Quest

by Kahlil Johnson

Uhhhh

5. Pro3

[x] It's a lot easier to avoid murder charges without witnesses.

Current Energy: 21

Friday, January 7th, 2011

The Docks, Brockton Bay

'So where are we going right now?' You ask, repositioning yourself slightly so that your Master - who is currently hanging off of your back with her arms wrapped around your neck - will be more comfortable. She had originally been roof hopping alongside you but had eventually given up when you pointed out how much faster you could be going if she would just let you carry her. She wasn't terrible at the practice so much as she simply hadn't developed the knack for it yet. She couldn't even reposition in the air by forming semi-solid sheets of Spiritual Power beneath her feet to leap off of.

...Which is definitely something you should tell her is possible. Later. When she isn't so mad.

'The docks.' She answers, not bothering to elaborate much beyond that. Taylor has been somewhat short with you sense learning of her Father's fate. You don't think she's mad at you, although you're certain there will eventually come a time when she makes the connection between your typical operating methods (Re: run at things screaming), and her technical outing. No, her ire is very clearly directed unilaterally towards the destruction of whoever has dared to strike at her so obliquely. Your current Emulation doesn't know a whole lot about leading - despite being one of the leaders of his culture you might add - but he does know that if you don't want people to walk all over you, they have to have very clear examples of what happens when they try.

'I know that but uh...' You say, scratching slightly at one cheek. 'Which ah... direction is...?'

Your Master stiffens slightly at your question, apparently realizing that you had merely picked her up and continued running in whatever direction you were facing when she had originally taken off. You're fairly certain that if she could set you on fire with her mind right now she would, and you are infinitely grateful that you don't actually have anything like that built into your current configuration.

You get the feeling you're going to piss your Master off a lot over the next several years.

'Just... keep going in this direction.' She eventually says, evidently not wanting to waste any more of her rage on you than is necessary.

You make another leap and then, acutely aware that this is the longest your Master has ever gone without really talking to you in your presence, decide to ask a question that's been bothering you for a little while now.

'So if it wasn't the PRT-' You begin.

'It wasn't.' Your Master chides you before allowing you to continue.

You don't know why she has such faith in that particular organization but you hold your peace on the topic.

'Right. So if it wasn't the goon squad, and it ain't Glory Girl-' You continue.

'Heros don't kidnap people.' Taylor says again adamantly.

Again, you would be tempted to explain the mechanics of the conflict drive all Parahumans possess, driving them to do stupid and - relative to Taylor's beliefs at least - evil things, but you like your current Master and would hate for the Network to punish her by uh... you're not sure what the current punishment is for rogue shards, but you'd prefer not to find out.

Forbidden Information is Forbidden.

'Uhuh. Well if it wasn't one of those two, then who are we dealin' with? Am I finally gonna get a good fight outta this place or what?' You finally manage to finish uninterrupted.

'I'm... not sure.' Your Master eventually admits. 'I didn't plan on researching the local gangs until the weekend.'

'Eh, sounds boring.' You complain.

'It is not! How are we supposed to know what to do if we encounter Hookwolf?' She berates you, a thin veil of annoyance covering her tone.

'Stab 'em' You reply blithely as you touchdown in an area that Taylor indicates, on the roof of a building that is apparently across the street from the address she was told to come to.

'-or Lung? or Kaiser?' She continues, ignoring your statement.

'...Stab 'em multiple times?' You put forth hopefully, causing Taylor to stop and turn to glare at you.

'Emmy, please, please, don't kill anyone? I- I still wan't to be a Hero, even with this.' She pleads with you, and you can't help but turn your head away from her slightly in shame.

Not shame at your bloodthirstiness, but more so, the fact that you have allowed your current emulation to so inconvenience your beloved Master.

Even if you still think killing a problem is the best way to solve it.

'...Sorry.' You answer her finally.

'Emmy...' Taylor says again and you deflate.

'Fine! No killin'! There, you happy?' You grumble, still turning away from her.

'Yes. Can you scout the building to see if Dad is inside?' Taylor says with an audible sigh of relief, turning away from you to examine the building across the street.

It looks innocent enough. Just another apartment as far as you can tell, if a slightly, well no, an amazingly dingey looking one.

'Sure. One sec.' You reply, before entering your Spirit Form and leaping across the street. You can't help but thank past you for configuring in this way. You have no idea how you would be able to help in situations like this if you couldn't just invisibly walk around an area.

The insides of the building are somehow more damaged looking than the outsides. Several of the walls separating apartments have clearly been roughly knocked down to extend areas, and a number of men are moving about diligently shifting around large crates of something. Many of the men are armed, and nearly all of them are carrying a red and green cloth of some kind, either wrapped around there arms or heads or tucked away in a pocket somewhere.

The first floor consists solely of angry looking men moving about in this way. The next few are the same. It is only when you reach the top floor that you find anything besides angry asian looking men with guns, and even then the difference doesn't fill you with confidence. The top floor of the building is the only one where the walls haven't been knocked out of the individual rooms, and simply poking your head through the doors is enough to explain why. Each room contains a girl within it, most of whom have glassy eyed stares accompanied by empty needles nearby. There are, however, a few that do not, and these are mostly crying quietly in a corner of the room - those that are not in the company of a man at least.

You relay all this to your Master as you leap back towards her, taking up a stationary position behind her.

'ABB. Has to be. So... Lung took Dad? Why?' Taylor says in confusion, carefully tamping down the disgust and outrage that had been steadily building within her from the moment your report began.

'The hells a Lung?' You ask, already quite tired of having to ask questions like this. Life would be a lot easier if you could tell the difference between someone's assumed name and a random object or body part. Verbal communication was so damn inefficient that way.

'He's the strongest Parahuman in the city-' You snort 'And we really don't want to fight him.' Taylor finishes, ignoring you.

'So what now then?' You ask, gesturing at the run-down building.

'I'm going to go in. Dad might not be here but... I can't let them get away with this.' Taylor says angrily, jumping from the building with a burst of neon blue light. The effects of her sudden appearance are both immediate and comical, as the men nearest the door succumb to her mere presence, falling to their knees gasping for air.

You shift about behind your Master as she moves forward, and are about to enter the fray yourself when she shakes her head at you in the negative.

'I need to practice fighting actual people Emmy. I don't think they can actually hurt me, and you're here in case anything goes wrong so just stay invisible for now.' She explains, marching up to the front door and lifting a foot to crash into it.

The foot, of course, goes straight through the door, which Taylor obviously wasn't expecting as she nearly tumbles over in surprise.

'Doors don't-' You begin but she cuts you off.

'I know! Shut up!' She hisses in embarrassment, whipping her fist out to smash the doors lock and then pushing it open normally, only to be met by a hail of gunfire from up the stairs in the entryway, evidently from men too far away to be affected by her aura.

Despite the fact that a few bullets have already bounced harmlessly off her, Taylor takes the threat seriously, and opts to evade line of sight by leaping sideways through an adjacent wall. It would have been impressive if she could become intangible like you, but since she can't the result is a cloud of drywall dust obscuring the hall, and a terrified group of gangsters in the nearest room to her.

Barely missing a beat, Taylor sprints past each of them, swiftly clocking them on the back of the head and knocking them out, before narrowing her eyes on the stairway where men are swiftly charging down towards her.

You can feel her terror in that moment. Her heart thumping in her chest, her senses stretched to their limits, and her life falling apart around her. And you are reminded, however briefly, that your Master is really just a very unfortunate teenage girl.

Then your Master, who is also a very resourceful teenage girl, crouches down, covers her eyes, and leaps upwards as hard as she can, sending her rocketing through multiple floors of easily torn apart building, and out through the ceiling past a single terrified prostitute who she only just missed as she flew by.

"Shit shit shit!" Your Master curses as she realizes how far up she is - easily several times the height of the building she was just standing in.

'You can make platforms with your Spirit to land on! Oh! We can train later by-' You add, seeing a good moment to make a suggestion, already envisioning ways to teach your Master the technique. The tallest building in the city should be a good place to-

'Got it!' She shoots back at you, taking a shaky step on thin air, then bouncing slightly, arcing downwards with each bounce until she is on the roof of the building again.

After that, the cleanup is basically trivial. No one caught in your Master's range can really fight back, and so all of the thugs are forced to flee out into the streets, where they are easy pickings for your still quite angry Master.

"Now what do I do with you guys..." She says aloud several minutes afterwards, eyeing the dozen or so prostitutes that are shivering in a corner of the much abused building.

"Nothing. They are mine." A voice calls out from behind you, and you turn around slowly, feeling your Master looking through your eyes at the threat behind her.

The man standing behind you is... well he doesn't look nearly as stupid as the rest of the local idiots, but just... why the dragon mask? You were with him all the way up until that point. Dragon tattoos? Awesome. No shirt? Been there, so you can respect it. But metal dragon mask. Just... why?

"What did you do with my Dad?" Asks, whirling around on him with her aura at full blast, clearly expecting the man to fall to one knee.

Instead, he merely trembles slightly before steadying himself and growing about an inch or two in height.

"I am not here to speak to you. Bring me the man of my people you have empowered, and we shall trade." The man in the mask says dismissively.

You hold your metaphysical breath as your Master absorbs that singular sentence. You can practically see her mind spinning around the fact that her Father was used for something that could just as easily have been done via phone.

She steps towards the man, her aura intensifying into the vague outline of a skull-like shape, and scowls at him, practically willing him to yield to her, but not daring to openly attack him. Again, the man shudders and grows slightly, and the air around him begins to shimmer with heat.

"Oh? You have spirit. But you are no dragon. Bring me the man, bring me 'Line Drive' and you shall be free to go." He says with a rude chuckle the reverberates slightly through the metal mask he is wearing.

Your Master stares at him for a second, then smiles a too wide smile that matches this Emulations to an almost uncanny degree and speaks merely one word.

"Ok."

Then you appear. And for just the briefest of seconds as you allow your full presence to wash over him, the man, kneels.

Battle Plan!

[ ] Write-In

Heres the rule. This is entirely a write in, and I only want to know two things from you.

1) The total Energy Expidenture you are willing to commit to for the following scene.

2) An overall strategy keeping in mind Taylors current orders (No Killing).

I will take the write in with the most votes, and attempt to adapt a fight scene out of it, likely with a few secondary choices in the following fight.

An Unrelated Wild Vote Appears!

It has come to my attention that you are all very into the idea of rolling again, but also, don't like wasting Kenpachi. So! I'm holding a vote to revise the rules slightly. Either they stay way they are, that being, Energy doesn't drain, or Energy will Begin to drain at a rate of 1 per day, and I will compensate this by applying 2 points of training to Taylor per training session instead of 1.

[ ] No Drain

[ ] More Rolls, Faster Training, Energy Drains

Last edited: Jun 13, 2020

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Jun 14, 2020

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Spoiler: Choices:

[X] More Rolls, Faster Training, Energy Drains

[X] Plan: Changing Oppression

-[x] Lung is down and currently weak. Your Master said he is the strongest in the Bay, so you must move to someplace where you and him could let loose. Drag him to the sky and move towards the sea at the speed where your Master could follow.

-[x] Observe Lung as you move. Learn what capability he has and act accordingly to restrain him. Smash him around as if he is a fragile human at first while gradually moving to bisecting his limbs. No attacking his vital organs or his head where his power came from due to no killing order.

-[x] Once arrive at sea and finish throwing everything you had at him. Drown him to unconciusness.

-[x] Use 3-5 energy until further instruction from your Master.

Current Energy: 21

Friday, January 7th, 2011

The Docks, Brockton Bay

You don't hesitate for even a second, allowing your Emulations instincts to take over in the face of an enemy - you are told - is extremely dangerous. You don't know what this Lung's powers are, but you suspect he must be at least somewhat durable in order to merely shrug off your Masters Spiritual Pressure. You know he doesn't have any Spiritual Power of his own to fight off the effects, which means that he is straining against it using sheer brute force.

Your fake heart begins to beat faster at the mere thought of it, and you dash forward, unnerving smile on full display as you plant a single foot in the mans chest, kicking him hard enough that to a casual observer he would have practically vanished from sight. You don't bother watching him in flight, already knowing anyone that tough should be able to survive that level of attack. Hurting him wasn't the point of the maneuver.

"Why are you still here? Run away!" Your Master is only just beginning to yell at the women currently gathered around her, apparently having only just realized that they wouldn't have been able to run under the tremendous pressure of her spirit or yours, and shifting gears to protect them from your presence.

She need hardly of spoken, given that the second they were no longer being forced to stay they began to scream and run for the hills, but you suppose that due dilligence is part of that whole 'hero' deal your Master is always on about.

"So how do I stop him without killing him?" You ask her once she turns her attention back towards you, an action that takes barely a fraction of a moment but that is apparently long enough for something to go wrong.

"I don't-" Your Master begins irately, only to stop speaking and leap backwards when a dark clothed man wearing a red demon mask appears between the two of you, knife already levelled at your throat in what would have been a decapitating slash if he was using a real weapon. You barely notice the weapon as it skids across your neck, not having nearly enough strength behind it to actually hurt you, then blithely lash out with one hand, back handing your attacker in what you hope is a none lethal manner.

He immediately disintegrates into a cloud of ash, and you find yourself staring at where he just was for another microsecond, before your Master leaps forward and past you, striking at something just behind you that results in another puff of ash.

"...So he's flash stepping at us or what?" You ask curiously, not overly threatened by the display.

"Oni Lee is a teleporter he- What's flash- never mind. He teleports. Leaves clones behind." Your Master bites out as she takes up a position at your side, arms raised in a very, very poor approximation of a boxer's stance.

"Huh." You say, without much interest, before what you would guess to be Lung charges back into the fray, now easily twice your size and covered in silvery scales.

"'ll 'ou!" The man screams as he charges forth, far too fast for something that size to reasonably be able to move, bringing a fist down on you that you slap away with a fist of your own, only to be interrupted by the return of the would be assassin, this time with his knife leveled firmly at your right eye, and bearing a small round object in his other hand. The attack was fast, almost too fast, forcing you to brace yourself for the incoming damage. Eyeballs, are, as a rule, not typically very durable, no matter how strong you are.

You know this because you developed a habit of stabbing them out when you- no your Emulation - was living on the streets.

"Hah!" Your Master says, giving an awkward martial yell as she tackles the man aside just in time for the object in his hand to detonate, generating a sound loud enough that it defeans you, and a light bright enough that you end up temporarily blind for the experience. All things being equal, you are briefly impressed by the move- if you were anyone else, this might have been enough to cripple you.

However, being you, and therefore, a badass, you are more than capable of drawing on your Emulations experiences fighting in complete sensory deprivation to soldier on, deftly stretching a hand out to yank your Master towards you, and slinging her under one arm as you leap upward into the sky and away from the immediate fighting.

'This isn't working. I can't deal with the big guy while the little one is harassing me. I mean- I could, but I'd have to kill 'im so-' You say to your Master while continuing to climb skyward, avoiding what feels like several detonations beneath you as you travel.

'I can... I think I can hold off Oni Lee for a bit. Would that help?' Your Master asks you hesitantly, and you spend a moment in thought. True you could probably deal with Lung if it was just one on one - he's big and strong but unless he was drastically bigger and stronger, you doubt he would pose an immediate threat to you. The problem is, that Oni Lee guy- he's dangerous. Not just because of his willingness to maim to achieve his goals, but because something about him is... off. You should be able to detect him approaching you, no matter what method he used to move, but something about him is just muted, like listening to a voice through earmuffs. You aren't really sure Taylor can manage the guy as she is now. Sure she's strong but she still doesn't really know how to fight.

Do you trust your Master to fight?

[ ] "Hang back Master. I've got this one."

[ ] It's dangerous to go alone, take this - (Complete Training: Beastly Combat Perception 4/10, Cost 6 Energy)

[ ] "Try not to die." (Synchronize Emulation: 3 Energy) (Taylor fights without training or assistance)

'All right...' Your Master says hesitantly, apparently not having been as confident in her assertion as she would have liked.

That settled, and your vision finally returning, you gaze down, only to find, well...

'Master?' You ask quizzically.

'What?'

'So... he just turns into a dragon?' You ask finally, gazing down at the twenty-foot tall, more or less literal dragon that is now flying at you from below.

'His name is 'Dragon' in Chinese Emmy!' Taylor snipes at you.

'Why would I know that?!' You respond, darting to the side just in time to avoid a fairly large fireball as the huge lizard hurls it towards you. You're eyes dart around, seeking a better place to fight, and lock onto the water Bay just in the distance. It is clearly abandoned, being full of derelict ships and calm unmoving waters. And it is the perfect place to really go all out.

'Hang on!' You tell your Master, throwing her upward and then catching her on your back as you reach for your Zanpakuto, grinning madly all the while. Turning your focus back on Lung, you spend another few precious seconds launching yourself downward, placing him between you and the bay, and slashing outward to deflect another blast of flame from striking you.

"'ou 'eak! 'ou 'ie!" The man howls at you, clearly believing you to be more vulnerable now that you are within melee range of him. To be fair, that is a safe assumption. The air surrounding his winged form simmers with barely restrained heat, and you can feel your clothes beginning to burn up as he approaches you. Your Spiritual Power billows around you, coalescing around your outstretched blade. You do your best to wait until the last second, the final moment of determination, but are forced to attack early when you realize your Master is far less durable than you, and is shifting around in obvious pain the nearer the beast comes.

Energy: -1

Your blade flashes outward, releasing an explosion of yellow energy that lights up the night sky, and sends your target careening away from you in the Direction of the bay.

"Haaaaahahahahaha!" You laugh as you chase after him, unleashing another blast of pure energy towards him that finally sends him out and over the bay. You don't follow, instead, depositing your Master on the shoreline.

Energy: -1

Your Master leaps from your back with great urgency, shifting her feet around to get some better footing in the sand and covering your back. The man in the demon mask appears atop a nearby shipping container, staring balefully down at you. The dragon roars in outrage at it's mistreatment.

"Ready?" You ask your Master, who is nothing if not very, very, good at hiding the overwhelming sense of fear she is currently experiencing.

"Ready." She says grimly, her face pinched in concentration as she focuses on the teleporter.

A/N: Do me a favour and throw me a bone with this chapter and the next. I'm not actually very good at fight scenes. Side note, try to remember that you don't have to be Kenpachi. You're just Emulating the guy. Synchronizing with him isnt guaranteed to be the right answer.

Last edited: Jun 14, 2020

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A Hat & Its Man

Jun 15, 2020

#1,361

Spoiler: Choices:

Current Energy: 14

Friday, January 7th, 2011

The Docks, Brockton Bay

You glare out over the bay, patiently waiting for Lung to re-enter your effective range. Having tested it a bit, you have found that you can roughly 'feel' the outermost limits of your Master's range. For the first time, you find yourself chaffing slightly under the restriction. Your Master doesn't want you to kill anyone? Fine. Your Master doesn't want you to destroy parts of the city? Fine. But it's so much harder to accomplish any of that when you are chained to a two-block radius around her. She'll get more mobile. You know she will. But that doesn't change the fact that right now, she is like an anchor to you, solidly planting you in place when your current Emulation has experience fighting his way through areas easily twice the size of Brockton Bay.

Behind you, your Master has already begun her own fight. The Oni Lee, having apparently recognized your eyes as a weak point, appears in front of you, only for your Master to leap under your arm with a corkscrewing motion to slam one foot into him, detonating the clone instantly. But she doesn't stop. Like a whirling dervish of violence, her aura increases in size, it's shape, you realize, not so much in the form of a grinning skull as the uncomfortably huge abdomen of a menacing spider of some kind. She slams on foot down into the sand, kicking up a spray that briefly obscures the area around you, then charges past you again, making sure to kick up a storm of sand with every movement. You're not even sure she knows where Oni Lee is at this point.

Truthfully, you're kind of surprised your Master is even capable of moving that fast. Yes, she's strong enough to propel herself at that speed, but reacting to her environment fast enough to attack or stop in that condition is an entirely different form of combat than you're accustomed to. It's certainly not how you would choose to fight at least. If you had to hazard a guess you would say she probably doesn't know what's going on around her. The battle instincts you bestowed upon her minutes prior are probably putting in their fair share of work.

Clone after clone of Oni Lee begins to appear around your Master, each one appearing as fast as the last, each one wielding another explosive device. If even one of those explosions goes off, your Master will be out of the fight, and you'll have to fall back to defend her. But for each clone, your Master responds, each of her strikes causing small shockwaves of their own that kick up yet more sand. You can tell it's straining for her. You can tell that she won't be able to keep up this level of focus for long.

But hopefully, she can keep it up long enough.

Turning back to your own fight, you are treated to Lung as he finally crosses back into your range. Physically, he seems capable of moving very, very fast when given enough leverage to use his great strength - but obviously flying isn't quite so easy for him, regardless of his wingspan. With a final glance back to Taylor, you leap upward, creating platforms beneath your feet that allow you to stand level with the flying beast that is charging towards you.

Lung, upon seeing you exit the nascent sandstorm on the shore, roars at you, flinging blasts of fire at you as he approaches that you swipe at, diffusing the power behind them and allowing the weakened blasts of flame to wash over you instead of landing on the beach behind you.

"Oi, oi. You coulda just asked for a fight ya know? Why'd you have to go and take the old man huh?" You sneer at Lung, who's mouth has, at this point, shifted to the point where he no longer seems capable of actually speaking. Then you leap at him, aiming a blow at one of his wings. The strike lands, cleaving one of the four appendages from the beasts back with a hellacious roar of pain, and you are struck in the side as it retaliates, sending you flying sideways and towards the invisible wall that constitutes your range limit. You could swear this guy shouldn't be strong enough to actually hurt you. A sentiment that Lung himself apparently doesn't agree with, as he flies toward you in an attempt to land another punishing blow against you. The wing you lopped off is already starting to reform, and the other three the dragon has are apparently enough to keep it aloft while that is ongoing.

Not seeing another option, you once more funnel power through your blade, flinging it outward in a golden explosion that knocks Lung backward and rips a huge gash in his front that immediately begins to knit itself back together. Having created some space between the two of you, you quickly create a hold for yourself, stopping your flight and leaping back into the fray.

Energy: -1

"Come on! There has to be more than that! Stronger! Faster! MORE!" You cry out with glee as you rocket back into the monster shoulder first, grabbing ahold of the inside of it's rapidly healing wound holding it tight to yourself. The air around you burns, and your fake lungs struggle to breathe as you laugh, one hand holding tightly to the dragons breast while your sword whips outward, slashing at legs, arms and wings as they draw close to you. The dragon returns the compliment, blasting you with fire, bombarding you with blow after blow, and at some point you realize that you are both falling. The sudden sensation of being underwater is barely noticeable to you, as the liquid immediately flash boils, introducing you to yet another strata of pain.

But something is different. Lung, usually more than willing to return blow for blow your aggression, is struggling against your grip on one of his ribs, dragging the both of you upward and out of the ocean.

You do a quick tally of the circumstances. Living beings need air to breathe. If they don't get it, they usually die. You are already experiencing something similar to this, each breath above having scorched your organs mightily, and each choked gasp below allowing more and more fluid into your lungs. Lung must surely be experiencing the same. The primary difference between the two of you, is that only one of you can die.

Blackout, you hastily correct yourself. Only one of you can blackout due to oxygen deprivation.

With a savage grin, you whirl around, heaving Lung further into the bay with you, his tremendous frame so vast now that the derelict ships around you are swaying in place as the waves crash down on them. You can hear sirens in the distance, and put them out of mind as you unleash one final blast of power, releasing your hold on the dragon and sending him flying to the bays floor.

Energy: -1

You can feel parts of your Emulation dying. Your brain shutting down. You contemplate reaching for the edge of your range, and being reconstituted above ocean level, where there is sweet, sweet, air. But you already know the truth. This is a threat your Master can't possibly hope to face. You could go all out. You could destroy this entire bay and everything in it. But you are forbidden from killing, which precludes pretty much all of your most powerful abilities or attacks. So you are left with this.

The Dragon rises, so you strike it down. It repeats, again and again, until your world is a black miasma of pain and suffering, with only your superbly resilient body continuing to fight.

And finally, the dragon ceases to rise. It begins to shrink. It begins to float to the surface. You have just enough presence of mind to try to flip him off as he passes you by, before you discorporate.

A/N: So some things. I feel like Spiritual Pressure as a mechanic would be really bad to use on Lung. It just feeds into his whole, infinite escalation bit, only he doesn't even have to fight you - just exist near you. Even beyond that, Kenpachi being the greatest threat on the planet bar Sion, The Endbringers, and a few specific capes, means that Lung was inevitably going to ramp up waaaaaaaaay too fast for a Kenpachi who is limited by a no kill rule to be able to just one hit ko him.

Also I apologize for missing my usual multi chapter sunday - I've been having a weird time at work recently so sleep has been sneaking up on me. I'll try to do a couple during the day today to make up for it.

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A Hat & Its Man

Jun 16, 2020

#1,421

Current Energy: 14

Friday, January 7th, 2011

The Docks, Brockton Bay

"Dammit!" Taylor Hebert - she guessed she should get used to the idea of answering to 'Nexus' now - cursed, diving forward into a roll that she exited by pushing off the ground with her hands, then thrusting both of her feet forward with all the strength she could muster into the chest of yet another Oni Lee clone. Without missing a beat, she pinwheeled her arms in the air, twisting around so she would land in a runner's pose and taking off within moments of touching the ground, bodily charging through yet another clone before it could detonate it's held flashbang.

Once again, she had to thank Emmy for his timely bestowal of the Combat Thinker power that was allowing her to keep up with the more experienced cape. She certainly didn't like the feeling, either of gaining or using the power, but she had to admit it was proving useful.

The problem was twofold for Taylor. One, new powers hurt. She'd never had a migraine or a hangover, but she had to assume that learning a new power from Emmy without preparation felt much the same as having both at once. Even now she had to fight down the dull ache in her skull threatening to distract her from the next move she would have to make, the next strike she would have to outmatch.

Two, it was accompanied by a very brief crash course in how the skill had originally been used by its owner - the 'card' Emmy had currently drawn. It... wasn't pretty. No one should have to experience memories of the type of brutal combat 'Zaraki Kenpachi' had gone through, and even seemed to enjoy. But she had. She had experienced each gouged out eye, each suicidal rush, each animalistic response to his enemies. Because that was the core of the power. It wasn't precognitive. It was instinct. The instincts of a beast, cornered and ready to lash out. A predator whose only solution was to try and overwhelm it's attacker with lethal force.

Because that's what the power did. It showed her how to move in order to hurt and kill her enemies. It didn't dodge. It didn't block. It didn't evade. It just showed her how to attack.

It was, as with many things Emmy gave her, both disturbing and useful at once.

There was a moment - just a single moment mind - when she thought she might have accidentally actually killed her attacker. She had managed to spin around and attack a clone - they almost always appeared behind her for some reason - sending it flying into a nearby cargo container hard enough to knock the thing over. The clone hadn't so much as twitched for a second, and until it had disappeared she had thought that was it. She had just killed a man, and she was curiously apathetic about it.

Then a new and unhurt Oni Lee had appeared atop a nearby beached ships prow, and she had tensed, waiting for hostilities to return. Her lungs burned from the exertion. Her muscles felt like stretched taffy, the contortions she was pushing herself through hurting her nearly as much as her opponent. Her head hurt, and her throat ached in that way it always did when she was trying to hold back tears.

This was all just... too much. She thought she had finally caught a break. She had powers! Her bullies were finally, finally, going to be punished. She was talking to her Dad again, sort of. She even had a friend... kind of. She just innately trusted Emmy.

Even before he had declared her his best friend, she had known that he was there for her. Not in the friendly emotional sense, although he would be that too if she asked. No, Emmy was there for her. She was the literal reason he existed. He had nothing and no one else, and he likely never would. She was ashamed to admit it, but deep down, she liked it that way. Liked that she was all that mattered to him. That he could never, ever betray her as Emma had. And she was ashamed of it. It wasn't just selfish, it was tyrannical.

That was why she insisted he was his own person. It was why she wouldn't tolerate people treating him as less of a person, no matter how unnerving other people found him. Because if he was really just a puppet forced to love her, then what did that say about her?

The Endbringer sirens were going off now. She could hear the wail in the distance and feel the heat waves rolling towards her from the direction she knew Emmy was in.

The direction Emmy was in she realized, at the same time that Oni Lee swivelled to stare out over the bay.

Emmy's presence was... not gone, but diminished. Lessened. The loose sense of direction and intent that represented him in the back of her awareness had gone curiously quiet, like a compass atop a pole, spinning aimlessly.

Before she could even register what was going on, Oni Lee vanished again, and this time, he was not accompanied by a renewed burst of violence, or a sudden pinging of her new instincts telling her to lash out. Instead, he was merely gone.

She waited a moment, not daring to believe Oni Lee was truly gone, and then pursed her lips as she heard the approach of several vehicles. That would likely be the Protectorate arriving. Small wonder they would show up to something like this. She needed to get Lung. Emmy shouldn't have killed him, even if it led to his-

Emmy shouldn't have killed him, because she had asked him not to. She would deal with the consequences of that later. For now, she was on her own.

Quickly sighting on the last location she could recall her friend being, she jumped forward, awkwardly schooling her power into loose platforms at her feet as she moved. It was unwieldy, and the platforms didn't remain stable for very long, certainly not long enough that she would be comfortable cavorting across the sky with them like Emmy did, but they lasted long enough for her to leap.frog from one to the next. She did so, even as an unused portion of her brain began prodding at the bundle in her mind that represented Emmy. It wasn't doing anything, but she found she couldn't easily force the sensation to go away without dropping what she was already doing, and so she let it be.

Eventually, she made it to her target area, only to find a perfectly undamaged Lung floating face up in the bay. She considered the fact that this scum had killed what passed for her only friend, and despite the very temporary nature of that death, she was momentarily blinded by rage. Enough so that she found herself in the process of punting him back to the shoreline before stopping herself.

Control. She had to control herself. Emmy was strong. Unbelievably strong. So much so that he didn't require focus or direction to ensure his power was used properly. She didn't have that. She was orders of magnitude weaker than her friend, so she needed to make every movement count. And so, control. Focus. Control.

She repeated the words to herself as she grabbed Lung by the back of his neck, then began dragging him back to the shoreline.

By the time she was within sight of the shore though, a number of things became noticeable.

One. The approaching vehicles had not, in fact, been the Protectorate.

Two. Over a half dozen capes were standing over a number of men wearing ABB colours, all forced to kneel on the ground with their hands behind there heads.

Three. Her father was being quietly restrained to the side of this display by a man in a bleached white suit, with bleached white skin and hair.

And finally, four; Kaiser was pleasantly beckoning her forward, like a king welcoming a Hero to his court.

Her mind raced furiously as she approached. She couldn't just leave, they had her Dad! But she couldn't deliver an unconscious Lung to them either. They would kill him in cold blood.

What, she asked herself, would Emmy do?

Probably try to cow them all into submission with overwhelming violence.

...okay, what would Emmy do if he wasn't an amoral psychopath?

What would you suggest your Master do?

[ ] "Cow them all into submission with overwhelming violence." Sounds about right.

[ ] Rush the guy holding her Dad, everyone else can deal with their own bullshit. Once Danny is safe, then you can worry about everyone else.

[ ] Push her aura to its limit. Unless they've got another Lung hidden somewhere, she should be able to paralyze everyone present. Hopefully. Maybe.

[ ] They clearly want to talk so... stall? The Protectorate can't be this useless.

[ ] Write-In

A/N: I'm trying to riff on Manton's weird obsession with his daughter here. Taylor isn't half so fucked up, but she's aware that something is off with her even if she isn't quite sure what. Not once will she ever use the word Projection to describe Emmy, and that's definitely part of it though.

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A Hat & Its Man

Jun 16, 2020

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A/N: Obvious warning is obvious but, I obviously don't believe in anything Kaiser says. He's a Nazi. I'm not. There. Disclaimer over. Pretend it applies to the whole rest of the Quest, or until the Nazi gang doesn't exist anymore.

Spoiler: Choices:

[X] They clearly want to talk so... stall? The Protectorate can't be this useless.

Current Energy: 14

Friday, January 7th, 2011

The Docks, Brockton Bay

She approached cautiously. Her right hand clutched tightly against Lung where she was dragging him by his neck, and her left shifted unconsciously to grasp at a blade that had never existed. She did her best not to let her surprise at the movement show as she alighted on the beach, taking stock of her surroundings.

The Empire Eighty-Eight had a lot of capes. Easily twice as many as the local Protectorate if the idle whisperings of her classmates could be believed.

And Taylor recognized maybe three of them.

Kaiser, because he had the gall to not only be a Nazi, but to be the leader of the local Nazi's. He was the type of Cape that had a legend to them. A larger than life mythos that could never fail to make it into the ears of the common man, regardless of their interests. His power, as far as Taylor could tell, was to generate blades from any surface.

Hookwolf, because he made the news once a week every week. His fights always had tremendous costs in human life, and it was practically impossible to tell what would set him off. He wasn't exactly a member of the Slaughter House 9, but Taylor wouldn't be surprised if he was. Taylor didn't really know what his power was, but it amounted to turning into a giant metal wolf, so she supposed the name was simple enough to parse.

And finally Purity, because knowing when to run away and when to hide in place was a vitally important decision when she was in a fight. Purity didn't kill people, she killed buildings. The people were just an unfortunate side effect. Purity was more than just 'a' blaster. She was the blaster as far as Brockton Bay was concerned. She was often graced with nicknames like 'Nazi Legend', and it showed. Purity didn't start fights, she ended them.

Unfortunately of all the various costumes arrayed before her, Taylor recognized exactly two. Kaiser, and Hookwolf.

This was why, she thought numbly, she should have done her research before putting on a costume and going out to pick a fight with the gangs. She had no idea, who the other four people present were. There was a guy wearing old school knight armour, a woman wearing a cage on her head, a man wearing a tiger mask, and most importantly, the monochromatic man holding her father's hands tightly behind his back. And that wasn't even counting the handful of tatted-up goons holding the captured ABB members down.

"Ah, I knew you wouldn't disappoint. It was only a matter of time before that mongrel picked a fight with one of his betters." Kaiser comments idly as you approach, stopping as soon as you no longer need to use Spiritual Power to create footholds for yourself.

"...he didn't give me much choice." Taylor put forth in response, not bothering to comment on how none of the other members of the so-called 'superior' race present could have hoped to stand against Lung.

"Too true. We had heard that Lung had broken the unwritten rules against one of our own and decided to render assistance. I hope you don't mind." Kaiser answers her, carefully not spending more than a cursory moment examining the bedraggled Asian man she was holding. She does her best to keep his face hidden from view, keeping it angled downwards towards the sand.

"Unwritten rules?" Taylor queried, not daring to acquiesce or directly agree with anything Kaiser is saying. This scene was oddly familiar to her after all. She had seen it replayed, day in and day out, for over a year now. Wherein someone with power and influence has her cornered and at their mercy, turning her every word against, whispering sweet poison into her ears at every turn. It is why she finds it so easy to ignore Kaiser's conciliatory tone, instead, looking deeper at the intent within. He is simply too civil sounding. Too self-assured in his own righteousness.

"Ah, of course, you haven't been among us for long, so you would not know." Kaiser concedes smoothly, walking towards her casually, as if merely going to meet a friend.

"The Unwritten rules are thus; No unmasking, No attacking family, No rape, and No murder. These of course, only apply to other Capes." He explains, coming to a stop directly in front of her.

She wanted to comment on that last one, given Hookwolve's reputation, but again, she resisted. Antagonizing him at this point would help no one.

"They also," Kaiser continues solicitously, "don't apply to people who break them."

He waves a hand lazily towards Lung, the motion smooth enough that she was sure it would have become an offered hand, or a demanding grasp had she shown even the slightest inclination towards either. She was neither, however, and so Kaiser was able to disguise the gesture as just that, a flippant gesture of the hand.

"So what, I should kill Lung?" She bites out, allowing some of the duress she's been feeling these last few hours to colour her words.

Kaiser, for all he has been trying to come across as the better man, nods at her genially.

"You think I am a racist yes?" He asks her rhetorically, turning away from Taylor to look at the men arrayed behind him. She takes the opportunity to check on her Father and breathes a slight sigh of relief that he is both conscious and - aside from a bandage around his hand - well.

"I am not. Being better doesn't mean seeing no value in the lesser races, dear Taylor. It means being responsible for leading them. And so long as a few bad apples remain to rot the rest of the basket, they will never see better days. Not under a tyrant like Lung. You can see it can't you? The decay of the city as men like Lung and Skidmark tear it apart at the foundations seeking the barest scraps monetary gain?" Kaiser espouses, the rasp of his steel armour clinking against itself as he moves a poignant counterpoint to his deceptively calm voice, and the crashing of the waves.

He pauses to nod at the men holding the ABB gangsters down, and before Taylor could even think to react they had withdrawn firearms and summarily executed each one of them. Not a one of the thugs looked perturbed by their actions. Not a single one of the Capes even turned to look at the deaths.

Taylor found herself staring blankly at her first corpse, watching the life fade from its eyes with rising bile in the back of her throat that she had to fight back lest she vomit.

"I'm sure you believe that I am here with some ulterior motive. That I am here to demand or to take. I am not. I merely wished to make you aware of the safety my organization can bring to people such as you. It is a sad truth that the rules are unwritten for a reason, and that reason is, more often than not, that they are ignored. I hope you can understand. From one Hero of the people to another Taylor." Kaiser finishes, flourishing his Cape in a way that Taylor was sure Emmy would find moronic, and stalking away, into the night.

The man in white released her father, and along with the rest of the Empire, turned to leave.

They both remained where they were for several minutes afterwards, not daring to rush to each other for fear that the Empire was still here. That it was some kind of trap. When finally the damn broke, Daniel rushed towards his daughter with the frantic pace of a man who really didn't know what to say.

Taylor was caught halfway between a panicked giggle and a tortured sob, unable to get how stupid Kaiser's cape looked out of her head, even as she tried and failed to turn away from the corpses in the sand.

They held each other for several minutes more, when finally, finally, the roar of a motorcycle heralded the arrival of the Protectorate.

"Useless." Her father muttered under his breath, and Taylor couldn't help but agree.

A/N: It might interest you to know that I actually worked out what combination of bad things would happen depending on which choice you went with. The odds were so against you that there was no way nothing bad would happen. Pretty much every other option included me rolling to see if Danny survived the ensuing fight, followed by everyone finding out roughly how bulletproof Taylor is presently (Hint: Not completely against higher calibre rounds). Say what you want about the Empire, Kaiser isn't actually a moron. He's tactically pretty on top of things most days.

In other news, I apparently can't sleep so. Here. Take this chapter and let me taste sweet oblivion. I'm begging you.

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A Hat & Its Man

Jun 16, 2020

#1,526

Current Energy: 13

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

Hebert Household, Brockton Bay

You reform in the middle of the Hebert Household sometime later in the middle of the night. You have a lot you would like to say. You might not have been 'alive' for the entire duration of Taylor's misadventures, but you were present. Unwritten Rules? Stupid. Handing Lung over to that idiot Armsmaster to take back home on his clownmobile? Stupid. Agreeing to go back to the PRT to make another statement? Stupid.

Okay well. They sort of forced your Master's hand on that last one. The waiting list to see Panacea is kind of long, and the only way the PRT was going to advocate to get her Father seen to in any reasonable period of time was if she acquiesced to their demands. You wouldn't have known any of that off the top of your head if your Master hadn't already inferred it while you were down for the count. Your current Emulation sort of has experience with causing a ruckus and then being press-ganged into service, and you recognize all the signs.

But that's all besides the point, because the first thing you actually say upon spawning into existence in the middle of your Master's kitchen, while both she and her Father talk quietly at the table while nursing cups of coffee is thus;

"Oh my god, his Cape was stupid! And the way he twirled it!" You cackle, stumbling over to the table and plopping down into the empty seat nearby.

"Emmy!" Taylor gasps, jumping up from her seat with a start and nearly spilling her drink in her rush to run around the table to hug you.

"Yeah, yeah." You say, still chuckling over the cape thing. Lifting one arm to pat your Master companionably on the back and sensing the looming tension draining from her shoulders.

"You're not... mad?" She asks eventually, leaning away from you to make eye contact but maintaining the hug.

"You know I'm not." You chide her with a roll of your eyes towards Danny, who is actually looking at you with concern for some reason.

"Seriously? You too?" You ask incredulously.

"Emmy you died!" Taylor barks at you, the dim lighting of the kitchen making the bags under her eyes seem ten times bigger than they are. The puffy redness of her eyes themselves - from what was obviously a great deal of crying - is almost ghoulish looking on her.

"Yeah but... nah?" You explain, then scramble to completely explain your thoughts on the matter when your Master narrows her eyes at you in that way she does when she's really pissed.

"I can't really die ya know? I couldn't think of a better way to take out the big guy without killin' 'im, so I just sorta took him with me." You say, and feel a sudden tightening of your Master's hands on your brand new Haori, apparently having generated a new one when you reformed.

"Emmy I don't care if you think it's okay to sacrifice yourself like that! If I ever give you an order that's going to kill you just... tell me! Or find another way! Or retreat!" Taylor growls at you.

"That isn't really-" You try.

"Promise!" She demands, glaring at you. You stare at her unblinkingly for a second while you contemplate that order.

"Just go with it. She's like her Mother that way. Can't really change her mind once she gets going." Daniel chimes in, raising his mug to you in salute.

"And what's with you being all chummy all of a sudden huh?" You ask, rounding on the man and avoiding answering Taylor.

"You beat up Lung for my daughter. Doesn't get more committed than that." He says with an awkward shrug.

"Emmy..!" Your Master says again, causing you to wince when you can hear her teeth grinding together.

"Fine! I promise! Damn, you're worse than-" You say before abruptly clamping your mouth shut, images of pink hair dancing in the corners of your vision.

"Is everything all right?" Taylor asks, immediately transitioning from menacing task master to worried parent.

"Just ah, been getting some feedback from this Emulation. Think I've been the guy for a little too long." You explain carefully.

"I thought you said dying wouldn't hurt you!" Taylor accuses.

"It don't. Like I said. I've just been this guy for a bit too long. You were starting to remind me of his... daughter I think?" You say petulantly. For some reason you don't like admitting that your memories are fake. It just bothers you somehow, which is strange. Actually, this entire cycle has been strange. You don't recall ever being this attached to your Host. You're not sure how to feel about that.

"But you can't change right? Am I not... training enough?" Your Master asks with an obvious look of strangled distress on her face.

"Nah it's... ah... don't worry about it. " You say with a sigh. Your Master just came from a high traumatizing experience that even now is eating away at her. You doubt she wants to hear that she isn't getting into enough conflict right now. You'll just have to bear with the discomfort for the moment.

"I could order you to tell me you know." Your Master says matter of factly.

"You could." You answer, staring back at her.

The silence stretches for an indefinable period of time and then breaks when your Master sighs and looks away first.

"You suck." She says petulantly, returning to her seat in a huff. Huh, you kind of miss the hug.

"Right, well. Taylor and I were just discussing her... options... going forward." Danny interjects, clearly seeing that this leg of the conversation is done.

"Right!" You perk up instantly. "So next has gotta be swords!" You exclaim happily.

"...We were more talking about joining a team, Emmy. I... don't like it. I guess in my head Taylor would get powers and just... not use them. But with Kaiser knowing about us..." Danny trails off, peering into his mug, and pointedly not at his bandaged hand, and missing finger.

"I don't want to join the Protectorate," Taylor says immediately.

"Taylor please I-" Danny splutters.

"Dad no. The Nazi's had to rescue you for god's sake!" Taylor retorts, cutting him off.

The debate lasts well into the morning.

!!IMPORTANT GOD DAMN DECISION TIME!!

Taylor will probably listen to what you have to say on the topic. She's clearly worried about what will happen to her Father the next time she goes out in costume. Assuage her worries.

[ ] The Protectorate are goons, but the worst thing you could do to them is joining up. At least then, neither of you is happy, and Danny is safe.

[ ] Glory Girl's family does this for a living, don't they? The mask thing wasn't working for you anyway Master. Best make the most of it. Those New Wave guys do have that healer after all.

[ ] If the whole point is mutually assured destruction, couldn't you just Start Your Own Team?

[ ] Hear me out. Crime. There's a whole Gang of guys out there with no leader right now.

IMPORTANT NOTE! I'm putting a Moratorium on this! Don't vote now! It won't count! Talk about it! This vote will decide a large portion of how this Quest moves forward from now onward, and I don't want anyone to be disappointed with the outcome! I'm trying to be lenient with this choice option wise, but I don't intend on taking this Quest out of the Bay any time soon, so don't bug me about Faultline or just leaving the city okay?

I will be around for a little while yet, because Insomnia and also I'm drinking the coffee in the middle of when I should be asleep (don't judge me), so feel free to ask me any questions. What I think the quest would entail in each option. What the chances of certain things you want to see happening are with each choice. Etc Etc.

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A Hat & Its Man

Jun 17, 2020

#1,805

Spoiler: Choices:

[X] If the whole point is mutually assured destruction, couldn't you just Start Your Own Team?

Spoiler: Current Emulation Status

Zaraki Kenpachi

Teachable Skills:

- Swordsmanship

Zaraki Kenpachi has a mastery of swordsmanship best described as 'Prodigal'. Despite being an entirely mundane skill, anyone who inherits it would be easily capable of fighting dozens of combatants at once.

- Hand to Hand Combat

Despite fighting primarily with a sword, Zaraki Kenpachi grew up as nothing more than a grimy street kid. His skills in hand to hand aren't great enough to qualify as a 'power' but do push the peak of what a normal human is capable of.

- Beastly Combat Perception (Learned!)

Teachable Powers:

- Spiritual Power Usage (Learned!)

- Asauchi

The primary weapon of the Shinigami, an Asauchi is a sword with a soul, that when harmonized properly with its wielder displays great power and versatility. Requires Spiritual Power.

Current Energy: 13

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

Hebert Household, Brockton Bay

It was sometime in the early morning when you finally decided to chime in on the dubious topic of your Master starting her own team. Despite your misgivings on the subject - your Master doesn't really need anyone but you - you don't really have strong feelings one way or the other with regards to Daniels insistence that Taylor join a team of some kind. For 'Protection' he says.

You find this ironic, since Taylor's primary concern is actually him. As amusing as you find it to watch the pair fail to agree with each other despite being mutually worried for one another, you can't help but point something out that, to you at least, is fairly obvious.

"That Lung guy, he was a badass right?" You ask, thoroughly derailing whatever topic your Master is currently talking about. Something about witness protection?

"Yes Emmy, he was very strong and I'm very proud of you," Taylor says dismissively, brushing you off the same way a mother might dismiss a child.

"Oi. I ain't bragging." You grumble back irately, then continue when the Hebert duo blink owlishly at you, as though only just remembering you were even physically present.

"He was the kinda go no one wanted to mess with right? The 'Strongest guy in town' you said? Didn't we just beat him like a bongo drum? Shouldn't that matter?" You ask curiously.

"Armsmaster suggested we not go public that it was us." Taylor offers, jogging your memory. Her Father snorts in response.

"I doubt that will last long. Kaiser made such a huge production of it that he'll have to tell his own people what happened at least. Even if the Protectorate never announces it, everyone will know by tomorrow night." Danny puts forth, sipping at his mug and frowning when he realizes it's empty.

"Right! So, doesn't that make us the biggest badasses in town?" You continue, hoping that the Heberts will finally take your point and let you continue.

"...okay..." Taylor says doubtfully. Hm. Maybe your next Emulation should be someone smarter. Having your Master doubt your ability to make good decisions kind of sucks.

"And tons of people with Powers end up in the gangs cus they don't want to get killed right? They got no support or have shitty powers so they gotta cozy up to someone who does?" You continue triumphantly.

"...yes?" Danny says, clearly as doubtful as his daughter.

"So we can be that guy! 'Join our team, we killed the dragon guy!' It's perfect!" You explain with a smug smile.

Taylor and Danny glance at each other, then back to you. Then back to each other.

"...could we?" Taylor asks hesitantly.

"I don't think it would be impossible but...Teams cost money. You would need a base of operations. Support staff, lawyers-" Danny begins to list off immediately.

"New Wave doesn't have any of that." Taylor points out quickly, apparently warming to the idea.

"Carol Dallon is a lawyer, and New Wave hasn't done anything that mattered since they got rid of the Marquis," Danny responds.

"Glory Girl-" Taylor tries again, her face turning red as she grows more heated.

"Is the superhuman equivalent of a teenager driving her sportscar around town looking for trouble." He counters again.

"...I still want to do it." Taylor says petulantly, squinting at her father as though waiting for a rebuke.

"I didn't say you couldn't. I was just listing what you would need to make it work. It's not my fault that sounds impossible to you." Danny says, chuckling at the venomous glare his daughter is levelling at him.

Damn. Did you just find something Danny was good for?

"So..." You say into the silence as father and daughter square off.

"...We would have to do research first. Who would you even recruit? You can't just walk into the streets carrying Lung's decapitated head and call for all the other Vikings to join you in Valhalla." Danny says dryly. "And that's just to see if the idea is viable. If you're going to be recruiting Capes that were afraid of the Gangs anyway, I don't see how you expect them to ward off said Gangs."

"That's just it Dad!" Taylor jumps in, a light in her eyes and a sensation of smugness rolling off her as she speaks.

"Alone, no one can really stave off the gangs, but together they can! It's just like forming a Union! The PRT can bully whoever they want because they go after individual independents, but they never bother New Wave because they're a group. Dad, we need to unionize the capes!" She crows, and Danny flinches at her as if struck a blow.

You glance between the two, wondering what about that specific argument is so important.

"Taylor I don't think you can... unionize superpowers," Danny says uncomfortably, clearly on the backfoot.

"Sounds like something an anti-union goon would say." Taylor continues, leaning forward in her seat.

"You... you're making me argue against my best interests," Danny says in annoyance, a look of realization flashing across his face.

"My Dad is kind of a big Union man." Taylor says nonchalantly.

"Is he now," Danny says flatly.

"SO..!" You jump in again.

"...Fine. We'll go to the library later. " Danny concedes. "For now, I need a nap. Wake me up at..." He glances at the clock.

"Noon." He grumbles, before trundling off to climb the stairs to his room.

Your head swivels to stare at your Master, a look of obvious expectation on your face.

"Emmy... no." She says resolutely, following her father up the stairs.

"But-" You complain only to nearly bite your own tongue off shutting your mouth when Taylor glares at you.

"If you say the words 'Training' or 'Sword' I'm going to... ground myself. From Training." She finishes lamely.

"...Fine." You grumble, lamenting all the lost time your Master spends sleeping.

"Looks like it's just me and you buddy." You say companionably to the toaster as you settle in to wait for the requisite - you glance at the clock, it's 7:34 in the morning - four hours before you wake everyone up for the day.

The toaster, of course, doesn't answer.

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

Central Library, Brockton Bay

"Okay so, our options are looking kind of... slim, kiddo." Danny says from the seat next to your Master, scribbling something in a notepad and frowning at it.

The library was not particularly well travelled by most people on a Saturday afternoon. In fact, you would go so far as to say the area is basically entirely empty save for your Master, her Father, and the ageing librarian whom you've caught falling asleep on at least two occasions since arriving here. Even still, the Heberts still opted to have you find all the cameras and invisibly direct them to two computers that were difficult to see from them. Evidently, they were going to have to lay low until they could pull the bare bones of this plan together.

Not that Danny was willing to let Taylor avoid going back to school on Monday, claiming he would be staying with the Dockworkers for the majority of the day and would, therefore, be safe.

"I mean... there's Parian?" Taylor whispers back dejectedly.

"...who's power is thread control and who has made a point of not fighting crime in any way shape or form? That Parian?" Danny asks, causing your Master to sink into her seat in defeat.

"This one looks promising though. A monster cape who hangs out in the old trainyard and doesn't like to be bothered." He continues, leaning back so Taylor can look at his screen.

"Monster Cape is rude Dad." She answers offhandedly, obviously deep in thought.

"Well.. besides him and Parian there's just that guy that's been harassing the Merchants recently. But people aren't even sure if he has Powers it says. He might just be a bodybuilder or something."

"There's Purity." Taylor points out, only to be immediately glared down by her Father.

"No." Danny says immediately.

"But PHO says-" Taylor counters weakly.

"Nazi." Danny states adamantly. Your Master doesn't look entirely convinced, but you suspect that's just because she's been looking at pictures of the aftermath of this Purity's attacks, and has been sufficiently impressed.

"So that's it for today then?" Taylor eventually asks, glancing towards you and her father curiously.

"Unless you want to try and meet one of these people today," Danny says with a sigh.

'There's always training~' You chime in, drawing a wince from your Master.

Whats the plan?

[ ] Go to the Trainyard to talk to the Monster Cape there.

[ ] Your Master will take a normal bodybuilder at this point if he'll at least talk to her.

[ ] You might be able to convince Parian. Master needs a proper costume anyway.

[ ] Technically, Danny doesn't have to know you went to meet Purity.

[ ] Training~ (Choose a Skill or Power)

[ ] Write-In

Speaking of which;

[ ] School is going to be boring as hell. (Emma Interlude)

[ ] That smug prick is lucky you were dead when he was mouthing off to Master. (Kaiser Interlude)

[ ] Wonder how they got Danny in the first place? (Danny Interlude)

A/N: A quick note on recruitment options. They'll be available in the generic daily rotation along with training and patrols and all that stuff, but they won't always succeed. Purity isn't always just flying around because you happen to be looking for her, Parian isn't going to join you just because you voted to go talk to her. Etc etc. Treat it like having a bunch of time limited companion quests basically. Anyone who's ever played Persona 4 or 5 will know how this will work out.

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A Hat & Its Man

Jun 17, 2020

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Saturday, January 8th, 2011

Barnes Household, Brockton Bay

This, she realized, was bad.

It hadn't quite clicked for her how bad until that Saturday, nearly a full week after it had happened.

She had been sitting in her kitchen, lazily swirling her cereal about in her bowl while scrolling through PHO on her phone. She had already been feeling a token level of anxiety all week. No one had come right out and said it, but Emma Barnes was very much persona non grata at school right now. Not because she had been picking on Taylor - no one cared about that much at all. No, Emma Barnes was a social pariah because, despite not a single person saying a single thing to the police when they had come to take statements on the topic, it was very clear that people didn't want to be in her immediate vicinity when Taylor finally came back to school.

It was simple math for the sheep that she went to school with after all. If there was any single person who was likely to get Parahuman powers and then go Carrie on the school with them, it was Taylor Hebert.

Now, Emma didn't believe, like Sophia did, that all Parahumans were Predators by default. There were too many outliers for that to be true. Parian? Useless. She stayed cooped up on the boardwalk all day doing puppet shows for children and shilling her custom made dresses. She herself could hardly classify as a prey animal like so many of her peers, and where were her powers? Still in the mail, evidently.

So she wasn't surprised that Taylor had ended up getting powers. It would figure that loser would need paracausal assistance to survive something as simple as a highschool prank. If anything, she was the one who should have gotten powers, in the dark alley when-

It should have been her.

And the fact that something so minor in comparison to her own struggles had bestowed Hebert with a power only reaffirmed her beliefs.

It was only now, staring at a steadily growing thread on PHO with a shakey recording of 'Nexus' dragging Lung around like a drowned cat that Emma realized, some Prey animals could fight back.

She hadn't wasted a single second after that. The house wasn't safe. Taylor knew where it was. She would have to run for one of the bolt holes that she and Sophia had setup together, just in case. Hurriedly, she threw everything she could think of into her - what did Sophia call it? Her bug out bag. Her parents were asleep, so she shamelessly raided her mother's purse for any cash she could find. Some toiletries came next. Then her baton, and the Bowie knife Soph had gotten her for her birthday this year. She was sure she was missing something, but she couldn't be bothered to check. She needed to be gone asap.

When she made it to the front door, she forced herself to calm down, as she casually strode out of it. A quick glance around - a stretching motion Soph had taught her that made the act seem casual - confirmed she was alone, and then she began to walk off.

She should have seen this coming. Taylor always got what should have been hers. She was the one who always acted resilient. Who made it seem like nothing would hold her down for long. It pissed Emma off, that hopeful way of seeing everything. Taylor could come back from misery because she had never actually had to experience real life. Real life wasn't school, where the prey ran around forming social hierarchies that she could kick over just for fun. It was out here. On the streets, below street lamps, in back alleys. It was ugly. It was terrible. And Emma was sure if Taylor had gone through what she had been forced to, the little bitch would have broken and never come back. Probably killed herself even.

And Emma resented her for that. Resented her so damn much. She knew what a trigger event was. Sophia had explained it to her once, in confidence. It was the worst day of any Parahumans life.

And Taylor Fucking Hebert had gotten her powers because of a fucking prank! Because even the barest taste of what real life was like was too much for her.

It wasn't fair! It should have been her! It should have been-

She stumbled, blacked out for a bit. She had to blink stars out of her eyes and reorient herself at the end of the street she was on.

Frowning, she continued onward. Soph would probably be arriving soon, and she already knew they would have to work quickly. She had been kept appraised of the PRT situation by her friend and things were suddenly looking very grim.

Oh certainly, until that point, Sophia had assured her that whiny little Taylor wasn't worth the PR hit that leaving her out to hang would be. They might not like it, but once they were both Wards the matter would be settled in house. Probably send Hebert to Boston or something citing personal differences. And if she didnt join, well, Soph already knew how to handle criminals.

But this new development with Lung... the PRT would bend over backwards to accommodate that kind of power, no matter how whimpy it's wielder was.

Carefully glancing around again as she approached the Junkyard, Emma deftly hopped the fence - a maneuver it had taken her months of practice to manage without ripping her clothes - and jogged lightly to an empty cargo container buried under a pile of smashed cars.

Containers like this were littered all over the Bay, the remnant of a brief time where they had been used as makeshift homes for the homeless - back before the city had chased them off. There had been many attempts to clean them up over the years, it as with many things in Brockyon Bay, there just wasn't any money for it.

Slipping inside the open door of the container, she carefully eased it shut behind her, then began unpacking her things.

It wasn't much later that she began to feel... something... in the back of her head. It felt curiously like an on/off switch, which was bizarre, because it simultaneously felt perfectly normal and incredibly out of place. Turning around, she found she could perfectly track the location of the switch with her gaze, swiveling it in a slow arc to the left as she tracked... whatever this was.

She was actually so focused on the task that she was quite surprised to find Sophia - well, Shadow Stalker in costume - slipping through the wall of the container in her shadow form. Perfectly in line with where she was looking in fact.

"Hey Ems. Got everything you need?" Sophia asked, quickly dropping a much larger duffel bag than Emma's own on the floor of the dimly lit container.

"I-" She began, then paused, pursing her lips in thought. Deciding just to go for it, she prodded the on/off switch that coincided with Sophia's current location.

With a squawk, Sophia shifted to her shadow form again, then with a panicked yelp, began to dart around looking for an unseen attacker when she proved unable to shift back.

Because Emma was still holding the 'On' button.

"God, finally. I've been waiting forever you know?" She said wistfully, releasing her hold on her power and letting Sophia change back to normal.

Whether she was talking to her power or Sophia at that moment, even she didn't know.

A/N:

Ah, that's where I dropped the QA shard.

I hope the sheer amount of 'Only I understand how harsh the world is' and 'noone suffers like I've suffered' present in this interlude is sufficient to characterize Emma as I see her. I always feel like shes wasted in fics where Taylor is outed and she breaks down or stops being relevant. She obviously believes far too much of her own hype.

Last edited: Jun 17, 2020

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Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Jun 17, 2020

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Spoiler: Choices:

[X] Training~ (Choose a Skill or Power)

-[x] Asauchi

Current Energy: 13

Currently, 4/10 - Asauchi (Cost 6 to complete) *Everyone can thank Phearo for this Omake Boost, and since I nearly forgot, Narasan for the previous one!*

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

Hebert Household, Brockton Bay

You sit pensively across from your Master, once more in the cramped basement of her house. You can't tell what is sadder, that your Master obviously hates training in all of its many beautiful forms, or that despite that hatred, she would still prefer it to being forced to go socialize.

"We need to find a better place to train." You say absently, eyes flickering over your Master's form as you fully internalize the fact that you are bequeathing the secrets of the soul and it's usage to someone while surrounded by almost literal garbage. The Old Man would be furious.

"We can't. Dad's here." Taylor answers immediately, staring dead ahead at a point just over your shoulder.

"That doesn't have anything to do with how hard this room makes it to do laps would it?" You ask rhetorically, watching your Master sweat slightly under your stare.

"It- It can't be helped! If we were to go somewhere else, we wouldn't be able to protect the house!" She blurts out, her shoulders tensing in response to your query.

"A-anyway, just... what are we doing today again? Hurry up and start throwing rocks at me again or whatever." She continues when you merely hum in response to her statements.

Then she frowns and mouths the words 'Hurry up and start throwing rocks at me' once as if trying to figure out specifically what is wrong with that statement. In your opinion - nothing. Legally speaking, probably quite a lot.

At the very least, you're glad that your Master has gotten accustomed to training the right way. You've seen some of the crap the people of this Earth consider exercise, and it's pathetic. Your not sure who convinced these people that taking a mild jog around a park for an hour was good enough to qualify as 'training' but you wish you could meet them, just so you could headbutt them once, for weakening the species as a whole.

Of course, you are having this conversation instead of training right now, because there is something of a snag in your current methodology. A snag you're sure your Master would protest heavily if she were to have it explained to her. Which is why you've been sitting here for the last five minutes trying to find a way to do just that.

What you are trying to do, is bestow upon your Master the core of a Shinigami's fighting potential. The foundation upon which all else is typically built. A Zanpakuto. Or... well... an Asauchi. A baby Zanpakuto. The problem is that, in your experience, there are three ways to get a Zanpakuto. The first is to have it given to you in the Academy. The second is to kill a guy and take his before he graduates from the Academy. Neither of these are an option for you, and given that you lack the skill to directly craft one, that leaves you at option three.

"Master." You say solemnly, hardening your heart.

"Y-y-yes." She stammers at you, obviously sensing the dour direction your thoughts are taking.

"I gotta stab you." You explain bluntly.

"...huh?" Taylor grunts in confusion.

"It's the only way. This Emulation knew a guy once who got his sword that way. It totally works." You explain, standing and drawing your blade from the sheathe at you waist.

"Okay wait, stop, time out. This isn't training!" Taylor exclaims, jumping to her feet and backing away from you.

"Look I swear it won't kill yah okay? I ain't setup that way." You say, pointedly avoiding words like 'maybe' and 'hope'.

"Nope. I changed my mind. I refuse. I'm gonna go see if Parian is still at the-" Your Master says with a scowl, before twisting out of the way of your light stabbing motion and reflexively kicking you in the chest so hard you fly backward into the stairwell and bounce slightly off the concrete wall present there.

"Emmy! I forbid you from stabbing me!" She yells at you, even as she leaps bodily over you and straight up the stairs, deftly making her escape.

"Come on!" You cry out, annoyed. It isn't like she could stop you if you moved at your top speed, but you just... really can't make yourself try that hard. Stabbing Master - even for a good cause - just isn't in your nature.

"Do I want to know?" Danny asks, peering down the stairwell at you.

"It's just like gettin' a needle at the doctor you know? It stings at first but then you have a magic god damn sword!" You scowl, yelling past the man towards your Master who is peering at you from behind him.

"Why are you so certain I need the sword?" Taylor scowls back at you. "I'm plenty strong enough right?"

You snort derisively at the comment.

"I fought Oni Lee! With my bare hands!" She defends irately, squinting at you through her glasses.

"You survived Oni Lee with your bare hands." You correct, standing up and stomping up the stairs to throw yourself petulantly into the couch.

"You even gave me that Combat Thinker power! I was doing fine!" Taylor insists, following after you and standing awkwardly to the side while you argue. You move to counter that point too, then smile slyly at her as a thought dawns on you.

"We could always practice something else at the same time? If we find a nice open place like, say, the backyard, we could spar for a bit?" You suggest innocently.

"Oh and I'm sure you won't even try to stab me while we're sparring," Taylor answers sarcastically, clearly unamused. You shrug.

"You just gotta trust me on this one Master. We can get you some practice fighting, and when alls said and done you'll probably have a Zanpakuto. Unless you don't think you can handle me when I'm barely even tryin' to hurt you." You say, grinning crookedly.

"Stop that. I know what you're doing. I'm not five." Taylor says, rolling her eyes.

"Can't take it huh? Maybe I should aim for something softer for my next guy? Maybe someone from the universe of cuddly animals? A Unicorn perhaps?" You say blithely. Taylor looks momentarily taken aback by the jab, before setting her jaw firmly and glowering at you. To the side, you can hear her Father sigh tiredly at the exchange.

"...I'm gonna hit you so damn hard." She growls eventually, standing up to jog up to her room.

"Where ya goin'?" You ask curiously, noting that she definitely isn't headed towards the backyard.

"To put my costume on! Train in what you fight in!" She yells back, accompanied by the sound of a door slamming.

"What about all the secret identity crap?" You ask, confused. Danny looks at you like you might be an idiot, which is particularly offensive coming from him.

"Emmy, Taylor barely even has a secret identity. You blew up part of her school." He says, continuing to look at you like a very strange bug.

"Oh. Eh, it was stupid anyway." You say, before striding out to the backyard to wait. You can just barely hear Danny mumbling something about hot-blooded morons being contagious as you go.

You choose to ignore the statement as the slander it is.

You are absolutely not contagious.

What's the Plan for Tomorrow? Choose 2.

[ ] Go to the Trainyard to talk to the Monster Cape there.

[ ] Your Master will take a normal bodybuilder at this point if he'll at least talk to her.

[ ] You might be able to convince Parian. Master needs a proper costume anyway.

[ ] Technically, Danny doesn't have to know you went to meet Purity.

[ ] Continue Training.

[ ] Complete Training (Asauchi, 6 Points)

[ ] Ask your Master about the local threats. (Babies first Patrol.)

[ ] Follow up with the PRT. Again. (Danny is still missing a finger.)

[ ] Write-In

Important Note*

Now, I won't railroad you guys, but do try to keep in mind that getting your Team up and running in some capacity is kind of important in the near future.

Important Note*

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Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Jun 18, 2020

#2,031

A note; I made a mistake last chapter when denoting the costs of things because I forgot to account for the changes to training I made when Drain was added. That would have brought the cost to complete down to 5 points.

A second note; It was pointed out that since Completing a Power or Skills training is effectively a 0 Time action, that if you take it, you should be able to choose something else. I've accounted for that here by treating it like you chose to train and then complete the training, but going forward, Training Completion will be a suboption, since it doesn't take a 'time' slot.

Thank you for your patience.

Spoiler: Current Emulation Status

Zaraki Kenpachi

Teachable Skills

- Swordsmanship

Zaraki Kenpachi has a mastery of swordsmanship best described as 'Prodigal'. Despite being an entirely mundane skill, anyone who inherits it would be easily capable of fighting dozens of combatants at once.

- Hand to Hand Combat

Despite fighting primarily with a sword, Zaraki Kenpachi grew up as nothing more than a grimy street kid. His skills in hand to hand aren't great enough to qualify as a 'power' but do push the peak of what a normal human is capable of.

- Beastly Combat Perception (Learned!)

Teachable Powers:

- Spiritual Power Usage (Learned!)

- Asauchi (Learned!)

Spoiler: Choices:

[X] Complete Training (Asauchi, 3 Points)

[X] Your Master will take a normal bodybuilder at this point if he'll at least talk to her.

Current Energy: 9

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

Hebert Household, Brockton Bay

You don't sleep. It's not that you couldn't, so much as you designed your current configuration in such a way that you could ignore it at your leisure. Did your Emulation start to feel like shit after a while? Yes. Did you care? No. That was the trouble with trying to stay true to the original when you were building these things. Biology played a pretty key part in alot of what was going on sometimes, so you couldn't just ignore it. Regardless, and disregarding all of the unnecessary parts; you don't sleep.

You feel like that bore repeating, because Daniel Hebert clearly hasn't fully internalized that fact.

Clink*

Clink*

Clink*

"I just don't know what to do anymore Anne. I'm sure you'd be fine with just leaving the city but... I don't think that would help." Daniel says forlornly to a framed picture of his wife he has lovingly placed on the table, one hand clutching tightly at an ice pack for his missing finger. His good hand-

Clink*

- His good hand is idly tapping his wedding ring against an unopened bottle of beer that has long since turned lukewarm.

He's been like this for a few hours now. You don't know if he forgot you exist, assumes you loom menacingly in Taylors room all night, or merely doesn't care that you may be watching.

Finally, deciding that watching a broken man complain to his dead wife is a trifle too depressing for your Master to wake up with memories of, you manifest in the room with him, then bluntly take a seat - and his beer bottle. Danny doesn't so much as jump at your sudden appearance.

"Y'know we could always just take ya to a Hospital." You say, gesturing at the ragged bit of flesh covering his knucklebone. However that finger was severed, it wasn't a surgical thing.

"No. They'll be coming for Taylor now. I can't let people have that kind of leverage over her." Danny says firmly, his gaze sharpening.

"'They'?" you ask skeptically.

"Pretty much everyone. You know what everyone hates more than an army in their midst?" He says, looking back down at the picture of his wife as he speaks.

"...I got nothin'." You admit freely, already aware that Zaraki Kenpachi would likely never be someone with much of a philosophical bent.

"An army with no one in charge. Parahumans are the same, I think." Danny explains, shifting back to his usual method of speech.

You think on that for a second, but ultimately dismiss it. As far as you can tell, you were definitely not configured properly for use in this cycle. There is no way you would be allowed to dabble in any of this Soul Energy stuff otherwise. You doubt anything you encounter is going to be a significant problem for you unless you run into another irregularly configured power.

You wonder if you should tell Danny that you're pretty sure raising the dead is within your eventual capabilities. You wonder if you should tell your Master that. Then you quietly throw it on the evergrowing pile of things you are likely to forget to tell people until you have an Emulation with slightly greater multitasking capabilities.

"So you're worried the goon squad is gonna hold this over Ma- Taylor?" You query.

"Pretty much. I've seen a lot of situations like this with the Union. A small company moves into town and threatens to hire privately for work if you won't meet there demands. You have to be firm with those ones, leave them to fail for a while when the only options are us or the local transients." Danny explains with a sigh.

"Doesn't Taylor know Glory Girl? Why can't we just phone her?" You complain, thoroughly disliking all of the political underpinnings of the situation your Master is in.

"That's just being in debt to a different group of people," Danny says, standing and dropping his bag of ice in the sink.

"We could kidnap the healer?" You offer.

"I'm not even going to respond to that." Danny grumbles tiredly.

"Ya just did." You smirk.

"I'll tell Taylor you're being difficult again you know." He responds, shifting around the kitchen retrieve the picture frame on the table and moving it to a position on top of a nearby cabinet.

"I ain't difficult I'm precocious." You grin.

'Emmy.' Your Master's sudden call comes, interrupting your conversation.

"Hang on. Master's up." You explain when Danny peers at you for your sudden distraction. With all the grace of a puppy racing to see its owner, you rush to your Masters room, passing straight through the doorway and into the tiny bedroom without a second thought.

Your Master is inside, but has not yet risen from her bed. Instead, she is merely laying there, staring sightlessly at her ceiling as if seeking a deeper truth in the near distance.

"Yo." You greet her, squatting down next to the bed so you will be eye level with her without her having to sit up.

You're considerate like that.

"Do you think you can turn into a healer? When you draw a new card I mean?" She asks you, not turning to look in your direction as she speaks.

"Eh, anything is possible. Might also turn into a sentient vending machine or something." You admit, then shrug sheepishly and continue, "The multiverse is a weird place Master." when Taylor quirks an eyebrow in response.

"...If you were a healer, would you still be strong enough to make everyone leave Dad alone?" She continues, apparently choosing to disregard your previous statement.

"Eh." You grunt noncommittally, tilting your hand left and right in the universal gesture for so-so.

"What about... could you give Dad powers?" Taylor finally says, hesitantly, as if afraid of the answer.

"Weird fruit, Power suit, Alien suit-" You begin, rattling off all the exceptionally weird ways beings in the greater Multiverse get powers.

"Could you do all three at once?" Taylor says with some finality, obviously guessing what your response will be.

"That one... probably not. It's possible but, not very much so." You admit with a pained expression on your face.

"I didn't think so. Ok. Let's get this over with." Taylor says with a put upon sigh, sitting up in bed with only a token attempt to fix her dishevelled hair.

"Huh?" You blurt stupidly.

"You can't do it all, so I'll cover some of it. I just... have to be so dangerous no one will try to fight me any more right? So stab me with your stupid magic sword and let's get on with the day." She says, then screws her eyes shut in wary anticipation.

You can see it though. The determination affirming itself deep in your Master's soul. The firm core of purpose that she always possessed, but never had occasion to put to use. This is what drew you to Taylor Hebert. That special kind of bloody-mindedness unique to only a rare few people across all of space-time. A form of dominance that told the world to piss off, because it wouldn't like what happened if it got in her way.

You don't even try to hide the sound of your sword being drawn as you yank it from its sheathe, lining the tip up with a place on your Masters torso that will avoid any major organs or bones - just in case this doesn't actually work.

You really hope this works.

Then you plunge the blade forward, making sure to inject as much power as you can manage into your Master the moment the weapon breaks her skin.

You grin as your Spirit and your Masters intertwine briefly before yours is summarily snuffed out. You barely even have the chance to blink before your own Zanpakuto is ejected outward, and a loud crash heralds your success. It took a while, but you finally feel like you've passed the best of this Emulation onward.

Taylor, clearly expecting the experience to hurt more, opens one eye to look down at the weapon that has appeared in the middle of her floor, sticking out of it like a blade of myth waiting to be claimed.

"Emmy?" She says with a strained expression on her face.

"Yeah?" You answer proudly.

"Is it... supposed to be as tall as I am?"

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

Archers Bridge, Brockton Bay

The Merchants didn't actually control all that much territory, at least, not in the traditional sense. They called themselves the Archers Bridge Merchants, and part of that was the simple fact that Archers Bridge and it's immediate environs were the only place they could definitively claim as their own. The small bridge leading up to the abandoned section of Brockton Bay that once contained the lighthouse was as close to a 'seat of power' as the Merchants had.

Needless to say, not many people in Brockton Bay cared much for them. The E88 and the ABB were gangs to be feared, the Merchants were a nuisance at best, at least to people who didn't live too close to their claimed territory. This is why your Master eventually takes you out to their territory in the first place. If this bodybuilder guy is a Cape, then he's clearly being focusing on the Merchants in order to avoid pissing off anyone that could really take him out.

'He's practicing' Your Master had said when she had spent enough time reading through PHO for sightings of the mysterious cape you were trying to locate.

And so here you were. Walking about the area with Taylor in her civilian clothes, while you trailed behind her invisibly. The hope, apparently, being that eventually, the Merchants would try to kidnap and do unmentionable things to her, which either the mystery cape would save her from, or You would.

You hate this plan. It's both stupid and demeaning. Even worse, the fact that you have passed several groups of obvious Merchants and not a single one has made a 'pass' at your Master has gotten her scowling and grumbling angrily, as if personally insulted. You honestly have no idea what is going through her head right now.

'It's not that funny!' Your Master scowls at you as you guffaw slightly at her predicament from this morning.

'It's pretty funny.' You counter, fondly remembering the scene of your Master trying to figure out how to move around with her new sword without it scraping the ground. You had eventually explained that she could control it's rough size if she concentrated hard enough, but you hadn't really been expecting much. In your Emulation's memories, it had taken a few months of training to be able to manage the feat, although that might have been because he was just very bad at it.

It had taken your Master about an hour, and she had proceeded to shrink it down to roughly the size of a small dagger, then slip it firmly into her inner coat pocket.

Your Master was seriously unfair sometimes.

"Hey." A voice calls out to your Master from just ahead, emanating from a brawny looking guy in dirty sweats he was beckoning to them from an alley.

'Finally!' Taylor halfway croons as she skips ahead, forcing you to roll your eyes at her antics. You suspect she might have temporarily forgotten why you came out here in the first place.

'No, Master, your not supposed to be happy when this happens.' You coach, hoping your Master doesn't develop any weird habits. That determination you love about her? People with it also tended to turn out to be really weird. And that was saying something coming from you.

"Hi!" Taylor chirps at the probable drug dealer in the mouth of the alleyway, following him almost without thought as he retreats further in.

"...Hi? Look I can tell you're looking for me so, just say it." The man says, eyeing Taylor oddly.

"Oh, yeah, totally, you sell uh... drugs... right?" Taylor says, her stupid girl act falling apart somewhere in the middle of the word totally as she begins to feel her brain cells dying in response to the behaviour.

"Seriously? Look just... go home. There aren't any Merchants left nearby, you're only going to get hurt if you stay." The guy grumbles in a dissatisfied tone. Then he turns away from Taylor, and leaps three stories up onto the roof.

Taylor takes several seconds to process that, turning bright red in embarrassment at the dismissal. Then the implications kick in, and she swears.

"Shit, Wait!" She calls out, her aura lighting up as she jumps up to follow him.

"Hey! Wait I said!" She calls after the other Parahuman, jumping across several buildings at once in an attempt to catch up to him. When she does, he spins around with a frown, dropping into a decent looking judo stance.

"I guess you're new huh? Figures the Merchants would get another Brute." He says absently, narrowing his eyes at your Master and shifting his feet.

"I'm not a Merchant!" Your Master defends herself, not bothering to take a stance - mostly because she doesn't actually know how to fight.

"You... asked me to buy drugs." The man states dubiously.

"I was- I mean I was trying to- look can we just talk?" Your Master splutters, apparently not wanting to explain her brilliant plan. Even if it did technically work.

"Sorry but no. I have no idea who you are." He says slowly, backing away from her.

Ah, that'd be your queue huh?

"We're the guys who beat the shit outta Lung yesterday." You say, appearing behind him before he can jump across a ledge to another building. That seems to get his attention, as he swiftly turns to glare at you, disregarding your Master as a threat.

"Yay, a new villain. I'll alert the presses."

"Are you being like this on purpose?!" Your Master eventually snaps at him, causing him to jerk slightly in surprise.

"Look, I'm tired and feel stupid so I'm just going to say it - I want to start a team." Your Master explains, then adds "A Hero team."

"...That actually does explain a lot." The guy- actually referring to him only as 'guy' is getting kind of annoying.

"Oi. What's yer name anyway?" You say, interrupting him before he can say anything more.

"Haven't come up with one yet. All the low hanging fruit is taken. Adonis, Hercules, Atlas, etc." He says with a shrug.

"Whatever. Gonna call you Muscles." You say with a shrug, and are gratified when the tension in his shoulders reduces slightly.

"So... what now?" He asks when nothing happens and no one says anything.

"I... don't know? I just came to ask you to join my new Team." Taylor says impishly.

"What's it called?" Muscles asks.

"...Haven't come up with a name yet?" Taylor tries.

"Is there anyone else on this so called 'Team'?" He continues, a touch annoyed.

"Not... really?" Taylor says again, obviously feeling like maybe she hadn't thought this entire thing through.

"Right well... as nice as this interview has been, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline, b-but!" He says dryly, before blurting out the last bit when your Master begins to look like she might implode with shame.

"I'll give you my number. Maybe we can beat up some Merchants together? I'm still getting used to my powers so..." He says, calming down when Taylor looks at him hopefully.

"Thanks. I'll call." She says verbally.

'Emmy I need a cellphone.' She hastily yelps across your mental link.

You roll your eyes again, but dutifully memorize the number the guy provides to you before leaving. When it's just the two of you alone, your Master looks at you smugly, as if she has just proven a point.

'...What?' You ask when it becomes obvious she's waiting for you to do so.

'I pouted at him and it worked.' She states willfully.

You very politely don't point out that you don't think overwhelming someone with feelings of pity counts. Your Master has quite enough self image issues to work through, thank you very much.

Tomorrows a school day. What's the plan? Choose 2.

[ ] Go to the Trainyard to talk to the Monster Cape there.

[ ] You might be able to convince Parian. Master needs a proper costume anyway.

[ ] Technically, Danny doesn't have to know you went to meet Purity.

[ ] Continue Training.

[ ] Ask your Master about the local threats. (Babies first Patrol.)

- [ ] Call someone to assist. (Numbers Available: Muscles, Glory Girl)

[ ] Follow up with the PRT. Again. (Danny is still missing a finger.)

[ ] Write-In

A/N: Truthfully, this could have been two separate chapters, but I don't like breaking choices up like that, so here we are. You know the usual disclaimers, me tired, you point out error. I'll see you all later.

Unless my insomnia kicks in. Then I'll see you all in like, two hours.

Last edited: Jun 18, 2020

854

Bowler Hat Guy

Jun 18, 2020

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