As an actual swede I'm dying right now XD Det sjunde inseglet is a good movie though
How can you not laugh at this
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Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)
- Thread starter LordRoustabout
- Start date
How can you not laugh at this
WE NEED A DYNAMIC EXIT FROM GAS STATION BATHROOM!!!
Bonus points if Apeiron's dramatic exit gets caught on camera or someone's smartphone, and then posted on PHO, because everything ends up on PHO sooner or later.
"A true hero is ready to answer the call to action at any time."
OR
"Neither rain nor sleet nor TACO BELL shall stop Apeiron."
OR
"Only Apeiron can look so majestic when literately caught with his pants down."
So, the team is going to get all information they can get on S9. That might include exploration of their shards in the firmament (If CFS Final Frontier figures out how shardspace works, before S9 is due to extermination).
Now, here is the question: If Final Frontier's crew explores Cherish's Shard, will anyone figure out that it connected to someone else Joe knows?
Now, here is the question: If Final Frontier's crew explores Cherish's Shard, will anyone figure out that it connected to someone else Joe knows?
Maybe. I mean, if I recall Alec's earlier interlude, his vision of shardspace had the shards of his family connected, so... maybe? I dunno if that's how they literally appear in shardspace, but it might be how they actually look.
I suddenly have a mental image of Garment realizing that there is a Celestial Forge team exploring an alternative dimension on a spaceship... and she hasn't dressed them appropriately.
Even better, she doesn't have to worry about the space team exposing mere mortals to her creations. All restrictions are off.
Have you ever seen a five-year-old at an amusement park meeting their favorite cartoon character while high on excess sugar? Those exquisite white gloves are going to be dancing.💃
All those on that ship: I feel a disturbance in the Forge. As if some being is going to make costumes for us that will violate the very fabric of existence by just existing.
I see what you did there!
BarbaCoPut
Voluta indomita
- Location
- Argentina
- Pronouns
- He/His
WE NEED A DYNAMIC EXIT FROM GAS STATION BATHROOM!!!
Bonus points if Apeiron's dramatic exit gets caught on camera or someone's smartphone, and then posted on PHO, because everything ends up on PHO sooner or later.
"A true hero is ready to answer the call to action at any time."
OR
"Neither rain nor sleet nor TACO BELL shall stop Apeiron."
OR
"Only Apeiron can look so majestic when literately caught with his pants down."
Why do you force me to make this? I have documentation to write...
PS: We really need an updated drawn look of Apeiron, The Enigmatic Artificer, the aphantasic among us can't visualize the latest descriptions... at all.
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80 Analysis and Reflections
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
80 Analysis and Reflections
I made my way across the open fields to where Aisha was finishing the last of her downtime. One final break period before we finally left the spiritron environment and returned to the real world. As I approached she inclined her head in acknowledgement, but didn't take her eyes off her work.
"You're back to watercolors?" I asked as I looked at her nearly completed painting, comparing it to the scene laid out before us.
Over the year/hours we had spent in the system the environment had progressed from a grassy disk surrounded by a misty void to a stunningly picturesque blend of natural landscape and meticulously designed structures. The lack of physical necessities from those who inhabited the space had caused things to develop with a slightly surreal feel. Essentially, whatever people wanted to explore was loaded in, resulting in a blend of styles and geographic features that you could easily believe was the product of a spiritual realm.
Aisha was wearing a loose white shirt, a pleated black skirt, and boots. It was more of Garment's work, indulging in the free time and plentiful resources of the simulation. Despite a lack of a clear daily cycle, everyone had an ample wardrobe provided to them, effectively going through several fashion seasons in the time we'd been here. My own tendency for jeans and t-shirts had been broken down shortly into the endeavor, leading to a wider range of styles than I would previously have been willing to indulge. Thankfully, I was back in familiar clothes for the final hours, though with a fitted dress shirt in place of my usual choices.
Of course, there had also been opportunities for supporting various hobbies. This was one of Aisha's 'painting outfits', and one of the more reserved ones that Garment had designed. I watched as Aisha made a final stroke with her brush before setting it down in her painting kit. "Last run before we log out, so I figured I'd get back to basics. Didn't feel like breaking out the oil paints right now."
I nodded as I examined the painting. This work fell outside the scope of the training I had prepared, but that was kind of the point. Breaks from the intense lessons, compressing mastery of the skill book into a manageable timeline.
"You've gotten really good at that." I said with sincerity. Aisha huffed, but smiled at the compliment.
"I had help. And it's still nowhere close to your work." She replied as she began to pack things away. Looking back, she cut me off before I could respond. "I know you can't help it, but still, it kind of puts things in perspective when you're working next to the master."
"I didn't master anything. It just came at once." I said. "And honestly, I'd like it if I could turn some of these powers down from time to time."
"Yeah, I've seen what your handwriting looks like. I get why you need Matrix to help you with that out in public." She looked out into the distance. "Speaking of which…"
When we started our training there was nothing but a circle of grass, a single tree, and the beginnings of a classroom. Now there were rolling hills, fields, forests, and a river leading to something between a lake and an inland sea, all surrounding something that looked like a college campus with a very diverse architectural history. Gothic masonry, Greek columns, modernist designs, brutalist structures overrun with vegetation, a domed library, and a collection of roads and footpaths crisscrossing the area in a design that seemed nearly random, but was actually based on precise optimization of the routes between the buildings.
Aisha's gaze was focused towards the river mouth where the square sails of a three masted sailing ship could be seen gliding towards a dedicated berth. Everyone had found their own ways of amusing themselves in the allotted downtime, and the ship was a joint project of the Matrix and Fleet that slowly roped in more people as the time went on.
Okay, Garment signed on as soon as she found out there was a justification for period accurate uniforms. For Tetra it was mostly because she enjoyed either climbing in or being the rigging. Tybalt joined for a combination of the authentic cannons and because ship's cat was an official position, though his eventual promotion to gunnery officer had led to him ceding the position to his Zaber Fang. I doubt that position had ever been filled by a saber-toothed tiger, but somehow I felt the naval militaries of old would approve of the image.
Even people who never officially took part in the project occasionally joined in. Given the amount of downtime everyone had cycled through for at least a couple of runs on the ship, even the Titan cores.
It wasn't just a vanity project either. I was covering the principles of compression technology as effectively as I could, but the work needed practice to fully master. When you considered its technical use the natural avenue of thought would be multi-form weapons, compressed vehicles, or efficient technology use, but it was hardly limited to those applications. Once the technology was mastered it could apply to anything, as was evident as the ship began to quickly fold in on itself.
Mastery of 'Bigger on the Inside' could compress a car to the point where it would fit into a cupholder. That was a compression factor of roughly a hundred in every dimension. Of course, the mass of the object remained unchanged, so the wooden briefcase that Fleet carried away from the dock weighed thousands of pounds. Frankly, the insane densities that the compression technology could produce were nearly as useful as the compression itself.
Aisha just smiled at the display before folding down her painting kit, reducing the bulky case to a single slip of extremely dense wood. Lacking Fleet's monstrous strength, she gave more regard to the heft of the object, but I could see a look of pride from her at the successful collapse.
"You sure we can bring this stuff out without trouble?" She asked. "I know the process behind the compression isn't exactly normal."
That was putting it mildly. Practice from the book allowed what could only be described as a legitimate superpower. Not a cape power, there was no relation between the effect and other aspects of parahuman abilities, but still something definitely beyond what should have been possible.
"Not the same object, but it should be possible to fabricate exact duplicates of everything you've made in the simulation." I explained. "This is a different level from most simulations. With spiritron backing for the modeling of the objects, it's more than just a replicated copy. You have levels of continuity of effect." I smiled at her. "You'll be able to take all your paintings with you."
She grinned back as we walked towards the campus. "Not sure where I'll put them. Hanging them up in my room might raise some questions. I wasn't BAD at art class, but nothing like this. Bit too much of a change to be able to sell."
Her comment brought up a more pressing concern, one I'd had from before we began the training. "Do you know what you're going to tell your dad or your brother if they notice something?"
"Worked it out already." She assured me. "Went over everything with Survey." She smiled widely. "Garment's lawyer lady put me through comportment classes to make sure I could help out properly. Even have details on the course syllabus and when we covered what."
That was the advantage of excessive amounts of time to consider your problems. It was something I had been benefiting from myself, both with respect to the situation in the city and with the Slaughterhouse Nine. I had been able to function at an accelerated rate before, but not like this, with full immersion and the support of the entire team. Taking the time to slowly work through a problem and making sure you were approaching it the right way made a world of difference.
"Yeah, I guess it's nice having the time you need to deal with everything." I agreed.
Aisha nodded. "Still hasn't felt like a year." She said. "Not like a FULL year." She looked around again. "More like a summer vacation, or something like that. Which I guess matches up with the downtime hours."
"More or less." I said. "Especially if you're sleeping through most of it." I added in a teasing tone.
"Hey, that was time well spent." She protested. "Don't care how elective it is in this place, I am not giving up on sleep. Not after that first week."
Early in the training program, after running for a hundred and seventy hours straight Aisha finally realized that if she didn't schedule sleep time during downtime it wasn't going to happen. Thus, the addition of bedding accommodations for every member of the Forge, including the Zoids and Titans.
That was the thing. In a purely spiritual environment sleep wasn't necessary, but it also wasn't limited. Even people who didn't need sleep or who normally couldn't sleep were able to within the spiritron simulation. Aisha's insistence that everyone at least try it had mixed results, with Survey quickly declaring that it wasn't for her while the Matrix surprisingly took to it extremely well. Something about simulated delta wave patterns allowing inspiration for novel designs. Possibly a connection to the demigod-based crafting they had, but I wasn't certain at this point.
Across the rest of the Forge, it was a mixed bag. Tybalt, of course, slept whenever possible, while Fleet had taken to the occasional naps, seemingly to accentuate his laid-back style. I'm pretty sure Garment was humoring the entire process as an excuse to produce and model sleepwear, with Tetra roped in as sleepwear. For the Titans they claimed to appreciate the experience as a point of common ground with potential pilots, but saw no reason to continue practicing the behavior.
Meanwhile, the Wishes had their own approach that was considerably more animalistic. Aisha's Orudios had a stable that it was perfectly happy to occupy whenever Aisha decided it was time for sleep. Aisha had also taken to brushing down her unicorn before turning in each night, something Orudios seemed to enjoy, even if it was about as peak 'horse girl movie' as you could get. Tybalt had commissioned an elaborate cat bed for his Zaber Fang, with the Wish promptly deciding to sleep anywhere but. Tybalt fully approved of and encouraged that behavior.
Then there was my Dekalt. My Dekalt. It really drove home how different Zoids were from Wishes. As Wishes, all three forms had been my bodies in that nightmare world of split-second racing for my life. Without 'me' as a component, they weren't anything but empty shells. Just advanced robots, waiting for a directing signal.
Then they became Zoids. Another power causing spillover effects from one source to another. Zoids were artificial intelligences, but intelligences grown from a technorganic base. While they did best when paired with a pilot, they were able to operate on their own, and in doing so exhibited characteristics specific to the animals they represented. That had become evident when their spiritual selves were linked to the computer core. It was like we could see the animal they represented in its full form.
Animals. That was the thing. Tybalt's Zaber Claw acted like a cat. A large cat, but it was still a cat, much to Tybalt's satisfaction. Aisha's Orudios may have been a unicorn, but it was more than happy to default to horse-like behaviors. There wasn't really anything unicorn specific other than a tendency to pose in picturesque locations staring forlornly into the distance, usually for just long enough for Aisha to finish her painting. They both behaved like the animals they drew inspiration from. With the Dekalt there wasn't anything that could be so easy to draw from. Having a dragon was new ground.
Well, not entirely new ground. There were some behaviors that were outside normal scope of reference, but it turned out a lot of dragon behaviors existed in the overlap between cats and horses. While there was plenty of novel ground in dealing with a mythical apex predator, there were occasional moments of shockingly familiar acts, usually curiosity or pride. And of course, there was the tendency to sleep in random areas.
Yes, big surprise, the dragon liked to sleep a lot, and sleep on random objects. Usually, it seemed to be a mix of a cat' tendency to find the highest area possible and some kind of previously unseen instinct to seek out valuable, or at least shiny objects. That was evident now, as Dekalt could be seen curled around a stained-glass dome on one of the shinier buildings.
Aisha followed my eyes and smiled. "You know, I think everyone was afraid of how this time was going to affect me, or you, or Tetra or something. Never figured it would hit the Zoids the hardest."
It turns out when you take something with a spiritual presence and give it the opportunity for spiritual growth it tends to take it. Something that entered the spiritron system as a dragon that held the nature of a dragon in its own existence had grown into what was for most metaphysical purposes, a dragon.
It also definitely cast Aisha's unicorn in a new light.
"I don't think anyone knew what would happen from tying the Zoids into the system like this." I admitted. "We have limited experience with that technology, and we can't exactly tear one apart to figure out how it works." I paused. "Okay, I mean we could, and the workshop would restore it in a day, but obviously."
"Yeah, no hurting the unicorn." She said with a smile. "The tiger and dragon can probably look out for themselves."
"Don't undersell Orudios." I said. "And we won't know how this is going to play out until we get them out in the real world."
"Ugh, don't remind me." She groused.
"Still worried about the transition?" I asked.
"Obviously." She said, keeping her eyes on the path. "Coming back from a few hours was bad enough. I don't want to think about what it will be like running a year's worth of system updates on my own brain."
"The spiritron system is different from the previous magitech interface." I reiterated. "It should be a smoother transition."
I had walked Aisha through as many of the designs as I could cover during the training classes. Practices of the principles of compression tech needed something to practice on, allowing me to cover a much broader amount of subjects than I'd been able to before. That included at least the basics of the neural interface, though some magitech principles were trickier to convey, if not locked off entirely for anyone without my powers. At this point she could probably build the kind of interface I had thrown together for my first computer core, including the hybridization elements. A major accomplishment, but not quite enough to get a handle on spiritron computing.
"Hopefully." She said with a sigh. She looked up at the buildings around us, each in a distinct style and overbuilt for the whims of a single member of the Forge. Some of the enthusiasm had drained from her steps, probably from the prospect of an unpleasant return to the real world. "What's our schedule like, anyway?"
"Well, we aren't exactly on a time crunch." I explained. Even overshooting by a few hours would only shift our exit by a matter of seconds.
"Oh, right." She said as her head dropped again. Apparently reiterating the amount of time and experience waiting to be dumped into her body wasn't the best way to approach things.
"Look, even if we were on the old system, it wouldn't be that bad." I assured her. "I've been working to manage how everything's been processed, at least within the lessons. Like you said, it feels like a summer, not a year. You don't have that much that can hit you."
She nodded slowly. "I guess it's like how you only got one power the whole time." She said, then smiled. "You must really have a thing for gloves." She wiggled her eyebrows and I scoffed in response.
Over the course of the training, I had seen a failed connection to the Magic constellation followed by one successful connection, again to the Magic constellation, and then, much later, one more failed connection, again to the magic constellation. I hadn't expected this kind of accelerated perception to be a shortcut to power, so I suppose it was fortunate to get anything at all, even if it was the slowest rate I'd experienced since getting my power. The three hits on the same constellation were probably a coincidence. Probably, though it was a reminder that I was still effectively flying blind with my power.
The item I received was called the Glove of the East. Counting the gauntlet from my lantern shield I now had received four glove-related items from my power. Considering that started with Garment, it was understandable where Aisha's teasing was coming from.
The primary effect of the Glove of the East was massive enhancement of my skill with any mundane task. Instant masterful cooking, cleaning, sewing, or even things like massages. Anything that could be considered a part of normal life was taken to an almost ridiculous level of proficiency.
Of course, that wasn't the limit of it. The glove had an additional effect. By expending a great deal of spiritual energy, I could imbue items in order to be more receptive to my spiritual energy or chi. In fact, the two kind of blended together under the system the glove used. What was primarily used as a household convenience was actually one of the more potent enhancement items I had access to. What's more, it wasn't something that needed to be worked in at creation, meaning any item or equipment I had could be imbued.
That is, assuming I could cover the cost, which was significant. The benefits were significant, but spiritual energy was something I couldn't really cheat on, not like with mana, stamina, or mantic energy. It was definitely easier now that I had General Level Potential from Incredibly Craftsmanship, but that was unfortunately just potential. It would take time to build up to the point where expenditures like the Glove of the East required could be handled without a significant recovery period.
And of course, because none of my powers could be direct, it had come bundled with another nonsense power. Pure nonsense this time, unlike the variety of other free powers that turned out to be game changers. Deadbeat Holiday let me overreact to situations for comedic effect. And that was a serious overreaction. You could almost say a 'cartoonish' overreaction.
Yes, I had a dedicated power that let me react like a Looney Tunes character, complete with all the physical impossibility that entailed. While it would certainly freak out anyone subjected to it, it wasn't like Inexplicable Innuendo or Taunts where there was a practical benefit to it. It was just a ridiculous overreaction. Meaning I had been sitting on the power for months while avoiding giving Aisha any hint of it. I was guessing it would take my duplicates about three seconds to clue her in once they had the opportunity.
"I honestly have no idea where these powers come from." I admitted. "Much less why they seem to follow certain themes."
"Yeah, I know. Still, at least this one isn't alive." She paused. "Wait, does the gauntlet count? Now that it's a Teigu?"
"Eh?" I made a nebulous gesture. "It has viable components of a danger beast inside it. They aren't currently active, but it's possible to create a Teigu that's still alive, or modify one to be so, even excluding organism types." I said. "Most of the time you won't be looking at anything beyond some autonomous responses and additional abilities. You'd need a terrifying source to actually still have a level of intelligence persist through that."
A source like Tetra, even if I wasn't taking precise care to preserve her something would have been maintained. It was an aspect intrinsic to life fibers and probably the only reason I seriously agreed to add Teigu conversion to her Kamui procedure.
"Okay, so two living gloves, and two inert gloves. So, you're evened out now, right?" She joked.
I shook my head. "Wouldn't put Garment on the same level as the Avid Glove, not even as a joke." I said.
With a thought I extended my awareness to the portion of 'me' that existed beyond the spiritual computer interface. A single eye looked out from where its owner was pinned under someone's arm while futilely trying to bite the offending limb. My Avid Glove, restrained by a duplicate as they prepared for our exit from the simulation.
Nobody knew what would happen if someone was placed in the simulation while a portion of their self was outside. Unfortunately, it was also true that nobody knew what would happen if you took something like the Avid Glove into a developing serial phantasm. Weighing the possibilities, we defaulted to keeping the Avid Glove well away from the computer core.
As a consequence, I had visual access to the outside world, even if things progressed thousands of times slower. Since my duplicates were still able to enter data for our review, access to the Avid Glove's senses was mostly a novelty. Still, it showed that the link could be maintained through a photonic simulation without issue.
"Yeah, just teasing." She admitted. She glanced around before turning back to me. "I was going to check on Orudios, get ready for departure. Are you set?"
"Yeah." I said. "Some errands to run, final checks, then I'll be good for exit." I glanced down at her. "You know, we don't all need to leave at once. You can head out as soon as you're ready."
"I know, seconds of difference." She said. "Still, seems right to close this out with everyone."
I nodded. "I'm going to check in with Survey. After that everyone should be rounded up for exit."
"I'll be ready." She said, then glanced down at the heavy slip of wood that contained her painting kit and canvas. "Weird not NEEDING to take anything with. I mean, I know it can just be beamed out." She looked up before I could correct her. "I mean have its spiritual graft manifested in a replication field." She briefly rolled her eyes before continuing. "It's just, everything's been so real, it's weird not just taking it with us."
"I get it." I said. Normally I was at least passively aware of the technology behind any simulation I was in. The previous soul immersion systems weren't as bad as the earlier mental data-links, but there was always a sense of distance, like I could feel the undercurrent that was driving the world.
I didn't have that here. Or, more specifically, the medium that the world was constructed on was so advanced that I couldn't bend it like I could any other system. This was a spiritron computational environment running inside a system of photonic crystals. It was possible that some kind of spiritron hacking could manipulate the environment directly, but that was an entirely new field of magitech, and one so specialized that it just wasn't worth pursuing, at least not at this point.
"Yeah." Aisha shook her head, then began to split off towards Orudios' stable. "I'll catch up with you at the relay." She said.
"See you there." I called back before heading off my own way.
The 'campus' wasn't exactly a masterstroke of planning. Buildings had been added mostly on the whims of anyone who wanted to try some activity or thought it would be fun to have a particular facility. Basically, it was what could have happened to my Workshop if my duplicates had indulged every whim of the team on a moment-by-moment basis. Really, it was only my aesthetic powers that kept the whole thing presentable and Fleet's layout of paths that allowed it to be easily navigated.
Working my way past the arcade, garage, concert hall, and machine shop, I eventually found the central archive. It was Survey's place, as well as a location closely tied into the computer core's databanks. The mutable nature of the place made interfaces with other systems tricky to arrange, but it helped to have a specific location to direct information towards. Survey had further addressed the problem by mirroring all of her files and analysis to the virtual space. The archives were the primary focus of that data, and served as our retreat when planning actions for upcoming operations.
Technically they were accessible to everyone, but Aisha left it well alone when she was informed it was connected to the thing I couldn't tell her about. The rest of the Forge had their own buildings with more specialized data access and were generally content to allow me and Survey to handle the initial investigation.
I found Survey in the lobby at a central desk surrounded by physical representations of a quantity of data that couldn't have fit in a building a thousand times the size of the archives. Still, focused design with the intent of assisting with a specific task was one of my strengths, and something Survey had come to appreciate since obtaining a physical form.
"To address any concerns, I am prepared for our scheduled departure. I am merely confirming the final aspects of our analysis and conclusions with my parallel iteration prior to exiting the virtual environment." She called out as I entered.
"That's fine." I said, letting the weight of the room sink in. After the types of information we had reviewed during our meetings, there was a character to the place that all the elegant design in the world couldn't address.
"I understand your discomfort and thank you for assisting with the comprehensive assessment we have achieved." Survey said.
"Right." I said. "Hopefully it will be enough."
She looked up at me. "I trust that it will make a profound difference in our operations, though I question the increased aggression with which you wish to pursue interference activities."
I let out a slow breath. During my own 'downtime' I had worked with Survey to review every detail of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Every scrap of information going back to their founding. Everything that Survey had been able to obtain by hook or by crook. I had walked through over twenty years of atrocities, from the simple barbarism under King when the group operated closer to the Teeth's modus operandi all the way up to their most recent actions. Every personal account, police report, medical record, and scrap of media, as well as anything that Survey had been able to fill in from her own analysis, presented with varying levels of confidence.
It went further than just what the gang had done. Profiles of each member, from the point of their recruitment stretching forward and backwards. Personal history and records when available, theories and approximations when it wasn't. Sometimes there was nothing, like with Nice Guy or Breed. People who were effectively ghosts, even after they joined the Nine. Then you had people like the Siberian or Crawler, who were basically blank spaces prior to their life as a cape with little more to go on after that. Then you had the outliers, the ones with full dossiers and extensive histories, either in the gang or prior to joining.
And I had to go through them all. Through all the information. Survey could arrange it as elegantly as possible, but she didn't have my thinker power. Without access to my passenger there was a limit to what she could accomplish. I was the one who had to personally review everything and try to sift out any hint I could.
Because of that, I knew. I knew everything the Slaughterhouse Nine was capable of. I knew every city they had attacked, every record of every person who had suffered at their hands. I knew the cruel games they played when recruiting members and the cost those recruitment drives had on the places where they were conducted. And I knew as much background as possible of every active member.
I knew the exact timeline of Sphere's descent into madness following the Simurgh's attack and the death of his family. I knew everything from the PRT report of Bonesaw's home and what had been left of her family. I knew the details of Burnscar's first rampage and subsequent kill order. I knew the full assessment of Shatterbird's first cry and every step she took before joining the Nine. And I knew more than that.
Survey was nothing if not comprehensive. Details of the Nine weren't easy to get, but Survey had a very different definition of easy. She had records of the asylum where Burnscar had been held, including a full assessment of her mental state and how it was impacted by her power. She had scrounged up every scrap of data about Riley, the girl Bonesaw used to be before the tragedy that happened to her family, something that hit particularly hard for me. She dug into psychological assessments of members of the Nine, both official and independently produced. She scoured every available source for any scrap of information that might help, and I had sifted through every disturbing, bloody fragment of it. And together, we had come to a conclusion.
The Nine should not exist.
That wasn't something I was throwing out in the abstract sense. I meant it literally. The Nine should not have lasted this long. They were a dangerous team, but the world was full of dangers. With the exception of the Siberian, none of the team were invincible, not even Crawler. Given the challenges they had either overcome, outmaneuvered, or avoided completely it was clear, there was something else in play.
Jack Slash was regarded as a brilliant leader and tactician, and certainly had the ego to support such claims. What he lacked was the ability. Frankly, there was no way they would have been able to survive as long as they had without some other factor, the same factor that made it essential to keep Aisha out of the loop.
Things really fell into place when examining Protectorate analysis of the Nine. Simply put, there wasn't any, or at least not any worth noting. Everything the Protectorate did in response to the Nine was reactive and often counterproductive. You had better analysis coming from non-powered members, but as soon as it got passed up the chain it became garbage again. If they were trying to find the absolutely worst method of tracking and controlling the Nine then mission accomplished, but from a fresh perspective from someone with the unpleasant task of digging through every detail of their existence, it became clear.
It had been theorized that Jack had some thinker power to assist in his leadership. Theorized, then dismissed, but always when the assessment moved to the Think Tank or division thinkers, or the assessment of experienced team leaders. As soon as it hit a parahuman it became worthless.
There is the question of where the line between thinker and master really lies. How much knowledge and control of a situation can you have before your manipulation leans into master territory? The answer was moot in this case. Jack Slash had not led the Nine to success through brilliant insight and tactical genius. He achieved victory through the incompetence of his opponents.
It wasn't always obvious, but if you looked at enough data, and by God had I done that, it became clear. Every time the noose was closing around their team somebody would come down with a case of stupid. They would reassess targets, deviate from their usual tactical behavior, order sudden shifts in operation, or any number of other deviations. The Nine had been active for over twenty years and should have been wiped out a hundred times. Probably ten times that, if there was actually a coordinated effort against them, rather than the mess of analysis and cross purpose operations.
Parahumans were the weak link. It was a terrifying concept, but seriously, who would suspect a master of only being able to affect parahumans, especially if the manipulations were as subtle as they appeared, only being overt at the direst of situations? Most people wouldn't even understand how that was possible. Fortunately, I had a supercarrier plotting out the answer to that exact question. I wasn't certain the passengers were involved, but it was the most likely possibility.
Until we figured out the method behind it, information controls would need to stay in place. That was the more concerning aspect, and you could see evidence of it from the Nine's movements. Jack avoided cities where he could be threatened or defeated, where the group would likely see heavy losses despite whatever influence he was capable of. Looking at the situations in retrospect there was absolutely no way he could have acquired the information from conventional means, not with that level of consistent avoidance of threats. The power went both ways, and alerting an unprotected parahuman would tip off Jack.
The sad thing was that somebody else could probably have figured this out. Not on the timescale that I had, and not with the level of certainty we held, but with enough eyes on the situation someone would have seen the truth. Once the theory was in place the Nine's behavior would have confirmed it. Measures could have been taken to address the problem, provide information containment and finally mount a serious resistance to the Nine. But that hadn't happened, and it wouldn't happen, because people didn't talk about the Nine.
Survey had needed to work to get all the information she had. There was no national task force working twenty-four/seven on the problem. Not consolidated information center, no repository of information. The amount of data a local branch could request if they had the Nine on their doorstep was paltry, without even full assessments of the Nine's capabilities. The Nine had earned their status as an S-Class threat through the death, destruction, and devastation they wrought, but everyone was content to ignore the problem and leave things to the Capes.
It was almost funny, to see the problem I had to become what my family was always worried about. The exact thing they were afraid that keeping my Sphere moon base would convince people I was. They were concerned I would become a Slaughterhouse fanboy, and now I knew more about their actions than even the most deranged and devoted follower of gruesome exploits.
"Expanded interference in the Nine's approach increases risk of discovery." Survey warned. "I would advise against such measures, though I understand your motivation for this decision."
I nodded. A consequence of walking through every report, every confrontation, every scrap of medical data was knowledge of exactly what was waiting for the people who got caught in their way. Sometimes if someone stumbled onto the Nine they were ended quickly. A slice from Jack Slash or Mannequin, a strike from the Siberian, or even a more aggressive action from Crawler. Not pleasant, but quick. Then you had slower fates. Basically, anything from Burnscar, Shatterbird's more creative uses of her power, and whatever Bonesaw could come up with. That slowness sometimes left people alive, though consistently in a state where they wished they weren't.
That was just the consequences of crossing their path. Active hunts or the stunts they pulled during their attacks were in another league entirely. I wasn't going to allow them to try any of that in my city, but I NEEDED to do what I could to mitigate the damage they would cause, even if I had to manipulate every aspect of their route to do so.
"It's an acceptable risk." I stated. "Once we have their location we should be able to influence things sufficiently to reduce casualties to the absolute minimum." And hopefully keep those non-lethal, if at all possible. "If we can keep the route either too busy for them to risk exposing themselves, or completely clear we can eliminate incidental attacks."
Survey nodded. "I would posit that the group may become suspicious of a run of 'good fortune', but analysis has shown consistent encounters with statistically unlikely scenarios, seemingly to a lack of awareness from the members of the Nine."
"We don't know how Jack's power works, or even how much awareness he or the other members have of it." I admitted. "This could pass without notice, or it could come off as a massive red flag."
"And if the Nine become aware of our observation and divert to another target?" Survey asked.
"Then we strike." I said in a cold voice. "The closer they are to the city the better justification we have, but they aren't getting away. I want to minimize the aftermath of this, but with a choice between a global panic and Jack getting away, there's no choice. He dies, one way or another."
"Understood." Survey said clearly, and I noticed some conviction in her voice.
Survey's sense of empathy was a complicated one, but it was safe to say that she had acquired a level of fondness for humanity. Sometimes that came off as admiration of a kaleidoscope or fractal pattern, enjoyment of the complexity, but the feeling was definitely there, no matter what it was based on. Walking through crimes of the Slaughterhouse Nine and observing my reaction to every incident as I pushed through, leaning on militant and inhuman mindsets to counterbalance my disgust, it had clearly had an effect on her.
Prior to this, the mission was a technical one. Jack represented a threat to the world. A non-specific threat, but a massive one. It was something Survey had to deal with. Now though? Now it was something Survey wanted to deal with. Step by step, we had walked through every way the Nine had damaged the world, and now it was our chance to address that.
"Of course, locating the Nine will involve additional complications." She pointed out.
I sighed and nodded. A consequence of pressing my passenger as hard as possible. Assessment of risk and threat levels, including risk of detection. To put in bluntly, the risk of detection was incredibly high. Sending anyone anywhere near the group had the certainty of tipping them off.
It had been a difficult problem to parse. With the help of my passenger, I could assess things to a more nuanced level, weighing each member of the Nine in turn. It wasn't Jack's unknown power that presented the risk, or Crawler's senses. Mannequin hadn't built some secret environmental detection system, and while Bonesaw remained a concern through drones and zombified capes, she wasn't the source of this particular problem. The Siberian had some element remote to her, something connected with her weakness, but while that was a massive find it wasn't what I was looking for. Shatterbird and Burnscar similarly came up as negative.
The answer eventually fell into place through assessment of the group's recent activity. Once again, if you weren't neck deep in Slaughterhouse Nine analysis it was the kind of thing you could miss, even though every agency in the country should be on watch for the signs of recruitment.
Some were more obvious than others, but none of them were completely subtle. The Siberian's hunts never were. Murderous cape conflicts spread across an urban area tend to leave their mark, and if you know what to look for you can piece things together.
It still hadn't been enough to figure out WHO they had recruited. Fortunately, we had all the time in the world to work through things, as unpleasant as they were.
The key had come from assessing threats from the Nine, specifically to people in the city. That's when things began to come together. Eight individuals stuck out, eliciting significant reactions of concern from my passenger. Just the number you would see in a membership drive.
It wouldn't have been the first time the Nine had needed to go from one recruitment to the next. They tended to be bloody affairs, and created something of a self-sustaining cycle. The loss of Chuckles had been patched by Murder Rat, which was a particularly unpleasant thing to learn about in the level of detail I had, but that kind of creation had clearly been a temporary measure. There were only a few blurry photos of Bonesaw's creation, but the first-hand reports told a grim story.
Just another thing to address, along with the rest of the Nine's victims.
I wasn't sure if the Nine were still coming for the purpose of recruiting new members. This kind of precognition effect was well past its point of reliability, but it was still valuable. Even out of date information on the future could provide insight into the motivations of people who would have carried out those actions.
There were eight points of concern that my power had identified. The first, and definitely most concerning, was directed at the Travelers. If I had to guess it would be whatever Tattletale was freaking out about, and served as another reason to make sure the Nine never stepped foot into the city.
The second was Hookwolf. This was much more straightforward, as you'd be hard pressed to find a better candidate for the group. Survey's assessment suggested he would be opposed to recruitment, but he wouldn't have been the first reluctant member of the Nine.
The third I could probably have figured out without the help of my power, just from the information I'd reviewed in Burnscar's past. Labyrinth, Faultline's shaker 12, was housed in the same asylum as Burnscar and was involved in group therapy. There was no question as to the connection, or why she would be a target.
The fourth, concerningly, was Rachel. The girl did have a violent past and an aesthetic that would resonate with the Nine, but the connection seemed a bit of a stretch. Then again, I had only known her for a short period and in fairly atypical circumstances.
Fifth, there was Ashley Stillons, the Damsel of Distress. With her history and powers, it was easy to see why she'd be targeted. As one of the heaviest hitters in the city, it stood as another point of concern, and one I was happy to head off.
The sixth target was honestly perplexing. I could only imagine that Armsmaster must have been a target of Mannequin, but exactly what he would have tried to achieve with such a nomination, rather than an outright attack, was anyone's guess. It was probably more evidence of my information being out of date. Otherwise, there were some serious concerns as to how the Protectorate leader had been handling the aftermath of the city's disaster.
The seventh was as perplexing as Armsmaster, but much more concerning. Panacea. I could only assume Bonesaw's involvement, and admittedly the girl wasn't in the best place, but I couldn't see her turning villain, not unless literally everyone in her life completely failed her on every level. Incredibly, there was actually a bigger concern under that, and to get bigger than the Slaughterhouse Nine things need to be very serious.
There was only one thing that stood above the importance of putting down Jack Slash and that was keeping Taylor safe, but in Taylor's case it wasn't just her. There were other factors needed to secure the event that she would accomplish, and two of them were in the city. Both Flechette and Panacea were vitally important. Not as important as Taylor, but close. Their absence made what was already a complicated problem much more difficult.
Even more concerningly, there was some connection to Bonesaw. Not a vital one, but she played some role. Of all the pieces, she was the one we could afford to drop, but that would leave me to try to fill in for the damaged, psychotic child. Judging by the quality of Bonesaw's work, which I had become very familiar with, compared to my own medical technology, I think I was up for the task.
Then you had the final piece; one I almost would have overlooked if I hadn't been literally going through every parahuman in the city to check my passenger's reaction against them. Honestly, he was on the bottom of the list because I hadn't expected to find anything there, but it turned out to be the key to what I was looking for.
Alec was being targeted by the Nine, and it was personal.
Superficial accordance to the Unwritten Rules didn't apply when dealing with the Nine. I would have instructed Survey to investigate, but as it turned out, she already had the information, along with the rest of what had been stored on the local PRT's computers.
Alec was actually Jean-Paul Vasil, also known as Hijack, son of Heartbreaker. Triggered at the age of ten, with the criminal history you would expect from that kind of environment. Skimming over the unpleasant details, his work cumulated in a murder charge that saw him leave and assume a new identity in Brockton Bay.
Without the rest of my Passenger's insight, it could come across as fairly damning, but I knew that Alec was trying to get away from something bad. I knew that my healing had affected his coping strategies and mental state, and I knew that he had been restraining himself from the worst aspects of his power.
Other than Bakuda. It really brought the whole incident into focus. Honestly, as much as I absolutely hate master powers, if we had the extra few minutes that Alec needed to finish securing control, the entire situation in the city could have turned around.
Alec was the key, because he wasn't the only member of his family to depart, and that's where things fell into place.
Cherie Vasil, also known as Cherish. Emotional manipulation and sensing with a large, but unconfirmed range. My passenger was able to confirm that the range was at least substantial, stretching beyond the bounds of any city. Looking at the evidence of the Nine's recruitment, it was clear what was happening. Specifically, the suicides.
Alec might have a murder charge, but he was nothing on his sister. Still not something I was going to completely overlook, but it did provide context to the situation.
A week ago, someone like Cherish would have been a nightmare. A near perfect threat for the last gaps in my defenses. Well, those gaps had been filled, so she just stood as an inconvenience, something stopping me from being able to approach the Nine with anything that she might be able to sense. And until I knew more about the limits of her power we were going to be restricting ourselves to remote viewing and possibly some carefully placed and well hidden sensors.
"We can deal with the complications of finding the Nine." I said. "We are in a much better situation than we were prior to this work." Survey and I had seen less than half the downtime of the rest of the group, but it was unquestionably worth it.
Survey nodded and rose from her seat. "In that case, we should meet with the rest of the group for departure from the simulated environment." I returned the nod and we began walking to the meeting point. "In any case, I believe with our preparation, we will be fortunate in our task."
I was about to speak, then felt another connection form. Only the forth in the time that we had been in the virtual space, but a significant one nonetheless. I smiled widely as my power secured the mote from the Capstone constellation and I felt the effect of Burning Bright settle over me.
"Yeah, I don't think fortune is going to be a problem for us anymore." I said with a wicked grin.
(Author's note: Limited writing time has pushed the meeting with Uppercrust to the next chapter. Additionally, I did not expect to end up clearing every perk from Binbougami Ga! in a single chapter. The full implications of these powers will be covered in the next chapter, along with Joe's meeting with Uppercrust.)
Jumpchain abilities this chapter:
Glove of the East (Binbougami Ga!) 300:
This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! It's burning gri-... oh! Sorry, wrong show. This single glove comes in any color and style, and is actually quite useful! You can channel your spiritual energies through it to help you with mundane tasks; your cooking might turn out excellent, cleaning takes less work for better results, and massages work WONDERS when you hit those points. If you channel a LOT of spiritual energy, you might even imbue items and equipment to improve them and be more receptive to your spiritual/chi powers! Heart symbol optional.
-Glove of the East when imbuing items can become stronger and more efficient, even working in tandem with your spiritual energy. However, the more you wish to improve it the more spiritual energy you will need. As you imbue it more and more, you will require exponential amounts for even the smallest gains.
Deadbeat Holiday (Binbougami Ga!) Free:
WHAT WAS THAT YOU ARROGANT, ENTITLED SH-... oh, sorry. Was practicing for something else. As you can no doubt guess, this will help you figure out just how to overreact to a situation for comedic effect, as well as WHEN to enact those very moments. You'll get used to it in time, unless you're like a certain grumpy pants. Yeah I said it, GRUMPY PAAAANTS.
Burning Bright (Binbougami Ga!) 300:
The powers of Fortune Energy are great within you; so great that it defies logic. Your energies are so bountiful that your techniques/effects using them are greatly increased, and your overall luck with them has likewise increased. Why, it's likely that given time to train you can unlock different abilities and methods to use the amount of Fortune Energy you possess. Furthermore, you gain the ability to toggle on or off a 'passive' absorbing ability to slowly drain the fortune energy of others and pull them into yourself. Just be wary about staying around people too long with this power. Cannot take with 'A Song For The Hopeless'.
-The maximum Fortune Energy/Misfortune Energy capacity one may possess will only grow slowly with age, and cannot be increased with training. 'A Song For The Hopeless' or 'Burning Bright' will increase the rate your maximum capacity grows, but it will always be at a fixed rate due to age.
-'Burning Bright' likewise is limited in that while you can temporarily supercharge yourself, your maximum Fortune Energy reservoir can only increase with age and not training. In addition, while you can try to supercharge yourself enough to become a god, you will only become a low-level one in the beginning. It will take hundreds of years for your reservoir to grow truly impressive
-'Burning Bright' grants an AoE Fortune Energy-draining field that is a 10-15 feet radius around you, and cannot be improved. However, the more people around you the more you will drain by volume. A temporary timespan of 3-12 hours will not harm the person, but the more time you spend around others with the field on, the more detrimental it will be to them. Spending 8-10 years around a person constantly with the field on will likely result in their death, if they are mortal. The more powerful the entity, the less likely this will occur.
I made my way across the open fields to where Aisha was finishing the last of her downtime. One final break period before we finally left the spiritron environment and returned to the real world. As I approached she inclined her head in acknowledgement, but didn't take her eyes off her work.
"You're back to watercolors?" I asked as I looked at her nearly completed painting, comparing it to the scene laid out before us.
Over the year/hours we had spent in the system the environment had progressed from a grassy disk surrounded by a misty void to a stunningly picturesque blend of natural landscape and meticulously designed structures. The lack of physical necessities from those who inhabited the space had caused things to develop with a slightly surreal feel. Essentially, whatever people wanted to explore was loaded in, resulting in a blend of styles and geographic features that you could easily believe was the product of a spiritual realm.
Aisha was wearing a loose white shirt, a pleated black skirt, and boots. It was more of Garment's work, indulging in the free time and plentiful resources of the simulation. Despite a lack of a clear daily cycle, everyone had an ample wardrobe provided to them, effectively going through several fashion seasons in the time we'd been here. My own tendency for jeans and t-shirts had been broken down shortly into the endeavor, leading to a wider range of styles than I would previously have been willing to indulge. Thankfully, I was back in familiar clothes for the final hours, though with a fitted dress shirt in place of my usual choices.
Of course, there had also been opportunities for supporting various hobbies. This was one of Aisha's 'painting outfits', and one of the more reserved ones that Garment had designed. I watched as Aisha made a final stroke with her brush before setting it down in her painting kit. "Last run before we log out, so I figured I'd get back to basics. Didn't feel like breaking out the oil paints right now."
I nodded as I examined the painting. This work fell outside the scope of the training I had prepared, but that was kind of the point. Breaks from the intense lessons, compressing mastery of the skill book into a manageable timeline.
"You've gotten really good at that." I said with sincerity. Aisha huffed, but smiled at the compliment.
"I had help. And it's still nowhere close to your work." She replied as she began to pack things away. Looking back, she cut me off before I could respond. "I know you can't help it, but still, it kind of puts things in perspective when you're working next to the master."
"I didn't master anything. It just came at once." I said. "And honestly, I'd like it if I could turn some of these powers down from time to time."
"Yeah, I've seen what your handwriting looks like. I get why you need Matrix to help you with that out in public." She looked out into the distance. "Speaking of which…"
When we started our training there was nothing but a circle of grass, a single tree, and the beginnings of a classroom. Now there were rolling hills, fields, forests, and a river leading to something between a lake and an inland sea, all surrounding something that looked like a college campus with a very diverse architectural history. Gothic masonry, Greek columns, modernist designs, brutalist structures overrun with vegetation, a domed library, and a collection of roads and footpaths crisscrossing the area in a design that seemed nearly random, but was actually based on precise optimization of the routes between the buildings.
Aisha's gaze was focused towards the river mouth where the square sails of a three masted sailing ship could be seen gliding towards a dedicated berth. Everyone had found their own ways of amusing themselves in the allotted downtime, and the ship was a joint project of the Matrix and Fleet that slowly roped in more people as the time went on.
Okay, Garment signed on as soon as she found out there was a justification for period accurate uniforms. For Tetra it was mostly because she enjoyed either climbing in or being the rigging. Tybalt joined for a combination of the authentic cannons and because ship's cat was an official position, though his eventual promotion to gunnery officer had led to him ceding the position to his Zaber Fang. I doubt that position had ever been filled by a saber-toothed tiger, but somehow I felt the naval militaries of old would approve of the image.
Even people who never officially took part in the project occasionally joined in. Given the amount of downtime everyone had cycled through for at least a couple of runs on the ship, even the Titan cores.
It wasn't just a vanity project either. I was covering the principles of compression technology as effectively as I could, but the work needed practice to fully master. When you considered its technical use the natural avenue of thought would be multi-form weapons, compressed vehicles, or efficient technology use, but it was hardly limited to those applications. Once the technology was mastered it could apply to anything, as was evident as the ship began to quickly fold in on itself.
Mastery of 'Bigger on the Inside' could compress a car to the point where it would fit into a cupholder. That was a compression factor of roughly a hundred in every dimension. Of course, the mass of the object remained unchanged, so the wooden briefcase that Fleet carried away from the dock weighed thousands of pounds. Frankly, the insane densities that the compression technology could produce were nearly as useful as the compression itself.
Aisha just smiled at the display before folding down her painting kit, reducing the bulky case to a single slip of extremely dense wood. Lacking Fleet's monstrous strength, she gave more regard to the heft of the object, but I could see a look of pride from her at the successful collapse.
"You sure we can bring this stuff out without trouble?" She asked. "I know the process behind the compression isn't exactly normal."
That was putting it mildly. Practice from the book allowed what could only be described as a legitimate superpower. Not a cape power, there was no relation between the effect and other aspects of parahuman abilities, but still something definitely beyond what should have been possible.
"Not the same object, but it should be possible to fabricate exact duplicates of everything you've made in the simulation." I explained. "This is a different level from most simulations. With spiritron backing for the modeling of the objects, it's more than just a replicated copy. You have levels of continuity of effect." I smiled at her. "You'll be able to take all your paintings with you."
She grinned back as we walked towards the campus. "Not sure where I'll put them. Hanging them up in my room might raise some questions. I wasn't BAD at art class, but nothing like this. Bit too much of a change to be able to sell."
Her comment brought up a more pressing concern, one I'd had from before we began the training. "Do you know what you're going to tell your dad or your brother if they notice something?"
"Worked it out already." She assured me. "Went over everything with Survey." She smiled widely. "Garment's lawyer lady put me through comportment classes to make sure I could help out properly. Even have details on the course syllabus and when we covered what."
That was the advantage of excessive amounts of time to consider your problems. It was something I had been benefiting from myself, both with respect to the situation in the city and with the Slaughterhouse Nine. I had been able to function at an accelerated rate before, but not like this, with full immersion and the support of the entire team. Taking the time to slowly work through a problem and making sure you were approaching it the right way made a world of difference.
"Yeah, I guess it's nice having the time you need to deal with everything." I agreed.
Aisha nodded. "Still hasn't felt like a year." She said. "Not like a FULL year." She looked around again. "More like a summer vacation, or something like that. Which I guess matches up with the downtime hours."
"More or less." I said. "Especially if you're sleeping through most of it." I added in a teasing tone.
"Hey, that was time well spent." She protested. "Don't care how elective it is in this place, I am not giving up on sleep. Not after that first week."
Early in the training program, after running for a hundred and seventy hours straight Aisha finally realized that if she didn't schedule sleep time during downtime it wasn't going to happen. Thus, the addition of bedding accommodations for every member of the Forge, including the Zoids and Titans.
That was the thing. In a purely spiritual environment sleep wasn't necessary, but it also wasn't limited. Even people who didn't need sleep or who normally couldn't sleep were able to within the spiritron simulation. Aisha's insistence that everyone at least try it had mixed results, with Survey quickly declaring that it wasn't for her while the Matrix surprisingly took to it extremely well. Something about simulated delta wave patterns allowing inspiration for novel designs. Possibly a connection to the demigod-based crafting they had, but I wasn't certain at this point.
Across the rest of the Forge, it was a mixed bag. Tybalt, of course, slept whenever possible, while Fleet had taken to the occasional naps, seemingly to accentuate his laid-back style. I'm pretty sure Garment was humoring the entire process as an excuse to produce and model sleepwear, with Tetra roped in as sleepwear. For the Titans they claimed to appreciate the experience as a point of common ground with potential pilots, but saw no reason to continue practicing the behavior.
Meanwhile, the Wishes had their own approach that was considerably more animalistic. Aisha's Orudios had a stable that it was perfectly happy to occupy whenever Aisha decided it was time for sleep. Aisha had also taken to brushing down her unicorn before turning in each night, something Orudios seemed to enjoy, even if it was about as peak 'horse girl movie' as you could get. Tybalt had commissioned an elaborate cat bed for his Zaber Fang, with the Wish promptly deciding to sleep anywhere but. Tybalt fully approved of and encouraged that behavior.
Then there was my Dekalt. My Dekalt. It really drove home how different Zoids were from Wishes. As Wishes, all three forms had been my bodies in that nightmare world of split-second racing for my life. Without 'me' as a component, they weren't anything but empty shells. Just advanced robots, waiting for a directing signal.
Then they became Zoids. Another power causing spillover effects from one source to another. Zoids were artificial intelligences, but intelligences grown from a technorganic base. While they did best when paired with a pilot, they were able to operate on their own, and in doing so exhibited characteristics specific to the animals they represented. That had become evident when their spiritual selves were linked to the computer core. It was like we could see the animal they represented in its full form.
Animals. That was the thing. Tybalt's Zaber Claw acted like a cat. A large cat, but it was still a cat, much to Tybalt's satisfaction. Aisha's Orudios may have been a unicorn, but it was more than happy to default to horse-like behaviors. There wasn't really anything unicorn specific other than a tendency to pose in picturesque locations staring forlornly into the distance, usually for just long enough for Aisha to finish her painting. They both behaved like the animals they drew inspiration from. With the Dekalt there wasn't anything that could be so easy to draw from. Having a dragon was new ground.
Well, not entirely new ground. There were some behaviors that were outside normal scope of reference, but it turned out a lot of dragon behaviors existed in the overlap between cats and horses. While there was plenty of novel ground in dealing with a mythical apex predator, there were occasional moments of shockingly familiar acts, usually curiosity or pride. And of course, there was the tendency to sleep in random areas.
Yes, big surprise, the dragon liked to sleep a lot, and sleep on random objects. Usually, it seemed to be a mix of a cat' tendency to find the highest area possible and some kind of previously unseen instinct to seek out valuable, or at least shiny objects. That was evident now, as Dekalt could be seen curled around a stained-glass dome on one of the shinier buildings.
Aisha followed my eyes and smiled. "You know, I think everyone was afraid of how this time was going to affect me, or you, or Tetra or something. Never figured it would hit the Zoids the hardest."
It turns out when you take something with a spiritual presence and give it the opportunity for spiritual growth it tends to take it. Something that entered the spiritron system as a dragon that held the nature of a dragon in its own existence had grown into what was for most metaphysical purposes, a dragon.
It also definitely cast Aisha's unicorn in a new light.
"I don't think anyone knew what would happen from tying the Zoids into the system like this." I admitted. "We have limited experience with that technology, and we can't exactly tear one apart to figure out how it works." I paused. "Okay, I mean we could, and the workshop would restore it in a day, but obviously."
"Yeah, no hurting the unicorn." She said with a smile. "The tiger and dragon can probably look out for themselves."
"Don't undersell Orudios." I said. "And we won't know how this is going to play out until we get them out in the real world."
"Ugh, don't remind me." She groused.
"Still worried about the transition?" I asked.
"Obviously." She said, keeping her eyes on the path. "Coming back from a few hours was bad enough. I don't want to think about what it will be like running a year's worth of system updates on my own brain."
"The spiritron system is different from the previous magitech interface." I reiterated. "It should be a smoother transition."
I had walked Aisha through as many of the designs as I could cover during the training classes. Practices of the principles of compression tech needed something to practice on, allowing me to cover a much broader amount of subjects than I'd been able to before. That included at least the basics of the neural interface, though some magitech principles were trickier to convey, if not locked off entirely for anyone without my powers. At this point she could probably build the kind of interface I had thrown together for my first computer core, including the hybridization elements. A major accomplishment, but not quite enough to get a handle on spiritron computing.
"Hopefully." She said with a sigh. She looked up at the buildings around us, each in a distinct style and overbuilt for the whims of a single member of the Forge. Some of the enthusiasm had drained from her steps, probably from the prospect of an unpleasant return to the real world. "What's our schedule like, anyway?"
"Well, we aren't exactly on a time crunch." I explained. Even overshooting by a few hours would only shift our exit by a matter of seconds.
"Oh, right." She said as her head dropped again. Apparently reiterating the amount of time and experience waiting to be dumped into her body wasn't the best way to approach things.
"Look, even if we were on the old system, it wouldn't be that bad." I assured her. "I've been working to manage how everything's been processed, at least within the lessons. Like you said, it feels like a summer, not a year. You don't have that much that can hit you."
She nodded slowly. "I guess it's like how you only got one power the whole time." She said, then smiled. "You must really have a thing for gloves." She wiggled her eyebrows and I scoffed in response.
Over the course of the training, I had seen a failed connection to the Magic constellation followed by one successful connection, again to the Magic constellation, and then, much later, one more failed connection, again to the magic constellation. I hadn't expected this kind of accelerated perception to be a shortcut to power, so I suppose it was fortunate to get anything at all, even if it was the slowest rate I'd experienced since getting my power. The three hits on the same constellation were probably a coincidence. Probably, though it was a reminder that I was still effectively flying blind with my power.
The item I received was called the Glove of the East. Counting the gauntlet from my lantern shield I now had received four glove-related items from my power. Considering that started with Garment, it was understandable where Aisha's teasing was coming from.
The primary effect of the Glove of the East was massive enhancement of my skill with any mundane task. Instant masterful cooking, cleaning, sewing, or even things like massages. Anything that could be considered a part of normal life was taken to an almost ridiculous level of proficiency.
Of course, that wasn't the limit of it. The glove had an additional effect. By expending a great deal of spiritual energy, I could imbue items in order to be more receptive to my spiritual energy or chi. In fact, the two kind of blended together under the system the glove used. What was primarily used as a household convenience was actually one of the more potent enhancement items I had access to. What's more, it wasn't something that needed to be worked in at creation, meaning any item or equipment I had could be imbued.
That is, assuming I could cover the cost, which was significant. The benefits were significant, but spiritual energy was something I couldn't really cheat on, not like with mana, stamina, or mantic energy. It was definitely easier now that I had General Level Potential from Incredibly Craftsmanship, but that was unfortunately just potential. It would take time to build up to the point where expenditures like the Glove of the East required could be handled without a significant recovery period.
And of course, because none of my powers could be direct, it had come bundled with another nonsense power. Pure nonsense this time, unlike the variety of other free powers that turned out to be game changers. Deadbeat Holiday let me overreact to situations for comedic effect. And that was a serious overreaction. You could almost say a 'cartoonish' overreaction.
Yes, I had a dedicated power that let me react like a Looney Tunes character, complete with all the physical impossibility that entailed. While it would certainly freak out anyone subjected to it, it wasn't like Inexplicable Innuendo or Taunts where there was a practical benefit to it. It was just a ridiculous overreaction. Meaning I had been sitting on the power for months while avoiding giving Aisha any hint of it. I was guessing it would take my duplicates about three seconds to clue her in once they had the opportunity.
"I honestly have no idea where these powers come from." I admitted. "Much less why they seem to follow certain themes."
"Yeah, I know. Still, at least this one isn't alive." She paused. "Wait, does the gauntlet count? Now that it's a Teigu?"
"Eh?" I made a nebulous gesture. "It has viable components of a danger beast inside it. They aren't currently active, but it's possible to create a Teigu that's still alive, or modify one to be so, even excluding organism types." I said. "Most of the time you won't be looking at anything beyond some autonomous responses and additional abilities. You'd need a terrifying source to actually still have a level of intelligence persist through that."
A source like Tetra, even if I wasn't taking precise care to preserve her something would have been maintained. It was an aspect intrinsic to life fibers and probably the only reason I seriously agreed to add Teigu conversion to her Kamui procedure.
"Okay, so two living gloves, and two inert gloves. So, you're evened out now, right?" She joked.
I shook my head. "Wouldn't put Garment on the same level as the Avid Glove, not even as a joke." I said.
With a thought I extended my awareness to the portion of 'me' that existed beyond the spiritual computer interface. A single eye looked out from where its owner was pinned under someone's arm while futilely trying to bite the offending limb. My Avid Glove, restrained by a duplicate as they prepared for our exit from the simulation.
Nobody knew what would happen if someone was placed in the simulation while a portion of their self was outside. Unfortunately, it was also true that nobody knew what would happen if you took something like the Avid Glove into a developing serial phantasm. Weighing the possibilities, we defaulted to keeping the Avid Glove well away from the computer core.
As a consequence, I had visual access to the outside world, even if things progressed thousands of times slower. Since my duplicates were still able to enter data for our review, access to the Avid Glove's senses was mostly a novelty. Still, it showed that the link could be maintained through a photonic simulation without issue.
"Yeah, just teasing." She admitted. She glanced around before turning back to me. "I was going to check on Orudios, get ready for departure. Are you set?"
"Yeah." I said. "Some errands to run, final checks, then I'll be good for exit." I glanced down at her. "You know, we don't all need to leave at once. You can head out as soon as you're ready."
"I know, seconds of difference." She said. "Still, seems right to close this out with everyone."
I nodded. "I'm going to check in with Survey. After that everyone should be rounded up for exit."
"I'll be ready." She said, then glanced down at the heavy slip of wood that contained her painting kit and canvas. "Weird not NEEDING to take anything with. I mean, I know it can just be beamed out." She looked up before I could correct her. "I mean have its spiritual graft manifested in a replication field." She briefly rolled her eyes before continuing. "It's just, everything's been so real, it's weird not just taking it with us."
"I get it." I said. Normally I was at least passively aware of the technology behind any simulation I was in. The previous soul immersion systems weren't as bad as the earlier mental data-links, but there was always a sense of distance, like I could feel the undercurrent that was driving the world.
I didn't have that here. Or, more specifically, the medium that the world was constructed on was so advanced that I couldn't bend it like I could any other system. This was a spiritron computational environment running inside a system of photonic crystals. It was possible that some kind of spiritron hacking could manipulate the environment directly, but that was an entirely new field of magitech, and one so specialized that it just wasn't worth pursuing, at least not at this point.
"Yeah." Aisha shook her head, then began to split off towards Orudios' stable. "I'll catch up with you at the relay." She said.
"See you there." I called back before heading off my own way.
The 'campus' wasn't exactly a masterstroke of planning. Buildings had been added mostly on the whims of anyone who wanted to try some activity or thought it would be fun to have a particular facility. Basically, it was what could have happened to my Workshop if my duplicates had indulged every whim of the team on a moment-by-moment basis. Really, it was only my aesthetic powers that kept the whole thing presentable and Fleet's layout of paths that allowed it to be easily navigated.
Working my way past the arcade, garage, concert hall, and machine shop, I eventually found the central archive. It was Survey's place, as well as a location closely tied into the computer core's databanks. The mutable nature of the place made interfaces with other systems tricky to arrange, but it helped to have a specific location to direct information towards. Survey had further addressed the problem by mirroring all of her files and analysis to the virtual space. The archives were the primary focus of that data, and served as our retreat when planning actions for upcoming operations.
Technically they were accessible to everyone, but Aisha left it well alone when she was informed it was connected to the thing I couldn't tell her about. The rest of the Forge had their own buildings with more specialized data access and were generally content to allow me and Survey to handle the initial investigation.
I found Survey in the lobby at a central desk surrounded by physical representations of a quantity of data that couldn't have fit in a building a thousand times the size of the archives. Still, focused design with the intent of assisting with a specific task was one of my strengths, and something Survey had come to appreciate since obtaining a physical form.
"To address any concerns, I am prepared for our scheduled departure. I am merely confirming the final aspects of our analysis and conclusions with my parallel iteration prior to exiting the virtual environment." She called out as I entered.
"That's fine." I said, letting the weight of the room sink in. After the types of information we had reviewed during our meetings, there was a character to the place that all the elegant design in the world couldn't address.
"I understand your discomfort and thank you for assisting with the comprehensive assessment we have achieved." Survey said.
"Right." I said. "Hopefully it will be enough."
She looked up at me. "I trust that it will make a profound difference in our operations, though I question the increased aggression with which you wish to pursue interference activities."
I let out a slow breath. During my own 'downtime' I had worked with Survey to review every detail of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Every scrap of information going back to their founding. Everything that Survey had been able to obtain by hook or by crook. I had walked through over twenty years of atrocities, from the simple barbarism under King when the group operated closer to the Teeth's modus operandi all the way up to their most recent actions. Every personal account, police report, medical record, and scrap of media, as well as anything that Survey had been able to fill in from her own analysis, presented with varying levels of confidence.
It went further than just what the gang had done. Profiles of each member, from the point of their recruitment stretching forward and backwards. Personal history and records when available, theories and approximations when it wasn't. Sometimes there was nothing, like with Nice Guy or Breed. People who were effectively ghosts, even after they joined the Nine. Then you had people like the Siberian or Crawler, who were basically blank spaces prior to their life as a cape with little more to go on after that. Then you had the outliers, the ones with full dossiers and extensive histories, either in the gang or prior to joining.
And I had to go through them all. Through all the information. Survey could arrange it as elegantly as possible, but she didn't have my thinker power. Without access to my passenger there was a limit to what she could accomplish. I was the one who had to personally review everything and try to sift out any hint I could.
Because of that, I knew. I knew everything the Slaughterhouse Nine was capable of. I knew every city they had attacked, every record of every person who had suffered at their hands. I knew the cruel games they played when recruiting members and the cost those recruitment drives had on the places where they were conducted. And I knew as much background as possible of every active member.
I knew the exact timeline of Sphere's descent into madness following the Simurgh's attack and the death of his family. I knew everything from the PRT report of Bonesaw's home and what had been left of her family. I knew the details of Burnscar's first rampage and subsequent kill order. I knew the full assessment of Shatterbird's first cry and every step she took before joining the Nine. And I knew more than that.
Survey was nothing if not comprehensive. Details of the Nine weren't easy to get, but Survey had a very different definition of easy. She had records of the asylum where Burnscar had been held, including a full assessment of her mental state and how it was impacted by her power. She had scrounged up every scrap of data about Riley, the girl Bonesaw used to be before the tragedy that happened to her family, something that hit particularly hard for me. She dug into psychological assessments of members of the Nine, both official and independently produced. She scoured every available source for any scrap of information that might help, and I had sifted through every disturbing, bloody fragment of it. And together, we had come to a conclusion.
The Nine should not exist.
That wasn't something I was throwing out in the abstract sense. I meant it literally. The Nine should not have lasted this long. They were a dangerous team, but the world was full of dangers. With the exception of the Siberian, none of the team were invincible, not even Crawler. Given the challenges they had either overcome, outmaneuvered, or avoided completely it was clear, there was something else in play.
Jack Slash was regarded as a brilliant leader and tactician, and certainly had the ego to support such claims. What he lacked was the ability. Frankly, there was no way they would have been able to survive as long as they had without some other factor, the same factor that made it essential to keep Aisha out of the loop.
Things really fell into place when examining Protectorate analysis of the Nine. Simply put, there wasn't any, or at least not any worth noting. Everything the Protectorate did in response to the Nine was reactive and often counterproductive. You had better analysis coming from non-powered members, but as soon as it got passed up the chain it became garbage again. If they were trying to find the absolutely worst method of tracking and controlling the Nine then mission accomplished, but from a fresh perspective from someone with the unpleasant task of digging through every detail of their existence, it became clear.
It had been theorized that Jack had some thinker power to assist in his leadership. Theorized, then dismissed, but always when the assessment moved to the Think Tank or division thinkers, or the assessment of experienced team leaders. As soon as it hit a parahuman it became worthless.
There is the question of where the line between thinker and master really lies. How much knowledge and control of a situation can you have before your manipulation leans into master territory? The answer was moot in this case. Jack Slash had not led the Nine to success through brilliant insight and tactical genius. He achieved victory through the incompetence of his opponents.
It wasn't always obvious, but if you looked at enough data, and by God had I done that, it became clear. Every time the noose was closing around their team somebody would come down with a case of stupid. They would reassess targets, deviate from their usual tactical behavior, order sudden shifts in operation, or any number of other deviations. The Nine had been active for over twenty years and should have been wiped out a hundred times. Probably ten times that, if there was actually a coordinated effort against them, rather than the mess of analysis and cross purpose operations.
Parahumans were the weak link. It was a terrifying concept, but seriously, who would suspect a master of only being able to affect parahumans, especially if the manipulations were as subtle as they appeared, only being overt at the direst of situations? Most people wouldn't even understand how that was possible. Fortunately, I had a supercarrier plotting out the answer to that exact question. I wasn't certain the passengers were involved, but it was the most likely possibility.
Until we figured out the method behind it, information controls would need to stay in place. That was the more concerning aspect, and you could see evidence of it from the Nine's movements. Jack avoided cities where he could be threatened or defeated, where the group would likely see heavy losses despite whatever influence he was capable of. Looking at the situations in retrospect there was absolutely no way he could have acquired the information from conventional means, not with that level of consistent avoidance of threats. The power went both ways, and alerting an unprotected parahuman would tip off Jack.
The sad thing was that somebody else could probably have figured this out. Not on the timescale that I had, and not with the level of certainty we held, but with enough eyes on the situation someone would have seen the truth. Once the theory was in place the Nine's behavior would have confirmed it. Measures could have been taken to address the problem, provide information containment and finally mount a serious resistance to the Nine. But that hadn't happened, and it wouldn't happen, because people didn't talk about the Nine.
Survey had needed to work to get all the information she had. There was no national task force working twenty-four/seven on the problem. Not consolidated information center, no repository of information. The amount of data a local branch could request if they had the Nine on their doorstep was paltry, without even full assessments of the Nine's capabilities. The Nine had earned their status as an S-Class threat through the death, destruction, and devastation they wrought, but everyone was content to ignore the problem and leave things to the Capes.
It was almost funny, to see the problem I had to become what my family was always worried about. The exact thing they were afraid that keeping my Sphere moon base would convince people I was. They were concerned I would become a Slaughterhouse fanboy, and now I knew more about their actions than even the most deranged and devoted follower of gruesome exploits.
"Expanded interference in the Nine's approach increases risk of discovery." Survey warned. "I would advise against such measures, though I understand your motivation for this decision."
I nodded. A consequence of walking through every report, every confrontation, every scrap of medical data was knowledge of exactly what was waiting for the people who got caught in their way. Sometimes if someone stumbled onto the Nine they were ended quickly. A slice from Jack Slash or Mannequin, a strike from the Siberian, or even a more aggressive action from Crawler. Not pleasant, but quick. Then you had slower fates. Basically, anything from Burnscar, Shatterbird's more creative uses of her power, and whatever Bonesaw could come up with. That slowness sometimes left people alive, though consistently in a state where they wished they weren't.
That was just the consequences of crossing their path. Active hunts or the stunts they pulled during their attacks were in another league entirely. I wasn't going to allow them to try any of that in my city, but I NEEDED to do what I could to mitigate the damage they would cause, even if I had to manipulate every aspect of their route to do so.
"It's an acceptable risk." I stated. "Once we have their location we should be able to influence things sufficiently to reduce casualties to the absolute minimum." And hopefully keep those non-lethal, if at all possible. "If we can keep the route either too busy for them to risk exposing themselves, or completely clear we can eliminate incidental attacks."
Survey nodded. "I would posit that the group may become suspicious of a run of 'good fortune', but analysis has shown consistent encounters with statistically unlikely scenarios, seemingly to a lack of awareness from the members of the Nine."
"We don't know how Jack's power works, or even how much awareness he or the other members have of it." I admitted. "This could pass without notice, or it could come off as a massive red flag."
"And if the Nine become aware of our observation and divert to another target?" Survey asked.
"Then we strike." I said in a cold voice. "The closer they are to the city the better justification we have, but they aren't getting away. I want to minimize the aftermath of this, but with a choice between a global panic and Jack getting away, there's no choice. He dies, one way or another."
"Understood." Survey said clearly, and I noticed some conviction in her voice.
Survey's sense of empathy was a complicated one, but it was safe to say that she had acquired a level of fondness for humanity. Sometimes that came off as admiration of a kaleidoscope or fractal pattern, enjoyment of the complexity, but the feeling was definitely there, no matter what it was based on. Walking through crimes of the Slaughterhouse Nine and observing my reaction to every incident as I pushed through, leaning on militant and inhuman mindsets to counterbalance my disgust, it had clearly had an effect on her.
Prior to this, the mission was a technical one. Jack represented a threat to the world. A non-specific threat, but a massive one. It was something Survey had to deal with. Now though? Now it was something Survey wanted to deal with. Step by step, we had walked through every way the Nine had damaged the world, and now it was our chance to address that.
"Of course, locating the Nine will involve additional complications." She pointed out.
I sighed and nodded. A consequence of pressing my passenger as hard as possible. Assessment of risk and threat levels, including risk of detection. To put in bluntly, the risk of detection was incredibly high. Sending anyone anywhere near the group had the certainty of tipping them off.
It had been a difficult problem to parse. With the help of my passenger, I could assess things to a more nuanced level, weighing each member of the Nine in turn. It wasn't Jack's unknown power that presented the risk, or Crawler's senses. Mannequin hadn't built some secret environmental detection system, and while Bonesaw remained a concern through drones and zombified capes, she wasn't the source of this particular problem. The Siberian had some element remote to her, something connected with her weakness, but while that was a massive find it wasn't what I was looking for. Shatterbird and Burnscar similarly came up as negative.
The answer eventually fell into place through assessment of the group's recent activity. Once again, if you weren't neck deep in Slaughterhouse Nine analysis it was the kind of thing you could miss, even though every agency in the country should be on watch for the signs of recruitment.
Some were more obvious than others, but none of them were completely subtle. The Siberian's hunts never were. Murderous cape conflicts spread across an urban area tend to leave their mark, and if you know what to look for you can piece things together.
It still hadn't been enough to figure out WHO they had recruited. Fortunately, we had all the time in the world to work through things, as unpleasant as they were.
The key had come from assessing threats from the Nine, specifically to people in the city. That's when things began to come together. Eight individuals stuck out, eliciting significant reactions of concern from my passenger. Just the number you would see in a membership drive.
It wouldn't have been the first time the Nine had needed to go from one recruitment to the next. They tended to be bloody affairs, and created something of a self-sustaining cycle. The loss of Chuckles had been patched by Murder Rat, which was a particularly unpleasant thing to learn about in the level of detail I had, but that kind of creation had clearly been a temporary measure. There were only a few blurry photos of Bonesaw's creation, but the first-hand reports told a grim story.
Just another thing to address, along with the rest of the Nine's victims.
I wasn't sure if the Nine were still coming for the purpose of recruiting new members. This kind of precognition effect was well past its point of reliability, but it was still valuable. Even out of date information on the future could provide insight into the motivations of people who would have carried out those actions.
There were eight points of concern that my power had identified. The first, and definitely most concerning, was directed at the Travelers. If I had to guess it would be whatever Tattletale was freaking out about, and served as another reason to make sure the Nine never stepped foot into the city.
The second was Hookwolf. This was much more straightforward, as you'd be hard pressed to find a better candidate for the group. Survey's assessment suggested he would be opposed to recruitment, but he wouldn't have been the first reluctant member of the Nine.
The third I could probably have figured out without the help of my power, just from the information I'd reviewed in Burnscar's past. Labyrinth, Faultline's shaker 12, was housed in the same asylum as Burnscar and was involved in group therapy. There was no question as to the connection, or why she would be a target.
The fourth, concerningly, was Rachel. The girl did have a violent past and an aesthetic that would resonate with the Nine, but the connection seemed a bit of a stretch. Then again, I had only known her for a short period and in fairly atypical circumstances.
Fifth, there was Ashley Stillons, the Damsel of Distress. With her history and powers, it was easy to see why she'd be targeted. As one of the heaviest hitters in the city, it stood as another point of concern, and one I was happy to head off.
The sixth target was honestly perplexing. I could only imagine that Armsmaster must have been a target of Mannequin, but exactly what he would have tried to achieve with such a nomination, rather than an outright attack, was anyone's guess. It was probably more evidence of my information being out of date. Otherwise, there were some serious concerns as to how the Protectorate leader had been handling the aftermath of the city's disaster.
The seventh was as perplexing as Armsmaster, but much more concerning. Panacea. I could only assume Bonesaw's involvement, and admittedly the girl wasn't in the best place, but I couldn't see her turning villain, not unless literally everyone in her life completely failed her on every level. Incredibly, there was actually a bigger concern under that, and to get bigger than the Slaughterhouse Nine things need to be very serious.
There was only one thing that stood above the importance of putting down Jack Slash and that was keeping Taylor safe, but in Taylor's case it wasn't just her. There were other factors needed to secure the event that she would accomplish, and two of them were in the city. Both Flechette and Panacea were vitally important. Not as important as Taylor, but close. Their absence made what was already a complicated problem much more difficult.
Even more concerningly, there was some connection to Bonesaw. Not a vital one, but she played some role. Of all the pieces, she was the one we could afford to drop, but that would leave me to try to fill in for the damaged, psychotic child. Judging by the quality of Bonesaw's work, which I had become very familiar with, compared to my own medical technology, I think I was up for the task.
Then you had the final piece; one I almost would have overlooked if I hadn't been literally going through every parahuman in the city to check my passenger's reaction against them. Honestly, he was on the bottom of the list because I hadn't expected to find anything there, but it turned out to be the key to what I was looking for.
Alec was being targeted by the Nine, and it was personal.
Superficial accordance to the Unwritten Rules didn't apply when dealing with the Nine. I would have instructed Survey to investigate, but as it turned out, she already had the information, along with the rest of what had been stored on the local PRT's computers.
Alec was actually Jean-Paul Vasil, also known as Hijack, son of Heartbreaker. Triggered at the age of ten, with the criminal history you would expect from that kind of environment. Skimming over the unpleasant details, his work cumulated in a murder charge that saw him leave and assume a new identity in Brockton Bay.
Without the rest of my Passenger's insight, it could come across as fairly damning, but I knew that Alec was trying to get away from something bad. I knew that my healing had affected his coping strategies and mental state, and I knew that he had been restraining himself from the worst aspects of his power.
Other than Bakuda. It really brought the whole incident into focus. Honestly, as much as I absolutely hate master powers, if we had the extra few minutes that Alec needed to finish securing control, the entire situation in the city could have turned around.
Alec was the key, because he wasn't the only member of his family to depart, and that's where things fell into place.
Cherie Vasil, also known as Cherish. Emotional manipulation and sensing with a large, but unconfirmed range. My passenger was able to confirm that the range was at least substantial, stretching beyond the bounds of any city. Looking at the evidence of the Nine's recruitment, it was clear what was happening. Specifically, the suicides.
Alec might have a murder charge, but he was nothing on his sister. Still not something I was going to completely overlook, but it did provide context to the situation.
A week ago, someone like Cherish would have been a nightmare. A near perfect threat for the last gaps in my defenses. Well, those gaps had been filled, so she just stood as an inconvenience, something stopping me from being able to approach the Nine with anything that she might be able to sense. And until I knew more about the limits of her power we were going to be restricting ourselves to remote viewing and possibly some carefully placed and well hidden sensors.
"We can deal with the complications of finding the Nine." I said. "We are in a much better situation than we were prior to this work." Survey and I had seen less than half the downtime of the rest of the group, but it was unquestionably worth it.
Survey nodded and rose from her seat. "In that case, we should meet with the rest of the group for departure from the simulated environment." I returned the nod and we began walking to the meeting point. "In any case, I believe with our preparation, we will be fortunate in our task."
I was about to speak, then felt another connection form. Only the forth in the time that we had been in the virtual space, but a significant one nonetheless. I smiled widely as my power secured the mote from the Capstone constellation and I felt the effect of Burning Bright settle over me.
"Yeah, I don't think fortune is going to be a problem for us anymore." I said with a wicked grin.
(Author's note: Limited writing time has pushed the meeting with Uppercrust to the next chapter. Additionally, I did not expect to end up clearing every perk from Binbougami Ga! in a single chapter. The full implications of these powers will be covered in the next chapter, along with Joe's meeting with Uppercrust.)
Jumpchain abilities this chapter:
Glove of the East (Binbougami Ga!) 300:
This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! It's burning gri-... oh! Sorry, wrong show. This single glove comes in any color and style, and is actually quite useful! You can channel your spiritual energies through it to help you with mundane tasks; your cooking might turn out excellent, cleaning takes less work for better results, and massages work WONDERS when you hit those points. If you channel a LOT of spiritual energy, you might even imbue items and equipment to improve them and be more receptive to your spiritual/chi powers! Heart symbol optional.
-Glove of the East when imbuing items can become stronger and more efficient, even working in tandem with your spiritual energy. However, the more you wish to improve it the more spiritual energy you will need. As you imbue it more and more, you will require exponential amounts for even the smallest gains.
Deadbeat Holiday (Binbougami Ga!) Free:
WHAT WAS THAT YOU ARROGANT, ENTITLED SH-... oh, sorry. Was practicing for something else. As you can no doubt guess, this will help you figure out just how to overreact to a situation for comedic effect, as well as WHEN to enact those very moments. You'll get used to it in time, unless you're like a certain grumpy pants. Yeah I said it, GRUMPY PAAAANTS.
Burning Bright (Binbougami Ga!) 300:
The powers of Fortune Energy are great within you; so great that it defies logic. Your energies are so bountiful that your techniques/effects using them are greatly increased, and your overall luck with them has likewise increased. Why, it's likely that given time to train you can unlock different abilities and methods to use the amount of Fortune Energy you possess. Furthermore, you gain the ability to toggle on or off a 'passive' absorbing ability to slowly drain the fortune energy of others and pull them into yourself. Just be wary about staying around people too long with this power. Cannot take with 'A Song For The Hopeless'.
-The maximum Fortune Energy/Misfortune Energy capacity one may possess will only grow slowly with age, and cannot be increased with training. 'A Song For The Hopeless' or 'Burning Bright' will increase the rate your maximum capacity grows, but it will always be at a fixed rate due to age.
-'Burning Bright' likewise is limited in that while you can temporarily supercharge yourself, your maximum Fortune Energy reservoir can only increase with age and not training. In addition, while you can try to supercharge yourself enough to become a god, you will only become a low-level one in the beginning. It will take hundreds of years for your reservoir to grow truly impressive
-'Burning Bright' grants an AoE Fortune Energy-draining field that is a 10-15 feet radius around you, and cannot be improved. However, the more people around you the more you will drain by volume. A temporary timespan of 3-12 hours will not harm the person, but the more time you spend around others with the field on, the more detrimental it will be to them. Spending 8-10 years around a person constantly with the field on will likely result in their death, if they are mortal. The more powerful the entity, the less likely this will occur.
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derpydude9001
Some dude on the internet.
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Come join the server! I keep wasting money on gifts!
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Creative writing based on engineering and technology from various fictional settings. | 2278 members
Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games
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Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games
Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.
Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games
Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.
- Location
- Philippines
Nice.
I'm going to enjoy rereading this on my flight in the next few days. Thank god for AO3's EPUB option.
I'm going to enjoy rereading this on my flight in the next few days. Thank god for AO3's EPUB option.
Emizaquel
What is a self?
to my understanding, he is
Alright, so now the only thing Joe doesn't know about the 9 is that the Siberian is a projection. That should be solved soon since Survey's sensors should detect that fact. At that point the only question remaining about the battle involving the 9 will be whether or not Cauldron intervenes because the path tells them that certain members of the 9 are useful for the final battle.
I think it should be "but saw no reason" instead of "but so no reason".
Should probably be 'thinker' instead of 'tinker'.
Lord_Sanguinius
Arrogant Bastard
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- Baal Secundus
The pacing used to annoy me, but now I just think of it as my weekly DBZ episode. Thanks for the new chapter.
There's multiple ways to damage or disrupt the Siberian. Joe's Pin abilities have been explicitly mentioned as being able to cut through her, meaning that Survey's psionic attacks should be similarly effective against Manton's projection.
And then there's Tybalt, who is just generally Anti-Everything and just about impossible to defend against.
derpydude9001
Some dude on the internet.
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Cauldron cannot intervene because joe is a blind spot and is spoofing PtV. They won't know he did it untill it is over.
So is Joe supernaturally lucky now, or am I misunderstanding the power?
- Location
- Philippines
There's also that WoG that Cauldron has positioned Apeiron into a very high priority cape to recruit or put on Cauldron's side. Given the vague but actively dangerous potential of the S9 versus the passive and peaceful (according to PTV) but powerful Apeiron, I don't think they'll step forward to protect the S9. They wouldn't help Joe either if they knew, but in the first place Cauldron mostly just keeps a hands off policy on the S9 (Jack again probably).
I wonder if he would benefit from draining the fortune of his duplicates?
That would offer him an ethical source of good luck, although given his divine skills I wouldn't be surprised if he could figure out a means of making something to assist with managing this apparent luck vampire power.
I think Elven smithing would help most as the most potent of effects there leans heavily on favourable providence.
That would offer him an ethical source of good luck, although given his divine skills I wouldn't be surprised if he could figure out a means of making something to assist with managing this apparent luck vampire power.
I think Elven smithing would help most as the most potent of effects there leans heavily on favourable providence.
Even if they heard about it AS it happens; Joe, when he's in "No Fucks" mode, won't be slow. You're asking Eidolon/Legend to teleport to the 9 as they're under attack with someone who is KNOWN to have extremely high fidelity cameras recording what he does and then rescue the known kill-order authorized group from being killed. Or you're going to have doormaker smuggle a member of the 9 directly INTO cauldron's base. Both seem excessively risk at a tactical AND strategic level.
but saw no reason
between thinker and master?
and is this your understanding of Jack canon ability or an AU element you intentionally introduced?
and in my opinion the line is that a thinker can only work with existing levers sure they can know even deeply hidden levers but they can only accomplish as much as a skilled con artist who has a thoroughly researched background on the subject can
of course that's still fairly scary but still not a master in my opinion
Slash or Mannequin