Credit to Vicky for noticing Amy being scared of Carol, can be hard to notice that sort of stuff when dealing with family.
Better Living Through Random Summons! (Worm/Wiki Warrior)
- Thread starter RexHeller
- Start date
-
- Tags
- worm wiki warrior
Sylent-M
Be Trans, Take to Heresy
- Pronouns
- Was/Were
While Worm doesn't put a lot of hard dates for anything that happens pre-canon, this particular combo of events is explicitly non-canon. Annette dies in 2008, Vicky triggers in 2009, with Amy triggering about a year later. This isn't to say that you need to change anything, this is already an AU, just something to take note of.
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
The time line I'm using has Panacea's trigger in 2008 with Victoria's as vaguely before that.
SaberFail
All Ideas. No Skills. a bit hungry
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Perceptive, that's good
Really Vick? THAT's as much as you're gonna push the issue!?
Never mind there's still hope
Because Dinos are awesome, even the ones that aren't Dinos
Ride on little dude, ride on.
RNJesus: Oh look, a new target 😈
Or RNJEsus: I'm your Huckleberry.
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
So after the initial burst of productivity and at least a chapter a week-ish, some of you may be wondering, why no chapter seven yet? And if not and I'm just being self-conscious, uh, shut up, update post anyway.
So the thing that's taking so long is that a minor summon from Persona 4 doesn't have a picture or accurate visual description on the wiki, so I decided the only thing I could do was play though half of the entire game to see the actual model so I could describe it properly even though it will probably only matter for a sentence or two. Because I'm a psychopath.
So the thing that's taking so long is that a minor summon from Persona 4 doesn't have a picture or accurate visual description on the wiki, so I decided the only thing I could do was play though half of the entire game to see the actual model so I could describe it properly even though it will probably only matter for a sentence or two. Because I'm a psychopath.
Dolly Fail Fail
Boss Leader
- Location
- Within dreams and memories
Absolutely loving the list of Sources in this one. A lot of stuff I enjoy is here. Question: will UnderMine be getting replaced or just flat out removed bringing the list back down to 20 settings?
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
Replaced. I already have the replacement source lined up.
Dolly Fail Fail
Boss Leader
- Location
- Within dreams and memories
He can apparently also be summoned as a Berserker(not Cu Alter, regular Cu), but IIRC Berserker Cu is so uncontrollable and dangerous that anyone who does so would be killed almost immediately.
To give another example: Julius Caesar is most effective as a Rider, because that's the Class for generals who don't tend to do the fighting themselves, but being summoned as a Saber, a Class he only technically qualifies for because of Crocea Mors, weakened him substantially, hence why he's short and fat.
Personally hoping for Undertale(+Deltarune and Undertale Yellow) or Touhou (
Good to know UnderMine is a rather sub-par source though, I had wanted to include it in some of my Wiki Warrior type fic ideas since it's a roguelike and those generally have quite a bit of content with unique effects so they usually make for good sources, I'll be dropping that now.
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SaberFail
All Ideas. No Skills. a bit hungry
- Pronouns
- He/Him
And the digi panpan bout to end some family lineages before they Begin, it IS around the right height, especially if the gangers get brought to the floor via kneecapping
Suddenly, a shot ran out, and everyone turned to see Papan holding the infamous pistol.
"If you think going I sacred by pathic little handgun you..."
Splatter words were cut when Panpan smiled and pulled a minigun Gatling gun.
'Where did she get a minigun Gatling gun!' Amy thought.
"Pan!" Panpan cried before firing the weapon.
"Run for it!" Splatter screamed as the gang scattered in terror while Pan chased after them, firing her weapon and laughing like a maniac.
Annette looked at Amy, "No offence, Evoker, but your little clone is terrifying."
"You have no idea," Amy said.
- Location
- new york
oh she's harmless, when you aren't in her Line of Fire. lol
Prester Fred
The Mad Procrastinator
- Location
- Timonium, MD
Going by Victoria's reminiscing with Dr. Yamaha in Ward, she had three years as Glory Girl before getting Picasso'd. That would put her trigger in 2008. So most likely in April, near the end of the basketball season (probably a crucial game), with the Chorus attack on the mall happening in the summer.
Chapter 7: "This Sucked, I'm Never Going on Patrol Again."
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
Chapter 7: "This Sucked, I'm Never Going on Patrol Again."
"Really, I've been dying to meet you." Splatter continued to smile down at Amy, something truly dangerous in that grin. Despite that, his tone was completely casual as his men pointed their weapons. Not at Amy, that would be too easy. No, they were pointed squarely at Annette and apparently Amy didn't care enough about some random civilian woman for her power to activate and maybe present a solution.
"We've got a lot to talk about, you and me. Like how you sent my girl to jail. That was really quite rude, you know." Splatter was holding his hand out, pointed at Amy and dripping with color shifting paint. Amy knew, rationally, that she was in danger. Splatter's paint could make you feel pretty much anything depending on the color: rage, love, pain, violently sick, sleepy, anything. He couldn't cause physical damage but that certainly did mean he couldn't kill people with just a bit of creativity. But despite all that, she just couldn't be scared enough of paint to trigger a summon.
"So, here's what's going to happen."
If only he were pointing a gun at her. Oh, that would be traumatic and awful but at least then her stupid power would activate. Why couldn't she make it go when she wanted it to?
"You're going to sit right there, all silent-like, like a good girl and let me put some sleep paint on you."
Actually, maybe she could? She'd activated it sort of by accident back on the building with Victoria, when she'd recalled how weak and helpless she felt that day. So she just needed to convince her power that she really was in danger.
"If not, my boys will splatter the traffic safety failure victim's brains all over her car. And wouldn't that be a shame, after you just got her all patched up."
His hand was pointed at her face, like a gun. It could shoot something that would hurt her, like a gun. It could end her life, like a gun. His hand was a gun. It's a gun.
"Then we'll take you back home, we can have a nice little chat and when they let my girl out of jail, you'll get to go home, all safe and sound."
It's a gun. It's a gun. It's a gun! There is a gun in my face!
"I can see you're all nice and scared. Good. You should be. Now stay still and-"
Splatter reached forward and Amy went cross-eyed as she tracked his dripping fingers getting closer and closer. Her vision blurred and his hand started to shift, change. She wasn't staring at a hand any more. She was staring down the barrel of Volume's huge revolver, about to get shot-
Bang!
Weapon trait activates!
[Hard Board + 1d16=14, Improved Sneakstrike - A shield used in factories to protect from heat and sparks. Useable as a weapon if you're strong enough. This one has been upgraded to with a lighter weight and darker color for easier stealth attacks.]
Several things happened very quickly all at once, leaving Amy with no time to react. Something dark appeared between Amy and Splatter, hitting the ground with a metallic clang that made Amy wince. Then it fell forwards towards Splatter, making him jump back with a vulgar swear as the shield, Amy realized it was a shield she had summoned, hit the street again with an even louder clang. Finally, a blinding light flared up from one of her pockets and when that faded, Wanyamon was leaping from her to Splatter to chomp down on his arm.
Splatter screamed and blood flew everywhere. Amy knew that Wanyamon's mouth was filled with huge fangs but that fuzzball was so childish and innocent all of the time, Amy had never really thought of the damage he could do with them. Damage that only got worse when Splatter grabbed Wanyamon by the tail and tore the digimon off of him, throwing Wanyamon away while leaving great, bloody gashes in his arm. Splatter roared in pain again but for Amy it was the small cry of pain that Wanyamon let out when he hit the pavement that was louder.
Bang!
[Dusty Book - A well worn and dirty book, meant to be returned to the library in UnderMine in order to unlock the ability to hatch and swap familiars. In this case, it serves as a one-use summon item for Amy, allowing her to pick one of UnderMine's familiars to summon.]
Fear turned to frustration as Amy felt another summon go off. Was she really so pathetic that she had to rely on Wanyamon to protect her? The blue, fuzzy ball of sunshine should never have even been close to a fight, not when Amy could defend herself. Baring her teeth, she flung out a swarm of bats to attack Splatter and his men. Thankfully, the two thugs had been too shocked to shoot Annette and now they were too busy trying not to get bitten. Amy took the opportunity check on Wanyamon and found him… glowing?
"Wanyamon digivolve to-!" Wanyamon shouted, his cute voice almost sounding intimidating as the glow became more and more intense. Eventually the light blocked out all details except his general silhouette, which began to grow and shift. Amy saw him grow arms, legs, a full-on body, until he finally stoped and the light shattered off of him. "Gaomon!"
Amy's jaw dropped. Standing there was a bigger, buffer, less cartoony version of the punch-dog panpan. The panpans all came up to about Amy's knees, while Wanyamon (Gaomon?) probably reached mid-thigh now. The determined expression he wore would never fit on the goofy dog-pan's face. In fact, with his fist raised and ready, and his bandana fluttering in the wind (where was that wind coming from?) he actually looked kind of… cool.
Then he dashed back into the fight, jumped up and knocked one of the Chorus goons out with a single uppercut. "Rolling Upper!" He shouted before landing and looking over his shoulder at Amy. "I can handle these losers. You take Annettemo- Annette and get somewhere safe."
Amy hesitated just long enough to throw a new swarm of bats at the bad guys before grabbing Annette and pulling her up from the ground, looping one arm over her shoulders so she could support the woman as they hobbled away. "Come on!"
"But what about your, uh, friend?" Annette asked, looking back.
"He'll be fine!" Was Amy really going to flee and let basically her pet fight her battles for her? Yes, yes she was. Gaomon (Wanyamon?) looked ready for a fight in all the ways Amy wasn't and Amy was a coward besides. So she'd trust that, when the talking boxer dog said he had this, she'd trust that he had this.
Amy regretted that decision a moment later when she heard Gaomon (he was probably Gaomon now, right? He shouted it and everything,) let out an absolutely blood-curdling scream of pure pain.
[V1.0.11 - A version update for Enter the Gungeon. Version updates usually contain bug fixes and improvements to quality of life for players, although some introduce new features. As such, this counts as a meta sidegrade for Amy's power, swapping out UnderMine for Dark Souls as her twentieth summon source.]
Amy stumbled in the street and looked back, only to find Splatter rushing after them, murder in his eyes, one of Amy's bats between his teeth which vanished as he finished biting down. Gaomon was still alive but writhing in pain on the ground, ignored as Splatter focused only on Amy.
That killing intent frightened Amy but apparently not enough to activate her power. No new powers to try and bats apparently wouldn't stop him. She could drop Annette and run without the woman slowing but somehow, Amy wasn't quite that awful, not quite that cowardly. Amy desperately tried to think of anything she could do besides kill him with lasers or ruin her reputation before she even really got started with the meat. She only had her boots, the bombs and gun were locked up at home, she'd stupidly left that shield behind, she had nothing-
Actually, she did have something. Shoving her free hand into her pocket, as soon as she felt one of the cards on finger tips, she activated it. It felt like pulling a trigger.
It must have been the tree because a blue, glowing outline of one showed up and moved around wherever she looked. Not pausing to think, Amy placed the tree hologram right in front of Splatter and instinctively pulled that mental trigger again. Suddenly the tree was real and clearly solid, as Splatter ran right into it, bouncing off and shouting swears. Despite the seriousness and danger, Amy couldn't help but laugh out a desperate laugh.
With Splatter out for a moment, Amy and Annette managed to hobble their way out of the streets and down a nearby alleyway. Pushing Annette down behind a dumpster for cover and because a week of training did not make her strong enough to support a grown woman when the adrenaline was fading, Amy tried to think of what to do next. Her power had triggered twice after the shield had saved her but she had no new powers as far as she knew. And then she noticed the book in Annette's arms. "What's that?" Amy demanded.
"I-It just appeared from nowhere, like that shield." Annette explained nervously, still shaken by what was happening. "I thought maybe it was important, so I grabbed it. Sorry, I wasn't thinking, it probably slowed us down-"
"No, this is perfect! Give it to me." Amy felt hope rising and that hope soared when Annette passed her the book. It was old, worn out, so mistreated that Amy could barely make out the title. 'Creatures of the UnderMine.' But what had her so excited was the feeling she got, the same feeling she had from her cards. She could use this to summon something.
But when she started flipping through the pages in a rush, her high hopes plummeted. A cute little bird. A different little birdy, a bumblebee, yet another tiny bird. Nothing in the book was any sort of help at all. Splatter would probably just bite the head off of whatever she summoned, just like the bat. Amy threw the book away in a burst of frustration. "Fuck!"
"Did it not help?" Annette asked nervously.
"Not at all! It was entirely useless!" Amy shouted, making Annette flinch. Fuck, she was supposed to keep the civilian safe, not freak them out. Why couldn't she just get this right? Why couldn't she care like Victoria did-
Amy's eyes widened in realization. "You! Tell me about yourself! Quick!"
"Whu… What?" Annette asked in confusion.
"Power summons stuff, okay? But only if someone I care about is in danger. So make me care about you, before that psycho catches up with us." Amy explained desperately, taking Annette's hands in hers. "Are you a good person? Donate to charities? Got family waiting for you back home?"
"Family? Yes… Yes!" Annette nodded, catching on quickly. "My husband, Danny, he's… he's perfect. Just so strong and kind and he works so hard to support us. I love him so much, I just… And our daughter, Taylor, she's about your age. She's so brilliant, smarter than both of us, talks a mile a minute when she gets going, it's adorable. Dreams of being a hero too, always knows right from wrong. I'm so proud of her, I know she'll do something great, I… I… Oh, god." Annette's pupils shrunk and her hands shook as she began to panic. "Oh god, I almost died. Twice. I almost left them twice. I… I still might. Oh god, fuck, no, I want to stay with them, I want to watch Taylor grow up, I want to see her and Emma get married, I can't-"
"You really should have kept fucking running!" Splatter's enraged roar silenced Annette and made Amy jerk back up to standing in order to face him. He somehow managed to look even more furious than before, which only contrasted with the comically large red mark across his face from running face-first into that tree. Somehow, as he slowly approached, paint dripping from his outstretched hands, Amy didn't feel like laughing.
"This could have been easy. This could have been painless. But no, you just had to be a brave little bitch and try to fight back. And you know, if you'd actually run off on your own and kept running, I could almost respect that. But you actually went and tried to help out the dead weight. So, if you care that much about some random, middle-aged meat shield, I think I'll make you watch. It's fun, you know? Testing out different combinations, trying out new shades? How's a mix of acid-bath green, bite-wound red and constipation brown sound, hm? Actually, add in some off-white for a mind-blowing, best-of-your-life orgasm? It's the contrast, you know, that really fucks them up. Leaves their brain scrambled, even after the paint washes off, they never really recover. And I'm gonna do this to that bitch all. Because. Of you."
Bang!
[Shellegun - "Circle of Death." A golden pistol that reconfigures itself into a skull that fires lasers when reloaded. Cursed. Comes a case of ammo.]
Amy was anticipating it this time, hoping for it really, so when something popped out of thin air in front of her, she managed to catch it and point it at Splatter. It was only after she was aiming that she realized it was a gun. A heavy gun. A heavy, golden gun that glinted in the sunlight.
She was holding a gun.
Now wasn't the time to grapple with being on the other end of her trauma though, so despite her hands shaking, she kept it trained on Splatter. That brought him up short.
It didn't seem to actually scare him though. "Seriously? Do you even know how to aim that thing?"
"She doesn't have to. Not while I'm here."
Amy looked up and nearly dropped her new pistol in relief. Victoria had never looked so beautiful. Cape flowing in the wind, the sun making her hair glow like gold, she floated above the alley, arms crossed and glaring down at Splatter like an angry goddess.
"Haa… Haa… Hey, I'm here too!" Gaomon's pained voice just barely managed to get Amy to tear her gaze away from her sister. When she did, she winced. Her digital friend didn't look terribly injured, in fact, the only thing wrong with him was a slash of pure white paint across his face. But he was struggling to breath, let alone limp down the alley, and his expression was one of barely restrained pain, with tears running down his fuzzy cheeks. And yet, despite that, he still raised his fists towards Splatter. "So… what was that about, ow, doing things the easy way."
"Damn kids…" Splatter clicked his tongue, annoyed, before slowly raising his hands. "Alright, alright you got… Fucking nothing!"
Suddenly, swung his hand out, just as Victoria had started to descend towards him. She was taken off-guard and couldn't dodge as a huge amount of ugly, lime-green paint splattered across her entire body. She began to fall as Splatter turned, raced for the alley's exit and booted Gaomon out of the way while making his escape.
Not that Amy cared about him getting away when Victoria started to plummet. "Vicky!" She screamed, reaching out for her sister and-
Bang!
[Scene 0 Film 10 - The tragic events of a certain timeline involving a few murders. In this case, Amy summons a vision/memory of her own murder in an alternate timeline.]
"Dinosaurs?" Amy blinked. "Why did I summon dinosaurs?"
"They're anklyosaurs." Victoria clarified. "I think? Their tails are kinda stubby and the don't have the mace on the end, but they're clearly not triceratops, no horns…"
Amy wanted to call her sister a fucking nerd but she didn't think she had the time. The hit-and-runner was getting away, whoever was in the car was probably injured and the large, armored dinosaurs were clearly in distress from the unfamiliar environment and all the noise. They'd cause some damage if they were allowed to panic. "Vicky, what do we do?"
"You check the car for victims, call me if you can't get the doors open. I'm going to try to calm the anklyosaurs. Hopefully my aura will help." Victoria decided quickly and flew ahead.
"Yeah. Okay. Sure." Amy nodded dumbly. Carol had been right, Amy definitely wasn't ready for this. But at least checking on the car… Amy could do that. That was simple. Taking several deep breaths, Amy backed up a few steps then-
PAIN!
Amy slowly looked down, where she saw a black chain piercing through her chest, the spiked of it impaling the roof in front of her. She stared uncomprehending as the chain vanished in motes of light, letting her fall, her body unresponsive. She didn't feel it when her cheek hit the roof, she didn't feel the hole in her chest, all she felt was a growing cold.
"This was it? What my Master was so scared of?" A woman said, stepping into Amy's view. She was beautiful. Unearthly. Cruel. Amy saw long black hair, an extravagant ball gown, spikes driven through the woman's hands. And eyes that dismissed Amy like an insect. "How disappointing."
The cruel woman turned away, vanishing like the chains as she moved. The dark pressed in on Amy. The last thing she heard was her sister screaming her name…
Amy fell to the ground and wretched, burning bile flooding out her mouth. She coughed and vomited as she remembered with perfect clarity the feeling of being stabbed through the chest, of being killed. But she wasn't the only one throwing up, she could hear someone else being sick as well.
Forcing herself to look up, she saw Victoria on her hands and knees as well, violently vomiting onto the pavement. The sight was enough for Amy to forget her own murder for the moment and get her to stumble and crawl to her sister's side. "Vicky! Vicky, are you okay? What's wrong?"
"P-paint!" Victoria managed to say in between bouts of being sick. It was, without a doubt, the most disgusting thing Amy had to deal with in a while, because Victoria simply would not stop throwing up. "Nagi-pan… Wash it-!"
That was as far as she got before she started vomiting again but it was enough for Amy to get the picture. "Panpans! You'd better- Oh." She started to shout, only for the panpans to come running up from behind her. The Amy panpan put her hand on Victoria to get her to stop being sick, while the one based on Nagisa produced a steam of what Amy was pretty sure was strawberry soda to wash the green paint off of Victoria. With that done, the pair went to take care of Gaomon, repeating the process until he'd stopped screaming.
"Hey, Vicky?" Amy said, once the three of them were sitting back against the alley wall, waiting for an adult to show up and fix everything.
"Yeah?" Victoria answered, sounding as exhausted as Amy felt.
"This sucked, I'm never going on patrol again."
AN: And we're fucking back! Took me long enough, huh. Anyway, I basically already described what took me so long in the thread and I don't feel like repeating myself. Took me longer than I thought it would, so sorry.
Anyway, the summons. Hard Board is what took so much time, I really probably could have just guessed it's appearance but I wouldn't know and that would have bugged me. As for the Dusty Book, I actually initially was gonna use it like Analysis or the Summonomicon from SRL and ARR but I realized it was actually kind early in the story for that. One of my beta readers helped me figure out the current use for it, which I think fits a lot better as well. The only other one to talk about is Scene 0 Flim 10, which is just terribly awkwardly named? And it led me to realize that maybe Madoka's maybe not such a good source either. The wiki has a lot of pages that just have incomplete information. Which is a shame, because I really like the series.
Anyway, it's good to be back.
"Really, I've been dying to meet you." Splatter continued to smile down at Amy, something truly dangerous in that grin. Despite that, his tone was completely casual as his men pointed their weapons. Not at Amy, that would be too easy. No, they were pointed squarely at Annette and apparently Amy didn't care enough about some random civilian woman for her power to activate and maybe present a solution.
"We've got a lot to talk about, you and me. Like how you sent my girl to jail. That was really quite rude, you know." Splatter was holding his hand out, pointed at Amy and dripping with color shifting paint. Amy knew, rationally, that she was in danger. Splatter's paint could make you feel pretty much anything depending on the color: rage, love, pain, violently sick, sleepy, anything. He couldn't cause physical damage but that certainly did mean he couldn't kill people with just a bit of creativity. But despite all that, she just couldn't be scared enough of paint to trigger a summon.
"So, here's what's going to happen."
If only he were pointing a gun at her. Oh, that would be traumatic and awful but at least then her stupid power would activate. Why couldn't she make it go when she wanted it to?
"You're going to sit right there, all silent-like, like a good girl and let me put some sleep paint on you."
Actually, maybe she could? She'd activated it sort of by accident back on the building with Victoria, when she'd recalled how weak and helpless she felt that day. So she just needed to convince her power that she really was in danger.
"If not, my boys will splatter the traffic safety failure victim's brains all over her car. And wouldn't that be a shame, after you just got her all patched up."
His hand was pointed at her face, like a gun. It could shoot something that would hurt her, like a gun. It could end her life, like a gun. His hand was a gun. It's a gun.
"Then we'll take you back home, we can have a nice little chat and when they let my girl out of jail, you'll get to go home, all safe and sound."
It's a gun. It's a gun. It's a gun! There is a gun in my face!
"I can see you're all nice and scared. Good. You should be. Now stay still and-"
Splatter reached forward and Amy went cross-eyed as she tracked his dripping fingers getting closer and closer. Her vision blurred and his hand started to shift, change. She wasn't staring at a hand any more. She was staring down the barrel of Volume's huge revolver, about to get shot-
Bang!
Weapon trait activates!
[Hard Board + 1d16=14, Improved Sneakstrike - A shield used in factories to protect from heat and sparks. Useable as a weapon if you're strong enough. This one has been upgraded to with a lighter weight and darker color for easier stealth attacks.]
Several things happened very quickly all at once, leaving Amy with no time to react. Something dark appeared between Amy and Splatter, hitting the ground with a metallic clang that made Amy wince. Then it fell forwards towards Splatter, making him jump back with a vulgar swear as the shield, Amy realized it was a shield she had summoned, hit the street again with an even louder clang. Finally, a blinding light flared up from one of her pockets and when that faded, Wanyamon was leaping from her to Splatter to chomp down on his arm.
Splatter screamed and blood flew everywhere. Amy knew that Wanyamon's mouth was filled with huge fangs but that fuzzball was so childish and innocent all of the time, Amy had never really thought of the damage he could do with them. Damage that only got worse when Splatter grabbed Wanyamon by the tail and tore the digimon off of him, throwing Wanyamon away while leaving great, bloody gashes in his arm. Splatter roared in pain again but for Amy it was the small cry of pain that Wanyamon let out when he hit the pavement that was louder.
Bang!
[Dusty Book - A well worn and dirty book, meant to be returned to the library in UnderMine in order to unlock the ability to hatch and swap familiars. In this case, it serves as a one-use summon item for Amy, allowing her to pick one of UnderMine's familiars to summon.]
Fear turned to frustration as Amy felt another summon go off. Was she really so pathetic that she had to rely on Wanyamon to protect her? The blue, fuzzy ball of sunshine should never have even been close to a fight, not when Amy could defend herself. Baring her teeth, she flung out a swarm of bats to attack Splatter and his men. Thankfully, the two thugs had been too shocked to shoot Annette and now they were too busy trying not to get bitten. Amy took the opportunity check on Wanyamon and found him… glowing?
"Wanyamon digivolve to-!" Wanyamon shouted, his cute voice almost sounding intimidating as the glow became more and more intense. Eventually the light blocked out all details except his general silhouette, which began to grow and shift. Amy saw him grow arms, legs, a full-on body, until he finally stoped and the light shattered off of him. "Gaomon!"
Amy's jaw dropped. Standing there was a bigger, buffer, less cartoony version of the punch-dog panpan. The panpans all came up to about Amy's knees, while Wanyamon (Gaomon?) probably reached mid-thigh now. The determined expression he wore would never fit on the goofy dog-pan's face. In fact, with his fist raised and ready, and his bandana fluttering in the wind (where was that wind coming from?) he actually looked kind of… cool.
Then he dashed back into the fight, jumped up and knocked one of the Chorus goons out with a single uppercut. "Rolling Upper!" He shouted before landing and looking over his shoulder at Amy. "I can handle these losers. You take Annettemo- Annette and get somewhere safe."
Amy hesitated just long enough to throw a new swarm of bats at the bad guys before grabbing Annette and pulling her up from the ground, looping one arm over her shoulders so she could support the woman as they hobbled away. "Come on!"
"But what about your, uh, friend?" Annette asked, looking back.
"He'll be fine!" Was Amy really going to flee and let basically her pet fight her battles for her? Yes, yes she was. Gaomon (Wanyamon?) looked ready for a fight in all the ways Amy wasn't and Amy was a coward besides. So she'd trust that, when the talking boxer dog said he had this, she'd trust that he had this.
Amy regretted that decision a moment later when she heard Gaomon (he was probably Gaomon now, right? He shouted it and everything,) let out an absolutely blood-curdling scream of pure pain.
[V1.0.11 - A version update for Enter the Gungeon. Version updates usually contain bug fixes and improvements to quality of life for players, although some introduce new features. As such, this counts as a meta sidegrade for Amy's power, swapping out UnderMine for Dark Souls as her twentieth summon source.]
Amy stumbled in the street and looked back, only to find Splatter rushing after them, murder in his eyes, one of Amy's bats between his teeth which vanished as he finished biting down. Gaomon was still alive but writhing in pain on the ground, ignored as Splatter focused only on Amy.
That killing intent frightened Amy but apparently not enough to activate her power. No new powers to try and bats apparently wouldn't stop him. She could drop Annette and run without the woman slowing but somehow, Amy wasn't quite that awful, not quite that cowardly. Amy desperately tried to think of anything she could do besides kill him with lasers or ruin her reputation before she even really got started with the meat. She only had her boots, the bombs and gun were locked up at home, she'd stupidly left that shield behind, she had nothing-
Actually, she did have something. Shoving her free hand into her pocket, as soon as she felt one of the cards on finger tips, she activated it. It felt like pulling a trigger.
It must have been the tree because a blue, glowing outline of one showed up and moved around wherever she looked. Not pausing to think, Amy placed the tree hologram right in front of Splatter and instinctively pulled that mental trigger again. Suddenly the tree was real and clearly solid, as Splatter ran right into it, bouncing off and shouting swears. Despite the seriousness and danger, Amy couldn't help but laugh out a desperate laugh.
With Splatter out for a moment, Amy and Annette managed to hobble their way out of the streets and down a nearby alleyway. Pushing Annette down behind a dumpster for cover and because a week of training did not make her strong enough to support a grown woman when the adrenaline was fading, Amy tried to think of what to do next. Her power had triggered twice after the shield had saved her but she had no new powers as far as she knew. And then she noticed the book in Annette's arms. "What's that?" Amy demanded.
"I-It just appeared from nowhere, like that shield." Annette explained nervously, still shaken by what was happening. "I thought maybe it was important, so I grabbed it. Sorry, I wasn't thinking, it probably slowed us down-"
"No, this is perfect! Give it to me." Amy felt hope rising and that hope soared when Annette passed her the book. It was old, worn out, so mistreated that Amy could barely make out the title. 'Creatures of the UnderMine.' But what had her so excited was the feeling she got, the same feeling she had from her cards. She could use this to summon something.
But when she started flipping through the pages in a rush, her high hopes plummeted. A cute little bird. A different little birdy, a bumblebee, yet another tiny bird. Nothing in the book was any sort of help at all. Splatter would probably just bite the head off of whatever she summoned, just like the bat. Amy threw the book away in a burst of frustration. "Fuck!"
"Did it not help?" Annette asked nervously.
"Not at all! It was entirely useless!" Amy shouted, making Annette flinch. Fuck, she was supposed to keep the civilian safe, not freak them out. Why couldn't she just get this right? Why couldn't she care like Victoria did-
Amy's eyes widened in realization. "You! Tell me about yourself! Quick!"
"Whu… What?" Annette asked in confusion.
"Power summons stuff, okay? But only if someone I care about is in danger. So make me care about you, before that psycho catches up with us." Amy explained desperately, taking Annette's hands in hers. "Are you a good person? Donate to charities? Got family waiting for you back home?"
"Family? Yes… Yes!" Annette nodded, catching on quickly. "My husband, Danny, he's… he's perfect. Just so strong and kind and he works so hard to support us. I love him so much, I just… And our daughter, Taylor, she's about your age. She's so brilliant, smarter than both of us, talks a mile a minute when she gets going, it's adorable. Dreams of being a hero too, always knows right from wrong. I'm so proud of her, I know she'll do something great, I… I… Oh, god." Annette's pupils shrunk and her hands shook as she began to panic. "Oh god, I almost died. Twice. I almost left them twice. I… I still might. Oh god, fuck, no, I want to stay with them, I want to watch Taylor grow up, I want to see her and Emma get married, I can't-"
"You really should have kept fucking running!" Splatter's enraged roar silenced Annette and made Amy jerk back up to standing in order to face him. He somehow managed to look even more furious than before, which only contrasted with the comically large red mark across his face from running face-first into that tree. Somehow, as he slowly approached, paint dripping from his outstretched hands, Amy didn't feel like laughing.
"This could have been easy. This could have been painless. But no, you just had to be a brave little bitch and try to fight back. And you know, if you'd actually run off on your own and kept running, I could almost respect that. But you actually went and tried to help out the dead weight. So, if you care that much about some random, middle-aged meat shield, I think I'll make you watch. It's fun, you know? Testing out different combinations, trying out new shades? How's a mix of acid-bath green, bite-wound red and constipation brown sound, hm? Actually, add in some off-white for a mind-blowing, best-of-your-life orgasm? It's the contrast, you know, that really fucks them up. Leaves their brain scrambled, even after the paint washes off, they never really recover. And I'm gonna do this to that bitch all. Because. Of you."
Bang!
[Shellegun - "Circle of Death." A golden pistol that reconfigures itself into a skull that fires lasers when reloaded. Cursed. Comes a case of ammo.]
Amy was anticipating it this time, hoping for it really, so when something popped out of thin air in front of her, she managed to catch it and point it at Splatter. It was only after she was aiming that she realized it was a gun. A heavy gun. A heavy, golden gun that glinted in the sunlight.
She was holding a gun.
Now wasn't the time to grapple with being on the other end of her trauma though, so despite her hands shaking, she kept it trained on Splatter. That brought him up short.
It didn't seem to actually scare him though. "Seriously? Do you even know how to aim that thing?"
"She doesn't have to. Not while I'm here."
Amy looked up and nearly dropped her new pistol in relief. Victoria had never looked so beautiful. Cape flowing in the wind, the sun making her hair glow like gold, she floated above the alley, arms crossed and glaring down at Splatter like an angry goddess.
"Haa… Haa… Hey, I'm here too!" Gaomon's pained voice just barely managed to get Amy to tear her gaze away from her sister. When she did, she winced. Her digital friend didn't look terribly injured, in fact, the only thing wrong with him was a slash of pure white paint across his face. But he was struggling to breath, let alone limp down the alley, and his expression was one of barely restrained pain, with tears running down his fuzzy cheeks. And yet, despite that, he still raised his fists towards Splatter. "So… what was that about, ow, doing things the easy way."
"Damn kids…" Splatter clicked his tongue, annoyed, before slowly raising his hands. "Alright, alright you got… Fucking nothing!"
Suddenly, swung his hand out, just as Victoria had started to descend towards him. She was taken off-guard and couldn't dodge as a huge amount of ugly, lime-green paint splattered across her entire body. She began to fall as Splatter turned, raced for the alley's exit and booted Gaomon out of the way while making his escape.
Not that Amy cared about him getting away when Victoria started to plummet. "Vicky!" She screamed, reaching out for her sister and-
Bang!
[Scene 0 Film 10 - The tragic events of a certain timeline involving a few murders. In this case, Amy summons a vision/memory of her own murder in an alternate timeline.]
"Dinosaurs?" Amy blinked. "Why did I summon dinosaurs?"
"They're anklyosaurs." Victoria clarified. "I think? Their tails are kinda stubby and the don't have the mace on the end, but they're clearly not triceratops, no horns…"
Amy wanted to call her sister a fucking nerd but she didn't think she had the time. The hit-and-runner was getting away, whoever was in the car was probably injured and the large, armored dinosaurs were clearly in distress from the unfamiliar environment and all the noise. They'd cause some damage if they were allowed to panic. "Vicky, what do we do?"
"You check the car for victims, call me if you can't get the doors open. I'm going to try to calm the anklyosaurs. Hopefully my aura will help." Victoria decided quickly and flew ahead.
"Yeah. Okay. Sure." Amy nodded dumbly. Carol had been right, Amy definitely wasn't ready for this. But at least checking on the car… Amy could do that. That was simple. Taking several deep breaths, Amy backed up a few steps then-
PAIN!
Amy slowly looked down, where she saw a black chain piercing through her chest, the spiked of it impaling the roof in front of her. She stared uncomprehending as the chain vanished in motes of light, letting her fall, her body unresponsive. She didn't feel it when her cheek hit the roof, she didn't feel the hole in her chest, all she felt was a growing cold.
"This was it? What my Master was so scared of?" A woman said, stepping into Amy's view. She was beautiful. Unearthly. Cruel. Amy saw long black hair, an extravagant ball gown, spikes driven through the woman's hands. And eyes that dismissed Amy like an insect. "How disappointing."
The cruel woman turned away, vanishing like the chains as she moved. The dark pressed in on Amy. The last thing she heard was her sister screaming her name…
Amy fell to the ground and wretched, burning bile flooding out her mouth. She coughed and vomited as she remembered with perfect clarity the feeling of being stabbed through the chest, of being killed. But she wasn't the only one throwing up, she could hear someone else being sick as well.
Forcing herself to look up, she saw Victoria on her hands and knees as well, violently vomiting onto the pavement. The sight was enough for Amy to forget her own murder for the moment and get her to stumble and crawl to her sister's side. "Vicky! Vicky, are you okay? What's wrong?"
"P-paint!" Victoria managed to say in between bouts of being sick. It was, without a doubt, the most disgusting thing Amy had to deal with in a while, because Victoria simply would not stop throwing up. "Nagi-pan… Wash it-!"
That was as far as she got before she started vomiting again but it was enough for Amy to get the picture. "Panpans! You'd better- Oh." She started to shout, only for the panpans to come running up from behind her. The Amy panpan put her hand on Victoria to get her to stop being sick, while the one based on Nagisa produced a steam of what Amy was pretty sure was strawberry soda to wash the green paint off of Victoria. With that done, the pair went to take care of Gaomon, repeating the process until he'd stopped screaming.
"Hey, Vicky?" Amy said, once the three of them were sitting back against the alley wall, waiting for an adult to show up and fix everything.
"Yeah?" Victoria answered, sounding as exhausted as Amy felt.
"This sucked, I'm never going on patrol again."
AN: And we're fucking back! Took me long enough, huh. Anyway, I basically already described what took me so long in the thread and I don't feel like repeating myself. Took me longer than I thought it would, so sorry.
Anyway, the summons. Hard Board is what took so much time, I really probably could have just guessed it's appearance but I wouldn't know and that would have bugged me. As for the Dusty Book, I actually initially was gonna use it like Analysis or the Summonomicon from SRL and ARR but I realized it was actually kind early in the story for that. One of my beta readers helped me figure out the current use for it, which I think fits a lot better as well. The only other one to talk about is Scene 0 Flim 10, which is just terribly awkwardly named? And it led me to realize that maybe Madoka's maybe not such a good source either. The wiki has a lot of pages that just have incomplete information. Which is a shame, because I really like the series.
Anyway, it's good to be back.
Acheroraptor
Probably mortal
Did Amy get a Alternade Dimension Relive PTSD Power ™️ ?
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
Not a full power, just a single activation.
There ain't nothing like a gun to solve your problems
Interlude 1: Perspectives
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
Interlude 1: Perspectives
The video starts with an attractive woman smiling at the camera. She's wearing a white, fitted bodysuit with a purple starburst on her chest, as well as a tiara based on the starburst keeping her blonde hair out of her face. This woman is Lady Photon, the leader of New Wave. She greets the camera with a small wave.
"Hello everyone! I know it hasn't been that long since the last time we did this but it's likely to be the last one of these videos for a good long while."
She pauses slightly after making the minor joke before continuing.
"Anyway, I know at this point that you're all eager to get to the star of the video. I'm here to proudly announce the newest member of New Wave, my lovely niece Amy Dallon, now known as: Evoker!"
Lady Photon lifts an arm to her left and the camera pans over to show a teenage girl standing beside her. The girl is also dressed in a white bodysuit, although hers has a light blue fireball as an insignia. Over the suit, she wears a white hooded robe with more light blue flames around the cuffs and the hood. She is not traditionally attractive. Her body is in the gangly teenage phase of development, her auburn hair is a curly mess despite efforts to tame it and there are many, many freckles across her face. Some people will find her cute regardless.
Like Lady Photon, she is smiling but if far less practiced. When she speaks it is stilted and awkward.
"Hello. Like Aunt Sarah said, I'm Evoker and I will be joining the rest of my family in New Wave. My power is the ability to summon projections of creatures and items that may be useful to me."
Evoker then pauses and bows towards the camera before continuing. "I would like to take a moment to apologize to anyone troubled by the 'dinosaur incident' two days ago. I was experimenting with my powers while on an early patrol and wound up causing trouble. My power may be difficult to control but still, this was irresponsible for a hero, even if no one was injured directly by my power."
Evoker pauses again, subtly shifting her weight that seems awkward to those who notice it. Then she continues.
"As a member of New Wave, I swear to use my parahuman abilities in a responsible manner, to protect the innocent and promote the ideals of accountability and transparency that New Wave was founded on. I hope to make the people of Brockton Bay proud."
Evoker finishes talking and Lady Photon takes over once again.
"Well said, Evoker. I'm sure everyone out there is looking forward to seeing you grow. I know I am. As for all you fans, please keep an eye out for another announcement from New Wave coming soon. I can't reveal the details yet but I can give you a hint: what do you think we'll do with Evoker's new dinosaurs? Until then, stay safe."
Both heroes wave at the camera and the video ends.
++++
"Mom! Mom, come look! It's her, she's on TV!"
In a certain house in Brockton Bay, two girls sat watching television, one of which was literally bouncing with excitement. The house itself was old, a touch rundown, but comfy, homey and filled with love. Perhaps, at some other point in time, in some possible future, the house would have become cold and empty with grief, the ones living there passing through like ghosts as the warmth had passed on. But here and now, such a fate had been avoided.
"Oh my god, she looks so awkward." One of the girls, the redhead that wasn't bouncing, noted. It wasn't a cruel observation, at least not intentionally, but there was some level of judgment. "Like, wow, did they even try to tame her hair for this?"
"Aw, c'mon Emma. Not all of us can be teen models. I'd be terrified in front of the camera! She's braver than me at least!" The other girl stopped bouncing but the excitement still carried in her voice. She was gangly, thin and filled with an awkward energy that her body didn't know what to do with. She wore glasses that were too big for her face and her long black hair seemed to be the only part of her that fit.
"Okay, fair. I am pretty awesome." The redhead, Emma, laughed. Unlike her friend, puberty was being nice to her. She still had some childlike cuteness that would mature into traditional beauty given time. "But also, this is Glory Girl's sister and she nailed her debut vid a couple months ago. Like, did they not let her see a makeup artist? Or train her on how to say her lines? Also, I've seen pictures, what's up with those ugly old boots she wears? They totally don't fit her costume."
"Oh! I heard about this, she was seen walking on air, not flying, but, like, actually walking and those boots have little wings on them so people are thinking they're what lets her do that." The brunette explained in a rushed babble. "And also, I mean, I kinda like this more than Glory Girl's debut? Like… she feels more real? Natural? I dunno how to put it."
As the video ended, the brunette twisted to hang over the back of the couch and called into the kitchen. "Mom? Hey, Mom! What was Evoker like when she saved you?"
In the kitchen, Annette Hebert smiled to herself. Her daughter was a bundle of trouble, as always, but she was grateful for Taylor's exuberance. More than ever now. Lifting the tray of hot chocolate and snacks, she walked into the living room and chastised her daughter as she set it down. "No yelling in the house, Taylor."
Taking her own mug and settling into her favorite chair, she thought back on that day. She thought about that young girl, barely older than Taylor herself, terrified, in over her head, acerbic from the stress. A child who, simply because she could, had to deal with psychopathic criminals like Splatter. Not just once because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but forever. That girl, so scared and so unsure, thrust into a cruel, violent world she never should have been in. What could Annette say about her to her own daughter, that wouldn't take away Taylor's innocence as well.
Eventually, Annette decided on the words. "She cared."
"Huh?" Both Taylor and Emma sounded confused.
"She cared. About me. About keeping me safe. She didn't just treat me as a burden or as a job to do." She had to, apparently. To use her powers. But still, that terrified young woman could have run, left Annette to her fate and honestly, Annette wouldn't have blamed her. She was just a child, after all. "I think that she'll be a good hero, because she cares. Anyway, let's get this movie night started."
The two girls cheered. Yes, the world was cruel and violent. But tonight, at least, in at least one house, there was joy and safety.
++++
In the maternity ward of Richard Anders Memorial Hospital, a woman lay recovering her strength, alone except for her newborn daughter, asleep in her arms. On the TV in the corner, the news was once again playing the video debut of New Wave's newest member and the woman couldn't help but scoff.
A child had triggered, all their children had triggered, and the family was proud. An innocent young girl had been traumatized by a scumbag criminal and the so-called hero, Lady Photon, was smiling and parading the child about like a pageant queen. All four children. There was something deeply wrong with that family.
Of course, Kayden Anders, interior designer, wife of Max Anders and respectable citizen, had no reason to be dismissive of Brockton Bay's homegrown superhero team. Kayden Anders had nothing but praise for all the local superheroes and the hard work they did. Kayden Anders would never call Lady Photon a fool, an idiot, or an arrogant bitch.
The 'supervillain' Purity though, she was another matter. The rivalry between Purity and Lady Photon was well known in Brockton Bay but once upon a time, it didn't have to be. Back when she first started going out as Purity, Kayden had no problems with New Wave. White, well educated, coming from a higher class of breeding and willing to put themselves in danger for the betterment of the city, New Wave was the right sort of people. It had been a shame that Lady Photon had been so annoyed by pointing out how similar their powers were but young, naive Purity had thought if she could just make her understand, the entire family of heroes would see the light. Together, they could have really driven the scum and lesser races, the freaks and the homos, out of Brockton Bay and made it, well, pure.
Kayden knew better now. She'd learned that no matter what she said or how she argued, some people just insisted on being wrong. But it didn't matter now. She was better than Sarah Pelham. Stronger powers, more successful as a civilian and most of all, she wasn't willfully blind. And now, she was going to be a better mother too.
Kayden looked down at little Aster, her bundle of joy, her bright shining star, and she smiled so gently. She would raise her daughter right, show her the truth of the world, make it clear to Aster that she was better and deserved better. And she would keep Aster safe, just as she always promised herself she would once she started a family. Before, she thought that meant protecting her from the barbarians and cruel, lesser races of the world, and Kayden still fully intended to do so. But she'd learned as she grew that there were other dangers too.
She shifted her gaze from her beautiful baby to her hand, specifically the ring still on her finger. It wasn't a traditional wedding ring, there was no gem, but it was still a beautiful thing. A simple but well crafted silver band, carved to look like wings wrapping around her finger. Max had claimed that it was a genuine Viking artifact, that it represented the wings of the beautiful and deadly Valkyrie and that she would be his Valkyrie on the battlefield. Max always did have a silver tongue, always was a charmer, but Kayden saw those pretty words for what they really were now. Lies. Chains.
She didn't take off the ring. She didn't toss it in the trash, no matter how much she wanted to. She couldn't be hasty, not when going against Max. She needed a plan. She needed an opportunity. She might have to wait a bit.
But she would protect her daughter.
+++++
Her classroom was abuzz with gossip about the newest hero in the Bay and she just wanted to scream at them to shut it. So what if Evoker's power was really varied and powerful? So what if she was apparently cute in a 'she's grumpy, I want to date her' way (whatever that meant) instead of an 'aw, she's so adorable and smol and cuddly' kind of way? So what if she summoned actual, living dinosaurs?
Missy groaned, dropped her head onto her table and tried to block out the gossiping idiots that were her classmates. She wasn't jealous. She wasn't! But that didn't mean this entire situation wasn't unfair. She could still remember her debut, a month and a half ago. She'd been so excited. This was her moment! She could finally get away from her screaming parents, her lackluster grades, her friends who weren't that close and didn't invite her to hang out after school or go to parties or anything, her average, shitty little life. She'd stepped up to the podium at the press conference, smiling brightly, ready to be special. Ready to be a hero!
Nobody had cared.
Oh sure, she generated plenty of buzz online but that was kinda PHO's entire reason for existence. Same with the couple of really deep cape nerds in her class. Of course they were excited, they got excited over every new cape. And while plenty of tourists on the Boardwalk or Downtown or on the tours of PRT HQ wanted pictures, it was all because of how cute she was, not because she'd done anything worth noticing. Because she hadn't been given the chance to do anything. Sure, they let her out on patrols but only in the absolute safest areas. No fighting crime for her, no saving people from burning buildings, no helping anyone but the Protectorate's marketing division. Meanwhile, Evoker had already sent one supervillain off to jail basically immediately after getting her powers according to the reports she got as a Ward and then fought off another supervillain looking for revenge right before her official debut.
Of course, it didn't help that, unless she really went all out, her power was kind of invisible. Sure, she could turn empty streets into labyrinths and buildings into pretzels but she wasn't allowed to do that. Her power wasn't flashy otherwise. She didn't shoot lasers or fly or summon dinosaurs, seriously, what the fuck!?
So yes, maybe she was a tiny bit jealous. Maybe. Just a tiny bit. And maybe she wanted to pet a dinosaur like the rest of her class. The entire situation was still deeply unfair. So she groaned again.
"Excuse me, are you okay?"
Missy blearily lifted her head to find a stranger standing next to her desk. Not just in that she didn't know this new kid, but she also just looked strange. White hair was already weird enough but that could be chalked up to being an albino. Her eyes though, they were super weird. Her irises had two very distinct rings of color, brown on the outside and bright yellow of all things on the inside. Missy had heard of this, kinda. Hetra-chromia or something? It was still bizarre to look at.
The weird girl didn't seem to notice Missy staring though. "Oh, I know, you must be hungry! Do you want some cookies?" The girl asked as she started rummaging through her school bag.
"No, that's not it. I'm fine, really-" Missy tried to protest but the girl had already pulled out and opened a tupperware container of chocolate chip cookies. They smelled divine, like they were fresh out the oven, and the new girl was looking at her so expectantly. So Missy took a cookie and bit into it.
It was honestly the most amazing thing she'd ever tasted.
"You enjoy it! Yay!" The girl cheered and set the Tupperware on Missy's desk, which Missy took as permission to just keep eating them. "Do you want to be friends? I was worried because things are done so different here in west. For example, the teacher didn't tell me to wait outside so she could introduce me. That's how we do it back in Japan. Oh, I'm not bothering you, am I?"
Honestly, she was the only one not bothering Missy right now, since the new girl at least wasn't talking about Evoker. But even if she, Missy would be her friend anyway if it meant getting more cookies like this. "No, it's fine. Yeah, let's be friends. I'm Missy."
The new girl's smile was brilliant, almost as sweet as the cookies. "Nice to meet you! I'm Nagisa Momoe!"
+++++
It should have been dark. It was a room where evil worked and plotted and planned. It was a room where assassinations were ordered and domination was guaranteed. It should have been dark, sinister, lit only by red floor lights or the stormy night outside.
Instead, it was insultingly mundane, banal and boring. A simple office in just another office building. A temporary abode until the finishing touches were put on his true base of operations. But until then, he sat at his desk, occasionally sending out some order or other, but mostly reviewing footage of a certain new parahuman to join Brockton Bay's cape scene.
A figure appeared behind him and he did not startle. Her loyalty was absolute, after all. At least, as far as he knew. "Master, why did you not order me to kill the girl then and there?" She asked.
Because he did. He did give the order and had seen the child die and then he had made it so those events never happened. And he had the information he desired. "Because, you can eliminate her at any time, my dear. She isn't a threat."
"She isn't a threat yet." Her voice was mature, smooth, seductive like rich chocolate. And yet it carried a hard, poisonous edge. "If her powers continue to grow-"
"Her power is exactly what may prove useful in the future. She's already summoned several different weapons and creatures. Items that may be subverted to my cause. And who knows what interesting goodies she might bring forth in the future." He cut her off almost lackadaisically, before his voice turned harsh as well. "I won't remove a piece from the board too early. Not when there's still use left in it. Only once her uses have run dry will I discard her. Something you'd do well to remember."
"Of course, my Master." The woman agreed, fading away once again. She wouldn't tell him to remember the same. No need to put the amateur on edge after all.
AN: Christ, that took awhile didn't it. I think I might need to boost my ADD medication to a higher dosage. But year, lots of distractions plus some writer's block and some going back and forth on decisions.
No need to talk about summons today but I do want to talk about something to get ahead of the comments just in case. And that something is Purity. I'm not sure how common it is now but for a long-ass while, it was popular to portray her a sympathetic, easily redeemed and not that bad. This is your requisite reminder that Kayden Anders is a bad person. She's a Nazi and while maybe she wasn't always one, maybe she only started believing because of Kaiser, but she sure as hell didn't stop being one when she divorced his ass. In canon, she exclusively targeted minorities during her run at 'heroism', she collapsed buildings full of innocent people when the PRT took her kid and her only problem with the Empire was her ex-husband. As soon as he was dead, she took it as an opportunity to start running her own neo-nazi gang. You are allowed to find her situation with Max sympathetic. A single mother trying to protect her daughter from her abusive ex-husband is a very hard situation to be in. But it doesn't excuse her racism and complete disregard for life that isn't directly related to her. The only one who thinks Purity is a hero is herself. Please don't join her in her delusions.
Okay, that was a bit of a rant. Sorry if it came out of nowhere, it's been rumbling around my head for awhile and I needed to get it out. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter!
The video starts with an attractive woman smiling at the camera. She's wearing a white, fitted bodysuit with a purple starburst on her chest, as well as a tiara based on the starburst keeping her blonde hair out of her face. This woman is Lady Photon, the leader of New Wave. She greets the camera with a small wave.
"Hello everyone! I know it hasn't been that long since the last time we did this but it's likely to be the last one of these videos for a good long while."
She pauses slightly after making the minor joke before continuing.
"Anyway, I know at this point that you're all eager to get to the star of the video. I'm here to proudly announce the newest member of New Wave, my lovely niece Amy Dallon, now known as: Evoker!"
Lady Photon lifts an arm to her left and the camera pans over to show a teenage girl standing beside her. The girl is also dressed in a white bodysuit, although hers has a light blue fireball as an insignia. Over the suit, she wears a white hooded robe with more light blue flames around the cuffs and the hood. She is not traditionally attractive. Her body is in the gangly teenage phase of development, her auburn hair is a curly mess despite efforts to tame it and there are many, many freckles across her face. Some people will find her cute regardless.
Like Lady Photon, she is smiling but if far less practiced. When she speaks it is stilted and awkward.
"Hello. Like Aunt Sarah said, I'm Evoker and I will be joining the rest of my family in New Wave. My power is the ability to summon projections of creatures and items that may be useful to me."
Evoker then pauses and bows towards the camera before continuing. "I would like to take a moment to apologize to anyone troubled by the 'dinosaur incident' two days ago. I was experimenting with my powers while on an early patrol and wound up causing trouble. My power may be difficult to control but still, this was irresponsible for a hero, even if no one was injured directly by my power."
Evoker pauses again, subtly shifting her weight that seems awkward to those who notice it. Then she continues.
"As a member of New Wave, I swear to use my parahuman abilities in a responsible manner, to protect the innocent and promote the ideals of accountability and transparency that New Wave was founded on. I hope to make the people of Brockton Bay proud."
Evoker finishes talking and Lady Photon takes over once again.
"Well said, Evoker. I'm sure everyone out there is looking forward to seeing you grow. I know I am. As for all you fans, please keep an eye out for another announcement from New Wave coming soon. I can't reveal the details yet but I can give you a hint: what do you think we'll do with Evoker's new dinosaurs? Until then, stay safe."
Both heroes wave at the camera and the video ends.
++++
"Mom! Mom, come look! It's her, she's on TV!"
In a certain house in Brockton Bay, two girls sat watching television, one of which was literally bouncing with excitement. The house itself was old, a touch rundown, but comfy, homey and filled with love. Perhaps, at some other point in time, in some possible future, the house would have become cold and empty with grief, the ones living there passing through like ghosts as the warmth had passed on. But here and now, such a fate had been avoided.
"Oh my god, she looks so awkward." One of the girls, the redhead that wasn't bouncing, noted. It wasn't a cruel observation, at least not intentionally, but there was some level of judgment. "Like, wow, did they even try to tame her hair for this?"
"Aw, c'mon Emma. Not all of us can be teen models. I'd be terrified in front of the camera! She's braver than me at least!" The other girl stopped bouncing but the excitement still carried in her voice. She was gangly, thin and filled with an awkward energy that her body didn't know what to do with. She wore glasses that were too big for her face and her long black hair seemed to be the only part of her that fit.
"Okay, fair. I am pretty awesome." The redhead, Emma, laughed. Unlike her friend, puberty was being nice to her. She still had some childlike cuteness that would mature into traditional beauty given time. "But also, this is Glory Girl's sister and she nailed her debut vid a couple months ago. Like, did they not let her see a makeup artist? Or train her on how to say her lines? Also, I've seen pictures, what's up with those ugly old boots she wears? They totally don't fit her costume."
"Oh! I heard about this, she was seen walking on air, not flying, but, like, actually walking and those boots have little wings on them so people are thinking they're what lets her do that." The brunette explained in a rushed babble. "And also, I mean, I kinda like this more than Glory Girl's debut? Like… she feels more real? Natural? I dunno how to put it."
As the video ended, the brunette twisted to hang over the back of the couch and called into the kitchen. "Mom? Hey, Mom! What was Evoker like when she saved you?"
In the kitchen, Annette Hebert smiled to herself. Her daughter was a bundle of trouble, as always, but she was grateful for Taylor's exuberance. More than ever now. Lifting the tray of hot chocolate and snacks, she walked into the living room and chastised her daughter as she set it down. "No yelling in the house, Taylor."
Taking her own mug and settling into her favorite chair, she thought back on that day. She thought about that young girl, barely older than Taylor herself, terrified, in over her head, acerbic from the stress. A child who, simply because she could, had to deal with psychopathic criminals like Splatter. Not just once because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but forever. That girl, so scared and so unsure, thrust into a cruel, violent world she never should have been in. What could Annette say about her to her own daughter, that wouldn't take away Taylor's innocence as well.
Eventually, Annette decided on the words. "She cared."
"Huh?" Both Taylor and Emma sounded confused.
"She cared. About me. About keeping me safe. She didn't just treat me as a burden or as a job to do." She had to, apparently. To use her powers. But still, that terrified young woman could have run, left Annette to her fate and honestly, Annette wouldn't have blamed her. She was just a child, after all. "I think that she'll be a good hero, because she cares. Anyway, let's get this movie night started."
The two girls cheered. Yes, the world was cruel and violent. But tonight, at least, in at least one house, there was joy and safety.
++++
In the maternity ward of Richard Anders Memorial Hospital, a woman lay recovering her strength, alone except for her newborn daughter, asleep in her arms. On the TV in the corner, the news was once again playing the video debut of New Wave's newest member and the woman couldn't help but scoff.
A child had triggered, all their children had triggered, and the family was proud. An innocent young girl had been traumatized by a scumbag criminal and the so-called hero, Lady Photon, was smiling and parading the child about like a pageant queen. All four children. There was something deeply wrong with that family.
Of course, Kayden Anders, interior designer, wife of Max Anders and respectable citizen, had no reason to be dismissive of Brockton Bay's homegrown superhero team. Kayden Anders had nothing but praise for all the local superheroes and the hard work they did. Kayden Anders would never call Lady Photon a fool, an idiot, or an arrogant bitch.
The 'supervillain' Purity though, she was another matter. The rivalry between Purity and Lady Photon was well known in Brockton Bay but once upon a time, it didn't have to be. Back when she first started going out as Purity, Kayden had no problems with New Wave. White, well educated, coming from a higher class of breeding and willing to put themselves in danger for the betterment of the city, New Wave was the right sort of people. It had been a shame that Lady Photon had been so annoyed by pointing out how similar their powers were but young, naive Purity had thought if she could just make her understand, the entire family of heroes would see the light. Together, they could have really driven the scum and lesser races, the freaks and the homos, out of Brockton Bay and made it, well, pure.
Kayden knew better now. She'd learned that no matter what she said or how she argued, some people just insisted on being wrong. But it didn't matter now. She was better than Sarah Pelham. Stronger powers, more successful as a civilian and most of all, she wasn't willfully blind. And now, she was going to be a better mother too.
Kayden looked down at little Aster, her bundle of joy, her bright shining star, and she smiled so gently. She would raise her daughter right, show her the truth of the world, make it clear to Aster that she was better and deserved better. And she would keep Aster safe, just as she always promised herself she would once she started a family. Before, she thought that meant protecting her from the barbarians and cruel, lesser races of the world, and Kayden still fully intended to do so. But she'd learned as she grew that there were other dangers too.
She shifted her gaze from her beautiful baby to her hand, specifically the ring still on her finger. It wasn't a traditional wedding ring, there was no gem, but it was still a beautiful thing. A simple but well crafted silver band, carved to look like wings wrapping around her finger. Max had claimed that it was a genuine Viking artifact, that it represented the wings of the beautiful and deadly Valkyrie and that she would be his Valkyrie on the battlefield. Max always did have a silver tongue, always was a charmer, but Kayden saw those pretty words for what they really were now. Lies. Chains.
She didn't take off the ring. She didn't toss it in the trash, no matter how much she wanted to. She couldn't be hasty, not when going against Max. She needed a plan. She needed an opportunity. She might have to wait a bit.
But she would protect her daughter.
+++++
Her classroom was abuzz with gossip about the newest hero in the Bay and she just wanted to scream at them to shut it. So what if Evoker's power was really varied and powerful? So what if she was apparently cute in a 'she's grumpy, I want to date her' way (whatever that meant) instead of an 'aw, she's so adorable and smol and cuddly' kind of way? So what if she summoned actual, living dinosaurs?
Missy groaned, dropped her head onto her table and tried to block out the gossiping idiots that were her classmates. She wasn't jealous. She wasn't! But that didn't mean this entire situation wasn't unfair. She could still remember her debut, a month and a half ago. She'd been so excited. This was her moment! She could finally get away from her screaming parents, her lackluster grades, her friends who weren't that close and didn't invite her to hang out after school or go to parties or anything, her average, shitty little life. She'd stepped up to the podium at the press conference, smiling brightly, ready to be special. Ready to be a hero!
Nobody had cared.
Oh sure, she generated plenty of buzz online but that was kinda PHO's entire reason for existence. Same with the couple of really deep cape nerds in her class. Of course they were excited, they got excited over every new cape. And while plenty of tourists on the Boardwalk or Downtown or on the tours of PRT HQ wanted pictures, it was all because of how cute she was, not because she'd done anything worth noticing. Because she hadn't been given the chance to do anything. Sure, they let her out on patrols but only in the absolute safest areas. No fighting crime for her, no saving people from burning buildings, no helping anyone but the Protectorate's marketing division. Meanwhile, Evoker had already sent one supervillain off to jail basically immediately after getting her powers according to the reports she got as a Ward and then fought off another supervillain looking for revenge right before her official debut.
Of course, it didn't help that, unless she really went all out, her power was kind of invisible. Sure, she could turn empty streets into labyrinths and buildings into pretzels but she wasn't allowed to do that. Her power wasn't flashy otherwise. She didn't shoot lasers or fly or summon dinosaurs, seriously, what the fuck!?
So yes, maybe she was a tiny bit jealous. Maybe. Just a tiny bit. And maybe she wanted to pet a dinosaur like the rest of her class. The entire situation was still deeply unfair. So she groaned again.
"Excuse me, are you okay?"
Missy blearily lifted her head to find a stranger standing next to her desk. Not just in that she didn't know this new kid, but she also just looked strange. White hair was already weird enough but that could be chalked up to being an albino. Her eyes though, they were super weird. Her irises had two very distinct rings of color, brown on the outside and bright yellow of all things on the inside. Missy had heard of this, kinda. Hetra-chromia or something? It was still bizarre to look at.
The weird girl didn't seem to notice Missy staring though. "Oh, I know, you must be hungry! Do you want some cookies?" The girl asked as she started rummaging through her school bag.
"No, that's not it. I'm fine, really-" Missy tried to protest but the girl had already pulled out and opened a tupperware container of chocolate chip cookies. They smelled divine, like they were fresh out the oven, and the new girl was looking at her so expectantly. So Missy took a cookie and bit into it.
It was honestly the most amazing thing she'd ever tasted.
"You enjoy it! Yay!" The girl cheered and set the Tupperware on Missy's desk, which Missy took as permission to just keep eating them. "Do you want to be friends? I was worried because things are done so different here in west. For example, the teacher didn't tell me to wait outside so she could introduce me. That's how we do it back in Japan. Oh, I'm not bothering you, am I?"
Honestly, she was the only one not bothering Missy right now, since the new girl at least wasn't talking about Evoker. But even if she, Missy would be her friend anyway if it meant getting more cookies like this. "No, it's fine. Yeah, let's be friends. I'm Missy."
The new girl's smile was brilliant, almost as sweet as the cookies. "Nice to meet you! I'm Nagisa Momoe!"
+++++
It should have been dark. It was a room where evil worked and plotted and planned. It was a room where assassinations were ordered and domination was guaranteed. It should have been dark, sinister, lit only by red floor lights or the stormy night outside.
Instead, it was insultingly mundane, banal and boring. A simple office in just another office building. A temporary abode until the finishing touches were put on his true base of operations. But until then, he sat at his desk, occasionally sending out some order or other, but mostly reviewing footage of a certain new parahuman to join Brockton Bay's cape scene.
A figure appeared behind him and he did not startle. Her loyalty was absolute, after all. At least, as far as he knew. "Master, why did you not order me to kill the girl then and there?" She asked.
Because he did. He did give the order and had seen the child die and then he had made it so those events never happened. And he had the information he desired. "Because, you can eliminate her at any time, my dear. She isn't a threat."
"She isn't a threat yet." Her voice was mature, smooth, seductive like rich chocolate. And yet it carried a hard, poisonous edge. "If her powers continue to grow-"
"Her power is exactly what may prove useful in the future. She's already summoned several different weapons and creatures. Items that may be subverted to my cause. And who knows what interesting goodies she might bring forth in the future." He cut her off almost lackadaisically, before his voice turned harsh as well. "I won't remove a piece from the board too early. Not when there's still use left in it. Only once her uses have run dry will I discard her. Something you'd do well to remember."
"Of course, my Master." The woman agreed, fading away once again. She wouldn't tell him to remember the same. No need to put the amateur on edge after all.
AN: Christ, that took awhile didn't it. I think I might need to boost my ADD medication to a higher dosage. But year, lots of distractions plus some writer's block and some going back and forth on decisions.
No need to talk about summons today but I do want to talk about something to get ahead of the comments just in case. And that something is Purity. I'm not sure how common it is now but for a long-ass while, it was popular to portray her a sympathetic, easily redeemed and not that bad. This is your requisite reminder that Kayden Anders is a bad person. She's a Nazi and while maybe she wasn't always one, maybe she only started believing because of Kaiser, but she sure as hell didn't stop being one when she divorced his ass. In canon, she exclusively targeted minorities during her run at 'heroism', she collapsed buildings full of innocent people when the PRT took her kid and her only problem with the Empire was her ex-husband. As soon as he was dead, she took it as an opportunity to start running her own neo-nazi gang. You are allowed to find her situation with Max sympathetic. A single mother trying to protect her daughter from her abusive ex-husband is a very hard situation to be in. But it doesn't excuse her racism and complete disregard for life that isn't directly related to her. The only one who thinks Purity is a hero is herself. Please don't join her in her delusions.
Okay, that was a bit of a rant. Sorry if it came out of nowhere, it's been rumbling around my head for awhile and I needed to get it out. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter!
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MaimakteriAnn
(Verified Sleepy)
- Location
- Enormous And Round Terran Homeworld
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Dr
Given Kayden's attitudes - wedding rings absolutely do not have stones in the culture she is referring to when she says "traditional". Also, max is CEO of a medical corp - if that ring is silver and not white gold or platinum, all her friends are talking behind her back about how sad it is that Max already plans to divorce her and get someone else.
EDUT for context: you are absolutely right, Kayden is a Nazi piece of shit. That means 'tradition' and 'oldf fashioned' don't refer to anything that really happened. They mean a made up prelapsarian story time that justifies how they want to act and motivates people they want to manipulate.
If you're ever in doubt, Google a topic on an anonymised account and the first page will be full of what white American culture thinks of when you mention that subject.
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