different, Eidolons like something she had vaguely remembered hearing before, a talk about a book series she never cared to read but another member of the family had been a fan of.
Eidolons, from Percy Jackson. That was a potential human weak-point in Coil's system. Eidolons were possessing spirits that could cause a whole lot of harm, but the range was still a problem. Otherwise she would have tried to send one to attack one of Coil's men or the man's body-double or the man himself at some point, and let them dismantle their own organization through repeated jumps possessing new people to strike a blow here, another there, and bringing the whole house of cards collapsing on top of the man himself.
Not so easy with the range limitation, but it did offer up some options, ones that the foe might not be prepared for, especially if she never showed that advantage to others before it was too late.
There was no such things as honorable combat and fair fight when it came to survival. If it meant having a creature master Coil into shooting himself to save her life, then she would do so without any hesitation.
Lastly, she felt a new connection forming, not a creature but something more. A refinement of her summoning technique, she realized she could now summon her creatures with a bit more oomph to their initial arrival, going off like a damned flashbang to make an impression, and disorient foes close to the summoning, to give them a better chance to strike at her enemies.
Yes, she was definitely going to appreciate that. She didn't know how long the road ahead might be, but without mentors or allies, she would just have to stack the deck in her favor in other ways, and the only unfair cheat was one the enemy used and she could not replicate. Any dirty cheats and tricks she could play out, well she just considered them a necessity in staying alive.
Author's Note: Hope folks have enjoyed some happy holidays and that the approaching end of the year is going well for folks regardless of where they are and what they're up to.
Spoiler: Listing
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Threadmarks Chapter 09 - Moment of Calm, Storm in Horizon
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Jan 1, 2022
#66
Chapter 09
Lily allowed a faint groan to escape her lips as she left the workplace after the next Monday. Not only did she get chewed out by her boss for not showing up at all on Friday, but she got a rather unpleasant mark on her record for the stunt. Missing a day of work was fine when she was known to be able to catch up easily enough, but doing so without any warning or requesting a day off in advance was not.
The end results of that had been a rather unpleasant warning, and a she would naturally not be paid for the day missed, and it also cost her one of her paid vacation days to make up for the fact she had not informed anyone of the situation in advance.
She was pretty sure that the legality of some of the demands was in question, but at the same time, if that was the extent of the repercussions, she was better off leaving it be for the time being. She had provided an excuse of having been too close to the action when the restaurant was attacked, and ending up spending some time home recovering from shock of having gunshots come way too close for comfort.
It wasn't likely convincing her boss that well, but ultimately the fact she'd not caused any other trouble and had been a diligent worker otherwise had come off as a mark in her favor. The warnings and penalties were not excessive, losing a day's worth of pay once was better than losing the job itself, and a mark on her record was unpleasant but that was just in this company. If she eventually left and looked elsewhere, chances were it would not matter at all.
Though in all honesty she was hoping that her powers would eventually grant her the means to earn enough to not worry too much about her civilian identity's salary, covering a fair bit of expenses from a larger amount of funds. That was going to have to wait for now though. The means to acquire such funds were still eluding her, and attacking merchants to just take their stuff was not exactly enticing when she had not been given a more clear outline of what was and was not acceptable under the vigilante act that had been passed in the past to aid some independent heroes.
Too many little loopholes and abusive possibilities in those rules to trip someone up and force them to join the Protectorate to avoid worse penalties, it seemed. She was not too keen on trying her luck and just hoping for the best. Frankly, she was actually a bit amazed the option to loot some thugs existed in legal setting to begin with, but it probably had to, if they wanted to try and entice some people to take up a more heroic angle to start with rather than going villainous with their powers.
Not that it changed the fact those rules seemed to be made with the intent in mind to trip up someone taking advantage of them to forced recruitment later on, one where Protectorate could likely issue a fair bit more pressure on the back of whoever had been caught going too far, as far as law was concerned.
She already had a reason to be wary of PRT and Protectorate, if they dug up the deaths and slapped them on top of whatever new charges they might make, it could potentially break any good will she had built at that point. She would have preferred to talk with Carol about it, and look for ways to act that would have her on steady footing and better aware of the cape-law and what loopholes to look out for and what ways one might have at their disposal to protect themselves against more nefarious designs of some bastards on either side of the law.
Getting in her car to head back to her apartment, she silently cursed out in her head the rotten state of the world, and the fact she was trapped in it. She would have preferred somewhere that did not put her life at risk, but at the same time she was fairly certain the whole reason this place was chosen was because the threats and challenges might push her soul to grow stronger, at a faster rate.
Focusing on just driving home, she sought to leave those thoughts alone. They weren't going to help. Too many depressive thoughts would just leave her in a foul mood at the end.
On arriving home, she made her way inside, starting to change into some more casual clothes to just lounge around for a bit, turning on the television. As she finished changing and returned to the living room side, she heard the broadcast mention something that caused her to stop. "-another attack by the Slaughterhouse 9."
Yeah, that band of murderous bastards were running wild still. They were going to arrive to Brockton too eventually. Another grim reminder of just how screwed things would be if she stayed for long. As if having to face Leviathan causing trouble wasn't already bad enough.
"Mr. Ryder was lucky enough to have been away at the time, returning to the site of the attack just hours after the departure of the Slaughterhouse 9. His frantic call to the PRT and Police alerted the authorities to the most recent scene in a short order, and road-blocks and patrols were put in place in neighboring area in a hurry. Those living close to the area are advised to evacuate in a quick order, sites up to 30 miles away are being cleared while-"
Staring at the map, she winced. Somewhat east from Houston, it was close to Eidolon's turf, yet the Slaughterhouse had butchered another town without getting anyone dropping down on top of them before they were gone, once more. It was a sick joke about how useless the heroes could be in this world, thinking how close one of the supposedly most powerful capes had been, yet nothing was done to those murderous bastards.
There was a touch of bitterness inside of her thinking about just how much of that was incompetence, and how much was a necessary evil according to Cauldron. She could always try and blame power-shenanigans as well, Jack Slash's power had its own twisted benefits against other capes though. She doubted they would be caught as easily as a police roadblock, but it was a gesture to show that the law enforcement was trying to do something, supposed to inspire confidence that they would be caught eventually.
Realistically however, she knew that if the S9 did end up running into a roadblock, the chances were they would just butcher the people at the post and rush off in a hurry. It might draw people after them, but it would not stop them, and chances were they could pull off an escape to some location they would be able to lay low at, or vanish into a larger city hiding in the shadows somewhere.
Brockton Bay had a lot of abandoned buildings in need of demolition, it was unlikely the rest of the world was all pristine either. The last few decades had been sour and depressing, suicide rates were up and people were losing hope. More than a few businesses had crashed and burned long ago, and she was pretty sure that without some thinkers trying to keep things working, the economy would have crashed and burned a fair while back already as well.
Shaking her head, she grit her teeth together. Just because she got some bad impressions because of Carol, who was already a difficult personality to get along, did not mean the rest of the New Wave was necessarily bad. Same with the Protectorate, the PRT had treated her rather poorly, but Assault and Battery seemed to be at least fairly polite about things, before they had to rush off. Added to the fact it had been a stressful time with multiple things going on at once, she could see how things would have possibly gone more poorly at that time than normally.
That didn't mean she was too keen on second chances. Staring at the news, the fact remained things were steadily getting worse. At least the Merchants had not been broken out of their current stay in the Protectorate cells, though once their transfer came around, that might change.
As far as she knew, neither Skidmark nor Squealer were bound towards birdcage, but a regular old prison. Meaning chances were they would not be guarded so well that they would not have a chance to escape later. She did, of course, hope that they would stay away a good while, but chances were that Mush and the rest of the Merchants would stage a break-out given the chance, to not let their gang appear too weak to the others. They were an annoyance that held territory the others didn't really care for, but they were still a presence that both ABB and E88 would likely want to finish and mop off given a chance.
So she was tempted to watch out for when the transport would happen, and see if she could prevent a breakout. Capturing Mush as well might as well signal the end for Merchants, and while the Empire and the Asian Bad Boys were hardly good presence either, taking down a gang selling cheap, often rather dirty drugs that were cut with who knows what poisonous substances was potentially going to help a little on the short term at least, allowing drug-dealers tied to Merchants to be arrested by regular cops more easily.
Without the fear of cape support behind them, the gang would still be a pain, but likely a lot less willing to push the envelope and draw attention, as they could be possibly removed easier. PRT and Protectorate might not be too keen on interfering with the regular crime with large deployments, but having a hero or two help the police clear out numerous criminals would be good for their public relations, and doing so relatively safely in the aftermath would likely appeal to some people.
The problem would still be that the ABB and E88 might escalate if the smaller gang was removed from the picture. Coil's reaction was also unknown. She'd have to see how things would go, but at the present time, she had to plan for what future events might be coming. Both those that had taken place in the story, and those that her own actions would likely cause to happen at some point.
Lily had played with the thought of interfering with Taylor's life, and ultimately decided against it. The girl was in a really shitty situation. Lily was fairly certain she would be very suspicious of anyone trying to approach her, in civilian identity or as a cape. Given the way adults had repeatedly failed her, and her classmates had isolated and bullied her, she was unlikely to be in a good place mentally.
Hell, despite her heroic tendencies, fighting Lung like that was pretty much suicidal. She was wary of getting involved, especially as she did not want to have anything to do with Tattletale. She really did not want to hand that girl any information that she could use against her. Especially when she was still under Coil's thumb.
Lily did not particularly care for trying to hold back and follow the familiar grounds of how things might have happened without her arrival, as she believed her appearance had already changed events from the start, and figured the victory at the end of that path would have been a far too close shave anyway. She wasn't sure what lay in the horizon, but she was definitely going to hope to gain in strength and find a way to either try and change things for the better, or to find a way to jump out of this world and into another, one with a few more years left than this one had.
For now, however, she had her focus on three matters. Preventing the Merchants escape, helping save Dinah from the potential kidnapping around the scene at the bank, and making sure Coil would be dead and gone sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately she had no idea when the Merchants would be transported, and doubted the Protectorate would look at her too favorably asking about the date. Volunteering to help guard the prison transport might work, but that was a big if. She might at least offer it, since even if the information of the time leaked, it was unlikely to reach her ear in time. If she got involved, it might let her be at the right place at the right time to stop things there.
As for Dinah, Lily had no guarantee it would all go as she thought. She might get snatched away before the bank-robbery, or kidnapped afterwards even if she prevented a kidnapping at that time. For all she knew Dinah might mistake her for being in league with the kidnappers and be more likely to run away and right into the enemy's hands than to allow her to help. Depending on how many questions she had already asked, she might be reluctant to use her power to confirm she did intend to help.
Coil was an asshole, and drugging up a young girl to use her thinker power to help him plot and plan for the takeover the man had envisioned was just a push too far. Lily didn't even want to think what kind of stuff the man could get up to as stress-relief in the time-lines that got discarded. Torturing Tattletale was a likely option, as was shooting anyone who had failed the man in some minute way, just to undo the events keeping a safe time-line.
Sighing quietly, and considering just how messed up everything was in this world, and in this city in particular, Lily wondered what she would do on the long-term. If she kept growing her menagerie of creatures engraved in her very soul and answering to her call, then perhaps eventually they would be able to help her achieve a lot. Change her life for the better. Yet at the same time, she felt a little guilty about calling on them to fight for her without offering them a chance to appear to just relax. Perhaps she should look for a place with a bit of privacy, to let them out in a less hostile situation.
The thoughts of the training done in the woods before came back to her mind. Certainly there was an appeal on having them out and exploring a bit, in the small area around her that they could travel to. If it was secure enough, she could see herself letting them wander and enjoy a bit of free time on days she did not expect trouble on. Yet that was not an option in a city.
She wasn't too keen on going full hermit either, but perhaps if she could raise enough funds, getting a cabin out somewhere in the countryside might help. Lot of issues that money would help with, though getting it and having an acceptable excuse why her civilian identity would take some effort. She was not well off, in fact, she had very little left over from her paycheck each month. That would mean any large expenses would draw a fair bit of attention towards her.
Robbing the Merchants for some loot was a 'time honored tradition' in some stories she had read, but at the same time there was a definite feeling of it being a mistake. Underestimating a foe was a dangerous thing, though she should be careful to not overestimate them either. Fear and stagnation through inaction would not end well for her.
Focus. First to make sure the Merchants would not get their capes back, then helping remove some assets from them, helping Dinah avoid Coil, and trying to take out Coil himself.
With that thought in mind, she idly wondered if Thomas Calvert's address could be found as easily as checking into a phone-book. Probably not, but she'd have to look around for one in any case. If attacking the man in his civilian identity would allow her to remove the bastard, that would be a definite advantage. The problem was that the man might very well be keeping a spare time-line going meaning her assassination attempt would be detected and she would not even be aware it had failed before getting Coil's mercenaries crashing down on her.
She needed a little bit of patience, and a more solid plan. Winging it was not a good way to go with a man like that, even if she should keep any plan flexible enough for changes and to adapt to the new situations that might arise, not having a plan at all would likely result in her getting a wooden box buried six feet under, or possibly something worse. She didn't feel like Coil would let her off that easily if the man though he could put her to some good use, if the man could figure out how to twist her arm into doing so.
She despised the man, even more so than the three gangs. While they were a clear enemy, Coil was a snake in the grass and it was high time someone brought out a lawnmower to take out the places he could hide in and leave the fellow to face an unpleasant end. Of course, she'd rather make it quick if she could, because that was one enemy she would not be able to afford giving time to counter-attack and prepare.
Haste might make waste, but against a bastard like that, it was best to execute a plan quickly when one was ready, and to try and cut off any avenues of escape. The man would get back at her with vengeance if she did not manage to stop him.
She was not certain whether or not she was yet on his radar, she had been brought in by the PRT so chances were high he was at least aware of her. Whether or not he cared about a small time vigilante master in the city or not remained to be seen, but she figured it was best to play with the assumption that he knew more than she expected, and be pleasantly surprised if she was proven wrong.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden connection with a massive creature, a being that practically screamed power. Antipodean Opaleye. It was a dragon. Pale one, but a dragon nonetheless. She swallowed quietly while wondering about that.
She had began to make plans to get on the move, she might not be on the move yet, but this would definitely give any would-be-rescue for the Merchant capes a nasty surprise. She smirked slightly at the thought of that.
The new sensation following that was a bit more on the odd side. She became aware of a brush she could now call upon, and patterns to trace that would have a remarkable effect. Bakugami. Bomb, a boar riding a bomb. It was a bit absurd, but intimidating at the same time.
She could tell this was a powerful being, and through the use of that brush, she could call upon a part of its power, but she was not going to summon the boar itself into the world. Rather, an aspect of its power. Yet at the same time, there was a little chill down along her spine. A warning of some sort. Using this might be highly visible, and use of a bomb like that might cause more trouble than it was worth, if done at the wrong place, at the wrong time
Situational help, and something that could do a lot of harm against, say, a Bond-villain's hideout, but it would likely also draw a lot of eyes upon her and cause a great deal of wariness. The fact that it was likely to do more than summoning the dragon would was a bit intimidating in itself. She was a bit unsure just how powerful those bombs could be, but the feeling she got through that connection suggested she definitely did not want to underestimate the power that granted her. It was still a summon, but a peculiar, and troubling one.
Shaking her head and sighing, Lily muttered while heading to the kitchen to get herself a tall glass of water. She was going to have a headache about this. It was good to get more help, but at the same time, she hesitated. She was still rather vulnerable herself, and her summons could only travel so far, and she could not exactly command them mentally. They had to hear her commands. Perhaps she should look into getting something to help with that later on.
Moment later, two new connections snapped in place, this time different, not summons, but more personal power. The first gave a vague sense of a better chance to grasp upon a summon each time she got an opportunity. She wasn't sure what exactly it meant, but the impression she had was that if she had a chance to gain something, there was a chance it might be beyond the limits of her soul at the present time, in which case, another one might be offered in turn, doubling the odds she would be able to acquire something each time the chance did come around.
The other one, immediately on the heels of the first one, was the thing that caught her by surprise and made her inhale deep, hand shaking around the glass, holding it carefully to not drop it but swallowing, feeling a tremble of excitement going through her.
The second power was the chance to apply some of those powers on herself. The boosts she had gained, to grant additional energy, or to grant strength, could now be used on her own person. She was trembling a bit with excitement. Rather than just affecting her summons, she could make use of those abilities on her own body, which might increase her chances to survive some tough times ahead.
She might still put those effects on her summons most of the time, but the fact she now had an option to call upon them on her own person was an amazing game-changer. If she had to get involved and get close, those boosts could make a difference between living and dying on the battlefield. She would still be a master, fighting through her summons, but getting in the thick of the action would be a little less dangerous with those powers directed upon her own body.
It helped her steel her will. The time ahead would be chaotic and likely full of shame and regrets along the way, but she would do what she could to make the best of it. She was going to try and use her abilities to improve things for the people around her as well as herself. She preferred to try and help out, and make things better for a lot of people rather than just herself. She had a selfish side, but in this world, she felt a little kindness to people should not be so rare. There were still good people after all.
There was a brief thought coming to her mind. Her Qilin, which she felt through her connection, might be able to help heal people. That in itself was rather rare gift, and something that could change things. Healers were valuable, and while she grumbled about Nepea-5 limiting the options of capes to make money off of their powers, the opportunity to do some good and perhaps lighten the load on one tired healer cape in the city might be worth the attention it might bring upon her.
Of course, she was unlikely to get accepted just showing up in the hospital offering to heal. Going through Protectorate's power-testing might help with that, but they had left an unpleasant impression on her. So she would consider it, later, but for now, it would have to remain as a thought.
Author's Note: Ok, not much action here, more planning and preparations. Small time-skip ahead in next chapter when things get in motion again.
Spoiler: Listing
EDIT: Fixed a pointed out mistake on Bakugami's name
Chapter 10
April 9th came, and with it, the prisoner transfer. The PRT and Protectorate had delayed it until the weekend to have a few more capes available, after a few had been off-duty to recover from previous skirmishes. Contacting the PRT had meant spending an annoying amount of time talking with them over her concern about potential attempts by Mush and the Merchant thugs freeing the two captive Merchant capes.
Ultimately, she had been given permission to ride along with the PRT vans, joining Triumph on the escort duty. No other capes were being sent out on the job. They would be taking a trip along a route that was not shared with her in advance, and would return by that evening. She had been warned it would likely be a long and boring trip just sitting inside the van at ready in case something did happen.
She had agreed, somewhat warily, and went along with it. No real costume still, but she had taken up a hoodie and a mask for the ride, gloves and sturdy boots. She would be able to move easily enough in them, and it would cover her well enough. Summoning her creatures if they were needed, but not calling upon them beforehand was also acceptable.
Since she didn't really get any shared information through her connection with her creatures yet, it would not be all that useful to have some summons already active elsewhere if the trip went without any surprises. Getting inside a van with 6 troopers in their gear, she quietly sat down, facing Triumph in his own lion-themed outfit opposite to her.
Well, gladiator and lions, but still. Comparing the more professional looking outfit and her own, she silently winced. Yeah, the simple mask and regular clothes budget-outfit was not really good at all. She wasn't keen on working with the PRT or Protectorate with all the red-tape and her earlier treatment, but at the same time, she was not keen on watching the news announce the Merchants got loose again, not having done anything to stop it herself.
Sitting quietly with the others, she glanced about. The troopers were professional enough to not be gossiping or anything such. It might be a bit more tense atmosphere with her there though. She was an outsider, and an unknown. The fact they'd put her relatively close to Triumph who could likely knock her out with a single use of his shouting did not go entirely unnoticed, though she was willing to bet they did not expect to really need it, just a precaution in case of some worst case scenario like her turning out to be planning to double-cross them or something.
It seemed a bit absurd, but given how bad things were at the city at times, how bad they were across the nation, and her previous already unpleasant impressions about the PRT, it might seem reasonable assumption to them.
She got a feeling that his identity was somehow significant, but she didn't recall why. She was annoyed by it, but without knowing his civilian identity, there was little she could do. Bits and pieces of the memories of Worm had slipped from her mind over time, and Triumph had been a figure that got a lot less focus in some stories she had enjoyed on her free time. Which left her a bit awkward. It was not as if she could ask another cape's real name either. Not without being allies and willing to do a mutual unmasking.
Which might have been possible if she had joined up with Protectorate. Too bad that went down south, fast. Not that she was keen on working under a ton of restrictions and red tape. It would have still added some resources and possibilities to her life, which were now beyond her means.
They had been made to wait through the time that it took to load up Skidmark and Squealer into the other van, sedated, and in shackles made to contain non-brutes. They were still sturdier than simple handcuffs, meant to make any rescue attempts more difficult by limiting what the captive capes could do to escape.
She had seen the shackles earlier, and had initially assumed they were meant for brutes, only to be told that they were in fact not. They were heavy and difficult to remove once put in place, making any rescue-attempts more difficult by keeping those capes from being able to act freely even if broken out of their van.
The sedation was a similar attempt to make any rescue attempts more difficult. She was actually a bit relieved they were not completely idiotic and careless about the prisoner transfer. Even so, they were headed towards a regular prison, so chances were the capes might break out of there instead.
Once they got on the move, she was sitting there, tense and on alert. The PRT troopers stayed quiet for most part, but shared a few glances, a few small gestures. They looked to know one another well to communicate with so little, not needing much in the way of words.
Glancing over at Triumph, he saw the man was looking at her in turn, as well as she could tell with his mask at least. No words were exchanged. She felt she could have tried to say something, but at the same time, she felt a bit wary. The way she had been treated already left a sour taste in her mouth. Trying to extend an olive branch by helping out with this job had her treated warily by the others too.
Lily considered herself a reasonable person, but there was a point where the treatment she was getting wore down on her, and the fact that she had been sorely disappointed by the heroic side in the city left her more than a little disillusioned about things. She had no interest in going to any of the gangs, she despised the drug-peddling scum to begin with, she considered Nazis to be an abomination that should not have been tolerated, and the less said about the ABB's farm and human-trafficking the better.
She would prefer seeing all three gangs torn apart and left powerless, and trying to remove the Merchants from the equation was a step in the right direction. Coil was a snake in the grass that would need to be dealt with sooner or later, or he would find a way to sting her when her guard was down. She quietly wondered if he had already tried something that she had no knowledge of, as unfortunately her powers didn't exactly offer her the means to notice someone messing around with a power such as what Coil supposedly possessed.
Perhaps she would feel more comfortable with it when she got her hands on more creatures, that offered better options yet. The Eidolon was a definite option if she could manage it, the distance that her summons could travel away from her was the one reason she had not already set out to locate and capture one of Coil's men to turn into a puppet for the next trick.
She would considered it an option if they came for her, summoning one relatively quietly if captured, and unleashing it on someone in the base. She would prefer to not go that route, as there was a real possibility the man would think her more trouble than she was worth, and arrange for her murder. She was playing a rather dangerous game, and would need to make sure to find Coil in a situation where he would have to split the time-line again and leave himself vulnerable in both to her act.
She glanced around quietly, sitting still, and waiting.
Lily had found the tension wearing on her, and eventually, slowly, relaxed a touch. They had been taking the path towards the north-west out of the city, avoiding the more direct path north since that one would have taken them too close to the train-yard anyhow. Some industrial buildings in the area were grumbling and worn down, but despite that, the area was better off than the places closer to the train-yard.
Sighing quietly at that thought, she rested back and considered what might lay in the horizon. Things were going to kick in to a high-gear soon, with Lung captured and then the bank-scene, followed by Bakuda's bombing rampage, leading eventually to Leviathan, Echidna, and all that came after.
As much as she disliked the idea of being short on money to move, if Leviathan devastated the city the way it had been in the original story, then chances were her home would not be worth staying in anymore. Not that she would likely be paying rent if the city was ruined that way.
Her thoughts on all that were interrupted however when the van suddenly shook the bangs catching her attention before they got shook up worse, the whole car tilting slightly to the side and the sound of metal scraping against concrete came out, making her grimace and wince.
The troopers hastily moved to open the doors, the first two getting outside to take a look at the sides, the next ones ready to join, when the first trooper fell back with a loud bang coming from the side. "Circus!" The other other one shouted, a moment before the second van in the line was hit by a trash-golem of some sort. Mush, buried in his mucky trashy shell no doubt.
Triumph grimaced slightly but got ready to move with the troopers, even as Lily called upon her connection. Ravager appearing outside, the strength boost already connected to the large canine creature, to further empower it against whatever foes might be present.
"Take down the trash-bag bastard, and any thugs trying to shoot at me or the troopers here, non-lethally!" Lily shouted her orders quickly as the canine stood close to the doors.
The troopers rushed out using the large canine as cover momentarily, despite some concerns they seemed to use that moment to get out along with Triumph, the couple of gun-shots hitting the Ravager's side seeming to mostly aggravate it.
Lily herself followed out, and behind the van's side, watching two of the troopers tend to the first one out who had got shot.
"The vest stopped it, still hurts like a bitch." The guy groaned, while Lily let out a small sigh in relief. Handguns probably then. Low caliber. Probably just some cheap armaments to try and apply a bit more pressure on them.
At that time, Ravager rushed off to attack Mush who was trying to pry open the back doors on the second van, the tires on the three vans torn and the ones on left side partially melted. The acrobatic figure tumbling into the scene close to Ravager and Mush landing several shots of fireballs against Ravager, seemingly trying to intimidate her beast with fire, hoping it had a natural animal reaction of fearing fire.
Only to have to dodge back fast when Ravager practically ignored some of its skin getting singed by the flames and instead did a claw swipe with bloody red lines drawn into Circus' costume, getting off relatively lightly, but obviously still hurt.
"Hold on." Lily nod and clapped her hands together. Moment later, her connections with her multiple creatures were being pulled closer.
Geruta, and Axe-Flapper came first. Aerial assets to serve as scouts and means to attack those gunners on higher levels. She was pretty sure at least a couple of thugs with guns were on second-story windows, even if their guns were not too effective it still made them a threat.
The two flying figures rushed off. The familiar jet-fire boost from Geruta rushing in amused her a bit, the axe-flapper's edgy figure flying along after at a quick pace. They seemed to realize even without commands they were in a combat situation and needed to act.
"Strike to disable those thugs! Don't kill anyone if you can avoid it, try and take them down alive for the troopers!" Lily still shouted her orders.
Focusing again, she pulled on her connection, reaching out for the figure resembling a unicorn in her mind. The Qilin was an interesting figure and the information available on them in mythology had been a fun read during the time she took to research her creatures.
The horned equine appeared in a short order, and stood close by as the troopers were scrambling to respond, gunfire at the windows forcing the merchants thugs back, the two fliers rushing in and shouting inside giving the impression the merchant ambush had not turned out the way the bastards hoped.
Triumph had rushed in to engage with Circus, a particularly nasty punch having just barely missed the dancing acrobat, the infuriatingly fast figure almost like a crazed harlequin dancing around Triumph and delaying his efforts to reach Mush.
Not that Mush was doing too well either. Ravager tore off an arm of scrap from the scrap-golem earlier, and had then went on to tear and strike against the trash over and over, almost panicking Mush from the looks of it, before the troopers in the third van had got out. Mush had received a foam grenade at his feet before hastily trying to cover it with trash to keep it from expanding, but getting his foot still stuck for his troubles.
Yes, it was looking like they might be finishing up the Merchants as a gang today if their luck held.
"Qilin, can you heal?" She had to confirm it, she felt fairly confident on that assessment from what she could feel through the connection, and was relieved to see the horned equine nodding. "Then please." She gestured at the trooper on the ground, and another who had retreated back behind the van holding a bleeding arm.
Qilin's horn took up a brighter glow, and gesturing down, it's light seemed to surround the first guy, washing over his figure before the man inhaled sharply and stood up. Seeming more than a little shocked but delighted. The Qilin meanwhile moved to heal the other trooper in a similar fashion.
"Okay, that's definitely handy." The trooper that had been watching her and the other side of the road more carefully commented amused. There had been attacks from one side rather than both, but she was not lowering her guard either.
"Reinforcements have been called for, Armsmaster is on his way, others will follow soon." Another trooper spoke up, before gesturing the two that had recovered to join in on moving to suppress the merchant thugs that had charged out of an alley further off.
Gunfire sounded out, and Lily grimaced while pulling on her connection again, summoning her Taegore. The armored pig snorting loudly as it looked around a bit surprised at the noise and rush around it.
"We are having a bit of trouble with some filthy criminals trying to save their leaders from a trip to prison. Think you could help bruise some of them enough to make them run away or surrender? No killing." She spoke at the pig-like creature with the armed plates, and saw it nodding slightly. Nodding in turn, she gestured at the direction of the thugs, that had halted their advance to take some cover.
Rushing into the crossfire, the pig's armored plates took more than a few hits trying to cross over, but before it could reach the merchants one of them rose up and aimed a damned rusty shotgun at its face, shooting.
Lily felt the kick in her connection as the Taegore vanished, but it was still there. Just resting for now. Damn, she felt a little bad summoning it in only to have it taken down so fast.
Just then the Axe-Flapper flew out a window, and swinging its body in the air, sent a blast of air down at the gathered thugs, slamming the shotgun-holding bastard and making the guy shriek and scream, holding a bleeding arm dropping their gun.
Okay, not exactly clean and smooth progress, but still pushing the enemy back. She felt glanced at her Qilin standing close guarding her, occasionally turning to heal someone who had been hurt on their side, before reaching a decision.
"Help Triumph corner that crook." She gestured at the acrobatic figure. "The lion-masked figure is Triumph, an ally right now, the limber rogue is trying to help criminals escape justice."
The look on the Qilin's face was hard to really read, non-human as it was, but she could have sworn she saw a sharp look in those eyes before the Qilin rushed out fast. Icy winds began to blast at Circus, limiting the crook's movements somewhat, making it easier for Triumph to land a haymaker on the guy's face. Or girl's. Circus was androgynous enough to make it hard to tell.
She felt a tad exposed, pulling on her connection again, calling upon Frosty to appear, the little bouncy spirit of frost appearing a moment later. "Help the troopers and the lion-masked figure in subduing the thugs attacking us." She instructed the summoned spirit quickly, before focusing again.
She really did not want to call upon the dragon, that would be an overkill. She was pretty confident they would be able to pull this off without it, but pride was dangerous, arrogance could lead one to underestimating a foe.
Among all that, she suddenly felt a new connection forming. Focusing on it momentarily, she was stunned to realize she got yet another SCP in the middle of things, the mild-headache of gaining the documentation on it directly to her mind a bit bad in timing in the middle of a fight, but she was not active participant right now as much as there as a link to her creatures.
Wincing a bit, she frowned. Dairy-cow? She got a weird dairy-cow from her power when in a fight with armed thugs. Similar to the Cheery before, it was a little bizarre to her. Still, checking on the information she had gained in her head, she focused on Circus, a small smirk on her face.
Pulling on the connection, she had her latest creation appear a bit further off from her, and in the way of Circus' latest little rush, an acrobatic series of moves ending up smashing into the full grown body of a large dairy cow. Literally in more ways than one. Slipping and yelping, Circus fell over partially covered by whipped cream and milk.
SCP-4332 might look like a cow in shape, but with a body composed of whipped cream, blood replaced by milk, and organs in different flavors of ice-cream, it was a bizarre creation in itself, enough to give the villainous acrobat a surprise and leave them confused long enough for Triumph to land a heavy blow on the side of their head, knocking them out.
With Ravager also sitting on a beaten up and groaning merchant thug that had been laying under all that trash, it was apparent the fight was ending in their favor. Mush and Circus were down, and the thugs involved in the attack were being pushed back.
She was a bit confused why there were not so many around, but idly wondered if Mush was unable to really get all that many folks to follow along. Merchants did not have any real ideology behind them to draw hardcover believers from, they operated as a dirty drug-peddling gang of bastards united under their own desires for getting high, making money, and getting away with shit that they should not be allowed to, in her opinion.
The fact they had capes made them a problem for PRT and Protectorate rather than the police forces, and regular police might arrest one or two now and then, but pushing to capture the gang or try and push them out of the city was not going to happen when they had capes on their sides. Which was no longer the case. Even before this attack, with Mush alone being there, chances were the Merchants faction had lost some folks that didn't want to take a chance at the rescue.
Squealer's little technicals and other vehicular nightmares probably added a ton of power to their gang for a time before stuff began to fall apart again, but without them, the Merchants weren't quite so threatening.
Shaking her head a bit, she frowned a bit at the time. Feeling another connection forming, but catching her a bit by surprise. A choice of rejection, and a short burst of information of the different categories of beings she could summon from.
She found herself a bit shaken up by realization what all was there. She decided against blocking any of them, at least yet. She could save that choice for later. Just the information of what might be out there left her more than a little shaken up right now, and she really preferred to have some time to think.
Thankfully things seemed to be calming a bit, the troopers were pushing the enemies to retreat, her creatures guarding the area, the Qilin standing relatively close to her once more, and the Ravager walking back acting rather smug. Despite the fact it had taken a fair share of damage and beating as well, it looked rather pleased with itself. That fight must have been fun for it, Lily realized in short order. Snorting a bit, she smiled, and pat its head gently, trying to convey how pleased she was.
"Good Ravager, that was excellent." Scratching just behind the ears, she saw the large canine wagging happily at the words and the petting, chuckling to herself. Big and fearsome as it might seem, the attitude her summons had towards her was certainly comforting.
Another connection was forming, catching her a bit by surprise yet again. She frowned, this time assaulted with a few different possibilities. For the first time, she had a choice to make, not on rejecting any particular category but on which creature to pick. She could find a number of names and blurred shadowy images of what there was, but reached out towards one that was familiar to her.
Meatbun was a cute and friendly character in the Prince story, and she had found its growth in the story rather amazing, Having a Meatbun of her own was definitely a delightful option, so the choice was made quickly, and a moment later she felt the new bond settling in, connected to her.
It certainly felt that engaging in combat would see her gaining things faster. She was looking forward to the future, she might have her moments of doubt and concerns, a lot of issues like the costume and her life in general once she took off her mask, but sometimes things just reminded her things were looking up for her in some ways.
Besides, she'd been able to provide some help, and her Qilin's healing ability had been put to a test and proven useful. Granted, she figured the PRT might just jump at her for unauthorized and untested use of power on people in a combat situation, but if they were that far gone, she would consider it a lost cause and just leave the city in an orderly fashion as soon as she managed to get some affairs in order.
As it was, the three vans weren't going anywhere, the fireballs that Circus must have thrown at the tires had finished the damage the spike-mats thrown on the streets had done, ruining the tires, and quite possibly doing a fair bit of damage to the axles as well.
Looking around and about quietly for a moment, she felt where each of her creatures were around her, smiling silently at the proximity and comfort she drew from having the summoned creatures out and close to her. Each ready to defend her if need be. She would have to dismiss them eventually, to get back on the move, but until reinforcements arrived, they were good to have around.
She did idly note that perhaps their appearance had discouraged some additional forces from joining in on the fight at the end, because it did feel in a weird way that it was too easy. If they had been able to somehow convince Circus to join in, they must have either had a rather big bribe to offer, or Coil must have had something in mind that called for an extra touch of surprise in the fight.
Which was worrying in itself.
Author's Note: Ok, been having a bit of weird time and rewrote this chapter twice at around half-way point. This is better than the earlier 2 drafts, but the fight scene did struggle with me when I sought to primarily focus on Lily rather than going in detail on what her summons were doing. I may well try and make other such combat scenes focus more on the summons themselves than Lily's point of view.
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Threadmarks Chapter 11 - Aftermath and brief calm before Storm
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FrozenTome
Jan 14, 2022
#81
Chapter 11
Lily sat quietly while watching the PRT test personnel gushing about the results and Armsmaster standing close by watching as her Qilin healed a yet another volunteer of a bit more severe injury. Some of them freshly made for the purpose of testing, some of them older, but still relatively mild ones.
Some sprains, bruising, a couple of small fractures had been the worst of it. Minor injuries that were not life-threatening. The PRT testing wanted to make sure first that the Qilin's healing had no side-effects.
On a side-note, they had called up Panacea who had arrived after a while, accompanied by her sister Vicky, Glory Girl, both of whom had gushed rather amusingly in excitement around the Qilin and Lily could feel through the link that the oriental spirit creature that resembled a western unicorn in many ways had felt more than a little amused at the interaction and eagerness.
She could not really connect her mind to the Qilin's own to actually speak and instruct one, but offering a little comfort and feeling the amusement through the bond was possible. She smiled slightly while waiting.
The aftermath of the fight saw Armsmaster and Velocity escort Mush and Circus to the PRT holding cells, while another set of vehicles was sent to retrieve Skidmark and Squealer from the wrecked convoy to continue on. Assault and Battery had joined Triumph on escort duty this time, to make sure they got to their destination.
In short, Merchants were out of capes, and hurting. Mush and Circus would be in a cell for now, as the cells at the prison had been arranged to receive two capes at the present time, and arriving with four would have raised more than a few concerns. Paperwork and bureaucracy were getting in the way of expediency on that matter.
"Nothing. The healing works exactly as it should, accelerating natural healing in most cases, and supercharging it in some cases to do more than regular healing over time would, but there's nothing malicious added. It doesn't even affect the telomere length when it happens, so this healing doesn't shorten the lifespan of the recipients either."
The comment she overheard from Panacea had her smiling. Qilin's healing was supernatural, but they had to approach it from a more scientific point of view so it made sense to be concerned about possible side-effects like that. The fact her Qilin could prevent the cells from aging due to the healing process was likely just taken care of by 'magic' in general, but she wasn't going to argue there.
Still, it had been a bit of an awkward trip back, having had to get in a van with her Qilin, dismissing the rest of her creatures. Though not before more than a few troopers had taken a picture together with her 'dairy cow' and more than a few about the creamed Circus in their miserable dairy-stained state. It was probably going to be exploding online as a meme at some point.
She didn't like sharing her weaknesses with people she didn't really trust all that well, but she had agreed to answer some questions. Such as how she had to wait to summon creatures again after she had dismissed them. She didn't give an exact answer, remarking it would be until the next day. Which meant a lot of her summons used in the fight were not available to be tested right then and there.
Their main interest was on the Qilin however, and the healing ability. The confirmation that it was benevolent healing without side-effects or hidden costs was likely going to raise her value in the eyes of more than a few people involved in the organizations.
Vicky was the bold one, riding on top of the Qilin at the time despite the apparent embarrassment of her sister, but Lily was fairly certain Panacea wanted to as well. She did seem rather excited when she had touched Qilin's skin before.
Which had apparently opened up a small can of worms in itself. Her summons did not feel like fake creations, but real beings, but the fact she could summon and dismiss them without a trace had helped ease some concerns a few of the more wary scientists had initially had. She had proven this by summoning the Clabbert, her little monkey-frog creature. They had carefully taken blood sample and coaxed a bit of loose skin about to be shed anyway onto a petridish, and checked it, before she had dismissed the little creature, the samples vanishing along with all other traces of it.
It had apparently satisfied the majority of their concerns, though some testing was still being carried out. She rested back quietly at the time. At least they had been a lot more polite and respectful this time around.
"Healers are always in short supply." Armsmaster stated after a moment.
"Yes. This city is a little spoiled because Panacea is willing to work long hours healing people as she does, but she is just one girl and there are limits what she can do." Lily shook her head a little at that.
At least it was nowhere near as bad as the fandom attempted to make it seem it was. She had to focus on her schoolwork and keep up her grades as first priority, and had a limited set of hours she could help out at the hospital. Part-timer, even if she was volunteering and not paid, there was legal limits in place.
Her mother was a pushy woman however, and Panacea ended up trying to extend her hours, sometimes more successfully than other times. Eventually she got told to go home, as despite how much good she could do, the hospitals were wary of the trouble of having her overworked and collapsing in their hospital could be.
Which didn't help as much if she visited another hospital out of schedule, but still. It at least limited the amount of hours she put in to her volunteer work.
"Yes. I understand you did not have an easy time the last time you visited. Unfortunately that was in the aftermath of a lot of things happening at once." Armsmaster seemed to pause to consider his words a bit more carefully.
"Mistakes were made, and the Protectorate member that should have talked with you was off-duty and the PRT officials could not contact the others at the time. So they fell into using old directions and using them rather poorly." Armsmaster let out a small sigh. It seemed to grate the man to admit any fault, in himself or the organizations he was representing here, but at least he was willing to do so.
"I would hope we can establish a more reasonable work relationship. The Protectorate would certainly be interested in having you among our numbers. While the events at the first scene were unfortunate, there was no real malice involved from the reports I read. Merely a lack of training." He paused, and looked at her again. She got the distinct impression he was following someone else's instructions, the way he seemed a bit distracted before speaking.
"The Protectorate would offer training and support for you, as well as a chance to learn more of your power in a safe environment." He was getting into a recruitment speech then. She had anticipated it, but even if he was doing better than the first encounter had been, she felt a bit soured by the experience. Not to mention the other issues she had with the local Protectorate and PRT ENE.
"I am willing to sit down to talk later, and consider things, but I would have to schedule that outside my work hours. My civilian identity isn't exactly well off, so I try and avoid complications. My earlier stay in PRT custody already hurt my status at my workplace." She kept her reply somewhat cool. She had little doubt that they knew who she was, a bit of snooping around would find out enough details easily enough. She'd rather avoid blatantly saying who she was, but she held rather little hope on that being a realistic secret anymore. More of a polite piece of fiction.
"Acceptable." Armsmaster nodded slightly. "The incident did show some deficiencies in our protocols that had not needed a look into and updating in a long time, since usually meeting with a new cape is left to the local Protectorate members rather than PRT. I hope that it will not color your opinion of both organizations in a lasting manner." He glanced away at where the Qilin was instructed to heal a yet another man, a PRT Trooper with their arm in a cast, brought in from their sick-leave to be treated by the Qilin and checked up on by Panacea afterwards.
It was going to take a while to get used to all the attention her Qilin was getting, and that reflected upon her as well. At least this time it was in a positive manner. She also idly noted that while Armsmaster had mentioned the scene that left her with so much grief that time, he had not attempted to push on her about the damages done to the gang members on the scene unlike the PRT members had.
While still wary, it left her at least somewhat cautiously optimistic.
April 12th came along, and Lily returned from work feeling a bit tired but overall good. The bank-robbery was due soon, she wasn't entirely sure of the exact date, but since Lung's arrest was indeed on the news, chances were that the bank robbery would come within next few days. Definitely on that same week.
She had a little over a month to prepare for the Endbringer that she expected to show up sometime in May, May 15th if she remembered that exactly right.
There was also some talk about a new ward being revealed, called Browbeat. The Protectorate and PRT were a bit busy, but the lack of Merchants had seen only slight pushes from ABB and Empire in the meanwhile. Now that Lung was out of the picture, things would likely escalate further.
The lack of Merchants on the scene would perhaps complicate things, as Bakuda's presence would be bad news, but at the same time, she wondered if the Empire would feel confident the other groups had very little to offer and thus no real negotiations would be necessary. If that happened, then chances were the situation would develop differently from what she recalled.
Then again, she was also considering trying to see Coil dead as soon as possible, and to prevent the kidnapping and forced addiction of Dinah Alcott. She was a bit hesitant there, she saw no real reason to allow her to suffer that treatment, but trying to get to Coil was somewhat difficult. She couldn't exactly look around on-line too openly either, or her search history might provide some unpleasant leads towards her.
She had considered visiting the library to use the machines there to conduct some searches into Coil and Thomas Calvert, but at the present time she was not sure she was ready to take the man down. If she got kidnapped and brought to the man herself, then chances were she could try and arrange for a situation to see the man showing off his power with the coin-trick he had pulled with Tattletale, a chance to make sure his focus was at that moment, both bodies in her reach in both time-lines.
Which would allow her to try and eliminate him at a time she set for herself during those games, a move she would carry out in both time-lines simultaneously if she could arrange it.
Yet there was too many things that could go wrong with all of that. She wasn't keen on getting too close to the man, and yet she had to get close to try and take care of him. Even her Eidolon could only operate within a certain range of her, and that limited her options. It was still a very nasty surprise she wanted to keep in store for a bastard like him.
She headed over to the kitchen, deciding she'd cook herself a nice meal and get a good shower, and then lounge around a bit. It was best to do her planning when she felt more relaxed rather than tired from work. So a hearty meal, and a nice shower, and then she could get to plotting.
The next day came, and after finishing up with her work, Lily had only just got back home when the PRT issue phone she had received gave a small chime. She had been informed there was no tracking or anything such in it, but she was doubtful of the claims. Regardless, she had accepted it somewhat reluctantly, bringing it back home with her, since she didn't have a budget to keep using burner phones either.
As it was, the message she got was a notice that she was now allowed to freely use her healing creature's power in the local hospital if she wanted to, a certification confirming her power was safe to use. The procedure had been rather quick on that, but having Panacea present to confirm matters had apparently helped her along a fair bit in speeding up the process. It was good too, since she found the idea of helping heal some people appealing, even if she wasn't exactly doing it out of the kindness of her heart.
Small compensation would be requested, since she was pretty sure the hospital would still charge the patients brought into the hospital, she wasn't expecting as much as a doctor would make for treating a patient, especially as it would be her creature rather than herself who did the healing.
It would still be a nice addition to the family funds, and a bit of goodwill would be welcome. The PRT offered stipends seemed to come with a lot of legalese and potential entrapment hidden among the many pages of documentation that she'd have to get a lawyer to read through before signing anything.
Too bad Carol was not an option at all. Vicky and Amy seemed good like decent people, Amy might be a tad grumpy but the way her face lit up on touching her creatures had definitely amused Lily. It was probably good for her to see something more exotic than the usual healing routine she had fallen into. Hopefully it would help her mental state too.
That didn't change that Carol's behavior had her keeping some distance. She was aware there was more to the New Wave than just her and Flashbang, but she could have used the guidance of an older, more mature hero, and a lawyer able to point out the potential pit-falls in her way. That was now beyond her reach with Carol, and she wasn't sure about asking things from Protectorate capes, since their opinions and comments would be aligned with the group they worked with.
Her thoughts on that were interrupted by a shiver down her spine as she felt new connections forming. These were a creature, and an ability. The first one being a rather bizarre robotic creature, a floating creature with spinning blades in the middle and a dome-like surface on top, like a shield or something just above its head. Rather flat, and with those blades spinning like on a lawn-mover, the 'blade minion' looked like an enemy right out of some futuristic video game.
Yet she felt curiosity, eagerness, and desire for orders from it. The connection gave her a definite feeling it was alive, although different. It was a robotic mind but able to express emotions of a sort, or at least sufficient simulations of ones to convey some concepts through the basic link.
She felt that this might be an interesting skirmisher to have, alongside Geruta and Frosty, but a potentially hazardous one. Those blades would inflict nasty cuts, quite deep cuts even, potentially strong enough to chop through limbs if it was spinning fast enough and the blades were indeed strong enough.
Which would make it a gamble to call upon it and trying to minimize the harm to the thugs confronted. Potentially something that could be of use in a scenario where capturing an enemy was no longer a requirement. Something that could be unleashed on Slaugherhouse 9 without any shame or guilt, certainly. Though she doubted it would do enough damage to really hinder those people, unless it caught them by surprise, and even then, it would require picking a target that wasn't too boosted, despite Bonesaw's augments.
Potentially useful if it could sneak up on Shatterbird, but likely not much help against Hatchetface, and definitely no match for either Siberian or Crawler. Jack Slash and Burnscar were a maybe, though catching the two might be a bit problematic, and Bonesaw would likely try and happily capture it and tear it apart to figure out how it worked and how to add it to her own menagerie of monstrosities.
Against regular gangers, it felt a bit too lethal. Though unleashing it on any members of the Teeth might be acceptable. Those people were not exactly sane or willing to surrender anyhow. Directing the attacks to be aimed at striking to wound and slashing those with weapons to make them drop them might be an option, but chances were it would not last too long in a direct conflict with stronger foes.
The second power she got was a bit ironic. She got herself a healing ability, though one limited to healing her creatures. Once an hour, she could touch one of her creatures and heal them back to their full health, a restoration that could certainly help if she had to send Ravager to fight someone stronger. Ravager was tough enough to tank some hits after all, and inflict harm of its own in turn.
She was still not keen on testing whether or not Ravager would teach a lesson to Hookwolf though, that sick animal-tormenting bastard would certainly deserve to be torn apart and their core pulled out from the whirling hurricane of sharp metal, and squished so as to remove that monster from the game for good.
The thought of killing Hookwolf was a bit troubling, but at the same time she felt that there were some people who were too dangerous to capture alive. Coil was ruthless bastard and needed to go. Hookwolf's sadistic bloodbaths against people were infamous enough the bastard should have had a kill order for a while, but that did not actually seem to be a thing, probably because the kill-counts were being downplayed and they were tied closely with the Empire.
Then again, Purity had a high kill-count of her own, blowing entire buildings containing people she was racist towards, and willing to kill. She might have tried to distance herself from the Empire, but the racist leanings were strong, and while she had a family, she had also partaken in murderous acts that made it very difficult for Lily to feel much sympathy towards the woman, despite her attempts to do some good.
The fact she had killed innocents and not just enemy gang members, and did not truly seem to be repentant on that, was enough to leave Lily rather cold towards the idea of running into her. The woman might have some good intent on defending people she felt were deserving of the protection, but at the same time her racist look on life was mixed with willingness to kill on the spot didn't exactly make her a candidate for redemption in her eyes.
Yes, Lily felt horrible at the thought of a single-mother finding their child held at gun-point as a hostage or getting their family taken away by bureaucrats, but she was hardly an innocent person herself. Truthfully, she wasn't sure how she would react to running into the woman. She was pretty sure with any Empire capes it would break into a fight soon enough, she had no interest whatsoever at working with bloody Nazis, but Purity was a weird exception.
She might try and do good, and had left the Empire, but at the same time she had hardly changed her habits that much. She just looked at more 'acceptable' targets for her racist wrath. It was an improvement to blasting civilians who just had the wrong skin color for her tastes, but Lily didn't really want to deal with the woman if she could avoid it. Honestly, she felt disgusted someone so strong would go and use their power to murder innocent people because of racist hate.
Sighing quietly, she considered the time, and the new certification. She was thinking too grim and dark thoughts. Maybe setting out to offer some healing at the hospital alongside Qilin would help. It would be a bit of good PR. Doing a little help volunteering for free once might not be too bad, showing her ability worked. Trying to arrange for mild compensation later for continued work might take some doing, without a proper lawyer at her side, but it could potentially help her out with her finances somewhat.
She did not like the idea of being so mercenary about it, but she needed funds and she had too many other things going on at the same time to volunteer her time for free. Dinah's fate was going to be determined soon, and she was no closer to having a proper solution to her problem with Coil than she had before. It was due to happen sometime this week, and she had been keeping an eye on the news feed, no information about the bank being hit yet.
So it was probably either tomorrow, or the day after. Tonight might be the last chance to try and relax and do some good in a more relaxed manner, because if she was going to intervene with Coil, chances were that there would be little peace in her life until either she, or Coil, was brought down.
Denying Coil an asset in form of Circus was helpful, but the man still had a number of nasty mercenaries at his disposal and potentially more assets she wasn't even familiar with. Meaning she would have to be careful about how to approach the situation.
Worrying too much didn't help, and sitting on her thumbs trying to plan how to react to and deal with whatever scenario lay ahead wasn't going to help. She would have to try and keep it simple, and adapt to the changing situation. If the bank-robbery was going to happen, she needed to try and help prevent the kidnapping in the meanwhile, and then see about responding to Coil's move before the man could bunker down and let their response set the city on fire in return.
The problem was that while she felt Coil was a more practical villain than some, the man was still not a good loser, and would potentially raise hell to create distractions and hurt the image of the PRT ENE further while setting in motion another plot to capture Dinah, and possibly harm her family too as a lesson to not intervene with the man's games.
Gritting her teeth together, Lily muttered quietly to herself, before moving ahead. First a shower, then a good meal, and then changing into something more appropriate to go out. She was still going out as a budget-costume cape, but the presence of her creature was more of an identifier than a thematic costume would be at this time. Besides, riding around on Qilin's back would be a fun thrill to add to the night. There was a chance they'd refuse her help, but if that happened, she'd see about looking elsewhere.
She kept in mind the option to leave Brockton Bay and find a better place elsewhere later, if her options in the city looked entirely unacceptable. The money would be an issue for a time, but at worst, she would consider actually signing up with the Protectorate elsewhere. She did not like the idea, but if nothing else was available, it was better than living hand to mouth on her current salary while facing monstrosities and horrors on their way to wreck the city and the peace it had once had in between the regular gang violence outbursts and rage-dragon tantrums, along with the racist scum carrying out their own horrifying initiation rituals and purges. Okay, Brockton Bay was a shithole, no use trying to put it nicely.
Right. Shower, food, getting changed, and going out healing to see if she could make some good impressions and begin to build a bit of name to herself.
Author's Note: I did some rolling and was surprised how things turned out on that. I will continue to cap the points at 1,000 points to a single roll while Lily has 1,000 points or more. If there's 3 chapters in a row where her total leftovers remains at 1,000 or over, I will split it down to several smaller rolls. Such as 5 rolls with 200 points. She can build it to 1,000 with chance to get big wins, but several rolls without getting something strong enough to drain her points back down will see it expended in larger number of rolls to prevent bloating.
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Threadmarks Chapter 12 - Curious Case of Dinah's Destructive Derail & Rescue
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Jan 23, 2022
#86
Chapter 12
Lily let out a weary sigh as she finished with her preparations, logging off on the library computer she had been on, and briefly stopping by the desk to have the books she was loaning out scanned. Just a couple of useful little guides for later. She would return them soon enough, but they did serve a purpose beyond just being a little additional reason to be around at the library at that time.
It was Thursday, 14th of April, and the day that things would be escalating. The bank-robbery was starting, and Dinah Alcott would have been kidnapped that day in the original time-line. Glancing at the cheap burner-phone she grimaced. She had made a few changes, but it had taken a small chunk of her already limited budget.
Thankfully her trip to the local hospital had proved invaluable there. The doctors and nurses were glad to guide her around along with her Qilin, the healing touch bringing relief and gratitude from a number of people. She felt somewhat fraudulent to be asking for money for that, but she had got herself some money.
While the NEPEA-5 made it difficult to really earn money with powers if it threatened the livelihoods of regular people, a fair number of people were willing to donate a bit to receive faster help and treatment that removed simple pains and aches fast, or helped cut down the time required for aftermath of some surgeries and such to nearly nothing.
People who had been in surgery already were back on their feet in a short order, others with smaller injuries were fixed fast. The Qilin might have been able to help with more serious cases too in time, but they were both still new, so she stuck to more basic trauma and similar injuries sort of cases mainly.
It had brought in enough money in one night that she had to seriously question whether or not she wanted to stay in Brockton Bay. This was kind of an experiment on her part at the end now. Whether or not her efforts would be condemned at the end despite whatever results she might achieve, she would know if she ought to try and stick around longer, or leave the city behind.
Watching the librarian put the books she had scanned down and push them over the counter towards her, Lily smiled at them in a polite manner. "Thank you." She picked up her library books, the card already slipped back in her wallet, and headed out.
She had taken the day off. She didn't know the exact time the kidnapping attempt and all that would go down, but she had been reasonably sure it would be that day. Either today, or the coming Friday, she had figured, and she had taken a day off despite the fact her absence from work before had hurt her status there. At least this time the absence had been arranged ahead of time.
When it came to Coil, she had decided to play a bit rough. Scorched Earth for the man who was willing to try and kidnap children for their abilities, and recruit others at gun-point. Burning him in a manner that might set a lot of people against him, and on their guard.
Doing a little research on Dinah Alcott had yielded surprisingly little. The Alcott family was known, they were related to the mayor after all, but they were not in the spotlight the same way as the Christner family. That was when she had been hit by the memory.
Triumph was the damn mayor's son. Someone who had got their powers in a vial. He was related to Dinah. She had worked with him to transport the Merchants out of the city, and not realized to voice her concerns to an actual hero in that family.
Silently groaning in annoyance, she wished she could have redone things on that day, but too little, too late.
At least her little middle-finger on-line should cause Coil more than a considerable headache. Even if things got ignored and claimed a simple hoax, the chances were that some people would believe it and looking more closely into Thomas Calvert's life, at Coil's life, would add complications to the man's plans.
She smiled a bit darkly at that. She was doubtful that it would do any real good, but there was a chance it might, and it would likely at least irritate the bastard a great deal, and if people actually took her warning seriously, which she doubted, then chances were that Coil would see some very unpleasant developments ahead for himself and his organization.
The information bomb had been planted, and hopefully it would set off marvelously. Smiling a bit darkly still as she got in her car, she set off to drive over closer to Alcott residence. She recalled that she had been kidnapped from her home, after multiple failed attempts to corner her elsewhere. Finding the location that the Alcott family lived hadn't been too difficult at the end, there were not that many Alcott families in the city.
Parking her car not too far away, Lily moved slightly out of sight. Calling out her Frosty, quietly, she smiled at the little ball of frost in the alleyway, inhaling deeply.
"Alright little fellow, we are on an important job here." She smiled and gently gave a soft tap on Frosty's head, or the sphere at least. The touch was cool, but she got a feeling it would have been colder if her summon wasn't trying to keep from hurting her. Still, it seemed to have a pretty strong grasp of just how cold it was at all times.
"Dinah Alcott is a girl who lives close by, who has crippling headaches and has to stay at home away from classes. That's because she has a power, a parahuman power. Which is why a very bad man wants her in his service. We are here today to prevent a kidnapping attempt." She smiled as she looked at her summoned ball of icy winds quickly nodding and twirling in eagerness.
"Figured you might like that. Morally acceptable excuse to beat up some bad fellows and a chance to train huh?" She smiled amused, and watched the little orb try wink at her. She felt amused, and not all of the amusement was her own.
It was definitely more fun than work at the office, she could say that much. Even if they were going to pull a stake-out that might be boring before it got briefly exciting and then possibly tedious with the clean-up and all that in the aftermath, it was more than she could expect from her usual work-day.
Still, if the earnings she had made at the hospital were anything to go by, she might consider just dropping her job entirely at some point and making her money with the services and capabilities of her summons. It certainly offered more promise at that time than her time at the office. The office job would have offered more stability and security in itself in most cases, but this was Brockton Bay, and for all she knew her job and co-workers might be quite literally swept away by Leviathan later, the place of business might be gone and the business effectively dead, so she wasn't attaching any long-term plans to that.
What followed was a rather boring stake-out as she had expected, but keeping a look on things required a bit of caution. Alerting the enemy ahead of time would tip their hand. Her Frosty stayed about as far up as she could let it wander without vanishing. Thankfully her summons did appear to have a feeling of just how close they were to the edge of that territory. She did quietly hope that the range would eventually grow, but for now, she left it be.
Keeping watch a bit out of sight was easier said than done, but thankfully it wasn't too long before she noticed a van parking up a bit away from the house. Opening up, it revealed several men in gear, moving swiftly towards the house. Right, this wasn't going to be quiet anyway.
Harsh gesture on her part with her hand whipping out forward pointing at the group, she called on her power to pull Ravager to her side followed immediately after by the Therva saw her issuing a quick order.
"Those bastards are here to kidnap a girl in that house, stop them and protect the girl!" Her commands were immediately followed. She didn't bother with the command to avoid lethal damage this time around, her summons ought to know that by now, and this time the kids gloves were off anyway.
Going after a cape in their civilian identity was already a bad move, going after a kid who was a cape was enough to raise even more ire, going after someone who wasn't really even really involved in cape life to begin with but had only just triggered a short while back and not ready for any of it was just making the whole situation infuriating.
If some, or even all, of those mercenaries in Coil's employ just happened to die to the last man, then that would hardly be a big loss, the issue would then be that the PRT and Protectorate might try and come down on her like a load of bricks for excessive use of force and so on.
"Geruta, Axe-flapper." She summoned her next two even as the previous two had rushed in to engage, her Frosty having seen the initial rush ahead as a confirmation to strike down, battering down the point-men of the assault team onto the ground with harsh winds slamming on them with violent force. Ravager charging in resulted in screams and heavy laser fire right away, no doubt sparking more than a few alarms in the area. The scaled figure of her Therva rushing ahead, charging some power, and blasting right at the van, blowing the engine block in one go.
Those bastards were not going anywhere.
"Assist the others in taking those fools down, alive if possible, but I am not going to cry too hard if they suffer serious injuries. I would prefer alive, because dead don't suffer, and there's going to be some harsh treatment ahead of them if they survive, because they went after a kid." She addressed the two, and watched them rushing off to aid, jet-flames rushing Geruta ahead, the Axe-flapper charging in with gleeful malice, a swing of the blades causing a sharp wind to cut right through one of the laser-rifles aimed at the Frosty in the air at that time, conveniently pointed upwards. The fact it also chopped off fingers and part of the hand was secondary in Lily's mind at that time.
"Roen." Her sixth summon manifested in a short order, a whirling wind taking the shape of a huge, beast, a cross between a wolf and a tiger, with vicious fangs and claws, the body seemingly semi-tangible, several waving tentacles above its body formed of the unnatural energies. Chakra. The creature was a chakra-vore monster, able to live forever by feeding on the chakra from others.
This was not that world, but what was chakra but the mixture of energies of life and mind?
"Those fools threaten a kid living here. We are acting as protectors. Subdue the fools, aid your companions in the battle, and feed on them if you need to, but do not let them die if it can be avoided." She watched the creature moving in, silently slipping on a mask almost as an afterthought, having stood by the alley for a while waiting for something to take place, out of sight behind some remnants of an old fence and the trash-bin there.
Flipping open her phone, her regular phone, she made the call.
"This is Tamer, I have engaged with several thugs armed with tinker-tech weapons in residential area, my summons are teaching them a lesson about waving those guns around people, and seeking to subdue them in a hurry. No, they're not likely to cause trouble, or take any hostages. Ruined their escape vehicle and went with horrifying overkill from the start. Uhuh." She listened to the prattling on the other end of the line, more than a little annoyed at the rush of questions and doubts on her ability by the person at the desk.
"Look, I need you to pass on the news to your boss, or to Emily Piggot if you can get the news up to her as fast as you can. I had reason to suspect they were here to kidnap the Mayor's niece." Her tone serious, she rattled the address she was at, the actual house they were running towards, and so on. Looking over, she saw the thugs were down, out of the eight or so, three looked to have surrendered in better condition, four would likely be in a hospital for a good long while, including the guy who's fingers went flying earlier, and one of them might be dead. She wasn't sure but they were laying separate from the rest of them.
"Qilin." She called upon her healer creature, and nodded at it, while also pulling on her connection with The Libra, her wand appearing in her hand in a short order. Walking over closer, she focused her intent on the spell she called upon, trying to create a zone where truth needed to be spoken. She was careful to stay a bit outside the zone herself, but close enough to hold the phone towards the scene.
"Who do you work for, and why did you try and attack the house? I would rather you do not test my patience." Her glare would have worked better without the mask, but the zone's effects were in place.
The guy replying looked like they intended to tell her something rather rude, but was surprised what flowed out of their mouth, unable to really stop themselves before it came out.
"Our boss Coil told us to kidnap the little bitch in the house, says she is going to be an asset to the team and we are to get her by any means necessary, permission to kill the rest of the family and burn the house down if needed!"
Well. That certainly made an impact. She smirked coldly behind the mask, thinking of the level of deep shit that Coil would likely find themselves to be in at that time too.
It didn't hurt that someone had also let it slip on-line that Coil was known as Thomas Calvert, a survivor from Ellisburg who had been given a brain scan proving he didn't trigger, but had reportedly gained strange powers later in life, and formed a gang of his own. Someone with eerily sharp insights into things he should not have known about. Someone who was also trying to arrange for a "Proto-Endbringer", and yes, she used that exact term, to be brought into town along with a bunch of Simurgh-bombs, who had been in Madison Wisconsin when Simurgh had visited.
Travelers, Echidna, and Simurgh, linked to Coil, along with the cluster-fuck that was Ellisburg, a few insinuations about the fact he had got away with shooting his commanding officer in the back, and that the man was still working with PRT as a consultant, leaking out information and using some of it himself.
She had also spiced that information up further by noting the man had tendency to 'collect' useful parahumans to his ranks, including one Sarah Livsey, Tattletale. She didn't hesitate to unmask the smug fox, she never really liked her, and considered her a problematic figure. The canon time-line could suck it, she was not happy with a lot of things and would prefer to not try and rely on Canon going as it should have, even with her presence, and hoping that they managed to be in that tiny little Plot-Armored path that would see the end not be a total extinction of human race but only a massive multi-dimensional genocide.
She was not just burning some bridges for that time-line, she was spreading napalm like she was trying to burnt out an infection in a jungle of upstart rebellious scum that needed to be wiped off the face of the planet.
Small part of her as she used to be would have been horrified at what she was willing to do in the name of achieving her goals, but she had managed to comfort herself that she at least targeted people who had very little redeeming qualities about them and were perfectly happy to hurt others quite freely, and liable to advance the doomsday clock by massive leaps if left unchecked.
Only reason to keep Tattletale alive might have been to help get some information out of Endbringers through her deductions, and even that was somewhat doubtful. Nevertheless, she settled for a short wait, her Qilin taking care of the worst of the injuries, and giving her a bit of relief in finding out the last guy wasn't dead either, just banged up bad enough that they would be sleeping it off for a while. Without healing though? Yeah, the last hit to the head would have seen them suffering from cerebral hemorrhage on the level of leaving them a vegetable if left untreated for too long.
She found herself relieved when the police arrived to the scene first, followed soon after by Dinah's parents. Confirming the girl was alright and never really threatened, laying indoors in bed suffering from her migraines, she had waited until the arrival of Velocity a while later along with some PRT vans to hand in a small report.
"The girl in the house is a suspected parahuman, Coil believes her to be a thinker. Massive headaches apparently got her a brain-scan, and the family got told she didn't have the potential to trigger. I got a bit of information suggesting there might be some false reporting going on there, and someone leaked the results of the scan to Coil. I got the impression there was going to be a lot of trouble elsewhere, distracting folks from this scene, but did not know what. I came here, and my hunch and information paid off."
Velocity did not seem satisfied with just that, and more so, there was a lot of new questions asked about her new summon on the scene, if Qilin had raised an eyebrow and got an enthusiastic response, then the presence of her larger beast towering over the others had raised more than a few concerns. Its semi-intangible nature making folks a bit more wary.
"I decided I needed to play a few more cards from my deck because I couldn't let the bastards there deal that girl the worst hand in her life so far. Going after a kid that has triggered in their civilian identity is rather despicable. I would wonder how important she has to be to garner that extreme of a reaction and bit of planning by Coil though." She crossed her arms staring at the man questioning her.
"We will investigate your claims, but right now you will need to come with us and-"
"No." She stated bluntly. "I came here to prevent a crime, and I have. I have tried to be polite and helpful, but every time I call PRT it seems my treatment is borderline hostile, and I am not sure of the Protectorate either. I have no interest in being a villain, but I am not sure I am cut out to be a hero if this is the treatment and thanks I can expect around here." She shook her head. "And NEPEA-5 closes a lot of doors for trying to make ends meet even with my sweet Qilin's helpful abilities available to me." She let out a sigh.
She was skirting around a lot of restrictions in the laws by focusing a fair bit of efforts to help with aftercare. Doctors performed surgeries and medical procedures that took a while to recover from, but Qilin could aid the body to recover from those faster, and that was something the doctors didn't really have too much grounds to argue about. Some might say she was taking money from the pocket of some drug-companies that would have kept them hopped up on a fair number of pills during their recovery period, or from physical trainers helping them get back in shape after some incident, but in all honesty, they could just as well try and argue Panacea was stealing bread and water out of poor starving doctors mouths by volunteering her healing gifts and taking their jobs.
Seeing Velocity hesitating a bit, she let out a small sigh. They weren't the worst guys, but they had their issues. It didn't help they were stretched out, tired, busy, and with Lung in custody under a fair bit of pressure to keep him contained and prepare for his transport out while trying to find ways to counter Oni-Lee's attempts to break him out.
Not that it was going to be made any easier by a certain bomb-crazy gal in the ABB lines now.
"Look, I'm willing to come over later to deliver a statement, but I'd rather not come over at this time." She really didn't want to come in range of any of Coil's plants in the PRT that the man could afford to burn to carry out an attack on her person when she was vulnerable, for daring to mess with the man's plan. Sure, she had switched the strength boost from Ravager to herself after the fight, and laid a hand on Ravager's side to heal off the worst of the bullet-hits from his thick hide and flesh, but she was hardly invulnerable. Especially after she'd have to dismiss so many summons of hers after this.
She had kept her dragon in reserve just in case that man was stupid enough to try and pull something off though. She wasn't happy with how things had turned out at the end after all.
Coil gnashed his teeth but laid back pale in his seat, shuddering. The mental images of the hastily aborted time-line where he called a shot on her saw the beasts turn absolutely crazy and rip through the city on a quest for vengeance frightening him to the core. They tore and ate the sniper apart, and seemed to somehow know just where he was and what he had done.
He had not died easily. He felt like he had been eaten alive and torn apart for hours, before he could finally die, unable to snap the time-line till he perished. All the while his other time-line where he had not given the order had stood still.
He had witnessed his own demise in a horrifying manner that made him drop that direct means of vengeance on the spot. If he wanted to get back at that bitch for screwing with him, he would need to do so through several middle-men, preferably ones that had no idea who he was or where he was.
The whole thing was a disaster. He'd been forced to drop his 'safe' time-line earlier when agents at PRT suddenly walked up at him and slapped cuffs at his wrists, intent to take him in for a brain-scan. He had protested loudly but they had been insistent, and when he tried to break free and run, they shot him.
He should have waited and watched what he could learn, but damage control had called for him to drop that time-line and see what he could do in the other, all the while the attack at the bank and the retrieval job at the girl's residence were going on.
Was it his own carelessness, or was the girl playing him a fool? Was there more at work? Was it just rotten bad luck combined with some nudges in the right direction by the girl or someone else? He did not know, but he wanted to see this bitch Tamer dead for what had happened, whether or not she was responsible for the leaks.
His real identity was in question now, and sending a body-double in for the brain-scan might work, unless they did some more thorough examination first to confirm it was him. Finger-prints would not match for instance. Given the accusations he had found out, chances were things would not go easily.
The information had been removed from PHO in a hurry, but not before it had got a fair bit of attention and copies of it had spread out in more than a few places. Someone had decided to not only upset his games but flip the board and piss all over it.
Someone would pay.
Author's Notes: I considered for a fairly long while whether or not to do a PHO interlude for this, but figured I might consider doing one afterwards instead if I did one at all. There's a handy little program to set one up, a basic template at least, but I am not too sure how good I would be at putting it to use. Still, it might be worth a thought, the meme about the cream-cow splatter and Circus from earlier combined with the latest bit of information on a throw-away account about Coil.
Suffice to say, Lily's decided to flip the bird at canon and go for a full de-rail rather than trying to expect the stations of canon to provide any comfort or a measure of security in knowing what lays ahead.
Note, this is the first chapter where the previously rolled abilities and creatures did not show up the next immediate chapter. I apologize for that, but after a few revisions of this chapter, I decided to include the new arrivals from the previous chapter, and this chapter, into the aftermath in the next chapter.
(Because of course she could have used the shared senses to scout out things in this chapter, but only gets them after the chapter is done.)
Spoiler: Listing
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FrozenTome
Jan 23, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 13 - Reflections from a Bloody Truth
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Jan 30, 2022
#92
Chapter 13
Lily had tried to just go about the business as usual on that Friday, doing the work for the day despite her growing apathy towards the efforts at the work-place she felt no longer provided her with any measure of safety and stability. The bit of routine had helped her mind cope with some of the more recent changes, gaining the power and starting to learn of it. Something more mundane and normal had felt like it could ground her, keep her from getting a swollen head and becoming too proud. A little touch of humility would serve her better than arrogance which would likely see her committing a cardinal mistake of underestimating a foe at the wrong time. She was already concerned she had done so with Coil.
Yet as she was carrying out her tasks, ignoring the few looks from her manager now and then, she was starting to seriously wonder if she should just quit soon, hand in her two weeks notice and start making preparations to leave at least the work-place, and possibly Brockton Bay as well.
Things were likely to start getting even more chaotic soon, and she thought there had been a short pause after the bank-robbery before the bombing began, but she wasn't sure. It hadn't happened on the same day, but it had been relatively soon after. Today, or possibly tomorrow, either way things were likely to go from bad to worse all too soon anyway.
If she handed in her two weeks notice when something like Bakuda's bombing run began it would likely be seen as someone having had enough of Brockton Bay and its threats and preparing to leave somewhere else. That would likely be a reason folks could accept without digging much deeper. Not like she was going to earn enough at that job to make working through it worthwhile, especially with a black mark on her record thanks to the PRT stupidity hurting her status at the workplace.
As Lily was walking along with a print-out of the file she had been working on, a sudden bang in the distance caught her attention. The following bits of noise coming from outside, at different volume, likely at different distances, had her silently curse in her head.
It had started. She had hoped it would not actually happen yet, but it had started. Bakuda had gone on her mad bombing-run and chances were that Lung would be soon rescued from his captivity by Oni-Lee, unless the PRT had managed to transport the man out of the city in chains in silence before then.
Probably not, hell, even the information on transporting Skidmark and Squealer had leaked out, and the Merchants were hardly the most talented group at being subtle. Then again that might have been part of Coil's little games for all she knew, or alternatively someone had a nasty habit they were supporting by selling information to the enemies before. Hard to say in the city of Brockton Bay, the mere possibilities for corruption were sadly rather staggering in the place.
She kept walking and headed to the manager's office, only to find it empty. She had not paid attention, but if the manager had already left, she was more or less stuck waiting for approval before she could proceed. True, she could start preliminary work to hasten it up in case the current version was accepted as it was, but given the city might be entering a crisis of different nature anyway, she felt it wasn't quite as important to worry about something as boring as office work.
Sighing, she set the print-out down on her manager's desk and turned to walk away, watching a few people having got up and moved to the window to stare at the distance, muttering to one another and wondering. She could hear a couple of the other gals trying to take a wild guess at what was going on, suspicions of gang-warfare heating up being a leading cause, but also subject to a lot of speculations on specifics.
She ignored it for most part. Honestly, she just wanted to get out and-
The blast sounded a lot closer to the building this time around, and she heard more than a few people screaming. Lights flashing and dying out, she grimaced slightly. It wasn't in the building, it wasn't that close in her opinion, but still way closer than she had anticipated. She did feel a bit of tremble hit her form. Given how absolutely insane and random that woman was with her bombing run, spreading chaos and forcing the PRT and Police to spread their forces thin trying to figure things out was to be expected.
All of it a bold way to show off her 'brilliance' and also provide a damned distraction to allow Lung to be broken free from the Protectorate's hold. She found herself gritting her teeth together in irritation.
"Everyone out, we're evacuating the building!"
Okay, well on the upside her work-day got cut short. That was a very small spark of light in a bleak situation like this though. She considered the options of going out there to help, and then dismissed them in a hurry. No, she wasn't going to be much use with those damned bombs.
What she knew might come in handy, but at the same time, the information might harm her. She had an unused burner-phone in her car though. She couldn't really change her voice enough to let slip some information without revealing her identity though, otherwise she would have already told them about things she did know. The PHO wasn't exactly a good place to reveal more sensitive information, though the flame-wars she had started were probably a stuff of legends about Coil and Thomas Calvert.
Still, she had at least one open path for herself.
Her Qilin could certainly lend a helping hand at the Hospital, and at this time, they would likely be very grateful for any aid she could bring. The fact she herself wasn't able to do much didn't really bring her much comfort, but having the Qilin get some practice in while tending to the wounded was a good thing, and she expected the PRT and Protectorate would be scrambling to react to the current circumstances anyway.
The following few hours saw her moving around people wearing a mask at the hospital, accompanied by Qilin. She wasn't going to ride on her creature's back indoors, as amusing as the thought was, she did not think it was a smart idea to try indoors. Still, the place was filled with a number of people brought in, suffering from various levels of injury.
She had her Qilin helping out to the best of its ability, while cursing her own helplessness in the situation. She couldn't really do much by herself, but if her Qilin could bring a bit of hope to people and help alleviate pain, heal some of those injuries right away, then she felt she was at least able to help through her summons.
There was a somewhat rebellious part of her that wanted to set out and try and hunt down the crazy bomber-woman, but that idea held very little appeal to her at that time. Attacking a Tinker in their lair was already a crazy idea, attacking a bomb-tinker where they had tons of their own bombs available and possibly more than a few nasty traps and other surprises wired up just in case was an insane idea.
So she kept doing what she was doing. Smiling quietly behind her mask while the children cheered up at the sight of the unicorn, more than a few parents smiling a bit relieved at the distraction they had in a moment, even if some of the kids were hurt pretty bad these were at least not the critically injured ones.
The Qilin moved around in the crowd, healing people with a slowly increasing efficiency, a little faster, healing a little more, able to stretch the healing effect a little further. She was pretty certain that this counted as a training of sorts. She had made sure to apply her energy boost to her Qilin when she called upon it, giving it larger reserves of power to call upon, as she had assumed this would be a long day. From the looks of it that had been the right call, her efforts might have been appreciated by the general populace and the medical staff, but it was a drop in the bucket for all good she was doing at the present rate of injuries and damage being done out there.
She was still not quite sure about the name "Tamer" that she had taken, but given the 'quality' of some of the names suggested, she preferred something relatively short and simple enough to understand. Her summons were a bit of a headache for the PRT and Protectorate, they were not exactly projections, having a lot more details about them and working biochemistry when they were present, but when they vanished they left no real trace of themselves behind. The effects of what they had done lingered, sure, but no loose skin, no fur coating the couch, and so on.
"Excuse me, miss?"
She glanced over at a man who had received help from Qilin a moment ago, removing some shrapnel from his wounds after being too close to a blast that had thrown a lot of trash around. Not urgent enough to necessitate being pushed further along the line, but they had sought to clean up the worst of it, before her arrival, from what she'd overheard.
"Yes?"
She had already been thanked more than a few times, though a lot of people talked to the Qilin instead, though a good part of them were children and their families, so she didn't mind. She felt good for doing something good at the end. Even if she felt a touch of guilt for not doing more, but tried to quietly tell herself the world was not her responsibility and to not try and bear on her shoulders more weight than she could take.
"I came in my with my son, he's in surgery, he was closer to the bomb when it went off. Please, if you could-"
"We already went through the more critical patients who we could take care of before coming here. I will be trying to keep at it alongside my companion while this is going on, taking breaks where I can, but helping out otherwise. Either your son already received Qilin's aid, or the doctors felt that his injury would need to be taken care of in the regular manner. In which case Qilin and I can help him out later during his recovery period to get back out of the hospital faster."
She tried to smile encouragingly, but the cruel fact was that not everyone survived. Those who didn't die immediately and got into the hospital were lucky, but that luck might not last long enough for them to pull through all of it. Qilin could work little miracles with its healing power, but she was keenly aware of the fact that it helped take off some of the pressure, rather than being a miracle snap of the fingers healing everyone in the building at once.
Case in point, the Qilin laid its horn down over a woman with a bandaged leg after her children had been treated, the glow taking hold to restore her health as well. One at a time, it was a slow going process, though the Qilin's efficiency was definitely rising through the practice it was getting.
"I see." The man sounded a bit disappointed, but nodded his head and let out a sigh. "I am just concerned, the doctors seemed to treat it with such urgency, I am grateful but I worry."
She did not know what to say, and realized belatedly her earlier smile was missed with the mask she wore. Perhaps it could come across in her voice somewhat, but still, she felt a bit awkward about that. She really needed to come up with a better mask, a better costume. As it was, she was playing budget-cape with a helpful ability through one of her summons being a healing critter.
"I understand, but the staff here are doing everything they can, and I am trying to lend my own support to assist in this time and these trials. The only better option I could see would be Panacea dropping in." She fell quiet after saying as much.
As much as she would have liked to claim her Qilin was a lot better than Panacea, the unicorn-like creature had its own limitations, and while its healing was fast and potent, and did not really require biomass from elsewhere to do its healing, it was better at tending to injuries and suppressing symptoms of some more difficult issues while helping the doctors at the place focus on those conditions and problems. Which was also why the healing was done after an initial diagnosis, so alleviate symptoms would not cause the staff to miss out on anything more concerning.
Few exceptions had been made with the Qilin having been brought in with her to a few more critically injured patients that were crashing, to heal and restore them as well as the Qilin could, knitting flesh back together and stopping heavy lacerations from leaving people bleeding out on the operating table. Those were cases that needed an immediate response, and this didn't sound like that, yet.
Groaning slightly as she slowly sat up, Lily winced a bit. Taking a short break in the hospital's staff break room was a bit against the regulations since she wasn't exactly staff, but they could not permit her to take her break in any of the rooms. They were pretty much full, with some people out in the hallways, waiting for their turn or an empty room.
It was definitely getting worse before it would get better. It was a late hour, and she headed out with her Qilin to continue the routine, starting with the more serious cases. Following along after the nurse, a male nurse at that she noted idly, not a bad looking man perhaps if they didn't look so tired, but she pushed that matter out of her mind. Sheesh, she was tired if she got into considering that among this agony she was seeing.
More than a few people pleaded for her to stop and help them, while she tried to keep going, replying back briefly a few times to apologize and tell them she was expected where the critical patients were.
For all her efforts, for all the efforts the doctors put in, the list of deceased people kept growing. It was far smaller than it might have been from those brought up to the hospital, but it was still bad. It didn't bring much comfort either that there were many more that had died out there in the city without even having a chance to get to the hospital in the first place, either killed when the explosions went off, or dead on arrival. Some lost among the wreckage of places, others trapped in nightmarish scenarios caused by the weirder effects of some grenades.
Panacea had been reported to have arrived, at another hospital, tending to people who had been exposed to more exotic effects. The hospital had began to prepare some people to move some of those patients there. They might be competing against one another, but in a situation like this, getting those people to Panacea might be their only hope.
She continued along with her Qilin, healing people where she could. Some she could aid, others she found too hurt by whatever exotic effects had taken place to do much for. A woman with crystals growing out of and covering her arm, some more on her cheek and side. Fused with her flesh. The wounds elsewhere were healed, but those things were not removed, and the doctors had been hesitant to try and just remove them after breaking one had left the woman screaming in pain and agony for several minutes, even with her Qilin seeking to heal the woman.
It was nightmarish. The depths of cruelty and malice shown by that mad bomber-woman made Lily doubt her own choices, and feeling a touch of guilt for not stopping it. She had known things might get bad, but seeing it was another thing than just reading about it. Witnessing all this, she should have either found a way to get the news out to the Protectorate and PRT securely, damn whatever ABB spies might leak information out already anyway, or she should have at the very least contacted someone like Dragon to inform her of a possible threat and-
And then what? She would find herself troubled by the situation that she could tell about things others did not know of but that information might no longer be accurate, and she had no real clear cause she could claim to have told her.
She had considered giving out some 'true' answers, if put in a somewhat misleading manner, by claiming to have got the information from an individual she only knew as "Wildbow," who in turn had provided a series of 'snapshots' about possible events for the future. Thinker information, and not about a blind-spot, it might work up until the point that they'd press for more information about Wildbow.
If she could just answer she had received the information on-line and had not had any contact with the person, but had already witnessed enough to believe that the information was at least convincing enough for her to act against Coil and the kidnapping of Dinah Alcott earlier, then perhaps it might work.
She'd think on it. Following the male nurse into the intensive care unit, she winced. She had sought to clear the room of the worst cases when she started the previous round around the hospital, but many of the beds had already been taken again, some with wounds that would require tending to, others with exotic effects she could only do so little to help with.
She felt despair at her own powerlessness, even as she felt the comforting touch of the shared bond with her companion, the Qilin moving ahead to shine the healing light upon them once more.
Lily held her head quietly in her hands as she let out a long frustrated sigh. For all she did, it seemed so little. People were calling for help, and taking a break of time for herself was a necessity, but at the same time they managed to try and make her feel guilty for it. Sure, there was a lot of trauma going around, but she would be of little help to anyone if she felt unable to continue.
Ironic, as her Qilin was more than able to continue. Right now, it was in a room a bit further off, in her range still, as she sat in another to not have to see what all had taken place. The Qilin was following the instructions from a doctor at the scene, helping out and healing those brought into the room.
The hopeful looks facing a hero and the Qilin, which had been called unicorn so many times already she was about ready to throw her hands up in the air and just accept that was what its nickname was going to likely be and what folks might call it. Hell, one of the kids asked why she named her Unicorn Qilin.
The fact that so many were hurt and pleasant distractions were few in the mess was a reason for her to try and continue to be patient and pleasant, but she was having a bit more to deal with right now.
During that round, she had felt new connections snapping in place, and she was taking a breather to try and calm herself down and get a feel for them.
One of her new summons was Arpia, a vicious bird-like creature, that could pretty accurately be called a harpy by some folks. More monstrous than some depictions she had seen in various stories in her past she had to admit, only human-like part of her appeared to be her head, and even that was a bit uncertain.
After that, there was the weirdly normal one. She had got her hands on a creature of the Iguania family, and more specifically, a Chameleon. She had been assaulted by mental images of different kinds of creatures in the Iguania family and had to pick something, and she had reached out to the one thing that sounded relatively familiar, ending up with a Chameleon. Seemingly normal animal, for a change.
Then came the Sludge. Greenish slime-like creature that seemed to be rather hazardous thing to bring out in a hospital, so she was certainly going to keep from doing that anytime soon. It might be worth bringing it out in a Protectorate testing-area just to get a bit better idea of what it was and what it could do. She doubted she would want to be testing its effects out in a forest somewhere. She wasn't sure they had been nearly as sneaky as they thought they had been with that last time.
Lastly there was the Scurrier. It was like a little kangaroo mouse with horns, alien and weird, but given it reached about three feet in height, she was not sure what to think of it.
Slime-monster, a more regular animal, a creature resembling a fantasy harpy, and a rodent of most unusual size. Yeah, she wasn't really sure what to think of it, not at all.
It was not just those creatures however, she had gained a bit more power in that short while. The rush of information had left her with a mild headache, and she had known she would have been too grumpy to deal with patients who were hurting and pleading, so she had chosen to step aside in order to avoid making a scene. She was there to help, but she was getting tired and worn down, and feeling like a fraud when her presence could not just fix everything. It was made even more heartbreaking by some of the children asking about parents that had not made it, seemingly hoping if Unicorns were real that she might be also able to bring back dead people. She did not know how they got that idea, but it had been a definite stab to the heart to see that frail hope fall apart at her quiet response and the shake of her head.
Still. She had gained an ability to share senses with her summons, an useful ability to have certainly, if she was going to send one of her minions out to scout ahead. Unfortunately the lack of means to communicate properly with them at range was still hurting the utility of this one.
The second one was more of a skill driven into her mind, and the most likely candidate behind her headache and current misery. It felt like a condensed lesson on various kinds of bodies and how to ride upon them safely, how to pay attention to the mount in question, guide them the right way, and stay in the saddle. Followed by various mental impressions that seemed like a collection of memories about how to do it, like she had actually spent a good long while riding various creatures already, perhaps trying to make sure that knowledge would be ready for use when a situation came for it.
Not that she was going to be riding anywhere while indoors, but a better costume, a proper mask that would allow her to show some expressions, and riding on the back of her Qilin with Ravager and a few others around, and she ought to cut a somewhat impressive figure for some patrols. Though in the given situation, she felt she was more useful at the hospital.
Though truthfully all she was good for here at the time was being an anchor for her Qilin to remain present. She felt the mental connection respond with a comforting warmth around her, smiling a bit sadly.
How could something so simple go so wrong, and cause such guilt in her? She did not feel she was responsible for what had gone wrong, but a part of her whispered in her ear about how much more she could have done. She had to remind herself again to not try and carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, nobody could do that. She could just try and add a bit of help where she could.
Author's Note: Not exactly full of action this time around, at least in her point of view, but the situation in the city is certainly heating up and escalation is ongoing.
Coil's been quiet for a bit but he's unlikely to be happy. Problem is, giving a pissed off super-villain with very little left to lose time to prepare is not exactly the best decision.
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Jan 30, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 14 - Act on Instinct
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Feb 7, 2022
#100
Chapter 14
The city of Brockton Bay was suffering through its third day of living under a constant threat of tinker-tech bombs going off. It was late into the evening, and the shadows had began to grow long and dark over the city.
Lily had spent her Friday evening and a lot of Saturday trying to tend to those injured, helping out where she could. She had grown more and more frustrated with herself and her perceived cowardice in not stepping up to do something. Which was why she found herself on the rooftop that night, standing next to a shady black orb floating about.
She had been caught by surprise to learn she could actually change her summons slightly at the moment of summoning, to follow along a theme. She had a vague feeling she could have done it from the start, but she had missed it then. The situation had forced her to think more deeply on the matters of stealth however, and now, she could turn her summons into more shadowy versions of themselves, at least visually.
Which meant that with the combination of her ability to share senses and their ability to turn dark as the night itself, she could use the night-time to scout out for information around her a bit more easily. She did not have that many flying summons at her disposal yet, and her transportation mostly relied on using her Qilin's kind offer to carry her on its back if she wanted to avoid bringing her car along. Flying with one of her summons wasn't advisable. Geruta would certainly try and carry her, but she was a bit hesitant to put herself in the claws of that creature, trusting in its jet-flames to carry them both aloft without problems.
Of course, she had her option of summoning a dragon, turned into shadowy figure at night, but that would likely still draw a lot more attention to her and raise her threat-rating a fair bit in the eyes of some folks out there. Escalation was already coming, she would prefer to keep that summon an ace in the hole to unleash on the unwary if things got bad.
Still, Bakuda was running wild, and Oni-Lee had helped break out Lung in the chaos. Merchants were missing but the Empire was still making a lot of trouble, clashing with the ABB members regularly over the past few days, adding to the bloody numbers brought to the hospital in need of emergency treatment.
The one bit of good news was that Uber and Leet were both dead. They had apparently gone after the Undersiders under Bakuda's orders, hired for a job, and got themselves surprised by a lot more aggressive response by the group who had kept close to one another, rather than allowing one of their own to be captured.
It appeared the Undersiders had almost broken up after the little revelations, but had instead gone to ground and kept more vigilant watch on their grounds. Without a chance to capture one of them alone, the gamer-duo had tried to attack Undersiders in their new lair.
It had gone poorly for them. Bitch's dogs had noticed them before they could unleash their merry hell on the gang, Grue's darkness had blanketed them in unfamiliar surroundings, and finally Hijack, also known as Regent, had made Leet waving his tinker-tech gun 'accidentally' shoot himself and his buddy.
Inglorious end to the bastards, but it had also been streamed, and despite the attempts by the Undersiders to block off the snitches recording it, the little mechanical orbs had got footage of the Undersiders base and the death of the gamer-duo was confirmed when the shadows parted, showing the burnt remains of Uber's chest and Leet's head.
The Undersiders had gone even deeper into the ground following that, rumored to have left the town. Lily personally did not care too much, they had roots in the city, Taylor was unlikely to leave entirely with her dad still around for one, and she figured Grue would worry too much about his little sister to flee. Others might see the writing on the wall and be gone sooner or later. It was not as if Coil could really lend them resources to protect themselves better with things getting worse and worse.
Still, the meeting on the neutral ground would be ahead at some point, and Sommer's Rock might still be ahead at some point. With Merchants gone, the Empire was the largest remaining opposition but they might want to try and buff their numbers with others. Coil wasn't likely to come out of hiding anytime soon though, so that made it a bit uncertain.
The fact that Travelers had been named a Simurgh bomb and carrying a proto-Endbringer among their numbers had another little neat effect. The response towards them had got fiercer, and they had been waylaid on the interstate earlier. Noelle attempted to escape and got gunned down, an event that resulted in Trickster going psycho on the forces attempting to stop them, resulting in a fight that left several dozen good men and women dead, but also wiped out what remained of the Travelers.
As it was, she had some of her summons called upon and spread about to scout out the surroundings quietly. Including her newly acquired Chameleon. Not that the creature was particularly fast, but it did understand her rather well, and being carried to a location by the Geruta and dropped the short distance onto a rooftop up close allowed it to slip into a building through shredded vents or an open window in a couple of cases already. Her Axe-Flipper and Geruta kept sneaking glances at windows that were open or listening closely.
She in turn sought to listen to the connections for any particular excitement or curiosity and join with the senses of those that did flare such a signal. It was crude and basic, but did give her a look at a few places. Nothing of particular interest so far though. Few people carrying through their lives that might seem a tad suspicious at the time, but not really the same level of threat as the ABB and Bakuda were.
Some people fixing up their home-cooked narcotics in poorly maintained buildings. Some people having meetings to plot about a possible heist or some other crime, some even just planning on how to escape the city safely.
There was some scattered hints now and then about areas to avoid, about people who had disappeared, people called to a location to be transported elsewhere. Bakuda was rounding up people for implantation of her bombs and sending them out to make a mess at particular locations, and it was hurting the ABB's ragged reputation as supposed protectors of the Asian community, but given the city's other large gang was the Nazis, the locals seemed to regard the ABB as a better alternative for their community at least.
Bakuda's actions were still raising a fair bit of tension among their own rows, and more than a bit of treasonous talk from those who were not directly in the gang itself. Which had lead to her making a decision.
Moving around quietly every now and then, she joined her shadow creatures in moving around, looking for signs of trouble, and trying to locate people more directly connected with the ABB. A few people were about that were members at the street-level but unlikely to really know of anything important.
Her Eidolon had slipped through to a few such individuals, digging into their memories while not trying to take over. The instructions had been simple enough.
"Locate an ABB member and slip into their mind, try and find about who and where the one they take orders from is, and we'll move up along the chain to someone that matters and who might know where to find our foe. Report back to me after each possession. Don't act out, don't draw attention. Possess without being detected, searching for information and returning."
The orders were to remain stealthy, because raising alarm would potentially drive her foes further underground. The orders to possess them were because the Eidolon could slip into their mind and learn everything that they knew, and bring that information back. Although having them possess an object she held to make a report was creepy, the hollow voice they had, speaking without obvious mouth or anything, was a bit too suited for a horror movie in her opinion.
She comforted herself with the fact that she was on the side of monsters in this case, but she silently reminded herself to keep watch that she did not choose to take things to a point where she could truly be called a monster herself. Her means to acquire information might not be accepted or approved by the more legal authorities, but they might just prove quite useful.
Technically it was abusing a rather strong master/stranger effect that the Eidolons granted her, but she felt the need for information was more dire than the potential danger of exposing that sort of information. She aimed to still keep her cards close to her chest, and not reveal any more of her hand in this game than she had to. The stakes were just too plain high for her to do otherwise, especially with one individual still in the game so happy to cheat by stacking his deck in so many different ways.
She would have to locate some of Coil's men and get an Eidolon into the man's base, digging out exact details of how to get to the base and how to get in from their mind with an Eidolon was hardly a bad idea, and with that information she should be able to get closer, and let her Eidolon loose inside said base to do what it did best.
The road to hell might be paved with good intentions, but she was not going to hold back too much out of fear and caution if the end results were as bleak as what she had already seen. At least the fact that the Travelers were not coming and thus Noelle would not be here would perhaps mean the Leviathan would strike elsewhere, as there was no real good reason to come to wreck the bay even further when the proto-Endbringer as she'd called the poor girl was not around to get loose and wreck the Cauldron conspiracy as well as the Triumvirate by the revelations it could unleash, and the pain and agony it would be able to spread.
She considered her options quietly while their search continued. Moving along, she let her Geruta return to grab her by the arms and lower her to the ground. She wasn't going to trust in it alone to take her up, but landing briefly if safely was well within safe limits. Still, a little boost to reach a fire-escape was more than enough, and with her applying the strength boost on herself she was able to climb up surprisingly well, glove-covered hands allowing her to avoid leaving too easily tracked marks behind either.
Moving along, they searched further, place by place. She stayed on street level at most areas, but took a look at the surroundings from higher up when convenient placement of fire-escape provided her a chance to gain easy access to the higher ground.
In the meanwhile she had witnessed three muggings and one assault that counted as a hate-crime, having her creatures interfere. Three muggers were disabled in a painful but non-lethal manner, and the three Empire thugs were left in a dumpster with some more garbage bags piled up on top of the lids to keep them there a bit longer, in their hurt state. Calls to the police through a burner phone followed each incident.
She was at least doing something, and her time spent in the hospitals gave her a clear reminder of why she was out there trying to do something about this whole ugly mess in the first place. The motivation to stop being someone watching things from the side, and to become an active participant in the attempts to corral some of the trouble-makers and put an end to the current nightmare of bomb-filled days and nights.
The little metal figurine she held shivered slightly in her grasp as she felt the Eidolon return to it, and the voice spoke as hollow as before.
"One of the local lieutenants is hiding in a nearby safe-house after the Empire's attack in the ABB territory had his house damaged in the attack as well. There are others present as well. He takes his orders from Oni-Lee, who usually arrives in person with orders from Lung, or Bakuda. Might provide a lead, but the guy did not know if the lieutenant knows where either Oni-Lee or Bakuda is when they are not present."
Not what she wanted to hear, but it was a step closer. She nodded her head slightly and hummed.
"Give me the location and we'll go closer so you can look for more information. If they don't know locations or more useful information, consider taking over for a moment when they are alone and calling for Oni-Lee or Bakuda if that is an option. Getting them out in the open might solve things for us." Lily was not proud of messing with peoples minds and taking over their bodies through her Eidolon, but if that crime would allow them to stop the deaths of who knows how many innocent lives, she'd have to take it.
Her pride and the touch of morality she sought to keep did not stop her from trying to be practical. Moral high ground would mean very little if the enemy was fully willing to let the world burn around them.
"Got it. The lieutenant doesn't know where Bakuda is staying, but knows one of the places they gather people who are being taken to her. Another group of people will be brought in tomorrow afternoon. If we can get there in time and I join in, I will have her location." The voice halted momentarily before continuing.
"It will be time-sensitive though. Bakuda has the things she needs in a large van she can use to switch sites if necessary, and has places prepared for surgery to implant those things in people at different parts of the city. If we rely on information staying fresh for long we'll probably miss our chance."
Lily gave a small grim nod at the thought of it. She wasn't happy about the fact they had to wait, but the more attention they drew towards themselves by acting rashly, the more difficult things might get later on. Her patrolling had already made her a participant in this conflict and no longer able to hide under the mask of just being a healer primarily, not that she expected for that status to protect herself too well later on.
Moving in to put a halt to Bakuda's efforts earlier than originally would be a boon for the city, but would likely put a target on her back, even larger one than the fact she had powers and access to a healing power had done. The more cards she was forced to play out in the open, the more attention would turn her way she wagered. There were big players in the game she would much rather remained ignorant of her presence as long as possible, but that might not be in the cards for her anymore. One way or another, she would need to step up and raise the bets further.
"Alright. We'll return here tomorrow, and carry out the task then." She let out a sigh. It was good to be able to talk to one of her summons. The fact they were intelligent was not in question for her before, they might have a different mind and body, but they were by no means stupid. She was pretty sure her favorite canine warrior was quite a clever fellow, though absolutely savage and primal when it came to defending its 'pack'. She liked the angry mutt quite a lot for it. Yet the fact that she could actually talk with her Eidolon and share information like this was definitely a very welcome boon.
"Another day off then huh?" The Eidolon's tone was still hollow, but she was fairly sure she felt a touch of amusement through the connection.
"Not like folks are going to get a lot done, and I figure I am not alone in calling in for a day off. I might not even have work anyway, chances are there's folks leaving, quitting in a hurry, or just plain not showing up already to the point that trying to have the rest show up is a waste of time." She gave a small shrug at this.
"Doesn't hurt you can get a bit more just dropping in to a hospital elsewhere, no?" The Eidolon's tone was the same hollow quality in it, a bit chilling, yet the emotion trickling in through the connection was fond amusement mainly, helping her understand a fair bit better.
"If there's no immediate crisis going on where I'm going to volunteer some help to show myself a decent human being, no." She kept her own remark a tad dry, even if she was amused. Honestly, the thought of just quitting her job was holding a lot more appeal if she could feel a bit more financial security in the future from what else she could pull off. She had been hesitant to do so for a while, and had been taught that to get anywhere in life one had to be willing to work hard for it. Lucky breaks happened, but they were rare and not something to be relied upon. That mentality had dug some deep roots into her psyche, and her caution and desire to avoid more direct conflict in some cases had resulted in her being a bit too willing to let things go.
Yet her time in the city of Brockton was clearly showing her that the time to be so passive was over, and that all it would get her was being stepped on and used, her power gave her options but if she wasn't able to seize the opportunity someone else would squeeze her for all she was worth and harvest the spoils of her efforts.
She would have definitely appreciated some helpful advice from people who had been in the business a lot longer, but the doors had been slammed in her face on the heroic side, and the olive-branch offered after she got a healing creature was not going to move her so much when the memories of the past failures and responses had left some marks on her as well. She might have been willing to let things go in order to avoid a conflict at times, but it did not mean they were forgotten.
She could feel some old grudges simmer under the surface, half-forgotten and pushed out of mind, but they were there. Her brother's leeching behavior in this world was definitely one aspect where she would have to be particularly careful. She had no illusions that if she met with him and he figured out she had become a cape, especially a healing cape, the bastard would try and set something up to benefit himself and expect her to just go along with it. Probably getting her in even more trouble while doing so as well.
"Alright, lets continue on the path a bit longer, look for any more information we can find, stop some small crimes if we run across them, and get out of here again."
Lily let out a weary sigh as she tried to stay out of sight in the ABB territory, feeling more than a little wary about the situation. Their reputation wasn't exactly a pleasant one, and she needed to do this during the day. It was cloudy and overcast, sure, but the lights were still way too bright for her to take proper advantage of the shadow theme she could press upon her creatures.
She only kept her Eidolon out at that time, already housed in an ABB thug escorting a few civilians towards the meet-up place to get on the move. Lily found herself resting back in her car quietly, waiting. Out of sight, but in range. The chances were they would be on the move soon. She was looking forward to leaving the ABB held territory as soon as possible. For now, she had to take a bit of time and wait. Staying in her car, a bit out of sight, waiting. She hoped she came across as a civilian who was of no importance if someone did pay her some attention, but she kept herself ready to summon some of her companions to help if need be.
Thankfully it seemed like things were progressing somewhat well. Soon enough, the truck got on the move, the people gathered in the back sitting down quiet and preparing to get on the move. The short last reply from her Eidolon through the metal figurine was followed by silence, before she could feel the connection get on the move.
She got the car started, and on the move. She kept out of sight of the truck itself, just keeping going in the general same direction. That went on for a while, but ultimately she had to head on to the same street or avoid the separation growing too distant and causing her connection with her Eidolon to yank it back, dismissing it and losing the lead they had.
Following along quietly, she kept her distance. Three quarters of her max-range, it gave the others sufficient lead that they should not pay her too much attention. Following along quietly, she idly noted the area they were moving into was closer to the coast in that area. Waiting patiently and silently. Until finally the connection stopped. No, not stopped entirely, just moving slower now. Probably stopped and got out of the car.
She drove up a bit away and parked up out of sight of the area, but keeping a careful watch of her surroundings. Waiting a while, she felt the connection grow closer, before the figurine spoke up.
"Got them, boss. They're gathering people to wait around, the operating room is close by, and the thugs are watching the perimeter. Bakuda's not there yet. Figure she will show up soon though. Shall I go back to wait and watch?" The Eidolon's voice brought a touch of relief to her. They were almost there. Just a little more patience, and hoping their luck held on a little while longer, and they might just be able to finish this today.
"Yes, carry out your orders as instructed." She said a bit uncertainly. Part of her felt a bit horrified about what she was going to do and what it might cause, but the other options did not seem any better. At least her Eidolons did not seem too eager to judge her for it.
"Got it. Want me to report in the moment I confirm she is present though?" The Eidolon checked on this in a serious tone, while Lily considered. She could still try and do it the honorable way. Contact the PRT and let them know she had found Bakuda, give them the address, leave it up to them to take care of this.
The thought of the hospital rooms and the people who had not even made it to reach the medical care to begin with helped steel her resolve further. No. She didn't trust them to not mess things up again somehow.
As much as she disliked the idea of going to the length she was contemplating, she swallowed her saliva and spoke.
"Report back, and I'll call it in. Then you will carry out your orders. One way or another this must end."
"Got it. Wait till Bakuda is present, report back in, and then take over an armed guard and unload on the bitch and any supporters full-auto."
Lily could just hope their deaths would not haunt her in the future. Worse, she was pretty sure that there could not be any evidence of what went on. Meaning the pawn her Eidolon would use would have to be disposed of as well. She was damning those people to die. Yet given what Bakuda was doing, she silently hoped it was the better option.
"Do it." She nod.
Even as she felt the Eidolon retreat, the distance growing as it headed back to its vigilant watch on the site, she felt new connections forming, reaching out and establishing a link.
Among these she felt a change in the connections, a touch of security, an assurance that the bond could not be hijacked by others. Her creatures were her creatures, someone else would not be able to try and get in the way and claim them for their own use, no matter what their power, and her creatures would not be copied either. That certainly helped, though without a cloner like Noelle being around, its usefulness was not so immediately concerning.
What followed as for the creatures was more puzzling. A dinosaurus-shaped robotic creature with animalistic mind, a Poundersaurolophus, was a weird addition, but perhaps not so much as the SCP that took the shape of a very dangerous tree, Ramuh was a figure she recognized from Final Fantasy series, a powerful summon, a thunder-god one might even say. The last and most bizarre one was named Experiment 276, with the additional name Remmy following after. It certainly looked alien enough and yet cartoon-like in its design, even if her power did make it seem like a real living being.
She was not sure what to think of any of them, but the fact she gained more power as she prepared to take action, she felt it was a good indication that going ahead like this was the way to go.
Author's note: Alright, this chapter is a bit late. It was supposed to come out last weekend, but it did not. The reason for this was family matters, I was away from my computer for the weekend, and this did not get posted. I apologize for the delay, this chapter was supposed to be out last week, and as such it goes to show my scheduling for posting these is as prone to faults from real life as any other.
I hope folks don't take too much offense of the delay though.
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Feb 7, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 15 - Grim Reminder
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Feb 13, 2022
#113
Chapter 15
It was not really all that long time spent waiting honestly, but the tension she was feeling and the little touch of paranoia expecting someone to catch her at any moment and force her to either retreat out of range or to summon another creature to her help at the area made it feel a lot longer than it actually was. The wait was not made any easier by the lingering doubts running through her mind. She needed to get involved and do something, to stop this one way or another. She had too many doubts about the PRT and the Protectorate to really work with them properly, but at the same time she felt if she cut them off entirely she would just end up as a vigilante or worse, suspected of having gone villainous at some point.
She did try and make a good impression and show willingness to help folks, but she figured the tide might turn fast and the public might love heroes, but they might also love to see a hero fall, the scandal and the horrifying talk that would follow. Though the whole arrangement was one that mostly saw villains either imprisoned for a time or flat out thrown into Birdcage if they were bad enough and got caught. Killing them was reserved mainly for the S-class threats and similar situations, or a casualty in a fight that might provoke some investigation and pressure.
Those thoughts were not made any easier by the fact she was all too aware of the fact she was planning to kill people. She felt that a few deaths here might prevent the city from going up in flames, but at the same time, the possibilities of some of her bombs being on timers had her somewhat concerned. Things already left into Oni-Lee's hands might also cause issues. She did consider the possibility of having the Eidolon pump her mind for information, to find out ways to counteract things. Yet that remained to be seen.
Part of her wanted to take a more 'heroic' path and capture her alive, hand her over to the police, or the PRT rather. The problem with that was that if she used a power that was clearly a Master power, and worse, a HUMAN Master power, then chances were she would either get slapped down hard for it due to stigma caused by people like the damned Heartbreaker, or they'd tell her in no uncertain terms that her use of Eidolons was strictly prohibited and any further use of such abilities would result in a rather lengthy prison sentence or such. It might be her paranoia rattling up her fears and making it seem worse than it actually was, but she wasn't too keen to find out.
The Eidolon could snoop for information and its possession could go largely unnoticed, even by the person themselves, unless it began to push for certain actions more heavily, more visibly. The idea of having Bakuda surrender would likely be so far out of her normal personality that it would raise more than a few eyebrows. Yet at the same time, she found herself trying to find some alternatives, to find a way to preserve her life.
If for no other purpose, then to avoid staining her own soul. Killing someone in a fight was one thing, a premeditated murder was a whole another thing. She was aware that souls existed, thanks to the power she had gained to summon the creatures engraved upon her soul. She could not pretend that it didn't exist. Which made her feel a bit concerned about its state and how such actions might reflect on those she summoned.
Sighing quietly, she felt it was a matter that would cause her headaches in the future. Philosophical or religious arguments had not really interested her all that much before, but an experience like what she was going through could arguably spark a bit of doubt in a mind.
Her thoughts on that were interrupted however when she felt a short rush of excitement and anticipation. Bakuda might be arriving. She stayed quiet, and stayed out of sight. Focusing momentarily and closing her eyes, she witnessed things through the eyes of her Eidolon, or rather, the figure the Eidolon was riding in.
The inside of the old building had seen better days, but it had been quietly renovated a little bit at least. Though mostly this showed in the basement area chosen for the purpose. Small portable generator in a room that was pretty well closed off from the noise, providing power for the small nearby operating room and some other machinery.
The place had connections and restoring power to it would have been relatively easy. It would have also drawn a bit of attention to it. It could have been buried easily enough, but still not worth it.
The thug that the Eidolon was possessing was entirely unaware of not one but two peeping toms in their head at that time, grumbling in another language to their companion. She did not really understand them, and joining her Eidolon did not grant her immediate understanding of the language the Eidolon was hearing in the possessed body either. Nor could they really communicate mentally yet either.
Still. The place was cleared, another nearby room housed a number of people, scared and looking rather miserable, others quite resigned. Yet another room passed by the thug held others who were definitely not ABB members or even Asian, looking even more frightened but afraid to really raise their voices, more than a few thugs walking around armed after all.
The possessed lad stepped up to another to inquire about something in their language, the ABB guy standing by the door grunting and puffing out smoke.
"Speak English. You might want to respect your parents teaching you the language, but not all of us bothered. Japan is dead, no reason to learn that shit." The guy put out the remains of their cigarette into a half-empty coffee-mug nearby.
The possessed lad seemed more than a bit annoyed, commenting something swiftly that made the guy by the door snort.
"Yeah yeah, I get what you're saying but fuck that, my pronunciation would just make you weep if you actually insisted I try." He flashed a smirk. "Besides, not like the shit-heads are gonna hear anything worthwhile anyway." He rolled his eyes at this and stretched out a bit.
"Anyway, yeah, got the call. She's on her way. Just check and make sure everything is ready. Oh, and Oni's coming with. Supply-run for later."
Shit. Oni-Lee was a problem, Lily knew his presence could complicate matters a fair bit. The chance to take the man down along with Bakuda would be a tremendous victory, but his presence also meant that the chance of turning a potential victory to abject failure in mere moments was also present now. It might be better to let Oni-Lee get what they were after, and then focus on just getting Bakuda removed from the picture.
Whether captive or alive, she wasn't sure yet. She kept questioning herself on that, but then focused again on the scene. The possessed fellow returned to guards by the operating room. Few short words were exchanged, and they stood a bit more stiff and guarded.
She closed the mental connection, seeing through her own eyes again in turn. Nothing had really changed where she was, but a moment later the figurine she held spoke up, as she felt the connection return closer to her.
"So, should not be longer than ten to five minutes now. The confirmation is there, just need to be a little more patient boss." The figurine's voice was a bit unnerving in the hollow echo like quality.
"I'm just hoping to see this done and no real casualties. Too many things can go wrong and I am hoping that we pull this off without mistakes. Oni-Lee's arrival could prove a real problem, though it could potentially open up new opportunities. I imagine besides Lung, he is likely the man that knows the most about the inner workings of the gang. Unfortunately I am not sure exactly how much of his mind is left in that head of his after all the copying done by his power." Lily shook her head slightly at the thought of that.
"No real casualties? You thinking we should give the alternative plans a go then?" The Eidolon's voice had no judgment, merely waiting for her decision. She almost wished it would just speak its mind and tell her its opinion, but at the same time it seemed the Eidolon was perfectly willing to follow orders and not argue with her over things when the situation was tense.
"Just thinking that getting more information would be good. I am extremely reluctant to let the secret of your existence slip out into PRT or Protectorate knowledge, but managing to take her in alive..."
Lily paused, not quite sure how to say it. Part of her wanted to try and live up to the image of a hero, someone who could do better than to simply choose to kill. Another more practical part reminded her that this was a world of superheroes that was painted black in a number of ways, and trying to play Batman and refuse to kill could result in her dying, or people she cared about dying. Yet at the same time, she found herself yearning a more moderate option. To kill if it was truly necessary, but to take a chance to try and preserve lives where it was possible. No mercy for those who were beyond any reason, such as the Slaughterhouse gang of murderhoboes, but trying to take bad guys down when it was possible without endangering either her life or the lives of those who would have been mere bystanders.
"You know, if you want, I could try and possess the two to root for some information, figure out what we could do, and return?" The Eidolon's offer was spoken after a short pause had stretched out for a moment, volunteering a suggestion. Even if it was pretty much the same line of thought that she had already had about reporting in when Bakuda did arrive.
"That might be best. It could really come back to haunt us if there's something big going on that we are missing and stopping her here will result in things just getting worse." She rubbed her head trying to think of the possibilities. All those bombs, she wasn't sure if the crazy bitch would put in more precautions, perhaps having some of them on timers she would need to reset at times, people already sent out with bombs in their heads at designated targets that needed to be stopped, or even-
She swallowed as a thought hit her.
Or even if she had wired herself up with a dead-man switch. Was it something she could see the woman doing? Pretty much, yes. Had she done so in the original time-line she had read? She wasn't sure. She was pretty sure it had happened in fan-fiction she had read later, but had it been part of the original tale or not? This was why she hated the fact her memory was far from perfect and that she had got more interested in the stories around the setting than the original story about the setting itself.
"Probably good to make sure we don't accidentally trigger all the bombs she has put out there for that matter." She voiced her thoughts while looking at the figurine.
"Always figured you had a plan for that." The Eidolon's remark was without any heat or accusation, but she could still swear there was a hint of rebuke there. That she should have known and prepared for it. It might be just her own personal guilty feeling on the matter, rather than a true accusations. Either way, she knew her summons were loyal, and she just needed to do better herself.
"I had some ideas of what might be going around, but I didn't think she would be crazy enough to go to some lengths that I probably should have expected from the start. Enough of that, just, please make sure to check. If she is actually crazy enough to set up something as bad as a dead-man switch, then we best know before we go forth with the plans."
Lily did not want to 'oops' the city.
"She is present, and I gave a quick look into her head. Worse than you thought. She has manual detonation sequences ready, and toe-rings to work as trigger, a bit of information scrolling before her eyes in her gear to help her out with things. She's also got stuff tracking her heartbeat. Knocking her out will set some stuff on a timer, she can switch them off when she wakes up, enough that disabling her will still see those things go off later if she's stripped off of her gear in capture. If she actually flat-lines, well some of the bombs she plans to tie to that are not yet finished, but a few of them would render the city a nightmare." The Eidolon's tone was hollow and chilling, but it fit the message delivered all too well. She felt a tad nauseous at the thought of just how bad it could have gone if she had not bothered to check, had not bothered to think of that option.
"Damn-it. Then killing her is not an option. Capturing her means trouble too, as that exposes an aspect of my powers I would rather not slip loose." Lily shook her head. Arranging for a capture in a way that did not immediately draw too much attention towards her and that particular ability was a more difficult matter than outright killing her.
Still, she was grateful for her own doubts and uncertainty to a point. They had made her consider alternatives, they had forced her to weigh the options, and to note that there was issues that she might need to know about. Didn't make things any easier.
"I'm going to make the call. Find out what you can from her and Oni-Lee if he actually shows up. Make sure to not try and join him if he jumps away though, he would likely take you out of range far too quickly." Lily wasn't keen on losing her Eidolon, especially this early. Bit of extra information might help, but they had to make new plans in a short order.
"Report back to me in fifteen minutes or so, and try and get any additional information you can." She felt a bit bad at the fact she was likely going to allow the bomb-crazy woman to start her operating on those poor people trapped there, but realistically she could not just charge right in, especially if she wanted to try and take people down alive.
Decision made, she pulled out a phone. Slipping the sim-card in place and putting the battery in, she turned it back on, and waited as things loaded, tapping in the pin-code for it. Moment later, it was ready. Sighing quietly, she lifted the burner phone, speed-dial connecting her to a number.
"This is Tamer, independent hero. Identification six-eight-three-delta-bee. I have been trying to track ABB gang members and located a group of people being transported to a secure site, my summons have confirmed Bakuda is present. I repeat, my summons have confirmed Bakuda is present. Unknown number of bombs on the premises, several thugs present, guards accompanying Bakuda, as well as guards stationed at the site beforehand. I cannot handle this one alone." She paused momentarily.
What followed was a short series of questions about the location, and other details she could name. She gave them the location and what she could observe from outside, noting what she could about the information inside. Including the layout she had witnessed observing through the eyes of her Eidolon, or rather, the body they were inhabiting.
"Unfortunately I did not get much information, as they are mainly talking in different languages that I am not fluent in, and I do not possess any recordings of those conversations. The name Bakuda being mentioned definitely caught attention however, and Oni-Lee being mentioned shortly after has me on guard."
The following few minutes were tense as she waited for a decision on other end, before it finally came.
"Stand-by, a response team has been sent towards the location given. Several capes and PRT forces will be converging near the site and joining you for any additional information you may provide. Capturing Bakuda is a high priority, do not risk attacking her alone if it can be avoided, and be very careful. We do not know yet what all Bakuda's bombs can do, but based on the information gained from the analysis of the sites already hit by some of her more exotic bombs, the Protectorate forces and PRT are adopting a very careful approach to this matter." The woman at the other end sounded serious and tense, but not rude. Not intentionally rude at least. More hurried and under a lot of pressure. Given the stakes that this little game had at the time, Lily could hardly blame her.
"Understood. I'll hold ground and wait for the others, and seek out any additional information I may gain." She waited a bit for any additional information, but ended the call after confirming it was alright, as long as she called back if the situation changed. The others would stop a bit away from the building, at the location she had given for herself.
Now, she had to just be careful and watch out if Oni-Lee suddenly appeared close to attack her, if the information about a raid against Bakuda leaked out through the PRT moles before they were ready to strike. Given how they were ready on a short moment's notice though, Lily was pretty sure they took this seriously.
Chances were that Armsmaster would be dragged along in a hurry to respond to another tinker's armaments with whatever equipment he could craft to disable the other woman or at least help render her less dangerous. Taking care of things in the aftermath were very important in a case like this, dealing with an insane tinker with a very volatile set of equipment definitely called for additional caution.
She bit her lower lip while considering just how bad things could have gone. She was angry at herself for the fact she had almost brought down a whole lot of trouble on herself and the city, but glad that she at least reigned in some of that anger and vengeful desire, and stopped to think.
Attacking with the aid of the Protectorate forces and the PRT would make this a shared victory, and make the possibility of a victory not involving killing the damn woman a possibility. How to arrange it without getting her powers revealed in full however, that was a difficult question she wasn't sure how to answer. Trying to take over Bakuda and make her do something as suspicious as surrender would not work. Encouraging her to monologue and threaten them holding her finger on the trigger might appear a play on her ego that would be accepted as part of her insanity, but it would put a real risk of the woman actually triggering the bombs rather than just threatening it. She was not sure if her Eidolon could hold a rock-solid focus on the woman preventing her from pushing the button in frustration and anger.
Okay, she was pretty sure she could trust her Eidolon to do so, but that was not a solid one-hundred-per cent certainty, so she wasn't going to gamble the lives of the people in the city on the off-chance that something would go wrong with that. Hell, a muscle-twitch from being tasered might just bypass the control, as involuntary body-movement even if the Eidolon held control over her mind and between the mind and body interface there. If the body itself acted independent of the mind in such a case, Lily did not know how that would turn out.
Having another person in there taken over and striking Bakuda from behind, non-lethal strike to knock her down and out, might be a possibility. It would be suspicious as fuck and potentially draw other ABB gangers to shoot the one attacking Bakuda, possibly even before they would get a hit in, but it would certainly make the situation escalate. Hopefully having Bakuda down would still keep it from damaging the rest of the city, but it would be a volatile scene and live firearms used in close quarters indoors might result in a lot more harm than intended.
Then she paused and blinked, idly wondering about another idea. Bakuda had come with a good amount of her exotic bombs. Her mind provided answers to a lot of questions about what all sorts of bombs she had with her. Perhaps something in there would help disable her and her bombs temporarily, something nasty and painful but non-lethal. Well, she could do without nasty or painful, as long as they put the people affected out of commission for a good while, without permanent harm. Something like a tinker stun-grenade.
Using her weapons against her might be a risky idea though if she had some of her gear tracking her own bombs. She figured it was mostly for active, implanted bombs and a few traps she might set at places, but that was not a theory she knew the straight answers to yet. Something to check in on when her Eidolon returned to report the next time around.
Having it appear that one of her summons was a stranger that could spy on people in a short range might be a bit more tolerable than the thought of her having summons that could outright serve as Masters to other human beings. It might raise their suspicions of her, but given her summons stayed close to her, and she stayed close to the place before the attack, they might conclude she wasn't a severe threat even with a stranger-powered minion as long as she was not brought into areas that included more sensitive information.
Which might still cause her some headaches and pains about potential questions about whether or not she looked for any such information when she was in PRT care before or not and so on. She'd deal with it in time.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden feeling of the new links starting to form and take shape. This was… oddly different. She didn't really feel much 'life' from the other ends of the line, well, yes they were alive, but in a different way. Not quite the same as her creatures.
The mental images she saw of them, and the names, had her blinking in confusion. Sprouting Egg, and Worm Scarf. She felt a bit of curiosity, and as neither seemed particularly large and confusing, and she had room in her limits to summon, she called upon both. The two items appeared in her hands a moment later. An egg that seemed warm, and pulsing with a strange energy, felt through her palm. Little push into her that seemed to make her feel a little better in small ways. Small push back on any aches or discomforts. The scarf in her other hand giving her a strange feeling of sturdiness. Hesitantly, she looked at it, and the somewhat ugly design. Yet she shook her head, wrapping the scarf around her neck, letting it hang there.
There was a reassuring feeling from it, a sense of borrowed resilience. She wasn't sure how much it added, but she got the feeling those two things could make things easier for her, to a point. They were not quite internal sources of power, but they were still a source of power, similar to the card that provided her the wand. The Libra was the first piece of equipment with a power she had gained, these felt… similar, yet still different.
Following swiftly behind those two items however, was a whisper of power. This one a change that would make any future operations to patrol a lot easier. Teleportation. Forward Teleport would send her to where one of her designated summons was, and with her range, that could take her on the rooftops easily enough, and also provide her with a handy escape route if she was willing to have one creature stay back and stay in the shadows. Her range was still a limiting factor, but every improvement was a chance to stack the deck in her favor.
She let out a long breath. The tension was on, and she knew the PRT and Protectorate forces would be here soon. They'd need to take down the bomb-maniac and take her down alive. She still wished she had a more solid idea of how to do that, instead of just a gathering of wild ideas.
Author's Note: I originally had this chapter planned to include her being outright told that killing Bakuda could instead trigger all the bombs, having her hastily dismiss her Eidolon in panicked reaction, not wanting it running the risk of carrying out the mission. Considering it and the few chapters ahead, I reworked a few aspects of that, and wrote this.
The reader comments definitely pointed out that she was acting in a stupid way, given she believed it was more fanon than canon that there was a dead-man switch doesn't excuse making sure there isn't one when she can certainly look for confirmation without committing to action before then. I considered things having the Eidolon report back about the information in Bakuda's head and slipping that detail among the rest, making her get a nasty realization of just what she was about to do the and there, but decided against it too.
End result is this chapter.
Spoiler: Listing
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FrozenTome
Feb 13, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 16 - Burning Bakuda I
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Feb 20, 2022
#122
Chapter 16
Lily felt the minutes passing were stretching out longer than they should while she waited. The Protectorate and PRT response was supposed to be able to get there in a hurry, but doing so and trying to be quiet still about it to not alert the ABB to their arrival too fast was a difficult thing to pull off. Rushing off directly would likely result in at least some calls coming through. Her Eidolon was in the building already anyway, keeping watch, one of the guards. The orders it had were pretty much on point too.
If the ABB got news about the Protectorate/PRT approach, then the Eidolon was to possess Bakuda herself, and keep her from triggering her bombs, instead telling the morons to take care of it. Shoving some bombs in their hands and telling them to handle it without disturbing her from her work.
It would likely appeal to the original mind in the body enough to not seem entirely out of nowhere sort of thought. Rather, they'd likely try and rationalize it away, as long as the push was brief and enough to convince the others to not bother her without making her start to suspect too much about interference on her mind. Given her already somewhat volatile temper, it might not seem out of character for her to let her anger burst briefly, possibly regretting some decision spoken in anger a bit, but too proud to back off in front of someone less powerful and intimidating than say, Lung.
It could lead to a more dangerous confrontation, but by then it should be possible to counter some of those thugs with some other surprises. She considered flash-bang summon's utility, and having a cream-cow suddenly dropped on top of some people. Despite its strange construction, it was pretty heavy and 'solid enough' to cause some serious issues to the fools it got dropped on, the flashbang effect potentially also leaving them in a far worse starting position.
Though she was a bit embarrassed about the sheer amount of 'cream cow' memes her previous use of that particular summon had created. The gif-files repeating the impact along with the various quotes and meme texts had her cringe somewhat at what she had done. She had laughed initially, but seriously, he almost pitied Circus about what that incident had done to the crook's reputation.
Hearing the group approaching, she took a glance, and noted to her satisfaction the group she was waiting for was there. Walking out, she watched the forces stepping out of the vehicles, with Armsmaster and Miss Militia dismounting their bikes, and Assault as well as Battery stepping out of their own vehicle. She idly noted she saw Triumph in the group with the troopers leaving another vehicle, glancing about.
"Thank you for coming. I was not sure how to handle this." She nodded her head slightly, before pulling out simple paper drawing with some basic outlines of the building blue-prints drawn on it.
"My 'scout' has been able to map out a rough outline of what to expect. Here." She had actually asked, and given permission, for her Eidolon to possess her body for a short moment, to draw the map accurately enough. It was a weird, eerie feeling. She was not really panicking because she felt she could dismiss the summon any moment to reclaim full control of her body, but it was still weird. She wouldn't likely have even noticed it if she didn't know about it though, it was so natural it disturbed her it was possible.
Still, her Eidolon just knew the floorplan easier from floating around and possessing guards who knew the place, possessing a few that had some skills at drawing, the Eidolon was able to borrow on that bit of what it knew to make some basic drawings.
"It might help." Armsmaster said somewhat gruffly. "Though I doubt some of these size-estimates."
Miss Militia's expression was somewhat hard to read with the scarf, but Lily got the impression she smiled a bit amused. "Thank you, every little bit of additional information may prove useful, and knowing where they are stationed should help." She gestured at the dots on the drawing about the guards positions, as Lily had taken a bit of time to mark them.
Her legend to explain what each bit was took a bit to work through, and it was all in simple blue ball-point pen ink so it was not the best, but any information was better than none as they said.
"Right, anyhow, Bakuda is present and operating on people, implanting bombs. I am not sure of what precautions she has so moving in on my own felt a little too risky. I want this city to be safe and to end this threat, but I would rather rely on more experienced heroes than to walk in blind and make things worse." She decided to offer a bit of politeness in turn and acknowledge their experience. She might not like the PRT or working with the Protectorate after what had gone on, but she was not going to try make an enemy of them, nor actual like an ass just because she was not entirely happy with the people.
Trying to be polite and professional, and showing some reasonable judgment about her decisions should hopefully go on record to help establish her as a person that could be worked with and provide her a potential in for later situations. She might leave Brockton Bay in time, or she might stay, she was honestly not sure if the place was worth fighting over with all that was headed that way in time.
Yet at the same time what little she knew of the setting centered to this place. As much as she invalidated a lot of the information she knew the moment she began to act and change things, even a basic understanding of how things might have been was better than not having much of a clue at all. She was putting off the final decision on that for now, because either way Bakuda had to be stopped.
Inside the building's basement, Bakuda silently focused on the task at hand. She had the terrified guy strapped down before her, a small bit of anesthetic to numb the area was a necessity because the trashing and screaming got too bad for her to tolerate, and a couple of early attempts lead to deaths. Putting them down under and completely unconscious would have been better for them, but it was not like she was going to dig in deeper, she was implanting a device in a similar spot one after another, activating it once placed, and having it run through its routine of attaching securely and confirming it received signal, before going into passive listener state, waiting for commands.
So what if she lost a couple of these people in getting it right? They had more to turn. Besides, early attempts were carried out with the captured folks anyway, they weren't Asian, so was she supposed to care for any of them? She didn't really care much for the Asian fellows either anyway. As long as she got a chance to show the proof of her brilliance at the world, she was perfectly happy turning a few miserable low-lives and useless whiny bitches into some brilliant examples of the sheer genius that she could bring into the world.
That bastard at the school had been an obvious racist who marked down her work because they didn't like her because she wasn't a white girl, she had seen the skank that scored higher than her and they had not studied nearly as much as she had, probably earned their grade on their back. Fuck, Lung had the right idea about putting those prissy bitches to work like that anyway. Not that she cared, she would burn everyone who got in between her and her goal. She would show off her brilliance to the entire world, and make them fear her, she would be like Lung, practically untouchable.
All she needed was some more time. Breaking out Lung gave her a lot, because the cops and cape-brown-nosers, the Public Relations Twats, were all just headless chickens panicking when shit didn't go the way they envisioned. Yeah, fuck them and the whole glass towers set-up they ran to loom down on the ones already hurt by the world. She'd put a little fear in their hearts and minds, and show that people like Lung and her would be standing at the top of the world when the time came. They'd be crushed, broken, and made to submit, or they'd be destroyed and anything they built up burnt to the ground, pissed on and laughed at. Yeah, she was going to make the city suffer, and she'd take out her grievances on all those racist assholes that bothered her before wherever she liked.
The fact that the Empire had been allowed to grow and thrive in the city for ages was just a good example of how the whole good-old-boys network pissed all over people that didn't fit in their cubicles and be good little slaves. Well, she'd blow them up and make glass-statues or gardens of twisted flesh of them with her bombs, and the bitches they had, well they could go on to make money for Lung and the gang. She needed her materials, but she wasn't a vain bitch like them. Glittery jewels and shit were cutesy, but the power of the bomb was the shit of choice for her.
Trying to ignore some of Bakuda's wild crazy mental ramblings while watching her trying to keep herself from being 'bored' while focusing on operating someone with a knife while implanting a bomb into them and securing it tight against the sides of the wound dug in, the Eidolon remained quiet, not reaching out to touch any part of her mind, not making her do any extra movements. Watching her, the Eidolon remained vigilant for any signs of the people in the building becoming aware of the raid that was incoming soon.
The Eidolon was ready to take over and issue those short angry words in a burst, trying to mask it as her temper flaring at being interrupted. Given how she was ranting, it was not really going to need to be a big push anyway. She was bored and annoyed, working on her bombs was something Bakuda enjoyed a great deal, but the process of implanting them was tedious matter, and the only reason she was doing it herself was that she didn't trust any of the ham-fisted morons to get it right and not break something, or worse having one of them actually get one of her bombs to go off and destroy a pile of her experimental bombs without them ever getting out in the public to showcase her brilliance with another wave of exotic effects.
That line of thoughts from her was getting more and more intolerable to the Eidolon. It could handle people of various sorts, but the sheer volume of mental comments flowing from Bakuda made the Eidolon wonder if she was a squirrel hopped up on a terminal overdose of crack along with sugar and caffeine, the way she was going was just so irritatingly excessive that the Eidolon felt, despite its cool, a desire to intervene and stop it.
Yet the calm and patient nature held true. It could take a good long while to reach a precise time to act in various times in history, and Eidolons before it had managed to carry out their tasks without a regret when the time came. In this case, the Eidolon knew it was lucky. Its mistress would make sure that whatever happened, it would remain eternal, come back to her service once she awoke again, even if something killed her form in this world. Yet trying to deal with these people and beings that were weakening the city took some patience, because the sheer levels of insanity these powers seemed to inflict on some people were troubling. It was like there was cracks in their minds, cracks that something utterly alien had wedged itself into, and widened, pushing further, the area around them affected, like an inflammation.
The best way it could describe it was like seeing water flowing into cracks and freezing, pushing them cracks wider, before melting again and sinking deeper, then freezing once more to widen them further. The process was slow and not continuous, it took additional trauma to shatter the mind more, but each time it got suitably worse, there was a chance for a bigger chance. It wasn't sure whether it should communicate these observations back to its mistress at some point or not, but it would have to wait. For now, the focus needed to be on carrying out the task.
Which meant it had to be standing ready, on stand-by, listening to the situation despite its irritation, waiting for the moment when it had to act and seize the opportunity. Outburst that she could rationalize as coming from her own mind, even if she didn't necessarily agree entirely on it, if it was close enough to what her pride might make her do, it would be easier to not be caught by either her, or others investigating the scene later.
On some level, it felt it would have been a mercy to end the mad ramblings of the woman, but at the same time, it was aware the price was too high. Not because of her life, but the lives of those tied to her current heartbeat, and her earlier preparations to counter any bold attempts at capturing her. Yeah, no, she was alive because of the threat she posed to others even in death.
"No signs of them realizing anything is wrong yet. At least, my scout around Bakuda hasn't received any." Lily looked at Armsmaster and Miss Militia as the group of people were getting ready. There was a fair number of weapons at hand, some non-lethal, but not nearly all. There was a number of people with gas-grenades or flash-bangs, as well as containment foam grenades and con-foam launchers on two troopers, in backpacks. Assault and Battery were getting ready, Miss Militia was conversing with some troopers about a location to set up at. No choppers in the air, no larger number of police called in to assist.
No alarms going off at the ABB side either. Huh. Lily found herself cautiously optimistic that things were not going as bad as they might, but carefully reminded herself that it was only so far. She would breathe easy once this was over and Bakuda was in custody, without bombs going off to ruin the city.
That was the dream, and if she found it possible to achieve it, then she would be very happy with herself and probably feel a good amount of pride at the accomplishment later. She was simply regarding it as a goal that might be quite difficult to reach. She would rather be pleasantly surprised while expecting troubles and failure, than unpleasantly shocked to see that things didn't necessarily play nice and go as planned.
She had already got her little shock on realizing just how close she came to inflicting worse damage to the city by carrying out the initial more assassination oriented plan of action. She was reluctant to reveal too many of the cards she had at her disposal, her power was limited in a number of ways, and she was regarding every advantage she could get as a potential game-changer in a crisis later.
Every move that the enemy did not know about yet, could actually prove useful at some point, and something the enemy did not know, could still catch them flat-footed and hurt them.
Case in point, dairy-cow.
"-are going to be in position shortly. You understand your part in what to do ?" Armsmaster's question was merely a desire to confirm what had already been discussed.
"Yes. I will follow along the plan as far as situation goes accordingly, if it starts to get out of hand, I'll act within the limits given." Which mainly meant killing Bakuda was out of the question, trying to preserve the lives of innocents was important, and trying to take down ABB without injuring them to a point that they would die from those injuries. Panacea would likely not be too happy to help if called upon to heal ABB gang members, so trying to reserve the use of force to a point where either the doctors at the hospital could help fix the mess, or her summon in the form of Qilin could restore them enough that they would not suffer a loss of life, or permanent loss of limb or anything from it.
"Right. Get yourself ready, we'll move in once the signal is given." Armsmaster nod a bit gruffly, moving away, holding up a device near the perimeter. Lily let out a breath a moment before a hand rested on her shoulder.
"Don't take it too personally. He's stressed out and has been tinkering practically non-stop to create something to use against the bomber-woman there, Bakuda's impression on the city has definitely earned her a lot of enmity and he's hoping to make sure she is taken down here without a massive loss of life. He knows how high the stakes are, and is taking a lot of pressure from that, while leading the team."
Triumph's words sounded a bit practiced, and she wasn't sure how sincere he was, but she gave an agreeing nod. She could certainly see the fact Armsmaster wasn't at his best, that seemed to be a reoccurring theme though. Things were tense, and the man sought to answer the matter by tinkering to find a solution, and efficiency he pursued might not allow for a lot of social niceties at times. The fact he was at least trying was appreciated. Triumph's bit of support was probably due to her earlier less than pleased reactions to some interactions with the PRT and Protectorate. The fact she considered him a man who she wasn't on more hostile terms with was probably one of the reasons that the man had been added to the roster to respond to this scene.
"Huh?" She paused, shivering a bit. A new connection formed, a large and strong one, the name, Ark. The silhouette was rather massive compared to before. Understanding of limitations, something that would exist partially out of phase with reality. Something that could be called to pull something out of reality to a small pocket space to endure an attack.
Summon. She had a summon from Final Fantasy series. Like with Ramuh before, but this time, the summon was one that would inflict such massive damage that the fact it would remove the target from phase with the reality to carry out the attack in a manner that would not endanger all of its surroundings certainly caught her attention. The sheer firepower that would bring in made her briefly consider the possibility this might be able to heavily damage an Endbringer. Perhaps not, but it ought to at least give them a nasty deep crack into their body, potentially stripping them of several layers at once, depending on the sheer scale, it might be rather terrifying strike too.
Something to consider for later. She swallowed. It was a very strong premonition of the level of change it might bring though. The stronger beings in the Celestial Menagerie were not something to toy around with without a fair bit of caution.
Another connection, another summon. Ghostmon? The name didn't say anything to her immediately, but the mental image lead to her making a brief guess. It was interesting to see creatures from series that she knew as fictional, but given her reincarnation, she felt pretty confident in the idea that authors might be seers witnessing some version of events, perhaps sanitized for the target audience and changed somewhat, but broad strokes remaining true. Either that, or creativity resulted in a number of worlds.
The first felt more likely than the other, but either way, she had come to accept the possibility of other worlds were true out there, based on things she knew and things others she knew might have known, and even many things she and those in the same world might never have even imagined. The sheer vastness of that all was pretty crazy.
The third connection forming made her blink. First, she gained the ability to move to where her creatures were, and now, she gained a power to let them reach out twice as far as before. Those two together would definitely change things up for her.
"Its nothing." She assured Triumph who was holding onto her shoulder again, standing behind her. "Just a bit of a jolt, felt a new connection form." She smiled briefly, before straightening herself and letting out a breath.
"Ready to go." Lily gave a nod.
"Boss! We got PRT troopers sneaking up around us, Jin-Woo claims to have seen what looked like Assault there too." The guy rushing into Bakuda's operating room shouted loudly, and made her hands jerk, the guy on the table letting out a loud groan and shaking, while Bakuda cursed and set the knife down, before facing the messenger.
"FUCK! YOU MADE MY HAND SLIP!" She reached out to grab her grenade launcher, pointing it at the guy.
"Fucking dumb-shit, didn't you hear the orders before? I NEED TO PUT THESE FUCKING BOMBS IN THESE FUCKING CUNTS WITHOUT INTERRUPTIONS! So grab a box or two of my party-favors, the green ones not the red boxes you piece of shit, and spread them out among the bastards and give the PRT a little firecracker up their collective asses while I finish my work!" Bakuda cursed loudly in irritation.
Part of her wanted to call Lung and inform him of a problem, and handing out those grenades felt wrong, they were part of her masterpieces, they should be given to Oni-Lee to let him spread some of her genius without wasting rare resources it took to build those exotic effect grenades, but that wasn't going to happen.
Lung would get pissed off and trash the place coming to fight, Oni-Lee had a mission in the Empire territory blowing up that Nazi-hangout and hopefully turning some of their shitty racist cunt capes into modern art with her explosive babies, but she could send her men up to show those assholes to not interfere with her work, and she'd take care of placing in a couple of her little specials in a few more bastards and bitches.
Just enough to carry out the next wave of nasty surprises for the people, and a bit of extra as retaliation spank for those morons that decided to threaten her. She could blow her way out of any mess with the stuff she was saving for herself, or hold this fucking shitty city for hostage with all she needed being her toe-rings clicking together, they could even try and cover her in foam and would just get themselves a serial-bombing to make them too busy trying to put out the fires to try and take her away, and if they actually dared to try, well there was a reason she had been rigging up some nasty bombs, and a few that she alone knew the way to return on stand-by if something did knock her out. It would be fun to tell them to either give her back all her gear and babies and let her walk out, or ask if they liked the idea of turning the city into a fucking necropolis outside of the ABB controlled areas.
She smirked cruelly to herself at the thought of that, when a massive bang shook the building and the hallway outside the place had the door blown in, over-pressure hitting her and several others.
Scrambling to get back up on her feet, she heard gunfire and new explosions above, not nearly as impressive as the first one, but she cursed out loudly under her mask. That first blast was her bombs, but it was inside the fucking building! Something was wrong, and she needed to go up there and grip the PRT and Protectorate balls in a vice grip and tell them to stop fucking around and surrender or she'd start turning the city into a hellscape rather than holding back and just going after Nazis and a few little scares to remind other people about her brilliance and to fear her.
Author's Notes: The current chapter kept growing and growing, considered cutting out sections, altering the size of some, leaving some for later, and other options. I ended up cutting the expanded chapter down here, and continue working on the next part still for the next chapter.
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Threadmarks Chapter 17 - Burning Bakuda II
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FrozenTome
Feb 27, 2022
#131
Chapter 17
Lily grimaced slightly at the loud bang coming out of the building, even as the forces moved in. Making a gesture at the building, she caused a pair of flashes and bangs inside the front of the building, just past the windows. The troops knew it was coming so they had timed their stop for it.
The flash-bang summoning she did in a row hurriedly dropped Ravager and Frosty inside, her little ferocious wolf-creature and the whirling ball of frosty winds were going to make any gunners trying to aim out have a real bad time. The fact she designated her Ravager as a target with one of her abilities, 'taunting' enemies to focus entirely on it was intentional. Even if Ravager got taken down, it would not go down easy, and by then, the forces outside would be ready to breach.
The flash-bang had also messed up with the folks inside. Closing her eyes to focus, she got a clear view of Ravager yanking a thug with a shotgun by their arm, disarming them by making them drop the gun but also almost coming to the point of making that a little too literal by tearing the whole damn arm off.
Brutal wounds might be inflicted here, but it would be better than going at it unprepared.
"Bakuda's still in the operating room, getting up!" She yelled her warning, a brief glance through her Eidolon's eyes revealing it just returning from the hallway, having made the grenade-box go off way too early for the thugs intentions, rushing in to possess Bakuda again.
Good. She needed to see to it that Bakuda was controlled and unable to muster her full might. She might have bombs, but using those indoors might very well kill her too if she was careless, and hopefully her Eidolon could keep her to using more threats and insults, and shooting less exotic rounds out, intent on intimidation and buying time to come up with better ideas. As well as suppressing her ideas about summoning Lung or Oni-Lee around.
"Surrender!" Triumph's yell blew a couple of thugs off their feet just inside, a glimpse she caught through her creatures. Another summon and a wave of her hand saw her Axe-flipper floating in the air above, rising higher and observing the area below. The ability to peek through its point of view provided her with a good oversight of things from above, though it might draw some attention in this direction anyway. Then again, the explosions and gunfire would likely do that anyway.
It was a sign of just how messed up the city was at the time that gunfire and explosions were just likely to do that, rather than guarantee of it. The recent waves of explosions around the city and the constant gang warfare had worn down on people and the gunfire had become more or less a sign of being careful and avoiding some places, but not in itself necessarily noteworthy enough to do much. Police and PRT had limited resources available and trying to interfere in things could backfire all too easily.
It was a disgusting state of affairs that she had no answer for. Lily silently focused on her summons, the instructions having been more or less issued earlier that she would likely call upon them in a hostile situation. Which was why the only real commands she had to give had been to Axe-Flapper, a short order for it to rise higher into the air to observe after she called it out close to her.
Her ears rang a bit. Triumph's yell was certainly powerful, even if it was not aimed his way. The sounds of foam-grenades going off were enjoyable, but the sudden blast of heat in the building and a pained yelp from the Ravager made her grimace.
She could hear a lot of cursing in different languages. She was pretty sure there was Chinese, Japanese, and Thai in there, but for all she knew it could be Korean or something entirely different. She felt a bit awkward about it but the yells were from a distance, a foreign language, and too many of them at once to make any real sense of them.
Bakuda cursed loudly as she pointed her grenade launcher out the door firing another two shots in a hurry, the fiery blasts enveloping the rough canine beast, charring its surface with a volatile heat. These things were meant to not burn things to ash but to make for terror weapons, burn people alive, set them on fire and make them run out screaming. She imagined inflicting that horror and pain on the people that got in the way of her genius, and yet now she was firing them at a damned animal that she had expected to yelp and run away in fear of fire, a primal fear it really should have, and yet it only seemed to make the mutt angrier.
"You know who I am? You bastard, I'm Bakuda, and I'll skin you alive and make a rug of your hide before sending you to be chopped up for mystery meat! Yeah, I know more than a few kitchens that'll appreciate a more rare dog-meat on the menu! How you like that? Medium Rare or well done? Fuck you, bring on the charcoal!" She fired again, grinning viciously behind her mask.
Her more loyal guards, a lieutenant and two younger new-comers loyal to her were joining in the fight blasting away at the hound blocking their way out, the damned thing was soaking up a lot of fire. They were having an effect though, and while it had advanced, it hadn't reached them in the more narrow hallway indoors, breaking the surroundings around it but not nearly as agile as that damn monster might have been outside.
"Have some more!" Bakuda laughed, firing again, this time a shrapnel-grenade, waving for others to take cover. The blast that followed along with the pained yelp and howl delighted her sadistic side, the damned monster deserved to feel pain for daring to mess with a genius like her. Looking back outside, she cackled loudly. The damn thing was more dead than a door-nail by now, laying on the floor bleeding heavily.
"That's right! Who's the bitch? You're the bitch!" She laughed before hastily taking cover when gunfire from the other end of the hallway made her yank herself back.
"Fucking hell! Shoot them boys, shoot-" She glanced to the side and noticed one of the guys groaning on the ground. Not bleeding though. Glancing on the floor, she snorted. Rubber-rounds? Yeah, they were being relatively 'careful', but they were messing with the motherfucking bomb-queen of Brockton Bay, no, the bomb-queen of Earth-Bet! She would show them she wasn't a bitch to mess with.
"You fucks want me to blow up a couple of neighborhoods right here and now? Because fuck you, that's what's gonna happen if you don't get the fuck out of my way right fucking now!" Bakuda yelled, before silently cursing. These fucking bastards dared to come in and try and corner her like a rat, attacking her men upstairs and then trying to push their way to her operating room.
The whimpers, panicked shrieking, and loud crying in the storage-rooms close-by reminded her that she had hostages. Smirking sadistically, she opened her mouth to give a few commands and orders, when she frowned. These fucks had stormed the place without a prior warning and her boys had got taken down way too easy. She was supposed to be secure in hiding. Something wasn't right. Something stunk.
Only few people knew where she was supposed to be, and they were only meant to tell their subordinates where to gather. Few people knew where she was actually supposed to appear. A few places had been set up to help distribute some of the less impressive versions of her bombs, to stockpile up guns, to gather and store away some 'volunteers' for implantation process later. Hell, she was supposed to be done here in a day and show up at another place two days later with more bombs to implant to another row of 'volunteers'.
Was there a rat? Did someone actually dare to try and betray them? She doubted her own guys, but there was only so many people that could be trusted, could be relied on. She kept her loyal folks around her, because they got to play the most when she was in particularly sadistic mood, and they loved their perks as well as fearing her too much to go around stabbing her in the back.
That didn't mean some of the new boys didn't have some faults though. She was putting some peoples parents and grandparents in the line with bombs in their heads too after all, usually people that had pissed of Lung or that were among those who raised their voice against ABB, even if vaguely and lightly, but not giving face, not showing respect, they were betraying their group and needed to be made examples of.
They had to be strong and united, to kick the damned relics that were the Nazis out of the city and take over, and spread their influence and reach a lot further. Lung was a dragon, and she would stand tall besides him when she showed just how horrifying her bombs would be. She could blackmail the entire country, and no way those fucking twats in PRT or the Police could ruin that for her. Even this was a temporary set-back at most.
"We have you surrounded, and your men up here are defeated. Don't make this any harder than it has to be, you haven't got a signed kill-order on you just yet, don't make it happen!" The shout upstairs made her grit her teeth together and snarl.
They dared? They thought they could intimidate her?
"Motherfuckers!" She clicked her toe-rings together, her eyes picking a target on the list of options in her mask's lenses, the signal transmitting. The explosion would be too far to hear right away, but they ought to get the word in rather fast. One of the Nazi-supporters they had got implanted earlier and beaten up bad. They'd hidden the signs of the operation as well as they could, and by now, the guy was likely in one of the Empire safe-houses. Either that or recuperating from their beat-down in an apartment somewhere.
Not like the guy was in any shape to remember even without the anesthetics that she'd had a bomb planted in him before they tossed the guy back out, among the corpses of other Empire thugs. Letting the Empire bitches think they'd found someone just lucky enough to survive while other members of their gang on that scene were killed.
The Eidolon sought to try and manage Bakuda's impulses still, and restrain her. The provocation meant she had to escalate, and that meant blowing someone up. Fortunately the Eidolon had a good sized list of 'acceptable targets' and 'irrelevant collateral' in form of the Empire members. The mistress didn't want innocents harmed, but an Empire thug blowing up and taking out other empire members was well within acceptable limits in the Eidolon's opinion.
It would also allow the host-woman to vent some frustration and show her sense of superiority and the impression she was perfectly willing to blow the city up, making it easier to do some light pushes and nudges still, without alerting her too much.
Still, the situation was far from ideal. Having Bakuda shot by one of her men would have helped put an end to her production of bombs, but the already placed ones would be an issue, and the dead-man switch was a counter that needed to be dealt with. Thankfully the Eidolon had already gone through her ideas and implementation options while observing, learning what she might do, what she could pull off.
Armsmaster grit his teeth angrily. They'd caught up a fair number of thugs upstairs, frazzled, confused, stunned, and off-guard. Some of them being mauled by the beast that Tamer summoned, others raising their guns to fire even if they were still blinking away spots of light and shooting blindly. A few people had got hit by accident, mostly other ABB members, but a pair of PRT troopers had taken a shot too.
Tamer was standing a bit back, her unicorn creature, Qilin, already called out and attending to the injured troopers, healing them. It was good she was smart about things and stayed back, but he would really need to have a proper talk with her at some point about efficiency and proper use of force. Getting her creatures, her summons, to restrain people without excessive injuries would be a definite boon. They would need to take some time to tend to the injured thugs afterwards.
Of course, he noted looking at the contested hallway with the burnt and shot remains of the large canine creature, she had done well in trying to protect them from the gunfire from those who could still see, firing at the creature in front of them had kept them from taking down more troopers or of one another, only accidental blind-fire having scored more injuries.
They were also restricted to non-lethal means like rubber bullets and a few shotguns loaded with bean-bag rounds. Tear-gas and con-foam grenades were present and ready for use, and he had a few tricks of his own.
He idly noted his helmet flare a warning a signal from the site had just been blocked a moment ago. Bakuda had apparently decided to try and show them she was ready to use force. The signal interception may have stopped that, but he wasn't going to rely on the 98% chance it had. This was a tinker. She could surprise him in some very unpleasant ways still.
Still, he was fairly certain they got her cornered, and just needed to drag her out. Problem was that some of their options would likely result in her going even crazier than normal. The tear-gas might take out her men, but her outfit included a gas-mask for a reason. She had raised the temperature with some of those earlier bombs to a level that should have scorched the flesh off the bones of people hit, but the summoned canine creature had just soaked in the damage, blocking the worst of it from reaching out at the others.
The realization just how 'real' the creatures were had been a shocker at first, but treating them as just projections was not reasonable after all the evidence caught of them getting injured and torn like others. Even if they did vanish along with any shed blood or other pieces when they were dismissed, such as in the case they were killed.
Which was also why he was currently evaluating the situation. If the wolf-creature was still there, it was still alive. Chances were, if they backed down, gave an impression of acceding to her demands, they might lure her out in the reach of the creature. Its sheer physical strength could wrench the grenade-launcher out of her hands and hurt her without killing her.
The problem was whether or not they could rely on that, and whether or not she would try and leave, or if she would call for help. The signal-jammer was originally meant to help cut that option off, but the thought of the signal already displayed to have been blocked by his gear suggested she knew of other options, and if she had means to send a warning out to the rest of the ABB, this place might be swarming all too soon.
Not that their attack had been quiet by any means, but they had progressed swiftly, until getting her in a corner.
"What do you want?" He shouted in annoyed tone. He wasn't the most social person, but Assault's banter might set her off, and Triumph's yells might be taken as provocation by the woman. Perhaps Miss Militia or Battery? Miss Militia was needed on oversight with her rifle though, for potential intercept by Oni-Lee. Orders were given to shoot to cripple if he showed up, healing the man with the aid of the Qilin to keep him alive meant using lethal force sparingly was an option there. Otherwise the risk of killing the man before getting him before Panacea just in case would run a real risk of provoking Lung into rampage for losing his number one lieutenant.
Yet the fact was clear that Bakuda's bombing-spree had to be stopped.
Lily grimaced slightly. Looking through Ravager's eyes, she could see blood pooling before it. The angry big wolf was hurt, but healing up a bit little by little. It would be able to get up and keep going if necessary, but right now, 'playing dead' left it partially blocking the path and still drawing potential aggression towards it if needed.
She definitely needed to take some time off to run wild with her creatures for a while as apology. This mess was a bloody one, and hardly a pleasant experience. At least most of the thugs upstairs were already taken down and safely zip-tied or hand-cuffed. The Qilin was tending to the thugs that had got shot in the confusion, the one who had received an earlier bite having already got a small boost of healing and a sedative.
Okay, so maybe tearing another man's gun out of their hands and also ripping off two fingers was excessive from the Ravager, but it didn't exactly have human hands, those claw-swipes could disarm, but they could do so with a force to break bones and potentially cleave off body-parts when it was angry, not to even mention the strength of its jaw.
Boosting the Ravager's power further had allowed it to rip and tear a wider path through the hallway, an intimidation tactic as well as a show of credible threat to keep the foes from thinking too much about their hyper-focus on taking the beast out rather than any troopers or heroes rushing in after.
Not that it worked with all. Assault and Battery rushing upstairs and beating down a few side-rooms guards holding civilians hostage in them for Bakuda's operations had also taken their focus. Triumph was currently helping escort some people out, Assault standing guard, and Battery as well as Armsmaster readying for a move ahead to capture Bakuda herself.
That last part would be tricky, she admitted to herself. Yet the faces of the people being escorted out of the building alive and without a bomb planted into them made her smile silently behind her mask. Making a difference in those lives was definitely worthwhile.
She paused when the rushed sense of urgency and panic transmitted through the bonds, and she focused on her Axe-Flapper. Cursing silently as soon as she saw a figure appearing and vanishing on rooftops, she hurriedly raised her hand to the radio.
"Oni-Lee spotted approaching from North-North-East. Rooftops."
It was a cue for Miss-Militia, and the brief confirmation was all she needed. Watching tensely, she saw the rapidly teleporting ninja move closer, before a blasting sound was accompanied by a sight of the ninja stumbling with one leg blown off, only to turn to ash a moment later the figure standing whole on another rooftop.
Damn, not quite quick enough.
Miss-Militia moved to reload even as the Axe-Flapper charged in at her orders.
"Rip him apart!" Tamer's command was met with the Axe-Flapper swinging its lower body in a slash that produced an air-blade following the path of the slice, flying directly towards a figure on the rooftop. Even as it cut through the figure already began to ash, but it had helped distract the enemy momentarily and-
She saw the figure appear right in front of her, mere eye-blink before she appeared inside the building, right-next to Frosty helping watch over another hallway to the back, shuddering, the bang outside making her tremble.
If she had not just teleported forward to her own minion by reaction, she would likely be dead, or at least held hostage by that person. Two troopers close to door rushed out along with Assault, even as a new gunshot sounded loudly from Miss Militia.
Fuck. She was in the middle of things, and she was getting careless. She was a cape, she might not be a soldier but that didn't make her a non-combatant. Shuddering slightly she swallowed quietly.
Touching her side, she winced. Blood. She got stabbed, but teleported before the guy had time to really skewer her. The pain wasn't there, she had to be in shock. Shuddering a bit, she trembled. She needed to get to her Qilin though, and Qilin was outside where the fighting was-
She shuddered, collapsing on her knees. Closing her eyes, she vanished, appearing next to the Qilin, a sense of relief following a moment later. The horn pressing against her shoulder, a wave of welcome chill running through the spot that had been stabbed, flesh renewed in a short order. Oni-Lee was laying on the ground close-by, with Assault standing guard, but a glance over, she winced.
The bloody stain on the ground said enough. Miss Militia had taken a shot after she vanished, and from the looks of it, Oni-Lee had not ashed in time. Perhaps surprised momentarily to see someone pulling off his own trick in front of his own eyes. If there was enough left of the actual man behind the errors from copying a copy of a copy over and over again.
Oni-Lee had come. Lung might well be coming. Bakuda was still active and making demands in the basement. Yeah, this was going to get messy. She wanted to make things better, but she was feeling like she was holding a match in a darkened room and realized a moment ago the floor was covered in oil, and she was about to have the match burn her fingers and drop it.
Yeah, it wasn't a comforting feeling she was having, not at all.
Her thoughts were briefly interrupted by a realization of a new connection that had already settled in. Connection to speed. Connection she had already routed to herself, giving herself a boost and getting out of the way before realizing what was happening. It felt-
She paused briefly. It felt like it was done for her. She silently focused. Her Eidolon was still with Bakuda. She idly wondered if her power actually moved in response to protect her, or if she had some innate understanding that she called upon when in a crisis situation? It sounded ridiculous on the surface but still.
She would consider it a weird coincidence, and something she had done by instinct to save herself when attacked. That wasn't a satisfying answer, but it would have to do, for now. She shivered still at the fact brushing so close to the action had her a bit shaken. Yet at the same time, she knew it would happen. Better that it happened with allies around. Even more so with an actual healer around and about.
Lily frowned slightly as she realized a set of other connections were there, just waiting to be noticed to finish the bond. She blinked in confusion though. One of them was some form of an alien fish, Hoverfish, to be exact. The other was a weird little creature called Leafan, that looked a bit cartoony in her mental image. The last one however, that one gave her a small chill.
Omnivoracious. The name already suggested it considered everything its prey, and that it was hungry. While she wasn't sure it would be a match for an Endbringer, most likely not exactly the best comparison, she was fairly sure it would be a rather nasty counter to some other people, including Lung in a more escalated state. She had gained powerful creatures before, but something about this one gave her a small chill down her back.
She was quietly rather eager to see what all the time would bring, what all she would see. For now though, she had to get her head back in the game, and focus on finishing this operation.
Author's Note: Honestly these rolls, I am not sure what to say. I made use of the last chapter's gains in this chapter, but sometimes, damn.
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Threadmarks Chapter 18 - Burning Bakuda III
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FrozenTome
Mar 6, 2022
#142
Chapter 18
The situation was getting more volatile by the minute. Bakuda was holding the city hostage, and while Armsmaster's tech might be nullifying the signal, it was not certain, and the fact she had dead-man switch on her didn't exactly offer Lily much comfort. Chances were that the signal was getting past any jammer or they might have already suffered a nasty explosion, or perhaps it was active on stand-by but not yet at detonation stage, without an actual signal termination but interference.
Lily didn't even pretend to understand it, tinkers made a mockery of common sense and regular science. It was a question of which was better, Bakuda's single-use explosive tech and the gadgets built to support it like her detonators and transmitters slash receivers, or Armsmaster's efficient and miniaturized signal jamming tech. Either way, the situation was tense with the hostage demands, if not on the city itself, then on the very least the innocent people caught up in the mess and waiting for bomb implantation in the building.
Oni-Lee had already appeared as well, and been then taken down, but that didn't mean it was over. Lung might be on his way, and more reinforcements by ABB was almost definite. Damn it, if she could have just had Bakuda shot in her operating room she would have taken the option, but the dead-man switch made that a losing option. Killing Bakuda while triggering whatever revenge she might have already set up was just not worth it, losing a city to get rid of a bomb-crazy woman was not worth it.
Holding onto her Qilin's side, she silently admitted to herself it was also not worth sitting on your hands doing nothing while a psychopathic bomb-crazy woman was terrorizing a city. The lives ruined and lost in the crazy times before served to strengthen her resolve to see this through. The memories of people in the hospital making her itch to take out Bakuda as soon as possible, even if she' d have to restrict it to non-lethal manner at the time.
Though if they got her and the Eidolon could hand over what it knew of her precautions, it was hopefully possible for Armsmaster and the Protectorate to recover and disable any bombs and other traps she might have set up to blow up the city in case of her defeat, to remove the assets she had set up for holding the city for ransom as well as making herself too dangerous to dispose of.
Lily idly watched as the troopers removed Oni-Lee's remains from the scene. Since the man had utilized lethal force, a matching response had been used. She swallowed quietly at the thought of how the landscape of the criminal world in the city was being shocked. Merchants were gone, one of Coil's hired thugs was gone, and after today, ABB would be relying on either just Lung, or be without capes.
That would leave the Empire to be dealt with soon. The racist bastards would start to run wild otherwise, so they would need to be stomped down. The power-vacuum would likely draw more troublesome people in later on, but hopefully they could by then hammer out some changes, and make it more difficult for new groups to put down roots in the city.
If things did get as bad as they would have in the original time-line, then she would consider abandoning the city eventually. Too many things had changed to be sure what to expect of the future though. She couldn't say what lay in the horizon, would the Endbringer attack even come to Brockton Bay without the Travelers around, without Bakuda's rampage being allowed to go on for longer than it had? She would just have to wait and see the end-result like everyone else at this point.
Holding onto the original time-line out of fear of changing the final outcome was not worthwhile, and the old information was only useful as a snap-shot of what could have been an extreme case if all the variables landed a particular way. Useful bit of data repository on various capes and their powers and personalities, but useless for predicting a more accurate view of the future, only for getting some idea of what might be coming in time.
Right now, he focus should be on making sure Bakuda would not get away from them, at this point, that might be the worst possible mistake. Angered at the attack and vengeful, if she felt she had no way out she would fight like a cornered rat. Letting her slip loose would let her continue with more resources and the level of grudge the bomber-girl could hold would make the city pay a heavy price for such a mistake.
No, the only acceptable outcome here would be victory. Considering the alternative was not worth it. She grit her teeth slightly while considering the possibilities. She could drop a flash-bang summoning on Bakuda and her group, but doing so would potentially endanger Armsmaster and the others inside too, if they got caught up in the disorienting flash and bang that would come.
"Trooper?" She turned towards one of the PRT men in uniform close by, and swallowed before speaking. "I could potentially drop another flash-bang summon on Bakuda and her group, but I am a bit worried I'll blind and shock Armsmaster and the others. Can you get a word to them and relay when it would be a good time to do so? I would rather not mess up their team-work inside to try and take Bakuda down, but with Oni-Lee having arrived, we might be working on a time-limit here. If Lung shows up to intervene, we might lose Bakuda, so I am considering taking a risky move like that." She expressed her opinion, and waited a moment.
"I can't decide that Ma'am, but I'll relay your words to the squad-leader, they can message Armsmaster directly."
That in itself told her that Armsmaster's jammer was likely restricted to blocking off only certain channels or bands, likely ones that were assumed to be the main ones Bakuda used from the earlier blasts, if they got to examine any bombs or recorded any signals near them. Which would likely mean that her dead-man switch and other things were kept on other channels and means, and another reason to be careful about this.
She waited a moment as a few words were being exchanged a bit further off, before the trooper waved her over to approach the squad-leader who glanced at her seriously.
"The situation is a stalemate in the building, Bakuda could harm the hostages in the building and is holding the detonations around the city as a threat to try and make Armsmaster and others back down. They've been trying to get her to stand down, but it is not going too well." The man let out a breath. "Unless they can make a break through in a few minutes, we'll probably have to go by your idea. Bakuda would likely react too fast seeing a grenade coming in. Your summons may still set her off to have her set off some bombs, but hopefully the disorientation may keep her from acting."
Lily got the strong feeling the squad-leader was not optimistic in their chances to prevent Bakuda from blowing things up in retaliation either way. Even if they captured Bakuda, the public might be yelling at the PRT and Protectorate for the casualties inflicted on the city by the actions in this operation or for failing to apprehend Bakuda before. No matter what they did, it was impossible to please everyone, and they would just have to take a path that would inflict the least amount of harm.
"If you think it might work, you could pass on to appeal to Bakuda's pride in telling her to surrender, saying her bombs are wasted on this 'petty terror' while she should be working with the Protectorate to build something to affect end-bringers, the exotic effects and unpredictable nature of her tech being potentially capable of creating something to harm them." Lily stated seriously, and saw the troopers look at her like she had grown a second head.
"The goal is to get her to surrender, no? Appealing to her pride and providing her a potential target that might make her not only famous but net her a ton of money if it succeeded might make her consider things. Doesn't mean we would have to give her a chance, just get her to stand down for now." Lily clarified quickly. While she wasn't sure if Bakuda's bombs would be able to do something about the Endbringers, the woman was crazy enough that it might work, and if the Eidolon was present to help manipulate her thoughts, perhaps it would be possible.
"I'll relay it ahead, but stand by to summon if it doesn't." The squad-leader nodded and moved a bit aside, touching their throat likely activating the microphone in the suit. Lily let out a quiet breath while wondering just how messed up things had got.
She briefly gave thought to what she would do after things calmed down. After all she had seen, the idea of going back to the office really did not appeal to her anymore.
She had worked hard to try and get a more secure life, but found herself acknowledging that in this world, any such security was an illusion. Things could change quickly, and what financial security she could achieve would likely collapse all too fast in the chaotic times.
Lily had made more from just little payments for the healing that her Qilin did, and some small donations she had accepted for it, while trying to help people. It felt a little dishonest of her since it was the Qilin that did the actual healing, but she accepted it for being what it was. She would seek to make sure later that her summons would get some pampering and good care for their hard work.
At the same time she did feel a bit of comforting reassurance from the Qilin. What it did was not against its nature and own desires, and a chance to practice its skills was welcome. Allowing it to grow stronger, little by little. It was comforting feeling, and Lily gently stroked the Qilin's skin while waiting for the outcome.
The Eidolon lurking in Bakuda's mind kept steering her mind elsewhere in a bit more paranoid thoughts about potential double-cross by some of her minions, other than the ones she felt were most loyal to her, while seeking to keep her from trying to blow up any further sections of the town. Trying to keep the woman from threatening the hostages kept in place for bomb-implantation here wasn't exactly easy either, with the raging woman trying to find a way to show off her genius and rub everyone else's noses in on the fact she was superior compared to them.
Bakuda was a difficult person to try and manage, especially without too overt moves. The Eidolon's patience was truly tested as it wanted nothing more than to make the woman lose her patience and charge at Armsmaster with a bomb in hand, to get gunned down by rubber bullets, unable to move on the floor one giant bruise. Unfortunately chances were she'd still be able to tap her toes together and blow places up while in pain and screaming obscenities on the floor.
Not to mention it would be suspicious for the woman to lose all lingering sense of reason to attack so bluntly. No matter how angry Bakuda might be, she was not a masochist or stupid enough to run into direct gunfire either, not when she had better options. The woman wasn't above getting hurt if it let her get further in her own pursuits, accepting pain as part of being alive, but she preferred to make others hurt rather than being hurt herself.
Watching quietly, keeping ready, the Eidolon felt a moment's amusement on the sudden shift in its host's own smugness. The flattering words being spoken seemed to appeal to her over-sized ego nicely, making it somewhat easier to handle her. Dialing down her confrontational side and fluffing her ego a bit more, the Eidolon made sure to have her as receptive to the bit of flattery as possible, while seeking to be careful enough to not be outright caught in the act.
"You're damned right I could blow up an Endbringer! These babies are just the start, you see what I got to work with? Lung's power can't be denied, but some materials aren't available." Bakuda smirked slightly behind her mask. At least they had some bozoes upstairs that seemed to realize her greatness and had the brains to offer her a deal. Not like she was going to take it, no, Lung would rip her apart if she tried, but she could play for time and enjoy the flattery a bit longer. Seeing how the bastard was squirming in dislike of having to flatter her only made it sweeter.
Armsmaster was a stuck up prick in her opinion, and having to praise her tech was grating on the man. There was no hiding that bit of hostility, but if his superiors said he had to jump, of course the man would jump. That's what the tools that got used by the damned corrupt organization did after all. They were dolls, marionettes, dancing to the tune of their masters gestures, just following orders.
She wanted to rise high, to become Lung's equal, to stand at his side as a Queen to his Dragon Throne. Neither of them were people who would share power easily, but they were practical people, and once she showed just how powerful she could be with her tech, even Lung would appreciate her and if not, well she would have the means to put a stop to him too.
She would rather not though, there was something appealing about the man's power and there was no hiding it that the ABB would follow Lung a lot easier than they would follow her. Old beliefs were hard to overcome even in modern days, and while she could become an untouchable bitch with horrifying fate awaiting anyone trying to mess with her, she had some way to go still to get that far. For now, she had to play the games, and get her hands on better parts.
"If you are willing to surrender, we can see about arranging better working conditions for you and tools you may need for the project. The amount of money spent on looking for solutions to the Endbringer problem is hardly small, and conventional weapons and direct damage attempts have not proven very effective against them before. The number of exotic effects your powers have might hold a secret to damaging them, cracking their armor, making them vulnerable, and perhaps finding out how to kill them eventually. You are an asset, and that's been recognized by the people above. We are here to retrieve you, and people like Dragon will want to talk with you later. Her ability to work out aspects of other people's creations might allow her to help mass-produce some exotic components to help you put together something bigger and more impressive still to crush those enemies. We will need you to disarm to join us, as a safety, but the offer is worth it."
Armsmaster looked like he wanted to spit out blood for having to flatter her and try and convince her, an effect that greatly amused her. Yes, she liked hearing how great she was, and she definitely wanted the fame and recognition. Unfortunately the fools that became tools would never really ascend to the top, the bosses would never let them. In criminal underground, if you weren't the top boss, you could seek to kill them and take their place, or become irreplaceable asset and hope to rise in status to stand next to them in time.
With those organizations, they'd come up with new ways to keep her down, and she wasn't keen on testing just how far they would go. Holding her little testing-ground show of force in this city as a sword of Damocles over her head if she put a few words out of line probably. No, she wasn't keen on agreeing with them, but right now, playing their game and giving the appearance of consideration allowed her to buy a little more time. Lung would likely be on his way, and having her men testify what all they were offering and how she never agreed to anything might help drive home the point she was an asset to the dragon as well. One that should be well-supplied to make the most of what she could do, to let her climb in power higher and higher.
"Time is running out." The trooper squad leader shook his head. "Bakuda's refusing to step out of hiding, chances are they are going to wait us out." The squad leader looked right at Lily, who sighed wearily.
"Relay to Armsmaster and the team I'll go with shock and awe summoning then. Ten seconds from the mark once I declare it." She waited a moment, watching the trooper relay the information. After getting a nod, she spoke.
"Mark." Counting down from ten after her words, she focused on the location of her Eidolon, and saw through its senses. On hitting 'two' in her mental count-down she began to coax the summon in place, at one she had it ready to manifest and was just looking the right spot, and at zero, she yanked.
"Furthermore, I-" Bakuda's words died out as a sudden weight slammed down on top of her and one of her lieutenants, shouting, a following loud bang and flash in the air shaking the two of them and her other lieutenant. She felt like vomiting, a rush of pressure over her in addition to the weight, it didn't kill her like a grenade would, but she felt disoriented and sick, and trapped under a heavy weight. She'd dropped her grenade launcher, and her gas-mask had clacked against the floor loudly too, the screen inside the mask before her eyes on the fritz, the lens serving as a medium for that overlay now failing to give her any clear data.
"Moo~oo!" The sound on top of her made her blink, gazing up turning her head, just in time to see a … dairy cow… lifting its tail.
The shriek in rage and disgust rang loud. Ice-cream coating the lens of her mask and her face was bad enough, being crushed under the weight of the creature, and sputtering under the mask as she heard footsteps rapidly rushing in was humiliating and damning. Fucking damn it, this wasn't how it was supposed to-
The Eidolon let out a loud sigh in relief after possessing the body of the guard also being caught under the dairy cow, taking a moment to angle a strike in the body, and pistol-whipping Bakuda on the head fast before she could do worse. It took some doing, as the guy was so out of it and disoriented that it was difficult to manipulate their body, but thankfully they were so out of it after the things that happened, it would be very difficult to get anything worthwhile out of the man if someone did figure something rotten was going on at the scene.
Watching the PRT forces and Protectorate capes rushing in, the Eidolon smirked quietly before slipping away, leaving just as Armsmaster used the halberd to deliver an injection to Bakuda's prone figure on the floor, before Assault tried to shoo the lazy dairy-cow up and off of the downed bomber.
"Primary target in custody, good job." The words the trooper relayed to her had Lily sigh in relief. Dismissing the dairy-cow once more, she felt a bit awkward. She summoned it for the second time to cause mischief like this, she really ought to treat it more nicely. SCP or not, it was not a bad creature, and being treated so poorly was rather crude of her, especially as its additions to the fight had definitely helped them out.
"Report from a forward observer, Lung has been detected clashing with some Empire thugs further off, but heading this way, slowly. We should get on the move." Another PRT trooper spoke up, and Lily found herself nodding in a short order. Her own flying minion, Axe-Flapper, rose higher yet to give a proper oversight at the scene again. She watched quietly, observing things, before feeling the proximity of her Eidolon. The figurine moving slightly.
"Bakuda down." Straight to the point.
"Good work there. That didn't go as planned, but the end results aren't bad. We're going to have to leave soon." She paused and looked at the Eidolon, wondering how to ask what was on her mind with the PRT troops close by.
"I was able to get some additional information about the bombs, placement, plans of dispersal, intended targets, her nasty little surprises. Should I relay these on boss?" The Eidolon's tone was polite and yet guarded and neutral.
"Yes, I think the others should know." She waved for the trooper squad leader, and hastily relayed the information, handing over the Eidolon, ordering it to give as clear report about information it had acquired to the PRT forces as it could.
Part of her felt that she should have hoarded that information to herself and made use of it herself, but at the same time she felt that she was alone against too many others for that to be a realistic plan, and infiltrating places to try and snatch a few bombs was just not worthwhile. Trying to break into other ABB businesses to steal more cash wasn't bad but had its own share of issues when the gang was on war-footing too, and Lung would likely be throwing a huge fit after this, and just looking to vent his rage on any fools that got caught messing on his turf after this.
Still, she joined the forces in preparing to leave the area in a hurry. She considered leaving her car on the scene, but decided against it. It would likely be destroyed in any rampage Lung might carry out, or stolen given the area, or it might catch someone's attention being so close to the warehouse and raise some questions about its owner. So, eventually she decided she'd ride out in her own car, unmasked once more, fleeing the scene.
She waited for others to emerge from the building with Bakuda being carried out, cuffed and knocked out cold. The two lieutenants were likewise cuffed, and seemingly still dazed, but being escorted out. Troopers in the building were releasing several hostages and 'would be patients' of the crazed bomb-maker, trying to get them to flee the scene in a hurry. Lung was getting uncomfortably close, and they weren't going to have enough time to do a proper evacuation anymore.
Lily grit her teeth together, feeling as a new set of connections reached towards her. Two creatures, two powers, or rather, a skill, and a power. She felt those two, a know-how of how creatures could be trained, something that would go along well with her earlier gained ability to advance other creatures training further. The other was a chance to call out more creatures at once, a cap she had not really worry about too much yet, being careful about deploying her creatures in general. It might become more important in the coming times though.
The two creatures she would give more attention later, right now, she found her mind occupied with too many other things to focus on them properly. They had to get moving, had to get out. Hearing the roaring in the distance, and witnessing Lung's approach through Axe-Flapper's eyes, she cursed, and then moved to lift her hand up, palm open, muttering.
"Arise and show this eastern dragon who rules the skies, arise and stand ready to subdue the one who would call himself Lung! Arise! Antibodean Opaleye!" The shimmer in the air before the massive creature formed in the air above, wings flapping to carry it aloft, the actual dragon manifested, a western dragon with wings blasting air beneath it supporting its weight in a way science would scream was not possible with that small a wing-span, armored scales that looked ready to take a beating, and wicked jaw and claws that seemed fit and ready to rend through whatever imposter came in the way of this particular dragon.
"We should go." Lily remarked to the others mildly, feeling a bit embarrassed at all the stares aimed her way.
Good thing that her range had grown a little, she didn't want to go too close to what those two might do with the area. She silently pushed the strength, speed, and energy boosts to the Antipodean Opaleye, wanting to make sure her dragon would have every bit of advantage she could give it.
Author's Note: And that ends the bit on Bakuda herself for now, but its a rather long day for the Protectorate, PRT, and the ABB. I figure chances are the forums on PHO are going to be exploding on some speculation and versus-topics though. Tempted to try and work on some PHO interlude again at some point, but admitting I feel uncertain I could do it accurately.
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FrozenTome
Mar 6, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 19 - Lung
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Mar 13, 2022
#148
Chapter 19
Lily shook her head quietly as she watched the PRT and Protectorate forces evacuating in a hurry, along with the civilians. It was a hurried affair, but nobody really wanted to get in between the clash of two Dragons. Axe-Flapper's view of things from high above gave a clear enough image of Lung pausing, perhaps in surprise, perhaps in shock, before roaring a challenge at the other dragon, her dragon.
At the meanwhile, she teleported directly to her wounded Ravager, the poor hound having got himself shot up badly, and still helping with the take-down of the thugs in that operating room at the end. Her hands laid on its skin, and let the healing touch ability she had gained to affect it. She could not heal herself, or other humans with it, only her own summons, but in that instant, she smiled at how effective it was. The burns and bullet-wounds healed practically instantly, revealing an unblemished figure a moment later, before she smiled and urged the Ravager to go, after pats and head-scratches.
She continued to leap from one creature to another, unsummoning some after a brief thank you, and others, like her Frosty, being given new instructions. Axe-Flapper would maintain an aerial overview, but Frosty would move ahead of her a bit of way, over rooftops, low enough she could teleport to it, and a rooftop, in short order.
Once only her Antipodean Opaleye, Axe-Flapper, Frosty, Eidolon, and Qilin remained, she was ready to get going. The first two were delaying lung or possibly defeating it, along with oversight of the fight. Eidolon was kept close at hand for any potential surprises and translating for others. Frosty would move over rooftops to allow her mobility to teleport to said rooftops, and Qilin was because healing might still be needed that night.
She headed over to where her car was, instructing the Qilin to follow the road away from here, and she was going to come too, until they'd reach her previous range away from Lung and Opal-Eye. She would go a bit past it, knowing her limits had grown since then, but not too far. Mainly to put some distance between the warehouse area, and her car's location. As well as increasing the range between herself and the clash of the dragons.
Given she could tell just how far away her creatures were now, it was a lot easier to asses distances. She continued driving till the last tenth of her range remained, parking a bit out of the way, and hastily getting out of the car to teleport onto a rooftop along with her Frosty, the Eidolon staying by the car. Qilin lingering a bit further ahead.
Looking back, she felt herself tremble. She had no place in being too close to that fight, but damned if it wasn't something to see for herself. Focusing momentarily on seeing through the eyes of her dragon, she grinned slightly at the shift in viewpoint.
Lung roared in fury as he tried to burn the scaled creature before him. Someone was mocking him! That damn bastard before him had to be a changer of some sort, no way a Case-53 of such size would have gone unnoticed. Someone else had got their hands on such power, and were openly challenging her claim to be a Dragon.
Part of Lung wondered if it was one of his bastards, but right now, he cared not, he planned to cripple and torment this prick for daring to challenge him, if they could be turned back and made to surrender, then he'd figure it out. If they kept fighting and challenging him, well that was just their stupidity getting them killed, he thought to himself coldly. He didn't intend to let this mockery of his power go unpunished, the bastard would get beaten within an inch of their life either way.
His anger made way to surprise when the other dragon parted its jaw, and breathed a fiery red stream of flames that hit him, making him yelp out in surprise. The flames were far hotter than their coloration would suggest, scorching his hide that was supposed to make him fireproof, or at least highly resistant to heat and fire itself. His own flames didn't really touch him, yet he briefly wondered if that was just a safety in his own fire power that he had not considered. He was pretty much immune to normal fires and heat around him too.
Yet those red flames made him shudder, leaving him feeling like he had got his skin scalded. Not really burnt in a serious way, but still unpleasant, though his regeneration was working on it fast already. Clawed fist nailed the pretender's jaw, and Lung roared his challenge, only to yelp as a swift turn and a tail-slap sent him through a nearby building's wall crashing through a couple of interior walls.
Roaring in rage and charging out with the intent to punish that bastard as he was growing larger and stronger still, Lung planned to put them in their place, only to run face first into a claw swipe that raked over his eyes, and made him drop on the ground shrieking. Breathing flame all around in anger, before a strike from above hit his head causing a momentary concussion.
What the hell was this bastard? They were hitting hard as a truck, and had fire stronger than he did, at least for now, and were also a bigger bastard, for the immediate moment. If the Endbringer sirens had sounded out he would have expected this creature to be one of their little siblings, but that didn't seem likely. No, this was just some cape that got really lucky with the power-roulette, and decided to try and challenge Lung.
Yeah, it was probably one of his bastards. He didn't really care for them, so any filial piety they should have had was likely non-existant. Well, if they were his, he'd beat them up and make them bend on a knee or see those knees broken. Nobody challenged Lung! Though he could use a powerful henchman, and if he had managed to spawn a second-gen cape with some potential to be useful, all the better. First he had to make sure the damned brat knew how to respect their elder however!
Lily watched from the distant roof top silently. Splitting her focus to watch through her own eyes at times, through the eyes of her axe-flipper higher up in the air, and looking through the close-up view of her own dragon, the Antipodean Opaleye, she was keeping an eye on things.
Lung had been growing further yet to match up with this new enemy, but got bashed down and beaten in a manner that slowed that growth, forcing the man to regenerate and focus on keeping himself together, as Lung shed several scales that got burnt too badly in some attacks, and watched how Lung's skull bounced off the concrete road after a particularly vicious slap with clawed hands of the dragon before Lung, though the concrete cracked and Lung's skull seemed fine.
Truly, the leader of the ABB was worth respecting as a foe. The guy was given an ability to grow in power to match their foe, a true escalating problem to deal with, yet at the same time, their escalation was having trouble matching a true dragon, just as it had struggled to match an Endbringer. Lung had fought against Leviathan before, and ended up running back then. Now, the man was seemingly intent to keep fighting despite any concussions and skull-fractures, torn ligaments and organ damage the man must have been taking, while healing them up once more.
It wasn't even like Lung was able to hold his own in that fight. The man was experienced and tough, strong as well in that grown form, but her dragon was an actual dragon that lived its life in such a shape, or at least the template that her dragon was built upon did. She preferred to think of it as a living creature, even if it began as a soul-engram carved upon her own soul to safeguard the dragon's existence in the event of a cataclysm that would depopulate the world it was from and render its breed extinct.
She was pretty sure whoever made those engraved images on her soul could use the same images to copy a number of dragons with small variation thrown in to restart the species, making her wonder how many others were there recording engrams into their souls and serving that purpose, was there double, triple, or even more layering to make sure there would be back-ups upon back-ups on the different creatures?
Lily did not know, but her powers had started off feeling relatively lacking, unlikely to change her life. Gaining Lips had not exactly filled her with confidence. Frosty was a real change for the better, and Ravager, oh Ravager was a good boy who deserved to have some good time running around wild and enjoying himself later. She felt she owed the assault team a good meal to pay back for their help earlier. Well, not pay exactly, they were part of her now, more family than co-workers or minions. Sighing slightly, she watched the sight in the distance.
She could not go a full kilometer away without risking losing the connection, but she preferred to keep some 800 meters between herself and those creatures. She knew her range had grown, and given the awareness of how far her creatures were, she could measure it to be a full 1 kilometer range now, in the metric system. She could think of it in the imperial system and convert easily enough, but she admitted a clean round number appealed to her.
Nonetheless, watching the fight further off, she wondered just how badly this all would blow up at the end. Lung rushing in, Oni-Lee being dead, Bakuda captured, the chances were things would be volatile, but removing a bomb-tinker from the equation could save a lot more than would be lost this night. The issue she foresaw was that the Empire would likely take the opportunity to cause trouble.
Merchants gone, ABB crippled, the E88 would likely try and rule the streets before any other would-be-thugs would come to town and try and set up shop in Brockton Bay. The city didn't need to see the return of the Teeth. There were other, less successful groups out there though that might also view it as an invitation. Power-vacuum was already made with Skidmark's Merchants being gone, but that was largely the less desirable front of the city, but if ABB was taken out, that would open a lot more territory for gangs to wage war over, and if Lung was taken out as well, the ABB might fracture into several different Asian gangs and old racial enmities might see them fight one another, on top of fighting the Empire 88.
Which meant she would likely have to try and see about dealing with the damned Nazis sooner or later. She didn't like the fact they had so much numbers on their side, and there was also the issue of Coil. The man was not showing his face in public, but she sincerely doubted the man had backed down, if anything, she felt he was a snake in the grass, planning and just waiting for a chance to lash out and sink those poisonous teeth into her ankle, or wrap her up in a constrictive hug and dictate terms to her, with an implied threat of suffocation to death or a poisonous bite if she tried to wriggle free or call for help or anything.
The man was a sinister monster that needed to be cleaned out sooner rather than later, and she had recognized her mistake already, but by that time, Coil was in hiding, and she didn't have a clear sight of who to send her Eidolon to possess to drag the man out of hiding either.
Lung took new blows to his head and his spine with force that made his body ache even as it hastily sought to heal him back up, the concussion coming and leaving him once more as his body pushed him further and further. The damned wyrm before him treated him like a cat playing with a mouse. He was growing, but not nearly as fast as he should, and he was pretty sure it was because he was getting hit around too much.
Lung was angry, positively pissed off, but he wasn't a dumb brute without any sense in his skull. True, he could generally overpower and drive off any threat to him that wasn't an outright Endbringer, but this time, he considered the advantage of taking some distance to finish growing up large enough to put this contender back in their place.
Lung roared, and leaped back in haste, taking some distance and inhaling deep, before breathing fire. Seeking to burn his foe and force them to keep some distance as he felt his growth accelerate once more, no longer needing to focus on constant healing.
His attempt was interrupted by a sudden slam of a car-wreck thrown in his face. That- that damned smug wyrm just picked up and threw a car at him! Lung roared in anger and sought to push himself, squeeze out every drop of oxygen in his lung and every bit of flame in him into one fierce jet aimed at that bastard's face, to show them the displeasure of Lung.
The creature snarled ahead of him, the voice somewhat drowned by the other noise, but Lung heard it, and the steps rushing closer, eyes widening as he closed his jaw, readying his clawed hands, just in time to get a claw swipe across the face, raking off scales and tearing deep bloody gorges of flesh off of his dragonic face as he screamed in pain and rage.
"KEEEHHLL JUUUH!"
Lung stabbed his claws at the other dragon's chest, the claws sinking a bit into the scales, but stopping, not managing to dig in deep. He tried to rend open the other dragon's chest and tear out its guts, only to have its own claws yank on his jaw, pulling it down, another pressing on his snout upwards, parting his jaw.
Lung's confusion was answered a second later when the other dragon breathed intense red flames… right down Lung's own mouth and throat, making Lung shake and tremble with the incredible pain of searing flames being literally blown right down his throat and into his lungs. The pressure of the other's breath left him unable to even scream, the scorching heat of his own flames never harmed him, no natural fire harmed him, but this red fire burnt him like nothing he remembered experiencing in his dragon form before. Lung struggled to stay on his feet, to yank his claws out of the other dragon's chest, trembling and shaking, before finally kicking the other back, struggling back a few steps.
Lung let out a rasping breath, the regeneration rushing to fix the lungs, to fix enough to let Lung get some oxygen, to breathe again, but it was still painful, and Lung was out of breath while his lungs sought to fix themselves.
He didn't even have time to see the tail-smack sending him tumbling into a building's side, before a claw slammed the side of his head, pushing his head into the concrete. Lung felt his head ringing, inhaling concrete dust and coughing roughly, his own flames trying to burn the stuff in his mouth and throat, while his own lungs ached with burn-scars being forcefully fixed by the regeneration, trying to restore functionality to Lung's own lungs.
The dragonic creature stomped down on Lung's leg, putting weight on it, the bone breaking. Lung yelled, swiping with his claws, and the battle was on. Rising up and limping on one foot, the other fixing the broken bone little by little, Lung snarled. This upstart wouldn't bend on a knee, then Lung would just have to kill them. No sense letting something stupid enough to challenge and try and humiliate him like this live. No, Lung would show he was the superior specimen, the master dragon of this domain. This foolish imitation would be shown the error of its way, and sent to afterlife to regret crossing paths.
It was a shame he had to kill what was most likely one of his own bastard sons, but given this prick fought this fiercely, they were likely the half-breed spawn of one of the captured girls anyway. Fucking dimwit. Lung could have made them an honorary Asian on the spot if they just bent the knee, and besides, wasn't his lineage clearly superior, the father of dragons?
Lily grimaced as she watched the battle going on. Lung was getting a bit better at times, but the Antipodean Opaleye just stopped holding back as much and kept stomping down on Lung. Literally, at times. It wasn't really a matter of fighting anymore, but trying to get Lung to realize to stay down, without killing or permanently crippling the other. Lily didn't really want to have Lung's death on her conscience, but if it came down to it, she didn't feel like she would lose too much sleep over it.
Lung had damned so many people to horrible life with his gang running wild, even if they were standing up against the Nazis and protecting their own community, they had committed their own share of atrocities and horrors that meant that they had no moral high ground to speak of. Hatred and anger seemed to just serve the cause of drawing in more fools to the fight.
Sighing quietly, she wondered if she would have to call in more powers, to use more of her little aces. She had a few options, but she hesitated, not wanting to have Lung outright killed, but it was apparent the man was not taking heed of the lesson, and the damage done to the city would get out of hand if this went on much further. At least Lung seemed to lose part of their escalation when their body had to enact emergency repairs, something that her dragon companion seemed quite well aware of by now.
She considered sending out Eidolon, but at the time, she doubted the Eidolon could really convince Lung of anything without it being highly suspicious. Then again, she frowned, there was something it could do. Giving a light tug on the connection, she felt the Eidolon rushing over to her, and the figurine she held.
"Eidolon." She swallowed. "I don't think we can try and convince Lung to surrender, not without it being way too suspicious. However, he is the leader of the gang, the one who knows who all are responsible for things, the one at the top of their organization. Can you root through his head for his secrets, for the hideouts, the top lieutenants and chiefs under him, the people that keep it all together? If we can decapitate the snake, I want to make sure we won't have a bunch of lesser heads taking its place, even if they would turn on one another."
Crippling blow to the ABB from inside, with insider information from the very top, it was a move that might hurt the ABB gangs enough that even if they splintered and waged war against one another and the Empire, they would not be as cohesive whole, they would not have access to all those funds, those stockpiles of weapons and other materials. It could lead to recovery of missing people, liberating people kept locked away in places, and see a lot of people up high in their organization facing charges that would not go away so easily anymore.
"Shouldn't take that long boss." The Eidolon replied briefly. "Anything else you want?" The tone was still as chilling and creepy as ever, but she felt a touch of amusement through the link, feeling hopeful the Eidolon shared some amusement at the idea of screwing over some selfish people in such a manner.
"Surprise me?" She shrugged as she made the suggestion, then feeling the Eidolon's presence grow more distant, towards the scene of her dragon and Lung, and the figurine had once more gone still and dormant.
Lily grimaced slightly as she felt a new set of connections rushing to settle in. One, a giant raven of some sort, or a crow. Cornix Canor. She got a feeling this would be another one to draw a lot of attention to her, but at the same time, it was big enough that it could, theoretically, carry her with it to the sky easily enough. That could allow her to gain a lot of mobility in itself, and given it could continue observing things from the maximum altitude that was still within her range, it could likely provide her with a fair bit of information as overview through its senses.
Now if she only could get an ability to communicate more than simple emotional states beyond the hearing range. Yelling commands out loud would reveal her intentions to her enemies after all, and likely draw fire towards her own person in turn.
She felt something else settling in. A new connection that seemed to whisper of a change. Shadows could already embrace her creatures and conceal them in dark layer, but this was something else. A chance to shift her creatures when they arrived to look a different way, perhaps in time, to truly be quite different. It would take some thinking about, but she was certainly leaning towards the feeling of more mechancial option. It intrigued her, and the possibility of making her creations seem like mechanical creations had an appeal, along with the potential future benefits if she could make the changes more comprehensive.
Shaking her head a bit, she felt like she had brushed against something but lost the grip, and a moment later she received a bit of additional power, almost like an apology for the missed connection somehow. Frowning a bit, she shook her head. She had been remarkably lucky in her gains, and the recent action had seen a rather explosive growth to her potential too. She wasn't about to complain about a small loss, especially when she had no idea what she had missed in the first place anyhow. Mostly she just felt the successful connections, the misses had barely registered before, missed entirely as it were, most of the time.
Lily shook her head quietly, focusing once more on Lung. The beat-down was rather one-sided, after the Antipodean Opaleye had fried Lung's lungs the first time, the guy was struggling to try and catch his second wind, pun not intended. Healing up from internal injuries while struggling to keep fighting, deprived of oxygen, the guy eventually collapsed. Sighing in relief, Lily swallowed and focused momentarily. A moment later, her power brought a Scurrier. The little creature looking like a mix of a rat and a kangaroo of some sort, but with horns. Small, and clearly a rodent, it looked around curious, and a bit eager.
"Hey there. Look, I need you to do me a little favor, alright? I am going to jump from here to another companion ahead who has been in a fight, and I need to give them some directions. I want you to stay here and hide in my car, guarding it if someone comes to steal it. I'll return to your side quickly after, I promise."
She petted the creature, and saw it squeak and nod its head rapidly. Moving to unlock the car and open the door, she watched it jumping on the seat and between the seats, into the back, slipping out of sight in short order.
She let out a small breath, gently giving a small pull to call the Qilin back, waiting till it was close to the car too. Looking at it and smiling, petting on the Qilin's mane.
"I am going where Anti was fighting, and don't want you to vanish because you were too far ahead when I went. Just wait here a moment."
She took a deep breath, concentrating a second, and vanished, reappearing where she found Lung shrinking down slowly towards his human sized, seemingly knocked out cold, with her dragon standing guard. She felt the Eidolon still in Lung's head, and hummed briefly.
"Okay, how about we deliver Lung to the PRT HQ and finish up the ABB in Brockton Bay?"
Author's Notes: I should update the informational posts with the contents from the last 9 chapters or so, but I am currently considering pooling it all together and posting the updated version after next chapter, updating it from 10 first chapters to the 20 chapters so far. Since I am considering some adjustments to that, hopefully helping to clarify some things about missed, and gained, powers and creatures.
Time-skip waiting ahead, and reaction time for Brocktonites. Again tempted with the PHO thread option, but not sure I could do it right.
#152
Chapter 20
Merchants were taken down before, and now ABB was without capes, damaged and worn down, and with plenty of resentment towards them from the aftermath of Bakuda's bombing run, even if it had not got as bad as it would have, if she was allowed to keep going. The numerous videos about the Dragon-Battle had spread out on-line, and the boards had been flooding with vicious arguments about what exactly had went down.
It was Sunday 24th of April, and Lily was resting back at home a small ice-bag on her head. Her little stunt with the Dragon had drawn a ton of annoying questions her way, and she was pretty sure she had said more than she intended during the fight to others as well. She had declined to go with the Protectorate later, or join PRT for a proper full debrief.
Nevertheless, ABB and Merchant capes had been removed from the streets, and Lung's temper tantrum and the following fight had burnt down an area closer to the fight, but wrecking mainly buildings that had been abandoned for a while or scheduled for a demolition at a later point in time anyway. Closer to the shore, there was plenty of old properties that were not seeing as much use these days as they once had, after all.
As for Lily, while technically she was still listed as working at the office, she had taken some time off following the bomb-crisis, and had decided to put in her two weeks notice. Not that she was alone, a fair number of people had quit their jobs and many were leaving Brockton Bay after the bombing-run, and a lot more since the word got out that only Empire remained as a real criminal power in the city. The main group of those leaving were the people that felt the Empire would make them a target, even if PRT and Protectorate reassurances that they would stop criminal activity were still being presented openly.
Some arguments were being made that the Protectorate and PRT had seen a whole lot more success at Brockton Bay lately after a long stalemate, and some comments had been made how Brockton had been denied new arrivals for a good while and others asked to transfer elsewhere had leaked out at some point. Comments pointing out how the city had been more or less left to fend for itself, even if it had relatively strong Protectorate presence, it was still one that was severely outnumbered before.
Talk was going on if removing the Empire 88 was on the list as well, and if so, would it be happening soon enough to matter? Would there be more trouble in the horizon from new gangs arriving. Some people remembered the time that Marquis had been around and commenting how things had gone to hell after Marquis was taken down, and the rise of the Merchants, the presence of Teeth and Butcher, and so on.
In short, there was a lot of people shouting aloud together, arguing about things, and expressing a variety of opinions, a lot of them negative and angry, including shouting why it had taken so long for Protectorate to finally act, along with some accusations it was not Protectorate making a change but a new arrival, comments going back and forth.
So far the comments that Tamer, a relative newcomer, was behind the dragon were mostly ridiculed and laughed at. A few comments had been made that it was not some small animal or weird creature but the son of Lung probably, or perhaps someone who got triggered close to Lung during some gang-initiation for ABB going horribly wrong during the Bakuda-crisis.
Speculation was rampant, people were screaming for answers, and Lily had kept herself busy tending to people at the hospital, alongside her unicorn, or rather, her Qilin. People were grateful and happy, raising her image and while Panacea didn't seem too happy that she didn't work as hard as she did, the young woman seemed grateful there was another healer present, even if they were a healer by proxy, through their summon.
Lily had also taken a couple of days out of her schedule to head out of the city before, to take a trip to the countryside. Parking up, and letting the creatures run wild for an hour or two, she had been feeding several fresh steaks to her beasts. The existence of her SCP cream-cow had proven itself invaluable, for the dairy that made its body was only one part of it, milking the cow produced very high quality meat, an anomaly that had her shaking her head. Body of dairy, and producing beef when milked. It was a weird broken reflection of an actual bovine in a way, bizzaro-version of it really. Not that she complained, the creatures seemed to enjoy munching on a rich diet of meat, and it didn't break her wallet.
Not that she hadn't splurged some cash on getting them other things they liked. Qilin had taken a good bit of time settling down on a soft bed of pillows to relax and be pampered as she tended to its skin, washing it gently and carefully, showing appreciation and gratitude. She had let her little Frosty fly free and wild with Geruta and the Axe-Flapper, she had allowed her creatures a chance to run wild.
Only the SCP in form of murderous wood had been kept back, she had even allowed Lips out for a time. The dragon had been brought out among the last creatures later on, to allow a short while to suntan and relax out in the open. It was a bit away from settlements so they didn't get spotted right away, but she had no illusions about the fact it would be noticed. It had still been a good chance to relax and spend time just relaxing among her creatures, as she saw her ever-growing gathering of beings frolic and enjoy themselves for a time.
The strange mechanical creatures like Blade Minion had left her a bit confused, and the Scurrier had been running about wild looking for treats and seemingly amazed by the green surroundings, positively delighted in its sugar-rush like eagerness to see everything and touch everything.
Arpia had been a weird experience, similar to how her Eidolon was, a creature capable of speaking back to her. Thankfully the Arpia appeared content on just relaxing for a time and happy to be let out to take a bit of time relaxing. It had been a hectic time before, and while not all of her creatures saw much time outside, they enjoyed the chance to spend time so.
The ones she could not bring out were the summons from Final Fantasy series. They were not meant to manifest in the world for long, rather, they would arrive and grab a section of the world in what would be easy to describe as a sort of reality-marble, before inflicting potentially world-shattering impacts against their foes. Holy Hell, the Ark alone could probably inflict some traumatizing levels of damage.
She was pretty sure she would not call upon them unless it was a major crisis. Like an Endbringer about to destroy their city. She wasn't sure their power would do too much against Scion, since the fellow was around in his avatar rather than real flesh, but she had to wonder, if she could inflict enough damage on Scion's avatar, would it be possible to make a hole and tear her way to where the true body of Scion lay, and deliver an attack there that would put an end to the nightmare that the Shards could become?
She did not know. Worse, she didn't want to trigger the events in the Ward story later on. Without Eden, a lot of dead shards were acting pretty darn anomalous. Without Scion, the rise of Titans might be in the horizon. The world was pretty much set for a crappy future either way, but if Scion wasn't about to go off on a murderous rampage, they'd be better off keeping the fellow relatively calm longer still.
Jack Slash and the rest of the Slaughterhouse 9 were a major issue to remove, and the Three Blasphemies would have to be dealt with, but those were still lesser issues than the Titans would be, or Scion's doomsday rampage would be.
Sighing as she rested back on the couch, Lily thought of all the challenges that may lay ahead. One step at a time, she reminded herself, and best to not plan too far ahead, because the reality of things was that there was too many variables to say anything for certain just yet.
The Empire would need to go, she could not tolerate the idea of those thugs committing hate-crimes. Sure, she didn't like a lot of folks, some of whom might be black, Asian, or members of one particular religion or another. Yet there were just as bad assholes in her own ethnicity and religion, so in her opinion, belonging to an ethnicity or being a member of a particular religion, or political party, did not immediately make you an asshole. It might indicate some troubling signs though.
She did not think every Neo-Nazi out there was necessarily a bad person either, some might have legitimate grievances with people different from them, and need to vent their hate with like-minded people. If they kept it there, complaints and whines, they were expressing an opinion, an unpopular opinion perhaps, but that was it. As long as none of them actually went on to commit hate-crimes, she'd tolerate it as part of the freedom of speech. Everyone was entitled to their own opinion, even if she'd personally think some of them might be a steaming pile of fresh manure. She also doubted the truth about their grievances, but that was hard to prove.
Actual gangs like Empire 88 that had multiple counts of hate-crimes and openly advocated hatred towards those that were different, or the ABB and their attacks on people who were not Asian, and sometimes between different groups of Asian people before the ABB forced them all under the same banner, following Lung, well they were a different thing entirely.
The people who were actively engaged in hate-crimes and quite excessive in their violence and vocal in their hate were just asking to be put down like a bunch of rabid beasts, foaming at the mouth and having long since lost what dredges of sanity and reason they had, fully consumed by blinding, frothing hatred. Putting them down would be a mercy, really.
Shaking her head as she considered what all the future might hold, she tried to narrow her focus on the immediate future. Protectorate and PRT had been trying to hold onto status quo in the city, afraid to rock the boat, outnumbered and in serious trouble, without much in the way of support from powers beyond the city, left to rot. Now that things might be changing, it might be time to take advantage of that, but the power-vacuum left by gangs being broken, their capes lost, would undoubtedly draw in more troublemakers trying to establish their own little personal fiefs and kingdoms, ruling like robber barons of old, their powers and potential gangs trying to carve up a slice of the pie for themselves before the law-enforcement in its various forms could capitalize on the changes being brought in these days.
Crushing the Empire could make things spiral out of control having Teeth and other bastards rushing in hoping to claim the biggest slice in a hurry, but it was also possible it would make people more wary about approaching, wary of the possibilities of getting their names added on the list of villainous capes that had got in serious trouble in the city recently.
ABB had two living capes that were likely going to be heading off to prison for a good while, the Birdcage was being considered for Lung after his tantrums and breaking out before, even if others might argue for leniency in case he might be of use against Endbringers. Bakuda, though, that was another matter. She was serious bad news, but there was a bit of truth in the false-claims of offer from Dragon now, because captured like that, and the bombs analyzed, in their inactive form, the Dragon had considered there to be possibilities there, if Bakuda could create something to harm Endbringers, it might potentially keep her situation better than a trip to the Birdcage despite her bombing spree, or a trip to a high security prison and constant guard against her acquiring any materials to tinker with.
Her thoughts wandered back to the case of Coil. She had no idea what the man was up to, and that had her quite wary. The man had lost a lot, but he was hardly out of the game yet, and the more time she gave him to prepare, the worst it would be for her. Moving around the area that his base was supposed to be, and letting her Eidolon out might help out now. The range had increased, and getting into the place and possessing a guard there might allow her Eidolon to root out some useful secrets.
As far as she knew, the Undersiders had disbanded, and while it was mostly quiet, there was some hints from the Protectorate when she inquired before that the Travelers were not an issue, after they had engaged in a fight. From what she understood, due to them possessing some rather dangerous individuals, a variety of firearms with tinker-tech make had been put to use.
Things that were determined unable to stop Crawler from butchering people and keeping the man down, but could still be used to execute kill orders on even high-threat Brutes and Breakers, with enough variety that they could rip matter apart in enough ways that something had clicked, and helped tear down the Proto-Endbringer in Noelle.
Though from the sounds of it, the casualties among police and PRT troopers to get them initially pushed back enough to use those weapons had taken a toll, and it had certainly not been helped by the members of that team trying to fight back. Monstrous creatures created in a hurry had not lasted long, but when fiery suns appeared among the police-forces, and some of the more dangerous PRT troopers were suddenly switched around to hurt their own, it had been a veritable bloodbath from the sounds of things.
Which was why Trickster had been taken out by a sniper-rifle from a distance while the guy was distracted.
If she wanted the full report, she had to give them a lot more information in turn. Her help with the Merchants had added to her reputation and her willingness to heal had also raised her importance to the PRT and Protectorate as an associate and potential ally, but while they wanted to recruit her, they were also quite wary about her now.
Not only because she had spied ahead with her powers on the enemies location, potentially earning her a Stranger rating under her Master category, being able to summon unseen spies as it had been remarked in a short talk as she refused a full report and review of actions taken afterwards. The dragon, well, that had raised even more questions and right now, she wasn't too keen on answering anything more.
Hell, she was not happy with the fact the PRT was aware of her possessing a spy in form of Eidolon, even if they only got minimal interest, and seemed to draw conclusions that were mostly wrong, along with limitations they theorized her power to have. She wasn't keen on educating them of the reality of things, even less so when Coil might have access to any information they did get.
No, she needed to deal with the Empire, she needed to remove Coil, and see to it that things would be improving again. There had been way too much trouble in the city lately, she felt they all deserved a break, but she had a feeling something unpleasant was just behind the corner.
Hearing her phone give a small chime, she picked it up and checked her messages, before blinking, and letting out a long-suffering groan on seeing the sender. Her brother.
Lily stared at a can of beer, sitting on the table, unopened. Sipping on some water, she glared at it, while briefly pinching on the bridge of her nose. She felt so tired with the damned hi-jinks her brother got up to, and she felt his recent request for money was particularly aggravating.
The whole city was under attack, several people killed or badly wounded, places of business closing, and he came to her to ask for more money. She felt so angry she wanted to have a few cold beers and then call her brother to yell at him for being an insensitive entitled brat who was mooching off of her when she was already hurt and in a bad place, and shameless about it too. The previous transfer records in her bank-account showed a pattern there after all.
She wasn't keen on sending in any more money. Claiming she wasn't getting enough money to even really live with the business in shock after the bombing might be one way, but the whining would continue, even if the guy might ask for a smaller amount if he genuinely believed she didn't have more.
Lily had got her hands on a fair bit more money now, thanks to her work at the Hospitals with Qilin, and while she had not received a bounty on Bakuda, one had been in planning, and though another for catching Lung had been in the works after his latest escape, chances were she wouldn't see one there either.
The government agencies would likely be happy to use any loopholes to avoid any extra spending they didn't need, unless it suited their purposes. She doubted they put high enough value on her to pay her any extra unless she was willing to sign up with the Protectorate officially, and that was not happening. That ship had sailed, and been sank half-way, torpedoed in the waters infested with sharks.
No, she had no real interest on joining the Protectorate, though she didn't really have much interest in going criminal either. Independent suited her better. Offering some healing now, potentially something more later if her creatures could assist her in an appropriate way, but she'd wait and see on that.
Nevertheless, having a little more cash at her disposal did not mean she wanted to support her brother's bad habits. Lily was relatively sure that her brother would not have contacted her again this soon, rather they would have waited at least a month longer first, if they hadn't managed to screw up and need cash more urgently now. Possibly relating to how she didn't have the two-hundred he needed the last time around either.
The only reason she was giving it any thought was the fact he might actually show up if she refused.
The idea of someone who was supposed to be related to her showing up, and finding her acting very strange and different from whatever mental image the guy might have from before, could lead to trouble. Finding out more information about her personal life, the guy might leak it out to wrong ears, or get some clever ideas and think they could capitalize on her powers if they thought they could do so.
She might be too suspicious and paranoid about it, but personally she would rather be wrong and pleasantly surprised, than proven right but ill-prepared to deal with the consequences.
She drank down the water in her glass, lifting the pitcher to refill the glass, and holding it. Swirling a bit of water in it while staring at it, and through the clear glass, at the can of beer.
Part of her wanted to drink and just vent it out once she had that liquid courage in her. She didn't want to do so however. She needed a clear head going forward. One can wasn't a big deal, but one can could easily go to second, third, and so on. She wasn't certain of her own self-control and will in this case.
Her past life didn't really feel like she had an addictive personality, but in all fairness, she would rather not fool around with drink, even beer, when stressed out. There was too many other things on her mind too. Both on the cape-life side, and in her civilian identity.
Lily did not feel there was much appeal or interest in keeping up with her current job, not after her reputation had already been stained by missing work before without a proper explanation. She could hardly claim to have been held by PRT in custody since her civilian identity and cape identity were meant to be kept separate. Sure, they'd happily help over at PRT if she signed in and joined the Protectorate, but until she had her name down in the documents and all that had been confirmed and filed away, they would withhold some useful additions that they would save as incentives to join along.
Finishing up the water, she snatched up the beer a bit annoyed, and moved to return it to the fridge. Emptying what remained in the pitcher into the sink and putting it away, Lily sighed and set the glass aside. She had too many things on her mind, and felt that while some of the pressure had been lifted with Bakuda no longer in the scene, it was more a breather before another catastrophe rather than a lasting peace.
Empire would start trouble soon, or another gang would roll into town. Bakuda's bombing spree had been stopped, and the Travelers had been stopped on their way, so chances were that Leviathan was not headed towards Brockton Bay during next month, but she wouldn't bet on that just yet.
Glancing at her phone and considering the potential for trouble in her civilian identity as well, Lily shook her head, before blinking, feeling new connections forming. It had been so fast back when the fight was on and things were hectic, quieting down a bit. Now, she felt connected to a new card, Jump. The connection through it also further enhanced her magical reserves, the wand she had gained when she got her hands on the first card, The Libra, now linking to a deeper pool of power.
It was the power that came with this latest card that had her tense up though. Grant Traits. She could take a trait from one of her creatures to apply to another. She was not yet sure exactly how powerful that could get, but she had a little shiver running down her spine considering what it might do if she was to combine her Dragon's natural abilities with the sheer destructive power of her Therva, the little lizard-creature, and its power-stealing abilities as well as the breath-weapon it had. Combined with granting a creature more magic, she felt more than a little intimidated.
Something that was designed to drain all the magic reserves into one brutal attack, combined with a dragon's own breath-attack, could potentially elevate that danger rating a fair bit. She was already a bit suspicious her dragon had held back a fair bit on attacking Lung, trying to take the bastard down alive and all, but combining those two, it would be a glass-cannon act, draining the magic in the dragon would likely have it exhausted and tired, even if it was more mental than physical energy, but the sheer amount of damage she could see that inflict would be noteworthy. If the Therva's ability to steal power from another could be added, might it add to something that could help take down an Endbringer? She did not know, but she had a lot more thinking to do ahead of her now.
Unfortunately she didn't think she'd be able to focus on that for now. The more immediate concerns for the city went over the long-term goals right now, because while she wanted to see the place improve, chances were if she focused on things further in the horizon ignoring the present, she would regret it when someone dropped the next bit of trouble right on her doorstep.
No, best to get rid of the snake in the grass and crush the last big gang in the city, and then think about it more.
Author's Notes: I gave a try to trying to make a proper PHO chapter, and it turned out horrible enough I decided to scrap it. I know the present chapter doesn't add much, being a transitional period more than anything.
Going to post this, and then see about updating the Informational Post.
Spoiler: Listing
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FrozenTome
Mar 20, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 21 - Lit spark to the fumes
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Mar 27, 2022
#159
Chapter 21
Tuesday 26th of April came, and Lily sighed wearily as she walked out of the office, a box in her arms with her personal things. Given how many people were leaving, it wasn't a big surprise to her boss that she too was quitting. The customary two weeks notice didn't really matter so much anymore, not with the business having a real good chance of going under anyway, and a lot of people on the edge about what was going to happen next.
People might be hopeful for a moment, but a lot of people were jaded and expected something awful to take place soon enough to knock things back down, and hope was the first step on the road to disappointment.
It was surprisingly painless operation, but it was done. Her last check would come at the end of the month, and that would be it. She had more money on the account set up for her cape identity as Tamer, but she wasn't keen on transferring it to her civilian account, giving a clear trail over to it. Removing some of it in cash and depositing the same cash in her civilian identity somewhat later was hardly a great move, but eh, it worked.
Of course, it took to going to the Brockton Bay's bank twice, in costume, and out of costume, but it could be done. She had drawn a few stares when doing so, but people generally did not move to interfere. The guards were wary, but on the fact she was there on regular business as a client saw her treated rather well. Heck, the bank even seemed to accept it as as a bit of publicity, a cape was openly using their bank for their funds, and coming in within costume, and the fact she had Ravager following along after her seemed to convince people it was real too. Mostly as a guard, and in part because she planned to later dismiss Ravager after this, and teleport over to her Eidolon, hovering around in the air in an alley further off, out of sight and out of mind, to slip back out of her covert identity again.
She was taking up doing some patrolling with Ravager, taking the good boy out for walks after Ravager's contributions. The cream-cow was getting a lot of time out grazing when she visited the park area too, but a bit out of the sight, and away from her. It didn't seem to mind. Grazing on the grass, the bushes, the leaves, the cream-cow's body was busy converting the plant matter into steaks inside its udders, a weirdness she had no real defining words for.
She had considered offering some of them to the Fugly Bob's place to taste-test the creations, offering some prime steak for them to cook up like that seemed a tad wasteful, but at the same time she was hesitant to try and offer them to some primo-restaurant, because of the number of people that would likely jump in both on interest to buy such goods, and on complaining about potential safety hazards.
It was also up to debate whether the steaks, a produce of the cow, would vanish as soon as the cow vanished, and what that might do to a person who had eaten them. Things that would take testing. She had taste-tested some cooked home, small bits of milked meat, chopped up and grilled and served in a dish. She was pretty sure the meat was fine, and didn't vanish, but she used a very small portion anyway, and vanishing the cow afterwards had not made her feel anything bad or odd.
She was still hesitant, because she had things that could cause some serious issues if their effects lingered, such as the thorny SCP tree that could kill and convert beings into materials for new trees, new SCPs, if she was careless. So far it seemed those would vanish with the tree, people stung would be hurt but they would not change as long as the tree was vanished soon after. That was the theory at least. She wasn't exactly keen on carrying out extensive testing, on normal regular humans any more than with capes.
Still, if she did end up in a pinch and summoned a tree and had Hookwolf smack right into it and get pricked by the SCP's hazardous needles, then they were just volunteering for a test subject, and in all honesty, an openly racist, hateful psychopath who reveled in causing pain and agony and loved blood-sports and making dogs rip one another part as well was the sort of person she found acceptable target for such testing.
The issue was still there, it would get her labeled as an S-Rank threat if she could produce a weapon like that and it could expand and get out of hand. She had to be sure the produce could linger before any thoughts of making it available for sale could be done.
One-off chance to see some of it cooked up for a meal or two might be fun, and if it vanished out of her belly without effects, fine. It would be disappointing it wouldn't provide real sustenance, but if it caused no damage either, then that would be it, great meals with prime grade beef that didn't linger as extra calories.
If the food so processed and cooked did stay, and wasn't at risk of fading away, then she could, potentially, be able to supply some beef later on if things were more chaotic and a secure source of food was needed. The fact she could get things like that from her cow without actually having to kill and harvest an animal was amusing even if a tad weird.
She was pretty sure that her abilities and powers hinted that there was another perk, or power, of some sort that would allow her to harvest and gain so much more. The fact remained it was not readily available to her yet, she had not got her hands on that, so she didn't know what rules and limits there were.
The produce from the cream cow didn't seem to vanish on the spot if she dismissed the cow, but bits and pieces like fur shed by the Ravager did. She had noted this earlier, and wondered if there was some intentional limits, no leaving body-parts or anything such, but harmless, 'mundane' materials like the meat could remain, just like, potentially, actual milk taken from a real cow if she got one in mundane animals category.
That might mean the harvesting ability would give her something more, like some more rare, exotic materials from some of her beasts, or turning some more robotic options into futuristic parts that could linger after the creatures themselves were dismissed.
Making her way to the car with her stuff in her hands, she put the box down, sat down, and drove back home. The thoughts on the future lingered on her mind just as the little walk around as her cape persona at the bank. She had been debating on the merits and demerits of her current actions and choices. More convenient options like straight transfers between her cape identity and civilian identity weren't entirely out of the question, the bank would likely want to keep things private, but the more clues and evidence there was out there, the easier it would be for others to learn her secrets.
Still, it didn't help too much. Coil already knew too much and was out there, and she fully expected to clash with the man at some point. She was kinda suspicious why that had not already happened actually. Even if she had uprooted a lot of hidden links and exposed uncomfortable truths in her data-dump about the man and future plots it was hardly a perfect solution to anything, and she expected the man to come after her for Dinah too. Yet nothing.
Part of her wondered if she was just missing out on some attempts made in 'spare time-lines' that the man dropped. Unfortunately none of her powers seemed outright suited to make her invisible to those powers and neither did they offer her a way to be aware of such alternatives either.
Right now, she was half-expecting the Empire to start an aggressive campaign any day, or for Coil to get on the move. Thomas Calvert was on the loose, PRT was looking for him, and while they had arrested a body-double, said double did not pass the checks, confirming the man merely looked like Calvert, rather than being Calvert.
That alone had rang a lot of alarm bells in the PRT and Protectorate ranks though, investigation carried through because of the suspicion and accusation had spiraled further, since proving Calvert innocent of all wrong-doings would have just required one brain-scan. The fact the man had not even paused to try and deny that option for whatever reason on the surface spoke something about him, and the tangential lines connected to him and the other things around the posts had sparked a fair bit of trouble to Calvert.
It was safe to say she was pretty sure if Calvert had his way, she would have been either dead, or under the man's employ, gun to her head or otherwise. She wasn't keen on giving the man any more time than she had, and spending some time around the downtown locations having the Eidolon slip around checking out some shelters to look for where Thomas Calvert was laying low was taking a bit of time and effort.
She really didn't feel she could risk Dinah's safety just to try and get a better idea of the location before, but locating the man's primary hideout since then had become difficult. There was mild suspicion on her own part that Calvert might have considered the game ruined by now, no longer capable of taking over the Brockton Bay in a legitimate way as a Director and perhaps unwilling to just be a criminal boss alone, which might mean some relocation efforts.
Given how much Calvert had invested into Brockton Bay however, and the fact it was kept as a test-bed for the Cauldron's project on Superhuman Feudalism however, it was unlikely the man would try and uproot himself and set up shop anywhere else. No, she was concerned that the delays meant the man was up to something bigger, and worse he was gathering information such as what she had already revealed with the Dragon.
Then again, that had put a serious dent into Lung's rampage, and skull, and potentially also made the Empire tip-toe around the current opportunity while being wary of provoking a reaction from another Dragon in the city, especially one that was possibly siding with the law-enforcement.
Lily felt a light headache just thinking on it. So many little issues were potentially changing things so much that her theories and expectations were subverted. It was ridiculous to try and plan on the long-term when chaos could kick things up in the air so easily. Then again, hopefully she was giving Calvert even bigger headaches with her little surprises, and if the Kaiser was wary of rocking the boat even after Merchants and the ABB were removed from their former status as cape-supported and led gangs, they were not going all out on trying to usurp the territories.
That wouldn't last for long however. Not when there would be others trying to contest them for territory, newcomers, old thugs driven off in the past, and possibly an expansion by some groups further off that felt the time was ripe for setting up a new branch in a city recovering from a series of bad luck to the local thugs.
Criminals might be careful and wary, even paranoid at times, but there were just as many hot-heads and thugs with something to prove, people willing to take a gamble, even if it was using lives as stakes, hoping to carve their own little corner in a criminal underworld and fill their pockets with cash, and gain some influence and fame to go with it.
Her thoughts on all that were interrupted as she felt her connections flaring. A new SCP, the mental images forcing their way to her head making her hastily pull over to the side of the road for a moment. Nursing her head and wincing at the memories rushing in, she inhaled deep and shuddered.
SCP-247. It looked like a kitten, but it was really a tiger. A dangerous tiger at that. One that could convince people it was a harmless kitten, an illusion that even compelled people to approach and try and pet it. Resulting in some very unpleasant surprises in turn.
Not only that, but another connection followed a moment later. Another teleportation power, except in this case, it was not just taking her to one of her creatures, but being able to switch between them, or between herself and them.
That held potential. It was an addition she would have to consider carefully with the future tasks in mind. Sighing and waiting for a moment to let the worst of the headache to pass, she got back on the move, making her way back home, thinking about it and what was in store later.
Arriving to the hospital was a bit easier when she could send Eidolon close, unseen and unheard, then teleport to their location with their power, using them as a beacon to teleport to.
Once inside, she summoned the Qilin, and smiled quietly behind the mask. It had become a bit of routine, doing some basic healing for free, helping out with people who didn't have much money but had been injured nevertheless. Bit of helpful hand given, and offering some help for those in recovery after surgery.
It was limited though, she had to make sure to not try and offer too much for free, or people would start to argue she gave healing for free before, and that she should always do it for free. She had to admit she preferred to try and help out for free, but she had her share of bills to pay too.
Which translated to offering people a more lengthy and complete healing session for a small sum, offering some healing for free, basically prioritizing her time so as to give some healing free, showing it worked and getting some attention, and reserving some time to people who were willing to pay for the service.
Her Qilin wasn't offended it seemed, rather, it seemed to simply continue on with the task, following her guidance without issue, seemingly happy to help too. Not too amused by arguing though. Thankfully it seemed the pattern had already been established by that point.
She healed several people in bad condition in the intensive care unit, as well as people who were in for a long road to recovery after surgery or other treatments. She was still wary of trying to offer Qilin's healing as a solution to cancer or anything such, it was more for injuries than illnesses and such. Yet quick recovery times after surgery certainly helped, and taking care of people with recent injuries helped.
She had also found it helped push back symptoms on more nasty diseases and such, giving the doctors a bit easier time treating them in turn. Someone who's disease had progressed too far to treat the easy way could find their status 'rolled back' slightly with the Qilin's efforts. Not removing some things entirely, but making it easier to treat by reducing severity of things that got worse over time, by treating the symptoms, treating the injuries caused on the body.
Lily did silently wonder about just how far it would eventually go. The Qilin's abilities were growing stronger, that much was certain. Yet she felt she was working with a time limit. The doomsday clock was ticking on, slowly perhaps, but still on the move. If not the gangs and Coil, it might be an Endbringer one day, or it could be the threat of the remaining Entity, or even if that got solved somehow, there was a very real threat and risk of Titans later on in the time-line.
Focusing on the task at hand, she moved from one person to another. The Qilin's healing was not as well-regarded yet as Panacea's care, but the fact she showed up with a bit more known schedule and was willing to offer priority to people who were willing to pay a bit for it meant she had more wealthy clients who didn't want to suffer through recovery if they could just skip it for what was practically pocket-change for them, but several months of rent and more for her.
She carried on through the routine, collecting a nice bit of extra from that, but also finding the list run out sooner than she would have preferred. Sighing quietly, she spent a bit of extra time healing others with minor things she could help with, since there was nobody around to pay to 'cut in line' so to speak.
As Lily finished up the last client she intended to take, there was a sudden rush of chatter and people rushing about. She saw a female doctor rushing over towards her at the time, and looking a bit torn.
"There's been an incident. The Empire attacked a number of people they consider undesirables, and a lot of folks are coming in badly hurt. Can you extend your hours? We could really use emergency help."
Lily grimaced. So it began. The last time she came to hospital to respond to Bakuda's bombing spree, but now, it was the Empire that decided to start trouble. Still, she knew that even if she went out to try and stop them, chances were they'd already done a lot of harm before the ambulances began to rush to the scene to begin with, and peoples lives might be at stake here too.
She realized her expression wasn't seen behind the mask, the doctor waiting uncertainly, looking at her. It had only been a couple seconds but still, she looked like she wanted to rush to others aid, but made the request anyway. Her powers, or rather, the power of her Qilin, was certainly going to come in handy after all.
"It is a crisis. I can't walk away right now." Lily nodded in agreement, receiving a relieved sigh and grateful words, even as she steeled herself for what would likely be long hours. Checking on her PRT-issued phone quietly, she noted no official word had come out yet, but she had been largely ignoring demands, and 'politely worded requests' to come over to debriefing as well for a while.
She wasn't keen on talking about the Dragon, any more than she was keen on talking about her slip. The fact she had made a mistake and admitted something about her powers growth in the scene earlier lead to people wanting to ask her directly, rather than speculate, but she was pretty sure her show of force with the dragon had already upped her rankings in threat-assessments at PRT earlier.
Right now, she intended to keep helping at the hospital, take care of the more critical patients and help keep more people alive through the horrible mess. Perhaps afterwards she could direct her attention to preventing those racist bastards from trying anything like this again. She had hoped, silently hoped, that they would maintain some measure of caution for a longer period of time still, but that wasn't in the cards it seemed. Something had kicked over the hornet's nest and got them all rushing out to cause trouble.
Had Coil perhaps still managed to put together a list of civilian identities for the Empire capes even without Tattletale? Or was he possibly holding Tattletale captive at gun-point after the news got out? Lily did not know, but the particular moment in history kicking the Empire in the crotch would certainly get them enraged, and consider the situation already too screwed up for it to matter to hold back anymore.
She would focus on the work of healing people first, and then get her hands on new reliable information once that was available. Then she'd have to move on to offense. The Empire had made their choice, or one had been forced upon them, but either way they had committed themselves, the die had been cast, and the results for the coming chaos would be up in the air for now.
Leaving the hospital rather late, alongside Qilin, Lily was planning on making some distance before vanishing to travel further ahead to her Eidolon, when she heard the Qilin snorting and felt the tension through the bond. Glancing around, she felt more than a bit wary, a sense of being observed. She didn't like it. She pulled on her bonds to grant her added strength and energy for the moment, silently wondering if she should start just summoning, or vanish to make her way out.
She kept walking ahead as if she wasn't aware of it, not on the Qilin's back as a rider, as that would have made her seem likely to run, and probably prompt a more rough reaction quickly. She was still very wary, and feeling tense, half-expecting someone to try and shoot her or something. Part of her instincts was screaming for her to teleport away, screw keeping secrets, she ought to evacuate now and figure out the rest later.
"That's far enough." There was a yell from a parked close by, a pair of white men stepping out, looking to be dressed like civilians, but strong build and some scratches she could see from a distance made her think they were likely members of the Empire. Perhaps not the most noticeable ones, not skin-heads or tattooed all over, but that didn't mean they weren't likely to be dangerous.
"Tamer, correct? We are here to escort you to meet with some people. Please, don't make any dumb moves." The guy's tone was cold and serious, while he watched her intently, another guy eyeing the Qilin warily.
Lily was pretty sure they were not the only ones around. She felt a light touch on her abilities, only for her bond to respond to it by shocking the touch, and heard a loud scream from a nearby window, vanishing from place to appear by the Eidolon a fair distance away, then hastily turning to the Eidolon.
"Empire made a move on me, I'm sending you there, try and dig in for some information, I think Victor might be close-by."
She hastily switched the Eidolon and Qilin's positions, having the Qilin appear next to her at a rooftop. Off the edge, but still. She hastily unsummoned the Qilin afterwards, vanishing it, before sighing and summoning Frosty. Only she pulled on the connection she could feel after the recent revelation of themes, and shrouded the Frosty in shadows. Creating a floating orb of darkness with light chill around it, which was, honestly, quite a bit creepier than the Frosty appeared in its usual cheerful snow-ball form.
"I need to get back to my car, and Eidolon's went back for more information. Please head on over to my vehicle, and stay hidden. I'll teleport over closer to you soon, and we'll go." She instructed the Frosty fast, and then waited. As it rushed off, she made sure to summon her axe-flapper as well, shadowed to conceal it better at night-time. The Geruta's jet-fires were just too visible to use here, at night especially.
"I need you to rise in the air and provide oversight. There's some trouble coming, and I need to keep ready if people are coming closer to me. Keep watch, and alert me through the bond if someone is approaching me." She gave her instructions, and watched the sharp creature rising to the sky hastily, to carry out her orders.
She waited quietly for a time, before feeling the Eidolon returning. Digging into a small pouch she kept with her, she lifted out the figurine in it, allowing the Eidolon to possess it in turn.
"Victor was around, keeping watch on you with a rifle in his hand. The orders were to bring you in alive. Empire wants any healers they can get their hands on, preparing to go on war-footing. They're furious, someone's emptied a lot of accounts, and revealed a few big names publicly. Kaiser has been outed, as has Hookwolf, and Purity. The twins are under a lot of suspicion too and implications about them and Kaiser, along with Max Anders and the twins seen near him, have left that pair practically exposed as well."
So, not as bad of a blow to the Empire as the original story had been, but still nasty. Loss of assets stolen from them, revealing their identities, and hitting them while the other groups had been under attack already, they likely connected the dots and put a target on her head, wanting to confirm if she had something to do with this, or not. As well as to grab her as a healer, as well as potentially try and recruit her.
"Did Victor have orders to shoot me to kill if I refused? Did he try to steal my powers?" Lily asked a bit warily at this, and the figurine chuckled.
"He tried to steal your connection with your Qilin. The protections in place made that the absolutely worst possible move he could have pulled." The Eidolon's tone was still cold and chilly, but the malevolent amusement there, the cold hollow chuckle that seemed to echo being even more creepy, said something about it alright.
"He's going to need healing from Othalla to recover, he gave himself mild brain hemorrhage along with a strong migraine when he reached there. If he had tried to steal another skill, it might not have been as bad, but your summons, your connections? They're protected. It was like he tried to grab a high-power live-wire and got shocked for his troubles." Lily nodded and sighed.
"That was… stupid of him. I don't think he was ever meant to be able to copy powers, so what made him think he could…?" She looked at the Eidolon uncertainly.
"It was a gamble on their part, but they expected it to either fail, or to dismiss the summon interfering with your abilities, allowing them to take you down more easily before you could call up something like the dragon. Trying to disable you by messing with your skill at connecting." The Eidolon's tone was back to the no-nonsense cold and chilly tone, making her wonder.
"It was still a stretch." She shook her head. "Anything useful to us now?"
"Depends. I know where they're all about to meet in two hours."
Lily hurried to pull out her PRT phone after hearing that.
Author's Notes: Again, a chapter that I kept trying to rewrite more than a couple of times. Few earlier versions got clogged down even further, I tried to go through the changing things while things are starting up, but a lot of it felt unnecessary. I am not entirely certain of this either, but it was part of the transition ,and things are kicking into gear.
Additionally, Lily was able to make quick use of her new ability there, well timed in its arrival. Two different teleportation powers with similarities, but still.
On the rolls, I think, the power roll calls for possible suggestions. I got some ideas, but I admit being curious on other peoples thoughts too.
Spoiler: Listing
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FrozenTome
Mar 27, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 22 - Enclosed Spaces, Building Heat
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Apr 3, 2022
#167
Chapter 22
Lily frowned quietly while standing by a window in a building a bit away from the one that the Empire had chosen for the meeting place. The area was full with various warehouses and old businesses, and they made use of a place that was under one of Medhall's subsidiaries, having keys to it and using it without real issue, but distant enough that if it came under investigation, Medhall would likely cut ties with them in outrage over one of their subsidiaries getting involved with something shady, and that would be the end of that.
Eidolon had entered the building at ease, allowing her to teleport to its side, the Axe-Flapper providing an aerial overhead view of the building in question, and the Eidolon itself had been sent at the new location soon after. She had parked her car a good distance away at a place where it would not really stand out, traveling mainly through the use of her teleportation, teleporting to her Eidolon in steps.
She was a bit unhappy of having had to vanish Qilin, but appearing on the rooftop together, she had felt it was going to draw more attention than was necessary, and potentially doing some damage on the roof itself, so she had vanished the Qilin before really thinking about it. The roof was sturdy enough it should have been fine, but then again, if that was her only concern, she should have switched it with something else she'd summoned at street level for instance.
Instead, she had lost her access to the healer on her team until the next day, and just before a potentially volatile encounter with the Empire 88 as well. She had made sure to report the information she had acquired from the Eidolon about it, to put things in motion, but also offered to scout out ahead to confirm things before proceeding. She was pretty sure it might take the PRT a bit to mobilize anyhow.
Waiting was getting a bit annoying however. For all the appearance of a rush, the affair turned out to be a rather military-taught situation of hurry up and wait. She hurried to the scene, and then she had to sit still and quiet while waiting for something to happen, while remaining alert and ready to get into motion when the time came.
Still, they had an opportunity to take down the Empire 88 if they could score a win this night, and that would leave the city without a major gang present, and while smaller gangs and newcomers were pretty certainly on their way, it would take a while for things to get as bad as they had, and the Protectorate and PRT could start stomping on the fingers of anyone trying to make that climb, to rise into such a prominent position as the old trinity of gangs.
Not that Merchants had held any 'really' desirable property, rather they made a nuisance of themselves and caused issues. They were still a major player with sheer numbers, the number of cannon fodder they could arrange from their regular customers and offering cheap drugs and cash for people who were willing to go into a fight and shoot at the enemy from cover just to add to their numbers and make them seem more credible threat had worked out for them, somewhat. Their actual veteran members were a bit more capable, and able to make a much larger cut than the thugs and hoods they recruited for various tasks for a time, and managed to carve out a territory for themselves to hold, and a wider area to cast a net into and do business at.
The ABB had relied heavily on Lung's sheer power and intimidation, as well as Oni-Lee's fast response to attacks on their turf, and viciousness in responding to any insult with injuries that would discourage further attempts against ABB. They had held on with two capes for quite a while, and the bomb-tinker Bakuda made them a horrible threat, when even their regular non-cape members could end up carrying bombs with various exotic effects if Bakuda began to mass-produce some of her stuff.
Not that tinker-tech could really be effectively mass-produced, but if she threw a ton of crude shitty bombs together she didn't have to worry about maintenance or anything, her devices were one-off nasty surprises. Not needing a remote detonator, a transmitter-receiver pair, dead-man trigger, or anything such, she might have produced more basic, but still nasty and tinker-tech-flavored mayhem to the hands of those thugs who would have turned the city into an even worse nightmare in time.
As for the Empire, they had always held the numbers, and they had backing elsewhere, from a number of other racist organizations on the continent, as well as Gesellschaft's support overseas.
Going after them was risky, because if they mobilized, they could threaten the city with numbers, both regular thugs as well as their capes. A lot of power was concentrated on their hands, but they had been wary of Lung, and dismissive of Merchants. Hell, in some ways, the presence of Merchants actually served as excellent recruitment material for the E88. They had to just point out how those people were ruining and poisoning the city with their mess, pointing out all the flaws in the ABB and Merchants, and fuel the fires of rage that a lot of people felt because of what was being allowed to happen by the law enforcement in the eyes of a lot of folks so pulled into the promises of the Empire.
Not that the Empire 88 was any better. They sold drugs just the same as Merchants, perhaps not quite so openly and blatantly, but they had their dealers. They had people beaten and abused, killed, and buried in shallow graves. Their racist claims of people they could point out to be assholes did not justify in any way attacking other people who didn't fit their group of acceptable people because they shared a race with someone that they had been able to point out was an asshole.
Of course, hypocrisy was thick in the air, and dismissed and waved aside, after all, Empire was fighting the important fight while others were sitting down with their thumbs up their ass doing nothing. Ugh, it sickened Lily how the empire's rhetoric could even be allowed to spread and had drawn in so many fools under their banner. Lot of good people went to war against the Nazis, a lot of families saw relatives die in that war, some closer than others.
Yet the movement had not died, and had taken root in the States later on, and had a resurgence in Europe as well with the rise of Gesellschaft. Lily felt disgusted about it, but at the same time she felt that with any luck, they might be able to land a few crushing blows on that organization soon. Preventing the Empire from gaining any new ground in the aftermath of ABB's collapse would be a step in the right direction, outright catching them with their pants down and vulnerable, taking several of their capes down and in custody would be a very strong victory. Getting their hands on Kaiser and knocking the leader of that mob of haters taken down, along with their chief lieutenants in that organization, could perhaps give them a chance to rip the damn infestation out of the city properly in time.
There would likely still be racist hateful bigots around in plentiful numbers. Not every bigot belonged to a gang, regardless of their race. There might be Asians hating a number of people because nothing was done about the Empire. There might be Caucasian, Hispanic, or African-American people wanting nothing more than to gut a few Asian people for suspicions on what happened to the number of young girls and women that went missing, given the rumors of the horrible human trafficking and prostitution rings under Lung's command in the ABB.
It was the gangs that brought a lot of those haters together in groups of like-minded people that made that rage burn hotter, and directed it at people, turning resentment and anger into hateful actions. Perhaps with the take-down of the gang, they would at least force the haters to smother those flames somewhat, and try and act like civil people again. It wasn't impossible. There was a lot of folks in other regions that held their own resentment and anger beneath, but didn't act on it.
Hell, some of them didn't even pass it forward to others. Holding onto their own beliefs without necessarily trying to shove them down others throats. Granted, they were likely people who formed their opinions based on a few bad examples giving them the impression their prejudice and anger was aimed at the right place, but as long as they were not likely to express it as more than an angry opinion, it was manageable.
The state of the world was bad enough that trying to rip out the roots of prejudice and hate, to prevent bigotry, was a lost-cause for now at least. There was too many issues, and not even world-ending monstrosities like Endbringers would make people let go of those issues entirely. Perhaps agree to work together towards a common goal of having cities still standing in the aftermath of those attacks, but it was an alliance of convenience at best.
Her thoughts were interrupted by feeling the Eidolon's fast approach, pulling the figurine out of her pocket, setting it down by the window on a small table, and looking at it as the Eidolon's presence grew closer, and slipped right into the prepared figurine, which began to move somewhat.
"Hookwolf just showed up, along with Alabaster, Cricket, and Stormtiger."
That alone would be a good haul to bring in, even without the other capes. She gave a small nod. She had been a little concerned they were not going to show up at all, that someone had leaked the PRT was aware of a meeting, and stopped the people from gathering together here, or at all tonight. Apparently that hadn't happened, it was just taking longer than she expected. Then again, she felt a fair bit of tension. This could be the night the fight for the city would be dealt a knock-out punch, at least for this round.
The fight would likely still go on for a while, unlike a boxing match, this was a fight with multiple opponents, some of them glass-jaws that might fall easily if you got a strike in at the right spot, others some pretty ugly bruisers who could take a beating and keep hurting in turn. Teeth were one unpleasant possibility there, and they had their share of history with the city too.
"Feel free to momentarily possess the four of them to root through what memories you can without drawing attention, we don't want them alarmed yet. If we can confirm the rest are coming, we should do so. I'll call the PRT again once we have more information at hand." Lily felt the connection grow distant as the Eidolon hurried off to carry out its orders.
Truthfully, the Eidolon's unseen, and usually unfelt presence was a definite boon, allowing her to find out about things that might have otherwise gone unnoticed for a good long while. Yet it was a bit frustrating limiting what she could do with the Eidolon's help because she did not want to have any word get out about her having a creature in her service that was pretty much the sort of body-jacking Master/Stranger that would give a lot of PRT and Protectorate people massive headaches and panic attacks.
The sheer level of security risks they posed could not really be underestimated, given their ability to root through peoples minds, the Eidolon presented an opportunity to dig into matters that were usually best left untouched out of fear of potential consequences.
"They fucking exposed me! Unmasked me! Fuck!" Hookwolf, or Brad Meadows, was cursing loudly and stomping back and forth, frustrated and angry. He and the other Empire capes present were at the back, while the rest of the gang were gathering up in the hall, waiting for Kaiser and the others.
"We know, Hook." Stormtiger spoke in a slower, reserved tone. It was obvious to all of them that Hookwolf was taking it poorly that they flaunted the his identity publicly. "They also unmasked Kaiser and Purity. This won't go unpunished." Though admittedly it remained to be seen if they could try and claim it false somehow. No, by this point, evidence would be called for, and unfortunately that would not work in their favor.
"Your damn right on that! My boys are just itching to tear this city a new one and show them what messing with us means." Brad snarled in rage, stomping back and forth.
Cricket was watching this a bit aside, rolling her eyes behind her mask. Alabaster meanwhile was staring at the exchange in an almost bored fashion, checking on a wrist-watch, and occasionally sipping on his imported beer.
"Do you think Purity will show up?" Alabaster's question made Stormtiger glance back briefly, before offering a small shrug.
"Krieg went to try and talk her into staying." Stormtiger didn't really need to say much more than that.
Max couldn't exactly go to Kaiden directly right now, and Fenja and Menja were trying to hold things together, and keep their own identities from actually out in the open. Suspicions were on thing, confirmation however was another. Even if it was just loud accusations on the net so far, it had been wide-spread enough with some credible information that unfortunately Max could be pretty much boned.
If so, then it would be up to Krieg and perhaps Victor to try and handle things in civilian side. Though Victor had another task at hand too, and Rune was supposed to be moving a few more things into the warehouse later, from another stash.
"This is going to get ugly." Stormtiger glanced at Hookwolf, the man had finally stopped pacing back and forth, though it wasn't much better that the man had taken up shadow-boxing now. Yeah, Brad was just itching for a fight, to tear someone to shreds.
"Speaking of, you and your boys made a hell of a mess earlier, that didn't help us deny the claims posted on the net any easier." Stormtiger's words were met with a guttural growl from Brad.
"Fuck you and your excuses, you damn right we ran wild, they mess with us, they get the hurt! Fucking hell, Kaiser agrees, we're gathering up and gearing for war aren't we? About time we make a move too, should have raised hell a lot sooner, shut up any arrogant assholes before they got too cocky for their own good putting out shit like those posts!" Hookwolf poked Stormtiger's chest with his finger, but kept any violence to that.
Even if the man was pissed off and wanting to blow up at everyone, he was at least in enough control to not hit Stormtiger, even if that would have helped satisfy the need for a fight. At least Hook was smart enough to leave it for their real enemies. Besides, Stormtiger had an unpleasant feeling they might have a lot more fighting at their hands in the coming days.
"Kaiser wanted to make sure we knew more about that woman, Tamer, and given she is not a Protectorate cape, wanted to make her an offer. She's been caught on camera, mask or not, those hands are white." Stormtiger smirked slightly, hearing Hook quiet down a bit for a moment.
"Fine. Still think we should have moved up the schedule earlier." Hookwolf muttered before picking up the pacing movement again, frustrated with their long wait.
Cricket's mask moved a bit as she glanced at Alabaster, who looked back at her, the two of them staying quiet looking back over at Hookwolf, while Stormtiger moved closer to the door to glance at the people gathering in the hall.
Lily let out a long breath while considering her options. She felt the new connections form, somewhat grateful for the distraction at that moment. The images came clear rather quickly, and left her blinking in confusion.
Gargantua, the first creature, looked like a blue armored brute, almost like a case-53. She got the feeling it would be able to resist a lot of damage, and rampage in a manner that would put a lot of hurt into people. Combining that with a strength boost and making it a designated target with her powers would give her a very resilient, powerful foe to her enemies.
If she sent one into the building ahead of PRT forces with the powers designating it as a target, could she possibly reduce the amount of any casualties that would be taken in the operation? Big strong brute with its own layers of armor, in form of the carapace it had.
The other creature, meanwhile, was not likely to add much to things at all. It was a weird combination of a pig and a chicken. A picken. She felt like it was more of a joke creature, but she figured she should not judge a creature so harshly, and besides, it might not be a creature oriented towards combat that could help her survive in this world like that, but it didn't mean that she should look down upon it.
At the same time, it just seemed so comical and weird that she was half-tempted to lead the attack by summoning that into the Empire gathering, a flashbang summoning, giving them a flashy entrance to a weird chicken-pig hybrid creature followed by the Gargantua ramming through whatever doors were in its way to engage the enemies, followed by PRT forces and other creatures she might summon.
She was inclined to make use of Ravager again, because the good-boy had done well before, and while teaching Ravager that taking someone down non-lethally should also mean without crippling them for life or tearing off limbs and leaving them to bleed to death, it wasn't like she had that much sympathy towards the Nazis.
True, she didn't want to outright kill them if it could be avoided, she would much rather send them to the jail. At the same time, however, she did not feel that she would be losing sleep if some of them got badly hurt in a fight. The ABB had its share of monsters, but so did the Empire 88. Both groups were full of people who were more than happy to express their sadistic sides on victims that were in no shape to fight back.
Still, Lily kept in mind that it was a slippery slope to start justifying her actions, and the actions of her creatures. She should be more responsible. Truthfully, she felt her creatures were quite intelligent and willing to learn, and quick to adapt to the lessons too. Her skills as a trainer gained through her connection to the soul-engrams helped, and the power to make her training even better certainly meant there was little excuse for not giving the creatures better training.
The issue was that in the heat of a fight things could get wild, and Ravager had a temper. It could certainly be a good boy and play-dead even when nastily hurt, but quick to sprint to action when enemy was disoriented, and big enough to body-check grown men at even a short sprint. Sturdy enough to take a fair bit of punishment too, if necessary.
Lily waited quietly for more news, but nothing had arrived from the Eidolon at the time. Meanwhile, focusing her senses on the Axe-Flapper, she got a view from above at the area, some cars parked a bit further off, some more goons walking towards the place. She shook her head, and moved her senses towards her Eidolon. Finding herself looking at Alabaster finishing a can of beer, while Stormtiger seemed to be trying to calm down Hookwolf who was waving a fist in the air and hissing, though a bit more quietly, a little away.
Eidolon was possessing Cricket then. She idly wondered what might be on her mind that the Eidolon would spend more time rooting through, but returned her attention back to her own body, closing off that connection and drawing her senses to focus back on her own body and surroundings.
She glanced out the window and moved a bit out of sight again. She took a glance now and then, but her eyes and ears out there were mainly her summons. Given she had gained extended range, her options had improved somewhat, but she still had to stay relatively close to a combat zone, and she was pretty sure things were going to be heating up soon enough.
Lily waited, wanting to make sure more of the Empire was gathered there before making the call to the PRT. They were preparing, and hopefully would be ready. She'd report all she had seen on the site as soon as she got a confirmation. Right now, the four capes were already an appealing target, but getting more of them taken down at once would be useful.
They should not let some of them escape to try and free their brethren later on. It would be best if Kaiden stayed away too. She wasn't sure if Purity would flee with her kids, or get pulled in to help with whatever chaos was ahead. Hopefully there would be no over-enthusiastic social service worker trying to move in to take in Kaiden's kids and causing a mess, pushing Kaiden over the edge to rejoin the Empire 88 at this hour.
Not all the identities had been revealed, making her wonder if Coil was behind this but without Tattletale around to cross-check the facts and provide additional information the reliable, credible information ran out at the point of what had been published then. Insinuations and suspicions on others might not be enough to get warrants against them, but enough evidence thrown against Kaiser could see the city in some measure of trouble if Brockton Bay had to see Medhall temporarily shut down for the investigation into different matters. Max Anders arrested would likely also suit Coil fine, as Hookwolf and some others would likely refuse to go along with things, and things would heat up.
She had to wonder just what Coil might be planning, and what was going on in the dark. She really needed to deal with the man soon, but right now, the Empire had moved, and needed to be dealt with first.
Her thoughts on that were interrupted by a new connection forming, leaving her a bit off-guard. It was different, rather than something she could summon, she felt it was more like a power focused through her connection to grant her a bit more.
Companion. She could summon a creature of her choice, though limited in the scope of power offered by this Celestial Menagerie, into her life. It would be different however, brought into the world for real, rather than summoned by her. It would need a place to sleep, to be fed and watered, to be cared for, and it would not rely on her staying anywhere close to it to prevent it from vanishing either.
She found herself a bit amazed, she hadn't made a choice on what form this companion would take, but in itself, it offered a bit of something she hadn't had so far. A potential anchor at a distance longer than her summoning limit. As unpleasant as the idea was to run away if she faced an Endbringer with her summons, if she had a permanent companion in say, an entire different city, and was able to use her abilities to teleport to their side, that would mean a very potent escape route from trouble if things really went down to hell at some point.
Even in more common use, it would potentially allow her to keep a safe way to return back home if she kept a relatively normal seeming creature at her home. Caring for a normal pet cat would not seem too out of place. Yet the possibility of having some more exotic creature of her own personal choice around was certainly appealing in itself as well.
Just then, she felt a small tug on her connection, and the figurine moved as the Eidolon returned in a hurry.
"Stormtiger just answered a call. Empire informants let them know there's been a sighting of the Teeth on the move towards Brockton Bay."
She stared at the figurine a moment before groaning and pinching on the bridge of her nose.
Author's Notes: Bit of back and forth when writing this chapter, expanding one section, cutting down another, editing a few bits, added in some more conversation among the Empire capes, but it felt wooden and unnatural so I ended up removing some of that, and continued with other parts. Had a small bit of PRT preparations as well, but ended up cutting it as it felt like filler-material that didn't really add much given there wasn't really any big surprises hinted at there either.
Overall, this chapter saw a few experimental versions, and after some cuts and editing, this remained. I was tempted to move things along a bit faster, but wanted to stop at this point for this post.
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FrozenTome
Apr 10, 2022
#172
Chapter 23
The news about the Teeth was not a pleasant thing to hear, but at the very least they were warned in advance. Passing on that particular bit of information to the PRT without proper proof wasn't enough to get them to act, but they had likely expected something similar so it at least raised their readiness towards it. As it was, they were about ready to get on the move, having been preparing a raid group for the job.
Tamer wasn't exactly their favorite cape, not being part of the Protectorate itself, and refusing to answer some questions or coming for a debrief about that, but they were still willing to take her seriously enough. The fact she had helped take down Bakuda and distracted Oni-Lee, as well as helping take down Skidmark and Squealer before likely helped with that. It was the situation with Lung that had really drawn attention though, well, that and her choice to act to prevent Dinah's kidnapping.
As far as she knew, Dinah was out of the city, and a new Protectorate Ward had been announced somewhere further off, while Coil was left cursing and throwing a hissy fit at the simultaneous bit of bad propaganda against him, accusations, speculations, some unpleasant topics accompanied with evidence, and some pointed questions. Released on-line, it had raised more than a bit of trouble, but that in itself could not be completely connected and tied to her, or the Protectorate and PRT would likely have squeezed her for a lot more information than she had willingly supplied at times.
Unfortunately she wasn't entirely certain that she was a blindspot to various folks like Contessa or Simurgh, and that in itself was concerning. Coil too was an unpleasant shade in the city that would need to be burnt out and the snake in the grass would need to meet the lawnmower sooner or later. She had been delayed from that by some bad choices, she admitted the man being forced underground amused her, but giving the bastard more time could lead to even worse things further down the line. Just looking at this particular mess with the Empire, it was apparent that Coil was far from being removed from the game entirely, forced to alter their methods perhaps, but they likely still held every intent to end up the Parahuman Lord of Brockton Bay once the world collapsed and parahuman feudalism got started.
Shaking her head, Lily waited for more information. The PRT was ready to move, but Kaiser and a number of others were not present. Annoyingly, it didn't seem like they were going to get more than 4 at the present time though. Sighing quietly as she let her senses shift to the Axe-Flapper, she watched the quiet area from above in the darkened sky, concealed and hidden away.
Shifting her gaze once more, she focused on the view-point of the Eidolon, hoping for a little more useful information from inside the building. The situation would likely take a turn for the worse soon, so she was tempted to just call in the PRT forces to secure the four capes in the building along with the thugs already there, but the appeal of getting the others was strong.
"-with Othala, and going to stay there until Victor is back up on his feet." Stormtiger spoke in a serious tone, addressing Alabaster and Cricket more than Hookwolf, who was by now grumbling a bit away, a bottle of beer in his hand, looking more than a little annoyed at the whole thing. There was two empire thugs present as well, listening in addition to the capes.
"Are we going to wait for the others to show up still?" The older of the two thugs spoke up, looking at Hookwolf warily and then back at Stormtiger.
"Krieg and Crusader are on their way, no idea about the twins or Kaiser right now." Stormtiger paused on seeing Cricket lift her hand under her throat, the synthetic voice audible through the artificial larynx she was holding.
"Night and Fog?" She kept it short, but Stormtiger gave a small nod.
"Confirmed they are coming, but they're coming with the van holding a number of party favors. Likely another half an hour before they are here. Speaking of which, Krieg and Crusader should be here in five, so we need to decide if we are going to wait, or if we need to act sooner, with the news about the Teeth."
This earned a guttural laugh and the sound of the glass bottle being thrown against the wall, as Hookwolf marched closer to the others menacingly.
"Fucking finally if you ask me! We're sitting here and waiting, yapping about like bitches, while they're out there making a mockery of us! I say we go out, and make a good example of every last stupid son of a bitch that gets in the way, that Empire's here, and ready to break bones, torch some houses and drive out the assholes who are ruining everything around them." He snarled rather loudly at this. "Fucking Teeth, we let those stupid sons of bitches get in, and we'll have to fight tooth and nail to rip out every last one of them, the time for talk is well past us!"
Cricket let out a rasping huff, before pressing the larynx against her throat. "Agreed. Waiting won't help."
Alabaster glanced at the two and then turned his attention over at Stormtiger who groaned loudly and rubbed his forehead, before letting out a loud breath.
"I'll call Kaiser again and let him know we're getting on the move. He says we hold, we fucking hold, I'm not going to piss off the boss because you want to get out there and start tearing through the city before he gives the OK. We are going to act tonight, Hook, I am just wanting to make sure we all do it as planned, organized ,rather than a clusterfuck that costs us any advantages that boss' plan could have bought us." He glared at Hookwolf briefly, getting the angry man to nod.
"Fuck it, fine, but tell him I won't wait long! If Kaiser's too much of a pansy to act while they city's going to hell, perhaps me and my boys should go out on our-" Hook stopped as he saw the looks Stormtiger, Alabaster, and Cricket were giving him.
"We are going to move. Kaiser won't back down. Just a little longer, then you can go feral and tear the Teeth a new one, and knock out some of their teeth while you're at it." Stormtiger repeated himself, before moving a bit aside holding the phone. Cricket's voice through the artificial larynx was still audible to Stormtiger as he was making his way to the other corner to make that call.
"Soon." Glancing back, Stormtiger saw Hook nodding at Cricket, aggravated but seemingly accepting their reassurances. At least for a few more minutes.
Lily sighed quietly as she returned her senses to her own body, and considered things. Reporting what she had heard now would likely see the PRT move in to act to capture the majority of the remaining thugs in the Empire before Kaiser and the Twins would show up, or at least before Night and Fog would join in, but it would still take a good chunk out of their roster.
It might be safer to not try and take down every Empire cape at once too, truthfully. Without those two twin giants and the man of iron being present, and without Night and Fog bringing their own exotic abilities to play, they might be able to remove some heavy hitters in the Empire's rows, and the capes present were ones that would hold a lot of smaller factions in the Empire together. Hook had his own following after all.
Catching Krieg and Crusader along with the four already present would already take a good chunk out of the Nazi roster, and Victor, Othala and Rune were out of it for the immediate moment anyway, from the sounds of it. Probably dealing with whatever backlash that Victor had suffered from the earlier attempt.
Decision made, she raised the phone and made the call. Time to inform the PRT of the situation and discuss the plan on going forth briefly. As it was, she was connected with the console, and relayed the information she had learned in a short order.
"The four already present are Hookwolf, Cricket, Stormtiger, and Alabaster. Krieg and Crusader are expected to arrive shortly. From the sounds of it, Rune and Othala are away, with Victor, who might be out of the game for tonight. Kaiser and the twins are uncertain, expected to show up, but not present yet. Stormtiger is trying to contact them now from what I managed to find out." She repeated the information another time.
"Night and Fog are not present, and Stormtiger claimed they would take another half an hour or so to show up, along with some other party favors, in a van. I imagine that right now we might have a chance to round up a good portion of their roster and the capes that hold a lot of their gang together. If we can snatch those six, we will do serious damage to their roster, if Kaiser and the twins show up, we might be able to capture them as well, but the larger the numbers the more uncertainty there is. Taking down even those six would already put a real dampener on their planned activities." She argued her point.
"The risk of retaliation is still high, but given the situation, I'll pass it on shortly. The first team members should be there in ten minutes, tops." The man at the console replied a bit tensely, but Lily didn't really respond any more. Ending the call, she let out a breath and paced back and forth in the room a bit tense and feeling the anticipation.
It was ironic. The whole tension building up before things got going was worse to her than the actual action. Once things kicked into action, there was less time for the tenseness, sure you had to be alert and on guard, but things were happening and you had to focus, rather than worrying. It became easier.
The worrying also took longer than the actual action did, in a lot of cases she had seen so far. She was considering her options somewhat uncertain what she might throw at them, she had a number of options and had already played with a few variations of plans in her head, but knowing who to expect to be there allowed her to try and details those plans down a bit further. She would also have to prepare for the potential arrival of Kaiser and the twins in the middle of the operation, opening up a new front to the conflict at some point.
She might have to consider using additional Flashbang summonings at that point, to disorient the twin giants a moment before they could help their allies. If Fenja and Menja could be halted momentarily, it might allow her to strike at them with a few summons she would normally keep holding back. The possibility of summoning Therva to land a single over-powered strike to start things off with did play around in her mind. Sure, it would exhaust their mana reserves, but given she could boost their energy beforehand, it might very well be a blow big enough to knock one of them out, or at least disorient and bruise them long enough to allow others to take one of the twins down for the count.
The potential for it to be a lethal hit was a tad concerning though. Besides, the Therva was, for all its power in that initial salvo, a power-stealer, but one that would likely not be able to affect the capes the same way they might other creatures in the world of its origin. Of course, if she was proven wrong, then draining the energy away from those foes and leaving them momentarily weaker might make it a nice counter to some more dangerous opponents. She was a bit wary of testing the Therva's draining abilities though, it was, after all, not exactly something she could ask another cape to volunteer for, not when she had no idea if the effects would be more long-lasting with Shards and capes.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of a new connection forming, a mental image of a rocky stone boulder with a face forming in one mind-scape, a quarry of several rocky bolders with one floating, grinning boulder among the others, rather sinister smirk in all honesty, on its face. More than a little disturbing, an image that was followed by another.
The second one was a rather weird centipede, with body segments seemingly a bit separate, floating about, bits of light tying them together, an electrical current flashing now and then. Holding closely, chitinous plating and rough jaws, and three eye-stalks rising above the head. Rather disturbing creature honestly.
Rockbombs, and Craterpedes, she learned their names. The first one had her wonder if she could make use of such a creature, and if its name indeed suggested they could make a terrible mess off a potential foe they were aimed at when summoned. Combine their arrival with a flashbang and then have them go off, it might be quiet useful. Unfortunately, she did not know the details about the said creature, or what it would take to have them go off.
Comparing them mentally to the fiery bomb monsters in the Final Fantasy series, they might take a bit of time to build up the charge to blow, or they might be otherwise limited. She did not know, and wasn't looking forward to learning in the middle of a fight. Potentially useful, but most likely shelved until later.
She did not want to risk going into a fight intending to take down enemies alive or at most injured in a way that Panacea should be able to fix, only to find out she had unleashed a new creature that resulted in fatalities on the scene. Ravager was bad enough, and Ravager at least tried to take people down alive and in fair shape, it was just that disarming a foe could be done all too literally when the beast in question had the power that Ravager held naturally, let alone when she boosted Ravager's power further with the strength boost she could grant to it.
Lastly, a new connection formed to link her up with a power, making her blink. Copy Summoner? Huh. The power she had gained allowed her to summon one of her creatures, only disguised to look like a copy of her. Dressed like her too, but unable to talk, unless the creature being summoned to this role could already talk on its own. Which would be rather limiting in the present situation. She was pretty sure that Eidolon could do so, but beyond that, the list of possible choices was rather short. There was also size limitations, so she couldn't turn a dragon into a copy of her, nor could she turn her animal pet, the Chameleon, into a copy of her own appearance. That would have been a little bit ironic though, using Chameleon as a distraction copy.
The smile playing on her lips faded quickly when she felt a bit of agitation from the Axe-Flapper, and focused on its senses. Seeing a group of four cars arriving, including two people that were dressed up as capes, she winced. Krieg and Crusader were there, joining the party. Yeah, alright, the time to act was getting closer still.
She dropped the connection with her Axe-Flapper, and focused instead on her Eidolon, finding it to have apparently switched bodies, possessing Hookwolf at the present time. Who was ranting. Great.
"-with my bloody hooks tearing their faces off! I swear, those mocking bastards will regret the fact they pissed me off so, ohhh I can't wait to rip and tear through every last asshole that tries to put a stop to us once we get going, I'm not feeling like holding back tonight at all!" Hookwolf paced back and forth, while Alabaster shook his head in stoic silence, and Cricket was cleaning one of her blades with a bit of cloth in hand, a small bottle without a label sitting close by.
"They must be thinking the PRT is going to stomp us too soon! They must be thinking we're about to go out like those shitty ABB gangers and the messed up mooks in Merchants! We're superior in every way, and we're a legion, and yet those idiotic, loudmouth little shitstains are running their mouths about things like the fall of the Empire eighty-eight is some foregone conclusion! Fucking hell, I'm going to see about getting some of the boys to track down a few of these loudmouths and go give them a personal visit later! See how funny it is when they get a new profile pic of their cooling corpse with their guts shredded on their lap!"
Yeah, Lily had a feeling that Brad Meadow wasn't exactly handling his identity being revealed to the public too well, that the unmasking had either helped make the already unhinged psycho jump right into the deep end or at the very least managing to piss him off so that the man was no longer really thinking clearly at all, seemingly intent on being stupid enough to get everyone else in even worse trouble.
Then again, the man was a psycho that had tried to cut up Vista when she tried to go on a solo patrol of her own, so she wasn't expecting too much sense and reason from the man. If Stormtiger was trying to hold things together, and keep Hookwolf from running wild and starting to raise hell on his own, then she couldn't help but wonder if this was a scene that had played out in some lighter manner before as well, trying to keep this Brad from going over the edge with things in the heat of the moment, or if this was more of an isolated case.
"-guts for garters! That ought to show them what I think of their commentary! And when I find the fucker who went ahead and posted all this bullshit, I'm going to shove my arm up their ass to the elbow and then go into Blender-mode!" Hookwolf was snarling and practically frothing at the mouth, and Lily felt more than a little concerned about the guy's sanity. Seriously, how the hell had the guy gone from the earlier angry frustrated ball of wrath to this psychotic rambling time-bomb about to go off?
She wasn't really sure she even wanted to find out. She just felt they needed to be taken down, and soon.
"Kaiden refused to join us." Crusader grumbled while walking into the room, followed by Krieg and Stormtiger. "We told her about the offer that Kaiser made but she's intent on getting out of the city in a hurry, and wasn't willing to listen to a word we said. Threatened to blast us if we didn't get out of the way."
Alabaster stayed quiet at this, but Cricket let out a raspy sound that might have been an attempt to laugh, before pointing at Stormtiger, another hand bringing up the artificial larynx to her throat.
"Told you! Different priorities. Should have sent Alabaster." She nod at the stoic guy by her side, while Krieg growled.
"Kaiser felt we might have more success getting through to her." He shared a glance with Crusader briefly, before glancing over at Hookwolf who was resting back against the wall watching the others now, still growling slightly but trying to quiet it down for a moment and listen it seemed.
"Brad, seriously, I've looked through the materials. It is damaging, but we can claim a lot of it is speculation and circumstantial, claim it is all bullshit. An MRI scan with a 'fixed' machine will give a scan with officers present that will show a complete lack of any Corona Pollentia, let alone Gemma, and that's the end of that. We'll dig in and maintain this is an attempt by some bastards to try and taint Medhall's image to weaken the city further and hurt its image. All you need to do is act insulted but reasonable man in public in your civilian identity, and as for the Empire, well we'll lash out under masks and show the city they should keep from speculating too hard. Besides, with the damage about to be done, I think people will lose interest the moment there's a bit of evidence that disproves those 'wild conspiracy theories'." Krieg smirked slightly at the time.
"Fucking hell, yeah fine, some people will be convinced, but others will believe it and hell, I'll have to deal with a lot of shit I'd rather do without. I can't exactly punch them and rip them a new one in civilian identity even without my powers or I'll hurt the company image, right?" He sighed in a tired and frustrated manner. "Believe me, I know, but I'm so fucking pissed off right now I want to hurt some people, and hurt them good. So you better believe it that we'll make the city regret this horse-shit."
Troubling, but not really unexpected, Lily thought to herself a bit grimly. She wondered idly just how plausible the plan to arrange for such a test to be done publicly to 'clear' their identity would be, especially with PRT and Protectorate quite likely interested in confirming things. Then again, without hard evidence it was difficult to push.
Protectorate and PRT might know the real identities of criminal capes that had been captured and arrested before, the unmasking in the written rules being more a means to prevent escalation in general, with villains outnumbering heroes, but a case like this, where the villain had already been exposed by another, they might leverage those accusations and demand to participate and watch over the testing more carefully themselves who knows. Then again, the Medhall, and the Empire members likely had a ton of lawyers currently looking through every option to clear their name and provide fraudulent information in a way that would be possible to sell to the general public and help bury the issue for the time being.
The fact the Empire was massing up for a serious attack on what would likely be civilian targets and the Teeth were rolling into the city at the same time just made the whole ugly mess that much worse.
Moving outside quietly, and keeping her distance to the Empire's little hiding place, Lily moved towards the direction she could see the forces moving in from when focused on the Axe-Flapper's point of view from above.
She wondered silently what to expect. Things were not going to get better without someone doing something about the awful mess, but she felt more than a little disgruntled that it had been left to fester for so long, and that there were certain people higher up in the organizations that did it on purpose. The city had been left to rot, and collapse, part of a sinister experiment, and even now that affected what would be done about it.
In some ways she was grateful for the fact that Contessa did not interfere too much in the city.
In part she was annoyed at the fact that the place was denied the resources it might need to try and pull itself back up on its feet after getting beaten and thrown on the ground by the number of groups that should not have permitted to rise in the first place. In all honesty, she held a lot of resentment towards Protectorate and PRT for their failures, but that lay more on the shoulders of their superiors, and assholes higher up in the organizations sabotaging their efforts in order to play their own twisted games.
She silently wondered if eventually it would be good to release information on Cauldron and their inhumane actions, once she had some means of spreading it out so it couldn't be taken down again, and preventing even Dragon from being able to put a halt to the thing from the start. Because she was pretty sure the Cauldrons' reaction to the revelations would be very explosive. It would also paint a crosshair on her the moment she seriously gave it some thought. Which was part of the reason why she chose to keep that whole thing as a mere 'what if' scenario in her head rather than something to give serious thought to.
Yet times like this, waiting on the approaching PRT and Protectorate forces, about to attack a large gang that had been terrorizing the city for years while its few defenders were left underfunded and without additional support offered despite the sheer number of dangerous criminal capes known to be in the area?
She couldn't help but wonder if she was allowing evil to prosper by not doing something about the people hiding behind the curtain and playing the people trying to do something to change things for the better like puppets, a PR show to delay people's growing resentment from breaking out over the atrocities being committed by some of the capes who had gone well into the deep end years ago and should have been destroyed a long time ago, without interference from PRT and Protectorate's inept and unwilling leadership.
Author's Note: Alright, this has stretched out longer than intended, a breather between ABB and Empire scenes was not really envisioned in my head to be a long lasting one, but it has taken up a few chapters to get to the starting line on this.
That said, Teeth moving in and the Empire furious, the city's situation might be improving in some ways, and in others its teetering on the brink of going down worse yet.
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FrozenTome
Apr 17, 2022
#177
Chapter 24
Lily stepped outside a bit warily. The Axe-flapper was in the sky, on overwatch, the Eidolon had returned to the street to let her gate out there in a hurry without summoning another out there in plain view, and she had summoned, and left behind, the Chameleon she had gained earlier as a relatively normal animal as part of the Celestial Menagerie engraved upon her soul.
The Chameleon was more of an anchor to the little apartment out of sight if she had to vanish in a hurry, and she did not find it to be particularly good fit for combat. She had already dismissed the Qilin earlier, and that was an act she might come to regret that night. Unfortunately that was not something she could fix right now, so she would have to try and get through without.
She was wearing the worm-scarf, and kept the sprouting egg in her left hand, having summoned the two as useful little items to keep on hand in anycase. Small bit of healing might help if something happened, and the worm-scarf's protective qualities would take off some of the harm that might be inflicted upon her person. It would not stop anything, it would just reduce the amount of harm things could do. Not exactly the best protection to have, but it was something she could keep on her person.
The mask in place, she silently sent her Eidolon back at the building the E88 group was gathering at, while feeling the bit of excitement through her link with the Axe-Flapper. Focusing her senses through it, she witnessed the PRT forces arriving to the area, a bit away and still out of sight of the building in question, but close enough to start setting up the coming attack. Right, she ought to head on over to meet with them and to get things going.
"-and that's the last bit of information I received soon after Krieg and Crusader arrived to the scene." Lily finished her explanation in front of Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Assault, Battery, Velocity, and Triumph. The six heroes present along with her would currently give them a chance to overpower the enemy forces. The information about the arrival of Teeth had already been sent earlier, and to his understanding, was being seen to by PRT forces and Dauntless being present there as quick response.
"I will want to have a talk with you later about your means of gathering all this information. Among other things." Armsmaster stared at Lily in an uncomfortable manner, and she found herself more than a bit troubled by it. The man was a glory-hog in a lot of stories she had read in the past, but how much of it was just fans misinterpreting things and unreliable narrator, and how much of it was genuine, she could not say for sure. Still, she was much more at ease with the other members of the Protectorate team.
"Lets focus on getting through this first." She remarked without making any promises. Honestly, she wasn't keen on spending too much time around Protectorate. Being an associate on relatively friendly stance was one thing, letting them get access to more information about her that might be leaked out to the wrong hands was another entirely.
"The capture of the Empire capes should be our first priority." Miss Militia looked over at Armsmaster, who harumphed but nod his head. Her attention shifted back at Lily at that time, although Lily was wearing her mask as the cape Tamer, and with the worm-scarf around her neck.
"We got the building blue-print while making preparations, lots of things may have changed since the building was made, but point us at important bits on it and we'll proceed from there." She took charge of the final preparations in short order, and Lily moved to point out the bits of information about placements of people and things like their stash in the building and so on.
Eidolon was starting to feel a little exhausted by the company it was keeping an eye over. The attack would be coming shortly, and not a moment too soon in Eidolon's opinion. Hookwolf was obviously on edge, and the others weren't looking too happy either. Alabaster might be keeping it in check, and Stormtiger was trying to stay professional about things, but it was apparent that all of them had a fair number of concerns under the surface, that much was obvious even without the Eidolon possessing each of them in turns.
The information could prove very handy in the aftermath though, revealing the locations of a number of stashes, of hidden funds and accounts meant for emergency use, of agreed upon protocols among some members about how to proceed if something unexpected were to happen. Hell, even part of the whole retaliation they had been planning was in their original countermeasures.
Revelation of identities, part or in full, would see the city getting torn and bled as vengeance and to distract the people from things they might be uncertain about, but mainly to make an example of why exactly it was a very bad idea to try and escalate things by something as crooked as unmasking people. The Empire had suffered its own blow from killing Fleur in the past, and even if they had tried to clear that matter up by pointing at a patsy and having them executed, the people were wary of trusting the Empire to respect the unwritten rules, and not without a reason either.
They were perfectly willing to bend and break the rules to their advantage, and punish someone else for breaking those same rules if it hurt the Empire. Right now, the Eidolon was getting as much out of them as it could, preparing to release the information to its boss later. The thought amused it, while it would have much preferred to take overt control of one of them to cause trouble and enjoy the aftermath, it had to admit a more subtle approach would help keep the secret until later.
Unleashing it at another time might just be enough to catch some more problematic foe off-guard and render them momentarily disarmed and somewhat harmless, to allow the boss to land a killing blow on a body so possessed and bound against acting even in self-defense for just long enough to connect a blow.
Eidolon knew its existence was not going to be a full secret, but the boss' idea of making it seem more like a Stranger power, a floating ghost capable of only possessing objects but able to learn information that others would prefer to keep hidden was an amusing case. Revealing a bit of t he hand to conceal the cards still kept hidden in the sleeve. Boss had her own little faults and doubts, but they were not naive enough to believe even the hero groups to be completely benevolent and without issues, internal or external.
Honestly though, it was annoyed. At least for all her ranting, Bakuda had been somewhat interesting, and her thoughts, when it came down to tinkering, were interesting enough to observe. The craziness was not quite as appealing, and as for the people gathering together now, they were heavy on the crazy, less so on interesting bits of information.
Sure, there was a large bounty of gossip-worthy bits of information that would be amusing, and could help make the boss spit her tea or coffee all over if timed right with the delivery, but momentary hilarity of learning about a few of their more well kept embarrassing secrets was not worth the racist bigoted rhetoric that the Eidolon was having to put up. Especially when it was so poorly made with arguments that sometimes came full circle to conflict with one another.
The group stood at ready, the PRT troopers on duty padded in heavier armor. Several tinker-drug dart-guns and more than a few grenades were ready too, knock-out gas being part of the set-up. The enemy had a numbers advantage at the start, and if they were intent to riot, they likely had firearms at ready as well. PRT could go in with their own guns, but that would make for some bad PR with the bloody mess it would leave. Trying to take as many down in non-lethal manner as possible was the way to go by their standard doctrine, and if they could get most of the regular gang members out of the action they could focus their efforts solely on bringing down the capes that were not neutralized yet.
Hookwolf was unlikely to be affected when he shifted to his attack form, and Alabaster was likely to keep resetting. Stormtiger's ability to blow the gas away and potentially blow away any darts launched in could also keep him safe, but whether or not he could protect the others remained to be seen.
That left Crusader a potential target, same with Cricket. Krieg was an issue though, his power was supposedly good enough to work without conscious thought, so whether or not he would be possible to take down with those means at all was heavily in question. Cricket's agility and reactions might also make things difficult.
Inhaling deep, Lily focused her senses on the Eidolon. Currently possessing Cricket who was keeping an eye on Hookwolf for Stormtiger, who was making another call a bit further off. Lily idly considered wanting to know what was being talked about, but at the same time, every bit of delay could have them noticed and revealed.
"The capes are out back in the office, no direct way out from there. The gang members are up front in the main hall area. I could drop in a couple of flashbang summons into the main hall followed by another dropped in among the enemy capes, and proceed." Her vision pulled back to the present moment, she gave her report briefly. "Stormtiger was on the phone but my scout was not picking up what was being said there." She glanced at the others.
"We need to move." Miss Militia gave a nod and confirmation, and Assault gave his own thumbs up. Battery looked to be standing ready, having likely already started charging for the initial entry, and Velocity was checking the perimeter, with Triumph standing close by, nodding. Armsmaster was talking with the PRT troopers, the captain of the squad deployed here.
"Alright, just give me the go ahead and I'll drop the first summons among them." She looked at Miss Militia, and got herself ready for the action. No warning signs or anything such from the Axe-Flapper, so Kaiser and the twins were not in immediate proximity at least.
She glanced at the others. They had to act soon, and it seemed everyone was about ready. Alright, just long enough to wait for Velocity to finish the last look around, and then they'd be moving in.
"Yeah, this time its gonna be a major one. You saw how angry Hookwolf was when he came in telling the guys to get geared up." The tall broad-shouldered guy nodded his head while checking that the hatchet he had brought with him was sharp as it should be, while another guy, a bit more plump and jolly looking in his usual life was grinning in a way that made him look like a psycho, rubbing a bit of rag over the shotgun, a bit of unnecessary clean up that seemed to be part of his way to relax in turn.
"Heheh, no doubt about it, a bunch of trash is going to get taken out tonight. About time too, the wolf-pack's been just waiting for a chance to break some bones and tear off a few faces from a number of stuck-up pricks living close by." The third guy close by was patting a metal baseball bat against his shoulder, grinning slightly. Beyond them, several dozen other guys were carrying out with some other distractions and small-talk while waiting for the marching orders.
"They'll get their chance to raise hell tonight, Kaiser's pissed, Hookwolf is pissed, and the gang's coming together to rip the city a new one for daring to make such accusations. Ah, they'll soon have way too much pain in their hands to be worrying about small stuff." The shotgun holding fat-guy grinned wide, examining his handiwork.
"Undesirables should have been smart enough to read the signs and get the hell out of the city a long time ago already, we're just doing them a public service, pouring a bunch of bleach in their gene-pool to weed out the ones too dumb to live." The first guy grinned slightly flexing slightly. "I mean, they must have a death-wish or terminal stupidity to stay in a city belonging to the Empire in the first place, right?"
"Bah, smart or stupid, either way they're unwanted, and its about time they get reminded of it-"
The third guy found himself interrupted by a loud bang and a retina-searing flash in front of him and the others, collapsing on the floor screaming as he felt his eyes burning, his vision flat out gone. The next moment something heavy stomped on his thigh and his crotch making his scream turn high pitched as a sound of something grunting like a pig, a literal pig, was heard, and he heard someone else yelling and shouting.
"Get it off, GET IT OFF!" The pitch turning more shrill by the moment too. Another bang disoriented him worse, and he felt nauseated, his eyes not able to pick up anything but the searing white and the pain.
His hearing was more like he was underwater, just, the sounds were there, but they came weird, muddled, even if the second blast seemed further off it only made things worse. Everyone must have been yelling but it was blending together into a chaotic mess, like a slurry soup. He felt dizzy, nauseated, and unable to really move, and he was pretty sure whatever had stomped his crotch had also put him into some sort of shock. He desperately hoped he wouldn't have to show that to the doctor, but better humiliated than losing it.
The new shouting moments later, followed by something stabbing him in the chest, was followed by blissful silence as he felt the searing heat in his eyes abate to cool shadows and he passed out.
The PRT forces rushed in, the pig-headed chicken and the armored pig rushing about the crowd, knocking over people who were still standing after the flashes, causing more than a few to stumble over in surprise. Too small targets to be an immediate threat by themselves, they were still annoyance when people were blinded and disoriented, the slams against legs more than enough to send some people stumbling over in a hurry.
The Taegore was not a beast that Tamer used often, the armored pig had suffered a quick and humiliating defeat in the ambush that one time, but it had distracted the foes for a moment. Now, it was taking vengeance on these people, purposefully playing a sadistic living battering ram to the fools that got blinded and disoriented by its magnificent arrival. Shocked and unbalanced, they fell easily, and the ones that tried to hit back against its armored hide in their blinded state did little more than damage their weapons on its armored plating, making Taegore viciously stomp on toes and chomp down at things at the proper height. Tearing at a hand to yank someone off balance, or biting into an inner thigh, or lifting up slightly to bite someone in the ass and knock them over, it was not holding back on its own bit of bloody pay-back.
As for the pig-headed chicken, the Picken, it had appeared in the follow-up flash and disoriented a bunch of others that had not been caught in the initial blast, or avoided the worst of it at least, then proceeding to rush about tripping folks, smaller as it might be it was still heavy enough to knock more than a few people over as it rushed about.
The PRT forces shot more than a few with tranquilizers, or foamed others, a pair of grenades were thrown at the open office door into the back room, where they could already hear shouting and cussing, another explosion having taken place there almost the same time as the Picken arrived to join the Taegore in the main hall, right after one another.
Hookwolf was frothing at the mouth as the brilliant flash seared into his eyes and the blast knocked out his hearing entirely, leaving him a disoriented mess, and even trying to change shape into a whirlwind of hooks and sharp metal did nothing. He knew where the flash came from and charged at it, only to find his core smack into a stone wall, and the metal blades scraping against thick stone-like flesh without finding any purchase, scratching on the surface at best. The sound of metal striking stone was not from him alone though, he was pretty sure Cricket was attacking their mystery foe too, though not with any more success than he was having perhaps. The others seemed about as useless as he expected them to be, but it was infuriating someone got the drop of them.
He heard the door open and someone stumble out. Fucking hell, the bastard had not got away, he was still scraping off bits of stone from their body but who had-
His thoughts were interrupted by the explosion in close quarters, throwing him back, his core hitting the wall hard enough to dent it, leaving his metal orb embedded into the bricks. Ripping himself free would take a bit, but Hookwolf felt positively nauseous and despite his altered shape his senses were at a loss. He wasn't sure what the hell happened, but he was frothing at the mouth for round two, yet unable to really shake the feeling he'd taken way more damage in one go than he had in a long time.
Lily grimaced as the Eidolon gave him a view through its senses. The explosion that Rockbomb had made was bad enough to sending Cricket and Stormtiger into the hospital when this was over, and potentially dealt a fair bit of damage to Hookwolf too. Alabaster had recovered from the blindness in time to see the bomb turning red and trembling to explode, rushing out of the room while yanking Krieg and Crusader along behind him.
The shout of warning the man had tried to made was probably not reaching anyone's ears after the flashbang effect in close quarters from before, but the man had got out of the close-range of the blast radius by that last trip, the blast having still sent him sprawling on the main hall floor with his two companions, who had apparently stumbled to even follow the lead, and incidentally, acted like human shields for Alabaster, the only guy in their group that really didn't need one despite the Rockbomb's explosion going off.
Yeah, ouch. The PRT forces were proceeding forth, and Armsmaster leading the way saw the opportunity, a twist at the halberd's hilt sawing a pair of sharp thin needles shot forth, and hitting both the Crusader and Alabaster. Though she was pretty sure Alabaster was not intended target but Krieg was. Given that Crusader collapsed and his freshly summoned 'ghosts' vanished, that was score one for Armsmaster.
She was briefly entertaining the thought of things actually going their way, and that they could actually pull it off without unpleasant surprises or mistakes. She realized the moment it had passed through her mind that she had just taunted Murphy, and hastily looked around for any signs of something going wrong any moment. Yet not even the Axe-Flapper had unpleasant surprises in mind to report, nor did the aerial view give any signs of impending doom coming their way.
She kept Ravager and Therva close by, her faithful hound ready to pounce into action if needed, the Therva ready to direct a blast at the twins if they showed up to voice their protests on the treatment of the Empire, or the clanking-king himself, Kaiser. She hoped that Therva's ability would let her remove one of the bastards out of the fight in one go, with the energy boost directed at Therva's own reserves, but that would remain to be seen. The Ravager, meanwhile, housed a strength boost and toughness boost. She was ready to slap a designated target on the good-boy if necessary, the Ravager would teach any would-be bastard the error of their ways if they decided to fight back when they joined the hunt.
Lily felt tense, even if she sought to project a bit more confidence in the identity of Tamer, she couldn't shake the feeling of something about to happen anytime soon that wouldn't really let go. She grit her teeth together behind the mask while trying to carry on with the mission at hand.
Velocity had helped zoom in dropping off some containment foam into the room and sealing Hookwolf's core and the gathering metal fragments into the wall with it, while cuffing the disoriented Cricket and trying to do the same with Stormtiger, only to get rebuffed by a sudden rush of air at him, tossing Velocity back. Yeah, the fight wasn't over yet, even if the enemy was in a bad position.
Miss Militia was indoors too, a shotgun loaded with bean-bag rounds making short work of thugs that thought they were in a target rich environment with their guns and didn't care about collateral. Most had been knocked down or had dropped their weapons earlier in the chaos, but some had held firm and as the attack began, had tried to respond in turn.
Unfortunately she couldn't use the designated target too effectively without the people being able to see, meaning they would fire wildly and blindly and still potentially harm people. That was one of the reasons that she held it back outside for potential surprises that might be on their way.
Silently sighing, she admitted to herself she was also a bit wary of using designated target. Considering things a moment, and the bad feeling she had, she used it on the Ravager. It was only meant for foes after all, and if someone did charge in with intent of knocking her out and taking advantage of the mess, they'd be directing whatever surprise attack they might muster upon the Ravager instead of her.
After she made that choice, she felt a bit of that impending danger dissipate, making her idly wonder if it was just her imagination, or something more. Nevertheless, she watched the situation unfolding, when she felt the excitement and mild panic through her mental link, and cursed, touching it and following it to Axe-Flapper.
Two giants and an armored figure were striding this way at a fast pace, a bit distant still, but they were coming. Fenja, Menja, and riding on the shoulder of those giants, Kaiser himself. Looked like their little party was only going to get worse. She winced as she found the gaze shift elsewhere, showing the floating car rushing towards their location too, a young woman standing on it like using a surfboard, a man and a woman in costume inside the car.
She silently cursed even louder again. Rune was on her way, and those might be Othala and Victor. They might be rounding up the entire Empire here today by the end of things, or they might be losing whatever gains they had made in trying to round up the forces of that bunch of bastards if things went wrong.
"Enemy Reinforcements imminent! Fenja, Menja, Kaiser coming in from North-North-East, Rune with two unknowns, suspected Othala and Victor, on their way from West, in a car likely flown under Rune's power."
She issued her warning while silently cursing. Part of her wanted to hold back, and yet a small whisper in her mind reminded her that if she was to concern herself less with their survival and more with winning this fight to remove a threat, she could slap a size-augmentation on her dragon and summon it to burn the car and its occupants and rider in one moment, removing that force from the game, before turning its attention to the giant Valkyries and the tin-pot dictator on their shoulder.
All it would take would be her willingness to act decisively. Yet the chances were that it would be judged very poorly by those around her, the people who had failed to contain them before, who failed to remove them before they became the threat they had become over the years. Yet at the same time, she wondered if she would be able to look herself in the mirror after if she went that far.
She didn't have long to decide, and the fight in the building was only getting rougher as Krieg and Stormtiger joined Alabaster in trying to put in more fierce resistance, and Hookwolf and Cricket were struggling to pull themselves free to keep on fighting as well.
Author's Note: Taunting Murphy, while a bit superstitious, is also a sort of arrogant statement that nothing can go wrong, that you're prepared well enough, and speaks of some complacency, being confident you've found everything that could go wrong and are prepared and able to prevent it. That kind of statement does seem to be sometimes matched by ironic revelation that Gods laugh while mortals plan.
No gained connections this chapter, and not rolling for them either right now. Instead, the point total from this chapter will go along to a pool to be resolved after the fight.
Lily has gained the advantages rolled last time, but I didn't give them real screen-time in this chapter, beyond the note she is making use of the defensive boost with her Ravager. Given the amount of short skips in this chapter, it can be assumed she tried to go over what she got on the background in this case, devoting a bit more time to it later along with whatever may be gained in the aftermath.
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FrozenTome
Apr 17, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 25 - Ruffling Feathers
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
Apr 24, 2022
#185
Chapter 25
"Ravager, attack and subdue." Lily gestured at the building, adding Ravager's power to the mix. She had preferred to keep some reserves and let the local capes from Protectorate to claim this win, putting down the Empire in a fight would be good, and subduing the majority of crooks by surprise leaving just the enemy capes should have helped make it possible to deal with the rest without needing Ravager present too, but unfortunately some of them seemed keen on fighting still.
Stormtiger and Cricket were likely to be suffering from serious injuries too though, after the initial blast, so getting them put down fast was a priority for their own sake too. Unfortunately Alabaster wasn't quite as easy to subdue, and Krieg was standing ready to keep fighting from the looks of things. She needed them to be taken down as fast as possible, and even if sending Ravager in now meant risking a bit of chaos in the fight, and potentially adding more injuries to the scene, it might also mean getting ready to leave sooner.
The Teeth might not be joining in the fight right away but if they were coming, then the Protectorate should get the captured enemy capes along and go fast, rather than risk them escaping. Taking down Kaiser and the twins would be a real advantage, but the tall valkyries, Kaiser's giant warriors, were a threat that could cause a fair share of issues before they got knocked down.
She had some surprises waiting for her, but she was hesitant to call upon some of them outside of a situation like an Endbringer attack. Some summons were simply at a level where calling upon them was liable to bring a lot more heat on her than she was still ready to deal with. Hell, just being able to heal with the aid of her Qilin had brought in some heat with the Empire wanting her in their rows, and if she was Asian, Lung would have likely pressed to make sure she joined their side as well.
Lily wanted to try and clear the gangs from the city, but at the same time, it felt like every bit of effort just left a void waiting to be filled by other crooks soon after. If kicking the Empire down would leave them a bit of breathing room though, then perhaps removing the Teeth afterwards, before they could put down some proper roots, might be an option.
Still, reached her hand down, petting on the Therva's back, watching the scaled creature preen at the petting, seeming to stretch its scaled lizard body in amusement at the light touch on it, allowing her to caress it, hopefully a bit calming to both herself and it.
She hummed, feeling the light drain on her power, seemingly only drawing on loose wisps of her magical power from the Cards she had gained, but blinking, she looked at the Therva, before hesitantly trying to channel a bit of that power into the lizard. As she did, she saw its eyes turn to her, a curiosity, followed by a bit of excitement and eagerness.
She let the magic power in her pour out little by little, filling the reserves the Therva had, above its own natural reserves, and adding to the amount of magic it had available from 'stolen' sources. Not that it was draining her against her will, but the concept seemed similar. She was feeding it a bit of her own internal magical power gained through the acquisition of those cards, and making its future attack a little bit stronger in doing so.
It was going to be a one-shot, since it would burn up the magic gained until that point to pull off the move, but she expected it to be a one-shot that might just put one of the twins out of action as a starting point.
The fighting inside the building was going strong, and he saw Assault blasted out of the building's window, doing a roll and feet kicking down against the ground slowing himself down remarkably fast, only to spring back towards the building like he had a running start to begin with.
Huh. It was interesting to watch the man's power in action, there was no obvious visible flare of power around Assault but stopping so quick and then reversing the motion into rush charge back into action certainly said something about his ability to return to action. She wondered if allowing himself to be blown out of the window was more out of surprise or in order to harness the energy following the crash into something else when he got back inside.
She could have tried to focus on the information available through the eyes of her summons, but focused more on the potential issue of the approaching twins and Kaiser. She had only limited window of opportunity to intercept, though given their size they would not be joining the fighting indoors, but scattering the PRT vans outside and the troops present being diverted from containing the area and stopping anyone from escaping would give them a better chance to recover more of their team-mates in a short order.
Focusing once more on the Axe-Flapper, she confirmed how long they would have, given the pace the twins were advancing. Returning her senses back to her own body, and shivering a bit, she bit on her lower lip behind the mask while considering the odds.
She had called upon the Dragon before to fight Lung. Calling it here to fight the twins might be a bit of an overkill, but then again, if it worked, it might be worth it. The issue she saw was that calling upon her Antipodean Opaleye would result in some noteworthy collateral damage. It was also something that the enemy might well be expecting to face, given their imminent arrival already geared up for battle, abandoning the element of arriving in quietly.
Considering her options, she glanced at a few other large figures. Cornix Canor, her large predatory raven, was one option. Flying enemy who could landing sweeping strikes against enemies on the battlefield, before pulling away. Harassment to the enemy ranks in large size. Not quite the close range combatant at length though, it required its flight and maneuverability to stay truly effective.
Poundersaurolophus was another weird option. It was like someone tried to make a fusion of dinosaurs and machines, but it was what it was. That would bring in some size and muscle, though the creature didn't seem to come off as particularly bright. Given its head was shaped like a damned hammer, and the inclination she got from it to simply want to pound stuff to the ground, she was somewhat hesitant to summon it, especially at a distance away from herself. She'd rather be close and give it commands on how to act and what to do.
It also had the issue of being metallic being, so sending it out to fight against the twins and Kaiser would likely see Kaiser grow blades out of it or into it, causing it to get stuck or crash its own functions soon enough. Yeah, it was probably best to skip on using that one.
Next up, the Omnivoracious. That thing was a big bird, but unlike the first one, it was quite fine on being on the ground-level fighting its enemies from the looks of it, and she got the feeling it would be a rather nasty surprise for the twin Valkyries.
Idly wondering about it, she found the mental image of Valkyries fighting against a pair of dark crows rather amusing. Given they were meant to bring the honorable fallen back to Valhalla, it would fit to put them into a fight with birds of bad omen. Only this time the balance of power would be strictly against the Valkyries she felt.
As for Kaiser, she idly wondered about the irony of summoning Odin into a fight with Kaiser. Sure, she would much prefer to keep all of those summons for the Endbringers, but Odin was the one that was least likely to draw as massive amount of attention, and striking against Kaiser with Odin was certainly an appealing mental image.
The one major downside of that was that she was pretty sure that Odin's invocation would not be in any shape, way, or form something that could be considered non-lethal. If anything, it would be executing a man, and doing so without a signed kill-order would likely land her in a lot of trouble. Amusing as the possibility felt, she figured it was not worth getting imprisoned over. Maybe if the situation really seemed to be getting out of hand, after checking with the PRT for permission to deploy 'untested and unverified, potentially lethal option'.
Given she intended to see Ramuh and Ark make an appearance when the overgrown toad thinking itself the ruler of the seas decided to pay a visit, it might serve as a potential introduction to the invocations, summons too powerful to 'safely exist' on this world, given the invocations more or less drew those targeted by them into a little pocket-space for the duration of their attack.
Then again, from what she remembered from the Final Fantasy series, some of the invocations that might be acquired were powerful enough to wreck their surroundings. Hell, he was pretty sure a few of them were portrayed capable of planetary destruction on the sheer level of concentrated damage done to the foes. Then again, everything was limited in certain numbers in game, and there was no telling how that visual representation of their attack power would translate in real life.
Shaking her head, she saw the twins with her own eyes now, visible over the more distant buildings. Sighing, she slapped her hands together before her, pulling on her power. The first raven appeared, the Cornix Canor's black feathered image overlaid by the purple energy vibrating in parts of it, a light tremble in the air and ground around it, the power of the noise-ravens tied to it.
It was a boss-monster she had as her summon, and it was ready and eager to get to the action.
"The twins and the man riding on them are criminals, our enemies. Try and take them down, don't kill them if you can avoid it, but prioritize preventing them from killing any civilians or officers like those around me." She gestured at the PRT troops, and the loud screaming noise from the creature was briefly vibrating her bones and flesh, making her shiver, before the creature seemingly blasted off into the air and already dove to take a swipe at the closer one of the twins, smacking Kaiser's face with the wing in passing it seemed.
The fact the man didn't fall off suggested they had likely attached their metal boots to the shoulder pauldron of the twin she was riding on had. Ah well. Pulling on her connection again, she felt the second bird arrive, this one a more alien, a purple emu-like creature, but seeming more savage, prehistoric predator with a long, jagged and sharp beak, and a set of four eyes with a menacing glow in them.
Eyes that also seemed to have a remarkable bit of keen intellect in them, glancing about taking in the surroundings, and the twins already trying to swat down the first bird, while PRT troopers were moving. Armsmaster and Miss Militia had just left the building, the most of the fighting indoors having quieted down a bit for a moment.
"Attack those two giant women, and the man on their shoulder. No lethal strikes if you can avoid it, but feel free to hurt them as long as they survive, they are enemies of the city, and will cause a lot more destruction and suffering unless stopped. Protect civilians, and the lives of the troopers here." She gestured around herself, before then pointing back at the twins.
The brief nod from the bird was all that needed to be seen to confirm it was intelligent enough to understand and communicate that much back, before it charge down the street, leaping up and wings pushing out, the wingspan a bit tight here yet it slammed the wings downwards 'kicking itself' into a bit higher position before flapping those wings again, rising fast only to aim its talons down for a swipe, and the first strike almost tearing out Fenja's or Menja's eyes, if not for her helmet. The scream of shocked surprise made her feel a little bit of sympathy towards them, but then again, they were Nazis intent to hurt a lot of people here.
They had been part of the plans to unleash suffering on the streets soon after the meeting here anyway, they were merely stopping them from having a chance to bring forth more civilian deaths. She had to remind herself that a little cruelty here to prevent all that unnecessary death later was a price she had to be willing to pay. Worst come to be, and they lost their eyes in this fight, and suffered other horrible injuries like that, she would pay them a visit when they were in custody and in chains, and would have the Qilin healing them back to a proper health before they would be going to their trial.
The trauma she couldn't help them with, but it was something they'd just have to live with.
Eidolon smirked as it made Alabaster's leg twitch at the exact wrong time, making the man stumble on his face. The effect was very short but forceful, and watching the man stumble onto his face with enough force to break it was good too. Slipping away to the struggling Krieg trying to defend himself, another bean-bag round blocked by diverting it aside with his powers, the man barely avoided a new jab from Armsmaster.
The injector at the tip of the halberd barely missed him, and Krieg was getting more desperate. Six capes had been present, but two of them were taken down in the back room, and third collapsed in the room from tranquilizers, the fourth was still staggering from the blast earlier and barely trying to hold their own against Battery, while Assault was assisting there now after returning from their short trip out through the window.
Alabaster had been the main threat present at the time, alongside Krieg, with Stormtiger about to collapse, and Crusader already down for the count. It was a bit impressive they had lasted as long fighting like this as they had, but then again, Krieg and Stormtiger were a nasty duo, and Alabaster was practically made to soak hits. Unfortunately for them, they lost their numbers in this room, their fast moving damage-dealers in the back room, and lost the additional exotic resources in form of Crusader in the starting moments of this fight in the main room.
Possessing Krieg to watch their thought process, the Eidolon amused itself at the thoughts the man had about holding on long enough. The Nazis expected to shock the public with a violent show of their wrath, far in excess of what the PRT feared, and what the more wary people on the net feared. The horrors they had been planning were bad enough that in comparison, throwing them away and giving the Teeth some time to try and get themselves situated in the city was acceptable by comparison.
Of course, the fight wasn't going right for the folks in the building. Vast majority of thugs were out in moments, the rest received fast moving tags from Velocity, resulting in quick knock-out, some shot with bean-bag rounds or tranquilizers on arrival and containment foam in the back room preventing Hookwolf from joining in on their fun, or Cricket for that matter.
Krieg was also insulted by the presence of the pig-chicken hybrid, whatever it was, and the damned 'armor plated boar' also seeming like the enemy was mocking them, sending in some freaky barn-yard animals. It really aggravated the man like nothing else, to be looked down upon. Lung had faced a god-damned Endbringer-like dragon attacking all of a sudden, a clash of the titans, and what did he get?! Some weird farm-animals treating their gathering like their own little pig-sty.
Eidolon found himself actually amused. While it did not show its own internal expressions on the host body it possessed, it knew for a fact if it did, it would be smirking in a manner that would give away of its own schadenfreude derived from this whole situation.
It was honestly feeling satisfaction from seeing these bastards experience such misfortune. After all, it didn't need to feel the pain of nose being crunched to the side against the cheek itself even if it did possess Alabaster when such a blow was delivered earlier.
One thing it had noted. Assault and Battery might have been a pun on Assault's part, but they definitely lived up to it when their enemy was strong enough to take it and try to still get back up. The two of them were warriors that the Eidolon would not want to fight against alone even if it was possessing a particularly combat-capable body in order to do so. Thankfully they were at the same side on this matter at least.
Cornix Canor was having fun. Its six minions, the decaravens, had already been summoned, and twice, the metal-man had sliced through one of them, only to get hit by another one in their raking strikes, their claws shredding slices of metal off of his armor, making the man shout and curse.
The two giants were having their own share of trouble. The one that Cornix was striking against, the one the iron-man rode on was apparently called 'Fenja' by her companions, and the second woman, 'Menja', was struggling to try and keep the vicious talons from tearing at her thighs and the snapping jaw from tearing off her fingers as she fought the second large predatory bird.
Cornix could recognize the enemy was tough, but they were getting worn down. Last time Cornix had taken a sweep down on the ground level, he had lifted up a large trash container, and dropped it down on the woman's head, the impact denting her helmet and the trash container upending and soaking the man on her shoulder in the soiled remains inside the full-to-bursting trash container as well.
The sheer viciousness of the cursing that invoked, including a rather creative assortment of deviancy and parental accusations that issued forth in the aftermath was enough to make Cornix let out a series of trembling-bass laughs, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed given the sheer number of hateful words being thrown about. The few spears of metal 'thrown' at Cornix's way had either missed or done very little against the large bird's body.
The small tremble of musical note in the air when one hit ruffled a few feathers did little to bother the bird, who followed up with another sweep down, causing the woman to curse while another jab with her spear missed Cornix after a simple aerial dodge, these giants obviously weren't used to fast moving birds of unusual size, and turned her head to shield her eyes from the talons.
Impacting the woman's head with a wing and continuing on, the Cornix grinned slightly to itself. The musical tone and the waves in the air around it as the purple lines shined along with the beat its movement caused shielded it from the impact easily enough, even as the blow sent the woman stumbling a bit, falling onto one knee before moving to rise up again.
At that time there was a new yelp out of her, and on the ground, the Cornix saw a small man on a blue motorcycle driving past in a swift sweep of his own, a pole-arm with a blade extended, slashing at the woman's left at the back, cutting into the tendons it looked like.
Struggling to get up and cursing loudly, she seemed a bit shaky on her feet, while the Cornix took a new sweep a bit lower to snatch up a car wreck they'd stepped on earlier, snatching it into its claws and dragging it up to the sky with it, intent on another bombardment. Perhaps it should aim at the metal man. They seemed tough enough to take it. Sure, they might have their brain rattling inside their skull, but if they weren't smart enough to pad their metal shell properly, well that wasn't any blood on his talons, merely a showing of incompetence from an enemy that Cornix was taking half-way seriously.
This was fun! The new prey was tasty, ripping out a bit of their finger in one of the earlier strikes had given the foe a real reason to focus on trying to strike down against her. The Omnivoracious was enjoying the hunt, and while its flock-mate here was different, it too seemed to enjoy harassing the prey. Watching them, learning their moves, striking at them and driving them into panicked mistakes, it had struck from the air a few times, but then switched tactics. Its strength was enough to deflect and redirect strikes at it by the tall woman, and it was fast enough to force her on the defensive, to protect her sister too from the looks of it.
The Omnivoracious kept her busy trying to defend against the beak and the claws, the wing-slaps being far less lethal, but the sheer power behind them was still noteworthy, and the omnivoracious was definitely tougher than birds in this weird place. The world was definitely different, but it knew it was living again, and its heavy, strong body was more than enough to fight these giant-women and present them a challenge.
Its new boss, the nest-leader, was a strange being, a much shorter woman, but then, that was likely the normal size of these people. These 'giants' were a problem, and one that she could have fun striking against, and leaving some painful cuts and scratches wasn't lethal. She'd make them break and bleed, subdue them and make them accept the nest-leader was better, because the Omnivoracious was intent to prove itself.
Mocking laughter erupted from its throat in high pitch as a yet another spear-thrust missed, a wing-beat slapping it to the side. The short sting from the strike made her realize a bit belatedly the armored man had made the spear's sides suddenly grow thin sharp metal edges protruding along the length of the spear. Enough to slice somewhat into her feathers and wing.
Shrieking in rage, she jumped the wings slapping down in a strong beat buffeting the two giants with more dust from broken concrete and glass shards from windows breaking too close, the claws raised and raking over the woman's chest. Tearing mainly into the armored plate, but given her scream and the splash of red blood onto the ground, the claws dug deep enough, ripping through metal, and caught over some exposed skin as well.
If they wanted to play rough, the Omnivoracious was perfectly happy to do so. Nothing got the blood pumping like a good hunt, a shame she couldn't kill them and devour their flesh to celebrate, but she'd hope to get the nest-leader to allow her to hunt later. Some mental images from her mind about some local food-creatures were interesting. The 'pigs' and 'cows' were rather small, but they would be fun to taste in time. Perhaps she could convince the nest-leader to allow the Omnivoracious to fly over to that other landmass where laws and all that stuff the nest-leader cared about no longer existed. There it could eat some of those big-grey-meaty things. Elephants, it reminded itself from the memory gained through the mental link.
Together, the two birds of prey tore into their enemies, ripping at flesh and steel alike, tearing at their enemies, while trying to be somewhat careful about the short-folk rushing in as well. Though thankfully it seemed they were more intent on keeping a little distance, other than the machine-riding blue-hunter, that slashed at the other giant woman.
Another spear-thrust aimed at the Omnivoracius slipped through the guard now that it had tried to jump in the air to rake at the woman with its claws, the thrust hitting the Omnivoracious in the stomach and forcing it back. The hit hurt, slightly, but nothing was really hurt that bad. The blade-tip of the spear had got part-way through the thick skin under the feathers, but was not strong enough to stab deep into muscle, and the Omnivoracious had enough muscle to halt the blade.
Still, the stab forced it to move back slightly, the woman continuing to follow, trying to pin the Omnivoracious down, seeming to try and force leverage on that weapon of hers.
The sudden 'whumph' followed by the woman yelling at a bright flash in front of her face a moment later had the Omnivoracious pull free, and glance to the side. The woman-trooper wearing a cloth on her face held a large trooper-weapon of some sort, that had spat out a little metal thing that flashed and banged nicely, and while it was a bit disorienting, the Omnivoracious saw it had also left the giant-woman reeling.
Good thing that Omnivoracious had four eyes, even if the flash had hurt two of them, the other two still worked. Though it did feel it would enjoy resting after this fight, the bang of that was a little too close.
Eh, they were nest-leader's people, she claimed them. Besides, the annoying blade-tip of that spear on the giant woman was out of the wound, and the small iron-man thing could not try and grow the blade deeper into her wound. Omnivoracious was far from stupid.
Author's Notes: Bit of a weird time trying to write a few different points of view and different intelligence levels for the bird-creatures. I am not terribly familiar with either, but asked about them from others, and came up with the above scenario.
There's a bit of a case of unreliable writer in the case of the birds points of view, they take hits and damage, but in their point of view its negligible, and they're enjoying the fight. They just keep causing trouble with harassing strikes and have kept the twins on the back footing and from approaching the other scene for a little longer.
I tried a few times to write more on the fight inside the actual building, but it felt like it got even more chaotic mess than the bits and pieces with Bakuda's capture, and ultimately, while writing about the armored pig rampaging through the mooks and then Protectorate heroes rushing to take down the E88 capes, it felt a tad of a chaotic mess.
I am considering a bit of expansion to it later on, potential after-action review session for Protectorate, but we'll see.
As for the rolls? I added together points gained from last chapter and this chapter, and well...
Spoiler: Listing
Oh! Lastly, in case someone wanted to have a quick-link on the two birds used more in this chapter.
Omnivoracious
Cornix Canor (Crow Tune)
Last edited: Apr 24, 2022
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FrozenTome
Apr 24, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 26 - Shoulders of Giants (are not safe)
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
May 1, 2022
#193
Chapter 26
Crusader, Cricket, and Hookwolf were all down, and Alabaster had stopped moving after a particularly large trained canine rushed in and grabbed his junk in its jaw. The man might regenerate, but nobody wanted to experience having certain parts of their body crushed, pulled apart, or otherwise traumatized to the point where a physical reset didn't matter because the sheer mental trauma would keep a person down permanently.
Krieg had put up a good fight before getting struck down by combination attack by Armsmaster, Assault, and Battery. By that point, Stormtiger was on the ground cuffed up and partially covered up in containment foam, just waiting for medical treatment as well.
So when the PRT forces moved to secure and transport captive capes into their vans and call in support from police to take the rest of the gang-members to jail, as well as packing in some of the known lieutenants to their vans for transport as well, for interrogation purposes, the Protectorate members were stuck staring at the fight going on at the distance.
Armsmaster had got on the move earlier, having left the building as soon as Krieg was down, along with Miss Militia, while Assault and Battery followed along a bit later. Triumph and Velocity were mostly keeping a careful eye of the situation, though Velocity also played a role in confirming there was no additional Empire forces heading their way.
Which left Assault and Battery standing close to Tamer who was observing the fight at the distance, her mask sitting on her face obscuring any expression, but Assault was pretty sure she was holding back a laugh watching it.
He didn't know why, he himself was grinning like a demented demon at watching the twin birds showing the Nazi giants a bad time. A bit violent on one side, but more humiliating on the other. Battery's proximity was likely the one reason that he was keeping himself from cackling out loud with laughter as another wing-swap slapped Kaiser on the giant woman's shoulder.
By the looks of it, the man was barely hanging in place with the use of his power to anchor him there likely the sole reason he hadn't been knocked off entirely, but neither of the giant twins were making a real good effort of putting in a serious fight anymore at that point. The bang before one of the women fighting the more vicious bird and the yell from the other woman as she was down on a knee was likely signs of the two Protectorate members that rushed out earlier having reached the scene to intervene.
"I didn't see you use those summons before." Assault commented in a curious tone of voice, glancing over at Tamer, who seemed to be caught slightly by surprise by the sudden words, but looking over at him before offering a small shrug.
"I imagine I will need to be answering a number of questions later, but I could try and offer a small summary?" He blinked, but grinned in turn and nodded. This ought to be interesting.
"Right. So, my power is summoning some allies to my side. Creatures of different sorts, things I find oddly familiar, and things that are so bizarre and alien I can't even try and figure out what their origin might be. Some are outright anomalous, such as the currently infamous cream-cow, but others are more bombastic and amusing. Some, like the good boy inside, are some intimidating muscle and cunning, mingled with a remarkably sharp intellect, but its still definitely non-human." She let out a breath.
"That was more or less assumed from the earlier answers, but nobody really got a good idea of just how many you have or what all you have." Assault smiled a bit curious but looked out just in time to watch Kaiser get a round metal trash-can dropped on him, sadly it didn't upend and get stuck on his figure like in cartoons, but it did bounce off his head while emptying its contents all over his once glorious metal armor, provoking another round of foul cursing from the man, even from the distance.
"Honestly? I would prefer not to share all the details. Especially out here." Tamer gestured around them.
Assault frowned but gave a small nod. He could understand the reluctance, and the area wasn't exactly secured against anyone eavesdropping, even if it was mainly PRT forces around, but there was still downed members of the Empire 88 gang inside who might be able to pick up some stuff from the distance.
"Still, I imagine it is no surprise if I say I have been reluctant to show all of my summons." She glanced at him more seriously. "There are some summons I will refuse to call up at all, while they might be friendly towards me, I am not sure if they would be hostile to others around me, and while they may obey me, if I summon one into a tense situation and they act without orders before I can instruct them, that could reflect really badly on me." Turning away, she left him to consider those words a moment.
"Would you be willing to share some insights into some of your summons at least? It would help put a fair number of people at ease to have a bit of more information at hand, and especially after tonight I think there will be a number of people who would really like having at least some answers. It would help smooth things out a great deal." Battery's words were spoken in a somewhat gentler tone, curious but also seeming to maintain a more relaxed tone, and body-language. A softer sell.
"I think something can be arranged. As long as there's an understanding I will leave the Protectorate or PRT before midnight tonight. I have no desire to sit in a cell while a number of people debate whether or not my powers are potentially too dangerous to let me walk around while I have not done anything criminal with them." Tamer's response made Assault blink, though looking back at the fight going on at the distance, the man had a response on his tongue's tip before a small nudge from Battery made him hold back what he was about to say.
Cornix slammed another sweep down low and the little decaraven minions distracted the foe at the right time, for a yet another wing-slap to the face for the metal-man, another wing smacking the giant woman in the face. Sure, the Crow Tune had to flap its wings to gain in height swiftly, the bass-beat driving it further into the air, the musical vibrations throwing it up high as it let out a laugh at the way the metal-man was staggered.
Cornix Canor was fairly certain the man's body was pretty badly battered in that suit, from all the impacts. To make that metal armor rigid to resist impacts took some effort, if he wanted to also move easily, he had to leave some give in place, and tunes and the constant attacks, as well as distractions, were driving the man on the backfoot.
The musical tones surrounding the Cornix's figure acted like a good bit of ablative surface, the impacts transmitted hit the foes a lot harder than they hit the Crow Tune itself, and the fight was leaving the foe scrambling to put up a proper fight back.
He let out a particularly loud bass-beat of laughter as one of the decaravens dove down hard, slamming into the giantess' eye and making her scream bloody murder. Cornix Canor maintained enough control not to burst the eye, but the impact was going to likely leave her with a black eye for a while, and probably make it a lot more difficult for her to keep fighting effectively.
Glancing at its companion, the predatory bird on the ground, Cornix found the Omnivoracious was driving their foe to the ground rather literally, jumping against them with force while they were disoriented. Sharp beak slashing at her throat and then held securely in place there, a warning about moving or trying anything, Cornix found himself a bit surprised.
Bloodthirsty as his companion was, they had the sense to stop before actually killing their foe, and doing so while threatening the repercussions of resisting in a way that would likely see the other giantess just relieved to be saved by the troopers on the ground. What humiliating defeat this must be for them.
Speaking of, the giant-woman that he had been fighting, this Valkyrie of a woman, was looking rather whoozy as well. The repeated impacts on her helmet left it rather dented from aerial bombardments, the repeated smacks in the face with a wing, and whatever poisonous thorn the armored rider had used.
The man in blue riding on his machine had kept pulling off a few sharp passes close, jabbing at exposed flesh in the legs and having the woman staggered, her footwork getting clumsier, the impacts in the face having her less and less balanced.
The pole-arm holding man on the motorcycle was keeping a close eye on the fight from the ground, always moving, looking for opportunities, and striking fast.
The Crow Tune could definitely appreciate the flightless raptor, the man used speed and sharp strikes with a skill that not many hatchlings would learn to imitate anytime soon. Some of the lazier fully-grown birds of prey would be able to learn something about the man's attack patterns and precision.
Noting it, the Crow Tune began to issue certain noise patterns in bass before certain strikes. Sure, it gave the foe a bit more chance to react and cover themselves, but also exposed the giant woman's footwork to the man's strikes better, and the impacts along with whatever venom was being used seemed to be doing their job to leave her too shook up to fight efficiently.
Once she would go down, the metal-man would likely be knocked out by the fall as well, and if not, they would be finding themselves outnumbered and too badly bruised to make much use of the stable ground under their feet anyway.
The fight was nearly over, and while Cornix Canor was almost sad to see it end, he had to admit he had been enjoying it a lot more than he perhaps should have. There was just something undeniably fun in smacking those two in the face, and watching them panicking.
The Omnivoracious held to the giant-woman's neck while she was practically sobbing and whimpering, starting to shrink down little by little. The Omnivoracious was careful to not let her slip away from the teeth, but also careful to not cut her with its teeth, well not more than the scratches and light bleeding. Besides, her blood was tasty, and once she shrank down there would be a lot less of it coming out. Faint growl from the Omnivoracious throat had the woman squirm and halt her shrinking, but the big predatory bird noted the little woman with the weapon in her hand spitting banging metal cans was coming closer.
Recalling its instructions, the Omnivoracious loosened its grip on the giant woman's throat, but kept its open beak close, grinning maliciously.
Miss Militia approached very carefully. These creatures might be under Tamer's control, but they still made her feel more than a little concerned. The dragon that had been reported earlier was one thing, but this nightmarish bird had a beak that looked like it was meant to rip and tear into things, and while its beak was open, she swore she saw little shark-like teeth present too.
The whole giant purple bird looked like it was meant to slaughter anything in its path and enjoy, revel in the slaughter. It looked like something right out Nilbog's nightmares. It looked like something Bonesaw might have put together if she got her hands on an Endbringer design program of some sort. It was a very vicious and violent creature, and based upon the injuries inflicted, more than ready to escalate a fight into a lethal one.
The fact it seemed to back down a bit when she got closer, and let the defeated Nazi, Fenja or Menja, continue to shrink down in order to have her surrender, at least showed that they did obey the Tamer's instructions at the end. She felt more than a little concerned about going anywhere close to the bird, but in order to take the Nazi woman into custody, she would carry out her orders without a regret.
That didn't mean she wasn't finding her gun trying to switch to more hostile and powerful form as long as she was close to the bird. Truth be told, the moment she was on the rooftop seeing the bird tearing into the Nazi woman, she had to struggle to keep her weapon in its grenade launcher form, when it kept insisting on trying to turn into a Davy Crockett. Not exactly an option to use in the city.
The fact her power kept trying to switch to such a gear spoke volumes of the sheer unnerving presence it had however. She kept herself in check, and moved to cuff the Nazi-woman, who surrendered without a protest. Looking over to the side, she saw the second woman tumble. Fenja and Menja were going to be brought in tonight as well then, and with any luck Kaiser would be unable to run too.
That would leave them with only Victor, Othalla, Rune, Night, and Fog. Possibly Purity, though there had been reports of her pulling away and trying to strike out on her own, but that had been unconfirmed so far, and her strikes had been mainly aimed at the other two gangs, so Director Piggot wasn't likely to extend too much trust towards her.
Then again, she had not joined in the fight here, and hopefully would not do so later either. If so, then the Empire would be on its last legs. Losing that many capes in one go, they would be hard pressed to spring the captives from prison, and with Teeth trying to come in to the city to start their own brand of insanity, she sincerely hoped that they could get a good hold of them before they could put down roots and establish themselves.
Miss Militia knew they had been holding onto the status quo for a good while without reinforcements, outnumbered, and struggling to retain the capes they did have, with people requesting local capes to transfer elsewhere, no help seemingly coming their way. Few earlier recruits had been poached by other branches in the past, leaving them in a precarious situation. She could only hope that with the recent changes they might be able to halt criminals coming in to fill the vacancies left by the other old gangs in the city, and while it was unlikely they could stop criminal gangs from forming, if they could prevent any of them growing strong enough to be a threat on the same scale as the past three, then it was worth fighting for.
Teeth had, unfortunately, had a good bit of history in the city before, however. That meant they likely knew a lot of places to set up shop and start preparing for worse. If Butcher was coming over then things would likely escalate in a short order once more, but with any luck they would only see a few of the psychopath's lieutenants, a few lower ranked capes, hoping to establish a foothold into the city before the rest of them would roll in.
That was why she and the others wanted the Empire out of the way in a hurry. If they could focus their attention on one rising gang without having to watch their back against a larger gang taking the opportunity to cause their own share of mayhem in the meanwhile then their efforts might be more effective.
Either way, she was pretty sure they really needed to get Tamer to come in and be debriefed about her powers, and seeing what she had been pulling off since her reveal, it was pretty obvious they needed to recruit her in a short order, it would look bad for Protectorate that an independent did so much while the Protectorate was stuck holding onto the status quo for so long.
The good news had been that the cape had been more than willing to work with them before as well, just more wary of the debriefings, and seemingly a lot more wary of the PRT than the Protectorate itself. Of course, the orders were to mainly leave interacting with her to Triumph, seeing as the man had managed to establish the best friendly relations with her so far.
Assault and Battery tried, but given the way her first contact with PRT had gone after they had brought her in the first time around, she had appeared to be somewhat guarded around them, and she didn't expect that to change anytime soon. Still, there was no denying the fact her summons were quite effective.
Bakuda found, Lung taken down, and now the Empire rooted out and dealt a blow like this. The fact the Protectorate and PRT took part in both ABB's and E88's falls helped sooth some grumbling egos, and prevented some image issues that the PR branch of the PRT was likely grumbling the loudest over.
Lily watched as the remaining capes rushed over towards the site that Armsmaster and Miss Militia had cleared. Both of his birds were in the air now, having finished dealing with the trio that had threatened to intervene. It was almost funny, at the end.
Coil might have intended to bring forth even worse chaos in the city by unleashing the Empire 88 on the populace by dropping the information bomb he had been sitting on, even in its flawed and incomplete state, but the effects had riled up the E88 members and had them come rushing together, only to be taken down and captured in a short order.
She was fairly sure this was not what Coil intended, and chances were that the man was still seething about his own losses and the whole scenario the man had no doubt arranged in his head coming apart from the seams recently. That didn't mean the man wasn't a very real threat however, and any information she gave to the PRT would likely find its way into Coil's hands. She might allow a little more to leak on purpose then, and see about preparing for a chance to close a chapter on that awful mess sooner rather than later.
Coil would need to be taken down, he was a far more serious threat to her now than the Teeth would be for the immediate moment. Not to mention she had no real idea of how to deal with Butcher, nothing concrete and solid at least.
She was a bit 'disappointed' at not having ultimately needed to use the power stored up in her lizard-creature, the massive 'fuck off' beam it had been storing and building up on her mana reserves she had been feeding to its leeching ability having left it practically brimming with power just waiting for a target.
Then again, at this time, she felt she should just be grateful she had not needed to use it. There was a very real chance it would have potentially proven lethal. Yet given the choice between killing someone like, say, Hookwolf, or Kaiser, or one of the twins, or having Protectorate heroes or the PRT troopers dying because those psychoes were able to get close and start tearing into people, she would consider it an option.
Of course, with a director like Piggot, chances were they'd try and arrest her for it even if she saved some lives, if she ended up costing a criminal their life in the process. She was reluctant to extend much trust towards the PRT after the previous treatment, and with the amount of leaks they had, and her experience with New Wave had left her wary about the idea of other groups in the city as well.
Then again, she had mainly got in touch with the Dallons, perhaps if she had tried to reach out to the Pelhams then things might have been different. Unfortunately she was pretty sure that ship had sailed, and she wasn't exactly sure the Pelhams would have been able to advice her that much. She felt a lawyer who was also a cape might have been able to offer her some useful advice at that time, but that hadn't played out as she might have hoped.
Sighing quietly at the time, Lily rubbed her head, feeling a series of new connections start to form. She stared at the distance behind the mask, feeling the twin powers settle down into her soul first this time around.
Friendly Fire Immunity, and Perfect Teamwork. She wondered if her power drew upon the surrounding events for what it would grant her, or if her luck was just that weird. The two birds had trashed the giant Nazis in a beautiful violent waltz out there, working together and yet separate, ripping the twins defenses down and forcing them to focus on separate foes unable to leave a flank exposed and instead having to divide their attention.
It was a bit funny, and fitting. She felt both powers would come in handy for her. Shivering a bit, she felt the connections for the creatures. She was a bit concerned, she had a lot of creatures already, and some of them might never get any real use at this rate. She was unsure about what to think of that.
The two creatures, however, had her pause. One was a mechanical walker, four legs supporting its body, presenting itself as a creature capable of producing a rather remarkable shield. Something that could protect not only itself but its surroundings. Something that might have an interesting effect against some foes that were out there. She would have to wait and see it summoned, but she felt that this might very well be a nice surprise.
The other option, however, caught her a bit off guard. Kali. The name had her tense up a bit. The creatures were monstrous crocodiles of some sort, shadowy creatures that looked more than a little intimidating. She got the feeling she could summon a group of them, smaller ones, or one larger, more dangerous one. She shivered slightly at the mental impressions of what those creatures could do if unleashed on thugs with orders to avoid killing but to take down foes alive.
She was pretty sure Ravager was an obedient good-boy that deserved a lot of praise for his smart mind and being able to follow orders, while these, these creatures looked like it would not take more than looking at them wrong to piss them off and they'd try and reinterpret her commands creatively to look for the most vicious options available to them.
Telling them to disarm and detain might lead to a number of thugs literally having been disarmed, limbs pulled right off or chomped apart, to keep them from acting. It might be her reacting a bit too strongly to what looked like it could be right out of nightmares, but something about them gave her an unpleasant, foreboding feeling.
She wasn't sure exactly what it was, but she had a very unpleasant chill, as the mental image showed one of them sink into black nothingness and emerge again from it.
In that instant, a small thought briefly touched her mind.
If they could take something outside existence and let go of it, would it be able to affect things back in this world? If they grabbed onto Butcher and dragged them down with them into that shadowy darkness, would it see that power try to snap at her and make her the next butcher in line, or would it suck Butcher in and spit them out in some void between the stars or somewhere similarly hostile, leaving them to die on their own without being able to reach back to try and grab onto another parahuman nearby to possess, she did not know.
The fact the thought came to her on staring at the mental image of that void did have her feel a bit of chill inside and question how much things were affecting her sanity and her mind. Was she just that stressed out about all the threats? Was she getting colder and more ruthless? Was it an idle thought trying to solve a horrifying threat to the city she had sought to stabilize to the best of her ability by fighting criminal capes?
She did not know, but she wondered if she should consider seeing a therapist at some point. Lots of normal capes had a ton of issues, she was a weird case, but that didn't mean she might not have some issues of her own to deal with and work through. Shaking her head and swallowing dryly, she wondered what lay ahead.
Right, one step at a time. Time to face the music. She wasn't looking forward to the debrief.
Author's Note: The dice-rolls for this story have been amusing on several occasions, I wager rolling 1 chapter in advance works out pretty well for me, but at times I wonder what other options are out there that should be considered.
I also finding myself a bit unsure about a ruling on acquiring one of the Powers a 2nd time, the way its written it sounds like you can('t ?) apply it to multiple creatures if you have multiple copies, only one at a time, and cannot be applied multiple times to the same creature. As such, if the author of the Celestial Menagerie is around, zagan I would really appreciate a rule-call on whether or not having a second copy of that power is possible, and if that means you can apply it to another creature, having 2 creatures that are boosted. No mention is spoken about it being possible to have it more than once, but the wording has me a bit uncertain since it speaks of multiple instances.
If its not available to use multiple copies, then I'll use a reroll to roll for a replacement / add the points spent to points left over for the next chapter later.
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FrozenTome
May 1, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 27 - Visit to the Rig - Part 1
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
May 8, 2022
#199
Chapter 27
Lily sat back silently, resting a bit at the time, having switched from a full facial mask to a half-mask she had been offered, covering the upper half of her face. Sipping on some coffee she had been offered, she was waiting for the Protectorate members to finish their own brief preliminary after-action-review before she was to join in, and likely to discuss a few things that would need to be cleared before they called her in.
Still, it was a win, and what a win it was indeed. Kaiser, Fenja and Menja, Stormtiger, Alabaster, Krieg, Cricket, Hookwolf, and Crusader were all in custody. The number of Empire members had dropped dramatically, and while there was still a serious risk that Purity might show up to cause issue along with Night and Fog, the fact so many others had fallen might discourage them from the matter, especially with Teeth also being moved in.
She was waiting over at the Protectorate Rig in one of the meeting rooms at that time, smiling a bit to herself. She was nervous and tense inside, but she tried to keep herself relatively calm. She had let more than a few things slip, but at the same time, she felt the triumphs they had achieved made up for some of those issues. She was not happy about the fact a word of those things would leak out to Coil's ear inevitably, but with any luck that serpent would get crushed soon.
The Nazis were serious bad news, and them going wild would have been bad, in the same level of bad as what the Bakuda's Bomb Spree would have been if allowed to get into full-gear and going without stopping. The fact Coil didn't have the help of Travelers or Noelle in his ranks would make removing the man a bit less risky proposition, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't be a major thorn in her side until then.
She wasn't sure what had happened since she had seriously expected to see Coil cause her a lot more trouble than what she had seen. The fact remained that she was pretty sure there had been attempts, but obviously they had been discarded since she was still alive and didn't remember any attacks, and that made her more than a bit worried about what the man might have already learned anyway.
Coil was an insidious enemy and the more time the man had to set things up, the worse it was. Which made her want to yell at herself for getting caught up in one bit of trouble after another for so long without taking care of removing Coil before. She had thought of it multiple times, taken small steps in the right direction but held back since she wasn't ready, or some other bullshit reasons had come up to make her step back. She wasn't sure, but it might be that from the enemies in the city, there was a bit of more fear towards Coil than the others.
Shaking her head and sighing, she stretched out a little. She had dismissed the vast majority of her summons in the aftermath of the fight, since they needed to get going fast. The one she had kept with her was her Eidolon, currently possessing the little figurine she carried with her. She preferred to not have it roaming around the building itself in case she was asked about it. She did recall Armsmaster having the lie-detector built in to the man's helmet at some point, and she was pretty sure he would have at least some early version of it present by now.
She was also considering what questions she might face. She was perfectly willing to state she refused to comment on some matters, but she got the feeling it would draw even more interest in her and not in a good way, if she kept using those words too often. Still, she had expected to be asked at some point sooner or later about the creatures she had in her menagerie, and giving in a little would likely help smooth out some processes. She considered how to frame some of the information she had in such a context she wasn't exactly lying, but misleading.
The Celestial Menagerie was rather massive, but not exactly 'infinite' as far as she knew. She could, potentially, eventually, have every creature available in it as a summon. Though if it included all the animals in various groups that existed in the real world, that was already a rather expansive list, and the number of creatures from other worlds just added to that making it even more gigantic. She was pretty sure the list had also changed over time.
As such, she could tell she honestly did not know how many creatures there could potentially be out there.
The fact she could only summon so many at a time, and that she could not summon the same one again for a while, would be some limits she might be willing to share. Though using the old limits rather than the expanded ones might work out, if she spoke of her preliminary testing on that.
Noting it was somewhat random, and some creatures were ones that she could not really use, would not really use, would also potentially help downplay some part of it. She would have to wait and see. Sighing slightly, she wondered how long they might be planning to have her wait.
Sipping on her coffee, she wondered if it was merely a bit of peace before a yet another storm.
"Miss Tamer? They're waiting for you now." The office worker at the door made her blink, but nod, as she finished her coffee and got up to follow along.
Time to face the music, she told herself. Right, she could do this. It was no worse than facing a job interview, right? She had done that, and she had been nervous but she had got herself a job before, and the next time she looked to find a job at another place the interview process had felt easier. It was just nerves facing something new the first time.
Now if she could only convince herself of it before experiencing it. No such luck.
Entering a new room with a table set and waiting, he noted three other people present. Armsmaster, Miss Militia, and Triumph. No signs of the others. That was a bit relieving at least. She had half-expected to be facing all of them at once, but that would have been even more unnerving. This was better.
"Please, take a seat." Armsmaster gestured at the chair opposite of him, his voice sounding a bit stiff. She figured the man had a lot of things on his mind but she also felt it wasn't exactly an auspicious start to this matter.
Nevertheless, she moved to take the designated seat, facing the trio somewhat quietly and resting her hands on the table before her, left hand covering the right hand, waiting quietly for the moment.
"First off, I would like to apologize to you." Armsmaster's tone was serious and yet still a bit stiff, making her blink in surprise.
"Back when you first arrived to the scene with Assault and Battery, they brought you over to the PRT building in order to try and have all the formalities of being a registered cape handled in a swift and efficient manner, and to help both of us, answering any questions you might have, as well as allowing us to gain a better understanding of your capabilities and giving us a chance to make you an offer to join the Protectorate." Armsmaster seemed to be a little angry, or perhaps frustrated, at this point.
"That was unfortunately foiled due to a series of unexpected issues." He sighed lightly, before looking at her a bit less guarded, or at least looking like it to her. "I was tired, worn down by other things going on in the city just a little earlier, and returning to base in order to carry out tinkering on an idea for improvement I had, and was not available when needed. I told the person contacting me to delegate things to the second one in command. In this case, Miss Militia." He halted briefly at this point.
"I was not aware she was not available at that hour either. The PRT agents on the scene were left with an awkward scenario of not having another cape on the scene who should take over the initial discussion with you. Instead, one of the senior agents of the PRT decided to use an older protocol, which while still in the books, is discouraged in the recent years due to the inefficiency and other problems it has shown." Armsmaster looked at her, and he got the feeling the man was not used to admitting any form of mistakes, especially if they would wound his own pride. The fact he was doing this at all had her wonder.
"It was an unfortunate series of events that left a very sour image of working with the PRT and Protectorate behind. It was unintentional mistake that was ultimately my fault as the person in charge."
Armsmaster, Colin, was silent for a moment before drawing a deep breath, and continuing as she stared at the man a bit disbelieving what she was hearing. She thought the man was pretty much a robot the way he acted at times, other than his pride and his glory-hog need to prove himself. Obviously that was a very limited, caricature like view of the man.
"On behalf of Protectorate and PRT ENE, I apologize to you for the incident that took place on your first contact with our organizations, and am grateful to have seen you to be willing to work with us despite such initial difficulties, and proving yourself a reliable associate."
She found herself more than a little stunned, but at the time she also wondered if the talk was coached, and if this was all Colin, or if Dragon was encouraging him to do this, if the Director had pushed him into doing this in order to try and clear any would-be-issues in the way of her recruitment after seeing what she could do. She didn't know, but at the same time, she got the impression this was, at least in part, genuine.
"I accept the apology, and I have not though poorly of Protectorate forces in the Brockton Bay area despite the incident in question. It left me frustrated with the PRT, yes, but I did not believe it to be the fault of the Protectorate itself." She left out the fact she was almost certain Coil had played a part in messing things up, but that could be just her paranoia speaking, so she left it out. She had no evidence either.
"I am glad to hear that. Now, on behalf of the Protectorate, I would like you to participate in Power-Testing later on, and to agree to disclose some details about your power with us, given that the recent activities have certainly invoked a lot of questions in various peoples minds, and some answers would certainly help calm down a number of currently wary people."
Okay, who had switched place with Armsmaster? This was starting to get a little surreal. She was pretty sure it had to be coached speech, the man seemed to be a bit prone to being blunt in various things and this just didn't feel natural. Then again, unusual circumstances might lead to unexpected results. She decided to just go along with it, though glancing over at Triumph who offered a small encouraging smile, the Lion-mask giving a bit of comfortable familiarity, the visor hiding the top half of his face but the smile seeming genuine and warm enough to make her feel a bit more at ease. Glancing at Miss Militia, she returned her attention to Armsmaster, and breathed deep before speaking.
"My power, which I personally refer to in my head as 'Menagerie', allows me to connect with a number of different species of creatures that run a wide range of different classifications, some being animals with a small intellectual boost that comes from the connection, being able to understand my commands and be better able to interpret the meaning behind them, to more unusual creatures and some beings that puzzle me due to their robotic nature making me wonder how they fit into the Menagerie, not that I am complaining of their presence, merely puzzled, and lastly, a number of anomalies that should not be possible. The last category involving creatures like the currently known and documented appearance of the 'Dairy Cow'."
The snort and grin from Triumph showed he certainly knew that. "Circus is never going to live down being taken out by a cow." His words earned a small chuckle from Lily, and she was pretty sure she saw Miss Militia's expression change a bit behind that bandanna, seemingly amused as well. Armsmaster meanwhile merely nodded a little at this.
"Mmh. I initially had only one creature at my disposal in the Menagerie, not one I felt would be of much help in any fights in the city. Honestly? I felt I would make a common mugger stop drop and laugh themselves silly at it, so I initially thought my power was one final joke at my expense." She gave a somewhat awkward shrug at this.
"It was later that I realized my Menagerie seems to be able to draw in some new… inhabitants. Eventually, some new ones began to arrive. I have no real control over it, the process seems somewhat random. I know there's a limit, but I have no idea what it is. There was some I gained rather quickly at first, followed by a pause during which there was no new 'arrivals'. I wasn't sure what was behind it, trying to stay in working life and carry on, curious about my powers but not wanting to rush into things, not when I had more questions than answers at the time still."
She earned a small approving nod from the Armsmaster at this statement, though she had seen him tense up a bit on hearing about the additional arrivals mentioned, perhaps drawing a connection with the fact her power appeared to be growing, and the expansion of her options later on.
"I took some time off. I learned that there is a limit of how far away they can travel from me. I tested it out at a place outside the city during my free time, confirming the approximate range back then to be roughly five hundred yards or so." She sighed. "I also got the impression there's another limit, of how many creatures I can have out and about at once." She gave a small shrug. "At the early stage, I had no idea how many that might be, as I didn't have enough creatures to truly test it." She stayed quiet a moment.
"How many creatures did you have around that time?" Armsmaster asked in a serious tone, leaving her wondering briefly.
"I would have to say maybe half a dozen or so? I am not entirely sure, it was under ten creatures at that time, but I am not entirely certain whether or not I had already had a couple of others appear back then or not." She smiled a bit awkward.
"My initial arrivals were Frosty, the little snow-orb I used back when the attack by the Merchants happened, as well as Geruta, the flame-footed fighter in flight, my good-boy named Ravager, the large canine creature that has helped serve as a strong warrior to help protect me in worrying times, and Therva, the lizard-creature that helped render Squealer's ride a mess back at that time." She let out a small breath.
"I am somewhat reluctant to pull out my first summon even now, but its name, 'Lips', is pretty descriptive. It is not exactly a lovely creature to behold, and its natural behavior would include trying to smooch someone rather enthusiastically, something that I imagine would horrify and disgust many people. It think summoning it on some would be mugger might make them run away screaming in horror, but beyond that, I don't see much use in calling for Lips." She actually felt a little bad for that summon, she knew she wasn't being fair, but the fact remained, her first summon had a potential master effect linked to it, and she was less than keen about dropping that little bomb. Painting it as more embarrassing creature that they would likely be less than eager to test anyway should hopefully keep it out of the picture. Mentioning it at all was still a gamble.
"Since then, I've received more summons over time. I came to the conclusion there's a cap of roughly ten creatures summoned out at once." She gave a small shrug at this. "I also got the impression that some of the big creatures are able to act a little further away from me. Probably for safety reasons alone." She chuckled a bit awkward at this but sighed. "That said, I've received some boons from the process as well. Knowledge that helps me ride a creature if need be, ability to push a bit more into the bond with a creature summoned, able to feel where they are, and able to appear at their side in a hurry." She smiled a bit awkward.
"I am grateful for the sheer variety of options but it ties back to the fact I summon creatures that I am trying to tame and lead to the right direction, and some of them are not exactly creatures I would consider of much help in a fight. One of my summons, for instance, is a rather exotic looking fish. Summoning it would be just cruel, however, as it would appear only to die soon after." She let out a sigh.
"Some, in turn, are remarkably helpful. Qilin is a healer, able to assist others when summoned. I feel a bit bad I am not really doing much myself when I visit hospitals with Qilin, but the Qilin's healing should hopefully take some of the pressure off of Panacea and allow me to help out in a crisis. I was originally doing just that before some Empire thugs arrived to try and intimidate me, leading to me rushing off with the use of my summons. Which is also why I couldn't help with healing troopers tonight, the Qilin has already been unsummoned, and I cannot bring it back until later." She smiled a bit awkwardly.
"I have spent a fair number of my summons tonight, truthfully. I'd much prefer to do actual power-testing at a later time for that reason as well. The ones I have dismissed will not be available till later anyhow. Still ,if you do insist on carrying out the testing tonight, I do have some options, but I believe you are most curious about the ones that have more ah, exotic effects tied to them?" She smiled a bit, and saw Armsmaster had got a bit thoughtful at the time.
"I have been somewhat reluctant to use the larger ones I got, but someone like Lung felt like a powerful figure was needed in order to end things quickly. Someone as powerful as the Opaleye could draw Lung's attention." She paused briefly. "The dragon. Its an Antipodean Opaleye. I get the feel about the name, when I summon one, though I think it is a name for what they are, rather than a personal name." She leaned back a bit in her seat.
She felt new connections forming then and there. Blinking a bit, staying quiet a second, as she felt those connections settling down in place. Knowledge about being a zoologist, and something she should have had before. Strength Boost. It felt like it almost bounced away, since she already had a copy, but something happened, and the connection linked with what already existed. She wasn't sure what to think of it, that was the first time something like that happened. She was pretty sure it was not meant to happen, but focused on the creature she felt connecting with her as well.
First one was a more violent looking, predatory aquatic creature, a powerful external shell combined with a very dangerous bite, it would likely not see much use for her, but it was certainly interesting. Too bad there wasn't much time out at sea for her, not with Leviathan ruling over the larger bodies of water in the present day and age. She sighed quietly at this, and then reaching out at the second connection, felt a connection with normal animals, in this case, the Caninae. Canines. She could get herself a dog, or a fox. If she wanted to be teasing towards Tattletale, she might have got herself a smug, clever fox, but she didn't feel like picking a creature choice based solely on that.
Instead, she formed a connection with a wolf. Canis Lupus. It was an interesting connection, and she felt the touch of a wolf's mind reach out to her own. Recognition. Acknowledgment. Pack. Hunter. Chief.
"Sorry." She shook her head. "That, right there, was a moment another connection formed." She looked at the three there, with Armsmaster in particular leaning over more curiously, Miss Militia blinking, and Triumph looking a bit concerned for a moment but staying quiet for the moment.
"This one is a relatively normal one. Wolf. Canis Lupus. Regular species of animal, though smart enough to understand any words I might speak and follow orders. I'd likely still have to train it properly myself if I wanted to have it perform more complex tasks." She smiled a little while giving a short shrug again.
"There wasn't really much indication of something happening." Armsmaster commented. "Your focus was obviously elsewhere for a short moment, but beyond that, nothing outwardly showing. If that happened somewhere in public I'd figure you had some idea occur to you that distracted you momentarily. Is it dangerous if you happen to be driving at the time?" Armsmaster seemed like he wanted to ask a lot more, but at the same time, she got the impression he was holding back, at least for now.
"I got the feeling I could ignore it if I wanted to, but this one got my curiosity with its timing, and the fact it offered me a regular animal at this time had me a bit curious. Took a moment to look through the mental link, get a feeling for the new arrival to the Menagerie." She smiled at the trio, idly wondering if she was sharing way too much.
The thing was, she was pretty sure Coil would have already figured out a number of things. Not to mention some of it was outdated news. She had twice as much control now than she used to have, being able to call upon twenty creatures at once, and some of them being too small to even notice them on her person at times. Having twice the range wasn't bad either. She hadn't touched some of the more exotic boosts she could apply either.
Flash-bang summoning they were aware of, and to lesser extent, she figured the Designated Target would be made known to some extent. It was not as if there was effective means to counter it. The fact it was potentially something that could be considered master effect wasn't really all that concerning to her though, because the Glory Girl's aura provided a decent enough comparison.
It was a shaker effect that caused people around the creature so designated to draw hostility towards it, preventing them from attacking others. Potentially a life-saving option in a hostage situation, preventing would-be-killers from shooting the hostages as opposed to shooting at the designated target, the decoy.
She smiled a bit at this. It might be something they'd argue against using, but ultimately it would raise more than a few arguments against Glory Girl and if that dragged the New Wave into an argument as well, she wouldn't feel much pity on Carol Dallon for dragging her into an argument like that. Trying to argue the effects were different would have her pointing out some things that she was pretty sure the New Wave wouldn't like, and ultimately, she would then know that the Protectorate would be hostile and guarded towards her and her creatures, even if her 'master' ability in that case would likely not be bad enough to cause real issues, merely a demand to not utilize that particular aspect at all.
If they did that, then she'd know in advance to not show or reveal any other potential master-effects some of her summons might have, now or in the future.
She had a feeling that the questions she was going to face soon would be more than a little tiresome though.
Author's Notes: This was growing up a bit long, so I ended up chopping this up, splitting the matter into more than 1 chapter. Lily's being a lot more open about things than she has previously, but how that will turn out, will remain to be seen.
I wasn't sure about the bit I wrote for Armsmaster. This is from Lily's point of view, with her reasons, but I am considering something of an interlude on Protectorate talk later and the Director Piggot voicing in on things as well, later after the conversations are over. They wanted a talk, and a bit of a debrief, at the time Lily's also laying down some of her cards, keeping other things more close to the chest.
I figure this chapter may irritate and annoy some folks, and provoke some response. I was flip-flopping a bit on a few ideas on how to go about writing this chapter, having relatively clear core idea of what bits would come up, but to which extent, and how, was up in the air. Ultimately, I decided to expand a bit on some parts as well.
My earlier 2 stories would benefit from the fact that the powers were 'relatively stable' and while there was growth, it was easy to follow along. In this case, there's a fair bit of random chance to things and I tend to alter things and new ideas spark here and there with it.
It is amusing and interesting from the point of new ideas, but there is a feeling of character bloat, and some summons feel like they lose some impact they might have with the fact they will likely not get summoned very often (or possibly at all, in some cases) in Lily's current circumstances, while she is holding back and hiding a fair number of cards up her sleeves and refusing to reveal her entire hand in play at that present time either.
The current move is both a blind bet and a curious experiment. I wonder how the folks will see it. I try and grow as a writer with each story, and seek to write the stories I start to a completion, but I feel there's a good long road with this tale in the horizon still.
Spoiler: Listing
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FrozenTome
May 8, 2022
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Threadmarks Chapter 28 - Visit to the Rig, Part 2
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
May 15, 2022
#208
Chapter 28
"How many different sorts of projections, or summons, do you have by now?" Miss Militia was the first one to inquire a bit carefully once the three sitting opposite to her seemed to have reached the conclusion that she was not going to continue talking right away.
"Hmm, I am honestly not quite sure? I have gained several, maybe two dozen by now? I tend to focus more on those I feel could help me out in the field if something happens, and summon the others more rarely, allowing them a chance to get out, and play, but I prefer to be a bit more careful on that. Additionally, there's some I will not summon unless in an emergency, and at least one I flat out refuse to summon at all." Lily shook her head a bit and looked at them seriously.
"Why?" Armsmaster frowned. "I mean, why are you refusing to summon that one? Can you explain it to us?" Lily felt a little more convinced someone was prompting him, since she had noticed a slight shift in his stance between the initial blunt question, and the follow-up clarification.
"Well, when it comes to the 'Anomalies' in my power, I get a lot more information about them, than I do about the rest. That is a quality I would like to have with the other creatures as well, but with those Anomalies, I believe it is more or less a necessity to know before I try and summon any of them." She inhaled deep and hesitated. In the spirit of co-operation, she figured it was best to share some information even if she didn't like some implications.
"The anomaly in question is a potential S-Class danger. It is stationary, and won't cause any trouble if nothing doesn't go near it, but anything that does get too close can become injured, and start suffering mounting damage that will begin to transform them. My creatures and their powers vanish when I want them to, and from the information I got, the effects would vanish from those injured so, preventing transformation. However, the damage that could be inflicted is horrifying enough that I would not use them against anything short of an Endbringer, and against an Endbringer, they would likely do far too little, and too slowly." She shook her head a bit.
"Theoretically, I might summon that one if the Slaughterhouse 9 came to town, aiming it at Crawler. Given that its damaging effects seem to be pretty much impossible to stop once they start unless I unsummon the creature, this could potentially be a nasty counter, and likewise, it could affect someone like Mannequin or Hatchetface if they got too close. It is still insufficient to deal with Siberian however, given what information I get from it." She offered a small shrug.
She did notice the group of them had tensed up, but it was Triumph who swallowed their saliva and asked. "What kind of creature is it?"
"It is listed in my mind as SCP-299. It is a plant, resembling a tree, with highly infectious nature. Its branches are black, and very sharp. Touching them can have disastrous effects on other trees nearby, and anything living that comes too close. The information on the anomaly comes with some grizzly information on that front. Fortunately, any such 'spawn' are not immune to fire, and indeed, the documentation it dumped in my head suggested fire-bombing the entire affected, infected area just to be safe." She let out a heavy sigh.
"The SCP stands for 'Secure, Contain, Protect', from what I understood, its a report from something that tried to study and isolate those anomalies. At least that's the way it reads in my head. Unfortunately, there's also redacted information present, so I don't know all."
"Yes, please never summon anything like that." Armsmaster cleared his throat slightly, and Lily saw Miss Militia and Triumph look like they agreed with the man.
"I don't intend to, as I said, I believe it to be too dangerous. I tried to think potentially useful scenarios, but even if its totally loyal to me and it along with any infected matter vanish when it is sent away, I don't want to risk it. So it takes a place in the Menagerie as one of the summons I have, but will never put to actual use."
Lily felt a bit uncertain whether or not she should have just kept quiet about that particular one, but she did want to convey to them the fact not everything she got was going to be something she could use.
"I have my own preferences, and generally focus more on other summons like Frosty, the floating little snow-ball that helped me before, and Ravager, the canine companion who I have used several times so far successfully." She smiled a bit unsure still how to continue, it was their time to ask questions after all.
"We'll come back to that SCP matter later." Armsmaster stated somewhat bluntly, before nodding and continuing. "Your summons appear to have some different rules to them than other Projections do. Do you have any idea why?" Armsmaster's tone was somewhat flat, and Lily briefly wondered on what exactly she could answer to that.
"Honestly? I don't know. I know my powers are primarily tied to my summons, but it seems a bit peculiar. Some of them allow me to gain some advantages like traveling to their location in a hurry, or switching places with a summon, but those did not come right away." She preferred to keep quiet about some of the other useful bits of information there.
"I also learned how to care for the creatures, and train them. They are inherently loyal, and quite happy to try and please me, obeying my commands. That doesn't mean that they couldn't use some training. I am pretty certain that proper preparations prevents a lot of issues on the long run."
She saw Armsmaster nodding in agreement on that, even if he might not have been satisfied with the answer, then at least the attitude.
"Do you have any other surprises that we should get out of the way right now?" Triumph's tone was light and jesting, in a friendly and relaxed manner, but the question he posed was certainly not.
"Huh. Well, I do have one, but this should be a bit more positive side." She paused and gave a small shrug at this before inhaling deep. She figured this was something that might have mixed results.
"Among my summons are also a few rather powerful ones, that cannot truly 'manifest' in this world. Not yet at least. They can, however, take a small area and pull it to a pocket-dimension, visible from outside but not harmed from things outside it, or able to harm something outside it from the inside either, while its active." She bit on her lower lip, then continuing.
"This pocket-space is in place to limit the damage these particular Summons do. I can call upon them only once a day, but when they appear, they carry out their strongest attack on the isolated pocket space, and afterwards they dump the contents of the pocket space where they took it from. Damage inside the pocket space stays, while the pocket space itself vanishes." She glanced from one to another.
"How powerful are their attacks?" Miss Militia seemed to be a bit more tense at this, seeming to have caught onto a possible theory for why this happened.
"It depends on how much the creature in the summoning has trained and prepared, but on the stronger end? They're a power I would consider bringing out against Endbringers. I have no guarantees they would be enough to do serious harm, but if my theory holds true and catching part of an Endbringer into that dimensional pocket is able to drag the rest of them into one too, then some of those attacks could theoretically give everyone else in the area the Endbringer appeared in a bit of time to ready themselves for when they get back out, while the attack is carried out inside the pocket dimension."
Lily found the silence that followed hanging heavy in the air. It was a big if, but the fact she wasn't trying to claim that she had a weapon of a power that could kill an Endbringer, but one that could potentially inconvenience one for a time and allow people to deploy to take the maximum advantage of that time to prepare seemed to draw their interest certainly. If her summons could actually do some lasting damage on the Endbringers during such an event, then her importance would likely skyrocket as well.
Still, she was pretty sure her best odds would be against Leviathan. Out of the three, it was the one she expected would have least amount of protections against it. Simurgh would likely try and break free and avoid being trapped by the effect in a dimensional pocket to begin with, and as for Behemoth, she was fairly certain that thing had such overpowering dynakinesis that chances were that the summons would not be able to bring out their full power against it.
Yet the short time they would be caught in the pocket dimension for the effect to carry through might give the people some time to prepare to carry out an attack on a target that was temporarily restricted on where they could go and where they'd emerge again once the dimensional pocket bubble popped to deposit them back into the real world.
"Testing. We need testing of some sort." Armsmaster spoke up after a moment's thought, looking at her rather intensely for the moment. "I am not sure I can convince people to do so but having a bit of Endbringer material acquired at the end of one of the previous fights might give some idea whether or not it is possible." He seemed to fall momentarily in thought.
"Though the difference between attached and alive and discarded and dead is there, as is the question whether or not they can be affected as a whole if they are larger than the pocket dimension. How big are we talking about actually?"
Lily blinked, and then hummed in thought. "Roughly 10 meters or so? Or thirty-two to thirty-three feet or so. Sphere of that radius. It is supposed to draw every being within that sphere radius into the pocket-space and affect them. I am hopeful it can help, but I am not convinced it is some miracle silver-bullet. I think it might work, but I am merely trying to be optimistic. The Endbringers are horrifying enough that I figure everyone wishes to find some way to hurt them and deter them." She waved a hand a bit awkwardly, trying to downplay the ability a bit, but she did consider it best to bring it up at least. Being able to try it in the event of Leviathan paying their city a visit would be useful, but even more so if the Protectorate would be able aware of it and able to react to it and the time it might offer to position themselves for a maximum impact on the Endbringer's return to the normal world.
The problem with that however was the fact she would have to get way closer to the thing than she would personally wish to be. Still, if it was a question of trying it and hoping it would work, or staying far away and just trying to summon all of the other creatures in her arsenal to slow down one of those massive monsters, then she'd rather take a gamble on it.
Not without putting a creature at her maximum range away from her though, ready to teleport back to it if it seemed that her surprise failed and she was about to get drowned or crushed by the soaked lizard in a retaliation strike for trying something as exotic as that.
Miss Militia cleared her throat slightly, seeming to bring Armsmaster out of muttering to himself, or possibly recording some audio-log for himself in his helmet, or conversing to someone in a lowered voice, regardless, that seemed to bring the focus back in the now. At least momentarily.
"You spoke about training, does that mean your creatures can learn more and retain the learned information later?" Triumph sounded curious, and Lily found herself smiling a bit at this.
"Yes, Ravager has been pretty good at listening and learning a few things. He's a hulking brute of a canine, and could easily kill people if he wasn't trying to be a bit more careful. I feel a bit embarrassed of how things started out originally, so I have tried to get my summons to understand to use a bit more restraint and to try and teach them how to do so as well." She let out a faint breath.
"Some, like Geruta, a summon I used alongside Frosty earlier on, are not very well suited for non-lethal fighting. Geruta's body is kept aloft by jet-fire, and that flame will cause damage in close quarters just as well as their physical blows would. I am hoping I can train the Geruta to assist in fights without necessarily causing as serious harm as it could do, but it will take a while. Similar to the giant birds, the Crow Tune was able to carry out fighting a lot more smoothly than its companion, though the two of them together had the twins in an unenviable position, I still feel I should teach the other bird more in the future."
Given the slight shudder from Miss Militia, she was pretty sure the woman with such a massive arsenal as her power would agree with her. Then again, that particular predatory purple bird was a nightmarish creation if it was on the opposite side. The only reason she was as comfortable around it as she was around Crow Tune was that she knew it would not harm her and respected her even. That didn't mean she would want to let it out to 'play' without orders unless they were far enough from civilization that there would be no innocents caught in the middle of said play by mistake either.
"That is a good idea. I cannot deny that they were effective, but I think one of the twins will have nightmares about that." Miss Militia's word had Lily nod quietly in response.
Honestly, she felt a bit bad at just how viciously her summon had fought, but at the same time they had to make sure the Empire would go down, and if that required them to rough up some of the Empire's biggest power-houses still unrestricted on the scene, then she would do it again. Honestly, they would have enough trouble dealing with the Teeth in the future, and the other likely troublemakers coming their way too in the future. It was unlikely that a power-vacuum would last too long, someone would find it appealing, no matter how many gangs had already been taken down in the city before.
Chances were the Teeth saw it that same way too. The old gangs got complacent, fat and lazy, comfortable in their position of power, and slipped, getting pounded down to dirt thanks to a long time of information gathered and preparations made. Hell, it made for some good PR in a way, boosting the PRT and Protectorate image to have several gangs taken down, and the PRT forces involved in the scenes.
"Moving on, can you provide us a list of what summons you have acquired and a short summary what they can do?" Armsmaster's words were a bit blunt, but at the same time, Lily was getting a feeling he was either being coached but struggling, or trying to rely on some manner of software in his helmet to carry him through.
"I am willing to share information about some and participate in the power testing to let you observe and make notes of some of them yourself, at a later time, but I will have to decline on the matter of a full list however." She decided to not elaborate. Chances were they knew they had some moles and leaks in the PRT, just not how bad it really was.
"Very well." Armsmaster nodded, though not looking particularly pleased, yet it was just a mild frown and stiffness evident in him at the time.
"Back with Bakuda's hiding place, and later on with the Empire, you have shown proven that your creatures are capable of acquiring some sensitive information. The stranger creature you have gained access to has become a subject of some curiosity." Miss Militia spoke up bringing up the next topic, making Lily turn her head to focus on her for the moment.
"Would you be willing to share a bit of additional information about this particular summon? Do you have them around and about still?" Miss Militia looked at Lily curiously at this.
"Hmm, the stranger summon I possess is one I am calling Scout around others. That's not their actual name, but their actual name matches a hero who already has the name registered so it would get confusing." She smiled a bit seeing their curious looks. "Eidolon."
Triumph snorted and grinned. "Yeah, probably don't want to compete with him over that name."
Lily chuckled but nodded. "I figured as much. Yeah, well, Scout is capable of traveling around me in intangible form to acquire some information for me. Spying on some private conversations between ABB members and Nazis has helped yield some results. More with the Empire than with the ABB, since I couldn't really make much sense trying to understand the different languages some of the smaller gangs in ABB used. Thankfully they mainly focused on English as the primary language due to their varied groups." She gave a small shrug at this, humming.
"Scout can possess an item to give himself a voice to communicate with me a bit more handily. I carry a small action figure for this purpose. I considered a doll, but I got the impression the Eidolon would prefer something a tad more masculine. Though I do not know if they possess an actual gender." She paused, a bit embarrassed.
"My Scout I mean." Thankfully none of them seemed keen on laughing, it was a poor joke and unintentional one too. She was pretty sure it was on the level of a bad joke that it might have made Assault or Clockblocker laugh, but probably none of the others. She was also pretty sure it would have got either an eyeroll or a glare from Director Piggot if she did that in her presence.
"I've been getting the hang of being able to see things through my summons eyes recently, giving me a somewhat better ability to oversee an area. Overwatch from a creature summoned and in flight, above, keeping an eye on the area I am in at that time." She gave a small shrug at this.
Miss Militia nodded, though she said nothing about the fact Lily had not mentioned whether or not she had Eidolon out still, or not.
"For the record, I have not allowed Scout to roam free in either Protectorate Rig or the PRT HQ at any time. I have also not sent it to spy on either location at any time. Does that help?" She smiled a bit awkwardly, figuring if Armsmaster had a lie detector in his helmet then it could probably confirm that.
"It will do." Armsmaster responded briefly, checking on something in his visor probably, before clearing his throat. "Next..."
The following questions mostly had to do about the smaller details about the attack against the Empire gathering, and the apprehended capes and thugs, and how things had played out. She sought to keep her answers relatively short and to the point, unless asked to elaborate. She was starting to get a bit tired at this point, and had noted it was well past midnight.
She idly thought the waiting and preparing and then the fight that followed might have pushed the time past midnight before she had actually declared she'd want to be out before midnight. Essentially giving them a full day of her time because she hadn't given her watch a closer look. Though in all honesty, she figured they wouldn't want to try and push her on that, especially when she was being co-operative and had proven herself to be in possession of abilities that might help.
True enough, the conversations that continued were carried out while she was struggling to to yawn, but eventually came to their conclusion. Being given a copy of the report to read and sign, she struggled a bit but still read through the copy carefully, because she wasn't keen on signing something without reading it, especially as it wasn't that long by comparison to some legal contracts and what not.
No commitments to anything, it noted she had been requested to participate in the power testing but no claim that she was going to legally bind herself to full testing or something by putting down her signature as 'Tamer' on those papers. Going through them had her feeling a bit worn down, but ultimately, she finished reading, satisfied there was no apparent traps at least, and signing it under that alias.
She got a ride back into the city, but got off at a nicer part of the city, still a fair bit away from her apartment. She was tired, worn out, and just hoping to get some sleep, but she was still not planning to ask them to drop her off on her front step.
The new connections forming at that time caught her a bit off-guard, but leaning a bit against a wall, she frowned, trying to focus. One of them was a variant, a change to an earlier summon. She could make one of her other creatures from that same category a bit different, a more magical sort. Giving them an effective boost on that aspect.
Additionally, there was a new creature. Tyrant. She shivered slightly, the name didn't exactly fill her with confidence, and tired as she was, she wasn't sure she was ready to make a good evaluation on that one either right now. She just wanted to get back home.
As for the power, she felt a new set of weird memories and skills, of working as a veterinarian, entering her mind. It was actually quite useful being able to tell about all manners of things it taught and utilize them, to help people take care of their pets and to know more about some of the more exotic animals too, how to care for them and feed them properly, to help keep them healthy. Not that she had to worry too much on that right now, since her creatures could return to where they came and didn't really require nourishment in the same way.
However, the second bit of power was something else. Knowledge was power, sure, but the power she had gained now was definitely a curiosity. Self Transformation. Rather than summoning one of her creatures, she could shift herself into one, although that was only once a day, and only for an hour. Yet that in itself would give her remarkable ace up her sleeve against any would be enemies hoping to capture her.
Not that she planned on letting that happen, but witnessing the Yangban thugs screaming and running in panic when she turned into an actual dragon before their very eyes in retaliation when they tried to kidnap her certainly brought a faint smile on her lips briefly. Or doing something similar to Coil busting out of his super-villain lair and likely bringing it crashing down around her when doing so.
Right. It might also allow her to travel home in a different manner. Though she wasn't too keen on testing that right away. Instead, she slipped a bit out of the way into hiding, to call upon Ghostmon, and pulling the shadow theme around it. Seeing the creature appear before her in the dark alley, she spoke quietly in a whisper.
"I need to get home, and it is rather late. Can you help me out ? I'd like you to head onto the roof, I'll teleport over to your location on the rooftop, and then I'll point you the right direction to another roof and keep hopping from one roof to another till we get closer to home."
She had used this particular method before, but moving closer to home like that was faster than walking, and she wasn't keen on waiting for a taxi, especially at that hour, out in the city. No matter of whether or not she was in a nicer area. Getting home, she planned on just crashing for a while.
Speaking of which, she took up her civilian identity phone and turned it back on., battery back in place and-
Four missed calls.
From her brother.
She groaned out loud and shook her head. She was just so damned done with that night already.
Author's Note: Few different versions of this chapter came and went, a prepared list of questions, then more free-form questioning, then a bit more reactions, different takes took a bit of time during this weekend.
This chapter fought me, I am not exactly good at writing this sort of scene I found out, and in all honesty, I should have probably asked for suggestions on what kind of questions would make sense to come up with the conversation. I also wanted to avoid a series of questions in dialogue noting name and then response.
Couple of attempts looked like they would extend well past this chapter into another one, and didn't really feel they were adding that much in. Ultimately, I decided to post this as is.
Next chapter is planned as PRT/Protectorate side conversations.
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FrozenTome
May 15, 2022
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FrozenTome
FrozenTome
May 22, 2022
#223
Interlude B
Director Piggot held the steaming hot cup of coffee before her, bleary-eyed, tired, and feeling her body aching all over. She hated pulling all-nighters, but this was hardly the first time it happened. She'd have to take some time off soon, but the operation had been too important to miss, and the aftermath had resulted in even more surprises again, so she had not been able to get the sleep she wanted when she wanted. Not if she wanted to be kept up to date abut the city's resident chaos magnet, and a source of a number of personal headaches. She would rather deal with it and go to bed, than to try and rest poorly while returning grumpily and after poor rest-period to work to try and play catch-up with the information.
That said, she was staring blankly at Armsmaster who had just finished his report from earlier, with Miss Militia giving a faint nod in turn at her glance in the woman's direction. She felt the weight of missed sleep pressing down on her shoulders and the signs of a growing headache already.
"This has been a long night, and I figure all of you are eager to get some rest soon. I will try and keep this short." She kept her tone flat, and serious. She was angry, tired, and frustrated, but snapping at the people around her wouldn't do. Still, if Assault volunteered to be a target for her ire, she would happily take out some of her anger by assigning him to some least liked duties for a while. She honestly didn't want any cheeky interrupts that night.
"Since she started acting in the city, Tamer has fought against and helped capture the Merchants, and assisted in protecting the prisoner transfer, to allow us to capture their remaining cape. Following this incident, she showed herself capable of tracking down and locating Bakuda, and calling in for reinforcements, allowing us to arrest Bakuda, prevent further damage to the city, and reap a fair bit of positive PR for a change."
She inhaled deeply. It irritated her that someone that had such power was acting on their own, but at the same time she felt a tad conflicted because while they acted on their own, upsetting the status quo and causing a spike in spike in retaliations and violence, they had also done better than a fair number of newcomers that got in over their heads and got themselves killed. The fact they were willing to work with the PRT and Protectorate was a point in their favor.
"They have earned some goodwill through their offer to heal people, both in aftermath of Bakuda's bombing spree and otherwise. They've helped heal our troopers as well." She let out a breath. "She is also friendly towards Triumph, allowing us to try and make a soft-sell to her to convince her to eventually join the Protectorate." She took some amusement from watching Triumph look more than a little uncomfortable. Despite his lion-mask, the man was a bit awkward about the whole thing.
Probably not helped by the fact that Assault had been peppering the man with a lot of jokes about it and how he was specifically picked for a 'seduction mission' with the new cape. She really needed to make sure she'd slap him with a harsher punishment if he kept repeating that. They did not want any such rumors escaping and making it to the general public, especially from another cape's mouth.
"Following all that, someone leaks out Empire identities and a lot of accusations and speculation on-line. Riling up their ranks, from the capes to the thugs on the street. They plan on causing a lot of trouble, and during all this, some of them decide to try and capture Tamer, as she is leaving a hospital." She looked at Armsmaster, who simply gave a nod.
"Followed by her 'quickly locating' a place they are gathering at, calling in for support, and using her Stranger creature to listen in on them, feeding us additional intel while we prepare for a heavy assault, calling in some capes on their time off, and practically leave only Dauntless and the Wards out of the active roster for this mission." She shook her head a bit. Even if Tamer had proven herself by locating Bakuda, it had obviously taken her a while to pull off.
"The end result is that we have the majority of the Empire capes in our custody, and the city has essentially lost a lot of parahuman villains in a short order, and now we are facing reports of Teeth moving in, as claimed by Empire members that she was spying on during this?" Director Piggot shook her head silently, sipping on her coffee. Bitter.
"If it was just this, it would be absurd as a report to the other directors about the activities of a new cape, but that's not even touching the fact she unleashed a powerful new summon against Lung that appeared like an actual dragon, taking down Lung with that summon and helping to break the rest of the ABB hold on the city, their capes taken down along with Bakuda, before this latest mess." She squeezed on the coffee mug hard, but careful to not break it. She had lost her patience like that before, and the cuts in her hand were not worth it.
"Now, she unleashed new monstrosities, giant birds, to take down Fenja and Menja, leaving wounds that we have cleaned but will likely need Panacea's touch to avoid permanent scarring and lasting damage to at least one of them." She wasn't sure the bombardment against the other giant-Valkyrie was any better, but Panacea couldn't touch brains, the woman had to be grateful for her helmet or that could have been a potentially lethal hit too.
"Not only that, but she has in a private meeting admitted to having even more creatures, some of which she isn't planning on using against anything short of an Endbringer, and also something that could be considered an S-class threat by her own admission?" She stared at Miss Militia and Armsmaster quietly, wanting to make sure she had got it all.
"Sheesh. Most of us got one big ball of powers out of the sack, some tried to hastily grab a bunch of the small ones, but it sounds like between Eidolon and herself she must have emptied at least one of the bags and stuffed them into cute little creatures as a theme." Assault shook his head amused, while Battery cast a look at him, quieting him down for the moment.
"Not funny." Battery whispered, but in the quiet of the room, it was heard clearly enough by everyone present.
"Armsmaster." Director Piggot looked at him seriously. "How confident are you that she meant it when she said she would not use the summon she mentioned as being such a threat?"
"I will need to run the footage through better analysis programs later." Armsmaster paused briefly. "For now, I believe she is not going to use it. She regards it as too dangerous. Nuclear option, in other words. It exists, but she does not wish to use it."
"I agree. She mentioned it as a show of trust, while also mentioning the summons that could be of use against Endbringers. I believe her intent was to point out that she has some powerful summons at her disposal, that she is unwilling to use unless the situation is really dire, and some not even then." She glanced over at the others, while Triumph cleared is throat.
"From what I have seen of her, she prefers to help, and tries to act with restraint with her summons. She has her doubts and mistakes, as seen in the first incident we had with her." Triumph nodded towards Assault and Battery, before continuing. "However, she has sought to improve since then, and while her creatures are dangerous, she appears to act with a fair amount of restraint. I hope to eventually convince her to work with the Protectorate, because her abilities are promising, but she does need further training and guidance."
Piggot was fairly certain he was saying that partly out of a sense of duty, but also in part because the man seemed to enjoy spending time with her, and she could admit having a person who could serve as a heavy-hitter against any would-be thugs trying to get into the city to claim a piece of it to themselves in the power vacuum that the other gangs had left was a welcome idea.
"I don't like it." Piggot drank down the rest of her coffee, and looked each of them around the table.
"I don't like someone having that level of power at their disposal and being wary of working with us. What happened before was unfortunate, but it should not have soured relations this badly. The fact she is still working with us and willing to come forth with this information is the sole reason I am giving this some serious thought. If we learned of this on our own, I believe I would have wanted her behind bars and tested thoroughly. Part of me still wants that." Piggot pushed her mug away.
"That said, she will arrive to the power-testing and I expect a thorough questioning about some of those more alarming summons, and to arrange some reassurance that she will not deploy such creatures in any scenario. The fact she pointed out that they might work against Crawler means she has at least given that possibility some thought. The fact she says she will not use it means that even in such a scenario, she finds using that creature in particular is too much. One of her summons is something she would not even wish on Slaughterhouse 9." She stressed this last part.
"Maybe she just thinks the risk of it affecting something else as well is too high with something as chaotic as Slaughterhouse 9 in the scene?" Velocity's question was met with a brief look from Piggot and the others, but he gave a simple shrug. "What? I doubt she has any sympathy towards that monster."
"Agreed." Armsmaster remarked gruffly. "I believe the initial talks suggest it was a purely theoretical example of what it might work for, but the insistence of not using it at all was genuine. It is too dangerous." He frowned somewhat.
"Personally, I am curious what the creatures she could use against an Endbringer would be like. There's been a bunch of hopeful young capes trying to take on those monsters and getting swatted for their efforts, squashed like bugs when they get cocky." Assault spoke up waving a finger. "If she wants to try and fight those, she might not really be bugging us for long, or she might be exactly the sort of person we do want to claim to have come from this city." He gave a casual shrug at this.
"Ethan." Battery whispered the name with a tone that seemed to shut him up for the moment, but the grin on his face didn't fade. Unfortunately neither did the rising headache that Piggot was experiencing.
"Crude as he might be, Assault has a point." Velocity sighed. "I am curious myself."
"I will try and get some answers out of her if I can." Armsmaster remarked somewhat dryly, but nodded. "Under the current agency of trying to recruit her through a soft-sell, I cannot push too hard on the issue however, unless we are willing to risk alienating her."
Piggot felt like the man had wanted to slap her own words against her face with that. She had warned him after earlier events, and insisted on some things that the man had been less than pleased about, but at the end of the day they were still looking for fresh recruits, and Tamer was, for all the chaos they left behind, a promising new cape that they wanted in their own ranks, and trained to make the most of her abilities while wearing the Protectorate banner and closely monitored for any surprises she might unleash.
Armsmaster grunted as he sat down in his lab. The coffee-machine in the lab had started working when he was the optimal distance away, and was about ready when he entered the lab. The confirmation message showed it was in optimal condition now, and would remain so for only so long.
Getting up, he moved on over, and withdrew the first hot cup of tinker-grade coffee, and drank it down slowly and carefully. Bitter and strong, it was going to keep him going. He had to cut out some of the more efficient stimulants he had been using, because some of the co-workers had pointed out that while they might be different from actual illegal drugs, the levels of them he consumed at his worst fugue states came perilously close.
Not that he tended to go that far in pursuing extra energy and focus usually. He had a sharp mind and was aware of the nasty side-effects of long-term overuse of such stimulants. Which was why he cut back on them and switched to less dangerous alternatives again, when the worst of the tinkering rush had passed.
There had been a time when he had been working hard to try and catch up with the Protectorate's rising star, in form of Dauntless, a younger and more promising hero according to some. He had been preparing to get the right means to detect the Endbringers earlier on, and he had been looking into ways to kill one of them, and he had been preparing to get a right mix of chemicals to deliver an injection that would even calm a rampaging Lung without leaving any unpleasant side-effects as long as the criminal was taken into custody an a follow-up injection could be issued within 24 hours. Hell, it even served as a handy secondary purpose of weakening an injected cape further to help take them down if they did try and run still, and there would be no permanent damage as long as the follow-up dose was delivered in 24 hours.
Not that it would have passed tests as it was. There was a whole tenth of a percentage chance it would cause long-term harm still when a maximum dose was applied to a non-Brute. That was remarkably safe, for a brute-targeted knock-out drug. Unfortunately the restrictions on that front were ridiculous in case of misfire.
Which had meant he couldn't make a dart-launcher for it that could be used against anyone but a large obvious target like a Lung, at close range. The off-chance of missing and hitting someone, despite how much he refined the dose to only act in case of certain triggers generally found in Brute biology, it was still a step too far for some people who could negatively affect his tinkering budget and permissions.
"How did it go, Colin?" Dragon's voice brought him out of his thoughts, leaving him to sigh in a tired and weary manner. Some of the incidents were kept mostly out of Dragon's official ears, but he trusted her, and given that he believed her opinion could be useful, and he trusted her to support him, he had willingly shared camera feed of the interview process with her, along with the feed from earlier fighting.
She couldn't be allowed to attend the meeting when Piggot declared it was for the PRT ENE and Brockton Bay Protectorate members only. He couldn't even share all the contents of the meeting with her, though she would learn majority of it soon enough.
"Piggot is not pleased. She took it better than I expected." He remarked somewhat dryly, sipping on his own cup of bitter coffee.
"If she didn't mention the fact she might be able to assist against Endbringers, how do you think it would have turned out?" Dragon inquired in a soft tone. He knew she was trying to get him to understand the social niceties a bit better. To read people better. Not just relying on programs, but to actually learn about them. The problem was that it wasn't efficient, and he had much work to do. He did try, because it was her.
"Worse. She might have insisted on having her stay, refusing to let her leave, insisting on testing, insisting on a lot more transparency, and barely holding back from throwing her in a cell and throwing away the key." He remarked this dryly but looking at the image of her avatar inside his visor's screen.
"Possibly. Her being an asset and willing to follow orders, and being willing to work with the Protectorate and PRT may have earned her some grudging respect from her. She may not be a soldier, but she is trying to work with PRT and Protectorate, and has helped bring in results. I would imagine she would rather not alienate her entirely just because of one issue. Not without investigating it thoroughly and deciding afterwards if an overreaction is warranted or not." Dragon smiled at him, while he disposed of the plastic cup in the trash having finished its contents already.
"Capturing her after she summoned a dragon to fight Lung is considered a poor option, because unless we kept her sedated on the long-term, she would likely find a way to escape when she decided to. She has not done anything worth sending her to birdcage over either." Armsmaster moved to check on the timers on a few things he had set aside earlier before joining the fight, having directed a few experiments to be shut down in his absence, leaving others to run, now looking over some of the test-data on some of the materials examined in the meanwhile.
Dragon stayed silent for a moment. Colin wasn't sure what to say. He could figure out a few ways to keep the Tamer from using her summons, or to keep her sedated if necessary, but it would be a gross violation of her trust, and she had been showing willingness to work with others. She was also not a glory-hog. Colin admitted he liked her more than Dauntless on that alone.
Objectively, he was willing to admit his dislike of Dauntless might not be entirely fair, but it didn't alter his opinion on the man. He could work with them, but he also wanted to prove himself better. Being involved in these fights and being known to have participated in the take-down of the city's gangs lent him new credibility and the sales of Armsmaster merchandise had gone up since the Tamer's involvement began.
"I apologized to her." He continued after a moment, searching for words. "I meant it. What happened was a disaster. That should not have been possible." He inhaled deep and let out a breath. "I am following your recommendations to avoid using my set-61 of stimulants from now on." As much as those could help, he didn't like the mistakes that he was more likely to commit while under their effect.
"I saw. She was obviously surprised, but did not appear to be resentful or angry." Dragon's words made him smile slightly. He would admit he screwed up. He had his reasons, but they were not necessarily good reasons. He would do better.
Triumph sighed tiredly as he finally made his way back to his home. Getting into the house, he shook his head slightly, glancing at the clock and silently cursing how early it had already become. Getting himself a tall glass of water before bed, he decided to take a brief cold shower followed by getting into a warm bed, and just sleeping away for a while. The day had been long, the night had stretched out far longer than he would have liked, and some of the revelations would likely trouble him for a while. Still, he was not quite sure what to think about the latest decisions made.
Miss Militia finished her short nap, before heading on over to the console. Nodding to the on-duty officers, she began to go through the recent paperwork silently, checking on the possible sightings of Teeth members in the city. The rumors were not confirmed and certain yet, but some signs were there.
Blood had been found at one of the scenes, where a few Empire thugs had been guarding a stash-house, gutted and killed, the place broken in the front drawing some attention to it. The police had called it in, and a PRT patrol had moved in to check. No capes were seen at the scene, but evidence suggested a cape had been there.
Signs of bloody cuts into bodies and into some walls, slashing around in small quarters.
If Teeth were around, then this was likely the work of Hemorrhagia. Her blood-control power and the preference for using blood to shape edged weapons to carve into people that got in her way was unfortunately well known. It also gave the rumors a bit more credibility.
Spree had been noted to have been active at New York area rather recently, and a fight there had involved Butcher XIV as well, leaving the whereabouts of several dangerous capes among the Teeth still unknown. Whether Hemorrhagia had come alone with some regular thugs to scout out some locations and that was just a target of opportunity to get something in particular, or they had already found some places and there were other members of the Teeth capes around was a question that needed to be answered and soon.
Vex and Animos were both troublesome, and if Animos was around, they would have to be very damn careful about the PR patrols for Wards as well. Vex and Hemorrhagia would also pose their own threat, but Animos was one that could cause more trouble if they showed up.
The fact that Animos beastly form could actually use its scream to de-power a cape for a time could prove very dangerous to the Protectorate members, let alone the Wards, and Teeth were known to be lunatics, psychotic monsters.
While they might not be treated the same as Slaughterhouse 9, they were bad news, and the fact they might be trying to set up shop in the city was highly uncomfortable idea.
Miss Militia frowned quietly, the bandanna obscuring the lower half of her face even as her eyes narrowed, and she went through the information. She was not sure what could be done about it right now, but they would want to get rid of the Teeth and any other would-be-invaders in a short order, because the fact they had got rid of so many criminal capes in a short while was the big lucky break they had been waiting for a long while to get. The Protectorate and PRT forces here were stretched thin and outnumbered before, and Tamer's arrival had thrown a lot of chaos in the air, Status Quo broken beyond recognition, but for once the shift had been in their favor.
That level of momentum for improvement could not be allowed to stall by those crooks trying to move in and ruin things. She briefly wondered what the following days would bring.
Tamer remained an issue, she could be a great boon, but she was also problematic in some ways, and the recent events showed that she could do a lot more than a lot of people expected. Figuring out the right way to handle this was important. Finding out what she would be willing to volunteer would help, figuring out what she was still hiding and concealing would likely aid them in understanding and preparing for the worst.
She hated to consider the possibilities, but time in Brockton Bay had made a pessimist out of a lot of people. If there was any signs of Butcher moving in, they'd have to keep them far away from the Tamer, and their summons, just in case. Butcher with Tamer's abilities added to their own would be an even worse nightmare than the current one was.
Likewise, in case of Slaughterhouse 9, getting Tamer away would be important, because nobody wanted to see what she might do if those psychoes could convert her into their own.
"All the relevant information we have available on the subject is already filed in the reports you can access already." Director Piggot stared at her boss, Chief Director Costa-Brown with clear annoyance on her face. She had already left the building but had been called back once more because the Chief Director was calling, and expected to get a video-conference together in a short order.
She really hated how long the night was turning out to be.
"What I have are preliminary reports by tired members of the team that put in a few observations and a general description of what they did, these are not full reports, they are preliminary ones for an after-action review." The Chief Director shook her head and stared at Piggot sternly. "I need more answers."
"Unfortunately, that is all we have available right now. It is late, the others have left to get some rest, the only capes present still are Miss Militia and Velocity, along with Dauntless who is sleeping at the PHQ but on stand-by. Armsmaster has retired to tinker or sleep. Possibly both, in that order." Piggot just wanted to get the day over with and head to bed. She was tired, aching, and her head hurt, and she was about ready to yell at her superior and close the connection before marching out.
She couldn't exactly do that without consequences, but she swore she wanted to do it so bad. This was the woman who had denied them help for years and years, denied them additional assets, diverted funds elsewhere, had even snatched a few of their new local recruits and sent them elsewhere rather than allowing them to keep those capes. An irritating asshole of a boss who now came to her demanding answers that she didn't have, or didn't want to give. Mostly both.
"That is unacceptable, the documents I had read highlight this individual is a high priority and needs to be brought in as quickly as possible, and-" Piggot frowned and shook her head, cutting the Chief Director off.
"We are attempting to salvage the situation with her, but pushing too much is likely to backfire. We are also expecting to get her to a proper power-testing soon." Emily didn't want to deal with this any longer than she absolutely had to. "It is late, I don't have any additional information to give, and I am only asking for a few more days to see to it that there's more information available to base a discussion on." She halted momentarily there, staring at the screen.
Rebecca Costa-Brown had a frown on her face and looked less than happy about being told no, but after everything that Emily had to deal with before, she didn't feel any empathy towards the boss on the other end of the line. The PRT had more or less left the PRT ENE alone trying to hold status quo on a city that was falling apart and no reinforcements or improvements coming to match the situation, always having excuses to deny any reasonable requests, and flat out denying anything that they didn't consider reasonable.
It was frustrating and irritating, and she rather enjoyed being on the other end of the spectrum, being able to deny her boss something that they were obviously very keen to get their hands on. She had the preliminary reports, and she would eventually file paperwork on the meeting that had been carried out, but the minutes of it recorded down would not be available beyond the local branch for a while, not even to the boss, as an official documentation of the events there would be written later. The late hour of the meeting had meant there was no real time to type it out, which was why that had been recorded.
She wasn't intent on sharing that information with the chief director however. She could scream and rant and rave about things all she wanted, but she would get exactly as much as she had been willing to hand to the PRT ENE in the past years beyond the bare minimum to keep them operating.
Which was nothing.
"Don't push me on this Emily, this new cape has triggered a few flags that require additional information to be gathered in a short order, and if I find you are sitting on it I will see to it that you will be replaced by someone who is able to follow orders."
Director Piggot snorted briefly, and held back a laugh. Few years back, there might have been some competition for her position, but since then and seeing how badly their branch had been treated, that number had dropped dramatically. She was pretty sure Calvert had sought to replace her, but they were out of the running and had gone to ground, after exposure of corruption and a number of accusations of them being a cape had got loose, and the information had even lead to the discovery of what had been termed as a 'proto-Endbringer' that could have caused severe trouble.
No, Calvert would not be able to get any position in the PRT anymore, not unless they got a new face, new name, new identity, and all the supporting paperwork to go with it. The man had been tainted, and unlikely to challenge her rule on Brockton Bay as it was.
The city had been changing for the better with gangs being taken out, but it was still a shithole and now it had a power-vacuum that would draw in more trouble from other cities. She was doubtful the chief director would find all that many eager candidates, not if they heard the place they would be sent to anyway.
"Ma'am, I am tired and I don't have what you want. Unless you want me to fall asleep in my chair while listening you demand things I can't give you because I don't have them, let us postpone this talk for another day." She was trying to be somewhat polite. Even when she wanted to tell the bitch a few choice words, maybe quote a few of those nauseating excuses denying her requests before, and ending the call afterwards.
She was more professional than that.
Still tempting.
Author's Note: This turned into an Interlude piece rather than a chapter, given how it formed. I will not count its total into the Celestial Menagerie's total, nor was there any rolls made during this Interlude chapter.
Again, a few different versions came and vent as I wrote this, a few sections added, expanded, cut down, removed, and others altered.
I don't feel I did the characters proper justice with this presentation, but it is an attempt, and wanted this piece done. I've been mainly trying to keep actual chapters to 4k words count, but since the 1st interlude turned out to be a little short, I sought to make the 2nd Interlude extend a little longer in turn.
Well, that, and I had more material writing this chapter, even if I ended up culling off pieces that felt that they didn't really add much. Even now, I am not sure of some segments over others. I dislike the idea of writing a long dialogue with sections arranged like reading a script. "Emily: I cannot give you those answers. Chief Director: You will, or I will find someone else who will."