"So you wanted to find out who called you, and made you turn on the E88, and in order to do this you… bribed Cricket with a laser scythe?" Trickster asked.
I can't help but feel like I helped make this happen, even though I know it's an obvious answer and Jurric probably had it planned well in advance of my comments. However... HELPING!
She was staying fairly quiet, and sitting next to Tattletale who was whispering to her, catching her up on the conversation.
*eyes Skitter*
*eyes Tattletale*
*slowly lifts eyebrow*
...no, this is NOT going to be a "I'll ship it!" comment. (Of course, I WILL ship it.) This is going to be a "I'm pretty sure those two are in cahoots." comment. We've already seen that Tattletale wants Skitter as a leader-type from the vote. We already know that Skitter and Tattletale can work together well from canon (much less the more confident Skitter and possibly less idiotic Tattletale here). We KNOW that no one with half a brain trusts Coil AND that Tattletale still wants him screaming, begging, and (eventually) dead.
I'm pretty sure those two are in cahoots.
Since then I've been told that the phone call was made by Kid Win, as part of an alarmingly successful psychological attack.
"So, I've decided to take the obvious step to deal with the problem and-"
"Stop designing and placing methods to wipe out your colleagues and allies?"
"No, I've figured out how to turn off my psychology."
"...that's not even possible. That's not how that works. That's not how ANY of that works!"
"Tinker."
"...
god dammit."
"Why did Cricket visit you after Tagg released her?" Grue asked.
"Well, when a man and a woman meet each other in a pit fight and the man breaks a few of her limbs and then shoots her full of morphine.... You know what? It's a long story and I'll explain it to you when you're older."
"You know the best part. Mayhem didn't even realize that Cricket had been sent to kill him. He thought she was flirting when she cut his throat."
Why... why can't it be BOTH?
I should have shortened certain muscles in her face, she smiled way to much
*snerk* Oh, Adam. She'd just figure out ANOTHER way to piss you off.
Was she trying to make me use her mute button?
*puerile giggle* I KNOW what he means, but... It's such a GREAT euphemism! ("Hey, where's your girlfriend?" "Eh, she's taking a nap. I hit her mute button pretty good right before you guys came over.")
"Isn't he a bit young for her?" Purity said.
Yes, because his age is the dealbreaker for the violent, murder-for-hire, skinheaded psycho.
"No. I can non-invasively manipulate signals in the brain with an implant in the skull, instead of the brain itself, which would prevent any long term effects, aside from the obvious trauma from eventual realization of what the person has been doing."
"I saw this Futurama episode and I thought 'Hey, I have a hammer AND emotion control chips!'...."
I think the main problem we have here is the need for invasive surgery." Skitter said.
"We"? No, that's just you guys. Adam's just fine with it.
Skitter looked disappointed, and I made a mental note not to mention to her that I had an entire tree dedicated purely to Master technology. I hadn't breached it, and hopefully never would, but still, she seemed oddly eager to be able to exchange a broken, evil being for a good one, even if it was through mind control.
...somehow, I feel like that will be relevant and/or come back to bite everyone on the ass. Then again, it's not like Skitter is known for going over the top or being willing to do frankly insane things for her own goals, right? ...right? *nervous laughter*
Neural Augmentation did link into the Master technology tree, but it was in general far less creepy. It was at least supposed to be used to make the brain work better, even if it could be turned to other ends.
"There was an entire branch dedicated to the 'Joy Button', for example. ...it wasn't a small branch, either."
"What we need to realize here, is that this incident sets the tone for how we, as a gang, deal with attacks against us, and violations of our policies." Coil said.
Yes, but... she didn't attack the GANG. She attacked YOU. No one gives a shit about YOU. Well. Maybe Boost. He'd miss making you bark like a dog. But other than THAT....
Coil raised his eyebrows.
"You don't trust me?" He asked
*wild, hysterical laughter* No one with half a brain trusts you, asshole! I mean, even SVETA doesn't trust you! You'd have to be a complete fucking moron with the common sense of a rock to trust you! A rock that even other rocks point at and go "Jesus, that guy's a god damn moron."
...so, Trickster probably trusts you like a brother.
I say we ask questions before Mayhem starts cutting into heads.
Oh, c'mon! Let Adam show you guys what a human brain looks like! Give him a few seconds and that box of paperclips and he'll have Cricket put on a nifty tap-dancing routine!
Still, he had a point. I trusted Coil about as far as… no, wait, nutrient supplements and low end Tinkertech steroids meant I was fairly strong now, I could probably flip Coil a fair distance. Who was the weakest person at the table?
*glances at Tattletale/Skitter/Purity/Genesis/etc.*
I trusted Coil about as far as Regent could throw him.
*laughs* Well, he's not wrong! Hear that, Regent? Adam just ranked you BELOW the chick who just got out of her wheelchair!
"Um, right. I just put Cricket into a sort of healing coma. She's not going to be answering anything for at least forty eight hours." I told everyone.
"Which conveniently gives me plenty of time to make sure she knows what our cover story is! ...shit. I said that out loud, didn't I. And now you're all staring at me. So... who would like some of these yummy and entirely unaltered cupcakes I just happen to have handy? Anyone? A-anyone? ...eat the cupcakes, people. The other options result in your skin melting off, your nerves literally catching fire, your eyes exploding out of your sockets, and dying. IN THAT ORDER."
"So we don't know what's going on, and the key witness is out to it. Coil got spooked because someone found out his civilian ID, so we all got called in, but nothing's going to come of it, and we're all going to talk in circles until Mayhem gets bored and releases a plague that kills everyone except his girlfriend." Regent said.
It's a fair cop!
I stopped paying attention, instead trying to create a new Protocol from scratch. One similar to Mayhem, but without the inherent flaws. One where I was still in control
...this can only end well. </deadpan>
My mind, my consciousness, it was a complex, disorganized thing, build in an incredibly inefficient manner.
Tinkers, everyone! While everyone else is (foolishly) celebrating the complexity and majesty of the human mind, they're just sitting there, going "...who the fuck DESIGNED this mess? Ugh!"
Removing absolutely everything that could otherwise come between me and an objective
Cricket: "It's okay. I don't bother wearing those anyways."
I started to make it anyway.
TINKERS, EVERYONE!
I'd need to test run it a few times, so the code could start upgrading itself, but in theory it should run only on sections of my brain that weren't in use in that instant, basically just giving me good combat reflexes and instincts.
I see "in theory" and "upgrade itself" in there, you dumbass. That means "in theory," Mayhem's probably gonna figure out a way to activate himself with it and cause even MORE havoc.
"Sveta, watch me, would you, if I'm going to do something odd, stop me." I ordered
It's canon! Adam likes people to watch. *eyebrow waggle*
No, wait, I was acutely aware of my clone, when normally I wouldn't be. I guess he was the only thing in the room that the software had flagged as a threat
Well, what else is in the room? Sveta? PLEASE. She'd saw off her own head with a rusty hacksaw if she even THOUGHT it'd make you happier.
"Um, does that count as something odd?" She asked.
*laughs* Okay, I appreciate that Sveta has to ask something like that. Seriously, Adam, what the hell? You're asking SVETA to judge what's odd?
"No it does not, it's a fairly standard test." I told her
Right. I can already tell how THIS ends.
"Sveta? Where are we, why are we here, and what are we doing?"
"Well... we're in a Montanan free love hippy commune, because you said you needed to test your social interaction abilities in extreme outlier situations, and we're... um... well... it's a free love commune! We needed to fit in, so...."
"...and this never struck you as unusual?"
"Well, I asked and you said it was a very standard series of tests."
"Ah."
*puerile giggle* Next, tell her you've been a bad boy....
"I'm fine. I'm fairly sure that if you really try to hit me, the combat algorithm will kick in, and I will block, dodge, or otherwise do something awesome." I told her.
"OK." She said, taking a gas grenade out of her bag, and pulling the pin.
....holy shit, I love you, Sveta.
Seriously. LOOK AT THAT. She gets some instructions, she immediately starts thinking about how to accomplish them OUTSIDE THE BOX, and goes for it! She obviously believes that trying to attack Adam physically would be pointless, so she instead goes for something non-standard. It's glorious! It actually HELPS HIM, instead of just doing whatever ADAM can imagine to defend against, since it's obvious that he has certain blind spots.
Sveta walked over to the wall where my gas masks were kept.
Because of COURSE he has a wall for gas masks. Why wouldn't he?
Good going H+, Sveta was so harmless she managed to completely get through your defenses.
I *REALLY* hope this is foreshadowing for the inevitable S9 fight.
"So... apparently, Jack Slash was standing here, making one of his 'I'm so evil, blah blah blah' speeches and... well... the girl he'd been holding hostage and then ignored punched him. In the brain. Repeatedly."
(Also, I'm pretty sure I've pondered this before, but... CAN Jack's Shard predict what Sveta can do, considering that her Shard isn't directly involved with her new body? IIRC, that's how he manages to no-sell so many Capes, by having his Shard talk/influence their Shards directly, right? But if Sveta's Shard is telling his 'I'm going to jump on you and strangle you' and instead she sends a volley of micro-missiles at him....)
Glad my fear response was still fairly low, I think that mask would have been rather intimidating straight after unconsciousness, otherwise.
Which is a very understated way of saying "I would have screamed like a little girl and wet myself."
"Well… I've been talking with Tattletale a bit… and I was wondering how you feel about ending all crime in Brockton Bay." Skitter said nervously.
...pick up the phone, because I CALLED IT.
Good news, or just news, depending on how you look at it. I think we're going to have a sixth arc. I was expecting to resolve these sub-plots a little bit quicker.
Whoo!
Great. Now we have two protocols struggling for long term superiority. On top of original Adam personality.
I... I'll ship it.
It doesn't do to make too much fun of the guy who may or may not have the ability to instantly kill everyone with SCIENCE.
Oh, it won't be instantly. It takes a while for the bacteria to eat to anything important.
"HAVE YOU SEEN MY FLUFFY BUNNY? I NEED TO GIVE IT HUGS."
Cricket would be so very disappointed.
Well... that's what road trips are for, obviously.
Mayhem is the big bully who takes over. 
