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Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

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Dawnk41 said:
Wow, I never knew I needed Rachel with a crush in a story before, XD
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To be fair, Fleet and Survey are attractive on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Rachel might not be the kind to fall in love with a walking goddess, but I can certainly see her falling for a gruff and stoic character with power to bear and the willingness to use it as she would in their position.
AndyDeck said:
A great chapter, I loved the alternate viewpoint! I had to facepalm at Taylor's continued mis-interpretation, though.
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Not quite her fault since it is the biggest thing she could think of, and Joe had not been clear enough with the sheer scale that he thinks Taylor is needed in. And really, it also is a result of Taylor's low self-esteem, because it's one thing to be important for something you think is actually doable for you, and another to assume that you are somehow paramount to something global or interdimensional in scale.

If Joe really wanted to, he could've convinced her with enough effort. But I think he just didn't want to scare her too much which is why he played along - and if it makes the problem of telling her the terrifying truth future Joe's problem, then all the more.

TLDR: Taylor no esteem, Joe avoidant doormat equals MISUNDERSTANDING CONTINUES.
 
At least they are talking. And it really does show how precarious everything is when Alec is the voice of reason. Brian is desperately trying to show a front of control to get what he wants, Rachel is testing out her independence but forgetting social cues, Lisa can't trust people unless she knows things (which she doesn't, and it terrifies her) so she sadly goes back to the abusive 'Master' because she 'knows' him, Taylor has many many problems connecting and opening up do the nonstop abuse of her trust and friendship so she treats everyone as "other", and Alec wondered how he became not only the voice of reason but team mediator.

Almost peak teen drama. It's just no one is pregnant or sleeping with each other.
 
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It's also important to note the massive amount of guilt Taylor feels for being the reason Joe even got involved with the Undersiders, so she feels that if she doesn't complete her original objective then she ruined everything and got absolutely nothing as a result.
 
None of the Undersiders talking about their own pet crusades to each other leading to this huge clusterfuck is absolutely amazing.

Lisa confident she knows everything off a quick glance around, Taylor thinking her actions in the dark zone was heroic, Brian wanting to be the big man of the group, and Coil fucking everything up from behind the scenes.

And Alec's trauma from Bakuda's stuff making him more empathetic is still amazing. Plus Bitch taking the smart route of 'why don't we ask' was amazing.
 
Brian also very pissed because with that money he would far ahead in his custody plans.

And Lisa still want to play Apeiron vs her boss. While leaving ahead. And she aware of a second problem like butcher Apeiron problem (which would not happen for a lot of reasons).

And at this point this would be the equivalent of asking

A small normal monkey to fight King Kong. While stealing the small monkey banana and yelling your plan. And then see if the lesser old one can fight a King Kong that has aura, power armor, magic and other stuff.
 
While I understand why the Undersiders as a whole aren't planning to immediately contact Joe, I don't understand why Taylor isn't planning to contact him in private for an order of spygear to use during her meeting with the boss.

For the overall situation, I think I've moved past being mad at the rampent miscommunication and moved on to being mad at the issues Joe's passenger caused due to the vague feelings with Taylor, but since Joe's passenger is indirectly the generic Worm fandom as a whole that means I'm also indirectly mad at myself. Additionaly, since rampent miscommunication is a fandom trope, that means I've actually answered a recursive loop, sooooo. Did we ever get clarification on if the passenger is a jumper or a benefactor?
 
Psiidmon said:
None of the Undersiders talking about their own pet crusades to each other leading to this huge clusterfuck is absolutely amazing.

Lisa confident she knows everything off a quick glance around, Taylor thinking her actions in the dark zone was heroic, Brian wanting to be the big man of the group, and Coil fucking everything up from behind the scenes.

And Alec's trauma from Bakuda's stuff making him more empathetic is still amazing. Plus Bitch taking the smart route of 'why don't we ask' was amazing.
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It isn't just the trauma, IIRC when Apeiron healed him he also "fixed" something in Alec's brain, can't remember exactly what that did but Alec confronted him about it later on
 
Onxio said:
Fleets an AI made by Joe right?
I wonder if Author got inspiration from the Peter MC where I believe he created a Gynoid AI fighter that flechette is crushing on
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Given what Fleet looks like, I'm not surprised Rachel developed a crush on him. Also, Story is In Nuclear Fire and the AI Peter creates is a Hardlight construct from Cardcaptor Sakura called The Fight.

And yes, Fleet is an AI Joe made. Forgot to add that.
 
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I can't wait until after Coil is finished. I can see Taylor making some comments about it being over and things getting better. Joe just looks at her and says, "Taylor, Coil was your tutorial Boss."

I'm surprised the Undersiders haven't imploded yet. They are still together mainly due to The Debt and hopefully being able to pay it off one day.

Lisa is funny about Rachel breaking the agreement with Joe. If anything, Rachel is the one that gets Joe the best. While Lisa thinks she can read him, Rachel actually can somewhat.

I liked Rachel's growth. I'd have to re-read back from before the Lung fight. I recall Joe chatting with her, I don't recall if what she was actually doing came up. He wasn't concerned about that at the time though.

It's funny how greedy/materialistic they are. Alec and Brian thought a massive amount of money would be a great thing. Taylor can't really wrap her head around it. Lisa is annoyed her plotting got screwed up, but she's trying to drag the team closer to Coil.

Seems like, with all the new groups in town, Coil might have some different plans.

Rachel was the only one that really noticed what Taylor was doing during that blackout patrol. Sighs. The team needs better debriefs. Actually getting together once a week and just chatting about what they've been up to is likely all that they've historically done.

Things like The Bank or The Casino, they all had the planning upfront and it was a one-and-done deal. No long-term thinking after it. That's likely been their thoughts on most of their targets.

Alec is likely annoyed that Brian and Lisa are wanting to shift them from being a smash and grab thieves into a legit badass gang. He likely thought being badass was o.k., but now all these other changes? Not something he wanted to be involved with.

He understands though. He wanted time to heal and for things to return to a known status quo. Not to radically change again without even an internal briefing of this is where we are headed.

Oddly, Alec and Rachel are being rather sane through this.

SIghs. Taylor can't envision what she's really needed for. Joe has issues with it as well. He doesn't know how she's important or what piece she plays in things. He just knows that she needs to be protected and be around to prevent the end of the world. He didn't tell her as he didn't want to give her that much nerve-racking stress.
 
LordRoustabout said:
"Joe… he thinks he can deal with the Butcher." Lisa explained. "Not just in a fight. He thinks he can handle the possession if it happens."

"Well, let's hope he's right." Alec said.

"And that it doesn't come to that." Responded Brian. Taylor nodded in agreement.
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Taylor no. Don't take that bullet.

Her constant battlefield presence might have her actually do it, too.

LordRoustabout said:
Taylor would have taken the work just to head off Joe getting involved, but the problem was one that was hard to wrap your head around. Where did you start with something like that? Sure, maybe he was right and he could handle the Butcher, stop the possession or whatever, but nobody would want to take that chance.
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Hrrrngh. I guess Fleet's little Shardspace strike force might have a reason to make their way to QA and/or the Butcherplex pretty soon.
 
Is Taylor really needed right now? His passenger should really stop telling him about her importance. If he cracks either shard space or multiverse travel/weapons he could probably fight it out with Scion if he leverages what he currently has.
 
BelligerentGnu said:
*pinches bridge of nose* Please, in the name of all that is good and holy, let CF and the Undersiders actually start talking openly to each other within the next few updates. Taylor, Lisa and Brian are so very painful to read right now.
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> Talking Openly
>Worm

If Joe manages this feat, he'll have truly overcome his greatest challenge yet, breaking the spirit of the setting!
Tiz Goldeneye said:
While I understand why the Undersiders as a whole aren't planning to immediately contact Joe, I don't understand why Taylor isn't planning to contact him in private for an order of spygear to use during her meeting with the boss.
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She doesn't think of him as a useful source for things for her mission, she thinks of him as the awkward guy she roped into the madness that turned out to have super amazing powers and if not for her might have been the world's greatest hero openly with no controversy to his name.

He's not a asset, he's a reminder that she needs to do better and accomplish her important mission that surely will validate everything she's done once it's over!
 
The Undersides are portrayed very accurately here. They were a disfuctional mess without the many events that pushed them together and Taylor into the leading roll. Due to Joe that's all messed up and might be impossible to rectify. TTs plan was to use the Undersides to destroy Coil, now it's to use Joe. This change might also have effected how this is going to bash out.

Edit: As for why Taylor doesn't ask for Joe to clean up the mess. Taylor doesn't trust anyone, adults or authority figures. Plus she doesn't even understand herself. Atleast she doesn't have the attachment to the group that causes her to second guess being a snitch. Even tho her self imposed mission was stupid in the first place.
 
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I really just don't care about the Undersiders in this story. The yet another perspective on the summit from people who know bot Apeiron and Joe is great, but everything else? I can't think but help that they're irrelevant. Especially Taylor still thinking Coil is that important... :facepalm:
 
Taylor is really going to be screwed when Joe makes good on his internal resolution to go after Coil. Everything sketchy she has done so far is justified in her mind by bringing in TTs mysterious boss, and if Joe resolves Coil as an afterthought where does that leave her? Everything she did is completely pointless.

Honestly not at all sympathetic to TT or Brian. Brian could have had custody a long time ago if he'd walked the straight and narrow, and his problems are all of his own making. TT is possibly even worse, as when she's handed an out from her troubles she still makes excuses because it's not her own plan. Her problems come completely from arrogance and her need to be the "smartest in the room." Funnily enough it's Alec and Rachel who are the most sympathetic, despite one being a recovered sociopath and the other possibly mentally challenged.
 
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Taylor is so delusional that it's insane, does she actually think that Lisa has no idea of her plans since day one or that after she is done with her mission she can go back and everything will just fall in place or what. She knows that she is one of the deadliest villain in the bay right? And the boss can't let her leave that easily, cause even if she exposes his cape identity the heroes can't do anything about it with the city on the edge of total anarchy. But I want to see how it all goes down, she has to explain herself to the heroes, so would she talk about how everything started with arms master and how he indirectly made joe a rogue/villain , cause that conversation will be the straw that breaks the camel's back for his career and I can actually see the PRT accepting her if she can get Apeiron on board also but she would be transferred to another city where Aegislash is not as monumental in the mind of the civilian population
 
For a while, I had wanted Joe to recruit the underside to his side but it seems... pointless now. Joe has teammates who are better in every way and having them would just seem like charity now.
 
LordRoustabout said:
That was something that worried her. Where had they come from? Maybe Bitch was right and Joe had just recruited the best he could find. Maybe he'd been working behind the scenes to build up and prepare. Or maybe it was something stranger. With Joe you could never be sure.

Six mystery individuals. Nobody in the city knew anything about them.
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You know what I would be worrying about in this situation? That it's not that the team came from nowhere. It's that Lethe is a Stranger of the Nth degree and whatever the fuck her power is, it let her wipe all traces of most of the membership of Celestial Forge. Possibly with a side order of worrying if Apeiron is really new.

I'd also be wondering if Lethe is the reason he's been working on a global "force people to identify someone in a certain way" effect.


The funny part is that with her power amplifier and manipulator, she probably COULD toss her Stranger effect onto hiding somebody else like that.
 
adamashield said:
Brian also very pissed because with that money he would far ahead in his custody plans.
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Which is the other hilarious part of it. Brian's done. Everything he was working for is already in place, and he doesn't know it. He wanted Aisha to have a safe place, somewhere she wouldn't run away from. And she's got it. She's happy. Brian getting custody doesn't help her any more. And, more than that, she's taking magical college courses, and is part of the most dangerous cape team (I considered adding a qualifier like "in the country", or "in the world", and realised that's still not sufficient).

She's surpassed him. That's going to be a bit of a shock for him to find out. He's defined by the need to protect his sister, to make sure that she has a better life than him. That's basically his trigger event, it's why he's part of the Undersiders and not just a generic cape tough, and it's why he's okay with things escalating the way they do - It's all worth it, if it protects Aisha. And he's going to find out that it's all for nothing.

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Kyle craig said:
Taylor is so delusional that it's insane, does she actually think that Lisa has no idea of her plans since day one or that after she is done with her mission she can go back and everything will just fall in place or what. She knows that she is one of the deadliest villain in the bay right? And the boss can't let her leave that easily, cause even if she exposes his cape identity the heroes can't do anything about it with the city on the edge of total anarchy. But I want to see how it all goes down, she has to explain herself to the heroes, so would she talk about how everything started with arms master and how he indirectly made joe a rogue/villain , cause that conversation will be the straw that breaks the camel's back for his career and I can actually see the PRT accepting her if she can get Apeiron on board also but she would be transferred to another city where Aegislash is not as monumental in the mind of the civilian population
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Let's give Apeiron a lot of the blame here. He's been repeatedly showing her that she's important, and that what she's doing is important. And when the most powerful man in the world who knows far more than he should indicates that what you're doing is important and doesn't imply that it's stupid, you believe it. And, weirdly, it is important. Taking down Coil was a major step on the path to becoming Khepri. Once she finds out about Dinah, she commits herself to bringing down Coil no matter the cost, and steps up her "ends justify the means" philosophy. That's potentially still on track, since it feels like the meeting with Coil is in the cards.
 
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