- Location
- Philippines
He will be feeding them. And I think they'd be more thankful for the food than the muscles by the end of it.
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Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)
- Thread starter LordRoustabout
- Start date
- Pronouns
- Dude, bro, etc...
Bruh, you're holding out on them, those aren't even the best/weirdest ones!
- Pronouns
- Him/Dude/That/Guy
Thank you for the chapter, it is interesting to see the volume of work that some of the gifted writers here can produce in a week. More than I could do in a months. Thanks again, and good health to you.
******
Think you meant 'particle' and typed partial in the following sentence.
******
Think you meant 'particle' and typed partial in the following sentence.
- Location
- Paradise, Hawaii
Would Aperion appear singing a song in a video?
This song was entertaining.
How would it appear with all his powers?
But back on subject? Will Gully arrive in time to talk to him? What would she do to get a cure?
What can she offer to him in trade?
Does she need a set of Life Fibers to sculpt her body?
This song was entertaining.
How would it appear with all his powers?
But back on subject? Will Gully arrive in time to talk to him? What would she do to get a cure?
What can she offer to him in trade?
Does she need a set of Life Fibers to sculpt her body?
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Ghost in a wall
Just a bit spooky
personally I enjoy this story the way it is. I don't think we need to worry much about curbstomping- and from a narrative perspective, it's not *fun* to write an OP character, the power growth is great, but when you are One-Punch-Man, the story is boring.
It's mentioned before, but Joe is only one man, and he only has so much time to work. More then that though, he's trying to keep himself human despite the growth in his powers and his newfound divinity. It's a narrow line for him, and his clones + garment act as a great support network for him. I'm loving the fight scene- as this is him being Preped for it, and I'm also looking forwards to his chat with his Psychologist the day after the battle- it was mentioned that it'd happen every week after all.
It's mentioned before, but Joe is only one man, and he only has so much time to work. More then that though, he's trying to keep himself human despite the growth in his powers and his newfound divinity. It's a narrow line for him, and his clones + garment act as a great support network for him. I'm loving the fight scene- as this is him being Preped for it, and I'm also looking forwards to his chat with his Psychologist the day after the battle- it was mentioned that it'd happen every week after all.
- Location
- United Kingdom
I am not arguing for a stomp. I am arguing for a win. I would absolutely love several chapters where Apeiron is forced to react to March and the ABB's plans and they give him trouble before eventually overcoming them, but I think he needs to actually win at the end. Not have March and co escape at the end with only minor fixable injuries to their plans after which everything escalates again like happened with the previous Bakuda fight.
The situation needs to change from just: Joe fights, inflicts damage, ABB escalates while Joe is tinkering, Joe fights, repeat. Which is what it sort of feels like to me atm.
The situation needs to change from just: Joe fights, inflicts damage, ABB escalates while Joe is tinkering, Joe fights, repeat. Which is what it sort of feels like to me atm.
I don't remember where this was shown but some of the bijuu have a tendency to make their users go berserk if forgot what triggered it.
But Naruto had to be low on chakra or injured to go berserk.
Bijuu can hold back some of their chakra so being g hostile with them gets you less power than just being good to them.
- Location
- Brazil, Minas gerais
I knew that he would have multiple mechas to have multiple styles for the endbringers fights^^. There already one for each (actived) monster. Anyway the songs of the mars priest and the machine spirit is probably the stuff of legend. They will start trying to make Joe use red clothes. Like people comment one machine (that I think is 100% human tech) would change war for humanity. The other one is a complete fuctional giant robot made from the ground up(I think) to be a giant robot. So basically the prototype for god machines those are mix of tech (I think). Sure is too small and 'weak' but is one more point of ancient tech made as giant robot. And has fiat adorable points. Will hit the skulls is their software core/'hearts'
[/QUOTE]
You said this better than I could^^.
About the fight clone one Is preparing a magical nuke to that building. Both clones are scanning a lot of sweet, sweet tech that when added to lab will make many skulls happy and also help with Joe understating of effects like 'time bombs' that have weird effects like being lockdown in the Earth and moving with it. Anyway Joe also is kick all the asses while still leaving people alive and even showing degrees of force depending of the targets. Also He is saving some of the town infrastructure from bombs that are expanding their effects. Which I think is March power bypassing some of bomber shard forced limitation of area. Like that bomb that was hot like the sun that was limited to a small area on purpose (by the shard).
I also like that March tried and would succeed in social fu but the new powers did not allow Joe to show body language of weaknesses. That the simulations of him accepting the bait would work without the lifetime experience that they don't Joe have. One that would need a Shard to have solve entropy (existing and growing in a place without time in a paradise like world for Fae) and use a model that is not human and have tech telepathy of a kind. So yeah that was beautiful ^^.
I still wished that he deployed either the (tiny) fleet of Fleet. Because why he would use those in a endbringer fight? So far they just look like really really tough and tiny machines. Like a Apache helicopter and sport cars plus machines for hockey. That would be a PR hit and success for him. And add his reach. Well he probably have his reasons like not showing how he reach his lab.
Some part to me wished that he command his 'museum' to launch the 'really old teach' aka the Leo since that don't have bullshit tech like the other one have. Still that would be a waste so I understand.
Oh I have in my mind a funny (to me) vision of all the PR heads of PRT combining all Favors, money and levers that they can use to make a strike team to capture Apeiron. Because the narrative that he is creating for himself can already threat their national interests. Which is not true give how good he can make anyone look by association alone.
Also many thanks Lord for the amazing chapter and superhuman speed
- Location
- Earth
In the first half, is the 'three motoroids' just referring to Joe's motoroid and two temporary copies of the motoroid?
And in the second half, are the '[seven] heavily armed humanoid models' them miscounting the three motoroids, or something else?
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
I mean, Joe has had four encounters with the ABB, one with a single cape where he came off as the decisive winner. The second where he established his reputation and generally made the ABB look desperate and crazy. The third, which only technically counts for a few reasons, and that one he won in a real, tangible manner as is possible, ensuring that they would have no real assets outside of what they already possess within Brockton, meaning if March did have to leave, she can literally only bring what she can carry with her, and has time to collect, which could be a bit, or not much at all depending on how badly she adapts to Joe's blindsiding her.
Every single encounter has been an unmitigated disaster for her. She won't walk away from Brockton with a clear, definable win, if she does escape. It's annoying to consider the smug villain inexplicably having her bullshit OP pls nerf powers not nerfed sufficiently that they can't wiggle out in the end, but canon was no better in that regard.
March is going to lose, not based on overwhelming force being leveraged against her, but instead the minute she gets into an advantageous position over her enemies and lets that overconfidence blind her.
Dying as an underdog isn't her fate. Dying due to hubris is.
Every single encounter has been an unmitigated disaster for her. She won't walk away from Brockton with a clear, definable win, if she does escape. It's annoying to consider the smug villain inexplicably having her bullshit OP pls nerf powers not nerfed sufficiently that they can't wiggle out in the end, but canon was no better in that regard.
March is going to lose, not based on overwhelming force being leveraged against her, but instead the minute she gets into an advantageous position over her enemies and lets that overconfidence blind her.
Dying as an underdog isn't her fate. Dying due to hubris is.
- Location
- RS,brasil
leave them wanting more , good for a sequal
or the "best of" complation
Yeah, March miscalculated a few times this chapter and she knows it. If she keeps relying on her thinker power, she'll lose. I don't think Thinkers have the ability to truly write-off their power as inaccurate, and that assured/forced confidence will spell her end. I would be very surprised if she gets one over Apeiron. His powers at this point are just too good.
TLDR 2: Joe is a slave of the Forge like a master blacksmith has become a slave to his anvil. The greatest works of mastery require sacrifices both tangible and intangible. And Joe has sacrificed much indeed.
Not really trying to make sense tbh.
It feels like people are interpreting what I'm saying wrong so.
TLDR: I'm not mad or anything that Joe hasn't won. He needs conflict. The story needs conflict. I would just argue that perhaps Joe is prolonging conflict himself, although he may not know that. His fears of March (well founded), his fears of socially influencing the environment around him, becoming too powerful or too disconnected from humanity etc etc.
The story has always been about Joe's internal problems and struggles. I just think the Forge itself has become a more potent vehicle for those struggles and Joe's essentially split personality than anything anyone has actually done to him.
I know Joe himself can't be everywhere at once. It's just that extrapolating even a little from the capabilities that he has gained over the course of more than half a million words...it feels like he could be doing more?
I know he's doing a lot. I know he's basically holding down a city by himself. It just feels like this is once again more of a personality issue than a "I don't have the tech or the numbers issue". Joe spends hours upon hours upgrading tech and building new machines.
I would argue that in the past week if he jsut dedicated a small amount of time to building a small automated drone factory or something of the sort he'd have this sorted already.
Brockton Bay isn't New York or some monstrous super city with millions of inhabitants. Joe has more than enough capability to build and crew (with AI copies) the machines needed to patrol the city indefinitely.
I feel that he isn't as effective as he really could be because 1. His rather strict field of engagement hold him back (which is a good thing), and 2. His personality is being influenced and perhaps even railroaded by the effects of the Forge to a degree that he still hasn't noticed. His inability to move in certain directions related to his problems seems to stem from simultaneous hesitance and a need to be outwardly heroic and noticeable.
Joe's trigger came from the realization that the work needed to get his lofe back on track would be a long slog of improvements and work over time. He felt inadequate and unable to move through the accumulating social stressors, academic failures and other debris that cluttered his pre-Cape life.
So now he constantly assigns himself busy work and little to-do lists to get through. These center him, but they also push him down one track at a time. Hell, Joe's paper even works better when it focuses on one thing.
In a way his clones are like the buds of his mind endeavoring to multitask and branch out in terms of interests and projects.
His power is reliant on him being interesting and ultimately powers up through events that require serious word counts to resolve (essentially struggle). Joe NEEDS a nemesis just as much as he would love to have time to sit down and tinker. In a way I would argue that up until quite recently this cycle of build attack and build again was his own personal hell even as he found joy and purpose in it. He's become so detached from what he used to be, but his new ground hasn't been firmly planted yet. He's still uncomfortable under his own skin while his body gets puppeted by powers that turn him into something he manifestly is not.
Arguably, these powers also work best when Joe is being ineffective or limiting himself. When he applies constraints to himself and ponders the ramifications of going all out or doing things that only makes the word count go up.
And it will continue to be that way until Joe plants himself firmly for the last time into the identity the Forge is slowly crafting for him through its upgrades that seem to come at the best and worst times. Joe isn't really a man anymore. He's a surrogate for otherworldly influence that happens to have some human direction.
Edit: Again, I'm not frustrated with the word count, I'm just trying to think through ways in which Joe might perhaps be hobbling himself.
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An Absolute Crack Down (The Shallow)
The Shallow
Shallow, Yet Deep
- Location
- Your Universe
- Pronouns
- She/They
An Absolute Crack Down
She looked back at the camera and saw me make one last wave. "Go ahead. We'll see how the dominos fall. Please enjoy watching the collapse. I'll see you soon."
The call closed at their end, and was quickly followed by frantic attempts to cut lines of access to the building. Not that it would do them any good at this point. At best they might protect some of their networked systems, but there was nothing they could do to hide anymore.
I turned to the roof acsess door of the building I was on. Right as the meeting had started I had gotten an excellent power, a great upgrade to my Kazooie Alchemy. I turned my key and quickly dashed through into my alchemy lab, spending a moment to seal the workshop with a thought, and quickly prepared a dose of my boosted duplication potion, which then became five. Mixing Mixtures meant I could put 12 kazooie potions together and not have them effect eachother or chronenberg me, and that principle could easily translate to other alchemy systems, but that could be dealt with later.
A single dose of this stuff could create 24 duplicates.
I grabbed two doses, even though I doubted I'd need the second. I walked back out onto the roof and glanced at my left wrist. I lifted it and used my magica to draw everything out. 25 Aperions would crush the ABB with the wrath of gods.
I donned all my gear, and drank a dose. They quickly slid out, and before I knew it, I was staring at 24 Aperions, looking regal as all hell in their motoroids. I cleared my throat, like a king about to speak "So how do we do this? 5 groups of 5?"
They all shook their heads, and the first spoke up "3 groups of eight and you stay here."
I stood there gobsmacked. "Wh-"
The second interrupted me "You are mad at Bakuda, you wanna get her, but there's twenty four of us that can die and be replaced by the next batch. You have to stay alive. You go? We all go."
I nodded slowly.
A third spoke up "We have 3 priorities, grab the capes, save Chen, and stop the attack. Eight Aperions on each task and we are golden."
"What am I supposed to do?"
The first spoke up again "Make sure everyone is safe, and that they keep themselves safe. Then, you need to gather intel. Dragon might be coming soon, but you still need a bunch of Data."
A fourth spoke up "Yeah, Uber & Leet are no-shows so far, and I doubt they would be gaurding Chen without making an appearance. Look into that."
The second piped up "By the way, once you know whats going down, then negotiate with the PRT or something? Try to get intel to them, and co-ordinate as best as you can with any task-forces they form."
I sighed "Fine."
As they broke up into groups of eight and flew away, I sighed once more. I stepped back into my warehouse "Apeiron calling all Undersiders."
The call went out to each of the quantum linked watches I had made. Unsurprisingly, they were all wearing their respective watch, though I refrained from digging any further as they sounded off.
Alec replied first in an easy voice. "Hey, what's up?"
Then came Tattletale's significantly more concerned response. "Oh God, what's wrong?"
Brian was next, with an awkward sounding reply. "Uh, I can't really talk now, in the middle of some personal stuff."
Taylor's voice followed him. "Um, IS it something serious? I can talk, but is there something…"
She was cut off by Rachel, who shouted her answer over the sound of barking and screaming crowds. "Can't talk now. Bad time."
I smiled before I answered them. "Just wanted to let you know that the ABB is about to launch a mass series of coordinated attacks orchestrated by March and using newly conscripted civilians armed with a mix of conventional weapons and Bakuda's explosives. I'll disrupt the coordination and attack the two central locations for the gang that I was able to identify."
There was silence on the call with the exception of a muttered expletive from Brian and the continued barking and shouting background noise from Rachel. Unsurprisingly it was Rachel who broke the silence first.
"Any of this happening in the South Docks near Mason Park, or southeast of Lords Port?" She asked.
"No." I responded while moving to the first target location. Southeast of Lord's Port would line up with the location I had tracked her knife to, probably her home outside the hideout. Mason Park was practically Empire territory, and it was slightly concerning why she would ask about it. Concerning for another time, given what I had on my plate.
I had picked up trigger signals going out to individual cells of conscripts signaling the beginning of the attacks. "The attack teams are mostly dispersed through ABB territory, with pushes near Merchant and Empire borders and semi-isolated groups set to extend into Downtown. I can handle it though."
"Good." The girl replied. "Let me know if that changes. I need to go." She ended the call, taking the shouting and barking with her.
"Shit." Came Tattletale's voice. "Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit."
"Lisa?" Brian asked.
"It's going to be a madhouse. Attacks spread like that, the attitude of the other gangs, National Guard presence, Protectorate response, the Wards back in play…" She listed quickly. "Oh, fuck this is bad."
"Should we do something?" Taylor asked. "Go somewhere? Is there anything we can…"
"No." I spoke out firmly "As I've said, I can handle it, just stay safe and keep your families safe."
"Got it." Came Alec's voice. "Stay in, play video games, and hope the power doesn't go out again. If it does I'm claiming all the ice cream in the hideout." His words were irreverent as ever, but his voice wasn't as steady as you would expect from him.
"Are you sure?" Brian replied quickly. I got the sense that he was ducking around someone, probably using the silent response feature of the forcefield.
"100%" I replied
"I… I need to try to get on top of this. Joe, can you…" Tattletale asked in a pleading voice.
"I'll update you if anything changes." I got the sense that it was less than Tattletale wanted.
"Uh, good luck?" Taylor replied a bit lamely.
"Thanks." I replied to the group and closed the chat. As I approached my throne Tattletale reached out on a private connection.
"You know this is a trap specifically for you." It wasn't a question. "You know and you're still running into it."
"They used themselves as bait. It made it worth the risk." I answered plainly. "I'm taking precautions."
"You're not…" There was a pause before she continued. "Why the fuck are you not scared at all? You're facing March, Bakuda, Oni Lee, Lung, Leet, Uber, and you're not scared? You're dissapointed!"
I sighed "As I said, I'm taking precautions. Anything else?"
"…You're not even going to fight!"
"It's a mess to explain, anything else?"
There was the sound of a keyboard. "Fuck. Okay, March is broadcasting this."
"Seriously?" I asked.
"On delay, but she just started putting out your talk." There was the sound of her taking a breath and mumbled "Jesus Christ."
I sighed. "Figures, though I hoped against it." And would now be stressing slightly over the public reaction for the entirety of the coming conflict, which may have been March's intention. "I'll manage. Let me know if you figure out anything."
"I promise." She responded and the call closed. I shook my head and tried not to think about how the broadcast would play with the already frenetic media. Well, no helping it now. Anything else I needed to do?
Yes. A quick thought opened one final call.
"Aisha?"
There was a brief moment before the girl replied. "Yeah? Can't talk for long. My brother's over and I had to duck him. What is it?"
"The ABB made their move. It might get messy." I replied flatly.
There was a pause and some more shuffling before she spoke again. "How bad is it? Do you need me out there?"
"Don't need your help, I just need you to keep your family safe. I've got enough manpower to deal with it all, just thought you mind want a heads up."
"Thanks. Let me know if you need anything."
I then sunk into my computer core. Fleet was having a field-day, directing 24 motoroids and 600 drones around the city. Survey was analyzing all the footage and sensor data from the drones, stichting together a recording on multiple levels on what was going on. I was making sure no errors came up as they faced the stress test of their lives, and looking over the data with survey, gently nudging her in some areas.
I was hacking through all electornic communication, beginning to send out orders against march's to some groups, directing them into a collision course with my 8 duplicates taking down all the attacks rapidly. All 24 duplicates had stepped out to let fleet assist, effectivley doubling their numbers.
This was not a knockdown, this was an absolute crack-down on the ABB and a curbstomp to their glory.
The "save Chen" party, who had innitially planned on just saving and healing the man before splitting and joining the other two, had discovered an entire underground lair in the middle of their territory, and were now gathering as much intel as they could about all the various illegal activites and fronts. Chen had already been located, healed, and placed within one of the motoroids for "safe keeping". Survey was stretching herself thin over all the Data, and so I helped her.
The Lab party had quickly hacked the computer system and downloaded all the files before they started getting wiped, and had complete control over all the doors and whatnot. One of the duplicates had been using alchemy to destroy the more exotic effects remotley, and neutralize as much of Bakuda's bombs as possible. March already had been grabbed and tranqed, restrained in the best manner possible, and they were now chasing Bakuda, who was using a Jetpack with an 80s feel, that seemed to be releasing it's hot air in quick bursts. Interesting combination her and Leet worked out there.
As I combed through her files in her lab, I quickly noticed a bunch of them were PRT files. They must've stolen them from the Rig when they attacked it. There were blueprints of all kind by Armsmaster, as well as detailed scans of multiple other parahumans, mostly PRT ones. I decided to keep a copy of those. A good deal of the more confidential files I'd send back, alerting them to the fact that the ABB had acsess to those.
Oh, they had captured Bakuda, and had managed to disable the deadmans switch.
At that point, Oni Lee and Lung had arrived, both decked in tinkertech, to attack the Attack Prevent party. Lee had nearly taken out 2 of the duplicates with surprise tinkertech bombs, but thanks to all the sensors I had alerted them before it was too late. Oni Lee was quickly bound and captured, he did need sight to teleport afterall, and the Lab Party arrived to assist. It took them another minute before lung was taken down.
All in all, the whole afair had lasted twenty minutes, and I had completley annihalated them.
That was underwhelming.
I sent a message to everyone I had alerted, telling them it was over.
With 40 minutes left, I had most the duplicates return to the warehouse. We started going over everything, doing upgrades, helping garment, upgrading, destructive testing. The amount of guittar-riffs echoing about turned the warehouse into a massive rock-concert.
As they all faded, I took in the brand new warehouse I now had. Everything had been upgraded. I could so easily do this any time I rolled a new perk. This single perk was the craziest force multiplier I had. I felt the celestial forge settle on the toolkits domain. I got a cheap one-mote power. I looked as a new storage locker appeared as I blinked. It was called The Toolkit, and it had great synnergy with all my scrapping perks. It would've been seriously useful at the start, but it still had it's uses. It could repair anything.
I doffed my costume and put on the labcoat, which garment had personalized a bit with one of the duplicates, making it closer to the fashion that the Machine Spirits appreciated, being red with metal detailing. I then headed to the laboratorium, held the toolkit in my hand, and drank the second dose. Time for more destructive testing and reverse engineering.
She looked back at the camera and saw me make one last wave. "Go ahead. We'll see how the dominos fall. Please enjoy watching the collapse. I'll see you soon."
The call closed at their end, and was quickly followed by frantic attempts to cut lines of access to the building. Not that it would do them any good at this point. At best they might protect some of their networked systems, but there was nothing they could do to hide anymore.
I turned to the roof acsess door of the building I was on. Right as the meeting had started I had gotten an excellent power, a great upgrade to my Kazooie Alchemy. I turned my key and quickly dashed through into my alchemy lab, spending a moment to seal the workshop with a thought, and quickly prepared a dose of my boosted duplication potion, which then became five. Mixing Mixtures meant I could put 12 kazooie potions together and not have them effect eachother or chronenberg me, and that principle could easily translate to other alchemy systems, but that could be dealt with later.
A single dose of this stuff could create 24 duplicates.
I grabbed two doses, even though I doubted I'd need the second. I walked back out onto the roof and glanced at my left wrist. I lifted it and used my magica to draw everything out. 25 Aperions would crush the ABB with the wrath of gods.
I donned all my gear, and drank a dose. They quickly slid out, and before I knew it, I was staring at 24 Aperions, looking regal as all hell in their motoroids. I cleared my throat, like a king about to speak "So how do we do this? 5 groups of 5?"
They all shook their heads, and the first spoke up "3 groups of eight and you stay here."
I stood there gobsmacked. "Wh-"
The second interrupted me "You are mad at Bakuda, you wanna get her, but there's twenty four of us that can die and be replaced by the next batch. You have to stay alive. You go? We all go."
I nodded slowly.
A third spoke up "We have 3 priorities, grab the capes, save Chen, and stop the attack. Eight Aperions on each task and we are golden."
"What am I supposed to do?"
The first spoke up again "Make sure everyone is safe, and that they keep themselves safe. Then, you need to gather intel. Dragon might be coming soon, but you still need a bunch of Data."
A fourth spoke up "Yeah, Uber & Leet are no-shows so far, and I doubt they would be gaurding Chen without making an appearance. Look into that."
The second piped up "By the way, once you know whats going down, then negotiate with the PRT or something? Try to get intel to them, and co-ordinate as best as you can with any task-forces they form."
I sighed "Fine."
As they broke up into groups of eight and flew away, I sighed once more. I stepped back into my warehouse "Apeiron calling all Undersiders."
The call went out to each of the quantum linked watches I had made. Unsurprisingly, they were all wearing their respective watch, though I refrained from digging any further as they sounded off.
Alec replied first in an easy voice. "Hey, what's up?"
Then came Tattletale's significantly more concerned response. "Oh God, what's wrong?"
Brian was next, with an awkward sounding reply. "Uh, I can't really talk now, in the middle of some personal stuff."
Taylor's voice followed him. "Um, IS it something serious? I can talk, but is there something…"
She was cut off by Rachel, who shouted her answer over the sound of barking and screaming crowds. "Can't talk now. Bad time."
I smiled before I answered them. "Just wanted to let you know that the ABB is about to launch a mass series of coordinated attacks orchestrated by March and using newly conscripted civilians armed with a mix of conventional weapons and Bakuda's explosives. I'll disrupt the coordination and attack the two central locations for the gang that I was able to identify."
There was silence on the call with the exception of a muttered expletive from Brian and the continued barking and shouting background noise from Rachel. Unsurprisingly it was Rachel who broke the silence first.
"Any of this happening in the South Docks near Mason Park, or southeast of Lords Port?" She asked.
"No." I responded while moving to the first target location. Southeast of Lord's Port would line up with the location I had tracked her knife to, probably her home outside the hideout. Mason Park was practically Empire territory, and it was slightly concerning why she would ask about it. Concerning for another time, given what I had on my plate.
I had picked up trigger signals going out to individual cells of conscripts signaling the beginning of the attacks. "The attack teams are mostly dispersed through ABB territory, with pushes near Merchant and Empire borders and semi-isolated groups set to extend into Downtown. I can handle it though."
"Good." The girl replied. "Let me know if that changes. I need to go." She ended the call, taking the shouting and barking with her.
"Shit." Came Tattletale's voice. "Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit."
"Lisa?" Brian asked.
"It's going to be a madhouse. Attacks spread like that, the attitude of the other gangs, National Guard presence, Protectorate response, the Wards back in play…" She listed quickly. "Oh, fuck this is bad."
"Should we do something?" Taylor asked. "Go somewhere? Is there anything we can…"
"No." I spoke out firmly "As I've said, I can handle it, just stay safe and keep your families safe."
"Got it." Came Alec's voice. "Stay in, play video games, and hope the power doesn't go out again. If it does I'm claiming all the ice cream in the hideout." His words were irreverent as ever, but his voice wasn't as steady as you would expect from him.
"Are you sure?" Brian replied quickly. I got the sense that he was ducking around someone, probably using the silent response feature of the forcefield.
"100%" I replied
"I… I need to try to get on top of this. Joe, can you…" Tattletale asked in a pleading voice.
"I'll update you if anything changes." I got the sense that it was less than Tattletale wanted.
"Uh, good luck?" Taylor replied a bit lamely.
"Thanks." I replied to the group and closed the chat. As I approached my throne Tattletale reached out on a private connection.
"You know this is a trap specifically for you." It wasn't a question. "You know and you're still running into it."
"They used themselves as bait. It made it worth the risk." I answered plainly. "I'm taking precautions."
"You're not…" There was a pause before she continued. "Why the fuck are you not scared at all? You're facing March, Bakuda, Oni Lee, Lung, Leet, Uber, and you're not scared? You're dissapointed!"
I sighed "As I said, I'm taking precautions. Anything else?"
"…You're not even going to fight!"
"It's a mess to explain, anything else?"
There was the sound of a keyboard. "Fuck. Okay, March is broadcasting this."
"Seriously?" I asked.
"On delay, but she just started putting out your talk." There was the sound of her taking a breath and mumbled "Jesus Christ."
I sighed. "Figures, though I hoped against it." And would now be stressing slightly over the public reaction for the entirety of the coming conflict, which may have been March's intention. "I'll manage. Let me know if you figure out anything."
"I promise." She responded and the call closed. I shook my head and tried not to think about how the broadcast would play with the already frenetic media. Well, no helping it now. Anything else I needed to do?
Yes. A quick thought opened one final call.
"Aisha?"
There was a brief moment before the girl replied. "Yeah? Can't talk for long. My brother's over and I had to duck him. What is it?"
"The ABB made their move. It might get messy." I replied flatly.
There was a pause and some more shuffling before she spoke again. "How bad is it? Do you need me out there?"
"Don't need your help, I just need you to keep your family safe. I've got enough manpower to deal with it all, just thought you mind want a heads up."
"Thanks. Let me know if you need anything."
I then sunk into my computer core. Fleet was having a field-day, directing 24 motoroids and 600 drones around the city. Survey was analyzing all the footage and sensor data from the drones, stichting together a recording on multiple levels on what was going on. I was making sure no errors came up as they faced the stress test of their lives, and looking over the data with survey, gently nudging her in some areas.
I was hacking through all electornic communication, beginning to send out orders against march's to some groups, directing them into a collision course with my 8 duplicates taking down all the attacks rapidly. All 24 duplicates had stepped out to let fleet assist, effectivley doubling their numbers.
This was not a knockdown, this was an absolute crack-down on the ABB and a curbstomp to their glory.
The "save Chen" party, who had innitially planned on just saving and healing the man before splitting and joining the other two, had discovered an entire underground lair in the middle of their territory, and were now gathering as much intel as they could about all the various illegal activites and fronts. Chen had already been located, healed, and placed within one of the motoroids for "safe keeping". Survey was stretching herself thin over all the Data, and so I helped her.
The Lab party had quickly hacked the computer system and downloaded all the files before they started getting wiped, and had complete control over all the doors and whatnot. One of the duplicates had been using alchemy to destroy the more exotic effects remotley, and neutralize as much of Bakuda's bombs as possible. March already had been grabbed and tranqed, restrained in the best manner possible, and they were now chasing Bakuda, who was using a Jetpack with an 80s feel, that seemed to be releasing it's hot air in quick bursts. Interesting combination her and Leet worked out there.
As I combed through her files in her lab, I quickly noticed a bunch of them were PRT files. They must've stolen them from the Rig when they attacked it. There were blueprints of all kind by Armsmaster, as well as detailed scans of multiple other parahumans, mostly PRT ones. I decided to keep a copy of those. A good deal of the more confidential files I'd send back, alerting them to the fact that the ABB had acsess to those.
Oh, they had captured Bakuda, and had managed to disable the deadmans switch.
At that point, Oni Lee and Lung had arrived, both decked in tinkertech, to attack the Attack Prevent party. Lee had nearly taken out 2 of the duplicates with surprise tinkertech bombs, but thanks to all the sensors I had alerted them before it was too late. Oni Lee was quickly bound and captured, he did need sight to teleport afterall, and the Lab Party arrived to assist. It took them another minute before lung was taken down.
All in all, the whole afair had lasted twenty minutes, and I had completley annihalated them.
That was underwhelming.
I sent a message to everyone I had alerted, telling them it was over.
With 40 minutes left, I had most the duplicates return to the warehouse. We started going over everything, doing upgrades, helping garment, upgrading, destructive testing. The amount of guittar-riffs echoing about turned the warehouse into a massive rock-concert.
As they all faded, I took in the brand new warehouse I now had. Everything had been upgraded. I could so easily do this any time I rolled a new perk. This single perk was the craziest force multiplier I had. I felt the celestial forge settle on the toolkits domain. I got a cheap one-mote power. I looked as a new storage locker appeared as I blinked. It was called The Toolkit, and it had great synnergy with all my scrapping perks. It would've been seriously useful at the start, but it still had it's uses. It could repair anything.
I doffed my costume and put on the labcoat, which garment had personalized a bit with one of the duplicates, making it closer to the fashion that the Machine Spirits appreciated, being red with metal detailing. I then headed to the laboratorium, held the toolkit in my hand, and drank the second dose. Time for more destructive testing and reverse engineering.
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I've got to know, is Avid Glove another sapient glove? Or at least sentient? Does it actually give Watchful +5?
The perk says a miracle of surgery and tailoring. Does that mean it boosts surgery and tailoring? WHAT DOES IT DO!?!?!?!? plz
PS: It is the last of the clothing constellation and has an 8.33% chance of being rolled currently. As a 100 point perk if it gets rolled he will get it, and LORD said that if he gets the last of a constellation then he will get the capstone boosters unlocked.
The perk says a miracle of surgery and tailoring. Does that mean it boosts surgery and tailoring? WHAT DOES IT DO!?!?!?!? plz
PS: It is the last of the clothing constellation and has an 8.33% chance of being rolled currently. As a 100 point perk if it gets rolled he will get it, and LORD said that if he gets the last of a constellation then he will get the capstone boosters unlocked.
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- Location
- Brazil, Minas gerais
This is something that made me wonder. Would future encounter like this one reduce March 'bond' with her shard? Even worse that this would they insist in trying to kill Joe (some of bakuda bombs) make the other shards looking at this clustefuck say 'wait a minute you can't cheat this hard/terminate him. I am still collecting Data!'
We all know power cheats. And I can see arguments that they will try to make Joe show more stuff even if there a chance of killing him.
Future joe power vs Jack shard.
Jack shard: *sharing 'unique' data* manipulating the other shards.
Joe power: [UNIQUE DATA]
other shards: [JOE][AGREEMENT]
Hey wow, I think you are right. Celestial bronze should totally work on the Siberian. Pop that bubble. (I always imagined her like an empty indestructible soap bubble)
- Pronouns
- Male
AVE IMPERATOR
This feels like a genuine possibility that could have happened. I love it.
- Location
- RS,brasil
The Shallow
Shallow, Yet Deep
- Location
- Your Universe
- Pronouns
- She/They
That was the idea. I suck at emulating other people's writing style though, and I speed-wrote it in an hour before my muse would abandon me, so it isn't that similar to Lord's writing.
10/10 y'all all make such nice Omakes we love to see it.
Also I hope my previous argument makes sense? I don't mean to say that Joe has to curbstomp everybody. Curbstomps get boring lol.
I just mean think perhaps Joe still doesn't have the control he thinks he has. The Forge does.
Also I hope my previous argument makes sense? I don't mean to say that Joe has to curbstomp everybody. Curbstomps get boring lol.
I just mean think perhaps Joe still doesn't have the control he thinks he has. The Forge does.
- Pronouns
- Male
OMG this can then lead into the boardgame omake because joe doesn't have to attend to everything in the forge.
The Shallow
Shallow, Yet Deep
- Location
- Your Universe
- Pronouns
- She/They
What is the Boardgame Omake? It's not threadmarked so I'd appreciate a link.
Three Motoroids from the last encounter, three updated and totally "different" motoroids from this encounter, and the one frozen in time. The average person does not know Joe only has one motoroid which is being copied through magic. To them he built seven separate motoroids and is either refusing to use three of them for being outdated or because he can't control more than three at a time.
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