- Location
- ROB's House
That was brilliant!
-
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Broken Adventure
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover
- Status
I think I know what is going on. Coil's power works by taking in ALL the info, and running a simulation. But Variance is basically running a random number generator with this power, being able to make new powers on demand. Coil's power is trying to run through all the possibilities, but those possibilities are infinite. So it malfunctions. Did I get it right, @theaceoffire ?
- Location
- Australia
Latent connection to the Kaleidoscope left over from the CYOA before it broke? Cause the flashing multicolor light and no-selling a parallel timeline/alternate reality ability sounds like Zelrech style shenanigans.
Early Precog Issues Explained
- Location
- Here
Well... my current opinion:
Due to how Adam's ability F**** up, his power is portable. Not giant creature in other reality, but crammed into his soul, and his soul alone.
On one hand, this allows him to carry his abilities into other realms.
On the other hand, abilities that require simulations or predictions are not really set up to handle souls very well.
I would argue that Glaistig Uaine actually gains connections to the various Shards, which have provided scans of the original owners for her power to create user interfaces of.
Not actual soul magic.
Anyway, Coil is unaware that he simulates two realities and then masters himself to follow one, after which he convinces himself that he could have changed his final choice at any time. His final choice is made by predicting what he WOULD have chosen and when, but it only can do one path or the other during one time frame.
Adam's power isn't quite cut off, he didn't get the right perks for invisibility... but it is VERY incompatible with standard shards. Very.
Once he knows this, he may be willing to lower the danger to specific thinkers he likes with some careful charge usages... or not. Also, different shards may handle this oddity differently.
For example, if Lisa had triggered already, her power would have deduced that he isn't human. Maybe a projection? His power clearly doesn't work right. Dinah would predict strange odds, strange the more Adam is involved.
Contessa's power is already subconsciously avoiding him and the area he works, because uncertainty does NOT help determine a 'win path'.
On one hand, this allows him to carry his abilities into other realms.
On the other hand, abilities that require simulations or predictions are not really set up to handle souls very well.
I would argue that Glaistig Uaine actually gains connections to the various Shards, which have provided scans of the original owners for her power to create user interfaces of.
Not actual soul magic.
Anyway, Coil is unaware that he simulates two realities and then masters himself to follow one, after which he convinces himself that he could have changed his final choice at any time. His final choice is made by predicting what he WOULD have chosen and when, but it only can do one path or the other during one time frame.
Adam's power isn't quite cut off, he didn't get the right perks for invisibility... but it is VERY incompatible with standard shards. Very.
Once he knows this, he may be willing to lower the danger to specific thinkers he likes with some careful charge usages... or not. Also, different shards may handle this oddity differently.
For example, if Lisa had triggered already, her power would have deduced that he isn't human. Maybe a projection? His power clearly doesn't work right. Dinah would predict strange odds, strange the more Adam is involved.
Contessa's power is already subconsciously avoiding him and the area he works, because uncertainty does NOT help determine a 'win path'.
Thankfully, so far, no. For the same reason why meeting Deadpool would cause issues, Zelrech has a history of messing with people. Also, he may see more parts of Adam's power than others, and that could be good or bad depending on how much Entity is left in him.
Side note about forth walls: They are redundant and infinite. The character in the story is being watched by the author, by you, by the things watching you, by things beyond watching them, etc.
It can go in any direction, including one of the distant watchers being one of the people YOU are watching, or even observing yourself.
Breaking the forth wall never ends well, and can cause the energy keeping a world alive to drain. Writers will lose inspiration, Anime's will be canceled or have less seasons, Movies will become more trope like and simplistic. Etc.
- Location
- United Kingdom
And a fourth wall break inside a fourth wall break is even worse. That's like 16 walls breaking.
- Location
- ROB's House
Don't encourage him to move him this soon
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
So basically, Coil's dead power returns a "Divide by Zero" error in any simulation that Adam inhabits. Which means that Coil's 'safe reality' is also affected, which queues trips to the bathroom to worship the porcelain god.
I approve of this.
Anything that causes that evil sociopath/psychopath pain will always be a good thing.
Also: Narwhal Nookie! Woo!
I approve of this.
Anything that causes that evil sociopath/psychopath pain will always be a good thing. Also: Narwhal Nookie! Woo!
- Location
- kentucky
im not dude chill
- Location
- That place where I live?
I never thought I would feel sympathy for coil, but I also understand the horror of a rendering error. No doubt reality looks absolutely terrifying, when it suddenly glitches, freezes, and crashes.
Don't make him rub her nose in it!
- Location
- Here
Adam Burns was having a much more relaxed work schedule than usual.
It was towards the end of the day, after Narwhal and Dragon had returned from shopping, that he had bothered to go online and check out PHO's reaction... which was numerous.
He had high definition video of their trip, but he wasn't exactly a professional photographer... extra pics wouldn't hurt.
Just in case, he forwarded some links to Narwhal and Dragon, asking if they minded him uploading some higher resolution video of the event for their fans.
It was humorous that despite being a computer, Dragon responded SECOND. Narwhal had clear exhibitionist tendencies, so showing her body off online got a vote before Dragon could finish her objections. The video was already trending faster than 'Tin Mother' could censor it, not that she was trying hard.
Adam was not really that surprised, he had known Narwhal for weeks now and dating her required understanding how she felt about social norms.
No, he was just enjoying the ensuing argument between two hot holograms in his room.
Dragon was blushing near the door. "No no no! I can't believe you got me to wear HALF that stuff in the first place!"
Of course, part of the reason she was blushing in the FIRST place was Narwhal's arms draped around her neck. She was NOT used to close contact. "Oh come on, Tess. You know you were rocking those bikinis."
The 'cyborg' was trying to push the taller, curvier woman away without touching her.
It wasn't working.
Narwhal was swishing her hips, nearly forcing the other woman into some strange dance. "You didn't seem to be complaining so hard when we forwarded those pictures to Armsmaster..."
Dragon's jaw dropped. "I... I thought you were KIDDING about that!"
And that distraction costed her, as Narwhal got her away from the wall and was slowly twirling them both around the room. "I was kidding about sending the pictures of you changing or half nude, but swimsuits were meant to be seen! You know you rocked that two piece."
Clearing his throat, Adam clapped. "And on that note, I am glad to say Armsmaster probably agrees, seeing as he has accepted an invitation to dinner tonight. I also invited New Wave, but... uh." He sighed. "Well, let's just say they claimed prior arrangements."
Amy's 'Mother' may have been a BIT miffed about the new charity, not so much that her daughter now got paid almost as much as SHE did as a lawyer, but more because her authority had been challenged on some level.
Still, even if he didn't see Amy or Victoria as often, he was glad to have hopefully prevented future issues on some level for the young biomancer.
Even now, Dragon's lawyers were working towards extending the charities 'Truce' status to apply to healing in general, hopefully allowing and even encouraging Rogue Healers to have more stability and longer, safer lives.
A dead medic is a useless medic.
Oh, Dragon had frozen. Right, the Armsmaster thing. "On a side note Dragon, I've been improving the equipment in the 'guest' lab downstairs. Does Armsmaster have any requirements for his work?"
Uh. No, she was still out. It must be a bad freakout, because she was ignoring Narwhal's increasingly perverse harassment. The tall beauty went from poking her cheek, to patting her shoulder, to poking her... uh...
Dragon jerked. "EEK! NO! Bad Narwhal!"
And now Narwhal was running away cackling while Dragon chased her with a rolled up newspaper. This... this must happen more than he realized. For one thing, that newspaper was not a recent edition.
Idly, Adam considered how nice it was watching a woman wearing a too-loose shirt being chased by a sexy cyborg. Well, back to work.
The drone network was now being supported by a set of roof entrances, allowing them to stop by and swap Magma Orbs thanks to an automated system up there. One Orb would last for months at least, but he still had them being swapped out on a weekly basis, just in case some issue came up.
Right now, each new drone was being Orb-ed up and leaving, with a staggered return scheduled so that eventually it would have a steady stream of returns and exchanges instead of huge crowds as the number of droids hit higher.
Their default range and flight path had already been submitted by Dragon to local authorities, though those regulations had been loosened for years thanks to all the various tinkers and flying capes now.
Thankfully the NUMBER of drones was not legally restricted... though after this, they may be.
As of an hour ago, there were over 37 drones already covering the city at a very high altitude.
His official website now had a secured login page that displayed a live map of Brockton Bay, one that didn't show nearly the same level of detail that the REAL data provided, but better than satellite imagery.
Not that satellites were allowed thanks to the Simurgh. She seemed to hate anything in orbit.
Anyway, accounts had been distributed to local police, ambulance, and firefighting crews. Software was using pattern analysis to not only generate traffic predictions and reports, but to detect fires, road damage, and so forth.
The page also provided GPS applications that not only helped one get around the city, avoiding road damage from wear and tear or whatever, but also displayed cape conflicts or ongoing crimes while routing the user to use a safer set of directions. It should reduce first response delays and help save tons of lives.
Dragon had asked for (and was given) accounts to the higher resolution version for personal use... so Armsmaster likely had the feed as well.
The data feed was detailed enough for the existing simulation software to generate models, so Dragon could 'teleport' anywhere being scanned by drones, and (thanks to the hard light projectors), talk to people or direct assistance.
Not that she would for now. Just being able to determine if a situation needed police or PRT assistance invisibly was enough, and anonymous calls didn't reveal her ability to be on literally every street corner if needed.
While a strong part of Adam's heart wanted to go out and help the people (I'm going to punch crime in the justice!), this new service had already called in and stopped dozens of assaults, a few burglaries, and a couple of attempted rape attempts, even after he had restricted the public version of his site from showing private property or secure/government facilities in detail.
The local fire departments in particular were VERY happy with their new 'neighbor', due again to Dragon. After she made a few personal drones, she realized Adam's growing collection was becoming... very large, meaning she could focus on other projects.
So she changed tasks, and her personal printer was now making shirts, long-sleeved gloves, and thigh-high socks out of Flame Metal.
Flame cloth for Firefighters, to his bemusement.
Fire equipment was not just heavy and expensive, but by its very nature an insulator. Thus, while it keeps the deadly heat out, the internal human heat builds up.
Adam's metal changed things. Now any body heat or gap in the protective suit that went above 'slightly cool' would simply charge this under layer of clothing. That it also prevented the touching equipment from overheating as quickly was a bonus.
Even without being stab proof and bullet resistant, the Fire Department loved the stuff. And while Dragon had supplied the local facilities for free, Garden Industries was receiving similar orders by the bucket for more. It hadn't taken long at all for everyone else to want heat-regulating armor under suits as well, although priority was being given to firefighters, health professionals, police, and lastly the PRT.
Thank goodness he had made those printers... though at this rate, he should get moving on making an actual 'Production Floor' downstairs.
Since the house had been extending downwards for a while now... downstairs had room.
Lots of room.
With a sigh and a series of burning metal claws and arms branching from his back, he began walking toward the central elevator.
He COULD go through the floor, but got teased earlier for 'laziness'.
She's lucky she is so fine looking.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Narwhal couldn't stop her smile if she tried as she and Dragon 'teleported' around 'town', the hologram allowing easy transition between the many simulated places.
Honestly, at this level of technological advancement, she could only tell it was a simulation thanks to the useful and easy popups that Adam's creation provided her.
The extra rest from using her new 'cyber collar' alone had improved her attitude and health, and if it helped with her ownership fetish no one needed to know.
Another paper swat refocused her on 'escaping', and with a smirk she chose a new location: Back at the boardwalk!
Dragon was so focused on Newspaper Justice it took a second or two to realize that they were now running THROUGH the crowds.
Literally. Adam's drones didn't force a solid hologram unless the user WANTED to interact with stuff, so the two beauties were passing through people like ghosts until Dragon blushed red, tried to hide the rolled up paper, and started stammering apologies.
The crowd was surprisingly taking the situation well, if the sudden surprise-turn-to-signature-signing was an indication.
That the two were ABLE to sign the various things being pushed at them was thanks to the Drone combining hard light force fields with mild ignition points, allowing them to 'burn' signatures safely on each item.
So no signing girls boobs today. Unless they were into that. Mmm.
She was again pulled from her thoughts by a young girl who was staring with awe at Narwhal's huge height. "Aw... Why you not wearing pants? Mommy makes me wear pants."
Ignoring the child's flustered mother, she grinned. "And you SHOULD listen to your Mom. You can't choose whether or not to wear pants on your own until you are a grownup." She frowned. "Even then, you would be surprised at how many people will argue about it."
Dragon forced herself to mentally center a bit, pushing forward. "Don't listen too closely to Narwhal sweetie. She's nice, but not everyone has the same ideas about fashion."
The child's smile was adorable. "Thanks robot lady! Mom, I want to be a robot too!"
The adult's sigh was exasperated. "I thought you wanted to be a truck?"
Her distracted "I want to be a truck robot!" was pushed back as the crowd shuffled.
The impromptu gathering settled a bit as they formed something like a line, a cynical part of Dragon assuming it was to better gawk at their 'costumes'.
Even though a small part of her was happy that, even wearing a shirt and jeans, she still seemed to be attractive to others.
Colin should like that. Maybe tighter pants?
While she was distracted, one older, fairly fit man eventually fell into the expected trope. "Narwhal! You need a date sometime!?"
He ignored the groans... someone would ask eventually anyway, why not him?
For the first time in a long time, Narwhal was able to give a NEW answer with a grin, rather than the usual random dribble. "Nah, got a man for now, and Dragon's working up her courage to ask her own."
The expected chaos hit the internet seconds later.
It was towards the end of the day, after Narwhal and Dragon had returned from shopping, that he had bothered to go online and check out PHO's reaction... which was numerous.
He had high definition video of their trip, but he wasn't exactly a professional photographer... extra pics wouldn't hurt.
Just in case, he forwarded some links to Narwhal and Dragon, asking if they minded him uploading some higher resolution video of the event for their fans.
It was humorous that despite being a computer, Dragon responded SECOND. Narwhal had clear exhibitionist tendencies, so showing her body off online got a vote before Dragon could finish her objections. The video was already trending faster than 'Tin Mother' could censor it, not that she was trying hard.
Adam was not really that surprised, he had known Narwhal for weeks now and dating her required understanding how she felt about social norms.
No, he was just enjoying the ensuing argument between two hot holograms in his room.
Dragon was blushing near the door. "No no no! I can't believe you got me to wear HALF that stuff in the first place!"
Of course, part of the reason she was blushing in the FIRST place was Narwhal's arms draped around her neck. She was NOT used to close contact. "Oh come on, Tess. You know you were rocking those bikinis."
The 'cyborg' was trying to push the taller, curvier woman away without touching her.
It wasn't working.
Narwhal was swishing her hips, nearly forcing the other woman into some strange dance. "You didn't seem to be complaining so hard when we forwarded those pictures to Armsmaster..."
Dragon's jaw dropped. "I... I thought you were KIDDING about that!"
And that distraction costed her, as Narwhal got her away from the wall and was slowly twirling them both around the room. "I was kidding about sending the pictures of you changing or half nude, but swimsuits were meant to be seen! You know you rocked that two piece."
Clearing his throat, Adam clapped. "And on that note, I am glad to say Armsmaster probably agrees, seeing as he has accepted an invitation to dinner tonight. I also invited New Wave, but... uh." He sighed. "Well, let's just say they claimed prior arrangements."
Amy's 'Mother' may have been a BIT miffed about the new charity, not so much that her daughter now got paid almost as much as SHE did as a lawyer, but more because her authority had been challenged on some level.
Still, even if he didn't see Amy or Victoria as often, he was glad to have hopefully prevented future issues on some level for the young biomancer.
Even now, Dragon's lawyers were working towards extending the charities 'Truce' status to apply to healing in general, hopefully allowing and even encouraging Rogue Healers to have more stability and longer, safer lives.
A dead medic is a useless medic.
Oh, Dragon had frozen. Right, the Armsmaster thing. "On a side note Dragon, I've been improving the equipment in the 'guest' lab downstairs. Does Armsmaster have any requirements for his work?"
Uh. No, she was still out. It must be a bad freakout, because she was ignoring Narwhal's increasingly perverse harassment. The tall beauty went from poking her cheek, to patting her shoulder, to poking her... uh...
Dragon jerked. "EEK! NO! Bad Narwhal!"
And now Narwhal was running away cackling while Dragon chased her with a rolled up newspaper. This... this must happen more than he realized. For one thing, that newspaper was not a recent edition.
Idly, Adam considered how nice it was watching a woman wearing a too-loose shirt being chased by a sexy cyborg. Well, back to work.
The drone network was now being supported by a set of roof entrances, allowing them to stop by and swap Magma Orbs thanks to an automated system up there. One Orb would last for months at least, but he still had them being swapped out on a weekly basis, just in case some issue came up.
Right now, each new drone was being Orb-ed up and leaving, with a staggered return scheduled so that eventually it would have a steady stream of returns and exchanges instead of huge crowds as the number of droids hit higher.
Their default range and flight path had already been submitted by Dragon to local authorities, though those regulations had been loosened for years thanks to all the various tinkers and flying capes now.
Thankfully the NUMBER of drones was not legally restricted... though after this, they may be.
As of an hour ago, there were over 37 drones already covering the city at a very high altitude.
His official website now had a secured login page that displayed a live map of Brockton Bay, one that didn't show nearly the same level of detail that the REAL data provided, but better than satellite imagery.
Not that satellites were allowed thanks to the Simurgh. She seemed to hate anything in orbit.
Anyway, accounts had been distributed to local police, ambulance, and firefighting crews. Software was using pattern analysis to not only generate traffic predictions and reports, but to detect fires, road damage, and so forth.
The page also provided GPS applications that not only helped one get around the city, avoiding road damage from wear and tear or whatever, but also displayed cape conflicts or ongoing crimes while routing the user to use a safer set of directions. It should reduce first response delays and help save tons of lives.
Dragon had asked for (and was given) accounts to the higher resolution version for personal use... so Armsmaster likely had the feed as well.
The data feed was detailed enough for the existing simulation software to generate models, so Dragon could 'teleport' anywhere being scanned by drones, and (thanks to the hard light projectors), talk to people or direct assistance.
Not that she would for now. Just being able to determine if a situation needed police or PRT assistance invisibly was enough, and anonymous calls didn't reveal her ability to be on literally every street corner if needed.
While a strong part of Adam's heart wanted to go out and help the people (I'm going to punch crime in the justice!), this new service had already called in and stopped dozens of assaults, a few burglaries, and a couple of attempted rape attempts, even after he had restricted the public version of his site from showing private property or secure/government facilities in detail.
The local fire departments in particular were VERY happy with their new 'neighbor', due again to Dragon. After she made a few personal drones, she realized Adam's growing collection was becoming... very large, meaning she could focus on other projects.
So she changed tasks, and her personal printer was now making shirts, long-sleeved gloves, and thigh-high socks out of Flame Metal.
Flame cloth for Firefighters, to his bemusement.
Fire equipment was not just heavy and expensive, but by its very nature an insulator. Thus, while it keeps the deadly heat out, the internal human heat builds up.
Adam's metal changed things. Now any body heat or gap in the protective suit that went above 'slightly cool' would simply charge this under layer of clothing. That it also prevented the touching equipment from overheating as quickly was a bonus.
Even without being stab proof and bullet resistant, the Fire Department loved the stuff. And while Dragon had supplied the local facilities for free, Garden Industries was receiving similar orders by the bucket for more. It hadn't taken long at all for everyone else to want heat-regulating armor under suits as well, although priority was being given to firefighters, health professionals, police, and lastly the PRT.
Thank goodness he had made those printers... though at this rate, he should get moving on making an actual 'Production Floor' downstairs.
Since the house had been extending downwards for a while now... downstairs had room.
Lots of room.
With a sigh and a series of burning metal claws and arms branching from his back, he began walking toward the central elevator.
He COULD go through the floor, but got teased earlier for 'laziness'.
She's lucky she is so fine looking.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Narwhal couldn't stop her smile if she tried as she and Dragon 'teleported' around 'town', the hologram allowing easy transition between the many simulated places.
Honestly, at this level of technological advancement, she could only tell it was a simulation thanks to the useful and easy popups that Adam's creation provided her.
The extra rest from using her new 'cyber collar' alone had improved her attitude and health, and if it helped with her ownership fetish no one needed to know.
Another paper swat refocused her on 'escaping', and with a smirk she chose a new location: Back at the boardwalk!
Dragon was so focused on Newspaper Justice it took a second or two to realize that they were now running THROUGH the crowds.
Literally. Adam's drones didn't force a solid hologram unless the user WANTED to interact with stuff, so the two beauties were passing through people like ghosts until Dragon blushed red, tried to hide the rolled up paper, and started stammering apologies.
The crowd was surprisingly taking the situation well, if the sudden surprise-turn-to-signature-signing was an indication.
That the two were ABLE to sign the various things being pushed at them was thanks to the Drone combining hard light force fields with mild ignition points, allowing them to 'burn' signatures safely on each item.
So no signing girls boobs today. Unless they were into that. Mmm.
She was again pulled from her thoughts by a young girl who was staring with awe at Narwhal's huge height. "Aw... Why you not wearing pants? Mommy makes me wear pants."
Ignoring the child's flustered mother, she grinned. "And you SHOULD listen to your Mom. You can't choose whether or not to wear pants on your own until you are a grownup." She frowned. "Even then, you would be surprised at how many people will argue about it."
Dragon forced herself to mentally center a bit, pushing forward. "Don't listen too closely to Narwhal sweetie. She's nice, but not everyone has the same ideas about fashion."
The child's smile was adorable. "Thanks robot lady! Mom, I want to be a robot too!"
The adult's sigh was exasperated. "I thought you wanted to be a truck?"
Her distracted "I want to be a truck robot!" was pushed back as the crowd shuffled.
The impromptu gathering settled a bit as they formed something like a line, a cynical part of Dragon assuming it was to better gawk at their 'costumes'.
Even though a small part of her was happy that, even wearing a shirt and jeans, she still seemed to be attractive to others.
Colin should like that. Maybe tighter pants?
While she was distracted, one older, fairly fit man eventually fell into the expected trope. "Narwhal! You need a date sometime!?"
He ignored the groans... someone would ask eventually anyway, why not him?
For the first time in a long time, Narwhal was able to give a NEW answer with a grin, rather than the usual random dribble. "Nah, got a man for now, and Dragon's working up her courage to ask her own."
The expected chaos hit the internet seconds later.
Last edited:
Simurgh, meet your rival in trolling.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
- Location
- Here
Thanks, I try my best, but editing has always been an issue for me.
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
Narwhal is my new favorite hero. *cackles*
[Edit] I didn't get an update for this... strange. That happening to anyone else?
[Edit] I didn't get an update for this... strange. That happening to anyone else?
Dinner and needed Dressing.
- Location
- Here
Dragon cooked dinner.
It was an amazing thing to watch, knowing that the pans and tools and such were all being held by a hard light hologram of a sexy cyborg.
Still, it took experimentation to get this going. Initially, Narwhal and Dragon had tried to create and use virtual pans and such directly, but the heat needed to cook was beyond what the hologram could handle. This version was too weak, anyway. It would be improved eventually.
Thankfully using a hologram hand would work perfectly well, as anything strong enough to damage the illusion was also strong enough to cause an actual burn or injury... which a good cook shouldn't experience anyway.
That said, Dragon had made some things called 'Butter Tarts' and 'Nova Scotian Lobster Rolls' which smelled amazing. Adam even got to eat a couple of 'practice' runs, and even with the burned edges they had tasted awesome!
So when Armsmaster rolled up on his sweet tech bike (Thank you 'Technomancy', schematic yoink!) and got to try out the underground parking garage, Dragon already had a table set up and was frantically fussing over everything.
The bearded man's outfit was mostly non-armor, surprisingly enough, with a functional mechanical visor instead of his normal helmet. Adam suspected Narwhal had sent the man a dress code, one which Dragon was clearly enjoying at the moment. "I was expected?"
Narwhal grinned as she moved out of the way, ushering him in. "Of course, Armsmaster! Variance and Dragon are in the dining room." She motioned toward a wall of lockers. "You can secure any non-necessary equipment here if you wish, just pick a locker that is unused."
He seemed to approve of the idea, if the half dozen tiny gadgets he put away were any indication, and then joined Adam and Dragon who were... well, Adam was talking, Dragon was still trying to straighten out forks and stuff.
His reaction to watching a half-machine woman bent over the dining table to straighten dishes loaded with food was... noticeable. Which for him, was jaw dropping shock.
Adam coughed, both to warn Dragon and give Armsmaster a chance to recover. "Ah, good to see you again Armsmaster! I've been eager to show you my new place. I hope you have room for a large meal, Dragon has worked very hard preparing all this."
The visor-covered man blinked. "Really? I thought you were restricted to your home facility." He walked forward, somewhat smoothly taking the blushing cyborg's hand and being FAR more suave than expected. "I am blessed to meet you in person, Miss Ri... Dragon."
Ooh, the kiss on the hand was a nice touch.
Dragon seemed to glow as she smiled back. "You can use my name here, Armsmaster. Both Variance and Narwhal know my real name is Tess Richter."
Adam chuckled. "And I can't exactly have a secret identity, but I have chosen Adam 'Adventure' Burns to represent me." He glanced at Narwhal. "I actually still don't know Narwhal's name, which surprised me... she isn't exactly shy about anything else."
Narwhal groaned. "It's a bit embarrassing though." With a sigh, she held out a hand to Dragon's crush. "Hi, I'm Scarlett Walker. No, please don't call me that. Narwhal is a cooler name anyway."
Adam blinked, nearly missing the man's "Nice to meet you Miss Walker." and Colin Wallis introducing himself in the background. Sounded like a mix between scarlet woman and street walker. What a jerk move by her parents.
Thankfully the conversation rolled along thanks to Dragon. "So you know I was bound pretty badly to my base of operations, right?" Seeing him nod, she continued. "I recently made some breakthroughs, and thanks to some technology made by Variance, we can now make these devices."
She gestured to the side, where the collar schematic floated in the air. "That is how Narwhal is here now, for example. It allows you to create, control, and experience life via an avatar assuming you have the information streams and the hardware to work with it."
Well... that was all true. Even if it implied she herself was using one. Sneaky.
Dragon pointed around the room. "Adam built this house to have all kinds of holo-projectors and hard-light projectors, along with sensors and speakers and such. So anyone with one of these devices and permission can basically let their body rest and get things done in a virtual world that overlaps the real world."
Seeing the gleam in his eye, Adam chuckled. "Before you ask, 'Yes' Armsmaster. You may have my schematics and some example equipment. And even though Narwhal insists on them looking like fetish neck chokers, you can probably build the parts into your existing helmets, labs and such."
Adam felt an arm slide down his shoulders, a hot chin resting on his shoulder. "It doesn't just LOOK like a fetish choker." She took it down to a whisper. "I'll show you more later..."
Well. Cough. "Hey, how about this amazing food Dragon whipped up, right? Armsmaster, ask her about how she figured out how to cook for the first time, from literally a country away." Please stop looking this way, SHE'S the one with an exhibition streak.
Not that he would ask her to stop. Thankfully the other couple were quickly distracted by each other so Adam could sneak a pinch without being caught.
The whisper in his ear shivered. "Ooohhmm."
Well... that didn't help him cool down at all.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The dinner was eaten, and appreciated... but with three tinkers in the house they got side-tracked quickly. And when Dragon and Armsmaster went into Dragon's lab... well, Adam snuck away for a night of movie watching and couch cuddling.
That Narwhal had received that skin tight Null Metal suit in the mail made it even nicer.
However, it did set up a new goal the next day. One of the first goals Adam had set in quite a while.
He wanted to take Narwhal out on a real date.
Thankfully, Faultline's Crew (While still technically Villains, although nothing as evil as Coil or Slaughterhouse 9 or whatever) were already running the nightclub Palanquin near Lord Street right here in Brockton Bay.
Honestly, they were basically mercenaries... and he had a lot of cash. Hmm.
So, first step: Get in contact with Faultline's Parahuman Crew, convince them to let him modify the place. Or set up a drone. Or somehow get in the equipment to allow remote people to drink there.
Actually, now that he thought about it, remote access to a virtual/real bar could be a big sales feature for the club. Maybe this was the way to market his Virtual Collars that Narwhal was trying to make even more risque.
Wait... no, crud. He needed to make that number two priority.
Number one: He needed an actual costume. One he could wear out, eat and drink with, and so forth. Right now his outfit was a mix of random heavy robot armor and boxes, not exactly dating material.
He had power charges to burn anyway.
Pulling up a mirror polished slab of metal, he swapped to 'Research' and... let it loose.
Dozens of simulations later, he had the fundamental design concept... thousands later he had a working production model.
Switch to 'Flame Manipulation' and... here we go.
Thin layer of 'Flame Metal', smallest weave possible and skin tight. Set to a comfortable temperature, this stuff was so thin it wouldn't really resist even a knife... but it was really there to handle temperature regulation. No over/under heating for this superhero, thank you.
Two charges had to be used, one to allow 'Flame Metal' the property of selective permeability, one to allow the passage of body senses and filtered air flow. Now a fully body enclosed suit would still let his hair out, specific light bandwidths to pass through, and specific gasses to also be allowed to travel.
Basically the thin layer would act as goggles, headphones, and a basic air filter.
Anyway, this stuff was so light that letting sensation travel through it made it feel like nudity.
So... more layers.
The very dark red under-suit (Near black even) was covered in an equally thin grey layer of 'Null Metal' scales. Again, too thin alone to resist blades, but it stuck to the base level and together the two layered material was both soft and flexible.
This would be a layer of insulation, though it had to have gaps for the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. You could still see the near-black under-layer at those points as a series of circles. Still, this thin level of 'Null Metal' would prevent most energy based issues like Victoria's emotional broadcast and lower exposure surface area to radiation, etc.
Looking downward, Adam sighed. Skin tight indeed... and he wasn't Narwhal. Clearly physically fit and endowed though.
Might make her wear something like this one day.
Most of his body was silver-gray now, the silver layer out in a scale pattern to distribute what little impact it could, with black holes for his senses pretty evident.
So... third layer. 'Flame Metal' again, over everything including the eye holes. This external layer made him look solid black again, but he could change the surface temperature to hide from thermal detection or handle hot situations. An extreme version of the existing Fire Fighter's suit.
More importantly, if someone somehow started using a power to heat up or freeze his actual body, now he could absorb that energy and shove it into this outer layer, separated by a film of Null insulation.
Together, the three layers was as thick as pantyhose, and the durability was enough to be basically knife-proof, and heavily knife resistant at the eyes and other openings hidden by the outer layer.
And finally, the armor. Thick as a switch blade edge, layers of matte white Null Metal began forming on the outside of his arms, shoulders, back, chest, legs, knees, shins... The layers touching himself or where his body would normally flex or move were still deep deep black-red, but the white outer layer was like an exoskeleton.
The blade thick layers of Null Metal were staggered, with the highest level bone white and the one closest to the suit dull gray, giving the illusion of out of focus visible skeletal system that covered most of his body.
His head shook slightly as a solid mask of 'bone' made from 'Null Metal' grew thick, the upgrades allowing his flaming red hair to easily blaze through the back. The material covering the eyes was clear Null Metal, but his mouth, ears, and nose had thick, near black Null Metal interlocking segments.
With a thought his 'eyes' converted the deep blackish red behind it clear, allowing his burning eyes to be more obviously displayed and distracting for others.
And with even more concentration, his hair both shrank in length... and compressed into blue fire. Less evil.
Oh... That also transformed his eyes into blue flames. Neat.
The mirror showed a tall skeleton with blue burning hair and eyes. Switching to 'Technomancy', his hair became green wires and his eyes glowed with data streams.
This... was nice.
Glancing downward, he sighed again. Too. Damn. Exposed.
This stuff, even at the thickest regions, was only a half inch thick or so. Not enough to hide the shape of his muscles or... parts.
'Research' said this was the minimum amount of coverage to give good armor and support without requiring a giant robot suit.
Which... well, he would end up making a giant robot suit at SOME point, it just seemed like a neat idea.
Common sense, on the other hand, said 'Put on some damn clothes!'
Swapping to 'Research' (Oooh, paper hair and eyeball skeleton looked awesome!), it only took a few real world seconds to have a design.
'Flame Manipulation' returned... and from the ground up, cloth and plates made from flames crafted a dark black tuxedo. Crisp, fitted... everyone loved a Dapper Skeleton.
Checking his tie and cuffs, he felt something was missing... Ah.
It took another charge, allowing 'Flame Manipulation' manifested objects to mirror a target... but it was worth it.
His mirror image showed a black gash across his skeletal lips, which formed into a skeletal grin.
Now he could eat and drink on outings. Even if the skeletal mouth was a tiny bit... fangish.
A quick change made the teeth more box shaped rather than a maw full of needles. Much better.
Tall stance, straightening his tie... His bony face flexed, reflecting blue flaming eyes and his handsome smirk.
His hands, white bone over black covered fingers, moving to straighten his bright blue tie... the only part of his outfit not black or white.
Narwhal wandered in, chuckling. "Adam, we may have to break into Dragon's lab when morning comes or He won't remember to go home... to... uh..."
Her eyes were wide as the tall skeleton man stalked toward her.
A hand of bones stroked her chin. "My dear, would you care to accompany me on a moonlit walk?"
Her eyes went unfocused. "I had a goth phase as a child that suddenly became relevant." Her hands moved over the (slightly emphasized) muscled outfit. "Mmmm... Mamma like."
Uh... he probably wasn't supposed to hear that last part. Based on the drooling though, she was impressed.
It was an amazing thing to watch, knowing that the pans and tools and such were all being held by a hard light hologram of a sexy cyborg.
Still, it took experimentation to get this going. Initially, Narwhal and Dragon had tried to create and use virtual pans and such directly, but the heat needed to cook was beyond what the hologram could handle. This version was too weak, anyway. It would be improved eventually.
Thankfully using a hologram hand would work perfectly well, as anything strong enough to damage the illusion was also strong enough to cause an actual burn or injury... which a good cook shouldn't experience anyway.
That said, Dragon had made some things called 'Butter Tarts' and 'Nova Scotian Lobster Rolls' which smelled amazing. Adam even got to eat a couple of 'practice' runs, and even with the burned edges they had tasted awesome!
So when Armsmaster rolled up on his sweet tech bike (Thank you 'Technomancy', schematic yoink!) and got to try out the underground parking garage, Dragon already had a table set up and was frantically fussing over everything.
The bearded man's outfit was mostly non-armor, surprisingly enough, with a functional mechanical visor instead of his normal helmet. Adam suspected Narwhal had sent the man a dress code, one which Dragon was clearly enjoying at the moment. "I was expected?"
Narwhal grinned as she moved out of the way, ushering him in. "Of course, Armsmaster! Variance and Dragon are in the dining room." She motioned toward a wall of lockers. "You can secure any non-necessary equipment here if you wish, just pick a locker that is unused."
He seemed to approve of the idea, if the half dozen tiny gadgets he put away were any indication, and then joined Adam and Dragon who were... well, Adam was talking, Dragon was still trying to straighten out forks and stuff.
His reaction to watching a half-machine woman bent over the dining table to straighten dishes loaded with food was... noticeable. Which for him, was jaw dropping shock.
Adam coughed, both to warn Dragon and give Armsmaster a chance to recover. "Ah, good to see you again Armsmaster! I've been eager to show you my new place. I hope you have room for a large meal, Dragon has worked very hard preparing all this."
The visor-covered man blinked. "Really? I thought you were restricted to your home facility." He walked forward, somewhat smoothly taking the blushing cyborg's hand and being FAR more suave than expected. "I am blessed to meet you in person, Miss Ri... Dragon."
Ooh, the kiss on the hand was a nice touch.
Dragon seemed to glow as she smiled back. "You can use my name here, Armsmaster. Both Variance and Narwhal know my real name is Tess Richter."
Adam chuckled. "And I can't exactly have a secret identity, but I have chosen Adam 'Adventure' Burns to represent me." He glanced at Narwhal. "I actually still don't know Narwhal's name, which surprised me... she isn't exactly shy about anything else."
Narwhal groaned. "It's a bit embarrassing though." With a sigh, she held out a hand to Dragon's crush. "Hi, I'm Scarlett Walker. No, please don't call me that. Narwhal is a cooler name anyway."
Adam blinked, nearly missing the man's "Nice to meet you Miss Walker." and Colin Wallis introducing himself in the background. Sounded like a mix between scarlet woman and street walker. What a jerk move by her parents.
Thankfully the conversation rolled along thanks to Dragon. "So you know I was bound pretty badly to my base of operations, right?" Seeing him nod, she continued. "I recently made some breakthroughs, and thanks to some technology made by Variance, we can now make these devices."
She gestured to the side, where the collar schematic floated in the air. "That is how Narwhal is here now, for example. It allows you to create, control, and experience life via an avatar assuming you have the information streams and the hardware to work with it."
Well... that was all true. Even if it implied she herself was using one. Sneaky.
Dragon pointed around the room. "Adam built this house to have all kinds of holo-projectors and hard-light projectors, along with sensors and speakers and such. So anyone with one of these devices and permission can basically let their body rest and get things done in a virtual world that overlaps the real world."
Seeing the gleam in his eye, Adam chuckled. "Before you ask, 'Yes' Armsmaster. You may have my schematics and some example equipment. And even though Narwhal insists on them looking like fetish neck chokers, you can probably build the parts into your existing helmets, labs and such."
Adam felt an arm slide down his shoulders, a hot chin resting on his shoulder. "It doesn't just LOOK like a fetish choker." She took it down to a whisper. "I'll show you more later..."
Well. Cough. "Hey, how about this amazing food Dragon whipped up, right? Armsmaster, ask her about how she figured out how to cook for the first time, from literally a country away." Please stop looking this way, SHE'S the one with an exhibition streak.
Not that he would ask her to stop. Thankfully the other couple were quickly distracted by each other so Adam could sneak a pinch without being caught.
The whisper in his ear shivered. "Ooohhmm."
Well... that didn't help him cool down at all.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The dinner was eaten, and appreciated... but with three tinkers in the house they got side-tracked quickly. And when Dragon and Armsmaster went into Dragon's lab... well, Adam snuck away for a night of movie watching and couch cuddling.
That Narwhal had received that skin tight Null Metal suit in the mail made it even nicer.
However, it did set up a new goal the next day. One of the first goals Adam had set in quite a while.
He wanted to take Narwhal out on a real date.
Thankfully, Faultline's Crew (While still technically Villains, although nothing as evil as Coil or Slaughterhouse 9 or whatever) were already running the nightclub Palanquin near Lord Street right here in Brockton Bay.
Honestly, they were basically mercenaries... and he had a lot of cash. Hmm.
So, first step: Get in contact with Faultline's Parahuman Crew, convince them to let him modify the place. Or set up a drone. Or somehow get in the equipment to allow remote people to drink there.
Actually, now that he thought about it, remote access to a virtual/real bar could be a big sales feature for the club. Maybe this was the way to market his Virtual Collars that Narwhal was trying to make even more risque.
Wait... no, crud. He needed to make that number two priority.
Number one: He needed an actual costume. One he could wear out, eat and drink with, and so forth. Right now his outfit was a mix of random heavy robot armor and boxes, not exactly dating material.
He had power charges to burn anyway.
Pulling up a mirror polished slab of metal, he swapped to 'Research' and... let it loose.
Dozens of simulations later, he had the fundamental design concept... thousands later he had a working production model.
Switch to 'Flame Manipulation' and... here we go.
Thin layer of 'Flame Metal', smallest weave possible and skin tight. Set to a comfortable temperature, this stuff was so thin it wouldn't really resist even a knife... but it was really there to handle temperature regulation. No over/under heating for this superhero, thank you.
Two charges had to be used, one to allow 'Flame Metal' the property of selective permeability, one to allow the passage of body senses and filtered air flow. Now a fully body enclosed suit would still let his hair out, specific light bandwidths to pass through, and specific gasses to also be allowed to travel.
Basically the thin layer would act as goggles, headphones, and a basic air filter.
Anyway, this stuff was so light that letting sensation travel through it made it feel like nudity.
So... more layers.
The very dark red under-suit (Near black even) was covered in an equally thin grey layer of 'Null Metal' scales. Again, too thin alone to resist blades, but it stuck to the base level and together the two layered material was both soft and flexible.
This would be a layer of insulation, though it had to have gaps for the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. You could still see the near-black under-layer at those points as a series of circles. Still, this thin level of 'Null Metal' would prevent most energy based issues like Victoria's emotional broadcast and lower exposure surface area to radiation, etc.
Looking downward, Adam sighed. Skin tight indeed... and he wasn't Narwhal. Clearly physically fit and endowed though.
Might make her wear something like this one day.
Most of his body was silver-gray now, the silver layer out in a scale pattern to distribute what little impact it could, with black holes for his senses pretty evident.
So... third layer. 'Flame Metal' again, over everything including the eye holes. This external layer made him look solid black again, but he could change the surface temperature to hide from thermal detection or handle hot situations. An extreme version of the existing Fire Fighter's suit.
More importantly, if someone somehow started using a power to heat up or freeze his actual body, now he could absorb that energy and shove it into this outer layer, separated by a film of Null insulation.
Together, the three layers was as thick as pantyhose, and the durability was enough to be basically knife-proof, and heavily knife resistant at the eyes and other openings hidden by the outer layer.
And finally, the armor. Thick as a switch blade edge, layers of matte white Null Metal began forming on the outside of his arms, shoulders, back, chest, legs, knees, shins... The layers touching himself or where his body would normally flex or move were still deep deep black-red, but the white outer layer was like an exoskeleton.
The blade thick layers of Null Metal were staggered, with the highest level bone white and the one closest to the suit dull gray, giving the illusion of out of focus visible skeletal system that covered most of his body.
His head shook slightly as a solid mask of 'bone' made from 'Null Metal' grew thick, the upgrades allowing his flaming red hair to easily blaze through the back. The material covering the eyes was clear Null Metal, but his mouth, ears, and nose had thick, near black Null Metal interlocking segments.
With a thought his 'eyes' converted the deep blackish red behind it clear, allowing his burning eyes to be more obviously displayed and distracting for others.
And with even more concentration, his hair both shrank in length... and compressed into blue fire. Less evil.
Oh... That also transformed his eyes into blue flames. Neat.
The mirror showed a tall skeleton with blue burning hair and eyes. Switching to 'Technomancy', his hair became green wires and his eyes glowed with data streams.
This... was nice.
Glancing downward, he sighed again. Too. Damn. Exposed.
This stuff, even at the thickest regions, was only a half inch thick or so. Not enough to hide the shape of his muscles or... parts.
'Research' said this was the minimum amount of coverage to give good armor and support without requiring a giant robot suit.
Which... well, he would end up making a giant robot suit at SOME point, it just seemed like a neat idea.
Common sense, on the other hand, said 'Put on some damn clothes!'
Swapping to 'Research' (Oooh, paper hair and eyeball skeleton looked awesome!), it only took a few real world seconds to have a design.
'Flame Manipulation' returned... and from the ground up, cloth and plates made from flames crafted a dark black tuxedo. Crisp, fitted... everyone loved a Dapper Skeleton.
Checking his tie and cuffs, he felt something was missing... Ah.
It took another charge, allowing 'Flame Manipulation' manifested objects to mirror a target... but it was worth it.
His mirror image showed a black gash across his skeletal lips, which formed into a skeletal grin.
Now he could eat and drink on outings. Even if the skeletal mouth was a tiny bit... fangish.
A quick change made the teeth more box shaped rather than a maw full of needles. Much better.
Tall stance, straightening his tie... His bony face flexed, reflecting blue flaming eyes and his handsome smirk.
His hands, white bone over black covered fingers, moving to straighten his bright blue tie... the only part of his outfit not black or white.
Narwhal wandered in, chuckling. "Adam, we may have to break into Dragon's lab when morning comes or He won't remember to go home... to... uh..."
Her eyes were wide as the tall skeleton man stalked toward her.
A hand of bones stroked her chin. "My dear, would you care to accompany me on a moonlit walk?"
Her eyes went unfocused. "I had a goth phase as a child that suddenly became relevant." Her hands moved over the (slightly emphasized) muscled outfit. "Mmmm... Mamma like."
Uh... he probably wasn't supposed to hear that last part. Based on the drooling though, she was impressed.
Last edited:
- Location
- Here
Tinkers: Easily distracted by technology, new schematics, and occasionally hot women partially also made of tech who want to hang out with you.
...I'm sure he'll bring it up after the two finish a bit of tinkering. Eventually.
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
Sir, I would like to say that you are, quite simply, Doomed.
:lol
:lol
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
PyroTechno
The Procrastination Pokemon
These kind of errors are almost impossible to make on your own. Autocorrupt is back at it again I see
- Location
- North Carolina
I love these story and I am eager to see when the next chapter comes out. I really love scapegoat and dapper skeleton
- Location
- Canada
@theaceoffire, I was recently reread Core Threads before being disappointed that you hadn't posted anything recently only to find a reddit thread which lead me here to be shocked. This is a really interesting take on the power that's been a fun read. It reminds me a lot about Technology Will Win The Day not so much in terms of content but in terms of making use of a power charges system that was severely limited and making great use of it.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to reading more! Though, you might want to consider adding this story to your ffnet page as well.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to reading more! Though, you might want to consider adding this story to your ffnet page as well.
- Status