Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

[deadlyham]

Beria was the head of the Soviet secret police under Stalin.

If you're going to name something and it matters, it's a good idea to Google the name first. (Advice that Grue could have used too.)

Click to shrink...

The word was taken directly from Sindarin. Given that Tolkien was obsessed linguistics I'm sure the word has a particular root and reasoning for its spelling. I'm also pretty sure it is pronounced differently from the name.

Click to shrink...

I get all these omake ideas and this is what I end up writing. I still need to figure out an omake where Taylor presents Joe with a wet, lumpy sack. I was thinking about Authoritarian Communist Elves and secret fantasy police. One thing led to another.

Omake:

I felt the forge grasp for a gigantic mote in the same constellation as Dwarven Craft and Elven Enchantment. I braced myself for the power, remembering the last mote that was close to this size. I still wasn't prepared. It was beyond any of the motes I received so far and descended on me like a supernova. Unlike any of my other powers, dozens of names for this power echoed in my head, but one name resonated with Elven Enchantment, Iarwain Ben-adar, Oldest and Fatherless. This mote gave me deep intimate knowledge on the fundamental forces that underpinned magic and history of how those magics were applied since the beginning of time. Any enchantment, curse, and spell were just teasing at possibilities with this power. It wasn't only that I understood the fundamental forces of these fantasy powers, I witnessed them come into creation. This was the greatest power I ever received, and it came to me as personal memories of a jolly old man. I saw primal beings walk out of raw chaos. I cavorted with things that could be called gods. I saw the twin trees grow form saplings in all their beautiful light. The Unseen responded to my singing like old friends singing a duet, because I am an old friend to these forces. But it wasn't just joyful memories. Where there is light, there is darkness. I witnessed the darkness of the world snuff out the twin trees.

I watched the first mortals form tribes and cities. Knowing that these good things would need help against the darkness, I cavorted among them and became friends to the first elves, humans, dwarves, and many peoples of the earth. Overtime I gathered trusted allies, especially among the immortal elves, but more often I had unwitting mortal pawns. A well placed word, a twist to nature here, an enchanted treasure dropped there for an adventurer to find. All these little touches to aid the light, but none of them could shine too bright, because bright lights cast starker shadows. While I could work powerful magics, I had to be careful with my power. Letting loose the thaumaturgical equivalent of a reality warping nuclear bomb was an unnecessary when I could toss a single pebble and watch the ripples overthrow kings.

Hardly anyone knew that I or my associates worked together in secret to ensure the world ran smoothly. Our organization didn't even have a name, and couldn't, in a world where names had powers. When you ran a secret spy organization in a fantasy world, then you took any measures you could to ensure dark gods couldn't scry you. This part of the power had a lot in common with memories from my Gadgeteer mote, but with less British accents and more waterboarding hobbits.

The implications of this power hit me hard. I could hide from the Simurgh. This power didn't grant me complete immunity from precogs and scrying, but it perhaps did something better. I had experience working against near omniscient dark gods now, and I can use those skills against the Simurgh's precog power. Powerful precogs could see the consequences from a blind spot, like ripples emanating from a central point, but I could obscure that point by casting dozens of pebbles. The ripples would overlap and cause chaos in the sight of any precogs and clairvoyants looking for me. I won't be able to unleash my full technology in a great technological uplift of humanity, but I can safely influence the world beyond Brockton Bay.

I could cure case 53s! I can work the power behind their mutation, which was similar to some nastier curses. With how Case 53s were spread out across the world, going on a random tour to treat them would help obscure me from precogs further.

fake edit: Tom Bombadil was running Middle Earth from behind the scenes. This power would basically let Joe work in the world as as the anti-Simurgh, letting loose plots that have huge positive cascading consequences on the world.

 

[Mojave Courier]

Looks like there are a lot of omakes being written right now. I'm throwing another one into the pile. These quotes are what inspired me along with the recent boost to Joe's demigod abilities and the talks about 40k.

Joe has himself admitted that his own tastes actually run edgy. He's a very repressed dude who didn't get to express himself as a teen so wants to make up for lost time by literally being a Final Fantasy Final Boss.

Click to shrink...

Joe, listen

you never needed the chuuni transforming shield to become powerful

the power of edge was inside you all along

Click to shrink...

---------------
The Void Dragon

"I never stood a chance after all."

The words came out of Defiant's mouth before he could stop it. There was just truly nothing he could do about Apeiron after all.

———————————————————————————————————————

Mere minutes ago, Defiant had been fighting the Endbringer Leviathan, utilizing his greatest weapons yet, the nanothorn technology and his predictive programs.

He had watched countless hours of footage of Leviathan in preparation for this battle. So much time spent training, preparing, readying himself for this one moment. The moment that he could become known as more than just the Protectorate's 2nd​ greatest Tinker and become the Endbringer-Killer.

It was all worthless in the end.

At first, everything was going perfect. He was winning against Leviathan, doing more damage than anyone had ever done before, even Eidolon. Even Scion.

He had delivered blow after blow, cut after cut, slice after slice at speeds that matched and maybe even surpassed the fastest Endbringer. He had cut Leviathan apart so much that by the time he managed to get another good luck at Leviathan from afar, it was bleeding ichor from over a hundred wounds across its body, some small, some large and many in-between.

He had smiled at his work and charged in to finish the job.

That was when everything went wrong.

The moment Defiant sought to finish the battle and put an end to the Endbringer, Leviathan had acted, acted in a way contrary to every prediction he had garnered from every previous battle that Leviathan had ever been a participant in.

The beast caught his halberd mid-swing, crushing it, and his right arm, within one of his hands and tossing it aside as if it was nothing more than garbage.

After that, it was all a blur. By the time he came to, Leviathan had tossed him aside, towards one of the few buildings left standing in its wake and into the arms, or gloves in this case, of Garment, the fabric cape.

He had lost and he lost badly. His halberd was crushed, his arms were ripped apart and most of his cybernetics were badly damaged, damaged enough that he would barely be able walk, let alone fight.

All he could was rest and watch as Leviathan set its sight on the greatest Tinker in the world, Apeiron.

———————————————————————————————————————

Watching Apeiron fight was like watching art in motion. There had been no movements wasted, every action he took, he took with complete efficiency. It had reminded Defiant of himself. And yet the sheer might behind every attack Apeiron launched was more reminiscent of Scion himself.

Huh. Maybe one of PHO's crackpot theories was right. Maybe Apeiron was Scion's lovechild.

Defiant couldn't help the small chuckle.

At the very least, no one could see him. Garment had left to help out everyone she could, leaving him alone and with his thoughts.

A moment later, one sentence echoed out, one sentence from Apeiron himself.

"I'm done holding back."

There was a bright flash and when the light was gone, it was as if the world was frozen in time.

Apeiron had changed. He had transformed, transformed into a being crackling with power, a being towering over even Leviathan, a being that reminded Defiant of the Simurgh herself.

Apeiron's skin had become metal and where his heart should be, there was instead a hole, a hole from which lightning, both green and red emerged, scouring off parts of Leviathan as the energy struck the beast.

Apeiron's face had become black, darker even than the black holes from Bakuda's singularity bombs.

Behind him, Apeiron had a halo of wings, green and red energy crackling out as did his metal body. In his hand, Apeiron wielded a spear, pulsating with power and green and red lightning that cratered wherever it struck.

Apeiron had become greater than any other. Apeiron had become a Titan, an Endbringer.

———————————————————————————————————————

I kind of pictured Apeiron's Titan Form to look like a mix of these two.

 

[Crake]

Honestly, that's far enough into the omake-trail as I want to get, until the next snippet shows us how LordRoustabout intends to actually use the Bayonetta perks in combat.

But it'll certainly be interesting to see his reaction to being streamed live to the fans while smexily battling the ABB capes.

Click to shrink...

"This broadcast is for mature audiences only."

Immediate jump-cut to Apeiron's abs, clearly visible through skin-tight fabric.

Joe, trying to explain the nature of these shots to PHO: "There's a logical reason for how exposing my costume is."

"lmao, no exhibition tags?"

"Rite, u sure it's not cuz you're into that??"

"I don't know about you, but it seems to me your costumes have been getting tighter and more form-fitting as time goes on."

"No kinkshaming."

"I for one welcome our stripper overlords."

"The oddest part about all this tbh is that cape costumes have been trending towards more risqué ever since you came onto the scene."

"You do you."

Joe: "I really need better image management..."

Aisha: "Actually, your ratings have gone up after that last capefight!"

 

[Crake]

Somer's Rock. Quaint. Or at least, that's what I thought at the time when the direct message had wound its way into my PHO inbox. Managing my mail was something Survey usually burned the wick at both ends with all the oil far past midnight. With how fast the world seemed to be moving, even my AI had problems keeping up with the news and various groups approaching me.

This message wasn't the normal kind, for a given variance on the concept of 'normality' as it applied to me. Which was very little, I now admit.

The key to Supervillainy, I'd come to reflect, lay upon a set of key facets, with a core idea. As Brian had put it earlier during the meet-up before this unfolded, it was about reputation to them, and to an extent all capes in general, but for a villain who operated on the wrong side of the law it was about sending a message.

Having three groups of villains roll out the red carpet for me wasn't something I'd come to expect. The detached nature of the invite didn't seem to imply any love of brevity for being the soul of wit. It was a concession to the fact that I had decisively come down hard on the ABB and my absence would almost make the entire concept of this gathering a bit ridiculous.

The open hostility from everyone present, barring the Undersiders, as I made my entrance, cloak billowing behind me as the door swing shut, withered in the face of my combined social dynamic powers and abilities, amplified by the fiat nature of the Forge. The light dimmed as I scoped out the room, meeting the eyes of each person seated at the table and approaching with a smooth, loping, predatory gait that seemingly glided over the weathered wood floors of the bar beneath me, not making a sound through a combination of technological and supernal grace.

Furthermore, the conversation, which had started to build steam as those factions present began posturing at the meeting's outset, now dead silent as I had the audacity to make an off-hand gesture, the floor rippling as an array I'd seeded far in advance carried Coil from the opposite end of the table of Kaiser and settled him beside Grue, the man stiffening in a combination of outrage and shock, body language already trembling with rage that was in turn dwarfed by the sheer, cataclysmic upset burning in the white supremacist leader across from me. A throne of sharp contours and spikes unfolded from an object no bigger than a soda can, as I bent back to seamlessly take my place, leg folding over the other and hands tenting. I loomed over the proceedings so thoroughly that I was the first to speak.

"Do pardon the tardiness," I almost-purred, not able to restrain Classy Contortionist or Inexplicable Innuendo perfectly. Currently I was too busy managing a estimated thirty theoretical attacks from the capes assembled around the room, even as my HUD's tool-tip lit up every single person at the table with composite scans of the dimensional fluctuations their powers were causing, every sign that the were prepared to fight at a moment's notice, the Dragon Pulse and my divine pyromancy showing me clear as day my entrance had gained its intended impact. "I may be late, but I'm more than ready to begin."

 

[The Shallow]

An Absolute Crack Down
She looked back at the camera and saw me make one last wave. "Go ahead. We'll see how the dominos fall. Please enjoy watching the collapse. I'll see you soon."

The call closed at their end, and was quickly followed by frantic attempts to cut lines of access to the building. Not that it would do them any good at this point. At best they might protect some of their networked systems, but there was nothing they could do to hide anymore.

I turned to the roof acsess door of the building I was on. Right as the meeting had started I had gotten an excellent power, a great upgrade to my Kazooie Alchemy. I turned my key and quickly dashed through into my alchemy lab, spending a moment to seal the workshop with a thought, and quickly prepared a dose of my boosted duplication potion, which then became five. Mixing Mixtures meant I could put 12 kazooie potions together and not have them effect eachother or chronenberg me, and that principle could easily translate to other alchemy systems, but that could be dealt with later.

A single dose of this stuff could create 24 duplicates.

I grabbed two doses, even though I doubted I'd need the second. I walked back out onto the roof and glanced at my left wrist. I lifted it and used my magica to draw everything out. 25 Aperions would crush the ABB with the wrath of gods.

I donned all my gear, and drank a dose. They quickly slid out, and before I knew it, I was staring at 24 Aperions, looking regal as all hell in their motoroids. I cleared my throat, like a king about to speak "So how do we do this? 5 groups of 5?"

They all shook their heads, and the first spoke up "3 groups of eight and you stay here."

I stood there gobsmacked. "Wh-"

The second interrupted me "You are mad at Bakuda, you wanna get her, but there's twenty four of us that can die and be replaced by the next batch. You have to stay alive. You go? We all go."

I nodded slowly.

A third spoke up "We have 3 priorities, grab the capes, save Chen, and stop the attack. Eight Aperions on each task and we are golden."

"What am I supposed to do?"

The first spoke up again "Make sure everyone is safe, and that they keep themselves safe. Then, you need to gather intel. Dragon might be coming soon, but you still need a bunch of Data."

A fourth spoke up "Yeah, Uber & Leet are no-shows so far, and I doubt they would be gaurding Chen without making an appearance. Look into that."

The second piped up "By the way, once you know whats going down, then negotiate with the PRT or something? Try to get intel to them, and co-ordinate as best as you can with any task-forces they form."

I sighed "Fine."

As they broke up into groups of eight and flew away, I sighed once more. I stepped back into my warehouse "Apeiron calling all Undersiders."

The call went out to each of the quantum linked watches I had made. Unsurprisingly, they were all wearing their respective watch, though I refrained from digging any further as they sounded off.

Alec replied first in an easy voice. "Hey, what's up?"

Then came Tattletale's significantly more concerned response. "Oh God, what's wrong?"

Brian was next, with an awkward sounding reply. "Uh, I can't really talk now, in the middle of some personal stuff."

Taylor's voice followed him. "Um, IS it something serious? I can talk, but is there something…"

She was cut off by Rachel, who shouted her answer over the sound of barking and screaming crowds. "Can't talk now. Bad time."

I smiled before I answered them. "Just wanted to let you know that the ABB is about to launch a mass series of coordinated attacks orchestrated by March and using newly conscripted civilians armed with a mix of conventional weapons and Bakuda's explosives. I'll disrupt the coordination and attack the two central locations for the gang that I was able to identify."

There was silence on the call with the exception of a muttered expletive from Brian and the continued barking and shouting background noise from Rachel. Unsurprisingly it was Rachel who broke the silence first.

"Any of this happening in the South Docks near Mason Park, or southeast of Lords Port?" She asked.

"No." I responded while moving to the first target location. Southeast of Lord's Port would line up with the location I had tracked her knife to, probably her home outside the hideout. Mason Park was practically Empire territory, and it was slightly concerning why she would ask about it. Concerning for another time, given what I had on my plate.

I had picked up trigger signals going out to individual cells of conscripts signaling the beginning of the attacks. "The attack teams are mostly dispersed through ABB territory, with pushes near Merchant and Empire borders and semi-isolated groups set to extend into Downtown. I can handle it though."

"Good." The girl replied. "Let me know if that changes. I need to go." She ended the call, taking the shouting and barking with her.

"Shit." Came Tattletale's voice. "Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit."

"Lisa?" Brian asked.

"It's going to be a madhouse. Attacks spread like that, the attitude of the other gangs, National Guard presence, Protectorate response, the Wards back in play…" She listed quickly. "Oh, fuck this is bad."

"Should we do something?" Taylor asked. "Go somewhere? Is there anything we can…"

"No." I spoke out firmly "As I've said, I can handle it, just stay safe and keep your families safe."

"Got it." Came Alec's voice. "Stay in, play video games, and hope the power doesn't go out again. If it does I'm claiming all the ice cream in the hideout." His words were irreverent as ever, but his voice wasn't as steady as you would expect from him.

"Are you sure?" Brian replied quickly. I got the sense that he was ducking around someone, probably using the silent response feature of the forcefield.

"100%" I replied

"I… I need to try to get on top of this. Joe, can you…" Tattletale asked in a pleading voice.

"I'll update you if anything changes." I got the sense that it was less than Tattletale wanted.

"Uh, good luck?" Taylor replied a bit lamely.

"Thanks." I replied to the group and closed the chat. As I approached my throne Tattletale reached out on a private connection.

"You know this is a trap specifically for you." It wasn't a question. "You know and you're still running into it."

"They used themselves as bait. It made it worth the risk." I answered plainly. "I'm taking precautions."

"You're not…" There was a pause before she continued. "Why the fuck are you not scared at all? You're facing March, Bakuda, Oni Lee, Lung, Leet, Uber, and you're not scared? You're dissapointed!"

I sighed "As I said, I'm taking precautions. Anything else?"

"…You're not even going to fight!"

"It's a mess to explain, anything else?"

There was the sound of a keyboard. "Fuck. Okay, March is broadcasting this."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"On delay, but she just started putting out your talk." There was the sound of her taking a breath and mumbled "Jesus Christ."

I sighed. "Figures, though I hoped against it." And would now be stressing slightly over the public reaction for the entirety of the coming conflict, which may have been March's intention. "I'll manage. Let me know if you figure out anything."

"I promise." She responded and the call closed. I shook my head and tried not to think about how the broadcast would play with the already frenetic media. Well, no helping it now. Anything else I needed to do?

Yes. A quick thought opened one final call.

"Aisha?"

There was a brief moment before the girl replied. "Yeah? Can't talk for long. My brother's over and I had to duck him. What is it?"

"The ABB made their move. It might get messy." I replied flatly.

There was a pause and some more shuffling before she spoke again. "How bad is it? Do you need me out there?"

"Don't need your help, I just need you to keep your family safe. I've got enough manpower to deal with it all, just thought you mind want a heads up."

"Thanks. Let me know if you need anything."

I then sunk into my computer core. Fleet was having a field-day, directing 24 motoroids and 600 drones around the city. Survey was analyzing all the footage and sensor data from the drones, stichting together a recording on multiple levels on what was going on. I was making sure no errors came up as they faced the stress test of their lives, and looking over the data with survey, gently nudging her in some areas.

I was hacking through all electornic communication, beginning to send out orders against march's to some groups, directing them into a collision course with my 8 duplicates taking down all the attacks rapidly. All 24 duplicates had stepped out to let fleet assist, effectivley doubling their numbers.

This was not a knockdown, this was an absolute crack-down on the ABB and a curbstomp to their glory.

The "save Chen" party, who had innitially planned on just saving and healing the man before splitting and joining the other two, had discovered an entire underground lair in the middle of their territory, and were now gathering as much intel as they could about all the various illegal activites and fronts. Chen had already been located, healed, and placed within one of the motoroids for "safe keeping". Survey was stretching herself thin over all the Data, and so I helped her.

The Lab party had quickly hacked the computer system and downloaded all the files before they started getting wiped, and had complete control over all the doors and whatnot. One of the duplicates had been using alchemy to destroy the more exotic effects remotley, and neutralize as much of Bakuda's bombs as possible. March already had been grabbed and tranqed, restrained in the best manner possible, and they were now chasing Bakuda, who was using a Jetpack with an 80s feel, that seemed to be releasing it's hot air in quick bursts. Interesting combination her and Leet worked out there.

As I combed through her files in her lab, I quickly noticed a bunch of them were PRT files. They must've stolen them from the Rig when they attacked it. There were blueprints of all kind by Armsmaster, as well as detailed scans of multiple other parahumans, mostly PRT ones. I decided to keep a copy of those. A good deal of the more confidential files I'd send back, alerting them to the fact that the ABB had acsess to those.

Oh, they had captured Bakuda, and had managed to disable the deadmans switch.

At that point, Oni Lee and Lung had arrived, both decked in tinkertech, to attack the Attack Prevent party. Lee had nearly taken out 2 of the duplicates with surprise tinkertech bombs, but thanks to all the sensors I had alerted them before it was too late. Oni Lee was quickly bound and captured, he did need sight to teleport afterall, and the Lab Party arrived to assist. It took them another minute before lung was taken down.

All in all, the whole afair had lasted twenty minutes, and I had completley annihalated them.

That was underwhelming.

I sent a message to everyone I had alerted, telling them it was over.

With 40 minutes left, I had most the duplicates return to the warehouse. We started going over everything, doing upgrades, helping garment, upgrading, destructive testing. The amount of guittar-riffs echoing about turned the warehouse into a massive rock-concert.

As they all faded, I took in the brand new warehouse I now had. Everything had been upgraded. I could so easily do this any time I rolled a new perk. This single perk was the craziest force multiplier I had. I felt the celestial forge settle on the toolkits domain. I got a cheap one-mote power. I looked as a new storage locker appeared as I blinked. It was called The Toolkit, and it had great synnergy with all my scrapping perks. It would've been seriously useful at the start, but it still had it's uses. It could repair anything.

I doffed my costume and put on the labcoat, which garment had personalized a bit with one of the duplicates, making it closer to the fashion that the Machine Spirits appreciated, being red with metal detailing. I then headed to the laboratorium, held the toolkit in my hand, and drank the second dose. Time for more destructive testing and reverse engineering.

 

[readerdreamer]

Omake: How Gully Became A Disney Princess

To Gully's relief, when she met Apeiron, he had been more reasonable than she expected. Almost too reasonable, in fact, and were it not for Weld pulling her aside earlier and telling her that Apeiron's mercenary attitude was more fiction than fact, she would've wondered about whether all of this help had strings attached.

But as it was, not only did Apeiron treated her politely, he also welcomed her into his own base as well as fed her a feast. And by a feast, it was truly a feast, a table full of the most wondrous foods Gully had ever tasted to her known memory, beating out even five-star restaurants with the quality of his cooking.

And once that was done, Apeiron led her to be scanned by his equipment. Shortly after, she was sitting not-so-patiently as Apeiron studied something on his screen.

"How is it, Apeiron? D-Do you think you could cure me?"

Gully wished that Apeiron didn't wear a full mask, because she had no idea what his expression was at that moment. "Just studying the results of your scan. Before I do anything though, I'd like to give you my condolences for your condition. Seeing all this... Surely, it wasn't easy."

Gully could barely hide her own bitterness at that. "At least I have it better than some of my fellow Case 53s."

"I understand. Know that I have no issues with Case 53s, and will be willing to help whoever else comes my way." Apeiron's voice was compassionate, and soon the scanners were turned off. "As for your condition though... I have some good news and bad news. Where do you want to start?"

Gully gulped. "How about the good news?"

"Good news is, I can easily cure you." Her heart jumped at that. For Apeiron so say it so casually, truly the man before her was the real World's Greatest Tinker. "If you haven't heard it from Weld, one of my healing technologies is based on countering mutations such as this. And while your internals are a mess, you are still one of the more humanoid Case 53s and unlike Weld, I don't have the issue of your body being made out of living metal. It helps that I've improved since then too."

It has only been a few days since he helped Weld. Surely the Tinker was joking?

Looking at him now though, Gully couldn't help but reconcile the idea of someone already powerful enough to partially fix a Case 53 getting that much better to properly heal one in a period of few days, all the while juggling a gang war and whatever else Apeiron did in his spare time.

"What's the bad news then?"

Apeiron was far grimmer this time. "Weld probably haven't told you about it, but my Thinker power warns me that this?" He waved a hand, as though gesturing all of Gully. "What it is that is behind Case 53s? It tells me that there is a great big threat on the scale of the Endbringers behind it. If I just heal you, it might put you at risk of being targeted as soon as you leave this base of mine."

Gully froze at that. At the scale of the Endbringers? Shakily, she ended up saying the first thing on her mind, "A-And are you implying this base is enough to block the Endbringers?"

"Oh no, this base is not enough." Apeiron responded all too dryly as Gully tried to recover herself from the shock of his words. "After all, this base is just a temporary slapdash thing I made for the sake of receiving you. It's closer to a field camp than a base to me, really. As for my real base, while it can't fend off an Endbringer easily, it has a good chance to and precogs don't work in there."

Gully blinked as she studied the base, no, "camp" around her again. Everything about it screamed "Tinker Secret Hideout" to her, on the scale of the Toybox since the last time she visited them, and to Apeiron this was just... a disposable thing? And what was that about his base fending off Endbringers? And precogs?

Just how ridiculous was his actual base!?

"Does this mean that you won't cure me?"

Because Gully might just take his offer, even if it meant being targeted. If it was the cost of looking normal, then...

"Oh, I will cure you, no doubt about that. It's just that this means I'm also giving you the protection you need to remain safe without my help." Apeiron said it so easily that Gully could be even made to believe that what he was saying was easy, not impossible. "Fair warning though, the protection? It involves some... really weird tinker tech, with some awkward requirements. Don't overreact, alright?"

And before Gully knew it, Apeiron was already taking her hand. Just like with all the other times he healed people, immediately his skin lit in an array of blue lines, lines of which spread towards the rest of Gully's body. Gully gasped as she felt her body change its shape before her very eyes, but even that was soon overshadowed once Apeiron opened his mouth and the most melodious voice she had ever heard came out.

May you be blessed
Of happiness and joy
May you be blessed
Of calm and peace
May you be blessed
With safety and protection

Today the Unseen will know
You are protected by Apeiron.

When Gully looked at herself in the mirror after, she almost couldn't recognize the beautiful girl that looked back at her. But as she waved her flawless hands, as she stretched her shapely legs and finally let herself make an earnest, if tearful smile, soon she came to accept that her best dreams had in fact, come true.

Behind her, Joe's cheeks burned in embarrassment. Not only did he need to Sing to the Unseen for Gully's protection charm, the spell also involved putting a blessing on her through a physical medium.

At least, the kiss was just on her hand, Joe thought, not having an idea of what he would unleash on himself later once the world heard of Gully's story. But at that point, the Cinderella comparisons were on-point, and Garment had a very fun time designing a costume for the newly renamed Cendrillon before she left Brockton Bay.

 

[Albert]

This omake isn't in the Stupid Sexy Apeiron branch. (Although that, granted, hasn't been invalidated yet.)

The Perils of Professor Hebert's Daughter​

I suppose it was inevitable. Ever since getting the Innuendo, whenever I spent time with Taylor, my determination to not harass Professor Hebert's daughter in the slightest meant that I was constantly distracted. Meaning, as soon as Lisa figured it out, she started making requests when I was least able to decide they were unreasonable.

My passenger's inexplicable fondness for the Undersiders didn't help, either.

Which was how I admitted that I had a secure place that no one could get into, absolutely no one, not even Dragon or the Triumvirate, without my express permission and help. The fact that she figured out it was a pocket continuum was . . . not unexpected. That she sicced Taylor and Alec on me to give me puppy eyes until I gave in, that was just a low blow.

"Brian might be upset that he missed out," I pointed out. The Undersiders' leader was at his 'on paper' job, while Rachel was familiarizing herself with the dog-food mixer I'd given her. It'd help ensure perfect canine nutrition and also scan her monster-dogs, so we each considered it a fair trade.

Which meant I was on an outing with another boy and two girls, looking quite a bit like a double date (especially with my temporary de-aging potion), when Lisa got the other two to bully me into giving them a tour.

-------------​

"Now that we're safe, his title is Coil, his name is Thomas Calvert, his official job is as a squad leader and part-time consultant for the PRT, and he kidnapped a girl named Dinah Alcott because she has a thinker power that synergizes all too well with his own. Apeiron frustrates him because you're too strong for his own power to be of much use."

Taylor's eyes widened. Alec merely shook his head.

"You're going to want to do something heroic, aren't you?" the young man asked. "Now that you don't need to focus on the ABB anymore, I mean." He looked around. "So where are you keeping them?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny capturing any capes to become a source of blood and bone for horrible bio-tinker experiments," I replied stiffly.

That's what Lung was for, though. Also, I think I could just about shrink the requirements of alchemy to 'mostly one man' to achieve whatever that alchemic pinnacle was supposed to be. Right or wrong, he'd regenerate eventually, and creating a racist sex slaver gang in my town put him on the list of 'acceptable experimental subjects'.

As for Bakuda, the Laboritorium was still trying to come up with the best way to make her into something that translated as a 'servitor', without ruining her ability to invent strange new tech for the machine spirits to study and take apart. They were still convinced that I needed to kill Dragon, Fleet, and Survey, so until we came to an accord on free (or soon to be free) AI I needed them distracted. As Lung's disciple, Bakuda was also on the list.

Or I was tip-toeing down the slippery slope. One of the two.

"So what is Coil's power?" I asked, while at the same time giving instructions to Survey on what was off-limits to my three new guests.

"Some kind of probability influence," Lisa told us. "He can't quite force the outcome he wants, but he can tilt the scale to favor him. One time, I saw him flip a coin head, ten times in a row. Sometimes he had to pause, and I could tell that he was having to do something to make sure it didn't land tails, but he got heads every time." She then favored me with a vulpine grin. "But the odds don't matter when Apeiron is coming after you, do they?"

"Not when I can help it, no," I agreed. "He kidnapped a girl. He's keeping her alive?"

She nodded. "Controlled somehow, but alive. I assume you can heal her back from anything short of death?"

I nodded back. "Okay. Apeiron Overwhelming it'll be, once I have day to prepare. In the meantime-"

Just then, I got a ping from Survey. Gully was getting ready to wake up. I would have sent a clone to get her squared away, but Tattletale's eyes widened.

"You're doing something amazing right now, aren't you?"

Which got Alec and Taylor to weigh in, just like Lisa wanted, and once again I was too busy making sure I wasn't smexing towards Professor Hebert's daughter to be firm about where they were and weren't allowed into.

Which was why we had an audience when the tank decanted and a delicate-looking 5-foot-tall girl stepped out, already clothed in the dress Garment had prepared for her debut. Her hair was a mixture of the dark brown of rich soil and the deep green of healthy leaves, her ears were the tiniest bit pointed, and her face was elfin and angular enough to seem exotic. Her dress was a shimmering green that matched her eyes, adorning her and perfectly fitting the shape and figure she'd requested.

While she stared into the mirror I'd set up for her, Garment discreetly settled temporary costumes over Khepri, Tattletale, and Regent.

"It's perfect," Gully said, in the soft soprano voice she'd tried out during the testing phase. "I feel . . . right."

I'd gone over the brain scans, pinpointing everything that had tended to invoke her dysphoria. The trickiest part had been figuring out what could be done to divert her passenger's bio-adjustment and leave it satisfied with her final state of 'not quite human', ensuring that it wouldn't cause new dysphoria.

"Third time's the charm," I commented, scanning the readouts. "Your passenger isn't fighting it anymore. Note that you're nearly as strong as you were before, so there may be some clumsiness until you get enough practice with your new limbs. That said, with this data I have enough to know how to fix up Weld to be fully functional even as a man of living metal, so you're paid up in full."

"Fully-" Lisa said, before blinking. "Wait, how can he become a father?!"

I shot her a look. "Assuming it works? Compounds that aren't toxic, but work with the," I coughed, "assumed environment to build DNA analogs." It would be tricky, of course, but given the Man of Steel issues I was going to be giving Weld a little more autonomy over his pseudo-biological responses anyway. Well, a lot more autonomy. I didn't know if he'd ever use it, but in the event that Weld tried life as Woman of Steel she'd be able to gestate human offspring as long as she remembered to eat for the little one.

Given that he was going to be getting full feel/smell/taste, I didn't think eating would be an issue.

Lisa's eyes flickered over to the shovel laying next to the pod. "Gully. You're Gully! You're-"

"I may pick a different name," came the soft soprano reply. "Are you sure you don't need any other payment, Apeiron?"

"As I said, giving me the data I need to complete my contract with Weld is payment in full, and the theories about me being the anti-Squealer aren't entirely wrong, so the fix was always going to be aesthetic." I replied. "But if you're up for some constructive heroing, there's a kidnapped girl being exploited for her thinker power, and the villain is hiding underground. Right up your alley, as it were."

"Can we come too?" Taylor asked. "We still owe you, and . . . IkindainfiltratedtheUndersiderstofindtheirbossandturnhimin." She looked down, shamefaced.

"Don't worry about it, I knew that from the day you joined," Lisa told her, pulling her in for a comforting hug. "We wanted you anyway, and even Bitch has come around to it."

"Is he doing bad things to her?" Alec asked, sounding indifferent, but Dragon's Pulse told me that his feelings were trying to be a mess about it.

"Yes," Lisa told him. "Could be torture, could be drugs, could be something else. Coil makes my power tell me all sorts of crazy things, so I don't know what's real and what's not when I'm talking to him, but it's bad. Not so bad that Apeiron can't put her back together, but bad enough."

"Well okay then." He looked up at me. "Can we get the powered armor this time, like that Lethe supermodel? I hear Coil's mercs have laser guns."

I nodded. "You'll all stay here tonight, while I make everyone their new supersuits. We'll call Bitch and Grue in tomorrow morning for their fittings, then once we confirm he's not at the PRT pretending to be a useful member of society, we'll hit him hard and fast." Then I smiled at my latest client. "Miss Gully, I don't believe I've had the chance to feed you yet. Would you like to follow me to the dining room?"

"Say yes!" Alec nearly shouted. "Oh, Scion, say yes and let's go!"

Sometimes, I almost regretted bringing sandwiches to their clubhouse for my post-ABB socializing/decompression.

"She's . . . can you transform anyone?" Taylor suddenly asked, looking hopeful. "I mean, I know it'd have to be stretched out over a few months so it'd just look like maturing to Dad and people at school, and you said I could get help if I needed it and I know you meant for my-" She broke off, blushing, as Lisa patted her back. "I guess it wasn't much of a secret mission, but if we're capturing Coil then that's what you promised to help with-"

"Let's go eat," I interrupted, sighing internally. I could already feel my passenger's amusement, and an urge coming from it to help Taylor grow to be both supermodel and conventionally gorgeous. I could always say no, but Dragon's Pulse made it clear that being stuck in her Ugly Duckling stage was adding to her stress.

I promised I'd help Professor Hebert's daughter. I wasn't going to go back on that.

 

[randomcringyjoke]

Was just browsing through my images file and found this and had an idea might write something similar with mechs

Apeiron's New Androgynous armor

Spoiler: Armor

Is Apeiron a man or a woman

It was a typical day in Brockton bay or as close to it when the ABB tried to attack

the Intentions of the ABB were not known as they tried to steal from Apeiron again with the help of the various capes they hired or recently joined their organization and they were Uber and Leet with Marche playing support

What they did not expect was the true gender of Apeiron

It was common knowledge that Apeiron was a man but his recent armor cast some doubt on that fact the armor looked feminine in some aspects and masculine in some aspects it was a confusing look to gove people as it was a paradoxical look which the PHO forums argued day in and day out

Going back to the fight Leet and uber didn't know how to feel as the armor looked radically different than the previous armors they fought and that meant unknown systems to prepare against and the preparations they prepared were specifically designed for the previous armor that Apeiron wore which didn't look like the new androgynous like looking armor so they were at a conundrum should they risk it and fight an unknown armor or do they play it safe and pick a fight at a different time but they didn't need to decide as March decided to risk it and probe Apeiron for the specs of the new suit

But Apeiron knowing that March won't run away fro probing more about his tech and he wanted to field test it against someone who is a semi challenge but Apeirons new suit was many times stronger than his previous suit in many ways as it was a complete rebuild of it with even more technology and every technology and magic was in harmony form the weirdest and unlikely to unheard

it was clear in the way Apeiron moved his movements were flawless there was no lag between thought and execution of the thought by the body

Apeiron already calculated the moves by simulating reality through a cennection to his throne and already started executing the movements and actions needed to defeat the gaming duo and March swiftly and efficiently

Uber and leet reacted by shooting Apeiron with their game-themed guns but Apeiron already calculated that and quickly used one of his new features on his new suit Built-in super thruster system TIAMAT that had an enormous amount of acceleration and the sheer thrust that it had Apeiron quickly blitzed the duo and disarmed them while also striking their armors weak spots

The total amount of time the fight took was 5 seconds

 

[prussiangrandier]

OMAKE: IF JOE GOT A STAND

William huddled in the hospital roof, this cat and mouse game wand on for long enough, his daughter would finally kill the men, and they could finally leave.

They should have left when shatterbird was sniped in the head.

It went worst from there, the new recruit charity or something went next, then Burnscar, mannequin, and crawler follow suit.

in five hours

Nine hadn't ever been reduced to 3, and very much so, not within the first day.

Doormakers portal appear in front of him, nothing came out, it was an exit, a way out, so long as he agreed to be cauldrons dog

Who the fuck did they think they were?!

His daughter clawed the portal unmaking it, and as it so happens it's the moment the bullet hits his side

He wasn't used to pain, so an opponent that could hurt him through his daughter was not someone he was used to facing

It was at that moment that the bullet hit

Pain echo through his entire being,

"William ... Manton."

His head snapped at the call of his name and saw Apeiron, Joseph Josovzsky as he was know, jack had leaked his identity to the public in what appear to Manton as desperation, but in the end there was nothing more than desperation.

by his side was the blonde thinker of the Undersiders, but she didn't seem terrified of the Siberian, she seemed terrified of the man besides her

he had what appeared to be coat hangers or chair legs sticking out of him. Blood on the floor at a rate his medical knowledge told him was lethal, yet he still stood.

"You are... *sigh *.. From my range" he spoke with a voice that told everyone that I punctured his lungs.

His eyes widened, and he could only stare, "Joseph Josovsky..."

"Bring out....your.....daughter" he said in between labor breaths, the blonde's eyes widening as she understood the situation.

They stared at each other, both mortally wounded men, and they knew that the one that made the first move would be in disadvantage.

They stared at each other doing nothing for what seemed to be an entire minute, not even breathing as the entire world disappeared and only their opponent existed

Manton moved first, sending his daughter forward with both arms in front of her, only for his projection to batter them to the side, landing a savage blow to her face and the world stopped

DORA!

the face that had stood Alexandria, the face that was invincible to the entire world

the face that right now is cracked

he was blinded by pain and anger. The right arm of the Siberian went to bury itself into Apeirons head.

it was broken and battered aside as if it were fabric by his enemies projection.

He yelled as he flew backwards, the pain was indescribable. It was like having your very soul taken from his body and attacked

'he-he's strong' William thought

he changed his vector of attack and tried to move to behind his enemy, unleashing a series of blows

all countered as apeiron crushed both Siberian arms at once

this was the fear, the fear of defeat.

aperion ran towords him and attacked him, barely having time to reform his daughter in front of him

DORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORADORA!

 

[The Shallow]

Thought of Joe bioengineering Taylor some Bugs. Not my best work, admittedly, but I've been busy.
A Lady Crowned / A Creepy Crawly

I was in my workshop, pouring over the scans I had gotten on lungs power. I was only looking at it to find a counter-method besides nanite weaponry. Around that time Survey Appeared, using the new physical hologram system one of my duplicates had implemented. "Taylor is calling."

I answered. "Hey."

"Um… Hey Joe… So you know that crazy red energy stuff…?"

"Yes?"

"I managed to keep the area mostly safe by flooding thugs with bugs, but it was hard to detect the ABB, and I was wondering… If…"

"You want me to bioengineer better bugs for you?"

"Y- yes."

I considered things carefully. Having better detection of the world around her would help her considerably, and my passenger seemed to find the notion really funny. "Sure… I'll need scans of your power though, can you get out of the house? I could meet you really anywhere."

"My dad is being a little strict about why I go out. He doesn't want me to get kidnapped and conscripted, but I am going shopping with him later today, maybe we could coincedentally meet? Or no that's stupid you'd need to…"

"No, it's fine. My scanners are small enough to work like that. Actually, you could just use the scanners in your watch and have Sur- the Virtual Assistant send them over to me."

She had clearly noticed the slip-up, but ended up deciding not to comment. "Sure… I'll do that."

I was intending to make her a focus for a while, this would be a good oppurtunity for that.

I immediately entered my main workshop area. I was going to make her a basic hairclip, like Aisha's, but then I would have Garment redesign her outfit, and add a secondary focus in the shape of an ancient egyptian crown. She was Lady Khepri after all. I was willing to let Taylor into my workshop, but not the undersiders. I had barely decided to get Chen in, and that was because of the absolute mess that was his condition.

It was a beautiful thing. "T O R T H A." I named, and it was Tortha. The Word of Control.

I then visited Garment in the textiles workshop. She waved, and immedialty showed off an elegant three-piece suit, smooth yet SHARP. It was a civilized version of my cape outfit. She then showed me a medeival-carnival-mask version of my own. She telekinetically made it act like I was wearing it, acting like a mirror. "That's pretty amazing Garment. I wanted to ask a favor of you..."

She nodded slowly "You know Taylor?" At her confused 'look'(it was more body language, but yeah) "Khepri?" And she started gesturing fast.

Survey projected into the room "She's excited at the oppurtunity to work with Ancient Egyptian and Insectoid aesthetics. I am currating a list of reading material for her to ensure cultural fusion comes off in the best way."

I nodded, smiling at the gloves bouncing with glee "You know me too well I guess. I can't make her a hard suit without the other undersiders getting jealous, but I'd love your assistance in making a Soft-suit for her."

Garment nodded, pencils gliding across her notebook excitedly.

Now it was time to bioengineer. I sighed. I stepped into my apartment and quickly grabbed all the insects in it, trapping them with cages made through my omnitool. I returned to my alchemical lab, and considered the next step. I would need to refine raginite, and my Valkyrian Science and Chimera Knowledge told me how.

It was unpleasant work, using nanites to alter the DNA, then feeding one of the insects a very specifc food. I watched as it quickly grew into nothing more than a Raginite Refining Organ. It took a while, but the blue crystal had been melted and extruded like a pale perfect gem.

I grabbed my tools and and breathed. This was unpleasant work.

I was using bio-alchemy and surgery, with a bit of natural alchemy, to get this done. The biology of the Weavers was assymetrical, allowing The Arcane Craft to be implemented, making them easier for Taylor to control, on top of the focusses she would soon get. Their biology was compact, all my miniturization powers coming into play. Their thread was stronger than steel, and their armor stronger, all thanks to the natural alchemy I incorporated into their bodies. Their muscles and their brain were overclocked with Raginite. They barely looked natural.

Also, they could fly.

I had left them with 3 posion sacks that could be cycled through, a mild paralyzer, a strong irritant, and a potent sleeper like something out of Romeo and Juliet.

I watched them fly around in their tank.

"Call Taylor."

It took a minute for him to hear the click "Hello?"

"Hey taylor, finished your weavers. They're strong, so avoid using them too much, and probably keep a breeding pair at the very least, you should also know they have three different poisons-"

"WAITWAITWAIT! You're Finished!? It's only been two hours."

"…I work quick, should I just drop them in your range?"

"…Yeah, I guess… There's a park like, a block away from my house? drop them off there."

A location was sent to my implant "Will do."

Once the call ended I drank a dose of the poison that shrunk me down, and began to leave my workshop. I guessed I could get her the focuses later.