Not that I recall, no.
Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Silently Watches
- Start date
Tassadar
The Overlord of Cakes & Toucans!
You mean the energy blast... we don't even have.
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
No we did not. Their are a lot of Fanon names used often. For Legend, Atonement and Intrepid have popularized the name Peter for Legend. Hero isn't used as often, so no often used name.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Been over 24 hours since the last vote, so now's as good a time to call it as ever, I suppose.
[X] Solar Wrath
No. of Votes: 28
[X] Recursion Field
No. of Votes: 17
[X] Ring Bind
No. of Votes: 6
Total No. of Voters: 51
I'd say that's pretty definitive. Friendship beam it is.
Now write some omake before you kill somebody with that thing! (Totally not being a review-whore.)
[X] Solar Wrath
No. of Votes: 28
SilverEagle21
Akasha
anwan7
azereath
Chocolote12
Citino
Dreth
Firedon
HammerHeart
kinigget
Kioras
Kythorian
LoverOfParadoxicalFate
Major Session
Mellodi
QuietlyObserving
ShadowCub
Ubistvo
The Stormbringer
Captain Hunt
Highwind
Knight-Radiant
LokiTheDarkGod
ShadowAngelBeta
Sinsystems
Sour Knight
Sylvire
the DragonBard
Akasha
anwan7
azereath
Chocolote12
Citino
Dreth
Firedon
HammerHeart
kinigget
Kioras
Kythorian
LoverOfParadoxicalFate
Major Session
Mellodi
QuietlyObserving
ShadowCub
Ubistvo
The Stormbringer
Captain Hunt
Highwind
Knight-Radiant
LokiTheDarkGod
ShadowAngelBeta
Sinsystems
Sour Knight
Sylvire
the DragonBard
[X] Recursion Field
No. of Votes: 17
[X] Ring Bind
No. of Votes: 6
Total No. of Voters: 51
I'd say that's pretty definitive. Friendship beam it is.
Now write some omake before you kill somebody with that thing! (Totally not being a review-whore.)
- Location
- Washington State
Well a deal is a deal so time to put my money where my mouth is. I'm not an overly original person and don't like writing so the quality of these omakes may vary.
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"Oh God oh God oh God," murmured Stacy as she clung to her two children Bethany and Larry. Endbringer attacks were apart of life but she had always prayed that Brockton Bay would be small and unimportant enough that it would be left alone. Why hit a small shipping town when world capitals still stood. But it seems that luck thought otherwise. Worse was that the Simurgh was the attacker. With Leviathan and Behemoth there was a chance that civilian casualties would be low but the Simurgh claimed entire towns. Too far from the roads out of Brockton, all Stacy could do was hold her children and pray that whatever the pale bitch did would leave her family alone. Then she felt it. A massive green wave passed through walls with terrifying force. Stacy tried to hold onto her kids, but the force was simply too much.
Groaning, Stacy slowly picked herself up and looked around, trying to find her kids. When she saw them slowly picking themselves up, she sighed in relief. Her children were alive and that was all that mattered. Just as she stood up and dusted herself off, a ball of purple energy slammed into her. Stacy screamed. Pain wracked through her body, feeling it twist her bones and limbs. Still screaming, Stacy felt out of the window all the while feeling herself grow and stretch. As she lay there having her body transformed, she tried to call out for help. She tried to ask if her children were okay. All that came out of her mouth was an inhuman wail. She hoped her children hadn't been affected. That was when she saw the third light, blue this time slam into her. At that moment, Stacy felt herself break. Why her? What had she done to deserve this? Apart of her knew that this wasn't like her, that it was the Simurgh twisting her mind but a bigger part simply didn't care. As she pushes herself to her feet, Stacy looks around for someone to take rage out on. Then she hears it.
"Mommy!"
Looking back up at her apartment, she saw Bethany staring down at her with a look of horror in her eyes. All that Stacy could think of was how it was her children's fault. If she was alone, she could have made a run for it. But she had stayed because she couldn't risk her children and it had cost her. With a growl she began moving towards her old home. As she digs her claws into the building another ball of energy slams into her. Stacy wheeled around and saw a cape floating above her. Stacy glared at the girl. What made this girl special? Why wasn't she a twisted monster? Stacy launched herself at the cape intent and killing her for her luck. The cape simply flew higher shouting insults all the while. Growling, Stacy turns and chases the cape trying to kill her, to shut her up. The insults mean nothing, meaningless words that she barely understands. All she wants is to make someone else feel like she feels.
As Stacy leapt off the building, the cape sent another ball of energy. This one was stronger and sent Stacy flying back into the building she had just leapt off of. Staggering to her feet, Stacy felt her body shift again. Weakening this time. She felt something give out in her chest. She felt her mind uncloud from the anger that in hindsight was obviously caused by the Simurgh. Horrified by what she had tried to do, Stacy simply collapsed and lay there. She had tried to kill her children. She had blamed them for things beyond their control. She wanted to cry but her body wouldn't let her. Looking up, she saw the cape float over to her.
"Be-" she wheezed out. Her mouth wasn't shaped right to form proper words but Stacy had to try. She had to know if her children were alright. "La-."
Fortunately the cape seemed to understand what she was trying to say. With a reassuring smile, the cape replied "Your kids are safe. I had my partner carry them to the PRT while I distracted you." Good. She hadn't hurt them. They would have a chance at a normal life. With her final breath, Stacy hopes that they can find peace. A final smile and Stacy passed on.
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A/N: I'm not overly happy with this. Then again, I'm never happy with anything I write. Which is why I don't like and avoid doing it. Oh well. Out of curiosity, what level of SW is needed to get it a non-lethal setting?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Oh God oh God oh God," murmured Stacy as she clung to her two children Bethany and Larry. Endbringer attacks were apart of life but she had always prayed that Brockton Bay would be small and unimportant enough that it would be left alone. Why hit a small shipping town when world capitals still stood. But it seems that luck thought otherwise. Worse was that the Simurgh was the attacker. With Leviathan and Behemoth there was a chance that civilian casualties would be low but the Simurgh claimed entire towns. Too far from the roads out of Brockton, all Stacy could do was hold her children and pray that whatever the pale bitch did would leave her family alone. Then she felt it. A massive green wave passed through walls with terrifying force. Stacy tried to hold onto her kids, but the force was simply too much.
Groaning, Stacy slowly picked herself up and looked around, trying to find her kids. When she saw them slowly picking themselves up, she sighed in relief. Her children were alive and that was all that mattered. Just as she stood up and dusted herself off, a ball of purple energy slammed into her. Stacy screamed. Pain wracked through her body, feeling it twist her bones and limbs. Still screaming, Stacy felt out of the window all the while feeling herself grow and stretch. As she lay there having her body transformed, she tried to call out for help. She tried to ask if her children were okay. All that came out of her mouth was an inhuman wail. She hoped her children hadn't been affected. That was when she saw the third light, blue this time slam into her. At that moment, Stacy felt herself break. Why her? What had she done to deserve this? Apart of her knew that this wasn't like her, that it was the Simurgh twisting her mind but a bigger part simply didn't care. As she pushes herself to her feet, Stacy looks around for someone to take rage out on. Then she hears it.
"Mommy!"
Looking back up at her apartment, she saw Bethany staring down at her with a look of horror in her eyes. All that Stacy could think of was how it was her children's fault. If she was alone, she could have made a run for it. But she had stayed because she couldn't risk her children and it had cost her. With a growl she began moving towards her old home. As she digs her claws into the building another ball of energy slams into her. Stacy wheeled around and saw a cape floating above her. Stacy glared at the girl. What made this girl special? Why wasn't she a twisted monster? Stacy launched herself at the cape intent and killing her for her luck. The cape simply flew higher shouting insults all the while. Growling, Stacy turns and chases the cape trying to kill her, to shut her up. The insults mean nothing, meaningless words that she barely understands. All she wants is to make someone else feel like she feels.
As Stacy leapt off the building, the cape sent another ball of energy. This one was stronger and sent Stacy flying back into the building she had just leapt off of. Staggering to her feet, Stacy felt her body shift again. Weakening this time. She felt something give out in her chest. She felt her mind uncloud from the anger that in hindsight was obviously caused by the Simurgh. Horrified by what she had tried to do, Stacy simply collapsed and lay there. She had tried to kill her children. She had blamed them for things beyond their control. She wanted to cry but her body wouldn't let her. Looking up, she saw the cape float over to her.
"Be-" she wheezed out. Her mouth wasn't shaped right to form proper words but Stacy had to try. She had to know if her children were alright. "La-."
Fortunately the cape seemed to understand what she was trying to say. With a reassuring smile, the cape replied "Your kids are safe. I had my partner carry them to the PRT while I distracted you." Good. She hadn't hurt them. They would have a chance at a normal life. With her final breath, Stacy hopes that they can find peace. A final smile and Stacy passed on.
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A/N: I'm not overly happy with this. Then again, I'm never happy with anything I write. Which is why I don't like and avoid doing it. Oh well. Out of curiosity, what level of SW is needed to get it a non-lethal setting?
Last edited:
Firedon
Lazy Sleepy Cat
- Location
- Germany
Since it's divided into Novice, Adept and Master and SW has 6 points, I'd imagine 3.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Yep. And point given to SW.
No, not me.
Edit: Actually, what do you want this named?
- Location
- Washington State
No clue. I took me two and half hours to recap something that had already been written by someone else. I am not a creative person so I leave the title up to you.
Firedon
Lazy Sleepy Cat
- Location
- Germany
Voting's closed, Solar Wrath won.
Psychic Smasher 3.x
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Psychic Smasher 3.x
The sun was sitting low in the sky, painting the Los Angeles skyline a bright, beautiful red. It was an eerie counterpoint to the three glasses of bourbon Michael was passing around. He raised his glass. "To fallen comrades."
"To fallen comrades," Rebecca murmured. Beside her, David did the same before downing the tiny amount of liquor. He waved one cloak-wrapped arm, and Michael – Legend when he wore the mask that currently lay forgotten on the table – filled the glass anew. Looking at her two closest friends, possibly the only real friends she had left, she asked, "What happened today? Shutting down our powers, turning people into monsters, amplifying her Scream. The Simurgh has never done anything like that before. What changed?"
"I don't know," David grunted. His temper was always short after an Endbringer fight lately, and it wasn't hard to understand why. "Did either of you get the impression that she was laughing after she did that? When she was just floating over the battlefield? It was like she was taunting us, showing us that it doesn't matter what we try, she'll still win."
Michael plopped into his seat and forced a weak smile on his face. "Maybe it's you. Weren't you telling me last week that you thought you were on to something? Maybe you've figured out how to get your powers back."
David's laughter was bitter. "I wish! It was another dead end, just like all the others. Remember when I fell? That was my last flight power burning out. I still have weightlessness and gravity inversion left, but they won't be enough." He laughed again. "Once we thought I had every power imaginable, but now I can count them and watch them wink out one by one. Twenty-seven. That's it. That's all I have left." Reaching out, he grabbed the bottle out of Michael's hands and took a deep pull. "How the mighty have fallen."
"I really wish Contessa was here," she heard herself say. "She'd know what to do."
That was the wrong thing to say, and the look of disappointment – not anger; she'd almost prefer that – Michael sent her proved it. "That's what got us here in the first place," he reminded her unnecessarily. "And if you had told me the truth about her and Scion and everything else when it mattered, I would have told you that. Now we're stuck acting out parts in a play that none of us know the script for, and half the cast has called in sick."
Unable to argue with that, she just nodded. Almost two years previously, Scion had disappeared. He hadn't flown away. He hadn't burst into flames or fallen apart. He was just gone. When she tried to tell Doctor Mother and Contessa about that, she had been unable to reach them. No matter what she tried, she couldn't get an answer. She did not know for sure what had happened, but it didn't take a Thinker to figure it out. Scion had found Cauldron's base. He found the other creature. And from there? If he had even a fraction of humanity's emotions, what he would have done upon seeing one of his own race being chopped up for experimentation was obvious. The next day, Eidolon had resigned, officially because he could no longer handle the stress of running one of the largest branches of the Protectorate but in truth because the vast majority of his powers vanished when Cauldron did, yet more evidence of Scion's rage. It was the only way they could hide his sudden weakness.
She and David had waited a week before they finally told Michael everything, revealed all the secrets they had kept. They knew they would need to present a united front when Scion inevitably attacked. They waited. Weeks turned into months, months turned into a year, and still there was nothing. Since that fateful day, no one had seen hide nor hair of their golden enemy. The temptation to lower their guard was strong, and they did their best to resist it. Their resolve lasted another six months. Now, though, they had no choice but to accept what was in front of their faces. Scion, the greatest monster humanity had ever faced, the probable source of most capes' powers, had fled this world. Fled or hidden or killed himself out of grief, as laughable as that last was to contemplate.
June twenty-first, 2009. Father's Day. She could almost choke on the irony.
Even without Scion waiting for them, they still had three other world-destroying monsters to face. The next fight was against Leviathan, and to their surprise, he chose to attack a comparatively uninhabited island in the South Pacific. Rather than fight, the assembled heroes evacuated the island and let the middle brother have his fun. For a few glorious hours, they thought they had been lucky. Until he set off a tidal wave that scoured clean several of the islands of Indonesia.
Was that the first hint that the Endbringers had been holding back all along? At the time, it hadn't seemed like it, and since then, everything had gone back to business as usual. Now the Simurgh had forcibly reminded them that knowing their enemy was essential to defeating them, and for all they had learned, they still knew nothing about the Endbringers.
"Maybe it isn't a total loss," she said softly, mind wandering to all the news Switchboard had relayed to the Chief Director's email account. "A fresh cape gave us an almost hundred-page document on the theoretical principles of the Simurgh's telepathy, along with some conjecture on how to block it or use it to our advantage. It was interesting reading, and while it would take a Tinker to make any of it work, the theory itself seems sound. I've already forwarded it to Dragon and Terawatt. Maybe they can design something new that would keep us all safe from the Scream."
Or Calamity Witch would step up and help given enough incentive. She had noticed how tightly the young heroine had held her staff when she challenged the girl about her immunity to the Scream. How was it that no one else had figured out the young woman's varied powers were all due to her Tinkertech? Was it just because she was an affiliated hero and so no one dug too deeply, or was she just that deft a manipulator? No, her expression when Rebecca revealed the ugly politics of Simurgh quarantines ruled the latter out. Very few heroes had ever looked at her with that kind of abhorrence. Maybe that was why it was bothering her this much?
Michael gave her an odd look, but it was David who said what they were both thinking. "You, being an optimist? Who are you, and what have you done with Rebecca?"
"I can be optimistic when I want. If I remember correctly, and I always do, you two thought I was being too optimistic when I proposed the very idea of the Protectorate."
The two men nodded, but their words still circled inside her head. She was optimistic. Or, rather, she had been. She hadn't had much in the way of hope in a long while, and as that dwindled, so had her optimism. How could someone with perfect recall not notice her own personality changing? Or was it just the years, little changes happening so slowly that she never paid them any attention? And if that were the case, why was she noticing it now?
It was the girl. Calamity Witch. Her expression was still stuck in her head. Why? What did her subconscious find so important about that? She couldn't put her finger on it….
Oh.
Rebecca closed her eyes. Now she saw it. Long, dark hair. Black outfit. Skirt and boots. Many young heroines had tried to emulate the outfit she had worn when she first debuted, but few pulled it off well. Take away Calamity Witch's hat, turn her shirt black instead of red, replace the mask with a helmet…. Yes. That very easily could have been her twenty years ago. Combine the physical appearance with Spectrometer's proof of her raw power and her immunity to the Simurgh, and it all added up. Calamity Witch reminded her of herself, back when she was young, innocent, idealistic.
And that was why she couldn't shake the look of shock she had received. It was, what, eleven years ago that the Siberian killed Hero? Doctor Mother had suggested they let Manton run around where he liked because a monster like that would drum up support for the Protectorate. She had rejected that plan the minute it was suggested, but… but she had compromised in the end, hadn't she? She let Manton go. She thought about doing something when he joined the Slaughterhouse 9, but she had been talked out of it once again. No, she hadn't been talked out of it; she had let herself be talked out of it. 'It's necessary for the plan.' 'We have to think about the survival of humanity as a whole.' Or her personal favorite, 'We can't save everyone. Sacrifices have to be made.'
She had looked into a mirror today, and what she saw was the very person she had once despised.
And the worst thing? She couldn't even say that it was worth it. She had decided to play the long game only to find out that the rules weren't what she thought they were. How many lives had Cauldron ruined? The people they abducted, turned into monster, mind-raped, all so they could have an army when the final battle arrived. Except there was no final battle. Scion was gone. Cauldron was gone. The formulas were gone. All that was left of their legacy was their victims.
"…okay, Rebecca?"
She opened her eyes to find David and Michael looking at her with concern. "Are you okay?" Michael repeated. "You were a million miles away."
I'm looking back at my life only to see that I wasted the last twenty years and apparently threw out all my morals along the way. "I'm fine," she said with a practiced smile, the same one she gave reporters and subordinates. What did it say that her two closest friends just nodded and accepted it, not even realizing that it was fake? "Today was a bad day, and I still have a lot of work to do before the Chief Director can leave. I don't mean to kick you out, but…."
"It's fine. We understand." David and Michael stood and put on their masks. Looking at Eidolon, Legend asked, "Do you need a lift back to Houston?"
"I'm fine. I brought Hopscotch with me. I just hope she didn't run off after a butterfly or something. She's a nightmare to find when she—"
The door closed shut behind them, and Rebecca rubbed her temples. She had quit aging quite a while ago, but right now, she felt every one of her forty years. Reaching into a small pocket sewn into her suit, she pulled out her civilian ID's cell phone and scrolled through her missed calls. Jillian, her secretary. Jillian again. Oscar, her second-in-command. Jillian. The aide for the Tennessee governor she was supposed to meet in the next couple of weeks. Jillian really needed to talk to her, didn't she? Her mom….
She stopped and looked at that number again. Her relationship with her parents had been strained after she disappeared for two years for her 'experimental chemotherapy', and after that her two different roles in the government ate up all her time. She hadn't visited them in years, and while she gave them both her work and personal number just in case something terrible ever happened, she generally ignored their calls unless she happened to answer without thinking. She was just too busy. Managing the PRT, running the Protectorate's LA branch, keeping Cauldron's plans running smoothly.
Her fingers tapped a button.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Mom."
"Becca! This is a surprise. You never call."
"I know. I'm sorry about that." Her helmet silently taunted her, and she turned her gaze away from it and to the skyline. "I know it's late up there, but do you have time to talk for a little while?"
Right now, Alexandria could wait.
Solar Wrath learned.
Now you know the AU element that's been plaguing this arc. You can thank JadeKaiser for this; I had to tell him multiple times that this was a light-hearted quest, including at one point that I was thinking of how to handwave away the Scion fight.
What does this mean at the end of the day? With Scion out of the picture, all you have to do to win the quest is kill the three Endbringers. Good luck!
The sun was sitting low in the sky, painting the Los Angeles skyline a bright, beautiful red. It was an eerie counterpoint to the three glasses of bourbon Michael was passing around. He raised his glass. "To fallen comrades."
"To fallen comrades," Rebecca murmured. Beside her, David did the same before downing the tiny amount of liquor. He waved one cloak-wrapped arm, and Michael – Legend when he wore the mask that currently lay forgotten on the table – filled the glass anew. Looking at her two closest friends, possibly the only real friends she had left, she asked, "What happened today? Shutting down our powers, turning people into monsters, amplifying her Scream. The Simurgh has never done anything like that before. What changed?"
"I don't know," David grunted. His temper was always short after an Endbringer fight lately, and it wasn't hard to understand why. "Did either of you get the impression that she was laughing after she did that? When she was just floating over the battlefield? It was like she was taunting us, showing us that it doesn't matter what we try, she'll still win."
Michael plopped into his seat and forced a weak smile on his face. "Maybe it's you. Weren't you telling me last week that you thought you were on to something? Maybe you've figured out how to get your powers back."
David's laughter was bitter. "I wish! It was another dead end, just like all the others. Remember when I fell? That was my last flight power burning out. I still have weightlessness and gravity inversion left, but they won't be enough." He laughed again. "Once we thought I had every power imaginable, but now I can count them and watch them wink out one by one. Twenty-seven. That's it. That's all I have left." Reaching out, he grabbed the bottle out of Michael's hands and took a deep pull. "How the mighty have fallen."
"I really wish Contessa was here," she heard herself say. "She'd know what to do."
That was the wrong thing to say, and the look of disappointment – not anger; she'd almost prefer that – Michael sent her proved it. "That's what got us here in the first place," he reminded her unnecessarily. "And if you had told me the truth about her and Scion and everything else when it mattered, I would have told you that. Now we're stuck acting out parts in a play that none of us know the script for, and half the cast has called in sick."
Unable to argue with that, she just nodded. Almost two years previously, Scion had disappeared. He hadn't flown away. He hadn't burst into flames or fallen apart. He was just gone. When she tried to tell Doctor Mother and Contessa about that, she had been unable to reach them. No matter what she tried, she couldn't get an answer. She did not know for sure what had happened, but it didn't take a Thinker to figure it out. Scion had found Cauldron's base. He found the other creature. And from there? If he had even a fraction of humanity's emotions, what he would have done upon seeing one of his own race being chopped up for experimentation was obvious. The next day, Eidolon had resigned, officially because he could no longer handle the stress of running one of the largest branches of the Protectorate but in truth because the vast majority of his powers vanished when Cauldron did, yet more evidence of Scion's rage. It was the only way they could hide his sudden weakness.
She and David had waited a week before they finally told Michael everything, revealed all the secrets they had kept. They knew they would need to present a united front when Scion inevitably attacked. They waited. Weeks turned into months, months turned into a year, and still there was nothing. Since that fateful day, no one had seen hide nor hair of their golden enemy. The temptation to lower their guard was strong, and they did their best to resist it. Their resolve lasted another six months. Now, though, they had no choice but to accept what was in front of their faces. Scion, the greatest monster humanity had ever faced, the probable source of most capes' powers, had fled this world. Fled or hidden or killed himself out of grief, as laughable as that last was to contemplate.
June twenty-first, 2009. Father's Day. She could almost choke on the irony.
Even without Scion waiting for them, they still had three other world-destroying monsters to face. The next fight was against Leviathan, and to their surprise, he chose to attack a comparatively uninhabited island in the South Pacific. Rather than fight, the assembled heroes evacuated the island and let the middle brother have his fun. For a few glorious hours, they thought they had been lucky. Until he set off a tidal wave that scoured clean several of the islands of Indonesia.
Was that the first hint that the Endbringers had been holding back all along? At the time, it hadn't seemed like it, and since then, everything had gone back to business as usual. Now the Simurgh had forcibly reminded them that knowing their enemy was essential to defeating them, and for all they had learned, they still knew nothing about the Endbringers.
"Maybe it isn't a total loss," she said softly, mind wandering to all the news Switchboard had relayed to the Chief Director's email account. "A fresh cape gave us an almost hundred-page document on the theoretical principles of the Simurgh's telepathy, along with some conjecture on how to block it or use it to our advantage. It was interesting reading, and while it would take a Tinker to make any of it work, the theory itself seems sound. I've already forwarded it to Dragon and Terawatt. Maybe they can design something new that would keep us all safe from the Scream."
Or Calamity Witch would step up and help given enough incentive. She had noticed how tightly the young heroine had held her staff when she challenged the girl about her immunity to the Scream. How was it that no one else had figured out the young woman's varied powers were all due to her Tinkertech? Was it just because she was an affiliated hero and so no one dug too deeply, or was she just that deft a manipulator? No, her expression when Rebecca revealed the ugly politics of Simurgh quarantines ruled the latter out. Very few heroes had ever looked at her with that kind of abhorrence. Maybe that was why it was bothering her this much?
Michael gave her an odd look, but it was David who said what they were both thinking. "You, being an optimist? Who are you, and what have you done with Rebecca?"
"I can be optimistic when I want. If I remember correctly, and I always do, you two thought I was being too optimistic when I proposed the very idea of the Protectorate."
The two men nodded, but their words still circled inside her head. She was optimistic. Or, rather, she had been. She hadn't had much in the way of hope in a long while, and as that dwindled, so had her optimism. How could someone with perfect recall not notice her own personality changing? Or was it just the years, little changes happening so slowly that she never paid them any attention? And if that were the case, why was she noticing it now?
It was the girl. Calamity Witch. Her expression was still stuck in her head. Why? What did her subconscious find so important about that? She couldn't put her finger on it….
Oh.
Rebecca closed her eyes. Now she saw it. Long, dark hair. Black outfit. Skirt and boots. Many young heroines had tried to emulate the outfit she had worn when she first debuted, but few pulled it off well. Take away Calamity Witch's hat, turn her shirt black instead of red, replace the mask with a helmet…. Yes. That very easily could have been her twenty years ago. Combine the physical appearance with Spectrometer's proof of her raw power and her immunity to the Simurgh, and it all added up. Calamity Witch reminded her of herself, back when she was young, innocent, idealistic.
And that was why she couldn't shake the look of shock she had received. It was, what, eleven years ago that the Siberian killed Hero? Doctor Mother had suggested they let Manton run around where he liked because a monster like that would drum up support for the Protectorate. She had rejected that plan the minute it was suggested, but… but she had compromised in the end, hadn't she? She let Manton go. She thought about doing something when he joined the Slaughterhouse 9, but she had been talked out of it once again. No, she hadn't been talked out of it; she had let herself be talked out of it. 'It's necessary for the plan.' 'We have to think about the survival of humanity as a whole.' Or her personal favorite, 'We can't save everyone. Sacrifices have to be made.'
She had looked into a mirror today, and what she saw was the very person she had once despised.
And the worst thing? She couldn't even say that it was worth it. She had decided to play the long game only to find out that the rules weren't what she thought they were. How many lives had Cauldron ruined? The people they abducted, turned into monster, mind-raped, all so they could have an army when the final battle arrived. Except there was no final battle. Scion was gone. Cauldron was gone. The formulas were gone. All that was left of their legacy was their victims.
"…okay, Rebecca?"
She opened her eyes to find David and Michael looking at her with concern. "Are you okay?" Michael repeated. "You were a million miles away."
I'm looking back at my life only to see that I wasted the last twenty years and apparently threw out all my morals along the way. "I'm fine," she said with a practiced smile, the same one she gave reporters and subordinates. What did it say that her two closest friends just nodded and accepted it, not even realizing that it was fake? "Today was a bad day, and I still have a lot of work to do before the Chief Director can leave. I don't mean to kick you out, but…."
"It's fine. We understand." David and Michael stood and put on their masks. Looking at Eidolon, Legend asked, "Do you need a lift back to Houston?"
"I'm fine. I brought Hopscotch with me. I just hope she didn't run off after a butterfly or something. She's a nightmare to find when she—"
The door closed shut behind them, and Rebecca rubbed her temples. She had quit aging quite a while ago, but right now, she felt every one of her forty years. Reaching into a small pocket sewn into her suit, she pulled out her civilian ID's cell phone and scrolled through her missed calls. Jillian, her secretary. Jillian again. Oscar, her second-in-command. Jillian. The aide for the Tennessee governor she was supposed to meet in the next couple of weeks. Jillian really needed to talk to her, didn't she? Her mom….
She stopped and looked at that number again. Her relationship with her parents had been strained after she disappeared for two years for her 'experimental chemotherapy', and after that her two different roles in the government ate up all her time. She hadn't visited them in years, and while she gave them both her work and personal number just in case something terrible ever happened, she generally ignored their calls unless she happened to answer without thinking. She was just too busy. Managing the PRT, running the Protectorate's LA branch, keeping Cauldron's plans running smoothly.
Her fingers tapped a button.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Mom."
"Becca! This is a surprise. You never call."
"I know. I'm sorry about that." Her helmet silently taunted her, and she turned her gaze away from it and to the skyline. "I know it's late up there, but do you have time to talk for a little while?"
Right now, Alexandria could wait.
Solar Wrath learned.
Now you know the AU element that's been plaguing this arc. You can thank JadeKaiser for this; I had to tell him multiple times that this was a light-hearted quest, including at one point that I was thinking of how to handwave away the Scion fight.
And you also know what I meant when I said Breakdown and Phantasm are OCs with canon shards. Yes, Scion is dead, and the shards he originally planned to keep out of the cycle have been thrown into play. Breakdown got the Stilling shard (AKA, the Golden Fuck Off Beam), which is what let him kill Crawler and the Siberian, and Scion's mass-hiding avatar-creation shard is the reason Phantasm can see a chunk of the Simurgh's core.
Nix's Warden
Welcome to Hades
- Location
- United States
Huh. Unexpected. What about the other 17 unawakened Endbringers though?
Huh, why so few?
Oh. Well that answers my previous question doesn't it? Doctor Mother and Contessa are either MIA or (much more likely) very very dead.
Easy peasey then amirite?
I believe since Eidolon is losing his powers, he'll eventually lose the shard that allows him to direct the Endbringers.
Or he's already lost it, and the trio just want to wreck shit for shits and giggles. Who knows?
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
That latter one... does not fill me with confidence.
And so we get that in-story confirmation.
... eh?
Man, David's not going to have enough for the Scion fi-
... wat.
Well that HAPPENED. Am I the only one seeing Scion taking Dr. Mom and Contessa to the TSAB for trial?
But in all seriousness. Even if Scion found Eden, killed Cauldron's inner circle, and presumably killed himself*, I feel there's more to the picture than just this.
*I say that because Scion's death is what let Simurgh truly free to act on her own agenda. So Scion no longer running things explains Simurgh's escalation perfectly.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh Becka, you have no idea how fucked you are.
Woot!
We've got Alexandria's attention.
... wow. WOW. Path to Alexandria partner/mentorship is a go.
And you know the best way to get that person back.
And we still have people like Noelle and the Case 53s.
And Rebecca's regaining her humanity.
Whelp. My jaw's dropped. Well done on the twist reveal. I don't even care SB/SV followed their short-term gratification instincts and picked the shiny, that chapter was very well done.
Which means alot of very strong heroes and villains are triggering, with potentially alot of 'non-user friendly' powers too. And Scion did indeed kill himself out of grief.
... That's the Shard Hero got for his Tinker-tech.
No wonder this guy beat the S9.
Huh.
FTFY.
Last edited:
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
There's 20 endbringers.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Not… exactly. I'm willing to give my reasoning for this, but it has the potential to be kind of spoiler-y. I'll let you decide if you want to see it.
This relates to the above, but long story short is that the other Endbringers can no longer be activated.
Zap Rowsdower
Ex-cultist vagrant
- Location
- Bright lights, big city
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Do the inactive Endbringers have dormant avatars somewhere?
That'll be a fun discovery.
Hey, when in doubt, spoiler that shit.
You only have to worry about people that can't resist the shiny if you do that.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
So he should worry about the majority of his player base.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Fair point.
So he should worry about the majority of his player base.
But so is this. Hmm…
To the best of my recollection, the Endbringers were only recruited once Eidolon was dead. The "Endbringer shard" was a fire-and-forget kind of deal, but it did keep acting on the lone command Eidolon ever gave it, the much-debated "You needed stronger opponents". Once he died, the command was void because there was no one in place for the Endbringers to challenge. Since Eidolon in this story is still alive but has no way of tapping into that shard again, he can't reset that command, so the Endbringers continue with their assigned roles. Scion absorbed Eden's body and then blew himself up, which means all the shards are scattered. That, in turn, means the Endbringer shard is no longer connected to the other shards that it needs to manifest new Endbringers, and as a result it can only work with the resources it has already deployed.
So that means that killing Eidolon is still an option? I would hope so; while I personally wouldn't go for that option in times of strive that may be our best chance at rendering the Endbringer threat null and void.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
I see. So both the Endbringers and the Endbringer command shard are working on their un-rechargeable power reserves. Things are making alot more sense...
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Yes, but while the Endbringers' reserves are finite, they are still huge, enough that taking one down is going to be a major undertaking. I'm not making the game that easy.