Brockton Bay's Marvelous Mage
- Thread starter MetaBettaOmega
- Start date
- Location
- Wales
Probably end up with a random group of preteens who can inexplicably get through the wards and end up causing chaos and learning minor life lessons.
- Location
- Louisville KY
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I was thinking a potential Coil contact. It would be silly for him to not have some homeless on his payroll when you consider that the homeless have a form of invisibility that doesn't require a connection to a shard. Plus, the cost would be negligible considering what a homeless person would consider a good deal versus the potential of finding out about goings on that hasn't necessarily reached the public at large.
- Location
- Auckland, NZ
No, the most obvious place would be his own land which he can't be kicked off of. The amount of income he's going to have from his healing could buy something large enough for a normal house in the front and his hidden area in the back. Probably in Captains Hill.
Chapter Twenty Five
Once my new ritual platform was complete, I took about three hours to rapid-fire a handful of rituals. Things to redirect attention elsewhere, to subtly dissuade people from getting closer, and to confuse people who somehow pushed past that. Each one was designed to be challenging to detect and definitely on the weaker side, but I was hoping that they would weave together to create a much more potent effect.
They also lacked any sacrificial materials, meaning they would all fade in a day or so. That was fine, however, since it would give me a chance to gather and secure everything I needed to make some more enhanced protections. Setting up the permanent equivalent would likely take a few shopping trips and a few more days of work.
Once the temporary rituals were in place, I headed back into town to do my first round of shopping, then headed back to my temporary home. I had finished designing most of the rituals the day before, but I spent the rest of the night coming up with my final, most important ritual. I was hoping to basically cap all of the protection rituals I was doing with something special, something that would enhance their effectiveness.
The next morning, I packed a large bag, courtesy of my shopping trip, with everything I had purchased so far before making my way back out into the forest. I spent most of the morning and a few hours of the afternoon completing some of the larger, more complicated rituals. I only got through two, since drawing each of them out took two hours separately, and I had to clean up the ritual space after each one. By the time I headed back into the city, the clearing I had claimed as my own would be more and more off-putting the closer any uninvited guests got to it.
It was a more powerful effect than the temporary one I had first put down, designed to convince people that this was an unfriendly part of the forest, maybe even a bit spooky. Each effect I was weaving was a balancing act between powerful enough to work and subtle enough not to draw more attention through its existence.
Honestly, the hardest part of the rituals I had created so far was keeping the effects from doing anything strange to a person's mind. Most of the methods my knowledge came up with when I designed the various Notice-me-not-esque rituals, wanted to help the experience smooth out in a person's mind. Unfortunately, while that would have significantly helped keep the spell subtle and undiscovered, I knew that any sort of mind fuckery that happened outside of the affected area would get a whole lot more negative attention. Setting up a series of perception filters and dissuasion areas was one thing, but making someone forget they ever encountered the location, or reinforcing that they should never come back was not going to go over well.
Basically, I was hoping to give the area a Stranger effect but avoid a Master rating in the process.
I finally finished the perception and dissuasion filters on the fifth day of the new charge cycle. It had been a few days of running back and forth between the forest and the city, shopping for sacrificial ingredients, and creating complicated rituals. By the time I was done, people wandering the woods would simply be redirected without any issues, and people specifically looking for me or my home would be turned around enough that they would never actually succeed. My weakest point was if someone capable of flying decided to investigate but did so from incredibly high up. I could only push the ritual effects so high, after all.
Still, I was confident that I wouldn't have to worry about people finding me, barring some sort of unfortunate power interaction. Besides, these were just some basic, low-level protections. I was hoping to apply more to my actual home. Speaking of which, now that I was finished preparing the area, it was finally time to start actually building.
Originally, I had envisioned a grand wizard's tower built from a great tree towering over the forest. I had even considered going off to find redwood saplings to start off with. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that massive, fuck off towering trees and hidden secrets bases were very much mutually exclusive. Eventually I would feel confident enough in my magic and what I could to build such an obvious target. For now, however, I was much more confident in my ability to stay hidden than I was to withstand whatever this world could throw at me.
That meant that, rather than a tower, I was going to go with a sort of compound, with several tree buildings spread out through clearing. Each building would serve a different purpose and, once the clearing was filled, would hopefully look relatively normal from up high despite the trees in it being incredibly squat and wide. I was also planning to sink most of the actual functional spaces down three or four feet into the ground, basically living in a stretched and manipulated stump. Not only was that the densest part of the tree, but it would also make it easier to get more bang for my buck, at least space-wise.
I wouldn't need much space, nor would I need very many buildings at first. The platform was all I needed for most rituals, and other than a bedroom to sleep in and somewhere to perform geomancy, that was all I really needed so far. More buildings would undoubtedly come over time, but for now, the list was short.
At the very least, this would serve as a temporary place for me to live while I built up the confidence and powers to build and hold a proper wizard's tower. Basically, this was step one of many.
Going from ideas and concepts that I had gotten from druidcraft, I started my first building. Rather than start with something crucial, like my bedroom, I instead started with a storage tree, a place to keep ritual materials, or whatever else I had lying around. This was practice and confirmation of the methods and ideas I saw in druidcraft. Also, since it was probably going to be full of ritual stuff, I grew it right next to the ritual platform.
Just like the fruit trees I had grown for the homeless communities, I used a variety of spells to encourage the modified oak to grow, stopping several dozen times to adjust its shape. As the tree got bigger and bigger, I specifically grew it around the side of the ritual platform. Its roots tangled and merged with the roots of the ritual platform, forming a corner wall on one side, which I modified with organically grown shelves. An actual door formed, which I would have to cut free in order to use, that led into an enclosed section for more sensitive storage.
Seeing an opportunity, I used another acorn on the opposite side of the platform, growing it in much the same way, before connecting the branches of the two towering trees, creating a natural canopy. It wasn't a hundred percent watertight yet, but that would come later. For now, though, I had a partially enclosed ritual platform with storage on opposite sides.
"Well… what do you think?" I asked, watching as Alya took her physical form to inspect the finished structure.
"It is beautiful," She said, running her hand over the smooth, sturdy shelves. "Will the other structures follow this pattern?"
"More or less," I said, vaguely responding with a shrug. "It really depends on what it is. My bedroom is going to have to be sealed, for example, unless I want to be damp twenty-four seven."
"I'm sure you could design a ritual to solve that."
"Of course I could, but that doesn't mean I should," I explained. "Nothing wrong with solving things the old-fashioned way. Either way… I have an idea to help with that anyway. A final ritual when I'm done with the first run of buildings."
Rather than try and push my luck and attempt to build a bedroom tree, and most likely end up messing it up as I build in the dark, I decided to head back home. Handily enough, I could now leave behind most of my equipment, which, so far, I had been hauling back and forth. My chalk went into the closed-off interior storage while everything else, including some spare sacrificial material, went into the shelves.
The return trip home started off quiet, the city slowly winding down as the sun got lower and lower over the horizon. As I made my way home, the scanner radio I had bought sparked to life. This was nothing new, as I had been studiously ignoring it report things I couldn't help with, either because it was too far away, or because the police had a handle on it already.
This time was different. I stopped to listen, reaching into my coat to turn up the volume. Multiple instances of gang activity started to pour in, with riots trashing multiple storefronts downtown. I opened my mouth to tell Alya to start scanning around for any trouble when my phone rang. With a sinking feeling in my chest, I pulled it out and put it to my ear.
"Hel-"
"Arcanum!" John's familiar voice shouted through my phone. "Listen, the Empire is here, looking for you!"
I froze, my body going cold like someone had dunked me into the bay. This was it, the other shoe dropping.
"Who? How many? As many details as you can!"
"It's three of them, and goons, we-"
The sound of a heavy impact, sounding suspiciously like a fist hitting someone, silenced John. I clenched my fist as I listened to someone grappling with the phone. Eventually, it went quiet before I heard a new voice.
"Arcanum, is it good to finally get a hold of you," The voice said. "Now, as you can imagine, we would prefer to meet you face to face. I suggest you make your way over here, or perhaps I will start making examples of the disgusting vermin-hiding cesspit."
Before I could say anything, the phone cut out, and I cursed. For a moment, I was tempted to hurl my phone into a nearby wall, but I managed to hold back.
"Alya, lead me to the dealership community," I said, already preparing to run. "The Empire is making a move to try to recruit me or take me off the other board."
"Turn around and start running," She said, her voice tinged in concern. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Attacking the alone?"
"Alone? Fuck that. I know what's going on here," I explained with a snort, already running back the way we came, following Alya's subtle instruction and turning on my next right. "They are going to try and take me by holding the other group hostage. If they are going to play dirty, so am I."
As I ran, I quickly called Assault, who immediately revealed there was more than just a few riots going on.
"Empire went crazy about five minutes ago, started throwing Molotov cocktails and flipping cars," He explained, sounding like he was also running. "Fenja and Menja are running around downtown too, with Hookwolf and Cricket fucking up some stores not too far away. We had no idea what the riot was about, though now…"
"They are distracting you," I said. "Fuck!"
"Arcanum… we can't come to help you," He said. "Not until things have calmed down or we get reinforcements in from the people who are off shift, but that takes time."
"I know…"
"Give us six or seven minutes, and we can get you some support," He said, continuing when I stayed silent. "Arcanum, you can't-"
I hung up before he could try and convince me not to go, mostly because I was worried he would succeed. This was insane, stupid, and so fucking reckless, but I didn't have a choice. John and his people didn't have five minutes. The E88 would know their timeline, and there was no way they would wait around for someone to get ready.
If I waited for reinforcements, the community would be slaughtered. The E88 were bloodthirsty enough to go through with their threats, and considering that the homeless in Brockton Bay were dime a dozen, their image wouldn't even take a scratch. The community was in danger because of their association with me, and there was no I would let that slide.
Still, while I continued to run, I had time to plan. Trying to bargain was out because I couldn't submit myself to the E88, and that's all they wanted. I refused to help them, but I also knew I wasn't strong enough to resist if they started getting bloody. Sure, given a week and a few days, I could dump six charges into a teleport spell and just leave, but who knew what they would do to me in the meantime. The E88 had connections to the Gesellschaft, and they were known for some pretty fucked up methods of breaking and mind control.
Nine days was plenty of time to be broken.
If using myself as a bargaining chip was out, and appealing to their better nature was a lost cause, then talking at all was pointless, which meant striking before they could react was my best bet. No giving myself away in the name of a fair fight, no conversation to try and talk them down, just immediate assault.
I couldn't afford to hold back, not with innocent people being held against me like that.
"Alya, as soon as I attack, I want you to start zapping any E88 phones or radios," I said, darting into an alleyway. "Then focus on being the eyes on the back of my head."
"Very well."
A minute later, we were approaching the community, so I pulled out my staff and extended it. My most powerful lightning spell was already inside the crystal, but I was saving that for something special. I let the marathon spell drop, quickly charging a jump spell to leap up onto the roof of the dealership, still running full tilt. I then leaped across the gap to the garage. There, I could finally see the community.
The E88 had corralled the homeless along the fruit trees I had planted only a few days ago. Most of the tents and shelters were now destroyed, with one even on fire, billowing up black smoke. There were around ten goons armed with weapons that varied from baseball bats and knives to pistols and rifles. Around them stood three capes. Luckily, the E88 enjoyed showing off their capes, which I could identify pretty easily from my research.
The most obvious was Rune, as she was hovering in place on a manhole cover. She was decked out in a black and red robe, a witch or magic user's costume that actually sent a ping of annoyance through my brain. She was kneeling on her floating ride, looking down at the people below. Just under her and further away was Alabaster, dressed in combat boots, a tan shirt with red lines running up along the slides, and black pants. His skin was white, like paint white, and since his appearance made having a civilian identity impossible, he didn't even wear a mask.
The last, standing tall with his arms behind his back like a general observing his troops, was Krieg. He was dressed in a literal Nazi uniform, with a heavy, older-style gas mask covering his face.
I skidded to a stop at the far end of the garage. Already, I could see some of the Empire goons turning to look at me. Without hesitation, I jabbed my staff forward, clenching my eyes shut while covering my face with my free arm. I shouted as loud as I could, pouring my magic into the spell.
"Excaecati et attonitus!"
Even with my eyes shut tightly and my arm over them, I could still feel the spell being fired off. It was a simple spell to stun and daze, meant to be cast nonverbally. Now, however, I cast at its absolute most powerful and focused it through my new staff. While I couldn't see it, I knew it was flying forward across the camp. When it detonated, the light was still bright despite my eyes being covered and closed.
The explosion of concussive force slapped across me, the world suddenly silent as my hearing was ruined like a snapping cord. If I didn't have healing, I had probably just ruined my hearing significantly, if it recovered at all. Thankfully, I was already casting a spell to fix it as I opened my eyes and leaped off the building, face at a snarl as I prepared to fight.
They also lacked any sacrificial materials, meaning they would all fade in a day or so. That was fine, however, since it would give me a chance to gather and secure everything I needed to make some more enhanced protections. Setting up the permanent equivalent would likely take a few shopping trips and a few more days of work.
Once the temporary rituals were in place, I headed back into town to do my first round of shopping, then headed back to my temporary home. I had finished designing most of the rituals the day before, but I spent the rest of the night coming up with my final, most important ritual. I was hoping to basically cap all of the protection rituals I was doing with something special, something that would enhance their effectiveness.
The next morning, I packed a large bag, courtesy of my shopping trip, with everything I had purchased so far before making my way back out into the forest. I spent most of the morning and a few hours of the afternoon completing some of the larger, more complicated rituals. I only got through two, since drawing each of them out took two hours separately, and I had to clean up the ritual space after each one. By the time I headed back into the city, the clearing I had claimed as my own would be more and more off-putting the closer any uninvited guests got to it.
It was a more powerful effect than the temporary one I had first put down, designed to convince people that this was an unfriendly part of the forest, maybe even a bit spooky. Each effect I was weaving was a balancing act between powerful enough to work and subtle enough not to draw more attention through its existence.
Honestly, the hardest part of the rituals I had created so far was keeping the effects from doing anything strange to a person's mind. Most of the methods my knowledge came up with when I designed the various Notice-me-not-esque rituals, wanted to help the experience smooth out in a person's mind. Unfortunately, while that would have significantly helped keep the spell subtle and undiscovered, I knew that any sort of mind fuckery that happened outside of the affected area would get a whole lot more negative attention. Setting up a series of perception filters and dissuasion areas was one thing, but making someone forget they ever encountered the location, or reinforcing that they should never come back was not going to go over well.
Basically, I was hoping to give the area a Stranger effect but avoid a Master rating in the process.
I finally finished the perception and dissuasion filters on the fifth day of the new charge cycle. It had been a few days of running back and forth between the forest and the city, shopping for sacrificial ingredients, and creating complicated rituals. By the time I was done, people wandering the woods would simply be redirected without any issues, and people specifically looking for me or my home would be turned around enough that they would never actually succeed. My weakest point was if someone capable of flying decided to investigate but did so from incredibly high up. I could only push the ritual effects so high, after all.
Still, I was confident that I wouldn't have to worry about people finding me, barring some sort of unfortunate power interaction. Besides, these were just some basic, low-level protections. I was hoping to apply more to my actual home. Speaking of which, now that I was finished preparing the area, it was finally time to start actually building.
Originally, I had envisioned a grand wizard's tower built from a great tree towering over the forest. I had even considered going off to find redwood saplings to start off with. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that massive, fuck off towering trees and hidden secrets bases were very much mutually exclusive. Eventually I would feel confident enough in my magic and what I could to build such an obvious target. For now, however, I was much more confident in my ability to stay hidden than I was to withstand whatever this world could throw at me.
That meant that, rather than a tower, I was going to go with a sort of compound, with several tree buildings spread out through clearing. Each building would serve a different purpose and, once the clearing was filled, would hopefully look relatively normal from up high despite the trees in it being incredibly squat and wide. I was also planning to sink most of the actual functional spaces down three or four feet into the ground, basically living in a stretched and manipulated stump. Not only was that the densest part of the tree, but it would also make it easier to get more bang for my buck, at least space-wise.
I wouldn't need much space, nor would I need very many buildings at first. The platform was all I needed for most rituals, and other than a bedroom to sleep in and somewhere to perform geomancy, that was all I really needed so far. More buildings would undoubtedly come over time, but for now, the list was short.
At the very least, this would serve as a temporary place for me to live while I built up the confidence and powers to build and hold a proper wizard's tower. Basically, this was step one of many.
Going from ideas and concepts that I had gotten from druidcraft, I started my first building. Rather than start with something crucial, like my bedroom, I instead started with a storage tree, a place to keep ritual materials, or whatever else I had lying around. This was practice and confirmation of the methods and ideas I saw in druidcraft. Also, since it was probably going to be full of ritual stuff, I grew it right next to the ritual platform.
Just like the fruit trees I had grown for the homeless communities, I used a variety of spells to encourage the modified oak to grow, stopping several dozen times to adjust its shape. As the tree got bigger and bigger, I specifically grew it around the side of the ritual platform. Its roots tangled and merged with the roots of the ritual platform, forming a corner wall on one side, which I modified with organically grown shelves. An actual door formed, which I would have to cut free in order to use, that led into an enclosed section for more sensitive storage.
Seeing an opportunity, I used another acorn on the opposite side of the platform, growing it in much the same way, before connecting the branches of the two towering trees, creating a natural canopy. It wasn't a hundred percent watertight yet, but that would come later. For now, though, I had a partially enclosed ritual platform with storage on opposite sides.
"Well… what do you think?" I asked, watching as Alya took her physical form to inspect the finished structure.
"It is beautiful," She said, running her hand over the smooth, sturdy shelves. "Will the other structures follow this pattern?"
"More or less," I said, vaguely responding with a shrug. "It really depends on what it is. My bedroom is going to have to be sealed, for example, unless I want to be damp twenty-four seven."
"I'm sure you could design a ritual to solve that."
"Of course I could, but that doesn't mean I should," I explained. "Nothing wrong with solving things the old-fashioned way. Either way… I have an idea to help with that anyway. A final ritual when I'm done with the first run of buildings."
Rather than try and push my luck and attempt to build a bedroom tree, and most likely end up messing it up as I build in the dark, I decided to head back home. Handily enough, I could now leave behind most of my equipment, which, so far, I had been hauling back and forth. My chalk went into the closed-off interior storage while everything else, including some spare sacrificial material, went into the shelves.
The return trip home started off quiet, the city slowly winding down as the sun got lower and lower over the horizon. As I made my way home, the scanner radio I had bought sparked to life. This was nothing new, as I had been studiously ignoring it report things I couldn't help with, either because it was too far away, or because the police had a handle on it already.
This time was different. I stopped to listen, reaching into my coat to turn up the volume. Multiple instances of gang activity started to pour in, with riots trashing multiple storefronts downtown. I opened my mouth to tell Alya to start scanning around for any trouble when my phone rang. With a sinking feeling in my chest, I pulled it out and put it to my ear.
"Hel-"
"Arcanum!" John's familiar voice shouted through my phone. "Listen, the Empire is here, looking for you!"
I froze, my body going cold like someone had dunked me into the bay. This was it, the other shoe dropping.
"Who? How many? As many details as you can!"
"It's three of them, and goons, we-"
The sound of a heavy impact, sounding suspiciously like a fist hitting someone, silenced John. I clenched my fist as I listened to someone grappling with the phone. Eventually, it went quiet before I heard a new voice.
"Arcanum, is it good to finally get a hold of you," The voice said. "Now, as you can imagine, we would prefer to meet you face to face. I suggest you make your way over here, or perhaps I will start making examples of the disgusting vermin-hiding cesspit."
Before I could say anything, the phone cut out, and I cursed. For a moment, I was tempted to hurl my phone into a nearby wall, but I managed to hold back.
"Alya, lead me to the dealership community," I said, already preparing to run. "The Empire is making a move to try to recruit me or take me off the other board."
"Turn around and start running," She said, her voice tinged in concern. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Attacking the alone?"
"Alone? Fuck that. I know what's going on here," I explained with a snort, already running back the way we came, following Alya's subtle instruction and turning on my next right. "They are going to try and take me by holding the other group hostage. If they are going to play dirty, so am I."
As I ran, I quickly called Assault, who immediately revealed there was more than just a few riots going on.
"Empire went crazy about five minutes ago, started throwing Molotov cocktails and flipping cars," He explained, sounding like he was also running. "Fenja and Menja are running around downtown too, with Hookwolf and Cricket fucking up some stores not too far away. We had no idea what the riot was about, though now…"
"They are distracting you," I said. "Fuck!"
"Arcanum… we can't come to help you," He said. "Not until things have calmed down or we get reinforcements in from the people who are off shift, but that takes time."
"I know…"
"Give us six or seven minutes, and we can get you some support," He said, continuing when I stayed silent. "Arcanum, you can't-"
I hung up before he could try and convince me not to go, mostly because I was worried he would succeed. This was insane, stupid, and so fucking reckless, but I didn't have a choice. John and his people didn't have five minutes. The E88 would know their timeline, and there was no way they would wait around for someone to get ready.
If I waited for reinforcements, the community would be slaughtered. The E88 were bloodthirsty enough to go through with their threats, and considering that the homeless in Brockton Bay were dime a dozen, their image wouldn't even take a scratch. The community was in danger because of their association with me, and there was no I would let that slide.
Still, while I continued to run, I had time to plan. Trying to bargain was out because I couldn't submit myself to the E88, and that's all they wanted. I refused to help them, but I also knew I wasn't strong enough to resist if they started getting bloody. Sure, given a week and a few days, I could dump six charges into a teleport spell and just leave, but who knew what they would do to me in the meantime. The E88 had connections to the Gesellschaft, and they were known for some pretty fucked up methods of breaking and mind control.
Nine days was plenty of time to be broken.
If using myself as a bargaining chip was out, and appealing to their better nature was a lost cause, then talking at all was pointless, which meant striking before they could react was my best bet. No giving myself away in the name of a fair fight, no conversation to try and talk them down, just immediate assault.
I couldn't afford to hold back, not with innocent people being held against me like that.
"Alya, as soon as I attack, I want you to start zapping any E88 phones or radios," I said, darting into an alleyway. "Then focus on being the eyes on the back of my head."
"Very well."
A minute later, we were approaching the community, so I pulled out my staff and extended it. My most powerful lightning spell was already inside the crystal, but I was saving that for something special. I let the marathon spell drop, quickly charging a jump spell to leap up onto the roof of the dealership, still running full tilt. I then leaped across the gap to the garage. There, I could finally see the community.
The E88 had corralled the homeless along the fruit trees I had planted only a few days ago. Most of the tents and shelters were now destroyed, with one even on fire, billowing up black smoke. There were around ten goons armed with weapons that varied from baseball bats and knives to pistols and rifles. Around them stood three capes. Luckily, the E88 enjoyed showing off their capes, which I could identify pretty easily from my research.
The most obvious was Rune, as she was hovering in place on a manhole cover. She was decked out in a black and red robe, a witch or magic user's costume that actually sent a ping of annoyance through my brain. She was kneeling on her floating ride, looking down at the people below. Just under her and further away was Alabaster, dressed in combat boots, a tan shirt with red lines running up along the slides, and black pants. His skin was white, like paint white, and since his appearance made having a civilian identity impossible, he didn't even wear a mask.
The last, standing tall with his arms behind his back like a general observing his troops, was Krieg. He was dressed in a literal Nazi uniform, with a heavy, older-style gas mask covering his face.
I skidded to a stop at the far end of the garage. Already, I could see some of the Empire goons turning to look at me. Without hesitation, I jabbed my staff forward, clenching my eyes shut while covering my face with my free arm. I shouted as loud as I could, pouring my magic into the spell.
"Excaecati et attonitus!"
Even with my eyes shut tightly and my arm over them, I could still feel the spell being fired off. It was a simple spell to stun and daze, meant to be cast nonverbally. Now, however, I cast at its absolute most powerful and focused it through my new staff. While I couldn't see it, I knew it was flying forward across the camp. When it detonated, the light was still bright despite my eyes being covered and closed.
The explosion of concussive force slapped across me, the world suddenly silent as my hearing was ruined like a snapping cord. If I didn't have healing, I had probably just ruined my hearing significantly, if it recovered at all. Thankfully, I was already casting a spell to fix it as I opened my eyes and leaped off the building, face at a snarl as I prepared to fight.
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- Location
- England
Should be "them".
- Location
- Wales
Likely a tip off from an 'upstanding citizen' that he was in the area he clearlyhad his costume on or with him.
Shadow Archon
Protoss Preserver
- Location
- Louisiana
I wonder if Will can use his Druidcraft to form bindings and handcuffs out of trees? Just needs to have some acorns on his person.
Would let him tie up Alabaster well enough.
Would let him tie up Alabaster well enough.
Honestly I would go for the kill and bury all the bodies under the trees. Even the one who keeps resetting it'll be an endless nourishment for the trees. Having a group of Nazi just disappearing in that general area would make people more jumpy and less prone to go over there. After the first two or three groups that is until they get it in their head that they to could just disappear.
- Location
- Seattle, WA
The idea of using Alabaster as infinite plant food is pretty funny, although it would need a lot of work to actually be of any benefit for the trees.
The biggest problem with trying to vanish them is that the E88 is just going to kill all the homeless people without all the fanfare that they went through this time. The MC's powers are very good, even this early on, but they aren't enough to actually protect the people he's been supporting if the E88 go all in on crushing him.
I think the most likely scenario would be that Hookwolf and his fight club buddies get sent in to kill a bunch of homeless people, resulting in a bunch of dead innocents, as well as a dead Cricket and/or Stormtiger. The MC isn't likely to beat Hookwolf without specific preparations for him, even less likely when it isn't a 1v1.
THIS is how you deal with Nazis! No Talking, No Negotiations! Just Rip and Tear until it is done!
I wonder if his healing spells include something like a 'blindness' effect. "To punish you for this attack all present shall be blinded", can't be fixed by Othala and "I'll release the spell when I'm not pissed at Nazis (ie never/Endbringer attack)" would be a way to retaliate without escalating. And if it results in Max Anders going blind after Kaiser was cursed? Well, such things happen.
Also going online and explaining that the Nazis are attempting to shanghai a healer who hasn't messed with them should be done to keep the PR engine strong.
Also going online and explaining that the Nazis are attempting to shanghai a healer who hasn't messed with them should be done to keep the PR engine strong.
- Location
- Indonesia
Ah... So satellite image are his weakness, got it. Someone might give crazy theory that our mage weakness are technology. Someone in PO bound to make those wild guess
Chapter Twenty Six
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By the time my feet slammed into the ground, I could hear the impact, as my ears were fully healed. Around me, I could see and hear people screaming, holding their eyes or their ears, quite a few of the E88 bleeding from the latter. I could see Rune lying on the ground, her manhole mount not far away. She had been flying when the stun bomb spell had gone off, taking the brunt of the explosion straight to the face. Not only was her leg twisted in a way that was not normal, but her ride had also slammed into one of the gang members, his shoulder a disfigured mess.
He was lucky it wasn't his head.
I advanced towards the group, jabbing out with my fingers to launch sparks of lightning, which arced across the clearing into the crowd of E88, driving a few of the screaming men to the ground.
I ran closer, swinging my staff and clocking another stunned gang member, shattering their arm with the blow. I then slammed my staff on the ground, sticking it up straight in the dirt. "Magna pila suspendisse scintillae" I intoned, casting one of the few spells that wasn't compatible with my staff because it was two-handed.
I tossed the coconut-sized ball of lightning magic that formed in my hands, the spell landing on the ground by a large clump of still reeling neo-nazi bastards. It exploded, a blast of blue lighting energy that knocked the Empire thugs down and tossed the closest into the air.
As I yanked my staff free of the ground, I took a small moment to look over where the victims of this bullshit were. Most of them were already fleeing, stumbling away and running into each other. Thankfully, the stunning blast spell came with the ability to marginally direct the effects of the blast, so I managed to avoid hitting them directly. Usually, the less potent side was pointed back at the caster to avoid deafening and blinding yourself, but I was happier with the alternative.
I cursed as I realized quite a few of the people were still injured, and others were being dragged away, bullet wounds bleeding large red stains in their clothes. Some of the empire goons must have fired instinctively from the blast of stunning magic, the sound of the shots covered by the damage to my ears.
Before I could move to help, a massive blow struck me from behind, slamming directly into my skull. The impact almost drove me to my knees, even with my steel absorption. I cursed and swung an arm out, casting the same wordless blast of electricity that I had used to counter Shadow Stalker's attack a few days ago. As I spun, I could see Alabaster stumbling backward, armed with a baseball bat, his body still twitching from my counter.
It looked like my five seconds were up.
"Fucker, you know I can't feel that, right?" He shouted, already raising his bat again. "You can't stop me!"
He swung the bat back at me, but I managed to raise my forearm to block it. The bat cracked, half snapping from the impact. Rather than mourn the loss of his weapon, the pale white mutated cape pulled out a pistol that had been holstered at his hip, firing as he raised it upward. Bullets slammed into my leg, stomach, and chest, hitting harder than anything I had been hit by before. They didn't penetrate my skin, but each impact was like a deep physical blow, like a hard punch from a professional boxer.
I slammed my staff down at his hand, which broke with an audible crunch, his pistol falling to the floor. This didn't slow him down, though, as his other hand was already bringing up his other pistol. Rather than try and disarm him again, I brought my staff back up to his chest.
"Fulgur parvum fragmentum!" I shouted rapidly, almost stumbling over the incantation but managing to plow through.
The full-worded, staff-enhanced spell slammed into his chest, blowing a chunk of his shirt and skin off, revealing his sternum to the open air. He fell backward from the blow, the lightning slamming him down into the ground. I cast the spell twice more, one on his chest again and then again on his pistol, causing the bullets to cook off and explode in his hand.
Mentally counting down, I whirled around, casting magic as quick as I could, taking down the E88 foot soldiers one after the other, keeping them from reorganizing and getting back to their feet. The already scattered gang members futilely tried to escape my range.
My final target was Krieg, who was starting to recover from the initial stun, already standing to his feet. I knew he was a brute, so I quickly full cast my spark of lighting, the spell sparking out and slamming into his arm. He screamed again, clutching his arm as he collapsed back to the ground. I felt a wave of confusion, but I didn't have the time to consider it as something slammed into my side. A blade slid off my skin, unable to penetrate, slicing into my clothes instead,
"I told you, you fucking kike prick! You can't take me down!"
"And you-"
My rebuttal was cut off as the villain's reclaimed pistol being fired along my back, six shots that I'm pretty sure cracked at least two ribs. Thankfully, they missed my spine, or I would not have been able to power through and turn to face him.
I spun around and once again slapped the gun from his hand, but not before he fired twice more, hitting me in the stomach. The impacts drove the air from my lungs, making it impossible to curse nearly as loudly as I wanted to. This man was nothing but a fucking nuisance, and if he kept distracting me, Krieg, who I was pretty sure could actually hurt me, was going to pick me off at his leisure.
Frustration getting the better of me, and knowing that he would regenerate from it anyway, I slammed my staff under his chin, even as his broken hand flipped and returned to its unbroken state.
"Cast!"
My vision dimmed as a bolt of lightning the width of a basketball exploded out of my staff. It arced upwards into the sky at a low angle, completely atomizing Alabaster's head in the process. It seared his flesh, cauterizing his neck, and then continued upwards into the night sky, eventually dissipating a few hundred meters upwards. Alabaster's body slumped to the ground, headless and motionless.
Knowing I was once again on a five-second timer, I spun around, turning to find that… Krieg was already running, carrying the still unconscious Rune on his shoulder, one arm hanging useless by his side. Several other gangers, basically everyone who could stand, were running with him.
I spun back around and rushed to the nearest homeless community member who had failed to escape, clutching their leg as they tried to stop their wound from bleeding. They were pale from blood loss, shivering in the cold as their body struggled to keep functioning. I quickly started to heal them, using every second I had. When I finished with them, I moved on to the next, always keeping one eye on Alabaster.
With every second that passed, I expected him to stand back up. That was his power, after all, always recovering from no matter what damage he took. Only this time... he didn't. He stayed exactly where he was, blood oozing slowly from the partially cauterized wound.
I was on my third patient when the Protectorate finally arrived in the form of Dauntless, one of their more easily recognizable members. He was dressed as a stylized Roman soldier, complete with a golden helmet, chest armor, and a leather strip skirt. His shield, spear, and boots all sparked with white electric energy, spitting and crackling audibly, even from this distance.
The hero landed among the still-unconscious members of the E88, scanning the area with his weapon ready. Once he spotted Alabaster, he tensed, raising his shield and clearly preparing for him to get back up. I turned back to what I was doing, focusing on the people who were injured. By now, some of the community members who had managed to run were returning, allowing me to fix their ears and damaged vision. I had just finished telling all of them to go find other people who were affected so I could fix them, too, when Dauntless finally spoke up.
"Arcanum, what happened?" He asked, the crackling of his armor and weapons getting closer.
I stood and turned, happy to see that he was at least approaching me calmly, his weapon not pointed at me. Behind him, I could see Alabaster, still headless, now had handcuffs on.
"I've been helping this community with healing and a few other things," I explained. "It must have gotten back to the E88, and they tried to use it against me."
I walked past him, giving him a wide berth as I walked to some of the unconscious or struggling Empire members, of which there were four.
"I understand, but- wait, what are you doing?" He asked, sounding concerned as I kneeled beside a broken gang member.
"Rendering aid," I explained.
I scanned the gang member and healed them exactly enough that they wouldn't die, but left everything else, including the mangled arm from the nearby manhole cover, alone.
"Wait, why… did you stop?"
"I stopped the internal bleeding in his shoulder and fixed the cracked skull and brain bleed," I explained with a shrug. "The rest is up to him."
I finished stabilizing the other two gang members before standing up and wiping my hands off on my jacket.
"Now, what were you asking?" I asked, walking back around him to help more of the returning community members.
"What happened with Alabaster?"
I finished healing someone's ears, pausing both to answer and to let my mana refill. In the distance, I could hear the sirens getting closer and closer.
"I… I don't know," I admitted, shaking my head. "I was under the impression he would… revert any damage to himself. That's what his power is, right?"
"Yes, I've experienced it dozens of times before," He agreed. "He is… annoying to fight. What did you do?"
"I fired a massive fuck off lighting bolt through his head," I explained, starting to heal people again. "Ask Assault. He saw it during the whole power testing debacle."
"You… okay. I don't understand why his powers aren't kicking in, but considering he isn't reverting…"
Dauntless stopped talking and began to sub-vocalize, clearly talking to someone through a radio or other device. As he spoke quietly, I suddenly remembered that Alya had been very quiet throughout the whole fight. Now that I was paying attention, I could still feel her through our connection, but she felt incredibly weak, too weak to even talk. It would be at least a couple hours before she would be strong enough to communicate. I shook my head and returned to healing the victims.
It didn't take long for the PRT and police to show up after that, as well as a single ambulance. Considering there were supposedly spots of E88 activity all over the city, the fact that even one showed up was surprising.
Not long after that, Assault and Battery also showed up, entering the clearing at a jog.
"Arcanum, it's good to see you in one piece," Assault said, heading directly to me. "Do you feel up for going over what happened?"
I nodded and began to retell the last… well, it was technically under ten minutes, even if it felt like hours. As I did, I could only watch as the PRT and Police started covering some of the bodies around the clearing with white blankets. Up until this point, I had been pointedly avoiding looking at them, but now I couldn't look away.
"I… I don't know why my lightning killed him," I said, shaking my head as I answered Assault's question. "I was under the impression he had been hurt a lot worse than this over his career here at the Bay."
"He has been. I've seen him reduced by everything below chest by friendly fire from Purity." Assault agreed, shaking his head. "It's not even the first time he has been hit by electricity. A few months ago, Glory Girl dropped him onto a live power cable. He walked that off fine. Do your powers have some sort of trump effect? Like their damage is always true, or it beats regeneration?"
"No, absolutely not. I'll admit, my attacks don't always behave like normal electricity, but there's nothing in them that would counter someone's power, whether it's regeneration or… whatever he could do," I said, gesturing to the Alabaster's corpse. "Are we sure he is dead? Is there any variation of his revamp?"
"No, it's always 4.3 seconds," Assault responded. "Okay, listen. This is obviously some sort of power interaction or an unknown problem with his powers. Considering he was absolutely engaging you with lethal intent-"
I scoffed and grabbed the bottom of my shirt, pulling it up to reveal what I knew was some severe bruising. Sure enough, looking down, I could see some horrendous levels of purple and black forming where each of the pistol rounds that Alabaster was firing at me impacted. As if to hammer home the point, a few of the flattened bullets fell out of my clothes as I freed them.
Just acknowledging the bruises and most likely cracked ribs was enough to remind me I was really pretty beat up, the pain seeming to flare at the attention.
"Damn, yeah, okay," Assault nodded, wincing as he saw the injury. "Listen, I'm going to make a judgment call and say you're free to go, but please, don't move too far outside the city. This is pretty clear cut, especially if all these people collaborate on your story, but well… I will definitely lose my job if you run."
"I'm not going anywhere," I explained. "Especially not when the other community I just helped is at risk as well."
"Right, okay, good," He said, reaching up and running his fingers through his hair, shaking his head. "There's gonna be a lot of waves from this, Arcanum. A lot of waves."
"I know. But doing nothing wasn't an option," I responded, nodding in agreement. "They threatened innocent people to get to me, and I slapped them down for it."
"Yeah, I don't blame you," He replied. "But the E88 doesn't respond well to power games. They will push back, especially with a member dead."
"I know," I said, turning to look around.
I suddenly felt very exposed, standing there in the clearing behind the dealership. Alya was still recovering, and I had no way of knowing what was going on in our surroundings. As my heart rate began to increase, I had to physically resist the urge to pull my winter cap off to reveal the restriction I was feeling.
Not too far away, I spotted John, who I had healed earlier, standing by and talking to some of the people from the community in hushed tones. I turned back to Assault.
"Keep me in the loop if you can."
The man nodded, and I gave him a half-hearted salute before turning back and making my way to the group John was talking to.
It was time to see what I could salvage from this.
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By the time my feet slammed into the ground, I could hear the impact, as my ears were fully healed. Around me, I could see and hear people screaming, holding their eyes or their ears, quite a few of the E88 bleeding from the latter. I could see Rune lying on the ground, her manhole mount not far away. She had been flying when the stun bomb spell had gone off, taking the brunt of the explosion straight to the face. Not only was her leg twisted in a way that was not normal, but her ride had also slammed into one of the gang members, his shoulder a disfigured mess.
He was lucky it wasn't his head.
I advanced towards the group, jabbing out with my fingers to launch sparks of lightning, which arced across the clearing into the crowd of E88, driving a few of the screaming men to the ground.
I ran closer, swinging my staff and clocking another stunned gang member, shattering their arm with the blow. I then slammed my staff on the ground, sticking it up straight in the dirt. "Magna pila suspendisse scintillae" I intoned, casting one of the few spells that wasn't compatible with my staff because it was two-handed.
I tossed the coconut-sized ball of lightning magic that formed in my hands, the spell landing on the ground by a large clump of still reeling neo-nazi bastards. It exploded, a blast of blue lighting energy that knocked the Empire thugs down and tossed the closest into the air.
As I yanked my staff free of the ground, I took a small moment to look over where the victims of this bullshit were. Most of them were already fleeing, stumbling away and running into each other. Thankfully, the stunning blast spell came with the ability to marginally direct the effects of the blast, so I managed to avoid hitting them directly. Usually, the less potent side was pointed back at the caster to avoid deafening and blinding yourself, but I was happier with the alternative.
I cursed as I realized quite a few of the people were still injured, and others were being dragged away, bullet wounds bleeding large red stains in their clothes. Some of the empire goons must have fired instinctively from the blast of stunning magic, the sound of the shots covered by the damage to my ears.
Before I could move to help, a massive blow struck me from behind, slamming directly into my skull. The impact almost drove me to my knees, even with my steel absorption. I cursed and swung an arm out, casting the same wordless blast of electricity that I had used to counter Shadow Stalker's attack a few days ago. As I spun, I could see Alabaster stumbling backward, armed with a baseball bat, his body still twitching from my counter.
It looked like my five seconds were up.
"Fucker, you know I can't feel that, right?" He shouted, already raising his bat again. "You can't stop me!"
He swung the bat back at me, but I managed to raise my forearm to block it. The bat cracked, half snapping from the impact. Rather than mourn the loss of his weapon, the pale white mutated cape pulled out a pistol that had been holstered at his hip, firing as he raised it upward. Bullets slammed into my leg, stomach, and chest, hitting harder than anything I had been hit by before. They didn't penetrate my skin, but each impact was like a deep physical blow, like a hard punch from a professional boxer.
I slammed my staff down at his hand, which broke with an audible crunch, his pistol falling to the floor. This didn't slow him down, though, as his other hand was already bringing up his other pistol. Rather than try and disarm him again, I brought my staff back up to his chest.
"Fulgur parvum fragmentum!" I shouted rapidly, almost stumbling over the incantation but managing to plow through.
The full-worded, staff-enhanced spell slammed into his chest, blowing a chunk of his shirt and skin off, revealing his sternum to the open air. He fell backward from the blow, the lightning slamming him down into the ground. I cast the spell twice more, one on his chest again and then again on his pistol, causing the bullets to cook off and explode in his hand.
Mentally counting down, I whirled around, casting magic as quick as I could, taking down the E88 foot soldiers one after the other, keeping them from reorganizing and getting back to their feet. The already scattered gang members futilely tried to escape my range.
My final target was Krieg, who was starting to recover from the initial stun, already standing to his feet. I knew he was a brute, so I quickly full cast my spark of lighting, the spell sparking out and slamming into his arm. He screamed again, clutching his arm as he collapsed back to the ground. I felt a wave of confusion, but I didn't have the time to consider it as something slammed into my side. A blade slid off my skin, unable to penetrate, slicing into my clothes instead,
"I told you, you fucking kike prick! You can't take me down!"
"And you-"
My rebuttal was cut off as the villain's reclaimed pistol being fired along my back, six shots that I'm pretty sure cracked at least two ribs. Thankfully, they missed my spine, or I would not have been able to power through and turn to face him.
I spun around and once again slapped the gun from his hand, but not before he fired twice more, hitting me in the stomach. The impacts drove the air from my lungs, making it impossible to curse nearly as loudly as I wanted to. This man was nothing but a fucking nuisance, and if he kept distracting me, Krieg, who I was pretty sure could actually hurt me, was going to pick me off at his leisure.
Frustration getting the better of me, and knowing that he would regenerate from it anyway, I slammed my staff under his chin, even as his broken hand flipped and returned to its unbroken state.
"Cast!"
My vision dimmed as a bolt of lightning the width of a basketball exploded out of my staff. It arced upwards into the sky at a low angle, completely atomizing Alabaster's head in the process. It seared his flesh, cauterizing his neck, and then continued upwards into the night sky, eventually dissipating a few hundred meters upwards. Alabaster's body slumped to the ground, headless and motionless.
Knowing I was once again on a five-second timer, I spun around, turning to find that… Krieg was already running, carrying the still unconscious Rune on his shoulder, one arm hanging useless by his side. Several other gangers, basically everyone who could stand, were running with him.
I spun back around and rushed to the nearest homeless community member who had failed to escape, clutching their leg as they tried to stop their wound from bleeding. They were pale from blood loss, shivering in the cold as their body struggled to keep functioning. I quickly started to heal them, using every second I had. When I finished with them, I moved on to the next, always keeping one eye on Alabaster.
With every second that passed, I expected him to stand back up. That was his power, after all, always recovering from no matter what damage he took. Only this time... he didn't. He stayed exactly where he was, blood oozing slowly from the partially cauterized wound.
I was on my third patient when the Protectorate finally arrived in the form of Dauntless, one of their more easily recognizable members. He was dressed as a stylized Roman soldier, complete with a golden helmet, chest armor, and a leather strip skirt. His shield, spear, and boots all sparked with white electric energy, spitting and crackling audibly, even from this distance.
The hero landed among the still-unconscious members of the E88, scanning the area with his weapon ready. Once he spotted Alabaster, he tensed, raising his shield and clearly preparing for him to get back up. I turned back to what I was doing, focusing on the people who were injured. By now, some of the community members who had managed to run were returning, allowing me to fix their ears and damaged vision. I had just finished telling all of them to go find other people who were affected so I could fix them, too, when Dauntless finally spoke up.
"Arcanum, what happened?" He asked, the crackling of his armor and weapons getting closer.
I stood and turned, happy to see that he was at least approaching me calmly, his weapon not pointed at me. Behind him, I could see Alabaster, still headless, now had handcuffs on.
"I've been helping this community with healing and a few other things," I explained. "It must have gotten back to the E88, and they tried to use it against me."
I walked past him, giving him a wide berth as I walked to some of the unconscious or struggling Empire members, of which there were four.
"I understand, but- wait, what are you doing?" He asked, sounding concerned as I kneeled beside a broken gang member.
"Rendering aid," I explained.
I scanned the gang member and healed them exactly enough that they wouldn't die, but left everything else, including the mangled arm from the nearby manhole cover, alone.
"Wait, why… did you stop?"
"I stopped the internal bleeding in his shoulder and fixed the cracked skull and brain bleed," I explained with a shrug. "The rest is up to him."
I finished stabilizing the other two gang members before standing up and wiping my hands off on my jacket.
"Now, what were you asking?" I asked, walking back around him to help more of the returning community members.
"What happened with Alabaster?"
I finished healing someone's ears, pausing both to answer and to let my mana refill. In the distance, I could hear the sirens getting closer and closer.
"I… I don't know," I admitted, shaking my head. "I was under the impression he would… revert any damage to himself. That's what his power is, right?"
"Yes, I've experienced it dozens of times before," He agreed. "He is… annoying to fight. What did you do?"
"I fired a massive fuck off lighting bolt through his head," I explained, starting to heal people again. "Ask Assault. He saw it during the whole power testing debacle."
"You… okay. I don't understand why his powers aren't kicking in, but considering he isn't reverting…"
Dauntless stopped talking and began to sub-vocalize, clearly talking to someone through a radio or other device. As he spoke quietly, I suddenly remembered that Alya had been very quiet throughout the whole fight. Now that I was paying attention, I could still feel her through our connection, but she felt incredibly weak, too weak to even talk. It would be at least a couple hours before she would be strong enough to communicate. I shook my head and returned to healing the victims.
It didn't take long for the PRT and police to show up after that, as well as a single ambulance. Considering there were supposedly spots of E88 activity all over the city, the fact that even one showed up was surprising.
Not long after that, Assault and Battery also showed up, entering the clearing at a jog.
"Arcanum, it's good to see you in one piece," Assault said, heading directly to me. "Do you feel up for going over what happened?"
I nodded and began to retell the last… well, it was technically under ten minutes, even if it felt like hours. As I did, I could only watch as the PRT and Police started covering some of the bodies around the clearing with white blankets. Up until this point, I had been pointedly avoiding looking at them, but now I couldn't look away.
"I… I don't know why my lightning killed him," I said, shaking my head as I answered Assault's question. "I was under the impression he had been hurt a lot worse than this over his career here at the Bay."
"He has been. I've seen him reduced by everything below chest by friendly fire from Purity." Assault agreed, shaking his head. "It's not even the first time he has been hit by electricity. A few months ago, Glory Girl dropped him onto a live power cable. He walked that off fine. Do your powers have some sort of trump effect? Like their damage is always true, or it beats regeneration?"
"No, absolutely not. I'll admit, my attacks don't always behave like normal electricity, but there's nothing in them that would counter someone's power, whether it's regeneration or… whatever he could do," I said, gesturing to the Alabaster's corpse. "Are we sure he is dead? Is there any variation of his revamp?"
"No, it's always 4.3 seconds," Assault responded. "Okay, listen. This is obviously some sort of power interaction or an unknown problem with his powers. Considering he was absolutely engaging you with lethal intent-"
I scoffed and grabbed the bottom of my shirt, pulling it up to reveal what I knew was some severe bruising. Sure enough, looking down, I could see some horrendous levels of purple and black forming where each of the pistol rounds that Alabaster was firing at me impacted. As if to hammer home the point, a few of the flattened bullets fell out of my clothes as I freed them.
Just acknowledging the bruises and most likely cracked ribs was enough to remind me I was really pretty beat up, the pain seeming to flare at the attention.
"Damn, yeah, okay," Assault nodded, wincing as he saw the injury. "Listen, I'm going to make a judgment call and say you're free to go, but please, don't move too far outside the city. This is pretty clear cut, especially if all these people collaborate on your story, but well… I will definitely lose my job if you run."
"I'm not going anywhere," I explained. "Especially not when the other community I just helped is at risk as well."
"Right, okay, good," He said, reaching up and running his fingers through his hair, shaking his head. "There's gonna be a lot of waves from this, Arcanum. A lot of waves."
"I know. But doing nothing wasn't an option," I responded, nodding in agreement. "They threatened innocent people to get to me, and I slapped them down for it."
"Yeah, I don't blame you," He replied. "But the E88 doesn't respond well to power games. They will push back, especially with a member dead."
"I know," I said, turning to look around.
I suddenly felt very exposed, standing there in the clearing behind the dealership. Alya was still recovering, and I had no way of knowing what was going on in our surroundings. As my heart rate began to increase, I had to physically resist the urge to pull my winter cap off to reveal the restriction I was feeling.
Not too far away, I spotted John, who I had healed earlier, standing by and talking to some of the people from the community in hushed tones. I turned back to Assault.
"Keep me in the loop if you can."
The man nodded, and I gave him a half-hearted salute before turning back and making my way to the group John was talking to.
It was time to see what I could salvage from this.
its either the lightning transferred partially to shard and surprised it ruining link or his head being destroyed
Ummm, if his head got vaporized, then his Corona was vaporized as well. No more connection to his shard = no more regen.
Same reason that Contessa did 9mm brain surgery on Skitter after Zion was finally taken care of. Taylor needed to be disconnected from QA. Reducing her corona to mush was the fastest way to do it.
Same reason that Contessa did 9mm brain surgery on Skitter after Zion was finally taken care of. Taylor needed to be disconnected from QA. Reducing her corona to mush was the fastest way to do it.
I think Butchers shard actively links to other Gemma's that are nearby, so that if the one it's attached to 'dies', it has someplace new to grab onto. The only way I can think of to avoid the problem is to permanently sedate the current butcher, and stick 'em in a hole in the middle of nowhere, evacuate everyone from the area, and hope like hell when they die the shard has lost it's connection to potential hosts. Using people for the op that don't have corona's would probably help, but the Butcher is a bit of a pain in that it's shard doesn't seem to play by any known rules.
- Location
- England
It seems likely. "Vaporised above the neck" probably wasn't an injury he had received before.