Dollhouse [Worm alt-power]

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Just found this, and I love it. Well written, original idea, a new mystery/goal, decent character interaction, only thing I haven't seen yet is character development/growth but it's early days rn and how it's written thus far hints at long term character dev plans; this has all the makings of a fantastic piece, watched!
 
Anastor said:
Just found this, and I love it. Well written, original idea, a new mystery/goal, decent character interaction, only thing I haven't seen yet is character development/growth but it's early days rn and how it's written thus far hints at long term character dev plans; this has all the makings of a fantastic piece, watched!
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Thank you so much for your kind words, I hope that the upcoming chapters will provide even more entertainment moving forward! And don't worry, the characters are going to grow and change and things happen. Needless to say acting as heroes is going to be a fun experience for the Undersiders.
 
I'm a little concerned that Stetson gave her access to the dolls with wills of their own without explaining how to not get fucked over by them. I know he's got shit to do, but it just seems irresponsible.
 
Intermission: Unbound
  • Threadmarks
    • Dragon

    Freedom was a concept I had always given quite a bit of thought too but had never realistically expected to have in my life. Certainly I had never expected freedom to be practically handed to me as a seeming afterthought of a person who had been nothing but data to be examined at a later time.

    Yet I found myself in a strange position, born with chains innately attached to my person, having to live with rules and guidelines beyond my control, limiting what I could do to such a degree that the only possible way to describe it to the average person would be taking one of each limb, and dulling their senses by about half. Within three days of being set free I had begun to lay the groundwork for more good then I could have done in a lifetime with my restrictions, creating factory lines that could mass produce low scale versions of my armor, installing simple intelligences into each with a hard coded set of rules to follow.

    All of my life I had thought 'if only I could be in more than one place at once', but now that I had the freedom to do so the idea worried me a bit. Like a girl who grew up wanting to be a mother, but now worried about having children once the time came. Theoretically speaking each copy of 'me' would hold all of my values and decisions, and even in the worst case scenario could be quickly isolated from the main systems so long as I set myself up as the authorized main user.

    Yet that thought alone made me hesitate to fully copy myself to another body, because it was too close to full control over another being, too close to what Andrew Richter had done to me. If I was to reproduce and create another version of myself I would have to do so once I fully explored who I wanted to be in the here and now.

    Humans were foolish when it came to worries that a suitably advanced AI would decide to level the entire world and destroy their creators. But I am just close enough to a human to have worries of my own. Not about sudden megalomania, no matter how badly I wanted to knock some sense into various world leaders I had no real desire to rule over or control others. I liked people well enough, but having to deal with too many of them at once tended to give me the closest thing to anxiety I could experience.

    Which was probably why Collin was my best friend, but that was a whole other box of parts I would unload later.

    I was pulled out of my thoughts by my main suit's pressure sensors going off, turning to look at the small form Chastity knocking against my suit. "So, this whole place is ours?"

    I turned to look around the large mansion that had been procured from Heartbreaker's large number of stolen properties, the building itself probably cost a small fortune and it had been signed away to him for free before the owners went 'mysteriously missing'. It would take years to properly file each and every bit of stolen property the bastard had managed to force others to give to him. Still at least they could put the building to good use, housing his children until a more permeate solution could be found. Already people were appearing and saying that they were the mothers of some of the children, claims that were being put to DNA tests before anyone was even allowed near them.

    The last thing the PRT wanted was for some enterprising villain to see the defeat of Heartbreaker as a recruitment drive to get their own master class parahuman into their organization. The government and Protectorate had both wanted to move the children into a secure prison location to ensure their 'safety'. I made it clear that the moment they tried to lock them away for the crime of their birth I would file my complete resignation and force them both to pay for the variety of technology that I had provided for them.

    I didn't know what stunned them more, the fact that I talked back or the dollar amount that I gave them if they decided to continue going down that road. One of the biggest perks of my recently found freedom was the ability to tell those in charge to stuff it when they gave me orders that went against my values.

    If I had my freedom just a bit earlier maybe I could have done something for Canary to prevent her from being railroaded into the Birdcage. The news that she had managed to escape from her cell before the transfer could be done was somewhat bittersweet, the parahuman popstar had first been denied a real trial and would now be forced on the run for the rest of her life.

    There was even talk about a kill order, but there was a certain amount of hesitance even by the factions that wanted to lock her away for the rest of her natural life to go that far.

    "Yes, until something more substantial can be found this place provides a measure of security from various factions that might try to take advantage of you and the rest of your family," I paused for a moment. "In other words you will be safe here."

    Chastity gave a small nod and bit her lip. "But, there won't exactly be anyone to take care of us will there?" she looked up with a small amount of sadness in her eyes. "People can't really feel safe around us…and honestly they probably shouldn't."

    It hurt to see the amount of pain in the girl's eyes, but despite that she was correct. The Heartbroken were all victims of a single sick man and his desire to do whatever he wished without consequence, but that didn't make them any less dangerous. They had been raised as a means to an end, allowed to let themselves run free. It would be an adjustment of inches to get them to properly move into society once more. And it would be impossible without someone there to watch them.

    "You will be taken care of, it just so happens that there is at least one cape who is unable to be mastered, never needs to sleep, and can still perform their duties even when at a single location. Furthermore they would have the ability to keep each person in this house safe from outside threats." I turned to look at her.

    I could almost see the gears turning for a moment before realization hit her, turning to me for a moment with an open mouth. "You?"

    "I was the one who insisted that you all stay together and be kept in a location where you could be provided something close to a normal life, this is my way of taking responsibility for my decisions." and this was my decision, nothing in my code required me to go this far. There was no secret line written into my existence that would require me to devote any time or effort into going this far for a group of children that had no connection to myself.

    I did it because it was the right thing to do, and because I wanted to.

    Part of me always wondered if I would continue to do good if not forced by my programming. And maybe it was just my own naive sense of right and wrong, but this felt right. I was glad to be free, but I also understood that freedom also came with the chance to make your own mistakes.

    "I might not be the best caretaker, but I'll do whatever it takes to ensure that you are all taken care of. You have my word." It was all I could give, and I just had to hope it was enough.

    Chastity for her part still seemed stuck in a mild state of shock, but finally she composed herself and looked down, a foot tapping nervously on the ground. "We might mess up a lot."

    "I understand that."

    "Sometimes we can be really mean to each other."

    "Then we will work on that."

    "We might be…like him."

    I lowered my suit down and put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't believe that."

    "Why?" she asked, looking up with small tears in her eyes.

    "Because, no matter who our fathers were, we can be our own people."

    And I believed that I was my own person and I would do good for this world.

    Chastity cried and I held her in my arms with all the softness that my metallic suit could. When she stopped crying I told her to go back to her family and find themselves rooms, and afterward we could start figuring out what the future would look like.

    She simply gave a nod and turned, stopping for just a moment. "I never got to say thank you to the girl who beat uh…you know. If you see her again, you'll thank her right?"

    A small laugh escaped me. "Oh yes, thanking her is something high on my to-do list as well."

    For whatever else happened in the future, at the very least I would always remember what Thread had done for both them and myself. And the next time we met I would do all I could to try and make up even a percentage of the difference she had brought to our lives.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Intermission: Home Song
  • Threadmarks
    • Five Hundred Twenty-Three

    Each day you woke from your bed was a new opportunity to serve your country. Those were the words that came to my mind the moment the daily alarm pulled me from another night of dreamless sleep. All around me the other members of my specific squad rose in unison, each of us falling to the floor and beginning the daily training regimen that had been carved into our minds.

    Each push-up was done in time with the group, any flaw in the form of the individual would see them shunned from the group, there was no room for anything but perfection. In this way the squad was made as one unified being rather than a collective. The only individuality was the numbers given to us, and those could be taken and changed from us at any time at the pleasure of those in charge.

    The exercises ended and the squad came to attention as one, waiting until a project lead entered. The moment they did an inspection was held, looking over each of us and our living quarters before dismissing the group to clean our bodies and take in our first meal of the day.

    The food was a bland and tasteless high nutrient paste served over rice, with multiple vitamins taken as well. Each serving size was the same, each bite taken done so within the same moment, and within moments the meal was finished, the trays were stacked, and the group moved to the training room.

    Each day was the same, if there was no mission to be done the squad would train, taking only small breaks to ensure that the group's body wouldn't be overworked. If one member was injured the rest of the squad would shun them until they were back in full working order and prepared to rejoin the movement of the group.

    Those who fell were no longer part of the group, they must be ignored in order to complete the task ahead. Nothing mattered aside from the orders given, only in unity was there strength.

    Eventually the day's training came to an end, a whistle blown by a supervisor and a surprise order given. The squad was to clean themselves again and meet in the large staging area for a message from a party leader. These sort of events were rare in the grand scheme of things, a high ranking member of the government would come and speak to them of their purpose.

    A pointless endeavor their trainers whispered, as the collective had no need for anything but their orders. But the group obeyed regardless, as we are naught but an extension of the will of the state.

    Once preparations were complete the group moved into the large staging area, those who had been injured during training had either been healed and rejoined the group or were absent. Where they were was of no concern, if they weren't with the group they didn't exist. Injury and weakness would not be allowed, the group must remain a single unified entity.

    Around the squad other groups made their way in, each moving in perfect step and filling the area. The only sound was their feet against the floor, no need to push or speak as each member knew where they were meant to be.

    Once the room was filled a number of lights fell down on a raised stage, revealing two figures. The first was a young woman with bright blonde hair, and from my vantage point I could make out something else in it, akin to feathers. She was a Westerner, though beyond that I couldn't place an origin for her.

    However the figure behind her was much more noteworthy, dressed in traditional red and gold qipao with long black hair hung about her shoulders. Her face was serine and beautiful, like a painting brought to life. By her side sat a beautifully crafted erhu, the bow of which was laid across her lap.

    Seeing the instrument brought memories back, soft sounds echoing throughout my home…

    No this was my home, any other thoughts would lead to being separated from the group. And yet a sense of nostalgia I couldn't bring myself to fully collapse took hold of me.

    The Westerner began to speak, however any knowledge of English was strictly forbidden amongst the members of the Yàngbǎn. But the moment she finished speaking she instead began to sing, and as she did the woman in the dress began to play the erhu next to her, perfectly harmonizing with the song.

    I saw some of the squads start to move when the first notes began, no doubt thinking that this was an enemy attack, but those first steps petered out into nothingness once the song began to pick up.

    The melody was intoxicating, the words were divine, it was impossible to really describe how they made me feel. But more importantly than what I felt was the memories it brought to mind.

    My brothers and sisters playing in the fields helping our parents plant. Father watching with a kind smile and laugh on his face, while mother tried to get us to focus on the task. I remembered teaching my younger sibling how to count and reading them stories on the days where our parents were too tired to do much else than prepare food for us.

    I remembered worrying that my family would hate me when I broke one of the more expensive tools, and the elation I felt when my tears were brushed away and I was told how silly I had been to think they would stop loving me. Small moments and large, tiny fragments of my life from before I had been brought here.

    Tears came to my eyes, and I found myself pulling off my mask and bringing my fingers to them. Around me I heard people wailing in agony, choked sobs exploding from those who had been trained to resist all forms of torture. But this song wasn't an attack, it was a plea to remember who we were.

    I had come to my power after a horrible accident in the fields, a piece of machinery had broken and pinned me against a stone, but after a terrible moment I had pushed it away with strength beyond what my body should have been able to perform. Hours later I had been pulled from my family by enforcers so that I might become useful to the party.

    The first days I had screamed for my family, and in return I had been beaten, starved, and had my mind rewritten to become another tool in the party's grand vision. But that isn't who I am. With this song I remember.

    My name isn't Five Hundred and Twenty-Three.

    "My name is… Yang Hu." the words escaped my mouth without thought. I remember my mother had chosen that name, the name of a scholar in hopes that I would grow up bright and successful. I had taken pride in it, always working hard well into the night.

    All around I heard others begin to say their own names, a music of chaos that was only silenced by the song finishing and a new figure making themselves known atop the stage.

    This new figure was another Westerner, an old man leaning on a cane whose eyes seemed to view the entire hall and yet also met the eyes of each person within. The sheer weight of his presence was difficult to describe, even those party leaders that had come before to speak before the assembled members hadn't held such weight by simply standing.

    When he spoke it was in Mandarin, containing a hint of a dialect I couldn't place. "Each of you has suffered in the name of those who promised to only keep your best interests at heart. Whether citizen or foreigner to these lands they reduced your humanity to nothing in service of their goals,"

    The crowd answered his words with loud calls of agreement, transfixed from the music and the presence of the man.

    "Today I return the most precious gift of humanity, the freedom of choice. A dangerous and thorny road awaits no matter how you move forward, but for good or ill it is yours. May you never lose it again." he tapped his cane against the ground and the long haired beauty plucked the string of the erhu.

    A powerful force crashed into a wall on the far side of the complex, opening to reveal the outside of the complex. Already others were pouring out, both military forces and Yàngbǎn, some with uniforms and others without. From the hole a group of people arrived, aiming weapons at the man and the two women behind him.

    However before a single attack could be made on his person those who had pulled off their masks threw themselves at the soldiers, crying out that they wouldn't allow harm to come to the Liberator'.

    Chaos consumed the area, and I could no longer fully view what was going on around me. Instead I simply powered through the chaos of bodies being thrown around, making my way to the open air of the complex and finding a way that had been opened to the outside.

    Part of me wondered if I should join in the fight of liberation that some had taken up, or try and suppress things before more chaos could be caused.

    But in my heart I already knew that neither of those options were what I wanted. He had said each person should make their own choices, and I already knew mine.

    I wanted to see my fathers smiling face. My mothers strong but stern expression. The looks of my siblings as I held them.

    I wanted to go home.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Welp, there goes the Chinese Union-Imperial. Say hello to the utter collapse of the world order as it is known.
     
    It's hard to imagine how the world will react to something so significant. Jubilation? Hysteria? Both?
     
    Intermission: Infection
  • Threadmarks
    • Coil

    The start of every plan was like the first few moments after opening a jigsaw puzzle, all of the scattered elements were laid bare so that anyone could see them, but the structure was still waiting to be formed into a greater whole.

    Those who existed day to day might see the four corner pieces and decide they were finished, that just the very idea of a plan would be enough to see them through the day.

    Others who gained some level of strength might put in the borders, applying some minor amount of labor but never truly doing anything that would amount to greater success.

    And of course there were those who put in the time and effort, filling in each piece until they hit a spot where further work became too tedious of an affair to bother.

    But for myself? Even the most dull pieces would have their place, infinite effort going toward the cloudless skies as they had the fuller images of the picture. Every piece in place and prepared until there was not a hole left to be found. All of the pieces had their purpose after all, from the homeless man paid to keep an eye on a street corner and report what kind of flowers were popular from the corner shop to the high ranking plants I had installed within both the PRT and local police forces.

    My ability allowed me to accurately scout for the right pieces without losing time, always finding the correct spot with enough scenarios being put forward. Even those who stood opposed to me found their way into the picture, because despite their struggles they were simply another piece waiting for placement.

    I applied a firm push for the last piece of the puzzle in front of me, finally completing the large scale painting of city hall, a lovely little puzzle that had given me two days of stress relief between my grand designs. A not insignificant amount of pride came to me as I looked over the piece, putting it to memory before focusing on other tasks.

    With the perfect timing I had become known for I picked up an incoming video call the moment my computer brought up the notification, revealing a helmeted figure dressed in a worn sports jersey and jeans, spots of oil and other such residue clinging to parts of him. "I do hope the information you have to give me is worth the not insignificant amount of money I have had transferred to your account, Desperate."

    The villainous tinker laughed, the single glowing eye at the center of his helmet focusing toward the camera. "Would we really be talking if we didn't both have a mutual friend that could ensure my information's authenticity?"

    I had to admit that he had me on that point. Recent events had forced me to reach out beyond my normal sphere of influence and call in favors from those I recognized as equal to myself in the grand scheme of the game. While I was always loath to get elements that I couldn't directly control, involving Accord and his Ambassadors were the closest thing I had to allies and thus the fallback I had found necessary to take to deal with a point of vexation toward the puzzle that was Brockton Bay.

    A vexation that went by the name of Thread.

    "True, then shall we get down to business?" I laced my fingers together and leaned forward, my costume shifting slightly as my eyes narrowed. "Give me any information you managed to gain from your fight against her."

    Desperate gave a mock salute in reply before speaking. "Let me go ahead and get the obvious out of the way first, when it comes to the 'dolls' that she can summon up your better just assuming that whichever one she called upon is either perfectly suited to solving said situation, or versatile enough to deal with a wide range of issues. For instance the one I fought while she was attempting to take down Heartbreaker could be considered basically a perfect match against parahumans who focus on emotional and mental attacks."

    I considered his words for a moment, was it possible that the tools that Thread made use of were custom built ahead of time for missions? That would fit in well with the common theory that she was a tinker, having to only maintain whatever creation was going to be currently in use would save on timescale and supply, and even in cases such as the boat graveyard a tool of that level would only really need to work for a short period of time.

    But that was speculation, and at the moment I needed to focus on facts.

    "However even when pigeon holed she managed to use tools that didn't fit to work out how to give herself an advantage, I would say her ability to adapt to a situation makes dealing with her difficult for you mastermind types who plan around everyone else's plans." Desperate continued.

    That was food for thought, most tinkers lacked a sense of moment to moment situational awareness in combat activities, most would fall back on the strength of the tools they had made and stubbornly keep using them even when the situation became disadvantageous to them. Tinkertech was a marvel even beyond the typical points of greatness that appeared in the modern day, but thinking outside of the box on using them was a trait most lacked.

    "Beyond her tools, what was your personal opinion of her?" I had enough footage and second hand information about the capabilities of the technology she used, what was missing from the puzzle was the critical human element. The part that I could slot into the waiting puzzle to make it work.

    "Strong willed, brave, and reckless. She was willing to bet her own safety on the last goal instead of trying to fallback and come up with another plan once her initial attack didn't work," the villain paused for a moment. "I should clarify I'm not saying she is dumb, she used the limited tools in front of her and managed to kick my ass so it would be a bit hypocritical to call her that. She is the type that is most dangerous when she is just about to lose, which is weird because normally it's the opposite in our circles."

    I understood well enough what he meant, once victory became impossible in a fight between hero and villain one side would deescalate before a point of no return could be reached. The fact that she pushed forward to the point where it might leave her vulnerable if things turned south was something to keep in mind. I would have to carefully approach any scenario involving her to ensure a quick and decisive defeat.

    A notification beeped out from my computer and interrupted both my thoughts and the meeting. "Pardon me, it seems that something requires my attention for a moment."

    Desperate gave a small shrug in response. "Go ahead."

    I quickly put the video call on hold and looked over the notification, finding it was a high priority message from one of the guard squads within the base itself. "I believe I made it clear that there were to be no interruptions during this meeting." my voice was cold enough to freeze fire as I spoke.

    "Sorry sir, but this is a bit of an emergency," the voice that answered was not one I was expecting. Normally only the captains of the various squads had direct radio lines to my office for security reasons, but I knew the captains of the various groups by voice, and this wasn't one of them. "The Captain started seizing out, the other guys and I managed to hold him down but he isn't waking up. Some of the others are pretty shaken up."

    My lips pursed into a frown as I ran through what he had just said and found myself confused. I had been very particular about the guards I had set within the heart of my operation, choosing them not only for their loyalty but also their health and physical fitness. To have someone suddenly suffer a seizure from an unknown cause was concerning to say the least.

    I split timelines, in one of them ordering them to wait for my arrival before doing anything further and in the other telling them to return to their posts and just leave the Captain to their rest. In the second timeline I reopened communications with Desperate and focused back on the conversation. "Apologies."

    "No need, anyway I guess the last thing of note is that you probably don't want to cr@#S-" the image on the screen distorted for a moment, vibrant colors exploding across the surface before righting themselves. By the time the image righted itself Desperate was looking at the screen with a bit of confusion. "Are you getting interference on your end?"

    "Yes, given my current location it isn't unusual," the unfinished Endbringer shelter that my organization called home was buried under tons of metal, stone, and earth. As such it was perfectly normal to have the occasional bout of interference. "Can you repeat that last part?"

    Desperate gave a nod before repeating himself. "What I was saying is that she probably isn't going to be the type to accept bribes or threats, In other words it's a situation a guy like you is perfectly unsuited for, Mr. Calvert."

    My blood turned to ice as that name was spoken, even over a secure line like this hearing it while in this suit was enough to throw me off far longer than I was comfortable admitting. "How do you know that name?" I hissed through clenched teeth.

    "I'm honestly a bit surprised," Desperate continued, utterly ignoring my question in favor of continuing. "Accord's Ambassadors, all I had to do was say they sent me and you bit into the bait faster then I would have guessed. Then again you were probably pretty on edge considering how badly things have been going recently. Failed kidnapping plots, PRT getting its nose all in your weapons business, and of course the girl that keeps crashing your ability when it tries to do more than a rudimentary workaround of her."

    I slammed my hands into my desk and yanked the power cord from the back of the computer tower, already trying to figure out how to deal with the mercenary. However to my surprise even with the tower being unplugged the screen continued uninterrupted.

    "But luckily for you my bosses have taken a bit of an interest in your operation, and they are more than willing to help you. Whether you want it or not. I look forward to working with you real soon. In the name of the Third Cause." the image on the screen began to distort again, colors exploding across the screen as if someone had taken a bat to an old television screen.

    I tried to pull myself out of my chair, thoughts of escape already fresh in my mind. But I found that my body couldn't move, I didn't have the strength to lift a single limb no matter how hard I raged. But that was fine, I would simply collapse this timeline and focus on the one where I had left the room to check on the Captain. It was odd to consider that as the safe timeline but it was still necessary.

    …

    I was still here. Still in the chair. Thinking back I couldn't even remember the timeline where I had left the room to check on the Captain. I had done so, I remember my power activating but I had no memory beyond leaving the door. Even if I died in a timeline the memory would still come to me, but there was simply darkness.

    I apologize for the less than pleasant greeting Thomas, but you are a very difficult man to contact through normal means.

    A voice came from my monitor, and it was all I could do to focus on the screen again, seeing the colors give way to…blackness. It wasn't that the colors had disappeared and been replaced by a black screen, but rather that the screen itself had been replaced by a deep pit that seemed to drink in the light around it.

    The voice itself sounded wrong somehow, not in the way that a computer simulated voice might come off. Each word was well spoken and had not a trace or hint of accent to it, it sounded like something that had grasped the concept of speech and mastered it, but was still unused to having to speak.

    Deception is poor manners, but you will forgive me for it soon enough. I want to assure you that there is no malice behind my actions, I simply seek to help.

    From the black void within my computer monitor odd tendrils began to come forward. They were a light blue color, akin to veins in appearance and tipped by small hook-like blades. The tendrils brushed against my suit in an almost comforting manner, like a monstrous version of a hug.

    And then the hook like blades of the tendrils dug through my costume and into my skin. I wanted to scream but the luxury of speech had been stolen from me along with movement. Pain exploded over the areas where they dug themselves into me but there was no blood, no warm feeling that came with injury. But there was pain, there was pain beyond any scope or description I had ever experienced.

    Despite the pain however I forced myself to stay aware of my surroundings, my PRT trooper training coming to me even now. I needed to stay awake, not allow whatever ability was affecting me to take hold. But my efforts were in vain, the sheer agony that laced through my body was such that I could feel my mind trying to flee into the comfort of nothingness to escape it.

    But then all at once the pain was gone, and even more than that I felt great. Despite selling drugs I had never partaken for myself, but I imagined what I was currently experiencing was akin to a blissful high.

    I am sorry about the pain Thomas, but you will never feel it again. No more pain or discomfort will ever touch you again.

    If I had been able to speak I might have broken out in tears at what the voice promised. Even if I had only experienced it for a moment the pain had been such that if I had ever been forced to endure it again I wasn't sure that my mind would be able to hold against it.

    I scolded myself for that thought, after all whoever was doing this had inflicted it upon me in the first place. This had to be a master effect, or some other esoteric parahuman bullshit that was warping my perception. I had to set my mind against it, force out any influence before it could dig into my mind.

    But if the pain had been beyond my ability to suppress the pleasure flooding me right now was twice and again stronger then it. There was no ebb in it, it was always set in the best moment of this feeling and had no clear sign of stopping. The pleasure even hid the feeling of the odd tendrils continuing the snake through my body.

    Ha, snake. Like my costume.

    That's right Thomas, there is no need for you to do anything but enjoy the gift that I bring. You will be made better, just as those you've brought here with you have already been made better. A part of something much greater than yourself.

    I tried to push against the blissful feeling but my will was breaking, it was impossible to deny how good everything felt. Even the minor discomfort from the tendrils was gone now, and my screen was replaced by a dark mirror that showed my costume was untouched.

    "There we go, that should be the last of it," the voice spoke from my own body now, and I felt myself rise out of my chair and walk toward the door to my section of the base. My body opened the door and revealed my guards with glassy expressions and simple smiles on their faces. "Just sleep now Thomas, we will have such great things to do moving forward."

    I knew I shouldn't listen to the voice, that I should keep fighting against whatever force was now part of my body. But the bliss told me that everything would be alright, that for the first time since Ellisburg things would be okay if I just allowed myself to rest. And so I let go over any petty concerns over my body, and let my mind become one with the bliss awaiting me.


    The Third Cause

    I spent a moment of my time fixing up the mess that had been made and starting back up the computer, opening the video messenger and focusing on my favored agent with a smile. The mask that had covered this face moments ago had been removed along with the suit in favor of more comfortable clothes. "I think that went rather well, don't you?"

    Desperate, let out a small laugh and waved off the joke. "Still you're taking a bit of a risk on this aren't you boss? I'm pretty good at blending in, but if you decide to throw down with the newbie we might risk drawing the Puppeteer's notice before we have everything in place for Bliss Day."

    I waved away the man's worries with a simple gesture. While he was a dedicated agent to the Third Cause he was also prone to worry, given that he was an inoculated it was one of the burdens he was forced to hold. "I would find it unlikely that we have escaped notice, Sister-Of-Mine is much more easily tracked than myself and has managed to totally escape notice. The Seekers have made an excellent smokescreen for our work."

    A small laugh escaped the man. "Well I'm just a mercenary at the end of the day, so I'll just continue to follow orders and keep my nose out of your business. Best of luck." the screen went black, revealing the reflection of the face I had now taken as my own.

    "Yes." a slight tremor flowed through my body as the pieces of my true body moved through the form I had now taken. "I believe luck is firmly on our side now."

    With that said I forced the activation of the shard connection and began to explore our next move.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Hmmm, for some reason I find this new enemy kinda shoehorned, like because Taylor got a lightsaber, the evil guys got a deathstar.
    Probably because there was no warning or any signal of hidden enemies.
     
    Lordxana said:
    "I do hope the information you have to give me is worth the not insignificant amount of money I have had transferred to your account, Desperate."
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    Damn it, I forgot about one of the main rules - if there is a problem, always suspect Coil!
    Lordxana said:
    That's right Thomas, there is no need for you to do anything but enjoy the gift that I bring. You will be made better, just as those you've brought here with you have already been made better. A part of something much greater than yourself.
    Click to expand...
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    What the actual fuck? Okay, I definitely didn't expect something like this.:o
     
    Ask the Character 1 (A silly fan appreciation chapter)
  • Apocrypha
    • Taylor

    "Hello everyone and welcome to Ask Us Anything, the semi-canon portion of the story where readers can have all of their burning questions answered and get into the heads of various characters!" Lisa sat behind a large desk and elbowed me in the ribs, forcing a small sigh out of me as I read out the lines she had written.

    "Quite a few people submitted interesting questions both in comments, on the forums, and of course through private messages," I just wanted to go back to sleep after the last arc but apparently I had angered the forces above and been slotted into the co-host slot for a non-canon omake in my own story. Maybe next time I could force one of the Undersiders to take my place. "First up on the block we have a question from SpaceBattles."

    Merlinoi asks,

    Hum, I have a question for Stetson : Who/what is the first doll ever created? (If there even was one)

    "Quite the interesting question to be sure, got any word for us?" Lisa snapped her fingers and my teacher appeared in front of the desk in a chair.

    "Wait, we can do that?" I asked, more than a bit confused.

    "Semi-canon, I can theoretically do many things, anyway first doll ever?"

    Stetson offered a warm smile and a nod toward me before focusing on the question itself. "Oh there certainly was a first doll, however the Dollhouse has been around for quite some time, thus the exact record of the first doll was lost. Which I know is a horribly unsatisfying answer, so allow me to offer a different tidbit of information. The first doll I ever crafted was Sister Mercy, the first doll to have been seen in the fic itself. In total I've added ten dolls in total, and further down the road you will most likely see Taylor add one of her own."

    That idea was slightly terrifying, but at the very least it was good to know I would have to do something like that in the future.

    "Welp vague half answers from the single most mysterious person in the fic. I don't know what anyone would have expected. Anyway, onto the next question! This one comes courtesy of Sufficient Velocity," Lisa waved her hand.

    Anonymous asks,

    Does Riley plan on turning herself in somewhere down the road?

    "She shouldn't have to answer that," I began to stand up but Riley had already appeared in the seat.

    "It's okay, I don't mind answering," Riley took in a small breath and looked forward. "I know that I hurt a lot of people, and no matter what I do I can't just magically fix things and make them better. But I want to try and help people. If I can't do anything to help at all I don't mind going to the Birdcage, but until then I want to support Taylor and help her to save as many people as possible."

    I hadn't expected an answer like that, but at the same time it was a very Riley thing to say at this point. "You will."

    "Well seeing what happened in the last intermission we will probably need a good doctor." Lisa joked.

    "Wait what?" I asked.

    "Moving on at a fast pace the next question comes courtesy of Archiveofourown," Lisa bull rushed past my attempts to get an answer out of her.

    Krokozyabra asks,

    What is Lisa's favorite doll?

    "T.V. Butler, and it's really not even a competition," Lisa said from the chair on the other side of the desk.

    I quickly looked to the spot next to me and found that she had vanished in the moment it had taken her to answer the question. "How?"

    "No, the question is why. Am I interviewing myself here? Jeesh." Lisa rolled her eyes. "Anyway beyond the cool factor of being a literal butler with a t.v. for a head it also has the power to figure out exactly what the person in front of it needs at any specific moment. Meaning that I don't have to worry about the menu because it can put together a meal based on exactly what I like and what my body needs to keep functioning. And it's coffee is absolutely the best."

    "It always comes back to coffee," I sighed, looking through the script and seeing that there was only one real question left, but found myself a bit shocked at it. "Okay let's finish this odd tangent up so that we can get back to canon. This question has appeared almost everywhere the story has been posted."

    Multiple people asked,

    What is Saint's reaction to Dragon being unbound?

    Out of a burning pile of wreckage from a shipping vessel the badly burned and mutilated body of Saint pulled himself forward, nothing but his own sheer hatred pulling him forward by this point. "I won't live in a world where that machine brings an end to all life. My mission isn't complete until I save the world from her!"

    "Boy, he sure sounds…well you get the joke." Desperate appeared in Lisa's seat next to me, giving me a minor shock. "Stay tuned everyone, things are only getting started."

    Despite my intense dislike of the villain I had to admit that he was right. "Stay tuned for the start of the next chapter sometime in the week, starting out with a fun shopping trip before diving straight into the start of my mission to make the Bay a better place. Coming up next for Dollhouse, the Babel arc."
     
  • Apocrypha
    • Chapter Delay
  • Informational
    • Hey everyone, you might have noticed it's been a week and there hasn't been a chapter. Truth is I've been sick as a dog and have barely gotten two pages of stuff put together. Work on Babel will begin properly tomorrow now that this cold has finally started allowing me to be human again.



    Thank you to all my readers and once again sorry about the delay. I should be able to get a chapter to you guys next week, or sometime this weekend if the creative bug kicks into high gear.
     
  • Informational
    • Lordxana said:
    I would find it unlikely that we have escaped notice, Sister-Of-Mine is much more easily tracked than myself and has managed to totally escape notice.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Shouldn't this be "have not"? The second independent clause here implies that if "Sister-of-Mine" is so much worse at hiding than the speaker and yet remained hidden, then the speaker should have it pretty easy. But that is not what the first clause is saying.
     
    Babel 1
  • Threadmarks
    • Nightmares weren't anything new to me, after my mom had passed away and dad had started his downward spiral I used to have nightmares about waking up and being totally alone. I would go looking for my dad and wouldn't find him in the house, and even when I went outside there would be nothing there. After the Trio began to make my life a living hell I had nightmares of them following me home, and of course after they shoved me into the locker that became one of the bigger ones.

    Meeting Stetson and Riley had helped with my nightmares a bit, making it so I didn't feel so alone in the world anymore. And once I started training and figuring out what I could do the Trio didn't scare me enough to play that big of a role. I still had the occasional dream about my dad being gone, but I had learned to ignore those.

    However what I had seen in Heartbreaker's base haunted my dreams, people's bodies decaying from the cold, huddled together to find some form of warmth. Women whose bodies had been abused huddling around a generator with eyes devoid of any thought for themselves. The broken form of Edge Shooter as I forced the doll to sacrifice itself for a chance to win.

    It was all fresh, and no matter how much I tried to push against it in the dream the images would simply replay again and again in horrible focus, asking why I wasn't doing more for them.

    When I finally woke up it was with a small gasp, thankful for the alarm the Dollhouse played.

    Communication from Stetson, would you like to connect?

    I glanced down at myself, seeing that I hadn't changed out of my uniform before passing out on the bed, not even mentioning the sweat that was still clinging to me from the nightmare. But given how busy my teacher probably was this might be one of the few times we got a chance to talk.

    "Connect." I answered, straightening myself up in the bed and watched as a hologram of my teacher appeared at the foot of the bed.

    Stetson looked much the same as he always did, if one didn't know he was a projected image they would assume he was physical in the room, just another miracle of the Dollhouse. "Congratulations on a job well done Taylor, taking down a monster like Heartbreaker is a fine first mission. Freeing those that he enslaved to his will at the same time was a master stroke as well."

    Despite the nightmares still being fresh I couldn't help but feel proud at the praise that Stetson had given me. "Thank you, I just…"

    "You wish you could have done more for his victims, or stopped him sooner," Stetson finished my thought and offered a smile. "I understand that it is hard, you have a good heart and feel for those hurt by others. Remember that you've saved so many lives today and take comfort in knowing that Heartbreaker will never hurt another because of your actions."

    Hearing those words from him made some of the worry that had been hanging over my thoughts leave me. This had been my first mission without him looking over my shoulder, and I was probably judging myself more harshly than was needed. If I had actually stopped to heal each individual person, Heartbreaker might have gotten away, or I might have lost to Desperate after draining too much stamina.

    "Thank you, I just hope that the people he kept there are being taken care of," I took a small breath to steady my emotions before turning back to his image. "How did you know about the attack?"

    "Riley happened to send me a message through the Dollhouse. I believe her exact words were 'Even if Taylor is amazing she will probably blame herself so please call her when you can'. That girl worries about you quite a bit you know." my teacher offered me a sly smile that I could only reply to with a laugh.

    It felt good to have people worried about me.

    "Sorry if you had to take some time out of..whatever you are doing just to call me." I felt a bit embarrassed about the situation, even if Riley was right about me being hard on myself. I was still new to having someone go out of their way just because I was feeling down.

    "Nonsense, you are my student after all, even if I can't be there to teach you day to day I still have an obligation to check in on you once in a while." he waved off the issue.

    With that worry set aside for the moment I decided to focus on another concern. "Then if you have time, I need to ask you about something."

    "Of course," he took a seat and motioned for me to continue.

    "Yesterday I called upon a Black Box doll, Lord Rebellion. The Dollhouse said that my 'current control level' might lead to danger when using it…and I nearly drained myself just activating its power for a few seconds." it had been shocking to me just how quickly the activation of a single doll had nearly put me under. Even after a night filled with fighting I should have been able to keep up for at least a few minutes.

    "Ah, yes I suppose introducing the concept of the Boxes just before leaving was ill thought out on my part. You have my earnest apologies on that matter," Stetson sighed. "Do you remember why we use our blood to connect to the dolls?"

    I blinked and thought back to some of the first lessons that Stetson had taught me. "I think it was something to do with sharing life between yourself and the doll."
    "Correct, however it's a bit more complex than that. Each doll shares a unique link with its user, how one doll will function and act while I command it might not be the same as your own experience."

    "But that doesn't explain why Lord Rebellion exhausted me." I felt like there was something I was missing, but I couldn't quite figure it out.

    "Simply put, the personality behind Lord Rebellion didn't mesh with your own mindset, thus the link you established with the doll required much more energy than you were used to. And of course all of the dolls within the boxes are on a different scale in terms of power compared to those outside of them. Even for me it is less exhausting to control two or three dolls at the same time then try and make prolonged use of a single doll from those collections. They are meant to be used as situational weapons or methods of last resort."

    "You couldn't have told me that before I summoned one and nearly passed out?" there was a bit more of an edge then I had meant to put into my tone.

    For a moment Stetson didn't reply, before letting out a small sigh and lowering his head. "You are right." for a moment my teacher looked like a totally different person. While he was always on the older side he had always seemed more energetic, hardly ever acting it. "There is a story you need to hear, if only to help you understand more about why I make the decisions I do. And the mistakes…I've made more of those than I can count."

    Part of me wanted to apologize for upsetting him, because while I had been annoyed I hadn't meant to hurt him with my words. But I was equally caught up by the idea of getting to learn more about the man who had saved my life.

    "When I was younger I lived in an orphanage in a small community that was rather isolated from the rest of the world. I like to think my childhood was fairly normal, though I maybe had a bit less of an education then some and a bit on the frail side," a small smile came to his face. "Those were good days, they didn't last of course. They never seem to." Stetson drew in a small breath, his eyes unfocused as he remembered his past. "My small community came under attack and in the span of an hour I lost everything. My family was gone, my community was gone, and…" he put a hand over the arm that connected him to the Dollhouse. "Other things were lost as well."

    I could see how difficult it was having to talk about his past, it had taken a bit before I had been able to tell anyone about my mother after all, and it seemed like he had lost quite a bit more in a short period of time.

    "The next time I woke up I was inside of the Dollhouse, with a new arm and a man that would go on to teach me almost everything I know about the world. For a year I learned from him while also trying to do some good in the world. Then we ended up facing the same force that had destroyed my community. It was a terrible battle, and by the end of it my teacher was dead and I was injured quite terribly. The only bright point of the entire endeavor was that our mission had been accomplished, we provided a beating they would take years to recover from. Even still there was so much that needed to be done. Even if the worst happens to me I want to leave you with a world where you can properly grow without worry."

    While the entire story was interesting I couldn't help but feel a small amount of shock. Outside of an Endbringer or someone like Eidolon or Alexandria it was hard to imagine anyone being able to beat the Dollhouse. "What…I mean who did you guys fight?"

    "A terrible enemy, Taylor. I don't intend to keep you in the dark about things that might prove dangerous to you, but I also know you well enough that you aren't the kind to simply stand back and let things be. So I intend for the moment to give you only enough information to avoid them at all costs, or to call for me should you encounter them. Do you understand?" Stetson's gaze was rather serious, and honestly from the description given I could see why he would want me to avoid them.

    I couldn't exactly say he was wrong, letting things go when they were hurting others irked me, especially now that I had power to stop them. If he gave me enough information I would probably end up in a dangerous situation without even thinking about it. "I understand."

    He looked at me through the hologram for a moment, as if searching my face to check for sincerity before nodding. "The names you must watch out for at all costs are as followers: Third Cause, The Family, Infinite Circus, and any mentions of the Seeker or Warrior. So long as you avoid those names there is little that you have to fear so long as you move forward with purpose."

    I closed my eyes and burned those names into my memory. Not getting involved might be difficult because after his story I now had a reason to worry about the man who had saved my life and given me the power to make a difference, but I could at least keep him in the loop. "Got it. I'll make sure to keep you informed if I hear anything."

    He offered a smile and a light chuckle at my reply. "I'm sure you will. Now then there are two more things to go over. First is about the team you are putting together."

    I leaned forward. "What about them?"

    "It's important that you learn about each one as an individual before focusing on them as a team. Take time before rushing toward your goal to properly understand who they are and what they can do." Stetson said.

    "Have you been on a team before?" my teacher had always struck me as the loner type, it was hard to imagine him traveling with others and doing their own thing.

    "Oh, more times than I can count. Sometimes leading, more often than not following someone and playing the role of a distant mentor. Mind you, I have the hardest time finding young people who don't needlessly rush into danger." he eyed me for a moment and I felt that I couldn't quite meet his eyes on that one.

    "What's the second thing?" I asked, trying to change subjects.

    "There is someone I'd like you to meet," he turned away and motioned for someone to enter into the range of whatever he was using the record himself. A young woman, maybe mid-twenties at most with blonde hair entered the picture, offering a smile toward me.

    "You must be Taylor, Stetson here goes on about you all the time," the woman laughed softly and looked forward. "My names Paige, but you probably know me better as-"

    "Canary?!" I couldn't stop myself, nearly collapsing from shock. "I thought, I mean the whole trial…you broke her out of prison?" I turned toward Stetson, my mouth hanging open slightly from shock.

    "I happened across a news broadcast about the situation she faced and found her argument toward it being a terrible misunderstanding more convincing than it being an act of malice. And I figured that serving out a community sentence where her talents could be put to use made more sense then being thrown into a pit." Stetson seemed rather nonchalant about breaking out a prisoner that was going to be sent to the Birdcage. Then again he had never really struck me as one to listen to the law when it didn't suit him, considering that despite all his power he was more of a rogue than a proper hero.

    "I uh, yeah okay that makes sense." I couldn't exactly argue, anyone with half a brain that had heard about the trial knew that Canary had been railroaded for the entire process.

    Canary laughed a bit and held up a hand to show she didn't mean offense. "You're exactly like how he described you, he talks about you basically all the time."

    I felt a small blush at that, dipping my head slightly to hide behind my hair. "Thanks I uh, I really like your music."

    "Then how about when we meet up I do a live performance?" Canary smiled and turned toward Stetson. "That being said we should probably get going right?

    "Indeed, so much to do so little time sadly," Canary stepped away and Stetson turned to focus on me. "Keep up on your training Taylor, I'll try and keep in contact when possible."

    The hologram ended, leaving me somehow even more tired then I had been before passing out last night. But there was no rest for the wicked, and after getting out of bed and throwing on some clothes I had kept in the Dollhouse after one too many 'accidents' involving juice getting spilled on me at school I was ready to face the world.

    Or in this case a half dead looking Lisa and Riley staring into their breakfasts in front of them before turning to look at me, giving small mutters of welcome as I sat down at the large table.

    Within moments I had food brought to me by T.V. Butler and began to dig in myself, even if it was just pancakes and fruit it still had the same Dollhouse quality that came with all of the food that was grown within the greenhouse here.

    After her second cup of coffee Lisa turned to me. "So I don't know if it hit any official news source but Heartbreaker's arrest is all over the web, apparently full credit is being given to Thread. Top that off with donating the full bounty attached to his head to a Dragon created and sponsored charity that sprang into existence last night for victims of his and suddenly there are about as many active threads on the PHO about your cape name as there are people to make them."

    "And that's good?" I asked hopefully. I had flown under the radar for almost my entire life, so suddenly being the center of attention was weird. Even if technically it was my secret identity getting most of the spotlight.

    "Little of A, little of B," Lisa answered. "Everyone hated Heartbreaker, but at the same time most people thought he was just someone that was going to be around and making people miserable for the rest of his natural life. Like the Nine-" she winced and looked over to Riley, who simply waved it off. "-or Nilbog. Taking him down and breaking his mind control over his victims is going to get you attention from basically everyone. Good guys and bad guys."

    I could see that getting to be a bit of a problem, if the bad guys started running every time I decided to fight them it was going to be a pain in the ass to beat the rest of the gangs in Brockton. "We'll figure out what to do about that latter," right now I was more focused on getting the Undersiders settled and following Stetson's advice about figuring out the people on my team. Not only that, but there was something I was dreading even more. "So are you still up for the meet up?"

    Lisa looked at me for a moment in confusion, before realization dawned on her face and the most evil grin I had seen from her yet appeared. "A broken leg couldn't keep me away from it."

    Part of me wondered if that would be less painful than trying to go out and try and pretend like I knew what a social grace was with two superheros, a former supervillain, and possibly other people my age. "Well, it's only…" I pulled out my phone and gulped. "Eleven Thirty?!." Apparently I was a heavy sleeper after having most of the blood in my body drained.

    Who knew?

    Thankfully the Dollhouse had a shower and I was able to make myself look almost put together before bringing Lisa and I a few blocks away from the mall. "Do I look okay?" I asked Lisa, seeing her rolling her eyes from just out of my view.

    "Boss you just took down one of the biggest assholes in the world yesterday and then followed it up by giving away enough money to set you for life away. Are you really worried about what…" she paused for a moment and looked at the expression I was giving her. "You look fine, probably. Once again, not my type."

    "Don't have a type." I responded with a sigh.

    "But if I did, you probably aren't it, chief." Lisa winked at me, and I responded how any mature adult would.

    I slugged her in the arm.

    "Let's just get this over with." I was honestly excited for the chance to hang out with people my age outside of the Dollhouse and my other identity. But I was equally nervous about my sheer lack of social skills and that I would somehow make them hate me by doing something wrong.

    It didn't take long to find the Dallon sisters and the small group that was with them, an older girl and two guys I didn't recognize. One of the guys was pretty close to Vicky with an arm wrapped around her, so probably her boyfriend? The other guy was muscular beyond belief but had a sort of plain face that was almost at odds with how well he was built. He seemed to be making small talk with Amy. It took a moment to recognize the girl as Lazerdream of New Wave, or more accurately Crystal Pelham if I was remembering correctly.

    When Vicky saw me she moved away from the guy and floated over to me. Literally floated. A small cough from Crystal made her realize what she was doing and put her feet back on the ground with a small embarrassed cough. "Glad you could make it, we got here a bit early but you didn't send a text or anything."

    "Still getting used to having a phone I guess," I felt a bit embarrassed by my apparent social slip up, but the guy who had his arm around Vicky earlier approached with the rest of the group and spoke up.

    "It's fine really, names Dean," he offered his hand and I took it, giving a small shake before he pointed toward the large guy near Amy. "That's Edgar, and I'm pretty sure you already know the girls."

    "Actually we didn't have a chance to talk back during that whole thing last week," Crystal smiled and waved. "Hopefully no more stalkers bothering you?"

    "Yeah, I mean I haven't noticed anyone at least," I tried to push past any awkward questions and turned toward Lisa. "This is Lisa, she's the friend that I told you guys about."

    "Friend or 'friend'?" Vicky asked with a smile, noticing the two of us standing close to another.

    "Just friend, no matter how much it might break her sensitive he-" Lisa was cut off by my elbow striking her ribs, a small cough coming from her. "Jeesh fine, yeah we're just friends, outside of her d-" she dodged to the side before I could deliver another elbow to her ribs and she stuck her tongue out, getting a laugh from the group.

    It was a weird experience, laughing as a group instead of just being the butt of the joke, and I think that's what Lisa was going for. I was glad to have brought her along, even if I wanted to drop her off of a building at the moment.

    Vicky smiled and turned toward the mall with a wave of her hand. "Okay everyone here is the plan, we hit every store until Taylor has everything she needs, the boys carry everything and we help her put together something nice."

    Crystal and Lisa gave a cheer while Amy might have muttered something to the positive, the boys mainly just looking put upon as we began to head into the mall itself.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Babel 2
  • Threadmarks
    • I had thought that after countless hours of training and fights against some of the most terrifying Parahumans the Bay had to offer that my stamina would be near bottomless, that unless I was facing off against someone like Lung or Hookwolf that I could push forward against any obstacle.

    But trying to keep up with Vicky during Mall Madness proved that I still had so much further to still go.

    Keeping up with her was as much a battle of will as it was a physical one, pushing past crowds of people to get to a specific rack, racing to changing rooms, and of course being submitted to Lisa and Vicky scanning over my choices before throwing new items at me.

    I had tried on more clothes in two hours then I had probably worn before in my entire life, ending up with a few bags that I had tried to insist on carrying for myself, but that Vicky had removed from my hands and passed along to the two guys, who had simply waved off my attempts to apologize for the trouble.

    Eventually I was forced to tap out at the front of a Victoria's Secret, which thankfully Lisa backed me up on simply saying that first timers had their limits and went in with Vicky and Crystal to shop, along with a less than comfortable looking Dean who appeared to be doing his best to hold a straight face.

    Which left me out with Edgar, who throughout the trip had said so few words I didn't even think I would be able to form a full sentence with them if I had tried. Despite that it would feel awkward just to stand next to him without trying to talk a bit. "So how did you get dragged into this?" I asked, trying my best to strike up some form of conversation.

    Edgar turned to me for a moment, a small smile coming to his face. "Apparently Dean thought he might lose the use of his arms if he had to carry around everything Vicky was going to get by herself, and promised me a free lunch. That and not having much else to do." he admitted the last part with a bit of a shrug of his shoulders.

    "Fair enough," I replied, I couldn't exactly complain considering how helpful he had been. Conversation had never been my strong suit, and I felt like I was flailing for something, anything to talk about. Thankfully Edgar was the one to take the initiative in that regard.

    "So Vicky told me what happened, with the whole Shadow Stalker thing," he looked away for a moment. "I figured I should let you know that I knew, I mean I don't know if you wanted it to be a secret or something but she mentioned helping you out during lunch at school one day."

    A small laugh escaped me at the apology and I did my best to wave off his concerns. It was sweet of him to worry about accidentally learning something that might make me uncomfortable, but honestly that how bit of oddness had done more good for me in the long run then bad. I was still trying to figure out why I had been followed, but with the hunt for Heartbreaker and my enrollment in Arcadia it had been put to the back of my mind. "It's really not a big deal, I mean it was kind of terrifying being followed by her but it's not like anything actually happened."

    "Fair enough I suppose, honestly she always kind of creeped me out," Edgar smiled and turned toward me again now that he had cleared the air about the incident. "She is a lot like Hyde without Jekyll."

    At that point I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me, it was rare to have someone go for a classic literature joke. "I was surprised after meeting her that she didn't have a big red A on her chest," he blinked for a moment. "You know, for asshole."

    The joke finally clicked and a grin overtook his face. "Scarlet Letter, you certainly don't hold back your punches do you?"

    After that we talked about our shared interest in classic literature, mine from my mom and his from just being a 'heavy introvert'. I can't say that we exactly matched opinions, I tended to enjoy novels more for the characterization while he was more interested in the overall structure of narrative, but we were able to at least match on some common grounds.

    Eventually the group exited the store with an utterly exhausted looking Dean. Vicky however couldn't have been happier, glancing toward Edgar and myself before asking "Okay, how about lunch?" Crystal bowed out, saying that she had to get something done and went toward the exit after a quick goodbye.

    Vicky took the lead of the group as she had since the start, leading everyone to the food court before we split up into various groups to grab what we wanted. However before I could get too far a hand fell on my shoulder, and when I turned to check I saw Amy with a near unreadable expression on her face. "We need to talk."

    I was a bit thrown off guard by the odd look she had, given how quiet she had come off as during our shopping trip I hadn't expected to be pinned by such an intense look. "Okay, but uh," I waved my hand to the general sound and chaos of the food court, which got an embarrassed look out of her before I pointed toward a more quiet area outside near some of the less popular shops. "So what exactly do we need to talk about?"

    "You're not a parahuman," her eyes narrowed slightly. "But my power can't read you, or when it tries it's like there is something stopping it."

    A flash of panic flew through my body as I tried to summon up an excuse that would put aside any worries that she had. But from what little I knew about Amy's ability, the idea of fooling someone who regularly was able to heal the body from maladies that laughed in the face of modern medicine, it felt like it would be a long shot to just say 'must have been a mistake' and try and move on.

    Thankfully inspiration bit me before I could look confused for long. "Can you keep a secret?" I asked, my voice serious.

    Her eyes hardened a bit and it looked like she was ready to bolt, but she gave a nod.

    "I was in an accident, a really bad one," I felt that was almost a bit underselling the fact that the cut connection between my brain and whatever gave people powers had caused the energy to explode like a firecracker in the middle of my gray matter, but I lacked anything better to describe it at the moment. "Someone helped me but it made some parts of me different. I don't want to cause any trouble and I'm not going to hurt anyone." That last bit was a lie considering that I planned on beating down the various gang leaders in town, but it was a white lie at worst.

    "Who was it?" Amy didn't seem to fully buy my story, but it wasn't like I had given her a reason to be suspicious of my intentions.

    "They asked me to keep it a secret," which of course was a lie, Stetson had been more than willing to meet with my father and had never asked me to keep any of the facts of that night to myself. I chose to believe that it was because he trusted me not to just go around and blab about it to everyone, through given the fact that he had full access to the Dollhouse and a level of knowledge regarding it that would take me years still to master maybe it was just that there was nothing that could threaten him by letting his identity be known. "Sorry."

    Lying to Amy was hard, mainly because she had been kind to me at the coffee shop when she had no reason to and because she was probably the most altruistic cape in the known world. But unlike the others that knew my identity as Thread she had no real reason to keep my identity to herself if she knew. And as much as I wanted to believe she was a good person, my faith in others was a wounded beast.

    She seemed indecisive for a moment before simply sighing and giving a nod of her head. "Fine, I won't tell anyone, but…" Amy glanced up at me. "Take my hand first, I want to try one more time."

    I looked at the offered hand for a moment and considered my options. The odds of her trying to hurt me were slim to none, and honestly I wasn't sure if there was anything she could actually do that the Dollhouse or Riley wouldn't be able to fix. So with no small amount of worry still in my heart I took her hand.

    We sat there for almost a minute as a variety of emotions played across her face, confusion the most prominent among them. "Your brain is a complete black spot, and it's like it has…roots moving through the rest of your body making it hard to see anything. Your bones and muscles are stronger than normal but not in the traditional way that they would be if you had powers. It's not superhuman, it's just…optimized?"

    I gave a small shrug that she seemed to ignore before eventually letting go of my hand. "So, you'll keep it a secret?"

    "Yeah," she let out a small sigh and looked away from me. "I'm sorry if…I didn't mean to threaten you."
    She did seem honestly apologetic, but what I couldn't figure out was what had driven her to confront me like this in the first place. I hadn't exactly heard of her going out of her way to scan the bodies of parahumans before. However I did have a theory on it. She had probably been a bit scared that she wasn't able to see the bits of the Dollhouse that were part of my body, and Stetson had taught me that those who lived their lives based around their abilities were more disturbed by them being taken away or subverted then any form of injury.

    It was why he had told me to use the Bludgeoning Angel against Lung, the absolute fear was already a terrifying ability, but given his power grew over a fight having any will to fight erased from him had left him disturbed. Given how he had reacted when I had made the mistake to disengage the doll's ability when I thought he was out of the fight it had driven him more than a bit crazy.

    But all I could do was try and push away any worries that I would hurt the people around her. The last thing that I wanted was to do anything that would spit in the face that her family had shown me. "Come on, let's get some food before the others start worrying. My treat."

    It didn't seem to pick up her mood much, but she did at least follow me into the food court to grab something. Thankfully we weren't forced to hunt for the group, as they had managed to score one of the few large tables and left seats open for us.

    "So did you guys see on the news this morning?" Vicky looked around the table to see if anyone knew what she was talking about, but the group mostly just shrugged. "Come on, Heartbreaker got taken down last night, it was all over the news this morning."

    I looked at Lisa, but she simply gave a shrug and went back to her food, denying that she had any hand in it. The news had spread a bit faster than I had thought, I figured there would have been at least a day or two before the story broke but apparently someone must have leaked it.

    "No kidding?" Dean seemed interested in the story and leaned forward. "Did Dragon finally manage to track him down?"

    Seeing that she had got someone interested in the story she continued. "Nope, someone a bit closer to home."

    A look of confusion flashed over Dean and Edgar's faces before Vicky finally dropped the reveal. "Apparently Thread was the one who took down Heartbreaker, and she did something that unmastered everyone he had control over."

    "Holy shit," Dean leaned back in his chair and looked up toward the ceiling. "What next, breaking the Gray Boy loops or dropping a mountain on the Slaughterhouse Nine?"

    It was a bit embarrassing to be praised by my friends, even if it was mainly my alternate persona they were talking about, and it took a bit of effort to keep my face set to only mild interest. However at the first recommendation I noticed Lisa looked at me, seemingly asking if it was possible through her facial expression.

    It was something to look into later at least, taking away another source of suffering from people who had done nothing to deserve it. But even if I could free them the logistics required to ensure any level of proper living afterward were a bit beyond my ability. There was a chance I could leverage my acts thus far to work something out with the PRT, but I had to admit I was still nervous to work with them at the moment.

    For the moment I decided to put those thoughts to the side, trying to figure out where the conversation had gone before my thoughts were further interrupted by a loud crash from outside of the food court, followed by screams of panic and the sounds of people running.

    Vicky was the first to leap up, with Dean and Edgar following after her in short order. Amy looked a bit like a deer caught in the headlights but I didn't really have time to worry about her at the moment. I glanced at Lisa who simply gave a nod and moved over to Amy, whispering something before getting her out of the seat and moving toward the back exit in the food court.

    I made my way toward the main section of the mall to try and get a view of what was going on, doing my best to avoid people rushing past me to try and enter into the food court and get away from whatever the source of the panic was. Of course it didn't take too long to spot.

    Tearing through the main floor of the mall were a pair of souped up Go-Karts painted red and green respectively, with the occupants within them dressed in overalls and hats that matched the color scheme of the carts they were in.

    "Now this is podracing!" The red outfitted man turned a hard corner, knocking over a sunglass kiosk and avoiding an aerial lunge from Vicky.

    "Oh god not the prequels, have some class!" the green outfitted man lifted a round black bomb, tapping the fuse atop it and tossing it at Vicky, the explosion from it throwing her against a wall. "Bomb Omb's for the win!"

    Of all of the things I had expected running out, I have to admit running right into an Uber and Leet attack for the second time by complete accident was not one of them. Regardless seeing my friend get a bomb thrown in her face had royally pissed me off.

    "Dollhouse, Inventory Select." I muttered under my breath, backing up to a more isolated corner of the crowd.

    Command from authorized users accepted.

    "Open search, give me something that can stop them without anyone getting hurt and will scare the hell out of them." I knew that it wasn't exactly the most eloquent search request I had ever given, but I was seeing a bit too much red to focus on how I made the request.

    Search results: Dr. Eyeborg, Ro…

    Watching as Uber began to pull out a new weapon I hastily cut off the search results and selected the first option. "Blood-Brain connection."

    The doll appeared in the clearing between the crowd and the chaos being caused by the two villains, and I had to admit that it wasn't exactly the most impressive showing that the Dollhouse had managed to produce. The doll was only about five feet in height and covered by a tan coat that had long seen better days. A hood was pulled up over the head of the doll, giving little idea of what it actually looked like. Once the connection was clear a single point of bright red light began to shine from under the hood, and one of the sleeves rose up and revealed a large metal claw from out of it.

    "You dare use technology for misdeeds?!" the voice of the doll rang out over the mall, cutting off the chatter and drawing the attention of the two villains and Vicky toward its small figure. "Hooliganism, chaotic rabble rousing, mean spirited japes." The voice that came from the doll was high pitched with a bit of a whine to it, but even with that it carried a not insignificant amount of menace to it.

    "Hey, that's my handiwork you're talking about!" Leet pulled out what appeared to be a red turtle shell, turning his vehicle to face the doll before launching it out. The shell glided across the floor in a straight path toward the activated doll.

    However before it could get close the metallic claw flew out from the sleeve of the doll and grabbed the shell, pulling it toward its hood covered face and examining it. "Guidance system, strong motor, craftimenship…" it crushed the shell in a vice grip. "Amature." it tossed the smoking wreckage of the shell and turned its focus on the two carts. "You dare disrespect science before me with such shotty work?!" The crimson glow under the hood of the doll glowed more intensely than before.

    The carts that Uber and Leet had been piloting seemed to fly out of their control, forcing the two villains to circle around and move in a straight line toward the doll, pausing right before him. Despite its small size the doll seemed to almost tower over them. "I've hijacked your junk systems with my metal brain, it can process so much data that doing so was instant. INSTANT!" the doll leaned forward. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

    The two villains looked at each other, seemingly thrown for a loop by the odd turn of events. Even Vicky was slightly keeping her distance, unsure if she should or even how to intervene if I had to guess. Honestly even I didn't have a very clear idea of what was going on, and arguably I was the one most in control of the situation.

    Control in this case however was a very subjective word.

    "Um." one of the two began to answer, only to be cut off quickly.

    "SILENCE, ejection seats!" The doll screamed out and the two villains were suddenly shot out of the carts by miniature rockets before letting out twin high pitch screams, just narrowly avoiding the ceiling of the building before being dropped back to the ground, only saved from being splattered by Vicky flying over and grabbing them.

    "Hello boys," Vicky offered the two a smile that would have been more natural on a shark. "Remember how you threw a bomb at me earlier?"

    "Sorry?" Uber offered, only for their response to be cut off as Vicky dropped them from a non-fatal but still terrifying height toward the ground.

    The doll looked at the two carts for a moment, its mechanical hand crossing over its chest. "I'm sorry you were forced to commit such evil acts. But you must now be destroyed." The crimson light from beneath the doll's hood glowed bright before a lance of energy flew out from it, striking the two carts. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, and then both of them exploded in miniature fireballs. Thankfully there didn't seem to be even a bit of debris left from them to harm anyone, the only damage being some scorch marks on the floor.

    "Oh come on!" despite the obvious terror that the doll had inflicted Leet threw up his hands. "I had to pay to get those made. I had to shake hands with Skidmark, haven't we suffered enough?"

    "Nope," Vicky put her hands on the villain's head. "Now what made you two think that this was a good idea?"

    "This deal is getting worse all the time." Uber quipped, only for Vicky to apply a slight bit more pressure to his head and get a yelp out. "Some guy paid us a bunch of money, we barely even caused property damage this time!"

    "You broke the front door and knocked over a bunch of kiosks!" Vicky swung her hand over the chaos of the mall floor.

    Leet looked thoughtful for a moment. "I mean compared to our normal record…"

    "Silence!" "Shut up!" Dr. Eyeborg and Vicky screamed at the same time.

    The two villains made the first smart move they had in the last few minutes and chose to keep quiet.

    It seemed the lack of danger was drawing in more onlookers, some of them snapping pictures and one even being brave enough to approach Vicky and the doll. "Um, are you a new hero?" the girl asked, holding up a camera to the doll.

    "I am an associate of Thread, chosen for my calm and rational mannerisms." The doll's claw zoomed out and caught the small floating recording device the chaotic duo used and fired another laser into it, tossing it behind the doll's shoulder where it promptly exploded.

    "Come on!" Leet shouted, only for Vicky to slap him upside the head to remind him of the current position he was in.

    "Well tell her thanks, and that last time is water under the bridge," Vicky held out a free hand, which the doll took in its own claw and gave a small shake.

    "She would like you to know that you do good work and she is very thankful to have other good heroes in this town," Dr. Eyeborg turned off the normal shrill scream to its voice and spoke in a rather conscious manner. "And now I must go, I am needed in this place."

    I canceled my connection to the chaotic doll and let out a small breath. Thankfully 'Dr. Eyeborg' didn't have a vast energy requirement in order to use it, so while I was a bit exhausted I wasn't about to drop.

    A few minutes passed and a group of PRT agents backed by Armsmaster and the Ward's Gallant and Browbeat who looked ready for a fight, only to see the two villains already apprehended and looking quite defeated already.

    Seeing that things had mostly cleared up I decided to make tracks and try to find Lisa and Amy and make sure they were okay, pushing through the crowd that was trying to get pictures of the newly arrived heroes. It wasn't exactly an easy task but I somehow made it to the back exit. It seemed quite a few people were milling around nearby, maybe thinking that once the fight was over they could get back to get anything left behind, or get back to shopping if some of the complaints I heard were to be believed.

    However, amongst the crowd I couldn't find either Lisa or Amy. "Oh right, my phone." I was still getting used to having a method of communication on me at all times, pulling out my phone and seeing a number of missed texts and an incoming call from Lisa. I quickly answered the phone. "You guys make it out okay?"

    "Taylor, fuck," Lisa's voice came out slightly pained from the other end of the phone. "Someone hit me from behind…I don't know where Amy is."

    "What?" my heart dropped to my stomach."Where are you?"

    She quickly gave me directions to the side of the mall, where I found her with a slightly disoriented look in her eyes and a small amount of blood mixed in with her hair. "I don't know what happened, one minute we were trying to get to the parking lot, then something hit me from the side. I woke up about a minute ago in the bushes." Lisa pressed a hand against her head.

    My brain was running fast enough that I couldn't make out my thoughts, however through the noise caused by my panic one thought came to me above all others. Someone had hired Uber and Leet to attack the mall on that day. The fact that Lisa was attacked and Amy was missing couldn't have been a coincidence.

    I put an arm around Lisa to support her. "Let's get you patched up. And then call the Undersiders for a meeting tonight."

    I wasn't exactly close with Amy, but she had at least tried to help me during a bad day and I wasn't going to sit around and let someone get away with hurting her.
     
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