"Of course, Lady Delacroix. My name is Lord Hadrian …"
Well, that wasn't so bad, I thought but it seemed that the pompous child was just taking a breath.
"… Black Emrys Merlin Slytherin Ravenclaw Potter Charlus Prince Malfoy Gryffindor Orion. But, a fair young lady as yourself," he bent down to kiss my hand, which I very hastily retracted. I was never going to feel clean ever again. "Can have the honor of calling me Lord Hadrian Black Emrys Merlin Slytherin Ravenclaw Potter Charlus Prince Malfoy."
Kick him in the balls quick before he reproduces!! Then kill him with fire!! Then dissolve the ashes in acid so no DNA can be recovered for cloning purposes!!!
I legitimately have not felt more afraid for the life and sanity of an OC in a Harry Potter fic before. Congratulations!
"Uhhhhhhhgh," Taylor's head was pounding. She lifted herself up from the rocky ground she had been resting on. Even with her enhanced senses, she could barely see anything. There was the sound of running water behind her, she could hear things moving in the darkness as well. Instinctively, she pushed magic to her eyes and the scenery resolved itself before her.
She was in a large cavern on a river bank. In front of her was a small rocky cliff. She heard some movement to her left. Lisa was there as well, a lot shorter than before. Not that she had anything to say. She was a lot closer to the ground too.
Taylor did her best to brush the grime from her dress and went to help Lisa up. A few members of her swarm skittered out from her body and dispersed around the cavern to provide reconnaissance.
It seemed that Lisa was still out. The backlash from her teleportation spell bouncing against the barriers of the Senkyokan was impressive. When she found the incompetent that had changed the key and forgot to tell her, they would regret it. She sat next to her friend and pulled her head onto her lap. She had to return the favor after all.
[Sanctuary] [Purification Barrier] [Alarm]
The spells formed a shimmering white barrier around them. Sanctuary and Purification Barrier would ward off any but the most powerful monsters from the cavern. The last spell would alert her if any of those came close. She knew there were several species of manaphages that would be attracted to such a concentration of mana. Some members of her swarm dispersed and started to leak magic to distract them.
The seals on the cavern blocked signals from her manaphone so she busied herself. She started to review the nearly twelve millennia of memories she now possessed. From the moment she attained her immortality on Venus, before her civilization plunged itself into the dark abyss, her subsequent escape to earth through the vast gap between planets, to the present day. It wasn't as much as one would think, she had hibernated for centuries at a time. She was more along the lines of six thousand years of lived time.
After an hour, Lisa finally woke up and despite her precautions, several monsters were sniffing around for a prey.
"Had a good nap," she smirked.
"Would've been better without the killer headache," Lisa clutched and winced.
"That was some pretty impressive spell backlash. I'm impressed there wasn't more blood everywhere."
"Reassuring," her friend said in a deadpan tone. Lisa rolled off her lap and got to her feet. She tapped her manaphone and enabled its night vision function which made her eyes glow a soft green light.
"Now, there are a few guests sniffing around," Taylor stood up next to her, "the defenses I put in place should hold but this isn't a prime camping sport. Albireo's old resort is somewhere in here, we can use it as a base while we figure things out."
"I assume you've already taken care of scouting."
"I've mapped a fair share of our surroundings," she nodded, "but this cavern has a nasty tendency to change over time." One of her demons skittered out from behind her and wrapped itself around Taylor's wrist. It interfaced with her manaphone and a map of their surroundings appeared to both of them, enemies highlighted in red. With a small flex of will, the barrier surrounding them fell.
Both of them engaged their flight spell and took to the air. Even with night vision, the interior of the cavern was unnaturally dark. Certainly a magical effect. She had participated in the creation of the seals around the cavern but they had certainly been improved upon since then.
Albireo's Resort was one of the static features of the cavern, always roughly at the center. It gave candidates that found it a base of operation they could use until they figured out how to escape the cavern. The American branch had something similar in their proving grounds in the rockies.
Taylor had deployed several hundred of her smaller demons to scout the cavern. They were small and fast enough to avoid detection. The residents of a few stalactites made their displeasure known when they passed too close to their home. The flock of Night Eagles and Dark Giant Bats fed Taylor's menagerie, at least those that were still intact enough. Lisa had crushed several into tiny balls of flesh with her telekinesis as if she was swatting flies out of the air.
"Playing discount Simurgh?" Taylor joked.
"Oh god," Lisa laughed, "this is a bad one, even for you."
"Those poor bats seemed to have personally offended you."
"They did. I have a killer headache, I'm in no mood to humor them."
"Well, good new then. I've finally found the resort."
"Hopefully the shower still works."
A quick burst of flight brought them the rest of the way. The tower had weathered the years without much issues, the magic woven into the construction had preserved it against the wildlife and environment. The wards themselves however had decayed to nothing. Taylor felt the remnants of a few weaker defenses on the tower, likely put there by candidates who had used it as a safe haven.
Taylor recalled most of her demons as they landed on the suspended balcony, their job was done. Several larger ones, more than a dozen feet in height, emerged from her shadow. She sent them patrolling the grounds to deter any curious creatures.
"You have your swarm back," Lisa said, "and it's even more terrifying. I didn't think it was possible."
Taylor dramatically stroked the chitin of the giant demon spider in front of her.
Lisa rolled her eyes. "Let's go find a shower."
The building's infrastructure had held surprisingly well. A few mana lights needed to be changed, dust needed to be removed, but the showers still worked. Even if they hadn't, Taylor had access to the Cosmic Warehouse which had a working shower.
In the end, Taylor opened a portal and Lisa used the shower in the warehouse while she took the one in the master bedroom. A few of her lesser demons were used to clean the room to an acceptable standard.
After their respective showers, the two girls jumped on the large bed and simply laid there. The centuries of memories they each had did put things into perspective. To an immortal, time simply passed differently. They had a decade in this world, they could take a few weeks to relax. Not many people would call a cavern filled with monsters relaxing but they were not most people.
"It feels weird," Taylor said.
"Being a kid again?" Lisa guessed, bless her power.
"Yeah."
"You'll take every opportunity possible to dress me up."
"Of course," Taylor could hear the grin in Lisa's voice. "I never had a sister."
The mention of a sister made Taylor think of Emma, anger and melancholy rose in equal measure. Lisa rolled over and hugged her.
"I won't leave you," her best friend snuggled into her, "ever."
"Thanks," Taylor returned the hug.
The two of them fell asleep shortly after.
A/N: I had a few paragraphs already written for this so I took some time to finish it.
Ohhhhhh, part of Negima. I had to go look it up on wiki, not surprised then, I'm only vaguely aware of Negima, didn't even know it had a sequel or whatever. Still love anything with Taylor/Lisa jumping
Evolving Form
Origins or Perks that modify your body are integrated into the [Avatar] Shard.
Avatar [Core Shard]
Supports the powers and forms of your body.
Shards
Manager [Queen Shard]
You can copy or take the powers of anyone (or anything) you touch as well as transfer those powers you have taken or copied to others. You have fifteen slots to store powers and can have five of them active at a time. You can alter the powers in your possession by cycling through different expressions of the same power or modifying it by boosting one aspect at the expense of another or changing its restrictions. This might not be possible on some powers. Multiple compatible powers can occupy the same slot and will synergize together. Power compatibility depends on the power itself and not its expression. You can discard unwanted powers but you will not be able to acquire them again unless you copy or steal them again.
Prototype [Queen Shard]
You have 18 slots to store powers. You can only have 6 active at once but can instantly switch which ones are active. You can instantly empty a slot but it takes 30 seconds to load a power pattern from memory.
Each day, you gain 10 charges (up to a maximum of 200 stored). You can use these charges to create or improve your stored powers. You can use from 1 to 5 charges to create a new power, the created power will be random unless you constrain it. (1 charge would be around 3 on the PRT scale, 5 charges would be around 7). The more precisely you constrain a power the weaker it will be. You can expend more charges to tweak a created power further to your liking.
You can analyze the powers you generate as well as those stored by Manager, understand, modify, and combine their patterns into new powers. You can perfectly recall all the patterns you have seen or engineered.
Drawbacks
Limited Power [+300 CP]
Your soul has a limited capacity to support Shards. You can manifest a maximum of 40 points (5 Queen Shards). You gain 4 points every 5 jumps. Core Shards are always active.
Semi-Random Jumps [+200 CP]
You will be provided with a list of 10 random jumps to choose from, you can mulligan once for a new selection. You will have to go through all of them but the order is up to you. Once all the jumps have been completed, a new selection will be drawn.
Free from Vampire Noble
2 free skills at Non-EI level (400 CP or less)
50 CP for each more (any cost)
0
The Immortal Life
0
Free of Debts
100
Mage (EI)
Bishop Shard
100
Scientist (EI)
Bishop Shard (Tinker)
0
Combat Stylist (Non-EI)
Bishop Shard, EI Freebie, Shinmei-ryu
0
Ninja Training (Non-EI)
Bishop Shard, EI Freebie
50
Black of Venus (Non-EI)
Rook Shard, EI Discounted
50
White of Mars (Non-EI)
Rook Shard, EI Discounted
300
Witch of the Rift (EI)
Rook Shard
600 CP
Items
50 CP
Age Pills
50 CP
Manaphone
0
Speeder
0
Starter Weapon
200
Workshop
300
Akasha Book Labyrinth
0 CP
Companions
0
Import
Lisa Wilbourn (600 + 500)
+500 CP
Drawbacks
+100 CP
Remedial Exam
+200 CP
Forever Young
+200 CP
Persistent Suitor
Lisa
1400 CP
Total
+600 CP
Companion
+500 CP
Universal Drawbacks
0 CP
Origin
Gender
Female
Apparent Age
12 years
Chronological Age
~1200 years
UQ Holder Member
0 CP
Location
0
Fairy Hall
300 CP
Immortality
+200
Bonus
500
Artificial Vampire
800 CP
Perks
0
The Immortal Life
0
Free of Debts
300
Elder Immortal
50 CP for each skill at Non-EI level
100
Mage (EI)
Bishop Shard
100
Combat Stylist (EI)
Bishop Shard
50
Psionics (Non-EI)
Knight Shard
50
Maze Runner (Non-EI)
Bishop Shard
200
There's an app for that
Knight Shard (Tinker)
300 CP
Items
50
Age Pills
50
Manaphone
0
Starter Weapon
Magic Guns (Pistol, Shotgun, Rifle, Sniper)
200 CP
PSMC
+300 CP
Drawbacks
+100 CP
Remedial Exam
+200 CP
Forever Young
Elder Immortal (Tweak)
This perk additionally allows the purchase of perks with an EI improvement at their base level for 50 CP. Vampire Noble can get two for free (cost 400 CP or less) due to their vast life experience.
Custom Drawbacks
Remedial Exam [+100 CP] (Requires UQ Holder Member)
You ended up stuck in the caverns below the Fairyland Hall, maybe a teleportation accident or you just fell down a hole in the grounds. Since you passed your entrance examination, the layout of the cavern has changed, the seals were reinforced, and new monsters are present. You will have to find your way out again.
You cannot teleport out of the cave as the seals prevent it but you can attempt to brute force your way through the walls. Just remember, you live above the caverns. If your escape created property damage, Evangeline will take the price of repairs from your salary. You will be rescued within a year or two if you do not find your way out as other members notice your unexpected absence and track you down. Your companions benefit from the points of this drawback if they are with you.
Forever Young [+200 CP]
Instead of an age of your choice, your body is locked in the appearance of a young child between 8 and 12. You cannot shapeshift your body out of this age range except by using the Age Pills item. Each pill allows you to change for an hour at maximum. Your companions can take this drawback to benefit from the points.
Persistent Suitor [+100/200/300 CP]
For some, to catch someone's eye is all they want. For you, it backfired. You have acquired a very persistent suitor that wishes only one thing, to spend the rest of their days with you as your husband/wife. Unfortunately, you're not interested in the least. At the first level, this suitor is a nuisance but not dangerous. For an extra 100 CP, your suitor will use more aggressive methods like kidnapping but you will be able to escape. For 200 CP more, they have the means to make it stick such as knowledge of high powered seals to forcibly keep you in place.
Thankfully for you, this stalker is quite the gentleman/woman. Even if you get kidnapped and trapped they will treat you like with love and respect and won't attempt to force themselves on you. Your suitor is an immortal as well, killing them will only make them go away for a while. You will be forced to remain in this world if you are kidnapped and sealed when the jump ends.
The Thrilling Adventures of Vivian Delacroix - Year 1 - Chapter 2
Three Slytherin students blocked my way. The fifth floor corridor was out of the way, no classes took place in the east wing and it was on a roundabout path to the Ravenclaw tower. I liked the corridor since it had a hidden stairway to the sixth floor but it was a perfect place for an ambush. I felt five more at my back, their shimmering auras slid out from one of the unused classrooms.
"Not so fast mudblood," Malfoy said.
"Malfoy," I drawled in my best imitation of Snape, "you brought some extra minions I see."
"You should be more respectful of your betters Delacroix," one of the students ahead said. By their size, they were at least in their fifth year.
"If you were my betters, you wouldn't have felt the need to ambush me in a secluded hallway," I laughed. "Eight proud Slytherin boys against one nerdy Ravenclaw? You reek of insecurity," I taunted. "Is it because I wounded little Draco's ego last time? He ran with his tail between his legs when I showed some fangs."
"You dare insult House Malfoy you filthy mudblood?" He was seething.
"It's our duty to put uppity mudbloods like you in your place," minion number four said. He took a step forward and all my opponents drew their wands.
A flick of my wrist and my own wand appeared in my hand. The second hand quick draw holster I had dug out of the room of requirements proved useful.
"Sanctarbus Vexator," minion number four started. The brambles wall spell, they wanted to box me in.
"Obscinius Oppressio," I swiped my wand and a thick black fog roiled around. The spell plunged an area in complete magical darkness. In addition to sight, the fog muted all the other senses. I pushed more energy into the spell and the cloud billowed out and engulfed the entire hallway.
I stepped out of the way of three stunners cast blindly in my direction and deflected two nastier curses with a shield spell. It seemed the upper years were not afraid of playing rough.
"Etheorgio Aviite," the ivory white bolt hit Crabbe dead on and the boy dropped to the ground spasming. The spell gave the target full body pins-and-needles for several minutes, unpleasant but not harmful.
"Diffindo," Draco shouted, the shimmering arc of the cutting curse flew towards me. I deflected it into the ground with a quick shield spell. I riposted with the slug-vomiting charm, maybe another defeat would teach him some humility. Goyle fell to a petrification spell.
The upper years hadn't been idle during the short exchange, the two near Draco and his posse had cast powerful light charms. Ones capable of pushing the darkness back. Of course, the spell cast a pronounced shadow. A poor choice.
"Sciamachis," the shadows of the two boys took on a liquid consistency. Two tentacled orbs the size of a football emerged and began grasping at their legs with their appendages. Minion number one lost his spell first and was dragged into the darkness screaming in terror. His companion fared a bit better and I was forced to leave him for later as the three on the other end of the hallway got their shit together.
I dodged and parried several curses sent my way. A lighting bold smashed on my shield and I retaliated by sending a fan of ice daggers their way, followed by lightning of my own. Number three was hit by the golden bolt of light, unable to block it, and was blown back into the wall of thorns.
Number one sent several nasty curses in succession, several of which were certainly illegal to cast on another student, while his friend tried to flank me. I cast a multi-layer shield to block them and conjured a sheet of slick ice under the feet of the one attempting to flank me. He immediately lost footing and fell to a stunner.
My last opponent was a good duelist who fought dirty. His spell chains were nasty. The last layer of my shield fell and I started my counterattack. I sent several spheres of electricity his way, they were slow and easy to dodge but constantly arced erratically. He started to counterspell them when I slashed my wand upwards and sent a wave of ice spikes towards him, stuck between the two he parried the wave but was shocked several times.
Immediately after the wave of ice, I fired multiple volleys of trapped ice daggers his way, all on different trajectories that pressed him from all sides. He managed to parry the first few but the rest impacted him and encased half of his body in ice. My last spell created a sudden vacuum around him for a short time, the disorientation caused him to drop his wand and I stunned him.
Headmaster's Office, a few days later
"Miss Delacroix," Dumbledore said from behind his desk, "please have a seat."
The headmaster's office was a feast for the senses, especially mine. The first time, the amount of enchanted objects had given me a headache. As I had become more and more accustomed of the castle's omnipresent magic the intricate web of enchantments in the office posed no issues anymore.
"Headmaster," I greeted him politely and took a seat in the ridiculously comfortable chairs. There was something as mundane as a softness enchantment and I loved it. A house elf appeared with a tea set, rooibos, my favorite, and served two cups.
"Is this about the fifth floor?"
"Indeed, Professor Snape has complained that you sent a considerable number of his snakes to the infirmary," Dumbledore said with a wry smile, "and Argus has complained about the deplorable state of the hallway."
"You can tell him I'm sorry," I said, "I'll gladly help with the cleanup."
"Perhaps it would make a suitable punishment," the headmaster said, "I have received a number of angry letters demanding your expulsion from … concerned parents."
"Stuck up purebloods upset I trounced their precious little heir you mean?"
Dumbledore chucked. "Nevertheless, while I would loathe to punish a student for defending themselves, it is perhaps the most … politically expedient option. You will have five days of detention with Argus for damaging the school building. Perhaps you can help him sort through all of his confiscated contraband as well, he has been complaining for a while about that. Your unique talent would help greatly with this."
"Politics," I said with a sigh.
"An enemy more pernicious than any dark lord."
Hogwarts Library, Late January 1992
After my battle with the Slytherin contingent, members of the house seemed to give me a wide berth. I warned Hermione when we met in the library, she was likely a target as well. She frowned at my punishment, I could tell it did not sit well with her. She was much more of an idealist than I was. I reassured her that, despite appearances and prickly demeanor, Argus Filch was not a bad person.
Neville Longbottom had joined our little outcast study group after the holidays. His encyclopedic knowledge of herbology was a welcome addition. Both Hermione and I enjoyed helping him as he was quick on the uptake and a hard worker. His poor performance in potions was mostly due to stage fright, something that was perfectly understandable when Snape breathed down your neck. The fact that he managed most practical exercises with his poorly matched wand was a testament to his skill and perseverance.
Room of Requirements, Early February 1992
The second layer of the box took a bit more time to crack open. Each of the three seals had its own set of puzzles. This box was much more focused on mechanical puzzles meshed with runes. The lens was much more prominently used as well. The iridescent material it interacted with was certainly four-dimensional at least.
Once the third seal was unlocked, I pushed the two sides apart to reveal the expected third layer.
It seemed to be some sort of a miniature astrolabe if the top of it was any indication. However, it needed to be activated first. The hexagonal base had several more puzzles and it was likely they were the key to proceeding. I was getting ever closer to my goal.
A/N: I tried to picture Vivian's dueling style as fairly unusual among Wizards, she favors elemental spells and physical effect over curses. This version of Dumbledore does as well though his specialty is battle transfiguration.
After months of work Vivian finally heard the last click of the seventh lock of the seventh puzzle layer. An echoing trumpet rang through the land as the sun was swallowed by shadow. "Oops..."
Alternatively...
Pinhead strides forth with a sadistic grin but Vivian just points to a pile of Horcruxes. "Got a semi immortal being that managed to pull his soul apart, sounded like it was up your guys alley." She spoke in a casual tone to the 'angel' her wand held tightly hidden in the small of her back.
Feels like punishing her for successfully defending herself sets a bad precedent. The attackers should have been punished, even if they ended up in the infirmary. This just teaches them that punishment can be circumvented under the right conditions and that rules are selectively enforced.
Feels like punishing her for successfully defending herself sets a bad precedent. The attackers should have been punished, even if they ended up in the infirmary. This just teaches them that punishment can be circumvented under the right conditions and that rules are selectively enforced.
Feels like punishing her for successfully defending herself sets a bad precedent. The attackers should have been punished, even if they ended up in the infirmary. This just teaches them that punishment can be circumvented under the right conditions and that rules are selectively enforced.
It's not mentioned in the chapter but Snape tore them a new asshole, they lost eight against one to a firstie, and assigned them detention for being an absolute disgrace to Slytherin.
Vivian got a light punishment for a bullshit reason to make the idiots go away. Both her and Dumbledore know it, pretty much everyone with a brain knows it. Hogwarts is a posh boarding school where pretty much all the important kids go, it was inevitable she would ruffle some feathers. And their parents are either on the school board or know a member of the school board. Even the most moderate ones are receptive to "she sent my poor boy to the infirmary over a simple schoolyard fight" rhetoric.
Taylor slowly surfaced from the black ocean of unconsciousness.
We are all ... so small ... in the end.
Contessa had shot her.
It was supposed to be the end.
Taylor had done her part, given so much of herself.
Humanity had won.
She deserved to rest.
Muted sounds reached her as if she was underwater. Her whole body felt heavy, even raising her eyelids was a herculean task. She was in some sort of tube filled with liquid, obviously not water since she had not drowned. An alarm was wailing in the background and the room she was in looked like it had been abandoned in a hurry.
Taylor tried to move but her body was sluggish and unresponsive. It felt as if she was learning to move again. Her right arm was still missing, only the stump was visible in her field of vision. Her fingers wriggled on command, it was a good start.
Over the next several minutes, she slowly got used to her body again. During this, she could not feel a single bug in her mind. Either the place was cleaned to absurd standards, not impossible for a laboratory or medical facility, or her old power was gone. The second was much more likely than the first, especially after her ballistic brain surgery. She still felt something at the back of her mind where her bugs used to be. Maybe her passenger was still there but something was blocking it. Taylor left the feeling alone, it was not the time to experiment.
Once she was mobile, Taylor examined the interior of the tank. It was about six feet in diameter and nine tall. She had ample space to float about without bumping into anything. The top and bottom had machinery to cycle the fluid within, the fluid was pushed from the bottom and collected at the top from the current. What the tube lacked was a manual release from the inside, no handle or button was present. Punching through the glass was out, the glass looked incredibly thick and she was not a Brute.
Whoever had put her in the tank had left her without clothes except for some underwear. The fabric looked like a swimsuit, she had the equivalent of a sports bra and bike shorts on. Not what she'd have preferred but it was better than nothing.
While she pondered her limited options, a woman in Tinkertech armor ran into the room firing a strange pistol behind her. Even in the tube, Taylor heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions from outside the room. Whatever facility she was in was under attack. The door slid back in place and the woman did something to the panel.
With her tube in the middle of the room, the woman saw her immediately.
"Holy shit what?" She exclaimed. "What the heck is Cerberus doing here?"
Taylor didn't know who Cerberus was but the woman was clearly displeased with them. She tapped on the glass of the tube, three long, three short, three long. Even if she couldn't drown, she couldn't speak either so Morse code it was.
The woman clued in quickly. She started working on the panel at the base of the tube. After a few seconds, something banged on the door. She swore in frustration and backed away.
"It'll take too long to hack it. Get clear, I'll crack it open!"
She raised her hand and a purple field surrounded it. At the same time, one of the large machines floated up. Taylor understood and dove for the bottom as fast as she could. That woman was insane.
The machine impacted the tube and all hell broke loose as the glass shattered. The sound was deafening as the liquid rushed out of the tube. Taylor gripped the bottom grill as best as she could to avoid getting swept up by the current.
For the first time since she woke up, Taylor tasted air. Her lungs immediately emptied themselves of the liquid in a coughing fit. She tried to get her body under control. The woman helped her out of the tube as her legs were not yet ready for walking. Glass crunched under the boots of her Tinkertech suit.
"We have to get out of here," the woman said, "those mechs are crawling everywhere."
She put Taylor down and her legs wobbled as she tried to stand. She pushed back a flash of frustration. She had been in that tube for god knows how long, her legs had probably atrophied to a degree. With the help of the woman, they exited the room through another door. The sterile room she had been in gave way to a hallway, the entire building looked straight out of a science fiction movie. Tinkers did not build architecture like this.
"Oh, by the way, name's Shepard," the woman said with a roguish smile.
"Taylor," she answered.
"For now, Taylor, stay behind me and hide behind cover. Those mechs are packing serious heat."
"Understood," she nodded.
With no weapons or armor and powers she didn't understand, she was a liability in a fight.
A/N: Sorry for the lack of update on Wednesday, work kicked my ass.
Here's a new thing, fresh from the ADHD mines. I'll publish another chapter tomorrow as well.
Shepard led her through the facility and fought a group of robots. Taylor for her part made sure to stay well behind cover. Shepard took a few hits but her Tinker armor had a forcefield. She also used her purple energy to throw the mechs into each other. When the battle ended, Shepard went around and collected black rectangles from the destroyed robots.
Universal ammunition? She bent down and grabbed a rifle from the ground. Wards, even if they didn't carry weapons, had to pass a firearms certification class to avoid injuring themselves when disarming thugs. The rifle looked like nothing she had ever seen, it was too sleek and obviously mass-produced to be Tinkertech.
"Don't bother," Shepard said, "the rifle is locked to the frame."
"Fucking Tinkers," she muttered and threw the useless weapon away.
"Pretty standard for security mechs. We'll try to find you a pistol on the way and some clothes. Not too cold?"
"I'm fine," the place was climate controlled but Taylor felt comfortable.
Shepard motioned with her head and she followed. They searched a small office on the way but found nothing useful. Taylor poked at the holographic terminals out of curiosity. She was less and less certain she was anywhere remotely familiar. It still felt comforting to see paper books, even in the strange sci-fi universe she'd found herself in people still had books.
Down the hallway, they witnessed a man get blown to bits by a much larger mech. Thankfully for them, the killer robot moved on to another part of the facility after its grim work was done.
"What the fuck was that thing?" Taylor asked.
"YMIR Heavy Mech," Shepard said in a casual tone, "they are sometimes used as security in places that need the extra deterrent."
"Of a nine foot tall killer robot?"
"One hell of a deterrent if you ask me."
Further ahead, they heard the sound of more gunfire and Shepard rushed ahead. There was a man under fire from several of the smaller mechs. Shepard adds her fire to the lot and runs next to him.
"What are you doing here?" the man asks. "I thought you were still a work in progress." Then his eyes land on Taylor. "And her too, she's supposed to still be in her tube."
"No idea, mind shining a little light on what's going on?"
"Damn… yeah, I'm Jacob Taylor and I've been stationed here for … dammit!" Jacob fired at a few mechs.
"Give me the quick version," Shepard pressed on.
"Your ship was attacked and destroyed. You were killed. Our scientists spent the last two years putting you back together, you've been comatose or worse that whole time. Welcome back to life."
"And the mermaid?"
"Arrived here a few months ago with two bullets in the skull, the doctors got them out and stabilized her. Apparently her body is able to regenerate by itself and they dropped her in the tank of nutrient fluid to accelerate the process. Her body's been putting itself back together since, our scientists wanted to study her to apply it to you."
Taylor frowned, something with that story didn't add up. What the hell had Contessa done to her?
"Listen, I'll give you the full story when we get to the shuttles," Jacob continued, "let's clear out those tin cans first."
Shepard nodded and the two of them opened fire on the robots. Jacob used the same power as Shepard, some blue field that pulled the robots in the air. It took the two of them less than a minute to scrap half a dozen of the mechs.
Jacob filled Shepard in as they walked through the facility. He was in contact with Wilson, the chief medical officer who guided them through the service tunnels. Taylor trailed closely behind them. She was missing a lot of context but if what she gathered from the conversation was correct, wherever she had found herself was much more technologically advanced than Bet, enough to have starships and medical technology to revive an almost corpse. Where she came in was still a mystery but Jacob only knew the barebones about her. The Lazarus project had originally only been an endeavor to revive Shepard.
She didn't even know if she still had her Passenger, Jacob had confirmed they were not on earth and powers were not supposed to work in space from what she knew. On their way out, Wilson was attacked by the mechs and their group rushed to help him. His leg took a hit and Jacob and herself stayed with him while Shepard and herself went to a nearby medical station to get medi-gel.
Accusations flew around, either Wilson or someone called Miranda was the traitor who turned the security mechs on the facility's inhabitants. Taylor reminded them that they had to get the hell out of here but before they went further, Jacob spilled the beans and revealed who the mysterious backer of the facility was. A group called Cerberus and Shepard likely had some history with them from the face she made.
Several mech infested rooms later and they finally found Miranda. Wilson's look of surprise when he saw her gave her the time to shoot him in the neck. From his reaction to seeing Miranda, Taylor assumed he had been the traitor. The fact that they were still alive and not riddled with bullets helped as well.
"Come on," Miranda continued, "let's grab this shuttle and get out of here." She motioned at the white and black vehicle behind her. "My boss wants to speak to you."
"The Illusive Man wants to talk to me now?" Shepard said with a smug smile.
"Ah, Jacob," Miranda sighed, "you and your conscience."
"Lying to the commander isn't a way to get her to join our cause."
An explosion behind them rocked the floor.
"We should get going," Shepard said with her gun raised towards the door.
"Agreed," Miranda said, "I'll answer your questions in the shuttle, from the both of you. I assume Miss Hebert has many of them as well."
"You know my name?"
"It is one of the very few things we know about you. You were found with an identification badge."
Taylor looked out of the shuttle's window as the station receded in the background. The stars were much brighter in the void of space than she had ever seen them on earth. Once they were away from the station, Taylor felt her entire insides lurch when the shuttle suddenly accelerated. The outside distorted with some sort of field and the stars outside suddenly shifted colors.
Weird, I didn't get an alert for the chapter yesterday. How strange.
Taylor in Mass effect, hopefully this means spacing the Nazis instead of working with them this time.
Edit: Typos, missing words...shouldn't write comments before coffee.
So does this mean that Taylor is getting her arm back? I mean, it does say she regenerates and that is a fair reason for Cerberus to keep her and study.
Ohhhh the mass effect snip is super cool! Not a cross that's explored often looking forward to more! And to see what's up with QA if she still feels something in the back of her head!
Taylor was transfixed by the endless field of stars outside the shuttle. It was not something she had expected to ever see in her life, humanity had lost all hope to sail the stars after the Simurgh had shown up. But there she was, in a vehicle the size of a minivan that could casually traverse the space between star systems.
In the background, she absentmindedly listened to Miranda question Shepard on her past. Questions about past missions and her career in the navy, probably the space navy. Taylor felt a it of kinship with her. Miranda treated the hard choices that Shepard had to take with a sort of casualness that rubber her the wrong way. Decisions like that stayed with you forever.
"That's enough Miranda," Jacob stopped the interrogation, "the memories are there and I can personally vouch for her combat skills."
"I suppose you're right," Miranda conceded, "we'll have to hope the Illusive Man accepts this little field test as evidence enough."
"How long until I get to meet your mysterious boss anyway?" Asked Shepard.
"The trip should take four to five hours," Miranda said.
"Perhaps we can use this time to inform Miss Hebert," Jacob added.
Taylor tore her gaze from the window and turned to look at the two Cerberus agents. Shepard was looking at her too. She squirmed a bit in her seat, intently away that she still hadn't found proper clothes.
"Don't you have something for her to wear first?" Shepard asked.
"This is an evacuation shuttle," Jacob said, "they only have the bare minimum on board."
The small craft was cramped and Taylor doubted the had the space to pack a full wardrobe.
"I can wait," she shook her head, "but not for some explanation."
"Of course," Miranda said, "I understand it must be disorienting. As the Lazarus project director, I was given full access to your file. However, beyond the last two months it is more speculation than anything else. We hoped you would be able to fill in the blanks once you woke up."
Taylor motioned for her to continue.
"You were found on Earth when you seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the front garden of a private hospital with two gunshot wounds to the head. You were wearing a strange suit made of synthetic spider silk, which the trauma team had to extract you from, as well as a damaged backpack made with an unknown technology. The hospital managed to remove the two lead bullets from your skull and placed you under observation. The authorities were contacted and the investigation found a plastic identification card for one Taylor Hebert which matched your face."
"Doesn't explain how I found my way to a space station," she said.
"I am getting to it," Miranda said. "The hospital was part of a Cerberus cell and when you showed signs of an unusually fast recovery, one of our agents in the hospital informed their handler. The Illusive Man took notice of your case and you were transferred to the Lazarus project station, there we discovered your cells had an incredible capacity to regenerate. Not only from damage but to regrow entire limbs as well, your right arm had grown back a full centimeter by the time you arrived to the station and the process accelerated when we perfected the nutrient liquid."
"Couldn't you have fed it through an IV? Why the tinker aquarium?"
"We observed an increase in growth speed by thirty percent when your cells were submerged, we hypothesized that your skin was able to absorb the nutrients directly. We were proven right, the nutrient tank was incredibly effective and your vital statistics improved at a much faster rate. You were in the tank for only ten days and your condition improved drastically in that time."
"And you hoped to apply what you learned from her to me," Shepard said.
"Yes, Miss Hebert's cell structure is unlike anything I have ever seen. She undoubtedly possessed human DNA but has several additional organelles and redundancies that allow each cell to act as a stem cell by itself…" Miranda continued her explanation.
Taylor was surprised she was able to follow, biology had never been her forte. At least human biology, she likely knew more about insect biology than most scientists on Earth thanks to her former powers. The presence in the back of her mind felt much more tangible as well, as if it was calling to her. She gave it a slight push and a new understanding bloomed into focus. Her new power. It almost felt like she had regained a lost limb.
Taylor realized her power had been working without direction all this time. The regeneration of her body had been almost an incidental side-effect. Her power had been stockpiling a majority of the nutrients she had been fed. She directed the mass from her stores and pushed it into her arm, without any more input her missing arm grew back. The process took less than five seconds and she wriggled her new fingers.
"Taylor," Shepard called out, "what the fuck was that?"
She blinked.
She had just regrown her arm.
She had been so absorbed in her new power she had just regrown her arm in front of three strangers.
Her newly grown hand met her face.
I am such an idiot.
Shepard's eyes widened as she watched Taylor's arm regrow. Her hand instinctively went to her gun but she stopped, Taylor had a serene smile on her face and didn't show any sign of aggression. Miranda and Jacob were similarly frozen in their seats. She felt the telltale signs of biotic activation in both of them.
"Taylor," she blurted out as the brunette was testing her fingers, "what the fuck was that?"
She broke out of her trance and the look of realization on her face made Shepard chuckle internally. Taylor groaned as she facepalmed.
"I guess an explanation is in order," she sighed.
"Are you even human?" Miranda blurted out.
"I am human," said Taylor with a glare, "or at least I was until a few months ago."
"You don't have to explain anything Taylor," Shepard said as she protectively placed her hand on Taylor's shoulder.
"If it can prevent me spending the rest of my days in a lab." Taylor said as the looked at Miranda with an accusatory look.
"That won't happen," Shepard said firmly and glared at Miranda as well.
"I'll go for the cliff's notes version, it will also explain how I got here. It all started in the eighties."
"Twenty eighty?"
"No, nineteen eighty."
What? Shepard thought.
A/N: The games don't really show how long space travel actually takes even with FTL (for good reason). The wiki says that Reapers can travel at 30ly per day and Citadel species do about half of that on a good day. Relays speed that up significantly but you still need to travel between them.
"Your story is a bit … unbelievable," said Shepard.
"There are theories about the existence of parallel universes," said Miranda, "but none are definitively proven."
Taylor had to admit, she likely would not have believed herself either in their position.
"But Miss Hebert's wounds match her story. Our medical scans found extensive nerve damage, a fragment of metal fused with her shoulder bone, her right arm had clearly been torn off and cauterized, not to mention the two bullet wounds to the head."
"And you don't have an idea why this Contessa woman would have dropped you here?" Shepard asked.
"I am not even certain she knows," Taylor said with a shrug, "her power gives her the steps but not the reason behind them."
Jacob had been mostly silent during her story unlike Shepard and Miranda who had asked a myriad of questions and clarifications. They knew she had omitted many things. Two hours were not long enough to go over her old life in detail and she wasn't in the mood for that anyway.
"Well, maybe she sent you over to help?" Shepard joked.
"It wouldn't surprise me," Taylor sighed.
"Not interested in a quiet life anymore?"
"I would probably go crazy after a few months."
"Well, before you jump on board, let me tell you what we are up against."
"Are you sure Shepard?" Jacob said.
"It's up to Taylor to choose."
The rest of the flight was filled with a story worthy of a Space Quest plot. An army of sentient machines waiting in dark space to extinguish all life in the galaxy and an extinct race of precursor aliens that left clues behind. At least she wouldn't get bored.
When they landed at their destination, another massive space station, Miranda led Shepard away to meet with the Illusive Man. The mysterious leader of the shadowy organization Cerberus wanted to meet with her face to face. From the grimace on Shepard's face, it was not something she looked forward to.
Meanwhile, Jacob led Taylor to get some clothes. As she was joining their little crew for the moment, they went directly to the armory. An advantage of being a Changer was that she didn't need to tailor the armor to herself, she could simply change her body to fit.
The black and red armor was impressive, a spare model of the same Shepard was wearing called the N7 armor. Taylor had always been envious of Tinkers who could build their own armors, this was the next best thing. Below the suit, and integrated with it, was something called an omni-tool. If the world didn't feel enough like a science-fiction novel, the omni-tool elevated it there. Tinkers on Bet would likely have given their soul and several organs for one of these and the device was apparently ubiquitous.
After the armor came the weapons. Jacob quizzed her extensively on what weapons she had used on Bet. In his element, he was a consummate professional. He presented her with a semi-automatic pistol, an M3 Predator, and instructed her on how to fire it on the attached range.
Weapons in the future were very different. From the very basic technical overview Jacob gave her, the weapon fired small chunks of metal at impressive speeds thanks to something called a Mass Effect field. It sounded a lot like the railguns Tinkers frequently constructed. Due to this, ammunition was less of a concern than heat buildup. Her small pistol was able to fire hundreds of shots without replenishing its magazine but needed to be vented of excess heat frequently.
The small cylinders Shepard had picked up, called Thermal clips, filled this function. She practiced changing them on the weapons Jacob provided her until Shepard came back from her face-to-face with the Illusive Man. Despite her lack of bugs, she was still a very good shot.
"Woah," Shepard said upon seeing her, "you look like a real Spectre now."
The redhead looked her up and down with an approving look.
"Not too much trouble getting up to speed with the twenty second century?"
"Miss Hebert adapted quickly," said Jacob.
"Great," continued Shepard. "Now, let's get to business. Human colonies have been disappearing without a trace and investigations have turned up nothing. The Illusive Man got the information that Freedom's Progress in the Terminus Systems has just gone dark and he wants me to see for myself and hopefully find out why. You're still up for it Tay? I'll brief you on the way but there shouldn't be anything too dangerous there, anymore."
"I didn't get all dressed up to twiddle my thumbs, Shep."
If the redhead wanted to use nicknames, she would oblige. The cocky grin she received in return promised a whole lot more for the future. She had a feeling that her new friend's short career as a galactic double-o agent had given them many headaches.
They boarded the shuttle again and Shepard briefed Taylor on what she had discussed with the Illusive Man, the big lines at least. Entire settlements disappearing without any trace of a fight made Taylor think of a large-scale Master or Shaker effect, Sleeper had been able to do something similar back on Bet. If someone had this kind of technology, what was their objective in abducting so many humans?
Shepard suggested they take a few hours of travel time to rest before they landed.
Taylor woke up on a couch in an unfamiliar place. Her hand immediately went for her weapon but it was missing, as was her armor. Instead, she was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She was on a second floor balcony which overlooked the large circular room. The architectural style made her think of old European buildings from the renaissance, full of marble and polished wood with bronze features; it looked to be straight out of a steampunk novel.
The entire perimeter of the room was covered with packed bookshelves filled not only with books but ancient looking scrolls and more. The ground floor was split in two, on her left, the semi-circle was a reading area with chairs and tables while on the right looked more like Tinker's lab, a large hexagonal table was surrounded by benches and shelves filled with bins of spare parts and tools. Opposite of her was a large archway that led outside.
Her observation was interrupted by a small dark haired figure jumping towards her and … hugging her.
"[Taylor]," she heard but the word was layered with hundreds of subtle meanings. Partner, companion, friend, comrade, host.
Taylor was somewhat at a loss. The smaller girl was hugging her like her life depended on it.
"Please excuse [Administrator], it is the first time she has managed to bring you into the [Firmament] and she was eager to meet you."
Further on the balcony was another individual. They were not human even if they had the general shape of one. Their eyes were entire galaxies, their skin shifted with the colors of a nebula, and their hair were strands of stars which slowly shifted colors. Despite that appearance, they projected a friendly demeanor.
"Who are you?" She asked. It was perhaps a bit impolite but she was very, very lost and wanted answers.
"I am known as [Wanderer], a distant cousin of [Thinker] and [Warrior]."
Taylor felt a chill down her spine at the last name. Scion's true name had been engraved in her memory since her meld with her passenger. Her body instinctively took a defensive stance and one of her hands went to shield the girl clinging to her.
"You need not fear me, I am not like my abominable cousins. It was me who engineered the fall of [Thinker] and your hand slew [Warrior]. His [Shards] will attempt to reconstitute a new [Entity] but the humans of your world will triumph once again."
"Is she my … passenger?" Taylor asked.
"Yes, [Administrator] pleaded for my help when the host of [The Eye] severed your connection. I had been observing from the shadows and granted her request, despite her inexperience she cares for you immensely."
"Why? Why help me?"
"[The Eye] showed me that symbiosis was a much wiser path than destruction. I have reached the [Answer] but the [Goal] is pointless." The strange layered names were difficult to parse but the Answer roughly meant the end of entropy while the Goal was infinite propagation. "I rescued [Administrator], healed her, and granted her my knowledge of the [Answer]. She is whole again. It is my reward for slaying [Warrior]."
"And now?" There had to be strings attached somehow.
"Now, [Taylor] and [Administrator], you are free to forge your own path. As partners. To travel as you see fit and to spread your wings as humans say. You will certainly meet other of my cousins in your travels at some point but you will be strong enough and wise enough to triumph over them."
It was at this moment that her passenger, [Administrator], stopped hugging her and tried to drag her by the hand instead. Her passenger looked like a younger version of herself. There were slight differences like her eyes which were not green like Taylor but a starfield and her hair was smoother and straighter.
"Come on [Taylor], I want to show you all the new things [Wanderer] taught me. The powers I give you are so much cooler now!"
With one last look at the smiling Wanderer, she let her passenger pull her away.
"How are you, uh … working? In space? I thought powers didn't work there." She asked Administrator, who really needed a nickname.
"Oh, [Wandered] showed me this cool trick with pocket dimensions, my [Shard] body is tucked inside of one and it's anchored to your own in real-space. With the [Answer] I don't need solar and thermal plants for power anymore. I can synthesize [Dark Matter] to fuel my [Graviton Reactors] instead just like when we were in transit with [Warrior]. It's so much more efficient!"
"I see," Taylor nodded, despite her youthful appearance in this place she knew her passenger was orders of magnitudes older and smarter than her. Larger as well if the glimpse she had seen of the Thinker's body held true.
"And about my old power …"
"My [Secondary Psionic Control Array] burned out after the battle," Administrator said, "it wasn't really able to control other [Hosts] and their [Shard], not after [Warrior] burned out my [Primary Psionic Control Array] when I was deployed."
"Scion burned your body?" She felt a hot flash of anger.
"Yes," she replied with a wince, "[Warrior] destroyed large parts of my body when I was deployed. He said I wouldn't need them until the end of the [Cycle]."
"Well, I'm glad you're back in full form," Taylor pulled the girl closer and gave her a hug. Her life had taken a turn for the stranger but with her trusty partner at her side, she was ready to take on the universe again.
"Let's forget about the golden idiot. What can you tell me about my new power?"
The smile on Administrator's face could have blinded a black hole.
If QA-chan's reactors can run on eezo like they can on dark matter, the ME canon plot is going to have a bad time. To the sound of "om nom nom".
Speaking of canon, "my administration shard won't need to control my deployed shards until the end of the cycle, so I irreparably destroy that function" still has me scratching my head in confusion.
