- Location
- Australia
Thanks, fixed.
H+ Mayhem (Worm)
- Thread starter Jurric
- Start date
-
- Tags
- worm tinker transhumanism mayhem
Thanks, fixed.
- Location
- Texas
No, the actual WoG was a trollish comment that the Entities can do both simulations AND actual future viewing, but they try to avoid the latter approach because it's more energy intensive. There is no WoG about which way any particular power works, because Wildbow doesn't want to give out that kind of detail.
But that's irrelevant to the issue of blind spots anyway. Precog 'blind spots' aren't a shortcoming of the power, they're a case of the shard refusing to tell it's host things they aren't supposed to know.
- Location
- nullptr
I always figured she has a link to a simulator the size of Earth, or larger, that is able to determine things such as atomic decay with an incredible degree of precision, and model chaotic systems, using sufficiently advanced bullshit.
Oooh, I like the way this is going...
"And why is Barry White playing?"
Um. You're sounding a bit... uh... rapey there, Adam.
"Okay, well they're OBVIOUSLY lesbians. Why are yo-OH GOD! THAT'S NOT CHOCOLATE! OH GOD, WHY?!"
"Now, what have we learned about taunting me?"
*puerile giggle* Just give Cricket a few more dates....
Nooo... she said it was MORE DIFFICULT.
*squints* Okay, first thought is... Dinah, but that's just because we haven't seen her yet, so.
You... what? Wait, WHAT? Kid MOTHERFUCKIN' Win?! ...okay, Jurric, you get points. I don't think ANYONE saw that one coming.
(Of course, my belief is that Tattletale is fucking lying at this point and it was actually Coil. She's just not telling him, because the knowledge will be more useful LATER.)
Sad, inefficient eyes that don't have, like, fifty different scanners you COULD have... if you just plucked your eyes out again!
I'm hoping... makeover?
What's that, you say? You're eighteen? I heard eighteen.
...wait, how old is Cricket? 20+, isn't she? Cradle-robber!
Instead, he's gonna get himself killed fighting the S9!
You could make a fortune in cosmetic surgery! ...or get killed by the S9, that's always an option.
"Luckily, I'm also humble! Really, REALLY humble!"
...or you could build some really shit hot anti-Master technology into your head? Just... gonna put that out there.
I... think there's a few holes in that logic? I mean, one or two. Tops. Tops.
You know what they say: "Once you go inhuman fifteen foot tall mass-murdering naked abomination, you never go back."
Actually... I think if you managed to figure out what Mayhem is REALLY AFTER, you might be able to make it work out very well.
You know, I'm actually really impressed. I hadn't thought Adam would be paranoid/smart enough to include a mic in there! That's a good touch.
Also, I can't believe I didn't foresee Tattletale going all protective on Adam. In retrospect, it's stupidly obvious. (Yes, yes. I know. Some of you called it.)
TW33K
Generic Title
- Location
- where the wild things aren't
...so much angsty drama, I bet H+/Mayhem cuts himself.. oh wait he does
I think I'm getting logical whiplash from this story. is that a thing?
every time I read a new chapter I find myself going "why would he even DO that?! that's just all kinds of dumb" but finding myself unable to find any fault with it, since it's apparently in character
I either really enjoy this story or am confused and disgruntled. I believe I am engruntled or possibly disjoyed
writing is pretty solid though, so I shall soldier on hoping this story doesn't break my brain somehow.
EDIT: also Mayhem/Cricket OTP, and Sveta is just adorable in this story "wheeee"
I think I'm getting logical whiplash from this story. is that a thing?
every time I read a new chapter I find myself going "why would he even DO that?! that's just all kinds of dumb" but finding myself unable to find any fault with it, since it's apparently in character
I either really enjoy this story or am confused and disgruntled. I believe I am engruntled or possibly disjoyed
writing is pretty solid though, so I shall soldier on hoping this story doesn't break my brain somehow.
EDIT: also Mayhem/Cricket OTP, and Sveta is just adorable in this story "wheeee"
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- Location
- Switzerland
The concept of OTP is blasphemous. We must have love dodecahedron, at the very least. Preferably something even more complicated. 
Last edited:
3.10
- Location
- Australia
I sat at my workbench, fiddling with the incredibly tiny segmented joints of the tendrils that would come from the fingers of my next robotic hand. The ultra-fine manipulatory appendages would allow me to Tinker more quickly, possibly even in the field, and they could wrap together to substitute for muscles inside the fingers of the hand itself, looking perfectly normal from the outside.
The problem I was running into was not making something so small and intricate also be delicate. The schematic called for metals I hadn't purchased yet, because they were too expensive, both in the amount of energy I would need to find out how to make them, and, unless I missed my guess, in how they were actually made. Carbon nanotubes were excellent things, but the schematic hadn't taught me how to incorporate them properly, and the first time when I tried to substitute carbon nanotubes for the recommended metal, which didn't actually have a name yet, the ultra-fine manipulatory appendages simply didn't respond to any sort of signal.
I was trying again with one of the metals from the Aviation tree, which I thought would be good enough if I could coat it with carbon nanotubes first. They were only one trick, but they were a good trick, I'd been so excited when I bought that tech, and so few of my schematics actually made use of them.
It would probably have helped if I had some idea of what I was actually doing, but that was what experimentation was for, wasn't it? If this didn't work, I'd just have to front up the energy cost for the right metal, even if I didn't want to. It would be useful later, probably, I just didn't want to have to pay that price now, not if I could innovate something better.
It was incredibly delicate work, requiring most of my attention, but I was still listening to Tattletale and Sveta chat through the earpiece embedded in my ear.
Literally embedded. Why let everyone know I was wearing one if I didn't have to? It was much harder to yank out once it was hidden under the skin like that.
Tattletale hadn't made her proclamation straight away. She'd lured Sveta away with a promise to teach her how to apply makeup, and, as far as I was aware, that was all she'd been doing for the last half an hour. Then she'd just gone ahead and blurted it out.
"Why would Adam be suicidal?" Sveta asked.
Because I was smart, obviously. In a world where evil wins and you don't have the power to beat it now, but you could beat it later, and evil knew you had the power now and fully intended to destroy you horribly now…
Wait, did Sveta just tell Tattletale my civilian identity? No, wait, I'd unmasked to the whole group yesterday. Not everyone did, but Regent and Tattletale had, Purity as well. Those of us who were either confident in the unwritten rules, or didn't care much about our civilian lives. Or, in Purity's case, because she thought everyone was doing it.
I'd just been too tired to really care by that point. In fact I'd forgotten what Tattletale's real name actually was. Something starting with A I think, or was that Regent? Bah, didn't actually matter.
"Because he's an idiot." Tattletale answered. "He's got a severe case of cynicism and delusions of grandeur, and those two are meshing to make him even more of an idiot, instead of canceling each other out like they should."
Oh yeah? I'd like to see Tattletale make an antimatter missile. I could do that. I could replicate all of Bakuda's bombs. Replicate String-Theory's whatever that would have slingshot the moon out of orbit. I was already on the path to being able to do everything my sister could do, and she was considered one of the most frightening Tinkers alive.
"I don't think I like you talking that way. Adam is smart. Really smart. You should see how quickly he builds things. I don't think any other Tinker could make me a body like this." Sveta said, actually sounding angry, which I think was a first from her.
"Tinker smart and actually having wisdom are vastly different things. Trust me, Adam is stupid. He's young, he can learn, but right now, he's stupid."
"He's the same age as you!" Sveta said.
"He has no life experience. Also, he's immature compared to me. Five years of social retardation, unless I miss my guess." Tattletale replied.
"Why are you saying that!" Sveta continued.
It was kind of nice actually, having someone who trusted me, believed in me.
"Look, Sveta. I'm not trying to hurt him all right?" Lisa said. "I'm trying to help. Maybe I'm wrong, or lying, but I want you to hear me out anyway, and if you really think that I've been doing this as some sort of trick, or even if I've made a mistake, you can ask Adam and I'll apologize. I just want you to listen to me first."
Oh dear. I really should have gotten around to teaching Sveta that as soon as a Thinker says that, you either run away, sedate them, or otherwise inhibit their ability to talk to you.
"I… all right. I'll listen. But Adam doesn't want to kill himself. He's nice." Sveta said.
Poor girl. She'd already lost. The fact that she was wrong helped, and I felt an odd sort of guilt for being involved in that, but this really wasn't how you argued with a Thinker. I'd read about it on PHO. First, you needed to gag them.
That was actually part of official PRT procedure for captured Thinkers. The mods had to crack down on the comments for that procedure release very hard.
I considered going in there, interrupting them. Tattletale would probably figure out that she had a microphone in her throat fairly quickly if I did that, but she also might not. She hadn't figured it out yet, it had a very low profile, I was supposed to be hard for her to read. How could I make sure that little detail continued to slip her notice?
...No, I don't think I could reliably wipe my memories of only one specific event, at least not yet. Also I'd have to come up with some sort of complicated scheme to remind myself when I wanted to actually listen in on what she was saying again.
"Um, but why would that make him want to kill himself?" Sveta asked.
Bet she didn't think that I might actually have a good reason to…
"Because the idiot thinks that the Simurgh is going to turn him evil, well more evil, if he doesn't kill himself." Tattletale said.
She knew? Why would she try to stop me if she knew?
"Why?" Sveta asked.
"I've told you already, because he's an idiot. Obviously. Also his power grows stronger with time, a bit like every other Tinker out there. He thinks that's enough to attract an Endbringer. But who knows how they think? Adam certainly doesn't." Tattletale sighed, and there was sound like she was flopping onto a chair.
I was not like every other Tinker out there! I'm pretty sure my power was unique to this planet. I'd looked ahead. I knew I had really awesome stuff at the top of all my trees, and the ability to build them all, if I had the energy to spend on it.
Of course I'd never get there, but still.
"Um, I'm not sure that I can trust you." Sveta said.
Yay, go Sveta. Don't trust her. What she's trying to do is likely to end up with the entire surface of the planet eaten by nanites. Including everything living above that surface.
"I suppose I haven't given you any reason to trust me, have I? All right. The very best answer to this problem would be to take Adam somewhere, and hit him over the head with blunt instruments until he agrees his life policy is stupid. Unfortunately, I don't think that you, he, or even Coil would let me do that. Despite the fact that it is physically impossible for him to lose more brain cells than he already has." Tattletale said.
It was completely physically possible. My neural implant hadn't damaged my brain in the slightest. It was nestled above, around and through the gray matter, shielding it, augmenting it, stimulating it or removing signals when necessary. Also I'd just ruined my third ultra-fine manipulatory appendage in a row because of spontaneous outrage.
I was half tempted to just activate the sedative also installed in Tattletale's throat, but that would let her know that I was listening, and I had plans for that throat mic. Tattletale was one of the two Thinkers in this group. Sooner or later she'd be involved in Coil's planning sessions, and something told me that staying abreast of current events in those sessions would be very important to me.
"So what I want you to do, is I want you to talk to me. How long have you known Adam, Sveta?"
"Um, about a week." Sveta said.
"Would it surprise you to know that you're probably the person who knows him best, in the whole world?" Tattletale asked.
No. I don't think so. That would be my sister. Tattletale's power obviously had limits. It was Riley who knew me best, even when she was five. God it used to annoy me when she'd figure out one of my ideas, and tell me to be good or she'd tell our parents. I was trice her age, but she still caught me, three times out of ten.
Maybe I'd changed since then, but in many ways, we'd changed together. We were both bio-Tinkers, we understood that cutting into someone was as simple as chopping carrots for a stew, and there was nothing precious or sacred about the spilling of blood or the removal of flesh. We held no reverence for the human form, and we had both decided, in our own ways, and for our own reasons, to kill.
My sister had grown apart from me, but I think that, of everyone in this world, she was still the closest. Sveta might change that in time, but not in a week, not even in a month, and I wasn't sure I should let her have longer than that.
"I… he always tried to keep away from the E88. I thought he just wanted to work at first, but then he turned out to be a good guy… not like that. He isn't going to betray you! I'm sure, just the E88, because they weren't nice." Sveta said, sounding distressed. It would be distressing if Coil decided that I was going to betray this group if I had the last, but it wasn't the end of the world. Coil had shaken my hand before he left the meeting at Somer's Rock, and I'd finally perfected a version of the toxin that could be made to work through gloves. Not Skitters gloves, damned spidersilk, but Coil had merely been wearing cotton gloves that day.
There was the sound of motion from the microphone, but I'd been able to see for too long to work out exactly what Tattletale was doing with just audio. She was talking more softly the next time she spoke though.
"Look, Sveta this could be important. Was there any particularly time when Mayhem was particularly angry? When he seemed really annoyed about something? Probably while he was with the E88?" Tattletale asked.
"Well, I think the angriest I've ever seen him was just after he rescued me. He had to see a whole lot of people who wanted to be augmented. I think that was just because they weren't nice people though." Sveta said.
"Nice people? What do you mean by that? Did they fight with him somehow, or… no, you mean that they were the dregs of E88 society, don't you. Do you know why Adam agreed to augment them? Did he actually do any augmentation? No, I'm asking the wrong questions. What did Adam do before this, before he got angry? There would have been something. An experiment, or a project, something that snatched away a glimmer of hope for him when it failed."
"There… was something a little bit like that." Sveta said.
"Excellent. Please, tell me about it." Tattletale said eagerly.
"Well, I heard Victor saying something to Mayhem about how it was sad he didn't get the funding for his anti-master dev…"
"Yes! He has the technology to save himself from his own self-imposed certainty of failure, he just doesn't think he has the time. It's not the root problem, and damn-it hitting him with stuff until he realizes how stupid he is would be so much simpler, but it might buy us time to socialize him and get him a real friend or two."
Wonderful. I was really going to have to find a way to teach Sveta about not spilling everything to anyone who asks…
That was kind of hypocritical, wasn't it?
OK, first I was going to murder Piggot, Armsmaster, and Theo so there was no evidence of my hypocrisy, and then I was going to teach Sveta. I think that was all the people I'd spilled information too… oh no, Tattletale as well.
I can see how so many of the true villains get started, when murder is a reaction sometimes considered when you are simply embarrassed. For a normal human, you feel the impotent rage, and you hold a nice fantasy in your head, and then you let it go, and do nothing, because it would simply be too much work. For a parahuman… well perhaps you just glare them to death? It doesn't matter what your power is, it's a weapon, already in your hand, with the safety disengaged.
"So… you want me to help you make him happier?" Sveta asked.
Dangerous, to agree to things a Thinker said for any reason. Check, double check, mistrust. Honestly, the whole letting me implant so much in her throat was probably all a subtle game on Tattletale's part, and no one was threatening her and trying to take her voice away at all. She was trying to make me trust her, for some sort of unknown endgame, or simply because she actually wanted this team to work.
I didn't really care. Or, at least I hadn't, until she went and involved Sveta.
I ran a test current through the fingers of what was going to be my new right hand. They twitched. Perfect. I'd be done by tomorrow, when I had my appointment with the Travelers in the morning, and we planned to destroy the Merchants that afternoon.
"Yes, happier, but also part of humanity again." Tattletale said. "I think that people in the E88 saw this as well, at least instinctually, and they tried to socialize him. He resisted both because he really didn't agree with their views, and because he wanted to Tinker instead. It wasn't even a bad thing that he did resist, Purity actually knew what Kaiser was really like, she saw it first hand, and she couldn't have betrayed them like that. Not after she actually got to know the people, we're just not built to fight people we've had fun with."
"Anyway," Tattletale continued, "we need a different tactic to what the E88 have already tried, I'm not entirely sure what yet. I'd normally suggest the sorts of things a normal teenage boy would find interesting, but I'm fairly sure that Adam is either more emotionally stunted than I originally thought, or he artificially suppressed those interests so he could better focus on his Tinkering."
I hadn't actually. I suppressed the responses, not the interests. It had taken quite an interesting bit of code to recognize and control the basic signs that pointed out I enjoyed looking at someone, but I hadn't wanted to merely cut off that section of my brain. Mostly because it had a large impact on my personality when I had tried to turn it off the first time. I hadn't been as good at altering my emotions then as I was now, and I'd temporarily lost my capacity for aggression, along with my ability to appreciate video games and girls.
Trust me, aggression is one of those things you just need.
Tattletale would probably figure that out as soon as she looked in a mirror after the swelling went down. She'd given me a picture of what she looked like before, and I'd copied from it exactly when I reconstructed her face, but the picture had been an official photo, not just some snapshot with a cell phone. It was taken in the right light, and if I understand girls correctly, she'd probably spent a long time on her makeup first. Now she looked exactly that good without makeup.
Perhaps I could convince her I was just a perfectionist?
"He did?" Sveta asked, sounding like she'd just figured something out. Or... it wasn't quite hope, and it wasn't quite dismay.
"I think so. Anyway, those sorts of tactics are right out, and also stupid, which leaves only one thing. We confront him, we point out the obvious, and every time the Simurgh is scheduled to attack soon he takes a very long vacation to a tiny island too insignificant for her to even consider. He keeps that up until he has what he needs to protect himself, or maybe forever. I know he doesn't lack for money, and I know that he needs regular holidays, or he's going to burn out." Tattletale said.
I… hadn't actually thought of that. Maybe Tattletale did have something of a point. That was the trouble though, you couldn't really listen to Thinkers, they out thought you. The only way to win was not to play. Attack first, knock them out, silence them, or otherwise stop them from getting to you, or they could be even more insidious and subtle than a Master.
"And if that still doesn't work… we fall back to hitting him over the head with blunt objects until he gets it." Tattletale said.
"Um, I don't think…" Sveta answered.
"Don't worry, we'll wait until after he reinforces his skull. He'll be fine." Tattletale said, and I could hear her smirk.
The problem I was running into was not making something so small and intricate also be delicate. The schematic called for metals I hadn't purchased yet, because they were too expensive, both in the amount of energy I would need to find out how to make them, and, unless I missed my guess, in how they were actually made. Carbon nanotubes were excellent things, but the schematic hadn't taught me how to incorporate them properly, and the first time when I tried to substitute carbon nanotubes for the recommended metal, which didn't actually have a name yet, the ultra-fine manipulatory appendages simply didn't respond to any sort of signal.
I was trying again with one of the metals from the Aviation tree, which I thought would be good enough if I could coat it with carbon nanotubes first. They were only one trick, but they were a good trick, I'd been so excited when I bought that tech, and so few of my schematics actually made use of them.
It would probably have helped if I had some idea of what I was actually doing, but that was what experimentation was for, wasn't it? If this didn't work, I'd just have to front up the energy cost for the right metal, even if I didn't want to. It would be useful later, probably, I just didn't want to have to pay that price now, not if I could innovate something better.
It was incredibly delicate work, requiring most of my attention, but I was still listening to Tattletale and Sveta chat through the earpiece embedded in my ear.
Literally embedded. Why let everyone know I was wearing one if I didn't have to? It was much harder to yank out once it was hidden under the skin like that.
Tattletale hadn't made her proclamation straight away. She'd lured Sveta away with a promise to teach her how to apply makeup, and, as far as I was aware, that was all she'd been doing for the last half an hour. Then she'd just gone ahead and blurted it out.
"Why would Adam be suicidal?" Sveta asked.
Because I was smart, obviously. In a world where evil wins and you don't have the power to beat it now, but you could beat it later, and evil knew you had the power now and fully intended to destroy you horribly now…
Wait, did Sveta just tell Tattletale my civilian identity? No, wait, I'd unmasked to the whole group yesterday. Not everyone did, but Regent and Tattletale had, Purity as well. Those of us who were either confident in the unwritten rules, or didn't care much about our civilian lives. Or, in Purity's case, because she thought everyone was doing it.
I'd just been too tired to really care by that point. In fact I'd forgotten what Tattletale's real name actually was. Something starting with A I think, or was that Regent? Bah, didn't actually matter.
"Because he's an idiot." Tattletale answered. "He's got a severe case of cynicism and delusions of grandeur, and those two are meshing to make him even more of an idiot, instead of canceling each other out like they should."
Oh yeah? I'd like to see Tattletale make an antimatter missile. I could do that. I could replicate all of Bakuda's bombs. Replicate String-Theory's whatever that would have slingshot the moon out of orbit. I was already on the path to being able to do everything my sister could do, and she was considered one of the most frightening Tinkers alive.
"I don't think I like you talking that way. Adam is smart. Really smart. You should see how quickly he builds things. I don't think any other Tinker could make me a body like this." Sveta said, actually sounding angry, which I think was a first from her.
"Tinker smart and actually having wisdom are vastly different things. Trust me, Adam is stupid. He's young, he can learn, but right now, he's stupid."
"He's the same age as you!" Sveta said.
"He has no life experience. Also, he's immature compared to me. Five years of social retardation, unless I miss my guess." Tattletale replied.
"Why are you saying that!" Sveta continued.
It was kind of nice actually, having someone who trusted me, believed in me.
"Look, Sveta. I'm not trying to hurt him all right?" Lisa said. "I'm trying to help. Maybe I'm wrong, or lying, but I want you to hear me out anyway, and if you really think that I've been doing this as some sort of trick, or even if I've made a mistake, you can ask Adam and I'll apologize. I just want you to listen to me first."
Oh dear. I really should have gotten around to teaching Sveta that as soon as a Thinker says that, you either run away, sedate them, or otherwise inhibit their ability to talk to you.
"I… all right. I'll listen. But Adam doesn't want to kill himself. He's nice." Sveta said.
Poor girl. She'd already lost. The fact that she was wrong helped, and I felt an odd sort of guilt for being involved in that, but this really wasn't how you argued with a Thinker. I'd read about it on PHO. First, you needed to gag them.
That was actually part of official PRT procedure for captured Thinkers. The mods had to crack down on the comments for that procedure release very hard.
I considered going in there, interrupting them. Tattletale would probably figure out that she had a microphone in her throat fairly quickly if I did that, but she also might not. She hadn't figured it out yet, it had a very low profile, I was supposed to be hard for her to read. How could I make sure that little detail continued to slip her notice?
...No, I don't think I could reliably wipe my memories of only one specific event, at least not yet. Also I'd have to come up with some sort of complicated scheme to remind myself when I wanted to actually listen in on what she was saying again.
"Um, but why would that make him want to kill himself?" Sveta asked.
Bet she didn't think that I might actually have a good reason to…
"Because the idiot thinks that the Simurgh is going to turn him evil, well more evil, if he doesn't kill himself." Tattletale said.
She knew? Why would she try to stop me if she knew?
"Why?" Sveta asked.
"I've told you already, because he's an idiot. Obviously. Also his power grows stronger with time, a bit like every other Tinker out there. He thinks that's enough to attract an Endbringer. But who knows how they think? Adam certainly doesn't." Tattletale sighed, and there was sound like she was flopping onto a chair.
I was not like every other Tinker out there! I'm pretty sure my power was unique to this planet. I'd looked ahead. I knew I had really awesome stuff at the top of all my trees, and the ability to build them all, if I had the energy to spend on it.
Of course I'd never get there, but still.
"Um, I'm not sure that I can trust you." Sveta said.
Yay, go Sveta. Don't trust her. What she's trying to do is likely to end up with the entire surface of the planet eaten by nanites. Including everything living above that surface.
"I suppose I haven't given you any reason to trust me, have I? All right. The very best answer to this problem would be to take Adam somewhere, and hit him over the head with blunt instruments until he agrees his life policy is stupid. Unfortunately, I don't think that you, he, or even Coil would let me do that. Despite the fact that it is physically impossible for him to lose more brain cells than he already has." Tattletale said.
It was completely physically possible. My neural implant hadn't damaged my brain in the slightest. It was nestled above, around and through the gray matter, shielding it, augmenting it, stimulating it or removing signals when necessary. Also I'd just ruined my third ultra-fine manipulatory appendage in a row because of spontaneous outrage.
I was half tempted to just activate the sedative also installed in Tattletale's throat, but that would let her know that I was listening, and I had plans for that throat mic. Tattletale was one of the two Thinkers in this group. Sooner or later she'd be involved in Coil's planning sessions, and something told me that staying abreast of current events in those sessions would be very important to me.
"So what I want you to do, is I want you to talk to me. How long have you known Adam, Sveta?"
"Um, about a week." Sveta said.
"Would it surprise you to know that you're probably the person who knows him best, in the whole world?" Tattletale asked.
No. I don't think so. That would be my sister. Tattletale's power obviously had limits. It was Riley who knew me best, even when she was five. God it used to annoy me when she'd figure out one of my ideas, and tell me to be good or she'd tell our parents. I was trice her age, but she still caught me, three times out of ten.
Maybe I'd changed since then, but in many ways, we'd changed together. We were both bio-Tinkers, we understood that cutting into someone was as simple as chopping carrots for a stew, and there was nothing precious or sacred about the spilling of blood or the removal of flesh. We held no reverence for the human form, and we had both decided, in our own ways, and for our own reasons, to kill.
My sister had grown apart from me, but I think that, of everyone in this world, she was still the closest. Sveta might change that in time, but not in a week, not even in a month, and I wasn't sure I should let her have longer than that.
"I… he always tried to keep away from the E88. I thought he just wanted to work at first, but then he turned out to be a good guy… not like that. He isn't going to betray you! I'm sure, just the E88, because they weren't nice." Sveta said, sounding distressed. It would be distressing if Coil decided that I was going to betray this group if I had the last, but it wasn't the end of the world. Coil had shaken my hand before he left the meeting at Somer's Rock, and I'd finally perfected a version of the toxin that could be made to work through gloves. Not Skitters gloves, damned spidersilk, but Coil had merely been wearing cotton gloves that day.
There was the sound of motion from the microphone, but I'd been able to see for too long to work out exactly what Tattletale was doing with just audio. She was talking more softly the next time she spoke though.
"Look, Sveta this could be important. Was there any particularly time when Mayhem was particularly angry? When he seemed really annoyed about something? Probably while he was with the E88?" Tattletale asked.
"Well, I think the angriest I've ever seen him was just after he rescued me. He had to see a whole lot of people who wanted to be augmented. I think that was just because they weren't nice people though." Sveta said.
"Nice people? What do you mean by that? Did they fight with him somehow, or… no, you mean that they were the dregs of E88 society, don't you. Do you know why Adam agreed to augment them? Did he actually do any augmentation? No, I'm asking the wrong questions. What did Adam do before this, before he got angry? There would have been something. An experiment, or a project, something that snatched away a glimmer of hope for him when it failed."
"There… was something a little bit like that." Sveta said.
"Excellent. Please, tell me about it." Tattletale said eagerly.
"Well, I heard Victor saying something to Mayhem about how it was sad he didn't get the funding for his anti-master dev…"
"Yes! He has the technology to save himself from his own self-imposed certainty of failure, he just doesn't think he has the time. It's not the root problem, and damn-it hitting him with stuff until he realizes how stupid he is would be so much simpler, but it might buy us time to socialize him and get him a real friend or two."
Wonderful. I was really going to have to find a way to teach Sveta about not spilling everything to anyone who asks…
That was kind of hypocritical, wasn't it?
OK, first I was going to murder Piggot, Armsmaster, and Theo so there was no evidence of my hypocrisy, and then I was going to teach Sveta. I think that was all the people I'd spilled information too… oh no, Tattletale as well.
I can see how so many of the true villains get started, when murder is a reaction sometimes considered when you are simply embarrassed. For a normal human, you feel the impotent rage, and you hold a nice fantasy in your head, and then you let it go, and do nothing, because it would simply be too much work. For a parahuman… well perhaps you just glare them to death? It doesn't matter what your power is, it's a weapon, already in your hand, with the safety disengaged.
"So… you want me to help you make him happier?" Sveta asked.
Dangerous, to agree to things a Thinker said for any reason. Check, double check, mistrust. Honestly, the whole letting me implant so much in her throat was probably all a subtle game on Tattletale's part, and no one was threatening her and trying to take her voice away at all. She was trying to make me trust her, for some sort of unknown endgame, or simply because she actually wanted this team to work.
I didn't really care. Or, at least I hadn't, until she went and involved Sveta.
I ran a test current through the fingers of what was going to be my new right hand. They twitched. Perfect. I'd be done by tomorrow, when I had my appointment with the Travelers in the morning, and we planned to destroy the Merchants that afternoon.
"Yes, happier, but also part of humanity again." Tattletale said. "I think that people in the E88 saw this as well, at least instinctually, and they tried to socialize him. He resisted both because he really didn't agree with their views, and because he wanted to Tinker instead. It wasn't even a bad thing that he did resist, Purity actually knew what Kaiser was really like, she saw it first hand, and she couldn't have betrayed them like that. Not after she actually got to know the people, we're just not built to fight people we've had fun with."
"Anyway," Tattletale continued, "we need a different tactic to what the E88 have already tried, I'm not entirely sure what yet. I'd normally suggest the sorts of things a normal teenage boy would find interesting, but I'm fairly sure that Adam is either more emotionally stunted than I originally thought, or he artificially suppressed those interests so he could better focus on his Tinkering."
I hadn't actually. I suppressed the responses, not the interests. It had taken quite an interesting bit of code to recognize and control the basic signs that pointed out I enjoyed looking at someone, but I hadn't wanted to merely cut off that section of my brain. Mostly because it had a large impact on my personality when I had tried to turn it off the first time. I hadn't been as good at altering my emotions then as I was now, and I'd temporarily lost my capacity for aggression, along with my ability to appreciate video games and girls.
Trust me, aggression is one of those things you just need.
Tattletale would probably figure that out as soon as she looked in a mirror after the swelling went down. She'd given me a picture of what she looked like before, and I'd copied from it exactly when I reconstructed her face, but the picture had been an official photo, not just some snapshot with a cell phone. It was taken in the right light, and if I understand girls correctly, she'd probably spent a long time on her makeup first. Now she looked exactly that good without makeup.
Perhaps I could convince her I was just a perfectionist?
"He did?" Sveta asked, sounding like she'd just figured something out. Or... it wasn't quite hope, and it wasn't quite dismay.
"I think so. Anyway, those sorts of tactics are right out, and also stupid, which leaves only one thing. We confront him, we point out the obvious, and every time the Simurgh is scheduled to attack soon he takes a very long vacation to a tiny island too insignificant for her to even consider. He keeps that up until he has what he needs to protect himself, or maybe forever. I know he doesn't lack for money, and I know that he needs regular holidays, or he's going to burn out." Tattletale said.
I… hadn't actually thought of that. Maybe Tattletale did have something of a point. That was the trouble though, you couldn't really listen to Thinkers, they out thought you. The only way to win was not to play. Attack first, knock them out, silence them, or otherwise stop them from getting to you, or they could be even more insidious and subtle than a Master.
"And if that still doesn't work… we fall back to hitting him over the head with blunt objects until he gets it." Tattletale said.
"Um, I don't think…" Sveta answered.
"Don't worry, we'll wait until after he reinforces his skull. He'll be fine." Tattletale said, and I could hear her smirk.
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consequences
Not A Nice Person At All
- Location
- Jerkville
[X]Plan Head Trauma
- Location
- Australia
Ugh, well that was a huge mess of formatting errors. I've discovered I can get an extra thousand words in if I don't edit thoroughly, but just giving something one quick skim isn't enough before you post it.
Anyway we are approaching the fourth arc. If interest levels in this fic stay the way they are now, it will be the final arc, and I'll just try to compress the ending. I want to see if I can actually finish something for once.
I originally planned five arcs, and I might still do a fifth if there is a bit of an upswing in interest. We'll see.
Enjoy, and anticipate several corrections when I wake up and look this over in the morning.
Anyway we are approaching the fourth arc. If interest levels in this fic stay the way they are now, it will be the final arc, and I'll just try to compress the ending. I want to see if I can actually finish something for once.
I originally planned five arcs, and I might still do a fifth if there is a bit of an upswing in interest. We'll see.
Enjoy, and anticipate several corrections when I wake up and look this over in the morning.
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oakgem217
Connoisseur of Power Fantasy
- Location
- The Moon
I just read through this entire story in about five hours. It's fantastic. It has a great premise, it has fantastic, 3 dimensional characters, character growth, and it feels like Adam is actually progressing though the story. Honestly, with the technical writing the way it is, and they way the plot is unfolding, I can honestly say that this is in the top tier of fanfiction writing. Please keep it up. That fifth arc would be awesome.
apeljohn
Non-Player Character
- Location
- Earth Aleph
My fingers are crossed. While it's awesome to see a fic this long actually finish, it'd be even more awesome if it finished after all the loose endings are tied off cleanly, rather than leaving us thinking "wtf just happened?".
- Location
- Earth
*Raises hand* I'm interested. I'm super, duper interested. And gosh darn it, I'll go prove it.
The Stormbringer
Worm Fanfic & Crack Connoisseur
- Location
- Spaaaaace~!
God dammit, maybe five chapters from now their continued and rational debate will convince him to maybe, just maybe, consider investing in that Anti-Master Tech. Maybe by mentioning that the S9 has a Master and he won't be able to take them out reliably without being protected?
I love the story, and I can't wait to see more Mayhem.
I wonder what exactly has Mayhem done off camera, and what Cricket is doing. Is the 'puppet master' actually coil, or is it going to be Kid Win again?
Mors
Searching for immanence
I'm with you, Bob. I'm with you.
RazorSmile
ROB Used To Be A Knife Missile
Yeeeeeaaahhh, Adam? Tattletale totally knows you're listening in. Just sayin'.
Cherish?God dammit, maybe five chapters from now their continued and rational debate will convince him to maybe, just maybe, consider investing in that Anti-Master Tech. Maybe by mentioning that the S9 has a Master and he won't be able to take them out reliably without being protected?
Nooooo, please don't cut it short...
I enjoy your fanfic, i just made an account specifically so i could tell you so (before that i just read, selfishly , i realize now.)( the way i see it, that pretty much makes you contractually obligated to keep posting regularly, for eveeeer).
(Ps: people usually don't get it when i use sarcasm, so just in case, the last sentence ( between "the way" and "for eveeer" ) is not serious, please do whatever you want.)
Maybe, just do a sequal?
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
were too expensive, both in the
Purity's case
considered one of the
trust me, have I?
for him to lose more
I'd been sighted for too long
I suspect 'sighted' is an error too, but am unsure what you meant instead.
own self-imposed certainty
get started, when
cut off that section
*Purity
See, Purity, just going along with what everybody else is doing at the moment is how you ended up dating a Nazi. What kind of moron lets that happen to them?
*cough*Adam*cough*
Tattletale says that Adam isn't very smart, and he immediately launches into crazy "I'LL SHOW THEM ALL" fantasies about things he could build or do. None of these things are stuff like curing cancer. Nope, his brain makes a beeline for antimatter missiles, throwing the moon out of orbit, and duplicating the artistic sensibilities of freaking Bonesaw.
It is, huh? Do not fuck this up.
If your protocol is to silence Thinkers outright, and you've got a forum for capes, I guess it makes sense that being a Thinker is a bannable offense. There's got to be some sort of commentary on the Internet as a whole in there somewhere, but I can't imagine what it might be (or they'll shut me up).
'cause you're an idiot, Adam.
Or you'll end up with friends. Granted, in the last round of making friends you got both Cricket and Sveta, so clearly this is a mixed bag.
Sveta has shown herself to be amenable to shovel-based solutions in the past.
You let her have all the time she needs, you heartless bastard. If she wants to be your friend, you damn well better let her do it, even if it means putting your suicide bombing on hold.
Don't ruin her innocence.
So, I'm not all that familiar with Worm. I have no idea how old Sveta is. Guessing somewhere between ten and fifteen? Hard to guess for a disembodied organ-pile that lived in a cage for who knows how long.
Adam, your aversion to Sveta's agreeing with a plan to make you happier is kind of unnerving.
Or that's just what they want you to think!
I was kind of hoping this story would just go and go and go, but I guess if that's what I'm looking for then "suicide bomb my enemies" is perhaps not the best protagonist plan toward that end. That being said, I want as much of this story as I can get, so I would definitely rather see five arcs than four.
- Location
- Australia
Thanks for those corrections. The main reason I was expecting more interest is my first quest, Make Something of Yourself. Which had a grand total of twelve irregularly released updates, and over ninety pages of comments. Looking back I think that was mostly due to the nature of the power used, and a lot of discussion on how it could be min-maxed efficiently. But it did raise unreasonable expectations for my future endeavors.
Actually, now that I go back and look, those posts weren't liked nearly as much, there were just a lot more comments...
Well, we'll see what I can do about a fifth arc as I come to the tail end of the fourth.
- Location
- Upstate NY, USA
- Pronouns
- Fjf
The Mayhem protocol gets a Lagavulin mod? Impressive!
He's... making tentacles. For his hand. Well. Lucky Cricket. *eyebrow waggle*
*puerile giggle* Well, now.
*puerile giggle* WELL NOW!
I suggest... bullshitonium?
Man, I think we've ALL had that feeling.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the city, Cricket suddenly has the urge to smile. Like, SMILE. I mean, she's showing a lot of teeth, that's a smile, right? (The three thugs she's menacing, on the other hand, have the urge to wet themselves.)
Maybe he's born with it... maybe it's Tinker-tech being stabbed into your HEAD, your FUCKING HEAD. Seriously, I know he probably takes SOME steps, but... I can't help the mental image I have of Adam just like... hammering tech into his brain like a nail.
I've... seen certain "art films" that have started much this way. ON THE CHART IT GOES!
Oh, dear lord, Adam. Would you like me to just queue up your Linkin Park and skinny jeans?
Purity... is not a bright lady. I suspect she had... a certain reputation when she was younger.
*snerk* Well... I can't say she's WRONG....
Seriously, though. I actually kind of pity whoever it is that finally pisses Sveta off. She's a very nice girl who's had a very shitty hand and now she's actually been given some kind of a chance at life... and I can't help but feel like she'll FUCK UP anyone who actually tries to hurt the person she credits for this.
Says the girl who taunted Lung until he tried to RIP HER TONGUE OUT. Said the pot to the kettle, "Hey, you're not very reflective, you know?"
Sveta is love. Sveta is life. Sveta is nice. Sveta will be fine. JUST. FINE.
That's Cricket's job. ...well, it's not really a JOB. She's not getting paid for it, after all. She's just doing it because she likes it!
*puerile giggle* I've read a few stories along those lines....
*puerile giggle* I'm sure they
Nope, no delusions of grandeur or anything here! Perfectly normal!
Now THAT sounds like a euphemism!
Gee, ya THINK? It might be nice to know when Coil's decided that you're too much a pain to have around any more. (Not that he'd include Tattletale in that planning session... well, not in a timeline you'd be aware of, at least.)
You're assuming (probably VERY stupidly) that you actually shook hands with COIL, though. On the OTHER hand... you're in his base now. With all your chemicals and technologies. If you can't get that toxin airborne in under a day, I'd be shocked... and very, very disappointed.
"Note to self: Start cutting out my own eyes every so often again. Can't lose important skillsets."
*snerk* I gotta admit, I admire his pragmatism here. He could either learn not to be a hypocrite... ORRRRR he could just kill a bunch of people!
*puerile giggle* Whereas for Adam, he's made all kinds of modifications to himself to ensure he'll never have rage due to impotence!
OT3 is now on the chart!
*puerile giggle*
Oh, yes. YOU don't care in the least, Sveta isn't close to you AT ALL. Do me a favor and get some good pictures of the pyramids on your boat ride, would you?
Well... it really all depends on if they're into that sort of thing.... *eyebrow waggle*
Why thank you for speaking up there, Adam's Shard! It's so nice to hear from you again!
Yes! Show her your devotion to getting things exactly right! How you'll stick to a task for DAYS in order to make sure
You know, it's so nice that Adam isn't a walking mass of paranoia and twitchy reflexes. Golly, he'd be a real MESS if he was!
UNTIL? What makes you think he hasn't already? I mean, c'mon! The OBVIOUS solution to Mayhem continually knocking out his recording devices is to jam one in his skull and then reinforce the SHIT outta his brain pan! I'm not the only one who realizes that, right? ...right?
I will tell you completely without hyperbole that this is the story that I straight up anticipate the most every day. It's enjoyable, it's got a GREAT pace, none of the characters are carrying the Idiot Ball.... (Okay, Adam has bought out the Idiot Ball Store and is implanting them in himself every chance he gets, but... I can't even be upset, it's TOTALLY IN CHARACTER FOR HIM.)
Chock up another vote for five arcs.
Exactly! A moron wouldn't be able to do ANY of those things! He is totally smart AND well adjusted AND sane!
Noooo, MAYHEM got Cricket. Sveta got Adam.
You're god damn right! (Seriously, I'm hoping this ends in some sort of heart-warming scene between Sveta and Adam. ...I'm anticipating it ending with Endbringer sirens going off, though.)
See, normally this sentence would reduce me to giggling that could be heard on Pluto (THE NINTH PLANET YOU FUCKERS I WILL FIGHT YOU), but... it's SVETA.
I *think* she's older than that? But I'm honestly not sure at all. She's fatalistic and overly naive, but not stupid. She's... hard to gauge accurately, you know?