*Snicker* As in, run, Flash, run. A curious shard wants to know more about you.
Unsanctioned Mishap (AdMis [Supergirl/Worm] / Sanctioned [Worm])
- Thread starter Alivaril
- Start date
- Crossover
The Speed Force is both very complicated and depressingly simple.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
To clarify, can Dreamer and Minnie communicate freely with the issue being Dreamer bouncing/piggybacking the signal off the priority connection directly to Addy, or is it just that Dreamer is getting a data stream from Minnie but return communication is energy intensive?
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Addy already has a sample of his blood but it got lost somewhere.
I think that to be mostly the portal stuff. She may also lost access to importing stuff from her shard, thus necessitating sourcing all of her materials and construction locally. I personally doubt the latter, given that shard-client connections seem to be grandfathered in with full functionality, and that Friendmaking is a part of her power, but it is a possibility. I can't see her having much difficulty getting toxins, projectile-spines, explosion-breath, lightning-projection... to work.
She might even be able to pull off 5-spatial-dimensional carbon-molecule armour, given that those are spatial dimensions rather than separate-sets-of-spatial-dimensions dimensions the latter of which would facilitate travelling to, say, Flashland, or The Live Wire's place, which is where the problems seem to focus, whereas Addy's flesh seems to utilise a little bit more than 3 spatial dimensions without impediment?
There is apparently a note from Worm's author that tinkertech is just technology from more advanced worlds, and is nonreproducible due to requiring manufacturing processes that are literally beyond human comprehension, and are only about 20-40 years away from human's developing their own version, and even tinker-tech scanners cannot deduce what makes functional tinkertech different from nonfunctional reproductions of tinkertech...
I feel that anything that disagrees with the story's text is an inferior source. Thus, I prefer to think that tinkertech shards are not inconsistent with other shards. Other shards take existing phenomena, such as bugs, and intervene, such as by manually manipulating the nervous systems of said bugs, and tinkertech could very effectively obfuscate their functions by some of those functions being absent, with a shard just manually converting some lead into effectively-gravitons to get the hoverboard working... . And that someone who has spent a million years researching, studying, and reproducing an effect, can probably construct a device capable of generating a greatly inferior version of that effect... . Like, a professional quantum physicist being unable to design a potato battery if given the necessary raw materials and told to make a battery, seems like several orders of magnitude more likely as a scenario than Addy being unable to build some cybernetic implants that can be installed into a wasp to allow it to be controlled via a remote device, also of her own devising, which, due to programming of her own design, could effectively control a great number of such cybugs simultaneously.
If tinkertech requires new instances of direct intervention, essentially treating them as new parahumans, except with technology and an extremely nonstandard tumour, then it is likely impossible to "black box" it via direct intervention. If it requires direct intervention of the shard's manufacturing abilities outside of the shard-client connection, then it is likely not an option in that scenario either. So it may not actually be possible to black box Friends to anywhere near the same extent that is normal, and Lena could likely reverse-engineer them regardless, and I am drawing a blank on local technology powers, but I suspect that Reed Richards wouldn't even notice an impediment...
Being organic(I assume, they have been in other instances), they require an absolutely absurd amount of maintenance, and thus self-maintain for the most part. Minnie strikes me as too lazy to bother with much maintenance restriction, and would want persons to be able to operate independently of her without risking their perpetuation. Do recall that she was intending to build a sufficient stockpile of Friends to conquer North America, including any and all caped involved. I rather suspect that the numbers involved would be impractical with, say, Armsmaster's maintenance requirements...
All things considered, I would not personally entrust that her technology is as nonreproducible and use-restricted as one would expect of tinkertech.
- Location
- Earth, Sol System, Virgo Supercluster, Earth-1218
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Oh wait, you're serious.
There's a Tumblr post about "We have you (Steve Rogers), Black Widow, and Hawkeye captured and Tony Stark making weapons for us, you will surrender" and then Tony breaks down the door using weapons he built while they were watching him.
Who is this? She's not fighting for the title of Queen it can't be Sanction's Queen Administrator.
Tinkertech is easier to test than to build a whole Friend and then have it rip itself apart when trying to project a portal.
Test the physics first, then build the Friend that uses it.
So am pretty dumb but why doesn't tinker tech work in dc?? People are saying diferent physics but what are those?? Like wtf
The problem is not tinkertech specifically, but rather travel between different planes of existence. Presumably, the portals which Other-Minnie is attempting to construct work to some extent via interfacing with other worlds, thus are unable to function.
As for why this world has different mechanisms when it comes to travelling from one parallel world to another? To my knowledge, it is, thus far, an arbitrary conceit of Administrative Mishap. Being able to meddle across worlds is to shards somewhat similar to humans learning to walk, or possibly even crawl. I could see it being both narratively inconvenient if Addy could just go home under her own power, and whatever intevention caused her to be here presumably would not like that either, so it makes some sense internally... . Alternatively, it is just that D.C. has a few too many people just stumbling into things randomly, whereas Worm does not, so presumably there is something fundamentally different at work there, much as the metagene doesn't seem to exist in Worm...
But basically? It is not all tinkertech, just a subset of it, along with a bunch of shard abilities that are not related to tinkertech, most likely including forming new connections that would otherwise provide powers; and there really isn't any known cause that I am aware of, it is just a difference between D.C. and Worm that travel between different worlds has different requirements.
Or at least that is my extrapolation from how things are in Administrative Mishap. Unsanctioned Mishap is free to go off in whatever direction it wants to, and I am, theoretically, capable of being incorrect about something.
As for why this world has different mechanisms when it comes to travelling from one parallel world to another? To my knowledge, it is, thus far, an arbitrary conceit of Administrative Mishap. Being able to meddle across worlds is to shards somewhat similar to humans learning to walk, or possibly even crawl. I could see it being both narratively inconvenient if Addy could just go home under her own power, and whatever intevention caused her to be here presumably would not like that either, so it makes some sense internally... . Alternatively, it is just that D.C. has a few too many people just stumbling into things randomly, whereas Worm does not, so presumably there is something fundamentally different at work there, much as the metagene doesn't seem to exist in Worm...
But basically? It is not all tinkertech, just a subset of it, along with a bunch of shard abilities that are not related to tinkertech, most likely including forming new connections that would otherwise provide powers; and there really isn't any known cause that I am aware of, it is just a difference between D.C. and Worm that travel between different worlds has different requirements.
Or at least that is my extrapolation from how things are in Administrative Mishap. Unsanctioned Mishap is free to go off in whatever direction it wants to, and I am, theoretically, capable of being incorrect about something.
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- Location
- Montana before it became stupidly Republican
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
Okay so a couple things you got wrong here.
First they're in an entirely different Multiversal-cluster from Worm. Even if they had dimensionally travel they wouldn't be able to get back home.
Second it's not just a conceit of Admistrative Mishap. It's a concept of both DC and Worm itself. Worm tries to play itself off as a hard scifi setting, when in truth it can't be any more soft scifi without being fantasy. DC on the other hand has a variety of genres inside of it, most of which fall inside either fantasy or soft scifi.
The laws of physics being vastly different but still having the worlds appear similar is what has caught both Addy and now Minnie so off guard. Worm was a deterministic universe. If you put enough calculations behind it you could find out what would happen in the future and change it to benefit you. DC on the other hand is not a deterministic universe. Not to mention that in DC things like ghost and souls and other things of this nature not only exist but can still interact with the world, where in Worm the soul itself doesn't exist except in concept.
- Location
- Australia
My two cents on the tinker tech stuff is that it's like making a cabinet, and not being told you need nails and glue, you could make it with Dowel and other techniques but it's not as strong or simple and even then you still need glue to make it work best.
As a simple way of looking at the black boxing of the tech, if that makes sense.
The the physics different,
A=1.01
B=1.02
Unless you need to work at that level, 1 is 1, as a very simple example.
As a simple way of looking at the black boxing of the tech, if that makes sense.
The the physics different,
A=1.01
B=1.02
Unless you need to work at that level, 1 is 1, as a very simple example.
ScissorSlipper
Barber cat
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I know Minnie has . . . eldritch mental issues since her Shard culture actually involves personalities and emotions, but this is just being reasonable, rather than "unquestioning obedience", so it's quite strange for Lena to be disturbed. Yes, Minnie was angry about her portal machines not working, but they planned the appointment in advance. It's not suddenly taking time away from tinkering. I suggest changing this scene so she actually seems unusually obedient. Maybe another request from Lena?
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- Location
- Finland
It is unusually obedient, for a human child, that is the point, Minnie is extremely logical in most ways, and is going to be disturbingly reasonable as long as people can actually make a logical argument, povided that argument can be made to fit into Minnie's personal priorities.
And humans don't generally work like that, humans do not usually just switch gears from raging at the universe not working like it is supposed to perfect calm while getting ready for doctors appointment.
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Chapter 8: Interrogation
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @DaGeek247, @Wordsmith, @Taut_Templar, Jamie Wahls, @Elfalpha, @BunnyLord, @Drcatspaw, @Conspiracy, @tinkerware, @Lonelywolf999, D'awwctor, and my 16 other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well. Also, if you're not on here, you fit the tier, and you want to be added, please tell me. >.>
AN: I'm not the happiest with this chapter.
EDIT: Here is yet another reminder asking people to put Administrative Mishap spoilers inside spoiler-bubbles. Please.
Minnie sat on the other side of the vehicle from her assigned bodyguard, a lightly muscled woman in a formal black suit over body armor. The human in question, "Holly," likely could not protect Minnie from anything more vicious than an untrained criminal. Lena's current strategy appeared to rely on protection through obscurity, which would inevitably be a strategy with a finite limit. At least it should work for the time being.
Designing Friends would need to wait until after Minnie had more carefully assessed her capabilities in this dimension. No portals meant no externally hosted Friend storage, and even if that had originally been
Regardless, she could not work on specific designs for her Friends without more information. She could, however, research for whom and for what reasons she might be making Friends. Minnie had been temporarily bestowed a spare smartphone so that she could keep herself entertained during the ride to the hospital, and promptly began utilizing its remote connection without regard overall data expenditure—Lena said it did not have an effective monthly limit. Her typing speed rapidly increased as Minnie adapted to the small on-screen touch-based keyboard, and soon reached the limits of her body's dexterity. Further refinement of her control would be necessary if she wanted to go faster, which she did.
Minnie first searched for Administrator National City and instantly found something she coveted. Administrator's standard armored suit was a shifting rainbow of bright, distinct colors that evoked the warning signals of many poisonous and/or venomous animals. After giving it additional thought, Minnie reluctantly accepted that such a color-changing suit was already associated with Administrator herself. Such associations were to be avoided. Addy's desire not to share the "Queen" surname with Minnie bordered on insulting and was mildly irritating, but Minnie tried to view the request in way that Addy probably intended: drawing additional attention to Addy may make it more difficult for Addy to act as Administrator. In order to further minimize the similarities between them, Minnie had tried to utilize her shapeshifting module to change forms to that of a human. She did not know if the attempt had succeeded. The module had tried to activate, certainly, but Minnie wouldn't know if it had concealed the nodes in her brain and sufficiently changed her genetics until after medical testing was complete. Even then, she wouldn't know if her precautions had concealed them or if Minnie's prior request had led to external assistance.
Her attempt wouldn't have worked on Earth Bet, and Minnie had yet to test whether she could change into any of the local alien species. The relevant module had previously relied upon pre-stored forms of the Terran creatures that existed or were prominent in human culture when she was initially deployed. Minnie hoped it had been updated to accommodate the variety of alien species on this world, but could not be certain.
In order to conceal the nature of her subsequent search, Minnie began by using the search terms synonyms for Administrator. She then systematically used Hero + Villain + (Term) allegedly to see if there was an associated Cape—she honestly didn't care—until she had completed the list, then searched synonyms for leader and repeated the process with those terms.
The Cape alias "Queen" was already taken by a card-themed villain. The Cape alias "Monarch" was not, much to Minnie's surprise. She really had expected that one to be taken. The fact that it shared a first letter with Minnie's civilian designation was mildly troublesome, but if Addy could get away with it, then so could Minnie. She would find some way to have Monarch be associated with herself even if she still liked the alternate alias Shell.
Minnie continued her falsified search until she had exhausted the full list of synonyms for leader, then turned her focus back to Administrator. The results exceeded her expectations. Apparently, Administrator was not believed to be human, and was known to possess flight, durability, super-strength, telepathy, and mind control over living entities. Her persistent vulnerability to a material known as "Kryptonite" had convinced the general public that Administrator was a Kryptonian, or the same species as Supergirl and Superman. Somehow, that vulnerability persisted in both Capes even though enemies had repeatedly employed it against Superman, Supergirl, and Administrator.
It was baffling; Minnie couldn't imagine not fixing such a vulnerability by now, if only to ensure that enemies stopped lazily reusing what were functionally the same weapons. Did Kryptonite inflict an additional physiology-influenced psychological effect to ensure that its victims feared even thinking about it enough to develop a countermeasure? Given Addy's obvious attachment to Lena and Kara, Minnie had trouble believing that Addy would deliberately neglect to fix such a weakness. Minnie also knew from experience that pain was not very much fun, and Addy did appear to be occupying a host just as she did.
It might be easiest to install some manner of symbiotic Friend to coat the skin of their bonded and absorb incoming Kryptonite-based attacks. However, Minnie doubted that Addy and Kara would agree to such a procedure. Their increased resistance to harm may also make insertion difficult, and an error caused by differing laws of physics could be devastating. That left an external aid. A full suit may interfere with their other abilities or be destroyed far more quickly than they would be.
Fortunately, researchers sponsored by Luthor-Corp had published numerous articles on the properties and appearance or Kryptonite. That many of those articles were paywalled was exceptionally irritating and Addy rapidly found her patience exhausted. She wasn't surprised that humans were dumb enough to restrict access to something that could help their entire race, but it was still irksome. Minnie would ask Lena about access to those databases upon returning to the safehouse.
She subsequently searched National City Supergirl and promptly froze. Entire image galleries were available with Supergirl's, Kara's, maskless appearance, and Minnie couldn't help but stare blankly at them. She barely managed to resist her temporarily paralysis enough to skim a few articles and verify that Kara's name did not appear anywhere within.
Kara ran around without a mask in a world with the technological base necessary for facial recognition technology, and somehow her civilian identity remained secret. Minnie strongly suspected a Kryptonian power not listed under the lists of known abilities for either Supergirl or Superman. Otherwise, there was no way that Kara could have avoided discovery until now.
Minnie looked up at Holly, her bodyguard.
"Excuse me?"
Holly promptly lowered her smartphone and directed her full attention to Minnie.
"Yes, Miss? We should arrive in about five more minutes."
Minnie shook her head. That was not her desired line of inquiry.
"Is there a media ban on Supergirl's civilian identity? She does not wear a mask, and I do not understand why it has not been widely reported yet."
Holly visibly relaxed, her face turning wry.
"Nothing like that, Miss. There's a popular theory that Kryptonians have some technology or superpower that makes people unable to recognize them, or that they shapeshift and assume an alternate civilian form when they're not acting as heroes. I'm an advocate for the shapeshifter theory, personally. I've heard alien brains can be a lot different from ours, so something keeping humans from thinking about her might not work on one of them. Shapeshifting, though? Everyone is fooled by that."
"Understood. Thank you."
Minnie returned her attention to the phone. Even if she did have a power to help protect her identity, Kara shouldn't rely on her disguising power to the degree that she did. What if it was disabled by Kryptonite, or someone developed facial recognition technology sufficient to force a match? What if Supergirl was observed by an alien with a sufficiently anomalous mind, such as Minnie? Kryptonians were only human-sized; they couldn't possibly rival Safeguard's ability to make others forget inconvenient information, and even Safeguard suffered from significant limitations.
Minnie had known her Friendmaking skills would prove valuable, but she didn't anticipate just how urgently the local Kryptonians needed her assistance. They would need countermeasures against Kryptonite just to ensure their continued survival, and they didn't have any. News articles and community-maintained pages on Kryptonite were not as detailed as she would prefer and may even contain misinformation, but at least she could obtain a useful summary of the material she needed to neutralize.
~ ~ ~
The hospital smelled strongly of disinfectant and Minnie did not enjoy the proximity to numerous disease-carrying organisms—which was to say, young non-host humans. She had improved Host's immune system during her time on Earth Bet, but she did not know if those improvements had extended to a possible human form or the parahuman clone she inhabited.
Some mild difficulties surfaced during the sign-in process, but were apparently resolved by her bodyguard without Minnie needing to pay attention. The Shard barely even paid attention as she was directed to other rooms and various non-hosts asked her to complete simple tasks. Minnie was tempted to completely ignore them, but Danny Hebert had made it clear that doing so would be rather rude and Lena would likely be displeased as well. Minnie complied, even when they drew blood and kept up a stream of inane chatter while doing so. At least they likely wouldn't be able to duplicate any unusual elements within her blood samples; this world did not appear to have hosts.
Eventually, however, the chatter turned inquisitive and Minnie was forced from pleasant thoughts of snake-shaped Hunter/Seeker Friends.
"Could you repeat that?"
The tall, brown-haired non-host before Minnie maintained a fake smile and scribbled something on a clipboard-supported paper before answering.
"I asked if you felt safe at home."
Minnie's brow furrowed. Was the non-host trying to gauge the relative security of Lena's defenses?
"I do not believe my current caretaker's security falls within the boundaries of knowledge you need to complete your duties."
The non-host's smile vanished and momentarily twisted oddly.
"I'm sorry, let me ask that a different way. Are you afraid of anyone or anything in your home?"
Minnie suspiciously examined
"I do not currently have a permanent 'home.' The primary purpose of this appointment is to enable my acquisition of one. Therefore, the basic assumptions of the question are flawed."
The non-host hesitated for a moment before making another note.
"Do you think that you would be safe after you 'acquire' a home?"
"That is highly dependent on my destination. If my new caretaker proceeds with our primary plan and takes custody, yes. If they decide that an alternative plan is a superior option, then I expect I would need to secure my own safety."
Another note was made, and Minnie almost wished she could destroy the entire paper. The quick scribbles clearly weren't a direct transcript and Minnie didn't know what information the non-host thought
"Could you tell me about this 'caretaker' you mentioned?"
"I could, but I won't."
The false smile momentarily disappeared, replaced by a surprised laugh. Minnie could not determine if the non-host's subsequent smile was genuine or falsified.
"You don't need to worry, Minnie. There isn't a right or wrong answer, and you won't be punished no matter what you say."
That was verifiably false.
"That is a lie," Minnie accused. "For example, I would certainly be punished by local authorities if I verbally threatened the safety of others. Undesirable outcomes may also be viewed as punishme–"
Minnie stopped speaking and glared at the clipboard. To her credit, the non-host quickly appeared to realize the source of Minnie's displeasure. Rather than produce an excuse or insist that her note-taking was necessary, however, the non-host wordlessly placed it out of reach and clasped her hands in
"I'm sorry," it claimed, "I didn't realize my note-taking made you that uncomfortable. Would you like me to find someone else for this part?"
Minnie hesitated. The implication was that the non-host's questions would be asked by another individual if she—it—Minnie gave up and consulted the non-host's name tag. If Doctor Relaj did not ask the questions, then someone else would. At least she was willing to make minor adjustments to her behavior to ensure Minnie's comfort, unlike some other non-hosts in the medical professions.
"I do not believe someone else would be an improvement. Thank you for altering your behavior to make me less uncomfortable."
Doctor Relaj might not be a person, but desired behaviors should still be rewarded to encourage more. The non-host nodded, a widening smile making the skin around her eyes wrinkle.
"You're welcome. I expect I'll still need to ask you some more questions, but is there any information that you would like to volunteer? We might be able to skip some of them."
Minnie wrinkled her nose. It was an obvious interrogation tactic, and one she was not particularly inclined to humor.
"I believe I am here to check the current status of my health and potentially improve it." And to verify that my body is human. "I do not know if you, potential eavesdroppers, and/or the people you report to can be trusted. Therefore, the need for a diagnostic is outweighed by the risk that I am assaulted.
Doctor Relaj's smile shrunk, but she did not let it lapse all the way to a frown.
"Do you feel safe now?"
"Only through obscurity."
The non-host spent several seconds silently starting at Minnie, still smiling, before she finally decided to take Minnie seriously.
"Please tell me if you don't understand any part of what I'm about to say. Your 'caretaker' requested a full medical evaluation for a child without medical records or a medical history. That specifically includes my own contribution; they could have chosen to omit it. This hospital follows very strict doctor/patient confidentiality even beyond the requirements mandated by federal and state law. I would be punished both legally and with the loss of my ability to work if I shared anything you tell me without your permission. I don't even need to tell your caretaker of my findings. You certainly don't need to worry about me telling anyone else. Do you understand and agree with everything I just said?"
Minnie frowned. Doctor Relaj could still be lying, and the site remained insecure. Still, Minnie shouldn't flatly refuse to answer if Lena really had asked for this. Not without an explanation, anyway.
"An individual close to a powerful individual wishes to adopt me," Minnie admitted.
Not only did Lena occupy the same space as herself, but Kara and Minnie were also quite powerful in different ways. Minnie's words remained truthful on multiple levels.
"We are concerned that a premature disclosure of information may lead to interference in the adoption process and possibly even my abduction. In contrast, sufficient secrecy will provide me with significant legal and physical protection. Unless you are capable of expediting the adoption process and willing to do so, fully answering your questions would not be worth the added risk."
Doctor Relaj's mouth transitioned from a smile to a silent "oh" of realization.
"Well, nobody can say I'm not a proper National City citizen now," she murmured for little discernible reason.
When the smile returned, it was slightly slanted in what Minnie suspected was bemusement.
"That does explain your reluctance, yes. And the bodyguard. Would you be willing to truthfully answer my questions once it's done?"
Minnie chose to take the non-host's change in subject as confirmation that she could not, in fact, assist in the adoption process.
"I will not disclose details of security or anything that might enable industrial espionage. Otherwise, I would."
Minnie could, after all, still conceal privileged information.
Doctor Relaj closed her eyes, slowly exhaled, and opened them again, her fake smile gone. Why humans chose to temporarily blind themselves in such a way, Minnie did not know.
"And I won't ask anything like that. The questions about your safety are intended to ensure that your caretakers aren't hurting you, not because I want to know how thorough their security is. I certainly don't need to know any details of their projects. Out of respect for your concerns, I will omit most questions and focus on a few more relevant to your situation. First: Why do you think that your caretaker might decide not to adopt you? Is there some behavior they require or task that you need to complete first?"
Minnie would reluctantly admit that the non-host had adapted remarkably quickly. The question did not demand that Minnie divulge privileged information and could be discussed without details. The Shard shook her head.
"No. She has–"
Minnie briefly hesitated. Minnie had not meant to provide Lena's gender; that would omit over fifty percent of possible suspects. Still, the mistake had been made.
"–explicitly said I do not need to prove that I am valuable, and has discouraged my offers to do so. The waiting period is explicitly in case we construct any plans that would keep me safer or are otherwise preferred. The remaining waiting period is explicitly less than two more days."
"A sensible policy," Doctor Relaj agreed. "What did you offer?"
Minnie shook her head.
"That is currently unsafe to disclose. I may answer later. Please continue."
The non-host didn't hesitate to do so.
"Why do you trust your caretaker?"
"She is intelligent, trusted by individuals I trust, predictive of my needs, offered the adoption instead of having it suggested, is obviously growing attached, and multiple other factors that I cannot yet safely disclose."
"Are there any other adults whom you trust?"
"Yes."
Doctor Relaj did not immediately ask a follow-up question, obviously waiting for elaboration. Minnie did not provide any.
"Would any of your trusted adults be willing to help you if your current caretaker hurt you?"
"Yes."
The non-host assumed another fake smile.
"Minnie, I can help expedite an adoption and you've convinced me that I should try. But to do that, I need you to honestly answer me, and it would help if you could provide me with names. Even just one person? Could you do that for me, Minnie?"
Minnie immediately reevaluated the situation. This wasn't just someone trying to evaluate if Minnie's personality was compatible with this society's culture and standards. They were gathering the background information needed to gauge Lena's suitability as a parent.
"Kara Danvers."
The non-host's eyebrows relocated upward.
"The Supergirl reporter?"
Minnie had not realized Kara was a reporter, let alone one specializing in reporting on herself. That was a remarkably elegant method of discreet information control.
"I did not know her specialty, but I believe that is her."
Doctor Relaj nodded thoughtfully and gestured toward her distant clipboard.
"Would you be willing to let me write that down?"
Minnie eyed the notes with distrust, but nodded anyway. Doctor Relaj soon retrieved her clipboard, and Minnie withdrew her phone. Kara's contact information and the spelling of her name had, in fact, been pre-loaded.
"Could you spell her name for me, and possibly provide a phone number or address?"
Minnie sighed, held out the phone screen with Kara's contact information on it, and resigned herself to an exceptionally annoying session. It would have been much easier if she could just deflect questions instead of needing to answer them.
"Do you have a favorite animal?" Doctor Relaj asked.
Minnie could not decide if she was annoyed or pleased by the question. She did not know how this question was relevant, but it was a safe subject and one she could discuss without worrying about consequences.
"No. Snakes frequently possess venom. Poisonous frogs are colorful and improve the survivability of their species despite the sacrifice of a few. Armadillos possess natural armor plating. Hummingbirds are capable of precise flight and hovering, which is deceptively difficult. Bats specialized for echolocation. Pigeons managed to survive despite being effectively abandoned by humanity once their services were rendered obsolete. Cats can become deceptively accurate ambush predators. Goats are very bouncy. Hedgehogs and porcupines make attackers regret their attempts. I have not bothered setting up a ranking system as the survival techniques of most animals are interesting."
Minnie wanted to expound at length on certain kinds of insects, too, beginning with bees. That was not what the non-host was trying to ask about. Unfortunately, Minnie quickly realized that the question had been an unrelated ruse to make Minnie drop her guard, as the following questions were boring.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lena felt horrified resignation form as she stared at the medical summary on the screen before her. Minnie hadn't arrived home yet, but she was done at the hospital and Lena planned to have celebratory cake ready for Minnie when she arrived. Had Addy gone through all of this, too? Lena was rapidly becoming exhausted just from staring at the front-page summary.
- A full assessment could not be completed at this time due to safety concerns of the patient.
- Patient has almost certainly been emotionally and possibly physically abused to a significant extent. Initial assessment suggests that abuse was previous rather than present, and primarily aimed at behavioral modification.
- Patient has likely been previously punished for disclosing "secrets," or punished for giving the "wrong" answer(s) to questions.
- The patient obeyed all instructions without complaint or visible emotion and remained in a state of dissociation until directly asked a question. Minnie then asked for the question to be repeated and remained engaged in the conversation afterward.
- Patient defaulted to a neutral or "emotionless" expression. This neutrality appears to be the product of at least partially conscious suppression, and was partially forgotten when Minnie was sufficiently emotional.
- The largest visible break from this neutrality was observed when Minnie was asked about her favorite animal. The patient developed immediate interest in the conversation and lost that enthusiasm once the subject changed. Minnie may benefit from an emotional support animal.
- Patient's vocabulary and logical reasoning are advanced for her age in both breadth and use.
- Patient was accompanied by an armed bodyguard rather than their "current caretaker."
- Patient appears to believe that she would be safe in the custody of her "current caretaker," details of whom were carefully omitted by Minnie, but that she would not be safe if an alternate plan was pursued. Patient was visibly dismayed and briefly paused mid-sentence when she accidentally revealed caretaker's gender.
- The patient seemed to believe that her value as a person is tied to what she can provide to others. Patient acknowledged that her current caretaker is trying to discourage this view.
- Patient was concerned with own safety, especially when away from her "current caretaker," and refused to provide many details until after she is adopted. Patient agreed to truthfully answer questions after that point. A follow-up appointment is highly recommended in addition to additional consultations with specialists (see page 6).
- Patient only reluctantly yielded initials of "current caretaker," L.L., when informed that an identifier was required in order to prevent an approval that could be applied to anyone. When asked directly, Minnie insisted that the first initial was not short for "Lillian" and appeared confused by the question.
- Evaluator will recommend expedited review of attempts by L.L. to legally adopt the patient in order to ensure the safety of Minnie. Kara Danvers was cited as a possible character witness and trusted adult.
If there was a bright side, it was that Minnie truly was fully human after all and physically healthy. Lena had been rather worried. She wouldn't have been upset if Minnie was an alien, exactly, but it would certainly have made both their lives harder.
Lena slowly exhaled and resigned herself to spending all day tomorrow speaking to lawyers. Or at least, she should have felt resigned. She was almost looking forward to it. The disturbing report before her made Lena more determined to bring Minnie under her wing, if only to reassure Minnie. And given how adept Minnie had been in the workshop, Lena might be able to provide much of the requisite parental attention and support just through collaborative engineering projects.
Lena's pleased pondering didn't last long after Minnie's return home.
"Do you have a sample of Kryptonite available for me to examine?" Minnie asked innocently. "Most research articles would cost money to view."
Lena's warm glow vanished like an extinguished candle.
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- Location
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
I'm curious did no one comment on how her criteria for favorite animal is good survival strategy?
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You can consider that to be in the longer version of the document. Minnie wasn't asked why she brought that up, but it was noted. Important distinction, though: Minnie wasn't necessary interested in good survival strategies, just the directions that they'd developed in.
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I am curious about what Minnie will think about the channel TierZoo. Some guy that examines stuff as if life was a videogame.
Her essenially unique and "sideways" perspective would be interesting to see.
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Love it thanks for the update
- Location
- Finland
She just wants to help.
I really hope Lena asks why Minnie is interested in kryptonite before she gives any answers.
- Location
- Elsewhere
She's overlooking humanity's innate racial superpower of ignoring the obvious and editing their own perceptions to prevent cognitive dissonance.
It's like a stranger power directed at themselves.
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And Luther's spies reported his sister has begun to take an interest in Kryptonite.
I read while running with dogs, and I nearly fell when reading this.
That thing wouldn't last a day before it gets upgraded into a Friend. Also, Addy suggests geese.
Edit: I can't shake off the image of Minnie walking around with a giant, fuzzy tarantula sitting on top of her head. Yes, I would love to see Minnie get her own animal sidekick.
She might need a little explanation first on why Tier Zoo decided to use terminology and concepts from video games. Other than that though, I think she'd love to learn more about Earth's animals and how to present information in certain ways in order to appeal to a specific audience.
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That's the neat part. She hadn't. Everyone knows.
Imagine her face when she discovers that they actually do have anti-kryptonite rad-shielding (used previously by Fort Rozz's inmates), but they just decided not to use it.
Talk about poor survival strategy. Kryptonians are definitely not in the list of Minnie's favourite animals.
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