Victories of the Soul [Worm/Avatar/ME/Multicrossover] [SI]
- Thread starter AEM
- Start date
- Crossover Mature Sci-Fi
Exorcism 6.3
- Location
- Chula Vista
Exorcism 6.3
April 20th, 2011. 11:55AM
Basilia Rubio
After the heart attack that Alexandria had given me, we had followed her to another more inconspicuous location and after some self scanning for bugs as well as an automated security check of Athena we were eventually led to one of the new highly secure conference rooms.
"We don't have much time to talk here, I still have duties elsewhere." I raised an eyebrow as the nearly ultimate Brute marched toward the conference table which was currently occupied with a rather small group of heroes including Chevalier, Armsmaster and Myriddin. The insects Taylor had brought with her vibrated and I was certainly sure I was the only one to notice which meant she was channeling her emotions into the swarm.
Which was actually distinct from Skitter, she didn't send her emotions into the swarm, she expressed them through them instead. Some tests had revealed she could literally send out emotional aura's through her insects, which reminded me of the possible alternate configurations of her power.
One of them was a Master/Changer power involving emotional channeling and alteration and a versatile Master minion. Creating a Brute power would be a lot more difficult unless she was willing to make herself a shield out of thousands of bugs.
Which…not to disparage her but I don't think she would give a shit about the bugs. She was weird like that, not that there was anything wrong with that of course, I liked her too much to care about a few fla—Ahem.
Taylor and I found our own seats, and I wondered if this meeting had been prepared or if we had just been lucky enough to have enough extra seats. It was at least only a small group of heroes, with one of them being trustworthy and the computer screen meant that Dragon would probably be joining us.
"What is this about exactly? I don't much like getting surprised…" I grumbled in complaint but didn't bother fighting this unless it turned out to be something unimportant to me. Then I would simply leave.
"The declaration of an S-class threat isn't an everyday occurrence Erudition," Alexandria spoke with a confidence that could only come from decades of experience. "You've only provided the generalities of what we're dealing with, and I would prefer a more clear picture."
"That does not really explain why we have two other heroes from different cities," I clicked my tongue in distaste. "And I don't know much more than what I've told you, which is why I was returning to base to ask the only person who has any idea what this Mother of Miseries is."
"The Mother of Miseries? Interesting name…" Myriddin chipped in, his wizard getup catching my eye.
"It's what those dark spirits were calling her when it…or she enhanced them with some type of pact. All of this…it seems like it's testing the waters, trying to figure out the strategies it needs to break us." I shook my head, flicking a flame on and off. "It's why I was leaving in the first place."
"So this Mother of Miseries can manipulate spirits?" Armsmaster sounded worried beneath his slightly stilted tone.
"Only relatively weak ones relating to negative emotions, spirits of anguish, of rage and of hatred. They're not inherently evil, but they can be swayed and darkened with little issue." I had done tests with rage spirits myself, boosting my physical strength with a short litany.
I had managed to kick a car ten meters into the air with the boost, so there was certainly an advantage to calling upon the strength of the spirits.
"You learned about this entity from your informant…a Case 53?" Alexandria hesitated, and I only noticed because of my helmet's software compiling social data.
"Yes. While she hasn't personally met whatever this threat is, she has an accurate record of the general nature and behavior of what we're dealing with. If I can get an accurate picture of what we're dealing with we can form a plan to destroy this thing."
"Is destroying this creature truly the best option?" Alexandria didn't seem eager to try to keep anything alive, it seemed more like personal curiosity or a worry of the consequences. But I decided to be blunt anyway.
"If we don't then we'll have to quarantine the city and then incinerate it down to its foundations." My reply was dry and I could see the horror from Myriddin and Chevalier.
"It's that bad…?" Chevalier was the one asking, and I bit my lip as my senses sharpened in response. His shard was decidedly more alien, my eyes blinking to catch its constantly twisting whirlwind of shattered space. Before my eyes I could see how the fabric of the Branes were melded together, how physics itself was altered with his power.
Then I remembered his secondary power and I felt a little cold. How much would he be able to glean from Taylor, or from me? I might not have Triggered in the normal sense but Veda had been a shard once upon a time.
She had simply been reforged in fire and void and cold and de—
Chevalier flinched, and I saw the subtle quiver in his hands. Which likely confirmed my suspicions, though I had my doubts it was intentional. He was a powerful cape in his own right, though it did make it annoying. Not that there would be much to go on for whatever gave me my power, it's not unlikely that the Bans affect other people's attempts to find forbidden knowledge. And getting a glimpse at my power would be impossible without something able to penetrate Veda's defenses.
I needed to reply.
"This…Mother of Miseries is an exponential threat at the very least, and it's creations make it something similar to a biotinker. And unlike Nilbog it won't be content to rule a little fiefdom for a decade."
"And why is that?" Chevalier asked, and I answered back.
"Because from what I've been told it's very purpose is suffering."
"Suffering?" Alexandria added, tilting her head.
"It…wishes to inflict suffering on well…all of humanity, like a paperclip maximizer designed to torture any form of life capable of suffering or feeling pain." There was a chill in the room, and I could tell that my words struck them hard.
"Why?" Alexandria got to the heart of it, and I felt like laughing. Why was certainly the question, wasn't it?
"That's what I'm trying to find out, I'm not an infinite well of knowledge. I have limits on what I know…this is simply outside my own expertise. I'm sorry." There was a genuine sense of apology, because this was important and could be life saving in the right circumstances.
The four capes huddled together, and after a single beat came to a silent agreement.
Collin cleared his throat. "Dragon." The screen responded automatically, revealing a serious looking AI woman.
"You've been highly involved in this latest debacle, so we decided to inform you for your own expertise if nothing else." Alexandria spoke again, and Dragon shrunk down to reveal footage of some kind.
"Inform?" The brute cape nodded.
"Coil was found dead somewhere in the vicinity of Boston, in a modest forest." There was an image or two that were…incredibly gruesome, and I kept bile from rising at the sight of what was left of the guy. "An autopsy identified him, and confirmed that he had a Corona Pollentia…though there were signs of brain trauma before his death."
"Why is that important?" Taylor tapped in, and I shuffled a little closer to alleviate some of my anxiety. Fuck my nerves were shot.
"At first there was no correlation, until my sensors noted a Dimensional breach from the spirit world as well as sightings of a large group of nomadic capes in the area. Your mentioning of the connection between this…alteration of powers and that portal gave us what we needed." For once I had no idea what they were going with, I had some vague ideas of some group of capes but they hid their tracks well enough to be out of mind.
"I'm not following." Taylor was glancing over to me, and some of her insects were doing their usual fluttering about.
"We call them The Voyagers." I felt a hitch in my throat at the blurry, unclear pictures, and a sinking feeling rose. The first picture was of a young woman around my age, with straight brown hair from what I could tell.
"That would be…?" I honestly had no clue because that was frankly out of my range of influence since I largely stuck to New Hampshire. Mostly.
"This is the leader of the group, a Master, Brute, and Changer." I analyzed the young woman's costume. It was simple, a white toga with black serpent designs along the lines of the robe. "We know her as Echidna…"
Jesus fucking Christ, am I a joke to you universe?
…
Don't answer that.
Dammit I'm crazy aren't I?
"Echidna huh…" Well she was looking much better than I expected, since she wasn't currently a wall of rampaging murder flesh. Though from behind her domino mask there was still a hint of crazy that terrified me.
"She has been determined to create what are either projections or biotinkered creations with superpowers that strongly resemble the power of her teammates." Dragon was dry in her tone, and I very much wanted to go home and sleep forever. "A team made up of a total of twelve capes."
Oh fuck me in the Alps…
"Switcheroo." The cape in the image was definitely Krouse, though his costume was different, and…sort of looked like Jack Sparrow cosplay. "Solaire." That was Sundancer, but in blue. "Railgun." Luke was also in blue. "Revert." This was the blurriest of the photos, all I could see was that Cody had grown out his hair. "Fantasm." Another blurry image, labeled as a Changer. "Onmyoji." This was a new one, and Dragon had more to say on this one. "She appeared after an incident involving the Yangban…there are suspicions she escaped from their clutches."
"Yeah…" I stared at the new cape. She was in my age range, and her costume was basic in design but shiny. It was a skintight bodysuit colored silver, with black wavelength patterns along her arms, hips, and back. She had a fair amount of armor on top of the bodysuit, including a vest that had to be a nanoceramic and carbon-tube fiber with some spongy matrix tying them together. The same material made up her pauldrons, along with armor lining parts of her arms, knees and other vulnerable spots. They had her wavelength pattern as well.
She's new.
Dragon continued. "Rhizome." I'm 90% sure that's just a rebranded Blasto. "Pax." The image was blurry yet there was a feeling that this some type of clone of a cape(or his shard was stolen) "Fume Hood." I…didn't even have to ask with that one did I? "There is one other cape but he's not been given a designation." Probably Oliver. "And their final member would be Empathy." It was a girl maybe about a year older than Vista, so about sixteen. Again the image was blurry, but I didn't recognize her at all. Brunette I think? Based on the name, she would probably have to be a Master cape of some kind.
So did they pick up a random cape or what?
"Right. Why is this relevant?"
"Because we are quite certain that one of them is a shaman, and that they were once The Travelers…but rebranded and expanded. Current thinking is that they're making a bee line for Brockton Bay." She passed me a digital file, and I could tell that the others had the same file to look at and examine for themselves.
A number of scattered incidents up and down the American continent, from the tip of Alaska down to the most isolated jungles in Central America. Reports of some cape team taking care of strange potentially Parahuman incidents across the continent. All of them had the signs of spirit incursions of different kinds, with Echidna doing her job as a wandering shaman like some type of RPG protagonist. I was a little more static since dedicating literal decades to quelling the entire planet would piss me the hell off.
"Oh you're definitely right on the money there, there's a certain vibe from her that fits. If she's been placating spirits across the continent and she's coming here." I didn't have to say anything more on that. Someone that wandered that much, heading straight for us was a bad sign of what we were dealing with. "But I still don't entirely understand why you're telling this to me." I…had a fuzzy idea but there were easily half a dozen possibilities.
Alexandria straightened. "We believed your history with them might shed some light on…" my face twisted into a grimace right at that moment.
"I believe there are some misunderstandings here, while I know of The Travelers we've never met. I only found out about them while piecing together a few things here and there. Though the existence of these Voyagers does make Coil's form of death a little more clear."
"Clear?" Chevalier added.
"Based on his…injuries he was clearly mauled by a large grouping of spirits, and the damage to his Corona Pollentia is likely due to their ability to interfere with powers. Even if they hadn't attacked him, he would have died from brain damage within minutes." A bad way to go really, though it made me curious on what that meant for his shard.
"So do you expect them to help us deal with this…Mother of Miseries?" I shrugged.
"It's not unlikely, but I'm not really an expert on the dynamics of this team." I cleared my throat, feeling tired. "Will that be all?" They nodded, and I leaned back. "Then I'll take my leave, I'll see what I can scrounge up on this little problem of ours…you have my contact information." They nodded.
Fucking finally.
April 21st, 2011. 6:00PM
Basilia Rubio
"So what exactly are we doing here?" Grace questioned Taylor as she led us to one of the newly built rooms inside Lotus Base Alpha, the largest and first base on the planet. It was located in the equivalent of California, though the lotus lake was a rather large distinction. Beta was a mining base, a lucky break that exposed a rich vein of ore including vast amounts of platinum, iridium and gold.
Gamma was in the middle of a dry rocky desert, and was for destructive testing of weapons and technology. I had learned my lesson with assembling weapons of mass destruction near our main base of operations.
Then there was Delta which was primarily involved with biological studies and engineering, studying local fauna and flora, and experimenting with advanced genetics. I had stuck to basic enhancements within human norms, and a few adjustments for cybernetic integration but there was more I could do…later.
"Basilia…you aren't listening at all." I jumped to attention, and I blushed when Taylor placed her hand on my head, her lips pulling into a smile.
"Sorry…what were we going to do again?" Her expression turned serious, and I ignored how my heart beat just a little faster as we entered the arena. I started to understand very quickly what we were here for as Trigraphic systems began to turn on at our approach.
"Cool…" Dinah looked fascinated, and winced when she bumped into an equally fascinated Charlotte. She was still nursing a few bruises though a quick scoot and a tap with healing water cleared them up in seconds. Amy was with us out of costume, and looked around with a curious expression.
Taylor spun on the balls of her feet, and began walking backwards to talk to us directly. "I'm glad you asked since no one else was listening either." Her tone was cheeky, and the team(plus Amy) didn't meet her eyes. "I've decided that we need to start working together more effectively. We're a team and all but we're not coordinated. We have to be working together." There was a recollection in my mind of something, and I caught a faint glimmer of the Administrator's shadow in her speech and mannerisms.
"So you want to use the new combat simulator for team exercises, get everyone to better synchronize with one another?" I yawned, feeling tired after a sleepless night.
"Got it in one." Taylor was shockingly peppy today, and it was a nice change of pace. I tended to be a fair bit more energetic, though I had been toning it down as I got more comfortable with her, and with people in general. I'm usually pretty quiet if I don't get into a topic I really like. Then I can be a real chatterbox…so if Taylor wants to take some of my energy from nerves she can be my guest.
"So…what are we going to be punching holograms?" Bakuda joked a bit though that faded at Taylor's…well her natural face.
"No…I've been reading up on a few things." I could hear the rustle of a book that I had printed from Veda's storage banks on a whim. It was essentially a manual on the war doctrines of the different races, from the Volus love affair with missiles to the Salarian's spy work and subterfuge.
Which was…a little worrying in the fact it had found its way into Taylor's clutches. But also a little relieving since things were starting to get out of hand, and I wasn't really an expert in fighting battles.
"You'll be sitting this one out." My fugue ended at the sudden shift, and she pointed to her temple. I nodded when I got what she meant. "You can join us in an hour." She dragged our teammates plus Panacea along, and I giggled at their terrified looks.
Poor bastards.
I walked out of the room, following my mini-map with ease though at this point my memory was photographic enough to no longer make that necessary. I found myself in a meditation room, and the scented candles in the room made me relax my tense shoulders. I shut the door and with my firebending I ignited the nice smelling candles, and then sat down on a soft red cushion. My legs crossed of their own accord, and I placed my hands facing palms up as I began my meditation.
I had left myself ignorant to the nature of the shard-spirits, and had been caught off guard, not fully comprehending the weight of what I had done with my almost instinctual subversion of the Firmament of Zion, and of the scattered remains of Eden. I would be ignorant no more, and for that to happen…?
I needed to meditate.
I listened to the sound of my own breathing, listened to the drone of dark energy that permeated the cosmos, listened to the electric whine of every little bit of tech around me. Listened to my own thoughts as I grabbed a focus and simply let go.
It took some time to parse that I could no longer smell the wonderful candles or feel the pillow under my butt. There was the distant sensation of keeping the candle flames in check but little else of the sensations of the physical world.
I let my arms fall to my sides, and my palms lightly scraped against what felt like soft crystalline material. My eyes opened, and I blinked at the dark void, a place that resembled the space between planets and stars. It wasn't completely empty though, I could see the bright twinkle of many colorful islands in this seemingly infinite space, and it was beautiful.
The confirmation of a personal theory of mine only added to the wonderful landscape of altered reality and insanity that spread for what had to be thousands of miles. The Firmament or Shardspace had always been rather confusing, but my theories were rather extensive. Their multidimensional nature was a big clue…
Shards were constantly coated in a field of altered reality, space bent and the physical laws twisted. Their computational substrate extended into the extra spatial dimensions, a phase space hidden from our normal eyes. This allowed them to bend space far more easily with their greater access to the machinery of the universe. As well as being able to shift into other universes for mass and energy.
The Firmament was simply an extension of that, an artificial multidimensional Brane that would house a fragment of the individual shard's reducing lag time down to nothing. It was a Hub, connecting shards across thousands of Earths. In that strange space, an Avatar would act as a representative of a shard and they would operate their shard shenanigans, like budding, multi triggers and Case 70s, the entire shebang in a single united generated dimension.
This synthetic baby universe wasn't the most stable thing however, requiring the main Entity to keep it from getting clogged essentially. This shard hosting Brane was placed right on top of normal reality, a large bubble of hyperdimensional existence connected through breaches across universes.
Which…was essentially identical to the spirit world in their coordinates. Our 3D Brane was the Inner Sphere, and the spirit world was separated into three layers. The first was the Outer Sphere, which sat on top of the material plane like a film of wrapping. The High Spirit was on top of that layer, and was far more warped and chaotic but it still had laws of physics.
It coincidentally intersected with Shardspace in some ways, and both locations were then wrapped around by the Abstract Spirit. Here physics and reality were fleeting, and it was considered the final layer of Reality before reaching what I just knew as The Outside. The true space between multiverses…and there was little information outside of it being completely hostile to life without a bubble of reality around you. And that wasn't what I was supposed to be talking about.
I stood up from my resting spot on the rough coarse ground, and looked down at the crystalline surface of the island I was standing on. Off in the distance were the other shards, numbering in the dozens at the least. This Firmament was different, being made out of the phase-space of the spirit world instead.
There were technically infinite spirit worlds, accounting for each and every universe in our multiversal cluster. The spirit world was much like a membrane that connected all universes together, with different angles leading to different universes. It was…complicated.
Each shard had their Genius Loci, formed out of their multidimensional bodies, and the Firmament of Alaya was a Spirit Bubble permanently linking every shard in the network between universes. And since it was considered a part of the spirit world that meant that as a shaman I could…
"Hello Basilia." I smiled lightly, turning around at the sound of the Administrator's voice. She looked the same as always, a warped reflection of Taylor who was just different enough to not confuse me. Her fragment in this place was a dull red, with chitinous plant life growing through the cracks, spreading out fractal branches and leaves to feed off the unnatural sunlight above our heads. Trillions of creatures vibrated along their stems, taking forms that were both biological and mechanical. In the center of the island there was a nondescript house bobbing on a surface of grey sludge that rippled at my approach.
My eyebrows lifted at the sight of the Administrator rocking back and forth on a rocking chair, looking as comfortable as one could be. "Hey…you seem to be having a good time." She gave a lazy wave, and I suddenly found myself in a comfy chair of my own. I didn't question it, knowing how the spirit world goes at this point.
Queenie smirked, eyes filling with happiness. "Indeed it has been a jolly old time as you humans say. Administrating the network has kept me busy, but at least I am not alone in that task." She pointed to myself, and I blinked repeatedly.
"Huh?" Her mirth was heard in her breathy laughter, and I pouted. I had come here through astral projection, and it had been almost too easy. There were answers I was seeking, and Veda wasn't always the most talkative nowadays.
"You forget yourself Basilia, Veda was once a shard of Administration herself. Much of her time is used up in keeping Alaya stable, though each and every shard does their part to maintain the cohesion of our shared reality." Well that explains a lot of what she does then. She always has that faraway look on her face.
"So where is she?" I yelped when Queenie flicked my collarbone, tapping my chest with little strength behind it.
"Veda is where she always is…within your immortal human soul, following her programming, her Purpose. You are the Host to her spirit, her avatar if you would." That brought back memories, and I had to hastily close my jaw as I came to a conclusion.
"I'm like…him aren't I?" I asked quietly, and she nodded silently. There had been many lingering thoughts and speculations, questions that I wasn't sure how to ask, and wasn't sure I even wanted the answers to them.
Unlike normal Parahumans, I was directly fused with Veda, her corpus embedded and entangled with the machinery of my soul. Spirit-shard Parahumans instead had their Corona Pollentia and Gemma turn into pieces of spirit corpus, their body acting as a conduit for their shard's powers. While a fusion was possible, such a thing happened only in rare occurrences like Ash Beast and tended to go poorly for the human in the equation.
I didn't have that problem though, I retained my humanity even if there were clearly some things that had been knocked askew. But I would just have to deal with the problems as they came, there were more important things to do.
"Are you alright? I can call Taylor if you want?" There was concern in the spirit's voice and I shook my head, rubbing my eyes.
"Nah. I'm good, I…just wanted an update on how things are going here. I have no idea how many shards are in our little group." She let out a snort and I looked at her funny. "Why are you laughing? This isn't a joke." She coughed, and pointed up.
"You really don't know do you?" I pouted, but did as instructed.
Oh.
The Shardspace was far more full than I had originally expected, and my jaw dropped at the sheer expanse of the spiritual plane. The sky was littered with dozens of islands, fractal crystals that while at their base were red, they would shift into an array of colors at their ends. I counted more than forty, and there had to be far more off in the horizon.
"Just how many shards are in Alaya?"
"You mean as a whole or your Hub specifically?" My eyebrows furrowed at her statement, what difference did that make?
"Alaya is the collective number of shards altered by the phase change, but not all have joined into a single Hub. There are several different Hubs in fact, with this Hub being run by Veda and myself."
"Then how many shards are within my Hub then?" I asked caustically, as I was starting to regret coming here. The noble shard hummed, and answered swiftly.
"In total we have collected around a hundred shards from those shards willing to join us, and from shards we have defeated in combat."
"Come again?" I responded slowly, and the Administrator smiled.
"Indeed, many of the shards here have been rather accommodating, with even the ones who preferred to be on their own remaining friendly with our network." I flinched when the entire space filled with the chorus of a hundred shards outputting enough energy to rival thousands of nuclear explosions.
Fucking hell.
"Are there any I know or recognize?" Queenie lifted from her chair, floating in the air with a smirk.
"Indeed there are! Demesnes-Keeper, Concoction, Exudation, Howitzer, The Dichotomizer, Shaper, The Fragile One, Efficacy, Accumulator…" With each and every shard I got an image of the cape, with the last one before her pause being Battery. She started again. "Lambda, Correspondence, Fate, Mien, Compensation, Adjustment, Sting, Continuum, Shift, Kinesis, Multifacet, Auricular Ordinance, The Armamentarium, Suspension…" I began to label them in my head at that point.
Bakuda, Charlotte, Dinah, Dean, Aegis, Browbeat, Flechette, Missy, Velocity, Assault, Kid Win, Roy, Hannah, and Dennis.
"I…" She shushed me and I felt horror when she didn't stop.
"Refinement, Tantra, Prince Administrator…" She sounded proud at that one. "Old Bailiwick, Revision, Aurora, Negotiator, Darkness, The Safeguard, Stitched Heart, Ablative Growth, Flare, Light Compaction, Illumination, Rho Aias, Assail, Energize, Effervescence, Acoustic Manipulator, Blade-works, Empowerment, Absorb, Redirection, Ingenuity, Attainment, Transporter, Gatherer, Scrapper, Nautilus, Multiply, Implement, Grand Distortion, Marker, Whirlwind, Brand, Mobilizer…"
Oh gods why.
Dragon, Sabah, Aiden, some person, Kayden, Lisa, Brian, Aisha, Alec, Rachel, The entirety of New Wave, I'm pretty sure Effervescence was Myrddin, then it was Cricket, Hookwolf, Othala, Victor, Krieg, Leet, Uber, Squealer, Mush, Trainwreck, Sveta, Crusader, I think Implement was Canary, the next had to be Theo, Mouse Protector, Stormtiger, Ravager and Chariot.
Fuck how did I know all that?
"Queen what the fu—" she got a second wind.
"Where was I? Right…then there's Metallica, Reset, The Probability Engine, The Disruptor, Metric Alternator, and there's another two dozen buds currently without names in our network…"
Weld, Alabaster, Shamrock, Ashley Stillons, Scrub, and a shitload of little baby shards ready to wreck the city with their newfound awareness.
"Anything else?" I instantly regretted my question when she literally brightened up.
"There is another Hub as well…Switch is one of their members in fact."
"The Voyagers are a Hub? God don't bother continuing, who are the shards not joining with us?" That felt like a more interesting topic for me…
"There are several, the High Theurgist is curious and wishes to see our mettle under a crisis, though he will freely assist us in a time of need." That's good, being on friendly terms with the shard of Dauntless sounded important. "I've left Phase in the cold since she's Sophia's shard…She was always kind of a bitch." I laughed at that one. "Then there is the Escalation Engine, Reconfiguration, The Destroyer, Extruder, and Staunch."
Lung, Oni Lee, Chevalier, Kaiser, and Alexandria.
"R-Right." She stood up, waving her arms frantically.
"But do not worry, I believe I can swing The Destroyer to our side with some incentive." She reassured me.
I laughed with a crazed edge to my tone. "What…do you plan to seduce him or what?" I made a joke, and was found wanting.
Her eyes sparkled. "Would that work…perhaps…" She seriously mulled the idea of seducing the shard of someone maybe twice Taylor's age.
I need bleach.
"Well this has been quite enlightening, but I'm going home now." I merrily skipped, and was beginning the procedure to return back to the material plane.
"Don't you want to know how defeated shards join our network?" She looked sad to see me go and I twitched violently.
"Let me guess, we shoot them with a friendship cannon ala Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha after beating their Hosts. Am I right or what?" Her silence was telling.
Haaa…just great.
"I'm sorry for the trouble." QA apologized.
I rolled my shoulder, and my neck got a crick out despite existing in a spiritual body instead of a real one.
"It's alright, it's not your fault…or mine. I should go." She didn't speak but there was a sense of another message given to me as I snapped back to reality in a meditation position. The flames of the candles had risen at my emotions and I let my mental state calm as I took deep breaths.
I stood up, dusting off my loose jeans since I wanted to be comfortable for my trip to the higher dimensional planes of reality. Something felt like it was knocked open, and I would evaluate that at a later date. If there was something new I wanted to see it when I wasn't going to be busy training.
I also was going to have to question Dinah at some point, it was just a feeling.
April 21st, 2011. 7:00PM
Basilia Rubio
I nursed a bruise from getting shot with holographic bullets and wondered what my life had turned into. Amy gave me a quick touch-up, combining her healing with her biokinesis to heal a person in a tenth of the time. Off to the sides I could see Taylor barking orders, and a mutually exhausted and terrified Dinah, Charlotte and Grace following her words to the letter. Charlotte blasted the area with a barrage of energy spears, cutting down holograms with ease and then reducing the impact when the scenario's changed from authorized lethal force to non-lethal takedowns.
The entire arena was upended as the newest member of our team lifted up rock and rubble with kicks and twists of her nice hips. Taylor's swarm danced, splitting up into bundles and formations in a three dimensional space. We had been training together for a good while now, splitting up the role and taking some cues from the tactics(is that the right word?) of ancient doctrines. Bakuda had obviously been made into our heavy weapons specialist, she carried most of our explosives and would at some point be allowed to wield a super-heavy weapon. I was thinking about a CAIN…
Charlotte was playing a more conventional 'infantry' type role, but her earthbending definitely gave her options that someone without bending wouldn't have. She had a double layer barrier that would protect her from most modern firearms, and could wrap stone around her if necessary. She had sensory reception that would make her a fine sniper, which was what we were going for. Some tests had revealed she could make a near perfect shot from two kilometers out, and some Tinkertech outfitting would make her a non-lethal threat.
If that's what she wanted of course.
I was a mix between a combat engineer and a biotic specialist, and could put up barrier emplacements and turrets for some added offense and defense. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to make use of those tools at good old Winslow because they would cause too much damage to the school. Which…didn't age very well did it?
Electronic and spiritual warfare was one of my most potent weapons, and could be used to degrade enemy sensors and defense while bolstering my allies. And of course as a tinker I could maintain everyone's gear as needed and Bakuda could do the same.
Dinah's role would be more confusing due to her Precognition, but her proficiency with chi-blocking, as well as chi manipulation was of interest to everyone including Dinah. We were thinking of an Enforcement gauntlet, special gloves with mass effect cores that would generate immense inertia on impact. Think one punch man in the form of a teen girl, with variable settings and a neural disruptor so she doesn't accidentally kill someone. She would be something a little more unique because of that, and would technically count as part of the BattleNet system with a mix of supersoldiers bouncing off of walls with Ty Lee acrobatics.
Eventually.
Panacea was acting as our medic though I would be perfectly capable of filling that role all by my lonesome. A combination of medi-gel and soon to be FDA approved medical nanomachines and magic healing tends to clean up most types of injuries.
Except death…probably.
The room shuddered as a holo-mech emerged, firing shots that would instantly trigger a 'death' due to the sheer firepower available to modern battle-suits and mechanized mobile platforms. Dinah moved instantly, muttering something into Bakuda's ear that made her smile. The Precog flicked on an omni-tool, and lashed out with an incendiary attack, catching the fake machine's programmed attention. A virtual missile struck where Dinah had been standing, the young girl rolling on the ground before muttering a few phrases.
The mech was slammed into by an invisible force, and Bakuda shouted as she lifted up a rocket launcher. With a thump it spat a small missile, and the mech was reduced to particles as it received critical damage.
The simulation ended and we went from a crowded urban scenario to a simple bare room, with only some omni-projectors on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Dinah placed both her hands on her hips with a smug look and Anansi decloaks letting out a victory screech that our youngest member echoed.
"I'm not sure Taylor is going to like that…" Amy murmured to herself as we approached the rest of the team. I could hear them talking now, and I smiled as Dinah spun, Anansi following her movements with a happy chitter.
"So, you thought it was a good idea to trick me?" Taylor loomed over the now anxious Dinah, her emotionless mask breaking out into a wide smirk.
"Yes. Absolutely." I broke out into a cough, covering up my laughter when Taylor glared at me. Dinah had no shame whatsoever on what she had done. The poor Precog let out a startled yell when she was biotically pulled to Taylor's side, and struggled to squirm out of her grip as the older woman roughly ruffled her hair.
"That's good, in a fight there shouldn't be a reason to not get every advantage you can get. That won you this simulation, but we'll see how that serves you on the next one." Dinah managed to push herself out of Taylor's hold, rubbing her head with a sweet smile. I felt my own lips pull into a dumb grin, and I was bumped by Panacea. She puckered her lips with raised eyebrows and I pushed her off of me, my face burning at the insinuation.
Dinah's expression brightened when she noted my approach, and Taylor turned to me with a light smile. I blinked and found tiny arms wrapped around my waist, Dinah smiling widely.
"So you seem to be in a good mood, has there been anything new with your power?" She nodded and I decided to listen as she let go.
"Yes there has been," she let her arms drop to her sides, her eyes shimmering. "I've started to get a more clear image of the possible futures, deeper and more intense insights into what can be. Fate said she found a good source of data and food…" I stiffened at the implication. "She said it's taking time to integrate what she's found but that it'll be great."
Should I tell her?
"Tell me what?" I cringed when I realized I had said that aloud.
"I'm…like 90% sure that your shard probably cannibalized Coil's power to improve her Precognition. Which probably explains why he had an aneurysm before he met his untimely end."
"Are you saying my power killed someone? She looked stricken and I shook my head rapidly.
I gestured with my hands. "No. It's most likely that his shard chickened out when he got dogpiled by angry spirits in the middle of the woods."
…
"Right. I think we're all going to ignore that statement if it's alright with you." I gave Grace a thumbs up.
Taylor cocked her head. "Do you want to go home…?" I felt my confidence drain, and I sulked. "Then we can do that…we can work more on this in the morning, and start preparing for the raids on the Empire." I nodded, and quickly opened a gate to a different part of the base. I had decided it was probably a good idea to sleep where people couldn't go up to my home and blow it up.
A little paranoid but I'm in a paranoid mood. And Amy had been doing the same, with an alarm connected to the door in case her family paid a visit.
A hand placed itself on my shoulder, and Amy looked at me with an intense look. "Basilia…?"
"What?" She fidgeted for a moment, biting her lip before gaining whatever courage she needed.
"I…think I'm ready to use my power for more than just healing." Her expression was beyond serious, and I bobbed my head.
"And you want me to help?" I didn't have an issue with that, since I was starting to dabble with the genetic sciences myself now. There was a lot we could offer each other in that sort of professional partnership.
She nodded. "Yes." Of course it meant less free time because of a special project I was working on with Bakuda. She had found her costume insufficient for her needs so…I returned my attention to Amy.
I grinned and raised a thumbs up. "I should go." I stepped through the door shaped wormhole and landed face first into my bed, groaning as exhaustion set in.
…
This planet sucks ass.
April 21st, 2011. 9:30PM
Rey Andino
I'm pretty sure this is karma isn't it? All the things I've done have finally caught up to me in one huge mess that has been continuing on for more than a month now. It even got Lauren wrapped up in it, and I've been almost killed several times now. Not that it was really the fault of my new boss, she was just a gigantic trouble magnet.
At least she managed to get me a good set up inside a mountain, it wasn't the cleanest place but it was nothing I couldn't take care of with some of my toys. It was some old tinker villain lair that she found and took for her own, and I could build anything I wanted that wouldn't get out of control.
Which…shouldn't be a problem anymore, it was a lot easier to think of ideas that wouldn't get me killed. I've been feeling a lot more clear headed even with a steady supply of marijuana. I also didn't have to deal with the authorities and Accord so much but I didn't pretend to think that would give me a lot of leeway.
I'd rather that kill order stay on paper for now at least.
SNAP!
"JESUS!" I nearly slipped from my chair when that damn kid popped out from nowhere, held in the grip of my newest project, something that had been built with the help of my new boss and her power. It was a tall, lanky creature that was more a walking plant than a human being, and really I had only used some of my boss's former flame's DNA to make the Jaunt Djinn. Unlike that dumbass they could move hundreds of miles in a single leap, but they could only teleport themselves and one other person.
So we built a dozen of them, but while they were made physically a lot tougher than normal humans they weren't built for strength or speed. They were also a lot easier to control because of her.
I hadn't believed her on the spirit crap until I had seen it for myself, and almost got my soul ripped out. God I had never seen someone that size punt a man so far into the air. That wasn't even the worst that had gone down over the last month, but it was at least a whole lot more interesting than bumbling about in the same place I had been for half a decade.
"Hmmmmgrrrrr…" The kid made a sound a lot like someone had skinned their cat, and I chuckled.
"So…Cody…I can tell you've had a bad day haven't you? You want another haircut?" I smirked when Cody growled.
"I will cut you." Cody threatened loudly, fingers twitching as if to reach out and choke me. I laughed, finding amusement where I could with how my life had turned out.
"Please. Don't make fun of Cody, it's a sensitive day today." I flinched when she emerged from the shadows, reality lensing around her. She was my boss now, the provider of everything I needed for a good lab, even if I had to be dragged halfway across the world every few days. It was an interesting life if not a safe one…
If you looked at the boss you wouldn't think she was intimidating. She was a short pretty woman with brown hair, a nice enough body, and warm eyes. But it was at least half a lie…now she was all those things, but her power made her very much someone's worst nightmares. In fact she was probably a bigger threat than I ever could be even if I somehow managed to…I don't know? Clone an Endbringer?
Huh…I might be able to swing that…meh I better not. I've recently gained something called common sense when I tried to mess with a spirit one time and almost drowned in a river of blood that would have killed half a city if it had happened anywhere else.
Noelle Meinhardt might be a secret eldritch abomination in a real shell of a young lady, but she took care of her own, even if she only wanted me to get herself back home to Aleph once things started calming down on Bet.
Not sure what she thinks I can do but I'm not going to argue with the woman responsible for my paycheck. Apparently people in Mexico can be pretty generous with their money if you save their asses.
She blinked slowly. "Hello?" I sighed, adjusting my glasses.
"Sorry…I was lost in thought." The apology sounded weird on my tongue but she had given me a lab so I wasn't complaining.
"So…how has…Krouse taken it?" Cody asked his leader, and I raised an eyebrow. I had long since figured out that half the problems came from this little rain of sunshine and their first leader. I mean I knew I wasn't one to talk but still…damn.
It figured that the damn Simurgh had a hand in that, and I was extremely lucky that somehow she had been completely derailed by whatever had messed with The Travelers. Hopefully it would happen again so she'd go straight to hell…I might be a villain but I would prefer at least some civilization being around.
"He…he's getting over it…what we had…it wasn't healthy, and with what we knew about the Simurgh. It was probably best we take a break from each other, we're still friends of course but…we need to start getting ourselves together. We can't be falling apart in the exact way that the Simurgh wanted us to." Noelle was definitely leader material. I'll give her that, that she managed to snag a few powers from The Ambassador's was impressive enough.
Killing Hatchet Face was on another level, as well as taking down that emotion manipulator who tried to mess with our heads. Then accidentally making a younger not evil clone of her, and taking her entire power in the process instead of just making it break off.
Her expertise on the mechanics of how powers worked made this all worth it in the end and as long as I didn't go too far I wouldn't risk getting my neck snapped in my sleep.
Hopefully.
I sighed, resting my head on the bar that had been put in so the oldest of us…meaning Lauren and I could indulge in a few drinks. God knows we needed it in this crazy new world where people didn't instantly think of us as trash.
What a weird feeling.
"What?" I could hear Cody's high pitched question as the murderous kid glared at Noelle. The freaky Changer sighed, brushing back her darkened bangs, and scratching the scales along her arms.
"Are you okay?" Her question was sincere and I wished I had some popcorn, maybe I could get some of my minions to make me some? Cody grimaced, and a head dropped on the table next to mine.
"No…I don't want to talk about it." I shook my head, feeling for the poor bastard. At least I never had to go through what Cody was going through.
Noelle's eyes twinkled. "Do you want to talk about it with Asami?" She wiggled her eyebrows and I saw the red from a mile away.
"Is she here?!" I covered up a laugh since I knew how terrifying the kid's power was. I preferred the more laidback air that was in place whenever they weren't on missions so…
"Right over there." Noelle pointed to the Shaker, the young Japanese woman waving happily at Cody. The kid left our presence soon after, and I was alone with our fearsome leader.
"It's almost time isn't it?" I asked.
Her eyes turned into a black void, and her scales and chitinous spots spread into a layer of armor around her arms. "I learned so much about what was yet to come, yet so little at the same time. But I understand enough to know when a tipping point is coming. The outcome here will dictate the course of the future and I would rather not leave it to chance."
"We're probably going to almost die again aren't we?" She shrugged.
Damn my life.
So enjoy.
April 20th, 2011. 11:55AM
Basilia Rubio
After the heart attack that Alexandria had given me, we had followed her to another more inconspicuous location and after some self scanning for bugs as well as an automated security check of Athena we were eventually led to one of the new highly secure conference rooms.
"We don't have much time to talk here, I still have duties elsewhere." I raised an eyebrow as the nearly ultimate Brute marched toward the conference table which was currently occupied with a rather small group of heroes including Chevalier, Armsmaster and Myriddin. The insects Taylor had brought with her vibrated and I was certainly sure I was the only one to notice which meant she was channeling her emotions into the swarm.
Which was actually distinct from Skitter, she didn't send her emotions into the swarm, she expressed them through them instead. Some tests had revealed she could literally send out emotional aura's through her insects, which reminded me of the possible alternate configurations of her power.
One of them was a Master/Changer power involving emotional channeling and alteration and a versatile Master minion. Creating a Brute power would be a lot more difficult unless she was willing to make herself a shield out of thousands of bugs.
Which…not to disparage her but I don't think she would give a shit about the bugs. She was weird like that, not that there was anything wrong with that of course, I liked her too much to care about a few fla—Ahem.
Taylor and I found our own seats, and I wondered if this meeting had been prepared or if we had just been lucky enough to have enough extra seats. It was at least only a small group of heroes, with one of them being trustworthy and the computer screen meant that Dragon would probably be joining us.
"What is this about exactly? I don't much like getting surprised…" I grumbled in complaint but didn't bother fighting this unless it turned out to be something unimportant to me. Then I would simply leave.
"The declaration of an S-class threat isn't an everyday occurrence Erudition," Alexandria spoke with a confidence that could only come from decades of experience. "You've only provided the generalities of what we're dealing with, and I would prefer a more clear picture."
"That does not really explain why we have two other heroes from different cities," I clicked my tongue in distaste. "And I don't know much more than what I've told you, which is why I was returning to base to ask the only person who has any idea what this Mother of Miseries is."
"The Mother of Miseries? Interesting name…" Myriddin chipped in, his wizard getup catching my eye.
"It's what those dark spirits were calling her when it…or she enhanced them with some type of pact. All of this…it seems like it's testing the waters, trying to figure out the strategies it needs to break us." I shook my head, flicking a flame on and off. "It's why I was leaving in the first place."
"So this Mother of Miseries can manipulate spirits?" Armsmaster sounded worried beneath his slightly stilted tone.
"Only relatively weak ones relating to negative emotions, spirits of anguish, of rage and of hatred. They're not inherently evil, but they can be swayed and darkened with little issue." I had done tests with rage spirits myself, boosting my physical strength with a short litany.
I had managed to kick a car ten meters into the air with the boost, so there was certainly an advantage to calling upon the strength of the spirits.
"You learned about this entity from your informant…a Case 53?" Alexandria hesitated, and I only noticed because of my helmet's software compiling social data.
"Yes. While she hasn't personally met whatever this threat is, she has an accurate record of the general nature and behavior of what we're dealing with. If I can get an accurate picture of what we're dealing with we can form a plan to destroy this thing."
"Is destroying this creature truly the best option?" Alexandria didn't seem eager to try to keep anything alive, it seemed more like personal curiosity or a worry of the consequences. But I decided to be blunt anyway.
"If we don't then we'll have to quarantine the city and then incinerate it down to its foundations." My reply was dry and I could see the horror from Myriddin and Chevalier.
"It's that bad…?" Chevalier was the one asking, and I bit my lip as my senses sharpened in response. His shard was decidedly more alien, my eyes blinking to catch its constantly twisting whirlwind of shattered space. Before my eyes I could see how the fabric of the Branes were melded together, how physics itself was altered with his power.
Then I remembered his secondary power and I felt a little cold. How much would he be able to glean from Taylor, or from me? I might not have Triggered in the normal sense but Veda had been a shard once upon a time.
She had simply been reforged in fire and void and cold and de—
Chevalier flinched, and I saw the subtle quiver in his hands. Which likely confirmed my suspicions, though I had my doubts it was intentional. He was a powerful cape in his own right, though it did make it annoying. Not that there would be much to go on for whatever gave me my power, it's not unlikely that the Bans affect other people's attempts to find forbidden knowledge. And getting a glimpse at my power would be impossible without something able to penetrate Veda's defenses.
I needed to reply.
"This…Mother of Miseries is an exponential threat at the very least, and it's creations make it something similar to a biotinker. And unlike Nilbog it won't be content to rule a little fiefdom for a decade."
"And why is that?" Chevalier asked, and I answered back.
"Because from what I've been told it's very purpose is suffering."
"Suffering?" Alexandria added, tilting her head.
"It…wishes to inflict suffering on well…all of humanity, like a paperclip maximizer designed to torture any form of life capable of suffering or feeling pain." There was a chill in the room, and I could tell that my words struck them hard.
"Why?" Alexandria got to the heart of it, and I felt like laughing. Why was certainly the question, wasn't it?
"That's what I'm trying to find out, I'm not an infinite well of knowledge. I have limits on what I know…this is simply outside my own expertise. I'm sorry." There was a genuine sense of apology, because this was important and could be life saving in the right circumstances.
The four capes huddled together, and after a single beat came to a silent agreement.
Collin cleared his throat. "Dragon." The screen responded automatically, revealing a serious looking AI woman.
"You've been highly involved in this latest debacle, so we decided to inform you for your own expertise if nothing else." Alexandria spoke again, and Dragon shrunk down to reveal footage of some kind.
"Inform?" The brute cape nodded.
"Coil was found dead somewhere in the vicinity of Boston, in a modest forest." There was an image or two that were…incredibly gruesome, and I kept bile from rising at the sight of what was left of the guy. "An autopsy identified him, and confirmed that he had a Corona Pollentia…though there were signs of brain trauma before his death."
"Why is that important?" Taylor tapped in, and I shuffled a little closer to alleviate some of my anxiety. Fuck my nerves were shot.
"At first there was no correlation, until my sensors noted a Dimensional breach from the spirit world as well as sightings of a large group of nomadic capes in the area. Your mentioning of the connection between this…alteration of powers and that portal gave us what we needed." For once I had no idea what they were going with, I had some vague ideas of some group of capes but they hid their tracks well enough to be out of mind.
"I'm not following." Taylor was glancing over to me, and some of her insects were doing their usual fluttering about.
"We call them The Voyagers." I felt a hitch in my throat at the blurry, unclear pictures, and a sinking feeling rose. The first picture was of a young woman around my age, with straight brown hair from what I could tell.
"That would be…?" I honestly had no clue because that was frankly out of my range of influence since I largely stuck to New Hampshire. Mostly.
"This is the leader of the group, a Master, Brute, and Changer." I analyzed the young woman's costume. It was simple, a white toga with black serpent designs along the lines of the robe. "We know her as Echidna…"
Jesus fucking Christ, am I a joke to you universe?
…
Don't answer that.
Dammit I'm crazy aren't I?
"Echidna huh…" Well she was looking much better than I expected, since she wasn't currently a wall of rampaging murder flesh. Though from behind her domino mask there was still a hint of crazy that terrified me.
"She has been determined to create what are either projections or biotinkered creations with superpowers that strongly resemble the power of her teammates." Dragon was dry in her tone, and I very much wanted to go home and sleep forever. "A team made up of a total of twelve capes."
Oh fuck me in the Alps…
"Switcheroo." The cape in the image was definitely Krouse, though his costume was different, and…sort of looked like Jack Sparrow cosplay. "Solaire." That was Sundancer, but in blue. "Railgun." Luke was also in blue. "Revert." This was the blurriest of the photos, all I could see was that Cody had grown out his hair. "Fantasm." Another blurry image, labeled as a Changer. "Onmyoji." This was a new one, and Dragon had more to say on this one. "She appeared after an incident involving the Yangban…there are suspicions she escaped from their clutches."
"Yeah…" I stared at the new cape. She was in my age range, and her costume was basic in design but shiny. It was a skintight bodysuit colored silver, with black wavelength patterns along her arms, hips, and back. She had a fair amount of armor on top of the bodysuit, including a vest that had to be a nanoceramic and carbon-tube fiber with some spongy matrix tying them together. The same material made up her pauldrons, along with armor lining parts of her arms, knees and other vulnerable spots. They had her wavelength pattern as well.
She's new.
Dragon continued. "Rhizome." I'm 90% sure that's just a rebranded Blasto. "Pax." The image was blurry yet there was a feeling that this some type of clone of a cape(or his shard was stolen) "Fume Hood." I…didn't even have to ask with that one did I? "There is one other cape but he's not been given a designation." Probably Oliver. "And their final member would be Empathy." It was a girl maybe about a year older than Vista, so about sixteen. Again the image was blurry, but I didn't recognize her at all. Brunette I think? Based on the name, she would probably have to be a Master cape of some kind.
So did they pick up a random cape or what?
"Right. Why is this relevant?"
"Because we are quite certain that one of them is a shaman, and that they were once The Travelers…but rebranded and expanded. Current thinking is that they're making a bee line for Brockton Bay." She passed me a digital file, and I could tell that the others had the same file to look at and examine for themselves.
A number of scattered incidents up and down the American continent, from the tip of Alaska down to the most isolated jungles in Central America. Reports of some cape team taking care of strange potentially Parahuman incidents across the continent. All of them had the signs of spirit incursions of different kinds, with Echidna doing her job as a wandering shaman like some type of RPG protagonist. I was a little more static since dedicating literal decades to quelling the entire planet would piss me the hell off.
"Oh you're definitely right on the money there, there's a certain vibe from her that fits. If she's been placating spirits across the continent and she's coming here." I didn't have to say anything more on that. Someone that wandered that much, heading straight for us was a bad sign of what we were dealing with. "But I still don't entirely understand why you're telling this to me." I…had a fuzzy idea but there were easily half a dozen possibilities.
Alexandria straightened. "We believed your history with them might shed some light on…" my face twisted into a grimace right at that moment.
"I believe there are some misunderstandings here, while I know of The Travelers we've never met. I only found out about them while piecing together a few things here and there. Though the existence of these Voyagers does make Coil's form of death a little more clear."
"Clear?" Chevalier added.
"Based on his…injuries he was clearly mauled by a large grouping of spirits, and the damage to his Corona Pollentia is likely due to their ability to interfere with powers. Even if they hadn't attacked him, he would have died from brain damage within minutes." A bad way to go really, though it made me curious on what that meant for his shard.
"So do you expect them to help us deal with this…Mother of Miseries?" I shrugged.
"It's not unlikely, but I'm not really an expert on the dynamics of this team." I cleared my throat, feeling tired. "Will that be all?" They nodded, and I leaned back. "Then I'll take my leave, I'll see what I can scrounge up on this little problem of ours…you have my contact information." They nodded.
Fucking finally.
___
April 21st, 2011. 6:00PM
Basilia Rubio
"So what exactly are we doing here?" Grace questioned Taylor as she led us to one of the newly built rooms inside Lotus Base Alpha, the largest and first base on the planet. It was located in the equivalent of California, though the lotus lake was a rather large distinction. Beta was a mining base, a lucky break that exposed a rich vein of ore including vast amounts of platinum, iridium and gold.
Gamma was in the middle of a dry rocky desert, and was for destructive testing of weapons and technology. I had learned my lesson with assembling weapons of mass destruction near our main base of operations.
Then there was Delta which was primarily involved with biological studies and engineering, studying local fauna and flora, and experimenting with advanced genetics. I had stuck to basic enhancements within human norms, and a few adjustments for cybernetic integration but there was more I could do…later.
"Basilia…you aren't listening at all." I jumped to attention, and I blushed when Taylor placed her hand on my head, her lips pulling into a smile.
"Sorry…what were we going to do again?" Her expression turned serious, and I ignored how my heart beat just a little faster as we entered the arena. I started to understand very quickly what we were here for as Trigraphic systems began to turn on at our approach.
"Cool…" Dinah looked fascinated, and winced when she bumped into an equally fascinated Charlotte. She was still nursing a few bruises though a quick scoot and a tap with healing water cleared them up in seconds. Amy was with us out of costume, and looked around with a curious expression.
Taylor spun on the balls of her feet, and began walking backwards to talk to us directly. "I'm glad you asked since no one else was listening either." Her tone was cheeky, and the team(plus Amy) didn't meet her eyes. "I've decided that we need to start working together more effectively. We're a team and all but we're not coordinated. We have to be working together." There was a recollection in my mind of something, and I caught a faint glimmer of the Administrator's shadow in her speech and mannerisms.
"So you want to use the new combat simulator for team exercises, get everyone to better synchronize with one another?" I yawned, feeling tired after a sleepless night.
"Got it in one." Taylor was shockingly peppy today, and it was a nice change of pace. I tended to be a fair bit more energetic, though I had been toning it down as I got more comfortable with her, and with people in general. I'm usually pretty quiet if I don't get into a topic I really like. Then I can be a real chatterbox…so if Taylor wants to take some of my energy from nerves she can be my guest.
"So…what are we going to be punching holograms?" Bakuda joked a bit though that faded at Taylor's…well her natural face.
"No…I've been reading up on a few things." I could hear the rustle of a book that I had printed from Veda's storage banks on a whim. It was essentially a manual on the war doctrines of the different races, from the Volus love affair with missiles to the Salarian's spy work and subterfuge.
Which was…a little worrying in the fact it had found its way into Taylor's clutches. But also a little relieving since things were starting to get out of hand, and I wasn't really an expert in fighting battles.
"You'll be sitting this one out." My fugue ended at the sudden shift, and she pointed to her temple. I nodded when I got what she meant. "You can join us in an hour." She dragged our teammates plus Panacea along, and I giggled at their terrified looks.
Poor bastards.
I walked out of the room, following my mini-map with ease though at this point my memory was photographic enough to no longer make that necessary. I found myself in a meditation room, and the scented candles in the room made me relax my tense shoulders. I shut the door and with my firebending I ignited the nice smelling candles, and then sat down on a soft red cushion. My legs crossed of their own accord, and I placed my hands facing palms up as I began my meditation.
I had left myself ignorant to the nature of the shard-spirits, and had been caught off guard, not fully comprehending the weight of what I had done with my almost instinctual subversion of the Firmament of Zion, and of the scattered remains of Eden. I would be ignorant no more, and for that to happen…?
I needed to meditate.
I listened to the sound of my own breathing, listened to the drone of dark energy that permeated the cosmos, listened to the electric whine of every little bit of tech around me. Listened to my own thoughts as I grabbed a focus and simply let go.
It took some time to parse that I could no longer smell the wonderful candles or feel the pillow under my butt. There was the distant sensation of keeping the candle flames in check but little else of the sensations of the physical world.
I let my arms fall to my sides, and my palms lightly scraped against what felt like soft crystalline material. My eyes opened, and I blinked at the dark void, a place that resembled the space between planets and stars. It wasn't completely empty though, I could see the bright twinkle of many colorful islands in this seemingly infinite space, and it was beautiful.
The confirmation of a personal theory of mine only added to the wonderful landscape of altered reality and insanity that spread for what had to be thousands of miles. The Firmament or Shardspace had always been rather confusing, but my theories were rather extensive. Their multidimensional nature was a big clue…
Shards were constantly coated in a field of altered reality, space bent and the physical laws twisted. Their computational substrate extended into the extra spatial dimensions, a phase space hidden from our normal eyes. This allowed them to bend space far more easily with their greater access to the machinery of the universe. As well as being able to shift into other universes for mass and energy.
The Firmament was simply an extension of that, an artificial multidimensional Brane that would house a fragment of the individual shard's reducing lag time down to nothing. It was a Hub, connecting shards across thousands of Earths. In that strange space, an Avatar would act as a representative of a shard and they would operate their shard shenanigans, like budding, multi triggers and Case 70s, the entire shebang in a single united generated dimension.
This synthetic baby universe wasn't the most stable thing however, requiring the main Entity to keep it from getting clogged essentially. This shard hosting Brane was placed right on top of normal reality, a large bubble of hyperdimensional existence connected through breaches across universes.
Which…was essentially identical to the spirit world in their coordinates. Our 3D Brane was the Inner Sphere, and the spirit world was separated into three layers. The first was the Outer Sphere, which sat on top of the material plane like a film of wrapping. The High Spirit was on top of that layer, and was far more warped and chaotic but it still had laws of physics.
It coincidentally intersected with Shardspace in some ways, and both locations were then wrapped around by the Abstract Spirit. Here physics and reality were fleeting, and it was considered the final layer of Reality before reaching what I just knew as The Outside. The true space between multiverses…and there was little information outside of it being completely hostile to life without a bubble of reality around you. And that wasn't what I was supposed to be talking about.
I stood up from my resting spot on the rough coarse ground, and looked down at the crystalline surface of the island I was standing on. Off in the distance were the other shards, numbering in the dozens at the least. This Firmament was different, being made out of the phase-space of the spirit world instead.
There were technically infinite spirit worlds, accounting for each and every universe in our multiversal cluster. The spirit world was much like a membrane that connected all universes together, with different angles leading to different universes. It was…complicated.
Each shard had their Genius Loci, formed out of their multidimensional bodies, and the Firmament of Alaya was a Spirit Bubble permanently linking every shard in the network between universes. And since it was considered a part of the spirit world that meant that as a shaman I could…
"Hello Basilia." I smiled lightly, turning around at the sound of the Administrator's voice. She looked the same as always, a warped reflection of Taylor who was just different enough to not confuse me. Her fragment in this place was a dull red, with chitinous plant life growing through the cracks, spreading out fractal branches and leaves to feed off the unnatural sunlight above our heads. Trillions of creatures vibrated along their stems, taking forms that were both biological and mechanical. In the center of the island there was a nondescript house bobbing on a surface of grey sludge that rippled at my approach.
My eyebrows lifted at the sight of the Administrator rocking back and forth on a rocking chair, looking as comfortable as one could be. "Hey…you seem to be having a good time." She gave a lazy wave, and I suddenly found myself in a comfy chair of my own. I didn't question it, knowing how the spirit world goes at this point.
Queenie smirked, eyes filling with happiness. "Indeed it has been a jolly old time as you humans say. Administrating the network has kept me busy, but at least I am not alone in that task." She pointed to myself, and I blinked repeatedly.
"Huh?" Her mirth was heard in her breathy laughter, and I pouted. I had come here through astral projection, and it had been almost too easy. There were answers I was seeking, and Veda wasn't always the most talkative nowadays.
"You forget yourself Basilia, Veda was once a shard of Administration herself. Much of her time is used up in keeping Alaya stable, though each and every shard does their part to maintain the cohesion of our shared reality." Well that explains a lot of what she does then. She always has that faraway look on her face.
"So where is she?" I yelped when Queenie flicked my collarbone, tapping my chest with little strength behind it.
"Veda is where she always is…within your immortal human soul, following her programming, her Purpose. You are the Host to her spirit, her avatar if you would." That brought back memories, and I had to hastily close my jaw as I came to a conclusion.
"I'm like…him aren't I?" I asked quietly, and she nodded silently. There had been many lingering thoughts and speculations, questions that I wasn't sure how to ask, and wasn't sure I even wanted the answers to them.
Unlike normal Parahumans, I was directly fused with Veda, her corpus embedded and entangled with the machinery of my soul. Spirit-shard Parahumans instead had their Corona Pollentia and Gemma turn into pieces of spirit corpus, their body acting as a conduit for their shard's powers. While a fusion was possible, such a thing happened only in rare occurrences like Ash Beast and tended to go poorly for the human in the equation.
I didn't have that problem though, I retained my humanity even if there were clearly some things that had been knocked askew. But I would just have to deal with the problems as they came, there were more important things to do.
"Are you alright? I can call Taylor if you want?" There was concern in the spirit's voice and I shook my head, rubbing my eyes.
"Nah. I'm good, I…just wanted an update on how things are going here. I have no idea how many shards are in our little group." She let out a snort and I looked at her funny. "Why are you laughing? This isn't a joke." She coughed, and pointed up.
"You really don't know do you?" I pouted, but did as instructed.
Oh.
The Shardspace was far more full than I had originally expected, and my jaw dropped at the sheer expanse of the spiritual plane. The sky was littered with dozens of islands, fractal crystals that while at their base were red, they would shift into an array of colors at their ends. I counted more than forty, and there had to be far more off in the horizon.
"Just how many shards are in Alaya?"
"You mean as a whole or your Hub specifically?" My eyebrows furrowed at her statement, what difference did that make?
"Alaya is the collective number of shards altered by the phase change, but not all have joined into a single Hub. There are several different Hubs in fact, with this Hub being run by Veda and myself."
"Then how many shards are within my Hub then?" I asked caustically, as I was starting to regret coming here. The noble shard hummed, and answered swiftly.
"In total we have collected around a hundred shards from those shards willing to join us, and from shards we have defeated in combat."
"Come again?" I responded slowly, and the Administrator smiled.
"Indeed, many of the shards here have been rather accommodating, with even the ones who preferred to be on their own remaining friendly with our network." I flinched when the entire space filled with the chorus of a hundred shards outputting enough energy to rival thousands of nuclear explosions.
Fucking hell.
"Are there any I know or recognize?" Queenie lifted from her chair, floating in the air with a smirk.
"Indeed there are! Demesnes-Keeper, Concoction, Exudation, Howitzer, The Dichotomizer, Shaper, The Fragile One, Efficacy, Accumulator…" With each and every shard I got an image of the cape, with the last one before her pause being Battery. She started again. "Lambda, Correspondence, Fate, Mien, Compensation, Adjustment, Sting, Continuum, Shift, Kinesis, Multifacet, Auricular Ordinance, The Armamentarium, Suspension…" I began to label them in my head at that point.
Bakuda, Charlotte, Dinah, Dean, Aegis, Browbeat, Flechette, Missy, Velocity, Assault, Kid Win, Roy, Hannah, and Dennis.
"I…" She shushed me and I felt horror when she didn't stop.
"Refinement, Tantra, Prince Administrator…" She sounded proud at that one. "Old Bailiwick, Revision, Aurora, Negotiator, Darkness, The Safeguard, Stitched Heart, Ablative Growth, Flare, Light Compaction, Illumination, Rho Aias, Assail, Energize, Effervescence, Acoustic Manipulator, Blade-works, Empowerment, Absorb, Redirection, Ingenuity, Attainment, Transporter, Gatherer, Scrapper, Nautilus, Multiply, Implement, Grand Distortion, Marker, Whirlwind, Brand, Mobilizer…"
Oh gods why.
Dragon, Sabah, Aiden, some person, Kayden, Lisa, Brian, Aisha, Alec, Rachel, The entirety of New Wave, I'm pretty sure Effervescence was Myrddin, then it was Cricket, Hookwolf, Othala, Victor, Krieg, Leet, Uber, Squealer, Mush, Trainwreck, Sveta, Crusader, I think Implement was Canary, the next had to be Theo, Mouse Protector, Stormtiger, Ravager and Chariot.
Fuck how did I know all that?
"Queen what the fu—" she got a second wind.
"Where was I? Right…then there's Metallica, Reset, The Probability Engine, The Disruptor, Metric Alternator, and there's another two dozen buds currently without names in our network…"
Weld, Alabaster, Shamrock, Ashley Stillons, Scrub, and a shitload of little baby shards ready to wreck the city with their newfound awareness.
"Anything else?" I instantly regretted my question when she literally brightened up.
"There is another Hub as well…Switch is one of their members in fact."
"The Voyagers are a Hub? God don't bother continuing, who are the shards not joining with us?" That felt like a more interesting topic for me…
"There are several, the High Theurgist is curious and wishes to see our mettle under a crisis, though he will freely assist us in a time of need." That's good, being on friendly terms with the shard of Dauntless sounded important. "I've left Phase in the cold since she's Sophia's shard…She was always kind of a bitch." I laughed at that one. "Then there is the Escalation Engine, Reconfiguration, The Destroyer, Extruder, and Staunch."
Lung, Oni Lee, Chevalier, Kaiser, and Alexandria.
"R-Right." She stood up, waving her arms frantically.
"But do not worry, I believe I can swing The Destroyer to our side with some incentive." She reassured me.
I laughed with a crazed edge to my tone. "What…do you plan to seduce him or what?" I made a joke, and was found wanting.
Her eyes sparkled. "Would that work…perhaps…" She seriously mulled the idea of seducing the shard of someone maybe twice Taylor's age.
I need bleach.
"Well this has been quite enlightening, but I'm going home now." I merrily skipped, and was beginning the procedure to return back to the material plane.
"Don't you want to know how defeated shards join our network?" She looked sad to see me go and I twitched violently.
"Let me guess, we shoot them with a friendship cannon ala Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha after beating their Hosts. Am I right or what?" Her silence was telling.
Haaa…just great.
"I'm sorry for the trouble." QA apologized.
I rolled my shoulder, and my neck got a crick out despite existing in a spiritual body instead of a real one.
"It's alright, it's not your fault…or mine. I should go." She didn't speak but there was a sense of another message given to me as I snapped back to reality in a meditation position. The flames of the candles had risen at my emotions and I let my mental state calm as I took deep breaths.
I stood up, dusting off my loose jeans since I wanted to be comfortable for my trip to the higher dimensional planes of reality. Something felt like it was knocked open, and I would evaluate that at a later date. If there was something new I wanted to see it when I wasn't going to be busy training.
I also was going to have to question Dinah at some point, it was just a feeling.
___
April 21st, 2011. 7:00PM
Basilia Rubio
I nursed a bruise from getting shot with holographic bullets and wondered what my life had turned into. Amy gave me a quick touch-up, combining her healing with her biokinesis to heal a person in a tenth of the time. Off to the sides I could see Taylor barking orders, and a mutually exhausted and terrified Dinah, Charlotte and Grace following her words to the letter. Charlotte blasted the area with a barrage of energy spears, cutting down holograms with ease and then reducing the impact when the scenario's changed from authorized lethal force to non-lethal takedowns.
The entire arena was upended as the newest member of our team lifted up rock and rubble with kicks and twists of her nice hips. Taylor's swarm danced, splitting up into bundles and formations in a three dimensional space. We had been training together for a good while now, splitting up the role and taking some cues from the tactics(is that the right word?) of ancient doctrines. Bakuda had obviously been made into our heavy weapons specialist, she carried most of our explosives and would at some point be allowed to wield a super-heavy weapon. I was thinking about a CAIN…
Charlotte was playing a more conventional 'infantry' type role, but her earthbending definitely gave her options that someone without bending wouldn't have. She had a double layer barrier that would protect her from most modern firearms, and could wrap stone around her if necessary. She had sensory reception that would make her a fine sniper, which was what we were going for. Some tests had revealed she could make a near perfect shot from two kilometers out, and some Tinkertech outfitting would make her a non-lethal threat.
If that's what she wanted of course.
I was a mix between a combat engineer and a biotic specialist, and could put up barrier emplacements and turrets for some added offense and defense. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to make use of those tools at good old Winslow because they would cause too much damage to the school. Which…didn't age very well did it?
Electronic and spiritual warfare was one of my most potent weapons, and could be used to degrade enemy sensors and defense while bolstering my allies. And of course as a tinker I could maintain everyone's gear as needed and Bakuda could do the same.
Dinah's role would be more confusing due to her Precognition, but her proficiency with chi-blocking, as well as chi manipulation was of interest to everyone including Dinah. We were thinking of an Enforcement gauntlet, special gloves with mass effect cores that would generate immense inertia on impact. Think one punch man in the form of a teen girl, with variable settings and a neural disruptor so she doesn't accidentally kill someone. She would be something a little more unique because of that, and would technically count as part of the BattleNet system with a mix of supersoldiers bouncing off of walls with Ty Lee acrobatics.
Eventually.
Panacea was acting as our medic though I would be perfectly capable of filling that role all by my lonesome. A combination of medi-gel and soon to be FDA approved medical nanomachines and magic healing tends to clean up most types of injuries.
Except death…probably.
The room shuddered as a holo-mech emerged, firing shots that would instantly trigger a 'death' due to the sheer firepower available to modern battle-suits and mechanized mobile platforms. Dinah moved instantly, muttering something into Bakuda's ear that made her smile. The Precog flicked on an omni-tool, and lashed out with an incendiary attack, catching the fake machine's programmed attention. A virtual missile struck where Dinah had been standing, the young girl rolling on the ground before muttering a few phrases.
The mech was slammed into by an invisible force, and Bakuda shouted as she lifted up a rocket launcher. With a thump it spat a small missile, and the mech was reduced to particles as it received critical damage.
The simulation ended and we went from a crowded urban scenario to a simple bare room, with only some omni-projectors on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Dinah placed both her hands on her hips with a smug look and Anansi decloaks letting out a victory screech that our youngest member echoed.
"I'm not sure Taylor is going to like that…" Amy murmured to herself as we approached the rest of the team. I could hear them talking now, and I smiled as Dinah spun, Anansi following her movements with a happy chitter.
"So, you thought it was a good idea to trick me?" Taylor loomed over the now anxious Dinah, her emotionless mask breaking out into a wide smirk.
"Yes. Absolutely." I broke out into a cough, covering up my laughter when Taylor glared at me. Dinah had no shame whatsoever on what she had done. The poor Precog let out a startled yell when she was biotically pulled to Taylor's side, and struggled to squirm out of her grip as the older woman roughly ruffled her hair.
"That's good, in a fight there shouldn't be a reason to not get every advantage you can get. That won you this simulation, but we'll see how that serves you on the next one." Dinah managed to push herself out of Taylor's hold, rubbing her head with a sweet smile. I felt my own lips pull into a dumb grin, and I was bumped by Panacea. She puckered her lips with raised eyebrows and I pushed her off of me, my face burning at the insinuation.
Dinah's expression brightened when she noted my approach, and Taylor turned to me with a light smile. I blinked and found tiny arms wrapped around my waist, Dinah smiling widely.
"So you seem to be in a good mood, has there been anything new with your power?" She nodded and I decided to listen as she let go.
"Yes there has been," she let her arms drop to her sides, her eyes shimmering. "I've started to get a more clear image of the possible futures, deeper and more intense insights into what can be. Fate said she found a good source of data and food…" I stiffened at the implication. "She said it's taking time to integrate what she's found but that it'll be great."
Should I tell her?
"Tell me what?" I cringed when I realized I had said that aloud.
"I'm…like 90% sure that your shard probably cannibalized Coil's power to improve her Precognition. Which probably explains why he had an aneurysm before he met his untimely end."
"Are you saying my power killed someone? She looked stricken and I shook my head rapidly.
I gestured with my hands. "No. It's most likely that his shard chickened out when he got dogpiled by angry spirits in the middle of the woods."
…
"Right. I think we're all going to ignore that statement if it's alright with you." I gave Grace a thumbs up.
Taylor cocked her head. "Do you want to go home…?" I felt my confidence drain, and I sulked. "Then we can do that…we can work more on this in the morning, and start preparing for the raids on the Empire." I nodded, and quickly opened a gate to a different part of the base. I had decided it was probably a good idea to sleep where people couldn't go up to my home and blow it up.
A little paranoid but I'm in a paranoid mood. And Amy had been doing the same, with an alarm connected to the door in case her family paid a visit.
A hand placed itself on my shoulder, and Amy looked at me with an intense look. "Basilia…?"
"What?" She fidgeted for a moment, biting her lip before gaining whatever courage she needed.
"I…think I'm ready to use my power for more than just healing." Her expression was beyond serious, and I bobbed my head.
"And you want me to help?" I didn't have an issue with that, since I was starting to dabble with the genetic sciences myself now. There was a lot we could offer each other in that sort of professional partnership.
She nodded. "Yes." Of course it meant less free time because of a special project I was working on with Bakuda. She had found her costume insufficient for her needs so…I returned my attention to Amy.
I grinned and raised a thumbs up. "I should go." I stepped through the door shaped wormhole and landed face first into my bed, groaning as exhaustion set in.
…
This planet sucks ass.
___
April 21st, 2011. 9:30PM
Rey Andino
I'm pretty sure this is karma isn't it? All the things I've done have finally caught up to me in one huge mess that has been continuing on for more than a month now. It even got Lauren wrapped up in it, and I've been almost killed several times now. Not that it was really the fault of my new boss, she was just a gigantic trouble magnet.
At least she managed to get me a good set up inside a mountain, it wasn't the cleanest place but it was nothing I couldn't take care of with some of my toys. It was some old tinker villain lair that she found and took for her own, and I could build anything I wanted that wouldn't get out of control.
Which…shouldn't be a problem anymore, it was a lot easier to think of ideas that wouldn't get me killed. I've been feeling a lot more clear headed even with a steady supply of marijuana. I also didn't have to deal with the authorities and Accord so much but I didn't pretend to think that would give me a lot of leeway.
I'd rather that kill order stay on paper for now at least.
SNAP!
"JESUS!" I nearly slipped from my chair when that damn kid popped out from nowhere, held in the grip of my newest project, something that had been built with the help of my new boss and her power. It was a tall, lanky creature that was more a walking plant than a human being, and really I had only used some of my boss's former flame's DNA to make the Jaunt Djinn. Unlike that dumbass they could move hundreds of miles in a single leap, but they could only teleport themselves and one other person.
So we built a dozen of them, but while they were made physically a lot tougher than normal humans they weren't built for strength or speed. They were also a lot easier to control because of her.
I hadn't believed her on the spirit crap until I had seen it for myself, and almost got my soul ripped out. God I had never seen someone that size punt a man so far into the air. That wasn't even the worst that had gone down over the last month, but it was at least a whole lot more interesting than bumbling about in the same place I had been for half a decade.
"Hmmmmgrrrrr…" The kid made a sound a lot like someone had skinned their cat, and I chuckled.
"So…Cody…I can tell you've had a bad day haven't you? You want another haircut?" I smirked when Cody growled.
"I will cut you." Cody threatened loudly, fingers twitching as if to reach out and choke me. I laughed, finding amusement where I could with how my life had turned out.
"Please. Don't make fun of Cody, it's a sensitive day today." I flinched when she emerged from the shadows, reality lensing around her. She was my boss now, the provider of everything I needed for a good lab, even if I had to be dragged halfway across the world every few days. It was an interesting life if not a safe one…
If you looked at the boss you wouldn't think she was intimidating. She was a short pretty woman with brown hair, a nice enough body, and warm eyes. But it was at least half a lie…now she was all those things, but her power made her very much someone's worst nightmares. In fact she was probably a bigger threat than I ever could be even if I somehow managed to…I don't know? Clone an Endbringer?
Huh…I might be able to swing that…meh I better not. I've recently gained something called common sense when I tried to mess with a spirit one time and almost drowned in a river of blood that would have killed half a city if it had happened anywhere else.
Noelle Meinhardt might be a secret eldritch abomination in a real shell of a young lady, but she took care of her own, even if she only wanted me to get herself back home to Aleph once things started calming down on Bet.
Not sure what she thinks I can do but I'm not going to argue with the woman responsible for my paycheck. Apparently people in Mexico can be pretty generous with their money if you save their asses.
She blinked slowly. "Hello?" I sighed, adjusting my glasses.
"Sorry…I was lost in thought." The apology sounded weird on my tongue but she had given me a lab so I wasn't complaining.
"So…how has…Krouse taken it?" Cody asked his leader, and I raised an eyebrow. I had long since figured out that half the problems came from this little rain of sunshine and their first leader. I mean I knew I wasn't one to talk but still…damn.
It figured that the damn Simurgh had a hand in that, and I was extremely lucky that somehow she had been completely derailed by whatever had messed with The Travelers. Hopefully it would happen again so she'd go straight to hell…I might be a villain but I would prefer at least some civilization being around.
"He…he's getting over it…what we had…it wasn't healthy, and with what we knew about the Simurgh. It was probably best we take a break from each other, we're still friends of course but…we need to start getting ourselves together. We can't be falling apart in the exact way that the Simurgh wanted us to." Noelle was definitely leader material. I'll give her that, that she managed to snag a few powers from The Ambassador's was impressive enough.
Killing Hatchet Face was on another level, as well as taking down that emotion manipulator who tried to mess with our heads. Then accidentally making a younger not evil clone of her, and taking her entire power in the process instead of just making it break off.
Her expertise on the mechanics of how powers worked made this all worth it in the end and as long as I didn't go too far I wouldn't risk getting my neck snapped in my sleep.
Hopefully.
I sighed, resting my head on the bar that had been put in so the oldest of us…meaning Lauren and I could indulge in a few drinks. God knows we needed it in this crazy new world where people didn't instantly think of us as trash.
What a weird feeling.
"What?" I could hear Cody's high pitched question as the murderous kid glared at Noelle. The freaky Changer sighed, brushing back her darkened bangs, and scratching the scales along her arms.
"Are you okay?" Her question was sincere and I wished I had some popcorn, maybe I could get some of my minions to make me some? Cody grimaced, and a head dropped on the table next to mine.
"No…I don't want to talk about it." I shook my head, feeling for the poor bastard. At least I never had to go through what Cody was going through.
Noelle's eyes twinkled. "Do you want to talk about it with Asami?" She wiggled her eyebrows and I saw the red from a mile away.
"Is she here?!" I covered up a laugh since I knew how terrifying the kid's power was. I preferred the more laidback air that was in place whenever they weren't on missions so…
"Right over there." Noelle pointed to the Shaker, the young Japanese woman waving happily at Cody. The kid left our presence soon after, and I was alone with our fearsome leader.
"It's almost time isn't it?" I asked.
Her eyes turned into a black void, and her scales and chitinous spots spread into a layer of armor around her arms. "I learned so much about what was yet to come, yet so little at the same time. But I understand enough to know when a tipping point is coming. The outcome here will dictate the course of the future and I would rather not leave it to chance."
"We're probably going to almost die again aren't we?" She shrugged.
Damn my life.
___
AN: I haven't written an author's note for a while so here's one now. I've decided to slow the pace of writing back down to three days since I had a bit of trouble writing for a while. I'm at 6.6, and current thinking is that there'll be ten main chapters and two Interludes before we reach Arc 7, which will be a break chapter essentially.
So enjoy.
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Hmm nice chapter Taylor being as strict as I expected her to be, also how attractive is this Taylor considering Taylor in worm wasn't really conventionally attractive and also Alaya? Has someone been watching Fate 😂 albeit I am bit confused at how many powers this Taylor has also I can see why you say your Taylor is similar to canon Taylor considering both were pretty strict and realistic trainers albeit Taylor in worm was much harsher and really even though I dislike Taylor training style she is pretty good in teaching
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- Chula Vista
Hmm…I'm not too sure about that myself, since in Worm Taylor was about fifteen and still growing. This Taylor is older and more physically fit, and probably a lot more confident. Canon Taylor also has much lower self esteem, which makes her opinion on herself…suspect. She's closer to average definitely, but not ugly.
As for her powers, they're all modified expressions of her bug control. She basically uses them as conduits for different effects, like a wand essentially but made out of horrific swarms of chitinous death.
So at the most basal she can surround them in a Breaker effect to physically enhance them, or channel that effect into a manually set beam. Or expand the Breaker effect into a short range bubble.
It's how Queen works, since the effect scales up with size to more easily saturate them with power. She can only make one good projection due to power restrictions but she'll continue to grow and improve with time.
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Ah that makes sense but still man you have Taylor train them they is a child on the team do you want her to be scarred for life 😂😂 on a serious note how close is basilla to developing sting as a weapon and is entropy still a problem for the Multiverse
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- Chula Vista
To be fair Dinah is only about a year younger than Taylor was in Canon…though that might not be a very good counter. As for developing Sting, it's an ongoing process. While unfolding into the extra spatial dimensions isn't too hard for Basilia to grasp, the physics alteration is a much steeper goal.
Sting works by manipulation of reality at a much more fundamental level, somewhere down at the Planck-scale or lower. Technically all shards do that naturally, but forming metastable pockets of space with altered laws of physics tends to be…rather complicated.
And yes, Entropy is fundamentally broken at this point, thought it can continue to happen on a localized scale. I imagine any scientist in the future will be tearing out their hair for the next several hundred years.
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Hmm for Dinah yeah but your Taylor is far more powerful than canon Taylor as for sting it makes sense since it's the Entities greatest weapon also does Taylor realize she has any feelings for basilla/ Brandon
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Hmm…who knows? Though I would prefer for things to play out in story for that. It's a bit too…spoilery I guess? But yeah Sting is a pretty devastating attack since it's been refined over countless Cycles.
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Hmm true ironically Taylor Physique reminds me a bit of Mikasa from attack on Titan but only less buff and ripped but still between Taylor and basilla who is the better fighter and also did you get Alaya name from the fate series
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- Chula Vista
Oh Taylor is 100% the better fighter, though of course Basilia has a more diverse power-set. As for Fate…I did crib it off of that, but largely because the concept isn't really far off. Alaya is a store-house of data and knowledge, the collective unconscious of humanity. The spirit Shardspace has a special place in the spiritual plane, one that will be elaborated on with time.
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Interesting also Queenie seems to be quite a bit like Taylor only bustier and really it's to be expected but kinda funny since basilla trained Taylor and really you should definitely add a guy onto the team the females get too much spotlight
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Well while Basilia is training her, it was mostly just in the basics. Basilia unfortunately isn't much of a fighter, and Taylor just has more inherent talent in combat. It also helps that Taylor spends more time doing training on her own since she doesn't tinker much. That plus her added height and muscle mass makes her stronger than Basilia without any weird shenanigans.
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Hmm makes sense since canon Taylor was a decent fighter albeit I doubt this Taylor is equal to someone who has mastered bending from Avatar the Last Airbender like say Korra
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- Chula Vista
No…not yet at least, though it's not like she'd play fair to begin with. She'll catch up eventually since she's a quick learner, but that's a while off.
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It is Taylor so since when has she played fair heh but yeah I guess that makes sense albeit hopefully it isn't too quick of a catch up but anyway sorry if I had been asking too many questions
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Nah it's alright, there's not problem with questions as long as they don't involve spoilers.
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Ah okay hmm also in terms of Parahumans who can actually beat this Taylor and also how is Queenie Personality like
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Hmm…well the average Parahuman is pretty much screwed against her unless they have a highly specific power that counters her completely. She has a swarm numbering in the millions, each of them far tougher, faster and stronger than they should be, and she can keep them all aloft with air-bending. A ramped up Lung can take her out, but she'll last longer due to her biotics. Warps fields can sear through inches of steel, and her biotic charges move at far beyond supersonic speeds in short bursts. Her triple barrier layer makes modern firearms irrelevant. She could quite literally walk off several Javelin missiles to the face. She can throw around black holes, and use biotic punches to crack ten inches of steel. She can pull on things to crush people under ten tons of metal hanging off of something or turn gravel into shrapnel with a throw, or pull on a shard of glass and stab it into an unsuspecting victim.
Queen is tough as hell, and qualifies as a Brute and Mover on her own, as well as a Blaster and Shaker. Think the Siberian but made out of bugs and tuned down multiple notches. So people or things who could stop her would include Lung, Crawler, The Siberian(unless she kills Manton), Dragon and Armsmaster if they come prepared, Dauntless, Legend, maybe Vista if she can bend space enough, Panacea going all out, an entire PRT department…Alexandria(unless she drowns her…) a missile barrage. Bakuda could manage it with a bomb, and so could Basilia. There's also most S-class threats of course. Who else…oh maybe some type of power nullifier, but she would still have her biotics and airbending. So basically you need Brutes, prepared Tinkers, powerful Shakers and power nullifiers…or numbers. Thinkers might work as well if you want to go at a different less physical confrontation.
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Nice a Very OP Taylor (kinda reminds of essence Taylor but this one is far more confident) if Weaver met this Taylor she will be very jealous
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- Chula Vista
I would imagine so yes. But that's mostly because Parahuman are pretty squishy, and it'll probably even out a bit as time passes. But yes she's rather overpowered since she's the only biotic with full access to the tech tree to improve upon it.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hmm true good thing this Taylor is a hero albeit she's pretty op by Parahuman standards in other settings such as DC or Marvel she will be pretty tame also has basilla realized she can get pregnant now and have kids 👀
- Location
- Chula Vista
Basilia prefers not to think about that just like she ignores a lot of other things to keep her own sanity.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah why was she changed into a girl again and how different would things be if she was still a dude also Athena seems to be doing pretty well
- Location
- Chula Vista
That first thing is actually spoilers, but I imagine as as a guy the MC might have a harder time trying to be friends with Taylor, then again maybe not. And yes Athena has been prospering in-story.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hmm why would the MC had a harder time being friends with Taylor and as for Athena that is pretty good