Law of the Sword (Worm/Destiny Quest)

Monday, March 14th, 2011
9:55 AM

And just like that, the affronted feeling that I had managed to push aside surges to the front of my mind. Veto? Words start spilling out of my mouth before I can even properly consider them.

"I can promise that I will hear your arguments, but let's get one thing straight. I'm not going to run out of targets. Once my work is done here in the Bay I will move to the next city, then the next, then the next. There are gangs that need to me cut down running amok in every city. You don't have to fight if you don't want to, I'd be nice, though it's ultimately your choice. But I'm not going to give you some kind of— of position over me. To dictate what I can and can't do just for the privilege of helping you." My voice is sharp and pointed. Once the words are out I want to go back and change them, not because they aren't true, but I could have phrased it in a better way I am sure.

Triage's face has gone blank, I can't tell what she is thinking at all. If she needs to think about it? Fine. She has the energy now so we can come to the agreement at any point, it doesn't have to be right this second. My sudden height change rears its head again as I realize that I am looming over her. I let my still raised hand drop and step back so that I am not looking down at the now shorter girl. Height and those weird growths, what the hell is my power trying to do? Chitin! That's what the black stuff is, it has to be, that is what Panacea mentioned when she healed me up after all. The memory is pushed to the side I a gradually bring my attention away from Triage and back to the jellyfish-thing floating far above downtown, looking through my Echos of course.

"I am going back to the house to think." Triage finally says before walking off.

I watch her go, a mess of emotions roiling in me, the clearest one being a hollow disappointment, but I don't follow her. Just because I am not a traditional hero doesn't mean I am not doing good. All the people that I killed can't hurt any more people, there was an old comic about that I think. Maybe from Aleph? Doesn't matter. While having a partner would be nice, it definitely isn't needed. I turn my attention inwards for a moment, feeling my connection with Shade Skip, but it is as quiet as ever, twisting off in the direction of the hospital I left her.

Some part of me knows that I only have about fifteen minutes left before the fighting starts, so I push both Riley and Shade Skip out of mind. I can't see the force field that Armsmaster and Luminaflare are going to take out, but I guess if it isn't colored like Shielder's then it would be invisible, wouldn't it?

I start running towards downtown, aiming at some of the taller skyscrapers that should let me get without shooting distance of the jellyfish. Probably, there is still the matter of not being able to judge how far up it is properly.


I make it downtown, and I know that I don't have a lot of time, five minute at most before the hour deadline that Triumph gave me comes to pass. There has been progressively more activity as I have gotten closer. PRT coordinating with police as well as some soldiers, but I don't really know anything about the military, so I can't tell what branch. My eyes also spot some gangsters lurking in the alleyways, guns in hand but don't focus on them.

The streets are lined with gore and innards that clog my nose with the sickly sweet off smell that Morbistocrat's monsters have. There is a steady flow of quieter gunshots as the soldiers pop the smaller, basketball sized, jellyfish that seem to be cleaning up the gore. Are they bringing it up the big one? How much in it?

I spot capes being ferried to rooftops by the few flying heroes or with other means like Vista's warped space. Everyone seems to be setting up on rooftops, getting them closer to the jellyfish, though everyone is careful to keep their eyes level.

I cannot say for sure how much of the next chapter will be the fight/how much of the fight will be covered. I don't like splitting fights between chapters, but I am aiming to make this one bigger. Also, I understand that some parts are still being sort of slow, so some feedback for parts people might want to see focused on more/advance would be nice.

What is my fight plan?
[X][Fight] Try to get close and attack on your own, don't worry about keeping things secret.
[X][Fight] Try to get close and attack on your own, try to only use previously shown powers.
[X][Fight] Link up with some of the heroes and attack.
[X][Fight] Link up with some of the heroes, try to only use previously shown powers.
[X][Fight] Use the chaos to hunt some Empire, ignoring the jellyfish, the heroes've got it.
[X][Fight] Write-In:

Monday, March 14th, 2011
10:10 AM

My mind starts racing through various plans for how I want to handle this. I could just join with the Capes headed onto the rooftops, or I could just use Another Surface to get to the top of a skyscraper myself. Or… My gaze moves further down the road, in the direction that the seems to hold the most activity. I could ride the cannon shot up to it, I am best in melee, after all.

It's a batshit insane idea, but I can't see how it would kill me with how well I can heal, and I have a feeling that even if I did die it wouldn't stick. The thought briefly baffles me because I have no idea where it came from. My nagging sense of loosing time makes me start moving towards the bustle of people down the road. Part of me thinks that I might have a bit more time because the Capes and soldiers are still getting into position.

As I get closer, I tap a soldier on the shoulder to get his attention, he spins to look at me, face covered with bewilderment. It lasts half a second before it starts to morph into anger, so I cut her off with my question.

"Where is the cannon? The one for the jellyfish."

"Fuck if I know! You need to either group up or get the Hell out of the way." She says, turning back to whatever she was doing, holding down the perimeter?

Whatever. I step away and find a PRT trooper to ask, who helpfully points me off away from the rapidly thinning crowd. Not wasting any time, I sprint in that direction, my Echos splitting off as I go to check side streets for wherever this cannon is set up. The further away I get from the gathering of capes, the cleaner the streets become. My search is interpreted as every speaker in the area does that electric screeching noise as they turn on, I don't let it slow me down.

"We are Morbistocrat. There can only be one royalty with the title of biomancer on the East Coast. Precautions have already been taken, your contingencies disabled. Your reign has grown weak in your old age. We claim the title of Queen." The silky voice says from what feels like every part of the street.

There might have been more said, but it is downed out of my mind as one of my Echos spots a large sci-fi looking cannon in the middle of a four-way intersection. My real body quickly starts making its way there as I watch through the Echo as Armsmaster cuts down on a dog-thing, one of many if the pile of slushed body parts around the intersection is anything to go by.

The cannon itself is about the size of a bus in length but about half as thick, as long as you don't include the base that is spread out like a big X. Most of it looks like it was salvaged from cars, but there are parts that almost look like they are made of light. That means it might shoot a laser, which means I wouldn't be able to magnetize to the bullet. My real body reaches the street in line with the cannon, and I can see legs sticking out of a panel in the side of the cannon. I am guessing that they belong to Luminaflare. My feet keep carrying me forward, focused on the Tinkertech.

Through my Echos, I watch as Luminaflare climbs out of the side and closes up the hatch before flying over to Armsmaster. Her costume is like a hard light legionnaire, a large flowing plume on top of her head made of iridescent light, her helmet leaves the lower half of her face clear with a shimmering visor over her eyes. The body armor is metal and I assume power armor since she is a Tinker. The gun starts to do what I assume is its charging sequence, if the way all the glowy bits start to get brighter. The Tinker pair also notices me as they start moving to intercept. Unfortunately for them, I am already close enough that I feel confident in using my dust power for the first time.

Suddenly becoming a cloud of particulates is a jarring experience, I feel significantly slower, but I can move up and down or back and forth without the slightest hit of gravity pulling on me. The biggest shift is my vision, I can no longer understand the sights that my Echos are feeding me, and my view has shifted radically. I can see all around me, but it is like I am looking through one of those glass shower curtains, everything is super blurry. Focusing, I start losing part of my sight, no longer an omnidirectional sense, but the area I am focusing on starts to become clearer, slowly. Internally, I can feel a pool of energy start to drain, and I instinctively know it is a trimmer for how long I can stay in this state. My better sense of time lets me feel that I can hold this shape for one minute total. I reform my eyes and my sight is back to normal instantly, there isn't time to figure out the sight or focus long enough for it to become decipherable. Doing that doesn't let me see through my Echos, unfortunately, but I don't need to as I float to the front of the cannon and reform Malum Caedo.

It is in its sword form and I can almost feel it getting more magnetic. I have the tip pointed at the Disruptor, I think Triumph called it. Hopefully using the flat side helps me stick to the shell. Unforming my eyes the seconds ticking by lets me mentally recognize how odd it is to hold a sword without a hand, though it feels normal enough.

There is a small tremor that resonates up my blade as the only warning I get before I am suddenly somewhere else with almost half of me scattered all over somewhere behind me. It isn't pain in the traditional sense, but it is immeasurably painful. I return to my human form and find myself surrounded and squeezed on all sided by greasy folds of fat and fluids. I didn't realize that my dust form lacked a sense of smell, but the sudden attack of overpowering filth around me combined with the waves of pain is enough to make me puke.

The view from my Echos does give me a hind at what happened, through them, I can see the view from the ground, still next to the cannon. There is a huge gash in the bulbous done part of the creature, which is now being bombarded with lasers, gunfire and explosions. Inside, I manage to get a hold of myself as the Echos flicker inside, but I don't feel a thing from all the attacks. There is not even a slight vibration traveling through the monster that I can feel.

Doesn't matter, I've wasted enough time already. There isn't any light in here, but that doesn't matter, sight isn't needed for this part. My Echos and I start to thrash and tear at everything in reach. Not being able to see, plus their silent nature, means that I have no idea what they are doing beyond knowing they are fighting too. I let my blood start coating Malum Caedo as well as my limbs as I start to spread as much of the acid as I can. Healing flows into me in uneven fits and bursts, but there is enough damage going on that I whatever happened with my body when I was dust is completely taken care of in a few seconds.

I feel fat peel under the edge of my blade, acid everywhere, cutting through my clothes and failing to melt my skin. First all I can do is make a small circle with Malum, then I can start to move my arm a little. Then a little more, slowly bringing my swings towards the middle of my body, carving out a small 'cave' of sorts in the dark. Enough bubbling melted flesh and carved sections of blubber let me stumble forwards into that cave.

Before I can do anything, I fall to one knee as the world tilts and my stomach lurching tells me that we are falling. I can sense that I would be being tossed around right now, but Another Surface is letting me stay anchored. I am not sure what my Echos—

I once again find myself encased in the folds of the jellyfish, though it feels far less ridged this time. My whole body hurts, like I was put through a dryer with a bunch of rocks as company. Any attempt to shift sends lances of red-hot lighting up my nerves, so I just stay still for a few moments. Even laying down I feel dizzy, and it takes a few seconds for me to remember I can be looking through my Echos, Dreadnought still runs through me veins.

Through their eyes I am standing in a huge crater, one is digging into the melting pool of chunky organs beneath their feet, but the other one is looking around. My height, mirrored in the Echo, lets me see over the lip of the cater and across the street. There are what almost look like waves of Morbistocrat's monsters of all shapes and sizes running around, a lot of which I don't even recognize or don't have a coherent shape to identify. The Echo looks up, and I can see we are somewhere near the Medhall building, which looks like it has been partially destroyed. There are almost vertical chunks caved into skyscrapers' facade and through multiple floors. The Echo then tracks a few flyers as they all head in a single direction, after whatever hit the Medhall building?

My musings are stopped as the Echo digging peels up a long strip of pressed ligaments and suddenly my real eyes can see light, and I burst into dust to quickly flow out of the freshly opened exit. As soon as I reform, my Echos have to catch me as I start to capsize, my ears filling with screeching, gunfire, and weird sounds I can only attribute to powers going off. I manage to steady myself and an answer comes to mind. It is a bit hard to tell with the deep pain across my body if there is pain in my head specifically, but with the other symptoms, I am pretty confident that I have a concussion.

My Echo pulls out their gun and shoots one of the creatures running around, a small humanoid, thin with tufts of hair. It's body explodes and I feel a step better, unfortunately the monsters must have notices as they all start rushing away before I can get more healing. The kill flows into me without any of the normal sick taste, now it is just bland and unappetizing. The new kill joins the energy that I had missed that is boiling and bubbling somewhere deeper than my gut.

It is full to bursting of the death energy, which is slowly dispersing throughout my body. But I can also feel a chunk of lethargic power pooled at the bottom of that space, same as any of the other 'special' monsters I have killed. I push that to the side for the moment.

Leaning down, I pull my own Malum out of the sticky wetness at my feet and take a better look at the crater I am in. It had to of been caused by the chunk of the jellyfish that we're standing on now. My Echo pops another one of the little creatures, and my dizziness fades to the back of my mind.

What did you guys have me write? You guys ready the repercussions in the future? Also, I rolled for the number of the little jellyfish you took out too, and you nearly rolled max. The dice are going to betray you at the worst time, right?

Hi, just finished the stat math, welcome to the major leagues? (p.s. Lmk if you think I missed something.)

Where do you focus?
[X][Focus] On the monsters running around.
[X][Focus] On chasing down whatever damaged the Medhall building.
[X][Focus] Retreating and getting to safety. (50% chance Roman ignores this vote)
[X][Focus] Write-In:

Significantly Non-Standard Kill recognized, how to proceed?
[X][Odd] Pass it along the connection to Shade Skip.
[X][Odd] Absorb it.
-[X][Odd] + 2.5 base Speed, + 7" base Height.
-[X][Odd] + 25 base Strength, + 14lb base Weight.
[X][Odd] Try to extract an ability from it. (65% chance of success)

An option for each side.
[X][Interlude] No.
[X][Interlude] Yes
-[X][Interlude] A disloyal dog. (Brad Meadows/Hookwolf)
-[X][Interlude] A short, frayed rope. (Emily Piggot/PRT ENE Director)
-[X][Interlude] An opportunity full of Teeth. (Various/Butcher XIV)
-[X][Interlude] [Nulled] (null) [Simulatory-3230363837][Denial: No]

Do you want to infuse a Sigil?
[X][Sigil] No
[X][Sigil] Yes
-[X][Sigil] Write-In:

Monday, March 14th, 2011
10:35 AM

I consider myself to have a fairly strong hold on my emotions. It is a necessary skill to have in this line of work. That being said, I will be the first to admit that I may have lost my cool a bit as I watched the recording of Armsmaster's assault.

It started well enough, despite the report saying that some cape used the cannon to kill themselves, it still punched through the Disruptor's shield and carved deep into it. There were fewer Capes that responded to the S-Class threat, less than usual due to the multi-city attack, but it those that did gather laid into it with a level of aggression that would have made me smile. If the situation didn't abruptly change. The only thing I could compare it to is one of those sped up videos of a butterfly coming out of its chrysalis, of course, butterflies are infinitely better than what did emerge.

An ugly, centipede, snake, and bobbit worm mix of a creature ejects itself from the jellyfish, the sundered cocoon-like shell falling to the ground as it does. Its carapace covered in oozing tubes that rapidly start to expel droves of malformed creatures. The monster latches onto the Medhall building on its way down, snaking in and out of the building as it travels to the ground, the motion reminiscent of swimming. In doing so it lets us see the scale of the thing, from end to end it is covering eight floors at any given time.

Which brings me to now, sitting at the head of a table with any personnel of note from any department with a single person to spare, meaning there are only three people available. I probably know them, but having a second Nilbog assaulting my city and not sleeping for about thirty-one hours compound to me not giving a shit right now.

"Well? Somebody better give me something, or everyone here is looking at their last days." My voice is a bit raw from all the yelling I've had to do, so I swallow some more of Armsmaster's vile brew. It does what it needs to, but that man has no taste buds.

"Well, um, where would you like to start? Ma'am." A reedy voice says, and I scan him. He is on the younger side, to be in this meeting anyway, with a pair of large but thin glasses. His pale skin looks a bit clammy, but I don't hold it against him, this situation is on the edge of in place procedures. It takes me a few heartbeats but place him as part of the ENE analysis department.

"Anything! Let's start with the Disruptors second form. Where is it going? What are its abilities? The jamming effect must be down because I've been having my throat chewed out by Director Costa-Brown for the last hour!" I shout at him, though to his credit he doesn't shrink under the verbal assault.

"As far as we have been able to tell, Disruptor has traded out it's general jamming effects to specifically target Thinkers, as anyone that tries to analyze it rapidly develops a Thinker Headache." He says.

"So you've got nothing for me?" I ask because I am very close to just booting him out to look for someone that can actually give me a report.

"Not quite, there are protocols for this sort of thing. Just wanted to give the groundwork for if anything turns out to be wrong." He says with a half smile that doesn't reach his eyes. He flips open one of the folders on the table and starts reading. "Disruptors new form is over one hundred feet long and covered in tubes that seem capable of spawning a plethora of Morbistocrat's creatures, both those known and previously unseen. Since leaving town it seems to have stopped spawning creatures, whether this is due to a conservation of supply or the ability no longer working is unknown. Initial attacks put the carapace's toughness around Brute six, with a slow but noticeable regenerative property. Its top speed seems to be about fifty miles per hour. As for where it is going, based on its near straight line and the manifesto that Morbistocrat broadcast, the prevailing theory is that it is going to fight Nilbog."

My heart and stomach drop through the floor beneath me. The deep scar over my kidneys almost pulses at the name.

"ETA?" I bark, all business.

"Barring any delays, it should be there in about six hours."

Okay. Six hours is a lot of time, and an aid request for this can't be ignored. Nilbog can not be allowed to breach containment, that's something everyone can agree on. Turning to the table, I identify the one sitting in for the PRT leadership in charge of the actual in the field duties, who is currently in the city. He would have a soft face, but his piercing eyes make it clear his attitude won't match that appearance.

"How fast can we get our agents to Ellisburg?"

"We can't ma'am." He says bluntly, continuing before I can start yelling. "The Disruptor's shell, the jellyfish parts I mean, is spawning a bunch of monsters. Plus, the monsters that had previously gone into hiding are all out in the open now. Most of the population made it into the Endbringer Shelters, but leaving the city undefended is just asking the creatures to hunt down any stragglers or even target the shelters themselves."

Fuck. I almost want to ignore the logic of that and just send everyone out anyway. Of course, duty overshadows my vendetta. Even if I tried, you can't keep a rage hot for over a decade, only mold it into something productive as it cools. My oath is to the Bay, so that is what I will focus my attention on.

"Everyone relevant is aware of the Disruptor's trajectory?" I ask, just to be sure.

"Yes ma'am." The analyst confirms.

With that, I turn to the last member of our meeting, the representative for the currently fully deployed Protectorate. A stern, no-nonsense girl with short dirty blonde hair and a stiff posture that lead me to guess she previously served in some branch of the military. Something about her rings bells in the back of my head, a glance at her name plate, which reads 'A. Covet', lets me recall that she is a new hire. What a welcome to the city this is, I wouldn't be surprised if she transfers out after this mess is solved.

"And what of your side? How are our illustrious heroes doing?" Barely holding back the contempt that tries to sneak past my currently tenuous control. No one comments on it.

"As well as can be expected. Armsmaster and Miss Militia are both acting as field commanders for our efforts in the North and South halves of the city respectively. The Youth Guard is going to have a field day with you once they learn of the Ward's involvement." She says in a smooth alto.

"And they won't care that they are going against direct orders." I say with a sigh, before gesturing for her to continue.

"Thankfully, the monsters by and large are weak enough to be culled." The PRT stand-in, whose name strip reads 'S. O'Quinn', takes the chance to speak up.

"And with the help of the National Guard, we expect to regain full control of the city by evening." I nod before moving to the next thing.

"What of Morbistocrat? Without the Disruptor hanging over downtown, have we gotten word on where she is?"

"Well…." The analyst starts, a glance at his name tag revels his name to be 'Richard Howard'. "Yes, that is true. There is still a bit of lingering uncertainty, but Watchdog has been able to agree on one thing. Morbistocrat… isn't in Brockton Bay and hasn't been for at least the last twenty-four hours."

"Repeat that. Slowly." I all but spit out.

"Eye witness testimony has her in over a dozen cities across the country. And with the doppelgänger issue we have, the legitimacy of any such claim is unreliable at best and outright detrimental at worst."

"And the rest of Panacea's testimony?" I ask, keeping the heat in my voice, even though I feel a bit resigned at the anticipated answer.

"That did allow the Thinkers to connect all the dots." He slides picks through the pile of folders to his left and slides it down towards me and then one to the other two as well. "Watchdog also pulled some very concerning details regarding Carol Dallon adoption of Amy." I note the specific use of their civilian names and can feel my already short rope start to fray.

I respected Mrs. Dallon so hearing that she is involved with something that could be called 'very concerning' is upsetting on a few levels. Though I am not really surprised, she is a parahuman after all.

"I wish I could get a day of peace and quiet. Is that too much to ask?" I quietly mutter to myself.

Something gleams in my peripheral vision, but when I look all I see is both Covet and O'Quinn looking at the folders passed to them. Armsmaster said that one of the possible side effects of his special coffee could be hallucinations if too much to consumed too quickly, so I reluctantly push the repugnant but potent drink aside.

Opening the folder up, my knee-jerk reaction is to say I am looking at Panacea's headshot, the more I look through, the more small things stand out as different. This girl's hair is both straighter and darker, her eyes are blue, not brown. Her face is also sharper than Panacea's more rounded. There are more differences, but suffice to say, a second look makes it clear that they are not the same person.

"Start from the top, Mr. Howard." I demand, even if my heart isn't really in it.

"Right. As you're all aware, Amy Dallon was not the only child rescued from Marquis' manor the night he was taken into custody." I rub my forehead and can feel the start of a migraine that sentence caused.

Looking at the photo again, I can already see where this is going. More than likely, Morbistocrat is Aurelia Lavere. I almost want to cut him off here but going forward without all the available information isn't something I can ever see myself doing, so I let him continue.

"Much like her twin, Aurelia Lavere has her name changed in order to protect her, in this case her last name became Graves. She was not adopted by the Dallons though, instead going into the foster care system. As time passed, she proved to have little memory of her father as well, which was the case with Amy. Though she did have memory of her sister, so a minimum ruling of monthly visits were set up." Howard pauses for a few seconds, and O'Quinn takes the chance to pipe up.

"Judging from the monsters crawling across our city, that isn't what actually happened." Thankfully, his voice holds the derision that I wish I could express, but at this point I just feel tired.

"You'd be correct in that guess. Now, keep in mind that none of this has been independently confirmed from someone outside of Watchdog, echo chambers and all that. But like he said, with the monsters crawling around, the local department has determined it to be close enough to the truth to share."

The more and more Howard talks, the happier and happier I am that anyone that can even so much as look at this room has signed enough NDAs to bury a small child.

"The first lie reported was that she didn't remember her father, the Thinkers were able to find more than one trail that indicated that Aurelia not only remembered Marquis, but missed him. Somewhat adjacent to this fact, she also expressed resentment at her name change, though it is unclear if the reasoning was ever given. The second and more important lie was that the sisters were given time to visit with each other. It has been uncovered that not only has not a single one of these meetings happened, but that Mrs. Dallon intentionally went out of her way to prevent them, as well as blocking communication attempts." My opinion of Carol continues to sink into a mire of disgust. "At some point Amy stopped trying to communicate and based on her testimony when we rescued her, it seems she eventually forgot her sister as well."

I sigh and close my eyes. Opening them again after a few seconds I see Howard looking at me, so I gesture for him to continue.

"At some point the visits fell through the cracks, presumed to be when one of Aurelia's social workers switched, though we are unsure which one failed to pass it on. The lack of such a visit never actually happening didn't help with this matter. Concurrent to all this, Aurelia faced some… shall we say challenges—"

"Abuse." Covet cuts in, her voice hard. Her eyes are locked on one of the report pages, included under the cover photo. "Call it as it is." She says, looking up and giving the analysis an impressive glare.

"Yes, abuse." He relents, voice filled with a bit of embarrassment, before picking up steam again. "She also ended up in Kentucky at some point, though the details on how are unclear, where she stayed until Amy triggered. She ran from her then current foster family and managed to make it back to the Bay. Once here, she made contact with Amy, though the conversation didn't go well. After which, she traveled to her mother's gave and, given the nature of her powers, presumably Triggered. Thinkers completely lose her at this point. Until some point last week when he reappeared."

Not for the first time in my life, and not the last, I curse whatever god decided that giving traumatized children world altering powers was a good idea. Something seriously fishy is going on is Panacea's twin managed to not only fall through the cracks, but not a single report of her going missing managed to reach my desk. Carol doesn't have that kind of pull, hero or not, so she must have some mole in a position of authority. Since she is a lawyer, it might have even been something as banal as threats of a lawsuit. I interlace my fingers and lean my forehead against them.

"You said 'given the nature of her powers', does that mean I can finally get a report on what her power is?" My voice is hollow, but I can't find it in myself to care.

Brockton Bay and its residents are resilient, the city will survive. Plus, all things considered, the damage to the city has been minor for the scale of the power displayed. That just makes it all the worse because I am going to have to come down on New Wave like the fury of all those killed in this chaos.

"Yes ma'am. As far as Watchdog can tell, she is a full Biotinker or Biokinetic on the other half of the Manton Limit, only able to affect dead biomass. The exact opposite of Panacea. As of this report, the ratings are Striker nine, with sub ratings of Master five, Stranger four, and Thinker two. That was before—"

Before I can even fully process that, the door to the meeting room is flung open. Both O'Quinn and Covet are on their feet in an instant, each falling into a different fighting stance. Standing in the doorway is a slightly out of breath PRT agent in full uniform and after the second to see there isn't an incoming attack, O'Quinn, immediately starts shouting.

"You better hope you're announcing the second coming, or only God himself is going to know the way out of the hole I have you thrown into!"

"Close sir. Lieutenant Sams said that this was urgent urgent." With that the agent hands a folder over to O'Quinn, and I have the luckless position to watch as the dark skinned man's face lose almost all the anger covering it as he looks at the contents.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Now get back to your post." The agent gives a nod and leaves the room, closing the door as they do.

Once they are gone, he turns to me and gives me a smile as he retakes his seat, one that I can't quite read. He visibly composes himself and passes the folder over to me accompanied by a question.

"Do you know if Glaistig Uaine has a twin too?" That makes me pause and I look at the simple manila folder that is now resting on the table in front of me and half expect it to jump up and bite me. I open the folder like it's a bomb and look inside.

There are a few papers under a photo taken at a distance, and it is a bit grainy, but the camera quality makes up for those factors. I can clearly make out a young man running down the road in somewhat destroyed clothing, though it doesn't look like he is injured, so probably a Brute, with an almost shimmering sword that looks as tall as he is. That's not the main issue, though, what is, is the three shadows traveling with him. Shadows with white coloring and a patterning reminiscent of starts, but three shadows nonetheless.

The words that exit my mouth over the next twelve minutes would be enough to make Jack Slash himself start blushing.

It's come to my attention that my previous way of counting Sigil purchases is a bit flawed. From now on, I am going to add a tab to the sigil vote that asks for a minimum amount of kills you want to remain unspent. If someone has a different idea, let me know! Also, I finally had an excuse to give you any sort of exposition at all so it might feel a bit out of place, but I honestly don't know how else you would be able to learn the information, so /shrug. Additionally, I think this is LotS' longest chapter yet.

How to approach this sword wielding cape?
[X][Approach] Approach and do everything short of detaining them, if they are not villainous, and bring them in for questioning.
[X][Approach] Pass it along to the higher ups, this is out of my pay grade.

Monday, March 14th, 2011
10:20 AM

A fresh batch of Sigils race through my mind, and I quickly expend most of the death energy that I collected from being launched into the Disruptor, and feel myself shrink as I do. Is my size linked to my kill energy? That would explain my sudden height increase. Of the five new sigils, only one catches my attention, the Dreadnought Catalyst. I assume that what it is whispering to me about 'tethers' is the range of my Echos, so does that mean they can go do whatever they want now? That… That is a significant jump in power, even if I did have to give up a Sigil to gain it. With that said though, if I am fighting with my hands, then I really fucked up somewhere, so the loss of 'Hand-man I' isn't the worst thing to happen. One of the new Sigils offers a solution to that problem anyway.

After the general death energy is addressed, most of it being spent before it can even settle into my bones, I turn my mind's eye to the lump of energy. It has to be from the Disruptor, so I should be able to get a power out of it like I did with the centipede thing. I focus on it, but as I try to pull the power out of it, it sort of starts dissolving. The feeling is unnerving to say the least, my metaphorical hands feeling as energy disappears, something that shouldn't be possible. As soon as that thought hits me, I recognize the absurdity of it, because I have been breaking the laws of thermodynamics daily, why would this be any different?

Climbing out of the crater, I see that the pack of creatures has left the immediate area, and part of me wants to track them down and rack up a bunch of kills. My eyes are pulled to the skyline, though, and I mentally trace the damage from Medhall and down the street. The jellyfish must have gotten mad after a portion of itself got blown and melted off. The destruction is headed for the commercial district, and going by the lack of any battle sounds, is already quite far.

I run down the street, looking for a car hot-wire, but all the vehicles on this road have been destroyed. Reaching the end of the street, the damage continuing forward and over the building in front of me, I am not seeing any undestroyed cars still. Part of me wonders if the cars were purposefully ruined because every singe one becoming unusable seems really unlikely.

I don't slow down and keep running forward, raising my foot high makes me feel like I am going to trip and fall, but as it comes down on the wall my motion is suddenly shifted to zipping up the wall. Getting used to Another Surface is going to take a bit, I would have just used my dust form, when I used it I felt myself slow down, and I need speed right now. Running up the building is a bit tricky since it's the front with all the windows and styling, I have to sort of hop up in a few places to keep my pace even. An idle though makes me smile, that someone will have to clean shoe prints off the windows, though since we are downtown I wonder if they've had to do that before.

Cresting the top of the building, I run to the other side of the roof to get a better lay of the land. Looking out, I can see that the line of broken buildings and such travels in an almost straight line, but that isn't what catches my eye. Towards the edge of the city is a huge serpentine creature. I don't even know what to compare it to, maybe a deflated blimp? That has to be the thing that destroyed the Medhall building.

Where did it come from? There is no way that no one noticed something like that, but judging by all the shapes flying around it, I guess the assembled capes are attacking it so maybe it was noticed but while I was knocked out? It doesn't really matter, just a question to investigate in the future. But the huge monster is moving fast, and its size lets it sort of crawl across the rooftops without really slowing down, so there is no way that I catch up to it on foot.

Took a bit longer to figure out how your actions would propagate, since this is your first proper public action and all. Also, running around for job stuff has been wearing me out.

How do I get there?
[X][Move] Keep looking for a working car to hot-wire.
[X][Move] Use your phone and try to get in contact with the heroes, see if they can pick you up?
[X][Move] Go back to the downtown meeting area you saw before and try to arrange something there.
[X][Move] Write-In:

Monday, March 14th, 2011
10:25 AM

Can't catch up with it on foot, so a car is my best option, and to look for those I have three additional sets of eyes. Turning to my Echos, I speak aloud, since there isn't anyone around.

"Look for a gang hideout, they should have loads of already stolen cars, so taking them for some hero work is fine." They all nod and split off.

Through their eyes, I see one Echo leap off the building to my left and one to my right, the last one continues forward past me. I can see through their eyes as they fall towards the ground, before one by one their sights vanish from my head.

The two unspoken parts of my order are that this is Empire territory, so more than likely if they find anything then it'll be something of theirs, and for them to look for any working cars in general as well. If my theory is right, though, any unhidden or protected car will have been destroyed.

I could add myself to the search, but that wouldn't help much. I don't know what areas would have already been checked by my Echos, and they have already taken the four primary directions away from this building, which I think is a food HQ of some sort, but I am not sure. Well, they only took three directions, but we came up from the other one, so we already know that everything in that direction is destroyed. It also just occurs to me that we didn't discuss a meeting point, which means staying here would be the best option anyway.

So, with that settled, I move to the lip of the roof and take a seat with my legs dangling over the edge. Malum Caedo takes a little bit of a push, but it sinks into the roof a little behind me, letting me keep my hands free for a bit. My eyes want to stay locked on the serpentine form of the huge centipede thing, but it's rapid escape from the Bay just takes it further and further away from my position, and I couldn't hit it before, so I really can't hit it now.

Which just leaves me up here in the quiet, I didn't notice it before, but there is little smell up here. A deep breath lets me take in the clean air, there are strands of the decay below, but with the height only small wisps of the smell reach me. Forcing my eyes away from the monster, I trail them over the skyline.

There are some columns of smoke from areas, maybe a dozen or so flying capes dipping in and out of sight, some going to ground level and others just flying lower than the tops of buildings, the sounds of gunfire echo up to me, but there is little sounds of panic or screaming and I wonder where all the civilians are. They didn't get turned into more of Morbistocrat's creatures, did they? That would be… the thought makes my stomach churn in a very unpleasant manner. Angling my eyes upwards, to the clouds, I can see there is rain slowly rolling in, not quite a storm but not a light drizzle either. Sitting here isn't really calm, the urge to fight the gigantic centipede makes my fingers twitch a bit, but it is calm enough that my mind feels comfortable enough to wander a little and decides to think about the future.

Brockton Bay is my home. I was born here, and I always assumed I would die here too. The gangs will die, that is a given, but what happens after that? I know I'll be moving to the next city to help them, but what about the Bay? The Empire Eighty-Eight, the Azn Bad Boys, Coil's mercenaries, even the Merchants. They've all been part of the city my whole life, what is it going to look like after they're gone? I'm not naïve enough to think it will be peaceful, we're never that lucky, but it has to be better than letting Nazis or a fucking dragon lay each claim to half the city and her peoples. Other gangs will try to form, but without worrying about the big ones, I am sure that the Protectorate will be able to keep them quiet.

The thought about the Protectorate has me looking to the Rig. I've seen it plenty of times, never from this high up though, the shifting shimmer of colors from the forcefield are actually more viable against the ocean than the sky, which isn't how I would have guessed it. Armsmaster, and he should be able to hold down the city on his own, so with the rest of the ENE it should be a piece of cake, once the gangs have been brought down anyway.

I can feel the minutes sliding past, even with my internal clock, I am surprised at how fast they are passing. The monster is getting further away, maybe reacting to the edge of town at this point? It's hard to tell with the distances. There is no death energy flowing into me from my Echos, so they must be still looking or just staying out of trouble in general.

My musings are cut off my an odd smell hitting my nose, a few trial sniffs doesn't tell me what it is, though my answer comes as I voice speaks up behind me.

"Strangely captivating, isn't it?"

I bolt to my feet, my hand instantly taking hold of Malum as I move, it's an odd experience because my shoes find purchase on the wall they were just resting against as I feel Another Surface's gentle hum of 'I got you' in my legs. Spinning around and looking over the lip of the roof with my sword pointed forward, I find myself looking at an attractive blonde; one Glory Girl who has a half startled, half amused look on her face.

I've had a migraine for over a week at this point, writing and reading the thread helps, but man does it suck.

What do you do?
[X][Action] Run away, definitely don't need to associate with her right now.
[X][Action] Relax, you've done nothing wrong.
[X][Action] Write-In:

Monday, March 14th, 2011
10:45 AM

I blink a few times before forcing myself to lower the point of the blade, my heartbeat trailing behind but lowering too. A deep breath in and a slow blow out don't have me calm, but I am also not tensing for a fight. This is the first confrontation I've had without my Echos since I got my powers and feeling Dreadnoughts hum in my bones, but not having them near is actually really disconcerting. That may have been an influence on why the words coming out of my mouth sound so snippy.

"You think sneaking up on someone right now is the best choice?" Looking at her, I distantly remember that I was trying to play the part of Adam when I last saw her, but I can't even remember the last name I came up with for that persona.

Infuriatingly, she just shrugs at my statement.

"I knew you were a hero, remember dropping you off at the rally point yesterday. Same mask." She points at my balaclava.

"I still nearly stabbed you." I retort, because being a hero doesn't mean frighting me is fine. I doubt she startles Miss Militia.

"Invincible." She says with a smirk, but she quickly follows it up before I can even start getting mad. "But yeah, sorry. Should probably have walked up or something." Her face adopts something sheepish.

"Whatever." I say after a few seconds of contemplation. There isn't a reason to make this into a big deal.

I step back onto the roof and slide Malum Caedo back into the same slit I made before, though I don't sit back down. Instead, I remain standing with my eyes on Glory Girl, my arms crossed over my chest. My silence seems to rapidly eat away at her patience because she quickly fills it.

"So, what are you doing up here?" Her tone is conversational, and I don't see a reason to lie.

"I am waiting for my ride to get here so I can go after that." I say, pointing to the still retreating monster's form. "Actually. Could you fly me there?" I ask before the same issue of not knowing how to get into contract with my Echos comes up again. It is solved as she shakes her head.

"No, sorry. Mom forbid me from actually fighting any of the creatures, so I've been just flying around looking for people to rescue. After Amy was rescued, anyway." It takes me a few seconds to connect that Amy is Panacea.

"Oh, right. How is Panacea? How did she get rescued?" I question because I am very interested in how it sorted out since I wasn't able to find her myself.

"She's… resting right now. I think she just needs some time alone." Glory Girl's voice is laces with something as she says that, but I don't quite know what to call it. A mix of sad and disappointed, she picks right back up though, her good mood returning. "As for who got her, it was actually Über and Leet believe it or not. Leet made some— I think he called them wonder weapons? Apparently this is close enough to a zombie apocalypse that they are having the times of their lives. They all but said that themselves, too."

That is a bit surprising, though with a little thinking I guess this whole thing would be right up their alley, if you squint a little. I never really played video games, but there being a bunch of zombie ones doesn't shock me. The duo helping out is a bit odd, though they might be operating under the truce that may or may not be in effect right now, since I still don't really understand how that works.

"That's good." I say, because it is. Armsmaster himself said how important Panacea is.

"Figured I should tell you, since apparently you've been going around with one of her clones." I can't understand her tone or her expression, so I find myself bracing for a fight again.

My arms fall from their crossed position and I rest my palm on the pommel of Malum Caedo, its height means that my hand is almost shoulder level which makes it a bit awkward, but that is a small price for being ready to fight. I suddenly remember my rules and so instead of fighting, I should probably be getting ready to run. Should I give her the warning now? That sort of feels like it would be a threat since she hasn't done anything yet and that might escalate things. A middle ground should be best, and almost as soon as I think that the words exit my mouth.

"How did you know about that?"

"I was actually given the update a few minutes ago." She says, which isn't helpful in any way. She reaches into a pocket on her skirt and I coil like a spring until she pulls out her phone and start reading from it. "To all allied, blah blah blah. Here it is." Her eyes dart back and forth before grimacing a bit. "Should probably have read the whole thing. The basics are that the general order for clones is suspended for the—"

"What is that order, by the way?" My tone is a bit pointed. Perhaps because I nearly got into a fight at the hospital since they wouldn't let us just leave. She flounders for a second, my interruption throwing off her flow, but she recovers.

"Oh. Uh, right. Basically, the clones have to be killed right away when found. Right now, we can identify them by their lack of a heart, but we don't know what method Morbistocrat is using to gather information. The worry is that if she finds out, she will start making new clones with hearts, meaning that instead of just a stethoscope to find clones, they would have to get some more advanced medical equipment everywhere."

I think about that for a few seconds, but there is no way they are going to be able to keep something like that under wraps. Given enough time to actually think about it, and see it happen a few more times, I am sure that I could have figured it out. And if not, then with everyone involved, civilian or otherwise, there is a zero percent chance that no one would have loose lips.

"And… apparently you did something with Lumi's cannon, so I am going to have to take you in for questioning."

I barely get a chance to understand what she is saying before the air leaves my lungs in a puff, a feeling of isolation settling over my chest. My immediate thought is that she punched me, I have no idea how fast she is, but probably faster than me. That isn't what happened, though, as she is in the same place and even looks like she is still talking. I start scanning around as much as I can without seeming like I am on alert.

It takes longer than I would have liked to figure out what happened, Glory Girl is looking at me like she is waiting on an answer, but I don't really pay her any attention, my mind's eye focused internally. Looking and feeling at the various spaces within me as a result of my power, I can immediately see the difference. There is no bridge. The connection I had to Shade Skip was there one moment and gone the next. With my Echos still nowhere to be seen, I am completely and truly alone for the first time since gaining my powers. I thought about it a bit a few minutes ago, but this time it is true, and the feeling is… It makes my insides feel like they are squirming.

My migraine finally broke. All it took was over 10,000mg of acetaminophen over all the days, plus coffee, sleep, and a host of other things. As to the story, Roman isn't going to be getting a break for a while more, it would seem. I promise I had planned for this to be over sooner, but the original endings I had planned (for this 'arc') just didn't work and now here we are.

What do you do?
[X][Action] Go with Glory Girl. Getting into a fight with the heroes is something I should be avoiding.
[X][Action] Run, you'll have to find your Echos later, but being taken in would probably mean you can't fight the giant centipede monster.
[X][Action] Run, and head to the hospital you left, find out what happened with Shade Skip since you can't tell if she was killed or cut the connection herself.
[X][Action] Write-In: