I seriously hope that issue is something like her horrible PR causing trouble, instead of yet another lame "the S9 visit the new cape making waves/Taylor" sequence.
4-2 Part 2
4-2 (Part 2)
Missy Biron shifted her new laser rifle given to her from Kid Win and shrunk the space between the buildings as she crossed the street in a single step. Shadowstalker and Clockblocker stepped over right behind her. She waited patiently for Miss Militia, Flechette, and Dovetail to cross before stretching the space back. Normally Dovetail would simply fly but she had to be close for Vista's "stealth field" to work, so she compromised by just hovering over the roof.
Vista had the ability to distort space (stretching, compressing, bending, etc.) but the presence of living creatures interfered with her power. Luckily it was easy to affect the air around them since there was nothing but empty space in the sky. With some work and practiced they could travel with it looking like no one was there from the outside.
She was also trying her newest distortion trick that she got after making a maze for the inter wards competition to compete in. She noticed how sound bounced and distorted and was affecting space to try and keep any noise from getting past her bubble.
Vista was more than a little surprised to find that patrolling in the docks was actually pretty boring. She actually felt a little cheated after all that buildup and preparation from the director. Faust always had her Lusus run or self destruct if they encountered any heroes, and Armsmaster had already discerned everything he was going to from the sludge they left behind.
So they had come up with a new plan to sneak up on a Lusus and get a detailed scan on them from afar. The only issue was that Brockton Bay had no real strangers except for, sigh, Shadow Stalker.
Sophia was the only one not wearing the new protective suits to protect against chemical or biological agents. She was dressed in her normal costume, as she was the only one with a decent enough Stranger rating to get close to a Lusus and scan them with a scanner the size of a phone built by Armsmaster. The plan was for them to corral a few Lusus towards a incorporeal Sophia.
But they had been searching for hours and found nothing. Which was weird on it's own according to Miss Militia. Faust was always active in someway at night. They should have run into something by now, especially cloaked by Vista's power. Vista was starting to get claustrophobic in her suit's helmet, and she was starting to sweat.
But despite being uncomfortable, she would never remove her helmet under any under circumstance. She had shrunk it to fit exactly her size, and carefully checked it for cuts or holes like Miss Militia had shown her. Vista had a healthy respect for Faust's contagions after hearing how easily she had escaped arrest using them.
Battery and Assault were not with them after they had a very ugly and loud fight about Battery patrolling now that she was pregnant. Assault had begrudgingly accepted her patrolling since she was still early, but pointedly refused to let her near the docks no matter what she said. Battery finally relented after an unspecified promise from Assault.
Miss Militia also respected what Faust's contagions could do, and required all the Wards to visit the quarantine camp set up outside of town to make sure they took suit security seriously. Vista shuddered remembering that madhouse. The vomiting, the explosive diarrhea, patients having to be tied down because of the hallucinations, several going through withdrawal had been so bad she almost felt sorry for the Teeth. Panacea had confirmed that it wasn't contagious, and should wear off naturally in a few weeks, but admitted that Faust could have infected one or two with something different as a trap after the Director asked her. She only checked on a few of them and pointedly refused to heal any of them due to the Teeth kidnapping one of her family in the past.
They took a small break around two am to double check their patrol route. Satisfied that Vista's shaping was still keeping them hidden, Miss Militia decided to make one final pass by the waterfront before sending the wards home.
Vista got back to work making a path and assisted Miss Militia and Flechette by covering the front with her rifle while they covered the back and side. Dovetail hovered in the air keeping a look out, as her costume was not practical to walk in. Her latest branding meeting had changed her costume to be a flowing evening dress to help her stand out.
Vista doubled checked the readouts on her rifle as they walked. She had taken the basic gun safety from Miss Militia had given her seriously after she argued on her behalf to be allowed to carry one of Kid Win's lasers. The director had pushed back about sending the wrong image, but she relented when Miss Militia convinced her that she could be an asset in patrolling the docks.
"Aren't you taking this a little too seriously, midget?" Sophia said through the radio. She was currently hidden ahead of them somewhere after changing position again.
Missy felt her blood start to boil at the midget comment and she was about to say something, before Miss Militia cut her off over the radio. "Cut the chatter as we don't know if anyone is listening. Shadow Stalker, Armsmaster has already warned you about making discouraging comments to your teammates. Do it again and you will be back on console duty, I don't care what the director said."
"Hey she didn't mean anything by it," Dennis said turning around to face her. "Besides Dragon herself encrypted their communications after Armsmaster asked her to. Even if she could, Faust never does anything to civilians. We should be dealing with the Empire or the Teeth. "
"Clockblocker, regardless of you opinions on Faust or Shadow Stalker, this is a stealth mission. Focus on your own role and maintain radio silence. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, ma'am" he said while mock saluting. "But just in case you're listening Faust, " Dennis took a deep breathe and blew a large raspberry.
Vista tried not to groan, as Miss Militia was not going to let that slide when they got back to base. Sophia laughed a bit before she caught herself and Dennis walked a bit ahead of them.
After Sophia's incident at her school, she had been stuck on console duty and forced to see a therapist. However her behavior had been deteriorating lately despite that, and Piggot finally relented to her patrolling after her behavior started to get erratic enough that her therapist was worried about her having an episode or running away. What was left unsaid was that it would also give him an excuse to get the Youth Guard involved. Vista wasn't sure why, but Sophia's new therapist really did not like the director and wanted the Youth Guard involved in her case.
So the director and Armsmaster finally relented, but there was the issue of Sophia being Sophia. She did not get along with anyone except for Dennis and he tended to be more of an asshole when she was around. He was a little bit better now that they weren't dating anymore, but that could change in the future. Vista was not the only one to notice how Sophia kept finding excuses to get closer to him.
She suspected the only reason they started to date in the first place was their shared distrust with the PRT. Dennis's mom died in bloody Tuesday and he had long argued about how ineffective the Protectorate actually was and Sophia's past as a vigilante made her views on the Protectorate self-explanatory. The fact that both of them were fans of Faust and liked to be pains in the ass didn't endear them to the director.
Everyone knew Sophia was gone once she turned 18, but Dennis was well liked and fit in more than he wanted to admit. That was the main reason Miss Militia tended to cut him some slack, as she wanted him to stay with them after he turned 18. Well that, and she had made an extra effort recently to try and connect with the wards for some reason.
"Vista?" Dennis said privately to Vista's surprise. They were supposed to be unable to have private conversations in the suits. He was purposely looking away from her though to not draw suspicion.
"Kid Win gave you private access didn't he?" she asked.
"Maybe."
Vista could picture his face making that same stupid grin.
"He owed me a favor for taking a few of his duties. He has really been working hard on something in secret and I wanted to give him some extra time."
"What do you need Clockblocker," Vista said all business to make her feelings clear.
"Look Vista, Shadow Stalker really didn't mean anything by it. I know she can be hard to deal with, but she doesn't want to jeopardize being back out in the field. I promise to talk to her to try and cut that shit out, okay?"
Vista sighed. "Fine, but I'm not sure what you hope to get out of it. She doesn't want to change, and even if she did, it won't happen. She doesn't have it in her."
"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change."
"You get that from a cereal box?"
"Frankenstein actually. I read it for a laugh as my book report, but the movies lied to me about what its themes are actually about. Faust seems like the kind of person who likes it though. We cool high tyrant of the munchkins?"
"We're cool crater face."
"Shrimp"
"Fire crotch"
"Midget". Vista laughed despite herself. It was hard to stay mad at Dennis. "You know Miss Militia is going to give you so much shit for that raspberry right?"
"It was worth it. Besides she'll go easy on me. She's been pretty mellow recently."
"Battery said she has a new boyfriend."
"Oh, do tell. I need details here."
Vista was about to spread the gossip she picked up when Shadow Stalker spoke up.
"Did you guys feel that?" she asked.
"Do you hear something?" Miss Militia asked raising her gun up. A rifle of some kind appeared in her hands as she scanned the horizons. "What did it sound like?"
"It wasn't a sound. More like a small rumbling in the ground. There it is again," Sophia said cautiously.
Vista doubled checked to make sure they were hidden and scanned the area but didn't find anything. A shadow appeared on rooftop a block away and she twisted the air to magnify to show Shadow Stalker leaving her Shadow form. She had taken off her bow and notched an arrow.
"I'm feeling them now too," Flechette said. "There's a steady series of small rumbles at regular intervals." She doubled checked to make sure her crossbow was loaded and checked on her sword.
That was when they heard something let out a massive roar. Vista and the others whipped their heads toward the direction of the water as the blare of multiple car alarms polluted the night. Lights turned on in several buildings and the few cars in the streets stopped dead.
"The fuck was that?" Clockblocker said.
"Vista make a path for us toward the noise while I report this," Miss Militia ordered.
Vista complied and they doubled timed it, all thoughts of stealth thrown out the window. As they got closer another roar erupted into the night that sounded much closer and sent a small chill down Missy's spine. What the hell was making that noise?
Several streetlights and the lights on a few buildings suddenly turned off, plunging parts of the docks into darkness. Vista brought her rifle up as she could now feel the rumbling coming closer. A huge shadow with twisting shadows came around a nearby building and Vista froze at the large red eyes that glowed in the dark. Dovetail shot up and began to drop her small forcefields behind her that lit up the street and enveloped the shadow to reveal it.
"No fucking way," Clockblocker said with shock as Shadowstalker pulled out the scanner and held it up to it.
It was easily three stories tall on two muscular legs and a long tail that swiped back and forth. It had huge and jutting jaws that opened up into rows of jagged teeth. Long whip like tentacles snapped back and forth, and its tail broke a window as it moved with slow precision down the street to avoid stepping on something.
The few cars on the street were turning and driving in the opposite direction as soon as the beast appeared in their headlights. It wasn't moving that fast, but it's stride was so large it quickly covered half the distance down the street.
Miss Militia turned and opened fire on the dinosaur thing but it did little good. In fact it seemed to not even be aware it was being attacked until she switched to a missile launcher that caused it to stumble as its head was struck.
It looked just once at us before turning it's back to us and focused on a car coming out of a parking garage. It grabbed it in its jaws, and ripped the top open. The tentacles easily pried the freaking out passengers and dropped them on the ground. It promptly ignored them as it stepped over their bodies and headed further into the docks.
Vista jumped in spite of herself at the sound of gunfire and a scream came out of a building right next to them. Miss Militia broke their shock by swiftly giving them orders. "Dovetail follow that thing and try to keep it contained until we get reinforcements here. The rest of you are with me. Vista, make us a path to that building and Flechette keep watch over our six. There is more going on."
Vista carefully compressed the space and enlarged the window. Miss Militia ran inside the enlarged window and opened fire down the hallway at something.
Clockblocker got Kid Win on the line with the rest of us connected.
"Kid what the fuck is happening?"
"There is some kind of major situation in the docks," Kid Win said sounding rushed.
"No shit, we just saw a fucking tentacle dinosaur shrug off a missile," Sophia said as Flechette yelled a warning.
Vista looked up at a giant spider crawling down up the building. It smashed a window with it's leg and dropped something from it's mouth inside as people started to yell more and more.
Vista aimed up but Flechette was faster. The arrow went through it to embed in the building itself and pinned it to the wall. It hung there for a second before it started to melt and the remains fell back to the street with a splat.
"Kid talk fucking fast," Clockblocker said.
"There have been several hundred aborted 911 calls in the last few minutes. But people are posting videos and messages about all kinds of stuff from giant spiders to the blob attacking people. There is also mention of some kind of gas being used on people. The director is freaking out and she is arguing for reinforcements right now. Armsmaster and the others are on their way. "
Vista spied another spider chasing someone and brought up a wall to cut it off. It jumped over the wall but Flechette and Shadow Stalker both fired and hit it. "How widespread is this," Flechette said taking a deep breath.
"The calls are coming from the entire docks."
Vista paused as she became aware of new sounds of panicked cries and gunfire drifting in over the wind. Miss Militia exited the building and started firing several floating flares into the sky for light. Vista gasped as the light revealed a long line of spiders running down the street. Several ran for cover once they were in the light but one went into a window.
Without missing a beat, Miss Militia opened fire and struck several of the spiders with well-placed shots. The rest immediately began to jump and dodge around as they retreated. Vista, Flechette, and Shadow Stalker lent their fire while Vista made a path to the building being invaded for Clockblocker who ran full tilt right into the building.
Vista focused on the ground and raised it over into oval that covered a few people-taking refugee. The spiders still tried to jump before they were enclosed but their attacks caused them to retreat and take refuge under a car after hitting one of them. They started to prying the doors off of cars and raising them up as primitive shields. Flechette and Shadow Stalker's arrows easily went through them and the spiders retreated.
Vista remembered her basic first aid training and pulled out the bag that contained the compressed medical supplies. She was about to lower herself to the ground when a loud scream filled the air. She looked up and saw a huge beetle catch someone who had jumped out of a window. It took off back into the air and carried him off.
"Clockblocker what's the situation? Are you safe?" Miss Militia asked as Vista made a space for her to enter the building.
"I froze a spider but another took off dragging some kind of canister of gas as soon as it spotted me," he stammered. "There are a bunch of unconscious people in some rooms and floor while others are untouched and scared. A bunch of civvies are asking me for help and are panicked. It looks like Faust is going to push the ABB out. What do you want me to do?"
"The situation has changed. Flechette, Shadow Stalker you are to support Clockblocker and try to keep this street clear. There are reports that Faust's Lusus are avoiding cops and heroes. Break the Lusus up and protect any civilians until backup gets here."
"What do you want me to do," Vista asked as Shadow Stalker ran off with Flechette behind her.
"You're going to help me follow that big one as it knocked Adamant, Velocity, and Chariot out with its roar. I need you to help keep it silent and contain the explosion when I bring out something more powerful to stop it."
Vista nodded and they were off on their way up and over rooftops. She spotted more people being attacked and they occasionally stopped for Vista to set up walls and barriers while Miss Militia fired on them to break them up. But their efforts were futile compared to the sheer chaos and panic everywhere. Vista could see Dauntless streaking overhead as he headed toward something.
Miss Militia suddenly stopped and started arguing with someone over the radio. Vista couldn't access her radio but she could move the air just right to make sound carry better. "That is not a good idea. You're just going to spread more fear and panic. She seems to be just focusing on the ABB, and no one else. If you escalate, she will as well. What does Armsmaster think?"
Vista left her after hearing a stampede of people running. She went to the side of the building and looked down at a entire crowd of people running away from a spreading green gas. Vista focused her power and moved to contain the gas but was surprised as crows began to drop onto the crowd.
As they dropped Vista saw a solitary figure in green walking among the downed bodies. She wasn't that tall and Vista saw that she wasn't like the rest of Faust's Lusus. For one she was wearing a mask that looked like an oversized US chemical warning system symbol. For another she seemed more human somehow despite doing nothing but standing. The masked figure broke out into a run as Vista raised her rifle at her but Vista stopped when a loud buzzing could be heard.
Another big beetle was flying overhead and dropped a canister that erupted into more of that green gas that enveloped the street and hid it from view. Miss Militia finally stopped talking and pulled out her phone. She quickly texted someone before she came to the edge of the building with her.
"Who was that?" Vista asked.
"The director. She is about to set off the Endbringer sirens and I was arguing against it."
"Is that a good idea?" Vista asked thinking about what would happen.
"I don't know. It could cause Faust to do something stupid and the panic in the docks will be nothing compared to what the city will go through if they get set off," she said closing it. "But if I'm wrong and the city is in danger we need reinforcements."
"Are reinforcements on the way?"
"Everything we have is in the docks or on their way to the docks. Armsmaster is working on a wide scale nanotech screen to protect people from bioweapon with Dragon in case Faust sets something off. She has never killed but she has come damn close before and I don't trust her. If we set off the sirens I'm not sure how fast reinforcements will actually get here. Most people are used to having a warning and time to gather to fight the Endbringers."
Another loud roar caused them both to look in the other direction and they set off without a word. Vista tried to ignore the sound and sights around them as they had a mission. Eventually they came upon the Beast being fired upon from people in a large building that had ABB markings.
It lined up and charged the building with its head down to use a battering ram as people kept firing from the windows. It shook the building as it made a large hole and backed up as something struck it. Ice started to spread that started to cover it's mouth and head. It picked up a car and started banging it against the ice break it apart.
Miss Militia's power formed the shape of an unusually large rocket at the end of launcher that Vista didn't recognize. "Vista, I'm going to fire something big. Keep the explosion and pressure wave shooting up. Can you do that?
"Yes," she answered focusing on the space around it.
"Vista, keep your mouth open and look away just in case", she ordered as she fired it. Vista focused on the space around it and funneled the space around so it shot upwards as the bomb hit it. There was a blinding flash but Vista managed to keep the noise and pressure wave contained.
When the smoke cleared Vista stared in shock, as the thing was still moving. Its head was down and it was breathing heavily like it was hyperventilating. Miss Militia made something new but waited as it stopped moving as people in the building cheered. Vista slowly started to relax and Miss Militia's power changed back into a knife to make a report.
That was when the Endbringer sirens started to blare.
Despite knowing it was for Faust, Vista still struggled not to panic at the sound. The Endbringer sirens usually meant destruction and death on a mass scale. Even if a city survived the attack, it would never be the same.
The sirens caused the Beast to suddenly jump up which shocked Miss Militia. Before they could react, it was already running for the building. It stuck its head in the hole let out a roar that shook the building. Afterward it paused to look up the air.
After a moment it suddenly turned to run and they gave chase. Though Vista's wasn't sure what else they could throw at it. It was far more difficult to follow it as it moved like they were chasing it.
It eventually stopped in front of a non descript condemned building that looked like it used to be a factory of some kind. The Beast was strangely cautious as it approached the building, keeping a healthy distance. Several men walked out with their hands up towards it, and Vista twisted space to zoom in on them. They were dressed in ordinary clothes and didn't look like an ABB.
Vista yelled as their heads suddenly exploded. Vista felt sick as their bodies fell down and Miss Militia held her tight. Vista hugged her tight as she became aware of a new sound just below the whine of the Endbringer sirens. It was if Lusus all over the docks were screaming in agitation and anger. The Beast stood unmoving and stared at the bodies.
A moment later the building exploded with an incredible noise and pressure wave that shattered windows. The fireball seemed to twist back and forth several times as it rose into the air changing colors.
"Good job on containing the blast Vista," Miss Militia said letting go of her.
"It wasn't me."
The smoke from the strangely subdued fire was changing colors from the wreckage of the building and for just moment Vista thought she saw two figures on a nearby rooftop. One wore a colored and grinning demon mask, and the other had been holding a large rifle and was dressed in purple power armor.
She shook her head wondering why she was looking at an empty roof as the Beast took off again with them in pursuit.
Vista was not sure of the route they were taking before she noticed a large jeep that was speeding down the docks. The Beast ran around a corner and the jeep just barely avoiding it as it fired something to knock it back.
Looking closer Vista could see Bakuda was standing on top of the jeep with a large grenade launcher and covered in various tinker made bombs. She was firing more of her weird explosives but they were only slowing it down and not doing any lasting damage.
It opened its mouth but instead of roaring, a now familiar laugh began to come out of it. A loud buzzing caused Missy to look up to see two large bugs coming down out of the air at the jeep. They were shaped like a cross between dragonflies and overgrown hornets, with compound eyes and oversized backsides.
They spread out and one of them dive bombed the jeep. Bakuda fired something that lit the sky up with a strange light and it fell out of the air looking like it was now made of glass. But it still managed to fall onto the jeep and shatter into pieces. The glass shards cut Bakuda's driver and her as the second one dived bombed the jeep before she could reload.
It fired a long strand of something from behind it that hooked onto the driver. It flew up and pulled the driver out, flying off with his flailing form the air. The jeep veered into the building with a bang of an explosion of something enveloped Bakuda.
It reminded Vista of the containment foam the PRT used except being in a different color. Bakuda pushed herself out a moment later, took off her mask, and heaved all over the ground. She looked dazed and froze as the Beast sauntered out at the other end of the street. It paused looking straight at her, neither of them moving.
Bakuda reacted first as she scrambled for something in her over turned Jeep as it thundered down the street running full tilt with it's tentacles reaching out for her.
Vista raised a wall between them but it went through it barely slowing down as Bakuda threw her launcher to the side in anger. The thing's mouth was open wide showing off its giant teeth and Bakuda threw it with all her might just as it was about to bite her.
But there was no bang or explosion. Much to Vista's surprise the dinosaur was untouched but frozen in mid leap, trapped in some kind of bubble of distorted air like Clockblocker had touched it. One of Bakuda's hands was trapped in the bubble as she frantically looked for something in a pouch on her belt as the Endbringer sirens abruptly shut off.
Miss Militia was angrily gesturing with her arms to someone on the radio as a crowd of Faust's Lusus started to gather in the street. They seemed to just materialize from the darkness with only one or two at first. But then suddenly there were dozens of them filling the street. They ranged from mundane animal looking ones to stranger and more disturbing shapes.
Miss Militia stopped arguing as the Lusus began to yell and howl. They beat the ground, overturned a car, and the noise just got louder and louder. Overhead, birds began to twist in the air until there was just a black cloud of flapping wings with their cries joining in. The cacophony of noise from the Lusus grew even larger and somehow started to spread out from all over the docks.
Then it all stopped.
A complete and total silence descended that was eerie compared to the noise that it had replaced. Vista could see a few people watching from the windows of the buildings or peeking from behind curtains as a new sound started to spread. A moment later Vista recognized them as footsteps.
The Lusus rippled and shifted as one, moving past each other like well-choreographed dancers. They picked up and dragged rubble, moved unconscious bodies to the side, and made a path that led straight to Bakuda. The sound of footsteps grew louder and Bakuda frantically tried to reach something behind her with her arm trapped.
The woman of the hour finally appeared coming down the street at a leisurely pace, and Vista got her first up close and personal look at Faust. She twisted the air in front of her to zoom into and get a better view with her rifle up.
Faust was dressed differently than she was at the pit fight. She only had two arms instead of four, and was walking on two legs instead of using a snake tail. Her green coat was fancier and didn't look like a lab coat anymore, but more like a long overcoat or duster. She had six oversized mechanical arms ending in tools jutting out of her back and hanging over her shoulders. They were colored black and they twisted back and forth as she moved.
Despite the palpable fear and panic in the street, she moved like she was walking on a regular errand without a care in the world. Her long black hair flowed freely behind her as the Lusus began to kneel or bow as she passed. Faust paid no attention to them and stopped as Bakuda came into her sight.
Her famous mask started to twist into a new shape that seemed familiar but Vista couldn't quite tell from where. It started out looking like a curved and delicate body shape that was similar to the wing of a swan, before the wing turned into a mini sculpture of tiny grasping hands that shifted as she came walked agonizingly slowly to Bakuda.
A large three eyed crow landed on her shoulder as Faust continued to walk. The bird whispered in her ear and Faust nodded.
"Don't take another fucking step," Bakuda called out in her mechanical voice from her mask. "I push this button and"
"Or the bombs in your hostage's heads explode?" Faust's voice somehow said from Bakuda's mouth and all around her much to Bakuda's surprise. Faust's voice reminded Vista of a teasing young teacher reprimanding a student.
Faust walked forward until she was just in front of Bakuda and her mask changed again until it looked like a feminine face with Asian features, which caused Bakuda to react in shock and she tried to say something. But all that came out was the same voice that simply whispered a gentle "shhh". Bakuda stayed still as Faust reached out to examine her trapped arm.
"Hello, Kimiko. Or do you mind if I call you Kimmie?" Faust said in a gentle but slightly mocking tone. Faust's voice was now somehow coming from multiple sources around her that Vista couldn't see.
One of the mechanical arms behind Faust moved forward and Bakuda slapped it away. She struggled and fought as two more held her still with a third pushing against her neck. Bakuda shivered and but she remained silent as she was injected with something. Faust carefully separated her trapped arm from her hand slowly and meticulous care. The appendage with the blade began to glow red and the stump was burned with the flat end. Despite the burning flesh Bakuda said nothing looking down away from Faust as she finished fixing and wrapping her arm with something she poured from a vial.
Faust lightly brushed the hair away from Bakuda's mask in an almost motherly manner before Faust suddenly and violently shook her head looking down. For just a moment it looked like she was having a seizure. When her head came up, the face on her mask had morphed into a frozen scream and her stance suggested anger. Bakuda visibly began to tremble.
Vista began to feel the tension in the air rise as she debated trying to save her.
Miss Militia morphed her gun into a sniper rifle and screamed into the radio. "I will not stand fucking by and watch her torture someone else," She began to angrily shout to someone on her radio.
Faust easily lifted Bakuda up into the air with her hands until Bakuda's masked face was placed right in front of hers. "Who do you think you are talking to Kimiko?"
"Nothing happens in the docks without my knowing. NOTHING," she suddenly screamed in Bakuda's face and Vista shook in spite of herself as the voice seemed to come from next to her. "Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way Kimiko. Where are the detonators?" she asked.
"They're in my toe rings," came a human voice. "Please,".
Faust seemed stunned for a moment before she threw back her head and started to laugh her head off. She dropped Bakuda on the ground and just started to howl as if Bakuda had told the funniest joke she had ever heard. The Lusus began making noise as they took up her laughter in their own bizarre ways.
"Please?" Faust said still laughing as she looked down at Bakuda. "You have the nerve to ask for mercy after what you just tried to do and have done? I know you tried to detonate a few fail-safes that would have killed a few hostages and you already murdered several people tonight. Oh, Kimiko you can't imagine how glad I am that you did that. I had something special I planned just for you but thought it went just a little too far after some thought. But I don't have those doubts anymore. Thank you for trying to kill several more people in front of me. Thanks to that I have no more thoughts of mercy."
Two Lusus with overgrown and long arms came from the crowd and hauled a struggling Bakuda off of her feet. One wrapped their arms around her neck and waist in a chokehold and the other held her arms behind her back as she tried to escape.
Faust removed a glass vial from her coat as her mechanical arms began to twitch in anticipation. "Now don't worry, Kimmie. This won't hurt a bit," Faust said as she moved closer.
Miss Militia had enough and her shot went out. One moment Faust's head was there and the next it was gone as she slumped over onto the ground and the bird flew off. Bakuda renewed her struggles but the other Lusus didn't react or move. Vista held her breath as the headless body promptly started to climb up with the mechanical arms helping to stand the headless body up.
The bird landed and spread its wings where the head should have been, and looked up at us. The body suggested annoyance but before Faust could do anything lasers flashed out in a barrage in the middle of the street and the loud roar of an engine caused Vista to look up.
A dragon suit with over sized boosters came streaking in, followed closely by a flash of light that revealed Legend in his famous body suit. Armsmaster jumped down from the Suit in his new power armor. The silver clouds of Nano machines were spreading out from the vents on his suit to help combat any gas or poison in the air as he took up position in the center.
Behind them came the rest of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. Dovetail hovered in the air, Assault stood poised to charge next to Adamant who was wearing a larger than normal armor, Bastion's shields covered a group of EMTs as they checked on several downed people, even Clockblocker and the other Wards was standing with the others.
"Late trying to help people as usual. Does the PRT intentionally design your patrols to make it less likely for you to encounter trouble?" Faust's bird said quizzically.
"Faust, you are ordered to stand down and surrender," Armsmaster said unfurling a new over sized Halberd.
"I have only attacked the ABB tonight and not a single other person has been hurt that is not fixable. In fact I have already started to fix any and all of their injuries. I only acted because Bakuda," she gestured to her on the ground, "here started to place bombs in the heads of several people in the docks."
"Lung, and the rest of the ABB parahumans are waiting for you next to Bakuda's destroyed lab. Is it my fault that your director is so paranoid and trigger happy about me that she stupidly set the sirens off? Shouldn't you be dealing with all the panicked crowds she set off? Her foolish actions caused more damage then I did. I would have warned you what I was going to do except for the fact that you declared me a villain and wouldn't talk to me."
"I believe that your heart is in the right place and you are not a true villain," Legend admitted coming closer to the ground. "But can you honestly say terrorizing the city and doing all of this was the right move?" he said sweeping his arm out to the docks and to a few people watching from windows. "I know you are more intelligent than that. You have helped many people in this city, but the violent solution doesn't always work. I was a vigilante once too, and by working with the government and only holding ourselves to higher standards was I truly able to start making a difference. Stand down and come with us. I promise you will be treated fairly. Be the hero I know you can be and truly help your city with us."
Faust stood there saying nothing as if thinking it over with everyone seeming to hold their breath. As the silence grew, Vista became aware of new sounds. The wind blowing, people taking pictures or videos from their windows, and the distant whimpers of people in pain. The Lusus stood completely still like they were statues. Bakuda was clutching her arm not daring to move, looking back and forth between Faust's avatar and Legend. Finally the bird spoke a single word.
"No," a whisper rang out, echoing across the docks.
"You, the Protectorate and the PRT had decades and my home isn't any better, isn't any safer. You don't live here Legend, but I grew up here-I grew up watching everything fall apart. You didn't see the day the Empire 88 got it's name, you haven't seen us afraid to ride the bus at night, people not bothering to call the cops because they learned that they won't help or protect them, that they only bring more trouble. While you were failing to stop the Butcher during bloody Tuesday I was in the grime and the blood of all those that died that day."
"So what has fucking changed Legend? The city got worse, not better under your system. You talk about doing the right thing but The Butcher and the Teeth are stronger than ever; people are kidnapped with impunity, the Empire all but owns part of the city, and Nothing. Ever. Fucking. Changed. You think I am escalating things? They enslaved, raped, murdered, and spread hate, fear, and misery in my home. Fuck them and fuck your system that enables them. Our world grows darker Legend. I've run the numbers on the Endbringers the same as the PRT and we only have a few more decades. We are running out of time for your high ideals to start working, and I'm done playing nice. I'm choosing to be effective instead."
"Lung, Bakuda, and other pieces of shit like them don't deserve your sympathy. But if you want her you can have her." Faust's body went up to Bakuda, casually picked her up, and in one big motion threw her over to him. She bounced once and skidded in front of him.
"Don't get me wrong, I truly appreciate all you and the other heroes are trying to do," the bird said looking up. "But the docks and the city don't have the time to wait for you to save them. I am going to change this city for the better, with or without you. Help me or get out of my way," she said snapping her fingers.
All at once the Lusus began to melt like they were made of wax as they violently spasmed. The ground become awash with their puddles of green ooze that caused the heroes to step back. Legend opened his mouth to speak but was startled when, instead of his own, Faust's voice came from his mouth and blared from the Endbringer sirens.
"To the citizens of Brockton Bay and especially the docks, I apologize for scaring you. That was never my intention. Every single Lusus that I used tonight was just destroyed. No matter what you hear, I am not your enemy. If you ever need help you merely need to seek me out in the docks and I will find you. I will never kill, I will never harm an innocent, and I will do everything in my power to improve the well-being, happiness, and safety of everyone in this city. I swear this on my current and future lives."
"This message is for the now former members of the Asian Bad Boys. Many of you have noticed that I have started healing your old injuries. That is because as of this moment, you all work for me now. You will do what I tell you, when I tell you, and how I tell you. If you don't obey, I will punish you. But it won't be as awful as you are probably picturing. You will find that I am a far fairer boss than your old one, and I promise to reward you far more for your hard work. You first task is to simply clean up my territory. Your paralysis will wear off momentarily. You are to spend the next week cleaning the docks while I call you all up and review your past actions. If you pass I won't bother you. If you fail I expect you to turn yourself into the police. If you decide to run without turning yourself in, I will place a bounty for you to be returned alive to me and you will not like what I do to you as punishment. You're welcome to run if you think you can get away, but I suggest being out of the city by sunrise considering some of the people I have contracted to hunt you down won't be as nice as I am. But if you work to my satisfaction, your first paycheck will be at the end of next week."
"To all those that dispute my claim over the docks; consider this your only warning. This place is MINE. I don't care about your stupid prejudices, your flawed visions of the future, or your weak little god that encourages you to act like the rabid animals you think we all are."
Faust's "face" suddenly turned to face the heroes. "I care even less about the Protectorate and their ineffectual failure of a system full of child soldiers and corruption that exacerbates the problems they claim to be solving. They had decades but failed to help the residents of the docks deal with the crime, poverty, and infrastructure issues they suffer from. Since they won't help them, these people and this territory are now under my protection."
"So make your shitty little plans, tell whatever lies about me you want, and bring whomever you want to challenge me. None of it will matter. I haven't even started yet," Faust said as her body and the bird suddenly erupted in green colored flames. "I'll be watching Brockton Bay."
Vista jumped as the Endbringer sirens began to blare again. Vista spent the rest of night trying to help deal with the panic the sirens had caused. Despite authorities turning them off and issuing it as a false alarm, many still thought the Simurgh was in the city and were desperately trying to escape. Except ironically the docks, which were very quiet.
==
Across the city and beyond, plans began to change. New alliances were made, diplomats were dispatched, politicians were briefed, maps were recolored, and forces were re-positioned.
A new and powerful player had officially entered the game.
==
Faust, Real Name Unknown
Classification: Tinker 9 (Master 10, Trump 6, Brute 6, and a 3 in every other category)
Deposition: Villain (E)
Last Known Location: Brockton Bay (Docks area, East)
Warlord of the docks since the Brockton Bay incident. Considered the greatest wet tinker in the world with a specialty in cloning and modifying biological systems. Produces a wide variety of capable and controlled biological life forms incapable of reproduction. Leader and creator of the organization Sleeping Forest, a radical vigilante group that claim the PRT's methods and actions are a failure that cause most of the problems they are trying to solve, and argue for tougher measures against villains that cross the line. Criminal history includes mass damage to persons, attempted murder, using biological weapons against civilians, resisting arrest, inciting a riot, and kidnapping. The local PRT director has argued for permanent STARS team deployment in response to the Brockton Bay incident. Known enemies include the Teeth, The Empire 88, and The Undersiders.
Note: High risk of Class-S classification. Should creations self-propagate kill orders are pre-authorized.
Missy Biron shifted her new laser rifle given to her from Kid Win and shrunk the space between the buildings as she crossed the street in a single step. Shadowstalker and Clockblocker stepped over right behind her. She waited patiently for Miss Militia, Flechette, and Dovetail to cross before stretching the space back. Normally Dovetail would simply fly but she had to be close for Vista's "stealth field" to work, so she compromised by just hovering over the roof.
Vista had the ability to distort space (stretching, compressing, bending, etc.) but the presence of living creatures interfered with her power. Luckily it was easy to affect the air around them since there was nothing but empty space in the sky. With some work and practiced they could travel with it looking like no one was there from the outside.
She was also trying her newest distortion trick that she got after making a maze for the inter wards competition to compete in. She noticed how sound bounced and distorted and was affecting space to try and keep any noise from getting past her bubble.
Vista was more than a little surprised to find that patrolling in the docks was actually pretty boring. She actually felt a little cheated after all that buildup and preparation from the director. Faust always had her Lusus run or self destruct if they encountered any heroes, and Armsmaster had already discerned everything he was going to from the sludge they left behind.
So they had come up with a new plan to sneak up on a Lusus and get a detailed scan on them from afar. The only issue was that Brockton Bay had no real strangers except for, sigh, Shadow Stalker.
Sophia was the only one not wearing the new protective suits to protect against chemical or biological agents. She was dressed in her normal costume, as she was the only one with a decent enough Stranger rating to get close to a Lusus and scan them with a scanner the size of a phone built by Armsmaster. The plan was for them to corral a few Lusus towards a incorporeal Sophia.
But they had been searching for hours and found nothing. Which was weird on it's own according to Miss Militia. Faust was always active in someway at night. They should have run into something by now, especially cloaked by Vista's power. Vista was starting to get claustrophobic in her suit's helmet, and she was starting to sweat.
But despite being uncomfortable, she would never remove her helmet under any under circumstance. She had shrunk it to fit exactly her size, and carefully checked it for cuts or holes like Miss Militia had shown her. Vista had a healthy respect for Faust's contagions after hearing how easily she had escaped arrest using them.
Battery and Assault were not with them after they had a very ugly and loud fight about Battery patrolling now that she was pregnant. Assault had begrudgingly accepted her patrolling since she was still early, but pointedly refused to let her near the docks no matter what she said. Battery finally relented after an unspecified promise from Assault.
Miss Militia also respected what Faust's contagions could do, and required all the Wards to visit the quarantine camp set up outside of town to make sure they took suit security seriously. Vista shuddered remembering that madhouse. The vomiting, the explosive diarrhea, patients having to be tied down because of the hallucinations, several going through withdrawal had been so bad she almost felt sorry for the Teeth. Panacea had confirmed that it wasn't contagious, and should wear off naturally in a few weeks, but admitted that Faust could have infected one or two with something different as a trap after the Director asked her. She only checked on a few of them and pointedly refused to heal any of them due to the Teeth kidnapping one of her family in the past.
They took a small break around two am to double check their patrol route. Satisfied that Vista's shaping was still keeping them hidden, Miss Militia decided to make one final pass by the waterfront before sending the wards home.
Vista got back to work making a path and assisted Miss Militia and Flechette by covering the front with her rifle while they covered the back and side. Dovetail hovered in the air keeping a look out, as her costume was not practical to walk in. Her latest branding meeting had changed her costume to be a flowing evening dress to help her stand out.
Vista doubled checked the readouts on her rifle as they walked. She had taken the basic gun safety from Miss Militia had given her seriously after she argued on her behalf to be allowed to carry one of Kid Win's lasers. The director had pushed back about sending the wrong image, but she relented when Miss Militia convinced her that she could be an asset in patrolling the docks.
"Aren't you taking this a little too seriously, midget?" Sophia said through the radio. She was currently hidden ahead of them somewhere after changing position again.
Missy felt her blood start to boil at the midget comment and she was about to say something, before Miss Militia cut her off over the radio. "Cut the chatter as we don't know if anyone is listening. Shadow Stalker, Armsmaster has already warned you about making discouraging comments to your teammates. Do it again and you will be back on console duty, I don't care what the director said."
"Hey she didn't mean anything by it," Dennis said turning around to face her. "Besides Dragon herself encrypted their communications after Armsmaster asked her to. Even if she could, Faust never does anything to civilians. We should be dealing with the Empire or the Teeth. "
"Clockblocker, regardless of you opinions on Faust or Shadow Stalker, this is a stealth mission. Focus on your own role and maintain radio silence. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, ma'am" he said while mock saluting. "But just in case you're listening Faust, " Dennis took a deep breathe and blew a large raspberry.
Vista tried not to groan, as Miss Militia was not going to let that slide when they got back to base. Sophia laughed a bit before she caught herself and Dennis walked a bit ahead of them.
After Sophia's incident at her school, she had been stuck on console duty and forced to see a therapist. However her behavior had been deteriorating lately despite that, and Piggot finally relented to her patrolling after her behavior started to get erratic enough that her therapist was worried about her having an episode or running away. What was left unsaid was that it would also give him an excuse to get the Youth Guard involved. Vista wasn't sure why, but Sophia's new therapist really did not like the director and wanted the Youth Guard involved in her case.
So the director and Armsmaster finally relented, but there was the issue of Sophia being Sophia. She did not get along with anyone except for Dennis and he tended to be more of an asshole when she was around. He was a little bit better now that they weren't dating anymore, but that could change in the future. Vista was not the only one to notice how Sophia kept finding excuses to get closer to him.
She suspected the only reason they started to date in the first place was their shared distrust with the PRT. Dennis's mom died in bloody Tuesday and he had long argued about how ineffective the Protectorate actually was and Sophia's past as a vigilante made her views on the Protectorate self-explanatory. The fact that both of them were fans of Faust and liked to be pains in the ass didn't endear them to the director.
Everyone knew Sophia was gone once she turned 18, but Dennis was well liked and fit in more than he wanted to admit. That was the main reason Miss Militia tended to cut him some slack, as she wanted him to stay with them after he turned 18. Well that, and she had made an extra effort recently to try and connect with the wards for some reason.
"Vista?" Dennis said privately to Vista's surprise. They were supposed to be unable to have private conversations in the suits. He was purposely looking away from her though to not draw suspicion.
"Kid Win gave you private access didn't he?" she asked.
"Maybe."
Vista could picture his face making that same stupid grin.
"He owed me a favor for taking a few of his duties. He has really been working hard on something in secret and I wanted to give him some extra time."
"What do you need Clockblocker," Vista said all business to make her feelings clear.
"Look Vista, Shadow Stalker really didn't mean anything by it. I know she can be hard to deal with, but she doesn't want to jeopardize being back out in the field. I promise to talk to her to try and cut that shit out, okay?"
Vista sighed. "Fine, but I'm not sure what you hope to get out of it. She doesn't want to change, and even if she did, it won't happen. She doesn't have it in her."
"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change."
"You get that from a cereal box?"
"Frankenstein actually. I read it for a laugh as my book report, but the movies lied to me about what its themes are actually about. Faust seems like the kind of person who likes it though. We cool high tyrant of the munchkins?"
"We're cool crater face."
"Shrimp"
"Fire crotch"
"Midget". Vista laughed despite herself. It was hard to stay mad at Dennis. "You know Miss Militia is going to give you so much shit for that raspberry right?"
"It was worth it. Besides she'll go easy on me. She's been pretty mellow recently."
"Battery said she has a new boyfriend."
"Oh, do tell. I need details here."
Vista was about to spread the gossip she picked up when Shadow Stalker spoke up.
"Did you guys feel that?" she asked.
"Do you hear something?" Miss Militia asked raising her gun up. A rifle of some kind appeared in her hands as she scanned the horizons. "What did it sound like?"
"It wasn't a sound. More like a small rumbling in the ground. There it is again," Sophia said cautiously.
Vista doubled checked to make sure they were hidden and scanned the area but didn't find anything. A shadow appeared on rooftop a block away and she twisted the air to magnify to show Shadow Stalker leaving her Shadow form. She had taken off her bow and notched an arrow.
"I'm feeling them now too," Flechette said. "There's a steady series of small rumbles at regular intervals." She doubled checked to make sure her crossbow was loaded and checked on her sword.
That was when they heard something let out a massive roar. Vista and the others whipped their heads toward the direction of the water as the blare of multiple car alarms polluted the night. Lights turned on in several buildings and the few cars in the streets stopped dead.
"The fuck was that?" Clockblocker said.
"Vista make a path for us toward the noise while I report this," Miss Militia ordered.
Vista complied and they doubled timed it, all thoughts of stealth thrown out the window. As they got closer another roar erupted into the night that sounded much closer and sent a small chill down Missy's spine. What the hell was making that noise?
Several streetlights and the lights on a few buildings suddenly turned off, plunging parts of the docks into darkness. Vista brought her rifle up as she could now feel the rumbling coming closer. A huge shadow with twisting shadows came around a nearby building and Vista froze at the large red eyes that glowed in the dark. Dovetail shot up and began to drop her small forcefields behind her that lit up the street and enveloped the shadow to reveal it.
"No fucking way," Clockblocker said with shock as Shadowstalker pulled out the scanner and held it up to it.
It was easily three stories tall on two muscular legs and a long tail that swiped back and forth. It had huge and jutting jaws that opened up into rows of jagged teeth. Long whip like tentacles snapped back and forth, and its tail broke a window as it moved with slow precision down the street to avoid stepping on something.
The few cars on the street were turning and driving in the opposite direction as soon as the beast appeared in their headlights. It wasn't moving that fast, but it's stride was so large it quickly covered half the distance down the street.
Miss Militia turned and opened fire on the dinosaur thing but it did little good. In fact it seemed to not even be aware it was being attacked until she switched to a missile launcher that caused it to stumble as its head was struck.
It looked just once at us before turning it's back to us and focused on a car coming out of a parking garage. It grabbed it in its jaws, and ripped the top open. The tentacles easily pried the freaking out passengers and dropped them on the ground. It promptly ignored them as it stepped over their bodies and headed further into the docks.
Vista jumped in spite of herself at the sound of gunfire and a scream came out of a building right next to them. Miss Militia broke their shock by swiftly giving them orders. "Dovetail follow that thing and try to keep it contained until we get reinforcements here. The rest of you are with me. Vista, make us a path to that building and Flechette keep watch over our six. There is more going on."
Vista carefully compressed the space and enlarged the window. Miss Militia ran inside the enlarged window and opened fire down the hallway at something.
Clockblocker got Kid Win on the line with the rest of us connected.
"Kid what the fuck is happening?"
"There is some kind of major situation in the docks," Kid Win said sounding rushed.
"No shit, we just saw a fucking tentacle dinosaur shrug off a missile," Sophia said as Flechette yelled a warning.
Vista looked up at a giant spider crawling down up the building. It smashed a window with it's leg and dropped something from it's mouth inside as people started to yell more and more.
Vista aimed up but Flechette was faster. The arrow went through it to embed in the building itself and pinned it to the wall. It hung there for a second before it started to melt and the remains fell back to the street with a splat.
"Kid talk fucking fast," Clockblocker said.
"There have been several hundred aborted 911 calls in the last few minutes. But people are posting videos and messages about all kinds of stuff from giant spiders to the blob attacking people. There is also mention of some kind of gas being used on people. The director is freaking out and she is arguing for reinforcements right now. Armsmaster and the others are on their way. "
Vista spied another spider chasing someone and brought up a wall to cut it off. It jumped over the wall but Flechette and Shadow Stalker both fired and hit it. "How widespread is this," Flechette said taking a deep breath.
"The calls are coming from the entire docks."
Vista paused as she became aware of new sounds of panicked cries and gunfire drifting in over the wind. Miss Militia exited the building and started firing several floating flares into the sky for light. Vista gasped as the light revealed a long line of spiders running down the street. Several ran for cover once they were in the light but one went into a window.
Without missing a beat, Miss Militia opened fire and struck several of the spiders with well-placed shots. The rest immediately began to jump and dodge around as they retreated. Vista, Flechette, and Shadow Stalker lent their fire while Vista made a path to the building being invaded for Clockblocker who ran full tilt right into the building.
Vista focused on the ground and raised it over into oval that covered a few people-taking refugee. The spiders still tried to jump before they were enclosed but their attacks caused them to retreat and take refuge under a car after hitting one of them. They started to prying the doors off of cars and raising them up as primitive shields. Flechette and Shadow Stalker's arrows easily went through them and the spiders retreated.
Vista remembered her basic first aid training and pulled out the bag that contained the compressed medical supplies. She was about to lower herself to the ground when a loud scream filled the air. She looked up and saw a huge beetle catch someone who had jumped out of a window. It took off back into the air and carried him off.
"Clockblocker what's the situation? Are you safe?" Miss Militia asked as Vista made a space for her to enter the building.
"I froze a spider but another took off dragging some kind of canister of gas as soon as it spotted me," he stammered. "There are a bunch of unconscious people in some rooms and floor while others are untouched and scared. A bunch of civvies are asking me for help and are panicked. It looks like Faust is going to push the ABB out. What do you want me to do?"
"The situation has changed. Flechette, Shadow Stalker you are to support Clockblocker and try to keep this street clear. There are reports that Faust's Lusus are avoiding cops and heroes. Break the Lusus up and protect any civilians until backup gets here."
"What do you want me to do," Vista asked as Shadow Stalker ran off with Flechette behind her.
"You're going to help me follow that big one as it knocked Adamant, Velocity, and Chariot out with its roar. I need you to help keep it silent and contain the explosion when I bring out something more powerful to stop it."
Vista nodded and they were off on their way up and over rooftops. She spotted more people being attacked and they occasionally stopped for Vista to set up walls and barriers while Miss Militia fired on them to break them up. But their efforts were futile compared to the sheer chaos and panic everywhere. Vista could see Dauntless streaking overhead as he headed toward something.
Miss Militia suddenly stopped and started arguing with someone over the radio. Vista couldn't access her radio but she could move the air just right to make sound carry better. "That is not a good idea. You're just going to spread more fear and panic. She seems to be just focusing on the ABB, and no one else. If you escalate, she will as well. What does Armsmaster think?"
Vista left her after hearing a stampede of people running. She went to the side of the building and looked down at a entire crowd of people running away from a spreading green gas. Vista focused her power and moved to contain the gas but was surprised as crows began to drop onto the crowd.
As they dropped Vista saw a solitary figure in green walking among the downed bodies. She wasn't that tall and Vista saw that she wasn't like the rest of Faust's Lusus. For one she was wearing a mask that looked like an oversized US chemical warning system symbol. For another she seemed more human somehow despite doing nothing but standing. The masked figure broke out into a run as Vista raised her rifle at her but Vista stopped when a loud buzzing could be heard.
Another big beetle was flying overhead and dropped a canister that erupted into more of that green gas that enveloped the street and hid it from view. Miss Militia finally stopped talking and pulled out her phone. She quickly texted someone before she came to the edge of the building with her.
"Who was that?" Vista asked.
"The director. She is about to set off the Endbringer sirens and I was arguing against it."
"Is that a good idea?" Vista asked thinking about what would happen.
"I don't know. It could cause Faust to do something stupid and the panic in the docks will be nothing compared to what the city will go through if they get set off," she said closing it. "But if I'm wrong and the city is in danger we need reinforcements."
"Are reinforcements on the way?"
"Everything we have is in the docks or on their way to the docks. Armsmaster is working on a wide scale nanotech screen to protect people from bioweapon with Dragon in case Faust sets something off. She has never killed but she has come damn close before and I don't trust her. If we set off the sirens I'm not sure how fast reinforcements will actually get here. Most people are used to having a warning and time to gather to fight the Endbringers."
Another loud roar caused them both to look in the other direction and they set off without a word. Vista tried to ignore the sound and sights around them as they had a mission. Eventually they came upon the Beast being fired upon from people in a large building that had ABB markings.
It lined up and charged the building with its head down to use a battering ram as people kept firing from the windows. It shook the building as it made a large hole and backed up as something struck it. Ice started to spread that started to cover it's mouth and head. It picked up a car and started banging it against the ice break it apart.
Miss Militia's power formed the shape of an unusually large rocket at the end of launcher that Vista didn't recognize. "Vista, I'm going to fire something big. Keep the explosion and pressure wave shooting up. Can you do that?
"Yes," she answered focusing on the space around it.
"Vista, keep your mouth open and look away just in case", she ordered as she fired it. Vista focused on the space around it and funneled the space around so it shot upwards as the bomb hit it. There was a blinding flash but Vista managed to keep the noise and pressure wave contained.
When the smoke cleared Vista stared in shock, as the thing was still moving. Its head was down and it was breathing heavily like it was hyperventilating. Miss Militia made something new but waited as it stopped moving as people in the building cheered. Vista slowly started to relax and Miss Militia's power changed back into a knife to make a report.
That was when the Endbringer sirens started to blare.
Despite knowing it was for Faust, Vista still struggled not to panic at the sound. The Endbringer sirens usually meant destruction and death on a mass scale. Even if a city survived the attack, it would never be the same.
The sirens caused the Beast to suddenly jump up which shocked Miss Militia. Before they could react, it was already running for the building. It stuck its head in the hole let out a roar that shook the building. Afterward it paused to look up the air.
After a moment it suddenly turned to run and they gave chase. Though Vista's wasn't sure what else they could throw at it. It was far more difficult to follow it as it moved like they were chasing it.
It eventually stopped in front of a non descript condemned building that looked like it used to be a factory of some kind. The Beast was strangely cautious as it approached the building, keeping a healthy distance. Several men walked out with their hands up towards it, and Vista twisted space to zoom in on them. They were dressed in ordinary clothes and didn't look like an ABB.
Vista yelled as their heads suddenly exploded. Vista felt sick as their bodies fell down and Miss Militia held her tight. Vista hugged her tight as she became aware of a new sound just below the whine of the Endbringer sirens. It was if Lusus all over the docks were screaming in agitation and anger. The Beast stood unmoving and stared at the bodies.
A moment later the building exploded with an incredible noise and pressure wave that shattered windows. The fireball seemed to twist back and forth several times as it rose into the air changing colors.
"Good job on containing the blast Vista," Miss Militia said letting go of her.
"It wasn't me."
The smoke from the strangely subdued fire was changing colors from the wreckage of the building and for just moment Vista thought she saw two figures on a nearby rooftop. One wore a colored and grinning demon mask, and the other had been holding a large rifle and was dressed in purple power armor.
She shook her head wondering why she was looking at an empty roof as the Beast took off again with them in pursuit.
Vista was not sure of the route they were taking before she noticed a large jeep that was speeding down the docks. The Beast ran around a corner and the jeep just barely avoiding it as it fired something to knock it back.
Looking closer Vista could see Bakuda was standing on top of the jeep with a large grenade launcher and covered in various tinker made bombs. She was firing more of her weird explosives but they were only slowing it down and not doing any lasting damage.
It opened its mouth but instead of roaring, a now familiar laugh began to come out of it. A loud buzzing caused Missy to look up to see two large bugs coming down out of the air at the jeep. They were shaped like a cross between dragonflies and overgrown hornets, with compound eyes and oversized backsides.
They spread out and one of them dive bombed the jeep. Bakuda fired something that lit the sky up with a strange light and it fell out of the air looking like it was now made of glass. But it still managed to fall onto the jeep and shatter into pieces. The glass shards cut Bakuda's driver and her as the second one dived bombed the jeep before she could reload.
It fired a long strand of something from behind it that hooked onto the driver. It flew up and pulled the driver out, flying off with his flailing form the air. The jeep veered into the building with a bang of an explosion of something enveloped Bakuda.
It reminded Vista of the containment foam the PRT used except being in a different color. Bakuda pushed herself out a moment later, took off her mask, and heaved all over the ground. She looked dazed and froze as the Beast sauntered out at the other end of the street. It paused looking straight at her, neither of them moving.
Bakuda reacted first as she scrambled for something in her over turned Jeep as it thundered down the street running full tilt with it's tentacles reaching out for her.
Vista raised a wall between them but it went through it barely slowing down as Bakuda threw her launcher to the side in anger. The thing's mouth was open wide showing off its giant teeth and Bakuda threw it with all her might just as it was about to bite her.
But there was no bang or explosion. Much to Vista's surprise the dinosaur was untouched but frozen in mid leap, trapped in some kind of bubble of distorted air like Clockblocker had touched it. One of Bakuda's hands was trapped in the bubble as she frantically looked for something in a pouch on her belt as the Endbringer sirens abruptly shut off.
Miss Militia was angrily gesturing with her arms to someone on the radio as a crowd of Faust's Lusus started to gather in the street. They seemed to just materialize from the darkness with only one or two at first. But then suddenly there were dozens of them filling the street. They ranged from mundane animal looking ones to stranger and more disturbing shapes.
Miss Militia stopped arguing as the Lusus began to yell and howl. They beat the ground, overturned a car, and the noise just got louder and louder. Overhead, birds began to twist in the air until there was just a black cloud of flapping wings with their cries joining in. The cacophony of noise from the Lusus grew even larger and somehow started to spread out from all over the docks.
Then it all stopped.
A complete and total silence descended that was eerie compared to the noise that it had replaced. Vista could see a few people watching from the windows of the buildings or peeking from behind curtains as a new sound started to spread. A moment later Vista recognized them as footsteps.
The Lusus rippled and shifted as one, moving past each other like well-choreographed dancers. They picked up and dragged rubble, moved unconscious bodies to the side, and made a path that led straight to Bakuda. The sound of footsteps grew louder and Bakuda frantically tried to reach something behind her with her arm trapped.
The woman of the hour finally appeared coming down the street at a leisurely pace, and Vista got her first up close and personal look at Faust. She twisted the air in front of her to zoom into and get a better view with her rifle up.
Faust was dressed differently than she was at the pit fight. She only had two arms instead of four, and was walking on two legs instead of using a snake tail. Her green coat was fancier and didn't look like a lab coat anymore, but more like a long overcoat or duster. She had six oversized mechanical arms ending in tools jutting out of her back and hanging over her shoulders. They were colored black and they twisted back and forth as she moved.
Despite the palpable fear and panic in the street, she moved like she was walking on a regular errand without a care in the world. Her long black hair flowed freely behind her as the Lusus began to kneel or bow as she passed. Faust paid no attention to them and stopped as Bakuda came into her sight.
Her famous mask started to twist into a new shape that seemed familiar but Vista couldn't quite tell from where. It started out looking like a curved and delicate body shape that was similar to the wing of a swan, before the wing turned into a mini sculpture of tiny grasping hands that shifted as she came walked agonizingly slowly to Bakuda.
A large three eyed crow landed on her shoulder as Faust continued to walk. The bird whispered in her ear and Faust nodded.
"Don't take another fucking step," Bakuda called out in her mechanical voice from her mask. "I push this button and"
"Or the bombs in your hostage's heads explode?" Faust's voice somehow said from Bakuda's mouth and all around her much to Bakuda's surprise. Faust's voice reminded Vista of a teasing young teacher reprimanding a student.
Faust walked forward until she was just in front of Bakuda and her mask changed again until it looked like a feminine face with Asian features, which caused Bakuda to react in shock and she tried to say something. But all that came out was the same voice that simply whispered a gentle "shhh". Bakuda stayed still as Faust reached out to examine her trapped arm.
"Hello, Kimiko. Or do you mind if I call you Kimmie?" Faust said in a gentle but slightly mocking tone. Faust's voice was now somehow coming from multiple sources around her that Vista couldn't see.
One of the mechanical arms behind Faust moved forward and Bakuda slapped it away. She struggled and fought as two more held her still with a third pushing against her neck. Bakuda shivered and but she remained silent as she was injected with something. Faust carefully separated her trapped arm from her hand slowly and meticulous care. The appendage with the blade began to glow red and the stump was burned with the flat end. Despite the burning flesh Bakuda said nothing looking down away from Faust as she finished fixing and wrapping her arm with something she poured from a vial.
Faust lightly brushed the hair away from Bakuda's mask in an almost motherly manner before Faust suddenly and violently shook her head looking down. For just a moment it looked like she was having a seizure. When her head came up, the face on her mask had morphed into a frozen scream and her stance suggested anger. Bakuda visibly began to tremble.
Vista began to feel the tension in the air rise as she debated trying to save her.
Miss Militia morphed her gun into a sniper rifle and screamed into the radio. "I will not stand fucking by and watch her torture someone else," She began to angrily shout to someone on her radio.
Faust easily lifted Bakuda up into the air with her hands until Bakuda's masked face was placed right in front of hers. "Who do you think you are talking to Kimiko?"
"Nothing happens in the docks without my knowing. NOTHING," she suddenly screamed in Bakuda's face and Vista shook in spite of herself as the voice seemed to come from next to her. "Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way Kimiko. Where are the detonators?" she asked.
"They're in my toe rings," came a human voice. "Please,".
Faust seemed stunned for a moment before she threw back her head and started to laugh her head off. She dropped Bakuda on the ground and just started to howl as if Bakuda had told the funniest joke she had ever heard. The Lusus began making noise as they took up her laughter in their own bizarre ways.
"Please?" Faust said still laughing as she looked down at Bakuda. "You have the nerve to ask for mercy after what you just tried to do and have done? I know you tried to detonate a few fail-safes that would have killed a few hostages and you already murdered several people tonight. Oh, Kimiko you can't imagine how glad I am that you did that. I had something special I planned just for you but thought it went just a little too far after some thought. But I don't have those doubts anymore. Thank you for trying to kill several more people in front of me. Thanks to that I have no more thoughts of mercy."
Two Lusus with overgrown and long arms came from the crowd and hauled a struggling Bakuda off of her feet. One wrapped their arms around her neck and waist in a chokehold and the other held her arms behind her back as she tried to escape.
Faust removed a glass vial from her coat as her mechanical arms began to twitch in anticipation. "Now don't worry, Kimmie. This won't hurt a bit," Faust said as she moved closer.
Miss Militia had enough and her shot went out. One moment Faust's head was there and the next it was gone as she slumped over onto the ground and the bird flew off. Bakuda renewed her struggles but the other Lusus didn't react or move. Vista held her breath as the headless body promptly started to climb up with the mechanical arms helping to stand the headless body up.
The bird landed and spread its wings where the head should have been, and looked up at us. The body suggested annoyance but before Faust could do anything lasers flashed out in a barrage in the middle of the street and the loud roar of an engine caused Vista to look up.
A dragon suit with over sized boosters came streaking in, followed closely by a flash of light that revealed Legend in his famous body suit. Armsmaster jumped down from the Suit in his new power armor. The silver clouds of Nano machines were spreading out from the vents on his suit to help combat any gas or poison in the air as he took up position in the center.
Behind them came the rest of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. Dovetail hovered in the air, Assault stood poised to charge next to Adamant who was wearing a larger than normal armor, Bastion's shields covered a group of EMTs as they checked on several downed people, even Clockblocker and the other Wards was standing with the others.
"Late trying to help people as usual. Does the PRT intentionally design your patrols to make it less likely for you to encounter trouble?" Faust's bird said quizzically.
"Faust, you are ordered to stand down and surrender," Armsmaster said unfurling a new over sized Halberd.
"I have only attacked the ABB tonight and not a single other person has been hurt that is not fixable. In fact I have already started to fix any and all of their injuries. I only acted because Bakuda," she gestured to her on the ground, "here started to place bombs in the heads of several people in the docks."
"Lung, and the rest of the ABB parahumans are waiting for you next to Bakuda's destroyed lab. Is it my fault that your director is so paranoid and trigger happy about me that she stupidly set the sirens off? Shouldn't you be dealing with all the panicked crowds she set off? Her foolish actions caused more damage then I did. I would have warned you what I was going to do except for the fact that you declared me a villain and wouldn't talk to me."
"I believe that your heart is in the right place and you are not a true villain," Legend admitted coming closer to the ground. "But can you honestly say terrorizing the city and doing all of this was the right move?" he said sweeping his arm out to the docks and to a few people watching from windows. "I know you are more intelligent than that. You have helped many people in this city, but the violent solution doesn't always work. I was a vigilante once too, and by working with the government and only holding ourselves to higher standards was I truly able to start making a difference. Stand down and come with us. I promise you will be treated fairly. Be the hero I know you can be and truly help your city with us."
Faust stood there saying nothing as if thinking it over with everyone seeming to hold their breath. As the silence grew, Vista became aware of new sounds. The wind blowing, people taking pictures or videos from their windows, and the distant whimpers of people in pain. The Lusus stood completely still like they were statues. Bakuda was clutching her arm not daring to move, looking back and forth between Faust's avatar and Legend. Finally the bird spoke a single word.
"No," a whisper rang out, echoing across the docks.
"You, the Protectorate and the PRT had decades and my home isn't any better, isn't any safer. You don't live here Legend, but I grew up here-I grew up watching everything fall apart. You didn't see the day the Empire 88 got it's name, you haven't seen us afraid to ride the bus at night, people not bothering to call the cops because they learned that they won't help or protect them, that they only bring more trouble. While you were failing to stop the Butcher during bloody Tuesday I was in the grime and the blood of all those that died that day."
"So what has fucking changed Legend? The city got worse, not better under your system. You talk about doing the right thing but The Butcher and the Teeth are stronger than ever; people are kidnapped with impunity, the Empire all but owns part of the city, and Nothing. Ever. Fucking. Changed. You think I am escalating things? They enslaved, raped, murdered, and spread hate, fear, and misery in my home. Fuck them and fuck your system that enables them. Our world grows darker Legend. I've run the numbers on the Endbringers the same as the PRT and we only have a few more decades. We are running out of time for your high ideals to start working, and I'm done playing nice. I'm choosing to be effective instead."
"Lung, Bakuda, and other pieces of shit like them don't deserve your sympathy. But if you want her you can have her." Faust's body went up to Bakuda, casually picked her up, and in one big motion threw her over to him. She bounced once and skidded in front of him.
"Don't get me wrong, I truly appreciate all you and the other heroes are trying to do," the bird said looking up. "But the docks and the city don't have the time to wait for you to save them. I am going to change this city for the better, with or without you. Help me or get out of my way," she said snapping her fingers.
All at once the Lusus began to melt like they were made of wax as they violently spasmed. The ground become awash with their puddles of green ooze that caused the heroes to step back. Legend opened his mouth to speak but was startled when, instead of his own, Faust's voice came from his mouth and blared from the Endbringer sirens.
"To the citizens of Brockton Bay and especially the docks, I apologize for scaring you. That was never my intention. Every single Lusus that I used tonight was just destroyed. No matter what you hear, I am not your enemy. If you ever need help you merely need to seek me out in the docks and I will find you. I will never kill, I will never harm an innocent, and I will do everything in my power to improve the well-being, happiness, and safety of everyone in this city. I swear this on my current and future lives."
"This message is for the now former members of the Asian Bad Boys. Many of you have noticed that I have started healing your old injuries. That is because as of this moment, you all work for me now. You will do what I tell you, when I tell you, and how I tell you. If you don't obey, I will punish you. But it won't be as awful as you are probably picturing. You will find that I am a far fairer boss than your old one, and I promise to reward you far more for your hard work. You first task is to simply clean up my territory. Your paralysis will wear off momentarily. You are to spend the next week cleaning the docks while I call you all up and review your past actions. If you pass I won't bother you. If you fail I expect you to turn yourself into the police. If you decide to run without turning yourself in, I will place a bounty for you to be returned alive to me and you will not like what I do to you as punishment. You're welcome to run if you think you can get away, but I suggest being out of the city by sunrise considering some of the people I have contracted to hunt you down won't be as nice as I am. But if you work to my satisfaction, your first paycheck will be at the end of next week."
"To all those that dispute my claim over the docks; consider this your only warning. This place is MINE. I don't care about your stupid prejudices, your flawed visions of the future, or your weak little god that encourages you to act like the rabid animals you think we all are."
Faust's "face" suddenly turned to face the heroes. "I care even less about the Protectorate and their ineffectual failure of a system full of child soldiers and corruption that exacerbates the problems they claim to be solving. They had decades but failed to help the residents of the docks deal with the crime, poverty, and infrastructure issues they suffer from. Since they won't help them, these people and this territory are now under my protection."
"So make your shitty little plans, tell whatever lies about me you want, and bring whomever you want to challenge me. None of it will matter. I haven't even started yet," Faust said as her body and the bird suddenly erupted in green colored flames. "I'll be watching Brockton Bay."
Vista jumped as the Endbringer sirens began to blare again. Vista spent the rest of night trying to help deal with the panic the sirens had caused. Despite authorities turning them off and issuing it as a false alarm, many still thought the Simurgh was in the city and were desperately trying to escape. Except ironically the docks, which were very quiet.
==
Across the city and beyond, plans began to change. New alliances were made, diplomats were dispatched, politicians were briefed, maps were recolored, and forces were re-positioned.
A new and powerful player had officially entered the game.
==
Faust, Real Name Unknown
Classification: Tinker 9 (Master 10, Trump 6, Brute 6, and a 3 in every other category)
Deposition: Villain (E)
Last Known Location: Brockton Bay (Docks area, East)
Warlord of the docks since the Brockton Bay incident. Considered the greatest wet tinker in the world with a specialty in cloning and modifying biological systems. Produces a wide variety of capable and controlled biological life forms incapable of reproduction. Leader and creator of the organization Sleeping Forest, a radical vigilante group that claim the PRT's methods and actions are a failure that cause most of the problems they are trying to solve, and argue for tougher measures against villains that cross the line. Criminal history includes mass damage to persons, attempted murder, using biological weapons against civilians, resisting arrest, inciting a riot, and kidnapping. The local PRT director has argued for permanent STARS team deployment in response to the Brockton Bay incident. Known enemies include the Teeth, The Empire 88, and The Undersiders.
Note: High risk of Class-S classification. Should creations self-propagate kill orders are pre-authorized.
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- Location
- The U.P.
I like the view from the wards, especially Vista. The changes to the team and how they deal with the city make for a good contrast. Too many authors make huge changes to canon and then have the wards and other characters stay the same. I would love to see an aftermath of what happened to Piggot for hitting the endbringer button for Faust. You are doing a good job of taking butterflies you made and painting a complete picture of how the city has changed along with the characters too.
The reaction of MM to the wards because she is trying and failing to content with Taylor also shows a great insight to her instead of the cardboard cut out you see most of the time.. The problems if MM every finds out about Taylor are going to be great.
Danny "Taylor, she just wants to help you. You can be a hero."
Taylor "Dad, no way in hell. That bitch shot me in the head."
Danny "
"
MM ""
The reaction of MM to the wards because she is trying and failing to content with Taylor also shows a great insight to her instead of the cardboard cut out you see most of the time.. The problems if MM every finds out about Taylor are going to be great.
Danny "Taylor, she just wants to help you. You can be a hero."
Taylor "Dad, no way in hell. That bitch shot me in the head."
Danny "
"MM "
"
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Reposting my shitstorm prediction from SB
The shitstorm from this is going to be astounding.
Faust starts by establishing herself as a huge fucking deal by completely destroying the ABB.
Then Piggot sets off the Endbringer sirens because of her PTSD without anything vaguely resembling a good reason. No, villains throwing down with limited collateral is not justification to make think Ziz showed up.
Then MM blows Faust's head off to absolutely no effect, revealing to the public at large that the BB Protectorate can kill basically any villian any time they want from extreme range and only broke that card out when faced with someone who is embarrasing them.
And that's before Faust's speech: She flatout accuses the Protectorate of deliberately avoiding doing thier job. She reveals that the heroes were more interested in going after her than ABB. She casually selfdestructs her entire force just to make a point, revealing that she can pull armies out of nowhere. She announces the ABB now works for her. She flatly, openly declares she's taking over a chunk of an American city because the government is part of the problem. She openly accuses the Wards of being a child soldier program. And to top it all off, she demonstrates the heroes never had a chance to win because she wasn't actually there.
Oh, and as was pointed out on SB MM will be in all sorts of trouble for that headshot.
The shitstorm from this is going to be astounding.
Faust starts by establishing herself as a huge fucking deal by completely destroying the ABB.
Then Piggot sets off the Endbringer sirens because of her PTSD without anything vaguely resembling a good reason. No, villains throwing down with limited collateral is not justification to make think Ziz showed up.
Then MM blows Faust's head off to absolutely no effect, revealing to the public at large that the BB Protectorate can kill basically any villian any time they want from extreme range and only broke that card out when faced with someone who is embarrasing them.
And that's before Faust's speech: She flatout accuses the Protectorate of deliberately avoiding doing thier job. She reveals that the heroes were more interested in going after her than ABB. She casually selfdestructs her entire force just to make a point, revealing that she can pull armies out of nowhere. She announces the ABB now works for her. She flatly, openly declares she's taking over a chunk of an American city because the government is part of the problem. She openly accuses the Wards of being a child soldier program. And to top it all off, she demonstrates the heroes never had a chance to win because she wasn't actually there.
Oh, and as was pointed out on SB MM will be in all sorts of trouble for that headshot.
@oilworker
Different Sophia who was caught before the bullying could escalate, seen as a liability, cut off from Emma, and who desires some social life. A true AU should have many characters having far different circumstances such as Clockie being more anti-PRT which Sophia likes. Though there are some characters who are no changed much as the setting itself would be too drastically unfamiliar.
Look into the future. The Undersiders know Faust will come after them at some point and Grue/Tattle have a plan to fight back.
To quote No one on SB: From everyone's perspective (except the people in the Docks, and only then later) she's taking down a dangerous and powerful villain (at best a very violent vigilante) who was potentially attacking huge amounts of people and threatening to murder (or at least horribly torture) someone in front of law enforcement.
That and Taylor DOES have a ready made kill order and MM might have guessed it was puppet.
Different Sophia who was caught before the bullying could escalate, seen as a liability, cut off from Emma, and who desires some social life. A true AU should have many characters having far different circumstances such as Clockie being more anti-PRT which Sophia likes. Though there are some characters who are no changed much as the setting itself would be too drastically unfamiliar.
Look into the future. The Undersiders know Faust will come after them at some point and Grue/Tattle have a plan to fight back.
To quote No one on SB: From everyone's perspective (except the people in the Docks, and only then later) she's taking down a dangerous and powerful villain (at best a very violent vigilante) who was potentially attacking huge amounts of people and threatening to murder (or at least horribly torture) someone in front of law enforcement.
That and Taylor DOES have a ready made kill order and MM might have guessed it was puppet.
Well the head shot was after Faust had revealed that Bakuda had implanted bombs in people's heads, Bakuda had set a few of them off in front of Miss Militia, and Faust stated she tried to do it again while she was being held hostage.
And "She might have been a puppet" isn't a good excuse, especially if it turns out she wasn't. It would have been different if it was like Spree of Crusader where it looked or acted very different from the original, but it didn't.
- Location
- CA, United States
Well, at least MM didn't kill the real Taylor. I think that'd be a pretty rude way to learn that you just killed Butcher version Faust. Hmm, at least Taylor can make clones of herself to proxy for her.
HymnOfRagnarok
Let's Rock
I like the update, but one thing caught my eye.
Bakuda had a hand trapped in a time field. That means that all the blood her heart beats out and goes through that arm? That is getting stopped at the edge of the time field, and it's not getting returned. I'd honestly expect a lot of blood to start building up in the arm and things to get real messy real fast. I was sincerely surprised Bakuda was alive for Faust to speak to.
I'm not sure how this would work out medically, but my gut tells me it's probably a lot more severe than what's portrayed here.
Bakuda had a hand trapped in a time field. That means that all the blood her heart beats out and goes through that arm? That is getting stopped at the edge of the time field, and it's not getting returned. I'd honestly expect a lot of blood to start building up in the arm and things to get real messy real fast. I was sincerely surprised Bakuda was alive for Faust to speak to.
I'm not sure how this would work out medically, but my gut tells me it's probably a lot more severe than what's portrayed here.
- Location
- Windspear Hills
Spacewhale magic bullshit?
HymnOfRagnarok
Let's Rock
Considered that, but the time bomb is already pretty damned indiscriminate in its effects. I mean yeah, it just occurred to me that the fact that you can see in it at all indicates it's doing some wacky stuff with photons so maybe more is going on. But the seeing inside is one of the effects I categorize under, "Shown so that the audience can understand what's going on, because otherwise it'd just look like a black sphere which isn't as intuitively obvious for a time bomb."
The effects of having one body part in frozen time, and the rest free, and this not turning into a gore-fest? From Bakuda? That feels more like something that just didn't get thought through all the way.
FullNothingness
Mostly DHMO.
Those time fields don't work like giant undepletable vacuums though. They aren't sucking in air in the same way as you are suggesting they do blood. So my guess is that it is just blocks the blood from flowing through her hand... Which isn't good for you but it isn't likely to kill you really fast.
HymnOfRagnarok
Let's Rock
I don't believe I suggested that it was a vacuum. In fact I'm pretty sure I proposed about the same as you, that the blood is probably getting stopped at the end of the time field. Then you probably have a bunch of stopped up blood crammed into veins to small to contain it and then it backs up. If it starts clotting and small clots end up breaking off and flowing back into the body via Bakuda's bloodstream, she's probably a dead woman.
It's way too late for me research how much blood gets cycled through veins at the rest and calculate about much blood is getting stopped up there every second.
If new blood is allowed to pass into the field, as in shoving an object into the time-stopped field, then it's not happening because of suction, but because Bakuda's heart is pumping blood and forcing it in. And since time is stopped on the objects in there, the blood is presumably not coming out. Then Bakuda is effectively losing blood as fast as her heart can pump it to her hand.
- Location
- Ekaterinburg, Russia
So what does "Deposition: Villain (E)" mean? Especially that last letter.
@Faraway-R
There were letter desginations on different villains when Blasto read the PRT files in his canon interlude. Don't think Wildbow ever explained them but I just made one up for vigilantes. Class E villains are violent vigilantes that have crossed the line to the PRT. Think the Punisher. Taylor is now one of the most infamous vigilantes in the world. She hasn't killed anybody but she has crossed the line into villain territory in the PRT's view.
There were letter desginations on different villains when Blasto read the PRT files in his canon interlude. Don't think Wildbow ever explained them but I just made one up for vigilantes. Class E villains are violent vigilantes that have crossed the line to the PRT. Think the Punisher. Taylor is now one of the most infamous vigilantes in the world. She hasn't killed anybody but she has crossed the line into villain territory in the PRT's view.
- Location
- Existance
...
So she's a Vigilant (E)?
So she's a Vigilant (E)?
I can't imagine it being much different than if you sat on your hand or something until the blood flow got cut off.
Frankly though it doesn't completely make sense to be able to place things in the field, the air inside should be frozen as well, it's not just an empty void. Even though we can move through air normally easily, it's only because the air is moving out of our way. When fast moving objects go through the air it makes a pressure wave since the air can't quite get out of the way fast enough. If the air couldn't move at all because it was frozen, I would think it'd be like a solid wall. Just like supposedly if you hit water at terminal velocity it's supposedly like hitting concrete. Even if it was only greatly slowed down it would take a great deal of force and/or time I would think even for a small object.
Frankly though it doesn't completely make sense to be able to place things in the field, the air inside should be frozen as well, it's not just an empty void. Even though we can move through air normally easily, it's only because the air is moving out of our way. When fast moving objects go through the air it makes a pressure wave since the air can't quite get out of the way fast enough. If the air couldn't move at all because it was frozen, I would think it'd be like a solid wall. Just like supposedly if you hit water at terminal velocity it's supposedly like hitting concrete. Even if it was only greatly slowed down it would take a great deal of force and/or time I would think even for a small object.
- Location
- Postcard from the Root
Loving the story so far. It's refreshing to see a different Taylor, not just powers but personality. She's still awkward but not second guessing her relationships due to her trauma. I'm very much looking forward to seeing her plans for the Bay.
*reads epic smackdown*
if there was one place to post an Megalovania-remix, this would be it.
And we do know that the Endbringers normally hold back, so I think it's likely that she was silently Simurghed faster than normal in order to cause Brockton Bay to explode.
if there was one place to post an Megalovania-remix, this would be it.
Panacea has been in range of the Simurgh.
And we do know that the Endbringers normally hold back, so I think it's likely that she was silently Simurghed faster than normal in order to cause Brockton Bay to explode.
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Wow, you put her in the same league as Frank Castle...
Taylor would be either be soooo proud or soooo insulted