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H+ Mayhem (Worm)

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Kachajal said:
kama. Karma is a concept, kama is a weapon.

nowhere near this sort of volume

Also, triggers knock out all nearby capes. It *seems* as if you wrote that the woman triggered then and there, with three nearby capes that had no issue with it.
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"Karma is a word. Like "love". A way of saying 'what I am here to do.' I do not resent my karma - I'm grateful for it. Grateful for my wonderful wife, for my beautiful daughter. They are gifts. And so I do what I must do to honour them." - Rama-Kandra
 
You know...if the EEE does manage to stop Bakuda, Mayhem is going to given a lot of credibility. A lot of Yakuza gangs earned public goodwill from supplies distributed during the 2nd Kanto earthquake. The defining characteristic of a "succesful' "crime state" is the extent it becomes a sort of parallel society. Providing channels for resolving disputes, ensuring minimum needs are met, be they providing physical security or food and water.

Just on treating so many victims and removing the problem the EEE gets a reputation in all the wrong ways. Honestly Bakuda going bomb happy smacks far too close to the crazy Asian rhetoric the EEE then I'm comfortable with. Coil is an obvious problem, especially if he does become Director.

I'll note though that the Cauldron Conspiracy wanted to see the effect of parahuman fiefdoms. EEE is in a way due to organization and number semi capable of taking that road plausibly.
 
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    • [PRIMO VICTORIA]

    I was surprised to find that they hadn't sedated Bakuda. She was awake, but it looked like Kaiser had grown some sort of metal cage around her, immobilizing each individual limb. Not how I would have done it, it's pretty easy to make voice activated Tinkertech. I wasn't sure if Purity's power included gravity manipulation, or superhuman strength, or if she just worked out. Either way she was able to carry the woman, and the metal cage she was inside. It might just be leverage and a light metal though.

    I don't think Bakuda would have made it through the lobby if Purity didn't all but blind everyone as she carried the villainess through. There was a lot of hatred there, and a few people who managed to glimpse just who Purity had been carrying tried to follow her into the surgery, demanding answers.

    "…me go, and I'll hunt you down and slaughter you, and everyone you fucking care about you fucking halfwit!" Bakuda yelled at Purity. I nicked her with a scalpel. That really wasn't helping her survival prospects.

    Purity dropped Bakuda and turned to deal with the crowd while Stacy and I maneuvered the woman onto a scanner.

    Let's see… nothing. She had a grand total of zip internal enhancements. Although she was wearing a heart monitor, and that looked like a bit of rewiring around it so that it could transmit the data from it's sensor somewhere else.

    Someone had shot her repeatedly in the feet. Lot's of bone and tissue damage. She'd never walk again unless I sorted that out. I wasn't particularly inclined to do so, but I did inject a cell growth and coagulant to prevent her bleeding out. No other tech on her or in her. So let's crack that skull open.

    Victor came in about halfway through the procedure, while I was still fitting the new, stripped down version of my own neural chip.

    "What am I looking at?" He asked.

    "I permanently destroyed her aggression centers. Left anything that could contain memories, but she'll probably have severe depression anyway. Abstract reasoning is turned off, as is long term planning. She'll be operating in a dream world, without motivation of her own. Basically like someone in a really deep hypnotic trance. Very suggestible."

    "What are you doing now?"

    "Emotion control chip. It will take a while to calibrate after it's been installed, but it won't take another thirty seconds to implant properly. Should let us keep under full control. Pass me the blue tube and a pair of forceps please." I told him.

    Three minutes later I was done, her skull was closed, and her flesh stitched back together. Meatball surgery at it's finest.

    "Now Victor, we're going to have about ten minutes of full lucidity before her brain starts swelling. I can give her additional periods with the right chemicals, but only for five minutes at a time, and we'll only have three of them before her mind starts to deteriorate in unpredictable ways."

    Victor glared at me.

    "You said you were sure you could do this?"

    "I am. She'll answer everything you need answered. We need to be quick about things anyway. Although… Victor, you planning on dying any time soon?" I asked.

    Waking someone up directly after a brain operation is not medically advisable. I injected Bakuda with enough adrenaline to counter the sedative anyway. It would take a few seconds to take effect.

    "Not really, why?" Victor asked. Turning a bloody circular saw over in his fingers carefully.

    "Shirt off please, I need someone to keep this on until we're sure we've defused the last of Bakuda's bombs." I told him, lifting Bakuda's shirt high enough to get to the heart monitor, cutting it free, but keeping the sensor pressed to her skin, so there wasn't an interruption in the signal.

    "You sure it's safe, it's not Tinkertech designed to make sure she's the one wearing it?" Victor asked, although he did take his shirt off.

    "Certain. I've scanned it, and it's a bog standard heart monitor, she only meddled with the transmitter." I said, transferring the sensor as quickly as possible, then strapping it to Victor's chest with a series of bandages.

    "She's made a lot of bombs. I don't think that she had time to make anything else." I told Victor.

    I turned Bakuda over, slapped her twice to help the adrenaline do it's job.

    She said something in what I think was Japanese.

    "She's complaining that her head hurts." Victor told me.

    "Pretty normal. I just opened it up. There might be some mild concussion, but I was careful, memories won't be affected. Can you get her to speak English? I'd like to be able to verify things."

    "Shouldn't be hard, she had barely any accent, must have learned the language young. Bakuda! Listen to me, we'll make it stop hurting, but first you have to tell us about your bomb. Your biggest one." Victor said, leaning over her and focusing the surgery lights on her face.

    Bakuda would probably have tried to shield her face from the light, but I hadn't cut her out of the restraints that Kaiser had grown yet. Instead she just closed her eyes.

    "Big bomb? I didn't like it. It wasn't original. Wasn't smart. Just really really big. Need to send it a code…" Bakuda tried to sit up, and found herself unable to. "Code. Need to send a code. How long since I sent code?"

    Victor glanced at me.

    "I enhanced her desire for survival as well. Thought it might help. She might also have an enhanced appetite, similar area of the brain for both." I told him.

    Victor nodded, looked back at Bakuda.

    "Bakuda, this is important, I need you to tell me everything you know about this code. How it works, how you send it. How often it has to be sent. Everything."

    Bakuda nodded, and gave us the details we wanted. Then she told us about the bomb. Where it was, how to get there. She even started on how to defuse it, but it was a long, complicated process. I wasn't sure I'd trust myself to follow everything perfectly with the city on the line. I wouldn't trust Bakuda to disarm it in her current state, but we could easily postpone the detonation indefinitely, so that wasn't much of an issue.

    It wasn't as bad as we thought. The code could be sent from any mobile device, she gave us that code, and it didn't need to be sent again for another hour and a half. In return I gave her a local pain killer for my recent cranial surgery.

    We left Bakuda on the operating table and went into the lab to discuss things.

    "There has to be some way we can test the code?" Victor asked. "Some way we can make sure she isn't messing with us?"

    I shrugged.

    "For what it's worth, I trust my skills at surgery. I could probably make Bakuda sing the little teapot song. She doesn't really have much will of her own left."

    "That might help actually." Victor said, taking out his phone and dialing. "I'm going to call in a few others. Kaiser, maybe Alabaster. She said the bomb was in her secondary lab, we might need someone who can tank her traps."

    "She could have the traps rigged to blow the main bomb instead. I'll try to get her into a state where she can disable the traps for us." I said.

    "Fine. Keep her restrained for now though." Victor ordered.

    I nodded.

    Let's see. Cell growth formula and bone glue into her head. A couple of painkillers. Some more adrenaline. A bit of healing from Othala and I could cut her out of Kaisers cage and put her in a wheelchair.

    I found Othala in the lobby, still healing people. She looked half dead. Probably still struggling with the whole 'woman who triggered' thing. That was nasty.

    "I need your help." I told her. She nodded, brushed another patient, and followed me back into the surgery.

    I noticed that the wounds of the new arrivals were changing. I wasn't seeing the exotic effects of Bakuda's bombs, instead I was seeing gunshot wounds, contusions, broken bones… I think that one man was sliced with some sort of sword.

    We'd taken out the capes, the bombs had stopped, but the ABB was still fighting. A shame. Still, the victims were E88 gangsters now. It wasn't as bad as when the civilians had been coming in.

    I had to break out an angle grinder to get Bakuda out of Kaiser's work, but we managed to get her strapped down into a wheelchair without much fuss. She was easy enough to order around. No signs of resistance, although the neural chip I had implanted was getting some odd readings. It was hard to say exactly how or why, but her corona pollentia was being re-mapped as a backup aggression center. I fixed that remotely, isolated and disabled the neurons creating the new links. I'd have to keep an eye on that, but things hadn't had a chance to set themselves up properly, it was fine.

    Othala gave Bakuda enough healing that she wasn't likely to kill herself if she was forced to Tinker, but not enough to get her feet back in order, and went back out to the lobby. I helped Victor take her out the back entrance.

    "What did Kaiser say?" I asked.

    "We're to take her to the bomb. Make her disable it. He'll meet us there personally. Can you teach me how to keep her stable?"

    Rune came in, marked Bakuda's chair and floated a large ashphalt platform down for me and Victor to get on.

    "Stable? Well not very stable. She's on a cocktail of drugs and she's just had her brain cut open. I can teach you to operate her implant, but we'll need a few hours. Why?"

    "Your surgery, is it going to hold?" Victor asked.

    "Probably. Define hold?" I said, snapping my fingers in front of Bakuda's eyes. Her pupils weren't dilating properly.

    "So you need to be the one who triggers the periods of lucidity?"

    "Yes. Sorry. I could maybe pre-program one period, but you wouldn't be able to safely induce another without some sort of Tinker brain specialty. Or another fifteen minutes with Othala."

    "All right. You're coming with us then. Rune. You know where to go." Victor said.

    I hopped onto a floating piece of asphalt and tried to keep my balance as we rose over the city. Then decided it would be simpler to just fly with my own jetpack, and lifted off.

    The city was a mess. I could hear ambulance sirens, police sirens and fire fighter sirens waring with each other to be heard as we drifted over nearly empty streets. This, I thought, is probably what a war zone looks like.

    Heh, ironic, looking back. I was naive then.

    We collected Kaiser first, picked him up off a battlefield strewn with his blades, and the broken bodies of Asians. To my surprise we left Fenja and Menja behind, along with the rest of the E88. Purity even left us, to continue cutting a swathe through the ABB rank and file.

    We lifted off again, and I figured that now was as good a time as any to get my hands on some decent ordinance. It would take me nearly a year to get access to the bombs Bakuda was making through my own power.

    "Kaiser, just a point I would like to raise."

    "What is it Mayhem."

    "I've Mastered Bakuda. I can keep her Mastered indefinitely. No risk. And her bombs would be incredibly useful if used correctly."

    "I'll consider the matter." Kaiser said.

    Then we went to Bakuda's workshop.

    We weren't the first ones there. Part of the shop was glass, the other half oddly melted, like something had somehow turned the walls and ceiling to wet clay, and then solidified it again halfway.

    Rune didn't set us down, but she did hover us low enough to see into the ruined remains of the building.

    Armsmaster, Kid Win, Vista and Clockblocker were all standing around a large sphere.

    "Motion, damage and light sensors on the interior." Kid Win reported, putting down something that looked like an overly large camera.

    "Motion sensors are GPS based. Our backup plan should work. Vista, you're up." Armsmaster ordered.

    Vista nodded, and started shrinking the bomb. It wobbled slightly and Kaiser decided that was as good a time as any to make himself known.

    "Armsmaster, you beat us to it. Well done." He said.

    "Kaiser." Armsmaster said, bringing his Halberd to bear. He hesitated when he saw Bakuda in a wheelchair.

    Kaiser tutted.

    "Now now, it looks like you didn't come prepared to fight me. That suit was designed for the ABB wasn't it?" Kaiser asked, as small, decorative spikes rose from the exterior of the suit.

    Armsmaster made the sort of sound you'd normally associate with an enraged bull, but lowered his weapon as Rune floated a chunk of rock in front of Kaiser for cover.

    "We're dealing with a superweapon here Kaiser. Hand over Bakuda, and I'll let you go."

    Kaiser shook his head.

    "Your plan was to make Vista shrink it, and Clockblocker contain it? But how are you going to make it detonate while Clockblockers ability is in place?" Kaiser asked.

    Armsmaster looked behind him. Clockblocker and Vista hadn't stopped working. The bomb and the bench it was on were now both completely surrounded by a large blanket, which Clockblocker immediately froze.

    Armsmaster raised a fist, and pressed a small button.

    There was no sound from under the blanket, but Armsmaster had a satisfied look on his face.

    "I hope you know what you're doing. If objects that Clockblocker uses his power on are truly locked in time, they should block radio signals. If that really was a detonator, perhaps the signal will reach the bomb only when the time-lock effect wears off?" Victor said.

    "Clockblockers ability is radio-permeable. We tested it." Armsmaster said, shrugging. That was weird. Then again it was light permeable, probably, seeing as how frozen objects still had coloration. "Now give us Bakuda, she has a lot to answer for."

    "And why won't the blast simply ricochet around the interior of the blanket until the effect wears off?" Victor asked.

    "Because Clockblocker's ability absorbs energy, instead of redirecting it. Otherwise everyone would bounce off his frozen objects, instead of collide with them." Armsmaster said.

    Kaiser glanced from Armsmaster, who wore metal armor and could be taken out easily. To Kid Win, who he could also be taken out the same way, to Vista and Clockblocker. Two admittedly powerful Wards.

    On our side. Rune, Victor, Kaiser and myself. Bakuda in a wheelchair probably didn't count for either side, although Armsmaster wouldn't know about the brain modification, so he'd probably be watching for an escape attempt.

    "Hmm, I think that I will be more capable of making her answer for her crimes than you." Kaiser said finally, tapping his lips.

    "You do not have the facilities to hold a Tinker of her caliber." Armsmaster shot back.

    "I really think that we do." Kaiser drawled.

    Then my phone rang.

    I pulled it out of my pocket. Unidentified number. I glanced at Victor. Stacy gave me this phone, I assumed it was on his say so. Victor wasn't looking at me, focused on the Wards and Armsmaster instead.

    I put the phone to my ear, backing up and keeping the legs of my jetpack focused on the four heroes as Kaiser and Armsmaster continued to talk.

    "Mayhem speaking, who is this?" I asked.

    "My identity is unimportant. What is important is that I know about your 'contingency' to deal with the E88." A male voice said.

    "What are you talking about?" I asked, dumping my adrenaline reserve into my bloodstream so I had more time to think. It was too early to use that. I still had things I needed the E88 for. Fixing Sveta, buying anti-Master tech. Support structure, a new lab…

    "You know what I'm talking about. And the E88 will know too if you don't activate it now." The voice ordered.

    "I need time for that. Twenty four hours, at least." I told the voice on the other end of the phone. I couldn't activate it now. The E88 were spread all over the city.

    "I'm going to send evidence of what you've done to Kaiser in ten minutes. Whether or not he gets that evidence is up to you." The voice on the other end of the line said.

    "But I can't effect Hookwolf in his Changer form!" I said, in a voice between a shout and a whisper. Victor turned around, and looked at me oddly.

    The line clicked, and the phone call ended.

    I gulped. Rune was the only available flier… no, Kaiser would knock me out of the sky by growing metal from my jetpack, or just kill me. I don't think I could hit Kaiser and Rune at the same time, not reliably.

    "Kaiser, Hookwolf got caught in one of Bakuda's bombs." I said.

    "Why didn't I hear of that?" Victor asked, as I rose into the sky on my jetpack and rocket boots.

    I didn't answer him, instead I pushed myself up, then cut the thrust so I dropped down one street over, a double line of warehouses between me and Kaiser. I flared the thrusters before I struck the ground, blew out a window with my arm cannon, and jumped through it.

    "Primo Victoria." I enunciated clearly.

    Now I just needed to survive the eight minutes it would take for the E88 as an organization to cease to exist.
     
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    • Welp, Skitter escalates and Coil has dun goof'd. Just facts of life.

    Also, I can't help but point out that... Mayhem doesn't actually have any tangible backup plan to deal with the Empire yet. Like at all.

    Coil bluffed with an empty hand and Mayhem fell for it. This is pretty hilarious.

    So. Coil is the next guy that Mayhem will fuck up, right?
     
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    But what about Cricket? How can he abandoned LOVE so easily. Why cruel Coil, LOVE knows nothing of moral debauchery! They could have been together.:V
     
    No, it's as an organization and using espionage tech, so very clearly releasing E88 identities or something similar like all hideout locations.

    Primo Victoria is also really interesting. I'd guess that it's a shorthand for the Mayhem protocol, probably a pre prepared list of commands to address the issues others stated with it earlier. The phrase itself is archaic enough to be never used in normal conversation but also really cool.
     
    AddictedtoKills said:
    Potentia.

    I think.
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    Corona Pollentia is the correct term, see Snare 13.9:
    "See, there's this part of the brain that people who study parahumans call the Corona Pollentia, not to be confused with the Corona Radiata. It's a part of the brain that's different in parahumans, and it's the part that's used to manage powers, when the powers can be managed. More specifically, there's this part of the Corona they call the Gemma, that controls the active use of the power, the same way there are parts of the brain that allow us to coordinate and move our hands."
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