A Practical Guide to Escalation (Worm/A Practical Guide to Evil)
- Thread starter NotZiz
- Start date
- Location
- Argentina
If he broke a deal she fulfilled on her part it would look bad. At least if he did so openly. Plus Skitter is a local in the Bay so she could help to get Squire back.
- Location
- UK
Dwarves in PGtE live underground and consider anything below a certain level their own. They are powerful, but usually stay out of surface issues, besides selling weapons and permitting some dwarven mercenaries. They sank/undermined a kingdom that tried to drown them by diverting rivers (I think) underground. So not someone most people are willing to mess with, no matter how powerful you are.
You also forgot that they are extremely racist, and basically consider everything not dwarfen sub-human (sub-dwafen?).
They also wage war simply by digging under city's and then making it fall into their underground, (mostly) killing everybody, after which they loot the city to the ground.
We are Ater though, so that is probably some points for team bad guy.
They also wage war simply by digging under city's and then making it fall into their underground, (mostly) killing everybody, after which they loot the city to the ground.
We are Ater though, so that is probably some points for team bad guy.
TimEd
Meteor maker
is this a typo? Or a specific PGtE
Ater the capital of Praes, THE evil capital of Calernia.
Most know for: Being the place The Tower is(only rebuilt 3? times)
Where every Dread Empress/Emperor has ruled from.
And being a bigger dearth trap than the wastelands surrounding it.
https://practicalguidetoevil.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/t2iwdoy.jpg
Most know for: Being the place The Tower is(only rebuilt 3? times)
Where every Dread Empress/Emperor has ruled from.
And being a bigger dearth trap than the wastelands surrounding it.
https://practicalguidetoevil.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/t2iwdoy.jpg
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Edison_Trent
Freelancer
Well, "mild" in the northeast US is still pretty cold, just not as cold as say, Canadian/Alaskan winters.
And even then I've seen people out in shorts and t-shirts in under 40°F weather, so "cold" can be pretty relative person to person.
NotZiz
Verified Human
I was going to just make Taylor the kind of person who whines about 40F weather, but I changed it to annoyingly cold, since I feel that fits NE winters broadly enough to handle it.
Edison_Trent
Freelancer
I mean, that does fit since anything under 55°F will really start to limit her bug options, due to them slowing down/dying, depending on the species.
goodpie2
Unverified Guy With a Face
- Location
- Earth. Probably.
The dwarven empire is generally regarded as one of the sleeping dragons of the setting. Nobody willingly does anything that might piss them off, because the dwarves can remove kingdoms without even trying. At one point Cat gets to see them go to war, and she comes away with the realization that they could utterly destroy any military on the surface literally as an afterthought. In short, if the dwarves are involved, it means that the only options are to do literally anything to avoid a war.
- Location
- America
Maybe letting the dwarfs use the portal might fix things, what could possibly go wrong.
goodpie2
Unverified Guy With a Face
- Location
- Earth. Probably.
A war between the Dwarves and Gnomes could destroy the continent.
- Location
- Not Entirely Here
That wouldn't be war. That would not even be massacre. That would be disappearance.
Gnomes are on a different league.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
IIRC Gnomes are, but Dwarves are in punching range above them. Dwarves wouldn't win a war with the Gnomes, but they might be a pain in the ass for said Gnomes to fight.
Abby Normal
High Clerk of the Ymaryn
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think the big reason for 'a war between the Dwarves and Gnomes could destroy the continent' is that the gnomes MO is 'fleet of airship bombing their enemies to rubble'. Applying that to a nation that spans most of the underground beneath the continent doesn't bode well for the surface nations either 
Also, some relevant quotes:
Also, some relevant quotes:
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goodpie2
Unverified Guy With a Face
- Location
- Earth. Probably.
See, you say that, but the fact is we have little to no information on either. Unless we've been given more information since I stopped reading a bit ago (it was some time after
Cat came back with the army of Drow and was doing her thing in Procer
Also, yes. That was my original point. Regardless of whether or not there would actually be any contest between the two, the fact is that there would be no survivors on the surface.I think the big reason for 'a war between the Dwarves and Gnomes could destroy the continent' is that the gnomes MO is 'fleet of airship bombing their enemies to rubble'. Applying that to a nation that spans most of the underground beneath the continent doesn't bode well for the surface nations either
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4.4 - Catherine
NotZiz
Verified Human
4.4 - Catherine
"There's a reason Alexandria stands among the Triumvirate and would have always stood among the Triumvirate, regardless of her powers. Where Legend is charismatic and inspiring, and Eidolon aloof and mysterious, she is indomitable. Failure simply has never been an option for her and it never will be. If anyone stands at the top of parahuman kind, it is Alexandria."
Tattletale leaned over the kitchen table, hands pushing aside scribbled notes and photocopies of documents as she looked at us with bloodshot eyes and a manic grin. Documents and maps of PRT patrol routes to Watchdog protocols to gang territories and more. Masego and myself stood to either side of the table, looking at her expectantly in return.
"Okay, so here's the plan."
"So what do you think is your equivalent to wakeleaf?" I asked.
"Hard to say. Sounds a bit like a mix of weed and caffeine to me. Kind of like tobacco as well, but from your description it acts more like a combination of the other two," Tattletale responded.
Masego sighed pointedly from his bag chair made of beans.
"Maybe we need to rethink the drug trade ban…" I mused.
Masego straightened up from his indulgent lounging, sternly voicing, "No."
Tattletale shot a finger gun at him. "Best we hold off on that. Not that I'd mind getting my foot in the door first, but-"
Conversation stopped as Tattletale's phone rang. Now that was a device I wanted to get my hands on. Instant communication irrelevant of distance? Praes, and Callow by extension, already had a significant advantage given our mages' superior scrying capabilities. To have that kind of communication ability would revolutionize warfare logistics, which was probably an even better reason for not having it. That kind of imbalance would spin off a dozen different Stories, not even getting into the issues it might cause with gnomes, dwarves, and other advanced civilizations.
"Okay, I'll buzz you in," Tattletale replied over the phone, walking over to her door and pressing some buttons to the side of it.
It was funny, I mused, how quickly we had adjusted to the luxuries here. Masego has learned how the coffee machine worked and was using it daily. I was quite taken with the luxury of central heating. Sure, we had both pressed some buttons we shouldn't've, but considering the differences we had adapted rather quickly. I had to wonder if that was because of a wind in our sails here. Adapting to a new world wasn't a Story I was familiar with, but it certainly could've been one. Stories didn't tend to have useless downtime and us fumbling with how buttons worked for a month wouldn't have fit the current stakes.
Maybe I was overthinking it, maybe it was just that Masego had always been good at adapting to the unknown and I wasn't half bad at it either. If I had brought Ratface or Aisha over they might've had that extra trouble. Even then, I was being unfair to them. Both had rolled with the punches at every turn for Rat company and later the Fifteenth. No one in our orbit was really all that inflexible.
The door opened as Tattletale let in her fellow villains. We had only briefly been introduced before being sequestered away in her apartment for most of a week. There was the tall, dark skinned man named Grue. The slighter, pale boy with the disinterested gaze, Regent. A well built woman with a blockish face, named Bitch. And then the other two I had only really heard about in advance. Parian and Foil, who hung back a bit from the rest of the group.
Regent plopped down on the couch across from Masego, sprawling over it, as the two mutually ignored each other. Grue, Parian, and Foil all headed for the table as Bitch sat on the other arm of the couch. We were roughly gathered around, even if half the group looked like they didn't want to be here.
"You guys get here alright?" Tattletale asked as she gathered her stuff up.
Grue shrugged. "Well enough. City's locked down pretty tight."
"How sure are we that Watchdog is involved?" Foil asked, a nervous tint to her voice.
"Ninety-eight percent," Tattletale replied grimly. "I'm pretty sure we've been made. That fight at the Boardwalk? If they didn't know before, they know now. They're waiting to see our next move, but if we take too long, they'll pin us down. We're on the clock."
"So what's the next step? We lay low?" Grue asked, sounding worn out.
Bitch spoke up, "We need to get Skitter back."
"Problem is," Tattletale quickly replied. "We don't know where she is."
Bitch looked over at me, glaring. "You said these two do. Just ask them."
I turned my hands over and shrugged at the group. "We knew where she was a few months ago. She could be anywhere by now. I'm sure we could find her once we got back, but it might take awhile."
"Which means the portal either has to stay open or be re-openable," Tattletale concluded. "Both of which make us one big fucking target. We already upped the ante, if one of the Triumvirate isn't here already, I'll eat my shoe."
Regent looked over at us, his head upside down and lolling off the side of the couch. "Now I want you to be wrong just so I can see that."
"I want her to be wrong so we're not up shit creek," Grue grumbled in return.
"I don't want to sound ungrateful, but is this really worth it?" Parian said, finally speaking. The doll themed mask not moving as she spoke, white porcelain covering her entire face. "Skitter was very practical, would she even want us attracting this much attention to find her?"
Bitch turned, her shoulders hunched up as she stared Parian down. "She would come for us."
The doll girl drew back, looking away, Foil taking her place and glaring back at Bitch in return.
"Would she?" Regent mused, still half hanging off the couch. "I was about to say Parian's got a point, but actually, Skitter probably is stubborn enough to take the Triumvirate on."
"Fact is, we need her back," Tattletale said, putting her foot down. "We're not going to hold this much turf without her and we've already attracted a lot of attention. We start showing weakness now and we're going to get torn apart. That's why I want us to work with Squire and Hierophant here."
Masego lazily raised a hand to indicate that he was one of those two and I just sighed slowly.
"First, tell me you have news on the Summer Queen. You know, the one that they so helpfully dropped in our lap and nearly killed us. The one that nearly toasted me. That one." Tattletale shot me a look.
Okay, still bitter about that.
"Nothing on the street or from Faultline's Crew," Regent answered.
Foil half stepped forward before speaking. "PRT has been quiet ever since the incident before the Butcher fight. More patrols are out, but they don't seem to be expecting trouble."
"Which means they've handled her somehow," Tattletale concluded, cutting her off. Foil looked mildly annoyed, but didn't speak up.
"Speaking of the Butcher, are we sure Squire is safe?" Grue asked, turning the black helmet with the painted skull my way.
Masego projected his voice over from his throne of decadence, "Were she not, you would not be in a state to be concerned over it. The working will hold, although while I have cautioned her against testing it excessively that didn't seem to stop her last time."
I flashed him a perfectly innocent smile that got no reaction back from him, but had Regent snorting in amusement. Well, at least someone here had the good taste to humor me.
"She's safe enough," Tattletale added. "And also our Trump card."
Everyone stared at her, the deadpan expressions universal across the room.
Masego chipped in again, "If that was a pun, it was bad."
"Holy shit and I thought my puns were bad," said a new voice. I spun, taking a look and-
"I'm surrounded by philistines," Tattletale huffed. "Anyway, here's the deal. We need to get Scrub, Labyrinth, and Hierophant together and buy them enough time to work on making a portal. We're assuming high level Thinker involvement, so we'll be laying down multiple threads of misdirection. The ultimate goal is getting the portal open, because we can fall back through it and use the rules change to counter anyone we can't beat here. Our unique advantage is we have people who are strong in both worlds. As long as we pick our fights well, we can leverage that."
I nodded along, it was a sound plan as far as I could tell. We were likely outnumbered on both sides, but the idea was to make the portal into Callow or Praes if possible. There we could have a reasonably good home territory advantage in defending the Calernian side and the Undersiders would do the same with the Bet side. Either side could retreat back and make a push again with their favored set of rules, making taking permanent control of the portal from our alliance difficult.
I wasn't sure if it would work so smoothly in practice, well I was almost certain it wouldn't, but it was worth a shot. Masego and I needed to get home; Callow was a sharper ready to go off. Skitter needed to get home as well. We had promised Tattletale a collaboration with Masego to investigate the source of the powers on Bet. Tattletale had promised a possible solution for the inevitable red letter we'd get.
Beyond those very practical goals, I had realized there was even more we could get out of this. Stories held limited sway here, mostly around the portal and even then it was very volatile. Someone doomed for death in Calernia could simply cross the portal and if they maintained enough distance, break off the Story that hung over their head. We had what was effectively a way to cull Stories at our discretion. That, more than anything else, was what would get Black on board with this. The cycle of Stories that forced Creation to follow the same destructive patterns could be broken. The tool he had spent decades trying to forge himself was here.
"I'll be telling everyone their part separately and having you go out separately. Full infosec shit here so we can stop those fuckers in Watchdog from reading our bluffs. We nail this and we not only get Skitter and these two fuckers home, we also get to be the lynchpin to interdimensional relations with a world completely different from ours. None of these lowkey Aleph imports, this is world shaking stuff. We'll have a position to negotiate with anyone we want. This is it folks, we nail this and it's nothing but the big leagues from here on out."
"What if we don't give a shit about any of that?" Regent asked sardonically.
"You'll have as many fucking game consoles as you can find," Tattletale replied seamlessly.
"You son of a bitch, I'm in."
Tattletale pointed to a map, speaking quickly. "Masego and I will be meeting with Labyrinth and Scrub in the basement of Charlie's Chicago Chili Cheese Steaks. You'll be accompanying us from a distance and running interference. If they've got any big hitters in reserve, we'll rely on you to keep them busy."
I looked at the map. It was a decent distance to our rendezvous point, but I assumed we'd be going by car. I hadn't gotten to ride inside one yet, but they went far faster than a horse. That distance was maybe a bell or two by horse. Not much time at all inside the metal contraptions that they used here.
"My reagents have been accounted for I assume?" Masego asked.
"Already in the car. We got everything we could within the time limit. It'll be up to us to make it work," she said.
Masego frowned slightly, but nodded. "I would've preferred to have had more time to get proper readings, but you've both sufficiently impressed on me the urgency of our situation. I believe we'll be able to get the portal up or, at the least, determine we don't have the necessary components quickly enough that we can change tack."
Tattletale took her pistol off the table, sliding it into the thigh holster she kept attached to her costume. She slid the other over to Masego, who inspected it through the blindfold with an amused look before carefully stowing it inside his robes. I would've hesitated before on letting him get too much of a look at the technology here, but at this point a red letter was inevitable. We were going to have to count on our alliance with the Undersiders to handle what was coming. Just like they were going to have to count on us. Funny, how it took going across worlds to finally get people working together.
Tattletale finished packing up her gear into the belt she wore and looked around the apartment. Runes glowed on the walls, the result of the last few hours. Masego's hurried work was more potent than the careful ministrations of most mages.
"Fuck. I really liked this apartment too. Nothing for it now, let's go." She waved us towards the door, giving one longing glance back at the apartment.
It was an injustice, I thought. A minor one, but an injustice all the same. Masego, who was not only blind, but entirely unappreciative of physical aesthetic, got to ride with Tattletale and her purple costume. I got to drive with a man named Keith, who while not unattractive, was not wearing a form fitting costume and also was stoically avoiding engaging in conversation with me.
Whatever. I was getting one for Killian when all of this was sorted out anyway.
The car rolled along the street at speeds that I had found made me rather nauseous if I didn't look out the front windows. It was an SUV I was told, whatever the hell that meant, but supposedly it was tougher than the standard car. Which was good, because the car rocked at that moment, an explosion one street over from us that was visible over the buildings between us and it. Part of Tattletale's plan, I hoped.
The driver swerved to avoid a hole in the road. The streets here were in surprisingly poor repair even compared to the ones I was used to in Callow. Some had long furrows carved into them or were restricted to one way passage by debris. It was odd to me, seeing a city so far ahead of anything we could make that was also in worse repair than many of ours. It felt wrong, like if people had figured out how to get this far that they shouldn't be struggling with basic tasks like keeping roads repaired.
Perhaps technology wasn't the panacea it seemed to be, it had done little to save the people here from infighting. It was stupid to discount it entirely though. Everyone here had indoor plumbing, heating, and a better selection of food than most nobility. Medicine here was leagues above what we had. Not needing to rely on priests for severe injuries would save thousands of soldiers over the course of a campaign.
I wasn't the kind of person who was qualified to make the decision over what or how much to try and bring over, but then who was? Malicia? Gods no. Black? He was smart, but he had his blind spots as well. I couldn't think of anyone with the forethought to be the authority we needed. I doubted that anyone with it existed. When there wasn't a perfect answer, there was a good enough one. Well, good enough pretty much described my entire career until now. It wouldn't absolve me of whatever horrors this inevitably spawned, but I was fine with that.
This was a risk, but it was one I wouldn't take alone. The bitter thought of Masego correcting me over the last risk I took came to mind. None of us was the perfect authority for this, but I could consult them. Get as much input as I could from trusted sources. I'd be better about these things.
The car rocked again, this time swerving as a cloud of pure darkness started to creep across the street. We barely moved around the spreading cloud before it engulfed the street behind us. Keith drew in a sharp breath, but otherwise kept his composure. I was mildly impressed, training infantry lines not to scatter under mage fire was difficult. This man clearly had similar training to react to the powers here without panicking.
A sound crackled and blared from the center of the front of the car. "Butch, this is Tattletale. We're almost there, but Faultline's Crew is running behind. It's gonna be spicy."
I spoke back, "Got it."
Keith pressed a button and spoke, "She copies."
Ah, so it didn't just magically know when I was speaking. There was a button. That made sense. But then phones didn't have a button when it was your turn to speak. What was the difference with this one? Was it because it was part of the car?
The car whipped around a corner and I clutched at my seatbelt to avoid bumping against Keith. We pulled into a large structure with multiple levels, all filled with cars from what I could see. Tattletale's car stopped up ahead and the occupants poured out. Tattletale, Masego, and then two men armed with guns. Keith pulled up next to them and I unlatched my seatbelt and opened the door, trying to jump out as we rolled to a stop. I hit the ground with one foot and then had to whirlwind my arms as the change in momentum was more severe than I expected.
Tattletale was dragging a hand across her face and chuckling. "Wait for the car to stop, we're not in that much of a rush."
I shrugged. "I wanted to try it. It was in that movie you showed us."
"I should not have showed you two Die Hard," she said, shaking her head. She raised her hand and wagged two fingers forward. "Let's move out."
I fell in behind them, leaving a solid forty paces between us. Much like with the cars, the idea was to keep separate from them so I could keep an eye on them and not get caught in any ambush aimed at them. We seemed to be pretty conspicuous, moving in costume in broad daylight, but Tattletale was the one who knew how things worked here.
We went out a back entrance to the structure and entered an alley that had an overwhelming smell of garbage and piss. Tattletale's group already far ahead, they had opened some metal hatch to a staircase that descended underground. I waited with Keith for them to descend and then followed. The staircase was dark, leading into a dimly lit room full of what looked to be dry food storage. A larder of sorts it seemed. Tattletale and Masego were waiting in the middle, the two guards covering a second staircase. I noticed Keith hanging back, covering the one we had come through.
Tattletale frowned. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Gods, don't say that," I started at her.
"Why?" she asked, eyebrows creased downwards.
I gestured to above us. "It's just asking for something bad to happen. Before, it could've just been a delay, but now the scene is primed for it."
"Maybe in your universe, this is still ours," she retorted.
The ground above us rumbled briefly.
"Catherine," Masego said, looking to me. "Remember Philosteine's theory on dimensional bounding?"
I looked up as the ground rumbled again, more concerned with the ominous rumbling. "Little distracted at the moment Zeze."
"Oil and water can mix when forced together," he practically shouted over the next rumble.
Tattletale pulled out her gun, looking around the ceiling frantically. "Oh fuck."
A man with white hair and smoking eyes bolted down the staircase guarded by Keith, quickly followed by a girl with long platinum blonde hair. I looked quickly to Tattletale, who held a hand up indicating to leave them.
A taller woman with dark hair and a martial bearing ducked her head into the staircase, shouting, "You said it was handled!"
She went flying down the stairs, smacking into the ground in the larder with a thump. I stepped forward, seeing Keith back up as he held a larger gun pointed at the staircase. The dark haired woman groaned in pain as I approached, the other two running back towards Tattletale. A woman floated down the stairs, dressed in a mix of grey armor pieces and a black costume. A helmet covering the top half of her head, long black hair flowing out from behind it along her cape.
"Tattletale. How did I know letting you go was a mistake?" she scoffed.
"Fuck me," Tattletale cursed from behind me. I stepped forward, deliberately positioning myself between them. The woman who had been thrown into the ground rolled to the side, slowly pulling herself out of the way.
The floating woman tilted her head towards me. "Squire. Whatever she has promised you, we can provide far better. Stand aside."
I tapped into what I could of my Mantle, feeling Winter course through my veins steadily. "See, that sounds awfully ominous. Overtures of peace from a woman who just punted someone falls kind of flat."
"Squire-" Tattletale shouted. The woman flicked a pebble past my head, cracking the wall beside Tattletale.
"Not another word from you." The woman turned the grey helmet back to face me. "This little gang has no authority, no power. I don't know what you want, but as the actual authority in this world, we can negotiate with you. Perhaps this is your world's first contact with another dimension. These things are incredibly delicate. There's no place for petty little gangs here. Work with us and we can make sure it's safe and beneficial for everyone involved."
What was it with heroes and always offering the carrot only after the stick? She couldn't just come in here and try to bargain nicely. No, she had to go and punt some woman hard enough that I bet her ribs cracked and then make threats before extending the hand of truce. What were the odds that her idea of working together meant screwing us over too? Seriously, offering us everything we wanted if we only gave up the people who had helped us? Now that was a Story.
"See here's the thing," I responded, flexing my hand as ice covered my fingers, forming long talons. "Beyond the fact that I have no way to know if you're trustworthy, you just made a major mistake."
The woman looked at me expectantly. "Oh?"
"You threatened a party backed into a corner with overwhelming force," I said with a satisfied grin.
"Kick her ass Squire!" Tattletale shouted from behind me.
My hand snapped up, catching the rock that the woman had flicked the instant Tattletale had spoken up. I opened my hand, letting the crushed gravel dribble out from between my fingers onto the floor. To her credit, the woman reacted with lightning reflexes, barely taking a moment to come to a decision. She shot forward for me and I grew a sword of ice, plunging it straight at her chest.
My world flipped head over heels as I crashed into the wall. With Winter in my veins, that hit would've smarted, but been fine. With Winter and whatever power I retained from the Butcher, I felt absolutely nothing. I flexed my hand felt the power within, a weird, fluctuating strength formed by the tenuous amalgam of Winter and Butcher. Grabbing a piece of the wall I chucked it at the woman.
She didn't even attempt to dodge, the debris shattering against her and not leaving a scratch.
Well, go fucking figure. I get unbreakable skin and the first person I fight has it too.
The woman rushed forward and I tackled her mid-air, the two of us colliding and crashing into another wall, sending shelves of stored food flying. I grabbed a sack of potatoes and slammed them down into her head, disappointed to see the only effect it had was to cover the woman in potato bits. She punched me straight in the jaw and I staggered back, unharmed but wary. That kind of punch could've taken my head clean off back when I was just the Squire.
"Out, out! Fucking move! Zeze, grab her. Scrub, shoot Alexandria if she gets past Squire. Into the alley, go, go!" Tattletale was directing everyone back into the alley, scrambling out herself as I stared the woman, Alexandria she had said, down. Something in the back of my head tingled and I tried to nail down the feeling.
She moved first, slamming into me again and pinning me against the ground. The tingling grew worse and I felt an instinct I certainly had never had. Pulling on that instinct, I felt something click and I appeared across the room, Alexandria suddenly underneath me as our orientation flipped. I swung a knee up into her, more throwing myself back than doing anything appreciable to her.
Alexandria ignored me, shooting towards the exit and I launched forward, grabbing her by the ankles and pulling her sideways. We crashed into the wall to the side of the staircase instead. Light flooding over us as the collapsed wall crumbled around us. The alley visible now as the wall we had hit was essentially gone.
"Portal, now!" Tattletale was ordering. "Zeze, work with Labyrinth to find the thinnest boundary."
Alexandria glanced over at them and I threw an ice covered punch. Her hand shot up, catching mine and squeezing. Even I was surprised that my hand didn't break under the pressure I could feel her exerting on it. I couldn't even put a scratch on her. Extra strength was nice, but it did nothing against whatever invulnerability she had. That was okay though, I didn't need to beat her here, just delay her long enough for the others to get the portal up.
Alexandria whipped her arm, trying to throw me by the hand she held. I grabbed her wrist with the other hand, redirecting the force to crash my legs into her. She reached for my leg and I teleported as the tingling in my head went off again. I could feel the flow of the Story with me. It wouldn't be easy, because it had to be tough for the Story to work, but I could hold her off.
She punched and I ducked. I made blocks of ice, trying to hem her in and failing. She broke out, flying up where I couldn't reach her. I teleported onto the roof, leaping and slamming into her from above. The wind rushed around us as she simply flew up while I slammed my fist into her repeatedly. I tried to tap into the power that had made me unreasonably angry, but it sputtered and fizzled in my head, squirming through my grasp.
I looked down and saw the city far, far beneath us. My old fear of heights suddenly remembering itself as I looked at the passing clouds. Alexandria whipped herself down and I felt my grip break, hurtling down through the sky with the extra momentum. I was okay though. I had a body that was reinforced by two different sources of durability. I could probably survive a fall like this. My pounding heart tried to disagree and I worked to ignore it. Maybe I could teleport once I was close to the ground? The ground sure was approaching fast.
I saw Alexandria fly at me from above, the tingling in my head suddenly screaming, and she collided with me. I shot down through the air at a ridiculous speed from the blow. Ice wings spread out from me, breaking and shattering at the speed I was falling at. I kept forming ice, trying to slow my descent with it, the danger sense in my head getting quieter as I approached only regularly terrifying speeds.
I was nearly to the ground, but I was pretty sure I could a combination of my ice and my newfound durability to land decently. My danger sense suddenly blared and I saw a black figure shooting up from below in the corner of my vision. I teleported and feeling the power resist found I only had moved a few paces to the side. Alexandria shot through the space I had been occupying with barely half a second to spare.
I crashed down, forming a slope of ice beneath me as I landed on a rooftop, sliding down the ice off the edge of the roof and landing in the alley with a thump. A bit of an awkward landing, but not bad for falling a few leagues from the sky, I thought. The alley was different than when I had left it. Strange castle-like walls instead of normal ones now lined the sides and a cobblestone path filled the center, but didn't quite extend the whole length of the alley.
"Try again, two paces to your left," Masego was saying to Scrub. The latter rubbed his temples.
"I don't get to pick exactly where blows up," he complained. A bag of trash exploded, replaced with nothing as the remnants blew outwards.
"Other bag of trash Scrub," Tattletale called out.
"How does it make any difference?" Scrub cried back.
Alexandria crashed into the ground in front of me, landing on two hands and a knee before standing up slowly. Damn, that looked a lot better than my landing. I had to remember everyone here had a lot more practice with these kinds of power than I did. Names didn't have the raw destructive power that powers here did. I wasn't sure even someone like Ranger could handle this woman.
At least I seemed to either not take enough damage to feel pain or was immune to it now. I did not envy the thought of trying to fight the capes here without that. I did have my Aspects still, but I wasn't sure using either of them was wise here. Take was tied up in the Butcher's powers still, though it felt like I could try and use it. Try being the key word. I wondered if either Break or Fall would work through the woman's invulnerability. It was something I could break out if things got worse. Best to keep that as an ace in the hole.
"The other left!" Tattletale shouted.
"I'm trying!" Scrub shouted back.
I looked at Alexandria and gave her a shrug. "Villains, am I right?"
She punched the air in front of me and the shockwave buffeted me back. It felt like she was holding back. Sure, she might not have been able to completely destroy me, but she was faster than I was and stronger to boot. She could've kept me up in the air for ages and just worn me down. The punch just now? Another demonstration that I wasn't up to snuff to fight with her.
So why let me land? I narrowed my eyes at her and saw the slightest of smiles on her face. Why let me fight, unless she wanted us to succeed? If she wanted us to succeed, why even fight me in the first place? It made us rush. Was that her goal here? Was she trying to lure our trump cards out?
I considered calling out to Tattletale, even though Alexandria would surely hear me as well.
"I want to thank you, Squire," Alexandria said, out of the blue.
I looked at her, trying to get a read on her. Her body language exuded one thing and one thing only. Pure confidence. She felt like she was in absolute control and I wasn't sure she was wrong.
"You don't know it, but we've been struggling for decades against a threat you can scare imagine. The existence of your world is a relief, a new hope for us. I don't expect you to forgive us, but you'd do the same in our place," she said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm pretty certain you're wrong about that," I retorted, not at all liking where this was going. The pit in my gut was only getting worse as things dragged on.
She shrugged. "Perhaps. It's immaterial, however."
A flash of light and sound came from behind me along with the exuberant shouting of Masego. I half turned to look at them without fully letting Alexandria out of my line of sight. A circular portal glowed in the wall of the alley, just big enough to fit a cart pulled by two horses side by side through. I recognized Warlock looking through in surprise from the other side.
In front of the portal, another, smaller one opened. A woman in a strange looking suit wearing a hat stepped out. To her side two other portals opened, letting through two others, surrounding Tattletale's group. One was a man in a blue and white skintight suit, much like Tattletale's. The other was a man in a green costume, head hidden inside his hood.
Alexandria walked up beside me, patting my shoulder with a gloved hand. "We'll be taking control of the portal. Feel free to resist, but I don't recommend it."
"There's a reason Alexandria stands among the Triumvirate and would have always stood among the Triumvirate, regardless of her powers. Where Legend is charismatic and inspiring, and Eidolon aloof and mysterious, she is indomitable. Failure simply has never been an option for her and it never will be. If anyone stands at the top of parahuman kind, it is Alexandria."
- Excerpt from Capes and Capers: An Analysis of the Most Influential Parahumans
Tattletale leaned over the kitchen table, hands pushing aside scribbled notes and photocopies of documents as she looked at us with bloodshot eyes and a manic grin. Documents and maps of PRT patrol routes to Watchdog protocols to gang territories and more. Masego and myself stood to either side of the table, looking at her expectantly in return.
"Okay, so here's the plan."
---7 Hours Earlier---
"So what do you think is your equivalent to wakeleaf?" I asked.
"Hard to say. Sounds a bit like a mix of weed and caffeine to me. Kind of like tobacco as well, but from your description it acts more like a combination of the other two," Tattletale responded.
Masego sighed pointedly from his bag chair made of beans.
"Maybe we need to rethink the drug trade ban…" I mused.
Masego straightened up from his indulgent lounging, sternly voicing, "No."
Tattletale shot a finger gun at him. "Best we hold off on that. Not that I'd mind getting my foot in the door first, but-"
Conversation stopped as Tattletale's phone rang. Now that was a device I wanted to get my hands on. Instant communication irrelevant of distance? Praes, and Callow by extension, already had a significant advantage given our mages' superior scrying capabilities. To have that kind of communication ability would revolutionize warfare logistics, which was probably an even better reason for not having it. That kind of imbalance would spin off a dozen different Stories, not even getting into the issues it might cause with gnomes, dwarves, and other advanced civilizations.
"Okay, I'll buzz you in," Tattletale replied over the phone, walking over to her door and pressing some buttons to the side of it.
It was funny, I mused, how quickly we had adjusted to the luxuries here. Masego has learned how the coffee machine worked and was using it daily. I was quite taken with the luxury of central heating. Sure, we had both pressed some buttons we shouldn't've, but considering the differences we had adapted rather quickly. I had to wonder if that was because of a wind in our sails here. Adapting to a new world wasn't a Story I was familiar with, but it certainly could've been one. Stories didn't tend to have useless downtime and us fumbling with how buttons worked for a month wouldn't have fit the current stakes.
Maybe I was overthinking it, maybe it was just that Masego had always been good at adapting to the unknown and I wasn't half bad at it either. If I had brought Ratface or Aisha over they might've had that extra trouble. Even then, I was being unfair to them. Both had rolled with the punches at every turn for Rat company and later the Fifteenth. No one in our orbit was really all that inflexible.
The door opened as Tattletale let in her fellow villains. We had only briefly been introduced before being sequestered away in her apartment for most of a week. There was the tall, dark skinned man named Grue. The slighter, pale boy with the disinterested gaze, Regent. A well built woman with a blockish face, named Bitch. And then the other two I had only really heard about in advance. Parian and Foil, who hung back a bit from the rest of the group.
Regent plopped down on the couch across from Masego, sprawling over it, as the two mutually ignored each other. Grue, Parian, and Foil all headed for the table as Bitch sat on the other arm of the couch. We were roughly gathered around, even if half the group looked like they didn't want to be here.
"You guys get here alright?" Tattletale asked as she gathered her stuff up.
Grue shrugged. "Well enough. City's locked down pretty tight."
"How sure are we that Watchdog is involved?" Foil asked, a nervous tint to her voice.
"Ninety-eight percent," Tattletale replied grimly. "I'm pretty sure we've been made. That fight at the Boardwalk? If they didn't know before, they know now. They're waiting to see our next move, but if we take too long, they'll pin us down. We're on the clock."
"So what's the next step? We lay low?" Grue asked, sounding worn out.
Bitch spoke up, "We need to get Skitter back."
"Problem is," Tattletale quickly replied. "We don't know where she is."
Bitch looked over at me, glaring. "You said these two do. Just ask them."
I turned my hands over and shrugged at the group. "We knew where she was a few months ago. She could be anywhere by now. I'm sure we could find her once we got back, but it might take awhile."
"Which means the portal either has to stay open or be re-openable," Tattletale concluded. "Both of which make us one big fucking target. We already upped the ante, if one of the Triumvirate isn't here already, I'll eat my shoe."
Regent looked over at us, his head upside down and lolling off the side of the couch. "Now I want you to be wrong just so I can see that."
"I want her to be wrong so we're not up shit creek," Grue grumbled in return.
"I don't want to sound ungrateful, but is this really worth it?" Parian said, finally speaking. The doll themed mask not moving as she spoke, white porcelain covering her entire face. "Skitter was very practical, would she even want us attracting this much attention to find her?"
Bitch turned, her shoulders hunched up as she stared Parian down. "She would come for us."
The doll girl drew back, looking away, Foil taking her place and glaring back at Bitch in return.
"Would she?" Regent mused, still half hanging off the couch. "I was about to say Parian's got a point, but actually, Skitter probably is stubborn enough to take the Triumvirate on."
"Fact is, we need her back," Tattletale said, putting her foot down. "We're not going to hold this much turf without her and we've already attracted a lot of attention. We start showing weakness now and we're going to get torn apart. That's why I want us to work with Squire and Hierophant here."
Masego lazily raised a hand to indicate that he was one of those two and I just sighed slowly.
"First, tell me you have news on the Summer Queen. You know, the one that they so helpfully dropped in our lap and nearly killed us. The one that nearly toasted me. That one." Tattletale shot me a look.
Okay, still bitter about that.
"Nothing on the street or from Faultline's Crew," Regent answered.
Foil half stepped forward before speaking. "PRT has been quiet ever since the incident before the Butcher fight. More patrols are out, but they don't seem to be expecting trouble."
"Which means they've handled her somehow," Tattletale concluded, cutting her off. Foil looked mildly annoyed, but didn't speak up.
"Speaking of the Butcher, are we sure Squire is safe?" Grue asked, turning the black helmet with the painted skull my way.
Masego projected his voice over from his throne of decadence, "Were she not, you would not be in a state to be concerned over it. The working will hold, although while I have cautioned her against testing it excessively that didn't seem to stop her last time."
I flashed him a perfectly innocent smile that got no reaction back from him, but had Regent snorting in amusement. Well, at least someone here had the good taste to humor me.
"She's safe enough," Tattletale added. "And also our Trump card."
Everyone stared at her, the deadpan expressions universal across the room.
Masego chipped in again, "If that was a pun, it was bad."
"Holy shit and I thought my puns were bad," said a new voice. I spun, taking a look and-
***
"I'm surrounded by philistines," Tattletale huffed. "Anyway, here's the deal. We need to get Scrub, Labyrinth, and Hierophant together and buy them enough time to work on making a portal. We're assuming high level Thinker involvement, so we'll be laying down multiple threads of misdirection. The ultimate goal is getting the portal open, because we can fall back through it and use the rules change to counter anyone we can't beat here. Our unique advantage is we have people who are strong in both worlds. As long as we pick our fights well, we can leverage that."
I nodded along, it was a sound plan as far as I could tell. We were likely outnumbered on both sides, but the idea was to make the portal into Callow or Praes if possible. There we could have a reasonably good home territory advantage in defending the Calernian side and the Undersiders would do the same with the Bet side. Either side could retreat back and make a push again with their favored set of rules, making taking permanent control of the portal from our alliance difficult.
I wasn't sure if it would work so smoothly in practice, well I was almost certain it wouldn't, but it was worth a shot. Masego and I needed to get home; Callow was a sharper ready to go off. Skitter needed to get home as well. We had promised Tattletale a collaboration with Masego to investigate the source of the powers on Bet. Tattletale had promised a possible solution for the inevitable red letter we'd get.
Beyond those very practical goals, I had realized there was even more we could get out of this. Stories held limited sway here, mostly around the portal and even then it was very volatile. Someone doomed for death in Calernia could simply cross the portal and if they maintained enough distance, break off the Story that hung over their head. We had what was effectively a way to cull Stories at our discretion. That, more than anything else, was what would get Black on board with this. The cycle of Stories that forced Creation to follow the same destructive patterns could be broken. The tool he had spent decades trying to forge himself was here.
"I'll be telling everyone their part separately and having you go out separately. Full infosec shit here so we can stop those fuckers in Watchdog from reading our bluffs. We nail this and we not only get Skitter and these two fuckers home, we also get to be the lynchpin to interdimensional relations with a world completely different from ours. None of these lowkey Aleph imports, this is world shaking stuff. We'll have a position to negotiate with anyone we want. This is it folks, we nail this and it's nothing but the big leagues from here on out."
"What if we don't give a shit about any of that?" Regent asked sardonically.
"You'll have as many fucking game consoles as you can find," Tattletale replied seamlessly.
"You son of a bitch, I'm in."
---The Present---
Tattletale pointed to a map, speaking quickly. "Masego and I will be meeting with Labyrinth and Scrub in the basement of Charlie's Chicago Chili Cheese Steaks. You'll be accompanying us from a distance and running interference. If they've got any big hitters in reserve, we'll rely on you to keep them busy."
I looked at the map. It was a decent distance to our rendezvous point, but I assumed we'd be going by car. I hadn't gotten to ride inside one yet, but they went far faster than a horse. That distance was maybe a bell or two by horse. Not much time at all inside the metal contraptions that they used here.
"My reagents have been accounted for I assume?" Masego asked.
"Already in the car. We got everything we could within the time limit. It'll be up to us to make it work," she said.
Masego frowned slightly, but nodded. "I would've preferred to have had more time to get proper readings, but you've both sufficiently impressed on me the urgency of our situation. I believe we'll be able to get the portal up or, at the least, determine we don't have the necessary components quickly enough that we can change tack."
Tattletale took her pistol off the table, sliding it into the thigh holster she kept attached to her costume. She slid the other over to Masego, who inspected it through the blindfold with an amused look before carefully stowing it inside his robes. I would've hesitated before on letting him get too much of a look at the technology here, but at this point a red letter was inevitable. We were going to have to count on our alliance with the Undersiders to handle what was coming. Just like they were going to have to count on us. Funny, how it took going across worlds to finally get people working together.
Tattletale finished packing up her gear into the belt she wore and looked around the apartment. Runes glowed on the walls, the result of the last few hours. Masego's hurried work was more potent than the careful ministrations of most mages.
"Fuck. I really liked this apartment too. Nothing for it now, let's go." She waved us towards the door, giving one longing glance back at the apartment.
---
It was an injustice, I thought. A minor one, but an injustice all the same. Masego, who was not only blind, but entirely unappreciative of physical aesthetic, got to ride with Tattletale and her purple costume. I got to drive with a man named Keith, who while not unattractive, was not wearing a form fitting costume and also was stoically avoiding engaging in conversation with me.
Whatever. I was getting one for Killian when all of this was sorted out anyway.
The car rolled along the street at speeds that I had found made me rather nauseous if I didn't look out the front windows. It was an SUV I was told, whatever the hell that meant, but supposedly it was tougher than the standard car. Which was good, because the car rocked at that moment, an explosion one street over from us that was visible over the buildings between us and it. Part of Tattletale's plan, I hoped.
The driver swerved to avoid a hole in the road. The streets here were in surprisingly poor repair even compared to the ones I was used to in Callow. Some had long furrows carved into them or were restricted to one way passage by debris. It was odd to me, seeing a city so far ahead of anything we could make that was also in worse repair than many of ours. It felt wrong, like if people had figured out how to get this far that they shouldn't be struggling with basic tasks like keeping roads repaired.
Perhaps technology wasn't the panacea it seemed to be, it had done little to save the people here from infighting. It was stupid to discount it entirely though. Everyone here had indoor plumbing, heating, and a better selection of food than most nobility. Medicine here was leagues above what we had. Not needing to rely on priests for severe injuries would save thousands of soldiers over the course of a campaign.
I wasn't the kind of person who was qualified to make the decision over what or how much to try and bring over, but then who was? Malicia? Gods no. Black? He was smart, but he had his blind spots as well. I couldn't think of anyone with the forethought to be the authority we needed. I doubted that anyone with it existed. When there wasn't a perfect answer, there was a good enough one. Well, good enough pretty much described my entire career until now. It wouldn't absolve me of whatever horrors this inevitably spawned, but I was fine with that.
This was a risk, but it was one I wouldn't take alone. The bitter thought of Masego correcting me over the last risk I took came to mind. None of us was the perfect authority for this, but I could consult them. Get as much input as I could from trusted sources. I'd be better about these things.
The car rocked again, this time swerving as a cloud of pure darkness started to creep across the street. We barely moved around the spreading cloud before it engulfed the street behind us. Keith drew in a sharp breath, but otherwise kept his composure. I was mildly impressed, training infantry lines not to scatter under mage fire was difficult. This man clearly had similar training to react to the powers here without panicking.
A sound crackled and blared from the center of the front of the car. "Butch, this is Tattletale. We're almost there, but Faultline's Crew is running behind. It's gonna be spicy."
I spoke back, "Got it."
Keith pressed a button and spoke, "She copies."
Ah, so it didn't just magically know when I was speaking. There was a button. That made sense. But then phones didn't have a button when it was your turn to speak. What was the difference with this one? Was it because it was part of the car?
The car whipped around a corner and I clutched at my seatbelt to avoid bumping against Keith. We pulled into a large structure with multiple levels, all filled with cars from what I could see. Tattletale's car stopped up ahead and the occupants poured out. Tattletale, Masego, and then two men armed with guns. Keith pulled up next to them and I unlatched my seatbelt and opened the door, trying to jump out as we rolled to a stop. I hit the ground with one foot and then had to whirlwind my arms as the change in momentum was more severe than I expected.
Tattletale was dragging a hand across her face and chuckling. "Wait for the car to stop, we're not in that much of a rush."
I shrugged. "I wanted to try it. It was in that movie you showed us."
"I should not have showed you two Die Hard," she said, shaking her head. She raised her hand and wagged two fingers forward. "Let's move out."
I fell in behind them, leaving a solid forty paces between us. Much like with the cars, the idea was to keep separate from them so I could keep an eye on them and not get caught in any ambush aimed at them. We seemed to be pretty conspicuous, moving in costume in broad daylight, but Tattletale was the one who knew how things worked here.
We went out a back entrance to the structure and entered an alley that had an overwhelming smell of garbage and piss. Tattletale's group already far ahead, they had opened some metal hatch to a staircase that descended underground. I waited with Keith for them to descend and then followed. The staircase was dark, leading into a dimly lit room full of what looked to be dry food storage. A larder of sorts it seemed. Tattletale and Masego were waiting in the middle, the two guards covering a second staircase. I noticed Keith hanging back, covering the one we had come through.
Tattletale frowned. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Gods, don't say that," I started at her.
"Why?" she asked, eyebrows creased downwards.
I gestured to above us. "It's just asking for something bad to happen. Before, it could've just been a delay, but now the scene is primed for it."
"Maybe in your universe, this is still ours," she retorted.
The ground above us rumbled briefly.
"Catherine," Masego said, looking to me. "Remember Philosteine's theory on dimensional bounding?"
I looked up as the ground rumbled again, more concerned with the ominous rumbling. "Little distracted at the moment Zeze."
"Oil and water can mix when forced together," he practically shouted over the next rumble.
Tattletale pulled out her gun, looking around the ceiling frantically. "Oh fuck."
A man with white hair and smoking eyes bolted down the staircase guarded by Keith, quickly followed by a girl with long platinum blonde hair. I looked quickly to Tattletale, who held a hand up indicating to leave them.
A taller woman with dark hair and a martial bearing ducked her head into the staircase, shouting, "You said it was handled!"
She went flying down the stairs, smacking into the ground in the larder with a thump. I stepped forward, seeing Keith back up as he held a larger gun pointed at the staircase. The dark haired woman groaned in pain as I approached, the other two running back towards Tattletale. A woman floated down the stairs, dressed in a mix of grey armor pieces and a black costume. A helmet covering the top half of her head, long black hair flowing out from behind it along her cape.
"Tattletale. How did I know letting you go was a mistake?" she scoffed.
"Fuck me," Tattletale cursed from behind me. I stepped forward, deliberately positioning myself between them. The woman who had been thrown into the ground rolled to the side, slowly pulling herself out of the way.
The floating woman tilted her head towards me. "Squire. Whatever she has promised you, we can provide far better. Stand aside."
I tapped into what I could of my Mantle, feeling Winter course through my veins steadily. "See, that sounds awfully ominous. Overtures of peace from a woman who just punted someone falls kind of flat."
"Squire-" Tattletale shouted. The woman flicked a pebble past my head, cracking the wall beside Tattletale.
"Not another word from you." The woman turned the grey helmet back to face me. "This little gang has no authority, no power. I don't know what you want, but as the actual authority in this world, we can negotiate with you. Perhaps this is your world's first contact with another dimension. These things are incredibly delicate. There's no place for petty little gangs here. Work with us and we can make sure it's safe and beneficial for everyone involved."
What was it with heroes and always offering the carrot only after the stick? She couldn't just come in here and try to bargain nicely. No, she had to go and punt some woman hard enough that I bet her ribs cracked and then make threats before extending the hand of truce. What were the odds that her idea of working together meant screwing us over too? Seriously, offering us everything we wanted if we only gave up the people who had helped us? Now that was a Story.
"See here's the thing," I responded, flexing my hand as ice covered my fingers, forming long talons. "Beyond the fact that I have no way to know if you're trustworthy, you just made a major mistake."
The woman looked at me expectantly. "Oh?"
"You threatened a party backed into a corner with overwhelming force," I said with a satisfied grin.
"Kick her ass Squire!" Tattletale shouted from behind me.
My hand snapped up, catching the rock that the woman had flicked the instant Tattletale had spoken up. I opened my hand, letting the crushed gravel dribble out from between my fingers onto the floor. To her credit, the woman reacted with lightning reflexes, barely taking a moment to come to a decision. She shot forward for me and I grew a sword of ice, plunging it straight at her chest.
My world flipped head over heels as I crashed into the wall. With Winter in my veins, that hit would've smarted, but been fine. With Winter and whatever power I retained from the Butcher, I felt absolutely nothing. I flexed my hand felt the power within, a weird, fluctuating strength formed by the tenuous amalgam of Winter and Butcher. Grabbing a piece of the wall I chucked it at the woman.
She didn't even attempt to dodge, the debris shattering against her and not leaving a scratch.
Well, go fucking figure. I get unbreakable skin and the first person I fight has it too.
The woman rushed forward and I tackled her mid-air, the two of us colliding and crashing into another wall, sending shelves of stored food flying. I grabbed a sack of potatoes and slammed them down into her head, disappointed to see the only effect it had was to cover the woman in potato bits. She punched me straight in the jaw and I staggered back, unharmed but wary. That kind of punch could've taken my head clean off back when I was just the Squire.
"Out, out! Fucking move! Zeze, grab her. Scrub, shoot Alexandria if she gets past Squire. Into the alley, go, go!" Tattletale was directing everyone back into the alley, scrambling out herself as I stared the woman, Alexandria she had said, down. Something in the back of my head tingled and I tried to nail down the feeling.
She moved first, slamming into me again and pinning me against the ground. The tingling grew worse and I felt an instinct I certainly had never had. Pulling on that instinct, I felt something click and I appeared across the room, Alexandria suddenly underneath me as our orientation flipped. I swung a knee up into her, more throwing myself back than doing anything appreciable to her.
Alexandria ignored me, shooting towards the exit and I launched forward, grabbing her by the ankles and pulling her sideways. We crashed into the wall to the side of the staircase instead. Light flooding over us as the collapsed wall crumbled around us. The alley visible now as the wall we had hit was essentially gone.
"Portal, now!" Tattletale was ordering. "Zeze, work with Labyrinth to find the thinnest boundary."
Alexandria glanced over at them and I threw an ice covered punch. Her hand shot up, catching mine and squeezing. Even I was surprised that my hand didn't break under the pressure I could feel her exerting on it. I couldn't even put a scratch on her. Extra strength was nice, but it did nothing against whatever invulnerability she had. That was okay though, I didn't need to beat her here, just delay her long enough for the others to get the portal up.
Alexandria whipped her arm, trying to throw me by the hand she held. I grabbed her wrist with the other hand, redirecting the force to crash my legs into her. She reached for my leg and I teleported as the tingling in my head went off again. I could feel the flow of the Story with me. It wouldn't be easy, because it had to be tough for the Story to work, but I could hold her off.
She punched and I ducked. I made blocks of ice, trying to hem her in and failing. She broke out, flying up where I couldn't reach her. I teleported onto the roof, leaping and slamming into her from above. The wind rushed around us as she simply flew up while I slammed my fist into her repeatedly. I tried to tap into the power that had made me unreasonably angry, but it sputtered and fizzled in my head, squirming through my grasp.
I looked down and saw the city far, far beneath us. My old fear of heights suddenly remembering itself as I looked at the passing clouds. Alexandria whipped herself down and I felt my grip break, hurtling down through the sky with the extra momentum. I was okay though. I had a body that was reinforced by two different sources of durability. I could probably survive a fall like this. My pounding heart tried to disagree and I worked to ignore it. Maybe I could teleport once I was close to the ground? The ground sure was approaching fast.
I saw Alexandria fly at me from above, the tingling in my head suddenly screaming, and she collided with me. I shot down through the air at a ridiculous speed from the blow. Ice wings spread out from me, breaking and shattering at the speed I was falling at. I kept forming ice, trying to slow my descent with it, the danger sense in my head getting quieter as I approached only regularly terrifying speeds.
I was nearly to the ground, but I was pretty sure I could a combination of my ice and my newfound durability to land decently. My danger sense suddenly blared and I saw a black figure shooting up from below in the corner of my vision. I teleported and feeling the power resist found I only had moved a few paces to the side. Alexandria shot through the space I had been occupying with barely half a second to spare.
I crashed down, forming a slope of ice beneath me as I landed on a rooftop, sliding down the ice off the edge of the roof and landing in the alley with a thump. A bit of an awkward landing, but not bad for falling a few leagues from the sky, I thought. The alley was different than when I had left it. Strange castle-like walls instead of normal ones now lined the sides and a cobblestone path filled the center, but didn't quite extend the whole length of the alley.
"Try again, two paces to your left," Masego was saying to Scrub. The latter rubbed his temples.
"I don't get to pick exactly where blows up," he complained. A bag of trash exploded, replaced with nothing as the remnants blew outwards.
"Other bag of trash Scrub," Tattletale called out.
"How does it make any difference?" Scrub cried back.
Alexandria crashed into the ground in front of me, landing on two hands and a knee before standing up slowly. Damn, that looked a lot better than my landing. I had to remember everyone here had a lot more practice with these kinds of power than I did. Names didn't have the raw destructive power that powers here did. I wasn't sure even someone like Ranger could handle this woman.
At least I seemed to either not take enough damage to feel pain or was immune to it now. I did not envy the thought of trying to fight the capes here without that. I did have my Aspects still, but I wasn't sure using either of them was wise here. Take was tied up in the Butcher's powers still, though it felt like I could try and use it. Try being the key word. I wondered if either Break or Fall would work through the woman's invulnerability. It was something I could break out if things got worse. Best to keep that as an ace in the hole.
"The other left!" Tattletale shouted.
"I'm trying!" Scrub shouted back.
I looked at Alexandria and gave her a shrug. "Villains, am I right?"
She punched the air in front of me and the shockwave buffeted me back. It felt like she was holding back. Sure, she might not have been able to completely destroy me, but she was faster than I was and stronger to boot. She could've kept me up in the air for ages and just worn me down. The punch just now? Another demonstration that I wasn't up to snuff to fight with her.
So why let me land? I narrowed my eyes at her and saw the slightest of smiles on her face. Why let me fight, unless she wanted us to succeed? If she wanted us to succeed, why even fight me in the first place? It made us rush. Was that her goal here? Was she trying to lure our trump cards out?
I considered calling out to Tattletale, even though Alexandria would surely hear me as well.
"I want to thank you, Squire," Alexandria said, out of the blue.
I looked at her, trying to get a read on her. Her body language exuded one thing and one thing only. Pure confidence. She felt like she was in absolute control and I wasn't sure she was wrong.
"You don't know it, but we've been struggling for decades against a threat you can scare imagine. The existence of your world is a relief, a new hope for us. I don't expect you to forgive us, but you'd do the same in our place," she said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm pretty certain you're wrong about that," I retorted, not at all liking where this was going. The pit in my gut was only getting worse as things dragged on.
She shrugged. "Perhaps. It's immaterial, however."
A flash of light and sound came from behind me along with the exuberant shouting of Masego. I half turned to look at them without fully letting Alexandria out of my line of sight. A circular portal glowed in the wall of the alley, just big enough to fit a cart pulled by two horses side by side through. I recognized Warlock looking through in surprise from the other side.
In front of the portal, another, smaller one opened. A woman in a strange looking suit wearing a hat stepped out. To her side two other portals opened, letting through two others, surrounding Tattletale's group. One was a man in a blue and white skintight suit, much like Tattletale's. The other was a man in a green costume, head hidden inside his hood.
Alexandria walked up beside me, patting my shoulder with a gloved hand. "We'll be taking control of the portal. Feel free to resist, but I don't recommend it."
- Location
- North Wales
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Catherine meeting a group of young women without eyeing at least one of them up like a slab of beef?
Ah, there we go. All's right again.
BBBence1111
Harbinger of Bad Luck
- Location
- Magyarország
And that, was a mistake.
I don't think even Contessa can do anything if Warlock decides the floor is lava.
I don't think even Contessa can do anything if Warlock decides the floor is lava.
TikiTau
Commander Pangolinski
- Location
- Texas
...Well, I'm sure that Cauldron trying to take over the portal leading to a more Practical World won't backfire -spectacularly- at all.
Bet they're planning something Dumb like 'let's invade/colonize the neighboring World since it's outside of Scion's pocket of dimensional locked Earths or whatnot'.
Which means they're probably about to run head-on into narrativium.
I also have a rider bet with myself that they decided to make a deal with the Summer Queen! Which, you know, won't end badly at all either.
Bet they're planning something Dumb like 'let's invade/colonize the neighboring World since it's outside of Scion's pocket of dimensional locked Earths or whatnot'.
Which means they're probably about to run head-on into narrativium.
I also have a rider bet with myself that they decided to make a deal with the Summer Queen! Which, you know, won't end badly at all either.
Angurvddel
I am Large. I contain Multitudes
I mean, I have to admit, I'm very curious how Contessa's gonna react to that world's rules. Her original role and power in Worm was basically was as an instrument of the Narrative. The amount of possible badness is pretty immense.
IronLucario2012
<Verified Pokémon> <Licensed Mech Pilot>
- Location
- Ireland
As I understand it, she's basically the Wandering Bard but trading in any guidance from the Narrative about what to do in exchange for the results of what she ends up doing being more effective.
at first i thought it was because Skitter made the portal to Earth Bet and that was a no no for teh Little OP dudes, but:
it seems that it was in fact to deal with Cauldron's poor attempt at controlling forces outside (Out of Context problems) their comprehension.