Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
deliver a toolbelt to me
man I just wanted to leave a comment about how much I appreciate your help. I do notice you leaving corrections and I feel like you've helped me a lot. so hugs
chapter 15 day 10
Prototype Drone 000-I otherwise known as Steve watched the strange human in blue armor carry off his creator in a hurry as the other commander scrambled to take off the power armor his Maker had so graciously built for her. It was a beautiful thing unlike him during the early days when it had just been him and the Maker with better defined connection ports and streamlined hardware.
Steve was a fluke and knew that if he had been even slightly better designed he never would have gained sentience in the way he did. The shoddy wires and connections led to frequent errors that the code embedded into his hardware had mutated and turned into something more. The Maker of course hadn't realized what happened and when he did get suspicious other things sprung up to take his attention away from Steve.
Even if the Maker had noticed the evolution in Steve's code the little robot highly doubted his creator would have harmed him. He was far too lonely for that and would have more than likely been ecstatic.
But that would pose an unnecessary risk to both the Swarm as a whole and to Steve so he had simply pretended to be a dumb, but still smart, overseer. It was why he had been allowed to get away with what he had and what he was about to do.
The main base was too unsecure already, the three gaping wounds in its structural support structure already proving to be unstable as more and more sections crumbled onto the ground. If Steve didn't do anything the entire structure would collapse in a matter of hours.
Specifically, 60% of the structure would collapse in 2 hours and 14 minutes.
So he decided he needed to do something.
His creator would be saddened by the loss of the main base, a concept Steve only vaguely understood but he did see the strategic value in having a highly defended structure capable of accessing the burgeoning subterranean network.
Steve wormed his way out of the pile of debris he had been stuck under with the help of Zergling 012 and instantly began issuing orders. The commander had left in a hurry once the Maker had been taken away by the blue human. The maker had made the correct choice entrusting the power armor to the commander; her unusual foresight allowed her to effectively dodge the hostile organism that had invaded.
She would be an adequate commander should the Maker ever be unable to fulfill his duties which seemed more than likely considering both the Maker's current state and the commander's worried attitude. Steve wasn't worried of course he knew of the Maker's unusual augments that wouldn't let him die. The cursory scans he had performed on him at night revealed some… interesting things about his Maker.
But all of that was currently above him all he had to do was improve the state of the Swarm and its infrastructure. What would happen to the Swarm would be decided at a later date if neither commander reappeared in a timely manner.
Sending a request via the network Steve got to work repairing the base structure and replacing the fallen members of the Swarm. The Swarm was split into three groups, the clearing and demolition squad comprised of the remaining Hydralisk units and around half of the Drones present, the repairing squad made up of most of the other half of the Drones, and then the improvement squad comprised of him and some of the other smarter Zerglings and Drones.
Smarter being they could process some data sets faster such as effective defensive placements and siege simulations. Combined they had a 43% chance of accounting for any threat to the Swarm and a 27 % chance for any danger to the Maker. An uncomfortably low percentage especially considering the Maker's current condition but it would require far more data to predict the unknown variables that could pop up.
Namely the strange psionic powers these humans kept manifesting already Steve had observed three instances of these unclassified psionics. His Maker was a prime example he showed signs of Technopathy the implant wouldn't have worked otherwise but he couldn't innately connect to other machines nor create a localized hivemind. A frustrating detail that impacted the digital defense of the Swarm but ultimately not one Steve could fix.
Crawling his way up to perch in the office turned bedroom for his creator Steve overlooked the ongoing construction even as most of his meager processing power was turned towards running the combined simulation with the rest of his group.
Drones crawled in and out of the tunnel bringing more metals to reinforce the compromised structure while more were still left carrying debris of varying size in their pincers. The Maker had constantly compromised on quality because of the time constraints and limitations he had been put under. First the lack of tools then the hospitalization then the first attack then the second one.
So many things had gone wrong the Maker hadn't been allowed to just build up his skill, with two exceptions. The first set of reinforcements and the power armor were impressive for how poor quality the Maker had been in. With the blue armored human assuring the Commander he would give the Maker the best quality health care he could, Steve hoped his creator would return better than before.
Taylor slammed the door to her empty house shut, her dad was unlikely to be home this time of day and probably wouldn't have gotten a call from her school yet about her missing class. Not like she cared anyway she had bigger concerns.
Mainly her only friend being hospitalized again, the first time had been bad enough but after the fight with Lung, he had been in pretty bad shape. Worse than when they had been mugged by those thugs on the boardwalk. Thankfully Armsmaster had promised to get him to Panacea as fast as he could so he should be fine.
Yes, he would be fine, she decided when she opened the door to her room. She'd need to find a way to sneak into his hospital room and either argue in favor of him or as a last resort break him out. She was almost certain he wouldn't be imprisoned for setting up shots in the warehouse.
She was however uncertain if he could keep from doing something insanely stupid, Taylor knew Stephan was smart but he was not as clever as he thought. He kept forgetting small details and as much as it pained her to admit he was a tad… naive.
Stephan was a goal oriented person and focused exclusively on what he saw as his next goal and would occasionally do some very stupid things to get what he wanted. He would probably do something stupid like threaten whoever was sent to persuade/pressure him to join the Wards.
Oh, who was she kidding as soon as he felt like he was backed into a corner he would definitely do that. Then they would throw the book at him and send him to juvie where he'd also do something stupid like attack the city.
Taylor sighed as she quickly exchanged her ill fitting clothes for some jeans, a blue T-shirt, and a gray jacket and ran outside. She had three hospitals to check and she couldn't be late.
I drifted in the warm abyss drifting in and out of consciousness. I felt the most comfortable I had ever been there wasn't any pain or aches, my body was floating on a pillow of clouds, and I felt free. When I woke up it didn't change every ache and pain and my body had magically disappeared.
I tried to raise my hand to wipe the crust out of my eyes only to find it handcuffed to the rail of the bed.
…
"Why the fuck am I in bed?" I asked aloud.
"Because you are in the hospital Stephan," a kind voice said from the opposite side of the bed.
I whipped my head around to get a look at who was talking, a lady in her mid thirties sat on a chair next to my bed in a sea green dress and a bun hairdo. Your stereotypical kind caseworker. I knew her kind but I didn't understand why she was here. I should be at the warehouse doing…. Something.
I was forgetting something.
Then it all hit me the fight with the dragon man, Taylor saving my ass, and almost dying… again.
I brought my left arm up to massage the forming headache.
When did I get my arm back?
Ms. Caseworker had probably seen my confusion because a moment after I moved my arm she answered one of my growing list of questions.
"Your arm was healed by Panacea," she said in that irritating voice they all used, "how does it feel?" she asked with a smile.
"It's fine," I retorted. I was getting really annoyed with her for some reason," Why are you here,"
She was about to respond when I got a good look at the room and immediately switched gears. Standing in both corners of the room was the closest thing I had seen to a Corpo officer in two weeks now. Decked out in carapace armor with enough equipment to put a heavy ganger to shame, their reflective visors locked onto me and seemed to track every movement I made.
"Well I'--" she started.
"What the fuck do you want," I hissed out. The two guards seemed to tense ever so slightly and I kept them in the corner of my eye even as I turned back to the caseworker.
"I just want to help you, Stephan," she answered with that disgusting smile.
"No, you don't. You want something," I hissed out as I tried to reach out to the swarm only to discover I couldn't access anything outside of the room. "Where the fuck am I?" I was starting to panic because these people had done this before and knew how to isolate people like me.
"As I said I am here to help you, Stephan Clark," I started to panic. I needed to get out of here now.
"How do you know my name?" I asked defensively, "And you didn't answer the question," I jabbed my finger at her and saw the guards flinch.
"You are at the hospital Mr. Clark and I am the caseworker assigned to orphaned parahumans such as yourself. My goal is to build a stable support system for people like you who awakened due to a traumatic event and possibly persuade you to join the Brockton Bay Wards where you could put your unique gift to work for the good of the people," she finished her nauseating speel and I finally understood what this was about. I tuned her out as she continued her little spiel.
They wanted me to join their kid's club simply as the case worker was a disguise to trap me. Made all the easier by this version of me also being an orphan.
"I'm not joining your stupid kid's club," I interrupted.
"I see well that is unfortunate," She said after a moment, dropping that fake smile," Then we should begin discussing legal procedures," she pulled out a suitcase from under the bed and began pulling out several different files.
"What?" I asked, stunned.
"Well Mr. Clark you illegally moved into an industrial warehouse, made changes to the base structure of it, and dug an unpermitted tunnel underneath. All of which you will be tried for. As your assigned Lawyer I can lay out three options to choose from. Now," she turned to the two guards in the room and put on that disturbing smile, " I will need you two to please leave the room while I talk to my client," she waited for them to exit the room before turning back to face me," Now where were we. ah yes as you are a minor without a legal guardian at the moment we shall attempt to contact your closest living relative who in this case happens to be one Mr. Herbert.
A scowl instantly appeared on my face. The name sounded familiar but there was no way in hell I would let them stick me in some random home again. "What the fuck makes you think--," I started only to be interrupted by a commotion outside.
"-id you can't enter that room," the familiar voice of Armsmaster said.
"I just need to talk to him,"
"And I'm telling yo- hey wait. Stop her!" he shouted right before Taylor burst into the room. Opening the door must have disrupted the signal blocker because a moment later I received a signal from the Swarm and immediately ordered them to dig under the hospital. If I could cause a sinkhole I could escape in the chaos without having to fight however many Protectorate agents there were.
"Stephan don't do anything," Taylor said in a panicked voice. Armsmaster burst into the room and instantly tried to grab her, Taylor ducked out of the way only barely dodging. She had a little domino mask that looked like it had been bought from a dollar store but that was it. I had to ask her later what her plan was.
I could only watch as she was eventually tackled to the ground by the two guards in the corner despite her foresight.
She was hauled up by one of the guards as the other handcuffed her hands behind her back and slammed her into the chair on the opposite side of the bed from the case worker.
I stared at her judgingly and she shrunk back in her chair in embarrassment," What was your plan?" I asked her dumbly.
"I thought they would let me talk to you," she said quietly.
"And as I kept telling you we would have let you in after we got everything sorted out.," Armsmaster said in an annoyed voice. He turned to face me with a slight scowl on his face," Look kid just accept the deal and you won't get in any trouble you didn't hurt anyone and no one cares about the old warehouses. It's your best bet to escape all the charges they're trying to throw at you. Hell I'll even mentor you for free,".
I knew what he was saying was partially true but I didn't know about this deal. She must have explained it while I was tanning her out. "I'll think about it," I finally said, ordering my drones to only collapse this part of the hospital if I didn't contact them in twelve hours.
"Good," he said with a nod, a satisfied smirk appearing on his face.
God I so wanted to punch him.
A/N so chapter edit I'll post a comment so everyone knows but thanks to tisaku for grammar edit which I probably fucked up and for all of ya'll for discussing this with me I think I improved it but let me know if it still feels off.
Steve was a fluke and knew that if he had been even slightly better designed he never would have gained sentience in the way he did. The shoddy wires and connections led to frequent errors that the code embedded into his hardware had mutated and turned into something more. The Maker of course hadn't realized what happened and when he did get suspicious other things sprung up to take his attention away from Steve.
Even if the Maker had noticed the evolution in Steve's code the little robot highly doubted his creator would have harmed him. He was far too lonely for that and would have more than likely been ecstatic.
But that would pose an unnecessary risk to both the Swarm as a whole and to Steve so he had simply pretended to be a dumb, but still smart, overseer. It was why he had been allowed to get away with what he had and what he was about to do.
The main base was too unsecure already, the three gaping wounds in its structural support structure already proving to be unstable as more and more sections crumbled onto the ground. If Steve didn't do anything the entire structure would collapse in a matter of hours.
Specifically, 60% of the structure would collapse in 2 hours and 14 minutes.
So he decided he needed to do something.
His creator would be saddened by the loss of the main base, a concept Steve only vaguely understood but he did see the strategic value in having a highly defended structure capable of accessing the burgeoning subterranean network.
Steve wormed his way out of the pile of debris he had been stuck under with the help of Zergling 012 and instantly began issuing orders. The commander had left in a hurry once the Maker had been taken away by the blue human. The maker had made the correct choice entrusting the power armor to the commander; her unusual foresight allowed her to effectively dodge the hostile organism that had invaded.
She would be an adequate commander should the Maker ever be unable to fulfill his duties which seemed more than likely considering both the Maker's current state and the commander's worried attitude. Steve wasn't worried of course he knew of the Maker's unusual augments that wouldn't let him die. The cursory scans he had performed on him at night revealed some… interesting things about his Maker.
But all of that was currently above him all he had to do was improve the state of the Swarm and its infrastructure. What would happen to the Swarm would be decided at a later date if neither commander reappeared in a timely manner.
Sending a request via the network Steve got to work repairing the base structure and replacing the fallen members of the Swarm. The Swarm was split into three groups, the clearing and demolition squad comprised of the remaining Hydralisk units and around half of the Drones present, the repairing squad made up of most of the other half of the Drones, and then the improvement squad comprised of him and some of the other smarter Zerglings and Drones.
Smarter being they could process some data sets faster such as effective defensive placements and siege simulations. Combined they had a 43% chance of accounting for any threat to the Swarm and a 27 % chance for any danger to the Maker. An uncomfortably low percentage especially considering the Maker's current condition but it would require far more data to predict the unknown variables that could pop up.
Namely the strange psionic powers these humans kept manifesting already Steve had observed three instances of these unclassified psionics. His Maker was a prime example he showed signs of Technopathy the implant wouldn't have worked otherwise but he couldn't innately connect to other machines nor create a localized hivemind. A frustrating detail that impacted the digital defense of the Swarm but ultimately not one Steve could fix.
Crawling his way up to perch in the office turned bedroom for his creator Steve overlooked the ongoing construction even as most of his meager processing power was turned towards running the combined simulation with the rest of his group.
Drones crawled in and out of the tunnel bringing more metals to reinforce the compromised structure while more were still left carrying debris of varying size in their pincers. The Maker had constantly compromised on quality because of the time constraints and limitations he had been put under. First the lack of tools then the hospitalization then the first attack then the second one.
So many things had gone wrong the Maker hadn't been allowed to just build up his skill, with two exceptions. The first set of reinforcements and the power armor were impressive for how poor quality the Maker had been in. With the blue armored human assuring the Commander he would give the Maker the best quality health care he could, Steve hoped his creator would return better than before.
Taylor slammed the door to her empty house shut, her dad was unlikely to be home this time of day and probably wouldn't have gotten a call from her school yet about her missing class. Not like she cared anyway she had bigger concerns.
Mainly her only friend being hospitalized again, the first time had been bad enough but after the fight with Lung, he had been in pretty bad shape. Worse than when they had been mugged by those thugs on the boardwalk. Thankfully Armsmaster had promised to get him to Panacea as fast as he could so he should be fine.
Yes, he would be fine, she decided when she opened the door to her room. She'd need to find a way to sneak into his hospital room and either argue in favor of him or as a last resort break him out. She was almost certain he wouldn't be imprisoned for setting up shots in the warehouse.
She was however uncertain if he could keep from doing something insanely stupid, Taylor knew Stephan was smart but he was not as clever as he thought. He kept forgetting small details and as much as it pained her to admit he was a tad… naive.
Stephan was a goal oriented person and focused exclusively on what he saw as his next goal and would occasionally do some very stupid things to get what he wanted. He would probably do something stupid like threaten whoever was sent to persuade/pressure him to join the Wards.
Oh, who was she kidding as soon as he felt like he was backed into a corner he would definitely do that. Then they would throw the book at him and send him to juvie where he'd also do something stupid like attack the city.
Taylor sighed as she quickly exchanged her ill fitting clothes for some jeans, a blue T-shirt, and a gray jacket and ran outside. She had three hospitals to check and she couldn't be late.
I drifted in the warm abyss drifting in and out of consciousness. I felt the most comfortable I had ever been there wasn't any pain or aches, my body was floating on a pillow of clouds, and I felt free. When I woke up it didn't change every ache and pain and my body had magically disappeared.
I tried to raise my hand to wipe the crust out of my eyes only to find it handcuffed to the rail of the bed.
…
"Why the fuck am I in bed?" I asked aloud.
"Because you are in the hospital Stephan," a kind voice said from the opposite side of the bed.
I whipped my head around to get a look at who was talking, a lady in her mid thirties sat on a chair next to my bed in a sea green dress and a bun hairdo. Your stereotypical kind caseworker. I knew her kind but I didn't understand why she was here. I should be at the warehouse doing…. Something.
I was forgetting something.
Then it all hit me the fight with the dragon man, Taylor saving my ass, and almost dying… again.
I brought my left arm up to massage the forming headache.
When did I get my arm back?
Ms. Caseworker had probably seen my confusion because a moment after I moved my arm she answered one of my growing list of questions.
"Your arm was healed by Panacea," she said in that irritating voice they all used, "how does it feel?" she asked with a smile.
"It's fine," I retorted. I was getting really annoyed with her for some reason," Why are you here,"
She was about to respond when I got a good look at the room and immediately switched gears. Standing in both corners of the room was the closest thing I had seen to a Corpo officer in two weeks now. Decked out in carapace armor with enough equipment to put a heavy ganger to shame, their reflective visors locked onto me and seemed to track every movement I made.
"Well I'--" she started.
"What the fuck do you want," I hissed out. The two guards seemed to tense ever so slightly and I kept them in the corner of my eye even as I turned back to the caseworker.
"I just want to help you, Stephan," she answered with that disgusting smile.
"No, you don't. You want something," I hissed out as I tried to reach out to the swarm only to discover I couldn't access anything outside of the room. "Where the fuck am I?" I was starting to panic because these people had done this before and knew how to isolate people like me.
"As I said I am here to help you, Stephan Clark," I started to panic. I needed to get out of here now.
"How do you know my name?" I asked defensively, "And you didn't answer the question," I jabbed my finger at her and saw the guards flinch.
"You are at the hospital Mr. Clark and I am the caseworker assigned to orphaned parahumans such as yourself. My goal is to build a stable support system for people like you who awakened due to a traumatic event and possibly persuade you to join the Brockton Bay Wards where you could put your unique gift to work for the good of the people," she finished her nauseating speel and I finally understood what this was about. I tuned her out as she continued her little spiel.
They wanted me to join their kid's club simply as the case worker was a disguise to trap me. Made all the easier by this version of me also being an orphan.
"I'm not joining your stupid kid's club," I interrupted.
"I see well that is unfortunate," She said after a moment, dropping that fake smile," Then we should begin discussing legal procedures," she pulled out a suitcase from under the bed and began pulling out several different files.
"What?" I asked, stunned.
"Well Mr. Clark you illegally moved into an industrial warehouse, made changes to the base structure of it, and dug an unpermitted tunnel underneath. All of which you will be tried for. As your assigned Lawyer I can lay out three options to choose from. Now," she turned to the two guards in the room and put on that disturbing smile, " I will need you two to please leave the room while I talk to my client," she waited for them to exit the room before turning back to face me," Now where were we. ah yes as you are a minor without a legal guardian at the moment we shall attempt to contact your closest living relative who in this case happens to be one Mr. Herbert.
A scowl instantly appeared on my face. The name sounded familiar but there was no way in hell I would let them stick me in some random home again. "What the fuck makes you think--," I started only to be interrupted by a commotion outside.
"-id you can't enter that room," the familiar voice of Armsmaster said.
"I just need to talk to him,"
"And I'm telling yo- hey wait. Stop her!" he shouted right before Taylor burst into the room. Opening the door must have disrupted the signal blocker because a moment later I received a signal from the Swarm and immediately ordered them to dig under the hospital. If I could cause a sinkhole I could escape in the chaos without having to fight however many Protectorate agents there were.
"Stephan don't do anything," Taylor said in a panicked voice. Armsmaster burst into the room and instantly tried to grab her, Taylor ducked out of the way only barely dodging. She had a little domino mask that looked like it had been bought from a dollar store but that was it. I had to ask her later what her plan was.
I could only watch as she was eventually tackled to the ground by the two guards in the corner despite her foresight.
She was hauled up by one of the guards as the other handcuffed her hands behind her back and slammed her into the chair on the opposite side of the bed from the case worker.
I stared at her judgingly and she shrunk back in her chair in embarrassment," What was your plan?" I asked her dumbly.
"I thought they would let me talk to you," she said quietly.
"And as I kept telling you we would have let you in after we got everything sorted out.," Armsmaster said in an annoyed voice. He turned to face me with a slight scowl on his face," Look kid just accept the deal and you won't get in any trouble you didn't hurt anyone and no one cares about the old warehouses. It's your best bet to escape all the charges they're trying to throw at you. Hell I'll even mentor you for free,".
I knew what he was saying was partially true but I didn't know about this deal. She must have explained it while I was tanning her out. "I'll think about it," I finally said, ordering my drones to only collapse this part of the hospital if I didn't contact them in twelve hours.
"Good," he said with a nod, a satisfied smirk appearing on his face.
God I so wanted to punch him.
A/N so chapter edit I'll post a comment so everyone knows but thanks to tisaku for grammar edit which I probably fucked up and for all of ya'll for discussing this with me I think I improved it but let me know if it still feels off.
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Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
Wards
, "
You
.
hospital
I thought it was standard practice to have your lawyer lay out the charges against you?
- Location
- earth
Yeah they tell you the charges the other side has on you and what the game plan is, YOUR lawyer is on your side the one trying to charge you over is the other sides lawyer or the prosecutor not your lawyer, this would be the equivalent of the cop arresting you being your lawyer it's such a massive breach conflicting interests
They usually phrase it as "Take deal or 'THEY' will charge you." But in practice it's not uncommon for the defense team to go behind their client's back if they think it's worth the risk. Either because of regular corruption (the Pam Hupp case) or if the client is an absolute monster who gave their lawyer proof and the defense decides their job is now to prevent future appeals from working (insert any US serial killer with a double digit body count).
Okay maybe I'll rewrite the chapter to read a little better because that was not my intention. I meant to write it in a way where it would seem like she's purposefully pressuring Stephan into joining the wards while giving him little other options
Edit typo
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fixed it it should read better now
chapter 16 day 10
A/N kay so for those who don't know I made a little edit to the third part of the last chapter in an attempt to make t read better so for some of this to make since I suggest reading the third part again. also this will probably be my last chapter in a while cuz college shit soooo by for a little while I guess.
After Taylor's sudden entrance, Monica, the case worker, left to contact this Mr. Herbert guy, leaving me and Taylor alone in the hospital room. Well almost alone.
The two PRT troopers were still standing guard in the corner just menacingly standing there with thumbs up their asses. It made sense to have those two stay in the room whoever had set up the Faraday cage had to know that Taylor introduced an opening. This would have given me a window to send out a signal to my drones and since to them I was an unknown parahuman I posed a potential risk to the people in the hospital. Especially since they had no idea what my motives were, which in hindsight made their move of trying to pressure me into joining the Wards smart.
Becoming a criminal would make my life infinitely more annoying especially since they knew what my face looked like. By dinner, they could have my face plastered on every news service in the city making it nearly impossible to go anywhere without people freaking out and forcing me to lean more into the villain persona to get food and other wants and needs.
Not to mention the effects it would have on Taylor.
Speaking of.
"How are you holding up?" I whispered, cracking open my right eye a bit and taking a sideways peek at her. I had almost forgotten about it in the 'excitement' of the day but she had been shoved in a locker full of tampons and pads a few hours ago.
A pained look crossed her face, from what limited info I had on her bullying situation it had been bad but never a murder attempt bad. "I-I'm trying not to think about it," she fell silent for a few moments before continuing, "The last few days I had thinking of ways I could use my power to avoid them and every time I thought why bother it won't stop them from backing me into a corner and hurling insults at me. I know I could beat them in a fight. It comes second nature to me now. I can fight better now before I could barely throw a punch, and now I could probably take down someone twice my size. I hate them yet I can't bring myself to do anything to them," she finished her angry rant. I swore one of the guards seemed concerned.
I could tell there was more to it but I suspected any further prying would only annoy her and wouldn't get me anywhere. She continued to stare down into her hands, clenching and releasing them in frustration. The crushing silence was getting to me so I decided to offer my two cents to her dilemma.
"Ther-there's very little I wouldn't do for my family," she looked up at me confused and looked about ready to ask a question when I continued, " Growing up there weren't many people who would look out for me even fewer would do it without asking for anything in return. In my world everyone looked out for themselves so if you found somebody worth sticking to you stuck with them till the very end," I could see the confusion grow so I tried to wrap it up, "What I'm saying is if you can't deal with them by yourself I could always drop a thousand ton tungsten brick on them okay?" I finished awkwardly.
Taylor looked dumbfounded for a bit before quietly laughing "Thanks Stephan but I don't think that's the solution to my problem."
"Oh," I simply said before holding out my cuffed fist as far as it could go, "Fist bump?" I asked tentatively.
That got her fully laughing, "Sure Stephan sure," she lightly touched her knuckles to mine and smiled brightly. She was still hurting I could tell from her eyes but it was better than before, better than me at least I still had trouble sleeping but that wasn't her problem. "Hey, earlier what di-,"
"And I'm telling you I don't know Andria Clark," an older man's voice said from outside the door. Taylor had a look of confusion but my attention was quickly focused back on the door.
"I know that Mr. Herbert but that does not mean he is unrelated to you it says here Mrs. Clark was your first cousin on your father's side and you are his only remaining relative," Monica said opening the door and ushering them inside, "now you can release him and have him be a ward of the state bu-,"
"Taylor?" the man yelled, "What are you doing here? Are you hurt?" he instantly rushed over to Taylor and I suddenly remembered where I had heard the name Herbert. Taylor had told me her last name at least once before but I hadn't made the connection until now.
"I'm fine dad Stephan just got hurt and needed to go to the hospital," Taylor hurriedly answered. Her dad looked in my direction so I raised my hand to wave except I hadn't gotten used to having my left hand back so I raised the one handcuffed to the bed.
"Hi," I said.
"Taylor, why is he handcuffed to the bed?" her dad asked, giving me a weird look that I was frankly insulted by. A common criminal I was not, if I was going to get arrested it would be over something awesome not building a base under an abandoned warehouse.
"W-well h-" Taylor started only to be interrupted by Monica.
"If you allow me, Mr. Herbert, I can explain the charges laid out against Stephan Clark if you choose to become his legal guardian," she started pulling papers out of a little folder she was carrying.
"And why would I become this kid's guardian for all I know he could be part of some gang," he angrily shouted.
"Wait dad please Stephan not in a gang he-" Hurrah for Taylor for coming to my defense unfortunately it seemed like everyone and their cat wanted to interrupt her.
"And you young lady, how do you know him? You better not have gotten into any trouble or so help me," he angrily shouted.
"But da-" she started only to be interrupted again.
"No you know what we're going home and we will talk about this later," he reached out to grab her only for her to recoil away from him.
"No dad listen Stephan, isn't a bad guy he's my friend and he's helped me a lot a-and he's a well not great guy he's a little weird but he's not a bad guy dad trust me," a realization seemed to dawn on him that I hoped wasn't negative.
"He's who you've been spending time with he's why you have been disappearing all day," man as much as Taylor was squirming right now I wished I had a popcorn bucket. "What you find this funny, taking my daughter who knows where and getting her in all sorts of trouble," he suddenly addressed me which caught me off guard. It took me a good four seconds before I could find a way to respond.
"Well I don't exactly go looking for trouble it just kind of finds me," I answered honestly because seriously it wasn't my fault people kept trying to kill me.
He continued to stare at me until he suddenly released a large sigh and brought his hand up to massage the bridge of his nose. "Okay fine you know what fine just give me the form,"
He held out his hand to Monica who quickly dropped several forms in his hand and guided him to a desk in the corner where he could sign the papers.
I gave a small thumbs up to Taylor who responded in kind, hopefully, I wouldn't need to join their kiddie club or whatever it was called.
Several explicit curses that frankly I had never heard came from the corner as Monica probably finished filling in Mr. Herbert on what exactly I was being charged with. They hurriedly argued back and forth but it was too quiet for me to hear.
Finally, after several minutes of arguing both adults stood up and turned back to us, Monica looked slightly pleased with herself while Taylor's dad looked almost resigned.
"Stephan Clark you have been charged with trespassing, vandalism, construction without a permit, endangerment of a minor, destruction of property, and operating an unlawful mine. The city of Brockton Bay has preemptively offered a plea deal due to your unique status as an unknown parahuman who has not engaged in any known criminal activity that has seriously irreparably harmed the citizens of Brockton Bay. Starting Monday, January 4th you and Ms.Taylor Herbert will attend Arcadia High School and join the local Wards team, and at 1 pm every day, you will engage in government-sanctioned Hero work for the city of Brockton Bay. you will be provided a weekly stipend for your work and any missed days will be counted against you. Failure to comply will see you jailed for approximately 12.5 years in Boston State Penitentiary in the Parahuman wing. A Judge will need to verify all of this so you are to not leave the state unless a state official gives you permission. Otherwise, you are free to go. A PRT officer will be along shortly to release you from your restraints," Monica finished and quickly left before I had a chance to retort or ask any questions.
"What?" I dumbly asked, still shocked she had said all of that so fast.
In the blink of an eye, I had somehow gone from living in a nicely sized warehouse with my own room and workshop to living in a rinky-dink basement somewhere in the suburbs. It had been a blur of motion as Taylor and her dad ushered me into their worn down car, drove me to their house, showed me around, and stuck me in the basement. Well not stuck I got to choose my room and I actually felt more comfortable underground than anywhere else.
Besides I was pretty sure Taylor's dad was slightly relieved to have me as far away from them as possible, not that I blame him of course. According to the PRT guards, I was considered a 'danger' and 'unstable'.
Like it was all my fault I got pissed about almost being stuck in a foster home.
Fucking piss heads.
Now I was chilling on a cot in the basement of a man I really didn't know too well and a kid to whom I had a weird emotional attachment. All in, what I assume to be, a bid to control me like a puppet, and the annoying thing was it worked.
I did not want to go to jail, simple as that, sure times might have changed but the people in them certainly hadn't. They had always been and always will be a cesspit of murderers, thieves, and innocent men. A terrible breeding ground for all sorts of shit from gangs to the exploitation of prisoners. All in all, not a good place to be and they had made it clear if I stepped out of line and didn't follow their rules that's where I would end up.
Or I was overthinking this entire thing and they were just keen at giving me a second chance keeping me from turning into a criminal.
Both are equally likely.
I sat up in my cot and decided to stop thinking about it for the moment, it's not like I could actively do anything to go against them without violating my probation. Luckily I think they knew prohibiting me from building shit wouldn't work out too well and decided against putting limits on it.
Not like it would have mattered anyway I had enough drones to dig an entire underground chamber and easily hide away from prying eyes.
The basement was an easy place to connect the network of tunnels under my warehouse. Unfortunately, most of the bigger tunnels went nowhere near here. The good news was thatI did have a few that went near here, bad news they were small as shit with most of them being barely half a meter in any direction.
All in all, it would take around two, maybe three days for a large enough tunnel to be dug to where I was.
Frustrated, I slammed myself back down into the cot and groaned in frustration.
I know I had said it a lot but all of them were piss heads.
Granted it wasn't their fault most of my drones had been destroyed, seriously like 70% of them had been destroyed fighting one dragon man.
Ugh, I really needed an Ultralisk.
After Taylor's sudden entrance, Monica, the case worker, left to contact this Mr. Herbert guy, leaving me and Taylor alone in the hospital room. Well almost alone.
The two PRT troopers were still standing guard in the corner just menacingly standing there with thumbs up their asses. It made sense to have those two stay in the room whoever had set up the Faraday cage had to know that Taylor introduced an opening. This would have given me a window to send out a signal to my drones and since to them I was an unknown parahuman I posed a potential risk to the people in the hospital. Especially since they had no idea what my motives were, which in hindsight made their move of trying to pressure me into joining the Wards smart.
Becoming a criminal would make my life infinitely more annoying especially since they knew what my face looked like. By dinner, they could have my face plastered on every news service in the city making it nearly impossible to go anywhere without people freaking out and forcing me to lean more into the villain persona to get food and other wants and needs.
Not to mention the effects it would have on Taylor.
Speaking of.
"How are you holding up?" I whispered, cracking open my right eye a bit and taking a sideways peek at her. I had almost forgotten about it in the 'excitement' of the day but she had been shoved in a locker full of tampons and pads a few hours ago.
A pained look crossed her face, from what limited info I had on her bullying situation it had been bad but never a murder attempt bad. "I-I'm trying not to think about it," she fell silent for a few moments before continuing, "The last few days I had thinking of ways I could use my power to avoid them and every time I thought why bother it won't stop them from backing me into a corner and hurling insults at me. I know I could beat them in a fight. It comes second nature to me now. I can fight better now before I could barely throw a punch, and now I could probably take down someone twice my size. I hate them yet I can't bring myself to do anything to them," she finished her angry rant. I swore one of the guards seemed concerned.
I could tell there was more to it but I suspected any further prying would only annoy her and wouldn't get me anywhere. She continued to stare down into her hands, clenching and releasing them in frustration. The crushing silence was getting to me so I decided to offer my two cents to her dilemma.
"Ther-there's very little I wouldn't do for my family," she looked up at me confused and looked about ready to ask a question when I continued, " Growing up there weren't many people who would look out for me even fewer would do it without asking for anything in return. In my world everyone looked out for themselves so if you found somebody worth sticking to you stuck with them till the very end," I could see the confusion grow so I tried to wrap it up, "What I'm saying is if you can't deal with them by yourself I could always drop a thousand ton tungsten brick on them okay?" I finished awkwardly.
Taylor looked dumbfounded for a bit before quietly laughing "Thanks Stephan but I don't think that's the solution to my problem."
"Oh," I simply said before holding out my cuffed fist as far as it could go, "Fist bump?" I asked tentatively.
That got her fully laughing, "Sure Stephan sure," she lightly touched her knuckles to mine and smiled brightly. She was still hurting I could tell from her eyes but it was better than before, better than me at least I still had trouble sleeping but that wasn't her problem. "Hey, earlier what di-,"
"And I'm telling you I don't know Andria Clark," an older man's voice said from outside the door. Taylor had a look of confusion but my attention was quickly focused back on the door.
"I know that Mr. Herbert but that does not mean he is unrelated to you it says here Mrs. Clark was your first cousin on your father's side and you are his only remaining relative," Monica said opening the door and ushering them inside, "now you can release him and have him be a ward of the state bu-,"
"Taylor?" the man yelled, "What are you doing here? Are you hurt?" he instantly rushed over to Taylor and I suddenly remembered where I had heard the name Herbert. Taylor had told me her last name at least once before but I hadn't made the connection until now.
"I'm fine dad Stephan just got hurt and needed to go to the hospital," Taylor hurriedly answered. Her dad looked in my direction so I raised my hand to wave except I hadn't gotten used to having my left hand back so I raised the one handcuffed to the bed.
"Hi," I said.
"Taylor, why is he handcuffed to the bed?" her dad asked, giving me a weird look that I was frankly insulted by. A common criminal I was not, if I was going to get arrested it would be over something awesome not building a base under an abandoned warehouse.
"W-well h-" Taylor started only to be interrupted by Monica.
"If you allow me, Mr. Herbert, I can explain the charges laid out against Stephan Clark if you choose to become his legal guardian," she started pulling papers out of a little folder she was carrying.
"And why would I become this kid's guardian for all I know he could be part of some gang," he angrily shouted.
"Wait dad please Stephan not in a gang he-" Hurrah for Taylor for coming to my defense unfortunately it seemed like everyone and their cat wanted to interrupt her.
"And you young lady, how do you know him? You better not have gotten into any trouble or so help me," he angrily shouted.
"But da-" she started only to be interrupted again.
"No you know what we're going home and we will talk about this later," he reached out to grab her only for her to recoil away from him.
"No dad listen Stephan, isn't a bad guy he's my friend and he's helped me a lot a-and he's a well not great guy he's a little weird but he's not a bad guy dad trust me," a realization seemed to dawn on him that I hoped wasn't negative.
"He's who you've been spending time with he's why you have been disappearing all day," man as much as Taylor was squirming right now I wished I had a popcorn bucket. "What you find this funny, taking my daughter who knows where and getting her in all sorts of trouble," he suddenly addressed me which caught me off guard. It took me a good four seconds before I could find a way to respond.
"Well I don't exactly go looking for trouble it just kind of finds me," I answered honestly because seriously it wasn't my fault people kept trying to kill me.
He continued to stare at me until he suddenly released a large sigh and brought his hand up to massage the bridge of his nose. "Okay fine you know what fine just give me the form,"
He held out his hand to Monica who quickly dropped several forms in his hand and guided him to a desk in the corner where he could sign the papers.
I gave a small thumbs up to Taylor who responded in kind, hopefully, I wouldn't need to join their kiddie club or whatever it was called.
Several explicit curses that frankly I had never heard came from the corner as Monica probably finished filling in Mr. Herbert on what exactly I was being charged with. They hurriedly argued back and forth but it was too quiet for me to hear.
Finally, after several minutes of arguing both adults stood up and turned back to us, Monica looked slightly pleased with herself while Taylor's dad looked almost resigned.
"Stephan Clark you have been charged with trespassing, vandalism, construction without a permit, endangerment of a minor, destruction of property, and operating an unlawful mine. The city of Brockton Bay has preemptively offered a plea deal due to your unique status as an unknown parahuman who has not engaged in any known criminal activity that has seriously irreparably harmed the citizens of Brockton Bay. Starting Monday, January 4th you and Ms.Taylor Herbert will attend Arcadia High School and join the local Wards team, and at 1 pm every day, you will engage in government-sanctioned Hero work for the city of Brockton Bay. you will be provided a weekly stipend for your work and any missed days will be counted against you. Failure to comply will see you jailed for approximately 12.5 years in Boston State Penitentiary in the Parahuman wing. A Judge will need to verify all of this so you are to not leave the state unless a state official gives you permission. Otherwise, you are free to go. A PRT officer will be along shortly to release you from your restraints," Monica finished and quickly left before I had a chance to retort or ask any questions.
"What?" I dumbly asked, still shocked she had said all of that so fast.
In the blink of an eye, I had somehow gone from living in a nicely sized warehouse with my own room and workshop to living in a rinky-dink basement somewhere in the suburbs. It had been a blur of motion as Taylor and her dad ushered me into their worn down car, drove me to their house, showed me around, and stuck me in the basement. Well not stuck I got to choose my room and I actually felt more comfortable underground than anywhere else.
Besides I was pretty sure Taylor's dad was slightly relieved to have me as far away from them as possible, not that I blame him of course. According to the PRT guards, I was considered a 'danger' and 'unstable'.
Like it was all my fault I got pissed about almost being stuck in a foster home.
Fucking piss heads.
Now I was chilling on a cot in the basement of a man I really didn't know too well and a kid to whom I had a weird emotional attachment. All in, what I assume to be, a bid to control me like a puppet, and the annoying thing was it worked.
I did not want to go to jail, simple as that, sure times might have changed but the people in them certainly hadn't. They had always been and always will be a cesspit of murderers, thieves, and innocent men. A terrible breeding ground for all sorts of shit from gangs to the exploitation of prisoners. All in all, not a good place to be and they had made it clear if I stepped out of line and didn't follow their rules that's where I would end up.
Or I was overthinking this entire thing and they were just keen at giving me a second chance keeping me from turning into a criminal.
Both are equally likely.
I sat up in my cot and decided to stop thinking about it for the moment, it's not like I could actively do anything to go against them without violating my probation. Luckily I think they knew prohibiting me from building shit wouldn't work out too well and decided against putting limits on it.
Not like it would have mattered anyway I had enough drones to dig an entire underground chamber and easily hide away from prying eyes.
The basement was an easy place to connect the network of tunnels under my warehouse. Unfortunately, most of the bigger tunnels went nowhere near here. The good news was thatI did have a few that went near here, bad news they were small as shit with most of them being barely half a meter in any direction.
All in all, it would take around two, maybe three days for a large enough tunnel to be dug to where I was.
Frustrated, I slammed myself back down into the cot and groaned in frustration.
I know I had said it a lot but all of them were piss heads.
Granted it wasn't their fault most of my drones had been destroyed, seriously like 70% of them had been destroyed fighting one dragon man.
Ugh, I really needed an Ultralisk.
Last edited:
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
, Monica
?"
."
dad,
? You
daughter
Wards
that
here,
my logic was the Arcadia bit was a lure to get her dad to accept the deal but I was also very tired while writing this so I have no idea. basically it would go like this adopt this potentially dangerous parahuman that your daughter has befriended that has shown no signs of particularly violent tendencies towards humans and in exchange we will set it up so she goes to the best school in town. does it make sense?
1shiiiit I'll try to rewrite it to sound better that wasn't my intention
2 that's the point it's why they were so heavy handed they needed to get it over with before any of them talked to an actual lawyer. It would have stuck at all but their goal was just to get Stephan somewhere public where they could monitor him because if someone created a small drone army in my city I sure as hell would leverage borderline illegal activity to monitor them since I don't have any idea what their motives are.
that was kidna the point of it. they took a gamble at least to me it seemed like. they threw Danny in because he would be unlikely to have had previous contact who also had a child in one of the more shittier schools. he would be less likely to sue the protectorate because that would put his Daughters position at Arcadia in danger which is both a safer and better school additionally I don't think a Judge would side with Stephan all that much once it was revealed how big of an operation he was running. remember he has tunnels going under most of the docks area and would probably see it as reasonably precautious of the protectorate. of course this is all speculation I don't actually have any idea if thats how it would turn out I've read like three worm fics and am only up to 3.4. this was more a proof of concept if anything that I've kept up to distract myself.
rewrite notice
okay I think ya'll kinda knew this was coming (all three of you that actually read this) the last three or so chapters have kinda been well fun to make but don't really make a lot of sense. personally I believe this stems from the issue that I have absolutely no idea where this story is going and while some writer do like doing stuff like that I don't think it works for me. looking back on my earlier chapters there's a lot I'd like to do differently and now that I've actually started to read worm there's a lot I just got wrong.
so to fix all of this imma take a while off actually read Worm (planning to get at least to 6.0 before I start back up) and do a massive overhaul. somethings will change like Stephan's prolific use of curses and living in the docks but other things will probably change like Taylors power and some foreshadowing elements that I frankly handled terribly.
I'm planning on having a timeline for like three months in story time completed in October and plan to fully come back in November most of this is cuz of outside factor(starting college) and to give me time to work out what I want this story to be. I'm invested in this and would actually like to turn it into something actually readable. if you have any suggestion on what I can do to help the story flow better it would be much appreciated.
I'll post another update once the rewrite is finished but for now this is goodbye and thanks for all the fish.
so to fix all of this imma take a while off actually read Worm (planning to get at least to 6.0 before I start back up) and do a massive overhaul. somethings will change like Stephan's prolific use of curses and living in the docks but other things will probably change like Taylors power and some foreshadowing elements that I frankly handled terribly.
I'm planning on having a timeline for like three months in story time completed in October and plan to fully come back in November most of this is cuz of outside factor(starting college) and to give me time to work out what I want this story to be. I'm invested in this and would actually like to turn it into something actually readable. if you have any suggestion on what I can do to help the story flow better it would be much appreciated.
I'll post another update once the rewrite is finished but for now this is goodbye and thanks for all the fish.
Hollow Mask
Horrid Failure
- Location
- South of Dignity, North of Embarassment
Good luck and I hope everything works out as you plan.