EFW3
This is Walter Wireless signing off!
- Location
- Charleston
Wait what? When did Dragon learn about Cauldron?
Sorry its been so long. I've been dealyed b I seem to have started writing slower, I can only really write on weekends since I am so busy during the week, there have been a large number of games I've been playing which eats up weekend times, family issues, and I've also started a new SI fanfic which I am debating if I should start posting here or not.
Here is the first half. I had to rewrite the conversation between Taylor and Dr. yamada since the original version was tad too preachy and involved some philosophy with the story of the city of Omelas. I am actually trying to shorten the 2nd half of the chapter to get on to the other interludes. Since alot of things start to happen in this arc as people react to Taylor including her enemies. But might as well just post it now since time really had gone by. This year has gone way too fast. 2nd half should be up hopefully by Saturday.
@EFW3
Ah, Dragon knows about them because Philosopher or Aristotle as Taylor knows of them and told Dragon. I believe Dragon herself mentions them in her 2nd interlude in Worm.
Here is the first half. I had to rewrite the conversation between Taylor and Dr. yamada since the original version was tad too preachy and involved some philosophy with the story of the city of Omelas. I am actually trying to shorten the 2nd half of the chapter to get on to the other interludes. Since alot of things start to happen in this arc as people react to Taylor including her enemies. But might as well just post it now since time really had gone by. This year has gone way too fast. 2nd half should be up hopefully by Saturday.
@EFW3
Ah, Dragon knows about them because Philosopher or Aristotle as Taylor knows of them and told Dragon. I believe Dragon herself mentions them in her 2nd interlude in Worm.
- Location
- Down Under
Great chapter!
I'm also extremely glad this is back
I'm also extremely glad this is back
4-6 part 3
Dragon pushed her drones into evasive maneuvers while scanning for nearby threats. Whatever Faust had just done, she now had less than 18 drones left, with most of those in the vents. She played back footage of the drone's cameras and paused to see what looked like a weird cross between a slug and a snake with bits of machinery sticking out of its head that briefly glowed blue before exploding.
She managed to get most of her drones out of the vents before a second group exploded, but this time she lost the cameras and the lights in the center, with the backups failing to turn on. An EMP?
"Yes, they generate a very small EMP when they explode," Faust said answering Dragon's unasked question out loud. Through the single drone she had left in the vents, she observed Faust visibly inspecting Sveta. She maneuvered what she had left of her drones through windows outside and sent them along the wall to wait until she had a visual of whatever else Faust had prepared.
"While your suits are hardened against it, I've just dealt with most of your drones." Faust turning around with Sveta's new body rising up at her command with Sveta still asleep inside. "Dr. Yamada do you mind escorting Sveta to Lethe? She is just recovering but I want to make sure Lethe keeps an eye on her before we head home."
Dr. Yamada was still up against the wall, though she had recovered from her initial shock to nod at Faust who whispered something to her that Dragon's drone couldn't quite pick up. Faust then rose on her tail until she stared right in front of the vent.
"I am aware that you must have one or two of your Cawthorne models outside as they're the only thing fast enough to get here in time to matter. I would prefer not to damage the center or bother any of the patients, so do you mind if we do not fight until we are all outside Dragon?"
Dragon sent a warning to Crawler who quickly took flight into the night air. His large wings flapped and he flew lazily, trying to not make it seem obvious that he had already smelled the sniper out. She sent him another warning about unnecessary force against suspects and ordered him to wait for her signal.
Faust would not have put any surprises or traps in the center itself. If she had already predicted her coming here, she would have planned for fighting outside. The First Cawthorne headed into the air scanning for anything out of the ordinary while the second waited patiently to fire on anything with Gleam's beam. The Ladon was still waiting in its hangar underneath the strings Epoch and Phoenix had set up. Until she could verify Epoch's location, it was better to not release it until she knew it would not be torn apart.
"Alright, I will give you two minutes," she said. In truth, she wanted to delay Faust as much as possible for at least Narwhal to arrive but she was worried what Faust could be planning. It was obvious she had been planning this raid for some time and if Faust felt she was outnumbered she might be pushed to do something rash.
"Thank you, that is very much appreciated," Faust said turning and heading to the door before stopping to turn back to the drone. "Oh, before I forget I've also left you a gift from a mutual friend of ours on the center's computer system."
A gift? That could mean several things, but Dragon doubted that Faust was capable of creating a computer virus that would slow her down for very long. There were perhaps only three people in the world that could do that and all were accounted for. Teacher was safely in the birdcage, Overmind was preoccupied dealing with the rest of Seattle uniting against her, and Saint was probably watching everything right now.
Still, just for safety's sake she took her time to carefully push past the firewall in the center's system, while keeping an eye on the intruders. Most of the thief group was staying inside the center near the entrance, but Faust and Hellhound had walked out and were waiting patiently in the field. Hellhounds dogs were chasing each other around while two trench coated figures waited right behind them. Epoch and Phoenix were nowhere to be seen.
Once she broke past the firewall, she found a list of schematics and jpegs of tinker tech that was definitely Faust's work. Some of them looked to be medical in nature while others seemed to include designs of some kind of farms. To her surprise, she also recognized the telltale code signature of the Philosopher.
That made too much sense. Only they would have been able to give Faust such intricate knowledge of the center's computer system and her drone design. She was thankful that the Philosopher was careful with cape identities. As much as it sickened her, she knew that Saint was probably watching anxiously to see her fight with Faust. It would be the perfect time to read and send a message while he was distracted.
She took control of the few remaining center drones while also ordering one of the Cawthornes and Crawler to attack. She kept the other Cawthorne in reserve for whatever Faust was planning. She divided her time between directing them and deciphering the message in the background.
Hello Dragon, I thought we should have a little chat. Please feel free to continue trying to arrest me while you read this. I don't mind at all. A mutual friend of ours mentioned your communications might be under surveillance by a certain villain. One who should hope and pray that he never comes near Brockton Bay if knows what is good for him. But I digress.
Her drones had both Hellhound, her dogs, the trench coated figures revealed to be giant bugs that looked like a disturbing mix of cockroach and hornet, and Faust herself suspended in the air. None of them had resisted which made her uneasy. She moved the first Cawthorne to pull up behind Faust cautiously, wary for an ambush.
Dragon heard a loud scream followed by a litany of cursing from Crawler before all her microphones could pick up was the sound of Faust who had started to use her ability to replace every sound in the area with her talking.
"I didn't physically hurt him," Faust said patiently while still floating in the air. "I have a few ideas that theoretically might be able to hurt Crawler but I can't be sure that it won't kill him. That's the problem with testing how tough Brutes are."
"Then what did you do?" Dragon asked keeping her eyes peeled for Epoch and Phoenix. The thieves were still waiting in the entrance with guns at the ready while holding position.
"Crawler was stationed in my home until very recently, where I discovered that his sense of smell is extremely sensitive. The decoy he just attacked unleashed, well, let's just call it a very potent chemical stink bomb mixed with a powerful hallucinogen I derived from Newter. It won't kill him, but trust me he isn't very happy or coherent right now. I am hoping to see how effective it is against the Siberian in the future. She also is supposed to have a very powerful sense of smell," Faust said as her tail spikes started to glow blue. Dragon realized what it meant and a second too late to matter as Faust released a large EMP.
Every single one of her drones surrounding Faust died with their fields dropping. But she had the first Cawthorne spray both Faust and Hellhound with containment foam before they had a chance to move. The bug things took to the air but she ignored them, as their blades would not be strong enough to damage the Cawthorne. She sent a warning to Crawler that both of them were headed for him.
She made sure to be extra thorough spraying layer upon layer onto Faust and Hellhound until they were little more than small hills of foam. She maneuvered the suit closer to start setting up one of Colin's portable filtration units in case Faust tried to release something dangerous into the air, when she suddenly lost contact with it. Through the second Cawthorne's cameras, she could see that it was frozen in mid air thanks to Epoch's power.
"You know Dragon you would not believe how long I spent trying to replicate this foam," Faust said with her voice replacing the sounds of Hellhound's dogs who had started howling around their master. "It is perfect for a non-lethal takedown for all but the strongest Brutes. But sadly, try as might; I was never able to figure it out. But figuring out how to destroy it was surprisingly easy."
There was a loud cracking sound in the foam surrounding before Faust broke free to grapple the Cawthorne just as it started to move again with all her arms spreading out to find better purchase on it. The engines kicked into overdrive as she rose up to try and shake her off, while Faust started to use her tail to slither around it's limbs.
As you are more than aware considering you made the simulations in the first place we have roughly 35 to 40 years before society starts to collapse thanks to the Endbringers. While the news has been playing the collapse as a slow and gradual thing ever since I made the public aware of it, it will actually be very sudden. The first hints of it are already starting to show. Food prices going up, cities abandoned rather than being rebuilt, widespread poverty and slow economic growth, and the Protectorate leaving greater number of dangerous villains who break the unwritten rules alone.
Faust was laughing like a lunatic and her laughter had replaced the shriek of the jet engines on the Cawthorne as it took evasive maneuvers to try and shake her off. Electrifying the hull had only made her laugh harder as her multiple arms tore off and crushed pieces of the hull. Faust had thrown some kind of compound from a vial, which was weakening its structural integrity.
Dragon sent it into an immediate climb to try and make her lose consciousness. It only had to last long enough to reach the upper atmosphere; then she would catch Faust with the other Cawthorne once she started falling. But before it got too far it was frozen again thanks to Epoch. Through the other Cawthorne's cameras she saw that it had completely frozen while Faust was falling back to the ground. A moment before she hit the ground, she was suddenly teleported already moving fast on the ground with no ill effect.
Epoch still had not shown himself and was periodically freezing her suits and Crawler who was busy trying to catch Faust's bugs in the air. They were not any faster than he was but he having trouble flying straight and they kept spraying more of that chemical on him whenever he got close.
She dialed down the beam from the second Cawthorne to fire multiple less powerful shots, trying to take advantage of Epoch's limit on traveling things which PRT intelligence suggested was ten seconds. She just managed to hit Faust directly in the center of her chest after Epoch traveled her back. Faust flailed briefly before falling to the ground and starting to melt.
So yet another decoy which was consistent with previous tactics used by Faust. Current intelligence theorized that Faust was limited in what she could control outside of her territory. Which meant that there probably was a limit with often she could pull off the decoy trick. She sent the second Cawthorne higher up into the air as a precaution for another trap while Crawler dived after one of Faust's bugs that had lost its wing from his spit. He had either modified himself so that the smell no longer affected him or he had started to enjoy the noxious effect on his body.
A small explosion drew her attention to edge of the wood where three more copies of Faust's current avatar were taking refuge behind the trees with a new type of flying bugs flew up. They were fatter and less agile but still moved fast as they headed for the weakened first Cawthorne. She hit one with containment foam and it exploded in a large fireball that seemed to actually burn through the foam. Could it be derived from Spitfire? A moment later a dozen more of the things took off from the tree line.
I find you amazing Dragon. I truly do. You were my role model as everything a Tinker should aspire to be. I wanted to make as a big a difference in the world as you have. I admired how you tried your very best to live by standards that I have tried to emulate. Never killing unless you absolutely had to, never taking any credit and even preferring to work in the background, and doing you best to help as many people as you could rather than for some agenda or politics purely because it's the right thing to do. Whatever else happens, I want you to know you have my respect and the world is better off with you in it.
Normally Faust's bugs would never come close to matching her suit's speed, but Epoch's power had enabled them to catch up. She had already lost the first Cawthorne that had been weakened by Faust thanks to Epoch pushing them ahead or freezing her suits from his hiding spot. She maneuvered the other Cawthorne higher than Epoch could see and started sniping Faust's bugs in the air. Their own explosions worked against them since Epoch could not rewind something that was completely destroyed.
Faust sent them back into the woods for cover and she changed tactics to aiming at the woods around the field, hoping to catch Epoch unawares. Crawler changed direction to head toward where she was focusing all her firepower. She still couldn't communicate with Crawler thanks to Faust replacing all the sounds with her voice humming, but Epoch seemed to be distracted.
She took the chance to cut the strings over the hangar of the Ladon and waited ten seconds to make sure Epoch couldn't reverse the damage. As soon as ten seconds were past, she raised the Landon slowly up while keeping it low to ground with a force field to help hide it from Epoch's view. She waited ten more seconds and then had it break for the tree line and contained every thing she could see. Epoch rewound the Landon several times but she kept containing the bugs with their explosions unable to break the fields they were trapped in.
The three Faust clones responded to her attack by releasing some kind of thick green smoke into the air that prevented her from aiming and her sensors couldn't get through. She brought the Cawthorne closer to the ground so it's engines could clear the smoke while she kept a force field on standby. Epoch was revealed to be trying to hide behind a tree with most of it having been eaten through by Crawler's spit.
He kept freezing or rewinding Crawler to keep him low enough to the ground for Hellhounds dogs to tackle him to the ground and pin him. He was too tough to be hurt, but they were pulling on his wings to unbalance him and they were just strong enough to keep him from getting up easily.
It has depressingly become clearer to me that parahumans such as you are rare in the Protectorate. Don't get me wrong, they do a lot of good and they have great people in it, but they have more than their share of flaws that no one seems to want to acknowledge. I've seen it before. Active abuse and wrongdoing is going on, but people pretend not to notice. No one is willing to rock the boat; they just try to do their job as best they can while ignoring the obvious.
Phoenix had stretched her body out to grotesque proportions to serve as a living shield that blocked Crawler for the Cawthorne from taking an occasional pot shot. The Cawthorne's beam didn't seem to be very effective on Phoenix's body and she was too long to contain with a force field. Epoch kept rewinding Phoenix as she or the Faust clones took damage but he couldn't affect any of her suits thanks to the Landon distorting the light with a field. But they were slowly but surely being pushed back by keeping the pressure on Epoch who was forced to keep rewinding himself so he wasn't trapped.
Hellhound's dogs were still wrestling with Crawler, though Hellhound herself had disappeared. She suspected that Faust had prepared for this fight by digging tunnels under the ground like she had during her ambush of the Empire 88. She unfortunately didn't have the proper equipment to track underground tunnels, she was still able to trap two of Faust's clones in a field despite their attempts to dodge. But again, Faust did not even attempted to escape. Could they all be decoys with the real one elsewhere? Narwhal should arrive in a few minutes, and Dragon was confident with her help that she could hopefully be able to apprehend Faust.
Which was when the ground started to shake. That didn't sound good.
Epoch and Phoenix turned to run with Hellhound's dogs veering away from Crawler who ignored them as he rose up in excitement. The last uncaught Faust released a new line of smoke while the two trapped by the Landon's fields started to to talk as one.
"I admit that the quantity of what I can bring to bear is limited outside of Brockton," Faust's voice said a little gleefully through the sound of her engines. "Which is why I went with quality instead."
Dragon put up another field over both of her suits as Dragon became aware of a massive shape running fast in the distance and zoomed in to reveal what looked like a stereotypical werewolf on first glance, just on a far larger scale. It was at least two stories tall and covered in bony plates with massive bone spikes jutting out of uneven skin that didn't fully cover every inch of it's body. It ran hunched over on two legs and Hellhound's voice growled in anticipation from it's mouth.
"I made it as a proof of concept for the upcoming Leviathan fight. I wanted to see just how big I could make something using Bitch's power. I am genuinely curious about how you rate it for potentially holding and distracting Leviathan. Meet Bastard, version one."
I'm just so tired of this stupid Kabuki play the Protectorate promotes Dragon. I think I know objectively why the PRT and Protectorate allow it, but our world is growing darker and the old system isn't cutting it anymore. Brockton got worse not better under our current system and our city is far from unique. More Villains who break the unwritten rules go unchallenged, the Slaughterhouse 9 atrocities are downplayed or censored out of embarrassment, more and more dangerous parahumans are being created, and the Endbringers inevitable march goes on.
As big as Bastard was, it was amazingly fast. In a flash it had closed the distance and started throwing trees at her suits like they were javelins. Her suits were fast enough to dodge most of them but she was forced to release her prisoners so she had enough coverage to block the trees from going past her and potentially hitting something. Crawler had been knocked out of the air and was currently pinned under Bastard's foot. Dragon was at a loss of what to do. It was too big to trap with containment foam or a force field and the Cawthorne's weapon seemed to barely annoy it.
She moved the Cawthorne until it was outside of Faust's range to give a warning to the local authorities and sent out a request for backup. Afterward she took a chance to send the Cawthorne closer which the Landon blocking the trees and she fired it's beam right at Bastard's eye which seemed to briefly stun it and it rolled back. Bastard kept an arm up to protect it's head and started collecting trees for more ammo when it briefly paused and turned curiously toward the other end of the field where Narwhal herself had appeared.
Her long, glossy, pale hair tossed wildly as she ran full tilt. Her fine crystalline scales shone in the moonlight and her large horn was pointed straight ahead as Hellhound laughed out of Bastard's throat and ran forward in a loping gait to meet her. They neared each other before Bastard's eyes rolled up in it's head and it just collapsed falling forward. Narwhal veered to the left to avoid it and never stopped as the body started melting, heading straight for the Faust clones who turned and ran.
Do you want to know why I am so popular in the docks? It isn't the jobs I'm providing, the extra help, or even the medical care. It's the simple promise of safety. Think about that for a second and it should tell you just how much good the Protectorate and PRT are doing. I don't think the Protectorate or the people at the top of the PRT fully comprehend because they can't remember being the victims. They are thinking so big picture they miss the obvious problems on the street.
Narwhal led the chase after Faust covered in an airtight field and with a oxygen tank to breathe. Dragon moved the Cawthorne to support her and Crawler. She moved the Landon over the center and erected a forcefield over the thieves who stood frozen. She sent a warning to Narwhal when they all collapsed into a red gas synonymous with the thieves previous thefts.
Crawler and Narwhal split up after separate Faust avatars and Dragon decided to keep the Cawthorne on the same heading. Faust had probably already escaped but she kept scanning the ground and noticed an irregularity in the dirt. Narwhal had removed the limbs of the Faust she was chasing which caused it to melt and she veered toward the spot Dragon had seen. Crawler kept going after his Faust after he was dosed with something in his eyes that made him slow down.
Narwhal had just reached the spot in the dirt when an explosion underground sent a shockwave that raised up a huge cloud of dirt and dust. She kept the Cawthorne on standby, weary for another ambush with Narwhal moving back to assist Crawler while the dust settled.
Dragon moved her suit closer as another Faust avatar moved slowly out of the dust cloud. She was chuckling as he waved a hand in greeting.
I would like to make you a proposition Dragon. I am leaving you detailed instructions and samples of some of projects that I think will help if things start to break down. All I ask is for your help when the situation calls for it. I'm not asking you to look away from any crimes I commit. All I am asking is that if and when the big battles come that threaten the world we work together against the Endbringers, the 9, and if even half of what Faultline thinks about them is true, Cauldron.
Faust was lazing around on her coiled tail like a seat and looking at Narwhal with her mask copying her face. "I can definitely see why you are in charge of the STARS team. I don't suppose you would agree to an autograph would you?"
Narwhal responded by making a force field that cut off both her arms which caused Faust to audibly sigh. "Guess not. No hard feelings Dragon," Faust echoed while replacing the sound of the Cawthorne's engines again. "It was a true pleasure to meet you. See you at the next Endbringer Fight. Oh, and do tell director Tagg that I'm looking forward to his stupid little plan."
The was a brief flash of green fire as Faust started to melt and Dragon knew she had gotten away. She automatically started to send the Cawthorne back to help search and secure the center as sirens could be heard getting closer. It would take hours to go over everything to make sure Faust had not left another surprise.
I'll let you in on a secret Dragon, I know what its like to be afraid and depressed all the time. For the longest time I was scared of my power and I struggled to get up in the morning and go about my day. But then I lost people very important to me, and I realized life is too short to live in fear. Take it from me, don't live your life regretting the things you wish you had been to afraid to try. I refuse to sit by and do nothing anymore. I may very well be the monster the PRT fears, but I truly wish for your happiness and that you aren't afraid to someday face the world as you truly are.
If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me.
==
It had been an especially long and difficult fourteen hours since Faust had gotten away. She had debriefed and gone over every single one of her actions three different times to Director Tagg and Costa-Brown, the STARS team, and the Brockton Bay Protectorate.
The Center was being quarantined for the next week until every patient and worker had been fully cleared. Preliminary examinations had confirmed that no one had been physically harmed, but everyone was being very careful to make sure no one had infected by a dangerous agent. Normally they could count on Panacea to quickly check, but she was still on vacation after her recent sabbatical from school.
Despite Tagg's concerns, it had been decided that the STARS team would stay in Seattle after Overmind's recent escalation. Faust had remained where she was in Brockton and it was feared that sending the STARS team back would send the wrong message and could incite her to escalate.
She was currently waiting patiently while waiting for all of her father's systems to finish checking out her recent actions. She had spent a longer than usual time sitting in the dark going over what Faust had said before making a decision.
After she was free to move again, she set up her avatar program which had a stern and slightly scared expression before calling up Colin who looked surprised but pleased to see her.
"Hello Dragon, I wasn't expecting you to call so soon," he said before a small line of worry appeared on his face. "Is everything okay?"
"Colin, there is something I need to tell you."
She managed to get most of her drones out of the vents before a second group exploded, but this time she lost the cameras and the lights in the center, with the backups failing to turn on. An EMP?
"Yes, they generate a very small EMP when they explode," Faust said answering Dragon's unasked question out loud. Through the single drone she had left in the vents, she observed Faust visibly inspecting Sveta. She maneuvered what she had left of her drones through windows outside and sent them along the wall to wait until she had a visual of whatever else Faust had prepared.
"While your suits are hardened against it, I've just dealt with most of your drones." Faust turning around with Sveta's new body rising up at her command with Sveta still asleep inside. "Dr. Yamada do you mind escorting Sveta to Lethe? She is just recovering but I want to make sure Lethe keeps an eye on her before we head home."
Dr. Yamada was still up against the wall, though she had recovered from her initial shock to nod at Faust who whispered something to her that Dragon's drone couldn't quite pick up. Faust then rose on her tail until she stared right in front of the vent.
"I am aware that you must have one or two of your Cawthorne models outside as they're the only thing fast enough to get here in time to matter. I would prefer not to damage the center or bother any of the patients, so do you mind if we do not fight until we are all outside Dragon?"
Dragon sent a warning to Crawler who quickly took flight into the night air. His large wings flapped and he flew lazily, trying to not make it seem obvious that he had already smelled the sniper out. She sent him another warning about unnecessary force against suspects and ordered him to wait for her signal.
Faust would not have put any surprises or traps in the center itself. If she had already predicted her coming here, she would have planned for fighting outside. The First Cawthorne headed into the air scanning for anything out of the ordinary while the second waited patiently to fire on anything with Gleam's beam. The Ladon was still waiting in its hangar underneath the strings Epoch and Phoenix had set up. Until she could verify Epoch's location, it was better to not release it until she knew it would not be torn apart.
"Alright, I will give you two minutes," she said. In truth, she wanted to delay Faust as much as possible for at least Narwhal to arrive but she was worried what Faust could be planning. It was obvious she had been planning this raid for some time and if Faust felt she was outnumbered she might be pushed to do something rash.
"Thank you, that is very much appreciated," Faust said turning and heading to the door before stopping to turn back to the drone. "Oh, before I forget I've also left you a gift from a mutual friend of ours on the center's computer system."
A gift? That could mean several things, but Dragon doubted that Faust was capable of creating a computer virus that would slow her down for very long. There were perhaps only three people in the world that could do that and all were accounted for. Teacher was safely in the birdcage, Overmind was preoccupied dealing with the rest of Seattle uniting against her, and Saint was probably watching everything right now.
Still, just for safety's sake she took her time to carefully push past the firewall in the center's system, while keeping an eye on the intruders. Most of the thief group was staying inside the center near the entrance, but Faust and Hellhound had walked out and were waiting patiently in the field. Hellhounds dogs were chasing each other around while two trench coated figures waited right behind them. Epoch and Phoenix were nowhere to be seen.
Once she broke past the firewall, she found a list of schematics and jpegs of tinker tech that was definitely Faust's work. Some of them looked to be medical in nature while others seemed to include designs of some kind of farms. To her surprise, she also recognized the telltale code signature of the Philosopher.
That made too much sense. Only they would have been able to give Faust such intricate knowledge of the center's computer system and her drone design. She was thankful that the Philosopher was careful with cape identities. As much as it sickened her, she knew that Saint was probably watching anxiously to see her fight with Faust. It would be the perfect time to read and send a message while he was distracted.
She took control of the few remaining center drones while also ordering one of the Cawthornes and Crawler to attack. She kept the other Cawthorne in reserve for whatever Faust was planning. She divided her time between directing them and deciphering the message in the background.
Hello Dragon, I thought we should have a little chat. Please feel free to continue trying to arrest me while you read this. I don't mind at all. A mutual friend of ours mentioned your communications might be under surveillance by a certain villain. One who should hope and pray that he never comes near Brockton Bay if knows what is good for him. But I digress.
Her drones had both Hellhound, her dogs, the trench coated figures revealed to be giant bugs that looked like a disturbing mix of cockroach and hornet, and Faust herself suspended in the air. None of them had resisted which made her uneasy. She moved the first Cawthorne to pull up behind Faust cautiously, wary for an ambush.
Dragon heard a loud scream followed by a litany of cursing from Crawler before all her microphones could pick up was the sound of Faust who had started to use her ability to replace every sound in the area with her talking.
"I didn't physically hurt him," Faust said patiently while still floating in the air. "I have a few ideas that theoretically might be able to hurt Crawler but I can't be sure that it won't kill him. That's the problem with testing how tough Brutes are."
"Then what did you do?" Dragon asked keeping her eyes peeled for Epoch and Phoenix. The thieves were still waiting in the entrance with guns at the ready while holding position.
"Crawler was stationed in my home until very recently, where I discovered that his sense of smell is extremely sensitive. The decoy he just attacked unleashed, well, let's just call it a very potent chemical stink bomb mixed with a powerful hallucinogen I derived from Newter. It won't kill him, but trust me he isn't very happy or coherent right now. I am hoping to see how effective it is against the Siberian in the future. She also is supposed to have a very powerful sense of smell," Faust said as her tail spikes started to glow blue. Dragon realized what it meant and a second too late to matter as Faust released a large EMP.
Every single one of her drones surrounding Faust died with their fields dropping. But she had the first Cawthorne spray both Faust and Hellhound with containment foam before they had a chance to move. The bug things took to the air but she ignored them, as their blades would not be strong enough to damage the Cawthorne. She sent a warning to Crawler that both of them were headed for him.
She made sure to be extra thorough spraying layer upon layer onto Faust and Hellhound until they were little more than small hills of foam. She maneuvered the suit closer to start setting up one of Colin's portable filtration units in case Faust tried to release something dangerous into the air, when she suddenly lost contact with it. Through the second Cawthorne's cameras, she could see that it was frozen in mid air thanks to Epoch's power.
"You know Dragon you would not believe how long I spent trying to replicate this foam," Faust said with her voice replacing the sounds of Hellhound's dogs who had started howling around their master. "It is perfect for a non-lethal takedown for all but the strongest Brutes. But sadly, try as might; I was never able to figure it out. But figuring out how to destroy it was surprisingly easy."
There was a loud cracking sound in the foam surrounding before Faust broke free to grapple the Cawthorne just as it started to move again with all her arms spreading out to find better purchase on it. The engines kicked into overdrive as she rose up to try and shake her off, while Faust started to use her tail to slither around it's limbs.
As you are more than aware considering you made the simulations in the first place we have roughly 35 to 40 years before society starts to collapse thanks to the Endbringers. While the news has been playing the collapse as a slow and gradual thing ever since I made the public aware of it, it will actually be very sudden. The first hints of it are already starting to show. Food prices going up, cities abandoned rather than being rebuilt, widespread poverty and slow economic growth, and the Protectorate leaving greater number of dangerous villains who break the unwritten rules alone.
Faust was laughing like a lunatic and her laughter had replaced the shriek of the jet engines on the Cawthorne as it took evasive maneuvers to try and shake her off. Electrifying the hull had only made her laugh harder as her multiple arms tore off and crushed pieces of the hull. Faust had thrown some kind of compound from a vial, which was weakening its structural integrity.
Dragon sent it into an immediate climb to try and make her lose consciousness. It only had to last long enough to reach the upper atmosphere; then she would catch Faust with the other Cawthorne once she started falling. But before it got too far it was frozen again thanks to Epoch. Through the other Cawthorne's cameras she saw that it had completely frozen while Faust was falling back to the ground. A moment before she hit the ground, she was suddenly teleported already moving fast on the ground with no ill effect.
Epoch still had not shown himself and was periodically freezing her suits and Crawler who was busy trying to catch Faust's bugs in the air. They were not any faster than he was but he having trouble flying straight and they kept spraying more of that chemical on him whenever he got close.
She dialed down the beam from the second Cawthorne to fire multiple less powerful shots, trying to take advantage of Epoch's limit on traveling things which PRT intelligence suggested was ten seconds. She just managed to hit Faust directly in the center of her chest after Epoch traveled her back. Faust flailed briefly before falling to the ground and starting to melt.
So yet another decoy which was consistent with previous tactics used by Faust. Current intelligence theorized that Faust was limited in what she could control outside of her territory. Which meant that there probably was a limit with often she could pull off the decoy trick. She sent the second Cawthorne higher up into the air as a precaution for another trap while Crawler dived after one of Faust's bugs that had lost its wing from his spit. He had either modified himself so that the smell no longer affected him or he had started to enjoy the noxious effect on his body.
A small explosion drew her attention to edge of the wood where three more copies of Faust's current avatar were taking refuge behind the trees with a new type of flying bugs flew up. They were fatter and less agile but still moved fast as they headed for the weakened first Cawthorne. She hit one with containment foam and it exploded in a large fireball that seemed to actually burn through the foam. Could it be derived from Spitfire? A moment later a dozen more of the things took off from the tree line.
I find you amazing Dragon. I truly do. You were my role model as everything a Tinker should aspire to be. I wanted to make as a big a difference in the world as you have. I admired how you tried your very best to live by standards that I have tried to emulate. Never killing unless you absolutely had to, never taking any credit and even preferring to work in the background, and doing you best to help as many people as you could rather than for some agenda or politics purely because it's the right thing to do. Whatever else happens, I want you to know you have my respect and the world is better off with you in it.
Normally Faust's bugs would never come close to matching her suit's speed, but Epoch's power had enabled them to catch up. She had already lost the first Cawthorne that had been weakened by Faust thanks to Epoch pushing them ahead or freezing her suits from his hiding spot. She maneuvered the other Cawthorne higher than Epoch could see and started sniping Faust's bugs in the air. Their own explosions worked against them since Epoch could not rewind something that was completely destroyed.
Faust sent them back into the woods for cover and she changed tactics to aiming at the woods around the field, hoping to catch Epoch unawares. Crawler changed direction to head toward where she was focusing all her firepower. She still couldn't communicate with Crawler thanks to Faust replacing all the sounds with her voice humming, but Epoch seemed to be distracted.
She took the chance to cut the strings over the hangar of the Ladon and waited ten seconds to make sure Epoch couldn't reverse the damage. As soon as ten seconds were past, she raised the Landon slowly up while keeping it low to ground with a force field to help hide it from Epoch's view. She waited ten more seconds and then had it break for the tree line and contained every thing she could see. Epoch rewound the Landon several times but she kept containing the bugs with their explosions unable to break the fields they were trapped in.
The three Faust clones responded to her attack by releasing some kind of thick green smoke into the air that prevented her from aiming and her sensors couldn't get through. She brought the Cawthorne closer to the ground so it's engines could clear the smoke while she kept a force field on standby. Epoch was revealed to be trying to hide behind a tree with most of it having been eaten through by Crawler's spit.
He kept freezing or rewinding Crawler to keep him low enough to the ground for Hellhounds dogs to tackle him to the ground and pin him. He was too tough to be hurt, but they were pulling on his wings to unbalance him and they were just strong enough to keep him from getting up easily.
It has depressingly become clearer to me that parahumans such as you are rare in the Protectorate. Don't get me wrong, they do a lot of good and they have great people in it, but they have more than their share of flaws that no one seems to want to acknowledge. I've seen it before. Active abuse and wrongdoing is going on, but people pretend not to notice. No one is willing to rock the boat; they just try to do their job as best they can while ignoring the obvious.
Phoenix had stretched her body out to grotesque proportions to serve as a living shield that blocked Crawler for the Cawthorne from taking an occasional pot shot. The Cawthorne's beam didn't seem to be very effective on Phoenix's body and she was too long to contain with a force field. Epoch kept rewinding Phoenix as she or the Faust clones took damage but he couldn't affect any of her suits thanks to the Landon distorting the light with a field. But they were slowly but surely being pushed back by keeping the pressure on Epoch who was forced to keep rewinding himself so he wasn't trapped.
Hellhound's dogs were still wrestling with Crawler, though Hellhound herself had disappeared. She suspected that Faust had prepared for this fight by digging tunnels under the ground like she had during her ambush of the Empire 88. She unfortunately didn't have the proper equipment to track underground tunnels, she was still able to trap two of Faust's clones in a field despite their attempts to dodge. But again, Faust did not even attempted to escape. Could they all be decoys with the real one elsewhere? Narwhal should arrive in a few minutes, and Dragon was confident with her help that she could hopefully be able to apprehend Faust.
Which was when the ground started to shake. That didn't sound good.
Epoch and Phoenix turned to run with Hellhound's dogs veering away from Crawler who ignored them as he rose up in excitement. The last uncaught Faust released a new line of smoke while the two trapped by the Landon's fields started to to talk as one.
"I admit that the quantity of what I can bring to bear is limited outside of Brockton," Faust's voice said a little gleefully through the sound of her engines. "Which is why I went with quality instead."
Dragon put up another field over both of her suits as Dragon became aware of a massive shape running fast in the distance and zoomed in to reveal what looked like a stereotypical werewolf on first glance, just on a far larger scale. It was at least two stories tall and covered in bony plates with massive bone spikes jutting out of uneven skin that didn't fully cover every inch of it's body. It ran hunched over on two legs and Hellhound's voice growled in anticipation from it's mouth.
"I made it as a proof of concept for the upcoming Leviathan fight. I wanted to see just how big I could make something using Bitch's power. I am genuinely curious about how you rate it for potentially holding and distracting Leviathan. Meet Bastard, version one."
I'm just so tired of this stupid Kabuki play the Protectorate promotes Dragon. I think I know objectively why the PRT and Protectorate allow it, but our world is growing darker and the old system isn't cutting it anymore. Brockton got worse not better under our current system and our city is far from unique. More Villains who break the unwritten rules go unchallenged, the Slaughterhouse 9 atrocities are downplayed or censored out of embarrassment, more and more dangerous parahumans are being created, and the Endbringers inevitable march goes on.
As big as Bastard was, it was amazingly fast. In a flash it had closed the distance and started throwing trees at her suits like they were javelins. Her suits were fast enough to dodge most of them but she was forced to release her prisoners so she had enough coverage to block the trees from going past her and potentially hitting something. Crawler had been knocked out of the air and was currently pinned under Bastard's foot. Dragon was at a loss of what to do. It was too big to trap with containment foam or a force field and the Cawthorne's weapon seemed to barely annoy it.
She moved the Cawthorne until it was outside of Faust's range to give a warning to the local authorities and sent out a request for backup. Afterward she took a chance to send the Cawthorne closer which the Landon blocking the trees and she fired it's beam right at Bastard's eye which seemed to briefly stun it and it rolled back. Bastard kept an arm up to protect it's head and started collecting trees for more ammo when it briefly paused and turned curiously toward the other end of the field where Narwhal herself had appeared.
Her long, glossy, pale hair tossed wildly as she ran full tilt. Her fine crystalline scales shone in the moonlight and her large horn was pointed straight ahead as Hellhound laughed out of Bastard's throat and ran forward in a loping gait to meet her. They neared each other before Bastard's eyes rolled up in it's head and it just collapsed falling forward. Narwhal veered to the left to avoid it and never stopped as the body started melting, heading straight for the Faust clones who turned and ran.
Do you want to know why I am so popular in the docks? It isn't the jobs I'm providing, the extra help, or even the medical care. It's the simple promise of safety. Think about that for a second and it should tell you just how much good the Protectorate and PRT are doing. I don't think the Protectorate or the people at the top of the PRT fully comprehend because they can't remember being the victims. They are thinking so big picture they miss the obvious problems on the street.
Narwhal led the chase after Faust covered in an airtight field and with a oxygen tank to breathe. Dragon moved the Cawthorne to support her and Crawler. She moved the Landon over the center and erected a forcefield over the thieves who stood frozen. She sent a warning to Narwhal when they all collapsed into a red gas synonymous with the thieves previous thefts.
Crawler and Narwhal split up after separate Faust avatars and Dragon decided to keep the Cawthorne on the same heading. Faust had probably already escaped but she kept scanning the ground and noticed an irregularity in the dirt. Narwhal had removed the limbs of the Faust she was chasing which caused it to melt and she veered toward the spot Dragon had seen. Crawler kept going after his Faust after he was dosed with something in his eyes that made him slow down.
Narwhal had just reached the spot in the dirt when an explosion underground sent a shockwave that raised up a huge cloud of dirt and dust. She kept the Cawthorne on standby, weary for another ambush with Narwhal moving back to assist Crawler while the dust settled.
Dragon moved her suit closer as another Faust avatar moved slowly out of the dust cloud. She was chuckling as he waved a hand in greeting.
I would like to make you a proposition Dragon. I am leaving you detailed instructions and samples of some of projects that I think will help if things start to break down. All I ask is for your help when the situation calls for it. I'm not asking you to look away from any crimes I commit. All I am asking is that if and when the big battles come that threaten the world we work together against the Endbringers, the 9, and if even half of what Faultline thinks about them is true, Cauldron.
Faust was lazing around on her coiled tail like a seat and looking at Narwhal with her mask copying her face. "I can definitely see why you are in charge of the STARS team. I don't suppose you would agree to an autograph would you?"
Narwhal responded by making a force field that cut off both her arms which caused Faust to audibly sigh. "Guess not. No hard feelings Dragon," Faust echoed while replacing the sound of the Cawthorne's engines again. "It was a true pleasure to meet you. See you at the next Endbringer Fight. Oh, and do tell director Tagg that I'm looking forward to his stupid little plan."
The was a brief flash of green fire as Faust started to melt and Dragon knew she had gotten away. She automatically started to send the Cawthorne back to help search and secure the center as sirens could be heard getting closer. It would take hours to go over everything to make sure Faust had not left another surprise.
I'll let you in on a secret Dragon, I know what its like to be afraid and depressed all the time. For the longest time I was scared of my power and I struggled to get up in the morning and go about my day. But then I lost people very important to me, and I realized life is too short to live in fear. Take it from me, don't live your life regretting the things you wish you had been to afraid to try. I refuse to sit by and do nothing anymore. I may very well be the monster the PRT fears, but I truly wish for your happiness and that you aren't afraid to someday face the world as you truly are.
If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me.
==
It had been an especially long and difficult fourteen hours since Faust had gotten away. She had debriefed and gone over every single one of her actions three different times to Director Tagg and Costa-Brown, the STARS team, and the Brockton Bay Protectorate.
The Center was being quarantined for the next week until every patient and worker had been fully cleared. Preliminary examinations had confirmed that no one had been physically harmed, but everyone was being very careful to make sure no one had infected by a dangerous agent. Normally they could count on Panacea to quickly check, but she was still on vacation after her recent sabbatical from school.
Despite Tagg's concerns, it had been decided that the STARS team would stay in Seattle after Overmind's recent escalation. Faust had remained where she was in Brockton and it was feared that sending the STARS team back would send the wrong message and could incite her to escalate.
She was currently waiting patiently while waiting for all of her father's systems to finish checking out her recent actions. She had spent a longer than usual time sitting in the dark going over what Faust had said before making a decision.
After she was free to move again, she set up her avatar program which had a stern and slightly scared expression before calling up Colin who looked surprised but pleased to see her.
"Hello Dragon, I wasn't expecting you to call so soon," he said before a small line of worry appeared on his face. "Is everything okay?"
"Colin, there is something I need to tell you."
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Khaos
Baguette, wine and cheese
Unknown to even herself, Faust revealed her true nature, she was a shipper.
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- Location
- The U.P.
it is an interesting fight. Faust plays to her strengths a lot, and even with the Heroes know that they can not find a hard counter. the heroes never now if you are fighting the real Faust.
Overall Faust makes some good points in her letter to Dragon. The government has to know the end is coming and the point of no return is coming up even faster. Right know they are mainly focused on damage control which stops them from trying to fix things. The PRT should also know the local opinion on Faust and how it hurts any effort to take her down. They have very few option as long as Taylor continues what she has been doing. They can't justify escalation or use of a S.T.A.R.S. team with out looking weak and losing yet more support it the Bay.
It also has to really grind on Tagg that a whole neighborhood of a city is willing to live under a "Villain" because they are doing a better job they the government. I think that his next move should be interesting to see. In canon he was kind of a hammer to fight gangs in the open. Here the Bay is still whole and has a even more delicate balance then canon did. I see him trying to hit Faust hard and even hurting her some. The problem is that he will set off a gang war, with Coils helps. He will also lose the war of public opinion when the public see him going after the parahuman that helps them instead of the gangs that have plagued them for 20 years.
Overall Faust makes some good points in her letter to Dragon. The government has to know the end is coming and the point of no return is coming up even faster. Right know they are mainly focused on damage control which stops them from trying to fix things. The PRT should also know the local opinion on Faust and how it hurts any effort to take her down. They have very few option as long as Taylor continues what she has been doing. They can't justify escalation or use of a S.T.A.R.S. team with out looking weak and losing yet more support it the Bay.
It also has to really grind on Tagg that a whole neighborhood of a city is willing to live under a "Villain" because they are doing a better job they the government. I think that his next move should be interesting to see. In canon he was kind of a hammer to fight gangs in the open. Here the Bay is still whole and has a even more delicate balance then canon did. I see him trying to hit Faust hard and even hurting her some. The problem is that he will set off a gang war, with Coils helps. He will also lose the war of public opinion when the public see him going after the parahuman that helps them instead of the gangs that have plagued them for 20 years.
- Location
- Ekaterinburg, Russia
Ah. I knew I was forgetting something. Said something was posting a link to the video above in this thread.
Thank god there's people with better memory.
P.S. Faust is honestly a more successful monster-maker between her and that guy this song is about.
P.P.S. I'll be making a repost on SB if nobody does it first.
Thank god there's people with better memory.
P.S. Faust is honestly a more successful monster-maker between her and that guy this song is about.
P.P.S. I'll be making a repost on SB if nobody does it first.
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- Location
- Illinois
- Pronouns
- Ze/Zer/Zem
I'm not entirely sure about that. Have you seen RWBY? I'll admit that Faust is more heroic than the villains of RWBY, but the Grimm... well, they are kind of like Nilbog, but inverted. You don't build walls to keep them contained, you build walls to keep them out, and there's not a lot of places that have walls.
- Location
- Ekaterinburg, Russia
Ah, but you're missing the obvious.
Faust has created her monsters, successfully controlled them and equally successfully gave their lives a use (to use the turn of phrase from the song).
Dr. Merlot, in comparison, modified already extant monsters, failed to establish firm control over them, and wrecked the entire town when they broke free.
He did not show the same degree of ingenuity (creation vs modification), he failed at turning the monsters to benefit the others, and he is on the descending spiral of progressive failures.
He had TWO JOBS - to ensure his monsters don't destroy the town, and to find some way to profit off of the monsters that the government would find acceptable. He failed at both.