Law of the Sword (Worm/Destiny Quest)

Sunday, March 13th, 2011
6:05 PM

As soon as the thought to have an Echo jump in front of the shotgun blast happens, I can see through their point of view, as well as through the eyes of the other Echo, that they are already moving. With that settled, I turn my attention to the foam quickly headed my way, a plan springing to mind almost entirely made on instinct, I've seen things go through my Echos a few times so it has to be me.

I pull myself back and into the Echo moving through me, swapping places with them, and then charging forward into the spray even as multiple gunshots reach my ears. Making myself as big a target as possible, I am quickly swallowed by the expanding material. As it starts to quickly harden, a sense of claustrophobia starts to set in, something that I've never felt before but immediately understand. Focusing on my internal clock, I can feel the seconds tick down before Jittering Step ends, and I am pulled out of the foam.

While that is happening, the Echo I swapped places with is crouched behind the foam, waiting to swap back. The Echo for Triage is having a lot more action, though. Through their eyes, I watch as a burst of gunfire is drawn to the manifested Shield. Through the doorway, they can see the crowd of people have quickly started moving away, but the way the Echo's eyes are moving, it is clear their focus is on the snippets of rapid movement from the other guns manning the fortification.

The last second slips away, and I am free again. The Echo is briefly trapped within the containment foam before they return to copying my actions. Feeling the energy start to refill in Jittering Step's pool I know it is going to take three times as long to recharge as it lasted, which was five seconds, making it match my shield. Confusion about how those numbers came to me tries to bubble up, but I quickly smother it as Triage's Echo's shield crumbles to dust, sending a wave of healing through me.

The Echo with me is already moving to reinforce them, as the Echo quickly pulls her by the wrist, getting her into motion. The Echo reinforcing the pair summons their shield, even though the gunfire stopped, there's no reason to not be cautious. I can hear a bunch of indistinct shouts and the sound of rapid movement through the blood racing past my ears, though I can't make out any specific words. I don't want to fight, not the heroes at least, and not while I'm so tired or there are so many civilians around.

Triage reaches the foam pile and quickly takes cover beside me. Maybe we can settle this with words? Triage has a half distant expression on her face that I am pretty sure means she is using her power. Triage… Maybe my Echos startled them because they are sort of clones? Like the doppelgängers? I don't know.

"Hey!" I shout from our cover. "I'll not jump right to fighting, but why'd you just try to kill us? It wasn't my clones, was it?" A few moments pass before the sound of the megaphone from before reaches my ears again.

"Toss out the Morbistocrat monster! We're under orders from the director, there's no need to draw this out!" They say, one of my Echos peeks around the cover and can see there are two costumed figures, one boy and one girl both, neither of which I recognize.

The girl is wearing something that seems to draw from what a black ops character might wear in is movie, with a few added tech parts to make it more sci-fi, so probably a tinker of some kind. She also has a large tube shaped device on her back, covered with segmented strips of red, blue, and green lights. Her face is covered by the lower half of one of the smiling faces that theaters use, and the top half of her face is covered by military looking goggles that attach to her helmet.

The boy has a much simpler outfit, a simple hoodie and gas mask, wielding a metal bat. Despite that, through the eyes of my Echo, I can spot a few bulges under the casual outfit that tell me there is some armoring to it, as well as a utility belt around his waist. If I had to guess, some kind of brawler? Me and Malum should be able to deal with him fine in that case, but it doesn't give me any hints to what his power might be…

"Why are you trying to kill Triage?" I shout back.

"He named it?" I hear the girl say.

At that statement, my hand draws Malum Caedo without my conscious input, as the want to put a bullet through her mask briefly takes hold. I won't unless needed to though because if she is working with the PRT she has to be a hero. Unless this is one of the truces that Shade Skip mentioned? There is a bit of worry about my murderous instinct, but that I pushed into the large pile of 'deal with it later' that has accumulated in the back of my mind.

"Can't say with it still kicking! Sorry, kid, but you'll get it once we can talk!" The voice is a bit sympathetic sounding.

"We'll take off then! No need for any more death today!" I try.

"That's against our orders!" The megaphone speaker calls out.

Well, fuck. So much for talking it out, and with the two capes here, I don't know how difficult escaping will be. I don't want to give away Jittering Step if I don't have to, but I might have to here even as a simple distraction. Scanning the street, I see that we are about half a block away from the nearest alleyway. If we can slip into that, then we have a much better chance of losing the capes if they follow us. Even if I were to use Jittering Step, it wouldn't be able to keep them distracted for more than the five seconds… If I decide to shoot at them, then they have more than enough guns that one will hit us as we flee.

What about the magnetic power that I got? I know it did something when my Echo blocked the bullets before, did it draw in the gunfire? I didn't think lead was magnetic, though. Five then ten seconds of Manifest Shield for both Echos, then five more seconds from me for a total of fifteen seconds of protection, if that's how the power even works. If it is, though, then that should be more than enough time to reach the alleyway. That doesn't account for the capes though, but without more details I can't really plan for them.

"We're going to make a break for it." I whisper to Triage, just in case one of the capes has enhanced hearing. Her eyes refocus, and her hands tighten on the wrench before she nods.

"Let me call it, I'll stun them for a moment." She says. Now's not the time to ask how she plans to do that, so I just nod in agreement.

My Echo lets me see as the tinker leans over to say something to the bat wielder, who tenses and prepares to jump down. Triage holds up three fingers and quickly counts down, barely slow enough for me to prepare. As soon as the cape moves to jump down, there is a wave of groans from the assembled force, and through my Echo I can see all of them stumble a bit, enough so that the bat cape falls off the foam wall and lands hard.

Me, my Echos, and Triage all take off, one of my Echos running backwards with the shield raised and an eye on our soon-to-be attackers. I must have misjudged our speed though, because we manage to make it to the alley rather fast, the second Echo barely needing to summon their own shield. As for the group, whatever Triage did to them didn't let any of them actually react, except for the tinker who had jumped down and started checking on their ally who seems to be recovering quicker too.

"We need to lose them." I say as we race through the alleyway, thankfully Triage understands my meaning and take the lead, using her power to quickly get us further and further from the hospital.

Shade Skip is being helped, so at least we managed to get that done, but now I have no idea what to do.

Multiple perspectives once again makes writing a bit confusing, let me know if a section is too hard to understand, and I might try a rewrite of it if I can!

Where do we go/do now?
[X][Action] Just keep hunting Morbistocrat's creatures.
[X][Action] Hunker down at home.
[X][Action] Try hunting for Morbistocrat.
-[X][Action] Write-In: (what part of town?)
[X][Action] Write-In:

Sunday, March 13th, 2011
6:15 PM

We make it a few blocks away before slowing down, Triage looking back the way we came for a few seconds before speaking up.

"I don't think they're following us."

"Good. I don't really want to get into another fight today, let alone a cape one." I say, feeling the adrenaline quickly filtering out of my system. Triage gives me a strange look for a few seconds before her face settles into something more neutral.

"So what now?"

I briefly consider that. We could keep hunting down more of Morbistocrat's creatures, and the idea of my Growth is deeply pleasing. But if I did start hunting, I don't really want to go after the things that will make me feel miserably sick, if only for a moment. There is a slight tug somewhere in my chest as I realize that I would rather be killing people and not monsters, but I dismiss that for now. We could also try to go after Morbistocrat directly, but I don't know how that will work with Triage.

"I think I'm going home." I say without thinking, after a moment of consideration, I realize the thought is vastly more appealing than going out to fight right now.

"What about your parents?" Triage asks, making me flinch as a spike of hurt to shot right through my heart. Taking a moment and deep breath to keep myself composed, I manage to keep myself from reacting at more than I already have.

"They won't be home, so no worries there."

"Alright, lead the way." She says.

Pulling out the phone, I pull up the map and start trying to find where me and Shade Skip left the car. I can't remember the name of the park, if I even saw it, but there are only a few of them nearby so we should be able to work through them. Choosing the closest one, I start walking, one of my Echos glances back to make sure that she's following. I keep Malum Caedo drawn, just in case any creatures find us.

As we walk, the silence starts to set in. There are no sounds of traffic emanating from a part of the city, only the light sounds of wind. How many people have died, I wonder. Is this what being in Ellisburg felt? I shrug, the Bay has survived the Nine and Teeth, we'll get over this too. We make it about three fourths of the way to the first park before Triage speaks up again.

"PRT interrogation, huh?" Her tone is somewhere between resigned and bored. It takes me a few seconds to connect the dots on what she is talking about, and when it does, I take a few seconds to consider my answer.

"Yeah. I figured they would have some kind of program in place to help you, something like the Case 53s. Maybe we could go to a different PRT HQ? I know there is one in Boston and another in New York, but that might be too close to this whole mess."

"Why though?" She asks.

"Well, you don't have any identification or birth certificates. They would be able to take care of that because I don't have a clue." I say.

"No, I got that part. But why would I need those things?"

That brings me up short because I don't know. People are supposed to have those things, so she needs them. For jobs? What if she just becomes a Cape? Wait, how do capes make money? Villains do it by robbing people and selling drugs, but how do heroes that don't work for the Protectorate? New Wave takes donations, I know, but that doesn't seem like it would be enough. I shake off those thoughts and respond.

"In case you want to get a job? Also, their Thinkers can make sure you aren't being Mastered. I don't really trust Tattletale, and if it turns out that you are, they have stuff for that too. I think, they should, at least." I say.

She is quiet at that, and I can see through the eyes of the Echo that has been scouting that up around the corner is the park that I originally met the Undersiders in. Sitting right next to it is the car, all the windows and the trunk has been opened, but it's there and looks to be still running. I didn't have anything in it anyway, so whoever ransacked it probably got like thirty cents. The Echo scans the street, but I don't spot anything out of the ordinary. I pick up the pace a little bit and as soon as I pass through the mouth of the alleyway I make a beeline right for the car.

I shut the trunk and the driver side doors, while Triage handles the passenger side without any prompting. The fuel level is a lot lower than when I left it, but it should have more than enough gas to get us across town. I don't really want to go through downtown with everything going on, so I consult my phone's map again and find out how to get to the highway from here. The map lets me know there is a traffic jam on the highway though, which I should have considered really, so through downtown it is. As long as I hang close to the coast, it should be fine.

As we start to drive, Triage turns on the radio, only to be met with static. She flips through a few channels before we manage to hear a distorted message coming through. Testing a few frequencies around it doesn't make it come in any clearer, so she turns back to it, and I listen as much as I can while navigating through the deserted cars clogging the roads.

"Vo-ce… -val! The Bay -s… into leve- three quar-ine… wall… frog- when y- look -way… any Capes th- ly… kill it t- -tore wider com-... -tary aid f-m the n- -ard." The voice fades out too much to be understood after that.

I got a few things from it, one is that The Voice of Survival is still kicking, which is nice to know that the Thinker has survived. The second is that there is, or is going to be, a quarantine for the Bay. The other stuff I didn't understand, though. Thinking of VoS though makes me hand the phone over to Triage, we're in a part of town I recognize now, so I don't need it.

"Here, check out what PHO is saying. Also search for posts from the username 'Voice of Survival', see what you can gather." She gives me a nod. Only a few seconds later, she raises an issue.

"There's no internet connection." She says, turning the phone to show me a 404 page.

"What? But I was just using the map, and I had to look up the hospital too." She shrugs and starts poking at the phone some more. I don't manage to come to a solution before she speaks up again.

"The maps might have been downloaded? Then maybe without internet, it just searched the maps?" Triage suggests.

"No. I might believe one of the newer Dragontech phones doing that, but not some random flip phone." I dismiss, only for her to respond in a smug tone.

"Like this?" She turns the phone around and show me the logo, a stylized dragon's maw.

"What? She makes flip phones? Wait, hold on. Why would this be Tattletale's burner phone? What the fuck?" I can't contain my outburst.

"Not too unlikely now, is it?" Her voice is still smug and the corners of her mouth are pulled up.

"I guess. I still don't think that's how that works, but it's as good an explanation as anything else."

The radio gets shut off after that and the car ride is much more relaxed, a tension I didn't even realize was there having been dismissed. As we pull into my neighborhood, I am a bit worried to see a line of houses have been burnt down, a line of smoke still raising from the husks. Thankfully not the houses of anyone I know, plus there isn't sounds of anyone calling for help or anything, so I feel fine to leave it be. The car is basically out of gas, though, so I decide to just park it here, on one of the 'main' roads for the neighborhood. As we walk, I quickly lose my mask, not wanting to look too much like a cape as I enter my house.

The open air feels nice on my face after so long.

How to pass the time?
[X][Pass] Shower and try to sleep.
[X][Pass] Start planning for the next step.
-[X][Pass] Write-In: (What is it?)
[X][Pass] Talk with Triage.
-[X][Pass] Write-In: (about?)
[X][Pass] Write-In:

How long do you stay low? A.k.a. Non-cape stuff.
[X][Low] Only until we've recovered.
[X][Low] A few days, to let the situation be sorted by the heroes.
-[X][Low] Write-In: (in the meantime?)
[X][Low] Longer
-[X][Low] Write-In: (doing what?)
[X][Low] Write-In:

Sunday, March 13th, 2011
6:30 PM

Leading us through the back door, I quickly lock back up, for as much good as that would do should anything find us. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. The feeling of stone pressing on my lungs and shoulders makes me take another deep breath, which loosens the feeling a bit. Opening my eyes, I slip off my boots and absentmindedly tell Triage to do the same. There's no hunger, but I need to eat something, so I move into the kitchen and start looking.

Popping open the fridge, I see that it is mostly empty, which is a bit weird until I think about it a bit more. Anything in the fridge would have gone bad by now, but there is no rotten food here, which means the Ms. Wolfe must have thrown out the stuff that would have gone bad. Thinking about her makes me remember the letter in my pocket, pulling it out, I toss the crumpled paper onto the counter for later.

Moving to the cupboards, I start to take inventory of what we've got. I don't want to make something complicated, so my eyes land on the spaghetti noodles. Double-checking that we have tomato sauce, which we do, I start cooking. Shuffling behind me makes me try to look through my Echo to see where Triage is, only to realize that Dreadnought isn't running through my veins anymore. When did that happen? Turning my head, I see she is standing at the entrance to the kitchen awkwardly.

"Shower is upstairs if you want it." I say, turning back to the stove.

"I don't have anything to change into." That's something that I should have thought of.

Only a little bit of thinking has me almost suggest just wearing some of Diamond's clothes. As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I feel a burst of irrational anger pool in my gut. Clenching my teeth, I think about suggesting my moms clothes instead, but that would be way too weird. Forcing myself to relax, I think about it rationally. Triage doesn't have any clothes, and Diamond probably wears closer to her size than mom does, plus seeing her in any of moms clothes would be completely upsetting, which means that's the only option, because I'm not going to make her put on dirty clothes after taking a shower.

"You can wear some of my sister's clothes." I say, not turning around.

"She's my size?" To which I shrug.

"No idea, it's either hers or mine, and I figured you'd want hers more."

"I'll look." She says with an exacerbated tone, then a few heartbeats pass, and she gives a quieter 'thanks' before heading upstairs.

I let myself zone out, setting Malum Caedo on the table as I immerse myself in cooking. As much as I can with something as simple as spaghetti, anyway. It doesn't take long for me to hear the shower to turn off and Triage start to move around upstairs. I set out two places before sitting down to eat. It is really nice to be eating something, there's probably some psychology to it or whatever, but I don't know it or really care.

Hearing her descending the final steps, I look towards her. Fresh out of the shower and not completely covered by the robe, she is completely indistinguishable from the pictures of Panacea I've seen while scrolling through PHO in the past. She is wearing some of my clothes, just some shorts and a tee shirt. She notices me looking and crosses her arms.

"They fit better." Her voice is defensive, but I just shrug and point at the other plate with my fork.

"Made you a plate, we may as well do a bit of talking." I say and return to my mostly finished meal. She takes a seat, and a few seconds pass of her looking at her plate before she speaks.

"I can't eat." Her voice is laced with something that I can't identify. Is she a vegetarian? Is spaghetti not vegetarian? Noodles are just wheat and the sauce is just tomatoes, so it should be vegetarian.

"Is it the sauce?" I ask, because I guess it could have other stuff in it.

"No. I can't eat. I don't have a stomach." I can identify the tone this time, it's melancholy.

The statement makes me pause for a few seconds before sliding my plate to the side and focusing on her. Something wells up in my stomach, it's not anger, but it is somewhat close to it, I think. Interlacing my fingers, I decide to just ask my biggest question.

"So, Triage—"

"Riley." She interrupts.

"What?"

"Triage was just until I could think of something. Call me Riley." My brow furrows for a few seconds, but Riley is more of a real name, so it makes sense. I should probably introduce myself then too.

"Alright, outside the mask, call me Roman." To which she nods. "Alright. So, Riley, do you have any plans going forward?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you plan on sticking with me? Going out and becoming a cape full-time? That sort of stuff."

"I haven't really thought about it. I figured I would just stick with you for the next few days."

"And after that?" I probe.

"I'll probably die." She says with forced nonchalance, but it still blindsides me.

"Huh?"

"We were only made to last about ten days outside our cells, and I haven't eaten the last few days anyway." She explains. "I probably have six more days to live, at best."

"Oh." Is all I can say.

That's something that we'll have to address soon. Who would be able to fix that? Panacea can only heal, and I don't know if this would count as an injury, so not her. It would have to be a Bio-Tinker, and the first one that comes to mind is Bonesaw, but like hell I am going anywhere near them. I think there is one in Boston, but I can't remember who or what they do, so that might work, but probably not.

"Sorry." She says in a regretful voice.

"There are plenty of capes out there, I'm sure we can find one to track down." I say, standing up, needing a break from further world shaking information drops. "Where do you want to sleep?"

"I'll take the couch." She says, to which I nod and make my way up to the shower.

Striping out of my clothes, I step into the shower and start washing away the sewer stench. Unfortunately, the relaxation is short-lived as my fingers slide over an almost rocky line on the underside of my forearm. Looking at it, I see a rock-like scar, except it isn't a scar because I can feel my finer running over it, and it melds right with my skin. Now that I am looking, there are a number of spots across my body like that, most of them small but a few are long and thick.

I take a shaking breath and push that matter for way later, when I am not on the verge of having a meltdown. Using my nose, I stay in the shower just long enough to get clean before getting out. Grabbing my towel, I dry off a little before just wrapping it around my waist and walking into my room.

Throwing on some pajamas, I flop onto my bed. Closing my eyes, I bring my aching tiredness to the forefront of my mind and then wait. It takes longer than I would have liked, but I manage to fall into a light sleep.


I open my eyes back in the monochrome expanse, the same black stone below my feet. This time I am on a wide steep that's part of a huge staircase suspended over nothing but the rushing wind, almost looking like an angry ocean.

Looking up, I can see my Shard slowly rotating in all around something, as well as spinning. Down the staircase, I can see Malum Caedo sheathed in the center what looks like the base of a ziggurat without any other layers. The structure is made from the same black rock as everything else, but smooth and meticulously crafted. Compared to everything else I've seen in this place, it stands out as deliberate and not just happening to look like something familiar.


Which direction do you go?
[X][Sleep] Go upstairs.
[X][Sleep] Go downstairs.
[X][Sleep] Jump off the staircase.

null, null --:null, ----
--:-- :null

I spare a glance upwards before making my way down to Malum Caedo. Each step on this staircase is uneven, some take multiple paces to cross, and others are too small to accommodate my whole foot. Despite that, I find the descent easy, and before long I step onto the wide platform that my sword is resting on.

A deep cracking, and shattering sound behind me makes me turn to find that the staircase, as well as the platform that my Shard was on, is gone. As I look, I can see a line between here and everywhere else, like a bubble that turns the whaling chaos into a stable sort of order. Changing my attention to the sculpted landscape, my brain feels like it should be hurting, but it isn't. Taking a step makes the platform feel about as big as a basketball court, but as I look out, it stretches further than a football field.

"It's not really made for us, this place." A voice says, a layered thing with a strange melody to it.

I've never heard it before, I know that for sure, but it is still familiar, tugging on something deep in my chest. Spinning to face my sword, I don't see anything different about it, but I know the voice is its. I start to walk towards it, to do what I'm not sure, but being so far away from someone talking feels rude.

"Our Shard is trying." It continues. "But it's is a multidimensional existence, even now. We think it's fine though, something to confuse our enemies, a level of intrinsic defense."

Reaching my blade takes both more and less time than I expected, and if what was just said is right, it's because of multiple dimensions? I don't think I am smart enough to really understand, because the only other dimension I know about is Earth Aleph, and this place I suppose.

"You're talking." I say in absence of anything else.

"We are very happy that you can finally hear our song! We were a bit worried that you wouldn't be able to, but it makes sense that you would, at least in this place. A bit sad that you were not the first to hear the melody, but… we think you would be fine with it, considering the circumstances." The voices all have different tones and inflections, melding to one pleasant voice, but a side effect is I can't tell any sort of nuance in it.

"What are you talking about?"

"Something for later. Anyway, welcome to your god-home! The Watchers have called it a throne world, but we don't know why. They've also been calling this place the Ascendant Plane, which is as good as anything considering the other three we've met here."

I got about half of it, but the god-home part is definitely part of my Ascension Sigil, is this place what that did? The rest of it was some names, so this monochrome place is the 'Ascendant Plane'?

"So this," I say, gesturing to the stonework in the bubble of calm. "Is a 'throne world'?"

"Yes, we think. It probably has something to do with the enlightener's title as king, but we're not sure about that. Oh, there is so much we which to tell you, of things we have learned and places to go. We've only been able to see the reflections in the Watcher's eyes, so we don't have the full picture. But telling you everything wouldn't be a good story, so the Whale might become upset and rend this place."

I stare at Malum Caedo for a few moments, the strange swirling patterns between over a dozen Sigils between the two cross guards. Nothing that was just said makes any sense to me, save the existence of the Whale, which I know of. It talking about things like this makes me realize that Malum is alive, which I sort of knew, but not like this.

The few moments of silence are enough for me to parse some of what it said, basically, it can't tell me everything it knows? And if it does, the Whale will attack?

"What can you tell me?" I ask, because I am in the dark on basically everything, so any hints would be helpful.

"We can give you a bit of information, a gift, and then you can ask one question. We would guide you around this area, our main concern, but you are not really asleep right now, so we don't have time for that. The information is this, while here, you are free of your puppeteers. You are slowly growing strong enough to do it yourself, but while here that will be true. We're also going to start helping with some translations that our Shard is having issues with, so have fun with that. You can ask your one question now." I can't tell if it's being eager or trying to be aloof, or something else entirely.


What question do you ask?
Voting Disabled.


The feeling of anticipation fills me, like something heavy tipping forward over the edge of a great fall. Puppeteers? What? I nearly ask about that, but hold myself back. This feels like one of those to the letter type questions, and I trust Malum Caedo but… This is all so different. I feel like I've been thrown into the deep end of a pool, but it's not full water but looks and feels like water.

Stepping back, I try to compile everything that the weapon just said. Our Shard is multidimensional, which makes sense I guess. It was called our Shard, but I don't know if it is referring to itself, since it's been using a plural, or our as in me and Malum. Someone else talked with Malum Ceado? This place is called the Ascendant Plane and some king made pocket dimensions like this one here? Something called the Watchers has been… watching? I'm guessing that is referring to the Eyes that were with my Shard and the Whale when I got access to my Sigils. And lastly, the Whale is, what, a threat?

I almost ask what I am allowed to ask about, but don't because I have no way of knowing if that would count as the question. There are so many things that I don't understand and that has been coming up, so I try to narrow down what has been going on. It's difficult because I know I've been developing a lot of questions, but I can't seem to remember any of them. I wish this offer came when my mind hadn't been so scrambled over the last day.

My thoughts go Triage— Riley, since that is the most recent issue I've encountered. I'm sure that I could figure out what to do with that, but if I can just ask without all the worry of trying to find a solution, then I should, right?

"How can I help Riley?"

"There are a few options for that, she just needs a new source of energy. Form a bond with her like you did with Shade Skip, and you can keep her alive with some of your death energy." I barely get a chance to store the response before everything splinters.


Resyncing… Voting Enabled
Sunday, March 13th, 2011
8:45 PM

Opening my eyes, I am greeted with my ceiling. A few minutes pass as it feels like my brain is reconstructing itself.

Okay, my next step it pretty clear, I need to form that bond with Riley. The only problem is that with Shade Skip, she already had some kill energy in her, and I didn't really make the bond on purpose. But I know at least one requirement, and then we just shake on an agreement? I should probably make a more formal agreement with Riley, since the one with Shade Skip wasn't supposed to be a long term thing anyway. So to start with, how do I go about getting her some kill energy?

I blame the weird feeling of this chapter on all the headache medicine I've had to take in the last few days to combat a migraine. Unless it's fine, and I just think it's weird for the same reason.

What do you hunt?
[X][Hunt] Go looking for some Morbistocrat creatures.
[X][Hunt] Go looking for some Empire goons.
[X][Hunt] Consult Riley about the plan.
[X][Hunt] Write-In:

Sunday, March 13th, 2011
8:45 PM

I should probably consult Riley about it. Killing a Nazi is something everyone enjoys, but Morbistocrat's creations are probably easier to find right now, which would get things going faster since we're on a clock. Plus, killing a Nazi might break the truce that might or might not be in place right now.

Getting up, I notice that I've only been asleep for a bit over two hours based on my desk clock. Quietly padding over to my door, propping it open, I strain my hearing downstairs. The steady sounds of breathing reach me, meaning she soundly asleep, so I'll just have to wait a few hours.

I go to scroll through PHO, but remember that Riley has the phone, not to mention the internet ins't working. Also, it was given to me by Tattletale, so I probably shouldn't have brought it home, but it's a little too late for that. My next thought is to practice with Malum Ceado, except that is downstairs on the table still, and going down is begging to wake her up. Plus, practicing with it wouldn't be quiet anyway, and I should probably figure out what to do with the fact that Malum is alive to some extent.

I take a seat on my bed and mentally wonder what I could do. My eyes drift to a few discarded notebooks, I have time now, I could probably write up that code. The first two rules are easy, don't kill kids and don't draw out a kill unnecessarily. But what else do I need to add… Probably something about not killing surrendering people. My mind goes to the thieves, they surrendered, for instance.


Figuring out all the rules didn't take as long as I thought it would, so I ended up sitting on my bed for most of the night. Thankfully it's seven now, and more importantly, I've heard Riley moving around for a little bit now. Stepping in the hall, I grab my clothes that I left in the bathroom last night and throw them into my room before making my way downstairs.

Reaching the bottom, I see Riley sitting at the table staring at Malum which is still resting on the table in its gun form. Hearing my steps, she looks up at me with a freckled face that is almost more asleep than awake. She makes a grunt that could mean anything from 'morning' to 'fuck off'.

"Morning." I say, deciding to take that interruption.

"Coffee." She mumbles out before crossing her arms on the table and burying her face in them. Looking over, I see that she has made of pot of coffee, but there isn't a mug in the sink, I don't drink coffee though.

"Want me to get you a mug?" I ask, to which she lets out a long groan, her head still buried in her arms.

"I can drink water, but I don't know about coffee." She says, which makes me remember her anatomy is different. "And even if I can, I have no idea if it would work." She mumbles something else, but I can't parse it.

"I mean, you could always try it." I try, only to get a snort in response.

"And die? No, thanks. Coffee is toxic to basically anything not human, and I don't feel like finding out how inhuman I am."

She sits up and stretches, yawning as she does. I wait for her to complete the action, not wanting to find out if there is a breathing equivalent of a spit take, before I respond.

"Speaking of dying, I figured out a way to keep you alive without Morbistocrat." I wince a bit as soon as the sentence leaves my mouth because I could probably have worded that better.

Riley freezes for a few seconds before turning to look me in the eyes. Her face is set in a severe expression and there is no trace of sleepiness that what there a moment ago. Her eyes have the biggest shift though, before I wouldn't have called them wide and full of wonder or anything corny like that, but there was a level of openness, for lack of a better word, to them that is completely missing now.

"Explain." She demands, her voice betraying an inner turmoil that her face hides.

"Alright. So I just need to make a bond with you, and then I can feed you with my energy, which will keep you alive." I explain.

"Bond? Hold on, how did you figure this out? Why didn't you tell me yesterday?" Before I can get a word in, she waves her hands and spins her chair so that she can look at me properly. "What exactly is your power? Because I thought you just had your clones and could turn a sword into a gun." She says, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at Malum. Her eyes harden more and her face shifts into a furious expression. "I'm not becoming one of your ghosts."

"I didn't say anything like that." I reassure, my voice a bit strained.

She is probably thinking of the Faerie Queen, which is not. Actually, how much am I going to tell her? I can't tell her the same amount that I told Shade Skip because that doesn't explain the how of me finding out.

"Well? What is your power, then?" She demands, making me let out a huff.

"I was gonna tell you. Basically, whenever I kill someone, or something I guess since it's been working with Morbistocrat creatures, I get more powerful."

"Of course, I get rescued by a serial killer." Riley says, deflating.

"I'm not a serial killer. I only go after bad people, like gang members." I deny.

"And what if they were forced to be in the gang? Huh? What if they were just doing it to feed their families?" Heat starting to enter her voice as she stands up.

That makes me pause for a few moments. I had considered it a bit, but it is an unfortunately necessary part of getting rid of the gangs. The thought tugs on something in my chest, like a set of strings, before being snapped and leaving me a bit confused before I refocus on the conversation.

"It, is possible, I suppose. But you could make the same argument for anything. If you kill a bug, what does the spider eat? I'm not going to kill someone I know is innocent, but the gangs have to die. Once I kill enough of them, they'll scatter."

"That bug analogy doesn't even make any sense. There is a reason that people are innocent until proven innocent, Roman!" I feel myself starting to get a bit heated as well.

"And just let them run rampant? Killing innocent people? Robbing innocents? Raping families and slaughtering them in the streets like animals and leaving their remaining family alone? No, I refuse. The gangs will be hunted, killed, excised like the disease they are. No one else will go through this." I snarl at her. She is quiet for a few seconds, a look crossing her face I am too angry to process.

"And after the gangs are gone? Then what? Move onto petty criminals? Are you going to start cutting down jaywalkers?" She says.

"What?" The question knocks a bit of wind out of my sails. "No, I've actually spent the night writing up a code so that something like that doesn't happen."

"Oh? And pray tell, what is that code?"

Roman has finally sat down and did his code! You can vote to add three more 'rules' to it. The vote will be done in the approval style, and it will be added to the Accumulated Strength Public Doc (whose name I should probably change at this point) in addition to the ones that Roman made, which are on there now.

The Code:
[X][Rules] Write-In:

How much do you reveal about your powers? (Should the code be sufficient for Riley to listen.)
[X][Powers] Everything, anything she asks about and anything relevant.
[X][Powers] Just what is necessary, only what is needed for her to believe that helping her will work.
[X][Powers] Minimal, lie, play things as if it's all 'instinct', give nothing new.
[X][Powers] Write-In: