Broken Adventure
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover
- Status
PyroTechno
The Procrastination Pokemon
This Arc is going to end with Adam hunting down and killing the ROB that tortured Sarah, and it being revealed that that was the ROB that died in Arc 1 Chapter 1 to create Adam
Calling it now, if no one else has already
Ohhh, good catch. That ROB was described to lean particularly hard on the B part of his title.
I could buy that.
Not sure how sold I am on it though, his fall was described more as a collective event, rather than another individual coming after him.
CivilReader
Reader of stuff
- Location
- Land Of Books And Civilization, Sweden
I am a bit disappointed in the jump choice. Going to podracer and getting 4096 pit droids seemed like the obvious thing to do.
If you did a vanilla jumpchain and took all the drawbacks (no limit in the document) and spent it all on pit droids you would get 2,47×10^27 (2^91). Assuming the droid weigh 1 kg each (I'm lowballing) they would weigh a bit more than Jupiter.
If you did a vanilla jumpchain and took all the drawbacks (no limit in the document) and spent it all on pit droids you would get 2,47×10^27 (2^91). Assuming the droid weigh 1 kg each (I'm lowballing) they would weigh a bit more than Jupiter.
While that is hilarious, the warehouse's companion systems are busted. I'm not sure she'd get to keep them.
The issue is that Adam has a hard cap on how many points he can get the jump to give via drawbacks, a limit stated in the chapter. And the previous one, where he was talking about how he still couldn't get past the next barrier of an additional 100 points. He can get 99, but well that's usually useless, since there's rarely things that cost 50 points. And the 'half off for specific origin' has the 100 point options discount it to free in those cases. So usually that's not super important. Other levels have the tendency to end up being at a round hundred mark.
Most commonly there's 50 options for items. Though actually, as seen here, sometimes it's for powers like Sky High had, which potentially have other bonus points. Which are not applicable here because they're lies, though as a side note I kind of wonder if it's just an option for Benefactors to toss in extra points for entertainment, or it is intended to hook up into a different system that Adam just doesn't have access to that would provide that. Like some of the other lies in the jump documents that Adam has access to. Where they're depending on other systems that exist in a 'proper' Warehouse. Like maybe there's a 'reader' that these documents go into, that see specific keywords/information/QR code equivalent, and handle it that way, instead of being implemented individually in each jump. Nothing there dangling for Research to figure something out from. Whereas Adam is stuck dealing with a reader that is intended to piggyback on another warehouse system and thus wouldn't need to implement that either. Which still has interesting implications on what Sarah's previous benefactor was actually doing, that she wouldn't have seen.
Or addons to other options, like the Podracing jump has. Or the sole example I've seen from the various jumps on a Nightmare on Elm Street where options were changed to be just a point off from being at the nice, even hundred marks.
So actually it would be possibly useful to eek out the extra points via more drawbacks, but well, there's not really any 50 point drawbacks, and it's not necessarily worth it to deal with them for less points. Adam is still kind of testing pushing things around, after all. So not something he'd immediately try for.
In addition there's the issue with not having the standard 1000 points. Which might or might not be possible to solve while still maintaining the stealth setup of an Adam brand warehouse. Heck, the system for that might not even be in the dredges that Adam has access to at the moment. And by the time he gets an example, he'll probably have figured out a different way of handling it that doesn't have the cap. Still wouldn't hurt to toss such an example at Research to see if there was an alternative method that he just missed.
All of that, and Sarah has concerns with the droids and how they'd work. With them probably not having the same issues as she's worried about/that Adam brought up. Dunno about you, but 'might steal blood from you' is kind of alarming from something you're planning as a research team. And well, Adam is likely to make a system for the warehouse that would work just as well without the droids. That '4096 droids' is kind of overkill, especially as you're getting the non-upgraded version of them for all 600 points.
Just looking at the upgrade options, offhand only the 'Star wars tech' one could be skipped, since it only says 'immediately' able to. Doesn't say anything about analysis power on that one. The Advanced Tech one might be skippable if the droids themselves are upgrade-able/get better over time via having better analysis experience, what with Star Wars Droids becoming more capable over time without being reset. Mystical Tech who knows, given that it might be possible without that, just a longer 'learning process'. And maybe some other upgrades to see mystical energies, since at least some jumps have mystical stuff not seeable to technology. Fiat backing would handle that.
Which leaves the two Sarah considers. First the auto-material generator for repair work which might have something useful for Adam to incorporate, assuming it isn't a lying option. There might be a more efficient way of generating materials. Plus since it's fiat backed, it would likely update each jump. And for each new object that needs repairing. Which would be nice with the other options of Advanced and Mystical Tech. And maybe the Star Wars Tech, if it isn't somewhat covered by those two albeit at a possible longer time to do so. The option might be solely for repair work, but that doesn't mean the techniques behind it are so limited in scope. At the very least, it'd be a good possible starting point for each jump it making specific things working. Plus, well, if you think about it, 'does not work in the jump' is something that would need repairing. So non-fiat backed items might be 'repairable' into working in a new jump, so more data for Research.
And second of those is the Lost Data, which seems like it'd be a gold mine for Research. Something that wouldn't be possible otherwise, with how powerful it is. Though given Sarah has Time, it might be possible, eventually, for Research to go 'what did this look like before it got destroyed'.
Though it is still possible that a Future Sarah comes back this way and picks up the alternative options for jumps. And in fact might have pushed them forward for easier grabbing/having Sarah and Adam think about the options and whatnot. Like how FF8 was so appealing because of the changes Sarah made to it by jumping into it. With a stealthier system, well, Adam might not be able to see the changes that Future Sarah causes by going into it. Maybe even hiding some possibilities so as to ensure a more favorable outcome. I mean, specific options are mentioned each time, and well, we already know that a Future Sarah is heading on back so there isn't too much preventing her from grabbing those other jumps. And with better Jump-hacking tools, get a closer look at what the options are, without picking them.
Or maybe just straight up going and pumping points from the changes being made and dumping them into the point documents, akin to the whole grinding in that horrible 'all the jumps' mess that the jerk 'benefactor' dumped her in. The system that was used previously to grab more stuff mid-jump. And actually Future Sarah might end up being able to grab those points herself, since they are out there. And it's something that would probably help with stealth, not seeing these massive amounts of change points just floating around. Because I don't think Adam has been able to get the Warehouse systems to collect all of them at the moment? What with all the other conflicts he's been having.
Though there would be an irony in that the reason why he can't push the drawback point limit further is that it would cause to many 'loose' and uncollected choice/change points. Well, either that, or not fixing the free 1000 point standard bit. Adam finding those issues and fixing them at least a little. Then trying to work on the drawback points again only to find out that he now broke past that barrier. He's probably be upset with himself for spending so much time trying to figure where the bottleneck was, only to have been looking entirely in the wrong place. He'd likely end up adding more diagnostics in that case, since there would be further situations that might be causing that. Especially if a jump can collapse if too many choice points are loose.
- Location
- Mt. Holly, North Carolina
Actually, the associated reality where she met Adam is currently in a state best described by a childish phrase. It, currently, never-has-will-could have been. It was unmade as a thing entire by the VOID it's self. Then a following reality was also lost to it. Then Rapture happened. Rapture is now Sarah's home jump option period, do not pass go, nothing past it exists as a thing besides other jumps.Would Sarah be able to get the bits of that jump that she missed in the Data/context? Seems like feeding it into Research would get it just fine too. Not to mention that the Sarah(s) left behind there likely would find it on their own, and if not, future Sarah can grab them as well.
Aww, Adam doesn't remember his time as an elephant eating spiritual peanuts. Though it seems Sarah herself is remembering pre-Adam jumps. And maybe her life before going on the jumpchain. But that could easily be her remembering jumps that took place before the Star Wars prequels came out. Or at most, the first one, given the four. Even with that comment about sand, well, doesn't have to involve the infamous sand line. Alternatively, the '4' is her half remembering the whole 'first movie is now number 4' combined with 'trilogy'.
More messing with the jumps, though I'd imagine that later on, it might be possible to 'simulate' a jump, or better stabilize it to do more. See how a jump implements something without actually picking it. So possibly just outright implementing it better, cheaper. (Not even counting doing the same for previous jumps.) And some of that only really matters when it's specifically items that can't be obtained in-jump. Or at least, purchase specific variants. The stuff that has more than just 'fiat backed'.
Heck, even figuring out how the Droid upgrades manage to do things is useful. Depending on how exactly it works, there's the possibility of it being hooked into research and ending up working on memories. Sarah is already seeming to start to actually remember more things, from being reminded of them.
There's also the fact that Adam is talking about recursion. I wonder if there's going to be a recursion Jump document. As in, Broken Adventure, as a Jump. Probably split up into separate books as different Jumps (but maybe including references/choices/options hinting at the others). Adam getting a second look at everything that happened would be kind of interesting. Even if it would most likely be a different version of him. And everything would likely go a bit differently due to changes. It does seem like something that would be the endcap to Sarah's jumpchain though, before she ascends.
Though there is the hilarious idea of having an option that gives 'choice points', though in actuality it would probably be entirely separate. Though now that I'm thinking about it, Sarah getting massive amounts of choice points might have triggered Bastard ROB into checking back, since for all he knew it was something to be impossible. Which would nicely tie into the theory that the 'destruction' was actually to counter him in that. A 'get out' message that Adam wouldn't think was a message sent from the future, that both shows a clear and present reason to leave as quickly as possible. Away from the coming danger and also minimize the link to the next jump as much as possible. The continued effects would encourage being careful, and Adam was very careful in being not noticed, there. And what do you know, a handy Elizabeth army would be kind of nice to help hide a lot, while the stealth systems aren't quite up to Adam-spec.
Meanwhile ROB gets a blast in the face, figures that the choice points was just a side effect of the jump collapsing. When he can't see the jump still existing, just... not visible to him.
The mention of the deaths being 'easy' ways of having various ROBs at having an easy reset button does make a certain amount of sense. But then there's the sudden horror option that came to mind: That previous asshole benefactor did in fact do that. Every time. It's just he doesn't tell Sarah until after he does it. Leaving behind a Sarah in each jump. With the broken remnants of the Warehouse ripped behind. Which makes the fact that Sarah never got to keep prior jumps make horrifying sense. It's not that he's taking them away. It's that there's a new Sarah each time. Well, new in terms of what she's got from a jump. The freebie stuff isn't given since it would give him more work to rip out. And really, he doesn't have to wait for a specific Sarah to die in a jump. Just arbitrarily decide jump's done, and move to the next. Leaving behind a trail of Sarah's wondering what the heck just happened, how she's just sort of left behind now. Much like this Sarah did before Adam showed up, actually. Given her situation, she likely wouldn't have noticed the decade having passed by.
And wow, does that make things even more nightmarish. Because it also implies the possibility that there are other Sarahs still being yoinked around by the ROB. And well, future Sarah might be going back down her chain after finding out that tidbit, to help out. It would also make sense why the jumps are continuing as well, since she jumped back already. So it is continuing. Just sort of hiding the reason why from Adam, other than 'this is happening', because Adam does not want to know before it happens. Not sure what future Sarah handling the split path when she reaches back to the jump Adam showed up, since there would presumably be a 'past jumps' and 'other her' going through. Likely there would be help from other hers. Or maybe even some Elizabeths. Would likely depend on how stealthy Adam/Research make the Warehouse additions, since boy, isn't that conveniently just what they'd need to tackle a hostile ROB in a mission such as that?
At a guess, it would be go back along to Sarah's first jump, of however many there were while picking up nifty things from those jump documents, then double back to the split off point. Chasing after the ROB, at a rapidly increasing speed. I'm sure at least one character will call it Operation Save Our Sarahs.
I was more building off of a possibility, one that I had put forward a bit earlier. Where what Adam saw wasn't quite the reality. We've already been shown that time along jumps and the 'outside' jump sections are a bit... non-linear. With some of them running 'backwards' to others. Along with Sarah being strongly thematically linked to Time. And we've got Future Sarah jumping in and giving data back to 'current' Sarah. There's also the fact that FF8 jump got changed before Sarah entered it, because Sarah entered it.
We've also been shown/told that Sarah's version of the warehouse is stealthy. To the point where it's possible to not even notice her using said jump, without jumping into it.
And from there, well, faking an emergency/destruction of the jump would help further protect stealth efforts. Since one of Adam's earlier theories was that the Choice Points were going to be harvested. Sarah surviving and yoinking those points and using them? Well that means they can't be 'harvested'. Well, provided he was even going to come back. Not likely, but he'd still possibly have left a monitor waiting for Sarah to die off to collect, if anything was left.
But what tickled my brain is that 1) The 'benefactor' ripped out the Warehouse from Sarah. 2) Sarah comments that he probably didn't do that 'wipe personality' Failure feature thing since he'd brag about it. 3) Sarah specifically commented early on in the Arc/Book that she kept losing perks from previous jumps.
And then there's the horror. Because that kind of sounds like constant ripping out parts of the warehouse each and every time (and given Adam recreated the Warehouse to an extent from the 'hacking tools', well, implications there). So maximum amount of jerk/evil is that the 'Benefactor' has Sarah go through a jump, ROB decides it's done or whatever, pulls the Warehouse out. And leaves that Sarah behind, plus taunting message about how she's now trapped there (with further taunts being on how many times he's done it before). Sticks the latest copy of Sarah's mind into a new Warehouse. Or reusing the same one. Depends on if he's got something he wants in the pieces, or he's trying to grow it. Would make sense if he's trying to reverse engineer it and he needs certain things to activate to get what he wants from it. Maybe even trying to figure out specific Jump components. It neatly explains where the previous perks went, 'she' never had them. Of course that assumes he isn't using the tools to disable her keeping them, or removing them from there. Heck, he could be using the scraps of the Warehouse he ripped out each time to get closer and closer to the messed up thousands of jumps combined into one for... whatever the fuck his actual goal was.
From there thinking on it, possibly the only reason why this Sarah didn't get that taunt, is an 'oh crap' reaction from ROB that the jump was collapsing, and he bolted, leaving behind a bunch of the tools. Enough for Adam to rig up something workable.
Of course, with that implication brings forth further ones. Sarah, being able to time travel, and already shown that her post-jumpchain Self is interacting with her pre-Jumpchain self. And with the horrifying idea that there's an unknown number of herself, she'd no doubt want to rescue all the others. So go back along her own Jumpchain, maybe pick up some stuff from Scanning unselected Jumps, possibly stabilizing others, especially with Maximum Stealth Warehouse (And wouldn't that be something, a massive stealth operation, despite Adam's influences and Sarah's prior being bad at Stealthy behavior/being inconspicuous). But making them still look unstable. There after all, are people in those Jumps, and might as well save their reality if she can. But still making it look dangerous, to protect them from other ROBs coming in. And the, as far as Adam knows, destroyed Jump would have the missing link that is keeping Sarah from saving her other selves in this hypothetical. There's also the fact that we specifically got perspective of some of the people on that Jump. It just sort of feels wrong that they just... cease. Especially as we got that rather close to when that Jump was left.
So the possibility of that not being the case, and instead Future Sarah hiding it away in a frankly hilarious way is somewhat appealing. Hilarious, in that it's hiding in possibly the 'loudest' way in being totally destroyed. Not simply vanished, though that likely wouldn't have worked. "There's nothing here anymore. So stop looking," does really feel like an Adam solution to the problem.
The 'Lost Data' Droid upgrade/choice does bring to mind an alternative; Sarah recreating the Jump from some kind of perk similar to it, tossed to Research to get it good enough to pull off something like that. There's some philosophical questions that that would bring up, though. Additionally, Sarah already has some experience in possibly stabilizing the Jump. Namely both Bioshock Infinite, with connected realities, and Rick and Morty. Heck, throw in the Final Fantasies weird sort of connected bits, and given Sarah's gone to both FF7 and FF8, there's possibilities with it there. (And who knows if she'll go to another one after DC. There is a nice pattern in a jump in-between FF jumps, but that doesn't mean Ace will go through other ones. Or even another JRPG.)
Anyways, the idea would be to split off each Jump into a separate 'strand'/Dimension/parallel timeline. Make it more normal. And that would actually look terrifying on the outside of it, especially if it was done in a way that was hidden that it was still 'there' after being moved. And it would likely look very much like the leftover area is 'scarred', since there's now missing elements. Tricky bit would be to make sure that each jump that was tangled into it doesn't get horrific side effects from the split. Suppose there would be a lot of 'cameos' around. Maybe toss in some data from a more 'normal' modern Earth Jump that fills in the gaps that got overwritten to fit in the insane amount of characters/events. And it would likely take time to do so. Enough so that, starting from the more dense areas, it would probably look like a collapse if all of the Jumps (and subsequently Earth) vanished sideways. Adam wouldn't be aware of how to look for that, especially in the panicked quick escape. Add in a few illusions/whatnot and maybe even directly poke the warnings to get him to notice at the right time and make it seem like everything is going wrong.
And with the tidbit of the ROB grabbing the energy/choice points from that change, it might be possible to sneak a tracker there. Follow the ROB wherever it went (And well, there'd likely also be a hint as to where the Jump that the ROB had pre-Adam Sarah prior to that Jump). That splitting off the Jumps into their own parallel world, barring the ones that actually would have taken place in the same timeline/jump normally (since there are jumps that have the document specifically say as much. Mostly for either sequels or the ones that are for specifically canonically as such), would cause massive amounts of change, and thus points in and of itself. Might even be why Adam was noticing there being so many.
One more point of favor that something like this happening is the specific changes that occurred from the 'spike of unreality'. I think they've all been changes Sarah would like, or at least not harmful. Sometimes strange, but the stuff from those jumps that were horrifying/not something she liked tended to be stuff that was canon, unless I'm forgetting something. Bioshock has the Elizabeths. FF7 made changes from canon so that Jenova eventually became Eve (talking more about backstory stuff). Rick and Morty specifically mentioned in whatever chapter it was to be less effected by the unreality due to its nature. FF8 well, we've got the repeating thing, so that's an outlier. Too many possibilities for differences for something to be attributed clearly to the unreality spike. And Adam freaking out over time travel stuff would also likely mean that he doesn't check it too closely either, since I think there'd be at least some aspects of that there. He might subconsciously connect it, and well, Paradoxes certainly would arguably cause Unreality.
I went back to look back for that 'following reality was also lost to it', and I can't seem to find whatever reality that was, or even mention that it existed. It seems like Adam went from there, straight to Bioshock. With that choice being made during the 'journey'. He was concerned about the destruction, but Bioshock was able to work well enough, what with how Infinite worked helping there. And other Jumps still kind of getting changes from it.
Though in checking, I noticed an interesting (and actually kind of relevant to the latest chapter), in Act 3 'We bravely ran away (away)!' Sarah specifically mentions the Star Wars trilogy. Not original trilogy, no mention of the prequel trilogy, or just one of the movies. It's another point of evidence that Sarah has been jumping for a long time. To the point where her hazy memories most likely, at the very least, to a point where the trilogy wouldn't have settled as 'a trilogy'. Depending on what that fourth movie she vaguely sort of remembers. A bit difficult to tell, since her original life memories would be mostly faded by now, but she wouldn't have much time to focus on movies during her jumps, as she herself mentions with all the forced drawbacks.
I hadn't really realised it before but ROB gutted the normal CP system and only the rogue CP merchant kind of system, the kind that say "Shush, don't tell jump chan" is left and it hooked into the drawback system.
- Location
- Mt. Holly, North Carolina
The random omnipotent bastard Sarah had as her previous jump-chan didn't let her buy perks in the first place, why would he need to give her literally anything else when he intended to leave her dead, plus the whole denying her the choice to jump back at all... Also, Sarah doesn't have time as a part of her except as "eventually" being able to jump back along her chain after her End Jump. That is the eventual reward on top of all the cosmic power you get through jumping. Once you go through an End Jump, you are the possessor of a Spark in the same range as an old Planeswalker and all the lack of limits associated with that. For example, in Pokemon you can be a psychic with an upper power limit of "a Gardevoir", post End Jump the limit of a gardevoir is treated as a pity clap for psychics.
Arc 3: I'm beside myself.
- Location
- Here
Fixing threadmarked is hard.
Last edited:
- Location
- Earth U.S.
threadmark is in informational
Andrew5073
Thinks too much
Pouring more power and strength into fractured, traumatised souls?
In DC!?
If this was a less positive story (disregarding things like Simmie's little stunt in RWBY) that would be a one-way ticket to demonic possession.
Arc 3: I'm beside myself. Now threadmarked!
- Location
- Here
Adam just blinked as Sarah began undergoing the insertion process.
Deciding to just go with the one option, forget the rest? That had probably been for the best.
There WERE a bunch of 'free' purchases on the documents, and some more sections about offering extra points for certain sections and all that… But trying to use two Jump Documents on one trip was already a bit questionable.
Oh, Sarah would be fine, he'd make sure of it… But reality might get a bit odd.
At least until 'Research' gets enough data to better adjust Sarah's systems… Not so much to 'protect' her from harm, but to ALLOW reality to twist her in similar ways so she can properly 'align' with the local rules and guidelines.
After all, if your timestream is warped and space is bent… The people INSIDE the situation might never even notice.
So the biggest worry Adam had here was NOT Sarah getting hurt… But that he might have set her defenses to such an advanced level that it would complicate the insertion process.
He stared, confused, as Sarah joined with herself in a hospital coma ward… AND as a betrayed security guard locked under Arkham Asylum in the sewer system, about to be hunted by Killer Croc.
Sigh.
Shit like this.
THIS is why he was worried.
Adam kept an eye on BOTH of his new Jumpers… Who were the same Jumper? She didn't spawn a clone at least. Either way, she could handle this no doubt… And he'd be here if something more unexpected cropped up.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah Everoot flinched, still unable to move.
Professor Marc LeGrande and Dr. Jason Woodrue had betrayed them, and her nightmare of suffering had spiraled from there.
But still, after all this time, her mind drifted back to the cause of all this.
How… How did those monsters even meet? She knew that Dr. Isley had been flattered and pursued by Dr. Woodrue, but they had always stayed appropriate in the laboratory. Never showed anything improper or suspicious.
And Professor LeGrande had been a friendly source of odd materials and rare items for the team, and Pacific Botanical Laboratories was THE top botanical research facility in Seattle Washington…
Neither one seemed to know or mention the other. Not that she had cared much back then, nor had she been worried or paranoid, or watchful.
It all seemed so simple. So basic.
But now all she could hear were the screams. Unable to move, forced to breathe.
And the memories looped again. The only source of distraction.
Dr. Isley, frantically pushing through the broken glass and fumes and chemicals that were flooding the room, trying to get us, her people, out of the growing clouds of poisons and reacting chemical disaster.
Pulling the ropes off us, attempting to move people far heavier than her, trying to wipe away toxic material and keep airways clear with what little she had.
Her whispered and cracked voice trying to convince the dying team members… It would be alright. She had set off the alarms, medical professionals were coming, it would be fine.
Sarah couldn't blame her.
It wasn't Dr. Isley that had drugged the team with something at the 'moral boost' event that she had been unexpectedly late joining. A party organized by the doctor's lover, someone they all trusted (If not all liked), and hosted in thanks by Professor LeGrande while the man gave endless praise to his victims.
It wasn't Dr. Isley that had dragged the entire team into one of the more dangerous testing labs, nor was she the one who bound their limbs and gagged each woman.
Professor LeGrande's past words of astonishment and satisfaction rang hollow, now that they knew he had wished to ensure that all their hard research on those egyptian ancient herbs… All their pride and effort… For all that to be known to a far more restricted audience.
And the betrayer of their leader, Dr. Woodrue, kept whispering half hearted apologies as he ensured they couldn't escape the upcoming 'accident', as he bound their limbs and ensured their drugged mouths couldn't scream for help or cry in pain or sorrow.
Why had they thought this was the best option? Both were men of science. Of learning.
Why had destroying the research group been their choice?
Team Isley was the best.
Researching near extinct plants with little to no funding and providing beyond astounding results, tracking lost data and forgotten lore while using modern equipment to redefine legends and myths.
Sure, they were young and more than a few people disregarded them due to their poverty, their races, and a few due to them being women.
But their work had been solid! Their professionalism top notch!
They… They were going to be going to the top! To prove all the naysayers that talent wasn't restricted to the connected and the socially powerful!
Now… Team Isley was simply a historical side note.
Though… Though the team may be down to Sarah and Dr. Isley now. It was hard to tell, trapped in this broken and fractured mortal shell.
But… No one had visited her for months now. Maybe years.
A lot of the girls didn't have family that cared about them, but if any others had survived… Sarah was sure they would have visited by now. And, from her nightmares, the other girls looked pretty bad off before her body began to fail in that deadly cocktail of unknown materials and chemicals.
Her body shuddered, still locked in her mind.
Soon… Maybe only Dr. Isley would be left of their team.
And… And Sarah wasn't even sure about that.
Those shaking hands trying to wipe away burning ooze, not letting go of her body even as hair and skin began to fall away with each attempt to help.
Those hands had been hurting too.
She… She was probably fine.
Unlike the rest, Dr. Isley never drank the poisoned drinks. She didn't get the shots. And she missed a lot of the chemical reactions that alerted others to the new 'party room' in the first place.
Her exposure should be drastically lower, and hopefully survivable.
Maybe… Maybe Dr. Isley was in rehab? Or researching something to help reduce the pain?
Sarah Everoot flinched in one of the world's most premier medical centers, Gotham General Hospital's coma ward, as something inside her C̟̖̣̯̤o̜̦̦̮̟n͈̟͖̥͓̳n͎e̦̫͕c̲͎̙̣̪t̼̞e͎d͇̰̹.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah Esdat flinched as the distant gate slammed shut. "Come… Come on, Frank. This isn't funny."
Frank Boles would come back.
They would all come back.
They had to come back.
No one would just… Just trap someone down here, not where Killer Croc was 'contained'.
Her pleas were mostly whispers… "Frank? Boss?"
Could he even hear her now? Or had he gone back up already!?
Not that she dared call louder. Not here.
Not with a hungry monster that ate people somewhere, 'contained' in these tunnels of water runoff and flood control.
Something shifted behind her, and she forced herself not to move. Or scream.
Frank would come back, and if she made too much noise he might not find anyone when he returns. Or not all of her, at least.
{Abandoned.}
No, no. Frank was just… Just inappropriately hazing the new girl.
He was an inappropriate guy. Only men on his team, though she had thought it was due to HR complaints about his crass language, his harassment, and all that.
{Maybe only men survived.}
No. This was… He would be back.
This was just to establish the pecking order.
And she had been careful. Never made too many waves, never pushed any buttons. She just needed to work here a bit and get out of debt.
Work at Arkham Asylum came with MASSIVE hazard pay, after all. If you could work here a year, you would have a HUGE nest egg to get back up on your feet.
Half the time it felt like working here was a rehabilitation system for the guards instead of the incurable nutjobs that lived here. More than a few people down on their luck or in harsh times came here to turn their lives around.
To escape the mafia, to pay debts, to get medical care for the family… Despite the horrific working conditions and dangerous environment and lacking oversight, this place was the last resort last chance gamble of the service industry.
And… And it looked like her last resort, last chance, might have been a check that just bounced.
{Hide?}
No. Killer Croc was a hunter. Sense of smell, astounding. Hearing? Especially with this much water around? Deadly.
Movement at ALL was just slicing her own throat.
{...Flee?}
As a last resort. Each step would cause ripples, echos, splashes… And honestly, there was nowhere to run to either.
But when she was found, if she had time to react, if he decided to play with his food… Yeah, she'd run.
Might only extend her life for a few minutes, but… But…
They would come back.
They would come back and she'd swear to follow orders and never report nothing and probably make… Certain compromises…
But at least she'd live.
{Was such an existence a life?}
Raped or not, it was the only chance to shank Frank later before he could do something like this to someone else later.
And while she may act demure and quiet, Sarah Esdat KNEW how to shank a mother fucker.
After all, working at Arkham Asylum was the LAST choice.
Working for criminals? Meh. Black markets? Please! Smugglers? Any day of the week! Politicians?
...Alright, working at Arkham Asylum was ALMOST the last choice.
A distant splash almost made her flinch.
{But movement was forbidden.}
Safe.
Killer Croc didn't often bother showing up at the gate when the guards did their rounds. Not after all this time. It was part of the reason she had let her defenses down, after weeks of just 'ensuring security' and moving on.
Until Frank quietly locked the gate behind her.
Until Frank left her.
{Bitch need's a good neck smile.}
She still had her hold out knife, though it wouldn't do much against Killer Croc. The creature needed a high amp, high voltage collar just to annoy him enough to not eat everyone. Basic bullets and knives? Forget about it.
She had her gun, but what of it? All it would do is expose her location.
{At least the blade felt good in her hands.}
Her fingers gently moved the knife into the metallic gate edges, trying to quietly test it. To just… Just get a sense of the thing.
Maybe… Maybe her smaller tools and equipment could do something where Killer Croc's massive claws and brute strength was restricted?
{No. It wouldn't work.}
But it was all she could do.
And so she would do so.
Sarah Esdat attempted to quietly lockpick an impossible to open gate hidden deep below the Intensive Treatment Center, within Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane's underground secured sewer system containment facility, as something inside her C̟̖̣̯̤o̜̦̦̮̟n͈̟͖̥͓̳n͎e̦̫͕c̲͎̙̣̪t̼̞e͎d͇̰̹.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah was holding still/unable to move as she tried to stay quiet/couldn't make a sound.
How… How odd.
Her mind could see both locations easily enough… But more than that, how reality T̼w̳̙̭̩̘̗i͉̪̤̙͙s̻̝̼͔ͅte̮̰̖̗̺̞̘d to the sides and around.
Adam began doing something. <<Alright, 'Research' found the issues with using multiple Jump Documents that try to change insertion locations simultaneously, so this won't happen again.>>
She didn't dare speak/couldn't speak if she wanted to. <What do I do?>
He was shifting stuff. <<Right now, most of the errors are due to you being in two places at the same time, and I can fix it easy enough if you give me just a few…>>
Oh was that all?
"[[S̮̬̤̱̹̬p̠̱̰a̭̦c̘̞͈͙̫̫ia͇͚̪͓͖l̻̝͇̗ ̗R͖͇̫̲̮͍͍ḛ͍͍̘u̲̘̬̘ṋ̖̞̳̫i̜o͎̳̝n͙̱͔̰̜͕͔.]]"
And she was THERE, both here and in her coma bed.
And reality quickly began to flow again, and somewhere out of touch of her S̥̥̥͕p̬͇̫̫̱̺̜a̤̜̗c̣̲̬̩̹e͔̭̭̱, Time uncurled and concepts realigned.
A mental sigh and amusement came through. <<...Or you could do that. I'll send the Data to 'Research' and you can decide if you want to keep both personas or simplify to one or whatever. I can see the whole Jump stabilizing now, though… Well, there are a few alterations.>>
It was easy enough to have her mind organize her memories into the Sarah hive as if they were both clones, and Sarah Everoot was going to be bed ridden for a while as she has a 'recovery' soon.
So Sarah Esdat it was!
Her body flickered, the security uniform shifting as she [[Harvested]] all her gear away, had Adam get to work upgrading that mess, and shifted into a nice blue business suit.
No, it didn't match the environment. No, she didn't give a fuck.
One unexpected issue came when she noticed her arm though.
Her silver tattoos had shifted.
They now looked like a mess of silver vine markings all over her body.
Neat! Though probably noticeable.
Adam hummed. <<Those shouldn't be an issue. Your Sarah Everoot self got the markings along with the plant abilities, and this Sarah Esdat covered up everything since this is a dangerous as hell place to work. And both of you have silver eyes and hair.>>
And apparently, from her memories, odd hair colors and eye effects were fairly common in this Jump. Alright, she could work with this.
That said… "Why ARE there a bunch of flooded tunnels locked away down here under the Intensive Treatment Center?"
A map came up. <<Some of the more strange plants and a few odd fish used for experimental testing on patients need high humidity or straight up flooding to grow or breed. Killer Croc basically acts as a custodian down here in return for certain… Benefits.>>
….Shit. "I'm a sacrifice down here, aren't I?" Fuck you, Frank.
He hummed. <<Not officially… But unofficially, it is one of the marks on the record of a partially 'successful' rehabilitation attempt. And people go missing in this place often enough.>>
Holy crap, that was some dark stuff.
Idly, she began taking samples of everything for the Warehouse to look into. "Anything I should grab while down here?"
Data came up about a monstrous and familiar figure. <<Waylon Jones might choose to be a beast, but his body might have some interesting genetics to work with.>>
And… Memories of working on Dr. Isley's team began to tickle her biological tinkering side. And the cloning alteration options to test. "Bet I could make some recovery serums using his bullshit. Lord knows Killer Croc manages to regenerate from his wounds fast enough to laugh at modern weaponry."
Best make sure it doesn't make people turn reptilian though… Or not? Sexy hybrid snake girls didn't sound THAT bad… Hmm.
Make it a choice? Volunteer sexy is best sexy, after all.
More data came up. <<Also, grab some of these things. These plants have some spores that help form an antidote to something called 'TITAN formula', an enhanced and modified variant of Bane's Venom, a super-soldier serum and ultra-steroid. It's far weaker than Bane's stuff, but is a one dose permanent body bulking enhancement drug that causes mental instability.>>
Oh. "Yeah, best pick up some of that. And maybe grab some TITAN samples too… And some of Bane's original Venom… Damn, Dr. Isley would have loved this stuff." Her memories felt sticky, but at least it was getting better.
Adam sighed. <<You'll probably find her in this place, known as Poison Ivy.>>
What!? "I thought she'd be in the Seattle General Intensive Care Unit with us!?"
More information. <<None of you are over there anymore, all of you were brought to Gotham. Well, the ones who made it this long… You are located in Gotham General Hospital now.>>
Sarah began flicking through the data as he continued. <<I'm still hacking the local information networks, but I'm pretty sure they used your team to force the woman to help them develop the TITAN stuff in the first place.>>
A wave of relief hit her system. "Half my team is still alive!" Thank goodness! Poor little Jessie would need something to fix up the skin and Susan needed a limb or two, but she could do this!
Adam's silence made her feelings suddenly clench. "Right?" Shit, was she missing something!?
Hack the medical records, hack the private reports, hack the investigation details and the police records, and just in case: "[[Scan]]."
Sarah stared at invisible data screens and information.
His sigh was heavy. <<I'm sorry, Sarah.>>
The more basic body stuff was easy enough to fix… But the chemicals injected into each person before the 'accident' were designed to damage brain tissue. To keep the perpetrators safe.
The only reason Dr. Isley didn't have similar issues as her team was because she missed the party… And the additional measures those fuckers took against them escaping their fate. The drugs and shots.
Sarah absently gripped the metal gate, the material flexing under her hand. "How did I keep enough brain matter to merge with myself?"
Adam sighed. <<You didn't. But unlike the rest, your Soul was sort of enhanced retroactively by the Jump, and the relevant memories were stored there. When you fully hooked up, there was something to work with there to ensure a recovery eventually.>>
But… But none of the other girls were there any more. "Could… I mean, they are biologically alive right? Can we do something?" The chances of four team members and herself surviving long enough to even last this long was a miracle as it was.
A sigh. <<With no mind, literally in a few cases, well… Even if you fully helped them recover, they wouldn't remember anything. Personality death, in other words.>>
Fuck.
Well… Well, at least she made it. And Dr. Isley. "Start sneaking medication into them. Just because the people I know are gone doesn't mean that they have to hurt like that… And we can get them medical care and recovery treatments."
They wouldn't be HER team, but they would be able to have a full life with funding and support they would only dream of before her coming here.
It wasn't enough, but it was something.
In the dark, water suddenly rippled. "I h̕av͝e ͞your͡ ̴sc͏ent… Fre͏şḩ m̴̷͠e͜͏̛͞͝a̸̧͘͜t̸́!̛͞"
Oh. Is that so? "Good day, Mr. Jones. My name is Sarah Esdat. I'm your new primary physician."
A massive shadow in the dim tunnels began to fill the area. "Oh͜?̷ ͘A ̛brav̷e͠ ̢o͘ne͢ then?͠"
Her fingers flexed in grumbling rage. "Something like that. When was your last checkup?"
A distant mountain of muscle began to prowl into view. "A m͢ea̷ļ ͡w̧ith ̵hum̕ór? ͏Wha̸t a ̷w͠a̛st̀e...N͢ǫw,́ wh̕y͟ ́don͟'t ̴yo̕u̕ ̵s̀t͠a̷rt ru̧nn͏ing̕?̛"
She snorted. "Oh come on, you're not THAT hideous."
The creature blinked… And SNARLED! "I͟ ̨w͢i̷l͠l̶ ̵fea͜s͞t on ̕y̢our ́b̸o͝nȩs!͏"
Well good. Because Sarah had some stress to work through. "And I'm going to collect some samples!"
Mr. McStabberson was H̹̞̼̺̖̖u̟̝͖̠̝͙̙͙̱͖̱n͚͓̟̫̹͔̦͙̻g͔̮̬̙̤̠̲̯̫͚͍͙͇̺̬̩̼̲r̫̗̹̼̻̠̳̰͔̭̜̹̥͕̣͙̺y̲̗͙̙̯̲! "And heads up! This… This might sting."
However, just in case…
Sarah caught the glowing bone spike on F̖͍̳i̘͔̠̺̺r̗̦͕̱̳̦e̝̟̥͕̭, blue flames spiraling.
NOW it will sting.
Then there were roars and screams and darkness and claws and bones...
It was glorious!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam sighed, trying to examine his Jumper's former teammates again. A few fragments here and there, a few memories… Nothing much left in their remaining Soul fragments…
Still. At least when they recovered, Adam could help a little.
Dump a cleansed copy of Sarah's memories where each individual was involved, drop in loads of relevant educational information (And not just math and biology and chemistry, their minds were being rebuilt from scratch… So why not add more?), and start the tedious process of searching this country for third-party witnesses and associates for each of the four girls.
He also began to build personal data background reports for each broken woman in this private coma ward. So while there wouldn't be any memories with emotions or context built into it, they would still be able to remember passwords and locations and birthdays and family members…
Faces, locations, so on and so forth.
Oh, it would be clearly messed up… But when they TRIED to remember something, there would be data available. Just… Clearly messed up data.
But the human mind was flexible. With more information, it would be enough for their loved ones (Few as they were) and each other to recognize others. To have a sense of 'self'. Most people couldn't remember things very accurately anyway, so having some ingrained natural reflexes and a lot of factual data that feels instinctively true... It should help.
Sure it was a pain in the ass to calculate fake reflexes and instincts so that their future hand written signatures and stuff would match past documents, and Adam had to go through a lot of effort converting memories of third-party people and Sarah into a first person viewpoint in a visualized reconstruction of the remembered situation... But he had more complicated challenges in the past.
Over time, they would build on these fragments and expand upon them, filling their mental holes with the same dreams and fictional fragments most people do naturally in their life… New data would help them 'remember' lost information, etc.
If anything, they would have a BETTER memory for raw data then before the incident. And have a much easier time learning and adapting compared to before anything occurred... But it wasn't actually 'fixing' the issue.
It was ensuring these NEW people could more easily adapt to being 'born' as an adult with a crazy 'history' they shouldn't be able to recall.
So if this Jump has an Afterlife, these four girls are probably going to end up meeting their unexpected twin sisters... Or maybe the scraps of Soul left behind would allow them to incarnate as themselves? Dang it, he had no data to work with here!
Adam carefully built up some base information (math, science, history, etc), with large chunks stolen from external sources, even as the Warehouse began to infiltrate the local information sources.
Which was going to be important because this world was kind of messed up right now... Everything was stabilizing, but trying to get these two Jump documents to work together sort of mutated Gotham City and Arkham Island... He was pretty sure this location, this one city, was not supposed to cross borders into multiple American states.
That uh... That ALSO shouldn't happen again in the future. Hopefully.
Anyway, back on topic! Hacking the local information systems to better gather theoretical memories for these hurt women.
Data exfiltration was a bit tricky, as Adam's new method involved carefully tracing the hardware and focusing sensors at various hubs and junctions… In other words, not adding to the traffic being examined but using a scanned duplicate of the structure and messing with the copy.
At least this way, 'hacking the internet' wouldn't crash the stupid thing. He'd seen stories where an AI just downloaded the world's data, as if trying to download terabytes of data through dialup would go unnoticed.
Nah, much safer and easier to scan the network nodes, detect where the hard drives and server drives and backups were stored, and [[Scan]] the data directly from the source. It also helped when someone was trying to find data centers with information stored 'Off the grid', as it were.
His self satisfied smugness blinked as he realized an issue.
Just uh… A tiny small problem.
Shit. <<Sarah?>>
Her spike SMASHED the massive muscle man into the bricks! <What's up, Adam?>
He double checked the 'baseline' data he had already inserted into her friends. <<So I was uh… Giving some raw information for your team members to work with, before we healed them up and all that. Right?>>
A bloody splash and Croc's furious scream showed that her bone spike was VERY sharp. <Right, so they can read and stuff instead of just blankly breathing and… GRR!> "Stop trying to defend yourself! I need samples for SCIENCE!"
Adam grimaced. <<Well, I might have used the wrong data set when I began giving the other girls background data.>>
Sarah paused mid-stomp, her foot holding the huge man to the wall. <What do you mean?>
Sigh, just suck it up Adam and spill it. <<I dumped YOUR scientific information for them to work with, not the local 2016 Earth stuff. Thankfully the safety systems automatically removed anything related to magic and psionics and aliens and stuff…>>
She blinked. <But you basically gave them Rick and Morty Jump levels of scientific advancement?>
Adam slumped. <<Yeah.>>
Sarah looked at… Nothing. One foot forcing the squirming giant of a man to wheeze in frustration. <Jessie would have loved that. Fuck it, except for the out of context crap? Give them ALL the best.>
Sure. <<One super science research team coming right up! Oh, and we'll keep them unconscious until I can get more information from Poison Ivy and track down any friends or family these girls have.>>
Might as well give them a private hive mind too, just for those girls as well. Sarah wouldn't be able to hook into it without giving away the whole game, but it should let all four of their minds better recover... As well as giving them a support system which they will dearly need.
Sarah nodded, twisting her heel to force the flailing creature to turn towards a betterstabbing/restraining position. <If you think that's best for them?>
Adam hummed. <<With a bit of effort and some [[Scans]] I can at least ensure they will somewhat 'recall' stuff unique to themselves. Basically giving them a framework built by examining the places and people they touched in their lives. Hopefully… Well, if it is even possible to ever recover from a personality death, this is the best shot we'll get.>>
Wordless warmth and lingering sadness came to him. <Thanks, Adam. Thank for trying.>
He sent back comfort. <<Just because it's impossible doesn't mean we should give up, right?>>
They mentally supported each other.
Then the fucking crocodile monstrocity had to be annoying and make gurgling noises.
Sarah glared. "Sorry, I got slightly distracted. Now, be a good sample and stay S͉̟̘̼̘̣̹͎̣̖̱̰̥͙͈̤͜͞ͅͅt̡̧̩̖̩̺̫̬͕̗̪͜͜i̷̶̜͎̮̹̣̙̖̼͍͕͉̤̝̭̳̕͢l̸̛̩̦̠͍̩͘͠l̛̫̞̪̤͉̻̪͠!̶̡̛̥͔͉̱̭͉͓͇͟͡ͅ"
Adam grumbled too. Some people just didn't know how to read the mood!
Ah well, let's look up childhood teachers and friends and pets and stuff and start copying some brains. If Adam was going to try and recreate a mostly missing mind without powerful Soul magic or access to Death, he was going to try his best!
And when he eventually ran out of informational sources to work with, might as well dose them up with some 'Enhance Self' and try to conceptually empower the girls too. Why not?
Maybe conceptual healing could help a fragmented Soul to recover.
Only one way to find out!
Deciding to just go with the one option, forget the rest? That had probably been for the best.
There WERE a bunch of 'free' purchases on the documents, and some more sections about offering extra points for certain sections and all that… But trying to use two Jump Documents on one trip was already a bit questionable.
Oh, Sarah would be fine, he'd make sure of it… But reality might get a bit odd.
At least until 'Research' gets enough data to better adjust Sarah's systems… Not so much to 'protect' her from harm, but to ALLOW reality to twist her in similar ways so she can properly 'align' with the local rules and guidelines.
After all, if your timestream is warped and space is bent… The people INSIDE the situation might never even notice.
So the biggest worry Adam had here was NOT Sarah getting hurt… But that he might have set her defenses to such an advanced level that it would complicate the insertion process.
He stared, confused, as Sarah joined with herself in a hospital coma ward… AND as a betrayed security guard locked under Arkham Asylum in the sewer system, about to be hunted by Killer Croc.
Sigh.
Shit like this.
THIS is why he was worried.
Adam kept an eye on BOTH of his new Jumpers… Who were the same Jumper? She didn't spawn a clone at least. Either way, she could handle this no doubt… And he'd be here if something more unexpected cropped up.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah Everoot flinched, still unable to move.
Professor Marc LeGrande and Dr. Jason Woodrue had betrayed them, and her nightmare of suffering had spiraled from there.
But still, after all this time, her mind drifted back to the cause of all this.
How… How did those monsters even meet? She knew that Dr. Isley had been flattered and pursued by Dr. Woodrue, but they had always stayed appropriate in the laboratory. Never showed anything improper or suspicious.
And Professor LeGrande had been a friendly source of odd materials and rare items for the team, and Pacific Botanical Laboratories was THE top botanical research facility in Seattle Washington…
Neither one seemed to know or mention the other. Not that she had cared much back then, nor had she been worried or paranoid, or watchful.
It all seemed so simple. So basic.
But now all she could hear were the screams. Unable to move, forced to breathe.
And the memories looped again. The only source of distraction.
Dr. Isley, frantically pushing through the broken glass and fumes and chemicals that were flooding the room, trying to get us, her people, out of the growing clouds of poisons and reacting chemical disaster.
Pulling the ropes off us, attempting to move people far heavier than her, trying to wipe away toxic material and keep airways clear with what little she had.
Her whispered and cracked voice trying to convince the dying team members… It would be alright. She had set off the alarms, medical professionals were coming, it would be fine.
Sarah couldn't blame her.
It wasn't Dr. Isley that had drugged the team with something at the 'moral boost' event that she had been unexpectedly late joining. A party organized by the doctor's lover, someone they all trusted (If not all liked), and hosted in thanks by Professor LeGrande while the man gave endless praise to his victims.
It wasn't Dr. Isley that had dragged the entire team into one of the more dangerous testing labs, nor was she the one who bound their limbs and gagged each woman.
Professor LeGrande's past words of astonishment and satisfaction rang hollow, now that they knew he had wished to ensure that all their hard research on those egyptian ancient herbs… All their pride and effort… For all that to be known to a far more restricted audience.
And the betrayer of their leader, Dr. Woodrue, kept whispering half hearted apologies as he ensured they couldn't escape the upcoming 'accident', as he bound their limbs and ensured their drugged mouths couldn't scream for help or cry in pain or sorrow.
Why had they thought this was the best option? Both were men of science. Of learning.
Why had destroying the research group been their choice?
Team Isley was the best.
Researching near extinct plants with little to no funding and providing beyond astounding results, tracking lost data and forgotten lore while using modern equipment to redefine legends and myths.
Sure, they were young and more than a few people disregarded them due to their poverty, their races, and a few due to them being women.
But their work had been solid! Their professionalism top notch!
They… They were going to be going to the top! To prove all the naysayers that talent wasn't restricted to the connected and the socially powerful!
Now… Team Isley was simply a historical side note.
Though… Though the team may be down to Sarah and Dr. Isley now. It was hard to tell, trapped in this broken and fractured mortal shell.
But… No one had visited her for months now. Maybe years.
A lot of the girls didn't have family that cared about them, but if any others had survived… Sarah was sure they would have visited by now. And, from her nightmares, the other girls looked pretty bad off before her body began to fail in that deadly cocktail of unknown materials and chemicals.
Her body shuddered, still locked in her mind.
Soon… Maybe only Dr. Isley would be left of their team.
And… And Sarah wasn't even sure about that.
Those shaking hands trying to wipe away burning ooze, not letting go of her body even as hair and skin began to fall away with each attempt to help.
Those hands had been hurting too.
She… She was probably fine.
Unlike the rest, Dr. Isley never drank the poisoned drinks. She didn't get the shots. And she missed a lot of the chemical reactions that alerted others to the new 'party room' in the first place.
Her exposure should be drastically lower, and hopefully survivable.
Maybe… Maybe Dr. Isley was in rehab? Or researching something to help reduce the pain?
Sarah Everoot flinched in one of the world's most premier medical centers, Gotham General Hospital's coma ward, as something inside her C̟̖̣̯̤o̜̦̦̮̟n͈̟͖̥͓̳n͎e̦̫͕c̲͎̙̣̪t̼̞e͎d͇̰̹.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah Esdat flinched as the distant gate slammed shut. "Come… Come on, Frank. This isn't funny."
Frank Boles would come back.
They would all come back.
They had to come back.
No one would just… Just trap someone down here, not where Killer Croc was 'contained'.
Her pleas were mostly whispers… "Frank? Boss?"
Could he even hear her now? Or had he gone back up already!?
Not that she dared call louder. Not here.
Not with a hungry monster that ate people somewhere, 'contained' in these tunnels of water runoff and flood control.
Something shifted behind her, and she forced herself not to move. Or scream.
Frank would come back, and if she made too much noise he might not find anyone when he returns. Or not all of her, at least.
{Abandoned.}
No, no. Frank was just… Just inappropriately hazing the new girl.
He was an inappropriate guy. Only men on his team, though she had thought it was due to HR complaints about his crass language, his harassment, and all that.
{Maybe only men survived.}
No. This was… He would be back.
This was just to establish the pecking order.
And she had been careful. Never made too many waves, never pushed any buttons. She just needed to work here a bit and get out of debt.
Work at Arkham Asylum came with MASSIVE hazard pay, after all. If you could work here a year, you would have a HUGE nest egg to get back up on your feet.
Half the time it felt like working here was a rehabilitation system for the guards instead of the incurable nutjobs that lived here. More than a few people down on their luck or in harsh times came here to turn their lives around.
To escape the mafia, to pay debts, to get medical care for the family… Despite the horrific working conditions and dangerous environment and lacking oversight, this place was the last resort last chance gamble of the service industry.
And… And it looked like her last resort, last chance, might have been a check that just bounced.
{Hide?}
No. Killer Croc was a hunter. Sense of smell, astounding. Hearing? Especially with this much water around? Deadly.
Movement at ALL was just slicing her own throat.
{...Flee?}
As a last resort. Each step would cause ripples, echos, splashes… And honestly, there was nowhere to run to either.
But when she was found, if she had time to react, if he decided to play with his food… Yeah, she'd run.
Might only extend her life for a few minutes, but… But…
They would come back.
They would come back and she'd swear to follow orders and never report nothing and probably make… Certain compromises…
But at least she'd live.
{Was such an existence a life?}
Raped or not, it was the only chance to shank Frank later before he could do something like this to someone else later.
And while she may act demure and quiet, Sarah Esdat KNEW how to shank a mother fucker.
After all, working at Arkham Asylum was the LAST choice.
Working for criminals? Meh. Black markets? Please! Smugglers? Any day of the week! Politicians?
...Alright, working at Arkham Asylum was ALMOST the last choice.
A distant splash almost made her flinch.
{But movement was forbidden.}
Safe.
Killer Croc didn't often bother showing up at the gate when the guards did their rounds. Not after all this time. It was part of the reason she had let her defenses down, after weeks of just 'ensuring security' and moving on.
Until Frank quietly locked the gate behind her.
Until Frank left her.
{Bitch need's a good neck smile.}
She still had her hold out knife, though it wouldn't do much against Killer Croc. The creature needed a high amp, high voltage collar just to annoy him enough to not eat everyone. Basic bullets and knives? Forget about it.
She had her gun, but what of it? All it would do is expose her location.
{At least the blade felt good in her hands.}
Her fingers gently moved the knife into the metallic gate edges, trying to quietly test it. To just… Just get a sense of the thing.
Maybe… Maybe her smaller tools and equipment could do something where Killer Croc's massive claws and brute strength was restricted?
{No. It wouldn't work.}
But it was all she could do.
And so she would do so.
Sarah Esdat attempted to quietly lockpick an impossible to open gate hidden deep below the Intensive Treatment Center, within Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane's underground secured sewer system containment facility, as something inside her C̟̖̣̯̤o̜̦̦̮̟n͈̟͖̥͓̳n͎e̦̫͕c̲͎̙̣̪t̼̞e͎d͇̰̹.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah was holding still/unable to move as she tried to stay quiet/couldn't make a sound.
How… How odd.
Her mind could see both locations easily enough… But more than that, how reality T̼w̳̙̭̩̘̗i͉̪̤̙͙s̻̝̼͔ͅte̮̰̖̗̺̞̘d to the sides and around.
Adam began doing something. <<Alright, 'Research' found the issues with using multiple Jump Documents that try to change insertion locations simultaneously, so this won't happen again.>>
She didn't dare speak/couldn't speak if she wanted to. <What do I do?>
He was shifting stuff. <<Right now, most of the errors are due to you being in two places at the same time, and I can fix it easy enough if you give me just a few…>>
Oh was that all?
"[[S̮̬̤̱̹̬p̠̱̰a̭̦c̘̞͈͙̫̫ia͇͚̪͓͖l̻̝͇̗ ̗R͖͇̫̲̮͍͍ḛ͍͍̘u̲̘̬̘ṋ̖̞̳̫i̜o͎̳̝n͙̱͔̰̜͕͔.]]"
And she was THERE, both here and in her coma bed.
And reality quickly began to flow again, and somewhere out of touch of her S̥̥̥͕p̬͇̫̫̱̺̜a̤̜̗c̣̲̬̩̹e͔̭̭̱, Time uncurled and concepts realigned.
A mental sigh and amusement came through. <<...Or you could do that. I'll send the Data to 'Research' and you can decide if you want to keep both personas or simplify to one or whatever. I can see the whole Jump stabilizing now, though… Well, there are a few alterations.>>
It was easy enough to have her mind organize her memories into the Sarah hive as if they were both clones, and Sarah Everoot was going to be bed ridden for a while as she has a 'recovery' soon.
So Sarah Esdat it was!
Her body flickered, the security uniform shifting as she [[Harvested]] all her gear away, had Adam get to work upgrading that mess, and shifted into a nice blue business suit.
No, it didn't match the environment. No, she didn't give a fuck.
One unexpected issue came when she noticed her arm though.
Her silver tattoos had shifted.
They now looked like a mess of silver vine markings all over her body.
Neat! Though probably noticeable.
Adam hummed. <<Those shouldn't be an issue. Your Sarah Everoot self got the markings along with the plant abilities, and this Sarah Esdat covered up everything since this is a dangerous as hell place to work. And both of you have silver eyes and hair.>>
And apparently, from her memories, odd hair colors and eye effects were fairly common in this Jump. Alright, she could work with this.
That said… "Why ARE there a bunch of flooded tunnels locked away down here under the Intensive Treatment Center?"
A map came up. <<Some of the more strange plants and a few odd fish used for experimental testing on patients need high humidity or straight up flooding to grow or breed. Killer Croc basically acts as a custodian down here in return for certain… Benefits.>>
….Shit. "I'm a sacrifice down here, aren't I?" Fuck you, Frank.
He hummed. <<Not officially… But unofficially, it is one of the marks on the record of a partially 'successful' rehabilitation attempt. And people go missing in this place often enough.>>
Holy crap, that was some dark stuff.
Idly, she began taking samples of everything for the Warehouse to look into. "Anything I should grab while down here?"
Data came up about a monstrous and familiar figure. <<Waylon Jones might choose to be a beast, but his body might have some interesting genetics to work with.>>
And… Memories of working on Dr. Isley's team began to tickle her biological tinkering side. And the cloning alteration options to test. "Bet I could make some recovery serums using his bullshit. Lord knows Killer Croc manages to regenerate from his wounds fast enough to laugh at modern weaponry."
Best make sure it doesn't make people turn reptilian though… Or not? Sexy hybrid snake girls didn't sound THAT bad… Hmm.
Make it a choice? Volunteer sexy is best sexy, after all.
More data came up. <<Also, grab some of these things. These plants have some spores that help form an antidote to something called 'TITAN formula', an enhanced and modified variant of Bane's Venom, a super-soldier serum and ultra-steroid. It's far weaker than Bane's stuff, but is a one dose permanent body bulking enhancement drug that causes mental instability.>>
Oh. "Yeah, best pick up some of that. And maybe grab some TITAN samples too… And some of Bane's original Venom… Damn, Dr. Isley would have loved this stuff." Her memories felt sticky, but at least it was getting better.
Adam sighed. <<You'll probably find her in this place, known as Poison Ivy.>>
What!? "I thought she'd be in the Seattle General Intensive Care Unit with us!?"
More information. <<None of you are over there anymore, all of you were brought to Gotham. Well, the ones who made it this long… You are located in Gotham General Hospital now.>>
Sarah began flicking through the data as he continued. <<I'm still hacking the local information networks, but I'm pretty sure they used your team to force the woman to help them develop the TITAN stuff in the first place.>>
A wave of relief hit her system. "Half my team is still alive!" Thank goodness! Poor little Jessie would need something to fix up the skin and Susan needed a limb or two, but she could do this!
Adam's silence made her feelings suddenly clench. "Right?" Shit, was she missing something!?
Hack the medical records, hack the private reports, hack the investigation details and the police records, and just in case: "[[Scan]]."
Sarah stared at invisible data screens and information.
His sigh was heavy. <<I'm sorry, Sarah.>>
The more basic body stuff was easy enough to fix… But the chemicals injected into each person before the 'accident' were designed to damage brain tissue. To keep the perpetrators safe.
The only reason Dr. Isley didn't have similar issues as her team was because she missed the party… And the additional measures those fuckers took against them escaping their fate. The drugs and shots.
Sarah absently gripped the metal gate, the material flexing under her hand. "How did I keep enough brain matter to merge with myself?"
Adam sighed. <<You didn't. But unlike the rest, your Soul was sort of enhanced retroactively by the Jump, and the relevant memories were stored there. When you fully hooked up, there was something to work with there to ensure a recovery eventually.>>
But… But none of the other girls were there any more. "Could… I mean, they are biologically alive right? Can we do something?" The chances of four team members and herself surviving long enough to even last this long was a miracle as it was.
A sigh. <<With no mind, literally in a few cases, well… Even if you fully helped them recover, they wouldn't remember anything. Personality death, in other words.>>
Fuck.
Well… Well, at least she made it. And Dr. Isley. "Start sneaking medication into them. Just because the people I know are gone doesn't mean that they have to hurt like that… And we can get them medical care and recovery treatments."
They wouldn't be HER team, but they would be able to have a full life with funding and support they would only dream of before her coming here.
It wasn't enough, but it was something.
In the dark, water suddenly rippled. "I h̕av͝e ͞your͡ ̴sc͏ent… Fre͏şḩ m̴̷͠e͜͏̛͞͝a̸̧͘͜t̸́!̛͞"
Oh. Is that so? "Good day, Mr. Jones. My name is Sarah Esdat. I'm your new primary physician."
A massive shadow in the dim tunnels began to fill the area. "Oh͜?̷ ͘A ̛brav̷e͠ ̢o͘ne͢ then?͠"
Her fingers flexed in grumbling rage. "Something like that. When was your last checkup?"
A distant mountain of muscle began to prowl into view. "A m͢ea̷ļ ͡w̧ith ̵hum̕ór? ͏Wha̸t a ̷w͠a̛st̀e...N͢ǫw,́ wh̕y͟ ́don͟'t ̴yo̕u̕ ̵s̀t͠a̷rt ru̧nn͏ing̕?̛"
She snorted. "Oh come on, you're not THAT hideous."
The creature blinked… And SNARLED! "I͟ ̨w͢i̷l͠l̶ ̵fea͜s͞t on ̕y̢our ́b̸o͝nȩs!͏"
Well good. Because Sarah had some stress to work through. "And I'm going to collect some samples!"
Mr. McStabberson was H̹̞̼̺̖̖u̟̝͖̠̝͙̙͙̱͖̱n͚͓̟̫̹͔̦͙̻g͔̮̬̙̤̠̲̯̫͚͍͙͇̺̬̩̼̲r̫̗̹̼̻̠̳̰͔̭̜̹̥͕̣͙̺y̲̗͙̙̯̲! "And heads up! This… This might sting."
However, just in case…
Sarah caught the glowing bone spike on F̖͍̳i̘͔̠̺̺r̗̦͕̱̳̦e̝̟̥͕̭, blue flames spiraling.
NOW it will sting.
Then there were roars and screams and darkness and claws and bones...
It was glorious!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam sighed, trying to examine his Jumper's former teammates again. A few fragments here and there, a few memories… Nothing much left in their remaining Soul fragments…
Still. At least when they recovered, Adam could help a little.
Dump a cleansed copy of Sarah's memories where each individual was involved, drop in loads of relevant educational information (And not just math and biology and chemistry, their minds were being rebuilt from scratch… So why not add more?), and start the tedious process of searching this country for third-party witnesses and associates for each of the four girls.
He also began to build personal data background reports for each broken woman in this private coma ward. So while there wouldn't be any memories with emotions or context built into it, they would still be able to remember passwords and locations and birthdays and family members…
Faces, locations, so on and so forth.
Oh, it would be clearly messed up… But when they TRIED to remember something, there would be data available. Just… Clearly messed up data.
But the human mind was flexible. With more information, it would be enough for their loved ones (Few as they were) and each other to recognize others. To have a sense of 'self'. Most people couldn't remember things very accurately anyway, so having some ingrained natural reflexes and a lot of factual data that feels instinctively true... It should help.
Sure it was a pain in the ass to calculate fake reflexes and instincts so that their future hand written signatures and stuff would match past documents, and Adam had to go through a lot of effort converting memories of third-party people and Sarah into a first person viewpoint in a visualized reconstruction of the remembered situation... But he had more complicated challenges in the past.
Over time, they would build on these fragments and expand upon them, filling their mental holes with the same dreams and fictional fragments most people do naturally in their life… New data would help them 'remember' lost information, etc.
If anything, they would have a BETTER memory for raw data then before the incident. And have a much easier time learning and adapting compared to before anything occurred... But it wasn't actually 'fixing' the issue.
It was ensuring these NEW people could more easily adapt to being 'born' as an adult with a crazy 'history' they shouldn't be able to recall.
So if this Jump has an Afterlife, these four girls are probably going to end up meeting their unexpected twin sisters... Or maybe the scraps of Soul left behind would allow them to incarnate as themselves? Dang it, he had no data to work with here!
Adam carefully built up some base information (math, science, history, etc), with large chunks stolen from external sources, even as the Warehouse began to infiltrate the local information sources.
Which was going to be important because this world was kind of messed up right now... Everything was stabilizing, but trying to get these two Jump documents to work together sort of mutated Gotham City and Arkham Island... He was pretty sure this location, this one city, was not supposed to cross borders into multiple American states.
That uh... That ALSO shouldn't happen again in the future. Hopefully.
Anyway, back on topic! Hacking the local information systems to better gather theoretical memories for these hurt women.
Data exfiltration was a bit tricky, as Adam's new method involved carefully tracing the hardware and focusing sensors at various hubs and junctions… In other words, not adding to the traffic being examined but using a scanned duplicate of the structure and messing with the copy.
At least this way, 'hacking the internet' wouldn't crash the stupid thing. He'd seen stories where an AI just downloaded the world's data, as if trying to download terabytes of data through dialup would go unnoticed.
Nah, much safer and easier to scan the network nodes, detect where the hard drives and server drives and backups were stored, and [[Scan]] the data directly from the source. It also helped when someone was trying to find data centers with information stored 'Off the grid', as it were.
His self satisfied smugness blinked as he realized an issue.
Just uh… A tiny small problem.
Shit. <<Sarah?>>
Her spike SMASHED the massive muscle man into the bricks! <What's up, Adam?>
He double checked the 'baseline' data he had already inserted into her friends. <<So I was uh… Giving some raw information for your team members to work with, before we healed them up and all that. Right?>>
A bloody splash and Croc's furious scream showed that her bone spike was VERY sharp. <Right, so they can read and stuff instead of just blankly breathing and… GRR!> "Stop trying to defend yourself! I need samples for SCIENCE!"
Adam grimaced. <<Well, I might have used the wrong data set when I began giving the other girls background data.>>
Sarah paused mid-stomp, her foot holding the huge man to the wall. <What do you mean?>
Sigh, just suck it up Adam and spill it. <<I dumped YOUR scientific information for them to work with, not the local 2016 Earth stuff. Thankfully the safety systems automatically removed anything related to magic and psionics and aliens and stuff…>>
She blinked. <But you basically gave them Rick and Morty Jump levels of scientific advancement?>
Adam slumped. <<Yeah.>>
Sarah looked at… Nothing. One foot forcing the squirming giant of a man to wheeze in frustration. <Jessie would have loved that. Fuck it, except for the out of context crap? Give them ALL the best.>
Sure. <<One super science research team coming right up! Oh, and we'll keep them unconscious until I can get more information from Poison Ivy and track down any friends or family these girls have.>>
Might as well give them a private hive mind too, just for those girls as well. Sarah wouldn't be able to hook into it without giving away the whole game, but it should let all four of their minds better recover... As well as giving them a support system which they will dearly need.
Sarah nodded, twisting her heel to force the flailing creature to turn towards a better
Adam hummed. <<With a bit of effort and some [[Scans]] I can at least ensure they will somewhat 'recall' stuff unique to themselves. Basically giving them a framework built by examining the places and people they touched in their lives. Hopefully… Well, if it is even possible to ever recover from a personality death, this is the best shot we'll get.>>
Wordless warmth and lingering sadness came to him. <Thanks, Adam. Thank for trying.>
He sent back comfort. <<Just because it's impossible doesn't mean we should give up, right?>>
They mentally supported each other.
Then the fucking crocodile monstrocity had to be annoying and make gurgling noises.
Sarah glared. "Sorry, I got slightly distracted. Now, be a good sample and stay S͉̟̘̼̘̣̹͎̣̖̱̰̥͙͈̤͜͞ͅͅt̡̧̩̖̩̺̫̬͕̗̪͜͜i̷̶̜͎̮̹̣̙̖̼͍͕͉̤̝̭̳̕͢l̸̛̩̦̠͍̩͘͠l̛̫̞̪̤͉̻̪͠!̶̡̛̥͔͉̱̭͉͓͇͟͡ͅ"
Adam grumbled too. Some people just didn't know how to read the mood!
Ah well, let's look up childhood teachers and friends and pets and stuff and start copying some brains. If Adam was going to try and recreate a mostly missing mind without powerful Soul magic or access to Death, he was going to try his best!
And when he eventually ran out of informational sources to work with, might as well dose them up with some 'Enhance Self' and try to conceptually empower the girls too. Why not?
Maybe conceptual healing could help a fragmented Soul to recover.
Only one way to find out!
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I think that's when the OCP named ADAM pops out and [[Harvest]]'s some demons. When you got an Overgod type entity as your active(not passive!) divine protection, those demons are winning the Darwin award. I mean, if a demon saw/sensed what was happening to them with no noticeable outside influences? That just means it's way too strong to be noticed. I heard Demons are great [[Research]] material too! They have some survival instinct, don't they? That sorta stuff doesn't happen for no reason, ya know!
edit: Can't you just switch the threadmark from info to threadmarks?
Screw you, threadmarks.
- Location
- Here
When I did, it decided to insert it somewhere thousands of chapters ago. I have no idea why.
Hidden One
Not the Boss, possibly a Playa
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
And The One Above Sarah thought "Let's see what this does!"
...
and suddenly Bruce Wayne felt like he needed a drink.
...
and suddenly Bruce Wayne felt like he needed a drink.
Vhalidictes
(Verified Demon)
- Location
- Las Vegas
The personality reconstruction seems like it will work to an extent.. But that might be just as painful for Sarah to adjust to, in the end.
At least the team will be capable of great things now? Maybe they'll find a way to restore their own memories...
At least the team will be capable of great things now? Maybe they'll find a way to restore their own memories...
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- Location
- Earth U.S.
remove the?
premier
then?
- Location
- Planet Earth
Am I the only one who "Kinda" wants Death of the Endless to just randomly pop up to see what's going on with these soul fragments and Sarah's everything? Maybe have her wind up as part of Sarahs' Harem and have her help Adam with fixing the girls. Maybe have her be part of Adams Harem instead? Been a while since he had a new significant other. Would also be entertaining if she, by meeting and dealing with Adam, was able to sometimes follow them. Like, Sarah and Adam wind up in Harry Potter. They wind up collecting the Deathly Hallows, if only to study them, but also probably to secure them and protect people from them. Then, in doing so, Death uses the connection/opportunity to pop in for a visit and some fun.
Well, if memories are sort of soul linked, then it's always possible that they end up getting them back. Building up on what Adam added in. I mean, DC being a comic-verse, there's weirder things to happen from that. The hive mind bit might even increase the speed it happens.
Given that mention of Sarah connecting to it being a possibility, who knows, maybe Sarah ends up accidentally doing such. Maybe even retroactively having always have happened. Where they also are Sarah. It would make a certain amount of sense, then remnants just being different aspects of Sarah of sorts. Them surviving because of it, when the rest of the team (apparently) didn't survive. Though it's also possible that they too are alive, just kept secretly somewhere else, as one of the top secret projects, because they're less damaged/more intact. Either that or they only 'needed' so many. Something that is likely to be found later if that's the case. It also does have the 'all of them moved over' make sense; the stablized jump having Sarah in Gotham due to the Arkham jump stuff, but the others coming with due to being retroactively linked because of the work Adam has going on. Heck, maybe even some of the brilliance from that added knowledge base leaked back. Not too much, but enough to have some sort of impact.
Although different idea is that Isley grabbed the other half of her team herself, which was as many as she could, to try and save them.
The idea of Dr. Isley unknowingly having a proto-hivemind (since it only really 'formed' after it dissolved) as her research time is kind of hilarious. An almost mirror of Sarah and the Elizabeths. Different roles this time. And the added weirdness of them being distinctive people. Also ties in to the Rick and Morty hivemind stuff.
I'm not sure, but were there actual canon versions of Isley that were part of a research team, rather than just being a sole researcher? For the big project that ended with her being betrayed, and becoming Poison Ivy, at least.
As for the immediate future, I can see Sarah grabbing Harley Quinn, since this is most likely after the change from Quinzel, and going on to see Poison Ivy. A nice reunion for Team Isley. Of sorts. A full reunion would have to wait for the other Sarah, and the somewhat restored remaining team members.
Given that mention of Sarah connecting to it being a possibility, who knows, maybe Sarah ends up accidentally doing such. Maybe even retroactively having always have happened. Where they also are Sarah. It would make a certain amount of sense, then remnants just being different aspects of Sarah of sorts. Them surviving because of it, when the rest of the team (apparently) didn't survive. Though it's also possible that they too are alive, just kept secretly somewhere else, as one of the top secret projects, because they're less damaged/more intact. Either that or they only 'needed' so many. Something that is likely to be found later if that's the case. It also does have the 'all of them moved over' make sense; the stablized jump having Sarah in Gotham due to the Arkham jump stuff, but the others coming with due to being retroactively linked because of the work Adam has going on. Heck, maybe even some of the brilliance from that added knowledge base leaked back. Not too much, but enough to have some sort of impact.
Although different idea is that Isley grabbed the other half of her team herself, which was as many as she could, to try and save them.
The idea of Dr. Isley unknowingly having a proto-hivemind (since it only really 'formed' after it dissolved) as her research time is kind of hilarious. An almost mirror of Sarah and the Elizabeths. Different roles this time. And the added weirdness of them being distinctive people. Also ties in to the Rick and Morty hivemind stuff.
I'm not sure, but were there actual canon versions of Isley that were part of a research team, rather than just being a sole researcher? For the big project that ended with her being betrayed, and becoming Poison Ivy, at least.
As for the immediate future, I can see Sarah grabbing Harley Quinn, since this is most likely after the change from Quinzel, and going on to see Poison Ivy. A nice reunion for Team Isley. Of sorts. A full reunion would have to wait for the other Sarah, and the somewhat restored remaining team members.
I think you can rearrange the order as well. Not sure how easy it is to do so, with so many chapters threadmarked.
I'm guessing, but that sounds like it took the position of the informational threadmark when you changed it to story. So it wasn't "last threadmark", but "xth threadmark", and if x is around 10, while story reached 200... oops.
That is one small step away from "What does this button do?"
I hereby dub Sarah and Adam as Team Fuckit, Hold My Beer.
- Status