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The Eldritch One (Celestial Forge)

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Hey I just caught up with this fic. Loving it so far. I really like how Taylor had an unusual interaction with Coil's power, launching her into conflict early on. I also like how Taylor does not know when she gets powers, so the story does not unnecessarily pause when she gets a power that is irrelevant to the current plot, but it can still throw curve balls at her sometimes.
 
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Chapter 23: The Other Side Of The Street
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    • After Armsmaster left me holding the bag to go flirt with his girlfriend, I decided to go interview the mansion staff. Most of these suckers got zip tied to radiators or chairs, so we've been slowly freeing them. Once they're free we question them on what happened one by one.

    The gardeners and security were useless. The gardeners because they just don't know anything and the security are too professional to say anything. These particular ones are from Barkely Security Solutions, a firm in Boston that has a reputation for being a pain in the ass when interacting with law enforcement.

    We got our big break from the cook. She's a sweet Latino woman who relied on the McCormicks for her livelihood. She seems quite angry at their deaths.

    "And then I saw a flash of blue jump through the window. I was screaming bloody murder at all the glass shards flying into the room, but I guess all the security was busy with their own problems. Then I got pulled to the ground and zip tied to the underside of the sink." This matches with the other testimony. What little we got.

    "And let me tell you, thank goodness I regularly clean out the spiders or else I'd be quite more frazzled than I am now."

    "Ma'am, I don't doubt your cleaning abilities, but would I be able to get a description of your assailant?"

    "Oh, yes, ahem. It was a bluish blob thing that restrained me. I managed to get a good look while it was shoving me into that cupboard. Generally blobby and with a wide mouth. Almost too fast to catch a glimpse of."

    "Thank you miss." That also matches what we were able to get out of the security cameras. Most of which were scrambled. "Are you able to tell us who would want to kill the McCormicks?" Her eyes darken.

    "It must have been that Herbert girl, the puta. She killed their only kid, and they've been obsessed ever since. He had his share of issues, but he hardly deserved to be killed over them! Now, I know they did something unwise with those enforcers in town, but that wasn't a killing offence either!" I keep my face neutral at the revelation. I add that to the list of things to investigate.

    "Were there any reasons in particular that you think the Herbert girl did this?"

    "He was yelling into the phone earlier today with somebody about her. He was very mad. You will bring these killers to justice won't you? I do not have anywhere to go after this, this job was everything to me!"

    "We'll do our best ma'am." I get up and start interviewing the others. Miss militia arrived on scene soon after and started organizing the troopers better than I could. About an hour and a half of interviews, and all we got to show for it was one woman who overheard a phone conversation. Better than nothing I guess.

    Once I got back to base I requisitioned everything we had on the Herbert girl only to be summoned up by Director Piggot. Oh boy. I made my way up with all due haste and found myself standing with Armsmaster and a clerk from the offices. She buzzed her secretary to let us in when I entered the room.

    "Do you know why you all are here?"

    "I can take a guess." From Armsmaster. I shake my head no, while the clerk just cowers.

    "Let's start with you." Looking at the clerk. "Why didn't you forward the Palanquin recordings to my office immediately?"

    "Be-be-because that's against protocol ma'am! I can't go over my supervisor's head like that without getting censured somehow! I marked it as urgent and sent it up the chain! They would have made their way to you sometime tonight or tomorrow morning! I couldn't have known they'd end up dead hours later! Government just doesn't work that fast!" She stares him down until he grows pale and looks to the floor.

    "Get out of my sight." He all but flees the room. Once he's gone she turns toward Armsmaster.

    "What the fuck were you thinking leaving Triumph alone to process a crime scene like you did? Especially one as high profile as that?"

    "I was thinking I should be working on the Endbringer early detection system. You know, the thing that could save all of our lives one day."

    "I'll need you to give them an apology Armsmaster."

    "Over my cold dead body! Never in my life will I apologize for saving lives from those abominations. If you put me in a room with these rich pricks I'll tell them exactly what I think of them. That's a promise." She stares at him for about a minute. He doesn't budge.

    "Collin-"

    "Director, you push me on this and I transfer. I will not tolerate any political fuck fuck games getting in the way of this work."

    "Fine." She grinds out. "Since you don't have any interest in this case you can leave." He nods and leaves the room.

    "Triumph, you're here because we have the Palanquin bugged on general principle, and today's recordings are pertinent to the McCormick case. First up is an recording made by miss Hebert."

    "What the fuck is it this time Faultline?"

    "Tattletale it's Taylor. I've been kidnapped, and wherever this is is on fire, and that last part is     definitely not my fault."

    We listen to the rest of the recording, and then the two after that. It paints a damning picture of the McCormicks. I take special note of the second call. There's a lot of information that's going to have to go in Taylor's file from that alone.

    "So, what do you think of all this?" She asks me.

    "I think this 'Tattletale' is dangerous. From how she discourages Taylor from calling the authorities to how casually she threatens and presumably blackmails another parahuman gang. I'd bet money she's one of the deciding factors on why the heist group went lethal in their response here."

    "I agree. I'll be issuing a directive to take her out first in any confrontation with the Undersiders. Looks like she's one of those thinkers you don't want talking under any circumstances. Your thoughts on Taylor?"

    "We should ignore this. Sweep it under the rug if at all possible. If this ever goes to court she could tie this up for years. Maybe even get off on self defense with a good enough lawyer."

    "Mmm, unfortunately that's not an option. Those billionaire pricks the deceased call family are out for blood. They have connections with half the goddamn Senate, and a good chunk of the House too. If we're seen doing nothing, none of our careers will last the month. Can't release these tapes either. They're not exactly, ah, admissable in court.

    "What's going to happen is we're going to be doing a bunch of busywork instead of actually tracking Taylor and the Undersiders down. Write up daily reports for me, and make them the wordiest nothing burgers you possibly can. Make a bunch of sham patrols too. In the safest and most boring patrol routes you can think of. I don't want you injured actually tangling with the Undersiders. Taylor's powers seem like a nightmare to deal with. I'm going to be making alot of meaningless noise on the news about this too. Now get to 'work'."

    "Yes ma'am!" I salute at her.

    "Oh, and none of this gets put down in any kind of report or recorded in any form. Wouldn't want the wrong people to get a hold of this information." I nod and leave the room.


    A few minutes later I'm in a free meeting room with Assault and Battery. The heroes who responded to the Palanquin incident.

    "So, what's this all about newbie?" Asks Assault. "Usually it isn't the least senior team member calling these things."

    "Well it turns out our cases are linked. It looks like the McCormicks tried to have Taylor Hebert kidnapped. She escaped Faultline's crew earlier today and went on to kill the people who hired them with her new team just hours later."

    "Oh for fuck's sake! Isn't she that girl Shadow Stalker bullied into triggering? I swear we're going to be cleaning up that little psychopath's messes for months yet."

    "Yep. Anyways we got a description of her powers from a shady source. Described her as a 'brute changer mover striker nightmare combo.' would either of you have some insights from the scene to elaborate on that?"

    "Well the striker power is probably acid." Says Battery. "We saw some serious chemical burns on the case fifty threes that Faultline employs."

    "Oh my God, she's Acidbath! But with a mover power instead of a blaster one. Holy shit, please tell me we're not the ones fighting her."

    "Official word is she's low priority with a lot of showboating concerning her to prevent any outside interference. But we still gotta update her file."

    "Hmm, let's go with brute/breaker 4+, mover 4+, and striker 5+." Says Assault.

    "Striker 5?" I ask.

    "Starting her out that high because acid melts containment foam. And Brute is from the girl she took down. Several broken ribs, and a concussion. We were able to take her statement in the hospital. Apparently she picked her up and threw her against the wall like a rag doll."

    "Didn't Armsmaster rate her as a projection master?" Asks Battery.

    "Maybe?" He shrugs. "I'm gonna be honest, I wasn't paying all that much attention at the time. We can square that circle later though puppy, these are just preliminary ratings. Say, do we have a cape name for her?"

    "No. We have almost nothing on the Undersiders. We know about Grue and Hellhound from previous encounters, but the only reason we even know Tattletale's name is from a phone call. Then there's that completely unknown fourth dude."

    "Well lucky us, I guess that means we get to name her then, now don't it?" He says with a greasy smile.

    "...How does Amoeba sound?"


    AN: I'm trying not to spend much word count rehashing scenes. Those phone conversations are from chapter 21 and the Faultline interlude. I also don't include the perks or author's notes in my word count either. I know somebody was concerned about that earlier.
     
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    • No way the rich prick have that many senators no matter how much money they have. Also they wouldn't be living in BB if they were that freaking rich. Well PRT will regret that name once Taylor rolls some real forge perks.
     
    Kahalah said:
    No way the rich prick have that many senators no matter how much money they have. Also they wouldn't be living in BB if they were that freaking rich. Well PRT will regret that name once Taylor rolls some real forge perks.
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    The idiots Taylor killed were millionaires. Their family are billionaires.

    Edit: and you don't have to fully own a senator for them to kick up a fuss for you. A lot of rich people spread their political donations around to have a wide range of political contacts. At least here in the US
     
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    Optimal Robotics said:
    Over my cold dead body! Never in my life will I apologize for saving lives from those abominations. If you put me in a room with these rich pricks I'll tell them exactly what I think of them. That's a promise." She stares at him for about a minute. He doesn't budge.

    "Collin-"

    "Director, you push me on this and I transfer. I will not tolerate any political fuck fuck games getting in the way of this work."
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    This Armsmaster has his priorities straight. Existential Threats >>>>>>>> Rich Assholes
     
    Just A Dude said:
    This Armsmaster has his priorities straight. Existential Threats >>>>>>>> Rich Assholes
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    No he fucking doesn't. Those rich assholes just lost a relative; comforting the families of the dearly departed is part of his civic duty as a member of Law Enforcement. And 'don't press me on this or I walk'? Really? I appreciate that he may not want to talk to them, but this is an astonishingly petty thing to threaten this over.

    In short:

    Rich Assholes who just lost a relative >>>>>>>> Working-class Asshole who can't be bothered with basic fucking decency
     
    Bugs said:
    No he fucking doesn't. Those rich assholes just lost a relative; comforting the families of the dearly departed is part of his civic duty as a member of Law Enforcement.
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    No, it isn't. It really, really isn't. Legally or ethically.

    It's nice when they do it, but they have no actual duty to do so.

    Not that this was about "comforting the families of the dearly departed," to begin with. If Bob Smith living in the Docks made the same complaint, assuming he even rated Armsmaster being called out to begin with, he'd have been blown off outright or given a form-letter apology without the hero in question even being made aware it happened.

    He was being given that order strictly to appease a bunch super influential billionaires yelling, screaming, and kicking up a fuss because they weren't being treated as the most important thing in the universe.

    Bugs said:
    And 'don't press me on this or I walk'? Really? I appreciate that he may not want to talk to them, but this is an astonishingly petty thing to threaten this over.
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    Yes, how amazingly petty of him to refuse to bow and scrape because he prioritized his very limited time being able to coordinate with Dragon on a project of global importance, with the potential to save millions of lives, over playing CIS Brockton Bay.

    That was sarcasm, by the way.

    It also goes even beyond the fact he made the right call in the situation and he's not going to pretend he didn't just to appease tantrum-throwing billionaires. It's a matter of being able to trust his command structure.

    If Piggot won't have his back on this, when he made the right call in the situation, then how can he trust her to have his back in other situations where he has to make judgement calls? And if he can't trust here to have his back, why would he want to continue to work with her?

    Bugs said:
    In short:

    Rich Assholes who just lost a relative >>>>>>>> Working-class Asshole who can't be bothered with basic fucking decency
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    Good thing that's not the situation, then.

    I don't know what, or who, crawled up your ass and died that left you so angry, but you're blatantly fixating on only a fraction of the situation while ignoring context, and projecting massive amounts of hostility and aggression into this conversation.

    I suggest reflecting on why this has you so riled up and approaching this conversation with a clearer mind if you decide to reply again.
     
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    The bitch who has to find a new job: They didn't deserve it
    everyone who knows: yes they fucking did and then some
     
    This definitely doesn't feel CF, and the characters don't really match canon, but honestly I'm just thinking of it as a more amusing AU and it's plenty entertaining! Thanks for the story.
     
    Optimal Robotics said:
    "What's going to happen is we're going to be doing a bunch of busywork instead of actually tracking Taylor and the Undersiders down. Write up daily reports for me, and make them the wordiest nothing burgers you possibly can. Make a bunch of sham patrols too. In the safest and most boring patrol routes you can think of. I don't want you injured actually tangling with the Undersiders. Taylor's powers seem like a nightmare to deal with. I'm going to be making alot of meaningless noise on the news about this too. Now get to 'work'."
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    Do you think that Dragon or Armsmaster have AIs for things like those sort of reports? I can see Armsmaster at least having a AI for highlighting the actionable and information-conveying parts of a report that he could repurpose into or use to train a report-sanitizing AI.

    I could also see him hiring Taylor to do mock-fights with him for good PR so that he didn't need to waste his time doing actual fights with her for good PR; just more efficient then faux-searching for her both in terms of costs and effectiveness.
    Optimal Robotics said:
    A few minutes later I'm in a free meeting room with Assault and Battery. The heroes who responded to the Palanquin incident.
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    You need to put more internal experience, writing characters having feelings or opinions instead of just that they have or are expressing feelings and experiences, into your writing; I can't even remember which characters POV this is.
    Optimal Robotics said:
    "Well it turns out our cases are linked. It looks like the McCormicks tried to have Taylor Hebert kidnapped. She escaped Faultline's crew earlier today and went on to kill the people who hired them with her new team just hours later."
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    Now that's the sort of reputation you want to have!
    Optimal Robotics said:
    "Oh my God, she's Acidbath! But with a mover power instead of a blaster one. Holy shit, please tell me we're not the ones fighting her."
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    Oh hey she kind of is isn't she?

    Also I can't tell who's saying this line.
    Optimal Robotics said:
    "Official word is she's low priority with a lot of showboating concerning her to prevent any outside interference. But we still gotta update her file."

    "Hmm, let's go with brute/breaker 4+, mover 4+, and striker 5+." Says Assault.

    "Striker 5?" I ask.

    "Starting her out that high because acid melts containment foam. And Brute is from the girl she took down. Several broken ribs, and a concussion. We were able to take her statement in the hospital. Apparently she picked her up and threw her against the wall like a rag doll."
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    Let's see; Rating-Four is "One full squad of trained operatives should be able to deal with this situation alone, but exceptional circumstance, context and environment may bias things one way or the other." and Rating-Five is "Additional countermeasures come into effect. A typical parahuman or one parahuman assisting a squad of operatives should be able to deal with the power in question. Operatives can engage until assistance arrives.".
    AldariSiradla said:
    Not gonna lie.
    This turned into a Xianxia all of a sudden.
    Yeah, killed the family?
    The clan's gonna go after you next.
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    A shame that Taylor's not going to X-Com this threat to escalate with it; she hasn't even Plentimaw-fused anything with Grue's fog.
    Bugs said:
    No he fucking doesn't. Those rich assholes just lost a relative; comforting the families of the dearly departed is part of his civic duty as a member of Law Enforcement. And 'don't press me on this or I walk'? Really? I appreciate that he may not want to talk to them, but this is an astonishingly petty thing to threaten this over.

    In short:

    Rich Assholes who just lost a relative >>>>>>>> Working-class Asshole who can't be bothered with basic fucking decency
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    Funnily enough you're right in the opposite direction; pre/mid-Leviathan Armsmaster was so obsessed with his image that I actually think that he might have forwent the glory of taking down a Endbringer for the opportunity to do more publicity work; the only reason why he isn't forgoing it now is because he doesn't consider rich assholes to be publicity work.
    Just A Dude said:
    No, it isn't. It really, really isn't. Legally or ethically.

    It's nice when they do it, but they have no actual duty to do so.

    Not that this was about "comforting the families of the dearly departed," to begin with. If Bob Smith living in the Docks made the same complaint, assuming he even rated Armsmaster being called out to begin with, he'd have been blown off outright or given a form-letter apology without the hero in question even being made aware it happened.

    He was being given that order strictly to appease a bunch super influential billionaires yelling, screaming, and kicking up a fuss because they weren't being treated as the most important thing in the universe.
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    I wonder whether Armsmaster could repurpose some of Dragon's digital avatar program to make a form-letter that looks like a video-call.
    Shance said:
    Cannpt wait for her name to change to something more appropiate in future, like Shogoth, or She-Who-Strikes-In-Silence.
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    Might I suggest "Pudding"?
     
    The Stormbringer said:
    This definitely doesn't feel CF, and the characters don't really match canon, but honestly I'm just thinking of it as a more amusing AU and it's plenty entertaining! Thanks for the story.
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    And yet, it literally just is Celestial Forge, like, this story uses the default CF perk pool, Taylor just somehow keeps rolling everything but the skill and crafting perks that make up the majority of CF and instead keeps landing on ones that make her increasingly like some sort of Eldritch monstrosity
     
    Technoturnovers said:
    And yet, it literally just is Celestial Forge, like, this story uses the default CF perk pool, Taylor just somehow keeps rolling everything but the skill and crafting perks that make up the majority of CF and instead keeps landing on ones that make her increasingly like some sort of Eldritch monstrosity
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    You think that this Taylor wouldn't do basically the same thing, be equally useless, with other Perks?
     
    Anomalous Object said:
    You think that this Taylor wouldn't do basically the same thing, be equally useless, with other Perks?
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    She's ignoring the forge unless forced to acknowledge it because of physical changes, so yeah, she wouldn't be doing any actual crafting even if she got perks for it.

    I still don't understand WHY she's either ignoring the info on the perks, or not getting info on 'em. I know it'll be revealed eventually, but for now, the confusion continues.
     
    Assembler Maniac said:
    She's ignoring the forge unless forced to acknowledge it because of physical changes, so yeah, she wouldn't be doing any actual crafting even if she got perks for it.

    I still don't understand WHY she's either ignoring the info on the perks, or not getting info on 'em. I know it'll be revealed eventually, but for now, the confusion continues.
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    This. I'm not familiar with the mechanical details of writing a CF story, but it's really weird compared with the others I've read that she isn't getting any information on this stuff. The totality of her awareness, so far as is shown, can be summed up as "WTFNOPE."
     
    Assembler Maniac said:
    I still don't understand WHY she's either ignoring the info on the perks, or not getting info on 'em. I know it'll be revealed eventually, but for now, the confusion continues.
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    She's not getting the info on them because that makes the more interesting story IMO. So this way I'm not stuck chain navel gazing myself into about a hundred more perks I'm not ready to introduce into the story. It's a pacing issue. The original one.

    gsteemso said:
    This. I'm not familiar with the mechanical details of writing a CF story, but it's really weird compared with the others I've read that she isn't getting any information on this stuff.
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    The only agreed upon mechanics of a CF story is the jump doc. Everything else is up to the writer
     
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