Welcome to "How to Train your Coil!" It's the quest that nobody asked for and nobody expected, which may be the first ever COIL QUEST (At least to my knowledge.) The idea is simple: Coil has just had a second trigger! Surprise and Congratulations to one of our least favorite villains! But no one would want to just read about Coil as a main character without something... special to sweeten the deal. You see, being a cauldron cape means that his shard is a bit... messed up. He got a lucky roll of the figurative dice on drinking his vial, but a second trigger with a damaged but mostly functioning shard can cause... issues. In this case, his power is giving him extra knowledge from parallel universes, the future, and other possible sources... all at once in a jumbled, incomprehensible mess the moment he splits timelines for his power. And, as an extra fun bit, his power is also capable of picking what he does in one or both timelines when he splits until the split ends again. "His power" being all of you. You are the voices in his head by way of a power that can temporarily master him, after he's gotten far, far too used to constantly using and abusing the splits to feel 'safe.' Will you help him along in being a better villain, maybe with a bit more class? Drag him kicking and screaming into being a good person? Teach him the errors of his way? Simply ruin his life completely while trying to help whoever in the city you actually like until Coil bites the dust due to your interference? You decide! Note, however, that the "Reader Choice" votes must outnumber any of Coil's actual ideas by at least 5 to represent his own willpower. Things completely against all common sense and self preservation require beating his ideas by 10 votes or more. The highest result will be "Timeline A," and the second highest will be "Timeline B," from which Coil gets to pick which to keep... if you let him. Though realities where he dies will automatically be discarded at the point of death either way.
Naturally, please obey site rules with anything you suggest and with comments and discussions. Things will be primarily from Coil's point of view, with you seeing through his eyes, but omakes, side stories, and intermissions can be from other characters' points of view. Note that, as I am writing a villain who is frankly just awful at heart to start, Coil will have opinions that I do not share, and will sometimes be at least mildly offensive in some ways. Albeit likely much less so than at least some of the other villains in Worm. As long as there is interest in this quest and no major complaints, I will do my best to keep it interesting and updating as quickly as real life and voting allow for.
With that out of the way... Have fun.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Thomas Calvert's day had started out like any other. He had woken up, closed the timeline where he had stayed up all night in his underground base, and split timelines again. In one timeline, he had quickly gotten himself ready to leave for work. In the other, he had taken his time after calling in sick, taking an extra few minutes to get out of bed. He had decided to take a nice long soak in the tub at home as his other self drove in towards the PRT offices.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
There was a reason that he insisted on always having his timelines split whenever possible. Both as Coil, and as a contractor for the PRT, Calvert was always at risk of unexpected attacks. Consequently, he could only feel properly relaxed while he was using his power to keep two instances of himself far, far away from one another. Unfortunately, his power had allowed him to become a bit too relaxed this time. He hadn't quite noticed a sliver of soap that had fallen on the floor. Just as he was getting comfortable, he had decided to retrieve some bath salts... and promptly lost his balance as he slipped on the soap. There was a sickening crack as his skull met the rim of the tub, and Thomas Calvert knew no more.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Of course, the timeline had instantly collapsed. Thomas had started cursing and split the timeline again, but the shock and indignity of unexpectedly dying due to something so pedestrian had distracted him enough that neither of his selves had noticed the traffic light turning red. Both Calverts had entered the intersection. Both Calverts had jerked in surprise as a truck blared its horn at him and sped towards his much-smaller vehicle.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
One of his selves had quickly jerked the wheel to the right, while the other slammed on the gas. He didn't know which had ultimately proved to be the better option, as the truck still managed to hit him in both timelines. He regained consciousness some time later, surrounded by a mass of twisted metal and shattered plastic that used to be his car. Shards of glass were lodged painfully in his skin, while blood slicked his face and soaked into his clothes. One of him was pinned in place by a crumpled door, his left arm growing uncomfortably numb as a dark stain spread rapidly across the remains of his suit. The other version of him was upside-down, his legs crushed beneath a mangled slab of metal, and choking on pungent gasoline fumes.
Both of him were dying, bleeding out, and as he looked out of his shattered windows, he could see people watching from the sidewalks, taking pictures and gossiping with each other.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
None of them stepped forward to help. None of them were able to break free of their sheep-like instinct to stand back and assume someone else would help. None of them wanted to be the first to move, so none of them did. Thomas was dying, and he was helpless to stop it. His power, his training, his keen intellect - all were useless in this situation. The only thing that could possibly save him was the intervention of plain, ordinary people. Stupid, panicky, idiotic people, all of them gawking uselessly and proving themselves as worthless as he'd always known they were. He choked bitterly. All of his efforts, all of his sacrifices, all of his brilliant plans... undone by a quirk of fate. Even meeting death at the hands of Nilbog would have been preferable to this - at least then he'd have someone to blame!
Both iterations of Thomas Calvert had blacked out, tasting despair and helplessness for the first time since buying his powers.
…
…
…
Beep. Beep. Beep.
He opened his eyes groggily. Whiteness surrounded him, broken up by boxy shapes with blurred edges. His limbs were too heavy to move, but the pain had mostly vanished. Antiseptic odors assaulted his nostrils, while indistinct voices murmured in the background. With an effort of will, he focused his vision. One of the blurry shapes resolved into a dark screen with colored lines and numbers marching across it in orderly patterns. A heart monitor?
He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He was alive. Hospitalized, and stuck with a single timeline that he would never have chosen otherwise, but alive. He felt... surprisingly good, actually. He flexed his right hand, and felt it respond. Moved his left leg, and felt... plaster, bandages, and something restricting it. His limbs all seemed to respond well enough, which was far better than he had feared. As his attention returned to the hospital room, his eyes fell upon the reason for his miraculous recovery.
White robes emblazoned with a red healer's cross. Brown hair. A mousy girl with a perpetually-dour expression on her face. Calvert sighed in relief. It was Panacea, the world-renowned healer. The PRT must have called her in to speed up his recovery-
"You're awake. Good," said Panacea, interrupting his train of thought. She stared down at him calmly, before glancing at the door. "Some PRT agents will be here soon to speak with you. I thought I'd wake you up a bit early to let you know before they arrived, so that you aren't caught completely off guard. You triggered in the accident."
...What?
No, just... what? Thomas knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he didn't have a Corona before purchasing his powers from Cauldron, so the doctors should have had no reason to scan his brain for the presence of a Gemma. His PRT records would have clearly stated that he had no potential to Trigger-
...Panacea. She must be able to detect parahumans in addition to her already-ridiculous list of powers. The moment word got out, he wouldn't be allowed to be a member of the PRT outside of the Protectorate anymore. He also wouldn't be able to become the Director, which had been his end game for years.
Panacea had to be silenced.
Thomas- no, Coil- began to scheme.
Bribery? New Wave relied heavily on donations, which had all but dried up in recent years. Carol Dallon's earnings as a lawyer would only go so far – perhaps he could offer Panacea something to keep her team afloat. In fact, if he played his cards right, he might be able to convince Panacea to work for him. Not as Coil, obviously, but there was a reason why he had assets on both sides of the law. So long as keeping his secrets directly benefited her, she would never have any reason to reveal his status as a parahuman.
Blackmail? Panacea certainly had enough secrets of her own. Discarded versions of Tattletale had given him more than enough material to ruin Panacea if he chose to do so. Her orientation, her parentage, her willingness to cover up her sister's actions... he had so much leverage, it was almost pathetic. Of course, the problem with Mutually-Assured Destruction is that some people – especially those who call themselves heroes – would simply accept the risk and choose to let destruction fall upon both parties.
Kill her? It would be trivial to pin the crime on Regent. He could simply bash her head in with one of his no-longer necessary casts, and then have one of his moles call for Master/Stranger protocols. Once "Hijack's control wears off," he could reveal Regent's true identity and have a second mole ensure that Regent is "accidentally" killed when the PRT tries to bring him in. Of course, his men would also need to abduct Tattletale before she spilled the beans. He would need to burn a good number of his resources, but the public outrage at the PRT for allowing a Master to kill the world's greatest healer under their watch would accelerate his timetable nicely.
He reached out for his power, preparing to convince Panacea to keep his powers to herself using any means necessary, while his other self would stall for the time he needed to get an acceptable outcome-
[] Use blackmail and see how she responds to it. Risky, but if she's vulnerable, it gives a very good amount of leverage.
[] Bribe – less risky, though still very much... delicate to do right without making it sound like what it is. Might lead to options to have Panacea work for him in his Calvert persona.
[] Murder. Very, very, very risky. Not just for the fact that everyone in the hospital might try to kill him instantly, but also that Panacea herself is still a Striker 10. She touches him first, he loses.
[] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
[X] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
[X] Ask her not to tell the PRT, we'll quit on our own accord eventually. Confide that we weren't just a a regular officer, but were investigating corruption, and we can't risk being made. Tell her BB is so bad because they really are being denied resources, and both ENE and the greater organization are compromised. At the very least, ask her to wait and let us prove it to her. Tell her to look up Cauldron, the superpower conspiracy that totally doesn't exist, but that she can't tell anyone.
We have a little leeway from Cauldron for the experiment, and we're not gonna immediately spill their secrets or tell them we're an artificial trigger. I want to spin a ridiculous spy story to bring Amy in on.
[X] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
-[X] Ask her not to tell the PRT, we'll quit on our own accord eventually. Confide that we weren't just a a regular officer, but were investigating corruption, and we can't risk being made. Tell her BB is so bad because they really are being denied resources, and both ENE and the greater organization are compromised. At the very least, ask her to wait and let us prove it to her. Tell her to look up Cauldron, the superpower conspiracy that totally doesn't exist, but that she can't tell anyone.
I like Gino's option, much better than trying to jump him straight into being a good person.
[X] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
-[X] Ask her not to tell the PRT, we'll quit on our own accord eventually. Confide that we weren't just a a regular officer, but were investigating corruption, and we can't risk being made. Tell her BB is so bad because they really are being denied resources, and both ENE and the greater organization are compromised. At the very least, ask her to wait and let us prove it to her. Tell her to look up Cauldron, the superpower conspiracy that totally doesn't exist, but that she can't tell anyone.
[X] If Coil tries for a murder timeline: Force-feed him the sensation of a mysterious creature with a lot of very sharp teeth biting him, followed by darkness. (Basically, behave as if this is the varga-verse)
[X] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
-[X] Ask her not to tell the PRT, we'll quit on our own accord eventually. Confide that we weren't just a a regular officer, but were investigating corruption, and we can't risk being made. Tell her BB is so bad because they really are being denied resources, and both ENE and the greater organization are compromised. At the very least, ask her to wait and let us prove it to her. Tell her to look up Cauldron, the superpower conspiracy that totally doesn't exist, but that she can't tell anyone.
Pragmatic Villainy, ahoy! Something that Mr Calvert really needs to learn. Oh, idea: condition him into being a good person by having one of timelines being good guy decisions, and the other being bad guy decisions. Have the evil timelines end in failure- even if we have to influence him into making suicidal choices.
So with the second trigger, can we explain to Coil, and through him Amy, that Battery's dirty?
Imagine: "Everyone wonders about Assault and Battery. They're a popular mystery. A little investigation will tell you they're married. A little more will tell you that Assault used to be the villain Madcap, and shock! What a secret right? But he's reformed and really a good guy. A scandal to be sure, but he was never really evil. The real secret is that Battery's the dirty one, a spy. She's got artificial powers. Making a deal with Cauldron is a Faustian bargain. Really, I think she just wanted to be a hero, but once you're in they never let you go. And they don't all become heroes."
It's a good hook right?
Oh man, I want to spin this as spy story and that we're some independent agent that's forced to bring Amy in on it, but I'm not sure how much Contessa will let us get away with.
And if that doesn't work, we tell her about the Case 53s.
So, I want to turn Coil into a paranoid wreck who thinks he's constantly being watched by undetectable beings who will kill him the instant he does anything immoral. I mean, he'd be right (since we're involved), but him trying to tell anyone that isn't likely to work.
So, to confirm with people - yes you can use knowledge Coil doesn't have when making decisions. As long as it's an action that he can rationalize as something he might do with the extra knowledge he gets in the thinker-headache inducing mess when he activated his powers, he'll just decide that it was his subconscious picking out some of the information and making a quick plan of it. That said, the less a plan meshes with his personality, the less "Coil-like" he'll be forced to act in that timeline, and the more obvious it will be to him that something's gone horribly wrong for him.
As for force-feeding sensory inputs, that happens specifically independent of the vote in the above mentioned thinker-headache inducing mess of garbled information he gets. It will include sensory input with it, which will be influenced by people's votes and ideas. For his normal timelines though, they still have to work with the world around him, be it "splitting timelines" or "simulating reality." Controlling him to make sure that he's guaranteed to mess up with an option he attempts is more than doable though, even to the point of forcing him to say something to himself if you wanted. Making him talk to himself guarantees he'll knows he's been mastered, though.
You know what, why not? Just force his hand to draw 'We are your power. We do not approve of your plans or actions. Kidnapping little girls is wrong. Forced servitude is wrong. SEVERAL other actions of yours are wrong. These actions will no longer be permitted.' and watch the fireworks.
May as well tell him about Zion and the truth of Cauldron too. Tell him normal shards, aka powers, aren't sentient but Cauldron has no idea what it's doing and is stirring shit up thoroughly. Also, we're a-going god killing whether he likes it or not.
[X] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
-[X] Ask her not to tell the PRT, we'll quit on our own accord eventually. Confide that we weren't just a a regular officer, but were investigating corruption, and we can't risk being made. Tell her BB is so bad because they really are being denied resources, and both ENE and the greater organization are compromised. At the very least, ask her to wait and let us prove it to her. Tell her to look up Cauldron, the superpower conspiracy that totally doesn't exist, but that she can't tell anyone.
Oh yes, and for added information - this quest is starting prior to Skitter's first night out. Coil does not yet have a kidnapped pre-cog in his employ, and the Travelers are not yet living in one of his bases, though he's had eyes on them and been working on how to recruit them to his side. For the moment, his villainous assets are the Undersiders, moles in each gang and the PRT, and his mercenaries along with several tinkertech lasers.
[X] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
[X] Bribe – less risky, though still very much... delicate to do right without making it sound like what it is. Might lead to options to have Panacea work for him in his Calvert persona.
The Travellers are Simurgh bombs who will most likely blow up in our faces whatever we do, and Panacea probably can't help her. But do we try anyway? Maybe Amy could think of something with prep time.
Stop Bakuda before the rampage.
Make Coil apologize to Lisa and have her team be notevil villains.
Maybe try rebrand them as heroes.
Help Taylor and utterly screw over Sophia. Maybe reveal just Kaisers identity so Kayden has an excuse to divorce him and take the kids.
Recruit Dinah peacefuly. Pay her even.
Maybe tell Lisa the truth about being a sentient power mastering its host to get her in on it. She'd love to screw Coil like that and her power would tell her we're being truthful.
Why would she even tell the PRT? She doesn't work for them. And Doctor-Patient Privilige exists. She told us because that's reasonable. She doesn't cry out "YOU'RE A CAPE" every time she touches one.
Stop Bakuda before the rampage.
Make Coil apologize to Lisa and have her team be notevil villains.
Maybe try rebrand them as heroes.
Help Taylor and utterly screw over Sophia. Maybe reveal just Kaisers identity so Kayden has an excuse to divorce him and take the kids.
Recruit Dinah peacefuly. Pay her even.
1) Bakuda's rampage would be useful to us. Just direct her at the Empire. Surely we can arrange hookwolf shows up on Taylor's first night or something.
2) Getting Lisa to work for us without threats would be really useful. Figure out a way to make her want to work for us?
3) Why? Running the city but not fucking up in the end is a much better option.
4) Here's an idea: We leak Kaiser what Sophia's been doing and who she is. She, being the poster girl for Neo Nazi recruitment should be a great target. After she that, we make it look like his identity got released because she attacked a ward. Both him and the protectorate get some bad PR.
Alternatively, we check with the undersiders before doing so. They got the response they got because they fought the Empire that day. If we make it so they don't do that, or make sure they never learn anything about TT's powers, it should still work as a full release.
5) If we can get Dinah to work for us willingly, great.
We're not actually Coil though. We're mastering him. So we're making him do whatever we want, maybe even save the world, while screwing him over.
It's a weird balance. We don't want him to be completely successful in everything he wants, but successful enough that we can achieve our goals through him.
Is Bakudas rampage really useful? That's basicly the first step of chaos leading to Leviathen and the S9 isn't it? Do we really want to deal with them if we don't have to?
Is Bakudas rampage really useful? That's basicly the first step of chaos leading to Leviathen and the S9 isn't it? Do we really want to deal with them if we don't have to?
Bakuda's rampage removes the ABB from play, which is somewhat complicated otherwise since there's a rather angry dragon there.
Also, why would we screw Coil over? Fix his mistakes, take the city and keep it.
Why aren't we trying to bribe Panacea? Even if we end up not taking that timeline, it'd be really useful to know how much we need to offer her to have her work for us.
[X] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
[X] Bribe – less risky, though still very much... delicate to do right without making it sound like what it is. Might lead to options to have Panacea work for him in his Calvert persona.
By the way, remove the - from your votes, everyone. It'll mess up the voting software.
My spy idea is to hook her now and then make up some proof to lure her in to work with us. Maybe reveal our power-mastery shenanigans to Lisa to get her in on it.
Also, it's guilt ridden neurotic wreck Amy. The only thing we can bribe her with is to remove Vicky's long term master effect, and I don't think we have that capabablity.
[X] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
-[X] Ask her not to tell the PRT, we'll quit on our own accord eventually. Confide that we weren't just a a regular officer, but were investigating corruption, and we can't risk being made. Tell her BB is so bad because they really are being denied resources, and both ENE and the greater organization are compromised. At the very least, ask her to wait and let us prove it to her. Tell her to look up Cauldron, the superpower conspiracy that totally doesn't exist, but that she can't tell anyone.
[X] Go along with whatever she's saying for now and try to just delay to see how the other timeline pans out for a bit. The safe option that should always be timeline B.
-[X] Ask her not to tell the PRT, we'll quit on our own accord eventually. Confide that we weren't just a a regular officer, but were investigating corruption, and we can't risk being made. Tell her BB is so bad because they really are being denied resources, and both ENE and the greater organization are compromised. At the very least, ask her to wait and let us prove it to her. Tell her to look up Cauldron, the superpower conspiracy that totally doesn't exist, but that she can't tell anyone.
I think we should leave Coil unaware he's being mastered for as long as possible. Coil currently loves his power and spams it as much as possible. The more he uses it, the more agency we as players have. This way, we could turn him into an effective anti-villain instead of outright just crippling him as a villain. This is the Wormverse, where Doing The Wrong Thing for The Right Reasons reigns supreme. It shouldn't be hard for us to repurpose Coil's bond-villainy into net-good actions.
We're not actually Coil though. We're mastering him. So we're making him do whatever we want, maybe even save the world, while screwing him over.
It's a weird balance. We don't want him to be completely successful in everything he wants, but successful enough that we can achieve our goals through him.
Is Bakudas rampage really useful? That's basicly the first step of chaos leading to Leviathen and the S9 isn't it? Do we really want to deal with them if we don't have to?
This right here is basically the idea I had that spawned this quest. The idea of that weird balance between the readers kind of wanting to see a character get what's coming to them, being used to rooting for them to fail, but also having them as their only real way of influencing things. So kudos to you for that.
I am looking forward to seeing where the voters take this story, overall.
