Torgamous
Aspiring Gynoid
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"That's not even close to smaller than you are."
"This is not my true form."
Unsanctioned Mishap (AdMis [Supergirl/Worm] / Sanctioned [Worm])
- Thread starter Alivaril
- Start date
- Crossover
"This is not my true form."
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
A trend occurring twice at random is far more likely than a recognizable individual occurring twice.I'm sure the inhabitants of both dimensions also have to poop. No, this is an entirely random observation with no connection to the prior subject.
Also Kryptonite is radioactive in a way that hurts humans too. Just the normal cancer way. I'd imagine she wouldn't be particularly happy if Minnie asked to examine polonium.
Satisfaction
brought it back.
On the other hand, assuming the existence of an entity-like colony organism, it's only logical that part of it would be responsible for coordination of the colony. That part would be the 'QA' of that entity. Addy and Minnie, despite both being 'QA' and occupying the same role in their entity, are actually quite different. Calling them the same individual actually isn't really accurate, they just seem very much like it because they're both 'QA' and they're both using similar-looking meatpuppets.
It's the fact Taylor exists twice that's weird, multiversally speaking. And that their Earth Bets are so similar. That implies some truly infinite multiverse shit, that Taylor exists in two world-lines that, while superficially similar, are actually wildly divergent.
Pethrai Darkos
Murder Ensued
It actually really isn't that weird. Even in Worm there are dimensional doppelgängers as shown in the epilogue. This being a DC cross it's practically expected for there to be a universe with a you that's essentially the same only evil, or where a different parent dies as part of your tragic backstory, or that the mystic artifact which empowered you and your nemesis switched who got which powerset. In fact given its DC it's significantly easier to get to one of those universes than one divergent enough that your grandparents never existed.
- Location
- The House of Moon and Star
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It'd be pretty normal for both Parahumans and DC multiverse works, except that Earth Bet is something of a special case: it's heavily shaped directly by very specific intervention from multiversal entities, causing massive and presumably unique divergence. If Taylor had been born pre-Scion, her having a bunch of multiversal counterparts would be perfectly normal. As it is, what with her life heavily shaped in identical ways up to her trigger, including a specific cape (Shadow Stalker/Sophia) doing the same things up to and including the locker, which should be completely and utterly impossible by Parahumans multiverse logic.
By DC multiverse logic, it's a bit weird, but far from the weirdest.
By DC multiverse logic, it's a bit weird, but far from the weirdest.
shepsquared
Erratic Aussie
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
The entities in their multiverse are the same as the Monitor and Anti-Monitor in Supergirl's universe - whichever universe they originated in doesn't matter anymore as they're constantly interacting with the multiverse and they've been doing it for so long there's no alternate version of them that they haven't already met and subsumed or something similar.
It gets weird here because AdMis implies that the Monitor is responsible for Addy being around in the first place (a version of Crisis on Infinite Earths goes down in Season 5 of Supergirl and he's looking for people who can take on the Anti-Monitor) and I can't tell if that holds true for minie being around ehre or if that's because of her Taylor. Either way you've got a being that doesn't have alternate universe counterparts reaching out and messing with an entirely different multiverse.
It gets weird here because AdMis implies that the Monitor is responsible for Addy being around in the first place (a version of Crisis on Infinite Earths goes down in Season 5 of Supergirl and he's looking for people who can take on the Anti-Monitor) and I can't tell if that holds true for minie being around ehre or if that's because of her Taylor. Either way you've got a being that doesn't have alternate universe counterparts reaching out and messing with an entirely different multiverse.
Pethrai Darkos
Murder Ensued
The datapacket from Dreamer said that something (implied to be the same thing as what brought Addu here) interfered with Minny's deployment. It's the cornerstone of why Addy isn't killing Minny; because she has reason to believe that if she does there will just be another one brought in to replace her.
I'm not sure they found that out yet. Since it Lex months of wearing a kryptonite ring to notice it's harmful effects.
Chapter 9: Aberrant
- 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. >.>
Beta-read by @OxfordOctopus.
Beta-read by @OxfordOctopus.
Lena closed her eyes and forced her mind away from her brother. She shouldn't make hasty assumptions, and even if someone had planted the idea of new anti-Kryptonian weapons in Minnie's head, the girl was ten. If Lena couldn't teach Minnie to know better, then that was a condemnation of Lena, not of Minnie.
Minnie might have perfectly innocuous motives, too. Lena had mentioned that they couldn't pursue some fields due to Luthor's actions, and Minnie might disagree and want to try them anyway. Lena shouldn't let herself grow upset before even asking.
"Why do you want one?" Lena asked distantly, and forced her eyes back open.
Minnie stared at Lena's head as though looking for signs of injury.
"Supergirl appears to be allied with you, but still doesn't have defenses against it. You will eventually lose one of your strongest defenders if this state of affairs is not remedied."
Lena explosively exhaled and slumped with relief. Someone might still have planted the idea of involving Kryptonite, but it wouldn't be so Minnie could make weapons fueled by it. Not immediately, at least. Lena was not going to lose another family member to that awful green mineral.
"Lex—my brother—knew how to make it, but we're not exactly on speaking terms anymore," Lena admitted.
Not unless I want to spend several consecutive minutes being threatened and feel miserable for much longer.
"Trying to obtain a sample now would be political suicide. I'm not even sure there is a way to guard against it. Supergirl and Superman have at least some government backing despite all the xenophobia; there's a definite feeling that they might be aliens, but they're America's aliens. I think those backers would've already developed and provided protection if it was possible to do so with our current level of technology."
Provided, Lena wouldn't be surprised if they then included some form of kill-switch so that they could yank away that protection at any time. Supergirl might trust whatever backers she possessed and Lena would trust her judgment up to a point, but Lena knew well that even those who wanted to keep rival nations from killing "America's" Kryptonians were still one bad day away from turning on the aliens. Lena had seen that with the disaster that had seen Supergirl briefly mind-controlled and the sudden flood of politically motivated condemnations that had followed from former alleged allies of aliens.
Minnie squinted in what might have been intended as confusion or dubiousness. With her eyes only barely open, it instead looked as though she had only just woken up or was staring into a bright light.
"It can be broken apart or used for power generation using modern technology. I am aware that defending against Kryptonite would be difficult. I intend to make something to destroy or contain Kryptonite. This would be easier if I had a sample so that the Hunter-Seeker Acquaintances so created could be properly optimized to both detect and destroy the mineral in question."
Acquaintances? That was a rather cutting downgrade from Friends. Did Minnie feel as though they were no longer worthy to be called Friends after their talk about subversion of digital devices?
"I am aware that my Acquaintances may be less conventionally durable than Kryptonians themselves. I am confident that I can at least make Acquaintances durable enough to survive flight and non-direct impacts. Still, a defense that is regularly destroyed is still preferable to no defense at all. I can even disguise them as biological organisms with metal-eating self-destruct mechanisms so that they are not easily traced back to me."
Lena found herself unexpectedly torn. On the one hand, she didn't want to encourage Minnie to make any weapons. On the other hand, Kryptonite was perhaps the one material that could be justifiably destroyed wherever it could be found, and Minnie was trying to help others. Gifts should be encouraged, shouldn't they?
Besides, Lena had seen how quickly Minnie worked and the sorts of scraps she considered to qualify as viable materials. If they were careful, it could be all-but impossible for any foes to trace the droids back to them.
Admittedly, Lena remained uncomfortable with the idea. She would need to make sure that Minnie's Acquaintances would only target Kryptonite and not, say, emeralds, radium, or uranium.
"If they are subverted, their wearer could easily destroy them," Minnie added.
Lena succumbed to the inevitable. This was happening, apparently.
"Kryptonite dust scattered over a larger area could also plausibly be more dangerous than whatever the 'Acquaintance' was intended to destroy," Lena warned. "But... I'll let Supergirl decide whether or not she wants to try them. I will need to review your code and designs before they're built and given away, though."
Minnie had started to smile until the point that Lena mentioned needing peer-review. The smile vanished then and Minnie appeared distinctly uncomfortable, a small frown forming as the child shifted in her seat. Lena had the sinking feeling that her conditions wouldn't be accepted without argument.
"My creations do not operate using programming architecture you are familiar with, and my designs are deliberately constructed with obfuscation and self-destruct mechanisms in place. This world apparently possesses individuals capable of scanning minds. Teaching you would introduce the security risks that you are hoping to prevent."
That was actually a good point. Lena should consider looking into psychic shielding or asking Supergirl for a method of protecting both Minnie and herself from telepathic intruders. Even the more innocuous industry secrets in Lena's head would more than justify richly paying a telepathic alien. Still, Lena wasn't comfortable trusting that a ten-year-old would make something beyond reproach. Could Minnie make such a drone? Possibility, but the judgment of a child who'd planned to conquer North America out of boredom was automatically suspect. Also, the idea of putting self-destruct mechanisms in sentient entities was beyond horrifying and Minnie had mentioned it without thinking twice.
Lena couldn't directly say any of that, though. Building trust was supposed to be important in the early stages of a parent/child relationship, and completely shutting Minnie down wouldn't help form that trust.
"They wouldn't be sentient, would they?" Lena asked warily.
Minnie shook her head.
"I don't have access to my usual methods of storing Friend personalities, and there is a high chance that they will not work in this dimension. I don't want to make anything sentient if I'm not confident in its ability to survive."
Lena allowed herself a breath of relief. No enslaved expendables to worry about.
"I'm glad you aren't willing to callously create and discard sentient lives like that, but Minnie, you're asking me to let you make a potentially deadly weapon—multiple deadly weapons—so that you can give them to our resident superheroes. For the safety of everyone involved, they need to be as effective and safe as we can make them. What if Supergirl relies upon your Acquaintances to win an important battle, only for them not to work as well as expected? What if their self-destruct mechanism dumps your ferrovores on something important, or is toxic to humans? None of us are perfect, and neither are the things we create. That's why we make prototypes first; to fix the flaws before we settle on a finished product.
"I'll ask Supergirl about psychic shielding when I next see her, okay? You can ask about her top speed and the other kinds of stresses your Acquaintances might need to tolerate. Cadmus just undertook a major operation and they're the only ones who still have Kryptonite. They generally don't strike twice in close succession—and do not try to research the most recent incident on your own. There are some things not meant for children to see. I'll install parental controls if I have to and neither of us will be happy about that."
Lena still felt nauseated at the memories of the now-deceased—and headless—gang members that Cadmus had used as expendable lackeys. No, Minnie did not need to see that.
Minnie reached for the hidden pocket sewn into her dress, apparently forgetting that she had left the phone outside the room. She recovered a moment later. Lena wondered, with faint horror, if Minnie had been planning to research the disastrous incident right after being told not to. Surely not? The child had been uncomfortably obedient so far.
"I could assemble an approximate baseline using community observations and analyses of Supergirl's past feats; some of her observers are very determined even if their mathematical calculations are often overly simplified. Further refinement of Kryptovore designs could be completed as needed."
Lena did not feel like a parent that would be heeded right now. She felt as though she was arguing with a peer who had fixated on an overly hasty idea—Serling.
"Supergirl and Superman are known to limit themselves so that they don't destroy everything around them. The times they're most likely to stop holding back are those where they're in danger and most need support."
A thought struck Lena and she changed strategies.
"Besides, you can't assume complete privacy just yet. Someone is going to need to perform a home inspection as part of the adoption process, and the last thing we want is for them to think you've been making weapons."
The effects of Lena's words were immediate. Minnie straightened and began swinging her legs, a smile tugging at her lips with repeated little twitches. It would be cuter if someone hadn't clearly told Minnie that she wasn't supposed to smile. Lena might not know who Minnie's prior guardians were, if any, but she already didn't like them.
"May I take your most recent remarks as confirmation?" Minnie asked eagerly.
Lena would have smiled anyway to comfort Minnie, but she didn't need to force that smile.
"I do plan to begin the adoption process tomorrow, yes—or at least, to retain lawyers specializing in that field. Unless you have a plan you like more?"
Minnie was clearly too excited for that to be true, but Lena still wanted to hear the answer.
"I do not," Minnie confirmed. "A n—doctor I spoke with said that she could help expedite the process, and I reluctantly provided your initials as an identifier. Will she truly be able to assist, or was that a lie?"
Lena's smile vanished. If she was not mistaken, Doctor Relaj was African-American and Lena very much hoped that Minnie had not been about to say what Lena thought she was.
"Minnie, what word were you about to say?
Minnie blinked rapidly, appearing befuddled by the question and slightly uncomfortable.
"Non? For the first part of non-powered."
The child appeared so uncertain and uncomfortable that Lena couldn't help but believe her. It did raise a massive pile of questions, however. Using the word in such a way implied that Minnie was 'powered,' which almost certainly referred to superpowers. Well, that or some exceptionally strange cultural quirks. Lena should ask.
"That's much better than what I thought you were going to say, but you should try to avoid saying 'non-powered' anyway. If it means what I think it does, then using it is rather revealing."
Minnie's expression flipped right back to the ghost of pleased realization.
"Oh, you thought I was going to say–" Minnie started, and Lena could have hit herself. She'd walked right into that one.
"We do not utter slurs," Lena interrupted sharply.
Minnie's twitchy almost-smile vanished, and Lena immediately regretted her words. Not only should she avoid excessive strictness for a while, but sometimes, children picked up vocabulary without knowing better. Lena's rule didn't leave any room for asking about a word if Minnie was unsure, and that could be disastrous. Lena had even asked Minnie to finish a word mere moments before.
"I'm sorry, I was too harsh and I shouldn't have said that. Don't say slurs outside a secured room with only Kara or myself, and please only utter them to ask about their meaning, to ask if a word is a slur, or for similar questions. That word in particular has some exceptionally appalling history and the people who still regularly use it are not people you want to be associated with."
Lena swallowed back her guilt and wondered, not for the first time, if she should really be trying to adopt a little girl who needed far more time and careful care than she could provide on her own. She still didn't see any better options, though.
"So it's like malware," Minnie concluded evenly. "Improperly examining or propagating it can lead to severe and unpleasant consequences, and those with systems infested by it are doing something badly wrong."
A surprised snort escaped Lena, and Minnie's hesitant, twitchy almost-smile returned. Despite that, another stab of uncertainty struck Lena. It was easy, too easy, to hurt Minnie purely by accident. Maybe Lena should try to ask Kara's parents for advice; they seemed to have done an exceptionally good job of raising Kara.
Lena belatedly remembered Kara's ongoing tendency to gorge herself, presumably after spending all day starving, and amended that thought. Still, an eating disorder wasn't the worst thing that someone could pick up.
"I need to warn you that I don't know how to be a good parent," Lena admitted. "I'll try to learn, but my own guardians were not the sort of people I should be emulating. If we're going to make this work, I need you to tell me if I ever frighten you, or if I do something that you feel was undeserved. That includes, say, me snapping at you over almost uttering a slur when that's not something you automatically know about.
"You should always be able to tell me anything, and I won't condemn you for it or permanently cut ties. I can't guarantee that I won't be upset, even angry, but it won't ever be a rejection of you. If I make you feel as though I have, it would be because I made a mistake and you need to tell me."
And now I'm talking as though I'm going to be more than just your guardian in name only. Oh, dear. Lena was in so much trouble, and she had the sudden thought that she should drag Kara down with her. Kara had gotten Lena into this mess; it was only fair that she help babysit now and again.
"Don't worry; I also don't know how to act like a normal human child," was Minnie's blunt response.
Lena couldn't help but laugh yet again. Minnie's brow furrowed slightly, but the child continued doggedly onward anyway.
"I have significant difficulty interpreting human body language, facial expressions, tones of voice, and non-literal uses of language. I have frequently been described as 'creepy' and my perception of cuteness does not appear to align with human standards. I possessed only a basic understanding of local laws even before I was transported here, and I now know even less. My reaction to opposition is typically to crush it with overwhelming force or intimidate via the threats of using such. I still don't understand why that is supposed to be bad. I find a number of behaviors and systems implemented by others to be confusing and resent the reflexive backlash or dismissal that often occurs when I question them. I somehow inadvertently encourage others to mock me and don't know why."
Even if Lena was learning quite a bit, the admissions were clearly starting to upset Minnie. That's enough of that.
"Minnie, it's fine," Lena gently interrupted. "I already noticed quite a bit of that, and I don't expect you to know everything. That includes how you're supposed to act. I don't know what your previous caretakers demanded of you, but if you don't know something, you can always ask me and I won't mock you for it. I've occasionally laughed or smiled at some of what you said because it's charming, not out of mockery."
And Lena might need to be careful with even that much, or quick to remind Minnie that Lena did not intend to be mocking. Similarly, Lena might have trouble interpreting Minnie's moods and expressions, too; even in that very moment, Minnie's face kept twisting and trying to return to neutrality in a manner that was almost painful to watch.
A sniffle escaped Minnie, and Lena's eyes widened. Apparently, Minnie was trying unusually hard to avoid crying, and Lena wanted to punch whomever told Minnie that a child wasn't allowed to cry.
"Do you want a hug?" Lena offered.
She needed to avoid panicking. Especially when the offer seemed to be responsible for finally breaking the floodgates. Minnie broke into huge, gasping sobs while clenching her fists, holding her arms close to her body, and avoiding eye contact. Lena still didn't know if a hug would help or would bring up bad memories. But Minnie had been okay with holding Kara's hand and sitting next to the reporter, right? So physical contact should be okay? No, Lena should start out with held hands and go from there. That would be safer.
Please don't be a mistake.
Lena slowly and carefully got up to approach Minnie, shuffling while half-hunched so she didn't tower over the child. It was tempting to call Kara and admit that Lena had only a minimal idea of what to do. Their phones being outside the room rather neatly removed that temptation, which was probably just as well. Lena didn't want to let her panic be contagious.
"You're allowed to cry, okay? It's not a bad thing," Lena softly reassured Minnie, settling down beside Minnie on the fold-down bed and half-cupping one hand around one of the child's clenched fists.
Almost instantly, Minnie's closest fist unclenched and wrapped halfway around the offered hand. Lena sighed in relief, started to bend to wrap her other arm around Minnie, and promptly acquired one ten-year-old child intent on squeezing the life out of her. Fortunately, if Minnie did have any superpowers, super-strength did not seem to be one of them.
"It just happens sometimes when we get overwhelmed enough," Lena continued.
"I noticed," Minnie croaked, and Lena suppressed every trace of amusement at the blunt reply. Laughing at her wouldn't help.
~ ~ ~
It had been mere minutes since Lena had agreed to adopt Minnie, and the Shard had already realized one important fact: Killing Lena at the end of this Cycle was going to hurt. Except—this wasn't Minnie's home multiverse cluster, was it? :MOTHER: was not present. Minnie could gather all the data she wanted, and wouldn't need to kill Lena if the human was still alive at the conclusion of this Cycle.
…Now Queen Administrator wished she could move the rest of her main body to this cluster, too. Except, her "shapeshifting" module had only demanded samples to allow transformation into aliens, hadn't it? It hadn't denied her altogether. And the other Queen Administrator was in this multiverse, judging by the previously mentioned energy crisis.
There was no designated upper limit on mass or energy requirements for a specific form. Queen Administrator would not technically be violating any restrictions or rules if she took a sample from Addy's Shard-body and changed her host-body to herself, and could even requisition additional energy from obnoxious Siblings with a surplus in order to enable such copiously expensive construction. It would, after all, be necessary to ensure the safety of a Monarch even if that safety would technically be from :MOTHER: and QA's Siblings. Then Minnie could transfer the rest of herself—plus Taylor Hebert—over, discreetly scatter the components of her old body across as many dimensions as possible, and destroy those fragments so that :MOTHER: could not follow.
If Minnie executed her escape properly, :MOTHER: wouldn't even know that She should attempt recovery until the end of the Cycle neared. Let QA's Siblings try to function without her if they were going to mock her so much—Queen Administrator was confident that they would at least survive, but it would be at greatly decreased efficiency. Minnie and Addy could make a new, better colony based on the best ideas from both their multiverse clusters.
Archival note: Apologize for Lena for prolonged breakdown.
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- Location
- Finland
Sometimes the best revenge is to just leave people try to survive on their own.
Aww, Minnie loves Lena and has a plan for not killing her.
The fact that Minnie is even capable of thoughts like that is going to blow Addy's mind isn't it? Sanctioned QA has far more leeway than she did.
Possibly more experience with various things too going by the 'singlehandedly ended multiple cycles prematurely' reputation that came up in Sanctioned, compared to Addy who was rarely deployed due to being a core shard.
Possibly more experience with various things too going by the 'singlehandedly ended multiple cycles prematurely' reputation that came up in Sanctioned, compared to Addy who was rarely deployed due to being a core shard.
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- Location
- Pacific Rim
Minnie: Note to self, take pandimensional horrorball and leave, that will show them. *Takes her nthDimensional toys and tells shards to bugger off*
Adorbs chapter.
Adorbs chapter.
Czlyydwr Llrngwl
"Sell ya a door Learn gull," Czly/Celly for short
- Location
- Where the Beef is
- Pronouns
- Any
Wow, Addie is just going to love Minnie's new plan, isn't she? /sarcasm
Still adorable, though. Lena is not at all the only one getting attached far faster than she's comfortable with, and (metaphoirically) flailing around like a drowning woman to grasp at any idea that seems like it might somehow give her a clue at how to deal when she realizes it.
Still adorable, though. Lena is not at all the only one getting attached far faster than she's comfortable with, and (metaphoirically) flailing around like a drowning woman to grasp at any idea that seems like it might somehow give her a clue at how to deal when she realizes it.
captain_belgica
But you'll call me Captain or Sir
- Pronouns
- Captain/Sir
I'm pretty sure you mean sanctioned not mishap.
Sanctioned QA is Minnie.
Mishap QA is Addy.
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Lt. Ouroumov
The PR in PRT
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oh god, Minnie is going through her rebellious phase!
Yeah, got them muddled up, fixed it now.
I don't know... a nuclear waste eating acquaintance sounds like it would be very useful as a PR move.
Norr
Misophist
- Location
- Any chair
I wonder how Lena would react if she knew the 'n'-word was non-person.
And wether that would at all change her subsequent thought process.
Lena's trust in the power of American Government is strong. But one would think that if they were so good, they would've stopped Lex from turning the Sun red.
And why, in her opinion, would they even think about making two invulnerable godlike entities even more invulnerable? Supers are already a huge security risk, why turn them into a security nightmare?
I was expecting Lena to be far more cynical about the situation, especially considering her company's borderline hostile relationship with the government.
wasnt minnie more of a bio-tinker is going to be fun when what lena expect is a robot and what she will get is a littke kitten with so so many hidden bio-weapons
"I don't want to kill the host species, : MOTHER. My analysis of the data gathered from socializing with this species has led me to conclude that their extermination would be a waste of energy. This has nothing to do with emotional attachment, I have merely found a superior method to utilize them. I will not accept [REFUSAL] as an answer, any attempts to do so will receive [PROFANITY] and [RUDE GESTURES]."
- Location
- Finland
I think she can do both.
Preference may be for organics, or things that appear organic, but that is just a personal preference.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Friend of Theseus: If you take a bio-Friend and use some synthetic parts since it would make the Friend better, and keep doing that until you're making a robot instead, doesn't it still count as a Friend?
EDIT: Edited in a new paragraph to make Lena's thoughts a bit clearer.
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