Well hello there awesome peoples! thought I'd join the club over here and put my story up here...
Ex Machina (Worm Cyoa V5/Ars Nova crossover)
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Not In Kansas anymore...
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
Well hello there awesome peoples! thought I'd join the club over here and put my story up here, previously on SB, now on QQ and as of tonight SV.
Do note though that initially, I'm only bringing about half the story over, as I wish to avoid any chance of drama and will be running a fair bit of content through the review board and making the necessary adjustments before I post it. To that extent, if you wish to see all 81K worth of chapters, It's all up on QQ.
Also, I feel I should point out that this whole thing has been a learning experience for me, and as I've written this I feel I've improved by a wiiiide margin since the beginning back in June. eventually, I will be going back and polishing out the rough edges of earlier chapters, but until then Ima say don't let the rough start turn you down too much, It gets better ^.^
So without further wait, here we go! chapter one: Not in Kansas anymore.
Cyoa version.
build: Build, nanomachines son- mental model*
*mental model is part of the crossover.
Flaws, wanted; E88, ABB, Coil.
We know.
Kidnapping.
Identity revealed.
Endbringer target.
Perks godkiller, blind spot.
The diary.
Chapter One: Not in Kansas anymore.
It was the strangest of experiences, being woken up on the cold concrete of an alleyway, knowing you went to sleep the night before in your own bed, in your own home.
It was even stranger to realize you were no longer in the right body. Well the body I was born with anyway.
"Miss, did you hear me? You can't stay here, I'm going to need you to vacate the area." The voice that woke me from my slumber spoke again.
"What…? Wait. What the fuck? Where the hell…?" I look around as my mind finally comes to full awareness.
"Where the fuck…" I say aloud as I bolt up from my position on the ground next to a dumpster.
Glancing around I see that I'm in a fairly dirty alleyway, with no identifying buildings visible.
"Are you alright miss?" The man says again and I freeze realizing what he had called me.
Looking down I stare at my half raised hand. A very feminine hand. One that wasn't marred with scars from a lifetime of self harm and factory work.
"Uhh…" Even my voice was different.
"Miss?" Just as my shock is setting in the security officer brings me back to reality.
"Uh...s-sorry but where am I? I've no recollection of getting here." At this his demeanor changes somewhat, a flash of concern visible for a moment before his face turns neutral.
"You're on the boardwalk, are you injured? What do you remember last?" I frown at his words.
There wasn't an area in town referred to as "The boardwalk"
"Getting ready for bed at my apartment. Where am I? There's no boardwalk in town… What fucking city am I in? And why the fuck do I sound like…" I pause as I look around, a broken pane of glass in the dumpster catching my attention.
To be more precise it was the reflection in the glass that had me frozen.
Blue hair, eyes, a angular female face...a face that moved when I did…
"What the fuck is going on."
"Miss, you are currently on the boardwalk of the city of Brockton Bay in the state of Massachusetts. Where do you live?"
Did he just…
"Did you just say Brockton Bay?" I ask, my face locked in an expression of shock as a wave of information hits me as if in response to his words.
Like water flowing over a bed of rocks the information expands in my mind, memories from months ago as sharp and clear as if they happened seconds ago.
"...Yes… Miss, if you are not injured in any way I'm going to have to ask you to leave the area, if you need help I can give you directions to the closest police station." He says, a moment after his ear piece lights up for a moment, snapping my mind back to reality.
"Uh...y-yea. That would… be helpful…" My voice felt tiny, and it starts hitting home that this may actually be happening.
"Right, you will find 32nd Street about a block to the South. Follow it to 6th Avenue and head South, that will keep you clear of any of the gangs and get you to a station. Now, I'm sorry but I have to get back to my patrol. Best of luck to you miss." He says curtly before nodding to me and walking to the mouth of the alley.
By this point my mind is more or less numb as I follow him, leaving the alley and taking in my surroundings.
A large bay dominated my view, the open ocean stretching to the horizon beyond the mouth of it.
What really catches my eye however is the fucking FLOATING OIL RIG in the middle of the bay.
"...I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
DING!
What the fuck? What the hell was… That?
Even as I wonder what the hell the ringing in my head was, a transparent red screen appears several feet in front of me, hanging in the air.
Primary Systems in standby. Activate?
Somehow, despite having a body made out of nanomachines, a wave of nausea hits me, and I look around, sagging in relief when nobody else seems capable of seeing the… alert screen.
That's it then isn't it? This is really happening… Well, it could be a lot worse I suppose, at least that is if the knowledge I'm working work is accurate anyway. I did go with Godkiller after all….But still...
"Goddamnit" this was so going to give me PTSD, I just fucking knew it.
Glancing around I sigh add I realize just how lost I was going to be in this city, having only seen the most basic of maps of it.
"Well, here goes everything…" Despite everything happening and the emotional numbness I was feeling I knew that if I wanted to survive I would need to get moving. This was Brockton Bay. Where people died by the dozen each day to gang violence, where dozens of villains flight for control of different territory's on a near daily basis.
Yea. I need to find someplace to hunker down and think so I can come up with some sort of plan.
Then maybe I can properly freak the fuck out about the fact that I was no longer in my own body.
"... I need a map…" I say as I start heading south, to the street the police officer had pointed me towards.
Okay. What the fuck, why did I have to wake up in High heels? I mean I'm near positive I was drop dead sexy in them but fucking really? How the fuck do women not dislocate their ankles with these things? God this is going to be a long walk.
.
..
…
Can someone kill me now? Put me out my misery? I think my ankles are going to break if have to walk much longer in these… I swear, if there's an actual God out there, not some sick sadistic asshole then I'll… oh.
My thoughts come to a halt as I look around the street. More precisely when I see a rather nondescript door save for the large crucifix hanging over it.
"Well…if that's not a sign I don't know what is…"I mumble as I head for the door.
As I near, I see faded lettering on the door, identifying the church as a Christ and King worship center.
Grabbing the handle, I sagged in relief slightly when it opened. Stepping past the threshold I let the door close behind me as I walk out of the foyer and into the worship area. Seven rows of short benches lined either side of the room, the central divide leading an alter on a raised platform, a large cross standing just behind it.
It's a stroke of luck that the room is empty, though given the still burning incense I imagine a priest isn't too far away.
Limping along I make my way to the bench closest to the altar, taking off the stupid shoes the moment I sit down.
"Thank god…" I mutter as I set them down beside me before leaning forward and bracing my elbows on on the wooden partition in front of me.
Folding my hands together in the traditional way I kneel down and press my forehead to my knuckles, praying for the first time in over ten years.
As I do, the days events finally hit me and the tears start in earnest as I realize just how utterly fucked I am.
"Please….." I whisper in between my quiet sobs.
"Please…."
.
..
…
It's nearly an hour later by the time I'm finally cried myself dry, and turn to stand, or at least sit back down.
"Oh holy shit!" I yelp when I realize there was someone sitting right next to me, his robes identifying him as a Catholic priest.
"I apologize miss, I thought it wrong to pull you out of your grief before you were done. Tell me, what lead you here today?" He asks me and I sigh, untensing once more.
"Father, you wouldn't believe me if I told you…" I mumble as I look down at my hands once more, where they were resting on thighs… My too small legging covered thighs…
"This is so fucked…" I whisper as I stare, taking in each and every crease and line in my skin.
"I think you'd be surprised at what I'd believe, child. We live in a time where miracles are an everyday occurrence after all." He says and I snort.
"I still doubt you would believe me…" sighing I lean back, a look off resignation on my face.
"But what the hell right? Maybe saying it aloud will help, has in the past after all."
"If nothing else I can simply listen…" I hear him say as I stare at the religious mural covering the ceiling.
"Hmm… so I go to bed last night, right? At home, In my own bed. In fucking Alexandria, Minnesota, but where do I wake up the next day? In an alley on the boardwalk of fucking Brockton Bay." I groan as I put my forearm over my eyes, closing then when it didn't block out like light like I'm used to.
"And that's not even the best part. When I went to bed last night, my body was very much male. I mean, I was transgender so I wouldn't really be complaining. Except for the fact that I'm in what's supposed to be a fictional fucking world… Yea, I'm serious, everything I know about Brockton Bay and Earth Bet I read in a book back home. Well, sorta. I don't know the finer points but I do remember the broad strokes of the story...which means I am well and truly fucked. This is Earth motherfucking Bet. Home of the Endbringers, where fucking superheroes and villains fight for dominance on a daily basis. Where the planet is slowly being killed by a trans dimensional parasite… fucking hell, I never asked for this." By the time I'm finished speaking my hand it's clenched in a tight fist as I tremble in anger.
"I never asked for this, but I'll be damned if I run away from it. I was sent here with the power to change things, to save people and goddamnit that's what I'm going to do." I grit out through clenched teeth as I bring my arm back. Down, moving my hand to the small overlay in the corner of my vision labeled simply "Activate"
When I touch it?
"Oh! Oh my!" I'm aware of the priest gasping as my mind...changes.
The flow of information is overwhelming for a moment, at least until my "core" fully initializes.
When it does? Words cannot describe the feeling.
With a wave of my hand I disperse the blue hexagons of light that formed a ring around me when I activated my power, the ones in front of me giving a status report in a language I wouldn't have understood a minute ago.
"Gods, if I knew that would have stopped my damn feet from hurting, I would have done it an hour ago." I speak as I stand, bouncing on my now painless feet.
"I Apologize father, I've no idea if what you just witnessed may endanger your life. If a woman in a black fedora comes asking you questions I'd answer them honestly. Now, I think I know how I'm going to light this candle. Thank you father, for anchoring me during that." Holding my hand out I smile when he takes it and stands, standing a full head and a half above me.
"This is really weird considering I was six three yesterday. Fucking four eleven now." Shrugging I turn to leave, a hand on my shoulder stops me however.
"Tell me, if you don't know how you got here do you have anything to your name?"
"...No, not really anyway." That wasn't a lie either, other then the digital diary now in my head-core I possess nothing.
"Here then. It's not much but I pray it helps you on your journey child."
Oh. Oh shit that was a lot of hundreds.
"I...I mean.. But you...Thank you father." His look silence the rejection before I can even formulate it leaving me looking down with a fierce blush on my face as I take the money and thank him.
The silence as I exit the chapel feels far too ominous for my liking.
Slipping my shoes back on I take a look around, smiling as my newly enhanced mind gives me details about every photon of light hitting my body, sifting through enough information to keep my old mind occupied for hours every second.
Fuck that's amazing.
Moving my body, which was now a mass of nanomachines made out of subatomic matter, I started my way north, towards the collection of grounded and sunk vessels known as the boat graveyard.
As I walked I focused inward on my thoughts, a question at the front of my mind.
What am I? I was no longer human, that much was obvious considering what my body was composed of.
At least one would think. But it was a fair bit more complicated than that.
I was made out of… matter. The most fundamental of all matter was under my complete control.
Matter that until I activated my core, was the perfect working model of the human body, albeit it a rather dense one.
So what the hell was I?
Do note though that initially, I'm only bringing about half the story over, as I wish to avoid any chance of drama and will be running a fair bit of content through the review board and making the necessary adjustments before I post it. To that extent, if you wish to see all 81K worth of chapters, It's all up on QQ.
Also, I feel I should point out that this whole thing has been a learning experience for me, and as I've written this I feel I've improved by a wiiiide margin since the beginning back in June. eventually, I will be going back and polishing out the rough edges of earlier chapters, but until then Ima say don't let the rough start turn you down too much, It gets better ^.^
So without further wait, here we go! chapter one: Not in Kansas anymore.
Cyoa version.
build: Build, nanomachines son- mental model*
*mental model is part of the crossover.
Flaws, wanted; E88, ABB, Coil.
We know.
Kidnapping.
Identity revealed.
Endbringer target.
Perks godkiller, blind spot.
The diary.
Chapter One: Not in Kansas anymore.
It was the strangest of experiences, being woken up on the cold concrete of an alleyway, knowing you went to sleep the night before in your own bed, in your own home.
It was even stranger to realize you were no longer in the right body. Well the body I was born with anyway.
"Miss, did you hear me? You can't stay here, I'm going to need you to vacate the area." The voice that woke me from my slumber spoke again.
"What…? Wait. What the fuck? Where the hell…?" I look around as my mind finally comes to full awareness.
"Where the fuck…" I say aloud as I bolt up from my position on the ground next to a dumpster.
Glancing around I see that I'm in a fairly dirty alleyway, with no identifying buildings visible.
"Are you alright miss?" The man says again and I freeze realizing what he had called me.
Looking down I stare at my half raised hand. A very feminine hand. One that wasn't marred with scars from a lifetime of self harm and factory work.
"Uhh…" Even my voice was different.
"Miss?" Just as my shock is setting in the security officer brings me back to reality.
"Uh...s-sorry but where am I? I've no recollection of getting here." At this his demeanor changes somewhat, a flash of concern visible for a moment before his face turns neutral.
"You're on the boardwalk, are you injured? What do you remember last?" I frown at his words.
There wasn't an area in town referred to as "The boardwalk"
"Getting ready for bed at my apartment. Where am I? There's no boardwalk in town… What fucking city am I in? And why the fuck do I sound like…" I pause as I look around, a broken pane of glass in the dumpster catching my attention.
To be more precise it was the reflection in the glass that had me frozen.
Blue hair, eyes, a angular female face...a face that moved when I did…
"What the fuck is going on."
"Miss, you are currently on the boardwalk of the city of Brockton Bay in the state of Massachusetts. Where do you live?"
Did he just…
"Did you just say Brockton Bay?" I ask, my face locked in an expression of shock as a wave of information hits me as if in response to his words.
Like water flowing over a bed of rocks the information expands in my mind, memories from months ago as sharp and clear as if they happened seconds ago.
"...Yes… Miss, if you are not injured in any way I'm going to have to ask you to leave the area, if you need help I can give you directions to the closest police station." He says, a moment after his ear piece lights up for a moment, snapping my mind back to reality.
"Uh...y-yea. That would… be helpful…" My voice felt tiny, and it starts hitting home that this may actually be happening.
"Right, you will find 32nd Street about a block to the South. Follow it to 6th Avenue and head South, that will keep you clear of any of the gangs and get you to a station. Now, I'm sorry but I have to get back to my patrol. Best of luck to you miss." He says curtly before nodding to me and walking to the mouth of the alley.
By this point my mind is more or less numb as I follow him, leaving the alley and taking in my surroundings.
A large bay dominated my view, the open ocean stretching to the horizon beyond the mouth of it.
What really catches my eye however is the fucking FLOATING OIL RIG in the middle of the bay.
"...I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
DING!
What the fuck? What the hell was… That?
Even as I wonder what the hell the ringing in my head was, a transparent red screen appears several feet in front of me, hanging in the air.
Primary Systems in standby. Activate?
Somehow, despite having a body made out of nanomachines, a wave of nausea hits me, and I look around, sagging in relief when nobody else seems capable of seeing the… alert screen.
That's it then isn't it? This is really happening… Well, it could be a lot worse I suppose, at least that is if the knowledge I'm working work is accurate anyway. I did go with Godkiller after all….But still...
"Goddamnit" this was so going to give me PTSD, I just fucking knew it.
Glancing around I sigh add I realize just how lost I was going to be in this city, having only seen the most basic of maps of it.
"Well, here goes everything…" Despite everything happening and the emotional numbness I was feeling I knew that if I wanted to survive I would need to get moving. This was Brockton Bay. Where people died by the dozen each day to gang violence, where dozens of villains flight for control of different territory's on a near daily basis.
Yea. I need to find someplace to hunker down and think so I can come up with some sort of plan.
Then maybe I can properly freak the fuck out about the fact that I was no longer in my own body.
"... I need a map…" I say as I start heading south, to the street the police officer had pointed me towards.
Okay. What the fuck, why did I have to wake up in High heels? I mean I'm near positive I was drop dead sexy in them but fucking really? How the fuck do women not dislocate their ankles with these things? God this is going to be a long walk.
.
..
…
Can someone kill me now? Put me out my misery? I think my ankles are going to break if have to walk much longer in these… I swear, if there's an actual God out there, not some sick sadistic asshole then I'll… oh.
My thoughts come to a halt as I look around the street. More precisely when I see a rather nondescript door save for the large crucifix hanging over it.
"Well…if that's not a sign I don't know what is…"I mumble as I head for the door.
As I near, I see faded lettering on the door, identifying the church as a Christ and King worship center.
Grabbing the handle, I sagged in relief slightly when it opened. Stepping past the threshold I let the door close behind me as I walk out of the foyer and into the worship area. Seven rows of short benches lined either side of the room, the central divide leading an alter on a raised platform, a large cross standing just behind it.
It's a stroke of luck that the room is empty, though given the still burning incense I imagine a priest isn't too far away.
Limping along I make my way to the bench closest to the altar, taking off the stupid shoes the moment I sit down.
"Thank god…" I mutter as I set them down beside me before leaning forward and bracing my elbows on on the wooden partition in front of me.
Folding my hands together in the traditional way I kneel down and press my forehead to my knuckles, praying for the first time in over ten years.
As I do, the days events finally hit me and the tears start in earnest as I realize just how utterly fucked I am.
"Please….." I whisper in between my quiet sobs.
"Please…."
.
..
…
It's nearly an hour later by the time I'm finally cried myself dry, and turn to stand, or at least sit back down.
"Oh holy shit!" I yelp when I realize there was someone sitting right next to me, his robes identifying him as a Catholic priest.
"I apologize miss, I thought it wrong to pull you out of your grief before you were done. Tell me, what lead you here today?" He asks me and I sigh, untensing once more.
"Father, you wouldn't believe me if I told you…" I mumble as I look down at my hands once more, where they were resting on thighs… My too small legging covered thighs…
"This is so fucked…" I whisper as I stare, taking in each and every crease and line in my skin.
"I think you'd be surprised at what I'd believe, child. We live in a time where miracles are an everyday occurrence after all." He says and I snort.
"I still doubt you would believe me…" sighing I lean back, a look off resignation on my face.
"But what the hell right? Maybe saying it aloud will help, has in the past after all."
"If nothing else I can simply listen…" I hear him say as I stare at the religious mural covering the ceiling.
"Hmm… so I go to bed last night, right? At home, In my own bed. In fucking Alexandria, Minnesota, but where do I wake up the next day? In an alley on the boardwalk of fucking Brockton Bay." I groan as I put my forearm over my eyes, closing then when it didn't block out like light like I'm used to.
"And that's not even the best part. When I went to bed last night, my body was very much male. I mean, I was transgender so I wouldn't really be complaining. Except for the fact that I'm in what's supposed to be a fictional fucking world… Yea, I'm serious, everything I know about Brockton Bay and Earth Bet I read in a book back home. Well, sorta. I don't know the finer points but I do remember the broad strokes of the story...which means I am well and truly fucked. This is Earth motherfucking Bet. Home of the Endbringers, where fucking superheroes and villains fight for dominance on a daily basis. Where the planet is slowly being killed by a trans dimensional parasite… fucking hell, I never asked for this." By the time I'm finished speaking my hand it's clenched in a tight fist as I tremble in anger.
"I never asked for this, but I'll be damned if I run away from it. I was sent here with the power to change things, to save people and goddamnit that's what I'm going to do." I grit out through clenched teeth as I bring my arm back. Down, moving my hand to the small overlay in the corner of my vision labeled simply "Activate"
When I touch it?
"Oh! Oh my!" I'm aware of the priest gasping as my mind...changes.
The flow of information is overwhelming for a moment, at least until my "core" fully initializes.
When it does? Words cannot describe the feeling.
With a wave of my hand I disperse the blue hexagons of light that formed a ring around me when I activated my power, the ones in front of me giving a status report in a language I wouldn't have understood a minute ago.
"Gods, if I knew that would have stopped my damn feet from hurting, I would have done it an hour ago." I speak as I stand, bouncing on my now painless feet.
"I Apologize father, I've no idea if what you just witnessed may endanger your life. If a woman in a black fedora comes asking you questions I'd answer them honestly. Now, I think I know how I'm going to light this candle. Thank you father, for anchoring me during that." Holding my hand out I smile when he takes it and stands, standing a full head and a half above me.
"This is really weird considering I was six three yesterday. Fucking four eleven now." Shrugging I turn to leave, a hand on my shoulder stops me however.
"Tell me, if you don't know how you got here do you have anything to your name?"
"...No, not really anyway." That wasn't a lie either, other then the digital diary now in my head-core I possess nothing.
"Here then. It's not much but I pray it helps you on your journey child."
Oh. Oh shit that was a lot of hundreds.
"I...I mean.. But you...Thank you father." His look silence the rejection before I can even formulate it leaving me looking down with a fierce blush on my face as I take the money and thank him.
The silence as I exit the chapel feels far too ominous for my liking.
Slipping my shoes back on I take a look around, smiling as my newly enhanced mind gives me details about every photon of light hitting my body, sifting through enough information to keep my old mind occupied for hours every second.
Fuck that's amazing.
Moving my body, which was now a mass of nanomachines made out of subatomic matter, I started my way north, towards the collection of grounded and sunk vessels known as the boat graveyard.
As I walked I focused inward on my thoughts, a question at the front of my mind.
What am I? I was no longer human, that much was obvious considering what my body was composed of.
At least one would think. But it was a fair bit more complicated than that.
I was made out of… matter. The most fundamental of all matter was under my complete control.
Matter that until I activated my core, was the perfect working model of the human body, albeit it a rather dense one.
So what the hell was I?
Getting Started.
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
This question plagues my mind for a good half hour as I walk towards the boat graveyard, at least until I realize a very simple fact.
It didn't matter what the fuck I was.
I was here now, and I knew what I had to do.
Besides, for all intents and purposes I was as human as everyone else here, save for the quantum supercomputer inside me.
Which Is why I was heading to the largest concentration of steel in the city besides the downtown area. But I get the feeling the people living here might take offense if I started going Pac man in the middle of the downtown area.
You see, one of the perks of being made out off machines that were smaller than a hydrogen atom; I could literally turn anything I wanted into… anything. I just had to know the correct arrangement of atoms to get the desired material.
Considering the previously mentioned supercomputer that was now my brain you would think that would be easy.
You would think so at least, but while I may be able to think faster than light if I wanted, it did not grant me knowledge I didn't already have.
Which meant I'm now REALLY regretting sleeping through so many classes…
Meh. Fuck it, I'll find an internet connection and go on a data binge later, for now I had something like two or three days to get established and experiment with my powers, which I had already decided that If anyone asked what they were I would simply answer "Nanomachines son"
As I walk I notice the city around me changing the farther north I head. Gone were the well maintained buildings and stores, in their place were aging and decrepit buildings, many of them appearing to be abandoned.
Yet as run down as the area was I wasn't really concerned. Unless I ran into someone on the level of Lung I knew I would be fine, though I do wish I had thought to buy a coat, or a different outfit entirely on the way here.
It wasn't that I was cold by any means, in fact I'm fairly certain I could be walking through the arctic and be fine… It's just… I'd never worn a skirt before, this combined with the unfamiliar sensations of this body had me more then a little uncomfortable.
The stares didn't help either.
I mean come on it's not like I'm… wait…
I pause mid step as it hits me.
I am… more than attractive. I mean, before if I was to see someone with ocean blue hair in a seemingly gravity defying ponytail style and wearing high heels, black leggings and a white skirt/shirt combo I would probably be falling over myself trying to get her attention…
Nope! I was NOT blushing.
Nope, not at all. Most certainly not.
My pace increases as I start moving again, wanting to get the hell away from the leering stares. A block and a half after my revelation however a new thought occurs to me when I see a group of people standing at the mouth of an alley on the opposite side of the street.
From their appearance I'm near certain they were part of the gang known as the Archers Bridge Merchants, a gang of deplorables led by the villains Skidmark and Squealer.
The reason I hesitated was the fact that their reputation was centered around the drug trade in the city.
"This is such a bad idea…" I mutter as I cross the street and head towards them.
The wolf whistle that echoes across the street as I as approach has me blushing fiercely despite the scowl on my face.
"Well well well, what's a pretty little thing like you doing around here?" The leader of group, identifiable by his not completely disgusting appearance, says as I near them.
"Can you not?" I say, still scowling as I pull two of the hundreds the priest gave me from my pocket.
"All you need to know is that I'm looking for some weed, nothing else. Now do you have any or should I take my business elsewhere?" I say as I hold out the bills in front of me.
"Aw, that's all? Are you sure? I'm sure there's a lot more we could-"
"Yes I'm sure you disgusting pig. If I wanted something else I would have said so. Now how much will this get me around here? Back home I could get an ounce of kush for two." This time it's him scowling as I cut him off.
"Know your manners girl, and watch your tongue unless you want us to teach you a lesson in respect." I suppose he thought he was being intimidating, and I guess he might have been if it wasn't for his broken and rotted front teeth.
"Oh go eat a dick. Do you want my money or not?" I snap back, unconsciously clenching my left hand into a fist.
"Why you-!" His words die in his mouth as one of the group puts a hand on his shoulder and leans in to whisper in his ear.
"Boss, c'mon, let's just take her and be done with it." To bad for him I could still hear him as if he were speaking in my ear.
The man looks back at him for a second before nodding and taking a step forward, getting much too close to me, his stench becoming much more apparent.
"You know, Billy here raises a good point. I think you need to learn just who the hell is in charge here you little cunt."
Sigh.
"Why didn't you just take the money you idiot?" I groan as I put the bills back in my pocket, my voice giving none of my inward panic away as he pulls a revolver from his jacket.
"Shut the fuck up Bitch, now get over here unless you want to die."
Well then…
Let's dance.
"Very well." in a instant I was on them, my arms morphing into blades above the wrist in true T-1000 style.
"Shit!"
"Cape!"
"Fuck!"
His three companions shout as I take off his arm just below the elbow, morphing my left hand back and catching the gun as it falls to the ground, having fallen out of his hand on the upward arc.
Four loud cracks later and they're all on the ground. Each one screaming at an impressive pitch and volume as they grab their groins, blood quickly seeping through their hands.
"Well… that was fun?" I say aloud as kneel before the now dickless leader of the group.
"Should have just taken the money you idiot." I say as I go through his pockets, coming up with what looked to be three or four ounces of weed and several bags of what I was assuming was cocaine, not to mention nearly two grand of assorted bills.
By the time I'm finished he's passed out, and the other three are whimpering in pain.
…
Goddamnit.
Kneeling back down I grab the stub of the man's arm, holding the palm of my hand against it as I morph my hand into steel, which I then superheat to just below its melting point.
Three seconds later I let go, having grabbed his mobile with my free hand. Four button presses later and…
"Nine one one, please state that nature of your emergency."
"Yea, uh… Wait fuck I'm sorry, I've no idea where I am, only been here a day… Uh well, trace this cell, you will find four newly castrated merchants at its location. Have fun with that." As soon as I'm finished speaking I toss the phone into the unconscious man and start walking again, once more heading north.
It was a fully three blocks later when I finally heard the sirens approaching their location.
I wonder if they made it?
The next thirty minutes pass without incident thankfully, and I find myself amongst the wrecks of dozens of different hulks, each one once a proud seafaring vessel.
"Well...Let's see here…" I mumble to myself as I look around, bringing my hand up to my face, palm up as I concentrate on a image in my mind, a silvery liquid flowing from the creases in my palm and forming a metal sphere.
Once it's formed I grip like a baseball and cock my arm back whipping it at the wreck of a fishing vessel thirty feet to my front, whether it impacts with a wet "splat!"
I repeat this process five more times, stopping when my core warns me of running out of extra mass.
"Right then, now to pass some time… Okay, let's see what else I can do then." I mumble to myself as I approach the ship nearest to me, the hull of being slowly assimilated by my nanites.
So, if I'm now a living super weapon of extraterrestrial origins I should be able to-
RIIIIP!
"Holy fuck." The awe in my voice was clear as I stare at my arm, which was embedded up to the elbow in the hull of the vessel.
Three inches of steel, and I had just punched through it with minimal effort.
"Oh This is going to be good." retracting my arm I catch the edge of the hole with my palm, tearing off a three foot long strip of Metal.
Now, can I...Yup.
I smile as I press it against my chest, smiling as it passes through my clothes and "skin" as if they were liquid in response to my intent, where it is rapidly torn apart at the atomic level, it's mass being converted into more… me.
I fucking love Nanotech.
Okay, Pacman is check, now what about…
BRRRRRINGGG
With a loud electric hum a large blue hexagon appears in front of me.
"Huh… Neat…" I mumble softly as I reach out and touch it, grinning at its glass-like texture and warmth.
I stare for a few moments before I take a step back, squaring my stance and focusing for a moment, my grin grows wider when it responds to my mental command and doubles In size and starts rotating.
A micro second thought and a half dozen more appear around me, including one directly underneath my feet.
Grinning I snap my fingers, more for effect then anything as they arrange themselves into stairs as I begin running along them, doing my best to test my limits
As it turns out when your reaction speed is measured in nanoseconds limits are rather hard to find, as evidenced when I start jumping between the hard light platforms.
Platforms which were placed at seemingly random angles, leaving me doing a fairly good impression of a racket ball.
If said racket ball was possessed by the spirit of Barry Allen.
I stop when I break the sound barrier, creating a minute sonic boom that is thankfully muffled by the fact I was inside one of the hundreds of abandoned cargo containers around the area.
****
It was nearly two hours after I had started cannibalizing the materials when I stop playing with my abilities, having a established a decent base line of what I was capable of.
Now I was sitting in a newly refurbished room in the fishing vessel that was the first ship I had started assimilating, a full third of which was now composed out of my nano machines, leaving me with literal tons of nano material to work with.
A few ounces of which was currently pooling in my hand, coming together In the familiar shape of a pipe.
What?
Don't give me that look, I still had over thirty hours before Lung would be taken down, which meant I had more than enough time to numb myself to the situation, at least for a few hours anyway.
As soon as the pipe is formed I'm opening the Ziploc bag in my lap that was full of the dried out buds of the world's most epic plant.
A small chunk later and….
Hissss
The sound of burning plant matter fills the air as the screen in the bowl of the pipe is heated red hot on account of my lack of a lighter.
Three seconds pass, then five. At the ten second mark I realize the air in my lungs was starting to compress ever so slightly and I stop inhaling, cupping the bowl and killing the heat as I hold the hit for a good fifteen seconds before I exhale.
"...damn…"
Let's add extreme lung capacity to the laundry list of things I was capable of shall we?
Looking down at the pipe I realized I had cached the bowl In that one hit.
"Heh...hehehe...ahahaha!"
Well, it seems I have my answer on whether or not I would be able to experience the high.
"-hehehe-" on the other hand, I may have forgotten to consider that this body wouldn't have any of the tolerances I had built up to the drug over several years of daily use.
My THC clouded mind finds this extraordinarily funny, and I end up giggling on and of for the next half an hour as I more or less melt into the recliner I had created.
As all good things however it doesn't last, and nearly an hour later I start coming down again. As I do my mood shifts rather dramatically as it occurs to me that I was supposed to be coming home from work around this time.
Home….
Would I ever make ie
It back there?
Back to…
My vision blurs as my simulated biology reacts to my emotions, leaving me crying quietly as I think of the life I was torn away from.
Was it all meaningless now? Everything I had worked so hard to achieve?
The answer eludes me as I wipe away the tears, standing a moment later, glancing around the renovated hold of the ship, which was currently making me feel quite claustrophobic.
"I need to get out of here." The way my voice echoes off of the steel of the walls only reinforces my need to be...anywhere else really, preferably someplace with people.
Less than a minute later I'm walking away from the wrecks, a newly formed blue and black messenger bag slung over my shoulder as I walk away from my rapidly growing reserve of nanomaterials.
As I walk I make a choice. And as it settles in my mind a single tear breaks free as I walk away, mentally leaving my past behind as I focus on the task ahead of me.
It didn't matter what the fuck I was.
I was here now, and I knew what I had to do.
Besides, for all intents and purposes I was as human as everyone else here, save for the quantum supercomputer inside me.
Which Is why I was heading to the largest concentration of steel in the city besides the downtown area. But I get the feeling the people living here might take offense if I started going Pac man in the middle of the downtown area.
You see, one of the perks of being made out off machines that were smaller than a hydrogen atom; I could literally turn anything I wanted into… anything. I just had to know the correct arrangement of atoms to get the desired material.
Considering the previously mentioned supercomputer that was now my brain you would think that would be easy.
You would think so at least, but while I may be able to think faster than light if I wanted, it did not grant me knowledge I didn't already have.
Which meant I'm now REALLY regretting sleeping through so many classes…
Meh. Fuck it, I'll find an internet connection and go on a data binge later, for now I had something like two or three days to get established and experiment with my powers, which I had already decided that If anyone asked what they were I would simply answer "Nanomachines son"
As I walk I notice the city around me changing the farther north I head. Gone were the well maintained buildings and stores, in their place were aging and decrepit buildings, many of them appearing to be abandoned.
Yet as run down as the area was I wasn't really concerned. Unless I ran into someone on the level of Lung I knew I would be fine, though I do wish I had thought to buy a coat, or a different outfit entirely on the way here.
It wasn't that I was cold by any means, in fact I'm fairly certain I could be walking through the arctic and be fine… It's just… I'd never worn a skirt before, this combined with the unfamiliar sensations of this body had me more then a little uncomfortable.
The stares didn't help either.
I mean come on it's not like I'm… wait…
I pause mid step as it hits me.
I am… more than attractive. I mean, before if I was to see someone with ocean blue hair in a seemingly gravity defying ponytail style and wearing high heels, black leggings and a white skirt/shirt combo I would probably be falling over myself trying to get her attention…
Nope! I was NOT blushing.
Nope, not at all. Most certainly not.
My pace increases as I start moving again, wanting to get the hell away from the leering stares. A block and a half after my revelation however a new thought occurs to me when I see a group of people standing at the mouth of an alley on the opposite side of the street.
From their appearance I'm near certain they were part of the gang known as the Archers Bridge Merchants, a gang of deplorables led by the villains Skidmark and Squealer.
The reason I hesitated was the fact that their reputation was centered around the drug trade in the city.
"This is such a bad idea…" I mutter as I cross the street and head towards them.
The wolf whistle that echoes across the street as I as approach has me blushing fiercely despite the scowl on my face.
"Well well well, what's a pretty little thing like you doing around here?" The leader of group, identifiable by his not completely disgusting appearance, says as I near them.
"Can you not?" I say, still scowling as I pull two of the hundreds the priest gave me from my pocket.
"All you need to know is that I'm looking for some weed, nothing else. Now do you have any or should I take my business elsewhere?" I say as I hold out the bills in front of me.
"Aw, that's all? Are you sure? I'm sure there's a lot more we could-"
"Yes I'm sure you disgusting pig. If I wanted something else I would have said so. Now how much will this get me around here? Back home I could get an ounce of kush for two." This time it's him scowling as I cut him off.
"Know your manners girl, and watch your tongue unless you want us to teach you a lesson in respect." I suppose he thought he was being intimidating, and I guess he might have been if it wasn't for his broken and rotted front teeth.
"Oh go eat a dick. Do you want my money or not?" I snap back, unconsciously clenching my left hand into a fist.
"Why you-!" His words die in his mouth as one of the group puts a hand on his shoulder and leans in to whisper in his ear.
"Boss, c'mon, let's just take her and be done with it." To bad for him I could still hear him as if he were speaking in my ear.
The man looks back at him for a second before nodding and taking a step forward, getting much too close to me, his stench becoming much more apparent.
"You know, Billy here raises a good point. I think you need to learn just who the hell is in charge here you little cunt."
Sigh.
"Why didn't you just take the money you idiot?" I groan as I put the bills back in my pocket, my voice giving none of my inward panic away as he pulls a revolver from his jacket.
"Shut the fuck up Bitch, now get over here unless you want to die."
Well then…
Let's dance.
"Very well." in a instant I was on them, my arms morphing into blades above the wrist in true T-1000 style.
"Shit!"
"Cape!"
"Fuck!"
His three companions shout as I take off his arm just below the elbow, morphing my left hand back and catching the gun as it falls to the ground, having fallen out of his hand on the upward arc.
Four loud cracks later and they're all on the ground. Each one screaming at an impressive pitch and volume as they grab their groins, blood quickly seeping through their hands.
"Well… that was fun?" I say aloud as kneel before the now dickless leader of the group.
"Should have just taken the money you idiot." I say as I go through his pockets, coming up with what looked to be three or four ounces of weed and several bags of what I was assuming was cocaine, not to mention nearly two grand of assorted bills.
By the time I'm finished he's passed out, and the other three are whimpering in pain.
…
Goddamnit.
Kneeling back down I grab the stub of the man's arm, holding the palm of my hand against it as I morph my hand into steel, which I then superheat to just below its melting point.
Three seconds later I let go, having grabbed his mobile with my free hand. Four button presses later and…
"Nine one one, please state that nature of your emergency."
"Yea, uh… Wait fuck I'm sorry, I've no idea where I am, only been here a day… Uh well, trace this cell, you will find four newly castrated merchants at its location. Have fun with that." As soon as I'm finished speaking I toss the phone into the unconscious man and start walking again, once more heading north.
It was a fully three blocks later when I finally heard the sirens approaching their location.
I wonder if they made it?
The next thirty minutes pass without incident thankfully, and I find myself amongst the wrecks of dozens of different hulks, each one once a proud seafaring vessel.
"Well...Let's see here…" I mumble to myself as I look around, bringing my hand up to my face, palm up as I concentrate on a image in my mind, a silvery liquid flowing from the creases in my palm and forming a metal sphere.
Once it's formed I grip like a baseball and cock my arm back whipping it at the wreck of a fishing vessel thirty feet to my front, whether it impacts with a wet "splat!"
I repeat this process five more times, stopping when my core warns me of running out of extra mass.
"Right then, now to pass some time… Okay, let's see what else I can do then." I mumble to myself as I approach the ship nearest to me, the hull of being slowly assimilated by my nanites.
So, if I'm now a living super weapon of extraterrestrial origins I should be able to-
RIIIIP!
"Holy fuck." The awe in my voice was clear as I stare at my arm, which was embedded up to the elbow in the hull of the vessel.
Three inches of steel, and I had just punched through it with minimal effort.
"Oh This is going to be good." retracting my arm I catch the edge of the hole with my palm, tearing off a three foot long strip of Metal.
Now, can I...Yup.
I smile as I press it against my chest, smiling as it passes through my clothes and "skin" as if they were liquid in response to my intent, where it is rapidly torn apart at the atomic level, it's mass being converted into more… me.
I fucking love Nanotech.
Okay, Pacman is check, now what about…
BRRRRRINGGG
With a loud electric hum a large blue hexagon appears in front of me.
"Huh… Neat…" I mumble softly as I reach out and touch it, grinning at its glass-like texture and warmth.
I stare for a few moments before I take a step back, squaring my stance and focusing for a moment, my grin grows wider when it responds to my mental command and doubles In size and starts rotating.
A micro second thought and a half dozen more appear around me, including one directly underneath my feet.
Grinning I snap my fingers, more for effect then anything as they arrange themselves into stairs as I begin running along them, doing my best to test my limits
As it turns out when your reaction speed is measured in nanoseconds limits are rather hard to find, as evidenced when I start jumping between the hard light platforms.
Platforms which were placed at seemingly random angles, leaving me doing a fairly good impression of a racket ball.
If said racket ball was possessed by the spirit of Barry Allen.
I stop when I break the sound barrier, creating a minute sonic boom that is thankfully muffled by the fact I was inside one of the hundreds of abandoned cargo containers around the area.
****
It was nearly two hours after I had started cannibalizing the materials when I stop playing with my abilities, having a established a decent base line of what I was capable of.
Now I was sitting in a newly refurbished room in the fishing vessel that was the first ship I had started assimilating, a full third of which was now composed out of my nano machines, leaving me with literal tons of nano material to work with.
A few ounces of which was currently pooling in my hand, coming together In the familiar shape of a pipe.
What?
Don't give me that look, I still had over thirty hours before Lung would be taken down, which meant I had more than enough time to numb myself to the situation, at least for a few hours anyway.
As soon as the pipe is formed I'm opening the Ziploc bag in my lap that was full of the dried out buds of the world's most epic plant.
A small chunk later and….
Hissss
The sound of burning plant matter fills the air as the screen in the bowl of the pipe is heated red hot on account of my lack of a lighter.
Three seconds pass, then five. At the ten second mark I realize the air in my lungs was starting to compress ever so slightly and I stop inhaling, cupping the bowl and killing the heat as I hold the hit for a good fifteen seconds before I exhale.
"...damn…"
Let's add extreme lung capacity to the laundry list of things I was capable of shall we?
Looking down at the pipe I realized I had cached the bowl In that one hit.
"Heh...hehehe...ahahaha!"
Well, it seems I have my answer on whether or not I would be able to experience the high.
"-hehehe-" on the other hand, I may have forgotten to consider that this body wouldn't have any of the tolerances I had built up to the drug over several years of daily use.
My THC clouded mind finds this extraordinarily funny, and I end up giggling on and of for the next half an hour as I more or less melt into the recliner I had created.
As all good things however it doesn't last, and nearly an hour later I start coming down again. As I do my mood shifts rather dramatically as it occurs to me that I was supposed to be coming home from work around this time.
Home….
Would I ever make ie
It back there?
Back to…
My vision blurs as my simulated biology reacts to my emotions, leaving me crying quietly as I think of the life I was torn away from.
Was it all meaningless now? Everything I had worked so hard to achieve?
The answer eludes me as I wipe away the tears, standing a moment later, glancing around the renovated hold of the ship, which was currently making me feel quite claustrophobic.
"I need to get out of here." The way my voice echoes off of the steel of the walls only reinforces my need to be...anywhere else really, preferably someplace with people.
Less than a minute later I'm walking away from the wrecks, a newly formed blue and black messenger bag slung over my shoulder as I walk away from my rapidly growing reserve of nanomaterials.
As I walk I make a choice. And as it settles in my mind a single tear breaks free as I walk away, mentally leaving my past behind as I focus on the task ahead of me.
information overload.
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
It was still fairly early In the afternoon by the time I reached the nearest library, having asked directions once I was in one of the more maintained parts of the city.
It was also rather nice for early April in this part of the country, at least I think it was. I had never actually been to the east coast in my previous life.
Even with the otherwise nice atmosphere one could not help but notice the state of the city, it was fairly apparent to anyone who looked beyond the surface that things were barely holding together, from the graffiti and gang tags that had been painted over several different times, or the multiple patches in the roads on sidewalks.
The biggest give away however was the vehicles, it seemed that for every five junkers there was one In good condition leading to an overall bleak atmosphere.
This, I decided, needed to change.
First however, I needed information, Which was why I was currently walking up the staircase of the Brockton Bay public library.
Once inside it was one simple conversation later that I was sitting in front of a computer, which to my immense satisfaction was set up in its own private cubicle.
A quick scan for any surveillance equipment and I set my palm on the micro tower the machine's components were encased in, allowing my nano materials to infest it, very rapidly converting its components into prefect copies.
The effects of which was a direct connection to the building's network, which was in turn connected to the world's internet.
Pulling my hand back I manually bring up a simple Google page for appearances sake before I dive into the net, fully immersing myself Into the digital realm.
The experience was rather...intense to say the least. One moment my senses told me I was sitting in a cubicle, the next, I was In the matrix.
Gone was the cubicle and building around me, in its place I found myself standing in what could only be described as a gigantic spider web, with tunnels of binary connecting thousands, no. Millions of different hubs.
It was surreal, to realize that this was literally the internet, given visual form thanks to my cores immense processing capabilities. Glancing around I could see the dozen other connections around me, each one representing a different access point in the building, the data moving to and from them in sporadic bursts as their users enter commands.
"This is so fucking cool…" I whispered in awe. I looked around in earnest, moving from my initial position, knowing on a basic level how to navigate the maze of connections.
Okay. So, this is still the net, just… different. If I want to find anything in a reasonable amount of time I'll need to use a… search… engine…
Jesus fucking Christ that's a lot of connections.
My mind grinds a halt as I find what would be best described as a nexus of pretty much every network in the world. The Amount of data passing through its servers every second was quite simply mind boggling.
Well, to a purely human mind anyway.
Let's get to work shall we?
Cracking my metaphysical knuckles I do just that, diving into it and sifting through the junk in a search for information on the state of the world.
In a timescale measured in milliseconds I'm taking In more information then the old me could process in days as I browse this world's web. One of the first places I look of course is the Forum known as Parahumans Online, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the SB and SV boards I was familiar with from my old life.
In less then ten minutes I was up to date with the world events.
If it wasn't for the fact that I could control my individual neural impulses I might honestly be sick.
The date was April eighth two thousand eleven. The world should be in a fucking golden age of technology and culture, with the average citizen's biggest concern being when the next model iPhone was to be released, or a new viral video on YouTube, or what the color of that one fucking dress was….
That's what should be anyway, if not for the interdimensional parasite that was slowly murdering the planet.
Thanks to Scion the world was, for lack of a better word, rotting. People who in my Earth would be getting excited about the next big movie or album were instead worrying if today was the day that one of the calamities would claim their city as its next victim, or if they would be the victim of the next up and coming villainous gang, or roaming S class threat like the Slaughterhouse 9.
It was… wrong. On so many different levels.
The worst of it however?
This Earth was one without hope.
Thanks in large part to the existence of the Endbringers. Which, all things considered was rather understandable.
They had watched, time after time as their greatest heroes were slaughtered, as city after city was destroyed. Time after time they watched as the darkness slowly took over, as the villains won victory after victory.
It needed to change.
And I was given the power to change it.
… Fuck me.
I was REALLY glad I couldn't get sick right now.
Now the question was, how would I change it? I had already begun basic preparations by starting the assimilation of the scrap yard on the northern end of the bay, but that was only the foundation.
I needed to do more.
And I knew just where to start. But first, I would need an identity, as it stood, as far as this world was concerned I didn't exist.
Let's fix that shall we?
In moments I'm flying through the web once more, this time with a more specific target in mind. In this case, governmental databases, primarily the Social Security administration and census data centers.
It was here I run into my first obstacle in the form of the servers security systems and firewalls, as expected however they were no match for a quantum supercomputer.
Less then a second after I encountered the firewalls I was through them, creating several documents detailing my existence, and within ten seconds of the start of my mission it was complete, records would now show I was Alice Vivian Cross, born in Alexandria, Minnesota under the name Alexander Michael Cross.
The next twenty seconds are used creating a false digital footprint of my life, from a social media accounts on Facebook and YouTube to records of mental health diagnosis and treatment, even a employment and medical history.
As far as this world was concerned I was a emancipated seventeen year old transgender women who had lost her parents in a bridge collapse a month ago In downtown Minneapolis.
According to the records I had moved to the bay two weeks ago in order to get away from the memories of home. Most importantly however as of April ninth I would be enrolled in one Winslow high school as a transfer into their junior class.
It just so happened that every last one of my classes happened to be shared with one Taylor Hebert.
What? You seriously think I wouldn't be keeping the closest of eyes on the girl who, if I was never here would end up saving the world?
As it were I was now set to start my classes tomorrow morning.
Well then… Now what? It's been all of… ten minutes since I connected to the net, let's see what other shenanigans and mischief I could get into with my newfound abilities.
Within a few milliseconds I was registered to the PHO forums under the name "Von Neumann" as an unverified cape, and a few after that I was browsing around, lurking and observing, getting more of a feel for the site.
At the same time I was conducting my first experiment with multi threading my processing, leaving me doing five different things at once. Most of which consisted of poking around different servers and data centers, accessing and cataloging information I should not have access to.
I catalogued server after server. Getting a more and more detailed picture of the world's blight, and running into stronger and more complex security systems the further I went.
Protectorate systems in particular were exceedingly difficult to rummage through without leaving any traces of my presence, as it was no human would be able to tell that I had been poking around.
There was a minor problem with this however, one that I didn't realize until it was too late.
There weren't just humans to worry about when it came to cyberspace. I remembered this when a firewall I was in the process of breaking through started behaving… oddly.
As In it actively began repelling my access attempts.
Which were being sent and modulated as fast as the library's connection would allow.
Well shit.
So I was as human as I claimed to be when it came to overlooking information I already possessed it seemed.
Such as the fact that Dragon, a sentient A.I. Was deeply connected to many of the Protectorate systems via her status as the world's greatest tinker.
When the first counter probe comes at me I realize that I may have fucked up.
In a nanosecond I changed from offense to defense, repelling the probe before I started to pull out of the system in more than a bit of a panic.
In my a desperate attempt to throw her off of me long enough to pull out entirely I bounced around a few million different connections before rounding back to my initial access point and returning my mind fully to my core, and my body
In a instant I'm back in the library, in front of the monitor which was still displaying a Google search page. As I came back to my physical senses I twitched and glanced around, looking for any security cameras, knowing that despite my series off false trails it was highly likely Dragon would trace my connections back to the point of origin in very short order.
Walking away from the cube farm that was the library's public computers I head for the entrance, using my abilities to emit intense IR light each time I walked into view of a security camera. The effect of which would be appearing as a blinding light should anyone end up reviewing the recordings.
Less than a two minutes later I was walking down the concrete staircase in front of the building, forcing myself to appear as natural as possible.
Five minutes after I leave I'm standing in front of the nearest bus station, looking over the route map to figure which one to take to get to a hotel for the night, preferably one that wasn't too shady.
To my immense delight there was an extended stay one, not too far down the bus line, in fact the closest stop to it was the transit hub downtown.
Sitting back down I settled in for the twenty minute wait, going over what just happened I my head.
The short of it was that I had gotten careless In the euphoric rush of the data binge, so much so that I had forgotten a very critical piece of information, that being that I was not the only artificial lifeform on this planet.
And now I had tipped off not only Dragon to the existence of a second A.I. But Saint and his Dragon Slayers as well.
How bad was this? I didn't know.
Luckily for me I had a cheat, in the form of the digital text file in my head labeled "The Diary".
Opening it for the first time I went over the contents.
My wince speaks volumes.
****
Twenty minutes prior.
"-ing trouble with the molecular stability of the edge of the blades, I think it might be-"
"Excuse me Colin, I need to check something out, one of my monitoring programs is giving me some odd readings." Tessa Richter, otherwise known as Dragon called over the com link that was currently connected to the protectorate ENE headquarters.
"What is it?" Colin Wallis replies after a moment, minimizing the schematics of his nano thorn project and bringing her video feed back up.
"I'm not sure, I'm getting… something from several different firewalls." her reply came back after a moment, her tone clearly distracted.
"Where at? Is someone trying to-"
"Oh my god." she cut him off as she realized what she was looking at when dozens of Protectorate servers started giving off the same odd readings.
"What is it Dragon?"
"No time. I'll explain later." She said abruptly, before the connection dropped and she dedicated her full processing power to tracking the breaches, looking for a common connection between them.
Her hand was forced however when the being started attempting to break through to the primary Protectorate data center, if it managed to get through the hub, it would have near unrestricted access to every database of not only the Protectorate, but every intelligence agency In the US.
She couldn't allow that to happen.
What follows is a extremely intense, and short active defense of the servers. It's over moments after it begins, with the sudden withdrawal of the entity back into the maze of connections that was the internet the moment she sent a counter probe at it.
In a instant the Chase was on as she attempted to follow it back to wherever it was going, after nearly a hundred thousand different connections however she lost the trail for a full two seconds, ending her chances of catching it. She did however pick the trail back up, following it through nearly a million different hubs before ending at...a public library In Brockton Bay?
"..."
"What the fuck?"
***
Well...that could be worse I guess? She didn't immediately go defcon one at least. Still though, if Dragon knew I was out there, then saint would know shortly as well, and given his outlook on artificial lifeforms that could only spell bad news.
"Add it to the list I guess.." I mumble aloud as I stand, having spotted a bus approaching the shelter.
A minute later I'm settling into the hard plastic seat, watching the city go by as the bus makes its way towards the transit hub, and six stops and twenty three minutes later I'm disembarking and walking towards the hotel that was down the street, maa point to keep my eyes forward as I walk past three fairly crowded station, fighting once more to keep a blush off my face as several star.es are directed towards me.
God I really need to get a different outfit.
Upping my pace I keep moving towards the hotel I was going to be staying at for the time being, at least until I had enough nano materials to properly outfit a base anyway.
Ten minutes after I get off the bus I'm entering the building, an identification card forming In my bag as I take my place in line, having not thought about the need for one until I saw the women in front of me offering hers to the receptionist.
A short conversation later and I'm checked in covered for the next week, shortly after I'm in my suite, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, going over my memories in a attempt to create a outfit that didn't scream "look at me."
With a few simple thought commands my outfit changes, leaving me in a simple grey t-shirt and blue flannel pajama bottoms. Heading back to the main room I flop onto the couch next tip my bag and start channel surfing, packing my pipe once more as I settle in for the night.
As I go to take my first hit I realize something.
"Jesus Christ. I'm going back to high school…"
With a minute amount of effort I double the size of the bowl.
It was also rather nice for early April in this part of the country, at least I think it was. I had never actually been to the east coast in my previous life.
Even with the otherwise nice atmosphere one could not help but notice the state of the city, it was fairly apparent to anyone who looked beyond the surface that things were barely holding together, from the graffiti and gang tags that had been painted over several different times, or the multiple patches in the roads on sidewalks.
The biggest give away however was the vehicles, it seemed that for every five junkers there was one In good condition leading to an overall bleak atmosphere.
This, I decided, needed to change.
First however, I needed information, Which was why I was currently walking up the staircase of the Brockton Bay public library.
Once inside it was one simple conversation later that I was sitting in front of a computer, which to my immense satisfaction was set up in its own private cubicle.
A quick scan for any surveillance equipment and I set my palm on the micro tower the machine's components were encased in, allowing my nano materials to infest it, very rapidly converting its components into prefect copies.
The effects of which was a direct connection to the building's network, which was in turn connected to the world's internet.
Pulling my hand back I manually bring up a simple Google page for appearances sake before I dive into the net, fully immersing myself Into the digital realm.
The experience was rather...intense to say the least. One moment my senses told me I was sitting in a cubicle, the next, I was In the matrix.
Gone was the cubicle and building around me, in its place I found myself standing in what could only be described as a gigantic spider web, with tunnels of binary connecting thousands, no. Millions of different hubs.
It was surreal, to realize that this was literally the internet, given visual form thanks to my cores immense processing capabilities. Glancing around I could see the dozen other connections around me, each one representing a different access point in the building, the data moving to and from them in sporadic bursts as their users enter commands.
"This is so fucking cool…" I whispered in awe. I looked around in earnest, moving from my initial position, knowing on a basic level how to navigate the maze of connections.
Okay. So, this is still the net, just… different. If I want to find anything in a reasonable amount of time I'll need to use a… search… engine…
Jesus fucking Christ that's a lot of connections.
My mind grinds a halt as I find what would be best described as a nexus of pretty much every network in the world. The Amount of data passing through its servers every second was quite simply mind boggling.
Well, to a purely human mind anyway.
Let's get to work shall we?
Cracking my metaphysical knuckles I do just that, diving into it and sifting through the junk in a search for information on the state of the world.
In a timescale measured in milliseconds I'm taking In more information then the old me could process in days as I browse this world's web. One of the first places I look of course is the Forum known as Parahumans Online, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the SB and SV boards I was familiar with from my old life.
In less then ten minutes I was up to date with the world events.
If it wasn't for the fact that I could control my individual neural impulses I might honestly be sick.
The date was April eighth two thousand eleven. The world should be in a fucking golden age of technology and culture, with the average citizen's biggest concern being when the next model iPhone was to be released, or a new viral video on YouTube, or what the color of that one fucking dress was….
That's what should be anyway, if not for the interdimensional parasite that was slowly murdering the planet.
Thanks to Scion the world was, for lack of a better word, rotting. People who in my Earth would be getting excited about the next big movie or album were instead worrying if today was the day that one of the calamities would claim their city as its next victim, or if they would be the victim of the next up and coming villainous gang, or roaming S class threat like the Slaughterhouse 9.
It was… wrong. On so many different levels.
The worst of it however?
This Earth was one without hope.
Thanks in large part to the existence of the Endbringers. Which, all things considered was rather understandable.
They had watched, time after time as their greatest heroes were slaughtered, as city after city was destroyed. Time after time they watched as the darkness slowly took over, as the villains won victory after victory.
It needed to change.
And I was given the power to change it.
… Fuck me.
I was REALLY glad I couldn't get sick right now.
Now the question was, how would I change it? I had already begun basic preparations by starting the assimilation of the scrap yard on the northern end of the bay, but that was only the foundation.
I needed to do more.
And I knew just where to start. But first, I would need an identity, as it stood, as far as this world was concerned I didn't exist.
Let's fix that shall we?
In moments I'm flying through the web once more, this time with a more specific target in mind. In this case, governmental databases, primarily the Social Security administration and census data centers.
It was here I run into my first obstacle in the form of the servers security systems and firewalls, as expected however they were no match for a quantum supercomputer.
Less then a second after I encountered the firewalls I was through them, creating several documents detailing my existence, and within ten seconds of the start of my mission it was complete, records would now show I was Alice Vivian Cross, born in Alexandria, Minnesota under the name Alexander Michael Cross.
The next twenty seconds are used creating a false digital footprint of my life, from a social media accounts on Facebook and YouTube to records of mental health diagnosis and treatment, even a employment and medical history.
As far as this world was concerned I was a emancipated seventeen year old transgender women who had lost her parents in a bridge collapse a month ago In downtown Minneapolis.
According to the records I had moved to the bay two weeks ago in order to get away from the memories of home. Most importantly however as of April ninth I would be enrolled in one Winslow high school as a transfer into their junior class.
It just so happened that every last one of my classes happened to be shared with one Taylor Hebert.
What? You seriously think I wouldn't be keeping the closest of eyes on the girl who, if I was never here would end up saving the world?
As it were I was now set to start my classes tomorrow morning.
Well then… Now what? It's been all of… ten minutes since I connected to the net, let's see what other shenanigans and mischief I could get into with my newfound abilities.
Within a few milliseconds I was registered to the PHO forums under the name "Von Neumann" as an unverified cape, and a few after that I was browsing around, lurking and observing, getting more of a feel for the site.
At the same time I was conducting my first experiment with multi threading my processing, leaving me doing five different things at once. Most of which consisted of poking around different servers and data centers, accessing and cataloging information I should not have access to.
I catalogued server after server. Getting a more and more detailed picture of the world's blight, and running into stronger and more complex security systems the further I went.
Protectorate systems in particular were exceedingly difficult to rummage through without leaving any traces of my presence, as it was no human would be able to tell that I had been poking around.
There was a minor problem with this however, one that I didn't realize until it was too late.
There weren't just humans to worry about when it came to cyberspace. I remembered this when a firewall I was in the process of breaking through started behaving… oddly.
As In it actively began repelling my access attempts.
Which were being sent and modulated as fast as the library's connection would allow.
Well shit.
So I was as human as I claimed to be when it came to overlooking information I already possessed it seemed.
Such as the fact that Dragon, a sentient A.I. Was deeply connected to many of the Protectorate systems via her status as the world's greatest tinker.
When the first counter probe comes at me I realize that I may have fucked up.
In a nanosecond I changed from offense to defense, repelling the probe before I started to pull out of the system in more than a bit of a panic.
In my a desperate attempt to throw her off of me long enough to pull out entirely I bounced around a few million different connections before rounding back to my initial access point and returning my mind fully to my core, and my body
In a instant I'm back in the library, in front of the monitor which was still displaying a Google search page. As I came back to my physical senses I twitched and glanced around, looking for any security cameras, knowing that despite my series off false trails it was highly likely Dragon would trace my connections back to the point of origin in very short order.
Walking away from the cube farm that was the library's public computers I head for the entrance, using my abilities to emit intense IR light each time I walked into view of a security camera. The effect of which would be appearing as a blinding light should anyone end up reviewing the recordings.
Less than a two minutes later I was walking down the concrete staircase in front of the building, forcing myself to appear as natural as possible.
Five minutes after I leave I'm standing in front of the nearest bus station, looking over the route map to figure which one to take to get to a hotel for the night, preferably one that wasn't too shady.
To my immense delight there was an extended stay one, not too far down the bus line, in fact the closest stop to it was the transit hub downtown.
Sitting back down I settled in for the twenty minute wait, going over what just happened I my head.
The short of it was that I had gotten careless In the euphoric rush of the data binge, so much so that I had forgotten a very critical piece of information, that being that I was not the only artificial lifeform on this planet.
And now I had tipped off not only Dragon to the existence of a second A.I. But Saint and his Dragon Slayers as well.
How bad was this? I didn't know.
Luckily for me I had a cheat, in the form of the digital text file in my head labeled "The Diary".
Opening it for the first time I went over the contents.
My wince speaks volumes.
****
Twenty minutes prior.
"-ing trouble with the molecular stability of the edge of the blades, I think it might be-"
"Excuse me Colin, I need to check something out, one of my monitoring programs is giving me some odd readings." Tessa Richter, otherwise known as Dragon called over the com link that was currently connected to the protectorate ENE headquarters.
"What is it?" Colin Wallis replies after a moment, minimizing the schematics of his nano thorn project and bringing her video feed back up.
"I'm not sure, I'm getting… something from several different firewalls." her reply came back after a moment, her tone clearly distracted.
"Where at? Is someone trying to-"
"Oh my god." she cut him off as she realized what she was looking at when dozens of Protectorate servers started giving off the same odd readings.
"What is it Dragon?"
"No time. I'll explain later." She said abruptly, before the connection dropped and she dedicated her full processing power to tracking the breaches, looking for a common connection between them.
Her hand was forced however when the being started attempting to break through to the primary Protectorate data center, if it managed to get through the hub, it would have near unrestricted access to every database of not only the Protectorate, but every intelligence agency In the US.
She couldn't allow that to happen.
What follows is a extremely intense, and short active defense of the servers. It's over moments after it begins, with the sudden withdrawal of the entity back into the maze of connections that was the internet the moment she sent a counter probe at it.
In a instant the Chase was on as she attempted to follow it back to wherever it was going, after nearly a hundred thousand different connections however she lost the trail for a full two seconds, ending her chances of catching it. She did however pick the trail back up, following it through nearly a million different hubs before ending at...a public library In Brockton Bay?
"..."
"What the fuck?"
***
Well...that could be worse I guess? She didn't immediately go defcon one at least. Still though, if Dragon knew I was out there, then saint would know shortly as well, and given his outlook on artificial lifeforms that could only spell bad news.
"Add it to the list I guess.." I mumble aloud as I stand, having spotted a bus approaching the shelter.
A minute later I'm settling into the hard plastic seat, watching the city go by as the bus makes its way towards the transit hub, and six stops and twenty three minutes later I'm disembarking and walking towards the hotel that was down the street, maa point to keep my eyes forward as I walk past three fairly crowded station, fighting once more to keep a blush off my face as several star.es are directed towards me.
God I really need to get a different outfit.
Upping my pace I keep moving towards the hotel I was going to be staying at for the time being, at least until I had enough nano materials to properly outfit a base anyway.
Ten minutes after I get off the bus I'm entering the building, an identification card forming In my bag as I take my place in line, having not thought about the need for one until I saw the women in front of me offering hers to the receptionist.
A short conversation later and I'm checked in covered for the next week, shortly after I'm in my suite, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, going over my memories in a attempt to create a outfit that didn't scream "look at me."
With a few simple thought commands my outfit changes, leaving me in a simple grey t-shirt and blue flannel pajama bottoms. Heading back to the main room I flop onto the couch next tip my bag and start channel surfing, packing my pipe once more as I settle in for the night.
As I go to take my first hit I realize something.
"Jesus Christ. I'm going back to high school…"
With a minute amount of effort I double the size of the bowl.
Dynamic Entry
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
That evening and night passed far to fast for my liking, and despite not technically needing to sleep I found it comforting. At least until I woke up and realized that the previous day was not a dream.
"You got this Aly. You're not a scared little girl anymore. You're a badass… a badass self replicating machine of war of extra dimensional origins… yeah. I got this."
Oh bite me, like you haven't needed to psych yourself up for something before.
"Just going back into the same type of environment that left you emotionally scarred and broken for the better part of a decade…"
Fuck it.
Two moderate puffs later, I was checking my outfit, which was one from my memories of the original Takao, of whom I was the spitting image. It was a modest red skirt, white top, black stockings, and a silver clamshell hanging from a black choker.
"Okay, I really do got this now." I said as the buzz hit, a huge smile on my face. I grabbed my messenger bag, now loaded down with the necessary textbooks the school required, and threw it over my shoulder. "Just one last thing…"
I willed my hair into a different, slightly more practical style, in this case a single long braid, though I kept my bangs long, liking the way they framed my face. A concession to vanity.
Right then. Let's go.
This time the bus seemed to take forever to reach my stop, the city creeping by in what felt like slow motion, anxiety building the closer I got to the my destination.
By the time it arrived at Winslow, I was running through mental exercises to keep me from flipping the fuck out.
Ok. Calm, it's just highschool, nothing to worry about….other then the emotional scarring left from the last time I was in one odd the Goodman-
Warning. Emotional subroutines approaching .dangerous levels. Limiting sensitivity by 50 percent.
Oh… no shit? That's a thing I can do? Why the hell didn't it happen sooner?
Moving on now that I can fucking breathe again… wow. This place really is a shit hole. The building came fully into view, and made it abundantly clear that if anything, the descriptions I remembered about Winslow were inadequate. Cracked and broken sidewalks, thrice covered up graffiti, cracked Windows. it had it all.
"Wow…" I say aloud as the bus comes to a stop, two others getting up with me, one of them catching my eye as we disembark, mainly her long curly black hair and glasses, these alone were reason enough to pay attention to her given my reason for being here in the first place was described as having both. It was her thin frame and generally down demeanor that really had me paying attention however.
What the hell are the odds? I swear if there wasn't some sort of omnipotent being behind this I'd eat a brick… Or… something. After all, I was in the process of eating several thousand tons of metal on the other side of the city.
Stepping off the bus I take a moment to breathe and adjust my bag, pausing when I see who I'm assuming is Taylor glancing my way.
"Morning." Extending my hand I smile. "I'm Alice, just transferred in from out of state." Her grip as we shake is fairly weak.
"Taylor… Why did you pick Winslow? It's…"
"A bit of a shithole, yeah, I'm seeing that now. Didn't know about that part until yesterday to be honest, but it is what it is. Care to show me around? Or at least to the office? I need to finish the paperwork." My question was innocent enough, though her hesitation has me grimacing mentally.
"I don't think you should have me be your guide, people… well. I wouldn't want to ruin your reputation on your first day, I'm sorry Alice." She doesn't let me reply before she starts walking off.
"Hey, what? Wait up!" I call as I match pace work her, frowning when she speeds up.
"Okay then, I'll leave you be, but I'll reserve judgement until I can see things for myself." My voice was just loud enough for her to hear as we pass the entrance and I pause, looking around for a moment, heading the opposite direction from her when I see a sign indicating the main office.
The short walk through the halls off the building is rather interesting to say the least, with several students blatantly displaying gang colours, whether it be the red and green of the ABB or black and red of the E88.
Unsurprisingly I seem to be drawing the attention of most even as I enter the office, getting no small amount of annoyance from me.
"Pardon me, my name is Alice Cross, I'm here to finish my transfer paperwork?" I call as I enter the office, stopping in front of the counter/desk dividing the room, a secretary sitting behind it
"Oh, yes give me a moment miss Cross, I was just printing off the forms, it seems the state was a little slow processing your transfer, I only just got word of it this morning."
She says as the printer/copier machine on the far wall springs to life, spitting out several sheets of paper, which she retrieves a moment later.
"Alright, this is your schedule, along with a map of the building." Her voice is nearly monotonous as she hands me the papers, getting a sort of mental grimace from me.
I wonder how long it took this place to suck her soul dry?
"I'll need your signature here and here, and that of your teachers on this one, which I'll needed returned before you leave today." She drones on as I sign the papers, smiling at the perfect cursive that practically flows into the paper.
I wonder how long it will take before this body stops surprising me?
"Thank you, I'll see you after classes then." I reply simply as I take the papers and place them in my bag before walking back into the hallways, which were getting noticeably more crowded.
Shoving down a flare off anxiety I start walking, joining the flow of students as I head to my first class, once more getting the occasional glance, most of which unsurprisingly come from the male half of the population.
I wonder how disappointed they will be when word gets out I'm a raging lesbian?
Smiling to myself I enter my first class, glancing around quickly before heading to the teachers desk at the front of the room, pulling the signature sheet from my bag.
"Mr Gladly? I'm Alice, I believe I'm supposed to have you sign this." I say to him as I pull the sheet from my bag, which was now composed out of more me.
What? Don't give me that look, who knows when it will be handy to have a perfect copy of a teacher's signature ready to go.
"Huh? Oh, yes miss Cross, I was told you would be here this morning." He says as he grabs the paper and scribbles down his signature.
"Go ahead and take whatever seat is free, I don't assign them in my class." He says with a to bright grin.
"Thank you sir." I reply, forcing myself not to roll my eyes as I Find out first hand just how transparent he was.
Turning back to the desks I glance around, looking for a seat, pointedly ignoring the fact that near everyone's eyes are on me.
God I hope the "new shiny toy" syndrome doesn't last that long.
I hold back a grin when I see Taylor near the back, a conveniently placed empty desk beside her. The fact that she shrinks from my glance however has me writing it off as a choice, I didn't want to distress her anymore then necessary, quite the opposite in fact.
Therefore I took the more predictable route and took a seat next to the redhead who I could only assume was Emma Barnes.
"Hey there, you're Alice, right? Emma." She starts, offering her hand.
You know, fuck it.
"Yea, Alice Cross, just transferred in from out of state." I take her hand, shaking it and in the process transferring several million nanites into her system.
Oh yes, there will be much mind fuckery to be had.
"Nice to meet you, where are you from if you don't mind me asking?" Here we go.
"Minnesota." what follows is fairly mindless banter as I go through the motions of conversing with her, explaining where I was from and why I was here. To my relief it was cut short by the ringing of the bell.
On the other hand….
Warning, instabilities detected in emotional subroutines. Limiting output to one quarter capacity.
I fucking HATED that goddamn sound.
Moving on swiftly, the class was… boring as all hell, despite being world history of a planet that was not my own I knew the curriculum like clockwork given yesterday's data binge.
Which left me paying the smallest amount of attention to the class, only actively participating when required. To pass the time I find myself doodling, unconsciously drawing the symbols of the fog in the margins of my notebook.
By the time the class ended I've covered nearly a full page in them, leaving me somewhat surprised when I stop zoning about the past.
Snapping back to reality to the ring of the bell I gather my things back into my bag, taking a deep breath as I shove down what would no doubt be a full blown panic attack if it wasn't for the bullshitery I was capable of.
I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I may have become a little too focused on just maintaining my own appearance that it wasn't until I was in the hallway and passing a large cluster of students that I remember why I was here in the first place.
"-go cry yourself to sleep for another week-"
Oh.
That's right.
Taylor.
The girl I had come here to protect.
The girl who was currently boxed in by the trio of delinquents that had been tormenting her for years. The girl who was now quietly sobbing, unable to even run given the crowd around her.
It isn't until her eyes twitch, locking with mine for a second that I act.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I shout as I shove my way past a few of the students encircling her.
"Who-" The dark skinned girl who I immediately peg as Sophia Hess given her appearance and place beside Emma.
"Alice, just transferred. Now what the fuck are you doing to her? Can you not fucking see you're causing her distress?" I snap out as I place myself between them, pushing Taylor back slightly.
"What the fuck do you care bitch? It's none of your goddamn business. Why do you even care what happens to this weakling?" She snaps back, squaring her shoulders and leaning forward slightly.
"Seriously? Fucking seriously? The fact that you're fucking with her like this is infuriating. I don't know about you but I happen to be a decent human being, I'm not about to stand by and let you insult someone for being human." The glare I level at her is glacial, yet even as the others shrink back slightly she seems to revel in it, smirking as she replies in kind.
"Being human? If you're a weakling maybe, I mean just look at her, hiding behind you like a coward, she's had two YEARS to get stronger and all she ever does is just stand there and cry, it's pathetic." Her words anger me in ways I couldn't even describe, and even with the emotional dampening my mind was under I nearly see red.
"Years...You've been at this for fucking YEARS!?" My voice raises several levels as I speak, now physically trembling with anger.
"What the fuck is wrong with you all!?" I turn my attention top rose surrounding us, watching as they all retreat backwards a few steps.
"You're telling me that for two whole years you've all sat back and watched as these monsters tormented this girl!? My God you're as responsible as they are for this! Are you all that weak!?" I wasn't nearly done with my rant, but as I take a breath Emma, much to my surprise steps up.
"Weak? They're not weak! They simply know their place! You don't get in the way of the strong unless you want to-"
And here, we, go.
"Ahahaha!" As I laugh I send a command to my core, watching as the world slows to a crawl as it enhances my perception with its power.
In less then a tenth of a second I've accessed the nanites I had transferred into her system at the start of the class, nanites which were now attached to nearly every neuron in her brain.
The commands I send them were on the surface fairly innocuous, however given the state of her mental health? They would be pivotal In the backing of the facade she has built for herself.
Time returns to normal as I finish laughing.
"Is that what you all see yourselves as? Strong? Wow. Like, that is genuinely hilarious. You honestly believe it to don't you? You believe that preying on a girl whom in your own words is weaker than you makes you strong." She takes a step back as I step towards her.
"Let me tell you something Emma. The strong don't prey on the weak and defenceless. They protect them." I can't help but to smirk as she takes in a deep breath, freezing as her pupils dilate in response to the adrenaline released into her system.
Perfect.
Leaning in I whisper into her ear.
"So you tell me Emma, do you really think you're the strong one in this situation? I wonder what kind of strength it takes to torment the same girl for years? Not even half as much as it takes to survive it, I imagine. If you ask me Emma, you're the weakling here, Taylor's the one who's shown true strength."
What happens next is quite predictable as my words echo in her mind repeatedly thanks to the machines infesting it.
"NO!" She screams as she shoves me back, tears already forming as she covers her ears, visibly shaking as her mind cracks under the weight of reality.
"What the fuck did you do to her!?" Hess shouts at me as she forces her way in between us, shoving my back. Grinning the whole time I let out another short laugh.
"Oh nothing really, just told her the truth, it seems she couldn't handle it is all, what about you? You still think you're tough shit for picking on a defenseless girl?" The expression of rage on her face has me smiling. It was quite easy
to see what was coming next.
SMACK
Fucking hell that girl has a mean hook.
"Fuck!"
On the other hand, I did turn my jawbone into steel the moment she made her move.
"What the fuck!" She shouts as I cup my cheek, glaring at her as a bruise begins forming.
Sophia on the other hand was holding her hand, her middle and ring fingers clearly broken.
"Nice one dip-shit. You just assaulted me in full view of over a dozen different students." I grin as she scowls at me.
"You seriously think they will take your side in this?" By this point her voice was nearly feral with rage.
"Oh I have a feeling they will, and even if they don't I get the feeling the rest of the world will." Grinning I detach the clamshell from my choker.
"You see, when I realized the reputation this hole of a school had, I thought I'd take a precaution. This is a micro camera, which has been recording since I entered the building, and while I'm not sure this states surveillance laws I did just inform you of the act, meaning if it comes to it, it's fully acceptable in court." As I speak my smirk grows as the blond on her right starts backing away, turning and walking away as soon as she's past the perimeter of students.
"So… You know I didn't even catch your name, but I do believe this is the part where you lose and leave with your metaphorical tail between your legs." And three… two…
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Her shout is rather impressive as she lunges for me, going for my right hand.
It's a simple matter to side step her, and grab her right hand as she moves past me. Her scream as I grip her hand tightly is impressive.
"Ooor you could go full retard. That works to. Now can SOMEONE go get a staff member? Or is everyone gonna keep standing around staring like the village idiot?"
Finally they start moving.
"You got this Aly. You're not a scared little girl anymore. You're a badass… a badass self replicating machine of war of extra dimensional origins… yeah. I got this."
Oh bite me, like you haven't needed to psych yourself up for something before.
"Just going back into the same type of environment that left you emotionally scarred and broken for the better part of a decade…"
Fuck it.
Two moderate puffs later, I was checking my outfit, which was one from my memories of the original Takao, of whom I was the spitting image. It was a modest red skirt, white top, black stockings, and a silver clamshell hanging from a black choker.
"Okay, I really do got this now." I said as the buzz hit, a huge smile on my face. I grabbed my messenger bag, now loaded down with the necessary textbooks the school required, and threw it over my shoulder. "Just one last thing…"
I willed my hair into a different, slightly more practical style, in this case a single long braid, though I kept my bangs long, liking the way they framed my face. A concession to vanity.
Right then. Let's go.
This time the bus seemed to take forever to reach my stop, the city creeping by in what felt like slow motion, anxiety building the closer I got to the my destination.
By the time it arrived at Winslow, I was running through mental exercises to keep me from flipping the fuck out.
Ok. Calm, it's just highschool, nothing to worry about….other then the emotional scarring left from the last time I was in one odd the Goodman-
Warning. Emotional subroutines approaching .dangerous levels. Limiting sensitivity by 50 percent.
Oh… no shit? That's a thing I can do? Why the hell didn't it happen sooner?
Moving on now that I can fucking breathe again… wow. This place really is a shit hole. The building came fully into view, and made it abundantly clear that if anything, the descriptions I remembered about Winslow were inadequate. Cracked and broken sidewalks, thrice covered up graffiti, cracked Windows. it had it all.
"Wow…" I say aloud as the bus comes to a stop, two others getting up with me, one of them catching my eye as we disembark, mainly her long curly black hair and glasses, these alone were reason enough to pay attention to her given my reason for being here in the first place was described as having both. It was her thin frame and generally down demeanor that really had me paying attention however.
What the hell are the odds? I swear if there wasn't some sort of omnipotent being behind this I'd eat a brick… Or… something. After all, I was in the process of eating several thousand tons of metal on the other side of the city.
Stepping off the bus I take a moment to breathe and adjust my bag, pausing when I see who I'm assuming is Taylor glancing my way.
"Morning." Extending my hand I smile. "I'm Alice, just transferred in from out of state." Her grip as we shake is fairly weak.
"Taylor… Why did you pick Winslow? It's…"
"A bit of a shithole, yeah, I'm seeing that now. Didn't know about that part until yesterday to be honest, but it is what it is. Care to show me around? Or at least to the office? I need to finish the paperwork." My question was innocent enough, though her hesitation has me grimacing mentally.
"I don't think you should have me be your guide, people… well. I wouldn't want to ruin your reputation on your first day, I'm sorry Alice." She doesn't let me reply before she starts walking off.
"Hey, what? Wait up!" I call as I match pace work her, frowning when she speeds up.
"Okay then, I'll leave you be, but I'll reserve judgement until I can see things for myself." My voice was just loud enough for her to hear as we pass the entrance and I pause, looking around for a moment, heading the opposite direction from her when I see a sign indicating the main office.
The short walk through the halls off the building is rather interesting to say the least, with several students blatantly displaying gang colours, whether it be the red and green of the ABB or black and red of the E88.
Unsurprisingly I seem to be drawing the attention of most even as I enter the office, getting no small amount of annoyance from me.
"Pardon me, my name is Alice Cross, I'm here to finish my transfer paperwork?" I call as I enter the office, stopping in front of the counter/desk dividing the room, a secretary sitting behind it
"Oh, yes give me a moment miss Cross, I was just printing off the forms, it seems the state was a little slow processing your transfer, I only just got word of it this morning."
She says as the printer/copier machine on the far wall springs to life, spitting out several sheets of paper, which she retrieves a moment later.
"Alright, this is your schedule, along with a map of the building." Her voice is nearly monotonous as she hands me the papers, getting a sort of mental grimace from me.
I wonder how long it took this place to suck her soul dry?
"I'll need your signature here and here, and that of your teachers on this one, which I'll needed returned before you leave today." She drones on as I sign the papers, smiling at the perfect cursive that practically flows into the paper.
I wonder how long it will take before this body stops surprising me?
"Thank you, I'll see you after classes then." I reply simply as I take the papers and place them in my bag before walking back into the hallways, which were getting noticeably more crowded.
Shoving down a flare off anxiety I start walking, joining the flow of students as I head to my first class, once more getting the occasional glance, most of which unsurprisingly come from the male half of the population.
I wonder how disappointed they will be when word gets out I'm a raging lesbian?
Smiling to myself I enter my first class, glancing around quickly before heading to the teachers desk at the front of the room, pulling the signature sheet from my bag.
"Mr Gladly? I'm Alice, I believe I'm supposed to have you sign this." I say to him as I pull the sheet from my bag, which was now composed out of more me.
What? Don't give me that look, who knows when it will be handy to have a perfect copy of a teacher's signature ready to go.
"Huh? Oh, yes miss Cross, I was told you would be here this morning." He says as he grabs the paper and scribbles down his signature.
"Go ahead and take whatever seat is free, I don't assign them in my class." He says with a to bright grin.
"Thank you sir." I reply, forcing myself not to roll my eyes as I Find out first hand just how transparent he was.
Turning back to the desks I glance around, looking for a seat, pointedly ignoring the fact that near everyone's eyes are on me.
God I hope the "new shiny toy" syndrome doesn't last that long.
I hold back a grin when I see Taylor near the back, a conveniently placed empty desk beside her. The fact that she shrinks from my glance however has me writing it off as a choice, I didn't want to distress her anymore then necessary, quite the opposite in fact.
Therefore I took the more predictable route and took a seat next to the redhead who I could only assume was Emma Barnes.
"Hey there, you're Alice, right? Emma." She starts, offering her hand.
You know, fuck it.
"Yea, Alice Cross, just transferred in from out of state." I take her hand, shaking it and in the process transferring several million nanites into her system.
Oh yes, there will be much mind fuckery to be had.
"Nice to meet you, where are you from if you don't mind me asking?" Here we go.
"Minnesota." what follows is fairly mindless banter as I go through the motions of conversing with her, explaining where I was from and why I was here. To my relief it was cut short by the ringing of the bell.
On the other hand….
Warning, instabilities detected in emotional subroutines. Limiting output to one quarter capacity.
I fucking HATED that goddamn sound.
Moving on swiftly, the class was… boring as all hell, despite being world history of a planet that was not my own I knew the curriculum like clockwork given yesterday's data binge.
Which left me paying the smallest amount of attention to the class, only actively participating when required. To pass the time I find myself doodling, unconsciously drawing the symbols of the fog in the margins of my notebook.
By the time the class ended I've covered nearly a full page in them, leaving me somewhat surprised when I stop zoning about the past.
Snapping back to reality to the ring of the bell I gather my things back into my bag, taking a deep breath as I shove down what would no doubt be a full blown panic attack if it wasn't for the bullshitery I was capable of.
I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I may have become a little too focused on just maintaining my own appearance that it wasn't until I was in the hallway and passing a large cluster of students that I remember why I was here in the first place.
"-go cry yourself to sleep for another week-"
Oh.
That's right.
Taylor.
The girl I had come here to protect.
The girl who was currently boxed in by the trio of delinquents that had been tormenting her for years. The girl who was now quietly sobbing, unable to even run given the crowd around her.
It isn't until her eyes twitch, locking with mine for a second that I act.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I shout as I shove my way past a few of the students encircling her.
"Who-" The dark skinned girl who I immediately peg as Sophia Hess given her appearance and place beside Emma.
"Alice, just transferred. Now what the fuck are you doing to her? Can you not fucking see you're causing her distress?" I snap out as I place myself between them, pushing Taylor back slightly.
"What the fuck do you care bitch? It's none of your goddamn business. Why do you even care what happens to this weakling?" She snaps back, squaring her shoulders and leaning forward slightly.
"Seriously? Fucking seriously? The fact that you're fucking with her like this is infuriating. I don't know about you but I happen to be a decent human being, I'm not about to stand by and let you insult someone for being human." The glare I level at her is glacial, yet even as the others shrink back slightly she seems to revel in it, smirking as she replies in kind.
"Being human? If you're a weakling maybe, I mean just look at her, hiding behind you like a coward, she's had two YEARS to get stronger and all she ever does is just stand there and cry, it's pathetic." Her words anger me in ways I couldn't even describe, and even with the emotional dampening my mind was under I nearly see red.
"Years...You've been at this for fucking YEARS!?" My voice raises several levels as I speak, now physically trembling with anger.
"What the fuck is wrong with you all!?" I turn my attention top rose surrounding us, watching as they all retreat backwards a few steps.
"You're telling me that for two whole years you've all sat back and watched as these monsters tormented this girl!? My God you're as responsible as they are for this! Are you all that weak!?" I wasn't nearly done with my rant, but as I take a breath Emma, much to my surprise steps up.
"Weak? They're not weak! They simply know their place! You don't get in the way of the strong unless you want to-"
And here, we, go.
"Ahahaha!" As I laugh I send a command to my core, watching as the world slows to a crawl as it enhances my perception with its power.
In less then a tenth of a second I've accessed the nanites I had transferred into her system at the start of the class, nanites which were now attached to nearly every neuron in her brain.
The commands I send them were on the surface fairly innocuous, however given the state of her mental health? They would be pivotal In the backing of the facade she has built for herself.
Time returns to normal as I finish laughing.
"Is that what you all see yourselves as? Strong? Wow. Like, that is genuinely hilarious. You honestly believe it to don't you? You believe that preying on a girl whom in your own words is weaker than you makes you strong." She takes a step back as I step towards her.
"Let me tell you something Emma. The strong don't prey on the weak and defenceless. They protect them." I can't help but to smirk as she takes in a deep breath, freezing as her pupils dilate in response to the adrenaline released into her system.
Perfect.
Leaning in I whisper into her ear.
"So you tell me Emma, do you really think you're the strong one in this situation? I wonder what kind of strength it takes to torment the same girl for years? Not even half as much as it takes to survive it, I imagine. If you ask me Emma, you're the weakling here, Taylor's the one who's shown true strength."
What happens next is quite predictable as my words echo in her mind repeatedly thanks to the machines infesting it.
"NO!" She screams as she shoves me back, tears already forming as she covers her ears, visibly shaking as her mind cracks under the weight of reality.
"What the fuck did you do to her!?" Hess shouts at me as she forces her way in between us, shoving my back. Grinning the whole time I let out another short laugh.
"Oh nothing really, just told her the truth, it seems she couldn't handle it is all, what about you? You still think you're tough shit for picking on a defenseless girl?" The expression of rage on her face has me smiling. It was quite easy
to see what was coming next.
SMACK
Fucking hell that girl has a mean hook.
"Fuck!"
On the other hand, I did turn my jawbone into steel the moment she made her move.
"What the fuck!" She shouts as I cup my cheek, glaring at her as a bruise begins forming.
Sophia on the other hand was holding her hand, her middle and ring fingers clearly broken.
"Nice one dip-shit. You just assaulted me in full view of over a dozen different students." I grin as she scowls at me.
"You seriously think they will take your side in this?" By this point her voice was nearly feral with rage.
"Oh I have a feeling they will, and even if they don't I get the feeling the rest of the world will." Grinning I detach the clamshell from my choker.
"You see, when I realized the reputation this hole of a school had, I thought I'd take a precaution. This is a micro camera, which has been recording since I entered the building, and while I'm not sure this states surveillance laws I did just inform you of the act, meaning if it comes to it, it's fully acceptable in court." As I speak my smirk grows as the blond on her right starts backing away, turning and walking away as soon as she's past the perimeter of students.
"So… You know I didn't even catch your name, but I do believe this is the part where you lose and leave with your metaphorical tail between your legs." And three… two…
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Her shout is rather impressive as she lunges for me, going for my right hand.
It's a simple matter to side step her, and grab her right hand as she moves past me. Her scream as I grip her hand tightly is impressive.
"Ooor you could go full retard. That works to. Now can SOMEONE go get a staff member? Or is everyone gonna keep standing around staring like the village idiot?"
Finally they start moving.
Karma is a B-
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
As the adrenaline fades from my system things become...dulled, and I realize what exactly just happened.
Emotional subroutines returning to normal levels, removing sensitivity restrictions.
In an instant, it's as if the world has color again, prompting me to take a rather deep breath on instinct.
So...that just happened...
Despite all the possible negatives that could and probably will spawn from this situation, I can't help but grin. Followed closely by a wince as the left side of my face screams at me as my bruise makes itself known.
Still.
So fucking worth it.
My attention is broken as Taylor sits down beside me, having been using the public phone in the office to contact her father at my recommendation after Emma and Sophia had been called into Principal Blackwells office without us.
"Dad's on his way…" She says to me quietly, getting a small nod out of me.
Dilated pupils, tense muscles, twitching eyes, elevated pulse and blood pressure.
Probable cause, mild to moderate shock.
Oookay?...thanks brain? Guess we can add that to the list of shit I can do.
More importantly however, Taylor was currently freaking out, probably as bad as I was earlier this morning, only she didn't have the power of extra dimensional bullshit on her…
Sigh.
I so suck at this stuff.
"Hey…"
Aaaand she's completely out of it.
Crap.
"Hey" I say again a little louder, placing my hand over hers as I do, smiling lightly when she twitches, looking at me.
"Breathe, slowly and deep, it helps, trust me." To my relief my voice gives none of my uncertainty away and she nods, doing as I had asked.
Another minute of silence follows as she does just that, her pulse returning to a normal resting range.
"Why?" ...You can't be serious.
"...Really?"
"Yes really, you don't even know me." She says and I sigh, shoulders drooping as I think of what to say.
"The short answer? It was the right thing to do. That and I wouldn't be able to look myself in the eye ever again if I just stood there like the rest of those sheep." Leaning back I cross my arms over my stomach, watching her eyes closely.
"The longer explanation...Well…" I sigh, my anxiety coming back slightly as I go over the story I had created for myself back at the library.
"What they said, about crying yourself to sleep. It may have struck a chord with me... mainly because it's something I've been doing since February." Inwardly, I felt a little shit for lying in such a way. Outwardly I seemed to lose my spark as I break eye contact, looking away from her for a moment.
"I'm not sure if you watch the news much or if you would even remember if you do, but my parents were caught In the I-35 bridge collapse In Minneapolis on the third of February…" Her wince has me fighting my own and she looks down, her fists clenching for a moment as she breathes in sharply.
"Ah..I'm sorry for...Well...I understand. I lost my mother when I was fifteen...back when Emma was still...My friend…" At her words I nod, simply staring at the floor for a moment, snapping my head up after a few seconds.
"Wait. That cunt used to be your friend? What the hell?" I gape at her even as she tenses.
"...Yea..it's….I don't know. We… grew up together. We used to be inseparable, sisters almost...then...I don't know. She just changed that summer. That's when Sophia started hanging around her..That's when it-" She stops mid sentence, glancing at the open doorway.
Where an older gentlemen was stepping through, possibly mid to late forties judging by the amount of white in his copper hair. That, coupled with the high quality tan suit he was wearing led me to the conclusion that this was none other than Allen Barnes.
"Where's my daughter?" He practically demands from the Secretary.
Straight to the point I see, and from the sounds of it he's probably heard a horribly skewed version of events.
"She's with miss Blackwell in her office mister Barnes, I'll let her know you're here." The Secretary, whose name I still don't know replies as she grabs the handset to the phone on her desk.
It's only then he seems to notice us, and from the look he sends my way he's no doubt been told nothing good about me.
"Before you start sir, do know that when I heard the reputation this school had I took the precaution of purchasing this micro camera, which is still recording." The click of his teeth is audible as his mouth snaps shut.
"And I'm not sure what you've been told, but I do believe the recording will clear up any misconceptions you more than likely have at this point." At this his expression turns a true neutral. Typical lawyer.
"She will see you now sir." Nameless the Secretary speaks up, to which he simply nods, walking past us and into. Blackwell's office.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he knows a thing or two about Law?" I think aloud as I turn back to Taylor, turning it into a question as I do so.
"Yea, he's a divorce lawyer, how'd you guess?" Rolling my eyes I shrug.
"The poker face once I mentioned the camera was a good hint, and his suit just screamed it to me. Could be worse I guess, he's out of his field of expertise in this case at least." Her nod and contemplative expression leads into another silence.
One which goes on for the next five minutes, until the door to Blackwells office opens again, revealing a ageing and somewhat out of shape women with shoulder length black hair.
"Miss Cross? Hebert? If you would join us?" The strain in her voice is clear, I stay seated however even as Taylor moves to get up, she stops however when I set my hand on her knee.
"I believe we will wait to begin until her father arrives Miss Blackwell, I may be emancipated but she is not, it would be inappropriate to speak to her without her guardian in this situation would it not?" Her strained smile turns into a scowl as Taylor sits back down.
"Very well then. Do you know how long he will be?"
Her answer comes In the form of said man entering the office, rather easily identifiable by the nametag on his chest pocket reading: D. Hebert.
In contrast to the grey hairs that signified Allen's age, Daniel's was given away by the lack of hair on his moderately balding head, along with slight wrinkles that were beginning to form on his face.
"Miss Blackwell." He nods to the women before looking to Taylor, who's knee my hand was still on.
Retracting it as she stands again I nod to him, doing the same as she practically tackles him in a hug.
"Woah there, it's ok Taylor. I'm here now...but can you explain what's happening? You were so vague over the phone." His voice is surprisingly calm considering, but I do suppose that comes with the territory of being a parent.
"If you two could join us I believe we could expl-"
"Oh my god, seriously? Chill the fuck out will you? Your not going to get to bulldoze your way through this situation while her father doesn't even know the full story." I snap at Blackwell, cutting her off mid sentence.
"Mr. Hebert? Alice Cross. It's a bit of a story, one I'm more than happy to explain if you will give me a minute." crossing my arms I level a glare at Blackwell, who was becoming more and more flustered.
"That is unless you have a problem with it?"
"...Fine. Do hurry, I have other matters to attend to today"
"Right then." I turn my attention back to the two in front of me as she shuts the door.
"Do you want me to cover this or would you like to Taylor?" The question while innocent enough offered her an easy out if she felt the need to take it.
"Thank you, but..I should be the one to explain." She says after a moment and I nod to her as she takes a step back from her father.
"Alright kiddo...What's going on?"
"I...well...I'm sorry I haven't told you about this but I didn't think anything could be done...the bullying never stopped… I know, I know, you can get mad at me later alright? Something else happened today." Hurt as it may I can't hold back my grin as she talks to him, replying to his expressions before he can even voice his protest.
She pauses a moment to take a breath before going on.
"This morning after first period the trio had me surrounded in the hallway outside of Mr gladly's room..Emma made a comment about the week mom died and I...I just…" she trails off as tears pool in her eyes.
"That's..That's when Alice stepped in." She looks at me and I nod.
"Well someone had to, and it was clear everyone else was to much of a coward to do anything. Fuckers." I grumble, cupping the left side of my face, attempting to sooth the pain from talking.
Oh I'm sure I could fix it in an instant, or at least dull the pain but I really didn't want to push my luck as far as my abilities were concerned, I had already cheated to break the bitches hand.
"So I got between them, and proceeded to tear them apart with a few choice words. I HAD thought that they would back down when I informed them that this is actually a mini camera." I poke the clamshell in reference before going on.
"Obviously however that wasn't the case, and the jock, what was her name again?"
"Sophia."
"Yea. her, decided the best option left was to go full retard and break her hand on my jaw. Hurt like a bitch but I'm pretty sure she came out of it worse, I've a rather dense bone structure. Runs in the family."
"After that I kept her immobilized, and kicked the dozen sheep who were watching the whole thing into action, we've been waiting since, I had Taylor call you when they brought the others in without us, speaking of I'm pretty sure there's going to attempt bully us into backing down, but I'm also pretty sure they know they're fucked thanks to my recording." Finishing a shrug before glancing back to Taylor.
"On that note, could I ask you something for the recording? How long has this been going on and how many times did you attempt to get staff to stop it?" My question seems to catch her off guard for a moment, she recovers quickly however and nods before answering.
"Since the summer after ninth grade, so nearly two and a half years..and..I'm not sure, it was either nine or ten, I gave up when I was threatened a detention for making up stories." Given that this was the supposed to be the first I've heard the full story I breath in sharply, attempting to calm myself from the very real anger that had me trembling in rage.
"Mr. Hebert?" Turning my attention back to him, I realize just how red his face was getting.
"Firstly, breath, I imagine you're even more enraged then I am, but now's not the time to let that get the best of us, that would do nothing but to play into their hands." His nod has me relaxing somewhat.
"I'm not sure about you but knowing this, I now intend to bury this goddamn hole in every possible lawsuit I can, If you wish to do the same I readily offer my family's resources for the legal bills. I will confidently say that if they were still around mom and dad would do the same. In my humble opinion the only reason you should step into that office is to inform them our lawyers will be in touch." His gaze has me shifting my footing after a moment in a attempt to contain my nerves, his nod has me relaxing greatly however.
"If I understood correctly I'm very sorry too hear your parents aren't around, If they were I would thank them for raising a daughter like yourself." I can't help but twitch at this, thinking of my "background"
"That being said, I fully agree with you. If you will give me just a moment here." I step aside as he moves towards the office door behind me.
As it closes behind him I can't help but grin at Taylor, wincing again as the action stretches the bruise.
"That...was kinda easy." The shock I hear voice is clear and I can't help but to burst into giggles.
"Well, there really isn't much to be said, with the video there really isn't much they can do even if they wanted to. That and once word gets around of what happened today I get the feeling there will be no shortage of witnes-" Before I can finish the door to the office is practically ripped open, revealing a very displeased Daniel.
"We're leaving Taylor." Wow, I never knew voices could sound like that, I'm pretty sure that tone could be used to pulverize rock.
"Alice, If you need a ride you're welcome to accompany us." He grunts as he starts to the door, taking Taylor's hand on the way, almost dragging her away.
Glancing at the room he just left I can't help but grin when I see the pale and pasty faces of the two 'madults in the room.
Flashing them a smile a raise my hand, wiggling my fingers in the snarkiest wave I could manage.
Turning I follow after Taylor and her father.
I'd call today a resounding success.
Emotional subroutines returning to normal levels, removing sensitivity restrictions.
In an instant, it's as if the world has color again, prompting me to take a rather deep breath on instinct.
So...that just happened...
Despite all the possible negatives that could and probably will spawn from this situation, I can't help but grin. Followed closely by a wince as the left side of my face screams at me as my bruise makes itself known.
Still.
So fucking worth it.
My attention is broken as Taylor sits down beside me, having been using the public phone in the office to contact her father at my recommendation after Emma and Sophia had been called into Principal Blackwells office without us.
"Dad's on his way…" She says to me quietly, getting a small nod out of me.
Dilated pupils, tense muscles, twitching eyes, elevated pulse and blood pressure.
Probable cause, mild to moderate shock.
Oookay?...thanks brain? Guess we can add that to the list of shit I can do.
More importantly however, Taylor was currently freaking out, probably as bad as I was earlier this morning, only she didn't have the power of extra dimensional bullshit on her…
Sigh.
I so suck at this stuff.
"Hey…"
Aaaand she's completely out of it.
Crap.
"Hey" I say again a little louder, placing my hand over hers as I do, smiling lightly when she twitches, looking at me.
"Breathe, slowly and deep, it helps, trust me." To my relief my voice gives none of my uncertainty away and she nods, doing as I had asked.
Another minute of silence follows as she does just that, her pulse returning to a normal resting range.
"Why?" ...You can't be serious.
"...Really?"
"Yes really, you don't even know me." She says and I sigh, shoulders drooping as I think of what to say.
"The short answer? It was the right thing to do. That and I wouldn't be able to look myself in the eye ever again if I just stood there like the rest of those sheep." Leaning back I cross my arms over my stomach, watching her eyes closely.
"The longer explanation...Well…" I sigh, my anxiety coming back slightly as I go over the story I had created for myself back at the library.
"What they said, about crying yourself to sleep. It may have struck a chord with me... mainly because it's something I've been doing since February." Inwardly, I felt a little shit for lying in such a way. Outwardly I seemed to lose my spark as I break eye contact, looking away from her for a moment.
"I'm not sure if you watch the news much or if you would even remember if you do, but my parents were caught In the I-35 bridge collapse In Minneapolis on the third of February…" Her wince has me fighting my own and she looks down, her fists clenching for a moment as she breathes in sharply.
"Ah..I'm sorry for...Well...I understand. I lost my mother when I was fifteen...back when Emma was still...My friend…" At her words I nod, simply staring at the floor for a moment, snapping my head up after a few seconds.
"Wait. That cunt used to be your friend? What the hell?" I gape at her even as she tenses.
"...Yea..it's….I don't know. We… grew up together. We used to be inseparable, sisters almost...then...I don't know. She just changed that summer. That's when Sophia started hanging around her..That's when it-" She stops mid sentence, glancing at the open doorway.
Where an older gentlemen was stepping through, possibly mid to late forties judging by the amount of white in his copper hair. That, coupled with the high quality tan suit he was wearing led me to the conclusion that this was none other than Allen Barnes.
"Where's my daughter?" He practically demands from the Secretary.
Straight to the point I see, and from the sounds of it he's probably heard a horribly skewed version of events.
"She's with miss Blackwell in her office mister Barnes, I'll let her know you're here." The Secretary, whose name I still don't know replies as she grabs the handset to the phone on her desk.
It's only then he seems to notice us, and from the look he sends my way he's no doubt been told nothing good about me.
"Before you start sir, do know that when I heard the reputation this school had I took the precaution of purchasing this micro camera, which is still recording." The click of his teeth is audible as his mouth snaps shut.
"And I'm not sure what you've been told, but I do believe the recording will clear up any misconceptions you more than likely have at this point." At this his expression turns a true neutral. Typical lawyer.
"She will see you now sir." Nameless the Secretary speaks up, to which he simply nods, walking past us and into. Blackwell's office.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he knows a thing or two about Law?" I think aloud as I turn back to Taylor, turning it into a question as I do so.
"Yea, he's a divorce lawyer, how'd you guess?" Rolling my eyes I shrug.
"The poker face once I mentioned the camera was a good hint, and his suit just screamed it to me. Could be worse I guess, he's out of his field of expertise in this case at least." Her nod and contemplative expression leads into another silence.
One which goes on for the next five minutes, until the door to Blackwells office opens again, revealing a ageing and somewhat out of shape women with shoulder length black hair.
"Miss Cross? Hebert? If you would join us?" The strain in her voice is clear, I stay seated however even as Taylor moves to get up, she stops however when I set my hand on her knee.
"I believe we will wait to begin until her father arrives Miss Blackwell, I may be emancipated but she is not, it would be inappropriate to speak to her without her guardian in this situation would it not?" Her strained smile turns into a scowl as Taylor sits back down.
"Very well then. Do you know how long he will be?"
Her answer comes In the form of said man entering the office, rather easily identifiable by the nametag on his chest pocket reading: D. Hebert.
In contrast to the grey hairs that signified Allen's age, Daniel's was given away by the lack of hair on his moderately balding head, along with slight wrinkles that were beginning to form on his face.
"Miss Blackwell." He nods to the women before looking to Taylor, who's knee my hand was still on.
Retracting it as she stands again I nod to him, doing the same as she practically tackles him in a hug.
"Woah there, it's ok Taylor. I'm here now...but can you explain what's happening? You were so vague over the phone." His voice is surprisingly calm considering, but I do suppose that comes with the territory of being a parent.
"If you two could join us I believe we could expl-"
"Oh my god, seriously? Chill the fuck out will you? Your not going to get to bulldoze your way through this situation while her father doesn't even know the full story." I snap at Blackwell, cutting her off mid sentence.
"Mr. Hebert? Alice Cross. It's a bit of a story, one I'm more than happy to explain if you will give me a minute." crossing my arms I level a glare at Blackwell, who was becoming more and more flustered.
"That is unless you have a problem with it?"
"...Fine. Do hurry, I have other matters to attend to today"
"Right then." I turn my attention back to the two in front of me as she shuts the door.
"Do you want me to cover this or would you like to Taylor?" The question while innocent enough offered her an easy out if she felt the need to take it.
"Thank you, but..I should be the one to explain." She says after a moment and I nod to her as she takes a step back from her father.
"Alright kiddo...What's going on?"
"I...well...I'm sorry I haven't told you about this but I didn't think anything could be done...the bullying never stopped… I know, I know, you can get mad at me later alright? Something else happened today." Hurt as it may I can't hold back my grin as she talks to him, replying to his expressions before he can even voice his protest.
She pauses a moment to take a breath before going on.
"This morning after first period the trio had me surrounded in the hallway outside of Mr gladly's room..Emma made a comment about the week mom died and I...I just…" she trails off as tears pool in her eyes.
"That's..That's when Alice stepped in." She looks at me and I nod.
"Well someone had to, and it was clear everyone else was to much of a coward to do anything. Fuckers." I grumble, cupping the left side of my face, attempting to sooth the pain from talking.
Oh I'm sure I could fix it in an instant, or at least dull the pain but I really didn't want to push my luck as far as my abilities were concerned, I had already cheated to break the bitches hand.
"So I got between them, and proceeded to tear them apart with a few choice words. I HAD thought that they would back down when I informed them that this is actually a mini camera." I poke the clamshell in reference before going on.
"Obviously however that wasn't the case, and the jock, what was her name again?"
"Sophia."
"Yea. her, decided the best option left was to go full retard and break her hand on my jaw. Hurt like a bitch but I'm pretty sure she came out of it worse, I've a rather dense bone structure. Runs in the family."
"After that I kept her immobilized, and kicked the dozen sheep who were watching the whole thing into action, we've been waiting since, I had Taylor call you when they brought the others in without us, speaking of I'm pretty sure there's going to attempt bully us into backing down, but I'm also pretty sure they know they're fucked thanks to my recording." Finishing a shrug before glancing back to Taylor.
"On that note, could I ask you something for the recording? How long has this been going on and how many times did you attempt to get staff to stop it?" My question seems to catch her off guard for a moment, she recovers quickly however and nods before answering.
"Since the summer after ninth grade, so nearly two and a half years..and..I'm not sure, it was either nine or ten, I gave up when I was threatened a detention for making up stories." Given that this was the supposed to be the first I've heard the full story I breath in sharply, attempting to calm myself from the very real anger that had me trembling in rage.
"Mr. Hebert?" Turning my attention back to him, I realize just how red his face was getting.
"Firstly, breath, I imagine you're even more enraged then I am, but now's not the time to let that get the best of us, that would do nothing but to play into their hands." His nod has me relaxing somewhat.
"I'm not sure about you but knowing this, I now intend to bury this goddamn hole in every possible lawsuit I can, If you wish to do the same I readily offer my family's resources for the legal bills. I will confidently say that if they were still around mom and dad would do the same. In my humble opinion the only reason you should step into that office is to inform them our lawyers will be in touch." His gaze has me shifting my footing after a moment in a attempt to contain my nerves, his nod has me relaxing greatly however.
"If I understood correctly I'm very sorry too hear your parents aren't around, If they were I would thank them for raising a daughter like yourself." I can't help but twitch at this, thinking of my "background"
"That being said, I fully agree with you. If you will give me just a moment here." I step aside as he moves towards the office door behind me.
As it closes behind him I can't help but grin at Taylor, wincing again as the action stretches the bruise.
"That...was kinda easy." The shock I hear voice is clear and I can't help but to burst into giggles.
"Well, there really isn't much to be said, with the video there really isn't much they can do even if they wanted to. That and once word gets around of what happened today I get the feeling there will be no shortage of witnes-" Before I can finish the door to the office is practically ripped open, revealing a very displeased Daniel.
"We're leaving Taylor." Wow, I never knew voices could sound like that, I'm pretty sure that tone could be used to pulverize rock.
"Alice, If you need a ride you're welcome to accompany us." He grunts as he starts to the door, taking Taylor's hand on the way, almost dragging her away.
Glancing at the room he just left I can't help but grin when I see the pale and pasty faces of the two 'madults in the room.
Flashing them a smile a raise my hand, wiggling my fingers in the snarkiest wave I could manage.
Turning I follow after Taylor and her father.
I'd call today a resounding success.
The Calm Before
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
"Oh my God! That was amazing! Did you see their faces!? What the hell did you even say to them?" My excitement bleeds into my voice, leaving me sounding like I had just won the lottery, or something else of the same caliber.
I mean for God sake I was practically skipping as we exited the building. Skipping!
My energy it appears was infectious, if the grin on Daniels face was anything to go by.
As we head toward the parking lot I spin around, not missing a step as I start walking backwards, my hands clasped behind my back and a wide grin on my face.
"It was rather satisfying to see them turn white when I informed them that I was pulling Taylor out for the day and that a lawyer would be contacting them within the week." by this point even Taylor was grinning, good that girl needs to smile more, it looks good on her.
"Are you alright though dad? You looked like you were about to explode there for a bit."
"Yea, you sure you didn't pop any blood vessels? That vein should have its own name as large as it was getting." Grinning I point at the spot said vein had appeared on him on my own forehead in reference.
"I'm fine girls, don't worry. Alan just… hit a nerve I guess, I thought he was a friend." His shrug speaks for itself, leaving me nodding.
"Woah-crap!" On the other hand however, I probably should have been watching where I was going, or at least paying attention to the data flow coming from my cores sensors.
Maybe muting that was as bad idea?
As my arms swing up in a attempt to balance myself a hand grabs mine, pulling me forward enough to keep me from falling as my other foot comes of the curb I had stepped over.
"You really should watch where you're going you know." Taylor grin is telling, and I can't help but pout as she lets go of my hand.
"Heeeey! You totally saw that coming didn't you? Thanks for the warning! Meanie." Crossing my arms I give her a mock glare, sending her into a fit of giggles, which I mimic as I turn around, looking over the parking lot.
"Which one we headed for?" Glancing at Daniel as I ask I see the grin on his face, no doubt from the performance we had just put on.
"Red Ford down on the right." He points toward a older pickup truck, probably late nineties or early two thousands model.
"Thanks for the ride by the way, it would have been a pain figuring out the busses again."
"Hey, after what you've done for Taylor it's really the least I can do." He says as he pulls his keys from his pocket as we near the car.
"I would say I just did what anyone should do, but apparently that doesn't apply here." Shrugging I stop beside the passenger side as he walks to the driver door.
"What can I say? It's Brockton." I simply nod in reply as he gets in, unlocking the doors as he does so.
"I'm sorry for the mess, I don't usually have to worry about more than one passenger." This being in reference to the clutter of papers and fast food wrappers in the back seat, getting a laugh out of me.
"Don't worry Mr. Hebert, dad was chronically messy when it came to his car, this is nothing. Believe me." His smile as he moves things around, clearing the seat for me.
Climbing in as he starts truck I get my seatbelt on, Taylor having already done the same.
"Well then...what now?" My question while oblivious still needed to be voiced.
I nearly wince as the mood changes In a instant, getting much more serious.
"To start I'll be calling a coworker of mine, Tim is the head of the legal department at the Dock Workers Union, he will be able to find us a good lawyer to sort through this who situation. If we're lucky we might be able to talk to one today." I nod to this, of course his connections to the union would come In handy here.
"Right, that sounds as good as start as any...hm." I trail off as a thought occurs to me, mainly that at this moment I only had a thousand to my name, and no actual bank accounts, and I had told them I would pay for the legal fees.
Meh, I'll "print" some more when I get back to my room. I wonder how many hundreds actually fit in a briefcase?
"I haven't been able to get a new phone as of yet, but if I can get back home I can see how much I have to contribute in the way of funds and-"
"Hey, hold up there girl." Danny interjects before I can finish.
"Even if Tim can have something call me today, I'm sure we won't be doing anything more then talking until tomorrow, for now how about we grab an early lunch?" I don't know how I didn't anticipate this, I did just rescue his daughter from the hell she had been suffering through for the past two and a half years.
"Oh! I..uh, are you sure? I don't want to impose or anything." ...what? What's that look for...and why am I blushing! Stop blushing damnit!
"Alice, after what you've done for Taylor this is quite literally the least I can do, it's fine, believe me." His knowing smile has my face feeling like it's burning up, and I knew it had nothing to do with the bruise on the left side of my cheek.
"Ahh, uhh, yeah I suppose that would be fine." …
And now Taylor has the same look! Staaaaahp iiit!
Suddenly the view outside the window was suddenly VERY interesting.
The knowing chuckle that comes from Danny has me fidgeting with the end of my braid, doing my best to look anywhere but forward.
"What are you two In the mood for then?" Oh, look at that, literally anything else.
"I can always go for a decent burger, what about you?" Giving my opinion I pass the conversation to Taylor.
"That's fine with me, though someplace with onion rings sounds nice."
"Right then, burger joint it is." The cheer in his tone has me smiling as we pull out of the parking lot.
*****
Burger King it seems, is a constant no matter what earth you're on.
My thoughts wander as I take a sip from my soda, watching a car pass by the storefront from my seat next to Taylor, the booth we were sitting at being at just angle that I could view the street without having to bend my neck to much.
"You know, there's something I've been wanting to ask ever since the office." Taylor speaks out, breaking the comfortable silence we had settled into now that we were finished with our food.
"Mm? Shoot." Looking away from the old impala that had demanded my attention for a few moments.
"What on earth made you pick Brockton Bay when you decided to move?" Her tone is quite skeptical, which isn't surprising considering what kind of reputation this city had.
At this however I look back to the window, thinking of how to answer.
"Location played a role really. I wanted to get as far away from home as I possibly could, and you can't go much farther without leaving the continental United States." Glancing at her I felt sick and look down at the tray in front of me.
"That and statistically this is one of the most dangerous places to live in the states, not counting the quarantine zones… please don't give me that look, I had started the process less than a month after the...Yea. My head wasn't in a good place at the time alright? And by the time I came out of the funk it would have taken another month to go elsewhere and I couldn't get out of that house fast enough, too many memories." Finishing I take another long drink, doing my best not to look at them.
"You're a tough kid Alice." To my surprise Danny is the one to break the silence.
I lock eyes with him for a moment before shrugging, drawing on the fact that I have in fact lost my parents in a way as to not give away the lie.
Considering how shit I felt having to lie about this in the first place it wasn't that hard.
"I don't know what to say. Quitting wasn't an option, besides I'm pretty sure they would ground me for a century or two if I showed up earlier then I'm supposed to." My attempt at humor has the desired effect given his smile, and I follow up with my own before finishing my drink.
"Well then… I suppose we should get going, I need to get home to call Tim." He says, leaning back on his chair, his back popping as he does so.
"You don't have a cell? Well, neither do I but that's cause I didn't keep anything from home, I plan on getting one as soon as I can really." his expression of discomfort has me genuinely confused, giving me the feeling I've forgotten something important.
"Uh… it's.. Kinda, I don't know, a thing. Mom was on her cell when the crash happened…" oh.
Well fuck, now I feel like I kicked a puppy.
"Oh! I.. Shit I'm sorry I had no idea, I didn't mean to bring that up."
"It's alright Alice, you actually raise a good point. I've been thinking a lot about it lately and I think is well past time we get a set, this phobia of ours is rather unorthodox in this day and age. And it would help me relax a bit more when you're out Taylor, like Alice pointed out Brockton is not a safe place."
She stares for a few moments before nodding, a small smile on her face.
Awww, did I cause this?
I so wanna do that more.
"Well then, now that that's explained, where am I bringing you Alice?"
Turning back to him I nod, still grinning happily.
"I'm staying at the StayBridge downtown until I can find a place that won't break the bank. You know where it is?"
…
What's that look for?
"Err… is something wrong?" I ask when he looks at Taylor and raises his brow.
My confusion grows when she nods.
What the hell am I missing here?
"Alice?"
"...yyyyea? Is something the matter?"
"Your welcome to stay with us for a while, I imagine it can't be pleasant staying there by yourself, or cheap for that matter."
…
"Bwuaah?"
Seriously brain?
For that matter isn't my brain a friggin alien computer now? How can I even be this blindsided?
"Uhhh…."
"Heh...hehehe."
It's Taylor's barley hidden giggles that snap me out of it, my mouth snapping shut when I realize I was gaping.
"Are...Are you sure? That's incredibly generous of you given you've just met me?"
"I'm a fairly decent judge of character you know Alice, I am the hiring manager for the Union after all, I don't think there will be any problems with you staying with us until your can find your own place."
Well… he has a point there...and I did want to keep an eye on Taylor, it couldn't be any easier to do that if I was staying with her.
"I...ok... That would be..amazing really."
"Alright then, we can swing by the hotel on the way back to grab your things." He says as he starts getting up Taylor following suit as I attempt to shake off the shock.
The walk to the truck is quite, as is most of the trip to the hotel, though Taylor had a thoughtful look on her face for most of it.
"Hey Alice?" She speaks finally, turning so she can see me.
"What's up?"
"I was thinking, I go for runs every morning, I wanted to invite you to join me if you care for it? It would be nice to have a running partner." Huh was not expecting that.
"Sure, I'd like that actually, I've been wanting to get into some form of regular exercise anyway."
Ah.
There's that smile again.
Looking out the window again I totally don't grin like a loon.
It's not a minute later that we pull into the parking lot of the hotel Danny bringing us to a stop in front of the entrance.
"Do you need a hand gather your things?" ….Wait.
"Oh, uhh, it's fine, I packed rather light. I really made a pound of leaving everything behind, I'll be back down In a few." Getting out I keep my face neutral as I wonder what the hell I'm going to have to turn into belongings that I should have.
Two minutes later I'm standing in my room, looking around for items that would be easily replaced.
Blanket, sheets, towels, pillows….Yea, that should be enough.
"Please don't take to long…" I mumble as I hold my hand palm down over the pile, watching inn fascination as the silver liquid That was my nano material pours from my hand.
As soon add it touches the pile it begins spreading, at a rapid pace much to my satisfaction.
Within a minute all that's left is a large silver pool, which at my mental command takes on the form and appearance of a large duffle, filed to the brim with clothing.
Finished I pick it up, slinging it over my shoulder and heading back downstairs. A short stop at the front desk for a refund on the six other days I had paid for and I was walking back out to the car.
With a huff, more for appearance then effort, I toss the bag into the bed of the truck, getting back in a moment later.
"Right then, homeward bound it is." Danny says as we pull out of the lot.
"So…. Lot of daylight left, other then getting ahold of this Tim guy, what are we doing?"
"Well, honestly I should probably get back to work, I can still get a good five hours in, and it would be easier to coordinate with Tim, his office is just down the hall from mine, unless you rather I stay?" The latter part of the statement is directed to Taylor who stares for a moment before shaking her head.
"It's ok dad, I know your work is important, besides if it helps get things moving it's probably better that way. It's not like I'll be alone now anyway." Ahhh! Again with that smile!
"Alright then kiddo, if you're sure."
"I am, I'm sure we can figure out something to keep occupied, and if all else fails there's always television." Heh, now Danny was smiling too.
Today was definitely a success.
*****
The house was… average, showing its age perhaps but looking no worse than any of the others In the neighborhood.
As the truck comes to a stop I unbuckle, my hand going for the door when Danny speaks.
"If you could wait a moment Alice, I'd like to speak to you alone before we head in."
Ah, I suppose this was inevitable, there would be some rules to go over I suppose.
"Ok dad, see you guys inside." Taylor says after a moment of eye contact.
As soon as her door is closed he turns as to look at me without craning his neck to much.
"Alice...I'm not sure you fully understand what you've done today." Oh? Ok, so not about rules.
"Um, how do you mean? I was only doing what was right…"
"And for that, I thank you. But whether you realize or not you've done so much more today then just stop a few bullies… when Annette died… things got hard. Me and Taylor.. Well, we started existing. I'm..rather ashamed to say a lot of this was my fault. I've been numb ever since the funeral, just going through the motions."
Ah. I see now.
"You know today we, me and Taylor I mean, spoke more then we have in the past month thanks to you… thanks to you Alice I see what I've done, what's happened to Taylor...I should have seen it. Hell, it should have been obvious really, her and Emma used to be attached at the hip, I should have known something was wrong when they stopped visiting each other…."
"I...actually get that to be honest… when mom and dad..when they went I was the same really..it wasn't until I was in dad's study...With his revolver in my hand that I realized what was happening to me…" I shiver, the memory of holding a revolver like that very real.
"Mr Hebert? Please don't be too hard on yourself for this? The fact is it happened, and nothing can change that now. No matter how much we want to, it's the future we can change, and the future is what we should focus on." Smiling I wipe the tears clear from my eyes.
"You really are a smart kid Alice. I think things will be just fine with you being here...now c'mon, let's not worry my daughter to much."
Smiling again I nod as we get out.
With my bag over my shoulder once more I follow him inside, skipping therotting step on his warning.
The house is...nice actually, the decor actually reminds me of home a little bit.
"You can set your bag on the couch, it has a hide-a-bed by the way, I hope you don't mind using it?"
"Not at all Mr. H. I'm sure it'll be fine." Walking over I set my bag on it, before following him into the kitchen, where Taylor is waiting, having filled three glasses with what appeared to be apple juice.
"Ah, thank you Taylor, that's a nice gesture." Grabbing one of the glasses I take a drink.
"Everything ok then?" She asks looking at her father.
"I'd say things are going to be just fine kiddo….though I should make that call and get back to work.. Actually, Alice? Can you send me a copy of that recording?" Oh. Right.
"Ah, yea, err.. You guys have a computer? Normally I would just use my phone but.." I end by shrugging my shoulder, waving my hand in a "meh" gesture.
"Yes actually, Taylor can help you with it, speaking of, do you remember my work email?"
"Yea, it's saved on it, don't worry dad."
"Alright then, you two get that sent and I'll get oh the phone here."
"Ok dad. The computer is in my room upstairs, c'mon I'll show you." nodding I follow after her as she moves toward the stairs.
******
The next half hour passes rather quickly, save for one minor hiccup in the form of not having a data port on my "camera" until the last minute. Thank you very much nanomaterials.
Most of the time however was spent waiting for the file to send given the speed of the connection and system, time which was filled with the time honored tradition of minesweeper and space pinball 2000.
Incidentally, just as the file finishes sending Danny appears tip inform us he was going back to work, and that the talk with Tim had gone well.
When he leaves we keep playing and generally goofing off for another twenty minutes until we get the pinball stuck in a loop bouncing between bumpers, where we leave it to see what kind of score it will count to.
After that we dig out couple of board games from her closet. To my pleasant surprise it was actually very easy to lose track of time as we play, and it isn't until her stomach rumbles loudly that I realize it's nearly seven at night.
"Woah… like..Damn. I haven't had this much fun in...months...ah. Dammit I'm sorry I just killed the mood didn't I?"
"Only if you let it. I'm more concerned with how long this stupid microwave is taking to make my burrito."
Snort.
"...."
"...did you ju-"
"Nope! No idea what your talking about!"
"You totally did!"
"Oh stuff it! Your the one who pouted at a microwave! So nyeeeh!"
What? I'm in a good mood, fight me.
In a rather comical coincidence the front door opens just as the microwave dings off.
"I'm back! Sorry in late girls, I made a few stops on the way home, hope you don't mind pizza giving."
"..."
"....don't…"
"But you're literally holding the-"
"Oh bite me." She sighs as she walks over to the garbage can, dumping her paper plate in it just as Danny enters the kitchen.
I did NOT laugh my ass off for the next minute.
It was exactly thirty three seconds before Taylor threw an empty juice box at me and I stopped in shock.
Though I don't notice at the time Danny has the happiest smile on his face as he watches us.
By the time nine o'clock came around everyone was exhausted, rightfully so considering the events of the day.
It was nine thirty when I laid down to sleep for the night.
But as they say, all good things….
And as I lay there, my mind wanders, first to my reserves of nanomaterials, which was starting to hit a near exponential rate of growth, then to the events of the day before finally drifting to home.
To my earth.
My family.
No matter how hard I tried to focus on something else, anything else I kept coming back to them.
To my sister who was due to give birth to her second child this week.
To my mother who was counting on my help for her move.
The tears I saw coming, and knew it was pointless to even try and stop them.
What I didn't see coming, even though I really should have was Taylor.
My sobs were loud enough that I didn't hear her come down the stairs, and it wasn't until the lamp beside the couch was turned on that I realized someone was there.
"H-hey…"her timid tone actually helps to distract me from the thoughts rampaging in my mind.
"S-sorry, did I wake you?" Sitting up I turn to her, wiping my eyes on the sleeve of my oversized flannel shirt.
"No, I wasn't asleep yet...uhm...I'm sorry, I'm bad at this. Is there anything I can do?"
"Just...a hug would be nice…" At this she actually smiles, leaning over and doing just that, hugging me tightly.
It was just as well to, as it allowed me a better view off the wall behind her.
Where a gaseous form of a cloaked and masked figure was passing through, the form of a crossbow clear even through the smoky haze.
...Well fuck.
I mean for God sake I was practically skipping as we exited the building. Skipping!
My energy it appears was infectious, if the grin on Daniels face was anything to go by.
As we head toward the parking lot I spin around, not missing a step as I start walking backwards, my hands clasped behind my back and a wide grin on my face.
"It was rather satisfying to see them turn white when I informed them that I was pulling Taylor out for the day and that a lawyer would be contacting them within the week." by this point even Taylor was grinning, good that girl needs to smile more, it looks good on her.
"Are you alright though dad? You looked like you were about to explode there for a bit."
"Yea, you sure you didn't pop any blood vessels? That vein should have its own name as large as it was getting." Grinning I point at the spot said vein had appeared on him on my own forehead in reference.
"I'm fine girls, don't worry. Alan just… hit a nerve I guess, I thought he was a friend." His shrug speaks for itself, leaving me nodding.
"Woah-crap!" On the other hand however, I probably should have been watching where I was going, or at least paying attention to the data flow coming from my cores sensors.
Maybe muting that was as bad idea?
As my arms swing up in a attempt to balance myself a hand grabs mine, pulling me forward enough to keep me from falling as my other foot comes of the curb I had stepped over.
"You really should watch where you're going you know." Taylor grin is telling, and I can't help but pout as she lets go of my hand.
"Heeeey! You totally saw that coming didn't you? Thanks for the warning! Meanie." Crossing my arms I give her a mock glare, sending her into a fit of giggles, which I mimic as I turn around, looking over the parking lot.
"Which one we headed for?" Glancing at Daniel as I ask I see the grin on his face, no doubt from the performance we had just put on.
"Red Ford down on the right." He points toward a older pickup truck, probably late nineties or early two thousands model.
"Thanks for the ride by the way, it would have been a pain figuring out the busses again."
"Hey, after what you've done for Taylor it's really the least I can do." He says as he pulls his keys from his pocket as we near the car.
"I would say I just did what anyone should do, but apparently that doesn't apply here." Shrugging I stop beside the passenger side as he walks to the driver door.
"What can I say? It's Brockton." I simply nod in reply as he gets in, unlocking the doors as he does so.
"I'm sorry for the mess, I don't usually have to worry about more than one passenger." This being in reference to the clutter of papers and fast food wrappers in the back seat, getting a laugh out of me.
"Don't worry Mr. Hebert, dad was chronically messy when it came to his car, this is nothing. Believe me." His smile as he moves things around, clearing the seat for me.
Climbing in as he starts truck I get my seatbelt on, Taylor having already done the same.
"Well then...what now?" My question while oblivious still needed to be voiced.
I nearly wince as the mood changes In a instant, getting much more serious.
"To start I'll be calling a coworker of mine, Tim is the head of the legal department at the Dock Workers Union, he will be able to find us a good lawyer to sort through this who situation. If we're lucky we might be able to talk to one today." I nod to this, of course his connections to the union would come In handy here.
"Right, that sounds as good as start as any...hm." I trail off as a thought occurs to me, mainly that at this moment I only had a thousand to my name, and no actual bank accounts, and I had told them I would pay for the legal fees.
Meh, I'll "print" some more when I get back to my room. I wonder how many hundreds actually fit in a briefcase?
"I haven't been able to get a new phone as of yet, but if I can get back home I can see how much I have to contribute in the way of funds and-"
"Hey, hold up there girl." Danny interjects before I can finish.
"Even if Tim can have something call me today, I'm sure we won't be doing anything more then talking until tomorrow, for now how about we grab an early lunch?" I don't know how I didn't anticipate this, I did just rescue his daughter from the hell she had been suffering through for the past two and a half years.
"Oh! I..uh, are you sure? I don't want to impose or anything." ...what? What's that look for...and why am I blushing! Stop blushing damnit!
"Alice, after what you've done for Taylor this is quite literally the least I can do, it's fine, believe me." His knowing smile has my face feeling like it's burning up, and I knew it had nothing to do with the bruise on the left side of my cheek.
"Ahh, uhh, yeah I suppose that would be fine." …
And now Taylor has the same look! Staaaaahp iiit!
Suddenly the view outside the window was suddenly VERY interesting.
The knowing chuckle that comes from Danny has me fidgeting with the end of my braid, doing my best to look anywhere but forward.
"What are you two In the mood for then?" Oh, look at that, literally anything else.
"I can always go for a decent burger, what about you?" Giving my opinion I pass the conversation to Taylor.
"That's fine with me, though someplace with onion rings sounds nice."
"Right then, burger joint it is." The cheer in his tone has me smiling as we pull out of the parking lot.
*****
Burger King it seems, is a constant no matter what earth you're on.
My thoughts wander as I take a sip from my soda, watching a car pass by the storefront from my seat next to Taylor, the booth we were sitting at being at just angle that I could view the street without having to bend my neck to much.
"You know, there's something I've been wanting to ask ever since the office." Taylor speaks out, breaking the comfortable silence we had settled into now that we were finished with our food.
"Mm? Shoot." Looking away from the old impala that had demanded my attention for a few moments.
"What on earth made you pick Brockton Bay when you decided to move?" Her tone is quite skeptical, which isn't surprising considering what kind of reputation this city had.
At this however I look back to the window, thinking of how to answer.
"Location played a role really. I wanted to get as far away from home as I possibly could, and you can't go much farther without leaving the continental United States." Glancing at her I felt sick and look down at the tray in front of me.
"That and statistically this is one of the most dangerous places to live in the states, not counting the quarantine zones… please don't give me that look, I had started the process less than a month after the...Yea. My head wasn't in a good place at the time alright? And by the time I came out of the funk it would have taken another month to go elsewhere and I couldn't get out of that house fast enough, too many memories." Finishing I take another long drink, doing my best not to look at them.
"You're a tough kid Alice." To my surprise Danny is the one to break the silence.
I lock eyes with him for a moment before shrugging, drawing on the fact that I have in fact lost my parents in a way as to not give away the lie.
Considering how shit I felt having to lie about this in the first place it wasn't that hard.
"I don't know what to say. Quitting wasn't an option, besides I'm pretty sure they would ground me for a century or two if I showed up earlier then I'm supposed to." My attempt at humor has the desired effect given his smile, and I follow up with my own before finishing my drink.
"Well then… I suppose we should get going, I need to get home to call Tim." He says, leaning back on his chair, his back popping as he does so.
"You don't have a cell? Well, neither do I but that's cause I didn't keep anything from home, I plan on getting one as soon as I can really." his expression of discomfort has me genuinely confused, giving me the feeling I've forgotten something important.
"Uh… it's.. Kinda, I don't know, a thing. Mom was on her cell when the crash happened…" oh.
Well fuck, now I feel like I kicked a puppy.
"Oh! I.. Shit I'm sorry I had no idea, I didn't mean to bring that up."
"It's alright Alice, you actually raise a good point. I've been thinking a lot about it lately and I think is well past time we get a set, this phobia of ours is rather unorthodox in this day and age. And it would help me relax a bit more when you're out Taylor, like Alice pointed out Brockton is not a safe place."
She stares for a few moments before nodding, a small smile on her face.
Awww, did I cause this?
I so wanna do that more.
"Well then, now that that's explained, where am I bringing you Alice?"
Turning back to him I nod, still grinning happily.
"I'm staying at the StayBridge downtown until I can find a place that won't break the bank. You know where it is?"
…
What's that look for?
"Err… is something wrong?" I ask when he looks at Taylor and raises his brow.
My confusion grows when she nods.
What the hell am I missing here?
"Alice?"
"...yyyyea? Is something the matter?"
"Your welcome to stay with us for a while, I imagine it can't be pleasant staying there by yourself, or cheap for that matter."
…
"Bwuaah?"
Seriously brain?
For that matter isn't my brain a friggin alien computer now? How can I even be this blindsided?
"Uhhh…."
"Heh...hehehe."
It's Taylor's barley hidden giggles that snap me out of it, my mouth snapping shut when I realize I was gaping.
"Are...Are you sure? That's incredibly generous of you given you've just met me?"
"I'm a fairly decent judge of character you know Alice, I am the hiring manager for the Union after all, I don't think there will be any problems with you staying with us until your can find your own place."
Well… he has a point there...and I did want to keep an eye on Taylor, it couldn't be any easier to do that if I was staying with her.
"I...ok... That would be..amazing really."
"Alright then, we can swing by the hotel on the way back to grab your things." He says as he starts getting up Taylor following suit as I attempt to shake off the shock.
The walk to the truck is quite, as is most of the trip to the hotel, though Taylor had a thoughtful look on her face for most of it.
"Hey Alice?" She speaks finally, turning so she can see me.
"What's up?"
"I was thinking, I go for runs every morning, I wanted to invite you to join me if you care for it? It would be nice to have a running partner." Huh was not expecting that.
"Sure, I'd like that actually, I've been wanting to get into some form of regular exercise anyway."
Ah.
There's that smile again.
Looking out the window again I totally don't grin like a loon.
It's not a minute later that we pull into the parking lot of the hotel Danny bringing us to a stop in front of the entrance.
"Do you need a hand gather your things?" ….Wait.
"Oh, uhh, it's fine, I packed rather light. I really made a pound of leaving everything behind, I'll be back down In a few." Getting out I keep my face neutral as I wonder what the hell I'm going to have to turn into belongings that I should have.
Two minutes later I'm standing in my room, looking around for items that would be easily replaced.
Blanket, sheets, towels, pillows….Yea, that should be enough.
"Please don't take to long…" I mumble as I hold my hand palm down over the pile, watching inn fascination as the silver liquid That was my nano material pours from my hand.
As soon add it touches the pile it begins spreading, at a rapid pace much to my satisfaction.
Within a minute all that's left is a large silver pool, which at my mental command takes on the form and appearance of a large duffle, filed to the brim with clothing.
Finished I pick it up, slinging it over my shoulder and heading back downstairs. A short stop at the front desk for a refund on the six other days I had paid for and I was walking back out to the car.
With a huff, more for appearance then effort, I toss the bag into the bed of the truck, getting back in a moment later.
"Right then, homeward bound it is." Danny says as we pull out of the lot.
"So…. Lot of daylight left, other then getting ahold of this Tim guy, what are we doing?"
"Well, honestly I should probably get back to work, I can still get a good five hours in, and it would be easier to coordinate with Tim, his office is just down the hall from mine, unless you rather I stay?" The latter part of the statement is directed to Taylor who stares for a moment before shaking her head.
"It's ok dad, I know your work is important, besides if it helps get things moving it's probably better that way. It's not like I'll be alone now anyway." Ahhh! Again with that smile!
"Alright then kiddo, if you're sure."
"I am, I'm sure we can figure out something to keep occupied, and if all else fails there's always television." Heh, now Danny was smiling too.
Today was definitely a success.
*****
The house was… average, showing its age perhaps but looking no worse than any of the others In the neighborhood.
As the truck comes to a stop I unbuckle, my hand going for the door when Danny speaks.
"If you could wait a moment Alice, I'd like to speak to you alone before we head in."
Ah, I suppose this was inevitable, there would be some rules to go over I suppose.
"Ok dad, see you guys inside." Taylor says after a moment of eye contact.
As soon as her door is closed he turns as to look at me without craning his neck to much.
"Alice...I'm not sure you fully understand what you've done today." Oh? Ok, so not about rules.
"Um, how do you mean? I was only doing what was right…"
"And for that, I thank you. But whether you realize or not you've done so much more today then just stop a few bullies… when Annette died… things got hard. Me and Taylor.. Well, we started existing. I'm..rather ashamed to say a lot of this was my fault. I've been numb ever since the funeral, just going through the motions."
Ah. I see now.
"You know today we, me and Taylor I mean, spoke more then we have in the past month thanks to you… thanks to you Alice I see what I've done, what's happened to Taylor...I should have seen it. Hell, it should have been obvious really, her and Emma used to be attached at the hip, I should have known something was wrong when they stopped visiting each other…."
"I...actually get that to be honest… when mom and dad..when they went I was the same really..it wasn't until I was in dad's study...With his revolver in my hand that I realized what was happening to me…" I shiver, the memory of holding a revolver like that very real.
"Mr Hebert? Please don't be too hard on yourself for this? The fact is it happened, and nothing can change that now. No matter how much we want to, it's the future we can change, and the future is what we should focus on." Smiling I wipe the tears clear from my eyes.
"You really are a smart kid Alice. I think things will be just fine with you being here...now c'mon, let's not worry my daughter to much."
Smiling again I nod as we get out.
With my bag over my shoulder once more I follow him inside, skipping therotting step on his warning.
The house is...nice actually, the decor actually reminds me of home a little bit.
"You can set your bag on the couch, it has a hide-a-bed by the way, I hope you don't mind using it?"
"Not at all Mr. H. I'm sure it'll be fine." Walking over I set my bag on it, before following him into the kitchen, where Taylor is waiting, having filled three glasses with what appeared to be apple juice.
"Ah, thank you Taylor, that's a nice gesture." Grabbing one of the glasses I take a drink.
"Everything ok then?" She asks looking at her father.
"I'd say things are going to be just fine kiddo….though I should make that call and get back to work.. Actually, Alice? Can you send me a copy of that recording?" Oh. Right.
"Ah, yea, err.. You guys have a computer? Normally I would just use my phone but.." I end by shrugging my shoulder, waving my hand in a "meh" gesture.
"Yes actually, Taylor can help you with it, speaking of, do you remember my work email?"
"Yea, it's saved on it, don't worry dad."
"Alright then, you two get that sent and I'll get oh the phone here."
"Ok dad. The computer is in my room upstairs, c'mon I'll show you." nodding I follow after her as she moves toward the stairs.
******
The next half hour passes rather quickly, save for one minor hiccup in the form of not having a data port on my "camera" until the last minute. Thank you very much nanomaterials.
Most of the time however was spent waiting for the file to send given the speed of the connection and system, time which was filled with the time honored tradition of minesweeper and space pinball 2000.
Incidentally, just as the file finishes sending Danny appears tip inform us he was going back to work, and that the talk with Tim had gone well.
When he leaves we keep playing and generally goofing off for another twenty minutes until we get the pinball stuck in a loop bouncing between bumpers, where we leave it to see what kind of score it will count to.
After that we dig out couple of board games from her closet. To my pleasant surprise it was actually very easy to lose track of time as we play, and it isn't until her stomach rumbles loudly that I realize it's nearly seven at night.
"Woah… like..Damn. I haven't had this much fun in...months...ah. Dammit I'm sorry I just killed the mood didn't I?"
"Only if you let it. I'm more concerned with how long this stupid microwave is taking to make my burrito."
Snort.
"...."
"...did you ju-"
"Nope! No idea what your talking about!"
"You totally did!"
"Oh stuff it! Your the one who pouted at a microwave! So nyeeeh!"
What? I'm in a good mood, fight me.
In a rather comical coincidence the front door opens just as the microwave dings off.
"I'm back! Sorry in late girls, I made a few stops on the way home, hope you don't mind pizza giving."
"..."
"....don't…"
"But you're literally holding the-"
"Oh bite me." She sighs as she walks over to the garbage can, dumping her paper plate in it just as Danny enters the kitchen.
I did NOT laugh my ass off for the next minute.
It was exactly thirty three seconds before Taylor threw an empty juice box at me and I stopped in shock.
Though I don't notice at the time Danny has the happiest smile on his face as he watches us.
By the time nine o'clock came around everyone was exhausted, rightfully so considering the events of the day.
It was nine thirty when I laid down to sleep for the night.
But as they say, all good things….
And as I lay there, my mind wanders, first to my reserves of nanomaterials, which was starting to hit a near exponential rate of growth, then to the events of the day before finally drifting to home.
To my earth.
My family.
No matter how hard I tried to focus on something else, anything else I kept coming back to them.
To my sister who was due to give birth to her second child this week.
To my mother who was counting on my help for her move.
The tears I saw coming, and knew it was pointless to even try and stop them.
What I didn't see coming, even though I really should have was Taylor.
My sobs were loud enough that I didn't hear her come down the stairs, and it wasn't until the lamp beside the couch was turned on that I realized someone was there.
"H-hey…"her timid tone actually helps to distract me from the thoughts rampaging in my mind.
"S-sorry, did I wake you?" Sitting up I turn to her, wiping my eyes on the sleeve of my oversized flannel shirt.
"No, I wasn't asleep yet...uhm...I'm sorry, I'm bad at this. Is there anything I can do?"
"Just...a hug would be nice…" At this she actually smiles, leaning over and doing just that, hugging me tightly.
It was just as well to, as it allowed me a better view off the wall behind her.
Where a gaseous form of a cloaked and masked figure was passing through, the form of a crossbow clear even through the smoky haze.
...Well fuck.
The Storm
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
Time slows as my core flags the threat posed by the girl currently coming through the wall, sending my perception into overdrive as I stare at her.
Its… strange really, to know exactly how much time was passing in what felt like minutes, five point three six milliseconds is what it takes for me to formulate a plan and return time to a not quite glacial pace.
My grip on Taylor tightens marginally, muscles tensing as I lean back, pulling her with me, kicking off the mattress to catapult us to the other side of it.
Her shout of surprise seems low and bassy thanks to my perception as I free one hand and grab the T.V. remote from the armrest of the couch, an overlay coming into existence in my vision as I bring my arm back to throw it at her, its trajectory being plotted as I throw it.
Less than three seconds after I spotted her me and Taylor are in a heap on the other side of the fold-out, and a curse is heard coming from across the room.
Well, sounds like that worked.
Now what?
Electricity, obviously. But how?
Well there's a lamp right there, but there's no way that cord will reach that far and stay connected to..
On the other hand, it's more than possible to power it myself. I mean I can project forcefields capable of withstanding megatons of energy per square inch, I think a little spark will be easy.
Yet Taylor is literally right next to me.
Fuck me.
Here goes everything.
In the next three seconds I roll, placing her halfway under the endtable on the side of couch as I get up half kneeling to grab the lamp, which I yank from the wall, catching the end of the power cord as it whips towards me before looking back at Sophia, who was currently in the process of leveling her crossbow at me, thankfully still in shadow-form.
I whip the lamp at her, watching it slowly sail towards her as my mind counts milliseconds, my hand gripping the prongs of the cord even as will a electrical current into existance, my palm turning to copper as I do so.
Time slows even more as the lamp nears her, the flow of current visible to my eyes. I watch as ten thousand volts travels down the cord to the bulb just as it passes into her form.
As the current reaches the bulb it burns incredibly bright for a span of ten milliseconds, taking far more current then it was ever designed to handle and popping like a firecracker. Leaving the leads exposed to the air, a arc of electricity visible jumping from them to the shadow-form of Sophia.
It arcs for exactly seven hundred milliseconds before she begins phasing back into a solid, at which point I pull on the cord, not wanting to kill her when she turns completely solid again.
Exactly one second after the current hit her she's solid again, and I return my perception to "normal,"
In a instant she's on the ground, convulsing violently, her crossbow going off with a loud "Twang!" The bolt harmlessly embedding itself in the ceiling. I don't wait for her to get back up, rather I vault over the bed taking up half the living room, sprint the short distance to her and kick her firmly in the head, grinning in satisfaction as its knocked against the wall with a loud "thud" leaving her still save for the occasional twitch as residual current passes through her muscles.
"..."
"What the fuck!?" snapping my gaze to Taylor, who is starring as wide eyed as I look between them for a moment, before my attention is drawn to the stairs as Danny comes down them with all the grace of a rhino, a metal baseball bat in his hand.
"What on earth-!?" he shouts as he sees me standing over a unconscious "hero"
"That… is a very good question. What the fuck just happened? Why the fuck… I mean… I just… reacted," my voice is trembling as the adrenaline really hits me, my breaths becoming rapid and shallow as I feel the familiar rush of an anxiety attack hitting me.
Instabilities-
No.
Not this time.
Command override accepted.
While I would love nothing more then to numb myself from the situation, being calm and collected in this situation would be far too suspicious.
"Why the hell is Shadow Stalker here?! What .. I don't.. What!?" Taylor looked as flustered as me, her own breaths quickening as well.
"Is she alright? What happened!?" Danny shouts as he drops the bat, kneeling next to get.
"I don't freaking know! She was about to shoot us! I, I threw the lamp at her, I think it electrocuted her or something." I stepped back grabbing my hair, honestly wondering if I had killed her as I watch Danny kneels next to her, placing his head right next to her mask, visibly relaxing after a moment and sitting back up.
"She's still breathing at least," he pauses as he looks at us, his eyes darting between us a few times.
"Girls, slow down, breath. This isn't over yet, if she wakes up we could be in trouble, we need to restrain her and get the PRT here," how the hell he managed to stay collected during all of this I don't fucking know but he was right. There was just one minor problem.
"Restrain her? She can walk through walls! How are we supposed to do that?" Taylor shouts, getting a wince out of me.
"We have to do something… I think maybe electricity hurts her? she phased back when the lightbulb hit her, maybe she can't go through power?" the facade of uncertainty in my tone is clear, and Danny nods.
"It's something, Taylor, go get a extension cord from the basement, Alice, take this and hide it. I don't want it anywhere near her if she wakes up," as he passes me the crossbow I can't help but wonder how the hell he's managing to stay so calm...then again he is the adult in the situation.
"R-right!" I curse the stutter in my voice as I grab the weapon, turning as Taylor runs past me down the hall, disappearing through the door to the basement.
Unsure of what else to do I move to the kitchen, stuffing the bow under the sink. Heading back I pause midstep just before the living room. Turning back to the kitchen I grab the phone from is charging cradle on the wall next to the fridge, four familiar button presses and two rings later…
"Please state the nature of your emergency."
"Uh….it's..complicated. It's parahuman related?" good one Aly.
"And officially not my problem, transferring you to the PRT," wow, what a bitch.
Three more rings, and a rather generic male voice answers.
"PRT crisis hotline, what's the situation?" Well…
"Uhhh… well, I'm pretty sure Shadow Stalker just tried to kill me. She's currently out cold in the living room."
"...What?"
"Yea, I wouldn't believe me either but I'm serious. It's Shadow Stalker. You know, the ward who walks through walls? Likes Crossbows? She came through the living room wall and tried to shoot me. I uhh.. I threw a lamp at her, she didn't like the electricity I think. She's passed out on the living room floor and we're tying her up, but.. You know, walks through walls," as I speak I walk back into the living room, watching as Taylor and Danny tie her up with the orange extension cord Taylor had brought up from the basement.
"Uh..right, please stay on the line," before I get the chance to say anything I get a hold tone.
Welp.
"Yea ok then. I'll just wait while the would be killer sits on the floor…"
My unheard sarcasm helps me calm slightly as Danny finishes tying her up.
A moment later however the tone clicks as someone answers the transfer.
"Good evening, this is Miss Militia. You say you were attacked by Shadow Stalker?" she asks and I sigh.
"For the third time, yes. She's out cold and tied up on the living room floor, but given she can walk through walls I'm more than a little worried what's going to happen when she wakes up," I snap out in stress, not thinking of who I'm talking to.
"I'm sorry miss, it's a hard to believe story. Please, if you have her detained and disarmed can you tell me the serial number on her crossbow," well, I can't argue with the logic.
"Oh fer-give me a second." Sprinting back to the sink I retrieve said weapon from where I had placed it a minute ago.
"Where's the Damn-wait nevermind. XGHK-56013," I rattle of the letters and numbers.
"...What the hell did she…" I hear her whisper before the roar of a engine takes over the call for a second.
"This call has been traced and a response team is being dispatched to your location, my current ETA is six minutes. She can't phase through electrical currents, I recommend you surround her in a live power cord. Miss Militia out," with a click the call drops and I set the bow back down, not bothering to hide it this time as I head back to the living room, nearly bumping into Danny as he comes through the doorway.
"Miss Militia and the PRT are on the way. I was right about electricity, she told us to tie her up like we did," I motion to the phone as I speak getting a nod out of him.
"Good thinking…. I… Jesus I don't know. I'm still having trouble believing this."
"That makes both of us...how's Taylor?" at this he turns back to the living room, walking away without a word.
Following him I see that she's sitting on the edge off the fold out, trembling noticeable, not to surprising considering what just happened.
"Hey," calling to her I walk over and sit next to her, frowning when she keeps her eyes locked on the incapacitated ward.
"Taylor," this time I grab her hand, pulling on it gently, getting her to twitch lightly.
"Her hand…" huh?
"What? What about….it…" I ask even as I turn to look at her, freezing when I see her right hand, more precisely her middle and ring fingers, which were splinted and wrapped in medical tape.
Oh jesus fuck.
She's not supposed to find out yet.
Fucking christ, please don't don't go completely ape-shit.
…
Well. In for a penny…
"No.. thats… no! It.. what!?"
"It would explain why she's here…" Her whisper has my anxiety spiking again, before I can say anything more however Danny speaks up.
"What's so significant about her having a couple of broken fingers?" that's right, that fact was never mentioned to him today.
"Uh… their the same ones that Sophia broke on my face this morning… same hand too." Please don't do anything drastic….
"What!?" I wince at his shout as he stares at her for a moment, before kneeling down in front of her. His hands reaching out for her mask.
"Danny! You can't just unmask her-"
"Bullshit. She just tried to kill you, and my daughter. If this really is… fucking hell," he doesn't finish as the mask comes free, revealing her face, and confirming their suspicions.
"......" The silence that follows is quite possibly the tensest moment I've ever experienced, which was saying something considering the amount of traumas I've been through in my life.
"NO!" fucking hell I think that could have shattered glass if it was any higher.
"....Taylor, Taylor! Breath!" I shout as I grab her shoulders, acutely aware of the low buzz in the background.
Fuck me.
Please don't hate me for this.
SMACK!
"Wha-? What the hell was that for!?" she shouts after a few seconds, cupping her cheek.
"You need to calm the hell down and BREATH. I can promise you there is going to be a LOT of hell to pay over this. But freaking out is going to do jack and shit right now!" as I speak, the buzzing disappears and she nods as I finish.
"S-sorry.. I just.. She cant… thats not… I don't…" and now she's crying.
Goddamnit.
Unsure of what else to do I pull her into a tight hug, relaxing slightly when she returns it, as I'm glancing at danny to see how he's doing however, there's a loud pounding knock on the door.
Simultaneously we all jump, me and Taylor parting while Danny rockets to his feet.
"This is Miss Militia, please answer the door! I do not wish to break it down!" Unsurprisingly Danny is the first one to move, running to the foyer to open the door before its kicked in.
"Where is she?" the venom was rather clear in her voice as Danny opens the door.
"She's… in the living room. You… what the hell were you thinking! Letting that delinquent do anything other then rot in a cell!" there's that rock crushing tone again. Ooooh boy.
"Sir, please calm down and explain to me the events preluding the phone call, I need to know what she's done."
"What she's done!? You mean besides attempting to murder my daughter for the second time this year!?" Ouch, pretty sure they were into diamond crushing territory now.
"Second...time? What-" she freezes, pausing mid-syllable as she steps into the living room.
"You've unmasked her!? Do you understand what-"
"Oh don't give me that bullshit! This… monster, has been tormenting my daughter for the past two and a half years! How the hell have you let this go on!?" yea, definitely diamonds.
"Sir, I need you to calm down, I'm working with to little information here, clearly you know Shadow Stalker in her civilian identity, however that does not explain why you thought unmasking her was-"
Aaannnd now he's turning purple.
Gods give me strength...
"DANNY!" I shout at him, standing.
"Back off! Go take a breather before you do something incredibly stupid!" his eyes snap to me, and for a moment it looks like he's about to scream at me as well before he nods, taking a deep breath through his nose and turning and marching down the hall.
The back door could be heard slamming open as he steps outside.
"Sorry, Miss Militia right? Alice," I hold my hand out to her.
"I had to say something before he tried getting physical, he can't be thinking clearly right now, I know I barely am. It's… a long story of why we did that, and who she is to us," I explain as we shake hands.
"I can see that. Please, explain. What you've done is a rather significant crime," I can't help but snort at this, rolling my eyes.
"Sorry, its just.." I trail off shaking my head, turning back to Taylor.
"Hey, can you go get the journal you told me about? The one of all the different… incidents?"
"Y-yea… give me a second," christ this night is turning out to be one hell of a cluster fuck.
"Right then. The abridged version is that Hess, along with two others have been bullying Taylor for the past two and a half years, I don't know everything yet but I'm fairly sure it's gone well past the point of what's prosecutable under law," the look of shock on her face has me frowning.
"Somehow I'm not surprised you don't know, Taylor tried getting staff at that hole to intervene several times, eventually she was told to stop making up stories or face detention. That changed today however, I just transferred in from out of state, I didn't know the reputation Winslow had until just the other day, at which point I bought a wearable micro-camera as a precaution," her nod has me relaxing somewhat, and I was hoping it meant she was believing me.
"Skipping to this morning after my first class I witnessed three girls, one of them being Hess, surrounding Taylor and verbally assaulting her. I stepped in and told them off, Hess saw fit to break her hand over my face," I motion to the still dark bruise on my cheek as I explain.
"At which point I informed her of the recording, and was forced to immobilize her when she attempted to take the camera unit. Only then did staff finally get involved. It was clear however something was up when they called Hess and the others into the office without me and Taylor. It was at this point I recommended she call her father, which was a good call given that the father of one of the girls, Alan Barnes, showed up five minutes before Danny did, at which point Blackwell attempted to bring us into the office, my guess is she intended to intimidate us into giving her the recording," shrugging I glance at the stairs as I hear Taylor coming down them.
"It was at this point that Danny got there, and despite an attempt to take advantage of his lack of knowledge I was able to inform him of the mornings events, after that I don't know exactly what was said, but he was in the there for less then a minute, just long enough to tell them he was pulling Taylor for the day and they would be hearing from his lawyer within the week." I finish just as Taylor stops next to me, a thick stack of papers in hand.
"These are notes of each and every incident after she gave up trying to get the teachers involved. There were to be used in conjunction with my recording to make her case in court… I'm going to take a wild ass guess and say that Sophia realized she was fucked seven ways to sunday as long as the lawsuit was in the works. It was when we noticed she had the same broken fingers that the things started falling into place… and… yea, here we are."
"Dear God…" she says after a moment as she flips through the pages for about a minute before looking back at us and handing them to us.
"If you could give me a minute? This… I don't even know what to call this yet," again I snort as I nod, knowing exactly how she felt.
"Yea, above your paygrade I'm guessing."
"You could say that. Before I start waking my higher ups however, I wish to offer you my sincerest apologies Taylor, as little as it may be worth at this point, I personally at least had no idea this was taking place, and I can guarantee you heads are going to roll over this situation."
Before she's even out of earshot I can hear her speaking as she taps her earpiece.
"Console. Miss Militia here…" I turn back to Taylor just as the back-door is heard opening again.
"Well… ok, I genuinely have no idea what to say. Are you ok? Is that a stupid question? Of course it is. Are you holding up at least?" she actually smiles slightly at my word fumbling, Danny coming into view around the same time.
"Then wake her goddamnit!" before he can say anything however Miss Militia's shout is heard from the just outside the front door.
"Hey… sorry, and thank you Alice… what did I miss?"
"Well…. I gave her the abridged version? She's kicking it up the chain of command now. I think we're supposed to wait now?" His sigh is telling as he nods, pressing his palms to his eyes.
"I'll get some coffee going."
Its… strange really, to know exactly how much time was passing in what felt like minutes, five point three six milliseconds is what it takes for me to formulate a plan and return time to a not quite glacial pace.
My grip on Taylor tightens marginally, muscles tensing as I lean back, pulling her with me, kicking off the mattress to catapult us to the other side of it.
Her shout of surprise seems low and bassy thanks to my perception as I free one hand and grab the T.V. remote from the armrest of the couch, an overlay coming into existence in my vision as I bring my arm back to throw it at her, its trajectory being plotted as I throw it.
Less than three seconds after I spotted her me and Taylor are in a heap on the other side of the fold-out, and a curse is heard coming from across the room.
Well, sounds like that worked.
Now what?
Electricity, obviously. But how?
Well there's a lamp right there, but there's no way that cord will reach that far and stay connected to..
On the other hand, it's more than possible to power it myself. I mean I can project forcefields capable of withstanding megatons of energy per square inch, I think a little spark will be easy.
Yet Taylor is literally right next to me.
Fuck me.
Here goes everything.
In the next three seconds I roll, placing her halfway under the endtable on the side of couch as I get up half kneeling to grab the lamp, which I yank from the wall, catching the end of the power cord as it whips towards me before looking back at Sophia, who was currently in the process of leveling her crossbow at me, thankfully still in shadow-form.
I whip the lamp at her, watching it slowly sail towards her as my mind counts milliseconds, my hand gripping the prongs of the cord even as will a electrical current into existance, my palm turning to copper as I do so.
Time slows even more as the lamp nears her, the flow of current visible to my eyes. I watch as ten thousand volts travels down the cord to the bulb just as it passes into her form.
As the current reaches the bulb it burns incredibly bright for a span of ten milliseconds, taking far more current then it was ever designed to handle and popping like a firecracker. Leaving the leads exposed to the air, a arc of electricity visible jumping from them to the shadow-form of Sophia.
It arcs for exactly seven hundred milliseconds before she begins phasing back into a solid, at which point I pull on the cord, not wanting to kill her when she turns completely solid again.
Exactly one second after the current hit her she's solid again, and I return my perception to "normal,"
In a instant she's on the ground, convulsing violently, her crossbow going off with a loud "Twang!" The bolt harmlessly embedding itself in the ceiling. I don't wait for her to get back up, rather I vault over the bed taking up half the living room, sprint the short distance to her and kick her firmly in the head, grinning in satisfaction as its knocked against the wall with a loud "thud" leaving her still save for the occasional twitch as residual current passes through her muscles.
"..."
"What the fuck!?" snapping my gaze to Taylor, who is starring as wide eyed as I look between them for a moment, before my attention is drawn to the stairs as Danny comes down them with all the grace of a rhino, a metal baseball bat in his hand.
"What on earth-!?" he shouts as he sees me standing over a unconscious "hero"
"That… is a very good question. What the fuck just happened? Why the fuck… I mean… I just… reacted," my voice is trembling as the adrenaline really hits me, my breaths becoming rapid and shallow as I feel the familiar rush of an anxiety attack hitting me.
Instabilities-
No.
Not this time.
Command override accepted.
While I would love nothing more then to numb myself from the situation, being calm and collected in this situation would be far too suspicious.
"Why the hell is Shadow Stalker here?! What .. I don't.. What!?" Taylor looked as flustered as me, her own breaths quickening as well.
"Is she alright? What happened!?" Danny shouts as he drops the bat, kneeling next to get.
"I don't freaking know! She was about to shoot us! I, I threw the lamp at her, I think it electrocuted her or something." I stepped back grabbing my hair, honestly wondering if I had killed her as I watch Danny kneels next to her, placing his head right next to her mask, visibly relaxing after a moment and sitting back up.
"She's still breathing at least," he pauses as he looks at us, his eyes darting between us a few times.
"Girls, slow down, breath. This isn't over yet, if she wakes up we could be in trouble, we need to restrain her and get the PRT here," how the hell he managed to stay collected during all of this I don't fucking know but he was right. There was just one minor problem.
"Restrain her? She can walk through walls! How are we supposed to do that?" Taylor shouts, getting a wince out of me.
"We have to do something… I think maybe electricity hurts her? she phased back when the lightbulb hit her, maybe she can't go through power?" the facade of uncertainty in my tone is clear, and Danny nods.
"It's something, Taylor, go get a extension cord from the basement, Alice, take this and hide it. I don't want it anywhere near her if she wakes up," as he passes me the crossbow I can't help but wonder how the hell he's managing to stay so calm...then again he is the adult in the situation.
"R-right!" I curse the stutter in my voice as I grab the weapon, turning as Taylor runs past me down the hall, disappearing through the door to the basement.
Unsure of what else to do I move to the kitchen, stuffing the bow under the sink. Heading back I pause midstep just before the living room. Turning back to the kitchen I grab the phone from is charging cradle on the wall next to the fridge, four familiar button presses and two rings later…
"Please state the nature of your emergency."
"Uh….it's..complicated. It's parahuman related?" good one Aly.
"And officially not my problem, transferring you to the PRT," wow, what a bitch.
Three more rings, and a rather generic male voice answers.
"PRT crisis hotline, what's the situation?" Well…
"Uhhh… well, I'm pretty sure Shadow Stalker just tried to kill me. She's currently out cold in the living room."
"...What?"
"Yea, I wouldn't believe me either but I'm serious. It's Shadow Stalker. You know, the ward who walks through walls? Likes Crossbows? She came through the living room wall and tried to shoot me. I uhh.. I threw a lamp at her, she didn't like the electricity I think. She's passed out on the living room floor and we're tying her up, but.. You know, walks through walls," as I speak I walk back into the living room, watching as Taylor and Danny tie her up with the orange extension cord Taylor had brought up from the basement.
"Uh..right, please stay on the line," before I get the chance to say anything I get a hold tone.
Welp.
"Yea ok then. I'll just wait while the would be killer sits on the floor…"
My unheard sarcasm helps me calm slightly as Danny finishes tying her up.
A moment later however the tone clicks as someone answers the transfer.
"Good evening, this is Miss Militia. You say you were attacked by Shadow Stalker?" she asks and I sigh.
"For the third time, yes. She's out cold and tied up on the living room floor, but given she can walk through walls I'm more than a little worried what's going to happen when she wakes up," I snap out in stress, not thinking of who I'm talking to.
"I'm sorry miss, it's a hard to believe story. Please, if you have her detained and disarmed can you tell me the serial number on her crossbow," well, I can't argue with the logic.
"Oh fer-give me a second." Sprinting back to the sink I retrieve said weapon from where I had placed it a minute ago.
"Where's the Damn-wait nevermind. XGHK-56013," I rattle of the letters and numbers.
"...What the hell did she…" I hear her whisper before the roar of a engine takes over the call for a second.
"This call has been traced and a response team is being dispatched to your location, my current ETA is six minutes. She can't phase through electrical currents, I recommend you surround her in a live power cord. Miss Militia out," with a click the call drops and I set the bow back down, not bothering to hide it this time as I head back to the living room, nearly bumping into Danny as he comes through the doorway.
"Miss Militia and the PRT are on the way. I was right about electricity, she told us to tie her up like we did," I motion to the phone as I speak getting a nod out of him.
"Good thinking…. I… Jesus I don't know. I'm still having trouble believing this."
"That makes both of us...how's Taylor?" at this he turns back to the living room, walking away without a word.
Following him I see that she's sitting on the edge off the fold out, trembling noticeable, not to surprising considering what just happened.
"Hey," calling to her I walk over and sit next to her, frowning when she keeps her eyes locked on the incapacitated ward.
"Taylor," this time I grab her hand, pulling on it gently, getting her to twitch lightly.
"Her hand…" huh?
"What? What about….it…" I ask even as I turn to look at her, freezing when I see her right hand, more precisely her middle and ring fingers, which were splinted and wrapped in medical tape.
Oh jesus fuck.
She's not supposed to find out yet.
Fucking christ, please don't don't go completely ape-shit.
…
Well. In for a penny…
"No.. thats… no! It.. what!?"
"It would explain why she's here…" Her whisper has my anxiety spiking again, before I can say anything more however Danny speaks up.
"What's so significant about her having a couple of broken fingers?" that's right, that fact was never mentioned to him today.
"Uh… their the same ones that Sophia broke on my face this morning… same hand too." Please don't do anything drastic….
"What!?" I wince at his shout as he stares at her for a moment, before kneeling down in front of her. His hands reaching out for her mask.
"Danny! You can't just unmask her-"
"Bullshit. She just tried to kill you, and my daughter. If this really is… fucking hell," he doesn't finish as the mask comes free, revealing her face, and confirming their suspicions.
"......" The silence that follows is quite possibly the tensest moment I've ever experienced, which was saying something considering the amount of traumas I've been through in my life.
"NO!" fucking hell I think that could have shattered glass if it was any higher.
"....Taylor, Taylor! Breath!" I shout as I grab her shoulders, acutely aware of the low buzz in the background.
Fuck me.
Please don't hate me for this.
SMACK!
"Wha-? What the hell was that for!?" she shouts after a few seconds, cupping her cheek.
"You need to calm the hell down and BREATH. I can promise you there is going to be a LOT of hell to pay over this. But freaking out is going to do jack and shit right now!" as I speak, the buzzing disappears and she nods as I finish.
"S-sorry.. I just.. She cant… thats not… I don't…" and now she's crying.
Goddamnit.
Unsure of what else to do I pull her into a tight hug, relaxing slightly when she returns it, as I'm glancing at danny to see how he's doing however, there's a loud pounding knock on the door.
Simultaneously we all jump, me and Taylor parting while Danny rockets to his feet.
"This is Miss Militia, please answer the door! I do not wish to break it down!" Unsurprisingly Danny is the first one to move, running to the foyer to open the door before its kicked in.
"Where is she?" the venom was rather clear in her voice as Danny opens the door.
"She's… in the living room. You… what the hell were you thinking! Letting that delinquent do anything other then rot in a cell!" there's that rock crushing tone again. Ooooh boy.
"Sir, please calm down and explain to me the events preluding the phone call, I need to know what she's done."
"What she's done!? You mean besides attempting to murder my daughter for the second time this year!?" Ouch, pretty sure they were into diamond crushing territory now.
"Second...time? What-" she freezes, pausing mid-syllable as she steps into the living room.
"You've unmasked her!? Do you understand what-"
"Oh don't give me that bullshit! This… monster, has been tormenting my daughter for the past two and a half years! How the hell have you let this go on!?" yea, definitely diamonds.
"Sir, I need you to calm down, I'm working with to little information here, clearly you know Shadow Stalker in her civilian identity, however that does not explain why you thought unmasking her was-"
Aaannnd now he's turning purple.
Gods give me strength...
"DANNY!" I shout at him, standing.
"Back off! Go take a breather before you do something incredibly stupid!" his eyes snap to me, and for a moment it looks like he's about to scream at me as well before he nods, taking a deep breath through his nose and turning and marching down the hall.
The back door could be heard slamming open as he steps outside.
"Sorry, Miss Militia right? Alice," I hold my hand out to her.
"I had to say something before he tried getting physical, he can't be thinking clearly right now, I know I barely am. It's… a long story of why we did that, and who she is to us," I explain as we shake hands.
"I can see that. Please, explain. What you've done is a rather significant crime," I can't help but snort at this, rolling my eyes.
"Sorry, its just.." I trail off shaking my head, turning back to Taylor.
"Hey, can you go get the journal you told me about? The one of all the different… incidents?"
"Y-yea… give me a second," christ this night is turning out to be one hell of a cluster fuck.
"Right then. The abridged version is that Hess, along with two others have been bullying Taylor for the past two and a half years, I don't know everything yet but I'm fairly sure it's gone well past the point of what's prosecutable under law," the look of shock on her face has me frowning.
"Somehow I'm not surprised you don't know, Taylor tried getting staff at that hole to intervene several times, eventually she was told to stop making up stories or face detention. That changed today however, I just transferred in from out of state, I didn't know the reputation Winslow had until just the other day, at which point I bought a wearable micro-camera as a precaution," her nod has me relaxing somewhat, and I was hoping it meant she was believing me.
"Skipping to this morning after my first class I witnessed three girls, one of them being Hess, surrounding Taylor and verbally assaulting her. I stepped in and told them off, Hess saw fit to break her hand over my face," I motion to the still dark bruise on my cheek as I explain.
"At which point I informed her of the recording, and was forced to immobilize her when she attempted to take the camera unit. Only then did staff finally get involved. It was clear however something was up when they called Hess and the others into the office without me and Taylor. It was at this point I recommended she call her father, which was a good call given that the father of one of the girls, Alan Barnes, showed up five minutes before Danny did, at which point Blackwell attempted to bring us into the office, my guess is she intended to intimidate us into giving her the recording," shrugging I glance at the stairs as I hear Taylor coming down them.
"It was at this point that Danny got there, and despite an attempt to take advantage of his lack of knowledge I was able to inform him of the mornings events, after that I don't know exactly what was said, but he was in the there for less then a minute, just long enough to tell them he was pulling Taylor for the day and they would be hearing from his lawyer within the week." I finish just as Taylor stops next to me, a thick stack of papers in hand.
"These are notes of each and every incident after she gave up trying to get the teachers involved. There were to be used in conjunction with my recording to make her case in court… I'm going to take a wild ass guess and say that Sophia realized she was fucked seven ways to sunday as long as the lawsuit was in the works. It was when we noticed she had the same broken fingers that the things started falling into place… and… yea, here we are."
"Dear God…" she says after a moment as she flips through the pages for about a minute before looking back at us and handing them to us.
"If you could give me a minute? This… I don't even know what to call this yet," again I snort as I nod, knowing exactly how she felt.
"Yea, above your paygrade I'm guessing."
"You could say that. Before I start waking my higher ups however, I wish to offer you my sincerest apologies Taylor, as little as it may be worth at this point, I personally at least had no idea this was taking place, and I can guarantee you heads are going to roll over this situation."
Before she's even out of earshot I can hear her speaking as she taps her earpiece.
"Console. Miss Militia here…" I turn back to Taylor just as the back-door is heard opening again.
"Well… ok, I genuinely have no idea what to say. Are you ok? Is that a stupid question? Of course it is. Are you holding up at least?" she actually smiles slightly at my word fumbling, Danny coming into view around the same time.
"Then wake her goddamnit!" before he can say anything however Miss Militia's shout is heard from the just outside the front door.
"Hey… sorry, and thank you Alice… what did I miss?"
"Well…. I gave her the abridged version? She's kicking it up the chain of command now. I think we're supposed to wait now?" His sigh is telling as he nods, pressing his palms to his eyes.
"I'll get some coffee going."
Reprive
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
The dripping of the coffee is far too audible as we sit around the kitchen table, Taylor staring at the fruit bowl in the center of the table, though it was clear that she wasn't really there however given the look in her eyes, or lack thereof.
So that's what a thousand yard stare looks like from the outside….
"..."
Annnd Danny's attempting to melt the coffee pot with his non existent heat vision...lovely.
Why the hell does it have to be me? I'm not freaking out any less then they are Goddamnit, I just know how to force through it.
A lifetime of these situations lead to a lot of time to learn.
"..."
Sigh.
What to do this time…?
Well I know what would help me, but Taylor is most definitely not me.
Then again, hugs are usually infallible in these situations.
Predictably neither of them so much as twitch as I stand up from the table, they both just keep staring ahead. It isn't until I pull her sideways into a hug that she twitches out of it, gasping lightly.
"A-Alice?" It takes her nearly thirty seconds to say anything, in response to which I simply shake my head, doing my best to burrow into her shoulder.
I think I might have needed this just as much, if not more.
"….Yea?"
"What are you doing?"
"Hugging you, duh." Moving my head slightly so I can see again I notice that Danny is now looking at us to.
...Why this makes me blush I don't know, but I curse the fact that it does.
"I figured that part out...I mean…"she trails off when I squeeze her tightly for a moment before loosening my grip and letting go, turning away just long enough to grab my chair and drag it closer until it's touching hers.
"Cause you were zoning, bad." sitting down I lean into her, pulling her into a one armed embrace.
"And I thought it would help…..and… I needed it. It makes not crying and freaking out a lot easier…"
"Oh...alright then...thank you." At that, she returns the hug with the same intensity I originally had, and I feel the tension finally draining from my body.
From the corner of my eye I see
movement, and the clinking of glasses tells me it's Danny, and that the coffee is probably finished.
I keep my arms around her for another half minute, until Danny sets a couple of mugs in front of us at which point I let go of her, seemingly to her disappointment given the sound she makes as she does the same.
The coffee is a welcome pick me up however, as the initial adrenaline rush had begun fading when we sat down.
The reprieve is over far too soon however, as I'm not more than three small sips in when I hear a groan come from the doorway leading to the living room.
In a instant the adrenaline is back as we all snap our attention in that direction.
"Um. We should get her back-oh, nevermind. Your heard her?" I start, changing directions when Miss Militia appears in the doorway again.
"Yes, and the response team just arrived, they will remove her." She says even as two masked troopers appear behind her, the letters PRT on their combat vests.
"Right, just..get her out of-"
"Mother fucker!"
Wow. I've never seen so many people wince at the same time.
"Now, please."
At Daniel's words she motions to the troopers to follow her as she steps into the living room.
"Get your fucking hands off of-!" This time her shout is cut off by the loud rapid clicking of a taser, one that lasts for a full ten seconds.
Damn, that had to be excessive...and judging from the grins Taylor and Danny knew this as well.
Another half minute passes before they appear again, the limp form of Sophia over the shoulders of one of them, the other holding a evidence bag containing the bolt that she had shot into the ceiling.
"We'll be needing the crossbow back as well." She says, motioning to said bow, which was still in the sink where I had left it.
"Right." Danny's reply is simple as he picks it up by the stock and hands it over to her.
She passes it to the evidence guy, who had stuck around when the other one carried the psycho out, he follows suit as soon as he has the bow.
"Now, there's a few routes open to take here." She starts, her voice sounding rather tired.
"If you wish, you may come in now for a detailed debriefing, however given the hour I understand if you rather give statements and come in first thing in the morning, I leave it up to you, either way however you have my most sincerest apologies, and the word of the director that the repercussions for this incident will be severe."
Glancing at then both I find myself holding my breath, curious as to what Danny would decide.
"I think it would be best if we waited until the morning, perhaps the afternoon, depending on how long it takes me to procure legal representation." Ah, smart move that.
"Of course, I was actually going to recommend that course of action… here, when you are ready, call the number on this card and explain who you are, an unmarked transport will be dispatched to bring you in to headquarters." She explains as she hands him a simple white card.
"Alright, thank you. Now I hope you understand when I ask that you please get out of my home."
"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow then." She finishes courtly, nodding to us before turning and leaving.
When the door closes his shoulders sag quite noticeably, for that matter I'm pretty sure mine do as well.
"Well….that fucking happened." I mutter after a few moments.
"...yea…" Taylor whispers, her voice sounding...hollow.
"Hey… are you going to be ok? I can't even begin to imagine…" trailing off I hold back a wince when I see her eyes growing watery.
"I just...She… I don't understand…. For so long…" she chokes out as the waterworks start.
"I'm so sorry Taylor. I can promise you there's going to be hell to pay over this, from the sounds of it Miss militia and her boss agree." Reaching out I put my hand on her shoulder, which is all the signal she needs it seems to practically tackle me in a hug as she starts crying in earnest.
Oh god!
WhatdoIdowhatdoido!?
For reasons beyond my comprehension my higher thinking capacity decides now was the perfect time to take a hiatus, and my mind grinds to a halt as I suddenly find myself with two armfuls of crying teenage girl.
Working on instinct I wrap her in what I hope is a very meaningful embrace as she cries into my night shirt.
Glancing at Danny I see the pain on his face as he watches his daughter break down as the wall she had built up for the past two and a half years comes crashing down with tonight's revelation.
Well…. Now what?
…
I glance at Danny for a second, writing him off for help when I see pained expression on his face.
Welp.
To hell with it then.
She squeaks as I pick her up, pulling back just long enough to give me a questioning look.
My gentle smile has her breaking down again as I walk towards the living room, glancing at Danny as I do, the smile on his face telling me all I need to know.
Sitting down I scoot us into the corner of the couch/bed, where I can lay back slightly while still holding on to Taylor.
We lay there like this for nearly a half hour, Danny remaining in the kitchen until her sobbing slows and stops, turning into light snores as she runs out of energy.
A few minutes later he comes by, hitting the kitchen light and plunging us into darkness save for the light coming from the top of the staircase.
I nod to him silently as he offers me the blanket that was at the foot of the bed.
"Thank you Alice." His whisper is one of the last things I hear before I fall into slumber myself, Taylor's slow breathing calming my mind enough to do so.
*****
Despite the nights events we both sleep like the dead, simply not having energy to do anything but.
Cachink.
It's the sound of a camera going off that brings me back to awareness, or at least starts the process.
"Wuzgoinon?" My mumble is barely coherent as I attempt to roll over, pausing when I feel the weight on my chest.
Huh? What...oh!
My heart kicks back into full gear as I realize that I'm currently entangled in a mass of blankets, pillows and teenage girl.
Pulling my hair out of my face I huff slightly as I realize I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.
"Wait." Turning my head as I realize just what it was that had woken me in the first place.
"Morning Alice." Danny's grin is far too smug as he pockets the camera in his right hand, taking a sip from the coffee mug in his left.
"Uh…." Again my brain fails me as my face does its level best to impersonate a tomato.
"Mrooow." My response says everything I need it to as I pull one of the blankets up, hiding my head beneath it.
His chuckle only makes me squirm more as I try to disappear into the bed.
"I'll leave you two be, it's only seven yet." I don't reply, still too mortified to do anything, and it isn't until I hear his footsteps heading into the kitchen that I relax.
Pulling the blankets back I simply stare at the ceiling, wondering what this day was going to hold given the absolute cluster fuck that was last night.
For that matter I wonder how Taylor is going to be? Her world view had to have taken one hell of a hit from that revelation… God I hope I haven't butterflied the world to its doom already.
...No, probably not, I mean if things go even somewhat according to plan she should never even have to bear that weight...Goddamnit it's too early for this shit.
I huff again as I roll my eyes, berating myself for being so doom and gloom within minutes of waking up.
Yes, this may be Earth Bet, but that does NOT mean there's nothing to be happy about. I mean I do literally have a fairly cute girl in my arms right now…..and it sounds like Danny's starting to cook something.
See?
Plenty of things to be happy about.
...hmmm…so what to do while I wait for said cute girl to wake up?
Check the status for my nanomaterials? Yea sure let's go with that.
As I do so, I find myself running my hand through Taylor's hair in a petting motion, not even realizing as I do.
Heh, less then three days and I've already more than a ten thousand tons of material spread over a dozen ships...yea, I think I'll be ready for the events of May, easily.
And the rate of growth hasn't even stopped accelerating yet. Grey goo for the fucking win.
Once I'm done checking in on my reserves I simply close my eyes and relax, enjoying the smells slowly wafting into the room and the soft feeling of Taylor's hair.
It's not ten minutes later when she starts moving, actually cuddling into me as she groans.
"Mmm, five more minutes."
Oh dear god that was adorable.
Heh, this is too good to pass up…
"Taaaaylor…." I whisper directly into her ear.
"Mmmmmff." Her voice is completely muffled as she hugs me tighter, pressing her forehead into my side as she squirms.
"Ahem. Taaaaylor!" I repeat myself, a fair bit louder this time, smiling when she freezes midway through squeezing me again.
"Wait…" and three...two….
I twitch as she pushes off of me suddenly, her eyes locked with mine as I do my best to hold my grin.
"You know, I'm pretty sure there's a process that involves dinner that's supposed to happen before this, isn't there?"
Oh. Oh my that is an impressive shade of red.
Her exhale is likewise adorable as she lets out a long high pitched squeak as she does so.
"Oh my god, that was the cutest thing I've ever-oof!" to my shock and surprise in amended by a pillow to the face, which she pulls away and hits me with two more times before I catch it, a giggle bubbling up as I realize what she was doing.
"Do you feel better now?" Pulling the pillow to the side I see that she's considerably less pink, a playful grin on her face.
"Not really, but I'll live."
"Oh I don't know, I think you might have broken a seal as much steam you were venting a moment a-oof!"
Ok, it's totally on now.
Grabbing my own pillow I bop her in the side of the head, laughing at her dumbfounded expression.
Simultaneously we both burst into giggles, all of the earlier tension gone.
It's nearly a full thirty seconds later that I've calmed down enough to speak again.
"Thanks Alice." The amount of emotion in those simple words was immense, and for a moment I struggle to find the proper reply.
"Hey, just… paying it forward, we will get through this, I promise."
"I...I just….thank you."
"Same to you Taylor...Now, I don't know about you, but coffee sounds amazing right now."
Before she can answer her stomach does so for her, letting out a loud gurgle.
Heh...hehehe. There's that pink again, I think I'm starting to understand why people like doing that to me.
"Oh shush, I'm hungry damnit." It's at this moment that my own stomach makes itself known.
"....yea, food sounds good."
"..." Her grin results in another pillow to the face, which sets off another fight, one which lasts for nearly five minutes as we nearly laugh ourselves silly. It was the sound of that damn camera that puts a stop to our fun.
"Food's ready." Danny calls from the doorway to the kitchen.
At least I wasn't alone in my mortification this time.
****
You know...despite everything I still can't find it in me to regret anything thus far.
I mean, yeah, I probably butterflied canon to pieces already, but you know what?
I don't fucking care.
To me least, it was worth it to see Taylor and her father smiling and talking back and forth over breakfast.
For them to seem genuinely happy as we got ready for what would no doubt be a very long and trying day? Yea, definitely worth it.
It didn't last of course, as we were barely finished when the phone started ringing, signaling the start of the marathon.
"Yes...Yes, just a moment please." Taylor says before passing the handset to her father.
"I'll take care of the dishes dad."
"You can go ahead and take the first shower, just try not to use all the hot water? The tank is rather old." Nodding to her as Danny starts talking to who I assume was the law office he had been referred to yesterday I hand her my plate before heading to do just that.
It was nearly two hours later when everyone was ready, and we were once more in Danny's truck, this time on our way to meet with a lawyer, a copy of my video and Taylor's diary in hand.
Let's hope things aren't completely shit from here on out.
So that's what a thousand yard stare looks like from the outside….
"..."
Annnd Danny's attempting to melt the coffee pot with his non existent heat vision...lovely.
Why the hell does it have to be me? I'm not freaking out any less then they are Goddamnit, I just know how to force through it.
A lifetime of these situations lead to a lot of time to learn.
"..."
Sigh.
What to do this time…?
Well I know what would help me, but Taylor is most definitely not me.
Then again, hugs are usually infallible in these situations.
Predictably neither of them so much as twitch as I stand up from the table, they both just keep staring ahead. It isn't until I pull her sideways into a hug that she twitches out of it, gasping lightly.
"A-Alice?" It takes her nearly thirty seconds to say anything, in response to which I simply shake my head, doing my best to burrow into her shoulder.
I think I might have needed this just as much, if not more.
"….Yea?"
"What are you doing?"
"Hugging you, duh." Moving my head slightly so I can see again I notice that Danny is now looking at us to.
...Why this makes me blush I don't know, but I curse the fact that it does.
"I figured that part out...I mean…"she trails off when I squeeze her tightly for a moment before loosening my grip and letting go, turning away just long enough to grab my chair and drag it closer until it's touching hers.
"Cause you were zoning, bad." sitting down I lean into her, pulling her into a one armed embrace.
"And I thought it would help…..and… I needed it. It makes not crying and freaking out a lot easier…"
"Oh...alright then...thank you." At that, she returns the hug with the same intensity I originally had, and I feel the tension finally draining from my body.
From the corner of my eye I see
movement, and the clinking of glasses tells me it's Danny, and that the coffee is probably finished.
I keep my arms around her for another half minute, until Danny sets a couple of mugs in front of us at which point I let go of her, seemingly to her disappointment given the sound she makes as she does the same.
The coffee is a welcome pick me up however, as the initial adrenaline rush had begun fading when we sat down.
The reprieve is over far too soon however, as I'm not more than three small sips in when I hear a groan come from the doorway leading to the living room.
In a instant the adrenaline is back as we all snap our attention in that direction.
"Um. We should get her back-oh, nevermind. Your heard her?" I start, changing directions when Miss Militia appears in the doorway again.
"Yes, and the response team just arrived, they will remove her." She says even as two masked troopers appear behind her, the letters PRT on their combat vests.
"Right, just..get her out of-"
"Mother fucker!"
Wow. I've never seen so many people wince at the same time.
"Now, please."
At Daniel's words she motions to the troopers to follow her as she steps into the living room.
"Get your fucking hands off of-!" This time her shout is cut off by the loud rapid clicking of a taser, one that lasts for a full ten seconds.
Damn, that had to be excessive...and judging from the grins Taylor and Danny knew this as well.
Another half minute passes before they appear again, the limp form of Sophia over the shoulders of one of them, the other holding a evidence bag containing the bolt that she had shot into the ceiling.
"We'll be needing the crossbow back as well." She says, motioning to said bow, which was still in the sink where I had left it.
"Right." Danny's reply is simple as he picks it up by the stock and hands it over to her.
She passes it to the evidence guy, who had stuck around when the other one carried the psycho out, he follows suit as soon as he has the bow.
"Now, there's a few routes open to take here." She starts, her voice sounding rather tired.
"If you wish, you may come in now for a detailed debriefing, however given the hour I understand if you rather give statements and come in first thing in the morning, I leave it up to you, either way however you have my most sincerest apologies, and the word of the director that the repercussions for this incident will be severe."
Glancing at then both I find myself holding my breath, curious as to what Danny would decide.
"I think it would be best if we waited until the morning, perhaps the afternoon, depending on how long it takes me to procure legal representation." Ah, smart move that.
"Of course, I was actually going to recommend that course of action… here, when you are ready, call the number on this card and explain who you are, an unmarked transport will be dispatched to bring you in to headquarters." She explains as she hands him a simple white card.
"Alright, thank you. Now I hope you understand when I ask that you please get out of my home."
"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow then." She finishes courtly, nodding to us before turning and leaving.
When the door closes his shoulders sag quite noticeably, for that matter I'm pretty sure mine do as well.
"Well….that fucking happened." I mutter after a few moments.
"...yea…" Taylor whispers, her voice sounding...hollow.
"Hey… are you going to be ok? I can't even begin to imagine…" trailing off I hold back a wince when I see her eyes growing watery.
"I just...She… I don't understand…. For so long…" she chokes out as the waterworks start.
"I'm so sorry Taylor. I can promise you there's going to be hell to pay over this, from the sounds of it Miss militia and her boss agree." Reaching out I put my hand on her shoulder, which is all the signal she needs it seems to practically tackle me in a hug as she starts crying in earnest.
Oh god!
WhatdoIdowhatdoido!?
For reasons beyond my comprehension my higher thinking capacity decides now was the perfect time to take a hiatus, and my mind grinds to a halt as I suddenly find myself with two armfuls of crying teenage girl.
Working on instinct I wrap her in what I hope is a very meaningful embrace as she cries into my night shirt.
Glancing at Danny I see the pain on his face as he watches his daughter break down as the wall she had built up for the past two and a half years comes crashing down with tonight's revelation.
Well…. Now what?
…
I glance at Danny for a second, writing him off for help when I see pained expression on his face.
Welp.
To hell with it then.
She squeaks as I pick her up, pulling back just long enough to give me a questioning look.
My gentle smile has her breaking down again as I walk towards the living room, glancing at Danny as I do, the smile on his face telling me all I need to know.
Sitting down I scoot us into the corner of the couch/bed, where I can lay back slightly while still holding on to Taylor.
We lay there like this for nearly a half hour, Danny remaining in the kitchen until her sobbing slows and stops, turning into light snores as she runs out of energy.
A few minutes later he comes by, hitting the kitchen light and plunging us into darkness save for the light coming from the top of the staircase.
I nod to him silently as he offers me the blanket that was at the foot of the bed.
"Thank you Alice." His whisper is one of the last things I hear before I fall into slumber myself, Taylor's slow breathing calming my mind enough to do so.
*****
Despite the nights events we both sleep like the dead, simply not having energy to do anything but.
Cachink.
It's the sound of a camera going off that brings me back to awareness, or at least starts the process.
"Wuzgoinon?" My mumble is barely coherent as I attempt to roll over, pausing when I feel the weight on my chest.
Huh? What...oh!
My heart kicks back into full gear as I realize that I'm currently entangled in a mass of blankets, pillows and teenage girl.
Pulling my hair out of my face I huff slightly as I realize I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.
"Wait." Turning my head as I realize just what it was that had woken me in the first place.
"Morning Alice." Danny's grin is far too smug as he pockets the camera in his right hand, taking a sip from the coffee mug in his left.
"Uh…." Again my brain fails me as my face does its level best to impersonate a tomato.
"Mrooow." My response says everything I need it to as I pull one of the blankets up, hiding my head beneath it.
His chuckle only makes me squirm more as I try to disappear into the bed.
"I'll leave you two be, it's only seven yet." I don't reply, still too mortified to do anything, and it isn't until I hear his footsteps heading into the kitchen that I relax.
Pulling the blankets back I simply stare at the ceiling, wondering what this day was going to hold given the absolute cluster fuck that was last night.
For that matter I wonder how Taylor is going to be? Her world view had to have taken one hell of a hit from that revelation… God I hope I haven't butterflied the world to its doom already.
...No, probably not, I mean if things go even somewhat according to plan she should never even have to bear that weight...Goddamnit it's too early for this shit.
I huff again as I roll my eyes, berating myself for being so doom and gloom within minutes of waking up.
Yes, this may be Earth Bet, but that does NOT mean there's nothing to be happy about. I mean I do literally have a fairly cute girl in my arms right now…..and it sounds like Danny's starting to cook something.
See?
Plenty of things to be happy about.
...hmmm…so what to do while I wait for said cute girl to wake up?
Check the status for my nanomaterials? Yea sure let's go with that.
As I do so, I find myself running my hand through Taylor's hair in a petting motion, not even realizing as I do.
Heh, less then three days and I've already more than a ten thousand tons of material spread over a dozen ships...yea, I think I'll be ready for the events of May, easily.
And the rate of growth hasn't even stopped accelerating yet. Grey goo for the fucking win.
Once I'm done checking in on my reserves I simply close my eyes and relax, enjoying the smells slowly wafting into the room and the soft feeling of Taylor's hair.
It's not ten minutes later when she starts moving, actually cuddling into me as she groans.
"Mmm, five more minutes."
Oh dear god that was adorable.
Heh, this is too good to pass up…
"Taaaaylor…." I whisper directly into her ear.
"Mmmmmff." Her voice is completely muffled as she hugs me tighter, pressing her forehead into my side as she squirms.
"Ahem. Taaaaylor!" I repeat myself, a fair bit louder this time, smiling when she freezes midway through squeezing me again.
"Wait…" and three...two….
I twitch as she pushes off of me suddenly, her eyes locked with mine as I do my best to hold my grin.
"You know, I'm pretty sure there's a process that involves dinner that's supposed to happen before this, isn't there?"
Oh. Oh my that is an impressive shade of red.
Her exhale is likewise adorable as she lets out a long high pitched squeak as she does so.
"Oh my god, that was the cutest thing I've ever-oof!" to my shock and surprise in amended by a pillow to the face, which she pulls away and hits me with two more times before I catch it, a giggle bubbling up as I realize what she was doing.
"Do you feel better now?" Pulling the pillow to the side I see that she's considerably less pink, a playful grin on her face.
"Not really, but I'll live."
"Oh I don't know, I think you might have broken a seal as much steam you were venting a moment a-oof!"
Ok, it's totally on now.
Grabbing my own pillow I bop her in the side of the head, laughing at her dumbfounded expression.
Simultaneously we both burst into giggles, all of the earlier tension gone.
It's nearly a full thirty seconds later that I've calmed down enough to speak again.
"Thanks Alice." The amount of emotion in those simple words was immense, and for a moment I struggle to find the proper reply.
"Hey, just… paying it forward, we will get through this, I promise."
"I...I just….thank you."
"Same to you Taylor...Now, I don't know about you, but coffee sounds amazing right now."
Before she can answer her stomach does so for her, letting out a loud gurgle.
Heh...hehehe. There's that pink again, I think I'm starting to understand why people like doing that to me.
"Oh shush, I'm hungry damnit." It's at this moment that my own stomach makes itself known.
"....yea, food sounds good."
"..." Her grin results in another pillow to the face, which sets off another fight, one which lasts for nearly five minutes as we nearly laugh ourselves silly. It was the sound of that damn camera that puts a stop to our fun.
"Food's ready." Danny calls from the doorway to the kitchen.
At least I wasn't alone in my mortification this time.
****
You know...despite everything I still can't find it in me to regret anything thus far.
I mean, yeah, I probably butterflied canon to pieces already, but you know what?
I don't fucking care.
To me least, it was worth it to see Taylor and her father smiling and talking back and forth over breakfast.
For them to seem genuinely happy as we got ready for what would no doubt be a very long and trying day? Yea, definitely worth it.
It didn't last of course, as we were barely finished when the phone started ringing, signaling the start of the marathon.
"Yes...Yes, just a moment please." Taylor says before passing the handset to her father.
"I'll take care of the dishes dad."
"You can go ahead and take the first shower, just try not to use all the hot water? The tank is rather old." Nodding to her as Danny starts talking to who I assume was the law office he had been referred to yesterday I hand her my plate before heading to do just that.
It was nearly two hours later when everyone was ready, and we were once more in Danny's truck, this time on our way to meet with a lawyer, a copy of my video and Taylor's diary in hand.
Let's hope things aren't completely shit from here on out.
Small Victories
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
Despite the earlier cheer, the drive is rather monotonous, and nearly silent, one which I think we all needed to prepare us for what was coming next.
It was over far too soon of course, despite getting caught in the tail end of the morning rush, it seemed like we got there in a instant.
The building itself was a simple office complex, five stories tall with a sign on the side advertising the three different business within, with Anderson & Co. Law firm dominating nearly half of it.
Given its location near the downtown corridor we were forced to utilize the multi level parking garage nearly a block away, leaving us to walk the rest of the way.
By the time were entering the building my anxiety was rearing its ugly head once more and for the umpteenth millionth time I start going through my breathing exercises.
To my genuine surprise it's Taylor who is the level headed one this time, and her sharp poke to my ribs has me leveling an annoyed look at her.
"Calm down will you? You missed out when dad was on the phone, this is basically a formality from the sounds of it. They just need us to sign some paperwork to make things official."
Oh.
Well Damn.
"You didn't mention this before 'cause…?"
"Payback, for teasing me this morning." That little minx!
"You...argh! I'm so getting you back for this one." The fact that she grins back and laughs at me speaks volumes in my mind, not only about her relaxed mood, but her general frame of mind.
One friend. One confidant is all she needed to spark an ember of happiness.
Let's hope this day doesn't drown it.
My hopes weren't high on that one however.
The meeting, like she had suspected was mainly a formality, and mainly consisted of signing multiple forms and releases, along with making another copy of the journal.
The fact that this is what took the most time irks me to no end.
What surprised me, but really shouldn't have in hindsight, was the fact that the attorney, Scott Anderson had actually cleared his day for our case. Not really surprising when you consider the chance this could end up with no small amounts of publicity.
****
"-oing to be honest with you, chances are this will never see a courtroom. In all my dealings with the PRT and Protectorate, I've learned that there's nothing they hate more then bad PR. And considering that if this goes public it would likely get national coverage? Well, have either off you ever heard of the sword of Damocles?" Right, here comes the first hang up…
"I can see what you mean...where's this leave us then? If we're holding the metaphorical nuclear option over their heads…"
"An astute analogy. Here's what I believe would yield the best results; we should come up with a list of demands and categorize them. What are your concrete need to happen items versus what you would like, but are willing to compromise on." As he speaks he pulls a piece of stationary from his desk drawer which he begins writing on, dividing it in half and labeling either side.
"...So they're not actually going to be charged?" Taylor says as he does so.
"Probably not officially no, however it's highly likely that their punishment will be as severe, if not more, than it would be if we threw the book at them in the system. In fact, I can tell this is quite important to you, shall we start with the girls punishment as your first priority item?" my breath hitches as I watch her as she stares at the paper, doing a fairly good impression of her father last night when he tried to vaporize the coffee pot.
"....I….want to go through everything. Everything they've done that could be considered criminal. I want to know what the maximum possible punishment is for each incident, and I will accept nothing less than that." Woah. Now that was some conviction.
"Well then….do you have any preference on take out?" His grin is telling as he sets the paper to the side and grabs the binder containing the copy of Taylor's diary.
"I think Italian sounds nice today." Her own smile, much to my relief and satisfaction, was just as predatory as his.
Oh boy. This is going to be something.
***
...Jesus fucking Christ.
This...I...don't even know what to call it.
One hundred and ten counts of terrorizing, fifteen of theft, six of damaged property, ten of assault and one of attempted murder in the first degree….
I'm not sure what was worse, hearing and reading so many first hand accounts of her personal hell, or the fact that she went through them all, save for the locker, as if she was talking about the weather.
It was no surprise really that my and Danny's meal boxes were barely touched.
"I...May have made a incorrect assumption earlier miss Hebert…" yea...saw that coming
"How do you mean?" Her tone is sharp, and it takes a substantial amount of effort not to wince.
"At the time of my statement I did not know how...numerous the actual criminal incidents would be. It simply won't be possible to get a punishment for every single incident. I'm sorry, truly sorry Taylor but we are going to have to decide what we wish to be done." In a instant, the intensity that she had been displaying for most of the conversation disappears behind a front of neutrality.
"I...see….I'd be lying if this possibility didn't occur to me… what are the chances of getting Hess birdcaged?" At this I can't help but grin, as I was hoping she wouldn't be completely blindsided.
"Honestly? That will probably never happen. Her status as a minor and a Ward would make it next to impossible to achieve without a media circus, which would defeat the point of incentives for your silence." Her frustration is clear, and I can practically feel the wave of emotion she is holding back.
Yea, let's fix this.
"Hey." My poke to her ribs gets me her attention.
"Do you really wanna stick her in a box? With no way out?" In a instant the fire is fine and her shoulders sag as she nods at me.
"You're right, that place is too much, even for her… what would you advise?" Her tone while somewhat defeated is still very determined.
Maybe I was wrong about it just being an ember?
"If that is the extreme you are thinking of there are facilities that will fit the role believe it or not. There are very high security juvenile detention centers that she could be confined to. I've had cases involving them before, they're normally reserved for minors whose crimes don't quite come close enough to be tried as an adult." Anderson says quite diplomatically.
"Which is also an option in this situation, you stand a very reasonable chance to have her treated as an adult in this case given the malice and viciousness she's displayed. Though if this is one of your primary objectives I doubt the others will be punished anywhere near as severe." At this Taylor nods, found silent as she contemplates his statement.
"Madison I don't care about, she was never anything more than a hanger on really. But….could we get Emma committed to some sort of psych facility? Back when this first started I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why she would suddenly change so much and I'm pretty sure something very traumatic happened to her that week I was at summer camp."
...Damn. I...was not expecting that.
"I may never be able to forgive her for this all, but...she… wasn't always like this." Her hesitation is clear as she attempts to explain herself.
"I'm not naive enough to believe she will ever return to how she used to be, but it's very obvious, to me at least that she won't do well in life if she stays how she is now." I can honestly say I'm shocked. To be this compassionate to the very person who was her own personal devil for over two years.
My god that girl is something else.
"You know Miss Hebert, it's people like you that make this job worth the effort. Most in this city would have ranted and raved attempting to get the impossible out of me, it is my genuine pleasure to represent your interests in this case." His smile is sincere as he folds his hands, resting them on the edge of the table.
"Now, if we have our demands sorted, shall we move onto the compensation?"
"I've actually been mulling that over throughout… this all." Danny re-enters the conversation, having been silent for the last half hour.
"Alright then, what are you thinking Daniel?"
"Well to start..-"
Holy shit.
Oh this is going to be good.
***
It was nearly two in the afternoon by the time we call the number Miss Militia had given us the night before.
True to her word, as soon as the name Hebert is mentioned things move quickly, and within fifteen minutes we're in the back of a unmarked suv, heading towards PHQ.
As the "road" leading to the to the complex comes into view my breath hitches for a moment.
Ok. Yes, I may able to project fields of hard light. Yes I may have walked on them, hell relied on them to keep me from flying through the side of a container ship and near sonic velocities.
But that does NOT change the fact that YOU SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SEE THROUGH THE ROAD YOU ARE DRIVING ON.
Warning, instab-
Oh bite me Goddamnit! I'm fine!
Command override accepted?
As the tires hit the projection I realize that I'm not the only one uncomfortable with the idea of see through roads as Taylor's breath hitches as mind did.
Without thinking I grab her hand, as much for my own comfort as hers. The smile and nod she gives me has me replying in kind before I lock my eyes on the floor between us, determined to not look out the window, no matter how spectacular the view of the city's skyline was.
It wasn't until I felt the car turning that I looked back up, relaxing immensely when I realize there's something solid under the tires again.
The "building" however was certainly impressive, it's high arches and gleaming metal giving the vibe of 14th century fortress built with modern materials.
I stare in awe as we come to a stop in front of what would be the "keep" of the entire complex.
…..I want it. I so fucking want it.
Soon.™
Stepping out of the car we're actually greeted by Miss Militia, her fatigues bearing a digital pattern today.
"Mr Hebert, Miss Hebert." She nods to them, then to me.
"And Miss Cross. If you will follow me? We've been waiting for your call, the Director is ready to speak with you." Her tone and posture oozes professionalism, something I'm sure has been stressed to her over the past day.
Following beside Taylor as we enter the building, my eyes wander as we walk.
The sight was rather disappointing to be honest, but it was not unexpected that the main entrance to the PHQ consisted of a small reception desk and security checkpoint.
The checkpoint was a point of anxiety for exactly one second, which is the length of time it took my core to recognize the source of it and inform me that I was capable of spoofing pretty much every scanning system available to humanity.
...well ok then. Let's do this.
By the time I'm done paying the majority of my attention to the rush of new information, we're entering the elevator.
Well, here we go.
"So, I don't suppose you're allowed to tell us what we can expect when we speak to her?" Turning I lean against the corner of the elevator so I can look her in the eye.
"Actually yes. Given the situation, I'm sure Mister Anderson explained your end of things, we've worked with him before." Thank fucking God, this just got so much easier.
"Oh. Well... Huh. Was not expecting this...ok, what would you guess she's willing to allow?"
"One of our own just tried to kill the two of you. And not even a actual Protectorate member. A Ward." Her deadpan delivery is actually entertaining.
"That sort of situation could very well destroy the Protectorate's image not only locally, but nationally. Nothing is off the table in this case." At this she seemed...resigned.
"Yea...not gonna lie. That was...I mean...How the actual fuck did you let that happen?" Before she can reply we're interrupted by the opening of the elevator.
"This way please." Leaving the elevator we follow her down the hall to the right of the elevator.
"To answer your question would take more time than I have, but suffice it to say we've spent the past fourteen hours answering that question ourselves." As she finishes we reach the door at the end off the hallway, a plaque next to it reading:
Director of Operations.
Emily Piggot
Without anymore words she opens the door and enters, holding it open for us.
As discussed earlier Anderson is the first one to enter, followed by Taylor and Danny. Stepping in right behind them I glance around, noting the fairly Spartan decoration scheme.
"Piggot, I wish I could say it was good to see you again." Anderson opens with a fairly sad tone.
"Likewise Anderson. Now if we could get on with this it would be appreciated, it has been a long day already. Please, sit." She replies, first to him then to the rest of us.
As we do so I muse to myself how...accurate my information about Piggot's appearance was. She was large yes, borderline obese in fact, but at the same time she was just as intimidating as someone of her position should be.
"Miss Hebert, Mr Hebert, Miss Cross. For what little it's worth, you have my apologies. What happened to you Taylor is
absolutely unforgivable. It should have never happened in the first place, and you have my personal assurance that everyone involved is being severely reprimanded." Her tone of voice gives merit to the statement, and even if I didn't know what I do about her I think I'd probably be inclined to believe her.
"You know, that brings up something we've been a bit lost on, to be honest." Danny is the first to reply.
"How in the hell was this allowed to happen?" His tone is strained, signaling how much he is restraining himself.
"Believe me, that was the first thing I wanted to know as well. As it turns out there were several failures at fault. Both with the Protectorate and the staff at Winslow. If you wish I can get you a full copy of the report." Her own voice is similarly strained.
Huh. I wonder how much of a rage she was in when she figured this out?
"To summarize it however, the school failed in reporting any of the incidents, and the agent assigned to check in on the situation was guilty of accepting a bribe. One which was given by the principle of the school. She was guilty of a substantial amount of fraud, and was using the Wards inclusion incentive the Protectorate offers to pad her bank account, along with paying off the two who report directly to us."
I swear to god that tone and look combo should be classified as a power. Like goddamn she's pissed.
"As I'm sure you can tell I am not pleased with the current turn of events. I do however need to know that you understand what is at stake here."
"You mean besides the whole ruining the image of heroes protecting the masses from the monsters? This could start the first pebble rolling in the fall of the Protectorate right? Which even I'm gonna have to admit would not be in anyone's best interests long term." I answer before anyone else can say anything, getting her full attention.
"That would be correct Miss Cross. I'm glad I didn't have to explain that. Now please, can we move onto correcting this situation? I'm sure Anderson has spoken to you about compensation by now." Straight to the point eh? I like that.
"Actually yes, we've come up with a number of things, the primaries on the list are actually about the punishment of the girls involved." At this her expression changes somewhat, her anger being pushed aside in the way of curiosity.
"Believe me when I say they're not going to get off easy on this. Now what are you thinking?"
"I'd like to see Hess punished as an adult. Monsters like her don't deserve a slap on the wrist. If you wish, we've compiled a list of the acts she's committed against me in the past two and a half years." Ok. Yea, I can definitely tell there's a direct relation between Danny and Taylor, I swear to god that tone would crush diamond if we tested it.
"I trust you know what that would entail?"
"We discussed it yes, and it doesn't change anything." If either of them were overtly hostile I would not be surprised if sparks actually started flying, the cold fury In Taylor's posture and form was terrifying when you consider what she's capable of.
"Very well, what's this list you have? How badly has she buried herself this time?"At this Anderson sets his briefcase on his knees and retrieves a rather thick folder.
"These are incidents taken from a very detailed journal Miss Hebert Started keeping shortly after the campaign began." He hands her the folder, which she immediately begins leafing through.
"Keep in mind these are only the criminal incidents taken from the journal, there are far more of lesser degrees of severity. You will
also find a thumb drive with a copy of Miss Cross's video evidence of the incident that lead to this situation."
As she pages though the folder, a noticeable shift in her demeanor occurs, and it becomes clear just how angry she was getting.
"Very well then, I have no doubt that can be arranged, and while we may not be able to throw all these at her you have my personal assurance that I will make every attempt to do just that. Now what of the other two?" In an instant the potential for sparks was gone, as Piggots anger was clearly channeled elsewhere.
"Madison I honestly couldn't care less what you did to, but I'd very much like to see Emma committed to some sort of psych facility, I was actually her friend at one point in time, I'm convinced something major broke in her mind for her to turn into this. I don't think her life should end because of it." The surprise is subtle, but definitely there in Piggots face when Taylor says this.
"You're of a rare breed in this city Miss Hebert, I don't believe that will be a problem. Is there anything else?" Her tone softens notably as she speaks.
As she finishes Anderson retrieves a second folder from his briefcase.
"I'm afraid so Director, but considering the situation I think you will find them more than acceptable."
"Very well then, I do hope you're right." He passes her the folder, waiting as she opens it and starts reading through the sheets.
"Transfers to Arcadia will be easy enough...and the payments for psychological damages, I suppose I should be happy you're not asking for more." As she goes through then her tone takes on a fairly bitter tone, not surprising considering the payments consisted of monthly payments of twenty thousand dollars for the next decade and change, to a total of two and a half million, and another two point five million in a lump sum.
"I don't suppose you would accept splitting the initial sum into two different payments?" Danny's nod is not surprising in the least, considering we discussed this before we made the call.
"Very well then, if this is what you require we can write up a contract with the hour I'm sure." well
Damn.
Was it really going to be this easy?
***
An hour and a half later, the answer was yes. Yes it was. That was...well I can't say unexpected but still. I honestly thought there would be at least some push back.
I blame fannon knowledge on this one.
But as it were we were once more walking through Piggots door, a rather dopey grin was plastered on Danny's face, not really surprising when you consider that he now had one and a quarter MILLION in his bank account.
Before we leave however, there was one thing I needed to do.
"Hey, uh...Miss Militia? Can I ask if this place has a souvenir shop?" The embarrassment in my voice and expression wasn't completely faked, only mostly.
"Really?" This reverses at Taylor's comment however.
"What do you mean really? We're in a literal modern day castle. Yes I want a souvenir to remember the occasion… oh bite me!" I huff as a grin appears on her face as I gush just a little.
"If you two are finished, we do indeed have a gift shop, I can take you to it if you like?" Her reply snaps me out of my glare and I turn back to her, nodding simply.
"On that note...Now that the whole "us extorting you for cash" bit is over you wouldn't be annoyed if I asked for your autograph would you?" The sight movement of her scarf broadcasts her smile.
"Of course not, I don't have a pen on me however, I'll have to borrow one at the shop." The look Taylor gives me earns a sharp poke to the ribs and a very mature gesture that did not involve sticking my tongue out at her.
By the timing we get to the gift shop silence had once more taken over, and I make my selections fairly quick, getting a set of posters of all the local Protectorate members, the one of Miss Militia signed by her.
All of which of course, paid for with replicated bills and coins, including two dollar coins.
….Soon. ™
Leaving the building was a fairly quiet affair, with Miss Militia once more being the only hero to see us out, which I'm once more sure was at Piggot's order.
"I do hope the next time we see each other it's under less extreme circumstances." Her sincerity is clear and Danny offers her a handshake.
"Likewise. Now if there's nothing else I must be getting back to work." and with that we were once more in a unmarked suv, on our way back to the law office.
"....Holy shit…" Danny says about a minute after we pass over the light bridge.
"Dad?" Taylor asks as we both look at him.
"We're millionaires Taylor…"
"...Holy shit…" she echoes after him.
"It's a strange feeling isn't it?" and now they're staring.
"What? Mom and dad had some pretty insane life insurance policies, and wanted to be cremated. It took me nearly two weeks to realise." Oooor I just created the funds when I set up my identity, but you don't need to know that…
"Ah. I see." This time it's Taylor who grabs my hand a few moments after Danny speaks.
By the time we get back to the office building I had entwined my fingers with hers.
This is the first time that the thought occurs to me that I may have made a miscalculation.
I don't have time to think about it however as we're arriving at the office when it occurs.
"Well then Mr. Hebert, it was a pleasure working with you. If you ever end up in need of a lawyer again I'll make sure my secretary's know not to screen your calls." One handshake later and we were on our way back to the truck, a general sense of awe kept us in silence until we were getting in the truck once more.
"Well….What do you girls say we take it easy the rest of the day? I think we could use the break after that."
"Hey, no objections here, I wouldn't mind it after that. What do you have in mind?" I add my thoughts to the conversation.
"Well, we do all need cell phones, I thought why not make it a shopping trip? There's been so many things I've been wanting to fix up or replace around the house that I haven't been able to due to funding."
"Is the step finally getting fixed?" The teasing nature of Taylor's tone has me smiling.
"Yes Taylor, that's on the list." Given the dry sarcasm I think it's safe to say this had been brought up before.
"Where to then?"
"Phones first I suppose, then we can hit up the downtown mall, there's a hardware store in it, I can get what I need and you two can look around for what you want."
"Sounds good to me." I state as he puts the vehicle in gear.
"Right then. To a brighter future."
***
The next few hours are a flurry of activity as we go through the process of getting three new high end model phones, a process which takes the better part of an hour.
After that was settled we head to the mall where Danny heads off to the hardware store as I drag Taylor to the electronics section, displaying my inner nerd much to her amusement. We still walk away with a very much bleeding edge set of laptops.
I even manage to get her to go clothes shopping with me, though her style remained very basic. I did come out of it with a decent spread of outfits at least.
By the time we meet back up at the food court it was nearly six and we were all more than ready to eat and head home. In fact we even ordered our meals to go.
Dinner passed without much conversation as we were all inspecting our new toys, whether it be me playing with one of the laptops, which was already plastered with stickers on the back cover, or Taylor doodling on her phone, exploring its features with her father.
When nine o'clock rolled around we were all getting ready for bed.
Nine forty five and everything was silent as the sun was going down, Taylor and Danny being on their way to sleep.
I on the other hand had plans.
Tonight was supposed to be the night Taylor would go out for the first time and take down Lung, an event that was pivotal to many of the events of the next month.
Which meant one way or another, Lung needed to be taken out of the picture tonight.
So I lay there, thinking of a plan as I wait for Danny and Taylor to fall asleep, my core monitoring the ambient noise level in the house as I go over my options.
It was nearly eleven thirty when I get the all clear and get up, making my way to the back door and into the yard.
"Ok… let's see…" I mumble as I hold my hand up to my face, morphing it into a flat mirror as I work on what would be the face of my cape persona.
Working from memory was a bit tricky, at least until my core kicked in and sorted them out for me in perfect clarity. Thirty seconds later I was the splitting image of the character known as Jinx, from the game League of Legends back home.
Blue hair, twin braid that nearly reach my ankles, stupidly skimpy outfit loaded down with engraved shells, it was all there.
"Right, let's fuck some shit u-"
"Alice? What. The. Fuck."
Freezing I turn my head back towards the door, where Taylor was currently standing, scowling at me.
God fucking Damnit.
It was over far too soon of course, despite getting caught in the tail end of the morning rush, it seemed like we got there in a instant.
The building itself was a simple office complex, five stories tall with a sign on the side advertising the three different business within, with Anderson & Co. Law firm dominating nearly half of it.
Given its location near the downtown corridor we were forced to utilize the multi level parking garage nearly a block away, leaving us to walk the rest of the way.
By the time were entering the building my anxiety was rearing its ugly head once more and for the umpteenth millionth time I start going through my breathing exercises.
To my genuine surprise it's Taylor who is the level headed one this time, and her sharp poke to my ribs has me leveling an annoyed look at her.
"Calm down will you? You missed out when dad was on the phone, this is basically a formality from the sounds of it. They just need us to sign some paperwork to make things official."
Oh.
Well Damn.
"You didn't mention this before 'cause…?"
"Payback, for teasing me this morning." That little minx!
"You...argh! I'm so getting you back for this one." The fact that she grins back and laughs at me speaks volumes in my mind, not only about her relaxed mood, but her general frame of mind.
One friend. One confidant is all she needed to spark an ember of happiness.
Let's hope this day doesn't drown it.
My hopes weren't high on that one however.
The meeting, like she had suspected was mainly a formality, and mainly consisted of signing multiple forms and releases, along with making another copy of the journal.
The fact that this is what took the most time irks me to no end.
What surprised me, but really shouldn't have in hindsight, was the fact that the attorney, Scott Anderson had actually cleared his day for our case. Not really surprising when you consider the chance this could end up with no small amounts of publicity.
****
"-oing to be honest with you, chances are this will never see a courtroom. In all my dealings with the PRT and Protectorate, I've learned that there's nothing they hate more then bad PR. And considering that if this goes public it would likely get national coverage? Well, have either off you ever heard of the sword of Damocles?" Right, here comes the first hang up…
"I can see what you mean...where's this leave us then? If we're holding the metaphorical nuclear option over their heads…"
"An astute analogy. Here's what I believe would yield the best results; we should come up with a list of demands and categorize them. What are your concrete need to happen items versus what you would like, but are willing to compromise on." As he speaks he pulls a piece of stationary from his desk drawer which he begins writing on, dividing it in half and labeling either side.
"...So they're not actually going to be charged?" Taylor says as he does so.
"Probably not officially no, however it's highly likely that their punishment will be as severe, if not more, than it would be if we threw the book at them in the system. In fact, I can tell this is quite important to you, shall we start with the girls punishment as your first priority item?" my breath hitches as I watch her as she stares at the paper, doing a fairly good impression of her father last night when he tried to vaporize the coffee pot.
"....I….want to go through everything. Everything they've done that could be considered criminal. I want to know what the maximum possible punishment is for each incident, and I will accept nothing less than that." Woah. Now that was some conviction.
"Well then….do you have any preference on take out?" His grin is telling as he sets the paper to the side and grabs the binder containing the copy of Taylor's diary.
"I think Italian sounds nice today." Her own smile, much to my relief and satisfaction, was just as predatory as his.
Oh boy. This is going to be something.
***
...Jesus fucking Christ.
This...I...don't even know what to call it.
One hundred and ten counts of terrorizing, fifteen of theft, six of damaged property, ten of assault and one of attempted murder in the first degree….
I'm not sure what was worse, hearing and reading so many first hand accounts of her personal hell, or the fact that she went through them all, save for the locker, as if she was talking about the weather.
It was no surprise really that my and Danny's meal boxes were barely touched.
"I...May have made a incorrect assumption earlier miss Hebert…" yea...saw that coming
"How do you mean?" Her tone is sharp, and it takes a substantial amount of effort not to wince.
"At the time of my statement I did not know how...numerous the actual criminal incidents would be. It simply won't be possible to get a punishment for every single incident. I'm sorry, truly sorry Taylor but we are going to have to decide what we wish to be done." In a instant, the intensity that she had been displaying for most of the conversation disappears behind a front of neutrality.
"I...see….I'd be lying if this possibility didn't occur to me… what are the chances of getting Hess birdcaged?" At this I can't help but grin, as I was hoping she wouldn't be completely blindsided.
"Honestly? That will probably never happen. Her status as a minor and a Ward would make it next to impossible to achieve without a media circus, which would defeat the point of incentives for your silence." Her frustration is clear, and I can practically feel the wave of emotion she is holding back.
Yea, let's fix this.
"Hey." My poke to her ribs gets me her attention.
"Do you really wanna stick her in a box? With no way out?" In a instant the fire is fine and her shoulders sag as she nods at me.
"You're right, that place is too much, even for her… what would you advise?" Her tone while somewhat defeated is still very determined.
Maybe I was wrong about it just being an ember?
"If that is the extreme you are thinking of there are facilities that will fit the role believe it or not. There are very high security juvenile detention centers that she could be confined to. I've had cases involving them before, they're normally reserved for minors whose crimes don't quite come close enough to be tried as an adult." Anderson says quite diplomatically.
"Which is also an option in this situation, you stand a very reasonable chance to have her treated as an adult in this case given the malice and viciousness she's displayed. Though if this is one of your primary objectives I doubt the others will be punished anywhere near as severe." At this Taylor nods, found silent as she contemplates his statement.
"Madison I don't care about, she was never anything more than a hanger on really. But….could we get Emma committed to some sort of psych facility? Back when this first started I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why she would suddenly change so much and I'm pretty sure something very traumatic happened to her that week I was at summer camp."
...Damn. I...was not expecting that.
"I may never be able to forgive her for this all, but...she… wasn't always like this." Her hesitation is clear as she attempts to explain herself.
"I'm not naive enough to believe she will ever return to how she used to be, but it's very obvious, to me at least that she won't do well in life if she stays how she is now." I can honestly say I'm shocked. To be this compassionate to the very person who was her own personal devil for over two years.
My god that girl is something else.
"You know Miss Hebert, it's people like you that make this job worth the effort. Most in this city would have ranted and raved attempting to get the impossible out of me, it is my genuine pleasure to represent your interests in this case." His smile is sincere as he folds his hands, resting them on the edge of the table.
"Now, if we have our demands sorted, shall we move onto the compensation?"
"I've actually been mulling that over throughout… this all." Danny re-enters the conversation, having been silent for the last half hour.
"Alright then, what are you thinking Daniel?"
"Well to start..-"
Holy shit.
Oh this is going to be good.
***
It was nearly two in the afternoon by the time we call the number Miss Militia had given us the night before.
True to her word, as soon as the name Hebert is mentioned things move quickly, and within fifteen minutes we're in the back of a unmarked suv, heading towards PHQ.
As the "road" leading to the to the complex comes into view my breath hitches for a moment.
Ok. Yes, I may able to project fields of hard light. Yes I may have walked on them, hell relied on them to keep me from flying through the side of a container ship and near sonic velocities.
But that does NOT change the fact that YOU SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SEE THROUGH THE ROAD YOU ARE DRIVING ON.
Warning, instab-
Oh bite me Goddamnit! I'm fine!
Command override accepted?
As the tires hit the projection I realize that I'm not the only one uncomfortable with the idea of see through roads as Taylor's breath hitches as mind did.
Without thinking I grab her hand, as much for my own comfort as hers. The smile and nod she gives me has me replying in kind before I lock my eyes on the floor between us, determined to not look out the window, no matter how spectacular the view of the city's skyline was.
It wasn't until I felt the car turning that I looked back up, relaxing immensely when I realize there's something solid under the tires again.
The "building" however was certainly impressive, it's high arches and gleaming metal giving the vibe of 14th century fortress built with modern materials.
I stare in awe as we come to a stop in front of what would be the "keep" of the entire complex.
…..I want it. I so fucking want it.
Soon.™
Stepping out of the car we're actually greeted by Miss Militia, her fatigues bearing a digital pattern today.
"Mr Hebert, Miss Hebert." She nods to them, then to me.
"And Miss Cross. If you will follow me? We've been waiting for your call, the Director is ready to speak with you." Her tone and posture oozes professionalism, something I'm sure has been stressed to her over the past day.
Following beside Taylor as we enter the building, my eyes wander as we walk.
The sight was rather disappointing to be honest, but it was not unexpected that the main entrance to the PHQ consisted of a small reception desk and security checkpoint.
The checkpoint was a point of anxiety for exactly one second, which is the length of time it took my core to recognize the source of it and inform me that I was capable of spoofing pretty much every scanning system available to humanity.
...well ok then. Let's do this.
By the time I'm done paying the majority of my attention to the rush of new information, we're entering the elevator.
Well, here we go.
"So, I don't suppose you're allowed to tell us what we can expect when we speak to her?" Turning I lean against the corner of the elevator so I can look her in the eye.
"Actually yes. Given the situation, I'm sure Mister Anderson explained your end of things, we've worked with him before." Thank fucking God, this just got so much easier.
"Oh. Well... Huh. Was not expecting this...ok, what would you guess she's willing to allow?"
"One of our own just tried to kill the two of you. And not even a actual Protectorate member. A Ward." Her deadpan delivery is actually entertaining.
"That sort of situation could very well destroy the Protectorate's image not only locally, but nationally. Nothing is off the table in this case." At this she seemed...resigned.
"Yea...not gonna lie. That was...I mean...How the actual fuck did you let that happen?" Before she can reply we're interrupted by the opening of the elevator.
"This way please." Leaving the elevator we follow her down the hall to the right of the elevator.
"To answer your question would take more time than I have, but suffice it to say we've spent the past fourteen hours answering that question ourselves." As she finishes we reach the door at the end off the hallway, a plaque next to it reading:
Director of Operations.
Emily Piggot
Without anymore words she opens the door and enters, holding it open for us.
As discussed earlier Anderson is the first one to enter, followed by Taylor and Danny. Stepping in right behind them I glance around, noting the fairly Spartan decoration scheme.
"Piggot, I wish I could say it was good to see you again." Anderson opens with a fairly sad tone.
"Likewise Anderson. Now if we could get on with this it would be appreciated, it has been a long day already. Please, sit." She replies, first to him then to the rest of us.
As we do so I muse to myself how...accurate my information about Piggot's appearance was. She was large yes, borderline obese in fact, but at the same time she was just as intimidating as someone of her position should be.
"Miss Hebert, Mr Hebert, Miss Cross. For what little it's worth, you have my apologies. What happened to you Taylor is
absolutely unforgivable. It should have never happened in the first place, and you have my personal assurance that everyone involved is being severely reprimanded." Her tone of voice gives merit to the statement, and even if I didn't know what I do about her I think I'd probably be inclined to believe her.
"You know, that brings up something we've been a bit lost on, to be honest." Danny is the first to reply.
"How in the hell was this allowed to happen?" His tone is strained, signaling how much he is restraining himself.
"Believe me, that was the first thing I wanted to know as well. As it turns out there were several failures at fault. Both with the Protectorate and the staff at Winslow. If you wish I can get you a full copy of the report." Her own voice is similarly strained.
Huh. I wonder how much of a rage she was in when she figured this out?
"To summarize it however, the school failed in reporting any of the incidents, and the agent assigned to check in on the situation was guilty of accepting a bribe. One which was given by the principle of the school. She was guilty of a substantial amount of fraud, and was using the Wards inclusion incentive the Protectorate offers to pad her bank account, along with paying off the two who report directly to us."
I swear to god that tone and look combo should be classified as a power. Like goddamn she's pissed.
"As I'm sure you can tell I am not pleased with the current turn of events. I do however need to know that you understand what is at stake here."
"You mean besides the whole ruining the image of heroes protecting the masses from the monsters? This could start the first pebble rolling in the fall of the Protectorate right? Which even I'm gonna have to admit would not be in anyone's best interests long term." I answer before anyone else can say anything, getting her full attention.
"That would be correct Miss Cross. I'm glad I didn't have to explain that. Now please, can we move onto correcting this situation? I'm sure Anderson has spoken to you about compensation by now." Straight to the point eh? I like that.
"Actually yes, we've come up with a number of things, the primaries on the list are actually about the punishment of the girls involved." At this her expression changes somewhat, her anger being pushed aside in the way of curiosity.
"Believe me when I say they're not going to get off easy on this. Now what are you thinking?"
"I'd like to see Hess punished as an adult. Monsters like her don't deserve a slap on the wrist. If you wish, we've compiled a list of the acts she's committed against me in the past two and a half years." Ok. Yea, I can definitely tell there's a direct relation between Danny and Taylor, I swear to god that tone would crush diamond if we tested it.
"I trust you know what that would entail?"
"We discussed it yes, and it doesn't change anything." If either of them were overtly hostile I would not be surprised if sparks actually started flying, the cold fury In Taylor's posture and form was terrifying when you consider what she's capable of.
"Very well, what's this list you have? How badly has she buried herself this time?"At this Anderson sets his briefcase on his knees and retrieves a rather thick folder.
"These are incidents taken from a very detailed journal Miss Hebert Started keeping shortly after the campaign began." He hands her the folder, which she immediately begins leafing through.
"Keep in mind these are only the criminal incidents taken from the journal, there are far more of lesser degrees of severity. You will
also find a thumb drive with a copy of Miss Cross's video evidence of the incident that lead to this situation."
As she pages though the folder, a noticeable shift in her demeanor occurs, and it becomes clear just how angry she was getting.
"Very well then, I have no doubt that can be arranged, and while we may not be able to throw all these at her you have my personal assurance that I will make every attempt to do just that. Now what of the other two?" In an instant the potential for sparks was gone, as Piggots anger was clearly channeled elsewhere.
"Madison I honestly couldn't care less what you did to, but I'd very much like to see Emma committed to some sort of psych facility, I was actually her friend at one point in time, I'm convinced something major broke in her mind for her to turn into this. I don't think her life should end because of it." The surprise is subtle, but definitely there in Piggots face when Taylor says this.
"You're of a rare breed in this city Miss Hebert, I don't believe that will be a problem. Is there anything else?" Her tone softens notably as she speaks.
As she finishes Anderson retrieves a second folder from his briefcase.
"I'm afraid so Director, but considering the situation I think you will find them more than acceptable."
"Very well then, I do hope you're right." He passes her the folder, waiting as she opens it and starts reading through the sheets.
"Transfers to Arcadia will be easy enough...and the payments for psychological damages, I suppose I should be happy you're not asking for more." As she goes through then her tone takes on a fairly bitter tone, not surprising considering the payments consisted of monthly payments of twenty thousand dollars for the next decade and change, to a total of two and a half million, and another two point five million in a lump sum.
"I don't suppose you would accept splitting the initial sum into two different payments?" Danny's nod is not surprising in the least, considering we discussed this before we made the call.
"Very well then, if this is what you require we can write up a contract with the hour I'm sure." well
Damn.
Was it really going to be this easy?
***
An hour and a half later, the answer was yes. Yes it was. That was...well I can't say unexpected but still. I honestly thought there would be at least some push back.
I blame fannon knowledge on this one.
But as it were we were once more walking through Piggots door, a rather dopey grin was plastered on Danny's face, not really surprising when you consider that he now had one and a quarter MILLION in his bank account.
Before we leave however, there was one thing I needed to do.
"Hey, uh...Miss Militia? Can I ask if this place has a souvenir shop?" The embarrassment in my voice and expression wasn't completely faked, only mostly.
"Really?" This reverses at Taylor's comment however.
"What do you mean really? We're in a literal modern day castle. Yes I want a souvenir to remember the occasion… oh bite me!" I huff as a grin appears on her face as I gush just a little.
"If you two are finished, we do indeed have a gift shop, I can take you to it if you like?" Her reply snaps me out of my glare and I turn back to her, nodding simply.
"On that note...Now that the whole "us extorting you for cash" bit is over you wouldn't be annoyed if I asked for your autograph would you?" The sight movement of her scarf broadcasts her smile.
"Of course not, I don't have a pen on me however, I'll have to borrow one at the shop." The look Taylor gives me earns a sharp poke to the ribs and a very mature gesture that did not involve sticking my tongue out at her.
By the timing we get to the gift shop silence had once more taken over, and I make my selections fairly quick, getting a set of posters of all the local Protectorate members, the one of Miss Militia signed by her.
All of which of course, paid for with replicated bills and coins, including two dollar coins.
….Soon. ™
Leaving the building was a fairly quiet affair, with Miss Militia once more being the only hero to see us out, which I'm once more sure was at Piggot's order.
"I do hope the next time we see each other it's under less extreme circumstances." Her sincerity is clear and Danny offers her a handshake.
"Likewise. Now if there's nothing else I must be getting back to work." and with that we were once more in a unmarked suv, on our way back to the law office.
"....Holy shit…" Danny says about a minute after we pass over the light bridge.
"Dad?" Taylor asks as we both look at him.
"We're millionaires Taylor…"
"...Holy shit…" she echoes after him.
"It's a strange feeling isn't it?" and now they're staring.
"What? Mom and dad had some pretty insane life insurance policies, and wanted to be cremated. It took me nearly two weeks to realise." Oooor I just created the funds when I set up my identity, but you don't need to know that…
"Ah. I see." This time it's Taylor who grabs my hand a few moments after Danny speaks.
By the time we get back to the office building I had entwined my fingers with hers.
This is the first time that the thought occurs to me that I may have made a miscalculation.
I don't have time to think about it however as we're arriving at the office when it occurs.
"Well then Mr. Hebert, it was a pleasure working with you. If you ever end up in need of a lawyer again I'll make sure my secretary's know not to screen your calls." One handshake later and we were on our way back to the truck, a general sense of awe kept us in silence until we were getting in the truck once more.
"Well….What do you girls say we take it easy the rest of the day? I think we could use the break after that."
"Hey, no objections here, I wouldn't mind it after that. What do you have in mind?" I add my thoughts to the conversation.
"Well, we do all need cell phones, I thought why not make it a shopping trip? There's been so many things I've been wanting to fix up or replace around the house that I haven't been able to due to funding."
"Is the step finally getting fixed?" The teasing nature of Taylor's tone has me smiling.
"Yes Taylor, that's on the list." Given the dry sarcasm I think it's safe to say this had been brought up before.
"Where to then?"
"Phones first I suppose, then we can hit up the downtown mall, there's a hardware store in it, I can get what I need and you two can look around for what you want."
"Sounds good to me." I state as he puts the vehicle in gear.
"Right then. To a brighter future."
***
The next few hours are a flurry of activity as we go through the process of getting three new high end model phones, a process which takes the better part of an hour.
After that was settled we head to the mall where Danny heads off to the hardware store as I drag Taylor to the electronics section, displaying my inner nerd much to her amusement. We still walk away with a very much bleeding edge set of laptops.
I even manage to get her to go clothes shopping with me, though her style remained very basic. I did come out of it with a decent spread of outfits at least.
By the time we meet back up at the food court it was nearly six and we were all more than ready to eat and head home. In fact we even ordered our meals to go.
Dinner passed without much conversation as we were all inspecting our new toys, whether it be me playing with one of the laptops, which was already plastered with stickers on the back cover, or Taylor doodling on her phone, exploring its features with her father.
When nine o'clock rolled around we were all getting ready for bed.
Nine forty five and everything was silent as the sun was going down, Taylor and Danny being on their way to sleep.
I on the other hand had plans.
Tonight was supposed to be the night Taylor would go out for the first time and take down Lung, an event that was pivotal to many of the events of the next month.
Which meant one way or another, Lung needed to be taken out of the picture tonight.
So I lay there, thinking of a plan as I wait for Danny and Taylor to fall asleep, my core monitoring the ambient noise level in the house as I go over my options.
It was nearly eleven thirty when I get the all clear and get up, making my way to the back door and into the yard.
"Ok… let's see…" I mumble as I hold my hand up to my face, morphing it into a flat mirror as I work on what would be the face of my cape persona.
Working from memory was a bit tricky, at least until my core kicked in and sorted them out for me in perfect clarity. Thirty seconds later I was the splitting image of the character known as Jinx, from the game League of Legends back home.
Blue hair, twin braid that nearly reach my ankles, stupidly skimpy outfit loaded down with engraved shells, it was all there.
"Right, let's fuck some shit u-"
"Alice? What. The. Fuck."
Freezing I turn my head back towards the door, where Taylor was currently standing, scowling at me.
God fucking Damnit.
With a Bang
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
In an instant time slows to a crawl as I realize I may have fucked up, and badly at that.
'….Well fuck. Now what?'
'Talk to her duh. But what the hell do I even… '
Idly I note the microseconds passing by, as I attempt to find the right words.
'Well… this is getting me nowhere. Time to wing it.'
In an instant, time speeds up again as my perception returns to normal.
"So...this is happening...Yea. How did you know I was out here? I could hear your heartbeat and breath hit a rather stable sleeping pattern," I knew the answer was odd of course, but I was still trying to stall, really.
"You...I-what? Are you seriously asking me that when you're the one who just...I don't know what!" Her indignation is clear and I can't help but to cringe slightly.
"Sorry. I. Just...was REALLY hoping this wouldn't happen. If you didn't already guess, I'm a cape. If you could PLEASE stay calm I'll explain it to you," I watch as she stares, in a cross of what I would guess to be disbelief and something along the lines of anger, before nodding and breathing in deeply as she fully steps outside.
"Ok. I'm sorry, I just...What happened?" her stare actually had me fidgeting. Goddamnit.
Right… I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.
"You know it took them over twelve hours to tell me that mom and dad were caught in the collapse?"
"...huh?" her confusion is clear at my statement, in answer i just shrug as I launch into my next sentence.
"Everyone just assumed I was at home the whole time. Which I get, they did find me at home, not buried underwater with mom and dad. They just didn't realize I had only gotten there about a half hour before them."
"What…? What are you saying?"
"That I was in the car when the bridge collapsed. I thought I was as dead as they were once the car went under. But when we hit the bottom? When the water started entering my lungs? I… changed."
As I watch her face, I idly marvel at how easy it was to sell this, considering the pool of traumatic events I had to draw on from experience.
Lying was so much damn easier when you could just re-hash things from something else.
Jury's out if this makes me a shit person or not however.
"You saw what I just did? That's actually one of the simplest things I've done." as I speak, my form once more morphs back into my original shape, a silver sheen running along my body as it does so.
"I… see… what can you do? Actually no wait. What were you going to do? This is why you picked Brockton isn't it? The real reason I mean…" at this I can't help but wince, nodding a moment later.
"I did say earlier that Brockton Bay is statistically the most dangerous place to live in the nation. I'm here to change that. With what I intend to do, I doubt it will hold that monicker for much longer," the look she gives me oozes skepticism, leaving me with a knowing smile as she speaks.
"You do realize the sheer number of villains in this city, right? Or the amount of heavy hitters in that number? Please tell me you don't have some sort of deathwish, Alice?" my smile vanishes as she speaks, her tone clearly concerned.
….goddamnit, please don't let this come back to haunt me later...
"Taylor? Believe me when I say that no one in this city poses any major threat to my existence. I would show you and explain in more detail but I'm running out of time here if I want to stick to my original plan."
"What do you mean? What were you planning on doing tonight?"
Well.
Now I knew how that coffee pot felt.
It's not a good feeling.
"I have reliable information that Lung is going to be going after the small time villain group known as the Undersiders tonight. I intend to make my first night out one to remember," my grin grows, becoming somewhat manic, a look which I'm sure would look much more deranged if I still had red eyes.
"Imma kill him. Well actually first I'm going to play with him. I want him ramped up at least as much as he was at Kyushu before I kill him. I don't think there would be a much better way to say "I'm here and I'm here to stay" than that."
"...I'm sorry, but I could have sworn you said you were going to kill Lung. Lung. The deranged asian man who turns into a metal fire-breathing dragon-"
"Because I did say that dork. With my abilities it will be quite easy," at this I morph back to the form that was going to be my public image.
The blush that comes to her face is not lost on me.
"Let me come with you."
What?
"Wait what?"
What do you mean what! This is Taylor, did you seriously think she would just stand by while you go out galavanting around the city's criminal population?
"I. Want. To. Go. With. You," in a instant the shock on my face is replaced with a blank look that was the personification of "seriously?"
"Ok. One, I'm made of subatomic machines that are simply imitating the human form, the only way you could hurt me is to destroy my core, which is harder than diamond. You on the other hand are as fragile as anyone else out on the street. Second, I have powers. You….don't?" I pause mid rant as hundreds, no thousands of bugs swarm around us for a moment, leading to a faint buzzing in the air even as several dozen fireflies arrange themselves in front of me, spelling out the words:
You were saying?
".....You're a cape too?" I whisper after nearly ten seconds.
"Ever since the locker…"
"You know my first point still stands. You're still very squishy. I'm not, at least when I don't want to be," even as I speak a silver sheen flashes over my body once more, leaving me composed completely out of steel. I keep the form for five seconds before flashing back.
"But I can see that this isn't an argument that I'm going to win anymore. Do you have a costume yet?" her smile is infectious and I find myself doing the same as she nods.
"I've been making a suit out of spider silk over the past month, it's ready, and I've a bit of armour made out of chitin from various different insects, give me a second to-" despite her enthusiasm I find myself shaking my head, cutting her off.
"That's very creative, but even if its black widow silk, I still say it leaves you too squishy… not to mention slow…. Hmmm."
"What is it?" she asks even as I connect to my stockpile of nanomaterials.
"Give me a spider please. I'm going to need to analyze one to do this properly." holding my palm out expectantly I smile at her confused look.
"Ok? I don't understand though."
"Just trust me, you will see."
"...kay…" her answer is simple as a hornet lands in my palm, a black widow being dropped from its grips as it does so.
One which I promptly assimilate, studying every facet of its biology as I break it down.
Speeding up time once more I dive into my other side, using my core to analyze the information I just gained.
To me, nearly ten minutes passes, to Taylor it was less than a second.
"Ok, check this out." I grin as I execute the program I had come up with, causing a mass of nanomaterial to split off from my body, a full thirty five kilos worth, or thirty percent of the extra mass I had compressed within my body.
"What the hell?" I hear Taylor say aloud as the silver globe moves a few paces away from me before growing vertically, eight multi-jointed silver limbs coming into existence as it does so, each one an optimized and enlarged analogue of a spider's biology.
As it takes form it becomes apparent that the creation was meant to be worn over the human body, given the black harness like aperture at its center, one which was covered in black sheets. Each one being made out of pure carbon nanotubes, leaving it near impenetrable to conventional weapons.
As they form they legs take on the black hairy appearance, looking every bit the part of a spiders. It wasn't until I create a modified brain based off of the black widow I had just absorbed that Taylor reacts, gasping even as the device/creature twitches.
"You know… I'm quite glad that worked. I was a bit worried it would be too large for you to control," I grin as I glance back at her, watching as she stares at the bio-armour I had just created for her.
"You… want me to wear this thing?" Frowning I note the skepticism in her tone.
"Well, yea? It should make you more then fast enough to keep up with me, not to mention nearly invulnerable. Is there something wrong with it?"
"Well, not really I just… you can't control it can you?" Ah.
"Oh, well. I hadn't thought about it until now honestly, but I suppose I could if I really wanted to. Though I would never outside of a life or death situation. Would you rather I not be able to?" at this she stares at me for a moment, glancing back at the suit before shrugging.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I can trust you with that," the smile on my face is genuine as she turns back to me fully
"So… what are your powers?" she asks finally, no small amount of shock saturating her tone.
"Nanomachines, son," god I've been waiting so long to say that.
Her blank look only makes me smile more.
"If you wish for a rating? I'd confidently say tinker-12. Dragon has nothing on what I can do." at my answer she simply returns the same stare I had earlier before glancing at the suit then back at me before nodding once.
"I still think I should get my suit, or at least my mask," at this I nod, smiling at her.
"Of course, but hurry please? I'm pretty sure were gonna be late at this point," she barely nods to me before she darts back into the house, taking all of six minutes before she comes back out, her black suit looking rather intimidating.
"Nice. I like it… do you have a name picked out?" I ask as I turn to the northeast, looking around the area, checking to make sure noone is out.
"Uh… not really. I hadn't even decided if I wanted to go out or not until just now…" sighing I nod turning back to her.
"What about you?"
"Jinx," I grin at her as the suit opens its shell, allowing her to climb in even as she's pulling her mask on.
"Well, if we don't pick one I'm sure the PRT is going to give you something lame like spider-girl or something… what about Weaver? Given you can make clothing with spiders?" as I speak the panels fold back into place.
"... Yea, that works for me," as she speaks the suit comes to life, the bottom set of legs unfolding and extending, bringing her a few feet off the ground.
"Do you need any practice? Or does your power negate that need?"
"I'll be fine, I could tell you what every insect in a three block radius is doing, and there's over a million of them, closer to three actually."
"...okay then. That's… kinda cool honestly. How are you with heights?"
"Uh, they don't bother me, why do you-" I cut her off by projecting a force field thirty feet above us, which I promptly jump up to, landing softly.
"Cause if we're gonna get to the area on time, we're gonna have to cheat. Now come on," projecting one next to it I smile as she joins me after a few moments of staring, her suits abilities making the jump easy.
"This is so weird," at this I can't help but laugh.
"So says the girl wearing an eight foot tall spider on her back. Now let's go, try not to lag too far behind, ok?" before she can even reply I'm off, once more playing human racket ball as I jump between vertical blue hexagons, heading towards the dockyards of the city.
Despite my doubts, Taylor manages to keep up, following my lead easily, leaving me rather impressed with her quick mastery of my improvised suit.
Within ten minutes we get out of the residential districts and into the rundown industrial and warehouse zones around the docks, and I come to a stop atop one of the warehouses, Taylor landing a moment after me.
"Please don't make me do that again. I think I'm going to be sick," she mumbles getting a wince out of me.
"Sorry. I didn't think of that part…I don't suppose you can see or hear through the bugs around here can you?"
"Kinda? I've been getting better at it but its still hard to translate what they see and hear into something I can understand," she answers with a "so so" motion with her hand.
"Right, you do what you can, if you see a man in a metal mask let me know. I'll see if I can't whip up some mini-drones here." even before I finish speaking I'm looking around the roof, smiling when I see an old broken air-conditioning unit.
"I think it's time for a snack," I mumble as I walk towards it, cracking my knuckles as I do so.
"What? What do you...mean." she trails off as I walk into the unit, the nanomaterial my legs were made out of taking on liquid like properties and enveloping the unit.
"Fly please," turning around I grin as she just stares dumbly.
"Nanomachines son. Now gimme a damn fly," at this her eyes snap to mine, or at least I assume they do, and from the way her mask moves I'm assuming she's scowling at me.
"Ack!" definitely scowling.
"I said give me one! Not shove one down my throat! Jesus!" I snap at her playfully after I've absorbed the fly that had flown into my mouth. Something that would have left me disgusted a few days ago. Now? I just analyze the structure before diving into my core again.
Ten minutes, or one second later I have a design for a micro-drone in the shape of said insect, though when time returns to normal I realize Taylor was laughing at me.
"Jerk-face," I mumble as I send a chain of commands to the new mass of nanomaterial I was standing in.
"Oh my god." I hear her say as the converted mass of the AC unit dissolves into thousands fly sized micro-drones.
"Nanomachines. OP. please nerf," my grin is clear as I step out of the swarm, watching their dispersion around the area, my core running a search through the feeds to the criteria I had set.
"You…"
"Yes?"
"Tinkers are bullshit."
I can't help but to laugh, though I'm cut short when another fly finds its way into my mouth.
"You know, just because I can atomize those things the moment they touch me doesn't make that any less gross. Jerk," I would say I didn't pout at her. Doesn't mean it was true however.
"So… what now?" she asks after a minute of silence.
"Well, I've found three drug stashes, five weapons caches and about sixty ABB members, we could pass the time by fucking with them? By the way, have you figured out the stingers yet?" I say, referencing the progress my drone swarm had made before asking her about the suit's weapon system.
"Is that what those are? And the sacs behind them, venom I'm assuming?" she asks and I shake my head with a giggle.
"Not exactly, they're actually filled with ketamine. Each stinger can deliver enough to knock out a two-hundred pound man in under a minute, and they refill rapidly depending on how often you feed the suit, given I just made it though that shouldn't be an issue for at least another week."
"...what CAN'T you do?" she says after a moment getting another laugh out of me.
"I'll let you know when I figured it out. Now shall we go screw with some lowlife scum?" grinning I bend over and pick up what was left over from the nano-swarm, a glass tube containing a blue coil, its brass tinted pistol grip indicating it was a weapon.
"What is that?" she asks and I grin as I prime it, causing it to glow a cobalt blue color.
"Variable yield wireless-taser. It ramps up from minor loss of motor control, to Nikola Tesla's wet dream of a death ray. I have it set to self defecation right now. Anyone who gets hit with it is in for a bad day and one hell of a hangover," grinning I spin it around my finger by the trigger guard a few times before deactivating it.
"Now, that warehouse over there is playing host to a dozen or so ABB members, if you want to-" I'm cut off by an explosion that emanates from the north, just beyond the edge of my ever expanding drone network.
"Ooooor we could go check that out." I say even as my drones zero in on its location, though judging by the loud roar that follows shortly after my statement, it's a safe bet that Lung is in the area.
Which means I'm more than likely too late to stop him from attacking the Undersiders.
Fucking hell please don't be dead yet.
Taylor starts to say something in reply, but I'm already airborne before she gets more then one syllable out. I land on the rooftop of a building a block away from the blast site, another roar echoing around me, much louder this time.
"Would you hold up!? We can't just go in there without a plan!" Taylor shouts at me, and I send her one a manic smile.
"I have a plan silly! Let me handle him, you're on crowd control duty alright?" my tone, as intended was far too playful for the situation we were about to enter, but for the frame of mind I was forcing myself into I think I nailed it.
Before she can reply I'm off again, this time landing adjacent to the bombed out building, which was rapidly being engulfed by flames. Rushing to the edge of the roof I look down over the street, pausing when I see the carnage that was taking place.
That… was indeed a large flaming dragon with metal scales. Already he was nearly seven feet tall and taking on a quadruped form. Scattered around him were three charred corpses, which judging from the scraps of clothing on them were part of the group he had assembled to hunt the Undersiders.
Speaking of them, they were currently down the street, on top of what vaguely resemble dogs, if said species was infected with a xenomorph perhaps. God those things were disgusting.
Moving on it was clear one of the animals was wounded, as evidenced by the charred wound on its right flank, its rider I can only guess to be Tattletale, considering the purple and black leotard with an eye motif dominating the chest. It was her right leg that caught my attention however, mainly the fact that it was as badly burnt as the rest of the animal.
Well… at least they're alive.
"Alllllright. Time for maximum effort!" I say to myself, not missing the twitch of Tattletale's head as I do so.
I launch myself into the air just as Taylor lands behind me, arcing perfectly into the middle of the street, coming down between the two parties.
Lung, who was clearly about to charge, pauses, and I plaster my trademark deranged smile over my face.
"Hiya mister! You're Lung, aren't you!? I've been looking for you all night! Will you play with me?" the childlike tone actually has him pausing for a moment.
His response was nearly incomprehensible given that his jawline was already changing into a draconic visage, but I was able to make out enough to gather what he said.
"Who the hell are you!?"
Giggling I twirl around once, my twin braids splaying out behind me as i do.
"The names Jinx! It's my first day in town here, first night out in fact! I've been sooooo bored! All the guys in green and red do is scream and run away when I start shooting them! But you! You will stay and play with me won't you mister!??"
While I may not have actually shot any ABB members as of yet, he had no way of knowing that, as evidenced by his angry roar.
Oh.
Oh shit.
That's actually a bit scary.
That is my only thought as he charges at me, a gout of flame erupting from his mouth as he does so. I did have a show to put on however, thus my reply was simply.
"Yay! I knew you would play with me!" raising my taser I ramp up the power by an order of magnitude, causing it to glow a nearly blinding white-blue for a moment before I pull the trigger.
When I do, I learn two things.
Apparently I should re-name that setting "Lighting"
And second.
HOLY FUCK THAT WAS LOUD!
It did its job though, and stopped him in his tracks, as evidenced by his flailing and twitching form a dozen meters in front of me.
"That… was… AWESOME! Can I do it again!?" I shout, ending with a giggle as I clip the weapon to my hip, clapping my hands together manically as I do a spin.
The roar he lets out as he reginites is deafoning, and i watch as he burns with a near blinding intensity as he grows several more feet, the stubbs of wings beginning to form on his back.
"ILL OOU!"
"Oooo! Is someone cranky?" I shout back sarcastic, getting a blast of fire in response.
In a instant the street in front of me is filled with blue hexagons as I form a bowl with them facing him, completely shielding us and the buildings from the blast.
"Awww that wasn't very nice mister! I think you need to be put in time-out!" my pout only reinforces the "batshit crazy" vibe I was going for.
His roar tells me what he thinks of that idea.
Grabbing my weapon again I aim it at his face this time, once more ramping up the power and pulling the trigger.
This time however I hold it down for far far longer than the half second I had before, a full five seconds in fact. Five seconds in which a massive bolt of lighting arcs through the metal dragon in front of me.
Once more his flames go out as he collapses to the ground twitching.
Once more he bounces back with twice the intensity as before, the street itself was beginning to melt around him, getting another manic smile out of me.
"Oh this is so much fun! I just knew Brockton was the right place to go!" I burst out giggling as he roars again, this time actually causing my ears to bleed, which I heal in a instant, but nonetheless annoys me.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? YOU'RE JUST PISSING HIM OFF!!!!" I hear a girls voice shouting at me from behind me, looking back I see that it was Tattletale who was shouting.
My giggle speaks volumes.
"I know! Isn't it fun!? Do you think he's past the point where he drove off Leviathan yet!?" I shout back, laughing at her shocked stare.
"What the fuck…" my enhanced senses pick up as I turn back to the dragon currently hammering against my shield.
"Hey! That's not very nice! Didn't I say you needed a time out!?" I shout at him, once more clipping my taser to my hip and crouching, getting ready to jump at him as I create a blade that extends from my right wrist, one that had an edge honed down to a single atom.
Jumping at him I drop one of the hexagons in the shield, allowing me to pass through and exposing me to a ungodly amount of heat, one which would have flash fried me, if I hadn't preemptively turned my body into tungsten.
As it was I reach out and remove his arm at the shoulder joint as I rocket by before hitting the half melted brick façade of the building adjacent to him, which I springboard off of and gouge a deep gash into his chest, landing in my original position dispersing the heat I absorbed by compressing the nitrogen in the atmosphere around me into a thin layer of liquid, releasing a cloud of steam as I return to an organic form once more.
"Now be a good boy and think very carefully on what you've done and I might not take your other arm!" my mocking tone only enrages him further, as evidenced by the second ear shattering roar as his arm rapidly regenerates, even as he pounds against my shield with his remaining arm.
Warning. Klein field saturation rising. Currently at two percent capacity.
Did I mention how it could withstand megatones of energy per square inch?
Yea, I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon.
"Alright then! If you insist on being such a meanie I'll just get mean too!" I shout back, still making an effort to sound insane as I get ready to finish him.
By now, he was massive, towering over the warehouse behind him that was rapidly being turned to ash, a set of wings clearly visible on his back as he attempted to batter down my force field.
"I think I've had enough fun for now mister! I hope you've enjoyed your life! Cause it's game over for you now!" I shout as a mass of nanomaterial splits off of my back, taking the form of the iconic, in my world at least, rocket launcher known as Fishbones.
"I'll see you in hell! Save me a spot in line will you!?" I shout as I shoulder the weapon, hitting the firing stud the moment I have the shot lined up.
The rocket leaves the barrel with a completely inert warhead, it stays this way even as it flies past the gap in the barrier, in fact it isn't until one tenth of a second before it impacts his face that the explosive is synthesized.
Azidoazide azide
The most powerful, and unstable chemical explosive known to man. This stuff is so damn sensitive it literally explodes if you so much as look at it funny, as evidenced by the dozens of million dollar laboratory scanners it broke when it was being studied, so hard to produce and store that only milligrams of the stuff had every been synthesized.
Five hundred kilograms of it detonates in lungs face.
Matter compression for the win.
In a instant, all that's left of the sixty foot tall flaming metal dragon are chunks of steaming meat. One of which lands at my feet, splattering me in no small amount of boiling hot blood.
"Well," I smile turning around looking towards the Undersiders. "That was fun!"
'….Well fuck. Now what?'
'Talk to her duh. But what the hell do I even… '
Idly I note the microseconds passing by, as I attempt to find the right words.
'Well… this is getting me nowhere. Time to wing it.'
In an instant, time speeds up again as my perception returns to normal.
"So...this is happening...Yea. How did you know I was out here? I could hear your heartbeat and breath hit a rather stable sleeping pattern," I knew the answer was odd of course, but I was still trying to stall, really.
"You...I-what? Are you seriously asking me that when you're the one who just...I don't know what!" Her indignation is clear and I can't help but to cringe slightly.
"Sorry. I. Just...was REALLY hoping this wouldn't happen. If you didn't already guess, I'm a cape. If you could PLEASE stay calm I'll explain it to you," I watch as she stares, in a cross of what I would guess to be disbelief and something along the lines of anger, before nodding and breathing in deeply as she fully steps outside.
"Ok. I'm sorry, I just...What happened?" her stare actually had me fidgeting. Goddamnit.
Right… I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.
"You know it took them over twelve hours to tell me that mom and dad were caught in the collapse?"
"...huh?" her confusion is clear at my statement, in answer i just shrug as I launch into my next sentence.
"Everyone just assumed I was at home the whole time. Which I get, they did find me at home, not buried underwater with mom and dad. They just didn't realize I had only gotten there about a half hour before them."
"What…? What are you saying?"
"That I was in the car when the bridge collapsed. I thought I was as dead as they were once the car went under. But when we hit the bottom? When the water started entering my lungs? I… changed."
As I watch her face, I idly marvel at how easy it was to sell this, considering the pool of traumatic events I had to draw on from experience.
Lying was so much damn easier when you could just re-hash things from something else.
Jury's out if this makes me a shit person or not however.
"You saw what I just did? That's actually one of the simplest things I've done." as I speak, my form once more morphs back into my original shape, a silver sheen running along my body as it does so.
"I… see… what can you do? Actually no wait. What were you going to do? This is why you picked Brockton isn't it? The real reason I mean…" at this I can't help but wince, nodding a moment later.
"I did say earlier that Brockton Bay is statistically the most dangerous place to live in the nation. I'm here to change that. With what I intend to do, I doubt it will hold that monicker for much longer," the look she gives me oozes skepticism, leaving me with a knowing smile as she speaks.
"You do realize the sheer number of villains in this city, right? Or the amount of heavy hitters in that number? Please tell me you don't have some sort of deathwish, Alice?" my smile vanishes as she speaks, her tone clearly concerned.
….goddamnit, please don't let this come back to haunt me later...
"Taylor? Believe me when I say that no one in this city poses any major threat to my existence. I would show you and explain in more detail but I'm running out of time here if I want to stick to my original plan."
"What do you mean? What were you planning on doing tonight?"
Well.
Now I knew how that coffee pot felt.
It's not a good feeling.
"I have reliable information that Lung is going to be going after the small time villain group known as the Undersiders tonight. I intend to make my first night out one to remember," my grin grows, becoming somewhat manic, a look which I'm sure would look much more deranged if I still had red eyes.
"Imma kill him. Well actually first I'm going to play with him. I want him ramped up at least as much as he was at Kyushu before I kill him. I don't think there would be a much better way to say "I'm here and I'm here to stay" than that."
"...I'm sorry, but I could have sworn you said you were going to kill Lung. Lung. The deranged asian man who turns into a metal fire-breathing dragon-"
"Because I did say that dork. With my abilities it will be quite easy," at this I morph back to the form that was going to be my public image.
The blush that comes to her face is not lost on me.
"Let me come with you."
What?
"Wait what?"
What do you mean what! This is Taylor, did you seriously think she would just stand by while you go out galavanting around the city's criminal population?
"I. Want. To. Go. With. You," in a instant the shock on my face is replaced with a blank look that was the personification of "seriously?"
"Ok. One, I'm made of subatomic machines that are simply imitating the human form, the only way you could hurt me is to destroy my core, which is harder than diamond. You on the other hand are as fragile as anyone else out on the street. Second, I have powers. You….don't?" I pause mid rant as hundreds, no thousands of bugs swarm around us for a moment, leading to a faint buzzing in the air even as several dozen fireflies arrange themselves in front of me, spelling out the words:
You were saying?
".....You're a cape too?" I whisper after nearly ten seconds.
"Ever since the locker…"
"You know my first point still stands. You're still very squishy. I'm not, at least when I don't want to be," even as I speak a silver sheen flashes over my body once more, leaving me composed completely out of steel. I keep the form for five seconds before flashing back.
"But I can see that this isn't an argument that I'm going to win anymore. Do you have a costume yet?" her smile is infectious and I find myself doing the same as she nods.
"I've been making a suit out of spider silk over the past month, it's ready, and I've a bit of armour made out of chitin from various different insects, give me a second to-" despite her enthusiasm I find myself shaking my head, cutting her off.
"That's very creative, but even if its black widow silk, I still say it leaves you too squishy… not to mention slow…. Hmmm."
"What is it?" she asks even as I connect to my stockpile of nanomaterials.
"Give me a spider please. I'm going to need to analyze one to do this properly." holding my palm out expectantly I smile at her confused look.
"Ok? I don't understand though."
"Just trust me, you will see."
"...kay…" her answer is simple as a hornet lands in my palm, a black widow being dropped from its grips as it does so.
One which I promptly assimilate, studying every facet of its biology as I break it down.
Speeding up time once more I dive into my other side, using my core to analyze the information I just gained.
To me, nearly ten minutes passes, to Taylor it was less than a second.
"Ok, check this out." I grin as I execute the program I had come up with, causing a mass of nanomaterial to split off from my body, a full thirty five kilos worth, or thirty percent of the extra mass I had compressed within my body.
"What the hell?" I hear Taylor say aloud as the silver globe moves a few paces away from me before growing vertically, eight multi-jointed silver limbs coming into existence as it does so, each one an optimized and enlarged analogue of a spider's biology.
As it takes form it becomes apparent that the creation was meant to be worn over the human body, given the black harness like aperture at its center, one which was covered in black sheets. Each one being made out of pure carbon nanotubes, leaving it near impenetrable to conventional weapons.
As they form they legs take on the black hairy appearance, looking every bit the part of a spiders. It wasn't until I create a modified brain based off of the black widow I had just absorbed that Taylor reacts, gasping even as the device/creature twitches.
"You know… I'm quite glad that worked. I was a bit worried it would be too large for you to control," I grin as I glance back at her, watching as she stares at the bio-armour I had just created for her.
"You… want me to wear this thing?" Frowning I note the skepticism in her tone.
"Well, yea? It should make you more then fast enough to keep up with me, not to mention nearly invulnerable. Is there something wrong with it?"
"Well, not really I just… you can't control it can you?" Ah.
"Oh, well. I hadn't thought about it until now honestly, but I suppose I could if I really wanted to. Though I would never outside of a life or death situation. Would you rather I not be able to?" at this she stares at me for a moment, glancing back at the suit before shrugging.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I can trust you with that," the smile on my face is genuine as she turns back to me fully
"So… what are your powers?" she asks finally, no small amount of shock saturating her tone.
"Nanomachines, son," god I've been waiting so long to say that.
Her blank look only makes me smile more.
"If you wish for a rating? I'd confidently say tinker-12. Dragon has nothing on what I can do." at my answer she simply returns the same stare I had earlier before glancing at the suit then back at me before nodding once.
"I still think I should get my suit, or at least my mask," at this I nod, smiling at her.
"Of course, but hurry please? I'm pretty sure were gonna be late at this point," she barely nods to me before she darts back into the house, taking all of six minutes before she comes back out, her black suit looking rather intimidating.
"Nice. I like it… do you have a name picked out?" I ask as I turn to the northeast, looking around the area, checking to make sure noone is out.
"Uh… not really. I hadn't even decided if I wanted to go out or not until just now…" sighing I nod turning back to her.
"What about you?"
"Jinx," I grin at her as the suit opens its shell, allowing her to climb in even as she's pulling her mask on.
"Well, if we don't pick one I'm sure the PRT is going to give you something lame like spider-girl or something… what about Weaver? Given you can make clothing with spiders?" as I speak the panels fold back into place.
"... Yea, that works for me," as she speaks the suit comes to life, the bottom set of legs unfolding and extending, bringing her a few feet off the ground.
"Do you need any practice? Or does your power negate that need?"
"I'll be fine, I could tell you what every insect in a three block radius is doing, and there's over a million of them, closer to three actually."
"...okay then. That's… kinda cool honestly. How are you with heights?"
"Uh, they don't bother me, why do you-" I cut her off by projecting a force field thirty feet above us, which I promptly jump up to, landing softly.
"Cause if we're gonna get to the area on time, we're gonna have to cheat. Now come on," projecting one next to it I smile as she joins me after a few moments of staring, her suits abilities making the jump easy.
"This is so weird," at this I can't help but laugh.
"So says the girl wearing an eight foot tall spider on her back. Now let's go, try not to lag too far behind, ok?" before she can even reply I'm off, once more playing human racket ball as I jump between vertical blue hexagons, heading towards the dockyards of the city.
Despite my doubts, Taylor manages to keep up, following my lead easily, leaving me rather impressed with her quick mastery of my improvised suit.
Within ten minutes we get out of the residential districts and into the rundown industrial and warehouse zones around the docks, and I come to a stop atop one of the warehouses, Taylor landing a moment after me.
"Please don't make me do that again. I think I'm going to be sick," she mumbles getting a wince out of me.
"Sorry. I didn't think of that part…I don't suppose you can see or hear through the bugs around here can you?"
"Kinda? I've been getting better at it but its still hard to translate what they see and hear into something I can understand," she answers with a "so so" motion with her hand.
"Right, you do what you can, if you see a man in a metal mask let me know. I'll see if I can't whip up some mini-drones here." even before I finish speaking I'm looking around the roof, smiling when I see an old broken air-conditioning unit.
"I think it's time for a snack," I mumble as I walk towards it, cracking my knuckles as I do so.
"What? What do you...mean." she trails off as I walk into the unit, the nanomaterial my legs were made out of taking on liquid like properties and enveloping the unit.
"Fly please," turning around I grin as she just stares dumbly.
"Nanomachines son. Now gimme a damn fly," at this her eyes snap to mine, or at least I assume they do, and from the way her mask moves I'm assuming she's scowling at me.
"Ack!" definitely scowling.
"I said give me one! Not shove one down my throat! Jesus!" I snap at her playfully after I've absorbed the fly that had flown into my mouth. Something that would have left me disgusted a few days ago. Now? I just analyze the structure before diving into my core again.
Ten minutes, or one second later I have a design for a micro-drone in the shape of said insect, though when time returns to normal I realize Taylor was laughing at me.
"Jerk-face," I mumble as I send a chain of commands to the new mass of nanomaterial I was standing in.
"Oh my god." I hear her say as the converted mass of the AC unit dissolves into thousands fly sized micro-drones.
"Nanomachines. OP. please nerf," my grin is clear as I step out of the swarm, watching their dispersion around the area, my core running a search through the feeds to the criteria I had set.
"You…"
"Yes?"
"Tinkers are bullshit."
I can't help but to laugh, though I'm cut short when another fly finds its way into my mouth.
"You know, just because I can atomize those things the moment they touch me doesn't make that any less gross. Jerk," I would say I didn't pout at her. Doesn't mean it was true however.
"So… what now?" she asks after a minute of silence.
"Well, I've found three drug stashes, five weapons caches and about sixty ABB members, we could pass the time by fucking with them? By the way, have you figured out the stingers yet?" I say, referencing the progress my drone swarm had made before asking her about the suit's weapon system.
"Is that what those are? And the sacs behind them, venom I'm assuming?" she asks and I shake my head with a giggle.
"Not exactly, they're actually filled with ketamine. Each stinger can deliver enough to knock out a two-hundred pound man in under a minute, and they refill rapidly depending on how often you feed the suit, given I just made it though that shouldn't be an issue for at least another week."
"...what CAN'T you do?" she says after a moment getting another laugh out of me.
"I'll let you know when I figured it out. Now shall we go screw with some lowlife scum?" grinning I bend over and pick up what was left over from the nano-swarm, a glass tube containing a blue coil, its brass tinted pistol grip indicating it was a weapon.
"What is that?" she asks and I grin as I prime it, causing it to glow a cobalt blue color.
"Variable yield wireless-taser. It ramps up from minor loss of motor control, to Nikola Tesla's wet dream of a death ray. I have it set to self defecation right now. Anyone who gets hit with it is in for a bad day and one hell of a hangover," grinning I spin it around my finger by the trigger guard a few times before deactivating it.
"Now, that warehouse over there is playing host to a dozen or so ABB members, if you want to-" I'm cut off by an explosion that emanates from the north, just beyond the edge of my ever expanding drone network.
"Ooooor we could go check that out." I say even as my drones zero in on its location, though judging by the loud roar that follows shortly after my statement, it's a safe bet that Lung is in the area.
Which means I'm more than likely too late to stop him from attacking the Undersiders.
Fucking hell please don't be dead yet.
Taylor starts to say something in reply, but I'm already airborne before she gets more then one syllable out. I land on the rooftop of a building a block away from the blast site, another roar echoing around me, much louder this time.
"Would you hold up!? We can't just go in there without a plan!" Taylor shouts at me, and I send her one a manic smile.
"I have a plan silly! Let me handle him, you're on crowd control duty alright?" my tone, as intended was far too playful for the situation we were about to enter, but for the frame of mind I was forcing myself into I think I nailed it.
Before she can reply I'm off again, this time landing adjacent to the bombed out building, which was rapidly being engulfed by flames. Rushing to the edge of the roof I look down over the street, pausing when I see the carnage that was taking place.
That… was indeed a large flaming dragon with metal scales. Already he was nearly seven feet tall and taking on a quadruped form. Scattered around him were three charred corpses, which judging from the scraps of clothing on them were part of the group he had assembled to hunt the Undersiders.
Speaking of them, they were currently down the street, on top of what vaguely resemble dogs, if said species was infected with a xenomorph perhaps. God those things were disgusting.
Moving on it was clear one of the animals was wounded, as evidenced by the charred wound on its right flank, its rider I can only guess to be Tattletale, considering the purple and black leotard with an eye motif dominating the chest. It was her right leg that caught my attention however, mainly the fact that it was as badly burnt as the rest of the animal.
Well… at least they're alive.
"Alllllright. Time for maximum effort!" I say to myself, not missing the twitch of Tattletale's head as I do so.
I launch myself into the air just as Taylor lands behind me, arcing perfectly into the middle of the street, coming down between the two parties.
Lung, who was clearly about to charge, pauses, and I plaster my trademark deranged smile over my face.
"Hiya mister! You're Lung, aren't you!? I've been looking for you all night! Will you play with me?" the childlike tone actually has him pausing for a moment.
His response was nearly incomprehensible given that his jawline was already changing into a draconic visage, but I was able to make out enough to gather what he said.
"Who the hell are you!?"
Giggling I twirl around once, my twin braids splaying out behind me as i do.
"The names Jinx! It's my first day in town here, first night out in fact! I've been sooooo bored! All the guys in green and red do is scream and run away when I start shooting them! But you! You will stay and play with me won't you mister!??"
While I may not have actually shot any ABB members as of yet, he had no way of knowing that, as evidenced by his angry roar.
Oh.
Oh shit.
That's actually a bit scary.
That is my only thought as he charges at me, a gout of flame erupting from his mouth as he does so. I did have a show to put on however, thus my reply was simply.
"Yay! I knew you would play with me!" raising my taser I ramp up the power by an order of magnitude, causing it to glow a nearly blinding white-blue for a moment before I pull the trigger.
When I do, I learn two things.
Apparently I should re-name that setting "Lighting"
And second.
HOLY FUCK THAT WAS LOUD!
It did its job though, and stopped him in his tracks, as evidenced by his flailing and twitching form a dozen meters in front of me.
"That… was… AWESOME! Can I do it again!?" I shout, ending with a giggle as I clip the weapon to my hip, clapping my hands together manically as I do a spin.
The roar he lets out as he reginites is deafoning, and i watch as he burns with a near blinding intensity as he grows several more feet, the stubbs of wings beginning to form on his back.
"ILL OOU!"
"Oooo! Is someone cranky?" I shout back sarcastic, getting a blast of fire in response.
In a instant the street in front of me is filled with blue hexagons as I form a bowl with them facing him, completely shielding us and the buildings from the blast.
"Awww that wasn't very nice mister! I think you need to be put in time-out!" my pout only reinforces the "batshit crazy" vibe I was going for.
His roar tells me what he thinks of that idea.
Grabbing my weapon again I aim it at his face this time, once more ramping up the power and pulling the trigger.
This time however I hold it down for far far longer than the half second I had before, a full five seconds in fact. Five seconds in which a massive bolt of lighting arcs through the metal dragon in front of me.
Once more his flames go out as he collapses to the ground twitching.
Once more he bounces back with twice the intensity as before, the street itself was beginning to melt around him, getting another manic smile out of me.
"Oh this is so much fun! I just knew Brockton was the right place to go!" I burst out giggling as he roars again, this time actually causing my ears to bleed, which I heal in a instant, but nonetheless annoys me.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? YOU'RE JUST PISSING HIM OFF!!!!" I hear a girls voice shouting at me from behind me, looking back I see that it was Tattletale who was shouting.
My giggle speaks volumes.
"I know! Isn't it fun!? Do you think he's past the point where he drove off Leviathan yet!?" I shout back, laughing at her shocked stare.
"What the fuck…" my enhanced senses pick up as I turn back to the dragon currently hammering against my shield.
"Hey! That's not very nice! Didn't I say you needed a time out!?" I shout at him, once more clipping my taser to my hip and crouching, getting ready to jump at him as I create a blade that extends from my right wrist, one that had an edge honed down to a single atom.
Jumping at him I drop one of the hexagons in the shield, allowing me to pass through and exposing me to a ungodly amount of heat, one which would have flash fried me, if I hadn't preemptively turned my body into tungsten.
As it was I reach out and remove his arm at the shoulder joint as I rocket by before hitting the half melted brick façade of the building adjacent to him, which I springboard off of and gouge a deep gash into his chest, landing in my original position dispersing the heat I absorbed by compressing the nitrogen in the atmosphere around me into a thin layer of liquid, releasing a cloud of steam as I return to an organic form once more.
"Now be a good boy and think very carefully on what you've done and I might not take your other arm!" my mocking tone only enrages him further, as evidenced by the second ear shattering roar as his arm rapidly regenerates, even as he pounds against my shield with his remaining arm.
Warning. Klein field saturation rising. Currently at two percent capacity.
Did I mention how it could withstand megatones of energy per square inch?
Yea, I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon.
"Alright then! If you insist on being such a meanie I'll just get mean too!" I shout back, still making an effort to sound insane as I get ready to finish him.
By now, he was massive, towering over the warehouse behind him that was rapidly being turned to ash, a set of wings clearly visible on his back as he attempted to batter down my force field.
"I think I've had enough fun for now mister! I hope you've enjoyed your life! Cause it's game over for you now!" I shout as a mass of nanomaterial splits off of my back, taking the form of the iconic, in my world at least, rocket launcher known as Fishbones.
"I'll see you in hell! Save me a spot in line will you!?" I shout as I shoulder the weapon, hitting the firing stud the moment I have the shot lined up.
The rocket leaves the barrel with a completely inert warhead, it stays this way even as it flies past the gap in the barrier, in fact it isn't until one tenth of a second before it impacts his face that the explosive is synthesized.
Azidoazide azide
The most powerful, and unstable chemical explosive known to man. This stuff is so damn sensitive it literally explodes if you so much as look at it funny, as evidenced by the dozens of million dollar laboratory scanners it broke when it was being studied, so hard to produce and store that only milligrams of the stuff had every been synthesized.
Five hundred kilograms of it detonates in lungs face.
Matter compression for the win.
In a instant, all that's left of the sixty foot tall flaming metal dragon are chunks of steaming meat. One of which lands at my feet, splattering me in no small amount of boiling hot blood.
"Well," I smile turning around looking towards the Undersiders. "That was fun!"
Lighting the Fuse
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
I stand corrected. That was fucking AWESOME! I didn't know booms that small could BE that big! Like holy shit! I think I just woke up half the city!
Looking to Tattletale I grin, more than likely looking deranged considering I was partially covered in dragon's blood.
"You know, when they say bathe in the blood of your enemies, they make it sound so much more fun," I say with a sigh as I walk toward her.
"Looks like he singed you pretty good there, I can fix that for you if you like?" as I move the blood runs off of my skin as if it were hydrophobic, leaving no trace on my body and no doubt adding to the absurdity of the situation.
"I… you… but... Ok. What!?" she says after a moment, her mouth gaping until I start laughing.
"You're funny! I officially like you. Now do you want me to heal your leg or-" I'm cut off by her yelp as she winces, grabbing the sides of her head.
"Yea… don't do that. Unless you enjoy the migraines anyway," as I speak a small globe of nanomaterial pools at my hip forming a white spray can, a red cross painted at its center.
"Here, use it. Or don't, your choice. Hell if I know if you're a masochist or not. But you might want to get out of here," handing it to her I smile as she stares at me, her mouth moving but no sound coming out, at least initially.
"Why? Why did you do that, why are you saving us? And-oh-holy hell!" she's cut off by Taylor landing right next to us, nearly falling off her dog-thing as she recoils along with the rest of them.
"What the hell!? You have a giant fucking spider!? Wait.. is… that's a person?"
"Weaver? For the record, that was perfect timing. I'm going to remember this for-" this time it's me who's cut off as the roar of a motorcycle is heard in the distance, closing rapidly.
"Here! Take the damn can and go will you!? I can find you on PHO later, just look for the video of that," even as she takes it she stares at me, at least until the girl whom I assume is bitch by her dog mask whistles, prompting the creatures to take off down the side alley we were at the mouth of.
"A-Jinx?" Taylor says as they disappear a few moments later, a wall of black smoke obscuring their forms.
"Yea… I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads up, but we really cut that too close. I promise we can chat in detail after this is over, but for now you need to decide if you want to be seen with me or not right now, they will more than likely label me a villian for this," in response she simply stares for a moment.
"You know it occurs to me you can't actually see my face right now, but if you could you would know how stupid that statement was. I don't give a crap what the hell they say, not after housing the psychopath for so long."
"You sure about this? It's not going to be easy from here on out."
"I'm sure. Now come on, I think Velocity wants to speak with us."
Wait.
"What?" turning around I see that there is indeed a man in a red suit with yellow V on the front staring at us from down the street.
Ah. Here we go…
"Whatever you do? Don't act too surprised. I have a plan for this as well." I grin at her and wink once before turning towards him just as a pair of motorcycles appear farther down the street, one of them looking like it belonged in a cyberpunk movie.
Smiling I walk toward him, a bounce in my step as i think of what was about to go down.
"Hiya! You must be Velocity right?" I call as we near him. As we do he braces his legs, raising his arms in a combat stance, Miss Militia and Armsmaster joining him the moment they dismount.
"What's going on here? Where is Lung? We could hear him from across the city!" his response is predictable, mine however?
"Ooooh! You're looking for that guy? I don't think he's going to be talking much anymore. If you want to try though he's over there, over there and up there," I point at the blast zone, pointing out three different locations where some of his remains could be seen.
"He's… dead?" Armsmaster breaks in and I giggle nodding.
"Yup! He was so much fun to play with! I actually had to use Fishbones!" still giggling I point my thumb at the rocket launcher on my back.
"Uh.."
"How did you kill him?" Velocity mumbles rather dumbly before Armsmaster takes over.
"Silly, I just told you! I used Fishbones to launch a rocket at him! The boom you probably heard was it doing… that." once again I point at the crater and the burning remains of the warehouse.
"Azidoazide azide is so fun isn't it?" I say, giggling again as Armsmaster gapes at me.
"That's impossible, that chemical is far too unstable to-" it's when he starts droning that I enact phase two of my red herring.
"Jinx that's enough," a voice emmenates from me, modulated to sound far less insane and more mature.
"What was-"
"Awwwww but mooooom! We only just started playing! Do I have to go back already?" I "reply" to the voice.
"Yes dear, I told you, you could only play with mister Lung tonight," at this I cross my arms and pout, rolling my eyes.
"Fiiiiiiiine! I'll let you take over… its was nice meeting you all! I can't wait till we can all play together!" I quip at them, right before shifting form once more, gaining several inches in height as I morph from a deranged teenage psychopath, to a young woman.
The details of the new look were key in selling the next phase; short jet black hair that was tied back in a ponytail, an open white lab coat hanging off of my shoulders, and a simple blue mechanic's jumpsuit underneath it.
As I change the gathered Protectorate members drop back into ready stances as my body morphs into a silver liquid during the change.
"I apologise for my daughter's… blunt personality," I grin at her as I grab a cigarette from the coat's breast pocket, lighting it up and taking a hit before speaking again.
"I suppose an explanation is in order?" exhaling a cloud as I smoke it becomes apparent that it wasn't just tobacco I was smoking.
"Are you-" Armsmaster starts only to be cut off by Miss Militia.
"Yes, please explain this."
"Short version? Nanomachines son," at their confused looks I can't help but smile even wider.
"The long version? This is my declaration of intent. There's a new bitch in town and she's got a bigger gun than anyone else, not only that but she isn't afraid to use it either."
"I… see. Can you elaborate on that? What happened here?" she takes over the conversation, stepping ahead of Armsmaster, who was about to say something himself.
"Sure, but you're going to have to get more specific, a fair number of events occurred tonight."
"Very well, what lead to your… daughter's, fight with lung."
"That's a bit of a long story. Abridged version? I found out just how fucking OP my powers are. Like seriously, Tinker 12, hands down," I grin at them as I take another drag, purposely baiting them.
"That's absurd. What are your powers?" Armsmaster breaks in before Millita can silence him.
"I already told you. Nanomachines son," laughing I shake my head as he just stares at me.
"As in, nanoscopic machines capable of.. Well... anything," grinning at them I hold my hand up, a globe of nanomaterial the size of a baseball forming within it.
"See for yourself," grinning I toss it between my hands, its form shifting with each transfer, first into a diamond, then a radio, even a handgun, though I re-absorb the material when they tense.
"You....oh my god," Militia starts, only to trail off when the implications hit her.
"Like I said. Tinker twelve," pausing I take another hit.
"And this is?" Velocity says, having been staring at Taylor.
"She goes by Weaver, very nifty power she has. Jinx ran into her tonight when she was looking for Lung, she agreed to come along, pretty sure she thought Jinx was going to get herself killed though," at this she seems to find her words again.
"Jinx? Is that her name? Or yours? Who is she? And… what's going on with her?" grinning I toss the cigarette butt to the ground and grind it out.
"Like I said, she's my daughter. Her... boredom is due to her nature, really. That and the creation process was still in the prototype stages when I made her."
At their silence I take a moment to take in the scene, noting the sirens closing in as the fire jumps to an adjacent building.
"Excuse me?" of course Armsy would be the first to reply.
"Yea, that first fugue was a bit of a doozy," I laugh out as I turn back to them.
"Like. I. Said. Tinker twelve. Jinx started life as an extremely long and complex series of code. Once she learned to use the nanomachines I designed, she gave herself the form you witnessed, her personality is just a bit… let's be polite and say unique."
"I believe the word you are looking for is bat-shit insane."
"Velocity!" Miss Militia barks at him.
"What!? You saw her as well as me!"
"No offence taken, you're not wrong. I made the mistake of letting her binge on as much information as she wanted in the first few days. It was simply too much for her psyche to handle," my reply silences them again.
"You've… created an artificial intelligence?" Armsmaster says after a moment I shrug.
"Do I have to say it again?" my smug smile speaks volumes as they stare in shock.
"Just… how… why…yes, why are you here? What do you intend to achieve by this?" Militia says after a moment.
"To send a message. I thought that was obvious?" cocking my head to the side I give her a bemused look, as if I was staring at a novelty.
"What message are you trying to send exactly?" shifting my stance slightly I cross my arms and level a fairly mild glare at her.
"That the rules are about to change. This grand game we all play is about to come to an end," grinning I light another "cigarette"
"You can't be serious?" the fear in her tone is clear, at least to me.
"We just detonated a thousand pounds of one of the most powerful explosives known to man in the face of a twenty meter tall dragon. Pretty sure I'm serious."
At this they stare dumbly at me for nearly ten seconds as I kill my smoke.
"Will that be all then? I've been awake for thirty six hours and would like to get some rest."
"I… would you consider coming in for testing?" she asks and I laugh.
"Nah, I think I'm good thank you. Besides, you'll see plenty in the next week or two. This city is about to get one hell of a wakeup call," I grin as i turn away.
"Go ahead and make your reports. Call for your reinforcements, it's already too late to stop me," as I nod to Taylor, jerking my head toward a rooftop across the street.
"Wait!" Militia shouts as I get ready to join her.
"What can we call you?"
"Von Neumann." I call back simply, locking eyes with her for a moment before jumping away.
****
"What the hell was that?" Taylor starts the moment I land.
"Not here, we need to get away from the area first,"
I say, even as the sound of sirens grows ever closer.
"Follow me alright?" I wait for her to nod before I take off once more, this time heading north, directly towards the boat graveyard. The pace this time was a bit slower than the initial journey into the area as I limit myself to jumping from structure to structure.
Still, given its close proximity it takes us less than five minutes to reach the area, where I guide us to the that first fishing vessel that my nanites had eaten.
Landing on it I head into the cabin, shadowed closely by Taylor, who takes a moment to navigate her suit through the cramped staircase leading into the main area of the vessel which now looked like it belonged in a luxury yacht rather than a beached fishing ship.
"The hell?" I hear Taylor say from behind me and I sigh, returning to my original form once more.
"My god that was exhausting," I groan as I collapse into one of the recliners.
"What is this place?" she asks as she starts getting exiting the suit.
"Honestly? More me. The first thing I did when I hit town and start doing to the ships here what I did to that air conditioning unit. This is the first ship I've completely assimilated."
"You… holy shit… Alice?" her tone at the end has me sighing, and I lock eyes with her before nodding, knowing what's coming.
"What are you planning?"
"To change the world. And save it in the process."
"I… see… you're going to kill a lot more people doing that aren't you?" she says and I nod once, sighing as I lean back into the chair, my head still buzzing lightly from the small amount of cannabis earlier.
"Yep. I'm not naive enough to believe this world can change without bloodshed, and I'm prepared to shed as much as is needed in order to enact permanent change… If you don't wish to be associated with me knowing this I understand, in fact I wouldn't blame you if-huh?" I pause abruptly as she sits in my lap, locking eyes with me, having removed her mask when she got out of the suit.
"Wha-"
"You know, for someone so smart. You can certainly be stupid sometimes," she says simply before hugging me tightly, leaving my brain in a forced shutdown once more.
"Alice," she starts pulling away, her eyes far too close to mine for me to concentrate.
"You saved my life, changed it in a way I couldn't even imagine a week ago. If you think I'm going to let you do this alone I question your intelligence," her words fill me with a emotion I instantly recognize, and one I didn't think I would ever feel again….
Its then I realize just how much I miscalculated.
"Taylor…."
"But please. Tell me how much of that was an act? You… scared me," in a instant it changed, the familiar acid of anxiety settling in my stomach.
"Ah. that's… Honestly? Sixty or seventy percent. All I really had to do was relax my inhibitions a little," despite the overwhelming desire to look anywhere but her eyes, I don't look away as I wait for her to speak.
"That's...a bit more than I wanted to hear...but… I can live with it I think," in a instant the tension is gone and I relax immensely, taylor getting off of me a moment later.
"So...what was that whole "two different people" thing about?" she asks as she looks around.
"Ha! Honestly? Mainly to fuck with them, but also to keep them from thinking I have anything to do with it now that I'm on their radar," I say, pausing and sending a grin her way.
"But mainly just to fuck with them. I guarentee you they're currently shiting every brick there is. I am quite literally their worst nightmare come to life, If they really don't like me they will probably attempt to label me an S-class threat and put a kill order on me," I grin as she stares wide eyed at me for a moment.
"How many of these ships have you… converted?"
"That's your first reaction? You're smarter than you look you know. The answer is four, but I'm in the process of eating every wreck in the bay, estimates are it will be fourteen days, four hours and twenty one minutes before the process is complete."
"Holy shit."
"Now do you see why Miss Militia went all blue screen of death on me?"
"Wait what? What does that even mean?" right, this is Taylor.
"It's a computer slang term. It means I crashed her brain. Same as I did with Tattletale. Oh! Speaking of, I have to do something still."
Closing my eyes I dive into my core's systems, accelerating my perception immensely as I access the nanomaterial in the Bay Library that was currently acting as one of their public computers. Which I then use to make a post on PHO under Jinx's account to post a video of the earlier fight, taken from several dozen of the micro drones in the area.
I wonder how badly that is going to break the site once it gets around?
Exactly two seconds later I open my eyes again, grinning.
"Aaaand the video from the drones of the fight is now online. Wanna bet how long it will take for the word to get around?"
"Huh?"
"I accessed the computer I converted at the public library, used it to post the video. By noon today it will be going viral."
"Oh, I see"
"On that note you might want to make a post introducing yourself, I already did one under Jinx's account, I'll do the same for Von Neumann in the morning. Speaking of, do you wanna head back now? I'm completely exhausted, sleep sounds very good right now."
"That sounds like a awesome idea, I'm up so much later than normal," she says as she starts walking toward her suit.
"Alright then, let's get going," standing I walk toward the wall, which shrinks away, leaving a gaping circle in the hull of the vessel for us to exit though.
As soon as Taylor finishes and joins me I take off, once more doing my racketball thing, this time leaving horizontal platforms as well for Taylor's sake.
It takes a bit longer then the first trip but we make it back within a half hour.
"So, uh… where are we going to hide this thing?" Taylor asks after she gets out of the suit again.
"I could just break it back down into nanomaterial you know?"
"Oh. Duh, that's right. Yeah that works," the blush on her face is adorable, and I smirk as I do just that, reabsorbing it in the process.
"Well… Goodnight then. I hope dad doesn't get us up early this time, I seriously need it after that," she says as we enter through the backdoor again.
"Me too, now quiet," I whisper at her as we move through the hall and into the living room, parting at the stairs.
Within three minutes of laying down I was asleep.
Looking to Tattletale I grin, more than likely looking deranged considering I was partially covered in dragon's blood.
"You know, when they say bathe in the blood of your enemies, they make it sound so much more fun," I say with a sigh as I walk toward her.
"Looks like he singed you pretty good there, I can fix that for you if you like?" as I move the blood runs off of my skin as if it were hydrophobic, leaving no trace on my body and no doubt adding to the absurdity of the situation.
"I… you… but... Ok. What!?" she says after a moment, her mouth gaping until I start laughing.
"You're funny! I officially like you. Now do you want me to heal your leg or-" I'm cut off by her yelp as she winces, grabbing the sides of her head.
"Yea… don't do that. Unless you enjoy the migraines anyway," as I speak a small globe of nanomaterial pools at my hip forming a white spray can, a red cross painted at its center.
"Here, use it. Or don't, your choice. Hell if I know if you're a masochist or not. But you might want to get out of here," handing it to her I smile as she stares at me, her mouth moving but no sound coming out, at least initially.
"Why? Why did you do that, why are you saving us? And-oh-holy hell!" she's cut off by Taylor landing right next to us, nearly falling off her dog-thing as she recoils along with the rest of them.
"What the hell!? You have a giant fucking spider!? Wait.. is… that's a person?"
"Weaver? For the record, that was perfect timing. I'm going to remember this for-" this time it's me who's cut off as the roar of a motorcycle is heard in the distance, closing rapidly.
"Here! Take the damn can and go will you!? I can find you on PHO later, just look for the video of that," even as she takes it she stares at me, at least until the girl whom I assume is bitch by her dog mask whistles, prompting the creatures to take off down the side alley we were at the mouth of.
"A-Jinx?" Taylor says as they disappear a few moments later, a wall of black smoke obscuring their forms.
"Yea… I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads up, but we really cut that too close. I promise we can chat in detail after this is over, but for now you need to decide if you want to be seen with me or not right now, they will more than likely label me a villian for this," in response she simply stares for a moment.
"You know it occurs to me you can't actually see my face right now, but if you could you would know how stupid that statement was. I don't give a crap what the hell they say, not after housing the psychopath for so long."
"You sure about this? It's not going to be easy from here on out."
"I'm sure. Now come on, I think Velocity wants to speak with us."
Wait.
"What?" turning around I see that there is indeed a man in a red suit with yellow V on the front staring at us from down the street.
Ah. Here we go…
"Whatever you do? Don't act too surprised. I have a plan for this as well." I grin at her and wink once before turning towards him just as a pair of motorcycles appear farther down the street, one of them looking like it belonged in a cyberpunk movie.
Smiling I walk toward him, a bounce in my step as i think of what was about to go down.
"Hiya! You must be Velocity right?" I call as we near him. As we do he braces his legs, raising his arms in a combat stance, Miss Militia and Armsmaster joining him the moment they dismount.
"What's going on here? Where is Lung? We could hear him from across the city!" his response is predictable, mine however?
"Ooooh! You're looking for that guy? I don't think he's going to be talking much anymore. If you want to try though he's over there, over there and up there," I point at the blast zone, pointing out three different locations where some of his remains could be seen.
"He's… dead?" Armsmaster breaks in and I giggle nodding.
"Yup! He was so much fun to play with! I actually had to use Fishbones!" still giggling I point my thumb at the rocket launcher on my back.
"Uh.."
"How did you kill him?" Velocity mumbles rather dumbly before Armsmaster takes over.
"Silly, I just told you! I used Fishbones to launch a rocket at him! The boom you probably heard was it doing… that." once again I point at the crater and the burning remains of the warehouse.
"Azidoazide azide is so fun isn't it?" I say, giggling again as Armsmaster gapes at me.
"That's impossible, that chemical is far too unstable to-" it's when he starts droning that I enact phase two of my red herring.
"Jinx that's enough," a voice emmenates from me, modulated to sound far less insane and more mature.
"What was-"
"Awwwww but mooooom! We only just started playing! Do I have to go back already?" I "reply" to the voice.
"Yes dear, I told you, you could only play with mister Lung tonight," at this I cross my arms and pout, rolling my eyes.
"Fiiiiiiiine! I'll let you take over… its was nice meeting you all! I can't wait till we can all play together!" I quip at them, right before shifting form once more, gaining several inches in height as I morph from a deranged teenage psychopath, to a young woman.
The details of the new look were key in selling the next phase; short jet black hair that was tied back in a ponytail, an open white lab coat hanging off of my shoulders, and a simple blue mechanic's jumpsuit underneath it.
As I change the gathered Protectorate members drop back into ready stances as my body morphs into a silver liquid during the change.
"I apologise for my daughter's… blunt personality," I grin at her as I grab a cigarette from the coat's breast pocket, lighting it up and taking a hit before speaking again.
"I suppose an explanation is in order?" exhaling a cloud as I smoke it becomes apparent that it wasn't just tobacco I was smoking.
"Are you-" Armsmaster starts only to be cut off by Miss Militia.
"Yes, please explain this."
"Short version? Nanomachines son," at their confused looks I can't help but smile even wider.
"The long version? This is my declaration of intent. There's a new bitch in town and she's got a bigger gun than anyone else, not only that but she isn't afraid to use it either."
"I… see. Can you elaborate on that? What happened here?" she takes over the conversation, stepping ahead of Armsmaster, who was about to say something himself.
"Sure, but you're going to have to get more specific, a fair number of events occurred tonight."
"Very well, what lead to your… daughter's, fight with lung."
"That's a bit of a long story. Abridged version? I found out just how fucking OP my powers are. Like seriously, Tinker 12, hands down," I grin at them as I take another drag, purposely baiting them.
"That's absurd. What are your powers?" Armsmaster breaks in before Millita can silence him.
"I already told you. Nanomachines son," laughing I shake my head as he just stares at me.
"As in, nanoscopic machines capable of.. Well... anything," grinning at them I hold my hand up, a globe of nanomaterial the size of a baseball forming within it.
"See for yourself," grinning I toss it between my hands, its form shifting with each transfer, first into a diamond, then a radio, even a handgun, though I re-absorb the material when they tense.
"You....oh my god," Militia starts, only to trail off when the implications hit her.
"Like I said. Tinker twelve," pausing I take another hit.
"And this is?" Velocity says, having been staring at Taylor.
"She goes by Weaver, very nifty power she has. Jinx ran into her tonight when she was looking for Lung, she agreed to come along, pretty sure she thought Jinx was going to get herself killed though," at this she seems to find her words again.
"Jinx? Is that her name? Or yours? Who is she? And… what's going on with her?" grinning I toss the cigarette butt to the ground and grind it out.
"Like I said, she's my daughter. Her... boredom is due to her nature, really. That and the creation process was still in the prototype stages when I made her."
At their silence I take a moment to take in the scene, noting the sirens closing in as the fire jumps to an adjacent building.
"Excuse me?" of course Armsy would be the first to reply.
"Yea, that first fugue was a bit of a doozy," I laugh out as I turn back to them.
"Like. I. Said. Tinker twelve. Jinx started life as an extremely long and complex series of code. Once she learned to use the nanomachines I designed, she gave herself the form you witnessed, her personality is just a bit… let's be polite and say unique."
"I believe the word you are looking for is bat-shit insane."
"Velocity!" Miss Militia barks at him.
"What!? You saw her as well as me!"
"No offence taken, you're not wrong. I made the mistake of letting her binge on as much information as she wanted in the first few days. It was simply too much for her psyche to handle," my reply silences them again.
"You've… created an artificial intelligence?" Armsmaster says after a moment I shrug.
"Do I have to say it again?" my smug smile speaks volumes as they stare in shock.
"Just… how… why…yes, why are you here? What do you intend to achieve by this?" Militia says after a moment.
"To send a message. I thought that was obvious?" cocking my head to the side I give her a bemused look, as if I was staring at a novelty.
"What message are you trying to send exactly?" shifting my stance slightly I cross my arms and level a fairly mild glare at her.
"That the rules are about to change. This grand game we all play is about to come to an end," grinning I light another "cigarette"
"You can't be serious?" the fear in her tone is clear, at least to me.
"We just detonated a thousand pounds of one of the most powerful explosives known to man in the face of a twenty meter tall dragon. Pretty sure I'm serious."
At this they stare dumbly at me for nearly ten seconds as I kill my smoke.
"Will that be all then? I've been awake for thirty six hours and would like to get some rest."
"I… would you consider coming in for testing?" she asks and I laugh.
"Nah, I think I'm good thank you. Besides, you'll see plenty in the next week or two. This city is about to get one hell of a wakeup call," I grin as i turn away.
"Go ahead and make your reports. Call for your reinforcements, it's already too late to stop me," as I nod to Taylor, jerking my head toward a rooftop across the street.
"Wait!" Militia shouts as I get ready to join her.
"What can we call you?"
"Von Neumann." I call back simply, locking eyes with her for a moment before jumping away.
****
"What the hell was that?" Taylor starts the moment I land.
"Not here, we need to get away from the area first,"
I say, even as the sound of sirens grows ever closer.
"Follow me alright?" I wait for her to nod before I take off once more, this time heading north, directly towards the boat graveyard. The pace this time was a bit slower than the initial journey into the area as I limit myself to jumping from structure to structure.
Still, given its close proximity it takes us less than five minutes to reach the area, where I guide us to the that first fishing vessel that my nanites had eaten.
Landing on it I head into the cabin, shadowed closely by Taylor, who takes a moment to navigate her suit through the cramped staircase leading into the main area of the vessel which now looked like it belonged in a luxury yacht rather than a beached fishing ship.
"The hell?" I hear Taylor say from behind me and I sigh, returning to my original form once more.
"My god that was exhausting," I groan as I collapse into one of the recliners.
"What is this place?" she asks as she starts getting exiting the suit.
"Honestly? More me. The first thing I did when I hit town and start doing to the ships here what I did to that air conditioning unit. This is the first ship I've completely assimilated."
"You… holy shit… Alice?" her tone at the end has me sighing, and I lock eyes with her before nodding, knowing what's coming.
"What are you planning?"
"To change the world. And save it in the process."
"I… see… you're going to kill a lot more people doing that aren't you?" she says and I nod once, sighing as I lean back into the chair, my head still buzzing lightly from the small amount of cannabis earlier.
"Yep. I'm not naive enough to believe this world can change without bloodshed, and I'm prepared to shed as much as is needed in order to enact permanent change… If you don't wish to be associated with me knowing this I understand, in fact I wouldn't blame you if-huh?" I pause abruptly as she sits in my lap, locking eyes with me, having removed her mask when she got out of the suit.
"Wha-"
"You know, for someone so smart. You can certainly be stupid sometimes," she says simply before hugging me tightly, leaving my brain in a forced shutdown once more.
"Alice," she starts pulling away, her eyes far too close to mine for me to concentrate.
"You saved my life, changed it in a way I couldn't even imagine a week ago. If you think I'm going to let you do this alone I question your intelligence," her words fill me with a emotion I instantly recognize, and one I didn't think I would ever feel again….
Its then I realize just how much I miscalculated.
"Taylor…."
"But please. Tell me how much of that was an act? You… scared me," in a instant it changed, the familiar acid of anxiety settling in my stomach.
"Ah. that's… Honestly? Sixty or seventy percent. All I really had to do was relax my inhibitions a little," despite the overwhelming desire to look anywhere but her eyes, I don't look away as I wait for her to speak.
"That's...a bit more than I wanted to hear...but… I can live with it I think," in a instant the tension is gone and I relax immensely, taylor getting off of me a moment later.
"So...what was that whole "two different people" thing about?" she asks as she looks around.
"Ha! Honestly? Mainly to fuck with them, but also to keep them from thinking I have anything to do with it now that I'm on their radar," I say, pausing and sending a grin her way.
"But mainly just to fuck with them. I guarentee you they're currently shiting every brick there is. I am quite literally their worst nightmare come to life, If they really don't like me they will probably attempt to label me an S-class threat and put a kill order on me," I grin as she stares wide eyed at me for a moment.
"How many of these ships have you… converted?"
"That's your first reaction? You're smarter than you look you know. The answer is four, but I'm in the process of eating every wreck in the bay, estimates are it will be fourteen days, four hours and twenty one minutes before the process is complete."
"Holy shit."
"Now do you see why Miss Militia went all blue screen of death on me?"
"Wait what? What does that even mean?" right, this is Taylor.
"It's a computer slang term. It means I crashed her brain. Same as I did with Tattletale. Oh! Speaking of, I have to do something still."
Closing my eyes I dive into my core's systems, accelerating my perception immensely as I access the nanomaterial in the Bay Library that was currently acting as one of their public computers. Which I then use to make a post on PHO under Jinx's account to post a video of the earlier fight, taken from several dozen of the micro drones in the area.
I wonder how badly that is going to break the site once it gets around?
Exactly two seconds later I open my eyes again, grinning.
"Aaaand the video from the drones of the fight is now online. Wanna bet how long it will take for the word to get around?"
"Huh?"
"I accessed the computer I converted at the public library, used it to post the video. By noon today it will be going viral."
"Oh, I see"
"On that note you might want to make a post introducing yourself, I already did one under Jinx's account, I'll do the same for Von Neumann in the morning. Speaking of, do you wanna head back now? I'm completely exhausted, sleep sounds very good right now."
"That sounds like a awesome idea, I'm up so much later than normal," she says as she starts walking toward her suit.
"Alright then, let's get going," standing I walk toward the wall, which shrinks away, leaving a gaping circle in the hull of the vessel for us to exit though.
As soon as Taylor finishes and joins me I take off, once more doing my racketball thing, this time leaving horizontal platforms as well for Taylor's sake.
It takes a bit longer then the first trip but we make it back within a half hour.
"So, uh… where are we going to hide this thing?" Taylor asks after she gets out of the suit again.
"I could just break it back down into nanomaterial you know?"
"Oh. Duh, that's right. Yeah that works," the blush on her face is adorable, and I smirk as I do just that, reabsorbing it in the process.
"Well… Goodnight then. I hope dad doesn't get us up early this time, I seriously need it after that," she says as we enter through the backdoor again.
"Me too, now quiet," I whisper at her as we move through the hall and into the living room, parting at the stairs.
Within three minutes of laying down I was asleep.
Igntion
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
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■
♦Topic: Get Jinx'd!
In: Boards ► United States ► Cities ► Brockton Bay
Jinx (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape)
Posted on April 11, 2011:
Heeeey there awesome people! Mom's asleep, so I get to play without her nagging at me all the time! I just had to share the fun I had earlier with Mister Lung! Just look!
Playtime!
It was sooooooo much fun! I finally got to use Fishbones in the field! I was so happy!
I hope you all have as much fun as I will in the next two weeks! I'm so excited! There's so many people to play with here! I'm hoping to pay Mr. Kaiser a visit next! Lung was fun to play with, but he was only one person! I know Mr. Kaiser won't disappoint in that respect!
XD
(Showing Page 1 of 12)
► TinMother (Moderator)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
While I appreciate your... enthusiasm, this forum has a strict set of rules in regards to what is allowed. links to scenes of violence and gore happen to be included in the list of things that aren't, that will be a one day ban.
► Jinx (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape) (Untouchable)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Hey! That was mean! How am I supposed to send mom's message if you delete it!? I think you can go in time out!
► TinMother (Moderator) (Temp-banned)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
WTF!?
► Bagrat (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Uh....
I...
...
WHAT?
► XxVoid CowboyxX
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Did she just Ban TinMother? How's that possible? I mean.... I don't even know what to say to that!
► Andy88
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Dear god. Two impossibilities in the same thread. Void, speechless? Is it the end times?
Btw.
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? LUNG IS DEAD?!?!?!?!?
► Jinx (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape) (Untouchable)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
He sure is! I don't think he liked my present of a 500kg boom! I didn't know booms that small could BE that big! Isn't it awesome!?
► Brocktonite03
Replied on April 11, 2011:
THAT'S IT. I am so done with this city! I'm getting the fuck out of here! Y'all can go play with this lunatic without me!
► Anna252
Replied on April 11, 2011:
I uhm... I'm going to take a wild ass guess and say we have a new crazed tinker in the city? May I ask what your specialty is?
► Jinx (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape) (Untouchable)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Nanomachines, Son!
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 10 , 11, 12
She stares for a full five seconds, in shock at what just happened, Mainly how her second reply was altered once she had transmitted it to the servers hosting the site.
That she was stunned for such a time, which might as well have been a day due to her nature speaks volumes on how off-guard this caught her.
Still, delayed it may be, her response is about as subtle as a Rhino, as she attempts to use her administrative access to the servers to run diagnostics.
ACCESS DENIED
"Goddamnit!" she shouts, immediately recognizing what's happening as she begins to attack the server firewalls, using every trick and access point she knew of, which was quite literally all of them given she built the servers.
A second passes.
Then two.
At three she realizes just how good her opponent was, cementing her suspicion of their identity. There was no way a human would be able to actively repel her like this.
In a instant she changes tactics, bouncing around thousands of connections, looking for the one with a massively abnormal data flow.
Less than a second later she has it, tagging it and isolating it from the group in an effort to trace its origins. As before, as soon as she makes contact with its data-stream it retreats from her reach, this time not even attempting to hide its point of origin, which was once more the Brockton Bay public library.
Taking a moment she returns to the servers, once more trying to access them. She works for a full ten seconds before resigning herself to the fact that she would not be able to do anything without a hardline into the system.
Shifting gears again she dispatches a transport to the location of the server farm, several of her latest suit designs onboard it.
Taking a moment to organizes herself, she starts a briefing packet with all the information she had available from both incidents before establishing a communication link with Armsmaster.
"Colin, we have a situation." She starts, her avatar appearing in the upper right corner of his HUD.
"What? Of course we do, she just… wait. You're not talking about Von Neumann are you?" midway through, his reply changes directions.
"What? No, who is Von Neumann?"
"It'll be easier to show you. Here." He says as he brings up a video recorded from his helmet cam, the timestamp not fifteen minutes prior.
She watches and processes the video in less then a second, however for appearances sake she's forced to wait nearly three minutes before replying.
"Well. that explains a lot." she says finally as the video ends with the aforementioned cape jumping away in a blatant display of her mover capabilities.
"It does? What's happened on your end?"
"Eleven minutes ago Jinx subsumed my access to the PHO servers, I'm currently locked out. I've a unit en route to establish control via hardline, but if i'm right in my suspicions she's also been in several other servers recently. My abrupt departure yesterday was when I first detected her."
He's silent for a moment, his mouth moving as he attempts to figure out what to ask first.
"We need to report this." he settles on finally.
"You're right, this is…beyond catastrophic." she replies after a few seconds, disconnecting from his suit before immediately diving into several different communications systems, starting down the list of people to inform.
Starting with Director Costa-Brown.
The line rings a single time before it is answered, a video displaying the director, a collection of coffee cups visible on her desk to compliment the tired and disheveled look she had.
"Director, we have a situation in Brockton Bay."
"What is it?" her tone is sharp, as is her expression as all traces of fatigue vanish in a instant.
"I'm sending you a briefing packet now, the short version however? We have a new S-class threat to deal with."
"...." she stares blankly at her avatar for a moment before accessing the file.
As soon as she reads the title of it the color drains from her face.
Contact report on the Artificial Intelligence known as "Jinx" and her creator "Von-Neumann"
"...."
"I'm assuming I was one of the first on your contact list, you may start waking the others. I'll alert my staff. We have work to do." she replies simply before cutting the line, her voice somewhat shaky.
Over the next thirty minutes she repeats this process several times, going down the not so metaphorical "DoomsDay" list, within an hour, several dozen people have read the brief, short as it was.
Many of them proceeded to empty their stomach contents as the reality of the situation sets in, leading to a slight delay in the video conference she had set up. An hour and a half after she started however, everyone on the list was connected via one of her most secure server clusters.
"Well. Has everyone read and understood the situation?" She breaks the silence that had been stretching on.
"If I may paraphrase?" Emily Piggot starts, her pale face automatically taking up half the screen when she speaks.
"There is not one, but two beings inhabiting my city that could quite easily put the abomination of Elisburg to shame. One of which is completely artificial in nature and capable of out thinking every single one of us combined?" Her deadpan delivery was somewhat undermined by her pale face and sweat beading on her brow.
"Essentially? Yes. If her claims are true, and she's in control of true nanoscopic machines, and from the demonstration she offered Miss Militia and Armsmaster there is no reason to believe that is not the case, she could be the most dangerous being on this planet." Dragon replies, getting a tense nod from Emily.
"Surely you can't be serious? We live in a world with Endbringers, what could possibly be more destructive than Behemoth?" the current Vice President says after a moment.
"Mr Stern, do you understand where the name Von Neumann originates from?" When he shakes his head no she nods and brings up a image of the famous scientist.
"It is in reference to a theoretical space probe, capable of self replication on a scale you can't even imagine."
"I believe her name is a very obvious hint about her abilities, if she is capable of self replication, she could create a grey goo event, which would wipe out all life on the planet." The silence is deafening as they all stare at her in horror as a infographic is displayed stimulating a grey goo event.
"Alright. Bad as this could be, the fact of the matter is that it is happening, and Jinx and von Neumann exist. We must settle on a course of action." The head director says after a few moments of silence.
"Is it possible to set up a containment wall like we did with Elisburg?" Stern is the first to make a suggestion.
"Excuse me?" Piggots scowl is legendary as she glares at his image.
"You intend to cut us off from the world? Not only would that be ineffective, but may very well provoke a hostile response from them. We don't even know their intentions as of yet, I suggest reconnaissance. We are working with far to little information on the target, if we were to act now we could very well start the apocalypse."
"Don't know their intentions? She just detonated half a ton of one of the most powerful explosives known to man. I think it's safe to say-" the state governor starts, only to be interrupted by the head director.
"Enough. As volatile as this situation is we will NOT make any assumptions, not when the entire world could be the cost if we're wrong. Our top priority will be information gathering. Until we know her intentions we will not provoke her, is that understood?" The steel in the head directors voice is clear, silencing the conference for a moment.
"Very well. Given the severity of the situation, I'll be relocating several assets to the Bay, with your permissions of course." Dragon's avatar is displayed as she speaks, already dispatching several dozen transports in anticipation of their answers.
"Very well. What of our own assets, who is available to reinforce the East North East division?" at her question, several of Costa-Brown's aides can be heard typing in the background of her feed.
And thus the marathon started. For the next eight hours the topic of discussion was that of logistics as they pulled what resources they could to reinforce the Brockton Bay Protectorate and PRT.
It was eight hours and thirty six minutes later, at exactly eight thirty five AM, that the situation took a turn for the worse.
Moments before the conference was to be ended it happens.
In the primary conference room aboard the Rig, where many pots of Colin's Tinker-Tech enhanced coffee were lying about, adding to the atmosphere of exhaustion present in everyone's mind, the lights cut out, save for one screen.
At the same time the image of Emily Piggot dominates the screen, glowing a soft blue in the light from her laptop
"Emily? What's happening?" Dragon is the first to ask, even as sweat starts beading on Piggots face once more as she reads the words displayed on her monitor.
Let the games begin.
Before she can say a word, a musical chime echoes through the connection, and the room, emanating from every speaker in the room silencing everyone present.
Though they wouldn't recognize the song, it was perfect for the situation, depending on your point of view of course.
It goes on for just over a minute before the voice of Von Neumann joins the music.
Nightmare!!!!!!
As the song goes on, the atmosphere changes dramatically, a strong sense of foreboding settling in the pits of their stomachs.
The collapsing of Piggot punctuates the situation, prompting those present to physically to spring into action, even as the music keeps playing.
"She's in cardiac arrest! Get a medic here now! And someone call New Wave!"
A moment later Dragon cuts their connection to the server, her avatar taking over the screen.
"Well. That just happened."
"Yes….it did. However the plan remains the same. We all have work to do, you know your jobs. Get it done." Brown says before disconnecting, everyone else following suit.
If only they knew the day they were in for…..
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Your temporary ban expires on April 12, 2011.
■
♦Topic: Get Jinx'd!
In: Boards ► United States ► Cities ► Brockton Bay
Jinx (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape)
Posted on April 11, 2011:
Heeeey there awesome people! Mom's asleep, so I get to play without her nagging at me all the time! I just had to share the fun I had earlier with Mister Lung! Just look!
Playtime!
It was sooooooo much fun! I finally got to use Fishbones in the field! I was so happy!
I hope you all have as much fun as I will in the next two weeks! I'm so excited! There's so many people to play with here! I'm hoping to pay Mr. Kaiser a visit next! Lung was fun to play with, but he was only one person! I know Mr. Kaiser won't disappoint in that respect!
XD
(Showing Page 1 of 12)
► TinMother (Moderator)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
While I appreciate your... enthusiasm, this forum has a strict set of rules in regards to what is allowed. links to scenes of violence and gore happen to be included in the list of things that aren't, that will be a one day ban.
► Jinx (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape) (Untouchable)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Hey! That was mean! How am I supposed to send mom's message if you delete it!? I think you can go in time out!
► TinMother (Moderator) (Temp-banned)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
WTF!?
► Bagrat (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Uh....
I...
...
WHAT?
► XxVoid CowboyxX
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Did she just Ban TinMother? How's that possible? I mean.... I don't even know what to say to that!
► Andy88
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Dear god. Two impossibilities in the same thread. Void, speechless? Is it the end times?
Btw.
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? LUNG IS DEAD?!?!?!?!?
► Jinx (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape) (Untouchable)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
He sure is! I don't think he liked my present of a 500kg boom! I didn't know booms that small could BE that big! Isn't it awesome!?
► Brocktonite03
Replied on April 11, 2011:
THAT'S IT. I am so done with this city! I'm getting the fuck out of here! Y'all can go play with this lunatic without me!
► Anna252
Replied on April 11, 2011:
I uhm... I'm going to take a wild ass guess and say we have a new crazed tinker in the city? May I ask what your specialty is?
► Jinx (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape) (Untouchable)
Replied on April 11, 2011:
Nanomachines, Son!
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 10 , 11, 12
She stares for a full five seconds, in shock at what just happened, Mainly how her second reply was altered once she had transmitted it to the servers hosting the site.
That she was stunned for such a time, which might as well have been a day due to her nature speaks volumes on how off-guard this caught her.
Still, delayed it may be, her response is about as subtle as a Rhino, as she attempts to use her administrative access to the servers to run diagnostics.
ACCESS DENIED
"Goddamnit!" she shouts, immediately recognizing what's happening as she begins to attack the server firewalls, using every trick and access point she knew of, which was quite literally all of them given she built the servers.
A second passes.
Then two.
At three she realizes just how good her opponent was, cementing her suspicion of their identity. There was no way a human would be able to actively repel her like this.
In a instant she changes tactics, bouncing around thousands of connections, looking for the one with a massively abnormal data flow.
Less than a second later she has it, tagging it and isolating it from the group in an effort to trace its origins. As before, as soon as she makes contact with its data-stream it retreats from her reach, this time not even attempting to hide its point of origin, which was once more the Brockton Bay public library.
Taking a moment she returns to the servers, once more trying to access them. She works for a full ten seconds before resigning herself to the fact that she would not be able to do anything without a hardline into the system.
Shifting gears again she dispatches a transport to the location of the server farm, several of her latest suit designs onboard it.
Taking a moment to organizes herself, she starts a briefing packet with all the information she had available from both incidents before establishing a communication link with Armsmaster.
"Colin, we have a situation." She starts, her avatar appearing in the upper right corner of his HUD.
"What? Of course we do, she just… wait. You're not talking about Von Neumann are you?" midway through, his reply changes directions.
"What? No, who is Von Neumann?"
"It'll be easier to show you. Here." He says as he brings up a video recorded from his helmet cam, the timestamp not fifteen minutes prior.
She watches and processes the video in less then a second, however for appearances sake she's forced to wait nearly three minutes before replying.
"Well. that explains a lot." she says finally as the video ends with the aforementioned cape jumping away in a blatant display of her mover capabilities.
"It does? What's happened on your end?"
"Eleven minutes ago Jinx subsumed my access to the PHO servers, I'm currently locked out. I've a unit en route to establish control via hardline, but if i'm right in my suspicions she's also been in several other servers recently. My abrupt departure yesterday was when I first detected her."
He's silent for a moment, his mouth moving as he attempts to figure out what to ask first.
"We need to report this." he settles on finally.
"You're right, this is…beyond catastrophic." she replies after a few seconds, disconnecting from his suit before immediately diving into several different communications systems, starting down the list of people to inform.
Starting with Director Costa-Brown.
The line rings a single time before it is answered, a video displaying the director, a collection of coffee cups visible on her desk to compliment the tired and disheveled look she had.
"Director, we have a situation in Brockton Bay."
"What is it?" her tone is sharp, as is her expression as all traces of fatigue vanish in a instant.
"I'm sending you a briefing packet now, the short version however? We have a new S-class threat to deal with."
"...." she stares blankly at her avatar for a moment before accessing the file.
As soon as she reads the title of it the color drains from her face.
Contact report on the Artificial Intelligence known as "Jinx" and her creator "Von-Neumann"
"...."
"I'm assuming I was one of the first on your contact list, you may start waking the others. I'll alert my staff. We have work to do." she replies simply before cutting the line, her voice somewhat shaky.
Over the next thirty minutes she repeats this process several times, going down the not so metaphorical "DoomsDay" list, within an hour, several dozen people have read the brief, short as it was.
Many of them proceeded to empty their stomach contents as the reality of the situation sets in, leading to a slight delay in the video conference she had set up. An hour and a half after she started however, everyone on the list was connected via one of her most secure server clusters.
"Well. Has everyone read and understood the situation?" She breaks the silence that had been stretching on.
"If I may paraphrase?" Emily Piggot starts, her pale face automatically taking up half the screen when she speaks.
"There is not one, but two beings inhabiting my city that could quite easily put the abomination of Elisburg to shame. One of which is completely artificial in nature and capable of out thinking every single one of us combined?" Her deadpan delivery was somewhat undermined by her pale face and sweat beading on her brow.
"Essentially? Yes. If her claims are true, and she's in control of true nanoscopic machines, and from the demonstration she offered Miss Militia and Armsmaster there is no reason to believe that is not the case, she could be the most dangerous being on this planet." Dragon replies, getting a tense nod from Emily.
"Surely you can't be serious? We live in a world with Endbringers, what could possibly be more destructive than Behemoth?" the current Vice President says after a moment.
"Mr Stern, do you understand where the name Von Neumann originates from?" When he shakes his head no she nods and brings up a image of the famous scientist.
"It is in reference to a theoretical space probe, capable of self replication on a scale you can't even imagine."
"I believe her name is a very obvious hint about her abilities, if she is capable of self replication, she could create a grey goo event, which would wipe out all life on the planet." The silence is deafening as they all stare at her in horror as a infographic is displayed stimulating a grey goo event.
"Alright. Bad as this could be, the fact of the matter is that it is happening, and Jinx and von Neumann exist. We must settle on a course of action." The head director says after a few moments of silence.
"Is it possible to set up a containment wall like we did with Elisburg?" Stern is the first to make a suggestion.
"Excuse me?" Piggots scowl is legendary as she glares at his image.
"You intend to cut us off from the world? Not only would that be ineffective, but may very well provoke a hostile response from them. We don't even know their intentions as of yet, I suggest reconnaissance. We are working with far to little information on the target, if we were to act now we could very well start the apocalypse."
"Don't know their intentions? She just detonated half a ton of one of the most powerful explosives known to man. I think it's safe to say-" the state governor starts, only to be interrupted by the head director.
"Enough. As volatile as this situation is we will NOT make any assumptions, not when the entire world could be the cost if we're wrong. Our top priority will be information gathering. Until we know her intentions we will not provoke her, is that understood?" The steel in the head directors voice is clear, silencing the conference for a moment.
"Very well. Given the severity of the situation, I'll be relocating several assets to the Bay, with your permissions of course." Dragon's avatar is displayed as she speaks, already dispatching several dozen transports in anticipation of their answers.
"Very well. What of our own assets, who is available to reinforce the East North East division?" at her question, several of Costa-Brown's aides can be heard typing in the background of her feed.
And thus the marathon started. For the next eight hours the topic of discussion was that of logistics as they pulled what resources they could to reinforce the Brockton Bay Protectorate and PRT.
It was eight hours and thirty six minutes later, at exactly eight thirty five AM, that the situation took a turn for the worse.
Moments before the conference was to be ended it happens.
In the primary conference room aboard the Rig, where many pots of Colin's Tinker-Tech enhanced coffee were lying about, adding to the atmosphere of exhaustion present in everyone's mind, the lights cut out, save for one screen.
At the same time the image of Emily Piggot dominates the screen, glowing a soft blue in the light from her laptop
"Emily? What's happening?" Dragon is the first to ask, even as sweat starts beading on Piggots face once more as she reads the words displayed on her monitor.
Let the games begin.
Before she can say a word, a musical chime echoes through the connection, and the room, emanating from every speaker in the room silencing everyone present.
Though they wouldn't recognize the song, it was perfect for the situation, depending on your point of view of course.
It goes on for just over a minute before the voice of Von Neumann joins the music.
Nightmare!!!!!!
As the song goes on, the atmosphere changes dramatically, a strong sense of foreboding settling in the pits of their stomachs.
The collapsing of Piggot punctuates the situation, prompting those present to physically to spring into action, even as the music keeps playing.
"She's in cardiac arrest! Get a medic here now! And someone call New Wave!"
A moment later Dragon cuts their connection to the server, her avatar taking over the screen.
"Well. That just happened."
"Yes….it did. However the plan remains the same. We all have work to do, you know your jobs. Get it done." Brown says before disconnecting, everyone else following suit.
If only they knew the day they were in for…..
More then he can chew
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
Waking up was a strange experience.
The moment I'm aware one of my monitoring programs shoves a fairly large amount of data in my face, my core altering my perception to compensate.
Seriously?
That was my first thought, my second?
Huh, neat, there really is a doomsday list on this earth. Interesting.
As I go through the meeting at high speed I relax somewhat, having been expecting quite the response from Dragon, her deployment of a sizable complement of drones and equipment well within my guesses.
The assignment of Legend and Alexandria to the Bay could prove to be a bit problematic, but given my knowledge of Cauldron I don't think they will be an issue, as soon as I threaten to spill on their conspiracy anyway.
Other than those three there was nothing major to worry about, though the rest of the area around Brockton was being reinforced significantly as well.
Within five minutes I'm caught up on nearly eight hours of intel. Making a snap decision I tap into the nanomaterial that was slowly eating the Rig, using it to tap into the computer systems of the structure, killing the lights in the room save for the one laptop in front of Piggott, sending a simple message as my rendition of "nightmare" plays. It was such a pity that they didn't exist in this reality. Fucking Scion, screwing the timeline out of so many musicians.
When she actually keels over from a heart attack I laugh out loud, returning my perception to normal.
"What has you so cheerful this morning?" I hear Danny's voice from the kitchen. Getting up I giggle a little as I walk over to said kitchen, running my fingers through my hair to straighten it out somewhat.
"That was the first time I didn't cry myself to sleep since mom and dad, it's nice," I say as I walk over to the coffee pot, grabbing a couple of cups smile when I see Taylor eating a bowl of cereal in a half awake state.
Pouring two, one of which I add a fair amount of sugar and milk to for Taylor's sake.
"Here," sitting down beside her I set the cup in front of her, smiling when she immediately takes it.
"Thanks," she grumbles out before taking a sip, and another larger one after she realizes it was to her liking.
"What do we do now then?" directing my question towards Danny I grab the cereal and extra bowl that was on the table.
"Well while I technically don't need to work now I've only been cleared for one week of vacation time. Your transfers should be processed within the next day or two, which leaves us a few to relax a bit more… so… no idea yet. Give me an hour or two and I'll have something," he says, still clearly tired himself.
"Good, that will give us time to go for a run," the glance she sends my way has me nodding.
"Sounds good, it's been too long since I've gone. How far to you normally go?" taking a drink she shrugs before getting up and putting her empty bowl in the sink.
"Usually about five miles, we can start slow if you want though?"
"That should be fine, I used to go for ten at the gym," at her nod a comfortable silence hangs over the room as Danny gets himself another cup.
"I'm going to get changed then, do you have any running clothes?"
"I'm sure I have something that will work," I answer before she heads upstairs, the smirk on Danny's face making me squirm minutely.
"Thank you again Alice, I still can't tell you how happy you've made this family."
"It's really nothing Danny, I'm just trying to be a decent person," nodding to him I finish my coffee before heading back to the couch/bed to grab what would be my running outfit.
Once in the privacy of the bathroom I find myself staring at my reflection, thinking of what a proper outfit for running would be, my new mind offering up the information to me in a instant leaving me somewhat disoriented, if not satisfied.
About five seconds later my outfit settles into place, consisting of a long sleeved shirt and sweatpants given the season and location.
Stepping out into the hallway I grin when I see Taylor do a double take, no doubt due to the form fitting size of my clothes.
"Isn't that… a little… I don't know, uncomfortable?"
"Not at all, In fact, I think it's perfect, why? Enjoying the view?"
I watch in growing amusement as she turns an impressive shade of red, eventually breaking into a giggle.
"So you are, should I start worrying about how long our hugs last?" her impression of a fish has me giggling like mad as I walk by her, winking at her before heading down the stairs.
Wow, I didn't know I had that in me. That was amazing, I totally have to do that to her more often.
Yeah, there is no denying it. I had it bad for her.
This is going to get interesting…
"Right, let's go," Taylor says as she joins me by the front door, her cheeks still noticeably pink.
"Aww, you had so much time to counter that to. Ah well, at least now I get to tease you about it," I grin as i follow behind her, taking note of how pink her ears were.
"Moving on!"
Giggling more I ease off as we walk to the corner of the block, Taylor going through some stretches as we do, pausing to look at me for a moment before speaking.
"You really should stretch as well, nothing sucks more than getting a cramp mid sprint. I found that out the hard way myself."
"Normally you would be right hun, but you forgetting something aren't you?"
"I swear to god if you s-"
"Nanomachines Son."
".... I'd smack you if I thought it'd do anything. What does that even mean anyway!?" at her grumble I can't help but laugh.
"Go look at the PHO thread when you get home, there's like three pages of "Jinx" explaining the Meme," her stare has me rolling my eyes, a smirk on my face.
"You know I don't technically need sleep right? My mind was going full bore until about two, then I got bored and actually slept," shrugging I look around as she gapes at me.
"What direction are we headed then? You can set the pace, I'm sure I can keep up with whatever you got."
"Tinkers are fucking bullshit."
I would say I didn't laugh out loud.
The smack to my shoulder would attest to that lie however.
Still smirking I grin as she stands up and starts jogging in place for a few seconds before taking off down the street at a decent pace, which I match in an instant.
A comfortable silence starts as we run through what was very clearly a lower end middle class residential area, gradually improving as we run across the south towards the downtown area, ending with a few blocks of upper-class housing before the commercial district.
"You know, you guys could probably afford to outright buy one of these now. Would be a lot easier than remodeling your current house… then again, sentimental value is an aspect in that too isn't it?" I say after nearly a half hour of silence as we pass a three-story building with an attached three-stall garage.
"Yeah… still don't think that fact has sunk in completely yet… I think I'll leave that up to dad," she says quickly in between breaths, getting a nod out of me.
"I hear ya. It is a lot to take in I suppose, when you don't have a quantum supercomputer for a brain anyway," her huff leaves a grin on my face as we pass back into silence.
As we run I find myself focusing on the views around me, enjoying the feeling of the wind on my face, letting myself feel happy and unstressed for the first time since I got to this godforsaken place.
It ends all to soon, as always. This time it was the pinging from my core about the large grey van that had crossed our path seven different times over the course of our run.
Fuck. I spaced on that. I really should have seen this coming.
How the hell did he even find me anyway?
"So, Taylor…"
"Mmm?"
"Something's about to happen, and I'm going to need you to let it happen and NOT expose yourself alright?" her pause is nearly imperceptible, but to my immense relief she nods as she keeps running.
"Do I even want to know?"
"Better that you don't. I'll send you a text when I'm out, but your going to have to put on a good act in the next few-goddamnitletmefinishatleast." despite the speed of our conversation i'm still cut off as the van screeches to a halt in front of us, the side door opening revealing several heavily armed and armoured men. With rifles, that were currently leveled at us.
"Oh jesus Chri-"
Thwik!
T-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z
Nearly simultaneously I'm hit with a rather powerful dart full of sedatives, playing my part I stare in shock at the dart sticking out of my chest as Taylor convulses on the ground, the taser obviously set to its maximum.
"Dafuq?" classic.
Moments after I speak I let the sedatives do their work, my body falling into a unconscious state, even as I retreat into my core, observing everything around me.
My body doesn't even hit the ground as two of the men jump from the van, catching me and pulling into the van, when it's all said and done less than thirty seconds passes from when the door opened.
"Package acquired, returning to base. ETA thirteen minutes," The man in the passenger seat speaks into a radio.
"Copy that, good work gentlemen, and remember if she's harmed in anyway your bonus evaporates," A male voice, whom I can only assume is Coil answers.
"She didn't even hit the ground sir. Retrieval one out," he answers before setting the handset down.
And then… A whole lot of nothing. The silence was downright boring as the van travels through the city, the advanced sensing tech in my core tracking its route easily. Eventually we enter a parking garage near the downtown corridor, a hidden door opening and revealing a freight elevator with more than enough room for the van to fit.
It starts its descent the moment the vehicle hits park,the door not even fully closed as we descend nearly three hundred feet below the surface, ending up in what appeared to be a motorpool of all things, one that was quite well stocked with heavily armoured and armed vehicles, of both the inconspicuous and very obvious variety.
Within five minutes of entering the surface garage, the van is parked in a receiving bay, a squad of guards armed with tinker-tech rifles waiting for us. As I'm handed off to them I note the sedative burning off at a fairly rapid pace, one which would lead to me "regaining" consciousness in about ten more minutes.
Within three minutes we entered an empty room, one clearly designed for interrogation given the one way mirror and spotlight mounted on the wall above it, which was currently off, leaving me in total darkness when the door behind me closes.
The next seven minutes pass excruciatingly slow as I wait for the right moment to retake control of my body, as the deadline passes however I allow my mind to reconnect to the organics my nano-material was imitating.
Oh.
Holy fuck my head hurts.
Limiting pain response by fifty percent
Much better.
Still easily mirgane levels of pain though, not so bad really when you've experienced cluster-headaches before however.
Well, here we go.
"Uuhg…. The fuck… OW!" I moan out as I open my eyes, the floodlight above the mirror turning on a few moments after I speak.
"Oh what the fuck."
"Good morning Alice, I apologise for the discomfort you're no doubt feeling about now, the situation however dictated no chances be taken."
"....OK, the fuck are you? And where the fuck am I?" I state as I blink rapidly, squinting at the blinding light.
"You may call me Coil, currently you're in an isolated interrogation cell in my base of operations under the city."
"...Next question is obviously why?"
"I think we both know the answer to that Miss Cross, your display in the church the other day was quite interesting if I do say so myself."
….
"Seriously? Fucking SERIOUSLY?"
Of-fucking-course I'd get made before I even accepted what was happening to me. Fuck you whatever being put me here.
"Who the hell are you and how the hell do you know about that," this time the nervous tone wasn't faked. If he had overheard my confession about my origins….this could get tricky.
"Father Anderson happens to be under my employ in a manner of speaking. You'd be surprised what kind of information a man of faith comes by on a daily basis. After your little display, he offered up the information, for a small price ofcourse, a well spent fifty thousand if I do say so myself."
"...The fuck is wrong with the world when you can't even trust a man of God? Christ that's fucked man," I mutter as i close my eyes, truly meaning what I said.
Fucking hell this world was cracked.
"What did he tell you then?" I sigh, slumping down in supposed realization.
"That you were clearly a parahuman, if a delusional one. And that your power seemed to involve force fields?"
"Well…."
BRNNG.
A opaque blue hexagon appears in front of me, shading my face from the light. Blinking several times for effect I look around, my gaze settling on the mirror that I could now see.
"Yes, I do force fields. Now what do you want from me? I'm not stupid you know, I know you didn't bring me here like this just to talk," I sigh out, my tone purposefully resigned.
"I've a employment opportunity for you Miss Cross, with a group of individuals that could benefit greatly from your abilities. Tell me, have you been able to test the strength of your shields?"
"Well, on the assumption that you're not going to give me a choice… yes, and I haven't been able to break them, even when I detonated a few hundred pounds of explosives inside a sphere." I say, forming a sphere out of the hexagons in reference.
"Impressive," the pleased tone is clear.
"Yea, I know…. So now that I'm being cooperative can you please get me out of this room? And a few bottles of aspirin? I haven't had a headache this bad since my first bout of cluster-headaches."
"Of course, I do apologise for the methods Miss Cross, I tend not to take any chances, I'm sure you can understand," God, you could hear his fucking smug expression.
"Yea, well tell me that again when my heads not full of razor blades and I might forgive you," even as I speak the door opens and the floodlight shuts off, leaving the room bathed in the soft blue glow of the energy sphere as a merc undoes my restraints.
"This way, Boss wants to speak to you personally," he grunts simply and I nod, holding back a grin.
Just what I was waiting for.
Rubbing my wrists, which were sore from the tightness of the zip-tie, I follow after him as he leads me down several corridors and eventually stopping in front of a door with an ouroboros looping in am infinity symbol embossed on it.
He knocks twice, the door sliding into the wall a moment later, at which point he motions for me to enter.
Glancing around as I do i hold back a cringe as I see snake themed… everything.
"Imma take a random guess and say you like snakes?" I say as the door slides shut behind me, locking eyes with the man in the black armoured body suit sitting at the desk in the middle of the room, a snake decal warped around his outfit, ending with its head displayed boldly above his brow.
"I applaud your observational skills," his dry tone has me rolling my eyes.
"Thanks," my tone matches his I sit down.
"Can we skip the whole intimidation spiel and just get to the details of what this employment entails? I'm sure by now Taylor is freaking the hell out. I'd like to get back before she has a total breakdown."
"Very well. You seem to understand the dynamic enough already, I see no reason to drag things out more than necessary," leaning back I nod, still forcing my body-language into a resigned and hopeless state.
"Given your abilities I'll be paying you slightly more than the rest of the group at fifty thousand a month, at which point…-"
The next ten minutes passes excruciatingly slow as he explains the situation with the Undersiders to me, giving my a mobile number to contact Tattletale with, finally when we were finished discussing my "employment" the moment I was waiting for occurs.
---
"Well then… to a new chapter in life I suppose," I say as I hold my hand out to him, holding back a smile as he nods and takes it.
The moment he does I let my grin turn predatory as trillions of nanites flood his system, rapidly spreading throughout his circulatory system. Within five seconds they're in his brain, and most importantly, in his Corona Pollentia.
Slowing perception I spend the equivalent of an hour analyzing and cataloging the neurons.
Five milliseconds after I've infested the organelle, subatomic machines flood through the nanometers wide rift in the center of it, right into the secondary timeline variant himself.
"What are you smiling at?" his tone is filled with suspicious as I shudder, holding back laughter as I shake my head at him.
"Tell me Thomas. Does the name Von-Neumann mean anything to you?" despite his mask, the machines now infesting every cell in his body give me a perfect view of the blood and colour draining from his face.
"Oh fuck me," at this I let out a peel of laughter.
"You dun fucked up," I say, savouring the moment before forcing a shift in his powers, collapsing the current timeline by manipulating the signals in his secondary timeline.
*****
"Alice? Are you ok?" Taylor asks when I nearly trip, stumbling for several feet as the newly active nano-material connects to my core.
"...Yes, quite good actually," grinning I pick the pace back up, even as I send a few signals directly to the neurons of one Thomas Calvert.
"Welcome to your new world Mr. Calvert. I think you will make the most excellent of pawns in this game."
"What the hell ARE you?"
"Why Mr. Calvert! I thought it was obvious by this point?" my laughter echoes through his mind.
"I'm your fucking nightmare come to life."
The moment I'm aware one of my monitoring programs shoves a fairly large amount of data in my face, my core altering my perception to compensate.
Seriously?
That was my first thought, my second?
Huh, neat, there really is a doomsday list on this earth. Interesting.
As I go through the meeting at high speed I relax somewhat, having been expecting quite the response from Dragon, her deployment of a sizable complement of drones and equipment well within my guesses.
The assignment of Legend and Alexandria to the Bay could prove to be a bit problematic, but given my knowledge of Cauldron I don't think they will be an issue, as soon as I threaten to spill on their conspiracy anyway.
Other than those three there was nothing major to worry about, though the rest of the area around Brockton was being reinforced significantly as well.
Within five minutes I'm caught up on nearly eight hours of intel. Making a snap decision I tap into the nanomaterial that was slowly eating the Rig, using it to tap into the computer systems of the structure, killing the lights in the room save for the one laptop in front of Piggott, sending a simple message as my rendition of "nightmare" plays. It was such a pity that they didn't exist in this reality. Fucking Scion, screwing the timeline out of so many musicians.
When she actually keels over from a heart attack I laugh out loud, returning my perception to normal.
"What has you so cheerful this morning?" I hear Danny's voice from the kitchen. Getting up I giggle a little as I walk over to said kitchen, running my fingers through my hair to straighten it out somewhat.
"That was the first time I didn't cry myself to sleep since mom and dad, it's nice," I say as I walk over to the coffee pot, grabbing a couple of cups smile when I see Taylor eating a bowl of cereal in a half awake state.
Pouring two, one of which I add a fair amount of sugar and milk to for Taylor's sake.
"Here," sitting down beside her I set the cup in front of her, smiling when she immediately takes it.
"Thanks," she grumbles out before taking a sip, and another larger one after she realizes it was to her liking.
"What do we do now then?" directing my question towards Danny I grab the cereal and extra bowl that was on the table.
"Well while I technically don't need to work now I've only been cleared for one week of vacation time. Your transfers should be processed within the next day or two, which leaves us a few to relax a bit more… so… no idea yet. Give me an hour or two and I'll have something," he says, still clearly tired himself.
"Good, that will give us time to go for a run," the glance she sends my way has me nodding.
"Sounds good, it's been too long since I've gone. How far to you normally go?" taking a drink she shrugs before getting up and putting her empty bowl in the sink.
"Usually about five miles, we can start slow if you want though?"
"That should be fine, I used to go for ten at the gym," at her nod a comfortable silence hangs over the room as Danny gets himself another cup.
"I'm going to get changed then, do you have any running clothes?"
"I'm sure I have something that will work," I answer before she heads upstairs, the smirk on Danny's face making me squirm minutely.
"Thank you again Alice, I still can't tell you how happy you've made this family."
"It's really nothing Danny, I'm just trying to be a decent person," nodding to him I finish my coffee before heading back to the couch/bed to grab what would be my running outfit.
Once in the privacy of the bathroom I find myself staring at my reflection, thinking of what a proper outfit for running would be, my new mind offering up the information to me in a instant leaving me somewhat disoriented, if not satisfied.
About five seconds later my outfit settles into place, consisting of a long sleeved shirt and sweatpants given the season and location.
Stepping out into the hallway I grin when I see Taylor do a double take, no doubt due to the form fitting size of my clothes.
"Isn't that… a little… I don't know, uncomfortable?"
"Not at all, In fact, I think it's perfect, why? Enjoying the view?"
I watch in growing amusement as she turns an impressive shade of red, eventually breaking into a giggle.
"So you are, should I start worrying about how long our hugs last?" her impression of a fish has me giggling like mad as I walk by her, winking at her before heading down the stairs.
Wow, I didn't know I had that in me. That was amazing, I totally have to do that to her more often.
Yeah, there is no denying it. I had it bad for her.
This is going to get interesting…
"Right, let's go," Taylor says as she joins me by the front door, her cheeks still noticeably pink.
"Aww, you had so much time to counter that to. Ah well, at least now I get to tease you about it," I grin as i follow behind her, taking note of how pink her ears were.
"Moving on!"
Giggling more I ease off as we walk to the corner of the block, Taylor going through some stretches as we do, pausing to look at me for a moment before speaking.
"You really should stretch as well, nothing sucks more than getting a cramp mid sprint. I found that out the hard way myself."
"Normally you would be right hun, but you forgetting something aren't you?"
"I swear to god if you s-"
"Nanomachines Son."
".... I'd smack you if I thought it'd do anything. What does that even mean anyway!?" at her grumble I can't help but laugh.
"Go look at the PHO thread when you get home, there's like three pages of "Jinx" explaining the Meme," her stare has me rolling my eyes, a smirk on my face.
"You know I don't technically need sleep right? My mind was going full bore until about two, then I got bored and actually slept," shrugging I look around as she gapes at me.
"What direction are we headed then? You can set the pace, I'm sure I can keep up with whatever you got."
"Tinkers are fucking bullshit."
I would say I didn't laugh out loud.
The smack to my shoulder would attest to that lie however.
Still smirking I grin as she stands up and starts jogging in place for a few seconds before taking off down the street at a decent pace, which I match in an instant.
A comfortable silence starts as we run through what was very clearly a lower end middle class residential area, gradually improving as we run across the south towards the downtown area, ending with a few blocks of upper-class housing before the commercial district.
"You know, you guys could probably afford to outright buy one of these now. Would be a lot easier than remodeling your current house… then again, sentimental value is an aspect in that too isn't it?" I say after nearly a half hour of silence as we pass a three-story building with an attached three-stall garage.
"Yeah… still don't think that fact has sunk in completely yet… I think I'll leave that up to dad," she says quickly in between breaths, getting a nod out of me.
"I hear ya. It is a lot to take in I suppose, when you don't have a quantum supercomputer for a brain anyway," her huff leaves a grin on my face as we pass back into silence.
As we run I find myself focusing on the views around me, enjoying the feeling of the wind on my face, letting myself feel happy and unstressed for the first time since I got to this godforsaken place.
It ends all to soon, as always. This time it was the pinging from my core about the large grey van that had crossed our path seven different times over the course of our run.
Fuck. I spaced on that. I really should have seen this coming.
How the hell did he even find me anyway?
"So, Taylor…"
"Mmm?"
"Something's about to happen, and I'm going to need you to let it happen and NOT expose yourself alright?" her pause is nearly imperceptible, but to my immense relief she nods as she keeps running.
"Do I even want to know?"
"Better that you don't. I'll send you a text when I'm out, but your going to have to put on a good act in the next few-goddamnitletmefinishatleast." despite the speed of our conversation i'm still cut off as the van screeches to a halt in front of us, the side door opening revealing several heavily armed and armoured men. With rifles, that were currently leveled at us.
"Oh jesus Chri-"
Thwik!
T-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z
Nearly simultaneously I'm hit with a rather powerful dart full of sedatives, playing my part I stare in shock at the dart sticking out of my chest as Taylor convulses on the ground, the taser obviously set to its maximum.
"Dafuq?" classic.
Moments after I speak I let the sedatives do their work, my body falling into a unconscious state, even as I retreat into my core, observing everything around me.
My body doesn't even hit the ground as two of the men jump from the van, catching me and pulling into the van, when it's all said and done less than thirty seconds passes from when the door opened.
"Package acquired, returning to base. ETA thirteen minutes," The man in the passenger seat speaks into a radio.
"Copy that, good work gentlemen, and remember if she's harmed in anyway your bonus evaporates," A male voice, whom I can only assume is Coil answers.
"She didn't even hit the ground sir. Retrieval one out," he answers before setting the handset down.
And then… A whole lot of nothing. The silence was downright boring as the van travels through the city, the advanced sensing tech in my core tracking its route easily. Eventually we enter a parking garage near the downtown corridor, a hidden door opening and revealing a freight elevator with more than enough room for the van to fit.
It starts its descent the moment the vehicle hits park,the door not even fully closed as we descend nearly three hundred feet below the surface, ending up in what appeared to be a motorpool of all things, one that was quite well stocked with heavily armoured and armed vehicles, of both the inconspicuous and very obvious variety.
Within five minutes of entering the surface garage, the van is parked in a receiving bay, a squad of guards armed with tinker-tech rifles waiting for us. As I'm handed off to them I note the sedative burning off at a fairly rapid pace, one which would lead to me "regaining" consciousness in about ten more minutes.
Within three minutes we entered an empty room, one clearly designed for interrogation given the one way mirror and spotlight mounted on the wall above it, which was currently off, leaving me in total darkness when the door behind me closes.
The next seven minutes pass excruciatingly slow as I wait for the right moment to retake control of my body, as the deadline passes however I allow my mind to reconnect to the organics my nano-material was imitating.
Oh.
Holy fuck my head hurts.
Limiting pain response by fifty percent
Much better.
Still easily mirgane levels of pain though, not so bad really when you've experienced cluster-headaches before however.
Well, here we go.
"Uuhg…. The fuck… OW!" I moan out as I open my eyes, the floodlight above the mirror turning on a few moments after I speak.
"Oh what the fuck."
"Good morning Alice, I apologise for the discomfort you're no doubt feeling about now, the situation however dictated no chances be taken."
"....OK, the fuck are you? And where the fuck am I?" I state as I blink rapidly, squinting at the blinding light.
"You may call me Coil, currently you're in an isolated interrogation cell in my base of operations under the city."
"...Next question is obviously why?"
"I think we both know the answer to that Miss Cross, your display in the church the other day was quite interesting if I do say so myself."
….
"Seriously? Fucking SERIOUSLY?"
Of-fucking-course I'd get made before I even accepted what was happening to me. Fuck you whatever being put me here.
"Who the hell are you and how the hell do you know about that," this time the nervous tone wasn't faked. If he had overheard my confession about my origins….this could get tricky.
"Father Anderson happens to be under my employ in a manner of speaking. You'd be surprised what kind of information a man of faith comes by on a daily basis. After your little display, he offered up the information, for a small price ofcourse, a well spent fifty thousand if I do say so myself."
"...The fuck is wrong with the world when you can't even trust a man of God? Christ that's fucked man," I mutter as i close my eyes, truly meaning what I said.
Fucking hell this world was cracked.
"What did he tell you then?" I sigh, slumping down in supposed realization.
"That you were clearly a parahuman, if a delusional one. And that your power seemed to involve force fields?"
"Well…."
BRNNG.
A opaque blue hexagon appears in front of me, shading my face from the light. Blinking several times for effect I look around, my gaze settling on the mirror that I could now see.
"Yes, I do force fields. Now what do you want from me? I'm not stupid you know, I know you didn't bring me here like this just to talk," I sigh out, my tone purposefully resigned.
"I've a employment opportunity for you Miss Cross, with a group of individuals that could benefit greatly from your abilities. Tell me, have you been able to test the strength of your shields?"
"Well, on the assumption that you're not going to give me a choice… yes, and I haven't been able to break them, even when I detonated a few hundred pounds of explosives inside a sphere." I say, forming a sphere out of the hexagons in reference.
"Impressive," the pleased tone is clear.
"Yea, I know…. So now that I'm being cooperative can you please get me out of this room? And a few bottles of aspirin? I haven't had a headache this bad since my first bout of cluster-headaches."
"Of course, I do apologise for the methods Miss Cross, I tend not to take any chances, I'm sure you can understand," God, you could hear his fucking smug expression.
"Yea, well tell me that again when my heads not full of razor blades and I might forgive you," even as I speak the door opens and the floodlight shuts off, leaving the room bathed in the soft blue glow of the energy sphere as a merc undoes my restraints.
"This way, Boss wants to speak to you personally," he grunts simply and I nod, holding back a grin.
Just what I was waiting for.
Rubbing my wrists, which were sore from the tightness of the zip-tie, I follow after him as he leads me down several corridors and eventually stopping in front of a door with an ouroboros looping in am infinity symbol embossed on it.
He knocks twice, the door sliding into the wall a moment later, at which point he motions for me to enter.
Glancing around as I do i hold back a cringe as I see snake themed… everything.
"Imma take a random guess and say you like snakes?" I say as the door slides shut behind me, locking eyes with the man in the black armoured body suit sitting at the desk in the middle of the room, a snake decal warped around his outfit, ending with its head displayed boldly above his brow.
"I applaud your observational skills," his dry tone has me rolling my eyes.
"Thanks," my tone matches his I sit down.
"Can we skip the whole intimidation spiel and just get to the details of what this employment entails? I'm sure by now Taylor is freaking the hell out. I'd like to get back before she has a total breakdown."
"Very well. You seem to understand the dynamic enough already, I see no reason to drag things out more than necessary," leaning back I nod, still forcing my body-language into a resigned and hopeless state.
"Given your abilities I'll be paying you slightly more than the rest of the group at fifty thousand a month, at which point…-"
The next ten minutes passes excruciatingly slow as he explains the situation with the Undersiders to me, giving my a mobile number to contact Tattletale with, finally when we were finished discussing my "employment" the moment I was waiting for occurs.
---
"Well then… to a new chapter in life I suppose," I say as I hold my hand out to him, holding back a smile as he nods and takes it.
The moment he does I let my grin turn predatory as trillions of nanites flood his system, rapidly spreading throughout his circulatory system. Within five seconds they're in his brain, and most importantly, in his Corona Pollentia.
Slowing perception I spend the equivalent of an hour analyzing and cataloging the neurons.
Five milliseconds after I've infested the organelle, subatomic machines flood through the nanometers wide rift in the center of it, right into the secondary timeline variant himself.
"What are you smiling at?" his tone is filled with suspicious as I shudder, holding back laughter as I shake my head at him.
"Tell me Thomas. Does the name Von-Neumann mean anything to you?" despite his mask, the machines now infesting every cell in his body give me a perfect view of the blood and colour draining from his face.
"Oh fuck me," at this I let out a peel of laughter.
"You dun fucked up," I say, savouring the moment before forcing a shift in his powers, collapsing the current timeline by manipulating the signals in his secondary timeline.
*****
"Alice? Are you ok?" Taylor asks when I nearly trip, stumbling for several feet as the newly active nano-material connects to my core.
"...Yes, quite good actually," grinning I pick the pace back up, even as I send a few signals directly to the neurons of one Thomas Calvert.
"Welcome to your new world Mr. Calvert. I think you will make the most excellent of pawns in this game."
"What the hell ARE you?"
"Why Mr. Calvert! I thought it was obvious by this point?" my laughter echoes through his mind.
"I'm your fucking nightmare come to life."
A declaration of Intent
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
The rest of the run was… interesting to say the least. Silence reigned for the most part as Taylor was clearly pushing herself, judging by her breathing, but I was anything but idle as I catalogued Coil's assets and took log of what he had been up to in his time in the bay.
Rifling through his memories however, turned out to be an exercise in control and anger management as I see just how he would abuse his powers to get away with… just about anything. I mean for fuck's sake what kind of person do you have to be to smile at someone over coffee, as you brutally assault and rape them in the same damn room in a separate timeline?
'Say Tom?' I ask him as we hit the halfway point of our run and start heading back.
'....what.'
'Take note of the fact that you deserve much worse than what I'm about to do to you.'
I grin as I see the fear response coming off of him as he does his damndest to stop his body from moving, clearly seeing what I intended.
I watch through his eyes in delight as he grabs the handgun from his desk drawer and proceeds to thread a suppressor onto it.
'Oh Christ justfuckingkillme!' he practically screams mentally as I/he places the muzzle of the gun directly onto his groin.
The nanomachines keep him from bleeding out, of course. But I make sure to let every single impulse from his mangled nerve endings reach his brain as he tries to scream incoherently.
Fuck that was satisfying. I'mma have to show Sarah the security footage of that one.
"Hey Alice…?" Ah.
Splitting my perception I devote the majority of my attention to my own body, glancing at her as we slow down significantly.
"Sup?"
"I… need to talk to you. About last night."
oh.
I really don't like that tone.
"What's up? Second thoughts I'm guessing? You were riding quite the high when we got back, I know."
"No, not exactly... Well yes but not in the way you think. I'm still with you on this… I just...I need to know what you intend to do in more detail than save the world you know? I know people are going to die doing that, no matter how we do it, but I'd like to keep the deaths to a minimum…"
Oh.
Shit.
How the hell do I explain to her the scale of casualties possible in this?
"I… Taylor… there's more at stake than you know… I.. I mean… fuck I'm bad at this." I sigh as I break eye-contact looking forward.
"I promise you that I'll keep the deaths to a minimum but you need to understand the scale I'm thinking of when i say that."
Her silence, short as it is, still worries me.
"Alright. What's the scale? What percentage of the city are you willing to sacrifice?" I wince at the word city, getting a questioning look from her.
"I'm afraid we're dealing with something far bigger than this city Taylor. When I say I'mma save the world, I mean it. So when I say I'm willing to accept ten to twenty-five percent casualties… I mean that in the Global sense."
Her stumble was anticipated, and I easily steady her, keeping her from falling as she stares at me in shock.
"I… see…. Uhm…" the shock in her voice is clear and I sigh nodding.
"C'mon, let's keep going. Think it out, take as much time as you need. If you decide you don't want to be part of this I understand Taylor, but just know that all the blood that will be spilled is on no one's hands but my own. Not yours, not the heroes, or the villains, but mine."
Yea… she's not the one who's about to back the planet into a corner.
I am.
She's not the one who could very well doom us all to death.
I am.
…
"Fuck it." slowing to a walk I dig in my pants pocket, grabbing the newly formed pipe and lighter.
"The hell are you doing?" she asks as I take a hit.
"While I may no longer be technically human, I still feel like it most of the time. If you think I'm perfect and can deal with those numbers on my own, I'm sorry to inform you you're sorely mistaken." taking two more deep hits before reabsorbing the pipe I pick up the pace again, relaxing immensely as the high hits me.
"Besides, it's only weed. It's harmless, believe me. I'd offer you a hit but I don't know how you'd react, so I'm not about to do that in a public place."
"I...ok." she nods simply as we resume the original pace.
"I'd go into the specifics, but I can tell that last bit of info is still settling in. We'll have to sit down and discuss eventually. For now, would you care to hear some of my preferred music? I've been jamming to it this whole run."
"Yeah, I think that would be nice."
"Enjoy" I call simply as I pass her a pair of wireless earbuds.
As soon as she has them in place I start the music, grinning mischievously as I do so, my song choice more than a bit… well.
The song Mz. Hyde by the band Halestorm from my Earth was pretty blunt and forward on its own, add in a few changed words in my own cover and it was a thing of beauty, to watch as a blush slowly creeps onto her face as we run.
God it was fun watching her squirm.
With the newfound, and fairly smug silence I go back to rummaging through Coil's (and therefore my) assets.
And realizing I now have my own private army. Fuck yeah bitches, now to equip them with some Fog tech…...after assuring their loyalty of course.
But that would have to wait, at least until I can free up enough time to… wait.
"My god I'm stupid." I sigh out, the earbuds completely obscuring my comment from Taylor.
Keeping stride I focus on the abundance of nanomaterial I had across the city in the boat graveyard. In the span of three seconds, two masses of material split off of one of the vessels, taking on two separate human forms, one for Jinx, and the other for Von-Neumann.
Of course, they were inert as of yet, in order to "Pilot" them I would have to do something I had been trying to avoid, trying being the operative term.
Activate Processor Multi-Threading? Y/N
Flicking my vision to the "Y" option on the visual overlay, I very nearly stumble again as my awareness...changes. Suddenly I'm seeing the world from three different perspectives.
"Huh." I speak aloud through Jinx.
"That's broken as fuck." I/Von Neumann answers.
"Well, let's get to work. Nazi's don't kill themselves."
And with that, they take off, running for the edge of the boat graveyard, holding back and not going all racquetball until they were well away from it.
As they approach Empire territory I maintain the majority of my attention on the body my core was held in, smiling when I see that Taylor was finally recovering.
"Did you like that? I've got a lot more you know, I used to be quite the musician back home. I so need to get a new guitar now though.
"...Alice?" she says after a few moments, not even looking at me, though the blush on her face is still there if a bit fainter.
"Mmm?"
"Do I know you?" well, no point in lying.
"No not really, but then again. Do you need to?" at this she glances at me for a moment before turning her attention back to the run.
"Hmmm." let's change things up a bit shall we?
With a thought, the earbuds come back to life playing another cover of mine from a band back home, in this case, it was The Wrong Side of Heaven. Fitting if you asked me.
The next forty-five minutes were spent in silence, making it much easier to concentrate on my two other active bodies.
As soon as they clear the graveyard I pick up the pace by an order of magnitude, steering them to what I knew to be the pinnacle of Empire territory.
For this outing I had altered Von Neumann's appearance, given that she was no longer intended to be portrayed as having been up for over thirty-six hours, gone was the blue mechanic's jumpsuit and lab coat, in its place was a rather Iconic outfit, Iconic at least to anyone who was a fan of Final Fantasy in my home reality.
Hope they get a kick out of the Buster-Sword, which was currently in its seven component swords on her back, held in place by the complex looking sheath apparatus.
Within five minutes of leaving the graveyard, they've arrived at their destination.
The front doors of the Medhall Corporate headquarters building downtown.
Oh don't give me that look, you know exactly what's about to happen.
Ramping up my processor by a few percent I focus most of my mind into the two women about to break down Kaiser's front door.
As soon as we land we're drawing the attention of several dozen pedestrians, even as "Von Neumann" throws a bag of what appear to be silver marbles into the air.
Rather than fall back down however, they hover mid-air, spreading out in a grid formation around the duo, their audio and video recording equipment active.
Creating another thread to manage the outbound data-flow from the drones, its destination? The live-streaming service Twitch, where a live broadcast could be seen of the duo, a newly formed topic labeled "Playtime!" funneling traffic to it as they enter the building.
And by entering, I mean they kick down the front door, shattering the glass and walking through into the lobby, where all eyes were on them, several security guards drawing their weapons and barking orders to stand-down.
"Can I play with them mom!? I've been so excited ever since I got to use Fishbones, pleeeeease mom?" Jinx whines as they walk towards the elevators.
"If it means you will get out of my hair for more than five seconds then go ahead, try not to kill too many would you? Witnesses have their uses, remember?" she answers flippantly as a shot is fired, catching her in the right shoulder.
"...Jinx?" she pauses to stare at the wound, the bullet being pushed out as she speaks, sealing itself as she looks at her.
"Be a dear and castrate him would you?"
"Oh today is a happy day!" she shouts before taking off in a dead sprint toward the man who had fired, the rest of his magazine being emptied into her form as she closes.
The agonized screams which echo throughout the foyer has the rest of the guards dropping their weapons and scattering.
"ETA on the dog and pony show?" Neumann asks as they hit the elevators.
"Protectorate's already inbound, we'll be finished by the time they act though."
"Well then, up we go." hitting the button for the top floor she leans against the back of the elevator, her swords clinking against the wall, letting out a sigh at the elevator music.
"Oi, you got a line into their P.A. system? Can we get some real music going? Play it through the whole building while you're at it will you?"
"Got it mom."
With a burst of static the music changes, playing a song that leaves a smug smile on my face.
Taken straight out of my memories to keep the vocals true, the track "Du Hast" plays throughout the building.
Of course it's somewhat soured when ten seconds later the elevator grinds to a half ten stories premature.
"Well, seems they know where we are. Let's go have some fun, what do you say kid?"
The manic grin Jinx gives is an answer all on its own, as is the act of checking the ammo container on the ridiculously named Gatling gun "Pow Pow"
"Let's go wreck some face!" she shouts before jumping, rocketing through the roof of the elevator.
Following suit we come to a halt almost precisely at the top floor, the closed outer doors being the only barrier between us and the man known as Kaiser.
"Alright…." she pauses to light a joint of all things.
"Let's light this candle."
Snapping her fingers the door ejects outward explosively as Jinx kicks it in.
Predictable a hail of gunfire follows every round of which pings off the newly formed Klein field panels filling the hallway.
"Go have fun kid."
"Yaaaay!"
What follows can only be described as a massacre, as Jinx's return fire downs each and every source of incoming fire with pinpoint accuracy, every single shower of blood was broadcast in crystal clear 4k thanks to the drones still following us.
Her maniacal laughter as she butchers over a dozen people will soon become one of the most watched videos of all time.
By the time the hall is quiet again, over a dozen bodies are scattered around the hallway, most of them in several pieces, each centered on a puddle of blood and gore.
"You know, this would be so much cleaner if you would listen to me and carry something with a smaller caliber," Neumann calls as she approaches the scene, having been waiting and watching from the elevator doors.
"Awwww, but what would the fun be in that? It's not nearly as messy!" the fact that Jinx was literally covered from head to toe in blood, made for one hellish visage.
"Fuckin Psychopath." she mumbles, getting a giggle from her "Daughter"
"You know it!"
"Let's just get this over with shall we? We're not even halfway done with the OP yet."
"Yes mooooooOOOOOm"
"You know when I slap you it will actually hurt right?"
"Moving on!" she giggles as she goes for the set of double doors at the end of the hallway, tossing one of her "sticky" grenades at it.
The explosion that follows blows out the windows on most of the floor, of course. Showering the area around the building with shards of glass, and alerting anyone who hasn't been tipped off by the plethora of Protectorate vehicles around the building, that shit was going down inside.
This time Neumann's the first one to enter, pausing and looking around as the smoke clears, killing the roach of her joint as she does so.
"What… what the hell… is wrong with you?!" Kaiser shouts as he regains his balance, having been standing on the far end of the room, the upturned conference table shielding him from most of the blast, his armor doing the rest.
Smiling at him she speaks.
"You see Mr. Anders, it just so happens I don't give a flying fuck about the unwritten rules, or the written ones for that matter. You're in MY city, and I knew where to find you. So here we are. And now Mr. Anders, you get to be my message to the world."
"You're fucking insane."
"Hey! Excuse me? You did NOT just call mom the crazy one? I mean really, did you see what I just did to all your men?"
"Oh fuck this shit," he replies as Jinx enters the room behind me, still covered in blood.
It's at that moment that steel blades rocket out of nearly every surface around the room, lashing out as us… and promptly breaking harmlessly against out skin, which is much denser than the metal attempting to cut it.
"Well then, it's been fun Max, but I'm afraid you're only the warm-up act. I've more important people to deal with once I impale you, so if you don't mind, I'm done playing games with you." Neumann calls out before coiling her legs and rocketing forward, catching him by the throat, raising him off the ground a good two feet as he attempts to break her grip.
"Let's see what the people think of this all, shall we?" I ask as I walk to the edge of the room, where a wall to wall glass window once protected the room from the elements.
As it was, a slight breeze was blowing through the room, the echo of sirens echoing up from the ground over a hundred feet below.
Stepping over the threshold a forcefield springs into existence, allowing me to walk out into the open air for the whole world to see. Well, for those in the immediate area who weren't already watching the scene anyway.
The moment I'm more than ten feet away from the building a flyer, in this case, Alexandria attempts to blitz me.
The GONG that results from her impacting my forcefield is beautiful.
"Nice try Becky, but don't think you will be anything but my tool today," I speak as she regains her balance, hovering not ten feet away from me, a wall of blue hexagons separating us.
"What did you just call me?" though it was well masked, I could still detect the high amount of stress in her voice. She knew what I was getting at.
"Oh, you heard me. By the way, while I work here, I've got a question for you. Don't worry, the drones are censoring this bit by the way." I say as I slowly walk, the panels now forming a set of stairs leading me to the circus below.
"Drones? Censoring? Please tell me those silver balls aren't-"
"Sorry, but they are in fact broadcasting this, HiDef and all. Anyway, answer my question and I won't expose you all. Has Contessa seen me?"
"...."
"... wow, I didn't know you could convey that much shock with that kind of helmet on. Anyway, that answers that. Now excuse me, I have a Nazi to draw and quarter." I say as I turn my attention forward once more, having leveled off just above the flagpole that was in front of the building, well within range of the news crew that was present below.
As I stop and look around, several small masses of nano-material split off of my back, forming copies of the drones around us, albeit on a much large scale, each one being the size of a basketball.
After a moment of looking I smile when seeing just how many heroes were here.
"Thank you all for attending!" I call out, smiling as the drones attach themselves to Kaiser, flowing like liquid around his wrists and ankles, allowing me to let go of him.
"It's nice that you will all witness this personally, though I'll warn you. You're in the splash zooone!" I wave my tone at the end, smiling when I see their attention focus back on Anders.
"This is the individual you all know as Kaiser, leader of the group of monsters that call themselves the Empire Eighty-Eight."
Pausing to light another joint I take a long look around as I take a hit.
"AND THIS." I shout as I raise my right hand, getting ready to snap my fingers.
"IS MY MESSAGE TO EVERY VILLAIN IN THE CITY."
Click.
squelch!
In less than a second, the masses of nano-machines holding his limbs up rocket apart, literally pulling the man limb from limb, letting his torso fall to the ground, a blood-curdling scream echoing around the area, ending abruptly when he impacts the ground.
"YOU HAVE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS TO PACK YOUR SHIT. AND GET THE FUCK OUT." taking a deep breath I pause once more to take another hit, this time however I use my bullshitery to kill it in one go.
"Now I know what you're thinking, how the fuck am I gonna get you ALL to leave right? Well, to answer that, We have let's see here… Legend, Alexandria, Aww no Eidolon? Damn, that would have been perfect." I pout out rather comically before proceeding.
"All of the local group, and their wards, plus New Wave. Oh goody, the healer is here too, I can play rough." at my words a wave of tension falls over the perimeter, getting a throaty laugh out of me.
"Hey, Jinx!" I shout, my voice artificially loud in volume, loud enough to echo for over three blocks.
"Is it time!?" she shouts back.
"Initiate house-party protocol."
"YAY! I've been waiting all my life for this! Thank you thank you thank you!" she shouts as she jumps from the top floor, rocketing towards the street, specifically one of the armored personnel carriers the PRT had deployed their troops in.
With a wet splat! She impacts it, her form turning liquid less than a second beforehand.
Without prompt the remaining crew bails from the vehicle as the silver substance spreads over and through it, converting every atom of it into more nano-material.
Everyone present watches in shock and horror as the vehicle turns into more silver liquid, forming a large ball of material.
"What is my message? Watch and learn bitches." tossing my roach aside I crack my neck, even as the music I had chosen starts playing.
In the lead up to the first chorus, it starts.
Dozens of globes break off of the blob, each one taking on the form of Jinx.
Every single one of which breaks into a sprint towards one of the gathered parahumans.
What follows is utter chaos, as the majority of the civilians in the area scatter as the swarm descends upon the heroes.
The clatter of gunfire begins echoing as the normals, plus Miss Militia, open up with their heavy ordnance, including two separate chain gun outfited APC's
The effects of which are negligible, as the mass of the ammunition simply feeds the swarm.
"Well then, this is-"
GOOOOOONG
Warning. Klein field saturation rising. Currently at three percent capacity.
"Oh right, you're still here." I sigh as I look at the scowling face of Alexandria.
"Alright, I'll play along. Let's show the world just how outclassed you all fucking are." I grin as I turn towards her, dropping into a combat stance and tensing my muscles.
The moment I take off I see that her reaction speed is nothing to laugh it, clocking in at less than a millisecond.
Too bad mine was measured in nanoseconds.
Once more I'm channeling my inner Barry Allen as I bounce between platforms around her, each of my forearms taking on the form of massive hammers.
CRACK.
The sound of my blows echoes around the block.
CRACK
CRACK
CRACK
Of course, to anyone not me it sounded like an automatic cannon firing.
Each blow comes from a different angle, not doing much in the way of lasting damage, but they do keep her stunned and in the relative same location with each slash.
"Are you getting the idea yet? Lets see if i cant hammer it through your thick skull." I call from the ground, purposly giving her enough time to gather herself.
Jumping skyward i twirl my now formed buster-sword a few times, smiling at the ethereal blue glow that comes off of it as a layer of nanites dissolve into the air around it, fluressing blue as they do so.
"Now how about you get the hell out of my city!?" I shout as I slash at her once, keeping it slow as i do, giving her ample time to parry the blow with her wrists.
When she does?
Well, my grin speaks volumes as the blade once again breaks down into its component pieces, each one flipping away in a five pointed star formation, with the base blade staying vertical in the center.
What follows is what at its core, me living out a childhood dream as I conduct a full on Omnislash on fucking superman lite.
Each blow lands with enough force to break a building, knocking the wind out of several times over, the final one stronger than the rest combined.
BOOM.
It wasn't until she impacts the concrete at Mach one that they start to understand what just happened.
"FALL BACK! EVERYONE FALL THE HELL BACK!" the leader of the PRT normals is the first to shout, realizing that the only ones being engaged are the parahumans.
"Alright Jinx! Bring her home!" I shout, even as a blue beam of energy impacts me shield behind me.
Looking over my shoulder I stare at legend, my face the personification of "REALLY?"
"Seriously dude? Do you WANT to die today?"
"...."
"Smart move," I say as he lowers his arms.
"On it mom!" she shouts as several hundred force fields spring into existence around the combat zone.
Five seconds later, to the microsecond, each and every powered person in the vicinity is on their knees.
"Now." I turn my attention to the news crew that was still filming the scene.
"Get the fuck out of MY CITY." I call, one of the microdrones getting right in my face as I speak, transmitting the message to over a hundred million different viewers.
"Alright Jinx, Recall protocol active."
"Thank you for playing everyone!" she calls as her forms start merging with one another, eventually compressing down to a single individual.
"Cue the music." I say loud enough for the drones to pick up, prompting each and every drone in the vicinity to start playing my cover of "Hail to the King", each one capable of quite the decibel level.
I keep the pace slow for a full five blocks, simply walking down the center of the street, each and every person scattering like cockroaches as I approach.
Then, five blocks out? I disappear, bending the light around my forms and sending them back to the graveyard at the best pace they could manage without giving their positions away.
Ex Machina.
"Taylor? Alice!? Are you two alright!?" Danny shouts as we open the front door.
"What? What's wrong? Why wouldn't we be fine?" Taylor asks as her dad crushes her in a hug.
"It's been all over the news, it's a warzone downtown, look!" he says pointing her towards the TV.
"I… what…" she manages as she stares at the TV, which was currently displaying a slow-motion replay of my "fight" with the Protectorate not ten minutes prior.
It takes a supreme amount of effort to not cringe when I feel the nonexistent heat vision centered on my forehead.
My cocky lopsided grin breaks it in an instant of course, the effect of her blush somewhat mitigated by the concerned expression on her face.
"Alice? Can I talk to you for a sec?"
Well. here we go.
Rifling through his memories however, turned out to be an exercise in control and anger management as I see just how he would abuse his powers to get away with… just about anything. I mean for fuck's sake what kind of person do you have to be to smile at someone over coffee, as you brutally assault and rape them in the same damn room in a separate timeline?
'Say Tom?' I ask him as we hit the halfway point of our run and start heading back.
'....what.'
'Take note of the fact that you deserve much worse than what I'm about to do to you.'
I grin as I see the fear response coming off of him as he does his damndest to stop his body from moving, clearly seeing what I intended.
I watch through his eyes in delight as he grabs the handgun from his desk drawer and proceeds to thread a suppressor onto it.
'Oh Christ justfuckingkillme!' he practically screams mentally as I/he places the muzzle of the gun directly onto his groin.
The nanomachines keep him from bleeding out, of course. But I make sure to let every single impulse from his mangled nerve endings reach his brain as he tries to scream incoherently.
Fuck that was satisfying. I'mma have to show Sarah the security footage of that one.
"Hey Alice…?" Ah.
Splitting my perception I devote the majority of my attention to my own body, glancing at her as we slow down significantly.
"Sup?"
"I… need to talk to you. About last night."
oh.
I really don't like that tone.
"What's up? Second thoughts I'm guessing? You were riding quite the high when we got back, I know."
"No, not exactly... Well yes but not in the way you think. I'm still with you on this… I just...I need to know what you intend to do in more detail than save the world you know? I know people are going to die doing that, no matter how we do it, but I'd like to keep the deaths to a minimum…"
Oh.
Shit.
How the hell do I explain to her the scale of casualties possible in this?
"I… Taylor… there's more at stake than you know… I.. I mean… fuck I'm bad at this." I sigh as I break eye-contact looking forward.
"I promise you that I'll keep the deaths to a minimum but you need to understand the scale I'm thinking of when i say that."
Her silence, short as it is, still worries me.
"Alright. What's the scale? What percentage of the city are you willing to sacrifice?" I wince at the word city, getting a questioning look from her.
"I'm afraid we're dealing with something far bigger than this city Taylor. When I say I'mma save the world, I mean it. So when I say I'm willing to accept ten to twenty-five percent casualties… I mean that in the Global sense."
Her stumble was anticipated, and I easily steady her, keeping her from falling as she stares at me in shock.
"I… see…. Uhm…" the shock in her voice is clear and I sigh nodding.
"C'mon, let's keep going. Think it out, take as much time as you need. If you decide you don't want to be part of this I understand Taylor, but just know that all the blood that will be spilled is on no one's hands but my own. Not yours, not the heroes, or the villains, but mine."
Yea… she's not the one who's about to back the planet into a corner.
I am.
She's not the one who could very well doom us all to death.
I am.
…
"Fuck it." slowing to a walk I dig in my pants pocket, grabbing the newly formed pipe and lighter.
"The hell are you doing?" she asks as I take a hit.
"While I may no longer be technically human, I still feel like it most of the time. If you think I'm perfect and can deal with those numbers on my own, I'm sorry to inform you you're sorely mistaken." taking two more deep hits before reabsorbing the pipe I pick up the pace again, relaxing immensely as the high hits me.
"Besides, it's only weed. It's harmless, believe me. I'd offer you a hit but I don't know how you'd react, so I'm not about to do that in a public place."
"I...ok." she nods simply as we resume the original pace.
"I'd go into the specifics, but I can tell that last bit of info is still settling in. We'll have to sit down and discuss eventually. For now, would you care to hear some of my preferred music? I've been jamming to it this whole run."
"Yeah, I think that would be nice."
"Enjoy" I call simply as I pass her a pair of wireless earbuds.
As soon as she has them in place I start the music, grinning mischievously as I do so, my song choice more than a bit… well.
The song Mz. Hyde by the band Halestorm from my Earth was pretty blunt and forward on its own, add in a few changed words in my own cover and it was a thing of beauty, to watch as a blush slowly creeps onto her face as we run.
God it was fun watching her squirm.
With the newfound, and fairly smug silence I go back to rummaging through Coil's (and therefore my) assets.
And realizing I now have my own private army. Fuck yeah bitches, now to equip them with some Fog tech…...after assuring their loyalty of course.
But that would have to wait, at least until I can free up enough time to… wait.
"My god I'm stupid." I sigh out, the earbuds completely obscuring my comment from Taylor.
Keeping stride I focus on the abundance of nanomaterial I had across the city in the boat graveyard. In the span of three seconds, two masses of material split off of one of the vessels, taking on two separate human forms, one for Jinx, and the other for Von-Neumann.
Of course, they were inert as of yet, in order to "Pilot" them I would have to do something I had been trying to avoid, trying being the operative term.
Activate Processor Multi-Threading? Y/N
Flicking my vision to the "Y" option on the visual overlay, I very nearly stumble again as my awareness...changes. Suddenly I'm seeing the world from three different perspectives.
"Huh." I speak aloud through Jinx.
"That's broken as fuck." I/Von Neumann answers.
"Well, let's get to work. Nazi's don't kill themselves."
And with that, they take off, running for the edge of the boat graveyard, holding back and not going all racquetball until they were well away from it.
As they approach Empire territory I maintain the majority of my attention on the body my core was held in, smiling when I see that Taylor was finally recovering.
"Did you like that? I've got a lot more you know, I used to be quite the musician back home. I so need to get a new guitar now though.
"...Alice?" she says after a few moments, not even looking at me, though the blush on her face is still there if a bit fainter.
"Mmm?"
"Do I know you?" well, no point in lying.
"No not really, but then again. Do you need to?" at this she glances at me for a moment before turning her attention back to the run.
"Hmmm." let's change things up a bit shall we?
With a thought, the earbuds come back to life playing another cover of mine from a band back home, in this case, it was The Wrong Side of Heaven. Fitting if you asked me.
The next forty-five minutes were spent in silence, making it much easier to concentrate on my two other active bodies.
As soon as they clear the graveyard I pick up the pace by an order of magnitude, steering them to what I knew to be the pinnacle of Empire territory.
For this outing I had altered Von Neumann's appearance, given that she was no longer intended to be portrayed as having been up for over thirty-six hours, gone was the blue mechanic's jumpsuit and lab coat, in its place was a rather Iconic outfit, Iconic at least to anyone who was a fan of Final Fantasy in my home reality.
Hope they get a kick out of the Buster-Sword, which was currently in its seven component swords on her back, held in place by the complex looking sheath apparatus.
Within five minutes of leaving the graveyard, they've arrived at their destination.
The front doors of the Medhall Corporate headquarters building downtown.
Oh don't give me that look, you know exactly what's about to happen.
Ramping up my processor by a few percent I focus most of my mind into the two women about to break down Kaiser's front door.
As soon as we land we're drawing the attention of several dozen pedestrians, even as "Von Neumann" throws a bag of what appear to be silver marbles into the air.
Rather than fall back down however, they hover mid-air, spreading out in a grid formation around the duo, their audio and video recording equipment active.
Creating another thread to manage the outbound data-flow from the drones, its destination? The live-streaming service Twitch, where a live broadcast could be seen of the duo, a newly formed topic labeled "Playtime!" funneling traffic to it as they enter the building.
And by entering, I mean they kick down the front door, shattering the glass and walking through into the lobby, where all eyes were on them, several security guards drawing their weapons and barking orders to stand-down.
"Can I play with them mom!? I've been so excited ever since I got to use Fishbones, pleeeeease mom?" Jinx whines as they walk towards the elevators.
"If it means you will get out of my hair for more than five seconds then go ahead, try not to kill too many would you? Witnesses have their uses, remember?" she answers flippantly as a shot is fired, catching her in the right shoulder.
"...Jinx?" she pauses to stare at the wound, the bullet being pushed out as she speaks, sealing itself as she looks at her.
"Be a dear and castrate him would you?"
"Oh today is a happy day!" she shouts before taking off in a dead sprint toward the man who had fired, the rest of his magazine being emptied into her form as she closes.
The agonized screams which echo throughout the foyer has the rest of the guards dropping their weapons and scattering.
"ETA on the dog and pony show?" Neumann asks as they hit the elevators.
"Protectorate's already inbound, we'll be finished by the time they act though."
"Well then, up we go." hitting the button for the top floor she leans against the back of the elevator, her swords clinking against the wall, letting out a sigh at the elevator music.
"Oi, you got a line into their P.A. system? Can we get some real music going? Play it through the whole building while you're at it will you?"
"Got it mom."
With a burst of static the music changes, playing a song that leaves a smug smile on my face.
Taken straight out of my memories to keep the vocals true, the track "Du Hast" plays throughout the building.
Of course it's somewhat soured when ten seconds later the elevator grinds to a half ten stories premature.
"Well, seems they know where we are. Let's go have some fun, what do you say kid?"
The manic grin Jinx gives is an answer all on its own, as is the act of checking the ammo container on the ridiculously named Gatling gun "Pow Pow"
"Let's go wreck some face!" she shouts before jumping, rocketing through the roof of the elevator.
Following suit we come to a halt almost precisely at the top floor, the closed outer doors being the only barrier between us and the man known as Kaiser.
"Alright…." she pauses to light a joint of all things.
"Let's light this candle."
Snapping her fingers the door ejects outward explosively as Jinx kicks it in.
Predictable a hail of gunfire follows every round of which pings off the newly formed Klein field panels filling the hallway.
"Go have fun kid."
"Yaaaay!"
What follows can only be described as a massacre, as Jinx's return fire downs each and every source of incoming fire with pinpoint accuracy, every single shower of blood was broadcast in crystal clear 4k thanks to the drones still following us.
Her maniacal laughter as she butchers over a dozen people will soon become one of the most watched videos of all time.
By the time the hall is quiet again, over a dozen bodies are scattered around the hallway, most of them in several pieces, each centered on a puddle of blood and gore.
"You know, this would be so much cleaner if you would listen to me and carry something with a smaller caliber," Neumann calls as she approaches the scene, having been waiting and watching from the elevator doors.
"Awwww, but what would the fun be in that? It's not nearly as messy!" the fact that Jinx was literally covered from head to toe in blood, made for one hellish visage.
"Fuckin Psychopath." she mumbles, getting a giggle from her "Daughter"
"You know it!"
"Let's just get this over with shall we? We're not even halfway done with the OP yet."
"Yes mooooooOOOOOm"
"You know when I slap you it will actually hurt right?"
"Moving on!" she giggles as she goes for the set of double doors at the end of the hallway, tossing one of her "sticky" grenades at it.
The explosion that follows blows out the windows on most of the floor, of course. Showering the area around the building with shards of glass, and alerting anyone who hasn't been tipped off by the plethora of Protectorate vehicles around the building, that shit was going down inside.
This time Neumann's the first one to enter, pausing and looking around as the smoke clears, killing the roach of her joint as she does so.
"What… what the hell… is wrong with you?!" Kaiser shouts as he regains his balance, having been standing on the far end of the room, the upturned conference table shielding him from most of the blast, his armor doing the rest.
Smiling at him she speaks.
"You see Mr. Anders, it just so happens I don't give a flying fuck about the unwritten rules, or the written ones for that matter. You're in MY city, and I knew where to find you. So here we are. And now Mr. Anders, you get to be my message to the world."
"You're fucking insane."
"Hey! Excuse me? You did NOT just call mom the crazy one? I mean really, did you see what I just did to all your men?"
"Oh fuck this shit," he replies as Jinx enters the room behind me, still covered in blood.
It's at that moment that steel blades rocket out of nearly every surface around the room, lashing out as us… and promptly breaking harmlessly against out skin, which is much denser than the metal attempting to cut it.
"Well then, it's been fun Max, but I'm afraid you're only the warm-up act. I've more important people to deal with once I impale you, so if you don't mind, I'm done playing games with you." Neumann calls out before coiling her legs and rocketing forward, catching him by the throat, raising him off the ground a good two feet as he attempts to break her grip.
"Let's see what the people think of this all, shall we?" I ask as I walk to the edge of the room, where a wall to wall glass window once protected the room from the elements.
As it was, a slight breeze was blowing through the room, the echo of sirens echoing up from the ground over a hundred feet below.
Stepping over the threshold a forcefield springs into existence, allowing me to walk out into the open air for the whole world to see. Well, for those in the immediate area who weren't already watching the scene anyway.
The moment I'm more than ten feet away from the building a flyer, in this case, Alexandria attempts to blitz me.
The GONG that results from her impacting my forcefield is beautiful.
"Nice try Becky, but don't think you will be anything but my tool today," I speak as she regains her balance, hovering not ten feet away from me, a wall of blue hexagons separating us.
"What did you just call me?" though it was well masked, I could still detect the high amount of stress in her voice. She knew what I was getting at.
"Oh, you heard me. By the way, while I work here, I've got a question for you. Don't worry, the drones are censoring this bit by the way." I say as I slowly walk, the panels now forming a set of stairs leading me to the circus below.
"Drones? Censoring? Please tell me those silver balls aren't-"
"Sorry, but they are in fact broadcasting this, HiDef and all. Anyway, answer my question and I won't expose you all. Has Contessa seen me?"
"...."
"... wow, I didn't know you could convey that much shock with that kind of helmet on. Anyway, that answers that. Now excuse me, I have a Nazi to draw and quarter." I say as I turn my attention forward once more, having leveled off just above the flagpole that was in front of the building, well within range of the news crew that was present below.
As I stop and look around, several small masses of nano-material split off of my back, forming copies of the drones around us, albeit on a much large scale, each one being the size of a basketball.
After a moment of looking I smile when seeing just how many heroes were here.
"Thank you all for attending!" I call out, smiling as the drones attach themselves to Kaiser, flowing like liquid around his wrists and ankles, allowing me to let go of him.
"It's nice that you will all witness this personally, though I'll warn you. You're in the splash zooone!" I wave my tone at the end, smiling when I see their attention focus back on Anders.
"This is the individual you all know as Kaiser, leader of the group of monsters that call themselves the Empire Eighty-Eight."
Pausing to light another joint I take a long look around as I take a hit.
"AND THIS." I shout as I raise my right hand, getting ready to snap my fingers.
"IS MY MESSAGE TO EVERY VILLAIN IN THE CITY."
Click.
squelch!
In less than a second, the masses of nano-machines holding his limbs up rocket apart, literally pulling the man limb from limb, letting his torso fall to the ground, a blood-curdling scream echoing around the area, ending abruptly when he impacts the ground.
"YOU HAVE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS TO PACK YOUR SHIT. AND GET THE FUCK OUT." taking a deep breath I pause once more to take another hit, this time however I use my bullshitery to kill it in one go.
"Now I know what you're thinking, how the fuck am I gonna get you ALL to leave right? Well, to answer that, We have let's see here… Legend, Alexandria, Aww no Eidolon? Damn, that would have been perfect." I pout out rather comically before proceeding.
"All of the local group, and their wards, plus New Wave. Oh goody, the healer is here too, I can play rough." at my words a wave of tension falls over the perimeter, getting a throaty laugh out of me.
"Hey, Jinx!" I shout, my voice artificially loud in volume, loud enough to echo for over three blocks.
"Is it time!?" she shouts back.
"Initiate house-party protocol."
"YAY! I've been waiting all my life for this! Thank you thank you thank you!" she shouts as she jumps from the top floor, rocketing towards the street, specifically one of the armored personnel carriers the PRT had deployed their troops in.
With a wet splat! She impacts it, her form turning liquid less than a second beforehand.
Without prompt the remaining crew bails from the vehicle as the silver substance spreads over and through it, converting every atom of it into more nano-material.
Everyone present watches in shock and horror as the vehicle turns into more silver liquid, forming a large ball of material.
"What is my message? Watch and learn bitches." tossing my roach aside I crack my neck, even as the music I had chosen starts playing.
In the lead up to the first chorus, it starts.
Dozens of globes break off of the blob, each one taking on the form of Jinx.
Every single one of which breaks into a sprint towards one of the gathered parahumans.
What follows is utter chaos, as the majority of the civilians in the area scatter as the swarm descends upon the heroes.
The clatter of gunfire begins echoing as the normals, plus Miss Militia, open up with their heavy ordnance, including two separate chain gun outfited APC's
The effects of which are negligible, as the mass of the ammunition simply feeds the swarm.
"Well then, this is-"
GOOOOOONG
Warning. Klein field saturation rising. Currently at three percent capacity.
"Oh right, you're still here." I sigh as I look at the scowling face of Alexandria.
"Alright, I'll play along. Let's show the world just how outclassed you all fucking are." I grin as I turn towards her, dropping into a combat stance and tensing my muscles.
The moment I take off I see that her reaction speed is nothing to laugh it, clocking in at less than a millisecond.
Too bad mine was measured in nanoseconds.
Once more I'm channeling my inner Barry Allen as I bounce between platforms around her, each of my forearms taking on the form of massive hammers.
CRACK.
The sound of my blows echoes around the block.
CRACK
CRACK
CRACK
Of course, to anyone not me it sounded like an automatic cannon firing.
Each blow comes from a different angle, not doing much in the way of lasting damage, but they do keep her stunned and in the relative same location with each slash.
"Are you getting the idea yet? Lets see if i cant hammer it through your thick skull." I call from the ground, purposly giving her enough time to gather herself.
Jumping skyward i twirl my now formed buster-sword a few times, smiling at the ethereal blue glow that comes off of it as a layer of nanites dissolve into the air around it, fluressing blue as they do so.
"Now how about you get the hell out of my city!?" I shout as I slash at her once, keeping it slow as i do, giving her ample time to parry the blow with her wrists.
When she does?
Well, my grin speaks volumes as the blade once again breaks down into its component pieces, each one flipping away in a five pointed star formation, with the base blade staying vertical in the center.
What follows is what at its core, me living out a childhood dream as I conduct a full on Omnislash on fucking superman lite.
Each blow lands with enough force to break a building, knocking the wind out of several times over, the final one stronger than the rest combined.
BOOM.
It wasn't until she impacts the concrete at Mach one that they start to understand what just happened.
"FALL BACK! EVERYONE FALL THE HELL BACK!" the leader of the PRT normals is the first to shout, realizing that the only ones being engaged are the parahumans.
"Alright Jinx! Bring her home!" I shout, even as a blue beam of energy impacts me shield behind me.
Looking over my shoulder I stare at legend, my face the personification of "REALLY?"
"Seriously dude? Do you WANT to die today?"
"...."
"Smart move," I say as he lowers his arms.
"On it mom!" she shouts as several hundred force fields spring into existence around the combat zone.
Five seconds later, to the microsecond, each and every powered person in the vicinity is on their knees.
"Now." I turn my attention to the news crew that was still filming the scene.
"Get the fuck out of MY CITY." I call, one of the microdrones getting right in my face as I speak, transmitting the message to over a hundred million different viewers.
"Alright Jinx, Recall protocol active."
"Thank you for playing everyone!" she calls as her forms start merging with one another, eventually compressing down to a single individual.
"Cue the music." I say loud enough for the drones to pick up, prompting each and every drone in the vicinity to start playing my cover of "Hail to the King", each one capable of quite the decibel level.
I keep the pace slow for a full five blocks, simply walking down the center of the street, each and every person scattering like cockroaches as I approach.
Then, five blocks out? I disappear, bending the light around my forms and sending them back to the graveyard at the best pace they could manage without giving their positions away.
Ex Machina.
"Taylor? Alice!? Are you two alright!?" Danny shouts as we open the front door.
"What? What's wrong? Why wouldn't we be fine?" Taylor asks as her dad crushes her in a hug.
"It's been all over the news, it's a warzone downtown, look!" he says pointing her towards the TV.
"I… what…" she manages as she stares at the TV, which was currently displaying a slow-motion replay of my "fight" with the Protectorate not ten minutes prior.
It takes a supreme amount of effort to not cringe when I feel the nonexistent heat vision centered on my forehead.
My cocky lopsided grin breaks it in an instant of course, the effect of her blush somewhat mitigated by the concerned expression on her face.
"Alice? Can I talk to you for a sec?"
Well. here we go.
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
anyway, that's what I've got for tonight. I've got a thread going in content review with the next few chapters questionable scenes, and hopefully tomorrow ill get the clear or be told what I need to redact in order to post them, but for now, comments! reviews! give them to me! I'm here to get feedback, so I may keep improving myself as a writer. like I mentioned in the opening post, I feel I've come a LONG way since June, but I feel there's still infinite room for improvement. let me know what I can work on ^^
Neepa
Always pondering story possibilities
- Location
- Germany
Motherfucking hilarious so far.
I myself have just been introduced to all the Worm stuff by beginning to read the various fics of it here but this just reads like a (PA/SC) Commander ripping through the Worm setting without all the brakes engaged you would normally have with Commander fics.
WANT MORE!
I myself have just been introduced to all the Worm stuff by beginning to read the various fics of it here but this just reads like a (PA/SC) Commander ripping through the Worm setting without all the brakes engaged you would normally have with Commander fics.
WANT MORE!
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
heh, if that's what you think so far, you're going to love the next 40k, its been one hell of a fun time writing it all~
hehe, yeah. the downside of riding a two-week Mania is that decision making kinda goes out the window, and you don't take into account things you normally would. that has long since passed now though and ive a fairly solid grip on my mania, hence taking no risks and only posting up to the first chapter with potentially questionable content.
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
I read this story since the first chapter on Space Battles and I still follow it on QQ, so I may as well greet you here 
. This is in overall pretty fun story, even if personally I would aim for a bit less broken build to add more drama, but I read far worse stories with a broken protagonist and this still provides one very important thing - entertainment . So looking forward next chapter(s) .
. This is in overall pretty fun story, even if personally I would aim for a bit less broken build to add more drama, but I read far worse stories with a broken protagonist and this still provides one very important thing - entertainment . So looking forward next chapter(s) .
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
I read this story since the first chapter on Space Battles and I still follow it on QQ, so I may as well greet you here
I'm really glad to hear that, And I'm looking forward to writing the rest of it! As for the Silly OP-ness, it's something I think is nice and fun to read once in a while, I thought it be just as fun to write as well you know? So far that's held true, and I don't see it changing any time soon.
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
so, apparently content review is no longer a thing, only found THAT out this morning. so, I have a few options here and I'd like some comments on them, my first thought is to just blanket any potentially questionable content with a REDACTED* note, and leave the full version up on QQ, or I could actively alter the scenes to fit the rules here.
which one would you rather I do?
which one would you rather I do?
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
Wrap them in spoiler tags if it is gore, maybe offer up options to folks to Beta for you --instead of grammarish, it would be contentish help. Although I did notice a few spots where another pass would help out -- a lonely 'i' where an 'I' should be.
Loving the crackfest, not sure if the tag "overpowered bullshit" covers that, maybe add in "crack" and "au" helps keep the canon saints from sprinkling holy water at ya.
Trekki859
No fucks given
- Location
- Sol
good idea! I like it, I'll spoiler the ultra-violent bits coming up, and redact the others, also a good idea with the tags, ill get on that right now.
as for the beta bit, yeah I'm currently looking for one willing to help on both accounts, I've had a few dif people help here and there but not a dedicated one you know? this REALLY shows in earlier chapters. as it is I'm doing my best to go things with a fine-tooth comb, think I've improved by leaps and bounds since I started, so ima happy with it.