But he'd get so much more XP for fighting in the frontlines! Though it's possible that doing quick-and-dirty augmentations to capes with severe brain injuries to get them back on the frontlines - if zombified and a few hours away from cascading shutdown - might be enough for his power. He'd have to have people sign forms first, though. Or at least give verbal permission.
H+ Mayhem (Worm)
- Thread starter Jurric
- Start date
-
- Tags
- worm tinker transhumanism mayhem
wertsir
Knower of the Unknown
- Location
- Lost in A Deep Fog
The PRT trooper was female. that is the she he is referring to. (Bakuda is never referred to as a person in that sentence, only her bomb. they mention that the PRT trooper escapes, and that SHE only kills one person, it transitions fine for me)
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Huh. I read that as "Bakuda's rage bomb went off and overrode Adam's neurosurgery enough to make her go stab Kaiser dead"
wertsir
Knower of the Unknown
- Location
- Lost in A Deep Fog
This is the key bit. it mentions that only one PRT officer escaped AND she only killed one person.
The use of and means that the second part is attached to the first. if he had been referring to Bakuda as a subject then it may be muddled, but he didn't, only as the maker of 'Bakuda's bomb'. thus we know that the she he is referring to is the PRT officer who was the subject of the previous sentence. it works fine.
Though the fact that we now have two data points wold indicate that the sentence should probably be reworked for greater clarity, despite it's technical correctness.
RazorSmile
ROB Used To Be A Knife Missile
Our hero is being awfully lax about what Mayhem may or may not have been up to, I gotta say. More shard mind-Impery shenanigans?
No wait, it's one of those TVTropes Fridge Genius things and he's really just neurohacked his panic response away.
No wait, it's one of those TVTropes Fridge Genius things and he's really just neurohacked his panic response away.
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
Oh, boy, the ever exciting powers classifications debates. XD
The reason Victor is categorized as a trump in canon is because there's no way of predicting what capabilities he'll have; that's the purpose of that classification. Not 'interacts with/changes powers' but 'we have to expect the unexpected in a combat scenario involving this target'. Since again, the classifications are threat assessment. Victor is able to smoothly integrate peak human skills to a variety nobody else can manage. Yes, his power itself is functionally a thinker, but part of the effect is "we can't predict what he'll do".
Remember, Skitter in canon was granted effective ratings in all categories including Trump in part because of her tendency to pull new tricks out of her ass constantly.
Mayhem would probably receive a trump subrating for precisely that reason: He demonstrates a substantial degree of unpredictability because his specialty -- if he has one -- is seemingly all over the place. Most tinkers demonstrate clear themes that narrow what they're able to leverage, but Adam is seemingly able to out-efficient an efficiency tinker (Armsmaster is able to state quite definitively that Mayhem's combat prediction software is superior to what he has been making), out-modular a modularity tinker (not that it's clear kid win understands his speciality yet), while also being able to do various other shenanigans involving medical technology.
Oh, and if we're calling Bonesaw a tinker only because she does things that affect powers, well, Adam's on that road already. He's just starting with attempting to turn someone's off: Sveta. Editing will probably come later, because of course he'll eventually have that ethical decision to make.
The reason Victor is categorized as a trump in canon is because there's no way of predicting what capabilities he'll have; that's the purpose of that classification. Not 'interacts with/changes powers' but 'we have to expect the unexpected in a combat scenario involving this target'. Since again, the classifications are threat assessment. Victor is able to smoothly integrate peak human skills to a variety nobody else can manage. Yes, his power itself is functionally a thinker, but part of the effect is "we can't predict what he'll do".
Remember, Skitter in canon was granted effective ratings in all categories including Trump in part because of her tendency to pull new tricks out of her ass constantly.
Mayhem would probably receive a trump subrating for precisely that reason: He demonstrates a substantial degree of unpredictability because his specialty -- if he has one -- is seemingly all over the place. Most tinkers demonstrate clear themes that narrow what they're able to leverage, but Adam is seemingly able to out-efficient an efficiency tinker (Armsmaster is able to state quite definitively that Mayhem's combat prediction software is superior to what he has been making), out-modular a modularity tinker (not that it's clear kid win understands his speciality yet), while also being able to do various other shenanigans involving medical technology.
Oh, and if we're calling Bonesaw a tinker only because she does things that affect powers, well, Adam's on that road already. He's just starting with attempting to turn someone's off: Sveta. Editing will probably come later, because of course he'll eventually have that ethical decision to make.
- Location
- Upstate NY, USA
- Pronouns
- Fjf
How much "nope" did he get up to?
I'm assuming this will be time released happiness, where we get LOTS of flashbacks over upcoming chapters.
TW33K
Generic Title
- Location
- where the wild things aren't
would be fun to not have any flashbacks, and have Adam constantly on the back foot trying to deal with the fallout from Mayhems actions.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
in right
wertsir
Knower of the Unknown
- Location
- Lost in A Deep Fog
If that were the case then Uber should also be a trump, as should every single tinker, and a fair number of thinkers.
This is a terrible example of how the power classification works. because Taylor was also given a Changer, Breaker, and Brute rating, now explain to me how that means that everybody who the PRT hasn't killed yet deserves a brute rating?
There is a difference between effective ratings and actual ratings, Mayhem would have an an effective Mover and Thinker rating due to his technology, but that does not make him a mover or a thinker, it merely means that in combat he would have those capabilities.
With the exception of victor EVERY SINGLE TRUMP in canon interacts with powers, (as I outlined in my last post on this topic) it doesn't particularly matter what people want to say Trump represents if the functional reality is that every trump interacts with power. (Hatchet face is a great counter to this argument, he does NOT develop new powers over time, you do not need to 'expect the unexpected' you need to expect interactions with powers, specificially the ability to nullify them, if your explanation was correct then he would merely be a shaker, not a Trump).
I agree that Mayhem will certainly get a Trump rating soon due to being able to modify the Corona Pollentia much like Bonesaw, but once again there is a difference between effective ratings and your actual power, the original point that I was making is that Mayhems power is NOT a trump because it gets stronger over time, there are plenty of powers that do that that are not trumps (for example, every single other tinker in the world).
Unpredictability is not itself enough for a Trump rating. (at least not in the way you are referring to, someone who is unpredictable due to immunity to precognition would most certainly be a trump) the fact that he is able to out efficiency armsmaster means that he is a stronger Tinker, not that he is a Trump. (you wouldn't call Alexandria a trump because she is able to beat Weld, she is merely a stronger Brute).
In the end, we can either judge what is required to be a trump based on two outliers, (one of whom isn't even specifically a trump so much as Master/everything) or we could judge it based on every single other character that is classified as trump. (some of whom go counter to your explanation of the requirement)
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- Location
- Earth
Wow. Just caught up with the story, and I'm your newest fan. Really like how you're handling the mystery bit with Mayhem, and the way he's combining 'conflict' with 'survival'.
Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
You know, for a while I was assuming that the character's power set was inspired by Inspired Inventor from the Worm CYOA.
- Location
- Australia
It's hard to come up with something completely original these days. Most powers have been used before, in some form or another. The best you can hope to do is put a fairly new spin on them.
Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
To be honest it would be the most unique and in depth version of the power I had ever seen before. Most people just do whatever.
- Location
- Earth
So, breaking down who's responsible for what—
1. Leet: Access to all the tech trees. The shard desperately wanting its host to be embroiled in conflict, and rewarding the host with more tech when he does so.
2. Uber: Ability to learn anything enough effort is spent on.
3. Armsmaster: A fairly strong predilection in all of his tech for miniaturization and efficiency.
4. Dauntless: Charges that build over time and grant further abilities. The shard actively working with his subconscious and influencing the manifestation of his power.
Mayhem can be blamed on Leet and Dauntless. Leet for its ridiculous, overeager conflict seeking. Dauntless for giving the shard so much agency that it can affect Adam and deeply influence Mayhem. Also, Mayhem's ability to adapt and grow is probably helped by the Uber aspect of his shard, but that's not really the core issue.
This does leave me wondering though. If Adam were to put the breaks on seeking conflict, would his shard try to kill him Leet style? And when not in Mayhem mode, how strongly does the shard interact with his subconscious because of the Dauntless aspect? What creations other than Mayhem might the shard blatantly interact with in the future? Anything that's self learning?
Looking forward to more story.
1. Leet: Access to all the tech trees. The shard desperately wanting its host to be embroiled in conflict, and rewarding the host with more tech when he does so.
2. Uber: Ability to learn anything enough effort is spent on.
3. Armsmaster: A fairly strong predilection in all of his tech for miniaturization and efficiency.
4. Dauntless: Charges that build over time and grant further abilities. The shard actively working with his subconscious and influencing the manifestation of his power.
Mayhem can be blamed on Leet and Dauntless. Leet for its ridiculous, overeager conflict seeking. Dauntless for giving the shard so much agency that it can affect Adam and deeply influence Mayhem. Also, Mayhem's ability to adapt and grow is probably helped by the Uber aspect of his shard, but that's not really the core issue.
This does leave me wondering though. If Adam were to put the breaks on seeking conflict, would his shard try to kill him Leet style? And when not in Mayhem mode, how strongly does the shard interact with his subconscious because of the Dauntless aspect? What creations other than Mayhem might the shard blatantly interact with in the future? Anything that's self learning?
Looking forward to more story.
3.S
- Location
- Australia
Sveta roamed the cylinder restlessly, although perhaps wasn't quite that. It was closer to rocking than roaming, her tendrils could nearly reach from one side of the cylinder to the other. She'd tried to sit down and draw, but she'd broken all her pencils in nervousness while she was locked in the van, and it was even harder than normal to draw with the broken bits.
One part of her hoped that Mayhem would notice, and give her replacements, but an irrational fear kept her from asking. What if there weren't any pencils in the van, and he was seen by the PRT while he was out shopping? Better to keep quiet. Even if it shaved a few seconds off her time in this body, it would be worth it.
She'd liked it on the ceiling. She'd been able to see the whole lab, and Mayhem was often working on something interesting. She'd played a game where she guessed what each tool would do, and tried to imagine how it was used. Most of the time she'd been wrong, but then she made it her job to memorize the tools function, and name if Mayhem called it anything. Just in case this actually worked, and Mayhem made her a body, she'd need to be useful enough that he'd keep her maintained.
That probably wasn't going to happen. Mayhem was busy, and he was a villain, he'd probably just open up her brain, poke around a bit, and kill her. Or he might do what he did to that woman in the gas mask, the one that had been a bomb Tinker. Make her sort of dead, but still useful. Only capable of following orders.
That was fine. Dying was fine.
Her tendrils were getting restless at the thought, but they weren't going to get a choice. No more accidentally killing people. No more having sit in the prison of her own body. One way or the other. Hopefully.
Sveta breathed deeply, and tried to control herself.
Sometimes, if she got her mind just right, and there wasn't anything to startle her or make her lose focus, or if she wasn't feeling hungry or threatened, she could almost control the tendrils. She'd been able to draw, sometimes to write, that was nice. One of the few things she still could do.
Right now it occurred to her that there wasn't anything holding the cylinder in place, and by carefully putting her weight in the right places she might be able to roll it. Maybe even direct it a bit, turn it by jumping around the two edges, to get the angle right. She wanted to see what Mayhem was working on, this wasn't a good angle, the desk was between her and his latest project.
"I'm going to move over there, I just need to roll the tube. It isn't going to be hard." Sveta muttered, hopefully not loud enough to disturb Mayhem. She found it easier to move if she talked to herself, a sort of self hypnosis.
Slowly her tendrils moved her to the right end of the tube, and she rocked back and forth, trying to turn the tube so it could roll at the right angle. There were a few false starts, but eventually she got her tendrils to cooperate, and the tube spun on the dirt floor.
"I'm just going to roll the tube. I'm going to rock it a bit, and then change where I distribute my body weight…. No, stop. I'm not heading that way."
The tendrils moved her body to the top of the tube, then rocked it, and shifted her weight. The tube started to roll across the floor. The warehouse was locked up, the smaller doors along the side closed, the large roller doors locked down, but Sveta's tendrils still pushed her towards one of the roller doors, and rocked the tube against it, banging the hardened plastic loudly against the metal.
Mayhem looked at her, sighed, and put down whatever he was working on to walk over to the cylender and stop her from banging it against the door.
"You want to leave?" He asked.
"No! No, sorry. That wasn't me!" Sveta said. Panic in her voice.
"You don't have to be scared, you can leave if you want. I feel bad for basically kidnapping you, and I know brain surgery is probably a very scary prospect, especially considering I'll be breaking new ground. I don't know if anyone's tried this before. If the PRT have information on what happens when you start cutting into a Corona Patella, it's classified beyond my ability to hack." Mayhem said.
"No. That wasn't me. I… please, I want this." Sveta said.
Mayhem nodded.
"So long as you're sure. Do you want me to put the tube up on the workbench?"
"Yes please."
Sveta tried to keep her tendrils still as Mayhem kicked it back towards the bench, and awkwardly lifted one end onto the bench. Her attempts were futile, and her tendrils tried to rock the tube away as Mayhem stabilized the tube with his feet and then lifted up the other end, it was an awkward task with only one hand, but while the tendrils made it worse, they didn't have a lot of weight to throw around.
"You don't get any say in this." Sveta told them very softly, as Mayhem settled her onto the desk, and put a few bricks around the sides of the cylinder to stop her tendrils from rocking it off the table.
"Did you say something?" Mayhem asked.
"Sorry, just talking to myself." Sveta said.
Mayhem nodded, and got back to work on what looked like the bones of a hand. Oh, she could have guessed that he was building something like that, what with how he was missing an arm and all, it looked very neat.
"So… um, how is the hand going to work?" Sveta asked, trying to keep her tendrils from shaking the cylinder.
"I'll use a kinetic energy generation power source. Once I have it set up properly I can have that move the fingers. I'm thinking a direct interface to my spinal implant, rather than re-wiring the nerves in my arm to control it, that way I can still activate it even if it isn't directly connected. The real trick is going to be the weight. I have a lot of good ideas for this, but I want to keep it light enough that it doesn't pull me off balance, and for that I'm going to need to buy a couple more lightweight alloys. I'm having trouble adapting the ones I use for aviation."
"It sounds tricky, do you want me to be quiet?" Sveta asked.
"If you don't mind."
Sveta kept quiet.
The hours stretched by, another van was slowly unpacked, and eventually Mayhem connected the metal skeleton hand to his arm at the elbow, and experimentally twitched the thin metal finger bones.
"Good enough for Tinkering." He proclaimed. "I'll keep working on it once I've started Circus's formula brewing."
He unpacked the third van, built some sort of generator, and started to brew chemicals on a stove of some sort.
One part of her hoped that Mayhem would notice, and give her replacements, but an irrational fear kept her from asking. What if there weren't any pencils in the van, and he was seen by the PRT while he was out shopping? Better to keep quiet. Even if it shaved a few seconds off her time in this body, it would be worth it.
She'd liked it on the ceiling. She'd been able to see the whole lab, and Mayhem was often working on something interesting. She'd played a game where she guessed what each tool would do, and tried to imagine how it was used. Most of the time she'd been wrong, but then she made it her job to memorize the tools function, and name if Mayhem called it anything. Just in case this actually worked, and Mayhem made her a body, she'd need to be useful enough that he'd keep her maintained.
That probably wasn't going to happen. Mayhem was busy, and he was a villain, he'd probably just open up her brain, poke around a bit, and kill her. Or he might do what he did to that woman in the gas mask, the one that had been a bomb Tinker. Make her sort of dead, but still useful. Only capable of following orders.
That was fine. Dying was fine.
Her tendrils were getting restless at the thought, but they weren't going to get a choice. No more accidentally killing people. No more having sit in the prison of her own body. One way or the other. Hopefully.
Sveta breathed deeply, and tried to control herself.
Sometimes, if she got her mind just right, and there wasn't anything to startle her or make her lose focus, or if she wasn't feeling hungry or threatened, she could almost control the tendrils. She'd been able to draw, sometimes to write, that was nice. One of the few things she still could do.
Right now it occurred to her that there wasn't anything holding the cylinder in place, and by carefully putting her weight in the right places she might be able to roll it. Maybe even direct it a bit, turn it by jumping around the two edges, to get the angle right. She wanted to see what Mayhem was working on, this wasn't a good angle, the desk was between her and his latest project.
"I'm going to move over there, I just need to roll the tube. It isn't going to be hard." Sveta muttered, hopefully not loud enough to disturb Mayhem. She found it easier to move if she talked to herself, a sort of self hypnosis.
Slowly her tendrils moved her to the right end of the tube, and she rocked back and forth, trying to turn the tube so it could roll at the right angle. There were a few false starts, but eventually she got her tendrils to cooperate, and the tube spun on the dirt floor.
"I'm just going to roll the tube. I'm going to rock it a bit, and then change where I distribute my body weight…. No, stop. I'm not heading that way."
The tendrils moved her body to the top of the tube, then rocked it, and shifted her weight. The tube started to roll across the floor. The warehouse was locked up, the smaller doors along the side closed, the large roller doors locked down, but Sveta's tendrils still pushed her towards one of the roller doors, and rocked the tube against it, banging the hardened plastic loudly against the metal.
Mayhem looked at her, sighed, and put down whatever he was working on to walk over to the cylender and stop her from banging it against the door.
"You want to leave?" He asked.
"No! No, sorry. That wasn't me!" Sveta said. Panic in her voice.
"You don't have to be scared, you can leave if you want. I feel bad for basically kidnapping you, and I know brain surgery is probably a very scary prospect, especially considering I'll be breaking new ground. I don't know if anyone's tried this before. If the PRT have information on what happens when you start cutting into a Corona Patella, it's classified beyond my ability to hack." Mayhem said.
"No. That wasn't me. I… please, I want this." Sveta said.
Mayhem nodded.
"So long as you're sure. Do you want me to put the tube up on the workbench?"
"Yes please."
Sveta tried to keep her tendrils still as Mayhem kicked it back towards the bench, and awkwardly lifted one end onto the bench. Her attempts were futile, and her tendrils tried to rock the tube away as Mayhem stabilized the tube with his feet and then lifted up the other end, it was an awkward task with only one hand, but while the tendrils made it worse, they didn't have a lot of weight to throw around.
"You don't get any say in this." Sveta told them very softly, as Mayhem settled her onto the desk, and put a few bricks around the sides of the cylinder to stop her tendrils from rocking it off the table.
"Did you say something?" Mayhem asked.
"Sorry, just talking to myself." Sveta said.
Mayhem nodded, and got back to work on what looked like the bones of a hand. Oh, she could have guessed that he was building something like that, what with how he was missing an arm and all, it looked very neat.
"So… um, how is the hand going to work?" Sveta asked, trying to keep her tendrils from shaking the cylinder.
"I'll use a kinetic energy generation power source. Once I have it set up properly I can have that move the fingers. I'm thinking a direct interface to my spinal implant, rather than re-wiring the nerves in my arm to control it, that way I can still activate it even if it isn't directly connected. The real trick is going to be the weight. I have a lot of good ideas for this, but I want to keep it light enough that it doesn't pull me off balance, and for that I'm going to need to buy a couple more lightweight alloys. I'm having trouble adapting the ones I use for aviation."
"It sounds tricky, do you want me to be quiet?" Sveta asked.
"If you don't mind."
Sveta kept quiet.
The hours stretched by, another van was slowly unpacked, and eventually Mayhem connected the metal skeleton hand to his arm at the elbow, and experimentally twitched the thin metal finger bones.
"Good enough for Tinkering." He proclaimed. "I'll keep working on it once I've started Circus's formula brewing."
He unpacked the third van, built some sort of generator, and started to brew chemicals on a stove of some sort.
- Location
- Australia
I apologize for the short update. I got sidetracked, and I have to get up at five thirty tomorrow morning.
On that note, I really feel the need to recommend the story that sidetracked me. The Seventh Horcrux, by Emerald Ashes
Absolutely hilarious. Though not a Worm fic, so I guess I can't discuss it to much.
On that note, I really feel the need to recommend the story that sidetracked me. The Seventh Horcrux, by Emerald Ashes
Absolutely hilarious. Though not a Worm fic, so I guess I can't discuss it to much.
Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
I thought this was 3.5 for a moment there!
TW33K
Generic Title
- Location
- where the wild things aren't
wasn't it Pollentia
wertsir
Knower of the Unknown
- Location
- Lost in A Deep Fog
No, Corona Patella is a stereotypical Italian mafia-goon, and the PRT's whipping boy, they decided to cut him up after getting super drunk after one of the Endbringer fights. when they recovered from their hangover the next morning they decided to never speak of it again and had it classified as above top-secret.
Although it is a mystery why Mayhem thinks that it will cure Sveta.
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3.2
- Location
- Australia
"Want the good news or the bad news?" I asked Sveta as she groaned. I was slowly getting the hang of working with her biology. Some sedatives worked well, some didn't, some only worked for a reduced amount of time. I'd been forced to re-administer sedatives twice while I was operating.
"Um, news?" Sveta said dully, still trying to wake up.
Her head twitched in an attempt to look around, but I hadn't gotten around to hooking her new neck up to her new spine. Wouldn't be able to get around to that for a while, spines are surprisingly complex things, and it wasn't actually complete yet. I was going to need more parts, and I hadn't figured out how to get them without exposing my hideout to the PRT yet.
"I fiddled around a bit. I managed to get your tendrils under control at least. Well, sort off."
I saw the panic as Sveta realized she wasn't in her cylinder. Let's see, mirror, mirror… I don't think I had one among my lab equipment. Maybe a stainless steel tray of some sort…
"I'm… I'm free, should I be free Mayhem?" Sveta asked with a note of panic in her voice.
"Yes. Your tendrils can't move any more, the neural chip dampens any connections between your Corona Pollentia and the tendrils themselves, and with no instructions they just stay flat. I wasn't able to turn off your powers altogether, but I think it was a neat workaround."
"So, I'm not dangerous?" Sveta asked.
"Not until I finish installing the missiles." I muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Here, sorry I don't have a real mirror." I said, holding up the stainless steel tray to Sveta could see her reflection.
"Mayhem, you're hurt?" Sveta said, noting the missing fingers on my right hand.
"I was going to make myself symmetrical anyway." I told Sveta. It was only my ring and middle fingers, it didn't greatly impact my ability to Tinker.
Sveta took a moment to look at herself.
She was currently hanging from the ceiling, inside a sort of metal skeleton, which I was constructing around her organs. Most of it was very incomplete. I didn't have all the parts for a full body yet, and I hadn't had the time to finish one. I'd barely had the time to get Circus formula's ready, and to build Taylor her present.
The only finished part was the long, thin braided bands of tungsten that ran along what was going to be her spine. I'd tied the tendrils up, just in case, if they started moving on their own the best they'd be able to do was make Sveta flop uselessly, until I could sedate her again. I'd had enough unwelcome surprises during the operation.
"You're building me a body? Thank you!" Sveta said, starting to cry.
"I said I would, didn't I? The way I see it, being invulnerable isn't so bad, so long as you can live a happy life. A proper body, no way for the tendrils to affect you, and suddenly things should look up for you. It's going to take me a while to get the whole thing working though." I told her.
"You said that there was bad news?" Sveta said, still crying what I hope were tears of joy. The waterworks was making me uncomfortable, so I moved over to the table where I was making her first arm. Her spine wasn't finished, but I had enough of it working to rig one arm into it, and it would save me a lot of trouble if Sveta was capable of feeding herself.
"Your power didn't want to be messed with directly." I said, holding up my bandaged hand. "When I poked your Gemma to see what would happen, it grew a very tiny tendril and took off two of my fingers."
"I'm sorry!" Sveta said.
"Why? It's pretty damned clear that you don't have control over your power, and it taught me how your Gemma interacts with your tendrils."
"But, you lost your fingers."
"I was planning on cutting them off later anyway. The only bad part of this is that my tazer is now broken. When I graduate to the new hand I'm going to have to build another one."
"I'm sorry!" Sveta said again. I rolled my eyes.
"I'd probably have rebuilt the mechanism anyway, I want to be able to launch tazer darts, Striker level tech is too restrictive. We're getting off topic. I don't know if that's something specific to you, or if parahuman powers protect themselves in some way, but I do know I have no clue how to turn off your invulnerability." I shrugged. "Also in the bad news column, I don't have any painkillers left over that will help with the horrible headache you're probably experiencing."
"Um, I don't have a headache?" Sveta said.
"Odd." I frowned, found the notepad where I was documenting my experiments with Sveta, and wrote down 'regenerates more quickly while awake. Regeneration slowed by sedative?'
"Is that bad?" Sveta asked.
"Doubt it, I'm not getting any error signals from your neural chip, so your power isn't attacking it. It didn't attack me when I opened up your skull, so it doesn't seem to act to protect you, only to protect the power itself…"
I chewed my lip. I don't think that Sveta was as good a test subject as I initially thought. Her power was weird. More so than normal, anyway. Powers very rarely acted or had agency on their own. I'd thought that her abnormality might be able to lead me to something no one else had found, but I now I had the impression that I needed to open up the head of a normal cape before I could apply anything I'd learned from Sveta.
It would have been great if I had more time to play around in Bakuda's brain, but I had been to worried about the bomb too get detailed scans, or poke anything I didn't understand.
Now, were there any other acceptable targets in the bay?
Well, the Merchants did deal drugs to kids…
Nope, I hadn't quite rationalized myself that far into monster-hood yet. Probably soon, but unless Squealer ran one of her trucks through an elementary school, the Merchants would get jail time, not brain-death.
A Tinker power might be the best sort of thing to experiment on as a Tinker power probably wouldn't have the methods of defending itself that other powers were likely to possess. If all powers were like Sveta's, which I kind of doubted. Powers defending the sections of the brain associated with them from meddling? That's the sort of thing I expected to have heard about. Maybe I could steal Bakuda back from the PRT?
I picked up the arm, which was also still unfinished, and attached it to Sveta's frame. Eventually her whole body would be fitted with organic muscle tissues, because that would give her speed of movement, for now though I was only fitting the bone joints, which were mechanical in nature. Strong but slow. When both were installed she could just move quickly with the muscles, and use the mechanical bone joints for extra strength if needed, but I'd do the mechanical side first, the muscles would take a while to grow properly, and this warehouse really wasn't ideal for hosting them.
The arm slotted in, still a skeletal thing, not quite human, although it would look human, once I got the muscles and skin in place.
"The arm is all I'll be able to get you for a day or so, until I can find a way to get the resources I need." I told Sveta. "You should be able to move it now. Give it a try."
I stepped back, and Sveta slowly moved the arm in front of her face, and turned it in wonder.
"It's really working?" She breathed.
"You still had a motor center in your brain, I just needed to tap into that, and then re-route things properly, the neural implant does most of the work. Your spine is an interesting challenge though. Mostly because you don't have a nervous system to speak of, and running nerves through the artificial skin I plan to make would be a nightmare, so instead I'm implanting sensors in your spine that will map applied pressure remotely, along with other things, like temperature and indentations, and then feed you that information. Mapping the sensations correctly isn't hard, but it is going to take me a while to code it correctly… but that's all Tinker stuff. You don't need to worry about that."
"Um, if you don't mind, I don't understand it, but if you explain a bit, I could help you, once I can move?" Sveta said. "Probably just hand you things, maybe, or hold things in place?"
I smiled sadly, and tousled her hair.
"Is something wrong?" Sveta asked.
"Not really. You just remind me of my sister. She was always so keen to help." I said, turning away. I was expecting guests sometime today, and I wanted the sedative sprayers ready to deploy if necessary.
Purity was the first to arrive, she turned up in a small, unassuming hybrid car, and floated into my lab. She glanced at Sveta, frowned at the framework I had her in, and then looked at me.
"You changed your costume?" She said.
"Yeah, I figured white was a bit to 'E88,' and that it was important to re-brand." I told her.
I'd bought a black duster, because I could fit more pockets into a duster than a labcoat, and I'd dyed my mask black. That was about the extent of it. I'd go into fancy costumes once I had enough energy to purchase Tinkertech body armor.
"Purity, we don't have long before the other two arrive, and there's something I'd like to discuss first." I told her.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Even if the other two don't join, we're going to need a leader. Obviously that's you, but we want to cut ties with E88, easiest way to do that is to very publicly join up with someone non-white. I want you to suggest a merger with the Undersiders, with Grue as eventual leader." I told her.
"Grue? Why Grue?"
"Didn't you read about it, his costume got pretty badly burned while he was fighting Lung, so he took the jacket off. PHO was talking about how hard it was to be a colored cape in the 'Nazi Capital of America' for weeks." I said.
"Couldn't he just join us instead, we don't have any indications he's a good leader." Purity said.
No really indications, all I knew was that Purity would not make a good leader. She was that combination of gullible, well intentioned and indoctrinated that the E88 recruits were famous for. I was too busy and Sveta didn't have a body yet. Also she would probably apologize if the Merchants tried to kill her, but it was mostly the body thing. And the other two were traitors.
"It would make the merger sound plausible, like we're willing to come to the table on the issue."
"Why? The Undersiders are petty thieves." Purity asked.
"And we're both murderers. They'll say no, OK? It doesn't benefit them to suddenly jump from theft to taking in fugitives of our profile. The thing is, making that sort of offer publicly would make it obvious that we're trying to make a break from E88 policy, both to our new recruits, and to everyone else if we spread word. It will also make people believe that we intend to stick to the theft side of villainy and it might make the Merchants or Coil let their guard down."
Actually I was hoping that they'd say yes. Three more members to the new gang, four if we could break Bitch out of jail and that wasn't something to sneeze at. I just needed to break the idea to Purity gently. They'd been stupid enough to steal from one of Lung's Casino's, they might be stupid enough to let us join up and accept the inevitable escalation.
"Are you sure we need to?" Purity asked.
"Maybe we don't." I said with a shrug. "But I'd like you to at least mention it to the others when they arrive. Just put the idea of working with Grue out there, mention him specifically, and try not to flinch. We're better than that." I told her.
"I guess." Purity said, floating up to look at the small hole in the roof generated by a failed kinetic reactor. I still hadn't perfected the miniaturization process, but I was close, soon I'd be able to stick one into my robotic left arm.
"Mayhem… I don't think I ever actually said I'd be joining this group." She said slowly.
Blast, I was hoping she'd forgotten that. I stopped working on the glorified sleeping gas bomb on my desk, and primed it to explode if I said the right code-phrase.
"You wanted to distance yourself from the E88? This is the way." I told her.
"I wanted to become a vigilante. This is a gang you're forming." Purity said.
"You're right. We'll call it the neighborhood watch." I said sarcastically. "Do you know what the first thing I read about myself on PHO was after the whole 'took down the E88' thing. It wasn't that I non-lethally captured more capes than the PRT's bought in since ever. It wasn't that I made Bakuda tell us how to defuse a bomb. It wasn't even that I kicked Armsmasters ass. It was that I had a pre-signed kill order if I ever meddled with viral weaponry or self replicating creatures. I'm going to be meeting an insect controller today, and if I give her a few sedative injecting mosquito eggs, I get a bullet in my head."
I mimed a cocked gun at my temple, and Sveta gasped.
The poor girl had a remarkably low tolerance of drama for a cape. Most of us got used to death threats rather quickly.
Actually that might have just been the E88. No one likes Nazis.
"We can't be heroes Purity. Doesn't stop us from doing the right thing." I said, getting my mind back on track.
Purity sighed.
"You're right, I guess. Although I'm not sure we're as high profile as you claim. The PRT's been spinning the city as 'cleaned up.' The Wards are being downsized. Aegis is moving away, as is Browbeat."
I shrugged.
"Then it's up to us. Can you help me hide Sveta? She's going to need an introduction before they actually see her. PHO already thinks I'm some sort of mad German scientist with no regard for human life. Circus and Bug girl are going to freak out a bit if they don't get context."
"Sorry." Sveta said.
"There's nothing to be sorry about sweetie." Purity said, moving to help me.
We moved a few sheets into place and sat down to chat. Purity made small talk about the E88 members she thought deserved a second chance. She could probably break them out of the PRT jails on her own, she just couldn't wake them up without my help, and she was smart enough to know it. Even Panacea didn't do brains. I was the only one with the antidote.
"What's under the sheet?" Circus asked, coming in the front door abruptly.
"A Case 53 who possessed no control over their limbs. I'm building her a new body." I said, as casually as I could.
"Hello!" Sveta said from behind the curtain.
Circus stared at the sheets for a second, and then shook her head, deciding to shelve the issue.
"Which one?" Circus asked.
"I… don't know, sorry. The jar with the male symbol turns you male, jar with the female symbol turns you female. Don't pick the gender you already are, that will just kill you."
Circus smirked at my ignorance, and picked up the male jar, eying the contents before making it disappear into her hammer-space.
"Before you drink it make sure you eat a big meal, stuff yourself, as much as possible. Then shake the jar, drink the whole thing, and lie down somewhere you can clean easily, the cocoon dissolves into a glue-like substance."
"You've done it before?" Circus asks.
"No. I just know." I told her.
"You know what drugs I'm taking right now?" She asked.
"Shouldn't matter." I said, shrugging.
She raised an eyebrow.
"That really doesn't inspire my confidence."
"Wait, you're a Transvestite?" Purity asked.
I sighed.
Oh yes, we were off to a great start. The only good news was that apparently my power considered this close enough to a fight for my pool of energy to start growing.
"Um, news?" Sveta said dully, still trying to wake up.
Her head twitched in an attempt to look around, but I hadn't gotten around to hooking her new neck up to her new spine. Wouldn't be able to get around to that for a while, spines are surprisingly complex things, and it wasn't actually complete yet. I was going to need more parts, and I hadn't figured out how to get them without exposing my hideout to the PRT yet.
"I fiddled around a bit. I managed to get your tendrils under control at least. Well, sort off."
I saw the panic as Sveta realized she wasn't in her cylinder. Let's see, mirror, mirror… I don't think I had one among my lab equipment. Maybe a stainless steel tray of some sort…
"I'm… I'm free, should I be free Mayhem?" Sveta asked with a note of panic in her voice.
"Yes. Your tendrils can't move any more, the neural chip dampens any connections between your Corona Pollentia and the tendrils themselves, and with no instructions they just stay flat. I wasn't able to turn off your powers altogether, but I think it was a neat workaround."
"So, I'm not dangerous?" Sveta asked.
"Not until I finish installing the missiles." I muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Here, sorry I don't have a real mirror." I said, holding up the stainless steel tray to Sveta could see her reflection.
"Mayhem, you're hurt?" Sveta said, noting the missing fingers on my right hand.
"I was going to make myself symmetrical anyway." I told Sveta. It was only my ring and middle fingers, it didn't greatly impact my ability to Tinker.
Sveta took a moment to look at herself.
She was currently hanging from the ceiling, inside a sort of metal skeleton, which I was constructing around her organs. Most of it was very incomplete. I didn't have all the parts for a full body yet, and I hadn't had the time to finish one. I'd barely had the time to get Circus formula's ready, and to build Taylor her present.
The only finished part was the long, thin braided bands of tungsten that ran along what was going to be her spine. I'd tied the tendrils up, just in case, if they started moving on their own the best they'd be able to do was make Sveta flop uselessly, until I could sedate her again. I'd had enough unwelcome surprises during the operation.
"You're building me a body? Thank you!" Sveta said, starting to cry.
"I said I would, didn't I? The way I see it, being invulnerable isn't so bad, so long as you can live a happy life. A proper body, no way for the tendrils to affect you, and suddenly things should look up for you. It's going to take me a while to get the whole thing working though." I told her.
"You said that there was bad news?" Sveta said, still crying what I hope were tears of joy. The waterworks was making me uncomfortable, so I moved over to the table where I was making her first arm. Her spine wasn't finished, but I had enough of it working to rig one arm into it, and it would save me a lot of trouble if Sveta was capable of feeding herself.
"Your power didn't want to be messed with directly." I said, holding up my bandaged hand. "When I poked your Gemma to see what would happen, it grew a very tiny tendril and took off two of my fingers."
"I'm sorry!" Sveta said.
"Why? It's pretty damned clear that you don't have control over your power, and it taught me how your Gemma interacts with your tendrils."
"But, you lost your fingers."
"I was planning on cutting them off later anyway. The only bad part of this is that my tazer is now broken. When I graduate to the new hand I'm going to have to build another one."
"I'm sorry!" Sveta said again. I rolled my eyes.
"I'd probably have rebuilt the mechanism anyway, I want to be able to launch tazer darts, Striker level tech is too restrictive. We're getting off topic. I don't know if that's something specific to you, or if parahuman powers protect themselves in some way, but I do know I have no clue how to turn off your invulnerability." I shrugged. "Also in the bad news column, I don't have any painkillers left over that will help with the horrible headache you're probably experiencing."
"Um, I don't have a headache?" Sveta said.
"Odd." I frowned, found the notepad where I was documenting my experiments with Sveta, and wrote down 'regenerates more quickly while awake. Regeneration slowed by sedative?'
"Is that bad?" Sveta asked.
"Doubt it, I'm not getting any error signals from your neural chip, so your power isn't attacking it. It didn't attack me when I opened up your skull, so it doesn't seem to act to protect you, only to protect the power itself…"
I chewed my lip. I don't think that Sveta was as good a test subject as I initially thought. Her power was weird. More so than normal, anyway. Powers very rarely acted or had agency on their own. I'd thought that her abnormality might be able to lead me to something no one else had found, but I now I had the impression that I needed to open up the head of a normal cape before I could apply anything I'd learned from Sveta.
It would have been great if I had more time to play around in Bakuda's brain, but I had been to worried about the bomb too get detailed scans, or poke anything I didn't understand.
Now, were there any other acceptable targets in the bay?
Well, the Merchants did deal drugs to kids…
Nope, I hadn't quite rationalized myself that far into monster-hood yet. Probably soon, but unless Squealer ran one of her trucks through an elementary school, the Merchants would get jail time, not brain-death.
A Tinker power might be the best sort of thing to experiment on as a Tinker power probably wouldn't have the methods of defending itself that other powers were likely to possess. If all powers were like Sveta's, which I kind of doubted. Powers defending the sections of the brain associated with them from meddling? That's the sort of thing I expected to have heard about. Maybe I could steal Bakuda back from the PRT?
I picked up the arm, which was also still unfinished, and attached it to Sveta's frame. Eventually her whole body would be fitted with organic muscle tissues, because that would give her speed of movement, for now though I was only fitting the bone joints, which were mechanical in nature. Strong but slow. When both were installed she could just move quickly with the muscles, and use the mechanical bone joints for extra strength if needed, but I'd do the mechanical side first, the muscles would take a while to grow properly, and this warehouse really wasn't ideal for hosting them.
The arm slotted in, still a skeletal thing, not quite human, although it would look human, once I got the muscles and skin in place.
"The arm is all I'll be able to get you for a day or so, until I can find a way to get the resources I need." I told Sveta. "You should be able to move it now. Give it a try."
I stepped back, and Sveta slowly moved the arm in front of her face, and turned it in wonder.
"It's really working?" She breathed.
"You still had a motor center in your brain, I just needed to tap into that, and then re-route things properly, the neural implant does most of the work. Your spine is an interesting challenge though. Mostly because you don't have a nervous system to speak of, and running nerves through the artificial skin I plan to make would be a nightmare, so instead I'm implanting sensors in your spine that will map applied pressure remotely, along with other things, like temperature and indentations, and then feed you that information. Mapping the sensations correctly isn't hard, but it is going to take me a while to code it correctly… but that's all Tinker stuff. You don't need to worry about that."
"Um, if you don't mind, I don't understand it, but if you explain a bit, I could help you, once I can move?" Sveta said. "Probably just hand you things, maybe, or hold things in place?"
I smiled sadly, and tousled her hair.
"Is something wrong?" Sveta asked.
"Not really. You just remind me of my sister. She was always so keen to help." I said, turning away. I was expecting guests sometime today, and I wanted the sedative sprayers ready to deploy if necessary.
Purity was the first to arrive, she turned up in a small, unassuming hybrid car, and floated into my lab. She glanced at Sveta, frowned at the framework I had her in, and then looked at me.
"You changed your costume?" She said.
"Yeah, I figured white was a bit to 'E88,' and that it was important to re-brand." I told her.
I'd bought a black duster, because I could fit more pockets into a duster than a labcoat, and I'd dyed my mask black. That was about the extent of it. I'd go into fancy costumes once I had enough energy to purchase Tinkertech body armor.
"Purity, we don't have long before the other two arrive, and there's something I'd like to discuss first." I told her.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Even if the other two don't join, we're going to need a leader. Obviously that's you, but we want to cut ties with E88, easiest way to do that is to very publicly join up with someone non-white. I want you to suggest a merger with the Undersiders, with Grue as eventual leader." I told her.
"Grue? Why Grue?"
"Didn't you read about it, his costume got pretty badly burned while he was fighting Lung, so he took the jacket off. PHO was talking about how hard it was to be a colored cape in the 'Nazi Capital of America' for weeks." I said.
"Couldn't he just join us instead, we don't have any indications he's a good leader." Purity said.
No really indications, all I knew was that Purity would not make a good leader. She was that combination of gullible, well intentioned and indoctrinated that the E88 recruits were famous for. I was too busy and Sveta didn't have a body yet. Also she would probably apologize if the Merchants tried to kill her, but it was mostly the body thing. And the other two were traitors.
"It would make the merger sound plausible, like we're willing to come to the table on the issue."
"Why? The Undersiders are petty thieves." Purity asked.
"And we're both murderers. They'll say no, OK? It doesn't benefit them to suddenly jump from theft to taking in fugitives of our profile. The thing is, making that sort of offer publicly would make it obvious that we're trying to make a break from E88 policy, both to our new recruits, and to everyone else if we spread word. It will also make people believe that we intend to stick to the theft side of villainy and it might make the Merchants or Coil let their guard down."
Actually I was hoping that they'd say yes. Three more members to the new gang, four if we could break Bitch out of jail and that wasn't something to sneeze at. I just needed to break the idea to Purity gently. They'd been stupid enough to steal from one of Lung's Casino's, they might be stupid enough to let us join up and accept the inevitable escalation.
"Are you sure we need to?" Purity asked.
"Maybe we don't." I said with a shrug. "But I'd like you to at least mention it to the others when they arrive. Just put the idea of working with Grue out there, mention him specifically, and try not to flinch. We're better than that." I told her.
"I guess." Purity said, floating up to look at the small hole in the roof generated by a failed kinetic reactor. I still hadn't perfected the miniaturization process, but I was close, soon I'd be able to stick one into my robotic left arm.
"Mayhem… I don't think I ever actually said I'd be joining this group." She said slowly.
Blast, I was hoping she'd forgotten that. I stopped working on the glorified sleeping gas bomb on my desk, and primed it to explode if I said the right code-phrase.
"You wanted to distance yourself from the E88? This is the way." I told her.
"I wanted to become a vigilante. This is a gang you're forming." Purity said.
"You're right. We'll call it the neighborhood watch." I said sarcastically. "Do you know what the first thing I read about myself on PHO was after the whole 'took down the E88' thing. It wasn't that I non-lethally captured more capes than the PRT's bought in since ever. It wasn't that I made Bakuda tell us how to defuse a bomb. It wasn't even that I kicked Armsmasters ass. It was that I had a pre-signed kill order if I ever meddled with viral weaponry or self replicating creatures. I'm going to be meeting an insect controller today, and if I give her a few sedative injecting mosquito eggs, I get a bullet in my head."
I mimed a cocked gun at my temple, and Sveta gasped.
The poor girl had a remarkably low tolerance of drama for a cape. Most of us got used to death threats rather quickly.
Actually that might have just been the E88. No one likes Nazis.
"We can't be heroes Purity. Doesn't stop us from doing the right thing." I said, getting my mind back on track.
Purity sighed.
"You're right, I guess. Although I'm not sure we're as high profile as you claim. The PRT's been spinning the city as 'cleaned up.' The Wards are being downsized. Aegis is moving away, as is Browbeat."
I shrugged.
"Then it's up to us. Can you help me hide Sveta? She's going to need an introduction before they actually see her. PHO already thinks I'm some sort of mad German scientist with no regard for human life. Circus and Bug girl are going to freak out a bit if they don't get context."
"Sorry." Sveta said.
"There's nothing to be sorry about sweetie." Purity said, moving to help me.
We moved a few sheets into place and sat down to chat. Purity made small talk about the E88 members she thought deserved a second chance. She could probably break them out of the PRT jails on her own, she just couldn't wake them up without my help, and she was smart enough to know it. Even Panacea didn't do brains. I was the only one with the antidote.
"What's under the sheet?" Circus asked, coming in the front door abruptly.
"A Case 53 who possessed no control over their limbs. I'm building her a new body." I said, as casually as I could.
"Hello!" Sveta said from behind the curtain.
Circus stared at the sheets for a second, and then shook her head, deciding to shelve the issue.
"Which one?" Circus asked.
"I… don't know, sorry. The jar with the male symbol turns you male, jar with the female symbol turns you female. Don't pick the gender you already are, that will just kill you."
Circus smirked at my ignorance, and picked up the male jar, eying the contents before making it disappear into her hammer-space.
"Before you drink it make sure you eat a big meal, stuff yourself, as much as possible. Then shake the jar, drink the whole thing, and lie down somewhere you can clean easily, the cocoon dissolves into a glue-like substance."
"You've done it before?" Circus asks.
"No. I just know." I told her.
"You know what drugs I'm taking right now?" She asked.
"Shouldn't matter." I said, shrugging.
She raised an eyebrow.
"That really doesn't inspire my confidence."
"Wait, you're a Transvestite?" Purity asked.
I sighed.
Oh yes, we were off to a great start. The only good news was that apparently my power considered this close enough to a fight for my pool of energy to start growing.
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There's a big chunk in the middle where the narration calls Circus Cricket.
- Location
- Australia
Thanks, probably a lot more errors, I have got to start getting these to betas again.