- Location
- The Midlands.
The technical term for that is "Work to Rule", and it's a tactic that's been around as long as there have been formalised workplace regulations.
The World is my Layout [Worm AU/Alt Power]
- Thread starter GeneralPatt1000
- Start date
- Location
- Somewhere
There's also the Belgium Ghost Train. Belgium Railway Workers vs the Nazis.
wwii-netherlands-escape-lines.com
During the final days of the German occupation of Belgium in World War II, members of the Belgian National Railways managed to prevent a trainload of political prisoners being taken to Germany for extermination by finely judged bureaucratic time-wasting, as well as sabotage and, in some cases, running away and hiding.
Minute-by-Minute Account of the Phantom Train
Summary of minute-by-minute peregrination of the “Ghost Train” by Walter Verstraeten Based upon: “Le Train fantôme (The phantom train)” from Lokker, Claude, Des Bâtons dans les Roues, Brussels: M…
wwii-netherlands-escape-lines.com
During the final days of the German occupation of Belgium in World War II, members of the Belgian National Railways managed to prevent a trainload of political prisoners being taken to Germany for extermination by finely judged bureaucratic time-wasting, as well as sabotage and, in some cases, running away and hiding.
Vacation delay
- Location
- Seattle area
I hope everyone is having a good Memorial Day weekend so far. I have a little news for you all. My beta @DrYuriMom is going on a weekend getaway and will be unable to edit for me. She requested that I wait for her to get back on Monday so she can edit then. Therefore this weekend's chapter will be delayed to next weekend. Chapter 2.3's draft will be completed tomorrow and I will start work on 2.4. This will allow me to start building up a small backlog. Thank you all for your continued readership and your patience.
- Location
- Somewhere
Here's to a good vacation for DrYuriMom
Chapter 2.3
- Location
- Seattle area
Chapter 2.3
Wildbow owns Worm
Betaed by @DrYuriMom
Author's note:
It took until two in the morning for the police to gather enough pictures and other evidence to satisfy their investigators. As they left, a truck from the fire department showed up to put out the small fires at the switch junction and on the one line in the yard that had hosted the boxcars. Taylor thanked them profusely before finally retreating to the layout pocket dimension.
"Well, that was certainly interesting," Danny remarked upon Taylor regaining consciousness.
Taylor blinked. Having closed her eyes before projecting herself this time, they did not become as uncomfortable as before. However, her interrupted sleep schedule was catching up to her.
She looked up at her Dad quizzically, "Why is that?"
"Well, for one, the news people didn't show up, which was a possibility. I suppose it was simply too early for them. There will be some of the vultures later in the morning, that's for certain." Danny raised a second finger, "Next, I expected Armsmaster to push the Wards on you, but your little bomb about your current projection limit prevented him from doing that. By the way, what did I say about over-aweing them?
Taylor giggled, "Over-aweing them would have been telling them everything I can do. I just told him that to keep him from worrying about my safety. I didn't want the statistics speech. His shock was a bit funny at the moment, though."
"So it was." Danny grinned, "I'm sure he was happy to get Skidmark, the rotten bilge rat."
Taylor frowned, "I got the feeling he doesn't show a lot of emotion. He didn't appear to be happy at the capture or displeased that his night was interrupted."
"Perhaps he was merely trying to stay professional himself," Danny reasoned, "Or maybe he has difficulty showing emotion." He shrugged, "Either way, I think he would be pleased internally."
He waved a hand at the layout, "Do you want to clean up this mess now or leave it till later?
Taylor looked back at the scene down in the Trainyard. Her police milled around the two locomotives and the car shop. "Might as well tidy up a bit and give orders."
She entered her voice of command though it sounded tired. "Alright, 303 and 1375, head back to the washing facility and park there for the night. There may be work in the morning, so be prepared for that."
The two Geep locomotives followed instructions, and their models headed back towards the shops, passing through the various switches needed to get there. Their engines rumbled contentedly as they did so.
As that was going on, Taylor turned to the railroad police. "Excellent work tonight, guys. Without even trying, you broke the back of one of the three big gangs in the city. And it was only the end of our first day!"
There was a ragged cheer from the projections.
"Now, your tasks for the night will be this. Look in the car shop and see if there is anything salvageable. It's the one building we haven't checked yet. Next, pull the plug on the water tank for 3716's tender. I'd like to get it cleaned out and refilled with fresh water tomorrow. Also, get me a count on the loot we liberated. Finally, keep all these buildings secure for the rest of the night. We don't want anything else happening. Got all that?"
The police all nodded in unison and split up into several groups to get to work.
Taylor next moved to clear the tracks of all the abandoned vehicles the Merchants had left behind. The model cars were barely an inch long on the layout, and the motorcycles were even smaller. She very carefully grabbed each vehicle between her right thumb and index finger and moved them into the gap between the turntable and the mainline. There was plenty of room there to lay them all out nice and neat.
Finally, Taylor stared at the new breaches in the rails the Skidmark had created. The switch junction in the center was utterly ruined, and all six switches would need to be replaced. In the Classification Yard, though, she would only need a few straight sections to replace the rails underneath the line of 10 boxcars that had occupied them.
The remnants of three boxcars were scattered about the explosion site, and another two appeared to have taken shock and shrapnel damage. The seven survivors could be repaired and repainted, but the three destroyed cars were total losses. Taylor decided she would try to repair and repaint the seven survivors herself, so she pulled them off the line and set them in her Dad's railroad box.
Taylor yawned widely again, "Dad, can you grab me six switches and a couple of 10-inch straights? I'll set them down on the layout and install them in the morning. I'm about ready to fall over from exhaustion."
"Of course, dear." Danny bent over the boxer holding his old track and trains. Rummaging through it, he grabbed the requested pieces. Handing them over, he asked, "Are they going to be safe just sitting trackside?"
Yardmaster chose that moment to speak up, with a somewhat amused tone in its voice. "I don't believe there is anything in this town that can do anything to massive and heavy rail and tie assemblies like those. Well, unless they use explosives, of course. But that happening again is unlikely."
Taylor nodded as she set the tracks on the layout in neat stacks. "Yeah, I doubt Lung or Kaiser will come out here when they find out what happened. The news and PHO people will be swarming. They won't want anything to do with that."
"You probably have a point," Danny mused as he watched his daughter finish up. "Yardmaster, you've been quiet for some time. What have you been up to?"
"Merely watching the proceedings. I did not interject because Taylor was doing an excellent job giving orders and making decisions."
Danny nodded in approval, "I agree. Taylor, you still may be a Little Owl, but you're growing up quite nicely. I'm proud of you."
Taylor gave him a weak smile as she turned away from the layout. "Thanks, Dad. Now, I'm going back to bed, and nothing is going to wake me this time. I need my beauty sleep."
"That's my girl."
--------
Sunday
August 31st, 2008
7:30 am
Boston
The following day found Emily Piggot, Director of the PRT East North East, at her brother's dining room table in Boston. Neither her brother nor her sister-in-law was awake yet, but her nephew Gavin was an early riser. The young man of 18 was in the kitchen whipping up something for her. A steaming hot cup of coffee sat in front of her, as did her secure work laptop.
Her nephew brewed a great pot of coffee, which she appreciated every time she made it to Boston to visit her family. He hadn't revealed how he had acquired it, but his coffee recipe tasted similar to what her father had brought home from his time as a cook in the White House. That was a story she would have to wrangle out of him at some point.
Sipping at her coffee, she made a noise of enjoyment. Ah. Now that is heavenly, she thought. Maybe I can grant Gavin a paid internship so that he can make this stuff every day.
Sighing at the thought of her Directorship, she turned her gaze to the laptop. The machine was in the middle of logging her into the PRT email system. Yesterday, she could not check her account after arriving in Boston for dinner and the Labor Day weekend with her family. She hoped to get a little work done before the rest of her family awoke.
The computer finished logging her in and dinged for her attention. Two angry red messages were marked Urgent for her immediate attention. Listed below them were several other messages marked with lesser priority codes. She could look at those later. One of the Urgents was dated around six yesterday afternoon, and the second was dated at 2 in the morning. She opened the earliest of the two messages which Miss Militia wrote. It was titled 'New Parahuman Contact Report.'
She clicked on it while thinking, Okay, what new cape will upset the balance of my city now? Hopefully, it's not too bad.
Contact report for meeting between Miss Militia and Dispatcher
August 30th, 2008 5:00 pm
"This is a contact report concerning a new parahuman I encountered in the Trainyards. About 5 pm, I was nearing the end of my patrol in the north part of the Docks when I heard the sound of a gunfight erupt in the nearby railroad facilities.
Upon arriving, I found ten projections dressed as Railroad Police detaining seven Merchants members who had set up a drug dealer supply base in the railway buildings there. The projections were friendly and disturbingly articulate. They granted me an interview with their Master, who appeared to me in the form of a projection as well.
The image, who appeared to be a young teenage girl dressed as a classic train engineer, assured me that she was real and was projecting herself from a safe pocket dimension. Both herself and her projections referred to her as Dispatcher.
The conversation that followed revealed several things about her powers, most of which were quite astonishing. She described them as being similar to those of a model train hobbyist. She demonstrated by commanding one of the abandoned locomotives to move on its own, which it then proceeded to do. While that was going on, she spontaneously summoned no less than 30 projections clothed as maintenance workers to repaint that engine and one other. Dispatcher also admitted to manifesting a locomotive and several pieces of rolling stock earlier in the day.
Further discussion with Dispatcher led me to discover her intentions for her new abilities. She desires to rebuild the railroad infrastructure and clean up those portions of the city that it runs through. She was not fearful for her safety, and I did not give her the Ward speech as a result.
My analysis of Dispatcher tells me that she regards the Protectorate and PRT very highly and will be happy to ally with us. I mentioned the possibility, and she seemed amenable. I would recommend that we offer her an affiliate contract or, failing that, allow her to go on as an independent with close ties to us.
The following is my initial threat rating estimate based on my understanding of her powers. I have the feeling she was hiding things from me as she only barely held in her fangirl tendencies when discussing her powers. I, therefore, recommend that these numbers be re-evaluated when she inevitably shows off more of her abilities
Master 7
Dispatcher can summon at minimum 42 individual projections to do various jobs, from police work to engineering and maintenance work. Police projections carry 5-shot repeating rifles and semi-automatic pistols, which both fire stun rounds. Other projections have minor tools and supplies necessary to pursue their trades. Dispatcher did not describe a limit to the number of projections she can generate, so this number is subject to change.
Dispatcher can also give commands to railroad locomotives which will do her bidding without hesitation. They will start their engines and proceed on tasks she sets out. Engineer projections can also manipulate the controls of locomotives as if they were real people.
Shaker 6
Dispatcher claims that she can manifest or summon railroad equipment such as locomotives and rolling stock from a pocket dimension. If this is the only thing she can do from her place of safety, I will eat my scarf. A power emulating a model train hobbyist has so much potential in this area it's a little scary. However, I think it is better to ally with Dispatcher and support her rather than demanding such close ties to aggravate her into being an opponent.
Breaker 4
Dispatcher is capable of projecting an image of herself from a pocket dimension. This image is generally dressed as a classic train engineer with a red bandana serving as a mask, complete with holes cut for her eyes. She has long, curly black hair and brown eyes. She appears to be a 13 or 14 years old girl.
Signed,
Miss Militia
Emily sat back in her chair, a little surprised at the described powerset. A model train hobbyist? What will the powers that be think of next? She had to consider this a little before continuing. The amount of good this can do is enormous, but the gangs will not take it very kindly. We'll have to keep an eye on this Dispatcher and make sure she doesn't set off a war. Hopefully, her ambition will do some good and not cause any trouble.
She clicked on Armsmaster's early morning message, which was titled "Trainyard Battle After Action Report." That was somewhat concerning. Did Skidmark already go off the rails? She did not expect such a quick escalation.
Her nephew came into the dining room with a breakfast plate for her as the email flashed up. Gavin smiled kindly at her, "Hard at work already, Aunt Emily? You are supposed to be on vacation." He set down the plate, which contained two scrambled eggs, three strips of crispy bacon, and assorted fruit. "Breakfast is served. There is more if you want it."
Emily smiled back. She did not get along well with young people most of the time, but Gavin was family and a good kid. He was planning to follow her into the PRT administration branch. Initially, he was planning on going into the operations side, but she'd convinced him not to after telling him about her experience with Nilbog and the Ellisburg Incident. She hadn't wanted him risking his neck fighting villains and other parahuman threats.
"Work as a Director never ends, Gavin. You learn that pretty quickly. If it's not a parahuman gang war, it's an overzealous independent hero. If it's not an A-class threat, it's an Endbringer. There will always be difficult decisions. And the paperwork is as endless as the oceans."
Emily fingered a pager on the table next to her computer, "Also, this thing lets me know when I receive priority messages. I missed two such emails, so I needed to check-in and see what's going on."
Gavin chuckled, "Well, a directorship is still a long way off for me, so I won't worry about it now. Enjoy your breakfast, and don't work too hard." The teenager walked into the nearby living room and turned the TV. The sound of a news program starting drew her attention.
"This is a WBZ-TV News Boston special report."
An image appeared on screen next to the newscaster of an exploding boxcar. Emily facepalmed. She had barely started reading Armsmaster's email, and the event described in his report was being reported in Boston already.
"Our friends in Brockton Bay received an unpleasant awakening early this morning when several explosions erupted in the abandoned Trainyards. Local correspondents initially believed that the villain and Kyushu veteran Lung was going on a rampage. A short press release from the Protectorate after the incident revealed that another gang leader was the perpetrator. The hero Armsmaster announced that Skidmark, the Archer's Bridge Merchants leader, was captured in a 1 am battle against a new young cape who Skidmark thought was making a move on his territory. We now go live to our reporter on the ground…."
Emily was indeed not a happy woman. A big villain fight had gone down in her city, and she wasn't there to oversee the fallout. She hoped Deputy Director Renick and the PR team were up to the challenge. She would only be able to influence events by phone and email until Tuesday.
Her phone rang. Gavin looked at her with a slight grin. "Duty calls?"
Emily nodded sagely, "Duty Calls."
------
That same time
Brockton Bay
Taylor was having breakfast in bed on the fold-out bed in the living room couch. She had awakened a few minutes ago to the smell of bacon and pancakes and the sound of Danny working in the kitchen.
A few minutes later, she was propped up with a tray of food and had the CBS news channel coming in on the TV. Danny was dishing up his breakfast when the special report came on.
"Daaaddd! We're on the news!"
Danny came into the living room with his plate and sat in his easy chair. He took a look at the report that was playing and gave her a humorously defiant expression. "You mean you're on the news, little owl. Don't drag me into this."
Father and daughter stared at each other for a moment; then both burst into laughter. It continued for a few seconds until Taylor calmed down enough to speak.
"Let me eat breakfast, and I'll see what is going on in the layout, okay?"
Taylor's phone buzzed twice in quick succession, pre-empting a reply from Danny. Examining it for a moment revealed a new text from Emma.
OMG, are you listening to the news right now? Dad has the radio on in the car. It sounds like the Merchants went nuts last night.
Taylor smiled. Of course, Emma would be worried about her safety in a situation like this. She typed back a message.
Yes, I'm fine. They didn't come through our area. Will you be home soon?
Dad says it'll be an hour. We left the cabin early. I'll be right over to check on you when I get home! Emma replied.
Great! See you then. Taylor laid the phone back down. "That was Emma," she told Danny, "She wanted to know if I was safe. She wants to come over as soon as they get back from the cabin."
"Well, then you better eat quickly so you can go play on the layout before she gets here then. Do you want to tell her about this?" Danny asked.
Taylor considered that. "Umm… no, not yet. I think I want to rebuild first and get better organized. That may take a little time with school coming on." She began to light into her food while keeping an eye on the news. "We'll see. I don't want to keep it from her for too long."
Wildbow owns Worm
Betaed by @DrYuriMom
Author's note:
Welcome to the next chapter of The World is my Layout! Thanks for your patience until this chapter was ready. As a result, we will have a 1-chapter backlog in the future. Hopefully, I can soon offer the backlog as a benefit to Patrons a week in advance of its publishing. Speaking of Patreon, there have been some adjustments made so hopefully, we can get something going there.
As for the chapter, it focuses a bit on our friendly neighborhood PRT Director during her Labor Day weekend family visit. We have little to no information about Emily Piggot's family. Mostly just the name of her nephew. So I've decided to expand a little on that. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
As for the chapter, it focuses a bit on our friendly neighborhood PRT Director during her Labor Day weekend family visit. We have little to no information about Emily Piggot's family. Mostly just the name of her nephew. So I've decided to expand a little on that. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
It took until two in the morning for the police to gather enough pictures and other evidence to satisfy their investigators. As they left, a truck from the fire department showed up to put out the small fires at the switch junction and on the one line in the yard that had hosted the boxcars. Taylor thanked them profusely before finally retreating to the layout pocket dimension.
"Well, that was certainly interesting," Danny remarked upon Taylor regaining consciousness.
Taylor blinked. Having closed her eyes before projecting herself this time, they did not become as uncomfortable as before. However, her interrupted sleep schedule was catching up to her.
She looked up at her Dad quizzically, "Why is that?"
"Well, for one, the news people didn't show up, which was a possibility. I suppose it was simply too early for them. There will be some of the vultures later in the morning, that's for certain." Danny raised a second finger, "Next, I expected Armsmaster to push the Wards on you, but your little bomb about your current projection limit prevented him from doing that. By the way, what did I say about over-aweing them?
Taylor giggled, "Over-aweing them would have been telling them everything I can do. I just told him that to keep him from worrying about my safety. I didn't want the statistics speech. His shock was a bit funny at the moment, though."
"So it was." Danny grinned, "I'm sure he was happy to get Skidmark, the rotten bilge rat."
Taylor frowned, "I got the feeling he doesn't show a lot of emotion. He didn't appear to be happy at the capture or displeased that his night was interrupted."
"Perhaps he was merely trying to stay professional himself," Danny reasoned, "Or maybe he has difficulty showing emotion." He shrugged, "Either way, I think he would be pleased internally."
He waved a hand at the layout, "Do you want to clean up this mess now or leave it till later?
Taylor looked back at the scene down in the Trainyard. Her police milled around the two locomotives and the car shop. "Might as well tidy up a bit and give orders."
She entered her voice of command though it sounded tired. "Alright, 303 and 1375, head back to the washing facility and park there for the night. There may be work in the morning, so be prepared for that."
The two Geep locomotives followed instructions, and their models headed back towards the shops, passing through the various switches needed to get there. Their engines rumbled contentedly as they did so.
As that was going on, Taylor turned to the railroad police. "Excellent work tonight, guys. Without even trying, you broke the back of one of the three big gangs in the city. And it was only the end of our first day!"
There was a ragged cheer from the projections.
"Now, your tasks for the night will be this. Look in the car shop and see if there is anything salvageable. It's the one building we haven't checked yet. Next, pull the plug on the water tank for 3716's tender. I'd like to get it cleaned out and refilled with fresh water tomorrow. Also, get me a count on the loot we liberated. Finally, keep all these buildings secure for the rest of the night. We don't want anything else happening. Got all that?"
The police all nodded in unison and split up into several groups to get to work.
Taylor next moved to clear the tracks of all the abandoned vehicles the Merchants had left behind. The model cars were barely an inch long on the layout, and the motorcycles were even smaller. She very carefully grabbed each vehicle between her right thumb and index finger and moved them into the gap between the turntable and the mainline. There was plenty of room there to lay them all out nice and neat.
Finally, Taylor stared at the new breaches in the rails the Skidmark had created. The switch junction in the center was utterly ruined, and all six switches would need to be replaced. In the Classification Yard, though, she would only need a few straight sections to replace the rails underneath the line of 10 boxcars that had occupied them.
The remnants of three boxcars were scattered about the explosion site, and another two appeared to have taken shock and shrapnel damage. The seven survivors could be repaired and repainted, but the three destroyed cars were total losses. Taylor decided she would try to repair and repaint the seven survivors herself, so she pulled them off the line and set them in her Dad's railroad box.
Taylor yawned widely again, "Dad, can you grab me six switches and a couple of 10-inch straights? I'll set them down on the layout and install them in the morning. I'm about ready to fall over from exhaustion."
"Of course, dear." Danny bent over the boxer holding his old track and trains. Rummaging through it, he grabbed the requested pieces. Handing them over, he asked, "Are they going to be safe just sitting trackside?"
Yardmaster chose that moment to speak up, with a somewhat amused tone in its voice. "I don't believe there is anything in this town that can do anything to massive and heavy rail and tie assemblies like those. Well, unless they use explosives, of course. But that happening again is unlikely."
Taylor nodded as she set the tracks on the layout in neat stacks. "Yeah, I doubt Lung or Kaiser will come out here when they find out what happened. The news and PHO people will be swarming. They won't want anything to do with that."
"You probably have a point," Danny mused as he watched his daughter finish up. "Yardmaster, you've been quiet for some time. What have you been up to?"
"Merely watching the proceedings. I did not interject because Taylor was doing an excellent job giving orders and making decisions."
Danny nodded in approval, "I agree. Taylor, you still may be a Little Owl, but you're growing up quite nicely. I'm proud of you."
Taylor gave him a weak smile as she turned away from the layout. "Thanks, Dad. Now, I'm going back to bed, and nothing is going to wake me this time. I need my beauty sleep."
"That's my girl."
--------
Sunday
August 31st, 2008
7:30 am
Boston
The following day found Emily Piggot, Director of the PRT East North East, at her brother's dining room table in Boston. Neither her brother nor her sister-in-law was awake yet, but her nephew Gavin was an early riser. The young man of 18 was in the kitchen whipping up something for her. A steaming hot cup of coffee sat in front of her, as did her secure work laptop.
Her nephew brewed a great pot of coffee, which she appreciated every time she made it to Boston to visit her family. He hadn't revealed how he had acquired it, but his coffee recipe tasted similar to what her father had brought home from his time as a cook in the White House. That was a story she would have to wrangle out of him at some point.
Sipping at her coffee, she made a noise of enjoyment. Ah. Now that is heavenly, she thought. Maybe I can grant Gavin a paid internship so that he can make this stuff every day.
Sighing at the thought of her Directorship, she turned her gaze to the laptop. The machine was in the middle of logging her into the PRT email system. Yesterday, she could not check her account after arriving in Boston for dinner and the Labor Day weekend with her family. She hoped to get a little work done before the rest of her family awoke.
The computer finished logging her in and dinged for her attention. Two angry red messages were marked Urgent for her immediate attention. Listed below them were several other messages marked with lesser priority codes. She could look at those later. One of the Urgents was dated around six yesterday afternoon, and the second was dated at 2 in the morning. She opened the earliest of the two messages which Miss Militia wrote. It was titled 'New Parahuman Contact Report.'
She clicked on it while thinking, Okay, what new cape will upset the balance of my city now? Hopefully, it's not too bad.
Contact report for meeting between Miss Militia and Dispatcher
August 30th, 2008 5:00 pm
"This is a contact report concerning a new parahuman I encountered in the Trainyards. About 5 pm, I was nearing the end of my patrol in the north part of the Docks when I heard the sound of a gunfight erupt in the nearby railroad facilities.
Upon arriving, I found ten projections dressed as Railroad Police detaining seven Merchants members who had set up a drug dealer supply base in the railway buildings there. The projections were friendly and disturbingly articulate. They granted me an interview with their Master, who appeared to me in the form of a projection as well.
The image, who appeared to be a young teenage girl dressed as a classic train engineer, assured me that she was real and was projecting herself from a safe pocket dimension. Both herself and her projections referred to her as Dispatcher.
The conversation that followed revealed several things about her powers, most of which were quite astonishing. She described them as being similar to those of a model train hobbyist. She demonstrated by commanding one of the abandoned locomotives to move on its own, which it then proceeded to do. While that was going on, she spontaneously summoned no less than 30 projections clothed as maintenance workers to repaint that engine and one other. Dispatcher also admitted to manifesting a locomotive and several pieces of rolling stock earlier in the day.
Further discussion with Dispatcher led me to discover her intentions for her new abilities. She desires to rebuild the railroad infrastructure and clean up those portions of the city that it runs through. She was not fearful for her safety, and I did not give her the Ward speech as a result.
My analysis of Dispatcher tells me that she regards the Protectorate and PRT very highly and will be happy to ally with us. I mentioned the possibility, and she seemed amenable. I would recommend that we offer her an affiliate contract or, failing that, allow her to go on as an independent with close ties to us.
The following is my initial threat rating estimate based on my understanding of her powers. I have the feeling she was hiding things from me as she only barely held in her fangirl tendencies when discussing her powers. I, therefore, recommend that these numbers be re-evaluated when she inevitably shows off more of her abilities
Master 7
Dispatcher can summon at minimum 42 individual projections to do various jobs, from police work to engineering and maintenance work. Police projections carry 5-shot repeating rifles and semi-automatic pistols, which both fire stun rounds. Other projections have minor tools and supplies necessary to pursue their trades. Dispatcher did not describe a limit to the number of projections she can generate, so this number is subject to change.
Dispatcher can also give commands to railroad locomotives which will do her bidding without hesitation. They will start their engines and proceed on tasks she sets out. Engineer projections can also manipulate the controls of locomotives as if they were real people.
Shaker 6
Dispatcher claims that she can manifest or summon railroad equipment such as locomotives and rolling stock from a pocket dimension. If this is the only thing she can do from her place of safety, I will eat my scarf. A power emulating a model train hobbyist has so much potential in this area it's a little scary. However, I think it is better to ally with Dispatcher and support her rather than demanding such close ties to aggravate her into being an opponent.
Breaker 4
Dispatcher is capable of projecting an image of herself from a pocket dimension. This image is generally dressed as a classic train engineer with a red bandana serving as a mask, complete with holes cut for her eyes. She has long, curly black hair and brown eyes. She appears to be a 13 or 14 years old girl.
Signed,
Miss Militia
Emily sat back in her chair, a little surprised at the described powerset. A model train hobbyist? What will the powers that be think of next? She had to consider this a little before continuing. The amount of good this can do is enormous, but the gangs will not take it very kindly. We'll have to keep an eye on this Dispatcher and make sure she doesn't set off a war. Hopefully, her ambition will do some good and not cause any trouble.
She clicked on Armsmaster's early morning message, which was titled "Trainyard Battle After Action Report." That was somewhat concerning. Did Skidmark already go off the rails? She did not expect such a quick escalation.
Her nephew came into the dining room with a breakfast plate for her as the email flashed up. Gavin smiled kindly at her, "Hard at work already, Aunt Emily? You are supposed to be on vacation." He set down the plate, which contained two scrambled eggs, three strips of crispy bacon, and assorted fruit. "Breakfast is served. There is more if you want it."
Emily smiled back. She did not get along well with young people most of the time, but Gavin was family and a good kid. He was planning to follow her into the PRT administration branch. Initially, he was planning on going into the operations side, but she'd convinced him not to after telling him about her experience with Nilbog and the Ellisburg Incident. She hadn't wanted him risking his neck fighting villains and other parahuman threats.
"Work as a Director never ends, Gavin. You learn that pretty quickly. If it's not a parahuman gang war, it's an overzealous independent hero. If it's not an A-class threat, it's an Endbringer. There will always be difficult decisions. And the paperwork is as endless as the oceans."
Emily fingered a pager on the table next to her computer, "Also, this thing lets me know when I receive priority messages. I missed two such emails, so I needed to check-in and see what's going on."
Gavin chuckled, "Well, a directorship is still a long way off for me, so I won't worry about it now. Enjoy your breakfast, and don't work too hard." The teenager walked into the nearby living room and turned the TV. The sound of a news program starting drew her attention.
"This is a WBZ-TV News Boston special report."
An image appeared on screen next to the newscaster of an exploding boxcar. Emily facepalmed. She had barely started reading Armsmaster's email, and the event described in his report was being reported in Boston already.
"Our friends in Brockton Bay received an unpleasant awakening early this morning when several explosions erupted in the abandoned Trainyards. Local correspondents initially believed that the villain and Kyushu veteran Lung was going on a rampage. A short press release from the Protectorate after the incident revealed that another gang leader was the perpetrator. The hero Armsmaster announced that Skidmark, the Archer's Bridge Merchants leader, was captured in a 1 am battle against a new young cape who Skidmark thought was making a move on his territory. We now go live to our reporter on the ground…."
Emily was indeed not a happy woman. A big villain fight had gone down in her city, and she wasn't there to oversee the fallout. She hoped Deputy Director Renick and the PR team were up to the challenge. She would only be able to influence events by phone and email until Tuesday.
Her phone rang. Gavin looked at her with a slight grin. "Duty calls?"
Emily nodded sagely, "Duty Calls."
------
That same time
Brockton Bay
Taylor was having breakfast in bed on the fold-out bed in the living room couch. She had awakened a few minutes ago to the smell of bacon and pancakes and the sound of Danny working in the kitchen.
A few minutes later, she was propped up with a tray of food and had the CBS news channel coming in on the TV. Danny was dishing up his breakfast when the special report came on.
"Daaaddd! We're on the news!"
Danny came into the living room with his plate and sat in his easy chair. He took a look at the report that was playing and gave her a humorously defiant expression. "You mean you're on the news, little owl. Don't drag me into this."
Father and daughter stared at each other for a moment; then both burst into laughter. It continued for a few seconds until Taylor calmed down enough to speak.
"Let me eat breakfast, and I'll see what is going on in the layout, okay?"
Taylor's phone buzzed twice in quick succession, pre-empting a reply from Danny. Examining it for a moment revealed a new text from Emma.
OMG, are you listening to the news right now? Dad has the radio on in the car. It sounds like the Merchants went nuts last night.
Taylor smiled. Of course, Emma would be worried about her safety in a situation like this. She typed back a message.
Yes, I'm fine. They didn't come through our area. Will you be home soon?
Dad says it'll be an hour. We left the cabin early. I'll be right over to check on you when I get home! Emma replied.
Great! See you then. Taylor laid the phone back down. "That was Emma," she told Danny, "She wanted to know if I was safe. She wants to come over as soon as they get back from the cabin."
"Well, then you better eat quickly so you can go play on the layout before she gets here then. Do you want to tell her about this?" Danny asked.
Taylor considered that. "Umm… no, not yet. I think I want to rebuild first and get better organized. That may take a little time with school coming on." She began to light into her food while keeping an eye on the news. "We'll see. I don't want to keep it from her for too long."
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- Location
- Philippines
Right, this is set in the timeline before Shadow Stalker and when Annette is still alive, if injured, from the accident right?
- Location
- Seattle area
- Location
- Somewhere
Let's hope Alan doesn't take a shortcut home.
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Clothed as?
Definitely one of the more reasonable Piggot's out there.
Even if he does, Emma would be on the phone with Taylor at that time. Since Taylor knows about the volatile gang situation in the Bay, she will immediately send help to Emma once she starts panicking on the phone or gets abruptly cut off.
MagicalGeek
1st SGT MagicalGeek
Well at least the BBPD will be happy with the extra cops?
- Location
- leiden (NL)
If he does and Emma manages to phone/text taylor, we will see how far she can project. And if she catches Sophia looking on and doing nothing....
MaskedCritic
Verified Obsessed with Yuri
- Location
- Fluttershy's Secret Dungeon Shrine to Metal
Hopefully without Coil's "abducting teenage girls" habit.
...Although... imagine Taylor ending up with that same habit, but it keeps happening on accident... could be hilarious.
Piggot is on vacation, she is not forced by PRT policies to be as unreasonable as possible.
Somehow, I do not find myself being so hopeful.
@GeneralPatt1000 - I think you might be first fic-writer to give Emily Piggot a family that she visits.
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Danny, coming home from work
Dina: Hello (waves)
Danny: ...Taylor, why is there a pre-teen girl I don't know in the living room?
Taylor, from the kitchen: Um...I kinda kidnapped her?
Danny: ...
Taylor: ...
Dina: ...
Danny: ...Is this like the thing with Lisa or...
Taylor: Yeah...
Danny: ...Taylor there's a pattern forming here that I don't think I like.
- Location
- United States
If Taylor brought a car filled with people from the overworld into her pocket dimension through the layout. would those same people still be tiny?
- Location
- Your pantry eating cheese
Interesting Piggot here. Never read a fic where she had family before.
Well, this is a pretty interesting piece of AU, and is shaping up to be pretty interesting. A QA that gives a safe~ish way to be queen of escalation? Colour me intrigued 😁😁
The question is though: If Shit-for-brains is jailed (and hopefully gets an orange pijama makeover), Sherrel made like a tree (and left), how will Coil try to make himself top-asshole without a dumbass brigade to throw..... i mean direct... at things meant to cause more idiocy?
The question is though: If Shit-for-brains is jailed (and hopefully gets an orange pijama makeover), Sherrel made like a tree (and left), how will Coil try to make himself top-asshole without a dumbass brigade to throw..... i mean direct... at things meant to cause more idiocy?
- Location
- Somewhere
Depends on the distance between the alley and the trainyard if she can't manifest outside the yard.
That could work if she can do it
Likely a Manton limit
- Location
- Seattle area
He's not going to risk his whole family taking a shortcut right now, that's for sure. I hadn't thought if using this incident to trigger Emma or her family, but rest assured, it's not going to happen. At least not now. I won't discount it later.
Yeah, I've never seen any evidence of one either. I only saw once reference to a nephew on the wiki so I decided to expand on that. I hope it came off well.
She cannot affect anything that has people in it. This is part of her Manton limit.
Yup. I decided it was time for a change there.
Coil is going to be fun writing about, that's for certain. He's going to see a lot of frustration. But no spoilers beyond that.
It came excellently. You did exemplary job in the writing of Emily with family.
In that section, you demonstrated why family matters in stories like Worm.
- Location
- Somewhere
I've seen Piggot related to Taylor. One with Emily as her aunt, another with her as her godmother.