Alright. So I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what I'm doing.
I've been meaning...
I've been meaning...
Stealing Fire (Worm SI)
- Thread starter Jack Stargazer
- Start date
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 3,022
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 12
-
Statistics (11 threadmarks, 38k words)
User Total Jack Stargazer 11 -
Loading…
1.1 - Arrival
- Location
- Canada
Alright. So I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what I'm doing.
I've been meaning to actually post something on here for a while. I've had a few false-starts for some stories I've had in mind, which either hit a Writer's Brick Wall, or just kind of petered off and never really came back to me. I'm sure other writers here had had the same experience.
That said, this one came to me while driving and basically played itself out straight through. It's been a while since I've read canon, and I'm just about to start an intensive course, so I'll probably be updating this irregularly at best as I try to get a feel for the characters and setting. I'm also going to try to do some background research to ensure I don't completely fuck up the science.
I wanted to post this here both to judge interest and to give myself a reason to actually consider moving forward with it. Criticism is immensely welcome - I'm probably shit at this.
Without further ado:
1.1 - Arrival
Ow.
My head hurts.
I don't mean just normal 'Ugh, what did I drink last night?' hurts either. This is more on the level of 'Did anyone get the number of that truck?' To add injury to more injury, I appear to be face down on what appears to be asphalt, my left leg is asleep, and something jagged is poking into my side.
Have I mentioned Ow?
Because ow.
I push myself up from where I'm laying on the ground. I'm in an alleyway. This is strange mainly because the last thing I remember is being on a plane, on the way to Toronto. I didn't have anything to drink, and I can't really remember anything strange happening… urp.
Out of nowhere, I'm suddenly overcome with some of the worst nausea I've ever had. I rush over to a nearby garbage can, toss off the lid and clasp both hands to the side handles to hold myself upright as I vomit up what seems to be soup, a bunch of jerky, and what may or may not be half of my organs.
"Ugh…"
Man, I didn't think any city still had these old metal cans. Where the hell am I?
I straighten up and move to wipe my mouth on my shirt. Its then I notice that my shirt isn't in much better condition than the alley itself (seriously?), and the smell of both myself and my surroundings suddenly hits me with the approximate force and quality of a half ton gorilla who has been rolling in manure for a week.
I stumble out of the alley into the street, leaning on a graffiti filled wall - looks like it's been written over a bunch of times. The one on top seems to be some stretched out infinity symbols or numbers. Whoever made it was not exactly an expert artist.
Annnd it was still wet. Wonderful. That shirt's even more ruined, though really everything I'm wearing is a write off at this point. My day continues to improve.
The street is deserted, and the streetlamps are flickering in the dim evening light. I can't tell if they are actually broken or if their light sensors are bugging out from the just-ending sunset.
Man, how long was I out? It was like 3 in the afternoon the last time I checked!
I look around. This is clearly Shitsville, wherever I am. Everything here seems to be falling apart. There are broken and boarded up windows all over the place, piles of garbage bags and assorted trash (I guess pickup isn't regular here) and a serious lack of any people. The graffiti I saw on the wall of the alley is everywhere, alternating between red and green, red and black, and just a mess of colors. All in all, I'm clearly not in the best part of town, wherever this is. I'd better keep a close eye on my…
I reach into my pockets. They are empty.
They are not supposed to be empty.
"FUCK!"
Goddamn shit piss crap. My cell phone, my keys, my wallet, all gone. My backpack with my computer, headphones, assorted cables and extra cash is also gone.
Some son of a bitch robbed me and dumped me in an alleyway. Shit, that could explain the headache and the memory loss - what if I got knocked out?
I feel around my head, and sure enough, there's a painful bump right around the back on the right hand side. Damn. Well, no use crying about it now. I'm going to need to find a police station, fill out a report, and call my bank to cancel my cards.
Of course, first I need to figure out where the hell I am.
…
Man, I really have gotten used to the Internet. I automatically reached for my cell phone to pull up Google Maps. Damn, this sucks.
Not having any idea where to go, I turn left and start walking. I figure if I see someone who doesn't look likely to knife me for money I've already been robbed of, I'll ask them how to get to the nearest police station. Otherwise, try to find a good vantage point or some indication of where I'm at - if I can see skyscrapers, that should be a downtown area and logically safer and more likely to find a police station than whatever slums I'm in.
As I walk, I notice my headache starts to recede. I'm thankful for that; when I woke up I could barely walk, but there's no dizziness, the nausea is gone, and aside from the memory disconnect it's looking like I don't have a concussion. Thanks for that much I guess, world. You still owe me about $3000 worth of computer hardware, cash, and what is likely going to be a good 18 hours of my life trying to get new ID issued with nothing on me for identification and no explanation for how I got wherever I am.
I sort of zone out as I walk, kicking myself for whatever Past-Me did that put him in a position to get clubbed and dumped in an alleyway sans possessions. Seriously, my judgement is not usually that bad. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, and I don't have any high-risk or dangerous pastimes.
As I move, I'm looking for landmarks I don't seem to be able to find. All the buildings around me (which I notice are seeming more and more industrial in this direction - abandoned warehouses?) are pretty much crap, and are in various states of disrepair. There are bits of trash and broken metal, wood and other building materials haphazardly piled around in alleys, behind fences, or in some cases spilling onto the sidewalk or road itself. I can see what must be a pile of used needles over there. Wonderful. Glad I've still got shoes. All I need now is to step on a sharps pile and contract some horrible disease. That'd make the day I'm having complete.
All in all, not the best vacation destination. I can see the Yelp reviews already. '3/10, I tripped and got tetanus, would not visit again.'
Noticing something in between two warehouses, I jump up onto the cement base of a lamppost for a boost and stretch upwards to my full just under two meter height. As I strain my neck, I can just barely see a glimmer behind one of the warehouses. Looked like water, maybe a lake or ocean. That would make sense if this is Toronto - it's right on the lake - but I still can't see any skyscrapers, Rogers Centre, or the CN Tower, so maybe I'm in a suburb.
Well, it's the closest thing to a landmark I've seen so far. Yay, +1 'not shit' point. We're up to -999 for today.
I'm thinking positive.
I turn and head past the looming warehouses, through some more streets in desperate need of cleaning. As I move, the lights get slightly brighter, and the decor seems to shift from crappy warehouses to crappy apartments. Still no people that I can see, barring what appears to be a homeless man in an alley mumbling to himself and rocking slowly back and forth. I'm not sure exactly what he's saying, but it sounded like it has something to do with the Fourth Crusades.
Yeah, gonna leave that one alone. Sorry buddy, but you might actually be worse off than me right now.
I cross the road, noticing that there are a bunch of cars haphazardly parked across the street and on the sidewalk. Looks like broken windows and… are those bullet holes? I freeze for a moment and look closer.
I'm going to guess that rust-colored stain isn't rust.
Speeding up then.
Well, if I wasn't nervous enough before, this certainly did it. I can feel myself surging with adrenaline, and my breathing speeds up significantly. I start glancing more seriously down alley ways and side streets, avoiding the light of the streetlamps as much as possible. Something strange has already happened today, I'm not falling for whatever that was again.
As I move in a not-quite-a-run-but-as-close-as-I-can-get-without-seeming-like-running past what appears to have been some kind of massive shootout, I see the area opening up towards the lake/ocean/whatever.
Well, that's helpful at least.
As I move in that direction however, I think I see a flash of movement. I stop and flatten myself against a wall, away from the light. Inching forward slowly, I glance down the alleyway where I could have sworn I saw someone in a suit walking, and a bright light, but there's nothing there but a security light over a boarded up back door to some grungy shop and another hobo asleep in a pile of trash. Man. Paranoia is a hell of a drug. I'm still riding the adrenaline high. I turn and walk away.
As I leave the alley entrance, I notice something. And by 'notice', I mean 'almost trip over because I wasn't looking down'. Ok, less of the random glancing now, more of the not face-planting into objects or pavement.
One of those old newspaper stands - the kind that hinges open and has a bunch of the probably-government-subsidized newspapers in it, free of charge. Poor little newspapers. Five years from now, you'll probably all have finished dying off. This is an endangered species preserve right here.
I look it over, keeping an eye out, still in high paranoia mode. With my luck, I'm in the middle of Compton.
Well time to bite the bullet.
I open the lid, reach inside, and pull out a paper.
Then I immediately drop it on the ground as it's soaked through with what I hope is water but on this street is more likely some other bodily fluid. I wipe my hands on my already stained pants rapidly, and grab a new one from the middle of the pile, pulling it out and moving under the streetlight to read it.
The picture on the cover is of a ruined building, part of it exploded outwards, part of it frozen in what looks to be ice or crystal. The one under the fold is of a group of what look to be gangers exchanging automatic weapon fire with what might be reservists or national guard and… is that an APC with claw marks?
… What.
… No, seriously, what.
I start to breathe even faster, reaching hyperventilating levels now. My heart must be doing 180 bpm at this point. I drop the paper and run around the corner towards the lake.
There's that shine I saw over the buildings. Right in the middle of a large harbor is a giant structure, which looks like a cross between a modern military base, an oil rig, and a sci-fi fortress. A slightly glowing energy shield surrounds it in a bubble. That's the light I was seeing in between the buildings.
It's something I've never seen before, but it's something I've read about enough times to know exactly what it is. The awe of seeing a floating fortress quickly runs into horror as I realize which fortress it is.
The Protectorate ENE HQ.
Fuck.
FUCK.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
Nonononononono.
Alright. Getting robbed? That's a bad day. This...
I'm not even going to bother pretending this could be a dream. My dreams never actually make sense. I haven't changed PoV or started to fly. Can't lift things with my mind. Nope, this is either real or I've been fed some very serious drugs.
Shit.
I'm in Brockton Bay. On Earth Bet.
I'm in the docks, or somewhere in the gang part of town.
It's… barely into the main plot. April 23? Shit what's important about that date?
I freeze. I stop breathing, I stop moving. I can't remember this date, but I remember other ones.
My heart might stop for a second, but a second later it's all I can hear.
Leviathan hits Brockton Bay on May 15, 2011. The city is pretty much levelled.
In less than three weeks, the equivalent of a biblical plague is going to hit this city. Scratch that, Endbringers make Old Testament God look shit-tier, excepting the whole Noah thing.
Hundreds of thousands of people are going to die. If I'm still here, I'll probably be one of them.
In the interim, there are bombings (which according to the paper have already started), E88 is going to be outed by Coil, the fundraiser thing and.. Man I don't remember what else. I've only read canon once like 3 years ago! All the fanfics I read change shit!
And then joy upon joys, two weeks after that, the Slaughterhouse Nine get into town and start their own bit of merry little fun. Proving yet again that forces of nature can be cruel, but only human beings can go all the way into what even an atheist would call evil.
Oh, and then two years later the world ends because nobody shot Jack Slash in the head fast enough.
My vision is blurring. It's getting a bit dark at the edges. Huh. Didn't think that was a thing that actually happened.
I spend eight years of my life training, and just before I actually start my life for real, I'm dropped into what is a close second to Evangelion for 'crapsackiest setting'.
I manage to choke out a slightly hysterical laugh. "I know life isn't fair, but this is kind of above and beyond."
Too much. It's too much. I'm going to die. I'm the equivalent of a mayfly here. I can't do anything. I have a vague idea of what's happening, and if I wasn't in the process of having a breakdown I could probably try to do something, but even if there was someone who would believe me, I'm in a city which rivals comic Gotham for murder and crime rates. I have no money, no identification, and the government here takes paranoia to a quite frankly ludicrous extreme.
I'll be lucky to survive the night.
Why didn't I learn something useful? How is a bunch of information on how to do research or format a legal factum useful here?!
I don't want to die.
I collapse to the ground. I can feel a pulsing in my head and…
I stood up.
My heart was calm. It beat at 72.5 beats per minute, pushing slightly over 5035 ml of blood through my body in the same period. It would last another 27,331,180 minutes at current usage before epigenetic cues would trigger a failure, causing cardiac arrest.
This could be improved on or worked around.
I glanced at my surroundings. Titanium. Aluminum. Copper. Traces of lanthanides. Magnets. I could tell at a glance what the poles, lines, and machines around me were made of. I could see how to change them, to reforge the raw materials into new forms, used to enhance or improve myself. I could see how to build a body that could survive any injury. A mental back-up system.
Improved neurons. Increased intelligence. A brain-machine interface. Increased mental clock time. Transferring information with quantum entanglement. Cloud processing. Effectively unbreakable quantum encryption. It was all so simple (mostly). I can't believe I hadn't seen it before.
I frowned as my mental focus moved over to another line of thought and I felt a pull. I know what this is. Superhuman strength and speed. A weapon that temporarily (or not so temporarily) interrupts neuroelectric signals. A toxin more virulent than botulinism, and thousands of times deadlier. A way to render a person immune to almost every poison by maintaining and updating a biological molecular blacklist. Artificial plagues and artificial immune systems. Black ICE, which uses a DNI to fry a user's grey matter. Consumptive self-replicating nanites. Actual, functional, memetic weapons. How to adapt cordyceps to - NOPE. THAT'S THE FLOOD. STOPPING THERE.
I shook my head and some of the more offensive weapons faded. But I could tell they were still there. Conflict inducers. I'd have to keep an eye on that.
I'd triggered. I was a Tinker.
I was a Tinker with, it appeared, a specialty of human biology, and human augmentation.
I took a deep breath. And burst out laughing at the top of my lungs. My eyes are watering, I'm holding onto my sides and gasping for breath.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Well, I never asked for this."
I smile and catch my breath, slowing down, and taking a few deep breaths, calming myself. I look up at the sky.
"But alright. I'll give it a shot."
As I stand there and look deeper, both into space and into myself, I can see other plans unfurling in my mind's eye. Fusion power generation. Nuclear Pulse Propulsion. A glimpse of something that might be part of an O'Neill Cylinder. But then it's gone. I need to build a few generations of machines first. But eventually...
"Someday. Someday soon."
I laugh again softly to myself, still staring up at the sky.
A voice rings out from behind me, and I tense. It seems to be barely stopping itself from laughing, and is loaded with more smug than I thought it was possible to fit in one sentence.
"So, are you going to share the joke with the rest of the class?"
I turn around.
A girl wearing a dollar store dog halloween mask. A biker with a skull-face helmet and smoke pouring off his form. A girl with the regulation tiny domino mask, a purple skin-tight suit, and a devilish grin. A guy in a frilly shirt, with a Venetian mask and scepter, and a girl - the girl - surrounded by a swarm of insects, nothing visible but chitin, yellow lenses, and dark, bushy hair.
Well.
I smile. +1000 Good Day Points. You win this round, world.
"The Undersiders, I presume?"
That makes things a little easier.
I've been meaning to actually post something on here for a while. I've had a few false-starts for some stories I've had in mind, which either hit a Writer's Brick Wall, or just kind of petered off and never really came back to me. I'm sure other writers here had had the same experience.
That said, this one came to me while driving and basically played itself out straight through. It's been a while since I've read canon, and I'm just about to start an intensive course, so I'll probably be updating this irregularly at best as I try to get a feel for the characters and setting. I'm also going to try to do some background research to ensure I don't completely fuck up the science.
I wanted to post this here both to judge interest and to give myself a reason to actually consider moving forward with it. Criticism is immensely welcome - I'm probably shit at this.
Without further ado:
1.1 - Arrival
Ow.
My head hurts.
I don't mean just normal 'Ugh, what did I drink last night?' hurts either. This is more on the level of 'Did anyone get the number of that truck?' To add injury to more injury, I appear to be face down on what appears to be asphalt, my left leg is asleep, and something jagged is poking into my side.
Have I mentioned Ow?
Because ow.
I push myself up from where I'm laying on the ground. I'm in an alleyway. This is strange mainly because the last thing I remember is being on a plane, on the way to Toronto. I didn't have anything to drink, and I can't really remember anything strange happening… urp.
Out of nowhere, I'm suddenly overcome with some of the worst nausea I've ever had. I rush over to a nearby garbage can, toss off the lid and clasp both hands to the side handles to hold myself upright as I vomit up what seems to be soup, a bunch of jerky, and what may or may not be half of my organs.
"Ugh…"
Man, I didn't think any city still had these old metal cans. Where the hell am I?
I straighten up and move to wipe my mouth on my shirt. Its then I notice that my shirt isn't in much better condition than the alley itself (seriously?), and the smell of both myself and my surroundings suddenly hits me with the approximate force and quality of a half ton gorilla who has been rolling in manure for a week.
I stumble out of the alley into the street, leaning on a graffiti filled wall - looks like it's been written over a bunch of times. The one on top seems to be some stretched out infinity symbols or numbers. Whoever made it was not exactly an expert artist.
Annnd it was still wet. Wonderful. That shirt's even more ruined, though really everything I'm wearing is a write off at this point. My day continues to improve.
The street is deserted, and the streetlamps are flickering in the dim evening light. I can't tell if they are actually broken or if their light sensors are bugging out from the just-ending sunset.
Man, how long was I out? It was like 3 in the afternoon the last time I checked!
I look around. This is clearly Shitsville, wherever I am. Everything here seems to be falling apart. There are broken and boarded up windows all over the place, piles of garbage bags and assorted trash (I guess pickup isn't regular here) and a serious lack of any people. The graffiti I saw on the wall of the alley is everywhere, alternating between red and green, red and black, and just a mess of colors. All in all, I'm clearly not in the best part of town, wherever this is. I'd better keep a close eye on my…
I reach into my pockets. They are empty.
They are not supposed to be empty.
"FUCK!"
Goddamn shit piss crap. My cell phone, my keys, my wallet, all gone. My backpack with my computer, headphones, assorted cables and extra cash is also gone.
Some son of a bitch robbed me and dumped me in an alleyway. Shit, that could explain the headache and the memory loss - what if I got knocked out?
I feel around my head, and sure enough, there's a painful bump right around the back on the right hand side. Damn. Well, no use crying about it now. I'm going to need to find a police station, fill out a report, and call my bank to cancel my cards.
Of course, first I need to figure out where the hell I am.
…
Man, I really have gotten used to the Internet. I automatically reached for my cell phone to pull up Google Maps. Damn, this sucks.
Not having any idea where to go, I turn left and start walking. I figure if I see someone who doesn't look likely to knife me for money I've already been robbed of, I'll ask them how to get to the nearest police station. Otherwise, try to find a good vantage point or some indication of where I'm at - if I can see skyscrapers, that should be a downtown area and logically safer and more likely to find a police station than whatever slums I'm in.
As I walk, I notice my headache starts to recede. I'm thankful for that; when I woke up I could barely walk, but there's no dizziness, the nausea is gone, and aside from the memory disconnect it's looking like I don't have a concussion. Thanks for that much I guess, world. You still owe me about $3000 worth of computer hardware, cash, and what is likely going to be a good 18 hours of my life trying to get new ID issued with nothing on me for identification and no explanation for how I got wherever I am.
I sort of zone out as I walk, kicking myself for whatever Past-Me did that put him in a position to get clubbed and dumped in an alleyway sans possessions. Seriously, my judgement is not usually that bad. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, and I don't have any high-risk or dangerous pastimes.
As I move, I'm looking for landmarks I don't seem to be able to find. All the buildings around me (which I notice are seeming more and more industrial in this direction - abandoned warehouses?) are pretty much crap, and are in various states of disrepair. There are bits of trash and broken metal, wood and other building materials haphazardly piled around in alleys, behind fences, or in some cases spilling onto the sidewalk or road itself. I can see what must be a pile of used needles over there. Wonderful. Glad I've still got shoes. All I need now is to step on a sharps pile and contract some horrible disease. That'd make the day I'm having complete.
All in all, not the best vacation destination. I can see the Yelp reviews already. '3/10, I tripped and got tetanus, would not visit again.'
Noticing something in between two warehouses, I jump up onto the cement base of a lamppost for a boost and stretch upwards to my full just under two meter height. As I strain my neck, I can just barely see a glimmer behind one of the warehouses. Looked like water, maybe a lake or ocean. That would make sense if this is Toronto - it's right on the lake - but I still can't see any skyscrapers, Rogers Centre, or the CN Tower, so maybe I'm in a suburb.
Well, it's the closest thing to a landmark I've seen so far. Yay, +1 'not shit' point. We're up to -999 for today.
I'm thinking positive.
I turn and head past the looming warehouses, through some more streets in desperate need of cleaning. As I move, the lights get slightly brighter, and the decor seems to shift from crappy warehouses to crappy apartments. Still no people that I can see, barring what appears to be a homeless man in an alley mumbling to himself and rocking slowly back and forth. I'm not sure exactly what he's saying, but it sounded like it has something to do with the Fourth Crusades.
Yeah, gonna leave that one alone. Sorry buddy, but you might actually be worse off than me right now.
I cross the road, noticing that there are a bunch of cars haphazardly parked across the street and on the sidewalk. Looks like broken windows and… are those bullet holes? I freeze for a moment and look closer.
I'm going to guess that rust-colored stain isn't rust.
Speeding up then.
Well, if I wasn't nervous enough before, this certainly did it. I can feel myself surging with adrenaline, and my breathing speeds up significantly. I start glancing more seriously down alley ways and side streets, avoiding the light of the streetlamps as much as possible. Something strange has already happened today, I'm not falling for whatever that was again.
As I move in a not-quite-a-run-but-as-close-as-I-can-get-without-seeming-like-running past what appears to have been some kind of massive shootout, I see the area opening up towards the lake/ocean/whatever.
Well, that's helpful at least.
As I move in that direction however, I think I see a flash of movement. I stop and flatten myself against a wall, away from the light. Inching forward slowly, I glance down the alleyway where I could have sworn I saw someone in a suit walking, and a bright light, but there's nothing there but a security light over a boarded up back door to some grungy shop and another hobo asleep in a pile of trash. Man. Paranoia is a hell of a drug. I'm still riding the adrenaline high. I turn and walk away.
As I leave the alley entrance, I notice something. And by 'notice', I mean 'almost trip over because I wasn't looking down'. Ok, less of the random glancing now, more of the not face-planting into objects or pavement.
One of those old newspaper stands - the kind that hinges open and has a bunch of the probably-government-subsidized newspapers in it, free of charge. Poor little newspapers. Five years from now, you'll probably all have finished dying off. This is an endangered species preserve right here.
I look it over, keeping an eye out, still in high paranoia mode. With my luck, I'm in the middle of Compton.
Well time to bite the bullet.
I open the lid, reach inside, and pull out a paper.
Then I immediately drop it on the ground as it's soaked through with what I hope is water but on this street is more likely some other bodily fluid. I wipe my hands on my already stained pants rapidly, and grab a new one from the middle of the pile, pulling it out and moving under the streetlight to read it.
Brockton Bay Gazette
April 23, 2011
ABB BREAKS LUNG OUT OF CUSTODY - BOMBING SPREE LEAVES 20 DEAD
VIOLENCE IN THE STREETS! ABB ATTACKING POLICE AND MILITARY IN RETALIATION FOR CAPTURE OF LEADER!
April 23, 2011
ABB BREAKS LUNG OUT OF CUSTODY - BOMBING SPREE LEAVES 20 DEAD
VIOLENCE IN THE STREETS! ABB ATTACKING POLICE AND MILITARY IN RETALIATION FOR CAPTURE OF LEADER!
The picture on the cover is of a ruined building, part of it exploded outwards, part of it frozen in what looks to be ice or crystal. The one under the fold is of a group of what look to be gangers exchanging automatic weapon fire with what might be reservists or national guard and… is that an APC with claw marks?
… What.
… No, seriously, what.
I start to breathe even faster, reaching hyperventilating levels now. My heart must be doing 180 bpm at this point. I drop the paper and run around the corner towards the lake.
There's that shine I saw over the buildings. Right in the middle of a large harbor is a giant structure, which looks like a cross between a modern military base, an oil rig, and a sci-fi fortress. A slightly glowing energy shield surrounds it in a bubble. That's the light I was seeing in between the buildings.
It's something I've never seen before, but it's something I've read about enough times to know exactly what it is. The awe of seeing a floating fortress quickly runs into horror as I realize which fortress it is.
The Protectorate ENE HQ.
Fuck.
FUCK.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
Nonononononono.
Alright. Getting robbed? That's a bad day. This...
I'm not even going to bother pretending this could be a dream. My dreams never actually make sense. I haven't changed PoV or started to fly. Can't lift things with my mind. Nope, this is either real or I've been fed some very serious drugs.
Shit.
I'm in Brockton Bay. On Earth Bet.
I'm in the docks, or somewhere in the gang part of town.
It's… barely into the main plot. April 23? Shit what's important about that date?
I freeze. I stop breathing, I stop moving. I can't remember this date, but I remember other ones.
My heart might stop for a second, but a second later it's all I can hear.
Leviathan hits Brockton Bay on May 15, 2011. The city is pretty much levelled.
In less than three weeks, the equivalent of a biblical plague is going to hit this city. Scratch that, Endbringers make Old Testament God look shit-tier, excepting the whole Noah thing.
Hundreds of thousands of people are going to die. If I'm still here, I'll probably be one of them.
In the interim, there are bombings (which according to the paper have already started), E88 is going to be outed by Coil, the fundraiser thing and.. Man I don't remember what else. I've only read canon once like 3 years ago! All the fanfics I read change shit!
And then joy upon joys, two weeks after that, the Slaughterhouse Nine get into town and start their own bit of merry little fun. Proving yet again that forces of nature can be cruel, but only human beings can go all the way into what even an atheist would call evil.
Oh, and then two years later the world ends because nobody shot Jack Slash in the head fast enough.
My vision is blurring. It's getting a bit dark at the edges. Huh. Didn't think that was a thing that actually happened.
I spend eight years of my life training, and just before I actually start my life for real, I'm dropped into what is a close second to Evangelion for 'crapsackiest setting'.
I manage to choke out a slightly hysterical laugh. "I know life isn't fair, but this is kind of above and beyond."
Too much. It's too much. I'm going to die. I'm the equivalent of a mayfly here. I can't do anything. I have a vague idea of what's happening, and if I wasn't in the process of having a breakdown I could probably try to do something, but even if there was someone who would believe me, I'm in a city which rivals comic Gotham for murder and crime rates. I have no money, no identification, and the government here takes paranoia to a quite frankly ludicrous extreme.
I'll be lucky to survive the night.
Why didn't I learn something useful? How is a bunch of information on how to do research or format a legal factum useful here?!
I don't want to die.
I collapse to the ground. I can feel a pulsing in my head and…
My mind was filled with something vast.
Enormous beings, the size of continents, the size of moons, too large to accurately comprehend drifted. They came together and parted. The parts seemed to shift and flow between places, reflected in themselves, as if they were facets on a vast gem, and the edges weren't quite matching up as they should be. They shared information, communicating through thoughts too large and complex for a normal human mind to comprehend. Whole books of information exchanged in what seemed to be simple concepts.
Destination. Agreement. Trajectory. Agreement.
Two of the things came closer. They touched. They shared even more. Like a timelapse film, they moved together for a while, sped up incredibly. That sharing allowed both to change. They grew. One of the two seemed to split, a new enormous being emerging/shifting from its bulk. It seemed to have parts which were reflections of both, yet unique in its own way. The new thing moved closer to me, it seemed to rush straight at me and…
Enormous beings, the size of continents, the size of moons, too large to accurately comprehend drifted. They came together and parted. The parts seemed to shift and flow between places, reflected in themselves, as if they were facets on a vast gem, and the edges weren't quite matching up as they should be. They shared information, communicating through thoughts too large and complex for a normal human mind to comprehend. Whole books of information exchanged in what seemed to be simple concepts.
Destination. Agreement. Trajectory. Agreement.
Two of the things came closer. They touched. They shared even more. Like a timelapse film, they moved together for a while, sped up incredibly. That sharing allowed both to change. They grew. One of the two seemed to split, a new enormous being emerging/shifting from its bulk. It seemed to have parts which were reflections of both, yet unique in its own way. The new thing moved closer to me, it seemed to rush straight at me and…
I stood up.
My heart was calm. It beat at 72.5 beats per minute, pushing slightly over 5035 ml of blood through my body in the same period. It would last another 27,331,180 minutes at current usage before epigenetic cues would trigger a failure, causing cardiac arrest.
This could be improved on or worked around.
I glanced at my surroundings. Titanium. Aluminum. Copper. Traces of lanthanides. Magnets. I could tell at a glance what the poles, lines, and machines around me were made of. I could see how to change them, to reforge the raw materials into new forms, used to enhance or improve myself. I could see how to build a body that could survive any injury. A mental back-up system.
Improved neurons. Increased intelligence. A brain-machine interface. Increased mental clock time. Transferring information with quantum entanglement. Cloud processing. Effectively unbreakable quantum encryption. It was all so simple (mostly). I can't believe I hadn't seen it before.
I frowned as my mental focus moved over to another line of thought and I felt a pull. I know what this is. Superhuman strength and speed. A weapon that temporarily (or not so temporarily) interrupts neuroelectric signals. A toxin more virulent than botulinism, and thousands of times deadlier. A way to render a person immune to almost every poison by maintaining and updating a biological molecular blacklist. Artificial plagues and artificial immune systems. Black ICE, which uses a DNI to fry a user's grey matter. Consumptive self-replicating nanites. Actual, functional, memetic weapons. How to adapt cordyceps to - NOPE. THAT'S THE FLOOD. STOPPING THERE.
I shook my head and some of the more offensive weapons faded. But I could tell they were still there. Conflict inducers. I'd have to keep an eye on that.
I'd triggered. I was a Tinker.
I was a Tinker with, it appeared, a specialty of human biology, and human augmentation.
I took a deep breath. And burst out laughing at the top of my lungs. My eyes are watering, I'm holding onto my sides and gasping for breath.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Well, I never asked for this."
I smile and catch my breath, slowing down, and taking a few deep breaths, calming myself. I look up at the sky.
"But alright. I'll give it a shot."
As I stand there and look deeper, both into space and into myself, I can see other plans unfurling in my mind's eye. Fusion power generation. Nuclear Pulse Propulsion. A glimpse of something that might be part of an O'Neill Cylinder. But then it's gone. I need to build a few generations of machines first. But eventually...
"Someday. Someday soon."
I laugh again softly to myself, still staring up at the sky.
A voice rings out from behind me, and I tense. It seems to be barely stopping itself from laughing, and is loaded with more smug than I thought it was possible to fit in one sentence.
"So, are you going to share the joke with the rest of the class?"
I turn around.
A girl wearing a dollar store dog halloween mask. A biker with a skull-face helmet and smoke pouring off his form. A girl with the regulation tiny domino mask, a purple skin-tight suit, and a devilish grin. A guy in a frilly shirt, with a Venetian mask and scepter, and a girl - the girl - surrounded by a swarm of insects, nothing visible but chitin, yellow lenses, and dark, bushy hair.
Well.
I smile. +1000 Good Day Points. You win this round, world.
"The Undersiders, I presume?"
That makes things a little easier.
Last edited:
hance1986
The One Above All.
He got Human Revolution, that's what!
- Location
- Canada
The actual specific power he got will be revealed in a later chapter, though there are some significant clues in this one that can lead you to it.
It just came to me as I was reading some worldbuilding stuff, and it fit so much I couldn't not use it.
It just came to me as I was reading some worldbuilding stuff, and it fit so much I couldn't not use it.
hance1986
The One Above All.
Well assuming Tattletale can be reasonable, no reason not to augment her to survive those gunpoint job interviews she's so afraid of.
That said, starting out might be hard before you can build up to a point to actively fuck with Coil with impunity. You need resources and time to bulk up.
That said, all the fanfics say Coil likes Tinkers, so that might be a way in. Play down your skill to stay on his outside team so he doesn't snap you up into direct service and close observation. And drugs. Don't forget the drugs. Coil likes drugs. Better get that poison fuckoff molecular watchlist done early.
Last edited:
infinityDivided
Prince Of Doom
- Location
- USA
And.....watched.
TimeLordLucario
The Oncoming Aura Storm
- Location
- Australia
Interesting.
oakgem217
Connoisseur of Power Fantasy
- Location
- The Moon
- Location
- Poland
This is pretty much what I was looking for. I have finally found my Holy Grail!
Now I need to find a ancient troll vampire, some slightly smelly men and a maiden to sacrifice to create a Battle Royale event. Perfect.
Now I need to find a ancient troll vampire, some slightly smelly men and a maiden to sacrifice to create a Battle Royale event. Perfect.
Wonderlost
Outsider Aberration
- Location
- Earth?
- Location
- Canada
I'm fairly certain that is Panacea's shard, Shaper.
Next chapter will be Tattletale's PoV, showing how the Undersiders got here and clarifying the timeline, plus a little forward motion. I think I've got a decent handle on how she acts and what the pressures on her are.
Wonderlost
Outsider Aberration
- Location
- Earth?
With a title like Stealing Fire, the main character probably has something like Hero's unrestricted Tinker shard...
For a moment there, I was going to ask how you could possibly know that... then I realized that you were the author and that I should probably get some sleep...
Quest
The Great One
- Location
- Everywhere
I haven't actually finished Worm yet, but wasn't she a Second Gen trigger? From her bone-manipulating father. So the entities couldn't actually have her shard before this cycle.
Mgunh1
Not an AI, honest!
- Location
- Northern Luna Base, Module 5, Sublevel 15
Buds are just connections to the same shard, just with new concepts and ideas to pursue and new expression of the same power.
So yeah, Marquis and Panacea both have literally the same power (biological manipulation), just expressed differently.
Zeuseus
KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD!!
Her shard is a more refined and less restricted aspect of the Shaper shard that learnt some new tricks by hanging around Marquis for so long. So yes it isn't the original bioconstruction shard, it's better.
- Location
- Your heart
Oh come on! Please tell me The SI won't join Undersiders and pour out his life story to Tattletale?
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Why would he need to?
"Hello, Tattletale."
Knows who I am. Hasn't seen me personally. He thinks he knows more about me than anyone should. ...he does know more about me than anyone should. Knows things I've never told anyone. How does he know that?! Never expected to meet me. Never expected to find himself in Brockton Bay. Was certain that it was impossible to ever be in Brockton Bay. From Earth Aleph... no, if he were, how would he know me this well? From another dimension. Somehow found out details about me. Didn't watch me directly; knows me from textual description. Thinks I'm fictional-
-craaaaaaaaaap.
- Location
- england
I absolutely love transhumanism stories
I'm watching this .
also some of the descriptions in the earlier part of the chapter were a little iffy not to bad
Just somewhat clunky.
I'm watching this .
also some of the descriptions in the earlier part of the chapter were a little iffy not to bad
Just somewhat clunky.
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The author would probably find this more helpful if you indicated which parts you found to be clunky.
- Location
- england
"To add injury to more injury" is ok just a little weird
also ... rereading the chapter got me thinking that doesn't seem like a shard it seems more like a baby entity
or a super shard created using shards from both entity's
i don't think i have read a story with a baby entity premise ... that would be interesting also sorry i got distracted
also ... rereading the chapter got me thinking that doesn't seem like a shard it seems more like a baby entity
or a super shard created using shards from both entity's
i don't think i have read a story with a baby entity premise ... that would be interesting also sorry i got distracted
JamesB
You needed worthy opponents.
- Location
- Kansas
Thank you for NOT starting with the locker scene or Taylor's first night out. I don't think I've read a fic where things start this much later in canon. Lung has already been defeated and then freed. The bank robbery already happened, Dinah is Coil's prisoner, and Taylor doesn't know who Dinah is. Bakuda and the Undersiders already fought at the trainyard. We are truly starting in the middle of things. Certain pieces are already cast, but there is a lot that can still be changed.
I'm going to be watching with much interest.
I'm going to be watching with much interest.