Undead-Spaceman
Skeleton Supreme
- Location
- Somewhere in Orbit
On my phone right now so I can't link, but the venerable Earth Scorpion wrote three Necron!Taylor snippets called Teleute's Skin.
Cryptekial (Worm/WH40K)
- Thread starter Noxturne90
- Start date
Alright, removed.
I'm looking forward to seeing the next chapter.
- Location
- Australia
thefluffyone
Big Ego for Something so Small, eh?
- Location
- Earth
Interlude 1
- Location
- Internet
CRYPTEKIAL
~~~~
~~~~
The two heroes exited the elevator and into the underground garage, mounting up on their respective rides. Two engines rumbled to life, before they took off out of the garage and down the road with the point-counterpoint roar of two finely tuned machines. Miss Militia on her 1950 Harley-Davidson Custom, and Armsmaster on his monster of a machine.
The comm in Armsmaster's ear buzzed to life as they drove, Militia's voice coming through slightly digitized as the pair took a turn in almost synchronized perfection. "That woman's something." His second-in-command muttered, the frustration in her voice clear.
Armsmaster resisted the urge to shake his head, instead opting to keep his eyes on the road. He could understand her frustration, and respectively, it took quite a lot to rile Hannah's otherwise unshakable attitude. "What she is," he replied. "Is correct. The Director has good reason to be concerned."
"Is that why you didn't fight her on it?" She replied as they took another corner, turning into a long thoroughfare. "I can understand her frustration, but that was unusual. She's not that...aggressive... normally."
Armsmaster nodded. "The Director is right to worried. Brockton Bay is in a delicate state of balance, one we've worked hard to achieve. None of the gangs are as active as they used to be, preferring to lay low and operate under the radar." He replied. "Loom's technology has the potential to do a lot of good. The uses are almost innumerable. The Director's concern however, is on making sure there is still a city for it to do good in. This has the potential to throw everything that we worked for off balance, and bring back the days when the gangs actively warred against each other and the Protectorate."
"With the city caught in the middle…" Miss Militia mused sadly.
"This is, unfortunately, larger than Brockton Bay as well. What we do now has a chance to drastically impact the future everywhere. Loom could single-handedly reshape our modern infrastructure as we know it given time and the ability to scale her creations to an industrial level. And Director Piggot knows it. If we manage to keep the city from tearing itself apart till then, that is." He said sadly as the two pulled up to the Protectorate ferry, the Heroes waved on without a word by the uniformed pilot.
Their bikes were stowed, secured, and ready within minutes with the grace of practiced routine. As the vessel pulled away from the dock, the two heroes stood at the side, looking out over the bay together. In the distance, the sun was starting to set, casting the waters aglow in a wash of warm colors, oranges and reds spread out across the tide.
It was rather calming, and the view was one of the few things that made the trip back and forth from the Rig to the mainland worth-while.
"In the end, Brockton Bay will have a lot of eyes on it. And I imagine that is what has the Director worried the most." Armsmaster said, his helmet under his arm as he enjoyed the sea breeze. "And not many of them will be willing to wait to see how things develop."
Miss Militia nodded, her scarf pulled down as well. "I know, Colin. I imagine we both do. Brockton Bay might not survive that kind of attention."
"No," he agreed. "It likely wouldn't. We are understaffed as it is, even with the Wards. There are too many outside the city who would be more than willing to come in if it meant getting their hands on this caliber of technology, on top of those already in it. If we bring in more forces from outside, so do they. It'll end up with Brockton Bay as a warzone with far too many players, and too many people caught in the middle. That is, if we are not counting those who thrive or take advantage of such situations."
Militia smiled sadly, in an ironic way. "It's not forbidden to say their names you know, Colin."
"I know," he replied with a straight face. "I merely do not wish to jinx it. We already have enough to worry about."
"But you are worried, aren't you?" She said, leaning on the railing and nudging him with her elbow. "You've been trying to use humor when you're worried lately."
Armsmaster smiled. "Mr. Chamber's book was insightful in that regard. I should be at sarcasm within the next week or so, barring interruptions."
"Who are you," Miss Militia questioned with a quirked eyebrow, her smile growing wider. "and what have you done with my boss?"
The man laughed, a deep, sharp laugh that faded quickly over the waves. For a moment, he didn't answer, instead staring out over the water before shaking his head. "I am worried, yes. While she didn't say it out loud, Piggot did imply something quite clearly. Regardless of the care we've taken, Loom is already likely in trouble."
"And you're worried about her?" His companion questioned.
"Yes." He admitted. "Yes I am."
~~~
For Chris, the teacher's lecture had become a droning noise in the background as he stared out the window and at the world outside, confident that his phone would record the entire lesson for him. It was that, or stress himself out for the entire class as he tried and failed to grasp the math that the teacher was trying to stuff into his brain. It was all about working within his limitations.
Well, kinda. That was what the teacher had said when he had suggested that he record the lessons for later.
He drummed his pencil back and forth, caught between just idle behaviour and trying to doodle. He didn't have the heart to try and sketch out a few ideas. Just thinking about it brought a flash of frustration and disappointment to his thoughts.
"Dammit." He thought. "All that, and I didn't get a single thing approved."
And he couldn't even blame the Beardman's strange behaviour. He was the one that had freaked out, getting out of the other Tinker's lab before he even remembered why he had been there in the first. Still, it piqued his interest as his pencil started to loosely scrawl across the paper of his notebook. He had never seen Armsmaster in an actual Tinker-mood, looking anything other than absolutely perfect after hours of Tinkering. But he had.
What was it that he had been working on? He'd seen something in the back of the lab, but he couldn't remember. Something glowing green, a pervasive emerald glow - Armsmaster had been really worked up over it. Enough that he'd been told to not speak of it till he was authorized to.
He looked down at his paper, and squinted at the doodle he'd made. It was a cylinder. Or was it a circle? It was some kind of shape. It distantly resonated with his memory, but he still couldn't place it. It might have been what he saw. But it also might be just nothing.
"Useless…" he muttered, tearing the page out and stuffing it in his desk. Why was he even wondering about it? He'd screwed up his meeting, and now it would be god knows how long before he could get another one. The Beardman had apparently booked the rest of his week, leaving not a single space for him to try and get another chance where he could talk to the older Tinker. And knowing his luck, even if he somehow did it would be the one-in-a-million event of finding the Protectorate hero in another Tinker-mood.
"Just...dammit." Chris said, flopping over his desk. There was no other choice. He'd have to send it in for review with those TAB stiff necks. The Tinker Approval Board would spend a week or more just humming and hawing over the simplest damn thing. For his prototype gear teleporter, he'd be lucky if he saw it again inside a month. He still hadn't forgotten how many times he had sent in his first pair of pistols, only to have them constantly returned with a stark refusal.
"Too powerful, that's a joke." He grumbled. He couldn't warm a kettle of water with the ones he had now. Glorified flashlights. He'd get more oomph out of a laser pointer, and he knew it. He'd shot a cockroach one time and he swore it laughed at him before scuttling off.
Yes, he had gradually gotten permission to up the power after the first few times thugs had literally pointed and laughed in response to getting shot, but they were still pathetic.
"Alright class, that's all for today's lesson. Take a moment to pack up before the bell." The teacher said suddenly, interrupting his emotional turmoil.
The effect on the class was immediate, students whooping in joy as they realized the lesson was over. Chris counted himself among them, but he wasn't as vocal at the sudden end of class. Instead, he sighed and grabbed his phone, hitting the 'end record' button before pocketing it.
"Finally." He groaned, standing up and slipping the strap of his bag over his shoulder. Now he could go do something, other than sit here and fume. He needed something to occupy himself or he was just going to stew all day long. He had better things than to obsess over than what had happened.
It was a lesson he had learned fairly early on, to just move on past a problem when he couldn't solve it instead of banging his head against a wall. It made things just a little bit easier to handle.
His phone pulsed in his pocket as he stepped into the hallway. Flipping it open he saw the screen flash the PRT symbol before defaulting to text message mode, his eyebrows raising slightly. A work message? He hit read, and the message popped open as he drummed his fingers against the strap of his backpack in impatience.
"Situation orange. Wards are to enter cyling readiness preparation. Kid Win, report to HQ for first shift. Exit through passage #04 and await pickup."
"Orange?" He muttered quietly in surprise, throwing a glance around the crowded hallway before he shuffled off to the side and into a nook to read the message again where he wasn't so out in the open. "Orange was...." He racked his mind, trying to remember the condition chart they had drilled into the Wards.
Snapping his fingers, he finally remembered. "Increase security, preparation for possible large-scale parahuman activity." he said to himself, before realizing what he had said. "Possible parahuman activity… Something big about to go down?"
He shook his head. An excuse from school was an excuse from school. He'd worry about the why when he got to HQ he decided. Pocketing his phone again, he turned around and headed towards the oh-four exit, prepared for the Wards. Wasn't that the…
He groaned painfully, slapping a hand over his face. The damned bathroom passage.
~~~~
Chris lifted an arm, taking a whiff and frowning before hitting himself with another spray of deodorizing solution. Even after getting to PRT HQ, showering, and changing into his costume he could swear he smelled something septic. "Hate oh-four. Why the hell do we even have oh-four? No one likes oh-freaking-four." He grumbled. "Why not just make us actually crawl through the damn sewage if they want us to use it? Might end up smelling better."
Another whiff, and his nose wrinkled. He could still smell it. Was it just his imagination? He hoped it was. Just to be safe, he just gave himself another heavy spray, hoping it would eliminate any lingering odor. Honestly, it was the only thing he could do besides scrub himself down to the bone.
The can hissed empty eventually, and he tossed it into the trash can with a sigh, instead turning his attention to his lab. It wasn't the biggest, or best equipped, but it was his, and he was proud of it. "To hell with whatever the Beardman is obsessed over. I've got my own stuff to worry about." He said to himself.
That was the good thing, at least. If he was on prep call, he had all the time in the world to just sit and toss something together for the hell of it. Maybe he could work on those new anti-grav skates he had thought about the other day? Vista would love those.
Sitting down at his bench, He took a moment to stretch out, before he tucked in to work. He pulled in the box of pre-prepared parts he kept on hand, and started the business of putting them together as he lost himself in his work.
Power cell into energy handler, handler to distributor, distributor to motherboard…
It was something he'd done a dozen times before. It was just plain easier for him to produce spare parts ahead of time and then assemble them into finished products or use them to repair stuff later on. Half the parts were even from older projects he hadn't finished and pulled apart to use for new stuff instead.
Like this one emitter, he thought, as he pulled it out of the bunch by chance. "How old are you, huh?" He pondered to himself. It was definitely an older work of his. It was slightly chunkier than his newer ones, and as he ran a finger down one edge he noted it was a solid metal casing rather than the lighter ones he currently used. "You really are a dinosaur, aren't you? Don't think I've built any like you in a long time."
He turned it over in his hands, his focus lost. This was before he could get his board more than a few feet off the ground, if he remembered right. It was powerful, beastly even, but it didn't' have the tight, focused field of force that he used to keep his board aloft on less than half the power this thing would have guzzled.
"Bet you could've lifted a car, couldn't ya? Still…" His reminiscence faded as he combed his memories for why he had built this. It was the same anti-gravity emitter he used for everything, but this one was different in a sense, beyond it's prehistoric design. He just couldn't pin down why.
"Whatever," Chris dismissed with a shrug. "I'll figure you out later, for now I'll just…" he said as he turned back to workbench only to feel his mind blank as he laid eyes on the tech half-assembled in front of him. "No, dammit..." He groaned. "Just… No."
But it was too late. Looking at the assembly, he got nothing. No clue where he had been going, no idea of the ultimate end goal. He'd lost another project, and all because he had to sit and freaking reminisce over a piece of junk.
"Agh!" He snapped, cradling his head in his hands. "God… dammit!"
Another failure, and it been going so well.
He tossed the emitter he had been so fascinated into his box of parts in frustration, and another a moments of hesitation threw the assembly he had been working on in there as well with a curse. It was pointless, and worthless to continue now. He would be able to sit here for hours and never be able to get back what he had for a moment there. He hunched over his table, teeth clenched as he felt the frustration burn like a wick in the back of his brain.
Unfortunately, he'd made the mistake of looking at the box of parts.
"Just… Fuck off!" He exploded, grabbing the box and standing up before whirled around and hurling it at the ground in his anger. The next thing he knew, the world flashed into light, and something picked him up bodily and hurled him upwards, smashing into the ceiling.
The world spun in his daze, and he could feel something pushing on him, holding him in place. Suddenly the force cut out, and he yelped as he was dropped to the floor below. "Wha..?" He groaned painfully. Sprawled suddenly across the floor, his body felt unexpectedly abused, as if Aegis had just spent an hour punching him. Repeatedly.
He propped himself up, and witnessed his lab in ruins. EVERYTHING was scattered everywhere. Toolkits were overturned, and scattered across the room. Papers, half-completed designs and reports fluttered down from the ceiling. It was like a hurricane had struck his workshop. "What… What was that?" He wondered.
His eyes were drawn to the middle of the room, where he had hurled his parts box. In the middle of it, in a perfect circle of clean floor, the emitter was haphazardly jammed into the assembly he had been constructing. "That shouldn't work. That just…"
Something skittered across the floor as he moved, and it was another piece of mashed together tech. Looking around him, he could see a dozen other pieces in similar states. Bits and pieces of old works that had somehow clicked together. Pushing himself up onto his knees, he reached out with trembling hands and picked up two completely unrelated pieces of his tech. Without a doubt Chris knew that these should never logically be able to connect to each other and function. It wouldn't make sense for them to.
But he tried anyway.
The door slid open, Aegis standing there with a panicked look on his face as he stepped into the room. "Chris! are you-"
Chris just kneeled in the middle of the room, an indescribable expression written across his face. There was something in his hands, some piece of tech that he was holding like it was a precious child.
"Chris? Are you…" He questioned slowly, stepping his way around the debris.
"Fine." the Tinker murmured quietly. In his hands, the two pieces had clicked together perfectly. "I think I'm perfectly fine."
~~~~
"For the most part," the digital image of Chief Director Costa-brown said with a nod. "I agree with your concerns Director Piggot. This news is highly unexpected, but we aren't in a position to respond as we might like."
"If something goes wrong, we are not prepared to handle the possible scale of conflict that may be the case here. We need the extra manpower on call, Chief Director" Piggot insisted firmly, hands knitted together in front of her.
"I'm sorry Piggot, but we just don't have it. You are not the only city short-staffed and with troubles of their own, and while I grasp the magnitude of your issue, moving around the kind of forces this warrants would leave several cities completely vulnerable. We have no idea where the Slaughterhouse is, and we are due for another Endbringer attack inside the month. Those I could afford to move don't have the power or the experience necessary for this kind of situation." The Director's image countered.
"I don't think you do, Chief Director," Piggot replied evenly, resisting the urge to stand up. She hated video conferences. "Understand the situation here. If we fail to keep a lid on this, there might not be a Brockton Bay left afterwards. We already don't know where the Tinker, Loom, currently is. If we've suffered an information leak already, then there is a chance we won't till the worst possible moment."
"I do not know what else I can tell you Director. At this time, I am currently consulting our Thinkers for the best course of action open to us. Until then, all I can tell you is that you must keep this information secure. I will try to see if I can send some form of adequate reinforcements in preparation of a worst-case scenario, but I can't make promises that I can't keep. The best I can do till then is give you authorization to handle this as you see fit, on the caveat that you don't do anything that could jeopardize the Tinker or her tech, or her willingness to work with us." Costa-brown answered. "It would be easier if you could convince her to join the Wards. At least then we could move her somewhere secure. At this time If we move Parahumans and our PRT personnel in mass, we risk drawing attention to Brockton Bay."
"We are considering that as an option. However, she's replied multiple times that she doesn't desire to do so. We've currently have her signed on to a Supplier Agreement, however, I am not confident that with the current situation that will be sufficient."
"I'm sorry Director Piggot. But right now, my hands are tied. Do what you can, until we have a response we can deploy. Storming the city as of now will do more damage than good. However, I will contact the Guild. They may have sufficient personnel to give you the support you need. Good night, Director." With that, the video cut, leaving Emily Piggot alone in her office.
For her sake, the Director only had one word for the stone wall that had been thrown up in front of her, hissed through gritted teeth.
"Damn."
She leaned back in her chair, trying to relieve the growing pain her body felt as she pushed it harder then it could stand. How she missed her good health, but there was nothing to be done for it.
She had a potential time-bomb in her city, one she couldn't disarm. She needed more information. Information she was critically lacking. The device was powerful, yes. It was the stuff of science-fiction, much like the rest of what Tinkers made. But this was the sort of thing that reshaped entire fictional worlds descended on her city, and Brockton Bay wasn't ready for it.
If Armsmaster had come to her sooner, rather than spending time playing with it, then she might be in a better position. Instead, now she was scrambling to try and control the situation rather than taking the offensive. Those lost hours could mean everything.
She wasn't going to let this tear her city apart. Not after all her work to keep it together. Whoever this Loom was, she had made something that could help a good many people, and was trying to be a hero. But the sad truth was, that recent history was littered with people who had tried to do that. Few of them had succeeded. Many more ended up like Sphere.
She could hope that her worst fears, of which there were many, didn't come to pass and this was all for nothing. But that wasn't Piggot's job. Piggot's job was to keep the city alive, and she would.
There would always be more people trying to be heroes after all.
Not sure if Ork or Heretek.
Grosstoad
Birdbrain - Dick - Rules-Lawyer - Creeper
Ugh... Hard people making hard decisions. It's Worm (as well as Cauldron mucking up things), I know, but it really is unpalatable to read.
Plot and character development wise, it is a great, but cliche and theme wise, ouch, you made it sound like it's gonna be all gloom and doom, and worse still, gloom and doom that makes the gloryhound pragmatic socially-inept character gloomy as well, in an already dark setting.
. . .
+prepares emergency lights for the pitch black future+
Plot and character development wise, it is a great, but cliche and theme wise, ouch, you made it sound like it's gonna be all gloom and doom, and worse still, gloom and doom that makes the gloryhound pragmatic socially-inept character gloomy as well, in an already dark setting.
. . .
+prepares emergency lights for the pitch black future+
It's the modularity of Kid Win's Tinker power.
- Location
- Internet
Nah, just his natural specialty shining through. Modularity Tech. Everything was always designed to fit together. Kid Win just never really figured it out.
Besides it doesn't match the Sides.
Xenosiders
Taycron (Taynid also applicable)
True (Tau Grue. For the GREATER GOOD of those aligned with me. Screw the rest of you.)
FarTale (Elder Tattletale)
Dark Regent (Dark Eldar Alec. Slaanesh Alec also can apply)
Orky-Bitch (Because it just fits.)
And then later on, expanded by:
Impclave (Farsight Enclave Tau Imp. All rebellious and shit)
Chaoschette (Traitor Flechette)
Rogue Parian (Rogue Trader Parian)
And against them,
The Imperial Wards
Kid Mech (Admech Kid Win)
Creeista (Creed!Vista. Because there's something behind that lamp post that shouldn't be there )
Aegisartes (Space Marine Aegis)
Psylant (Psyker Gallant)
Assassinorum Stalker (Officio Assassinorum Shadow Stalker)
And finally,
Commissar Clockblocker, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!
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- Location
- Internet
I personally didn't like it, but it's development that had to happen. Things will tone back down in a bit, but it has to be a bit dire now.
I didn't know I needed this to be a thing.
- Pronouns
- she/her
Beautiful.
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
Yeah, well. Screw over the tinker that built the tech in the first place and see how well that goes for you and your precious city.
Well, it would probably go better for the city but you and the PRT will have a bad time when you get annexed from the city by someone who could do your job better than you. With death bots and lazers. Even blackjack.
- Location
- Red Blood on Golden Shield
If the Protectorate or Cauldron doesn't do something to at least get their hands in that thecnology I am going to be really disapointed.
No matter how much they don't want to influence what happens in BB this would be incredebly useful in the battle agains Sion:
A tinker needs anything at all? Go to the machine...
Same with everything you can think.
No matter how much they don't want to influence what happens in BB this would be incredebly useful in the battle agains Sion:
A tinker needs anything at all? Go to the machine...
Same with everything you can think.
Major Session
The Traitor
- Location
- Inside his own Head
I'd imagine Cauldron are having a right tizzy at the moment. Taylor's fabricator is really useful. It solves scarcity, so would be greatly helpful for Tinkers and help prop up society as it fails from either the Endbringers or from Scion's rampage.
However, it has the potential to crash the economy, plunging the still functional sections of Earth-Bet society into chaos more akin to Earth-Bet Africa. Worse, it wrecks the financial trade Cauldron uses to help prop up the heroes and control villains by making the Number Man redundant. What use is a banker when I can make gold from dirt?
So at this early stage, Cauldron probably haven't decided what to do, they're too busy shouting at each other.
However, it has the potential to crash the economy, plunging the still functional sections of Earth-Bet society into chaos more akin to Earth-Bet Africa. Worse, it wrecks the financial trade Cauldron uses to help prop up the heroes and control villains by making the Number Man redundant. What use is a banker when I can make gold from dirt?
So at this early stage, Cauldron probably haven't decided what to do, they're too busy shouting at each other.
- Location
- norway
someone should Write a Worm X Shiba Inuko-san crossover.
Bugsy joins the wards and Dennis is the only one who sees skitter/Weaver/khepri because he almost remembers the original timeline? also to him she looks like an insectile case 53?
Bugsy joins the wards and Dennis is the only one who sees skitter/Weaver/khepri because he almost remembers the original timeline? also to him she looks like an insectile case 53?
Selonianth
Writer of Words
This would be the *wrong* place to suggest that...
Wait, wait. Taylor disappeared? Last we heard of her she was wondering about the bank bag. Offscreen shenanigans!
Is this going to be another Coil kidnaps a tinker thing? That's kind of frustrating, even if inevitable.
- Location
- Internet
No. She just hasn't gotten back to them. Taylor is currently window-shopping as it were, totally oblivious to people freaking out.
Alpha Zerg
The Last Primal Zerg
- Location
- Zerus
"Ooooor... You could stop being a dumb *censored* and, you know, help the girl who has stated and shown that she only wants to do good to do just that!"
Seriously, instead of looking at all the previous failures and saying, "Let's keep people from trying to make a positive change in favour of making sure that nothing terrible can happen." She does her best to make a positive impression on Taylor and explain the problem, (without coming off as a hardass!), to her. After that she should, instead of trying to force her into the Wards which she will react negatively to, set up a support base for her and mabye have troops protect her until she has progressed far enough to not worry about people trying to steal her tech.
All of this can be done in exchange for her helping Armsmaster and Kid Win on their projects, as well as an exclusive sales deal with the PRT. As in, she can only sell her (gamechanging) tech to the PRT.
It's not that hard to think about other people as, y'know, people, and not just robots that will inevitably go out of control. What would people think if somebody woke up with Hero's shard in 2011?
Piggot would probably label it as 'too dangerous' or something like that.
I just... I hate it when people are blatantly making stupid decisions and nobody can actually correct it.
A bit of empathy. That's all you need.
Sorry if this is ranty.
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As she should be, its hardly been two days since she gave the device to Armsmaster.
- Location
- Illinois
So, classic Taylor then? No matter the story, Taylor never notices that she terrifies every person she meets.
- Location
- world
Responding with caution is a better approach to something new than accepting it whole sale. Hence tinker tech being thoroughly tested before use. Moderation and caution are what is needed.
Selonianth
Writer of Words
It's actually been like... 'A' Day.
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
Really powerful Tinker power really since it means you can build anything to work together with something else even when it shouldn't.
Combine that with Armsmaster ability to make everything super efficient plus Taylors' Necron tech those three could make some of the most powerful gear around.
An example being a staff for Taylor that is some kind of super multi-tool that can do and transform into nearly anything all with an unlimited resources.