Fully agree
A Champion in Earth Bet [Worm/Original Setting]
- Thread starter sun tzu
- Start date
For me, the Expy-ness of the characters hurt nothing. In part because I didn't even notice, aside from Gilgamesh.
I did consider the new OCs less memorable than Purifier, and there were a lot of new OCs at once, but I still remember a fair amount of random details about most of them.
For a new points to harp on, why exactly is everyone willing to show up for this meeting, especially in person? Koroleva (or even Storm King) could easily have a powerful Master power and be extremely paranoid about keeping that secret... but could be tempted in a face-to-face with so many powers. Maybe Storm King or Bariq have a hidden side that would find so many powerful arrogant people around them utterly intolerable, causing them to abruptly start killing. Maybe Throne in his infinite stupidity will manage to take offense at something pointless and slaughter everyone. Maybe Cognito arranged this as a trap to gain control over anyone who shows up, as a desperate maneuver to gain more resources to respond to the new pressures on his empire. Maybe having all of them in one spot will attact opportunists. None of them can truly know about these things, and several of them ought to be the sort to worry about such things.
Also, why is Iskander 7 friggin' feet tall, and not a C53?
I initially agreed, but after thinking... was Nasuverse Gilgamesh really that strong compared to the numbered dead apostle ancestors guys and Types in Nasuverse? Some of them are ridiculous; I thought he was only strong compared to other Fate characters, and his I-own-everything attitude was a combination of the flavor of his powers, his personal history, and terminal stupidity.
Of course, the Worm version of him lacks that personal history and that flavor of powers, making his attitude out of place, but neither issue relates to his power level relative to the Endbringers.
I did consider the new OCs less memorable than Purifier, and there were a lot of new OCs at once, but I still remember a fair amount of random details about most of them.
For a new points to harp on, why exactly is everyone willing to show up for this meeting, especially in person? Koroleva (or even Storm King) could easily have a powerful Master power and be extremely paranoid about keeping that secret... but could be tempted in a face-to-face with so many powers. Maybe Storm King or Bariq have a hidden side that would find so many powerful arrogant people around them utterly intolerable, causing them to abruptly start killing. Maybe Throne in his infinite stupidity will manage to take offense at something pointless and slaughter everyone. Maybe Cognito arranged this as a trap to gain control over anyone who shows up, as a desperate maneuver to gain more resources to respond to the new pressures on his empire. Maybe having all of them in one spot will attact opportunists. None of them can truly know about these things, and several of them ought to be the sort to worry about such things.
Also, why is Iskander 7 friggin' feet tall, and not a C53?
I initially agreed, but after thinking... was Nasuverse Gilgamesh really that strong compared to the numbered dead apostle ancestors guys and Types in Nasuverse? Some of them are ridiculous; I thought he was only strong compared to other Fate characters, and his I-own-everything attitude was a combination of the flavor of his powers, his personal history, and terminal stupidity.
Of course, the Worm version of him lacks that personal history and that flavor of powers, making his attitude out of place, but neither issue relates to his power level relative to the Endbringers.
ryuan
From Zero to Hero!
Canon wise Gilgamesh only threat is Arc herself, and that's debatable depending if Enkidu works on her for long enough for him to enuma elish her ass.
This is my problem with them.
If I may offer a suggestion. Make Cognitive (or whatever his name was) less crazy prepared, and less charismatic. Its fine if he's either, but together he comes off less like a Worm denizen and more like he's someone Madman sent over.
With that done you just need to make them less... talky. It feels like, at certain points, they use ten words where five will do.
I believe these two things will solve most of the issues with them.
"Arc"? The only person coming to mind for me is Arcueid Brunestud... who by my understanding isn't in the top 3 for the setting, though she might make the top 5, particularly once we count Zelrecht as weakened and Type-Moon as out of the picture.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Clearly he was talking about Neco-Arc, who the second strongest character in Nasuverse.
Akasha
The Only Truth
- Location
- 「̛̛́́ ͏̨҉̕͏ ͏̶̴」
He was talking about full-powered Arcueid.
I think.
The one we see in Tsukihime has 70% of her power devoted to keeping her bloodlust in check.
Even that much is enough to bring the moon down. Literally.
A fully unrestricted Arcueid takes up the mantle of Archetype-Earth and, supported by Gaia, becomes literally unbeatable.
Shiki Ryougi's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception can find no way to kill her(if I remember correctly), and her physical stats can be described as [X+1],
X being the corresponding stat of her opponent.
Her Prana is also effectively infinite because Gaia supplies her with it.
All of that combined with her own Mystic Eyes, Marble Phantasm, all the knowledge (magecraft included) that she has gathered in her life.
Gilgamesh, for all of his treasures, has little skill with using them, and his stats are quantifiable.
Therefore, since Arcueid's stats would always be higher than his, she would be able to simply blitz him and tear his head off before he even pulls anything out of his Gate.
I think.
The one we see in Tsukihime has 70% of her power devoted to keeping her bloodlust in check.
Even that much is enough to bring the moon down. Literally.
A fully unrestricted Arcueid takes up the mantle of Archetype-Earth and, supported by Gaia, becomes literally unbeatable.
Shiki Ryougi's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception can find no way to kill her(if I remember correctly), and her physical stats can be described as [X+1],
X being the corresponding stat of her opponent.
Her Prana is also effectively infinite because Gaia supplies her with it.
All of that combined with her own Mystic Eyes, Marble Phantasm, all the knowledge (magecraft included) that she has gathered in her life.
Gilgamesh, for all of his treasures, has little skill with using them, and his stats are quantifiable.
Therefore, since Arcueid's stats would always be higher than his, she would be able to simply blitz him and tear his head off before he even pulls anything out of his Gate.
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- He's significantly more blatant than the others
- Gilgamesh is way more overused than the others
- Unlike the others, Gilgamesh tends to be grating to a lot of people
- Throne is more out of place in Worm than the others are
I'll be honest with you, Sun Tzu, even though I liked the Interlude overall, I made the same mistake at first.
I strongly agree with that. Especially since it's a mistake I often make myself.
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AZATHOTHoth
༼ つ ☀️_☀️ ༽つ
Meh, I honestly like the new OC's.
Akasha
The Only Truth
- Location
- 「̛̛́́ ͏̨҉̕͏ ͏̶̴」
I think the problem is that Throne, who is somewhere in the upper middle of Worm food chain, seems to believe that the entire world belongs to him.
In a world where The Triumvirate exists, S-class threats are hiding behind the corner, Scion flies all over the place and Endbringers still destroy a city every 3 months, only to finally start getting killed off by someone who appears to be even stronger than Scion, he is so unfathomably arrogant and stupid that he still considers the world to be his.
And nobody managed to kill him, despite that attitude.
Glaistig Uaine was just as deluded, but she also had the raw power to back it up, and was too terrifying of a foe for capes to do more than just run away.
He is too useless for Cauldron to try and keep him alive, so why is he not dead yet?
Trying to conquer the world is so stereotypical for villains that people find it amusing.
Already owning it?
Not quite.
Not without enough power to blow it up.
In a world where The Triumvirate exists, S-class threats are hiding behind the corner, Scion flies all over the place and Endbringers still destroy a city every 3 months, only to finally start getting killed off by someone who appears to be even stronger than Scion, he is so unfathomably arrogant and stupid that he still considers the world to be his.
And nobody managed to kill him, despite that attitude.
Glaistig Uaine was just as deluded, but she also had the raw power to back it up, and was too terrifying of a foe for capes to do more than just run away.
He is too useless for Cauldron to try and keep him alive, so why is he not dead yet?
Trying to conquer the world is so stereotypical for villains that people find it amusing.
Already owning it?
Not quite.
Not without enough power to blow it up.
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*mutters and grumbles*
Oh, I'm not planning on changing anything. But I do want to understand for future reference.
Huh? Seven-feet-tall people exist. There are thousands of them in real life.
Look at Throne's life from his perspective:
He is created to be the ultimate soldier.
He discovers that he can become more powerful over time, by acquiring other people's powers. Goes "It's mine".
He declares war on his creators. He ends up waging war on pretty much the whole country. He wins. Dozens of cape fights, and he never even comes close to losing.
He takes over his country. He decides he wants to throw in bits and pieces of neighboring countries; they more-or-less let him, in part because they find him scary as shit, and in part because they're already collapsing internally because of their own warlords and can't spare the resources to deal with him.
He attends an Endbringer fight. By all reckoning, he does pretty well, sending Leviathan on the run (Eidolon and others also had a lot to do it, and we know that Leviathan was sandbagging, but from Throne's perspective that's not what it looks like).
He kills some cape who disrespected him during the Endbringer battle. The world doesn't dare come after him. (Because the Protectorate hushes the event up in an effort to maintain the Endbringer Truce in future battles.)
With this kind of life experience, is it really that odd that Throne considers himself effectively invincible? And to his credit, while he may not be on par with Eidolon and Glaistig Uaine, he isn't that far below them, either.
Cauldron mostly lets the guy be because they hope that come Gold Morning, he'll be handy against Scion.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Way I see it, shards do things to one's mentality, and we've only seen a rather small part of the Worm world in canon. All kinds of crazies and personalities could be out there.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
And really, when I think about it? These guys are basically the gang leaders we saw all the time, turned up to 11. These are the end results of what happens when people like Kaiser, Lung, Accord, and others are wildly successful/too good to be stopped or contained.
I saw a lot of parallels to the meetings of parahuman gangs in Brockton Bay, just at a much higher level.
I saw a lot of parallels to the meetings of parahuman gangs in Brockton Bay, just at a much higher level.
Technically, yes, seven feet tall and taller people exist in RL. It's freakishly rare though, especially is Asia, especially in subpopulations of Asia as small as the Burmese, and Bet has a smaller (and less healthy) population base that RL, and capes have a MUCH smaller population base. There's probably a lot more 7 feet tall C53s than non-C53 capes, let alone non-C53 asian capes.
It's not a big deal... even non-C53 capes might be changed a little by their powers and it's possible even w/o that explanation, it's not even slightly SoD breaking on its own, but... it's among the many symptoms of the general style/feel that I'm whining about - DC/Champions/etc-style dramatic exceptionalism rather than Worm-style twisted mundanity.
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- Location
- United states
I am suprised that people completely forgot about Nilbog, the guy would fit right in among these guys.
- Location
- Mandaluyong City
I'm pretty sure he'd have to know about the Avatar and have moved out of Ellisburg
According to tvtropes the guys mind has regressed into that of a psychopathic manchild so who knows what would happen anyway
Can't wait to see how they'll react when they're at some point defeated. Not so Ubermensch anymore eh?
Nilbog was also an overweight guy on a crappy throne, playing a fantasy he doesn't really believe.
The scene of Nilbog caused Taylor to feel pity for him, not awe.
Reclaiming Tomorrow
RECLAIMING TOMORROW
"Thank you, Avatar, for this report. We now have a number of questions. For starters, by your own reckoning, you were able to defeat the Simurgh thanks to a precognition-invisible ability to manipulate the flow of events and cause unpredictable outcomes. During PRT power testing, you made no reference to any such power. We would like to know why."
"Of course." The committee before you includes the upper echelons of the PRT, along with multiple Thinkers, and probably several more you can't see; most are available via telepresence. "Please understand that I remain a relative newcomer to your world. Back on Earth-Gimel, battling supervillains has often put me at odds with far-reaching conspiracies - my earlier reports have made ample mentions of Shadow, Checkerboard and others." Heck, you've been more-or-less running the Arcane Alliance yourself, and while it may be benevolent, it's still technically a conspiracy. "As such, when entering a whole new Earth of which I knew virtually nothing, while I have selected openness and honesty in almost every regard, I felt it was prudent to keep one ace up my sleeve in the eventuality of unpleasant surprises."
"I see. And how often have you used this ability since arriving to Earth-Bet?"
"Excluding my battle with the Simurgh, twice, both of them during Leviathan's attack on Brockton Bay. The first one happened while I was draining an Endbringer shelter of flood water; I could see a tidal wave about to kill the Wards Shadow Stalker, Gallant, and Clockblocker, and being unable to get there in time, I caused a well-timed collapse of a damaged structure to divert the wave. The second one happened when I dealt Leviathan the killing blow, using luck-manipulation to hit his control core without knowing where in his body it was located."
There are a number of questions after that, which are only a subset of the questions you'll be going through after the new round of power-testing that you'll have to go through. Still, for all that these people are a bit miffed about your secret, somewhat concerned that all of this might be one giant Simurgh plot, and terrified at the concept of at least four more Endbringers in waiting... there is a strong undercurrent of relieved elation at the Simurgh's death, much as they try to hide it.
"You say that, once the Simurgh was dead, you were able to travel between dimensions. Previously, you claimed that such a feat was entirely impossible for you."
"I am myself confused about this. As far as I can tell, Earth-Bet, the Earth where I fought the Simurgh, Earth-Aleph, and a frankly gigantic number of other worlds seem connected to each other in manner much closer to what my world defines as separate planes, rather than separate dimensions. By my understanding of how such things work, that should not be possible. And yet, here we are. I can, as such, travel between a large number of parallel Earths, though my own Earth-Gimel remains elusive."
"If you were to find Earth-Gimel, what would you do?"
"Return to it post-haste, and see if there were any urgent matters requiring my attention. With that done, I would attempt to perform some coordination between the Global Champions and the PRT, as I believe my team could resolve some of the major problems of Earth-Bet rather efficiently. I would do all these things with all the discretion I could manage, as I would not wish Earth-Bet to attract the attention of some of my world's villains.
"With that said, I would like to point out that there may be an opportunity before us. I am almost certain of my ability to travel between Earth-Bet and Earth-Aleph. We know the Travelers were abducted from Aleph by the Simurgh. If we return them to their homeworld, then you may use that to improve diplomatic relations."
"Duly noted." Of course, there's the matter of Cody, the seventh Traveler. You may need to ask Accord some pointed questions.
You make certain, as the debrief goes on, that the likely existence of more Endbringers isn't brushed away - you are all too familiar with the human impulse to ignore unpleasant information and dismiss all but the strongest evidence for it. "I believe the public needs to be made aware of the likely existence of more Endbringers within the hour, with the same press release that confirms the Simurgh's termination. If you couple the two revelations, then you are telling people that there is a difficult battle ahead, but that it can be won. If new Endbringers show up as a surprise, then they may cause widespread chaos and despair. To mitigate said despair would be more beneficial than letting everyone think we're almost done now."
You haven't convinced all of them (after all, you haven't found proof, just indications), but director Costa-Brown at least seems to agree. Still, the one thing you really focus on is less theoretical:
"We are to understand you have obtained information on several future events while sifting through the Simurgh's precognitive perception. While any detail you can provide us will be gratefully analyzed, doesn't your very survival disrupt all of it?"
"It certainly throws a big monkey wrench in all of those visions, but that should not lead us to underestimate them. My impression is that a lot of the Simurgh's long-term planning is less the Rube-Goldberg devices that we tend to associate with her, and more a matter of seeing what events are likely to happen, due to all the necessary triggers being in place. I do believe that using these early warnings may save Earth-Bet quite a lot of grief. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that this is a unique opportunity to reclaim Earth-Bet's future." And so, you go with them over every bit of data you gleaned from the Simurgh's precognition.
The Simurgh's time-bomb for Canberra is, according to the PRT, relatively easy to handle. They're confident that the family of the cape responsible can be extracted from the Simurgh exclusion zone, and said cape can be located and reunited with them quietly. The destruction of a major Australian water reservoir can be avoided.
The Gesellschaft's plot to paralyze the German government is a bit more complex to handle. The relevant authorities in Germany (and what's left of the European Union) will obviously be notified, and tighter security may be provided to candidates when the elections come, but it would be better to strike at the Gesellschaft before that. Easier said than done, of course.
Storm Rider's war is even more of a headache. At least one PRT director thinks the matter should be left alone, as it does not directly concern the Protectorate or its allies, and seems poised to weaken the CUI. Some think you should arrest Storm Rider just like Moord Nag, but the Burmese warlord does not share her track record of massacring helpless civilians. Some support sharing what you've learned with the CUI, letting the Yangban handle Storm Rider before he accumulates enough power to become a problem for them. You mention yourself the possibility of going to talk to him and explaining the situation, hoping to appeal to reason with him. No consensus is reached.
There's a cholera outbreak due to kill tens of thousands in India and Bangladesh in less than a year. This matter is best handled by contacting the World Health Organization, which will work with local authorities to organize a preemptive vaccination campaign.
A particularly vicious cape gang, the Red Rockets, is going to emerge in Phoenix next year; their leader, a Blaster/Shaker called Shockwave, kills the leaders of three pre-existing gangs to unite them under her control, then proceeds to escalate conflict with the local Protectorate, causing massive damage to the city. The crisis as you saw it ended when Shockwave was assassinated by her own underlings, who did it to prevent the Triumvirate itself being brought over to deal with the situation, but Phoenix suffered greatly in the process. The PRT promise to focus their efforts on locating and neutralizing Shockwave before she becomes an issue.
In 18 months, the global economy is going to take a hit when it is publicized that a Chilean cape with the power to transmute elements had been secretly selling tons of gold on the black market (admittedly a minuscule fraction of all gold worldwide, but enough to make many panic). Gold prices quickly dropped before the whole thing was revealed to be a hoax, part of a scheme to short-sell shares in gold mining businesses… but by then, a lot of financial damage was done. Having a heads-up will certainly make it easier to deal with the situation.
And then, lastly, there is the matter of doomsday. Unfortunately, you know frustratingly little about it. Is it caused by an Endbringer, pulling all the stops? Scion going insane? A parahuman? Nuclear war? Something entirely different? The PRT will look into it, but, there's just not much to go on. Hopefully, a large team of Thinkers working together can figure something out.
All of those visions you saw, of course, only paint a highly incomplete picture of the future - you only had so much time inside the Simurgh's head. But, hopefully, what you saw will accomplish some good.
With debriefing finally done, you take the time to touch base with some of Brockton Bay's people. The Protectorate, the Wards, New Wave… they show some concern for you, but are immensely relieved that the Simurgh is gone for good.
The Travelers, understandably, show much greater relief. Most of them cry. You avoid the subject of interdimensional travel, since you don't want to give them false hopes yet.
As for Weaver… Well, her relief is no less palpable, but it seems she never stops thinking.
"I'm still trying to process that you beat the Simurgh. How? Do you have some kind of precog-invisibility?"
"There's some classified information about it, though I think the general lines will be going into the PRT's incoming press release. But, yes, I had a way of disrupting her precognition."
"Hm. Without that, she's still a powerful telekinetic, but… I guess she couldn't match Leviathan's speed. And she's a lot smaller. Was she easier to beat?"
"Once I was actually able to fight on my terms, she went down a lot easier than him. Before that, however, she was much harder, simply because she'd taken the time to prepare the battlefield to give herself a wealth of advantages. The challenge was figuring out her plans and removing her advantages one-by-one quickly enough that she couldn't kill me; once I'd done that, she was easier to beat."
Weaver pauses. "In past battles, Endbringers never actually prepared for anything, beyond choosing the right moment to strike. She was escalating because you killed Leviathan. What does that mean for Behemoth? He's a dynakinetic; he can absorb energy from attacks and the environment to weaponize them. Is he absorbing energy right now from the Earth's magma so that he can use it in the next fight? Actually, would Behemoth even be aware of the others' deaths?"
You blink. "...You raise a valid concern. I'll report it to the director Piggot ASAP. Good thinking."
You'll have to mention that Weaver was the one who thought of it. You think she has potential as a hero - less because of her powers than because of her smarts.
The PRT has its press release. It confirms it - Simurgh attack on Brockton Bay, focused exclusively on killing you, wasn't able to mess with the city long enough to require the usual quarantine, you had some power that allowed you to disrupt her precognitive plans, you killed her, you are immune to her mental manipulations, but there is circumstantial evidence investigated by the PRT suggesting that further Endbringers are out there.
Legend gives an excellent speech, promising that mankind will fight against the Endbringers and triumph, no matter their numbers. He has significant skill at this, and overall, you're not surprised that people are partying to celebrate the death of the 3rd Endbringer.
But then, a lot has happened in the past couple of days, from their perspective. One of Gray Boy's victims was freed for the first time. Two droughts were ended through your power. Moord Nag, the Purifier, Wyld Hunter, and Heartbreaker are all behind bars. And now, the Simurgh, dead. It's probably more than a little overwhelming.
Not so overwhelming that you don't see a few "2 down, 1 to go" and "Fuck you next, Behemoth" banners in the streets as you patrol.
And you are patrolling. Piggot doesn't want a lull in activity, and neither do you, which is why you are currently flying through Empire territory. You fly after sundown, at a height of 300 feet, wearing dark clothing over your usual uniform - no need to let E88 know what you're doing. What you're doing is use a combination of enhanced senses and mental super-speed to search every single building in the area.
You return to the Protectorate base before sundown. It is somewhat maddening that, despite having seen where every single one of the Neo-Nazi supervillains was, you cannot just go and arrest them… but, that's not what you spent the night searching for. No, far more interesting are the other things you've found. Three different meth labs. Seven different locations used to stash several million dollars' worth of various narcotics. Twelve major weapons and ammo caches, and five more minor ones. Several locations where the Empire is apparently hiding its cash reserve in. Two brothels that clearly rely on human trafficking and an unwilling workforce.
A very large part of you wants to raid those latter places right now, but you understand the tactical need to hit everything at once, lest E88 just move everything. The actual assault is planned for the late afternoon - director Piggot has been coordinating with Glenn Chambers in planning this operation since the arrest of the Merchants.
That leaves you several hours. The first two are spent in a more regular-looking patrol, where you cover the Merchants' territory with Assault, arresting a couple meth dealers, and locating a pretty major drug stash - even with their capes gone, some of the gang's remaining unpowered members are trying to run their filthy business. As Assault points out, they're on their last legs - with the capes gone, the police is far bolder in patrolling the area.
Once that is done, though, you know where you're going. With the PRT's blessing, you are headed to New York City - more specifically, to the largest cluster of Gray Boy victims.
It's not a pretty sight, dating back to the Nine's visit to the Big Apple many years ago. Vanguard, a member of the Wards at the time, had been trying to rescue eleven hostages from them, hoping the force-fields he generated could protect everyone from the Nine's powers. Tragically, they proved no match for Gray Boy; the young hero and eleven civilians, three of them children, have been trapped in this repeating torture ever since.
"Vanguard. Laura. Jeffrey. Sandra," you call everyone by name, one-by-one, flanked by the best healer of the NYC Protectorate and a dozen paramedics. "My name is the Avatar, and I'm with the Protectorate. You may have seen me on the news," you glance at the TV screens - one for each of them, at close range and low volume, controlled by their blinking in some cases. "Two days ago, I was able to rescue someone from a Gray Boy loop. I am going to try to save you too."
Expressions shift. You prepare yourself - this isn't easy, after all, and you want to time so that there are as few injuries as possible in the moment you break the loop. It would be unacceptable for someone to break out of this hellish torture after so many years of hopelessness only to immediately succumb to their injuries.
Some focus, a surge of cosmic power… and for just enough time, you cut the area off all other planes, quickly moving all twelve victims out of the way. The healer and accompanying paramedics instantly get on the job.
There's catatonia here, strangled sobs there… but when Vanguard, despite everything he has gone through, manages to actually stand up, give you a salute, and mouth "thank you", you find yourself duly impressed, returning the salute. "You're welcome, Vanguard," you say with a smile.
Just like last time you broke a time-loop, you are somewhat exhausted by the effort. As such, you take an hour to recuperate, during which you catch up on the news.
It's been less than 24 hours since the Simurgh's death, so it goes without saying that it still dominates the news cycles. Despite the grim news of probable additional Endbringers, most of the world is celebrating. There are many questions being asked about the fate of Simurgh containment zones, and some questions about the future of the space program. There is also apparently a buying frenzy on the stock exchange - with the third Endbringer gone, investing in the future is looking more and more like a prudent decision, with financiers expecting various businesses to grow. Which isn't to say that everyone benefits from recent events; some companies are expected to suffer from increased competition when maritime commerce returns to pre-Leviathan levels.
There are still talks about the events of the previous day. A poll in Mexico shows that popular support for joining the Protectorate has gone up by over a dozen points. The remaining warlords of Namibia are apparently negotiating how to run the new government, with violence being avoided so far. Various Afghan factions each want to claim Kabul; in the city itself, people who openly supported the Purifier's regime are lynched in the streets. The UN is discussing the possibility of updating the international courts for people like Moord Nag and Wyld Hunter, but so far Russia is opposing the plan.
There are also news about the Federal Emergency Relief Committee, which surprised many by voting to allocate 280 million dollars of federal money to Brockton Bay. Officially this is money to repair the damage caused by Endbringer attacks, but the damage Leviathan caused was minimal. More likely, the bulk of this money will be going to revitalizing the docks, fixing infrastructure, and other such expenses. You remember that the PRT is hoping to turn the city into a symbol of heroic victory; you wouldn't be surprised if it lobbied for the generous funds.
Well. You're more-or-less rested. Time to break the next loop.
By the time you return to Brockton Bay, you've broken half the Gray Boy loops in New York, totalling 32 victims. Taking a one-hour break between each group is a regrettable necessity, but your power isn't infinite.
And then, it is time.
You perform a quick precautionary scan of the target areas located last night, and then, the raids begin.
Battery and Velocity form one team. Armsmaster and Assault form the second. Miss Militia, Dauntless and Tsunami form the third. Lady Photon and Manpower form the fourth. Flashbang and Brandish form the fifth. The Wards, Weaver, Glory Girl, Shielder and Laserdream, assisting squads of PRT troopers, forming the sixth, seventh and eighth teams. You, operating solo, turn on your super-speed, allowing you to accomplish about as much as all the other teams combined.
You opposed having minors participate in this operation, but director Piggot overruled you. Still, she at least listened when you suggested bringing New Wave on board… and then she decided that if you were bringing in New Wave, then you might just as well do the same with Weaver, and let her prove that she could work with the heroes before she was foisted upon the Boston PRT. You have mixed feelings about that.
Dinah Alcott isn't a Ward yet, but her assistance was nonetheless invaluable, providing useful tactical insight with her odds of success and disaster. In particular, seeing as Kaiser has to have his own informants among the police, she was able to assess the risk of him learning of the operation depending on who was brought on board. Apparently, asking for the help of the 1st precinct would have doomed the operation, for instance, while the second precinct provided no additional risks. The State police, DEA, and FBI are also assisting.
It all ends pretty quickly. You are not targeting the Empire's supervillains, after all - you are targeting its illicit businesses. Its drugs, its human trafficking, its weapon reserves. The non-powered thugs you arrest in there are a bonus.
As you raid the second brothel, some of the men running it manage to barricade themselves inside a room, threatening to shoot the prostitutes unless you leave. You are entirely confident in your ability to handle them, but, at the same time, your communicator device reveals that another team has run into an Empire cape. More specifically, the E88's Cricket is apparently picking a fight with Weaver, Browbeat, Shielder and Shadow Stalker.
You curse internally, focusing on your current targets. Enhanced speed allows you to blow up the door and, before any possible reaction, very precisely form a force-field to protect the hostages, meaning that even if a shot gets out, no-one would be at risk. Rather than use blasts in a room full of hostages, you actually punch the Neonazis - you are, after all, a superb fighter with Olympic strength, as humans measure these things. Some super-speed punching later, they are all down for the count. You make sure that the girls are safe, before you head out toward the location of the junior heroes.
The sight that greets you there is… well, it's Cricket, convulsing on the floor in pain from hundreds of insect bites, covered in spider-silk, being held down by Browbeat while Shadow Stalker zip-ties her hands behind her back. Shielder is complimenting Weaver on the efficient takedown of the E88 cape in a way typical of teenage flirting. Seeing as they're all unharmed, you just smile, give them some encouraging words, and fly back to work.
With the exception of Cricket, the E88 capes knew better than to fight back. It has, overall, been a highly successful operation: Forty-four Empire members arrested counting Cricket (all of whom are virtually guaranteed to serve time, considering where they were caught), most of the Empire's weaponry seized (including dozens of assault rifles, a flamethrower, five grenade launchers and three Stinger missiles), millions and millions of dollars in cash and illicit narcotics confiscated, and eighteen sex slaves freed.
As far as logistics go, this is a crippling blow to the white supremacist gang: Most of their money sources are gone, and you imagine at least some of the men you've arrested today will be willing to strike a deal with the DA by talking about other things - things like the Empire's protection racket, or any money-laundering businesses it might still own after its capes were unmasked.
Of course, there's another component to the plan to destroy the Empire. That component comes into play hours later, in the evening (around the time you finish the new round of power-testing). It's not something you often do, but, you check "Familiar Farces". It's a popular TV show - half news, half comedy, using latex dolls of public figures to discuss and satirize recent events. The highlight of tonight's show is the Protectorate's dismantling of the Empire's operations (appropriate credit is given to New Wave). Your own latex figure (which is constantly bathed in a ray of light, and has a deliberately over-the-top angelic chorus in the background while it talks) plays a prominent role. More importantly, the Empire, whose Nazi ties are played up, is utterly ridiculed in every possible way. They are shown as cowards running away from you, gay-bashers whose male members own Hitler-porn, and many other things. One running gag involves you showing up whenever the Empire is working on something, most members screaming in terror and retreating like terrified Muppets, and Hookwolf putting his fists up and shouting "Let me at 'em! Let me at 'em!" in a high-pitched voice until Kaiser and Krieg drag him away.
You understand that Glenn Chambers had words with the showrunners to arrange this. The purpose is obvious - to utterly ridicule both Empire 88 and its toxic ideology, making it nigh-impossible for them to garner followers, causing the movement to disintegrate. It is not so different from how you destroyed the Ku Klux Klan back in the days. In addition to drying up their recruitment efforts and further lowering their morale, this will encourage the victims of their protection racket to speak up en masse… and that's pretty much the last source of income they have left.
Now, the Empire is not exactly rational. It is not impossible that they will seek to retaliate in some way. As such, you will be required to spend several hours a day patrolling the city over the next few days. But… that still leaves a lot of time. Time that you need to manage.
There is, of course, the matter of Gray Boy's victims. According to the PRT's files, there are 214 locations left, totalling 510 victims.
[ ] They have to be liberated… but, then again, they've been there for years and years. Does one week more or less make that big a difference? You dedicate two hours each day to the matter, focusing the rest of your time on more urgent business.
[ ] Just because they have suffered a lot, it doesn't make their current suffering less important. You dedicate six hours each day to freeing them.
[ ] You've almost died recently. You might die any day here. Without you, there is a very real risk that any of these men, women and children might keep getting tortured forever. You make them a priority, dedicating ten hours each day to freeing them.
There is the matter of Scion. A hero like him could accomplish far more good than he currently does, if only he coordinated with others. And, like Weaver said, communicating with him might be your best bet against S-class threats… something which you might desperately need if the Endbringers keep escalating. If you had had him by your side yesterday, you could have beaten the Simurgh easily.
[ ] No sense in delaying it. You go out and try to contact Scion, establishing a line of dialog.
[ ] As useful an ally as Scion could be, there are more urgent matters right now. You mention the possibility to the PRT in your report, but focus your attention elsewhere.
And then, of course, there's a lot of talking happening right now. You are at the center of attention. The media all want a word with you. How do you use that?
[ ] This is your best shot at eliminating Empire 88 as a factor. You make use of the spotlight to both castigate and ridicule their bigotry. In one fell swoop, you can both relegate the Empire to the dustbin of History, and strike a great blow to the European Gesellschaft.
[ ] You have taken down parahuman warlords, and then killed the Simurgh. This is an ideal time to call for increased international cooperation and the restoration of law and order across the world.
[ ] You split the difference, using your influence both to speak up against Neonazism and to support international cooperation.
[ ] The PRT has its own PR experts. You let them handle it.
"Thank you, Avatar, for this report. We now have a number of questions. For starters, by your own reckoning, you were able to defeat the Simurgh thanks to a precognition-invisible ability to manipulate the flow of events and cause unpredictable outcomes. During PRT power testing, you made no reference to any such power. We would like to know why."
"Of course." The committee before you includes the upper echelons of the PRT, along with multiple Thinkers, and probably several more you can't see; most are available via telepresence. "Please understand that I remain a relative newcomer to your world. Back on Earth-Gimel, battling supervillains has often put me at odds with far-reaching conspiracies - my earlier reports have made ample mentions of Shadow, Checkerboard and others." Heck, you've been more-or-less running the Arcane Alliance yourself, and while it may be benevolent, it's still technically a conspiracy. "As such, when entering a whole new Earth of which I knew virtually nothing, while I have selected openness and honesty in almost every regard, I felt it was prudent to keep one ace up my sleeve in the eventuality of unpleasant surprises."
"I see. And how often have you used this ability since arriving to Earth-Bet?"
"Excluding my battle with the Simurgh, twice, both of them during Leviathan's attack on Brockton Bay. The first one happened while I was draining an Endbringer shelter of flood water; I could see a tidal wave about to kill the Wards Shadow Stalker, Gallant, and Clockblocker, and being unable to get there in time, I caused a well-timed collapse of a damaged structure to divert the wave. The second one happened when I dealt Leviathan the killing blow, using luck-manipulation to hit his control core without knowing where in his body it was located."
There are a number of questions after that, which are only a subset of the questions you'll be going through after the new round of power-testing that you'll have to go through. Still, for all that these people are a bit miffed about your secret, somewhat concerned that all of this might be one giant Simurgh plot, and terrified at the concept of at least four more Endbringers in waiting... there is a strong undercurrent of relieved elation at the Simurgh's death, much as they try to hide it.
"You say that, once the Simurgh was dead, you were able to travel between dimensions. Previously, you claimed that such a feat was entirely impossible for you."
"I am myself confused about this. As far as I can tell, Earth-Bet, the Earth where I fought the Simurgh, Earth-Aleph, and a frankly gigantic number of other worlds seem connected to each other in manner much closer to what my world defines as separate planes, rather than separate dimensions. By my understanding of how such things work, that should not be possible. And yet, here we are. I can, as such, travel between a large number of parallel Earths, though my own Earth-Gimel remains elusive."
"If you were to find Earth-Gimel, what would you do?"
"Return to it post-haste, and see if there were any urgent matters requiring my attention. With that done, I would attempt to perform some coordination between the Global Champions and the PRT, as I believe my team could resolve some of the major problems of Earth-Bet rather efficiently. I would do all these things with all the discretion I could manage, as I would not wish Earth-Bet to attract the attention of some of my world's villains.
"With that said, I would like to point out that there may be an opportunity before us. I am almost certain of my ability to travel between Earth-Bet and Earth-Aleph. We know the Travelers were abducted from Aleph by the Simurgh. If we return them to their homeworld, then you may use that to improve diplomatic relations."
"Duly noted." Of course, there's the matter of Cody, the seventh Traveler. You may need to ask Accord some pointed questions.
You make certain, as the debrief goes on, that the likely existence of more Endbringers isn't brushed away - you are all too familiar with the human impulse to ignore unpleasant information and dismiss all but the strongest evidence for it. "I believe the public needs to be made aware of the likely existence of more Endbringers within the hour, with the same press release that confirms the Simurgh's termination. If you couple the two revelations, then you are telling people that there is a difficult battle ahead, but that it can be won. If new Endbringers show up as a surprise, then they may cause widespread chaos and despair. To mitigate said despair would be more beneficial than letting everyone think we're almost done now."
You haven't convinced all of them (after all, you haven't found proof, just indications), but director Costa-Brown at least seems to agree. Still, the one thing you really focus on is less theoretical:
"We are to understand you have obtained information on several future events while sifting through the Simurgh's precognitive perception. While any detail you can provide us will be gratefully analyzed, doesn't your very survival disrupt all of it?"
"It certainly throws a big monkey wrench in all of those visions, but that should not lead us to underestimate them. My impression is that a lot of the Simurgh's long-term planning is less the Rube-Goldberg devices that we tend to associate with her, and more a matter of seeing what events are likely to happen, due to all the necessary triggers being in place. I do believe that using these early warnings may save Earth-Bet quite a lot of grief. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that this is a unique opportunity to reclaim Earth-Bet's future." And so, you go with them over every bit of data you gleaned from the Simurgh's precognition.
The Simurgh's time-bomb for Canberra is, according to the PRT, relatively easy to handle. They're confident that the family of the cape responsible can be extracted from the Simurgh exclusion zone, and said cape can be located and reunited with them quietly. The destruction of a major Australian water reservoir can be avoided.
The Gesellschaft's plot to paralyze the German government is a bit more complex to handle. The relevant authorities in Germany (and what's left of the European Union) will obviously be notified, and tighter security may be provided to candidates when the elections come, but it would be better to strike at the Gesellschaft before that. Easier said than done, of course.
Storm Rider's war is even more of a headache. At least one PRT director thinks the matter should be left alone, as it does not directly concern the Protectorate or its allies, and seems poised to weaken the CUI. Some think you should arrest Storm Rider just like Moord Nag, but the Burmese warlord does not share her track record of massacring helpless civilians. Some support sharing what you've learned with the CUI, letting the Yangban handle Storm Rider before he accumulates enough power to become a problem for them. You mention yourself the possibility of going to talk to him and explaining the situation, hoping to appeal to reason with him. No consensus is reached.
There's a cholera outbreak due to kill tens of thousands in India and Bangladesh in less than a year. This matter is best handled by contacting the World Health Organization, which will work with local authorities to organize a preemptive vaccination campaign.
A particularly vicious cape gang, the Red Rockets, is going to emerge in Phoenix next year; their leader, a Blaster/Shaker called Shockwave, kills the leaders of three pre-existing gangs to unite them under her control, then proceeds to escalate conflict with the local Protectorate, causing massive damage to the city. The crisis as you saw it ended when Shockwave was assassinated by her own underlings, who did it to prevent the Triumvirate itself being brought over to deal with the situation, but Phoenix suffered greatly in the process. The PRT promise to focus their efforts on locating and neutralizing Shockwave before she becomes an issue.
In 18 months, the global economy is going to take a hit when it is publicized that a Chilean cape with the power to transmute elements had been secretly selling tons of gold on the black market (admittedly a minuscule fraction of all gold worldwide, but enough to make many panic). Gold prices quickly dropped before the whole thing was revealed to be a hoax, part of a scheme to short-sell shares in gold mining businesses… but by then, a lot of financial damage was done. Having a heads-up will certainly make it easier to deal with the situation.
And then, lastly, there is the matter of doomsday. Unfortunately, you know frustratingly little about it. Is it caused by an Endbringer, pulling all the stops? Scion going insane? A parahuman? Nuclear war? Something entirely different? The PRT will look into it, but, there's just not much to go on. Hopefully, a large team of Thinkers working together can figure something out.
All of those visions you saw, of course, only paint a highly incomplete picture of the future - you only had so much time inside the Simurgh's head. But, hopefully, what you saw will accomplish some good.
With debriefing finally done, you take the time to touch base with some of Brockton Bay's people. The Protectorate, the Wards, New Wave… they show some concern for you, but are immensely relieved that the Simurgh is gone for good.
The Travelers, understandably, show much greater relief. Most of them cry. You avoid the subject of interdimensional travel, since you don't want to give them false hopes yet.
As for Weaver… Well, her relief is no less palpable, but it seems she never stops thinking.
"I'm still trying to process that you beat the Simurgh. How? Do you have some kind of precog-invisibility?"
"There's some classified information about it, though I think the general lines will be going into the PRT's incoming press release. But, yes, I had a way of disrupting her precognition."
"Hm. Without that, she's still a powerful telekinetic, but… I guess she couldn't match Leviathan's speed. And she's a lot smaller. Was she easier to beat?"
"Once I was actually able to fight on my terms, she went down a lot easier than him. Before that, however, she was much harder, simply because she'd taken the time to prepare the battlefield to give herself a wealth of advantages. The challenge was figuring out her plans and removing her advantages one-by-one quickly enough that she couldn't kill me; once I'd done that, she was easier to beat."
Weaver pauses. "In past battles, Endbringers never actually prepared for anything, beyond choosing the right moment to strike. She was escalating because you killed Leviathan. What does that mean for Behemoth? He's a dynakinetic; he can absorb energy from attacks and the environment to weaponize them. Is he absorbing energy right now from the Earth's magma so that he can use it in the next fight? Actually, would Behemoth even be aware of the others' deaths?"
You blink. "...You raise a valid concern. I'll report it to the director Piggot ASAP. Good thinking."
You'll have to mention that Weaver was the one who thought of it. You think she has potential as a hero - less because of her powers than because of her smarts.
The PRT has its press release. It confirms it - Simurgh attack on Brockton Bay, focused exclusively on killing you, wasn't able to mess with the city long enough to require the usual quarantine, you had some power that allowed you to disrupt her precognitive plans, you killed her, you are immune to her mental manipulations, but there is circumstantial evidence investigated by the PRT suggesting that further Endbringers are out there.
Legend gives an excellent speech, promising that mankind will fight against the Endbringers and triumph, no matter their numbers. He has significant skill at this, and overall, you're not surprised that people are partying to celebrate the death of the 3rd Endbringer.
But then, a lot has happened in the past couple of days, from their perspective. One of Gray Boy's victims was freed for the first time. Two droughts were ended through your power. Moord Nag, the Purifier, Wyld Hunter, and Heartbreaker are all behind bars. And now, the Simurgh, dead. It's probably more than a little overwhelming.
Not so overwhelming that you don't see a few "2 down, 1 to go" and "Fuck you next, Behemoth" banners in the streets as you patrol.
And you are patrolling. Piggot doesn't want a lull in activity, and neither do you, which is why you are currently flying through Empire territory. You fly after sundown, at a height of 300 feet, wearing dark clothing over your usual uniform - no need to let E88 know what you're doing. What you're doing is use a combination of enhanced senses and mental super-speed to search every single building in the area.
You return to the Protectorate base before sundown. It is somewhat maddening that, despite having seen where every single one of the Neo-Nazi supervillains was, you cannot just go and arrest them… but, that's not what you spent the night searching for. No, far more interesting are the other things you've found. Three different meth labs. Seven different locations used to stash several million dollars' worth of various narcotics. Twelve major weapons and ammo caches, and five more minor ones. Several locations where the Empire is apparently hiding its cash reserve in. Two brothels that clearly rely on human trafficking and an unwilling workforce.
A very large part of you wants to raid those latter places right now, but you understand the tactical need to hit everything at once, lest E88 just move everything. The actual assault is planned for the late afternoon - director Piggot has been coordinating with Glenn Chambers in planning this operation since the arrest of the Merchants.
That leaves you several hours. The first two are spent in a more regular-looking patrol, where you cover the Merchants' territory with Assault, arresting a couple meth dealers, and locating a pretty major drug stash - even with their capes gone, some of the gang's remaining unpowered members are trying to run their filthy business. As Assault points out, they're on their last legs - with the capes gone, the police is far bolder in patrolling the area.
Once that is done, though, you know where you're going. With the PRT's blessing, you are headed to New York City - more specifically, to the largest cluster of Gray Boy victims.
It's not a pretty sight, dating back to the Nine's visit to the Big Apple many years ago. Vanguard, a member of the Wards at the time, had been trying to rescue eleven hostages from them, hoping the force-fields he generated could protect everyone from the Nine's powers. Tragically, they proved no match for Gray Boy; the young hero and eleven civilians, three of them children, have been trapped in this repeating torture ever since.
"Vanguard. Laura. Jeffrey. Sandra," you call everyone by name, one-by-one, flanked by the best healer of the NYC Protectorate and a dozen paramedics. "My name is the Avatar, and I'm with the Protectorate. You may have seen me on the news," you glance at the TV screens - one for each of them, at close range and low volume, controlled by their blinking in some cases. "Two days ago, I was able to rescue someone from a Gray Boy loop. I am going to try to save you too."
Expressions shift. You prepare yourself - this isn't easy, after all, and you want to time so that there are as few injuries as possible in the moment you break the loop. It would be unacceptable for someone to break out of this hellish torture after so many years of hopelessness only to immediately succumb to their injuries.
Some focus, a surge of cosmic power… and for just enough time, you cut the area off all other planes, quickly moving all twelve victims out of the way. The healer and accompanying paramedics instantly get on the job.
There's catatonia here, strangled sobs there… but when Vanguard, despite everything he has gone through, manages to actually stand up, give you a salute, and mouth "thank you", you find yourself duly impressed, returning the salute. "You're welcome, Vanguard," you say with a smile.
Just like last time you broke a time-loop, you are somewhat exhausted by the effort. As such, you take an hour to recuperate, during which you catch up on the news.
It's been less than 24 hours since the Simurgh's death, so it goes without saying that it still dominates the news cycles. Despite the grim news of probable additional Endbringers, most of the world is celebrating. There are many questions being asked about the fate of Simurgh containment zones, and some questions about the future of the space program. There is also apparently a buying frenzy on the stock exchange - with the third Endbringer gone, investing in the future is looking more and more like a prudent decision, with financiers expecting various businesses to grow. Which isn't to say that everyone benefits from recent events; some companies are expected to suffer from increased competition when maritime commerce returns to pre-Leviathan levels.
There are still talks about the events of the previous day. A poll in Mexico shows that popular support for joining the Protectorate has gone up by over a dozen points. The remaining warlords of Namibia are apparently negotiating how to run the new government, with violence being avoided so far. Various Afghan factions each want to claim Kabul; in the city itself, people who openly supported the Purifier's regime are lynched in the streets. The UN is discussing the possibility of updating the international courts for people like Moord Nag and Wyld Hunter, but so far Russia is opposing the plan.
There are also news about the Federal Emergency Relief Committee, which surprised many by voting to allocate 280 million dollars of federal money to Brockton Bay. Officially this is money to repair the damage caused by Endbringer attacks, but the damage Leviathan caused was minimal. More likely, the bulk of this money will be going to revitalizing the docks, fixing infrastructure, and other such expenses. You remember that the PRT is hoping to turn the city into a symbol of heroic victory; you wouldn't be surprised if it lobbied for the generous funds.
Well. You're more-or-less rested. Time to break the next loop.
By the time you return to Brockton Bay, you've broken half the Gray Boy loops in New York, totalling 32 victims. Taking a one-hour break between each group is a regrettable necessity, but your power isn't infinite.
And then, it is time.
You perform a quick precautionary scan of the target areas located last night, and then, the raids begin.
Battery and Velocity form one team. Armsmaster and Assault form the second. Miss Militia, Dauntless and Tsunami form the third. Lady Photon and Manpower form the fourth. Flashbang and Brandish form the fifth. The Wards, Weaver, Glory Girl, Shielder and Laserdream, assisting squads of PRT troopers, forming the sixth, seventh and eighth teams. You, operating solo, turn on your super-speed, allowing you to accomplish about as much as all the other teams combined.
You opposed having minors participate in this operation, but director Piggot overruled you. Still, she at least listened when you suggested bringing New Wave on board… and then she decided that if you were bringing in New Wave, then you might just as well do the same with Weaver, and let her prove that she could work with the heroes before she was foisted upon the Boston PRT. You have mixed feelings about that.
Dinah Alcott isn't a Ward yet, but her assistance was nonetheless invaluable, providing useful tactical insight with her odds of success and disaster. In particular, seeing as Kaiser has to have his own informants among the police, she was able to assess the risk of him learning of the operation depending on who was brought on board. Apparently, asking for the help of the 1st precinct would have doomed the operation, for instance, while the second precinct provided no additional risks. The State police, DEA, and FBI are also assisting.
It all ends pretty quickly. You are not targeting the Empire's supervillains, after all - you are targeting its illicit businesses. Its drugs, its human trafficking, its weapon reserves. The non-powered thugs you arrest in there are a bonus.
As you raid the second brothel, some of the men running it manage to barricade themselves inside a room, threatening to shoot the prostitutes unless you leave. You are entirely confident in your ability to handle them, but, at the same time, your communicator device reveals that another team has run into an Empire cape. More specifically, the E88's Cricket is apparently picking a fight with Weaver, Browbeat, Shielder and Shadow Stalker.
You curse internally, focusing on your current targets. Enhanced speed allows you to blow up the door and, before any possible reaction, very precisely form a force-field to protect the hostages, meaning that even if a shot gets out, no-one would be at risk. Rather than use blasts in a room full of hostages, you actually punch the Neonazis - you are, after all, a superb fighter with Olympic strength, as humans measure these things. Some super-speed punching later, they are all down for the count. You make sure that the girls are safe, before you head out toward the location of the junior heroes.
The sight that greets you there is… well, it's Cricket, convulsing on the floor in pain from hundreds of insect bites, covered in spider-silk, being held down by Browbeat while Shadow Stalker zip-ties her hands behind her back. Shielder is complimenting Weaver on the efficient takedown of the E88 cape in a way typical of teenage flirting. Seeing as they're all unharmed, you just smile, give them some encouraging words, and fly back to work.
With the exception of Cricket, the E88 capes knew better than to fight back. It has, overall, been a highly successful operation: Forty-four Empire members arrested counting Cricket (all of whom are virtually guaranteed to serve time, considering where they were caught), most of the Empire's weaponry seized (including dozens of assault rifles, a flamethrower, five grenade launchers and three Stinger missiles), millions and millions of dollars in cash and illicit narcotics confiscated, and eighteen sex slaves freed.
As far as logistics go, this is a crippling blow to the white supremacist gang: Most of their money sources are gone, and you imagine at least some of the men you've arrested today will be willing to strike a deal with the DA by talking about other things - things like the Empire's protection racket, or any money-laundering businesses it might still own after its capes were unmasked.
Of course, there's another component to the plan to destroy the Empire. That component comes into play hours later, in the evening (around the time you finish the new round of power-testing). It's not something you often do, but, you check "Familiar Farces". It's a popular TV show - half news, half comedy, using latex dolls of public figures to discuss and satirize recent events. The highlight of tonight's show is the Protectorate's dismantling of the Empire's operations (appropriate credit is given to New Wave). Your own latex figure (which is constantly bathed in a ray of light, and has a deliberately over-the-top angelic chorus in the background while it talks) plays a prominent role. More importantly, the Empire, whose Nazi ties are played up, is utterly ridiculed in every possible way. They are shown as cowards running away from you, gay-bashers whose male members own Hitler-porn, and many other things. One running gag involves you showing up whenever the Empire is working on something, most members screaming in terror and retreating like terrified Muppets, and Hookwolf putting his fists up and shouting "Let me at 'em! Let me at 'em!" in a high-pitched voice until Kaiser and Krieg drag him away.
You understand that Glenn Chambers had words with the showrunners to arrange this. The purpose is obvious - to utterly ridicule both Empire 88 and its toxic ideology, making it nigh-impossible for them to garner followers, causing the movement to disintegrate. It is not so different from how you destroyed the Ku Klux Klan back in the days. In addition to drying up their recruitment efforts and further lowering their morale, this will encourage the victims of their protection racket to speak up en masse… and that's pretty much the last source of income they have left.
Now, the Empire is not exactly rational. It is not impossible that they will seek to retaliate in some way. As such, you will be required to spend several hours a day patrolling the city over the next few days. But… that still leaves a lot of time. Time that you need to manage.
There is, of course, the matter of Gray Boy's victims. According to the PRT's files, there are 214 locations left, totalling 510 victims.
[ ] They have to be liberated… but, then again, they've been there for years and years. Does one week more or less make that big a difference? You dedicate two hours each day to the matter, focusing the rest of your time on more urgent business.
[ ] Just because they have suffered a lot, it doesn't make their current suffering less important. You dedicate six hours each day to freeing them.
[ ] You've almost died recently. You might die any day here. Without you, there is a very real risk that any of these men, women and children might keep getting tortured forever. You make them a priority, dedicating ten hours each day to freeing them.
There is the matter of Scion. A hero like him could accomplish far more good than he currently does, if only he coordinated with others. And, like Weaver said, communicating with him might be your best bet against S-class threats… something which you might desperately need if the Endbringers keep escalating. If you had had him by your side yesterday, you could have beaten the Simurgh easily.
[ ] No sense in delaying it. You go out and try to contact Scion, establishing a line of dialog.
[ ] As useful an ally as Scion could be, there are more urgent matters right now. You mention the possibility to the PRT in your report, but focus your attention elsewhere.
And then, of course, there's a lot of talking happening right now. You are at the center of attention. The media all want a word with you. How do you use that?
[ ] This is your best shot at eliminating Empire 88 as a factor. You make use of the spotlight to both castigate and ridicule their bigotry. In one fell swoop, you can both relegate the Empire to the dustbin of History, and strike a great blow to the European Gesellschaft.
[ ] You have taken down parahuman warlords, and then killed the Simurgh. This is an ideal time to call for increased international cooperation and the restoration of law and order across the world.
[ ] You split the difference, using your influence both to speak up against Neonazism and to support international cooperation.
[ ] The PRT has its own PR experts. You let them handle it.
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Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Just because they have suffered a lot, it doesn't make their current suffering less important. You dedicate six hours each day to freeing them.
-[X] You prioritize children. They're a lot more emotionally fragile; they should be freed first so that they can get therapy as soon as possible.
[X] No sense in delaying it. You go out and try to contact Scion, establishing a line of dialog.
[X] You have taken down parahuman warlords, and then killed the Simurgh. This is an ideal time to call for increased international cooperation and the restoration of law and order across the world.
-[X] In particular, emphasize that with more and different Endbringers on the way, if we can all cooperate and waste less strength trying to outmaneuver each other, it will be far easier to fight the new Endbringers off and begin repairing the damage Earth-Bet has already taken.
-[X] You prioritize children. They're a lot more emotionally fragile; they should be freed first so that they can get therapy as soon as possible.
[X] No sense in delaying it. You go out and try to contact Scion, establishing a line of dialog.
[X] You have taken down parahuman warlords, and then killed the Simurgh. This is an ideal time to call for increased international cooperation and the restoration of law and order across the world.
-[X] In particular, emphasize that with more and different Endbringers on the way, if we can all cooperate and waste less strength trying to outmaneuver each other, it will be far easier to fight the new Endbringers off and begin repairing the damage Earth-Bet has already taken.
Quantumsheep
Rank Amateur
- Location
- _
Huh. On one hand, Meta-wise, I don't actually expect that talking to him will trigger the apocalypse immediately, this early in the game. So if this results in anything at all, it might actually be very beneficial, if only for figuring out what he is and what he's doing.
Oooooooooon the other hand, I'm really uncertain the likely small chance of provoking him is worth it.
Also, boy, Cricket. Really not sure what you were hoping to accomplish there.
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FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
OMG you turned Hookwolf into Scrappy-Doo.
:: citizenkaneclap.gif ::
:: citizenkaneclap.gif ::
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
Initial vote:
[X] You've almost died recently. You might die any day here. Without you, there is a very real risk that any of these men, women and children might keep getting tortured forever. You make them a priority, dedicating ten hours each day to freeing them.
=> I like compassionate!Avatar. I'm sure that there are more efficient ways we could spend our time, but the sheer magnitude of individual suffering is such that we really ought to get this over and done with ASAP. Also keeps us busy enough to justify not talking to Scion yet.
[X] As useful an ally as Scion could be, there are more urgent matters right now. You mention the possibility to the PRT in your report, but focus your attention elsewhere.
=> Because I want Cauldron to read this report and the mental image of them panicking over how to convince us that this is a horrible idea makes me giggle.
[X] You have taken down parahuman warlords, and then killed the Simurgh. This is an ideal time to call for increased international cooperation and the restoration of law and order across the world.
=> Fostering international cooperation is, in it's own way, a strike against the neo-nazi's.
[X] You've almost died recently. You might die any day here. Without you, there is a very real risk that any of these men, women and children might keep getting tortured forever. You make them a priority, dedicating ten hours each day to freeing them.
=> I like compassionate!Avatar. I'm sure that there are more efficient ways we could spend our time, but the sheer magnitude of individual suffering is such that we really ought to get this over and done with ASAP. Also keeps us busy enough to justify not talking to Scion yet.
[X] As useful an ally as Scion could be, there are more urgent matters right now. You mention the possibility to the PRT in your report, but focus your attention elsewhere.
=> Because I want Cauldron to read this report and the mental image of them panicking over how to convince us that this is a horrible idea makes me giggle.
[X] You have taken down parahuman warlords, and then killed the Simurgh. This is an ideal time to call for increased international cooperation and the restoration of law and order across the world.
=> Fostering international cooperation is, in it's own way, a strike against the neo-nazi's.
[X] Just because they have suffered a lot, it doesn't make their current suffering less important. You dedicate six hours each day to freeing them.
[X] No sense in delaying it. You go out and try to contact Scion, establishing a line of dialog.
[X] You have taken down parahuman warlords, and then killed the Simurgh. This is an ideal time to call for increased international cooperation and the restoration of law and order across the world.
[X] No sense in delaying it. You go out and try to contact Scion, establishing a line of dialog.
[X] You have taken down parahuman warlords, and then killed the Simurgh. This is an ideal time to call for increased international cooperation and the restoration of law and order across the world.