Quest

by Kahlil Johnson

Uhhhh

11. Pro9

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

PRT Headquarters, Brockton Bay

Chris was distracted.

There wasn't anything of particular importance causing that distraction, but he was distracted none the less.

He had spent the better part of that morning, and in fact, most of the week preceding it, in his lab Tinkering. In light of the Empire's offensive and subsequent defeat, there had been calls for the Wards to be treated more carefully. Or, in Dennis' words, 'treated like mushrooms'.

Chris hadn't actually known what that meant until a few days ago - when he saw Miss Militia walking around out of the corner of his eye and spun around, expecting to find her gone like the hallucination she clearly was.

Only she wasn't. She was still just standing there, waiting for the elevator to arrive. Chris had cycled through a number of thoughts on the topic. Were they replacing her with someone else? Making use of her death to create a legacy Cape? Could the PRT be so ghoulish? Was it a stranger? Should he be radioing this in?

When the woman who looked exactly like Miss Militia, wearing Miss Militia's costume, waved at him - he decided he probably should.

That had been three days ago. It had resulted in a four hour lockdown, a two hour interview, and the postponing of all Chris' Tinkering for the day. He had never been updated on the results of the investigation, but a few days after that, it had been announced that Miss Militia had been found washed out to sea by the force of Purity's blast, and had managed to struggle her way back to shore after days of torturous dehydration.

He had asked everyone who would listen to him what exactly was going on - because he knew for a fact that Miss Militia was dead, and took tremendous offence to the entire farce - but had been told that the official story was the truth and, in the politest of terms, that he should shut up and mind his own business.

In other words, he was being kept in the dark and fed shit. Like a mushroom.

Naturally, Chris was not, in fact, an idiot. He had dyscalculia, which most certainly presented difficulties with regards to mathematical formula, but he by no means had any failings in terms of his ability to solve problems. Especially when the obvious solution was sitting right in front of him. He had managed to speak to her long enough in the last couple days to ascertain that Miss Militia was definitely who she said she was, a fact that was backed up by the PRT's extremely stringent protocols on the topic.

And he was painfully, disturbingly aware, of a conversation he'd had not more than a week ago with Nexus, over dinner.

Which, now that he thought about it, implied a much more close relationship than the tense, vaguely insulting, highly emotional event actually was.

"Chris?" Dean asked him suddenly, causing him to jolt slightly and turn away from what he was doing to stare at the entrance to his workshop, where the taller boy was standing.

"Hey. Sorry I was just-" He moved to explain, before Dean cut him off.

"Having a panic attack, yeah I know. Are you okay man?" Dean asked again with a worried look on his face. Of all the Wards, Dean seemed the least outwardly distressed by this turn of events. None of them were unhappy with Miss Militia's return. That would be foolish. No, what Chris, and the overwhelming majority of the other Wards were constantly concerned with, was the somewhat less than polite way they had last parted with Nexus.

Nexus, who could apparently raise the dead in a manner the PRT found acceptable. Nexus, who despite being fairly mild of temperament when Chris had last seen her, was probably one of the more dangerous Parahuman's he knew. Any time he thought of her, there was a knawing sense of dread associated with the act, a terrible sense of unwillingness and unease that Chris couldn't quite place otherwise.

"Yes." He lied, not wanting to get into the topic lest he become anxious again. Dean looked at him pointedly for a second, and then stepped fully into the workshop, firmly closing the door behind him and then taking a seat at the table next to Chris.

"Vicky says she's fine you know? Hasn't brought it up at all." Dean said carefully. Chris found this hard to believe for a number of reasons - not the least of which being the fact that Amy of all people had been the most critical of Nexus that night. The healer was always somewhat gruff and taciturn, but he had never seen her so openly vitriolic before. He couldn't imagine Nexus just letting that go when she so regularly hung out with the girl's sister.

His disbelief must have shown on his face because Dean cracked a wry smile before continuing.

"Vicky says that Nexus is sort of an airhead. Not stupid, just... like she doesn't care about a lot of stuff the rest of us do?" Dean explained easily, though his heart wasn't fully in it. Chris could understand why. Even if Nexus didn't take personal offence to anything he had said, all the Wards had been briefed on what Shadow Stalker had done to her. Less because it was important for them to know, and more because - at the time - the Director had no way of knowing if Nexus would take it out on them, and wanted everyone to be forwarned.

It had been one thing to know a mildly powerful Parahuman had a pretty good reason to hate them. It had been another entirely to owe that Parahuman your life. It was the constant elephant in the room wherever Nexus was concerned, made worse by the fact that she never seemed to deign to interact with any of them. Chris could dimly remember there were plans to apologize to her about it over that dinner, but even setting aside the events that followed, he sincerely doubted he would have been able to muster the energy to do so. He hadn't exactly been in the most friendly of moods at the time.

"Yeah, I guess... I mean, there are still search parties out looking for Dauntless right? So it can't be... that bad." Chris said, more to himself than for anyone else's benefit. They all knew - implicitly - that Dauntless wasn't stuck out on a piece of lumber somewhere in the ocean. Even if he was, there had been no obvious sign that anyone had actually physically gone looking for him. No, more than likely this was just the PRT's way of covering for his eventual... return.

"Yeah. Hey, maybe when we go patrolling with Miss Militia today she'll let us swing through Nexus' part of town?" Dean offered, causing Chris to both perk up and feel a churning sense of discomfort in his gut at the idea.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let's do that. I can show her my new gear." Chris finally answered, mustering a weak smile for Dean's benefit.

He knew it wasn't fooling anyone. But still, he tried.

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

The Docks, Brockton Bay

The patrol was going fairly smoothly, all things considered. Joint Wards and Protectorate Patrols weren't really about stopping crime. They were about flying the flag. There was some crime, but it was all of the mundane variety, which meant that Miss Militia was more than capable of handling it.

The in house explanation for Miss Militia's new powers was that she Second Triggered. The fact that Second Triggers were supposed to be a secret that no one knew about told Chris one of two things. Either A, the PRT simply couldn't find a more believable answer than that, or B, they were covering an even more outrageous truth up.

His thoughts leaned towards the latter, not that he ever brought it up.

"It's weird seeing the Docks like this." Miss Militia noted from beneath him, where she was walking sedately along with Gallant while he continued to fiddle with his new equipment.

"It is a bit more active than normal." Gallant agreed easily, glancing up the street towards the disturbance that two of Miss Militia's new Projections had appeared to prevent two men from fleeing, seemingly without her input. It had been a day or two tops since she had been reintroduced, and PHO was already full of people who thought that this was her real power all along - since it matched so much better with her name than her previous one. The Militia were creepy in how omnipresent they were in the vicinity around Miss Militia. Chris had tried to get a feel for their effective range but as far as he could tell it didn't seem like it had one. If Miss Militia was aware of something, then so were her projections, and they acted accordingly. Rooftops filled with soldiers ready to lay down cover fire as they passed, allies were barricaded with phantom defensive emplacements as they drew to close to them, and crimes were stopped with a quick and machine like efficiency when phantom soldiers appeared behind criminals already choking them unconscious.

He'd be highly unnerved by it if he wasn't certain that Miss Militia would never abuse it.

"Not just that. The Docks are always like this - it's the civilians that are different. The number of police calls in this area was minuscule compared to the amount of crime happening here. No one wanted to cross Lung by going against him, so they just let things happen." Miss Militia pointed out.

"Without a major gang presence here, that won't work anymore. It's kind of like that all over right now. The gangs are desperate." She continued, eyes narrowing at the thought. Seemingly without thought, her hand fell to rest on the gun at her waist twitching slightly when it failed to come immediately free of its holster.

Gallant probably answer her with something appropriately concerned and sympathetic sounding, but Chris wasn't really paying that much attention to the commentary, distracted as he was by his Tinkering. Nexus' walk on air trick had inspired him a bit, so he had built something that could allow him to do the same. He wasn't really planning on using it extensively - he had a hoverboard for a reason - but the ability to quickly create a platform of hardened air he could land on in the event that he fell seemed like something prudent that he should have thought of ages ago.

He could have also just bought a parachute but well. He was a tinker.

He was so distracted by his fiddling with the programming code in his boots that he almost didn't notice the slight popping noise that accompanied his sudden displacement to... somewhere else.

"Kid Win to Gallant, I've been targeted by an unknown Mover power." He rattled off, even as he snapped to attention and started trying to get his bearings. He was inside a building - that much was obvious. Less obvious was why he was in the building. There didn't appear to be anything inside except a bunch of old lift equipment from the dockyards. Wherever he was, his Hoverboard hadn't come with him, as he was now standing in the middle of the warehouse without it. After waiting for a few seconds for a response that didn't come, he began to gingerly pick his way across the warehouse.

That caution was probably the only thing that saved his life, as a large dusty covered forklift went from being completely motionless to flying straight at him with a speed that caused it to temporarily drag across the ground, it's metal frame and complete lack of wheels causing it to screech loudly as it did so.

Now, many people might assume that he would report being attacked. And he did. Just not verbally. Because counter to what many might assume about the sort of posturing Parahuman's could get up to, most of the time, they didn't actually spend a lot of time talking mid fight. Some Brutes - like Lung - could, because they didn't really need to worry about running out of breath and getting caught - but Kid Win did. Which was why, while he was diving forward to get out of the way of the massive machine about to crush him, he slapped at his wrist, triggering a distress signal that should - hopefully - reach the PRT headquarters and allow them to locate him.

Quickly rising from his roll, Kid Win just barely had time to juke to the side and out of the way of a rubber tire as it careened past him. Which is when he got his first look at whoever was attacking him. He was wearing bulky grey kevlar with red armoured plates at choice locations across his body, and was practically festooned with pouches. Easily looming over Kid, he had the type of physique most would associate with a linebacker.

And Kid Win had no idea who he was. But judging by the sounds of gunfire and yelling coming from outside, he wasn't alone.

'High-level Brute if he can throw a machine that hard.' He thought, drawing his spark pistols and eyeing the man while setting them to a higher - more potentially lethal - setting. Carefully, hopefully without giving away his intentions, Kid Win tried to locate the door, determined to reconvene with Miss Militia and Gallant.

It probably didn't say anything good about Brockton Bay that this situation was somehow familiar enough to him to push all his other worries to the side.

Spotting the door out of the building behind the unknown Cape attacking him, Kid did the only thing he could - he started fighting.

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Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Aug 18, 2020

#15,687

Friday, January 28th, 2011

Somewhere in the Docks, Brockton Bay

One of the unfortunate side effects of having three mostly non-functional people as teammates, was that Lisa often found herself doing groceries. Rachel couldn't do them, because she was a known criminal - her name and identity were a matter of public record. Alec could do the groceries, but chose not to - because he was perfectly content to just eat pizza for every meal. Also, he knew that if he chose not to do them long enough, that Lisa would. Greg, might be able to manage the groceries, but for a combination of minor problems made that prospect untenable. For one, the blond boys body was visibly uncanny when looked at too closely. He could wear clothes that would mitigate that, but combined with the fact that he had a tendency to habitually trail after people with body parts he was interested in, and you ended up with someone distinctly unsettling to the general public.

Hence, why she was angrily trying to drag half her weight in pizza pockets and soda cans up the stairs of the Undersiders hideout.

"Alec! Greg! Why aren't either of you two idiots coming to help me right now?!" She yelled up the stairs in annoyance. It wasn't like she was weak, but this many bags were inherently unwieldy.

Also, being part of a supervillain team shouldn't include this much babysitting.

Television volume in loft increasing.

Alec pretending not to hear me.

Greg unlikely to be present - likely healing in room.

'Thank you power, very helpful.' She thought irately, while also carefully tamping down on her power so that she wouldn't be immediately bombarded by much more information than she really wanted the second she opened the door. She couldn't really turn her power off. She could limit it, but such was an effort of will that she typically couldn't maintain while doing anything particularly focus intensive.

When she finally made it to the top of the stairs, she didn't bother to put her bags down to, choosing instead to merely nudge the door open with her knee. The door, of course, was supposed to be locked, but Rachel never bothered to do so, and Alec never locked it behind her when she left. Once she had stepped inside, she marched across the small intervening distance to the couch - and promptly dumped all of her bags in Alec's lap, ignoring the squawk of protest he let out as she blocked his view of the television behind her.

"Aw come on! I was gonna win!" Alec complained petulantly, before immediately switching to pawing through the bags she had dropped on him in order to extract a drink for himself.

"I'm sure. Where's Greg?" She said, stepping away from the lanky teen to look around. Alec and Greg were... she wouldn't describe them as friends because that implied a level of attachment she wasn't sure Alec was actually capable of. But they got along better than any two other members of the team, if only because they shared an interest. That interest, of course, being video games.

The fact that neither of them was particularly good at said games, while simultaneously claiming to be the exact opposite was not lost on her.

"Eh, pussied out forty minutes ago. You know how it is." Alec said with a shrug, poking continuing to poke about in the bags on his lap and withdrawing a box of pizza pockets, wrinkling his nose at it in disgust.

"No bacon? Do you even know me?" He whined, throwing the box behind the couch.

"Pick that up. And put the rest of this away." Lisa told him absentmindedly, checking the time. She wasn't worried about Alec choosing to simply let the food rot. He was a brat, not an idiot. And even that was mostly an act he put up in the absence of any other response to things.

'Brian will be here soon...' She mused to herself, considering her options, and then walking over to Greg's room with a resigned sigh. She didn't hate the boy. She actually quite liked him in a very general sense. He was well meaning, kind hearted, and so obscenely open about everything he thought and felt that her power rarely felt the need to chime in on anything he was doing, provided she had it clamped down to the bare minimum.

The problem was, that when her power did decide to provide her with anything on Greg, it was usually highly depressing.

Like right now.

"Greg? Can I come in?" She asked, knocking on the door to his room and waiting.

"Yeah, I'm good. Not uh, naked or anything!" He yelled out weakly.

Only one lung.

Want's to ensure I don't think he's mast-

'Yeah, I got that. Thanks.' She forged onward, opening the door and stepping inside. The room was sparse. Basically completely lacking in any personalization or decorations - ostensibly because Greg insisted that the situation was temporary. He was under the dubious impression that once Coil was handled - a prospect that looked like it was getting further and further away with each day - that the Undersiders could just pick up and join Nexus' team instead of being criminals. The fact that most of them were villains by choice, and that - from what Lisa could tell anyway - Nexus positively despised people who lacked loyalty, didn't seem to register with him, even when she had taken a day out to explain it in full. For all Greg was acutely aware of how unforgiving and shitty people were, his belief in Taylor Hebert was as unwavering as it was mildly unsettling. The one time Lisa had personally encountered the girl her power had promptly told her that she was one bad day away from being a Slaughter House Nine candidate and that she should keep her mouth shut if she wanted to survive the night.

And that was saying quite a lot considering she was already well on her way to an early grave at the time.

Greg sat in the middle of the room, in a pair of jeans and nothing else, atop a pile of paper towels he had carefully placed in the center of the room to absorb all the blood currently leaking out of him. Every few seconds, a different part of him would shift, becoming wounded, while another part would revert to a pristine state, presumably miming Alec's current physical state of being given Greg's range. The boy himself seemed completely unbothered by this, deftly paging through a textbook on biology he had asked her to get for him, held in his lap at a distance that would prevent blood splatter.

Lisa had to resist the urge to scowl at the behaviour, instead merely reaching into her purse and throwing a bottle of painkillers at the blond idiot.

"You know, Nexus does Hospital runs now. Doesn't even check the patients, just does a whole floor at once. If we got you in at the right time-" She started.

"No- it's fine. I gotta do this." Greg answered resolutely, lifting his gaze from his book to smile boyishly at her. Greg wasn't really what she would consider attractive. As a point of fact, she didn't really find anyone attractive. She could objectively determine how attractive other people might find them, but she herself was largely ambivalent.

Thinks he loves me. Unhealthy dependence on my opinion. Knows I don't love him back.

She deliberately didn't flinch at that, not allowing her expression to change in response to the information that her power chose to throw at her basically every time she interacted with Greg.

"You really, really don't." She answered flatly, eyeing his constantly shifting form with a grimace. An unfortunate side effect of Greg's trigger event was that whenever he turned his powers 'off' he would revert to how he was when he got them - namely, dying. This meant that, for all intents and purposes, Greg couldn't really use his own body for much of anything. He was entirely reliant on his power for survival. At some point he had worked out how to only shift certain parts of him back to normal though, and had taken to doing so for hours at a time in order to allow them to heal. It had made him disturbingly good at tolerating pain, and made him entirely too blase about his own injuries for Lisa's tastes.

"'Course I do. It's the hero's journey. Besides, once I'm healed everyone will see my true power!" He declared lamely, standing up too fast and ending up subsequently coughing up lungfuls of blood as he did so.

Considers pain a form of atonement for past wrongs. Believes Nexus will forgive him if he can show he earned it.

Lisa could feel her fingernails digging into her palms just watching him. When she had first found him, he had definitely been a few days away from just killing himself. She had wanted to prevent that. She just didn't want his continued will to live to be pinned entirely on her and her self appointed mission to rid the world of her boss.

"Are you going to be okay?" She asked, although she already knew the answer.

"...ah... man that tastes terrible... yeah I'm good." He answered her easily, scratching idly at his chest as he straightened.

"Wanna help me put away the groceries?" She asked, positively despising herself for the suddenly interested and happy expression Greg shot her at the offer.

She wasn't using him. This wasn't using him. He already knew how she felt about him. She had told him from the first day that it wouldn't happen.

So why did she keep finding stupid reasons to be around Greg, when she knew it was probably for the best if they just didn't interact?

"Sure!" He said eagerly, flickering to a healthy state and then gingerly stepping over the pile of reddening paper towels towards his dresser.

An hour later found all the Undersiders seated in what passed for their living room, around a pile of nacho's Greg had made. Mostly because they were the only food he really knew how to cook that anyone else would eat.

"So, let me get this straight. The boss wants us to do the good old 'take over the news station' routine? Do people actually do that? Is that a real thing?" Alec asked incredulously.

"No. There's no point most of the time." Lisa conceded with a shrug. "But he's willing to pay us ten grand each and all we have to do is get in, be pests on the evening news for ten minutes, and get out. Should be easy." She posited, surreptitiously glancing at Brian who was looking at her with a worried expression on his face.

"Except Nexus can get anywhere in the city in less than a minute, and none of us have a way of stopping her if she shows up." Brian pointed out.

"We can take her." Rachel growled, arms crossed belligerently in front of her.

"We absolutely can not." Brian answered irately.

"I mean, if Jigsaw boy turns into whatever her imaginary friend is this week, maybe we can confuse her long enough to get away?" Alec offered thoughtfully.

Nexus considers Projection a real person. Entire worldview centred around Projection - likely to respond to tampering lethally.

"No, she'd probably kill him. If Nexus does show up, just don't screw with her Projection and you'll be fine." Lisa put forth, ignoring Greg's scandalized look at her blunt statement.

"I thought she was on the up and up - no killing." Brian asked quickly. As their leader, the presence of an unstoppable Brute who could cripple you from a thirty yards away without visible effort had been something of a sore point for Brian. He had kept her up for many nights trying to work out contingency plans for if the Bay's newest powerhouse showed up.

Most of those plan's consisted of running and praying.

"It's part of her trigger. That interview she gave a while ago makes me think she's a lot more stable than the last time we met, but all bets are off if you mess with her 'friend'." Lisa explained. To her annoyance, Greg seemed mollified by that, as though the use of the word 'friend' somehow made the behaviour sensible.

"Besides!" She added after a second, perking up cheerfully. "The Boss says he's got a distraction ready so we won't have to deal with her. At worst we get one or two Wards on sight. They're so busy recovering from the Empire that they won't be able to respond properly if we do this right."

"We'd still be outing a Ward on television Tats. We can't take that kind of heat." Brian countered.

"Technically, she's not a Ward anymore. And we won't be outing her - just explaining that Predator and Shadow Stalker are the same person, and that Shadow Stalker totally made Nexus trigger. Heck, we'd be doing her a favour. Right now the PRT is turning a blind eye to Stalker and her bullshit. If the city knows she's got bad blood with Nexus, things are going to get alot harder for her and that friend of hers." Lisa replied. She had already figured that the real reason for this little charade was to put Predator and her partner on a collision course with Nexus, handily dealing with the both of them. She couldn't even fault his logic this time. No one had ever actually seen Junior Hatchetface, but her existence was a matter of public record at this point with the way she had taken out Kaiser and the twins. That kind of power negation was a nightmare for Thinker's like her. She was either a completely baseline human or - ostensibly worse in many cases - so overwhelmed by her power that she was basically stuck in one prolonged seizure. She shuddered to think of the kind of damage she might have suffered if Greg didn't conveniently call Nexus that night.

"So?" She prompted when no one immediately answered her.

"Eh, I'm in. Ten grand for ten minutes of work is a steal." Alec said easily.

"I'll go." Rachel said simply.

"I mean... if Shadow Stalker really is Sophia..." Greg muttered, his eyes going hard before he nodded once at her.

"Well? Looks like the I's have it." She said cheekily, turning a smile she didn't feel towards Brian.

"...Fine. What's the plan?" The larger boy said, not managing to hide his frustration, causing her normal smile to stretch into it's much less pleasant vulpine configuration.

'One step closer to freedom.' She thought as she began to lay out her plan.

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Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Aug 19, 2020

#15,940

Current Energy: 18

Current Training: Aura (5/10)

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

Uptown, Brockton Bay

You squint at the man with the sword, trying to determine what he'll do next. The greyscale effect permeating your surroundings makes it hard for you to pick our details, and you can just about feel the physical force of your Master's annoyance as she attempts to do the same.

[Is this common?]

"More than I'd like, less than you'd think." You grumble under your breath, trusting for the half spoken words to translate to your passenger accurately.

"Hey, honest question, how durable are you right now?" Your Master calls out to the man with the sword, tapping her foot in agitation.

"Your tricks wont work on me Musashi! Draw!" The man responded, taking a step forward and bringing his sword down with perfect precision. There was the brief sound of buzzing followed by a thin slice of concrete to your Masters left being split apart.

Your Master, not known for her tolerance when faced with immediate violence, merely narrows her eyes at the man, then flares her spiritual pressure, driving him first to his knees, and then entirely to the ground, his arms shaking as they struggled to keep his face from hitting the pavement.

"See, it's just, you guys caught me at a bad time so I sort of wanted to kick you around for a bit. But I can't do that if I don't know how hard to hit you so..." Your Master explains with a careless shrug.

'Master, do you... know this man?' You ask curiously, keeping your weapon ready and an eye out for any trouble.

'No but I can guess. Uber and Leet are joke villains mostly. They've been around the Bay for a while now. They have a thing for low budget theatrics like this.' She informs you quickly.

"Gah. L-lame. D-do over." The man on the ground burbles through obviously struggling breaths, all traces if his fake accent gone. Your Master quirks an eyebrow at him - obviously not really considering him a threat - but then the plucking of the string instrument in the background stops and the world around... fizzes... slightly. At first you assume nothing has happened, but are quickly disabused of that notion when you notice the man who was previously on the ground standing back where he previously was as though nothing had happened.

[An illusion?] Ozma offers carefully.

"Cool right? Took some doing but we just knew we had to get this perfect if we were gonna do a stream with you in it." The man crows from his position, readjusting his grip on his sword.

"So... just curious, is there a reason I can't just-" Your Master asks, flaring her power again. Again, she is met by that same fizzling sensation, returning her efforts to nothing.

"We'll just keep doing that. Come on! You literally have a katana as part of your power! Do you know how cool that is!? Just play along and we can be done faster!" The man says eagerly. Your Master growls.

"I'm... confused." You say after a moment of watching the exchange.

"Uber and Leet stream their escapades. Mostly for money." Your Master says, still scowling. Then she turns to glance to her side and notices - at the same time as you - that the gouge in the concrete from earlier is now gone.

A sense of dawning dread appears in your Master as she whips around to stare at the enemy swordsman.

"Did you idiots Grey Boy me?!" She yells incredulously.

[I'm unfamiliar with that turn of phrase. Is it a type of punishment?] Ozma asks, obviously out of his depth.

"I actually don't know either." You mutter.

"Nah, this is just the one stable time loop. None of the extra stuff. Now." The man says confidently.

"Draw your blade." He repeats, returning to his fake accent. You notice as he does so, that while he was speaking normally the time delayed effect on his voice wasn't it place. Mostly because it returns the moment his accent changes.

You find yourself momentarily confused when your Master does just that, withdrawing her sword and leaping forward to swipe at the man - you don't know if he's Uber or Leet really - landing a solid hit that cleaves his sword roughly in two, and then lifting a foot to kick him in the chest so hard you're fairly certain your Master would need to heal the man shortly to avoid his imminent death.

And then the world flickers and everything returns to how it was at the start of the fight.

Your Master, now in a mix of blind fury and panic, rushes forward to repeat her assault, and is this time countered as the man with the blade slides to her right, parrying her attack as though he had predicted it. The two exchange blows for a second, with the weaker man managing to survive the fight for a few seconds longer than previously, before your Master skewers him through a leg.

And then the world resets again.

Panic begins to set in as you realize that you are useless. Fighting isn't helping here. You're not sure what will. You watch in horrified fascination as your Master is reset a half dozen times in the span of a minute, with each reset taking longer to happen as your enemy becomes accustomed to staving off your Master.

Should... should you help? Would it matter? You don't-

[Oscar. She indicated that there are two of them correct? Is this effect one of their semblances?] Ozma cuts in, interrupting your near panic attack.

"I... I don't know!" You blurt out, taking a hesitant step forward just in time to be replaced at your starting position by another reset.

[Taylor acted as though these two are fairly well known, but was surprised when they did this. So it's unlikely the man before you is maintaining the effect. Where is the other one?] Ozma instructs you sternly, as though explaining basic math to a child.

He makes a good point, you realize. This is supposed to be a duo - just like you and Taylor. So where is the other person?

'Master, I have an idea!' You quickly inform Taylor before turning to sprint into one of the nearby buildings, unnoticed by either combatant.

"Okay... if I was trying to hide from a Brute, where would I go?" You mumble to yourself, quickly scanning the squat office building for anything that might catch your interest.

[Somewhere close enough to watch what's happening, but far enough away to avoid being collateral damage.] Ozma suggests, to which you nod and run to the roof of the building you are currently in, looking around. The surroundings are mostly barren. You aren't sure if Uber and Leet deliberately made sure there would be no other people around or if they're all just hiding inside while the fight plays out. The nearby buildings are of an older make, most not more than two or three stories high. But there is an exception. A skyscraper that towers over the rest of the nearby buildings. It almost seems too obvious a choice.

That is, until you notice something near the top of the building. A flicker of colour. Not something so out of place under normal circumstances, but when the entire world has become colourless...

You don't waste time thinking about it. You move, straining with every ounce of enhanced strength you can manage to leap across the street and through a fourth-floor window of the building, landing with a roll amid the shattered glass of the window. A small part of your mind registers the non-descript office you appear to have landed in, but you move forward ignoring it, running for the nearest hallway and looking around until you find a stairwell. The door is locked, but you shoulder it out of the way, feeling the cheap steel bolt sheer in half under your weight.

Then you look up. Multiple floors separate you from where you need to be. Hundreds, possibly thousands of stairs.

And also, dozens of cludged together looking turrets.

"...I think I hate Tinkers." You say aloud, then, are forced to leap aside to avoid a hail of bullets as they plow into your previous position, chewing through the marble landing like paper.

[They look like they have a limited range of motion. They can't all fire at once if you-] Ozma offers easily.

"I know!" You yell, once more taking a prodigious leap upward, rising two floors and feeling a handful of bullets painfully ping off your aura, the force behind them nearly pushing you against a wall before roll to one side and use a turret that can't seem to fully turn around to fire at you as cover.

Pausing for breath you stop to try and calm yourself, closing your eyes. Your Master was deathly afraid of whatever a Grey Boy is. So much so that you think she might be actually trying to kill the man in the street. You need to move. This is what you're for.

Eyes snapping open, you rise, kicking the turret infront of you around to face another of its kind on a far wall and forcefully holding it in place as it fires, destroying the other weapon and sustaining heavy damage to its own mechanisms in exchange.

You keep moving, never stopping for fear of more than a few cursory bullets landing on your body. Long Memory spears the mechanism on one turret that allows it to rotate. You dodge another two as you continue to ascend. A fourth begins to glow as though preparing a different kind of payload, and you land on it feet first, kicking it off its mount and using it to ascend yet higher.

By the time you reach the top of the stairwell, you are breathing heavily, low on aura, and profoundly certain of your new stance on Tinkers.

But still, you've made it. With little hesitation, you step forward, once more forcing the roof access door open, and find yourself staring at a scrawny man in poorly fitting Japanese robes, staring at a laptop screen that is precariously located in his lap. Your eyes meet for a second, and then his widen as he quickly scrambles to do something with the machine.

You don't let him, rushing forward to slap it out of his reach and pointing Long Memory at him.

"...Damn. Busted." The man says, much less worried than someone at the end of your weapon should be.

'Master, I have found the source of the 'Grey Boy'. We're on the roof of the skyscraper.' You send to your Master, immediately experiencing a flood of relief and pride flowing from her.

A couple of seconds later, you hear the sound of screaming, followed by your Master's arrival on the roof of the building, with a lightly wounded man firmly gripped around the middle like an unruly child.

"You morons can build this but you still choose to be fucking villains?" She asks incredulously as she steps forward, dropping the larger man next to his compatriot and pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"I dunno how to tell you this kid, but when a hero and a villain fight, the villain almost never dies. We don't fight other bad guys cus they'll freaking kill us. You Justice League knock-offs are a lot more tame." The lanky villain points out.

"Yeah but you're going to go to jail now." Taylor points out, glancing over her shoulder as whatever was stealing the colour from the world begins to fail without someone to maintain it.

"Eh. It won't stick." The more muscular man says with a shrug.

[How... unrepentant.] Ozma muses as Victoria flies down to you in a panic, quickly checking Taylor over for injury.

"Yeah, that's..." You want to say 'how it is', but well... it's not. It's actually your fault. Your species at least. And for the first time, you feel... really bad about that.

Of course, it is only as all the colour finishes seeping back into reality around you, that a long string of beeps begins to emit from your Master and Victoria at once, causing both girls to blink and withdraw their phones, neither one particularly concerned with Uber or Leet, one of whom begins to slowly edge towards his laptop.

You swat him on the side of the head for his troubles, then turn to your Master in inquiry.

"We're getting hit all over the city. Some new group attacked a Wards patrol, the Undersiders took over the evening news... and the Director wants to talk to me. Great." Taylor says in annoyance. Her eyes flick to Uber and Leet and back to her phone again, before she sighs and taps something out on the device with an almost comical slowness.

"Should get Parian to stay at the base for a while. Maybe her family too." Your Master mutters under her breath.

What was it the Director called it? The Boston Games? Looks like things have started to pick up again. Time to pick a strategy.

[ ] Bunker Down. You can get everyone you actually care about safely situated in the Heap, then make the surrounding area unassailable.

[ ] Connect with the PRT. The Wards could probably use some support - Healing Spell Cards, extra bodies, the works.

[ ] Stick with New Wave. They've done this before, and you currently like them a lot more than you like the PRT.

[ ] Write-In

And Fleur? You're Master said she'd bring her back, but evidently, there are some complications.

[ ] Put Fleur on Hold. Something is clearly off with her ghost.

[ ] Follow through. Taylor made Vicky a promise.

[ ] Delay a week. Dauntless is still out in the Bay, which you're sure the Director is partially going to ask you about. You can bring Fleur back next week.

A/N: Since most of this quest is a writing exercise for me, I enjoy the different characters, but trying to make use of Oscar when he's objectively weaker than Taylor is definitely going to be interesting. I'm still not sure I'm getting the characterization right, but Oscar always struck me as sort of an Izuku type. Super soft most of the time, but gets down to things with a vengeance when it's down to the wire.

This update a bit later than usual as I try to adjust to my new sleep cycle. I'll still be doing an update later tonight (hopefully).

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Bowler Hat Guy

Aug 19, 2020

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Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Aug 20, 2020

#16,077

Spoiler: Choices:

Current Energy: 18

Current Training: Aura (5/10)

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

Uptown, Brockton Bay

Your Master sidesteps the problem of transporting Uber and Leet to a prison cell from atop a skyscraper by the simple expedient of opening a Gap leading from where you currently are, to an empty prison cell adjacent to the one you once spoke to Miss Militia in.

But not before reaching down to pinch each of them on the neck while absent-mindedly pawing at her cellphone, causing the two villains to immediately stiffen and go slack. The fact that your Master is arguably having more trouble with a cellphone than typically has fighting supervillains is not lost on Vicky, who snorts at her while she attempts to successfully produce a workable message.

"Seriously Taylor, get a real phone. It'll make things easier." Vicky chides your Master, eyeing the Gap she has created for a second before shrugging and hurling Uber and Leet bodily through it like two bags of loose garbage. The Gap closes automatically behind them.

"This is a real phone." Your Master scowls.

"Tay, it's a brick. I've seen guys use phones like that as saps by putting them in socks and swinging them at me. It didn't work, but I mean - seriously." Vicky points out in amusement. Your Master purses her lips at the comment but continues on doggedly.

"I don't really like cellphones." She admits after a bit, shrugging uncomfortably.

"Oh. Yeah, I kind of forgot about the thing with... Anyway!" Vicky notes, tilting her head in thought as she connects what your Master is saying to what she knows of her background. Then abruptly changes the subject.

"So uh, how's my Aunt?" She asks quickly, glancing nervously over the side of the building. Taylor pauses in her typing for a moment to look up at the blond seriously.

"She's... I have to do some research. She's kind of..." Taylor trails off after a second, obviously trying to find a way to describe her insights on the subject.

"Is she like... hurt or something? So you can't bring her back?" Vicky asks in a resigned tone, like she was half expecting this turn of events.

"I was going to say 'Poltergeisty'. I'm pretty sure if you put someone she hated in front of her long enough she could find a way to actually hurt them. I'm not sure how that would translate to suddenly being alive again. I don't think you want your Aunt to come back and immediately start trying to murder the remains of the Empire." Taylor explains diplomatically.

Vicky blinks once, then mouths the word 'Poltergeisty' with a concerned look on her face.

"But you still can bring her back right?" Vicky pushes.

"Yeah, I just need to make sure I don't accidentally turn her into a Y- a Ph-..." Your Master pauses, noticing Vicky's curious look, then quickly looks from side to side to ensure no one is present (somehow) on the rooftop with you.

"This is a secret okay?" Your Master says, her tension ratcheting up noticeably. You can tell why. Vicky might be the closest thing your Master has to a 'best friend' besides you, but in general, they usually avoid talking about anything too heavy. Until now, Taylor has been far too conscious of the damage her last 'best friend' was capable of with all of her secrets to hand. Vicky, seeming to pick up on how important this moment is to your Master, lands on the roof and nods firmly at her.

"Hey, we're besties right? Just uh, bring me back if my mom kills me later for not telling her this." She says jokingly.

"...When I bring people back, if I make a mistake, there's a chance they could come back wrong." Taylor says, her shoulders inching upwards.

"...How wrong?" Vicky asks slowly.

"...Fear eating cannibal demon wrong." Taylor says with a wince.

"And... that's... likely?" Vicky asks, obviously trying to force down a certain degree of panic.

"No! It's just... possible. Like, how every time you get into a car there's a chance you could crash." Your Master says, wincing at the example given.

"You realize that statistically, everyone gets into at least one accident in their lifetime right?" Vicky points out, once more reminding you that she is not, in fact, a moron.

"I- If you don't want me to do it anymore, I understand," Taylor says with some shame and sadness in her voice.

"What? No, that's stupid. People take pills with worse side effects just so they can shit properly. I'm just saying, it's probably going to happen eventually." Vicky snarks, causing your Master to stare at her incredulously. Then she grins.

"You suck, you know that?" Taylor says earnestly.

"I mean if you ask Dean-" Vicky smirks.

"Nope! We're done! Moments over!" Taylor yelps, practically leaping across the rooftop to get away from her friend.

"Aw come on! It was just a joke!" Vicky yells after her, flying across the rooftop to chase her around while she continues to evade.

[...forgive me Oscar, but, if this is an alternate reality, there should be analogues of most people from my own world here, correct?] Ozma asks you while you watch the impromptu game of superpowered tag play out.

"That's alternate realities. This is a separate distinct reality." You say absently.

[What exactly is the difference?] Ozma asks doggedly.

"An alternate reality is a function of time and free will. Um. If you reach a fork in the road and turn left, you create an alternate reality where you turned right instead. They're all variations of each other, spiralling out into infinity." You explain carefully, drastically simplifying your knowledge of the subject down to a level a normal person could understand.

"A distinct reality is completely different. It has no relation to any other. The choices you make, the events that occur - they don't matter to one another. Normally, anyway." You finish.

[...You aren't really Oscar, are you?] The voice notes pointedly.

"I told you, I'm a power, not a person. I'm just faking it." You say with a certain degree of melancholy.

[If that was the case, you would be better at pretending to be Oscar. To be different you would have to be distinct in the first place.] Ozma points out. You don't disagree, but you aren't really comfortable discussing the topic. Especially not with the voice in your head. It cuts just a bit too close to other things that have started bothering you recently.

So you change the topic.

"They're kind of like Yang and Blake right?" You note, shifting so that you are standing with both hands resting on Long Memory in front of you.

[In some respects, yes.] Ozma acknowledges, allowing the topic to drop.

You hope it stays that way.

But you doubt it.

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

PRT Headquarters, Brockton Bay

"I think the Director would appreciate it if you would call ahead before dumping people in our prison Nexus." Miss Militia warns your Master as she steps through a Gap and into the lobby of the PRT building downtown. Vicky had taken a Gap to her own home in lieu of joining you, obviously deciding she needed to check on her family despite knowing via a message that they were all perfectly safe.

"I sent a text!" Taylor answers defensively.

"You sent that after you dropped Uber and Leet in our basement." Miss Militia points out. On the one hand, her criticism is valid, and in truth, you suspect your Master would be in a lot more trouble if she was anyone else but herself. On the other, the woman before you is obviously smiling through the bandana covering her face, her eyes squinted in good humour as she speaks.

"I... okay yeah. Sorry. I'm just really bad with phones." Taylor answers sheepishly.

"You aren't in trouble, so don't worry about it. Just keep it in mind for the future." Miss Militia offers as she leads you further into the building. As she walks, she glances askance at you curiously.

"New projection?" She asks curiously and without malice.

"Yeah, he's pretty great. We're already working on some new tricks." Taylor says with a malicious smile on her face.

"Trainwreck wanted to sleep with me." You say dutifully repeating the words your Master had told you to say, your voice and face absolutely neutral.

"...Should I be worried?" Miss Militia asks, half seriously.

"N-no, I was a lot more..." You stutter out, composure breaking as your Master begins to cackle in the background, then begin to blush and mime an hourglass figure in the air in front of you with your hands. "...that, at the time." You finish lamely.

"...I see." Miss Militia says doubtfully, no doubt recalling her one and only encounter with the metal man. The one where he chose to comment on her figure before even greeting her.

Before you can jump in to defend your teammate, you arrive at your destination.

Another completely non-descript looking conference room. You can't help but wonder how many of these things the PRT has. You know for a fact this one is in a different location than the last time you were here. Do the PRT just do a lot of conferencing?

The room itself is taken up by almost the entire local Protectorate and Wards teams. The only person who's obviously missing is Triumph, which you file away for later consideration. Also to your surprise, the Director isn't present, a fact your Master also picks up on.

"Where's the Director?" She asks curiously, not bothering to hide her distaste for the woman.

"The Director is the head of the PRT. I am head of the Protectorate. She doesn't sit in on every meeting." Armsmaster states coldly from where he is standing at the head of the table. You say 'coldly' but really, he just showed slightly more annoyance than your average toaster might be capable of, which is a marked improvement on his usual semi-robotic interactions with you. You've seen enough of him to know he's capable of not being such an ass, but for reasons beyond you, he obviously prefers not to.

"Huh. I'm okay with that. Hey guys." Taylor says easily, waving at the Wards and walking over to drop into a seat next to Vista, who's eyes go wide at your Master's sudden presence.

"...Hi?" She says carefully, as if gauging the reaction of a large animal that has unexpectedly exited the brush nearby. Your Master gives the younger girl a curious look, but is quickly distracted as Armsmaster begins to speak.

"Today there were three simultaneous villain attacks in the city. One of which targeted a Ward's patrol." Armsmaster says. He doesn't move but all the lights dim and a fancy hologram projector begins to display images in the center of the table.

"Your tax dollars at work." You don't find it weird until Clockblocker leans in to whisper something in Gallant's ear, causing him to stifle a chuckle that Armsmaster promptly ignores.

"It should be obvious that these attacks were coordinated, possibly with the intent of making it impossible for us to respond to all of them at once. At this time we are being told that none of these groups are directly allied with each other, but even this level of cooperation is worrying. As a result, Ward's patrols will be reduced, and will be accompanied by an adult Protectorate member at all times, and we will be going over fall back positions that you can escape too in the event that you are ambushed outside the building. Questions before we move on?" Armsmaster states with all the inflection of an information kiosk.

No, wait. That's a lie. Information kiosks are designed to be welcoming. This is worse than that.

"What do you need from my guys?" Your Master puts forth gamely.

"We've recently noticed that a handful of our officers can no longer locate or recall the location of your Headquarters. If you could explain and focus this effect, we'd like to use it as a fallback position." Armsmaster states easily.

"It's... already focused? You can't find it if you have malicious intent towards anyone in it." Taylor explains quizzically. Armsmaster stills for a second, then looks to his right to Miss Militia, who quickly nods and leaves the room. Then he continues.

"Noted. Do you have any objection to allowing the Wards access to the building in an emergency?" He asks.

"Not really. Actually, if we're talking about emergencies..." Your Master mutters, reaching into a pocket and withdrawing two dozen pieces of card stock - most of what remains of her frenzied morning calligraphy sessions these past few days.

"Here. I put my healing power into them, so you can just rip it and you should be healed." She says, carelessly dropping the pile on the table in front of her. Everyone in the room pauses to stare at your Master, then down at the cards covered in Japanese script, then back at your Master again.

"She's the most trumpiest trump to ever trump, I swear," Clockblocker says, breaking the silence.

"Sorry, just - don't you kind of hate us right now?" Vista asks hesitantly, darting a glance towards Armsmaster to see if he would interrupt. He doesn't, obviously being too busy intently studying a card he has raised in front of his visor to care at the moment.

"Why would I?" Your Master asks in confusion.

"B-because we were mean to you! At the restaurant! And Shadow Stalker was a mega-bitch to you!" Vista yells, stopping to glance around when she notices she just swore.

"Well, in order, meh, language, and yeah - but you said you thought she was a bitch anyway so why would I blame you for that?" Taylor asks quizzically. You find her blase response to the situation amusing, considering that as little as four weeks ago she probably would have taken that particular grudge to the grave.

"Yeah, but we tolerated her!" Vista complains in confusion. You can't tell if she's looking for clarification or just wants your Master to get mad at her at this point.

"I'd like to have it on record that I, at no point, tolerated her." Clockblocker offers easily.

"You were the worst! You were always talking about her- her- you know!" Vista cries out, pointing indignantly at him.

"...In my defence." The redhead says, making a shape in the air with his hands.

"Clock!" Kid Win snaps angrily, finally deciding to join the conversation while Gallant stoically weathers the yelling.

"I'll allow it," Taylor says with an annoyed shrug, catching the junior Tinker off guard.

"...Seriously?" He asks her incredulously.

"No. Don't ever say anything nice about Shadow Stalker ever again or I'll throw you into the sun." Taylor answers flatly. The Wards stare at her for a second, obviously trying to decide if she's joking or not. She is, but only just barely. The distinct sense of simmering rage your Master typically feels when she thinks about Sophia Hess, Maddison Clements, or Emma Barnes is still present beneath everything else, but it's contained, focused. It doesn't guide your Master. It simply is.

"Seriously, what am I supposed to do? Getting mad isn't going to help." Taylor answers tiredly, her previously relaxed demeanour fading as she slumps in her seat. You wonder how much of her recent unflappableness is a result of your previous Emulation.

"So... we're square then?" Aegis says diplomatically, coming forward as the team leader.

"Sure. Square. Do people still say that? I was never cool so I don't actually know." Taylor answers, her lips twitching upward into a faint grin as Aegis flounders to respond.

Then Armsmaster clears his throat, drawing everyone's attention back to the head of the table, where the majority of the Protectorate has been watching the goings on of the Wards with some mild amusement. Your Master blushes slightly at the attention, but turns her focus to Armsmaster, pushing down her embarrassment.

"Now, so far we haven't noticed any obvious signs of a new gang forming, but a number of known Villain's from the surrounding cities have suddenly gone missing. Blasto, the Teeth, and Accord have all been noticeably absent from Boston so-" Armsmaster begins to drone on, rattling off names and strings of data that hold absolutely no meaning to you as you currently are. You listen anyway, if only so the information will be available to you later. You can feel Ozma greedily absorbing it all, regardless of his lack of context, the ancient wizard clearly ready to make use of the information as soon as it becomes necessary.

When the meeting is done, and everyone is filtering out of the conference room, Armsmaster stops your Master with a gesture, and the pair wait for everyone else to filter out before he speaks.

"If possible, the Director would like to engage your services to help us locate Dauntless. We've already prepared a room for the purpose." He says diplomatically. You assume that's code for 'bring our dead friend back'. Taylor considers that for a moment, obviously recalling Fleur and her promise to Vicky, then nods and rattles off a list of items she'll need that you can no longer make heads or tails of.

"There's... one more thing." Armsmaster says, almost guiltily before he leads your Master out of the room, she stops mid step to look at him, one eyebrow raised in question.

"Dragon wants to observe the process." He states woodenly.

"Dragon, like... the greatest Tinker in the world Dragon?" Taylor asks hesitantly.

"Yes." Armsmaster answers simply.

Your Master goes temporarily cross eyed for a moment, then makes a high pitched noise that is half way between panic and excitement.

"...I will assume that means you find the request agreeable." Armsmaster responds.

[Again I find myself reminded of another man I know.] Ozma chimes in sadly.

"Ironwood?" You ask quietly under your breath.

[Yes. I don't suppose 'Dragon' is an Artificial Intelligence that has decided to claim him as her father?] He asks jokingly.

You snort. You really, really doubt that.

Choose the BASE for your first Shikigami. Any Object or Non-Human creature will suffice. This will determine what the returned Parahuman is capable of, as they will have lost their Shard connection, and therefore, their powers. Different Parahumans have different affinities and preferences, so choose wisely.

[ ] Write-In

Taylor has enough control to consciously choose one of these now. Maybe Dauntless would prefer to retire?

[ ] Low Powered Shikigami. (Dauntless is effectively Human baseline.)

[ ] Medium Powered Shikigami. (Dauntless returns as a proper Shikigami, with an appropriate array of powers closely resembling his old ones.)

[ ] High Powered Shikigami. (???)

NOTE* The Shikigami creation process is not easy, cheap, or short. Taylor cannot rapidly repeat it. This option will only be available ONCE A WEEK.

Tomorrow is the last day before your Master has to return to school. Best use it wisely, things look like they're about to get busy. Taylor will automatically apply one action towards continuing her training, but due to the situation, opts to prepare with the rest of the day. CHOOSE ONE (1)

[ ] Go on Patrol. (Choose up to 2 people to accompany you.) (Victoria, Trainwreck, Aspirant)

[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.

[ ] Continue Training Your Team (And also, Danny)

[ ] Look for any signs of the Threats Armsmaster mentioned (Choose one) (Blasto, Accord, The Teeth)

It's important to look after your friends. This might be the last chance you get to do so. Check-in with;

[ ] Victoria *

[ ] Amy *

[ ] Aspirant *

[ ] Trainwreck

[ ] Parian*

[ ] Danny *

[ ] The Wards

[ ] Write-In

A/N: I'm going to start trying something new with the training here. It's obvious it's going to get done basically every time it's available, so when Taylor can continue training she'll just do that without input, but you'll only get the option to pull a double training day when theres nothing else of particular importance going on. So Taylor can spend some of her downtime with her 'hobby' but won't be doing pushups while the city explodes around her. Hopefully this will allow the minmaxers to breathe easy because the training is still happening, and everyone else can vote for non pushup related things. We'll see how it works. Also, don't worry, you'll still get to choose when and what to start training. Just consider the reduced training options to be 'event' mode while the previous options were more 'downtime' mode. Also, to avoid excessive bloat, I usually won't include the character sheet in a post unless you have an option to vote for something you might need to look at it for.

Anyway here you go. Have fun with it. Usual disclaimers apply. Sleep deprivation, grammar, spelling, yadda yadda.

Enjoy your Gacha game inside a Gacha quest you degenerates.

Last edited: Aug 20, 2020

768

Bowler Hat Guy

Aug 20, 2020

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Threadmarks Enroachment 8.3

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Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Aug 23, 2020

#16,301

Spoiler: Choices:

Spoiler: Base Status

Current Energy: 17

Current Training: Aura (7/10)

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

PRT Headquarters, Brockton Bay

Your Master quickly follows Armsmaster through the PRT building to what - if you had to guess - is the gutted remains of a cubicle farm. The large empty space lacks windows, and has clear marks in the carpet where dividers, desks, and other such office fixtures have clearly been removed to make room for the ritual your Master is being asked to perform. The size of the room is such that you would honestly expect it to be excessive to your Master's immediate needs, save for one tiny fact.

There are cameras everywhere. On walls, bolted to the floor through the carpet, hanging from metal struts sticking out of the ceiling, all with a host of cables and wires running along every available surface leading back to a bank of computers near the door.

"I... thought this was supposed to be secret?" Your Master asks hesitantly, eyes temporarily crossing as she gets a good look at the odd little room.

"It is. What you see here is a suite of electronics I've come up with along with Dragon in order to expedite the Master/Stranger Screening your process necessitates." Armsmaster answers her neutrally.

"Didn't you already clear the first one? Why...?" You ask in confusion.

"We can't assume that a single successful instance is indicative of a trend. It's not protocol if we can decide not to do it. Dragon?" Armsmaster answers you immediately, not bothering to turn to look at you as he speaks and immediately changing tracks the second he enters the room, moving over to the computers near the door and beginning to boot them up.

"I'm here. Hello Nexus, M.E." A feminine voice echoes throughout the room, primarily emanating from the ceiling. Your Master looks around panicked for a few seconds before turning her gaze upward in mild confusion. You find the fact that she is only the second person to correctly state your designation interesting - although you suppose if she deals with Armsmaster regularly she might have gotten from him. Even if you don't know how exactly he figured it out.

"So, you're just watching through the cameras? You're not actually here?" She asks after a moment, and you can sense mild disappointment flowing off of her.

"I am. I hope that won't be a problem." The woman - Dragon - offers apologetically.

"Dragon has a number of issues that force her to remain stationary." Armsmaster adds for her, in a surprising display of diplomacy from the man.

"If you're hurt I could-" Your Master begins.

"I'm afraid my issues are more psychological than physical. Thank you for your offer though." Dragon offers wistfully.

"Oh. I'll just start setting up then." Taylor answers with a wince, obviously not sure how to continue with the conversation on the current topic. When no one says anything to countermand her statement she hurries off to the clear center of the room, where a rudimentary setup has already been made for her that she quickly begins to adjust, moving metal stands about and using a notepad that had been provided for her along the way to begin adding talismans to them.

[What, specifically, is your Master's semblance exactly?] Ozma asks you curiously. You for some reason find the fact that he has to specify your Master annoying, but keep that to yourself.

"Me." You answer simply, keeping your answer as quiet and muttered as possible so as to avoid being overheard.

[I am aware. However, she seems to have a variety of abilities that bear no relation to you.] Ozma points out.

"They're from previous versions of... uh, me." You explain.

[Interesting. And what are we currently witnessing?] He continues.

"The PRT are paying her to bring one of their dead Heroes back." You explain. Ozma doesn't immediately respond to that statement, and you get the distinct impression that you might have actually caught him off guard for once.

[And she can do this with anyone?] He asks with sudden intensity.

"Just Parahumans for now." You answer, wincing. Of course, you know where his mind is going with this. You might not be Oscar in truth, but you are him in all the ways that matter. That means that you are more than aware of all the losses Ozma has suffered over the millennia, all the good people he has lost to a war that cannot be won but must not be lost. A power like that of your Master's could easily turn the tides of battle in his favour, should she ever find a way to get there.

[Those portals she can make. Can they-] Ozma asks quickly, almost as if to answer your thoughts.

"No." You answer immediately. You might be the Multiversal Emulator, but you are still restrained by most conventional Shard rules. Your Master's acquired powers might work while away from you, but you yourself wouldn't be able to follow her past the Earth's moon with any real reliability, let alone to another plane of existence. You absolutely will not be separated from Taylor in that manner.

Seeming to understand your wish for him to drop it, Ozma chooses not to ask you any more questions after that, though you can tell he wants to push the point. Eventually, your Master completes her preparations and flexes her will, causing an almost intangible barrier to separate the inside of her circle from that without.

"Before you begin Nexus, can I ask some questions?" Dragon asks, breaking off her conversation with Armsmaster.

"Sure." Taylor answers, slightly distracted by her focus on her power.

"Do you create new bodies for them or do you somehow change time such that they were never dead?" Dragon asks, the slight intensity behind the question masked just barely by curiosity.

"I... guess I create a new body? It's not like I'm cloning them or anything though. It's hard to explain." Taylor answers helplessly before shrugging and continuing.

"I sort of grab their soul and force it into physical being using my power as a medium. I don't really build a body, the soul just knows what it wants to look like." She explains.

"And does the person have to be dead for you to do this?" Dragon continues, causing Armsmaster to pause and look up as though in thought.

"...No." Taylor answers carefully, her tone and body language carefully neutral. Silence reigns in the room for a second as it's occupants take that fact in. Then your Master, clearly uncomfortable, says; "Can I start now?"

"...Yes. Please begin." Armsmaster answers her turning back to his computer screen. Dragon neglects to say anything.

Much like your Master's last time performing this ritual, she places her object focus - a toy version of Dauntless' Arclance that appears to have seen some significant use - in the center of the circle, and then carefully surrounds in with a number of floating talismans that begin to rotate around the object madly, glowing with an otherworldly power that spreads from the talisman to the surroundings, becoming blocked by the barrier your Master set up. The center of the circle begins to grow increasingly bright, and then, with a flash that leaves spots dancing in your eyes, the power all vanishes, leaving your Master panting and tired in the center of the room, while standing next to a well-muscled and very naked man who is blinking at his surroundings in confusion.

Naturally, your Master responds to this by taking a dozen bounding steps away from him and towards you, carefully keeping her face turned away.

"Hey, so... I'm pretty sure I was dead?" Dauntless asks, then blinks as he realizes his state of dress, moving his hands to cover himself.

"Dragon?" Armsmaster asks tensely.

"Everything I'm reading is accurate to Dauntless." The woman answers.

"Hm." Armsmaster grunts, only then standing and walking over to Dauntless with a set of generic PRT sweats in hand.

"Your payment will be deposited in the same account as last time. You can stay and talk to the Wards or leave. Your choice." Armsmaster puts forth. You suspect his offer to stay was purely for diplomatic reasons though. Which is fine. You think that might just be the most polite way he could think of to ask you to go away now.

Taylor looks like she's willing to accept that for a second, before tilting her head in thought and speaking.

"Before I go, should... I mean I've still got Night running around in my pocket dimension. Do you have somewhere I could leave her or...?" She asks hesitantly. Armsmaster pauses in his examination of Dauntless - who is still clearly confused and mildly distressed - to think for a second, before answering.

"We'll need to prepare a cell for her. Her power makes her hard to contain otherwise. We'll call you." He answers before returning to what he was doing as though your Master hadn't spoken.

Your Master seems to feel the same way, taking the time out to roll her eyes exaggeratedly at you before slinging an arm over your shoulder to help support her weight. Again, you don't think she's that tired, but you choose not to comment, merely doing your best to support her weight as she flicks her wrist outward, her sword appearing in her hand just long enough to cleave a Gap open in front of you that you help her step through without being prompted.

You emerge into her Bedroom, where she promptly stumbles off to get changed in the bathroom, and you... do nothing. You have no idea what you should do with yourself at this moment. Past emulations have all had plans or goals of their own that they had to work towards, but you... you just sort of are. You don't have over arching goals. You just want your Master to be happy.

Of course, this is about the time when your Master stumbles back into the room, now no longer in her costume and dressed in a comfortable looking nightgown, causing you to splutter and turn away. Which is unfortunate, because she steps across the room to you, grabs you by the back of your collar before you can escape, and then shoves her other hand into the pile of clothes that had been left on the floor from the other day, withdrawing it with a suspiciously well sized set of mens sleep wear that she shoves into your hands.

"I don't- how?!" You complain as she hustles you into the bathroom to get changed. You actually do understand, you just can't fathom the reasoning behind it anymore. Your previous emulation really liked sleeping, and as such, ensured that there would be appropriate sleeping apparel available to you regardless of what physical form you took on.

"Cus I'm tired?" Your Master asks you in confusion.

"That- I can sleep on the couch right?!" You blurt out, stepping fearfully away from her.

"Obviously not." She says with a yawn, stepping out of the bathroom as though there was nothing else to say on the topic. You love your Master, but you suspect she might have gotten a little too accustomed to sleeping with your previous emulation around, a familiarity you are now suffering from. Since you are, of course, not an idiot, you get changed and turn intangible, falling into the main floor where you sneak over to the couch and take a seat, stretching the kinks out of your neck.

Which is about when you fall through the hole in reality that suddenly appears behind you, smack into the middle of the bedroom you were studiously trying to avoid.

For someone who was worried about using them at all your Master sure is getting kind of free with those Gaps.

Before you can really react to your current situation, your Master rolls over sleepily and wraps an arm around your head. Then she starts snoring.

"This is hell." You whisper to no one in particular.

[I'm sure you'll survive.] Ozma answers you dryly.

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

Hebert Household, Brockton Bay

The next day, you wake up to the sound of your Master rolling out of bed and stretching. In the interest of making sure your Master actually got a good night's sleep last night, you forced yourself to calm down and sleep yourself.

You actually can't tell if your Master just doesn't notice how uncomfortable she can make you, or if she doesn't care. You also aren't sure which is worse.

Groggily, you stumble from the bed yourself, scooping up your own clothes and turning intangible with them, leaving behind your Pajama's and disappearing into the downstairs bathroom to get dressed. When you emerge, your Master is already present, though curiously, she isn't dressed in her own costume, just a pair of sweats.

You glance at the clock, then back to your Master, a sliver of doubt entering your mind. It's six am. That means that, in all likelihood, your Master is going to want to train. That doesn't always include you. But usually, it does.

This is why you aren't surprised when she pats the couch, beckoning you over for her to lay down in your lap again.

"You know you don't have to do it this way." You grumble, having gotten mostly over how embarrassing this is the last time you did it.

"Yeah but, how am I supposed to meditate if I don't feel safe?" Taylor asks as she leans back and closes her eyes. You pause for a second before hesitantly lifting your hand to scratch at her head gently, which she hums appreciatively over.

"You... don't feel safe? I'm pretty sure I'm weaker than you right now." You point out.

"But you'd protect me anyway right? No one else would." She answers you easily. Left unsaid is 'No one else ever did'.

"I'm pretty sure you've got a whole team of Parahuman's for that now. I'm... actually pretty sure Trainwreck would be okay just killing people for you." You answer weakly.

"He's not that bad," Taylor answers defensively. Personally you're not so sure. Then again, you aren't sure that really bothers you much either.

"Still." You say.

"I used to do stuff like this with Emma all the time," Taylor says suddenly, changing the topic.

"Sleepovers and stuff I mean. I guess since this is the first time you've been my age I just sort of..." She continues, trailing off in thought. Then she says; "Should I stop?"

The part of you that is entirely made up of a teenage boy would like to emphatically say yes. However, that part of you is just that. A part. The part of you that doesn't change from Emulation to Emulation though...

"No." You answer resolutely, continuing to scratch at your Master's scalp.

Neither of you says much of anything after that, as your Master ruminates on the words you spoke to her while trying to unlock her Aura.

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

The Heap, Brockton Bay

"Today's the day." Your Master says resolutely as you exit a Gap onto the front doorstep of the Heap. You blink at her in confusion.

"Today's the day." Another female voice calls out to her from nearby. Whirling around you find Parian standing nearby, having apparently known to meet the two of you here today.

"I- I'm very confused." You say when both women turn to peer at you expectantly. Your Master grins at you, withdrawing a series of Talisman and instructions on where to place them that your previous Emulation left her.

"Today, the Heap get's its makeover." She says.

"And my storefront goes up." Parian adds. Then she turns to Taylor, tilting her masked face in question. "You can help me move everything once we're done right?"

"Sure. Your place on the Boardwalk right?" Taylor asks as the two walk ahead of you into the heap, where Taylor begins to very carefully place talismans on walls and in corners.

"Yes. I've already packed everything I'll need. I must admit, I'm somewhat wary of fully moving in..." She says with a shrug of discomfort.

"Why? I still don't know why you don't just move your whole family here. The Bay is going to get dangerous again soon." Taylor points out.

"Because that would out me to my family." Parian replies hotly.

"Which is worse than them dying as collateral in a Cape Fight because...?" Your Master points out.

"It hasn't been a problem before, and it's not going to be a problem now. Can we not talk about this?" Parian asks, slightly annoyed.

"Fine, fine." Your Master answers, frowning slightly. The two walk the halls in silence for a couple of seconds, with you trailing curiously behind them, until you reach the inside entrance to the garage. The garage, from whence you can hear the very definitive sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

"How big is this place going to be when-" Parian finally decides to ask just as a muffled thump echoes through the door and Danny flies bodily through the door, tearing the flimsy wooden thing from the wall and ending up sticking out of the drywall opposite to it, the faint lavender glow of his aura surrounding him.

"Okay, I got it! The piston is collecting too much juice! Come try it again!" Trainwreck yells through the doorway, causing Danny to step gingerly out of the wall and back into the garage with nothing more than a polite nod for his daughter and her friend.

Parian stares at the groaning man in confusion and distress as he wanders back into the garage. Your Master doesn't even miss a beat, stepping after him and continuing to place paper talismans along the wall inside as she answers Parian's aborted question.

"I think Emmy's previous self might have had a different idea of what constitutes a base than me. I don't actually know how big this is going to get." She says, eyeing the paper talisman she has just placed with some trepidation.

"Taylor, when did your Father trigger?" Parian asks quickly, stepping into your Master's line of sight and gesturing helplessly behind her with one gloved hand, to where Danny is carefully hefting a horrific-looking hunk of metal in the shape of a long-handled pickaxe. If a pickaxe had only one sharp side and the other was a huge mechanical engine of some kind anyway.

"...Recently?" Taylor offers weakly.

"Taylor," Parian says flatly, staring at your Master, who pointedly turns to look at her father instead of answering.

"Ready?" Trainwreck calls to Danny.

"Yup." He nods, rolling his shoulders and lifting the pick overhead.

"You guys better not screw the floor up with that thing." Your Master cuts in, causing both men to pause and look at each other, then back down to the slight cracks in the floor where they had obviously been testing whatever that was.

"Outside?" Trainwreck offers after a second.

"Outside." Danny answers immediately, causing both men to scramble through the garage door and out into the back of the building.

They are quickly followed by another muffled thump, and the distinct sound of someone bouncing off the metal exterior of the building, accompanied by Trainwrecks raucous laughter.

"What? Why is this my fault?" Taylor asks innocently smiling the entire time. The smile is vaguely familiar and... if you're being honest, somewhat unsettling.

"Just... just get on with it." Parian finally says when your Master's impenetrable smile becomes too much for her.

"Just about done actually. Wanna watch from outside?" She says with a grin. Parian agrees, grumbling the entire time.

Once the three of you have stepped onto the sidewalk, your Master turns to face the building, concentrates for a second, and then snaps her fingers.

Then the Heap begins to grow. And shift. And grow. The adjacent lots begin to stretch away from the lot the Heap is on, as if space itself is shrinking back in fear of what your last emulation has wrought as the building expands into a fortification that dwarfs the entire neighbourhood, casting the entire street in shadow.

"Taylor?" Parian asks quietly, her head craning to stare up at the Heap.

"...Yes?" Your Master answers after a second of doing the same.

"Why is it a castle?" She asks plaintively. Taylor turns to you in question at this, as though you have any idea.

"...Well... she... I... was basically the owner of an entire society of magical creatures so..." You offer with a wince.

"There's... I mean... there are some smaller buildings on the outside...?" Taylor points, and you turn your head to follow her extended finger. The Heap - you're not sure the name is appropriate anymore honestly - has expanded into a massive castle of polished bronze, with a handful of smaller outbuildings nearby, each one no smaller than the original heap was, and plated in a similar bronze coating. The outward appearance of the buildings and the castle is notably more pleasant on the eyes than Trainwrecks original slapdash armouring, and a winding path from the road to the castle passes by each of the three outbuildings. Your neighbours, or rather, the entire neighbourhood, have slowly started to exit their homes to stare agog at the tremendous construction that has quite literally appeared in their midst.

Then your Master's phone begins to go off.

"I'll... just go have a look then." Parian says quickly, stepping away from your Master as she withdraws her phone, groaning.

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

The Heap, Brockton Bay

So, as it turns out, your previous emulation had the wherewithal to leave directions on most of the walls in the castle, complete with annoying and vaguely insulting subtext. You aren't sure how, or why, but after the third such notice from yourself insulting your current emulation for not being Yukari Yakumo, you have started to become somewhat agitated.

This isn't really helped when you eventually emerge into the room that is supposed to contain the stone your Master uses as the central point for her ongoing attempts to enchant the Heap.

Because that room now contains a throne of bronze, which is set in front of the stone as though that was only natural.

"Emmy?" Your master asks you after taking in the otherwise fairly small room.

"Yes?" You answer through grit teeth.

"Were you a megalomaniac or something before this? Like, just a little bit?" She asks you, lifting her hand with thumb and forefinger almost touching.

"...The possibility definitely exists." You answer with a huff that causes your Master's mouth to twitch upward into a slight smile. She hadn't exactly been in the best of moods after Piggot had called to yell at her for twenty minutes. Apparently changing the cities skyline on a whim was the type of thing she would have preferred to be warned about ahead of time. Which was... fair, even if you still didn't like the woman much. Actually, now that you think of it, weren't you trying to bully her into getting healed as your previous emulation? Should you follow up on that?

Regardless, you try not to wince when your Master finally shimmies into the uncomfortable looking bronze throne and starts carefully doing... something with the stone covered in talismans in front of her.

Also cackling. You try to ignore the cackling. It's just a bit too ominous for your tastes.

School tomorrow. Choose ONE (1). Taylor will automatically spend any extra time continuing her training.

[ ] Go on Patrol. (Choose up to 2 people to accompany you.) (Victoria, Trainwreck, Aspirant, Wards, Danny)

[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.

[ ] Continue Training Your Team (And also, Danny)

[ ] Look for any signs of the Threats Armsmaster mentioned (Choose one) (Blasto, Accord, The Teeth)

[ ] Follow up with Dragon and the PRT on Dauntless

[ ] What the hell were Trainwreck and Danny doing anyway? Should you be worried? You feel like you should be worried.

[ ] Continue to research Fleur's ghost. It's... definitely not behaving normally.

What upgrades does Taylor apply to the Heap today?

[ ] Friend In Need (People in the surroundings in need of help will somehow find their way to the building, regardless of where they actually are in the city. (Required: Friend or Foe Barrier)

[ ] Simple Energy Barrier (A physical barrier, preventing attacks from reaching the walls of the building)

[ ] Expansion (The grounds surrounding the building swell in size, creating several lots worth of free space.)

[ ] Simple Shikigami Network (A network of small animals that can be set to keep an eye out for specific behaviours, objects, or people within a two block radius of the building. These creatures are simple minded, and hold no initiative or creativity. They just report what they see, ignoring things they weren't told to look for.)

A/N: During the week (Mon-Thurs) the Patrol option is your default social option, with the free social option coming only on fri-sun during school. Just a reminder. This update was weirdly hard to write. Possibly because I hurt my wrist at some point. Regardless, have fun with it. Also, no more 'something the person was into.' for Shikigami rezzing. That's a cop out damn you! Gimme something concrete!

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Bowler Hat Guy

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Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Aug 25, 2020

#16,534

Spoiler: Choices:

Spoiler: Current Emulation Status

Spoiler: Base Status

Current Energy: 16

Current Training: Aura (9/10)

Monday, January 31st, 2011

Winslow High, Brockton Bay

The day starts normally enough. You've long since reconciled yourself to the hours your Master keeps. Truthfully, they aren't even really all that bad for your current emulation. Oscar Pine was, prior to anything else, a farmboy, and farms were not places that tolerated sleeping in.

Of course, as was becoming a running theme with this emulation, you found yourself resenting this. Because instead of blithely sleeping through your Master's waking routine, you were instead forced to go through the excruciating process of waking up and disentangling yourselves from each other. Then - when you were awkwardly trying to remember how to make a passable breakfast that didn't just consist of toast, she had breezed past and taken over the kitchen like you weren't there, relegating you to the table where she ended up serving you pancakes. Then, she spent the rest of the morning 'settling her stomach' by meditating in your lap again.

Needless to say, you were feeling... emasculated isn't the proper word, because your manhood isn't really the point. But it's close. You were the protector here! You were supposed to make sure nothing bad happened to your Master! Instead, you've spent a vast majority of your time being taken care of like a favoured sibling or something. You didn't dislike the contact, but it was somehow just so infuriating.

Which was why, you were actually kind of glad to be getting back to school with your Master. Here, you had a clear and defined purpose. While your Master saw to her education, you had tacit and unspoken permission from the principle to patrol the halls, ensuring the safety of all the students! This you could do!

The first thing you noticed as your Master entered the school, was that it was oddly loud. The students didn't gaze upon your Master with the same barely restrained terror or distress that they once had. Instead, many of them - girls and boys alike - mostly just watched her pass with interest followed quickly by loose gossip, most of which was even good in a very general sense of the word. You hung back in your invisible form a few times to eavesdrop, and quickly found that where once these students might have been quietly casting aspersions on your Master, or more recently, discussing why she should be feared above all others in the school, now the gossip was decidedly... weirder.

"I heard personally trains everyone on her team, because she doesn't think having powers is good enough."

"Nah I'm pretty sure that's the rainbow armor guy, her boyfriend."

"Are they dating? You only ever see her in public with Glory Girl, and I heard she broke up with her boyfriend."

"That would explain how she went from zero to one hundred with the empire in like a day. Something to fight for right?"

"D'you think maybe that was why Hess and Barnes were always... you know? With the thing on the news yesterday..."

"Dude. Shut the fuck up - they outed a Ward man. I'm surprised the Triumvirate isn't in town."

"Why would they? You heard what they said, Hess was a bitch anyway."

You pointedly don't report any of that to your Master, although you're sure she could hear it just fine if she actually wanted to. Honestly, you're pretty sure she wouldn't care all that much in the first place, not anymore. As far as your Master is concerned, she's just here to get her education and keep the gangs in line. Nothing more, nothing less. Once, she might have possibly looked forward to seeing Greg but well... that ship has sailed you suppose. You still occasionally worry about the goof, but there isn't much you can actually do about it, not now that the boy has so obviously joined the Undersiders.

Especially after you found out that they decided to air all the details of your Master's trigger event in excruciating detail on the news somehow. Something that your Master mostly just smiled at while not speaking or moving for a solid minute. When she had finally gotten her emotions under control she had spent a solid ten minutes uncontrollably radiating power and menace at anyone that tried to talk to her. Thankfully, she got over it pretty quickly, but still.

'You know what to do right?' Your Master asks you kindly as she slides into her homeroom class.

'Yup. Just make sure noone murders anyone else.' You answer easily, before phasing through the wall to begin your patrols.

[...This is a school?] Ozma asks you as he fully takes in the decrepit and often deliberately mistreated building around you.

"School here is about basic math and socialization. Not about shooting Grimm in the face." You point out, not worried about being overheard in your Spiritual Form.

[And? What child could possibly hope to learn anything from a place like this?] Ozma replies with obvious distaste.

"It's not... that bad..." You defend weakly. You've had Emulations that would as soon burn the school down as defend it verbally, but well, you aren't one of them currently. In retrospect, it's probably good you never came here in your previous incarnation. You probably would have done something obnoxious, like melt the building down with magic, just to make a point.

Suddenly, almost as if in defiance over your defense, you turn a corner only to find two students wearing the old ABB colours, holding another against a locker. All three boys are Asian, with one boy holding the first still while the other one searches him - presumably for money or weaponry. Possibly drugs.

"You won't get away with this." The first boy whimpers, somewhat melodramatically, tears forming in his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, because all of you fucking morons are rolling over for that bitch. We get it." One of the aggressors sneers.

"The Panda-" The victim tries to speak but is stopped when he his jerked forward, banging his head against his locker with a loud clack.

"The Panda isn't fucking real. No one has even seen that fucking thing with her in weeks."

"Actually," You say, appearing between the two aggressors. "I was just as real then as I am now." you note, swinging Long Memory gently outward to thwack against the two boys knees and causing them to fall over, as both of them lacked aura to defend themselves with.

You eye the bullies for a second, ensuring they won't just get up and try to run, then turn towards their victim.

"Are you alright?" You ask him with some concern, eyeing the welt on his forehead. "If you wait till lunch then-" You being but are cut off when he turns and bows to you.

"Thank you! I knew- I mean I wear the patch and I don't fight or run with the ABB anymore but- Thank you!" He says quickly, flashing a crudely made patch that has clearly been sewn into his backpack. The patch looks like a rough approximation of a panda, and for the life of you, you can't figure out what it's supposed to mean. You can guess but it feels like any reason you could come up with would be... well... stupid.

"I- I mean, it's fine. I think. Can you-" You start, but are startled when the boy just sort of sprints off.

"Should..." You pause, turning towards the two bullies, who are doing their utmost to remain very still.

"...I call someone...?"

You don't full grasp what has happened until lunch time, when you reconvene with your Master just in time for two very large boys to fall in nearby and take seats across the lunch table from her.

This is notable for two reasons. For one thing, one of the boys is a large Asian you are fairly certain you saw wearing ABB colours last time you came to school, while the other was one of the Empire hopefuls who you had once witnessed egg the Asian on to attempt to do something stupid to your Master. Second, no one sits with your Master. Not since Greg. And you can tell that she's just as confused as you are by the occurrence, which rules out the idea that she might have just made some new friends in your absence.

"How're things on your end?" The first boy - the Empire one - says, leaning one arm on the table.

"Slow. Many of them don't want to change, even if it's the smartest choice. They're to used to being important. Getting what they want." The Asian responds with a shrug.

"Eh, we'll get em. Eventually." The first boy responds, lifting a hand to fist bump, which the other one responds to easily.

""Skadoosh."" They say in tandem, then turn to begin eating there lunch.

"I'm sorry but what the hell?" Taylor blurts out at that last part, blushing slightly. The two boys share a look before the first one responds.

"I'm Michael, that's Jun. We thought you... wanted the ABB and Empire to leave the school alone?" He questions carefully.

"I do! I just don't know what that has to do with.. this." Your Master says, gesturing at the two of them.

"Well, they're gangs. They only respond to one thing, power. We figured if we gave them something else to get hard over-" Michael explains then flinches when Jun elbows him in the side.

"Uh, I mean, you know, gave them something else to be... into... they'd let the other stuff go."

"And the fist bump thing?" Taylor pushes.

"It's from your thing with Night. The Panda used to say it a lot too." Jun explains, withdrawing his cellphone and fiddling with it, before turning it around to show camera footage of your Master's off handed handling of the Nazi Changer. The video footage is from entirely too close to the fighting, and once again leaves you in awe at the complete lack of survival instincts the people of this city apparently possess.

"Maaaaan. You just Skadooshed her like she didn't even matter. Cool as-" Michael pauses, glancing at Jun who narrows his eyes back at him before continuing, "- heck."

"Panda Gang." The two say, fist bumping again, which is about the point when you notice the panda patches on both students backpacks.

"I'm gonna be honest. I have no idea how to take this." Your Master says bluntly.

"We thought this was what you wanted?" Jun asks.

"Yeah but, you started another gang!" She says in exasperation, pinching the bridge of her nose and ignoring the half eaten sandwich in front of her.

"It's more like a loose association. Or a fan club. Anyone who doesn't wanna deal with the gang sh- stuff, anymore, is Panda Gang. We've got like, a homework club and stuff." Michael says, uncomfortably, obviously realizing that your Master's disapproval could make or break his little movement. She stares at him for a second before sighing and returning to her sandwich.

"Do whatever you want as long as you aren't shooting each other and selling drugs I guess." She grumbles.

'Are you embarrassed?' You tease her mentally causing her to nearly flinch.

'Of course I'm embarrassed! Panda Gang!? What the hell is that!? Who thought that was cool sounding!?' She practically screams at you.

'Well, I think you're really cool Master.' You say to her with a light grin.

'Yeah keep talking, we'll see how cocky you are when it's time to go to sleep again.' She fires back at you, causing you to blanch slightly.

Note to self; don't antagonize your Master during this Emulation, even in jest.

After school, you and your Master making a quick trip to the location of Fleur's ghost by way of a Gap that she makes in front of the school and steps through, heedless of the watching students around her. After waiting for a moment ensure no one has foolishly tried to lunge into the portal after her, your Master closes the Gap with a nod and turns around to peer curiously at the street before you.

Again, you can't see ghosts, so you aren't really sure what to do with yourself.

"Are you sure there's something actually wrong with her?" You ask curiously. You can't say you're well versed in ghosts - mostly because they aren't really real where your current Emulation comes from - but to your mind, 'ghost' and 'weird creepy shit' are pretty synonymous. So the fact that Fleur's ghost is being creepy and weird seems pretty standard to you.

"I don't know. I've never actually looked at one before. I just get a bad feeling from her. I don't think she's supposed to be this... fluid." Your Master says her head craning upwards to look at something you can't see as the other pedestrians pointedly walk around you.

"I don't understand." You answer, frowning.

"I mean... how big she is keeps changing. It's like I'm looking at a reflection in a pond, and someone keeps throwing rocks in. The water moves and the reflection stretches. Like that." Your Master explains, carefully stepping backwards and reaches out to pull you out of the way of... something, that sends a chill down your spine.

"Lemme see!" Mini-Taylor calls out, appearing from literally nowhere.

Directly onto your back, with her arms wrapped around your neck.

Oh good, the small one is just as bad. Greaaaaat.

"Hey, move forward a little bit." She says to you, poking you in the cheek. You do so, and instantly feel the temperature around you drop, as though you had just been splashed in ice water.

"Huh. Where I'm from, ghost have this chain thing in their chests that eats itself up after a while. When it's gone the ghost turns into a Hollow, which is usually when a Soul Reaper comes along and stabs it." Mini-Taylor explains, making a brisk stabbing motion with one hand right next to your face.

"So... I should stab her?" Taylor asks hesitantly.

"I'unno. S'what I would do. But that would send her to the afterlife, so you couldn't bring her back that way." Mini-Taylor answers with a shrug.

"So that's a no then." Taylor answers pensively, turning back towards the ghost - you assume.

"I think what's happening is that, cus she can't pass on, she's just been sitting here building up hate for whatever killed her. She can't turn into a Hollow, and she can't move on, so she's just stuck here being mad. Kinda sucks." Mini-Taylor continues on, her tone of voice implying she couldn't care less about what happens to this particular ghost, which is at odds with your Master's personal concerns on the topic.

Then again, you suppose that Mini-Taylor is a sword that was explicitly made to slay ghostly monsters like this. She wouldn't exactly feel much empathy for them.

"Can Hollows think?" Your Master asks after a some more time spent examining something you can't see.

"Strong ones, yeah. They're basically just humans with attitude." Mini-Taylor says, making a face.

"So..." You say after a second, when no one else speaks.

"I have some ideas. Nothing I can do right here though." Taylor admits easily. You tilt your head upward, to look into Mini-Taylor's eyes, as she has continued to climb you until she has basically found herself kneeling on your shoulders.

"What?" She asks innocently.

"Is this... necessary?" You half beg.

Mini-Taylor tilts her head as though in thought, looks from you to your Master and back again, and then smirks at you.

"Uhuh." She says, wrapping her little arms around your forehead.

You groan.

School tomorrow. Choose ONE (1). Taylor will automatically spend any extra time continuing her training.

[ ] Complete Training (Aura 9/10) Cost: 1 Energy. (Choose another action)

[ ] Train a new Skill or Power (Choose One)

[ ] Go on Patrol. (Choose up to 2 people to accompany you.) (Victoria, Trainwreck, Aspirant, Wards, Danny)

[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.

[ ] Continue Training Your Team (And also, Danny)

[ ] Look for any signs of the Threats Armsmaster mentioned (Choose one) (Blasto, Accord, The Teeth)

[ ] Follow up with the Dragon and the PRT on Dauntless

[ ] What the hell were Trainwreck and Danny doing anyway? Should you be worried? You feel like you should be worried.

[ ] Continue to research Fleur's ghost.

Last edited: Aug 25, 2020

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Bowler Hat Guy

Aug 25, 2020

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Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Aug 27, 2020

#16,708

Spoiler: Choices:

Spoiler: Base Status

Current Energy: 15

Current Training: Monster Hunter (6/10) You can all thank Damian45 for this Omake Bonus!

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Hebert Household, Brockton Bay

When your Master says she 'has some ideas' on the topic of Fleur's ghost, you were kind of expecting a more reasoned response. Old books your Emulation has read lead you to believe that the best solution would have been to settle the ghosts lingering resentments somehow.

Your Master's solution? She spent the majority of her evening in an adhoc barrier trying to pump spiritual power into a loose slip of paper. A slip of paper that, you would like to add, came to life and attempted to kill her on multiple occasions. When you had asked her what the goal was she had replied with a slow blink and said;

"Well, if she has enough power she'll be more conscious and physical." With a look on her face like you had just asked an incredibly stupid question but that she would humour you anyway.

"Wasn't she... violent... though...?" You had asked, to which your Master had responded with the kind of creepy chuckle and too wide smile you might have expected from your first Emulation.

"Yeah but as long as she's there mentally I can just beat her up till she gets over it."

Now, you could... sort of... grasp that logic. In a way, it did make sense. After all, if you could reason with a ghost, you were already half way to calming it down. You just weren't sure how you felt about the natural end result when seventy percent of the paper slips your master had been experimenting with had grown human teeth and started trying to eat her alive. It was something decidedly outside your Emulation's personal experiences.

Which brings you to this morning. Your Master - apparently satisfied with screwing with you has deigned to meditate without laying in your lap. Less helpfully, you've found yourself inexplicably massaging her shoulders while she complains about things.

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with a 'Panda Gang'! Am I their leader? If they start doing illegal stuff is that my fault?" She mopes, while you use all of your aura enhanced strength to squeeze her shoulders. You aren't unfamiliar with this, having lived alone with your Aunt on a farm who frequently complained about strain like this - probably why you offered to do it in the first place. Still, Taylor's absurd durability is making it somewhat harder than you might like.

"I mean," You say, pausing to grunt as you come across a particularly bad knot "they did say the didn't want to be involved in any of that stuff. And you did warn him about it."

"Yeah but this is Brockton Bay, some guy with a gun could visit any one of them and they'll either do what he says or get shot thinking I can somehow protect them from the opposite side of the city!" She answers, tilting her head out of your way so you can keep working.

"If you're worried about them you could just say that." You point out with some amusement.

"I'm not- I don't like being responsible for a bunch of people I don't even know." She says.

[Notice, she hasn't actually stated that she won't be responsible for them.] Ozma points out.

You chuckle slightly in response.

"I heard that!" She grumbles. You shrug.

[If she is so concerned for their safety, we could train some of them to be Huntsmen. We do have a fairly large building with no one in it.] Ozma points out.

"I would use up too much power on the first few. We could never train that many to use Aura before I was gone." You reply, not immediately noticing how your Master stiffens slightly at your voice.

"What was that?" She asks you, with a mild glint in her eyes.

"Ozma thinks you should start a school and hand Aura out like candy. Obviously we shouldn't since-" You start to explain, assuming your Master will feel the same.

Then Taylor promptly reminds you that your first Emulation, and arguably the one that has best informed the kind of person she is today, probably couldn't have spelled restraint or subtlety let alone practiced them.

"It could work. I mean, I'd have to make sure they wouldn't do anything wrong with it. A curse maybe?" She begins to mutter to herself.

[If there is a way to ensure Aura is not misused then I would like to hear it.] Ozma notes smugly.

"Please be quiet voice in my head that keeps making my life harder." You strain to say, slowly lifting your hands away from your Master and backing away as she starts to lean away from you to grab a notepad - she keeps a lot of them around nowadays - and begins doodling designs on the pages you don't recognize. You get about a half foot away from her before one of her hands lashes out, and she does... something... with the rotation of her wrist that spins you around a causes you to fall in her lap, where she promptly lowers her arms and continues to doodle while occasionally reaching down to scratch your head.

You thought the other way around was bad. This is somehow so much worse. Still, after a couple of seconds of nervous fidgeting, you eventually find the position somewhat relaxing. Oscar understands the concept of skinship, or casual closeness, but as a Shard, up until now at least, the emotional content of most of your hugs has merely been 'this will make Taylor feel better'. You haven't personally derived all that much from the things. Right now though... you feel like you could just...

"Got it!" Your Master yells some indeterminate time later, shaking you awake from your impromptu and unasked for nap by virtue of both being quite loud, and also, jumping slightly as she yells, causing your head to bounce slightly.

"Wuh?" You blurt as you open your eyes just in time to see a familiar, if slightly brighter than normal, blue sheen flicker across your Master's form as her Aura settles into the place.

"Shit, sorry. I was thinking about the poem thing-"

[Resolution.] Ozma corrects in annoyance

"-and it just sort of happened." Taylor says, heedless of the voice she cannot actively hear.

"Oh... do you... feel different?" You ask curiously, not actually knowing how Aura and Spiritual Power will interface with each other.

"I guess... about the same?" She posits, hopping slightly from foot to foot.

"Oh. That's good then. Shouldn't we be getting ready for school?" You note, glancing at the clock and realizing you usually leave a bit earlier than this.

"I'll just take a Gap to the front gate. I still need to shower." Taylor dismisses, stretching and striding over to the stairs.

Once she returns, she plops down infront of you, brush in hand. You barely even think about it. You grab the brush and start well... brushing.

"So, got anything else for me?" She asks as you brush her freshly washed hair. You nearly don't reply, you're so distracted by the rhythmic motions of the brush and the relaxing, quiet, morning atmosphere.

"I could tell you about the Grimm." You say after Taylor nudges your leg with an elbow.

"You mentioned those before. What are they?" She asks, tilting her head backwards to look up at you.

"Monsters mostly. Imagine if tar grew to the size of a car, shaped itself into a beast, and then hunted by tracking and causing as much misery as possible." You scowl mildly. The Grimm aren't exactly well loved where your Emulation comes from. The people of Remnant have no concept of 'Hell' as an otherworldly place one goes to be punished. They don't need one. The entire planet outside their walled cities suffices.

Regardless, you shake off your mild temper at the thought of the Grimm and return to your explanation as you brush, describing in general the types of Grimm you can recall with occasional assistance from Ozma when you're memory fails you. Eventually however, you are done and Taylor rises, casually cleaving a Gap into the air next to the couch and stepping through it with a wave for you to follow.

Your Master, you realize, is the type of person to hyper fixate on things. She'll go from largely unassuming and kind of shy to disturbingly manic in the blink of an eye when something catches her interest. You aren't sure if this is your fault, or if she's just happy enough for what would have been her normal personality to come out, had she not spent much of her teen years being bullied.

[You do know that people with their Aura's unlocked are far less inhibited than normal people, yes?] Ozma points out to you. You aren't positive, but you think he might even sound a bit smug.

Then, you pale. Because if there was anything you could easily say about your Master before this, it was that there wasn't really much stopping her from doing the things she wanted in the first place.

Now, apparently, even less so.

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

PRT Headquarters, Brockton Bay

Well, school didn't go all that poorly. Your Master didn't really act out of character or anything like that, which was a plus. You had to break up several fights, and warn at least one person that wearing a Panda Patch didn't mean he could use you as a threat, but overall things went mostly okay.

Of course, once school was done, Taylor decided that she wanted to check in with Dauntless, which was why you were once more standing in the PRT's lobby.

"Kind of weird that we've had to wait this long." You note, after having been in the lobby by the - increasingly nervous - secretary for the better part of the last fifteen minutes. You aren't complaining, it isn't as though you called ahead to warn them of your coming, but it's decidedly out of character for the PRT to let your Master stew for any length of time when they know how much they owe her.

"Might be that they're having problems? I heard the Wards got attacked the other day." Your Master answers with a worried shrug, eyeing the surrounding visitors who have been giving her a wide berth ever since she walked in. Not out of fear you don't think, but out of a weird kind of respect. It's kind of nice honestly.

"Nexus? The uh- the Director will see you now." A voice calls out to you from one of the nearby doors further into the building marked with 'Employee Only'. You and Taylor turn towards it to find a red faced Assault waving you over.

"So, you're tiny now huh?" Assault asks you a few minutes later, ruffling your hair and forcing you to swat his hand away indignantly.

"For now!" You complain.

"He's way cuter now." Your Master confirms, causing you to turn a betrayed look on her.

"Super fun to screw with too." Assault adds.

"You both suck." You complain, glowering at both of them. Silently, you swore that your next Emulation would be completely beyond reproach. Like a Dragon, or a Demon with a million heads or something.

"Yeah well. You're lucky I came to get you. All the other Adults in the building are either blowing a gasket or hiding." Assault says with a mild grimace that he turns into a strained smile when your Master lifts an eyebrow in his direction.

"I can come back later?" Your Master offers.

"Nah, Director wanted to see you anyway. Probably would have called you soon anyway." He answers with a wince. By this point, you have been lead to the Directors office, and the man mock salutes you before stepping away from the door for you to proceed inside.

What you find there is not an unfathomably fat bulldog of a woman. Instead, sitting at Piggot's desk is a woman with Piggot's general facial features, expression, and matching nametag on her outfit... but that is definitely not Director Emily Piggot of the Protectorate ENE.

Because she is a well toned looking woman who looks like she could fist fight Assault and come out the other end mostly unhurt.

"Are you satisfied?" She growls at you in particular, the palpable sensation of uncontained anger wafting off of her enough that you don't need a Parahuman power to sense it.

"Uh... yes?" You say after a second to process. It takes you a couple of seconds to register, but eventually you do recall your previous Emulation spending a significant amount of her time implying that Taylor would ruin the PRT if she didn't get herself healed. You just aren't sure why that healing apparently included a full body tune up. You also aren't sure you should point out that your current Emulation doesn't actually care if she gets healed or not. She could have just waited until Yukari was out of your system and been free of consequences.

You suspect she would take that statement of fact poorly.

"Good. Nexus." She bites out harshly, turning away from you to look at your Master who is apparently just as nonplussed by this entire show as you are.

"Yes?" Your Master asks carefully, sliding slowly into a seat across the table from the woman that you take up a position standing behind.

"We've had recent sightings of the Teeth near your location. We're asking that you don't attempt to fight the Butcher directly." The Director says, and you can actually see the physical pain it causes her to say 'asking'.

"So, just to clarify, you are simultaneously telling me that there's a gang moving in next to me, and also, to just leave them alone? Is that about right?" Your Master asks in annoyance.

The Director responds to this statement by taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a second, tilting her head upward as though begging a higher power for strength.

"Nexus. I'm familiar with your apparent fighting capabilities. No one, not even I am questioning your ability to defeat the Butcher in combat. But you can guarantee, with absolute certainty, and no room for error, that at no point will the Butcher potentially die in your presence?" Piggot states, her tone even and precise.

Your Master, for what it's worth, considers it. True, she has her Contract cards, and true, she could probably subdue the Butcher without much issue, but to hear it told, the Butcher is certifiably insane. There's really no guarantee the madman or woman wouldn't bite their own tongue off out of pure spite at being captured. Which, in turn, would make your Master the most likely candidate to be the next Butcher.

You can see why the PRT might take issue with an even minuscule chance of that happening.

"...Not one hundred percent no." Your Master finally states, obviously having come to the same conclusion as you, and even more obviously, not particularly liking it regardless.

"Then please, allow me to have some of the Protectorate stationed at that base of yours." Piggot states, once more her voice turning craggy as she nearly stumbles over the not-order.

You can feel the annoyance radiating off your Master, even as her face becomes a carefully bla- actually no. Counter to your Master's usual blank face when under emotional duress, you find she is now instead smiling. It isn't a pleasant smile either. It isn't too wide or anything. There are no teeth showing. It's just a small, understated smile. And yet it is distinctly unsettling.

"Would a hero and a rotating schedule of Wards be acceptable?" She asks smoothly. It takes Piggot a few seconds to get over her obvious discomfort and speak.

"...Yes. I'll have Armsmaster and-"

"No. I'll decide who is most appropriate, and send you that information as soon as I can." Your Master says. She smiles. Piggot grimaces. There is silence for a moment. Then Piggot looks away.

"Fine. On the topic of that monstrosity, the Mayor wants to talk to you." Piggot announces spitefully.

"I'll look into it. Is there anything else? I'd like to follow up with Dauntless." Your Master answers smoothly. The undertone of polite disdain and annoyance is still present though.

"That will be all." Piggot grinds out.

"Thank you Director." Your Master answers, rising and leaving, her facing immediately falling into a scowl that second her back is turned.

[Diplomacy is best described as an agreement wherein neither side comes away entirely happy. I think that applies here.] Ozma notes as you stand. You purse your lips at the statement, unwilling to directly answer him while PRT cameras are pointed at you.

"So..." Assault says innocently, having apparently been waiting by the door for your Master to exit.

"Just take me to Dauntless before I say something I'll regret." Taylor growls at him. It never ceases to amaze you how the Director can aggravate her without actually doing anything that triggers an overt reprisal. It must almost be a skill the be that unlikable. Assault, having demonstrated himself to be a wise man as far back as your first meeting with him when he saved his team from short, painful deaths, largely at your hands, opts to lead Taylor away without comment.

"And I'm telling you the thing is too freaking tight! Take some shit out of it for gods sake! Why the hell do you even need half that crap?!" Dauntless yells at Armsmaster, pointing to a wall that holds what you assume is an iteration of the Tinker's armor that he has yet to field.

"Unlike some people, I have to use every available tool to make the most of my abilities." The man in question scowls back from where he appears to be working on a piece of circuitry jutting out of his wrist.

"So as you can see, Dauntless here got into Armsmaster's armor with him one time and they've been sort of insufferable ever since they relieved the tension." Assault jokes as he leads you into the room.

"Oh fuck you Assault! Hey, you brought me back right? I want my old powers back. Is that a thing you can do? The new ones suck." Dauntless says to Taylor without preamble the second Assault announces your presence. The well built man turns to peer at you and then turns back to Taylor, his expression not at all as vexed as his words would imply. In fact, he is smiling widely at your Master in a way that causes her to blush slightly, turning away from him.

Which is about when you realize he's wearing a skin tight black body suit and not much else.

"S-Shouldn't you have a mask on or something?" Your Master stutters out.

"Yes.""No.""Eh." Is the chorus of answers that follows.

"They aren't really trying that hard to keep the identities of people you bring back from you. Me and Militia already tried to visit your house to thank you but you uh... weren't there." Dauntless explains, either not noticing or caring about his obvious effect on your Master. You narrow your eyes at him but otherwise don't make a move to do anything.

"Y-yeah I've been staying in the- look can you put a shirt on or pants or something?" Your Master stutters out before taking a deep breath and demanding.

"To much work," Dauntless answers with a cheeky smile and a shrug, before perking up and adding, "I can do this though."

"Do not." Armsmaster states flatly, without looking up. Dauntless looks like he's about to argue the point, before shrugging.

Then he does it anyway, because he and Armsmaster apparently don't get along. You aren't sure how you feel about agreeing with Armsmaster on something. You think it might be causing you physical damage, but you aren't one hundred percent certain.

Regardless, between one moment and the next, Dauntless vanishes in a blast of lightning, and Armsmaster's currently worn suit of power armor... changes. It's not subtle either. the blue highlights begin to glow and flicker, like solid energy, and additional circuitry and armoring appears all along the device.

"Seriously? This one is even fucking worse. Why do you have three different blowtorches in this thing?" Dauntless voices loudly, coming from a speaker on Armsmaster's armor you assume.

"They work at differing temperatures and provide redundancy in case one part of the armor is damaged. Hello Taylor, how are you?" Dragon's voice replies, coming from somewhere above you - presumably a different set of speakers.

"I'm alright. Where did Dauntless go?" She asks, peering at Armsmaster suspiciously.

"We've found that Dauntless new ability appears to allow him to interface and 'possess' technology he gets near. Typically with an associated increase in performance. For the moment this mean's he is being partnered with Armsmaster indefinitely." Dragon explains kindly.

"Tinkertech sucks though. Feels like I'm locked in a shoebox." Dauntless complains again, this time accompanied by a stalk of liquid metal rising from Armsmaster's shoulder with a camera lens at it's tip to peer around.

"Huh. Well I can't really do anything about that. Are there any other side effects?" Your Master asks, ignoring the muffled guffaws Assault makes behind you as Armsmaster tries and fails to swat the camera away and then ultimately gives up and glumly returns to what he was working on.

"Haven't had to sleep yet, so I guess I'm in the same boat as Militia now. Other than that, not really." Dauntless says nonchalantly.

"It's actually very interesting what I've already learned from the mutable properties of any equipment Dauntless is inhabiting. He seems capable of powering Armsmaster's armor indefinitely, which is certainly a plus." Dragon cheers, causing Armsmaster to slump even more in his seat.

The rest of the meeting is fairly routine after that, and mostly consists of Armsmaster and Dauntless bickering while Dragon moderates. You find something off about the entire thing until you eventually realize that Dragon seems to be having fun with the entire ordeal. You suppose it makes sense. Being trapped inside all the time must be terribly lonely.

Still, the day apparently isn't done with you yet, because when you finally make it back to Taylor's room for the evening, there is an innocuous piece of paper sitting on her pillow that you might otherwise ignore if it wasn't so obviously placed. It isn't as though your Master doesn't tear through notebooks at a ridiculous pace, you assume some of that paper has to get lost.

Regardless, this note obviously isn't your Master's. Not just because it reads 'Found Teeth, Ferry station at 11' in an ugly script that your Master would never be able to manage on even her worst day, but because of who it is signed by.

Predator. Hess.

Do you dare respond to Sophia's provocation? You could just ignore it...

[ ] Make sure the idiot doesn't become Butcher Fifteen somehow.

[ ] You aren't playing this game. You're going to call the PRT and thats it.

Who seems like the Best fit at the Heap? (Choose 1 Hero, and 1 Ward)

Heroes:

[ ] Velocity

[ ] Assault

[ ] Battery

[ ] Miss Militia

[ ] Dauntless

[ ] Armsmaster

[ ] Triumph

Wards:

[ ] Vista

[ ] Gallant

[ ] Clockblocker

[ ] Aegis

A/N: Alright, apologies for not posting yesterday, I ended up working a double shift and was essentially working in the time I usually spend writing. Then I came home and slept the sleep of the dead. I hope you all enjoy this update. It sort of seems like some of you would prefer Hess gets written out of the story but well, she hasn't. So here we are. Something to note, Hess only really fucked with Taylor cus Emma wanted her too. Her contempt for Taylor was only so bad because after the locker thing, she didn't appear to trigger or try to fight back, placing Taylor in Sophia's mental reckoning as 'lowest of the low'. Here, there was an obvious and immediate result, so the dynamic is different. Not that I expect anyone to forgive her for being a bitch. I'm just noting that Hess wouldn't have the same psychotic hatred as Emma does by this point in the timeline. Just the more mundane 'you got me in trouble' variety.

Anyway, usual disclaimers apply, blah blah tired, blah blah spelling and grammar. Have fun with it.

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Bowler Hat Guy

Aug 27, 2020

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Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Aug 28, 2020

#16,918

Spoiler: Choices:

Spoiler: Base Status

Current Energy: 15

Current Training: Monster Hunter (6/10)

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Hebert Household, Brockton Bay

"It's probably a trap." You say instantly, not willing to so much as pretend to trust Sophia Hess at her word.

"Probably." Your Master says, her face pinched in thought, her gaze never straying from the piece of paper held loosely in her hands.

"So we're going to call the PRT then." You prod again, frowning when your Master doesn't immediately jump to the same conclusion as you, and instead, continues to stare at the piece of paper.

"Taylor?" You ask her again, this time with a more worried inflection to your voice.

"Emmy? I really hate asking this but can you..." Taylor starts then pauses, glancing between you and the piece of paper before crumpling it and exhaling slowly.

"Nevermind. I'll call the PRT." She says tiredly, turning around and heading down the stairs.

[Is there some significance that I am missing?] Ozma asks as your Master vanishes down the stairs.

"...people here get powers on the worst day of their life. That's just how it works. It's called a trigger event and..." You trail off in mild consternation. It would be one thing to describe the mechanics of Parahuman triggers to someone casually, but your Master's trigger event is a sore spot for you. It makes you think of the effects your species has obviously had on this civilization. Effects that your current Emulation can draw a direct parallel to the Grimm over. Even if it couldn't, the sheer chaos and upheavel Parahuman's seem to cause regularly has been nagging at you lately.

Shaking your head, you put it out of your mind. You'll think about it later. Eventually.

"...and it scars you. Pretty much all Parahumans have a kind of PTSD related to their trigger. That bitch is the person who caused Taylors." You finish explaining. You are feeling a degree of anger that is decidedly uncharacteristic for this Emulation. Frustration, yes, god, does this Emulation get easily fed up with things. But rage? Not so much. Of course, this means that you are now officialy acting outside of your Emulations parameters. And that worries you. Because it's not... normal.

[I see. And you - we - are a result of the power Miss Hebert obtained from that event?] Ozma asks.

"Yes." You spit out.

[Then there is no use being angry over it Oscar. I doubt Miss Hebert would change things if she could.] The old man counsels you, leaving you blinking stupidly at nothing as you consider that.

"I don't-" You start to counter but are cut off.

[I haven't been... 'here' I suppose, for very long, but I can already tell that you are much closer to Taylor than mere tool, or pet. In all likelihood, she would interpret your current mood as regret at having met her. I assume she would be saddened by that.] Ozma points out.

You don't respond to that.

Although you do calm down in response, if only slightly.

You... don't know how to feel about this. You dislike introspection - it implies personal fault, which you don't typically admit to having many of. More so than that, it implies personhood, which you likewise don't typically have much of. If you had to choose between your Master and the proper functioning of the cycle... could you? You instinctively want to say yes, but a sharp sensation of despair fills you when you try to contemplate the decision.

"I'm going to open a Gap for the PRT to get the jump on Hess." Taylor says, breaking you from your beffudlement and drawing your eyes towards her. She doesn't look happy.

"Isn't that... good? They'll arrest her and everything." You put forth.

"I don't care about Shadow Stalker, or Predator or whatever the hell she's calling herself now. I care that they're going to be attacking the Teeth right afterwards, and I can't do anything about it." She says bitterly, taking you back slightly.

"Master she's a monster, she-" You start, using a slightly more accusatory tone than you probably intend to.

"I know. And I do hate her. But she doesn't matter. She's nothing. No one. Even if the PRT never catch her, she's screwed. She can never go to school. Never graduate. Never have a job, a family, or any meaningful relationship with anyone who isn't just as screwed as she is, which means her entire life, it's temporary. She's barely better off than your average homeless person, worse even, because she insists she's a 'hero' so she'll never even have a villain team to join. She's exactly as alone and useless as she used to think I was. Getting caught would honestly be better for her. At least she'll get out of juve eventually." Taylor says, not so much angry as passingly satisfied. You suspect that little speech of hers was for herself as much as you, and was mostly just your Master sorting through her own thoughts on the matter.

"Emma-" You start, mildly curious as to if your Master's opinions on her once friend are the same, only to be floored by a sudden outpouring of hatred, followed quickly by your Master slicing open a Gap and stepping through it as though you hadn't spoken.

Oh, good. You were worried your Master had forgiven them all or something.

It is at about this moment, that the phone begins to ring downstairs. You glance nonplussed at the Gap your Master is still on the other side of, and then shrug, falling through the floor to land in the downstairs hallway, where you step over to the phone and pick it up.

"Hello?" You say hesitantly, having not really had opportunity to really need a phone before, and more importantly, having an Emulation that is accustomed to an entire different form of long distance telecommunication.

"Good Evening," A slightly nasally, voice says to you in what honestly to you sounds like someone trying their absolute best to fake sounding suave.

"Is Nexus around? I've got a business proposition." The voice continues. Again, the voice hovers between an annoyingly nasally tone and not quite smooth, like a terrible James Bond impersonation.

"She's unavailable. I'm her Projection though, so I can pass anything you want along." You say, at least passingly familiar with your Master's fame. You assume this guy is going to ask her to be on a billboard or commercial or something, which might be a nice way to rub her newfound fame in Emma's-

"I have it on good authority that she can bring Parahuman's back from the dead. That about right?" The voice says, stopping you cold. Who- the only people that are supposed to know about this are the local Protectorate. Not even the rank and file. Just the heroes. So how the hell...?

[May I?] Ozma cuts in just as you are beginning to panic as to a reply, flooding you with relief even if the vaguely oily sensation you get from the swap is unpleasant.

"Might I ask who's speaking?" Ozma asks in a much more steady tone than your own.

"I'm a bit of a traveller, just got into town. I'm sure we can come to arrangement if you'll-" The man on the other end of the line says eagerly.

"Young man, regardless of what you may have heard, life is sacred - there is no mysterious power that will allow you to return it from death. I'm sorry for your loss." Ozma says with an air of genuine regret in his tone. The other end of the line is curiously quiet for a second before speaking again.

"So it's like that then huh?" The speaker says bitterly.

"Apologies. If I could help you, I promise you - I would. I've lost far too many people in my time not to understand the temptation to seek such answers." Your mouth says, causing you to frown.

[Tone it down. I'm like a month old.] You point out, causing Ozpin to frown but nod fractionally with your head in response.

"...Have it your way then." The person on the other end of the line says with a drawn out sigh and a voice filled with such exhaustion that it is almost palpable to you.

Then he hangs up, and Ozma spends a few seconds staring at the phone for a second before switching back with you.

"You... couldn't figure out what to do with it, could you." Your droll at him as you place the phone back on the receiver.

[I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about.] Ozma says nonchalantly, drawing a snort from you.

With that done, you trundle back up the stairs just in time to see your Master step back through the Gap with a stormy expression on her face.

"Is everything okay?" You ask, rushing over to her, Long Memory at the ready.

"No. I let them know I'd like Miss Militia and Vista to report to the Heap tommorow. I also met Sophia's partner. The Trump? She had red hair. They're hoping she can shut the Butcher down for good." Your Master scowls.

"But they were going to arrest her!" You blurt out in dismay and anger.

"They did. They don't have anything to arrest 'Switchblade' for though. Stupid fucking name." Your Master grumbles, not bothering to get changed as she kicks her shoes off right in the middle of her room and falls into bed, letting her legs dangle over the side. For a second, you debate mentioning the phone call you just got, but decide against it. You'll bring it up with the Director later. For now, you carefully shuck off your coat and boots, and step over to sit in the bed next to Taylor, who rolls over to press her forehead into your side and swing an arm around your mid section, dragging you onto your back.

"Hey, you won't leave me right? If I lose my powers because of Hatchetface or go crazy because of the Simurgh or something - you'll come back for me right?" Your Master mutters into your side.

And suddenly, you do know what you would choose between the cycle and your Master if forced to choose between the two. Even if you know that the cycle is far too long normally for that to even come up.

"Yeah. Even if I have to fight the entire world." You say, meaning every word. She squeezes you slightly in response.

"Thanks. Love you, Emmy." She replies.

"Love you too, Taylor." You answer tenderly, for once not bothered by the contact with her as much as comforted.

School tomorrow. Choose ONE (1). Taylor will automatically spend any extra time continuing her training.

[ ] Complete Training (Monster Hunter 6/10) Cost: 4 Energy. (Choose A New Training)(Choose two other options)

[ ] Go on Patrol. (Choose up to 2 people to accompany you.) (Victoria, Trainwreck, Aspirant, Wards, Danny)

[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.

[ ] Continue Training Your Team (And also, Danny)

[ ] There's an obvious leak in the PRT if someone knows about the Dauntless & Miss Militia. Better follow up.

[ ] What the hell were Trainwreck and Danny doing anyway? Should you be worried? You feel like you should be worried.

[ ] Continue to research Fleur's ghost. Even if you're worried Taylor is going to end up fighting the thing.

A/N: Just for the record, people say I love you to family alllllll the time, so don't be weird about the ending bit. And no, this call wasn't about Noelle since I know that will inevitably be asked. If you look at the last update there *is* a hint there, but I won't say anything more than that.

Last edited: Aug 28, 2020

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Aug 28, 2020

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Threadmarks Interlude: Clockblocker

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Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Sep 1, 2020

#17,199

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

PRT Headquarters, Brockton Bay

The last few days had be trying, and not for the reasons one might expect. While yes, being what amounted to a Junior Hero in what must be one of the most crime riddled, parahuman filled, shit holes in the country was somewhat stressful, it wasn't really anything Dennis actually noticed anymore. He was sure that if he lived somewhere nicer, or suddenly moved, then he might be able to tell the difference, but in general, Brockton Bay was the only home he had ever known.

So, the current air of awkward disapproval that was currently filling the Wards common area had very little to do with that at least.

Carefully, Dennis - better known in the city as Clockblocker, the intrepid hero of the hour (He could tell he was stressed because he was using catchphrases from the PR department) - leaned forward to turn the television on, then immediately flinched when it blared to life at the volume it was at when it was last used - which was entirely too high for this hour, and more important, for the weird silence in the room.

He glanced back with an apologetic look on his face, then quickly turned back to the distraction of the television. Missy was glowering at nothing in particular, obviously having been shocked out of some kind of reverie, Dean had looked up from his homework, flicked a glance towards the console where Chris was doing something that looked Tinker-y, and Chris himself had paused in whatever he was doing without daring to turn around to look at them.

All of this uncomfortable non-communication, was, of course, because Chris had recently - accidentally - killed someone. He hadn't really gotten in trouble for it, because expecting a Ward not to retaliate in a situation where they seemed to be intentionally targeted for lethal force by an unknown villain was just foolish, but for the rest of them it just didn't sit well. None of them blamed Chris. They had all watched the footage on his helmet. It had actually been mandatory for them, since the Director had deemed it appropriate for the Ward's to learn from Chris' mistakes. And none of them could rightfully say that what Chris had done was wrong exactly. But that didn't mean many of them had to like it.

Dean was clearly distinctly uncomfortable with the subject, and despite his assurances to to contrary, clearly preferred not to talk Chris at the moment. It was his whole 'moral high ground' thing, which Dennis hated and wished the other boy would get over. Carlos had been fairly understanding of the topic - neither being too harsh or too gentle, and merely noting the type of damage Chris could have suffered against the Cape they had later ID'd as 'Ballistic' if he had been even just a tiny bit slower. Some arguments had been made that the enemy Cape appeared to be holding back specifically to avoid lethal injury, but that had been shot down pretty quickly. Real life wasn't a cartoon. You couldn't just 'almost' kill someone with anything approaching a perfect success rate. Even if he was holding back, Ballistics's use of force was such that he was almost certainly recklessly endangering his target regardless. And Vista... she wasn't mad at Chris. She was mad for an entirely different reason.

"This is bullshit!" She yelled when no one else had taken the opportunity to say anything.

"Missy-" Dean started, attempting to pacify the smaller girl - which usually worked, but in this case did absolutely nothing.

"No! The investigation ruled it self defense! The Youth Guard rep said it was above board! So why does Chris have to go?!" She yelled, standing and pointing aggressively at the boy in question.

Chris didn't immediately respond to the yelling, only turning around to grimace in Vista's direction with a resigned air about him when he heard his name called. The Tinker hadn't taken things well. He had assumed that Ballistic was a Brute of some kind, and so, had set his weapons to the appropriate setting for such. It wasn't even the highest Brute rated setting he could have used. PRT rules of Engagement for Wards was to slowly escalate force in situations where you couldn't ascertain the the durability of an opponent, but that regulation was apparently entirely trumped by a whole host of completely regular laws dictating what counted as the appropriate amount of force to use in response to being lethally attacked. Dennis wasn't stupid. He was perfectly aware that if a vigilante had done the same thing as Chris, that the ruling would have probably gone completely differently. The PRT wasn't kind to unsupervised Capes killing people. But for someone inside the system, the law typically worked as intended, if with a slight bent towards the PRT's benefit.

And Chris obviously felt the same way, because he had accepted everything the PRT was throwing at him with the sort of resigned acceptance one might expect of a death row inmate.

"Because that guy had a team, who will know what happened." Dennis chimed in, leaning back in the couch to rest his head on it.

"So? We can just arrest them!" Missy argued.

"It doesn't work like that." Dean responded with a slightly harder edge to his tone than he probably intended, causing Dennis to narrow his eyes at the ceiling in annoyance. It really didn't work like that, but not for the reasons Dean was probably thinking of. To Dean, being shuffled off to some place with fewer villains and more oversight was the natural result of this event. It was a punishment, but a light one. God knows, only a Brocktonite would consider being moved away from the fighting to be a punishment. In reality, it was purely for PR reasons. No one was going to report on what happened. The News Stations all knew better than to cross the PRT like that, even if they did catch wind of something going on. But they would still know, and that meant that 'Kid Win' was done career wise. If he wanted to keep going, it would have to be somewhere else, probably under a different name.

Hence, the transfer. It was simultaneously the best the PRT could do for Chris, and the absolute douchiest.

"That's-!" Missy scowled, her voice increasing in volume but was cut off as the visitor warning went off. It wasn't the one that meant they had to put their masks on, but it was enough that everyone in the room paused to turn to the door, through which strode Armsmaster and Dauntless.

Dennis hadn't really interacted much with Dauntless after joining the PRT, but he seemed like a nice guy at least, so he was glad the guy was 'back'. He also made a mental note to ask Nexus if she could do anything about cancer. She seemed less uptight about personal favours than Amy, who was, in all honesty, kind of a bitch. Not that he would ever say that aloud, not in this city, where she was basically considered a saint.

"Clockblocker, suit up. I may need your assistance." Armsmaster stated firmly, crossing his arms and waiting for him to comply. Dennis could feel his eyebrows crawl up into his hairline at the order.

"I thought the Wards were off active duty until we got the new transfers." He pointed out, not wanting to reference that what they were really waiting for was for Chris to be gone.

"And why is only Dennis going?" Missy added pointedly. Armsmaster looked like he was contemplating that question for a second before answering.

"Nexus has called to inform us that Predator requested a meeting with her nearby to where she believes the Teeth are holing up. In accordance with the Director's request that she stay as far away from the Butcher as possible, she is requesting that we handle the situation." He responded finally.

"That doesn't really explain why you need me." Dennis pointed out.

"We believe it's likely that Predator's new partner will also be present." Armsmaster responded.

"The... Trump? Who could lock me in my costume for all eternity?" Dennis asked incredulously. Sure, he was a Hero, and yeah, he thought Nexus was a decent enough person, but he had zero interest in getting screwed over by some crazy bitch with a chip on her shoulder for the girl.

"Evidence suggest she has a limited targeting capacity and that you would be able to return to normal once she left the area. We don't expect you to stop her. We just want you on hand to-" Armsmaster began to explain before it clicked for him. And when it did, he was simultaneously deep confused and worried.

"You want to recruit her." He said, cutting Armsmaster off. Dauntless had the grace to wince at the accusation. Armsmaster did not.

"She has yet to do anything criminal in her Cape identity, and as such, we will extend all due courtesy." Armsmaster responded curtly.

"Yet to- Okay show of hands, who saw the news thing with the Undersiders?" Dennis blurted, turning towards the other Wards and nodding when all of them - even Chris - raised there hands.

"Cool. Who wants to exist in the same building as one of the chicks that made Nexus Trigger?" He asked dryly. All the hands went down.

"...We would naturally send her to another Department." Armsmaster offered, somewhat weakly.

Dennis leveled a look at him.

"Well, think about it this way, if we can recruit her and get her outta the city, the chances of her setting Nexus off go waaaaay down." Dauntless jumped in.

"Regardless. I have asked Nexus to use her mover power to bring us to the meeting site. We will determine her response at the time and proceed accordingly." Armsmaster responded.

Dennis was mildly disturbed by the implications in that statement, since it meant that - for all intents and purposes - they were intentionally giving Nexus a chance to violently murder Predator and her friend, just to see if she would.

Yeah there was no way this was going to go well.

So he got suited up and ignored the ongoing argument after that point, because maybe if he was lucky he could stop anyone from getting murdered tonight.

Because even if he was a brat about it most of the time, he was a Hero. Even if he had no idea why sometimes.

When Clockblocker walked through Nexus' creepy portal full of malevolent eyes, he had done so last in the line of people that were going on this short mission. Arms...less? Daunt-Master? He was still workshopping a name for it, but regardless, the weird gestalt of the two heroes was first through, followed by Nexus and then himself - ostensibly because if there was anything hostile on the other side of the portal, he would be the most vulnerable.

Now, when he came out the other side, he had been expecting many things. A blood bath perhaps, maybe some light threatening while Nexus dangled the people they were to meet over the edge of a building. Not... whatever this was.

"Clockblocker right?" The one person in the abandoned Ferry Station he didn't immediately recognize asked him as he came into view, alongside a very confused looking Nexus and Armsmaster. What was out of place though, was the fact that she was oh so casually standing in front of a downed Shadow Stalker - sorry, 'Predator' - who had one of her own tranquilizer bolts sticking out of her neck and a flabbergasted look on her unconscious face. The girl was - if Dennis was being completely honest with himself - real hot looking, having apparently taken the time to build her costume around a tight fitting black body suit that showed off her... assets. Besides the bodysuit, she wore pair of camouflage pants, a belt with a variety of tools on it, and a green scarf around her lower face not unlike Miss Militia. Dennis would have called her a fan girl or a cosplayer if he didn't already know she was a cape herself. He also kind of wondered what the point of the mask was, since her very identifiable fiery red hair wasn't even slightly hidden by it. All in all, she looked like she had completely sacrificed protection or secrecy for well... looking good. Which, in a general sense, he could appreciate, even if he was still worried that appreciation was quickly about to become necrophilia.

"Yes?" He answered hesitantly.

"Great! You wanna take her? Honestly, I can't believe she was going to sell me out to the Teeth." The girl stated, muttering the second part under her breath in a way that only seemed like she didn't mean to say it.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Nexus stated coldly, drawing Dennis attention and reminding him why he had actually come here tonight. Not that it made it any easier to force himself to shift towards the girl - ostensibly to calm her down, but more specifically, to use his power on her if it looked like she was about to nuke the building they were in.

"Being a Hero. Duh. What, you think all the gangsters went away because you were on TV a few times?" The redhead retorted easily, causing Nexus to growl lightly and begin to glow a faint blue.

"Em-" Taylor began to state but was sharply interrupted by the other Cape.

"Switchblade. Call me Switchblade." She said proudly, fingering a large knife at her waste.

"...Switchblade then. What happened to you? You didn't used to be like this. Wasn't she your friend? Wasn't I?" Nexus asked, her tone somewhere between anguished and outraged. During the conversation, Daunt-Master had surreptitiously walked over to Sophia, checked her pulse, and then begun stripping any weapons he could find off of her, leaving Dennis to watch the this train wreck anxiously and alone.

"Oh but Taylor, we still could be! Don't you know, I was looking out for you. Look at you! I made this!" Switchblade said smugly, waving a hand at the other girl. Taylor stared blankly at the girl for several seconds, as though trying to process that information. Her expression then rotated quickly from hopeful, to horrified, to angry, to a beatific smiles that was somehow more disturbing than the last two combined.

"You didn't make me Emma. And if this is how you treat your friends, then I'd rather not be one of those either." She stated plainly, and even though her expression was a smile, the blue aura that always surrounded her when she fought began to unfurl behind her into that trademark spider shape. She took a step forward.

"Look I'm sorry about school okay? Sophia just kept pushing and pushing and - I guess I went a bit too far. Forgive me?" The redhead said, sounding actually contrite and ashamed now. Dennis noted that there was no second attempt to stop Nexus from using her real name, and that she had likewise not seen any issue in using Sophia's. Nexus, for what it was worth, seemed to consider that for a second, before nodding once.

"You know, I wish I could believe that. But Sophia-" Nexus paused mid sentence, and suddenly Clockblocker found himself beset by a great weight, completely unable to move, and struggling to breath. Switchblade appeared to be having far greater issues, having ended up halfway to the ground, her hands flailing across the decrepit floorboards of the station in an attempt to push herself upright.

"-Sophia was violent. But that's all she was. She hit me. Tripped me sometimes. The one that really hurt me was you. Only someone who knew me that really wanted to hurt me could have done what you did. So don't act like she made you into this, Emma." Nexus stated flatly, stepping over to stand over the struggling red head with cold eyes and the smile still on her face.

"So let me make this completely clear. I have had four projections at this point. Two of them wanted to dismember you. One of them wanted to trap you in a pocket dimension until you stopped being such a bitch, and one of them just wants to hit you with a stick until you cry uncle. You are alive, purely because I am a better person than you. So go home. Join the Protectorate. Leave the city. I don't care which one. But stay out of my way." Nexus said with finality, stepping away from the trembling girl and allowing the pressure she exuded to vanish along with the image behind her. Dennis couldn't help but feel like he had just witnessed an olive branch being extended, for all it sounded like an extremely real death threat.

"I don't know that the second one is a great idea. We kind of like Nexus here." Clockblocker added in after a second, eliciting a snort from Taylor as she walked back over to him. He tried to keep an eye on Switchblade as she did so, and found her mostly alternating between gasping for breath and trying to kill Nexus with her mind alone. If he had to put an name to the expression on her face, he would go with 'lost for words'. He couldn't fathom why. She wasn't even a little bit subtle about that conversation. It was like watching a pre-schooler pretend to be a femme fatale. It just didn't work.

"Are you going to be okay?" He whispered to her as she passed him. She shrugged in response but whispered back.

"You aren't actually going to recruit her right?"

He was glad he had a full face mask because the expression he was making would have made the answer to that question obvious. Still, he couldn't just say nothing.

"...Yeah, probably. She's a perfect counter to the Butcher." Clockblocker replied, surmising his deduction on the topic and glancing over to check on Daunt-Master, who were stoically explaining to Switchblade or Emma or whatever stupid name she wanted to go by, that her options at this point were basically juvenile detention or the Wards. Or Nexus, but that sort of went unsaid. He wondered if Taylor even realized she had functionally just threatened to murder someone in full view of two Protectorate Heroes.

Then he remembered Miss Militia, and he wondered if it mattered.

"...Don't trust her. She's a snake." Taylor responded after several seconds of terse frowning. "I'm leaving. Do want a ride home?" she asked when it became obvious the Switchblade would be going with Armsmaster - mostly evidenced by the scowl she was leveling at Nexus.

"Uh... sure?" Clockblocker replied tentatively. Honestly, he'd like to make a joke or something to break the tension, but Nexus kind of scared him too much to bother at the moment. Of course, he, being a teenage boy, and she, being a fairly athletic looking girl in a skintight suit, would politely describe the sensation as 'scarousal' if only privately. He had the sudden suicidal thought to ask her on a date, and then immediately quashed it. He had tried that one with Sophia and she had threatened to phase an arrow up his ass for his troubles. This probably wouldn't go any better.

"No offense, but if I don't come by as often anymore, you'll know why." Nexus state matter of factly after ushering him through her Portal, then allowing it to close behind them.

"That's cool. The Director says you're gonna have some of us over at your castle thing for a while anyway. I'll see you when it's my turn. Also, are you gonna go back for Armsy or...?" He asked belatedly, realizing the man had been left behind.

"No. He can walk." She answer bitterly, swing her arm and opening another Gap that he presumed went from where they were - the parking garage beneath the PRT building it looked like - to her home. She stopped before stepping through it though.

"Tell the Director I'd like Miss Militia and Vista for the first rotation please." She added, before vanishing from sight.

Dennis stared at the spot she'd been in, then exhaled in relief. She was surprisingly reasonable over the whole thing, all things considered. God knows, if he could punch cancer, he'd have done it. This, of course, reminded him that he still had to ask her about healing for his dad. Which meant that - despite the fact that she was probably going to be super irate for a while when it came to the Wards - he was going to have to try to get in contact with her anyway. Greaaaaat. Maybe he could get Dean to connect him with Glory Girl, and she could ask for him. That could work right?

Grumbling to himself about the injustice of it all, he started trudging into the building to tell everyone else the 'good' news.

At least they would only have to put with her until they could arrange for her to be transferred out.

He hoped.

Last edited: Sep 1, 2020

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Threadmarks Enroachment 8.7

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Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy

A Hat & Its Man

Sep 2, 2020

#17,319

Spoiler: Choices:

Current Energy: 14

Current Training: Monster Hunter (8/10)

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Hebert Household, Brockton Bay

You wake up, surprisingly, to your Master conscious, fully awake, and not immediately fleeing her bed to do soul push ups or some other ridiculously taxing activity. Speaking of which, you should really try and emulate someone who can tell if that's actually safe, because you feel like a torn ligament and a torn soul might problems with entirely different orders of magnitude.

"Um. Master?" You ask Taylor, who is mostly just staring at nothing in particular on the bed next to you.

"Mm?" She grunts at you, not bothering to actually move.

"Shouldn't you be training?" You ask her curiously.

"Oh, so now I should be training?" Taylor snarks at you, lifting herself up onto her elbows and stretching casually.

"Well- I mean no but-" You splutter at her, quickly scrambling away.

"I thought I'd take a day off. I don't feel like going to school." Taylor says, her voice neither too strained nor particularly relaxed. You are immediately reminded about why the two of you are still wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

"Don't the PRT owe you? Can't you just ask them to arrest her or something?" You ask petulantly.

"They don't owe me - that's why they pay me." She answers with a snort.

"Not very well..." You grumble in response, before perking up.

"Actually, we should go talk to the Director. Someone phoned trying to get you to bring someone back to life, but they definitely weren't supposed to know you could do that." You quickly explain.

"Water is wet, the sky is blue, and the PRT couldn't juggle a single ball if there was a string tying it to their hands." Taylor mutters in annoyance before rolling over onto her back and swishing her hand in the air lackadaisically.

"I'll call Dad and tell him I'm not feeling well. We can visit the PRT later. For now, tell me more about those Grimm things." She asks.

"Um, well I told you about the more common ones, Beowulf, Ursa, Boarbatusk..." You trail off in thought. You have a limited knowledge of the Grimm. That limitation is mostly 'where to hit them' and 'how'. The actual explanations of their tendencies and names were fairly limited for you. It might seem like fighting a Monster was fairly simple - apply violence until done - but there was a particular trick to beings like Grimm that wasn't present in most other living things. For one thing, they didn't feel pain. Or at least, they didn't respond to pain. A Beowolf would be perfectly content letting you stick a sword through it's eye if it thought the momentum of it's charge would allow it to hit you regardless. Warding attacks like light slashes or surface wounds didn't mean anything to them - they didn't bleed in the first place. So every attack had to be deep. Every attack had to be an overwhelmingly crippling or killing blow. You had to be ready to contend with the resistance of the monsters abhorrent body as your weapon passed through it, you had to know when to dodge instead of counter attack, you had to know... well you had to know how to be a Huntsman.

"There are-" You begin once you arrange your thoughts on the topic, only to be stopped when Taylor sits up and coughs loudly over you. You glance at her, and then, when she doesn't say anything, return to speaking.

"There are-" You begin but are cut off again by another fake cough. You raise an eyebrow at her, the patented Hebert response to such situations - one you're glad your current Emulation can manage.

"This isn't the learning position." Taylor points out to you.

"The... learning... position." You strain to say, squinting at her.

"Mhm." She says, and then without preamble, uses her vastly superior strength to lever you down into her lap.

"...And this helps you learn somehow?" You ask her skeptically, and also, while blushing neon red.

"Well it makes me feel better. You know stress reduces the benefits of education by-" Taylor starts lecturing you half seriously while smirking down at you. The fact that she's joking aside, you can tell that messing with you actually does make her feel better.

"There are several ways to fight the Grimm." You say, speaking over her, because if you don't, you won't accomplish anything this morning.

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

PRT Headquarters, Brockton Bay

"What is it now Hebert?" The Director states sourly as Taylor appears in her office, having opted to just phone ahead and then teleport there rather than go through the waiting room. A fact that you are certain the Director does not appreciate.

"Why does there have to be something wrong every time I visit you? Maybe I just want to see how you're doing?" Your Master states nonchalantly as she drops into the chair across from the Director with nearly zero tension.

"Because as much as I hate it, problems are my job Hebert. No one talks to me unless they have one, and I don't have the time to make small talk with anyone because of that. So either spit it out or go away. And stop leaning back like that, you'll break the chair." She says icily as your Master splays out over the seat without a care.

You suspect that your Master might be deliberately trying to piss the Director off. You also suspect that she might be doing so explicitly because of a certain red head who is almost certainly somewhere on the premises. The fact that you have been in this room more frequently that nearly any other Parahuman in the city may also have something to do with it.

"Fine, fine. Honestly, I have no idea why you're so ornery with me all the time. I'm pretty sure all I've done is improve your quality of life over all." Taylor points out, causing the Director to narrow her eyes at her.

"Hebert." She says once more, her tone turning glacial.

"You've got a leak or something. Someone phoned me yesterday looking for my 'services', which I assume should be impossible." You're Master states, finally deciding to be serious for a moment. At this the Director seems actually taken aback for a second, before returning to her usual displeased scowl.

"I see. I'll have Armsmaster and Dragon look into it. Shouldn't you be in school right now?" She asks pointedly, obviously wanting to hurry the conversation along.

"I took the day off. Do you have a cell I can leave Night in yet?" Taylor responds. You blink. You had actually forgotten about Night. You're pretty sure your Master did too. In fact, you suspect that your Master remembered the dangerous criminal's predicament purely as an excuse to spend more time bothering the Director. You think she might even be slightly enjoying the interaction which is all kinds of weird. If you didn't know any better you'd almost say she liked the woman, which is just ridiculous given their history.

"...Yes. The cells have been refurbished for Brutes. I assume you remember how to get to the Prison." Piggot asks, a touch less frigidly. You suppose it makes sense. The woman is nothing if not serious about her job, and leaving Night unaccounted for is somewhat of a loose end, even if only tangentially.

"Yup. Want me to swing by later to pick up Miss Militia and Vista?" Your Master continues, not bothering to get up or even pretend she intends on leaving just yet. The Director stares at her for several seconds, with an expression you could politely describe as 'non plussed' and then sighs, withdrawing two pills from within her desk and then downing them with the help of a glass of water that had been sitting on it the entire time.

"Are you okay?" Taylor asks, instantly switching over from nonchalantly aggravating to worried in a split second.

"It's Aspirin. I'm taking it for my migraine. My Taylor Hebert shaped migraine." The Director explains bluntly, rubbing at her temple before continuing.

"To answer your question. No, don't bother. A PRT issue van will be sent with them to ensure they have an appropriate means of egress should they need it." The Director states. Your Master, apparently having had her fun, nods to that, and then stands up.

"Well Director, I would say it's been nice but, you know." She says with a shrug, cleaving open another hole in reality.

"Likewise." The Director growls - although you can't help but notice her mild scowl twitch slightly upward as you step through the Gap after your Master.

Your Master has been contemplating her sword for the last five minutes. You aren't sure why, although you can guess. Uber and Leet - who are in two cells that very pointedly don't have a view of one another - are watching her with interest, Uber with a mostly mild curiosity, and Leet while occasionally saying something to himself and then visibly cackling about it. You wouldn't know what specifically he's saying, since the cells are apparently sound proof when properly activated, given the wavy blue energy field making up one wall of the thing.

"Master?" You ask curiously.

"Hang on a second, I'm trying something." She states, waving you off with one hand without turning around. A few more seconds pass, and then your Master steps forward into one of the cells, with her sword raised over head. You assume for a second that she is going to make a Gap - the motion has become familiar to you in the last few days - but instead, her right pinky finger lifts into the air on the hilt of her sword, and then drops with the finality of guillotine, accompanied by your Masters whispered "Skadoosh."

A few things happen. For one, her sword turns a brilliant gold that illuminates the entire prison block. For another, she swings it outward opening a hole to... somewhere... You are seeing it, but you aren't really comprehending it. The best you can manage is to interpret the other side of that golden portal as an ever changing kaleidoscope of shapes and textures, that all rotate together in complete harmony with one another into an almost mesmerizing whole.

Then your Master reaches through the golden portal and pulls Night out by the back of her neck like she might lift up a particularly adorable kitten, after which, the portal closes.

Still dazed from whatever it is you just saw, your Master lets go of Night, allowing her to fall to the floor bonelessly. Once her face touches the hard concrete floor of the prison cell she jerks slightly, pulling away from it - but only to roll over onto her back. The woman looks like she has seen better days. Her once moderately form fitting costume is torn in several places that look like the result of the woman herself manually doing so, as opposed to battle damage.

"Hey. You alive?" Your Master asks curiously.

"...Yes." The woman answers, not bothering to get up, but lifting a hand to stare at it with absolutely no expression on her face.

"Cool. You're under arrest and all that stuff. Don't try to get out okay?" Your Master says cheerfully. Thinking on it, a threat like Night - someone who could have absolutely destroyed your Master when she first triggered - is barely even worth thinking about anymore. All she really brought to the table was brute force and speed - both things that your Master has in such overwhelming abundance as to make exercising them trivial.

"I... understand." The woman replies, allowing her hand to fall to the ground. At this, she smiles slightly, and continues to stare at the ceiling, tears slowly falling down her face. You get the distinct impression she wasn't really responding to your Master when she spoke either.

Your Master obviously notices this, but chooses not to comment, clearly not feeling over sympathetic to the one time Nazi Assassin.

"Come on, let's go see what Wreck and Aspirant are up to today." Taylor says as she walks out of the cell, a blue force field appearing behind her as she exits.

The woman who remains behind in the cell makes no move to rise from her position on the floor as it does so.

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

The Heap, Brockton Bay

"Yo boss!" Trainwreck calls out to you as you appear in his - admittedly drastically expanded - garage.

"Hey. How's... whatever this is, coming." Taylor asks curiously as she eyes the bulky suit taking form in the center of the area. Much like Trainwrecks normal attire, it appears to be fairly slapdash, but as you look closely at it you find that a certain amount of care has obviously gone into every weld in the thing. It has a certain uniformity that takes Trainwrecks usual junkyard ascetic up a notch into merely 'tarnished' looking.

"Not to fucking bad. When this baby is done I'll be able to go all night long," The man purrs at his machine in a tone of voice you find distinctly uncomfortable.

"Wreck, it's a suit, not a woman." Taylor points out, seemingly ignoring the innuendo.

"Don't listen to her baby. You're gonna love it when I'm inside you, I promise." He croons again, running one of his hands along the machines side with a loud metal on metal scraping noise.

"Eww." Taylor says,wrinkling her nose and stepping away from the man.

"Listen boss, I love ya like a weird cousin or some shit, but you gotta let me have this. Some men are into cars. Some are into guns. I build power suits." He states blandly, gesturing around himself at the half dozen partially made suits of varying qualities and uses.

"Still, eww." Taylor repeats, sticking her tongue out at him. "Where's Jamie?" She asks after a quick look around.

"Eh, out front doing Tai Chi classes or something." Trainwreck answers dismissively.

"...or something?" Taylor mutters to herself, turning to check what the large Tinker is talking about.

Which, it turns out, is almost exactly what Trainwreck described.

"You need to keep your knees bent slightly Eun Aa, if you lock them like that then someone is going to hit you and they'll break." Aspirant is point out, leaning forward in a form that looks distinctly more humanoid than his normal combat forms and prodding the asian woman he is speaking too slightly behind one knee, causing it to bend. As he does so, nearly two dozen more women of varying ethnicity's are miming the movements of the first woman, following along through some basic stances of Kung Fu that you just barely recognize from your time as Po, and also, possibly, spending a bit too much time staring at Yang.

Possibly.

"Do you need some help?" Taylor asks curiously as she draws up next to the boy, eyeing the profusion of people nearby, whom all straighten and start working harder as she approaches.

"No need. Master Po once told me that teaching can be a learning experience of it's own. He wasn't wrong." Aspirant admits, shrugging but not turning to look directly at your Master. Likely because he remembers the slightly awkward conversation they had the last time they spoke directly.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Sooooo..." Taylor answers, before stretching the 'so' out teasingly and gesturing at the small army of women nearby.

"What's all this then?" She asks curiously.

"Ah... that..." Aspirant says, tension leaving his shoulders when Taylor doesn't immediately begin to badger him about going back to school or his family. He looks around at the open courtyard to the side of the three outbuildings nearby, one of which is already thoroughly draped in cloth banners loudly proclaiming it to be Parian's new boutique.

"I was patrolling the neighborhood nearby a few days ago, when one of these women asked me if I could teach them any self defense techniques." He explains slowly, gesturing at the horde of - clearly eavesdropping - women. "When they saw me teaching her in the yard here, more came, which drew more attention, which... well..." He trails off.

"So what, you adopted to whole neighborhood?" Taylor asks wryly.

"I can ask them to leave the premises if-" Aspirant begins tensely, obviously not pleased by the prospect but not willing to pick a fight over it either.

"No it's fine. Do you want one of these?" Taylor asks, cutting him off and gesturing to one of the two empty buildings nearby.

"I- yes. Please." He says quickly, bowing slightly to your Master. It's really weird how well Aspirant took to all the Kung Fu philosophy and etiquette. You don't hate it, but it's definitely not normal behaviour. Most Parahuman's would probably have just taken the most pertinent bits and moved on. Not completely immersed themselves in the lifestyle.

"Cool. Also. If you've been going on patrol, why the hell haven't you been inviting me?" She asks, flicking the top of Aspirants head so he'll stop bowing.

"Because I assumed you were leaving it to Trainwreck and I?" He says in confusion.

"Why would you think that?" Taylor asks incredulously.

"Well, the PRT denoted this area as our responsibility, and you seemed busy... Trainwreck and I lack other things to occupy ourselves, and so I assumed..." Aspirant trails off, blinking dumbly at your Master.

"I- you- fine. I'll get you some supplies later okay? I want you to have a way to get away in an emergency." She says with a frown.

"Um. Excuse me?" A new voice cuts in just as your Master seems set to go on a tirade about safety not dissimilar to a mother chastising a child. It is distinctly masculine, and as you turn, you find it belongs to someone who you would describe as 'disturbingly handsome'. And you don't mean that as hyperbole. The blonde haired boy looks a bit older than your Master - in his late teens if you had to guess - and his facial structure appears to be subtly shifting to be more appealing looking the longer you stare at him. He is wearing a pair of worn jeans, a sweater that seems to be barely capable of containing his musculature, and is demurely looking at your Master like a lost puppy.

Basically, a male underwear model just walked up to you and you aren't best pleased by it.

"...Yea-oh. Wow. I mean, hi?" She starts, then blurts out when she actually turns to look at him.

"Hi. I- are you still recruiting?" The boy asks, his face apparently settling into a solidly unmoving state as your Master stares at him, blushing slightly.

"Yyyyyyessssss." Your Master says, stretching each letter out as though unsure of how exactly to respond. Then she shakes her head once, and her face is all business.

"Powers?" She asks, gesturing for him to follow her as she trudges away from the group and back towards the castle.

"Um, very very minor shapeshifting, and improved skill acquisition." The guy reels off, obviously slightly ashamed of the admittedly diminutive list of abilities.

"How improved is 'improved'?" Taylor asks curiously.

"I can pretty much Master anything if I get a week or two to spend on it." He replies eagerly, apparently happy to talk himself up.

"And you keep them? They don't go away afterward?" She presses.

"Yup! I know a bunch of Martial Arts, I can drive really well, I picked up some medical training..." The boy says than peters off as he reaches the bit about the medical training. You can see why. People don't learn to sew wounds together unless they need to, usually.

"You don't have to keep explaining, I was just curious." Taylor says quickly, then continues; "So, combat or non combat?" She asks.

"...Combat?" The guy hazards.

"Hm. Do you have a place to go?" She continues, leading him into the castle.

"Not... really... a friend of mine recently died and I was staying with him so..." He responds hesitantly again.

"We'll get you set up with a room and you can read over the contract." Taylor says warmly. She's obviously considered how she would do all this since the last time with Spitfire.

"Contract?" The guy says, twitching slightly.

"Yeah. Cape name only, don't worry about getting outed. Not that it looks like it matters if your face is always changing." She says with a shrug, before turning and sticking a hand out towards the guy.

"Nice to have you aboard...?" She says, trailing off expectantly.

"Oliver. I uh, don't have a cape name yet." He answers easily, shaking it back.

School tomorrow. Choose ONE (1). Taylor will automatically spend any extra time continuing her training.

[ ] Complete Training (Monster Hunter 8/10) Cost: 2 Energy. (Choose A New Training)(Choose two other options)

[ ] Go on Patrol. (Choose up to 2 people to accompany you.) (Victoria, Trainwreck, Aspirant, Wards, Danny)

[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.

[ ] Continue Training Your Team (And also, Danny)

[ ] The Mayor wanted to see you right? Should probably look into that.

[ ] What the hell were Trainwreck and Danny doing anyway? Should you be worried? You feel like you should be worried.

[ ] Continue to research Fleur's ghost. Even if you're worried Taylor is going to end up fighting the thing.

[ ] The hell was up with Night? You feel like that response was weird, given her weeks long imprisonment.

[ ] Write-In

A/N: Ah, yes we return once more to 'what completely irrelevant and underused character can Bowler Hat Guy leverage today?' The second the Travelers come up, everyone usually goes to Sundancer, because she's obviously the woobie of the group. But nay! NAY I SAY!

Anyway. Here, have at it. Usual disclaimers apply. Enjoy.

Last edited: Sep 2, 2020

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Bowler Hat Guy

Sep 2, 2020

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