Worm 13
How to Beat Fried Worms
Disclaimer: Worm is owned by Wildbow, and he can keep it.
-----
Chapter 13: Tick Tock -End-
Interlude: Mouse Protector
-----
Minerva froze, like a mouse when the kitchen lights came on, as she watched Ravager get slammed by a great big step van. The other woman flew forward and landed on her face, her body rolling to a slow stop. Her little mercenary pup had slightly better luck, spinning in the air as her foot got caught by one of the van's headlights.
Minerva swallowed thickly as the giant vehicle came to a sharp stop, just a few feet away from finishing the job and rolling right over her fearsome opponent. She tightened her grip on her saber and straightened up when she heard the passenger door roll open.
A man stepped out, wearing a long jacket and a woolen cap with a scarf around his mouth, a semi-automatic rifle in his hands. His eyes were hard as he looked down at the crumpled, but moving, body of Ravager.
He was followed by another man, dressed the same and carrying the same sort of gun. And another, and another, and another and finally one more.
A half-dozen men. Same clothes and weapons.
Minerva didn't feel very confident, all of a sudden.
"Hah!" But she had to act like it anyway. "You've sprung my mouse trap! Now I'll be taking you all in!"
Mouse Protector brandished her saber towards the armed, silent men but felt her mouth go dry at being mostly ignored.
"You three," the first man demanded, ignoring her as he turned towards the other med that had followed him. "Secure March. Subdue, don't kill. You two, with me."
The other five men nodded silently. Professionally.
Minerva tried to look into the van, to see how many more people were in this operation but she couldn't make anything out through the glass.
"What do you think you're doing?" Mouse Protector demanded when the three that remained began to rip off Ravager's bandoliers. "You know you can't go unmasking someone?!"
"Ravager!" the man in the lead barked, continuing to ignore the protector of mice and stealer of cheese as he lifted the woman up by the lapel of her costume. "Did you think nobody would notice your efforts to contact the 9?!"
"...The 9?" Minerva asked, suddenly feeling a lot less full of cheesy goodness. "What do you mean? You'd have to be a real muenster to mess with them!"
"We have reliable intelligence that Ravager has, or will soon, succeed at making contact with the Slaughterhouse 9 in a bid to hire them for a job," the lead goon said, his tagalongs finally succeeding at ripping off Ravager's bandoliers.
"...Fahk yoo," Ravager mumbled out through the ground beef her face had become. She reached up weakly towards the masked face of her attacker, her fingernails smoking slightly, but the man violently shoved her arm down against Ravager's chest by her wrist.
Minerva actually winced at the state of her nefarious adversary.
"Are you waiting for a sign, Mouse Protector?" the lead goon asked as he reached into his jacket and came up with a packet of black zip-ties while his underlings dragged March out to lay her next to Ravager. "Call the PRT!"
The younger girl was bound in rope, practically from head to toe! They'd even stuck a blindfold on her and stuffed some earplugs into her ears!
"...Isn't the gag a bit much?" Minerva asked as she looked at the teen, her eyes focusing on the gag in March's mouth. She was screaming against it incoherently but even Minerva, as experienced as she was in speaking with her mouth full of mozzarella, couldn't figure out what she was saying.
The way the girl's foot was bent backwards was... unsettling in the extreme.
"Only a fool suffers a Thinker to speak," the prime goon said as he rolled his eyes.
It'd been hard to tell before but Minerva was able to tell there was a subtle difference in him compared to the rest. The others were stiffer and waited for him to lead, obviously taking their cues from him.
Goon number #1 snapped his fingers and the minions relaxed, their fingers taken off the triggers of their guns as they started to climb back into the van.
"Halt!" Mouse Protector shouted, pointing her saber at the group. "In the name of all that's cheesy and good, I demand that you-"
...They shut the door. They shut the door, right in the middle of her speech!
The nerve!
The audacity!
The-
Minerva ducked to the side, slapping her hand against the van as it took off and nearly knocked her over!
They couldn't even stick around to listen to her-
"Ahh..." Ravager moaned as she tried to inch towards Mouse Protector, despite her restraints and injuries. "Gunna... kill... you..."
That girl's Brute rating was really, really paying off.
With a defeated sigh, Mouse Protector pulled a phone out of a fanny pack concealed under her combat skirt. She dialed a number, practically from memory alone, and held it up under her helmet.
"PRT Hotline, what's your emergency?"
"Hi... it's me again..."
-----
"Holy shit!" Alec wheezed, his phantoms fading. "Ho-ly shit!"
He'd been expecting a fight. A real fight. Like, ducking for cover and shooting at Ravager and March as they fought through their injuries kind of a fight.
What he got instead was March hissing and threatening him but actually surrendering when Alec's phantoms pulled out restraints. Apparently, when the stakes don't involve murder? Even the villains will accept defeat.
Ravager? Alec had serious thoughts about just putting a bullet through her skull and calling it a day. She was legitimately stupid enough to try and sic the Slaughterhouse 9 on Mouse Protector and then just expect the insane band of murderhobos to carry on their merry way.
Clearly, she wasn't operating with a full deck of cards.
The wild card in the scenario had been Mouse Protector. An original member of the Wards, the underage hero program, the woman was known to be skilled and incredibly capable with her power. It had been her, far more than either Ravager or March, that Alec had been intending to intimidate with Phantom Force.
There were only a handful of ways to fight teleporters and the optimal method for one may not work on others. One option was baiting them to teleport to a specific spot, another involved utilizing your own teleportation and the third involved just being faster than them in one way or another.
In theory; bullet saturation might work. But that would really require shelling one's own position to be sure.
But, by bringing in enough 'bodies' with enough guns, Alec had managed to stave off a violent confrontation!
Well, a more violent confrontation.
Alec tapped his steering wheel, dropping a point of Investment into it and buffing out the dent Ravager had barely left in the grill-
Empowered Investor has reached level: 7!
Any which way, Alec wanted out of New York. He'd dealt with enough crazies, there.
He was ready to get back to dealing with the crazies of Brockton Bay!
-----
The March Hare will be missing her very important date!
You have gained: 2500 Experience!
You have become: 4000 USD Richer!
Congratulations! You have reached...
Level 7!
You have gained...
1 Attribute Point!
Trait Acquired!
Timed Hits 1/20: It's not just a matter of where you do something, but also when! And now you've got a better sense for when the right time to do something will be!
The Ravager's Onslaught has reached its end!
You have gained: 3500 Experience!
You have become: 7000 USD Richer!
Level 8!
You have gained...
1 Attribute Point!
Power Acquired!
Decimation 1/20: Imbue your weapons with an effect that increases the severity of wounds and causes additional damage! Duration: 30 Seconds per level. Cost: 10 SP
Disclaimer: Worm is owned by Wildbow, and he can keep it.
-----
Chapter 13: Tick Tock -End-
Interlude: Mouse Protector
-----
Minerva froze, like a mouse when the kitchen lights came on, as she watched Ravager get slammed by a great big step van. The other woman flew forward and landed on her face, her body rolling to a slow stop. Her little mercenary pup had slightly better luck, spinning in the air as her foot got caught by one of the van's headlights.
Minerva swallowed thickly as the giant vehicle came to a sharp stop, just a few feet away from finishing the job and rolling right over her fearsome opponent. She tightened her grip on her saber and straightened up when she heard the passenger door roll open.
A man stepped out, wearing a long jacket and a woolen cap with a scarf around his mouth, a semi-automatic rifle in his hands. His eyes were hard as he looked down at the crumpled, but moving, body of Ravager.
He was followed by another man, dressed the same and carrying the same sort of gun. And another, and another, and another and finally one more.
A half-dozen men. Same clothes and weapons.
Minerva didn't feel very confident, all of a sudden.
"Hah!" But she had to act like it anyway. "You've sprung my mouse trap! Now I'll be taking you all in!"
Mouse Protector brandished her saber towards the armed, silent men but felt her mouth go dry at being mostly ignored.
"You three," the first man demanded, ignoring her as he turned towards the other med that had followed him. "Secure March. Subdue, don't kill. You two, with me."
The other five men nodded silently. Professionally.
Minerva tried to look into the van, to see how many more people were in this operation but she couldn't make anything out through the glass.
"What do you think you're doing?" Mouse Protector demanded when the three that remained began to rip off Ravager's bandoliers. "You know you can't go unmasking someone?!"
"Ravager!" the man in the lead barked, continuing to ignore the protector of mice and stealer of cheese as he lifted the woman up by the lapel of her costume. "Did you think nobody would notice your efforts to contact the 9?!"
"...The 9?" Minerva asked, suddenly feeling a lot less full of cheesy goodness. "What do you mean? You'd have to be a real muenster to mess with them!"
"We have reliable intelligence that Ravager has, or will soon, succeed at making contact with the Slaughterhouse 9 in a bid to hire them for a job," the lead goon said, his tagalongs finally succeeding at ripping off Ravager's bandoliers.
"...Fahk yoo," Ravager mumbled out through the ground beef her face had become. She reached up weakly towards the masked face of her attacker, her fingernails smoking slightly, but the man violently shoved her arm down against Ravager's chest by her wrist.
Minerva actually winced at the state of her nefarious adversary.
"Are you waiting for a sign, Mouse Protector?" the lead goon asked as he reached into his jacket and came up with a packet of black zip-ties while his underlings dragged March out to lay her next to Ravager. "Call the PRT!"
The younger girl was bound in rope, practically from head to toe! They'd even stuck a blindfold on her and stuffed some earplugs into her ears!
"...Isn't the gag a bit much?" Minerva asked as she looked at the teen, her eyes focusing on the gag in March's mouth. She was screaming against it incoherently but even Minerva, as experienced as she was in speaking with her mouth full of mozzarella, couldn't figure out what she was saying.
The way the girl's foot was bent backwards was... unsettling in the extreme.
"Only a fool suffers a Thinker to speak," the prime goon said as he rolled his eyes.
It'd been hard to tell before but Minerva was able to tell there was a subtle difference in him compared to the rest. The others were stiffer and waited for him to lead, obviously taking their cues from him.
Goon number #1 snapped his fingers and the minions relaxed, their fingers taken off the triggers of their guns as they started to climb back into the van.
"Halt!" Mouse Protector shouted, pointing her saber at the group. "In the name of all that's cheesy and good, I demand that you-"
...They shut the door. They shut the door, right in the middle of her speech!
The nerve!
The audacity!
The-
Minerva ducked to the side, slapping her hand against the van as it took off and nearly knocked her over!
They couldn't even stick around to listen to her-
"Ahh..." Ravager moaned as she tried to inch towards Mouse Protector, despite her restraints and injuries. "Gunna... kill... you..."
That girl's Brute rating was really, really paying off.
With a defeated sigh, Mouse Protector pulled a phone out of a fanny pack concealed under her combat skirt. She dialed a number, practically from memory alone, and held it up under her helmet.
"PRT Hotline, what's your emergency?"
"Hi... it's me again..."
-----
"Holy shit!" Alec wheezed, his phantoms fading. "Ho-ly shit!"
He'd been expecting a fight. A real fight. Like, ducking for cover and shooting at Ravager and March as they fought through their injuries kind of a fight.
What he got instead was March hissing and threatening him but actually surrendering when Alec's phantoms pulled out restraints. Apparently, when the stakes don't involve murder? Even the villains will accept defeat.
Ravager? Alec had serious thoughts about just putting a bullet through her skull and calling it a day. She was legitimately stupid enough to try and sic the Slaughterhouse 9 on Mouse Protector and then just expect the insane band of murderhobos to carry on their merry way.
Clearly, she wasn't operating with a full deck of cards.
The wild card in the scenario had been Mouse Protector. An original member of the Wards, the underage hero program, the woman was known to be skilled and incredibly capable with her power. It had been her, far more than either Ravager or March, that Alec had been intending to intimidate with Phantom Force.
There were only a handful of ways to fight teleporters and the optimal method for one may not work on others. One option was baiting them to teleport to a specific spot, another involved utilizing your own teleportation and the third involved just being faster than them in one way or another.
In theory; bullet saturation might work. But that would really require shelling one's own position to be sure.
But, by bringing in enough 'bodies' with enough guns, Alec had managed to stave off a violent confrontation!
Well, a more violent confrontation.
Alec tapped his steering wheel, dropping a point of Investment into it and buffing out the dent Ravager had barely left in the grill-
Empowered Investor has reached level: 7!
Any which way, Alec wanted out of New York. He'd dealt with enough crazies, there.
He was ready to get back to dealing with the crazies of Brockton Bay!
-----
The March Hare will be missing her very important date!
You have gained: 2500 Experience!
You have become: 4000 USD Richer!
Congratulations! You have reached...
Level 7!
You have gained...
1 Attribute Point!
Trait Acquired!
Timed Hits 1/20: It's not just a matter of where you do something, but also when! And now you've got a better sense for when the right time to do something will be!
The Ravager's Onslaught has reached its end!
You have gained: 3500 Experience!
You have become: 7000 USD Richer!
Level 8!
You have gained...
1 Attribute Point!
Power Acquired!
Decimation 1/20: Imbue your weapons with an effect that increases the severity of wounds and causes additional damage! Duration: 30 Seconds per level. Cost: 10 SP
- Worm Version 0.1.3: Character Sheet
Last edited:
