- Location
- The Lair
Good, or bad? I'm thinking bad lol
A New Dawn (Ex-Papergeist) - A Worm/Naruto Crossover
Good, or bad? I'm thinking bad lol
Okibruez
(Verified Mid-Boss)
- Location
- Dreams
Ay, I'm excited to see another chapter so soon, and such an interesting update to boot, but it's definitely lacking polish. I'm going to go to sleep now, but I'll go through and at least point out spelling and grammar errors when I wake.
I do know I suggest dropping the 'accidentally' here:
I do know I suggest dropping the 'accidentally' here:
Whether she's nervous about the rules or not, her power's bound to be pushing her to act outside her best interests. Of course, Taylor warning her in no uncertain terms after the fact makes sense, too.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
Jaune Pendragon
King Of Servants
- Location
- Avalon
No. It's good... Very good... Made my heart pound!
- Location
- Elsewhere
"It's an excellent light when you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night."
I really am leery about being scanned by Amy because powers similar to Taylor is a literal font of information that may be used if someone Triggers near Amy to pass the information.
'nd also Zion of course if he notices this [DATA]!!!
'nd also Zion of course if he notices this [DATA]!!!
And here we see why Taylor/Konan thrives in Worm as she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty and all this is before the PRT finds out that Angel is a 'projection' which is terrifying for them as a Cape as powerful as her being a 'projection' means they have no containment strategy and no leads as to who they are. Amy is the only one who has the faintest clue as to what Taylor is capable of and she knows better than to cross Taylor. All this while Taylor appears to be trying to recruit Amy to a new version of Akatsuki suspecting that she could recreate chakra networks.
8th pirate king
People scream weird when you stab them.
- Location
- ny
It's been confirmed on SB that amy will not be recreating chakra networks
- Location
- Iowa, United States
- Pronouns
- Him, His, He
I agree. It is nice to see this story updated again.
Awakening 1.07
- Location
- The Lair
I had originally planned to have a significant amount of PHO content, where I had envisioned Taylor playing PHO like a fiddle, but honestly, I could not get myself into writing it, and deleted about 800 words because of it because it kept carrying on and I was having issues writing up the various commenters. So yeah, here it is, and next chapter, I promise, is going to have some actions finally.
——————————————————————
Awakening 1.07
I couldn't help but still bask in my success as I left Arcadia. That heady feeling of gambling against the house and winning big was something that just could not be discounted. Because it was in essence what I had just done by backing Amy into a corner in order to control information.
Then again, I had also stacked the odds against the house before I even made the gamble.
I think it was Sun Tzu that said something about victory stemming from knowing yourself and your enemy. While Konan didn't have a philosophical allegory in her world, there was no need either because it was honestly the law of the land for her. Mistakes in intelligence and naivete had led to the death of Yahiko, and after that, she refused to every let herself be caught off-guard ever again.
So, before I ever decided to take to the streets, when I wasn't training my body, I was amassing as much information about the local cape scene as I could. By the time I went out on my first night, I had memorized to heart almost every facet of knowledge available, both real and debated, about each and every known cape in Brockton Bay, both hero and villain, in the event that I encountered them. Their strengths, their weaknesses, and how I should proceed if I did encounter them.
It was why I hadn't been exactly concerned when I encountered Hookwolf. I had enough information on him to know I had enough in my bag of tricks in order to subdue him. Even if the seal scheme that I had to use to take him down had been rough as hell to put together on the fly. Nonetheless, I had been somewhat prepared for him that night.
Amy Dallon, Panacea, in comparison, was a bit more difficult in gleaning information for. Of course, there was a basic overview that basically could be summed up that she could heal you via touch. However, both the Protectorate and New Wave were mum on the mechanics of how she achieved it, so I was left with the accounts of those that she healed.
While there was scant information that could be found, obviously a lot of work was being done to sanitize the information, likely through NDA's and whatnot, there was one common fact between almost every single public account: She asked for permission to heal.
Now, on the surface, it did make sense, to a certain extent. However, once I thought more on it, it didn't make sense. From everything I was able to research on her, every single person she healed through the hospital was vetted and approved. So, why did she ask for permission?
There were only three possible conclusions I could come to, the first being that it was a matter of personal preference, the second being that it was for medical liability reasons (which I find unlikely, due to the fact that the hospital is already vetting patients), or the third reason was because her power was a violation of privacy.
At the time I did my analysis, it really didn't matter, I honestly did not expect that I would be in the tender mercies of Panacea at any time, if I planned and executed well enough. But it sat there on the back burner, because the third option provided a possible opportunity for blackmail. Because if her ability had any commonalities with medical ninjutsu, then it would be extremely invasive, and I could almost guarantee there would be those who would be nervous at the idea of a teenage girl having access to every facet of their biology, even if she had a medical license, she was not a qualified medical professional.
Of course, the blackmail would be rather weak, I could see several ways out of the trap, but the lovely thing about blackmail was the emotional aspect of it, people legitimately fear that which they cannot control. People had a tendency of reacting irrationally to blackmail, so if they reacted instead of considering, then they would play into the hands of the blackmailer.
What happened the previous night, well, honestly, couldn't have possibly happened any better, despite my fury at discovering Sophia was a damned Ward. When I had an opportunity to review what had happened between Amy and myself, after suitably calming my rage upon the ABB (Which, I will admit, I did go overboard using paper senbon on the manager of the establishment. In my defense however, if anyone else had spent the last week observing the place, they would have acted rather similarly. Still, it was excessive.), I realized just exactly what had taken place.
Konan had decades of experience in reading people. It came with her job as Nagato's right hand, both in administering Amegakure and also interrogations. So when in my review I noted the sudden dilation of Amy's pupils when she placed her hand upon me, I knew almost immediately with almost complete certainty, that Amy's powers had discovered my chakra network.
At first, I wanted to storm down to Brockton Bay General and take Panacea to task for her invasion. But that would have been suicidal, attacking Panacea would have put a target on my head that I would have never been able to shake, regardless of what I did. So with a frontal attack ruled out, nor could I make public what she had done, as that would lead to too many questions that would eventually lead back to me, which left me with blackmail.
Luckily, for me, Konan was an old hand at the age old profession.
Even more lucky for myself, however, was the Unwritten Rules. While I vehemently disagreed with the entire premise because it was a concession that gave way too much to the criminals, in this case, I could use it to my advantage. After all, it would be such a shame for a hero's power to be outed as an outright violation of the Unwritten Rules in regards to unmasking parahumans.
Especially one as high profile as Panacea.
But I had to be sure, it would not do well for me to go off half-cocked, thereby undermining myself by revealing my status when I was never unmasked to begin with. That was why I made sure to make contact with her again, watching again for the telltale signs that would be unmistakable to the trained eye.
And I was not disappointed. Again, when she made contact with me, there was that momentary freeze, the dilation of eyes. One time would have only been a coincidence, but the second time, repeated once again through simple physical contact; well, Amy might as well put up a neon sign saying she had unmasked me.
Everything was set for me to spring the trap, but when I was about to blackmail her by trapping her in the very rules heroes had deliberately strung themselves up in, I changed plans. Call it a whimsy, but there was a constant whisper in the back of my mind that blackmailing her as hard I originally wished would be a mistake, the why was fleeting, but the message still remained the same. That I would be making a mistake. It was honestly frustrating. But ever since the locker incident, I had made it a point to go with my gut feeling, regardless of what logic said otherwise.
So I extended the olive branch, softening it to a simple acknowledgment that made her aware that I knew that she knew, and I would treat the violation with silence as long as she did the same. It was definitely a soft approach, merely offering detente instead of aggressively pursuing blackmail. But I knew immediately, watching her expression, that it had been the right choice. The fear, knowing that she had been discovered, suddenly giving away to relief that I was not going to retaliate in any way for her violation of the rules was something I doubt even many professionals could do.
Was it dirty to play to her emotions? Certainly. But I was a shinobi, playing dirty came in the job description.
Nonetheless, I had, for now, secured that security liability. I would probably have to invest in more time ensuring that it would not return to being a liability, which, considering the opening I had inadvertently created, was likely to be rather easy to cultivate out of mutual self-interest between the two of us.
Still, in the end, it worked out, and that was all that matters. Yet another feather to add to my cap of successes.
As I stepped into my Daybreak, I took a moment to just stand there and luxuriate in the atmosphere. The cornucopia of scents lingered in the air, the sharp smell of freshly printed vellum and ink, mingling with the musky scent of age and weathering that served to announce the age of older books to the masses.
I wonder what mom would think at the idea that starting tomorrow, I would have my very own bookstore. I wondered if she would be proud of it. Or would she be disappointed that I was using criminals's money in order to do so? Maybe she would understand why I was doing all of this.
Finally descending back to reality, I opened my eyes, taking in the store one more time.
Ignoring the reason I was doing all of this, I still couldn't help but feel a connection that I never thought I would experience now. Here, in this building, surrounded by these scents, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic of all the times Mom and I would go into bookstores, of when she would read to me when I was younger, or when we would discuss the classics.
God, I wish she was here, I thought, even as I felt myself tearing up, taking the time to swipe away the errant tear that chose to escape its confines. Taking a deep breath, I then let it out, taking with it the variety of emotions that plucked at my heart strings.
Regardless of what she may have thought, I would like to think that she would at least be happy that I never lost my love of books, I thought, feeling my lips twitch upwards for a moment.
"Taylor."
I then buried everything back behind a mask, and found myself meeting the coal-black eyes of 'Itachi', yet another of my paper clone 'incarnations' that I had spent time putting together in order to pull off this entire facade. The only difference between the Itachi of Konan's memory and the one before me was the addition of glasses and the modernization of clothing. To the casual observer the clone have easily passed as a librarian, though in this case, it was merely a book-savvy seller.
"It's nothing," I responded, choosing to stride past 'him', "how are thing's proceeding?"
"Well enough," came the response, "one of the last shipment of mass-produced books came in this morning and they will be sorted and placed by this evening. The only problem right now is that we didn't receive the Aleph books we ordered, they'll arrive Tuesday."
"And the phones I ordered?"
"In the basement."
"Good," I found myself responding, a small smile the only crack in my mask, "very good."
It was a calculated risk that every single one of the 'employees' in the store would be paper clones (with valid tax id numbers that had cost me a pretty penny but were worth it, no one ever wanted to be on the bad side of the IRS) but I could not afford to have flesh-and-blood employees finding out that Daybreak was serving as a front for me to hide my monetary intake from raids. While I was not exactly money laundering per se, in that my gains were not illegally gotten, as per the law, they still were treading dangerously close to the line. But I had no other means of cleaning the money without it being traced back to me. The Protectorate would be looking for any type of banking transactions with the amounts I was fielding, not to mention I would legally be required to announce the source of these monetary gains when I made the deposit.
So I was left with 'donating' the money to Daybreak, in small amounts for the time being, but it would be more difficult to trace, and it would certainly be safer than hiding the cash in my base or at home. And honestly, this was only a stop-gap measure until I could find other means, or until I was revealed.
That and 'working' here provided me an alibi for both my transactions while I was unmasked and for why I was out at night. After all, my father couldn't exactly call me out for being out at night if I had a job to pay for my increased expenditures.
Stepping into the back room, I went to one of the walls and stood before it. Taking a moment, I ran my finger over an invisible seal, causing the wall to fade away to reveal a set of stairs that went into the basement.
This was one of the features I had made sure to have when I purchased the storefront for Daybreak. With a basement, when I wasn't working and making sure things were going right, I could spend the time planning my next raid, or just take the time to train or decompress. Of course, if any sort of inspector or, god forbid, law enforcement, came to check it out, I would ensure that the seal was offline, and the basement appeared to be only for storage, but outside of that, when I wasn't at my lair in the docks, I could do almost everything except physical training and seals here.
Last night's revelations of Sophia's identity had shaken me. I had wanted to storm the Protectorate and demand answers, or, an even darker part of me wanted for Sophia to suffer an 'accident' while on her patrol, but only Konan's knowledge of the repercussions stayed my hand from such a foolhardy endeavor.
I could possibly excuse the Protectorate for their actions, it's likely they were unaware of what Sophia was up to. Bureaucracies that were understaffed (and the Brockton Bay Protectorate were certainly one of those) had a tendency of letting the little things slide, like the oversight of a 'reformed' hero.
I would make sure it would bite them in the ass, as they became increasingly irrelevant in the grand scheme things. It would take years, a lifetime even, I knew, unpackaging the various phones and opening the laptop that awaited me at the desk, taking my seat in front of it. But they chose to earn my ire when I was perfectly happy to let them muddle in their own inadequacy. I may not wish to attack them physically, but there were other ways to inflict pain. And in the court of opinion, I would find my justice.
It only took a few more minutes before I was ready to begin, my new phone tethering to the laptop, all the while I ensured the security was airtight. It probably wouldn't resist a tinker or thinker, but it would be sufficient for what I intended to do for now.
It only took a few minutes of typing, editing, correcting, and then just placing down the other phones, powering them up, and ensuring they were ready for what I intended to do. While I had no problem with using the populace, I wanted to ensure that I could direct their attention in the way that would best benefit myself.
So, it was after making sure everything was ready, I merely had to click one more button, watching as the board I was on processed my request, and then posted it, watching it as it appeared on the screen in front of my eyes.
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Topic: I am Tenshi: Ask Me Anything
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Cape Introductions
Shikigami no Mai (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape)
Posted on March 17, 2011:
A rather self-explanatory thread title, but after weeks of watching the board discuss matters about me, with some bordering on the fantastical (I'm looking at you XxVoid_CowboyxX), I felt it would only be fair, after the events of last night, that I make myself available to you for any questions you may have.
For verification purposes: [here], [here]. and [here].
So, I guess a little about myself to open it up. Yes, I call myself 天使, or as you would anglicize it, Tenshi, which translates into Angel. Pretentious, I'd agree, but I have yet to figure out a heroic name to call myself, and it is rather appropriate when you consider the third picture I have posted for verification.
And before you feel the necessity to accuse me of being a weeb, yes, I am Japanese. So please, refrain from distilling my culture into some sort of base slavish worship, it's hard enough to keep a positive opinion of it with Lung doing his level best to ruin it for the rest of us survivors.
If that isn't enough for you to put together my opinion of the Azn Bad Boys, lemme put it more bluntly. I am a Hero. I despise all of the gangs equally and wish they were put down like the criminals they are, cape or otherwise.
As for the theme of my powers, I guess it would be described as papyrokinesis, or the manipulation of paper.
Leaning back into my chair, I waited. It certainly wouldn't be long, I had become a hot commodity on the local board, with the various boards discussing not only my abilities, but also my reason for not working with the Protectorate. After all, if I was on the side of angels, why wouldn't I work with them. Then there were others who questioned my motives, with one actually saying I was actually working for the Empire 88 as some sort of deniable asset. I fixed that when I took down Hookwolf, but I will admit, I had not been amused with whoever Void Cowboy was.
All I had to do was make sure that when I started putting the spotlight on the Protectorate, it was in a way that it wouldn't blow up on me. It wouldn't be hard, all I had to do was ensure that the right questions were asked at the right time, and once that was done, I could sign off.
Of course, I had plans tonight, so I would make sure I wouldn't be on here too late.
After all, I had a date with tearing the heart out of the Merchants tonight. It wouldn't do well for anyone for me to be late, I thought with a smirk.
——————————————————————
Awakening 1.07
I couldn't help but still bask in my success as I left Arcadia. That heady feeling of gambling against the house and winning big was something that just could not be discounted. Because it was in essence what I had just done by backing Amy into a corner in order to control information.
Then again, I had also stacked the odds against the house before I even made the gamble.
I think it was Sun Tzu that said something about victory stemming from knowing yourself and your enemy. While Konan didn't have a philosophical allegory in her world, there was no need either because it was honestly the law of the land for her. Mistakes in intelligence and naivete had led to the death of Yahiko, and after that, she refused to every let herself be caught off-guard ever again.
So, before I ever decided to take to the streets, when I wasn't training my body, I was amassing as much information about the local cape scene as I could. By the time I went out on my first night, I had memorized to heart almost every facet of knowledge available, both real and debated, about each and every known cape in Brockton Bay, both hero and villain, in the event that I encountered them. Their strengths, their weaknesses, and how I should proceed if I did encounter them.
It was why I hadn't been exactly concerned when I encountered Hookwolf. I had enough information on him to know I had enough in my bag of tricks in order to subdue him. Even if the seal scheme that I had to use to take him down had been rough as hell to put together on the fly. Nonetheless, I had been somewhat prepared for him that night.
Amy Dallon, Panacea, in comparison, was a bit more difficult in gleaning information for. Of course, there was a basic overview that basically could be summed up that she could heal you via touch. However, both the Protectorate and New Wave were mum on the mechanics of how she achieved it, so I was left with the accounts of those that she healed.
While there was scant information that could be found, obviously a lot of work was being done to sanitize the information, likely through NDA's and whatnot, there was one common fact between almost every single public account: She asked for permission to heal.
Now, on the surface, it did make sense, to a certain extent. However, once I thought more on it, it didn't make sense. From everything I was able to research on her, every single person she healed through the hospital was vetted and approved. So, why did she ask for permission?
There were only three possible conclusions I could come to, the first being that it was a matter of personal preference, the second being that it was for medical liability reasons (which I find unlikely, due to the fact that the hospital is already vetting patients), or the third reason was because her power was a violation of privacy.
At the time I did my analysis, it really didn't matter, I honestly did not expect that I would be in the tender mercies of Panacea at any time, if I planned and executed well enough. But it sat there on the back burner, because the third option provided a possible opportunity for blackmail. Because if her ability had any commonalities with medical ninjutsu, then it would be extremely invasive, and I could almost guarantee there would be those who would be nervous at the idea of a teenage girl having access to every facet of their biology, even if she had a medical license, she was not a qualified medical professional.
Of course, the blackmail would be rather weak, I could see several ways out of the trap, but the lovely thing about blackmail was the emotional aspect of it, people legitimately fear that which they cannot control. People had a tendency of reacting irrationally to blackmail, so if they reacted instead of considering, then they would play into the hands of the blackmailer.
What happened the previous night, well, honestly, couldn't have possibly happened any better, despite my fury at discovering Sophia was a damned Ward. When I had an opportunity to review what had happened between Amy and myself, after suitably calming my rage upon the ABB (Which, I will admit, I did go overboard using paper senbon on the manager of the establishment. In my defense however, if anyone else had spent the last week observing the place, they would have acted rather similarly. Still, it was excessive.), I realized just exactly what had taken place.
Konan had decades of experience in reading people. It came with her job as Nagato's right hand, both in administering Amegakure and also interrogations. So when in my review I noted the sudden dilation of Amy's pupils when she placed her hand upon me, I knew almost immediately with almost complete certainty, that Amy's powers had discovered my chakra network.
At first, I wanted to storm down to Brockton Bay General and take Panacea to task for her invasion. But that would have been suicidal, attacking Panacea would have put a target on my head that I would have never been able to shake, regardless of what I did. So with a frontal attack ruled out, nor could I make public what she had done, as that would lead to too many questions that would eventually lead back to me, which left me with blackmail.
Luckily, for me, Konan was an old hand at the age old profession.
Even more lucky for myself, however, was the Unwritten Rules. While I vehemently disagreed with the entire premise because it was a concession that gave way too much to the criminals, in this case, I could use it to my advantage. After all, it would be such a shame for a hero's power to be outed as an outright violation of the Unwritten Rules in regards to unmasking parahumans.
Especially one as high profile as Panacea.
But I had to be sure, it would not do well for me to go off half-cocked, thereby undermining myself by revealing my status when I was never unmasked to begin with. That was why I made sure to make contact with her again, watching again for the telltale signs that would be unmistakable to the trained eye.
And I was not disappointed. Again, when she made contact with me, there was that momentary freeze, the dilation of eyes. One time would have only been a coincidence, but the second time, repeated once again through simple physical contact; well, Amy might as well put up a neon sign saying she had unmasked me.
Everything was set for me to spring the trap, but when I was about to blackmail her by trapping her in the very rules heroes had deliberately strung themselves up in, I changed plans. Call it a whimsy, but there was a constant whisper in the back of my mind that blackmailing her as hard I originally wished would be a mistake, the why was fleeting, but the message still remained the same. That I would be making a mistake. It was honestly frustrating. But ever since the locker incident, I had made it a point to go with my gut feeling, regardless of what logic said otherwise.
So I extended the olive branch, softening it to a simple acknowledgment that made her aware that I knew that she knew, and I would treat the violation with silence as long as she did the same. It was definitely a soft approach, merely offering detente instead of aggressively pursuing blackmail. But I knew immediately, watching her expression, that it had been the right choice. The fear, knowing that she had been discovered, suddenly giving away to relief that I was not going to retaliate in any way for her violation of the rules was something I doubt even many professionals could do.
Was it dirty to play to her emotions? Certainly. But I was a shinobi, playing dirty came in the job description.
Nonetheless, I had, for now, secured that security liability. I would probably have to invest in more time ensuring that it would not return to being a liability, which, considering the opening I had inadvertently created, was likely to be rather easy to cultivate out of mutual self-interest between the two of us.
Still, in the end, it worked out, and that was all that matters. Yet another feather to add to my cap of successes.
AND
As I stepped into my Daybreak, I took a moment to just stand there and luxuriate in the atmosphere. The cornucopia of scents lingered in the air, the sharp smell of freshly printed vellum and ink, mingling with the musky scent of age and weathering that served to announce the age of older books to the masses.
I wonder what mom would think at the idea that starting tomorrow, I would have my very own bookstore. I wondered if she would be proud of it. Or would she be disappointed that I was using criminals's money in order to do so? Maybe she would understand why I was doing all of this.
Finally descending back to reality, I opened my eyes, taking in the store one more time.
Ignoring the reason I was doing all of this, I still couldn't help but feel a connection that I never thought I would experience now. Here, in this building, surrounded by these scents, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic of all the times Mom and I would go into bookstores, of when she would read to me when I was younger, or when we would discuss the classics.
God, I wish she was here, I thought, even as I felt myself tearing up, taking the time to swipe away the errant tear that chose to escape its confines. Taking a deep breath, I then let it out, taking with it the variety of emotions that plucked at my heart strings.
Regardless of what she may have thought, I would like to think that she would at least be happy that I never lost my love of books, I thought, feeling my lips twitch upwards for a moment.
"Taylor."
I then buried everything back behind a mask, and found myself meeting the coal-black eyes of 'Itachi', yet another of my paper clone 'incarnations' that I had spent time putting together in order to pull off this entire facade. The only difference between the Itachi of Konan's memory and the one before me was the addition of glasses and the modernization of clothing. To the casual observer the clone have easily passed as a librarian, though in this case, it was merely a book-savvy seller.
"It's nothing," I responded, choosing to stride past 'him', "how are thing's proceeding?"
"Well enough," came the response, "one of the last shipment of mass-produced books came in this morning and they will be sorted and placed by this evening. The only problem right now is that we didn't receive the Aleph books we ordered, they'll arrive Tuesday."
"And the phones I ordered?"
"In the basement."
"Good," I found myself responding, a small smile the only crack in my mask, "very good."
It was a calculated risk that every single one of the 'employees' in the store would be paper clones (with valid tax id numbers that had cost me a pretty penny but were worth it, no one ever wanted to be on the bad side of the IRS) but I could not afford to have flesh-and-blood employees finding out that Daybreak was serving as a front for me to hide my monetary intake from raids. While I was not exactly money laundering per se, in that my gains were not illegally gotten, as per the law, they still were treading dangerously close to the line. But I had no other means of cleaning the money without it being traced back to me. The Protectorate would be looking for any type of banking transactions with the amounts I was fielding, not to mention I would legally be required to announce the source of these monetary gains when I made the deposit.
So I was left with 'donating' the money to Daybreak, in small amounts for the time being, but it would be more difficult to trace, and it would certainly be safer than hiding the cash in my base or at home. And honestly, this was only a stop-gap measure until I could find other means, or until I was revealed.
That and 'working' here provided me an alibi for both my transactions while I was unmasked and for why I was out at night. After all, my father couldn't exactly call me out for being out at night if I had a job to pay for my increased expenditures.
Stepping into the back room, I went to one of the walls and stood before it. Taking a moment, I ran my finger over an invisible seal, causing the wall to fade away to reveal a set of stairs that went into the basement.
This was one of the features I had made sure to have when I purchased the storefront for Daybreak. With a basement, when I wasn't working and making sure things were going right, I could spend the time planning my next raid, or just take the time to train or decompress. Of course, if any sort of inspector or, god forbid, law enforcement, came to check it out, I would ensure that the seal was offline, and the basement appeared to be only for storage, but outside of that, when I wasn't at my lair in the docks, I could do almost everything except physical training and seals here.
Last night's revelations of Sophia's identity had shaken me. I had wanted to storm the Protectorate and demand answers, or, an even darker part of me wanted for Sophia to suffer an 'accident' while on her patrol, but only Konan's knowledge of the repercussions stayed my hand from such a foolhardy endeavor.
I could possibly excuse the Protectorate for their actions, it's likely they were unaware of what Sophia was up to. Bureaucracies that were understaffed (and the Brockton Bay Protectorate were certainly one of those) had a tendency of letting the little things slide, like the oversight of a 'reformed' hero.
I would make sure it would bite them in the ass, as they became increasingly irrelevant in the grand scheme things. It would take years, a lifetime even, I knew, unpackaging the various phones and opening the laptop that awaited me at the desk, taking my seat in front of it. But they chose to earn my ire when I was perfectly happy to let them muddle in their own inadequacy. I may not wish to attack them physically, but there were other ways to inflict pain. And in the court of opinion, I would find my justice.
It only took a few more minutes before I was ready to begin, my new phone tethering to the laptop, all the while I ensured the security was airtight. It probably wouldn't resist a tinker or thinker, but it would be sufficient for what I intended to do for now.
It only took a few minutes of typing, editing, correcting, and then just placing down the other phones, powering them up, and ensuring they were ready for what I intended to do. While I had no problem with using the populace, I wanted to ensure that I could direct their attention in the way that would best benefit myself.
So, it was after making sure everything was ready, I merely had to click one more button, watching as the board I was on processed my request, and then posted it, watching it as it appeared on the screen in front of my eyes.
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Topic: I am Tenshi: Ask Me Anything
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Cape Introductions
Shikigami no Mai (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape)
Posted on March 17, 2011:
A rather self-explanatory thread title, but after weeks of watching the board discuss matters about me, with some bordering on the fantastical (I'm looking at you XxVoid_CowboyxX), I felt it would only be fair, after the events of last night, that I make myself available to you for any questions you may have.
For verification purposes: [here], [here]. and [here].
So, I guess a little about myself to open it up. Yes, I call myself 天使, or as you would anglicize it, Tenshi, which translates into Angel. Pretentious, I'd agree, but I have yet to figure out a heroic name to call myself, and it is rather appropriate when you consider the third picture I have posted for verification.
And before you feel the necessity to accuse me of being a weeb, yes, I am Japanese. So please, refrain from distilling my culture into some sort of base slavish worship, it's hard enough to keep a positive opinion of it with Lung doing his level best to ruin it for the rest of us survivors.
If that isn't enough for you to put together my opinion of the Azn Bad Boys, lemme put it more bluntly. I am a Hero. I despise all of the gangs equally and wish they were put down like the criminals they are, cape or otherwise.
As for the theme of my powers, I guess it would be described as papyrokinesis, or the manipulation of paper.
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Leaning back into my chair, I waited. It certainly wouldn't be long, I had become a hot commodity on the local board, with the various boards discussing not only my abilities, but also my reason for not working with the Protectorate. After all, if I was on the side of angels, why wouldn't I work with them. Then there were others who questioned my motives, with one actually saying I was actually working for the Empire 88 as some sort of deniable asset. I fixed that when I took down Hookwolf, but I will admit, I had not been amused with whoever Void Cowboy was.
All I had to do was make sure that when I started putting the spotlight on the Protectorate, it was in a way that it wouldn't blow up on me. It wouldn't be hard, all I had to do was ensure that the right questions were asked at the right time, and once that was done, I could sign off.
Of course, I had plans tonight, so I would make sure I wouldn't be on here too late.
After all, I had a date with tearing the heart out of the Merchants tonight. It wouldn't do well for anyone for me to be late, I thought with a smirk.
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I believe you mean understaffed, or a similar equivalent.
- Location
- The Lair
Yeah, oops. Fixed.
- Location
- Orlando, FL
I'm really glad your continuing with the story.
Konan's power set is perfect for street level crime and information gathering. Considering Jiraiya was a Fūinjutsu master, she might be able to hold her own against endbringers depend how much knowledge she had while alive. We only ever saw her using Paper Bombs if I remember correctly. It's what I mainly like about the story, it's not an OP power set, but if you use it correctly then you can pretty much take anyone on.
Konan's power set is perfect for street level crime and information gathering. Considering Jiraiya was a Fūinjutsu master, she might be able to hold her own against endbringers depend how much knowledge she had while alive. We only ever saw her using Paper Bombs if I remember correctly. It's what I mainly like about the story, it's not an OP power set, but if you use it correctly then you can pretty much take anyone on.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
So, did Konan have enough info for Taylor to piece together the seal for Impure World Resurrection, and is there anyone she can use as the sacrifice that neither she nor her father or mother would feel the least bit guilty about?
Damian45
Only Sane Man
This is hilariously ironic considering the utterly stupid way she died to Tobi. Even in a ninja world, you don't explain to your enemy how you are going to kill them unless they are utterly beneath you in terms of experience and power, or already dead. And Tobi was considered to be Madara fricking Uchiha, so she really had no excuse whatsoever.
The worst part? Besides the Zombie ninja's in the Forth Ninja War, who wanted to lose, almost no one else in the series was stupid enough to directly explain their abilites to their enemies unless they were overconfident.
And really, using just explosive tags? Not even a little more interesting fuinjutsu? For shame, paper angel.
But to be fair, I blame bad writing for that decision.
Heck, on TV Tropes, theres an entire page dedicated to the stupid behavior of Naruto characters, and Konan has two entries: one relating to not destroying the Rinnegan immediately when she had the chance, and another to how badly she handled her overblown attempt to kill Tobi. And the second one really goes into detail about how stupid her decisions were in that fight.
- Location
- Somewhere
I would expect Orochi, Kabuto, and Tobito plus the Second to have the memories for that technique. Likely not Konan.
Also, I wonder if there's a maximum number of log-ins a PHO account can have, or if there's a flag for too many posts within a certain time frame. Tenshin can multitask exceedingly well. Probably won't be speculation on if she's an AI due to her cloning ability.
- Location
- The Lair
Added a bit on to Taylor's description of her powers thanks to an idea from @Solusandra. Credit goes to them, but it plays more into Taylor's deceptions and misdirection and it seemed perfected.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
-formatting-
- Location
- Vancouver
There was plenty of bad writing, but most of it for the ever escalating craziness of Uchiha eyes. She explains it at pretty much the moment she uses it, and it was her best bet of facing off against someone of that power.
Most ninja in the series do, just because they're 'overconfident' (but mostly just so we the audience are told how their techniques work. We learn of the heroes abilities and limitations ahead of time so they don't usually need to shout out what they did.
Keeping the eyes was a sentimental, but poor choice. I would have liked it more if the eyes had actually been a trap, trying to lure out Tobi, but Kishimoto really didn't want to write her for that long, and the battle was just a set piece for him to sweep her out of the way and give Tobi the Rinnegan. He doesn't win because she 'explains her technique' or whatever, he wins because he pulls out a new hidden power out of nowhere*. Even if she said nothing, it still wouldn't have stopped him from getting out of her trap. People online might debate on how she could have just said it as a lower time limit, but do you really think Obito would have ended Izanagi early while still being exploded just because the time she said was off? Or them assuming she could have set up two traps in that space, not accounting for need to keep it hidden, luring him to the same trap twice, potential chakra costs, etc.
The fact was, nothing she could have done would have won her that fight. Obito was too strong and had way too much hax.
*Yes, I know Izanagi was revealed earlier with Danzo, but it was bs then, and here the duration was five times longer just because.
Anbuspider
Maybe there, maybe not
- Location
- Ireland
- Pronouns
- What/And/Where
Slaughterhouse 9, doesn't matter which. Actually, I think her mom would be quite happy with her if Taylor had a few 'failed' attempts and wound up killing all of them.
Damian45
Only Sane Man
Incorrect. Most of them do not explain how it works to the enemy directly. The exposition usually takes other forms, like internal monolouges or an allied ninja commenting on whats happening.
Granted, some of the enemies confirm their suppositions, but thats just them being overconfident.
Really? -Recalls Tobi's eye dramaitcally closing after impaling Konan-
Wow, that is bullshit. I just assumed he activated Inzanagi after his five minutes were up, then after it wore off a minute later, he made himself intangible again.
Because if he somehow made it last that long, how did he even get injured? Inzanagi removes injuries.
Still, there's one other thing she forgot to account for. (But to be fair, the way the entire series was written didn't account for it either.)
Tobi can teleport.
So, why did he stick around when he could just, go away and come back after the explosions end.
Like I said, bad writing. Lots of it.
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WinterLantern
Smoked bird
- Location
- North England
- Location
- Sector 2814
Of all things, this spawned a little Omake idea.
~~~~~~~~~~
The past several weeks had passed in a blur. There had been setbacks, to be sure, but my plans were flexible enough to work around them. I was idly contemplating the best order to handle the various new gangs probing the Bay in the vacuum caused by eliminating most of the old villains, and halfheartedly taking enough English Literature notes to not attract the teacher's notice, when an announcement came over the intercom, calling me to the front office. Having no particular reason to delay, I packed up my stuff, shrugged in the general direction of the few people in the class I could tentatively call "friends," and took my leave.
Towards Arcadia's front entrance were several small offices, ostensibly for counseling. I had always assumed they were sectioned off as "believable cover for Wards stuff," given they appeared to be carved out of what should have been a large conference room. Outside of these was a boring looking, middle-aged man in a "one step down from Brooks Brothers" suit. I didn't recognize him, but he clearly knew my face, and was waiting for me.
"Ah, Miss Hebert? Please, step inside and have a seat."
An obvious bureaucrat waiting for me put me on edge, but as far as I could tell it was only him, and in the worst case I could fight my way out. It would out my identity, but ultimately I could see little actual danger. Not wanting to seem suspicious, I affected a bemused demeanor and complied.
"It's 'Hee-burt,' not 'ah-bear.' What's this about, Mr., uh..?"
"Agent D'aulaires, Internal Revenue Service," he answered as he closed the door behind us, and took the seat opposite mine. "Can you confirm that you work at the Daybreak bookstore, for a Mr. Jiraiya?"
"Yes... what is this concerning?"
"Were you aware that a significant portion of the initial funding for Daybreak came from a large number of anonymous donations, which"
"What is this about‽" I interrupted. "It sounds like I should at least have my father be here for this..."
"I'm getting to that, Miss. And yes, you do not have to answer any questions without your guardian, or indeed a lawyer, present, but I can also talk at you for a time before that. Look, we're just hoping you can provide some context, and perhaps help you get out of a potentially bad situation you may have unknowingly ended up in. Okay?"
I didn't quite glare at him, but I did maintain a quiet eye contact. He gave me the out; that was a question, and I didn't have to answer.
"Right. Anyway. As I was saying, a significant portion of the initial funding for the Daybreak bookstore came from a large number of anonymous donations. This tripped the bank's fraud detection software, as it looks like structuring, and triggered an internal fraud investigation."
"I'm sorry, 'structuring?' What is structuring?" I couldn't help myself from asking. Konan's memories didn't help, here, anymore than high school economics classes did. Besides, it wasn't answering one of his questions.
"Ah, structuring is a financial crime. You see, deposits over certain thresholds require federal reporting. This aids the IRS, among other federal agencies, in detecting any number of crimes, including tax evasion and money laundering. Some 'clever' individuals, knowing this, have tried depositing amounts under those thresholds, to avoid holds on the deposits and automatic reporting from their financial institutions. Now, if there's a good reason - for instance, someone makes, after tax, nine thousand dollars per pay period, and so they have biweekly deposits from their employer for that amount, it generally won't be flagged. There's an obvious paper trail, for a good reason, from a known entity. However, if those deposits were from personal checks made out to 'cash,' there would be reason for the bank to investigate."
I had a sinking feeling that I could extrapolate where this was going, but saying nothing and waiting for him to finish was the safest option.
"Now, a large number of anonymous donations isn't inherently concerning, either. But a large number of anonymous donations, adding up to amounts over reporting thresholds, and made to what is, on paper, a private, for-profit business, not associated with charitable work? That is enough to trigger an inquiry. At this point, the bank first looked at the business owner, Mr. Jiraiya. This quickly determined that, while he had a valid social security number, he had no work history, tax history, or really any other records going back before the first of the year. Lack of records for Japanese refugees isn't unheard of, but usually there is at least something. That was enough for the bank to bring my department into the investigation.
"Once we were alerted, we looked at the rest of the employees of Daybreak. Every one of them was, on paper, a Japanese national, with valid social security numbers, but no other history before a few months ago. Except, of course, for you, Ms. Hebert. Now, before you ask the question, it is not considered ethnic profiling to look at other businesses in the region that have been investigated for money laundering or other financial crimes. When we did that, the, uh, 'Azn Bad Boys' sprung to the top of the list as potential backers. You may know, that gang does have a known, malicious interest in young women, even of non-Asian ethnicity. We just want you to be safe, Miss, and local law enforcement can help you get out of this situation if you cannot get out on your own, but if you have seen or heard anything that can help with our investigation, we would very much appreciate it."
I didn't know what to say, besides nothing. I let my face show shock, both because I was feeling it, and because it would help me stall for time.
"Um, not that I believe you would attempt to tip them off anyway, and not that you could, given Arcadia's Faraday cage, but we are executing a search warrant on Daybreak as we speak. They won't be able to do anything to you, Taylor. You're safe. But any information you could give us would really help..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can't recall how much feedback Taylor gets from her various paper clones, so I'm not completely sure where it would go from here. Honestly, I saw the bit about donations, and Taylor worrying about the IRS, and it wouldn't get out of my head, "huh, that's structuring. That might get caught in the real world, let alone a world with hostile Thinkers, Watchdog, Dragon, and all the ways the financial world would have evolved in response. Wouldn't it be amusing it really was the IRS who ended up outing Taylor?" And so I had to write it. I also figured that Naruto's weird schizo-tech setting might have lead to some real-world financial crimes being out of Konan's experience, and so not something Taylor would have been cautioned about.
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