Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Err, do you mean egregious?
Because "gregarious" kinda fits, but not really.
Abaddon Born(e) - (Worm CYOA)
- Thread starter PublicLee S.
- Start date
- Status
Because "gregarious" kinda fits, but not really.
Like, the end.
- Location
- United States of America
AN: Hey all, so I've been writing this story for, like, a while, and I've kinda gotten sick of all the complaints, and it's gotten kinda long, so I'm just gonna, like, copy Wildbow and skip to the end, because if he did it then it's, like, totally a good idea. But, like, writing the big fight seems, like, a lot of work, so I'm just gonna skip to the end. Hope ya'll, like, enjoy!
Conclusions 42.1
I sat and relaxed on the beach resort I'd had built on my own personal world, staffed by powered automatons that I controlled, just like the city nearby. It was nice to relax, with everything all over, with no more foes to fight, and no more problems to solve.
My best friend, Herb, sat on another chair beside me, as we sat and enjoyed the calm waves. It'd been a long three years, but we'd finally won, dealing with more bad guys then I could count, so I didn't bother. Cauldron had been a problem, but we'd finally broken them, taking their resources for their own.
I'd come to understand that the problem hadn't been what they'd been doing, with the abductions, and the murders, and the forced experimentations. No, the problem had been that they'd been doing them wrong. I, of course, could do it better, and I had. Using Master powers on people wasn't the problem, using it badly had been. With that revelation, and the ability to harvest powers from The Thinker directly, everything had become so much easier.
Heartbreaker had been an amateur, Gallagher-ing his control in narrow, overly large doses, sandblasting people's personalities. Me, I was an artist. Small changes, rooted deeply into their minds, could make enormous changes, and had helped everyone to understand. I'd always struggled with not understanding others, and of others not being able to, or unwilling to, understand me in turn.
Now, that was no longer a problem.
I'd started small of course, correcting the flaws inherent within my best friend, finally helping him understand what he was doing wrong, and to correct it. I'd had to go a bit deeper than I would've liked, but his thoughts were just so chaotic, so jumbled, that I'd spent a while smoothing them out, making them orderly without changing how he presented himself that much. The outputs were generally the same, but his mind worked much better now.
From there, it'd gotten easier. Taylor's Insecurities, Amelia's Fears, Rebecca's Arrogance, all had been fixed, making them all much better people, working together for a common goal. I'd even discovered how to use it on myself, removing the things that had been holding me back, letting me take the risks I avoided, pushing forward instead of being a coward about the entire thing.
Some had died, yes. Dean's death was a tragedy, but Victoria found comfort in her sister's arms, and my own. But we'd progressed, and for every one that we lost, we removed a thousand threats, and those we made examples of had helped deter others.
Things had gotten a bit touchy, and starting that war with Russia and the CUI could've been handled better, but taking over the Vatican had been a masterstroke and let us bring South America in line. Africa might be gone, but it was a sacrifice I'd been willing to make, and then, only a month ago, we'd stumbled across the solution to all our problems.
As his powers grew, Herb was able to turn into larger and larger things. The tipping point had happed seven weeks ago, when something had unlocked, and He'd gained the ability to turn into an Entity.
One on one, the Warrior might have been able to defeat him, but twenty-four on one, each of his Replicants a separate Entity, along with their Stands, along with myself and my own Stand added to the mix? It was child's play.
Now, strong enough to handle any foe, we relaxed. Herb's Replicants had been a blessing in disguise, and, once made to understand, had been an invaluable resource. Humanity continued, one united government working to achieve utopia, and spread through the stars. Those of the next generation that sought to overwhelm the order, or those with enough power to cause problems, would understand the need to work together for the good of all.
With the power I'd gained, and the powers I'd learned to gift to others, me and mine were immortal, in every sense. We'd help ensure that Humanity stayed on the right track, not a Sword of Damacles, but the invisible hand, letting others live their lives unknowing of the danger that had been averted, but with the worst among them punished, seemingly by Fate, and they'd understand why doing the right thing was, well, the right thing to do.
But those were thoughts for another day. We'd won, and the world didn't even know, ignorant of the final battle, assuming that our conflict with those other dimensions was the last great conflict. While quite a few had died, it was the only way that I'd been able to find the dimension the Warrior was hiding in, so their deaths were not in vain.
For now, I relaxed. "So, whaddya think?" I asked Herb, sipping the power-created ambrosia. "Relax for a few more hours, or head back to our rooms?"
He laughed, shaking his head. "Still getting' used to you not having to do somethin' all the time."
With our foes gone, that need I'd had, the fear of not being enough, had been a detriment to my happiness, so I'd removed it, understanding that it wasn't necessary any longer. "That's not an answer. Let me guess, you want to head back to your room, you horn-dog."
He glanced down the beach, towards where the others were relaxing. He'd finally settled down with Kayden, Hedera, and Contessa. The fact that the second half of his Replicants were all female, and all liked him was a bit odd, but I'd understood that it wasn't incest, but masturbation, of a sort, and with their genetics changed by Amelia it wasn't even really that.
Snorting, he shot back, "Like you've got room to talk, what with your Harem." I glanced over as well, at Taylor, Amelia, Rebecca, Victoria, Jamie, Akemi, Carol, Paige, Cherie, Jeanne, Abigail, Ashley, Dragon, Noelle, Faultline, Lily, Sveta, Ciara, Miranda, Elle, Shatterbird, Madeline, Mimi, Emily, Crystal, Lisa, Hannah, Karen, Sherrel, Narwhal, Dorothy, Sabah, Rachel, Ziz, Scylla, and Titania. The last three, the Endbringers, had been a surprise, but with time I'd even been able to make those engines of destruction understand, and, if they wanted to pursue me, who was I to say no? There were others of course, but these were just the ones that had come with me on vacation.
"Dude," I scoffed, "I can make copies. There's more of me then there are of them. If anything they're the ones with harems."
Herb looked like he wanted to disagree, but he didn't, understanding that I was correct. "So what next?"
I shrugged, "That's what I'm asking you. I got nothing. Our industry's working away. Overwatch is well, watching the world, and with the restrictions we put on the Shard Network, no one's getting any power that's really a problem."
With Scion dead, we were finally able to seize control of the mechanism that allowed people to Trigger, re-writing the commands they were sent, limiting the ways powers could manifest. The Conflict Drive had been replaced with the Cooperation Drive, and those that went against the grain, as long as they kept the damage minimal, could be ignored, not having the power to shake the system up deeper than just under the surface.
I thought back to disbelief when I'd railed against what Herb had done to Dinah, how I'd risked everything for a girl whose powers didn't even work properly, hadn't worked at all until I'd helped both her, and her Shard, understand me and how they needed to function. Quinn had adopted her, and, with the backlash gone, she now helped out her father monitoring things from out of sight of larger society. She was an asset, yes, but if I'd let her suffer a few days more, and come in with the plan to kill Quinn from the start, then save her, so many problems could've been avoided.
Those early days, I'd tried to only kill in combat, saving assassinations for those who truly needed them, prioritizing saving lives over ending threats. I'd learned, and things had improved because of it. Yes, they'd lost some people because of it, like Ethan, but with those threats eliminated they were never in a position to threaten anyone else again. Those that could be captured were made to understand what they did was wrong, and became allies, but most of them were just removed, like Legend had to be, though his clone was much more amenable, and only his husband had noticed the difference, but he'd understood why it'd been necessary.
"Let's hang out a bit more. Not like we can burn," he laughed, and I laughed as well, our twin chortles echoing across the waves.
While my power had stopped Amelia from making improvements, even undoing my own understanding if I didn't re-apply it, I'd tracked down someone who had a weaker power, one that protected against more minor damage, and harvested it, before passing it out to the others. We were now all built like Greek gods and goddesses, my own power rendering them perfect, and the other's keeping them there.
However, with time to experiment, and uniformity, while good in societies, being boring, Amelia and I had made some. . . improvements. Taylor's Antannae, Amelia's blood-red hair, Karen's furry ears and thin, prehensile tail. It made them all the more unique, and those that had been doubtful had understood why I wanted it.
I took another sip, letting the taste of concentrated life-force fill my mouth, and sat back. I'd been so concerned about morals, about doing what was right over what was easy, about not using my powers to my fullest, that the hell I'd found myself in, during those first few months, was really one of my own making. It would've been far easier to grab who I wanted and leave, travelling the country, then the world, taking the powers I wanted. When the Endbringers would've attacked, I wouldn't've been hamstrung, but could've killed it with ease, Lily's power making such a task simple.
But I'd been bogged down with mental chains, shackled to 'preserving agency' and 'free will', thinking that any actions against those were evil, when that was far from the case. Humanity still had agency, still had free will, but was protected from misusing them, just like, when you had a toddler, you put a gate over the stairs and capped the corners with softened material. When they proved themselves capable of handling more responsibility, of growing up, they would get more freedom, but they'd shown, time and time again, that they couldn't be trusted with it.
That's why the small, individual evils, like theft, non-lethal violence, or date rape, we left alone, only stepping in if it threatened people's lives, or started to affect society. Without the room to make those lesser mistakes, and on the scale of society they were truly petty concerns, how could we tell when Humanity was ready for more?
Some had disagreed, as they always did, but they'd come around to my point of view, understanding why they weren't that big of a deal, especially as, powerful as they were, they had nothing to fear from them. I would never do such a thing, of course, but then again I was the example to measure all others against, Brockton Bay the proverbial City on the Hill, by which all others would be measured, and almost always found wanting.
It was hard to be on top, not exactly lonely, not with my wives, but difficult. At times I questioned if this was the right thing to do, if there was not some other, better way, but even when my own understanding waned, that of those around me did not, and helped me understand that my way was correct, and that I needed to help myself understand it once more.
Humanity had won against the Entities, and now we could rebuild. The fight had been costly, over half of humanity dead, but it was nothing that we couldn't get back in some way or another. It's ironic, I thought to myself, that killing the golden man would usher in a new golden age.
I sat back, letting my wind blow, on my beach, in my dimension, among my people, and relaxed to enjoy my victory.
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Yeah, fuck that. Next Chapter's up on Sunday, like usual.
Conclusions 42.1
I sat and relaxed on the beach resort I'd had built on my own personal world, staffed by powered automatons that I controlled, just like the city nearby. It was nice to relax, with everything all over, with no more foes to fight, and no more problems to solve.
My best friend, Herb, sat on another chair beside me, as we sat and enjoyed the calm waves. It'd been a long three years, but we'd finally won, dealing with more bad guys then I could count, so I didn't bother. Cauldron had been a problem, but we'd finally broken them, taking their resources for their own.
I'd come to understand that the problem hadn't been what they'd been doing, with the abductions, and the murders, and the forced experimentations. No, the problem had been that they'd been doing them wrong. I, of course, could do it better, and I had. Using Master powers on people wasn't the problem, using it badly had been. With that revelation, and the ability to harvest powers from The Thinker directly, everything had become so much easier.
Heartbreaker had been an amateur, Gallagher-ing his control in narrow, overly large doses, sandblasting people's personalities. Me, I was an artist. Small changes, rooted deeply into their minds, could make enormous changes, and had helped everyone to understand. I'd always struggled with not understanding others, and of others not being able to, or unwilling to, understand me in turn.
Now, that was no longer a problem.
I'd started small of course, correcting the flaws inherent within my best friend, finally helping him understand what he was doing wrong, and to correct it. I'd had to go a bit deeper than I would've liked, but his thoughts were just so chaotic, so jumbled, that I'd spent a while smoothing them out, making them orderly without changing how he presented himself that much. The outputs were generally the same, but his mind worked much better now.
From there, it'd gotten easier. Taylor's Insecurities, Amelia's Fears, Rebecca's Arrogance, all had been fixed, making them all much better people, working together for a common goal. I'd even discovered how to use it on myself, removing the things that had been holding me back, letting me take the risks I avoided, pushing forward instead of being a coward about the entire thing.
Some had died, yes. Dean's death was a tragedy, but Victoria found comfort in her sister's arms, and my own. But we'd progressed, and for every one that we lost, we removed a thousand threats, and those we made examples of had helped deter others.
Things had gotten a bit touchy, and starting that war with Russia and the CUI could've been handled better, but taking over the Vatican had been a masterstroke and let us bring South America in line. Africa might be gone, but it was a sacrifice I'd been willing to make, and then, only a month ago, we'd stumbled across the solution to all our problems.
As his powers grew, Herb was able to turn into larger and larger things. The tipping point had happed seven weeks ago, when something had unlocked, and He'd gained the ability to turn into an Entity.
One on one, the Warrior might have been able to defeat him, but twenty-four on one, each of his Replicants a separate Entity, along with their Stands, along with myself and my own Stand added to the mix? It was child's play.
Now, strong enough to handle any foe, we relaxed. Herb's Replicants had been a blessing in disguise, and, once made to understand, had been an invaluable resource. Humanity continued, one united government working to achieve utopia, and spread through the stars. Those of the next generation that sought to overwhelm the order, or those with enough power to cause problems, would understand the need to work together for the good of all.
With the power I'd gained, and the powers I'd learned to gift to others, me and mine were immortal, in every sense. We'd help ensure that Humanity stayed on the right track, not a Sword of Damacles, but the invisible hand, letting others live their lives unknowing of the danger that had been averted, but with the worst among them punished, seemingly by Fate, and they'd understand why doing the right thing was, well, the right thing to do.
But those were thoughts for another day. We'd won, and the world didn't even know, ignorant of the final battle, assuming that our conflict with those other dimensions was the last great conflict. While quite a few had died, it was the only way that I'd been able to find the dimension the Warrior was hiding in, so their deaths were not in vain.
For now, I relaxed. "So, whaddya think?" I asked Herb, sipping the power-created ambrosia. "Relax for a few more hours, or head back to our rooms?"
He laughed, shaking his head. "Still getting' used to you not having to do somethin' all the time."
With our foes gone, that need I'd had, the fear of not being enough, had been a detriment to my happiness, so I'd removed it, understanding that it wasn't necessary any longer. "That's not an answer. Let me guess, you want to head back to your room, you horn-dog."
He glanced down the beach, towards where the others were relaxing. He'd finally settled down with Kayden, Hedera, and Contessa. The fact that the second half of his Replicants were all female, and all liked him was a bit odd, but I'd understood that it wasn't incest, but masturbation, of a sort, and with their genetics changed by Amelia it wasn't even really that.
Snorting, he shot back, "Like you've got room to talk, what with your Harem." I glanced over as well, at Taylor, Amelia, Rebecca, Victoria, Jamie, Akemi, Carol, Paige, Cherie, Jeanne, Abigail, Ashley, Dragon, Noelle, Faultline, Lily, Sveta, Ciara, Miranda, Elle, Shatterbird, Madeline, Mimi, Emily, Crystal, Lisa, Hannah, Karen, Sherrel, Narwhal, Dorothy, Sabah, Rachel, Ziz, Scylla, and Titania. The last three, the Endbringers, had been a surprise, but with time I'd even been able to make those engines of destruction understand, and, if they wanted to pursue me, who was I to say no? There were others of course, but these were just the ones that had come with me on vacation.
"Dude," I scoffed, "I can make copies. There's more of me then there are of them. If anything they're the ones with harems."
Herb looked like he wanted to disagree, but he didn't, understanding that I was correct. "So what next?"
I shrugged, "That's what I'm asking you. I got nothing. Our industry's working away. Overwatch is well, watching the world, and with the restrictions we put on the Shard Network, no one's getting any power that's really a problem."
With Scion dead, we were finally able to seize control of the mechanism that allowed people to Trigger, re-writing the commands they were sent, limiting the ways powers could manifest. The Conflict Drive had been replaced with the Cooperation Drive, and those that went against the grain, as long as they kept the damage minimal, could be ignored, not having the power to shake the system up deeper than just under the surface.
I thought back to disbelief when I'd railed against what Herb had done to Dinah, how I'd risked everything for a girl whose powers didn't even work properly, hadn't worked at all until I'd helped both her, and her Shard, understand me and how they needed to function. Quinn had adopted her, and, with the backlash gone, she now helped out her father monitoring things from out of sight of larger society. She was an asset, yes, but if I'd let her suffer a few days more, and come in with the plan to kill Quinn from the start, then save her, so many problems could've been avoided.
Those early days, I'd tried to only kill in combat, saving assassinations for those who truly needed them, prioritizing saving lives over ending threats. I'd learned, and things had improved because of it. Yes, they'd lost some people because of it, like Ethan, but with those threats eliminated they were never in a position to threaten anyone else again. Those that could be captured were made to understand what they did was wrong, and became allies, but most of them were just removed, like Legend had to be, though his clone was much more amenable, and only his husband had noticed the difference, but he'd understood why it'd been necessary.
"Let's hang out a bit more. Not like we can burn," he laughed, and I laughed as well, our twin chortles echoing across the waves.
While my power had stopped Amelia from making improvements, even undoing my own understanding if I didn't re-apply it, I'd tracked down someone who had a weaker power, one that protected against more minor damage, and harvested it, before passing it out to the others. We were now all built like Greek gods and goddesses, my own power rendering them perfect, and the other's keeping them there.
However, with time to experiment, and uniformity, while good in societies, being boring, Amelia and I had made some. . . improvements. Taylor's Antannae, Amelia's blood-red hair, Karen's furry ears and thin, prehensile tail. It made them all the more unique, and those that had been doubtful had understood why I wanted it.
I took another sip, letting the taste of concentrated life-force fill my mouth, and sat back. I'd been so concerned about morals, about doing what was right over what was easy, about not using my powers to my fullest, that the hell I'd found myself in, during those first few months, was really one of my own making. It would've been far easier to grab who I wanted and leave, travelling the country, then the world, taking the powers I wanted. When the Endbringers would've attacked, I wouldn't've been hamstrung, but could've killed it with ease, Lily's power making such a task simple.
But I'd been bogged down with mental chains, shackled to 'preserving agency' and 'free will', thinking that any actions against those were evil, when that was far from the case. Humanity still had agency, still had free will, but was protected from misusing them, just like, when you had a toddler, you put a gate over the stairs and capped the corners with softened material. When they proved themselves capable of handling more responsibility, of growing up, they would get more freedom, but they'd shown, time and time again, that they couldn't be trusted with it.
That's why the small, individual evils, like theft, non-lethal violence, or date rape, we left alone, only stepping in if it threatened people's lives, or started to affect society. Without the room to make those lesser mistakes, and on the scale of society they were truly petty concerns, how could we tell when Humanity was ready for more?
Some had disagreed, as they always did, but they'd come around to my point of view, understanding why they weren't that big of a deal, especially as, powerful as they were, they had nothing to fear from them. I would never do such a thing, of course, but then again I was the example to measure all others against, Brockton Bay the proverbial City on the Hill, by which all others would be measured, and almost always found wanting.
It was hard to be on top, not exactly lonely, not with my wives, but difficult. At times I questioned if this was the right thing to do, if there was not some other, better way, but even when my own understanding waned, that of those around me did not, and helped me understand that my way was correct, and that I needed to help myself understand it once more.
Humanity had won against the Entities, and now we could rebuild. The fight had been costly, over half of humanity dead, but it was nothing that we couldn't get back in some way or another. It's ironic, I thought to myself, that killing the golden man would usher in a new golden age.
I sat back, letting my wind blow, on my beach, in my dimension, among my people, and relaxed to enjoy my victory.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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.
.
.
Yeah, fuck that. Next Chapter's up on Sunday, like usual.
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LostArchivist
Sane, unfortunately.
- Location
- The State of Confusion
I think that rivals the insanity that was the April Fools chapter for Dao of Magic two years ago (since deleted [the chapter, not the story], which is probably for the better, even if it was a masterwork of playing with tropes). Dammit, I'm going to have trouble sleeping again... 
- Location
- oregon
I, I think you got the wrong holiday @PublicLee S. This is April Fools, not Halloween.
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- Location
- Malaysia
You got me good. I was sat there in shock for a good ten seconds before reading it and realizing it was a prank.
- Location
- Wonderland
A: You have no mouth. Understand?
but that certainly does seem like an appropriate reaction.
A couple typos in this masterpiece of horror:
- Location
- Oregon, USA
I don't like your recent depictions of Cauldron. Sure, they're not the most efficient sometimes, but I feel like your anger towards Wildbow came out a little to much in that chapter. No one felt like a real person, except maaybe Lee, but that's only because of what he had gone through just prior. Legend was decent, but the glance-share was weird, as was him staying out of the conversation. Alexandria was okay-ish, but she was portrayed way more aggressive than she is in reality. Canon had her up against someone who showed less of an emotional reaction than she was expecting, so she pushed pretty hard. This is not the same scenario, so her approach would be different. Eidolon was the worst. He felt like one of those exaggerated characters who always gets mad at everything that happens. It felt like your quality of writing fell back towards the beginning. I've disagreed with a lot of your choices, both as an author and as Lee, but I've kept reading anyways because that's your choice. But this has gotten close to the tipping point for me. I'll stick around for a bit longer, because some of your choices with the endbringer battle, as well as how your Simurgh's logic actually makes sense and can be reverse-engineered (even though Lee probably should have been trying to analyze it by now) and is NOT treated as a flat, impossible-to-reason-with robot, but your treatment of cauldron m, not as Lee, but as the author, drives me close. I hope you end up re-writing that chapter.
- Location
- United States of America
I'm assuming you're referring to the last real chapter, not the parody one. Thing is, almost all of your knowledge about Eidolon is likely agreed upon Fanon, or otherwise assumed, as we only see him talk during the Echidna fight, where he sells out the Undersiders and has been losing his powers for a long time, and at Golden Mourning, where he's thrown off his game by a single phrase from a completely untrustworthy source, and dies.
He goes to talk to Yamada, but not for help, but to make it so that people know what was happening to him, his tale, as it were. He sells out the Undersiders without a second thought, doesn't talk to people he thinks aren't important (blatantly ignoring them), and, in the Yamada section, opens it by saying he's spied on her so he knows she'll do what he wants.
Relevant section of Interlude 18:
He's not there for help, or advice, or guidance, but just to pass on the message if he dies. His section ends:
And he's just been stymied, wanting to blast through these steel walls but held back by the other two for an hour, and now he's being sidelined and ignored, and remember, this is with his powers returning, so he's now, once again, the most powerful Parahuman in the world, and Vejovis is dismissing him. He's not 'mad at everything that happens', he's mad at not getting what he feels is the respect he's owed and, has even been shown in the quote, isn't shy about using powers to get what he wants even if the ethics of that are questionable, at best. It's easy to be relaxed and calm when you're being shown the proper respect (Yamada is frankly terrified of him, which soothes his ego), but Vejovis isn't doing that.
As for Alexandria, she reads body language (which we've established goes a bit wonky when applied to Lee), and makes decisions based on them, absolutely certain that she's correct and not questioning herself, trying to control and manipulate situations based on what she thinks will work. That's why, when they head to the PRT office, she tries to lead him to an interrogation room to gain the psychological advantage, but Legend, when Vejovis looks aggravated and ready to leave, gives him a sympathetic look to both play the good cop and to express that Alexandria tries shit like this all the time, which works.
She only got emotional at all when Lee no-sold her invulnerability, and even then was handling her Siberian PTSD flashback pretty well, recovering in less than a minute.
It's ironic that you use my latest informational post's frustration with Wildbow to justify why I'm not writing Cauldron the way you think I should, because, if you go re-read the text, and consider that in different situations sometimes people act differently, you'll find that there's almost no characterization of Cauldron at all, because they're the Deus Ex Machina Bad Guys, and thus, while the get more humanization than Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains, they sometimes act like them, and they're all pretty much dicks, except for Legend, who's being lied to. They don't communicate with each other unless one of them needs something, they don't act with consideration of others, they aren't smart because they've had the safety net of Contessa's powers for so long that they've grown accustomed to it. If what they were doing was that bad, after all, she would've stopped them from doing it, so they must be correct. Remember, this is a group that brands and releases their test subjects with their symbol, while also believing that the secrecy of their existence is paramount.
As I said three days ago, the reason why so many people like Worm is that it's so full of holes without those holes being obvious that people read it what they want to see, and like what they assume is there. The reason why so many people who say they like Worm don't finish reading Worm, is because as things go on the world starts going against what they've filled those wholes with, and hangs together less and less well, and the cognitive dissonance, usually below the level of conscious thought, makes them lose interest. There is nothing Cauldron won't do to win, which is a phrase used a lot but people rarely think of. They also do not take challenges to their authority well, because if they aren't in charge everyone is going to die, at least in their minds.
The problem you have with my portrayal of Eidolon is the problem people had with my portrayal of Armsmaster, only more-so. The character is practically a blank slate, his only actions quite dickish, and on that slate you, or someone you listen to, has projected something that isn't there. I'll also note that you haven't even told me how Alexandria and Eidolon are 'supposed' to be written, just 'not that way', which even if I was going to do re-writes would make this entire thing enormously difficult, as I obviously thought I did it correctly the first time, so I don't understand what you want. If you can give me examples of why this chapter was out of character from Worm (citations appreciated, but mis-contextualized citations damage your arguement), I'll gladly listen and might re-write things if I got it really wrong, but arguments without evidence can be dismissed without evidence, and I provided evidence.
I'm glad you liked my story so far, and hope you continue enjoying it, but I've made my stance on doing my best to follow Canon, not Fanon, clear, and I'm not going to change that now just because someone says it's nebulously 'wrong'.
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- Location
- United Kingdom
I would just like to chip in to say that I agree with Young Pyromancer here. I'm not quite sure how I would describe it, beyond evoking feelings similar to those evoked by bashing fics. But I'm not sure that it's because you've portrayed them unfaithfully, but rather that what we have direct from canon feels very shallow anyway. Perhaps all the good things about fanfic characterisation of them is fanon, but this may be a case where the fanon was developed for a reason; their canonical characters are lackluster and spiky to read. As you said above, they have quite blank slate characterisation for people to work with.
I wonder if it feels realistic that in a room with Legend, Eidolon would feel the need to use a master power. Would he not run a defensive power? For what reason do you chose to have him make these decisions? To highlight his flaws, or because it makes sense as an action to his character's logic, or some other reason?
I'm not an expert writer, nor an expert on the text. Maybe these are things that fit well, and each of the character's internal logic is consistent. But from my seat, at least Eidolon's decisions seem uncharacteristically foolish for someone with as much experience as Eidolon has. For whatever reason, this is someone who has been to ?every? Endbringer attack, fought for years before Behemoth had even arrived, and has just been told that this person in front of him solo'd a world ending threat. Maybe he's that arrogant, but it feels... contrived? That contrivance then feeds into a feeling of shallowness. I can imagine a scenario where he has the master power, an anti-infection defensive power and whatever he used to try and get through the barriers or some form of thinker power, but that isn't a powerset that feels right for the conversation, nor one that feels particularly Eidolon-ish, at least to my impression of the character.
Also, it appears, if I remember correctly, that Legend isn't aware of The End of the World via Scion - are Eidolon and Alexandria willing to display their full ruthlessness in front of someone they have habitually hidden that ruthlessness from for... well over a decade? Longer? How does that balance against their desire to get answers right now? They were told immediately world ending, but at the same time, the world hasn't ended and they're late to the party, so... is that logic and decision making process feel consistent with their actions and characters?
Also, as an aside, wouldn't Alexandria, miss Thinker lots have figured out how to bypass the doors by just... going through walls? That just occured to me.
Also, I don't know if this is fanon or not, but Eidolon doesn't seem particularly Master power inclined.
My last comment is on the repetition of action getting no response, i.e. Eidolon trying to get answers and being rebuffed by Lee. I'm not necessarily saying its unrealistic, or wasn't necessary for demonstrating the anti-master effect ramping up, but I feel like the pacing and repetition is maybe paced a little wrong, and maybe some more Internal monologue from Lee to further accentuate the building anger (beyond typical frustration at someone trying again and again) might help there? Not sure. That whole repeated exchange feels odd, and i'm sorry I can't quantify it.
Sorry this was a little scatterbrained, but I hope this bundle of words is of some help in any way.
I wonder if it feels realistic that in a room with Legend, Eidolon would feel the need to use a master power. Would he not run a defensive power? For what reason do you chose to have him make these decisions? To highlight his flaws, or because it makes sense as an action to his character's logic, or some other reason?
I'm not an expert writer, nor an expert on the text. Maybe these are things that fit well, and each of the character's internal logic is consistent. But from my seat, at least Eidolon's decisions seem uncharacteristically foolish for someone with as much experience as Eidolon has. For whatever reason, this is someone who has been to ?every? Endbringer attack, fought for years before Behemoth had even arrived, and has just been told that this person in front of him solo'd a world ending threat. Maybe he's that arrogant, but it feels... contrived? That contrivance then feeds into a feeling of shallowness. I can imagine a scenario where he has the master power, an anti-infection defensive power and whatever he used to try and get through the barriers or some form of thinker power, but that isn't a powerset that feels right for the conversation, nor one that feels particularly Eidolon-ish, at least to my impression of the character.
Also, it appears, if I remember correctly, that Legend isn't aware of The End of the World via Scion - are Eidolon and Alexandria willing to display their full ruthlessness in front of someone they have habitually hidden that ruthlessness from for... well over a decade? Longer? How does that balance against their desire to get answers right now? They were told immediately world ending, but at the same time, the world hasn't ended and they're late to the party, so... is that logic and decision making process feel consistent with their actions and characters?
Also, as an aside, wouldn't Alexandria, miss Thinker lots have figured out how to bypass the doors by just... going through walls? That just occured to me.
Also, I don't know if this is fanon or not, but Eidolon doesn't seem particularly Master power inclined.
My last comment is on the repetition of action getting no response, i.e. Eidolon trying to get answers and being rebuffed by Lee. I'm not necessarily saying its unrealistic, or wasn't necessary for demonstrating the anti-master effect ramping up, but I feel like the pacing and repetition is maybe paced a little wrong, and maybe some more Internal monologue from Lee to further accentuate the building anger (beyond typical frustration at someone trying again and again) might help there? Not sure. That whole repeated exchange feels odd, and i'm sorry I can't quantify it.
Sorry this was a little scatterbrained, but I hope this bundle of words is of some help in any way.
- Location
- krypton
these are the top three heroes on the continent, possibly the world, possibly all worlds, respected and/or feared by anyone sane, heads of multiple nationwide organizations, with a sacred mission, in their place of power, united against an at least nominally sane and cooperative person, a fellow hero. it would actually be unreasonable for them to be expecting him to take a shot at one of them here and now.
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- Location
- United States of America
Exactly. Also Truth Eliciting is a fairly subtle power at normal levels, Eidolon's Mask effectively hiding the tell that it was being used (mouth glow), only revealed as being used at all when Eidolon really started pushing it because he wasn't able to accept what he was hearing, thinking that Lee was resisting the power (he wasn't). It's most of the reason Lee was so chatty with the Cape-Illuminati.
Hell, if he hadn't pushed it that hard Lee would've been effectively Mastered, not even noticing because he already dislikes and is disgusted by Eidolon, and rationalizing why he revealed so much (as he was already doing early on), telling himself that it was because he was tired, or maybe because Legend seemed to not be an asshole, so that's why Lee over-shared.
The fact that someone would actually attack him, especially with Legend and Alexandria right there, was ludicrous to Eidolon, and to the other two, which is why Alexandria couldn't react fast enough to stop the projectile, nor Legend blast it out of the air. But, like, I'm sure, like, I'm just like bad at writing Cauldron and Eidolon as not, like, hyper-competent, like, or something.
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I hope the Peak Body Healing will cure some of Eidolons idiocy...
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
You can cure ignorance, but you can't cure stupid.
Strictly speaking, you can cure stupid if you dramatically increase glial neuron tissue in the brain...
Brain cancer is almost certainly going to kill you, not make you smarter, even in a superhero setting.
kdakmmt
Verified troll
- Location
- alaska
It's not curing stupid as much as creating a ladder to climb out of the stupid
- Location
- United States of America
With life as it is, I post anywhere from 1-4. I'm actually editing it now (grammar, clarification, better ways to put things, etc.).
Where I am, right now it's 20:25
Thanks for the dedication though.
PS. Did not expect you to reply to this
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- Location
- United States of America
Sorry, time-zones. 1-4 EST.
Reconstruction 15.2
- Location
- United States of America
Reconstruction 15.2
Looking around the security chamber, at Quinn, Karen, Sherrel, Taylor, Amelia, and Victoria, I sighed, letting Herb go. "So, you guys were listening in all of that?"
"Your earpiece was on," Overwatch noted neutrally.
"Did you kill Eidolon?" Mouse asked incredulously.
"No, I shot him in the arm," I dismissed.
Herb chuckled, "Not the first time."
I shot the man withering glare, which wasn't nearly as effective without eyes. "The first time was an accident, and I expected him to have some kind of Brute power on when he was fucking Mastering me, okay?"
Before they could ask, I told the others, "Not sure what it was, something to make me talk and answer his questions. I've still got traces of it, so don't ask a question you don't want answered."
"Are you mad at me?" Herb asked immediately.
Just as quickly I replied, "No." As he looked a little confused, I continued, "I'm fucking furious. Do you know how badly shit can go here? When everyone knows we're this strong? What if Kayden got grabbed, and you needed our help, but you had to go back to your room and, by the time you did so, it was too late? What if we were wrong about the Endbringers and Khonsu decided now was a great time to start his rampage? I know you were never good about picking up your fucking phone, but this isn't our old lives, where nothing really moved that fast, we're in the world saving biz, and Superman can't leave Darkseid to destroy Metropolis because he was having a 'me day.'"
He winced, hanging his head, "Sorry dude, I-"
"No," I interrupted. "Don't fucking apologize, get fucking better. I needed your help, to fix a problem that we fucking caused, and your ass was AWOL."
"At least you were able to handle it?" he smiled weakly. "Ya didn't really need my help, did ya'?"
"Yes. I did."
He glanced around, seeing the angry looks around him. "Well, you're still in one piece."
I didn't say anything, just shifting my costume from the full-body garment to a t-shirt and shorts, keeping the domino mask.
"Fuck Vejy," Mouse whispered, as the others in the room looked horrified, even Quinn seemingly taken aback, though he hid it quickly.
I waved my golden-metal arm, "Yeah, one piece." Looking down at myself, the metal tendrils covering my wounds took up just short of half my visible skin.
Amelia was next to me in a moment, not even asking as she grabbed my real hand, going still. "You don't have eyes?" she nearly screamed.
I winced, "Did ya have to tell god and everybody? Fine. Warning, this looks a bit grizzly," I stated, dismissing my mask. "How bad does it look, by the way? I can see, but mirrors don't work for some reason."
"Um, yer eyes are on fuckin' fire," Sherrel stated, looking a bit green. "or, like, they're made of fire."
Turning to Quinn, I wanted to call something else for a moment, but I couldn't say what it was, just on the tip of my tongue. Instead I asked, "Could you take a picture? I'd like to see what it looks like when I'm able to."
Looking around at the others, their powers were obvious to my sight. Most of them I knew well, though Vehicle Tinkering was still new, the Chrome & Black Rubber Flames burning cleanly, though somewhat pulled back, but not banked. It was rather locked down in odd ways, forcing certain design trends in how it expressed itself. The trashy, Monster-Truck-on-Acid aesthetic had fit in with Skidmark's gang of human filth, but to be forever forced into making her creations that way just seemed. . . wrong.
I couldn't copy her power, experimentation with Theo proving that Tinker powers were forever beyond my reach, but I could still See it, almost hearing it on the edge of perception. It wouldn't become un-themed, I didn't have that much pull, but letting it cycle once more, providing it with the energy to do so, allowing it to find a new way of expressing itself while functionally remaining the same, was allowable.
Letting it tap into me for the required jumpstart, Vehicle Tinkering flared, the Flames deepening. Shifting back and forth, the manifestations of power resettled into new patterns, still the same colors, but different in ways that were hard to describe.
Then Panacea punched me.
"W̡̖͖͓̬̯̄ͯh̸͓̥̻̜͛ͧ͊̿̾̀̽a̷͚͇̿̆̀ͭ̎ͪ̄̆ţ̭̭̞͓͔̄͂͑͊̀͐̒͛?̠̆͊̏̇͜͜" I asked, and she glared at me. "What'd I do?" I reiterated.
"You were using your powers and being creepy. Stop using your powers when I'm healing you!" she commanded me. "Now close your eyes so I can make them."
That was an. . . odd way of putting it, but I tried to do so, suddenly feeling that I had eyelids, so that was a plus. "Creepy?" I inquired instead.
"You stopped talkin' and were starin' at Squealer," Herb supplied. "Then your eyes went nuts. Then ya talked snake."
I wanted to look at him incredulously, but Panacea's firm grip on my arm reminded me not to. "You speak parseltongue?"
"Nah dude. Like a snake, all hissing and multilayered and shit," he explained.
I shrugged, "If you say so. Sorry, things look a bit different without the mask and I got distracted." Tapping into the bugs Taylor had in the room, I was able to see everything easy enough. "So, questions?"
"How'd you, ya know, lose. . ." Vicky trailed off, motioning towards her eyes.
Looking towards her, eyes still closed as I felt something there, which was very, very weird, I replied, "A Harvey, one of the bird-men, got too close. Their Talons could cut through practically anything, including me. Luckily, I where I was, I didn't need eyes to See."
Herb laughed, getting the joke at least. I made a mental note to see if Event Horizon was a thing on Earth Bet, and added. "With how my powers work, it actually made things easier, once I got used to it. Downright effective, actually. Hmm. . ."
"No taking out your eyes!" Panacea dictated, before sighing, muttering to herself, "what the fuck am I even saying."
"Not planning to?" I replied.
Karen spoke up, "Then what happened? We could hear ya, but that didn't help. Made things worse, if anything."
"Well, I kept going," I shrugged. "It got kinda meditative, actually. The walls gave way to caves and things got. . . they got. . ." I tried to remember exactly what happened. I could remember the broad strokes, but the finer details seemed to be slipping through my hands like the sands of distant memories, half-forgotten.
Shaking my head, I pressed on. "Things got weird, and I got to the bottom. The Birthing Chamber, and met what was creating the monsters. We talked, she was trying to continue the Cycle, but there's no point. The Cycle's Broken, and all her actions were for naught," I said, feeling an oddly deep sadness in the pit of my stomach. "She. . . didn't take that well, nor did she take me well either. I tried to talk some sense into her, but A҉̧͠d̸̨̕a̵̧͝p̸̢͡t̵̛͜a̵͜͡t҈̨͡i̸̡҇o҉̕͢ņ̵͞a̴̧͡ļ̶͠ R҉͜͠e̵̛͢p̷͜͠l̷̨͡i̵̡͞c̶̢͞a҉̨͡t̴̡͡i҉͢͠o̷̡̕n̸̡͝, wouldn't listen, and told me it was kill her, or she'd kill everyone else. So I did."
I shrugged, "Then I passed out, woke up, talked you, talked with the Triumvirate, in their position as agents of Cauldron, and came home. Kind of a shit day, all round."
Silence met my words.
"So. . . yeah," I said, just to fill the empty space. "Pretty sure she was a clone, not Echidna herself, and likely a creation of Blasto. Either a full clone that went wrong, or something he was working on got messed with during the Endbringer attack, or maybe something else entirely. I don't know, and right now I don't think it's important. Does anyone know where Blasto is? I've got a few questions for him."
Quinn shook his head, "He hasn't been seen in over a month, but that is not uncommon for him."
Nodding, I pressed on. "Okay, he's involved somehow, but I don't know how. What else. Oh, right, Break, this is Mouse Protector, who woke up from her Coma, and Squealer, who'll be coming up with a new name shortly. Girls, this is Break, my friend from a while back and second to me in combat ability, though not my second in command, for. . . numerous reasons, today just being another of them."
"I'm really sorry," the man in questioned said, turning back to me.
Not turning to look at him, I replied, "And you've said that before, to the point that it's now meaningless. What's the phrase? 'Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear what you're saying'?" I sighed, "I needed you, man, and came stupidly close to dying, blind, alone, bleeding in the dark, surrounded by monsters from your worst nightmares. If Overwatch recorded the video feed, I suggest you watch it."
Quinn nodded, confirming that he had. "I need a shower, I need to eat, and I need to sleep," I stated. My face felt better, my headache gone, and I inquired, "Are my eyes back?"
"They are, but your other injuries-" Amy started to respond.
"Can wait. If you want to continue, please meet me in my room in an hour, and we can resume reconstructing my body there," I informed her, moving on to more important things. "Overwatch, you can lift the Biohazard protocols, as her spores died with her. Also, please talk with Herb and see if he wants to go back on vacation, or if we should bring the others home. Either way," I held up a hand and grew a golden dagger from the ceiling, letting it break off under its own weight and catching it. Emblazoning it with my symbol, I passed it to the Changer standing beside me, still not looking at him. "Take this with you. I'll either ferry everyone back or I'll be able to go to where you are if I need to get to you quickly. Again."
Re-extending my costume, I covered up my metallic prosthetics, and the golden tears in my flesh. Moving a fly down to look at me better, I saw that Panacea had healed my face completely, and opened my eyes. The color was a bit more vibrant, the rainbow whirlpools seeming a little deeper, and the sclera, the whites of my eyes, a little too white, but it was good enough. Extruding a domino mask, I slapped that on, nodded to the others, and walked out the door.
Having other people in Eclipse was something I was going to have to get used to. For once I was glad they were there, however, as I was near ravenous with hunger, and didn't have to spend the time cooking, only grabbing some from the buffet. Demolishing my plate, I got two more, and was finishing the third when one of the workers approached me.
Silence descended on the cafeteria as he approached, an older man, maybe Middle Eastern, wearing standard office wear. "Mr. Vejovis?" he asked, and I looked up, finishing off the last of my meatloaf. He looked hesitant, but continued, "If you don't mind me asking, Sir, what happened?"
"If you've got questions, ask Overwatch," I told him, my voice carrying through the large space. "The basics are that our Precognitive Assets detected a threat from within the Red Zone of the ruins of Brockton Bay, which we moved on, trying, and failing, to get help from the PRT. Once we found there was a mutational aspect of it, spores primed to seed the countryside if a traditional attack was tried, we sealed the entrance after a team entered and activated Biohazard Protocols to keep everyone safe. We fought the creations within, killing the Master at the bottom, which caused her creations to decay to dust, rendering the bio-hazard safe. On our way out, we were met with the Triumvirate, who hadn't broken the seal despite their best efforts. We discussed the broad strokes of what we had done, and returned. I'm still not fully healed, but Panacea works best if you've eaten, hence why I'm here. It's perfectly safe now, and taking the way out that you came in through should not be an issue. Does that answer your question?"
The old man stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I believe it does. Thank you for protecting us."
"Um, you're welcome?" I replied. "It's why I'm here. Um, keep up the good work here as well," I told him a little awkwardly, putting my tableware away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd rather not keep Panacea waiting."
After getting back to my room, I took a quick trip to the surface of the moon, re-applying the Teleportation Marks that'd started to fade. Growing a bit of metal up to form an almost engraved surface that matched my Mark I laid a second one inside, to see if that made a difference, then teleported back without an issue. While my costume was self-cleaning, I hadn't realized that my hair was a mess, caked with blood, ash, and dust, but it all washed away easy enough, even if it turned the water black.
Toweling off, I heard a knock at my door, and a glance at the clock on the wall told me it'd been an hour, exactly, from when I'd left. Re-extending my costume for casual wear, I opened my front door, and saw not only Panacea but The Lady, Bug as well, both in casual clothes, though Taylor wore a domino mask like I did.
Motioning them inside, Amelia took charge. "Lie down on your bed. I've healed most of the damage to your spine, but I want as little pressure on it as possible when I work. Taylor,-"
"Getting the bugs for Biomass," she interrupted.
"I damaged my spine?" I asked instead, the two girls grabbing chairs from the table off to the side and dragging them to my bed. "I want to say when, but it could've been different times. Was it crushed, pierced, or sliced?" I inquired, the fact that I could still move, and was being healed, somewhat negating any impact that new had. "And how come I'm not, you know, paralyzed?"
As the insects streamed in, I made a metal bowl to hold the biomass and directed them over to it. Taylor gave me an inquisitive look, then spotted it and nodded in thanks, having been moved them to her cupped hands originally. Amy, meanwhile, snorted. "All three, and you should've been. You've healed some of it, but there are parts missing. You haven't noticed you can't feel pain below your shoulders?"
"Not really," I replied honestly thinking about it, holding up a hand. My feelings were a little muted, but not by much. "Hmm, maybe it was this?" I asked in turn, consciously manipulating the metal threaded throughout my body, tightly holding onto my bones to lift a leg and put it back down.
"Stop that," she rebuked, before nodding after a moment. "Probably." Reaching into the bowl of bugs, they came apart under her touch, turning into a black-brown slurry which she scooped up. "Shirt off, and when I tap a piece of metal, retract it."
I did so, and Taylor gasped, quietly. "I know," Amy agreed, tapping on my metallic abdominals, where I'd been partially disemboweled by a Harvey, the only one of the six that'd been teleported in front of me that'd gotten close enough to hit. Retracting the metal, she poured the gooey substance in, and got to work.
"Want a boost?" I asked as she did her thing, and the fake-touch and feeling of substance of the metal was replaced by something that was more real in a way that was hard to describe.
She grumbled, "I'm fine, it's you who needs to be healed."
I shook my head, getting a glare from my healer. "Sorry. No, I meant do you want me to supercharge your power? I can't do it for long, but it should help. Figured out how pretty recently."
"The Leviathan fight," Taylor stated, and I nodded slightly.
Panacea paused, looking confusedly between the two of us, then took a bracing breath. "Go for it."
Bringing my own Biokinesis up, I reached out to her and started to pour power into her. Her eyes shifted color, her brown irises shifting to a swirling Bone White & Blood Red, burning with an inner light that sparked into a pair of small fires, heatlessly burning as the Flames of her power roared to life. Leaning forward to place a hand on my chest, her eyes narrowed. "Start retracting," she commanded, and I did so, pulling back the metal that'd taken the place of my flesh.
She worked quickly, rapidly taking handfuls of Bio-slurry, not even pouring it into my wounds, but dropping it on my chest where it rippled and disappeared into my skin, an odd feeling, only for my wounds to start to regrow. She worked for a few minutes, and I Saw her power as it built greater and greater in intensity, burning ever brighter. It started to lose its form, however, the edges of her Flames becoming less defined, and I started to pull back on the power I was feeding into her.
Removing the last bit, the fires in her eyes winked out, and she blinked, glaring at me. "I wasn't done!" she complained.
"You can keep going, but I said I could only do so for a bit," I replied. "Your power was destabilizing." I didn't know how I knew that, only that it was true. Even now, her power was settling back down, but the Flames were just a bit brighter than they were before. "Besides," I added, waving my reformed hand, "You're almost there."
"Fine," she grouched. "This might hurt."
"What mi-fuck!" I swore as I could suddenly feel the rest of my body in a way that I hadn't realized I'd lost. It hurt, but it was more like I'd been severely beaten then how badly I'd known I'd been injured, so thank god for small mercies. "Can I sit up at least?" I asked, blinking tears out of my eyes, shocked by the sudden agony that quickly petered out.
She nodded, and I swung my legs off the bed. I only had a few injuries left, and I offered Amelia my hand. She took it, and I retracted a bit of metal, wincing as I could now feel the pain of the wound, no longer covered by my power.
"Do me next!" Taylor suddenly asked, and both Amy and I looked at her. "Um, I mean, can you give my power a boost? Please?"
I shrugged, "I don't see why not. I can only do it for people whose powers I already have, but sure. Take off your mask, though, I want to check something."
She did so, and I repeated what I'd done with Amelia. Her eyes turned to a swirling mix of grey and yellow, before igniting into twin flames of her own, her power spreading out further and further. Where before I could overpower her Arthropod Control, I knew if I tried now, it wouldn't take more than a moment for her to completely override my commands. Her reach spread out as well, my own power hitching a ride, as it spread out to encompass the base, then the surrounding area, stretching out across the city further and further, millions upon millions of tiny lives all controlled in a single net, an enormous hive the likes of which the world had never seen, all working with one common purpose, to-
I cut the power and it shrunk down, though not in an instant, quickly retracting down to the top half of Eclipse, like it'd started. "Wow," Taylor and I said in unison, both of us shaking our heads to clear our thoughts at the same moment as we tried to get over what just happened. "What-" we both started to ask, looking at each other, feeling the same shock, surprise, and the beginnings of fear before we suppressed the power completely, and I blinked as Taylor shuddered.
"You're brains were in sync," Amelia said, and I started to agree, but saw that she also had a hand on Taylor's arm as well. "What happened?" She asked, though more curious than worried.
"So," I said, blinking a few more times to feel that I was me again, "Apparently doing so boosts her range and power, to the point that you get a feedback loop, or something."
"Was I. . . Was I controlling you?" Taylor asked, a little fearfully.
I thought about it. "No, it was more like we'd merged a bit, though you probably could've if you wanted, though I could then pull the plug. Hmm, something to think about later." I shook my head, as, while it was useful, it was edging into Master territory, only not really. Focusing on the present, I asked, "You almost done Amelia?"
She looked at me incredulously, before sighing deeply and grabbing another handful of bio-slurry. "Almost." Replicating the 'merge with skin' trick, she grew the last of my wounds closed. Not getting another handful of goo, she sat for a moment, thinking hard. "How bad was it? Be honest," she said, squeezing my hand to remind me that she could tell if I was lying.
"Bad," I admitted. "I wasn't lying, when they first got my eyes I thought I was going to die, and panicked a little. But. . . I had to go down there. It was the right thing to do," I said, shrugging. With better intel I would've acted differently, but Herb hadn't been wrong in that it had turned out okay, though that didn't excuse what he'd done, or more accurately what he hadn't done.
"We could've helped!" Taylor argued, and I shook my head, understanding the emotion of her question, but the logic?
"You saw what was down there. Did you think you could fight that?" I replied, trying not sound as scornful of the suggestion as it really warranted. Did she think I cared so little about her, that I'd sacrifice her to get a small advantage" "And you'd never make it inside, those spores would've killed you before you even tried, and turned you into god knows what!"
This time it was Amelia who replied, "They wouldn't have killed me!"
Turning to look at her, I raised an eyebrow. Maybe it was the tired-ness, but while I appreciated the healing, I didn't appreciate the childish stupidity, nor the accusations that I'd made the wrong call, especially as her proposed idea was wrong in so many ways. "And you've not had a tenth of the combat training that Taylor has. Her I'd consider taking, if she had some kind of armor, and even then that would've been a mistake, with what I fought down there. You've made it clear that you don't want to fight, and I've respected that, Panacea."
"But-" she started to say, but I cut her off, not in the mood to argue with someone who shifted the goalposts, telling me I was wrong without offering suggestions that weren't patently absurd. I knew she could be a bit dishonest at time, when she got emotional, but I wasn't kidding when I said I was out of fucks, and the reprieve from having the time to eat was quickly running dry.
"No. You've made it clear you don't want to be a fighter, that you want to stay behind and heal. I'm okay with that, but even if you got your bio-armor functional, you have no combat training and your only experience in any kind of live-fire scenario has been as a civilian, or as a hostage," I told her. "I don't think you'd break, if things got bad, but you might, and you heard what I told Alexandria. I can either respect what you say you want, or I can try to make you do what I think is best. You've been-"
"Lee," Taylor interrupted, and I paused. "We're not blaming you for getting hurt."
"Kinda what it sounds like," I shot back.
"What? No!" Amy disagreed, and I gave her a disbelieving look. "I, okay, yes, I do, but. . . You don't have to do everything yourself!" she argued instead, holding tight to my hand.
"And when my allies decide to bunker down instead of send help, assuming I'll fail; when the PRT does nothing, except treat me like an enemy after I save them, again; and when my friend blows me off, because he assumes that nothing will go wrong; and when no one else that is willing to help has the ability, either because they haven't gotten that strong, or because they refuse to get that strong?" I asked. "Yeah, I kinda do."
Taylor grabbed my other hand. "I'm not blaming you, I just don't want to see you hurt!" she declared, and the honesty-pain-frustration coming off her helped underline her words, and took some of the wind out of my sails.
"I don't want to see you hurt either!" Amelia argued, and I pulled my hands back.
I sighed, "Listen. This was. . . this was bad. An end-of-the-world scenario that I was barely able to stop. Cauldron handles most of them, but the actions of so many Precognitive Blindspots in this city has rendered their strongest cape useless. There'll be things you can help with Taylor, like you helped when the nazis set up that ambush for me, this just wasn't one of them. You weren't ready for the Endbringer fight, but there was no way you could've been. I don't blame you for that, but that is why I had you stick with Amelia, and wasn't that the right call?"
The bug controller nodded, and I continued, "I can take hits you can't, so I put myself in more danger. If, when, we get you up to snuff, I'll bring you with me for things as bad as this, but you've been training for, what, a month? I'm trying not to do everything myself, but there are things that I have to do myself, as I could pull it off, and the chance of you getting injured, or dying is too great." I projected my feelings through our shared connection, and she nodded, understanding.
"And me?" Amelia asked, almost aggressively.
"What about you?" I asked in turn. "Even if I didn't care about your well-being, I still wouldn't take an untrained civilian into a combat scenario. You blaming me for getting hurt, when I did everything I could think of to ask for help, only to get turned down, isn't warranted, or fair. What was I supposed to do, let the world burn while I sat safe in my bunker, until they got to me too?"
She obviously didn't like what I was saying, and just reiterated, "I could've helped!"
I held up my reformed hand. "And you did, and I do appreciate the healing, but that's all you've wanted to be, Amelia, a healer. Not a combatant, not front-line aid, not anything but back-line support, and thus that's all I will treat you as. That's not a bad thing," I stressed, "I don't think less of you for it, but that's all you want to be, and I'll respect those wishes." I grew a steel cog from the ceiling, catching it as it broke off and dropped down. "This is you: formed as you wanted to be. Useful in your chosen profession, and only that."
I grew another, of the exact same mass, but this time made the teeth razor sharp. Reforming a glove, I caught it, and held it next to the first. "And this is Taylor: still useful in her position as intel gathering and battlefield control, but dangerous on her own as well. If I need scouting, or information gathering, or to harry non-brutes, she's good at that, but if I need backup in a low to moderate level combat scenario, a one to a four, maybe a five, in danger, I'd be comfortable bringing her along for that too. What that was?" I pointed towards the ruins of the lair I'd just cleared. "Was an eight, maybe even the lower end of nine. Endbringers are mid nine."
"I'll fight!" Panacea declared, and I looked at her disbelievingly. "I will!"
"Because you want to, or because you don't want to be proven wrong?" I asked coolly, not liking how she was dodging the issue completely.
"Lee," Taylor rebuked gently. "If she wants to try, let her try."
Amelia glared at Taylor, "I'm not going to try, I'm going to fight."
"You're going to train is what you're going to do," I informed her, ignoring Taylor's smile. "But I wasn't joking about needing to get some sleep. I'm fucking exhausted, and, fun fact, yelling at tired people is rarely a recipe for success. We'll start tomorrow at ten, wear something you can move in. With my copy of your power, we can go harder than normal, and we're going to need to if you want to go anywhere close to a fight anytime soon."
Looking around the security chamber, at Quinn, Karen, Sherrel, Taylor, Amelia, and Victoria, I sighed, letting Herb go. "So, you guys were listening in all of that?"
"Your earpiece was on," Overwatch noted neutrally.
"Did you kill Eidolon?" Mouse asked incredulously.
"No, I shot him in the arm," I dismissed.
Herb chuckled, "Not the first time."
I shot the man withering glare, which wasn't nearly as effective without eyes. "The first time was an accident, and I expected him to have some kind of Brute power on when he was fucking Mastering me, okay?"
Before they could ask, I told the others, "Not sure what it was, something to make me talk and answer his questions. I've still got traces of it, so don't ask a question you don't want answered."
"Are you mad at me?" Herb asked immediately.
Just as quickly I replied, "No." As he looked a little confused, I continued, "I'm fucking furious. Do you know how badly shit can go here? When everyone knows we're this strong? What if Kayden got grabbed, and you needed our help, but you had to go back to your room and, by the time you did so, it was too late? What if we were wrong about the Endbringers and Khonsu decided now was a great time to start his rampage? I know you were never good about picking up your fucking phone, but this isn't our old lives, where nothing really moved that fast, we're in the world saving biz, and Superman can't leave Darkseid to destroy Metropolis because he was having a 'me day.'"
He winced, hanging his head, "Sorry dude, I-"
"No," I interrupted. "Don't fucking apologize, get fucking better. I needed your help, to fix a problem that we fucking caused, and your ass was AWOL."
"At least you were able to handle it?" he smiled weakly. "Ya didn't really need my help, did ya'?"
"Yes. I did."
He glanced around, seeing the angry looks around him. "Well, you're still in one piece."
I didn't say anything, just shifting my costume from the full-body garment to a t-shirt and shorts, keeping the domino mask.
"Fuck Vejy," Mouse whispered, as the others in the room looked horrified, even Quinn seemingly taken aback, though he hid it quickly.
I waved my golden-metal arm, "Yeah, one piece." Looking down at myself, the metal tendrils covering my wounds took up just short of half my visible skin.
Amelia was next to me in a moment, not even asking as she grabbed my real hand, going still. "You don't have eyes?" she nearly screamed.
I winced, "Did ya have to tell god and everybody? Fine. Warning, this looks a bit grizzly," I stated, dismissing my mask. "How bad does it look, by the way? I can see, but mirrors don't work for some reason."
"Um, yer eyes are on fuckin' fire," Sherrel stated, looking a bit green. "or, like, they're made of fire."
Turning to Quinn, I wanted to call something else for a moment, but I couldn't say what it was, just on the tip of my tongue. Instead I asked, "Could you take a picture? I'd like to see what it looks like when I'm able to."
Looking around at the others, their powers were obvious to my sight. Most of them I knew well, though Vehicle Tinkering was still new, the Chrome & Black Rubber Flames burning cleanly, though somewhat pulled back, but not banked. It was rather locked down in odd ways, forcing certain design trends in how it expressed itself. The trashy, Monster-Truck-on-Acid aesthetic had fit in with Skidmark's gang of human filth, but to be forever forced into making her creations that way just seemed. . . wrong.
I couldn't copy her power, experimentation with Theo proving that Tinker powers were forever beyond my reach, but I could still See it, almost hearing it on the edge of perception. It wouldn't become un-themed, I didn't have that much pull, but letting it cycle once more, providing it with the energy to do so, allowing it to find a new way of expressing itself while functionally remaining the same, was allowable.
Letting it tap into me for the required jumpstart, Vehicle Tinkering flared, the Flames deepening. Shifting back and forth, the manifestations of power resettled into new patterns, still the same colors, but different in ways that were hard to describe.
Then Panacea punched me.
"W̡̖͖͓̬̯̄ͯh̸͓̥̻̜͛ͧ͊̿̾̀̽a̷͚͇̿̆̀ͭ̎ͪ̄̆ţ̭̭̞͓͔̄͂͑͊̀͐̒͛?̠̆͊̏̇͜͜" I asked, and she glared at me. "What'd I do?" I reiterated.
"You were using your powers and being creepy. Stop using your powers when I'm healing you!" she commanded me. "Now close your eyes so I can make them."
That was an. . . odd way of putting it, but I tried to do so, suddenly feeling that I had eyelids, so that was a plus. "Creepy?" I inquired instead.
"You stopped talkin' and were starin' at Squealer," Herb supplied. "Then your eyes went nuts. Then ya talked snake."
I wanted to look at him incredulously, but Panacea's firm grip on my arm reminded me not to. "You speak parseltongue?"
"Nah dude. Like a snake, all hissing and multilayered and shit," he explained.
I shrugged, "If you say so. Sorry, things look a bit different without the mask and I got distracted." Tapping into the bugs Taylor had in the room, I was able to see everything easy enough. "So, questions?"
"How'd you, ya know, lose. . ." Vicky trailed off, motioning towards her eyes.
Looking towards her, eyes still closed as I felt something there, which was very, very weird, I replied, "A Harvey, one of the bird-men, got too close. Their Talons could cut through practically anything, including me. Luckily, I where I was, I didn't need eyes to See."
Herb laughed, getting the joke at least. I made a mental note to see if Event Horizon was a thing on Earth Bet, and added. "With how my powers work, it actually made things easier, once I got used to it. Downright effective, actually. Hmm. . ."
"No taking out your eyes!" Panacea dictated, before sighing, muttering to herself, "what the fuck am I even saying."
"Not planning to?" I replied.
Karen spoke up, "Then what happened? We could hear ya, but that didn't help. Made things worse, if anything."
"Well, I kept going," I shrugged. "It got kinda meditative, actually. The walls gave way to caves and things got. . . they got. . ." I tried to remember exactly what happened. I could remember the broad strokes, but the finer details seemed to be slipping through my hands like the sands of distant memories, half-forgotten.
Shaking my head, I pressed on. "Things got weird, and I got to the bottom. The Birthing Chamber, and met what was creating the monsters. We talked, she was trying to continue the Cycle, but there's no point. The Cycle's Broken, and all her actions were for naught," I said, feeling an oddly deep sadness in the pit of my stomach. "She. . . didn't take that well, nor did she take me well either. I tried to talk some sense into her, but A҉̧͠d̸̨̕a̵̧͝p̸̢͡t̵̛͜a̵͜͡t҈̨͡i̸̡҇o҉̕͢ņ̵͞a̴̧͡ļ̶͠ R҉͜͠e̵̛͢p̷͜͠l̷̨͡i̵̡͞c̶̢͞a҉̨͡t̴̡͡i҉͢͠o̷̡̕n̸̡͝, wouldn't listen, and told me it was kill her, or she'd kill everyone else. So I did."
I shrugged, "Then I passed out, woke up, talked you, talked with the Triumvirate, in their position as agents of Cauldron, and came home. Kind of a shit day, all round."
Silence met my words.
"So. . . yeah," I said, just to fill the empty space. "Pretty sure she was a clone, not Echidna herself, and likely a creation of Blasto. Either a full clone that went wrong, or something he was working on got messed with during the Endbringer attack, or maybe something else entirely. I don't know, and right now I don't think it's important. Does anyone know where Blasto is? I've got a few questions for him."
Quinn shook his head, "He hasn't been seen in over a month, but that is not uncommon for him."
Nodding, I pressed on. "Okay, he's involved somehow, but I don't know how. What else. Oh, right, Break, this is Mouse Protector, who woke up from her Coma, and Squealer, who'll be coming up with a new name shortly. Girls, this is Break, my friend from a while back and second to me in combat ability, though not my second in command, for. . . numerous reasons, today just being another of them."
"I'm really sorry," the man in questioned said, turning back to me.
Not turning to look at him, I replied, "And you've said that before, to the point that it's now meaningless. What's the phrase? 'Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear what you're saying'?" I sighed, "I needed you, man, and came stupidly close to dying, blind, alone, bleeding in the dark, surrounded by monsters from your worst nightmares. If Overwatch recorded the video feed, I suggest you watch it."
Quinn nodded, confirming that he had. "I need a shower, I need to eat, and I need to sleep," I stated. My face felt better, my headache gone, and I inquired, "Are my eyes back?"
"They are, but your other injuries-" Amy started to respond.
"Can wait. If you want to continue, please meet me in my room in an hour, and we can resume reconstructing my body there," I informed her, moving on to more important things. "Overwatch, you can lift the Biohazard protocols, as her spores died with her. Also, please talk with Herb and see if he wants to go back on vacation, or if we should bring the others home. Either way," I held up a hand and grew a golden dagger from the ceiling, letting it break off under its own weight and catching it. Emblazoning it with my symbol, I passed it to the Changer standing beside me, still not looking at him. "Take this with you. I'll either ferry everyone back or I'll be able to go to where you are if I need to get to you quickly. Again."
Re-extending my costume, I covered up my metallic prosthetics, and the golden tears in my flesh. Moving a fly down to look at me better, I saw that Panacea had healed my face completely, and opened my eyes. The color was a bit more vibrant, the rainbow whirlpools seeming a little deeper, and the sclera, the whites of my eyes, a little too white, but it was good enough. Extruding a domino mask, I slapped that on, nodded to the others, and walked out the door.
Having other people in Eclipse was something I was going to have to get used to. For once I was glad they were there, however, as I was near ravenous with hunger, and didn't have to spend the time cooking, only grabbing some from the buffet. Demolishing my plate, I got two more, and was finishing the third when one of the workers approached me.
Silence descended on the cafeteria as he approached, an older man, maybe Middle Eastern, wearing standard office wear. "Mr. Vejovis?" he asked, and I looked up, finishing off the last of my meatloaf. He looked hesitant, but continued, "If you don't mind me asking, Sir, what happened?"
"If you've got questions, ask Overwatch," I told him, my voice carrying through the large space. "The basics are that our Precognitive Assets detected a threat from within the Red Zone of the ruins of Brockton Bay, which we moved on, trying, and failing, to get help from the PRT. Once we found there was a mutational aspect of it, spores primed to seed the countryside if a traditional attack was tried, we sealed the entrance after a team entered and activated Biohazard Protocols to keep everyone safe. We fought the creations within, killing the Master at the bottom, which caused her creations to decay to dust, rendering the bio-hazard safe. On our way out, we were met with the Triumvirate, who hadn't broken the seal despite their best efforts. We discussed the broad strokes of what we had done, and returned. I'm still not fully healed, but Panacea works best if you've eaten, hence why I'm here. It's perfectly safe now, and taking the way out that you came in through should not be an issue. Does that answer your question?"
The old man stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I believe it does. Thank you for protecting us."
"Um, you're welcome?" I replied. "It's why I'm here. Um, keep up the good work here as well," I told him a little awkwardly, putting my tableware away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd rather not keep Panacea waiting."
After getting back to my room, I took a quick trip to the surface of the moon, re-applying the Teleportation Marks that'd started to fade. Growing a bit of metal up to form an almost engraved surface that matched my Mark I laid a second one inside, to see if that made a difference, then teleported back without an issue. While my costume was self-cleaning, I hadn't realized that my hair was a mess, caked with blood, ash, and dust, but it all washed away easy enough, even if it turned the water black.
Toweling off, I heard a knock at my door, and a glance at the clock on the wall told me it'd been an hour, exactly, from when I'd left. Re-extending my costume for casual wear, I opened my front door, and saw not only Panacea but The Lady, Bug as well, both in casual clothes, though Taylor wore a domino mask like I did.
Motioning them inside, Amelia took charge. "Lie down on your bed. I've healed most of the damage to your spine, but I want as little pressure on it as possible when I work. Taylor,-"
"Getting the bugs for Biomass," she interrupted.
"I damaged my spine?" I asked instead, the two girls grabbing chairs from the table off to the side and dragging them to my bed. "I want to say when, but it could've been different times. Was it crushed, pierced, or sliced?" I inquired, the fact that I could still move, and was being healed, somewhat negating any impact that new had. "And how come I'm not, you know, paralyzed?"
As the insects streamed in, I made a metal bowl to hold the biomass and directed them over to it. Taylor gave me an inquisitive look, then spotted it and nodded in thanks, having been moved them to her cupped hands originally. Amy, meanwhile, snorted. "All three, and you should've been. You've healed some of it, but there are parts missing. You haven't noticed you can't feel pain below your shoulders?"
"Not really," I replied honestly thinking about it, holding up a hand. My feelings were a little muted, but not by much. "Hmm, maybe it was this?" I asked in turn, consciously manipulating the metal threaded throughout my body, tightly holding onto my bones to lift a leg and put it back down.
"Stop that," she rebuked, before nodding after a moment. "Probably." Reaching into the bowl of bugs, they came apart under her touch, turning into a black-brown slurry which she scooped up. "Shirt off, and when I tap a piece of metal, retract it."
I did so, and Taylor gasped, quietly. "I know," Amy agreed, tapping on my metallic abdominals, where I'd been partially disemboweled by a Harvey, the only one of the six that'd been teleported in front of me that'd gotten close enough to hit. Retracting the metal, she poured the gooey substance in, and got to work.
"Want a boost?" I asked as she did her thing, and the fake-touch and feeling of substance of the metal was replaced by something that was more real in a way that was hard to describe.
She grumbled, "I'm fine, it's you who needs to be healed."
I shook my head, getting a glare from my healer. "Sorry. No, I meant do you want me to supercharge your power? I can't do it for long, but it should help. Figured out how pretty recently."
"The Leviathan fight," Taylor stated, and I nodded slightly.
Panacea paused, looking confusedly between the two of us, then took a bracing breath. "Go for it."
Bringing my own Biokinesis up, I reached out to her and started to pour power into her. Her eyes shifted color, her brown irises shifting to a swirling Bone White & Blood Red, burning with an inner light that sparked into a pair of small fires, heatlessly burning as the Flames of her power roared to life. Leaning forward to place a hand on my chest, her eyes narrowed. "Start retracting," she commanded, and I did so, pulling back the metal that'd taken the place of my flesh.
She worked quickly, rapidly taking handfuls of Bio-slurry, not even pouring it into my wounds, but dropping it on my chest where it rippled and disappeared into my skin, an odd feeling, only for my wounds to start to regrow. She worked for a few minutes, and I Saw her power as it built greater and greater in intensity, burning ever brighter. It started to lose its form, however, the edges of her Flames becoming less defined, and I started to pull back on the power I was feeding into her.
Removing the last bit, the fires in her eyes winked out, and she blinked, glaring at me. "I wasn't done!" she complained.
"You can keep going, but I said I could only do so for a bit," I replied. "Your power was destabilizing." I didn't know how I knew that, only that it was true. Even now, her power was settling back down, but the Flames were just a bit brighter than they were before. "Besides," I added, waving my reformed hand, "You're almost there."
"Fine," she grouched. "This might hurt."
"What mi-fuck!" I swore as I could suddenly feel the rest of my body in a way that I hadn't realized I'd lost. It hurt, but it was more like I'd been severely beaten then how badly I'd known I'd been injured, so thank god for small mercies. "Can I sit up at least?" I asked, blinking tears out of my eyes, shocked by the sudden agony that quickly petered out.
She nodded, and I swung my legs off the bed. I only had a few injuries left, and I offered Amelia my hand. She took it, and I retracted a bit of metal, wincing as I could now feel the pain of the wound, no longer covered by my power.
"Do me next!" Taylor suddenly asked, and both Amy and I looked at her. "Um, I mean, can you give my power a boost? Please?"
I shrugged, "I don't see why not. I can only do it for people whose powers I already have, but sure. Take off your mask, though, I want to check something."
She did so, and I repeated what I'd done with Amelia. Her eyes turned to a swirling mix of grey and yellow, before igniting into twin flames of her own, her power spreading out further and further. Where before I could overpower her Arthropod Control, I knew if I tried now, it wouldn't take more than a moment for her to completely override my commands. Her reach spread out as well, my own power hitching a ride, as it spread out to encompass the base, then the surrounding area, stretching out across the city further and further, millions upon millions of tiny lives all controlled in a single net, an enormous hive the likes of which the world had never seen, all working with one common purpose, to-
I cut the power and it shrunk down, though not in an instant, quickly retracting down to the top half of Eclipse, like it'd started. "Wow," Taylor and I said in unison, both of us shaking our heads to clear our thoughts at the same moment as we tried to get over what just happened. "What-" we both started to ask, looking at each other, feeling the same shock, surprise, and the beginnings of fear before we suppressed the power completely, and I blinked as Taylor shuddered.
"You're brains were in sync," Amelia said, and I started to agree, but saw that she also had a hand on Taylor's arm as well. "What happened?" She asked, though more curious than worried.
"So," I said, blinking a few more times to feel that I was me again, "Apparently doing so boosts her range and power, to the point that you get a feedback loop, or something."
"Was I. . . Was I controlling you?" Taylor asked, a little fearfully.
I thought about it. "No, it was more like we'd merged a bit, though you probably could've if you wanted, though I could then pull the plug. Hmm, something to think about later." I shook my head, as, while it was useful, it was edging into Master territory, only not really. Focusing on the present, I asked, "You almost done Amelia?"
She looked at me incredulously, before sighing deeply and grabbing another handful of bio-slurry. "Almost." Replicating the 'merge with skin' trick, she grew the last of my wounds closed. Not getting another handful of goo, she sat for a moment, thinking hard. "How bad was it? Be honest," she said, squeezing my hand to remind me that she could tell if I was lying.
"Bad," I admitted. "I wasn't lying, when they first got my eyes I thought I was going to die, and panicked a little. But. . . I had to go down there. It was the right thing to do," I said, shrugging. With better intel I would've acted differently, but Herb hadn't been wrong in that it had turned out okay, though that didn't excuse what he'd done, or more accurately what he hadn't done.
"We could've helped!" Taylor argued, and I shook my head, understanding the emotion of her question, but the logic?
"You saw what was down there. Did you think you could fight that?" I replied, trying not sound as scornful of the suggestion as it really warranted. Did she think I cared so little about her, that I'd sacrifice her to get a small advantage" "And you'd never make it inside, those spores would've killed you before you even tried, and turned you into god knows what!"
This time it was Amelia who replied, "They wouldn't have killed me!"
Turning to look at her, I raised an eyebrow. Maybe it was the tired-ness, but while I appreciated the healing, I didn't appreciate the childish stupidity, nor the accusations that I'd made the wrong call, especially as her proposed idea was wrong in so many ways. "And you've not had a tenth of the combat training that Taylor has. Her I'd consider taking, if she had some kind of armor, and even then that would've been a mistake, with what I fought down there. You've made it clear that you don't want to fight, and I've respected that, Panacea."
"But-" she started to say, but I cut her off, not in the mood to argue with someone who shifted the goalposts, telling me I was wrong without offering suggestions that weren't patently absurd. I knew she could be a bit dishonest at time, when she got emotional, but I wasn't kidding when I said I was out of fucks, and the reprieve from having the time to eat was quickly running dry.
"No. You've made it clear you don't want to be a fighter, that you want to stay behind and heal. I'm okay with that, but even if you got your bio-armor functional, you have no combat training and your only experience in any kind of live-fire scenario has been as a civilian, or as a hostage," I told her. "I don't think you'd break, if things got bad, but you might, and you heard what I told Alexandria. I can either respect what you say you want, or I can try to make you do what I think is best. You've been-"
"Lee," Taylor interrupted, and I paused. "We're not blaming you for getting hurt."
"Kinda what it sounds like," I shot back.
"What? No!" Amy disagreed, and I gave her a disbelieving look. "I, okay, yes, I do, but. . . You don't have to do everything yourself!" she argued instead, holding tight to my hand.
"And when my allies decide to bunker down instead of send help, assuming I'll fail; when the PRT does nothing, except treat me like an enemy after I save them, again; and when my friend blows me off, because he assumes that nothing will go wrong; and when no one else that is willing to help has the ability, either because they haven't gotten that strong, or because they refuse to get that strong?" I asked. "Yeah, I kinda do."
Taylor grabbed my other hand. "I'm not blaming you, I just don't want to see you hurt!" she declared, and the honesty-pain-frustration coming off her helped underline her words, and took some of the wind out of my sails.
"I don't want to see you hurt either!" Amelia argued, and I pulled my hands back.
I sighed, "Listen. This was. . . this was bad. An end-of-the-world scenario that I was barely able to stop. Cauldron handles most of them, but the actions of so many Precognitive Blindspots in this city has rendered their strongest cape useless. There'll be things you can help with Taylor, like you helped when the nazis set up that ambush for me, this just wasn't one of them. You weren't ready for the Endbringer fight, but there was no way you could've been. I don't blame you for that, but that is why I had you stick with Amelia, and wasn't that the right call?"
The bug controller nodded, and I continued, "I can take hits you can't, so I put myself in more danger. If, when, we get you up to snuff, I'll bring you with me for things as bad as this, but you've been training for, what, a month? I'm trying not to do everything myself, but there are things that I have to do myself, as I could pull it off, and the chance of you getting injured, or dying is too great." I projected my feelings through our shared connection, and she nodded, understanding.
"And me?" Amelia asked, almost aggressively.
"What about you?" I asked in turn. "Even if I didn't care about your well-being, I still wouldn't take an untrained civilian into a combat scenario. You blaming me for getting hurt, when I did everything I could think of to ask for help, only to get turned down, isn't warranted, or fair. What was I supposed to do, let the world burn while I sat safe in my bunker, until they got to me too?"
She obviously didn't like what I was saying, and just reiterated, "I could've helped!"
I held up my reformed hand. "And you did, and I do appreciate the healing, but that's all you've wanted to be, Amelia, a healer. Not a combatant, not front-line aid, not anything but back-line support, and thus that's all I will treat you as. That's not a bad thing," I stressed, "I don't think less of you for it, but that's all you want to be, and I'll respect those wishes." I grew a steel cog from the ceiling, catching it as it broke off and dropped down. "This is you: formed as you wanted to be. Useful in your chosen profession, and only that."
I grew another, of the exact same mass, but this time made the teeth razor sharp. Reforming a glove, I caught it, and held it next to the first. "And this is Taylor: still useful in her position as intel gathering and battlefield control, but dangerous on her own as well. If I need scouting, or information gathering, or to harry non-brutes, she's good at that, but if I need backup in a low to moderate level combat scenario, a one to a four, maybe a five, in danger, I'd be comfortable bringing her along for that too. What that was?" I pointed towards the ruins of the lair I'd just cleared. "Was an eight, maybe even the lower end of nine. Endbringers are mid nine."
"I'll fight!" Panacea declared, and I looked at her disbelievingly. "I will!"
"Because you want to, or because you don't want to be proven wrong?" I asked coolly, not liking how she was dodging the issue completely.
"Lee," Taylor rebuked gently. "If she wants to try, let her try."
Amelia glared at Taylor, "I'm not going to try, I'm going to fight."
"You're going to train is what you're going to do," I informed her, ignoring Taylor's smile. "But I wasn't joking about needing to get some sleep. I'm fucking exhausted, and, fun fact, yelling at tired people is rarely a recipe for success. We'll start tomorrow at ten, wear something you can move in. With my copy of your power, we can go harder than normal, and we're going to need to if you want to go anywhere close to a fight anytime soon."
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- Location
- Here
She would need to go full bio tinker to be able to be really useful in a fight...
I would be worried about a kill order except he's already strong enough for one of those and they can't do anything about it.
I would be worried about a kill order except he's already strong enough for one of those and they can't do anything about it.
- Location
- Oregon, USA
But is Amy?
- Status