Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 23: We Wonder Where Who Wanders When Watchers Wane
- Thread starter Gromweld
- Start date
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
For a man who's intelligence is basically YES depending on what project he is working on, he is going to find the Safe Place very strange.
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Fixed, thanks! And yes, it's using the more colloquial definition of the verb so just "check" is what I was aiming for.
Even though Saki is more a fan of beefcake, cheesecake is also acceptable.What, Saki? Is there something funny about eating cheesecake? Or about Taylor bringing cheesecake to your meet-up? (damn shippers)
Nits are the best things to pick. Fixed!
Derp. I knew it was wrong whenever I typed it, but I forgot to go back and fix them when I posted. Fixed now!
Related, but I'm amused by the shifts in the Orichalcum vote count at the top of the page each time one of the candidate gets some screen time. It's not large, usually only ~15 votes, but it's been fairly consistent.
The only reason Accord didn't suggest using Saki's dimension as his new base of operations is because he wouldn't have access to his power inside. Good for getting some peace of mind and sleep, sure, but not good for getting actual work done.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
This may very well be the first time in human history that a construction project comes in under budget and ahead of schedule.
Exalts are bullshit
Chapter 10.2 (Part 6)
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Chapter 10.2
Part 6
Part 6
***
With the usual two-tone chime, an "Incoming Call" alert comes up on your helmet's HUD. Caller ID: Director Martin Uriel.
Hmm. That took… longer than you expected, but you answer the call regardless. Which provides a second surprise: it's a video call, not a simple voice call, which means he's contacting you from the conference room instead of his office. Odd. There weren't any Director conferences scheduled for today that would necessitate his presence there.
Except, even in a video call, he's not looking at you. He seems to be… doing paperwork, judging by the angle of his posture and slight twitches of his eyes.
"Director."
"Weaver. I just received a call from Director Emily Piggot."
"Ah."
"What are you doing right now?"
"Walking."
"Then why do I suspect that I would be able to track where you are if I went up to roof and looked across the river?"
You side-step as a person-sized chunk of concrete sails into and through your dome of robotic insects, the cloud parting to allow it through with only a few dozen insect drones being clipped by its passage.
"... An enthusiastic walk."
"Mhm," he grunts, shifting his gaze as you hear the shuffling of papers. At least, you're fairly certain you heard that, since it's a bit difficult to hear the fine details of the conversation over the gunfire and explosive punching.
"It says here, on the schedule that you submitted - and I approved - this morning, that right now you should be 'Meeting With Accord and His Ambassadors To Review New Camden Infrastructure Developments'."
"I'm doing that as well, Director," you nod, idly extruding another set of containment foam grenades which your drones carry away from your hands to be deposited elsewhere. "I have exceptional multi-tasking skills."
He pauses, finally sparing a moment to actually glance at you through the teleconference camera.
"Accord is with you. Right now?"
"Of course."
"May I speak with him?"
You blink. "... I don't believe his head will fit in my helmet, sir. His mask is rather robust."
"Just open your armor's external microphone and speakers. I don't need a visual feed."
"Yes sir," you confirm, pursing your lips as you quickly crank the noise-cancelation features of your external mic up to its highest setting.
Prayer tears a car in half just as you switch to externals. Great.
"Accord."
The small man to your right, encased in the stationary shield generator you've set up for him, tears his gaze away from where First Prayer of Perfection is methodically taking apart the remains of Camden High School... and the parahuman gang within. Given that you've surrounded the area with your swarm of robotic and organic fauna - blocking off any chance for the few hundred individuals within to escape - they've grown rather panicked and desperate.
"Yes?"
"Director Uriel would like to speak with you."
The brow of his mask furrows as he considers the statement. "Is this a pressing matter?"
Before you can answer, Uriel's voice crackles through the two external speakers tucked underneath your helmet's jawline.
"Director Emily Piggot is still waiting for you and Vajra to finish up your discussion with Weaver, so that you can explain to her how you intend to receive and dispose of the Deep Silver sample."
Accord makes a grunt of acknowledgement, but it's lost in the sound of Prayer slapping an RPG out of the air that would have continued on towards populated areas.
"She sounded impatient. You might want to turn back from wherever you've been… walking."
Golden clockwork eyes swivel to meet your own, even though your helmet's opacity is still a maximum.
"Her feelings are not my concern. Recent developments require that I revisit my itinerary for the next three days, and the delivery time and location for Toybox's delivery has not been finalized. Inform Director Piggot that-"
"Whatever," Uriel sighs, the video window in your HUD showing him rolling his eyes and shaking his head before turning back to his paperwork. "Tell her yourself, I'm not your message boy. Weaver, one more thing."
You quickly flip the external microphones and speakers off, while holding up both hands to placate an eerily-still Accord.
"Yes, Director?"
"Is there a reason you didn't inform the local PRT forces that you would be engaging a parahuman-led gang?"
You don't bother holding back the simmering rage you felt when the school-turned-hideout came into your range. The glow within your helmet increases.
"I did call in that we engaged the Resistors, even though I knew there's no way they have the manpower or resources to respond by the time we're done here."
"After you already engaged," he emphasizes, drawing out the first word. "I'm guessing you were just going to scout them out at first, but found enough reasons to engage immediately."
His tone at the end isn't quite as sarcastic as normal, so you treat it as the statement of fact that it is.
"Yes, sir. They'd started taking hostages, some of which need medical attention."
"Not why I'm disappointed, Weaver," he sighs, finally looking back to you. "What was the chance that you wouldn't have engaged a new gang whose sole reason for existing is to get in your way."
You can think of a few ways to twist your response, but… you've got better things to do right now.
"I…" you trail off, letting out the breath in a huff before shaking your head. "I should have informed local dispatch that I was moving to patrol the area."
"And?"
"... and you, sir."
He grunts, leaning back in his chair such that the shadows of the room draw out his shallow cheeks and the bags under his eyes. "There's nothing I can do to you that wouldn't be political or literal suicide, Weaver. All I ask is that you keep me in the loop."
You grit your teeth in frustration and shame, but he's not wrong. Iris did not like him.
"Yes, sir."
He waves the hand still holding a pen, absently.
"You've been good about it, since the Nine. I guess I'm more surprised than disappointed, honestly," he sighs, still sounding completely bored. "Are you about done, there?"
Through your many, many viewpoints, you see that Prayer has cornered the trio of new capes in the school's gym - the unpowered gang members all either foamed, wrapped in rebar, or possessing too many broken limbs to do anything but moan. Sure, you could have simply flooded the place from the start, but Prayer had asked to take responsibility since this is ostensibly "her" district now.
You also suspect she took offense at the fact their gang tag is a big red 'X' over a black cog.
The only thing she did ask for help with was to make sure the four-dozen hostages they'd taken were safe. You freed them easily once Prayer drew away their guards, and while you've taken care of any external wounds, the only one you haven't healed (via medical supplies extruded through a controlled stray dog and utilized by your robotic swarm) are the ones with more severe broken bones and internal damage.
Accord, for his part, has been largely silent as he watched the two of you work. You're somewhat curious as to his thoughts, but you've found he will engage you in conversation when he desires it.
"Yes, sir."
"Are you planning on dealing with the Teeth, since you're in the area?"
You shake your head. "That was why we were headed this way, but only because the Resistors were likely to try and free them. Director Piggot's team doesn't have the resources to deal with the aftermath of two gang fights, so I'll stick to my original schedule and deal with them tomorrow."
"Good. Any other updates to your itinerary I should know about?"
Well, if you have him on the line now… might as well ask. The chances he'll be in a better mood tonight are slim.
"Accord's mental state is deteriorating in these environments. His power is overloading him with violent thoughts, and he doesn't have anything like a 'safe place' to retreat to when it gets bad anymore. I want to give him a soulgem; Riley has proven that soul-based willpower can shut down power-induced intrusive thoughts."
Uriel's lidded stare bores into you for a long moment, before he slouches on his right elbow and uses that hand to cover his face.
"Does Piggot need to sign off on this, since he's working for her?"
"No sir. I made sure of that when I drew up the contract."
He sighs. "Of course you did."
As he thinks, you wonder if the explosive collapse of the high school's gymnasium can be heard through your microphone.
"When are you going to do it?"
You don't smile, because that might make him change his mind just out of spite.
"After the concert in Pittsburgh tonight. I'll be doing it in Tatsu's personal dimension."
That causes him to look up from his hand. "She'll let the gremlin in there?"
"I… plan on asking her about that when I see her."
Some genuine cheer creeps into his shadowed expression.
"Please let Tatsu know that she has my support if she wishes to keep the gremlin there permanently, will you? Accord as well."
You're doing a good impression of Uriel's own half-lidded, unimpressed stare.
"Of course, sir."
"Good," he snorts, reaching towards the camera. "Keep in touch."
The call flickers off. You sigh.
At your side, Accord turns just enough to side-eye you through his mask.
"Why have you not moved to replace him?"
You cross your arms across your armored chestplate, shaking your head.
"He's Old Guard in the PRT. Too many connections, the troops respect him, and the current short-list of replacements wouldn't believe half of what he's seen me do - I'd have to fight for every little thing all over again."
Turning back, he watches Prayer carry the crystal-encased forms of three unconscious capes into the highschool's ruined parking lot a few hundred yards away. The be-suited crime lord makes an unhappy sound of understanding.
"The balancing of power between gangs is not so different."
You consider the thought for a moment. "For now, maybe."
Prayer looks up from her pile of defeated parahumans. She nods, and you return the affirmation.
"But not for long."
***
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I mean, just regular visits to the dimension would do WONDERS for Accord. Just, sleeping in there.
He can be wearing an unpressed shirt, see himself in a mirror doing so, and BASK in the freedom. Then he can fix it up and leave.
It's amazing what pressures the human mind can withstand if it's given an occasional chance to relax.
He can be wearing an unpressed shirt, see himself in a mirror doing so, and BASK in the freedom. Then he can fix it up and leave.
It's amazing what pressures the human mind can withstand if it's given an occasional chance to relax.
Geas
Meat Thing
The best kind of walk, really. You get some fresh air, a little cardio, stretch your legs... and leave behind the broken, trembling husks of your enemies in your wake.
*steeples fingers*
All in all, this is some excellent progress. I find myself wondering how many more Parahumans aligned with the PRT & Protectorate are going to want to get a soulgem installed as well, assuming that nothing happens to interfere with Accord's upgrade once they're in the 'Burgh. Riley and Ciara aren't exactly what one would call visible examples of how a soulgem ameliorates Shard-induced psychoses after all.. and holy crap I suddenly find myself wondering if being forcibly given a soulgem might make even the Butcher less 'round the bend batshit loco? I want to say no, but then, I suppose it depends on how that Shard drags along the minds of its further hosts. Hmm.
But yeah, that still leaves Pittsburgh... ugh. Pittsburgh. Hmmm.. I forget how large this concert is supposed to be. If it's big enough, First Niagara Pavilion might be a good choice assuming the name from that time period is used, then it should still be called First Niagara Pavilion and not the Key Bank Pavilion, but given that this is Worm Pittsburgh (Ugh *shiver*) then it might still be being called the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Pavilion, or might even have it's original name of the Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheater.
Yeah, the place has changed hands a few times, to put it mildly. On the plus side, it's huge. But on the down side, it'll be a security nightmare. Well... perhaps not so much now, given recent events.
Either way, just be sure to keep Accord in the car. Otherwise looking at the potholes or the crazy street plans might drive him into wanting to smite entire portions of the city.
It would probably help, but I doubt it would be a cure. I figure at best it would slow down the rate at which the previous Butchers manage to break the mind of the current Butcher. And ofcourse if thats already happened completely, then I doubt a soulgem would help at all.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
On the one hand, I love that Marrow is so badass that these goons rate only as serving as a backdrop to Taylor's conversation.
On the other, Exalts chewing through extras is a staple of Exalted for a reason. Right now all we're getting is empty calories, when what we need is some real meat.
DemiRapscallion
Apathetically Excited
- Location
- California
Those are the best walks. Bravo!
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Mmmmm, yes and no. Accord's problem is that he's got a bad case of OCD even without his shard. Were he in Saki's dimension, he'd still get lowercase-'t'-triggered by rumpled shirts and socks-with-sandals, but he wouldn't have his shard nudging that disgust/distaste to incite his imagination... ultimately cooking up a complicated plan to 'deal with it' that is usually murderous. Taylor is aware of this, and it's one of the reasons (in addition to "Saki is on vacation I shouldn't bother her with every little thing") why she hasn't suggested it herself.
Our chosen top 3 Orichalcum candidates - Accord, Armsmaster, Glaistig Uaine - all have problems that can't be solved by simply removing their shard from the equation. Thus, the quandary we are now in.
Accord and Riley will remain in the Philly/Camden area when Taylor goes to Pittsburgh for the concert - there's no reason to have them tag along when Taylor and Saki can just pop back and pick them both up after the concert is over.
Also, I went to CMU for undergrad (*cough* go stillers *cough*). The only accident I've ever "caused" is because the city was bankrupt during those years and so the streets during winter didn't have salt - I slid ~500 feet on black ice into a street light (which saved me from careening over a ledge, but I would have rather not slid/crashed at all). I'm not aware of any canon descriptions of Wormverse Pittsburgh, so my current thought process is that's it's basically "soot-covered Brockton Bay, but with fewer capes."
We specifically did not choose the voting options ("Danger-Zone Patrols" or "Relief Camp Patrols") that would have had the narrative focus on in a cape fight or two. If people want to see Taylor involved in combat more often, choose the options for combat when they crop up!
For what it's worth, Aisha's narrative will be more combat-heavy since we built her for Righteous Sneak-Attack Facepunching.
"Surprise, fucker!"
"What the-gah! *dead*"
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
I fully believe that Aisha's first target should be Saint and the Dragonslayers.
Geas
Meat Thing
That's.... Actually probably pretty spot-on when it comes to Pittsburgh in Worm, as much as I'd wish otherwise. The Hill, Wilkinsburgh, Rankin, Homewood and Braddock all being the particalurly bad parts of town, especially McKeesport, the area around Century III mall with it's fading glory. All prime spots for Parahuman Gangs.
Oakland would be... interesting... *shudders involuntarily* but I can see the Strip, the Monroeville area, Downtown Pittsburgh, and along Carson St as being firmly guarded against gang encroachment. Maybe a few more places.
.... It just occurred to me that there's almost certainly going to be at least one Parahuman that's a rabid football fan, if not an entire psuedo gang/vigilante team. Probably with that distinct "Pittsburgh" accent. That realization makes me sad, someplace deep in my heart.
Scify
It always starts with a lighthouse.
I mean, that's a pretty accurate description of current Pittsburgh if you remove the capes...
True, but what about Pitcairn and Turtle Creek? They don't have the crime reputation currently, but they're poorly enough maintained that I could see... issues cropping up.
-I'm going to point out that Taylor is using Tunnel-Fighting Tactical Omnibus here with her swarm, which means all those drone insects and roaches and stray animals have +1 Might. The shock of trying to run away from Prayer running rampant and then getting tackled and trussed up by a bunch of rats cannot be overestimated.
It's an illustration of power that Prayer just waded into a group of three capes, several hundred followers and almost fifty hostages, armed with heavy weapons including RPGs, and everyone lived. And all Taylor had to do was treat the hostages and foam those trying to run the cordon.
And it really is a startling point that Taylor's combat ops are literally scenic events you can see from another city.
Speaking of heavy weapons, I see at least one group came across a stockpile of JackJack's party favors before the PRT.
And I don't think they are the only ones.
-Seeing that Prayer is beginning to use her shard power more flexibly, as in binding captured hostiles.
Wonder what else she can use it for.
-Martin is an asshole. Hilarious asshole though. I guess he has to get his kicks from somewhere, and assumes Weaver can take it.
It really does say a lot about Taylor's effective leverage in the PRT that Accord states it as fact that she could have him removed if she so chose, and she doesn't disagree.
It puts her comment about talking to the New York director during Saki's testing in a whole new light.
You have no idea how much like a guilty teenager Taylor sounds at this moment.
Yeah, the edges are showing. She needs a break.
I wonder if they're choppering in her therapist every week, and how much hazard pay the poor lady is getting.
Darwin Award nominees.
I'm pretty sure that as soon as they saw it, the PRT troopers started up a pool on how long the Resistors would last, and whether Prayer would get them before Taylor.
Depends on how Essenceverse physics chooses to regard the voices.
If they're regarded as inanimate recordings, you use the Happy Fun Spike to build different Intimacies and shit before implanting the Soulgem, and then increase Willpower to 8. And then subject to a training regime to build Integrity against thought insertion.
People live with thought insertion in RL, and adapt to living normal lives.
Alternatively, if they are considered full personalities of people basically running on Entity shard hardware, you simply have Tatsu switch her loadout up.
And watch her hit them with Conceptual Entropy Module and Agenda Recalibration Protocols.
Wipe Teeth loyalties, replace with something else.
Accord and Riley will be in town.
That means between the two of them, the Fallen and the Teeth, we have some idea of exactly what is going to go wrong when we go to Pittsburgh.
That actually should be within Tatsu's bailiwick to fix, assuming he gives consent.
And with IEU on it to speed everything up.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
They did vote to patrol Camden, which could be charitably described as a wretched hive of scum and villainy. I think there might have been expectations.
Like, I don't mean to sound like I'm ragging on the scene. It's very well executed - I immediately grasped that you were going for "conversation plus background beatdown." It's just...I think this point of the story really could have benefited from said beatdown of the gang being given more narrative focus, as we haven't really gotten a stomp fight on our own terms and it would have been nice to have gotten a scene or two of Vajra really tearing into the thugs intermixed with the written scene.
Hooray!
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Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Pittsburgh even has its own "Fugly Bob's" stand-in with The Original Hotdog Shop ("The O") on Forbes Ave! Man, I miss those fries... just get a lunch tray full and chow down with a bottle of ketchup. Mmm...
I'm surprised no one commented on the in-story mention of Taylor disgorging heaps of medical supplies through a random stray dog. As in Taylor (far away) had the dog hold a paw up, then activated Technomorphic Integration Engine... which caused the paw to split apart mechanically to reveal a mysterious magitech storage space, from which gauze, bandaids, stitching, and other medical tools started pouring out. More than one hostage thought they were hallucinating, while others were just like "ok sure whatever this is something Weaver can do now, too, I guess."
Iris cautioned Taylor that mucking around in the heads of soon-to-be Exalts is a Bad Idea. If Taylor is going to suggest Saki should use the Happy Fun Spike on anyone to make... improvements, it'll be after they're guaranteed not to be a candidate for Exaltation.
I feel you: I considered whether I should devote more time to showcase the fight going on. However, we had the following options last vote:
[ ] Narrative Focus: Tinkering
[ ] Narrative Focus: Philly Bureaucracy/Relief Management
[ ] Narrative Focus: Camden Bureaucracy/Relief Management
[ ] Narrative Focus: Danger-Zone Patrols
[ ] Narrative Focus: Relief Camp Patrols
[ ] Narrative Focus: Therapy Sessions
[ ] Narrative Focus: Assembly Building
We chose:
[X] Narrative Focus: Assembly Building
[X] Narrative Focus: Tinkering
[X] Narrative Focus: Camden Bureaucracy/Relief Management
I specifically mentioned that this was what the Narrative would focus on - as in, what I would be dedicating word count to - since all the choices would be happening in some form regardless, but all the non-chosen options would be happening off-screen. Thus, we got story beats like this one: bureaucracy and assembly-building happened on-screen, patrol happened off-screen. Again, if people want fight scenes, choose voting options that favor them.
I'm not a robot (completely, yet) so I'm not always going to hew exactly to the vote results; if I have ideas I like that aren't necessary contradictory to the vote, then I'll try to work them in. Unfortunately, this story does need to finish sometime before our Sun expands and consumes the Earth, so I can't spend too much wordcount on scenes that aren't integral to a character's narrative - the Resistors are barely a blip on Taylor's radar at this point, so (in my opinion) it doesn't really fit her story to spend a lot of wordcount showcasing how utterly she obliterates them. Autochthon-Ordained
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Geas
Meat Thing
Good point, admittedly I'm not as familiar with those areas as I could be, but there could be ... issues, yeah. That's a good word for it. Another notion that occurred to me is that here, a few of the old steel mills along the Monongahela River are likely to be still standing and abandoned, rather than completely torn down. If so, they'd make an excellent analogue to the Docks and.. wow, yeah, Gromweld calling it "soot-covered Brockton Bay, but with fewer capes" was even more spot-on than I realized at first.
Now I want a bacon, cheese and chili super dog with everything on it and a basket of fries. Guaranteed to fill your stomach or kill you via heart congestion, but what a way to go!
Chapter 10.2 (Part 7)
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Chapter 10.2
Part 7
Part 7
***
The PRT, police, national guard, and ambulances roll in over the course of the next hour; it's the national guard that are the outliers, showing up nearly a half-hour after all the others. They, too, are strapped for manpower at the moment, but their delayed response isn't really a concern since they're only here to help transport those hostages without other places to go to other shelters.
Amusingly, it's the two ambulances that are largely superfluous, due to you and Prayer healing everyone - including the injured gang members and capes - back up to a level of health that most haven't had since well before the Slaughterhouse Nine arrived. The only medical concern that you left alone was one teenager a bit older than you with a desperate need of braces; sure, you could have probably fixed his teeth so the poor guy doesn't have a mouth like the remnants of a white picket fence after a tornado, but with nearly everyone watching (and thanking) you at the time… it could have been seen as a bit excessive to perform an elective surgery like that without a license or life-saving need.
As effective as your Omnitool Implants are, the soulsteel components of your charm lends any surgical efforts a much more… visceral bent than you suspect is truly necessary. Even if a bunch of the younger kids think your healing was "totally metal," most everyone preferred to wait for Prayer to heal them by the time you were done with your second patient.
You're not really sure what the problem is: all the blood ends up back where it should be when you're done!
… all they blood they need, at least. You have a sneaking suspicion your charm creates blood just so there's enough to leave some splattered around the surgery site at the end. Pushing that idle question to Iris through your familiar link just yields an enthusiastic "[EXPERIMENTATION]," unfortunately, so you hope you didn't just cause a problem for yourself whenever he reunites with Riley.
That isn't the only "dental work" you avoid; Accord and Prayer depart the scene just after the national guard arrive, catching a PRT humvee to go meet up with the Ambassadors and PRT troopers monitoring the presbyterian church a few blocks west in which the Teeth are holed up. Not that the psychotic gang is much of a threat at the moment, as your Time Stop trap currently has the entire structure frozen in place until everyone is ready to put The Butcher down for good.
And by "everyone" you mean "you," mostly. Sure, you estimate that you and Prayer can handle the eight psychopathic capes and their twenty-two unpowered gang members, the problem comes with The Butcher… or, rather, Butcher XVI.
A parahuman power that jumps to whomever killed its last host, carrying with it the powers and "voices" of all its previous hosts as well. More than one hero has tried to shoulder the burden, but in the end the host always finds themselves returning to lead The Teeth by taking up the mantle of The Butcher. The full details of what happens to the host's mind have never been clear, but it's resulted in "The Butcher" never receiving a Kill Order despite each incarnation eventually committing atrocities that would earn one.
Both you and Riley are on the same wavelength for what this means: there is so much potential in a power like that, if only there was a way to make it not drive the host insane! Sixteen (or more!) powers, all in one!
Unfortunately, knowing what you know, you suspect that somehow smothering or eliminating the "voices" would likely do the same to the powers that are carried over - Riley's gruesome history with reanimating dead capes (whose powers became less effective the less of a 'person' there was to control it) leads you to believe that the method the 'Butcher' shard uses to copying powers relies on a personality fragment to control it.
This had ultimately culminated in a rather morbid idea: exploit the Butcher power by having an Exaltation candidate kill the Butcher immediately before being converted, thus having the candidate linked to potentially two (or more, depending on the shard's mechanics) shards but before the Butcher shard could drive your candidate mad. Proposing the idea to Iris through your link, however, you'd been surprised at how vehement his reaction had been.
"[INFECTION]! [CORRUPTION]!"
You… didn't quite understood exactly what he meant, but you gathered that it was something to do with Autochthon's sickness likely not playing well with a corrupting, parasite-themed power.
That also put to rest Riley's idea that maybe one of your Assembly could deal the final blow on the current Butcher and then simply shrug off the Butcher shard through use of Industrial Survival Frame; if Iris is concerned that even Autochthon might not be able to handle the shard perfectly, there's no way you're going to expose one of your Assembly to it.
Since you suspect Saki imprisoning the Butcher permanently would cause the shard to jump to her, that leaves you with only a few options: keep the host of the Butcher shard observably "alive" but permanently restrained, or deal with the shard itself. This trial run of your Time Freeze trap has proven it works for the former method, but sending the Butcher to the Birdcage or to Cauldron would also suffice. Since you don't have a way to deal with shards directly that won't draw Scion's attention, the only other method for dealing with the shard itself is… Ciara.
The "role" of her shard, she told you during your first conversation, was to "take the tired, the wistful, and the recalcitrant fae whom had played their part... backstage, to await the final curtain call." Translated to normal speech: her power not only severs and collects connections to other shards, but prevents collected shards from looking for new hosts again.
Let Ciara out for just a minute or two... and the problem of The Butcher is solved.
Right.
That is one genie you are relatively certain won't fit back in the bottle, in more ways than one.
This wouldn't even be a consideration if the current Butcher was some previous Teeth member or other lunatic. Unfortunately, as with most things in your life, there is a… complication: Butcher XVI is Citrine. Accord's former right-hand assistant who sacrificed herself to allow Accord to flee Boston and join you in Philadelphia.
You could just stick the Butcher… Citrine in the same stasis pod that you used to keep Missy alive and unconscious (after some new hardware tweaks to account for the Butcher's inherited Brute rating, of course) and leave her there until Ciara is safe to let out, if just for a few moments. But… not dealing with the Butcher (the cape or the shard) definitively while the Simurgh is actively targeting you is as dangerous as leaving an active warhead just sitting in your backyard.
Ugh. And on top of that this stupid-
"What's wrong?"
Colin's tired, rumbling voice derails the downward spirals most of your trains of thought were going down. Shaking your head, you take a deep breath and focus on getting a hold of your temper without resorting to Clarity again today - can't afford to be robotic for the concert tonight.
Besides, you should be glad you noticed that this insurance company is denying claims more often if the claim has an obviously African-American name attached. Yes, it means you're going to need to go back through the thousands of claims they've denied to re-evaluate them yourself. Yes, it means you're going to need to gather enough evidence to make the company immediately settle - and fire every single staff member that was responsible for letting this happen - instead of wasting time and money with a court case.
"Sorry," you groan and stop pacing about the room, waving your Omnitool-enhanced hands to disperse the hard-light keyboard and monitor projecting from your armor's chestplate. With three tired steps, you fall back into the same chair as this morning and let your arms fall to your sides while staring absently at the white-tiled ceiling. "The better question is what isn't wrong these days."
Yes, you should be happy that you caught this now, instead of later down the line when it would have been even more work... and more suffering in the city in the interim.
Time to commandeer another of the empty quarantine rooms, requisition enough monitors and computers to fill it, and then build more orange-drones to work them all. Six monitors and PCs per wall, leave one wall for expansion… eighteen more, which make it a satisfyingly-even total of fifty. For now.
You stop one drone as you're mid-reply to the PHO thread about your take-down of the Resistors, minimize the window, then pull up the usual requisition form and start filling in blanks.
Back in the room with your actual body, the quarantined hero's eyes drift away as he grunts in understanding, marking the end of the first conversation you've had with him since you strolled into his room four hours ago. At a glance, he's started work on a more refined copy of the brain scanner that he and Riley finished when you left - you've already absorbed the completed version and are printing copies downstairs in your fabricators.
Thinking of her, Riley should be finishing up with today's therapy session in a few minutes. With the room on the top floor of the building, you can't actually reach it with your current default range - not that you have drones or anything controllable in there, for privacy's sake, but you've had one of your Mobile Sensory Drones parked atop the doorframe in its Ranged Adminstration Repeaters mode ever since Riley went in two hours ago.
If anyone asks, it's so that you can covertly extend your range to the roof without exposing the drone to open air.
"What isn't wrong?"
You blink.
Slowly tilting your head, you stare at the ghost of a smirk crossing Colin's haggard expression.
Opening your mouth, you consider… no, he's not cleared for that… or that… or that… and you can't talk about that outside of Saki's dimension…
… now that you think about it... have you ever talked about "normal" things with him? Something not immediately applicable to your efforts as a hero?
… without Dragon's prompting?
You close your mouth and frown in thought.
"I…" you start, eventually, "... tried... playing the piano again yesterday? On an... emulated keyboard? And wasn't... awful?"
Beyond the light whirr of air conditioning coming through the vent, the room is largely silent as he stares at you.
"I wasn't," you repeat, narrowing your eyes. "I can play the recording to prove it. I only missed half the notes this time."
Colin closes his eyes and gently sets down his tool and partially-assembled scanner handle, leaning back once his hands are clear and crossing his arms across his broad, muscular-...
You clear your throat and grit your teeth. Saki is to blame for this, somehow. You know it.
"I played the violin in school."
You don't bother hiding your surprise as your head snaps back around because-
"What?"
He nods, a genuine smile tugging through his beard, eyes lidded as his memories unfocus his gaze.
"Second chair, from when I started in seventh grade to graduation. First chair was always Sandra Park, one of those prodigies that doesn't need to bother practicing. Never managed to unseat her, even when I tried going to the local college after school to train with violinists that were attending there."
You can't imagine this is a lie, but something doesn't quite fit here.
"But... weren't Hero's apprentice? Did you still practice then?"
His smile droops a bit to become more wistful.
"No," he sighs, tilting his head slightly in further recollection. "He encouraged me to, saying that I should have a hobby, but... I considered it a distraction. Playing during band classes was enough to keep my chair, but I'd gotten good enough to never really need to worry about being unseated myself. I'm not sure Sandra even noticed I wasn't trying any more."
"Did anyone else know you played?"
He snorts, the smile blooming into a full grin that just barely manages to show teeth.
"Hero took me to train with the inaugural Wards team a few times, just before I joined the Protectorate. After one session, I made a hundred microscopic violins which played Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major on a loop. The next time I visited, whenever one of them complained about something, I planted a violin on their costume."
Colin shakes his head, closing his eyes sadly.
"For some reason, they never asked me to come back."
***
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Hmmmmm if Butcher!shard is a problem for Autochthon then maybe we need to be taking people with similar powers off the list of candidates. ...
Also did Echidna ever get dealt with in this quest? If not we need to neutralize her before she gets anywhere near the cradle.
Also did Echidna ever get dealt with in this quest? If not we need to neutralize her before she gets anywhere near the cradle.
Double up.
Capitalised?
#Fanon
I'm pretty sure Behemoth killed her.
- Location
- Australia
I.
Wow, I could totally see Armsmaster doing that before going completely off the deep end as a Protectorate member if he was in the Wards team. (He wasn't, he was tutored by Hero.)
Wow, I could totally see Armsmaster doing that before going completely off the deep end as a Protectorate member if he was in the Wards team. (He wasn't, he was tutored by Hero.)