Chaos Theory: A Worm SI/Eventual Multicross

[KnightofTempest]

I awoke to the Blaring of an Alarm that sounded nothing like mine. Instead of Harsh Beeping there was a Klaxon of Discordant Notes, almost like someone had taken a Piano and pressed mutiple keys at the same time over and over again. That was strange, but what was even Stranger was the fact that I appeared to be in a Room other than my own. Instead of the nerdy fixtures on the walls, there was imagery from mythology and history. Roman and Greek mythology and history unless I missed my guess. On the wall hung an image of the Roman Empire at it's maximum extent under Trajan right next to a matte painting of what looked to be the Titanomachy. These replaced the Posters of the Covers of Amazing Fantasy 15 and Journey into Mystery 83, the first appearances of Spiderman and Thor Respectively. My Laptop, missing from my desk, was replaced by a sleek looking desktop of a Brand I'd never heard of before. My Bookshelves, filled with Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels alongside Tabletop RPG Rulebooks was now filled with books such as The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Art of War, and more.

This was not my apartment, that was for damned sure. I Sat up immediately in bed, threw off the covers, and lept out of bed, only to stub my toe on a bedside table that was about two inches closer to my bed than normal. Oddly, it didn't event hurt at all. On the Table there was what looked to be a hand written letter, held in place with a golden apple. I thought the apple was plastic, but moving it to get at the Letter revealed that it was either a very convincing fake, or entirely real. Shrugging I picked up the letter and began to read.

"Dear Adopted Son,

While I am sorry to have whisked you away like this, adopting you was the only way I could bring you to this Earth and potentially save this realm. After my last time snatching a mortal from Earth Prime, the rest of the Dodekatheon has determined to place restrictions on my 'Meddling'. Suffice it to say that you have been taken from your home reality, designated Earth Prime, and brought to one in dire need of rescue. You know this reality as Earth Bet, setting of the Web Novel Worm. In actuality it is designated Cluster Earth 16, as it is part of a cluster of multiverses connected together as part of the cosmic web, but not directly connected to any other Earth. The details are all rather technical and boring even if Hepheastus does drone on about them so. At least Hermes has interesting things he can talk about when the subject of the Cosmic Web Comes up.

Regardless, I have Adopted you as my son in an ancient and mystical rite for the sole purpose of fixing the fuck up that is this reality and possibly providing some entertainment for those of us up on Olympus. You see for all Wildbow's Claims that his universe is grounded in real science, the Universe he tapped into to fuel his creation is rather deterministic, unlike the majority of universes in the Multiverse, including your own. It's stagnant, which is how those Parasites known as entities can get away with everything they're doing. As a Goddes of Chaos and Chance, first and formost this displeases me, so I had little issue with performing the Rite to adopt you. After all, once you gain your power over chance by eating the apple I have provided you, determinism will become your bitch.

Still that isn't the only benefit being adopted gives you. As a newly made Demigod, you have been provided with a series of physical and mental upgrades. For example you'll note that the Tourette's and other medical issues you had in your old life are no more, you are currently considered peak human in comic book terms. You also have been given the ability to tap into an Arete state to draw on the Godly Essence now dwelling within you. This manifests as enhanced strength, agility, fortitude, increased intellect, and charisma. An all around upgrade while in your Godly State. Us full Dieties reside in this state constantly and with much greater enhancements than you can currently tap into, but it will at least allow you to go toe to toe with the Brutes and Thinkers of Earth Bet. You may even be able to design and create wonders of your own, though I would need to pester Hepheastus into letting you know how he uses Arete in his forge for that to be accomplished, and your abilities would be nowhere near his mastery of creation.

Still it is my hope that you can fix the mess that this reality has become. Afterwards, well we have been asked by our dimensional counterparts from Earth 1 for assistance and if you complete this task, Zeus might see fit to send you to them to help. Who knows? If you put out enough fires around the multiverse Zeus might just consent to raising you to full Olympian Status. It will certainly be entertaining.

Best Regards, your new Mother,

Eris"

Reading the letter and blinking owlishly I put it down on the nightstand and headed off to the Bathroom. It was roughly in the same part of the apartment that my original bathroom was, which helped finding it. Looking at myself in the mirror I marveled at the Body I had been given. I was in really good shape around 10 years ago, when I was active with Martial Arts and HEMA, but I'd never had a goddamned six pack before. That certainly lent credence to this being real and not a strangely realistic dream within a dream. Heading back out of the bathroom to the bedroom I stared at the Golden Apple for a second, wondering if I should go along with things and actually eat the apple. Silently I debated on the merits of being a troubleshooter for the Greek Gods versus trying to just ride things out in peace.

"Of course, this is Earth Bet, so peace is mostly an illusion. Golden Morning is going to be a thing and Endbringers might currently be a thing depending on when in the timeline I am." I muttered to myself.

Really there was no choice. I wasn't going to be able to survive this place without fully using what had been given to me. Picking up the apple, I regarded it
coolly, watching the light shine off of the golden skin. There was the faint whiff of ozone and taste of copper as I brought the apple up to my mouth. Power and Blood, two things that could power magic if the old stories were right. Shrugging I took a bite. There was no flash of light, no crack of thunder, just the tingling rush of power coursing through my veins as I consumed the Apple. Finishing I felt. . .different, more charged up than even previously. I went over to my desk and Turned on my new desktop. I noted the Date in the Bottom Right hand corner. April 8th 2011. The First day of the rest of my life, and the day the story started.

Looking in my closet I saw that I had numerous outfits, but one that stood out. A Greek Style Linothorax with Pteureges, Greaves, Vambraces, and Corinthian helm. There was an Armored belt with a sheathed Roman Gladius. Kind of mixing your cultures here, but I figured that it was the same gods either way. A post it note was attached to the Linothorax. "With Love, From Hepheastus." It read.

I sighed, but began to dress in the Armor Provided for me. It was lightweight, but I got a sense of Remarkable Strength from it, probably magical in some way. It took me a bit, but I was fully dressed after about ten minutes. Now it was time to make my debut. Idly I wondered how this was going to work. The odds of stopping a crime in progress were bigger than 50 to 1 if I were just to walk around. I wondered how I knew that, but then the contents of the letter came back to me. Random Chance was something my new adopted mother held sway over. As I exited my apartment via the fire escape it occurred to me that I might be able to alter my chances through concentration. Concentrating on the odds of finding a crime in progress for a moment I began to feel a tingle in the back of my head before it abruptly vanished.

I heard a scream as I made it to the top of the building, followed by a gust of wind and the screeching of tires. Heading that way I saw a skirmish unfold. A Giant vehicle was tearing down the street several blocks away hauling ass out of the residential neighborhood bordering Downtown and heading North towards the Trainyard. It looked more like a Tank or Armored Car than an SUV at this point. Following it was a levitating man wearing a pair of pants, a chain belt, and a Blue Tiger Mask. He was sending gusts of wind at the vehicle that gouged holes in the street. The autocannon on the vehicle lobbed 20mm Shells back at him. People were cowering behind what cover they could find.

Squealer and Stormtiger had ruined everyone's day and started fighting.

"Looks Like I was a little too successful." I muttered, marvelling briefly at the Potency of my Probability Manipulation. Then the moment was gone and I centered myself. "Need to figure out how to tap into that Arete State before they wreck the entire street and get a bunch of civilians killed." I muttered. Thinking on that for a second, I tried to recall the feeling of power I got from eating the apple and trying the probability manipulation. I tried to imagine that power suffusing my entire body. A few seconds later I felt a tingling sensation spread throughout my body and vanish into myself. "Thatt ought to do it." I grumbled before leaping out at the floating Nazi Cape. My enhanced body let me hulk leap at the Cat-Themed, Aerokinetic, Nazi and I completely blindsided him, focused as he was on Squealer. I caught him in a mid-air tackle with a strangled "Hurk!" and we plowed into the side of a concrete building with just enough force to crack the facade and leave an imprint in the side of the building.

Stormtiger, being a regular, if athletic, guy who had aerokinesis going for him couldn't take the force of ramming into the side of a concrete building and was out cold. I hadn't even really put all that much force into the jump as I just wanted to get to him and take him out of the air where he had an advantage. "Hahaha! Serves you right Fucker!" Shouted Squealer from inside the armored cockpit of her Glorified Armored Car. She'd stopped running and had pointed her vehicle at me.

"You know I can't really let you go either, right?" I asked the vehicle.

In response the robotic turret leveled the 20mm autocannon at me and Squealer's Voice came over the loudspeaker. "How are you gonna stop me, cockboy?" She asked.

"I'm Going to dig you out of that glorified IFV with my bare hands and haul your ass to lockup." I grunted, focussing on my probability altering power. I wasn't sure what kind of shells she was firing, and if they were tinker bullshit, then I might need a misfire to happen if I was gonna make good. I didn't want to test my enhanced endurance or my magical armor just yet if I didn't have to.

"Is that a fact?" She asked. I felt the telltale tingle of power build up in the back of my head.

"That's a fact." I replied. Power vanishing and effecting probability.

"Fuck you!" Shouted Squealer as she depressed the trigger.

The Auto-cannon exploded as the shell detonated in the barrel. As this happened I poured more power into a running sprint as I slammed into the mini-tank and grabbed hold of an armor panel that had deformed from the explosion of the turret and pulled. There was a tearing sound as the panel came loose from it's weld and I continued to tear apart the Mini-Tank's Armored side.

"Fucker! Knock it off!" Growled Squealer, attempting to scrape me off by reversing the mini-tank and trying to slam me through a brick building. All that did was gouge out the side of the building in a me-shaped hole as I continued to tear at her vehicle. Finally after a few moments of her trying to scrape me off on the brick walls of an alley between buildings, I had gotten through the outer armor and found an armored pod, presumably the cockpit. Grabbing and pulling as the power of my new form flowed through me I yanked the pod free of it's supports and lifted it over my head.

"Time to eject!" I growled as I tossed the pod out of the alleyway. The Mini-tank died and I followed the pod out of the alley. The pod opened up and I saw a woman in welding goggled, a tight white tank top, and jean shorts emerge from the cockpit. She actually might be real pretty if not for the fact that she was a meth-addicted psychopath, she certainly had a body on her.

"Yeah, fuck this." She muttered, before taking off running. She didn't get very far before I clotheslined her with minimal force, knocking her out.

"Running Lariat! Eat your heart out JBL." I chuckled.

Just then a couple of vans pulled up alongside a short chick in a helmet and circuit patterned bodysuit. Battery and some PRT Vans. Battery took a look around, saw the two unconscious villains, the armored pod of the Minitank, and the trail of armor plating and metal fragments that led to the alleyway where the Mini-tank lay wrecked.

"I take it you were the one who neutralized Stormtiger and Squealer. You look new, who are you?" She asked.

"I'm not from around here. You can call me Strategos." I said, picking the first good name that I could think of.

"I don't suppose you'd like to come in to give a statement and for power testing?" She asked.

"I don't suppose I would. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against working with the Protectorate, but red tape and bureaucracy aren't exactly my favorite things in the world." I shrugged, not revealing my real reasons to the Protectorate Hero who actually met the cabal of incompetents that secretly ran the world.

"Noted. Ordinarily we'd insist but. . ." She trailed off.

"But because you're solo today facing an unknown cape who just defeated two prominent villains, you don't want to press the issue. I get it. Believe me I do. Just know that I'm not a Villain and don't intend to become one. I'm willing to work with Protectorate heroes, but I'm not willing to work for the Protectorate. As I said, I'm not really good with red tape." I finished.

"Well at least you're not a villain." She sighed before handing me a card.

"This is the number for the Protectorate's Independent Desk. You'll need to call them to register as an allied independent. Preferably soon. They'll also want your statement." She said.

I took the card but hesitated. "I probably should start wearing pants under the armor or something. No pockets." I muttered.

Battery laughed at that and said, "Armsmaster had the same issue awhile back. He started wearing a bandoleer." She smiled.

"I'll take that under consideration." I grinned.

Checking that the two villains were now secured, Battery smiled and said, "Well thanks for the assist. I've got to go make sure these two are booked."

"Bye." I smiled back, waving.

Taking once more to the rooftops I powered down my Arete State. "You know for my first patrol, that didn't end too badly." I chuckled.

My stomach took that moment to protest vigorously. Apparently superheroics was hungry work. Fortunately my apartment was ten minutes away by rooftop. I could change, grab my wallet and get food.

"I wonder if there's any all you can eat places around here. I feel I could eat like a damned saiyan." I wondered, roof hopping my way back to my place. . .

 

[KnightofTempest]

The Next Day I awoke to feel better than I had in a while. My head fairly buzzed with power. That was odd by itself but the energy I felt in my head seemed to transpose itself all through my body. I felt charged up like I could take on the world. Curious at this feeling, I resolved to meditate to try and get a grip on this power. Hey, it worked all the time in fanfics, maybe it'd work here?

I sat down on my bed, closed my eyes and took a deep breath in, holding in for a few moments before letting it out. Focusing on my breathing and the sensation of energy coursing through me. In. Hold. Out. Focus on the buzz. In. Hold. Out.

Finally after what seemed like an hour but couldn't have been more than five minutes, the buzzing subsided. I opened my eyes to find not my bedroom in my swank new apartment but a room filled with corinthian columns holding up Roman Archways that led up to a giant dome. It was all made of marble, frescoed concrete, and stone. Standing in front of me was a statuesque woman in a black striped toga. She had curly black hair held up by some sort of tiara. Her eyes were pools of what I could only describe as Octarine. She smiled at me.

"Welcome, my son. I knew it would not take long for you to figure out how to travel here. You seemed to be a quick study." She said.

"Eris, I presume?" I asked.

"But of course!" She giggled with a mock curtsy.

"Where is here exactly?" I asked with a Sneaking Suspicion I already knew the answer.

"This is the visitor's chamber on the lower levels of Olympus. I did not have time to properly visit you. I was forbidden from seeing you directly until you figured it out on your own. Come we have quite a bit to go over and not a lot of time." She said before spinning on her heel and walking through an archway.

I couldn't do much but follow as she lead me through a winding series of corridors. "Ever since the end of the Age of Heroes we gods have been forbidden from interfering in the Mundane World. So we struck out, spreading our vestiges throughout the multiverse. Many worlds did we find, many worlds where we set up shop, as fractions of our true power remained in these worlds as local versions of ourselves. Some found worshippers and grew more powerful than others. Some like the ones in your reality withered to mere husks as they were all but forgotten. Very few remained active in the Mortal World for long as the same rules that bound us to not interfere would eventually catch up to our various vestiges and avatars." She began.

I nodded, following along well enough so far. She continued as we passed a wide open gallery where Satyrs and Nymphs lazed about drinking wine with a man dressed in leopard skins. Clearly Dionysus was holding court here.

Eris continued her speech. "However something strange began to happen on a number of realities. New heroes began to rise up and battle foes both powerful and mundane. The Dawn of a New Heroic age had begun on multiple worlds. However on some worlds, like this one, that new Age dawned at a Price. You know of course about the entities?"

"Yeah, giant crystalline space whales that seed a world with shards that grant powers but at with an increased drive for conflict, all for some unknown goal. Then when they're done, they destroy the world." I replied.

"Somewhat accurate. These Space Whales, as you call them are parasitical entities. They release shards as a part of their reproductive cycle. Shards grow and bud over time and eventually become new Entities, the birth of which destroys the host world. However something went wrong with this cycle." She replied.

"Eden died." I said.

"Correct. With one entity dead, the other took human form as a way to cope. He is more powerful than many of the heroes and villains of this world. Even an army of them working together may not be able to overcome Zion. There was one path to victory not too long ago, however events have since caused this way to shut." She said.

Eris waved her hand over a pane of crystal glass that we had stopped at and a vision appeared. A young girl with mousy brown hair and a slight frame was being taken out of a locker covered in open cuts and filth. The image flashed to a hospital bed where she lay hooked up to machines. A Doctor was talking to a haggard looking man about Toxic Shock Syndrome and Comas.

"Taylor Hebert, in the timeline you are familliar with did not cut herself in the locker incident, she emerged exhausted and dehydrated but essentially fine. However in this timeline, her frantic struggles to escape opened several wounds which were infected with waste, causing her bloodstream to become Toxic with bacteria. She was stuck that way for 12 hours before anyone noticed and when they did, all the doctors could do was make it so she would be in a coma." Replied Eris.

"And because Panacea doesn't do Brains she won't recover. I hate to be that guy, but she could have gotten out of things before this happened. Isn't Danny an Officer in a Major Union? Unions have Lawyers, she could have sued the school and gotten a transfer if she talked to her dad." I sighed.

"Be that as it may, the fact remains that she is no longer a viable option. Hence my crazy alternate plan. That is, you." Said Eris.

I gave a shrug and said, "I dont know what you want me to do, sure the Arete State is powerful, but not Alexandria Powerful let alone Zion Powerful, and probability control is cool but I have a hard time believing Zion will be too hard hit by it."

"Ah, but you are a godblooded hero now, and that means your powers will grow as you face challenges and defeat foes. Eventually the power of the divine blood inside you will grow enough that you could be considered a demi god. That carries with it the strength to match Zion with help. Zions blasts that vaporize continents will randomly miss you, your Arete State will hold up under his blows that shatter mountains. And you will be capable of hurting him, as the entities have no way to counteract the divine magic suffusing your being. Should you gather allies chances of victory increase. It will be a long and bloody road, but eventually you will be able to prevail. Magic is, as they say the silver bullet against him." Grinned Eris.

"Is that why I felt so charged up this morning? Cause I beat Squealer and Stormtiger at the same time?" I asked.

"It is. Of course you invested said power into the ability to travel the hidden way to Olympus rather than into increasing your Arete State or Probability Control, but you would have needes to come here eventually anyway and I may have nudged things along this route subtly." Replied Eris.

"So, what power level am I at now? Achilles?" I asked.

"No, not yet. Maybe one of his Myrmidons though." Chuckled Eris.

"Great, I'm a godblooded hero and I only rate as sidekick level right now." I groaned.

"All things in good time. Speaking of time, ours is nearly up. I have other duties to attend to. You are welcome to explore Olympus, but you too have duties in the Mortal Realm. Do not stay too long." She Cautioned.

I nodded before turning around to head back the way we came. Entering the Visitor's Chamber, I sat down in the middle of the floor, closed my eyes and breathed.

When I opened them again I was back in my bedroom in my new apartment. . .

 

[KnightofTempest]

As soon as I was dressed I had the idea to check and see what my monetary assets were. I never really checked before rushing off to fight Stormtiger and Squealer. I headed over to the sleek looking desktop I had spotted and booted it up. Instead of a Normal Windows OS, the Desktop was Running on something called Olympion, which I could only guess was some sort of special OS my new Family cooked up.

As the Desktop Booted to its Home Screen, I saw that aside from the Internet there were a few pre-existing applications loaded onto the Desktop. One was called Alexandria.Exe and the other was Midas.exe. Looking at the screen I clicked on Alexandria.exe. It took me to a massive 3D Model of the Library of Alexandria, zooming past columns and arches into the doors of the main building. From there it faded into an image of a search bar.

In the Corner of the Screen was a little 3D Owl with a speech bubble that read "Glauca Says, search anything and you will find it."

"Great, the gods design an OS and the first application I open has its own version of Clippy." I muttered to myself.

Still, it said search anything and I'll find it. I started woth something simple, The Annexation of Puerto Rico. What I got was a full digital copy of the relevant bits of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, a text file with a short summary of the Spanish-American War, along with annotations for the treaty by the negotiators and signatories.

"Huh, that's neat. Let's see if I can't get something from another Universe." I said, typing in How to construct Herman Schulz's Vibro Shock Gauntlets.

Not only did Blueprints pop up, but Schultz's notes along with step by step instructions for constructing a pair of gauntlets from first principles, right down to how to get the specific alloys used by combining base metals.

Of course when I typed in How to make Iron Man Armor, I was told I had insufficient access by the little clippy owl. Clearly I would only get smaller stuff for now, probably until I had a few more fights under my belt.

Next I tried typing in Primer for Basic Olympian Sorcery. What popped up was a series of excercises aimed at developing my magical core and excercises for how to express that power in physical ways. The first step was apparently a meditation excercise aimed at levitating a small object such as a coin or a Stone. I saved that primer for later and exited out of Alexandria.exe.

Clicking on Midas.exe I saw that it was some kind of financial program. Apparently I had a number of stocks and other investments, how I got them I have no clue, but there was enough wealth here to buy out a major corporation. I briefly entertained the Idea of buying out Medhall and Turning Kaiser out on his ass, but that would probably only make things worse in the long run.

"I mean, there has to be SOME reason that nobody just takes out the literal Nazi's, maybe Max is using Medhall as a sort of Sword of Damocles type nuclear option, threatening to tank the Bay's Economy even further if he gets taken out?" I mused.

Shaking my head I knelt down on the floor to begin the breathing excercises that would eventually allow me to levitate things. I focused on trying to pull at my power, to cause it to flow out of my hand and envelop my keys, which I had placed before me, then to lift them up an inch or so above the floor. Hours ticked by as I tried to levitate my keys, at first I could only jingle them a bit, then ever so slowly, I managed to slide them around in a circle, before finally getting them to levitate.

"Not exactly Grandmaster Yoda yet, but progress." I muttered to myself, getting up off the floor to find my leg had fallen asleep as I worked on levitation. After a minor tumble and shaking the pins and needles out of my leg I looked out my window to see the Sun was Setting. I'd really spent a whole day just levitating my keys.

"Fucking Hell, If that takes a whole day, and I cheat with divine power, I can only imagine what being a general apprentice must be like!" I swore.

That was when my Stomach decided to make it known that I hadn't eaten anything today. With a smile I decided to head to Fugly Bob's. After which I'd do another patrol.

Slipping on my Costume, I headed out the door. . .