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Twisting Paths

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Hiver said:
Not like it was useful in anyway when away from earth, being basically a expensive paperweight... even if I admit I did use the camera from time to time.
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Now this is patently false. Maybe if you were talking about an iPhone but even then, there is a reason that "there is an app for that" is a saying. It's like saying that a computer isn't useful without the internet. A smartphone is pretty much any computing tool you need provided you have the storage space on it and the right apps. While admittedly, many of those useful functions require the internet, a cell network or GPS satellites to function, that doesn't mean that it's useless. Even as just a way to compile a searchable database of his notes, it is useful.

Actually, speaking of that, did he ever get around to grabbing the patterns of those IT and other utility specialists? I could see an army of them being massive helps in setting up the new Nexus.
 
Wonder if you can find an "I <3 NY" Shirt in Dragon sizes. ...

It's New York! There 's probably 4 Dragons in residence One of which will talk to (Yell/Grumble at) him about filing an Flight Plan, Portable Transponder Beacon, Clip on running lights, and Communication Protocols. And/or he gets hauled in by the MIB for lack of propper Identification.
 
Ryune said:
Now this is patently false. Maybe if you were talking about an iPhone but even then, there is a reason that "there is an app for that" is a saying. It's like saying that a computer isn't useful without the internet. A smartphone is pretty much any computing tool you need provided you have the storage space on it and the right apps. While admittedly, many of those useful functions require the internet, a cell network or GPS satellites to function, that doesn't mean that it's useless. Even as just a way to compile a searchable database of his notes, it is useful.

Actually, speaking of that, did he ever get around to grabbing the patterns of those IT and other utility specialists? I could see an army of them being massive helps in setting up the new Nexus.
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Actually I believe the reason Atregos doesn't use it much is lack of recharging ability when he's not visiting Earth.
 
esotericist said:
Actually, I'm pretty sure I remember him getting solar options, seeing as how he gave his mentor a laptop computer.
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I suspect the Watsonian explanation is that such equipment was lost to wear and misadventure while fleeing from demons and the like, while the Doylist explanation is that it's a good long while since Hiver wrote that bit, and he forgot. My immediate thought was "Is he precise enough with a lightning spell to consistently create a direct current of 5 volts at 1-2 amperes?", not whether he bought a handcrank or not.
 
Ryune said:
Now this is patently false. Maybe if you were talking about an iPhone but even then, there is a reason that "there is an app for that" is a saying. It's like saying that a computer isn't useful without the internet. A smartphone is pretty much any computing tool you need provided you have the storage space on it and the right apps. While admittedly, many of those useful functions require the internet, a cell network or GPS satellites to function, that doesn't mean that it's useless. Even as just a way to compile a searchable database of his notes, it is useful.

Actually, speaking of that, did he ever get around to grabbing the patterns of those IT and other utility specialists? I could see an army of them being massive helps in setting up the new Nexus.
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On Earth, it gives him everything the smartphone can give us. Primarily though, the advantages (when on Earth) would be communication with others, and internet related/required stuff.

Off Earth, I find it quite believable that he usually has a magical equivalent that is equal or better than a smartphone. With the continued research, practice and development he gets with magic, but does not get with the smart phone (and no-one is developing apps that are available or relevant to him) - the fact that he considers it a single planet/ single plane useful device is unsurprising.
 
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    • What is that?

    I looked around at the sound of a jet engine. It was the second time in just a couple of minutes I'd heard it and now it was coming closer.

    There. In the sky.

    A pair of fighter jets, no idea what model. Something small and aggressive-looking. What was the Airforce doing here? Did I drift into a training area?

    The two aircraft banked around, heading in my direction before flashing past straight above me.

    What the fuck, there is no way they can see me, is there?

    The answer came quickly as they started to bank around for another pass.

    Shit, they were seeing me. Or they were at least able to detect me with some sort of sensors. IR maybe, the Blur spell probably didn't affect heat.

    Radar. Holy shit, my armor was metal. I must have been picked up by some sort of radar station and they were sent to check out the UFO. Now they had me on IR.

    I wasn't that hot, but I had to show up on IR anyway, I was warmer than the surroundings.

    Earth was such a fucking pain.

    I must find a way to shake these guys. I didn't want to try putting an illusion on the pilots, they were just doing their job... and they were kinda fast, I'm not sure I could do it.

    But I wanted to test my armor against an air to air missile even less.

    Beating my wings against the air, I looked for somewhere to lose them. No convenient canyons, no forests, just fields and... there is a town ahead.

    Yeah, that'll work.

    I glanced up at the circling jets warily.

    Well, if they didn't decide to just try to shoot me down before I reached it, just to be safe. Just to be safe, I started to craft my strongest shield spell around myself and deployed my armor fully.

    Even so, I didn't exactly feel safe and kept tracking the circling fightercraft.

    As I reached the outskirts of the town, they just kept circling high in the air. Okay, let's do this. I need to get out from beneath the sky, I was sure there was a satellite on its way here if there wasn't one aimed at this spot already, especially if they had an IR image of me.

    Fuck me, I don't have time for this bullshit!

    There, shopping district with a bunch of stores.

    Keeping an eye on the fighters just in case they did something stupid like open fire above a populated area, I started to craft two spells at once.

    Now!

    Returning to human form behind the Blur spell, I wrapped a thirty second invisibility spell from Tamriel around me. It was better than the version in Azeroth as it didn't blind the user for the duration.

    As I fell, I cast a third spell, engaging in some ten meters above the street, casting a slow fall spell on myself.

    I landed easily, flexing my knees to absorb the rest before I turned and walked into the closest store. Some sort of tourist trap that sold what seemed to be mostly candles.

    Fine by me.

    The place wasn't what I would call crowded, but there were some people in here.

    Ten seconds until the spell wore off.

    I hurried further into the store as I crafted a quick illusion around myself to change my armor into jeans and a T-shirt. The medallion I was wearing would handle the hair and facial features. My spear was in my satchel so that wouldn't be a problem.

    Nobody around, so I dropped the invisibility a couple of seconds early before letting out a small sigh of relief.

    Made it. Fucking hell, modern tech is terrifying. Will I even look the same on IR? Does the illusion even work on modern technology? It should work on cameras, but what of another spectrum?

    In any case, I needed to get away from here. Because, if they could see me, they would have seen where I disappeared. Worst case scenario, in a few hours this place may be crawling with people.

    Which mean, getting the fuck out of here before then.

    Problem, I have no Earth money. What this world gained in the way of luxury and quality of life, it sure lost in convenience for someone who wasn't in the system.

    Picking up one of the scented candles, I turned it over in my hands to look like I was thinking about buying it.

    ...The first thing I'm doing when I get to New York is to craft a portal key stone and put it somewhere so I never have to do this fucking thing again.

    Okay, uhm.

    Castle can't wire me money, no ID. I might be able to sell some of the spare jewelry in my bag if I found a pawn shop. But they also needed ID, I thought. Might be able to bypass that with an illusion.

    I could just steal some, though. I didn't like it, but it might be what I should do. I don't have the time to dick around in Nowheresville. The more time I wasted, the more danger Chromie and the rest of Azeroth was in.

    I looked around the shelf at the little old woman in the pink dress manning the register, chatting away with a young woman buying one of the scented candles.

    Yeah, not here.

    Putting the candle down, I walked out of the store and headed down the street. First, find the bus station and the time table.

    Then I needed to gain money som-

    I was pulled from my thoughts by my phone going off and I pulled it from my satchel to answer it. "Hello, Alexis."




    AN// And a big barrel of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
     
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    • he was spotted...wasn't he?
    Hiver said:
    Returning to human form behind the Blur spell, I wrapped a thirty second invisibility spell from Tamriel around me. It was better than the version in Azeroth as it didn't blind the user for the duration.
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    maybe here?
    the thing shown on the radar/scanner/whatever suddenly shrinking into what appears to be humanoid shape then disappearing...

    i mean, he probably showed up on infra red at the very least....
     
    You know, just to make this a little harder, this is when the CIA person starts asking uncomfortable questions. They probably just called the phone that last entered the area the UFO disappeared into. :)

    Heh, someone would have to be on the ball to think that quick. Ever read Jumper? Gould's book, not the movie adaptation. This entire chapter kept me thinking back to that story.
     
    In retrospect, he could have just flown in Plain, no invis, no stealth. No Pilot in their right mind is going to tell somebody they encountered a dragon headed to a mall.
     
    You know, I can't help but think Atregos is overestimating earth technology, somewhat.
    Sure, his spells likely have problems with it, but that would probably be due to the fact Azeroth doesn't have anything like it so the spells are not adapted towards it.
    Furthermore, whilst I admit I have little experience with millitary technology, I somewhat doubt missiles are so stupendously powerful so as to overpower the defenses he has built into his armour, though again that may simply be an issue of the defenses being adapted towards spells, rather than conventional weapons.
    Though that would be pretty dumb, since it would mean any spells that don't have a direct effect magical effect on him would bypass the defenses.

    Again, this is (most likely) a case of Unreliably Narrator than any fault with the story, so take this more as vague musings than any sort of complaining.
     
    Vox De Harlequin said:
    You know, I can't help but think Atregos is overestimating earth technology, somewhat.
    Sure, his spells likely have problems with it, but that would probably be due to the fact Azeroth doesn't have anything like it so the spells are not adapted towards it.
    Furthermore, whilst I admit I have little experience with millitary technology, I somewhat doubt missiles are so stupendously powerful so as to overpower the defenses he has built into his armour, though again that may simply be an issue of the defenses being adapted towards spells, rather than conventional weapons.
    Though that would be pretty dumb, since it would mean any spells that don't have a direct effect magical effect on him would bypass the defenses.

    Again, this is (most likely) a case of Unreliably Narrator than any fault with the story, so take this more as vague musings than any sort of complaining.
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    First off, his armor is built to defend against fireballs and blasts of ice. I'm not sure how fast ice-blasts usually go, but they are probably subsonic. They probably also weigh less than 100 pounds.

    A missile does damage in several different ways: first off, it's got a warhead that explodes (damaging shockwave), and may also accelerate a lot of little rods until they're basically bullets or deliver some horrible chemicals (and no one wants to use those above the US.) Second, it's a few hundred pounds of stuff flying at supersonic speeds. If it hits him directly, it would apply a truly absurd amount of kinetic energy to him.

    His armor can probably handle the shockwave (if it was designed to deal with sound attacks), but bullets are renown for their armor-piercing abilities for a reason. Maybe he has some magic that means that things hitting him at high speeds stop immediately. Probably not. If he does, can it handle the missile itself hitting him (less like if he knows it's coming and makes evasive manuvers or if the missile is old), at least enough to keep him from getting bogged down and eventually killed or captured?

    There's a lot of stuff we don't know (like what all his armor can do), so all we can do is make suppositions. That said, he knows how much his armor can take and if he thinks it's less durable than the average building, he may just have a point.
     
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    • I got out of the cab. "Thanks," I told the driver and gave him a handful of bills without bothering to pay attention to how much he told me it was.

    I no longer had any real use for money here so I just gave him half of what I had. I finally solved the problem in getting into the city by finding an antiques shop, well, more like an old guy with a bunch of stuff, willing to buy some jewelry with no questions asked.

    He paid enough that I could buy a bus ticket to New York and then a cab from there and food along the way.

    As the cab drove off, I rubbed my neck and walked in through the door, giving the doorman a nod on the way before making my way to the lift and pressing a button from memory to bring me up to the right floor.

    A couple more days until I could Walk. Even for me, it was three Walks back to Azeroth from here. Taking a couple of days more than the absolute minimum was necessary.

    While I hated leaving Chromie alone on the Broken Isles longer than needed, it wouldn't do anyone any good if I arrived there too exhausted to even move.

    Time. All of it was depending on time.

    I was working with a time traveler, how the fuck were we always short on time!?

    Pulling the medallion from my neck to look less like a stranger, I pocketed it and exited the elevator to knock on the door.

    It only took a couple of seconds before Alexis opened it. She looked like I remembered. Long red hair pulled back into a braid, but she seemed to have ditched her leather armor and cloth pants for a t-shirt and jeans.

    "Atreus! I'll be ready to move in a couple of hours," she said and pulled me into a quick hug.

    Sighing, I hugged her back, "We have time. It's a long Walk and tiring. I need a day or two more, I really powered it on the way out here."

    Letting go, she nodded and looked up at me with a frown, "...You look like shit."

    "I suppose I do." I sighed and rubbed my forehead, "Losing your world tends to do that."

    Alexis stared up at me, "I thought we still had time?"

    "We do. We didn't earlier."

    "What?"

    I blinked down at her, "...I didn't tell you on the phone? I traveled back in time to stop it from happening."

    Alexis just looked at me before she sighed and shook her head, "Of course you did. You know, I'm not even sure why I get surprised anymore."

    "Hey, it wasn't me this time!" I exclaimed as I followed her, closing the door behind me. "It was Nozdormu and his Flight. It's his plan. I'm working with a Bronze dragon on this, Chronormu."

    "Wait, so you are saying that Sheila and Rengosa are not backing you up on this?"

    I shook my head, "Last I know, they are still on Westeros six months from now."

    "Holy shit, you are going to get in so much fucking trouble," Alexis chuckled with a grin.

    For crying out loud...

    "Oh yeah," I confirmed with a sigh as I sank down by the table, picking up the sword she had been sharpening, running my thumb along the edge. "I better survive this or Sheila is going to kill me."

    "No kidding," Alexis said and sank down on the chair across from me before she frowned. "So... I know you said something about the Burning Legion. How bad are things really? An army of demons?"

    "Remember when I said 'End of the World'?" I said and put her sword back down and leaned back in the chair, crossing my arms. "Imagine... Well, an army of demons with infinite numbers led by what can only be described as a Fallen God. His people created the Dragonflights. The only thing that even gave Azeroth any kind of chance was that they were limited in how they transported their demons onto new worlds."

    "...Shit."

    "No kidding. We lost and badly. Our last attack failed and Kalecgos fell. He was carrying a weapon I made, a... well, call it a magical dimension breaching nuclear warhead," I explained. "That will happen in about four months."

    Alexis frowned, "Kalecgos, he was your... Flight Leader, right?"

    I nodded, "Yeah."

    "Okay. So, we just need to stop a god and his infinite demons. No problem." Alexis sighed and then collapsed back against her chair, "We are so fucked."

    "Nope," I said and shook my head, grimacing slightly at my fellow Planeswalker. "It gets worse."

    She stared at me, "How can it possibly get worse!?"

    "I'm not trying to stop them. Things must play out like they did or it breaks the Timeline. We can only change things that will not affect the timeline until AFTER the Flights were evacuated to Westeros."

    "Wait a fucking second," Alexis exclaimed and sat up again. "You brought all the fucking Dragonflights to Westeros!?"

    "Yep."

    "How!?"

    "A epic fuckton of soulstones," I explained and shrugged. "Almost killed me to Walk that quickly."

    Alexis rubbed her eyes, "...Let's skip that for now. What exactly is the plan here?"

    "Now, we have a very narrow time frame for when we can act. Save Kalecgos before he falls and recover or recreate the weapon to detonate as soon as the Flights leave Azeroth. All before Sargeras arrives on Azeroth or we just lose."

    Alexis just shook her head and got up, "I need a drink."




    AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
     
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    • "Alexis, are you crazy!?" Castle the elder shouted at his daughter. "Do you hear what you are saying!?"

    He just found out where she was going to be going and what we were planning to do.

    It was safe to say that he wasn't too happy about the whole thing.

    "If we don't, an entire world may die!"

    "You are one person, what could you possibly do about that!?"

    I did my best to stay out of the entire thing since I just knew that if I tried to say something and drew attention to myself, both would turn on me. Mister Castle for getting his daughter in danger and Alexis for... well, she is a woman and I know her.

    Odds were that she would be annoyed that I didn't let her handle things on her own.

    Instead I did my best to tune them out as I went back to work. We could leave tomorrow, but until then I had work to do.

    I surveyed the pieces laid out before me before picking up the barrel and turning it over in my hands before getting to work enchanting it.

    If there was anything Earth did better than anywhere else we had run into so far, it was purely mechanical projectile weaponry. Now, what you could enchant them to do was rather limited, unless you wanted to sit there and enchant every single bullet.

    I did plan to do that for one magazine sometime in the future for shield breakers, but they would need to be something other than copper and lead for that which meant making new bullets. So I primarily focused on the weapon itself, it was simply much more time efficient and I wanted some sort of effective weapon.

    The gun itself was one of Alexis' but she let me have it in return for me also doing the same enchantment to her other one. Personally, I wasn't exactly sure which gun it was. I'm not a gun person as such.

    She said it was a Beretta something or other. It was black and silvery and fired high velocity projectiles.

    That last part was the only part of it I cared about aside from its size, it was easy to carry.

    The plan for these was relatively simple in theory, but tricky to pull off. As enchanting the bullets was mostly a waste of time and effort, the gun was what would need to be enchanted.

    Mostly I would be using modified versions of the enchantments the Dwarfs put on their own firearms. Mainly, precision and dexterity boosts, but also a little thing I had been tinkering with for Venir's and Sheila's crossbows.

    Anything fired from it would be coated with a magic field with the effect of the weapon. It wouldn't last long on the bullet or arrow without anything to sustain it, just a second or so. But a second or two was a long time for a bullet or arrow.

    Sadly, shield breaker was out of the question. Way too complex and would need something way more magically conductive than copper and lead to carry the charge, let alone the steel of the gun.

    Sometime when all this is over, I'm taking one of these to my lab to recreate it from proper materials.

    Steel is such a pain to work with.

    "And you!" Castle the older said as he glared at me. "How can you ask this of her!?"

    "Because we need the help." I said as I put the barrel back down and looked at him. There was no way I was getting this done while being yelled at.

    "Because if we don't do this, millions of people will die. You think I want to put her in danger, Mister Castle? She is my friend."

    "Now listen here..."

    "Dad! Enough!" Alexis snarled and moved between us, glaring at him. "It's going to happen. I told you what we were doing because I trust you. We will be as careful as we can, I'm coming back. I promise."

    "Alexis, I..." he started before he seemed to fold in on himself. "...I'm just trying to keep you safe. I can't lose you again."

    She hugged him. "You won't."

    He hugged her back hard and I felt like an intruder so I turned my attention back to the pieces on the table. I wish I had my lab and the magic dusts, it would have made this a lot faster.

    Mister Castle finally sank down in one of the chairs as he looked at me. "How bad is it, really?"

    I shook my head. "If everything goes well, they won't even know we were ever there. Alexis, we could use some more backup though. Do you have any idea where Goldmane is?"

    She sat down next to me and shook her head. "I haven't heard from him in months. How much time would it take for us to drop by Whiterun on the way back? It's our dead drop when we get separated."

    I frowned in thought and did some quick mental math. "With me powering the Walks and with as little sustainable rest between as possible... it will delay us a week. Then we need to get to the Isles before the first portal is opened and find Chromie. I'm not sure there is time. Besides, last time I left a message there for you two and you never showed up. Now, that may be because you came with this me, but even so."

    "Damn." Alexis sighed but nodded. "Okay, we do this on our own, then."

    "Can we help?" her father asked. "I... I understand we can't come with you. But can we help in any way?"

    Alexis frowned in thought. "I don't know. Atreus?"

    I tapped my finger on my knee in thought as I frowned at the table. "A nuclear warhead would be nice, but I wouldn't say no to conventional explosives if possible. More guns won't help that much, but I'm sure Captain Beckett has contacts within the local SWAT team. I want to meet their explosives expert. Hell, the team in general. If we could get some plastic explosives and the necessary equipment needed to make it go boom, it would likely be quite useful."

    I can think of several instances where professional room clearers would have been useful in the past.

    He nodded and got up to get his phone. "I'll call her. She is in the middle of some big case, but she'll make time for this."

    It would be nice to meet her again before we left, too.




    AN// A big box of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
     
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    • So, they know about the whole Dragon thing, or are going to?
    if its the latter...i can't wait to imagine their faces...
     
    Hiver said:
    "Can we help?" her father asked. "I... I understand we can't come with you. But can we help in any way?"

    Alexis frowned in thought. "I don't know. Atreus?"

    I tapped my finger on my knee in thought as I frowned at the table. "A nuclear warhead would be nice, but I wouldn't say no to conventional explosives if possible
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    Its been a while and Ive only watched a few seasons... but from what I remeber Castle actually has some connected contacts. The nuke was in jest, but maybe he knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a disgruntled and underpayed general in russia?

    ...:p
     
    PseudoSim said:
    Its been a while and Ive only watched a few seasons... but from what I remeber Castle actually has some connected contacts. The nuke was in jest, but maybe he knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a disgruntled and underpayed general in russia?

    ...:p
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    Castle's dad is basically an old Jason Bourne. I don't think Dad Castle has a way to contact him, but I wouldn't be surprised if Grampa Castle could get his hands on some truly ridiculous amounts of firepower. Hell, just bringing Grampa Castle would be a huge boon, since he'd fit right in with SI:7.
     
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