Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

Just want to say: I adore all of the mechs of Apeiron's children, and I can't wait to see the whole family squaring off against Leviathan in a team of mecha.

Now, to catch up on the comments...
 
Wow mecha basketball! I remember hearing about a giant basketball anime, but I forgot the name.

Also, what mecha sport are they going to try next? Baseball, volleyball, hockey, American football, ping pong, CHESS?!
 
Anyway, a combination of taking downtime, the workshop upgrades being a non-factor, and the highly unsettling revelation about the extradimensional nature of my abilities, suddenly a dedicated research center became a godsent.
godsend?
My focus was briefly disrupted by the Forge forming a connection to the Resources and Durability constellation. It was a mid-sized mote called Scrapper. It gave me the ability to break down technology, recoverable workable parts and either build new equipment or integrate the parts into my own gear. You know, like how the Scrapper power from Resources and Durability gave me the ability to break down technology into workable components that could be reused in new projects. Or how the Mauler power from Resources and Durability gave me the ability to repurpose old technology into new, advanced forms. Or how Scrapyard Skills power from Resources and Durability let me build advanced technology out of junked parts well beyond the tolerance that kind of tech would usually require.
redundant perhaps you meant Salvager instead of the first Scrapper?
The three of us continued down the stretch towards the garage and hangars. It would take us a few minutes to reach the mobile suite so I checked in with my duplicates. They were still working on preparations, so there was no need to rush. Since I was already connected I took a moment to sort through the mess of messages I'd need to address at some point.
mobile suit suite?
"Broadly, sure. I mean, it might not actually be a quarter ton, but it has to be damn close. I didn't even know butter came in fifty-five-pound containers. I wanted to ship it out of the other shelters but…" His voice dropped again. "But Mrs. Gartenberg's taking this as a personal challenge. She's pretty sure she knows who sent it…"
ship it out to the other?
The sight of a fifty-foot-tall robot moving and even slightly looking like a runway model belied the seriousness of that combination. Life fibers were powerful and adaptive. With respect to the power, Tetra may have had limited reserves, but the mobile suit had been custom designed to interface with and sustain her. It wasn't as good as an actual host, but I knew from experience she could endure much greater levels of activity in this state than she could when functioning completely independently. And that meat she was free to unleash hell.
And that meant she was

Projecting the reactor of a mech was borderline impossible. You'd either end up with a machine running on the equivalent of AA batteries, puttering away with barely any power, or one with maybe five minutes of actual combat time. The scale of a spell that could create the kind of reactor that would power a giant robot for any meaningful time was just not something that could be accomplished out of lengthy and complicated rituals. The kind that takes multiple days, not five lines of an incantation.
accomplished outside of lengthy?
 
Omg this was such a fun chapter to read. Tetra is addorable as always. The HP section was cool with the insight of the dupes doing things. The basketball game is great too! Love the chant.

I love this kinda chapter, I wouldn't mind more!
 
Last edited:
Anyway, though patterns noticed, quarter, jar, continue
Probably supposed to be thought instead of though.

suddenly a dedicated research center became a godsent
Godsend?

whole neighborhood's going to smell like flower
Flour.

but was glad to have the
Maybe insert 'I' after the but.


Wonderful update, really enjoyed it all!
 
"Possibly." The first duplicate agreed before turning back towards us. "Hey, we've gotten blessings from Athena, Hestia, and now Artemis, in that order. You think there's some significance to that?"

I got his meaning after a second and snorted. "What, like as a commentary on our love life?" I asked dryly.
Be careful Joe. The shippers are relentless!

The lucky winner was Fleet which was why we spent a proportionally tiny but personally significant portion of the previous evening watching 1969's The Italian Job, with Fleet thoroughly enjoying himself, Survey picking apart the plot and the Matrix attempting to figure out what the take away from the experience was supposed to be.

"It wasn't that bad. I know you liked some of the fashions." Garment indicated that she liked SOME of the fashions, while the rest were evidence of an era of human history that would be best to fade from memory.

"The car chase was nice." Tetra offered. Garment begrudgingly agreed it might have had some merit, but she would definitely pick a better movie when it was her turn.
Hahaha. How adorkable(?) they are. Survey picking aport the plot and Matrix being confused. Garment being Garment and Tetra pointing out there was elements that were good in it.

PHO had actually somehow become a worse mess than when I last checked in on it. Given that my account was essentially confirmed the flood of messages had grown from a torrent to a diluvian apocalypse.
I learn new words that aren't often used almost every chapter you post. 👍

Unfortunately, I was unlikely to find it in Alena's text messages.
Ouch. No concern of his friend at all. Just leave that person over there and come back to your emotional prison cell where mummy dearest are your prison guard.

"Glad to hear it." His voice was amused. "Sounds like 'she' was lucky to have you around."
Doug's conversation had a totally different feeling than the stiffling feeling his sisters call had. It really brings us to how suffocating Joe's family is.
"Few scrapes and bruises. Generally, it was like with your friend, things looked worse than it was. Casey ended up caught in the middle of one of the bad parts and wound up in St. Luke's. Things looked bad at first. They weren't sure he was going to make it, and the guy's wife was beside herself. But it turned out it was all overblown." I could practically hear Doug's grin through the phone. "He was released yesterday morning and down here helping out by lunch."
Who else thinks that he got healed by Aisha and Survey's hospital round? I mean they weren't sure if he could make it and then suddenly he got released.
I had spiral. My duplicates had spiral. None of us needed to project a power source. We were the power source. As long as we believed it was possible, as long as we had hope and determination, we could do this.
Glad we got on screen so to speak that he'll be training spiral. It's truly an enormous power.
"Team Apeiron, ready!" I called out, gesturing at Fleet's Veritech.

"Workshop team, ready!" He called back, with as much excitement as I had ever heard from him.
If they rounded up their assembly outside the workshop I bet there would be panic. Piggot would probably ring the sirens. Lives would be lost due to the confusion. Legend would bound to come within 5 minutes and Piggot would get conniptions from the amount of hard power from team Apeiron.

Thanks for the chapter! I continue to love and appreciate your work!
 
Last edited:
And now I await the moment for the combination Mecha.
It's the logical conclusion that there will be one, if only to fight Scion.
A model with a command centre cockpit large enough for Apeiron, his copies and Garment.
Made of Nanomachines around a hyper advanced alloy skeleton, with lifefibers through out and the command centre working as the reactor powering the whole thing with Spiral energy and pure fashion. Secondary units manifested out of magic, funnels, for example.
I wonder how the feedback loop between lifefibers and spiral power would be like.
 
Huh, I'd have read that as a compliment. What did Joe see in it which had it read as an insult/accusation, I wonder?
Same, I took it as a light-hearted/neutral comment, a good natured jab/teasing at most.
Think of it like your friends calling you a casual in a game you are super good at, but haven't played in a long time due to other commitments. It's a good natured joke, but it stings.

I know it's not the best analogy. A better one would be a person who loves eating, specially bread. And is suddenly on a calorie count diet of 1500 calories a day, so they eat healthy to get more volume in. And while they feel better health wise, when someone offers them a sandwich and they reply by saying they can't eat it, only to be told, they didn't know they were a health buff who avoids carbs. Well that shit sting, sure you are heating more healthy, but that shìt is out of necessity and you would love to pig out on some carbs. So while it's a complement, that shit hurts in the feels (totally not talking out of experience TT.TT).
 
Thanks for update!
The final line almost made me fell from my chair. That's WONDERFUL! :grin:

My focus was briefly disrupted by the Forge forming a connection to the Resources and Durability constellation. It was a mid-sized mote called Scrapper.
People already mentioned it, but here and after, you call it "Scrapper" while it actually "Salvager". I'd not object, but since Joe already have perk "Scrapper" that causes confusion. Minor one, but still.

I made small adjustments or maintenance rituals
"of"? "to"?
edit: Sorry, I get it now. Everything alright here. edit end

And that meat she was free to unleash hell.
I think "mean" (@goku90504 have different opinion).

Other typos and misspells I've noticed in the text already been mentioned.

Now to comments:
Legend would bound to come within 5 minutes
Four minutes and fifty nine seconds would be for calling him and "Happened WHAT?!" on each level of the chain of reports. And one second for actual travel time. ;)
 
Last edited:
I'm just patiently waiting for the super overpowered nigh-omnipotent mechs to roll in, you know the ones larger than galaxies
then zion would truly be a worm...or mech basketball would be even more awesome when you slamdunk a galaxy
 
Unrelated to latest chapter, I surprised no one mentioned Butcher as future opponent/antagonist. Because that fucker(s) really hard to pin down. Sure, they don't have anything (canonically) that can damage Joe. But the chaos and destruction they can bring is not to be underestimated. And I don't think Joe currently have anything that can capture them.
Also, there's number of Butchers whose powers canonically unknown (or not specified). So, LordR can give them more or less anything he want (anything that not obvious and flashy, that is, like Thinker powers).

edit: And right after I posted that comment I checked SB and found that Butcher!Taylor fic been updated today. :confused:
 
Last edited:
Unrelated to latest chapter, I surprised no one mentioned Butcher as future opponent/antagonist. Because that fucker(s) really hard to pin down. Sure, they don't have anything (canonically) that can damage Joe. But the chaos and destruction they can bring is not to be underestimated. And I don't think Joe currently have anything that can capture them.
Also, there's number of Butchers whose powers canonically unknown (or not specified). So, LordR can give them more or less anything he want (anything that not obvious and flashy, that is, like Thinker powers).

edit: And right after I posted that comment I checked SB and found that Butcher!Taylor fic been updated today. :confused:

Hmm… While WoG states that an Endbringer killing the Butcher would result in a nearby Parahuman becoming the new Butcher, it's not specified whether that's a specifically Endbringer trait, or whether it applies to all non-Parahumans. Not that transferring Butcher status to Aisha would be any better than to Joe. However, sticking the Butcher in Stasis, like Joe did early on with Tetra, might work as a way to contain/imprison them. Similarly, I've sometimes wondered whether Glaistig Uaine removing Butcher's powers would stop the cycle, in the same way it did to Grey Boy.
 
Author note: Would have like to close out the workshop portion in this chapter, but it didn't work out. We'll be getting out to Brockton Bay next chapter, including dealing with the gym, Undersiders, and Flechette while heading into Joe's next therapy session.
Huh? What do you mean, Brockton Bay next chapter? Who cares, where's the mech fight? Roust, don't do this to me. ROUST! MY MECH FIGHT! NOOOOOOOOOO!
 
I can not wait for him to build a propper ground / space bridge... then again, would it even function being based in his pocket dimension? Maybe if he combines it with his key?
 
Same, I took it as a light-hearted/neutral comment, a good natured jab/teasing at most. I'm just gonna chuck it up to Joe being Joe and misinterpreting the tone and underlying intent. Probably had some experience with his family saying the same thing to him when he's had to call them in the past.

There's also the aspect where at the beginning of this story, Joe wasn't a morning person and didn't like being considered as one.
I thought Doug was teasing Joe about waking up early due to the 'help' of his female 'friend'. Don't know if this is what Roust intended but it is something that would reflect Joes defensive response.

Edit: On second thought, it probably was more to do with Doug thinking that Jo works for a gang. For most people this might be early morning but for muscle in a criminal organisation the work day would've just finished wrapping up.
 
Last edited:
Unrelated to latest chapter, I surprised no one mentioned Butcher as future opponent/antagonist. Because that fucker(s) really hard to pin down. Sure, they don't have anything (canonically) that can damage Joe. But the chaos and destruction they can bring is not to be underestimated. And I don't think Joe currently have anything that can capture them.
Also, there's number of Butchers whose powers canonically unknown (or not specified). So, LordR can give them more or less anything he want (anything that not obvious and flashy, that is, like Thinker powers).

edit: And right after I posted that comment I checked SB and found that Butcher!Taylor fic been updated today. :confused:
Joe has this:
Tempered Soul (Soul Calibur) 300:
You gain an innate gift for forging high-quality weaponry. The weapons you create do not appear crude in any sense of the word, and in time your skill might cause your functional weaponry to be confused for elaborate display items.
On it's highest skill levels, which Joe has due to his various smithing perks, this allows Joe to forge weapons that can affect, store or destroy souls.

It's not something I expect Joe to do lightly, but it's something he can do. And might do, if Butcher thinks they are beyond reprisal.

Suddenly the Butcher's number becomes lesser again...
Tempered Soul wasn't just a flowery name. It was a literal description of what was possible with the highest levels of the art. Forging weapons from souls. Forging weapons that had souls of their own. Tempering and purifying souls for use in weapons. Making weapons capable of attacking, infecting, or damaging a person's soul. The power had just been 'make pretty weapons'. In my hands it could become a nightmare, the kind of thing capable of unleashing an inferno the likes of which the world had never seen.
 
Back
Top