Shoobie_Doo
Glory to Soviet Doge
- Location
- Yes
I almost forgive you for killing him in Outcry now!
No good deed... (Worm AU)
- Thread starter LD1449
- Start date
Puppetmaster24
The Crux Mechanicus
I have a horrible feeling creeping up my spine.
Chojomeka
Behold! QUEEN MONKE!
~The ride ain't over yet!~
Gear
Set Moon to Ramming Speed!
There's no getting off Mr. LD1449's wild ride.~The ride ain't over yet!~
Chojomeka
Behold! QUEEN MONKE!
More like there are no brakes on the trauma train when LD1449 is conducting.
What LD1449 is conducting isn't a train, but an roller coaster of feels. It's up to him to decide if we are going on a gentle kiddy ride or something like the Leviathan!!
Gear
Set Moon to Ramming Speed!
The Leviathan? *Is currently wearing (fake) dunce hat* What's that?
Ganurath
Literal Enthusiast
- Location
- A Valid Location
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Don't worry, that's just a spider.
Dawnk41
Comatose Grizzly
- Location
- America
...I remember being so angrily frustrated when Battery married Assault in Worm. "What the hell girl? THAT'S YOUR ARCHENEMY!"
...But now he's one of my favorite characters. And yes, I do realize that "Archenemy" and "Love Interest" Are adjacent on the relationship scale, not opposites, now.
But it still frustrates me sometimes.
...But now he's one of my favorite characters. And yes, I do realize that "Archenemy" and "Love Interest" Are adjacent on the relationship scale, not opposites, now.
But it still frustrates me sometimes.
TW33K
Generic Title
- Location
- where the wild things aren't
so...
can you change this story to more of a "...goes unrewarded" instead of "...goes unpunished" cause that would be awesome.
after making me like Sophia, and reaffirming my totally hetro man crush on Assault, I'm really not looking forward to the moment everything goes to shit in this story.
can you change this story to more of a "...goes unrewarded" instead of "...goes unpunished" cause that would be awesome.
after making me like Sophia, and reaffirming my totally hetro man crush on Assault, I'm really not looking forward to the moment everything goes to shit in this story.
Chojomeka
Behold! QUEEN MONKE!
Don't no what everyone else is getting worried about, who knows how long it'll take for Jack to see the video Though it would be interesting if say.....The Butcher were to come to Brockton Bay to duke it out with the E88 again for the city and hey! just imagine much more stronger they could be if they get taken out by this cape with killer eyes....
Though it would be interesting if say.....The Butcher were to come to Brockton Bay to duke it out with the E88 again for the city and hey! just imagine much more stronger they could be if they get taken out by this cape with killer eyes....Don't no what everyone else is getting worried about, who knows how long it'll take for Jack to see the video
Seriously though, this Taylor has one of the best counter-Butcher powers I've seen. All she needs is eye contact and then she can make the Butcher sense whatever she wants. As long as she doesn't intend to cause the Butcher any pain/harm, she shouldn't trip Butcher's danger sense either. Once she has control of the Butcher's senses she can make them think they're doing whatever they want while in reality they're off in the woods somewhere. Alternately, once she has the Butcher, Taylor can just trick them into leaving the city whenever they get close.
No need to cause any harm when you can get your target to willingly go wherever you want them to.
Interlude: Colin Wallis
LD1449
To the last; Kill them all
- Location
- The other side of the labyrinth.
Interlude: Colin Wallis.
January 3, 2011: 10:22 AM.
It wasn't often that Colin felt himself dumbstruck.
Surprised? Certainly. People surprised him all the time, it came with the territory of social ineptitude.
Uncertain? Of course, that came with the territory of being human.
But dumbstruck... caught so flat footed every thought came to a grinding halt and he needed a moment to fully wrap his head around it?
No.
Not a common experience for him.
He blinked. "Run that by me again?"
It said something about the situation that he used such a common idiom rather than something more eloquent and, frankly, befitting his image and station.
Vista sighed, as if she were speaking to a particularly slow child… which was honestly a level more insulting than it would be coming from anyone else.
"I said, if her power is to make any illusion seem completely real- why don't we ask her to help us run simulations to train squad tactics and possible takedowns against some of the villains? It'll help us get ready to fight when we have to and will get her out of that room and help her get acclimatized to the team. It's a literal win-win."
He rubbed his chin, due to the fact that his forehead was currently under a helmet. "Miss Hebert has expressed a severe fear to both the use of her powers and subjecting others to her influence. It's why she has not called any of her family acquaintances or friends to see her. "
He already had designs for a visor to upgrade from the Tinker-tech cloth blindfold. He could never eliminate the split second lag the software took to recognize eyes and cover them, so what he did instead was do it in reverse. It's default state for seeing new objects or people would always be a black shape, same as it was now, and in a second or two it would fill in the ambient colors. Everything but what the software would recognize as human eyes. Those would remain darkened and obscured.
He would never be able to grant her the sight she'd been born with. But he could do his best.
Vista looked at him, again, as though she were talking to a supremely stupid child.
"Which she'll never get over or learn to really cope with as long as you guys keep her cooped up in a room somewhere! If she's gonna realize her power isn't a walking full-auto gun that she's constantly pulling the trigger to, we gotta stop treating her like it is."
"She is not a Protectorate affiliated cape, and as a third party Master, subjecting the entire Wards team to her influence or worse is… inadvisable to say the least."
"Oh come on. It's not like I'm saying we should train with Heartbreaker here." She huffed, crossing her arms. "Dragon agrees with me. Right, Dragon?"
The woman's avatar, which had been quietly observing the exchange so far, smiled, turning her eyes to Colin. "I have been doing some light reading in my spare time and while many of the books say that some alone time is both necessary and healthy, too much is dangerous. Missy's approach does seem to hold merit in function, if not quite panning out in terms of risk."
Missy didn't seem to know whether she should be smiling or frowning.
Frankly, Colin felt the same.
Dragon hummed in thought for a moment before speaking. "I would suggest a compromise."
That surprised him, before he turned and offered a look over his shoulder. "What exactly are your thoughts?"
"You can't potentially compromise the whole Wards team. Not only is it reckless, Piggot would sooner burn down the base than sign the release forms for it, as would most parents. But a Protectorate hero volunteer..." Her avatar shrugged. "One or two at most. It'll give Miss Hebert the ability to test and master her ability both in the literal sense, and the emotional one, along with giving the volunteer some potentially good practice, open up a viable avenue for training live combat scenarios and grant the Protectorate and Miss Hebert some greater specifics in terms of her ability."
"But to place a parahuman under such a powerful Master effect-"
"She will learn to use it eventually, Colin." Dragon answered. "I don't need to point out the studies that indicate all people who gain powers are always compelled to use them. Better for her to learn to use them here, where we can help and teach, than on her own. You have equipment that can identify her specific Master influence."
Colin again rubbed his chin. "I suppose I should discuss this with the director. If she agrees I'll probably be able to arrange something shortly."
"You should also get Miss Hebert's permission, Colin," Dragon reminded in a voice that was deceptively sweet, hiding a chiding irritation beneath its veneer.
He suppressed a wince. "Yes… I… will do that."
He looked to Vista. "Was there something else?" He asked, confused by her continued presence.
She frowned, and he got the impression, once again, that he'd said the wrong thing.
"Yeah. You said that you were gonna get a protectorate volunteer, and that you couldn't compromise the whole Wards team but why can't I volunteer? Mom and Dad won't really say no, and I can handle it just as well as anyone else."
Ahh.
So that's what this was about.
Personally, he had little doubt that out of all the Wards, Vista was the most competent and experienced, especially given her age.
He would be willing to saddle her with a few more responsibilities and perhaps some authority over her fellow Wards in certain situations but that wasn't his call, and he was fairly certain that, parental consent or not, he or anyone else approving of Vista doing this would very likely be crucified.
"I suggest you bring it up with the director…" He answered, then thought better of it. "After I convince her to allow a Protectorate member to volunteer for this… exercise."
No reason he should take on the headache of denying her request on top of the headache he was already getting trying to figure out how to convince Piggot the risk was worth the potential gain for Miss Hebert.
(X)(X)(X)
January 5, 2:17: PM:
"Are you ready?"
It was Miss Militia who asked, smiling comfortingly at the young woman.
"Someone should be asking you that," Taylor answered, frowning, the white cloth still over her eyes, growing slacker now as she worked to untie it from the back of her head.
He saw her smiling gently out of the corner of his eye, typing in the final commands to the computer. "It's alright Taylor. You're not the first Master that we've trained with. Gallant, for example, has a Master effect, so does Glory Girl."
"She does?"
Miss Militia nodded. "Of course. An emotion manipulating aura. So it'll be ok, you're just gonna show me some of the villains I've seen before. So, no problem."
Taylor, he noted, didn't nod, but she didn't protest either.
He cleared his throat and began speaking into his helmet microphone. "This is Protectorate affiliate Hero Armsmaster, identification number XV-77284, overseeing first Master exercise with volunteer subject, Protectorate Affiliate Heroine Miss Militia, identification number XV-77281. Testing Master effects of independent Cape designated under File number A.H. 2010-662."
He turned, looking towards Taylor. "Recording now commencing, for the remainder of this exercise we will be designating you Master one for identification purposes. Is this acceptable?"
"Uhh… Yeah sure." She shifted from foot to foot, eyes downcast.
He wasn't sure what else to do, so he nodded.
"Whenever you're ready hun," Miss Militia announced, smiling.
He almost chastised her for not using the agreed upon designation. Such slip ups could lead to bigger ones which would force him to throw the recording out entirely and start all over again. Or worse, have to type it by hand.
Still, he decided to let it go. This time anyway. His instruments showed a mild drop in Miss Hebert's heart rate and anxiety signs.
She unwound the cloth around her eyes and they could now see the multi-colored iris.
He looked to Militia, then back to Hebert. "Do you have her under your effect?"
The teenager nodded. "Yeah… so… what would you like to see I guess?"
Militia smiled. "Lets keep it simple for now…" She looked around. "This excercise room is around thirty by thirty so… hmmm. Make a warehouse. It's as good a place as any I suppose."
Hebert nodded, and Armsmasters instruments detected a brief spike in neurological activity from Miss Militia before it vanished all together, every instrument reading as though it were completely normal, save for the slightest abnormality from the parietal lobe.
"Fascinating." Militia said, looking around with wide eyes before she raised her hand and knocked solidly at empty air. "It all feels so real."
"What do you see.?
"Typical dockside warehouse I can even smell the sea-salt and… no… wait." She looked around further, her eyes narrowing. "I recognize a lot of this. There are some slight differences to account for size but… yeah… This place is basically a miniature version of…"
She paused, hesitating.
"Militia?" He insisted.
"I believe this… illusion could be drawing on memories to 'Fill in the blanks' as it were."
"It is?" Taylor asked, clearly surprised.
"It makes sense." He nodded, looking to her as he explained. "The sheer level of detail would be impossible for any human to think up at a moment's notice. Now the question is whether it's drawing on your memories or Miss Militia's, or both."
"Let's tag it under 'both' and explore this later," Militia said, surprising him. He frowned. That information was critical but… she must have had a reason for her haste.
"Very well," he answered after a moment.
She looked to the spot of empty air that she had 'knocked on' earlier. "Alright. I'm going to lean on this crate"
Ahh. So that's what it was.
"Let's see how it'll hold my weight."
She pressed a hand perfectly flat on it's surface. He could see her muscles tense in her arm, pushing down.
Activating another of his instruments designed to help in first aid diagnoses, he noticed that she wasn't pushing down. Her arm was just tensing. The muscles tightening up under her skin as her nerves gave different signals than what she wanted in order to account for the illusion and keep the crate feeling 'solid'... real.
Fascinating indeed.
And highly dangerous…
Tricking the senses was bad enough, but outright interfering with bodily motor functions, even in relatively minor ways made him think he should up her ranking on the Master scale.
He walked to Militia's side. "Lean on it," he insisted. "You won't fall.
She did so.
He saw her straighten up, cross her ankles together, cross her arms and tip to the side.
When he saw she had crossed the point where her arm had been resting, and he heard her sharp intake of breath from pain, his hand reached down, caught her by the shoulder and lifted her back up before she hit the ground.
"What happened?" He asked.
"It broke. That's what happened." She hissed, rubbing at her side. "Felt like it broke too."
"It seems that when the illusion cannot account for sheer laws of physics it will compensate. What did you see or feel when I grabbed you?"
"That, it didn't compensate for," she answered. "Didn't feel your hand but I did feel myself stop and change direction."
"I see." Potentially useful. "Though I imagine in most circumstances you would try to catch yourself, so it would compensate with that."
"Yeah, the pain is real eno-" She paused. "Huh. It's gone."
"I made it stop." Taylor answered from where she was. "No reason you should feel that."
Colin was very glad the girl at the very least needed to establish eye contact for this.
Militia poked at her side once or twice. "Alright. Let's try something a little more dynamic." She looked at Taylor, or at least in her general direction.
"Like what?"
"An enemy," she answered simply. "Can you make an enemy?"
"I… guess."
Militia suddenly turned to him. Whistling. "Wow. Lung on your first try. You don't aim small, do you?"
He was ashamed to admit it took him longer than it should have to realize Taylor had both made him visible to her again, and changed his appearance into that of Lung.
Given the dimensions of his armor, Lung was the only villain in the Bay that was of equal height.
He looked to Taylor. "Could you alter my appearance into someone else? Smaller."
"Like who?" She asked.
He thought for a moment, someone that had a highly different fighting style to his own.
"Cricket." He finally answered.
After a moment, he saw Militia nod. "Definitely using my memories to fill in the blanks at the very least."
"Perfect likeness?" He asked.
"I saw her online recently." Taylor offered.
Militia shook her head. "Yeah, that would give you a general likeness. But this is too much detail from a simple internet search. When you have her voice over Armsmaster's question she even sounded similar. The voice is a rough mimicry, but in a fight, or with someone that has a worse memory, they probably wouldn't notice. And that's without you having heard her a day in your life."
She crossed her arms. "So yeah, you must be working off of memories somewhere. It'd be good to test this on someone who isn't me then."
Taylor tilted her head. "What? Why?"
"Side effect of my power." She answered easily. "Eidetic memory, I remember every detail of my life in perfect clarity."
"That must..." Taylor grimaced. "I'm sorry."
Militia looked to her, surprised, then her eyes softened with a look of empathy and pity. "It's not all bad. But thanks. Anyway, back to this, it means that with my perfect memory you could be seeing better results than what you'd normally see. Later on we'll have to test it out on someone else, and witness the results there."
Taylor nodded. "Sure. If they want."
Militia turned to him, then, uncrossed her arms and stretched, twisting her wrists. He could hear the bones popping and cracking. "Well Colin. Been awhile since we sparred together, up for it?"
She had deduced why he asked for Cricket then. To see if her illusion had any limits on how it could compensate for size and weight.
She knew him too well it seemed.
"Should I drop the illusion?" Taylor asked.
"No no," she hastily answered. "This is a test for you more than me. We need proof of concept that this can help the Wards prepare themselves to fight others. So keep it on me and try to find any and all ways to make it as realistic as possible."
Taylor nodded. "I'll...try, I guess."
His prototype lie detector didn't render a proper read on that answer.
"Ready Colin?" Militia asked, turning back to him.
He nodded, wondering if it translated at all in the illusion.
It seemed to, seeing how she settled herself into a loose fighting stance the green energy in her hand forming into a tonfa night stick.
He would notice, upon a later viewing of the recordings of his personal helmet, that Taylor's eyes had been intently focused on the small sparring match. More than what one would probably consider normal.
(X)(X)(X)
This chapter wasn't exactly planned. But as I was writing up the chapter that will be posted after this one, in other words, the one that was supposed to be this chapter I realized that some things needed to be established beforehand. So, this was born. Funny thing is, despite what it might seem like, the things that needed to be established weren't even related to Taylor's power.
Oh well. Hope you all enjoyed it regardless.
My thanks go out to @DarkMagyk @nitewind and @Axel Fones for their work in Beta-ing the chapter
January 3, 2011: 10:22 AM.
It wasn't often that Colin felt himself dumbstruck.
Surprised? Certainly. People surprised him all the time, it came with the territory of social ineptitude.
Uncertain? Of course, that came with the territory of being human.
But dumbstruck... caught so flat footed every thought came to a grinding halt and he needed a moment to fully wrap his head around it?
No.
Not a common experience for him.
He blinked. "Run that by me again?"
It said something about the situation that he used such a common idiom rather than something more eloquent and, frankly, befitting his image and station.
Vista sighed, as if she were speaking to a particularly slow child… which was honestly a level more insulting than it would be coming from anyone else.
"I said, if her power is to make any illusion seem completely real- why don't we ask her to help us run simulations to train squad tactics and possible takedowns against some of the villains? It'll help us get ready to fight when we have to and will get her out of that room and help her get acclimatized to the team. It's a literal win-win."
He rubbed his chin, due to the fact that his forehead was currently under a helmet. "Miss Hebert has expressed a severe fear to both the use of her powers and subjecting others to her influence. It's why she has not called any of her family acquaintances or friends to see her. "
He already had designs for a visor to upgrade from the Tinker-tech cloth blindfold. He could never eliminate the split second lag the software took to recognize eyes and cover them, so what he did instead was do it in reverse. It's default state for seeing new objects or people would always be a black shape, same as it was now, and in a second or two it would fill in the ambient colors. Everything but what the software would recognize as human eyes. Those would remain darkened and obscured.
He would never be able to grant her the sight she'd been born with. But he could do his best.
Vista looked at him, again, as though she were talking to a supremely stupid child.
"Which she'll never get over or learn to really cope with as long as you guys keep her cooped up in a room somewhere! If she's gonna realize her power isn't a walking full-auto gun that she's constantly pulling the trigger to, we gotta stop treating her like it is."
"She is not a Protectorate affiliated cape, and as a third party Master, subjecting the entire Wards team to her influence or worse is… inadvisable to say the least."
"Oh come on. It's not like I'm saying we should train with Heartbreaker here." She huffed, crossing her arms. "Dragon agrees with me. Right, Dragon?"
The woman's avatar, which had been quietly observing the exchange so far, smiled, turning her eyes to Colin. "I have been doing some light reading in my spare time and while many of the books say that some alone time is both necessary and healthy, too much is dangerous. Missy's approach does seem to hold merit in function, if not quite panning out in terms of risk."
Missy didn't seem to know whether she should be smiling or frowning.
Frankly, Colin felt the same.
Dragon hummed in thought for a moment before speaking. "I would suggest a compromise."
That surprised him, before he turned and offered a look over his shoulder. "What exactly are your thoughts?"
"You can't potentially compromise the whole Wards team. Not only is it reckless, Piggot would sooner burn down the base than sign the release forms for it, as would most parents. But a Protectorate hero volunteer..." Her avatar shrugged. "One or two at most. It'll give Miss Hebert the ability to test and master her ability both in the literal sense, and the emotional one, along with giving the volunteer some potentially good practice, open up a viable avenue for training live combat scenarios and grant the Protectorate and Miss Hebert some greater specifics in terms of her ability."
"But to place a parahuman under such a powerful Master effect-"
"She will learn to use it eventually, Colin." Dragon answered. "I don't need to point out the studies that indicate all people who gain powers are always compelled to use them. Better for her to learn to use them here, where we can help and teach, than on her own. You have equipment that can identify her specific Master influence."
Colin again rubbed his chin. "I suppose I should discuss this with the director. If she agrees I'll probably be able to arrange something shortly."
"You should also get Miss Hebert's permission, Colin," Dragon reminded in a voice that was deceptively sweet, hiding a chiding irritation beneath its veneer.
He suppressed a wince. "Yes… I… will do that."
He looked to Vista. "Was there something else?" He asked, confused by her continued presence.
She frowned, and he got the impression, once again, that he'd said the wrong thing.
"Yeah. You said that you were gonna get a protectorate volunteer, and that you couldn't compromise the whole Wards team but why can't I volunteer? Mom and Dad won't really say no, and I can handle it just as well as anyone else."
Ahh.
So that's what this was about.
Personally, he had little doubt that out of all the Wards, Vista was the most competent and experienced, especially given her age.
He would be willing to saddle her with a few more responsibilities and perhaps some authority over her fellow Wards in certain situations but that wasn't his call, and he was fairly certain that, parental consent or not, he or anyone else approving of Vista doing this would very likely be crucified.
"I suggest you bring it up with the director…" He answered, then thought better of it. "After I convince her to allow a Protectorate member to volunteer for this… exercise."
No reason he should take on the headache of denying her request on top of the headache he was already getting trying to figure out how to convince Piggot the risk was worth the potential gain for Miss Hebert.
(X)(X)(X)
January 5, 2:17: PM:
"Are you ready?"
It was Miss Militia who asked, smiling comfortingly at the young woman.
"Someone should be asking you that," Taylor answered, frowning, the white cloth still over her eyes, growing slacker now as she worked to untie it from the back of her head.
He saw her smiling gently out of the corner of his eye, typing in the final commands to the computer. "It's alright Taylor. You're not the first Master that we've trained with. Gallant, for example, has a Master effect, so does Glory Girl."
"She does?"
Miss Militia nodded. "Of course. An emotion manipulating aura. So it'll be ok, you're just gonna show me some of the villains I've seen before. So, no problem."
Taylor, he noted, didn't nod, but she didn't protest either.
He cleared his throat and began speaking into his helmet microphone. "This is Protectorate affiliate Hero Armsmaster, identification number XV-77284, overseeing first Master exercise with volunteer subject, Protectorate Affiliate Heroine Miss Militia, identification number XV-77281. Testing Master effects of independent Cape designated under File number A.H. 2010-662."
He turned, looking towards Taylor. "Recording now commencing, for the remainder of this exercise we will be designating you Master one for identification purposes. Is this acceptable?"
"Uhh… Yeah sure." She shifted from foot to foot, eyes downcast.
He wasn't sure what else to do, so he nodded.
"Whenever you're ready hun," Miss Militia announced, smiling.
He almost chastised her for not using the agreed upon designation. Such slip ups could lead to bigger ones which would force him to throw the recording out entirely and start all over again. Or worse, have to type it by hand.
Still, he decided to let it go. This time anyway. His instruments showed a mild drop in Miss Hebert's heart rate and anxiety signs.
She unwound the cloth around her eyes and they could now see the multi-colored iris.
He looked to Militia, then back to Hebert. "Do you have her under your effect?"
The teenager nodded. "Yeah… so… what would you like to see I guess?"
Militia smiled. "Lets keep it simple for now…" She looked around. "This excercise room is around thirty by thirty so… hmmm. Make a warehouse. It's as good a place as any I suppose."
Hebert nodded, and Armsmasters instruments detected a brief spike in neurological activity from Miss Militia before it vanished all together, every instrument reading as though it were completely normal, save for the slightest abnormality from the parietal lobe.
"Fascinating." Militia said, looking around with wide eyes before she raised her hand and knocked solidly at empty air. "It all feels so real."
"What do you see.?
"Typical dockside warehouse I can even smell the sea-salt and… no… wait." She looked around further, her eyes narrowing. "I recognize a lot of this. There are some slight differences to account for size but… yeah… This place is basically a miniature version of…"
She paused, hesitating.
"Militia?" He insisted.
"I believe this… illusion could be drawing on memories to 'Fill in the blanks' as it were."
"It is?" Taylor asked, clearly surprised.
"It makes sense." He nodded, looking to her as he explained. "The sheer level of detail would be impossible for any human to think up at a moment's notice. Now the question is whether it's drawing on your memories or Miss Militia's, or both."
"Let's tag it under 'both' and explore this later," Militia said, surprising him. He frowned. That information was critical but… she must have had a reason for her haste.
"Very well," he answered after a moment.
She looked to the spot of empty air that she had 'knocked on' earlier. "Alright. I'm going to lean on this crate"
Ahh. So that's what it was.
"Let's see how it'll hold my weight."
She pressed a hand perfectly flat on it's surface. He could see her muscles tense in her arm, pushing down.
Activating another of his instruments designed to help in first aid diagnoses, he noticed that she wasn't pushing down. Her arm was just tensing. The muscles tightening up under her skin as her nerves gave different signals than what she wanted in order to account for the illusion and keep the crate feeling 'solid'... real.
Fascinating indeed.
And highly dangerous…
Tricking the senses was bad enough, but outright interfering with bodily motor functions, even in relatively minor ways made him think he should up her ranking on the Master scale.
He walked to Militia's side. "Lean on it," he insisted. "You won't fall.
She did so.
He saw her straighten up, cross her ankles together, cross her arms and tip to the side.
When he saw she had crossed the point where her arm had been resting, and he heard her sharp intake of breath from pain, his hand reached down, caught her by the shoulder and lifted her back up before she hit the ground.
"What happened?" He asked.
"It broke. That's what happened." She hissed, rubbing at her side. "Felt like it broke too."
"It seems that when the illusion cannot account for sheer laws of physics it will compensate. What did you see or feel when I grabbed you?"
"That, it didn't compensate for," she answered. "Didn't feel your hand but I did feel myself stop and change direction."
"I see." Potentially useful. "Though I imagine in most circumstances you would try to catch yourself, so it would compensate with that."
"Yeah, the pain is real eno-" She paused. "Huh. It's gone."
"I made it stop." Taylor answered from where she was. "No reason you should feel that."
Colin was very glad the girl at the very least needed to establish eye contact for this.
Militia poked at her side once or twice. "Alright. Let's try something a little more dynamic." She looked at Taylor, or at least in her general direction.
"Like what?"
"An enemy," she answered simply. "Can you make an enemy?"
"I… guess."
Militia suddenly turned to him. Whistling. "Wow. Lung on your first try. You don't aim small, do you?"
He was ashamed to admit it took him longer than it should have to realize Taylor had both made him visible to her again, and changed his appearance into that of Lung.
Given the dimensions of his armor, Lung was the only villain in the Bay that was of equal height.
He looked to Taylor. "Could you alter my appearance into someone else? Smaller."
"Like who?" She asked.
He thought for a moment, someone that had a highly different fighting style to his own.
"Cricket." He finally answered.
After a moment, he saw Militia nod. "Definitely using my memories to fill in the blanks at the very least."
"Perfect likeness?" He asked.
"I saw her online recently." Taylor offered.
Militia shook her head. "Yeah, that would give you a general likeness. But this is too much detail from a simple internet search. When you have her voice over Armsmaster's question she even sounded similar. The voice is a rough mimicry, but in a fight, or with someone that has a worse memory, they probably wouldn't notice. And that's without you having heard her a day in your life."
She crossed her arms. "So yeah, you must be working off of memories somewhere. It'd be good to test this on someone who isn't me then."
Taylor tilted her head. "What? Why?"
"Side effect of my power." She answered easily. "Eidetic memory, I remember every detail of my life in perfect clarity."
"That must..." Taylor grimaced. "I'm sorry."
Militia looked to her, surprised, then her eyes softened with a look of empathy and pity. "It's not all bad. But thanks. Anyway, back to this, it means that with my perfect memory you could be seeing better results than what you'd normally see. Later on we'll have to test it out on someone else, and witness the results there."
Taylor nodded. "Sure. If they want."
Militia turned to him, then, uncrossed her arms and stretched, twisting her wrists. He could hear the bones popping and cracking. "Well Colin. Been awhile since we sparred together, up for it?"
She had deduced why he asked for Cricket then. To see if her illusion had any limits on how it could compensate for size and weight.
She knew him too well it seemed.
"Should I drop the illusion?" Taylor asked.
"No no," she hastily answered. "This is a test for you more than me. We need proof of concept that this can help the Wards prepare themselves to fight others. So keep it on me and try to find any and all ways to make it as realistic as possible."
Taylor nodded. "I'll...try, I guess."
His prototype lie detector didn't render a proper read on that answer.
"Ready Colin?" Militia asked, turning back to him.
He nodded, wondering if it translated at all in the illusion.
It seemed to, seeing how she settled herself into a loose fighting stance the green energy in her hand forming into a tonfa night stick.
He would notice, upon a later viewing of the recordings of his personal helmet, that Taylor's eyes had been intently focused on the small sparring match. More than what one would probably consider normal.
(X)(X)(X)
This chapter wasn't exactly planned. But as I was writing up the chapter that will be posted after this one, in other words, the one that was supposed to be this chapter I realized that some things needed to be established beforehand. So, this was born. Funny thing is, despite what it might seem like, the things that needed to be established weren't even related to Taylor's power.
Oh well. Hope you all enjoyed it regardless.
My thanks go out to @DarkMagyk @nitewind and @Axel Fones for their work in Beta-ing the chapter
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Khepri14
Thus kindly I scatter...
- Location
- Following the wind
Ohhhh boy. I'm kinda worried about this now... Potential implications ahoy!
Wobulator
Within 1 AU of you!
- Location
- Mars
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Well, that's... ominous.
On one hand, I'm pretty sure that Taylor like the Protectorate and just wants to learn how to defend herself.
On the other hand, given all the shit she's been through and a trigger/power that might have destabilized her quite a bit, I'm very worried.
Reading this interlude reminded me of the heydays of Naruto, were everyone was joking "what the sharingan cant do"
)Looks like she is copying there skills.
I forgot, was is ever confirmed that Taylors power was the sharingan?
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LD1449
To the last; Kill them all
- Location
- The other side of the labyrinth.
Based off of. The illusion skill. It does not have Suzanoo, Black Fire, Warping and Teleportation. All Taylor can do is illusions with a few side benefits around her eyes.Reading this interlude reminded me of the heydays of Naruto, were everyone was joking "what the sharingan cant do"
Looks like she is copying there skills.
I forgot, was is ever confirmed that Taylors power was the sharingan?
You didn't deny the skill copying ;-)
Is that not normal behavior from sharringon users? Someone without the sharringon would have to force themselves to pay attention to a fight, and even with eidetic memory they would not be able to absorb as much information from it as Taylor. The sharringon, however, analyses the fight independent of its user's will. It reads fighting styles, retroengineers techniques, and inscribed that information onto the brain to which it is attached.
A normal sharringon user regulates this behavior by turning their sharringon on and off, but Taylor does not have that option. Her only two choices are to watch or ignore the fight completely. Considering this whole segment is about Taylor testing the limits of her power, Taylor doing her best to ignore everyone else in the room would be nonsensacle.
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Silverias
Seeing is Believing
- Location
- Squiddy Places
Skill copying was explicitly mentioned as happening in earlier posts.
The Stormbringer
Worm Fanfic & Crack Connoisseur
- Location
- Spaaaaace~!
So the question is, does she just want to see the E88 suffer, or is she perhaps capable of learning things faster than normal by watching them?
- Location
- In the depts of despair.
I think that the compensation ability is far more interesting then the copycat effect. She can get people to hurt itself easily without them realizing and she can mostly adjust to avoid the usual tells of an illusion power. Probably this mechanic is the one that killed Hookwolf.
*narrows eyes* Taylor is having interactions with people. She's being helped to cope. Given some of your other stories... I DON'T TRUST THIS.
Skyrim's school of illusion can enforce and break morale and also, made her invisible, just like now...
It might be just an illusion but shes best at what she does, just as soon ahe learns to like her power.
Which may takes a while.