Fate/In Glory Of (Worm)
- Thread starter Jefardi
- Start date
- Crossover Modern Superhero
Aporia 03.18.02
[X] North (Docks, Trainyard & Boat Graveyard) [Taylor went there a week ago and got into a knock down, drag out fight with the Merchants.]
Taylor wanted to see what the heck had actually happened during the weekend when she last went on patrol.
Due to the explosions, snow and everything, she didn't have exactly the best idea of what happened, nor had she had a chance to check online and see what people were saying about it.
She trudged onward through the slush.
The shadow stood vigilant over the girl as got off the large metal box and began to walk.
The girl seemed nervous.
Ostensibly, the shadow knew that they were going out to a fight.
The red mist that made thoughts crawl through the river Styx might stop most of its more cunning thoughts, but from sheer experience, it knew what pre-combat jitters were. The girl showed them.
It tinged something in the back of its head, of a similar time with a smaller girl, going out at night…
"Hey dude."
The girl jumped slightly, her head swiveling around before focusing on the only person giving her their full attention.
"Yeah, you." A male in a dark hooded coat was leaning against a long, ribbed, steel triangle. "You looking for Billy?"
"Billy?" The girl asked in confusion. The man's head titled.
"You're a chick? Yeah, Billy."
"No?"
"Well, I'm the new Billy."
She stared at him for a moment before starting to walk away from him.
"Oi. I was talking to you."
The girl said nothing and sped up. The shadow interposed itself, ready to pulp the interloper.
"Come back here bitch!" Now she was running.
The man didn't follow, though the girl kept running for another short while. She was leaning heavily against a streetlight, heaving, struggling for air.
And whispering to herself.
Something about how she didn't think she looked that bad.
It meant little to nothing for the shadow. The only opinion it had on the girl's attire was that it was lacking in arms and armour.
After a time, the girl decided to keep walking, moving away from the location of the transportation that she had taken here and away from the man that had accosted her.
The sky had fully darkened by Peresphone's absence when they reached the site of the battle from several days ago.
There was yellow fabric on short poles sectioning off what seemed to be several dozen buildings, with day workers in dazzling vests and wasp coloured hats shifting through the rumble.
The girl stared.
Snow petals fluttered down from the clouds.
The shadow waited.
Others gave her a wide berth.
She started to walk along the yellow fabric.
By the time she had gotten to one end, a cacophony came, other people on the street's sides turning to look at it.
Several of the metal transports slowly came down the road, following a woman who glowed, walking between rooftops as if it was nothing. Well, walking was a misnomer. It would be more accurate to describe it as teleporting.
To the shadow's eyes, that wasn't the case.
The woman lit up, and was pulled in a direction… maybe not pulled, but jumped? The shadow was not human, – it knew that fact intrinsically- it could see in far better minutiae than one. Its senses straddled the line of impossible and inconceivable when compared to a baseline human. Something was pulling the woman along after she shined.
It took it nearly six jumps to get a conclusion to that; small bits of metallic debris were disturbed by her transit while brick was not. Something involving ēlektron? Magnētis? There was a small difference in motion when she reached the terminus of her motions that tickled what the shadow had seen of magnetic lodestones.
The girl stared up at the woman in naked awe. The kind reserved for boyhood heroes.
"Battery."
It was while she was flitting between buildings that a motley hand of filth and detritus rose up between the buildings from an angle the shadow couldn't see and flattened her.
Or would have, if she hadn't swerved at a speed that might have even given the shadow pause.
The woman yelled something, some phrase that held no meaning to the shadow, and all the onlookers immediately bolted away.
Well, most of them.
In the time it took for her to gain radiance, a high pitch whine was emitted at a blistering loud volume and a haphazard flying transport crested the skyline. It wasn't particularly big, not compared to the similar thing that the shadow had fought several days ago, resembling one of the wheels that many of metal transports used, just turned at a right angle.
Or it should be.
Even the shadow could tell something was wrong with the ungainly thing.
Especially after the whine cut out and it dropped from the sky.
The cursing that it could hear from inside the thing made it think it wasn't intentional.
A baker's dozen of different limbs extruded from it, catching it's descent and allowing it to skitter along the rooftops in a demented trajectory.
Like an anthill being knocked over the vehicles trailing the woman sped up and stopped in a formation before disgorging identically dressed soldiers.
That was as far as they got when from the side of the many limb-ed thing, a small figure jumped out.
Seven streams of brilliantly red flames shot out of the figure's back, propelling them upwards, staying near the abomination.
The figure gestured towards the ground-bound warriors as they began to scream in agony.
It wasn't hard to figure out why, the metal on them had begun to glow.
Where once there were thirty black armoured soldiers to aid the woman, now there were but a few that were actually in fighting form.
The woman herself was dodging a growing golem made of anything that wasn't nailed down as the many limb-ed machine scuttled towards her, the flaming figure following overhead.
The shadow burned to be unleashed on them.
The girl ordered the shadow to…
[] ...to get her to safety. She's too close to thing fight.
[X] ...to aid the glowing woman. If she doesn't, it probably won't go well for her.
[] ...get the screaming warriors away from the fight. Maybe being further away would stop whatever happened to them.
The girl was smartly leaving, something that she had no doubt learned after the last encounter.
"Save Battery!" The girl whisper-yelled as she ran away.
Barely had she said it that the shadow was allowed once more into the material world.
As far as the shadow could tell, there were three threats right now to the woman, Battery, as the girl had called her earlier.
The trash-golem, the many limb-ed metal beast and the small figure who seemed to have a decidedly abnormal approach to heat.
The magnetic woman seemed to be able to handle the trash golem, at least by dodging it. That left...
It grabbed one of the many lighting fixtures that dotted along the road, curiously none in this area were on, before rearing back and chucking it much like a javelin at the flying figure.
The shadow knew, knew, without a doubt in its core that once upon a time that would have been completely effortless- it could have nailed the flying figure and turned it into minced meat. As it was, the coordination it needed to throw something of such an odd shape meant that it was off by a margin. A small margin, but a margin nonetheless.
As it was, it only sheared through the large disk vehicle and upon exiting the other side, missing the figure by a finger's width.
The resulting backwash from it's passing still knocked the fire man out of the sky. A mere consolation prize.
Failure.
Oddly enough, having a sizable hole in the disk didn't seem to stop it's movement.
The entire thing spun, it's focus changing to the shadow as it barreled towards it.
The shadow jumped.
Four of its limbs rose to meet it.
The distance closed as the shadow swung its swordaxe into it.
A bright white surface appeared between four of its limbs.
Sharpened stone met a field of pale and was found wanting.
The white light sputtered out as the shadow pulled back from its strike.
Another four limbs came up, creating another square of white.
The shadow grabbed its weapon with both hands.
The swordaxe slammed into it.
The square only stopped existing when the sheer force of the impact had forced the four limbs away. Out of alignment. So far out of alignment that the four limbs pulled the vehicle back with the force at which they were hit, the joints squealing in protest.
Unfortunately the strength at which the shadow had hit it had unbalanced itself, causing it to begin a front flip in the air.
Leaving it completely undefended when one of the limbs - a much thicker one with five pronged manipulators at the end - grabbed the shadow by its throat and pulled it forwards, smashing it through the building it was on, head first.
The shadow didn't feel any of it.
The piston within the arm that slammed forward hard enough to cause the building around it to shudder from the impact… that it did feel.
Specifically from its ribs bending inwards by two inches.
The four original limbs clamped down on each of the shadow's limbs, an unknown energy giving them far more weight than they should have by any right.
The piston slammed forward again.
Less than an inch this time.
"░░░▒▒▒▒▓▓▓███████████████▓▓▒░!"
The shadow's muscles pushed.
It was a point that realistically gave it no leverage – being pinned to the ground was like that.
The problem with that, was that reality took a back seat to the shadow on occasion.
The piston slammed into it's ribs again.
Almost no effect.
The shadow's roar drowned out all other sounds.
The piston slammed again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
A sound could be heard over it's roar.
And again.
And again.
The same high pitched whine.
And again.
And a-
All at once, the whine gave out.
With contemptuous easy, the shadow shattered it's bindings.
It's left arm grabbed the thick limb that was clutched around it's chest. Like a hot knife through butter, it's hand sheared through it's outer coating before grabbing the piston inside and ripped it out, a maelstrom of sounds as delicate components rained down from the side of the building.
The shadow's held the piston in one hand and its swordaxe in another.
The mist of madness descended, of reasoning being lost to insanity.
Taylor had run from the fight, even before summoning the giant. She had remembered the last time she had stuck around and didn't want any part of that.
The downside was that she couldn't see what was going on whatsoever.
That, paradoxically, didn't mean she didn't have an idea of what was going on. She could infer several things.
For instance, the pool of time (for lack of a better word) that the giant drew from hadn't drastically decreased. It was still going down at a fairly steady, if increasing, rate. From that, Taylor could pull that the giant hadn't suffered any injuries- when he had a hole blown in him from the tank last weekend or when Kage had cut off a hand, she could feel the drain increase to such an extent it felt like being punched in the gut. Only if your gut was part of the underside of your entire skin.
Then there was the fact that the rate was increasing at all; that, from what little she could tell, meant that he was doing an increasingly difficult action.
There was also the fact the building Squealer's vehicle was on had partially collapsed, with the vehicle in question having yet to make a reappearance. Taylor didn't know how it worked but would wager that if she was in the pilot seat, she would have gotten back up to a vantage point.
Finally there was the fact that the ground was currently shaking with an almost rhythmic thudding noise. She didn't think anything besides her power could do that. Honestly, it was impressive to her as she was a good two blocks away at this point and she could still feel the ground shaking- the noise of things clattering against each other as the surface they rested on shook with each impact.
It was a question that she still didn't have an answer for;
How strong was her power?
With spite and rage the shadow looked down at what remained of the metal beast.
Metal with a putty-like consistency, sparking ropes of copper and fragments of shattered green were all that was left of it in a crater twice the shadow's height.
The only reason it had stopped was it had no longer deemed the beast a threat.
One threat was down. Another had fled. That only left...
A shattering noise, the giant leapt from the crater.
Red eyes focused on the trash golem that was currently trying to touch the magnet woman without success.
It would not miss this time.
When it threw the piston, the windows in the adjacent buildings cracked like spiderwebs as the pillar cut through the air.
It didn't stop when it hit the trash golem's chest. Nor the building behind it. Nor did the ground slow it much as it carved a massive trench before going underground.
However that didn't matter at all to the shadow.
The trash golem was still moving.
It had failed again!
No.
The little man who controlled it wasn't located in it's chest. Rather in it's groin. The shadow could smell him pissing himself.
A simple matter to rectify.
The golem was the only thing left that could harm the magnet woman.
The ground failed to create enough traction, each foot step sinking slightly into the ground with a resounding crack as it advanced.
The swordaxe came down, cleaving the golem in twain-
A flash of white.
The shadow's eyes tracked the magnet woman blurring in front of it, her hands going to clasp the blade only to miss as the weapon stopped on a dime.
After all, the girl had ordered him to protect the woman.
The shadow couldn't protect the woman if she was directly in the way.
It stayed stock still.
"No killing."
Unfortunately for the woman, she was not its master and therefore it did not listen to her. She was also not moving.
She blurred in front of it whenever the shadow tried to go around.
It was left with only one option.
With the air of a gorilla lifting a kitten, it's left hand wrapped around her waist, before the shadow turned, depositing the woman away from the trash man with the same effort one picked up dust.
The shadow raised the swordaxe.
A final tremor ran through the ground, nearly knocking Taylor on her butt three blocks away.
Well, that was exciting for Taylor. Now for the far more terrifying thing; her date with Nikki.
[] Panic
[] PANIC
[] Panic
Author's note: Right, so. This chapter was a lot of things.
There were three rolls that happened – I have a massive table for each area that subdivides a few times depending on what wins; first was that someone tried to sell drugs to Taylor, the next was for the Protectorate to be making a show of the flag after the artillery fight that happened a few days ago aaaaand then the merchants won the third roll.
When the merchants bushwacked Battery, I look at it and just went "Taylor would send the giant in. There's not situation she wouldn't. Canonically she likes Battery and thinks she's a model hero." So while there was a vote, it autolocked immediately onto what happened.
As for what exactly was going on with Squealer's creation this time... this is one of the few times I'm willing to pull the curtain back a bit; essentially she took a conventional hovercraft and then took inspiration from New Wave's forcefields aaaaand LimbMaster's… limbs.
I also probably slipped a bit from my usual writing style in the giant's headspace because there was so much of it. Oh well.
There is a reference to probably the best fate fanfic in this chapter, lets see if anyone can guess it!
There will be probably a sizeable wait for the next chapter just because its going to be long and dialogue heavy.
Please vote and discuss! A lot happened this chapter.
Taylor wanted to see what the heck had actually happened during the weekend when she last went on patrol.
Due to the explosions, snow and everything, she didn't have exactly the best idea of what happened, nor had she had a chance to check online and see what people were saying about it.
She trudged onward through the slush.
The shadow stood vigilant over the girl as got off the large metal box and began to walk.
The girl seemed nervous.
Ostensibly, the shadow knew that they were going out to a fight.
The red mist that made thoughts crawl through the river Styx might stop most of its more cunning thoughts, but from sheer experience, it knew what pre-combat jitters were. The girl showed them.
It tinged something in the back of its head, of a similar time with a smaller girl, going out at night…
"Hey dude."
The girl jumped slightly, her head swiveling around before focusing on the only person giving her their full attention.
"Yeah, you." A male in a dark hooded coat was leaning against a long, ribbed, steel triangle. "You looking for Billy?"
"Billy?" The girl asked in confusion. The man's head titled.
"You're a chick? Yeah, Billy."
"No?"
"Well, I'm the new Billy."
She stared at him for a moment before starting to walk away from him.
"Oi. I was talking to you."
The girl said nothing and sped up. The shadow interposed itself, ready to pulp the interloper.
"Come back here bitch!" Now she was running.
The man didn't follow, though the girl kept running for another short while. She was leaning heavily against a streetlight, heaving, struggling for air.
And whispering to herself.
Something about how she didn't think she looked that bad.
It meant little to nothing for the shadow. The only opinion it had on the girl's attire was that it was lacking in arms and armour.
After a time, the girl decided to keep walking, moving away from the location of the transportation that she had taken here and away from the man that had accosted her.
The sky had fully darkened by Peresphone's absence when they reached the site of the battle from several days ago.
There was yellow fabric on short poles sectioning off what seemed to be several dozen buildings, with day workers in dazzling vests and wasp coloured hats shifting through the rumble.
The girl stared.
Snow petals fluttered down from the clouds.
The shadow waited.
Others gave her a wide berth.
She started to walk along the yellow fabric.
By the time she had gotten to one end, a cacophony came, other people on the street's sides turning to look at it.
Several of the metal transports slowly came down the road, following a woman who glowed, walking between rooftops as if it was nothing. Well, walking was a misnomer. It would be more accurate to describe it as teleporting.
To the shadow's eyes, that wasn't the case.
The woman lit up, and was pulled in a direction… maybe not pulled, but jumped? The shadow was not human, – it knew that fact intrinsically- it could see in far better minutiae than one. Its senses straddled the line of impossible and inconceivable when compared to a baseline human. Something was pulling the woman along after she shined.
It took it nearly six jumps to get a conclusion to that; small bits of metallic debris were disturbed by her transit while brick was not. Something involving ēlektron? Magnētis? There was a small difference in motion when she reached the terminus of her motions that tickled what the shadow had seen of magnetic lodestones.
The girl stared up at the woman in naked awe. The kind reserved for boyhood heroes.
"Battery."
It was while she was flitting between buildings that a motley hand of filth and detritus rose up between the buildings from an angle the shadow couldn't see and flattened her.
Or would have, if she hadn't swerved at a speed that might have even given the shadow pause.
The woman yelled something, some phrase that held no meaning to the shadow, and all the onlookers immediately bolted away.
Well, most of them.
In the time it took for her to gain radiance, a high pitch whine was emitted at a blistering loud volume and a haphazard flying transport crested the skyline. It wasn't particularly big, not compared to the similar thing that the shadow had fought several days ago, resembling one of the wheels that many of metal transports used, just turned at a right angle.
Or it should be.
Even the shadow could tell something was wrong with the ungainly thing.
Especially after the whine cut out and it dropped from the sky.
The cursing that it could hear from inside the thing made it think it wasn't intentional.
A baker's dozen of different limbs extruded from it, catching it's descent and allowing it to skitter along the rooftops in a demented trajectory.
Like an anthill being knocked over the vehicles trailing the woman sped up and stopped in a formation before disgorging identically dressed soldiers.
That was as far as they got when from the side of the many limb-ed thing, a small figure jumped out.
Seven streams of brilliantly red flames shot out of the figure's back, propelling them upwards, staying near the abomination.
The figure gestured towards the ground-bound warriors as they began to scream in agony.
It wasn't hard to figure out why, the metal on them had begun to glow.
Where once there were thirty black armoured soldiers to aid the woman, now there were but a few that were actually in fighting form.
The woman herself was dodging a growing golem made of anything that wasn't nailed down as the many limb-ed machine scuttled towards her, the flaming figure following overhead.
The shadow burned to be unleashed on them.
The girl ordered the shadow to…
[X] ...to aid the glowing woman. If she doesn't, it probably won't go well for her.
The girl was smartly leaving, something that she had no doubt learned after the last encounter.
"Save Battery!" The girl whisper-yelled as she ran away.
Barely had she said it that the shadow was allowed once more into the material world.
As far as the shadow could tell, there were three threats right now to the woman, Battery, as the girl had called her earlier.
The trash-golem, the many limb-ed metal beast and the small figure who seemed to have a decidedly abnormal approach to heat.
The magnetic woman seemed to be able to handle the trash golem, at least by dodging it. That left...
It grabbed one of the many lighting fixtures that dotted along the road, curiously none in this area were on, before rearing back and chucking it much like a javelin at the flying figure.
The shadow knew, knew, without a doubt in its core that once upon a time that would have been completely effortless- it could have nailed the flying figure and turned it into minced meat. As it was, the coordination it needed to throw something of such an odd shape meant that it was off by a margin. A small margin, but a margin nonetheless.
As it was, it only sheared through the large disk vehicle and upon exiting the other side, missing the figure by a finger's width.
The resulting backwash from it's passing still knocked the fire man out of the sky. A mere consolation prize.
Failure.
Oddly enough, having a sizable hole in the disk didn't seem to stop it's movement.
The entire thing spun, it's focus changing to the shadow as it barreled towards it.
The shadow jumped.
Four of its limbs rose to meet it.
The distance closed as the shadow swung its swordaxe into it.
A bright white surface appeared between four of its limbs.
Sharpened stone met a field of pale and was found wanting.
The white light sputtered out as the shadow pulled back from its strike.
Another four limbs came up, creating another square of white.
The shadow grabbed its weapon with both hands.
The swordaxe slammed into it.
The square only stopped existing when the sheer force of the impact had forced the four limbs away. Out of alignment. So far out of alignment that the four limbs pulled the vehicle back with the force at which they were hit, the joints squealing in protest.
Unfortunately the strength at which the shadow had hit it had unbalanced itself, causing it to begin a front flip in the air.
Leaving it completely undefended when one of the limbs - a much thicker one with five pronged manipulators at the end - grabbed the shadow by its throat and pulled it forwards, smashing it through the building it was on, head first.
The shadow didn't feel any of it.
The piston within the arm that slammed forward hard enough to cause the building around it to shudder from the impact… that it did feel.
Specifically from its ribs bending inwards by two inches.
The four original limbs clamped down on each of the shadow's limbs, an unknown energy giving them far more weight than they should have by any right.
The piston slammed forward again.
Less than an inch this time.
"░░░▒▒▒▒▓▓▓███████████████▓▓▒░!"
The shadow's muscles pushed.
It was a point that realistically gave it no leverage – being pinned to the ground was like that.
The problem with that, was that reality took a back seat to the shadow on occasion.
The piston slammed into it's ribs again.
Almost no effect.
The shadow's roar drowned out all other sounds.
The piston slammed again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
A sound could be heard over it's roar.
And again.
And again.
The same high pitched whine.
And again.
And a-
All at once, the whine gave out.
With contemptuous easy, the shadow shattered it's bindings.
It's left arm grabbed the thick limb that was clutched around it's chest. Like a hot knife through butter, it's hand sheared through it's outer coating before grabbing the piston inside and ripped it out, a maelstrom of sounds as delicate components rained down from the side of the building.
The shadow's held the piston in one hand and its swordaxe in another.
The mist of madness descended, of reasoning being lost to insanity.
Taylor had run from the fight, even before summoning the giant. She had remembered the last time she had stuck around and didn't want any part of that.
The downside was that she couldn't see what was going on whatsoever.
That, paradoxically, didn't mean she didn't have an idea of what was going on. She could infer several things.
For instance, the pool of time (for lack of a better word) that the giant drew from hadn't drastically decreased. It was still going down at a fairly steady, if increasing, rate. From that, Taylor could pull that the giant hadn't suffered any injuries- when he had a hole blown in him from the tank last weekend or when Kage had cut off a hand, she could feel the drain increase to such an extent it felt like being punched in the gut. Only if your gut was part of the underside of your entire skin.
Then there was the fact that the rate was increasing at all; that, from what little she could tell, meant that he was doing an increasingly difficult action.
There was also the fact the building Squealer's vehicle was on had partially collapsed, with the vehicle in question having yet to make a reappearance. Taylor didn't know how it worked but would wager that if she was in the pilot seat, she would have gotten back up to a vantage point.
Finally there was the fact that the ground was currently shaking with an almost rhythmic thudding noise. She didn't think anything besides her power could do that. Honestly, it was impressive to her as she was a good two blocks away at this point and she could still feel the ground shaking- the noise of things clattering against each other as the surface they rested on shook with each impact.
It was a question that she still didn't have an answer for;
How strong was her power?
With spite and rage the shadow looked down at what remained of the metal beast.
Metal with a putty-like consistency, sparking ropes of copper and fragments of shattered green were all that was left of it in a crater twice the shadow's height.
The only reason it had stopped was it had no longer deemed the beast a threat.
One threat was down. Another had fled. That only left...
A shattering noise, the giant leapt from the crater.
Red eyes focused on the trash golem that was currently trying to touch the magnet woman without success.
It would not miss this time.
When it threw the piston, the windows in the adjacent buildings cracked like spiderwebs as the pillar cut through the air.
It didn't stop when it hit the trash golem's chest. Nor the building behind it. Nor did the ground slow it much as it carved a massive trench before going underground.
However that didn't matter at all to the shadow.
The trash golem was still moving.
It had failed again!
No.
The little man who controlled it wasn't located in it's chest. Rather in it's groin. The shadow could smell him pissing himself.
A simple matter to rectify.
The golem was the only thing left that could harm the magnet woman.
The ground failed to create enough traction, each foot step sinking slightly into the ground with a resounding crack as it advanced.
The swordaxe came down, cleaving the golem in twain-
A flash of white.
The shadow's eyes tracked the magnet woman blurring in front of it, her hands going to clasp the blade only to miss as the weapon stopped on a dime.
After all, the girl had ordered him to protect the woman.
The shadow couldn't protect the woman if she was directly in the way.
It stayed stock still.
"No killing."
Unfortunately for the woman, she was not its master and therefore it did not listen to her. She was also not moving.
She blurred in front of it whenever the shadow tried to go around.
It was left with only one option.
With the air of a gorilla lifting a kitten, it's left hand wrapped around her waist, before the shadow turned, depositing the woman away from the trash man with the same effort one picked up dust.
The shadow raised the swordaxe.
A final tremor ran through the ground, nearly knocking Taylor on her butt three blocks away.
Well, that was exciting for Taylor. Now for the far more terrifying thing; her date with Nikki.
[] Panic
[] PANIC
[] Panic
Author's note: Right, so. This chapter was a lot of things.
There were three rolls that happened – I have a massive table for each area that subdivides a few times depending on what wins; first was that someone tried to sell drugs to Taylor, the next was for the Protectorate to be making a show of the flag after the artillery fight that happened a few days ago aaaaand then the merchants won the third roll.
When the merchants bushwacked Battery, I look at it and just went "Taylor would send the giant in. There's not situation she wouldn't. Canonically she likes Battery and thinks she's a model hero." So while there was a vote, it autolocked immediately onto what happened.
As for what exactly was going on with Squealer's creation this time... this is one of the few times I'm willing to pull the curtain back a bit; essentially she took a conventional hovercraft and then took inspiration from New Wave's forcefields aaaaand LimbMaster's… limbs.
I also probably slipped a bit from my usual writing style in the giant's headspace because there was so much of it. Oh well.
There is a reference to probably the best fate fanfic in this chapter, lets see if anyone can guess it!
There will be probably a sizeable wait for the next chapter just because its going to be long and dialogue heavy.
Please vote and discuss! A lot happened this chapter.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I get you wanting to reenact that scene but I don't think Battery is that anal about the not killing thing that she'd put herself in so much danger.
Maybe throw a rock at the shadow's head or shout at him, but not protect with her life someone previously trying to kill her.
Maybe throw a rock at the shadow's head or shout at him, but not protect with her life someone previously trying to kill her.
Last edited:
You are probably right.
It's a combination of things; mostly Battery was thinking that her charged form would be able to weather it since as far as she can tell, it's a muscle based brute. If it can't, she thinks she can get away fast enough since she can outspeed him.
Also that it might target her next after Mush. Better to have two people fight the scary muscle brute than on your lonesome.
Iris-Iven-Ibis
Interested-Idiot-Immortal
- Location
- You know
[X] Panic
[X] PANIC
[X] Panic
[X] Don't PANIC
-[X] Don't forget your towel
-[X] Every time you feel yourself starting to panic, stop, breath, and drop the worst pick-up line you can think of
[X] PANIC
[X] Panic
[X] Don't PANIC
-[X] Don't forget your towel
-[X] Every time you feel yourself starting to panic, stop, breath, and drop the worst pick-up line you can think of
Last edited:
Ah, the most amount of panic.
[X] Panic
I do think it'd be nice, now that Taylor's gotten some of the excitement out, for her to be slightly more calm about the whole thing.
Berserker is definitely on a list now though. Points for the weapon skills, sure, but definitely the Protectorate is about to get a lot more cautious around him. Also that autolock was both funny and appropriate.
I do think it'd be nice, now that Taylor's gotten some of the excitement out, for her to be slightly more calm about the whole thing.
Berserker is definitely on a list now though. Points for the weapon skills, sure, but definitely the Protectorate is about to get a lot more cautious around him. Also that autolock was both funny and appropriate.
- Location
- Oklahoma
[X] Panic
Deadweight Hero
I can't beat the demon lord help-
[X] Panic
[X] PANIC
[X] Panic
ALL OF THE PANIC!
Holy shit Herc has no chill.
[X] PANIC
[X] Panic
ALL OF THE PANIC!
Holy shit Herc has no chill.
If I am being honest, this is the thing I am most unhappy with in the update; I couldn't find a good middle ground. She would intervene because its very clear at this junction that the big muscle brute is really only being stopped by being inconvenienced. He hasn't attacked any heroes in the past and in the case with Gravwell, seemed to at least stop doing the violence when a hero stepped in. Then we have Battery's power which is... nebulous in how strong it makes her. Officially when she is charged, she is invincible. I had to double check that just now - so I stand by her stepping in for the block.
Taylor: He is very friend-shaped.
Everyone else: He's a fucking psychopath is what he is.
xamaplak
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE @SOUP?
- Location
- the Soup Store
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Don't Panic
-[X] Don't forget your towel
-[X] Every time you feel yourself starting to panic, stop, breath, and drop the worst pick-up line you can think of
The moment I wrote Don't Panic I had to wrestle with myself whether or not to include a reference to a towel.
-[X] Don't forget your towel
-[X] Every time you feel yourself starting to panic, stop, breath, and drop the worst pick-up line you can think of
The moment I wrote Don't Panic I had to wrestle with myself whether or not to include a reference to a towel.
- Pronouns
- He
Taylor: He don't bite.
Everyone else: YES HE DO!
Taylor: look, he is very very friendly. He's always listens to me.
Everyone else: I think I can see solidified hatred and anger coming off of him
Taylor: nahhhhh, you seeing things
[X] Panic
I would add an "attempt to not panic but fail miserably" caveat but that probably goes without saying.
All of them are that to some degree.
Aporia 03.19
[X] Panic
Taylor was fine.
She was just going on a date.
Her first date.
With one of her only friends-maybe-something-more.
No need to panic.
Nothing worth panicking about! It'll be fine!
No need to panic!
Dinner and going to the cinema.
Oh, and Nikki meeting her dad.
That too.
There was absolutely no need to panic! None! Zero reasons!
She had even gotten new clothes for the date. It had been the first time she had bought clothes that weren't different shades of brown, grey or blue in a year.
White technically isn't grey!
No need to panic.
Maybe if she repeated the mantra to herself enough times, she might even believe it.
The giant looked on in what Taylor chose to believe was encouragement. Not that he could really look on quite well, given he was crouched in her bedroom's corner to prevent him from hitting the ceiling. Something which she was pretty sure the ceiling would come off as the loser in that contest.
Something about having him manifested made her feel safe, and, well, it was helping with her nerves. And preventing her from having a heart attack, that too. At le-
Ring
The doorbell rang.
The panic began.
She hadn't even heard Nikki's car pull up.
One last, last look at the mirror and she gave herself an encouraging smile.
...she was pretty sure that she had seen politicians with more genuine smiles than hers.
Taylor looked at the giant.
"I'm doomed."
By the time she had gotten to the front door, her dad had already opened it and was talking to her date.
Seeing the two standing together really put Nikki's height into perspective. The Russian girl was almost eye to eye with Taylor's Father.
"Ah! Taylor!" Nikki smiled, showing a set of straight white teeth. She wore a white turtleneck on white slacks.
It was like she was trying to hide in snow.
But it hugged her curves nicely without being… excessive. "You look great. " Nikki continued, her smile not wavering.
That was her being generous; she had a nice white button down and her nicest pair of jeans. It didn't mean that Taylor didn't appreciate it, however.
She could feel red creeping up at the back of her neck.
"You do. Too. Look good I mean."
Her dad, meanwhile, was looking on with some bemusement. "Nikki, was it? Where are you taking my only daughter to?" Taylor didn't know how to feel about the first truly genuine smile she'd seen on his face in a long time being at her expense.
"Ah!" Nikki turned back to Taylor's father. "Well. I planned on a movie, followed by a dinner reservation at the Saint Piera Oceanside restaurant in Downtown."
Said restaurant wasn't exactly a cheap one. Especially getting reservations there.
It was things like this that reminded Taylor that Nikki came from money.
"What movie and when are you intending on having her back by?"
"I was going to pick with her, I was unsure of exactly what Taylor would like to see so I thought it prudent to simply choose together." Nikki answered. "Around 10, to 10:30 sir, depending on the movie."
Her dad nodded.
Well.
This was going well so far.
That was until, a different expression crossed his face, making Taylor concerned.
"And you are bringing protection?"
Nikki, still smiling, nodded. "Yes sir!" Holding up her purse, she slid a hand gun out before putting it back. "I'll make sure she's safe, sir."
Taylor stared at the purse.
Her dad stared at the purse.
Nikki kept smiling.
"Right. Okay." His smile was far more strained looking now. He was looking at Taylor's date with an expression Taylor hadn't seen before. "Do you have a cellphone?"
"I do sir. Would you like to have my number?" Nikki asked as she let her purse rest by her side.
He nodded.
The phone number was exchanged.
Her dad gave her a quick hug. "Have fun, okay?"
"Yeah."
"Be back by eleven."
"Okay."
"Love you."
"Love you too."
Taylor left her house with her dad still having an unreadable expression. She turned to Nikki. "Right. Cool. Movies?"
Nikki nodded, moving to the car and opening the front passenger door for Taylor.
It was… sweet. Very courteous. Taylor shuffled into the passenger seat with far less grace.
The car shifted as Nikki then climbed into the driver seat, buckling up, and starting the car. With a subdued rumble, the car pulled away from her house. "There is a selection of movies playing. I recommend only drinks as the reservations I have for dinner are on the heavier side."
"Okay. What's showing?"
"Two action movies: 'Expedition to Earth Zeta' and 'Karate Girl'. Then there's a romcom by the name of: 'No Strings Attached'. And finally a comedy: 'School with the Wards'. I have no strong opinions." Nikki admitted. "You?"
Taylor said…
[] ...'School with the Wards', the comedy film. Taylor tries to keep the tone of the date lighthearted.
[] ...'Expedition to Earth Zeta', a sci-fi epic. Taylor has been meaning to see this since she read the book and is more excited for the film than the date itself.
[] ... 'No Strings Attached', the rom-com film. It doesn't even look remotely that good but, this *is* a date. Probably should go with the only film she knows has romance in it.
[] ... 'Karate Girl', the coming-of-age cape film. It's probably a good film, but Taylor knows nothing about it.
[] ... Mystery Box
Author's Note: ...I totally haven't been distracted reading a web novel for the past week and didn't totally have this chapter literally finished and edited 30 hours ago but was too distracted. Nope nope nope, didn't happen.
Anywho, vote on which movie. Mystery box is… mystery box. It could be good or bad or neutral. Each of the movie options are related to Taylor's initial take on the date and come with downsides to any upsides.
This is not me complaining, but man, when I first thought up this quest, I was mostly expecting a lot of writing Taylor's power mulching people lol
Taylor was fine.
She was just going on a date.
Her first date.
With one of her only friends-maybe-something-more.
No need to panic.
Nothing worth panicking about! It'll be fine!
No need to panic!
Dinner and going to the cinema.
Oh, and Nikki meeting her dad.
That too.
There was absolutely no need to panic! None! Zero reasons!
She had even gotten new clothes for the date. It had been the first time she had bought clothes that weren't different shades of brown, grey or blue in a year.
White technically isn't grey!
No need to panic.
Maybe if she repeated the mantra to herself enough times, she might even believe it.
The giant looked on in what Taylor chose to believe was encouragement. Not that he could really look on quite well, given he was crouched in her bedroom's corner to prevent him from hitting the ceiling. Something which she was pretty sure the ceiling would come off as the loser in that contest.
Something about having him manifested made her feel safe, and, well, it was helping with her nerves. And preventing her from having a heart attack, that too. At le-
Ring
The doorbell rang.
The panic began.
She hadn't even heard Nikki's car pull up.
One last, last look at the mirror and she gave herself an encouraging smile.
...she was pretty sure that she had seen politicians with more genuine smiles than hers.
Taylor looked at the giant.
"I'm doomed."
By the time she had gotten to the front door, her dad had already opened it and was talking to her date.
Seeing the two standing together really put Nikki's height into perspective. The Russian girl was almost eye to eye with Taylor's Father.
"Ah! Taylor!" Nikki smiled, showing a set of straight white teeth. She wore a white turtleneck on white slacks.
It was like she was trying to hide in snow.
But it hugged her curves nicely without being… excessive. "You look great. " Nikki continued, her smile not wavering.
That was her being generous; she had a nice white button down and her nicest pair of jeans. It didn't mean that Taylor didn't appreciate it, however.
She could feel red creeping up at the back of her neck.
"You do. Too. Look good I mean."
Her dad, meanwhile, was looking on with some bemusement. "Nikki, was it? Where are you taking my only daughter to?" Taylor didn't know how to feel about the first truly genuine smile she'd seen on his face in a long time being at her expense.
"Ah!" Nikki turned back to Taylor's father. "Well. I planned on a movie, followed by a dinner reservation at the Saint Piera Oceanside restaurant in Downtown."
Said restaurant wasn't exactly a cheap one. Especially getting reservations there.
It was things like this that reminded Taylor that Nikki came from money.
"What movie and when are you intending on having her back by?"
"I was going to pick with her, I was unsure of exactly what Taylor would like to see so I thought it prudent to simply choose together." Nikki answered. "Around 10, to 10:30 sir, depending on the movie."
Her dad nodded.
Well.
This was going well so far.
That was until, a different expression crossed his face, making Taylor concerned.
"And you are bringing protection?"
Nikki, still smiling, nodded. "Yes sir!" Holding up her purse, she slid a hand gun out before putting it back. "I'll make sure she's safe, sir."
Taylor stared at the purse.
Her dad stared at the purse.
Nikki kept smiling.
"Right. Okay." His smile was far more strained looking now. He was looking at Taylor's date with an expression Taylor hadn't seen before. "Do you have a cellphone?"
"I do sir. Would you like to have my number?" Nikki asked as she let her purse rest by her side.
He nodded.
The phone number was exchanged.
Her dad gave her a quick hug. "Have fun, okay?"
"Yeah."
"Be back by eleven."
"Okay."
"Love you."
"Love you too."
Taylor left her house with her dad still having an unreadable expression. She turned to Nikki. "Right. Cool. Movies?"
Nikki nodded, moving to the car and opening the front passenger door for Taylor.
It was… sweet. Very courteous. Taylor shuffled into the passenger seat with far less grace.
The car shifted as Nikki then climbed into the driver seat, buckling up, and starting the car. With a subdued rumble, the car pulled away from her house. "There is a selection of movies playing. I recommend only drinks as the reservations I have for dinner are on the heavier side."
"Okay. What's showing?"
"Two action movies: 'Expedition to Earth Zeta' and 'Karate Girl'. Then there's a romcom by the name of: 'No Strings Attached'. And finally a comedy: 'School with the Wards'. I have no strong opinions." Nikki admitted. "You?"
Taylor said…
[] ...'School with the Wards', the comedy film. Taylor tries to keep the tone of the date lighthearted.
[] ...'Expedition to Earth Zeta', a sci-fi epic. Taylor has been meaning to see this since she read the book and is more excited for the film than the date itself.
[] ... 'No Strings Attached', the rom-com film. It doesn't even look remotely that good but, this *is* a date. Probably should go with the only film she knows has romance in it.
[] ... 'Karate Girl', the coming-of-age cape film. It's probably a good film, but Taylor knows nothing about it.
[] ... Mystery Box
Author's Note: ...I totally haven't been distracted reading a web novel for the past week and didn't totally have this chapter literally finished and edited 30 hours ago but was too distracted. Nope nope nope, didn't happen.
Anywho, vote on which movie. Mystery box is… mystery box. It could be good or bad or neutral. Each of the movie options are related to Taylor's initial take on the date and come with downsides to any upsides.
This is not me complaining, but man, when I first thought up this quest, I was mostly expecting a lot of writing Taylor's power mulching people lol
Last edited:
Iris-Iven-Ibis
Interested-Idiot-Immortal
- Location
- You know
[X] ...'Expedition to Earth Zeta', a sci-fi epic. Taylor has been meaning to see this since she read the book and is more excited for the film than the date itself.
[X] ... 'Karate Girl', the coming-of-age cape film. It's probably a good film, but Taylor knows nothing about it.
This is perhaps the calmest I've ever seen Brockton tbf. And letting Berserker loose would be a lot more kosher in, say, a post-Levi Brockton Bay.
- Location
- Oklahoma
[X] ... 'Karate Girl', the coming-of-age cape film. It's probably a good film, but Taylor knows nothing about it.
