No, she wouldn't. Remember that Tetra got accustomed to drawing energy from a (back then) demigod. If any normal human would touch her, they'd die instantly. I don't know if she can control her absorption, but if not, or if she's surprised, it's most likely a death sentence to any "normal" human, except maybe someone like Alexandria.
I don't even know if Echidna would be able to clone her, or if she would die the moment she started absorbing Tetra.
Edit: Wrong post quoted.
There is also the life-drain effect to take into account yeah. I would think that Shaper might subsidize the energy costs though; Life Fibers are interesting and Shaper is bored.
That's Tetra, does the fungal-weave Blasto made have that same property?
Not the life-draining effect but it does have a similar sort of protean dynamism to Life Fibers which Amy would probably love to play with.
I had a thought.. Remember Unnatural skill: Transmutation? I remember that it had a certain interaction with his dino wolf transformation, allowing him to only do little bits like his fingers or eyes, but also allowed him to turn himself into a super dino wolf, overcharging his transformation, making him even more monstrous.
Well now he has monstrous strength, which increases the effects of his unnatural skill powers the more physically monstrous he is. So being monstrous amplifies his unnatural skill: Transmutation, which allows him to push his Dino wolf Transformation further, which then increases the power of Monstrous Strength, which further increases Unnatural Skill: Transmutation
And continues the loop
At some point the loop will stop, because the gains of one loop will be less significant than the ones before it.
He would probably need to start tweaking the gene itself to include more things to transform into at that point.
Even amongst the weirdness of my power, getting a music track specifically written about one of my battles by a band that only seemed to exist in a universe with no other capes was a bit of a head trip. I didn't know if this was something like the hell letters or Spekkio where parts of my life were visible to other dimensions. If that was the case, then why that dimension, and why that band?
The little information I had on them suggested the covered military topics, kind of the same way that Parawolf dealt with major cape battles. The Toolkit was connected with one of my earlier powers called Panzerkampf. It was focused on ensuring that war machines I built always functioned at peak condition and essentially made them immune to indirect damage. The Toolkit was fairly versatile, but definitely had heavy military applications.
Was I looking at this the wrong way? Was Sabaton a reference to something else that merely existed as a band in that universe, but as a… I don't know, massive military campaign in its home dimension? Frankly, I had no idea. All I had to go on was three minutes and fifty-two seconds of music covering my fight with Lung and the ABB, presented in both English and Swedish. So technically I had two versions of the song, with Survey already digging through possible alternate meanings based on the translation.
The song data, scanned directly from the disc, had been circulated through the entire Forge. Fleet, Survey, and the Matrix were able to parse the entire track from nothing but the digital code, but Aisha and Tybalt had elected to play the song for themselves. Tetra was in something of a middle ground, able to process information at the same rate as the A.I.s, but still wanting to experience it herself. Still, she was the only person who elected to listen to both the English and Swedish tracks simultaneously.
I was able to process the information, including Survey's lyric breakdown and analysis, but still needed to hear it for myself. As such, I queued up the song and let the music fill my office. The thundering drum beat then the leading guitar riffs and heavy baseline. It gave the feel of explosions, which was both appropriate and more than a little harrowing.
Even having all the lyrics available ahead of time, hearing them sung over the deliberately chaotic mix of music through a song that seemed to be everywhere, but never losing focus, was a unique experience. Someone was singing about my fight like it was an epic stand against evil, a last desperate thrust against forces that would have consumed the city. Technically true, but not something I liked dwelling on, and the chorus opening with "The Ungodly Hour's Begun" was catchy in a way that an event that devastating had no right to be.
It was really an amazing piece. It was also something I could never release. Well, not until things had cooled down, and I wasn't talking about the parts of Bakuda's workshop that were still on fire. Even five days later, they were still recovering remains. People who died in the attacks hadn't been buried or even accounted for yet. It wasn't the kind of thing that needed a triumphant metal track.
The fact that the song demonstrated an unsettling familiarity with my team and methods of operation was just another mark against it. Yes, my duplicates had done wonderfully against Bakuda and the ABB headquarters. No, I didn't need tales of their accomplishments sung to the world. The same with the contributions of Aisha, Fleet, Survey, the Matrix, of Tetra.
Especially not Tetra. Yes, they made what she went through and what she accomplished sound triumphant, but I didn't need to release that kind of information about her nature or her abilities.
"So, does this mean that they can see us?" Aisha asked in clear concern. "I mean, some of this stuff is pretty detailed." She pulled up the song's lyrics on a display screen. "Does your power work two ways like that?"
I shifted in my seat. "Sometimes."
"What, really?" She asked.
I nodded. "It's getting into heavier stuff, but yeah, there has been evidence that some of these powers have information flow going back to the source." I explained. "I don't think it's anything to be worried about, but honestly I'm still trying to figure out all the dynamics in play."
Didn't Joe get his Teigu imported into his Mechashift weapon? Wouldn't that mechanic be more plausible then information of him getting to a maker of the thing?
I nodded. "Yeah, but I doubt Joakim Brodén will be able to shed much light on whatever's going on here." I said. In fact, just the existence of the song would probably be a head trip for him. Though that would be equally true for any of the other albums that came from my Music Collection. Some artists' careers had taken wildly different trajectories in a world without parahumans.
It would probably be courteous to provide people with information about what their alternates are doing. Probably only once it becomes available knowledge that he's getting into alternate universes though.
"Anyway, I'm going to have a talk with Tetra before we get started on the Kamui. Are you alright?"
"You mean am I alright in my stupidly overbuilt seaside palace with every amenity I could want and offers to install everything else?" She asked with a grin. "Yeah, I think I can manage. I feel like I'm wasting a fortune just sitting here, but I can manage."
She made a show of reclining in the elaborate chair, but honestly she wasn't underselling the level of decadence in the rooms of the housing complex. If I hadn't been working to a near impossible standard of quality for more than a week I probably would have found it a little jarring myself.
Clearly Aisha should buy a bit of land, or possibly make a island or a offshore platform in international waters, and make a hotel to rent out.
"I don't think I was supposed to be like this." She said.
"What do you mean?" I asked in concern.
"I arrived on a spool, like some of Garment's thread. The only other power from the place I come from explained how to use life fibers to make empowered clothing. You could barely have made a Kamui the size of a pair of gloves with how big I was back then. It makes sense that your power wanted me to be turned into a Goku Uniform, not develop like this." She said.
"I wouldn't have done that." I said. "I would never have done that."
"I know." There was a softness in her voice. "But that doesn't change things. I'm not what the Forge wanted me to be, and I don't know what I'm supposed to be now."
Fuck what other people would suppose. They can take their suppositions and suppository the fuck out of them.
"It feels stupid. We're so close and I was the one asking for it, but it's not going to be what I wanted it to be. It can't, not exactly."
"What did you want it to be?" I asked, and saw her immediately begin to pull into herself. "It's alright." I clarified. "I just want to… I mean, if I can help…"
"Like that." She said quietly. It took me a moment to realize what she was talking about. The song playing in the background, and the specific reference to Tetra and me, fighting Lung. Well, Proto Aima and Apeiron, but that was just semantics of the song.
"After March attacked? During our fight with Lung?" I asked. Given the whole point of this was talking about that incident, this wasn't the way I imagined it being brought up. Considering everything we had gone through; I couldn't imagine what it was that…
"The blood?" I asked. Tetra gave a slight nod.
Blood. Life fibers fed on neural energy and blood. The question of how a lifeform with a n exotic subatomic structure derived nutrition from either of those concepts or why the cognitive complexity of the subject mattered was complicated on a level that wasn't worth exploring at the moment. The unique ways the life fibers twisted the laws of physics facilitated that exact relationship, and it was baked into their biology on a fundamental level.
Even the drain from skin contact could be substantial, particularly when you were dealing with life fibers in their raw form. Understandably, that had been as far as I had been willing to go when working with Tetra, even before I thought of her as Tetra. As such we basically went from a carefully moderated flow of energy to ALL THE BLOOD in one highly traumatic instant.
Kamui's ran on blood. Unlike Goku Uniforms they needed a transfusion to activate and sustain themselves. Their consumption rate wasn't anything like what I struggled with in the aftermath of March's attack, but it was still there. Still a connection to that source of energy, one that we hadn't revisited with the exaction of Somer's Rock sending out to a butcher's shop to fill Tetra's drink order.
"I know it was bad." She said quietly. "I was out of control. Made things worse."
"Tetra, without you things would have been much, much worse." I said firmly. "I made the decision to go into that fight. I thought I was ready for whatever March could throw at me. I didn't know that Oni Lee could copy power effects. If I had been more cautious, it never would have happened."
And I felt her reaction to that and suddenly understood where her conflicted emotions were coming from. I had been there, linked to Tetra on a level that had never happened before. I knew what she was feeling at the time. It was impossible not to, given the intensity of it. Guilt and shame were things I was all too familiar with.
"You enjoyed it." I said, realization setting in. Seeing and feeling her reaction I quickly added. "And that's okay."
I watched the glowing mink cringe at my words. I paused, then leaned slightly towards Tetra, but didn't make contact. Tetra seemed to consider things for a moment, then moved over and pressed into my arm.
"I liked fighting Lung." She said, "I loved it. I loved the fight, the way we were connected. I loved being that angry and having something to be that angry about." Her head drooped. "I Loved being angry more than I was worried about Garment, or about you. I wanted us to keep fighting like that forever, against anyone. Everyone. But that was making things worse. I know it was making things worse." The fibers along her body shuddered slightly as she settled. "And then everything stopped, and I realized what had happened. What I'd done."
I was starting to understand why Tetra hadn't brought up the subject herself. Going from that kind of high to an entire night of immobility where she struggled to restrain herself from causing any more damage. Minutes where she was able to completely cut loose, existing in a state closer to her primal nature than ever before, then hours of hell.
I took a breath before continuing. "You wanted to be a Kamui so we could fight like that again? Like we did against Lung?"
"I did." She said quietly. "I know that fight was bad for everyone, but it felt right." I could feel her fibers tense. "I thought if I was a Kamui then together we could be strong enough to deal with everything." She turned her head to look up at me. "But that's not how it works, is it? These aren't problems we can punch away. They're complicated. I can be the strongest Kamui ever and it won't make a difference."
"You will be the strongest Kamui ever, and it will make a difference." I assured her.
Technically she would be the only Kamui ever, but that wasn't the point. I understood the principles of how a typical Kamui was constructed from the knowledge of my Tailor power. It gave me a baseline for how vast of the power gap was between the Kamui's that could have existed in her home universe and what Tetra would be capable of.
"Not all the time." She said, "Even against the Slaughterhouse Nine, you won't need my help."
"No." I admitted. "But I want your help. Technically I could handle just about every threat on my own, but that is not how I want to deal with things. I don't want to be isolated and untouchable. I'm not trying to be another Scion, flying around with no connections to anything or anyone."
Tetra conceded that point while I once again noticed the conspicuous silence of my passenger regarding Scion. There had never really been any insight into him concerning matchups or threat assessments. I initially assumed it was possibly an extension of his famous blind spot effect, but then Outside Context Problem had specifically referenced blocking his precog, when people weren't even sure he had precog. With that there had been the faintest blip of a reaction. It gave me the sense that it wasn't that nothing was there, but that the reactions were being restrained for some reason.
It was a concerning point, but considering the fact that Scion was likely the only parahuman currently in my league there could be a myriad of reasons for the omissions. Unlike the vast range of other concerns, Scion wasn't something my passenger wanted me to focus on at the moment, and I was prepared to avoid seeking out any additional trouble considering everything else I had on my plate.
"Yes, using a Kamui will be overkill for anything less than an Endbringer." I admitted, but then I grinned at Tetra. "But we still need to deal with Endbringers."
Honestly, 'overkill' was pretty much the required response when it came to actually putting down an Endbringer. With the kind of Kamui that Tetra was likely to become the response to Endbringers basically shifted from the careful deployment of highly unstable annihilator technology to suiting up and cutting loose on them. The prospect of just directly blitzing an Endbringer with Tetra's help had more than a little appeal.
"We need to deal with Endbringers, and whatever the consequences are for killing an Endbringer. And S-Class parahumans like Sleeper and Ash Beast. And Passenger Space, and whatever the ultimate challenge my power is warning me about." I could feel Tetra's mood rise with every threat I named.
"I'm sorry we don't have fights waiting around every corner that we can cut loose against. Those aren't the kind of problems we're dealing with. Unfortunately, we kind of sailed past that point about two divine ancestors ago."
"I understand." Tetra said. "I… I still want to fight. I mean, a proper fight, against someone I can get angry with, like we did before, but I know…"
"Yeah." I said.
There was no shortage of people to get angry at in the world, but the list of people who wouldn't immediately fold in any kind of physical confrontation was much smaller. Even when we were able to act freely, the cleanup of major villains was honestly going to be more like pest control than any epic battle.
"But we will be able to fight together, right?" She asked.
"Definitely." I promised. "A lot of the problems we're dealing with are… complex." I remembered Aisha's complaints about ending up with Episode One politics rather than Original Trilogy action. "But there are still threats out there. Big ones, and for those there's no one I'd rather face them with."
"You mean it?" She asked, looking up at me.
"Absolutely." I said.
This is why Joe was determined not to make a War AI; because eventually fights would run out. Ironically a War AI might be the solution to that problem. The thing about wars is that they require at least two sides but if you have two sides then there's not really anything stopping you from making them.
"But we will be able to fight together, right?" She asked.
"Definitely." I promised. "A lot of the problems we're dealing with are… complex." I remembered Aisha's complaints about ending up with Episode One politics rather than Original Trilogy action. "But there are still threats out there. Big ones, and for those there's no one I'd rather face them with."
"You mean it?" She asked, looking up at me.
"Absolutely." I said. I paused for a moment, then nodded to myself. "In fact, there's one last thing. Something I should have done a long time ago."
"What?" She asked, her eyes wide.
"Spiral." I said as I smiled at her. I watched her freeze in anticipation. "I can give one person spiral energy. Only a single person in all the universe." As I spoke I reached deep inside myself, feeling that well of limitless potential. The hope and faith that anything could be achieved with enough effort. "It has to be developed, trained, and I have to be the one to do it. This isn't something I can hand off and forget about. It only makes sense to choose someone I'm going to work with. Train with. Fight alongside."
In my mind I could see the tight spiral, the symbol of potential unbridled. Starting small but growing with every rotation. The pattern cast into the stars and woven into the very genetic material of life. The patter that stood on my own symbol, limitless, the meaning of Apeiron. The force that would build until nothing could stand against it.
"Spiral can be pooled, combined and compounded. Two people working together can accomplish much more than anyone individually. And in my eyes, there could not be a better choice."
The world was flashing green in rapid pulses. Tetra's fibers were being whipped around by a force that had nothing to do with wind. I was drawing upon something both ancient and eternal, a true power without limit.
I could feel the energy coursing through me. The transformation that I had put in place to speak with Tailor and Tattletale was falling away as the magic was cast aside. Green light coursed through the channels in my clay like flesh, pulsing under scales and filling my body with the power of the universe. The same power that I had once used to put a high end mech through demanding trials, not compressed within my nine foot frame.
"Tetra, I never want you to doubt your place, your role, or your importance. You are one of the most incredible beings in creation, not just because of what you can do but because of who you are and what you mean to the people around you. I don't know what the future holds, either from the Celestial Forge or the challenges of the outside world, but I know who I want to face them with. When we reach the end of this road and face the challenge that threatens all worlds in existence, I want you by my side."
I reached out a hand and focused. A bead of concentrated green light rose from my palm. It seemed to flicker, but in a more complex manner than the energy coursing through me. The bead expanded into a tiny disk, then the center began to rise. As it expanded the disc shifted into a cone and revealed to be composed of spirals of vibrant energy spinning in a tight nexus.
"Out of everyone, I would offer this to you. My first and final choice. So you never doubt how important you are."
I lifted my hand and offered her the manifested power of the spiral. Even in the red glow of her eyes, the green light shone brightly. There was barely a split second of hesitation before she pounced forward, into the light.
Tetra's body exploded into a cloud of red fibers. Within the storm of energy and thread I could hear her voice, screaming with excitement. The fibers writhed and swirled like the living thing they were, wrapping around me in a burst of red and green light.
"Thank you! Thank you!" She cried as fibers squeezed down on me with the kind of force that created new states of matter in neutron stars.
"You were always my first choice." I said, somewhat awkwardly attempting to pat the fiber cocoon that hand enveloped me. "I should have said something earlier, done something earlier, but I haven't been practicing with spiral as much as I should."
"But we will now, right? We'll have to work together, so I can learn from you?" She said, her fibers pulsing with every word.
"We will." I promised. "Kamui, Teigu, whatever. It's a start, not an endpoint. A good start, but we'll see where we'll go from there."
I think that Joe just proposed to Tetra there. Perhaps not romantically, though with alien perspective it might count as that, but they're definitely partners from this point onward.
"There is still time to make the decision." I said. "The designs aren't based on a particular material being integrated, so that gives a fair amount of freedom. There's also hybridization. I could use it to integrate a second set of designs, which would mean a second material integration…"
"But that would be fixed." Tetra said. "Where if you don't use Hybridization Theory you can add or remove hybridizations later. Even to your other Teigu."
I nodded. That was a complex procedure, but with my speed powers I could perform it on the fly. Really it came down to better options to start vs limited potential and versatility going forward. It wasn't an easy choice, which is why it was yet to be settled. Funnily enough, the easy choices got made quickly, leaving only the difficult decisions to fester until the last minute.
If there's options to allow for temporary future material integrations then that definitely takes stuff like Stygian Iron off of the table; anything that single-purpose can be added alongside any other preparations for use for a given purpose.
Fuck the Quintessons~
"Anyway, my alt-mode was a remote diagnostic and repair unit. Basically, a tech van for dealing with on-site problems."
"So, you were tech support, for hundreds of thousands of years?" Aisha asked, looking suitably horrified by the concept.
"Yeah, middle cast role, but not exactly pleasant work. That elective memory thing is kind of a blessing at that scale of time."
Given that the people and even the planet itself was technology and he supported it that's got to be some upper-middle cast work if only for the sheer bargaining power granted by the possibility of going on strike.
I reached out and pressed my fingers against the Cybertonium metal of the robot's legs. Then I activated my optics and shifted my weight, looking down at the rest of the Forge.
"Huh." I said, hearing an electronic tinge to my voice. "Easier than I thought it would be." I paused as I looked down. "Didn't really expect that."
ROBOTS IN DISGUISE! - Medium Chassis (Transformers) Free:
Medium Chassis, Size: 5m (16ft 5in) to 8m (26ft 2in). You're a robot now; as such you don't need to breathe, eat, or sleep. You do require Energon to survive, without it you'll go into stasis lock. This stasis lock last forever unless your spark (lifeforce) is extinguished or you get enough Energon back in your systems. As a Transformer your strength depends on your chassis, Small Chassis can lift 25tons (22t), Medium Chassis can lift 50tons (45t), and Large Chassis can lift 100tons (90t). Transformers brain circuits are not unlike a highly advanced super computer, giving the average transformer a level of intelligence similar to that of human geniuses. Your robot body is extremely tough to damage, military grade anti- materiel weapons and Energon weapons are only thing that are capable of damaging you. Even then the average transformer can take a beating and survive.
Altmode (Transformers) Free:
All Transformers have an Altmode which is either an animal or machine. You can turn into any animals or machine that you fits your Chassis type. You can choose to change into any animal or vehicle form that you've seen in your previous adventures, or for the future you can scan it. For maximum size in your Alt form you take your robot form and add +2m (6ft 6in) to its maximum height or in case of planes, wingspan. Beast Wars Era Transformers can only choose animal or beast like forms, they've lost their ability to change into vehicles or other machines.
Decepticon Terrorize! (Transformers) Free:
You've retained your robotic body, but now can switch between human and whatever form you choose and back. You'll never run out of Energon and routine maintenance is no longer a thing. You can store your robotic body in your warehouse and jump into it at any point; or ride around/on top of its alternative form. Either way it's up to you which you choose, and switching out is easy as dropping off equipment.
I bet that this is going to end up combined with that self-teleporting Megaman armor for greater utility. Possibly also given a lot of cargo and passenger space.
Actually I wonder if it could be given disproportionate cargo/passenger space if it was made flight capable and the storage was in the form of missiles/drop-pods since he has that one Perk that gives his aircraft ridiculous amounts of missile storage.
Meanwhile Garment had pulled out her sketch book again and I dreaded to think what kind of inspiration this might have wrought.
You know at the point where she's making fashion for giant robots that can turn into vehicles she may as well make fashion for things like regular vehicles and buildings. Castles generally have banners so there's at least precedence.
Hybridization Theory combined two machines into one, merging all of their strengths while compensating for their weaknesses. It was something I had been able to use with my implant and my cybernetics. It was never something I had been able to apply to myself.
Until now.
Working with beyond lightning speed, I rebuilt my Transformer body, hybridizing it into the Cybertronian Forge. The immense structure became an extension of my body, it's databanks my memories, it's fabricators my hands.
My hands, specifically, with everything that implied. Making everything handmade. With Cybertonium as a base material and the enhanced effect of Dedalus' Student in effect. And all my other powers, covering speed, resources, and quality. The machine that poured for the from the Cybertronian Forge was shaped at incredible speed with levels of quality and inherent enhancements beyond the skill of any mortal craftsmen.
Then I disentangled my body from the Cybertronian Forge, and then separated myself from that body. I stepped out of my Transformer's form once again a mere nine feet tall, looking over the gleaming ship that now hovered in one of the Garage's bays.
Never mind then apparently Garment will definitely need to make fashion for not only giant robots, vehicles, and architecture but also factories.
Also apparently the clones and Matrix will need to get to work combining the Megaman armor with the Cybertronian body and, though that, with the rest of the entire Workshop, sort of a Bohu-ish or Titan-ish thing where he'd basically bring a landscape with him, in case they ever need to deploy everything at once.
"City ship?" Aisha asked, finally bringing up her own screen to skim through technical diagrams.
"Not a proper City Former. Can't make one without a spark. It's a Cybertronian colony vessel. Unfolds into an entire city. Except it was built with all of my powers, so you know…"
"Magic city?" Aisha suggested. "Literal silver city? Gleaming city on a hill?"
"Basically." I said. "We can test it out in the storage area, but really, I just wanted to put this through its paces. See if I could actually do that."
"Well, good fucking job." Aisha said. "Jesus." She added as she watched an animation of the city unfolding, gleaming spires stretching into the sky as support structures spread across the ground around it.
Yeah like that: a sort of blooming archology.
This was beautiful. Although when Endbringer fighting time comes, I really hope Joe gives Tybalt the combat stims and just lets him wreck them rather than lifting a finger himself.
In light of Tetra's enjoyment of fighting strong opponents that would be a bit neglectful.
I sure as hell didn't foresee the transformer-forge hybridization coming.
Thanks for the chapter!
Also, since Tetra got Spiral, she should 100% go for Apocyan; It's probably highly compatible with Life Fiber energy & Spiral
I think that he got a device for putting the appearance of one thing onto the structure of another at some point? Since that doesn't take up a infusion/hybridization slot it might be best to recolor her in the colors of the Neathbow that way.
Let's be real, when Levi shows up, 75-meters-tall Cybertronium Giga-Dino Cyborg Ape Iron is just gonna lift him up, spank him a couple times, then toss him all the way to the coast of Spain
Stick him in a Scientific Solutions anti-Archer-Fish fishtank that won't let him splash people.
Well, that's one heck of a fiat protection. For example, I'm guessing Sting and Stilling don't count as anti-materiel weapons.
Sting and Stilling are the very essence of anti-material anything.
Levithan comes, takes one look at Aperioncity and retreats, because he wants not to destroy something that beatiful.
Unfortunately for him, Aperioncity is not so hesitant. Surely, Leviathan can gaze in awe and splendor of the city's beauty while being chased by numerous space-warping weapons and death beams.
Actually with Joe's ability to replace people with duplicates he might not do that.
Honestly, that is kinda underwhelming for Joe's first true spaceship. Something only Cybertronian, I mean. I expected something more martial, intimidating, at least a thousands words of Fleet geeking out over it etc.
It feels like it should be more monumental and symbolic, mankind's drive to the stars and so forth.
Also, we are rapidly approaching the point were even Endbringers will be dealt with in a subordinate clause. The actual confrontation between CF and...anyone will be very, very short 😅
It's not as though space ships are overly uncommon in Worm; Sphere made a few, anyone with artificial flight devices could make one, Joe has been able to make some for a decent amount of time; it's just that Parahumans leaving Earth would be problematic for the Shards.
