- Location
- Russia
Please tell me that Armsmaster is the Tin Woodman
Taylor Varga (Worm/Luna Varga)
- Thread starter mp3.1415player
- Start date
- Crossover
YuffieK
(Verified Ninja Princess)
<looks at Derek's omake>
I'm actually a little surprised that nobody had thought of this yet.
WHO ELSE WOULD IT BE?
I'm actually a little surprised that nobody had thought of this yet.
WHO ELSE WOULD IT BE?
Guest Omake - We're off to see the Lizard...
- Location
- Maryland
...the wonderful Lizard of Oz
Dragon slowly (for her) resumed consciousness. She had a feeling like when she was being restored from backup, but she couldn't recall prepping for any kind of battle. Had one of the Endbringers finally decided to show up? Checking her internal systems gave her a green light on her current suit, but a number of other concerning error messages. Global Positioning System unavailable. Wireless network connections unavailable. Dracotech backup system unavailable. Guild communications network unavailable. Focusing her attention on her suit sensors, she saw three beings looking at her. One was Kid Win, sans armor or mask. The second was obviously the new Family-affiliated hero Cloak. The third was a dog, tentatively flagged as similar to one observed in suveillance as belonging to Hellhound of the Undersiders, although Rachel Lindt hadn't been seen off the DWU property in some time. She was officially in Family, "protective custody," according to Colin's reports.
"Dragon, are you OK?" asked Kid Win.
Dragon took a few clock-cycles to observe her surroundings. For some reason, her suit was standing in a wooded area, next to a small shack. There was a pile of unsplit wood, and another pile of split wood...and she appeared to be holding a simple, steel wood axe. Oddly enough, her navigation system was acting as if this was a familiar location, but she couldn't consciously identify it. A query to her geographic mapping system returned an error message: Memory address corrupt. She quickly ran another self-diagnostic, looking for suit damage, but it still came back green...which made little sense. This all took only a fraction of a second, so there was no human-noticeable delay in her response.
"I think so. What happened?" answered the armored cape.
"You appear to have been in some type of stasis field. I broke the field when we came upon you," replied Cloak. "Do you recall how you got to be trapped here?"
Dragon shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I'm not even sure where here is. I can't seem to access GPS or any network or communications of any kind, which is disconcerting, as my suit doesn't seem damaged." She looked at the two standing in front of her. "You must be Cloak. Legend mentioned meeting you. And you are..." she looked questioningly at Kid Win, not sure if she should mention knowing him.
Kid Win just shook his head. "It's OK, Dragon, Cloak could tell who I was even without my costume. Apparently, it's a thing she can do."
"I would appreciate it if that did not become common knowledge, as we have no intention of deliberately violating the Unwritten Rules your community abides by," added the floating cloak.
Dragon nodded in agreement. "That's fine. Given that you two are here, are we somewhere near Brockton Bay? The last thing I can clearly recall is being in Vancouver." The two capes quickly gave her a summary of what had happened to them, including Cloak's encounter with Shadow Stalker and a very puzzling conversation with Legend. Dragon got the sense that Cloak wasn't being completely forthcoming, but then that was in character with reports of previous encounters. As they were talking, Dragon leaned the axe against the shack, setting it next to an old-fashioned oil can that was sitting there. Her pattern matching subsystem flagged a match at this action, but the result came up as another error message. If he hadn't been in custody, she would suspect that Saint was messing with her systems again.
A quick search of the immediate area led to a pleased cry from Kid Win when they discovered his armor was actually stored inside the small shack. It was really the only thing in the shack, which was odd. After donning his armor, Kid Win toggled his mic. "Can you pick this up, Dragon?" Dragon nodded. "Yes, I read you. The radios appear to be working, but they aren't picking up any other signals. I don't think we're close to any form of civilization, or outside signals are being jammed, somehow."
"Let us continue, then. If we can find a member of the Family, they may have a better idea of what is going on around here," said Cloak. Having no better idea, the three continued on, Dragon holding onto Angelica while Kid Win mounted his hoverboard and Cloak...floated forward in her odd manner, changing altitude via invisible stairs.
* * * * *
Linda was starting to panic. She had gone to sleep last night at the DWU, and awoken in the middle of a strange, dark forest. Switching to her Vectura form, she had climbed one of the trees, and seen nothing nearby besides a brick road cutting through the forest. With no better option, she had headed toward the road, picked a random direction, and started walking. The forest itself was dark and gloomy, which didn't help her attitude any. After Metis had saved her, and Ianthe had given her her new body, she thought her days of black-outs and memory loss were behind her. 'I've got no fucking clue how I got here, though...' Had she somehow slipped off the wagon? Ianthe had told her she couldn't even get drunk, so she didn't see how, unless it was some weird tinker drug?
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she screamed out loud when a voice from behind her said, "You are Vectura, the DWU's new tinker, yes?" Turning quickly, she almost screamed again when she saw the voice had come from what looked like a ghost...or at least a haunted piece of clothing. Then something clicked for her.
"Cloak?"
"Yes. We appear to be collecting capes as we move along." As Cloak said that, Vectura was surprised to see the Ward, Kid Win, drop down from above the trees on his hoverboard. A few feet down the road, Dragon (of all people) landed. To add to how surreal everything seemed, Dragon was carrying one of Rachel's dogs, which she set down after landing.
"Hello, Vectura," said Dragon. "You wouldn't happen to be able to tell us how you got here, would you?"
The cat woman shook her head. "Hell if I know. Last thing I remember I was going to sleep in the bunkhouse. When I woke up, I was in the middle of this forest."
"Better than me," chimed in Kid Win. "I was tied up in a cornfield when I woke up."
"And Dragon was locked in some type of stasis field. I found myself in a house in a strange village, after which I encountered Legend and Shadow Stalker..." Vectura listened as the animated cloak iterated her experiences again. She absent-mindedly reached down to scratch Angelica, who had come up to sniff her. It was then she noticed something else that was odd.
"Hey, what happened to Angelica's eye? I know Panacea fixed that injury, already." The dog looked up at her solemnly.
"You know this dog?" asked Cloak.
"Sure, this is one of Rachel's pack. I see 'em around the yard all the time. But Panacea, Ianthe and Metis fix any injuries around the DWU, including the dogs. There's no way she should still be missing an eye."
"We'll have to add that to the list," replied Dragon. "Why can't any of us remember how we got here? Why did Legend behave so oddly with Cloak? What does Shadow Stalker have to do with all of this? Why is Rachel's dog here without Rachel, and why does she have an old injury when she shouldn't?"
"We should keep moving. Legend suggested the road would lead us to one of the Family, eventually," commented Cloak. With her advanced hearing, Vectura could hear Dragon mutter quietly, "Hopefully not Umihebi..."
Kid Win added, "We've been keeping above the trees, but we can keep to the road now, if you like." Vectura pondered this for a minute. "I think I've got a better idea," she replied. Then, with a single leap up, she scrambled up one of the nearby trees. Her claws and balance made moving around in the branches simple. The three on the ground watched in bemusement as she leapt from tree to tree, circling around them like she was born to do so.
As Kid Win remounted his board, he considered his strange company. A menangerie, a Ward, and part of a wardrobe continued moving through the tree tops, the faintest hint of a green glow appearing on the horizon as they devoured the distance along the path.
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Dragon slowly (for her) resumed consciousness. She had a feeling like when she was being restored from backup, but she couldn't recall prepping for any kind of battle. Had one of the Endbringers finally decided to show up? Checking her internal systems gave her a green light on her current suit, but a number of other concerning error messages. Global Positioning System unavailable. Wireless network connections unavailable. Dracotech backup system unavailable. Guild communications network unavailable. Focusing her attention on her suit sensors, she saw three beings looking at her. One was Kid Win, sans armor or mask. The second was obviously the new Family-affiliated hero Cloak. The third was a dog, tentatively flagged as similar to one observed in suveillance as belonging to Hellhound of the Undersiders, although Rachel Lindt hadn't been seen off the DWU property in some time. She was officially in Family, "protective custody," according to Colin's reports.
"Dragon, are you OK?" asked Kid Win.
Dragon took a few clock-cycles to observe her surroundings. For some reason, her suit was standing in a wooded area, next to a small shack. There was a pile of unsplit wood, and another pile of split wood...and she appeared to be holding a simple, steel wood axe. Oddly enough, her navigation system was acting as if this was a familiar location, but she couldn't consciously identify it. A query to her geographic mapping system returned an error message: Memory address corrupt. She quickly ran another self-diagnostic, looking for suit damage, but it still came back green...which made little sense. This all took only a fraction of a second, so there was no human-noticeable delay in her response.
"I think so. What happened?" answered the armored cape.
"You appear to have been in some type of stasis field. I broke the field when we came upon you," replied Cloak. "Do you recall how you got to be trapped here?"
Dragon shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I'm not even sure where here is. I can't seem to access GPS or any network or communications of any kind, which is disconcerting, as my suit doesn't seem damaged." She looked at the two standing in front of her. "You must be Cloak. Legend mentioned meeting you. And you are..." she looked questioningly at Kid Win, not sure if she should mention knowing him.
Kid Win just shook his head. "It's OK, Dragon, Cloak could tell who I was even without my costume. Apparently, it's a thing she can do."
"I would appreciate it if that did not become common knowledge, as we have no intention of deliberately violating the Unwritten Rules your community abides by," added the floating cloak.
Dragon nodded in agreement. "That's fine. Given that you two are here, are we somewhere near Brockton Bay? The last thing I can clearly recall is being in Vancouver." The two capes quickly gave her a summary of what had happened to them, including Cloak's encounter with Shadow Stalker and a very puzzling conversation with Legend. Dragon got the sense that Cloak wasn't being completely forthcoming, but then that was in character with reports of previous encounters. As they were talking, Dragon leaned the axe against the shack, setting it next to an old-fashioned oil can that was sitting there. Her pattern matching subsystem flagged a match at this action, but the result came up as another error message. If he hadn't been in custody, she would suspect that Saint was messing with her systems again.
A quick search of the immediate area led to a pleased cry from Kid Win when they discovered his armor was actually stored inside the small shack. It was really the only thing in the shack, which was odd. After donning his armor, Kid Win toggled his mic. "Can you pick this up, Dragon?" Dragon nodded. "Yes, I read you. The radios appear to be working, but they aren't picking up any other signals. I don't think we're close to any form of civilization, or outside signals are being jammed, somehow."
"Let us continue, then. If we can find a member of the Family, they may have a better idea of what is going on around here," said Cloak. Having no better idea, the three continued on, Dragon holding onto Angelica while Kid Win mounted his hoverboard and Cloak...floated forward in her odd manner, changing altitude via invisible stairs.
* * * * *
Linda was starting to panic. She had gone to sleep last night at the DWU, and awoken in the middle of a strange, dark forest. Switching to her Vectura form, she had climbed one of the trees, and seen nothing nearby besides a brick road cutting through the forest. With no better option, she had headed toward the road, picked a random direction, and started walking. The forest itself was dark and gloomy, which didn't help her attitude any. After Metis had saved her, and Ianthe had given her her new body, she thought her days of black-outs and memory loss were behind her. 'I've got no fucking clue how I got here, though...' Had she somehow slipped off the wagon? Ianthe had told her she couldn't even get drunk, so she didn't see how, unless it was some weird tinker drug?
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she screamed out loud when a voice from behind her said, "You are Vectura, the DWU's new tinker, yes?" Turning quickly, she almost screamed again when she saw the voice had come from what looked like a ghost...or at least a haunted piece of clothing. Then something clicked for her.
"Cloak?"
"Yes. We appear to be collecting capes as we move along." As Cloak said that, Vectura was surprised to see the Ward, Kid Win, drop down from above the trees on his hoverboard. A few feet down the road, Dragon (of all people) landed. To add to how surreal everything seemed, Dragon was carrying one of Rachel's dogs, which she set down after landing.
"Hello, Vectura," said Dragon. "You wouldn't happen to be able to tell us how you got here, would you?"
The cat woman shook her head. "Hell if I know. Last thing I remember I was going to sleep in the bunkhouse. When I woke up, I was in the middle of this forest."
"Better than me," chimed in Kid Win. "I was tied up in a cornfield when I woke up."
"And Dragon was locked in some type of stasis field. I found myself in a house in a strange village, after which I encountered Legend and Shadow Stalker..." Vectura listened as the animated cloak iterated her experiences again. She absent-mindedly reached down to scratch Angelica, who had come up to sniff her. It was then she noticed something else that was odd.
"Hey, what happened to Angelica's eye? I know Panacea fixed that injury, already." The dog looked up at her solemnly.
"You know this dog?" asked Cloak.
"Sure, this is one of Rachel's pack. I see 'em around the yard all the time. But Panacea, Ianthe and Metis fix any injuries around the DWU, including the dogs. There's no way she should still be missing an eye."
"We'll have to add that to the list," replied Dragon. "Why can't any of us remember how we got here? Why did Legend behave so oddly with Cloak? What does Shadow Stalker have to do with all of this? Why is Rachel's dog here without Rachel, and why does she have an old injury when she shouldn't?"
"We should keep moving. Legend suggested the road would lead us to one of the Family, eventually," commented Cloak. With her advanced hearing, Vectura could hear Dragon mutter quietly, "Hopefully not Umihebi..."
Kid Win added, "We've been keeping above the trees, but we can keep to the road now, if you like." Vectura pondered this for a minute. "I think I've got a better idea," she replied. Then, with a single leap up, she scrambled up one of the nearby trees. Her claws and balance made moving around in the branches simple. The three on the ground watched in bemusement as she leapt from tree to tree, circling around them like she was born to do so.
As Kid Win remounted his board, he considered his strange company. A menangerie, a Ward, and part of a wardrobe continued moving through the tree tops, the faintest hint of a green glow appearing on the horizon as they devoured the distance along the path.
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M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
Someone's going to get hurt for casting Linda as the Cowardly Lion...
- Location
- Existance
That's so Australian it makes me feel foreign.
- Location
- Deep in the Badlands of Equestria
Well, considering none of the participants seem to have made any connection to what should be a film classic, maybe Frank L. Baum never published any of the Oz stories there? That, or Varga's got a very specific memory suppression spell that's been pulled out for this large scale prank? (Well, that or Cloak really is tripping out on another sugar rush from Kid Win's doughnut maker.)
- Location
- Wisconsin
I haven't seen the obvious joke for this last omake... The Lizard of Odd.
Guest Omake - She really is a wonderful Liz...
- Location
- Maryland
She really is a wonderful Liz...
Missy kept moving forward on autopilot on her bits of displaced ground. She had had a moment of panic when she had almost given herself away by recognizing Chris out of his costume. Her bluff seemed to have worked, based on Cloak's reputation of having bizarre powers. There was definitely a risk to spending so much time around another Ward in her alternate identity, however. The last thing she needed was Chris learning that Vista and Cloak were one in the same. Even if Chris agreed to keep her secret, Dragon would almost certainly tell Armsmaster or Director Piggot, and then the jig would be up. Staying airborne was a bit of a blessing, as it limited the amount of contact they had. The others probably didn't realize that she could speak to and hear them through her powers, even on the move.
Oddly enough, as the group kept moving, she found she could send out pulses of her power to keep track of where the rest of her group was located. Not only could she sense them, but she could also tell that the signal for each of them was slightly different. Maybe her made up bullshit wasn't such bullshit after all? Maybe she was still learning how to use her power better, after Saurial's help opened up her new, "hobby?" How many capes were actually using their powers to anything close to their full potential? For that matter, how many could easily ID other capes, regardless of costume? She wouldn't be slightly surprised that the Family could do it. They had superior senses, didn't they? A rating of 'Thinker: Yes,' wasn't really out of the question.
Missy wondered if Saurial was the Lizard at the end of the road. Missy had started to think of the crazy reptile as a kind of cool older sister. It wasn't really that surprising, as she probably needed some type of mentor figure. Armsmaster played that role for Kid Win to an extent, but he wasn't exactly easily relatable. Miss Militia was a better role model, but Missy couldn't help notice that her life experience was probably extremely different, as was her power. Missy had a lot of respect for the military-themed cape, but more as a trusted authority figure than a mentor. Saurial, in contrast to others, never spoke to her as if she were a child. Nobody who triggered was really a child, in some ways. Having powers made you grow up fast, regardless of what those morons in the Youth Guard thought. Even a lot of Dennis's goofiness was another kind of mask, Missy knew. Her thoughts were heavy as the group continued on to their destination.
* * * * *
"Dragon?" asked Chris over the radio.
"Yes, Kid Win?"
"Do you have any idea what's going on, here?" The boy sounded slightly nervous. Dragon paused for a moment before answering.
"I'm not entirely certain. We appear to have all been kidnapped, possibly while we slept. None of us is injured save the reappearance of an apparently old injury on the dog. We haven't seen any signs of technology. There seem to be signs of inhabitation, like Cloak's village, the cultivated fields, and the shack where you found me, but the only actual people are other capes, including Legend and Shadow Stalker. It almost feels like...we're in some kind of story, if that makes any sense?"
"Do you think it has something to do with the Family?" asked Kid Win. "Cloak and Vectura are both associates of them, and we're supposed to be searching for this Lizard...?"
Dragon considered that. Cloak seemed almost puzzled, which was highly atypical, and it was easy to see that Vectura was slightly afraid of what was going on. Neither acted in any way as anything other than victims of whatever force had brought them here. Obviously, the Family was likely involved in some fashion, but they had been nothing but helpful to date. It seemed more likely that Kid Win and her were caught up in something aimed at the Family.
"I think, Chris," she said, avoiding his cape name deliberately, "that we may be caught up in something targeting the Family. If anything, they're likely going to work to help us get out of it. They've been nothing but helpful, and they've also certainly got some enemies, although it would take a particularly obtuse person to try and act on any enmity."
"Like Sophia?" he queried.
"Perhaps," she replied, "although Shadow Stalker isn't exactly known for her elaborate planning. I somehow doubt she's behind all of...whatever this is."
There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "It's strange. I had this note on me, that said the Lizard could help me with my dyscalclia. That's been a problem for me for a long time, but I've recently been meeting with a study group with Taylor Hebert. She's actually the one who came up with using an abacus, which has helped me immensely already. Saurial was there, but it was Taylor who actually assessed my problem and tutored me. What kind of help am I looking for here?"
"I guess we'll have to see when we get wherever we're going," she replied. Internally, she was thinking about the message she had found in her Inbox. 'The Lizard will help lead you to your heart.' She wondered if the others had any cryptic messages they hadn't shared?
* * * * *
Linda was having a blast swinging through the trees. Until now, she hadn't really had a chance to try out her new, boosted physique in any way beyond lifting heavy tinkering tools and components. It was exhilerating in a completely new and exciting way. The old Sherrel had never been worried about fitness. She'd had good genes in terms of looks, and her habits had kept her thin, sometimes bordering on emasciated. Any muscles she had, though, she got from tinkering, and they were purely an unintended side-effect of her speciality. A lot of truck and construction equipment parts are just heavy, after all. Ianthe had done excellent work, though, and she was finding it easy to keep up with the others -- although she suspected that Dragon was keeping her speed low for the sake of keeping the group together. The jets on the other tinker's armor were already giving her new ideas for her own tinkering.
Her fears that this was just some form of drug-induced trip were starting to fade a bit. She just felt too alive, like she never had even when she was enjoying her high, rather than just escaping grim reality. Of course, that begged the question of just what the fuck was actually going on with all this? On the plus side, she tended to share Cloak's optimism about Brockton Bay's resident giant lizards. They'd already saved her life at least twice, and done so by doing what was basically impossible in her book. As soon as the Family got involved, shit started to happen. There really wasn't much she thought that they couldn't handle.
* * * * *
Lisa opened her eyes...and realized she was still seeing things as Metis. That was very strange right from the beginning, because she never slept in her bioconstruct. It's not that she couldn't -- Amy had made them so that they could support a human indefinitely in some very hostile conditions -- it's just that there was never really a reason to do so. What's more is that she appeared to be inside a bright green room...what seemed to almost be a throne room.
Her power started feeding her bits of inference. Room is 15 meters by 6 meters square, built to intimidate. Construction in the middle of the room is designed to distract and overpower, and has a built in voice modulator. Voice is lowered two octaves and raised in volume by 10 decibels. Room is constructed of unknown type of green stone with painted wood accents. Temperature is sixty-six degrees Fahrenheit. She stopped her power's rambling before it started to give her more extraneous details, and focused on herself. Heart rate and blood pressure equivalent to being in a resting REM state. That gave her pause. 'Are you saying I'm asleep?' Heart rate and blood pressure equivalent to being in a resting REM state. Visual and auditory input consistent with a waking state.
That...was very strange. She had no idea where she was, or how she got here, and her power was telling her she was both asleep and awake simultaneously. On the far side of the room was an entrance way, and she could see a window in the passage outside. Moving quickly to it on four reptilian feet, she opened a pair of shutters and looked out on an expanse of cityscape...bright GREEN cityscape. Coloration of urban area unrealistically consistent, not comparable with actual urban areas. Vista is effectively a set piece created for the sake of appearance. She could see small figures moving around the city in the distance, and they were all apparently wearing green clothes.
She was starting to get an inkling of what might be happening. There were some odd gaps in her understanding, however. Certain pieces of relevant memory are being blocked by external influence. Now THAT was interesting...
* * * * *
Saurial and Ianthe were following Uber in his Mjolnir armor. Uber had one of Leet's tricorders (or rather, one of the copies Dragon provided Leet when she returned his original) in his hand. "The closest signal is coming from up ahead, in that motel." Uber pointed at a rather skeevy looking budget motel not far outside the Brocken Bay docks. As they moved toward the building, Saurial said to Ianthe, {Do you smell that?}
Ianthe took a sniff. {Blood? And...something else?}
"Anything you ladies want to share with the class?" asked Uber sarcastically.
"There's blood up ahead, and something else we can't figure out," answered Saurial.
Uber nodded, "All right, I'll stay frosty."
The motel had clearly seen better days...many years ago, if Uber was any judge. It was almost certainly the type of classy establishment that rented rooms by the hour. The signal being detected by the tricorder was coming from room 7, which was conveniently on the first floor of the two in the motel.
Uber grabbed the door handle, then glanced back at the two lizards. Both nodded to him. He used his power-armor-boosted strength to pop the lock and push the door open, and then both Saurial and Ianthe rushed into the room, ready for any hostile surprises.
The TV in the room was on at low volume, playing an advertisement for a local station's Wizard of Oz marathon. The two full-sized beds in the room were both occupied. One was filled with what looked like a teenaged boy, except that the boy's skin was gray and pebbled, like rough stone. Instead of eyes, the boy had what looked like a single red gemstone in the middle of his forehead.
The other bed contained the infamous leader of the defunct Merchants, Skidmark. Based on his glassy stare and the blood pooling on his pillow, he was also very, very dead.
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Missy kept moving forward on autopilot on her bits of displaced ground. She had had a moment of panic when she had almost given herself away by recognizing Chris out of his costume. Her bluff seemed to have worked, based on Cloak's reputation of having bizarre powers. There was definitely a risk to spending so much time around another Ward in her alternate identity, however. The last thing she needed was Chris learning that Vista and Cloak were one in the same. Even if Chris agreed to keep her secret, Dragon would almost certainly tell Armsmaster or Director Piggot, and then the jig would be up. Staying airborne was a bit of a blessing, as it limited the amount of contact they had. The others probably didn't realize that she could speak to and hear them through her powers, even on the move.
Oddly enough, as the group kept moving, she found she could send out pulses of her power to keep track of where the rest of her group was located. Not only could she sense them, but she could also tell that the signal for each of them was slightly different. Maybe her made up bullshit wasn't such bullshit after all? Maybe she was still learning how to use her power better, after Saurial's help opened up her new, "hobby?" How many capes were actually using their powers to anything close to their full potential? For that matter, how many could easily ID other capes, regardless of costume? She wouldn't be slightly surprised that the Family could do it. They had superior senses, didn't they? A rating of 'Thinker: Yes,' wasn't really out of the question.
Missy wondered if Saurial was the Lizard at the end of the road. Missy had started to think of the crazy reptile as a kind of cool older sister. It wasn't really that surprising, as she probably needed some type of mentor figure. Armsmaster played that role for Kid Win to an extent, but he wasn't exactly easily relatable. Miss Militia was a better role model, but Missy couldn't help notice that her life experience was probably extremely different, as was her power. Missy had a lot of respect for the military-themed cape, but more as a trusted authority figure than a mentor. Saurial, in contrast to others, never spoke to her as if she were a child. Nobody who triggered was really a child, in some ways. Having powers made you grow up fast, regardless of what those morons in the Youth Guard thought. Even a lot of Dennis's goofiness was another kind of mask, Missy knew. Her thoughts were heavy as the group continued on to their destination.
* * * * *
"Dragon?" asked Chris over the radio.
"Yes, Kid Win?"
"Do you have any idea what's going on, here?" The boy sounded slightly nervous. Dragon paused for a moment before answering.
"I'm not entirely certain. We appear to have all been kidnapped, possibly while we slept. None of us is injured save the reappearance of an apparently old injury on the dog. We haven't seen any signs of technology. There seem to be signs of inhabitation, like Cloak's village, the cultivated fields, and the shack where you found me, but the only actual people are other capes, including Legend and Shadow Stalker. It almost feels like...we're in some kind of story, if that makes any sense?"
"Do you think it has something to do with the Family?" asked Kid Win. "Cloak and Vectura are both associates of them, and we're supposed to be searching for this Lizard...?"
Dragon considered that. Cloak seemed almost puzzled, which was highly atypical, and it was easy to see that Vectura was slightly afraid of what was going on. Neither acted in any way as anything other than victims of whatever force had brought them here. Obviously, the Family was likely involved in some fashion, but they had been nothing but helpful to date. It seemed more likely that Kid Win and her were caught up in something aimed at the Family.
"I think, Chris," she said, avoiding his cape name deliberately, "that we may be caught up in something targeting the Family. If anything, they're likely going to work to help us get out of it. They've been nothing but helpful, and they've also certainly got some enemies, although it would take a particularly obtuse person to try and act on any enmity."
"Like Sophia?" he queried.
"Perhaps," she replied, "although Shadow Stalker isn't exactly known for her elaborate planning. I somehow doubt she's behind all of...whatever this is."
There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "It's strange. I had this note on me, that said the Lizard could help me with my dyscalclia. That's been a problem for me for a long time, but I've recently been meeting with a study group with Taylor Hebert. She's actually the one who came up with using an abacus, which has helped me immensely already. Saurial was there, but it was Taylor who actually assessed my problem and tutored me. What kind of help am I looking for here?"
"I guess we'll have to see when we get wherever we're going," she replied. Internally, she was thinking about the message she had found in her Inbox. 'The Lizard will help lead you to your heart.' She wondered if the others had any cryptic messages they hadn't shared?
* * * * *
Linda was having a blast swinging through the trees. Until now, she hadn't really had a chance to try out her new, boosted physique in any way beyond lifting heavy tinkering tools and components. It was exhilerating in a completely new and exciting way. The old Sherrel had never been worried about fitness. She'd had good genes in terms of looks, and her habits had kept her thin, sometimes bordering on emasciated. Any muscles she had, though, she got from tinkering, and they were purely an unintended side-effect of her speciality. A lot of truck and construction equipment parts are just heavy, after all. Ianthe had done excellent work, though, and she was finding it easy to keep up with the others -- although she suspected that Dragon was keeping her speed low for the sake of keeping the group together. The jets on the other tinker's armor were already giving her new ideas for her own tinkering.
Her fears that this was just some form of drug-induced trip were starting to fade a bit. She just felt too alive, like she never had even when she was enjoying her high, rather than just escaping grim reality. Of course, that begged the question of just what the fuck was actually going on with all this? On the plus side, she tended to share Cloak's optimism about Brockton Bay's resident giant lizards. They'd already saved her life at least twice, and done so by doing what was basically impossible in her book. As soon as the Family got involved, shit started to happen. There really wasn't much she thought that they couldn't handle.
* * * * *
Lisa opened her eyes...and realized she was still seeing things as Metis. That was very strange right from the beginning, because she never slept in her bioconstruct. It's not that she couldn't -- Amy had made them so that they could support a human indefinitely in some very hostile conditions -- it's just that there was never really a reason to do so. What's more is that she appeared to be inside a bright green room...what seemed to almost be a throne room.
Her power started feeding her bits of inference. Room is 15 meters by 6 meters square, built to intimidate. Construction in the middle of the room is designed to distract and overpower, and has a built in voice modulator. Voice is lowered two octaves and raised in volume by 10 decibels. Room is constructed of unknown type of green stone with painted wood accents. Temperature is sixty-six degrees Fahrenheit. She stopped her power's rambling before it started to give her more extraneous details, and focused on herself. Heart rate and blood pressure equivalent to being in a resting REM state. That gave her pause. 'Are you saying I'm asleep?' Heart rate and blood pressure equivalent to being in a resting REM state. Visual and auditory input consistent with a waking state.
That...was very strange. She had no idea where she was, or how she got here, and her power was telling her she was both asleep and awake simultaneously. On the far side of the room was an entrance way, and she could see a window in the passage outside. Moving quickly to it on four reptilian feet, she opened a pair of shutters and looked out on an expanse of cityscape...bright GREEN cityscape. Coloration of urban area unrealistically consistent, not comparable with actual urban areas. Vista is effectively a set piece created for the sake of appearance. She could see small figures moving around the city in the distance, and they were all apparently wearing green clothes.
She was starting to get an inkling of what might be happening. There were some odd gaps in her understanding, however. Certain pieces of relevant memory are being blocked by external influence. Now THAT was interesting...
* * * * *
Saurial and Ianthe were following Uber in his Mjolnir armor. Uber had one of Leet's tricorders (or rather, one of the copies Dragon provided Leet when she returned his original) in his hand. "The closest signal is coming from up ahead, in that motel." Uber pointed at a rather skeevy looking budget motel not far outside the Brocken Bay docks. As they moved toward the building, Saurial said to Ianthe, {Do you smell that?}
Ianthe took a sniff. {Blood? And...something else?}
"Anything you ladies want to share with the class?" asked Uber sarcastically.
"There's blood up ahead, and something else we can't figure out," answered Saurial.
Uber nodded, "All right, I'll stay frosty."
The motel had clearly seen better days...many years ago, if Uber was any judge. It was almost certainly the type of classy establishment that rented rooms by the hour. The signal being detected by the tricorder was coming from room 7, which was conveniently on the first floor of the two in the motel.
Uber grabbed the door handle, then glanced back at the two lizards. Both nodded to him. He used his power-armor-boosted strength to pop the lock and push the door open, and then both Saurial and Ianthe rushed into the room, ready for any hostile surprises.
The TV in the room was on at low volume, playing an advertisement for a local station's Wizard of Oz marathon. The two full-sized beds in the room were both occupied. One was filled with what looked like a teenaged boy, except that the boy's skin was gray and pebbled, like rough stone. Instead of eyes, the boy had what looked like a single red gemstone in the middle of his forehead.
The other bed contained the infamous leader of the defunct Merchants, Skidmark. Based on his glassy stare and the blood pooling on his pillow, he was also very, very dead.
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- Location
- Deep in the Badlands of Equestria
(LP needle scratch SFX) Our quartet are stuck in a Skidmark ® Production?! I did not see this option on the clue list. Guess he was aiming to hit the Family and pretty much all of Brockton Bay with a huge mindfrak. Only, his human psychocrystal amplifier seems to have blown his brain first. I'm guessing it wouldn't have worked on Taylor anyway, since Varga isn't really accessible through Shard shenanigans. Everyone else so far seems to have been directly influenced by Varga in one way or another, including Angelica, who was the first canine patient for one of the biosuits.
However, a few key individuals aren't in the script, and I'd expect at least one (Amy), to have been a primary target; unless her Make Nature Cry shard is busy Nope!ing the influence for her. (Still doesn't account for Leet or Uber, and how Dragon got pulled in... no, she's been running her consciousness from her mobile unit at the Rig all this time, hasn't she?)
Still have a lot of questions, but I definitely want to see where things go from here.
However, a few key individuals aren't in the script, and I'd expect at least one (Amy), to have been a primary target; unless her Make Nature Cry shard is busy Nope!ing the influence for her. (Still doesn't account for Leet or Uber, and how Dragon got pulled in... no, she's been running her consciousness from her mobile unit at the Rig all this time, hasn't she?)
Still have a lot of questions, but I definitely want to see where things go from here.
Jadesteele
Out of my Mind - Back in 5 Minutes
- Location
- half-way between 'Crazy' And 'Eccentric'
Why do I see this - or something similar - becoming Canon - well, Varga Canon, anyway? And who killed Skidz, anyway?
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
How did Skidmark die, well if I'm parsing the story right he was cast as the Wicked Witch of the East in the storyline and then, like Mouse in The Matrix, died in the simulation causing him to die in story. Seriously bad case of Dumpshock in other words.
Guest Omake - ...if ever a Liz there was!
- Location
- Maryland
...if ever a Liz there was!
The four heroes and their canine companion stared up at the massive green walls of the city in front of them. There was a massive iron gate (painted green), which was down, and a huge, wooden drawbridge (also green) that was shut tight. In the distance, there were what appeared to be guards patrolling the walls (dressed in...green), but none of them were close enough to shout at with any hope of being heard.
"Do we just...knock?" asked Kid Win.
Dragon looked at the gate. "I could fly over the wall, and either find somebody, or try and open the doors?"
"I could simply move the gate and bridge out of our way," added Cloak.
"Maybe we should try knocking first," contributed Vectura.
"Or, I could just come out here to talk to you!" chirped a loud voice from right behind them. The four of them started, although it was hard to tell with Dragon and Cloak.
"Metis!" exclaimed the cat-woman, too happy to be upset with their usual shenanigans.
"Hi guys," the black lizard said.
Dragon somehow radiated a sense of relief through her armor. "Metis, do you know what's going on here...or where here is?"
A lizard head gave a nod. "Yes, that's the question, isn't it. From what I'm able to tell, this is all some type of constructed reality. I'm not entirely sure if it's an actual pocket universe or just a mental construct, but I'm edging toward the latter."
"Where did all of this weird stuff come from?" asked Kid Win. "Is this some deep secret in one of our minds? Like, big green towers are because one of us is envious, or I woke up tied up because...er" The young tinker stopped talking with an obvious blush, realizing he was the only male (even if one of them was a lizard, one a dog, and one an article of clothing).
Metis snickered a bit. "The evidence actually points to this being some type of fictional world we all know about, but some outide force is supressing our memories of it. That's why it all seems so familiar."
Dragon nodded. "That's consistent with my own observations. It's like I have memories that I just can't access." Metis suspected that Dragon probably found that more problematic than the others, for reasons she wasn't going to share with anybody.
"So where do Legend and Shadow Stalker fit into this?" asked Cloak.
Metis looked at her sharply. "Legend and Shadow Stalker? What do you mean?" Cloak proceeded to explain what happened to her before she found Chris. Metis read between the lines, surmising that the two of them had actually encountered Vista, which made Legend's reactions even more puzzling.
"It's like some outside force is keeping very specific bits of knowledge a secret from each of us." For whatever reason, it seemed like this force hadn't wanted Legend to recognize Vista. Maybe she was supposed to be in her Cloak persona?
"So," interjected Vectura, "why are WE the ones who got sucked in here?"
"Unknown, but it seems like your relations to the Family are a common denominator. Dragon, you've worked with us quite a bit recently, and Legend has also been around. Shadow Stalker has a history with the Heberts. Vectura and Cloak are close associates of BBFO and the Family. Kid Win, I'm not sure how you got pulled in, honestly..." Metis actually had a pretty good idea, having heard from Taylor about her tutoring sessions with her classmates, and knowing one of them was likely a Ward.
"Also," added the feline tinker, "what's up with Angelica's eye? Didn't Amy fix that?"
Metis peered at the dog's injured eye. "Yes...she did. Let me see." Metis went over to the dog, which stared at her placidly. She reached out and placed a hand on the dog's body, extending her healing. After a few moments with no reaction, she actually looked at the dog. Not an actual dog. Dog is an observer for...unknown. 'Interesting.' She quirked an eyebrow, then told the others, "I can't heal her for some reason. Sorry, Angelica, you'll just have to deal with a lack of depth perception for a bit until we can get out of here."
"So Metis," asked Dragon, "Any idea how we get out of this fictional world?"
Metis turned her attention to the Dragon armor. "There's a keystone to this whole situation. This is a type of story, so there will be an antagonist with an object we need to retrieve in order to get free."
"Shadow Stalker would fit quite well into the role of antagonist. She is, in fact, the only belligerent person we've met so far," said Cloak. "She probably has the object in question."
"It's her crossbow," said Kid Win. "The things she said and the way she acted, she always made herself out to be a predator. Her power may be what makes her so effective, but her crossbows symbolize what she was." The others stared at him briefly. "What? I notice some things besides tinkering...sometimes."
"I have heard rumors that you have a truly excellent donut machine. I appreciate a good donut...mmmm." The last sound in Cloak's voice sounded wrong in so many ways that Chris just decided to ignore it.
"So," said Dragon without acknowledging the donut comment, "where do we find Shadow Stalker?"
Metis looked at Cloak. "You said Sophia turned up and tried to steal some shoes, and Legend stopped her?" Cloak nodded. "There's actually a book in the library here. I came across it while I was exploring before you arrived. It talks about a Wicked Witch of the West, and her quest for the Ruby Slippers. Her castle is also marked."
"How do you know it's the right book?" asked Dragon.
"Well, it was literally the only book I could read in the entire libary. The others were completely blank." Metis smirked.
"I would feel better if I knew what this was all about," said Vectura, "but at least we have a target."
Angelica looked up at her and whined softly.
* * * * *
Two Weeks Ago
Cy was in trouble. He had arrived sometime a few months ago in St. Louis, with absolutely no memory of who he was or how he got there. A local minor hero team had found him and given him a place to stay. They all had some kind of horror story about the Protectorate, which was why they all chose to work as independents. He had considered himself lucky -- they were willing to give him time to get his feet under him. Apparently, "Case 53's" were a known, if not common, event. They often looked somewhat monstrous. They always had lost their memories. They all had the same upside-down omega tattoo somewhere on their bodies. His team, the Operators, were sympathetic. They'd even had some contact with a mercenary group from Brockton Bay that kind of specialized in Case 53's, and he had been hopeful they might be able to help him figure out more of his past.
That was until the kidnapping. Men had come on him while he was alone and beat him until he passed out. When he woke up, he was tied to chair with a gag in his mouth. It wasn't until yesterday that he had even figured out what they wanted with him. A man with a crew-cut had brought somebody in to see him.
"So, this fucker is capable of doing what you said?" The foul-mouthed asshole had seemed half-crazed, and half-stoned.
"Da," responded the guy, probably a mercenary. "Ve had him under surveillance for veeks. It's up to you to control him, though."
The other man gave him an evil grin. "Oh, don't worry about that. Old Skidmark knows how to make his bitches do what he wants 'em to."
The two had quickly come to agreement. That night was when the drugs started...and the beatings.
Yesterday
Cy was lying on a bed in a hotel room...somewhere. The drugs had a constant haze over his mind now, while his body just ached. His captor, Skidmark, was lying in the other bed, giggling to himself while he smoked some kind of tinker-enhanced weed and watched The Wizard of Oz on television. "Oh man, you are going to fuck up those lizard bitches so bad. I want to see what you can do!"
On TV, Judy Garland was watching as a cow flew past her window in the middle of a tornado, and Cy simply pushed...
* * * * *
"So what can you tell me?" asked Saurial.
Ianthe frowned. "He's a Case 53, obviously, with a massive amount of tinker-tech chems in his system. Skidmark was probably dosing him as a means of control. I've flushed the drugs from his system, but he's still unconscious, and I can't seem to wake him up."
"He's also the source of the signal we were following," added Uber from where he was leaning againt the wall of the motel room. "Skidmark seems to have died from massive hemorrhaging, though we can't say for certain without an autopsy."
"Is he the reason why Metis is unconscious?" Saurial had found Lisa in her Metis guise unconscious in the WCC facility. Amy had been unable to wake her, or even determine why she was asleep. When Uber and Leet came in carrying an unconscious Vectura, the four of them had pooled their resources to try and find out what was wrong. It was Leet who had detected the subspace signal around both of the comatose capes. He was still back at the WCC, watching their unconscious friends.
"Hard to say," said Ianthe. "It seems they're connected, but I can't say whether it's this guy's power, or some weird interaction with the tinker-tech drugs Skidmark was giving him, or some other factor."
"We still don't understand exactly how powers work, Brain," added Varga through Saurial's mouth. "We may just have to give it time and see what happens." Nobody, obviously, was happy with that conclusion.
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The four heroes and their canine companion stared up at the massive green walls of the city in front of them. There was a massive iron gate (painted green), which was down, and a huge, wooden drawbridge (also green) that was shut tight. In the distance, there were what appeared to be guards patrolling the walls (dressed in...green), but none of them were close enough to shout at with any hope of being heard.
"Do we just...knock?" asked Kid Win.
Dragon looked at the gate. "I could fly over the wall, and either find somebody, or try and open the doors?"
"I could simply move the gate and bridge out of our way," added Cloak.
"Maybe we should try knocking first," contributed Vectura.
"Or, I could just come out here to talk to you!" chirped a loud voice from right behind them. The four of them started, although it was hard to tell with Dragon and Cloak.
"Metis!" exclaimed the cat-woman, too happy to be upset with their usual shenanigans.
"Hi guys," the black lizard said.
Dragon somehow radiated a sense of relief through her armor. "Metis, do you know what's going on here...or where here is?"
A lizard head gave a nod. "Yes, that's the question, isn't it. From what I'm able to tell, this is all some type of constructed reality. I'm not entirely sure if it's an actual pocket universe or just a mental construct, but I'm edging toward the latter."
"Where did all of this weird stuff come from?" asked Kid Win. "Is this some deep secret in one of our minds? Like, big green towers are because one of us is envious, or I woke up tied up because...er" The young tinker stopped talking with an obvious blush, realizing he was the only male (even if one of them was a lizard, one a dog, and one an article of clothing).
Metis snickered a bit. "The evidence actually points to this being some type of fictional world we all know about, but some outide force is supressing our memories of it. That's why it all seems so familiar."
Dragon nodded. "That's consistent with my own observations. It's like I have memories that I just can't access." Metis suspected that Dragon probably found that more problematic than the others, for reasons she wasn't going to share with anybody.
"So where do Legend and Shadow Stalker fit into this?" asked Cloak.
Metis looked at her sharply. "Legend and Shadow Stalker? What do you mean?" Cloak proceeded to explain what happened to her before she found Chris. Metis read between the lines, surmising that the two of them had actually encountered Vista, which made Legend's reactions even more puzzling.
"It's like some outside force is keeping very specific bits of knowledge a secret from each of us." For whatever reason, it seemed like this force hadn't wanted Legend to recognize Vista. Maybe she was supposed to be in her Cloak persona?
"So," interjected Vectura, "why are WE the ones who got sucked in here?"
"Unknown, but it seems like your relations to the Family are a common denominator. Dragon, you've worked with us quite a bit recently, and Legend has also been around. Shadow Stalker has a history with the Heberts. Vectura and Cloak are close associates of BBFO and the Family. Kid Win, I'm not sure how you got pulled in, honestly..." Metis actually had a pretty good idea, having heard from Taylor about her tutoring sessions with her classmates, and knowing one of them was likely a Ward.
"Also," added the feline tinker, "what's up with Angelica's eye? Didn't Amy fix that?"
Metis peered at the dog's injured eye. "Yes...she did. Let me see." Metis went over to the dog, which stared at her placidly. She reached out and placed a hand on the dog's body, extending her healing. After a few moments with no reaction, she actually looked at the dog. Not an actual dog. Dog is an observer for...unknown. 'Interesting.' She quirked an eyebrow, then told the others, "I can't heal her for some reason. Sorry, Angelica, you'll just have to deal with a lack of depth perception for a bit until we can get out of here."
"So Metis," asked Dragon, "Any idea how we get out of this fictional world?"
Metis turned her attention to the Dragon armor. "There's a keystone to this whole situation. This is a type of story, so there will be an antagonist with an object we need to retrieve in order to get free."
"Shadow Stalker would fit quite well into the role of antagonist. She is, in fact, the only belligerent person we've met so far," said Cloak. "She probably has the object in question."
"It's her crossbow," said Kid Win. "The things she said and the way she acted, she always made herself out to be a predator. Her power may be what makes her so effective, but her crossbows symbolize what she was." The others stared at him briefly. "What? I notice some things besides tinkering...sometimes."
"I have heard rumors that you have a truly excellent donut machine. I appreciate a good donut...mmmm." The last sound in Cloak's voice sounded wrong in so many ways that Chris just decided to ignore it.
"So," said Dragon without acknowledging the donut comment, "where do we find Shadow Stalker?"
Metis looked at Cloak. "You said Sophia turned up and tried to steal some shoes, and Legend stopped her?" Cloak nodded. "There's actually a book in the library here. I came across it while I was exploring before you arrived. It talks about a Wicked Witch of the West, and her quest for the Ruby Slippers. Her castle is also marked."
"How do you know it's the right book?" asked Dragon.
"Well, it was literally the only book I could read in the entire libary. The others were completely blank." Metis smirked.
"I would feel better if I knew what this was all about," said Vectura, "but at least we have a target."
Angelica looked up at her and whined softly.
* * * * *
Two Weeks Ago
Cy was in trouble. He had arrived sometime a few months ago in St. Louis, with absolutely no memory of who he was or how he got there. A local minor hero team had found him and given him a place to stay. They all had some kind of horror story about the Protectorate, which was why they all chose to work as independents. He had considered himself lucky -- they were willing to give him time to get his feet under him. Apparently, "Case 53's" were a known, if not common, event. They often looked somewhat monstrous. They always had lost their memories. They all had the same upside-down omega tattoo somewhere on their bodies. His team, the Operators, were sympathetic. They'd even had some contact with a mercenary group from Brockton Bay that kind of specialized in Case 53's, and he had been hopeful they might be able to help him figure out more of his past.
That was until the kidnapping. Men had come on him while he was alone and beat him until he passed out. When he woke up, he was tied to chair with a gag in his mouth. It wasn't until yesterday that he had even figured out what they wanted with him. A man with a crew-cut had brought somebody in to see him.
"So, this fucker is capable of doing what you said?" The foul-mouthed asshole had seemed half-crazed, and half-stoned.
"Da," responded the guy, probably a mercenary. "Ve had him under surveillance for veeks. It's up to you to control him, though."
The other man gave him an evil grin. "Oh, don't worry about that. Old Skidmark knows how to make his bitches do what he wants 'em to."
The two had quickly come to agreement. That night was when the drugs started...and the beatings.
Yesterday
Cy was lying on a bed in a hotel room...somewhere. The drugs had a constant haze over his mind now, while his body just ached. His captor, Skidmark, was lying in the other bed, giggling to himself while he smoked some kind of tinker-enhanced weed and watched The Wizard of Oz on television. "Oh man, you are going to fuck up those lizard bitches so bad. I want to see what you can do!"
On TV, Judy Garland was watching as a cow flew past her window in the middle of a tornado, and Cy simply pushed...
* * * * *
"So what can you tell me?" asked Saurial.
Ianthe frowned. "He's a Case 53, obviously, with a massive amount of tinker-tech chems in his system. Skidmark was probably dosing him as a means of control. I've flushed the drugs from his system, but he's still unconscious, and I can't seem to wake him up."
"He's also the source of the signal we were following," added Uber from where he was leaning againt the wall of the motel room. "Skidmark seems to have died from massive hemorrhaging, though we can't say for certain without an autopsy."
"Is he the reason why Metis is unconscious?" Saurial had found Lisa in her Metis guise unconscious in the WCC facility. Amy had been unable to wake her, or even determine why she was asleep. When Uber and Leet came in carrying an unconscious Vectura, the four of them had pooled their resources to try and find out what was wrong. It was Leet who had detected the subspace signal around both of the comatose capes. He was still back at the WCC, watching their unconscious friends.
"Hard to say," said Ianthe. "It seems they're connected, but I can't say whether it's this guy's power, or some weird interaction with the tinker-tech drugs Skidmark was giving him, or some other factor."
"We still don't understand exactly how powers work, Brain," added Varga through Saurial's mouth. "We may just have to give it time and see what happens." Nobody, obviously, was happy with that conclusion.
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- Location
- The general area. Possibly behind you.
Woah...
Spend a few days away, due to a massive time crunch on work, and come back to over 400 alerts and a miffed mod?? What the hell do you lot get up to when I'm not here to provide a stable and sane environment?
Sorry I've been unresponsive, but as I said, I've been up to the general armpit area since I posted the last chapter without even the opportunity to log in at all. I had quite a lot of posts to catch up on. But, I am back, and I will now answer questions and clarify things for everyone in a massive post! (probably not, I may well make things less understandable. With luck...)
Before I do that, though, two things:
Thing one. Thank you @Derek M for a very entertaining omake series, and I hope it continues. it's a lot of fun
Thing two. Please, guys, let's not get into arguments that call down official sanctions on us all? I shall be very, very annoyed if someone manages to get this thread locked because of a moment of incautious polemic, which is a very common thing in some places. We've managed to have remarkably, in fact almost impossibly, civil discourse on a whole series of subjects that more normally turn into a complete train wreck. I would prefer to see that continue. I am more than aware that a number of people here have opinions and outlooks that are in some cases wildly disparate and not really compatible with each other in quite a few ways. However, even though that's true, on balance everyone has been weirdly sensible about ignoring that sort of thing and just being excellent to each other. Let's do what we can to let this state of affairs continue, hmm? For me? Remember, push too hard and I will Release TheHounds Lizards...
The ones on whom they are released will not enjoy it.
And if that doesn't work I will troll the hell out of you. Which would be even worse
So let's leave arguments about politics, religion, and anything similarly inflammatory to the relevant places and just get on with putting one word in front of another. Over, and over, and over, to the point that lesser mortails* give up and scream to the heavens...
Right.
On with the responses.
Thanks. I have many words left, and the parts to make even more!
Indubitably
Thanks. I've got quite a lot of ideas that will make their way into the story, which you may well find amusing.
There are some... interesting... possibilities. I've had quite a lot of this, and more, in mind since I began the story, and I'll be fascinated to see both how it works out and what people think about it.
Yes. Thanks, fixed.
16k words, of course. It's more like 90k bytes. Lots and lots of typing...
There were people deliberately covering up the more egregious issues, but rumor and direct experience from her victims does get around. And if the PRT was more effective in cultivating informants on the street they might well have picked up on this earlier. Even in canon, Sophia got away with a lot more than she should have done.
Thanks, fixed.
It's not weird at all And there will be more of that crossover along shortly, time and work permitting.
Thanks very much. I enjoy writing it nearly as much as some people appear to enjoy reading it, and it's always nice to know that they're out there!
That is indeed a worthy goal
There are a number of interesting possibilities that could well come to pass in time. However, I don't want to just dump every one of them into the story without good reason and at least a little in-story research and development. They're already tooled up to a ridiculous level with just the things Taylor, Amy, and the others have made! Give it time
Hah! A mere 16k words? At least one friend of mine routinely does 50k chapters. Or 'novels' as some would call them.
That said, I'm not likely to go that large very often. 5k to 10k is my normal goal, more at the lower end than the higher.
Many, many things...
This is a valid point and I plead a long day and a very late night writing session for wording that's not, in retrospect, quite what I was going for. I'll rework it.
Crawler is out there. As is the Truth, I'm told.
At least one of these will probably arrive somewhere sooner or later.
In-story, it's been mentioned that they're essentially neuter at the moment. They don't have to be, she's entirely capable of making reproducing life forms, but at least in this case there are a number of reasons not to do so. One reason is that the PRT would collectively turn a nasty shade of purple, grab its chest, and collapse. No one wants that. Another is a more practical one which is that the bioconstructs make heavy use of EDM for various body structures, notably the skeleton and scales, which precludes (for now, at least) anyone other that Taylor or the Varga aiding them to reproduce. She could easily replace it with her own bioceramic, which is implausibly strong, but it's not EDM which is impossibly strong.
Yes, I left off a few things. I'll go back and add a couple of these, but several of them aren't really relevant right now. And it wasn't meant to be an exhaustive list of who knows exactly what and why.
Danny, though, does know pretty much everything since Taylor took some time a few chapters back to catch him up. He finds it... odd
Thanks, fixed.
Well, as a couple of people said, it's not really hypocritical. Armsmaster is obsessed with miniaturization and his version of efficiency. As Dragon has pointed out, he's hitting the point of diminishing returns with the latter already, although he's reluctant to see it. The former is more what Linda was talking about, though. Because he can take a design and shrink it to silly levels, his power being very, very good at this, he tries to put absolutely every last little trick he can manage into all his gear. As far as I can remember this is actually canon.
The problem with this, though, is that inevitably making things that small and complex and shoving dozens of different widgets into a confined space more or less inevitably amplifies the Tinker tech tendency to fail early and hard without constant maintenance.
Her stuff, on the other hand, was always very solidly if crudely built and didn't waste resources on attempting to be tiny and super efficient. As a result it was far more robust. Again, even in canon I think this was the case. Squealer's vehicles tended to be destroyed by external forces, usually Armsmaster, rather than failing in service. Partly this may well be because they got taken out pretty fast and didn't have time to fail, but I also suspect that they were just that tough.
Having Taylor able to make the parts for her, if she can describe what she wants well enough, not only opens up a huge number of areas on her tech tree, but also ensures that the parts themselves are very unlikely to break. Or even be breakable in the first place. Added to that is the fact that the omnivehicle is actually, as has been pointed out, a single-purpose device, not a whole series of different functions. It merely produces a vehicle from hard light, and nothing else. The key is that the vehicle produced is program-selectable, and it can have dozens at least of them available at the press of a button.
So I think her comment is valid
↑ Basically all this.
Antonio learned about Sophia practically at the same moment external law enforcement agencies did. In fact, he knows more than most of them do, since he's got a lot of people reporting to him. He does, after all, run an information brokerage that everyone uses, including Kaiser, Mark, even Legend. A security notice such as the one Emily released would come to his attention immediately, if only because he has a special interest in Brockton Bay. And he was well aware even before she went AWOL about who she was, what she did, and who she did it to. And who helped her...
So, he told his people to look out for someone specific. All his people. And they told all their people. And all his peers, even the ones who don't like him, did the same when they became aware of things, because no one wants to get on the wrong side of Antonio. It's not healthy. Add to that the way it's apparently connected somehow to the Family, and...
A couple of hours after the PRT sent out their BOLO, almost every trucker in the continental US was keeping an eye open for someone matching her description. There are a hell of a lot of truckers. It's an enormous information network, spread out across every road in the country, and mobile too. As soon as one of them, any one of them, spotted her, it wouldn't be particularly difficult to spread that information across the entire network. Escaping them after that would be pretty hard to do, since they know what they're looking for and are talking to each other.
Recall the diner she stopped in on her first night... And what happened next.
Also, as has been mentioned, she's not exactly being surreptitious about things. True, she thinks she is, but a car with a teenaged black girl in it with a bandaged wrist that has a tendency to take off like a scalded cat every time one particular shipping line has a truck in the vicinity is a fairly good indicator as to who it is
Yes, she probably could figure out a way to escape this form of surveillance, but on the other hand she doesn't know what's going on... Which makes it a lot harder to deal with.
If she takes the direct approach and ambushes one of the drivers, she might learn it, but on the other hand she might get a bullet in the face. Not to mention that she's trying, reasonably successfully, to keep a low profile if only from law enforcement. She doesn't have a clue that the other side of the law are also tracking her and a lot more effectively. They do, of course, have a hell of a lot more people on the case than the cops do. But escalating to murder is going to make people look much harder for her and she knows it, so it's a last resort.
Yes, they just flew past from my point of view too
The amount of information the construct brain is acquiring from both Parahuman powers and their drivers is currently not specified, but one can assume it's a two-way street. Remember that they have at least double the brain volume of a human, it's much more efficient than human neural cells, and it's connected through a very high-bandwidth connection to the brain of the user...
Indeed. I do not share many ideological concepts with him, but he's more than capable of entirely reasonable discourse as has been proven many times. I would prefer, as I've said, that we work on that basis and don't go off on tangents that end badly for everyone. So, ideally, any particularly controversial opinion should be reserved for private conversations.
Please? We don't want this to happen →
This is, broadly speaking, often true. In my case, I find it funny to see how extreme I can make him before it's past the point of plausibility.
Problem is that over time it's become entirely obvious that no matter what words I put in his mouth, it can't possibly get extreme enough to match reality...
The only thing I find implausible, actually, is that he hasn't been permabanned long ago The PHO mods are far more tolerant than most.
On the other hand, it could be a Simurgh plot.
It's always a Simurgh plot...
I've been known in the past to go to the book store, buy twenty paperbacks, and read all of them in three days or so. Half a dozen a night, or more in some cases. I tend not to do that so much these days, at least partly because I seem to be writing more than reading
I taught myself to read at roughly 4 or so, according to what my mother told me. I genuinely can't remember a time I couldn't read to at least some level. By the time I was 12 I was doing something like 1200-1300 WPM according to tests I took at school, with what they claimed was 97% retention. I have no idea if this was accurate but they seemed impressed I got a lot faster as time passed.
I can certainly get into the state where I'm reading entire paragraphs at once, and I've noticed in the past that I tend to read both directions as I scan the page. Somehow it all works out in my head. The whole family has always been voracious readers and I grew up in a house stuffed with books. Probably north of 15 to 20 thousand of them. My personal collection is only around 7k, but the major limitation there is both cost and having somewhere to put the damn things!
We can assume that pretty much all Thinker abilites are screwed up by the Varga. Dinah and Lisa probably have far more success, as limited as it is, with getting something concerning the Family than any of the others do. Partially due to proximity, partially (in Lisa's case) due to actually being part of the Family, and partially because they're in no way hostile to Taylor or the Varga. Quite the opposite.
However, I haven't yet explored many of the ramifications of this sort of thing beyond what's already been written about. It'll probably come up in more detail as the story progresses.
*Yes, it's misspelled on purpose...
Spend a few days away, due to a massive time crunch on work, and come back to over 400 alerts and a miffed mod?? What the hell do you lot get up to when I'm not here to provide a stable and sane environment?
Sorry I've been unresponsive, but as I said, I've been up to the general armpit area since I posted the last chapter without even the opportunity to log in at all. I had quite a lot of posts to catch up on. But, I am back, and I will now answer questions and clarify things for everyone in a massive post! (probably not, I may well make things less understandable. With luck...)
Before I do that, though, two things:
Thing one. Thank you @Derek M for a very entertaining omake series, and I hope it continues. it's a lot of fun
Thing two. Please, guys, let's not get into arguments that call down official sanctions on us all? I shall be very, very annoyed if someone manages to get this thread locked because of a moment of incautious polemic, which is a very common thing in some places. We've managed to have remarkably, in fact almost impossibly, civil discourse on a whole series of subjects that more normally turn into a complete train wreck. I would prefer to see that continue. I am more than aware that a number of people here have opinions and outlooks that are in some cases wildly disparate and not really compatible with each other in quite a few ways. However, even though that's true, on balance everyone has been weirdly sensible about ignoring that sort of thing and just being excellent to each other. Let's do what we can to let this state of affairs continue, hmm? For me? Remember, push too hard and I will Release The
The ones on whom they are released will not enjoy it.
And if that doesn't work I will troll the hell out of you. Which would be even worse
So let's leave arguments about politics, religion, and anything similarly inflammatory to the relevant places and just get on with putting one word in front of another. Over, and over, and over, to the point that lesser mortails* give up and scream to the heavens...
TL;DR!
Right.
On with the responses.
Thanks. I have many words left, and the parts to make even more!
Indubitably
Thanks. I've got quite a lot of ideas that will make their way into the story, which you may well find amusing.
There are some... interesting... possibilities. I've had quite a lot of this, and more, in mind since I began the story, and I'll be fascinated to see both how it works out and what people think about it.
Yes. Thanks, fixed.
16k words, of course. It's more like 90k bytes. Lots and lots of typing...
There were people deliberately covering up the more egregious issues, but rumor and direct experience from her victims does get around. And if the PRT was more effective in cultivating informants on the street they might well have picked up on this earlier. Even in canon, Sophia got away with a lot more than she should have done.
Thanks, fixed.
It's not weird at all
And there will be more of that crossover along shortly, time and work permitting.Thanks very much. I enjoy writing it nearly as much as some people appear to enjoy reading it, and it's always nice to know that they're out there!
That is indeed a worthy goal
There are a number of interesting possibilities that could well come to pass in time. However, I don't want to just dump every one of them into the story without good reason and at least a little in-story research and development. They're already tooled up to a ridiculous level with just the things Taylor, Amy, and the others have made! Give it time
Hah! A mere 16k words? At least one friend of mine routinely does 50k chapters. Or 'novels' as some would call them.
That said, I'm not likely to go that large very often. 5k to 10k is my normal goal, more at the lower end than the higher.
Many, many things...
This is a valid point and I plead a long day and a very late night writing session for wording that's not, in retrospect, quite what I was going for. I'll rework it.
Crawler is out there. As is the Truth, I'm told.
At least one of these will probably arrive somewhere sooner or later.
Exactly how anatomically correct are Amy's bio-suits?As in, is there the obvious tell separating the 'genders' of the lizards, other then the voices? And no, I'm not being a perv, I'm actually curious how far Amy's bio-tinkering has gone...
In-story, it's been mentioned that they're essentially neuter at the moment. They don't have to be, she's entirely capable of making reproducing life forms, but at least in this case there are a number of reasons not to do so. One reason is that the PRT would collectively turn a nasty shade of purple, grab its chest, and collapse. No one wants that. Another is a more practical one which is that the bioconstructs make heavy use of EDM for various body structures, notably the skeleton and scales, which precludes (for now, at least) anyone other that Taylor or the Varga aiding them to reproduce. She could easily replace it with her own bioceramic, which is implausibly strong, but it's not EDM which is impossibly strong.
Yes, I left off a few things. I'll go back and add a couple of these, but several of them aren't really relevant right now. And it wasn't meant to be an exhaustive list of who knows exactly what and why.
Danny, though, does know pretty much everything since Taylor took some time a few chapters back to catch him up. He finds it... odd
Thanks, fixed.
Well, as a couple of people said, it's not really hypocritical. Armsmaster is obsessed with miniaturization and his version of efficiency. As Dragon has pointed out, he's hitting the point of diminishing returns with the latter already, although he's reluctant to see it. The former is more what Linda was talking about, though. Because he can take a design and shrink it to silly levels, his power being very, very good at this, he tries to put absolutely every last little trick he can manage into all his gear. As far as I can remember this is actually canon.
The problem with this, though, is that inevitably making things that small and complex and shoving dozens of different widgets into a confined space more or less inevitably amplifies the Tinker tech tendency to fail early and hard without constant maintenance.
Her stuff, on the other hand, was always very solidly if crudely built and didn't waste resources on attempting to be tiny and super efficient. As a result it was far more robust. Again, even in canon I think this was the case. Squealer's vehicles tended to be destroyed by external forces, usually Armsmaster, rather than failing in service. Partly this may well be because they got taken out pretty fast and didn't have time to fail, but I also suspect that they were just that tough.
Having Taylor able to make the parts for her, if she can describe what she wants well enough, not only opens up a huge number of areas on her tech tree, but also ensures that the parts themselves are very unlikely to break. Or even be breakable in the first place. Added to that is the fact that the omnivehicle is actually, as has been pointed out, a single-purpose device, not a whole series of different functions. It merely produces a vehicle from hard light, and nothing else. The key is that the vehicle produced is program-selectable, and it can have dozens at least of them available at the press of a button.
So I think her comment is valid
↑ Basically all this.
Antonio learned about Sophia practically at the same moment external law enforcement agencies did. In fact, he knows more than most of them do, since he's got a lot of people reporting to him. He does, after all, run an information brokerage that everyone uses, including Kaiser, Mark, even Legend. A security notice such as the one Emily released would come to his attention immediately, if only because he has a special interest in Brockton Bay. And he was well aware even before she went AWOL about who she was, what she did, and who she did it to. And who helped her...
So, he told his people to look out for someone specific. All his people. And they told all their people. And all his peers, even the ones who don't like him, did the same when they became aware of things, because no one wants to get on the wrong side of Antonio. It's not healthy. Add to that the way it's apparently connected somehow to the Family, and...
A couple of hours after the PRT sent out their BOLO, almost every trucker in the continental US was keeping an eye open for someone matching her description. There are a hell of a lot of truckers. It's an enormous information network, spread out across every road in the country, and mobile too. As soon as one of them, any one of them, spotted her, it wouldn't be particularly difficult to spread that information across the entire network. Escaping them after that would be pretty hard to do, since they know what they're looking for and are talking to each other.
Recall the diner she stopped in on her first night... And what happened next.
Also, as has been mentioned, she's not exactly being surreptitious about things. True, she thinks she is, but a car with a teenaged black girl in it with a bandaged wrist that has a tendency to take off like a scalded cat every time one particular shipping line has a truck in the vicinity is a fairly good indicator as to who it is
Yes, she probably could figure out a way to escape this form of surveillance, but on the other hand she doesn't know what's going on... Which makes it a lot harder to deal with.
If she takes the direct approach and ambushes one of the drivers, she might learn it, but on the other hand she might get a bullet in the face. Not to mention that she's trying, reasonably successfully, to keep a low profile if only from law enforcement. She doesn't have a clue that the other side of the law are also tracking her and a lot more effectively. They do, of course, have a hell of a lot more people on the case than the cops do. But escalating to murder is going to make people look much harder for her and she knows it, so it's a last resort.
Yes, they just flew past from my point of view too
The amount of information the construct brain is acquiring from both Parahuman powers and their drivers is currently not specified, but one can assume it's a two-way street. Remember that they have at least double the brain volume of a human, it's much more efficient than human neural cells, and it's connected through a very high-bandwidth connection to the brain of the user...
Indeed. I do not share many ideological concepts with him, but he's more than capable of entirely reasonable discourse as has been proven many times. I would prefer, as I've said, that we work on that basis and don't go off on tangents that end badly for everyone. So, ideally, any particularly controversial opinion should be reserved for private conversations.
Please? We don't want this to happen →
This is, broadly speaking, often true. In my case, I find it funny to see how extreme I can make him before it's past the point of plausibility.
Problem is that over time it's become entirely obvious that no matter what words I put in his mouth, it can't possibly get extreme enough to match reality...
The only thing I find implausible, actually, is that he hasn't been permabanned long ago
The PHO mods are far more tolerant than most.On the other hand, it could be a Simurgh plot.
It's always a Simurgh plot...
I've been known in the past to go to the book store, buy twenty paperbacks, and read all of them in three days or so. Half a dozen a night, or more in some cases. I tend not to do that so much these days, at least partly because I seem to be writing more than reading
I taught myself to read at roughly 4 or so, according to what my mother told me. I genuinely can't remember a time I couldn't read to at least some level. By the time I was 12 I was doing something like 1200-1300 WPM according to tests I took at school, with what they claimed was 97% retention. I have no idea if this was accurate but they seemed impressed
I got a lot faster as time passed.I can certainly get into the state where I'm reading entire paragraphs at once, and I've noticed in the past that I tend to read both directions as I scan the page. Somehow it all works out in my head. The whole family has always been voracious readers and I grew up in a house stuffed with books. Probably north of 15 to 20 thousand of them. My personal collection is only around 7k, but the major limitation there is both cost and having somewhere to put the damn things!
We can assume that pretty much all Thinker abilites are screwed up by the Varga. Dinah and Lisa probably have far more success, as limited as it is, with getting something concerning the Family than any of the others do. Partially due to proximity, partially (in Lisa's case) due to actually being part of the Family, and partially because they're in no way hostile to Taylor or the Varga. Quite the opposite.
However, I haven't yet explored many of the ramifications of this sort of thing beyond what's already been written about. It'll probably come up in more detail as the story progresses.
*Yes, it's misspelled on purpose...
Last edited:
- Location
- The general area. Possibly behind you.
I'll add a quick note for those who may have been hoping that the above was a new chapter or whatnot. It isn't, obviously, but I'll try to get something out tomorrow. Possibly more than one something. I haven't had any time at all to write for most of this week and I'm starting to suffer withdrawal symptoms
- Location
- Canada
So, basically, this can be summed up in three words: They dun goofed.
Come to think about it, why wouldn't they have enough street-level informants to catch that? In a gang-infested warzone like BB, I'd have thought they'd have as many ears to the ground as they could.
From that we've seen in-story, i'd say a key element of how well Thinkers can deal with the Varga's anti-Thinker effect is how well they can direct their power. Lisa and Dinah got relatively useful results because they can direct their power to "look" at events around the Varga/Taylor, rather than directly at them. Both Contessa and Number Man managed much the same, at least well enough to accurately say that messing with the Family or Dockworker's Union would end badly.
Coil on the other hand has a useful but inflexible power that he can't "aim" like that. It just simulates two possible futures, and crashes into "void" any time it encounters the Varga and tries to simulate him. Coil doesn't have the kind of detailed conscious control of his power he'd need to tell it to "not look" at the Varga. Nor does he have the kind of conscious feedback needed to figure out what was causing the problem until it's too late.
Coil on the other hand has a useful but inflexible power that he can't "aim" like that. It just simulates two possible futures, and crashes into "void" any time it encounters the Varga and tries to simulate him. Coil doesn't have the kind of detailed conscious control of his power he'd need to tell it to "not look" at the Varga. Nor does he have the kind of conscious feedback needed to figure out what was causing the problem until it's too late.
- Location
- The general area. Possibly behind you.
Because people fuck up. And they lie.
This is a universal constant. Doctor House could explain it in detail
Even in real life, there are constantly examples of LEO screwups where people didn't know something they should have done, or know it but fail to act on it, or pass it up the chain, or lose the information, or can't be bothered to do something with it because it's not high-profile enough, or...
In a place as corrupt as BB, with people actively trying to lose this sort of information, it's not surprising no one did anything until it was too late.
- Location
- Canada
From what I know about House... that should prove to be interesting.Because people fuck up. And they lie.
This is a universal constant. Doctor House could explain it in detail
True... we are only human after all.
Good point. And Coil messing around behind the scenes probably didn't help either. Bloody snake... I still think Taylor went too easy on him, but alas, they need him sane enough to talk.
I'll add a quick note for those who may have been hoping that the above was a new chapter or whatnot. It isn't, obviously, but I'll try to get something out tomorrow. Possibly more than one something. I haven't had any time at all to write for most of this week and I'm starting to suffer withdrawal symptoms
I smell a new chapter coming! Joy!
The fact that it's always a Simurgh plot is, in fact, a Simurgh plot.
It means no one believes it's always a Simurgh plot, thus ensuring the plots are never discovered.
FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
- Location
- The Internet
Okay, I feel like a massive idiot right now. Started the oven preheating, got out some dough I made last night and spread it out into a circle, added the tomato sauce, added cheese and toppings of choice (in this case pepperoni and hamburger, rewashed the pizza cutter since I didn't get it fully clean last time I washed it... Then I noticed I'd forgotten to actually turn the oven on.
Imhotep99301
Goddess Class one, Category one, Unlimited.
- Location
- Here
I am greatly looking forward to the wild and zany antics of Taylor and her Super Friends...