It would be one of the most awesome things ever written.The *really* awkward stuff will happen if Adam ever runs into a fanfiction setting.
Theres enough generic and specific fanfiction jumps across all drives for some rather silly things to happen.
Imagine Adam deciding on a vaccation and running into Mr. Black!
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Broken Adventure
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover
- Status
- Location
- Here
For those wondering: It's a whole thing. Awesome series, read them all several times.
The problem is that some people are a bit too big for more than one main character. I'm not saying it's impossible, but uh...
Mr. Black bends the narrative around himself accidentally.
I'm not sure the websites can survive having Adam's gasoline thrown onto Mr. Black's bonfire.
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
It would probably end SV... But what a lovely flame-up it would be briefly.
Hidden One
Not the Boss, possibly a Playa
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
But they would get along like a house on blue fire for sure! 🔥
Of course things could always go even weirder. I don't need to point in the general direction of the Scooby Gamers, do I?
After all they could be anywhere at this point, in any numbers.
Arc 3: Why do I feel H̞̠͎̭u͚̲̣n̠̮̹̙͇̞̩g̠͖ͅr̺y̩̦?
- Location
- Here
The materials started fairly normal, if rare and valuable.
Dense.
Energy resistant. Energy reflective. Energy absorbent.
Impact mitigation, vibration redirection, sound dampening.
They absorbed light or even had a negative index of refraction for specific energy ranges… Completely redirecting any incoming beams of light along the surface instead of reflecting as expected.
Many layers, multiple stacks thick and coating the Shard.
Resources gathered, constructed, or designed and developed over multiple Jumps…
It was insufficient.
Adam shifted focus.
Energy itself was used as a material.
Complex paths for Potential energy to gather, flows for Psionic power, channels for Magic itself.
'Research' reshaped and rebuilt the laws and guidelines that formed these forces as they interacted… And further developed the concept.
Some materials from different realities reacted differently with specific energy types and ratios.
The differences could be exploited.
Odd loops of power impacting layers of odd material before clashing with other energies, creating cycles and circuits and new interactions to study.
Not even slightly enough.
Energies and exotic materials began being combined.
Tainting material mixtures of various metals, influencing fibers of plant life with powers beyond, more and more Da̤̜̥ta̖̻̫̦ was gathered.
The raw power involved caused the materials to S͍̞h͔̱͚͎͍̰i̩̦̺f̥̗̟̜̘̤t̻̙̭ͅ.
Good.
More Da̤̜̥ta̖̻̫̦.
Materials gathered under fields of influence, forged through streams of energy, solidified in beams of power, hardened in rivers of potential.
.
This was where things s̠l͍̞̞ͅo͚̖̰̟w̝̟͇͇͔̥l̼̦̪̻̟̻̟y̭͕̺̦͙̫̦̳̻ g͔̮̮̞̰̖̺͓̠͈̭r̠͈̠̪̮͔̣̳͖̥̤̺͖e̮̗͉͇̳̝͕̺̲͙͉̯̗̪w͕̗̮̬͔̼̟̦̪͈̣̤̺͍̟̣͕̜̦ Ṣ̼͔̗̣͕͍̩̹̱̺̯̳͈̤̆̆̔ͫ͐̈̓ͣt͉̦̜͇̻̰̺͓̙̉͆͋͒͑̄͂̓̊r̦̲͚̙̠̘̫͉̮͇̬̣͎̹̙̦̮̎͑̿̍͗͆a͔̞̯̗͙͊͋̏͗͑ͭ̾ͤ̆̔n͕̹͍̩̫̖̟̱̘̥̱̹̰̺̖̾͂ͨͭg̻̩͖͇̫̼̠̘̠̠͓͇ͭ̑͊́̇̆ͅē̪̲̘̩̣̠̪̫̣͔̠͙̺͇͒͌ͩ.̫͓̣͉̰̙͚̲̥̹͈ͪ̽̿̑̏ͩ̿ͧ͐̚
.
.
.
Substances that shouldn't exist stabilized here, outside of any Jump.
Things appearing so unstable they couldn't even decay began to develop.
Materials in motion while still.
Energies that only theoretically existed.
Objects without mass.
Sounds colored with flavors.
And Adam collected this Da̤̜̥ta̖̻̫̦ and 'Research' further focused on his works.
For this… Even this…
It failed to suppress the Shard's growing H̩̮̤͎u͍̠ͅn̘g̪̜̯e̼͖͔͔r̻.
But… Every step did have benefits.
If nothing else, Adam was ever so slowly developing the materials and energies and patterns and schematics needed to mute the presence of the D̜̭̦e̞̜̟̜͈̮̜s͙̭̫͎ͅi̙͇̝̩͕̭̮r̟̜̺͎e.
The trick, he found, was to imbue the materials with feelings.
Apathy. Boredom. Lethargy. Weariness. Downtrodden.
Feelings of the lost and the despairing were cautiously [[Harvested]] and fused with strange materials that never existed, empowered by energies undiscovered, and coated in potential eventually forgotten.
It created a strange flavor to the nothingness the Warehouse slept in.
A taste of neglect, sprinkled with age and toasted through trials and tribulation.
It was… better.
But not good enough.
For within this 'Fragile Victim' Adam could still taste the bitter fever of eagerness.
His Shard was trying to hold back, and 'Research' was advancing the process by leaping forward dozens of steps in the journey to success… Would it be enough?
If nothing else, it was teaching Adam how to operate here, outside of any Jump, directly.
Something very fundamental, Data that he absently shared with Sarah's systems for optimization and future development. Secrets sought by civilizations were casually discovered and tossed into a file like trash as Adam redefined the limits of possibility…
He was unhappy with his progress.
But there was yet time.
A spirit in the machine, Adam hummed a pirate song as he prepared for snacks/tasty treats/delicious idiots/enemy action.
It was unfortunate that there were no witnesses nearby or peers in communication range to inform him of the numerous ideas and creations he formed and adjusted. Even the most bitter and unhelpful of observers would have stepped in by this point to stop all the upcoming existence ending disasters about to form and inform him of the impossible actions he was attempting to do right now.
Sadly, Adam was unaware of the futile nature of his work.
So, like usual, he accomplished these 'impossible actions' anyway while annoyed… Barely marking down his many successes in the logs without concern or interest so he could get away from this boring stuff and get back onto more fun personal projects.
For example, Adam West had contacted them about producing an animated musical opera movie thing using the Batman characters from the cartoon show. An opera in SPACE!
That should be interesting!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah absently chewed on another hard candy.
For some reason, she was just famished recently. Like there was some sort of delicious dish being prepared in a nearby room, and they could just faintly smell the amazing flavors and aroma waiting around the bend.
It was more than a little distracting, honestly.
Oh wait! She was waking up. Good. "Careful there, keep your eye's closed."
Oracle groaned. "I… My Queen? What? No, hang on… I don't remember doing any Dom play recently… Oh, my head."
Heh. "Shh, keep calm. There was a bit of an accident with Dr. Isley's powers, and you got a bit of a dose. Let it wear off and stay relaxed, it won't last long."
She mumbled. "Uh… Right, the blue hot silver lady with the sexy eyes and… Models? No, I remember now, we were… Schematics of… Then a F̲̬͈͓o̮̺͚̱͖ͅr̼͔e̞͙̝ș̠t͖̟͔ arrived and I wanted to worship it? Or something?"
Sarah carefully felt the ambient wall moss used as lighting and adjusted the output to something a bit brighter. Hopefully it would help her wake up faster without giving her a headache. "You are safe, we are safe, but you are still waking up. Just stay calm and think back to what you remember."
Oh. "And you don't have to say it out loud, just think about it to yourself."
No reason to give the poor girl MORE embarrassing memories after all. Some of the things she sleep murmured had been fascinating. And familiar. Reminded her of Elizabeth's more adventurous 'experiments'... Good times.
The woman on the bed shifted, a blanket still covering her despite her full costume. Wouldn't do for her to feel a chill, after all. "I remember you, then the Boss, then… Everything goes a bit wonky."
Not bad. Another hour or so and she should be fully recovered. "Dr. Isley had a powerful ability that I happened to be immune to and Batman accidentally had counters for. None of us realized the issue because she has been spending her time here helping me set up the place and look after the girls… Thankfully we haven't visited anywhere public yet."
The mental image of a bustling mall suddenly freezing to turn and stare at Pamela was a bit humorous and horrifying. Fastest way to start a cult, period!
Thankfully the minor Moss alteration would easily keep that skill locked down unless actually desired. Mind control/Mind lockdown was a powerful ability after all, and could save her life one day… Assuming Pamela didn't accidentally set it off when she was trying to make a good impression, like she did today.
Hopefully the doctor will ALSO calm down soon… She hadn't taken the incident as well as Batman had or Oracle probably would. Losing control of her iron will was a big deal to the woman, and taking away other people's agency… Well, it was a bit of a traumatic event.
Thankfully the other Sarah was keeping her company with the four slumbering beauties. And all that juicy biological and genetic Data was acting as a lovely distraction to keep her from falling into a depressive spiral or something… Combining four women with unrelated backgrounds and ethnicity into a quartet of exotic beauties with near alien perfection was an unusual circumstance, after all.
Oracle suddenly tensed. "Oh shit. I didn't tell anyone about how hot they were, did I? I just remember never ending obsessions about your tight bum and her amazing chest and all that… Oh damn it, PLEASE don't let me have spouted that mess everywhere when I was out of it!"
Uh… Did right now count? Quick, say something! "Technically, no you didn't." Was that a lie? Maybe? Crud. You can do this, Sarah: Just be very precise. "While you were sleeptalking and all that, you were mostly mumbling sentence fragments at best."
She relaxed. "Oh thank goodness, I was so close to trying to nuzzle your neck I was SURE I would say something about how seductive your silver eyes were or that tight hip sway thing you got going on. And if I managed to not say anything about Sexy McDoctorPants then I basically used up my miracle points for the whole year!"
Oracle gave a satisfied nod. "Thankfully my new costume makes it a lot harder for anyone to notice how aroused I have been for most of this visit. It is REALLY unfair that most of the women in this city tends to hit a 11/10 on the hotness scale. Still, I better keep quiet about all this so you don't suspect anything."
Sarah blinked.
Ah.
She quickly made a short note to Batman and Pamela. Apparently, a mild dose of Poison Ivy's pheromones would cause a bit of confusion and disorientation. And uh… Interactive inner monologue and all that.
The woman on the medical table stretched. "Holy shit though, I'm going to remember both you girls later tonight for SURE. A broken spine does NOT help with your love life, I can tell you that much. Makes dating a bitch too…"
Best add in a few details. 'High value when used for interrogation, intentionally or otherwise.' Good grief.
Oops, her hand was starting to reach for places. Best keep her distracted until the last of this stuff wears off. "Could you check your costume's diagnostic displays and tips?"
She thankfully didn't do anything awkward and huffed. "I keep getting these error messages. Saying stuff like 'User may be compromised' and 'User should refrain from this topic' and 'User is unlikely to appreciate these comments at a later time.' It is freaking annoying and they keep popping up telling me not to do things or touch places and stuff! I'm a grown woman, after all! I do what I want!"
Oh dear.
At least the user profiling systems seemed accurate, if the alert system was operating that well. "Do you see the option that says 'Soothing Slumber' on the menu over to the right, below 'Off Hours' and under 'Utility'?" Come on, follow instructions.
Oracle blinked. "Uh… Yeah. Yeah I see it. Ooh… Pretty colors!"
Hopefully this works. "Just mentally choose that option and…"
Suddenly the superheroine's outfit shifted into something that looked FAR more soft, and quiet soothing sounds were being fed into her audio channels while calming dim lights shifted over her eyes.
The poor girl was out like a light instantly.
Sheesh. "Hey, SMS!"
[[Tasking: Could you let Batman and Pamela know that extreme fatigue and lack of sleep combined with the recovery period of Dr. Isley's pheromones can cause something similar to temporary narcolepsy? Stream them the medical data and the video feed of this situation. But uh… No audio or subtitles, please.]]
{{SMS: Acknowledged.}}
Batman could probably read lips or something, but there was no reason to TRY and make this more awkward than it already was. Not to mention that this was important stuff to know, and potentially valuable data for the future.
Poison Ivy combined with a weak sleeping gas could apparently take down an entire ballroom of people abusing this combination, potentially. That would probably be far more acceptable to her morally than forcing men and women to sexually salivate uncontrollably for the chance to be stepped on or something.
Sarah blinked… And gave a sly grin.
Unless… Unless Pamela was INTO that kind of thing.
The green skinned red haired Goddess would make a pretty impressive Dominatrix, now that Sarah thought about it.
Mmm. Thoughts for later.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
They, the slum of the City, had been demoted.
Unlike the far poorer people they oppressed, who got free jobs and housing and all that… They instead had past hidden crimes revealed, arrest warrants, found evidence, and all that.
The problem was… What could they DO about it?
The powerful and rich had ALWAYS been above them, it was the law of the world, but now the absolute bottom rung of the ladder had been removed entirely and redistributed elsewhere.
The insignificant heights they slaughtered each other to climb had all shifted downward a notch… And now they were lacking targets. No herd to cull, as it were.
More than that, the foulest and most malevolent of the shadow people and forgotten ones were off the street now. Just showing up in prison cells with proper paperwork and iron clad, watertight cases and recorded witness statements and the wrong (unbribed) judges.
Sure they got free medical care somehow and free legal representation… But they were guilty as hell.
They knew it, the cops knew it, their former victims CERTAINLY knew it, but that hadn't mattered much before now.
Suddenly, actions had consequences again.
Of course, the smart side of the wrong side of the fence had lay low long ago. Stayed quiet, didn't stick out, no grease or hammer needed for them, no sir!
But… Not even half of the underworld were all that clever.
So people who had impossibly high levels of optimism began to plan raids on the new 'Batman Village' that seemed to flaunt nothing but rare valuables and that sickly taste of untainted air.
It was too pure over there. Too clean.
They weren't used to it.
And unlike the slime they used to rule over with a grasping claw of a fist, these men and women responded to changing circumstances, confusion, saying hello, and basically anything and everything else that happens in their lives with one solution and one answer.
Violence.
Which was why there was a new warehouse sized prisoner lockup facility next to Gotham PD.
And why it seemed to constantly fill up.
Because these people just couldn't seem to connect the 'Do crazy shit' cause with the 'show up in custody' effect for some reason.
No real pattern matching going on here. Nope.
But this led to other strange issues.
The lowest of the low, the downtrodden, were being healed, a fresh start.
The idiots were basically getting themselves arrested trying to show how powerful they were.
And the number of nervous, incredibly polite villains and henchmen and henchwomen living in the formerly worst neighborhoods continued to swell.
Gotham City was dense with Crime after all.
Get rid of the lowest rung of poverty, hack off the mountain of idiots, and you STILL had an ocean of criminals that were rapidly learning to be polite at ALL TIMES.
And then… Someone found out that stopping low level crimes or helping the police in their duties would somehow have a check show up in the mail from Adam West as payment for enforcing the 'Spirit of Batman'.
HIdden away from the confusion outside, eyes of the former trash tier began to flare with greed and Righteous Justice.
As for reprisal from their former coworkers and detested bosses?
Well, Batman Village had a surprisingly wide range of costumes for sale with astounding quality and nearly negligible cost.
These odd factors sort of accidentally began to clash against each other.
The outcome was totally not Adam's fault.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam blinked as he turned his focus away from his work, ignoring the unmaking of reality in a small explosion due to the interruption. {{Sorry, what were you saying Sarah?}}
She grunted in frustration. "Can you PLEASE focus for a few minutes?" Another bite taken from her snack. Girl was fairly hungry recently for some reason.
No problem. {{Sure! What's the issue?}}
Sarah pulled up data. "The number of Batman and Robin 'heroes' has jumped again. Drastically. Nearly quadrupled once again since I last checked the numbers." Her attention flickered to her own data. "I would have missed it entirely if I wasn't checking so many logs investigating what happened to Oracle earlier."
Huh. {{Maybe it's the spirit of Gotham? Like how Wisconsin really REALLY likes cheese?}}
She harrumphed. "No, something strange is going on here. When the stores were running low on Batman and Robin suits, people bought Batgirl suits instead… Without care or concern about if the thing fit or not or if they were crossdressing."
Adam paused. {{But my shops CAN'T run low on materials. Most are constructed on location underground, resupplying sold stock as it is needed."
Her hands pulled over more data. "Oh, our locations are fine. But these people are even buying off brand crap and low quality scam outfits off the street now."
Images came up of thin people swamped in massive outfits, women wearing the cowl, men wearing the Batskirt, a few VERY large people wearing a VERY tiny amount of material clearly designed for a much smaller person. "These people are not treating this like a fun time or a special event, but as a deadly serious requirement."
Adam seemed… Well, confused. Very confused. {{But why though?}}
She grimly pulled up a web article. "Someone confirmed that dressing up in costume would boost the income earned from the 'Spirit of Batman' jobs and the whole thing exploded into chaos."
Wait, what now? {{The what job?}}
She glared at… Well, nothing. Adam wasn't physically there, after all. But she did glare pretty fiercely. "One of your automated tasks basically turned vigilante work into a paid profession and we missed it. Worse, it is somehow legal due to how odd private security legislation is in this town."
That didn't make sense. {{I don't think Batman needs the money, honestly.}}
Sarah snorted. "No, probably not. However…" A massive spreadsheet opened up. "Turns out there are like thirty or so caped vigilantes in Gotham City officially… When counting the ones who are good samaritans or visiting or any of that? Far, far more."
She sighed. "And now, even the people with very few skills or opportunities can use the 'Spirit of Batman' funding to build teams and stuff. Hell, a good chunk of the remaining underworld is cannibalizing itself trying to snag such an 'easy' paycheck before 'anyone else' finds out."
How odd.
Meh. {{I'll be honest with you Sarah, I'm pretty much fine with this.}}
She waved a hand! "We disabled the automatic reporting and crime prevention systems to stop the idiots running Gotham from firing the Police Department entirely due to them 'not being needed'! Causing over half the criminal world to turn each other in for a bounty causes a similar issue!"
Where was she going with this? {{So what should I do? Boost the pay rates? Replace the weekly income with a per-incident bonus instead?}} Maybe that would make them retire?
Sarah grit her teeth. "No. That would make things worse." She forced herself to relax. Slightly. "We need to at LEAST have these people apply for membership to this stupid 'Spirit' paycheck thing. No more automatic paychecks being stacked up like a mountain! Otherwise you'll wreck the economy or something if anyone can get cash for punching a purse thief in the neck."
Huh. {{I'm sure it's not that bad…}}
She pulled up the logs. "These two idiots keep breaking the law to catch each other breaking the law. They've arrested each other thirty four times so far, and have been mostly released on bail each time with fines because the local cops are swamped with work and they are only causing minor problems between each other."
Sarah gnawed on a chicken leg before gesturing at the morons. "They can only afford the fines because of their income from arresting each other. It's ridiculous!"
Well shit. {{Alright, I uh… I see there are a few kinks to work out.}} Also Adam couldn't remember WHY he had decided to make the crime bounty system in the first place, but he refused to admit THAT level of stupidity. {{But isn't this better in the long run?}} Hopefully?
No, 'Research', we do NOT need evidence to show how stupid Adam was to do this without giving it due consideration or care. Also, don't send that data or similar stuff to Sarah unless she asks explicitly.
His Jumper sighed. "Why did you even put this in place?"
Adam had no idea. {{Oh, I had my reasons!}}
Sarah looked at him.
He, of course, was the picture of innocence itself.
A paragon of virtues.
The innocent son.
She glared at this youthful skull of a man, filled with the promise of a better tomorrow.
Which was fine.
Adam wasn't sweating.
Anyone who claimed otherwise was a liar.
A stupid liar idiot jerk.
Sarah raised an eyebrow…
And Adam cracked. {{I don't remember my reasons.}}
Damn it. Oh wait! {{Hang on, I think I have the original tasking here somewhere!}}
Which one was… Not this one… Ah! Here we go! {{Found it!}}
[[Logged Tasking: Stop annoying me with all these alerts about the stupid Batman and Robin actors requesting pay raises and free parking and 'Batman Village Coupons' and stuff! Just give all the vigilantes a big weekly paycheck and turn off those noises!]]
Adam and Sarah blinked at the wording. Oh. {{I guess it applied each sentence as a separate task.}} And uh... This also likely disabled other alerts too. Crud. {{I will fix that.}}
Sarah… Well, she just seemed confused. She swallowed another bite of perfectly roasted chicken and waved her food at the information. "What the heck were you doing back then that got you in such a snit? You are normally fairly easy going."
Not sure. Let's check the other time logs… Oh, THAT stupid thing! {{Turns out the critics and pre-show review crowds are FAR more picky when it comes to making an opera than a silly cartoon. Even with Adam West's support they were like "Why is there a love story between a moon and a planet?" and "How come Batman has asteroids sending him hate mail?" and "You can't marry a black hole." The issues never stopped!}}
How can you have a space opera if you can't get romantic with SPACE!? {{I was already giving them a lot of face by toning down the x rated stuff and cutting the run length down to four hours long. Some operas are 18 hours long, you know!? Sure the longest animated film was less than three hours or something, but my art has demands TOO!}}
Stupid critics, loud mouth jerks. {{Had to cut Robin's entire love triad between that Shooting Star and the Artificial Satellite, and the racial issues that crop up when one lover is mechanical and the other literally has a heart of stone, but nothing is good enough for those stuffy britches!}}
Something about the topic tickled his memory units… Oh. {{Dang it, I should have probably talked to Batman or Robin before finishing that movie and sending it to the studio. Dang it.}}
Sarah just… seemed overwhelmed. "You were… Making an animated film? Featuring the cartoon characters from the animated series that you personally created and which hasn't even officially aired on television yet?"
Well, yeah? Keep up, girl. {{I was making an animated masterpiece, thank you! A space opera, where Batman and Robin are thrust into a whirlwind of love and gravity and betrayal and conflict! Adam West's singing voice is breathtaking!}}
Wasn't there something else? {{Oh, and I was developing some new materials and techniques to improve security for the Warehouse itself while it sits out here during your Jumps. But mostly the space opera thing.}}
Adam was really proud of this thing. It was the first creative work he had ever written with FOUR evil twins/clones/cyborg/half-planets! And one mildly disturbed cousin, just to round it out!
True art was coming, and it was coming from SPACE!
Sarah was staring at her food as if it might be dosed with something. "I see. That's… That's all great."
She carefully sent the remainder off via [[Harvesting]] and summoned something new, a pasta dish freshly spawned into existence. "Right, well… All that aside for now."
His Jumper took another hungry bite. "Mmm, good. Right, about the random payments thing and all that mess: Let's limit future payments to vigilantes that do good deeds more than one time, if nothing else. And have a process to review this mess to detect people deliberately setting up fake crimes to get 'caught' and then 'escape' before capture over and over again."
Simple enough. {{Will do.}}
Sarah nodded. "And send me details about this movie thing so I can contact Batman and… I don't know, talk Robin down from potentially trying to stab me so hard YOU can feel it."
Her look that was a bit suspicious caught him off guard. "Like, between you and me… DO you have something against the guy? Because the poor dude seems to be getting a LOT of shit recently directly due to your actions."
No, of course not. {{The five Robins I know of are fine, although I think there is some sort of mystery about an original, forgotten Robin long since twisted against Justice? I probably hate THAT guy, if any of them.}} That was an odd sort of memory, one of the segments that flittered around the edge of his consciousness.
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "The forgotten WHAT now!?"
Meh. {{Can't remember right, it is a fringe data fragment from the edge of this Jump. It is much easier collecting memory segments about Owlman than recovering details about some of these other bits and pieces.}}
Adam blinked. Oh! Idea! {{Hey, as long as we have a moment anyway… Want to help me develop the plotline for Batman and Robin's sequel movie? I'm going for a 'Guy Noir' style thing where Robin might look cool enough to be less humiliated.}}
Sarah gave him a dry look. "Are you still going to make him say his catchphrase?"
Well, duh. That's why it's his catchphrase!
Dense.
Energy resistant. Energy reflective. Energy absorbent.
Impact mitigation, vibration redirection, sound dampening.
They absorbed light or even had a negative index of refraction for specific energy ranges… Completely redirecting any incoming beams of light along the surface instead of reflecting as expected.
Many layers, multiple stacks thick and coating the Shard.
Resources gathered, constructed, or designed and developed over multiple Jumps…
It was insufficient.
Adam shifted focus.
Energy itself was used as a material.
Complex paths for Potential energy to gather, flows for Psionic power, channels for Magic itself.
'Research' reshaped and rebuilt the laws and guidelines that formed these forces as they interacted… And further developed the concept.
Some materials from different realities reacted differently with specific energy types and ratios.
The differences could be exploited.
Odd loops of power impacting layers of odd material before clashing with other energies, creating cycles and circuits and new interactions to study.
Not even slightly enough.
Energies and exotic materials began being combined.
Tainting material mixtures of various metals, influencing fibers of plant life with powers beyond, more and more Da̤̜̥ta̖̻̫̦ was gathered.
The raw power involved caused the materials to S͍̞h͔̱͚͎͍̰i̩̦̺f̥̗̟̜̘̤t̻̙̭ͅ.
Good.
More Da̤̜̥ta̖̻̫̦.
Materials gathered under fields of influence, forged through streams of energy, solidified in beams of power, hardened in rivers of potential.
.
This was where things s̠l͍̞̞ͅo͚̖̰̟w̝̟͇͇͔̥l̼̦̪̻̟̻̟y̭͕̺̦͙̫̦̳̻ g͔̮̮̞̰̖̺͓̠͈̭r̠͈̠̪̮͔̣̳͖̥̤̺͖e̮̗͉͇̳̝͕̺̲͙͉̯̗̪w͕̗̮̬͔̼̟̦̪͈̣̤̺͍̟̣͕̜̦ Ṣ̼͔̗̣͕͍̩̹̱̺̯̳͈̤̆̆̔ͫ͐̈̓ͣt͉̦̜͇̻̰̺͓̙̉͆͋͒͑̄͂̓̊r̦̲͚̙̠̘̫͉̮͇̬̣͎̹̙̦̮̎͑̿̍͗͆a͔̞̯̗͙͊͋̏͗͑ͭ̾ͤ̆̔n͕̹͍̩̫̖̟̱̘̥̱̹̰̺̖̾͂ͨͭg̻̩͖͇̫̼̠̘̠̠͓͇ͭ̑͊́̇̆ͅē̪̲̘̩̣̠̪̫̣͔̠͙̺͇͒͌ͩ.̫͓̣͉̰̙͚̲̥̹͈ͪ̽̿̑̏ͩ̿ͧ͐̚
.
.
.
Substances that shouldn't exist stabilized here, outside of any Jump.
Things appearing so unstable they couldn't even decay began to develop.
Materials in motion while still.
Energies that only theoretically existed.
Objects without mass.
Sounds colored with flavors.
And Adam collected this Da̤̜̥ta̖̻̫̦ and 'Research' further focused on his works.
For this… Even this…
It failed to suppress the Shard's growing H̩̮̤͎u͍̠ͅn̘g̪̜̯e̼͖͔͔r̻.
But… Every step did have benefits.
If nothing else, Adam was ever so slowly developing the materials and energies and patterns and schematics needed to mute the presence of the D̜̭̦e̞̜̟̜͈̮̜s͙̭̫͎ͅi̙͇̝̩͕̭̮r̟̜̺͎e.
The trick, he found, was to imbue the materials with feelings.
Apathy. Boredom. Lethargy. Weariness. Downtrodden.
Feelings of the lost and the despairing were cautiously [[Harvested]] and fused with strange materials that never existed, empowered by energies undiscovered, and coated in potential eventually forgotten.
It created a strange flavor to the nothingness the Warehouse slept in.
A taste of neglect, sprinkled with age and toasted through trials and tribulation.
It was… better.
But not good enough.
For within this 'Fragile Victim' Adam could still taste the bitter fever of eagerness.
His Shard was trying to hold back, and 'Research' was advancing the process by leaping forward dozens of steps in the journey to success… Would it be enough?
If nothing else, it was teaching Adam how to operate here, outside of any Jump, directly.
Something very fundamental, Data that he absently shared with Sarah's systems for optimization and future development. Secrets sought by civilizations were casually discovered and tossed into a file like trash as Adam redefined the limits of possibility…
He was unhappy with his progress.
But there was yet time.
A spirit in the machine, Adam hummed a pirate song as he prepared for snacks/tasty treats/delicious idiots/enemy action.
It was unfortunate that there were no witnesses nearby or peers in communication range to inform him of the numerous ideas and creations he formed and adjusted. Even the most bitter and unhelpful of observers would have stepped in by this point to stop all the upcoming existence ending disasters about to form and inform him of the impossible actions he was attempting to do right now.
Sadly, Adam was unaware of the futile nature of his work.
So, like usual, he accomplished these 'impossible actions' anyway while annoyed… Barely marking down his many successes in the logs without concern or interest so he could get away from this boring stuff and get back onto more fun personal projects.
For example, Adam West had contacted them about producing an animated musical opera movie thing using the Batman characters from the cartoon show. An opera in SPACE!
That should be interesting!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah absently chewed on another hard candy.
For some reason, she was just famished recently. Like there was some sort of delicious dish being prepared in a nearby room, and they could just faintly smell the amazing flavors and aroma waiting around the bend.
It was more than a little distracting, honestly.
Oh wait! She was waking up. Good. "Careful there, keep your eye's closed."
Oracle groaned. "I… My Queen? What? No, hang on… I don't remember doing any Dom play recently… Oh, my head."
Heh. "Shh, keep calm. There was a bit of an accident with Dr. Isley's powers, and you got a bit of a dose. Let it wear off and stay relaxed, it won't last long."
She mumbled. "Uh… Right, the blue hot silver lady with the sexy eyes and… Models? No, I remember now, we were… Schematics of… Then a F̲̬͈͓o̮̺͚̱͖ͅr̼͔e̞͙̝ș̠t͖̟͔ arrived and I wanted to worship it? Or something?"
Sarah carefully felt the ambient wall moss used as lighting and adjusted the output to something a bit brighter. Hopefully it would help her wake up faster without giving her a headache. "You are safe, we are safe, but you are still waking up. Just stay calm and think back to what you remember."
Oh. "And you don't have to say it out loud, just think about it to yourself."
No reason to give the poor girl MORE embarrassing memories after all. Some of the things she sleep murmured had been fascinating. And familiar. Reminded her of Elizabeth's more adventurous 'experiments'... Good times.
The woman on the bed shifted, a blanket still covering her despite her full costume. Wouldn't do for her to feel a chill, after all. "I remember you, then the Boss, then… Everything goes a bit wonky."
Not bad. Another hour or so and she should be fully recovered. "Dr. Isley had a powerful ability that I happened to be immune to and Batman accidentally had counters for. None of us realized the issue because she has been spending her time here helping me set up the place and look after the girls… Thankfully we haven't visited anywhere public yet."
The mental image of a bustling mall suddenly freezing to turn and stare at Pamela was a bit humorous and horrifying. Fastest way to start a cult, period!
Thankfully the minor Moss alteration would easily keep that skill locked down unless actually desired. Mind control/Mind lockdown was a powerful ability after all, and could save her life one day… Assuming Pamela didn't accidentally set it off when she was trying to make a good impression, like she did today.
Hopefully the doctor will ALSO calm down soon… She hadn't taken the incident as well as Batman had or Oracle probably would. Losing control of her iron will was a big deal to the woman, and taking away other people's agency… Well, it was a bit of a traumatic event.
Thankfully the other Sarah was keeping her company with the four slumbering beauties. And all that juicy biological and genetic Data was acting as a lovely distraction to keep her from falling into a depressive spiral or something… Combining four women with unrelated backgrounds and ethnicity into a quartet of exotic beauties with near alien perfection was an unusual circumstance, after all.
Oracle suddenly tensed. "Oh shit. I didn't tell anyone about how hot they were, did I? I just remember never ending obsessions about your tight bum and her amazing chest and all that… Oh damn it, PLEASE don't let me have spouted that mess everywhere when I was out of it!"
Uh… Did right now count? Quick, say something! "Technically, no you didn't." Was that a lie? Maybe? Crud. You can do this, Sarah: Just be very precise. "While you were sleeptalking and all that, you were mostly mumbling sentence fragments at best."
She relaxed. "Oh thank goodness, I was so close to trying to nuzzle your neck I was SURE I would say something about how seductive your silver eyes were or that tight hip sway thing you got going on. And if I managed to not say anything about Sexy McDoctorPants then I basically used up my miracle points for the whole year!"
Oracle gave a satisfied nod. "Thankfully my new costume makes it a lot harder for anyone to notice how aroused I have been for most of this visit. It is REALLY unfair that most of the women in this city tends to hit a 11/10 on the hotness scale. Still, I better keep quiet about all this so you don't suspect anything."
Sarah blinked.
Ah.
She quickly made a short note to Batman and Pamela. Apparently, a mild dose of Poison Ivy's pheromones would cause a bit of confusion and disorientation. And uh… Interactive inner monologue and all that.
The woman on the medical table stretched. "Holy shit though, I'm going to remember both you girls later tonight for SURE. A broken spine does NOT help with your love life, I can tell you that much. Makes dating a bitch too…"
Best add in a few details. 'High value when used for interrogation, intentionally or otherwise.' Good grief.
Oops, her hand was starting to reach for places. Best keep her distracted until the last of this stuff wears off. "Could you check your costume's diagnostic displays and tips?"
She thankfully didn't do anything awkward and huffed. "I keep getting these error messages. Saying stuff like 'User may be compromised' and 'User should refrain from this topic' and 'User is unlikely to appreciate these comments at a later time.' It is freaking annoying and they keep popping up telling me not to do things or touch places and stuff! I'm a grown woman, after all! I do what I want!"
Oh dear.
At least the user profiling systems seemed accurate, if the alert system was operating that well. "Do you see the option that says 'Soothing Slumber' on the menu over to the right, below 'Off Hours' and under 'Utility'?" Come on, follow instructions.
Oracle blinked. "Uh… Yeah. Yeah I see it. Ooh… Pretty colors!"
Hopefully this works. "Just mentally choose that option and…"
Suddenly the superheroine's outfit shifted into something that looked FAR more soft, and quiet soothing sounds were being fed into her audio channels while calming dim lights shifted over her eyes.
The poor girl was out like a light instantly.
Sheesh. "Hey, SMS!"
[[Tasking: Could you let Batman and Pamela know that extreme fatigue and lack of sleep combined with the recovery period of Dr. Isley's pheromones can cause something similar to temporary narcolepsy? Stream them the medical data and the video feed of this situation. But uh… No audio or subtitles, please.]]
{{SMS: Acknowledged.}}
Batman could probably read lips or something, but there was no reason to TRY and make this more awkward than it already was. Not to mention that this was important stuff to know, and potentially valuable data for the future.
Poison Ivy combined with a weak sleeping gas could apparently take down an entire ballroom of people abusing this combination, potentially. That would probably be far more acceptable to her morally than forcing men and women to sexually salivate uncontrollably for the chance to be stepped on or something.
Sarah blinked… And gave a sly grin.
Unless… Unless Pamela was INTO that kind of thing.
The green skinned red haired Goddess would make a pretty impressive Dominatrix, now that Sarah thought about it.
Mmm. Thoughts for later.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
They, the slum of the City, had been demoted.
Unlike the far poorer people they oppressed, who got free jobs and housing and all that… They instead had past hidden crimes revealed, arrest warrants, found evidence, and all that.
The problem was… What could they DO about it?
The powerful and rich had ALWAYS been above them, it was the law of the world, but now the absolute bottom rung of the ladder had been removed entirely and redistributed elsewhere.
The insignificant heights they slaughtered each other to climb had all shifted downward a notch… And now they were lacking targets. No herd to cull, as it were.
More than that, the foulest and most malevolent of the shadow people and forgotten ones were off the street now. Just showing up in prison cells with proper paperwork and iron clad, watertight cases and recorded witness statements and the wrong (unbribed) judges.
Sure they got free medical care somehow and free legal representation… But they were guilty as hell.
They knew it, the cops knew it, their former victims CERTAINLY knew it, but that hadn't mattered much before now.
Suddenly, actions had consequences again.
Of course, the smart side of the wrong side of the fence had lay low long ago. Stayed quiet, didn't stick out, no grease or hammer needed for them, no sir!
But… Not even half of the underworld were all that clever.
So people who had impossibly high levels of optimism began to plan raids on the new 'Batman Village' that seemed to flaunt nothing but rare valuables and that sickly taste of untainted air.
It was too pure over there. Too clean.
They weren't used to it.
And unlike the slime they used to rule over with a grasping claw of a fist, these men and women responded to changing circumstances, confusion, saying hello, and basically anything and everything else that happens in their lives with one solution and one answer.
Violence.
Which was why there was a new warehouse sized prisoner lockup facility next to Gotham PD.
And why it seemed to constantly fill up.
Because these people just couldn't seem to connect the 'Do crazy shit' cause with the 'show up in custody' effect for some reason.
No real pattern matching going on here. Nope.
But this led to other strange issues.
The lowest of the low, the downtrodden, were being healed, a fresh start.
The idiots were basically getting themselves arrested trying to show how powerful they were.
And the number of nervous, incredibly polite villains and henchmen and henchwomen living in the formerly worst neighborhoods continued to swell.
Gotham City was dense with Crime after all.
Get rid of the lowest rung of poverty, hack off the mountain of idiots, and you STILL had an ocean of criminals that were rapidly learning to be polite at ALL TIMES.
And then… Someone found out that stopping low level crimes or helping the police in their duties would somehow have a check show up in the mail from Adam West as payment for enforcing the 'Spirit of Batman'.
HIdden away from the confusion outside, eyes of the former trash tier began to flare with greed and Righteous Justice.
As for reprisal from their former coworkers and detested bosses?
Well, Batman Village had a surprisingly wide range of costumes for sale with astounding quality and nearly negligible cost.
These odd factors sort of accidentally began to clash against each other.
The outcome was totally not Adam's fault.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam blinked as he turned his focus away from his work, ignoring the unmaking of reality in a small explosion due to the interruption. {{Sorry, what were you saying Sarah?}}
She grunted in frustration. "Can you PLEASE focus for a few minutes?" Another bite taken from her snack. Girl was fairly hungry recently for some reason.
No problem. {{Sure! What's the issue?}}
Sarah pulled up data. "The number of Batman and Robin 'heroes' has jumped again. Drastically. Nearly quadrupled once again since I last checked the numbers." Her attention flickered to her own data. "I would have missed it entirely if I wasn't checking so many logs investigating what happened to Oracle earlier."
Huh. {{Maybe it's the spirit of Gotham? Like how Wisconsin really REALLY likes cheese?}}
She harrumphed. "No, something strange is going on here. When the stores were running low on Batman and Robin suits, people bought Batgirl suits instead… Without care or concern about if the thing fit or not or if they were crossdressing."
Adam paused. {{But my shops CAN'T run low on materials. Most are constructed on location underground, resupplying sold stock as it is needed."
Her hands pulled over more data. "Oh, our locations are fine. But these people are even buying off brand crap and low quality scam outfits off the street now."
Images came up of thin people swamped in massive outfits, women wearing the cowl, men wearing the Batskirt, a few VERY large people wearing a VERY tiny amount of material clearly designed for a much smaller person. "These people are not treating this like a fun time or a special event, but as a deadly serious requirement."
Adam seemed… Well, confused. Very confused. {{But why though?}}
She grimly pulled up a web article. "Someone confirmed that dressing up in costume would boost the income earned from the 'Spirit of Batman' jobs and the whole thing exploded into chaos."
Wait, what now? {{The what job?}}
She glared at… Well, nothing. Adam wasn't physically there, after all. But she did glare pretty fiercely. "One of your automated tasks basically turned vigilante work into a paid profession and we missed it. Worse, it is somehow legal due to how odd private security legislation is in this town."
That didn't make sense. {{I don't think Batman needs the money, honestly.}}
Sarah snorted. "No, probably not. However…" A massive spreadsheet opened up. "Turns out there are like thirty or so caped vigilantes in Gotham City officially… When counting the ones who are good samaritans or visiting or any of that? Far, far more."
She sighed. "And now, even the people with very few skills or opportunities can use the 'Spirit of Batman' funding to build teams and stuff. Hell, a good chunk of the remaining underworld is cannibalizing itself trying to snag such an 'easy' paycheck before 'anyone else' finds out."
How odd.
Meh. {{I'll be honest with you Sarah, I'm pretty much fine with this.}}
She waved a hand! "We disabled the automatic reporting and crime prevention systems to stop the idiots running Gotham from firing the Police Department entirely due to them 'not being needed'! Causing over half the criminal world to turn each other in for a bounty causes a similar issue!"
Where was she going with this? {{So what should I do? Boost the pay rates? Replace the weekly income with a per-incident bonus instead?}} Maybe that would make them retire?
Sarah grit her teeth. "No. That would make things worse." She forced herself to relax. Slightly. "We need to at LEAST have these people apply for membership to this stupid 'Spirit' paycheck thing. No more automatic paychecks being stacked up like a mountain! Otherwise you'll wreck the economy or something if anyone can get cash for punching a purse thief in the neck."
Huh. {{I'm sure it's not that bad…}}
She pulled up the logs. "These two idiots keep breaking the law to catch each other breaking the law. They've arrested each other thirty four times so far, and have been mostly released on bail each time with fines because the local cops are swamped with work and they are only causing minor problems between each other."
Sarah gnawed on a chicken leg before gesturing at the morons. "They can only afford the fines because of their income from arresting each other. It's ridiculous!"
Well shit. {{Alright, I uh… I see there are a few kinks to work out.}} Also Adam couldn't remember WHY he had decided to make the crime bounty system in the first place, but he refused to admit THAT level of stupidity. {{But isn't this better in the long run?}} Hopefully?
No, 'Research', we do NOT need evidence to show how stupid Adam was to do this without giving it due consideration or care. Also, don't send that data or similar stuff to Sarah unless she asks explicitly.
His Jumper sighed. "Why did you even put this in place?"
Adam had no idea. {{Oh, I had my reasons!}}
Sarah looked at him.
He, of course, was the picture of innocence itself.
A paragon of virtues.
The innocent son.
She glared at this youthful skull of a man, filled with the promise of a better tomorrow.
Which was fine.
Adam wasn't sweating.
Anyone who claimed otherwise was a liar.
A stupid liar idiot jerk.
Sarah raised an eyebrow…
And Adam cracked. {{I don't remember my reasons.}}
Damn it. Oh wait! {{Hang on, I think I have the original tasking here somewhere!}}
Which one was… Not this one… Ah! Here we go! {{Found it!}}
[[Logged Tasking: Stop annoying me with all these alerts about the stupid Batman and Robin actors requesting pay raises and free parking and 'Batman Village Coupons' and stuff! Just give all the vigilantes a big weekly paycheck and turn off those noises!]]
Adam and Sarah blinked at the wording. Oh. {{I guess it applied each sentence as a separate task.}} And uh... This also likely disabled other alerts too. Crud. {{I will fix that.}}
Sarah… Well, she just seemed confused. She swallowed another bite of perfectly roasted chicken and waved her food at the information. "What the heck were you doing back then that got you in such a snit? You are normally fairly easy going."
Not sure. Let's check the other time logs… Oh, THAT stupid thing! {{Turns out the critics and pre-show review crowds are FAR more picky when it comes to making an opera than a silly cartoon. Even with Adam West's support they were like "Why is there a love story between a moon and a planet?" and "How come Batman has asteroids sending him hate mail?" and "You can't marry a black hole." The issues never stopped!}}
How can you have a space opera if you can't get romantic with SPACE!? {{I was already giving them a lot of face by toning down the x rated stuff and cutting the run length down to four hours long. Some operas are 18 hours long, you know!? Sure the longest animated film was less than three hours or something, but my art has demands TOO!}}
Stupid critics, loud mouth jerks. {{Had to cut Robin's entire love triad between that Shooting Star and the Artificial Satellite, and the racial issues that crop up when one lover is mechanical and the other literally has a heart of stone, but nothing is good enough for those stuffy britches!}}
Something about the topic tickled his memory units… Oh. {{Dang it, I should have probably talked to Batman or Robin before finishing that movie and sending it to the studio. Dang it.}}
Sarah just… seemed overwhelmed. "You were… Making an animated film? Featuring the cartoon characters from the animated series that you personally created and which hasn't even officially aired on television yet?"
Well, yeah? Keep up, girl. {{I was making an animated masterpiece, thank you! A space opera, where Batman and Robin are thrust into a whirlwind of love and gravity and betrayal and conflict! Adam West's singing voice is breathtaking!}}
Wasn't there something else? {{Oh, and I was developing some new materials and techniques to improve security for the Warehouse itself while it sits out here during your Jumps. But mostly the space opera thing.}}
Adam was really proud of this thing. It was the first creative work he had ever written with FOUR evil twins/clones/cyborg/half-planets! And one mildly disturbed cousin, just to round it out!
True art was coming, and it was coming from SPACE!
Sarah was staring at her food as if it might be dosed with something. "I see. That's… That's all great."
She carefully sent the remainder off via [[Harvesting]] and summoned something new, a pasta dish freshly spawned into existence. "Right, well… All that aside for now."
His Jumper took another hungry bite. "Mmm, good. Right, about the random payments thing and all that mess: Let's limit future payments to vigilantes that do good deeds more than one time, if nothing else. And have a process to review this mess to detect people deliberately setting up fake crimes to get 'caught' and then 'escape' before capture over and over again."
Simple enough. {{Will do.}}
Sarah nodded. "And send me details about this movie thing so I can contact Batman and… I don't know, talk Robin down from potentially trying to stab me so hard YOU can feel it."
Her look that was a bit suspicious caught him off guard. "Like, between you and me… DO you have something against the guy? Because the poor dude seems to be getting a LOT of shit recently directly due to your actions."
No, of course not. {{The five Robins I know of are fine, although I think there is some sort of mystery about an original, forgotten Robin long since twisted against Justice? I probably hate THAT guy, if any of them.}} That was an odd sort of memory, one of the segments that flittered around the edge of his consciousness.
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "The forgotten WHAT now!?"
Meh. {{Can't remember right, it is a fringe data fragment from the edge of this Jump. It is much easier collecting memory segments about Owlman than recovering details about some of these other bits and pieces.}}
Adam blinked. Oh! Idea! {{Hey, as long as we have a moment anyway… Want to help me develop the plotline for Batman and Robin's sequel movie? I'm going for a 'Guy Noir' style thing where Robin might look cool enough to be less humiliated.}}
Sarah gave him a dry look. "Are you still going to make him say his catchphrase?"
Well, duh. That's why it's his catchphrase!
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Hidden One
Not the Boss, possibly a Playa
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
He is Batman, he can romance SPACE in SPACE with song and dance and merriment!
Because. Batman. CAAAAAAAAn~ beaaaaaaaaaaaaaath~ iiiiiiiiinnnnn~ SPAAACE!
*badabum tch*
Because. Batman. CAAAAAAAAn~ beaaaaaaaaaaaaaath~ iiiiiiiiinnnnn~ SPAAACE!
*badabum tch*
- Location
- Earth U.S.
like what happened today? like happened today?
sale
disturbed
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Wait, so is the desire inherent to the Warehouse (Jumpchain system) or something related to the evil Benefectator. Or just wacky dimensional stuff
Edit: Just remember the Karma wave that destroyed the CYOA thing in the very first chapter. Any relation?
Edit: Just remember the Karma wave that destroyed the CYOA thing in the very first chapter. Any relation?
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Adam, it's Opera. No one understands it. Just make your 18+ hour opera and post it already.
I'm wondering why the legit Batman and Robin actors would need pay raises. Heck, I'd think that would all be automated, and that they'd generally have everything covered.
I'm wondering why the legit Batman and Robin actors would need pay raises. Heck, I'd think that would all be automated, and that they'd generally have everything covered.
- Location
- California
I see it as likely to be him detecting the parasite coming but not knowing thats what it is, or much less likely the Adam shard wanting to leave.
*sighs* As has been repeated, over thirty times now, since this arc has begun. The Karma wave was a gestalt emotional baggage that ripped a Bastard R.O.B. apart (not a CYOA) that eventually resulted in Adam. It was not, and can not be Adam of any variant because there was no intelligence, guiding or otherwise, within the wave. That fanon speculation is just that, fanon... that apparently many keep forgetting (as about a quarter, or a third, of that nearly forty speculators, are repeat offenders)
Next, apparently you need some sleep. Because Ace rather pointedly spelled out, in easy to follow words, that the MC Adam sensed the parasite looking for the warehouse, and became hungry for the parasitical entity (because reasons, that weren't spelled out) And it is this hunger that Adam's feeling, translated through Sarah's Warehouse, because Adam is Sarah's Warehouse, and Sarah's Warehouse is Sarah; so Sarah's avatar is feeling the Warehouse's/Adam's hunger, not knowing why she's hungry, much less that she's hungry because Adam/The Warehouse is hungry.
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It might not be spelled out, but I think is pretty obvious.
Adams Faith power gain jump had him take the form of an entity that ate negative emotions. Found them delicious, the nastier the better. Basically nommed the mental trauma right out of an Anime Protagonist, and was so good at chowing down on the negativity that people didn't even fidget in line on the way to see him. Specialized in purification enough to fill a chunk of the city with the opposite of bad vibes to the point where crime went down, and he was healing the sick in his sleep.
And now a living embodiment of sadism is chasing him. So of course it smells DELICIOUS.
The biggest problem he's gonna have is tricking it into coming in range.
The only realistic problem I can see from this is, eating negative emotions seemed to have made him mega sleepy, since he spent most of that jump napping his ass off. So we might see Adam hit an epic food coma, and his lack of awakeness timing could become an issue.
Fucking brilliant, thanks for the chapter!
Not Adam West? I am disapointed.
I've been playing this on a loop.
- Location
- Here
Dang it, this is turning into my own personal hell like Nyan Cat.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21zFrZ2kovA
Also, your yellow belt is big and it should FEEL big. Jerk.
- Location
- Planet Earth
Would be cool/interesting if Adam's Warehouse improvements start to improve Choice Pont efficiency for spending AND harvesting. Maybe allowing the Warehouse to harvest/generate them on top of just using Sarah's actions? Could see it turn out that the warehouse shell was actually SUPER wasteful/inefficient before he started actually improving it, causing CP's to actually be lost, or the method of collecting them to be wasteful.
Hidden One
Not the Boss, possibly a Playa
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
I think I commented on that earlier, being a possibility. And it's highly likely, especially as Future Sarah comments about how Adam made the Warehouse better than the example given. Which honestly, who knows if it was a 'running' Warehouse, or one that got Parasite'd by something like the being the calls itself Sadism that messed with Sarah.
Though we already know that the harvesting systems got broken, badly. Adam presumably still hasn't messed with fixing that. Nor do we actually know how far off from being 'repaired' to a standard one, since all we really have to go on is the remnants of the leech/parasite pulling out in an emergency. All we really know is that it's not getting the full '1000' points standard, instead having to pull from the drawbacks. Which in and of themselves are limited to a specific cap, that might be a hard warehouse limit, damaged systems triggering safeties, or just system conflicts that Adam hasn't had the time to check and fix.
I am somewhat curious as to the reason why the certain emotions are able to dull the 'hunger' bit. The steps do seem to imply that they'd indirectly help with Choice Point collecting, what with 'impossible materials' and all of that. Which is kind of hilarious since it's coming across as a stealth system/ambush predator trap. Funnily enough, I could kind of see the future Warehouse interactions seeing Adam's setup, presume that 'literally anything is better', and end up giving Adam/Sarah stuff that would be better than what the 'barely surviving' appearance was. Without realizing that there's so much better hidden in there. And well, it's not like Warehouse setups would survive being parasited like that. Especially with the already somewhat implied, at least by my reading, that the Benefactors are created with the seeds of Jumpers. So no experience there, except for maybe a genetic memory setup. Or like Adam and his splits.
Would certainly end up being a shock if that deception ever gets figured out. Though Adam might end up getting those systems from going after the parasites themselves, not really connecting them to being copies of normal warehouse systems, and instead thinking they're part of the parasite toolkit. Though there's probably some of that as well, depending on how the parasites handle those systems (if they always remove part x entirely, then Adam would likely not be able to get part x from one. Barring the parasite not 'digesting'/processing it at the time Adam devours said parasite.)
Not sure if I put forth the theory before or not, but it's likely that the 'trap' options, ie options that are more expensive either rely on systems Adam hasn't seen to make them actually cheaper, and thus can't utilize, or are as 'rewards', to spend up the excess points. Which actually has interesting implications with the revelation of the truly symbiotic relationship between Benefactor and Jumper in this setup. If I'm right about that, at least. There's probably some kind of 'bank' for that, that stores up improvements to the Warehouse, that aren't specific Jumpchain bits. Such as the Warehouse extension jumpdocs. Pretty sure Sarah had access to at least one of them, the WP thing. Though offhand I think the last point they were mentioned was during the Jump that was Lost. Mostly because Adam is still kind of scrambling to fix the warehouse up and getting distracted with other things. And likely has forgotten stuff like that.
Sarah ending up accidentally finding out Adam forgot something like that, that would make things go faster, is kind of hilariously likely. Especially with it being something like her asking the alert system anything that Adam is hiding from her, or suppressed alerts similar to what just happened.
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
Vincent Moretto could make anything sound epic.
Arc 3: T'was the Update before Xmas.
- Location
- Here
Bruce was, as true to his habit, outwardly calm as he entered the room. "Oracle."
The woman winced. "H… Hey Batman."
Visually, she looked unharmed from her recent exposure. Improved, if anything: Stress lines and other small signs of weariness were gone from her face and body expression.
As expected.
His lab work with the easily provided samples on his test mice (No Alfred, they were NOT Batmice) had proven that these pheromones were neither addictive nor damaging to the recipients. If anything, it had a strange cleansing and purification effect… Bruce now had some VERY smelly animal habitats and some scientifically noteworthy and statistically unlikely rodent specimens at near perfect peak fitness.
Still, emotions were not chained to logic. He was still worried. "Are you well?"
She slumped. "I didn't even know it was POSSIBLE to feel this awkward and embarrassed." Barbara waved as one of her suit's holograms showed records. "I… The things I said…"
Her focus sharpened. "We NEED a stable supply of this stuff. A contract with Dr. Isley, some sort of bartering system, something!"
His eyes narrowed. Perhaps there was an undetected addiction issue after all? "Explain."
A nod. "You saw the video of me spilling my thoughts to Sarah earlier?"
Indeed. "The audio was not included, but the general context was explained to me by the woman, yes."
Not that it mattered much, both of them knew that Bruce could lip read with a high accuracy rating after years of effort. But there was no reason to compound the awkwardness of the situation.
Oracle sighed. "Not only was I volunteering information without fear, coercion, or concern… But mentally I didn't flag the situation as strange or interesting. If it wasn't for my improved suit and my more paranoid tendencies having it alert me in the logs when I act outside standard behavior ranges, I wouldn't have even NOTICED something odd happened before."
She waved a hand toward her head. "I remember EVERYTHING, it wasn't censored or blurry or erased… But until I got the alert from my hardware, I didn't bother to review it or consider the impact of the event. It was as if I had already reviewed the memory, determined that it was normal, and filed it away in case it was ever needed."
That… That was a bit alarming, yes. "Some sort of compulsion?"
She snorted. "No, but my mind interpreted my accidental interrogation at the same importance ranking as having a mediocre cheeseburger. It noted the incident and moved on."
Bruce nodded at the new information. "I admit, the pheromones are astounding to research. Small doses of the substance drastically improves sleeping gas duration and activation rate without increasing toxicity, it overrides and neutralizes the Scarecrow's fear toxin, and drastically reduces the lethality of the Joker's Laughing Gas serum."
Oracle gave a wry grin. "And of COURSE you have those materials at hand to test with." She sighed. "If nothing else, at least it would simplify my questioning abilities out in the field. Unlike SOME people, I can't easily hold a fully grown man off the edge of a building for a half hour."
He was going through the mental compromise checklist, but she seemed to be simply interested in the utilitarianism of the chemical… Not getting a second dose. "You only require more training."
That dull glare. Yes, she was fully recovered. "Muscle mass helps, I'm sure."
He didn't bother to shrug. "Primarily? It is an issue of leverage."
Also, his suit was able to lock in place at certain joints and anchor itself to the surroundings subtly. Being able to dangle someone double your weight 'effortlessly' was a VERY good intimidation technique.
Oracle rose from her seat easily… And paused. "...Oh no."
Ah, right. The mice and their symptoms. "Restroom is two doors down, clearly marked, and I scanned it personally. No cameras or microphones."
She was in too much of a hurry to question any of that, and honestly there was no reason to explain WHY Batman had a sudden habit of checking all restrooms now for impossible surveillance and secret data feeds.
After all, Oracle wasn't the one who investigated Gotham Hospitals 'new' bathroom located web show.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
There was something here.
Adam could feel it.
It wasn't something simple like material or energy or momentum. Nothing like that.
And it wasn't Conceptual in nature, not quite… Or to be more accurate, EVERYTHING was Conceptual in nature, but this was a minor aspect of a single Concept and didn't use Concepts themselves as the method of operation?
But… Something inside these unstable substances were sort of Resonating with…Something else. Somewhere. Somewhen.
Which was pretty damned impressive for anything outside of time and space.
'Research' was having a ball with it. This wasn't as straightforward as a portal or a relationship or a past/future interaction leaving traces or markings. No, this was… Other.
For now, it was allowing all these unrelated materials and energies and whatever the hell this was to all sort of interact with each other. Resonance wasn't the right word for this, didn't quite cover it, but it was close.
Adam cautiously felt one segment of the Warehouse's outer shell flex as it echoed through the other outer edges as ripples.
Hmm.
Right, new rule for Sarah's Warehouse!
The closer to her Core self you get, the more fundamentally stable and secure it must be!
Because this outer shell stuff was able to ignore most energies and forces and materials and chemicals and all that, no problem… But if Sarah ever somehow bumped into a Jump with the actual structure or it left this nowhere space that touched the Abyss, all of it would vanish. Or explode. Or vanish AND explode AND turn into cheese or something.
So uh… No. No to all that.
For now, only the decorative/camouflage/protective layer on the surface would be made of this odd gunk. Much safer that way. Then a few thick shields of energetically protected unstable material (Magic, Potential, Psionic, all boosting and enforcing the defensive nature), followed by the most powerful but unenhanced armoring that 'Research' could come up with in a pattern that would hopefully distribute damage evenly over the entire structure.
But for the innermost Core?
Stability.
This meant only using the most unchanging materials from any Jump, where if there is a tie between two stability 'levels' the strongest would go towards the center.
Hopefully, if Sarah ever eventually impacted another level of existence like Adam had done several times by now, this would ensure the best possible chance of her surviving long enough for her Warehouse to defend itself and adapt… Maybe escape.
At least she would have good support. 'Research' had grown into its own subsection of the Warehouse by now, far outstripping the basic nature it had been way back when. 'Purification' and 'Growth' had both been subsumed into the Warehouse directly, and none of it relied on Adam's Shard to operate any longer.
It would be enough for the local Adam to easily adapt and possibly help the girl benefit from any crazy situation where all these changes would actually be necessary.
Oh sure, Adam could stop with the crazy outer shell stuff. After all, if Sarah stayed out here between Jumps, this new material would basically make her untouchable.
But far too many odd situations had cropped up over time for him not to make a FEW contingency options, right? It was only reasonable.
It was why the Warehouse System was rebuilt using 'System Core' from the Cultivation Realm, after all. The conceptual seed was DESIGNED to be self improving, self repairing, automatically rebuilding, and constantly adapting,
The new operating system went great with the idea of an out of context structure located elsewhere that utilized its own existence as a potential difference to exploit for valuable energies, materials, and undefined resources.
Seriously, the Warehouse was pretty much THE material generation engine. An object that could easily attach to new Jumps or Realms or other such locations and utilize the minute alterations between 'known constants' and all that to gain infinite free stuff basically from nothing if you squinted just right.
Technically, every exchange LOST material and energy on an individual scale… But that was only in that one location. Something or some energy or some concept from one spot may be worth a thousand times MORE in another one, in a literal or metaphorical sense.
Adam blinked.
Technically, the Warehouse was a sort of multiversal day trader. Huh.
Though since Adam kept exploiting the process to dynamically 'pay' for the most efficient things to exchange for more resources, it was like he had a hidden army of money printing presses or gold mines or whatever and kept messing with the market.
Uh. That… That shouldn't be a problem, right?
He wasn't just making counterfeit goods here or something, the Warehouse was actually generating new things to exchange! It wasn't artificially ballooning some sort of unknown hidden market that Sarah was a part of. Yeah? That seemed unlikely. Hopefully.
Plus he hadn't managed to duplicate or mine Choice Points yet, which would likely be said currency if this really WAS a future issue! Though that was more a lack of a success issue than a lack of trying.
Oh, Adam could MAKE some CP… but they wouldn't match the next Jump correctly and would basically be worthless. Something like trying to buy a coffee using a brick or something instead of correct change.
Plus a lot of the Jumpchain Documents couldn't seem to handle more than +600 cp in Drawbacks without being easily detected anyway, and 'Research' seemed pretty close to being able to modify a few basic items to grant maximum cap points for minimum inconvenience. And potentially modifying the Documents to have cheaper purchase options. Or splicing them together. Or altering specific abilities and skills.
Adam paused.
That… That level of Jump Document control might actually be considered WORSE than duplicating Choice Points or whatever. Crap.
Uh… Just in case, it was a good thing that all of Sarah's systems and units were designed around secrecy, obfuscation, defence, recovery, and stealth operation. Let's just add a few notes here so that the Warehouse won't go over +600cp for future Jumps and won't allow her to alter the related Documents too far if it involves increasing the chance of detection.
Shouldn't be an issue, the new automated tasking stuff would eventually start replicating Jump Document level skills WITHOUT needing Choice Points at all in the future. It would take a long, LONG while, but eventually Sarah would gain something similar to Adam's original Power Manipulation Skill and be able to just request a new ability or improve an old one as needed.
Because on a fundamental level?
Adam didn't trust Jump Documents.
Some of them, like the Buffy the Vampire Slayer one, seemed designed to trap, infect, or mentally fracture a Jumper. Others seemed to lie, or sneak things into the wording, or flat out misrepresent an entire option. A few Documents were clearly pushing visitors to accomplish certain goals through Drawbacks or specific abilities, while others…
Well, he had noticed fairly quickly how many mind altering Perks were on offer. And when Sarah tried to avoid them, they started to seem a bit pushy.
Yeah, Adam was a bit concerned about how alive these Jump Documents actually were, and about how a Warehouse was SUPPOSED to interact with the stupid thing. Because clearly Adam's work around was getting a bit too much data when Sarah connected to them.
A simple something somewhere pulled forth the H͍̦̺͇͎͈̘u̗̝̪n̝g͇̖͙̻͙e̦͖̪̗r̯͉̤̬͎͔ again…
No.
Calm. Right. Back to the Warehouse upgrade: Material Exchange edition. By the end of a few weeks, Sarah should have all the materials and layers of her Core and Warehouse exchanged for this new stuff and the stronger protection and the more stable structure.
Thanks to the modular nature and adaptability that Adam had worked into this place, Sarah hopefully wouldn't even notice the process! Not like she would care if the new shelving could ignore a nuclear blast or if the carpet could easily be tossed into a star for a quick cleaning.
Although this new outer layer of something he had discovered was ALSO interesting. Or maybe the better wording would be that this new stuff was causing Adam to be a bit obsessive.
It seemed to have… Some sort of… If you turned it like… Maybe if you shifted it a bit? No? Damn it.
Not quite definable.
Almost recognizable.
So close, he could nearly kiss it!
But whatever it is, THIS strange something was how his Shard was able to detect that strange tasty smell. No sensor, no information gained, no conclusions made… No signals, in or out.
Something just Resonated with something through a medium that Adam couldn't define or detect, and it was making him H͇͉̝͙̳͚͚u͚̪̞̮̩̱̟n͍̘̣̫̬̠ͅgr̭̺y͖̫̣̞̞̙͖.
On a smaller level, Sarah too.
She had been snacking pretty heavily for the last while… So she was also being Resonated with on some level, though far FAR weaker than the never ending call that Adam felt gnawing away.
Interesting. Distracting. Frustrating.
Oh well, he'd figure this out eventually.
In the meantime, let's see if we can use some of these odd effects on more common materials too!
Sure everyone likes powerful threads of impossible material treated to feel like silk and whatnot, but what about modifying tomatoes to always taste crisp and not slimy? Or add nearly invisible textures to the chairs to subtly massage people using them?
If nothing else, being able to 'change' a surface color using a treatment rather than adding a substance would get rid of paint chipping or marks and scratches and all that. Simplify the building process too!
Adam double checked that the automated systems were correctly updating the Warehouse materials as desired and ONLY the Warehouse itself. Wouldn't want anything to try and upgrade places OUTSIDE of here with this stuff, the really odd materials on the outer shell might fracture the planet a little or convert all the local pigeons into corn or something.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah felt another shiver down her spine and frowned at the next taco.
Was there something wrong with it? It didn't taste bad, far from it!
But… It was so tasty… And for some reason she felt this bit of extra H̲̼ͅu͕͇n̟̱g̳er̗…
Meh, it was probably nothing.
Mmm, tacos.
Sarah blinked. Oh crud, she was still talking. "Sorry, what was that Pamela?"
Thankfully the beautiful woman had calmed down. "I said, I think my pheromones can fundamentally improve the physique of those affected. It's the only thing that makes these numbers add up, so to speak."
Well, yeah. Doi. "Of course it would, it merged partially with my Moss and sends out a tiny short term dosage when you activate it."
Pamela looked up from her scanning equipment and paused. "I'm sorry?"
Chewing another bite, she swallowed and nodded. "You are like… Sort of half a plant or something? A plant hybrid? My Moss is like SUPER compatible with you, and ensures that all your tears, sweat, skin cells, and all that stuff is safe for other people."
Sarah just hadn't expected the pheromone trigger to be so easily set off, which is why there was a problem in the first place. "I mean, you can still CHOOSE to bleed neurotoxin or whatever, but by default anything that leaves your body is programmed to self destruct and be beneficial to those you spend time with."
After all, before Sarah got involved a simple kiss could cause Pamela's lovers to go insane or unconscious… Potentially even DIE. So all that shit had to be fixed, pronto.
Dr. Isley looked more than a little frustrated. "And you failed to mention this… Why exactly?"
Huh? "Did you read my Moss development notes? I sent you the manual too when you woke up, right?"
She blinked. "You mean that monster!? It's over 3,000 pages long! And it's filled with cross referenced links and supplemental information and…"
Sarah frowned. "Well I had to be thorough documenting that stuff, I injected that junk directly into your body."
Pamela threw her hands up! "Even your bloody SUMMARY is ten pages long!"
Well, if she was going to be confrontational about this then Sarah was just going to sit here and enjoy these tacos. Oh! And nachos with that zesty dip Adam made for her!
The green doctor was pulling up information on her Moss heads up display as she grumbled. "How to alter my default body temperature, default hair length by area… Better mark that for later review. Sarah, I don't see it."
Umm, where was that section? "Should be on page 2322, the section about default flavor, texture, consistency, contents, temperature, and density for bodily fluids. The content section covers the toxins and chemicals discovered or recorded you can work with and a short description."
She blinked. "The section about WHAT now?"
Sarah grinned. "When I sweat I smell like honeysuckle!" Her grin faltered. "Probably. I've been enhanced physically to the point where I haven't done enough exercise to actually sweat or get tired in a long time."
Not since the Bioshock Jump. And honestly that was more sex related than anything. But at least she could confirm the smell and taste stuff worked with HER system, so it SHOULD work properly now that Sarah implemented it into the Moss interface.
Actually… Uh. "Just a side note, but if it doesn't seem to work as described or if there are problems, let me know IMMEDIATELY, alright? I have a lot of safeties and stuff built into the stupid material, but it is still a fairly new product."
Not even sure it counts fully as a plant now, Sarah had done so many changes to the Moss that it was basically a mixture of magic, concepts, and various energies that were connected to tiny molecules more than anything else. It stored data in what little genetic code it physically carried to easily provide enough information storage room for a thousand database centers to backup their mess.
What was its version number now? Moss v343.032? Yikes.
Pamela raised an eyebrow. "You want me to taste myself?"
YES.
Wait! No! Play it cool! "Uh…" Don't say yes, don't say yes, don't say… "Maybe?"
Crud.
She smirked. "Unfortunately I'm afraid my personal time will be booked for quite a while as I diligently work my way through this thick, hard to handle owners manual."
Eep!
The green goddess leaned forward, red hair swirling. "I'm afraid it will wear me out and leave me ruined for other tasks… If only a talented young lady could help me in my time of need…"
Gulp. "I… I can simplify it?"
And the dominating woman leaned back with a thick air of satisfaction. "See that you do."
Sarah blinked.
She was sure she was supposed to feel tricked or used or something, but somehow seeing a strong woman flex her stuff like this was hot as hell.
Dr. Isley was beyond professional, even if her smirk gave it away slightly. "Oh, and be careful with your taco dear… Wouldn't want to damage it from too much force."
What…
Oh.
Right.
She was eating tacos and about to snack on some nachos.
And had nearly dropped the one in her hand from being distracted.
Blushing bright red, she stood up. "I'mma gonna go and do the things in the place with the stuff and BYE!"
At least her OTHER self was busy being flustered in private! Geeze!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Pamela chuckled as the easy going woman bustled away from the situation… And sighed as she turned back to the data.
It wasn't like she didn't KNOW how valuable this information was.
Every page was like pure gold, casually dropping details and facts that the girls had to spend hours researching or days testing and months verifying as if it was common sense.
Sure, most of this would need authentication before she could use it in her work herself, she was a professional after all, but more valuable than someone whispering answers into her ear was the idea of goalposts.
Any casual page had hundreds of interesting comments and facts and details that as a doctor, Pamela felt compelled to bite into. Theories about genetics, conflicts in nutritional sources and how they vary by temperature, and so on and so forth.
While the data was dense, heavily interconnected, and exhaustive in nature… It also acted like a map into the unknown, a direction for the lost, and hinted at much deeper secrets and knowledge just waiting to be explored.
Although it was fun to tease the woman.
All the girls on the Research team had dated at one time or another, or just had 'experiments' or 'one off dates'. It was a side effect of multiple oddities clashing together… People who were abusive never got a chance to work with her people, anyone easily offended by other orientations left on their own, and all the girls had very similar desires and ambitions.
Of course, it didn't hurt that most of her girls were as attractive as herself and it HAD been the 70's. It wasn't ever clearly defined WHAT the relationships were in the group, but there was a powerful feeling of family and belonging… There was a reason Pamela had gone mad with fear and worry when she found out they were in danger, and so frantically attempted to save all the ones she could.
She had never felt so useless, so old and tired and frail, as she had toiled in captivity to try and salvage the remains of those she loved. The wildlife 'screaming' in her mind certainly hadn't helped her sleep or attempt to stay healthy while the work had worn her down with little reprieve.
Not that you could tell by this point, her body mutation and Sarah's healing Moss had pretty much ensured she moved far past 'healthy' and now looked young and picture perfect to an absurd degree… In fact, ALL the girls looked years younger, while the four sudden quadruplets looked like angels from a distant land.
Chlo and Susan were going to be ecstatic about this, if they… No. WHEN they wake up.
Neither girl believed they were 'pretty enough' compared to the rest, despite their adorable nature. It would be much harder to have low self esteem when you were identical to other people that were ALSO considered to be the height of seduction.
Ironically, it was work more than relationship issues that kept most of them from attempting for something more long lasting between the group members. Too many fascinating things to discover, too little time… Some of the more romantic moments came after an ecstatic discovery celebration that may or may not have devolved into a bit more than hugs and a quick kiss or two.
But now?
Her will flexed and the wall shifted to better alter its own texture and bark coloring to directly display the skyline of 'Ivy Town'.
Funding was not an issue. Materials were now simple to acquire. She had a tentative connection with the most powerful local vigilante group in the city… And her savior/potential relationship interest/teasing toy managed to make herself a hot twin sister in the process of gaining a powerful near god-like backer willing and able to help out if needed.
Honestly, while she always had been a sensual woman who enjoyed physical relationships, right now? After her dark times and frantic worry and long hours of fruitless and never ending effort?
More than sexy orgies or drugged fueled hazes, she was driven towards something softer.
Affection. Connection.
A few more hugs than before the girls were hurt. A bit more teasing with less focus on immediate satisfaction.
Just… Just being able to laugh and talk and trick and smile with both Sarahs… Being able to be this close to the other four girls and ensure they were safe and breathing and that she was there, girls she was THERE!
It was enough for now.
Although it might make things easier if Sarah's invisible boss would stop altering the planet every time someone phrases something in an ambiguous way.
She couldn't hold back a bit of a laugh.
At least it was all fun and interesting!
Right, let's bookmark the sections about controlling her powers and how she interacts with other people. Probably should shift some projects around too, if her abilities could help when healing people like Sarah claimed.
Accidentally dominating society and strangers into worshiping her was now a personal nightmare, a terror of potentially harming her girls on a level that was beyond unacceptable and potentially unpreventable. An irrational fear of being forced to isolate herself in an underground facility again had nearly given her a panic attack.
But this new potential? Gaining the ability to cure her loved ones with a kiss?
That was a different concept entirely.
Sounded a bit like one of those cheap romance novels… And, of course, would require extensive and exhaustive testing, verification, and validation.
Her thoughts drifted to the new twins who blushed so cutely with those lovely silver eyes.
At least it would be easy to acquire 'testing subjects'. Mmm.
The woman winced. "H… Hey Batman."
Visually, she looked unharmed from her recent exposure. Improved, if anything: Stress lines and other small signs of weariness were gone from her face and body expression.
As expected.
His lab work with the easily provided samples on his test mice (No Alfred, they were NOT Batmice) had proven that these pheromones were neither addictive nor damaging to the recipients. If anything, it had a strange cleansing and purification effect… Bruce now had some VERY smelly animal habitats and some scientifically noteworthy and statistically unlikely rodent specimens at near perfect peak fitness.
Still, emotions were not chained to logic. He was still worried. "Are you well?"
She slumped. "I didn't even know it was POSSIBLE to feel this awkward and embarrassed." Barbara waved as one of her suit's holograms showed records. "I… The things I said…"
Her focus sharpened. "We NEED a stable supply of this stuff. A contract with Dr. Isley, some sort of bartering system, something!"
His eyes narrowed. Perhaps there was an undetected addiction issue after all? "Explain."
A nod. "You saw the video of me spilling my thoughts to Sarah earlier?"
Indeed. "The audio was not included, but the general context was explained to me by the woman, yes."
Not that it mattered much, both of them knew that Bruce could lip read with a high accuracy rating after years of effort. But there was no reason to compound the awkwardness of the situation.
Oracle sighed. "Not only was I volunteering information without fear, coercion, or concern… But mentally I didn't flag the situation as strange or interesting. If it wasn't for my improved suit and my more paranoid tendencies having it alert me in the logs when I act outside standard behavior ranges, I wouldn't have even NOTICED something odd happened before."
She waved a hand toward her head. "I remember EVERYTHING, it wasn't censored or blurry or erased… But until I got the alert from my hardware, I didn't bother to review it or consider the impact of the event. It was as if I had already reviewed the memory, determined that it was normal, and filed it away in case it was ever needed."
That… That was a bit alarming, yes. "Some sort of compulsion?"
She snorted. "No, but my mind interpreted my accidental interrogation at the same importance ranking as having a mediocre cheeseburger. It noted the incident and moved on."
Bruce nodded at the new information. "I admit, the pheromones are astounding to research. Small doses of the substance drastically improves sleeping gas duration and activation rate without increasing toxicity, it overrides and neutralizes the Scarecrow's fear toxin, and drastically reduces the lethality of the Joker's Laughing Gas serum."
Oracle gave a wry grin. "And of COURSE you have those materials at hand to test with." She sighed. "If nothing else, at least it would simplify my questioning abilities out in the field. Unlike SOME people, I can't easily hold a fully grown man off the edge of a building for a half hour."
He was going through the mental compromise checklist, but she seemed to be simply interested in the utilitarianism of the chemical… Not getting a second dose. "You only require more training."
That dull glare. Yes, she was fully recovered. "Muscle mass helps, I'm sure."
He didn't bother to shrug. "Primarily? It is an issue of leverage."
Also, his suit was able to lock in place at certain joints and anchor itself to the surroundings subtly. Being able to dangle someone double your weight 'effortlessly' was a VERY good intimidation technique.
Oracle rose from her seat easily… And paused. "...Oh no."
Ah, right. The mice and their symptoms. "Restroom is two doors down, clearly marked, and I scanned it personally. No cameras or microphones."
She was in too much of a hurry to question any of that, and honestly there was no reason to explain WHY Batman had a sudden habit of checking all restrooms now for impossible surveillance and secret data feeds.
After all, Oracle wasn't the one who investigated Gotham Hospitals 'new' bathroom located web show.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
There was something here.
Adam could feel it.
It wasn't something simple like material or energy or momentum. Nothing like that.
And it wasn't Conceptual in nature, not quite… Or to be more accurate, EVERYTHING was Conceptual in nature, but this was a minor aspect of a single Concept and didn't use Concepts themselves as the method of operation?
But… Something inside these unstable substances were sort of Resonating with…Something else. Somewhere. Somewhen.
Which was pretty damned impressive for anything outside of time and space.
'Research' was having a ball with it. This wasn't as straightforward as a portal or a relationship or a past/future interaction leaving traces or markings. No, this was… Other.
For now, it was allowing all these unrelated materials and energies and whatever the hell this was to all sort of interact with each other. Resonance wasn't the right word for this, didn't quite cover it, but it was close.
Adam cautiously felt one segment of the Warehouse's outer shell flex as it echoed through the other outer edges as ripples.
Hmm.
Right, new rule for Sarah's Warehouse!
The closer to her Core self you get, the more fundamentally stable and secure it must be!
Because this outer shell stuff was able to ignore most energies and forces and materials and chemicals and all that, no problem… But if Sarah ever somehow bumped into a Jump with the actual structure or it left this nowhere space that touched the Abyss, all of it would vanish. Or explode. Or vanish AND explode AND turn into cheese or something.
So uh… No. No to all that.
For now, only the decorative/camouflage/protective layer on the surface would be made of this odd gunk. Much safer that way. Then a few thick shields of energetically protected unstable material (Magic, Potential, Psionic, all boosting and enforcing the defensive nature), followed by the most powerful but unenhanced armoring that 'Research' could come up with in a pattern that would hopefully distribute damage evenly over the entire structure.
But for the innermost Core?
Stability.
This meant only using the most unchanging materials from any Jump, where if there is a tie between two stability 'levels' the strongest would go towards the center.
Hopefully, if Sarah ever eventually impacted another level of existence like Adam had done several times by now, this would ensure the best possible chance of her surviving long enough for her Warehouse to defend itself and adapt… Maybe escape.
At least she would have good support. 'Research' had grown into its own subsection of the Warehouse by now, far outstripping the basic nature it had been way back when. 'Purification' and 'Growth' had both been subsumed into the Warehouse directly, and none of it relied on Adam's Shard to operate any longer.
It would be enough for the local Adam to easily adapt and possibly help the girl benefit from any crazy situation where all these changes would actually be necessary.
Oh sure, Adam could stop with the crazy outer shell stuff. After all, if Sarah stayed out here between Jumps, this new material would basically make her untouchable.
But far too many odd situations had cropped up over time for him not to make a FEW contingency options, right? It was only reasonable.
It was why the Warehouse System was rebuilt using 'System Core' from the Cultivation Realm, after all. The conceptual seed was DESIGNED to be self improving, self repairing, automatically rebuilding, and constantly adapting,
The new operating system went great with the idea of an out of context structure located elsewhere that utilized its own existence as a potential difference to exploit for valuable energies, materials, and undefined resources.
Seriously, the Warehouse was pretty much THE material generation engine. An object that could easily attach to new Jumps or Realms or other such locations and utilize the minute alterations between 'known constants' and all that to gain infinite free stuff basically from nothing if you squinted just right.
Technically, every exchange LOST material and energy on an individual scale… But that was only in that one location. Something or some energy or some concept from one spot may be worth a thousand times MORE in another one, in a literal or metaphorical sense.
Adam blinked.
Technically, the Warehouse was a sort of multiversal day trader. Huh.
Though since Adam kept exploiting the process to dynamically 'pay' for the most efficient things to exchange for more resources, it was like he had a hidden army of money printing presses or gold mines or whatever and kept messing with the market.
Uh. That… That shouldn't be a problem, right?
He wasn't just making counterfeit goods here or something, the Warehouse was actually generating new things to exchange! It wasn't artificially ballooning some sort of unknown hidden market that Sarah was a part of. Yeah? That seemed unlikely. Hopefully.
Plus he hadn't managed to duplicate or mine Choice Points yet, which would likely be said currency if this really WAS a future issue! Though that was more a lack of a success issue than a lack of trying.
Oh, Adam could MAKE some CP… but they wouldn't match the next Jump correctly and would basically be worthless. Something like trying to buy a coffee using a brick or something instead of correct change.
Plus a lot of the Jumpchain Documents couldn't seem to handle more than +600 cp in Drawbacks without being easily detected anyway, and 'Research' seemed pretty close to being able to modify a few basic items to grant maximum cap points for minimum inconvenience. And potentially modifying the Documents to have cheaper purchase options. Or splicing them together. Or altering specific abilities and skills.
Adam paused.
That… That level of Jump Document control might actually be considered WORSE than duplicating Choice Points or whatever. Crap.
Uh… Just in case, it was a good thing that all of Sarah's systems and units were designed around secrecy, obfuscation, defence, recovery, and stealth operation. Let's just add a few notes here so that the Warehouse won't go over +600cp for future Jumps and won't allow her to alter the related Documents too far if it involves increasing the chance of detection.
Shouldn't be an issue, the new automated tasking stuff would eventually start replicating Jump Document level skills WITHOUT needing Choice Points at all in the future. It would take a long, LONG while, but eventually Sarah would gain something similar to Adam's original Power Manipulation Skill and be able to just request a new ability or improve an old one as needed.
Because on a fundamental level?
Adam didn't trust Jump Documents.
Some of them, like the Buffy the Vampire Slayer one, seemed designed to trap, infect, or mentally fracture a Jumper. Others seemed to lie, or sneak things into the wording, or flat out misrepresent an entire option. A few Documents were clearly pushing visitors to accomplish certain goals through Drawbacks or specific abilities, while others…
Well, he had noticed fairly quickly how many mind altering Perks were on offer. And when Sarah tried to avoid them, they started to seem a bit pushy.
Yeah, Adam was a bit concerned about how alive these Jump Documents actually were, and about how a Warehouse was SUPPOSED to interact with the stupid thing. Because clearly Adam's work around was getting a bit too much data when Sarah connected to them.
A simple something somewhere pulled forth the H͍̦̺͇͎͈̘u̗̝̪n̝g͇̖͙̻͙e̦͖̪̗r̯͉̤̬͎͔ again…
No.
Calm. Right. Back to the Warehouse upgrade: Material Exchange edition. By the end of a few weeks, Sarah should have all the materials and layers of her Core and Warehouse exchanged for this new stuff and the stronger protection and the more stable structure.
Thanks to the modular nature and adaptability that Adam had worked into this place, Sarah hopefully wouldn't even notice the process! Not like she would care if the new shelving could ignore a nuclear blast or if the carpet could easily be tossed into a star for a quick cleaning.
Although this new outer layer of something he had discovered was ALSO interesting. Or maybe the better wording would be that this new stuff was causing Adam to be a bit obsessive.
It seemed to have… Some sort of… If you turned it like… Maybe if you shifted it a bit? No? Damn it.
Not quite definable.
Almost recognizable.
So close, he could nearly kiss it!
But whatever it is, THIS strange something was how his Shard was able to detect that strange tasty smell. No sensor, no information gained, no conclusions made… No signals, in or out.
Something just Resonated with something through a medium that Adam couldn't define or detect, and it was making him H͇͉̝͙̳͚͚u͚̪̞̮̩̱̟n͍̘̣̫̬̠ͅgr̭̺y͖̫̣̞̞̙͖.
On a smaller level, Sarah too.
She had been snacking pretty heavily for the last while… So she was also being Resonated with on some level, though far FAR weaker than the never ending call that Adam felt gnawing away.
Interesting. Distracting. Frustrating.
Oh well, he'd figure this out eventually.
In the meantime, let's see if we can use some of these odd effects on more common materials too!
Sure everyone likes powerful threads of impossible material treated to feel like silk and whatnot, but what about modifying tomatoes to always taste crisp and not slimy? Or add nearly invisible textures to the chairs to subtly massage people using them?
If nothing else, being able to 'change' a surface color using a treatment rather than adding a substance would get rid of paint chipping or marks and scratches and all that. Simplify the building process too!
Adam double checked that the automated systems were correctly updating the Warehouse materials as desired and ONLY the Warehouse itself. Wouldn't want anything to try and upgrade places OUTSIDE of here with this stuff, the really odd materials on the outer shell might fracture the planet a little or convert all the local pigeons into corn or something.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah felt another shiver down her spine and frowned at the next taco.
Was there something wrong with it? It didn't taste bad, far from it!
But… It was so tasty… And for some reason she felt this bit of extra H̲̼ͅu͕͇n̟̱g̳er̗…
Meh, it was probably nothing.
Mmm, tacos.
Sarah blinked. Oh crud, she was still talking. "Sorry, what was that Pamela?"
Thankfully the beautiful woman had calmed down. "I said, I think my pheromones can fundamentally improve the physique of those affected. It's the only thing that makes these numbers add up, so to speak."
Well, yeah. Doi. "Of course it would, it merged partially with my Moss and sends out a tiny short term dosage when you activate it."
Pamela looked up from her scanning equipment and paused. "I'm sorry?"
Chewing another bite, she swallowed and nodded. "You are like… Sort of half a plant or something? A plant hybrid? My Moss is like SUPER compatible with you, and ensures that all your tears, sweat, skin cells, and all that stuff is safe for other people."
Sarah just hadn't expected the pheromone trigger to be so easily set off, which is why there was a problem in the first place. "I mean, you can still CHOOSE to bleed neurotoxin or whatever, but by default anything that leaves your body is programmed to self destruct and be beneficial to those you spend time with."
After all, before Sarah got involved a simple kiss could cause Pamela's lovers to go insane or unconscious… Potentially even DIE. So all that shit had to be fixed, pronto.
Dr. Isley looked more than a little frustrated. "And you failed to mention this… Why exactly?"
Huh? "Did you read my Moss development notes? I sent you the manual too when you woke up, right?"
She blinked. "You mean that monster!? It's over 3,000 pages long! And it's filled with cross referenced links and supplemental information and…"
Sarah frowned. "Well I had to be thorough documenting that stuff, I injected that junk directly into your body."
Pamela threw her hands up! "Even your bloody SUMMARY is ten pages long!"
Well, if she was going to be confrontational about this then Sarah was just going to sit here and enjoy these tacos. Oh! And nachos with that zesty dip Adam made for her!
The green doctor was pulling up information on her Moss heads up display as she grumbled. "How to alter my default body temperature, default hair length by area… Better mark that for later review. Sarah, I don't see it."
Umm, where was that section? "Should be on page 2322, the section about default flavor, texture, consistency, contents, temperature, and density for bodily fluids. The content section covers the toxins and chemicals discovered or recorded you can work with and a short description."
She blinked. "The section about WHAT now?"
Sarah grinned. "When I sweat I smell like honeysuckle!" Her grin faltered. "Probably. I've been enhanced physically to the point where I haven't done enough exercise to actually sweat or get tired in a long time."
Not since the Bioshock Jump. And honestly that was more sex related than anything. But at least she could confirm the smell and taste stuff worked with HER system, so it SHOULD work properly now that Sarah implemented it into the Moss interface.
Actually… Uh. "Just a side note, but if it doesn't seem to work as described or if there are problems, let me know IMMEDIATELY, alright? I have a lot of safeties and stuff built into the stupid material, but it is still a fairly new product."
Not even sure it counts fully as a plant now, Sarah had done so many changes to the Moss that it was basically a mixture of magic, concepts, and various energies that were connected to tiny molecules more than anything else. It stored data in what little genetic code it physically carried to easily provide enough information storage room for a thousand database centers to backup their mess.
What was its version number now? Moss v343.032? Yikes.
Pamela raised an eyebrow. "You want me to taste myself?"
YES.
Wait! No! Play it cool! "Uh…" Don't say yes, don't say yes, don't say… "Maybe?"
Crud.
She smirked. "Unfortunately I'm afraid my personal time will be booked for quite a while as I diligently work my way through this thick, hard to handle owners manual."
Eep!
The green goddess leaned forward, red hair swirling. "I'm afraid it will wear me out and leave me ruined for other tasks… If only a talented young lady could help me in my time of need…"
Gulp. "I… I can simplify it?"
And the dominating woman leaned back with a thick air of satisfaction. "See that you do."
Sarah blinked.
She was sure she was supposed to feel tricked or used or something, but somehow seeing a strong woman flex her stuff like this was hot as hell.
Dr. Isley was beyond professional, even if her smirk gave it away slightly. "Oh, and be careful with your taco dear… Wouldn't want to damage it from too much force."
What…
Oh.
Right.
She was eating tacos and about to snack on some nachos.
And had nearly dropped the one in her hand from being distracted.
Blushing bright red, she stood up. "I'mma gonna go and do the things in the place with the stuff and BYE!"
At least her OTHER self was busy being flustered in private! Geeze!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Pamela chuckled as the easy going woman bustled away from the situation… And sighed as she turned back to the data.
It wasn't like she didn't KNOW how valuable this information was.
Every page was like pure gold, casually dropping details and facts that the girls had to spend hours researching or days testing and months verifying as if it was common sense.
Sure, most of this would need authentication before she could use it in her work herself, she was a professional after all, but more valuable than someone whispering answers into her ear was the idea of goalposts.
Any casual page had hundreds of interesting comments and facts and details that as a doctor, Pamela felt compelled to bite into. Theories about genetics, conflicts in nutritional sources and how they vary by temperature, and so on and so forth.
While the data was dense, heavily interconnected, and exhaustive in nature… It also acted like a map into the unknown, a direction for the lost, and hinted at much deeper secrets and knowledge just waiting to be explored.
Although it was fun to tease the woman.
All the girls on the Research team had dated at one time or another, or just had 'experiments' or 'one off dates'. It was a side effect of multiple oddities clashing together… People who were abusive never got a chance to work with her people, anyone easily offended by other orientations left on their own, and all the girls had very similar desires and ambitions.
Of course, it didn't hurt that most of her girls were as attractive as herself and it HAD been the 70's. It wasn't ever clearly defined WHAT the relationships were in the group, but there was a powerful feeling of family and belonging… There was a reason Pamela had gone mad with fear and worry when she found out they were in danger, and so frantically attempted to save all the ones she could.
She had never felt so useless, so old and tired and frail, as she had toiled in captivity to try and salvage the remains of those she loved. The wildlife 'screaming' in her mind certainly hadn't helped her sleep or attempt to stay healthy while the work had worn her down with little reprieve.
Not that you could tell by this point, her body mutation and Sarah's healing Moss had pretty much ensured she moved far past 'healthy' and now looked young and picture perfect to an absurd degree… In fact, ALL the girls looked years younger, while the four sudden quadruplets looked like angels from a distant land.
Chlo and Susan were going to be ecstatic about this, if they… No. WHEN they wake up.
Neither girl believed they were 'pretty enough' compared to the rest, despite their adorable nature. It would be much harder to have low self esteem when you were identical to other people that were ALSO considered to be the height of seduction.
Ironically, it was work more than relationship issues that kept most of them from attempting for something more long lasting between the group members. Too many fascinating things to discover, too little time… Some of the more romantic moments came after an ecstatic discovery celebration that may or may not have devolved into a bit more than hugs and a quick kiss or two.
But now?
Her will flexed and the wall shifted to better alter its own texture and bark coloring to directly display the skyline of 'Ivy Town'.
Funding was not an issue. Materials were now simple to acquire. She had a tentative connection with the most powerful local vigilante group in the city… And her savior/potential relationship interest/teasing toy managed to make herself a hot twin sister in the process of gaining a powerful near god-like backer willing and able to help out if needed.
Honestly, while she always had been a sensual woman who enjoyed physical relationships, right now? After her dark times and frantic worry and long hours of fruitless and never ending effort?
More than sexy orgies or drugged fueled hazes, she was driven towards something softer.
Affection. Connection.
A few more hugs than before the girls were hurt. A bit more teasing with less focus on immediate satisfaction.
Just… Just being able to laugh and talk and trick and smile with both Sarahs… Being able to be this close to the other four girls and ensure they were safe and breathing and that she was there, girls she was THERE!
It was enough for now.
Although it might make things easier if Sarah's invisible boss would stop altering the planet every time someone phrases something in an ambiguous way.
She couldn't hold back a bit of a laugh.
At least it was all fun and interesting!
Right, let's bookmark the sections about controlling her powers and how she interacts with other people. Probably should shift some projects around too, if her abilities could help when healing people like Sarah claimed.
Accidentally dominating society and strangers into worshiping her was now a personal nightmare, a terror of potentially harming her girls on a level that was beyond unacceptable and potentially unpreventable. An irrational fear of being forced to isolate herself in an underground facility again had nearly given her a panic attack.
But this new potential? Gaining the ability to cure her loved ones with a kiss?
That was a different concept entirely.
Sounded a bit like one of those cheap romance novels… And, of course, would require extensive and exhaustive testing, verification, and validation.
Her thoughts drifted to the new twins who blushed so cutely with those lovely silver eyes.
At least it would be easy to acquire 'testing subjects'. Mmm.
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- Location
- Brazil
So that is where Sammy and Simmy went.
- Location
- Earth U.S.
remove period
energies?
Duh?
casual
- Status