One [Worm Crossover: My Hero Academia] (Live Update)
Picking up from here. I'll be creating a...
Picking up from here. I'll be creating a...
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One (Worm/My Hero Academia) Live Updates
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One [Worm Crossover: My Hero Academia] (Live Update)
Picking up from here. I'll be creating a full chapters thread here as well.
The story will be hosted here until my uncertain status on SB has been resolved. Please don't ban me from here too.
Note that this thread will be picking up where the story left off. If you want to catch up on the original story, it can be found here:
One (Worm/My Hero Academia) Full Chapters, archived updates from SB - Crossover
Why two threads you ask? This is due to the structure of the writing as I originally wrote it; as a series of very short micro-chapters, usually less than 1000 words each, posted very frequently (At least for me). This makes the live update thread much faster, but probably somewhat unsatisfying for readers who prefer meatier chapters. Thus the archived version I posted in the other thread. If you want to wait for full chapters, that's fine, but be prepared to wait several weeks between them, minimum.
Just to whet the appetites:
------------
After the blow had come darkness, and silence. He had died. There were few other conclusions that could be reached; his preparations and all of his meticulously acquired powers had been of no avail, and now there was nothing left of him. Death wasn't so unpleasant, he decided after a while. It wasn't the hell that many would have said he deserved. It was... peaceful. There was a curious rhythm to it; as though he were drifting through a warm dark sea; or back in the womb, with his mother's and brother's heartbeats to sooth him in his long wait to meet the world. An eternity passed, or no time at all, while he was cradled within the gentle embrace of the mother between worlds. He could have gone on forever like that without complaint, at least until he felt the sand touch his back, and felt the sea lapping gently around him.
Then there was pain. Oh, such a divine ecstatic pain! The pain of living, perhaps, or of dying. He didn't know if he was capable of screaming, but felt he should. Agony burst in his head like a bomb that wouldn't stop exploding. He brought his hands up weakly to his face; warm and wet, but felt only crisscrossing scars of leather and empty voids instead of eyes. He was blind; broken. The agony was so intense that only iron will kept him aware for as long as it did, hearing distant voices and feeling hands lifting him up, before the dark took him again, this time chill and fearful.
------------
A rhythmic beeping. Corresponding to the flashes of pain through his head. Though whether it's the sound, or what causes the sound, he does not know. Gradually, carefully, he feels for his Quirks. At a touch, one long forgotten, used only for moving through darkness, comes to him, and the room comes into view in shades of redder-than-red. Screens are blurs of meaningless static. At first, the room seems windowless, but he adjusts his perceptions and remembers that infrared light is blocked by transparent glass. A hospital room. The sound is a heart monitor. They will have noticed that he has awoken.
He adjusts himself, trying to ignore the pain. He'll not be found lain back like an invalid.
A door opens. "Oh my god!" A woman breaths nearby. In english? Why was he in America?
"If you must. But if I am a god, I am a thirsty one." He replied in the same language. "If you would be so kind, I would very much enjoy some black tea."
They gave him ice chips to suck instead. Not ideal, but it gave him an excuse to take stock of the situation. Judging by their accents, he was somewhere in the northeast of the united states. Not too distant from Allmight's old stomping grounds, before he'd come back to Japan to unseat him from it's throne. But certain things didn't add up. They judged his recovery a "Miracle" when it should have been obvious to anyone that he was employing a regenerative quirk. A rarity, but not unheard of. As well, the medical equipment seemed... off. Old fashioned. There weren't enough computers; the television was ancient, and... it was risky, but he felt it was worth it. He reached into his first and most important Quirk; the one singular power that ruled over all others. He felt for the quirks of those around him, doctor and nurses both as they took blood pressure, skin temperature, and other minutiae he had no interest in. Nothing answered back. Quirkless. All three of them? It was unlikely, though not impossible... he would have to seek a chance to try others.
He interrupted his doctor's excited diatribe about medical impossibilities. "I'm sorry to trouble you, but could you please bring me a newspaper, and someone to read it? I'm afraid I've misplaced my eyes." He said, biting bitterness at how Allmight had crippled him.
"Ah, I'm sure we can find one somewhere. But isn't there someone who you'd like us to contact first, Mr...?"
He paused and leaned back. "No... One." He managed, before he fell back into unconsciousness once again.
-----------
May 21st. 1982.
Picking up from here. I'll be creating a full chapters thread here as well.
The story will be hosted here until my uncertain status on SB has been resolved. Please don't ban me from here too.
Note that this thread will be picking up where the story left off. If you want to catch up on the original story, it can be found here:
One (Worm/My Hero Academia) Full Chapters, archived updates from SB - Crossover
Why two threads you ask? This is due to the structure of the writing as I originally wrote it; as a series of very short micro-chapters, usually less than 1000 words each, posted very frequently (At least for me). This makes the live update thread much faster, but probably somewhat unsatisfying for readers who prefer meatier chapters. Thus the archived version I posted in the other thread. If you want to wait for full chapters, that's fine, but be prepared to wait several weeks between them, minimum.
Just to whet the appetites:
------------
After the blow had come darkness, and silence. He had died. There were few other conclusions that could be reached; his preparations and all of his meticulously acquired powers had been of no avail, and now there was nothing left of him. Death wasn't so unpleasant, he decided after a while. It wasn't the hell that many would have said he deserved. It was... peaceful. There was a curious rhythm to it; as though he were drifting through a warm dark sea; or back in the womb, with his mother's and brother's heartbeats to sooth him in his long wait to meet the world. An eternity passed, or no time at all, while he was cradled within the gentle embrace of the mother between worlds. He could have gone on forever like that without complaint, at least until he felt the sand touch his back, and felt the sea lapping gently around him.
Then there was pain. Oh, such a divine ecstatic pain! The pain of living, perhaps, or of dying. He didn't know if he was capable of screaming, but felt he should. Agony burst in his head like a bomb that wouldn't stop exploding. He brought his hands up weakly to his face; warm and wet, but felt only crisscrossing scars of leather and empty voids instead of eyes. He was blind; broken. The agony was so intense that only iron will kept him aware for as long as it did, hearing distant voices and feeling hands lifting him up, before the dark took him again, this time chill and fearful.
------------
A rhythmic beeping. Corresponding to the flashes of pain through his head. Though whether it's the sound, or what causes the sound, he does not know. Gradually, carefully, he feels for his Quirks. At a touch, one long forgotten, used only for moving through darkness, comes to him, and the room comes into view in shades of redder-than-red. Screens are blurs of meaningless static. At first, the room seems windowless, but he adjusts his perceptions and remembers that infrared light is blocked by transparent glass. A hospital room. The sound is a heart monitor. They will have noticed that he has awoken.
He adjusts himself, trying to ignore the pain. He'll not be found lain back like an invalid.
A door opens. "Oh my god!" A woman breaths nearby. In english? Why was he in America?
"If you must. But if I am a god, I am a thirsty one." He replied in the same language. "If you would be so kind, I would very much enjoy some black tea."
They gave him ice chips to suck instead. Not ideal, but it gave him an excuse to take stock of the situation. Judging by their accents, he was somewhere in the northeast of the united states. Not too distant from Allmight's old stomping grounds, before he'd come back to Japan to unseat him from it's throne. But certain things didn't add up. They judged his recovery a "Miracle" when it should have been obvious to anyone that he was employing a regenerative quirk. A rarity, but not unheard of. As well, the medical equipment seemed... off. Old fashioned. There weren't enough computers; the television was ancient, and... it was risky, but he felt it was worth it. He reached into his first and most important Quirk; the one singular power that ruled over all others. He felt for the quirks of those around him, doctor and nurses both as they took blood pressure, skin temperature, and other minutiae he had no interest in. Nothing answered back. Quirkless. All three of them? It was unlikely, though not impossible... he would have to seek a chance to try others.
He interrupted his doctor's excited diatribe about medical impossibilities. "I'm sorry to trouble you, but could you please bring me a newspaper, and someone to read it? I'm afraid I've misplaced my eyes." He said, biting bitterness at how Allmight had crippled him.
"Ah, I'm sure we can find one somewhere. But isn't there someone who you'd like us to contact first, Mr...?"
He paused and leaned back. "No... One." He managed, before he fell back into unconsciousness once again.
-----------
May 21st. 1982.
Last edited:
- Location
- America
Do you mind telling what happened, exactly?The story will be hosted here until my uncertain status on SB has been resolved. Please don't ban me from here too.
Chapter 8
- Location
- Writeland
This is now effectively thread 2, so get ready for more of Taylor's School Daze, MHA style. Sorry everyone who hates her.
------------
"Welcome to Applied Heroics 101. I'm sure you're all chomping at the bit to get started, especially considering our policy of starting this course later into term than the academics." Miss Militia said simply, standing at the head of the classroom. She seemed completely immune to the sheets of adoration that came from several spots throughout the room; she hadn't broken into the top ten, but in Brockton Bay especially she was a bit of a local celebrity. Even Taylor remembered staying up late one night with her dad to watch mom and her foil some bank robbery when she was still a junior hero.
She couldn't help but kind of like her. Her power was a playful bouncy melody. It sounded poppy and jazzy; not at all the hyperbolic military sound you'd imagine it to be. Like it just wanted to have fun. The woman herself was all business, but who could wear an american flag tie and lapel pin at the same time and not look fun? There'd been a running joke about photoshopping her into scenes of political debates for years, and then she'd shown up at a white house press dinner and saluted the comedian who'd thrown a jibe her way during the customary roast.
"-Which is why we are here, and not outside in uniform perpetrating open warfare in the streets." She continued.
Great Job paying attention Taylor. That ADHD excuse isn't going to get you much further if you don't bite the bullet and try to come out of your classes with something. She still had to bite her tongue at the scoff that came from her left. Why the hell did Sophia have to somehow scrape the grades to get in too? Well... it was better now at least. She'd seemed to engage in the same nonverbal agreement to a ceasefire that Taylor had made... which was kind of concerning. It meant that Sophia hadn't been the one to egg Emma on as she'd assumed. Even though Taylor gave as good as she got, she'd still nursed a private hope that it wasn't her old friend's fault.
"You have something to say miss Hess?" The older hero asked, her baton abruptly jerking itself free from it's current shape and coiling around her in a flash of green, all at once becoming a long and slender bull whip. Taylor had to stop herself from sniggering in time with Miss Militia's power.
"It's a little harder for some of us to just accept that we have to let Nazis run around unmolested because we're not supposed to "Escalate." she said sourly. Privately, Taylor had to agree.
"So you'd prefer to protect a pile of ashes because the city it once was had some gangs in it." The instructor put dryly. "Miss Hess, do you know who Ryuken is?"
She fidgeted, inky blackness folding on itself. "Some VA Heavy, used to be a warlord over in China."
"Correct. Do you know why he's here?"
"No idea."
"Because five months ago, the Villain Alliance poached him right out of his own home. Some people think he reports to Sensei himself now. Can you imagine what it took for them to convince the Dragon of Hangzhou to leave his empire behind and work for them?"
She didn't answer.
"We estimate at least fifty retrieval agents, probably more. Burned to death in a fight that killed thousands of civilians. All to bring him here. Some think Sensei himself got involved in order to force his hand. They did this because they needed someone like him to push back against the Empire 88. Whatever they spent getting him, they considered worth it to have him on their side. And the Empire is still scraping for territory against them even despite his presence. Their recruitment pool is huge, and growing by the day as more and more people manifest Quirks. They have so many now that nobody knows their full roster anymore. There could be members sitting in this room right now."
An uncomfortable silence descended and Taylor found herself listening closer, as if she could hear the Nazi on someone, as silly as that was even for her. What was it supposed to sound like, goose stepping and Wagner?
"Believe me, I don't like it any more than you do miss Hess, and the Empire doesn't like people who look like me any more than they like people who look like you. Your quirk notwithstanding." She said placatingly. "But open warfare with them won't result in anything but ashes and tears. And that's if the Peacekeepers don't decide that Brockton is getting too big for it's britches and come here to put us down themselves. So when I tell you that you're here to learn when not to fight as much as when to fight, I expect you to listen. Or you can just get out of my class room and I'll inform One that we have another dropout. Or if you'd like to protest you can tell him yourself. I'm sure he'll understand."
-------------
One stifled a sneeze and dragged his fingertips across another list of dropouts; mentally marking a few. His recruiters would drop by their homes soon enough. "Displays Villainous Tendencies" was such a common tag, who would suspect a thing if some of them went on to fulfill those expectations? Or if need be, to simply disappear. He barely even needed to pay attention, until his fingers began to tremble.
He pulled them from the sheet and gripped his hand with the opposite. It was happening more and more often. A subtle agitation, deep within him. All For One writhed within him like a caged animal. And a voice touched his ears from an impossible distance of time and space...
Why now, little brother?...
-------------
------------
"Welcome to Applied Heroics 101. I'm sure you're all chomping at the bit to get started, especially considering our policy of starting this course later into term than the academics." Miss Militia said simply, standing at the head of the classroom. She seemed completely immune to the sheets of adoration that came from several spots throughout the room; she hadn't broken into the top ten, but in Brockton Bay especially she was a bit of a local celebrity. Even Taylor remembered staying up late one night with her dad to watch mom and her foil some bank robbery when she was still a junior hero.
She couldn't help but kind of like her. Her power was a playful bouncy melody. It sounded poppy and jazzy; not at all the hyperbolic military sound you'd imagine it to be. Like it just wanted to have fun. The woman herself was all business, but who could wear an american flag tie and lapel pin at the same time and not look fun? There'd been a running joke about photoshopping her into scenes of political debates for years, and then she'd shown up at a white house press dinner and saluted the comedian who'd thrown a jibe her way during the customary roast.
"-Which is why we are here, and not outside in uniform perpetrating open warfare in the streets." She continued.
Great Job paying attention Taylor. That ADHD excuse isn't going to get you much further if you don't bite the bullet and try to come out of your classes with something. She still had to bite her tongue at the scoff that came from her left. Why the hell did Sophia have to somehow scrape the grades to get in too? Well... it was better now at least. She'd seemed to engage in the same nonverbal agreement to a ceasefire that Taylor had made... which was kind of concerning. It meant that Sophia hadn't been the one to egg Emma on as she'd assumed. Even though Taylor gave as good as she got, she'd still nursed a private hope that it wasn't her old friend's fault.
"You have something to say miss Hess?" The older hero asked, her baton abruptly jerking itself free from it's current shape and coiling around her in a flash of green, all at once becoming a long and slender bull whip. Taylor had to stop herself from sniggering in time with Miss Militia's power.
"It's a little harder for some of us to just accept that we have to let Nazis run around unmolested because we're not supposed to "Escalate." she said sourly. Privately, Taylor had to agree.
"So you'd prefer to protect a pile of ashes because the city it once was had some gangs in it." The instructor put dryly. "Miss Hess, do you know who Ryuken is?"
She fidgeted, inky blackness folding on itself. "Some VA Heavy, used to be a warlord over in China."
"Correct. Do you know why he's here?"
"No idea."
"Because five months ago, the Villain Alliance poached him right out of his own home. Some people think he reports to Sensei himself now. Can you imagine what it took for them to convince the Dragon of Hangzhou to leave his empire behind and work for them?"
She didn't answer.
"We estimate at least fifty retrieval agents, probably more. Burned to death in a fight that killed thousands of civilians. All to bring him here. Some think Sensei himself got involved in order to force his hand. They did this because they needed someone like him to push back against the Empire 88. Whatever they spent getting him, they considered worth it to have him on their side. And the Empire is still scraping for territory against them even despite his presence. Their recruitment pool is huge, and growing by the day as more and more people manifest Quirks. They have so many now that nobody knows their full roster anymore. There could be members sitting in this room right now."
An uncomfortable silence descended and Taylor found herself listening closer, as if she could hear the Nazi on someone, as silly as that was even for her. What was it supposed to sound like, goose stepping and Wagner?
"Believe me, I don't like it any more than you do miss Hess, and the Empire doesn't like people who look like me any more than they like people who look like you. Your quirk notwithstanding." She said placatingly. "But open warfare with them won't result in anything but ashes and tears. And that's if the Peacekeepers don't decide that Brockton is getting too big for it's britches and come here to put us down themselves. So when I tell you that you're here to learn when not to fight as much as when to fight, I expect you to listen. Or you can just get out of my class room and I'll inform One that we have another dropout. Or if you'd like to protest you can tell him yourself. I'm sure he'll understand."
-------------
One stifled a sneeze and dragged his fingertips across another list of dropouts; mentally marking a few. His recruiters would drop by their homes soon enough. "Displays Villainous Tendencies" was such a common tag, who would suspect a thing if some of them went on to fulfill those expectations? Or if need be, to simply disappear. He barely even needed to pay attention, until his fingers began to tremble.
He pulled them from the sheet and gripped his hand with the opposite. It was happening more and more often. A subtle agitation, deep within him. All For One writhed within him like a caged animal. And a voice touched his ears from an impossible distance of time and space...
Why now, little brother?...
-------------
MWKillKenny84
Lurking from the Trauma Switch.
- Location
- Vado Ligure
Oh frak, resonance with One for All or what?
- Location
- Writeland
Recent chapters of the manga have literally made me cackle out loud and start fiendishly hammering out notes in libreoffice of how I'm going to fuck y'all up with this story.
- Location
- Writeland
Tons of people said exactly that and I'll say just what I said in the original thread:
No she isn't the MC, she's a PoV character on the AU fic that this has become, and to build a sense of suspense you can't reveal your entire hand all at once because if I only wrote the chapters from AfO's perspective the reveals would just happen right away and that's not how stories work.
Please be patient. AfO is the main character. This too shall pass.
Jesus this makes me wonder how many people Wildblow had to deal with going "BUT WHY IS X CHARACTER THE MAIN CHARACTER NOW???" as he rubs his brows in frustration.
Last edited:
Chapter 8.1
- Location
- Writeland
There weren't many students at Everready who took Taylor's route home. Most were out of towners anyway; capitalizing on Brockton Bay's parahuman power without actually having to live there- a state she'd used to be envious of before she'd grown a sense of civic pride, mostly after her mom had come out to the public. The city was a weird mix of highs and lows; when the Peacekeepers had killed half the world's shipping overnight, port towns had suffered the worst of the economic impact, and Brockton had been on the verge of collapse before One built Everready and the Parahuman Research Center; instantly doubling the city's major employers from "Medhall" to "Medhall and Superhuman Prep School." but with Quirks exploding through the population it had been a shockingly prescient move. Brockton had the highest concentration of Quirks in the country; they were on the verge of being a majority here, unlike the fifteen to twenty percent that the rest of the country had to deal with.
Which made things better in some ways and worse in others. In one, she didn't suffer what most Parahuman kids did; anyone who engaged in bullying or Quirk-baiting in Brockton usually learned it was a real, real bad idea. But where the Quirkless kids didn't usually cause trouble, the Parahuman ones just seemed to think that was a good enough excuse to start shit themselves. For a girl like her, who had a weird Quirk and who didn't show it on her face, it tended to get you overlooked. Until she'd just decided not to let people have the option. Only that had led to her overlooking people herself; how the hell had she never noticed Victoria Dallon took the same route home she did?
She chewed the inside of her cheek as she followed behind her, wondering how the hell she was supposed to approach this. It was incredibly awkward, but mom had drilled it into her hard enough when she was a kid that she just couldn't get away from the instinct to reach out. When you saw someone who needed help, you helped. Some kids did it by instinct, some just needed to remember why heroes were different from just normal people with Quirks. It was still a barrier to get through; and most people probably wouldn't have noticed that it was even there. Victoria's Quirk was a bitch and a half. When she didn't want anyone's help, it came up like an emotional wall of Somebody Else's Problem. But somebody not wanting help was no excuse to not give it to them. Heroes were meant to be nosy.
"Hey! Victoria!" She finally managed. The palpable barrier of -please-ignore-me- thinned as she turned around and sighed.
"Oh, hey. You're Librum's kid."
"I'm Danny Hebert's kid too, but for some reason everybody forgets about him." She said, trying to keep the snippyness out of her voice. "Look, I know it's not my business, but I'm probably the only one who can see through your Quirk unless you let them. What's eating you?"
The blond girl just kept her fixed in her stare; then turned around and kept walking. "You're right, it's not your business, and you shouldn't have said anything."
She felt her temper flare, and a nearby manhole cover jiggled. She stamped it down and took a single deep breath. "Fine, fuck you too then. See if I-" She paused, turning to the sewers. That wasn't her. "Hey, do you feel that?"
Victoria didn't answer. Taylor turned back to shout it a little louder, but felt a pulse of something pitch black and red hot- the strains of Vicky's quirk turning shrill and discordant. She'd stopped stock still on the sidewalk, staring down the street at a girl who'd just emerged from an alleyway; looking ragged and unkempt, mouse brown hair framing a face that was- unsettling. Nobody should look that satisfied with themselves outside of an art gallery with their name on it.
"Hey, I know that quirk. It's... Valerie right?" She said casually, hands stuffed in her pockets.
"You. I can't fucking believe it. All this time and you just walk right out in front of me?" Vicky said, shaking so much her teeth would have been clicking if she hadn't had them set so tight that only her quirk kept them from cracking.
Taylor was starting to feel like she'd walked into something weirdly personal, but she still reached slowly for her phone, backing away before the rumbling she'd felt under her feet redoubled.
"Do you know how many times I fantasized about a moment just like this? I've been waiting for you to show your face again for ten years." Victoria choked out.
"Oh my. How flattering. But I'm afraid I haven't thought about you at all." Mouse brown said, her smile drawing back even further.
Taylor heard more than saw the next part, as Victoria's quirk shrieked so loudly it sounded like a string should have snapped, and she rushed forward so fast it made the wind whip through the street, throwing a punch that should have blown the girl's head right off her shoulders- would have, if not for a sudden sound like a steak being slapped onto the floor; as a wall of meat imposed itself between them, and Victoria's super strength met something that wobbled and shook but did not break. She looked up just in time for a hand to wrap around her forearm and then bash her repeatedly onto the road below; leaving humanoid craters on the street before her sleeve sheared away and she was sent flying backward; nearly knocking Taylor over.
"Careful there! You might upset my friends if you start getting fresh with me." the villain said casually, standing next to a huge, hulking barely-humanoid that Taylor had trouble processing the details of. It looked like a child's sculpture, clubbed limbs and stubby fingers that ended in a strange frayed edge... until she recognized that the fingers were arms, the fraying fingers. One arm had a swastika tattooed on it. Her eyes went wide and she swallowed heavily.
"You- You're Helix Queen."
"Oh, hello. Sorry, I don't know who you are at all. Are you a fan? I don't do autographs anymore I'm afraid." She said, cleaning out her ear with one finger.
Taylor's hand closed around her phone. She needed to call in the Protectorate. She was really hoping her mom was on call at this moment. She was the only one that stood a chance of subduing her long enough for One to get to her. "Ah... sure I am. I don't need an autograph but uh... Don't suppose you'd mind a picture would you?"
Amelia Lavere's eyes narrowed down to narrow slits. "You think I was born yesterday kid? Hands out of the pockets, nice and high. And maybe I'll let you keep them. Oh, would you like a few extra pairs? You can never have too many I find." She giggled, flexing her hand, the bones cracking bizarrely as sharp edges broke through the skin beneath her fingernails and extended into hypodermic needles.
Abruptly, with a low crack, Vicky's hand crushed around her wrist, snapping the bones beneath before she drove a fist into her ribs, sending her flying head over heels, flipping end over and several times before she smashed through a fence and into the brick wall of a nearby house, thankfully abandoned. Only afterward did her bodyguard monster smash a haymaker into the street that would have driven Vicky through it like a nail. She discarded Helix Queen's severed arm immediately, where it flopped around on the ground like a headless snake, then grasped Taylor's hand instead.
"Go! Get the hell out of here!" She commanded, aura flaring so brightly that Taylor almost turned to obey; only for the street to crack and buckle around them. Victoria grasped her and lifted off the ground as something huge exploded up from beneath, rising up and coiling it's way up, a massive serpent held aloft on randomly spaced human limbs, writhing like cilia on a worm, a flat featureless head full of human teeth as big as bricks grinning up at them as the tail slid into the hole that the villain had been launched through, drawing her out and setting her on the serpentine monster's back as she cracked her neck and flexed the stump of her arm, giving Victoria a venemous look that entirely lacked her previous smug smile.
-----------
AN: feel free to speculate
AN2: Thinking about enlisting someone to post new updates to the SB thread if there are any volunteers.
Which made things better in some ways and worse in others. In one, she didn't suffer what most Parahuman kids did; anyone who engaged in bullying or Quirk-baiting in Brockton usually learned it was a real, real bad idea. But where the Quirkless kids didn't usually cause trouble, the Parahuman ones just seemed to think that was a good enough excuse to start shit themselves. For a girl like her, who had a weird Quirk and who didn't show it on her face, it tended to get you overlooked. Until she'd just decided not to let people have the option. Only that had led to her overlooking people herself; how the hell had she never noticed Victoria Dallon took the same route home she did?
She chewed the inside of her cheek as she followed behind her, wondering how the hell she was supposed to approach this. It was incredibly awkward, but mom had drilled it into her hard enough when she was a kid that she just couldn't get away from the instinct to reach out. When you saw someone who needed help, you helped. Some kids did it by instinct, some just needed to remember why heroes were different from just normal people with Quirks. It was still a barrier to get through; and most people probably wouldn't have noticed that it was even there. Victoria's Quirk was a bitch and a half. When she didn't want anyone's help, it came up like an emotional wall of Somebody Else's Problem. But somebody not wanting help was no excuse to not give it to them. Heroes were meant to be nosy.
"Hey! Victoria!" She finally managed. The palpable barrier of -please-ignore-me- thinned as she turned around and sighed.
"Oh, hey. You're Librum's kid."
"I'm Danny Hebert's kid too, but for some reason everybody forgets about him." She said, trying to keep the snippyness out of her voice. "Look, I know it's not my business, but I'm probably the only one who can see through your Quirk unless you let them. What's eating you?"
The blond girl just kept her fixed in her stare; then turned around and kept walking. "You're right, it's not your business, and you shouldn't have said anything."
She felt her temper flare, and a nearby manhole cover jiggled. She stamped it down and took a single deep breath. "Fine, fuck you too then. See if I-" She paused, turning to the sewers. That wasn't her. "Hey, do you feel that?"
Victoria didn't answer. Taylor turned back to shout it a little louder, but felt a pulse of something pitch black and red hot- the strains of Vicky's quirk turning shrill and discordant. She'd stopped stock still on the sidewalk, staring down the street at a girl who'd just emerged from an alleyway; looking ragged and unkempt, mouse brown hair framing a face that was- unsettling. Nobody should look that satisfied with themselves outside of an art gallery with their name on it.
"Hey, I know that quirk. It's... Valerie right?" She said casually, hands stuffed in her pockets.
"You. I can't fucking believe it. All this time and you just walk right out in front of me?" Vicky said, shaking so much her teeth would have been clicking if she hadn't had them set so tight that only her quirk kept them from cracking.
Taylor was starting to feel like she'd walked into something weirdly personal, but she still reached slowly for her phone, backing away before the rumbling she'd felt under her feet redoubled.
"Do you know how many times I fantasized about a moment just like this? I've been waiting for you to show your face again for ten years." Victoria choked out.
"Oh my. How flattering. But I'm afraid I haven't thought about you at all." Mouse brown said, her smile drawing back even further.
Taylor heard more than saw the next part, as Victoria's quirk shrieked so loudly it sounded like a string should have snapped, and she rushed forward so fast it made the wind whip through the street, throwing a punch that should have blown the girl's head right off her shoulders- would have, if not for a sudden sound like a steak being slapped onto the floor; as a wall of meat imposed itself between them, and Victoria's super strength met something that wobbled and shook but did not break. She looked up just in time for a hand to wrap around her forearm and then bash her repeatedly onto the road below; leaving humanoid craters on the street before her sleeve sheared away and she was sent flying backward; nearly knocking Taylor over.
"Careful there! You might upset my friends if you start getting fresh with me." the villain said casually, standing next to a huge, hulking barely-humanoid that Taylor had trouble processing the details of. It looked like a child's sculpture, clubbed limbs and stubby fingers that ended in a strange frayed edge... until she recognized that the fingers were arms, the fraying fingers. One arm had a swastika tattooed on it. Her eyes went wide and she swallowed heavily.
"You- You're Helix Queen."
"Oh, hello. Sorry, I don't know who you are at all. Are you a fan? I don't do autographs anymore I'm afraid." She said, cleaning out her ear with one finger.
Taylor's hand closed around her phone. She needed to call in the Protectorate. She was really hoping her mom was on call at this moment. She was the only one that stood a chance of subduing her long enough for One to get to her. "Ah... sure I am. I don't need an autograph but uh... Don't suppose you'd mind a picture would you?"
Amelia Lavere's eyes narrowed down to narrow slits. "You think I was born yesterday kid? Hands out of the pockets, nice and high. And maybe I'll let you keep them. Oh, would you like a few extra pairs? You can never have too many I find." She giggled, flexing her hand, the bones cracking bizarrely as sharp edges broke through the skin beneath her fingernails and extended into hypodermic needles.
Abruptly, with a low crack, Vicky's hand crushed around her wrist, snapping the bones beneath before she drove a fist into her ribs, sending her flying head over heels, flipping end over and several times before she smashed through a fence and into the brick wall of a nearby house, thankfully abandoned. Only afterward did her bodyguard monster smash a haymaker into the street that would have driven Vicky through it like a nail. She discarded Helix Queen's severed arm immediately, where it flopped around on the ground like a headless snake, then grasped Taylor's hand instead.
"Go! Get the hell out of here!" She commanded, aura flaring so brightly that Taylor almost turned to obey; only for the street to crack and buckle around them. Victoria grasped her and lifted off the ground as something huge exploded up from beneath, rising up and coiling it's way up, a massive serpent held aloft on randomly spaced human limbs, writhing like cilia on a worm, a flat featureless head full of human teeth as big as bricks grinning up at them as the tail slid into the hole that the villain had been launched through, drawing her out and setting her on the serpentine monster's back as she cracked her neck and flexed the stump of her arm, giving Victoria a venemous look that entirely lacked her previous smug smile.
-----------
AN: feel free to speculate
AN2: Thinking about enlisting someone to post new updates to the SB thread if there are any volunteers.
Last edited:
MWKillKenny84
Lurking from the Trauma Switch.
- Location
- Vado Ligure
So good-ish news: Amelia stayed with her father and is now a full-blow Villain, albeit one we hope has been raised better than the downright abominable one she had as Amy Dallon and thus less likely to go Bonesaw on the rest of the world.
Bad news: history repeat itself and the enmity Carol/Marquis has been inherited by their children.
- Location
- Writeland
As delightfully evil as that would make her, she wasn't actually pretending when she got Vicky's name wrong and said she hadn't even thought about her all this time. So it's really just one way enmity really.
MWKillKenny84
Lurking from the Trauma Switch.
- Location
- Vado Ligure
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Carol/Marquis a one-side enmity too (after all, when you live in the city that house also the Butcher and a Neo-Nazi gang with oversea support, Marquis was one of the lesser evil around)?
- Location
- Writeland
I do not recall.
Chapter 8.2
- Location
- Writeland
AN: Two chapterlets in a row! It's a christmas miracle. I make no promises to quality or length.
--------------
Taylor hung on for dear life to Victoria's shoulders to keep from falling off as her golden haired ride juked to one side to avoid a fucking LASER fired off from one of the monstrosities down below them; projected from an aperture that looked like a wide gaping eyeball. Helix Queen wasn't considered the world's strongest biotinker for no reason; there seemed to be nothing that any metal-and-wires Tinker could make that she couldn't replicate with flesh and blood. Medicine was the least of her abilities; the early irony of her inability to use her powers on her own body had clearly not stopped her from figuring out how to keep herself alive in a world of heroes who wanted her head. Even as she glared up at her quarry, a living surgeon built out of quasi-human anatomical mashups, bristling with dozens of claws tipped in living surgical tools was busily reattaching her severed arm with no sign of discomfort from her face.
Taylor wondered how the hell she'd managed to get one of her creations to operate on her brain to remove her pain response, but it must have been one hell of a night.
"I've gotta drop you." Victoria warned.
"Like hell! Listen to me! The protectorate will be here any minute, but until then we're all that's keeping her here. If she gets away-"
"I KNOW!" Victoria practically screamed, and Taylor blanched.
"Then listen to me. I can help you. Just relax, and let me dance to your tune." She said, slowly turning her voice singsong. This was not a song she wanted to sing today, or any day, and just feeling it made her almost wince. Then she let go, and hovered next to the older girl; a green shield flashing to life around her.
Victoria opened her mouth to ask- but questions ceased to need asking. She moved; dodging another attack, and Taylor moved with her; a mirror moving in perfect time. She didn't need to worry about telling her what to do or how. She already knew the steps; she just needed to match the rhythm.
They struck downward, flashing between melted-wax men and coiled springs of spinal cords, knives of bone and snapping teeth.
-------------
One sipped at his tea; slightly too hot, which was how he preferred it anyway. "I hope you have some good news for me."
"Sorry friend, I'll have to disappoint you." Hero answered; voice perfectly translated through the next-generation Herophone which projected his image with perfect clarity. Not that it was worth much to One. It was almost tempting to let Hero know about his most familiar sensory power; he was dead certain that his absolute mastery of waves and frequencies would let him create a hologram in infrared just as perfect as visible light. But he'd gone almost thirty years now without giving up the game, and now he was on such a roll that it felt like a shame to give it away now.
"Gatecrasher has been missing for months. I'm starting to worry that our former employers might have caught wind of him." One said, setting his cup down.
"Well, sadly there's only one way to check, and that's pretty permanent. What about your other projects?"
Gearheart cut in. Among the three of them, she'd opted for an avatar that dropped all pretension; a simple blue valentine heart with an audio visualizer attached to match her voice. "Gae bolg is nearly ready. String Theory still wants us to test it on a Peacekeeper; but I think I've persuaded her that might be a bit premature. I can't say I wouldn't be tempted if they made a major push though..."
"You know why that's a bad idea. Even if it succeeded, we'd be playing our hand too early. Even using it on Zero is to be considered a last resort."
"It would be nice if we had a different subject to try it on." Hero said; in the tone of someone who's argued long and hard for something he knows he won't get.
One sighed. He understood the argument, but there was only one viable test subject for such a thing, and it was in the one place they couldn't reach. "I'm working on a work around. Believe me, you'll be the first to know about it when I have it ready. Now if you'll excuse me, I feel myself growing a bit strained. We will speak again next week." He had to imagine the look of concern on Hero's face, though he had no doubt it was there. The Godfather of Tinkers was nothing if not dedicated to living up to his namesake; it had been him, not Legend, who was hardest to convince of the necessity of the plan over ten years ago. Gearheart of course wouldn't show concern, even though he believed she felt it.
He sagged back and rubbed at his neck. His health was indeed beginning to fail him more and more. But his solution was within his grasp, if only he could reach her. His other -other- phone buzzed, and he picked it up; reading off only a single word. "Ready."
He texted back "Go."
There was little worry. She would not be able to resist this bait. Only fools though that the mad were unpredictable. You just had to understand their motives; however twisted.
-----------
Amy's teeth clenched, and she once again came within inches of death as one of her Brute-boys intercepted a perfectly coordinated double attack. This was growing really annoying; especially without her meat suit or any of her last resort bio-bombs on hand. Teach her to take a stroll through the old neighborhood... She twitched her foot, and bone blossomed up from her steed like a forest of spears; the enormous serpent slinging his body to smash- what's her name, Virginia? From the sky for the fifth time. Amy had already guessed that there was a weakness to her barriers; all of the Dallons had one, as she knew from experience. But whenever she got a solid hit in, the other one was suddenly there to snatch her partner from danger or launch an attack to drag her attention away from the downed one; they moved with such eerie synchronicity that it reminded her of her own creations, built bio-programmed to act in perfect concert.
But she'd figure them out and bring them down. She always did.
Then a flash of gold lit up the gloom of the sky and a sheet of lasers rained down with perfect precision; striking all of her boys squarely at once and knocking her right off her ride to land, dignity vanished, on her ass on the pavement below. She groaned in frustration as she saw the one person in Brockton Bay that she wanted to see the least; a skinny woman in her middle age, looking about as threatening as your average librarian, coruscating with borrowed power. Legend's power.
Amy bit her tongue, hard, activating one of the neural ganglia of the symbiote she'd replaced the muscle with long ago, and felt it jerk within her, dislocating bones and popping her apart. She slithered over the rubble she'd made of the street and burrowed away; reaching out to brush her hand past as many of her creations as she could; instantly reducing them to protoplasm with a sound like a bursting water balloon, before cocconing herself with their corpses and digging deep to reach the sewers to safety.
-----------
"Uhh... Hi mom." Taylor said, hovering down and wobbling, unsteady on her feet. Nearby, a watermain burst and began to flood the ruined street. A car alarm blared weakly, about to give up the ghost. "I can explain." She said.
A roof fell in behind her.
--------------
Taylor hung on for dear life to Victoria's shoulders to keep from falling off as her golden haired ride juked to one side to avoid a fucking LASER fired off from one of the monstrosities down below them; projected from an aperture that looked like a wide gaping eyeball. Helix Queen wasn't considered the world's strongest biotinker for no reason; there seemed to be nothing that any metal-and-wires Tinker could make that she couldn't replicate with flesh and blood. Medicine was the least of her abilities; the early irony of her inability to use her powers on her own body had clearly not stopped her from figuring out how to keep herself alive in a world of heroes who wanted her head. Even as she glared up at her quarry, a living surgeon built out of quasi-human anatomical mashups, bristling with dozens of claws tipped in living surgical tools was busily reattaching her severed arm with no sign of discomfort from her face.
Taylor wondered how the hell she'd managed to get one of her creations to operate on her brain to remove her pain response, but it must have been one hell of a night.
"I've gotta drop you." Victoria warned.
"Like hell! Listen to me! The protectorate will be here any minute, but until then we're all that's keeping her here. If she gets away-"
"I KNOW!" Victoria practically screamed, and Taylor blanched.
"Then listen to me. I can help you. Just relax, and let me dance to your tune." She said, slowly turning her voice singsong. This was not a song she wanted to sing today, or any day, and just feeling it made her almost wince. Then she let go, and hovered next to the older girl; a green shield flashing to life around her.
Victoria opened her mouth to ask- but questions ceased to need asking. She moved; dodging another attack, and Taylor moved with her; a mirror moving in perfect time. She didn't need to worry about telling her what to do or how. She already knew the steps; she just needed to match the rhythm.
They struck downward, flashing between melted-wax men and coiled springs of spinal cords, knives of bone and snapping teeth.
-------------
One sipped at his tea; slightly too hot, which was how he preferred it anyway. "I hope you have some good news for me."
"Sorry friend, I'll have to disappoint you." Hero answered; voice perfectly translated through the next-generation Herophone which projected his image with perfect clarity. Not that it was worth much to One. It was almost tempting to let Hero know about his most familiar sensory power; he was dead certain that his absolute mastery of waves and frequencies would let him create a hologram in infrared just as perfect as visible light. But he'd gone almost thirty years now without giving up the game, and now he was on such a roll that it felt like a shame to give it away now.
"Gatecrasher has been missing for months. I'm starting to worry that our former employers might have caught wind of him." One said, setting his cup down.
"Well, sadly there's only one way to check, and that's pretty permanent. What about your other projects?"
Gearheart cut in. Among the three of them, she'd opted for an avatar that dropped all pretension; a simple blue valentine heart with an audio visualizer attached to match her voice. "Gae bolg is nearly ready. String Theory still wants us to test it on a Peacekeeper; but I think I've persuaded her that might be a bit premature. I can't say I wouldn't be tempted if they made a major push though..."
"You know why that's a bad idea. Even if it succeeded, we'd be playing our hand too early. Even using it on Zero is to be considered a last resort."
"It would be nice if we had a different subject to try it on." Hero said; in the tone of someone who's argued long and hard for something he knows he won't get.
One sighed. He understood the argument, but there was only one viable test subject for such a thing, and it was in the one place they couldn't reach. "I'm working on a work around. Believe me, you'll be the first to know about it when I have it ready. Now if you'll excuse me, I feel myself growing a bit strained. We will speak again next week." He had to imagine the look of concern on Hero's face, though he had no doubt it was there. The Godfather of Tinkers was nothing if not dedicated to living up to his namesake; it had been him, not Legend, who was hardest to convince of the necessity of the plan over ten years ago. Gearheart of course wouldn't show concern, even though he believed she felt it.
He sagged back and rubbed at his neck. His health was indeed beginning to fail him more and more. But his solution was within his grasp, if only he could reach her. His other -other- phone buzzed, and he picked it up; reading off only a single word. "Ready."
He texted back "Go."
There was little worry. She would not be able to resist this bait. Only fools though that the mad were unpredictable. You just had to understand their motives; however twisted.
-----------
Amy's teeth clenched, and she once again came within inches of death as one of her Brute-boys intercepted a perfectly coordinated double attack. This was growing really annoying; especially without her meat suit or any of her last resort bio-bombs on hand. Teach her to take a stroll through the old neighborhood... She twitched her foot, and bone blossomed up from her steed like a forest of spears; the enormous serpent slinging his body to smash- what's her name, Virginia? From the sky for the fifth time. Amy had already guessed that there was a weakness to her barriers; all of the Dallons had one, as she knew from experience. But whenever she got a solid hit in, the other one was suddenly there to snatch her partner from danger or launch an attack to drag her attention away from the downed one; they moved with such eerie synchronicity that it reminded her of her own creations, built bio-programmed to act in perfect concert.
But she'd figure them out and bring them down. She always did.
Then a flash of gold lit up the gloom of the sky and a sheet of lasers rained down with perfect precision; striking all of her boys squarely at once and knocking her right off her ride to land, dignity vanished, on her ass on the pavement below. She groaned in frustration as she saw the one person in Brockton Bay that she wanted to see the least; a skinny woman in her middle age, looking about as threatening as your average librarian, coruscating with borrowed power. Legend's power.
Amy bit her tongue, hard, activating one of the neural ganglia of the symbiote she'd replaced the muscle with long ago, and felt it jerk within her, dislocating bones and popping her apart. She slithered over the rubble she'd made of the street and burrowed away; reaching out to brush her hand past as many of her creations as she could; instantly reducing them to protoplasm with a sound like a bursting water balloon, before cocconing herself with their corpses and digging deep to reach the sewers to safety.
-----------
"Uhh... Hi mom." Taylor said, hovering down and wobbling, unsteady on her feet. Nearby, a watermain burst and began to flood the ruined street. A car alarm blared weakly, about to give up the ghost. "I can explain." She said.
A roof fell in behind her.
I was right! Taylor IS a Trump.
Whut? Zero's still a threat? I thought taking him out was the whole point of Black Morning?
Librum has arrived, also using borrowed power. Like mother, like daughter.
This oughta be good
- Location
- Writeland
Well as I said in the other thread, it's more like she can use her power to do Trumplike things. (Insert political joke.)
By PRT ratings, Taylor in this universe is a Shaker 7, Trump 5.
That's what we call assuming. He's still very much around and still a bad, bad space slug.
She's in semi-retirement due to the full time job of taking care of this curselike troublesome daughter.
This oughta be good
Anette's an english professor. She expects the explanation to be no less than 10 thousand words with annotations and properly cited research. Don't worry Taylor, you'll have plenty of time to do it, as you are going to be grounded for the next eighteen thousand years.
Chapter 8.3
- Location
- Writeland
One had to restrain himself from smashing something expensive when he learned of the altercation between Annette's progeny and the Helix Queen. Oh, and the Dallon girl, he dismissed. Worthy as it had been in educating him on an unexpected application for her power, he would rather she hadn't ended up driving Lavere into hiding.
Although, he thought. That is an unexpected outcome. Even unprepared, kept away from her Tinker's Arsenal of bioweapons, a first year Hero student should have presented little problem for her. Even with assistance from Dallon. The rest of the Dallon clan hadn't presented much of a problem when Lavere went on the childhood rampage that had made her name as a supervillain; and she was far more dangerous now than she had been then. Perhaps he'd underestimated her. But it was a thought for another day. He needed Lavere, sooner rather than later...
He took a rattling breath and winced. Eight months. Probably less.
------------
Amelia groaned as she forced another joint back into place, levering herself mostly upright and taking deep, cleansing breaths. Even absent the sensation of pain, the bizarre sensations still irritated her as she reassembled herself. She flexed her hand, judging it sturdy enough, she extended her hypodermics and pierced through a pile of liquidized biomass that she'd managed to gather, injecting it with the appropriate instructions to become a new Sawbones; the still moist pupa bursting open a few minutes later and immediately setting upon her; grasping her tangled skeleton in it's many hands and rapidly jerking her back together in an expedient, though uncomfortable process, then plunging a probe deep into her rib cage; a tentacular protrusion digging through her chest cavity to pluck out unwanted bone fragments. Once free of her body it digested them quickly, turning them into useful biomass, sealing the injury shut with a natural glue.
She wobbled on her feet slightly, grimacing as she looked down at the shambling little monster, piercing it with her modified fingernails again and immediately converting it into a flat sheath of flesh and skin that wound itself around her body; constricting around her broken ribs and burned skin from where Librum's lasers had scored glancing hits, salves and regenerative compounds expressing themselves through the limited med-suit to start handling any injuries her Sawbones couldn't handle with pure mechanical force.
She was going to have to add that girl to her little list. She really shouldn't have left Vancey alive; or whatever the hell her name was. But daddy had made her promise not to kill "Innocents" whatever the hell that meant. Speaking of, she needed to get back to his territory. She would never have worn this tired old face if she didn't need him to recognize her.
She reached out and extended her nails on long transparent tubes, pumping genes into the remaining biomass around her and splitting it apart into thousands of skittering bugs labeled with simple instructions to follow and protect her while making themselves scarce from pursuers; the swarm dispersing throughout the sewers as she began her walk. A lucky coincidence, as moments later the ceiling collapsed, and a dull black hand snatched at the space where her head had been mere moments ago.
She stumbled back, nearly losing her footing and blinking rapidly as dusty sunlight filled the sewer, illuminating a hulk to rival any of her Brute Boys; a lumpen creature built of tar-black muscle; naked but sexless, it's massive shoulders cradling a slim neck and a mandible full of long yellow teeth; without a skull or upper jaw to oppose them. A tongue licked at the air; broad and forked, and it hunched down into a gorilla pose.
She broke into a run, swarms of bio-bugs flooding the area between it and her as it bulled forward. It was caught fast; the bugs bursting apart into a substance that would have been very much like containment foam, if not for the caustic, toxic gas that hissed from it, burning away black skin and exposing hot red muscle on the pursuing creature, only for it to rapidly regenerate again. Once it was fully enclosed, it struggled only for a few moments, before rearing it's half-a-head back and letting out a loud, gurgling keen that pierced the air; one that was answered by dozens more; throughout the sewer and the city above.
Although, he thought. That is an unexpected outcome. Even unprepared, kept away from her Tinker's Arsenal of bioweapons, a first year Hero student should have presented little problem for her. Even with assistance from Dallon. The rest of the Dallon clan hadn't presented much of a problem when Lavere went on the childhood rampage that had made her name as a supervillain; and she was far more dangerous now than she had been then. Perhaps he'd underestimated her. But it was a thought for another day. He needed Lavere, sooner rather than later...
He took a rattling breath and winced. Eight months. Probably less.
------------
Amelia groaned as she forced another joint back into place, levering herself mostly upright and taking deep, cleansing breaths. Even absent the sensation of pain, the bizarre sensations still irritated her as she reassembled herself. She flexed her hand, judging it sturdy enough, she extended her hypodermics and pierced through a pile of liquidized biomass that she'd managed to gather, injecting it with the appropriate instructions to become a new Sawbones; the still moist pupa bursting open a few minutes later and immediately setting upon her; grasping her tangled skeleton in it's many hands and rapidly jerking her back together in an expedient, though uncomfortable process, then plunging a probe deep into her rib cage; a tentacular protrusion digging through her chest cavity to pluck out unwanted bone fragments. Once free of her body it digested them quickly, turning them into useful biomass, sealing the injury shut with a natural glue.
She wobbled on her feet slightly, grimacing as she looked down at the shambling little monster, piercing it with her modified fingernails again and immediately converting it into a flat sheath of flesh and skin that wound itself around her body; constricting around her broken ribs and burned skin from where Librum's lasers had scored glancing hits, salves and regenerative compounds expressing themselves through the limited med-suit to start handling any injuries her Sawbones couldn't handle with pure mechanical force.
She was going to have to add that girl to her little list. She really shouldn't have left Vancey alive; or whatever the hell her name was. But daddy had made her promise not to kill "Innocents" whatever the hell that meant. Speaking of, she needed to get back to his territory. She would never have worn this tired old face if she didn't need him to recognize her.
She reached out and extended her nails on long transparent tubes, pumping genes into the remaining biomass around her and splitting it apart into thousands of skittering bugs labeled with simple instructions to follow and protect her while making themselves scarce from pursuers; the swarm dispersing throughout the sewers as she began her walk. A lucky coincidence, as moments later the ceiling collapsed, and a dull black hand snatched at the space where her head had been mere moments ago.
She stumbled back, nearly losing her footing and blinking rapidly as dusty sunlight filled the sewer, illuminating a hulk to rival any of her Brute Boys; a lumpen creature built of tar-black muscle; naked but sexless, it's massive shoulders cradling a slim neck and a mandible full of long yellow teeth; without a skull or upper jaw to oppose them. A tongue licked at the air; broad and forked, and it hunched down into a gorilla pose.
She broke into a run, swarms of bio-bugs flooding the area between it and her as it bulled forward. It was caught fast; the bugs bursting apart into a substance that would have been very much like containment foam, if not for the caustic, toxic gas that hissed from it, burning away black skin and exposing hot red muscle on the pursuing creature, only for it to rapidly regenerate again. Once it was fully enclosed, it struggled only for a few moments, before rearing it's half-a-head back and letting out a loud, gurgling keen that pierced the air; one that was answered by dozens more; throughout the sewer and the city above.
He's dying, isn't he? His life support systems aren't enough to keep his body from degrading anymore, so he needs Amelia to heal him.
NOMU!!!
Chapter 8.4
- Location
- Writeland
Parts whirled through the air; interconnecting spherical shells that rapidly exchanged material from one layer to another, assembling themselves faster and faster, while at the center the Anaon meditated, frantically, on the interdimensional metaphysics relevant to the creation. So hurried was it's pace that several times it shot out it's own clever hands and dextrous wings to move a part when telekinesis wasn't fast enough; assembling the machine it needed to accomplish it's last gamble; the final hail mary pass that it's genius mind could conceive of. It had to work fast; faster! Before that thing discovered the work and undid it all. Or worse.
For no other purpose would it have allowed the host of the Traveller to leave this world. For nothing less could the risk be undertaken. The Younger Brother had to be stopped.
------------
Helix Queen plunged her needles into the black abomination reaching for her. Abruptly, it's skin swelled like a sausage, and popped, dissolved into protoplasmic muck that steamed faintly on the ground in front of her. It would have been satisfying, if that's what she'd actually meant for it to do. The implications were troubling. They reacted to her Power by self destructing rather than providing her with information or biomass. They'd been tailored to fight her. Another biotinker was gunning for her; and knew how to stop her powers from working.
She still lashed out with her hypodermic extensions; if only because causing them to self destruct was the most effective way she'd found of dispatching them. Her creations tried their best; but whoever had built these things built them tough. She was reluctantly impressed at how they kept pursuing her with their strange vegetal organs spilling out on the floor, or their bottom halves ripped and hurled dozens of meters from their tops. She panted for breath; turning another corner and regretting more with every moment her decision to come and visit daddy. This was far too much trouble for an apology.
She slashed her hand to one side; diving it into the sewage itself; releasing a chimeric inoculation of tailored organisms into the water. The bacteria within were rapidly reconstructed to her design, and the bio-catalyzed high explosive they produced rapidly ignited itself as she ran, collapsing another street into the tunnels, giving her a little breathing room. She jumped up and bit her tongue in a different place; flooding her system with panic button adrenaline and testosterone, grasping a ladder and climbing it to the top; forcing a manhole cover to the side with a roar of frustration and jumping clear of the sewer; taking heavy breaths of cold, clean air.
On pure reflex she slashed her needles out again; only to feel a sudden shocking rejection that made her yelp and yank her hand back, looking at the crackling field of energy that had intercepted her attack; the enormous, matte black body that stepped out of the shadows and giggled at her in a high, girlish voice.
"Nice try, but I hope you can do more. It's my first night out in a long time. I want to have a little fun before I have to go dragging you back to uncle." she said, the black monster's headless body capped by the skull of a pretty young asian girl, severed above the mandible and crudely attached to the monster by a tangle of springs and wire. It flexed one dinner plate broad hand, fingertips shifting and extruding a drill, a surgical saw, a sparking arc torch, a nail gun, a hissing pilot light.
"Should have just stayed in Ellisburg." She growled, cracking her own knuckles; wishing her knees would quit shaking.
------------
For no other purpose would it have allowed the host of the Traveller to leave this world. For nothing less could the risk be undertaken. The Younger Brother had to be stopped.
------------
Helix Queen plunged her needles into the black abomination reaching for her. Abruptly, it's skin swelled like a sausage, and popped, dissolved into protoplasmic muck that steamed faintly on the ground in front of her. It would have been satisfying, if that's what she'd actually meant for it to do. The implications were troubling. They reacted to her Power by self destructing rather than providing her with information or biomass. They'd been tailored to fight her. Another biotinker was gunning for her; and knew how to stop her powers from working.
She still lashed out with her hypodermic extensions; if only because causing them to self destruct was the most effective way she'd found of dispatching them. Her creations tried their best; but whoever had built these things built them tough. She was reluctantly impressed at how they kept pursuing her with their strange vegetal organs spilling out on the floor, or their bottom halves ripped and hurled dozens of meters from their tops. She panted for breath; turning another corner and regretting more with every moment her decision to come and visit daddy. This was far too much trouble for an apology.
She slashed her hand to one side; diving it into the sewage itself; releasing a chimeric inoculation of tailored organisms into the water. The bacteria within were rapidly reconstructed to her design, and the bio-catalyzed high explosive they produced rapidly ignited itself as she ran, collapsing another street into the tunnels, giving her a little breathing room. She jumped up and bit her tongue in a different place; flooding her system with panic button adrenaline and testosterone, grasping a ladder and climbing it to the top; forcing a manhole cover to the side with a roar of frustration and jumping clear of the sewer; taking heavy breaths of cold, clean air.
On pure reflex she slashed her needles out again; only to feel a sudden shocking rejection that made her yelp and yank her hand back, looking at the crackling field of energy that had intercepted her attack; the enormous, matte black body that stepped out of the shadows and giggled at her in a high, girlish voice.
"Nice try, but I hope you can do more. It's my first night out in a long time. I want to have a little fun before I have to go dragging you back to uncle." she said, the black monster's headless body capped by the skull of a pretty young asian girl, severed above the mandible and crudely attached to the monster by a tangle of springs and wire. It flexed one dinner plate broad hand, fingertips shifting and extruding a drill, a surgical saw, a sparking arc torch, a nail gun, a hissing pilot light.
"Should have just stayed in Ellisburg." She growled, cracking her own knuckles; wishing her knees would quit shaking.
------------
Helix Queen
- Location
- Writeland
AN:And now, a brief aside!
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Amelia Lavere: AKA "Helix Queen"
Quirk: DNA
The hypodermic needles that operate her Quirk are produced by modified nail beds in her fingertips. They're a natural part of her Quirk and are not a modification to her body. Her body produces a sophisticated gene-editing tool similar to CRISPR which acts almost instantaneously. It's unknown how it functions to activate changes in organisms so quickly.
She is unable to perform genetic modifications to herself, but has compensated by designing a huge number of symbiotic organisms compatible with her own biology, with which she has replaced most of her internal organs and tissues. Very little of her original body remains; mostly consisting of her brain, spinal cord, and hands. Even her skin is a symbiote, which she has tailored to act as natural camouflage and armor.
As part of her quirk, she has a natural and complete intuition of the function of biological organisms, and the human body in particular. She's able to pass this information on to her biological aberrations in the form of chemical "Bio-programming" that emulates the function of intelligence; creating masterfully skillful assassins, bodyguards, and surgeons. In the past she has sold these creations to other parahumans.
Prior interactions with her indicate that she is intensely cynical and paranoid. She appears to have little regard for human life, and sees people mostly in terms of their value as building materials or temporary amusements. It is theorized that this may be due to a very early and intensely traumatic trigger event, which resulted in the deaths of several prominent heroes.
While she has expressed misanthropic viewpoints in the past, it is well known that she is likely capable of constructing an artificial contagion that would result in mass deaths or complete extinction of the human species, but has so far elected not to do so. Several times in the past anonymous donations of biological material to the CDC and nonprofit research laboratories led to the discovery of cures for intractable diseases, conditions, and cancers. Helix Queen being the source of these cannot be confirmed nor denied.
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Amelia Lavere: AKA "Helix Queen"
Quirk: DNA
The hypodermic needles that operate her Quirk are produced by modified nail beds in her fingertips. They're a natural part of her Quirk and are not a modification to her body. Her body produces a sophisticated gene-editing tool similar to CRISPR which acts almost instantaneously. It's unknown how it functions to activate changes in organisms so quickly.
She is unable to perform genetic modifications to herself, but has compensated by designing a huge number of symbiotic organisms compatible with her own biology, with which she has replaced most of her internal organs and tissues. Very little of her original body remains; mostly consisting of her brain, spinal cord, and hands. Even her skin is a symbiote, which she has tailored to act as natural camouflage and armor.
As part of her quirk, she has a natural and complete intuition of the function of biological organisms, and the human body in particular. She's able to pass this information on to her biological aberrations in the form of chemical "Bio-programming" that emulates the function of intelligence; creating masterfully skillful assassins, bodyguards, and surgeons. In the past she has sold these creations to other parahumans.
Prior interactions with her indicate that she is intensely cynical and paranoid. She appears to have little regard for human life, and sees people mostly in terms of their value as building materials or temporary amusements. It is theorized that this may be due to a very early and intensely traumatic trigger event, which resulted in the deaths of several prominent heroes.
While she has expressed misanthropic viewpoints in the past, it is well known that she is likely capable of constructing an artificial contagion that would result in mass deaths or complete extinction of the human species, but has so far elected not to do so. Several times in the past anonymous donations of biological material to the CDC and nonprofit research laboratories led to the discovery of cures for intractable diseases, conditions, and cancers. Helix Queen being the source of these cannot be confirmed nor denied.
Chapter 8.5
- Location
- Writeland
Coming up with activators that were both difficult for an enemy to recognize and which she wouldn't do accidentally was not quite half the effort of coming up with things like this. Much of the rest was the recovery period afterward. Now she was stuck using more of them than she'd ever wanted to use in one day and she was certain she was going to regret it in the morning. Nonetheless there was no other option; she wasn't a fighter, never had been. But she could build fighters. Could make creations that had all the collective fighting instincts of veteran martial artists and the will to survive born into the entire animal kingdom. She slapped both her hands into her cheeks; as hard as she could, dislodging loose teeth, and driving her tongue into the exposed roots.
Instantly, her muscles expanded so fast it tore her clothing; skin flushing bright red as secondary and tertiary hearts spun up, veins bulging from every surface on her as her pupils dilated wide as dimes.
"Ooh, that looks fun. I wish I could understand the wet stuff better so I could-" Her aggressor began, before her body moved on it's own and grasped her hair to yank her head down into a flying knee; breaking both jaw and knee in one motion. It didn't matter. Her brain was sitting in the backseat now; the human brain couldn't react fast enough anyway; this was all reflex and instinct; her brain only needed to heal the symbiote in her leg before it immediately broke itself again, slashing out with a repeated snap-kick that broke the monster girl's ribs.
Amy watched, totally out of control of her body as a multitool-hand slashed where her head had been, so close that the drill ripped some of her hair out on it's way past. Her body jumped and shot both feet out to slam them into her chest; so hard that it broke both her ankles and sent her flying down the alleyway dozens of yards. She fixed them on the way down; landing on her hands and taking off on all fours away from the fight.
She skidded to a halt in front of a scene of carnage to shame a warzone. Black monsters covered in viscera, springing past one another like frenzied apes to lash out at dozens of Capes and the remains of the few normal gangsters left among them; heedless of the bullets that ripped into their rubbery flesh as they were of the fireballs, scything winds, and sonic disturbances that burned, shredded, and burst their flesh. Of course. Empire territory.
She counted herself lucky that the Empire were distracted enough not to notice her as she leapt past, still on autopilot, a passenger in her own body. Unfortunately the monstrosities were not so preoccupied, and abandoned their siege to leap after her as soon as they caught her scent. It left them easy prey for the nazis behind them, but they didn't care. Even those few who were brought down simply exploded into protoplasm, and their fellows scrambled through the slippery mess to pursue her. She scoffed at the poor workmanship; her boys could easily have been programmed to shore up a rear guard to hold down the nazis while the remainder pursued her. She'd have to remind their creator when she found him and turned him into a human coral reef.
Assuming she could manage it before she had to make a run for it. Even Brockton couldn't ignore this level of violence exploding in it's streets. And before long they'd call up the big guns.
Suddenly her smooth arc was violently interrupted, the world spiralling around her as she landed on the ground in a heap, staring down at the back of her own thighs; which her power helpfully informed her was not the way human legs were supposed to face.
An absolute behemoth of a headless creature slammed into the pavement a few dozen feet away, heavy enough to bounce her twisted corpus around as she fought for control of her own limbs; she had to make her arms twist her hips around the right way before she fixed the damage; but it was already coming her way, knuckles grating on the stones as it's unpaired mandible drooled all over itself, tongue snaking out for a verifying sniff before it reached down toward her; hand filling her entire horizon, only for her body to suddenly be elsewhere again, just as she'd managed to shut off the automatics enough to be sure it hadn't been her own body doing it.
She shook her head and found herself in- seriously, a princess carry? Whoever it was had carefully cradled her broken hips to keep them in place while they lifted her away.
"Don't worry miss. Everything's going to be alright. Because I am here." her rescuer said, flashing her the sweetest smile she'd ever seen.
"Huh. So that's what that feels like." She said; before slashing out with her needles, straight for his eyes. She shouldn't have been surprised when he caught them, and his smile faded, though only a little.
"Oh. How unfortunate." he said, before she was let down with shocking gentleness and he used his freed up arm to intercept a black fist the size of a trash can from reaching them; the shockwaves of dispersed impact rippling up the monster and tearing open rents in it's rubbery skin, while he stood as fast as stone. "I'll be sure to request a police car along with the ambulance." He said, kicking the beast square in the chest and sending it flying and flipping head over heels all the way down the street. He vanished from his perch and leapt for the sprawling monster as it rose up again. A hundred and sixty pounds of lean muscle and fluffy hair meeting a beast that outweighed a rhino, and blowing it off it's feet without budging an inch.
Instantly, her muscles expanded so fast it tore her clothing; skin flushing bright red as secondary and tertiary hearts spun up, veins bulging from every surface on her as her pupils dilated wide as dimes.
"Ooh, that looks fun. I wish I could understand the wet stuff better so I could-" Her aggressor began, before her body moved on it's own and grasped her hair to yank her head down into a flying knee; breaking both jaw and knee in one motion. It didn't matter. Her brain was sitting in the backseat now; the human brain couldn't react fast enough anyway; this was all reflex and instinct; her brain only needed to heal the symbiote in her leg before it immediately broke itself again, slashing out with a repeated snap-kick that broke the monster girl's ribs.
Amy watched, totally out of control of her body as a multitool-hand slashed where her head had been, so close that the drill ripped some of her hair out on it's way past. Her body jumped and shot both feet out to slam them into her chest; so hard that it broke both her ankles and sent her flying down the alleyway dozens of yards. She fixed them on the way down; landing on her hands and taking off on all fours away from the fight.
She skidded to a halt in front of a scene of carnage to shame a warzone. Black monsters covered in viscera, springing past one another like frenzied apes to lash out at dozens of Capes and the remains of the few normal gangsters left among them; heedless of the bullets that ripped into their rubbery flesh as they were of the fireballs, scything winds, and sonic disturbances that burned, shredded, and burst their flesh. Of course. Empire territory.
She counted herself lucky that the Empire were distracted enough not to notice her as she leapt past, still on autopilot, a passenger in her own body. Unfortunately the monstrosities were not so preoccupied, and abandoned their siege to leap after her as soon as they caught her scent. It left them easy prey for the nazis behind them, but they didn't care. Even those few who were brought down simply exploded into protoplasm, and their fellows scrambled through the slippery mess to pursue her. She scoffed at the poor workmanship; her boys could easily have been programmed to shore up a rear guard to hold down the nazis while the remainder pursued her. She'd have to remind their creator when she found him and turned him into a human coral reef.
Assuming she could manage it before she had to make a run for it. Even Brockton couldn't ignore this level of violence exploding in it's streets. And before long they'd call up the big guns.
Suddenly her smooth arc was violently interrupted, the world spiralling around her as she landed on the ground in a heap, staring down at the back of her own thighs; which her power helpfully informed her was not the way human legs were supposed to face.
An absolute behemoth of a headless creature slammed into the pavement a few dozen feet away, heavy enough to bounce her twisted corpus around as she fought for control of her own limbs; she had to make her arms twist her hips around the right way before she fixed the damage; but it was already coming her way, knuckles grating on the stones as it's unpaired mandible drooled all over itself, tongue snaking out for a verifying sniff before it reached down toward her; hand filling her entire horizon, only for her body to suddenly be elsewhere again, just as she'd managed to shut off the automatics enough to be sure it hadn't been her own body doing it.
She shook her head and found herself in- seriously, a princess carry? Whoever it was had carefully cradled her broken hips to keep them in place while they lifted her away.
"Don't worry miss. Everything's going to be alright. Because I am here." her rescuer said, flashing her the sweetest smile she'd ever seen.
"Huh. So that's what that feels like." She said; before slashing out with her needles, straight for his eyes. She shouldn't have been surprised when he caught them, and his smile faded, though only a little.
"Oh. How unfortunate." he said, before she was let down with shocking gentleness and he used his freed up arm to intercept a black fist the size of a trash can from reaching them; the shockwaves of dispersed impact rippling up the monster and tearing open rents in it's rubbery skin, while he stood as fast as stone. "I'll be sure to request a police car along with the ambulance." He said, kicking the beast square in the chest and sending it flying and flipping head over heels all the way down the street. He vanished from his perch and leapt for the sprawling monster as it rose up again. A hundred and sixty pounds of lean muscle and fluffy hair meeting a beast that outweighed a rhino, and blowing it off it's feet without budging an inch.
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Whut? All Might on Earth Bet? How?
Or is it Deku, given how long it's been since All For One landed on Earth Bet? Which still leads to the question of How?
- Location
- America
Is that... All Might?
Glitchrr36
Slick's Short Company, CEO
- Location
- The Wastes
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well. This certainly is a turn.
- Location
- Writeland
- Location
- Writeland
God dammit Horikoshi every time I think I have a handle on how MHA is built, you go and drop another bomb about One for All or All For One that completely derails what I was going for. This means that this story is going to be a bit more AU than I originally planned with regards to both MHA and Worm.
I may just need to take a break from this story to be honest.
I may just need to take a break from this story to be honest.