Author's Note: Everything in this story is a work of fiction and is thus strictly untrue. Being...
-
For all readers and writers
After much ado, our new tagging system is here and being rolled out to the userbase. Read more here!
My Guardian Angel (Worm CYOA - Palladium/Worm AU) (Story Only)
- Thread starter asgard
- Start date
- Created at
- Index progress
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 44
- Recent readers
- 0
asgard
Unverified Human Being
- Location
- Somewhere in between Easter Island and Tasmania
Author's Note: Everything in this story is a work of fiction and is thus strictly untrue. Being a big fan of Being SI is Suffering and with great hope that The Woodsman might some day decide to continue his fic, I have asked permission from the writer to use elements of The Woodsman's Being SI is Suffering in this story. I also know that the actual spelling for Taylor's name is Taylor Hebert and not Taylor Herbert. It's just that the name Hebert sounds too masculine to me as it starts with 'He' so I used the name Herbert which starts with 'Her' which sounds more feminine instead. After much consideration, I will do this fic as a WORM CYOA based on Sun Tzu's work.
My Guardian Angel
It wasn't unusual for a cape to be mentally unhinged by the powers obtained from a triggering event. But this was the first time that a cape had claimed that, in this case, she, the girl, did not possess the powers that she had clearly demonstrated in the cape fights with the gangs in the city and the Slaughterhouse Nine ... only admitting that she could control bugs.
The other powers, she had completely refused to acknowledge as hers, saying it came from her friendly guardian. A guardian angel that she could only see and hear, which happened to be too convenient an answer for some members of the Protectorate like Director Piggot and Armsmaster. "Yeah ... right. I'm sure ..." they would say. "Like the Fairy Godmother."
For they had tried all manner of tinkertech devices to detect the presence of this guardian angel but it was all for naught. All their methods of detection had come back empty as if the person was never there to begin with. To make things even more befuddling, all the lie detector results proved that the mental patient had spoken the truth. The whole truth. And of course, nothing but the befuddling truth.
All those other powers such as the ability to fly, throw cars and vans like baseballs, turn invisible, create force fields, teleport, firing energy blasts from nowhere that could affect even the Siberian, heal the sick or injured on the same level as Panacea and last but not least, bring the dead back to life! The last power was kept carefully under wraps for obvious reasons. The girl had also requested it for privacy reasons.
"So how did you come to meet him? The guardian angel I mean?" came the first question the one that she had been dreading.
She braced herself for it and spoke after taking a deep breath.
"I saw him for the first time after the funeral service. It was a bad time then. Father had withdrawn into himself somewhat and it was rather difficult to communicate with him. So I poured out my feelings to him instead. I didn't realise then that no one else could see him. Almost everyone thought I had gone cuckoo talking to empty air with no one else in the room. I didn't see him again until the locker incident. He got me out of there. You think I'm crazy too, right?"
Dr. Yamada simply shook her head gently and implored the patient to continue. "Go on."
"But I tell you, he's real. As real as you or me. Or just about anyone else."
"Did he have a name?" the psychiatrist asked gently.
"Yes. He told me to call him Israfel."
Dr. Yamada held back her surprise easily. Dealing with the unexpected was after all, her forte especially when it came to mental patients with their varied mental disorders.
"Ahhh Israfel, the angel of resurrection. Did he ever tell you his real name?" she continued to probe just to see how deep her psychosis went.
"No. He said that knowing a person's real name often led to revealing said person's true name which was something he wanted to avoid at all costs," the girl answered.
Very convenient. Psychosis had its limits especially when it came down to details. There was only so much that a person could come up with in their imagination after all.
"Any reason for that?"
"He said that knowing a person's true name gave that individual power over the person whose true name the individual knew. He also told me never to let anyone know my true name or the consequences would be really bad," the girl explained.
"How bad?" Dr. Yamada asked curious.
"Really, really bad as it allowed a person to be controlled, harmed or even killed with very little risk to the person doing it at all."
"So, about this Israfel, did he tell you anything about his job or life in general?" Dr. Yamada asked again wanting to get a better understanding of her patient's mental state in regards to her imaginary friend or guardian angel as some might put it.
"I don't know. Let me ask him. Israfel, what was your job?"
She looked as though she was seeing and listening to someone behind Dr. Yamada. Unable to help herself, Dr. Yamada turned her head subconsciously to the back but unsurprisingly she saw no one at all.
"His job was national security. He was a covert operations specialist from another world."
"Another world?" Dr. Yamada echoed the words, hiding the disbelief in her voice.
"Did he say what world?"
The patient in front of her turned to the side as if listening to someone.
"Phase World," she answered.
"Phase World? Is it some kind of world like Earth?"
There was a long pause with the girl in front of her turning her head slightly as though following the movements of someone in the room.
"No. Phase World is nothing like Earth or any of the Earths that ever existed. It's a world ruled-" the girl stopped as though trying to understand what was being said before continuing,"by an alien race called the Prometheans."
"The Prometheans? What do they look like?"
"They're really giants compared to humans."
The girl peered behind Dr. Yamada as though looking at something very closely, (her imaginary friend, Dr. Yamada told herself) before telling her that she needed a pencil and paper. She drew the figure of a man and wrote the words 'six feet' at the side and 'Israfel' below it, followed by a smooth-skinned hairless figure with black pupiless eyes that towered over it. She then wrote the words 'seven to ten feet tall'.
"Their skin is grey. From top to bottom," the word 'grey' was written on the side of it.
She looked to the side and began to draw what looked like the smooth-skinned hairless figure again. Dr. Yamada looked at her sketch with interest. Almost everything was the same except for the words 'fifteen to thirty feet tall'. Besides it, she also wrote down the words,'Second Stage Promethean' and 'color changes all the time from rainbow to monochrome to no color at all'. She went back to the first hairless skinned figure and also added the words, 'First Stage Promethean'.
"No colour?" Dr. Yamada queried.
"Yes. Completely transparent like the colour of air or glass," the girl answered.
The poor girl really had a vivid imagination. But sooner or later, her story was going to break down with the details. After all, there was only so much that the human mind could come up with on its own. And all Dr. Yamada had to do was to push for more details. It was better this way, she reasoned when the girl realised that this imaginary friend of hers wasn't real and all that she had spoken about so far was nothing more than a complex fantasy ... but still a fantasy, nonetheless.
My job is really cut out for me. I have to get this cape come to terms with her own powers soon. She is functioning like two minds controlling different aspects of her power rather than just one. She could be of so much more help if her mental psychosis were not hindering her.
My Guardian Angel
It wasn't unusual for a cape to be mentally unhinged by the powers obtained from a triggering event. But this was the first time that a cape had claimed that, in this case, she, the girl, did not possess the powers that she had clearly demonstrated in the cape fights with the gangs in the city and the Slaughterhouse Nine ... only admitting that she could control bugs.
The other powers, she had completely refused to acknowledge as hers, saying it came from her friendly guardian. A guardian angel that she could only see and hear, which happened to be too convenient an answer for some members of the Protectorate like Director Piggot and Armsmaster. "Yeah ... right. I'm sure ..." they would say. "Like the Fairy Godmother."
For they had tried all manner of tinkertech devices to detect the presence of this guardian angel but it was all for naught. All their methods of detection had come back empty as if the person was never there to begin with. To make things even more befuddling, all the lie detector results proved that the mental patient had spoken the truth. The whole truth. And of course, nothing but the befuddling truth.
All those other powers such as the ability to fly, throw cars and vans like baseballs, turn invisible, create force fields, teleport, firing energy blasts from nowhere that could affect even the Siberian, heal the sick or injured on the same level as Panacea and last but not least, bring the dead back to life! The last power was kept carefully under wraps for obvious reasons. The girl had also requested it for privacy reasons.
"So how did you come to meet him? The guardian angel I mean?" came the first question the one that she had been dreading.
She braced herself for it and spoke after taking a deep breath.
"I saw him for the first time after the funeral service. It was a bad time then. Father had withdrawn into himself somewhat and it was rather difficult to communicate with him. So I poured out my feelings to him instead. I didn't realise then that no one else could see him. Almost everyone thought I had gone cuckoo talking to empty air with no one else in the room. I didn't see him again until the locker incident. He got me out of there. You think I'm crazy too, right?"
Dr. Yamada simply shook her head gently and implored the patient to continue. "Go on."
"But I tell you, he's real. As real as you or me. Or just about anyone else."
"Did he have a name?" the psychiatrist asked gently.
"Yes. He told me to call him Israfel."
Dr. Yamada held back her surprise easily. Dealing with the unexpected was after all, her forte especially when it came to mental patients with their varied mental disorders.
"Ahhh Israfel, the angel of resurrection. Did he ever tell you his real name?" she continued to probe just to see how deep her psychosis went.
"No. He said that knowing a person's real name often led to revealing said person's true name which was something he wanted to avoid at all costs," the girl answered.
Very convenient. Psychosis had its limits especially when it came down to details. There was only so much that a person could come up with in their imagination after all.
"Any reason for that?"
"He said that knowing a person's true name gave that individual power over the person whose true name the individual knew. He also told me never to let anyone know my true name or the consequences would be really bad," the girl explained.
"How bad?" Dr. Yamada asked curious.
"Really, really bad as it allowed a person to be controlled, harmed or even killed with very little risk to the person doing it at all."
"So, about this Israfel, did he tell you anything about his job or life in general?" Dr. Yamada asked again wanting to get a better understanding of her patient's mental state in regards to her imaginary friend or guardian angel as some might put it.
"I don't know. Let me ask him. Israfel, what was your job?"
She looked as though she was seeing and listening to someone behind Dr. Yamada. Unable to help herself, Dr. Yamada turned her head subconsciously to the back but unsurprisingly she saw no one at all.
"His job was national security. He was a covert operations specialist from another world."
"Another world?" Dr. Yamada echoed the words, hiding the disbelief in her voice.
"Did he say what world?"
The patient in front of her turned to the side as if listening to someone.
"Phase World," she answered.
"Phase World? Is it some kind of world like Earth?"
There was a long pause with the girl in front of her turning her head slightly as though following the movements of someone in the room.
"No. Phase World is nothing like Earth or any of the Earths that ever existed. It's a world ruled-" the girl stopped as though trying to understand what was being said before continuing,"by an alien race called the Prometheans."
"The Prometheans? What do they look like?"
"They're really giants compared to humans."
The girl peered behind Dr. Yamada as though looking at something very closely, (her imaginary friend, Dr. Yamada told herself) before telling her that she needed a pencil and paper. She drew the figure of a man and wrote the words 'six feet' at the side and 'Israfel' below it, followed by a smooth-skinned hairless figure with black pupiless eyes that towered over it. She then wrote the words 'seven to ten feet tall'.
"Their skin is grey. From top to bottom," the word 'grey' was written on the side of it.
She looked to the side and began to draw what looked like the smooth-skinned hairless figure again. Dr. Yamada looked at her sketch with interest. Almost everything was the same except for the words 'fifteen to thirty feet tall'. Besides it, she also wrote down the words,'Second Stage Promethean' and 'color changes all the time from rainbow to monochrome to no color at all'. She went back to the first hairless skinned figure and also added the words, 'First Stage Promethean'.
"No colour?" Dr. Yamada queried.
"Yes. Completely transparent like the colour of air or glass," the girl answered.
The poor girl really had a vivid imagination. But sooner or later, her story was going to break down with the details. After all, there was only so much that the human mind could come up with on its own. And all Dr. Yamada had to do was to push for more details. It was better this way, she reasoned when the girl realised that this imaginary friend of hers wasn't real and all that she had spoken about so far was nothing more than a complex fantasy ... but still a fantasy, nonetheless.
My job is really cut out for me. I have to get this cape come to terms with her own powers soon. She is functioning like two minds controlling different aspects of her power rather than just one. She could be of so much more help if her mental psychosis were not hindering her.
Last edited:
asgard
Unverified Human Being
- Location
- Somewhere in between Easter Island and Tasmania
Trailer:
Do you believe in angels? I did when I was young ... anyway, as you can see.
When I was just a little girl, I asked my father what angels were.
"What is an angel? What do they do?"
And here's what he said to me.
"Hey Taylor honey. Angels keep us safe and happy. They save us from bad people. Hey Taylor honey. Good for you and me."
When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother what angels were.
"What is an angel? What do they do?"
And here's what she said to me.
"Oh Taylor honey. Angels watch over you when you're happy. And they also watch over you when you're unhappy. Oh Taylor honey. Good for you and me."
"Do they also watch over me when I'm in the wee wee?"
For that question, she smiled but didn't say anything.
Then she told me something very interesting.
"But the most special angel of all is the guardian angel. He will watch over you your whole life. He will be there for you when you're in trouble and he will also be there for you when you're in danger."
That was ten years ago. I never forgot what she said.
But she never told me that for every guardian angel that protects us, there is also a demon that threatens us. Or that the brightest angel of all is the fallen Angel of Light.
The video recording showed Danny Herbert screaming in fear and pain as thousands of insects converged onto him and attacked him.
"May the defendant please rise. Taylor Anne-Rose Herbert, you have been charged with the murder of Danny Herbert, your father. How do you plead?"
"Please! You've got to believe me! I know you all think I'm crazy! But I'm not crazy! You gotta listen to me! I didn't do this! Why would I want to kill my Dad for?"
"The verdict?"
"We, the jury find the defendant, Taylor Anne-Rose Herbert, guilty of the murder of Mr. Danny Herbert in the first degree."
"The Parahuman District Court, hereby, with the authority granted by the Constitution of the United States sentences the defendant, Taylor Anne-Rose Herbert, to the Birdcage."
And the Trio smiled.
Not faraway, an old 80s cassette recorder was playing a song.
I have a dream ...
A song to sing ...
To help me cope ...
With anything ...
If you see the wonder ...
Of a fairy tale ...
You can take the future ...
Even if you fail ...
I believe in angels ...
*The cassette player broke down as the song went out of tune.*
Something good in everything I see ...
I be-lieve in an-gels ...
*and came to a stop.*
Coming soon to a fanfic website near you: My Guardian Angel
Do you believe in angels? I did when I was young ... anyway, as you can see.
When I was just a little girl, I asked my father what angels were.
"What is an angel? What do they do?"
And here's what he said to me.
"Hey Taylor honey. Angels keep us safe and happy. They save us from bad people. Hey Taylor honey. Good for you and me."
When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother what angels were.
"What is an angel? What do they do?"
And here's what she said to me.
"Oh Taylor honey. Angels watch over you when you're happy. And they also watch over you when you're unhappy. Oh Taylor honey. Good for you and me."
"Do they also watch over me when I'm in the wee wee?"
For that question, she smiled but didn't say anything.
Then she told me something very interesting.
"But the most special angel of all is the guardian angel. He will watch over you your whole life. He will be there for you when you're in trouble and he will also be there for you when you're in danger."
That was ten years ago. I never forgot what she said.
But she never told me that for every guardian angel that protects us, there is also a demon that threatens us. Or that the brightest angel of all is the fallen Angel of Light.
The video recording showed Danny Herbert screaming in fear and pain as thousands of insects converged onto him and attacked him.
"May the defendant please rise. Taylor Anne-Rose Herbert, you have been charged with the murder of Danny Herbert, your father. How do you plead?"
"Please! You've got to believe me! I know you all think I'm crazy! But I'm not crazy! You gotta listen to me! I didn't do this! Why would I want to kill my Dad for?"
"The verdict?"
"We, the jury find the defendant, Taylor Anne-Rose Herbert, guilty of the murder of Mr. Danny Herbert in the first degree."
"The Parahuman District Court, hereby, with the authority granted by the Constitution of the United States sentences the defendant, Taylor Anne-Rose Herbert, to the Birdcage."
And the Trio smiled.
Not faraway, an old 80s cassette recorder was playing a song.
I have a dream ...
A song to sing ...
To help me cope ...
With anything ...
If you see the wonder ...
Of a fairy tale ...
You can take the future ...
Even if you fail ...
I believe in angels ...
*The cassette player broke down as the song went out of tune.*
*and came to a stop.*
Coming soon to a fanfic website near you: My Guardian Angel
Last edited:
asgard
Unverified Human Being
- Location
- Somewhere in between Easter Island and Tasmania
In a seemingly unremarkable hotel room, I watched Taylor Herbert speaking to the cape psychiatrist again through scrying spells . They're obviously convinced that she was mad, seeing things that no else can see. They're partly right. What Taylor was seeing and interacting with was nothing less than a highly-sophisticated illusionary construct that I had projected into her mind through a mix of my magical and psychic abilities to ensure that I stayed off the grid until my mission was complete.
Still, I couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty at what I had to do to maintain my anonymity. It all started three years ago when I arrived in Brockton Bay to search for clues to my primary objective. My only lead was Taylor Herbert and until she could take me to them, I had to keep her alive. I still remembered how it all started. From the very first time she went adventuring to until now where she was asked to attend constant psychology sessions with her psychiatrist, the one and only, yours truly, Jessica Yamada.
Some day I told my self, I would tell the entire truth to her about my true purpose on this world. Some day when I got the chance to break it gently to her. When I was completely certain that the truth would not shatter her fragile mind and world view. But for now, I had no choice until I had completed the mission successfully.
Day : 001
Time : 2114 hours
Location : Brockton Bay
Since my arrival on this world, I had taken to the streets at night to keep an eye over my charge who had apparently decided to enter the hero business much to my dismay. The Gamer power was useful as it kept me informed of her status and health.
Observe.
Name : Taylor Herbert (Unnamed)
Class : Level One Cape Vigilante
Power : Arthropod Control, Multi-Tasking
Race : Human
Alignment : Scrupulous Good
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 19
Mental Endurance 22
Mental Affinity 12
Physical Strength 14
Physical Prowess 13
Physical Endurance 13
Physical Beauty 8
Speed 16
Structural Damage Capacity 30
Hit Points 24
Potential Psychic Energy 3
Inner Strength Points 0
Power Description
Arthropod Control - Ability to control insects ranging from roaches to hornets as well arachnids such as spiders and scorpions. Range of control: 100 feet radius per level of experience.
Multi-Tasking - Ability to do multiple tasks simultaneously without losing concentration on any of the given tasks.
Hand-to-Hand: Basic.
Equipment
1 Spidersilk Armour - Armor Rating: 12, Structural Damage Capacity: 60.
1 Costume.
1 Pepper spray.
1 Taser gun.
Description
Taylor Herbert suffers from self-confidence issues especially when it comes to matters of trust and relationship since her best friend turned on her like a rabid dog with her two new friends who have made it their personal mission to make her life a living hell.
QUEST ALERT!
PROTECT TAYLOR HERBERT FROM DANGER!
COMPLETION AWARD: 200 EXP PER DANGER AVERTED.
COMPLETION FAILURE: LOSE TRACK OF ONLY HINT TO FULFILL MAIN QUEST OBJECTIVE.
Naturally I accepted the quest. Huh ... This didn't look good.
Her low health points and stats worried me despite her arthropod control abilities and the knowledge from various WORM fanfics that she would triumph ultimately in the face of adversity despite the strength of the opposition arrayed against her. I briefly wondered about the state of her sanity in going out against super-powered gangsters who were more experienced, more powerful and better equipped than she was and I shook my head inwardly at the thought.
There was a big difference between her and me. I went out, with enough hi-tech weapons and body armour with built-in defenses to fight a war with the National Guard, to say nothing of the powers and abilities that my class had. I also had the advantage of starting out that night at tenth level while she was starting out at first level with little to no training - preparation yes but training and experience - zero.
I frowned on that since I went on my first mission at level three.
Not level one!
And I also did not go out alone.
She went out with little better than spidersilk armour, pepper-spray and a tazer gun alone. From what I remembered, I had the backing of a full military squad led by veterans when I carried out my first mission. Not to mention I was fully armed with hi-tech weapons and body armour with built-in sensors and forcefields for protection. The contrast could not have been more obvious.
I couldn't help but feel that she was a little desperate or suicidal to prove herself somewhat. In some ways, I sympathised with her situation. She had little to nothing to show for her body figure - no beauty whatsoever ... no outstanding curves that could draw attention from the other side of the fence.
Just her long hair and even then, it was now gone thanks to her best friend. Her so-called best friend who joined up with outsiders to tear her down physically, mentally and emotionally each day of her life.
Some friend!
If this were the only type of friend available in this world, little wonder that it was falling apart and becoming such a dark, gritty and miserable place. With no one trusting his or her neighbour for fear of betrayal and being taken advantage of. That I could see happening. The predator-prey mindset taking precedence over all others.
To the survival of the fittest.
The law of the jungle at its finest with the capes representing the finest epitome of the fittest in this society. Where those with power could lord it over those who couldn't. Naturally it had reached the point in society where society itself was slowly splintering into fiefdoms contolled by parahuman warlords who were powerful enough to challenge the might of the ruling government.
I arrived here on this world twenty-three years ago. During that time, I had taken the time to study this world's political, economic and social structures. From what I could see, this world was coming close to a tipping point of no return. Only time would tell whether it would turn out for the better or for the worse.
But as for Taylor herself, it had reached the point as to where she was searching for some meaning in her life. That everything she had undergone ... it had to be for something. All the trauma and suffering she had endured, all the crap that she was forced to put up with at the hands of the bullies ... at the end of the day, she was desperate for it to mean something good ... that she was not a complete and utter failure in life.
I followed her carefully unknown to her, hidden by a mix of my camouflage technology and invisibility powers. She continued slowly through the dark streets hoping to catch a crime in progress on her cape debut while I took care to ensure that no one knew I was following her and watching over her for any hidden dangers.
Whatever the case, I would have to keep Taylor alive for now until she led me to my primary objective which I hoped to take care of very soon.
"Remember! Whatever you do, keep those four alive! All other concerns are secondary!" was the one thing from HER that needed no constant reminder.
We must be getting close to something as I can feel a mix of excitement and anxiety coming from her. I quietly teleported up to the top of a two story-building unseen from my position with a Dimensional Leap to see what has got her adrenaline up and running. It was as I had expected ... the parahuman gang leader Lung rousing his men with fiery words before a major operation.
"Now you see one of the children, shoot! If you're not sure, shoot again! We don't want any of them becoming lucky or smart just as we are finishing them off! You got me?!" he roared.
I deftly took the time to check on Lung's stats.
Observe.
Name : Kenta Morisato (Lung)
Class : Level Twelve Cape Gang Leader
Power : Threat Escalation: Dragon, Control Elemental Force: Fire, Bio-regeneration (major).
Race : Human
Alignment : Aberrant Evil
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 18
Mental Endurance 18
Mental Affinity 20
Physical Strength 32 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Prowess 20 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Endurance 28 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Beauty 17
Speed 22 (changes according to threat level)
Structural Damage Capacity 279 (changes according to threat level)
Hit Points 143 (changes according to threat level)
Potential Psychic Energy 126
Inner Strength Points 220 (considered a major psychic)
Power Description
Threat Escalation: Dragon - As the threat increases to the user's well-being, the power and stats of the character increases as well, scaling proportionately to the danger or threat involved. The character's features will become more draconic as well to the point that character will eventually adopt the shape and form of a dragon. When the threat or danger is gone, the character's boosted powers or stats will decline as well until it reaches the character's original unmodified pre-escalation level. Escalation Limit: None.
Control Elemental Force: Fire - Allows the wielder to create and control fire from as tiny as a spark to something as large as a forest fire.
Bio-regeneration (major) - The character will bio-regenerate any damage or injury taken at the rate of 2-12 hit points or structural damage capacity every 15 seconds.
Mystic Martial Art Powers - Tendon-Altering Sutra.
Abilities provided by the Tendon-Altering Sutra include :-
Psychic Abilities - Sixth Sense, Presence Sense, Psychic Purification, Mind Block and Advanced Trance State.
Increase Attributes - The character can raise his or her attributes at will. The actual increase is limited by the character's willpower (Mental Endurance) and costs Inner Strength Points to maintain. Physical Strength can be increased by +2 each and Physical Endurance by +1 per Mental Endurance point. Physical Prowess can be increased by +1 per 3 levels of Mental Endurance. Structural Damage Capacity can be increased by Mental Endurance x 10. Duration: 5 minutes per level of experience.
Heal Self - Additionally the character can heal himself/herself at the rate of 1 to 6 Hit Points or Structural Damage Capacity for every 1 Potential Psychic Energy spent.
Hand-to-Hand: Eighteen Dragon Slaying Claws and Boxing.
Equipment
1 AK-47
1 Costume.
1 Chain.
1 Katana.
Description
Lung is supremely confident in his abilities since his defeat of the entire Protectorate force sent against him three years ago. A skilled melee fighter, he enjoys unarmed combat and was the undefeated Ultimate Fighting Tournament champion even before triggering. Now that he is a cape, his combat skills have only improved over time. His position in the ABB is secure with none daring to challenge him for leadership.
'What?!! Lung knows the Eighteen Dragon Slaying Claws? I thought it was a myth!'
"Yes!" They roared in response.
Of course I knew that his words meant that he was going to hit the Undersiders soon. It was just that Taylor didn't know who he was referring to as the 'children'. Her reactions were understandable from a certain viewpoint. Lung and the rest of his gang turned their largely unwelcomed attention towards her. I simply took out my Noro-made Crystal Assault Rifle before lining it up towards Lung.
I picked this weapon for a couple of good reasons. The first reason for this choice was that the Crystal Assault Rifle had a decent range of two thousand feet and had a multi-spectrum targeting scope capable of switching into the infrared and ultraviolet range attached to it when needed. Thus, making it a decent sniper rifle.
The second reason was that the weapon was completely silent when the trigger was pulled and the released energy bolt nearly transparent due to it being made up of condensed psychic energy rather than solid matter that made up conventional projectile ammunition. Consequently, not giving away my position to possible enemies.
The last reason (and probably the most important one) was that Lung was not a master psychic and his saving throw against psychic attacks should not be that great, I hoped at least, since this weapon was a psychic weapon. It also had a paralysis setting that I could use to disable the cape before he did too much damage to Taylor.
Not far below me, the confrontation had begun to take on a life of its own.
"Who are you? My mother? Oh wait ... You look a little too young for me, little mother," Lung laughed scornfully standing not more than twenty feet away from him.
Upon hearing those words, his men joined in laughter and jeers at the joke as well. Taylor's face reddened in embarassment behind her mask as the sound of their combined laughter and jeers reached her ears. Their mockery and scorn struck a chord within her with its similarity to Emma's mocking tone of voice causing her to retaliate viciously in kind.
Lung's face darkened upon hearing her reply and he shouted out in return, "Look, girl! I don't know who the hell you are and I don't care! I am going to count until five! If I still see you here after I'm done counting, I'm going to make you curse the day that you were born!"
"I won't let you harm those children!" Taylor cried out bravely.
Lung ignored her plea by pointing his index finger into the air.
"ONE!" he counted.
"You can't just kill children like that! It's not right!" she added.
He raised his middle finger to his index finger as well.
"TWO!"
"What have they done to you?!!" Taylor shouted out loud.
"None of your business! THREE!" he answered adding his ring finger to the previous two fingers.
"I won't let you kill innocent children!" she swore.
"FOUR!" His little finger had now joined all the other three fingers.
Above a two-story building, an unseen sniper prepared to open fire.
"FIVE! Since this is your first time out, I won't kill you but I'm still going to make you wish that you were dead!" he stated as bright yellow flames appeared over his palm, taking the shape of a blazing ball of fire within it.
His men had wisely backed off from the proximity of the coming confrontation between their leader and the new cape vigilante.
Then from under the cover of darkness, from every pothole, crack and crevice, swarms of creeping, crawling, flying, stinging critters of all kinds began converging on Lung from every conceivable direction. Some of the men screamed in horror and began to run at the sight though Lung remained impassive and unmoved by the threat to his physical wellbeing.
A wave of fire erupted from Lung consuming and burning the attacking swarms to a crisp before they could even reach him.
"Is this the best that you can do little girl?!!" he shouted out loud, his derisive roar echoing through streets and alleys.
"If it is, you're in serious trouble!!" he walked at a sedate pace, taking his time without breaking stride and eye contact of his target like an apex predator stalking its prey (in this case, Taylor) slowly but surely, confident in his incredible power to take on anything that could be thrown at him.
In front of him, Taylor's heart began to beat a little faster as a drop of sweat pooled in front of her forehead behind her mask.
Still, I couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty at what I had to do to maintain my anonymity. It all started three years ago when I arrived in Brockton Bay to search for clues to my primary objective. My only lead was Taylor Herbert and until she could take me to them, I had to keep her alive. I still remembered how it all started. From the very first time she went adventuring to until now where she was asked to attend constant psychology sessions with her psychiatrist, the one and only, yours truly, Jessica Yamada.
Some day I told my self, I would tell the entire truth to her about my true purpose on this world. Some day when I got the chance to break it gently to her. When I was completely certain that the truth would not shatter her fragile mind and world view. But for now, I had no choice until I had completed the mission successfully.
Day : 001
Time : 2114 hours
Location : Brockton Bay
Since my arrival on this world, I had taken to the streets at night to keep an eye over my charge who had apparently decided to enter the hero business much to my dismay. The Gamer power was useful as it kept me informed of her status and health.
Observe.
Name : Taylor Herbert (Unnamed)
Class : Level One Cape Vigilante
Power : Arthropod Control, Multi-Tasking
Race : Human
Alignment : Scrupulous Good
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 19
Mental Endurance 22
Mental Affinity 12
Physical Strength 14
Physical Prowess 13
Physical Endurance 13
Physical Beauty 8
Speed 16
Structural Damage Capacity 30
Hit Points 24
Potential Psychic Energy 3
Inner Strength Points 0
Power Description
Arthropod Control - Ability to control insects ranging from roaches to hornets as well arachnids such as spiders and scorpions. Range of control: 100 feet radius per level of experience.
Multi-Tasking - Ability to do multiple tasks simultaneously without losing concentration on any of the given tasks.
Hand-to-Hand: Basic.
Equipment
1 Spidersilk Armour - Armor Rating: 12, Structural Damage Capacity: 60.
1 Costume.
1 Pepper spray.
1 Taser gun.
Description
Taylor Herbert suffers from self-confidence issues especially when it comes to matters of trust and relationship since her best friend turned on her like a rabid dog with her two new friends who have made it their personal mission to make her life a living hell.
QUEST ALERT!
PROTECT TAYLOR HERBERT FROM DANGER!
COMPLETION AWARD: 200 EXP PER DANGER AVERTED.
COMPLETION FAILURE: LOSE TRACK OF ONLY HINT TO FULFILL MAIN QUEST OBJECTIVE.
Naturally I accepted the quest. Huh ... This didn't look good.
Her low health points and stats worried me despite her arthropod control abilities and the knowledge from various WORM fanfics that she would triumph ultimately in the face of adversity despite the strength of the opposition arrayed against her. I briefly wondered about the state of her sanity in going out against super-powered gangsters who were more experienced, more powerful and better equipped than she was and I shook my head inwardly at the thought.
There was a big difference between her and me. I went out, with enough hi-tech weapons and body armour with built-in defenses to fight a war with the National Guard, to say nothing of the powers and abilities that my class had. I also had the advantage of starting out that night at tenth level while she was starting out at first level with little to no training - preparation yes but training and experience - zero.
I frowned on that since I went on my first mission at level three.
Not level one!
And I also did not go out alone.
She went out with little better than spidersilk armour, pepper-spray and a tazer gun alone. From what I remembered, I had the backing of a full military squad led by veterans when I carried out my first mission. Not to mention I was fully armed with hi-tech weapons and body armour with built-in sensors and forcefields for protection. The contrast could not have been more obvious.
I couldn't help but feel that she was a little desperate or suicidal to prove herself somewhat. In some ways, I sympathised with her situation. She had little to nothing to show for her body figure - no beauty whatsoever ... no outstanding curves that could draw attention from the other side of the fence.
Just her long hair and even then, it was now gone thanks to her best friend. Her so-called best friend who joined up with outsiders to tear her down physically, mentally and emotionally each day of her life.
Some friend!
If this were the only type of friend available in this world, little wonder that it was falling apart and becoming such a dark, gritty and miserable place. With no one trusting his or her neighbour for fear of betrayal and being taken advantage of. That I could see happening. The predator-prey mindset taking precedence over all others.
To the survival of the fittest.
The law of the jungle at its finest with the capes representing the finest epitome of the fittest in this society. Where those with power could lord it over those who couldn't. Naturally it had reached the point in society where society itself was slowly splintering into fiefdoms contolled by parahuman warlords who were powerful enough to challenge the might of the ruling government.
I arrived here on this world twenty-three years ago. During that time, I had taken the time to study this world's political, economic and social structures. From what I could see, this world was coming close to a tipping point of no return. Only time would tell whether it would turn out for the better or for the worse.
But as for Taylor herself, it had reached the point as to where she was searching for some meaning in her life. That everything she had undergone ... it had to be for something. All the trauma and suffering she had endured, all the crap that she was forced to put up with at the hands of the bullies ... at the end of the day, she was desperate for it to mean something good ... that she was not a complete and utter failure in life.
I followed her carefully unknown to her, hidden by a mix of my camouflage technology and invisibility powers. She continued slowly through the dark streets hoping to catch a crime in progress on her cape debut while I took care to ensure that no one knew I was following her and watching over her for any hidden dangers.
Whatever the case, I would have to keep Taylor alive for now until she led me to my primary objective which I hoped to take care of very soon.
"Remember! Whatever you do, keep those four alive! All other concerns are secondary!" was the one thing from HER that needed no constant reminder.
We must be getting close to something as I can feel a mix of excitement and anxiety coming from her. I quietly teleported up to the top of a two story-building unseen from my position with a Dimensional Leap to see what has got her adrenaline up and running. It was as I had expected ... the parahuman gang leader Lung rousing his men with fiery words before a major operation.
"Now you see one of the children, shoot! If you're not sure, shoot again! We don't want any of them becoming lucky or smart just as we are finishing them off! You got me?!" he roared.
I deftly took the time to check on Lung's stats.
Observe.
Name : Kenta Morisato (Lung)
Class : Level Twelve Cape Gang Leader
Power : Threat Escalation: Dragon, Control Elemental Force: Fire, Bio-regeneration (major).
Race : Human
Alignment : Aberrant Evil
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 18
Mental Endurance 18
Mental Affinity 20
Physical Strength 32 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Prowess 20 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Endurance 28 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Beauty 17
Speed 22 (changes according to threat level)
Structural Damage Capacity 279 (changes according to threat level)
Hit Points 143 (changes according to threat level)
Potential Psychic Energy 126
Inner Strength Points 220 (considered a major psychic)
Power Description
Threat Escalation: Dragon - As the threat increases to the user's well-being, the power and stats of the character increases as well, scaling proportionately to the danger or threat involved. The character's features will become more draconic as well to the point that character will eventually adopt the shape and form of a dragon. When the threat or danger is gone, the character's boosted powers or stats will decline as well until it reaches the character's original unmodified pre-escalation level. Escalation Limit: None.
Control Elemental Force: Fire - Allows the wielder to create and control fire from as tiny as a spark to something as large as a forest fire.
Bio-regeneration (major) - The character will bio-regenerate any damage or injury taken at the rate of 2-12 hit points or structural damage capacity every 15 seconds.
Mystic Martial Art Powers - Tendon-Altering Sutra.
Abilities provided by the Tendon-Altering Sutra include :-
Psychic Abilities - Sixth Sense, Presence Sense, Psychic Purification, Mind Block and Advanced Trance State.
Increase Attributes - The character can raise his or her attributes at will. The actual increase is limited by the character's willpower (Mental Endurance) and costs Inner Strength Points to maintain. Physical Strength can be increased by +2 each and Physical Endurance by +1 per Mental Endurance point. Physical Prowess can be increased by +1 per 3 levels of Mental Endurance. Structural Damage Capacity can be increased by Mental Endurance x 10. Duration: 5 minutes per level of experience.
Heal Self - Additionally the character can heal himself/herself at the rate of 1 to 6 Hit Points or Structural Damage Capacity for every 1 Potential Psychic Energy spent.
Hand-to-Hand: Eighteen Dragon Slaying Claws and Boxing.
Equipment
1 AK-47
1 Costume.
1 Chain.
1 Katana.
Description
Lung is supremely confident in his abilities since his defeat of the entire Protectorate force sent against him three years ago. A skilled melee fighter, he enjoys unarmed combat and was the undefeated Ultimate Fighting Tournament champion even before triggering. Now that he is a cape, his combat skills have only improved over time. His position in the ABB is secure with none daring to challenge him for leadership.
'What?!! Lung knows the Eighteen Dragon Slaying Claws? I thought it was a myth!'
"Yes!" They roared in response.
Of course I knew that his words meant that he was going to hit the Undersiders soon. It was just that Taylor didn't know who he was referring to as the 'children'. Her reactions were understandable from a certain viewpoint. Lung and the rest of his gang turned their largely unwelcomed attention towards her. I simply took out my Noro-made Crystal Assault Rifle before lining it up towards Lung.
I picked this weapon for a couple of good reasons. The first reason for this choice was that the Crystal Assault Rifle had a decent range of two thousand feet and had a multi-spectrum targeting scope capable of switching into the infrared and ultraviolet range attached to it when needed. Thus, making it a decent sniper rifle.
The second reason was that the weapon was completely silent when the trigger was pulled and the released energy bolt nearly transparent due to it being made up of condensed psychic energy rather than solid matter that made up conventional projectile ammunition. Consequently, not giving away my position to possible enemies.
The last reason (and probably the most important one) was that Lung was not a master psychic and his saving throw against psychic attacks should not be that great, I hoped at least, since this weapon was a psychic weapon. It also had a paralysis setting that I could use to disable the cape before he did too much damage to Taylor.
Not far below me, the confrontation had begun to take on a life of its own.
"Who are you? My mother? Oh wait ... You look a little too young for me, little mother," Lung laughed scornfully standing not more than twenty feet away from him.
Upon hearing those words, his men joined in laughter and jeers at the joke as well. Taylor's face reddened in embarassment behind her mask as the sound of their combined laughter and jeers reached her ears. Their mockery and scorn struck a chord within her with its similarity to Emma's mocking tone of voice causing her to retaliate viciously in kind.
Lung's face darkened upon hearing her reply and he shouted out in return, "Look, girl! I don't know who the hell you are and I don't care! I am going to count until five! If I still see you here after I'm done counting, I'm going to make you curse the day that you were born!"
"I won't let you harm those children!" Taylor cried out bravely.
Lung ignored her plea by pointing his index finger into the air.
"ONE!" he counted.
"You can't just kill children like that! It's not right!" she added.
He raised his middle finger to his index finger as well.
"TWO!"
"What have they done to you?!!" Taylor shouted out loud.
"None of your business! THREE!" he answered adding his ring finger to the previous two fingers.
"I won't let you kill innocent children!" she swore.
"FOUR!" His little finger had now joined all the other three fingers.
Above a two-story building, an unseen sniper prepared to open fire.
"FIVE! Since this is your first time out, I won't kill you but I'm still going to make you wish that you were dead!" he stated as bright yellow flames appeared over his palm, taking the shape of a blazing ball of fire within it.
His men had wisely backed off from the proximity of the coming confrontation between their leader and the new cape vigilante.
Then from under the cover of darkness, from every pothole, crack and crevice, swarms of creeping, crawling, flying, stinging critters of all kinds began converging on Lung from every conceivable direction. Some of the men screamed in horror and began to run at the sight though Lung remained impassive and unmoved by the threat to his physical wellbeing.
A wave of fire erupted from Lung consuming and burning the attacking swarms to a crisp before they could even reach him.
"Is this the best that you can do little girl?!!" he shouted out loud, his derisive roar echoing through streets and alleys.
"If it is, you're in serious trouble!!" he walked at a sedate pace, taking his time without breaking stride and eye contact of his target like an apex predator stalking its prey (in this case, Taylor) slowly but surely, confident in his incredible power to take on anything that could be thrown at him.
In front of him, Taylor's heart began to beat a little faster as a drop of sweat pooled in front of her forehead behind her mask.
Last edited:
asgard
Unverified Human Being
- Location
- Somewhere in between Easter Island and Tasmania
I was about to open fire on Lung with my faithful Crystal Assault Rifle when my sixth sense screamed a warning to me. Never one to disregard it, I focused on it and saw a person there that I hadn't seen before. One who gave me pause as I studied his abilities through the use of The Gamer power in the shadows.
Observe.
Name : Jubei Yanaiki (Oni Lee)
Class : Level Nine Cape Mystic Ninja
Power : Teleport: Duplication.
Race : Human
Alignment : Aberrant Evil
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 16
Mental Endurance 15
Mental Affinity 15
Physical Strength 27
Physical Prowess 22
Physical Endurance 21
Physical Beauty 14
Speed 32
Structural Damage Capacity 153
Hit Points 103
Potential Psychic Energy 123
Inner Strength Points 83 (considered a major psychic through his study of Ki)
Power Description
Teleport: Duplication - Allows the user to teleport to any location desired by duplicating the user at the new location and leaving a clone behind that crumbles into ash at the old location after five seconds. Can be done through line of sight or memory recall. Range: 2 miles.
Hand-to-Hand: Ninjutsu/Taijutsu and Yubi-jutsu (the Art of Nerve-Striking with the fingers)
Arts of Invisibility - Art of Stealth, Art of Hiding, Art of Escape, Art of Vanishing, Art of Evasion and Art of Mystic Invisibility.
Psychic Abilities - Alter Aura, Mind Block, Sixth Sense, Presence Sense, Mask PPE and Mask ISP, Bio-regeneration (Minor), Psychic Body Field, Psi-Shield and Psi-sword (comes from his mastery of Zen through the creation of the Zen Blade).
Equipment
1 sniper rifle with silencer - 1 magazine.
12 Grenades - 6 High-Explosives, 6 Smoke Bombs.
2 Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knives.
1 collapsible bow.
1 quiver of 6 arrows.
1 Daisho - 1 pair (Katana-Wakazashi combination).
1 Garrote.
1 Blowpipe - 10 darts (poison, sleep)
12 Throwing Stars (shaken).
1 pair of Climbing Claws (tekagi)
1 Ninja Emergency Kit.
1 coil of wire and sewing thread.
1 container of sewing needles.
1 Ninja Costume
1 pair of Reversible Clothing - modified outfit that has a complete change of colour and appearance by turning the clothes inside out.
1 concealed body armor: Armor Rating: 14 Structural Damage Capacity: 50
Description
Jubei Yanaiki is a veteran Ninja who fled the shadowy Ninja Wars in Japan to America. He is highly-skilled in the use of both modern and ancient weapons (especially kyudo the Japanese Art of Bowmanship). Combined with his ability to teleport via duplication and his mastery of the ninja world, he makes a formidable and deadly adversary. He is also a master of disguise, sleight-of-hand and concealment. Considered to be Lung's right hand man, he comes across as a quiet person and speaks only when necessary. Thanks to his power and skills, he is widely regarded by everyone else as Number Two in the ABB organisation.
I silently mouthed a curse as I read up his stats. Since when did Oni Lee have the background of a Ninja before he triggered with cape powers? This was going to complicate things, that was for sure. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to save Taylor from the two capes when he re-appeared beside Lung, saying, "I have found them."
"Take the rest of the men with you. I will join you in a short while," Lung answered.
Oni Lee made a small nod to the leader and gestured to the rest of the group to follow him. Turning around, the men split into rank and file as they followed after the silent Ninja who moved ahead of them. Taylor began to back away from the ABB leader as he began to close in on her.
"You have much to learn little girl. Allow me to demonstrate your first lesson in the first movement of the Eighteen Dragon Slaying Claws," Lung announced as he drew back his hands in a circular motion and moved forward his palms in a claw-like gesture.
Much to Taylor's disbelief and fear, the translucent figure of a serpent-like dragon left his palms to close in on her rapidly. It moved its head and feet as though it were alive and flames could be seen leaving its nostrils. Without wasting anymore time, Taylor turned around and began to run for dear life as though the hounds of hell were after her.
Without any further hesitation, I quickly opened fire on Lung with the Crystal Assault Rifle hitting him in the back. He froze in mid-motion, giving time for Taylor to make a quick getaway just as I had hoped. I quickly checked his status with the Gamer power to see how long.
Status.
Name : Kenta Morisato (Lung)
Class : Level Twelve Cape Gang Leader
Power : Threat Escalation: Dragon, Control Elemental Force: Fire, Bio-regeneration (major).
Race : Human
Alignment : Aberrant Evil
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 18
Mental Endurance 18
Mental Affinity 20
Physical Strength 32 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Prowess 20 + 1 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Endurance 28 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Beauty 17
Speed 22 + 3 (changes according to threat level)
Structural Damage Capacity 279 + 5 (changes according to threat level)
Hit Points 143 + 5 (changes according to threat level)
Potential Psychic Energy 126 + 5
Inner Strength Points 220 + 2 (considered a major psychic)
STATUS: SHOCKED, UNHAPPY AND PARALYSED FOR TEN MINUTES.
No way! This couldn't be true! It looked like his stats had increased slightly from just the confrontation with Taylor and not just the physical stats. His Potential Psychic Energy and Inner Strength Points had increased as well! From use of Potential Psychic Energy based abilities and Inner Strength Points based powers rather than decreasing like normal when used by mages and psychics. Was his Escalation Shard causing it?
'How was Lung able to create a dragon out of nothing from his hands? It also breathed fire too! Nothing on PHO said that he was able to do anything like that!' Taylor thought frantically as she ran through the alleys, huffing and puffing.
This was supposed to be her very first night out, her very own public debut into the cape world. She had hoped to do it with a small-time crime bust involving a mugger or two and build up from there. Instead, she had run into the ABB, one of the strongest gangs in the city (if not the top) and tangoed with Lung and was now running for her life.
Some debut! she thought bitterly.
And here she was, running like a little mouse from a hungry cat as fast as she could.
Taylor ran and ran. As fast she could. Much to her horror, the ghost-like dragon continued to pursue her as though it were alive. What was worse, it was fast. She twisted to avoid it, but it still slammed into her nonetheless, sending her flying through the air into the wall of a broken-down building. She struck the wall hard, with the air all but knocked out of her lungs.
Strangely enough, it did not hurt as much as it should have and she quickly found out why. There was an archaic-looking body armour wrapped around her clothes and mask like a second skin that hadn't been there before. Pulling herself to her feet, she soon discovered that it was completely solid though fully transparent and to her surprise, weightless and allowed her to breathe.
'Where had the armour come from?' She wondered before taking off down the alley again as fast as her legs could carry her.
She also decided to check back up on Lung just in case he was following her. It was strange. From what she could see out of all the eyes of the swarms of insects in the area, the ABB leader had not moved from his position the last time she had seen him. In fact, he did not appear to be moving at all, rooted to the ground like a statue.
She sent a fly to check up on Lung but could not get closer than eight feet as the area around him remained hot. Too hot for the fly as she lost contact with it and some of the other insects in the area. There was a loud wave-like explosion of fire into the night sky as a powerful roar shook the surroundings.
'Better get moving and find a safe spot to hide,' she thought as she took off down the street as fast as she could.
Lung was startled to find himself unable to move all of a practical sudden for no apparent reason. He tried moving his hands and feet first. When that proved unfeasible, he tried to move his toes and fingers. That did not work too. He could not even move his mouth. As a matter of fact, not a single part of his body so much as twitched.
Not even his eyes. He swore mentally as he found out that he could not move no matter what he did. He could still see straight ahead and hear the sounds from all around him but that was about it.
'How had this happened?' he wondered.
Lung played back what had happened in his mind when he remembered something had hit him in the back prior to this happening after he had executed his first movement of the Eighteen Dragon Slaying Claws. But the girl was in front of him ... which meant one of two things. This was one of the powers the girl had which did not require her presence.
Or it was one of the powers some other cape had. Lung was willing to bet it was the latter. Which meant that someone else could be here.
But who?
There was no one else besides the girl ... Lung would find out which was which but first he would have to break free. From his study of Ki in the past, he had learned a great many things. This was one of them. The ABB leader began to meditate on the source of the paralysis and the movement of his Ki throughout his body. He found it a few seconds later.
It was like a coil of unnatural darkness curled around his spinal cord like a snake, preventing the electrical impulses of his brain from transmitting to the rest of his body. The ABB leader focused on pooling his Ki around the source until it shattered and then dissipated. Once the coil of dark energy was gone, he gave a loud roar like a dragon as he found himself able to move again.
Lung began to run as he did not want to lose his quarry who had got quite a headstart as she had fled the place with her tail between her legs as fast as she could. In fact, he could barely remember anyone who could have run that fast among his men barring Oni Lee of course. On another day, he might have just let the new cape off with a verbal warning about the consequences of going against him.
Unfortunately, the new cape was foolish enough to have challenged his word and authority in front of his men so he would have to teach her a real lesson about proper behaviour and etiquette before he let her go so that she would know not to challenge him the next time. The ABB leader was going to put the undiluted fear of Lung into her before going to administer some real pain and suffering to the Undersiders who had the audacity to rob one of his casinos in the seat of his power.
Status.
Name : Kenta Morisato (Lung)
Class : Level Twelve Cape Gang Leader
Power : Threat Escalation: Dragon, Control Elemental Force: Fire, Bio-regeneration (major).
Race : Human
Alignment : Aberrant Evil
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 18
Mental Endurance 18
Mental Affinity 20
Physical Strength 32 + 1 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Prowess 20 + 3 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Endurance 28 + 1 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Beauty 17
Speed 22 + 4 (changes according to threat level)
Structural Damage Capacity 279 + 10 (changes according to threat level)
Hit Points 143 + 10 (changes according to threat level)
Potential Psychic Energy 126 + 10
Inner Strength Points 220 + 4 (considered a major psychic)
STATUS: VENGEFUL, CALM, FOCUSED AND PARALYSED FOR SEVEN MINUTES, THIRTY-TWO SECONDS REMAINING.
My initial suspicions about Lung were finally confirmed as I had feared. His Potential Psychic Energy and Inner Strength Points had increased in combat situations just as his other physical stats had done. This was really bad because this meant that he would never run out of Potential Psychic Energy and Inner Strength Points. In his case, both stats would only increase in combat rather than decrease with use as is the norm with everyone else.
As to how bad that was, imagine a mage that could cast spells without running out of mana. And instead of getting less, said mage's base mana was increasing over the course of time. Meaning said mage could cast higher energy consumption spells which were usually stronger over time without having to worry about running out of mana. In short, Lung had unlimited bio-energy at his disposal.
I cursed a storm mentally as Lung focused his bio-energy into breaking the paralysis grip on his body. The surroundings began to heat up from the concentration of bio-energy centered on him. Suddenly, there was a triumphant roar from the ABB leader as a large wave of heat energy erupted from him. The rocky ground under his feet distorted and Lung moved. He was fast and he had broken free of his paralysis!
I acted quickly. Lung had barely moved three steps when I launched a Bio-manipulation attack that caused blindness directly at his nervous system.
Lung stumbled. He stumbled suddenly before seemingly falling flat on his face only to catch himself by dropping to his knees with both his palms pressing on the ground before getting back from a kneeling position onto his two feet. The ABB leader turned his head around as though trying to see ahead but saw nothing. Nothing but an all-consuming darkness filling his vision. He rubbed his eyes a little but still saw nothing. In that instant, he realised that he had gone blind.
Suspecting the same power that paralysed him at work here once again, Lung slipped into the meditation mindset that enabled him to break free of his paralysis, the first time. He repeated his manipulation of his internal energy flow through the use of The Tendon-Altering Sutra. The concentration of unnatural energy in a particular location of the nervous system, the build-up of Ki energy in the right place to counteract it - something struck him in the back disrupting the buildup of Ki energy, forcing him to start all over again.
Upon seeing Lung enter the same state before he broke free of his paralysis, I shot him once more with a paralysis bolt from my Crystal Assault Rifle. I grinned when he seemed to lose concentration due to the sudden sneak attack on his body.
'Let's see you get out of this now,' I thought with a smile on my face.
The ABB leader did a quick check on his internal energy flow and was shocked to discover the presence of the unnatural energy that had crippled his nervous system and caused his body to go into paralysis was back at work yet again. Anger filled him causing the flames around him to burn hotter and farther. Lung quickly reined in his growing rage though it was difficult. It would do him no good to go into an enraged state at the this time since it would just make it a lot harder for him to meditate in a state of anger than in a state of calm.
Once again, he began to recite the words that had helped him deal with the raging aspect of his power through his mind.
Where there is peace, there is clarity ...
Where there is calm, there is tranquility ...
Where there is void, there is energy ...
Where there is oneness, there is eternity ...
The flames that burned red-hot around him began to change to a strange blue colour as he slowly began to regain control over his internal energy that was surging unchecked throughout his body. Upon regaining control over his internal energy flow, he turned it around into attacking the presence of the unnatural energy that was still present in his body. The unnatural energy reeled under his Ki assault briefly before dissipating. Vision and freedom of movement returned instantly to him and he ran forward in pursuit of his prey with a vengeance.
Observe.
Name : Jubei Yanaiki (Oni Lee)
Class : Level Nine Cape Mystic Ninja
Power : Teleport: Duplication.
Race : Human
Alignment : Aberrant Evil
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 16
Mental Endurance 15
Mental Affinity 15
Physical Strength 27
Physical Prowess 22
Physical Endurance 21
Physical Beauty 14
Speed 32
Structural Damage Capacity 153
Hit Points 103
Potential Psychic Energy 123
Inner Strength Points 83 (considered a major psychic through his study of Ki)
Power Description
Teleport: Duplication - Allows the user to teleport to any location desired by duplicating the user at the new location and leaving a clone behind that crumbles into ash at the old location after five seconds. Can be done through line of sight or memory recall. Range: 2 miles.
Hand-to-Hand: Ninjutsu/Taijutsu and Yubi-jutsu (the Art of Nerve-Striking with the fingers)
Arts of Invisibility - Art of Stealth, Art of Hiding, Art of Escape, Art of Vanishing, Art of Evasion and Art of Mystic Invisibility.
Psychic Abilities - Alter Aura, Mind Block, Sixth Sense, Presence Sense, Mask PPE and Mask ISP, Bio-regeneration (Minor), Psychic Body Field, Psi-Shield and Psi-sword (comes from his mastery of Zen through the creation of the Zen Blade).
Equipment
1 sniper rifle with silencer - 1 magazine.
12 Grenades - 6 High-Explosives, 6 Smoke Bombs.
2 Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knives.
1 collapsible bow.
1 quiver of 6 arrows.
1 Daisho - 1 pair (Katana-Wakazashi combination).
1 Garrote.
1 Blowpipe - 10 darts (poison, sleep)
12 Throwing Stars (shaken).
1 pair of Climbing Claws (tekagi)
1 Ninja Emergency Kit.
1 coil of wire and sewing thread.
1 container of sewing needles.
1 Ninja Costume
1 pair of Reversible Clothing - modified outfit that has a complete change of colour and appearance by turning the clothes inside out.
1 concealed body armor: Armor Rating: 14 Structural Damage Capacity: 50
Description
Jubei Yanaiki is a veteran Ninja who fled the shadowy Ninja Wars in Japan to America. He is highly-skilled in the use of both modern and ancient weapons (especially kyudo the Japanese Art of Bowmanship). Combined with his ability to teleport via duplication and his mastery of the ninja world, he makes a formidable and deadly adversary. He is also a master of disguise, sleight-of-hand and concealment. Considered to be Lung's right hand man, he comes across as a quiet person and speaks only when necessary. Thanks to his power and skills, he is widely regarded by everyone else as Number Two in the ABB organisation.
I silently mouthed a curse as I read up his stats. Since when did Oni Lee have the background of a Ninja before he triggered with cape powers? This was going to complicate things, that was for sure. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to save Taylor from the two capes when he re-appeared beside Lung, saying, "I have found them."
"Take the rest of the men with you. I will join you in a short while," Lung answered.
Oni Lee made a small nod to the leader and gestured to the rest of the group to follow him. Turning around, the men split into rank and file as they followed after the silent Ninja who moved ahead of them. Taylor began to back away from the ABB leader as he began to close in on her.
"You have much to learn little girl. Allow me to demonstrate your first lesson in the first movement of the Eighteen Dragon Slaying Claws," Lung announced as he drew back his hands in a circular motion and moved forward his palms in a claw-like gesture.
Much to Taylor's disbelief and fear, the translucent figure of a serpent-like dragon left his palms to close in on her rapidly. It moved its head and feet as though it were alive and flames could be seen leaving its nostrils. Without wasting anymore time, Taylor turned around and began to run for dear life as though the hounds of hell were after her.
Without any further hesitation, I quickly opened fire on Lung with the Crystal Assault Rifle hitting him in the back. He froze in mid-motion, giving time for Taylor to make a quick getaway just as I had hoped. I quickly checked his status with the Gamer power to see how long.
Status.
Name : Kenta Morisato (Lung)
Class : Level Twelve Cape Gang Leader
Power : Threat Escalation: Dragon, Control Elemental Force: Fire, Bio-regeneration (major).
Race : Human
Alignment : Aberrant Evil
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 18
Mental Endurance 18
Mental Affinity 20
Physical Strength 32 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Prowess 20 + 1 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Endurance 28 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Beauty 17
Speed 22 + 3 (changes according to threat level)
Structural Damage Capacity 279 + 5 (changes according to threat level)
Hit Points 143 + 5 (changes according to threat level)
Potential Psychic Energy 126 + 5
Inner Strength Points 220 + 2 (considered a major psychic)
STATUS: SHOCKED, UNHAPPY AND PARALYSED FOR TEN MINUTES.
No way! This couldn't be true! It looked like his stats had increased slightly from just the confrontation with Taylor and not just the physical stats. His Potential Psychic Energy and Inner Strength Points had increased as well! From use of Potential Psychic Energy based abilities and Inner Strength Points based powers rather than decreasing like normal when used by mages and psychics. Was his Escalation Shard causing it?
'How was Lung able to create a dragon out of nothing from his hands? It also breathed fire too! Nothing on PHO said that he was able to do anything like that!' Taylor thought frantically as she ran through the alleys, huffing and puffing.
This was supposed to be her very first night out, her very own public debut into the cape world. She had hoped to do it with a small-time crime bust involving a mugger or two and build up from there. Instead, she had run into the ABB, one of the strongest gangs in the city (if not the top) and tangoed with Lung and was now running for her life.
Some debut! she thought bitterly.
And here she was, running like a little mouse from a hungry cat as fast as she could.
Taylor ran and ran. As fast she could. Much to her horror, the ghost-like dragon continued to pursue her as though it were alive. What was worse, it was fast. She twisted to avoid it, but it still slammed into her nonetheless, sending her flying through the air into the wall of a broken-down building. She struck the wall hard, with the air all but knocked out of her lungs.
Strangely enough, it did not hurt as much as it should have and she quickly found out why. There was an archaic-looking body armour wrapped around her clothes and mask like a second skin that hadn't been there before. Pulling herself to her feet, she soon discovered that it was completely solid though fully transparent and to her surprise, weightless and allowed her to breathe.
'Where had the armour come from?' She wondered before taking off down the alley again as fast as her legs could carry her.
She also decided to check back up on Lung just in case he was following her. It was strange. From what she could see out of all the eyes of the swarms of insects in the area, the ABB leader had not moved from his position the last time she had seen him. In fact, he did not appear to be moving at all, rooted to the ground like a statue.
She sent a fly to check up on Lung but could not get closer than eight feet as the area around him remained hot. Too hot for the fly as she lost contact with it and some of the other insects in the area. There was a loud wave-like explosion of fire into the night sky as a powerful roar shook the surroundings.
'Better get moving and find a safe spot to hide,' she thought as she took off down the street as fast as she could.
Lung was startled to find himself unable to move all of a practical sudden for no apparent reason. He tried moving his hands and feet first. When that proved unfeasible, he tried to move his toes and fingers. That did not work too. He could not even move his mouth. As a matter of fact, not a single part of his body so much as twitched.
Not even his eyes. He swore mentally as he found out that he could not move no matter what he did. He could still see straight ahead and hear the sounds from all around him but that was about it.
'How had this happened?' he wondered.
Lung played back what had happened in his mind when he remembered something had hit him in the back prior to this happening after he had executed his first movement of the Eighteen Dragon Slaying Claws. But the girl was in front of him ... which meant one of two things. This was one of the powers the girl had which did not require her presence.
Or it was one of the powers some other cape had. Lung was willing to bet it was the latter. Which meant that someone else could be here.
But who?
There was no one else besides the girl ... Lung would find out which was which but first he would have to break free. From his study of Ki in the past, he had learned a great many things. This was one of them. The ABB leader began to meditate on the source of the paralysis and the movement of his Ki throughout his body. He found it a few seconds later.
It was like a coil of unnatural darkness curled around his spinal cord like a snake, preventing the electrical impulses of his brain from transmitting to the rest of his body. The ABB leader focused on pooling his Ki around the source until it shattered and then dissipated. Once the coil of dark energy was gone, he gave a loud roar like a dragon as he found himself able to move again.
Lung began to run as he did not want to lose his quarry who had got quite a headstart as she had fled the place with her tail between her legs as fast as she could. In fact, he could barely remember anyone who could have run that fast among his men barring Oni Lee of course. On another day, he might have just let the new cape off with a verbal warning about the consequences of going against him.
Unfortunately, the new cape was foolish enough to have challenged his word and authority in front of his men so he would have to teach her a real lesson about proper behaviour and etiquette before he let her go so that she would know not to challenge him the next time. The ABB leader was going to put the undiluted fear of Lung into her before going to administer some real pain and suffering to the Undersiders who had the audacity to rob one of his casinos in the seat of his power.
Status.
Name : Kenta Morisato (Lung)
Class : Level Twelve Cape Gang Leader
Power : Threat Escalation: Dragon, Control Elemental Force: Fire, Bio-regeneration (major).
Race : Human
Alignment : Aberrant Evil
World : Earth Bet
Stats
Intelligence Quotient 18
Mental Endurance 18
Mental Affinity 20
Physical Strength 32 + 1 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Prowess 20 + 3 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Endurance 28 + 1 (changes according to threat level)
Physical Beauty 17
Speed 22 + 4 (changes according to threat level)
Structural Damage Capacity 279 + 10 (changes according to threat level)
Hit Points 143 + 10 (changes according to threat level)
Potential Psychic Energy 126 + 10
Inner Strength Points 220 + 4 (considered a major psychic)
STATUS: VENGEFUL, CALM, FOCUSED AND PARALYSED FOR SEVEN MINUTES, THIRTY-TWO SECONDS REMAINING.
My initial suspicions about Lung were finally confirmed as I had feared. His Potential Psychic Energy and Inner Strength Points had increased in combat situations just as his other physical stats had done. This was really bad because this meant that he would never run out of Potential Psychic Energy and Inner Strength Points. In his case, both stats would only increase in combat rather than decrease with use as is the norm with everyone else.
As to how bad that was, imagine a mage that could cast spells without running out of mana. And instead of getting less, said mage's base mana was increasing over the course of time. Meaning said mage could cast higher energy consumption spells which were usually stronger over time without having to worry about running out of mana. In short, Lung had unlimited bio-energy at his disposal.
I cursed a storm mentally as Lung focused his bio-energy into breaking the paralysis grip on his body. The surroundings began to heat up from the concentration of bio-energy centered on him. Suddenly, there was a triumphant roar from the ABB leader as a large wave of heat energy erupted from him. The rocky ground under his feet distorted and Lung moved. He was fast and he had broken free of his paralysis!
I acted quickly. Lung had barely moved three steps when I launched a Bio-manipulation attack that caused blindness directly at his nervous system.
Lung stumbled. He stumbled suddenly before seemingly falling flat on his face only to catch himself by dropping to his knees with both his palms pressing on the ground before getting back from a kneeling position onto his two feet. The ABB leader turned his head around as though trying to see ahead but saw nothing. Nothing but an all-consuming darkness filling his vision. He rubbed his eyes a little but still saw nothing. In that instant, he realised that he had gone blind.
Suspecting the same power that paralysed him at work here once again, Lung slipped into the meditation mindset that enabled him to break free of his paralysis, the first time. He repeated his manipulation of his internal energy flow through the use of The Tendon-Altering Sutra. The concentration of unnatural energy in a particular location of the nervous system, the build-up of Ki energy in the right place to counteract it - something struck him in the back disrupting the buildup of Ki energy, forcing him to start all over again.
Upon seeing Lung enter the same state before he broke free of his paralysis, I shot him once more with a paralysis bolt from my Crystal Assault Rifle. I grinned when he seemed to lose concentration due to the sudden sneak attack on his body.
'Let's see you get out of this now,' I thought with a smile on my face.
The ABB leader did a quick check on his internal energy flow and was shocked to discover the presence of the unnatural energy that had crippled his nervous system and caused his body to go into paralysis was back at work yet again. Anger filled him causing the flames around him to burn hotter and farther. Lung quickly reined in his growing rage though it was difficult. It would do him no good to go into an enraged state at the this time since it would just make it a lot harder for him to meditate in a state of anger than in a state of calm.
Once again, he began to recite the words that had helped him deal with the raging aspect of his power through his mind.
Where there is peace, there is clarity ...
Where there is calm, there is tranquility ...
Where there is void, there is energy ...
Where there is oneness, there is eternity ...
The flames that burned red-hot around him began to change to a strange blue colour as he slowly began to regain control over his internal energy that was surging unchecked throughout his body. Upon regaining control over his internal energy flow, he turned it around into attacking the presence of the unnatural energy that was still present in his body. The unnatural energy reeled under his Ki assault briefly before dissipating. Vision and freedom of movement returned instantly to him and he ran forward in pursuit of his prey with a vengeance.
Last edited:
asgard
Unverified Human Being
- Location
- Somewhere in between Easter Island and Tasmania
Rather than shooting Lung again, I cast a simple scrying spell, Second Sight, to see where Taylor was. She appeared to be well on her way home. Another block or so down the road and she would be home safely and sound. But it was more like she was walking rather than running. And to me, for every painstaking second that she took to reach home before Lung found her, it seemed more like an hour had passed.
Apparently, she had tired herself out and was out of breath, having run all the way home. I stepped into a shadow and reappeared unseen right beside her in a nearby shadow via Shadow Step, a spell that enabled me to travel vast distances in the physical world through the shadow realm.
Not wanting to see what Lung would do with her should he catch up with her, I cast an Invisibility: Superior spell over her that rendered her invisible to all the five senses and the entire electromagnetic spectrum, unnoticed. And just in time too, for the ABB leader had leaped up to the top of the highest building in the neighbourhood in an effort to find his prey.
Lung jumped to the top of a two-story building and landed on the roof without a sound. His eyes scoured the surroundings carefully for his quarry but all without success. He continued moving in the direction that he had seen his prey heading by leaping from one building to another soundlessly thanks to a combination of his brute rating and martial arts training since he was young.
He kept going until he arrived at the tallest building in the vicinity, which was the Brockton Bay Mall not far from the neighbourhood. From there, he took a running leap from where he was and landed on the concrete side of the Brockton Bay Mall where he quickly gripped the wall firmly before somersaulting upwards to the top of the building through a combination of skill and agility. In less than a minute, he had arrived at the top of the building where he began looking for his target carefully.
'Where are you, little girl? Do you really think that you can hide from me?' he whispered under his breath to no one in particular as he continued to scour the surrounding area for any sign of his quarry.
Taylor continued on her seemingly long and somewhat dangerous journey back home. She was tired, scared and out of breath. Her foray into the glamorous world of superheroes and villains had not turned out like what she had expected. She had hoped to start out small and worked her way to the top ... Perhaps one day become a well-known celebrity like Legend or Alexandria of the Triumvirate for busting crime and keeping the city streets safe in the news.
That was her dream anyway, from the time she was young until now. Sure, she had expected it to be dangerous but doable. She had not expected to be worse than her life in school. The full ramifications of it had not sunk in until she had entered the superhero business for real where just moments ago, it had become a matter of life and death to her in a matter of minutes to the point that she had to fight and run for her very life.
Now that she had time to think about it, she wondered why she had become involved in the cape business in the first place. It was nothing glamorous like what they had shown in the news. And then she knew. The media had partially sanitized the darker aspects of becoming a cape so that things did not look so grim on the outlook to the general public.
Just as she was about to fall into a state of depression regarding the whole issue, she heard Lung's voice echoing to the surroundings and calling her out to battle.
"Come out and fight me! There is no need to hide! What's there to be afraid of? I'll even go easy on you this time! Unless you are afraid of course! Then go and hide in your Mama's basement! Little girl, do you hear me or not?!!"
Taylor began to sob ... deeply upon hearing those words. Faces began to appear before her eyes. But it was not Lung's face that appeared before her. Rather it was Emma, Madison and Sophia's faces that appeared before her, mocking her with their cruel words and intentions.
"Aww ... How cute! Is this all pretty Taylor is good for?"
"I bet that's what she is. Good for nothing. Except for kissing the pavement."
"Yes, grovel in the dust ... where you belong like the dirt you are."
"Loser."
"Total loser."
"She caused someone to die, did you know that?"
"Is she crying now?"
"Go! Run! Hide in the restroom like you usually do!"
"Since you spend so much time hiding in the restroom, we'll even file a petition to the school board on your behalf to make the restroom your new classroom!"
Taylor stopped moving. Her face was covered with tears now but it was not the feeling of sorrow that filled her but one of anger and grim determination. She had been running for the past two years. From the bullies. From the school administration. From the gangsters in the school.
She would run no more. Enough was enough. Grimly, she turned to face the ABB leader and that was when she gave the swarms of insects that had been tracking him the order to attack. Lung was instantly alert the moment the insects began to attack him. He simply had one answer for those attacking insects.
Fire!
Lots and lots of fire!
Flames burst into existence around him, incinerating his tiny and minute attackers. More and more insects began to burn but still they continued to come. Just then, he saw her standing next to the lamp post and pulled back his palms before throwing them forward in a claw-like gesture to form a dragon-shaped ki-blast which he aimed in her direction. The dragon-shaped ki-blast roared as it closed in on her at unbelievable speed. Just as it was about to hit her, something appeared in front of it, intercepting it, thus stopping it completely.
For one brief instant, Lung saw the shape of a robot-like figure with Tinkertech weapons in its hands before him, standing in front of the girl before disappearing again from sight. He was about to unleash an even stronger ki-blast at the girl and what he believed to be her hidden guardian when something caught his attention.
A bright blue light had fired up into the night sky from some undisclosed location and erupted into a bright cocaphony of colours. Lung took a look at it, studying it for a moment before turning back to look at Taylor after the invisibility spell had faded away.
"Another day, little girl," he snorted in derision as took a running leap from where he was to the next building ahead in the direction of the light display.
Lung ran as quickly as he could. He knew what that light display in the night sky was. It was a signal from Oni Lee that his men had run into some trouble up ahead and needed his help right away. One building after another went past him as each of his leaps took him a minimal distance of a hundred feet in a single bound. The roofs of the different buildings and towering lamp posts shook slightly beneath him as his feet touched them but they did not crumble under his weight thanks to his mastery of the Tendon-Altering Sutra.
After a couple of minutes, he finally arrived at the site. Once there, he saw Oni Lee and his men fighting a desperate battle against the Undersiders and a large group of professional soldiers armed with Tinkertech weapons. Without any further hesitation, Lung leaped into the fray, kicking, punching and throwing fire balls and dragon-shaped ki-blasts in all directions at the perceived enemy pinning his men down.
Many of his opponents were able to dive for cover but not all. A number of them were knocked completely out of the fight as they were sent flying backwards in all directions. His sudden appearance seemed to rally his men and they renewed their attack on the Undersiders and their unexpected ally.
All of a sudden, without warning, pitchblack darkness enveloped him completely. Grue! His mind raced to the Undersider who was responsible for this. Without wasting any time, Lung leaped upwards to escape the darkness blocking his vision. The moment, he emerged from the darkness, however, he was struck by a hail of purple laser fire from the retreating soldiers.
They did quite a number on his body but since he regenerated quickly from physical damage, he was not worried about the injuries. He was about to pursue them when towering structures of metal that rose into the sky grew up from the ground, boxing him in. Without wasting any time, he ran vertically up the side of the tower only to get off halfway in an awful hurry, when he received a nasty electrical shock from the metal structure.
Dropping to the concrete ground beneath, he took a moment to study the surroundings. All around him were metal walls that extended upwards into the heavens. The metal walls were high enough to block his path and solid enough to stop him from breaking through it with his strength.
Still the metal walls allowed him to walk around freely within its confines without any problems. The only thing was, he did not know where the path took him to. It was full of twists and turns like a maze. After running for fifteen minutes within it, Lung realised he was completely lost.
Lung was no fool. He knew what the purpose of this labyrinth-like maze was. It was to enable the Undersiders and their secret allies to escape his wrath. And it had succeeded marvellously too, boxing him in, deep within its confines. He knew of only one cape that was capable of such a feat in Brockton Bay - Labyrinth, a member of Faultline's Crew, meaning that Faultline and her team were somehow involved.
Since Faultline and her group of misfits were mercenaries who took contracts from just about anyone who could afford it, that meant that someone had hired them to stop him. The low-life Undersiders couldn't have hired them because they couldn't have afforded Faultline's price. That left the villain Coil as the main culprit since he was the only cape in Brockton Bay who had enough money and motivation to use professional soldiers armed with Tinkertech weaponry.
Though why he would involve himself with the Undersiders' welfare ... unless he was their primary backer and secret patron all along. Of course. That was the only explanation. 'Coil ...' he thought darkly. 'You have crossed me for the last time.' He was going to have to find some way of putting down that annoying meddler into the ground permanently.
Ideally six feet under.
While he was running around looking for a way out of the maze, the steel structures that formed an impassable barrier here and there began to disappear in front of his eyes. Once they had dissolved into nothingness, he could see several PRT teams gathered with various capes from the Protectorate approaching from afar in front of him. The overbearing figure of Armsmaster was there. So were Dauntless, Assault, Battery, Velocity, Triumph and the Protectorate gunner, Miss Militia.
There was silence for a moment as both sides studied the other. Tension rose as the PRT teams quickly deployed their weapons and braced themselves in readiness for a fight. Lung faced them calmly, without saying a word. Armsmaster groaned aloud inside his suit. Fighting with Lung never ended well. Still he could hope as he mouthed a silent prayer. Breaking the silence, he spoke the words that he usually used when dealing with criminals.
"Lung! You are under arrest for attempted murder, rioting, vandalism, smuggling and illegal gang activity! Come forward with your hands raised above your head! Or we will be forced to take action! You have sixty seconds to comply!"
Lung laughed.
He laughed long and hard at the gathered heroes and PRT troops arrayed against him.
"I fail to see the joke," Armsmaster spoke without a trace of humour in his voice.
"You're nothing but a common criminal, Lung. Spare everyone the trouble and give yourself up now before we make you do it, Lung."
There was now a hard edge to it.
"Well then, what are you waiting for? Come and get me!" The ABB leader taunted, projecting his voice with ki as he moved his arms in front of him with both palms facing each other.
A transparent ball of energy that sported the head of a dragon appeared in between his hands. What the Protectorate didn't know was that the sound of his laughter had just been a diversion. While he had been laughing at the PRT out loud in the open, he had not been idle. Unknown to the PRT and the Protectorate fools, he had taken the time to saturate the surroundings with his ki energy in preparation for the fight that he knew was coming.
Like about now.
"Take him down!" Armsmaster ordered.
They were about to open fire with their weapons when Lung lifted his right leg up and stomped his foot on the ground hard. The impact shook the ground they were standing on, rippling out in a wave towards the PRT officers and Protectorate capes and knocked them off their feet. Lung was far from done. He threw his arms outwards to his sides, causing multiple dragon-shaped blasts of fiery ki energy to exit his body movements in a widespread arc, moving rapidly towards all the assembled capes and PRT officers.
Instinctively, they all dove for cover. The dragon-shaped blasts of ki roared onwards, hammering through everything they hit including abandoned buildings, PRT vehicles, lamp posts, traffic lights, power lines, walls and fences. From high above, multiple volleys of missiles streaked down without warning heading for Lung, who threw his arms upwards in response. More dragon-shaped blasts of fiery ki energy erupted from the ground suddenly, ascending rapidly into the air to meet the incoming missiles.
There was a powerful explosion, in actuality, multiple explosions that echoed through the air waves and lit up the night as the two opposing forces of destruction met in the dark skies in a blinding display of colours and thunderous booms. Without wasting any time, Miss Militia and Armsmaster joined in the attack by opening fire on Lung who staggered slightly under the combined fire but seemed none the worse for wear as he regenerated rapidly from his injuries with chrome-like scales forming on his skin.
"He's changing! We have to take him down now!"
More gunfire and approaching missiles could be heard echoing through the night. Miss Militia substituted her mini-gun for a larger and more powerful cannon that could lob high-powered explosives at its target. The remaining active PRT soldiers did not let up with their gunfire on the ABB leader.
Lung responded by flinging his arms forward before ending in a spiral pattern with his fingers and lengthening sharp nails in a claw-like stance. The form of a dragon of pure energy appeared from there to move in a spiral pattern around him. Velocity who had run forward at fast speed to attack Lung was immediately repelled by the moving dragon like a bouncing rubber ball. He ended up falling through the air to land on the top of a three-story building.
Dauntless ran forward with his Arclance only to be beaten back by a blast of blue fire from Lung's mouth. Fortunately, he had his shield in front of him so he wasn't hurt by it. Something fast and hard slammed into Lung from the sky only to bounce off the moving dragon back into the sky. That something turned into the form of a beautiful teenaged girl as she regained control of her flight.
"Look up there! Glory Girl's here!"
She was not alone. A beautiful woman in a white costume save for an indigo starburst on her chest with several lines extending out from the center with a golden tiara on her head was carrying another cape in a white and yellow outfit while a flying young man with blue hair and white costume in his twenties was forming shields and weapons of light in his hands. The woman with the golden tiara set the man in the white and yellow outfit on the ground gently before doing the same.
Next to him, a girl with an arrow and a dozen lines on her costume hovered with her shields and weapons of light at the ready. Below her, a woman and in an orange and white costume materialized weapons and shields of lights in her hands as well. Next to her, a man in a white costume with a grenade on it formed an orb of light in his hands. The rest of the capes making up New Wave were finally here and ready for action.
Apparently, she had tired herself out and was out of breath, having run all the way home. I stepped into a shadow and reappeared unseen right beside her in a nearby shadow via Shadow Step, a spell that enabled me to travel vast distances in the physical world through the shadow realm.
Not wanting to see what Lung would do with her should he catch up with her, I cast an Invisibility: Superior spell over her that rendered her invisible to all the five senses and the entire electromagnetic spectrum, unnoticed. And just in time too, for the ABB leader had leaped up to the top of the highest building in the neighbourhood in an effort to find his prey.
Lung jumped to the top of a two-story building and landed on the roof without a sound. His eyes scoured the surroundings carefully for his quarry but all without success. He continued moving in the direction that he had seen his prey heading by leaping from one building to another soundlessly thanks to a combination of his brute rating and martial arts training since he was young.
He kept going until he arrived at the tallest building in the vicinity, which was the Brockton Bay Mall not far from the neighbourhood. From there, he took a running leap from where he was and landed on the concrete side of the Brockton Bay Mall where he quickly gripped the wall firmly before somersaulting upwards to the top of the building through a combination of skill and agility. In less than a minute, he had arrived at the top of the building where he began looking for his target carefully.
'Where are you, little girl? Do you really think that you can hide from me?' he whispered under his breath to no one in particular as he continued to scour the surrounding area for any sign of his quarry.
Taylor continued on her seemingly long and somewhat dangerous journey back home. She was tired, scared and out of breath. Her foray into the glamorous world of superheroes and villains had not turned out like what she had expected. She had hoped to start out small and worked her way to the top ... Perhaps one day become a well-known celebrity like Legend or Alexandria of the Triumvirate for busting crime and keeping the city streets safe in the news.
That was her dream anyway, from the time she was young until now. Sure, she had expected it to be dangerous but doable. She had not expected to be worse than her life in school. The full ramifications of it had not sunk in until she had entered the superhero business for real where just moments ago, it had become a matter of life and death to her in a matter of minutes to the point that she had to fight and run for her very life.
Now that she had time to think about it, she wondered why she had become involved in the cape business in the first place. It was nothing glamorous like what they had shown in the news. And then she knew. The media had partially sanitized the darker aspects of becoming a cape so that things did not look so grim on the outlook to the general public.
Just as she was about to fall into a state of depression regarding the whole issue, she heard Lung's voice echoing to the surroundings and calling her out to battle.
"Come out and fight me! There is no need to hide! What's there to be afraid of? I'll even go easy on you this time! Unless you are afraid of course! Then go and hide in your Mama's basement! Little girl, do you hear me or not?!!"
Taylor began to sob ... deeply upon hearing those words. Faces began to appear before her eyes. But it was not Lung's face that appeared before her. Rather it was Emma, Madison and Sophia's faces that appeared before her, mocking her with their cruel words and intentions.
"Aww ... How cute! Is this all pretty Taylor is good for?"
"I bet that's what she is. Good for nothing. Except for kissing the pavement."
"Yes, grovel in the dust ... where you belong like the dirt you are."
"Loser."
"Total loser."
"She caused someone to die, did you know that?"
"Is she crying now?"
"Go! Run! Hide in the restroom like you usually do!"
"Since you spend so much time hiding in the restroom, we'll even file a petition to the school board on your behalf to make the restroom your new classroom!"
Taylor stopped moving. Her face was covered with tears now but it was not the feeling of sorrow that filled her but one of anger and grim determination. She had been running for the past two years. From the bullies. From the school administration. From the gangsters in the school.
She would run no more. Enough was enough. Grimly, she turned to face the ABB leader and that was when she gave the swarms of insects that had been tracking him the order to attack. Lung was instantly alert the moment the insects began to attack him. He simply had one answer for those attacking insects.
Fire!
Lots and lots of fire!
Flames burst into existence around him, incinerating his tiny and minute attackers. More and more insects began to burn but still they continued to come. Just then, he saw her standing next to the lamp post and pulled back his palms before throwing them forward in a claw-like gesture to form a dragon-shaped ki-blast which he aimed in her direction. The dragon-shaped ki-blast roared as it closed in on her at unbelievable speed. Just as it was about to hit her, something appeared in front of it, intercepting it, thus stopping it completely.
For one brief instant, Lung saw the shape of a robot-like figure with Tinkertech weapons in its hands before him, standing in front of the girl before disappearing again from sight. He was about to unleash an even stronger ki-blast at the girl and what he believed to be her hidden guardian when something caught his attention.
A bright blue light had fired up into the night sky from some undisclosed location and erupted into a bright cocaphony of colours. Lung took a look at it, studying it for a moment before turning back to look at Taylor after the invisibility spell had faded away.
"Another day, little girl," he snorted in derision as took a running leap from where he was to the next building ahead in the direction of the light display.
Lung ran as quickly as he could. He knew what that light display in the night sky was. It was a signal from Oni Lee that his men had run into some trouble up ahead and needed his help right away. One building after another went past him as each of his leaps took him a minimal distance of a hundred feet in a single bound. The roofs of the different buildings and towering lamp posts shook slightly beneath him as his feet touched them but they did not crumble under his weight thanks to his mastery of the Tendon-Altering Sutra.
After a couple of minutes, he finally arrived at the site. Once there, he saw Oni Lee and his men fighting a desperate battle against the Undersiders and a large group of professional soldiers armed with Tinkertech weapons. Without any further hesitation, Lung leaped into the fray, kicking, punching and throwing fire balls and dragon-shaped ki-blasts in all directions at the perceived enemy pinning his men down.
Many of his opponents were able to dive for cover but not all. A number of them were knocked completely out of the fight as they were sent flying backwards in all directions. His sudden appearance seemed to rally his men and they renewed their attack on the Undersiders and their unexpected ally.
All of a sudden, without warning, pitchblack darkness enveloped him completely. Grue! His mind raced to the Undersider who was responsible for this. Without wasting any time, Lung leaped upwards to escape the darkness blocking his vision. The moment, he emerged from the darkness, however, he was struck by a hail of purple laser fire from the retreating soldiers.
They did quite a number on his body but since he regenerated quickly from physical damage, he was not worried about the injuries. He was about to pursue them when towering structures of metal that rose into the sky grew up from the ground, boxing him in. Without wasting any time, he ran vertically up the side of the tower only to get off halfway in an awful hurry, when he received a nasty electrical shock from the metal structure.
Dropping to the concrete ground beneath, he took a moment to study the surroundings. All around him were metal walls that extended upwards into the heavens. The metal walls were high enough to block his path and solid enough to stop him from breaking through it with his strength.
Still the metal walls allowed him to walk around freely within its confines without any problems. The only thing was, he did not know where the path took him to. It was full of twists and turns like a maze. After running for fifteen minutes within it, Lung realised he was completely lost.
Lung was no fool. He knew what the purpose of this labyrinth-like maze was. It was to enable the Undersiders and their secret allies to escape his wrath. And it had succeeded marvellously too, boxing him in, deep within its confines. He knew of only one cape that was capable of such a feat in Brockton Bay - Labyrinth, a member of Faultline's Crew, meaning that Faultline and her team were somehow involved.
Since Faultline and her group of misfits were mercenaries who took contracts from just about anyone who could afford it, that meant that someone had hired them to stop him. The low-life Undersiders couldn't have hired them because they couldn't have afforded Faultline's price. That left the villain Coil as the main culprit since he was the only cape in Brockton Bay who had enough money and motivation to use professional soldiers armed with Tinkertech weaponry.
Though why he would involve himself with the Undersiders' welfare ... unless he was their primary backer and secret patron all along. Of course. That was the only explanation. 'Coil ...' he thought darkly. 'You have crossed me for the last time.' He was going to have to find some way of putting down that annoying meddler into the ground permanently.
Ideally six feet under.
While he was running around looking for a way out of the maze, the steel structures that formed an impassable barrier here and there began to disappear in front of his eyes. Once they had dissolved into nothingness, he could see several PRT teams gathered with various capes from the Protectorate approaching from afar in front of him. The overbearing figure of Armsmaster was there. So were Dauntless, Assault, Battery, Velocity, Triumph and the Protectorate gunner, Miss Militia.
There was silence for a moment as both sides studied the other. Tension rose as the PRT teams quickly deployed their weapons and braced themselves in readiness for a fight. Lung faced them calmly, without saying a word. Armsmaster groaned aloud inside his suit. Fighting with Lung never ended well. Still he could hope as he mouthed a silent prayer. Breaking the silence, he spoke the words that he usually used when dealing with criminals.
"Lung! You are under arrest for attempted murder, rioting, vandalism, smuggling and illegal gang activity! Come forward with your hands raised above your head! Or we will be forced to take action! You have sixty seconds to comply!"
Lung laughed.
He laughed long and hard at the gathered heroes and PRT troops arrayed against him.
"I fail to see the joke," Armsmaster spoke without a trace of humour in his voice.
"You're nothing but a common criminal, Lung. Spare everyone the trouble and give yourself up now before we make you do it, Lung."
There was now a hard edge to it.
"Well then, what are you waiting for? Come and get me!" The ABB leader taunted, projecting his voice with ki as he moved his arms in front of him with both palms facing each other.
A transparent ball of energy that sported the head of a dragon appeared in between his hands. What the Protectorate didn't know was that the sound of his laughter had just been a diversion. While he had been laughing at the PRT out loud in the open, he had not been idle. Unknown to the PRT and the Protectorate fools, he had taken the time to saturate the surroundings with his ki energy in preparation for the fight that he knew was coming.
Like about now.
"Take him down!" Armsmaster ordered.
They were about to open fire with their weapons when Lung lifted his right leg up and stomped his foot on the ground hard. The impact shook the ground they were standing on, rippling out in a wave towards the PRT officers and Protectorate capes and knocked them off their feet. Lung was far from done. He threw his arms outwards to his sides, causing multiple dragon-shaped blasts of fiery ki energy to exit his body movements in a widespread arc, moving rapidly towards all the assembled capes and PRT officers.
Instinctively, they all dove for cover. The dragon-shaped blasts of ki roared onwards, hammering through everything they hit including abandoned buildings, PRT vehicles, lamp posts, traffic lights, power lines, walls and fences. From high above, multiple volleys of missiles streaked down without warning heading for Lung, who threw his arms upwards in response. More dragon-shaped blasts of fiery ki energy erupted from the ground suddenly, ascending rapidly into the air to meet the incoming missiles.
There was a powerful explosion, in actuality, multiple explosions that echoed through the air waves and lit up the night as the two opposing forces of destruction met in the dark skies in a blinding display of colours and thunderous booms. Without wasting any time, Miss Militia and Armsmaster joined in the attack by opening fire on Lung who staggered slightly under the combined fire but seemed none the worse for wear as he regenerated rapidly from his injuries with chrome-like scales forming on his skin.
"He's changing! We have to take him down now!"
More gunfire and approaching missiles could be heard echoing through the night. Miss Militia substituted her mini-gun for a larger and more powerful cannon that could lob high-powered explosives at its target. The remaining active PRT soldiers did not let up with their gunfire on the ABB leader.
Lung responded by flinging his arms forward before ending in a spiral pattern with his fingers and lengthening sharp nails in a claw-like stance. The form of a dragon of pure energy appeared from there to move in a spiral pattern around him. Velocity who had run forward at fast speed to attack Lung was immediately repelled by the moving dragon like a bouncing rubber ball. He ended up falling through the air to land on the top of a three-story building.
Dauntless ran forward with his Arclance only to be beaten back by a blast of blue fire from Lung's mouth. Fortunately, he had his shield in front of him so he wasn't hurt by it. Something fast and hard slammed into Lung from the sky only to bounce off the moving dragon back into the sky. That something turned into the form of a beautiful teenaged girl as she regained control of her flight.
"Look up there! Glory Girl's here!"
She was not alone. A beautiful woman in a white costume save for an indigo starburst on her chest with several lines extending out from the center with a golden tiara on her head was carrying another cape in a white and yellow outfit while a flying young man with blue hair and white costume in his twenties was forming shields and weapons of light in his hands. The woman with the golden tiara set the man in the white and yellow outfit on the ground gently before doing the same.
Next to him, a girl with an arrow and a dozen lines on her costume hovered with her shields and weapons of light at the ready. Below her, a woman and in an orange and white costume materialized weapons and shields of lights in her hands as well. Next to her, a man in a white costume with a grenade on it formed an orb of light in his hands. The rest of the capes making up New Wave were finally here and ready for action.
Last edited:
asgard
Unverified Human Being
- Location
- Somewhere in between Easter Island and Tasmania
"Please show yourself."
There was nothing but silence that greeted her words. Taylor, however, knew better. She had seen the robot-like figure standing in front of her, however briefly and taking the hit that was meant for her from Lung.
"I know you're there. Please show yourself," she pleaded.
I pondered the wisdom of revealing myself to her. Sure I had been there at her mother's funeral and the time when she was jammed into the locker with all that toxic waste. But I had waited until everyone had left before unlocking the door of the locker to let her out. I did so circumspectly while I was unseen so that no one would ever know or find out that I was there. It would complicate matters for me if my presence on this world were discovered.
Still I did not like the bullies to get off scot-free from what they had just done so I left each of the participants of the bullying campaign against Taylor with a gift.
Unknown to them and even Sophia at the time, they were going to experience hell on earth for twenty days straight. I had hit them with a Luck Curse spell. That spell would curse the receipients with really bad luck for twenty days non-stop. I thought it a fair trade since they spent most of their making Taylor's life hell and inadverdantly making my quest more difficult since I was afraid that she might end up killing herself.
So I cast it on them when they were unaware of my presence. All I had to do was get within twenty feet of them and Bingo ... the spell was cast like pouring water over a potted plant. Easy as pie for a level ten spellcaster like me. I didn't have to wait long for the results. Sophia tripped over her feet while she was running and had to be pulled off the team as she had sprained her ankle. To rub salt into the injury, poop landed on her face from a passing pigeon while she lay on the ground groaning with pain.
Julia was sent to hospital when someone threw a baseball that bounced off the wall, before hitting her face somehow by chance. That was not all. She had the bad luck of losing her footing and slipping into the drain, consequently injuring her arms and legs rather badly. What was worse, no one showed up to help her. Not even the one who threw the ball. I finally stepped in by alerting the administration to her predicament since I just wanted her to be punished. Not killed.
As for Madison, Emma slipped over a banana skin and dropped all the containers of art paint that she was carrying all over herself and Madison. Boy ... were they a real mess. When they went to the restroom to wash off the paint, Emma ran into another person carrying a hot cup of coffee and caused said person to spill his coffee all over her and Madison. Said person spent most of his time apologising to her even though it was not his fault. Typical populist-type teacher, Mr. Gladly was proving true to his archetype in every sense of the word.
That was just the start that I saw that day. I didn't see any of the bullies when Taylor returned to school three days later. They were down with flu or something I found out. The school authorities were slightly on edge around Taylor ever since the incident since they were afraid that she would sue the school for negligence. During that time, she was pretty much left alone by the students and the teachers.
"Please show yourself," she begged, tears beginning to gather in her eyes.
After wrestling with the issue for some time, I finally reached a decision. Against my better judgement, I dropped the invisibility spell that was hiding me from the world to stand before her in my NEC20 Camouflage Variable Armor. Even then, seeing my figure without the invisibility spell covering it was not easy as the body armour I was using adapted to the appearance of the environment like a chameleon. The outline was barely visible beneath the street lights and she reached out her gloved hand to me.
I reached out my hand in body armour to take it. She touched it with her gloved hand and the chameleon-like effect of my body armour rippled briefly to adjust to the texture of her gloved hand that came into contact with it before matching it completely. She continued to study my figure in silence for sometime. She moved her other hand towards where my face would be. The appearance rippled just like hand earlier when her gloved hand came into contact with it.
"You're real. You're really real!" she said as though not quite believing what she was seeing.
"I always thought ... it was just a dream ... that time ... but you're all here and real too!" her voice tinged with excitement as she used her gloved hands to trace out the form of my body armour which rippled like a wave in response to her gloved hands.
"What are you, anyway?" she asked.
"That's a very long story and you have to get home before your Dad finds out that you're not home," I spoke calmly, my voice disguised by the builtin voice modulater in the suit.
"Oh crap! You're right! I have to get home!"
Taylor ran home happily despite her exhaustion and experience with Lung that night.
'He's real! He's real!' were the thoughts running through her forehead in a rush.
When she slept that night, it was done with a smile on her face.
The next morning, when she woke up, she got a quite a surprise waiting for her at the foot of the bed. There was a suit of body armour waiting for her that seemed to have taken on the texture and appearance of the surroundings in her bedroom. There were also a couple of strange looking guns which she had never seen before right beside it. What seemed to be a note was left at her bedside. It read:
Dear Taylor
I know that you would never give up the chance to crack down on crime because you have the mindset to not let evil things lie. So I will not ask you to stop going out at night in your quest for justice. The body armour and the weapons are for you to use. Its camouflage field will enable you to hide better from detection and its resistance to damage would be higher than the spidersilk armour that you use.
In fact, its size would permit you to use the body armour over the spidersilk armour at the same time. In addition to that, I have outfitted the armour with a regenerative forcefield generator that should be able to tank bullet shots, energy blasts and explosives quite easily. There is also a builtin OP-field switch that will allow you to move through solid matter but not forcefields. Please remember that you can't use both the OP-field and the forcefield at the same time.
The gun on your left is a paralyser that stuns the target into paralysis when hit. It has a range of 500 feet and can hold up to 20 shots. When it runs out, you can use the recharger at the foot of the bed. The gun on your right is a phase beamer that fires a phased beam that only damages living things. It will not damage armour or physical barriers of any kind since the beam will pass through the armour or physical barrier to damage the person behind it. It has a range of 400 feet and a payload of 10 shots.
Remember to use the recharger too when it runs out.
Now hurry and hide all those goodies before your father or anyone else sees it!
Your hidden friend,
Israfel.
Taylor clutched the note to her chest with tears in her eyes.
With Lung's departure, a message in green light appeared before me.
QUEST STATUS: SUCCESS!
REWARDS: 200 EXP FOR SAVING TAYLOR FROM LUNG.
CONSEQUENCES: INCREASED CLOSENESS WITH TAYLOR.
After Taylor had gone home, I decided to go on to the next part of my 'undeclared' mission. The words in front of me changed .
QUEST ALERT!
MAKING A LIVING.
1. LEGAL MEANS
2. ILLEGAL MEANS
SUCCESS: 100,000 USD.
FAILURE: 0 USD.
ACCEPT (Y/N)?
Namely, making ends meet. Since I did not have a legal job or identity on this world, that left one of two ways. Making money like a criminal or making money off some criminal. I picked option two. Now, normally I would not go around relieving criminals of their illegal bounty but I had bills to pay since my arrival in this world. And money just doesn't fall from the sky.
So ... Merchants or E88 tonight? The ABB was off-limits at the moment since I did not want to piss off Lung more than he already was. Moreso, when he appeared to be a master of the martial arts.
I thought about it for a moment and decided to let my powers decide. They guided me to a three-story house near a deserted alley. I headed for the place quietly without a sound though not before supplementing my body armour's camouflage field with an Invisibility: Simple spell. Why use an Invisibility: Simple spell and not the Invisibilty: Superior spell? Well, it simply costs less potential psychic energy to do so and it also allows the caster to take part in combat and remain invisible.
Combat was something that was not at all possible with the Invisibility: Superior spell. That was why Taylor had become visible after I had cast the spell over her. Because she had attacked Lung with her swarm of insects and was thus, considered as having engaged in combat. And since I was going to engage in some rather pointed aggressive behaviour shortly, I could not use the Invisibility: Superior spell either.
I stepped up to the door of the building carefully. The faster this was done, the better it would be. It was then, I noticed something strange happening all around me. The lights in the building that I was planning to hit had begun to flicker oddly. In response, I extended the range of my visual sensors elsewhere to find out what was happening and discovered the same thing about the surrounding buildings and alleys. The lights there had also begun to flicker a little oddly.
Involuntarily, I raised an eyebrow. Now this is getting just a little spooky for my tastes.
In the dark sky, I could see clouds beginning to roll and churn as though disturbed by something unexplainable. Then a drop of rain fell. Followed by another drop. Then rain drops began to fall more rapidly and pretty soon, it was falling in an unending stream. Within minutes, it had become a heavy downpour.
Strong winds accompanied the downpour beating down on everything in its path. I had, of course, activated the builtin-OP field that allowed me to pass through solid matter so I wasn't worried as I passed through the wall of the building without a sound.
Meanwhile, somewhere close to the Boat Graveyard, all the combatants regarded each other in deep silence for what seemed like an eternity. Like the calm before the storm. Unnoticed by either side, it had begun to rain as lightning flashed in the sky. Neither did they care as the wind began to pick up as thunder crashed in the distance.
Then battle was joined with Dauntless striking first with his Arclance. He missed as Lung leaped over him to throw a dragon-shaped ki blast at Flashbang who was preparing a glowing green grenade in his hands. Without wasting any time, Dauntless activated his forcefield with his shield blocking the thrown ki-blast that bounced off his forcefield before returning back to Lung which simply ricochet of his moving dragon ki-shield in turn. Only to fly into another worn-down building with a crash.
Lady Photon opened up with a concentrated blast of hard light at Lung, hoping to crack his strange shield that writhed and moved as though it were alive like a living dragon. She was joined in her efforts by her daughter Laserdream, who added in her own blasts of hard light that were stronger than her mother's into the mix. Seeing what they were trying to do, Assault joined in the attack with his long range kinetic energy strikes and Shielder with his much weaker hard light blasts.
The moving dragon flickered slightly than gave out though Lung twisted his body around the beams in midleap. Without wasting any more time, Lung threw a wave of dragon-shaped ki-blasts with his feet at the assembled group in return. Quickly followed by a wave of blue flames that rolled out from him like napalm. The wind blew hard, fanning the flames and causing them to go awry.
Dauntless and Shielder linked up their shields deflecting the majority of the ki-blasts and blue flames from the capes and the PRT officers into the surroundings, causing a large number of the abandoned structures such as buildings and telephone poles to crumble into the ground with a loud crash. Miss Militia, Armsmaster and several PRT officers who were still standing, took whatever opportunities that they had to cut loose with their weapons on Lung.
Undaunted by the barrage of concentrated fire that he was facing from the heroes, Lung retaliated by causing a wave of ki-blasts to erupt from the ground beneath their feet with his hands. The wave of dragon-shaped ki-blasts roared from beneath them into the sky, knocking them off their feet and in Brandish's case, throwing her into the sky with a roar. Though she had instinctively turned into her invulnerable form of hard light that was shaped like a sphere to save herself from any possible injury.
There was a thunderous boom from above as a blinding explosion engulfed something large and unseen, that was moving through the sky undetected. Much to everyone's shock and disbelief, entire buildings began collapsing in the city like dominoes as though struck by something massive. The crushing, grinding sound continued as more buildings and power lines tumbled rapidly as though something was barreling through them like a bowling ball.
By that time, all the combatants had stopped fighting. Even Lung knew that something was amiss as he looked a little stunned at the damage to the city as everyone looked around them.
"Armsmaster, I am getting emergency calls from all over the city. The BBPD and emergency services are swamped with calls for help from civillians. We will have to render assistance to them as soon as possible," the normal voice of Dragon sounded through his headpiece.
The Ward leader took a deep breath. He would have to forgo the fight with Lung for now. The emergency calls for help from everyone across the city would have to be dealt with first. Fortunately, the ABB leader didn't seem interested in continuing the fight with the Protectorate either as he had already departed the scene in a single bound, no doubt to assess the damage done to his area.
"Everyone, pull back to base immediately. You will all be redeployed across the city to help the BBPD and emergency services in responding to calls from civillians. They need us."
He turned to Lady Photon.
"Will New Wave be assisting us?"
"Yes, New Wave will be assisting the Protectorate in this regard," Lady Photon answered.
There was nothing but silence that greeted her words. Taylor, however, knew better. She had seen the robot-like figure standing in front of her, however briefly and taking the hit that was meant for her from Lung.
"I know you're there. Please show yourself," she pleaded.
I pondered the wisdom of revealing myself to her. Sure I had been there at her mother's funeral and the time when she was jammed into the locker with all that toxic waste. But I had waited until everyone had left before unlocking the door of the locker to let her out. I did so circumspectly while I was unseen so that no one would ever know or find out that I was there. It would complicate matters for me if my presence on this world were discovered.
Still I did not like the bullies to get off scot-free from what they had just done so I left each of the participants of the bullying campaign against Taylor with a gift.
Unknown to them and even Sophia at the time, they were going to experience hell on earth for twenty days straight. I had hit them with a Luck Curse spell. That spell would curse the receipients with really bad luck for twenty days non-stop. I thought it a fair trade since they spent most of their making Taylor's life hell and inadverdantly making my quest more difficult since I was afraid that she might end up killing herself.
So I cast it on them when they were unaware of my presence. All I had to do was get within twenty feet of them and Bingo ... the spell was cast like pouring water over a potted plant. Easy as pie for a level ten spellcaster like me. I didn't have to wait long for the results. Sophia tripped over her feet while she was running and had to be pulled off the team as she had sprained her ankle. To rub salt into the injury, poop landed on her face from a passing pigeon while she lay on the ground groaning with pain.
Julia was sent to hospital when someone threw a baseball that bounced off the wall, before hitting her face somehow by chance. That was not all. She had the bad luck of losing her footing and slipping into the drain, consequently injuring her arms and legs rather badly. What was worse, no one showed up to help her. Not even the one who threw the ball. I finally stepped in by alerting the administration to her predicament since I just wanted her to be punished. Not killed.
As for Madison, Emma slipped over a banana skin and dropped all the containers of art paint that she was carrying all over herself and Madison. Boy ... were they a real mess. When they went to the restroom to wash off the paint, Emma ran into another person carrying a hot cup of coffee and caused said person to spill his coffee all over her and Madison. Said person spent most of his time apologising to her even though it was not his fault. Typical populist-type teacher, Mr. Gladly was proving true to his archetype in every sense of the word.
That was just the start that I saw that day. I didn't see any of the bullies when Taylor returned to school three days later. They were down with flu or something I found out. The school authorities were slightly on edge around Taylor ever since the incident since they were afraid that she would sue the school for negligence. During that time, she was pretty much left alone by the students and the teachers.
"Please show yourself," she begged, tears beginning to gather in her eyes.
After wrestling with the issue for some time, I finally reached a decision. Against my better judgement, I dropped the invisibility spell that was hiding me from the world to stand before her in my NEC20 Camouflage Variable Armor. Even then, seeing my figure without the invisibility spell covering it was not easy as the body armour I was using adapted to the appearance of the environment like a chameleon. The outline was barely visible beneath the street lights and she reached out her gloved hand to me.
I reached out my hand in body armour to take it. She touched it with her gloved hand and the chameleon-like effect of my body armour rippled briefly to adjust to the texture of her gloved hand that came into contact with it before matching it completely. She continued to study my figure in silence for sometime. She moved her other hand towards where my face would be. The appearance rippled just like hand earlier when her gloved hand came into contact with it.
"You're real. You're really real!" she said as though not quite believing what she was seeing.
"I always thought ... it was just a dream ... that time ... but you're all here and real too!" her voice tinged with excitement as she used her gloved hands to trace out the form of my body armour which rippled like a wave in response to her gloved hands.
"What are you, anyway?" she asked.
"That's a very long story and you have to get home before your Dad finds out that you're not home," I spoke calmly, my voice disguised by the builtin voice modulater in the suit.
"Oh crap! You're right! I have to get home!"
Taylor ran home happily despite her exhaustion and experience with Lung that night.
'He's real! He's real!' were the thoughts running through her forehead in a rush.
When she slept that night, it was done with a smile on her face.
The next morning, when she woke up, she got a quite a surprise waiting for her at the foot of the bed. There was a suit of body armour waiting for her that seemed to have taken on the texture and appearance of the surroundings in her bedroom. There were also a couple of strange looking guns which she had never seen before right beside it. What seemed to be a note was left at her bedside. It read:
Dear Taylor
I know that you would never give up the chance to crack down on crime because you have the mindset to not let evil things lie. So I will not ask you to stop going out at night in your quest for justice. The body armour and the weapons are for you to use. Its camouflage field will enable you to hide better from detection and its resistance to damage would be higher than the spidersilk armour that you use.
In fact, its size would permit you to use the body armour over the spidersilk armour at the same time. In addition to that, I have outfitted the armour with a regenerative forcefield generator that should be able to tank bullet shots, energy blasts and explosives quite easily. There is also a builtin OP-field switch that will allow you to move through solid matter but not forcefields. Please remember that you can't use both the OP-field and the forcefield at the same time.
The gun on your left is a paralyser that stuns the target into paralysis when hit. It has a range of 500 feet and can hold up to 20 shots. When it runs out, you can use the recharger at the foot of the bed. The gun on your right is a phase beamer that fires a phased beam that only damages living things. It will not damage armour or physical barriers of any kind since the beam will pass through the armour or physical barrier to damage the person behind it. It has a range of 400 feet and a payload of 10 shots.
Remember to use the recharger too when it runs out.
Now hurry and hide all those goodies before your father or anyone else sees it!
Your hidden friend,
Israfel.
Taylor clutched the note to her chest with tears in her eyes.
With Lung's departure, a message in green light appeared before me.
QUEST STATUS: SUCCESS!
REWARDS: 200 EXP FOR SAVING TAYLOR FROM LUNG.
CONSEQUENCES: INCREASED CLOSENESS WITH TAYLOR.
After Taylor had gone home, I decided to go on to the next part of my 'undeclared' mission. The words in front of me changed .
QUEST ALERT!
MAKING A LIVING.
1. LEGAL MEANS
2. ILLEGAL MEANS
SUCCESS: 100,000 USD.
FAILURE: 0 USD.
ACCEPT (Y/N)?
Namely, making ends meet. Since I did not have a legal job or identity on this world, that left one of two ways. Making money like a criminal or making money off some criminal. I picked option two. Now, normally I would not go around relieving criminals of their illegal bounty but I had bills to pay since my arrival in this world. And money just doesn't fall from the sky.
So ... Merchants or E88 tonight? The ABB was off-limits at the moment since I did not want to piss off Lung more than he already was. Moreso, when he appeared to be a master of the martial arts.
I thought about it for a moment and decided to let my powers decide. They guided me to a three-story house near a deserted alley. I headed for the place quietly without a sound though not before supplementing my body armour's camouflage field with an Invisibility: Simple spell. Why use an Invisibility: Simple spell and not the Invisibilty: Superior spell? Well, it simply costs less potential psychic energy to do so and it also allows the caster to take part in combat and remain invisible.
Combat was something that was not at all possible with the Invisibility: Superior spell. That was why Taylor had become visible after I had cast the spell over her. Because she had attacked Lung with her swarm of insects and was thus, considered as having engaged in combat. And since I was going to engage in some rather pointed aggressive behaviour shortly, I could not use the Invisibility: Superior spell either.
I stepped up to the door of the building carefully. The faster this was done, the better it would be. It was then, I noticed something strange happening all around me. The lights in the building that I was planning to hit had begun to flicker oddly. In response, I extended the range of my visual sensors elsewhere to find out what was happening and discovered the same thing about the surrounding buildings and alleys. The lights there had also begun to flicker a little oddly.
Involuntarily, I raised an eyebrow. Now this is getting just a little spooky for my tastes.
In the dark sky, I could see clouds beginning to roll and churn as though disturbed by something unexplainable. Then a drop of rain fell. Followed by another drop. Then rain drops began to fall more rapidly and pretty soon, it was falling in an unending stream. Within minutes, it had become a heavy downpour.
Strong winds accompanied the downpour beating down on everything in its path. I had, of course, activated the builtin-OP field that allowed me to pass through solid matter so I wasn't worried as I passed through the wall of the building without a sound.
Meanwhile, somewhere close to the Boat Graveyard, all the combatants regarded each other in deep silence for what seemed like an eternity. Like the calm before the storm. Unnoticed by either side, it had begun to rain as lightning flashed in the sky. Neither did they care as the wind began to pick up as thunder crashed in the distance.
Then battle was joined with Dauntless striking first with his Arclance. He missed as Lung leaped over him to throw a dragon-shaped ki blast at Flashbang who was preparing a glowing green grenade in his hands. Without wasting any time, Dauntless activated his forcefield with his shield blocking the thrown ki-blast that bounced off his forcefield before returning back to Lung which simply ricochet of his moving dragon ki-shield in turn. Only to fly into another worn-down building with a crash.
Lady Photon opened up with a concentrated blast of hard light at Lung, hoping to crack his strange shield that writhed and moved as though it were alive like a living dragon. She was joined in her efforts by her daughter Laserdream, who added in her own blasts of hard light that were stronger than her mother's into the mix. Seeing what they were trying to do, Assault joined in the attack with his long range kinetic energy strikes and Shielder with his much weaker hard light blasts.
The moving dragon flickered slightly than gave out though Lung twisted his body around the beams in midleap. Without wasting any more time, Lung threw a wave of dragon-shaped ki-blasts with his feet at the assembled group in return. Quickly followed by a wave of blue flames that rolled out from him like napalm. The wind blew hard, fanning the flames and causing them to go awry.
Dauntless and Shielder linked up their shields deflecting the majority of the ki-blasts and blue flames from the capes and the PRT officers into the surroundings, causing a large number of the abandoned structures such as buildings and telephone poles to crumble into the ground with a loud crash. Miss Militia, Armsmaster and several PRT officers who were still standing, took whatever opportunities that they had to cut loose with their weapons on Lung.
Undaunted by the barrage of concentrated fire that he was facing from the heroes, Lung retaliated by causing a wave of ki-blasts to erupt from the ground beneath their feet with his hands. The wave of dragon-shaped ki-blasts roared from beneath them into the sky, knocking them off their feet and in Brandish's case, throwing her into the sky with a roar. Though she had instinctively turned into her invulnerable form of hard light that was shaped like a sphere to save herself from any possible injury.
There was a thunderous boom from above as a blinding explosion engulfed something large and unseen, that was moving through the sky undetected. Much to everyone's shock and disbelief, entire buildings began collapsing in the city like dominoes as though struck by something massive. The crushing, grinding sound continued as more buildings and power lines tumbled rapidly as though something was barreling through them like a bowling ball.
By that time, all the combatants had stopped fighting. Even Lung knew that something was amiss as he looked a little stunned at the damage to the city as everyone looked around them.
"Armsmaster, I am getting emergency calls from all over the city. The BBPD and emergency services are swamped with calls for help from civillians. We will have to render assistance to them as soon as possible," the normal voice of Dragon sounded through his headpiece.
The Ward leader took a deep breath. He would have to forgo the fight with Lung for now. The emergency calls for help from everyone across the city would have to be dealt with first. Fortunately, the ABB leader didn't seem interested in continuing the fight with the Protectorate either as he had already departed the scene in a single bound, no doubt to assess the damage done to his area.
"Everyone, pull back to base immediately. You will all be redeployed across the city to help the BBPD and emergency services in responding to calls from civillians. They need us."
He turned to Lady Photon.
"Will New Wave be assisting us?"
"Yes, New Wave will be assisting the Protectorate in this regard," Lady Photon answered.
Last edited:
asgard
Unverified Human Being
- Location
- Somewhere in between Easter Island and Tasmania
I passed through the walls of the building without a sound. From my powers and body armour's bio-sensors, I could tell that there were nine people in the building. Three on the ground floor. Four on the first floor. And two on the second floor. Oh ... and none of them were capes it seemed. Good for me then and bad for them. They seemed a little queasy though. No doubt because of the flickering lights. I cast a Cloud of Slumber spell on those gangbangers and without further ado, they fell asleep on the ground. Those poor dolts on the same floor anyway.
While they were out cold, I telepathically probed their minds for information to their cash and valuables. Thankfully, it did not take long and I found out exactly, where there goodies were. I headed for the second floor.
"George!" A voice belonging to that of a man called out.
"Yo man!" came the reply.
"Can you check the power supply? It's disrupting my WorldNet connection," the first man grumbled.
"Okay, boss,"the man answered.
While they were talking, I cast another sleep spell on them. They all fell asleep like their compatriots below except for one gangbanger with the tattoo of a naked woman on his right forearm. The poor idiot must have made his saving throw against magic, I grumbled inwardly. He was shocked speechless to find his buddies all falling to sleep in front of him. I didn't give him any time to wallow in his shock and get over it for I simply knocked him out with a blow to the head before he could do anything.
Now for the last three idiots upstairs and after that it's open season. I climbed up the stairs stealthily, finding one naked man sandwiched between two naked ladies sleeping in bed. Just my luck, my work is done for me. I went down to the first floor and began to open the safe in the room. And what do we have here?
A hundred thousand dollars with a whole pile of the latest Tinkertech drugs on the street. I cast a Dimensional Pockets spell that could store anything that could fit into a backpack such as clothing and handguns in another dimension. It would last up to twenty hours and would work well to store all that money and drugs that I had just taken from the safe. I didn't like narcotics so I was going to dispose of them by letting them fade away with the spell when its duration had expired. It was an easy and convenient way of disposing unwanted items without being traced.
Having obtained what I had come for, I went back down the stairs, activated the built-in OP field and phased through the wall that I had just passed through earlier. It was still raining outside when I got out. With some rather strong winds, I might add. Not that I was overly concerned. Since nothing solid could touch me while I had the builtin OP-field activated.
QUEST STATUS: SUCCESS!
REWARDS: 100,000 USD AND TINKERTECH DRUGS! GAINED 200 EXP!
All in aday's night's work. I headed home. A shocking sight greeted me when I reached the building where I rented my room. There was a large gaping hole on the left side of the building where my room used to be. The third, fourth and fifth floors above my room were completely gone. My room was on the second floor of the building. But I had no illusions about that building being still viable to live in or structurally sound. I stepped into a shadow and reappeared in a shadow in my room. The ceiling was missing and so was a section of the wall in front of me.
QUEST ALERT!
FIND OUT WHAT CAUSED THE DAMAGE TO YOUR ROOM.
REWARDS: HIDDEN + 1000 EXP
FAILURE: HIDDEN + 0 EXP
QUEST ACCEPTED (Y/N)?
Having nothing better to do, I chose yes. Then I went to my drawer and took out my bank book and whatever valuables that I had before putting them back. I regarded the name on the bank book whose identity I had been using for sometime - MR. NATHAN GREY. It would be a waste to get rid of it but I didn't want the authorities poking their noses where they didn't belong. Not when I knew it would be very difficult to explain why Mr. Nathan Grey was still in good health and kicking when most of his neighbours who lived around him were likely seriously injured, comatose or dead.
I had to pick another guise. One that did not draw undue attention from anyone including Taylor. Yes, especially her. For this to work, there had to be a clear separation between my civillian guise and cape guise so no smart-aleck would connect the dots between them. I was about to pick a guise at random when something occured to me. When I had revealed myself to Taylor in the street, she was so starved for affection and love that she had reached out to touch me physically in my body armour.
Coupled with the fact that Taylor was also a teenager and had hormonal urges like any other normal girl, there was a good chance that she would fall for my persona or cling to it like a life-saving anchor on a ship since she did not have any other friends. What was worse, my Physical Beauty stat was at twenty points so there was a fifty percent chance of that happening with each random encounter in my civillian guise.
While I would not have cared about this little fact in most situations, this thing, however, was something I could not simply overlook because of the covert nature of the mission given to me. Furthermore, this would make the truth a lot harder for Taylor to deal with when the time came around for me to reveal it to her. No. I couldn't let that happen. There was a possibility that she might end up with a complete mental breakdown and would need to be committed to a psychiatric ward for the rest of her life. She deserved better than this.
I made up my mind then. My new guise would be female then since I knew that Taylor was straight and not a lesbian. On the small chance that she was bi-sexual since I had read about it in some WORM fanfics, I decided to let my new guise have the same hair colour or feel as Emma's hair to make it even more unlikely for Taylor to fall for the new female persona that I came up with. So Taylor would have a reason to be instinctively hesitant on getting close or intimate with me in my new disguise.
And since Emma Barnes was a redhead, I decided to pick someone with red hair. Like hers and my mind thought of the perfect individual for the job. A close relation ... sister perhaps of Nathan Grey ... Hah! That was it! This was perfect! Jean Grey from X-Men Marvel Comics! Her beauty, figure and poise would drive Taylor green with envy and would certainly ensure that Taylor would never fall for me! Now all I had to do was set a few things in motion for Mr. Nathan Grey's older sister, Jean Grey, to make an appearance in Brockton Bay to search for her 'long-lost brother'.
I looked outside. The building next to it was missing its right side as well. From what I could see, something had smashed through the building like what you get in a road accident. Except that whatever had torn through it was really large and solid. Even the structural supports of the building were gone at the point of impact. Like a kinetic kill missile fired from the sky. Did somebody know of my mission and was trying to kill me?
I still remembered her warning words to me.
"There's an adventuring party heading for this version of Earth. They were sent there to die. This world is going to hell in a basket in twenty-three years. I need you to keep this group of adventurers alive while they're there. Keeping the world intact and its inhabitants alive are not requirements for success in this mission. Your only mission is to make sure that these four adventurers stay alive. I am prepared to make you a wonderful compensation pack for all your trouble."
"A very wonderful compensation pack," She emphasised each of the words verbally.
"Here. Study this list. Its creator by the name of Sun Tzu from Spacebattles called it alternative WORM CYOA."
I studied the list carefully. There had to be a catch.
I found none. She smiled like knew when I said nothing about it. But I was still suspicious enough to stay cautious.
"I do agree this is tempting but with all the power available to you but why do you need me to do it?" I asked.
"If the Other Side were to find out that I did something directly to keep them alive, there will be war. War on a scale that you can barely comprehend. Countless beings will die and entire realities will be wiped out if that were to happen. Your involvement will not trigger their direct involvement because they are bound by their own rules. The most that they can do is to send someone else like what I am doing."
"Can I get those four to safety by moving them to another dimension?" I asked.
"You can ... after thirty years when the dimensional barriers barring those four travel to other dimensions come down. The Other Side wanted to make sure they died."
"If I agree to this, ..."
"You get to keep all the new powers that you opted for in the list in addition to your original pack and the ones you currently have upon your return here. Don't worry. This isn't a game and I understand that no one likes to lose whatever powers they may have. When you return to Phase World, you also get to return at the time of your choosing."
"I want to able to return to my world of origin without my past coming after me."
"Not a problem. After you complete the mission, none of your enemies or even allies will be able to find your world of origin."
"Alright, you have me. What world is this and how do I find them?"
"They call it Earth Bet. A local girl called Taylor Herbert will lead you to them. So, what do you say?"
"I'll take it." And hopefully get strong enough to choke a Splugorth to death with my bare hands, was my first thought.
"Sweet dreams," came the reply.
Despite my near immunity to psychic attacks, I fell asleep almost immediately.
"Remember! Whatever you do, keep those four alive! All other concerns are secondary!" her voice echoed through my mind.
While they were out cold, I telepathically probed their minds for information to their cash and valuables. Thankfully, it did not take long and I found out exactly, where there goodies were. I headed for the second floor.
"George!" A voice belonging to that of a man called out.
"Yo man!" came the reply.
"Can you check the power supply? It's disrupting my WorldNet connection," the first man grumbled.
"Okay, boss,"the man answered.
While they were talking, I cast another sleep spell on them. They all fell asleep like their compatriots below except for one gangbanger with the tattoo of a naked woman on his right forearm. The poor idiot must have made his saving throw against magic, I grumbled inwardly. He was shocked speechless to find his buddies all falling to sleep in front of him. I didn't give him any time to wallow in his shock and get over it for I simply knocked him out with a blow to the head before he could do anything.
Now for the last three idiots upstairs and after that it's open season. I climbed up the stairs stealthily, finding one naked man sandwiched between two naked ladies sleeping in bed. Just my luck, my work is done for me. I went down to the first floor and began to open the safe in the room. And what do we have here?
A hundred thousand dollars with a whole pile of the latest Tinkertech drugs on the street. I cast a Dimensional Pockets spell that could store anything that could fit into a backpack such as clothing and handguns in another dimension. It would last up to twenty hours and would work well to store all that money and drugs that I had just taken from the safe. I didn't like narcotics so I was going to dispose of them by letting them fade away with the spell when its duration had expired. It was an easy and convenient way of disposing unwanted items without being traced.
Having obtained what I had come for, I went back down the stairs, activated the built-in OP field and phased through the wall that I had just passed through earlier. It was still raining outside when I got out. With some rather strong winds, I might add. Not that I was overly concerned. Since nothing solid could touch me while I had the builtin OP-field activated.
QUEST STATUS: SUCCESS!
REWARDS: 100,000 USD AND TINKERTECH DRUGS! GAINED 200 EXP!
All in a
QUEST ALERT!
FIND OUT WHAT CAUSED THE DAMAGE TO YOUR ROOM.
REWARDS: HIDDEN + 1000 EXP
FAILURE: HIDDEN + 0 EXP
QUEST ACCEPTED (Y/N)?
Having nothing better to do, I chose yes. Then I went to my drawer and took out my bank book and whatever valuables that I had before putting them back. I regarded the name on the bank book whose identity I had been using for sometime - MR. NATHAN GREY. It would be a waste to get rid of it but I didn't want the authorities poking their noses where they didn't belong. Not when I knew it would be very difficult to explain why Mr. Nathan Grey was still in good health and kicking when most of his neighbours who lived around him were likely seriously injured, comatose or dead.
I had to pick another guise. One that did not draw undue attention from anyone including Taylor. Yes, especially her. For this to work, there had to be a clear separation between my civillian guise and cape guise so no smart-aleck would connect the dots between them. I was about to pick a guise at random when something occured to me. When I had revealed myself to Taylor in the street, she was so starved for affection and love that she had reached out to touch me physically in my body armour.
Coupled with the fact that Taylor was also a teenager and had hormonal urges like any other normal girl, there was a good chance that she would fall for my persona or cling to it like a life-saving anchor on a ship since she did not have any other friends. What was worse, my Physical Beauty stat was at twenty points so there was a fifty percent chance of that happening with each random encounter in my civillian guise.
While I would not have cared about this little fact in most situations, this thing, however, was something I could not simply overlook because of the covert nature of the mission given to me. Furthermore, this would make the truth a lot harder for Taylor to deal with when the time came around for me to reveal it to her. No. I couldn't let that happen. There was a possibility that she might end up with a complete mental breakdown and would need to be committed to a psychiatric ward for the rest of her life. She deserved better than this.
I made up my mind then. My new guise would be female then since I knew that Taylor was straight and not a lesbian. On the small chance that she was bi-sexual since I had read about it in some WORM fanfics, I decided to let my new guise have the same hair colour or feel as Emma's hair to make it even more unlikely for Taylor to fall for the new female persona that I came up with. So Taylor would have a reason to be instinctively hesitant on getting close or intimate with me in my new disguise.
And since Emma Barnes was a redhead, I decided to pick someone with red hair. Like hers and my mind thought of the perfect individual for the job. A close relation ... sister perhaps of Nathan Grey ... Hah! That was it! This was perfect! Jean Grey from X-Men Marvel Comics! Her beauty, figure and poise would drive Taylor green with envy and would certainly ensure that Taylor would never fall for me! Now all I had to do was set a few things in motion for Mr. Nathan Grey's older sister, Jean Grey, to make an appearance in Brockton Bay to search for her 'long-lost brother'.
I looked outside. The building next to it was missing its right side as well. From what I could see, something had smashed through the building like what you get in a road accident. Except that whatever had torn through it was really large and solid. Even the structural supports of the building were gone at the point of impact. Like a kinetic kill missile fired from the sky. Did somebody know of my mission and was trying to kill me?
I still remembered her warning words to me.
"There's an adventuring party heading for this version of Earth. They were sent there to die. This world is going to hell in a basket in twenty-three years. I need you to keep this group of adventurers alive while they're there. Keeping the world intact and its inhabitants alive are not requirements for success in this mission. Your only mission is to make sure that these four adventurers stay alive. I am prepared to make you a wonderful compensation pack for all your trouble."
"A very wonderful compensation pack," She emphasised each of the words verbally.
"Here. Study this list. Its creator by the name of Sun Tzu from Spacebattles called it alternative WORM CYOA."
I studied the list carefully. There had to be a catch.
I found none. She smiled like knew when I said nothing about it. But I was still suspicious enough to stay cautious.
"I do agree this is tempting but with all the power available to you but why do you need me to do it?" I asked.
"If the Other Side were to find out that I did something directly to keep them alive, there will be war. War on a scale that you can barely comprehend. Countless beings will die and entire realities will be wiped out if that were to happen. Your involvement will not trigger their direct involvement because they are bound by their own rules. The most that they can do is to send someone else like what I am doing."
"Can I get those four to safety by moving them to another dimension?" I asked.
"You can ... after thirty years when the dimensional barriers barring those four travel to other dimensions come down. The Other Side wanted to make sure they died."
"If I agree to this, ..."
"You get to keep all the new powers that you opted for in the list in addition to your original pack and the ones you currently have upon your return here. Don't worry. This isn't a game and I understand that no one likes to lose whatever powers they may have. When you return to Phase World, you also get to return at the time of your choosing."
"I want to able to return to my world of origin without my past coming after me."
"Not a problem. After you complete the mission, none of your enemies or even allies will be able to find your world of origin."
"Alright, you have me. What world is this and how do I find them?"
"They call it Earth Bet. A local girl called Taylor Herbert will lead you to them. So, what do you say?"
"I'll take it." And hopefully get strong enough to choke a Splugorth to death with my bare hands, was my first thought.
"Sweet dreams," came the reply.
Despite my near immunity to psychic attacks, I fell asleep almost immediately.
"Remember! Whatever you do, keep those four alive! All other concerns are secondary!" her voice echoed through my mind.
Last edited: