Threadmarks Interlude: Unnamed Fallen
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Aug 5, 2021
#37,472
"We're going to Brockton Bay."
It wasn't an order. It was a declaration. More of a statement of intent, really, than anything else. Valefor - Elijah, to the small circle of people in this room - rarely felt the need to give 'orders' while he was present in the compound. Between his power and Mama, there really wasn't much point in arguing or dissenting when one of them made a decision.
There was, however, a point in providing constructive feedback. You just had to make sure it was taken as such, and not as dissent or disagreement. Trying to help your leaders produce better plans was one thing, trying to obstruct them in any capacity was another entirely. It was a fine line to walk, he knew, but it had to be done.
Mostly because he didn't want to die, even if the curious looking skeletal depiction of Mama that had appeared in the corner of his eye the second he had thought of her made him feel like he didn't have much choice in the matter.
"Sorry for asking, but what are we going to do there?" He asked. What he wanted to say was 'isn't that where that crazy powerful cape that killed God lives', followed shortly by 'are you stupid?' but if he phrased his question that way he would almost certainly find himself punished. Probably not physically - there was very little corporal punishment here - but in other worse ways.
The Fallen had given him his first wife. If Elijah wanted to make a point, they would take her away. If he really wanted to make a point, he would just take her in his home, while he watched. And all of that was getting off lightly, because he was Elijah's 'friend'.
He shivered at the thought.
Hence, how he had actually phrased his question, which should have brought to mind all of that other stuff, without sounding argumentative.
Just stupid.
"We," Elijah said, gesturing from himself to Eligos - whose real name he wasn't aware of, "are going to claim our destiny." Elijah crooned with an uncomfortably sexually charged tone of voice.
Elijah made him uncomfortable for a number of reasons. For one he was… quite effeminate. He wore a corset. His mask was of a woman. He was thin and easily mistaken for a woman, a fact that he had used on multiple occasions to lure the unsuspecting into a trap. He would never admit it aloud, but even he had occasionally entertained terrible thoughts about him. Regardless, Elijah - Valefor, really - patterned his entire outward appearance on the Simurgh.
Which made the fact that they were apparently going to be setting up in a city with the woman who killed the Simurgh seem… ill advised.
Silently, he looked around himself. There were no more than fifteen people in this room. Four capes, and eleven normal men like himself. Only those who had proven they had the skills and loyalty to work away from Mama could ever be allowed to be here. Tomorrow, they would all take their wives and children, get in their cars, and begin the long drive across the country to their destination. When they got there Mama would make sure they had identities waiting. Homes. Jobs. They would fit into the city like they had always been there - and then the work would begin.
Elijah, being the most favoured of Mama's children, was exceptionally young to be allowed to form his own splinter cell - but it was hard to argue with his results. Valefor wasn't just some no name cape, hungry for power and recognition. He had put in the work, and he made the rest of the people in the compound profoundly uncomfortable. Even his most devout followers knew there was something fundamentally wrong with Elijah.
Still, when you had no power, you did what the powerful wanted - and until recently he was pretty sure he had given himself to the most powerful of them all.
Now he wasn't so sure, and if he even contemplated the thought further than that, Mama would know.
So, he was committed, no matter what was asked of him. He had come too far, and done too much, to turn back now anyway.
"What destiny?" Someone else asked blithely. It was one of the Capes - not Eligos, because that guy almost never spoke - but one of the newer additions to the group. He was pretty sure the guy was a Stranger of some kind, and was just new and confident enough that he hadn't bothered to hide the disbelief in his voice, which earned him a pointed stare from his leader.
He was just kind of glad someone else had asked the question, so he didn't have to.
"…Do you believe she is dead?" Valefor asked in a sickeningly sweet tone of voice that made his guts tingle uncomfortably.
"No! Never!" The Stranger immediately shot back, going rigid and providing the pre approved answer to that question.
There were two schools of thought when it came to the death of the Simurgh here in the compound.
On the one hand, if god could die, then what were they all doing here? What was the point?
On the other hand… the Simurgh was the most prolific and malicious planner and master of all time. Could anything truly happen against her wishes? And if that was the case, then perhaps she wasn't dead. Perhaps, this was just the setup to the greatest Simurgh bomb ever known.
Perhaps this was a sign, that her faithful needed to move, and that the end times were nigh.
"I believe she is." Elijah stated nonchalantly, causing silence to descend on the room.
"I believe she died, in order to provide me with her last gift." Elijah declared, more loudly this time, his voice a falsetto.
"Have you not noticed? Can't you see it? The world trembles at her coming. I haven't partaken of the bounty of our family since hearing of her. Our angels last blessing, her last 'Bomb', her last gift." Elijah pontificated, gesturing and posing wildly.
"I don't-" the Stranger spoke up again, clearly confused.
He himself, wasn't sure how much of what the teen in front of him was saying he actually believed and how much was a conviction that his power would allow him to bend the situation to his tastes.
He wasn't sure if it mattered. Valefor always got what he wanted. He was scary that way.
"Your fingernails. Remove them." Valefor cut the Stranger off. The man got a horrified look on his face, but immediately started pulling at his thumbnail in an attempt to rip it out at the root.
"Do it faster. And don't make any noise." Valefor added, before turning back to the rest of the group.
"Now, as I was saying. We'll need to make a few stops along the way. I'll need gifts." Elijah spoke in the same self assured tone, showing absolutely no interest in what was going on behind him.
For his part, he couldn't look away from it. From the tear streaked face of the Stranger as - with a swift yank and a small spray of blood - he pulled his first nail free. Blood was running from his lips, where he had clearly bitten his own tongue to keep from making noise.
"For who, sir?" Someone asked.
He was so entranced that he barely realized it was he who had spoken. So when Valefor turned that feverish gaze in his direction.
"My fiance, of course." The monster in human skin answered easily.
"The Simurgh was, after all, the Hope Killer."
A/N: This is probably the last update that will fit in this thread, so feel free to post and talk until we hit the page limit. I'll edit this post to add a link to the new thread when I get around to making it, but I just wanted to say - thank you all for coming on this journey with me. It's been a bit over a year since I started this story, and its already way bigger than I ever imagined it could. You guys are the best, and I hope to see you all in the new thread.
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Bowler Hat Guy
Aug 5, 2021
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Threadmarks Invasive Species 15.1
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Aug 7, 2021
#37,608
Spoiler: Choices:
Current Energy: 10
Current Training: Warrior Monk 5/10
Spoiler: Base Status
Monday, March 7th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
"The principles of Ishbala-" You pause in the middle of your sentence, really contemplating what you were about to say.
You aren't trying to teach your Master about this emulation's religion. One, because even if the entity known as Ishbala is real - which you find debatable - it most certainly isn't real in this dimension. Thus, explaining what the precepts of that religion are is largely unnecessary to the skill you are trying to impart upon her.
Taylor - who is ever interested in acquiring any skill or ability you could choose to teach her - is sitting eagerly in front of you, head cocked to one side in somewhat childish curiosity as you try to force your taciturn emulation to explain something he hasn't believed in, in a very long time.
"...Meditate." You state bluntly, sinking to your knees in a rigid posture, placing your open palms on your legs in front of you and taking a deep calming breath, even as your mind swims with memories not your own.
This is the first emulation you have had that was so… conflicted about himself. About the world around him. About the results of his actions. If asked in the moment, he could say with absolute certainty that all the evil he perpetrated, the people he killed, the things he did, were a necessity. He would be clear and precise in his declared lack of remorse.
But was that really true? Or was that simply denial that could no longer stand in the face of the things he had-
You pause, eyes snapping open to stare at your Master who has wordlessly moved to follow your commands, sitting peacefully cross legged with Nemesis in her lap.
"Not like that." You grumble.
"Huh?" She grunts in confusion, one eye snapping open to observe you.
"You're meditating with your sword. Probably in that… weird place. Don't do that." You order, unimpressed, before closing your eyes again.
Several seconds go past when a faint light reaches your closed eyelids, causing you to open them again.
In front of you, your Master is sitting cross legged without Nemesis - who is standing off to the side and glaring at you - which is an improvement but…
She is glowing. And floating.
"Not like that either." You say in annoyance, standing and walking over to gently push her back down to the ground.
"...Okay what am I supposed to be doing? Because I actually know several methods of meditation at this point." She points out, clearly only mildly annoyed by the interruptions.
"This… this isn't about magic powers, or collecting your chi, or ruminating on the contents of your magic sword. It's about mastering your own mind. When you can ignore pain, because your strength of will is greater than it, when the only master of your body is your will, only then can a neophyte begin to comprehend the will of Ishbala." You explain easily.
"...So what am I supposed to do while I meditate though?" Taylor asks.
"Nothing. You are supposed to do nothing." You say adamantly, much to Taylors visible horror.
Monday, March 7th, 2011
Winslow Highschool, Brockton Bay
You are doing your usual patrols about the school that day when something interesting happens. As your Master departs for her first class of the morning, a student you don't recognize catches your attention.
This, on its own, would not typically garner your interest. However, a notable fact about this particular student is that he spends several moments tracking your Master with his eyes as she travels the halls. You wouldn't quite call the gaze predatory but it is certainly sharp. Add to that the fact that you are fairly certain your recognize every student in Winslow at this point, and your suspicions only rise.
Thus, you follow him through the school - invisibly, of course - for a time, observing him. Just as a precaution. Strangely, you find yourself feeling as though you recognize this person, but only in those rare few moments in which he speaks. He is almost painfully taciturn however, barely uttering more than a single sentence as he travels to the schools office, obtains a schedule, and then heads towards your Masters homeroom class.
This… instantly puts you on high alert.
"Master, there may be a problem." You finally forward to her. You can't put your finger on why, but it feels as though your Master is being targeted, and you don't like the feeling one bit.
"What is it?" Your Master returns to you instantly, mental voice filled with concern.
"There is a new student here who appears to be unnaturally interested in you. I am trailing him now." You inform her.
"Ugh. I hate to admit the possibility exists but he might have just transferred here to ask me on a date." She says irately before adding; "Stay on top of him - just in case he's a supervillain or something."
The foolish Tinker you caught in front of the Heap comes to mind, and you frown.
You really hope you don't have to get involved but you won't hesitate if it comes to it.
"Alright everyone, we have a new student with us today. Jamie, why don't you introduce yourself." The Teacher of your Masters homeroom class announces kindly to everyone else, all of whom are staring at the student you have been following for the better part of the morning.
Named… Jamie.
Which is quite the coincidence, because you are immediately brought to mind of-
"Hello everyone, my name is Jamie - but I most often go by Aspirant. I have decided to follow my leader's example as an open cape, and I hope to get along with all of you." He explains in a somewhat amused tone as your Master's eyes all but bug out of her head at the brown haired boy who looks nothing like any iteration of Aspirant you have ever seen. Even before he acquired the skill to truly morph his physiology to the degree he does now, he always looked like a roided out adult. You and your Master of course knew he was a teen - but you had never seen him as one.
"Holy shit." Someone in the class whispers.
"Ah- that- detention, Jeremy." The teacher says in a fluster, clearly unsure of how to handle this situation. Aspirant, who is more amused than you have ever seen his typically neutral expression and tone, smiles and nods at the speaker before walking to the nearest empty seat and sitting in it. On his way there, he nods at your Master.
"Taylor, Emmy." He greets both her and you despite not having any idea where you physically are.
Your Master pinkens slightly in embarrassed confusion.
"Jamie what the fuck?" Your Master asks him some time later, at lunch, where she and her teammate are sitting at an isolated table in the rear of the cafeteria. There is a visible bubble of space around the table, a palpable no mans land that no other student is willing to cross today, despite the students usual tendency to bring their problems to Taylor for resolution,
"You told me I had to go to school and talk to my parents." He points out, lifting a thermos of premade tea to his lips and frowning at the quality.
"So you decided to come to my school and out yourself?!" She hisses back.
Jamie takes a moment to ponder the question, before lifting a finger into the air meaningfully.
"Yes." Is his succinct response.
Your Master drops her face into her hands and groans.
"What could possibly make you think this is a good idea?!" She half yells at him.
"You did it." He replies easily.
"And people keep telling me I'm a crazy person! Come on, I can probably figure out how to mind wipe everyone, and Dragon and I are sorta friends so any pho posts-" she begins to plot, tenting her hands in front of herself.
"That feels unnecessary. Here, you haven't taken your lunch out yet." Jamie cuts her off, lifting his bag onto the table and beginning to withdraw several small containers of food. Frankly, it looks less like a lunch and more like he prepared a small buffet as he continues to open and lay out small containers. When he is finished, he places a set of chopsticks in front of your Master, picks up his own, and begins eating quietly.
"…are you trying to bribe me into shutting up?" Taylor asks suspiciously.
"I enjoy cooking. It is more of a science than an art, but it appeals to me regardless." He deflects.
Taylor stares at him in wordless judgement, slowly lifting a piece if something you can't identify to her mouth and chewing slowly.
Then she does a double take and surreptitiously shifts the container closer to herself protectively.
"Also, yes. Is it working?" Jamie asks with a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"I'll get a cooking emulation some day, and then it's over for you, you realize that, right?" Taylor admits begrudgingly - slowly increasing her food intake exponentially the longer the containers remain open.
"But that day is not, today it would seem." Jamie notes sardonically.
Taylor can only grunt annoyedly in response.
"What's the plan for this afternoon?" You ask your Master curiously, as she steps off the school grounds and casually rips open a gap to the Heap.
This isn't an unusual occurrence. In fact, it has become so common at this point that under normal circumstances, no one would even bother giving the phenomena a second glance.
Today, however, things are slightly different, in that your Master has a second traveller accompanying her home from school.
"Have some Tea, do some wizard stuff. You know - the usual." She answers with a yawn. Your Master isn't likely very tired, but she's almost certainly bored. School - while something she considers a necessity - isn't exactly exceptionally engaging for her compared to everything else going on in her life.
"I, as well, have to return to my normal tasks. It is hard to fit teaching into my schedule now that I have to come here every day." Jamie notes with some derision directed at the school.
"Ah poor Jamie, forced to spend less time around a bunch of fit women who think the world of him. Woe is he." Taylor deadpans.
"It would be highly inappropriate for me to think of them that way." He returns heatedly.
"Sorry, sorry. Just saying." Taylor apologizes before stepping through the gap with you and Jamie hot on her heels.
As you step into the garage, you are immediately met with the clang of metal, as Trainwreck does his part working on what will become Aisha's weapon. As you enter, the large tinker slowly lifts his head from the piece of metal he is closely examining, before turning to observe the three of you.
"Sup Boss, Emmy. Who's the new guy?" He asks blithely.
Jamie sighs.
Now what exactly is your Master going to do to physics today?
[ ] 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.)
[ ] Battle Arena (The Central Courtyard of the Heap becomes permanently enchanted with a protective screen and viewing enchantment, that projects fights happening in it to others in the castle, or, alternatively, to the sky above it.)
[ ] Sorcerous Amplifier (A between the Wardstone and the Tower that allows your Master to temporarily boost her magical strength, enough to allow a normal Wizard to qualify as a siege weapon. Your Master is not a normal Wizard. Weakens the Heap temporarily with each use.)
Monday, March 7th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
It happens when you are in the kitchen that evening. Your Master - after several hours of magical busy work and enchanting - is sitting down to eat what you can only really describe as an unholy amount of pizza.
She had to order to the front gate, call ahead to the guards, and make sure they allowed the Pizza guy through at this late hour, but by god did she clearly consider it worth it.
Of course, feeling bad about it, she had also then told Kurt to buy everyone living on the grounds dinner on her, to which he had shrugged and ordered more pizza.
You suspect that Fugly Bobs is going to have some competition from Big Rico's Pizza soon - not that it's really any of your concern.
Regardless, it is while scarfing down more pizza than is entirely reasonable, that your Master looks up to find Oliver sheepishly entering the room.
And he's not alone. There is a slight looking girl with him, firmly holding his hand, and staring intently at Taylor, her posture rigid.
"…Madison?" Taylor asks in a perplexed but resigned tone with a glance towards Oliver.
"Yes." She says in a weirdly dull voice that earns her a strange look from Oliver, who proceeds to take over.
"Ah, um. Maddy asked me out on a date and I know you have history so she- we wanted to… talk." Oliver states lamely.
"O…kay…" Taylor says slowly, carefully lowering the slice of pizza in her hand onto her plate.
"So uh… Maddy had something she wanted to say to you." He says, slowly releasing the girls hand and glancing towards her.
She turns to look up at him, and genuine affection passes over her face, before she returns to flat neutrality.
"I'm sorry," She says at first, slowly walking around the table to the sink, keeping her eyes on Taylor the whole time.
"That's- I mean it's not okay but at this point I-" Taylor flusters. You know from long experience that Taylor barely registered Madison as a problem most of the time. She was an annoyance at best compared to the other two.
Which is not to say she likes her.
"I'm sorry for being born, only to hurt you," Madison continues in an eerily calm voice.
"Uh…" Taylor glances at Oliver who seems just as confused as her.
"I'm sorry for failing to understand my place. I'm sorry for breathing your air and living on your earth. This is my apology - a gift from your secret admirer." She says sounding more and more like a prerecorded message the longer she speaks.
"What the fuck?" Taylor blurts out - just in time to witness Madison reach into one of the drawers, draw out the first utensil she lays hands on - and begin repeatedly stabbing herself in the eye with it.
"Fuck!" Taylor yelps in surprise, bolting across the intervening space between them to hold her hands away from her face, then being forced to pin her to the ground with a knee in order to free a hand to jam it in Madisons mouth - to prevent her from grinding her tongue off with her teeth.
Worldless, silent, tears stream down Madison's face from her good eye as she struggles to do anything to injure herself.
"M-Madison!?" Oliver blurts out, finally catching up with the situation, then rushing to help.
"Hand!" Taylor barks at him, yanking his hand down to take over blocking the struggling girl's mouth. Then she leans away and traces a rune across Madison's forehead - instantly knocking her unconscious.
Like a puppet with its strings cut, she goes limp, and your Master breathes a sigh of relief, waving a hand in a burst of light and healing the wounded eye.
"Taylor?" Oliver asks, the single word question so full of heartbreak and sorrow that your Master can't help but wince.
"I didn't do it. I don't know what happened. I'll take her to the hospital and…" she trails off sighing.
"… and I guess I'll see if Amy can find something, or if Piggot has anything she'd like to tell me tomorrow." She finishes, noting how late it is.
"…Alright." Oliver says, clearly struggling not to cry.
Besides checking in with Amy and Piggot… what's the plan for tomorrow? Choose One (1)
[ ] Complete Training (Warrior Monk) Costs 5 Energy. Choose Two More Actions.
[ ] Patrol The City (Choose a target area: The Docks, Downtown, Uptown) (Choose two people to come with you: Victoria, Gallant, Triumph, Aspirant, Trainwreck, Jess, Danny, Mem, Oliver)
[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.
[ ] ...Could you start a parahuman training school? You could at least look into some candidates... (Choose one: Dojo Students, Dockworkers, Panda Gang, Police)
[ ] Hypothetically, your Master doesn't mind Vicky's offer of a blind date with some boy she's never met before...
[ ] Hypothetically, your Master doesn't mind Vicky's offer of a blind date with some girl she's never met before…
[ ] Take Time Off (Pick an Extra Social)
[ ] Write-In
Last edited: Aug 7, 2021
642
Bowler Hat Guy
Aug 7, 2021
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Threadmarks Invasive Species 15.2
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Aug 12, 2021
#37,837
[X] Simple Energy Barrier (A physical barrier, preventing attacks from reaching the walls of the building)
[X] It's preeeeety Clear that a Master did this. See if you can use Runes or Onmyoudou to make Mastering impossible. If not, at least make it significantly harder.
Current Energy: 9
Current Training: Warrior Monk 5/10 - 7/10
Spoiler: Base Status
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
You and your Master wake up that morning, and set to the usual morning ablutions.
She showers, dresses, eats, and then sits down in the garage to meditate.
She does all of this, completely without prompting, and without speaking a single word to you - which is more than a little abnormal. However, you don't comment on it. Yesterday evening's events were more than a little disturbing, so you can understand why your Master might not be in the best of moods.
Your Master had - of course - immediately gotten in contact with the PRT yesterday night. They hadn't been especially happy about the potential presence of a Master targeting Taylor, but they obviously didn't hold her personally responsible for what happened either - especially since she healed the girl before bringing her to them.
Unfortunately, that was where anything resembling a speedy resolution to the matter ended. The PRT took Madison and had her placed in a Master/Stranger containment cell, watched over by an officer who could subdue her if she was still Mastered into hurting herself when she woke up.
And that was all that was done.
It wasn't that the PRT refused to do anything either - they just couldn't do anything. There was too little information to go on, and no other incidents of note in the city to use in order to investigate. Armsmaster had promised he would work with Dragon to backtrack her through the last several days but well... given the type of triggered mastering that has clearly occurred, it could have been instigated anytime in the last several weeks, and no one would have known.
Regardless, there is a somber air about your Master as you sit down to continue training with her.
At first, everything goes well. She doesn't glow, float, or otherwise do anything mystical and bizarre. Initially, you chalk this up as a win, and are pleased to be able to do some of your own meditation. Then you notice the floor is vibrating. Then you notice, much to your dismay, that you can only tell the floor is vibrating because your entire body is being pressed into it, as though a giant had chosen to sit on you without your notice.
"M-Master." You grunt from the floor, in an effort to get Taylor's attention from where she is sitting with her eyes closed and an annoyed expression on her face. The second she hears you, her eyes snap open, and as though only just realizing what she is doing - which is crushing the area immediately around her with the weight of her soul.
"Sorry!" She blurts out in dismay, immediately cutting off the feeling of pressure keeping you pressed against the ground and blushing like a child that has just wet the bed.
"Guh, it's fine. Just don't do it again. Maybe we should leave it for today." You say sourly, pushing yourself upright and blinking what could be either stars or literal concrete out of your eyes.
"No I can do it! I just- I hate this." Taylor spits in annoyance.
"We've been through worse." You point out.
"That's not the point. I hate this situation. I hate not being able to locate and punch the problem. I hate not knowing whats going to happen next. I hate being reminded of when I was-" She cuts herself, but the final unspoken word is as obvious to you as it is to her.
'Helpless'
It makes sense. Madison was close to her trigger event, and as much as your Master has grown, she has also come to expect a certain amount of control over her personal situation. If you are being a bit more candid, you could describe your Master as someone who hates when things she doesn't like happen, and generally accrues power in order to ward off situations she doesn't like. Many people would describe that as selfish, or naive - but you just think its honest. Your Master's fondest wish is to do what she wants without being restricted or bothered by obstacles, and her power, you, give her the ability to do just that.
Silently, you hurl a thought into the ether, hoping your shard self is paying attention. Despite the fact that you know it physically cannot, you beg it, even for just one second, to ease off on the trigger trauma.
Then you do what you have to do, which is comfort your Master.
"You've countered a Master before - in Canberra." You point out, directing your Master's mind away from the downward spiral of concern and worry she is currently feeling.
"That was different. Magic Resistance resists incoming directed effects - like the Simurgh's scream. I don't think the same trick would work on... whatever this is." She says with a frown, crossing her arms in front of her chest and taking on a thoughtful expression.
"Maybe you could start looking into it?" You ask. Truthfully, you were actually going to say 'it's magic, I refuse to believe you can't just make up a solution', but your current emulation actually doesn't know the first thing about the various forms of mysticism your Master flings about with such wanton abandon so you changed it.
For all you know Magic has rules that actually have to be followed, like Alchemy.
Which... definitely isn't magic, even if it includes lots of mysticism, mystical circles, a bunch of bizarre symbolism, and-
You... you're going to stop thinking about this line of reasoning now.
"Yeah I guess so..." Taylor muses, still in her thinking pose.
"Thanks Emmy. Love you." She says absently.
"I love you too, Master." You say, with an unfamiliar smile spreading across your face.
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
Winslow High, Brockton Bay
"So uh... my... friend... wanted me to reach out to you for... professional... reasons..." Greg says awkwardly as he lamely sidles up to the cafeteria table that Taylor and Jamie are sitting at.
The two members of your team are playing a game of Shogi, at Jamies request. Counter to what you might expect from the boy who has modeled his personality after an ancient kungfu master - he sucks at it. In fact, neither he nor your Master fully even knew the rules when he put the board on the table.
Thankfully, through the magic of the internet, they managed to figure it out and get to playing - even if your Masters various powers make it almost trivial to win at against the novice Jamie.
"I am aware of your powers Greg. Is that move legal? Maybe we should check the-" Jamie begins to quibble, barely acknowledging Greg's presence as he returns to complaining about your Masters skill at the game.
"It is, and we aren't. I don't have enough Phone Data to waste checking every time you ask." Taylor says bluntly.
"B-Th- Taylor! Actually shit, you just outed me dude!" Greg freaks out, head darting around in a sudden panic.
"Be at ease. Taylor did not inform me of your status - I have just noticed that your body temperature is several degrees higher than everyone else's at all times, and that you hide your physique beneath baggy clothing." Jamie waves dismissively at him.
"Not. The. Point." Greg grinds out.
"Don't worry about it Greg. I carved a silence rune into this thing months ago." Taylor says absently while examining the game board.
"...like the thing we use in class sometimes?" He asks curiously.
"Pretty much." Taylor acknowledges.
"...Oh. Uh... so can I sit here or..?" He asks sheepishly.
"It's not like I refuse to share the table. It's not my fault no one else wants to sit with me." Taylor replies with a shrug before nodding to Jamie. "Until recently anyway," She adds belatedly.
"Coooool..." Greg says slowly before glancing around the cafeteria - all of which is observing him with varying levels of interest - and slowly withdrawing his lunch from his backpack.
"So? What's Tattletale want?" Taylor asks once he is settled, doing an admirable job of hiding her antipathy towards the blond.
"She wanted to let you that Uber and Leet are back in town for some reason. I think they're recruiting people to pull off something they think is big?" Greg says with a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Greg, they're sociopathic man children. They hurt people." Taylor says flatly.
"Not all the time! Some of their videos are really wholesome!" He defends.
"They sent a prostitute to the ICU." Jamie points out neutrally.
"No, no, that was a paid actor! She was fine after-" Greg tries to counter.
"No. She was not. I recently taught her how to remove a mans ability to procreate without getting blood on her hands." Jamie responds in an entirely too pleased sounding tone.
Greg shifts his seat a few feat away from the Martial Arts Master.
After school that day, you and your Master make your way to the Heap - where she promptly locks herself in her laboratory pending Madison waking up. She stays there for the rest of the night, and when you get home, she hasn't managed to crack the problem yet - but she is feeling better about it.
Which is all that really matters to you anyway.
Strange days in the bay. Choose One (1).
[ ] Complete Training (Warrior Monk) Costs 3 Energy. Choose Two More Actions.
[ ] Patrol The City (Choose a target area: The Docks, Downtown, Uptown) (Choose two people to come with you: Victoria, Gallant, Triumph, Aspirant, Trainwreck, Jess, Danny, Mem, Oliver)
[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.
[ ] Hypothetically, your Master doesn't mind Vicky's offer of a blind date with some boy she's never met before...
[ ] Hypothetically, your Master doesn't mind Vicky's offer of a blind date with some girl she's never met before…
[ ] Take Time Off (Pick an Extra Social)
[ ] Christen the Bratpack with Aisha's new weapon.
--[ ] What is it called? (Write-In)
--[ ] What does it do? (Write-In)
A/N: I want to make it 100% clear that if the write in's for Aisha's weapon are either dumb (joke names) or are impossible/excessive I'll ignore them - so please don't write in absurb shit like 'does enough damage to kill Endbringers' or what have you.
IN OTHER NEWS. There's another Projection Quest spin off that you guys should totally go vote for! You can find it here and it's set in RWBY! We also have one of our own Questers starting a Quest that I'd love for you all to support, which you can find here!
What are you waiting for? Get in on the ground floor and make some other writer miserable with success you bastards!
Now go forth, and vote!
Last edited: Aug 12, 2021
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Bowler Hat Guy
Aug 12, 2021
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Threadmarks The (_) Must Not Step Out of Her Throne by Sleeping Moon (Canon)
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Sleeping Moon
Sleeping Moon
Viva La Fantasia!!!
Aug 12, 2021
#37,915
The (_) Must Not Step Out of Her Throne
It's funny... the Bay a few months ago spread around is like a jigsaw puzzle. Territories stamped around as different 'organizations' invest in territories and vie for different kinds of interests than all of them combined in such a powder keg that any moment can explode into oblivion. And it did.
The isolationist, Asian inclined ABB first fell.
The outcasts, the ones who gave up or has been vomited by the world, the Archer Street Merchants have been decapitated when its head was hilariously incarcerated.
The bigot and racist E88 got almost wiped out before any ideas of starting WWIII fully commenced with their 'allies'.
Minor organizations rise and fell after each of the trifecta deciding the fates of the fair little place got dethroned. Even the PRT, while still existing, has been more or less turned into a watch tower by the outside world as they wonder if the most powerful woman, who did the unthinkable and her court stayed on her throne while ignoring whatever accolades she would have.
Different methods, different ways, and somehow, someway... they heard the news,
And they where far from amused.
"Yo mi familia!" A hispanic man said as he approached his drinking buddies in their usual spot. Empty beer bottles rolled in the floor, cigarette smoke in the air and on the table some opened bottles of booze and food were scattered.
"What the hell do you want Ramirez?" One drunkard said, swigging the bottle in his hand as he chugged a few gulps. "I don't have any money right now for ya to borrow!"
"Nononono~ chill out chica," Ramirez said and wrapped one of his arm on one of the drunkard's and snatched one of the bottles and took a sip. "got some interestingly bad news, Little Reina bad news."
That sobered up everyone in the group and sharply looked at the grim looking hispanic man.
"Who's the dumb fuck this time who pissed off Nexus?" One redneck said as he grabbed his stool and moved a little closer.
"Heard from Arnold, that guy who's a little runner for Trainwreck that some estúpido got a bright idea to make one little chica stab her eye out infront of her and apologize to Nexus as... some kinda fucked up love letter." Ramirez's answer brought out a plethora of cursing from everyone as they bustled in action, some pulling out phones, other's running out to call people, and some cleaning up their stuff.
"So a fucked up Master is the one who poked our little queen and gave her some bloody flower oi?" One man said, his one stern looking eye gazed at Ramirez who started calling someone in a phone, the sharp cut in that blind eye of his made his rugged face more menacing. "No idea on how the fuck uses his power?"
"No, faceless quarterbacks took the girl into their custody." Was Ramirez only reply. A frown formed on the one eyed man as he closed his working eye, pulled off one cigarette and lit it up with his lighter.
"If its some uppity fuck's bright idea to grab some attention, it worked spectacularly and either this bastard is an idiot... a smart guy, or a crazy one." Another guy commented from the man's side, his missing teeth made the savage grin and the laughing lines on his face a bit comical to look at.
"What's worse if its all of the above..." The one eyed man said, opening his eye and made a loud cough, that made the activity in the place pause for a second to look at him.
"Usual thing, spread the word but add in to be more careful, we don't know how this fuck's power works or how they use it, so don't let someone, especially some crazy looking fuck touch you if its touch based, no eye contact or even some idiot sneezes at you, avoid the fuck out," He paused, taking a drag at his cancer stick. "We don't know if its only one idiot, or they have some buddies of their own, so always bring a buddy or two when going around," His stern eye looked at each people listening to him. "Don't be a fucking hero and bail the fuck out quickly if you notice something freaky going on and either pass it to the big guys out there like Trainwreck... or pass the message quickly if you can't do it."
"And if it's one of the locos?" Ramirez asked. The one eyed man only put his arm behind his back and pulled out a knife and stab it in the table. A blurry Strider barely readable near the hilt of the blade.
"We're no capes, the system failed us, while the old landlords here had prance around being hypocritical fucks while we snatch the pieces, the opportunities off their feet which they used to trample everything, peddling petty crimes or some shitty part time job," He said grimacing, memories swam on everyone's faces as their composure briefly broke. "It took a darn kid nearly dying for us to even properly have the idea of a future. Cell's only a room, if it's one of the screwed up fucks, a bullet or a knife if you have a chance, only if you have the chance or don't have a choice."
Accord's expressive mask frowned as he listened to the report of one of his men who eloquently passed on the news.
"Call in the PRT and some of our contacts. It will be troublesome if this Master or whomever is behind their actions got a hold of Nexus' chaotic power."
"What will you do sir?"
"Plans... I'm planning to make some plans..." The well clothed Thinker, mused, mind racing as his power started churning.
They had feared when Onna-Musha and her savage Ronin destroyed the tyrant Ryuu's rule, her actions justified, yet they feared its consequences.
Their people felt chaotic, mixed feelings when the E88 attacked and her pivotal actions helped them, saving them from being forced under heel of a much more bigoted and evil tyrants.
They called her Miko, when they noticed in the dark corners... when Youkai and demons lurked in the night striking fear on them aside from those who carry her ofudas.
They called her Susannoo's Chosen when they learnt of the Simurgh's death, for they know its brother, the evil water serpent will be next.
They heard the actions of one of her suitors.
They know their powerless to help.
So they watched, they listened, they whisper.
Even a little help if they can manage, to pay a future debt and the current ones.
They smell, they hear, they see, they feel the fear in the air.
It is intoxicating, it is beautiful, and it is a warning.
The little fairies, the spirits, the land spread the word.
The Miko is disturbed.
They don't want the Miko to be disturbed. Or her shikigamis, especially the powerful ones might fully notice, and take drastic, lethal actions.
It paused on feasting on the meal in their nest, the carcass of one of the recently dead stray dog, their fanged mouth in its neck. It did not want to touch the live and healthy ones right now, especially when one pawed and slapped it with strange powerful strength benign of its frame and with weird form.
"Oh dear, hmm... you would do little beast," A tinkling and soft feminine voice said, the smell of seawater and the splashing of calm waves was heard in the dark alley. Crisp steps of delicate feet sounded out, alongside the pitter patter of water dropping on the ground as puddles fromed. "Your no barghest or one of the lesser fae, but your ability to track with your prey's scent, your familiarity in this dark alleys, being bigger than the rest and especially your territory being near the demigod Nexus's influence would do you well... what was it you were called here on this land little beast?"
A whimper and a snap of a finger was heard in the alley.
"Ah, I see... then bloodsucking Beast of Bladenboro was it? Do be a dear and find and search for this men would you?" A delicate whisper, a flash of light and the beast has a memory seared on its head. "Oh, and don't worry, you don't need to do much, just find them and leave little pieces, little clues around for others to pick. My boon should give you enough intelligence and idea for that, no?"
The beast understood, fearfully nodded and scampered away. It might need some of the little prey lurking in the corners for help, its greed for the clarity they are experiencing made them think She will grant her more. Silence overwhelmed the alley, yet the fae stood on her position for a few moments before letting out a sigh.
"You've been watching."
A caw of a raven was heard.
"Yes, yes I know old voyeur and pervert, this little thing should be only the human's business, not of our side, and with that eye and big brain of yours, you could perceive the result, even I can casually just commence a Wild Hunt from our numbers currently to take them out as trash in its path."
...
"True... the humans as a whole are slowly noticing our side. Sooner and later they and us would wind up and be involved."
...
"... You got me there old man... Yes, its primarily because my little knight's human education might get disturbed especially with their twisted mind seems more inclined to attack those who are powerless to grab Miss Hebert's attention. But, what was that human word again... Ah! Peeh-Ar! Shouldn't a good Peeh-Ar be a much better entrance from our little side of the world if we took action even a little bit? It does not mean we are fully embracing a hands on approach anyways, and some of us have... monstrous looks that they might not like us a bit. The little beast should be a... test run so to say."
...
"... Why are you lau-W-wait what do you mean!?"
"Yo Über!" L33t, said stumbling in the room. One of their old rooms, one of the many boltholes they have in Brockton Bay.
"What!? Can't you see I'm making this sweet combos with Nero here!?" Über said, as he played in his controller, the sound of demons screeching their death sounds music to the ears for the two gamer-themed villains.
"Not the time! I think temporarily postponing that might be a bit of a great idea right now." L33t said between busy catching some air.
"Wait, you mean that!?" Über exclaimed, quickly pausing the game. "What do you mean pausing our great big show?"
"Well... remember Miller from PRT, HR? That nerd fan of ours?" L33t said, Über nodded. "The thing is, the guy managed to spill to me that M/S protocol got slammed by the big wigs. Nothing super paranoid lockdown yet, but he heard from some troopers got a Mastered girl in their custody."
"Aaand~? What's our dig on that? Yeah possible some new triggered Master got a bright idea and they are still out there but that ain't our probl-"
"She came from Nexus' castle."
"Wait, seriously?"
"Yep."
"... I think we might need to change some of our plans brother..."
"Good idea."
...
"Still going to do it?"
"Definitely would, just... a little bit of changes."
"Amen to that."
"Hmm... thank you Aspirant." Miss Kim said, bowing at their Master. The young man genially nodded and dismissed her. Walking out, she was cornered by her sisters instantly and the gossip started. Then the frowns, and then the simmering anger.
"Peace, calm down girls," Miss Kim said, "We need to tighten our patrols, her Angels might help us give us more eyes to see any problems but we need to be more alert. Arm yourselves, nothing lethal, just blunt objects, this pervert might be too dangerous for us but if we can protect our people, Her people, the opportunity she have promised us might be done in earnest if we do our work well."
"Training begins on dawn, eyes open and be vigilant girls, even to ourselves. We don't know when this pervert will strike next."
He does not have no name yet. He only have a role, being one of Her messengers to Her Angels. So he trained, to be better, observed her subject's actions to be more. To have and be bestowed a name.
He heard what an evil man had done to their creator, he spread it to the flock. They were angry, they were wary, the Tunnel Wars had taught them much, no enemy, monstrous, smaller, bigger, ignorant or with cunning mind than them are still dangers that they as her Angels must be wary yet ready to confront.
So they trained, and he did his best to train too. They remained vigilant, much tighter and much sharper as they observed and guarded.
A flap, the squall of winds surrounded the area of his ascent in an instant. Glass shards, his training weapons as they flung to the air in time with his ascent, one of the sharp and long pieces got snatched in the air by his beak. A thrust here, a thrust there, he swung and used the glass shard like a knife similar to those burly humans in the jungles he saw in the media. He used his claws and wings as he avoided, parried, destroyed the falling objects he purposely used, enough weight to be light and enough to hurt when they drop.
He desired to be one of the Aces, but a part of him got strangely attached to those who worked and blended with the environment and kill their enemies with their bodies and one sharp object and with the tools available around the field.
Clang
The last training object dropped in the ground. He wearily cooed as he's tired body felt the batter of old blunt hits from the recent trainings he had done.
He must, improve, for a name, for Her, for The Mission.
For he and his kin are her swords, her bulwarks, Her Angels.
"Troublesome..." Sere muttered as he put his burner phone in the pocket of one of his costumes. Learning from one of the Thinker indies he's friends with that some crazy Master just egged Nexus by making one of her old bullies into a love letter made just his supposedly good and heroic day highly unpleasant.
A groan disturbed his thoughts from wandering as he saw the goons he tied with tubes filled with water groaned in pain, an idea he got when he saw Parian fight. Old E88 offshoots, nothing troublesome like what he'd just learned.
A sigh, and he heard the police sirens approaching his position.
... It's painful... super painful to think about, but it seems temporarily going under might be a good idea right now, especially if he might wake up in the future getting smacked by Nexus for being Mastered. With his situation and his skillset, he is too vulnerable and he might get nabbed by whomever the crazy guy is... Which will be likely to happen given he have too few experience on dealing with such type of Masters.
Its a bit surreal, a few months ago the Bay would have like every Tuesday or Friday it would go off into flames as E88 and ABB got into a slug fest, the PRT attempts to duct tape the situation as they can as the carrions like the Merchants or some intrepid confident people pick up the scraps and he either bolts under and hide, or act as a human sized fire extinguisher where Lung's warpath tends to leave flaming wreck and houses around.
Now he, for first time in a month or two is going to do that, and its because he don't want to avoid being a statistic this time from the single woman responsible with the new status quo. Not whomever dumb idiot being the perpetrator, but the riposte of a possibly angry Nexus.
Especially if the little Queen of Brockton Bay got pissed enough to pull off the restraints this time. He saw the videos, he don't want to get hit by hundreds of energy bolts per second that are stray shots, even if her accuracy is apparently startling big.
A/N: Got a 'make Bowler Hat Guy
EDIT: Thanks DragonGrimoire for the edits, made use of your ideas and added more context in the omake,
zzz...
Last edited: Aug 14, 2021
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Sleeping Moon
Aug 12, 2021
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Threadmarks Digging For Answers by Ttran2323 (Canon)
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Ttran2323
Ttran2323
Source Material? What Source Material?
She/Her
Aug 12, 2021
#37,930
AN: Had an idea to help bridge the Dust Deposits that were said to have formed from that first RWBY bleedover effect which, if people can't remember: A World of Bloody Evolution I: Deposits of Elemental Dust start to form beneath and around Brockton Bay.
Written mainly because it actually hasn't been visible yet and recent chapter funnily enough actually mentions these two.
Anywho, this is sometime after Chapter 11.6 Feb 19, 2011 but with no definite date which is why the XX's are used.
--
Feb XX, 2011
Randall, more infamously known as Uber to the world (or at least he thought so) sighed as he followed his friend Felix aka Leet from behind.
Mostly because he wasn't sure what he was even doing at this point. As much fun as it was hanging out with Felix, even he was still wondering how long they could realistically keep this Uber and Leet thing going. Sure they had escaped from the PRT this time and all the previous times. But how long could they really keep this going?
Now, he had no intention of abandoning his buddy. That was simply off the table. But that didn't change the fact that sometimes, in the privacy of his own head, he had to admit that he wanted more in life than just being a 'joke' villain.
Sure it had been fun the first few years, in fact it still was. But that didn't change the fact that Felix's power really was screwing them over the longer this went on.
Being unable to reuse any of what he made really had been a pain in the ass to work around even before they had figured out that limitation. Now with Nexus around? Quite frankly, part of him still felt an extreme amount of terror at the possibility of facing her again. Even just the one time had been terrifying considering how quickly she went from being passive to being right in his face to deliver the first and (most definitely) final blow had their preparations not been perfect.
More specifically Felix's since that bit of tech for the time bubble thing had been on the backburner for a different project. Once again, they'd have to rework it now with that bit of tech possibly breaking down a bit earlier than they would've wanted.
Which is what they would've been doing had something truly unexpected not happened.
Something that had been old was working again. Somehow.
The 'Treasure Finder' as it had been simply called did exactly what you would expect of it. It had been one of Felix's first works when he had just been starting out and needed more resources to work with. He would calibrate to look for a concentration of whatever he inputted and it would lead them directly to it without fail. Even better? He could even put in the rule that it could not lead to trouble for them as a parameter. Randall wasn't sure how the hell Felix had managed that one out but he wouldn't complain.
However, just like everything else Leet had made, it had a fairly fatal flaw in terms of design that he hadn't been able to fix.
The Treasure Finder had been able to find whatever resource he wanted. For about 10 inputs for that main item. And then it would just not be able to find it even if you stuck said resource 1 foot in front of it. Needless to say, the Finder had quickly lost its use as Felix went through basically every material he could think of.
Until finally even the most basic 'anything new that has never been inputted' returned an error message.
Felix had simply put it in storage. Sure, breaking it down for parts would've made a lot more sense, but considering how much it had carried their early careers, Randall couldn't blame him for the sentimentality.
Years had passed and he had largely forgotten about it.
Until it had pinged off of something randomly several nights ago. It was still set to seek out something that Felix had never used before and it had finally returned a result.
Even he had to admit some excitement wondering what it may have been.
That curiosity was really waning though.
"You sure we're digging the right way?" he called out.
"Yeah we're definitely going the right way. Just a couple more meters down, man," Felix responded.
This was actually not the first place they had found. It had simply been the most private one that was the least likely to have them be interrupted. One had been in a very public park near the Boardwalk. Another directly underneath the area around the docks. They had even been directed to go into an area somewhere below the water near the PRT HQ at one point.
Now they were on the outskirts of the city digging downward to whatever they had found.
"Alright, if you say so. Though I'm totally blaming you if I wind up dow—AHHH!" he screamed as the ground suddenly caved in! A cloud of dust covering the hole he had fallen into obscuring all vision!
"Randall!" he heard his friend call out from above him.
He groaned. Blearily he blinked and rubbed his head which had hit the ground slightly and eventually said the first thing that came to mind..
"...ow. Fuckin' teach me to not dig straight down."
"Oh thank god Randall. You ok down there?"
"Yeah just give me a sec." Slowly forcing himself onto his feet he looked upward at the hole he had fallen into. 'Well, at least it's not too far up there,' he thought before calling out. "You're gonna wanna watch your step man. Ya got something like an 8 foot drop."
"Got it! Just give me a sec to secure a rope!"
Nodding even if he couldn't see it, Randall turned around to finally look at where he had landed. The headlight on his head swivelled before catching on something. And then he panned his head upwards and simply stared for a second.
"Holy shit… Felix?" He could feel a smile starting to form on his face as he called up to his friend.
"Yeah? What's up?" He could hear Felix starting to make his way down. Carefully though. It would be just his luck to actually get a legit injury over something as stupid as a fall.
"You're really gonna want to get down here for this!"
Because this? This was something completely different than what he had expected. Something he had never ever seen before outside of a videogame.
Crystals. Actual crystals that were embedded into the walls and glowing with something he couldn't even begin to comprehend. They ranged in sizes, with the largest being about the size of a head but the sheer amount of them? It was staggering. What even were these things?
Behind him, he could hear Felix gasp as he no doubt finally saw what he was seeing before coming up alongside him.
"Good job man," he said slowly. He brought his hand up and Felix followed suit with them ending in a fistbump.
The two of them simply basked in their discovery. Felix's mind was probably going into overdrive about future possibilities that this opened, Randall was content to simply let him do it. He was just gonna enjoy the sheer visual spectacle in from of him.
And then Felix sneezed from the dust (which he was only just now realizing was more red-tinted than it should've been) that was still in the air.
And that was how the two of them learned of the red dust's flammability properties. As well as some of the other ridiculous properties that some of the other coloured rocks had in their panic.
Eh, still worth it.
--
AN: Names chosen randomly since they don't have canon names and BHG never used any either. And Leet being given a name that apparently means 'Happy, Lucky' given his circumstances is something I couldn't not do.
Last edited: Dec 24, 2022
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Ttran2323
Aug 12, 2021
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Threadmarks Invasive Species 15.3
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Aug 15, 2021
#38,083
Spoiler: Choices:
Current Energy: 8
Current Training: Warrior Monk 7/10 - 9/10
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
The next morning you awaken to find your Master having not actually slept last night. Instead, you find her sitting in the center of the bedroom, surrounded by scraps of note paper with a variety of arcane drawing and illustrations on them. You are sure if you were currently emulating someone more mystically inclined, that you would be able to work out what at least some of them mean.
As is, your Master mostly just looks like a disheveled lunatic.
Slowly, you push yourself upright, and shift slightly towards Taylor, only to have her attention immediately snap towards you.
"Hey does Alchemy do para-sympathetic bonding or is that strictly an eastern magical practice? I ask because there are some hypothetical materials that would make really good talismans if I could tune them to their owner's soul." She blurts at you, bouncing excitedly on the floor while she waits for your answer.
"...Alchemy isn't Magic. It's science." You explain slowly, unsure of how else to answer the question.
"It's complicated chalk circles that reference the alignment of celestial bodies and the state of local ley lines in order to change the molecular composition of a material." She responds to you flatly.
"Yes, sci-" You begin to agree only to be cut off.
"It's magic Emmy. It takes the laws of physics out behind the house and puts them down like a dog with rabies." She counters instantly before blinking tiredly at you as if having only just remembered something.
"...what time is it?" She asks blearily.
You, still somewhat stunned by your Master's declaration, glance towards the clock, then back at the manic teenager.
"Time to wake up." You say with a shrug.
"What- no that's not right I didn't even get to bed last night! I've only been here for-" She pauses, doing some mental math. "...a few hours?"
"You have not." You say kindly, moving to crouch next to her and wordlessly picking her up.
"Hey wait, I wasn't done with that!" She protests weakly, making childish grasping motions at her unruly workspace and kicking her legs.
You both know that if she actually wanted to, she could force you to put her down - but it's nice to be able to take care of your Master now and then. When you had first started out, this was more the norm than anything else - you cooked and cleaned for her, and looked after her like family. But as she has grown more powerful and independent, opportunities to do so simply stopped arising.
You doubt either of you would ever admit it out loud, but this moment is actually somewhat nostalgic to you. And because of that, you cherish it with every fiber of your being.
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
Your Master's sleep deprivation aside, the rest of the morning goes about the way it always does - even if you're pretty sure your Master was sleeping instead of meditating. Your Master dozes on the couch while you put together breakfast for her and the kids, and when everyone is up and fed, she opens a Gap to the heap to drop Mem and Mun off with her Father to be taken to school.
Likewise, school is a non event. Your Master talks some more with Greg and Jamie, no major incidents occur, you all eventually make your way to the Heap.
It is only once she steps over the threshold of her Gap into the Garage that Taylor once more becomes energized and wakeful - having crept through the day in a barely awake state.
"Oookay. Jamie don't go anywhere. Wreck!" She yells into the depths of the Garage, snatching Jamie by the back of his shirt before he can disappear into his dojo as per his norm.
"What?! Do you know how fucking hard it is to make microscopic welds you crazy bitch?!" Trainwreck yells irately from out of sight, coming into view behind a mound of battered scrap metal only when he ceases crouching over his current project to tower over the room. His eyes are bloodshot, and he is clearly missing just as much sleep as your Master.
"Yeah that's why I asked you to do it, duh. Come on, I've got Wizard shit to do." She gestures at him, rolling her eyes at his overly crass tone and word choice.
"Boss, you know when you describe everything insane you do as 'wizard shit' you set a fucking precedent right?" Trainwreck sighs, one huge metal hand reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"I'm a wizard, therefore, everything I do is wizard shit." She points out in an overly happy tone of voice that - nonetheless - manages to carry with it a hint of menace.
"Yeah but chuckles doesn't call everything he does kungfu." Trainwreck grouses.
"Actually, everything in nature is applicable to Kung Fu. It is the core of my style." Jamie notes as his body slowly expands into his more familiar pearlescent armored form.
"...Are you fucking contagious? No wait, don't answer that. I'm just gonna start calling everything I do tinkering, and no one is gonna argue with me about it." Trainwreck grumbles.
"I will collect Huntsman and Parian. Will we be meeting in the Ward room?" Aspirant asks politely, ignoring Trainwrecks ongoing grumbling.
"Nope," Your Master responds, making a popping noise on the 'p'. "I'm gonna need everyone to cram themselves into my workshop." She orders cheerfully.
And it is an order, not a request. She never seemed to have to make a distinction between the two. If she was talking to you, you just knew. You aren't sure if your Master did that on purpose, or if she was even conscious of it, but at times like this she certainly reminds you of how she gathered her team together in the first place.
Twenty minutes later, the lot of you have moved to your Masters workshop, and Aspirant arrives shortly afterward with Parian and Huntsman in tow. Parian is dressed in casual clothes, and is seemingly moving around the Heap under the premise of being her own personal assistant, and Oliver is… dour looking.
Oliver has been many things in your time together. Sad. Unsure. Concerned. Afraid.
This is the first time you have ever seen him angry. When he strides into the room behind Aspirant and Sabah, there is a notable moment of awkward silence as his intense air, rigid posture, and fully equipped form step into view. He doesn't give off the unsure outward appearance you are accustomed to from the boy.
He gives off the aura of a soldier. And as much as you are happy that he has found something to motivate him, you also recognize that intensity. It is entirely too familiar to Scar, a man who waged a one man insurrection against a global superpower using only his bare hands and his wits in the name of revenge.
It is the face of someone getting ready to do unspeakable violence in the name of revenge.
"Taylor, Emmy, Trainwreck." Sabah greets you each in turn, breaking the momentary silence as she picks her way across the - admittedly now quite messy - room to stand near you all. Oliver… doesn't say anything. He just nods at you and then goes still just inside the doorway - like he is anxious to leave.
Taylor glances at him with a furrowed brow for a moment before carefully wiping the look from her face and turning to everyone else.
"Okay, you guys know the situation. There's a Master in the city and they - apparently - really like me. I don't know what they might do next, but I'm not willing to wait on it. So!" She says, suddenly becoming cheerful and reaching out to grab one of several stones piled atop the center island of the workshop.
"I spent the last few days thinking about how I can protect you all from being Mastered, and this is what I came up with." She continues, grasping the stone loosely in both hands as her tattoos spring to life across both her arms, and an electrical charge begins to build around her. The stone in her hand then slowly begins to glow and change shape until it has become a uniform rectangle of silvery material roughly six centimeters in length. Upon closer inspection it becomes obvious to you that the object is also covered in miniscule text - most likely runes - and has a tiny hole in its top as though it is meant to be held on a keychain.
She then throws the object to Oliver, who snatches it out of the air with much more grace than you would expect from him.
"What does it do?" He asks flatly.
"I can only charge them up so much, but it should do two things. One, if it detects someone trying to Master you, it puts you in a temporary stasis where you can't be affected by the outside world. It'll probably be uncomfortable, but it works a lot like Clockblockers power so you shouldn't really notice the lost time." Taylor explains, rapidly creating one for each member of her team.
"And?" Trainwreck asks curiously, holding the object up at eye level to examine it.
"Hm?" Taylor says innocently.
"You said 'one' which implies a 'two'." Sabah points out in amusement.
"Oh. Yeah don't worry about-" She tries to brush the question off.
"I'm worried about it, Taylor. I'm very worried about it." Sabah responds, instantly wary.
Taylor and Sabah stare at each other for a second, neither one speaking, until Trainwreck interrupts.
"Five bucks it explodes." He says blithely, still eyeballing the thing.
"It-" Taylor opens her mouth to counter.
"I've got ten on laser." Sabah adds offhandedly. Taylor turns a betrayed look on her.
"Just tell us what it does." An exasperated Oliver interjects before things can get out of hand.
"...Okay so it does kind of explode. Just a little bit." Taylor admits eventually, continuing when Trainwreck reaches out to take a bill that Sabah withdraws from her pocket.
"To be more specific, it shoots an attack at whoever it determines was the origin of the Mastering, reducing their weight to nothing and then causing a small explosion under them, which should launch them into the sky where they will hover for the next hour." She blurts out.
"...So your plan to resist Mastering is to hurl anyone who tries it into the sky?" Trainwreck asks incredulously.
"Well some random person hovering in the middle of the city would be pretty noticeable right? So I'll either catch the Master, or I won't notice and they'll eventually fall several dozen feet. Either way, problem solved!" Taylor says easily. What she doesn't mention is that Master effects are so varied that it's almost impossible to create a perfect defense against all of them. So instead, your Master has chosen the time tested strategy of 'respond with overwhelming force'.
"Will it kill them?" Oliver asks, suddenly interested.
"Oliver." Sabah warns him, obviously only willing to put up with his bad mood so far.
"The fall. Will it kill them?" He asks again, ignoring her.
"No? It'll definitely hurt though, unless they're a Brute, which I doubt." Taylor admits.
"Hm." Oliver grunts absently, hitching the metal tab to his belt along with all his other equipment. Then he turns and walks out of the room without another word.
Trainwreck frowns at him, then sighs.
"I'll talk to the little piece of shit later." He says.
"Don't worry about it Wreck. I'll handle it." Taylor says with a sigh of her own, before her expression brightens again.
"Now, how are we doing with those welds Wreck?" She asks, setting the matter aside for a moment.
"Aisha, I'm saying it now but the only reason I'm giving you this is because if you get one of my girls killed you'll wish you went with them." Taylor says in a straightforward and blunt manner as she leads the entire Bratpack into the Garage.
"What? That's not fair I earned it! I trained with you and everything! There's no way-" Aisha starts to complain but Taylor speaks over her.
"And I swear to god, if either of them ever comes home wearing fishnets and short shorts I'm blaming you." She continues, gesturing rudely at Aisha's preferred method of dress which is - as always - just a little bit on the trashy side.
"You're only like two years older than me! Stop acting like you I'm stupid!" she continues.
"She's just blowing off steam. It's been a stressful week." Dinah comforts her, patting the taller girl on the shoulder.
"Chances she corrupts the rest of you with her terrible fashion sense?" Taylor interjects before Aisha can answer her erstwhile friend.
"..thirty four point five percent." Dinah says reluctantly.
"That's not zero Aisha." Taylor notes frigidly.
"Mom, stop - you're embarrassing me in front of my friends." Mun says in a flat entirely emotionless voice that gives the lie to the statement.
Not that it matters, because Taylor's steps hitch slightly the minute she hears the 'M' word.
"S-sorry but I'm just really worried about you four. Please don't go anywhere or patrol until I handle this situation okay? I'm only giving this to you for self defence Aisha." She apologizes, her gaze snapping to a put upon looking Aisha at the end of the statement.
"I get it! Team DAMM isn't going anywhere for a while, geeze." She grumbles.
"Please tell me you aren't going to name yourselves that." Taylor deadpans as she finally arrives at their destination.
"Mem said it was tradition." Aisha defends instantly.
"Tradition is important." Mun adds in hurriedly.
"You just like it 'cus it's a swear." Dinah points out, earning a point from Mun.
"Why are you such a narc? Come here you!" Mun blurts out, jumping at Dinah and getting her in a headlock before starting to tickle her. The uncontrollable laughter of children rings through the garage, and for just a minute watching it, your Master smiles.
Then she turns to look at Aisha again and frowns, before reaching behind her and pulling the ragged cloth covering Aisha's new weapon free, and allowing the monstrosity beneath it to be made visible.
"This is Guardian Angel - the Ever Vigilant Steel." Taylor says proudly, gesturing down at the blade. Aisha's gaze - previously focused on her arguing friends, immediately whips around to stare at the weapon.
Guardian Angel is - among many other things - obscenely large. From hilt to the blade tip the weapon is nearly seven feet long, taller than even your Master. The blade is a full handspan in width, and is lined by chainsaw teeth shaped like fluffy white feathers. Tiny runes line every possible surface of the weapon, except for several clear patches along the center of the blade where larger japanese characters sit. The combined effect is an almost scaled texture that seems to shift and change as the blade moves.
"Oh. Yes." Aisha croons, immediately trying to reach past your Master towards the thing only to be stopped when Taylor steps between them, earning a pained whine from Aisha.
"It's got seals. Under normal circumstances, it's just a very light, very sharp sword. You will not try to break those seals unless your life is in danger. Do you understand?" Taylor orders her.
Aisha nods rapidly at her, then tries to move past her again and gets stopped - again.
"You will not hurt, maim, or kill anyone with this weapon. I have trained you at least that well. Do you understand?" Taylor continues sternly. Aisha nods again, but doesn't try to step past Taylor - a fact that seems to disappoint your Master for a moment, much to your amusement.
"And you will not patrol with this until I say you can, okay?" She states, and though it's a question, it comes out with a certain finality.
"Mhm." Aisha grunts.
"Say it, Aisha." Taylor says in exasperation.
"...Fiiiiine. We won't go on patrol until it's saaaafe." She says in the manner of put upon teenagers everywhere. Taylor eyes her suspiciously for a second, but finally does step out of Aisha's way to allow her to claim the blade.
Which she does.
Immediately.
As you stand with your Master, watching Aisha heft and swing the inhumanly large sword around like it weighs no more than a feather, you smile - and despite it not being in character for Scar, you can't help but congratulate your friend.
"Congratulations, Aisha. You're on your way to being a Hero." You call to her, which earns you a bashful blush from the otherwise boisterous girl.
"Um. Thanks." She says, as the rest of the Bratpack rush to surround and chatter with her.
"Hang on. One last thing. Dinah, Aisha, come here. I've got one more thing for you, then I have other work to do." Taylor says tiredly. The two younger girls quickly step forward - and as she did with her Oathbound before, she unlocks their Aura's.
Now what exactly is your Master going to do to physics today?
[ ] Dome Shield (The Energy Barrier gains improved durability, and preemptively activates and surrounds the property in response to attack - blocking physical entry or exit)
[ ] Expansion (The grounds surrounding the building swell in size, creating several lots worth of free space.)
[ ] Battle Arena (The Central Courtyard of the Heap becomes permanently enchanted with a protective screen and viewing enchantment, that projects fights happening in it to others in the castle, or, alternatively, to the sky above it.)
[ ] Sorcerous Amplifier (A between the Wardstone and the Tower that allows your Master to temporarily boost her magical strength, enough to allow a normal Wizard to qualify as a siege weapon. Your Master is not a normal Wizard. Weakens the Heap temporarily with each use.)
Strange days in the bay. Choose One (1).
[ ] Complete Training (Warrior Monk) Costs 1 Energy. Choose Two More Actions.
[ ] Patrol The City (Choose a target area: The Docks, Downtown, Uptown) (Choose two people to come with you: Victoria, Gallant, Triumph, Aspirant, Trainwreck, Jess, Danny, Mem, Oliver)
[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.
[ ] Hypothetically, your Master doesn't mind Vicky's offer of a blind date with some boy she's never met before...
[ ] Hypothetically, your Master doesn't mind Vicky's offer of a blind date with some girl she's never met before…
[ ] Take Time Off (Pick an Extra Social)
A/N: I had to write the back quarter of this while being heavily distracted by other things, so forgive me if it seems to cut short. That said, I heard all the hubbub over the Aisha vote, so I opted to just take it *and* the next vote down, so you get the extra free action in this update. Enjoy. Usual Disclaimers apply.
Last edited: Aug 15, 2021
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Bowler Hat Guy
Aug 15, 2021
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Threadmarks Invasive Species 15.4
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Aug 20, 2021
#38,320
Spoiler: Choices:
Current Energy: 6
Current Training: Warrior Monk 9/10 - Complete!
Spoiler: Base Status
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
"I've got it!" Your Master yells excitedly.
You can feel the palpable sensation of pleasure and satisfaction she is feeling at having figured out… whatever it is she has figured out. In a general sense, you are happy for her - because her joy, is your joy.
And yet, you find it hard to express or feel any kind of pleasure at the moment, because while all of the above is true, so too is the fact that you were quite deeply asleep at the time that she said it.
Thus, when she yells excitedly, your eyes fly open, and you nearly concuss yourself against the wall you are leaning on in a reflexive attempt to escape the sudden loud noise.
"…Good morning to you too." You grunt back at your Master, who is looming over you with her arms akimbo as she smiles nastily down at you. Behind her, you can clearly see Nemesis snickering at you from atop the bed, and rather than looking chastised by your annoyed look, the sword spirit clearly snickers louder at you.
"I figured Meditating out. It's like sleeping but you don't dream."
It absolutely is not.
"That's… nice…" you say carefully edging sideways so you can get out from beneath your Master to stand up.
Seemingly having expected the response, Taylor shuffles along with you, handily blocking your escape routes and continues to speak - all the while smiling down at you.
"Yup! It's actually really unpleasant - sleeping without something you expect to be there, I mean." She adds pointedly.
"…you get used to it eventually." You offer.
"I'd rather not." She responds pointedly.
"Are we… still talking about meditation?" You ask slowly, noticing that Nemesis has transitioned to pouting at you.
"No." Is your Masters singular response.
"I'm a grown man. It would be inappropriate." You point out, having chosen to sleep on the floor in a corner of the room for exactly that reason.
"Emmy I love you, but you're super dumb sometimes. If you didn't want me to get used to having a human sized teddy bear to sleep with, you shouldn't have done it in the first place. I'd have a hard time sleeping without you even if you were a sentient vending machine. You're not a dog - I don't like it when you sleep in the corner. You're my best friend, and we're probably going to be together for the rest of my life, so do me a favour and next time - just get in the bed." She explains at length, hissing the last words at you.
"…what if I don't want to sleep in the bed?" You point out, referencing your Masters continual insistence that you are your own person against her.
"Then don't - but that's not why you aren't doing it, and we both know it. Forget this guy's hang ups for a second. You aren't Scar. You're Emmy. And whenever you think you can get away with it you totally do it." She returns easily.
Examining your thoughts on the matter you are dismayed to find that she… isn't wrong. Taylor is the most important person in the world to you, and the web of connections and friendships you've made through her have created a sort of 'comfort zone' that you hadn't realized you'd fallen in to. At some point, you stopped being interested in conflict, fighting, winning, or even really defending anything. You just wanted what you had to go on forever. You are at your most comfortable, no, your most happy, when things are as they should be. When the kids are at the table having breakfast, when your Master is happy and without care, when Nemesis drools on your shoulder in her sleep.
They are your family, and you love them.
And that thought is highly disturbing and at odds with the nature of your shard self, even with what you perceive to be tacit acceptance of your direction in life.
So, looking up at your Master, you smile gently and speak.
"Okay."
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
"Okay but, hear me out, what if instead of going on patrol you, uh, bake a magic cake that never runs out? Solve world hunger! That seems like a thing you would do for no reason, right?" Clockblocker rapidly belts out as he rushes to keep up with your Master while she stomps through the Castle.
"I - actually, Emmy write that down, infinite cake sounds like a fun birthday present." Taylor begins to answer before turning to you and speaking.
You blink once, then sidestep into the path of one of the dockworkers on his way to do… something… renovation based inside the castle, stopping the poor man cold.
"I need a pen." You pause, then speak again; "Also something to write on. With a pen." You amend.
"I wasn't being literal." Taylor snorts before turning back to Clock, while the concerned looking worker rapidly draws a pencil and notepad from within his overalls and hands them to you - then power walks away.
"Anyway, maybe later. I don't see the big deal - other heroes patrol all the time." She huffs, coming to a stop in the middle of the hallway.
"Okay, yes, but uh…" Clockblocker stops and looks around, as though searching for a way to explain something.
"Oh, okay look - if Fugly Bob was walking around downtown - would you recognize him?" He asks pointedly.
"I'm more of a Big Rico's kinda gal-" Taylor says jokingly.
"Please don't steal my thing. I'm flippant - you're scary. Let's stick with that." Clock sighs out in exasperation.
"Is Fugly Bob even a real person? I thought he was more of a mascot - like the Burger King or -" She continues.
"Taylor. Please." Clock begs.
"Fiiine." She pouts before answering the original question. "I don't even know what Fugly Bob looks like."
"Right, exactly! But if the President were walking around nearby you'd definitely be worried right?!" He puts forth.
"More curious than anything, but I guess so." Taylor admits.
"And which of those two examples do you think you count as?" Clock continues, now happy that his explanation appears to be getting through to her.
"The armed forces." Your Master responds casually.
"Y- No! How do you even- explain." Clock groans.
"Force projection. Someone hurt one of my people-" she starts.
"You don't even like that girl." Clock complains.
"Someone hurt one of my people emotionally." She amends, referring to Oliver. "So now I have to go make sure everyone knows what happens when they do that." She explains with a shrug.
"Kind of Gang Boss sounding there Taylor." Clock warns her worriedly.
"It's only a Gang if you make profit from crime. It's a Business if you profit normally. We don't actually make any money here - I donate all of it out of pocket - which means we qualify as a Non Profit or a Union depending on who you ask." She returns with a smile.
"I feel like you've put more thought into the difference than someone who isn't a Gang Boss should have." Clock jokes back.
"It works for the PRT." Your Master says ominously before patting Clock on the shoulder, cleaving a gap open, and stepping through it.
"Huh. So that's what being scaroused feels like." He mutters under his breath.
"You realize she did that just to make a dramatic exit, and is only a few doors that way, yes?" You point out to him.
"…well now I do."
"Emmy, stop explaining my mysterious ways to people!" Your Master sends to you.
"That's the part you want to comment on?" You ask her incredulously.
"Yes. Why, did Clock say something else?" She asks eagerly.
"…No, Master. No he did not." You respond tiredly.
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
The Docks, Brockton Bay
"Wreck, I feel like we could do this better." Taylor notes absently, pausing in front of a convenience store to examine one of the old flyers stuck to the door. Reflected in the clear glass window of the business, are you, Trainwreck, Aspirant, and your Master - all fully decked out in Cape attire.
"Fuck's that mean? You got the whole team out and about. Huntsman and Parian are up north, we're here, the creepy birds are all over the place-" Trainwreck complains, gesturing around himself.
The streets are entirely empty, with not a soul in sight save for your group and the pigeons ominously lining the rooftops nearby, periodically taking flight and landing nearby again when you walk too far away from them. The cashier of the convenience store is staring through the front window at your Master in a manner most disconcerting, as though he is terrified - but not of her. Rather, he moves to immediately glance up and down the street nearby the minute he registers your presence - before politely flipping the 'open' sign on the door to 'closed'.
You are unsure if your Master notices this behaviour, or even really cares, but she is acting as if she doesn't. They all are.
"No I mean - we're pretty much just taking a leisurely walk up the street. It brings back memories of when we first got together and all, but it's not very impressive to look at." She replies lazily, turning to continue her trip through the Docks, quickly followed by the rest of you.
"I dunno, I mostly associate back then with the Nazi Apocalypse thing that was going on back then. Was fun though." Trainwreck admits.
"Right? Still I just feel like we should have a car or something. Maybe a blimp?" She muses aloud.
"Blimps are a Nazi thing. I talked to Danny about getting the trains up and running again though. Figured I could slap a mass driver in a rail car and have the tracks run my big gun over to me in an emergency." Trainwreck says.
"That feels excessive." Aspirant points out, finally joining the conversation.
"We should totally do it." Taylor adds.
Both members of her team turn to stare at her at that.
"No can do Boss. Danny says we don't own the tracks or the station the trains used to stop at." Trainwreck replies.
"What about the Ferry?" Aspirant pipes up.
"It's a boat - how are we supposed to patrol in it." Trainwreck counters.
"How did you intend to do the same in a train? I thought we were talking about weapons platforms." Aspirant shoots back.
"Still wouldn't work. It'd be limited to the coast." Trainwreck answers.
"…what if I made it fly?" Taylor interjects.
They both turn to her again.
"I get to name it!" Trainwreck immediately yells.
"I get to- damn." Aspirant sighs.
"Purely hypothetical, guys." Taylor reminds them.
"Well hypothetically, I'd name it the Last Chance." Trainwreck says sarcastically, lifting his hands to mime quotation marks around the name.
"That's… surprisingly lacking in innuendo or swear words. Quick, Taylor, check the tag you gave us - he must be Mastered." Aspirant deadpans.
Much to Trainwrecks chagrin, she does actually lean over to observe the metallic pendant hanging from his waist.
"No look - at the point where the Boss is calling in a floating weapons platform, you got two options. Surrender, or get wrecked. So it's, you know - a last chance to pussy out." Trainwreck explains himself - somewhat petulantly.
"I rescind my last statement." Aspirant concedes.
Suddenly, one of the many pigeons nearby flutters down to land on your Masters shoulder, coos in a strange pattern, and then takes off again.
"Anything?" Trainwreck asks hopefully.
"Gambling den. No drugs or women. Set up in the back of an abandoned grocery store. Don't think it has anything to do with the situation - but I did promise to make an example of someone." Taylor answers lightly, skipping slightly ahead of the other two and opening a Gap.
"Shall we?" She says with a malicious pleasantness in her tone.
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Uptown Brockton, Brockton Bay
As a group, the Oathbound ruthlessly crushed a half dozen fronts for various forms of crime. One might think that the utter destruction of the previous gangs, in addition to everything else people now know about your Master, might be enough to prevent organized crime from existing in a city.
Unfortunately, that simply wasn't true.
To hear your Master explain it, completely eradicating crime isn't technically possible without trampling on a number of human rights. More so than that, the lack of major Parahuman lead gangs has opened the way for all kinds of normal criminals to return to prominence. The Mafia, the Triads, groups that had been largely destroyed or consumed by Parahuman lead rivals have resurfaced, free to make a profit so long as they didn't draw Taylors attention.
After all legally speaking, no Parahumans meant no PRT involvement. The regular police, for the first time in many years, had to do the bulk of the heavy lifting, unless a heroically aligned parahuman felt like getting personally involved.
This has led to - among other things - a strange gentrification of the criminal class. There is an unspoken agreement to stick to 'soft' crime. Gambling rings, and loan sharks were fine - those suffered fines more often than anything else. Prostitution was present - but only under the auspices of willing participants, who often worked together to form smaller 'businesses' together. Drugs, Gun running, or any kind of overtly violent activity was frowned on, and often dealt with 'in house'. Ultimately, much of the Empire's power base still existed in the city - it had just splintered and stopped pretending to be anything but what they were.
Petty criminals.
So ultimately, the city wasn't free of crime. It had just attracted a less obtrusive flavour of criminal.
And today those criminals had learned that even on their best behaviour, they weren't necessarily safe. Just ignored.
Or so it was supposed to go.
Presently, you and your Master are in Uptown Brockton, following a tracking spell to Oliver - who neglected to return to the heap with Parian at the appointed time to do so.
You find him - eventually - standing atop the Medhall building of all places. He is positioned with his rifle aimed outward, and is giving off an unpleasant and ominous air that you - again - are uncomfortably familiar with. As you arrive - largely unnoticed by the hyper focused Huntsman - he cycles the action on his weapon, and pauses with one hand hovering over one of your Masters non-lethality tags. For just the briefest of moments, it seems as though he won't use it, and your Master moves to call out to him.
"Hu-" She begins, only for him to quickly rip the tag in half, crouch down, and then leap bodily into the air over the city below using all of his enhanced strength. For a moment - just a fleeting moment - it looks as though he is attempting to commit an extremely extravagant form of suicide.
Then he begins to grow. First to just over two meters tall. Then bigger, and bigger, until the only thing preventing him from crushing all the buildings in his vicinity is his sheer size.
This is when the first shot rings out, not with the anemic pop of a normal firearm, but with all of the thundering fury of a mortar cannon. Enhanced by his Aura - which visibly drains until it is nearly gone - the rounds from his already oversized rifle raining down with perturbing accuracy on a building not to far away from where you currently are.
"Is he shelling a building?" You ask your Master uncomfortably, as your erstwhile teammate rapidly shrinks down to his normal size to land on another building with a loud crunch.
You aren't sure if that was the sound of the building's roof cracking under his impact, or something much worse for the usually nervous boy's health, but either way, he completely ignores it in favour of making a beeline for the building he just ruthlessly bombarded.
"Looks like it." Taylor responds equally uncomfortably, her eyes - which are much keener than your own - tracking her teammate as he moves into the distance well past when you cease being able to see him.
"Should we… stop him?" You ask, feeling a sudden, very strong aversion to this entire situation.
"Let's… see where he's going first." She says, suddenly very tired sounding.
"But-" You start to say.
"I get where he's coming from okay? We were pretty aggressive when we started out, remember?" She says, though you can feel some degree of shame from the admission.
"The circumstances were different." You counter.
"And if I thought he was going to kill someone, I'd stop him. Come on." She negates, ripping open a Gap for you but opting to follow Huntsman manually across the rooftops.
When you emerge from the other end of that Gap, it is clear some time has passed, because Huntsman is standing in the middle of what might as well be an abandoned parking lot for all that's left of the building he attacked. There are downed and wounded people everywhere, and he is rapidly rushing about the area - not bothering to help the people, just ripping up debris and growling at himself when there isn't anything of note there.
Except drugs. There are detonated and punctured bags of some kind of drug all over the place - but that clearly isn't what he's looking for.
"Huntsman." Taylor calls out to him from nearby, only to be ignored as your teammate continues to sift recklessly through the remains. She frowns at him, glances at a nearby victim of Oliver's current rampage, then sighs.
"Huntsman!" She calls to him again, louder now as she waves a hand at the debris - causing most of it to hover up into the air, and freeing all of the crippled and unconscious people underneath.
Oliver pauses in his activities, though you think that pause is more a result of the changed situation than actually a response to your Master.
"Oliver, if I have to knock you out to take you home I'm going to be very unhappy." Taylor repeats in the cranky tone of mothers everywhere administering to unruly children.
"...I've got this spot covered. I heard there was a place up the street that-" Oliver starts to say stiffly, not fully turning around to face either of you.
"You aren't going to find whoever hurt Madison by doing this, you know." Taylor sighs, walking up to stand with her teammate. It is an eerie sight to see her so casual in the midst of such destruction, even more so with the sound of sirens telling you that the police are likely already enroute.
"I don't have to. If there's no more criminals than somewhere in the middle I have to catch them." He says coldly.
"Olly-" Taylor tries again.
"What do you care?! You hated her anyway!" He screams at her, earning a poleaxed look from her that breaks your heart.
"Huntsman. Enough." You say, stepping around your Master and staring down at the blond boy. You like Oliver, you really do. He's your Master's friend, and to a lesser extent, yours.
But if he lashes out at your Master one more time, you might just do something you'll regret.
"You used to work for a villain. You snuck into our home, and lied to us because your friends asked you to. Master let you stay with us. Helped you. And made you strong. Between that girl and yourself, who do you think we should hate more?" You query angrily.
"That's- I'm not-" Oliver stutters at you clearly thrown off by your tone and words.
"Olly even if you don't think I care about Madison - you know I care about you right?" Taylor says in a small voice, demonstrating more vulnerability than you have seen from her in some time.
"...oh." Oliver returns in an equally small voice - as though he just experienced a great epiphany.
"...If you wanna go home I'll talk to the cops and…" She pauses, glancing at all Huntsman's victims. "... heal some of these guys I guess."
"I…" Oliver stops to look around, seemingly only just now fully taking in what he has wrought.
"I'll stay. It was my fault." He finally says awkwardly.
"Cool." Taylor says.
"Cool…" Oliver fires back.
The two stare at each other awkwardly some more.
'Well', you think, as ambulances, fire trucks, and other emergency services start to arrive. 'At least things are mostly back to normal.'
Strange days in the bay. Choose Two (2).
[ ] Patrol The City (Choose a target area: The Docks, Downtown, Uptown) (Choose two people to come with you: Victoria, Gallant, Triumph, Aspirant, Trainwreck, Jess, Danny, Mem, Oliver)
[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.
[ ] Hypothetically, your Master doesn't mind Vicky's offer of a blind date with some boy she's never met before...
[ ] Hypothetically, your Master doesn't mind Vicky's offer of a blind date with some girl she's never met before…
[ ] Who actually owns the Trainyard? Could you buy it? For… reasons.
[ ] The City owns the run down Ferry right? Could you buy it?
[ ] Take Time Off (Pick an Extra Social)
Tomorrow is Friday - Choose One (1) Social.
[ ] Victoria (2)
[ ] Amy (3)
[ ] Aspirant (2)
[ ] Trainwreck (2)
[ ] Clockblocker (1)
[ ] Parian (2)
[ ] Danny (3)
[ ] Oliver (2)
[ ] Jess (1)
[ ] Mem (2)
[ ] Mouse Protector (2)
[ ] Dinah (2)
[ ] Write-In
Tyrant_Of_The_Void wants to activate [Soul Engine] for 10 Omake Points
Current Omake Points: 32
This unlocks
Side Story - The Understudy:
Unlock a story about the woman who was an ambassador in another life - Ligeia. She might be closer than you think.
&
[Soul Engine:
Emmy buds. Choose someone you know or have encountered that hasn't already triggered - they are now connected to [Soul Engine] regardless of their previous shard connection.
[ ]Tyrant_Of_The_Void/Yes
[ ]Tyrant_Of_The_Void/No
Last edited: Aug 20, 2021
551
Bowler Hat Guy
Aug 20, 2021
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Threadmarks Invasive Species 15.5
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Aug 25, 2021
#38,459
Spoiler: Choices:
Current Energy: 5
[Soul Engine] has budded for 5 Omake Points.
Friday, March 11th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
You awaken to the distinctly moist sensation of Nemesis gnawing on your shin. It doesn't really hurt, because she isn't putting much strength into it, but it's certainly a… novel experience.
As your mind comes fully awake under the slight duress, you glance about to find your Master already awake and sitting on the edge of the bed, stretching with one arm overhead.
"Good morning." You say blandly, sitting up and tapping Nemesis on the side of her head until she sleepily releases your shin from between her teeth.
"Morning." Taylor offers chipperly, rising to a standing position and wandering over to her dresser for her daily battle against its space warping properties in order to locate clothing she deems 'comfortable'.
She only wins one in every ten times, which you vaguely recall is by design, so you are unsurprised when she leans away from the thing with a defeated expression and a long pleated skirt in one hand.
"Mmmng. Up." Nemesis grumbles at you, a study in contrast as she both refuses to fully awaken, and demands you pick her up instead of rising from the bed herself. So saying, she lifts her arms overhead and waits.
Your arms get about halfway to the sword spirit when Taylor speaks up.
"You shouldn't spoil her. Come on, Dad and his totally not girlfriend are coming over for breakfast. I want to get an early start in the kitchen." Taylor says blithely, causing you to pause and Nemesis' eyes to snap open.
"That's not fair!" She complains, wriggling upward and depositing herself in your lap before you can otherwise move, then grabbing your extended arms and wrapping them around herself in a hug.
"Neither is having to kill an army of shadow things using only my feet while singing, but here we are." Taylor responds with sudden vehemence.
"That's training! This is cuddles! It's different!" Nemesis insists strongly.
"Emmy put her down and come help me." Taylor repeats.
"Nu uh, it's cold! Hugs!" Nemesis spits back.
Neither of them are actually looking at you, instead staring daggers at each other.
You glance back and forth between the two, pondering what exactly to do. Then you hit upon an option that frequently seems to work for Danny - and leave the situation entirely to the two women while pretending you haven't noticed what's going on.
You do this by smiling at both of them, nodding - and becoming intangible so as to drop through the bed and the floor, landing in the living room. Where you find Danny, Jess, and a woman you don't immediately recognize. Invisible as you are, they don't notice you, and thus you find yourself in the middle of a conversation.
"It's too cramped for all of us to sit on the couch at once." Jess politely points out to the other woman, who lifts an eyebrow at her and gestures at a nearby recliner.
"No, yeah, you're right. You should probably move." She says with a snicker.
Ah. It's Mouse Protector then. You suppose you just didn't recognize her without her trademark helmet. Perhaps she's finally warmed up to all of you not to bother with the thing anymore.
"I should probably be seeing if the girls are awake anyway so-" Danny offers, trying to get up only to be levered back down by both women, who turned frigid stares on him.
""No."" They say coldly, and with entirely false smiles on their faces before turning back to each other.
You feel an instant sense of brotherhood and sympathy for Danny at this, especially in light of the light scuffle you can sense occurring overhead in your Master's bedroom.
At this precise moment however - just as you are about to interject in order to help your brother in arms - a new variable introduces itself, in the form of Mem and Mun sedately making their way down the stairs.
"Good morning, everyone." Mem says politely, with a slight nod for all present.
"Dunno why you're here but you can't prove I did it." Mun says automatically before adding, "also, morning Grandma One and Grandma Two."
"What did you- nevermind. Please stop calling me Grandma One. I'm barely thirty." Jess sighs exasperatedly.
"How do you know you're Grandma One? Maybe it's me? I'd make a wicked Grandma! I'd help them buy liquor and hide their boyfriends from their Dad!" Mouse - Katherine, suggests easily.
"Wha- because I was here first! I literally drive them to school every day!" Jess barks out.
"Maybe this isn't the best place for-" Danny starts but is spoken over.
"I promise, school isn't the bargaining chip you think it is." Katherine laughs.
"It's not a negotiation!" Jess retorts.
"Let's not get hasty now…" Mun notes, dragging Mem along to sit opposite the adults so she can watch them like a saturday morning cartoon.
"I am very confused. Are they arguing over which of them gets to sleep with-" Mem queries curiously.
"Yes, but also, don't ruin this for me. I bet we can bargain our way up to a trip to Mardis Gras when we're eighteen if we play our cards right." Mun notes excitedly.
"I also do not know what that is." Mem responds flatly.
"Me neither, but my aunt used to talk about it alot." Mun responds.
The entire time this conversation has been ongoing, Jess and Katherine have been continuing to argue, slowly rising to yell at each other over Danny's head which has the awkward side effect of placing his face at roughly eye level with both their chests.
Somewhat admirably, Danny appears completely unaffected by this, silently sipping on a mug of coffee while ensuring his gaze is pinned to the opposite wall of the room.
It is into the middle of this that a Gap opens on the ceiling, disgorging both Taylor and Nemesis, who are pulling each other's hair and yelling at each other.
"-take that back! Pink is the best hair color!" Nemesis cries out.
"It's obnoxiously girly!" Taylor yells back.
"We're girls!" Nemesis returns with equal vehemence.
"Good morning dear." Danny says blandly into the chaos surrounding him. There is a momentary pause in the yelling filling the room as Taylor and Nemesis turn towards him and say - in perfect stereo;
""Morning Dad!"" Before lazily separating themselves and acting as if nothing had happened.
This is the moment you choose to manifest physically in the room, stretching a hand out to place it on a confused Danny's shoulder.
"I understand. I am here for you." Is all you say to him.
"So you're gonna buy the Ferry and the Trainyard then put guns on 'em?" Mun asks your Master curiously over breakfast.
"Sorta. I mean, it'd be a fun side project to do with Trainwreck. I super enjoyed making that sword for Aisha. But that's not really the point." Taylor explains, lifting her fork from a pancake to gesticulate with it.
"I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but please don't build weapons of mass destruction in the city." Danny says in a pinched tone.
"I was actually thinking of making the Ferry into a combat school like Beacon, only it flies and stuff. But again - that's not the point." She repeats.
"Ah. Guns are useless. Missiles - better defense for a flying fortress." Mem pipes up. You would have to know her personally to be able to spot it, but she is clearly very excited about Taylor's proposal.
Everyone else in the room, hearing this from the typically passive and taciturn girl, stops to turn incredulous gazes on her.
"...Also, a fire suppressant system. In case of invasion by hostile forces." She adds, either ignorant of, or consciously ignoring, the looks everyone else is shooting her.
"...runes every ten feet that trigger upon unauthorized access and detonate intruders would also-" She continues when no one else immediately says anything.
"No death traps." Danny rattles off instantly.
"...but the other stuff is cool?" Mun mutters under her breath.
"A-ny-way!" Taylor enunciates loudly, drawing attention back to herself.
"It's sort of a two birds one stone kind of thing. Money into the economy, something fun to do with the boys later, and bait." Taylor states, decisively stabbing a fork into her breakfast - which is portioned roughly six times larger than anyone else's.
"Now, you know since I'm the cool one I automatically agree with this, but uh- bait?" Katherine asks, leaning to the left to throw one arm over Danny's shoulder for support and earning a dirty look from Jess.
"As the responsible one I can't help but point out that bait implies danger." Jess rebutts.
"As the 'your Father' one, I kind of agree with Jess." Danny states dryly, earning an embarrassed cessation of hostilities between the two women. You aren't even sure if Danny realizes he did it.
"Well you know about my uh… secret admirer problem right?" Taylor explains, slowly chewing her breakfast while pondering how best to get her intent across.
"Heard about it. Surprised I haven't heard any air raid sirens yet, to be honest." Katherine chirps. Taylor rolls her eyes at the accusation that she would cause such a scene - even though she doesn't verbally deny the possibility exists of it happening.
"No look - this person is obviously digging around in my life and getting into my business, so if I try to buy the Ferry and the Trainyard, it stands to reason that they'll start poking around anyone who could otherwise be involved in that. I just have to mark the right people ahead of time and set the birds on them. The Trainyard is the best option because I'm pretty sure it's owned by a business from up in Boston, and they'll try and gouge me for the price. The Ferry is more iffy, because it's owned by the city and they might just give it to me." Taylor explains patiently.
This time, it is her turn for everyone in the room to turn to stare at her.
"So… you're making an enormous gesture and spending an exorbitant amount of money to find one guy, so you can nuke him from orbit?" Katherine asks slowly, as though trying to wrap her head around the thought process involved in the decision.
"Pretty much." Taylor answers with a shrug.
Katherine stares blankly at her for a moment before turning to Jess and pointing at herself with a thumb.
"She takes after me, you know." She says conversationally.
Jess just groans.
"Ah, Taylor? Could I talk to you for a second? In private?" Jess asks sheepishly while everyone else is cleaning up breakfast and getting ready to depart for the day.
Your Master cocks her head to the side in question, but nods ascent to the request almost instantly.
"Sure. How private? Like, upstairs private, or pocket dimension private?" Taylor asks in an utterly open and serious tone that belies the ludicrous nature of the statement itself.
"U-upstairs should be fine." Jess states quickly, seemingly slightly put off by the offer for just a moment.
"'Kay." Taylor responds, lazily dropping her plate in the sink where Danny is washing all the dishes and then meandering up the stairs with Jess in tow.
"So…" She asks when they are out of easy earshot of everyone downstairs.
"Taylor, this is… really hard for me to ask. I know we don't talk all together that much, and it might be a little awkward at first but-" Jess begins to explain slowly, choosing her words seemingly very carefully.
"Ah, look. I already know what you're going to ask and the answer is - that's between you and him. I've seen enough television to know that getting involved in my Dad's relationships is what Vicky would call a 'bitch move'. I won't be mad if you propose to him." Taylor fires off instantly, earning a distressed and ashen look from Jess.
"...I was going to ask if you could help me find a job." She says in a strained tone.
"...Oh. Oooooooh." Taylor says, as realization dawns on her. "So you weren't-" she asks after a moment to ponder that.
"No! That's- it's too soon and- we haven't even- I mean I know we sleep together but-" Jess begins to babble.
"Let me stop you there before I need to work out how to erase memories." Taylor half shouts, quickly raising a hand to ward off the older blond woman.
"Right. Sorry." Jess mutters weakly back. Taylor pauses to examine her for a minute, looking her up and down, cocking her head from side to side, and then blinking once as if beset by sudden clarity.
"How good are you at making hot chocolate?" She asks, seemingly as a complete non-sequitur.
Friday, March 11th, 2011
City Hall, Brockton Bay
"A secretary." Jess states flatly, having met your Master here at City Hall once school was out, and she had finished performing her two required resurrections for the PRT for the week.
"For the hundredth time - yes." Taylor responds. "What did you think I was going to do, phone Alexandria up and get you a job as a Bank Manager? Do I look like I know people in accounting? I'm fifteen. It's not like I was going to pay you to hang around my Dad and pretend to be my Mom." Taylor points out in a somewhat annoyed tone.
"I'd do that for free." Jess says in a blissful tone that makes Taylor's eye twitch.
"Gonna forget you said that." She says plainly.
"Noted." Jess responds with some embarrassment.
"Anyway look, lots of people want to talk to me, but I don't want to talk to them, so the way I see it, I can set you up with an office to take all my calls, you can spend some time every day telling people to politely piss off, and I pay you… whatever a secretary normally gets paid. In fact, that's your first job, right after you order that deluxe hot chocolate making machine for me. Figure out how much I'm supposed to pay you." Taylor says blithely.
"...Taylor you're not supposed to let your employees set their own pay. You have no idea what I could charge you if-" Jess begins to argue, switching from somewhat put upon acquaintance to lecturing mother in a heartbeat.
"Jess, you sleep with my Dad. If you screw me, then I'm willing to bet I'll be the only one getting screwed." Taylor responds conversationally, causing Jess' mouth to clamp shut with a solid clicking noise.
"...Noted." She repeats after a minute of awkwardly readjusting her slacks and blouse - business casual - and fiddling with her cellphone to make a note of something.
The two then walk into the Mayor's office at a slow sedate pace that nonetheless has many orderlies and passersby immediately going into hiding.
You suppose that yesterday's rampage may have had a bit more impact than you would have expected.
"...Fuck."
They are your Master's first words upon exiting City Hall with Jess. Not just because she was - as predicted - unable to acquire the Trainyard, but because all the scenery outside the building is distinctly lacking in color, bystanders, or sound.
"Should I be worried? I feel like I should be worried." Jess adds, hurriedly withdrawing her phone and attempting to dial a number on it, then sighing and putting it away after a moment. "No connection."
"Sounds about right. One second." Taylor offers with a tired expression on her face.
"Hey idiots! I know you're in here somewhere! It didn't work the first time, and I'm pretty sure if I absolutely have to I can probably cut time so-" Taylor yells into the now seemingly empty streets nearby.
Only to be interrupted by music, as it floods the streets with sudden, nearly violently loud sound.
"I swear to god, if I could be positive it wouldn't damage the actual city I would destroy everything here." Taylor mutters in annoyance, drawing her sword and shooting a look at Jess.
"You can switch out, I'll dump your body in a Gap." She offers to the clearly nervous woman.
"I'd like it if you wouldn't refer to my body like unwanted luggage, Taylor." Jess sighs, though she does take a seat against the doors of city hall so that she can exit her body in her Shinigami form without leaving her physical body to fall over and injure itself.
"Sorry." Taylor apologizes, though she isn't looking at Jess as she does so, instead staring at two men as they emerge into the area from seemingly nowhere.
"Alright morons, I'm not as worried about the Grey Boy thing as last time. Get back on the bus and go back to wherever you've been hiding or I'm going to get mad." Taylor calls out to the two black clad men as they step into view.
"Can't do that Nexus! You see, we need to test something, and only you can match our Strength!" Uber declares, posing strangely as he speaks.
"Our Wits!" Leet fires off in a much less convincingly heroic tone, also posing.
""And our devilish good looks!"" The two declare, turning to pose with each other.
"...I don't miss this." Jess says as the three of you observe the prancing of the two idiots.
"Me neither. Hang on." Taylor says, before releasing her Spiritual Pressure in a wave that engulfs the entire area in a pulse of blue flickering light that - under normal circumstances - should have driven Uber and Leet to the ground in a matter of seconds.
Instead it causes something on their belts to light up, leaving both men standing tall and seemingly without difficulty.
"Yes! I fucking told you I could do it!" Leet croons at his partner.
"Holy shit we've got this man. Is the Snitch-" Uber turns to ask.
"Yeah, it's running, we're good." Leet responds easily.
"Hey idiots!" Taylor calls to them, interrupting their jovial conversation.
"I get that you made yourselves slightly more work to put down but-" She states blandly, before rocketing forward with a hand extended to make a grab for Leets neck.
Surprisingly, she somehow doesn't succeed, instead ending up with her hand deflected by a firm blow from Uber. She seems so flabbergasted by the man's ability to even respond to her that she barely has time to react to him punching her so hard that she flies backwards hard enough to create a Taylor shaped dent in the stairs of City Hall.
"...I have concerns." Jess says aloud.
"Witness greatness Nexus, for I, Leet, hold the key to defeating you! I f-created a metamaterial that specifically responds to what your PRT files calls 'Soul Based Bullshit'! Through my power and mine alone, I have found a way to turn your power against you! The longer I'm exposed to your bullshit powers the stronger I'll get!" Leet croons loudly before activating something on his belt.
"Hen-"
"-Shin!" The two idiots declare, posing again as a burst of color surrounds them, covering them in glowing blue and red armor respectively.
"...So let me get this straight." Taylor responds, pushing herself to her feet and blinking in surprise at being mildly injured.
"You guys made armor that makes you both immune to my Spiritual Pressure, and durable enough to fight me?" She asks in a casual tone of voice.
"T-Taylor?" Jess asks in a worried tone, stepping slightly away from your Master as she stands up.
"That's fucking right! Uber & Leet are back bitch! With this tech you don't have the monopoly on overwhelming force! How's it feel not to be the invincible one huh!? Are you scared yet!?" Leet yells.
"Bro. Tone it back." Uber mutters to him.
"No, no. Go on. I'm terrified." Your Master says in an entirely unconvincing, eerily calm tone of voice.
She is also, if you had to make a singular observation, smiling a far too wide and malicious smile.
What's the plan? Your Master is obviously pleased with this turn of events - because she's a lunatic - but that doesn't mean she's guaranteed to win either.
Plan to include general course of action, and expected energy expenditure.
[ ] Write-In
[Soul Engine] is available for distribution! Please select a non-parahuman, non-shikigami to have the bud go to! (Parahumans that haven't triggered yet count!)
[ ] Write-In
A/N: Another one of our beloved readers has started a new Projection Quest, which you can find here! Darkside has been with us for a long time, so I would love if you guys could show them some love and participate!
I also started an original story not to long ago that I'd love for you guys to check out, which you can find here!
And with that, I'm off to sleep! God speed!
Last edited: Aug 25, 2021
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Bowler Hat Guy
Aug 25, 2021
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Sep 3, 2021
#38,780
Bud: [Soul Engine, has been designated for:
[X] Miss Kim
"Bow to your opponent." Spoke the bored sounding older woman officiating her spar.
Willow did as she was asked, as did dozens of other people filling the wide room at varying intervals.
It was a fairly typical afternoon in the Dojo, and she was slowly beginning to hate that fact. She had passed an innumerable number of tests to join Accord's ambassadors. She had demonstrated competency in several areas of management, doggedly mastered all of the skills he prescribed to her, and done things she found deeply unpleasant to even contemplate - all so that she would be approved by him. All so that he would grant her powers, like he had promised. All so that she could be in control again.
It felt like a metaphor for her entire life. Work hard. Succeed. Then have it all taken away by a single final failure, amounting to nothing.
She hated it. She resented it.
But she struggled on, because frankly, she just didn't have it in her to quit.
"You may begin." The old woman called to her, causing her attention to snap to focus on her opponent.
Kim Park was like the physical representation of everything she hated about this place. In most ways, she was Willow's exact opposite. She had come from nothing. Had nothing. And then inexplicably had stumbled face first into everything she could possibly have wanted. Respect. Prestige. Even a certain amount of power, at least, in so far as anyone could be considered to have 'power' when in Nexus' general proximity.
Also the woman was an absolute demon when it came down to a physical confrontation. There was a certain violent desperation in all of her movements, controlled, directed, but still - desperate. Willow would have likened it to the obscene strength a Mother could show when their child was in danger, except that at least had obvious side effects after the fact.
Kim Park never dealt with any of that bullshit.
Something she demonstrated by lunging towards Willow with a force that would have been frankly off putting if Willow wasn't also entirely too aware of the fact that literally all the woman did was eat, sleep, and practice fighting.
However, since she was aware, and since her own preferred style of combat was Wing Chun - which was entirely designed to deal with aggressive attacks like this - she was more than prepared for the lunge.
Quick as could be, Willow left her arm slightly from it's position, and rotated it upward at the elbow, slapping away Kim's blinding fast punch with her wrist and then - instead of following up with a quick chop of her own - immediately backed up.
Which turned out to be the best choice she could have made as her opponent had immediately turned the momentum of her strike into upward motion that would have driven her knee into Willow's side with all the momentum and strength the smaller woman could manage.
A little known fact about training with Aspirant. The vast majority of the trainees on the grounds weren't here for sport. They were here because they had been victims, and refused to ever be such ever again. This, ofcourse, meant that most of them fought and acted like losing would put them immediately back into an Empire or ABB whorehouse.
The injuries they suffered training this way were both obvious, and educational. They would have probably hospitalized everyone present at this point, except that Aspirant both owned and was exceptionally free with the slips of paper Nexus was known to keep her healing power in for later use.
Thus, the Dojo functioned in a very 'survival of the fittest fashion'. These weren't tournament rules. There was no safety equipment. The rules were merely 'don't kill anyone'.
Did it result in a small army of disturbingly well trained and brutal combatants? Yes. Did it mean that the speed they learned and improved at was almost supernaturally fast? Also yes.
But it also meant that Willow knew exactly what having her ribs piercing a lung felt like, and she was not at all eager to experience the sensation again.
Regardless, having dodged the attack, Willow patiently observed her opponent as she skipped backwards to reset her stance and stay clear of Willow herself.
"You really should try a style with more kicking. You know we've been studying Capoeira for weeks because Aspirant thinks it suits you right?" Kim pointed out lightly, although Willow noted that her predatory smile and pointed search for easy openings to abuse never at any point ceased while she made conversation.
"Capoeira is impractical and inelegant. It's fancy dancing, and half the movements start or end in an ugly crouch." She returned, a bead of sweat trailing down her neck.
"So? Nexus said it would work, and Aspirant said he'd teach you." Kim replied. She said it like having the two's stamp of approval meant it must be true, and perhaps she was even correct. But there was another reason Willow couldn't afford to specialize in such a belligerent looking fighting style.
Her employer would never allow her to make use of it while she was wearing a personally crafted evening gown from him, which she had been guaranteed by Citrine would be the format her costume would take. That wasn't an option - it was a requirement for her service. This was the entire reason she had chosen to specialize in Wing Chun - it was almost entirely focused on the upper body. The problem, ofcourse, was that it also required she be able to react to enemy attacks faster than any given enemy could think to respond to her. It emphasized speed and control more than anything else, and she was finding that she was not suited to either aspect of the style - at least, not when interacting with the amazons that called this nightmare of a Dojo home.
The most annoying part was that she was actually very good at Capoeira. She had adapted to it like a fish to water - exactly as had been intimated to her.
Unfortunately, her more pressing reason for ignoring that particular talent wasn't something she could actually explain to Kim. Which was why she got pestered about it nearly daily. The short defacto leader of the local 'Ladies of War' as they were jokingly referred to by the castle staff, had practically stuck herself to Willow's side the day she showed up, and had incessantly mothered her the entire time.
Which was, again, very infuriating given her status as a nominally undercover agent.
"I can't. Can we just try to kill each other with our hands? Like normal? Please?" She begged, hoping to skip past the awkward conversation. She put the thought into action by accompanying her request with a swift step forward placing her just outside of her opponents effective reach.
There was a fancy asian sounding name for the concept, but she had never been able to fully remember it. All she knew was that everyone had an effective zone around themselves within which they could act upon others in a timely and effective manner - and responding to anything outside that range was almost invariably going to cause them to overextend.
"Fine. Are you coming on Patrol tonight?" Kim asked, immediately changing the subject.
She also shifted slightly forward, forcing Willow to move back in order to avoid that same zone of influence - and thus avoiding being slammed in the side of the head by Kim's knee.
Again.
"I- can't. I have a date." She replied automatically, using her preplanned cover for anytime she had to meet with Accord. It had worked out so far. Basic spycraft told and a general understanding of the women here told Willow that the people here were eminently uninterested in romance of any kind. She would call them militant about it, but they weren't. Most of them had just had more than enough men in their lives and were largely happy with not admitting more - much to the castle staff's chagrin.
It was a weird divide really. Most of the staff were men, and most of the fighters were women. Willow suspected that the only reason this hadn't caused issues was the mutual respect and fear both groups had for Nexus and to a lesser extent, Aspirant. It was an uneasy kind of coexistence. Not because either side had really done anything but just because of the circumstances behind them.
She hadn't been catcalled or heckaled since moving into the area though, so she supposed that was a plus.
"A date huh?" Kim mused absently, eyes briefly fogging over as she frowned slightly and pondered the statement.
Willow really, really didn't need the famously violent girl who had functionally adopted her to take an interest in that particular topic, so she bit the bullet and stepped into her reach, attempting to make an open palm strike against the side of her head.
Faster that she really thought was fair, the tiny asian woman snapped back to focus, jumped inside of Willow's extended reach, and elbowed her in the diaphragm so hard that she lifted an inch off the ground, stumbling backwards and gasping for air that just wouldn't seem to come.
Kim blinked in a slight daze at the results of her actions, before smiling sheepishly and apologizing.
"Sorry, sorry. I was surprised so I reacted too fast." She apologized while their referee meandered over at speed to check for broken ribs or any other pressing medical concerns she would need to call Aspirant for.
"Th-... that's… fine…" She wheezed out, already knowing the likely result of her actions before she had taken them.
It was just the price she paid to be effective at her job, which, in this case, was learning personalized martial arts from the Dojo then becoming a Super Villain and going to Boston.
...when had her life become so weird?
She let the thought rattle around in her head for a moment, doing her best not to glance around the Dojo at the other three participants present that also worked for her employer. They were all men, and while that wasn't inherently wrong or frowned upon, it wasn't uncommon for them to suffer a slightly greater than normal number of injuries by the end of any given day.
But, they were still healed, and otherwise treated like anybody else there to learn, so they made little issue of it. Willow didn't know their names, only recognizing them from their short briefing before being sent here to learn, but she did know that they were doing much better than her in their studies.
"Sooo…" Kim trailed off leadingly while she waited for Willow to catch her breath.
"When do we get to meet the lucky guy?" She asked innocently.
Willow was still puffing and wheezing at the time, but she did manage to get enough oxygen in her to respond to the question with a lengthy, put upon, groan.
Meeting with Accord was always unsettling. It wasn't just that she had personally witnessed him order the deaths of several people at this point - likely intentionally, as an object lesson in why loyalty was always the correct choice - it was that it took literally hours to prepare for it. Her Boss, as good as he was at pretty much everything else, was known to punish, brutalize, or execute people for the most trifling of slip ups.
Thus, she had to spend hours managing her personal appearance in order to appear before him. She had a personally chosen dress from the man, specific combinations of makeup that she had to apply, check, clean, and then reapply until it was practically seamless on her. She had to wear a very expensive custom bra in order to guarantee there would be no bra lines to marr the aforementioned dress.
Every hair had to be perfectly in place, every eyelash set, every detail, managed.
By the time Willow was done, she had transformed herself from a moderately attractive woman into someone who looked like she had just walked straight off the front page of a magazine. It was impractical. It was a lot of work. It would be impossible to maintain under any kind of strain or exertion.
But it was what would please Accord, so this was what she went with.
At length, she finished preparing herself - stringently brushing her flat ironed hair into a mid length bob and slipping into the pale grey evening gown that was designated for her use - and left her home, managing to step out onto the street at exactly seven pm, exactly as one of Accord's minions pulled up to her rented apartment in a normal looking car that probably wasn't allowed within two hundred feet of the man himself for fear he would plot to throw it into the sun.
It took precisely thirty minutes to arrive at the small out of the way office Accord was using to coordinate his business in the city, and Willow was entirely unsurprised to find four identical vehicles pulling up outside the building at the same time as her own - each one disgorging another of the candidates for recruitment that Accord had hand picked to be here today.
None of them bothered to speak to each other as they entered the building. None of them felt the need to. They all knew why they were here. They were all dressed for the occasion.
And they all knew the cost of failure.
There was a brief period of waiting as they clustered together in the small waiting room between the rest of the building and Accord's office. In most cases, this room would be just that - a waiting room. In Accord's case, it was closer to an air lock. A way to filter what came into, and out of, his field of view by his trusted lieutenant.
Said lieutenant - Citrine - entered the room shortly after they had, and had spent exactly ten minutes carefully examining each of them for anything that would displease the man behind the door.
It was nerve wracking. Not just because of the very real chance of grievous bodily harm or death should she not measure up - although experience told her that, just like always, she would eventually fail in that - but because if this meeting went well, then she would be done with this city and its people. She would vanish from the Dojo, never to see or contact Kim ever again. She would never greet the gate guard - whose name she didn't know - ever again.
It was a weirdly somber thought to have, given how excited she had originally been to be done with the place. Even now, she didn't really want to be here, getting her bones shattered multiple times a day, getting pestered by the other girls to come running with them, being constantly treated like some dreg of society that needed help and companionship.
And yet she felt she would miss all of that, all the same.
Only now, she was certain there was no going back. Not when she was this close.
So, once Citrine finished her examination and waved them towards the door, she hardened her heart - and filed in with the others.
"Good evening, everyone. I have very little time, so this will merely be a report followed by the granting of your respective powers. A full determination of what those powers are, as well as a more proper celebration of your induction into my organization will take place upon our successful return to Boston." Accord spoke firmly from his seat in the immaculately clean and polished room. His hands were tented together atop his desk, and his mask, a wooden thing that articulated with his facial expression somehow, was set in a placid neutral state.
He paused for exactly five seconds after he finished speaking, as though awaiting any questions or interjections, then allowed his mask to shift into a very slight smile when no one spoke or moved during that time. With an orchestrated casualness, he reached beneath his desk and withdrew a large black suitcase, depositing it gently on the polished wood of the desk, opening it, and turning it to face all five of them. Inside, were exactly five glowing vials of some indescribable liquid, the colors and hues of the substance shifting and moving in a hypnotic almost preternatural fashion.
Predictably, not one of them changed in demeanor or focus, keeping their eyes focused on Accord and Accord only.
"Very good. Mister Billington. Describe your progress, achievements, and thoughts on your fellow candidates." Accord ordered, allowing the suitcase to remain open and facing them in an almost taunting manner.
"Yes, sir. I've been learning a modified form of Silat, and have been acquitted as highly competent by my peers. I successfully win three in every five spars I participate in. I judge myself to be of average competence compared to the other four present, and have detected no obvious intent to betray your or turn coat in any of the others." The man to the far left of the line explained succinctly.
Willow… started to sweat, at that. She wasn't incompetent, but because she had been almost exclusively sparring with Kim, she almost never won. She could only hope her choice of sparring partner would work in her favour while making this report.
Being the second last in the line - consisting of three men and two women, including herself and one larger woman she hadn't seen in the Dojo at all - all three men went before her, allowing her ample time to structure her own forthcoming response before she had to give it.
Or… so she would have hoped. The last man in the line before her, a sickly pale tall blond man, gestured rudely at her as his turn came.
"Sir. I have been learning a combination of LINE and Aikido, personally vetted by Aspirant when he has the time to assist. I judge myself the most competent among us in our assigned task, inversely proportional to this one, who demonstrably fails in most spars and is uncommonly chummy with the leader of the bitches there." He said with a relaxed and proud demeanour. Accord stared at him for a full ten seconds before turning to Willow, who was… unsure if she should ask for permission to speak or raise her hand or… anything really.
When the silence stretched for slightly longer than was comfortable, she found herself without a choice in the matter, and - as she had many times before - simply bit the bullet and spoke. Sort of.
"Permission to respond, sir?" She asked delicately.
"You may." Accord allowed, tension in his shoulders relaxing slightly at the request.
She took that to mean she had done something right, then forged onward.
"I rate my competence as roughly average in Wing Chun - solidly in the middle of the rest of the group. The leader of the locals chose to attach herself to me, and I have since been unable to spar with anyone else. As she is both the leader of the group, and it's most competent fighter, I believe it an inappropriate comparison to judge my competence based on how I perform against a superior opponent." She explained in as measured a tone and cadence as she could manage while literally arguing for her life.
"You run around with them after hours beating guys up for-" the pale man argued pointedly, only to be interrupted.
By a bullet, that landed perfectly between his eyes, fired from a gun that Accord had drawn from within his desk.
"Do not speak out of turn. Chummy, despite what the oxford dictionary might say on the topic, is not a word I would like to hear used in regular conversation." Accord said softly, completely ignoring the sound of the doors opening, and the two men that rapidly dragged the corpse out of the office as he set the weapon back down on the desk.
"A question. Did anyone else make note of Miss Adam's choice of companion?" He asked in a conversational tone, turning back to the start of the line.
"I made note of it, sir. I did not deem it detrimental to our assigned task." The first man stated succinctly.
"I would like to second the aforementioned statement, sir." The next man agreed quickly.
"I see. Would you characterize those interactions as traitorous in nature?" Accord asked again.
"In truth, sir, I-" The first man began but was cut off.
"Please answer with either 'yes' or 'no', only." Accord ordered.
At this point, every muscle in Willow's body was tense, and it was all she could do to stave off the violent shaking she feared she would seal her fate if revealed. She had done nothing wrong! Surely just interacting with the wrong people couldn't be enough to put her to death, could it? Surely this too, wouldn't just be another 'almost succeeded' in the massive list of her achievements?
She was saved from ever having to find out, for good or ill, but a soft tapping at the window behind Accord.
It was to be noted that this window faced the bay. There was no feasible way for a person to reach it, and no real way for an attacker situated on another building to see into it. There was always the concern that a Cape might achieve that somehow, but she assumed that if Accord allowed it, that he had a plan for such things.
What was lightly tapping at the window however, was not a cape. Or even really a human.
What was tapping at the window, was a pigeon, with the most bizarre color pattern she had ever seen. It looked like it was wearing a tiny tuxedo
"Shit." Muttered the man to her left, swiftly drawing Accord's attention and ire.
"Do not-" He began to rapidly demand, stretching his hand back towards the gun on his desk.
Only he didn't quite manage to make it, before the window exploded inward, showering almost everyone present with a hurricane of glass shards and cutting winds.
Willow, at that moment, found herself at a crossroads. She both didn't want to die, and was now thoroughly unwilling to trust that she wouldn't simply because she hadn't technically failed at anything. So she did something exceptionally stupid. She bolted forward, slammed the lid of the suitcase in front of her shut, and then turned to sprint out the door with it under one arm.
It didn't occur to her until much later that the storm of glass had almost gone completely around her, distracting her fellows long enough for her to make said escape.
When she exploded into the waiting room, she was expecting lots of things. Men with guns pointed at her. Citrine with her power already active. Possibly even some hitherto unknown cape in Accord's employ that would catch and kill her on the spot.
What she got was-
"Willow! This way!" Kim cheered at her, completely ignoring a bloodied hole in her shoulder as she waved at her from atop the unconscious - and brutalized - bodies of two fo Accords men.
"What- why!?" She practically screamed at the woman, even as she followed her back up the long hallway.
"Pigeons." Was her only answer. Willow was sure the woman thought that was an adequate response, but at the moment she wasn't feeling particularly accommodating so she couldn't help but demand an elaboration.
"The what?!" She screeched as the made it to a stairwell full of more of the Dojo's women, all clad in whatever protective gear they could apparently scrounge up.
"The- you know the Pigeons are like, hella smart right? I train with Jeeves all the time and he's like, way more dangerous than-" Kim started to explain, making a swift hand gesture at the women lining the stairwell that got them all moving back down in the opposite direction they had come.
"The fucking birds have powers? All of them!?" She yelled in dismay as the sound of gunfire began to roar through the building.
"Probably. I think they keep it a secret. They're like the CIA, but Pigeons." Kim answered her with a snicker as they barrelled forward.
Willow tried very hard not to be disturbed by this fact.
She didn't succeed, but she tried.
"Whatever. Fine. How much do you know about -" She started to ask uncomfortably, not sure how to justify any of this to her - yes she should probably admit it now - friend.
"Enough. What's in the suitcase?" She asked curiously.
"Super Power Sauce." She responded instantly.
"Cool. We'll give it to Nexus when we get back." Was her lackadaisical response.
"What? No! It's mi-" She started to say then stopped and skidded to a halt as they turned a corner and ran almost directly into the edge of an expanding field of orange that tinted everything on the other side of it the same color.
Willow managed to stop in time. Kim, did not - and thus tumbled blithely forward into the zone as she attempted to stop before hitting it.
The response was almost instantaneous, as every visible part of her clothing and skin began to viscerally hiss and pop, bubbling in places like cheese left in the oven too long. Willow was immediately horrified by this, but didn't get more than a second to even process what she was seeing beyond the sudden screaming of her companion because the culprit behind it stepped into view nearby.
"Please return the briefcase. I can allow these women to survive - there is really no use angering Nexus by killing them - but I cannot allow you to steal that." Citrine said in a diplomatic but annoyed tone. Willow considered that statement for what it was, and judged it likely to be true. The thing was, she was now faced with a choice.
Powers, or Friendship.
As early as a month ago she would have chosen the former without a thought.
Now she was less sure.
Glancing at Kim again, she determined that she wasn't in immediate danger of death, even if she was clearly incapacitated by the sudden proccess of having all of her skin melt off.
Well, she supposed she had always been sort of greedy. To her, it looked an awful lot like everything besides Citrine in that hallways was starting to melt. And if that was the case...
Willow rapidly popped the lid of the suitcase, ignoring Citrines demands that she not, then withdrew one of the colored vials and kicked the rest forward - into the yellowish orange shaker effect that was melting everything. The results, she assumed, would be both obvious and instant as Citrine opted not to destroy the precious substance.
What Willow hadn't expected was for Kim's screams of agony to peak, and then for Citrine to just… fall over.
It didn't last long, and she doubted she would get a better chance than this, so as both fallen women were beginning to stir on the ground… she popped the lid on the container in her hand, and downed it in one smooth motion.
How does one describe having their consciousness unravel in two directions at once? Were powers supposed to hurt this much when you got them? Or was she just dying? She went temporarily blind, deaf, and dumb, and when she returned to consciousness, she felt… different.
Also, the hallway they were all in was glowing furiously, which… was concerning. Glowing was rarely good when enemy capes were involved. Assuming the glow was coming from an enemy anyway. When she finally opened her eyes and pushed herself upright, it was to find Kim on the ground nearby, kneeling but conscious, and her eyes glowing a faint golden light.
"Kim?" She whispered, then jerked backwards as a golden pulse expanded from her friend, washing over her and then returning to its point of origin, like a visible example of echolocation at work.
"Owe." She whined, fumbling in a pouch at her side for a minute before withdrawing a paper tag and ripping it. The resultant glow rapidly returned the color and… skin… to her face.
Willow tried for a moment to understand what she was seeing until it occurred to her that Kim must have been carrying the same healing tags that were regularly used in the Dojo. Then she grinned. She could feel her own power dimly in the back of her head, just asking to be used on the still disoriented Citrine.
So thinking, she directed her attention towards the yellow clad woman, and 'activated' her new power.
What she got wasn't what she was expecting. Oh, she hit the woman, but it was with a jet of water that seemed to come from nowhere, pushing her back slightly but not doing much more than distracting and drenching her.
Ah. She finally had a power, and it sucked. That was… unfortunately in character for her.
She was just about to give up and accept death when Kim sprinted forward towards Citrine, who responded by… expanding another of her Shaker fields around herself. Willow expected this to be the end. There was really no way for a normal person to defeat a cape. It just wasn't done.
Which was, she figured in retrospect, assuming Kim wasn't a cape.
"Gemstone Shattering Defense!" The little asian woman yelled, before doing something… bizarrely flamboyant looking… with her arms. Again, there was another pulse of glowing golden energy from her, and the orange field expanding from Citrine… well for lack of a better word, it shattered. Like a pane of glass laying across the air. It cracked, crunched, and then vanished.
Willow chose not to question the bizarre declaration that had preceded this, and instead chose to capitalize on it, focusing on drawing back the water she had launched at Citrine, and being pleasantly surprised when it dragged the woman bodily towards her.
She figured if she left her, she would eventually be sucked into the… hole… that was firing the water at her, even though it was obviously much too small for her to fit through, but that wasn't really Willow's intent in the first place.
Instead, when the disoriented woman got close enough, she punched her in the head as hard and fast as she could.
Which was, all things being equal, quite hard.
The enemy cape hit the ground like a sack of bricks, and she and Kim stared at each other for only the briefest of seconds.
They had an entire conversation in those silent moments.
'You have powers!'
'So do you!'
''We have powers!''
'Do you-'
'Should we-'
'We should probably talk about this later.'
'Right. Totally.'
And so it went. They managed to largely escape unmolested after that, and Willow didn't begrudge Kim for handing the remaining four vials of super power granting fluid off to another woman for safe keeping. Some time later, they were both drenched in water, sweat, and blood, and standing with all the other Dojo women in the courtyard, ignoring the curious looks from the dock worker staff who were still up at this hour.
"So… thanks." She offered lamely when neither she nor Kim spoke right away.
"Don't worry about it. It's what we're here for." She said in a matter of fact way that was slightly alien to Willow in how staunch the conviction behind it was.
"Still- I mean I know I- you know. Thanks." She tried again, lamely. She was usually much more eloquent than this, but she was now unemployed and, presumably, an enemy of a well known crime lord.
She wasn't really looking forward to going back to her apartment tonight, if she even dared.
"Mm. Sooo…" Kim hummed, before stretching her arms upwards. Willow immediately tensed. This was the 'I'm about to ask you something uncomfortable' So. She was very used to it at this point.
"Guess you got dumped?" She asked, surprising her with how non invasive the question was.
"I guess so?" she responded slowly, confusion evident on her face.
"So you're single now then?" Kim continued.
Willow stared at her. Just… stared at her.
"...yes?" She continued, still very much confused.
"Do you want to be?" She asked innocently.
Willow opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Closed it. She considered the unnatural interest Kim had shown in her for as long as she had known the other woman. She reoriented her perception on the topic to include romantic interest, and suddenly, it was a lot less suspicious and annoying.
It was just like the adult version of pulling someone's hair because you liked them.
"This explains so much." She found herself saying aloud, much to her own chagrin.
"Ah. Sorry. Super inappropriate. I know a lot happened and all. Just forget I even-" Kim began to babble uncomfortably, turning red and stepping away.
"I'm not sure leaving the grounds for a date would be a good idea for me right now." She replied, evading answering directly for a second.
"They built a theatre in the castle like, last week. Bet I could get us in." Kim responded cheekily, though still blushing.
She looked down at herself. She had no spare clothes, since there was no way she was going back to her apartment, her dress was torn and bloody, her hair was a mess, and her makeup had run down her face in thick rivulets that could not have been appealing to look at.
"Only if you have a spare change of clothes for me. This is just plain inappropriate." She answered before she could fully process what she had agreed to.
She was about to take it back, or clarify that she wasn't agreeing to anything, but then she saw Kim's face, smiling so widely it was almost uncanny.
And she just couldn't bring herself to do so.
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Bowler Hat Guy
Sep 3, 2021
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Threadmarks Invasive Species 15.6
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Sep 16, 2021
#38,929
[X] Looks like it's safe to let loose for a bit. Let Taylor get it out of her system.
-[X] Break their gadget with alchemy if it gets too far.
Current Energy: 2
Friday, March 11th, 2011
Time Bubble, Brockton Bay
The first thing that your Master does, despite her obvious bloodthirst, is conjure a Gap that rapidly converges on Jess' dispossessed body - depositing it safely away from any possible fighting.
The blond woman standing next to you seems thankful but also, mildly distressed by the consideration. In a certain sense, she probably should be. After all, hiding the body is a sure but silent admission from your Master that there is a significant chance it's previous location might not exist at the end of the battle.
On the topic of silence, Uber and Leet - for all their posturing - haven't let their guard down once. They merely observe your Master's preparations with interest, allowing the otherwise completely, eerily still city street you are all standing by to push itself to the forefront of your mind, despite the distracting prevalence of the overly loud music being piped in from seemingly all directions at once.
You remember the last time you were in a place like this. A sort of 'unreality' where time doesn't move forward, and the Brothers Dim seemed to be able to manipulate space and time with some ease. If you were being charitable, you suppose you could almost compare it to a bastardized version of the Gap your Master wields.
Ofcourse, that event had been a trial for you mostly because you had been emulating a relatively inexperienced boy.
Now, not so much.
"So… you guys remember the last time we did this?" Taylor asks in a lilting voice that - for all the childish whimsy in it - is incredibly menacing sounding, as she skips, literally skips, over to stand in front of you with her back to Uber and Leet.
The pair glance at each other, then up towards a tiny glimmering object in the sky overhead.
"Hard not to. Why?" Uber calls to her, visibly tensing as though expecting her to respond with… well… immediate overwhelming violence.
In fact, the pair seem somewhat mildly confused that they haven't been attacked yet.
"You remember how I asked you guys exactly how durable you are? You know, cus I was worried about killing you." She continues, licking the tip of one finger and then rapidly tracing a series of runes in the air in front of you that flicker and fade as their magic suffuses you, making you faster and stronger in ways you imagine not even the average Homunculus from your Emulation's homeworld could manage.
"...Yes?" Leet responds hesitantly.
"Same question." Taylor declares, snapping her fingers and causing her costume to appear in place of her normal clothes in a burst of light, then crossing her arms in front of her chest and turning to face the two idiots, stance wide.
"...Okay so I'll totally answer cus I know you aren't joking but like, are you… aware of what you're doing right now?" Uber asks hesitantly, causing your Master to falter slightly.
"...Threatening you?" She says after a second of thought.
"Gainax posing. We've been watching tons of your videos-"
"Creepy."
"-and you're like, literally an Anime character." Uber continues, ignoring her commentary.
'Emmy?' Your Master calls you expectantly over your link to each other. There is no explanation, no order, and no information of note transferred between the two of you in that moment.
But even still, you and your Master both leap from your positions atop the stone steps of City Hall at the exact same moment.
"Shi-" Leet curses as you arrive infront if him, swinging your fist towards his head in a way that you can only hope will damage the device in his belt. Unfortunately the Tinker manages to jump away from you at the last second, grabbing for something hanging from his waist and raising it to point a futuristic looking gun at you.
At the same time, your Master swings her sword down at Uber, who responds much more calmly than his compatriot, deflecting the attack with his own glowing sword.
'Master!' You caution as old instincts kick in, and rather than allow yourself to be shot by the attack Leet is aiming at you, you rapidly crouch down, allowing your hand to brush against the ground.
-1 Energy
Heeding your warning, your Master immediately disengages from her swift exchange of blows with Uber, jumping to your side just as the asphalt beneath you ruptures upward, obscuring both sides of the fighting from each other.
Then the two of you tumble out of the way of a fluorescent green blast of energy that punches through the barrier and slams into city hall behind you with a thunderous crash that sends masonry and wood flying throughout the street.
"Since when were these idiots so dangerous?!" Jess calls out in concern, having sprinted away from the blasted building to arrive nearby.
"I think they could probably always have been like this, they just didn't have a reason to be!" Your Master says with some glee.
"And this makes you happy?!" Jess screams as the beam that had previously blasted apart city hall cleaves towards you through the rocky barrier obscuring your foe from sight.
Your Master chooses not to answer this question, instead cleaving open a Gap before her that stretches out to block the incoming blast. Without prompting, you gesture at the Gap with your free hand and nod at Jess.
"Ambush." You explain, too focused on the fighting to speak more than that as you charge into the side of the Gap that isn't absorbing Leets energy blasts.
You are relieved but unsurprised to find Jess quickly following after you as you plunge into the space between spaces ever so briefly.
Then you crest through the nullspace, like a fish from water, and end up in free fall for a split second as you bring an elbow down on Leet's collar with enough force to drive him to his knees and make him release the trigger in the weapon he is still firing.
Uber rushes at you from behind, no doubt having noticed the Gap as it appeared, but is deflected by a shaky Jess who appears behind you and who Uber is patently incapable of seeing.
Or… so you assumed.
Without missing a beat, the second he discerns that something invisible is present, Uber's visor lights up - and he begins to engage Jess in melee.
You have only a fleeting moment to wonder how this is possible, because Leet - who's collarbone should have been shattered by your strike - leaps up uninjured, sending you sprawling away under the bizarrely concussive force behind the beam.
You have just enough time to spot Jess faltering under Uber's superior swordsmanship, and your Master leaping to her aid, before you are slammed through the outer wall of a nearby building with enough force to cause your bones to crack, even with your Master's defensive enchantments.
'Perhaps we should end this before they surprise us any more?' You half groan to your Master as you push yourself upright, ignoring the pain this causes you via memories of much worse injuries to this body. You frown as the distant sound of a motor rumbling reaches your ears, but you can't quite place why the sound of a car on the road is so alarming in your dazed state.
'I'm thinking about it. Do you think we could steal some of this stuff? The ability to see ghosts and boost a Parahuman's strength seems really valuable.' She responds.
You consider the point as you rush to get back into the fighting, spotting Uber and Leet moving about the area with an acrobatic skill that far outmatches what you would expect from the duo, leaping across buildings and working together in a seamless way that you would only really expect from…
Well from you and your Master.
Something about this entire scenario seems wrong, but the more you think of it, the more you can't quite figure out why. It's certainly in line with Uner and Leet's general methodology to stage a huge, horrifically damaging fight while minimizing their own chance of injury using the time bubble you are in - but why?
You spot your Master beginning to get frustrated by the melee, and manifesting the spider constructs she uses to fire blasts of energy, when the sound of an engine revving reaches its peak, and an absolute monstrosity of a vehicle crashes through a nearby restaurant.
The thing is easily the size of a small building, adorned in more armour and weaponry than you would think could reasonably be carried by the enormous machine. It has tremendous grinding wheels of wrought iron that shred the ground beneath it as it moves, and dozens of gun turrets and emplacements all across it. And at each emplacement a hunched over scaled figure sits, too small to be human, but too different from any animal you know to quite place what it is you are looking at.
And every single one is firing at your Master, who quickly aborts her conjuration to grab Jess and leap out of the way - something Uber and Leet had already long since done.
The discharge from the behemoth is so loud as to be deafening, with each individual round fired impacting the ground and tearing furrows the size of a city bus in the road. It barely fires for more than a handful of seconds, but the combined damage of all the weaponry rips open the city in the direction it is facing - opening a valley of obliterated homes and buildings that stretches clear out of the city limits.
You stare in deafened awe, blinking stars out of your eyes as as a Gap opens behind you to deposit your Master and Jess. It takes nearly no time at all for you to determine that at least some of that attack hit your Master, because she leans on you for a moment while she heals her leg, which - rather than describe as having a hole in it - is barely hanging off the rest of her.
"Okay, not ideal." She grouchily admits, eyeing the monstrous tank like object as Uber and Leet step back into view - accompanied by three more people in matching coloured equipment.
"You thought we were a joke right? Thing about Tinkers, we adapt!" Leet yells jubilantly.
"We saw what your Monster Cape did with his armor and thought 'hey, why not increase the mass of a bullet?'" Uber adds smugly.
"Shut the fuck up dipshits, this is my baby - not yours!" A whiny sounding voice calls from the tank - where the other three figures had disembarked from.
"You wouldn't have the materials for this if we hadn't found you in a ditch like we did you bitch!" Leet fires back.
"How much longer?" One of the new figures asks angrily, pulling at his outfit with distaste.
Uber looks like he's about to answer, but is interrupted by your Master.
"Okay, I get that's Squealer but who-" Taylor asks, a note of worry entering her voice.
And for good reason. The last time you were in this time warped area, you didn't actually win the fight. You just disabled the effect creating it. Now that Uber and Leet seem moderately capable of keeping up with your Master, that might not be so easy.
And something tells you the device you are looking for is probably somewhere in that massive tank which… has its own complications.
"Yeah we aren't stupid enough to just explain-" Uber begins, but is cut off again by the other figure as they pull their stylized helmet free.
"Remember me bitch?" The man spits at you.
"…should I?" Taylor asks, almost embarrassed sounding.
"The- we're the Teeth! And once we kill you nothing is gonna stop us from-"
"-I mean the first time I met you it was really dark, and you were wearing a lot more human skin and skulls so-"
"…Spree." The man growls as your Master bumbles through her apology.
At this, the yellow armoured man next to him steps forward - instantly splitting into an army of howling and angry men who sprint towards you with the thundering force of a cavalry charge, concrete cracking in their wake.
You guess they got the benefit of Leet's strength boosting tech too.
Worse yet, the tank begins to move again.
Gritting your teeth at the human wave, you step forward, slamming your hands into the ground once more, erecting a barricade of sharpened steel spikes to impale the charging duplicates before most can reach you.
-1 Energy
"Okay, I'm all for being the hero and not killing anyone but you can totally destroy that tank thing right!?" Jess screeches as she charges forward to start slicing away at what few Spree clones make it past your defense.
"Working on it." Taylor hisses, trusting you and Jess to hold the line while she conjures her attack.
Those few seconds felt agonizing as you slogged through the ever increasing army of men, dodged opportunistic attacks from the other capes present - blast of energy from Uber and Leet, and scything waves of red blood from one of the Teeth.
When at last it seemed like you might be about to get overwhelmed Jess intervened.
"Witness, Eurydice." She cried out, stabbing forward with a suddenly needle like weapon that caused every clone it touched to be blasted backwards, taking with them a significant amount of the accompanying mob.
It wouldn't hold them back forever, but it was enough, for only moments later, Taylor finally stepped forward, chopping her sword downward with the point towards the tank.
Thus the familiar scene of a swarm of massive spiders raining untold firepower down on an object.
Typically this would herald the end of the fight. In fact, even against the Simurgh this was the distraction you had needed to finish the monster off.
In this moment of still time however, it didn't seem to work that way. Because as soon as the attack was launched, time seemed to stutter to a stop.
Then as soon as you had registered that something had happened, everyone you were fighting had disappeared, only to reappear safely once the dust had settled.
Though not in the exact same place.
"Omae wa mou, shindeiru." Uber stated gleefully, appearing in front of you with his sword already pressed against your throat.
"Wha-" your Master calls out in distress, barely avoiding several attacks from all around her and shoving Jess out of the way of one or two more.
"My life is complete." Uber mumbles to himself.
You find yourself getting frustrated that these are the idiots you are presently losing to, but avoid being taken out of the fight by becoming intangible before Uber can follow through on his own attack.
"Come on Nexus! You remember last time! Time is totally subjective here! Just surrender and we can finish up - it's not like we were paid to kill you!" Leet yells after Taylor as she leaps for the sky in an attempt to get some breathing room with Jess over one shoulder.
This of course, gives the tank an excuse to begin wheeling around to aim at her. You don't follow after your Master. Instead you watch as she lands on a villain in the distance, while remaining close to Uber - looking for any opportunity to stop him. You don't know which of those present has the controls for the device allowing them to manipulate time - so you suppose you'll just have to take them out one at a time until you find it.
"Think she'll run away? Maybe call her friends?" Leet asks nervously as the lot of them observe your Master cleaving open a gap in the distance. There is a moment where all those present glance around in search of the other end of the Gap, only to relax when one doesn't appear.
"Nah, she's fucked. We probably couldn't beat her normally, but we have infinite time to fix ourselves up and try again in here. She'll only get more tired. Besides - we're moving at like one fiftieth normal speed - there's no way she can portal between here and anywhere else without getting fragged by the difference." Uber declares confidently.
Annoyingly, he isn't entirely incorrect. It isn't as though your Master couldn't fight this group - but she was only one woman. The number of attackers she can handle at one time isn't actually that high, once the crowd controlling potential of her Spiritual Pressure is taken out of the equation.
'Are you alright?' You ask worriedly.
'M'fine. Gimme a second - got a plan.' She responds in a strained tone of voice before abruptly ending communications.
So you sit, and you wait for an opportunity.
Friday, March 11th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
Trainwreck stared at the Gap that had opened up unceremoniously in the center of his work space.
"You think that's bad or..?" He asked no one in particular.
Of course, because he hadn't been alone in some time now, he got an answer anyway.
'There is a psycho targeting her running around the city. Doesn't seem in her character to pull a prank or teleport you somewhere without warning.' Challenger pointed out.
Irked, but aware that time was probably of the essence, he sighed, stopped his work on the gynoid body he'd been making for Challenger - and grabbed a party favor off the wall nearby before charging into the terrifying hole in space his Boss used exclusively to travel around.
Friday, March 11th, 2011
Aspirants Dojo, Brockton Bay
"When you throw you're opponent you want to not only make sure you are rotating your hips to maximize force - but that you actually know where you are throwing them ahead of time. I will demonstrate with-" Aspirant paused in his teaching to stare at the void full of eyes that had manifested in the center of his Dojo floor, causing several of the women he was teaching to skitter away from it in shock.
"…class is cancelled. Please vacate the room. Miss Park, if you could ensure no one enters while I am gone?" He asks, immediately shifting to his bulkiest most durable form and stepping lightly towards the Gap.
"Sure thing boss! Come on Willow!" His energetic assistant allowed, ushering everyone from the room.
He made sure they left, before limbering up, and stepping forward.
God only knew what nonsense it was going to be today.
Friday, March 11th, 2011
Parian's Boutique, Brockton Bay
"Yes I understand that there are only so many models but I think if you just watch the attached video in the email I sent you that-" she paused mid sentence as a Gap opened in her office.
"-I'm sorry something has come up. I'll call you back." She rattled off primly.
She really was thankful that her powers had the utility of allowing her to dress in her costume at speed. It seemed like the only times she ever really needed to wear it anymore she was in a rush.
"Oh, Talyor. Would a message be too much to ask? A note perhaps?" She complained, gesturing for her newly repaired and upgraded dolls to march ahead of her into the void.
Friday, March 11th, 2011
PRT Headquarters, Brockton Bay
"Yeah I know it's kind of lame but… I mean I just think of when you first… you know… and suddenly it's so easy to feel good about myself." Oliver spoke gently, to the unconscious form in front of him.
He would have stroked her hair or something but they weren't actually quite at that point in their relationship. He didn't think she would mind, but he didn't want to take liberties either.
"I just wonder when this will all be over, I guess. Seems like there's always something in this place and-" he stopped, to smile wryly at the Gap that had appeared before him.
"Yeah. Just like that." He mused, standing from his seated position and rolling his shoulders - before sprinting into the portal without a second thought.
Friday, March 11th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
"I just feel like we should have heard from them by now." Danny explained, pacing back and forth in the living room while Katherine, Memory, and Munin watched.
Other people might be accustomed to his daughter's random comings and goings, but he most certainly was not. Especially not when she took Jess with her, and then failed to manifest until many hours after the Mayor claimed to have seen her.
He knew, he had called the man to check.
"I'm sure they're just getting some bonding time in." Katherine dismissed from where she was slovenly splayed out on the couch.
"Five bucks says they're doing something hella cool right now." Mun joked.
"I will wager you two hair brushings and the dishes that she just got distracted by something and dragged Jess with her." Mem countered neutrally.
"Three and the laundry." Mun countered.
"Dea-" Mem began to respond, only for one of his daughters trademark 'Gaps' to appear in the center of the living room.
"-l…"
"No takesies backsies!" Mun declares loudly before sprouting feathers and lunging through the portal well before anyone could stop her.
"What-" Danny asked no one in particular, as Mem gracefully rose from her seat to leap after her sister.
"Here, and here! Come on Danny, this is the life!" Katherine squealed with glee, having vanished and reappeared with his hammer and ski mask, before repeating the process to return with her armor.
"I'm not sure if-" he started to say but was cut off.
"If you don't come I'll start sleeping naked again!" She cheered at him.
"…what do I get if I do come?" He asked suspiciously of the flighty woman.
"The same!" She yelled before diving through the portal.
He tried, super hard not to think of that - but he already knew he had lost that battle the second his word choice registered.
Friday, March 11th, 2011
The Coop, Brockton Bay
"Brother. Wake her First Wing. Rouse the Chaplain. We fly."
Friday, March 11th, 2011
Time Bubble, Brockton Bay
"No. No fucking way." Uber whispers.
You turn from watching him to observe the entirety of your Master's Oathbound and a veritable wave of Pigeons as they spill through from various Gaps in the sky around her.
"Do we have anything for that? Dude- dude! Do we have anything for this?!" Uber demands as Leet begins frantically gesturing in the air.
"We could- fuck, we never set up a ritual so- maybe if-" he babbles.
"What's the problem? Just shoot them!" One of the Teeth growls.
"You fucking troglodyte do you even understand what you're looking at?" Uber demands, turning to glare at him.
"What does it-"
"She cut time you stupid piece of shit! We've been in here for months learning all this magical crap and she fucking cut time!" Uber screams at him.
You take this as your que, appearing behind Leet with a hand already clasped around the top of his head.
-1 Energy
"Foolish Cape's who dare defy the will of my Master." You intone, as your tattoo's flare to life and your power disintegrates the armor covering the Tinker, separating him from the device on his belt and allowing you to slam his head into the ground so hard he instantly falls unconscious.
"Perish."
Annatar wants to purchase Transmute the World I and Side Story - The Darkest Timeline for Ten Omake Points.
Current Omake Points: 19
Transmute the World I: Within the environs of Brockton Bay, the antiquated science of Alchemy becomes possible with sufficient education and practice. (Alchemy does not function outside the Bay)
Side Story - The Darkest Timeline: Thomas Clavert has found out that to the people who matter, his power only makes him good for one thing. Being a Mine Sweeper. Only instead of mines it's S-class threats, and beta testing dangerous Nexus derived abilities.
]Annatar/Yes
] Annatar/No
A/N: Entirely produces on my phone, at work, while also working so - forgive any weirdness.
599
Bowler Hat Guy
Sep 16, 2021
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