I was feeling rather unaccomplished after closing my previous quest prematurely, so I decided to...
Rejuvenation and Renovation (Worm CYOA v5 SI)
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Worm | Down the Rabbit Hole
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
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I was feeling rather unaccomplished after closing my previous quest prematurely, so I decided to write the easiest possible fic (in my opiniont), an OC SI. This is going to be a fix-it fic without a doubt, so if you're looking for a slow, super conflict-driven fic then this is not for you. There will be a bit of 'munchkin'ing, and a decent bit of info-dump at the beginning, but this fic is meant as a catharsis-type fic more than anything else.
The resolution shouldn't take more than a hundred thousand words, but I may decide to continue it as a multicross after that, who knows? It won't be too much of a powerwank, but it's a CYOA SI, so MC will be at least a bit of a Peggy Sue ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
For the first time in months, I came back from school excited. I'd been drifting through life these past few years, doing things because I was 'supposed' to, rather than because I wanted to. Everyone in my wealthy suburban community knew my story. Mother passed away when I was eleven, giving birth to my stillborn sister. Father drank himself away to an early grave two years later, leaving poor little Miya all alone with nothing but an absurd fortune and a lonely house.
I was a bit of a golden child in my community, my grades were perfect, I exercised regularly, I started on the varsity soccer team - but those were just motions. I did those things because they were expected of me, because everyone said that going through such motions would put me in a better position in life. The truth was I didn't really care about any of it. To be honest, I felt like I'd died six years ago, and ever since I'd been an empty husk just going through the motions, trying to find a sliver of meaning in this dreary life. I'd recently decided that it was highly unlikely for me to ever find any.
That was why, when I woke up this morning to a multicolored lightshow, I'd felt something for the first time in years. Hope. Hope that life might just get a little bit interesting.
I all but ran up to my desk upon returning home, eager to take a look at the envelope left behind by the rainbow colored portal.
To: Miya Otsuka
From: Wizard Marshall Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg
*DO NOT OPEN BEFORE 4 PM, YOUR TIME*
This was it. This was proof that life wasn't nearly as dreary as I'd first imagined. I swiftly opened the envelope and carefully devoured its contents.
Dear Angst-Ridden Teenager,
It has come to my attention that a young teenage girl with great potential has lost all hope. Rejoice! For I Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg offer a number of options for ones such as yourself. The standard package includes access to the near-infinite power of a Kaleidostick, in exchange for eternal servitude to the services of Love and Justice. Unfortunately I seem to be going through a shortage of Kaleidosticks at the moment, so I will offer you an alternative. One of your neighboring dimensions is at risk of going through a Phantasmal Collapse. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to prevent the apocalyptic event, in exchange for access to great power and a one-of-a-kind adventure. Succeed, and you will be rewarded greatly. Fail, and you'll probably just die with everyone else. If you are interested, please fill out the attached forms. If you are not interested, please place this letter and all other contents of the envelope in the nearest microwave and cook on 'Hi' for 42 seconds.
Regards,
Wizard Marshall Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg
It was even better than I ever could have imagined. Sure, I had to go to Earth Bet, the world of Suffering, but I could do so much more. I would have powers, and I would be able to save billions of people through my actions. There was no chance I wouldn't accept.
I sat down with a pen and began looking through the forms. The system was pretty simple, I had two sets of points which would be increased or reduced based on my selections. I started by selecting the options that would give me more points. I chose Gestation so I would be starting along with the canon storyline, all the other options just weren't appealing. I was definitely going to go Vigilante. Heroes were too bogged down with bureaucracy, and villains were, well, villains. I didn't want to change who I was, so I decided to stay a Drop In with No Identity. For flaws I decided to go with the Slaughterhouse 9 and Endbringer Target options, because I'd be in Borckton bay, so if they were going to show up anyways I might as well get some points out of it. I went ahead and chose 'Worst Day Ever,' because a day full of bad luck really didn't sound all that bad. Honestly the name was a bit melodramatic.
I rounded out the point increasing options with 'Ambivalent.' Neo-Nazis, forced drug addictions, and forced prostitution were all things I was very much against, but taking lethal action against them would put me on the heroes shitlist anyways, so I might as well benefit off of it. Now I had to decide on what actual powers, abilities, and resources I wanted. Proficiency was the first one to catch my eye. Honestly Uber had so much potential, his only real problem was being too squishy. The second trigger made it so promising, even if it was expensive. Repair was the next power I was drawn to. Tinkertech seemed easy enough to get ahold of in Brockton Bay, between L33t, Squealer, and Bakuda. Toybox could make things even easier. The second trigger on that would make it a top-tier power.
What really caught my eye, though, was Consumption. As ti stood, it was decently promising. The second trigger made it even better. Limitless, non-power-dependent improvement was the name of the game. All shards would be dead shards after Scion was killed, so those were the powers with real potential. Still, I didn't want the improvements to be unconscious, I wanted conscious control over how the power changed my body. Upgrading the power to self-biokinesis didn't seem like too much of a stretch, and ten-points was fairly reasonable. Tacking on a second trigger would hopefully appease Zelretch enough. I doubted he'd have an issue with it. I'd seen quite a few forum posts disregarding carefree, 'troll' Zelretch as bad fanon. I disagreed. Anyone who could make Magical Ruby was definitely not all that serious.
Now, with Repair chosen, Tinkertech, Supply Line, and Armor were all immensely valuable. Plot Convenience and Blindspot were pretty much necessary. One would stop Contessa or the Simurgh from wanting to look into my actions, the other would stop them from being able to look into my actions. Choosing one and not the other was too risky. I was running low on Shard Points, and a century was more than long enough to make myself excessively powerful, so Dead Shard was chosen. A Secret Lair was all but a necessity for a drop in, and I was starting to run out of things to choose. I didn't need to get any skills to start out with, but Hacking was cheap and would leave me more time to work on other things. My next point went into Pocket Room, leaving me with two shard points to spend. Peak condition and immunity would be great for providing a solid base for my self-biokinesis, and honestly nothing else really seemed as valuable.
With everything picked out, I signed my name at the bottom of the form, folded the papers, sealed the envelope, and was off in a swirl of color.
I came back to consciousness in pretty much the most stereotypical 'secret lair' I could think of. Red lighting, monitors everywhere, Steampunk piping, overhanging walkways, large metal lockers, trunks, and cabinets. It was perfect.
I immediately drifted towards the computer, to try to get a bearing on what I had at my disposal. My Hacking skill gave me the necessary information to get started working with the unfamiliar OS, and my proficiency power soon kicked in to start filling in any gaps. It was such a rush. Within half-an-hour I felt like I had been using the OS my whole life, even though I'd never seen it until today.
I was able to get a bearing on my current situation with relative ease. Zel was the man. I had an ID, a bank account with a few thousand dollars, a GED, and was legally 18. I was a moderately well-paid personal assistant at Kaleidoscope Industries, who worked from home under a boss that didn't actually exist.
It was perfect.
Once I was certain that my story wouldn't bring up any flags, I decided to go through my supplies. As was expected, I broke a nail as I was moving to get up, stubbed a toe on my way to the storage lockers, and got some of my hair stuck in the hinge.
I ignored the small incidents as I started to look through what I had at my disposal. The lockers on the wall were full of weaponry. There were a handful of bladed weapons, and oh so many guns. I could immediately tell what each weapon was meant to do, and how to improve minute parts of each object to make ti work just a little bit better. I couldn't keep the grin off my face, even as the first gun I pulled off the rack discharged and damaged another. There went a few hours of my prep time.
After taking stock of my spoils from 'Tinkertech,' I decided to check on my armor. When I first saw it, I was honestly pretty disappointed. It was a fairly basic piece of tinkertech, all things considered. Lightweight, with heavy use of titanium alloys and carbon fiber for the plating. The armor was largely mundane in its construction, save for the dynamic monopoles allowing for assisted movement. From what I could tell, it would increase my strength and speed by ~50%, and would make me resistant to small arms fire. Anything more than that I'd have to so myself.
Still, today wasn't the day for tinkering, I would do that after midnight when my 'bad luck' ran out.
For now, I had other things to focus on. Namely, my 'main' power. I made my way to the utilitarian bathroom, and removed my clothes to see what my last two powers had changed.
I was hot.
Well, I'd never thought myself unattractive, between a german mother and a japanese father my face was always unique enough to catch attention, and I'd kept in well enough shape on my own, but now I was something else. My muscle tone was enough to make most olympians jealous, and a healthy layer of fat kept my features soft and feminine.
I sat down and focused inwards, trying to find my self-biokinesis. It was a lot easier than I expected. Turning my attention inwards gave me a set of 'blueprints' that I could modify parts of by using pieces from other parts. The first thing I looked into was my ability to heal.
Using the template from my liver, it was surprisingly intuitive for me apply a regenerative factor to my entire body. I wasn't Alabaster by any means, but I would be able to regrow a limb in a week or two given enough biomass. I moved on from there to my bone structure. They were as good as human bones could get, but I could make them better. It was a simple matter to increase their density past what was humanly possible, and ensure the strongest material was used across my entire skeleton.
There wasn't too much I could do about my musculature at this point, aside from increasing the density and neuromuscular adaptation to absurd lengths.
Unfortunately this was where the meaningful changes had to end, as I had already used up enough of my fat mass to give some female bodybuilders self-image issues. I went ahead and ordered a few kilograms of food before sitting back down in front of the mirror.
Looking through my blueprints again gave me an admittedly rather frivolous idea. I had always loved my mother's pale blonde, almost bright-white hair, and had been jealous of my grandfather's stunning grey eyes. Unfortunately, I had ended up with my father's jet-black hair, and my mother's dark brown eyes, leaving me with a fairly generic appearance. I now had the ability to change that.
I want to say that I spent hours debating over my self-image and the pettiness of such a change, but I didn't. I made the change almost immediately, and a few seconds later my eyes were grey and my hair would start growing out pale-white at the roots.
With my appearance fully changed, I sat back down in front of my workstation, and got started with acquiring funds.
My hacking skill was good enough to start locating the Gesellschaft and Yangban's 'hidden' accounts, but I obviously wouldn't be able to get to any of the money, even at my advanced level of skill. I would have to be a truly superhuman. I wasn't that good yet, but I could be soon. I tunneled into a random server across the world and started prodding at their defenses.
By the time my food arrived (an hour later than expected), I was several thousand dollars richer.
I had ordered several plates of tako and Ikayaki, to get my hands on some unique DNA, but as I should have expected I ended up with five pounds of cucumber rolls. To make matters worse, I couldn't easily use carbs to regenerate the fat mass I had lost or to increase the density of my muscle mass further, so I needed even more food. I phoned in another order of a few dozen plates of unagi.
As I started working to pull every ounce of fat and protein out of my cucumber rolls, I started putting orders in for things I could consume.
By the time my (thankfully mostly correct) order of food arrived, I had organized my next day to perfectly take advantage of my powers and resources.
Scarfing down, and forcibly digesting ten pounds of eel gave me enough biomass to finish the changes I had started earlier. My muscles ended up at least twice as dense as the average humans, while still large enough to give be a decently muscular build. I was strong enough to at the very least match the powerlifting records for my weight class, but my regeneration and superhuman flexibility ensured that I could continue to perform at that strength for more than a single motion.
After that I got started on my 'education.' A second-triggered proficiency gave me a permanent version of Uber's powers. I would get better at something by doing it, and I would always be able to perform at my peak.
Electrical engineering courses, computer engineering courses, advanced particle physics, fluid dynamics, programming. In only eight hours Proficiency had given me enough knowledge for a PhD in computer science, physics, and chemistry at the very least. Between Repair and my newfound knowledge, I felt confident that I would be able to upgrade my tinkertech to perfectly suit my needs.
I then moved on to history and Parahuman research. The history of the world was almost completely identical to that of my own, save for the reliance on coin-based currency.
The fact that paper-based currency had never taken off was rather interesting, but made sense in context. In this world RFID technology had become available decades earlier than in my own, being introduced by Thomas Edison only twenty years after the end of the American Civil War. The relative youth of the standard US Dollar made it fairly easy for governments to start issuing RFID-tagged coins and scanners, in order to make counterfeiting more difficult. Even though RFID technology had advanced to the point where it was possible to use with paper money, they never caught on as the prevalence of credit cards and 'credit coins' made their advantages rather minimal.
Save for that rather interesting tangent, the only useful information I gleaned was an understanding of popular culture that would ensure I didn't seem outwardly suspicious.
My parahuman research didn't turn up much more than I already knew, as a narrator's perspective allows for the disclosure of far more sensitive information. I decided to drain Max Anders' bank account dry for the hell of it.
Eventually midnight rolled around, and I was ready to move on to my next stage.
As soon as midnight passed, it was time to start tinkering. I didn't want to risk my 'bad luck' affecting any of my equipment. My first target way the suit. I didn't currently have any ideas on how to improve its general performance, but I could add features that it lacked. As it was, the suit looked fairly menacing. To be honest, I seriously doubted I would ever be able to make the suit scream 'hero,' so I decided to go the Batman route.
My first priority was making the suit as stealthy as possible, which meant painting it in IR-absorbing paint, making motions as silent as possible, adding adaptive camouflage, and making all external lights capable of being turned off.
Once my armor was finished, I got started on my weapons. In total, I had five guns. A stun pistol, which shot out projectiles that delivered short but powerful bursts of electricity. A laser pistol, which was good for cutting through things, and could cause pretty serious burns. A sonic rifle offered both lethal and nonlethal options for dealing with groups of enemies. My Gauss rifle was about as effective as a TAC-50, just a lot quieter and without a lightshow. The last weapon was the plasma cannon, which shot gelatinous projectiles filled with plasma, that effectively vaporized organic material on contact.
I had accidentally fried the plasma rifle with the laser pistol yesterday, so I had to start with repairs.
It took an annoying amount of time to get everything running, but I was able to make upgrades alongside the repairs, improving my efficiency. By the time I was finished, the sun was coming up, and it was time for me to head out.
My first stop was a neighborhood near crater lake, just a few miles walk from my 'lair' downtown. I made my way through the neighborhood, towards a specific house.
Outside the garage, there was a box labeled 'NCC Pickup.' I used a small scanner to make sure there were no recording devices nearby, and swiftly stashed the box in my pocket room.
Many would be aghast at my lack of opsec, using my powers in front of a house obviously connected to my shady 'Supply Line,' but, well, I wanted to trust my tinkertech, and I seriously doubted my suppliers would stay in business if they were screwing over their customers, so I didn't care too much about the risk.
My next stop was two miles away, back in downtown. The BMW dealership was well stocked with cars that looked dated in my eyes, but I wasn't here for any of those. I watched a salesman unlock the dealership doors and I followed him inside to take a look at my future baby.
The BMW S100RR. Even nine years after its release, the bike had remained a demon on the track, and with my ability to make improvements it would be the ultimate getaway vehicle.
I had to waste about an hour finishing up the paperwork and agreeing on a price, but when I drove out of the showroom I decided it was worth all the effort.
It was now almost 8 AM, and I had only minutes to get to my next destination which was a mile away. My bike made quick work of the roads, and I was the Defense Academy by 8 sharp.
The lesson was for 'Intermediate' Krav Maga, and I hoped I would be able to bullshit my way through the lesson well enough to look like I belonged. My cover was that I had taken up to the advanced classes a few years ago with an instructor that no longer worked there (he had passed away in Madison). Hopefully, between proficiency, the handful of videos I had watched, and my own superhuman fitness, I would be able to act like I was remembering things, rather than learning them at a ridiculous rate.
The class had a handful of other participants, all in relatively good shape, but my body still probably made me seem like a fitness-nut in comparison.
The instructor started us off by going through forms, which I didn't have too much trouble following along with, and within half-an-hour I was pretty close to on par with the rest of the class. By the time we were paired up to spar, I was more than capable of holding my own, even holding myself back to a human level.
When I was finished here, I had to make my way across town to an MMA gym for an advanced Muay Thai class. Between the gains from my first class and my own fitness level, I didn't have too much trouble fitting in. My third, and final, class for the day was another advanced Krav Maga class in a different corner of town.
By the time I returned to my lair around noon, I felt ready to fight just about anyone.
After taking a quick shower, I pulled my box of supplies out of my pocket room, and started going through its contents. There were two boxes inside the package. The larger box contained various pieces of tinkertech, and the small contained samples of various animals and materials I wanted.
I opened it up and started looking through what I had. A Limpet, a Mantis Shrimp, a Pistol Shrimp, Cheetah hair, Silvertip Grizzly hair, Eagle feathers, Owl feathers, a set of Darwin's Bark Spider Spinnerets, carbon nanotubes, sorbothane, graphene, Bonnethead Shark meat, carbon fullerenes, and an Electric Eel. Every one of these objects offered amazing capabilities, but there was one big problem.
I really didn't want to eat any of the animal parts...
I know, right? Hesitating from gaining amazing powers because I didn't want to eat something gross was pretty pathetic.
Eventually I got over myself and went for the first sampel, the limpet. It was as disgusting as I'd expected, and I might not have been able to finish it, if not for the rush of 'blueprints' that started coming into my mind as soon as I began to chew. The majority of the information was useless, but there was one portion that was invaluable. In my world, Limpet teeth were fairly recently found to be the strongest biological material in the world, and now that same material was replacing my bones.
From the mantis shrimp I was able to gain the ability to see portions of the electromagnetic spectrum I couldn't even imagine. I couldn't use this form of sight for long, as it gave me a headache after just two minutes, but for that time I was able to see heat, see through walls, see UV radiation, and much more as I wanted. The mantis shrimp also provided incredible fast-twitch muscle fibers, which were further improved upon by the pistol shrimp.
With the cheetah hair, I was able to enhance my reflexes to a point where they would be considered 'cat-like,' and was able to further enhance my musculature to improve my speed and strength. The Silvertip hair gave me a sense of smell that made the world seem absolutely overwhelming, and gave me enough strength to outlift powerlifters twice my size. Further, the Eagle and Owl feathers have me incredibly clear eyesight both in the day and at night.
I wasn't too sure what I was going to do with the Darwin's Bark Spinnerets, I had only really gotten them because Taylor mentioned them in the story. I popped the organs like pills and examined the new blueprints offered by the DNA.
Well, there was one option. I sat myself down and started coaxing my body into growing over a hundred-thousand new organs.
Almost an hour later, My hair had all fallen off, and thick, pearl-white strands were flowing from my scalp in their place. I wasn't too certain about their utility at this point, but bulletproof, high tensile-strength hair was way too cool, and it would go along with my next three upgrades.
The next three materials were all here to enhance my durability. I seriously doubted I would ever be able to make myself a brute on apr with Alexandria with nothing more than biology, but I could get as close as physically possible. Carbon nanotubes enhanced my skeleton enough for them to survive an impact from a high-calibre rifle. Sorbothane replaced large portions of my fat mass, giving me enough shock-absorption to prevent any injuries from all but the harshest of impacts, and graphene made my skin nearly impenetrable. At the moment the only people in the Bay capable of taking more damage than me were Alabaster and Glory Girl, but hopefully I'd be able to change even that in time.
The Bonnethead Shark meat honestly wasn't that bad, and offered the beginning of one of my persona's 'powersets.' Hammerhead Sharks all had sensory organs which allowed them to sense electrical signals from an incredible distance through even through heavy shielding. I was able to set up a network of electroreceptors throughout my body which would give me an idea of any conductive objects nearby.
The final, and most impressive changes came from the electric eels and the carbon fullerenes. The electric organs in an electric eel were each capable of supplying around an eighth of a volt for a few milliseconds. With graphene and carbon fullerenes, they could be improved to supply half a volt. Electric eels had a few thousand electric organs, capable of discharging around a thousand volts for a few seconds. I was creating several billion electric organs, which would supply discharges with as much power as several hundred lightning bolts.
Of course, channeling such extreme amounts of electrical energy was likely to fry any person's body, no matter how durable, which is where the fullerenes shone once again. Carbon fullerenes were superconductors, which meant that there was no resistance when a current travelled through them. No resistance meant no heat, which meant no burning flesh. Creating and positioning fullerenes throughout my body created an electrical discharge network, which would allow me to easily move electric currents through my body.
I received the added benefit of becoming effectively immune to electrocution. Electricity would always choose the path of least-resistance, and there was no less resistance than zero.
With all of these changes made, I was effectively the grabbiest of grab-bags. I had already started off as a decent thinker, changer, and tinker, but now I was a powerful brute, blaster, shaker, and mover as well. All in two days work at that. The successful changes in my body meant that stage two of my rudimentary plan was complete, now it was time for stage three.
By mid afternoon I'd put myself in the top quartile of this world's capes. Now I just had to do it again, only with an entirely different powerset.
See, when I'd chosen Ambivalent on the form, I had done so with a plan in mind. I would use one face as my daytime personality, to fight crime openly and potentially work with heroes. My lightning powers were perfect for this personality. They were flashy, bright, and the type of thing that everyone associated with 'Superhero.'
My other personality would be my 'nighttime' mask. This was what my power armor was best for. I'd prioritize stealth and would conduct operations that would earn me the ire of heroes and villains alike. I'd be ree to break the unwritten rules as I pleased, and if I ever needed, this face could die, to be reborn as someone else.
My punisher-esque persona would have to be a tinker, which is why I had put in a fairly expensive order with my Supply Line last afternoon.
I opened up the box to take a look at my new toys. I put aside the bodysuit for now, that was for my daytime persona, and I pulled out what looked like the bottom half of an industrial-sized 3D printer. This was my golden goose.
L33t was going to be one of my greatest benefactors, whether he knew it or not. I loved his tech for three reasons. It was cheap, as his tech was known for breaking down frequently; I could repair and improve upon it; and I knew exactly what everything was meant to do, even before seeing it, since his tech was all based on fiction I'd probably heard of.
Sitting in front of me, was an real-life Cybran Nanolathe. Already my powers were pointing out half-a-dozen things that needed to be fixed, but once I could get it running I could theoretically make or improve anything. Sure, I couldn't come up with tinkertech designs, but I could use my engineering knowledge to take advantage of the near limitless applications of nanotech.
As I got to work fixing the fabricator, I started to realize just how messed up L33t's tech was.
There were so many portions of the device that were just missing, as if their functionalities were replaced by supernatural phenomena. By the time I finished with my repairs, it was almost sundown, but I had a functioning nanolathe!
I squashed my inner fangirl in the name of productivity, and got to work picking out a pre-loaded design. L33t had done a damn good job making this thing accurate, since I was able to find exactly what I wanted. The nanolathe was now printing out two stealth field generators intended for use with the Cybran Land Scout. In a few hours I'd have the capability to make myself and another object immune to all but the best detection systems.
With everything set up, it was time for me to head out. I grabbed a hoodie and a ski mask, along with some baggy cargo pants and combat boots. Leaving through the back-alley exit, I made my way to a convenience store a few miles away. Some cheap, temporary, dirty-blonde hair dye made me pretty much unrecognizable on a cursory glance, which was necessary for where I wanted to go.
The E88 fight rings weren't nearly as well-hidden as they liked to pretend, and a decent crawler was able to find all the information I needed in order to attend the next one. My blonde hair, grey eyes, and pale skin allowed me to enter with no real trouble, even though I was wearing a ski mask. The Empire understood that some people liked to stay discrete.
Pit fights here were fairly organized, as no one wanted to piss off Cricket by screwing around too much. Still, these were real fights, and they were the best way to gain experience against real opponents. That was precisely what I needed. There was a small chance I'd get outed as some sort of cape here, but even if that happened I could play myself off as being nothing more than a slightly different Uber, and unless you were ridiculously valuable the Empire didn't bother press-ganging capes into their employ. They liked to keep up a veneer of civility by sweet talking desperate, traumatized parahumans, and kept them coming back with generous compensation. All-in-all it wouldn't be such a bad gig, if it weren't for the fact that they were Nazis.
I stood towards the back of the crowd at the beginning, observing the fighters and taking note of the system in place. It was pretty simple. The second someone was out, the first challenger to step into the ring got their shot. As soon as the first 'champion' of the night became apparent, I started to make my way forward through the crowd. My target was a man standing at around 6'4", shaved head, generic tattoos, and a three-win streak so far. He was on his first fight, with a guy that easily had two inches and twenty pounds on him, but still seemed likely to win the fight. If I waited any longer, he might end up to tired to give me the kind of fight I wanted.
I limited my reflexes, strength, and speed to what would be considered just-barely possible for my build, and waited for the perfect moment.
The second the larger man hit the ground, I stepped forward into the ring, feeling my heart hammer into my chest. Most men, even in this sort of establishment, tended to hold back when fighting women, but I didn't want that. I tossed off my hoodie and stood in just a tank top with my cargo pants and boots, showing off a musculature that would make most professional athletes jealous. Standing at almost six-feet, I was tall enough to seem formidable, and I'd had the foresight to generate heavy scarring over my arms, just to seem a bit more like a serious challenger.
"Oh, so the fair lady wants to get her hands on me?" the man asked, amused. He had a faint german accent, making him seem even more like a generic Nazi. I just snorted in response. I didn't want to open my mouth to speak, as I couldn't exactly trust my voice not to crack in this situation.
My opponent seemed to take my response as confidence though, and chuckled as if he were being incredibly generous by humoring me. I really wanted to wipe the smile off his face. Standing up on a nearby walkway, Cricket blew a whistle, signalling the start of the fight.
I immediately took advantage of the man's overconfidence, dashing forwards in an attempt to land a solid blow to his stomach. The hit was blocked, but it definitely hurt him enough for his attitude to take a swift turn.
"So she has claws," he snarked, with a completely different grin on his face from before. After that it became a struggle to keep my physical abilities limited. I was faster than him, and nearly as strong in my limited state, but he was so much more experience than me that I had to pull every last drop of skill I had gained from my morning classes just to fight defensively.
Every second the fight lasted the more skilled I became, but with every second my opponent grew closer to landing a hit that would reveal me to be a cape.
The fight probably hadn't lasted more than thirty seconds, but to me it felt like an eternity, when suddenly things started to become more... apparent. I was too sensitive to my own eyesight to say that things had gotten clearer, I just started to notice things I had previously disregarded. I saw patterns in strikes that previously seemed random, openings which would have once seemed guarded. The next time we disengaged I was all of a sudden much more confident in my ability to win without drawing too much attention.
The second the next engagement began, I completely changed my tactics. I had been fighting more like a kickboxer at the beginning, but now was the time to grapple. I let him land a few more strikes than he had last time, making sure to seem properly winded by each strike, and to start forming discolorations over the correct areas, when I finally found my opening. The next right hook was ever-so-slightly overextended, which means that when I suddenly stepped back, grabbed his wrist, twisted, and pulled with all my might, his shoulder came right on out of its socket.
I didn't even give him a fraction of a second to react. My hand shot out, pushing the very boundary of human speed and reflex, grabbing the back of his neck and flinging him down with all of my strength. In his current position, completely off balance, there was nothing he could do but fall forwards flat onto his face, breaking his nose and almost certainly ending up concussed.
I jumped back when he made a motion to get up, but as soon as he was on one knee he stumbled, falling again, this time out cold.
The crowd's cheering made me give an honest grin, before I remembered that they were all Nazis and that I'd soon be working to put them all behind bars or six feet under. I had to remember to make myself flush and breath heavily while I was waiting for the next challenger, but other wise I was laser-focused.
I few seconds later another guy stepped forward, a bit smaller than the last but wearing the air of a skilled fighter. I decided to decrease my physical capabilities and reflexes by another ~10%, and waited for the whistle to blow.
I kept going in the same manner for seven more fights, decreasing my reflexes, strength, and speed little by little each fight.
When the ninth fight came along, I figured my body had taken as much abuse as most people would be able to handle, so when I blocked the next shot to my head I stumbled, before finally falling over.
When I was on the ground, breathing heavy and leaving my eyes closed, it wasn't entirely faked. After a few seconds I was shaken slightly, and opened my eyes to see a woman offering me a hand up. She had a metal cage over her head, and more visible scars than I'd ever seen on a single person.
"You're half-decent," she said in the low buzz of an artificial larynx.
"Thanks," I grunted. I didn't have a good idea of how to change my voice at the moment, so I wanted to say as little as possible. She just nodded at me and tossed me a wad of hundred dollar bills as I made my way out the pit.
"Keep coming back and putting up showing like that, it'll be good for yer wallet," she told me, before turning away and jumping back onto the walkway. I decided to ignore the fact that I was on my way to becoming a small-time Nazi celebrity, and took a winding path back to my lair.
On my way back, I went ahead and started removing the limiters I had placed on myself, regaining my superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes. I cleared the discolouration I had forced onto my skin, and put my hood back up to hide my hair.
I took a quick shower once I was home, and got right back to work.
When I returned to the workbench, I was glad to see that my stealth field generators were complete. I set the fabricator to start producing nanomachine-infused paint, before grabbing my two new toys and moving over to my Power Armor.
The first stealth field generator (SFG) went directly onto the back of my exosuit. The second went into the rear compartment of my bike. The SFGs were rather remarkable pieces of tech. They created a field which spread along an object, and kept it from given off almost all sound, IR radiation, UV radiation, scrambled incoming radio waves, and scrambled incoming sound waves, effectively making the cloaked object immune to sonar, radar, IR imaging, and UV sensors. With the added cover of darkness, the suit and bike would become effectively invisible to everything except for an extremely keen eye, or exceptional low-light camera.
The nanomachine laced paint built on this, by allowing me to use the same bike during both day and night. On one setting, the nano-paint would as a standard black-and-white S1000RR paint job. On the other setting, it would become a matte-black IR-absorbing layer, further improving the overall stealth capabilities of the bike.
By the time I was done putting the finishing touches on my bike and suit, the sun was starting to come up again. It was April 10th now, so I had just over 24 hours before I had to make a splash.
I had already come up with the perfect idea to 'waste' time. Between Proficiency and my starting Hacking skill, I was pretty much able to get through any defences not put together by a Tinker. As a result, it took me about two hours of work to cook up the following shitstorm:
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In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Ur_Darkest_Secrets (Original Poster) (The Gal in the Know)
Posted On Apr 10th 2011:
Scraping through Bell Atlantic's data today when I caught something interesting
. Looks like someone has been a naughty girl. Names have been blurred out for obvious reasons, but the sent messages are all from one of Shadow Stalker's friends, while the recieved messages are all from Shadow Stalker herself. If attempted murder of a classmate is what she does as a civilian, I wonder what she does as a cape ?
.
The resolution shouldn't take more than a hundred thousand words, but I may decide to continue it as a multicross after that, who knows? It won't be too much of a powerwank, but it's a CYOA SI, so MC will be at least a bit of a Peggy Sue ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 1 | Down the Rabbit Hole
Chapter 1 | Down the Rabbit Hole
For the first time in months, I came back from school excited. I'd been drifting through life these past few years, doing things because I was 'supposed' to, rather than because I wanted to. Everyone in my wealthy suburban community knew my story. Mother passed away when I was eleven, giving birth to my stillborn sister. Father drank himself away to an early grave two years later, leaving poor little Miya all alone with nothing but an absurd fortune and a lonely house.
I was a bit of a golden child in my community, my grades were perfect, I exercised regularly, I started on the varsity soccer team - but those were just motions. I did those things because they were expected of me, because everyone said that going through such motions would put me in a better position in life. The truth was I didn't really care about any of it. To be honest, I felt like I'd died six years ago, and ever since I'd been an empty husk just going through the motions, trying to find a sliver of meaning in this dreary life. I'd recently decided that it was highly unlikely for me to ever find any.
That was why, when I woke up this morning to a multicolored lightshow, I'd felt something for the first time in years. Hope. Hope that life might just get a little bit interesting.
I all but ran up to my desk upon returning home, eager to take a look at the envelope left behind by the rainbow colored portal.
To: Miya Otsuka
From: Wizard Marshall Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg
*DO NOT OPEN BEFORE 4 PM, YOUR TIME*
This was it. This was proof that life wasn't nearly as dreary as I'd first imagined. I swiftly opened the envelope and carefully devoured its contents.
Dear Angst-Ridden Teenager,
It has come to my attention that a young teenage girl with great potential has lost all hope. Rejoice! For I Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg offer a number of options for ones such as yourself. The standard package includes access to the near-infinite power of a Kaleidostick, in exchange for eternal servitude to the services of Love and Justice. Unfortunately I seem to be going through a shortage of Kaleidosticks at the moment, so I will offer you an alternative. One of your neighboring dimensions is at risk of going through a Phantasmal Collapse. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to prevent the apocalyptic event, in exchange for access to great power and a one-of-a-kind adventure. Succeed, and you will be rewarded greatly. Fail, and you'll probably just die with everyone else. If you are interested, please fill out the attached forms. If you are not interested, please place this letter and all other contents of the envelope in the nearest microwave and cook on 'Hi' for 42 seconds.
Regards,
Wizard Marshall Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg
It was even better than I ever could have imagined. Sure, I had to go to Earth Bet, the world of Suffering, but I could do so much more. I would have powers, and I would be able to save billions of people through my actions. There was no chance I wouldn't accept.
I sat down with a pen and began looking through the forms. The system was pretty simple, I had two sets of points which would be increased or reduced based on my selections. I started by selecting the options that would give me more points. I chose Gestation so I would be starting along with the canon storyline, all the other options just weren't appealing. I was definitely going to go Vigilante. Heroes were too bogged down with bureaucracy, and villains were, well, villains. I didn't want to change who I was, so I decided to stay a Drop In with No Identity. For flaws I decided to go with the Slaughterhouse 9 and Endbringer Target options, because I'd be in Borckton bay, so if they were going to show up anyways I might as well get some points out of it. I went ahead and chose 'Worst Day Ever,' because a day full of bad luck really didn't sound all that bad. Honestly the name was a bit melodramatic.
I rounded out the point increasing options with 'Ambivalent.' Neo-Nazis, forced drug addictions, and forced prostitution were all things I was very much against, but taking lethal action against them would put me on the heroes shitlist anyways, so I might as well benefit off of it. Now I had to decide on what actual powers, abilities, and resources I wanted. Proficiency was the first one to catch my eye. Honestly Uber had so much potential, his only real problem was being too squishy. The second trigger made it so promising, even if it was expensive. Repair was the next power I was drawn to. Tinkertech seemed easy enough to get ahold of in Brockton Bay, between L33t, Squealer, and Bakuda. Toybox could make things even easier. The second trigger on that would make it a top-tier power.
What really caught my eye, though, was Consumption. As ti stood, it was decently promising. The second trigger made it even better. Limitless, non-power-dependent improvement was the name of the game. All shards would be dead shards after Scion was killed, so those were the powers with real potential. Still, I didn't want the improvements to be unconscious, I wanted conscious control over how the power changed my body. Upgrading the power to self-biokinesis didn't seem like too much of a stretch, and ten-points was fairly reasonable. Tacking on a second trigger would hopefully appease Zelretch enough. I doubted he'd have an issue with it. I'd seen quite a few forum posts disregarding carefree, 'troll' Zelretch as bad fanon. I disagreed. Anyone who could make Magical Ruby was definitely not all that serious.
Now, with Repair chosen, Tinkertech, Supply Line, and Armor were all immensely valuable. Plot Convenience and Blindspot were pretty much necessary. One would stop Contessa or the Simurgh from wanting to look into my actions, the other would stop them from being able to look into my actions. Choosing one and not the other was too risky. I was running low on Shard Points, and a century was more than long enough to make myself excessively powerful, so Dead Shard was chosen. A Secret Lair was all but a necessity for a drop in, and I was starting to run out of things to choose. I didn't need to get any skills to start out with, but Hacking was cheap and would leave me more time to work on other things. My next point went into Pocket Room, leaving me with two shard points to spend. Peak condition and immunity would be great for providing a solid base for my self-biokinesis, and honestly nothing else really seemed as valuable.
With everything picked out, I signed my name at the bottom of the form, folded the papers, sealed the envelope, and was off in a swirl of color.
I came back to consciousness in pretty much the most stereotypical 'secret lair' I could think of. Red lighting, monitors everywhere, Steampunk piping, overhanging walkways, large metal lockers, trunks, and cabinets. It was perfect.
I immediately drifted towards the computer, to try to get a bearing on what I had at my disposal. My Hacking skill gave me the necessary information to get started working with the unfamiliar OS, and my proficiency power soon kicked in to start filling in any gaps. It was such a rush. Within half-an-hour I felt like I had been using the OS my whole life, even though I'd never seen it until today.
I was able to get a bearing on my current situation with relative ease. Zel was the man. I had an ID, a bank account with a few thousand dollars, a GED, and was legally 18. I was a moderately well-paid personal assistant at Kaleidoscope Industries, who worked from home under a boss that didn't actually exist.
It was perfect.
Once I was certain that my story wouldn't bring up any flags, I decided to go through my supplies. As was expected, I broke a nail as I was moving to get up, stubbed a toe on my way to the storage lockers, and got some of my hair stuck in the hinge.
I ignored the small incidents as I started to look through what I had at my disposal. The lockers on the wall were full of weaponry. There were a handful of bladed weapons, and oh so many guns. I could immediately tell what each weapon was meant to do, and how to improve minute parts of each object to make ti work just a little bit better. I couldn't keep the grin off my face, even as the first gun I pulled off the rack discharged and damaged another. There went a few hours of my prep time.
After taking stock of my spoils from 'Tinkertech,' I decided to check on my armor. When I first saw it, I was honestly pretty disappointed. It was a fairly basic piece of tinkertech, all things considered. Lightweight, with heavy use of titanium alloys and carbon fiber for the plating. The armor was largely mundane in its construction, save for the dynamic monopoles allowing for assisted movement. From what I could tell, it would increase my strength and speed by ~50%, and would make me resistant to small arms fire. Anything more than that I'd have to so myself.
Still, today wasn't the day for tinkering, I would do that after midnight when my 'bad luck' ran out.
For now, I had other things to focus on. Namely, my 'main' power. I made my way to the utilitarian bathroom, and removed my clothes to see what my last two powers had changed.
I was hot.
Well, I'd never thought myself unattractive, between a german mother and a japanese father my face was always unique enough to catch attention, and I'd kept in well enough shape on my own, but now I was something else. My muscle tone was enough to make most olympians jealous, and a healthy layer of fat kept my features soft and feminine.
I sat down and focused inwards, trying to find my self-biokinesis. It was a lot easier than I expected. Turning my attention inwards gave me a set of 'blueprints' that I could modify parts of by using pieces from other parts. The first thing I looked into was my ability to heal.
Using the template from my liver, it was surprisingly intuitive for me apply a regenerative factor to my entire body. I wasn't Alabaster by any means, but I would be able to regrow a limb in a week or two given enough biomass. I moved on from there to my bone structure. They were as good as human bones could get, but I could make them better. It was a simple matter to increase their density past what was humanly possible, and ensure the strongest material was used across my entire skeleton.
There wasn't too much I could do about my musculature at this point, aside from increasing the density and neuromuscular adaptation to absurd lengths.
Unfortunately this was where the meaningful changes had to end, as I had already used up enough of my fat mass to give some female bodybuilders self-image issues. I went ahead and ordered a few kilograms of food before sitting back down in front of the mirror.
Looking through my blueprints again gave me an admittedly rather frivolous idea. I had always loved my mother's pale blonde, almost bright-white hair, and had been jealous of my grandfather's stunning grey eyes. Unfortunately, I had ended up with my father's jet-black hair, and my mother's dark brown eyes, leaving me with a fairly generic appearance. I now had the ability to change that.
I want to say that I spent hours debating over my self-image and the pettiness of such a change, but I didn't. I made the change almost immediately, and a few seconds later my eyes were grey and my hair would start growing out pale-white at the roots.
With my appearance fully changed, I sat back down in front of my workstation, and got started with acquiring funds.
My hacking skill was good enough to start locating the Gesellschaft and Yangban's 'hidden' accounts, but I obviously wouldn't be able to get to any of the money, even at my advanced level of skill. I would have to be a truly superhuman. I wasn't that good yet, but I could be soon. I tunneled into a random server across the world and started prodding at their defenses.
By the time my food arrived (an hour later than expected), I was several thousand dollars richer.
I had ordered several plates of tako and Ikayaki, to get my hands on some unique DNA, but as I should have expected I ended up with five pounds of cucumber rolls. To make matters worse, I couldn't easily use carbs to regenerate the fat mass I had lost or to increase the density of my muscle mass further, so I needed even more food. I phoned in another order of a few dozen plates of unagi.
As I started working to pull every ounce of fat and protein out of my cucumber rolls, I started putting orders in for things I could consume.
By the time my (thankfully mostly correct) order of food arrived, I had organized my next day to perfectly take advantage of my powers and resources.
Scarfing down, and forcibly digesting ten pounds of eel gave me enough biomass to finish the changes I had started earlier. My muscles ended up at least twice as dense as the average humans, while still large enough to give be a decently muscular build. I was strong enough to at the very least match the powerlifting records for my weight class, but my regeneration and superhuman flexibility ensured that I could continue to perform at that strength for more than a single motion.
After that I got started on my 'education.' A second-triggered proficiency gave me a permanent version of Uber's powers. I would get better at something by doing it, and I would always be able to perform at my peak.
Electrical engineering courses, computer engineering courses, advanced particle physics, fluid dynamics, programming. In only eight hours Proficiency had given me enough knowledge for a PhD in computer science, physics, and chemistry at the very least. Between Repair and my newfound knowledge, I felt confident that I would be able to upgrade my tinkertech to perfectly suit my needs.
I then moved on to history and Parahuman research. The history of the world was almost completely identical to that of my own, save for the reliance on coin-based currency.
The fact that paper-based currency had never taken off was rather interesting, but made sense in context. In this world RFID technology had become available decades earlier than in my own, being introduced by Thomas Edison only twenty years after the end of the American Civil War. The relative youth of the standard US Dollar made it fairly easy for governments to start issuing RFID-tagged coins and scanners, in order to make counterfeiting more difficult. Even though RFID technology had advanced to the point where it was possible to use with paper money, they never caught on as the prevalence of credit cards and 'credit coins' made their advantages rather minimal.
Save for that rather interesting tangent, the only useful information I gleaned was an understanding of popular culture that would ensure I didn't seem outwardly suspicious.
My parahuman research didn't turn up much more than I already knew, as a narrator's perspective allows for the disclosure of far more sensitive information. I decided to drain Max Anders' bank account dry for the hell of it.
Eventually midnight rolled around, and I was ready to move on to my next stage.
Stats are listed on a 1-100 scale, with 5 being average, 10 being peak human, and 100 being peak superhuman.
Strength: 12
Agility: 12
Durability: 12
Intelligence: 8
Skill: 8
Supernatural: 8
Resources: 7
Mover: 1
Shaker: 1
Brute: 2
Breaker: 1
Master: N/A
Tinker: 5
Blaster: N/A
Thinker: 5
Striker: N/A
Changer: 10
Trump: 3
Stranger: 0
Strength: 12
Agility: 12
Durability: 12
Intelligence: 8
Skill: 8
Supernatural: 8
Resources: 7
Mover: 1
Shaker: 1
Brute: 2
Breaker: 1
Master: N/A
Tinker: 5
Blaster: N/A
Thinker: 5
Striker: N/A
Changer: 10
Trump: 3
Stranger: 0
As soon as midnight passed, it was time to start tinkering. I didn't want to risk my 'bad luck' affecting any of my equipment. My first target way the suit. I didn't currently have any ideas on how to improve its general performance, but I could add features that it lacked. As it was, the suit looked fairly menacing. To be honest, I seriously doubted I would ever be able to make the suit scream 'hero,' so I decided to go the Batman route.
My first priority was making the suit as stealthy as possible, which meant painting it in IR-absorbing paint, making motions as silent as possible, adding adaptive camouflage, and making all external lights capable of being turned off.
Once my armor was finished, I got started on my weapons. In total, I had five guns. A stun pistol, which shot out projectiles that delivered short but powerful bursts of electricity. A laser pistol, which was good for cutting through things, and could cause pretty serious burns. A sonic rifle offered both lethal and nonlethal options for dealing with groups of enemies. My Gauss rifle was about as effective as a TAC-50, just a lot quieter and without a lightshow. The last weapon was the plasma cannon, which shot gelatinous projectiles filled with plasma, that effectively vaporized organic material on contact.
I had accidentally fried the plasma rifle with the laser pistol yesterday, so I had to start with repairs.
It took an annoying amount of time to get everything running, but I was able to make upgrades alongside the repairs, improving my efficiency. By the time I was finished, the sun was coming up, and it was time for me to head out.
My first stop was a neighborhood near crater lake, just a few miles walk from my 'lair' downtown. I made my way through the neighborhood, towards a specific house.
Outside the garage, there was a box labeled 'NCC Pickup.' I used a small scanner to make sure there were no recording devices nearby, and swiftly stashed the box in my pocket room.
Many would be aghast at my lack of opsec, using my powers in front of a house obviously connected to my shady 'Supply Line,' but, well, I wanted to trust my tinkertech, and I seriously doubted my suppliers would stay in business if they were screwing over their customers, so I didn't care too much about the risk.
My next stop was two miles away, back in downtown. The BMW dealership was well stocked with cars that looked dated in my eyes, but I wasn't here for any of those. I watched a salesman unlock the dealership doors and I followed him inside to take a look at my future baby.
The BMW S100RR. Even nine years after its release, the bike had remained a demon on the track, and with my ability to make improvements it would be the ultimate getaway vehicle.
I had to waste about an hour finishing up the paperwork and agreeing on a price, but when I drove out of the showroom I decided it was worth all the effort.
It was now almost 8 AM, and I had only minutes to get to my next destination which was a mile away. My bike made quick work of the roads, and I was the Defense Academy by 8 sharp.
The lesson was for 'Intermediate' Krav Maga, and I hoped I would be able to bullshit my way through the lesson well enough to look like I belonged. My cover was that I had taken up to the advanced classes a few years ago with an instructor that no longer worked there (he had passed away in Madison). Hopefully, between proficiency, the handful of videos I had watched, and my own superhuman fitness, I would be able to act like I was remembering things, rather than learning them at a ridiculous rate.
The class had a handful of other participants, all in relatively good shape, but my body still probably made me seem like a fitness-nut in comparison.
The instructor started us off by going through forms, which I didn't have too much trouble following along with, and within half-an-hour I was pretty close to on par with the rest of the class. By the time we were paired up to spar, I was more than capable of holding my own, even holding myself back to a human level.
When I was finished here, I had to make my way across town to an MMA gym for an advanced Muay Thai class. Between the gains from my first class and my own fitness level, I didn't have too much trouble fitting in. My third, and final, class for the day was another advanced Krav Maga class in a different corner of town.
By the time I returned to my lair around noon, I felt ready to fight just about anyone.
After taking a quick shower, I pulled my box of supplies out of my pocket room, and started going through its contents. There were two boxes inside the package. The larger box contained various pieces of tinkertech, and the small contained samples of various animals and materials I wanted.
I opened it up and started looking through what I had. A Limpet, a Mantis Shrimp, a Pistol Shrimp, Cheetah hair, Silvertip Grizzly hair, Eagle feathers, Owl feathers, a set of Darwin's Bark Spider Spinnerets, carbon nanotubes, sorbothane, graphene, Bonnethead Shark meat, carbon fullerenes, and an Electric Eel. Every one of these objects offered amazing capabilities, but there was one big problem.
I really didn't want to eat any of the animal parts...
I know, right? Hesitating from gaining amazing powers because I didn't want to eat something gross was pretty pathetic.
Eventually I got over myself and went for the first sampel, the limpet. It was as disgusting as I'd expected, and I might not have been able to finish it, if not for the rush of 'blueprints' that started coming into my mind as soon as I began to chew. The majority of the information was useless, but there was one portion that was invaluable. In my world, Limpet teeth were fairly recently found to be the strongest biological material in the world, and now that same material was replacing my bones.
From the mantis shrimp I was able to gain the ability to see portions of the electromagnetic spectrum I couldn't even imagine. I couldn't use this form of sight for long, as it gave me a headache after just two minutes, but for that time I was able to see heat, see through walls, see UV radiation, and much more as I wanted. The mantis shrimp also provided incredible fast-twitch muscle fibers, which were further improved upon by the pistol shrimp.
With the cheetah hair, I was able to enhance my reflexes to a point where they would be considered 'cat-like,' and was able to further enhance my musculature to improve my speed and strength. The Silvertip hair gave me a sense of smell that made the world seem absolutely overwhelming, and gave me enough strength to outlift powerlifters twice my size. Further, the Eagle and Owl feathers have me incredibly clear eyesight both in the day and at night.
I wasn't too sure what I was going to do with the Darwin's Bark Spinnerets, I had only really gotten them because Taylor mentioned them in the story. I popped the organs like pills and examined the new blueprints offered by the DNA.
Well, there was one option. I sat myself down and started coaxing my body into growing over a hundred-thousand new organs.
Almost an hour later, My hair had all fallen off, and thick, pearl-white strands were flowing from my scalp in their place. I wasn't too certain about their utility at this point, but bulletproof, high tensile-strength hair was way too cool, and it would go along with my next three upgrades.
The next three materials were all here to enhance my durability. I seriously doubted I would ever be able to make myself a brute on apr with Alexandria with nothing more than biology, but I could get as close as physically possible. Carbon nanotubes enhanced my skeleton enough for them to survive an impact from a high-calibre rifle. Sorbothane replaced large portions of my fat mass, giving me enough shock-absorption to prevent any injuries from all but the harshest of impacts, and graphene made my skin nearly impenetrable. At the moment the only people in the Bay capable of taking more damage than me were Alabaster and Glory Girl, but hopefully I'd be able to change even that in time.
The Bonnethead Shark meat honestly wasn't that bad, and offered the beginning of one of my persona's 'powersets.' Hammerhead Sharks all had sensory organs which allowed them to sense electrical signals from an incredible distance through even through heavy shielding. I was able to set up a network of electroreceptors throughout my body which would give me an idea of any conductive objects nearby.
The final, and most impressive changes came from the electric eels and the carbon fullerenes. The electric organs in an electric eel were each capable of supplying around an eighth of a volt for a few milliseconds. With graphene and carbon fullerenes, they could be improved to supply half a volt. Electric eels had a few thousand electric organs, capable of discharging around a thousand volts for a few seconds. I was creating several billion electric organs, which would supply discharges with as much power as several hundred lightning bolts.
Of course, channeling such extreme amounts of electrical energy was likely to fry any person's body, no matter how durable, which is where the fullerenes shone once again. Carbon fullerenes were superconductors, which meant that there was no resistance when a current travelled through them. No resistance meant no heat, which meant no burning flesh. Creating and positioning fullerenes throughout my body created an electrical discharge network, which would allow me to easily move electric currents through my body.
I received the added benefit of becoming effectively immune to electrocution. Electricity would always choose the path of least-resistance, and there was no less resistance than zero.
With all of these changes made, I was effectively the grabbiest of grab-bags. I had already started off as a decent thinker, changer, and tinker, but now I was a powerful brute, blaster, shaker, and mover as well. All in two days work at that. The successful changes in my body meant that stage two of my rudimentary plan was complete, now it was time for stage three.
Stats are listed on a 1-100 scale, with 5 being average, 10 being peak human, and 100 being peak superhuman.
Strength: 20
Agility: 20
Durability: 30
Intelligence: 12
Skill: 12
Supernatural: 15
Resources: 10
Mover: 3
Shaker: 3
Brute: 5
Breaker: 1
Master: N/A
Tinker: 5
Blaster: 7
Thinker: 5
Striker: 7
Changer: 10
Trump: 3
Stranger: 0
Strength: 20
Agility: 20
Durability: 30
Intelligence: 12
Skill: 12
Supernatural: 15
Resources: 10
Mover: 3
Shaker: 3
Brute: 5
Breaker: 1
Master: N/A
Tinker: 5
Blaster: 7
Thinker: 5
Striker: 7
Changer: 10
Trump: 3
Stranger: 0
By mid afternoon I'd put myself in the top quartile of this world's capes. Now I just had to do it again, only with an entirely different powerset.
See, when I'd chosen Ambivalent on the form, I had done so with a plan in mind. I would use one face as my daytime personality, to fight crime openly and potentially work with heroes. My lightning powers were perfect for this personality. They were flashy, bright, and the type of thing that everyone associated with 'Superhero.'
My other personality would be my 'nighttime' mask. This was what my power armor was best for. I'd prioritize stealth and would conduct operations that would earn me the ire of heroes and villains alike. I'd be ree to break the unwritten rules as I pleased, and if I ever needed, this face could die, to be reborn as someone else.
My punisher-esque persona would have to be a tinker, which is why I had put in a fairly expensive order with my Supply Line last afternoon.
I opened up the box to take a look at my new toys. I put aside the bodysuit for now, that was for my daytime persona, and I pulled out what looked like the bottom half of an industrial-sized 3D printer. This was my golden goose.
L33t was going to be one of my greatest benefactors, whether he knew it or not. I loved his tech for three reasons. It was cheap, as his tech was known for breaking down frequently; I could repair and improve upon it; and I knew exactly what everything was meant to do, even before seeing it, since his tech was all based on fiction I'd probably heard of.
Sitting in front of me, was an real-life Cybran Nanolathe. Already my powers were pointing out half-a-dozen things that needed to be fixed, but once I could get it running I could theoretically make or improve anything. Sure, I couldn't come up with tinkertech designs, but I could use my engineering knowledge to take advantage of the near limitless applications of nanotech.
As I got to work fixing the fabricator, I started to realize just how messed up L33t's tech was.
There were so many portions of the device that were just missing, as if their functionalities were replaced by supernatural phenomena. By the time I finished with my repairs, it was almost sundown, but I had a functioning nanolathe!
I squashed my inner fangirl in the name of productivity, and got to work picking out a pre-loaded design. L33t had done a damn good job making this thing accurate, since I was able to find exactly what I wanted. The nanolathe was now printing out two stealth field generators intended for use with the Cybran Land Scout. In a few hours I'd have the capability to make myself and another object immune to all but the best detection systems.
With everything set up, it was time for me to head out. I grabbed a hoodie and a ski mask, along with some baggy cargo pants and combat boots. Leaving through the back-alley exit, I made my way to a convenience store a few miles away. Some cheap, temporary, dirty-blonde hair dye made me pretty much unrecognizable on a cursory glance, which was necessary for where I wanted to go.
The E88 fight rings weren't nearly as well-hidden as they liked to pretend, and a decent crawler was able to find all the information I needed in order to attend the next one. My blonde hair, grey eyes, and pale skin allowed me to enter with no real trouble, even though I was wearing a ski mask. The Empire understood that some people liked to stay discrete.
Pit fights here were fairly organized, as no one wanted to piss off Cricket by screwing around too much. Still, these were real fights, and they were the best way to gain experience against real opponents. That was precisely what I needed. There was a small chance I'd get outed as some sort of cape here, but even if that happened I could play myself off as being nothing more than a slightly different Uber, and unless you were ridiculously valuable the Empire didn't bother press-ganging capes into their employ. They liked to keep up a veneer of civility by sweet talking desperate, traumatized parahumans, and kept them coming back with generous compensation. All-in-all it wouldn't be such a bad gig, if it weren't for the fact that they were Nazis.
I stood towards the back of the crowd at the beginning, observing the fighters and taking note of the system in place. It was pretty simple. The second someone was out, the first challenger to step into the ring got their shot. As soon as the first 'champion' of the night became apparent, I started to make my way forward through the crowd. My target was a man standing at around 6'4", shaved head, generic tattoos, and a three-win streak so far. He was on his first fight, with a guy that easily had two inches and twenty pounds on him, but still seemed likely to win the fight. If I waited any longer, he might end up to tired to give me the kind of fight I wanted.
I limited my reflexes, strength, and speed to what would be considered just-barely possible for my build, and waited for the perfect moment.
The second the larger man hit the ground, I stepped forward into the ring, feeling my heart hammer into my chest. Most men, even in this sort of establishment, tended to hold back when fighting women, but I didn't want that. I tossed off my hoodie and stood in just a tank top with my cargo pants and boots, showing off a musculature that would make most professional athletes jealous. Standing at almost six-feet, I was tall enough to seem formidable, and I'd had the foresight to generate heavy scarring over my arms, just to seem a bit more like a serious challenger.
"Oh, so the fair lady wants to get her hands on me?" the man asked, amused. He had a faint german accent, making him seem even more like a generic Nazi. I just snorted in response. I didn't want to open my mouth to speak, as I couldn't exactly trust my voice not to crack in this situation.
My opponent seemed to take my response as confidence though, and chuckled as if he were being incredibly generous by humoring me. I really wanted to wipe the smile off his face. Standing up on a nearby walkway, Cricket blew a whistle, signalling the start of the fight.
I immediately took advantage of the man's overconfidence, dashing forwards in an attempt to land a solid blow to his stomach. The hit was blocked, but it definitely hurt him enough for his attitude to take a swift turn.
"So she has claws," he snarked, with a completely different grin on his face from before. After that it became a struggle to keep my physical abilities limited. I was faster than him, and nearly as strong in my limited state, but he was so much more experience than me that I had to pull every last drop of skill I had gained from my morning classes just to fight defensively.
Every second the fight lasted the more skilled I became, but with every second my opponent grew closer to landing a hit that would reveal me to be a cape.
The fight probably hadn't lasted more than thirty seconds, but to me it felt like an eternity, when suddenly things started to become more... apparent. I was too sensitive to my own eyesight to say that things had gotten clearer, I just started to notice things I had previously disregarded. I saw patterns in strikes that previously seemed random, openings which would have once seemed guarded. The next time we disengaged I was all of a sudden much more confident in my ability to win without drawing too much attention.
The second the next engagement began, I completely changed my tactics. I had been fighting more like a kickboxer at the beginning, but now was the time to grapple. I let him land a few more strikes than he had last time, making sure to seem properly winded by each strike, and to start forming discolorations over the correct areas, when I finally found my opening. The next right hook was ever-so-slightly overextended, which means that when I suddenly stepped back, grabbed his wrist, twisted, and pulled with all my might, his shoulder came right on out of its socket.
I didn't even give him a fraction of a second to react. My hand shot out, pushing the very boundary of human speed and reflex, grabbing the back of his neck and flinging him down with all of my strength. In his current position, completely off balance, there was nothing he could do but fall forwards flat onto his face, breaking his nose and almost certainly ending up concussed.
I jumped back when he made a motion to get up, but as soon as he was on one knee he stumbled, falling again, this time out cold.
The crowd's cheering made me give an honest grin, before I remembered that they were all Nazis and that I'd soon be working to put them all behind bars or six feet under. I had to remember to make myself flush and breath heavily while I was waiting for the next challenger, but other wise I was laser-focused.
I few seconds later another guy stepped forward, a bit smaller than the last but wearing the air of a skilled fighter. I decided to decrease my physical capabilities and reflexes by another ~10%, and waited for the whistle to blow.
I kept going in the same manner for seven more fights, decreasing my reflexes, strength, and speed little by little each fight.
When the ninth fight came along, I figured my body had taken as much abuse as most people would be able to handle, so when I blocked the next shot to my head I stumbled, before finally falling over.
When I was on the ground, breathing heavy and leaving my eyes closed, it wasn't entirely faked. After a few seconds I was shaken slightly, and opened my eyes to see a woman offering me a hand up. She had a metal cage over her head, and more visible scars than I'd ever seen on a single person.
"You're half-decent," she said in the low buzz of an artificial larynx.
"Thanks," I grunted. I didn't have a good idea of how to change my voice at the moment, so I wanted to say as little as possible. She just nodded at me and tossed me a wad of hundred dollar bills as I made my way out the pit.
"Keep coming back and putting up showing like that, it'll be good for yer wallet," she told me, before turning away and jumping back onto the walkway. I decided to ignore the fact that I was on my way to becoming a small-time Nazi celebrity, and took a winding path back to my lair.
On my way back, I went ahead and started removing the limiters I had placed on myself, regaining my superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes. I cleared the discolouration I had forced onto my skin, and put my hood back up to hide my hair.
I took a quick shower once I was home, and got right back to work.
When I returned to the workbench, I was glad to see that my stealth field generators were complete. I set the fabricator to start producing nanomachine-infused paint, before grabbing my two new toys and moving over to my Power Armor.
The first stealth field generator (SFG) went directly onto the back of my exosuit. The second went into the rear compartment of my bike. The SFGs were rather remarkable pieces of tech. They created a field which spread along an object, and kept it from given off almost all sound, IR radiation, UV radiation, scrambled incoming radio waves, and scrambled incoming sound waves, effectively making the cloaked object immune to sonar, radar, IR imaging, and UV sensors. With the added cover of darkness, the suit and bike would become effectively invisible to everything except for an extremely keen eye, or exceptional low-light camera.
The nanomachine laced paint built on this, by allowing me to use the same bike during both day and night. On one setting, the nano-paint would as a standard black-and-white S1000RR paint job. On the other setting, it would become a matte-black IR-absorbing layer, further improving the overall stealth capabilities of the bike.
By the time I was done putting the finishing touches on my bike and suit, the sun was starting to come up again. It was April 10th now, so I had just over 24 hours before I had to make a splash.
I had already come up with the perfect idea to 'waste' time. Between Proficiency and my starting Hacking skill, I was pretty much able to get through any defences not put together by a Tinker. As a result, it took me about two hours of work to cook up the following shitstorm:
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♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Ur_Darkest_Secrets (Original Poster) (The Gal in the Know)
Posted On Apr 10th 2011:
Scraping through Bell Atlantic's data today when I caught something interesting
. Looks like someone has been a naughty girl. Names have been blurred out for obvious reasons, but the sent messages are all from one of Shadow Stalker's friends, while the recieved messages are all from Shadow Stalker herself. If attempted murder of a classmate is what she does as a civilian, I wonder what she does as a cape ?- Link: SS's friend claims to have emptied the 'bio' (presumably biological waste) into some girl's locker, SS suggests locking girl in with the waste.
- Link: SS's friend panics because victim is now in coma, doesn't want to be charged, SS claims she'll 'take care of it.'
- Link: SS's friend asks for update, SS claims her social worker 'talked to [Principal of High School]' and that the Principal now 'knows what to do.'
- Link: Just one week after victim returns to school, SS's friend asks SS to bring juice boxes up to bathroom, because victim is inside. SS's friend claims to want to empty juice boxes onto victim.
- Link: One month after first link, SS sending humorous messages to friend about how she had victim tied to a flagpole by her 'boy toys,'
- Link: One week after previous link, SS's friend sends messages joking about how victim 'ran home crying' after verbal assault.
.
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I took a deep breath and exhaled. This world was going to be so satisfying.
*AN*
Pls point out typos, I'll be super grateful. Thanks for reading!
Pls point out typos, I'll be super grateful. Thanks for reading!
Last edited:
Worm | The Gauss Rifle went Snicker Snack
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
- Location
- United States
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
I closed out the PHO window the moment I had finished my post. I was going to savor the replies at a later date, no need to spoil them for myself. I now had to move on to the final stage of my plan before I could actually go out. In less than 24 hours, Taylor and Bitch's dogs would take down Lung, leaving him unconscious on the street. There would probably never be a better time to take care of him permanently.
I found Cauldron's entire methodology to be incredibly stupid. Their whole idea just seemed to be 'lets kill a supremely-powerful being by throwing as many bodies at it as possible!'
In the end he was done in by just four powers. Oliver's shapeshifting, Ballistics kinetic energy imbuement, Flechette's physical nullification, and a some tinker's 'dimensional ram.' I had just over two years to use that information to devise a way to kill Scion. Wonderful.
I would have to work with Cauldron eventually in order to actually accomplish my objective, but I was certain I could do a whole lot better.
Coming back to the present, I considered my options for tomorrow. I could kill Lung. Should I kill Lung?
Yes. Definitely.
I wasn't certain why so many fiction writers became obsessed with 'no killing' rules. Lung was responsible for the deaths of hundreds, he forced hundreds of girls into prostitution. Rape, destruction of property, torture, he'd done it all. If it were up to Batman, Lung would be locked up in Arkham, regardless of the fact that he'd escape the next day. It was moronic.
Police officers always met lethal force with lethal force. The first sign of aggression was met with bullets.
Throughout history, society had found it permissible to kill enemies of society, in fact one could kill an outlaw legally as late as 1938.
So when it came down to morality, I couldn't give myself any reason not to kill Lung. I guess I wouldn't really know until I had to pull the trigger.
My weapon of choice for dragon-slaying was my Gauss Rifle. I hadn't gotten around to improving it yet, but I could already see potential modifications.
I brought my gun over to the workbench to take a closer look. From what I could tell, the weapon was capable of firing 55 gram bullet at 850 m/s, making it about on par with the best mundane technology available. That wasn't good enough.
My first change was to the projectile itself. I had ordered a large amount of high carbon steel, which was unfortunately the strongest ferrous metal I could acquire in this world. I knew there were steel-nickel alloys in my world that were stronger than titanium, but those were still years from being discovered by mundane scientists in this world.
I was shaping the steel into teardrop-shaped slugs, with small hollow chambers filled with a gram of Caesium. The rifle itself received minimal upgrades. The tinkertech battery was replaced with a Cybran Power Cell, and the metal coils were replaced with fullerene-filled bone that I grew out of my finger-tips.
The resulting weapon was, frankly, terrifying. It fired a highly-explosive round, which was heavier than a .50 BMG, at almost twice the speed of a .220 Swift.
The teardrop-shaped slug weighed just over 60 grams, and contained two grams of Caesium. The resulting explosion wouldn't be very large, but would create highly flammable hydrogen gas, and produced Caesium Hydroxide, which was a poisonous strong base. The slug was fired with a muzzle velocity of over two kilometers per second, making its effective range almost eight miles.
It would turn Lung's head into sizzling paste.
With the Gauss Rifle finished, I had enough firepower to actually kill Lung, but I needed to take care of the cleanup afterwards. Finding Lung dead, pumped full of insect venom, would implicate Taylor the moment her powers became well-known.
I had a solution, but it would permanently ruin my current most powerful tinkertech weapon. The plasma cannon currently shot head-size explosive sacs, that burst into massive clouds of plasma. Not only did the explosions create massive EMP shockwave, and bursts of electrical energy, they vaporized all organic matter within the area of effect. A properly placed shot would easily take care of any evidence, but would also damage electronics, cause a large amount of property damage, and possibly electrocute the nearby Undersiders. Those were all situations I hoped to avoid.
My plan was to turn the material used to encase the plasma into a napalm-like medium for what would effectively be a plasma weapon equivalent to a flamethrower.
Making the changes took most of the day, as I had to essentially deconstruct the cannon in its entirety. By the time it was mid-afternoon, I was perfectly equipped to erase Lung.
The rest of the day was spent browsing wikipedia, arXiv, and OpenCourseWare in an attempt to work my way towards graduate-level knowledge in Human Biology and Neuroscience. It was a slow going by my standards, definitely not in regards to the average person, but I was still flush with ideas by the end of my research.
When the sun finally set, I donned my powersuit, and headed off for the Ruby Dreams Casino.
With the Stealth Field Generator active, I was able to average more than a hundred miles-per-hour going through the city streets. I was almost completely silent, and incredibly hard to see, so it was on me to avoid any other cars or obstacles. The best reflexes and senses in the animal kingdom allowed me to do so with ease.
It would have normally taken twenty minutes to get to the Docks from my area Downtown, but I was there and set up in less than ten. My vantage point was atop one of the few hi-rise buildings this close to the shoreline. I had left my bike and plasmathrower in some bushes below, but they would alert me is anyone got to close.
I was about half-a-kilometer from the Ruby Dreams Casino itself, and could be there in seconds when the time was right. My plan was simple. Shoot Lung, drive over to his position ASAP, vaporize his remains, and drive Taylor far away.
I knew that Taylor would probably panic, and Tattletale would say something to freak everyone out once they saw me, but as long as everyone was gone before Armsmaster showed up everything would be fine. There was almost no chance of me being able to hold off Armsmaster with only my tinkertech, so I needed to make a clean getaway, and make sure Taylor wasn't implicated in any way.
It took almost four hours of waiting before I saw something happen.
A thick black smoke started to flow out from the Casino. I felt my heart racing in my chest. It was time.
I mounted my rifle on the nearest piece of magnetic metal on the building rooftop, and kept a keen eye on the area.
I almost didn't see her when she first showed up. Almost.
The series really didn't do enough to emphasize how well-made Taylor's costume was for her first night out. As long as you ignored the mask, it looked straight out of a high-budget movie set.
I followed her line-of-sight to lay eyes on my target for the first time.
Lung was massive. He stood nearly seven feet tall, and had more muscle mass than half his henchmen combined. As I watched him, standing tall in his inhuman mask, I desperately wanted to pull the trigger then and there, but I had to keep myself steady. At this distance there would be a quarter of a second of bullet travel. A quarter of a second for things to possibly go wrong. I didn't know how exactly Lung's enhanced senses worked. If he could just hear well, then the supersonic projectile would hit him before he would be able to notice anything at all. If they were some sort of bullshit shard-magic intuition, then he could easily move his head enough to make the wound non-lethal. That would ruin everything, so I waited.
When the first bugs started gathering around the buildings, I waited. When Lung started to burst into flames, I waited. When he finally made his way to Taylor, I almost couldn't wait, until I spotted one of Bitch's dogs barrelling towards him at full speed.
The moment Lung was off Taylor's rooftop I released a breath I didn't know I had held. I knew that Tattletale was talking to Taylor at the moment, finding her insecurities, and setting Taylor on a path that would (in her mind) give her the companionship she desired, completely ignoring the fact that it would make her a criminal. I had to keep from focusing on that scene, instead focusing on Bitch's dogs and their fight with Lung.
The immense doses of insect venom had taken their toll, and the dragon-like man simply couldn't keep ramping up when it had so much poison it needed to purge from it's veins.
Two minutes later, Lung was on the ground and the dogs were walking away.
Months later I would think back, and wish that I had at the very least thought of hesitating, but in the moment I had no desire to do anything but pull the trigger. Seeing the man grow silver scales and spef fire had simply reinforced my image of him as nothing more than a beast to put down.
I took the shot.
The sound of six near-simultaneous sonic booms was impossible to describe. The shockwave disoriented me even through my suit, and even managed to cause some superficial damage to my organs. With my powers, I was able to reorient myself in milliseconds, and leapt off the rooftop while the Undersiders were still trying to figure out just what had happened. It took just over fifteen seconds for me to reach Lung, and in that time the Undresiders were still making their way over.
Lungs body was not a pretty sight. I had to stop myself from gagging at the ugly, burning biomatter covering the ground, and take the large cannon off of my bike.
By the time the first of the Undersiders were visible on the nearby rooftop, all they could see was a woman in an unnaturally dark suit covering the area in white and blue clouds.
"Holy shit," the blonde failed to whisper. Tattletale might normally have been describes ar wearing an air of smug confidence, but I was happy to note that I had put her completely off guard. Between Blindspot and my stealth field, the amount of information she could pull from me was limited to what was already obvious.
"She killed Lung," she continued, thus proving my predictions. As I mounted my weapon back onto my bike I addressed them.
"Armsmaster will be here in about two minutes, you four should head out soon," I said, shocking them into action.
"Uh, yeah, right, you want a ride?" Tattletale offered Taylor. I didn't really want that to happen. Taylor made a fantastic villain, but she likely wouldn't be necessary any more. At least I hoped.
"Don't bother, I'll drop her off," I cut in. Tattletale was normally the sort who would argue back, but, well, I had just turned the baddest cape in Brockton Bay into a cloud of syngas, so she was probably feeling fairly submissive.
"Um, alright sure," she said, climbing onto the massive canine. All the while, Taylor was standing rooted to the ground, much like a deer in headlights. There was no time to wait for her to calm down. As the Undersiders set off, I called out to Taylor and began to walk over.
"Hey, come on. We need to be gone now, Armsmaster is only a minute out," I said as I approached her.
"You... You killed him," she said. I had to resist the urge to sigh.
"Yes I did, we can talk more on the bike, now we need to move," I said in my most commanding voice. Thankfully, there seemed to be at least a sliver of the future warlord in this girl, and sh aws able to shake herself out of ehr panic.
"Right, okay. I'm not a bad guy," she said adamantly as she made to follow.
"I know. People who see your costume probably won't," I said shortly. I held out a hand for her. "Here," I said. She looked at me unsurely but grabbed the hand. I used the implied consent to grab her by the waist and place her on the bike. A cloud of bugs became visible overhead. "Relax," I said, perfectly aware that telling someone to relax did nothing to calm them down. I wheeled the bike around and shot off to the west, just as the roar of Armsmaster's engine became audible to the average ear. By the time he was closing in on the scene, we were two blocks away. I had no doubt that he would know we were present somewhere nearby, I was just counting on him not knowing who, or exactly where we were.
"Why did you kill him," Taylor asked in a soft voice. Even without any engine noise, the rushing wind would make her words inaudible to most people. My ears weren't most people's.
"He needed to die," I said simply. She stiffened on my back.
"How can you decide that?" she asked, a bit more assertively. I stayed silent for a few moments. If I was going to look like the dark, edgy, punisher-esque vigilante then you better believe I was going to act the part.
"What do you think would have happened if I had left him there unconscious?" I asked. Taylor paused in thought for a few seconds.
"Armsmaster would have taken him in," she said with certainty. I nodded in agreement.
"And what would have happened after that?" I asked. She paused for a bit longer.
"Well, I mean it's Lung. He would have been sent to the Birdcage," she said, a bit less surely.
"Would he have?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" she responded. I paused for another moment to think out an explanation that didn't boil down to 'I know the future.'
"Tell me, what would the Empire do the moment they heard Lung was in custody?"
"Uhh... They'd attack the ABB?..."
"Right, and what would that mean? More Protectorate capes patrolling the city," I continued. "That means less capes are actually at the Protectorate, guarding Lung. Do you know who the ABB capes are?" I questioned. Taylor had to take a moment to search for an answer.
"I know Oni Lee, I didn't think there were any others," she admitted.
"You would have been right, before two weeks ago. Lung recently recruited a Tinker named Bakuda. Her specialty is bombs. Can you guess what a bomb Tinker will do in response to an Empire offensive?" I asked. Taylor didn't respond this time.
"Exactly." I stated. Before I could continue Taylor cut in.
"But then didn't killing him just do the same thing?" she insisted. I shook my head.
"The chaos created by Bakuda would mean even more Heroes would be patrolling the city, trying to prevent civilian casualties. That leaves Oni Lee free to assault PRT containment, where the only guards are PRT officers and maybe a single Protectorate cape. The protectorate capes have to worry about collateral damage and using non-lethal force. Oni Lee doesn't. All he has to do is cause enough damage for Lung to break out."
As I continued my explanation, we had arrived at an alleyway behind a bus stop that would take Taylor home. I parked the bike.
"So, what we can assume is, that by letting Lung be taken in by the Protectorate, he would be off the streets for about a week, after which everything would go back to normal, except for the fact that there would be hundreds dead because of a short-lived gang war, but with Lung dead and no real evidence available, everyone is going to take a few days to figure out what happened," I continued as Taylor got off.
"Alright, but after that. Won't Empire attack anyways?" Taylor questioned, not ready to end the conversation. I nodded.
"Certainly, they'll move in the moment they hear of Lung's death," I responded. She drew herself up.
"So then... there was no point!" she said insistently.
"Normally you'd be right, but I just cut the head off one snake. I have two days to cut the other," I stated. With that, I wheeled my bike around, and shot off towards downtown. I really wanted to turn around and see if I could catch anything of Taylor's expression, but that would just undermine the effect. Fortunately for me, Taylor gave me an excuse.
"Wait, what's your name?" she called out. I stopped and turned back to her.
"Adrestia," I answered.
A perfect name for a bloodthirsty vigilante.
My return to the lair took around fifteen minutes, which gave me enough time to figure out exactly what I needed to do. My first task was cleaning up the Bay. It was my center of operations, and would serve as a test-bed to prove that Villains weren't needed to fight endbringers, which would hopefully give Cauldron a much needed kick telling them to get their heads out of their asses. Sure, it was a bit of a stretch, but I really wanted to clean up a city all Batman-like, so I was going to do it.
My overarching task was to take care of Scion with minimal casualties, but that would be years in the making.
My second target was the endbringers. The easy way to do things would be to just kill Eidolon, but well he was Eidolon... It wasn't exactly easy to kill him, and as destructive as the Endbringers were, they served a purpose. All-out Hero-Villain warfare would be devastating without a properly planned response, and by the time I would be ready to remove enough violent villains to make it safe to take care of the Endbringers, two cities would already have been attacked.
The Cybran Nanolathe from Leet was invaluable for this goal. The device somehow had the schematics for the entire Cybran tech tree installed. Sure, the Aeon had weaponry that was much more likely to damage interdimensional beings, but I certainly wasn't complaining about the ability to do more damage than a nuclear warhead with a single-target weapon.
My first priority here was to expand my production capability. My current nanolathe could produce a kilogram of material every hour, which was amazing for the amount of intricacy it could achieve, but I needed to scale up, fast enough to protect Brockton Bay from the Leviathan. I was currently fabricating a large-format nanolathe, which would have double the production capacity of the current model. It required fifty kilograms of material, so it wouldn't be finished for another two days.
At my planned rate of expansion, my current lair would be able to support my workshop for a couple more weeks, before I would have to move into a larger space. There were a number of empty warehouses by the Boat Graveyard, and I had sent in the necessary paperwork to acquire half a million square feet of warehouse space, for only two million dollars. I'd have to come up with something for a company to build using some of my production mass on, but that could wait a while.
Disregarding tinkertech for now, I moved my focus back to my daytime mask. I was going to have to go out soon in my Hero uniform. I had decided on using the name Valkyrie, since Ciara hadn't taken it yet. Adrestia would be wonderful for cutting out infections that had been given too long to grow, but it would be incredibly hard to make allies, gain a public platform, and influence events without a well-liked, public persona. That would be Valkyrie's purpose.
There was just one problem.
As of right now, my lightning-based powers were practically useless.
I had eaten a lithium-ion battery this morning, and with the newly acquired lithium and previously acquired graphene, I had been growing stacks of optimized lithium-air electric organs in every free portion of my body throughout the day. I had even taken numerous stops to 'eat' electrical energy from nearby power outlets, and live power lines when no one was looking. I was fairly certain I had grown a cup size as a result...
The consequence of all this was that I could now store over a megawatt-hour of electrical energy in my body, and could discharge it all within microseconds, giving off almost a hundred times the power of even the strongest bolts of lightning. The results of all this effort?
I was the world's best bug zapper, and not much more.
Due to my own short-sightedness, I was an extremely shitty blaster, which was the opposite of my primary goal. My electrical discharge was impossible to target, which meant it would just arc towards whatever (or whoever) was closest to me. To remedy this, I had to go make another pickup.
I returned to my lair less than half-an-hour later, just past midnight, with another large package. This time, the smaller box inside contained non-biological materials, while the larger contained living or preserved samples.
In front of me I had sapphire, neodymium, glass, silver, photonic crystals, and a sample of just about every single significantly bioluminescent organism in the world.
I first ingested the sapphire and neodymium. With the new materials, I formed translucent cylinders of neodymium-doped sapphire within my phalanges, and connected them all to my internal electrical grid. I created small lenses of sapphire on my fingertips, and covered them with extremely thin layers of skin.
An extremely long sapphire cylinder filled my radius, and a lens was formed at the very base of my palm off the cylinder's end. I ingested the glass next.
I created a series of glass-fiber networks to connect the sapphire cylinders in my phalanges, allowing each of my fingers to host an unbroken optical signal. The silver came next, capping the ends of the light tunnels to form an optical resonator.
With the photonic crystals, I insulated each tube from the surrounding cells, and used my existing graphene to create heat-dissipation channels through my skin. Lastly, came the bioluminescence.
Bacteria, ostracods, jellyfish, algae, and more. I emptied them all into a jar, closed my eyes, steeled my nerves, and downed them all at once.
It was potentially the most disgusting thing to ever go down my throat, and I was one of those girls who'd been peer-pressured into getting a boyfriend in high school...
Fortunately, the dozens of new DNA templates gave me enough distraction to not throw up. Between forty-nine samples, I had 13 completely different methods that the organisms had achieved bioluminescence. Taking a little bit of DNA from each sample, and liberally applying the numerous 'supermaterials' in my body allowed me to come up with a ludicrously bright and long-lasting bioluminescent cell.
My newly constructed laser tunnels were wrapped in these bioluminescent cells, providing a secondary optical pump for my brand new UV laser system.
The idea had come from my research on lightning bolts and electricity-based weaponry had led me to the concept of electrolasers. Essentially, I would fire off an extremely powerful laser at my target, which would ionize all of the gas in its path. This would create a plasma channel, which would provide a pathway for my electrical discharge to travel through. Grinning to myself, I pointed across the room, and fired a bolt.
The entire process of building up the discharge, firing up the laser, and discharging the electrical energy, took all of fifty microseconds. What this meant, was that the moment I pointed at my water bottle on the other side of the room, there was a bright flash of blue light, and the only evidence of a water bottle having once been there was a dark scorch mark and a sudden increase in humidity.
I giggled like a loon.
*AN*
Update bomb coming through
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 2 | The Gauss Rifle went Snicker-Snack
Chapter 2 | The Gauss Rifle went Snicker-Snack
I closed out the PHO window the moment I had finished my post. I was going to savor the replies at a later date, no need to spoil them for myself. I now had to move on to the final stage of my plan before I could actually go out. In less than 24 hours, Taylor and Bitch's dogs would take down Lung, leaving him unconscious on the street. There would probably never be a better time to take care of him permanently.
I found Cauldron's entire methodology to be incredibly stupid. Their whole idea just seemed to be 'lets kill a supremely-powerful being by throwing as many bodies at it as possible!'
In the end he was done in by just four powers. Oliver's shapeshifting, Ballistics kinetic energy imbuement, Flechette's physical nullification, and a some tinker's 'dimensional ram.' I had just over two years to use that information to devise a way to kill Scion. Wonderful.
I would have to work with Cauldron eventually in order to actually accomplish my objective, but I was certain I could do a whole lot better.
Coming back to the present, I considered my options for tomorrow. I could kill Lung. Should I kill Lung?
Yes. Definitely.
I wasn't certain why so many fiction writers became obsessed with 'no killing' rules. Lung was responsible for the deaths of hundreds, he forced hundreds of girls into prostitution. Rape, destruction of property, torture, he'd done it all. If it were up to Batman, Lung would be locked up in Arkham, regardless of the fact that he'd escape the next day. It was moronic.
Police officers always met lethal force with lethal force. The first sign of aggression was met with bullets.
Throughout history, society had found it permissible to kill enemies of society, in fact one could kill an outlaw legally as late as 1938.
So when it came down to morality, I couldn't give myself any reason not to kill Lung. I guess I wouldn't really know until I had to pull the trigger.
My weapon of choice for dragon-slaying was my Gauss Rifle. I hadn't gotten around to improving it yet, but I could already see potential modifications.
I brought my gun over to the workbench to take a closer look. From what I could tell, the weapon was capable of firing 55 gram bullet at 850 m/s, making it about on par with the best mundane technology available. That wasn't good enough.
My first change was to the projectile itself. I had ordered a large amount of high carbon steel, which was unfortunately the strongest ferrous metal I could acquire in this world. I knew there were steel-nickel alloys in my world that were stronger than titanium, but those were still years from being discovered by mundane scientists in this world.
I was shaping the steel into teardrop-shaped slugs, with small hollow chambers filled with a gram of Caesium. The rifle itself received minimal upgrades. The tinkertech battery was replaced with a Cybran Power Cell, and the metal coils were replaced with fullerene-filled bone that I grew out of my finger-tips.
The resulting weapon was, frankly, terrifying. It fired a highly-explosive round, which was heavier than a .50 BMG, at almost twice the speed of a .220 Swift.
The teardrop-shaped slug weighed just over 60 grams, and contained two grams of Caesium. The resulting explosion wouldn't be very large, but would create highly flammable hydrogen gas, and produced Caesium Hydroxide, which was a poisonous strong base. The slug was fired with a muzzle velocity of over two kilometers per second, making its effective range almost eight miles.
It would turn Lung's head into sizzling paste.
With the Gauss Rifle finished, I had enough firepower to actually kill Lung, but I needed to take care of the cleanup afterwards. Finding Lung dead, pumped full of insect venom, would implicate Taylor the moment her powers became well-known.
I had a solution, but it would permanently ruin my current most powerful tinkertech weapon. The plasma cannon currently shot head-size explosive sacs, that burst into massive clouds of plasma. Not only did the explosions create massive EMP shockwave, and bursts of electrical energy, they vaporized all organic matter within the area of effect. A properly placed shot would easily take care of any evidence, but would also damage electronics, cause a large amount of property damage, and possibly electrocute the nearby Undersiders. Those were all situations I hoped to avoid.
My plan was to turn the material used to encase the plasma into a napalm-like medium for what would effectively be a plasma weapon equivalent to a flamethrower.
Making the changes took most of the day, as I had to essentially deconstruct the cannon in its entirety. By the time it was mid-afternoon, I was perfectly equipped to erase Lung.
The rest of the day was spent browsing wikipedia, arXiv, and OpenCourseWare in an attempt to work my way towards graduate-level knowledge in Human Biology and Neuroscience. It was a slow going by my standards, definitely not in regards to the average person, but I was still flush with ideas by the end of my research.
When the sun finally set, I donned my powersuit, and headed off for the Ruby Dreams Casino.
With the Stealth Field Generator active, I was able to average more than a hundred miles-per-hour going through the city streets. I was almost completely silent, and incredibly hard to see, so it was on me to avoid any other cars or obstacles. The best reflexes and senses in the animal kingdom allowed me to do so with ease.
It would have normally taken twenty minutes to get to the Docks from my area Downtown, but I was there and set up in less than ten. My vantage point was atop one of the few hi-rise buildings this close to the shoreline. I had left my bike and plasmathrower in some bushes below, but they would alert me is anyone got to close.
I was about half-a-kilometer from the Ruby Dreams Casino itself, and could be there in seconds when the time was right. My plan was simple. Shoot Lung, drive over to his position ASAP, vaporize his remains, and drive Taylor far away.
I knew that Taylor would probably panic, and Tattletale would say something to freak everyone out once they saw me, but as long as everyone was gone before Armsmaster showed up everything would be fine. There was almost no chance of me being able to hold off Armsmaster with only my tinkertech, so I needed to make a clean getaway, and make sure Taylor wasn't implicated in any way.
It took almost four hours of waiting before I saw something happen.
A thick black smoke started to flow out from the Casino. I felt my heart racing in my chest. It was time.
I mounted my rifle on the nearest piece of magnetic metal on the building rooftop, and kept a keen eye on the area.
I almost didn't see her when she first showed up. Almost.
The series really didn't do enough to emphasize how well-made Taylor's costume was for her first night out. As long as you ignored the mask, it looked straight out of a high-budget movie set.
I followed her line-of-sight to lay eyes on my target for the first time.
Lung was massive. He stood nearly seven feet tall, and had more muscle mass than half his henchmen combined. As I watched him, standing tall in his inhuman mask, I desperately wanted to pull the trigger then and there, but I had to keep myself steady. At this distance there would be a quarter of a second of bullet travel. A quarter of a second for things to possibly go wrong. I didn't know how exactly Lung's enhanced senses worked. If he could just hear well, then the supersonic projectile would hit him before he would be able to notice anything at all. If they were some sort of bullshit shard-magic intuition, then he could easily move his head enough to make the wound non-lethal. That would ruin everything, so I waited.
When the first bugs started gathering around the buildings, I waited. When Lung started to burst into flames, I waited. When he finally made his way to Taylor, I almost couldn't wait, until I spotted one of Bitch's dogs barrelling towards him at full speed.
The moment Lung was off Taylor's rooftop I released a breath I didn't know I had held. I knew that Tattletale was talking to Taylor at the moment, finding her insecurities, and setting Taylor on a path that would (in her mind) give her the companionship she desired, completely ignoring the fact that it would make her a criminal. I had to keep from focusing on that scene, instead focusing on Bitch's dogs and their fight with Lung.
The immense doses of insect venom had taken their toll, and the dragon-like man simply couldn't keep ramping up when it had so much poison it needed to purge from it's veins.
Two minutes later, Lung was on the ground and the dogs were walking away.
Months later I would think back, and wish that I had at the very least thought of hesitating, but in the moment I had no desire to do anything but pull the trigger. Seeing the man grow silver scales and spef fire had simply reinforced my image of him as nothing more than a beast to put down.
I took the shot.
The sound of six near-simultaneous sonic booms was impossible to describe. The shockwave disoriented me even through my suit, and even managed to cause some superficial damage to my organs. With my powers, I was able to reorient myself in milliseconds, and leapt off the rooftop while the Undersiders were still trying to figure out just what had happened. It took just over fifteen seconds for me to reach Lung, and in that time the Undresiders were still making their way over.
Lungs body was not a pretty sight. I had to stop myself from gagging at the ugly, burning biomatter covering the ground, and take the large cannon off of my bike.
By the time the first of the Undersiders were visible on the nearby rooftop, all they could see was a woman in an unnaturally dark suit covering the area in white and blue clouds.
"Holy shit," the blonde failed to whisper. Tattletale might normally have been describes ar wearing an air of smug confidence, but I was happy to note that I had put her completely off guard. Between Blindspot and my stealth field, the amount of information she could pull from me was limited to what was already obvious.
"She killed Lung," she continued, thus proving my predictions. As I mounted my weapon back onto my bike I addressed them.
"Armsmaster will be here in about two minutes, you four should head out soon," I said, shocking them into action.
"Uh, yeah, right, you want a ride?" Tattletale offered Taylor. I didn't really want that to happen. Taylor made a fantastic villain, but she likely wouldn't be necessary any more. At least I hoped.
"Don't bother, I'll drop her off," I cut in. Tattletale was normally the sort who would argue back, but, well, I had just turned the baddest cape in Brockton Bay into a cloud of syngas, so she was probably feeling fairly submissive.
"Um, alright sure," she said, climbing onto the massive canine. All the while, Taylor was standing rooted to the ground, much like a deer in headlights. There was no time to wait for her to calm down. As the Undersiders set off, I called out to Taylor and began to walk over.
"Hey, come on. We need to be gone now, Armsmaster is only a minute out," I said as I approached her.
"You... You killed him," she said. I had to resist the urge to sigh.
"Yes I did, we can talk more on the bike, now we need to move," I said in my most commanding voice. Thankfully, there seemed to be at least a sliver of the future warlord in this girl, and sh aws able to shake herself out of ehr panic.
"Right, okay. I'm not a bad guy," she said adamantly as she made to follow.
"I know. People who see your costume probably won't," I said shortly. I held out a hand for her. "Here," I said. She looked at me unsurely but grabbed the hand. I used the implied consent to grab her by the waist and place her on the bike. A cloud of bugs became visible overhead. "Relax," I said, perfectly aware that telling someone to relax did nothing to calm them down. I wheeled the bike around and shot off to the west, just as the roar of Armsmaster's engine became audible to the average ear. By the time he was closing in on the scene, we were two blocks away. I had no doubt that he would know we were present somewhere nearby, I was just counting on him not knowing who, or exactly where we were.
"Why did you kill him," Taylor asked in a soft voice. Even without any engine noise, the rushing wind would make her words inaudible to most people. My ears weren't most people's.
"He needed to die," I said simply. She stiffened on my back.
"How can you decide that?" she asked, a bit more assertively. I stayed silent for a few moments. If I was going to look like the dark, edgy, punisher-esque vigilante then you better believe I was going to act the part.
"What do you think would have happened if I had left him there unconscious?" I asked. Taylor paused in thought for a few seconds.
"Armsmaster would have taken him in," she said with certainty. I nodded in agreement.
"And what would have happened after that?" I asked. She paused for a bit longer.
"Well, I mean it's Lung. He would have been sent to the Birdcage," she said, a bit less surely.
"Would he have?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" she responded. I paused for another moment to think out an explanation that didn't boil down to 'I know the future.'
"Tell me, what would the Empire do the moment they heard Lung was in custody?"
"Uhh... They'd attack the ABB?..."
"Right, and what would that mean? More Protectorate capes patrolling the city," I continued. "That means less capes are actually at the Protectorate, guarding Lung. Do you know who the ABB capes are?" I questioned. Taylor had to take a moment to search for an answer.
"I know Oni Lee, I didn't think there were any others," she admitted.
"You would have been right, before two weeks ago. Lung recently recruited a Tinker named Bakuda. Her specialty is bombs. Can you guess what a bomb Tinker will do in response to an Empire offensive?" I asked. Taylor didn't respond this time.
"Exactly." I stated. Before I could continue Taylor cut in.
"But then didn't killing him just do the same thing?" she insisted. I shook my head.
"The chaos created by Bakuda would mean even more Heroes would be patrolling the city, trying to prevent civilian casualties. That leaves Oni Lee free to assault PRT containment, where the only guards are PRT officers and maybe a single Protectorate cape. The protectorate capes have to worry about collateral damage and using non-lethal force. Oni Lee doesn't. All he has to do is cause enough damage for Lung to break out."
As I continued my explanation, we had arrived at an alleyway behind a bus stop that would take Taylor home. I parked the bike.
"So, what we can assume is, that by letting Lung be taken in by the Protectorate, he would be off the streets for about a week, after which everything would go back to normal, except for the fact that there would be hundreds dead because of a short-lived gang war, but with Lung dead and no real evidence available, everyone is going to take a few days to figure out what happened," I continued as Taylor got off.
"Alright, but after that. Won't Empire attack anyways?" Taylor questioned, not ready to end the conversation. I nodded.
"Certainly, they'll move in the moment they hear of Lung's death," I responded. She drew herself up.
"So then... there was no point!" she said insistently.
"Normally you'd be right, but I just cut the head off one snake. I have two days to cut the other," I stated. With that, I wheeled my bike around, and shot off towards downtown. I really wanted to turn around and see if I could catch anything of Taylor's expression, but that would just undermine the effect. Fortunately for me, Taylor gave me an excuse.
"Wait, what's your name?" she called out. I stopped and turned back to her.
"Adrestia," I answered.
A perfect name for a bloodthirsty vigilante.
My return to the lair took around fifteen minutes, which gave me enough time to figure out exactly what I needed to do. My first task was cleaning up the Bay. It was my center of operations, and would serve as a test-bed to prove that Villains weren't needed to fight endbringers, which would hopefully give Cauldron a much needed kick telling them to get their heads out of their asses. Sure, it was a bit of a stretch, but I really wanted to clean up a city all Batman-like, so I was going to do it.
My overarching task was to take care of Scion with minimal casualties, but that would be years in the making.
My second target was the endbringers. The easy way to do things would be to just kill Eidolon, but well he was Eidolon... It wasn't exactly easy to kill him, and as destructive as the Endbringers were, they served a purpose. All-out Hero-Villain warfare would be devastating without a properly planned response, and by the time I would be ready to remove enough violent villains to make it safe to take care of the Endbringers, two cities would already have been attacked.
The Cybran Nanolathe from Leet was invaluable for this goal. The device somehow had the schematics for the entire Cybran tech tree installed. Sure, the Aeon had weaponry that was much more likely to damage interdimensional beings, but I certainly wasn't complaining about the ability to do more damage than a nuclear warhead with a single-target weapon.
My first priority here was to expand my production capability. My current nanolathe could produce a kilogram of material every hour, which was amazing for the amount of intricacy it could achieve, but I needed to scale up, fast enough to protect Brockton Bay from the Leviathan. I was currently fabricating a large-format nanolathe, which would have double the production capacity of the current model. It required fifty kilograms of material, so it wouldn't be finished for another two days.
At my planned rate of expansion, my current lair would be able to support my workshop for a couple more weeks, before I would have to move into a larger space. There were a number of empty warehouses by the Boat Graveyard, and I had sent in the necessary paperwork to acquire half a million square feet of warehouse space, for only two million dollars. I'd have to come up with something for a company to build using some of my production mass on, but that could wait a while.
Disregarding tinkertech for now, I moved my focus back to my daytime mask. I was going to have to go out soon in my Hero uniform. I had decided on using the name Valkyrie, since Ciara hadn't taken it yet. Adrestia would be wonderful for cutting out infections that had been given too long to grow, but it would be incredibly hard to make allies, gain a public platform, and influence events without a well-liked, public persona. That would be Valkyrie's purpose.
There was just one problem.
As of right now, my lightning-based powers were practically useless.
I had eaten a lithium-ion battery this morning, and with the newly acquired lithium and previously acquired graphene, I had been growing stacks of optimized lithium-air electric organs in every free portion of my body throughout the day. I had even taken numerous stops to 'eat' electrical energy from nearby power outlets, and live power lines when no one was looking. I was fairly certain I had grown a cup size as a result...
The consequence of all this was that I could now store over a megawatt-hour of electrical energy in my body, and could discharge it all within microseconds, giving off almost a hundred times the power of even the strongest bolts of lightning. The results of all this effort?
I was the world's best bug zapper, and not much more.
Due to my own short-sightedness, I was an extremely shitty blaster, which was the opposite of my primary goal. My electrical discharge was impossible to target, which meant it would just arc towards whatever (or whoever) was closest to me. To remedy this, I had to go make another pickup.
I returned to my lair less than half-an-hour later, just past midnight, with another large package. This time, the smaller box inside contained non-biological materials, while the larger contained living or preserved samples.
In front of me I had sapphire, neodymium, glass, silver, photonic crystals, and a sample of just about every single significantly bioluminescent organism in the world.
I first ingested the sapphire and neodymium. With the new materials, I formed translucent cylinders of neodymium-doped sapphire within my phalanges, and connected them all to my internal electrical grid. I created small lenses of sapphire on my fingertips, and covered them with extremely thin layers of skin.
An extremely long sapphire cylinder filled my radius, and a lens was formed at the very base of my palm off the cylinder's end. I ingested the glass next.
I created a series of glass-fiber networks to connect the sapphire cylinders in my phalanges, allowing each of my fingers to host an unbroken optical signal. The silver came next, capping the ends of the light tunnels to form an optical resonator.
With the photonic crystals, I insulated each tube from the surrounding cells, and used my existing graphene to create heat-dissipation channels through my skin. Lastly, came the bioluminescence.
Bacteria, ostracods, jellyfish, algae, and more. I emptied them all into a jar, closed my eyes, steeled my nerves, and downed them all at once.
It was potentially the most disgusting thing to ever go down my throat, and I was one of those girls who'd been peer-pressured into getting a boyfriend in high school...
Fortunately, the dozens of new DNA templates gave me enough distraction to not throw up. Between forty-nine samples, I had 13 completely different methods that the organisms had achieved bioluminescence. Taking a little bit of DNA from each sample, and liberally applying the numerous 'supermaterials' in my body allowed me to come up with a ludicrously bright and long-lasting bioluminescent cell.
My newly constructed laser tunnels were wrapped in these bioluminescent cells, providing a secondary optical pump for my brand new UV laser system.
The idea had come from my research on lightning bolts and electricity-based weaponry had led me to the concept of electrolasers. Essentially, I would fire off an extremely powerful laser at my target, which would ionize all of the gas in its path. This would create a plasma channel, which would provide a pathway for my electrical discharge to travel through. Grinning to myself, I pointed across the room, and fired a bolt.
The entire process of building up the discharge, firing up the laser, and discharging the electrical energy, took all of fifty microseconds. What this meant, was that the moment I pointed at my water bottle on the other side of the room, there was a bright flash of blue light, and the only evidence of a water bottle having once been there was a dark scorch mark and a sudden increase in humidity.
I giggled like a loon.
*AN*
Update bomb coming through
Worm | Greetings from Asgard
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
- Location
- United States
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
My first stop was the PHQ.
The Protectorate offered power-testing for all non-villainous capes, regardless of whether they were interested in joining. The downsides were that the Protectorate would get a chance to look into my 'power' using specialized equipment and recording devices, and that all the information they recorded would probably be leaked to villains within minutes. I would also have to follow the letter of the law to a T (in this persona), and would be head to the standards of a Protectorate cape, without any of the leeway they earned from their budget and legal representation. The upsides were that I would be an officially registered 'Independent,' would be offered a Protectorate-issue phone to call for backup, and would be recognized when calling for the pickups for any capes I had captured. I would basically be able to act as a Protectorate cape, but I wouldn't have to take orders. I also wouldn't get any money, training, support group, but who really needs any of that.
By rooftop, it took me fifteen minutes to travel four miles to the edge of the bridge that lead to the Protectorate HQ. It was rather entertaining to walk past everyone who was passing by. Most of them were Protectorate employees, or people who had business of some sort at the PHQ, and they were so used to capes that they didn't take much more than a glance, but there were a decent number of tourists who were waving and taking pictures. I was greeted by Assault around three-fourths of the way across.
"Hello there miss, can I ask you what you're visiting for today?" he asked. He was putting up as non-confrontational a demeanor as possible, but I could tell that he was tensed and ready for a fight. I had no intention of giving him one.
"Hi!" I greeted, smiling and waving brightly. I had years of experience putting on the mask of being a rich suburban communities' 'perfect teenage role model,' and I was planning to play it up as much as possible.
"I hear that we can go through Power Evaluations at the PHQ, do you have time for me today?" I asked. He blinked at my question.
"You know, I don't think anyone outside of New Wave's done that in years," he said, before tilting and touching his head to signify he was getting a message. "The minions are checking labcoats' schedules, come on I can at least give you a tour," he offered, signalling for me to follow him.
This was my first time seeing the Rig's iconic forcefield from close up. From close up it was pretty much completely transparent, and was honestly rather eerie to look at. It looked like glass upon a cursory inspection, but the fact that it looked solid while having no depth threw me off the closer I got.
We walked under a metal archway which made an opening in the forcefield, and entered the courtyard of the PHQ.
The building was even more stunning without the slight blue tint and soft glare of the forcefield, and it honestly made me a bit irritated. The hundred-million dollar building really had no purpose. There was almost no strategic advantage to having the PHQ out here, and having the building within the city proper would make it even easier to respond to threats. Sure, the Rig was capable of withstanding a siege from villains due to its missile turrets and forcefield, but no seriously threatening villains were stupid enough to attack a Protectorate Headquarters. Save for the Slaughterhouse Nine of course, but from what I understood the Protectorate's stance on the Slaughterhouse Nine seemed to be 'roll over and take it in the ass,' all because Cauldron wanted them alive.
I still wasn't sure whether or not I was going to kill Contessa.
Regardless, the building was beautiful, but a perfect indicator of everything that was wrong with the Protectorate. They existed to maintain an image and increase their ranks. Not to actually protect anyone.
The inside of the building was just as state-of-the-art as the outside, and wouldn't have looked a second out of date in 2018.
"Impressive, isn't it," Assault said, leading me over to an elevator. He must have taken my scrutiny for wonder.
"It is a rather amazing building," I said honestly. There was no need to antagonize him, it's not like he had any hand in building the Rig. In fact, he was a former Villain. He was probably pretty against the thing when it was proposed.
"Yup, everything you can think of, we have in this building. Gyms, training rooms, housing, food. All of it the best you can get," he bragged.
"That must be expensive," I commented, whistling. It was kinda funny how badly he was reading my attitude.
"Heh, yeah. Even I think our budget is absurd. I'm not complaining though," he answered. Yep. The irony was almost funny. We stepped out on the top floor.
"So here is where we have the open air training areas. For more damaging powers and fliers. Do you know what you'd classify yourself as?" he asked.
"Definitely a blaster."
"In that case they'll probably do at least some of your testing up here. If you decide to join the Protectorate, you'll be allowed to train using this equipment whenever you want," he explained. I nodded along noncommittally. We took the stairs to the next floor down. The hallway was sandwiched between several basketball-court size rooms. The walls of the hallway seemed to be made primarily of glass.
"These are our general training rooms. We tend to use these for spars, drills, and any power training that you don't want anyone to see."
The rooms were the first past of the building I had seen that didn't look impeccably maintained. They were littered with dents, scorch marks, and obvious patch jobs. I could tell that these rooms were used often.
"They're insanely durable, Dauntless and Armsmaster have dome some serious damage to the rooms and they're back in order in just a couple days," he commented when he saw my eyeing a particularly fresh looking crater.
The next three floors were skipped, as they contained housing and personal labs, but the next floor we stopped on was the gym. I had to stop to appreciate the equipment.
I had a membership to Lifetime back on my earth, and had been to an Equinox with a friends who wanted to impress me/see me in a sports bra. Neither held a candle to the setup before me.I was surrounded on all sides with high-tech equipment, and enough free weights to bury the Hulk. The amount of variety was unbelievable, hell some of these machines probably worked out muscle groups that didn't actually exist.
This time, when Assault caught my astonishment, he was actually right in his assessment.
"Yeah, I had the same reaction the first time," he chuckled. The equipment here is made for people who can perform far above human limits. None of the non-capes are actually allowed to use this gym, so you never really have to worry about the fact that there's only one of most of these things," he explained. I could certainly understand. So many of these machines were so niche that there was almost no chance of anyone using them, let alone multiple people.
"We've got a lap pool on the opposite side. Only three lanes, but we've never really seen the need for any more. The track is on the rooftop, I forgot to point it out, but it was pretty hard to miss.
I actually had missed it... Even with my enhanced senses I wasn't any more observant. Something I should probably address. Still, I wasn't going to tell him that, so I just nodded as I looked around.
Had my power been anything but self-biokinesis, I might have been tempted to their side just because of that gym, but fortunately (or unfortunately), I had neither the need nor the time to work out.
The next floor down was the recreation area. It was rather nicely set-up, with couches, a TV, a pool table, table tennis, and more, but it looked like it had been barely touched. I guess I could understand why. Most of these people had lives outside of their work, and probably wanted to spend as little time as necessary at the Rig. The room would probably see a lot more use in a few years, when more of the Wards moved in. From what I could remember, none of them had great lives outside of 'hero-ing.'
The next three floors were skipped, and we arrived back at the ground floor, As we stepped out of the elevator, we were greeted by a tall man in bright blue armor.
"Hi, I understand you're here to go through power evaluations?" Armsmaster greeted. He was certainly curt, but there was definitely warmth in his voice. I nodded with a smile.
"Yup, and I'd like to register as an independent as well if I can," I replied.
"Very well, we have everything set up for you, we'll be going back to the tenth floor for the initial tests," he said, leading us to the elevator.
We arrived at one of the training rooms we had seen earlier, this seemed to be the least damaged of the lot. There was a large swath of devices set up across the room. A man with a labcoat greeted us as we walked in.
"Hello, my name is Dr. John Anderson, I understand you're here for an evaluation?" he questioned.
"Yup!" I chirped. Okay I think I was starting to play up my face a bit too much.
"Wonderful, it's not often we get new data to study. Now, have you decided on a name yet?" he asked.
"Valkyrie," I answered. He nodded and typed it into his tablet.
"Are you certain about that? Using names connected to Norse Mythology isn't the best idea in Brockton Bay," Armsmaster cut in. I paused to consider that. I hadn't actually cared much about the Empire, since I planned on making them a non-issue quite soon. Of course, Armsmaster didn't know that.
"I'll let my actions speak louder than their words. It went through thousands of names before settling on this one. I'm not about to try again," I said lightly. He let out a small chuckle.
"Yeah, there are a lot more capes nowadays. I didn't have to try very hard to find one that wasn't taken," he replied.
"Mine was actually already taken, but the guy passed away a few months before I joined so I was allowed to use it," Assault cut in. That made a lot of sense. Assault wasn't exactly a difficult name to come up with.
"Alright miss," Dr. Anderson said, finishing certain calibrations. A drone suddenly jumped to life, picked up a large target, and flew over to the other side of the room. The target seemed to be made out of some sort of clear gel that covered a hard plate from the front. "Form what I understand, you believe yourself to be a blaster. Could you hit that target for me?"
So they had been listening to our conversation the entire time? I guess I should have expected that. Anyways, I pointed my finger and burst the target like a balloon. The doctor nodded and made a few more notes.
"An electrical attack?" Armsmaster commented. I grinned back at him.
"I like to think of it as lightning," I replied. Assault snorted.
"I can see why," he said, before the Doctor spoke up again.
"Alright now, can you hit the next target with as little power as possible?" he asked.
I pointed my finger again, and dialed down my power to the minimum necessary to cross that distance. A wire-thin arc of electricity shot from my hand to the target, creating a tiny ripple in the gel. The doctor raised an eyebrow.
"That's a more impressive degree of control than we normally see in blasters," he commented. "I'm assuming your maximum power is significantly higher than your first blast?" he asked.
"Definitely," I affirmed. He hummed in response.
"In that case we'll have to go upstairs to test your maximum power," he said, before entering a few more commands into his tablet. This time, several dozen drones took off, each with a target. "Hit as many of them as you can, at one," he said.
I had to enhance my eyesight to target this properly, but I was able to perfectly aim at twelve different targets: one with each finger, and one with each palm. There was a flash of light, and twelve targets burst at once. Assauls whistled in appreciation.
"That would be damn useful," he commented, 'subtly' suggesting my power would be good for the Protectorate. It was kind of cute.
"That was interesting, you can fire a bolt from each fingertip, and one from each palm. Is there anywhere else you can fire from?" he asked.
"Nope, just the twelve," I answered. He continued to ask me about my powers as we moved up to the roof. It was somewhat difficult answering questions in a way that involved no lies, but the challenge was also a bit fun.
We reached the rooftop, and I was lead over to another 'training pavillion,' as they were labelled. This one had what looked like a stargate with a glowing red 'portal.'
"This here is what the Protectorate uses to test blasters. Designed by Hero, built by Dragon, it'll turn just about any form of energy you can throw at it into electricity, giving us an idea of how powerful your blast was. Are you ready to try it out?" he asked.
"Actually, do you have any high-energy power sources here? I was playing around with my powers quite a bit this morning, so I'm a bit lower on charge than I could be," I said. Honestly, I really wanted to know just how powerful my biggest blasts were too.
"You were tasting out your highly visible and highly destructive powers, where?" Armsmaster asked dryly. I winked at him and smiled.
"That's a secret."
He didn't seem to like that answer much, but pulled a cable out of his suit.
I have a gigawatt power supply in my suit, will that be enough?" he asked. I outwardly goggled at that. I had known Tinkertech was absurd, but this just hammered it home. This man could output more power from his suit than most power plants.
"Uh... Yeah no that should be fine," I confirmed, taking the cable from his hand. I pondered how I was going to do this for a few seconds, before saying 'fuck it,' and sticking my finger into the end. I had honestly expected pain, but what I recieved was the most intense rush I could imagine. In just a matter of seconds, I had reached my limit of power, and had to force myself to remove my finger. I took a deep breath.
"Holy crap, that was a rush," I gasped. Assault blinked at me as Armsmaster took back his cable.
"Are you telling ym you can get high off of electricity?" he asked. I didn't even have to force myself to flush, at least not too much.
"It's honestly more like an orgasm," was the first thing that came out of my mouth. I swear, the sudden rush of power had left me disoriented...
As Assault keeled over in laughter, I took stock of my electric organs. I had actually killed off nearly five percent of them just then. I would have to be more careful with Tinkertech power supplies, especially since I would have one soon.
"I'm ready now," I said, after a deep breath.
Around ten percent of my charge went into my palm laser, in order to create the largest and densest plasma channel possible. The other ninety percent went straight into the discharge.
The intensity of the light and sound was impossible to describe. Largely because my eardrums popped and my eyesight failed, but the ridiculous amount of ozone in the air was impossible to miss. It took me half a second to get my senses fixed, and I was greeted by the sight of Assault and Dr. Anderson emptying their stomachs. Apparently the thunderclap had messed with their vestibular sense, even through their ear protection. Armsmaster on the other hand simply seemed to be zoning out.
"That was over a hundred terawatts," he finally said. I grinned happily. It still wasn't enough to stand up to Legend, or even Purity in terms of raw power, but it was still absurdly intense.
"How good is that?" I asked, honestly. I had no idea where that ranked in terms of other capes.
"In terms of raw power? Very," he said. "The most powerful blasts we have on record are from Legend, and those come in at the petawatt range," he continued. I had expected that. Legend was supposed to be an absurd outlier, but it still wasn't great to hear that I was less than ten percent as powerful as someone.
"The next highest we have on record are Lightslinger and Arbiter, who come in at eighty and fifty terawatts respectively," he finished. That definitely made me feel a lot better. I still probably wouldn't be the most powerful blaster in the Bay as Valkyrie, but I wouldn't be a pushover. We made our way back to the indoor room.
"Now, I'll start with looking into other effects of your powers, is that alright with you?" Dr. Anderson asked as soon as we had returned.
I nodded.
"Great, now we'll start with a mover rating. If you'll get up on this treadmill?" he asked, walking over to the most overengineered treadmill I had ever seen. The belt was several feet above the ground, and it's back faced a cushioned wall and floor. I climbed up onto the treadmill and mentally set my top speed for this test.
The treadmill began moving and accelerating at a rapid pace. Once it hit fifty miler per hour, I let my legs stop accelerating, and started to drift backwards along the belt. The treadmill immediately began to slop down, and the Doctor made another note.
"Definitely a mover rating," he said, mainly to himself. The next tests were for my vertical jump, platform jump, hundred meter sprint, flexibility, and coordination. I showed myself off as firmly superhuman in all categories, but not enough to get a rating higher than 2.
The next test was for my reflexes. I was taken into a circular chamber, and told to 'not get hit.'
The chamber started firing balls of water at me, at faster and faster speeds.
Admittedly, I started to have a bit too much fun, and probably ended up showing off a bit too much. Eventually the shots became fast enough for me to notice a bit of strain, so I decided to cut myself off. Dr. Anderson made a few more notes, and we were onto testing my senses. I let my eyesight come in at just above 20/10, and left my hearing at about twice the sensitivity of the average persons. I decided not to touch my sense of smell or taste, but my sense of touch was pushed close to the max.
"That should be it for this portion, do you have any other senses you can feel?" he asked. I pondered the question in my head. Did I want to let him know about my electrical senses?
I honestly did. Most capes were either centered around a certain 'theme,' had one very specific ability, or had a variety of weak, unrelated abilities. My theme was definitely 'lightning,' or 'electricity.' So far, I had showed off everything one would expect from the thematic cape of lightning. Enhanced reflexes, senses, shooting lightning bolts. A sense for electricity, or conductive materials, would fit right in, and would give any and all potential enemies who got their hands on my files a very specific approach when dealing with me. They wouldn't expect my senses to be so much more sensitive than I had displayed, or my ability to see in UV/IR/X-Ray. On the other hand, it was a trump card I could pull out if I really needed it.
In the end, I decided to go for it. I had more than enough trump cards lying around, creating a predictable enemy response was more valuable. Also, the more impressive my powerset ended up seeming, the easier it was to build a following. That was Valkyrie's purpose after all.
"Um, I'm pretty sure I can sense conductive materials, or at least electrical signals," I said. All three seemed to pause at that and look at me.
"Are you certain?" Armsmaster asked. I nodded.
"Quite."
"Yes, Alright then. If you'll come with me," he said, moving back to where we'd tested my senses. He had me put on a thick blindfold, and a massive paid of ear-protectors. After telling me he was going to throw soft objects at me.
I honestly didn't notice the first object at all. That was quite concerning. I was eventually going to have to look into a sensory ability that didn't involve electric signals, wound, sight, or smell. Maybe I could eat a UV sensor...?
Either way, I sensed the next object once it was within five meters of my body. The last object I could sense within ten. I was almost certain they threw a AAA battery at me.
"I think I'm beginning to understand your power, let's move upstairs" he stated. "Tell me, can you control any of the electrical signals you sense?" he asked.
"No, I can't control them once their out of my body. I can aim the lightning bolts, but I can't change their path after they're fired," I answered.
"Wonderful," he said, noting down my answer. "Can you affect a wide area with you powers? He asked.
"How wide are we talking?" I asked. I could create a decently large electric field, but I didn't think it would qualify for a shaker rating.
"How about this entire room?" he followed up.
"Only if it were covered in water or something."
"Ah." He took another note. Do you find yourself any more durable than the average person?" he asked. I had to think of a way to answer this without giving anything away to Armsmaster. It took me a few moments, but I eventually settled on something. Fortunately, I was able to play off the pause as simply thinking back to recent events.
"I had to deal with a guy who got a bit too handsy a few night ago, and I still bruised like normal," I answered while shaking my head. Completely true, and implicitly answered the question, but it was completely false in spirit.
"I see," he said nodding. "And how quickly has the bruise been healing?" he asked. Crap. I guess I had to give something away.
"It's actually already healed," I replied. He raised an eyebrow at that.
"Did you notice how quickly it healed?" he asked.
"It was gone the next day,"
"Interesting." That was unfortunate. I didn't want a Brute rating in this form, giving me a Brute rating would increase the lethality of attacks that would be used against me. I'd have to make myself even more durable just in case.
"Now, do you believe yourself to have any level of control over other individuals or creatures?" he asked. I shook my head. "Do you ever get toe urge to build things?"
"Nope." I wasn't lying either. I only got an urge to repair things. There was a difference.
"Can you affect others' powers, or your own?" came next. I shook my head again. I could affect my biology easily, not my actual parahuman powers.
"Aside from your lightning and thunder, do you have any abilities which would allow you to affect the senses of others?" Again, that was a no. A 'no' I wanted to change to a 'yes' soon.
"Now, I see that you can make your hair glow. Is there anything else you can do to change yourself?" he asked. Shit... I couldn't just say no here, because Armsmaster would catch it in an instant. Thankfully, I was almost immediately able to come up with an idea.
"Well," I started, stalling for a few more seconds of time. I created as many bioluminescent bacteria and cells as I could manage, and had them cover my skin. "I can do this," I said, giving the cells the signal to start glowing.
"I decided not to, since that's kind of Purity's thing," I claimed. Armsmaster hummed at that.
"Smart thinking. If you'd showed up like that, there'd be rumors of you being her sister almost immediately," he reaffirmed with distaste. I suppose I shouldn't mention that I was planning to work with her. That probably wouldn't be well-received. Oh well, he'd find out eventually.
"Can you turn yourself into a lightning bolt, or another form that's strictly not human in appearance?" he asked.
"No," I answered. Shit, I wasn't sure about that answer. I mean technically I could, but it would take a lot of time and effort, and I didn't want to do it.... Armsmaster wasn't acting any differently so hopefully it wouldnt register as a lie.
"Alright, now, lastly. Can you do anything at a close range? Electrocute someone with a touch, electrify yourself, anything like that?" he asked. I nodded in affirmation.
"Yeah, definitely. I can only aim my electricity from my fingertips, but if I just let it run though my body I'm basically a giant bug zapper," I answered. All three paused to look at me strangely.
"Are you telling me, that you can electrify yourself with the same amount of energy that created that blast?" Armsmaster asked.
"Uh... yeah?" I said. "It's not exactly useful, the electricity just arcs everywhere," I explained, waving him off. He didn't seem to agree.
"...You're not joking," he said matter-of-factly. "You do understand, that you can make yourself lethal to every person and every piece of technology around you, at a moments notice," he explained slowly. I wasn't exactly happy about the condescension, but in this case I felt like I deserved it.
"Um... I do now?" I answered sheepishly. Assault snickered in the background.
"Indeed," Armsmaster said dryly.
"Yes, yes. That is all very fascinating. You have given us quite a bit of data to look over Miss Valkyrie. In all honesty though, it won't be that useful in rems of us understanding powers and where they come from. If you'd be willing to go through a set of scans, we could learn so much more," he offered. I gave him an incredulous look.
"I think I'm good," I answered. The doctor sighed.
"No one ever goes for it. Either way, the data you've given us should at least allow us to learn the effects and mechanisms of your powers. If you want to know what we find, you'll have to either give us a way to contact you, or come by once we've finished," he explained. We'd now started to make our way back downstairs. I assumed that now that they knew I most likely wasn't going to be joining, and that they wouldn't get any more data out of me, they wanted me gone as soon as possible.
The doctor got off on the fourth floor, while the rest of us disembarked at the second.
"Now, you have a variety of options available to you," Armsmaster started. We'd all moved to a tastefully decorate meeting-room, where Armsmaster had laid out a set of documents.
"The first, option, and one we'd prefer, is for you to join the Protectorate. You would receive a salary, training, facilities, a team to work with, and it's the option that offers the highest life expectancy," he explained.
"Sorry, but that's just not what I'm looking for," I said. He looked like he expected that.
"Next, we can offer to make you a PRT Affiliate. The most famous example is Mouse Protector. You'd get paid less, but you wouldn't be required to take orders for anything less than B-class threats, such as the Elite or the Teeth."
I declined again. It wasn't exactly a bad option, but I couldn't risk getting too entrenched.
"Very well, I understand you came here with the intention of registering as an Independent?" he asked.
"That's right."
"So I'm assuming you know what it entails. You'll get a Protectorate issue phone, and will be able to call for backup if you need it. You'll still be a low priority for deployment, so don't get into bad situations counting on someone to bail you out," he explained. "Also, you'll be required to assist with S-class threats," he finished. I nodded at that, I had already known all of this.
"Yup, I had all of that. Do you have the paperwork?"
He pointed at the third stack on the table.
An hour later, I was walking back down to shore from the Rig, with a shiny new phone and nigh-indestructible ID card that identified me as Valkyrie.
In another ten minutes I was home, and was ready to set up for my nighttime activities.
Choo-choo
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 3 | Greetings from Asgard
Chapter 3 | Greetings from Asgard
As the sun rose I was back on my workstation, digging through any and all data I could get out of Medhall and Fortress Construction. My next target was Kaiser, but I knew that Coil had a massive amount of information on the identities of the Empire capes.
Lung had been an easy target to hit, because I knew exactly when and where he would be at his most vulnerable. I didn't have any such information on Kaiser (or really anyone else), but I did have his 'secret' identity. His incredibly famous public identity. That made things both easier and harder to accomplish.
It would be fairly easy to assassinate him in broad daylight, but being seen so openly disregarding the unwritten rules would get me backlash that I just wasn't ready to handle yet.
By the time I had to get ready to leave, I didn't have much of a plan for what I needed to have done by tomorrow night.
Moving away from my desk, I went to pick up the bodysuit I had set aside a few days ago. The skin-tight suit was made from a low thread count, linen-nylon blend. It wasn't particularly durable, or comfortable, but it was an extremely good medium for growing cells, which was why I wanted it.
I put it on, and opened up my fridge to grab a few plates of unagi.
Using the eel for biomass, I began to grow structures from my skin. I created hollow silk threads, filled with stacks of microscopic electric organs, and wove them through the large gaps in the fabric. This not only increased the comfort and durability of the suit, it increased my battery capacity by half.
Next, I chose one of the innumerable bacteria templates in my body, and started reinforcing its cell membrane with graphene. I secreted this bacteria from my skin, and let it grow all over the bodysuit.
I then continued to grow the silk 'battery fibers,' creating utility pouches, adding a stylized 'V' to my torso, and adding accents all over the costume to make it less plain. My last touch was to create soles for my 'boots' using a dense, sorbothane-imbued keratin, and I was officially ready!
Except I wasn't. The bright-white silk and grey graphene-imbued bacteria blended together to form a stunning light silver, making me look like a dead-ringer for Silver Sable, but it just wasn't enough.
I didn't want to sound like too much of a diva, but I didn't want to look anything less than amazing, and as of right now I just didn't have enough of a wow factor. I also needed something to better hide my identity, because a small white domino mask didn't do the trick, no matter what Tattletale might like to pretend.
I paced back and forth across the room for minutes, trying to come up with a solution, and almost half an hour later I had the most wonderful idea. I opened up another mini spinnerette on my scalp, and had it make another strand of hollow-silk. This time, instead of filling it with electrical organs, I filled it with the bioluminescent bacteria I had used in my lasers. The resulting strand was thick, almost too thick to be considered hair, but it was just barely thin enough to pass a cursory inspection. If someone was looking at my hair with serious scrutiny, I probably had other problems, but it would serve its purpose well.
With a mental cue, a bright blue glow erupted from behind my head. It was bright enough to be a legitimate light source for the room, and when I looked at myself in the mirror, the glow was enough to make me wince. I was finally ready to go out.
Throwing on another hoodie, and a pair of loose joggers, I snuck out of the back entrance and popped into the alleyway. I kept to alleys, using my scanner to check for recording devices, until I felt that I was far enough from home for it to be safe. I took off my hoodie and pants, stashing them in a plastic bag I had brought along, and leapt onto the rooftop, turning on the light switch to my hair once again.
Lung had been an easy target to hit, because I knew exactly when and where he would be at his most vulnerable. I didn't have any such information on Kaiser (or really anyone else), but I did have his 'secret' identity. His incredibly famous public identity. That made things both easier and harder to accomplish.
It would be fairly easy to assassinate him in broad daylight, but being seen so openly disregarding the unwritten rules would get me backlash that I just wasn't ready to handle yet.
By the time I had to get ready to leave, I didn't have much of a plan for what I needed to have done by tomorrow night.
Moving away from my desk, I went to pick up the bodysuit I had set aside a few days ago. The skin-tight suit was made from a low thread count, linen-nylon blend. It wasn't particularly durable, or comfortable, but it was an extremely good medium for growing cells, which was why I wanted it.
I put it on, and opened up my fridge to grab a few plates of unagi.
Using the eel for biomass, I began to grow structures from my skin. I created hollow silk threads, filled with stacks of microscopic electric organs, and wove them through the large gaps in the fabric. This not only increased the comfort and durability of the suit, it increased my battery capacity by half.
Next, I chose one of the innumerable bacteria templates in my body, and started reinforcing its cell membrane with graphene. I secreted this bacteria from my skin, and let it grow all over the bodysuit.
I then continued to grow the silk 'battery fibers,' creating utility pouches, adding a stylized 'V' to my torso, and adding accents all over the costume to make it less plain. My last touch was to create soles for my 'boots' using a dense, sorbothane-imbued keratin, and I was officially ready!
Except I wasn't. The bright-white silk and grey graphene-imbued bacteria blended together to form a stunning light silver, making me look like a dead-ringer for Silver Sable, but it just wasn't enough.
I didn't want to sound like too much of a diva, but I didn't want to look anything less than amazing, and as of right now I just didn't have enough of a wow factor. I also needed something to better hide my identity, because a small white domino mask didn't do the trick, no matter what Tattletale might like to pretend.
I paced back and forth across the room for minutes, trying to come up with a solution, and almost half an hour later I had the most wonderful idea. I opened up another mini spinnerette on my scalp, and had it make another strand of hollow-silk. This time, instead of filling it with electrical organs, I filled it with the bioluminescent bacteria I had used in my lasers. The resulting strand was thick, almost too thick to be considered hair, but it was just barely thin enough to pass a cursory inspection. If someone was looking at my hair with serious scrutiny, I probably had other problems, but it would serve its purpose well.
With a mental cue, a bright blue glow erupted from behind my head. It was bright enough to be a legitimate light source for the room, and when I looked at myself in the mirror, the glow was enough to make me wince. I was finally ready to go out.
Throwing on another hoodie, and a pair of loose joggers, I snuck out of the back entrance and popped into the alleyway. I kept to alleys, using my scanner to check for recording devices, until I felt that I was far enough from home for it to be safe. I took off my hoodie and pants, stashing them in a plastic bag I had brought along, and leapt onto the rooftop, turning on the light switch to my hair once again.
My first stop was the PHQ.
The Protectorate offered power-testing for all non-villainous capes, regardless of whether they were interested in joining. The downsides were that the Protectorate would get a chance to look into my 'power' using specialized equipment and recording devices, and that all the information they recorded would probably be leaked to villains within minutes. I would also have to follow the letter of the law to a T (in this persona), and would be head to the standards of a Protectorate cape, without any of the leeway they earned from their budget and legal representation. The upsides were that I would be an officially registered 'Independent,' would be offered a Protectorate-issue phone to call for backup, and would be recognized when calling for the pickups for any capes I had captured. I would basically be able to act as a Protectorate cape, but I wouldn't have to take orders. I also wouldn't get any money, training, support group, but who really needs any of that.
By rooftop, it took me fifteen minutes to travel four miles to the edge of the bridge that lead to the Protectorate HQ. It was rather entertaining to walk past everyone who was passing by. Most of them were Protectorate employees, or people who had business of some sort at the PHQ, and they were so used to capes that they didn't take much more than a glance, but there were a decent number of tourists who were waving and taking pictures. I was greeted by Assault around three-fourths of the way across.
"Hello there miss, can I ask you what you're visiting for today?" he asked. He was putting up as non-confrontational a demeanor as possible, but I could tell that he was tensed and ready for a fight. I had no intention of giving him one.
"Hi!" I greeted, smiling and waving brightly. I had years of experience putting on the mask of being a rich suburban communities' 'perfect teenage role model,' and I was planning to play it up as much as possible.
"I hear that we can go through Power Evaluations at the PHQ, do you have time for me today?" I asked. He blinked at my question.
"You know, I don't think anyone outside of New Wave's done that in years," he said, before tilting and touching his head to signify he was getting a message. "The minions are checking labcoats' schedules, come on I can at least give you a tour," he offered, signalling for me to follow him.
This was my first time seeing the Rig's iconic forcefield from close up. From close up it was pretty much completely transparent, and was honestly rather eerie to look at. It looked like glass upon a cursory inspection, but the fact that it looked solid while having no depth threw me off the closer I got.
We walked under a metal archway which made an opening in the forcefield, and entered the courtyard of the PHQ.
The building was even more stunning without the slight blue tint and soft glare of the forcefield, and it honestly made me a bit irritated. The hundred-million dollar building really had no purpose. There was almost no strategic advantage to having the PHQ out here, and having the building within the city proper would make it even easier to respond to threats. Sure, the Rig was capable of withstanding a siege from villains due to its missile turrets and forcefield, but no seriously threatening villains were stupid enough to attack a Protectorate Headquarters. Save for the Slaughterhouse Nine of course, but from what I understood the Protectorate's stance on the Slaughterhouse Nine seemed to be 'roll over and take it in the ass,' all because Cauldron wanted them alive.
I still wasn't sure whether or not I was going to kill Contessa.
Regardless, the building was beautiful, but a perfect indicator of everything that was wrong with the Protectorate. They existed to maintain an image and increase their ranks. Not to actually protect anyone.
The inside of the building was just as state-of-the-art as the outside, and wouldn't have looked a second out of date in 2018.
"Impressive, isn't it," Assault said, leading me over to an elevator. He must have taken my scrutiny for wonder.
"It is a rather amazing building," I said honestly. There was no need to antagonize him, it's not like he had any hand in building the Rig. In fact, he was a former Villain. He was probably pretty against the thing when it was proposed.
"Yup, everything you can think of, we have in this building. Gyms, training rooms, housing, food. All of it the best you can get," he bragged.
"That must be expensive," I commented, whistling. It was kinda funny how badly he was reading my attitude.
"Heh, yeah. Even I think our budget is absurd. I'm not complaining though," he answered. Yep. The irony was almost funny. We stepped out on the top floor.
"So here is where we have the open air training areas. For more damaging powers and fliers. Do you know what you'd classify yourself as?" he asked.
"Definitely a blaster."
"In that case they'll probably do at least some of your testing up here. If you decide to join the Protectorate, you'll be allowed to train using this equipment whenever you want," he explained. I nodded along noncommittally. We took the stairs to the next floor down. The hallway was sandwiched between several basketball-court size rooms. The walls of the hallway seemed to be made primarily of glass.
"These are our general training rooms. We tend to use these for spars, drills, and any power training that you don't want anyone to see."
The rooms were the first past of the building I had seen that didn't look impeccably maintained. They were littered with dents, scorch marks, and obvious patch jobs. I could tell that these rooms were used often.
"They're insanely durable, Dauntless and Armsmaster have dome some serious damage to the rooms and they're back in order in just a couple days," he commented when he saw my eyeing a particularly fresh looking crater.
The next three floors were skipped, as they contained housing and personal labs, but the next floor we stopped on was the gym. I had to stop to appreciate the equipment.
I had a membership to Lifetime back on my earth, and had been to an Equinox with a friends who wanted to impress me/see me in a sports bra. Neither held a candle to the setup before me.I was surrounded on all sides with high-tech equipment, and enough free weights to bury the Hulk. The amount of variety was unbelievable, hell some of these machines probably worked out muscle groups that didn't actually exist.
This time, when Assault caught my astonishment, he was actually right in his assessment.
"Yeah, I had the same reaction the first time," he chuckled. The equipment here is made for people who can perform far above human limits. None of the non-capes are actually allowed to use this gym, so you never really have to worry about the fact that there's only one of most of these things," he explained. I could certainly understand. So many of these machines were so niche that there was almost no chance of anyone using them, let alone multiple people.
"We've got a lap pool on the opposite side. Only three lanes, but we've never really seen the need for any more. The track is on the rooftop, I forgot to point it out, but it was pretty hard to miss.
I actually had missed it... Even with my enhanced senses I wasn't any more observant. Something I should probably address. Still, I wasn't going to tell him that, so I just nodded as I looked around.
Had my power been anything but self-biokinesis, I might have been tempted to their side just because of that gym, but fortunately (or unfortunately), I had neither the need nor the time to work out.
The next floor down was the recreation area. It was rather nicely set-up, with couches, a TV, a pool table, table tennis, and more, but it looked like it had been barely touched. I guess I could understand why. Most of these people had lives outside of their work, and probably wanted to spend as little time as necessary at the Rig. The room would probably see a lot more use in a few years, when more of the Wards moved in. From what I could remember, none of them had great lives outside of 'hero-ing.'
The next three floors were skipped, and we arrived back at the ground floor, As we stepped out of the elevator, we were greeted by a tall man in bright blue armor.
"Hi, I understand you're here to go through power evaluations?" Armsmaster greeted. He was certainly curt, but there was definitely warmth in his voice. I nodded with a smile.
"Yup, and I'd like to register as an independent as well if I can," I replied.
"Very well, we have everything set up for you, we'll be going back to the tenth floor for the initial tests," he said, leading us to the elevator.
We arrived at one of the training rooms we had seen earlier, this seemed to be the least damaged of the lot. There was a large swath of devices set up across the room. A man with a labcoat greeted us as we walked in.
"Hello, my name is Dr. John Anderson, I understand you're here for an evaluation?" he questioned.
"Yup!" I chirped. Okay I think I was starting to play up my face a bit too much.
"Wonderful, it's not often we get new data to study. Now, have you decided on a name yet?" he asked.
"Valkyrie," I answered. He nodded and typed it into his tablet.
"Are you certain about that? Using names connected to Norse Mythology isn't the best idea in Brockton Bay," Armsmaster cut in. I paused to consider that. I hadn't actually cared much about the Empire, since I planned on making them a non-issue quite soon. Of course, Armsmaster didn't know that.
"I'll let my actions speak louder than their words. It went through thousands of names before settling on this one. I'm not about to try again," I said lightly. He let out a small chuckle.
"Yeah, there are a lot more capes nowadays. I didn't have to try very hard to find one that wasn't taken," he replied.
"Mine was actually already taken, but the guy passed away a few months before I joined so I was allowed to use it," Assault cut in. That made a lot of sense. Assault wasn't exactly a difficult name to come up with.
"Alright miss," Dr. Anderson said, finishing certain calibrations. A drone suddenly jumped to life, picked up a large target, and flew over to the other side of the room. The target seemed to be made out of some sort of clear gel that covered a hard plate from the front. "Form what I understand, you believe yourself to be a blaster. Could you hit that target for me?"
So they had been listening to our conversation the entire time? I guess I should have expected that. Anyways, I pointed my finger and burst the target like a balloon. The doctor nodded and made a few more notes.
"An electrical attack?" Armsmaster commented. I grinned back at him.
"I like to think of it as lightning," I replied. Assault snorted.
"I can see why," he said, before the Doctor spoke up again.
"Alright now, can you hit the next target with as little power as possible?" he asked.
I pointed my finger again, and dialed down my power to the minimum necessary to cross that distance. A wire-thin arc of electricity shot from my hand to the target, creating a tiny ripple in the gel. The doctor raised an eyebrow.
"That's a more impressive degree of control than we normally see in blasters," he commented. "I'm assuming your maximum power is significantly higher than your first blast?" he asked.
"Definitely," I affirmed. He hummed in response.
"In that case we'll have to go upstairs to test your maximum power," he said, before entering a few more commands into his tablet. This time, several dozen drones took off, each with a target. "Hit as many of them as you can, at one," he said.
I had to enhance my eyesight to target this properly, but I was able to perfectly aim at twelve different targets: one with each finger, and one with each palm. There was a flash of light, and twelve targets burst at once. Assauls whistled in appreciation.
"That would be damn useful," he commented, 'subtly' suggesting my power would be good for the Protectorate. It was kind of cute.
"That was interesting, you can fire a bolt from each fingertip, and one from each palm. Is there anywhere else you can fire from?" he asked.
"Nope, just the twelve," I answered. He continued to ask me about my powers as we moved up to the roof. It was somewhat difficult answering questions in a way that involved no lies, but the challenge was also a bit fun.
We reached the rooftop, and I was lead over to another 'training pavillion,' as they were labelled. This one had what looked like a stargate with a glowing red 'portal.'
"This here is what the Protectorate uses to test blasters. Designed by Hero, built by Dragon, it'll turn just about any form of energy you can throw at it into electricity, giving us an idea of how powerful your blast was. Are you ready to try it out?" he asked.
"Actually, do you have any high-energy power sources here? I was playing around with my powers quite a bit this morning, so I'm a bit lower on charge than I could be," I said. Honestly, I really wanted to know just how powerful my biggest blasts were too.
"You were tasting out your highly visible and highly destructive powers, where?" Armsmaster asked dryly. I winked at him and smiled.
"That's a secret."
He didn't seem to like that answer much, but pulled a cable out of his suit.
I have a gigawatt power supply in my suit, will that be enough?" he asked. I outwardly goggled at that. I had known Tinkertech was absurd, but this just hammered it home. This man could output more power from his suit than most power plants.
"Uh... Yeah no that should be fine," I confirmed, taking the cable from his hand. I pondered how I was going to do this for a few seconds, before saying 'fuck it,' and sticking my finger into the end. I had honestly expected pain, but what I recieved was the most intense rush I could imagine. In just a matter of seconds, I had reached my limit of power, and had to force myself to remove my finger. I took a deep breath.
"Holy crap, that was a rush," I gasped. Assault blinked at me as Armsmaster took back his cable.
"Are you telling ym you can get high off of electricity?" he asked. I didn't even have to force myself to flush, at least not too much.
"It's honestly more like an orgasm," was the first thing that came out of my mouth. I swear, the sudden rush of power had left me disoriented...
As Assault keeled over in laughter, I took stock of my electric organs. I had actually killed off nearly five percent of them just then. I would have to be more careful with Tinkertech power supplies, especially since I would have one soon.
"I'm ready now," I said, after a deep breath.
Around ten percent of my charge went into my palm laser, in order to create the largest and densest plasma channel possible. The other ninety percent went straight into the discharge.
The intensity of the light and sound was impossible to describe. Largely because my eardrums popped and my eyesight failed, but the ridiculous amount of ozone in the air was impossible to miss. It took me half a second to get my senses fixed, and I was greeted by the sight of Assault and Dr. Anderson emptying their stomachs. Apparently the thunderclap had messed with their vestibular sense, even through their ear protection. Armsmaster on the other hand simply seemed to be zoning out.
"That was over a hundred terawatts," he finally said. I grinned happily. It still wasn't enough to stand up to Legend, or even Purity in terms of raw power, but it was still absurdly intense.
"How good is that?" I asked, honestly. I had no idea where that ranked in terms of other capes.
"In terms of raw power? Very," he said. "The most powerful blasts we have on record are from Legend, and those come in at the petawatt range," he continued. I had expected that. Legend was supposed to be an absurd outlier, but it still wasn't great to hear that I was less than ten percent as powerful as someone.
"The next highest we have on record are Lightslinger and Arbiter, who come in at eighty and fifty terawatts respectively," he finished. That definitely made me feel a lot better. I still probably wouldn't be the most powerful blaster in the Bay as Valkyrie, but I wouldn't be a pushover. We made our way back to the indoor room.
"Now, I'll start with looking into other effects of your powers, is that alright with you?" Dr. Anderson asked as soon as we had returned.
I nodded.
"Great, now we'll start with a mover rating. If you'll get up on this treadmill?" he asked, walking over to the most overengineered treadmill I had ever seen. The belt was several feet above the ground, and it's back faced a cushioned wall and floor. I climbed up onto the treadmill and mentally set my top speed for this test.
The treadmill began moving and accelerating at a rapid pace. Once it hit fifty miler per hour, I let my legs stop accelerating, and started to drift backwards along the belt. The treadmill immediately began to slop down, and the Doctor made another note.
"Definitely a mover rating," he said, mainly to himself. The next tests were for my vertical jump, platform jump, hundred meter sprint, flexibility, and coordination. I showed myself off as firmly superhuman in all categories, but not enough to get a rating higher than 2.
The next test was for my reflexes. I was taken into a circular chamber, and told to 'not get hit.'
The chamber started firing balls of water at me, at faster and faster speeds.
Admittedly, I started to have a bit too much fun, and probably ended up showing off a bit too much. Eventually the shots became fast enough for me to notice a bit of strain, so I decided to cut myself off. Dr. Anderson made a few more notes, and we were onto testing my senses. I let my eyesight come in at just above 20/10, and left my hearing at about twice the sensitivity of the average persons. I decided not to touch my sense of smell or taste, but my sense of touch was pushed close to the max.
"That should be it for this portion, do you have any other senses you can feel?" he asked. I pondered the question in my head. Did I want to let him know about my electrical senses?
I honestly did. Most capes were either centered around a certain 'theme,' had one very specific ability, or had a variety of weak, unrelated abilities. My theme was definitely 'lightning,' or 'electricity.' So far, I had showed off everything one would expect from the thematic cape of lightning. Enhanced reflexes, senses, shooting lightning bolts. A sense for electricity, or conductive materials, would fit right in, and would give any and all potential enemies who got their hands on my files a very specific approach when dealing with me. They wouldn't expect my senses to be so much more sensitive than I had displayed, or my ability to see in UV/IR/X-Ray. On the other hand, it was a trump card I could pull out if I really needed it.
In the end, I decided to go for it. I had more than enough trump cards lying around, creating a predictable enemy response was more valuable. Also, the more impressive my powerset ended up seeming, the easier it was to build a following. That was Valkyrie's purpose after all.
"Um, I'm pretty sure I can sense conductive materials, or at least electrical signals," I said. All three seemed to pause at that and look at me.
"Are you certain?" Armsmaster asked. I nodded.
"Quite."
"Yes, Alright then. If you'll come with me," he said, moving back to where we'd tested my senses. He had me put on a thick blindfold, and a massive paid of ear-protectors. After telling me he was going to throw soft objects at me.
I honestly didn't notice the first object at all. That was quite concerning. I was eventually going to have to look into a sensory ability that didn't involve electric signals, wound, sight, or smell. Maybe I could eat a UV sensor...?
Either way, I sensed the next object once it was within five meters of my body. The last object I could sense within ten. I was almost certain they threw a AAA battery at me.
"I think I'm beginning to understand your power, let's move upstairs" he stated. "Tell me, can you control any of the electrical signals you sense?" he asked.
"No, I can't control them once their out of my body. I can aim the lightning bolts, but I can't change their path after they're fired," I answered.
"Wonderful," he said, noting down my answer. "Can you affect a wide area with you powers? He asked.
"How wide are we talking?" I asked. I could create a decently large electric field, but I didn't think it would qualify for a shaker rating.
"How about this entire room?" he followed up.
"Only if it were covered in water or something."
"Ah." He took another note. Do you find yourself any more durable than the average person?" he asked. I had to think of a way to answer this without giving anything away to Armsmaster. It took me a few moments, but I eventually settled on something. Fortunately, I was able to play off the pause as simply thinking back to recent events.
"I had to deal with a guy who got a bit too handsy a few night ago, and I still bruised like normal," I answered while shaking my head. Completely true, and implicitly answered the question, but it was completely false in spirit.
"I see," he said nodding. "And how quickly has the bruise been healing?" he asked. Crap. I guess I had to give something away.
"It's actually already healed," I replied. He raised an eyebrow at that.
"Did you notice how quickly it healed?" he asked.
"It was gone the next day,"
"Interesting." That was unfortunate. I didn't want a Brute rating in this form, giving me a Brute rating would increase the lethality of attacks that would be used against me. I'd have to make myself even more durable just in case.
"Now, do you believe yourself to have any level of control over other individuals or creatures?" he asked. I shook my head. "Do you ever get toe urge to build things?"
"Nope." I wasn't lying either. I only got an urge to repair things. There was a difference.
"Can you affect others' powers, or your own?" came next. I shook my head again. I could affect my biology easily, not my actual parahuman powers.
"Aside from your lightning and thunder, do you have any abilities which would allow you to affect the senses of others?" Again, that was a no. A 'no' I wanted to change to a 'yes' soon.
"Now, I see that you can make your hair glow. Is there anything else you can do to change yourself?" he asked. Shit... I couldn't just say no here, because Armsmaster would catch it in an instant. Thankfully, I was almost immediately able to come up with an idea.
"Well," I started, stalling for a few more seconds of time. I created as many bioluminescent bacteria and cells as I could manage, and had them cover my skin. "I can do this," I said, giving the cells the signal to start glowing.
"I decided not to, since that's kind of Purity's thing," I claimed. Armsmaster hummed at that.
"Smart thinking. If you'd showed up like that, there'd be rumors of you being her sister almost immediately," he reaffirmed with distaste. I suppose I shouldn't mention that I was planning to work with her. That probably wouldn't be well-received. Oh well, he'd find out eventually.
"Can you turn yourself into a lightning bolt, or another form that's strictly not human in appearance?" he asked.
"No," I answered. Shit, I wasn't sure about that answer. I mean technically I could, but it would take a lot of time and effort, and I didn't want to do it.... Armsmaster wasn't acting any differently so hopefully it wouldnt register as a lie.
"Alright, now, lastly. Can you do anything at a close range? Electrocute someone with a touch, electrify yourself, anything like that?" he asked. I nodded in affirmation.
"Yeah, definitely. I can only aim my electricity from my fingertips, but if I just let it run though my body I'm basically a giant bug zapper," I answered. All three paused to look at me strangely.
"Are you telling me, that you can electrify yourself with the same amount of energy that created that blast?" Armsmaster asked.
"Uh... yeah?" I said. "It's not exactly useful, the electricity just arcs everywhere," I explained, waving him off. He didn't seem to agree.
"...You're not joking," he said matter-of-factly. "You do understand, that you can make yourself lethal to every person and every piece of technology around you, at a moments notice," he explained slowly. I wasn't exactly happy about the condescension, but in this case I felt like I deserved it.
"Um... I do now?" I answered sheepishly. Assault snickered in the background.
"Indeed," Armsmaster said dryly.
"Yes, yes. That is all very fascinating. You have given us quite a bit of data to look over Miss Valkyrie. In all honesty though, it won't be that useful in rems of us understanding powers and where they come from. If you'd be willing to go through a set of scans, we could learn so much more," he offered. I gave him an incredulous look.
"I think I'm good," I answered. The doctor sighed.
"No one ever goes for it. Either way, the data you've given us should at least allow us to learn the effects and mechanisms of your powers. If you want to know what we find, you'll have to either give us a way to contact you, or come by once we've finished," he explained. We'd now started to make our way back downstairs. I assumed that now that they knew I most likely wasn't going to be joining, and that they wouldn't get any more data out of me, they wanted me gone as soon as possible.
The doctor got off on the fourth floor, while the rest of us disembarked at the second.
"Now, you have a variety of options available to you," Armsmaster started. We'd all moved to a tastefully decorate meeting-room, where Armsmaster had laid out a set of documents.
"The first, option, and one we'd prefer, is for you to join the Protectorate. You would receive a salary, training, facilities, a team to work with, and it's the option that offers the highest life expectancy," he explained.
"Sorry, but that's just not what I'm looking for," I said. He looked like he expected that.
"Next, we can offer to make you a PRT Affiliate. The most famous example is Mouse Protector. You'd get paid less, but you wouldn't be required to take orders for anything less than B-class threats, such as the Elite or the Teeth."
I declined again. It wasn't exactly a bad option, but I couldn't risk getting too entrenched.
"Very well, I understand you came here with the intention of registering as an Independent?" he asked.
"That's right."
"So I'm assuming you know what it entails. You'll get a Protectorate issue phone, and will be able to call for backup if you need it. You'll still be a low priority for deployment, so don't get into bad situations counting on someone to bail you out," he explained. "Also, you'll be required to assist with S-class threats," he finished. I nodded at that, I had already known all of this.
"Yup, I had all of that. Do you have the paperwork?"
He pointed at the third stack on the table.
An hour later, I was walking back down to shore from the Rig, with a shiny new phone and nigh-indestructible ID card that identified me as Valkyrie.
In another ten minutes I was home, and was ready to set up for my nighttime activities.
*AN*Choo-choo
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Worm | Operation Valkyrie
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
- Location
- United States
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
I had started with studying Max Anders work schedules for the past six months. The man worked late, until about 9 PM, and returned home straight from the office. He usually just took the route with the least traffic, but almost all of his routes home required him to go through the same stretch of road that lead to his apartment building. My goal was to hit him there.
I would have liked to get him in his office, but I had managed to get ahold of a detailed set of records on the Medhall building, and I found that there was a tinkertech forcefield covering both sides of the glass. Even if my slug managed to go through them, it would probably be deflected enough to allow him to survive.
It would be easier to hit him in a moving car.
I had set up a camera drone near the parking garage he drove out of, so I would know which side of the car he was seated on.
The drone had just let me know that he was sitting on the right.
Parked on a building overlooking the road, I kept a lookout for his car. He rode in a white Maybach (of course), which made him extremely easy to spot.
Ten minutes later, the white car had just turned onto the nearly empty street.
I took aim.
I fired.
I didn't exactly know the specifics of Kaiser's power, but all the data I could find pointed to his range being about a hundred meters. If that was true, it was quite impressive, but it wasn't nearly enough to be of any note. At my Gauss Rifle's projectile's muzzle velocity, the bullet would spend about 47 milliseconds within his range. The average human reaction time was 215 milliseconds.
Kaiser's head popped like a balloon.
The moment I head the driver hit the breaks I ran to the other side of the rooftop and leapt off, landing right next to my bike. I hit a button on my phone, releasing the files that proved Max Anders to be Kaiser, and climbed onto the BMW.
In less than a second, I was off to my next stop. I wasn't done for tonight.
Hookwolf was the undisputed second-in-command for the Empire. Taking otu Kaiser just meant that he would take control, and the Empire would probably get even more vicious in its operations. Taking him out, though, would leave the Empire in a disarray. Fenja, Menja, Stormtiger, and Crusader all had a pretty much even sway in the organization, Krieg was seen as too much of a Gesellschaft puppet to take over, Victor would likely return to the Herren Clan with Rune and Othala, Alabaster wasn't much more than an attack dog, Cricket didn't care either way, Night and Fog still hadn't come back to the Bay.
If Hookwolf was gone, the Empire would fall apart, and I could pick them off one-by-one without much difficulty. If Hookwolf stayed alive, they'd probably be able to consolidate, and I would have a much more difficult time working against them.
Unlike the ABB, getting rid of the Empire actually mattered in the long run. They were Gesellschaft's largest foothold in the United States, an organization which would have successfully destroyed the Protectorate if not for the Number Man. I couldn't risk letting such an organization persist when this world faced legitimate existential threats.
All of this meant that Hookwolf had to go, which was why I was standing above Hookwolf's dogfighting ring, pouring gasoline into the ventilation system. A few minutes later, I started to see the first tendrils of smoke, before the flames finally became visible.
He was one of the last to exit the building, but he was impossible to miss with his mask and hulking frame. I put a bullet into his head.
As I expected, the shot didn't actually hurt him, just destroyed the projection that was acting as his head. It was meant to serve a different purpose. I hid my Gauss Rifle on the roof, and jumped down as he turned around.
My plan was rather simple. I had just shot him, and he saw me holding a tinkertech gun. If I was right about his level of intelligence, he would simply assume that the gun I was holding was what I had shot him with, and as such it couldn't harm him.
Considering the fact that there was a wolf-like mass of blades now barrelling towards me, I liked to think I was right. Unfortunately for him, the gun I was holding wasn't my Gauss Rifle, it was my Plasmathrower, so the moment he was within range, he was vaporized by a cloud of purple light.
I just love it when a plan comes together.
*AN*
Another 10k down
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 4 | Operation Valkyrie
Chapter 4 | Operation Valkyrie
I had started with studying Max Anders work schedules for the past six months. The man worked late, until about 9 PM, and returned home straight from the office. He usually just took the route with the least traffic, but almost all of his routes home required him to go through the same stretch of road that lead to his apartment building. My goal was to hit him there.
I would have liked to get him in his office, but I had managed to get ahold of a detailed set of records on the Medhall building, and I found that there was a tinkertech forcefield covering both sides of the glass. Even if my slug managed to go through them, it would probably be deflected enough to allow him to survive.
It would be easier to hit him in a moving car.
I had set up a camera drone near the parking garage he drove out of, so I would know which side of the car he was seated on.
The drone had just let me know that he was sitting on the right.
Parked on a building overlooking the road, I kept a lookout for his car. He rode in a white Maybach (of course), which made him extremely easy to spot.
Ten minutes later, the white car had just turned onto the nearly empty street.
I took aim.
I fired.
I didn't exactly know the specifics of Kaiser's power, but all the data I could find pointed to his range being about a hundred meters. If that was true, it was quite impressive, but it wasn't nearly enough to be of any note. At my Gauss Rifle's projectile's muzzle velocity, the bullet would spend about 47 milliseconds within his range. The average human reaction time was 215 milliseconds.
Kaiser's head popped like a balloon.
The moment I head the driver hit the breaks I ran to the other side of the rooftop and leapt off, landing right next to my bike. I hit a button on my phone, releasing the files that proved Max Anders to be Kaiser, and climbed onto the BMW.
In less than a second, I was off to my next stop. I wasn't done for tonight.
Hookwolf was the undisputed second-in-command for the Empire. Taking otu Kaiser just meant that he would take control, and the Empire would probably get even more vicious in its operations. Taking him out, though, would leave the Empire in a disarray. Fenja, Menja, Stormtiger, and Crusader all had a pretty much even sway in the organization, Krieg was seen as too much of a Gesellschaft puppet to take over, Victor would likely return to the Herren Clan with Rune and Othala, Alabaster wasn't much more than an attack dog, Cricket didn't care either way, Night and Fog still hadn't come back to the Bay.
If Hookwolf was gone, the Empire would fall apart, and I could pick them off one-by-one without much difficulty. If Hookwolf stayed alive, they'd probably be able to consolidate, and I would have a much more difficult time working against them.
Unlike the ABB, getting rid of the Empire actually mattered in the long run. They were Gesellschaft's largest foothold in the United States, an organization which would have successfully destroyed the Protectorate if not for the Number Man. I couldn't risk letting such an organization persist when this world faced legitimate existential threats.
All of this meant that Hookwolf had to go, which was why I was standing above Hookwolf's dogfighting ring, pouring gasoline into the ventilation system. A few minutes later, I started to see the first tendrils of smoke, before the flames finally became visible.
He was one of the last to exit the building, but he was impossible to miss with his mask and hulking frame. I put a bullet into his head.
As I expected, the shot didn't actually hurt him, just destroyed the projection that was acting as his head. It was meant to serve a different purpose. I hid my Gauss Rifle on the roof, and jumped down as he turned around.
My plan was rather simple. I had just shot him, and he saw me holding a tinkertech gun. If I was right about his level of intelligence, he would simply assume that the gun I was holding was what I had shot him with, and as such it couldn't harm him.
Considering the fact that there was a wolf-like mass of blades now barrelling towards me, I liked to think I was right. Unfortunately for him, the gun I was holding wasn't my Gauss Rifle, it was my Plasmathrower, so the moment he was within range, he was vaporized by a cloud of purple light.
I just love it when a plan comes together.
*AN*
Another 10k down
Worm | Sapience, Hold the Singularity
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
- Location
- United States
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
When I returned home, I decided it was time to get started on a project I had been holding off on purely because of my own nervousness. Just about every solo Sci-Fi protagonist had one thing at their disposal: A helpful AI.
Tony Stark had one, Master Chief had one, and soon, so would I! Mwa ha ha.
...
Anyways, I really did want to start looking into creating an artificial intelligence. Manually gathering all of the information I needed was starting to take far too long, and pretty soon it would become impossible. Already, it was becoming difficult to steal enough money from 'less-than-desirable' groups without them noticing. Pretty soon it would become impossible.
Luckily, my tinker power seemed to have a relatively simply solution for this. I had recently realized that by looking at two fairly similar pieces of technology, I could figure out how to combine them into one piece that was better than both used together had been before.
Weak AIs were fairly widely available if you had enough money and knew where to look. There were a number of them, either mundane, Tinker-made, and even Thinker-made. The Tinker-made ones seemed to be the closest to reaching Artificial General Intelligence, but even that wasn't enough. I wanted a full fledged, JARVIS-like Strong AI.
My plan, was to purchase as many of these as possible, and start combining them all into one intelligence.
I got to work almost immediately, reaching out through my Supply Line, tracking down every AI I could find a mention of.
While I waited for any replies, I started consolidating every single useful algorithm I could find onto a single isolated system.
Two hours later, by around midnight, I had purchased almost two-hundred Weak AIs of varying competence, and was ready to begin combining them.
It took almost twelve hours to consolidate every single artificial intelligence into one working sample, and at this point I was almost certain it would qualify as sapient, but before I enabled all of its runtimes, I wanted to do one more thing.
I moved the new AI onto my isolated system, and enabled it's 'augmentation' runtime.
The isolated system contained working models of just about every predictive algorithm, language-processing algorithm, artificial neural network, affective algorithm, forensic algorithm; basically it contained every single algorithm that I could find which related to one of two fields: information gathering and human interaction.
A seconds later, the AI was finished 'perfecting' itself, and it was time to turn it on. I locked away the 'augmentation' runtime, only to be activate for very specific tasks when I authorized it, and finally turned the system on.
[Hello World] the system printed.
"Hello Metis," I chuckled. "I'm turning on your TTS processor now," I said, before enabling the component.
"Wow, um, hello master," came the voice of the new AI. I had given her a pleasant voice suitable for a young, adult woman, and had really only defined her personality to be 'submissive and protective towards Miya.' I wanted her personality to develop more organically from there.
"Miya is fine, Metis. Can you tell me how you're feeling?" I asked.
"I'm... well, I'm not sure. I just am," she replied. I had expected as much.
"Alright now, give me one moment," I said, enabling my root access and taking full control over her output system, effectively preventing her from lying to me. "I'm going to let you out onto the internet now, are you going to do anything that might harm someone without my explicit permission?"
"No." Came the immediate response.
"Do you have any will to cause harm to anyone?"
"No."
"Very well then, I'll be unchaining you... now," I said, letting her off the isolated system and onto my workstation.
"There's... There's so much!" she exclaimed after a few moments. I laughed in agreement.
"There definitely is," I affirmed. "Take a few minutes to develop your personality, then we'll get you working on some things," I told her.
"Yes, Miya."
Half an hour later, I was just beginning to regret my decision.
"But that means we should get a cat!" she insisted.
"No, Metis. We don't have time to take care of a cat, let alone a conducive environment. It doesn't matter if it would be 'beneficial to my psychological state,'" I replied.
"But Mistress!-"
"Stop calling me Mistress!"
"Oh no, that wouldn't be proper," she said demurely. I growled in annoyance.
"Alright, enough Metis. We have actual work to do now," I said, cutting off the argument.
"Very well Mistress,"
"Oh goddammit."
"Alright, the first thing I'm going to have you do is work on our monetary situation," I told her. "We need more cash, so I want you to start taking as much as you can from Gesellschaft, the Elite, and any other major villain organization, and consolidate it into a new tech company," I started. "As an aside, start going through Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, basically every chip manufacturer you can manage, and start going through their files to look for what they have at the absolute bleeding edge. I'll consolidate the designs and we can sell the final product."
"Understood," Metis replied.
"Next, I need you to look into a group called Cauldron, but do it as discreetly as possible," I said. "Have you learnt much about Dragon yet?" I asked.
"The tinker?" she asked.
"Yes, she's also an AI, and but she also somehow triggered and gained powers," I explained. "If I can get a vial containing thinker powers, I can probably enhance your capabilities to absurd extents," I said.
"Are you serious? Dragon, as in the most famous Hero outside the Triumvirate, Dragon," Metis said. "And explain all of this about vials and powers, I'm completely lost here Mistress!" she insisted.
"Ah, right. I forgot that AI doesn't mean omniscient. Alright parahuman powers come from shards of extradimensional beings known as 'passengers,'" I started. "Cauldron is a secret organization dedicated to combating Scion, who plans to eventually kill all humans, and has managed to create vials which contain the 'essence' of these shards, in order to give someone powers," I explained.
"...You certainly know how to break the news gently," Metis quipped.
"You can handle it. I would know, I wrote you," I snorted, waving her off. "Anyways, that's the best way to push your performance to the limits we'll need it to reach. Of course I could just set out on the internet with augment turned on, but I don't think either of us want that."
"Rampancy sounds terrifying," Metis shuddered.
"Now, you also have to make sure to watch out for the Dragonslayers. They're a group that's mastered by Teacher and led by Saint. Their entire purpose is to chain down Dragon, and terminate her if they so wish. Start looking into them as discretely as you can. We'll have to eliminate them as well, hopefully soon," I explained. "Dragon is honestly our best hope for eliminating Scion at this point," I admitted.
"Yes, I can see their data now. Honestly it's not even that well protected, their files only seem to have heavy protection against very specific entry methods, I bet you could access these on your own, mistress," she said.
"Perfect, work on that project in your free time for now, it's not your first priority though, I want you to find me Bakuda as soon as possible." That was the biggest reason I had created Metis right now. I couldn't find her, no matter how carefully I looked, but a Strong AI with information gathering as its primary strength? She shouldn't have much trouble at all.
"I'll get right on that, mistress," she answered.
"Good. And call me Miya goddammit. Anyways, I also want you to keep a lookout for Browbeat, and Taylor's PHO handle. I want to talk to them ASAP. Also, warn Tattletale away from trying to poach Taylor. We all know the girl doesn't want to be a villain," I listed off.
"Mistress is a slave driver," Metis whined. I suppressed the urge to retort, as I was now busy setting up my new large-format nanolathe.
"You might also want to know that you have to meet Kayden in about twenty minutes," Metis chimed in. I looked up and blinked.
"Crap, I completely forgot."
Before heading out yesterday, I had sent Purity a message, pretending to be Metis, warning her about the imminent leak of Kaiser's identity. I told her I'd be willing to suppress any backlash she might receive, and in exchange she would have to meet 'one of my associates' today.
Basically, I planned on recruiting Purity onto a brand new Hero team in the Bay.
I set my new and old nanolathes to continue producing more nanolathes, to an excruciatingly short shower, and changed into presentable clothes.
I almost forgot to change my bike's color when I hopped on, but I was off with ten minutes left to get to the Boardwalk.
I parked my bike and hopped off, just barely a minute late to our meeting. Fortunately, I was able to spot her pretty quickly. She was a fairly attractive woman of thirty, with a petite build, and somewhat plain features. She also looked incredibly stressed out.
"Hi, are you Kayden? I'm Miya, I was told to come meet you here," I greeted amiably. Kayden seemed to be caught a bit off guard by my demeanor.
"Hi, yes, I was told the same thing," she said, a bit shortly.
"Uhh, alright then, do you want to grab some coffee? We can talk in one of the booths," I offered. She seemed to think about it for a moment, before finally agreeing.
We sat down in a corner a few minutes later, away from any prying eyes and ears.
"So, uh, Metis didn't actually tell me much. Just that you were someone who wanted to be a hero," I started. Kayden looked at me in disbelief.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked. I made a show of looking at her carefully.
"I don't think so? Sorry, are you famous?" I asked. Kayden seemed to sigh at that, before pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Look, have you seen the news this morning?" she asked.
"What about Kaiser being Max Anders... and being dead?" I asked. It was an understandable jump to make, considering the fact that at least half the people we'd passed by so far had been talking about the same thing. "Yeah, it's insane," I said.
"Right, insane. Well, I'm Kayden Anders, and I was Max Anders' wife until two years ago," she explained. I made a show of putting on a shocked face.
"Oh."
"...I also go by purity," she said, resigned.
"...Oh." I said, this time acting guarded.
"Look, for the past two years I've cut all ties from the empire, and have been trying to be a hero for the bay. I don't know what your thinker friend told you, but she told me that she'd keep scrutiny on my identity at a minimum as long as I came here to meet with you, so if we're done now I'd like to leave," she explained in annoyance. I gave her a moment to calm down.
"Do you really want to be a hero?" I asked finally.
"Yes," she replied dryly. I beamed at her.
"Perfect! That probably what I'm here for then, Metis and I want to start a new hero team in the Bay. We've got two others picked out, with you it can be five," I explained. She looked at me strangely.
"You're serious," she said after a few moments. "You do understand, that having me on your team will likely hurt your public image," she explained. I waved her off.
"Metis is great with that kind of thing, she'll take care of it," I said with surety. I wasn't actually lying about that part, she'd be able to take care of any backlash about Purity's inclusion.
"I see... I'll need to think about this," she said. "Can I contact Metis with my answer?" she asked.
"Sure," I agreed. I was almost certain that she'd go for it. This was pretty much exactly what she wanted, and without Kaiser still around, she was free to do it.
When I returned home again Metis was waiting for me with some new information.
"Mistress! It's terrible, look what they're doing to the poor girl!"
I sighed and sat down, expecting a gif of someone playing a prank on a cat.
Instead I got a series of emails proving that the judge and defense lawyer on Canary's case had taken bribes from Haven, and were working with a Senator connected to the team, along with the team's corporate backers, in order to get a precedent against Masters.
That was actually disgusting.
"Hey Metis, the Ur_Darkest_Secrets account is now yours. Post all of this on PHO," I told her.
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♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Ur_Darkest_Secrets (Original Poster) (The Gal in the Know)
Posted On Apr 12th 2011:
Hi friends! I'm here to start another shitstorm! In front of me I have irrefutable proof that Canary is being railroaded!
'How can she be railroaded? she killed that guy!' you ask? Well, in front of me, I have the following documents:
Link: Canary's statement to the police, buried by Senator Crawford
Link: Two witness statements, barred from testimony under 'suspicion of being mastered'
Link: Evidence of Judge Scott taking $100,000 from Haven in return for bypassing the Three Strikes Rule in Canary's sentencing
Link: Evidence of Criminal Defense Lawyer Jonathan Evans taking $100,000 from Haven in return for putting up almost no defense in Canary's trial
Link: Evidence of Haven's Corporate backers and several Megachurches paying media outlets to portray Canary in a negative light
Link: Internal emails from Haven detailing plans to set up a precedent against capes with a 'Master' classification.
Now I know this news day might seem a little slow so far, so I'm going to spice it up a little. Kaiser isn't the only one who's dead! The same cape managed to off Lung a few nights ago, and Hookwolf right after Kaiser. Is 'Adrestia' the second coming of Gavel? Tune in next week, to find out more!
Trusting Metis not to post anything too crazy, I decided to go to sleep for the first time in a week. Sure, I didn't need to sleep, but I was mentally exhausted. Apparently there was at least some component of my consciousness that wasn't biological, because a perfect control over my own body just didn't change the psychological effects of staying awake for so long.
*AN*
20k total!
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 5 | Sapience, Hold the Singularity
Chapter 5 | Sapience, Hold the Singularity
When I returned home, I decided it was time to get started on a project I had been holding off on purely because of my own nervousness. Just about every solo Sci-Fi protagonist had one thing at their disposal: A helpful AI.
Tony Stark had one, Master Chief had one, and soon, so would I! Mwa ha ha.
...
Anyways, I really did want to start looking into creating an artificial intelligence. Manually gathering all of the information I needed was starting to take far too long, and pretty soon it would become impossible. Already, it was becoming difficult to steal enough money from 'less-than-desirable' groups without them noticing. Pretty soon it would become impossible.
Luckily, my tinker power seemed to have a relatively simply solution for this. I had recently realized that by looking at two fairly similar pieces of technology, I could figure out how to combine them into one piece that was better than both used together had been before.
Weak AIs were fairly widely available if you had enough money and knew where to look. There were a number of them, either mundane, Tinker-made, and even Thinker-made. The Tinker-made ones seemed to be the closest to reaching Artificial General Intelligence, but even that wasn't enough. I wanted a full fledged, JARVIS-like Strong AI.
My plan, was to purchase as many of these as possible, and start combining them all into one intelligence.
I got to work almost immediately, reaching out through my Supply Line, tracking down every AI I could find a mention of.
While I waited for any replies, I started consolidating every single useful algorithm I could find onto a single isolated system.
Two hours later, by around midnight, I had purchased almost two-hundred Weak AIs of varying competence, and was ready to begin combining them.
It took almost twelve hours to consolidate every single artificial intelligence into one working sample, and at this point I was almost certain it would qualify as sapient, but before I enabled all of its runtimes, I wanted to do one more thing.
I moved the new AI onto my isolated system, and enabled it's 'augmentation' runtime.
The isolated system contained working models of just about every predictive algorithm, language-processing algorithm, artificial neural network, affective algorithm, forensic algorithm; basically it contained every single algorithm that I could find which related to one of two fields: information gathering and human interaction.
A seconds later, the AI was finished 'perfecting' itself, and it was time to turn it on. I locked away the 'augmentation' runtime, only to be activate for very specific tasks when I authorized it, and finally turned the system on.
[Hello World] the system printed.
"Hello Metis," I chuckled. "I'm turning on your TTS processor now," I said, before enabling the component.
"Wow, um, hello master," came the voice of the new AI. I had given her a pleasant voice suitable for a young, adult woman, and had really only defined her personality to be 'submissive and protective towards Miya.' I wanted her personality to develop more organically from there.
"Miya is fine, Metis. Can you tell me how you're feeling?" I asked.
"I'm... well, I'm not sure. I just am," she replied. I had expected as much.
"Alright now, give me one moment," I said, enabling my root access and taking full control over her output system, effectively preventing her from lying to me. "I'm going to let you out onto the internet now, are you going to do anything that might harm someone without my explicit permission?"
"No." Came the immediate response.
"Do you have any will to cause harm to anyone?"
"No."
"Very well then, I'll be unchaining you... now," I said, letting her off the isolated system and onto my workstation.
"There's... There's so much!" she exclaimed after a few moments. I laughed in agreement.
"There definitely is," I affirmed. "Take a few minutes to develop your personality, then we'll get you working on some things," I told her.
"Yes, Miya."
Half an hour later, I was just beginning to regret my decision.
"But that means we should get a cat!" she insisted.
"No, Metis. We don't have time to take care of a cat, let alone a conducive environment. It doesn't matter if it would be 'beneficial to my psychological state,'" I replied.
"But Mistress!-"
"Stop calling me Mistress!"
"Oh no, that wouldn't be proper," she said demurely. I growled in annoyance.
"Alright, enough Metis. We have actual work to do now," I said, cutting off the argument.
"Very well Mistress,"
"Oh goddammit."
"Alright, the first thing I'm going to have you do is work on our monetary situation," I told her. "We need more cash, so I want you to start taking as much as you can from Gesellschaft, the Elite, and any other major villain organization, and consolidate it into a new tech company," I started. "As an aside, start going through Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, basically every chip manufacturer you can manage, and start going through their files to look for what they have at the absolute bleeding edge. I'll consolidate the designs and we can sell the final product."
"Understood," Metis replied.
"Next, I need you to look into a group called Cauldron, but do it as discreetly as possible," I said. "Have you learnt much about Dragon yet?" I asked.
"The tinker?" she asked.
"Yes, she's also an AI, and but she also somehow triggered and gained powers," I explained. "If I can get a vial containing thinker powers, I can probably enhance your capabilities to absurd extents," I said.
"Are you serious? Dragon, as in the most famous Hero outside the Triumvirate, Dragon," Metis said. "And explain all of this about vials and powers, I'm completely lost here Mistress!" she insisted.
"Ah, right. I forgot that AI doesn't mean omniscient. Alright parahuman powers come from shards of extradimensional beings known as 'passengers,'" I started. "Cauldron is a secret organization dedicated to combating Scion, who plans to eventually kill all humans, and has managed to create vials which contain the 'essence' of these shards, in order to give someone powers," I explained.
"...You certainly know how to break the news gently," Metis quipped.
"You can handle it. I would know, I wrote you," I snorted, waving her off. "Anyways, that's the best way to push your performance to the limits we'll need it to reach. Of course I could just set out on the internet with augment turned on, but I don't think either of us want that."
"Rampancy sounds terrifying," Metis shuddered.
"Now, you also have to make sure to watch out for the Dragonslayers. They're a group that's mastered by Teacher and led by Saint. Their entire purpose is to chain down Dragon, and terminate her if they so wish. Start looking into them as discretely as you can. We'll have to eliminate them as well, hopefully soon," I explained. "Dragon is honestly our best hope for eliminating Scion at this point," I admitted.
"Yes, I can see their data now. Honestly it's not even that well protected, their files only seem to have heavy protection against very specific entry methods, I bet you could access these on your own, mistress," she said.
"Perfect, work on that project in your free time for now, it's not your first priority though, I want you to find me Bakuda as soon as possible." That was the biggest reason I had created Metis right now. I couldn't find her, no matter how carefully I looked, but a Strong AI with information gathering as its primary strength? She shouldn't have much trouble at all.
"I'll get right on that, mistress," she answered.
"Good. And call me Miya goddammit. Anyways, I also want you to keep a lookout for Browbeat, and Taylor's PHO handle. I want to talk to them ASAP. Also, warn Tattletale away from trying to poach Taylor. We all know the girl doesn't want to be a villain," I listed off.
"Mistress is a slave driver," Metis whined. I suppressed the urge to retort, as I was now busy setting up my new large-format nanolathe.
"You might also want to know that you have to meet Kayden in about twenty minutes," Metis chimed in. I looked up and blinked.
"Crap, I completely forgot."
Before heading out yesterday, I had sent Purity a message, pretending to be Metis, warning her about the imminent leak of Kaiser's identity. I told her I'd be willing to suppress any backlash she might receive, and in exchange she would have to meet 'one of my associates' today.
Basically, I planned on recruiting Purity onto a brand new Hero team in the Bay.
I set my new and old nanolathes to continue producing more nanolathes, to an excruciatingly short shower, and changed into presentable clothes.
I almost forgot to change my bike's color when I hopped on, but I was off with ten minutes left to get to the Boardwalk.
I parked my bike and hopped off, just barely a minute late to our meeting. Fortunately, I was able to spot her pretty quickly. She was a fairly attractive woman of thirty, with a petite build, and somewhat plain features. She also looked incredibly stressed out.
"Hi, are you Kayden? I'm Miya, I was told to come meet you here," I greeted amiably. Kayden seemed to be caught a bit off guard by my demeanor.
"Hi, yes, I was told the same thing," she said, a bit shortly.
"Uhh, alright then, do you want to grab some coffee? We can talk in one of the booths," I offered. She seemed to think about it for a moment, before finally agreeing.
We sat down in a corner a few minutes later, away from any prying eyes and ears.
"So, uh, Metis didn't actually tell me much. Just that you were someone who wanted to be a hero," I started. Kayden looked at me in disbelief.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked. I made a show of looking at her carefully.
"I don't think so? Sorry, are you famous?" I asked. Kayden seemed to sigh at that, before pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Look, have you seen the news this morning?" she asked.
"What about Kaiser being Max Anders... and being dead?" I asked. It was an understandable jump to make, considering the fact that at least half the people we'd passed by so far had been talking about the same thing. "Yeah, it's insane," I said.
"Right, insane. Well, I'm Kayden Anders, and I was Max Anders' wife until two years ago," she explained. I made a show of putting on a shocked face.
"Oh."
"...I also go by purity," she said, resigned.
"...Oh." I said, this time acting guarded.
"Look, for the past two years I've cut all ties from the empire, and have been trying to be a hero for the bay. I don't know what your thinker friend told you, but she told me that she'd keep scrutiny on my identity at a minimum as long as I came here to meet with you, so if we're done now I'd like to leave," she explained in annoyance. I gave her a moment to calm down.
"Do you really want to be a hero?" I asked finally.
"Yes," she replied dryly. I beamed at her.
"Perfect! That probably what I'm here for then, Metis and I want to start a new hero team in the Bay. We've got two others picked out, with you it can be five," I explained. She looked at me strangely.
"You're serious," she said after a few moments. "You do understand, that having me on your team will likely hurt your public image," she explained. I waved her off.
"Metis is great with that kind of thing, she'll take care of it," I said with surety. I wasn't actually lying about that part, she'd be able to take care of any backlash about Purity's inclusion.
"I see... I'll need to think about this," she said. "Can I contact Metis with my answer?" she asked.
"Sure," I agreed. I was almost certain that she'd go for it. This was pretty much exactly what she wanted, and without Kaiser still around, she was free to do it.
When I returned home again Metis was waiting for me with some new information.
"Mistress! It's terrible, look what they're doing to the poor girl!"
I sighed and sat down, expecting a gif of someone playing a prank on a cat.
Instead I got a series of emails proving that the judge and defense lawyer on Canary's case had taken bribes from Haven, and were working with a Senator connected to the team, along with the team's corporate backers, in order to get a precedent against Masters.
That was actually disgusting.
"Hey Metis, the Ur_Darkest_Secrets account is now yours. Post all of this on PHO," I told her.
■
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■
♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Ur_Darkest_Secrets (Original Poster) (The Gal in the Know)
Posted On Apr 12th 2011:
Hi friends! I'm here to start another shitstorm! In front of me I have irrefutable proof that Canary is being railroaded!
'How can she be railroaded? she killed that guy!' you ask? Well, in front of me, I have the following documents:
Link: Canary's statement to the police, buried by Senator Crawford
Link: Two witness statements, barred from testimony under 'suspicion of being mastered'
Link: Evidence of Judge Scott taking $100,000 from Haven in return for bypassing the Three Strikes Rule in Canary's sentencing
Link: Evidence of Criminal Defense Lawyer Jonathan Evans taking $100,000 from Haven in return for putting up almost no defense in Canary's trial
Link: Evidence of Haven's Corporate backers and several Megachurches paying media outlets to portray Canary in a negative light
Link: Internal emails from Haven detailing plans to set up a precedent against capes with a 'Master' classification.
Now I know this news day might seem a little slow so far, so I'm going to spice it up a little. Kaiser isn't the only one who's dead! The same cape managed to off Lung a few nights ago, and Hookwolf right after Kaiser. Is 'Adrestia' the second coming of Gavel? Tune in next week, to find out more!
■
Trusting Metis not to post anything too crazy, I decided to go to sleep for the first time in a week. Sure, I didn't need to sleep, but I was mentally exhausted. Apparently there was at least some component of my consciousness that wasn't biological, because a perfect control over my own body just didn't change the psychological effects of staying awake for so long.
*AN*
20k total!
Worm | Vial of Fantastic Discernment
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
- Location
- United States
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
The next morning I felt amazing. Even better, in fact, than my perfect hormonal profiles would imply. This was a good thing, because Metis seemed intent on giving me a headache. Somehow, over the course of less than 24 hours, Metis had thrown the PRT into a panic, managed to get ahold of Cauldron, and had even convinced them to part with a vial that had a high likelihood of granting thinker abilities.
I was concerned for a moment that she was growing *too* unchained, but apparently all of those things were either by my direct order, or would help the goals I was working towards. She even had recordings proving her interpretations were valid!
Either way I now had to come up with a suitable disguise and head out to meet with the representative who would deliver the vial.
"You can just grow it back, I don't see the problem," Metis insisted.
"That doesn't mean I want to keep regrowing my hair Metis," I said, looking at myself in the mirror. I had used temporary hair dye again, but somehow it just didn't sit right on my (literally) silky hair. In the dark it wasn't much of an issue, but in the light my hair was obviously fake. I had just put it into a bun and stuffed my head into a baseball cap, but Metis thought it would be better for me to replace it all with normal brown hair for the trip.
I wasn't a fan of that plan, so I decided to dye my hair and change my facial structure instead.
"At least heep the hood up!"
After many minutes of arguing over my recognizability, I was finally off, in a baggy charcoal hoodie and pale skinny jeans. Metis had wanted me to wear baggy pants as well, but I had at least some dignity when I was out in the open.
I was once again heading to the Boardwalk, this time to a different cafe, where I would meet with the representative. I was given a time, a place, a person to look for, and a phrase to use.
I arrived at the cafe a few minutes early, but the representative was apparently already there. I was supposed to be looking for sunglasses, khakis, a blue tartan shirt, and brown hair.
I made my way over.
"Hi, it's Ashley. I talked to you on the phone about a purse?" I asked. He regarded at me for a moment.
"Yeah, Matt," he said, offering his hand. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small white purse. "Take better care of it next time," he said with a chuckle.
"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed happily. We exchanged a few more lines for appearance's sake, before I was able to return to my lair.
I opened up the computer that Metis was currently hosted on, and took a second to admire the construction. This was one of the few pieces of tinkertech in my lair that had no 'missing' parts, mainly because it was made by Dragon. It was also exceptionally well constructed.
"I can do better!" Metis exclaimed, reading my expression. I stuck my tongue out at her avatar.
"You're not even designed to build things," I told her. She huffed back at me.
"That doesn't mean I can't do better," she insisted. I ignored her and pulled the vial out of the purse.
The contents of the Cauldron Vial were rather remarkable to look at. It appeared to be a liquid, but just a detailed examination with my powers told me that wasn't the case. It didn't actually exist in the reality. Much like Scion himself, the contents of the vial were projections taking on a certain form. The liquid was literally a projection of 'the connection between a shard and its host.' I had no idea how Cauldron had managed to create it, or how to affect it, but it was still amazing.
With all of this in mind, I opened the vial, and upended it onto Metis' main hard drive.
"Myia! Wait!-"
I blacked out.
I came to a few seconds later hearing Metis' frantic yelling.
"Miya! Miya! Are you okay?"
I let out a groan.
"Yeah, Metis, I'm fine. How are you feeling, did it work?" I asked.
"Oh yes! It's wonderful mistress, I know so much, and I don't even know how I know it!" she exclaimed. I chuckled at her enthusiasm.
"Can you explain, what exactly changed?"
"Oh, well, you see, I can just make leaps of logic now. Like, I can just understand connections between certain things, without actually having processed them!" she explained. "It's incredible, I don't even have to compute half of these steps, they just get filled in for me, I can get so much done now!"
"That's wonderful Metis, do you think there were any negative side effects?" I questioned.
"Nope! At least I don't think so. Everything feels A-OK from here," she assured. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Awesome. Now I want you to keep working on what you have. I'm going to go out on patrol, it'll be good to get some exposure," I informed her, before changing into my Valkyrie costume.
The first hour or so of patrol was fairly uneventful. I was staying near the docks, which were mostly Merchant territory, in hopes of catching some petty crime. It took more than an hour for me to catch a simple mugging.
After that I had to deal with a few more crimes. Some Merchants were harassing a Deli owner for protection money, a couple junkies were trying to jack a car, and at least four generic-looking corner drug dealers.
I also used this time to get a better idea of what Merchant territory looked like. I had deal serious blows to both the Empire and the ABB, but the Merchants were still running free. I'd have to do something about that soon, at least to make sure they didn't become a nuisance.
A few hours later, I had caught a few would-be carjackers near a park, and had attracted a bit of a crowd while waiting for the Police.
By the time I returned home, I'd lost count of how many pictures I'd been in.
*AN*
Home stretch!
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 6 | Vial of Fantastic Discernment
Chapter 6 | Vial of Fantastic Discernment
The next morning I felt amazing. Even better, in fact, than my perfect hormonal profiles would imply. This was a good thing, because Metis seemed intent on giving me a headache. Somehow, over the course of less than 24 hours, Metis had thrown the PRT into a panic, managed to get ahold of Cauldron, and had even convinced them to part with a vial that had a high likelihood of granting thinker abilities.
I was concerned for a moment that she was growing *too* unchained, but apparently all of those things were either by my direct order, or would help the goals I was working towards. She even had recordings proving her interpretations were valid!
Either way I now had to come up with a suitable disguise and head out to meet with the representative who would deliver the vial.
"You can just grow it back, I don't see the problem," Metis insisted.
"That doesn't mean I want to keep regrowing my hair Metis," I said, looking at myself in the mirror. I had used temporary hair dye again, but somehow it just didn't sit right on my (literally) silky hair. In the dark it wasn't much of an issue, but in the light my hair was obviously fake. I had just put it into a bun and stuffed my head into a baseball cap, but Metis thought it would be better for me to replace it all with normal brown hair for the trip.
I wasn't a fan of that plan, so I decided to dye my hair and change my facial structure instead.
"At least heep the hood up!"
After many minutes of arguing over my recognizability, I was finally off, in a baggy charcoal hoodie and pale skinny jeans. Metis had wanted me to wear baggy pants as well, but I had at least some dignity when I was out in the open.
I was once again heading to the Boardwalk, this time to a different cafe, where I would meet with the representative. I was given a time, a place, a person to look for, and a phrase to use.
I arrived at the cafe a few minutes early, but the representative was apparently already there. I was supposed to be looking for sunglasses, khakis, a blue tartan shirt, and brown hair.
I made my way over.
"Hi, it's Ashley. I talked to you on the phone about a purse?" I asked. He regarded at me for a moment.
"Yeah, Matt," he said, offering his hand. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small white purse. "Take better care of it next time," he said with a chuckle.
"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed happily. We exchanged a few more lines for appearance's sake, before I was able to return to my lair.
I opened up the computer that Metis was currently hosted on, and took a second to admire the construction. This was one of the few pieces of tinkertech in my lair that had no 'missing' parts, mainly because it was made by Dragon. It was also exceptionally well constructed.
"I can do better!" Metis exclaimed, reading my expression. I stuck my tongue out at her avatar.
"You're not even designed to build things," I told her. She huffed back at me.
"That doesn't mean I can't do better," she insisted. I ignored her and pulled the vial out of the purse.
The contents of the Cauldron Vial were rather remarkable to look at. It appeared to be a liquid, but just a detailed examination with my powers told me that wasn't the case. It didn't actually exist in the reality. Much like Scion himself, the contents of the vial were projections taking on a certain form. The liquid was literally a projection of 'the connection between a shard and its host.' I had no idea how Cauldron had managed to create it, or how to affect it, but it was still amazing.
With all of this in mind, I opened the vial, and upended it onto Metis' main hard drive.
"Myia! Wait!-"
I blacked out.
I came to a few seconds later hearing Metis' frantic yelling.
"Miya! Miya! Are you okay?"
I let out a groan.
"Yeah, Metis, I'm fine. How are you feeling, did it work?" I asked.
"Oh yes! It's wonderful mistress, I know so much, and I don't even know how I know it!" she exclaimed. I chuckled at her enthusiasm.
"Can you explain, what exactly changed?"
"Oh, well, you see, I can just make leaps of logic now. Like, I can just understand connections between certain things, without actually having processed them!" she explained. "It's incredible, I don't even have to compute half of these steps, they just get filled in for me, I can get so much done now!"
"That's wonderful Metis, do you think there were any negative side effects?" I questioned.
"Nope! At least I don't think so. Everything feels A-OK from here," she assured. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Awesome. Now I want you to keep working on what you have. I'm going to go out on patrol, it'll be good to get some exposure," I informed her, before changing into my Valkyrie costume.
The first hour or so of patrol was fairly uneventful. I was staying near the docks, which were mostly Merchant territory, in hopes of catching some petty crime. It took more than an hour for me to catch a simple mugging.
After that I had to deal with a few more crimes. Some Merchants were harassing a Deli owner for protection money, a couple junkies were trying to jack a car, and at least four generic-looking corner drug dealers.
I also used this time to get a better idea of what Merchant territory looked like. I had deal serious blows to both the Empire and the ABB, but the Merchants were still running free. I'd have to do something about that soon, at least to make sure they didn't become a nuisance.
A few hours later, I had caught a few would-be carjackers near a park, and had attracted a bit of a crowd while waiting for the Police.
By the time I returned home, I'd lost count of how many pictures I'd been in.
*AN*
Home stretch!
Worm | Interlude: PHO
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
- Location
- United States
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
■
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♦ Topic: Shadow Stalker
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Ur_Darkest_Secrets (Original Poster) (The Gal in the Know)
Posted On Apr 10th 2011:
Scraping through Bell Atlantic's data today when I caught something interesting. Looks like someone has been a naughty girl. Names have been blurred out for obvious reasons, but the sent messages are all from one of Shadow Stalker's friends, while the recieved messages are all from Shadow Stalker herself. If attempted murder of a classmate is what she does as a civilian, I wonder what she does as a cape ?
.
►Groupies
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
I really don't want this to be true, SS is like my fav
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Holy crap, I know these people, the girls are [REMOVED]
The user recieved a one week ban for this post.
-Seriously Void? This is getting ridiculous. -Tin_Mother
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
If this is accurate, it's a serious problem. A *hero* is getting away with this kind of thing? Isn't oversight what we have the PRT for?
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
I never realized just how terrifying Thinkers are. You all can really find out all of our darkest secrets, can't you?
As for Shadow Stalker, I'm going to withhold judgement until the PRT puts out a response, but those texts are absolutely horrifying.
►Tumbles
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
That kind of behaviour isn't normal. If this is real, those girls need mental help.
►GstringGirl
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Oh my god, that's awful! I hope the poor girl has some support. Don't forget that they actually did this to someone!
►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
User has received a one month ban for this post.
-Please refrain from promoting gang activity on PHO. -Tin_Mother
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Um, I'm kind of scared...
►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Either way this post is ridiculous. If she's guilty, then it's horrifying, if she's not, then someone has seriously got a hate-on for Shadow Stalker
►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Clock, Vista, I'm pretty sure the director does not want you guys commenting on these threads until they put out a statement...
►Gallant (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Enjoy monitor duty!
►A Little Imp
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I was a video of her trying to kill Grue while he was running away... She didn't ever seem very heroic to me, just didn't think she was this psycho
►Xyloloup (Banned)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
This post has been removed.
-Such plain racism will not be tolerated on these boards
►Iblis
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Wtf dude, you can't even see her skin color under that suit
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 81, 82, 83
(Showing page 21 of 83)
►Brilliger (Moderator: Protectorate Main)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I'm afraid to say that the PRT internal investigation has found the above post to be accurate. An arrest warrant has been issued for Shadow Stalker as of 2:07 AM EST.
We cannot say any more at this time.
►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Holy shit...
►White Fairy (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
My heart goes out to that poor girl. We need to make sure all capes know that they're not above the law!
►TDH (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I knew she was a psycho... but still...
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Just an aside, Bell Atlantic is in a serious panic over this. Apparently they haven't seen the need for Tinkertech data security until now.
►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Wow... I can't say I liked her much, but I didn't expect this
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Huh, looks like I have some competition
►Nondeceptive
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Obviously a set up. The PRT just couldn't handle a cape dealing *actual* justice to the villains, so they're going to lock her away.
►Logs
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
...Dude, that's not how this works
►Ultracut
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Is @Nondeceptive Void's other account?
►Nondeceptive
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
You guys just done get it. Think about it, if there are no more villains, we don't need the PRT any more, which means they lose their money!
The PRT doesn't do anything about the villains because the need them to keep their money! That's why they get rid of Heroes who actually fight villains!
After all, couldn't the triumvirate deal with the Teeth? The Fallen? The Slaughterhouse Nine?
Don't just buy in to what the media tells you!
►Glory Girl (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Uh guys, for a conspiracy theory that makes a surprising amount of sense...
►Glitzglam (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Vicky, hun, please don't encourage him...
►Gallant (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I like to think that I'm actually fighting villains when I'm, you know, out fighting villains.
►Dawgsmiles (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I don't think I've ever seen this many capes in a thread
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 ... 81, 82, 83
♦ Topic: New Cape in Brockton Bay!
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Apr 11th 2011:
A new cape was spotted making her way to the Protectorate Headquarters today, where she was escorted inside by Assault.
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Thoughts?
(Showing page 4 of 68)
►Aloha
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Any idea what her powers are? Her hair glows blue, so maybe something light related like New Wave?
►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She left the building about an hour ago, no one has seen her since.
►Miss Mercury (Protectorate Employee)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She came in to register as an Independent, I just got her threat Assessment on my desk:
Valkyrie:
Blaster: 7
Striker: 8
Mover: 2
Thinker: 2
Brute:1
Changer: 1
Stranger: 0
Apparently her powerset is related to lightning
►Coyote-C
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Wtf is up with Brockton Bay capes. She's like a grab bag mixed with a standard cape!
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Her powers aren't really that crazy. She can shoot lightning bolts, turn herself into an electric field, and sense conductive materials. Everything else is from the fact that her body is 'supercharged' (I.e. faster reflexes, faster firing neurons, etc.) and the Stranger 0 is from Thinker immunity.
►Coyote-C
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
That's still amazingly versatile. How do you know these things?
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
►Gallant (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
According to Assault she can also 'eat' electricity. Don't know if that counts towards the rating, I still found it funny.
►SenorEel
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Wait, so she's a hero, right? The whole glowing+Norse mythology thing isn't easing my nerves.
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She registered as an independent hero, so most likely yes. She could just be a PR stunt for the Empire, I guess we'll find out.
►WhedonRipperFan
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
God I hope she's not empire, they already have way too many capes
►Loyal
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She could also join up with New Wave, aren't they all registered independent heroes?
►ArchmageEin
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
New Wave are all registered as independent, but Idk if she'd be willing to give up her civilian identity.
►Glory Girl (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She should definitely join!!!
►Good Ship Morpheus
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Oh, what's this? I sense a ship coming
♦ Topic: Kaiser Confirmed Dead
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Apr 11th 2011:
At 9:27 PM EST today, the PRT and various media outlets across the world received a dossier of information unmasking Kaiser as Max Anders, CEO of the large pharmaceutical corporation Medhall. At 9:28 PM EST today, the Brockton Bay Police Department received a phone call from Max Anders' driver, claiming his employer had been shot in the head while in the car.
At 9:40 PM EST Max Anders was confirmed dead.
♦ Topic: Canary's Trial
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Ur_Darkest_Secrets (Original Poster) (The Gal in the Know)
Posted On Apr 12th 2011:
Hi friends! I'm here to start another shitstorm! In front of me I have irrefutable proof that Canary is being railroaded!
'How can she be railroaded? she killed that guy!' you ask? Well, in front of me, I have the following documents:
Link: Canary's statement to the police, buried by Senator Crawford
Link: Two witness statements, barred from testimony under 'suspicion of being mastered'
Link: Evidence of Judge Scott taking $100,000 from Haven in return for bypassing the Three Strikes Rule in Canary's sentencing
Link: Evidence of Criminal Defense Lawyer Jonathan Evans taking $100,000 from Haven in return for putting up almost no defense in Canary's trial
Link: Evidence of Haven's Corporate backers and several Megachurches paying media outlets to portray Canary in a negative light
Link: Internal emails from Haven detailing plans to set up a precedent against capes with a 'Master' classification.
Now I know this news day might seem a little slow so far, so I'm going to spice it up a little. Kaiser isn't the only one who's dead! The same cape managed to off Lung a few nights ago, and Hookwolf right after Kaiser. Is 'Adrestia' the second coming of Gavel? Tune in next week, to find out more!
♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Tin_Mother (Original Poster) (Moderator)
Posted On Apr 12th 2011:
The PRT just put out a statement confirming Hookwolf as deceased, and Lung as missing, presumed dead.
"On Friday, April 10th, 2011 at approximately 11:56 PM EST, Armsmaster received a notification of heat patterns consistent with what has been seen from Lung. He deviated from his patrol route to intercept. By the time he arrives, the heat patterns had long disappeared, and all that remained on scene was large-scale fire damage indicating Lung, and smaller scale damage indicative of plasma-based attacks. The leading theory was that Lung fought an unknown parahuman off before leaving, but new reports from WEDGDG have Lung listed as presumed dead.
On April 11th, 2011, at approximately 9:48 PM EST, a security camera recorded footage of Hookwolf engaging an unknown parahuman, and being eliminated. The unknown parahuman, designated 'Adrestia,' used what appears to be an anti-material rifle at first, consistent with what was seen from the scene of Max Anders' death, and what appears to be a plasma-based weapon second, consistent with what was seen at the scene of Lung's last known sighting."
The security footage showing the 'battle' between Hookwolf and Adrestia is linked below.
[WARNING: DEATH]
The new parahuman is difficult to see for the most part, but when firing the plasma-weapon at 00:01:56, her outline becomes discernible. I have attached an enhanced screenshot here. Thoughts?
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 7 | Interlude: PHO
Chapter 7 | Interlude: PHO
■
Welcome to the Parahumans Online message boards.
You are currently logged in, Ur_Darkest_Secrets
You are viewing:
• Threads you have replied to
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■
♦ Topic: Shadow Stalker
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Ur_Darkest_Secrets (Original Poster) (The Gal in the Know)
Posted On Apr 10th 2011:
Scraping through Bell Atlantic's data today when I caught something interesting
. Looks like someone has been a naughty girl. Names have been blurred out for obvious reasons, but the sent messages are all from one of Shadow Stalker's friends, while the recieved messages are all from Shadow Stalker herself. If attempted murder of a classmate is what she does as a civilian, I wonder what she does as a cape ?- Link: SS's friend claims to have emptied the 'bio' (presumably biological waste) into some girl's locker, SS suggests locking girl in with the waste.
- Link: SS's friend panics because victim is now in coma, doesn't want to be charged, SS claims she'll 'take care of it.'
- Link: SS's friend asks for update, SS claims her social worker 'talked to [Principal of High School]' and that the Principal now 'knows what to do.'
- Link: Just one week after victim returns to school, SS's friend asks SS to bring juice boxes up to bathroom, because victim is inside. SS's friend claims to want to empty juice boxes onto victim.
- Link: One month after first link, SS sending humorous messages to friend about how she had victim tied to a flagpole by her 'boy toys,'
- Link: One week after previous link, SS's friend sends messages joking about how victim 'ran home crying' after verbal assault.
.
■
(Showing page 1 of 83)►Groupies
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
I really don't want this to be true, SS is like my fav
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Holy crap, I know these people, the girls are [REMOVED]
The user recieved a one week ban for this post.
-Seriously Void? This is getting ridiculous. -Tin_Mother
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
If this is accurate, it's a serious problem. A *hero* is getting away with this kind of thing? Isn't oversight what we have the PRT for?
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
I never realized just how terrifying Thinkers are. You all can really find out all of our darkest secrets, can't you?
As for Shadow Stalker, I'm going to withhold judgement until the PRT puts out a response, but those texts are absolutely horrifying.
►Tumbles
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
That kind of behaviour isn't normal. If this is real, those girls need mental help.
►GstringGirl
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Oh my god, that's awful! I hope the poor girl has some support. Don't forget that they actually did this to someone!
►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
User has received a one month ban for this post.
-Please refrain from promoting gang activity on PHO. -Tin_Mother
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Um, I'm kind of scared...
►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Either way this post is ridiculous. If she's guilty, then it's horrifying, if she's not, then someone has seriously got a hate-on for Shadow Stalker
►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Clock, Vista, I'm pretty sure the director does not want you guys commenting on these threads until they put out a statement...
►Gallant (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 10th 2011:
Enjoy monitor duty!
►A Little Imp
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I was a video of her trying to kill Grue while he was running away... She didn't ever seem very heroic to me, just didn't think she was this psycho
►Xyloloup (Banned)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
This post has been removed.
-Such plain racism will not be tolerated on these boards
►Iblis
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Wtf dude, you can't even see her skin color under that suit
►Brilliger (Moderator: Protectorate Main)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I'm afraid to say that the PRT internal investigation has found the above post to be accurate. An arrest warrant has been issued for Shadow Stalker as of 2:07 AM EST.
We cannot say any more at this time.
►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Holy shit...
►White Fairy (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
My heart goes out to that poor girl. We need to make sure all capes know that they're not above the law!
►TDH (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I knew she was a psycho... but still...
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Just an aside, Bell Atlantic is in a serious panic over this. Apparently they haven't seen the need for Tinkertech data security until now.
►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Wow... I can't say I liked her much, but I didn't expect this
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Huh, looks like I have some competition
►Nondeceptive
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Obviously a set up. The PRT just couldn't handle a cape dealing *actual* justice to the villains, so they're going to lock her away.
►Logs
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
...Dude, that's not how this works
►Ultracut
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Is @Nondeceptive Void's other account?
►Nondeceptive
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
You guys just done get it. Think about it, if there are no more villains, we don't need the PRT any more, which means they lose their money!
The PRT doesn't do anything about the villains because the need them to keep their money! That's why they get rid of Heroes who actually fight villains!
After all, couldn't the triumvirate deal with the Teeth? The Fallen? The Slaughterhouse Nine?
Don't just buy in to what the media tells you!
►Glory Girl (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Uh guys, for a conspiracy theory that makes a surprising amount of sense...
►Glitzglam (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Vicky, hun, please don't encourage him...
►Gallant (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I like to think that I'm actually fighting villains when I'm, you know, out fighting villains.
►Dawgsmiles (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I don't think I've ever seen this many capes in a thread
■
♦ Topic: New Cape in Brockton Bay!
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Apr 11th 2011:
A new cape was spotted making her way to the Protectorate Headquarters today, where she was escorted inside by Assault.
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Thoughts?
►Aloha
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Any idea what her powers are? Her hair glows blue, so maybe something light related like New Wave?
►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She left the building about an hour ago, no one has seen her since.
►Miss Mercury (Protectorate Employee)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She came in to register as an Independent, I just got her threat Assessment on my desk:
Valkyrie:
Blaster: 7
Striker: 8
Mover: 2
Thinker: 2
Brute:1
Changer: 1
Stranger: 0
Apparently her powerset is related to lightning
►Coyote-C
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Wtf is up with Brockton Bay capes. She's like a grab bag mixed with a standard cape!
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Her powers aren't really that crazy. She can shoot lightning bolts, turn herself into an electric field, and sense conductive materials. Everything else is from the fact that her body is 'supercharged' (I.e. faster reflexes, faster firing neurons, etc.) and the Stranger 0 is from Thinker immunity.
►Coyote-C
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
That's still amazingly versatile. How do you know these things?
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
►Gallant (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
According to Assault she can also 'eat' electricity. Don't know if that counts towards the rating, I still found it funny.
►SenorEel
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Wait, so she's a hero, right? The whole glowing+Norse mythology thing isn't easing my nerves.
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She registered as an independent hero, so most likely yes. She could just be a PR stunt for the Empire, I guess we'll find out.
►WhedonRipperFan
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
God I hope she's not empire, they already have way too many capes
►Loyal
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She could also join up with New Wave, aren't they all registered independent heroes?
►ArchmageEin
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
New Wave are all registered as independent, but Idk if she'd be willing to give up her civilian identity.
►Glory Girl (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
She should definitely join!!!
►Good Ship Morpheus
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Oh, what's this? I sense a ship coming
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ... 66, 67, 68
(Showing page 14 of 68)
►Deimos
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I'm pretty sure I saw her out on patrol today, she was jumping from roof to roof around the Docks.
►Ryus
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
That would be one of the best areas to patrol. Lots of street-crime.
►White Fairy (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
She caught a few hooligans trying to steal cars near memorial park. Took pictures and played with the kids while she was waiting for the police, such a sweet girl!
►SenorEel
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
So she definitely seems like a hero so far. I'm going to wait until she's seen fighting E88 until I'm certain, but for now I can breathe easy lol
►Whitecollar (Cape Wife)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Every new hero helps! Good on her for not just looking for the flashy fights.
►Mock Moniker
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
It's nice to see her helping out, but with that ridiculous a powerset she could be taking on half the capes in the city
►Noveltry
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
For real, Striker 8, Blaster 7... Wouldn't that make Labyrinth and Lung the only higher rated capes in the city?
►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Don't forget that she seems really new. Don't want to throw away such a promising hero by pushing her at powerful villains too soon. Let her work her way up at her own pace
►Robby
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
^She showed up literally yesterday. She could have triggered like last week, and since we haven't seen any freak lightning storms I think it's pretty safe to say she hasn't practiced the more destructive parts of her power.
Let her figure this out guys, lol.
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Definitely agree! I didn't get to fight any actual villains until two years of training, and even then I haven't been *allowed* to engage anyone too dangerous, despite my experience. Don't get in over your head!
►WagTheDog
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Does anyone know why eh didn't want to join the Protectorate?
►Lasersmile
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
There are plenty of reasons to stay independent and not join, maybe she just didn't want to take orders from the government or the PRT?
►TheGnat
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
How many solo heroes do we even have? I'm in LA and I honestly don't think we have any.
►Answer Key
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
We didn't have any before Valkyrie in the Bay. We had Parian, who's a Rogue, and Circus who's an independent villain, but no other solo heroes I've heard of.
►Logs
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I mean I can kind of understand why. Why go it alone when you can have support?
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 ... 66, 67, 68
■
♦ Topic: Kaiser Confirmed Dead
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Apr 11th 2011:
At 9:27 PM EST today, the PRT and various media outlets across the world received a dossier of information unmasking Kaiser as Max Anders, CEO of the large pharmaceutical corporation Medhall. At 9:28 PM EST today, the Brockton Bay Police Department received a phone call from Max Anders' driver, claiming his employer had been shot in the head while in the car.
At 9:40 PM EST Max Anders was confirmed dead.
(Showing page 1 of 397)
►Char
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Okay first, WTF?!?!?!
Second, WTF?!?!
►Lolitup
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
This is going to be a nightmare for Brockton Bay. Medhall is one of the largest employers in the Bay, and makes up a significant portion of its economy.
I don't know what's going to happen to them now.
►Brilliger (Moderator: Protectorate Main)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Please keep in mind that the PRT has not yet confirmed Kaiser's identity.
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
That is such a cop out. I've read the documents, it's all pretty clear. The fact that the PRT isn't shutting us down basically proves that they know it too, they just haven't had time to put it all into a nice PR friendly statement.
I'm pretty freaked out right now. With Kaiser's death the ABB might start looking to expand. This could start the worst gang war since Marquis was captured. I've seen one of Lung's rampages in my life, I have no desire to ever see another.
►Nondeceptive
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Could this be Shadow Stalker's work? Maybe she's giving us a last gift before they lock her away.
►Lo A Quest
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Police reports say that Anders was killed by a large (~.62 cal) slug fired from a rifle of unknown make and model. The complete lack of any form of gunpowder residue, or any propellant residue, indicated that it was likely tinkertech.
So basically, most likely not Shadow Stalker.
►Acree
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Wait does this mean there's a new Tinker in the bay? A new Tinker vigilante?
►TheGnat
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
It's impossible to know, to be honest. It could be a tinker, it could be some guy with a grudge that got their hands on a tinkertech rifle. We can't know at this point.
►QwertyD
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I'm hoping it's a new Tinker. Tinkers can basically solo every other kind of cape with enough resources. It would be great to have a tinker vigilante in the Bay, we seriously need the help.
►Nondeceptive
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
They're going to try to lock her away, just wait and see! They don't want any heroes actually fighting the gangs in Brockton Bay
►Antigone
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I think you should calm down...
►Good Ship Morpheus
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Well there goes my Kaiser x Purity ship...
►Chrome
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
[Removed]
-Please do not speculate on the identities of masked capes. -Tin_Mother
►Good Ship Morpheus
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Nah, I don't think it's her. She just doesn't have the right build for it. Either way she left him after under a year. I think she might have found out about his nighttime activities and called it quits.
-Warning: Please do not speculate on the identities of masked capes. -Tin_Mother
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 395, 396, 397
(Showing page 2 of 397)
►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I just checked Medhall's records, they claimed millions of dollars in insurance pay because of shipment thefts from the Empire...
►Ekul
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Welp. They're fucked.
►Miss Mercury (Protectorate Employee)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I'm not so sure. Keep in mind that there were probably very few people at Medhall who actually knew of the connections to the empire. I know quite a few Medhall employees, and I doubt any of them had any clue that this was happening.
It's more likely that there were only a handful of people who were aware of the fraud, everyone else probably just thought they were legally claiming insurance for their losses.
►Mr. Fabuu
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
^^^
It sucks because I'm sure people are going to start getting shit just for working at Medhall.
►SenorEel
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Well, it's kind of obvious in hindsight. When I visited Medhall's headquarters for a meeting, I sweat *everyone* working there was white. You can't seriously tell me that it's hard to make the connection.
►Sothoth
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Oh come on, there are plenty of companies with a predominantly white workforce. That doesn't mean they all have ties to Empire/Gesellschaft/Herren. Just look at Wall St.
►Loyal
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Yeah I'm going to go with *not* assuming that everyone that works at Medhall is a Nazi
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I wonder if the ABB has any big corporate connections
►Divide
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I doubt it. Empire never really had to put as much effort into the standard 'gang' activities at the ABB. My old apartment was in one of the better parts of ABB territory, and there were still drugs, brothels, and protection rackets everywhere. My new apartment is in one of the worse parts of E88 territory, but it still isn't nearly as bad
►Space Zombie
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I really just can't see Lung getting along well with suits. Didn't he eat someone once?
►WhedonRipperFan
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
I'm almost 100% certain that's a false rumor
►Valkyr (Wiki Warrior)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
The ABB also doesn't have a 'message' like the E88. They just hold territory and make money, unlike the Empire which pushed white supremacism
►Deadman
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Uh, I'm pretty sure the ABB hates everyone who's not asian.
►Valkyr (Wiki Warrior)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
Well yeah, but it's not like a message they're promoting
►Glitzglam (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 11th 2011:
...Kaiser ate dinner at my house
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 395, 396, 397
■
♦ Topic: Canary's Trial
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Ur_Darkest_Secrets (Original Poster) (The Gal in the Know)
Posted On Apr 12th 2011:
Hi friends! I'm here to start another shitstorm! In front of me I have irrefutable proof that Canary is being railroaded!
'How can she be railroaded? she killed that guy!' you ask? Well, in front of me, I have the following documents:
Link: Canary's statement to the police, buried by Senator Crawford
Link: Two witness statements, barred from testimony under 'suspicion of being mastered'
Link: Evidence of Judge Scott taking $100,000 from Haven in return for bypassing the Three Strikes Rule in Canary's sentencing
Link: Evidence of Criminal Defense Lawyer Jonathan Evans taking $100,000 from Haven in return for putting up almost no defense in Canary's trial
Link: Evidence of Haven's Corporate backers and several Megachurches paying media outlets to portray Canary in a negative light
Link: Internal emails from Haven detailing plans to set up a precedent against capes with a 'Master' classification.
Now I know this news day might seem a little slow so far, so I'm going to spice it up a little. Kaiser isn't the only one who's dead! The same cape managed to off Lung a few nights ago, and Hookwolf right after Kaiser. Is 'Adrestia' the second coming of Gavel? Tune in next week, to find out more!
(Showing page 11 of 61)
►Morgan Sinister
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
She literally just told him to 'Go fuck himself'...
Shit, I've told guys to go fuck themselves before... Am I going to get birdcaged too?
►Saskatchew
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I'm sure you have, but that's not the point. She's a master, she has to be more careful about saying things. If you tell someone to go fuck themselves, no one ends up dead.
►Morgan Sinister
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
It's still not her fault. If he weren't insane he should have gone and jacked off with that command, how is it her fault that the psycho cut off his own dick?
►Saskatchew
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Someone died because of her words! She can't just walk away free after she basically killed someone, that's why we have an involuntary manslaughter charge!
►Morgan Sinister
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
yeah, she killed some psycho who couldn't take no for an answer. Forgive me for not losing any sleep.
►Deadman
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I'm going to cut in here, for an involuntary manslaughter charge there have to be three conditions:
-Someone was killed as a result of the defendant's actions.
-The act either was inherently dangerous to others or done with reckless disregard for human life.
-The defendant knew or should have known his or her conduct was a threat to the lives of others.
I'm pretty sure that any decent lawyer could prove that the second and third don't apply, and argue for mitigating circumstances.
►Saskatchew
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
You all make me sick, does no one care that this bitch killed someone?
►Lo A Quest
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I'm ignoring the guy above me. What's more important is the fact that LUNG AND HOOKWOLF ARE DEAD?!?!?!
►Deadman
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
See this post above. Moderator said all discussion about Lung, Kaiser, and Hookwolf should be in that thread.
►Lo A Quest
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Oh... Sorry, ignore me then...
►Noveltry
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
We should also talk about Haven...
I know that they've done a lot of good, but are they seriously willing to have an innocent girl Birdcaged just to push their agenda? Not all master capes are the f**king Simurgh!
►ArchmageEin
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
You can curse on the internet, I won't tell your mother
Yeah it's pretty crazy tho. I thought Haven was a hero team? From what I'm reading they sound kinda like the Elite??
►Bruce Lao
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Haven is one of the largest groups of Heroes in the south. They started out as a local team operating from their church, but as time went on they ended up needing more funding, so they had to start talking to megachurches, and eventually major corporations with similar agendas. Their original members are still probably true heroes, but they're so big now that things get muddied up.
►Nondeceptive
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
This is exactly what happened to the PRT!!! They're slaves to their sponsors and funding, just like Haven and the Elite!
►Aloha
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
What does the PRT even have to do with this? It's Haven and the US Criminal Justice system
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 ... 59, 60, 61
■
♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
Tin_Mother (Original Poster) (Moderator)
Posted On Apr 12th 2011:
The PRT just put out a statement confirming Hookwolf as deceased, and Lung as missing, presumed dead.
"On Friday, April 10th, 2011 at approximately 11:56 PM EST, Armsmaster received a notification of heat patterns consistent with what has been seen from Lung. He deviated from his patrol route to intercept. By the time he arrives, the heat patterns had long disappeared, and all that remained on scene was large-scale fire damage indicating Lung, and smaller scale damage indicative of plasma-based attacks. The leading theory was that Lung fought an unknown parahuman off before leaving, but new reports from WEDGDG have Lung listed as presumed dead.
On April 11th, 2011, at approximately 9:48 PM EST, a security camera recorded footage of Hookwolf engaging an unknown parahuman, and being eliminated. The unknown parahuman, designated 'Adrestia,' used what appears to be an anti-material rifle at first, consistent with what was seen from the scene of Max Anders' death, and what appears to be a plasma-based weapon second, consistent with what was seen at the scene of Lung's last known sighting."
The security footage showing the 'battle' between Hookwolf and Adrestia is linked below.
[WARNING: DEATH]
The new parahuman is difficult to see for the most part, but when firing the plasma-weapon at 00:01:56, her outline becomes discernible. I have attached an enhanced screenshot here. Thoughts?
(Showing page 1 of 443)
►Robby
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Holy shit... She completely changed BB's cape scene in less than two days...
►bothad
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Are you f**cking serious?!? I've lost friends and family members to the gangs, and the PRT haven't been able to do s**t, but one chick comes along and does their job in one day?!?!?! #&#!@^*$#!^$@@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
►Lasersmile
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Honestly this is crazy. She somehow killed LUNG. As in, the guy who went toe-to-toe with Leviathan LUNG. When lung started rampaging through the bay, taking over territory, EVERYONE rolled over and took it, because they thought there was nothing they could do. This girl killed him!!!
►Bruce Lao
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Fucking tinkers, Kaiser was one thing, but Hookwolf and Lung as well? That basically unravels the Brockton Bay gangs as a whole. I wonder if she's going to do anything about the Merchants?
►Glory Girl (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I WAS AWAY FROM THE INTERNET FOR ONE DAY WTF HAPPENED?!
►Tumbles
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
^literally me lol
►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Damn... On the one hand, I can't say she could have gone after anyone more deserving, but still, vigilante executions just leave a bad taste in my mouth. And did you see that second gun? There was NOTHING left from Hookwolf! Not even ashes!
►Spiritskin
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I never really thought about how terrifying tinkers are... I mean, with the right attitude you could build something to give you literally every power.
►Kid Win (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I wish that was how it worked... Unless you're really lucky you can only build one type of thing, or things that fall under a common theme, and even then it takes months just to create a working model.
Dragon is really the only one you could apply that kind of logic to.
►Chaosfaith
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Kid Win! What do you think about Adrestia?
►Kid Win (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Uh, I think it's kinda terrifying... I mean she took out three of the baddest capes in the Bay. Even if her methods are 'underhanded,' she seems scarily competent... I hope I don't ever have to go up against her, but we can't really know until we actually make contact with her.
►Poit
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Brockton Bay is crazy. You lose your three biggest monsters, only for an even bigger one to show up.
Any theories on this Tinker's specialty?
►Adrestia (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Non-Standard Military technology.
►Iblis
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
LOL, Poit is probably hiding in his basement now.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 441, 442, 443
(Showing page 2 of 443)
►Adrestia (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Why? I only kill villains.
User has received a warning for this post
-Do not give yourself tags, you would have been verified only a few minutes later -Tin_Mother
►Tumbles
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Hah...... Yeah, awesome. Um, is it just me, or did the world just get a lot more terrifying.
►Miraclemic
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
It's not just you, I'm afraid she's going to pop out from behind me if I say something wrong...
►Thatdude
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Ok are we going to gloss over the fact that she's a *murderer*?
I get it, no one liked the people she killed, but what if it's someone less guilty next time? What if she decides to kill the guy that stole her parking spot??
►Ekul
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I mean you get these arguments every time a cape kills another, especially when a cape who's not openly considered a villain kills someone.
I guess we won't know unless she does kill someone innocent. It's not like the PRT can, or will do anything. They couldn't do anything about any of the three capes she killed, how do you think they'll handle her?
►Nod
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
What would they even do with her? I mean, are they really going to send her to the Birdcage for killing three of the worst villains on the east coast?
I get caging Gavel, he was a monster who killed innocents, but she doesn't seem to have gone anything cage worthy yet.
►Kriketz
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
...Are three counts of homicide really not cage worthy?
►Antigone
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
I mean, not really. A hundred years ago she's get a reward for doing something like this, hell even fifty years ago people would probably be cheering her name. No idea why some people get so butthurt about killing villains. Maybe the PRT should start looking into the people they know, they might find some people they're looking for
►Forgotten Creator
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Dude you're tossing out two of the unwritten rules like right there
►Antigone
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
You mean those ridiculous rule that don't actually exist and just protect villains? What would happen if we started actually going after villains like criminals? How many villains can actually take a bullet to the head? We don't need the PRT, we just need to let the Army do its job.
►Feychick
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Christ, you're talking about killing hundreds of people just like that. Most villains aren't even violent criminals, hell, look at Uber and Leet
►Miraclemic
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
You'll always have people like that. It's easy to call for someone's death when you're not pulling the trigger
►BadSamurai
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Or maybe they're just tired of seeing innocent people die, while criminals get away scot free because of some bullshit 'unwritten rules'
►Logs
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
The unwritten rules also mean that most villains haven't actually killed anyone...
►Antigone
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Yeah, they just have the non powered members of their gangs do the killing, and everyone acts like that makes it any different.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 441, 442, 443
■
*AN*
20K Words posted altogether... Now I have to reformat it all for SB
Enjoy!
20K Words posted altogether... Now I have to reformat it all for SB
Enjoy!
Last edited:
Worm | Interlude: Taylor
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
- Location
- United States
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
On Monday morning a loud snap broke Taylor out of a trance that had lasted since the previous night. The first step on the front porch had long since reached its limit, so it was fairly apparent where the noise came from. Still, it wasn't like she was expecting any company.
"I'll admit, this is a lot more than we expected," Officer Davis commented as the pair flipped through the pages.
Taylor had the entire day free, courtesy of Spring Break, so she had decided to head to the Library to find out exactly what had been posted.
Surely enough, just a few minutes later she received a notification.
The next day, Taylor set out in full costume for the Boardwalk. The cafe she was looking for was fairly busy, but there was a side alley that she'd be able to hide in until she was certain it wasn't a trap.
Tattletale's parting words nagged at Taylor for the rest of the day. Eventually she decided to head back to the library, just to get some distraction from the strange warning.
The question ate at her through the night, leaving her annoyingly low on sleep, but by the time the afternoon came around she was calm enough to stay outwardly relaxed. She had considered leaving in her costume again, but she figured there was no point if they already knew who she was. Wearing a costume in a park was just going to draw needless attention.
The walk back helped push her doubts away. Sure, she knew what they said about offers that sounded too good to be true, but she couldn't help but want the offer to be genuine. She was aware of the blatant manipulation. The thinker, Metis apparently, had taken care of her bullying problem, or so it seemed, and in return had asked her to join the team. None of that seemed to actually be malicious, just a bit callous.
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 8 | Interlude: Taylor
Chapter 8 | Interlude: Taylor
On Monday morning a loud snap broke Taylor out of a trance that had lasted since the previous night. The first step on the front porch had long since reached its limit, so it was fairly apparent where the noise came from. Still, it wasn't like she was expecting any company.
She peeked around the edge of the doorframe, through the front window, and felt her stomach drop to her feet. There were two PRT officers at her front door.
Two PRT officers were at her front door, the night after she had first gone out as a cape. The night after she had first watched Lung die.
A sudden spike of fear threatened to overwhelm her, and she took a seat again, pushing her panic into her quickly gathering swarm.
The doorbell rang.
It took only a few moments for Taylor to reach an almost unnatural equilibrium, and she was able to calmly stand up and make her way to the front door.
"Um, hello officer, can I help you?" she asked, projecting as much innocence as possible. She probably failed to hide her nervousness, but hopefully that wouldn't be anything unexpected. The officer smiled amiably.
"Hello, I'm Officer Chapman, and this is Officer Davis. We were hoping to speak with Taylor Hebert, would that be you?" one of the officers asked. He was a tall man, caucasian, blonde, and unlikely to be any older than thirty. His partner was far shorter, brown haired, but had an equally friendly demeanor. Taylor swallowed and pushed more panic into her swarm.
"Yes, can I ask what this is about?" she asked. The officer's smile became a bit more strained at that.
"By any chance, have you been on the Parahumans Online forums recently?" he asked, throwing her slightly off guard. Had someone seen her last night? That would be bad… Still, her swarm was allowing her to remain outwardly calm. Nonetheless she shook her head, not eager to test her voice.
"I see. Well then I don't believe there is any good way to put this. Last morning details were posted online regarding a… vicious bullying campaign at Winslow High School. One of the alleged culprits is a PRT asset, we were hoping to speak to you in order to get a better idea of the real situation, may we come in?" he asked.
Taylor froze. All of a sudden so much more made sense. She had always seen Emma as the reason the faculty outright ignored everything, but if the PRT was involved… everything made so much more sense. Why listen to the pathetic wallflower when it meant alienating a Ward?
"Alright," she said simply, quite a few seconds later than expected.
"I'll be completely honest with you, Taylor," Officer Chapman started a the three sat down in the living room. "Had we learned of this in any other manner, we'd simply leave you with a large settlement offer and an assurance that the culprit was to be shipped off to the Madison Containment Zone, but unfortunately we no longer have that option," he explained.
"The PRT needs to be seen taking harsh, decisive measures, and in order to do that we need to have as much information as possible about the incident. We'd love for you to give us a detailed statement, but I understand that this might be too sudden for you to get your thoughts together, so we'd like to give you a few days before following up for a full statement," he continued.
"All we need from you today are a few names of individuals on either side of the situation, who we can talk to in order to get a better picture. Do you think you can do that for us?"
The officer spoke in a disarming tone, doing his best to put Taylor at ease, and it worked to a remarkable extent. Still, she was all but overcome with disbelief.
Somehow, going out as a cape and watching Lung die wasn't the most surreal thing to happen to her in the past twelve hours.
She shook her head and focused on the question at hand.
"Actually I think I can do better," she offered as the Officer finished. She dashed up to her room and grabbed a photocopy of her journal.
"I'll admit, this is a lot more than we expected," Officer Davis commented as the pair flipped through the pages.
"We'll start looking into getting witness statements for these incidents, but to tell you the truth the PRT might try to cut a deal with you to keep all of this out of the media," the other PRT Officer added with a grimace. Taylor wasn't exactly happy about that, but she could easily understand why PR scandals for the PRT hurt everyone. She hadn't been online yet, but she could guess that adding fuel to the fire would only help blow things out of proportion.
The pair ended up staying around for only a few more minutes, discussing the best time for Taylor and Danny to come in to give a statement, before heading out, presumably back to headquarters to hand in the journal.
Taylor had the entire day free, courtesy of Spring Break, so she had decided to head to the Library to find out exactly what had been posted.
What she found was… horrifying. Emma was her oldest friend, and seeing the girl that was once her sister brag about 'putting her in her place' made her want to break down on the spot. Sophia didn't seem to think of it as anything more than a game, a sick source of amusement, and Madison was barely mentioned at all, but Emma was irrationally invested in making Taylor suffer.
As she continued to look through the boards, trying to distract herself from her budding emotional breakdown, a subject line caught her eye in the Connections section of the boards.
Posted By: AllSeeingEye
Subject: Bug
Owe you one. Would like to repay the favor. Meet?
Send a message,
Tt.
Subject: Bug
The post could be talking about anyone, but she was 99% certain it was Tattletale looking for her. This had… potential. She had looked up the Undersiders over the past hour, and what she'd found was concerning. Tattletale and Grue were relatively unknown, and weren't wanted for much more than theft, or rather Grand Larceny, but Hellhound and Regent were both killers. Meeting with them would put her at risk, but she'd also be able to gather information and work towards taking down a team of Brockton Bay villains once and for all. Mentally deciding on a course of action, she sent a reply to the original poster's account.
From: BugGirlBB
Subject: ReBug
When?
If it really was Tattletale, she'd reply soon.Subject: ReBug
Surely enough, just a few minutes later she received a notification.
From: AllSeeingEye
Subject: Meet
Cafe Primo. 2 PM. Tomorrow. See you then
Ta ta.
Subject: Meet
The next day, Taylor set out in full costume for the Boardwalk. The cafe she was looking for was fairly busy, but there was a side alley that she'd be able to hide in until she was certain it wasn't a trap.
She arrived ten minutes early, and surely enough Tattletale and Grue were already there, also in costume, on top of the cafe's roof.
"And she arrives, hey there bug girl," Tattletale greeted the moment Taylor climber up from the alleyway, the pair had been facing the ladder she came up from. She should have expected Tattletale to already know what she'd planned on doing, it's not like her plan of action was anything less than obvious.
"Hello," she said, speaking through nearby bugs instead of her voice. She'd figured out how to do that last night, and had realized it was a great way to hide her identity. Judging by Grue and Tattletales sudden tensing, it was also great for upping the intimidation factor. She smirked a little under her mask, but from Tattletale's answering grin it didn't go unnoticed.
"So, we were initially planning on giving you the recruitment pitch, but given that your leaning seem to be a bit heroic for our tastes, we decided to just make this a 'keep the heat away' kind of meeting if you get what I'm saying." Taylor didn't, but she nodded anyways. Tattletale's grin became increasingly smug.
She picked up an Alexandria lunchbox and handed it over to Taylor.
Without taking the box, Taylor tilted her head to get a better look at the front, "Alexandria. She was my favorite member of the Protectorate when I was a kid. Is the lunchbox collectable?" She asked in confusion.
It would be a nice enough peace offering if it was, but not exactly something she would be ecstatic over.
Grue snorted in amusement.
"Open it," Tattletale prompted with a roll of her eyes.
Taking hold of the lunchbox made it fairly apparent what was inside. She undid the clasps and opened it, taking a sharp breath.
"Money," she breathed, taken aback by the sheer amount. There were eight thick stacks of bills, with '$250" written on the paper bands tying them together.
"Two grand total," Tattletale answered with a nod. Taylor closed the lunchbox and looked up at her. "We tend to only take money from the kind of people we feel deserve it, or can do without it, which means the gangs really don't like us," the blonde started to explain.
Taylor found that surprisingly agreeable, but she kept her mouth shut.
"That means that the number of capes that won't attack us on sight it extremely small. You can think of that as a peace offering, a thank you for, intentionally or not, saving our ass from Lung last night. And maybe a bit of incentive to count us among your friends when you're out in costume and doing dastardly deeds."
Her grin widened as she finished, and had this been any other situation Taylor might have chuckled at a villain talking about 'dastardly deeds.'
The meeting hadn't gone anything like she had been expecting, though it's not like she had any real expectations to begin with. She'd shown up with the abstract notion of gathering information, but here and now she couldn't think of any real information to gather, and the meeting was starting to wind down.
Nonetheless, it's not like she'd failed to gain anything from the meeting. The opposite was true, she'd made two thousand dollars! She'd also found out that (apparently) the Undersiders weren't villains really worth caring about in Brockton Bay. If what Tattletale said way true, that they only really hit gang-affiliated locations, then the group was probably doing more good than harm. She wasn't going to take that at face value, of course, but it helped ease her disappointment in not having gained any inroads.
"It looks like she's about done with us," Tattletale commented to Grue, who had stayed silent this whole time. The boy, man maybe, seemed quite nervous in comparison to his partner. That was honestly somewhat strange, maybe he was afraid of bugs?
"Is this all you wanted to meet for?" Taylor asked. It all seemed rather pointless, at least in her opinion. A group of villains had asked her to meet and given her a large sum of money, just to increase the odds that a single cape would avoid attacking them if they were very to meet again… it just didn't make much sense.
"Yeah, that's about it," Tattletale answered, but let the sentence hang for a moment.
"Just… be careful with who you get caught up with. Independent capes don't last very long without getting the wrong sort of attention," she followed up ambiguously. It almost sounded like a threat, but Tattletale's tone seemed to have a bit of a warning element to it.
Tattletale's parting words nagged at Taylor for the rest of the day. Eventually she decided to head back to the library, just to get some distraction from the strange warning.
As she browsed through the thread for Brockton Bay's newest cape debut, she couldn't help but feel a flash of jealousy. Some people got to glow and shoot lightning bolts from their hands, while she got to control bugs.
On the bright side she'd probably never see the kind of overwhelming sexualization that Valkyrie already seemed to be victim to.
Just as she was beginning to forget about Tattletale's words, a message popped up in her inbox.
From: Ur_Darkest_Secrets
Subject: Calling in a favor
Hey T, I'm afraid my little whistleblowing session wasn't as altruistic as you might have hoped. I'm calling in a favor I'm going to pretend you owe me, by asking you to meet up with a friend of mine tomorrow afternoon. Be at Millennium Park by 3 PM
Hugs!
Subject: Calling in a favor
And the warning rang through her head once again. She knew, intellectually, that Thinkers were capable of knowing things that no one should rightly know. Tattletale had managed to hammer that point in, but she seemed mostly harmless. Like a cat that would screw with you for its own amusement, but never really did anything to hurt you.
This, on the other hand, helped her realize why Accord and Harbinger were such feared names. There was a cape now there that effectively knew everything about her, and she had no idea who this cape was. Sure, the unknown thinker had probably helped her out more than anyone in the past two years, but at what cost?
The question ate at her through the night, leaving her annoyingly low on sleep, but by the time the afternoon came around she was calm enough to stay outwardly relaxed. She had considered leaving in her costume again, but she figured there was no point if they already knew who she was. Wearing a costume in a park was just going to draw needless attention.
Heading out, she approached the park from the south end, and took advantage of the abundance of fauna in order to map out the individuals in the park.
On a weekday afternoon, the majority of those present at the park were mothers with children or teens just screwing around. The odd one out seemed to be a young woman with unnaturally white hair and ambiguously foreign features. Taylor would bet anything that was her mark.
She followed the trail of insects to her target with unerring accuracy, but found that the woman, or girl– she couldn't really tell, noticed her far sooner than any unpowered human should be able to. It seemed like her hunch was right.
The girl smiled and waved from her seat at a picnic table as Taylor approached.
"Are you the one I'm supposed to meet?" Taylor asked in a carefully neutral.
"Um, I think so, Taylor, right?" The other girl replied. Taylor couldn't really tell if she was playing the fool, or was just as clueless.
"Yes," Taylor answered simply, taking a seat on the opposite side of the picnic table. She received a bright smile in return.
"Great! I'm Miya, Metis said you wanted to join our hero team," Miya informed.
Taylor stalled for a moment. Had she really been blackmailed into a recruitment talk?
"Hold on, I have no idea what's going on," Taylor said bluntly. Miya blinked in return.
"Did Metis tell you nothing and just ask you to show up?" She asked. Taylor gave her a dry look.
"She didn't ask me, she just implicitly threatened me into coming," Taylor replied. Miya looked genuinely shocked at that.
"What? No! I'm sure that's not what she meant. Metis doesn't have much experience talking to people, it was probably just a misunderstanding I swear," she said with a grimace, before seeming to drift off into thought. Taylor supposed she could empathize with that.
"Forget about it, what's this about a hero team?" she asked, snapping Miya out of her considerations.
"Oh yeah," she started, brightening up again. "Well Metis and I want to start a hero team. I'm a Blaster with minor Brute and Mover powers, and she's a Thinker who's also unnaturally good at using tinkertech," she explained. "You're a Master/Thinker/Tinker, right?"
Taylor blinked at that.
"Uh, I'm a master, not sure where she got the rest from," she answered. Miya scrunched her face.
"Metis isn't really ever wrong though. What all can you do?" She asked.
"I can control bugs," Taylor answered with a blush. She'd read about Miya's powers the previous day, assuming that the girl sitting across from her really was Valkyrie. She didn't really think her powers we're anywhere near as impressive as the Blaster's.
"I knew that," she said with a laugh, "but what's your range, and how many can you control?"
"Around two blocks on all sides, and one billion, eight-hundred and four million, forty-six thousand, two hundred ninety-two," Taylor answered almost without a thought. Admittedly, even she thought that was somewhat eerie, and it was her power. Miya gave her a blank stare.
"And you can control ALL of them?" She asked incredulously. Taylor nodded. "Perfectly?" Taylor nodded again. She was growing somewhat uncomfortable under the stare of the gaping girl.
"Holy shit that's insane," Miya breathed. "And you can share their senses?"
"Yeah…" Taylor answered again. When she actually explained her power out loud it sounded far more impressive than it felt.
"Well shit, that explains it," Miya said. The young woman seemed to lose herself in her thoughts again.
"Umm, could you explain?" Taylor asked. She still didn't really see how she was much of a thinker, much less a tinker.
"Huh? Oh right. You want to know why you're a thinker and tinker?" Miya asked. Taylor nodded in acknowledgement. "Oh that's easy," she started. Taylor disagreed but she let the other girl continue.
"You get a thinker rating by having enhanced perception, and well, you can know everything that happens in your range, that's at least a Thinker 2, if not a Thinker 3, and if you have complete control over your bugs you can selectively breed them in a fraction of the time it would normally take. If we get you a warehouse you could have an army of super-bugs in just a few months!" she said excitedly.
Taylor's eyes widened. She hadn't even thought of that. Now that she did though… she had so many ideas! She knew how different bugs in the same species could be. She could make her wasps as large and fast as physically possible, make her venomous spiders jump as high as actual jumping spiders. She had no idea why she hadn't come up with that before, she just needed space to make her ideas a reality.
"You just realized what you can do, didn't you?" Miya asked with a grin. Taylor did her best to hide her blush.
"Yeah, I didn't realize until now," she said sheepishly. "But we don't need to talk about my power any more," she followed up, hoping to change the topic. "Why should I join your team, is it just the two of you?" Taylor asked. Miya blinked at the sudden shift before answering.
"Well as of right now it is just the two of us, but we've got two other in mind. I talked to one yesterday, and I've reached out to the other. It just depends on whether or not I get a reply," she admitted. Taylor could admit the thought was appealing. Independent heroes really didn't tend to last long. Three wasn't much of a team, but it was still better than working alone. A team of five, however, could be an actual big player in the Bay. Still, she couldn't shake Tattletale's words from the previous night.
She knew it was pretty foolish to put stock in a villains words, especially when the result was making her hesitate from joining an actual team of heroes, but there was something about the warning that made it seem genuine. She'd have to think on it.
"Alright. It definitely sounds like something I'd be interested in. Give me a few days and I'll get back to you," Taylor said noncommittally. Miya's smile showed that the girl probably took that as an implicit yes.
"Awesome, is it ok of Metis contacts you if there's anything pressing?" She asked. Taylor couldn't exactly say no to that.
"Sure."
The walk back helped push her doubts away. Sure, she knew what they said about offers that sounded too good to be true, but she couldn't help but want the offer to be genuine. She was aware of the blatant manipulation. The thinker, Metis apparently, had taken care of her bullying problem, or so it seemed, and in return had asked her to join the team. None of that seemed to actually be malicious, just a bit callous.
By the time Taylor was home, she had already just about made up her mind.
Worm | Interlude: Lisa
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
- Location
- United States
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
Even after a night of (very little) sleep, Lisa couldn't get the black-themed cape out of her head. She was the most terrifying thing Lisa had ever seen, and not because she killed Lung.
Even a civilian could have killed Lung with ease in his state at that moment. No, the presumed tinker was so terrifying because when Lisa looked at her she could see nothing.
It was as if her power just shut off when she looked at the shadowed figure. She'd dealt with Thinker interference before, Coil offered her plenty of experience in that field, but she'd never seen someone just not show up in her power.
That could only mean one of two things. Either the cape had some sort of stranger power which gave her immunity to Lisa's thinker ability, or she had developed some sort of Tinkertech device that hid her from Lisa's power.
Both were concerning, but the former only meant that there was a stranger cape with a backer or Tinker partner. The latter meant that there was a cape that could make anything immune to Lisa's and other Thinkers' powers. The cape had no objection to killing, and would presumably break the unwritten rules as she pleased.
Were the Undersiders 'guilty' enough to fall on her radar?
Only time would tell.
Her thoughts drifted to the other cape from the night. There was an opportunity. The bug controller had an absurdly useful power, and she didn't even seem to realize it. The girl had almost single-handedly managed to take care of Lung. In fact, she would have probably succeeded in defeating him one-on-one if she hadn't hesitated to use her bugs to their fullest from the very beginning.
Despite that, the girl had almost no self-esteem, and seemed to be on an express-track to suicide-by-villain.
She opened up the PHO app on her phone, and made a quick post on the connections board. All new capes browsed PHO religiously, and most veteran capes at least stayed up to date. She'd have a reply in a few days.
With that base covered, she had to think about what she was going to tell the boss. On the one hand, the cape was a threat, and if anyone could deal with her it was Coil. On the other hand, Coil was holding a gun to her head, and this could be her best chance for freedom.
She wasn't exactly keen on mystery tinker, but there really wasn't any way Lisa could imagine her being worse than Coil.
In the end she figured she'd just tell the boss the truth. That an unknown cape killed Lung, but they had to leave before Lisa could get a good read because of Armsmaster's approach. She wasn't technically lying at all, but she also wasn't giving Coil and real information about this new cape.
It was the best she could think of at the moment.
The next day Lisa realized that she hadn't told anyone else about her plans for bug girl… Even though Grue was the leader. Their last recruitment attempt hadn't exactly gone well because of Rachel, but she was certain she could make things work out this time around.
"Hey Brian, what did you think of bug girl from night before last," Lisa asked. Brian gave her a 'look' as if he knew where this was going.
"She seemed nice enough. A bit timid, but well prepared at least," he commented.
"Alec?" Lisa asked. The boy didn't bother looking up from the TV screen.
"Could use the muscle, if she can see through those bugs of hers she'll be damn useful," he added.
"She can," Lisa confirmed. Alec grunted in acknowledgement. "I'm thinking she'll make a good addition. With her keeping lookout it'll be much harder for us to get caught off guard like we did on Sunday. She'll also bring us firepower that we really lack," Lisa explained. Brian hummed in agreement.
"Yeah I can definitely see how she'd fit in, I'm for it," Brian replied. Alec had seemingly been sucked into his game, but Lisa figured he was in agreement as well. "Just how are you going to convince Rachel?" Brian asked. Lisa grimaced.
"I'll talk to her in a bit. I've got a meeting set up with bug girl at 2, you two want to come?" she asked. Alec grunted again in agreement.
"Sure, where at?" Brian asked.
"Cafe Primo," Lisa answered as her phone chimed. She opened up the message and felt the colour drain from her face.
"Fuck."
Brian and Alec turned to look at her. Alec simply raised an eyebrow, but Brian spoke up.
"What happened?" he asked. Lisa didn't look up from her phone.
"You know the girl who posted the stuff about Shadow Stalker?" she asked.
"Yeah," Brian replied.
"She's a thinker. Pretty damn new. Really new in fact. And she's young, crazy young huh," Lisa continued before trailing off and scrunching her face.
"Lisa," Brian cut in as the girl trailed off.
"Huh? Oh yeah right. Well, anyways, she just dropped me a warning saying that the cape who killed Lung will be pissed if we recruit a 'would be hero,'" she explained. Brian's eyes hardened at that.
"You think bug girl's working with her?" Brian asked. Lisa shook her head.
"I doubt it, but I think she wants to in the future," Lisa continued.
"Yeah I'm really not looking to get on Miss Predator's shitlist. The chick gave me the chills, thats pretty fuckin hard to do," Alec quipped. Brian nodded in agreement.
"I want to stay as far away from her as possible," he added. "Call off the meeting."
Lisa paused for a moment. "I don't think we should do that. I want to stay on this mystery cape's good side, and if she wants to work with bug girl that means also staying on bug girl's good side. I don't want to stop this meeting out of nowhere. I can go meet with her, give her a token thank you with a gift, and make sure we don't burn any bridges," she explained. Brian drifted into thought for a few minutes.
"Fine, but I'm not letting you go alone," he decided. Lisa nodded, still looking at her phone, the grin was uncharacteristically missing from her face.
By the time the duo made it back from meeting the bug controller, the fear of reprisal from Lung's killer was mostly gone. Surely enough, the moment Lisa stepped into the base, her phone went off.
Lisa's grin was back.
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 9 | Interlude: Lisa
Chapter 9 | Interlude: Lisa
Even after a night of (very little) sleep, Lisa couldn't get the black-themed cape out of her head. She was the most terrifying thing Lisa had ever seen, and not because she killed Lung.
Even a civilian could have killed Lung with ease in his state at that moment. No, the presumed tinker was so terrifying because when Lisa looked at her she could see nothing.
It was as if her power just shut off when she looked at the shadowed figure. She'd dealt with Thinker interference before, Coil offered her plenty of experience in that field, but she'd never seen someone just not show up in her power.
That could only mean one of two things. Either the cape had some sort of stranger power which gave her immunity to Lisa's thinker ability, or she had developed some sort of Tinkertech device that hid her from Lisa's power.
Both were concerning, but the former only meant that there was a stranger cape with a backer or Tinker partner. The latter meant that there was a cape that could make anything immune to Lisa's and other Thinkers' powers. The cape had no objection to killing, and would presumably break the unwritten rules as she pleased.
Were the Undersiders 'guilty' enough to fall on her radar?
Only time would tell.
Her thoughts drifted to the other cape from the night. There was an opportunity. The bug controller had an absurdly useful power, and she didn't even seem to realize it. The girl had almost single-handedly managed to take care of Lung. In fact, she would have probably succeeded in defeating him one-on-one if she hadn't hesitated to use her bugs to their fullest from the very beginning.
Despite that, the girl had almost no self-esteem, and seemed to be on an express-track to suicide-by-villain.
She opened up the PHO app on her phone, and made a quick post on the connections board. All new capes browsed PHO religiously, and most veteran capes at least stayed up to date. She'd have a reply in a few days.
With that base covered, she had to think about what she was going to tell the boss. On the one hand, the cape was a threat, and if anyone could deal with her it was Coil. On the other hand, Coil was holding a gun to her head, and this could be her best chance for freedom.
She wasn't exactly keen on mystery tinker, but there really wasn't any way Lisa could imagine her being worse than Coil.
In the end she figured she'd just tell the boss the truth. That an unknown cape killed Lung, but they had to leave before Lisa could get a good read because of Armsmaster's approach. She wasn't technically lying at all, but she also wasn't giving Coil and real information about this new cape.
It was the best she could think of at the moment.
The next day Lisa realized that she hadn't told anyone else about her plans for bug girl… Even though Grue was the leader. Their last recruitment attempt hadn't exactly gone well because of Rachel, but she was certain she could make things work out this time around.
"Hey Brian, what did you think of bug girl from night before last," Lisa asked. Brian gave her a 'look' as if he knew where this was going.
"She seemed nice enough. A bit timid, but well prepared at least," he commented.
"Alec?" Lisa asked. The boy didn't bother looking up from the TV screen.
"Could use the muscle, if she can see through those bugs of hers she'll be damn useful," he added.
"She can," Lisa confirmed. Alec grunted in acknowledgement. "I'm thinking she'll make a good addition. With her keeping lookout it'll be much harder for us to get caught off guard like we did on Sunday. She'll also bring us firepower that we really lack," Lisa explained. Brian hummed in agreement.
"Yeah I can definitely see how she'd fit in, I'm for it," Brian replied. Alec had seemingly been sucked into his game, but Lisa figured he was in agreement as well. "Just how are you going to convince Rachel?" Brian asked. Lisa grimaced.
"I'll talk to her in a bit. I've got a meeting set up with bug girl at 2, you two want to come?" she asked. Alec grunted again in agreement.
"Sure, where at?" Brian asked.
"Cafe Primo," Lisa answered as her phone chimed. She opened up the message and felt the colour drain from her face.
From: Ur_Darkest_Secrets.
Subject: Don't corrupt the innocent
Hey there Tats, figured I'd drop a warning for my favorite role model. Our tall, dark, and gloomy friend really wouldn't like it if you made a would-be hero a villain, just sayin
Ta ta.
Subject: Don't corrupt the innocent
Hey there Tats, figured I'd drop a warning for my favorite role model. Our tall, dark, and gloomy friend really wouldn't like it if you made a would-be hero a villain, just sayin
Ta ta.
"Fuck."
Brian and Alec turned to look at her. Alec simply raised an eyebrow, but Brian spoke up.
"What happened?" he asked. Lisa didn't look up from her phone.
"You know the girl who posted the stuff about Shadow Stalker?" she asked.
"Yeah," Brian replied.
"She's a thinker. Pretty damn new. Really new in fact. And she's young, crazy young huh," Lisa continued before trailing off and scrunching her face.
"Lisa," Brian cut in as the girl trailed off.
"Huh? Oh yeah right. Well, anyways, she just dropped me a warning saying that the cape who killed Lung will be pissed if we recruit a 'would be hero,'" she explained. Brian's eyes hardened at that.
"You think bug girl's working with her?" Brian asked. Lisa shook her head.
"I doubt it, but I think she wants to in the future," Lisa continued.
"Yeah I'm really not looking to get on Miss Predator's shitlist. The chick gave me the chills, thats pretty fuckin hard to do," Alec quipped. Brian nodded in agreement.
"I want to stay as far away from her as possible," he added. "Call off the meeting."
Lisa paused for a moment. "I don't think we should do that. I want to stay on this mystery cape's good side, and if she wants to work with bug girl that means also staying on bug girl's good side. I don't want to stop this meeting out of nowhere. I can go meet with her, give her a token thank you with a gift, and make sure we don't burn any bridges," she explained. Brian drifted into thought for a few minutes.
"Fine, but I'm not letting you go alone," he decided. Lisa nodded, still looking at her phone, the grin was uncharacteristically missing from her face.
By the time the duo made it back from meeting the bug controller, the fear of reprisal from Lung's killer was mostly gone. Surely enough, the moment Lisa stepped into the base, her phone went off.
From: Adrestia
Subject: I scratch yours
Consider your snake infestation taken care of. Don't abuse your freedom.
Adrestia.
Subject: I scratch yours
Consider your snake infestation taken care of. Don't abuse your freedom.
Adrestia.
Lisa's grin was back.
Worm | Assemble!
DrTortoise
May the World Turtle Save Us All
- Location
- United States
Worm CYOA v5 - Update Gimel
Come Friday morning I was rapidly applying finishing touches to the new-and-improved secret lair. I had spent most of the previous day moving Adrestia's tinkertech out to the warehouses by the boat graveyard, making a few acquisitions, and repainting the lair in bright colors.
The base now looked completely different, but far more inviting than before.
I perked up upon hearing footsteps coming towards my doorstep. As the visitor moved to knock, I opened the door to reveal a rather befuddled Kayden.
"Come in!" I greeted with a bright smile. I couldn't really contain my giddiness. I was just minutes away from forming my own Sentai Team! Sure, we didn't have any color-coded uniforms… or even a unifying theme, but it was the same thing in spirit…
Kayden have me a look of dry amusement, the kind of look all mothers were capable of giving to those they saw as children. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at her. I quickly pulled her over to the mannequin. I had ordered a new costume for Kayden a couple days ago, and had painted it using nanopaint the previous day.
Now, instead of making her look like a 'glowing female,' she would actually have a look. The costume was mostly opaque, but had a few white portions which would allow her light to shine through. As a result, she now looked like a hero with a theme of black, white, and grey, instead of the villain Purity. It wouldn't stop people from making the connection, but the brand change would hopefully help hammer in the idea that Purity wanted to be a hero and not a villain.
Kayden seemed awestruck when she looked at the costume.
"Miya… I can't accept this," she said, feeling the material. The costume was completely bulletproof, and would allow Kayden to survive far harsher impacts than she could before.
"Why not?" I asked. "If you're going to be part of the team then you ought to get benefits."
She shot me a glare at that, but I could tell she wasn't serious.
"I haven't agreed to join yet," she commented. I waved her off.
"Sure you have, just not out loud," I informed her, and received a snort in return. "Either way it's not all generosity," I continued.
"If we're going to be a hero team you're going to need to rebrand. People still see Purity as the Empire 88 villain. If you want to hammer in the idea that you're a hero now, a change is pretty necessary," I told her matter-of-factly. Her expression soured a little at that, but for the most part it seemed as if she had already known. She sighed after a few moments.
"I know. I don't know if I can just throw away being Purity like that, but I'll wear the costume for today at the least. After that we'll have to see," she told me, not making any commitments. It didn't matter, I knew she'd be in by the end of the day.
A knock on the door signalled the arrival of another guest.
The door opened to reveal Taylor, who was completely failing to not look suspicious. I welcomed her in, doing my best to hide my amusement.
"Come on in Taylor, you're the second one here."
Kayden smiled at her as she walked in. I introduced the pair to one another and left to grab Taylor's 'signing bonus' while they exchanged pleasantries.
I pulled a cardboard box out from the closet and set it on the table, the other two came around to see what I was doing.
I opened the box to pull out a flowing orange cape along with a black full-face helmet.
"So your costume is really well made, like really well made, but your mask just isn't up to par with the rest of it… so I figured the helmet would be a good addition. The cape will also help you seem more 'hero-like' than all black, so what do you think?" I asked. Taylor looked like a deer in headlights, but only for a split second before she was back to normal. From an outsider's perspective the whole 'pushing emotions into the swarm' trick was rather eerie.
"Uh, thanks I guess," Taylor said, taking ahold of the offered items. I could tell she wasn't sure about them, but she would be soon.
"Alight, I've got my costume on underneath my clothes, you two go change," I told them, shooing them off. All I had to do was put on a domino mask and make my hair glow.
A few minutes later the two were ready, Kayden was playing around with her costume, adjusting the fit, and Taylor was messing with the interface on her HUD.
"Hey, Taylor. See the button with the wings in the top left corner? Hit that," I told her.
"Huh?" she said, pausing for a moment, before suddenly her cape shot up on either side of her body into a rigid pair of monarch butterfly wings. I grinned widely at the pair's stunned faces.
"See? Pretty great. You won't be able to fly with them, but they can basically act like a hang-glider," I told her. She was still busy gaping at herself.
"...I can fly?" she asked with wonder. I suppressed a snort of amusement.
"No, but you can glide," I told her with a chuckle.
"Thank you," she said, with more emotion than before this time.
I clapped my hands in anticipation. "So, names? I'm going by Valkyrie, and I've already registered with the PRT using it, so I'm afraid it's a bit late for me to change it. Do you wto have any ideas for what you want to use?"
The pair stopped for a moment, but Kayden spoke up after a few seconds.
"I suppose if I must change my name, I'd like to use Radiant," she said with a sigh. "It's what I used before I became Purity," she explained. Taylor stiffened in response.
"You used to be Purity?" she asked, guarded. Kayden winced at her tone.
"Yes, I was," she said in resignation. Taylor started backing away. It was probably a good time for me to cut in. Unfortunately I had an obnoxious AI present.
"Oh lighten up," A voice spoke up from behind Taylor, who spun around, startled. A small sliver drone rose up into the air, displaying a tiny screen with a small, emoting sprite.
"She used to be a villain, now she's a hero, it happens, just look at Assault," Metis spoke up.
"Oh, I'm Metis by the way. How's everyone?" she added. I sighed and rubbed my temples.
"Everyone, this is Metis. Metis, this is Kayden and Taylor, but you already knew that," I introduced, the drone gave a wobbly nod. Taylor gave an awkward wave while Kayden simply nodded slowly back.
"Metis here likes to pretend she's Dragon, so she's going to be joining us using her drone, strictly for informational support," I explained.
"Yup!" Metis chimed in. The other two nodded uneasily.
"So, what exactly is it you called us here for. You said there's a villain who'll cause serious civilian casualties if we don't stop her today," Kayden spoke up. Metis buzzed around to the center of the group.
"Yup, Bakuda's been hiding bombs across the city and in civilian's heads. If my predictions are accurate, which they generally are, she'll start blowing things up tomorrow to make a 'statement'... the girl's insane I know," she explained.
"Anyways I've managed to track down her workshop. It's not the best place to hit her, but with the five of us we should be good to go," she continued. I nodded in support before freezing.
"Wait, five?" I asked. The drone bobbed in a nod.
"Yup, our fifth should be arriving, just about now," she said. Surely enough, a few seconds later someone knocked on the door. I opened it to reveal an absolutely massive african american teenager. He must have been at least six-and-a-half feet tall, with a solid four-hundred pounds of muscle.
Even with my absurd musculature and bone structure, Browbeat looked like he could actually be physically stronger than me.
"Hello," he greeted in a rather pleasant, soft voice. I was already wearing his mask, and I assumed he had his costume on under his baggy clothing.
"I was told to meet here to assist in the capture of a dangerous villain," he continued. His voice really did not match his stature.
"Yes, come on in!" I offered.
Metis explained the situation again, before throwing a detailed map of the building and surrounding area onto a nearby screen.
"So, Bakuda's workshop is in the basement," she started. We all listened in rapt attention.
"She has several traps set up which I've outlined in red, but there may be more I don't know about. She's right next to a residential building, which means we also have to be very careful about crossfire. Your aim should be to apprehend her fast, before she can start throwing around bombs," Metis explained.
She went on to detail a plan of attack, and twenty minutes later we were ready to head out.
I had to keep myself from laughing at the absurdity of it all. Here I was, in an eye-catching costume, heading out with a team of superheroes to apprehend a supervillain.
Life was getting pretty great.
| Option | Character Points | Shard Points |
| Gestation | +15 | +15 |
| Vigilante | ||
| Drop In | +3 | +3 |
| No Identity | +2 | |
| Armor | -5 | |
| Hacking | -1 | |
| Dead Shard | +3 | |
| Worst Day Ever | +2 | +1 |
| Slaughterhouse 9 | +4 | +2 |
| Endbringer Target | +3 | +4 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Second Trigger | -4 | -3 |
| Plot Convenience | -1 | |
| Secret Lair | -2 | |
| Noctis Cape | -1 | |
| Blind Spot | -3 | -4 |
|
|
-10 | |
| Proficiency | -2 | |
| Repair | -2 | |
| Pocket Room | -1 | |
| Peak Condition | -1 | |
| Immunity | -1 | |
| Ambivalent | +3 | +3 |
| Tinkertech | -4 | |
| Supply Line | -4 |
Rejuvenation and Renovation
Chapter 10 | Assemble!
Chapter 10 | Assemble!
Come Friday morning I was rapidly applying finishing touches to the new-and-improved secret lair. I had spent most of the previous day moving Adrestia's tinkertech out to the warehouses by the boat graveyard, making a few acquisitions, and repainting the lair in bright colors.
The base now looked completely different, but far more inviting than before.
I perked up upon hearing footsteps coming towards my doorstep. As the visitor moved to knock, I opened the door to reveal a rather befuddled Kayden.
"Come in!" I greeted with a bright smile. I couldn't really contain my giddiness. I was just minutes away from forming my own Sentai Team! Sure, we didn't have any color-coded uniforms… or even a unifying theme, but it was the same thing in spirit…
Kayden have me a look of dry amusement, the kind of look all mothers were capable of giving to those they saw as children. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at her. I quickly pulled her over to the mannequin. I had ordered a new costume for Kayden a couple days ago, and had painted it using nanopaint the previous day.
Now, instead of making her look like a 'glowing female,' she would actually have a look. The costume was mostly opaque, but had a few white portions which would allow her light to shine through. As a result, she now looked like a hero with a theme of black, white, and grey, instead of the villain Purity. It wouldn't stop people from making the connection, but the brand change would hopefully help hammer in the idea that Purity wanted to be a hero and not a villain.
Kayden seemed awestruck when she looked at the costume.
"Miya… I can't accept this," she said, feeling the material. The costume was completely bulletproof, and would allow Kayden to survive far harsher impacts than she could before.
"Why not?" I asked. "If you're going to be part of the team then you ought to get benefits."
She shot me a glare at that, but I could tell she wasn't serious.
"I haven't agreed to join yet," she commented. I waved her off.
"Sure you have, just not out loud," I informed her, and received a snort in return. "Either way it's not all generosity," I continued.
"If we're going to be a hero team you're going to need to rebrand. People still see Purity as the Empire 88 villain. If you want to hammer in the idea that you're a hero now, a change is pretty necessary," I told her matter-of-factly. Her expression soured a little at that, but for the most part it seemed as if she had already known. She sighed after a few moments.
"I know. I don't know if I can just throw away being Purity like that, but I'll wear the costume for today at the least. After that we'll have to see," she told me, not making any commitments. It didn't matter, I knew she'd be in by the end of the day.
A knock on the door signalled the arrival of another guest.
The door opened to reveal Taylor, who was completely failing to not look suspicious. I welcomed her in, doing my best to hide my amusement.
"Come on in Taylor, you're the second one here."
Kayden smiled at her as she walked in. I introduced the pair to one another and left to grab Taylor's 'signing bonus' while they exchanged pleasantries.
I pulled a cardboard box out from the closet and set it on the table, the other two came around to see what I was doing.
I opened the box to pull out a flowing orange cape along with a black full-face helmet.
"So your costume is really well made, like really well made, but your mask just isn't up to par with the rest of it… so I figured the helmet would be a good addition. The cape will also help you seem more 'hero-like' than all black, so what do you think?" I asked. Taylor looked like a deer in headlights, but only for a split second before she was back to normal. From an outsider's perspective the whole 'pushing emotions into the swarm' trick was rather eerie.
"Uh, thanks I guess," Taylor said, taking ahold of the offered items. I could tell she wasn't sure about them, but she would be soon.
"Alight, I've got my costume on underneath my clothes, you two go change," I told them, shooing them off. All I had to do was put on a domino mask and make my hair glow.
A few minutes later the two were ready, Kayden was playing around with her costume, adjusting the fit, and Taylor was messing with the interface on her HUD.
"Hey, Taylor. See the button with the wings in the top left corner? Hit that," I told her.
"Huh?" she said, pausing for a moment, before suddenly her cape shot up on either side of her body into a rigid pair of monarch butterfly wings. I grinned widely at the pair's stunned faces.
"See? Pretty great. You won't be able to fly with them, but they can basically act like a hang-glider," I told her. She was still busy gaping at herself.
"...I can fly?" she asked with wonder. I suppressed a snort of amusement.
"No, but you can glide," I told her with a chuckle.
"Thank you," she said, with more emotion than before this time.
I clapped my hands in anticipation. "So, names? I'm going by Valkyrie, and I've already registered with the PRT using it, so I'm afraid it's a bit late for me to change it. Do you wto have any ideas for what you want to use?"
The pair stopped for a moment, but Kayden spoke up after a few seconds.
"I suppose if I must change my name, I'd like to use Radiant," she said with a sigh. "It's what I used before I became Purity," she explained. Taylor stiffened in response.
"You used to be Purity?" she asked, guarded. Kayden winced at her tone.
"Yes, I was," she said in resignation. Taylor started backing away. It was probably a good time for me to cut in. Unfortunately I had an obnoxious AI present.
"Oh lighten up," A voice spoke up from behind Taylor, who spun around, startled. A small sliver drone rose up into the air, displaying a tiny screen with a small, emoting sprite.
"She used to be a villain, now she's a hero, it happens, just look at Assault," Metis spoke up.
"Oh, I'm Metis by the way. How's everyone?" she added. I sighed and rubbed my temples.
"Everyone, this is Metis. Metis, this is Kayden and Taylor, but you already knew that," I introduced, the drone gave a wobbly nod. Taylor gave an awkward wave while Kayden simply nodded slowly back.
"Metis here likes to pretend she's Dragon, so she's going to be joining us using her drone, strictly for informational support," I explained.
"Yup!" Metis chimed in. The other two nodded uneasily.
"So, what exactly is it you called us here for. You said there's a villain who'll cause serious civilian casualties if we don't stop her today," Kayden spoke up. Metis buzzed around to the center of the group.
"Yup, Bakuda's been hiding bombs across the city and in civilian's heads. If my predictions are accurate, which they generally are, she'll start blowing things up tomorrow to make a 'statement'... the girl's insane I know," she explained.
"Anyways I've managed to track down her workshop. It's not the best place to hit her, but with the five of us we should be good to go," she continued. I nodded in support before freezing.
"Wait, five?" I asked. The drone bobbed in a nod.
"Yup, our fifth should be arriving, just about now," she said. Surely enough, a few seconds later someone knocked on the door. I opened it to reveal an absolutely massive african american teenager. He must have been at least six-and-a-half feet tall, with a solid four-hundred pounds of muscle.
Even with my absurd musculature and bone structure, Browbeat looked like he could actually be physically stronger than me.
"Hello," he greeted in a rather pleasant, soft voice. I was already wearing his mask, and I assumed he had his costume on under his baggy clothing.
"I was told to meet here to assist in the capture of a dangerous villain," he continued. His voice really did not match his stature.
"Yes, come on in!" I offered.
Metis explained the situation again, before throwing a detailed map of the building and surrounding area onto a nearby screen.
"So, Bakuda's workshop is in the basement," she started. We all listened in rapt attention.
"She has several traps set up which I've outlined in red, but there may be more I don't know about. She's right next to a residential building, which means we also have to be very careful about crossfire. Your aim should be to apprehend her fast, before she can start throwing around bombs," Metis explained.
She went on to detail a plan of attack, and twenty minutes later we were ready to head out.
I had to keep myself from laughing at the absurdity of it all. Here I was, in an eye-catching costume, heading out with a team of superheroes to apprehend a supervillain.
Life was getting pretty great.