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Hostage Situation [Worm AU Fanfic]

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TheUnicorn said:
i.e not something possible by normal biological systems.
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Well, the prion plague was Tinker-built but biological in nature, and kind of impossible in itself. If she used her power to turn that back on itself ...

TheUnicorn said:
which could be 3-4 hours a week. I doubt it's that low, but there isn't anything explicit in canon to contradict that.
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Or it could be a lot more. And added to 3-4 hours per night ...
 
Ack said:
Or it could be a lot more. And added to 3-4 hours per night ...
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Not to mention it's not a closed system. Everything can drag you down, not just what you consider work. School's, what, at least 6 hours, depending on location/school. Homework takes up a chunk more.

Given her age, I'd actually disagree with canon a little here, because someone her age isn't going to be able to keep that up for very long before her body starts forcing her to take breaks via fucking up.
 
Honestly i thought Amy was a bio-striker more than a bio-kinetic because she could just make things "right" as opposed to"make the body correct itself".
 
Rajvik_wolfboy said:
Honestly i thought Amy was a bio-striker more than a bio-kinetic because she could just make things "right" as opposed to"make the body correct itself".
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She tells the body - or any biological organism - what to do. This can be anything from "die" to "achieve peak fitness and health" to "grow a third eye that only sees in infrared" to "become a miniature pony that thinks it's a pony". Her power type is Striker, but her actual power is biokinesis.
 
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Joshua Coffin said:
I'm really not sure how him having murdered changes anything. It's not like he's evil or psychotic. He's not even truly amoral, he just defines his morality by loyalty and family. If you're one of his, he takes care if you. If you're not, he doesn't care unless you get in the way. Marquis is a very practical man, and one of absolute integrity. Of course he's going to be exactly as polite and kind on the inside. It has nothing to do with him killing you because you made it necessary.
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Um, no. I mean, at least, it's not actually canon.

10.x interlude:

"As I understand it," Lung sounded annoyed as he spoke in his heavily accented voice, "You are saying you have no management style at all. You have told me you operated without lieutenants to direct, no product to sell, and of the few servants you did have, you did not punish those who failed you. I do not believe you held control of so much territory in this way."

"Ah, except I did those things. If a servant failed me, I killed them. Whatever it was, they never did it again."

I mean, I actually completely get the fact that Marquis is playing up being a genteel good guy in the interview, but don't let that blind you.

If I killed a fifth as many people as he likely did during his reign as a crime boss, I'd be locked away in prison for a life sentence, or perhaps headed for a death sentence (after a decade or two of appeals) and you, me, anyone sane would say I had gotten exactly what I deserved.

Now, the Birdcage *is* immoral, because in some ideal world, what would happen is that somehow Marquis would have his powers taken away, and then he would ROT IN JAIL FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

Since that's not possible, the Birdcage is possibly the best option they have.

We'll see what he does once he's out and about. A murderous leopard can change his shorts, but not often.*

*Yes, I meant to say shorts.
 
Ack said:
Well, the prion plague was Tinker-built but biological in nature, and kind of impossible in itself. If she used her power to turn that back on itself ...
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Then she used her power to do things impossible in a normal biological system. Granted she needed the Prions to start with, but my point stands.


Ack said:
Or it could be a lot more.
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Granted

Ack said:
And added to 3-4 hours per night ...
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That is unbelievably high.
 
The Laurent said:
Um, no. I mean, at least, it's not actually canon.

10.x interlude:

"As I understand it," Lung sounded annoyed as he spoke in his heavily accented voice, "You are saying you have no management style at all. You have told me you operated without lieutenants to direct, no product to sell, and of the few servants you did have, you did not punish those who failed you. I do not believe you held control of so much territory in this way."

"Ah, except I did those things. If a servant failed me, I killed them. Whatever it was, they never did it again."

I mean, I actually completely get the fact that Marquis is playing up being a genteel good guy in the interview, but don't let that blind you.

If I killed a fifth as many people as he likely did during his reign as a crime boss, I'd be locked away in prison for a life sentence, or perhaps headed for a death sentence (after a decade or two of appeals) and you, me, anyone sane would say I had gotten exactly what I deserved.

Now, the Birdcage *is* immoral, because in some ideal world, what would happen is that somehow Marquis would have his powers taken away, and then he would ROT IN JAIL FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

Since that's not possible, the Birdcage is possibly the best option they have.

We'll see what he does once he's out and about. A murderous leopard can change his shorts, but not often.*

*Yes, I meant to say shorts.
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A Discworld fan, I see.

Here's some canon Marquis from after the Birdcage:

"Dad," she said, stopping.

A man at the side of the room stood straighter. Marquis. His hair was long enough to drape over his shoulders, his face clean-shaven by contrast. He had a fancy-looking jacket folded over one arm, and a white dress shirt that had fine lines of black lace at the collar and the sleeves he'd rolled up his arms. Two ostentatious rings dangled from a fine chain around his neck; the chain had a locket on it, suggesting he'd added the rings as an afterthought. To keep them out of the way while he worked, perhaps.

"What is it, Amelia?"

For another man, the combination of physical traits and the style of dress might have led to someone mistaking them for a woman. They might have come across as effeminate.

Marquis didn't. Not really. When he'd spoken, his voice had been masculine, deep, confident. The cut of his shoulders and chin, his narrow hips, was enough that I couldn't expect anyone to mistake him for a woman. I wasn't the type to go for older guys, I wasn't even the type to go for effeminate guys. But I could see where women would go for Marquis.

"Broken bones here. Shattered femur. Some bone is exposed. Are you occupied?"

"Nothing critical," Marquis said. "It won't be comfortable, fixing that."

Panacea touched the patient's hand again. "He'll be pain-free for twenty minutes."

"That's enough time. Thank you, my dear."

Marquis crossed paths with Panacea on his way to the patient. He laid a hand on her shoulder in passing.

I watched her reach one hand up to her upper arm, touching a tattoo. She took in a deep breath, exhaled, and then moved on.
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And more:
"You want to irritate the world-destroying alien god," one of Marquis' men said.

"I want to get him to a point where he might make a mistake," I said. My eyes moved to Shadow Stalker. It's how we captured her in the first place. "It's a starting point."

"Starting points are only that," Lung said. "I can understand if you would start this with your enemy off-balance, then fight him knowing you can hurt him, but he cannot be truly hurt."

"Tea, anyone?" Marquis asked, interjected.

Lung nodded. I raised my good hand. Panacea nodded as well.

"Green?" he asked me. "The others drink green."

"Black. With milk."

He turned his attention to the kettle.

I looked at Lung, taking a deep breath before speaking. "Not starting this isn't an option. If we wait until an idea comes up, then we're going to be too late. We start this, reckless as it may be, and we leave a door open."

"For failure as well as success," Marquis said, on the far end of the room, his attention on emptying the kettle into the individual mugs.

"What would you suggest, then?" I asked. I might have come across a little hostile in the process.

"I would counter your question with a question," Marquis said. "Who do you see on the front lines? Which heroes and villains are still fighting? Which ones keep returning to the battlefield, before any of the others have even found their feet?"

I'd thought something like this to myself. "The monsters, the ones that are a little crazy, the ones that are a lot crazy."

"Not quite the answer I would have given," Marquis said.

"Which answer would you have given?" I asked.

"I would say it's the people who are most in touch with who they truly are," Marquis said.

"Same thing," I responded. "We're all fucked up, we're all damaged, a little crazy, a little monstrous."

He frowned a little. "People here might take offense to that. Myself included."

"No offense intended."

"There's a strength in knowing who you are. I would suggest that everyone play to that knowledge. Reflection, after all, is the province of the old. It's in your final days that you sum up your experiences, weigh the good against the bad, think back to the pivotal moments, and decide if you've made your mark. Others go through this sooner, the terminally ill. Those that expect to die."

"I don't get it," Rachel said.

"Are you happy with who you are?" he asked.

"Sure."

"In a general sense, do you know what you're doing in the next few hours and days?"

Rachel looked at me. "Yeah."

"Is there something in common between those two things?"

Bitch made a face, "Kind of?"

"That's what I'm talking about."

"I don't get it."
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Murderer he may be, but he's also a gentleman, or at least he tries hard to be one.
 
TheUnicorn said:
That is unbelievably high.
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Okay, sorry, 2-3 hours at a time.
"But at the same time… I can't cure everyone. Even if I go to the hospital every night for two or three hours at a time, there are thousands of other hospitals I can't visit, tens of millions of people who are terminally ill or living in a personal hell where they're paralyzed or in constant pain. These people don't deserve to face that, but I can't help them all. I can't help one percent of them if I put in twenty hours a day."

"You have to focus on what you can do," Gallant told her.

"Sounds easier than it is," Panacea answered, with a touch of bitterness, "Do you understand what it means, to cure some of these people? I feel like every second I take to myself is a second I've failed somehow. For two years, it's been this… pressure. I lie in bed, awake at night, and I can't sleep. So I get up and I go to the hospital in the middle of the night. Go to pediatrics, cure some kids. Go to the ICU, spare some lives… and it's all just blending together. I can't even remember the last few people I saved."
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Ack said:
A Discworld fan, I see.

Here's some canon Marquis from after the Birdcage:


And more:

Murderer he may be, but he's also a gentleman, or at least he tries hard to be one.
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Yep, wasn't disagreeing that he's a smooth criminal. *wants to start singing, resists it*.

Just was expressing some doubt as to how long he'd stay on the straight and narrow once out of prison. I mean, not that he could ever go back to being a gang leader, now.

Also was just correcting a misunderstanding/fanon view of him and his underlings. Now, he can no doubt be a Father to His Men. But he's also a father who occasionally casually disappears one of his sons and daughters when they disappoint him.

Of course, Amy's an exception to any such 'Father comparisons.'

...oddly enough, I have an amusing image of Marquis becoming a white collar criminal. Reverse-laundering Amy's funds to invest in the criminal side of things, or other low-key-ish things. He'd wear a suit, of course.
 
The Laurent said:
I mean, not that he could ever go back to being a gang leader, now.
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I'm not so sure about that. I mean his choice of cape name points to one desiring power not wealth and Cauldron has predicted that the rise of parahuman warlords is inevitable. If things go sufficiently bad in BB I can see Marquis going back to his old habits and persuading Amy to go along with him with how starved she is for positive emotional bonds she is.
 
I figured her going to the hospital in the middle of the night was an occasional thing, not every night. She would have partially burnt out long ago otherwise.
 
Ack said:
Okay, sorry, 2-3 hours at a time.
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Still much too high. Spending 2-3 hours a night in the hospital would mean she'd get less than 4 hours sleep, multiply that with the stress of having what is effectively two full time, high stress jobs and that will have her very quickly going to the hospital as a patient.

The way I read that quote, the "two or three hours a night" is not what she actually does, that's the ridiculous over-the-top, impossible-to-achieve level that she notes even if she could do it would not be enough.

Ack said:
The wording suggests that she does do it every night, or at least most nights.
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No it doesn't. She says "Even if I go to the hospital every night for two or three hours at a time..."

Ack said:
And yeah, she is kinda partially burnt out. Why do you ask?
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If she actually spent 2-3 hours every night in ADDITION to going there during the day she wouldn't be "partially burned out, she'd only be able to sort-of-maybe function by massive abuse of prescription stimulants.

EDIT: Actually thinking about it 2-3 hours a night, if by "night" you mean evening might be the normal time she spends at the hospital, with her sneaking out in the middle of the night being rare, probably something she does whenever someone (Victoria) tries to get her to relax and makes her take the evening off.
 
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TheUnicorn said:
Still much too high. Spending 2-3 hours a night in the hospital would mean she'd get less than 4 hours sleep, multiply that with the stress of having what is effectively two full time, high stress jobs and that will have her very quickly going to the hospital as a patient.

The way I read that quote, the "two or three hours a night" is not what she actually does, that's the ridiculous over-the-top, impossible-to-achieve level that she notes even if she could do it would not be enough.


No it doesn't. She says "Even if I go to the hospital every night for two or three hours at a time..."


If she actually spent 2-3 hours every night in ADDITION to going there during the day she wouldn't be "partially burned out, she'd only be able to sort-of-maybe function by massive abuse of prescription stimulants.

EDIT: Actually thinking about it 2-3 hours a night, if by "night" you mean evening might be the normal time she spends at the hospital, with her sneaking out in the middle of the night being rare, probably something she does whenever someone (Victoria) tries to get her to relax and makes her take the evening off.
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She doesn't patrol. If she goes to bed at eight, sleeps till (say) 1, then goes to the hospital and heals people from 2-4, walks home and sleeps from 5-7, that's seven hours of sleep. More if she's closer, or gets a cab or bus or whatever.

The "Even if I go to the hospital every night for two or three hours at a time," line isn't real evidence on its own, but taken in conjunction with "I lie in bed, awake at night, and I can't sleep. So I get up and I go to the hospital in the middle of the night." suggests to me that it's a regular occurrence. She doesn't say 'once in a while' or 'sometimes'. She does it all the damn time. Because her hero complex won't let her take a night off. About the only time she wouldn't do it is if she's healed a lot of people in the daytime, in the course of being Panacea.

I'm saying that she's not going there during the daytime unless it's by request. But she is going there at night. Every night.
 
Ack said:
She doesn't patrol. If she goes to bed at eight, sleeps till (say) 1, then goes to the hospital and heals people from 2-4, walks home and sleeps from 5-7, that's seven hours of sleep. More if she's closer, or gets a cab or bus or whatever.
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School is ~7-8 hours a day(counting classes, breaks and lunch) 5 days a week in the U.S. 2-4 PM she'd be either still at school or on her way from school to the hospital. Putting 2-3 hours a day at the hospital would mean she isn't finished there before 5 or 6. However that is still perfectly plausible (not at all healthy, but it fits her being overworked without getting to ridiculous levels).

What I was objecting to is that I thought you meant that in addition to that she's sneak out of her house in the middle of the night to put in ANOTHER 2-3 hours a night, at which point you're at an unsustainable level.
 
Ack said:
She doesn't patrol.
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Didn't she go out with Vicky? That whole incident when she had to heal the guy Vicky went all Vicky on?

Ack said:
If she goes to bed at eight, sleeps till (say) 1, then goes to the hospital and heals people from 2-4, walks home and sleeps from 5-7, that's seven hours of sleep.
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I do realize you're giving an example, but broken sleep is not sleep. It's a damn dirty lie, is what it is.
 
Franklymydear said:
Didn't she go out with Vicky? That whole incident when she had to heal the guy Vicky went all Vicky on?
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In the Birdcage, Lung states that Panacea does not go on patrols.

TheUnicorn said:
School is ~7-8 hours a day(counting classes, breaks and lunch) 5 days a week in the U.S. 2-4 PM she'd be either still at school or on her way from school to the hospital. Putting 2-3 hours a day at the hospital would mean she isn't finished there before 5 or 6. However that is still perfectly plausible (not at all healthy, but it fits her being overworked without getting to ridiculous levels).
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No, what' I'm saying is that she doesn't go to the hospital in the daytime unless it's a special case, something requiring Panacea specifically. She goes out when the team as needed and heals accident victims, sure. But she doesn't spend her daytimes at the hospital. What she does is get up in the middle of the night and goes there. Maybe sleeps from 8 till three, takes the bus, spends three hours, gets back just in time to shower and go to school.
 
Rajvik_wolfboy said:
No @Franklymydear at least I dont think so. my understanding of that was she was home asleep and Vicky called
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Ack said:
In the Birdcage, Lung states that Panacea does not go on patrols.
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Ok, I did what I should have done and went and looked myself.
"Fuck," she swore, "Fuckity fuck fuck." She flew to him and checked for a pulse. She sighed, and then headed to the nearest street. She found the street address, grabbed her cell from her belt and dialed.

"Hey sis? Yeah, I found him. That's, uh, sort of the problem. Yeah. Look, I'm sorr- ok, can we talk about this later? Yeah. I'm at Spayder and Rock, there's this little road that runs behind the buildings. Downtownish, yeah. Yeah? Thanks."

Victoria returned to the unconscious skinhead, checked his pulse, and listened intently for changes in his breathing. It took a very long five minutes for her sister to arrive.
So Amy's not with her when it happens, but she's 5 minutes walk away after Victoria's been flying around trying to chase a guy down. There's nothing that indicates whether or not they were just out for a walk or whatever. It mentions paramedics on scene, and that Vicky had observed the skinhead in the crowd of onlookers, so they might have just shown up to an emergency call, but there's nothing that mentions that either. But it feels like one to me, since Amy's not put out or surprised at all about anything that's going on.

Also, there's the reminder I needed to remember that I dislike Victoria. Damn it, Ack. Two just from this page of comments!
 
Ack said:
No, what' I'm saying is that she doesn't go to the hospital in the daytime unless it's a special case, something requiring Panacea specifically. She goes out when the team as needed and heals accident victims, sure. But she doesn't spend her daytimes at the hospital. What she does is get up in the middle of the night and goes there. Maybe sleeps from 8 till three, takes the bus, spends three hours, gets back just in time to shower and go to school.
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In that case I agree with you.
 
Franklymydear said:
Ok, I did what I should have done and went and looked myself.
"Fuck," she swore, "Fuckity fuck fuck." She flew to him and checked for a pulse. She sighed, and then headed to the nearest street. She found the street address, grabbed her cell from her belt and dialed.

"Hey sis? Yeah, I found him. That's, uh, sort of the problem. Yeah. Look, I'm sorr- ok, can we talk about this later? Yeah. I'm at Spayder and Rock, there's this little road that runs behind the buildings. Downtownish, yeah. Yeah? Thanks."

Victoria returned to the unconscious skinhead, checked his pulse, and listened intently for changes in his breathing. It took a very long five minutes for her sister to arrive.
So Amy's not with her when it happens, but she's 5 minutes walk away after Victoria's been flying around trying to chase a guy down. There's nothing that indicates whether or not they were just out for a walk or whatever. It mentions paramedics on scene, and that Vicky had observed the skinhead in the crowd of onlookers, so they might have just shown up to an emergency call, but there's nothing that mentions that either. But it feels like one to me, since Amy's not put out or surprised at all about anything that's going on.

Also, there's the reminder I needed to remember that I dislike Victoria. Damn it, Ack. Two just from this page of comments!
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Note that Amy was healing the victim (probably brought in to do just that). Maybe even requested a ride in a cop car. I mean, seriously, what cop would not give Panacea a lift if she asked nicely?
 
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