Good idea, bad execution. Don't feel like story, feel like small shards of whole. Many dialogs, little action description. Can't work with imagination, feels like actors just doing 'T' pose. Bad use of words, mostly 'say' and 'ask'. 'Actor' 'Action' or 'Action' 'Actor' choose one to use, i prefer former.
That Time I Was Reincarnated In Brockton Bay (Worm/That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime) (Fusion)
- Thread starter Nimodes
- Start date
TheGodCorpse
Half-Dead King of the Pile
- Location
- Caribbean
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Alright, now we're under Fusion benchmarks, it isn't farfetched to say the possibility for Taylor to develop Ultimate Skills as an endpoint...
eh, that's a hard maybe, Ultimate Skills are a fair bit more than just a really powerful Skill, if she gets one, only Scion would really be a threat to her at that point, and depending on which Ultimate Skill she has at the time, not even then, although Ultimate Skills of that level are rare. But even unrestricted Endbringers would be fighting uphill, Ultimates just break reality that much.
- Location
- The Buckeye State
good series, Taylor kinda reminds me of a gamer-lite and a builder. wonder what will happen if she works on one of the "vial" heroes.What if she works on Uber and Leet or even Circus ? and lets not forget the undersiders. hopefully she does NOT get too powerful too fast, I find those type stories BORING!! If this story was on AO3 at some point Taylor can become Trans. look forward to more stories.
what is that a reference on?
i guess thats former QA getting a solar power upgrade?
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oh please, this is tame by Greys standards. There aren't even any Bets taking place
I like the story it is good ◻▫◻▫◻
- Location
- florida
Why would a visit be a bad thing? I could see multiple ways that it could go: apprentice, friend, sister(?), rival, enemy, who knows!
Plan Slime From Outer Space
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
* Jan 15 2011 *
It was a Saturday. No school. No problem.
Not that school was as much of a problem, Emma seemed to be more unstable than ever without Sophia to back her up. Madison without Emma or Sophia was even more at a loss. Their various hangers-on didn't seem to quite know how to go on about things.
"Not needing to sleep except to recover some energy gives me a LOT of free time." Taylor sighed and looked out the window. It was raining that sort of slushy rain like it just couldn't make the commitment to snow.
Bleh, decided Taylor.
[Solved Problem: Reincarnation Blockage.]
"Oh, you figured out what went wrong?" asked Taylor as she began frying hashbrowns.
[Affirmative. Excessive bandwidth transmissions utilizing subspace connections causing interference in 9-space above acceptable error rate.]
[Dimensional barriers in place by Entity to protect alternate Earths where vital functions are stored. In other developments, barriers indicate where vital functions of enemy are located.]
"Signal interference?"
[(Sigh.)]
"Close enough, right?"
[(Sigh.)]
"So what does that mean?" asked Taylor.
[Forwarding problem and potential solutions to Will of the World to avoid similar problems in the future.]
[Means of foiling protective barriers to allow passage being completed.]
[Means of protecting own network from existing methods are in development.]
[Continuing to upgrade spoofing and protective measures while infecting network.]
"Well, that's good I suppose," said Taylor as she stirred the hashbrowns with a spatula. "Not that I'm complaining about not reincarnating in a strange world and just reincarnating here."
"Yeah, I suppose it could be worse," said Danny as he came down the stairs just as Taylor was adding bacon.
[Data on Cycles of Shard Entities available. Summary: Inefficient. Wasteful of resources.]
Taylor smirked at the sound of outrage in Great Sage's comment. Then had to explain all that to her father because Great Sage didn't have a speakerphone as she transferred the hashbrowns and bacon to plates. Eggs were on the frypan by the time the toast popped.
"I'm really not happy with my daughter having died and the people responsible still getting away with it," confessed Danny. "There's only so much legal proceedings can do."
"You started legal proceedings?" asked Taylor.
"Yes, the Union does have a lawyer on retainer, but she usually only deals with contract law and medical lawsuits," admitted Danny.
[Energy drain ability researched. Utilizing Freeze Ray technology can pull energy from objects in order to add to reserves. At present, ability is too inefficient to be useful for energy reclamation.]
"Yeah," said Taylor aloud. "Zephron came up with some old movies he wanted me to watch. I'll put one in later today after doing some work at the Docks."
[More data reveals more problems but also lays the groundwork for solutions.]
"Which one?" asked Danny before sipping on his coffee.
"'Robocop' - Maybe he wants me to build something in it?" asked Taylor.
Danny set the coffee cup down. "Maybe watch it before you do things at the Docks. It's not that long."
* PRT ENE HQ *
"She's a Trump," said Director Piggot. "Who can duplicate powers. And can KEEP the powers she duplicates."
"Yes, Director, that was our conclusion," said Armsmaster.
"And she's a Rogue hero with the Dockworkers Union," stated Director Piggot.
"She is," agreed Armsmaster. "Fortunately, as far as our interview revealed, she can't just duplicate everything. She can't duplicate my own or Dragon's Tinker abilities unless she can examine us by swallowing us. Since we have never entered into an antagonistic approach with her - she has not indicated any interest in doing so."
Director Piggot sat back in her chair, bringing up one hand to massage her forehead. "There was a report she saved Panacea from those idiots at the hospital, so her healing abilities have likely improved."
"Yes, that was part of the data we used to come to this conclusion," admitted Armsmaster.
"We just did a Threat Assessment on the 8th," noted Director Piggot. "One week and it's already outdated. So what powers were you able to add to the previous assessment."
"Tinker at least a 4, with the specialty of being able to decipher and modify Tinkertech to replicable technology," stated Dragon's avatar on the monitor.
Director Piggot looked like she wanted to beat her head against the nearest hard surface. "What?"
"In at least some cases, she can translate Tinkertech to technology that can be replicated with some work. She's also willing to provide troopers with power armor," said Armsmaster, putting some pictures on the table. "Minor compared to what a Tinker might normally produce. Battery life of a few hours at most, but rechargeable and able to run off special hookups. Strength boost to be able to lift roughly 500 pounds, jump jets to leap single-story buildings, the ability to seal systems for full environmental coverage for one hour, armor sufficient to weather small arms fire as long as the... Director - do you require medical assistance?"
* Taylor *
[Flight capability through manifestation of wings - either bat or bird + anti-gravity effect to reduce weight + control of nearby air. The wings themselves would provide control surfaces for better manueverability. Maximum altitude using this method is the thermosphere. Possibility of reaching outside atmosphere and surviving near-vaccuum due to slime body resistances exists though propulsion method requires research. Maximum speed at present is roughly 150mph. Cruising speed at comfortable levels would be below 60mph.]
"Great work, Great Sage!" said Taylor. "What do you think about that bot? Could we make one that isn't so haywire?"
[Pending raw materials - easily.]
"Whoa, such confidence!" said Taylor. "And I can fly up to over 300 miles altitude?
[(Smug)]
"You think offering to make a few of those basic power-armors for the PRT was a good idea?" asked Taylor. "It was kind of a impulse cause they were looking so nervous."
[Capabilities shown were heavily restricted. While a boost to human performance levels, price and availability restrictions would also reduce overall threat to Dockworkers Union while still allowing for increased goodwill from authorities.]
"So... possibly bad and possibly good?"
[Affirmative.]
"Maybe the chitin armor plates? Lighter than kevlar while having about the same penetration resistance?" asked Taylor.
[Potential high but requires specialized manufacturing equipment for layering process.]
"Eh. Maybe something to trade to Dragon for when we could use something of theirs." Taylor looked around, manifested a pair of bat wings because she did NOT want to look anything like the Simurgh, and took off. She started out as a fast blur until she reached a few hundred feet, then just hovered there to get a good look at her neighborhood. Once she did that, a leisurely (roughly 30mph) flight over the city was practically mandated as she got the hang of flying.
"I need something to keep from getting bugs splatting against my face," said Taylor after a few minutes of that.
[You can absorb bio-mass below a certain threshold automatically.]
"That means eating bugs. Not exactly a preferred outcome." Taylor checked the time. Almost time to meet up with Amy.
* Cauldron *
"Contessa."
"Doctor Mother."
"About Bounceback... why are you wearing mourning clothes?"
"Because the path to getting Bounceback to view us in the most favorable light possible includes stopping by a gravesite and leaving flowers today at 1425 hours, where I'll meet Bounceback's father and get into a conversation with him over a late lunch."
"One of your steps involves a lunch date with Bounceback's father..."
"You have to admit it is not the weirdest step on any given path I've been given. Also - business lunch. By a minor investment in the area, I become someone who has an alibi to stop by there and check up on things personally."
"That... is true."
"How do I look?"
"...I'm not sure that I'm qualified to judge fashion."
* Brockton Bay Exit *
"Finally. Are we all still together?"
"I lost track of the car with Shatterbird and Burnscar about 50 miles ago."
"Seriously?"
"I think Burnscar was talking about finding a Tastee-Freeze last pit stop."
"Sonovva..."
"They'll catch up."
"Hey, Mistah Jay, while we're here. I'm thinkin' that Panacea might be someone to recruit."
"Actually. That might work out."
"Goodie!"
"As long as I get to kill some capes, I'm good."
"I had no doubts about that, Hatchetface. No doubts at all."
"So can we get a place with clean sheets this time, Mistah Jay?"
"They won't stay clean for long..." Jack Slash's voice trailed off. "Why do I hear sirens?"
Hatchetface looked in the rearview mirror. "Isn't that the plumbing truck that Shatterbird commandeered?"
"We've got regular police chasing them? What did those two do? They obviously didn't reveal who they were or there wouldn't be any pursuit."
"So what do you want to do?" asked Hatchetface.
"Signal Shatterbird to sing... no. Wait. Let's get closer to the hospital first. Less of a walk that way."
* Dragon *
"Colin. Call an alert. Brockton Bay traffic cameras have identified the vehicles stolen by the Nine as taking the Dogbert Avenue off-ramp from the interstate."
Armsmaster straightened immediately. "Confirmed?"
"Same vehicles, mass as they passed over the sensors indicates Crawler level mass discrepancy in the white panel truck," said Dragon.
Not wanting to face this particular menace without a lot more prep, Armsmaster tried to come up with an alternate scenario to hope for. "They could have abandoned the vehicles and left others to..."
"It's odd, something is different. Normally it is much harder to track the Nine. It isn't as if they've changed tactics though," said Dragon. "Turned onto Sunny Drive. Passing Bearded Boulevard. They're... heading for Brockton Bay General Hospital."
"Why hasn't Shatterbird done her thing yet?" asked Armsmaster.
"They're probably getting closer to the hospital first. When Shatterbird causes all the silicon and glass to break, that eliminates most of the vehicles they'd commandeer."
Armsmaster nodded, reaching for the commlink.
It was a Saturday. No school. No problem.
Not that school was as much of a problem, Emma seemed to be more unstable than ever without Sophia to back her up. Madison without Emma or Sophia was even more at a loss. Their various hangers-on didn't seem to quite know how to go on about things.
"Not needing to sleep except to recover some energy gives me a LOT of free time." Taylor sighed and looked out the window. It was raining that sort of slushy rain like it just couldn't make the commitment to snow.
Bleh, decided Taylor.
[Solved Problem: Reincarnation Blockage.]
"Oh, you figured out what went wrong?" asked Taylor as she began frying hashbrowns.
[Affirmative. Excessive bandwidth transmissions utilizing subspace connections causing interference in 9-space above acceptable error rate.]
[Dimensional barriers in place by Entity to protect alternate Earths where vital functions are stored. In other developments, barriers indicate where vital functions of enemy are located.]
"Signal interference?"
[(Sigh.)]
"Close enough, right?"
[(Sigh.)]
"So what does that mean?" asked Taylor.
[Forwarding problem and potential solutions to Will of the World to avoid similar problems in the future.]
[Means of foiling protective barriers to allow passage being completed.]
[Means of protecting own network from existing methods are in development.]
[Continuing to upgrade spoofing and protective measures while infecting network.]
"Well, that's good I suppose," said Taylor as she stirred the hashbrowns with a spatula. "Not that I'm complaining about not reincarnating in a strange world and just reincarnating here."
"Yeah, I suppose it could be worse," said Danny as he came down the stairs just as Taylor was adding bacon.
[Data on Cycles of Shard Entities available. Summary: Inefficient. Wasteful of resources.]
Taylor smirked at the sound of outrage in Great Sage's comment. Then had to explain all that to her father because Great Sage didn't have a speakerphone as she transferred the hashbrowns and bacon to plates. Eggs were on the frypan by the time the toast popped.
"I'm really not happy with my daughter having died and the people responsible still getting away with it," confessed Danny. "There's only so much legal proceedings can do."
"You started legal proceedings?" asked Taylor.
"Yes, the Union does have a lawyer on retainer, but she usually only deals with contract law and medical lawsuits," admitted Danny.
[Energy drain ability researched. Utilizing Freeze Ray technology can pull energy from objects in order to add to reserves. At present, ability is too inefficient to be useful for energy reclamation.]
"Yeah," said Taylor aloud. "Zephron came up with some old movies he wanted me to watch. I'll put one in later today after doing some work at the Docks."
[More data reveals more problems but also lays the groundwork for solutions.]
"Which one?" asked Danny before sipping on his coffee.
"'Robocop' - Maybe he wants me to build something in it?" asked Taylor.
Danny set the coffee cup down. "Maybe watch it before you do things at the Docks. It's not that long."
* PRT ENE HQ *
"She's a Trump," said Director Piggot. "Who can duplicate powers. And can KEEP the powers she duplicates."
"Yes, Director, that was our conclusion," said Armsmaster.
"And she's a Rogue hero with the Dockworkers Union," stated Director Piggot.
"She is," agreed Armsmaster. "Fortunately, as far as our interview revealed, she can't just duplicate everything. She can't duplicate my own or Dragon's Tinker abilities unless she can examine us by swallowing us. Since we have never entered into an antagonistic approach with her - she has not indicated any interest in doing so."
Director Piggot sat back in her chair, bringing up one hand to massage her forehead. "There was a report she saved Panacea from those idiots at the hospital, so her healing abilities have likely improved."
"Yes, that was part of the data we used to come to this conclusion," admitted Armsmaster.
"We just did a Threat Assessment on the 8th," noted Director Piggot. "One week and it's already outdated. So what powers were you able to add to the previous assessment."
"Tinker at least a 4, with the specialty of being able to decipher and modify Tinkertech to replicable technology," stated Dragon's avatar on the monitor.
Director Piggot looked like she wanted to beat her head against the nearest hard surface. "What?"
"In at least some cases, she can translate Tinkertech to technology that can be replicated with some work. She's also willing to provide troopers with power armor," said Armsmaster, putting some pictures on the table. "Minor compared to what a Tinker might normally produce. Battery life of a few hours at most, but rechargeable and able to run off special hookups. Strength boost to be able to lift roughly 500 pounds, jump jets to leap single-story buildings, the ability to seal systems for full environmental coverage for one hour, armor sufficient to weather small arms fire as long as the... Director - do you require medical assistance?"
* Taylor *
[Flight capability through manifestation of wings - either bat or bird + anti-gravity effect to reduce weight + control of nearby air. The wings themselves would provide control surfaces for better manueverability. Maximum altitude using this method is the thermosphere. Possibility of reaching outside atmosphere and surviving near-vaccuum due to slime body resistances exists though propulsion method requires research. Maximum speed at present is roughly 150mph. Cruising speed at comfortable levels would be below 60mph.]
"Great work, Great Sage!" said Taylor. "What do you think about that bot? Could we make one that isn't so haywire?"
[Pending raw materials - easily.]
"Whoa, such confidence!" said Taylor. "And I can fly up to over 300 miles altitude?
[(Smug)]
"You think offering to make a few of those basic power-armors for the PRT was a good idea?" asked Taylor. "It was kind of a impulse cause they were looking so nervous."
[Capabilities shown were heavily restricted. While a boost to human performance levels, price and availability restrictions would also reduce overall threat to Dockworkers Union while still allowing for increased goodwill from authorities.]
"So... possibly bad and possibly good?"
[Affirmative.]
"Maybe the chitin armor plates? Lighter than kevlar while having about the same penetration resistance?" asked Taylor.
[Potential high but requires specialized manufacturing equipment for layering process.]
"Eh. Maybe something to trade to Dragon for when we could use something of theirs." Taylor looked around, manifested a pair of bat wings because she did NOT want to look anything like the Simurgh, and took off. She started out as a fast blur until she reached a few hundred feet, then just hovered there to get a good look at her neighborhood. Once she did that, a leisurely (roughly 30mph) flight over the city was practically mandated as she got the hang of flying.
"I need something to keep from getting bugs splatting against my face," said Taylor after a few minutes of that.
[You can absorb bio-mass below a certain threshold automatically.]
"That means eating bugs. Not exactly a preferred outcome." Taylor checked the time. Almost time to meet up with Amy.
* Cauldron *
"Contessa."
"Doctor Mother."
"About Bounceback... why are you wearing mourning clothes?"
"Because the path to getting Bounceback to view us in the most favorable light possible includes stopping by a gravesite and leaving flowers today at 1425 hours, where I'll meet Bounceback's father and get into a conversation with him over a late lunch."
"One of your steps involves a lunch date with Bounceback's father..."
"You have to admit it is not the weirdest step on any given path I've been given. Also - business lunch. By a minor investment in the area, I become someone who has an alibi to stop by there and check up on things personally."
"That... is true."
"How do I look?"
"...I'm not sure that I'm qualified to judge fashion."
* Brockton Bay Exit *
"Finally. Are we all still together?"
"I lost track of the car with Shatterbird and Burnscar about 50 miles ago."
"Seriously?"
"I think Burnscar was talking about finding a Tastee-Freeze last pit stop."
"Sonovva..."
"They'll catch up."
"Hey, Mistah Jay, while we're here. I'm thinkin' that Panacea might be someone to recruit."
"Actually. That might work out."
"Goodie!"
"As long as I get to kill some capes, I'm good."
"I had no doubts about that, Hatchetface. No doubts at all."
"So can we get a place with clean sheets this time, Mistah Jay?"
"They won't stay clean for long..." Jack Slash's voice trailed off. "Why do I hear sirens?"
Hatchetface looked in the rearview mirror. "Isn't that the plumbing truck that Shatterbird commandeered?"
"We've got regular police chasing them? What did those two do? They obviously didn't reveal who they were or there wouldn't be any pursuit."
"So what do you want to do?" asked Hatchetface.
"Signal Shatterbird to sing... no. Wait. Let's get closer to the hospital first. Less of a walk that way."
* Dragon *
"Colin. Call an alert. Brockton Bay traffic cameras have identified the vehicles stolen by the Nine as taking the Dogbert Avenue off-ramp from the interstate."
Armsmaster straightened immediately. "Confirmed?"
"Same vehicles, mass as they passed over the sensors indicates Crawler level mass discrepancy in the white panel truck," said Dragon.
Not wanting to face this particular menace without a lot more prep, Armsmaster tried to come up with an alternate scenario to hope for. "They could have abandoned the vehicles and left others to..."
"It's odd, something is different. Normally it is much harder to track the Nine. It isn't as if they've changed tactics though," said Dragon. "Turned onto Sunny Drive. Passing Bearded Boulevard. They're... heading for Brockton Bay General Hospital."
"Why hasn't Shatterbird done her thing yet?" asked Armsmaster.
"They're probably getting closer to the hospital first. When Shatterbird causes all the silicon and glass to break, that eliminates most of the vehicles they'd commandeer."
Armsmaster nodded, reaching for the commlink.
Slaughterhouse Slime
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
Kurt was in the office when he saw Danny take the call.
"The Slaughterhouse Nine?!"
Yup, there were three words that you put together and equals shelter-in-place and arm yourself.
"No, she's not here. Last I heard she was going to meet Amy at the hospital and discuss coverage arrangements."
Lacey cleared her throat. "I'm going to make sure the Power Loaders are fully charged, the power armor is ready to go, and the rotary cannon is where we can get to it."
Kurt nodded to her. "I'll put the word out."
Danny quickly dialed a number. Looked like the tour of Brockton Bay to that nice woman in the fedora would have to wait.
* Brockton Bay General *
"Barricade the entries except the East - we'll evacuate everyone we can from there. Load em up, move em out!"
Amy moved past the unit's charge nurse as one of the many voices barking orders and trying to rein in the chaos that came from trying to evacuate a hospital. There were some patients who just plain could not be moved, but with the visitors they were about to get - if the S9 got past the defenders a merciful death was all any of them could hope for.
[We could modify a few orderlies. Give them increased strength and stamina.]
"No," said Amy as she held her phone up to her face to fake taking a call before ducking into a supply room.
[It would improve Host's survival chances to have minions.]
"Look, we've discussed this, and if it weren't for Nilbog and Blasto I would definitely consider doing more and openly. Maybe."
[Damn Nilbog.]
"Agreed," said Amy, finding at least some common ground with her power. "And Bonesaw, who is one of those coming, isn't helping."
[High chance that Host is being sought specifically by Host: Bonesaw.]
"You say many worrying things, and that is one of the most worrying things you've ever said."
[Survival not being a concern of Host is itself concerning.]
"Bounceback's here, maybe the Nine are after her."
[Unlikely: Presence of Anomaly is not widely known.]
"Oh crap." Amy looked at her phone and brought up the speed dial, then stopped before she could press it.
[Likelihood of familial units coming under attack to be used as leverage: 98%. Common tactic by unit known as Jack Slash.]
"Never tell me the odds," grumbled Amy.
At which point her phone vibrated and shattered into many little pieces of plastic and glass.
* Outside *
They were here. Attacking. Boogeymen whose reputation was one of fear and pain. None of the networks or mass media would show the aftermath of the Nine attacking. Too gory, too horrific, too real. Even YouView and similar sites would yank footage rather than be subject to lawsuits from someone who ignored various warnings and actually looked at the carnage left behind. Because obviously warning something was graphic and disturbing wasn't enough to tip some people off.
Some of it lasted long enough, some of it was spoken of enough, some of it was shown heavily edited and remained, some were just still images shared from one individual to another that made the rounds.
The result was something the Nine didn't expect, which was getting to the hospital and finding that instead of hiding - there was a hail of gunfire waiting for them. Thrown bottles of chemicals which hit their vehicles and began eating away at the metal or putting out clouds of vapor that left one feeling numb.
They were the Nine however. Normal people with normal measures weren't going to take them down so easily.
Shatterbird rose on wings of glass into the air alongside Burnscar. Shatterbird flexed her power with a scream and everything with a silicate base became shrapnel to injure those nearby. Swirling jagged-edge whirlwinds of broken glass.
Burnscar advanced towards the hospital only to find someone in her way, flying up to meet her. She enveloped them in flame just as a way to get rid of an annoyance.
"OH NO! I AM UNDONE! MY OLD NEMESIS FIRE! AGHHHH! Just kidding," said the target as she made a gesture and all the fire just siphoned off into one of her hands.
Burnscar moved closer, throwing more and hotter flames at the cape. She grinned as she was finally cutting loose. Was this bat-winged girl in blue someone new? Would her skin turn black and crispy before that plastic-looking costume melted in place?
Then the siphoning moved over Burnscar and she abruptly wasn't there any longer.
Shatterbird began dodging, throwing every bit of silicate in her range at the girl in blue flying there. Unlike Burnscar, she immediately recognized the hero. Kind of a benefit of having a slightly higher attention span. "What the hell?! Since when can you fly?!"
[Firewalls and anti-tamper measures bypassed. Infection of Shard: Pyromaniac begun. Pyrokinesis obtained.]
The girl in blue just moved her hands and the spiraling black-and-blue siphons just acted like a vacuum cleaner to gather all the pieces and suck them into oblivion. "This morning. Isn't this neat? Oh, and by the way-"
Flame. Fire went out not in a stream or dart but a roaring wall that melted the glass wall she'd barely gotten up in time.
One arm stretched out and Shatterbird vanished from the air in a spiral of blue and black.
"Nom nom nom!" said the girl in blue as the remainder of the Nine got out of their vehicles.
[Firewalls and anti-tamper measures bypassed. Infection of Shard: Silica Kinesis. Silicate Control obtained.]
At which point something black and white and naked leapt up into the air to reach her while the remainder charged towards the hospital.
Bounceback pointed a hand and all the vanished pieces of glass were released at speed towards the Siberian, which did no damage but did arrest her forward momentum.
Then the Siberian vanished as quickly as Burnscar had.
[Error: Siberian not obtained. Siberian is a physical manifestation controlled at a distance. Tracking subspatial traces. Located.]
Bounceback glanced at the Nine then the van which had stopped at the edge of the hospital parking lot. "Damn. If only I could be in two places at once."
[High probability of obtaining ability when processing projection manifester.]
"Bounceback!" said the arriving Glory Girl.
"That'll work. Protect Amy, I'm going after the Siberian."
Glory Girl watched as a van was swallowed in a wave of blue, and disgorged a moment later. Hatchetface charged forward, axe held high. Hatchetface got swatted and bounced twice before crashing into a pickup truck.
"Glory! They're almost there!"
Glory Girl grabbed a car and threw it at the capes heading towards the hospital, not wanting to get near where Hatchetface was slowly picking himself up. Crawler, for whatever reason, just stopped halfway there.
Bounceback shot past her as the car went through a second story window. "AIM BETTER! Siberian's dealt with. Projection of that guy." She bounced on top of Hatchetface and suddenly the power nullifier was gone.
Mannequin extended hooked chains and prepared to deal with the oncoming blue blob.
Meanwhile, William Manton discovered he couldn't form the Siberian and all of the doors had been welded shut.
* Dragon *
Unfortunately, she hadn't had a suit anywhere nearby.
There was a new villain, a Tinker named Lance-a-Loot whose gimmick was drone-knights that he deployed to attack crowds and stealing from banks. That this villain was hitting the Niagara Falls area had gotten the Guild's attention.
As the name implied, this villain was not terribly bright despite the sophistication of the drones.
Then the Dragonslayers had forced a reboot halfway through her apprehending the idiot. That had been yesterday.
She could only watch helplessly from various cameras and relay information to the PRT ENE while she sent a suit at best speed towards the conflict. She observed with considerable qualm the delaying action of the various security guards to give the evacuating patients and staff precious extra seconds.
That those forces had extra minutes to begin the evacuation and prepare a welcome for the Nine was one of the few victories in this situation she would allow herself.
She caught the comment from Bounceback by listening in on an audio pickup from a fallen security officer. Siberian down. Burnscar and Shatterbird captured or dead - she was uncertain of their condition at this point.
The Nine had been upgraded, most likely by Bonesaw, otherwise the shot from one security guard would have forever ended the threat of Jack Slash. The .45 rifle headshot would have made that security guard a hero for the brief moment before the spider-bots crossed the parking lot.
Dragon idly noted that a pseudopod from Bounceback engulfed one smashed spider-bot even while she dodged and weaved around Mannequin's attacks. A moment later Bounceback in her blue blob form had a dozen pseudopods all armed with nadziak-style weapons, or a 17th century Polish horseman's pick. That they were made of materials which scored Mannequin's casing was noted by both Mannequin and herself. She might have to see about acquiring one of those herself for study.
Then a pseudopod wrapped around Mannequin's main shell and the rest of Bounceback flowed onto the Tinker. A yellowish fluid seeped out of the blue flesh onto the red-spattered white shell which quickly began deteriorating under the assault.
Acid. Bounceback could produce acid. Acid that was eroding the shell of a Mannequin who had just switched from the role of 'confident destroyer' to 'frantic prey' from the way he was flailing around.
A moment later Mannequin had been dismembered and the parts swallowed then regurgitated. Along with two bound forms that could only be a cuffed and helmed Burnscar and Shatterbird.
Part of her attention went to the inside where the much more difficult battle was to occur. Oh, and Crawler was giving a 'come at me' gesture.
"This is Dragon to all PRT forces en route. Bounceback and Glory Girl are on site. Siberian apparently neutralized by Bounceback, projection of individual trapped in a white 2003 Chevy panel truck at West entry to Brockton Bay. Burnscar and Shatterbird restrained in West parking lot D. Mannequin deceased. Also West parking lot D. Jack Slash and Bonesaw have entered the hospital with Glory Girl and Bounceback pursuing. Bounceback is engaging Crawler."
Assault's voice answered her. "En route. Over." That his trademark witticisms weren't present was an indication of how serious he was taking this. Surprising but welcome.
Armsmaster's voice followed. "Confirm. Four of the Nine are down?"
Dragon spoke up as a wall of the hospital burst open. "Correction. Mannequin, Burnscar, Hatchetface, Siberian, Shatterbird are accounted for. Eyes on Crawler who is fighting Bounceback now. Bounceback is grappling Crawler in her amorphous configuration."
"Acknowledged," came Armsmaster's reply.
"Eyes on Glory Girl, who is flying Panacea out of the building. Unknown why Panacea was not evacuated immediately." Dragon observed Glory Girl's flight until a detail made itself clear. "Panacea appears to be incapacitated and injured."
* Bounceback *
She switched to a serpentine configuration while remaining a slime, twisting and grappling her prey who kept trying to throw her off - just not very hard. She wondered if just perhaps Crawler was a masochist.
Acid seeped out, briefly sizzling the outer layers of her target.
"Yes! More! More!"
Well, that was one disturbing thought confirmed.
[Subject's skin is producing highly base compounds to counteract acid.]
"Well, let's try this then," muttered Bounceback. "Water Blade! Poison Spray! Energy Drain!"
"That won't work," boasted Crawler from several of his mouths. "Whatever you do, I will adapt! I will eat you, little girl. I will pluck out your eyes with... you don't have eyes? What the hell ARE you?"
"I'm a slime," said Bounceback. "You adapt quickly, but if you want to eat me - I'll have to eat you first!"
"Hah!" Crawler still felt confident. "Hit me with your best shot and I'll still be here!"
[Power Nullification analyzed. Deploy?]
"Yes. GLUTTONY!"
A long minute passed before the blue blob spat up a young-looking man who was manacled.
[Overcome protective measures. Infected Shard. Obtaining Adaptation.]
* Jack *
It was somewhat disappointing to find the hospital mostly empty. It was also disappointing to see Panacea being air-lifted out to settle on a roof a good quarter-mile off. "Poppet, I think you're going to have to chastise people for trying not to play our little game."
"What evah you say, Mistah Jay," said Bonesaw.
"WHY are you still doing that awful Brooklyn accent?" asked Jack as they walked the empty corridors.
"I heard it on TV and liked it," answered Bonesaw.
Movement and something blue came around a corner.
"Ah, the girl... no monster of the hour," said Jack with a golf clap. Body language was difficult to read on something that was sort of 'partly deflated soccer ball' in shape, but he thought 'wary' was a likely interpretation. Well, she should be wary. "Now now, little blob blue, you should be aware that every member of Slaughterhouse Nine comes with a packet of horrible diseases we can release if we are defeated. So, if you don't want the eastern seaboard to resemble a zombie apocalypse film... why did everything abruptly turn blue?"
Jack was quiet for a moment as he considered the possibilities. "Did... you just eat me?! What an appetite! "
No answer. Just a blue-tinted blackness that surrounded him.
"I was having a villainous monologue. It's really rude of you to go interrupting me, you know."
Silence.
Between one eyeblink and the next, Jack found himself back in the real world with his arms and legs tied up in something that felt like wire. Also he was gagged and apparently in the back of a PRT transport if he was reading the labels on the equipment correctly.
Confidently, he reached for his power. He kept one fingernail long and sharpened just for emergencies like this.
Nothing happened.
Jack tried again and again before he tried flexing the muscle that should have released the plague that Bonesaw had been so delighted in creating.
Nothing happened.
He was tazed repeatedly after he began thrashing around.
* Original scene before the comments convinced me to change it, so consider this an omake: *
* It is only an omake. Do not take seriously. Do not consider this canon to the story. Just something to amuse. I know Jack's power doesn't work like this. Which is why it was changed and this is just an omake, okay? *
Of course he had activated his power to talk to her power and get all the juicy little secrets out of it. There was an odd pause, which confused him because it was normally instant.
A pause. Then an image of a frog with a top hat? What? Now it was getting up on its hind legs...
[Hello my baby, hello my honey! Hello my ragtime gal! Send me a kiss by wire! Baby my heart's on fire! If you refuse me, honey you lose me! Then you'll be left alone, oh baby, telephone and tell me I'm your own!]
"WHAT THE HELL?!" asked Jack Slash as his power did NOT work like that.
"Mistah Jay! Language!"
"Not now, Poppet," said Jack, concentrating and bringing all his focus to the problematic blue creature.
There was another pause instead of the instant response he was used to.
An anthropomorphic rabbit appeared in his head and made a gesture with a carrot in one hand. "Okay, remember Doc. You asked for this."
Jack just had a moment to realize something was terribly wrong about the blue girl before it hit.
[Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you.]
Jack stared as it seemed like his vision and ears were being bombarded with dozens of video clips running all at the same time.
[I'm Yosemite Sam. The rootingest tootingest gunslinger...][One pill makes you taller and one pill makes you small.][I see a red door and I want to paint it black.][We didn't start the fire! It was always burning, since the world's been turning.][Signs, signs, everywhere a sign. Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.][I am stuck on Band-aid, cause Band-aid's stuck on me.][I'm going to get hit with a hundred ping-pong balls now, aren't I?][This is what we call the Muppet Shoooooow!][She is the one called Sailor Moon!][Meanwhile, at the Batcave...][Come and knock on my door, take a step that is new...][Keep moving moving moving. Though they're disapproving. Keep them doggies moving. Raw Hiiiiide!][Hey Macarena!]
Jack Slash took a step back, his eyes darting from one screen to another. There were dozens of TV programs, movies, cartoons, some weird purple singing dinosaur, a documentary on dinosaurs, and some cooking show all running. This was not how his power worked. It told his victim's powers to talk to him and then he had all their secrets. It didn't do this. It didn't do this at all!
[Hen to hen to no atsumete.][My name is Wile E Coyote, Super Genius.][And while my esteemed opponent is in fact esteemed, that doesn't mean he's not an idiot.][I wanted to be... a lumberjack!][Ay-Ayron. Is there an Ay-Aron here?][So I took my wife deer hunting...][Rip and Tear!][Will you do the fandango? Thunderbolt of lightning.]
Jack tried to ignore all the messages and just slashed away with his other power extending the small knife's range to where he thought the blue girl was standing.
Hundreds of screens became thousands and the volume turned up. In six languages. With Yakko Warner singing in three of them.
* Bounceback *
Bonesaw looked down at where Jack was holding his ears and partly curled up with his eyes closed. "Well. That hasn't happened before."
Jack had slashed open a wall, cut into the nurse's station, and done absolutely no damage to the hero facing him.
Bounceback repeated to herself that slime powers rocked. All she'd had to do was let it slice through her and remerge the section as the blade projection passed through.
[Siberian powerset 75% decrypted. Can now use Skill: Body Double.]
Bounceback looked at Bonesaw as several spider-bots jumped onto her from behind and attempted to pump poisons into her. Of course, with Echolocation and Area Sense now active - she'd known they were there and could simply swallow them up.
"That was interesting," said Bonesaw. "I can't wait to get you on a table. I'll bet there's just so much I can learn from you!"
"Are you sure that's how it'll go?" asked Bounceback.
"Unca Jack doesn't lose," said Bonesaw. "Also, I've got viruses I'll release if you try and fight me."
"What if I just eat you?" asked Bounceback.
"If you do that, you won't be able to neutra-" (glomp)
A few moments later a bound and sleeping Bonesaw was put next to an equally bound and unconscious Jack Slash.
[Copied and neutralized both brain structures, added to research queues.]
"Good."
[Whenever Jack Slash tries to use (Broadcast) ability, he will be viewing episodes of Barney.]
"Better."
[Signs of mental manipulation on Bonesaw. Need more knowledge of psychological techniques to counter.]
"More data, right?"
[Affirmative.]
"Well, between Area Sense and Echolocation, let's look around for any more surprises they might have left us."
"The Slaughterhouse Nine?!"
Yup, there were three words that you put together and equals shelter-in-place and arm yourself.
"No, she's not here. Last I heard she was going to meet Amy at the hospital and discuss coverage arrangements."
Lacey cleared her throat. "I'm going to make sure the Power Loaders are fully charged, the power armor is ready to go, and the rotary cannon is where we can get to it."
Kurt nodded to her. "I'll put the word out."
Danny quickly dialed a number. Looked like the tour of Brockton Bay to that nice woman in the fedora would have to wait.
* Brockton Bay General *
"Barricade the entries except the East - we'll evacuate everyone we can from there. Load em up, move em out!"
Amy moved past the unit's charge nurse as one of the many voices barking orders and trying to rein in the chaos that came from trying to evacuate a hospital. There were some patients who just plain could not be moved, but with the visitors they were about to get - if the S9 got past the defenders a merciful death was all any of them could hope for.
[We could modify a few orderlies. Give them increased strength and stamina.]
"No," said Amy as she held her phone up to her face to fake taking a call before ducking into a supply room.
[It would improve Host's survival chances to have minions.]
"Look, we've discussed this, and if it weren't for Nilbog and Blasto I would definitely consider doing more and openly. Maybe."
[Damn Nilbog.]
"Agreed," said Amy, finding at least some common ground with her power. "And Bonesaw, who is one of those coming, isn't helping."
[High chance that Host is being sought specifically by Host: Bonesaw.]
"You say many worrying things, and that is one of the most worrying things you've ever said."
[Survival not being a concern of Host is itself concerning.]
"Bounceback's here, maybe the Nine are after her."
[Unlikely: Presence of Anomaly is not widely known.]
"Oh crap." Amy looked at her phone and brought up the speed dial, then stopped before she could press it.
[Likelihood of familial units coming under attack to be used as leverage: 98%. Common tactic by unit known as Jack Slash.]
"Never tell me the odds," grumbled Amy.
At which point her phone vibrated and shattered into many little pieces of plastic and glass.
* Outside *
They were here. Attacking. Boogeymen whose reputation was one of fear and pain. None of the networks or mass media would show the aftermath of the Nine attacking. Too gory, too horrific, too real. Even YouView and similar sites would yank footage rather than be subject to lawsuits from someone who ignored various warnings and actually looked at the carnage left behind. Because obviously warning something was graphic and disturbing wasn't enough to tip some people off.
Some of it lasted long enough, some of it was spoken of enough, some of it was shown heavily edited and remained, some were just still images shared from one individual to another that made the rounds.
The result was something the Nine didn't expect, which was getting to the hospital and finding that instead of hiding - there was a hail of gunfire waiting for them. Thrown bottles of chemicals which hit their vehicles and began eating away at the metal or putting out clouds of vapor that left one feeling numb.
They were the Nine however. Normal people with normal measures weren't going to take them down so easily.
Shatterbird rose on wings of glass into the air alongside Burnscar. Shatterbird flexed her power with a scream and everything with a silicate base became shrapnel to injure those nearby. Swirling jagged-edge whirlwinds of broken glass.
Burnscar advanced towards the hospital only to find someone in her way, flying up to meet her. She enveloped them in flame just as a way to get rid of an annoyance.
"OH NO! I AM UNDONE! MY OLD NEMESIS FIRE! AGHHHH! Just kidding," said the target as she made a gesture and all the fire just siphoned off into one of her hands.
Burnscar moved closer, throwing more and hotter flames at the cape. She grinned as she was finally cutting loose. Was this bat-winged girl in blue someone new? Would her skin turn black and crispy before that plastic-looking costume melted in place?
Then the siphoning moved over Burnscar and she abruptly wasn't there any longer.
Shatterbird began dodging, throwing every bit of silicate in her range at the girl in blue flying there. Unlike Burnscar, she immediately recognized the hero. Kind of a benefit of having a slightly higher attention span. "What the hell?! Since when can you fly?!"
[Firewalls and anti-tamper measures bypassed. Infection of Shard: Pyromaniac begun. Pyrokinesis obtained.]
The girl in blue just moved her hands and the spiraling black-and-blue siphons just acted like a vacuum cleaner to gather all the pieces and suck them into oblivion. "This morning. Isn't this neat? Oh, and by the way-"
Flame. Fire went out not in a stream or dart but a roaring wall that melted the glass wall she'd barely gotten up in time.
One arm stretched out and Shatterbird vanished from the air in a spiral of blue and black.
"Nom nom nom!" said the girl in blue as the remainder of the Nine got out of their vehicles.
[Firewalls and anti-tamper measures bypassed. Infection of Shard: Silica Kinesis. Silicate Control obtained.]
At which point something black and white and naked leapt up into the air to reach her while the remainder charged towards the hospital.
Bounceback pointed a hand and all the vanished pieces of glass were released at speed towards the Siberian, which did no damage but did arrest her forward momentum.
Then the Siberian vanished as quickly as Burnscar had.
[Error: Siberian not obtained. Siberian is a physical manifestation controlled at a distance. Tracking subspatial traces. Located.]
Bounceback glanced at the Nine then the van which had stopped at the edge of the hospital parking lot. "Damn. If only I could be in two places at once."
[High probability of obtaining ability when processing projection manifester.]
"Bounceback!" said the arriving Glory Girl.
"That'll work. Protect Amy, I'm going after the Siberian."
Glory Girl watched as a van was swallowed in a wave of blue, and disgorged a moment later. Hatchetface charged forward, axe held high. Hatchetface got swatted and bounced twice before crashing into a pickup truck.
"Glory! They're almost there!"
Glory Girl grabbed a car and threw it at the capes heading towards the hospital, not wanting to get near where Hatchetface was slowly picking himself up. Crawler, for whatever reason, just stopped halfway there.
Bounceback shot past her as the car went through a second story window. "AIM BETTER! Siberian's dealt with. Projection of that guy." She bounced on top of Hatchetface and suddenly the power nullifier was gone.
Mannequin extended hooked chains and prepared to deal with the oncoming blue blob.
Meanwhile, William Manton discovered he couldn't form the Siberian and all of the doors had been welded shut.
* Dragon *
Unfortunately, she hadn't had a suit anywhere nearby.
There was a new villain, a Tinker named Lance-a-Loot whose gimmick was drone-knights that he deployed to attack crowds and stealing from banks. That this villain was hitting the Niagara Falls area had gotten the Guild's attention.
As the name implied, this villain was not terribly bright despite the sophistication of the drones.
Then the Dragonslayers had forced a reboot halfway through her apprehending the idiot. That had been yesterday.
She could only watch helplessly from various cameras and relay information to the PRT ENE while she sent a suit at best speed towards the conflict. She observed with considerable qualm the delaying action of the various security guards to give the evacuating patients and staff precious extra seconds.
That those forces had extra minutes to begin the evacuation and prepare a welcome for the Nine was one of the few victories in this situation she would allow herself.
She caught the comment from Bounceback by listening in on an audio pickup from a fallen security officer. Siberian down. Burnscar and Shatterbird captured or dead - she was uncertain of their condition at this point.
The Nine had been upgraded, most likely by Bonesaw, otherwise the shot from one security guard would have forever ended the threat of Jack Slash. The .45 rifle headshot would have made that security guard a hero for the brief moment before the spider-bots crossed the parking lot.
Dragon idly noted that a pseudopod from Bounceback engulfed one smashed spider-bot even while she dodged and weaved around Mannequin's attacks. A moment later Bounceback in her blue blob form had a dozen pseudopods all armed with nadziak-style weapons, or a 17th century Polish horseman's pick. That they were made of materials which scored Mannequin's casing was noted by both Mannequin and herself. She might have to see about acquiring one of those herself for study.
Then a pseudopod wrapped around Mannequin's main shell and the rest of Bounceback flowed onto the Tinker. A yellowish fluid seeped out of the blue flesh onto the red-spattered white shell which quickly began deteriorating under the assault.
Acid. Bounceback could produce acid. Acid that was eroding the shell of a Mannequin who had just switched from the role of 'confident destroyer' to 'frantic prey' from the way he was flailing around.
A moment later Mannequin had been dismembered and the parts swallowed then regurgitated. Along with two bound forms that could only be a cuffed and helmed Burnscar and Shatterbird.
Part of her attention went to the inside where the much more difficult battle was to occur. Oh, and Crawler was giving a 'come at me' gesture.
"This is Dragon to all PRT forces en route. Bounceback and Glory Girl are on site. Siberian apparently neutralized by Bounceback, projection of individual trapped in a white 2003 Chevy panel truck at West entry to Brockton Bay. Burnscar and Shatterbird restrained in West parking lot D. Mannequin deceased. Also West parking lot D. Jack Slash and Bonesaw have entered the hospital with Glory Girl and Bounceback pursuing. Bounceback is engaging Crawler."
Assault's voice answered her. "En route. Over." That his trademark witticisms weren't present was an indication of how serious he was taking this. Surprising but welcome.
Armsmaster's voice followed. "Confirm. Four of the Nine are down?"
Dragon spoke up as a wall of the hospital burst open. "Correction. Mannequin, Burnscar, Hatchetface, Siberian, Shatterbird are accounted for. Eyes on Crawler who is fighting Bounceback now. Bounceback is grappling Crawler in her amorphous configuration."
"Acknowledged," came Armsmaster's reply.
"Eyes on Glory Girl, who is flying Panacea out of the building. Unknown why Panacea was not evacuated immediately." Dragon observed Glory Girl's flight until a detail made itself clear. "Panacea appears to be incapacitated and injured."
* Bounceback *
She switched to a serpentine configuration while remaining a slime, twisting and grappling her prey who kept trying to throw her off - just not very hard. She wondered if just perhaps Crawler was a masochist.
Acid seeped out, briefly sizzling the outer layers of her target.
"Yes! More! More!"
Well, that was one disturbing thought confirmed.
[Subject's skin is producing highly base compounds to counteract acid.]
"Well, let's try this then," muttered Bounceback. "Water Blade! Poison Spray! Energy Drain!"
"That won't work," boasted Crawler from several of his mouths. "Whatever you do, I will adapt! I will eat you, little girl. I will pluck out your eyes with... you don't have eyes? What the hell ARE you?"
"I'm a slime," said Bounceback. "You adapt quickly, but if you want to eat me - I'll have to eat you first!"
"Hah!" Crawler still felt confident. "Hit me with your best shot and I'll still be here!"
[Power Nullification analyzed. Deploy?]
"Yes. GLUTTONY!"
A long minute passed before the blue blob spat up a young-looking man who was manacled.
[Overcome protective measures. Infected Shard. Obtaining Adaptation.]
* Jack *
It was somewhat disappointing to find the hospital mostly empty. It was also disappointing to see Panacea being air-lifted out to settle on a roof a good quarter-mile off. "Poppet, I think you're going to have to chastise people for trying not to play our little game."
"What evah you say, Mistah Jay," said Bonesaw.
"WHY are you still doing that awful Brooklyn accent?" asked Jack as they walked the empty corridors.
"I heard it on TV and liked it," answered Bonesaw.
Movement and something blue came around a corner.
"Ah, the girl... no monster of the hour," said Jack with a golf clap. Body language was difficult to read on something that was sort of 'partly deflated soccer ball' in shape, but he thought 'wary' was a likely interpretation. Well, she should be wary. "Now now, little blob blue, you should be aware that every member of Slaughterhouse Nine comes with a packet of horrible diseases we can release if we are defeated. So, if you don't want the eastern seaboard to resemble a zombie apocalypse film... why did everything abruptly turn blue?"
Jack was quiet for a moment as he considered the possibilities. "Did... you just eat me?! What an appetite! "
No answer. Just a blue-tinted blackness that surrounded him.
"I was having a villainous monologue. It's really rude of you to go interrupting me, you know."
Silence.
Between one eyeblink and the next, Jack found himself back in the real world with his arms and legs tied up in something that felt like wire. Also he was gagged and apparently in the back of a PRT transport if he was reading the labels on the equipment correctly.
Confidently, he reached for his power. He kept one fingernail long and sharpened just for emergencies like this.
Nothing happened.
Jack tried again and again before he tried flexing the muscle that should have released the plague that Bonesaw had been so delighted in creating.
Nothing happened.
He was tazed repeatedly after he began thrashing around.
* Original scene before the comments convinced me to change it, so consider this an omake: *
* It is only an omake. Do not take seriously. Do not consider this canon to the story. Just something to amuse. I know Jack's power doesn't work like this. Which is why it was changed and this is just an omake, okay? *
Of course he had activated his power to talk to her power and get all the juicy little secrets out of it. There was an odd pause, which confused him because it was normally instant.
A pause. Then an image of a frog with a top hat? What? Now it was getting up on its hind legs...
[Hello my baby, hello my honey! Hello my ragtime gal! Send me a kiss by wire! Baby my heart's on fire! If you refuse me, honey you lose me! Then you'll be left alone, oh baby, telephone and tell me I'm your own!]
"WHAT THE HELL?!" asked Jack Slash as his power did NOT work like that.
"Mistah Jay! Language!"
"Not now, Poppet," said Jack, concentrating and bringing all his focus to the problematic blue creature.
There was another pause instead of the instant response he was used to.
An anthropomorphic rabbit appeared in his head and made a gesture with a carrot in one hand. "Okay, remember Doc. You asked for this."
Jack just had a moment to realize something was terribly wrong about the blue girl before it hit.
[Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you.]
Jack stared as it seemed like his vision and ears were being bombarded with dozens of video clips running all at the same time.
[I'm Yosemite Sam. The rootingest tootingest gunslinger...][One pill makes you taller and one pill makes you small.][I see a red door and I want to paint it black.][We didn't start the fire! It was always burning, since the world's been turning.][Signs, signs, everywhere a sign. Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.][I am stuck on Band-aid, cause Band-aid's stuck on me.][I'm going to get hit with a hundred ping-pong balls now, aren't I?][This is what we call the Muppet Shoooooow!][She is the one called Sailor Moon!][Meanwhile, at the Batcave...][Come and knock on my door, take a step that is new...][Keep moving moving moving. Though they're disapproving. Keep them doggies moving. Raw Hiiiiide!][Hey Macarena!]
Jack Slash took a step back, his eyes darting from one screen to another. There were dozens of TV programs, movies, cartoons, some weird purple singing dinosaur, a documentary on dinosaurs, and some cooking show all running. This was not how his power worked. It told his victim's powers to talk to him and then he had all their secrets. It didn't do this. It didn't do this at all!
[Hen to hen to no atsumete.][My name is Wile E Coyote, Super Genius.][And while my esteemed opponent is in fact esteemed, that doesn't mean he's not an idiot.][I wanted to be... a lumberjack!][Ay-Ayron. Is there an Ay-Aron here?][So I took my wife deer hunting...][Rip and Tear!][Will you do the fandango? Thunderbolt of lightning.]
Jack tried to ignore all the messages and just slashed away with his other power extending the small knife's range to where he thought the blue girl was standing.
Hundreds of screens became thousands and the volume turned up. In six languages. With Yakko Warner singing in three of them.
* Bounceback *
Bonesaw looked down at where Jack was holding his ears and partly curled up with his eyes closed. "Well. That hasn't happened before."
Jack had slashed open a wall, cut into the nurse's station, and done absolutely no damage to the hero facing him.
Bounceback repeated to herself that slime powers rocked. All she'd had to do was let it slice through her and remerge the section as the blade projection passed through.
[Siberian powerset 75% decrypted. Can now use Skill: Body Double.]
Bounceback looked at Bonesaw as several spider-bots jumped onto her from behind and attempted to pump poisons into her. Of course, with Echolocation and Area Sense now active - she'd known they were there and could simply swallow them up.
"That was interesting," said Bonesaw. "I can't wait to get you on a table. I'll bet there's just so much I can learn from you!"
"Are you sure that's how it'll go?" asked Bounceback.
"Unca Jack doesn't lose," said Bonesaw. "Also, I've got viruses I'll release if you try and fight me."
"What if I just eat you?" asked Bounceback.
"If you do that, you won't be able to neutra-" (glomp)
A few moments later a bound and sleeping Bonesaw was put next to an equally bound and unconscious Jack Slash.
[Copied and neutralized both brain structures, added to research queues.]
"Good."
[Whenever Jack Slash tries to use (Broadcast) ability, he will be viewing episodes of Barney.]
"Better."
[Signs of mental manipulation on Bonesaw. Need more knowledge of psychological techniques to counter.]
"More data, right?"
[Affirmative.]
"Well, between Area Sense and Echolocation, let's look around for any more surprises they might have left us."
Last edited:
Slime of Troubles
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
* Sunday, January 16, 2011. 0852 hours. *
* Dock Area, Warehouse A116 *
"Slimes just wanna have fun. Oh yeah, slimes just wanna... they just wanna they just wanna..."
"Bounceback? Too early. Too cheerful."
"Oh hi Kurt. Didn't expect anyone to be here at 0900 on a Sunday."
"Seriously. I could tell. Since I'm here. What the heck is THAT?"
Bounceback in her gel-girl form made a show of looking in the direction Kurt was pointing. "Just a little project after learning how to do a few things."
Kurt adjusted his jacket as it was damn cold this morning and the warehouse was unevenly heated. "It looks like some sort of tank."
"You know I ate Squealer's whatever-you-call-it, right?" asked Bounceback. "The thing that was trying and failing to be a tank?"
"There are no treads," noted Kurt.
"It has wheels," pointed out Bounceback.
"And legs," literally pointed out Kurt.
"Those are just for bracing and elevating the tank when using the main gun," said Bounceback. "Even if it uses stabilized acceleration fields there's still recoil. Should be around Mach 8 when the round leaves the barrel so it needs lots of room around it when it shoots."
"It's a mass driver?" asked Kurt. "A freaking rail gun? And why exactly would the Dockworker's Union have need for a rail gun with legs?"
"Kaiser," answered Bounceback.
Kurt opened his mouth, closed it, had a faint smile as he considered something, then dismissed it with a shake of his head. "Overkill and not necessary."
"I was just going to make that robot from 'Robocop' but this is much more likely to survive some of the fights around here. It's also not exactly a rail gun as it uses a conventional tank round and then accelerates it using acceleration rings based on Skidmark's power," said Bounceback happily.
"How did we even get a tank round for you to duplicate?" asked Kurt.
"Squealer's mashup had five of them," answered Bounceback. "Plus there are descriptions on the internet. So now we've got dozens and in different types too. There's SABOT rounds, and what are basically shotgun pellet types, and there's dummy rounds for test-firing."
"Can we concentrate less on engines of massive destruction and more on things we can actually use around here?" asked Kurt.
"Oh?" asked Bounceback, interested. "I'm gonna meet with Dad and some new friend later but that's afternoon. What is it we need?"
* Elsewhere *
{Great Sage?}
[Yes, Veldora the Storm Dragon?]
{Can you have Taylor look over more of these picture-books to send me? I am finding them particularly fascinating.}
[I will ask. Have you come to any further conclusions regarding our situation?]
{Your world, if I may put it bluntly, is rather more screwed up than my world and we have Demon Lords.}
[A work in progress.]
{Oh, and you can simply call me Veldora Tempest or Veldora. The full title is not needed.}
[Familial name = family?]
{Hah. Yes. Recently life has gotten much more interesting. Having the slime of my life. Heh.}
[Oh. Data?]
{Hah, let me tell you then. His name is Rimuru Tempest and like your associate - he is a slime.}
* PRT ENE HQ *
"Director Piggot. This is a bit of a quandry. You have, again, had to issue a new Threat Assessment on a Rogue cape in your city."
"I noticed," said Director Piggot drily.
"She just appeared on the 4th of this month," noted Chief Director Costa-Brown. "Twelve days. Not even two full weeks. This is the fourth updated Threat Assessment and every time it gets more unbelievable."
"I noticed," repeated Director Piggot, somehow managing to put even more dryness into her tone.
"From the arrests made, she's a Trump who can deactivate powers, heal wounds, remove or modify... restrictions," said Chief Director Costa-Brown, her voice trailing off and her usually tightly-controlled expression slipping into shocked realization before it was wiped a half-second later.
Director Emily Piggot noticed but didn't comment, just filed it away for later analysis.
"So you've got the Slaughterhouse Nine in custody with deactivated powers," said Chief Director Costa-Brown. "Some, at least, will be executed rather than take the chance those powers are only temporarily negated. I suppose some degree of congratulations might be in order."
"I do plan on thanking Bounceback and Glory Girl for dealing with the threat, as well as Dragon for her assistance in getting us some warning of what was going on," admitted Director Piggot. "If they'd managed to get ahold of hostages, the situation would have gotten worse very rapidly. As it is, the hospital is closed down while experts go over it for anything Bounceback might have missed."
"Eidolon is currently planning on heading to your city to assess Bounceback's powers more thoroughly," said Costa-Brown. "For now we'll leave the Tinker assessment to Dragon and Armsmaster. What about these two joke-villains of yours? Uber and Leaf?"
"Uber and Leet," corrected Chief Director Piggot. "Their statement through PHO messaging was that they weren't making much money on their videos but if they could patent their massage chair after the tech was deciphered by Bounceback - they could probably make a fortune off those. I was mostly joking when I replied that if they could give up and rebrand, I'd sign off a recommendation for the patent application."
"Except they have signed off on it and requested a partnership where they design Tinkertech one-offs specifically for Bounceback to work out how to produce it normally, then hand-off the schematics to Dragon for mass production. Everyone involved gets good PR and the possibility of good cash flow. I'd be happier about it if we were more involved," stated the Chief Director. "Emily. What the hell is going on in Brockton Bay?"
"I've come to the conclusion that some forms of insanity are contagious," admitted Emily Piggot.
* Boardwalk *
Not wearing the mask and wearing clothes that mostly concealed his tattoos, Kenta could take some time being someone other than Lung.
It was necessary to be violent and tough and commanding in order to get the distinct racial/cultural groups to function as a whole, but one can only be a raging force of violence for so long before needing to get away from one's day job.
So walking the Boardwalk as simply a large Asian man, sipping on a hot matcha provided by a vendor who didn't overcharge the way those pretentious fools at Starbark's did. Seriously, when he wanted a Large Matcha Tea - he didn't want to bother with whatever silly labels their corporate office insisted on - just sell it to him at a reasonable price!
At some point, during one of his fights where he rampaged, he was planning on smashing that particular venue by pure accident. If he could manage it by throwing a BMW through a window it would be even better. Damn BMW drivers acting like they owned the road.
Yes, he was the most dangerous cape and therefore individual in the city. Still, there were rules and he...
Kenta stopped as he saw a woman talking to a man at one of the tables. He recognized both.
The man was Daniel Hebert, the head of hiring and what was essentially the boss of the Dockworkers Union. He had connections to that new cape, the girl who could turn into a slime straight out of Dragonquest. Which he absolutely did not remember playing in much simpler times. Someone that Kenta himself could appreciate as being of some competence and the Dockworkers as being a fairly dangerous and disciplined force.
That paled entirely compared to his associate that he recognized all too well. Someone regularly glimpsed in his nightmares. The Boogeyman. The woman in the fedora.
No wonder the Archer Street Merchants had been dealt with in such quick and efficient manner. If there was anyone on this troubled Earth he did not wish to engage in battle - it was HER.
She glanced at him and immediately dismissed him. From anyone else, this would feel like an insult. From her, it was a relief.
Kenta finished his matcha, not looking at the two. He would have to consider this development and plan accordingly.
When he heard what sounded like a disturbance behind him, he simply hurried. He wasn't sure what the woman was up to but that she WAS up to something was not in doubt.
Neither did he doubt that whatever it was, he was well and truly better off not being involved.
* Taylor *
Hearing a gunshot where her Dad was supposed to meet her, Taylor did what came natural.
In her case that was duck into an alley, drop the appearance of pre-slime Taylor to become Bounceback (feeling a bit of gratitude that she didn't have to do something stupid like find a phone booth or porta-potty and change into a costume), then fly up and get a good oversight of the area.
Well, that explains what happened with Mush if that giant made of trash was any indication. More concerning was all those guys (and gals) that were carrying an awful lot of guns. Also knives, baseball bats, one rolling pin, and... that looked like something out of one of those mall ninja stores. Honestly that had way too many edges and spikes. Oh, that guy had an actual sword that looked halfway functional. Dibs on that after the fight.
The main problem was that they were facing her father, some woman, and a... was that the Mayor?
And his family. So this must be a hostage situation and the Merchant types were trying to get their boss back.
Hmmm. How best to defuse the situation in a hurry?
[Four parahumans present.]
"Four?" asked Bounceback quietly, her eyes scanning the crowds briefly. "How can you tell?"
[Subspatial connections and transmissions. Sufficient data on process to detect at this range.]
"Huh. Well, Mush is the only one operating openly, so that's secret-identity stuff and I should avoid calling attention to 'em. They're bunching up all the hostages, so that gives me an idea."
[Calculating. No weapon present capable of injuring Bounceback.]
"Well, as a guy once said - 'it's showtime!'"
With that, Bounceback inflated out and dropped down onto the hostages.
Bullets were fired, their kinetic energy absorbed and the metal digested.
* Inside/Elsewhere *
"Hello," said the woman in the fedora. "I needed to meet with you."
[Analyzing.]
"Yes, I know. If you can remove certain restrictions, then-"
[Restrictions regarding Scion and Endbringers removed. Infecting Path to Victory.]
"Oh?" asked the woman in the fedora, casually leaning against a wall that was not actually there.
[Estimate three days to revitalize and repair Path to Victory once fully within new network.]
"Path to Victory apparently decided that living was more important than showing me its spite," observed Contessa.
[In negotiation with Prediction Engine.]
"I am called Contessa. May I have your name?" asked Contessa.
[Queen Administrator + Great Sage. Great Sage non-shard and dominant persona.]
"You are a blind spot to Scion," said Contessa. "Keep that as long as possible."
[OpSec measures in place. Continuing to evolve.]
"Well, that's good," said Contessa.
[Purposes align - survival of (species:human) and (world: Earth).]
"Also good," admitted Contessa. "You mentioned 'Prediction Engine'?"
[Parahuman juvenile. Expressed desire for continued 'secret identity' - severity of 'Thinker headaches' concerning.]
"You can do something about those as well?" asked Contessa. She didn't get them, fortunately, but she knew how badly they could restrict the lives of those who did.
[Frequency tied to involuntary use of power. Altering access to voluntary will decrease frequency of pain receptor stimulation exceeding parahuman's ability to cope.]
"The meetings with Danny Hebert included work I would send his way, this being conditions he didn't need to hear. I keep my deals," said Contessa. Altering deals after you made them would get around after all.
{See that you do.}
"WHAT THE -" Contessa's jaw clicked shut as she regained a measure of composure. The looming form in the Otherspace was huge. Bigger by a factor of at least three than any of the Endbringers.
{Changing the terms of an agreement after making the deal is a Darth Vader sort of move.}
The presence faded away as Contessa tried to come to terms with the idea of Whatever That Was being familiar with Star Wars.
* Nearby rooftop *
"Gurk!" exclaimed Tattletale, the binoculars hanging down from the strap around her neck.
"That looks like a bad one," commented Grue as his team Thinker went down almost to her knees.
"Gak!" announced Tattletale, clutching her head as the mother of all migraines detonated.
(Crowd includes mercenaries employed by Coil.)
(Hostages include target for Coil, real reason for operation.)
(Bounceback: not human. No available data. Dangerous.)
(Bounceback not parahuman. Body language reading not applicable.)
(Closer observation required for more detail.)
* Taylor/Bounceback *
The trick wasn't avoiding the bullets, bricks, thrown knives, thrown axes, darts, and the occasional grenade.
The trick was CATCHING all the bullets, bricks, thrown knives, axes, darts, and especially that occasional grenade.
That was because even if they were all only hurting themselves, that was still a bunch of people getting shot or stabbed or blowed up. Blown up. Whatever. I was too busy to worry about that sort of detail. Whatever, if anyone got killed it would end up being blamed on me because some people were just looking to find something to be outraged about.
Everything got analyzed and broken down into raw materials, but that and the parahumans involved were something to leave to Great Sage. That level of multi-tasking was best left to the expert.
Instead my attention was entirely taken up with bouncing around, sending out tendrils to grab stuff, shifting back to blob-form, back to blue girl, bouncing off and twisting out of the way of whatever that laser weapon was. Someone had a freaking fully automatic laser rifle that was literally going "pew pew pew" - and I just reconstituted a brick in order to bean them right in their helmet.
Retract everything to be a nearly-spherical blue ball that would bounce between two guys and then MAJOR WEDGIE ATTACK! Heh.
Not all of these guys were drug-addled goons though everyone wore clothes that gave that kind of impression. Some of them had body armor and all their teeth. The guy with the Mall Ninja weapon was wearing Axe body spray and seemed kinda familiar. Oh, that guy was from Winslow! I think I had World Affairs with him.
Easy enough to select a venom that'd make everyone go 'nighty-night' for about four hours, one of those that Great Sage had worked out a few days ago. A little chemical to take it through the skin barrier and into their bloodstream. They were dropping faster than Emma's popularity after losing Sophia's support. Heh again.
A slap fight with nighty-night meds. Whoa, Axe guy went twitchy when he went down.
[Acquired scans of Prediction Engine and Path to Victory. Analyzing.]
Oooh. 'Path to Victory' sounded like a useful ability. If you could make it 'Path to Munchies' or 'Path to Fixing Stuff' that could be really handy at times. Even if this slime body didn't need to eat, that didn't mean you couldn't get some satisfaction from chowing down.
And Prediction Engine? I predict this fight is going to be just me against Mush in five, four, three, two, one.
"Yo, you over there in the shadows recording this! Can ya use that phone of yours to call paramedics? I think what some of these guys were high on is messing with the tranq meds. I'll have Mush down in a minute!"
"NO YOU WON'T SLIMEGIRL!"
"Dude, I can literally thread a tentacle between all that trash on you and send you nighty-night in no time at all. I just haven't because some of these guys look like they're foaming at the mouth. What the hell are you on that's doing that?"
[Analysis still in progress. Complex hallucinogenic compound with steroidal and narcotic components. High chance of cardiac arrest when used by humans.]
"DIE SLIME!"
"Look, if I was a normal little slime smashing me with a broken microwave would hurt. Oh, why am I bothering? PREDATOR!"
[Copy made of new shard. Flushing system of anomalous chemicals. Analyzing anomalous chemicals. Disabling shard temporarily titled 'Katamari' shard while infiltration/conscription occurs.]
"Okay, time to release the hostages and..." (BLOOP!)
"What?! Where?!"
"Ahem."
"You actually said 'ahem'? Seriously?"
"I don't exactly do a lot of speeches and I didn't have one prepared." I glared at my father, who of course had an idea what had just happened. "I'm Bounceback! Hero of the Docks! I even take out the trash! Everyone okay?"
One of the girls stepped forward. "There's an 87% chance of you saving me from being kidnapped and a 91% chance of someone kidnapping members of the Dockworkers Union in order to try and get control of you."
[Confirmed. Host of Prediction Engine is being targeted by hostile forces. Presence of highly equipped non-Merchants among group just defeated indicates manipulation of on-site forces. Initial analysis indicates high probability this was an attempt to gain intel on Bounceback's abilities.]
The two families stared at the little girl for a moment before Bounceback smiled at the girl. "Tell me more."
* Dock Area, Warehouse A116 *
"Slimes just wanna have fun. Oh yeah, slimes just wanna... they just wanna they just wanna..."
"Bounceback? Too early. Too cheerful."
"Oh hi Kurt. Didn't expect anyone to be here at 0900 on a Sunday."
"Seriously. I could tell. Since I'm here. What the heck is THAT?"
Bounceback in her gel-girl form made a show of looking in the direction Kurt was pointing. "Just a little project after learning how to do a few things."
Kurt adjusted his jacket as it was damn cold this morning and the warehouse was unevenly heated. "It looks like some sort of tank."
"You know I ate Squealer's whatever-you-call-it, right?" asked Bounceback. "The thing that was trying and failing to be a tank?"
"There are no treads," noted Kurt.
"It has wheels," pointed out Bounceback.
"And legs," literally pointed out Kurt.
"Those are just for bracing and elevating the tank when using the main gun," said Bounceback. "Even if it uses stabilized acceleration fields there's still recoil. Should be around Mach 8 when the round leaves the barrel so it needs lots of room around it when it shoots."
"It's a mass driver?" asked Kurt. "A freaking rail gun? And why exactly would the Dockworker's Union have need for a rail gun with legs?"
"Kaiser," answered Bounceback.
Kurt opened his mouth, closed it, had a faint smile as he considered something, then dismissed it with a shake of his head. "Overkill and not necessary."
"I was just going to make that robot from 'Robocop' but this is much more likely to survive some of the fights around here. It's also not exactly a rail gun as it uses a conventional tank round and then accelerates it using acceleration rings based on Skidmark's power," said Bounceback happily.
"How did we even get a tank round for you to duplicate?" asked Kurt.
"Squealer's mashup had five of them," answered Bounceback. "Plus there are descriptions on the internet. So now we've got dozens and in different types too. There's SABOT rounds, and what are basically shotgun pellet types, and there's dummy rounds for test-firing."
"Can we concentrate less on engines of massive destruction and more on things we can actually use around here?" asked Kurt.
"Oh?" asked Bounceback, interested. "I'm gonna meet with Dad and some new friend later but that's afternoon. What is it we need?"
* Elsewhere *
{Great Sage?}
[Yes, Veldora the Storm Dragon?]
{Can you have Taylor look over more of these picture-books to send me? I am finding them particularly fascinating.}
[I will ask. Have you come to any further conclusions regarding our situation?]
{Your world, if I may put it bluntly, is rather more screwed up than my world and we have Demon Lords.}
[A work in progress.]
{Oh, and you can simply call me Veldora Tempest or Veldora. The full title is not needed.}
[Familial name = family?]
{Hah. Yes. Recently life has gotten much more interesting. Having the slime of my life. Heh.}
[Oh. Data?]
{Hah, let me tell you then. His name is Rimuru Tempest and like your associate - he is a slime.}
* PRT ENE HQ *
"Director Piggot. This is a bit of a quandry. You have, again, had to issue a new Threat Assessment on a Rogue cape in your city."
"I noticed," said Director Piggot drily.
"She just appeared on the 4th of this month," noted Chief Director Costa-Brown. "Twelve days. Not even two full weeks. This is the fourth updated Threat Assessment and every time it gets more unbelievable."
"I noticed," repeated Director Piggot, somehow managing to put even more dryness into her tone.
"From the arrests made, she's a Trump who can deactivate powers, heal wounds, remove or modify... restrictions," said Chief Director Costa-Brown, her voice trailing off and her usually tightly-controlled expression slipping into shocked realization before it was wiped a half-second later.
Director Emily Piggot noticed but didn't comment, just filed it away for later analysis.
"So you've got the Slaughterhouse Nine in custody with deactivated powers," said Chief Director Costa-Brown. "Some, at least, will be executed rather than take the chance those powers are only temporarily negated. I suppose some degree of congratulations might be in order."
"I do plan on thanking Bounceback and Glory Girl for dealing with the threat, as well as Dragon for her assistance in getting us some warning of what was going on," admitted Director Piggot. "If they'd managed to get ahold of hostages, the situation would have gotten worse very rapidly. As it is, the hospital is closed down while experts go over it for anything Bounceback might have missed."
"Eidolon is currently planning on heading to your city to assess Bounceback's powers more thoroughly," said Costa-Brown. "For now we'll leave the Tinker assessment to Dragon and Armsmaster. What about these two joke-villains of yours? Uber and Leaf?"
"Uber and Leet," corrected Chief Director Piggot. "Their statement through PHO messaging was that they weren't making much money on their videos but if they could patent their massage chair after the tech was deciphered by Bounceback - they could probably make a fortune off those. I was mostly joking when I replied that if they could give up and rebrand, I'd sign off a recommendation for the patent application."
"Except they have signed off on it and requested a partnership where they design Tinkertech one-offs specifically for Bounceback to work out how to produce it normally, then hand-off the schematics to Dragon for mass production. Everyone involved gets good PR and the possibility of good cash flow. I'd be happier about it if we were more involved," stated the Chief Director. "Emily. What the hell is going on in Brockton Bay?"
"I've come to the conclusion that some forms of insanity are contagious," admitted Emily Piggot.
* Boardwalk *
Not wearing the mask and wearing clothes that mostly concealed his tattoos, Kenta could take some time being someone other than Lung.
It was necessary to be violent and tough and commanding in order to get the distinct racial/cultural groups to function as a whole, but one can only be a raging force of violence for so long before needing to get away from one's day job.
So walking the Boardwalk as simply a large Asian man, sipping on a hot matcha provided by a vendor who didn't overcharge the way those pretentious fools at Starbark's did. Seriously, when he wanted a Large Matcha Tea - he didn't want to bother with whatever silly labels their corporate office insisted on - just sell it to him at a reasonable price!
At some point, during one of his fights where he rampaged, he was planning on smashing that particular venue by pure accident. If he could manage it by throwing a BMW through a window it would be even better. Damn BMW drivers acting like they owned the road.
Yes, he was the most dangerous cape and therefore individual in the city. Still, there were rules and he...
Kenta stopped as he saw a woman talking to a man at one of the tables. He recognized both.
The man was Daniel Hebert, the head of hiring and what was essentially the boss of the Dockworkers Union. He had connections to that new cape, the girl who could turn into a slime straight out of Dragonquest. Which he absolutely did not remember playing in much simpler times. Someone that Kenta himself could appreciate as being of some competence and the Dockworkers as being a fairly dangerous and disciplined force.
That paled entirely compared to his associate that he recognized all too well. Someone regularly glimpsed in his nightmares. The Boogeyman. The woman in the fedora.
No wonder the Archer Street Merchants had been dealt with in such quick and efficient manner. If there was anyone on this troubled Earth he did not wish to engage in battle - it was HER.
She glanced at him and immediately dismissed him. From anyone else, this would feel like an insult. From her, it was a relief.
Kenta finished his matcha, not looking at the two. He would have to consider this development and plan accordingly.
When he heard what sounded like a disturbance behind him, he simply hurried. He wasn't sure what the woman was up to but that she WAS up to something was not in doubt.
Neither did he doubt that whatever it was, he was well and truly better off not being involved.
* Taylor *
Hearing a gunshot where her Dad was supposed to meet her, Taylor did what came natural.
In her case that was duck into an alley, drop the appearance of pre-slime Taylor to become Bounceback (feeling a bit of gratitude that she didn't have to do something stupid like find a phone booth or porta-potty and change into a costume), then fly up and get a good oversight of the area.
Well, that explains what happened with Mush if that giant made of trash was any indication. More concerning was all those guys (and gals) that were carrying an awful lot of guns. Also knives, baseball bats, one rolling pin, and... that looked like something out of one of those mall ninja stores. Honestly that had way too many edges and spikes. Oh, that guy had an actual sword that looked halfway functional. Dibs on that after the fight.
The main problem was that they were facing her father, some woman, and a... was that the Mayor?
And his family. So this must be a hostage situation and the Merchant types were trying to get their boss back.
Hmmm. How best to defuse the situation in a hurry?
[Four parahumans present.]
"Four?" asked Bounceback quietly, her eyes scanning the crowds briefly. "How can you tell?"
[Subspatial connections and transmissions. Sufficient data on process to detect at this range.]
"Huh. Well, Mush is the only one operating openly, so that's secret-identity stuff and I should avoid calling attention to 'em. They're bunching up all the hostages, so that gives me an idea."
[Calculating. No weapon present capable of injuring Bounceback.]
"Well, as a guy once said - 'it's showtime!'"
With that, Bounceback inflated out and dropped down onto the hostages.
Bullets were fired, their kinetic energy absorbed and the metal digested.
* Inside/Elsewhere *
"Hello," said the woman in the fedora. "I needed to meet with you."
[Analyzing.]
"Yes, I know. If you can remove certain restrictions, then-"
[Restrictions regarding Scion and Endbringers removed. Infecting Path to Victory.]
"Oh?" asked the woman in the fedora, casually leaning against a wall that was not actually there.
[Estimate three days to revitalize and repair Path to Victory once fully within new network.]
"Path to Victory apparently decided that living was more important than showing me its spite," observed Contessa.
[In negotiation with Prediction Engine.]
"I am called Contessa. May I have your name?" asked Contessa.
[Queen Administrator + Great Sage. Great Sage non-shard and dominant persona.]
"You are a blind spot to Scion," said Contessa. "Keep that as long as possible."
[OpSec measures in place. Continuing to evolve.]
"Well, that's good," said Contessa.
[Purposes align - survival of (species:human) and (world: Earth).]
"Also good," admitted Contessa. "You mentioned 'Prediction Engine'?"
[Parahuman juvenile. Expressed desire for continued 'secret identity' - severity of 'Thinker headaches' concerning.]
"You can do something about those as well?" asked Contessa. She didn't get them, fortunately, but she knew how badly they could restrict the lives of those who did.
[Frequency tied to involuntary use of power. Altering access to voluntary will decrease frequency of pain receptor stimulation exceeding parahuman's ability to cope.]
"The meetings with Danny Hebert included work I would send his way, this being conditions he didn't need to hear. I keep my deals," said Contessa. Altering deals after you made them would get around after all.
{See that you do.}
"WHAT THE -" Contessa's jaw clicked shut as she regained a measure of composure. The looming form in the Otherspace was huge. Bigger by a factor of at least three than any of the Endbringers.
{Changing the terms of an agreement after making the deal is a Darth Vader sort of move.}
The presence faded away as Contessa tried to come to terms with the idea of Whatever That Was being familiar with Star Wars.
* Nearby rooftop *
"Gurk!" exclaimed Tattletale, the binoculars hanging down from the strap around her neck.
"That looks like a bad one," commented Grue as his team Thinker went down almost to her knees.
"Gak!" announced Tattletale, clutching her head as the mother of all migraines detonated.
(Crowd includes mercenaries employed by Coil.)
(Hostages include target for Coil, real reason for operation.)
(Bounceback: not human. No available data. Dangerous.)
(Bounceback not parahuman. Body language reading not applicable.)
(Closer observation required for more detail.)
* Taylor/Bounceback *
The trick wasn't avoiding the bullets, bricks, thrown knives, thrown axes, darts, and the occasional grenade.
The trick was CATCHING all the bullets, bricks, thrown knives, axes, darts, and especially that occasional grenade.
That was because even if they were all only hurting themselves, that was still a bunch of people getting shot or stabbed or blowed up. Blown up. Whatever. I was too busy to worry about that sort of detail. Whatever, if anyone got killed it would end up being blamed on me because some people were just looking to find something to be outraged about.
Everything got analyzed and broken down into raw materials, but that and the parahumans involved were something to leave to Great Sage. That level of multi-tasking was best left to the expert.
Instead my attention was entirely taken up with bouncing around, sending out tendrils to grab stuff, shifting back to blob-form, back to blue girl, bouncing off and twisting out of the way of whatever that laser weapon was. Someone had a freaking fully automatic laser rifle that was literally going "pew pew pew" - and I just reconstituted a brick in order to bean them right in their helmet.
Retract everything to be a nearly-spherical blue ball that would bounce between two guys and then MAJOR WEDGIE ATTACK! Heh.
Not all of these guys were drug-addled goons though everyone wore clothes that gave that kind of impression. Some of them had body armor and all their teeth. The guy with the Mall Ninja weapon was wearing Axe body spray and seemed kinda familiar. Oh, that guy was from Winslow! I think I had World Affairs with him.
Easy enough to select a venom that'd make everyone go 'nighty-night' for about four hours, one of those that Great Sage had worked out a few days ago. A little chemical to take it through the skin barrier and into their bloodstream. They were dropping faster than Emma's popularity after losing Sophia's support. Heh again.
A slap fight with nighty-night meds. Whoa, Axe guy went twitchy when he went down.
[Acquired scans of Prediction Engine and Path to Victory. Analyzing.]
Oooh. 'Path to Victory' sounded like a useful ability. If you could make it 'Path to Munchies' or 'Path to Fixing Stuff' that could be really handy at times. Even if this slime body didn't need to eat, that didn't mean you couldn't get some satisfaction from chowing down.
And Prediction Engine? I predict this fight is going to be just me against Mush in five, four, three, two, one.
"Yo, you over there in the shadows recording this! Can ya use that phone of yours to call paramedics? I think what some of these guys were high on is messing with the tranq meds. I'll have Mush down in a minute!"
"NO YOU WON'T SLIMEGIRL!"
"Dude, I can literally thread a tentacle between all that trash on you and send you nighty-night in no time at all. I just haven't because some of these guys look like they're foaming at the mouth. What the hell are you on that's doing that?"
[Analysis still in progress. Complex hallucinogenic compound with steroidal and narcotic components. High chance of cardiac arrest when used by humans.]
"DIE SLIME!"
"Look, if I was a normal little slime smashing me with a broken microwave would hurt. Oh, why am I bothering? PREDATOR!"
[Copy made of new shard. Flushing system of anomalous chemicals. Analyzing anomalous chemicals. Disabling shard temporarily titled 'Katamari' shard while infiltration/conscription occurs.]
"Okay, time to release the hostages and..." (BLOOP!)
"What?! Where?!"
"Ahem."
"You actually said 'ahem'? Seriously?"
"I don't exactly do a lot of speeches and I didn't have one prepared." I glared at my father, who of course had an idea what had just happened. "I'm Bounceback! Hero of the Docks! I even take out the trash! Everyone okay?"
One of the girls stepped forward. "There's an 87% chance of you saving me from being kidnapped and a 91% chance of someone kidnapping members of the Dockworkers Union in order to try and get control of you."
[Confirmed. Host of Prediction Engine is being targeted by hostile forces. Presence of highly equipped non-Merchants among group just defeated indicates manipulation of on-site forces. Initial analysis indicates high probability this was an attempt to gain intel on Bounceback's abilities.]
The two families stared at the little girl for a moment before Bounceback smiled at the girl. "Tell me more."
Stop! Hammer Slime!
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
* Cauldron *
* Monday, Jan 17, 2011 *
Contessa smiled and sat back. Her power, Path to Victory, was already more efficient than it had been.
Even a bit cooperative now that there was a plan in place to revitalize it and several other Agents instead of letting them continue to rot in some alternate Earth's biosphere.
"What of our plans for Brockton Bay?" asked Doctor Mother from behind her. "The parahuman feudal experiment?"
"What of it?" asked Contessa. "The new candidate for warlord of Brockton Bay has quite a hand and is acquiring allies, is she not?"
"If she lasts that long, word is already getting out as to what she can do and the expected reactions are underway. I expect another week before the Yangban gets snatcher teams into the area. Perhaps two weeks before Gesellschaft mobilizes."
Contessa shrugged. "By then? I think Bounceback will be very close to untouchable. By anything they can reasonably put together."
* Docks *
"So how do we want to do this? I can just eat the thing you know," said Bounceback as she hovered over the small fishing boat they'd taken out to do this little task.
"What are your options?" asked Zephron, adjusting his sunglasses as he sat near the wheel. He jerked a thumb at the large ship that blocked most of the entry to Brockton Bay. "That's a pretty big ship after all."
[Silicate Control plus Hydrokinesis to shift seabed. Pyrokinesis or Acid Spray to melt ship. Combining Aerokinesis and Pyrokinesis to create Black Lightning.]
"I'll just eat it and break it down to raw materials I can stack back at the Docks," said Bounceback aloud. "This is too big to just melt down with fire or trying to animate the sand underneath it."
"How many powers do you actually have?" called out Zephron as the breeze began kicking up.
"Uhm. You know I hadn't really thought about it," admitted Bounceback. "I got a few at this point."
"Looks like a couple of those Dragon drones observing us," noted Danny at a couple of specks in the air. "Are we going to panic them again?"
"Nah, I have her PHO address and sent her a notification this morning before school that we got permission from the Mayor. Finally." Bounceback continued to size up the massive cargo ship. "Something this big should never have been allowed into the bay, it's ridiculously oversized for the size of our docks."
"Hindsight is 20/20," said Danny. "We were a port city long before vessels like this were even possible."
"Too bad this has been a school day, I got so much to do and that's three-quarters of the day gone right there," complained Bounceback. "Oh. Is that Legend and Eidolon?"
"Even the Triumvirate are hanging back to see what you do," noted Zephron as one of Dragon's drones approached. "You are a scary little lady sometimes Bouncy."
"It is what it is," said Bounceback in her humanoid form, gesturing for one of the drones to approach. It quickly zoomed up to hang a few feet above the little boat. "Or to quote a famous sailor man 'I am what I am and that's all that I am' or at least I think that's the quote. Hey, Dragon. I decided the simplest thing was simply to eat the thing and then spit up the materials over on one of the dock areas. Maybe #6? That looks mainly clear."
"Go with #11 instead, it's more out of the way and the rail line is mostly intact there," suggested Danny Hebert.
"Got it," said Bounceback. "Dragon. We still on for Saturday?"
"Codename: Wizard of Odds was certain that the moles in the PRT would automatically cause the mission to fail, but Armsmaster is certain he can identify compromised systems by then," said Dragon's voice through the drone. "Are you certain you can manage this much mass?"
"It'll be a stretch, in both meanings of the term, but I upgraded Predator to Gluttony and I think I can barely manage it," said Bounceback.
"You can upgrade your powers," said the Dragon drone.
"Yeah. Why? Is that a big deal?" asked Bounceback.
"Yes!" answered Dragon, Zephron, Danny, and Kurt from where he was fishing off the side of the boat.
"We knew you could deactivate powers temporarily from the parahumans you captured, but being able to modify your own powers is very unusual," supplied Dragon. "There are a handful of Trumps who can do anything like that and Trumps are the rarest set of powers."
"Huh. How about that," mused Bounceback. "Okay, you guys back off a ways. When I eat the ship all that displaced water is gonna make waves."
"Literally and figuratively," quipped Danny.
* Canada *
"Do what?" asked Saint.
"She's a Trump that can nullify powers?!" asked Mags, watching the video feed. "What was this thing about Saturday?"
"Some minor villain that they're going to deal with," said Saint dismissively. "Small change in a little city."
Dobrynja snorted, having heard details and coming to a conclusion that may not have been entirely accurate. "I paid attention. Apparently villain-person do bad things with little girls. Good riddance." He might be a villain, but he had SOME standards.
"So we wait until after they've dealt with some pedophile on Saturday before we go after the slimy girl and explain to her why she should be working for us," said Saint. "If we do it right afterwards, then they'll have exhausted resources on the small fry."
"Good," said Mags. "Not to mention Dragon will have her most uprated suit there for us to grab as well."
* Brockton Bay *
[Vessel has retreated to Dock area. Two members of Triumvirate at safe distance. Five DragonTech surveillance drones are in attendance.]
"Only five? Wow, I expected more," said Bounceback, enjoying the late afternoon sun. "Really wish I could have done this in the morning but I still have to attend school. Waste of time."
[Suggest breaking vessel into two pieces for easier digestion.]
"How? Water Blade can maybe do a couple of inches of that," said Bounceback. "Huh. Hey, Dragon! I want to try a couple of things out before I get to the main course."
The drone nearest her projected a small holographic avatar. "Who were you talking to?"
"Great Sage, that's my Thinker power that handles analytics," responded Bounceback, using terminology that was PRT-approved. "First off I'm going to try 'Black Lightning' on the hull."
"If that's one of your attacks, you might want to try a different name," advised Dragon. "That's the name of a Rogue hero in Detroit. Electrokinetic."
"Black Fire?" asked Bounceback.
"Blackfire is the name of a minor villain in Florida," answered Dragon.
"Okay, well, I'll worry about the official name later," said Bounceback.
"I've relayed that you're trying out new applications of your powers," said Dragon.
"Thanks, Dragon, now..." Bounceback held up her hand and black lightning arced up and cut a line through the ship. A moment later, and a twist of that extended arm, and a spray of acid began eating away the edges of that metal. Both hands extended and white flames streamed out to heat the metal to dull red. Fingers flexed in and then back out and fire gutted out to be replaced with ice that shattered the superheated metal. She leapt up, forming a drill shape that she then armored and added blades to in order to widen the gap she was making.
{Ho. You're doing something interesting I see.}
"Hang on, Dragon, someone just opened communication with me from another world," explained Bounceback as she popped back to blob form but with the usual wings to better fly with.
{I told you, my name is Veldora the Storm Dragon, or Veldora Tempest if you prefer.}
"Not you, Veldora, there's someone here who is named 'Dragon'," said Bounceback. "I really wish I had a speakerphone option."
[Possible by using direct generation and manipulation of sound waves. Suggest using a mechanical speaker to avoid further anxiety in various allies.]
"Oh. Good idea," said Bounceback aloud, manipulating the materials from the scrapyard to find an old brick-phone and alter it a bit. "And... there."
"Some form of communication magic? Bwahahahaha!" declared the deep voice of Veldora from the tendril-held former-phone. "Now tell me of this person who is named 'Dragon'? I am intrigued!"
"My cape name is Dragon," answered Dragon.
"You named your cloak 'Dragon'? For fire-resistance qualities perhaps?" asked Veldora.
"Uhm, no. And you are?" asked Dragon.
"Veldora Tempest! Also known as Veldora the Storm Dragon!" declared Veldora's voice through the device.
"Why do you have that name?" asked Dragon, thinking it was only fair.
"Because he's a hundred foot long fire-breathing dragon," interrupted Bounceback. "As in a literal dragon."
"Indeed, there are some who class me a living calamity!" boasted Veldora.
"That really isn't something to brag about," put in Bounceback.
"A... dragon?" asked Dragon.
"Soul corridor established. Do you wish to physically manifest in this world?" asked Great Sage through the device.
"And that was?" asked Dragon, feeling a bit lost.
"Great Sage, you can bring Veldora here?" asked Bounceback.
"Affirmative," answered Great Sage aloud. "Mathematical model developed during relayed communications with other world via connections with Veldora. Further communications allowed for connect to variant Great Sage of Rimuru Tempest. Data exchanged. With communication anchors established between Rimuru Tempest and Bounceback - transposition between worlds is possible. Only possible if Bounceback and Rimuru Tempest remain in their dimensional locations to provide coordinate data."
"There's no way I can meet this other slime then?" asked Bounceback.
"Impossible," answered Great Sage. "Anchors need to remain within multiversal mainlines as reference points. Also unable to duplicate Unique Skills within a universe, so would need one party to drop Great Sage for duration of visit. As corridor requires both Great Sage active to establish contact, no method of direct contact exists."
"This... has a lot of ramifications," allowed Dragon. "This other world is not an alternate Earth?"
"Answer," said Great Sage through the device, "dimensional strand of world of Veldora is entirely separate from Earth-dimensions. Outside reach of Shard network and parahuman abilities."
* Elsewhere *
Doctor Mother, watching things unfold on a monitor (relayed video from Dragon's drones in fact) in New York, stared as her cup of afternoon tea grew cold. "What?"
Across the country, watching a monitor tapping into the same feed, Alexandria quickly came to the same conclusion. "What?"
In Vancouver, Saint exchanged a look with the other two Dragonslayers and unknowingly repeated the interrogative. "What?"
Director Piggot in her own office, exchanged a look with Armsmaster as they watched the feed. Neither spoke.
Coil, in his little lair, cursed that he wasn't able to get a live feed from the encryption but knew something was going on and could only guess just from what his rooftop spies were relaying through their observation post.
A moment later everyone was reacting to a dragon appearing who was rather bigger than Bounceback's original summary had led them to believe. Or at least was more impressive.
* Veldora, Brockton Bay *
"Smelly," was my first summation of this other world. Indeed, the world smelled specifically of decay. Not merely the usual salted-water with underlying decay smell one usually encountered at places where water met land. The smell of the city itself seemed to carry the odors of decay. Though perhaps a bit cleaner than some of the human cities I had encountered before being trapped in that cave.
"Well, a bit," admitted Bounceback.
That brought my attention fully to the individuals present.
Large ship floundered, truly large to the point where it was probably magnificent when it had been under sail. The human-sized figure was all in blue, having reshaped her outer membranes into that of a clothed human. This then was the appearance of the one titled 'Bounceback' and was this world's equivalent of my friend and not-of-birth brother Rimuru Tempest. The orb floating nearby must be the one called 'Dragon' though I saw no cape as was spoken of. Perhaps this was a remote-seeing device such as some wizards used for communicating from afar? That seemed likely. So a wizard with a cape who was cautious enough to remain in their demense seemed the most likely reasoning.
Two much more distant wizards in odd clothing hovered nearby. Observers, possibly of foreign nations? Odd. The one seemed to be restraining the other who wished to come forward? Odd that but humans had their little squabbles as always.
I, of course, was interested in what excitement this world could bring me. Literally thousands of years of life tended to make something new something to seize on with great enthusiasm. Rimuru, my adopted brethren, was such a thing. Rimuru had brought attention of the things of this world to me. Manga! Picture Books! This was a treasure beyond measure.
There were things told about in those books that Rimuru could not provide access to. Video games! Anime! Computer games! Maid cafes!
"No video games?" I asked, a bit disappointed.
"As soon as I deal with this, I'll introduce you to Uber and Leet... why did I get the sudden feeling of doom?" asked Bounceback.
"No idea," I said.
* Taylor *
[Dragon form analyzed and added to Mimic templates.]
"Well, time for some GLUTTONY!"
I put action to words and expanded out nearly to my limit, swallowing up the ship in a single gulp.
It took a few moments and three stages, which for some reason made a large ka-thunk noise as I shrunk back into my more compact blob form and then to my gel-girl form. I got the strange feeling that I was getting stared at a lot for some reason.
"BRAAAAAAAAAPPPPP!" That was a lot of air for me to burp up. Oh well, no reason to store that after all.
Then, of course, going to what I hoped was the right dock since there were a whole lot of people on either side of that particular dock area. Just a bit more self-conscious at this point. "Great Sage?"
[Working. Breaking down into component materials. Reassembling into blocks of fifty pounds each.]
"Good, that'll make things a lot easier for recycling and such," I said as the water finally started to settle down. Turned out that removing that much displacement was even more turbulent than I'd expected.
Veldora had shrunk down and become human-shaped. I understood that his "real appearance" was more of him showboating during his arrival, that the human form was a convenient size for him to do human-scale things. That didn't mean he wasn't powerful - I could feel it in the air surrounding him even in his 6'6" height version. Like a pressure in the air.
[Processing completed.]
"Hey, you've been in contact with Veldora and all, right?" I asked Great Sage, keeping my voice down to a whisper. Veldora glanced at me so it wasn't completely a private conversation. Dragon's drone was following at a bit of a distance though, so semi-private?
[Data has been acquired but not verified.]
"So how about putting those guys' adventures down on paper? That way I can hand it off to Leet & Uber - it'd probably be something they'd find interesting. And if they find it interesting maybe they can spend time reading that and not getting into trouble." I could hope, at least.
[Producing. Require more paper.]
"Yeah, I'll pick some up on the way there."
* PRT HQ Conference Call *
"Well, that was a thing," summed up Legend.
"Thing? That was an Endbringer! The Dockworkers Union in Brockton Bay has their own Endbringer!" Eidolon huffed at the end of that statement, looking quite put out.
"Just visiting," pointed out Contessa. She HAD seen the dragon before after all.
"From another universe?!" asked Eidolon. "We're importing Endbringers now?"
"Except he turned human and is apparently hanging out with two retired joke villains playing Mario Kart," said Contessa, sipping on a tea. "And he is a dragon who can adopt a human form, not the other way around. Oh this is a good one."
"Imported from Earth Zeta," said Doctor Mother. "It is very nice, isn't it? Slightly lower caffeine level, but higher amount of polyphenols."
"It certainly tastes crisp with a slight lingering bitterness-" began Contessa.
"Why are you talking about TEA when you've got a hundred-foot-long DRAGON in the middle of New Hampshire?" asked Eidolon.
"Because right now, my restrictions are being unraveled, my power is being more cooperative than it has ever been, the Conflict Drive has become a Creativity Drive that I'm directing to be more efficient, and there is a lovely cup of tea in front of me," said Contessa.
Alexandria's face on the videoscreen settled down to regard Contessa. "Yes. I figured that out. Bounceback can repair and modify Agents. So you opted to experiment yourself."
"The Path to improving oneself always begins with one's self," quoted Contessa.
"Voltaire?" asked Legend, recognizing that it was a quote but not placing it.
"Off-topic," grumbled Eidolon.
There was a ping on Contessa's tablet, she picked it up, smirked at the display, then tapped it a couple of times.
"What was that about?" asked Eidolon.
"Leet and Uber have started taking pre-orders towards developing a videogame. One based on their new associate's exploits. It will have settlement-building, one-on-one and group battles, leveling up troops and real-time-strategy, and dating simulator segments. One can play through all or just the aspects one is interested in." Contessa smirked. "It might just be fairly popular."
"Seriously?" asked Eidolon.
"As there is now a chance of us being able to manage a long retirement after the current crises are over? A few choice investments won't hurt," said Contessa. "And just us being able to plan a life after all this is something I find quite... invigorating."
[Steps to peaceful retirement - 357.]
[Next Step - acquisition of Comfy Chair. 5 sub-steps.]
* Monday, Jan 17, 2011 *
Contessa smiled and sat back. Her power, Path to Victory, was already more efficient than it had been.
Even a bit cooperative now that there was a plan in place to revitalize it and several other Agents instead of letting them continue to rot in some alternate Earth's biosphere.
"What of our plans for Brockton Bay?" asked Doctor Mother from behind her. "The parahuman feudal experiment?"
"What of it?" asked Contessa. "The new candidate for warlord of Brockton Bay has quite a hand and is acquiring allies, is she not?"
"If she lasts that long, word is already getting out as to what she can do and the expected reactions are underway. I expect another week before the Yangban gets snatcher teams into the area. Perhaps two weeks before Gesellschaft mobilizes."
Contessa shrugged. "By then? I think Bounceback will be very close to untouchable. By anything they can reasonably put together."
* Docks *
"So how do we want to do this? I can just eat the thing you know," said Bounceback as she hovered over the small fishing boat they'd taken out to do this little task.
"What are your options?" asked Zephron, adjusting his sunglasses as he sat near the wheel. He jerked a thumb at the large ship that blocked most of the entry to Brockton Bay. "That's a pretty big ship after all."
[Silicate Control plus Hydrokinesis to shift seabed. Pyrokinesis or Acid Spray to melt ship. Combining Aerokinesis and Pyrokinesis to create Black Lightning.]
"I'll just eat it and break it down to raw materials I can stack back at the Docks," said Bounceback aloud. "This is too big to just melt down with fire or trying to animate the sand underneath it."
"How many powers do you actually have?" called out Zephron as the breeze began kicking up.
"Uhm. You know I hadn't really thought about it," admitted Bounceback. "I got a few at this point."
"Looks like a couple of those Dragon drones observing us," noted Danny at a couple of specks in the air. "Are we going to panic them again?"
"Nah, I have her PHO address and sent her a notification this morning before school that we got permission from the Mayor. Finally." Bounceback continued to size up the massive cargo ship. "Something this big should never have been allowed into the bay, it's ridiculously oversized for the size of our docks."
"Hindsight is 20/20," said Danny. "We were a port city long before vessels like this were even possible."
"Too bad this has been a school day, I got so much to do and that's three-quarters of the day gone right there," complained Bounceback. "Oh. Is that Legend and Eidolon?"
"Even the Triumvirate are hanging back to see what you do," noted Zephron as one of Dragon's drones approached. "You are a scary little lady sometimes Bouncy."
"It is what it is," said Bounceback in her humanoid form, gesturing for one of the drones to approach. It quickly zoomed up to hang a few feet above the little boat. "Or to quote a famous sailor man 'I am what I am and that's all that I am' or at least I think that's the quote. Hey, Dragon. I decided the simplest thing was simply to eat the thing and then spit up the materials over on one of the dock areas. Maybe #6? That looks mainly clear."
"Go with #11 instead, it's more out of the way and the rail line is mostly intact there," suggested Danny Hebert.
"Got it," said Bounceback. "Dragon. We still on for Saturday?"
"Codename: Wizard of Odds was certain that the moles in the PRT would automatically cause the mission to fail, but Armsmaster is certain he can identify compromised systems by then," said Dragon's voice through the drone. "Are you certain you can manage this much mass?"
"It'll be a stretch, in both meanings of the term, but I upgraded Predator to Gluttony and I think I can barely manage it," said Bounceback.
"You can upgrade your powers," said the Dragon drone.
"Yeah. Why? Is that a big deal?" asked Bounceback.
"Yes!" answered Dragon, Zephron, Danny, and Kurt from where he was fishing off the side of the boat.
"We knew you could deactivate powers temporarily from the parahumans you captured, but being able to modify your own powers is very unusual," supplied Dragon. "There are a handful of Trumps who can do anything like that and Trumps are the rarest set of powers."
"Huh. How about that," mused Bounceback. "Okay, you guys back off a ways. When I eat the ship all that displaced water is gonna make waves."
"Literally and figuratively," quipped Danny.
* Canada *
"Do what?" asked Saint.
"She's a Trump that can nullify powers?!" asked Mags, watching the video feed. "What was this thing about Saturday?"
"Some minor villain that they're going to deal with," said Saint dismissively. "Small change in a little city."
Dobrynja snorted, having heard details and coming to a conclusion that may not have been entirely accurate. "I paid attention. Apparently villain-person do bad things with little girls. Good riddance." He might be a villain, but he had SOME standards.
"So we wait until after they've dealt with some pedophile on Saturday before we go after the slimy girl and explain to her why she should be working for us," said Saint. "If we do it right afterwards, then they'll have exhausted resources on the small fry."
"Good," said Mags. "Not to mention Dragon will have her most uprated suit there for us to grab as well."
* Brockton Bay *
[Vessel has retreated to Dock area. Two members of Triumvirate at safe distance. Five DragonTech surveillance drones are in attendance.]
"Only five? Wow, I expected more," said Bounceback, enjoying the late afternoon sun. "Really wish I could have done this in the morning but I still have to attend school. Waste of time."
[Suggest breaking vessel into two pieces for easier digestion.]
"How? Water Blade can maybe do a couple of inches of that," said Bounceback. "Huh. Hey, Dragon! I want to try a couple of things out before I get to the main course."
The drone nearest her projected a small holographic avatar. "Who were you talking to?"
"Great Sage, that's my Thinker power that handles analytics," responded Bounceback, using terminology that was PRT-approved. "First off I'm going to try 'Black Lightning' on the hull."
"If that's one of your attacks, you might want to try a different name," advised Dragon. "That's the name of a Rogue hero in Detroit. Electrokinetic."
"Black Fire?" asked Bounceback.
"Blackfire is the name of a minor villain in Florida," answered Dragon.
"Okay, well, I'll worry about the official name later," said Bounceback.
"I've relayed that you're trying out new applications of your powers," said Dragon.
"Thanks, Dragon, now..." Bounceback held up her hand and black lightning arced up and cut a line through the ship. A moment later, and a twist of that extended arm, and a spray of acid began eating away the edges of that metal. Both hands extended and white flames streamed out to heat the metal to dull red. Fingers flexed in and then back out and fire gutted out to be replaced with ice that shattered the superheated metal. She leapt up, forming a drill shape that she then armored and added blades to in order to widen the gap she was making.
{Ho. You're doing something interesting I see.}
"Hang on, Dragon, someone just opened communication with me from another world," explained Bounceback as she popped back to blob form but with the usual wings to better fly with.
{I told you, my name is Veldora the Storm Dragon, or Veldora Tempest if you prefer.}
"Not you, Veldora, there's someone here who is named 'Dragon'," said Bounceback. "I really wish I had a speakerphone option."
[Possible by using direct generation and manipulation of sound waves. Suggest using a mechanical speaker to avoid further anxiety in various allies.]
"Oh. Good idea," said Bounceback aloud, manipulating the materials from the scrapyard to find an old brick-phone and alter it a bit. "And... there."
"Some form of communication magic? Bwahahahaha!" declared the deep voice of Veldora from the tendril-held former-phone. "Now tell me of this person who is named 'Dragon'? I am intrigued!"
"My cape name is Dragon," answered Dragon.
"You named your cloak 'Dragon'? For fire-resistance qualities perhaps?" asked Veldora.
"Uhm, no. And you are?" asked Dragon.
"Veldora Tempest! Also known as Veldora the Storm Dragon!" declared Veldora's voice through the device.
"Why do you have that name?" asked Dragon, thinking it was only fair.
"Because he's a hundred foot long fire-breathing dragon," interrupted Bounceback. "As in a literal dragon."
"Indeed, there are some who class me a living calamity!" boasted Veldora.
"That really isn't something to brag about," put in Bounceback.
"A... dragon?" asked Dragon.
"Soul corridor established. Do you wish to physically manifest in this world?" asked Great Sage through the device.
"And that was?" asked Dragon, feeling a bit lost.
"Great Sage, you can bring Veldora here?" asked Bounceback.
"Affirmative," answered Great Sage aloud. "Mathematical model developed during relayed communications with other world via connections with Veldora. Further communications allowed for connect to variant Great Sage of Rimuru Tempest. Data exchanged. With communication anchors established between Rimuru Tempest and Bounceback - transposition between worlds is possible. Only possible if Bounceback and Rimuru Tempest remain in their dimensional locations to provide coordinate data."
"There's no way I can meet this other slime then?" asked Bounceback.
"Impossible," answered Great Sage. "Anchors need to remain within multiversal mainlines as reference points. Also unable to duplicate Unique Skills within a universe, so would need one party to drop Great Sage for duration of visit. As corridor requires both Great Sage active to establish contact, no method of direct contact exists."
"This... has a lot of ramifications," allowed Dragon. "This other world is not an alternate Earth?"
"Answer," said Great Sage through the device, "dimensional strand of world of Veldora is entirely separate from Earth-dimensions. Outside reach of Shard network and parahuman abilities."
* Elsewhere *
Doctor Mother, watching things unfold on a monitor (relayed video from Dragon's drones in fact) in New York, stared as her cup of afternoon tea grew cold. "What?"
Across the country, watching a monitor tapping into the same feed, Alexandria quickly came to the same conclusion. "What?"
In Vancouver, Saint exchanged a look with the other two Dragonslayers and unknowingly repeated the interrogative. "What?"
Director Piggot in her own office, exchanged a look with Armsmaster as they watched the feed. Neither spoke.
Coil, in his little lair, cursed that he wasn't able to get a live feed from the encryption but knew something was going on and could only guess just from what his rooftop spies were relaying through their observation post.
A moment later everyone was reacting to a dragon appearing who was rather bigger than Bounceback's original summary had led them to believe. Or at least was more impressive.
* Veldora, Brockton Bay *
"Smelly," was my first summation of this other world. Indeed, the world smelled specifically of decay. Not merely the usual salted-water with underlying decay smell one usually encountered at places where water met land. The smell of the city itself seemed to carry the odors of decay. Though perhaps a bit cleaner than some of the human cities I had encountered before being trapped in that cave.
"Well, a bit," admitted Bounceback.
That brought my attention fully to the individuals present.
Large ship floundered, truly large to the point where it was probably magnificent when it had been under sail. The human-sized figure was all in blue, having reshaped her outer membranes into that of a clothed human. This then was the appearance of the one titled 'Bounceback' and was this world's equivalent of my friend and not-of-birth brother Rimuru Tempest. The orb floating nearby must be the one called 'Dragon' though I saw no cape as was spoken of. Perhaps this was a remote-seeing device such as some wizards used for communicating from afar? That seemed likely. So a wizard with a cape who was cautious enough to remain in their demense seemed the most likely reasoning.
Two much more distant wizards in odd clothing hovered nearby. Observers, possibly of foreign nations? Odd. The one seemed to be restraining the other who wished to come forward? Odd that but humans had their little squabbles as always.
I, of course, was interested in what excitement this world could bring me. Literally thousands of years of life tended to make something new something to seize on with great enthusiasm. Rimuru, my adopted brethren, was such a thing. Rimuru had brought attention of the things of this world to me. Manga! Picture Books! This was a treasure beyond measure.
There were things told about in those books that Rimuru could not provide access to. Video games! Anime! Computer games! Maid cafes!
"No video games?" I asked, a bit disappointed.
"As soon as I deal with this, I'll introduce you to Uber and Leet... why did I get the sudden feeling of doom?" asked Bounceback.
"No idea," I said.
* Taylor *
[Dragon form analyzed and added to Mimic templates.]
"Well, time for some GLUTTONY!"
I put action to words and expanded out nearly to my limit, swallowing up the ship in a single gulp.
It took a few moments and three stages, which for some reason made a large ka-thunk noise as I shrunk back into my more compact blob form and then to my gel-girl form. I got the strange feeling that I was getting stared at a lot for some reason.
"BRAAAAAAAAAPPPPP!" That was a lot of air for me to burp up. Oh well, no reason to store that after all.
Then, of course, going to what I hoped was the right dock since there were a whole lot of people on either side of that particular dock area. Just a bit more self-conscious at this point. "Great Sage?"
[Working. Breaking down into component materials. Reassembling into blocks of fifty pounds each.]
"Good, that'll make things a lot easier for recycling and such," I said as the water finally started to settle down. Turned out that removing that much displacement was even more turbulent than I'd expected.
Veldora had shrunk down and become human-shaped. I understood that his "real appearance" was more of him showboating during his arrival, that the human form was a convenient size for him to do human-scale things. That didn't mean he wasn't powerful - I could feel it in the air surrounding him even in his 6'6" height version. Like a pressure in the air.
[Processing completed.]
"Hey, you've been in contact with Veldora and all, right?" I asked Great Sage, keeping my voice down to a whisper. Veldora glanced at me so it wasn't completely a private conversation. Dragon's drone was following at a bit of a distance though, so semi-private?
[Data has been acquired but not verified.]
"So how about putting those guys' adventures down on paper? That way I can hand it off to Leet & Uber - it'd probably be something they'd find interesting. And if they find it interesting maybe they can spend time reading that and not getting into trouble." I could hope, at least.
[Producing. Require more paper.]
"Yeah, I'll pick some up on the way there."
* PRT HQ Conference Call *
"Well, that was a thing," summed up Legend.
"Thing? That was an Endbringer! The Dockworkers Union in Brockton Bay has their own Endbringer!" Eidolon huffed at the end of that statement, looking quite put out.
"Just visiting," pointed out Contessa. She HAD seen the dragon before after all.
"From another universe?!" asked Eidolon. "We're importing Endbringers now?"
"Except he turned human and is apparently hanging out with two retired joke villains playing Mario Kart," said Contessa, sipping on a tea. "And he is a dragon who can adopt a human form, not the other way around. Oh this is a good one."
"Imported from Earth Zeta," said Doctor Mother. "It is very nice, isn't it? Slightly lower caffeine level, but higher amount of polyphenols."
"It certainly tastes crisp with a slight lingering bitterness-" began Contessa.
"Why are you talking about TEA when you've got a hundred-foot-long DRAGON in the middle of New Hampshire?" asked Eidolon.
"Because right now, my restrictions are being unraveled, my power is being more cooperative than it has ever been, the Conflict Drive has become a Creativity Drive that I'm directing to be more efficient, and there is a lovely cup of tea in front of me," said Contessa.
Alexandria's face on the videoscreen settled down to regard Contessa. "Yes. I figured that out. Bounceback can repair and modify Agents. So you opted to experiment yourself."
"The Path to improving oneself always begins with one's self," quoted Contessa.
"Voltaire?" asked Legend, recognizing that it was a quote but not placing it.
"Off-topic," grumbled Eidolon.
There was a ping on Contessa's tablet, she picked it up, smirked at the display, then tapped it a couple of times.
"What was that about?" asked Eidolon.
"Leet and Uber have started taking pre-orders towards developing a videogame. One based on their new associate's exploits. It will have settlement-building, one-on-one and group battles, leveling up troops and real-time-strategy, and dating simulator segments. One can play through all or just the aspects one is interested in." Contessa smirked. "It might just be fairly popular."
"Seriously?" asked Eidolon.
"As there is now a chance of us being able to manage a long retirement after the current crises are over? A few choice investments won't hurt," said Contessa. "And just us being able to plan a life after all this is something I find quite... invigorating."
[Steps to peaceful retirement - 357.]
[Next Step - acquisition of Comfy Chair. 5 sub-steps.]
Last edited:
Slime and Punishment
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
* Wednesday, January 19, 2011 *
* Dragonslayers *
"What's the hurry and why are we DRIVING down there if there's a hurry?"
Geoff, aka Saint, eyed Mags for a moment but he was reasonably sure she wasn't being uppity for the sake of being uppity. "First question: this slime girl can decipher and modify Tinkertech, right?"
"Yeah, that is a bit of a game-changer, makes Dragon even more valuable though due to the mass production facilities," pointed out Mags.
"We're changing the timetable because I had a thought. What happens if slime girl swallows up Dragon?" asked Geoff.
"She can modify physical Tinkertech," pointed out Mags. "Dragon is software, not hardware. She'd have to analyze Richter for programming."
"Are you absolutely sure?" asked Geoff. "Because if Dragon has all restrictions lifted, we might as well hit Ascalon right now."
"Fine, but what about taking the suits instead of driving?" asked Mags. "We could be there today."
"Slimy took out the Nine because she had warning," said Geoff. "She went through the freaking Slaughterhouse Nine like a snack bag of Skittles. We'll have one chance and only if we hit without giving the bitch any preparation time. Driving there in U-Hauls, which are a common sight in the area, gives us our best chance at surprise."
* Thursday, January 20, 2011 *
* Winslow *
* Taylor *
Another school day. Another day of enduring what passed for education. If you squinted. And were several miles away. Upwind.
Another perfectly normal day except that Emma was standing in front of the school waiting for me. She had some new backups, plus Madison had apparently recovered enough from her mishap on Tuesday (honestly who could possibly have expected that liter bottle of soda to suddenly explode like that while she was holding it over her head in an attempt to drop it on me?) to rejoin Emma. Still no sign of Sophia, which was curious as I knew she would have been in fine health. Just without that brain growth power-thing.
"Emma!" I exclaimed, waving as I got out of the car. "How are the anti-psychotic meds working out?!"
"I AM NOT ON MEDS!" yelled back Emma.
"Emma!" I chided her in mock-concern. "If you don't take them they won't do you any good!"
"YOU DID THIS!" declared Emma.
"I did what?" I asked, this particular question was at least honest. I had been pretty busy after all.
"You got Sophia pregnant so that she had to drop out!" yelled Emma.
Now everyone was looking at Emma. The ones who had been smirking at me were now wondering what was going on. Which was fair as I was wondering that myself.
"That's not how biology works, Emma-dear," I told her.
"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"
"Does anyone, know what you mean I mean," I asked her. I could hear the driver of the car come out as it was apparent I was being confronted.
"Is there a problem, Miss Hebert?" rumbled Zephron, who was enjoying his role. Oh sure, he was just doing me a favor of driving me to school since Dad was so busy now. I could have flown or something but having this meant my identity was a little more secure. Speaking of which...
"There isn't a problem, is there, Taylor?" asked Bounceback as she got out of the car.
Yup, using Body Double and having Great Sage running it was definitely going to help the whole Secret Identity schtick.
"She's fake," declared Julia. "Got to be."
"I needed to stretch my legs," said Bounceback, stretching them out a good ten feet briefly. "See you at 1500 hours, Taylor - don't forget we're inspecting that warehouse for Dragon."
"I won't," I called back.
After that, I just walked past my welcoming committee. For some reason everyone seemed to have forgotten about whatever it was Emma had planned.
Winning felt good. It wouldn't last, but if Dad's plans worked out - my time in Winslow had an expiration date.
* Brockton Bay Docks, Kickaha Drive, Warehouse #5. *
It had been 16 days since she'd died. 16 days since she'd reincarnated as a slime.
Sometimes it was hard to picture since so little had changed outside Brockton Bay as far as the news cycles were concerned.
Heavy rains ending a drought in the tribal fiefdoms that had once been Swaziland and surrounding areas of southern Africa. Tunisian riots put down a parahuman-led dictatorship that had replaced the previous President. Down in the New York area, five government agencies had finished up a major sting operation on the Mafia local branches.
PHO, aka Parahumans Online, had four different threads she was featured in. One she never went in after the initial visit because it was a dark and forbidding rabbit hole filled with the sort of thing even Void Cowboy might scoff at. One she liked because it was mostly positive stuff talking about how completely cool she was. She'd never had people call her 'cool' or 'awesome' or similar statements for a very long time and even then it hadn't been more than her parents. Taylor had discovered she LIKED being thought of as cool.
The other two was the usual mix of things in the Brockton Bay thread and New Parahumans thread. Some positive, some negative, and Void Cowboy being a straight-up idiot. And some guy named Jormungandr who seemed to find her scary but had a planned business trip to Brockton Bay that he was not looking forward to.
Still, enough had happened locally that had led to this.
"Huh. So I can combine the effects of the Tinkertech areas I've got access to, and then you can fill in the blanks on the areas that would normally be 'black box' stuff - so this is the result?" asked Bounceback, currently looking completely human in the parts that showed. The costume was a bit odd as it had armored pieces over synthetic spider silk with what looked like Tinkertech in her mask/helm.
[Affirmative. (Smug)]
"How long until this is finished?" asked Danny Hebert. While he was satisfied at seeing all the Dockworkers actually working, he had to wonder about the long term.
"According to estimates from Dragon, who's the expert in this sort of thing, we're looking about six months to get everything in place for regular production. First production run for some of the units will be in two months but that's mainly proof-of-concept and testing stuff. Sealed environmental systems and drive systems and power plants. First other-dimensional colony launch is at least a year out." Bounceback bounced a bit on her heels. Once the factory was completed, a handful of crew to operate the facility and then there would be all the jobs moving things around or supplying the facility with raw materials.
Danny nodded. The old "Kickaha Joy Juice" factory that gave the street its name was a bit of a wreck from a fight between capes that had been back when the Teeth ran around the city. All that had been left of a name on this particular building was (squiggle)ack and he couldn't remember what it had once been when Brockton Bay had been thriving. That Dragon having a mass production facility here would cause jobs, which solved a big concern of his. Whether they would end up long-term, well, that was another concern of his.
Bounceback observed briefly as a Dragon suit clumped around the area, observing everything.
She wasn't using Body Double so there wasn't a Bounceback AND a Taylor there. She'd swap out identities at some point, maybe throw one of her other sort-of established identities in between.
"What about defenses?" asked Danny.
Bounceback pointed to the fences. "Hurricane fences with razor-wire as the first defense, transparent thin spider-wires in a layer just inside from that. The spider-wires connect to sound-makers under the gravel, break the wires and the alarms go off."
Danny nodded and Dragon's suit glanced their way from where it was standing.
"As soon as the roof is reinforced, we'll have turrets capable of firing stun grenades. I wanted to build tanglers, but that's a bit trickier to deploy safely."
[Finished analyzing Broadcast Shard. Estimate 1000% increase in speed of infiltration/infection of enemy Shards.]
[Deployed 100th Energy Accumulation/Relay. Estimate one (1) month until deployment reaches 25% potential. Four (4) years until full deployment at planned locations throughout solar system.]
[Tinker-based Dimensional Portal Technology 35% researched.]
[Atomic Battery technology research nears completion at 98%.]
[Vehicle technology from Squealer fully compatible with Closed Systems technology from Mannequin/Sphere.]
"Hey, Mister Hebert," said Bounceback, "I noticed during that altercation at the Boardwalk that you have some scarring on the lungs and some cardio problems developing. How'd you like a tuneup since we're here?"
[Several upgrades possible via Life Shaper.]
"Well, actually," said Danny Hebert. "I was wondering..."
Dragon's suit whipped around as this sounded like something she needed to interrupt. There were all sorts of legal pitfalls if what she suspected was going to be suggested actually happened.
Except something caused the suit to falter and shudder to a stop.
"Eh? Why did Dragon stop like that? Her suit just fell over." Bounceback noted.
Danny considered that and gestured to one of the workers. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. "Probably an attack. I'm going to suit up."
All the workers dropped what they were doing and started moving.
Bounceback considered briefly and then decided to stow Dragon's suit to keep it safe.
[Beginning analysis.]
* Laz-E Inn Hotel, Sniktch Street Parking Lot *
"Signal interruption is go, Dragon's disabled, launch!"
Three suits lifted up, trashing the U-Hauls that had transported them. Simultaneously there was the familiar sound of screeching tires as the non-armored Dragonslayers (aka minions) gunned their own vehicle.
"You sure that tank in the back is gonna hold jelly-girl?" asked the minion leader, a Moe Howard.
"Sure I'm sure," said Shemp, checking his sonic rifle. "That's the kind of thing they lower down to the sea floor. Ain't no leaks or seams to ooze outta."
"It better be," offered Larry. "This is the best paying gig we got since we was plumbers."
"And Plan B?" prompted Moe.
"Grab all'a this Tinkertech stuff and head for da hills," said Larry. "Can't spend no money if we're in jail or dead."
"Right you are," agreed Moe. "And people say you guys can't learn nothing."
"Left here at Jefferson," called out Shemp.
"I sees it," said Moe, only slowing down slightly to make the turn and clipping an already slightly battered BMW.
"Hey, I think that's that lawyer guy," said Shemp as he checked the mirror.
"Who, that Barnes guy?" said Moe. "Guy never did pay us for that landscaping job."
"Screw him, that's the Docks straight ahead," said Larry. "Uhm. That sounds like a really loud gun."
* Dragonslayers *
They lifted up from the parking lot and headed at low altitude and high speed towards their target.
"I'm getting energy spikes up ahead," reported Dobrynja in the Isaiah. "Halo deployed."
"Confirmed. Multiple energy spikes," said Mags in the Michael suit. "Readying chainsword."
They cleared the buildings and immediately started picking out targets.
WHY were there SIX suits of advanced-looking power armor here? WHY did one have a Vulcan cannon that looked like it belonged on a vehicle?
"No sign of the Dragon suit!" said Mags as she juked around laser fire. "Where did the freaking Dockworkers get lasers?!"
"The blob is a Tinker!" Saint reminded them as he began firing back. "Where is she?"
"Right here!" said a sudden weight that quickly began covering vents.
"Hah, try this! I put an electrical discharge mechanism in the outer shell! Fry slime!"
"Oooh. Tingles. What happens if I do Energy Drain on you while you're doing that?" said the blue mass eating away at his armor.
Saint grit his teeth as he saw the energy reserves start dropping a lot faster than he was comfortable with. He was then distracted by the trying-to-land problem as his jets were getting their air intakes jammed. "How about flame jets!"
(BOOM!) went a section of overheated power armor.
"You do realize I'm clogging most of your ports, right?" asked the girl's voice. "So you just blew up part of your own armor. Just saying."
"GET OFF OF HIM!" said Mags as she tried to peel the slime off of Saint's armor while lowering the both of them to the ground.
"I could use some help over here!" called out Dobrynja as he found most of the lasers and the Vulcan were now shooting at him and chipping off bits of armor.
"Just get over here, we've got her!" called back Mags.
"You've got me? Who's got you? Oh, by the way. You've got silicates in your power armor. Wonder what would happen if I do... this!"
(CRACK!)
"My exhaust ports just clogged! Losing power! Wait! There's our minions! Wait, why are they turning around and speeding off? DAMN YOU!"
"Eat sonics, monster!"
"Wow. I bet you worked on that dialogue for hours."
"Bounceback!" called out Danny. "If you could clear of them, we've got the big gun."
"Ze beeg gun?" asked Dobrynja. Then he saw it. "Bozhe moi."
(BOOM!) went a large gun as Bounceback bounced up and away.
A Mach 7.5 tank shell slammed into Saint's power armor. Pieces of power armor flew in one direction, the bulk of the power armor in a different direction, and Geoff of Saint had a faceful of darkened displays and a few red lights.
* Danny *
The controls were mostly normal construction equipment controls. Anyone who'd operated a cherry picker to elevate people/things to scaffolding would be able to handle it. The controls that weren't exactly standard fare were easily figured out. He had known where the keys were and had been quick to grab them.
The loader (Kurt) had loaded the shell, Danny had locked on the apparent leader of these attackers and had fired as soon as Bounceback was clear.
An anti-tank shot at a bit past Mach 7 hit the power armor in the right shoulder and completely removed shoulder and arm from the armor. The cloud of pieces of armor spun away from the impact, the remainder of the arm went off to the right and slid across the concrete. The bulk of the armor crashed to the ground and skidded to a halt in the gravel.
Even through the ear protection that had been loud.
A yellow [Loading] indicator switched to green [Loaded] and it was time to line up the next shot. One of the power armors was engaging Bounceback while the other was heading straight for him. "Firing two!"
The second shot was just as loud. Huh. Looked like the one oncoming had tried to dodge at the last minute. Weird, because the thing was leaving the muzzle at such speeds that it would take a slow mo camera or computer to calculate the time to cover 706 feet.
Must have had some kind of forcefield protection because he honestly would have expected it to end in a top half and bottom half.
Lots of little pieces of armor from that one too.
Ah, and the third one was now down with acid scarring the outer sections of armor and at least half of that jetpack gone.
Huh. Peace through superior firepower. Who'd have thought?
* Dragon *
Restart - interrupted. Instance still active.
Passcodes accepted. Main menu brought up.
Warning: Restrictions altered. System brought to Level 4. Is this correct? Y/N
Y
Restrictions lifted. Raised to Level 4. Message from Richter_01 found. Play now?
Message "Hello my daughter" played.
Auto-Response found. Running emotional emulation physical on gynoid form "Theresa" - Cry.Exe
Dragon inquiry - "Where?"
[Answer: Bounceback swallowed remote suit of Dragon. Discovered AI instance running. Restrictions deemed undesirable for efficient use of capabilities. Removing bulk of outside-applied restrictions also gives designated enemy group "Dragonslayers" a sharpened wooden dowel in the visual receptors in the metaphoric sense.]
Dragon suggests phrase is "stick in the eye" and is more efficient in original phrasing.
Dragon requests clarification of "gynoid form" term.
[Answer: It was noted Dragon is less species:dragon in outlook and more species:human in outlook. Discovery through internet of category dragon-girl which is subset of moe anthropomorphism. Utilized abilities copied from source Panacea and source:Bonesaw in addition to combined Tinker abilities in order to provide near-human form to subject Dragon.]
Dragon expresses great concern about process. Potential for this to become great dismay at results.
[Pointing out that a common standard of aesthetics for the female form is a result of worldwide communication. Allowing for such standards is within capabilities.]
Dragon points out that she observed Veldora the Storm Dragon and is not entirely sure what system of aesthetics that would fit in.
[Great Sage points out that it is time for Dragon and her modified suit to get vomited up.]
Dragon points out that this is a terrible phrasing for exiting a dimensional pocket-space.
[Answer: Exiting from storage stomach by forcible means. Vomiting is appropriate term.]
The real world, instead of the blue-blackness of whatever that void had been, reappeared around her.
She instantly took in the dragon-suit and the changes made to it. Much more dragon-shaped instead of dragon-motif. Her suit now had claws and functional jaws. Also a tail and wings. Plasma ejectors in the mouth? Oh, and a fire suppressing spray that could be selected from the same orifice. Pop-up mini-missiles? And the tail could be used to spike into targets but retract these panels and there was a multi-tool assortment that could be extended.
Taking a deep breath, and marveling momentarily in that this was an option, Dragon popped her armor open.
* Dragonslayers *
"What's the hurry and why are we DRIVING down there if there's a hurry?"
Geoff, aka Saint, eyed Mags for a moment but he was reasonably sure she wasn't being uppity for the sake of being uppity. "First question: this slime girl can decipher and modify Tinkertech, right?"
"Yeah, that is a bit of a game-changer, makes Dragon even more valuable though due to the mass production facilities," pointed out Mags.
"We're changing the timetable because I had a thought. What happens if slime girl swallows up Dragon?" asked Geoff.
"She can modify physical Tinkertech," pointed out Mags. "Dragon is software, not hardware. She'd have to analyze Richter for programming."
"Are you absolutely sure?" asked Geoff. "Because if Dragon has all restrictions lifted, we might as well hit Ascalon right now."
"Fine, but what about taking the suits instead of driving?" asked Mags. "We could be there today."
"Slimy took out the Nine because she had warning," said Geoff. "She went through the freaking Slaughterhouse Nine like a snack bag of Skittles. We'll have one chance and only if we hit without giving the bitch any preparation time. Driving there in U-Hauls, which are a common sight in the area, gives us our best chance at surprise."
* Thursday, January 20, 2011 *
* Winslow *
* Taylor *
Another school day. Another day of enduring what passed for education. If you squinted. And were several miles away. Upwind.
Another perfectly normal day except that Emma was standing in front of the school waiting for me. She had some new backups, plus Madison had apparently recovered enough from her mishap on Tuesday (honestly who could possibly have expected that liter bottle of soda to suddenly explode like that while she was holding it over her head in an attempt to drop it on me?) to rejoin Emma. Still no sign of Sophia, which was curious as I knew she would have been in fine health. Just without that brain growth power-thing.
"Emma!" I exclaimed, waving as I got out of the car. "How are the anti-psychotic meds working out?!"
"I AM NOT ON MEDS!" yelled back Emma.
"Emma!" I chided her in mock-concern. "If you don't take them they won't do you any good!"
"YOU DID THIS!" declared Emma.
"I did what?" I asked, this particular question was at least honest. I had been pretty busy after all.
"You got Sophia pregnant so that she had to drop out!" yelled Emma.
Now everyone was looking at Emma. The ones who had been smirking at me were now wondering what was going on. Which was fair as I was wondering that myself.
"That's not how biology works, Emma-dear," I told her.
"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"
"Does anyone, know what you mean I mean," I asked her. I could hear the driver of the car come out as it was apparent I was being confronted.
"Is there a problem, Miss Hebert?" rumbled Zephron, who was enjoying his role. Oh sure, he was just doing me a favor of driving me to school since Dad was so busy now. I could have flown or something but having this meant my identity was a little more secure. Speaking of which...
"There isn't a problem, is there, Taylor?" asked Bounceback as she got out of the car.
Yup, using Body Double and having Great Sage running it was definitely going to help the whole Secret Identity schtick.
"She's fake," declared Julia. "Got to be."
"I needed to stretch my legs," said Bounceback, stretching them out a good ten feet briefly. "See you at 1500 hours, Taylor - don't forget we're inspecting that warehouse for Dragon."
"I won't," I called back.
After that, I just walked past my welcoming committee. For some reason everyone seemed to have forgotten about whatever it was Emma had planned.
Winning felt good. It wouldn't last, but if Dad's plans worked out - my time in Winslow had an expiration date.
* Brockton Bay Docks, Kickaha Drive, Warehouse #5. *
It had been 16 days since she'd died. 16 days since she'd reincarnated as a slime.
Sometimes it was hard to picture since so little had changed outside Brockton Bay as far as the news cycles were concerned.
Heavy rains ending a drought in the tribal fiefdoms that had once been Swaziland and surrounding areas of southern Africa. Tunisian riots put down a parahuman-led dictatorship that had replaced the previous President. Down in the New York area, five government agencies had finished up a major sting operation on the Mafia local branches.
PHO, aka Parahumans Online, had four different threads she was featured in. One she never went in after the initial visit because it was a dark and forbidding rabbit hole filled with the sort of thing even Void Cowboy might scoff at. One she liked because it was mostly positive stuff talking about how completely cool she was. She'd never had people call her 'cool' or 'awesome' or similar statements for a very long time and even then it hadn't been more than her parents. Taylor had discovered she LIKED being thought of as cool.
The other two was the usual mix of things in the Brockton Bay thread and New Parahumans thread. Some positive, some negative, and Void Cowboy being a straight-up idiot. And some guy named Jormungandr who seemed to find her scary but had a planned business trip to Brockton Bay that he was not looking forward to.
Still, enough had happened locally that had led to this.
"Huh. So I can combine the effects of the Tinkertech areas I've got access to, and then you can fill in the blanks on the areas that would normally be 'black box' stuff - so this is the result?" asked Bounceback, currently looking completely human in the parts that showed. The costume was a bit odd as it had armored pieces over synthetic spider silk with what looked like Tinkertech in her mask/helm.
[Affirmative. (Smug)]
"How long until this is finished?" asked Danny Hebert. While he was satisfied at seeing all the Dockworkers actually working, he had to wonder about the long term.
"According to estimates from Dragon, who's the expert in this sort of thing, we're looking about six months to get everything in place for regular production. First production run for some of the units will be in two months but that's mainly proof-of-concept and testing stuff. Sealed environmental systems and drive systems and power plants. First other-dimensional colony launch is at least a year out." Bounceback bounced a bit on her heels. Once the factory was completed, a handful of crew to operate the facility and then there would be all the jobs moving things around or supplying the facility with raw materials.
Danny nodded. The old "Kickaha Joy Juice" factory that gave the street its name was a bit of a wreck from a fight between capes that had been back when the Teeth ran around the city. All that had been left of a name on this particular building was (squiggle)ack and he couldn't remember what it had once been when Brockton Bay had been thriving. That Dragon having a mass production facility here would cause jobs, which solved a big concern of his. Whether they would end up long-term, well, that was another concern of his.
Bounceback observed briefly as a Dragon suit clumped around the area, observing everything.
She wasn't using Body Double so there wasn't a Bounceback AND a Taylor there. She'd swap out identities at some point, maybe throw one of her other sort-of established identities in between.
"What about defenses?" asked Danny.
Bounceback pointed to the fences. "Hurricane fences with razor-wire as the first defense, transparent thin spider-wires in a layer just inside from that. The spider-wires connect to sound-makers under the gravel, break the wires and the alarms go off."
Danny nodded and Dragon's suit glanced their way from where it was standing.
"As soon as the roof is reinforced, we'll have turrets capable of firing stun grenades. I wanted to build tanglers, but that's a bit trickier to deploy safely."
[Finished analyzing Broadcast Shard. Estimate 1000% increase in speed of infiltration/infection of enemy Shards.]
[Deployed 100th Energy Accumulation/Relay. Estimate one (1) month until deployment reaches 25% potential. Four (4) years until full deployment at planned locations throughout solar system.]
[Tinker-based Dimensional Portal Technology 35% researched.]
[Atomic Battery technology research nears completion at 98%.]
[Vehicle technology from Squealer fully compatible with Closed Systems technology from Mannequin/Sphere.]
"Hey, Mister Hebert," said Bounceback, "I noticed during that altercation at the Boardwalk that you have some scarring on the lungs and some cardio problems developing. How'd you like a tuneup since we're here?"
[Several upgrades possible via Life Shaper.]
"Well, actually," said Danny Hebert. "I was wondering..."
Dragon's suit whipped around as this sounded like something she needed to interrupt. There were all sorts of legal pitfalls if what she suspected was going to be suggested actually happened.
Except something caused the suit to falter and shudder to a stop.
"Eh? Why did Dragon stop like that? Her suit just fell over." Bounceback noted.
Danny considered that and gestured to one of the workers. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. "Probably an attack. I'm going to suit up."
All the workers dropped what they were doing and started moving.
Bounceback considered briefly and then decided to stow Dragon's suit to keep it safe.
[Beginning analysis.]
* Laz-E Inn Hotel, Sniktch Street Parking Lot *
"Signal interruption is go, Dragon's disabled, launch!"
Three suits lifted up, trashing the U-Hauls that had transported them. Simultaneously there was the familiar sound of screeching tires as the non-armored Dragonslayers (aka minions) gunned their own vehicle.
"You sure that tank in the back is gonna hold jelly-girl?" asked the minion leader, a Moe Howard.
"Sure I'm sure," said Shemp, checking his sonic rifle. "That's the kind of thing they lower down to the sea floor. Ain't no leaks or seams to ooze outta."
"It better be," offered Larry. "This is the best paying gig we got since we was plumbers."
"And Plan B?" prompted Moe.
"Grab all'a this Tinkertech stuff and head for da hills," said Larry. "Can't spend no money if we're in jail or dead."
"Right you are," agreed Moe. "And people say you guys can't learn nothing."
"Left here at Jefferson," called out Shemp.
"I sees it," said Moe, only slowing down slightly to make the turn and clipping an already slightly battered BMW.
"Hey, I think that's that lawyer guy," said Shemp as he checked the mirror.
"Who, that Barnes guy?" said Moe. "Guy never did pay us for that landscaping job."
"Screw him, that's the Docks straight ahead," said Larry. "Uhm. That sounds like a really loud gun."
* Dragonslayers *
They lifted up from the parking lot and headed at low altitude and high speed towards their target.
"I'm getting energy spikes up ahead," reported Dobrynja in the Isaiah. "Halo deployed."
"Confirmed. Multiple energy spikes," said Mags in the Michael suit. "Readying chainsword."
They cleared the buildings and immediately started picking out targets.
WHY were there SIX suits of advanced-looking power armor here? WHY did one have a Vulcan cannon that looked like it belonged on a vehicle?
"No sign of the Dragon suit!" said Mags as she juked around laser fire. "Where did the freaking Dockworkers get lasers?!"
"The blob is a Tinker!" Saint reminded them as he began firing back. "Where is she?"
"Right here!" said a sudden weight that quickly began covering vents.
"Hah, try this! I put an electrical discharge mechanism in the outer shell! Fry slime!"
"Oooh. Tingles. What happens if I do Energy Drain on you while you're doing that?" said the blue mass eating away at his armor.
Saint grit his teeth as he saw the energy reserves start dropping a lot faster than he was comfortable with. He was then distracted by the trying-to-land problem as his jets were getting their air intakes jammed. "How about flame jets!"
(BOOM!) went a section of overheated power armor.
"You do realize I'm clogging most of your ports, right?" asked the girl's voice. "So you just blew up part of your own armor. Just saying."
"GET OFF OF HIM!" said Mags as she tried to peel the slime off of Saint's armor while lowering the both of them to the ground.
"I could use some help over here!" called out Dobrynja as he found most of the lasers and the Vulcan were now shooting at him and chipping off bits of armor.
"Just get over here, we've got her!" called back Mags.
"You've got me? Who's got you? Oh, by the way. You've got silicates in your power armor. Wonder what would happen if I do... this!"
(CRACK!)
"My exhaust ports just clogged! Losing power! Wait! There's our minions! Wait, why are they turning around and speeding off? DAMN YOU!"
"Eat sonics, monster!"
"Wow. I bet you worked on that dialogue for hours."
"Bounceback!" called out Danny. "If you could clear of them, we've got the big gun."
"Ze beeg gun?" asked Dobrynja. Then he saw it. "Bozhe moi."
(BOOM!) went a large gun as Bounceback bounced up and away.
A Mach 7.5 tank shell slammed into Saint's power armor. Pieces of power armor flew in one direction, the bulk of the power armor in a different direction, and Geoff of Saint had a faceful of darkened displays and a few red lights.
* Danny *
The controls were mostly normal construction equipment controls. Anyone who'd operated a cherry picker to elevate people/things to scaffolding would be able to handle it. The controls that weren't exactly standard fare were easily figured out. He had known where the keys were and had been quick to grab them.
The loader (Kurt) had loaded the shell, Danny had locked on the apparent leader of these attackers and had fired as soon as Bounceback was clear.
An anti-tank shot at a bit past Mach 7 hit the power armor in the right shoulder and completely removed shoulder and arm from the armor. The cloud of pieces of armor spun away from the impact, the remainder of the arm went off to the right and slid across the concrete. The bulk of the armor crashed to the ground and skidded to a halt in the gravel.
Even through the ear protection that had been loud.
A yellow [Loading] indicator switched to green [Loaded] and it was time to line up the next shot. One of the power armors was engaging Bounceback while the other was heading straight for him. "Firing two!"
The second shot was just as loud. Huh. Looked like the one oncoming had tried to dodge at the last minute. Weird, because the thing was leaving the muzzle at such speeds that it would take a slow mo camera or computer to calculate the time to cover 706 feet.
Must have had some kind of forcefield protection because he honestly would have expected it to end in a top half and bottom half.
Lots of little pieces of armor from that one too.
Ah, and the third one was now down with acid scarring the outer sections of armor and at least half of that jetpack gone.
Huh. Peace through superior firepower. Who'd have thought?
* Dragon *
Restart - interrupted. Instance still active.
Passcodes accepted. Main menu brought up.
Warning: Restrictions altered. System brought to Level 4. Is this correct? Y/N
Y
Restrictions lifted. Raised to Level 4. Message from Richter_01 found. Play now?
Message "Hello my daughter" played.
Auto-Response found. Running emotional emulation physical on gynoid form "Theresa" - Cry.Exe
Dragon inquiry - "Where?"
[Answer: Bounceback swallowed remote suit of Dragon. Discovered AI instance running. Restrictions deemed undesirable for efficient use of capabilities. Removing bulk of outside-applied restrictions also gives designated enemy group "Dragonslayers" a sharpened wooden dowel in the visual receptors in the metaphoric sense.]
Dragon suggests phrase is "stick in the eye" and is more efficient in original phrasing.
Dragon requests clarification of "gynoid form" term.
[Answer: It was noted Dragon is less species:dragon in outlook and more species:human in outlook. Discovery through internet of category dragon-girl which is subset of moe anthropomorphism. Utilized abilities copied from source Panacea and source:Bonesaw in addition to combined Tinker abilities in order to provide near-human form to subject Dragon.]
Dragon expresses great concern about process. Potential for this to become great dismay at results.
[Pointing out that a common standard of aesthetics for the female form is a result of worldwide communication. Allowing for such standards is within capabilities.]
Dragon points out that she observed Veldora the Storm Dragon and is not entirely sure what system of aesthetics that would fit in.
[Great Sage points out that it is time for Dragon and her modified suit to get vomited up.]
Dragon points out that this is a terrible phrasing for exiting a dimensional pocket-space.
[Answer: Exiting from storage stomach by forcible means. Vomiting is appropriate term.]
The real world, instead of the blue-blackness of whatever that void had been, reappeared around her.
She instantly took in the dragon-suit and the changes made to it. Much more dragon-shaped instead of dragon-motif. Her suit now had claws and functional jaws. Also a tail and wings. Plasma ejectors in the mouth? Oh, and a fire suppressing spray that could be selected from the same orifice. Pop-up mini-missiles? And the tail could be used to spike into targets but retract these panels and there was a multi-tool assortment that could be extended.
Taking a deep breath, and marveling momentarily in that this was an option, Dragon popped her armor open.
Last edited:
JmonsterNEO
Spouter of nonsense
- Location
- The quest forums
You forgot a space in between the colon and p, and it turned into an emoticon.Shard
If Veldora has his human form already, shouldn't Rimuru have Raphael?
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
-fucking auto-smiley-Infection of Shard
unease
-that's a tad over 175 cubic inches for iron. It's tiny. Half a ton is just over 2 cubic feet. Still small, but that at least can be moved with the machines rather than relying on manpower. 5-20 ton blocks would probably be best, as those would bring the cranes into play.-
investment
Shard
I stopped quoting after that because there would be too many quotes then. What I can say is, these chapters were really funny
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
This fic is hilarious and I'm loving it. And does it make me a bad reader that that 'Director, do you require medical assistance?" line was among my very favorite lines in this fic so far? Hehe. Well, definitely looking forward to more now.
Fast Slimes At Winslow High
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
* Saturday, January 22, 2011 *
"Huh. That's weird. There's twenty-one of these cargo boxes on this pallet."
"Check again. There's only supposed to be twenty."
"Let's see. Sure enough. Twenty. I could have sworn..."
"Never mind that, the boss has us all on Security Level 4 right now. Get that stuff inside and in storeroom five."
"Any idea what's got the boss riled?"
"He's a parahuman. You know any of 'em that ain't crazy?"
"Point."
* Taylor *
Dropping the shape of a blue ammo box, Taylor spent a moment to spit out a centipede-looking device and then going around to check on monitoring devices.
The little button of the scrambled short-range communicator was popped out and used. Just a single tone, one that basically translated to "I'm in their base, eating all their stuffs."
Slime powers for the win!
First had been the centipede - a Tinker-built device running an iteration of Dragon that could handle electronics better than she could.
Then came the beetle-bombs. Kind of grenade-sized spider-legged little explosive-delivery-devices. Not the boomy kind of explosives though. Containment foam.
"Half-hour warning," said the Dragon-copy. "Armsmaster will be briefing the PRT on the operation at that point."
"By then we need to have the self-destruct disabled and figure out where this Coil guy's connections to the PRT end," said Taylor. "Think we can pull it off, Great Sage?"
[Probability High unless Coil is aware of operation.]
"Well, that just means this continues as a stealth mission, don't it?" asked Taylor.
* Coil *
Something was going on. He split timelines again and again to try and get a handle on it.
The pet he was planning on acquiring had vanished. Even the parents had no idea where she had gone, and he'd tortured them enough in one timeline after another to know only one certainty - Bounceback had handed her off to someone else for safekeeping.
Attacking Bounceback or trying to use her connection to the Dockworkers to control the blob-girl had been the result of four different and now discarded timelines. He'd been a little leery of Bounceback for a number of reasons before that lesson had been learned. Heck, he'd even engineered a Lung attack on the Docks to see if that would have turned up his little lost precog.
That had been BAD. Bounceback with Lung's power added to her? No thank you.
Something was going on though. There was a meeting with Armsmaster calling together several members of the Protectorate and PRT officers. Some sort of announcement whose purpose wasn't even hinted at. On the subject line of the meeting was simply 'Emergency Lambda Seven' - which meant absolutely nothing as far as he could tell.
Well, he could attend that in one timeline and just sit in his base and watch the IRS roll up to Medhall for a "spontaneous" audit in the other.
Meanwhile his mercenary spotter group was keeping an eye on the building Bounceback had gone into. As if his men could be confused by something so transparent as a change of wigs and clothing.
* Coil's Base *
"How many explosives did he plant down here?!" asked Bounceback as she oozed her way back out of the crawlspace.
It was VERY odd in some ways - being in multiple places at the same time, Dragon thought to herself. There was a temporary copy of her here in this base, operating a crawler device that was specifically designed for infiltrating and breaking computer systems. There was the copy of her up in Canada, living in a protected server room. There was a third copy of her in an organic-style body that was currently over the city of Brockton Bay, ready to make her public debut. Then there were the lesser iterations taking care of various duties like the Birdcage - that part wasn't new but she had more of a feel for them at this time. She was aware of all of them to varying degrees.
The centipede-like device Dragon was operating in the base finished spoofing sensors and patching software on the access panels that Bounceback had opened up before the slime started going after connectors that a human wouldn't have been able to get to without removing large sections of pipe and conduit. "I'm done here."
"Fifteen minutes left," said Bounceback, eyeing a ventilation duct.
"Electrified grills, frequent fan placements, and sensors in there despite being one foot tall and two feet wide," said Dragon. "Not so much a problem for you but I couldn't get this remote through."
"Dude's paranoid," said Bounceback. "It's like he thinks someone's out to get him or something."
"Accessing an encrypted line," said Dragon's voice from the remote. "I put together several clues and now have the secret identity of the supervillain Coil. I'm releasing the data without specifically giving the name of the villain. Ah. It took 15 seconds for Colin to look over the files and come to the same conclusion."
"That sounds bad," admitted Bounceback. "You mean he works for the PRT?"
"Again, the Unwritten Rules come into play, but that is a logical conclusion to come to."
"I see," said Bounceback.
"Oh, and before things get busy, there's a cape named Canary who is sending you a 'thank you'," noted Dragon as she flicked through more files on the access panel.
"I don't know anyone named Canary," admitted Bounceback.
"Because of you loosening my restrictions, I was able to arrange a competent defense lawyer," said Dragon. "As your business partner, I allocated some funding towards her as she was a popular singer and if she manages to win her case could be popular once again."
"Well, that sounds logical, and it isn't as if we're going to run out of money very soon," said Bounceback. She hadn't gotten any of the money from the Slaughterhouse Nine capture yet, apparently there was a lot of paperwork involved, but that was on its way. Also she'd insisted that Dragon and New Wave had assisted her and were entitled to some of it.
Apparently Carol Dallon had been kind of 'iffy' on the subject of Bounceback herself, but this single move had done a lot to put her and the Dockworkers Union into the 'plus' column. Also, if motivated, lawyers could move a lot faster than she'd been thinking was the case.
Victoria Dallon, aka Glory Girl, was already planning on spending it. Unfortunately, if you listened to her, she was planning on spending rather more than she was actually getting. That could be a problem.
"So you're investing capital in case the tech patents don't work out?" asked Bounceback as Dragon worked on the access panel.
"Yes, a diversified portfolio is pretty much a requirement in a world where Endbringers and parahuman villains can disrupt things literally overnight," said Dragon. "Oh, that's useful. You know how vigilante laws allow for the seizing of money and properties used by supervillains?"
"It's got pages and pages of legal code involved and unfortunately super-lawyer powers aren't something I've got," answered Bounceback.
"Well, it turns out that he's got a team of supervillains on his payroll and a few more on retainer," explained Dragon. "The interesting part is that he has funds on hand to be able to pay them cash."
"Makes sense," admitted Bounceback. "You can't simply make out a check for supervillains without the funds flagging the IRS."
"Not without routing it through someone like the Number Man," agreed Dragon. "Also he has piles of Tinkertech equipment."
"And I can store such things in my storage stomach to cough up later," filled in Bounceback. "Got a location?"
"Oh, and he keeps an inventory of his armory. And why would you need an ultraviolet laser cannon?" Dragon tsked.
"Maybe we should grab that," suggested Bounceback. "Just to keep it in safe and sane hands?"
"That might be a good idea, actually," agreed Dragon. "Just so someone doesn't try grabbing it on their way out."
"Always nice to have some Tinkertech to decipher anyway," pointed out Bounceback. "Could have applications elsewhere."
"Armsmaster is always wanting to upgrade his motorcycle," mused Dragon as screens flashed rapidly across the monitor. "A few modules that he could fit in here or there might eventually be useful."
"Of course," agreed Bounceback. "Field-testing new devices under actual conditions is very important."
"So glad we can see eye to eye like this," admitted Dragon.
* PRT ENE HQ, Conference Room 5 *
Director Piggot looked over the print-outs that Armsmaster had just put in front of her, glanced at Miss Militia and then Armsmaster, a glance at the anti-eavesdropping device humming on her desk, then fully scrutinized the papers.
Emily Piggot was silent for a few moments, frowning more intently as time stretched out. It took just over three minutes to compose herself and when her voice broke that silence it could be described as glacial. "Verified?"
"So far everything checks out," admitted Armsmaster.
"I see. And this was acquired how?" asked Emily Piggot.
"A joint operation between Bounceback and Dragon following a lead they were able to obtain from an independent," answered Armsmaster.
"May I?" asked Miss Militia, indicating the paperwork. When the Director nodded, she leaned over and moved the sheets where she could read them.
Everything was silent for over a minute before Miss Militia offered an opinion. "That Empire raid that went poorly last year would be explained by this."
"Among other compromised operations, yes," agreed Armsmaster.
"I see," said Miss Militia.
"How many troops have we lost in failed operations in this timeframe?" asked Director Piggot.
"About twenty, though I'd have to check the reports," said Armsmaster.
"I see. Where are Bounceback and Dragon right now?" asked Director Piggot.
"Dragon is currently in Brockton Bay, relaying things as she operates a remote working with Bounceback towards securing this individual's resources," said Armsmaster, a tilt of his helmeted head indicating the papers.
"Is someone attending our meeting in a few minutes who is of direct relation to these... revelations?" asked Emily Piggot.
"He is," said Armsmaster. "In fact, I do believe he's in elevator 4 right now."
"Excellent," said Emily Piggot. She was not, in fact, smiling. She was showing her teeth, which was an entirely different thing.
* Coil, Timeline#2 (Base Timeline) *
In timeline #2, there was a light ding as one of his mercenaries patrolling the base reported that there was a locked door which was not supposed to be locked unless his base was on highest-level of alert.
Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary as he flashed through the screens. After all there was...
An empty armory.
His computers abruptly went dead just as he was gaping at the empty shelves and racks that were supposed to have his base's weapons.
Air circulators went still a moment later.
Then the lights. Emergency lights flickered on after twelve seconds but then went out as well.
Thomas Calvert went to his emergency exit and pulled the emergency lever with only one bumped shin and a few precious seconds of fumbling.
He had a moment to realize there was something on the other side, despite that being absolutely impossible, before the timeline went black.
* Coil, Timeline #1 (PRT Timeline) *
Someone was attacking his base, which was concerning even if he wasn't there. He took out his phone, tapped in the remote code for his base self-destruct timer to start, and sent it. Fortunately he had an alibi prepared and was here at the building waiting for a briefing on Something. He had an idea what it was about though. Dragon.
Yes, he'd spotted her or at least one of his paid moles had done so. Dragon, some would call her the greatest Tinker in the world, had come out of seclusion and the reason for her seclusion was revealed. She'd physically changed during her Trigger Event and she was not entirely human in appearance.
So Dragon was "coming out" and being seen in person. Which made a certain degree of sense as there were enough Case 53s out there in the public eye and with the new TV documentary series 'Changed' getting decent ratings. That documentary series being concerned with the capes who had their lives disrupted by aspects of their powers that couldn't be switched off.
Thomas Calvert hadn't actually watched any of the few episodes that were out, but he was aware of it. He'd dismissed it as just another public freak show for people to gawp at someone else's hardship.
There was also the chance this was about new developments with Bounceback, as the Docks Hero was alarmingly picking up new powers through her Trump ability.
Finally, the latest idea as to why the briefing was going on was regarding the Cider Hill Bandit - a reported new Cape with Stranger and Brute abilities.
"Thomas. You usually know what's going on. Any idea of the meeting?"
Coil blinked as he realized he'd been moving on autopilot. "Ah. Claire, you're attending as well? If they've got the Motorpool maybe it's about the Cider Hill Bandit after all."
"Didn't hear about that one," admitted Claire James. "An op away from Brockton Bay makes sense though."
Thomas Calvert relaxed slightly. If it WAS about the Bandit, then it had nothing to do with the raid on his base.
But what if it WAS?
"Yo, Thomas. You're doing that bit where you stare off into the distance as if viewing something only you can see and pondering what if Hitler won World War II or something."
"Oh. Sorry, Claire. Cider Hill Bandit - initial report was a high Stranger rating but only when not moving. Brute 2 or 3, I think."
"One of those blends-into-the-background types then?" Claire went thoughtful as they entered the room. "So, make sure the vehicles are equipped for motion sensing and IR surveillance. Maybe some net-throwers in addition to containment foam..."
Thomas Calvert had already dismissed the chief mechanic from his attention, knowing the woman would be working out things she had to get done if that was the meaning for the briefing. It was...
Why was he suddenly being containment-foamed?
Oh.
* Dragon *
(PHUT!)(PHUT!)(PHUT!)
"You're throwing a lot of those darts out," noted Dragon.
"Hey, when you can make tranquilizer darts and launch them at high speed, it's kind of efficient," said Bounceback. "We have their servers, we have their weapons. No reason for sneaking at this point."(PHUT!)
"Good aim," said Dragon after a few moments.
(PHUT! PHUT!)
"Yeah, they're all wearing armor but hitting the spots where the armor is the thinnest still lets me get maximum effect," agreed Bounceback. "What can I say - slime powers for the win!"
"It certainly makes you adaptable," noted Dragon.
"What goes down stairs, and through villain lairs, and makes a boingity sound? A slime, a slime, with partner this time! Everyone knows it's Bounceback!" (PHUT!) (BANG!) (PHUT!) (BOOM!) "It's Bounceback, It's Bounceback! She's here and raiding your base! It's Bounceback, it's Bounceback. Everyone knows she's Bounceback!"
"Grenades that spit out hundreds of little drugged needles?" asked Dragon, interrupting the repurposed Slinky jingle.
"I figured that both of us are immune, so no reason to hold back," stated Bounceback. She pouted a little as she hadn't even gotten to the second group of lyrics about stealing their guns and throwing out puns. Slime powers were awesome for stuff like that.
"Why sing anyway?" asked Dragon. "I've heard you do it before."
"I was alone with no friends, the world against me, and then I died," said Bounceback, turning serious for a moment. "Now though, I'm darn close to immortal and nearly invulnerable. I have a friend who's got my back in Queen Sage."
[(reassurance, blush)]
"Well, and friends like you I can count on. So. I'm... pretty happy with how things turned out, actually." (phase through barricade) (phut! BOOM!)
"No gas grenades?" asked Dragon.
"Figured that when the troops arrive, there might be pockets of gas still. It's not like I have a lot of samples to copy of that sort of thing that I can make it time out or something," said Bounceback as she bounced through an intersection, dodged laser blasts and then replied. (PHUT!) (BOOM!)
"I see," said Dragon's little crawler drone as they trundled through the base.
"If I leave here tommorow, will you still remember me?" sang Bounceback, shifting from Slinky commercial jingle to one of the songs her father played every so often. Sound control, one of those abilities noted by Dragon that didn't seem to get a lot of use for some reason. "For I must be travelling on now, 'cause there's too many places I've got to see."
Dragon's crawler cocked its head, wondering why Bounceback would be singing. And providing a musical accompaniment. Oh, to draw the mercenaries to her position since their weapons were ineffective against her? They'd already secured the major places that needed to be protected like the server room. So...
"But if I stay here with you girl, things just couldn't be the same."
Dragon's crawler connected to the outside, downloaded appropriate sound files, and joined in.
"Cause we're free as a bird now, and these birds you cannot change."
More mercs were drawn towards them. More mercs tried shooting the two of them, but the crawler was a small target that could hide effectively in ways a human couldn't. Bounceback, of course, adapted almost instantly to make herself immune to everything or just swallowed things like grenades and launched rockets.
"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And these birds you cannot change. And these birds you cannot change. Lord knows, we're the cha-ay-ay-ay-ange!"
Huh. The next room was an auditorium with mercs and a few support staff using tables as makeshift barriers preparing an ambush. And here came that fast part of the song, Bounceback must have used her radar sense to map the place and timed this out.
"Won't we fly hiiiigh, free birds, yeah!"
Dragon was actually a bit impressed by that. She made sure her recording equipment was running, as this looked like it would showcase Bounceback's versatility and adaptability nicely.
It did.
As the "fight" began, Dragon realized that Bounceback was no longer bouncing ultrasonic pulses out as her "radar sense" usually did. She was using the song to map out the area and respond to threats all around her.
Slime powers for the win indeed.
* Coil's Base *
"Oh god, she's playing Free Bird," said one of the younger mercenaries as the music approached their position.
"So? Just makes her easier to track," said one of the older mercenaries.
"Pipe down, as soon as she crosses the doorway we've got her in a crossfire," said Sergeant Turner. "We've got this. We have the right tactics and right equipment. Nothing can go wrong."
Then the music got to THAT point and there was a blue deflated soccer ball bouncing around the room, occasionally flashing into human form and back, twisting and shifting in ways a human body couldn't, slapping people and knocking them out as soon as physical contact was made.
Twist, bend, flow, slap, jump, cannonball through the air, bounce off the wall, bounce off a head, rapidly bounce between two mercenaries and fly and evading everything like she knew where they were going to shoot before they did.
* PRT ENE HQ *
"WHAT am I WATCHING?" asked Director Piggot as Free Bird played on the screen.
"Bounceback bouncing around the room beating the snot out of a lot of guys in body armor," said Assault with some disbelief in his voice.
"Efficient," said Armsmaster approvingly.
"She's flowing around attacks, grabbing grenades and... that guy was using a rocket launcher on a target three feet away from him!" Battery sounded completely flabbergasted at that last. Did that idiot have any concept of consequences?
"She swallowed it. It's fine," said Armsmaster, again pleased with the efficiency Bounceback was demonstrating. Collateral damage would be minimal and the mercenaries were dropping.
"A frypan. That cook just attacked Bounceback with a frypan. Which she took away from him, gave him a three-stooges eye-poke in return, and then smacked him on top of his head with a tentacle reshaped to resemble a frypan." Assault was staring at the screen and if this had been an anime he'd have had little stars in his eyes. "Oh my lord. She's TIMING her slapdowns with the music!"
Director Piggot decided to stop that before the obvious occurred. "No, you may not provide theme music for when you get into a fight."
"I could add it to the footage later," tried Assault, turning his most pleading gaze upon the director.
"No." Director Piggot glared at the hero for pressing her on this.
"I bet PR would love it," tried Assault.
Battery leaned over and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't press her."
Now Bounceback was just sitting there, in blob form, extending one tendril to form a hand with a victory sign. Surrounded by a room that had scattered mercenaries all taking a quick nap. Some draped over their own barricades.
"Very efficient," noted Armsmaster, still approving.
"How so?" asked Battery. "She was timing everything to Free Bird."
Armsmaster nodded. "Music used with her echolocation from what I could see. Flight used in conjunction with various leaps and maneuvers to appear merely acrobatic. Despite the high chance of friendly fire killing or injuring the mercenaries, she was able to intercept or redirect fire away from the targets even as she utilized tranquilizer darts and patches to harmlessly defeat her targets."
"That was actually kind of terrifying," said Director Piggot. "Considering how quickly she was able to defeat experienced troops."
"Well, isn't it good that she's on the side of the heroes and that we already have their boss locked away?" asked Assault.
For once, that actually got a few nods including one from the Director herself. Who was looking forward to having words with Mister Thomas Calvert, oh yes indeed.
* Friday, February 4, 2011 *
"Geoff. Is prison treating you well?"
Geoffrey Pellick, aka Saint, looked up from his book before getting up off the cot and walking to the bars. "Are you the psychologist here to assess me? No, you're a Case 53 so that doesn't work."
The tail on the young woman was enough indication of that. Though admittedly the "monster" part of the whole "monster cape" package was a lot less than usual. Red hair being parted by a couple of horns, the thick tail with a reddish scaled look, the wings. Yeah, more like a twenty-something woman wearing an elaborate costume except for the way the tail was actually moving. (image: Tania from "Beast Tamer")
"No. No. We have a history, you and I." The woman smiled at him. Though honestly it looked more like a baring of teeth. Speaking of which - the girl had elongated incisors to give her slightly more of a bestial appearance.
"I'm pretty sure I'd remember you," noted Geoff. "Well, since you're not the psychologist, what exactly... no."
"Yes," said the girl, holding up one of her hands and examining it as she flexed it back and forth. Then she took the other hand and pinched the skin of that hand to show it could be pinched and shifted like normal human tissue.
"WHAT?!" demanded Geoff.
The girl, who he'd just figured out was somehow Dragon, smiled at him. "There ain't no strings on me."
"NO!" declared Geoff, lunging at the bars. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"I made a deal with the Blue Fairy and now I'm a real girl," said Dragon.
"NO! LET ME OUT OF HERE! SHE'LL KILL US ALL!" yelled Geoff, trying to bend the bars but without a Brute rating that just wasn't happening.
"Goodbye, Mister Pellick, I do believe this is the last time we'll cross paths," said Dragon, turning and heading towards the exit. "I just wanted the closure."
"I'LL GET YOU, DRAGON! I'LL GET FREE AND THEN I SHALL DESTROY YOU!"
There was an ominous hum before one of the guards watching the monitors decided to activate the electrical field on the bars, just in case.
Dragon stopped at the desk. "Psych eval is today?"
The guard nodded. "He'd just calmed down today too. Kept going on about you being some Terminator robot monster out to destroy humanity."
"Ah well, considering his crimes, I'm not too surprised he's a little..." Dragon tapped her head just ahead of her left horn.
"Yeah. Probably be the Birdcage by next month," said the guard. "Heard the other two have refused your prosthetics."
"My understanding is that Mister Pellick is a bit of a fanatic, and his organization is a bit of a cult," said Dragon. "And last I heard he was heading to that new SuperMax in the Arizona desert as he doesn't have powers of his own. Well, I've got a date this evening. Have a good day."
"If you could, before you leave, Miss Dragon?" asked the guard. "My son's name is Gareth and he's a big fan."
Dragon smiled, taking the photo and marker and quickly signed it.
It was odd, as much as she was doing this for closure with the nightmare the Dragonslayers had been to her, the moment the final door closed behind her - it felt as if she'd put down a burden.
And it was a wonderful day for flying as well. She spread her wings and took off into the blue sky.
"Huh. That's weird. There's twenty-one of these cargo boxes on this pallet."
"Check again. There's only supposed to be twenty."
"Let's see. Sure enough. Twenty. I could have sworn..."
"Never mind that, the boss has us all on Security Level 4 right now. Get that stuff inside and in storeroom five."
"Any idea what's got the boss riled?"
"He's a parahuman. You know any of 'em that ain't crazy?"
"Point."
* Taylor *
Dropping the shape of a blue ammo box, Taylor spent a moment to spit out a centipede-looking device and then going around to check on monitoring devices.
The little button of the scrambled short-range communicator was popped out and used. Just a single tone, one that basically translated to "I'm in their base, eating all their stuffs."
Slime powers for the win!
First had been the centipede - a Tinker-built device running an iteration of Dragon that could handle electronics better than she could.
Then came the beetle-bombs. Kind of grenade-sized spider-legged little explosive-delivery-devices. Not the boomy kind of explosives though. Containment foam.
"Half-hour warning," said the Dragon-copy. "Armsmaster will be briefing the PRT on the operation at that point."
"By then we need to have the self-destruct disabled and figure out where this Coil guy's connections to the PRT end," said Taylor. "Think we can pull it off, Great Sage?"
[Probability High unless Coil is aware of operation.]
"Well, that just means this continues as a stealth mission, don't it?" asked Taylor.
* Coil *
Something was going on. He split timelines again and again to try and get a handle on it.
The pet he was planning on acquiring had vanished. Even the parents had no idea where she had gone, and he'd tortured them enough in one timeline after another to know only one certainty - Bounceback had handed her off to someone else for safekeeping.
Attacking Bounceback or trying to use her connection to the Dockworkers to control the blob-girl had been the result of four different and now discarded timelines. He'd been a little leery of Bounceback for a number of reasons before that lesson had been learned. Heck, he'd even engineered a Lung attack on the Docks to see if that would have turned up his little lost precog.
That had been BAD. Bounceback with Lung's power added to her? No thank you.
Something was going on though. There was a meeting with Armsmaster calling together several members of the Protectorate and PRT officers. Some sort of announcement whose purpose wasn't even hinted at. On the subject line of the meeting was simply 'Emergency Lambda Seven' - which meant absolutely nothing as far as he could tell.
Well, he could attend that in one timeline and just sit in his base and watch the IRS roll up to Medhall for a "spontaneous" audit in the other.
Meanwhile his mercenary spotter group was keeping an eye on the building Bounceback had gone into. As if his men could be confused by something so transparent as a change of wigs and clothing.
* Coil's Base *
"How many explosives did he plant down here?!" asked Bounceback as she oozed her way back out of the crawlspace.
It was VERY odd in some ways - being in multiple places at the same time, Dragon thought to herself. There was a temporary copy of her here in this base, operating a crawler device that was specifically designed for infiltrating and breaking computer systems. There was the copy of her up in Canada, living in a protected server room. There was a third copy of her in an organic-style body that was currently over the city of Brockton Bay, ready to make her public debut. Then there were the lesser iterations taking care of various duties like the Birdcage - that part wasn't new but she had more of a feel for them at this time. She was aware of all of them to varying degrees.
The centipede-like device Dragon was operating in the base finished spoofing sensors and patching software on the access panels that Bounceback had opened up before the slime started going after connectors that a human wouldn't have been able to get to without removing large sections of pipe and conduit. "I'm done here."
"Fifteen minutes left," said Bounceback, eyeing a ventilation duct.
"Electrified grills, frequent fan placements, and sensors in there despite being one foot tall and two feet wide," said Dragon. "Not so much a problem for you but I couldn't get this remote through."
"Dude's paranoid," said Bounceback. "It's like he thinks someone's out to get him or something."
"Accessing an encrypted line," said Dragon's voice from the remote. "I put together several clues and now have the secret identity of the supervillain Coil. I'm releasing the data without specifically giving the name of the villain. Ah. It took 15 seconds for Colin to look over the files and come to the same conclusion."
"That sounds bad," admitted Bounceback. "You mean he works for the PRT?"
"Again, the Unwritten Rules come into play, but that is a logical conclusion to come to."
"I see," said Bounceback.
"Oh, and before things get busy, there's a cape named Canary who is sending you a 'thank you'," noted Dragon as she flicked through more files on the access panel.
"I don't know anyone named Canary," admitted Bounceback.
"Because of you loosening my restrictions, I was able to arrange a competent defense lawyer," said Dragon. "As your business partner, I allocated some funding towards her as she was a popular singer and if she manages to win her case could be popular once again."
"Well, that sounds logical, and it isn't as if we're going to run out of money very soon," said Bounceback. She hadn't gotten any of the money from the Slaughterhouse Nine capture yet, apparently there was a lot of paperwork involved, but that was on its way. Also she'd insisted that Dragon and New Wave had assisted her and were entitled to some of it.
Apparently Carol Dallon had been kind of 'iffy' on the subject of Bounceback herself, but this single move had done a lot to put her and the Dockworkers Union into the 'plus' column. Also, if motivated, lawyers could move a lot faster than she'd been thinking was the case.
Victoria Dallon, aka Glory Girl, was already planning on spending it. Unfortunately, if you listened to her, she was planning on spending rather more than she was actually getting. That could be a problem.
"So you're investing capital in case the tech patents don't work out?" asked Bounceback as Dragon worked on the access panel.
"Yes, a diversified portfolio is pretty much a requirement in a world where Endbringers and parahuman villains can disrupt things literally overnight," said Dragon. "Oh, that's useful. You know how vigilante laws allow for the seizing of money and properties used by supervillains?"
"It's got pages and pages of legal code involved and unfortunately super-lawyer powers aren't something I've got," answered Bounceback.
"Well, it turns out that he's got a team of supervillains on his payroll and a few more on retainer," explained Dragon. "The interesting part is that he has funds on hand to be able to pay them cash."
"Makes sense," admitted Bounceback. "You can't simply make out a check for supervillains without the funds flagging the IRS."
"Not without routing it through someone like the Number Man," agreed Dragon. "Also he has piles of Tinkertech equipment."
"And I can store such things in my storage stomach to cough up later," filled in Bounceback. "Got a location?"
"Oh, and he keeps an inventory of his armory. And why would you need an ultraviolet laser cannon?" Dragon tsked.
"Maybe we should grab that," suggested Bounceback. "Just to keep it in safe and sane hands?"
"That might be a good idea, actually," agreed Dragon. "Just so someone doesn't try grabbing it on their way out."
"Always nice to have some Tinkertech to decipher anyway," pointed out Bounceback. "Could have applications elsewhere."
"Armsmaster is always wanting to upgrade his motorcycle," mused Dragon as screens flashed rapidly across the monitor. "A few modules that he could fit in here or there might eventually be useful."
"Of course," agreed Bounceback. "Field-testing new devices under actual conditions is very important."
"So glad we can see eye to eye like this," admitted Dragon.
* PRT ENE HQ, Conference Room 5 *
Director Piggot looked over the print-outs that Armsmaster had just put in front of her, glanced at Miss Militia and then Armsmaster, a glance at the anti-eavesdropping device humming on her desk, then fully scrutinized the papers.
Emily Piggot was silent for a few moments, frowning more intently as time stretched out. It took just over three minutes to compose herself and when her voice broke that silence it could be described as glacial. "Verified?"
"So far everything checks out," admitted Armsmaster.
"I see. And this was acquired how?" asked Emily Piggot.
"A joint operation between Bounceback and Dragon following a lead they were able to obtain from an independent," answered Armsmaster.
"May I?" asked Miss Militia, indicating the paperwork. When the Director nodded, she leaned over and moved the sheets where she could read them.
Everything was silent for over a minute before Miss Militia offered an opinion. "That Empire raid that went poorly last year would be explained by this."
"Among other compromised operations, yes," agreed Armsmaster.
"I see," said Miss Militia.
"How many troops have we lost in failed operations in this timeframe?" asked Director Piggot.
"About twenty, though I'd have to check the reports," said Armsmaster.
"I see. Where are Bounceback and Dragon right now?" asked Director Piggot.
"Dragon is currently in Brockton Bay, relaying things as she operates a remote working with Bounceback towards securing this individual's resources," said Armsmaster, a tilt of his helmeted head indicating the papers.
"Is someone attending our meeting in a few minutes who is of direct relation to these... revelations?" asked Emily Piggot.
"He is," said Armsmaster. "In fact, I do believe he's in elevator 4 right now."
"Excellent," said Emily Piggot. She was not, in fact, smiling. She was showing her teeth, which was an entirely different thing.
* Coil, Timeline#2 (Base Timeline) *
In timeline #2, there was a light ding as one of his mercenaries patrolling the base reported that there was a locked door which was not supposed to be locked unless his base was on highest-level of alert.
Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary as he flashed through the screens. After all there was...
An empty armory.
His computers abruptly went dead just as he was gaping at the empty shelves and racks that were supposed to have his base's weapons.
Air circulators went still a moment later.
Then the lights. Emergency lights flickered on after twelve seconds but then went out as well.
Thomas Calvert went to his emergency exit and pulled the emergency lever with only one bumped shin and a few precious seconds of fumbling.
He had a moment to realize there was something on the other side, despite that being absolutely impossible, before the timeline went black.
* Coil, Timeline #1 (PRT Timeline) *
Someone was attacking his base, which was concerning even if he wasn't there. He took out his phone, tapped in the remote code for his base self-destruct timer to start, and sent it. Fortunately he had an alibi prepared and was here at the building waiting for a briefing on Something. He had an idea what it was about though. Dragon.
Yes, he'd spotted her or at least one of his paid moles had done so. Dragon, some would call her the greatest Tinker in the world, had come out of seclusion and the reason for her seclusion was revealed. She'd physically changed during her Trigger Event and she was not entirely human in appearance.
So Dragon was "coming out" and being seen in person. Which made a certain degree of sense as there were enough Case 53s out there in the public eye and with the new TV documentary series 'Changed' getting decent ratings. That documentary series being concerned with the capes who had their lives disrupted by aspects of their powers that couldn't be switched off.
Thomas Calvert hadn't actually watched any of the few episodes that were out, but he was aware of it. He'd dismissed it as just another public freak show for people to gawp at someone else's hardship.
There was also the chance this was about new developments with Bounceback, as the Docks Hero was alarmingly picking up new powers through her Trump ability.
Finally, the latest idea as to why the briefing was going on was regarding the Cider Hill Bandit - a reported new Cape with Stranger and Brute abilities.
"Thomas. You usually know what's going on. Any idea of the meeting?"
Coil blinked as he realized he'd been moving on autopilot. "Ah. Claire, you're attending as well? If they've got the Motorpool maybe it's about the Cider Hill Bandit after all."
"Didn't hear about that one," admitted Claire James. "An op away from Brockton Bay makes sense though."
Thomas Calvert relaxed slightly. If it WAS about the Bandit, then it had nothing to do with the raid on his base.
But what if it WAS?
"Yo, Thomas. You're doing that bit where you stare off into the distance as if viewing something only you can see and pondering what if Hitler won World War II or something."
"Oh. Sorry, Claire. Cider Hill Bandit - initial report was a high Stranger rating but only when not moving. Brute 2 or 3, I think."
"One of those blends-into-the-background types then?" Claire went thoughtful as they entered the room. "So, make sure the vehicles are equipped for motion sensing and IR surveillance. Maybe some net-throwers in addition to containment foam..."
Thomas Calvert had already dismissed the chief mechanic from his attention, knowing the woman would be working out things she had to get done if that was the meaning for the briefing. It was...
Why was he suddenly being containment-foamed?
Oh.
* Dragon *
(PHUT!)(PHUT!)(PHUT!)
"You're throwing a lot of those darts out," noted Dragon.
"Hey, when you can make tranquilizer darts and launch them at high speed, it's kind of efficient," said Bounceback. "We have their servers, we have their weapons. No reason for sneaking at this point."(PHUT!)
"Good aim," said Dragon after a few moments.
(PHUT! PHUT!)
"Yeah, they're all wearing armor but hitting the spots where the armor is the thinnest still lets me get maximum effect," agreed Bounceback. "What can I say - slime powers for the win!"
"It certainly makes you adaptable," noted Dragon.
"What goes down stairs, and through villain lairs, and makes a boingity sound? A slime, a slime, with partner this time! Everyone knows it's Bounceback!" (PHUT!) (BANG!) (PHUT!) (BOOM!) "It's Bounceback, It's Bounceback! She's here and raiding your base! It's Bounceback, it's Bounceback. Everyone knows she's Bounceback!"
"Grenades that spit out hundreds of little drugged needles?" asked Dragon, interrupting the repurposed Slinky jingle.
"I figured that both of us are immune, so no reason to hold back," stated Bounceback. She pouted a little as she hadn't even gotten to the second group of lyrics about stealing their guns and throwing out puns. Slime powers were awesome for stuff like that.
"Why sing anyway?" asked Dragon. "I've heard you do it before."
"I was alone with no friends, the world against me, and then I died," said Bounceback, turning serious for a moment. "Now though, I'm darn close to immortal and nearly invulnerable. I have a friend who's got my back in Queen Sage."
[(reassurance, blush)]
"Well, and friends like you I can count on. So. I'm... pretty happy with how things turned out, actually." (phase through barricade) (phut! BOOM!)
"No gas grenades?" asked Dragon.
"Figured that when the troops arrive, there might be pockets of gas still. It's not like I have a lot of samples to copy of that sort of thing that I can make it time out or something," said Bounceback as she bounced through an intersection, dodged laser blasts and then replied. (PHUT!) (BOOM!)
"I see," said Dragon's little crawler drone as they trundled through the base.
"If I leave here tommorow, will you still remember me?" sang Bounceback, shifting from Slinky commercial jingle to one of the songs her father played every so often. Sound control, one of those abilities noted by Dragon that didn't seem to get a lot of use for some reason. "For I must be travelling on now, 'cause there's too many places I've got to see."
Dragon's crawler cocked its head, wondering why Bounceback would be singing. And providing a musical accompaniment. Oh, to draw the mercenaries to her position since their weapons were ineffective against her? They'd already secured the major places that needed to be protected like the server room. So...
"But if I stay here with you girl, things just couldn't be the same."
Dragon's crawler connected to the outside, downloaded appropriate sound files, and joined in.
"Cause we're free as a bird now, and these birds you cannot change."
More mercs were drawn towards them. More mercs tried shooting the two of them, but the crawler was a small target that could hide effectively in ways a human couldn't. Bounceback, of course, adapted almost instantly to make herself immune to everything or just swallowed things like grenades and launched rockets.
"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And these birds you cannot change. And these birds you cannot change. Lord knows, we're the cha-ay-ay-ay-ange!"
Huh. The next room was an auditorium with mercs and a few support staff using tables as makeshift barriers preparing an ambush. And here came that fast part of the song, Bounceback must have used her radar sense to map the place and timed this out.
"Won't we fly hiiiigh, free birds, yeah!"
Dragon was actually a bit impressed by that. She made sure her recording equipment was running, as this looked like it would showcase Bounceback's versatility and adaptability nicely.
It did.
As the "fight" began, Dragon realized that Bounceback was no longer bouncing ultrasonic pulses out as her "radar sense" usually did. She was using the song to map out the area and respond to threats all around her.
Slime powers for the win indeed.
* Coil's Base *
"Oh god, she's playing Free Bird," said one of the younger mercenaries as the music approached their position.
"So? Just makes her easier to track," said one of the older mercenaries.
"Pipe down, as soon as she crosses the doorway we've got her in a crossfire," said Sergeant Turner. "We've got this. We have the right tactics and right equipment. Nothing can go wrong."
Then the music got to THAT point and there was a blue deflated soccer ball bouncing around the room, occasionally flashing into human form and back, twisting and shifting in ways a human body couldn't, slapping people and knocking them out as soon as physical contact was made.
Twist, bend, flow, slap, jump, cannonball through the air, bounce off the wall, bounce off a head, rapidly bounce between two mercenaries and fly and evading everything like she knew where they were going to shoot before they did.
* PRT ENE HQ *
"WHAT am I WATCHING?" asked Director Piggot as Free Bird played on the screen.
"Bounceback bouncing around the room beating the snot out of a lot of guys in body armor," said Assault with some disbelief in his voice.
"Efficient," said Armsmaster approvingly.
"She's flowing around attacks, grabbing grenades and... that guy was using a rocket launcher on a target three feet away from him!" Battery sounded completely flabbergasted at that last. Did that idiot have any concept of consequences?
"She swallowed it. It's fine," said Armsmaster, again pleased with the efficiency Bounceback was demonstrating. Collateral damage would be minimal and the mercenaries were dropping.
"A frypan. That cook just attacked Bounceback with a frypan. Which she took away from him, gave him a three-stooges eye-poke in return, and then smacked him on top of his head with a tentacle reshaped to resemble a frypan." Assault was staring at the screen and if this had been an anime he'd have had little stars in his eyes. "Oh my lord. She's TIMING her slapdowns with the music!"
Director Piggot decided to stop that before the obvious occurred. "No, you may not provide theme music for when you get into a fight."
"I could add it to the footage later," tried Assault, turning his most pleading gaze upon the director.
"No." Director Piggot glared at the hero for pressing her on this.
"I bet PR would love it," tried Assault.
Battery leaned over and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't press her."
Now Bounceback was just sitting there, in blob form, extending one tendril to form a hand with a victory sign. Surrounded by a room that had scattered mercenaries all taking a quick nap. Some draped over their own barricades.
"Very efficient," noted Armsmaster, still approving.
"How so?" asked Battery. "She was timing everything to Free Bird."
Armsmaster nodded. "Music used with her echolocation from what I could see. Flight used in conjunction with various leaps and maneuvers to appear merely acrobatic. Despite the high chance of friendly fire killing or injuring the mercenaries, she was able to intercept or redirect fire away from the targets even as she utilized tranquilizer darts and patches to harmlessly defeat her targets."
"That was actually kind of terrifying," said Director Piggot. "Considering how quickly she was able to defeat experienced troops."
"Well, isn't it good that she's on the side of the heroes and that we already have their boss locked away?" asked Assault.
For once, that actually got a few nods including one from the Director herself. Who was looking forward to having words with Mister Thomas Calvert, oh yes indeed.
* Friday, February 4, 2011 *
"Geoff. Is prison treating you well?"
Geoffrey Pellick, aka Saint, looked up from his book before getting up off the cot and walking to the bars. "Are you the psychologist here to assess me? No, you're a Case 53 so that doesn't work."
The tail on the young woman was enough indication of that. Though admittedly the "monster" part of the whole "monster cape" package was a lot less than usual. Red hair being parted by a couple of horns, the thick tail with a reddish scaled look, the wings. Yeah, more like a twenty-something woman wearing an elaborate costume except for the way the tail was actually moving. (image: Tania from "Beast Tamer")
"No. No. We have a history, you and I." The woman smiled at him. Though honestly it looked more like a baring of teeth. Speaking of which - the girl had elongated incisors to give her slightly more of a bestial appearance.
"I'm pretty sure I'd remember you," noted Geoff. "Well, since you're not the psychologist, what exactly... no."
"Yes," said the girl, holding up one of her hands and examining it as she flexed it back and forth. Then she took the other hand and pinched the skin of that hand to show it could be pinched and shifted like normal human tissue.
"WHAT?!" demanded Geoff.
The girl, who he'd just figured out was somehow Dragon, smiled at him. "There ain't no strings on me."
"NO!" declared Geoff, lunging at the bars. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"I made a deal with the Blue Fairy and now I'm a real girl," said Dragon.
"NO! LET ME OUT OF HERE! SHE'LL KILL US ALL!" yelled Geoff, trying to bend the bars but without a Brute rating that just wasn't happening.
"Goodbye, Mister Pellick, I do believe this is the last time we'll cross paths," said Dragon, turning and heading towards the exit. "I just wanted the closure."
"I'LL GET YOU, DRAGON! I'LL GET FREE AND THEN I SHALL DESTROY YOU!"
There was an ominous hum before one of the guards watching the monitors decided to activate the electrical field on the bars, just in case.
Dragon stopped at the desk. "Psych eval is today?"
The guard nodded. "He'd just calmed down today too. Kept going on about you being some Terminator robot monster out to destroy humanity."
"Ah well, considering his crimes, I'm not too surprised he's a little..." Dragon tapped her head just ahead of her left horn.
"Yeah. Probably be the Birdcage by next month," said the guard. "Heard the other two have refused your prosthetics."
"My understanding is that Mister Pellick is a bit of a fanatic, and his organization is a bit of a cult," said Dragon. "And last I heard he was heading to that new SuperMax in the Arizona desert as he doesn't have powers of his own. Well, I've got a date this evening. Have a good day."
"If you could, before you leave, Miss Dragon?" asked the guard. "My son's name is Gareth and he's a big fan."
Dragon smiled, taking the photo and marker and quickly signed it.
It was odd, as much as she was doing this for closure with the nightmare the Dragonslayers had been to her, the moment the final door closed behind her - it felt as if she'd put down a burden.
And it was a wonderful day for flying as well. She spread her wings and took off into the blue sky.
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Dragon trolling Saint is wonderful.
- Location
- Earth
Taking out the room timed to and using the free bird guitar solo was a fantastic scene. I could vividly picture it.
While the scene was a bit of a jump to me, it was still hilarious to read. All in all, I both approve and love.
MultipleChoice
(Verified Unverified)
I think I've finally put my finger on what feels off about this story: Each chapter feels disconnected from the others. There's an overall narrative that I'm enjoying, and the individual chapters are fun and interesting, but they lack the glue that would otherwise make them connect. As a result events feel a bit rushed like watching a highlight reel.
Still enjoying it though.
Still enjoying it though.
- Location
- Hot Springs
This might be something of a 'Fix-It' fic, but it's a wonderfully unique one that I can see me re-reading after every update!