- Location
- Chula Vista
I wouldn't say she was mastered by the power, more…distracted by the more pressing matters around her, like the upcoming end of the world. There is a reason for her lack of reaction, at least two of them in fact.
Victories of the Soul [Worm/Avatar/ME/Multicrossover] [SI]
- Thread starter AEM
- Start date
- Crossover Mature Sci-Fi
Permutation 2.3
- Location
- Chula Vista
AN: Here it is, I still have a huge backload of chapters, so I'm probably not going to stop anytime soon.
February 22nd, 2011. 8:35 AM
Basilia Rubio
I pinched the bridge of my nose. That bullshit from yesterday had worked and I now had a Taylor Hebert with a soul and a Queen Administrator as a spirit. An incredibly strong and barely limited spirit at that.
She lacked the Bans that restrained the danger of spirits, acting more like a complete person than the machine like nature of Aspects and more intelligent spirits. Usually only Extortus and Keter spirits had chains that light and it didn't bode well. Extortus spirit's were automatic B to S class threats and could easily wreck cities if they get a foothold.
Extortus spirits were usually insane while Keter or High spirits were the closest one could get to a living god in power and breadth of abilities. Especially the ones that represented potent concepts like death or life. I now had a spirit in my house with a potentially similar level of power and danger.
"Basilia, you didn't answer my question." A single step was all that Taylor needed to get into my space, and her statuesque height was finally noted. She towered over me with her six foot two stature, and I lifted my hands in front of my face.
She was…waaay too close.
I pressed my palms on my face, hiding the growing blush at her close proximity. "Uhh…yes it did work, a little too well actually but it worked." I answered her, skittering back to make some room. I glanced over to Queen Administrator, the former shard looking down at her hands in fascination and then…lifted her chitinous top to look at her…why?
To be fair I did that too for a bit…which reminds me of a few pending issues.
"What do you mean…?" Taylor finally caught sight of her shard, and let out a scream. "What is that?!" The shard frowned and waved almost shyly at the first human host she had bonded with successfully.
"That would be your shard Taylor. The source of your Parahuman power, changed by what was done to you. Meet Queen Administrator…" Taylor gaped, pushing back her glasses with little fanfare.
"H—Taylor…I do not…understand," The Administrator genuinely sounded confused, wide blue eyes staring at her surroundings with a frown. "I…can feel the Network…yet I am no longer bound to it. None have taken notice of my absence. What is this?" She was suddenly distracted when a vacuuming sound heralded the appearance of my cute little roomba, decorated with Snorlax stickers I made using omni-gel.
She grabbed the little guy, shaking it vigorously like it owed her money and needed to pay. She pouted, shook it some more before deciding to leave the poor thing alone. The fuck is this?
"She's…very odd." Was what Taylor commented, and I felt the loud sharp snort's escape.
"She used to be a giant batter mix of flesh and crystal covering an entire planet in another dimension. That she came out as human as she did was a total miracle…"
I'm also starting to question how physical the spiritual projections are if she can move stuff. Veda ends up providing the answers…
'She is subconsciously forming biotic barriers to safely interact with the physical world,' the spirit whispered in my mind. 'While we are mostly only able to intervene through our Hosts, we can interact using the powers available to us. Though without a physical manifestation like certain Keter spirits the amount of force we can send out is…limited.'
…
Is…is that why her barriers are so weak? A single punch can usually bring them down, and her strongest barrier can only hold out for a couple of seconds against my fire blasts. She always looked tired afterwards…that's probably why she was happy to switch to holograms…it's a waste of energy since most of it is bound up within my soul.
I got a tap on the shoulder, and I sheepishly ducked away from the hand. Taylor looked pensive. "Basilia…do you know what powers I have?" I shook my head but to reassure her, I decided to help her.
"No I don't but I can still help with finding out," she frowned but accepted the answer. "How do you feel? A sense of warmth…cold…something else?" I gesticulated with my hands, and she stopped looking me in the eye.
One of her legs started to bounce though she obviously didn't notice. "Ahh…I feel light and…and…free…" her insects gathered bouncing up and down to the rise of her emotions. Her shard actively fidgeted, almost like she was ticklish.
"And?" Her nervous high energy releases of physical activity ceased.
"There's also…an expanding emptiness…expanding space…" there was a flicker of awareness, a brief catching of blue flashes some that came from Taylor and some from…me.
Excellent…your fire is the first of the elements to emerge. Can you feel it?
I nearly decided to let out a groan of frustration once I remembered that little tidbit from the first I had used my fire. A day which still got a rush out of me, the burning passion hard to forget.
Unfortunately that very passion could blind a person to the truth, and I ended up getting distracted with setting up a technological base. Some of it had been spent with very basic training for interacting with spirits, but I suspected an actual Shaman would have murdered me for the recklessness. It was only the youth of the spiritual plane that left it relatively safe.
"Taylor…push me." She turned, her expression baffled.
"What?" I tapped my knuckle on my upper chest with narrowed eyes.
"Push me, but don't do it with your body." Her nose scrunched up and her eyes squinted, as if unsure how to take my words. Taylor's right hand open and closed and without a single protest she lifted a hand.
She purses her lips, blue-white light flickering on and off in a series of electrical impulses. The air moved just the tiniest fraction alongside it, and my omnitool turned on with a silent alarm, indicating a draw of kinetic energy converted from ambient heat and an outburst of dark energy.
A force like a push threw me back onto the couch, and I bounced twice right on my ass. Taylor shouted, inspecting her hands which had glowed with the light and aura of biotics. With a smirk I decided to test the other power lying in wait.
I soared over to her at high speed, and with a high pitched shriek she leapt with an uncontrolled burst of wind. She struck the ceiling, and with little fanfare she slipped of of it and onto the sofa.
"Oof…Basilia whyyy?" I cackled, my own biotic aura flaring in response with my emotions.
"Congratulations, the elements of air and void are under your command," I clapped my hands together. "Welcome to the new world, we have cookies."
The look on her face was hilarious.
RING! RING!
Oh that has to be her dad…so I'm going to have to deal with Danny Hebert.
Just great.
February 22nd, 2011. 8:45 AM
Basilia Rubio
It hadn't taken long for Taylor's dad to figure out the gist of what had happened, since Taylor was still in her costume. His face had turned red and I had a faint idea he was going to grab that spare wretch on the floor to bash my head in for a split second. I managed to convince myself that Danny would never do that…up until I remembered he was the parent of Skitter. The crazy has to come from either him or her mother. Or both.
He didn't take Taylor's suicidal stupidity well, and I knew there would be a long conversation for the senior. It was when we got to the more esoteric and strange parts that things went sideways.
"So is anyone going to explain the mini-Basilia and the Taylor swarm?" Danny Hebert looked intensely at the two shard-spirits, and I quickly started to put together that being the original recipient for Queenie meant he would be affected by her ascension.
A quick soul-check(which worked through shard-fuckery and firebending) revealed his spark was exponentially expanding for lack of better vocabulary. Growing, warping, crystallizing into a higher and greater shape. I was going to mention this at a later date.
I found my voice. "Well, they're spirits Mr. Hebert," I was rarely so formal but this felt necessary. "Veda is my spirit and Queen Administrator is Taylor's…both were scavenged from the source of powers and repurposed."
He didn't even bat an eye. "So she's why Taylor has powers?" At his glance the shard's crystalline face lit up, not meeting his eyes. "She doesn't look like much."
That comment set her off, and she stomped her feet in a display of indignant anger.
"I am Queen Administrator! One of the greatest of the Warrior's shards! I demand respect!" Another foot stomp finalized her statement.
"You are adorable." She growled at my response and I stuck my tongue out at her.
…
Danny Hebert folded his arms. "So does she still have her original powers or?" Taylor wagged her finger in a circle, several bees following her with the typical precision she had previously exhibited.
"Host don't limit yourself, expand your horizons! You are free." Taylor responded and gathered a large grouping of her minions until it formed a roughly human shaped storm of chitin. The spirit negated her projection, taking hold of the sudden mutation of her power.
"Huh…so you can make some type of swarm based minion?" I strut forward, and I with a smile I launched a haymaker right at the center of mass. My fist cracked as the space shut, flying beetles showing their backs. Instead of breaking and dying they withstood the 900 pound force with little fanfare. Though the ripple was enough to tell me there was a limit to the breaker nature of the minion.
Even then the minion would serve a purpose with its durability.
"Uhh that's new…?" The swarm warrior split apart into smaller weaker individuals, taking different shapes and different behaviors. I didn't say much, slowly losing focus as I watched Taylor's face transform.
There was…a sense of wonder…and almost happiness that made Taylor look like a different person. It was…different…
"Ahem?" I blinked, nodding to Danny in thanks for knocking me out of the trance.
"Oh sorry…as a spirit Taylor's Shard has lost most of her restrictions though she likely retains some limits to her powers regardless."
"Yes…for example telepathic control of humans remains out of reach, though technological mastery remains on the table." The shard cut in with buzz, and the Hebert's collectively paled.
"I could master people?" Taylor didn't sound enthusiastic at the idea which I found to be a good thing.
"Of course you could," I informed her. "All powers with very few exceptions are limited to a small fraction of their potential. Your shard is one of the most important there is, and all you could do with it was control bugs."
"I could control a lot of them." She mumbled a bit and I agreed with her.
"She specializes in administration and multitasking as befits her name." The Administrator preened.
"Basilia?" Danny reached out with his voice. "You said that most powers are restricted? How does that work? And which aren't restricted?"
"Manton limits, and the power itself is arbitrary, filtered through the trigger event and human perception," I described plainly, taking a seat on the couch and resting my head on the cushions. "The big relatively unrestricted ones would be Eidolon and Alexandria, as well as Grey Boy…and the obvious of course."
Danny blinked. "Huh?" Taylor covered her mouth, gasping slightly.
"The Endbringers…" reality was very subtly warped, an effect of Veda's presence. I had a suspicion it was to make this talk a little more hidden. It probably wouldn't work, but maybe they just didn't care too much.
"Yes, and I would prefer we not speak anything more on the subject matter Taylor." I mimed out flapping and she refrained from asking more…even the chance of being in the Simurgh's way was scary.
"So why isn't the Fairy Queen on that list?" Danny was a curious guy huh? He wasn't wrong…
"She can definitely be stronger, though the difference might not be quite as high because of how much her power has subsumed her." I scratched an itch on my cheek.
"So powers can take people over?" Taylor sounded curious, giving a suspicious glance to her former power.
"Most of them do to one extent or the other, it's one of the reasons capes fight so much," I shrugged nonchalantly. "Add the trauma and the psychological issues that follow and you've got a recipe for unending conflict." They both looked a little uneasy, an unsurprising fact.
Well…guess it's hard to accept that powers might be more detrimental to their users than once thought.
"What makes the powers you gave her so different?" His face was with determination and seriousness and I obliged him.
"Applied Metaphysics, the science of the soul if you would is highly complex since the machinery of the soul itself in unknowable and complicated. My knowledge can't even put a name to what made it…especially since it's made us unbound from the old laws of reality." I commented with careful use of my vocabulary.
"That sounds like you have no idea what you did to my daughter."
"That's because I don't Danny…it's why I didn't really want her to go through with it," I sighed. "But unfortunately it's Veda's call and not mine and she has no clue herself."
"That isn't reassuring."
I looked heavenward for a prayer or hope. "It's not supposed to be…I'm not exactly the best person to go to if you want comfort." I would say one of the worst people for that since I tend to say what I want with little regard to other people's feelings.
I mean I do try but it's very…difficult.
"I think it'll be fine…I don't think either of them would want to hurt us." The slight gesture of trust from Taylor was unexpected. Unexpected…but nice. The barely noticeable…smile(perk of the lips?) was another strange feature since I was used to her RBF. Not that I'm any better with intimidating expressions.
Danny's eyes bored into mine.
I coughed."She's right…I don't think we're friends yet but I have no legitimate reason to harm her. What I can tell you though is that she'll be more physically resilient, and will have access to a few abilities."
The tall brunette's eyes turned bright. "Oh right, dad I can do this now." She pushed with her hands, and an unsteady transfer of kinetic energy lit up the air in front of her. "I'm not entirely sure what it is, Basilia called it Void…? She gave a questioning glance.
I responded with a smug smile. "Biotics is another possible name, and you're still forgetting something." I crept to her side and with a wide brimmed grin, I brushed my fingers along her back. She bounced with a yelp.
WOOSH!
"HEY!" She only just avoided cracking her head on the ceiling, air rushing to keep her aloft. That same cushion of air also softened her fall, landing on her feet with only a small tremor to show for it.
Taylor glared, her enmity well established with her crossed arms and almost pouty expression. The added tap of her left index finger on her right arm only added to the image.
I placed my hands behind my back, keeping a smirk from forming. "Hey it's not a bad idea to check how much control you have. Accidentally outing yourself wouldn't be good." Which actually worried me now…
Taylor frowned. "Could you teach me control?" I took myself out of my previous posture, having to actually think about whether I could help in that area.
"I might be able to, I can use those same powers…however…" I winced, feeling rather silly now.
"What…you never practiced them?" Taylor said, managing to guess with high accuracy.
…
…
Both Hebert's had terse awkward facial expressions and I wanted to sink into the ground. Which was something I could do. Eventually…
"Elemental bending is hard you know, and attempting to master more than one is an effort of a lifetime," I justified my slowness as best as I could. "It's taken me weeks to get my firebending up to a useful level and there's still a few skills I am nowhere near ready for."
Lightning generation and lightning redirection for one thing…while I'm not under any real strife or conflict with myself, I am under a tremendous amount of pressure. It's…suffocating.
"But you can still teach me," Taylor picked up on the obvious. "You're learning somehow, so teaching me air…airbending and biotics should be possible." It didn't sound like a request so much as an order. I didn't see the point of it though, I had no reason to refuse anyhow.
"We'd have to spend more time together since it's Veda who's been helping me. Will you have time with your studying?" I asked.
"Will you have time with your college courses?" She sent the question back with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course I will. They're all easy now…none of them compare to the complexities of hyperdimensional mathematics. A total breeze." I gesticulated wildly with my arms, bragging just the tiniest amount to satiate my ego.
But…
'Oh…so you plan to take her under your wing a bit?' Veda spoke for the first time in a while. The answer was a yes of course though I doubt I would qualify as a mentor or authority figure any time soon. While I could spout a bunch of philosophical shit, I was barely starting to leave my teens.
"So would now be a good time or…?" I sighed at her enthusiasm.
"Not really…I wanted today to be a nice rest day, a few hours of tinkering and some refinement of my fighting skills. My barrier is tough but it almost shattered to Squealer's guns. I'm already going to be fixing that, as well as replacing my armor with something a little tougher. I need to make more drones…expand the Omni-forge…work on the Eezo power core for an armored shuttle. Start working on a bigger weapon…see if Lung likes a slug of tungsten at 5% the speed of light."
"Basilia…" I returned to reality when Taylor placed a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe you shouldn't be thinking about weapons that could cause massive amounts of collateral damage." She said with a wary look.
I puffed my cheeks dramatically. "Hey there's only damage if it misses, otherwise it'll be fine." A vein popped and I poked her, flashing clean teeth.
Danny nodded to himself, his expression confident. "We can come back tomorrow then if that's okay?" I gave him a positive grunt. "Taylor can just stay at home for today, and then we'll set up her training then."
"That should work." His suggestion made things a lot easier, and I wondered if I should come to him for advice. I was no idiot but my common sense wasn't always the best.
"We should probably be leaving then…we can talk more on this later." Danny stared at me with an unreadable expression, and Taylor followed after him.
Queen Administrator followed her host, and when I pointed to Veda they took the situation in stride. A quick and terse goodbye later and I was alone once again with only Veda giving me company.
My gaze followed my shoulders, shadowing the growing definition and muscle mass. Right down to my palms, the pattern unfamiliar…but similar to what I once had…
"Well…I guess it's time to get back to work."
February 22nd, 2011. 11:50 PM
Basilia Rubio
I spent the following fifteen hours on another Tinker binge, most of it dedicated to my armor, and my weapons. While the laser steel was among the toughest armor I had access to at the moment, there was more I could do for the underlayers and the limited exoskeleton.
The armor had swiftly swelled in mass, looking a little more like the spartan armor it resembled than before. Though I wasn't really planning to ever wear armor that massive, though I'd be fine in a mech. I already had several different designs cooking up, varying from the ugly but tough, to the elegant and powerful but expensive.
My current armor was about 80 kilograms now, and I had exchanged it's hydraulic and silicone system with a more effective myomer bundle. While the amount I added was small, the suit went from 3 times augmentation to ten without any trouble. It's thicker, and better designed armor was tougher, the ballistic fiber layers now filled with non-Newtonian fluids for a small boost.
A new manufacturing station replaced the steel with an alloy about 8% stronger, and the plating itself was thicker. It could bounce rounds up to 30mm without a barrier though that would break(pulverize) bones. The armor had also been modified to work with my biotics, and once I could make a barrier…I'd have a double shielding system!
The new kinetic barrier was based off the technology of a species of hive mind AI…who I'm pretty sure were the Geth at this point in time. It could seamlessly transition between shields when one ran down. It was at least six times stronger, and I had a path to progressively increase how much it could take before bursting.
Let's see that drug crazy bitch take me down now!
A few candles in the room surged, and I started some breathing exercises.
In…
And out…
In…
And out.
Air through the nose.
Out through the mouth.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
"Are you well Basilia?" Veda popped back up, fiddling with a shard device like it was a toy.
"I'm good, just needed to breath." I gave a reassurance, working on another weapons related project. A small and tiny blue computer, the first of my technology to actually start making use of my extensive database of biology beyond the anatomy needed to build my armor.
This was a bio-amp, the cybernetic implant used to enhance a biotic's bioelectrical field enough to utilize the encapsulated Eezo within their bodies. Now for whatever reason Taylor and I could use naturally use biotics…and a scan hadn't found more than trace amounts of newly formed eezo which was progressively being incorporated into her nervous system. The exotic matter concentrated in her lymphatic system however. Fortunately instead of causing horrible cancer, the system was being altered into a perfect container of the exotic matter. With no ill effect on her immune system.
My instincts said there were meant to be six to eight nodes but instead I had picked up Eezo throughout the lymphatic system. Although while it flowed throughout the lymph nodes, only about 24 of them contained more than trace amounts. I had the sense that meant that our biotics would massively beyond the norm for how we're supposed to work biologically.
Plus the anime physics…I can't forget that.
Building the amp had been a trial, and I ended up knocking a few things loose that had been buried. I had been entirely focused on technology that was entirely mechanical and electrical in nature, only dabbling in squishy science for the medi-gel. Since it was basically a bioengineered organism capable of healing wounds without an allergic reaction, and without danger to the patient in any way.
It's not perfect mind you…but it's definitely a miracle worker.
It had started to become obvious that what Veda had stored away was beyond the pale. I had a massive understanding of biology on a level only Panacea could match or surpass. My power read off hundreds of billions of base pairs which I was quite sure were the genome stores of dead races, what had to be hundreds or even thousands of them. I didn't have the technology of all of them but in many cases the tech bases were too similar to really matter.
There was certainly more to know in my spirit's corpus than there was to know in every word ever uttered by mankind.
I already had a set of standard gene-mods sets ready to order for production, enhanced by suspensions of shards in the shape of nanoscopic tools to speed up the process to a few days to weeks instead of months or years.
Slower than Panacea but she had the energy of a city backing her up. All the little fragments degrade into harmless slurry quickly taken up by the cell's own system.
A body that was much healthier, clearing out many of the issues of humans without causing any adverse effects to DNA stability. Excellent eyesight, a strong immune system, a tendency to be healthier in general. As well as some minor enhancements to allow for easier implantation or injection of changes.
Scary thing was that I could sell this shit for about twice the cost of a dentist visit. It was cheaper than most surgeries, and I already had a number of Auto-Doc machines on standby in the many rotating shelves buried up in my head. I could turn humanity into a superhuman species if at a lower level than the average Parahuman without the entropy destroying properties of wibbly-wimey soul stuff.
I had already started to divide up the various similar tech divisions by species. Salarian, Asari, Turian, Elcor, and even Hanar…which were oddly advanced though I lacked the ability to manufacture any of what they had available.
Why would the Hanar have a portable laser cannon?!
"Maybe I could build up my own laser weapon? Free-electron lasers are a thing…the electron gun could just be turned into a mass effect rail system."
But the power consumption would be considerable due to the efficiency of laser technology…unless I use diode lasers, those could get to 80% or so. Just blueshift the light using a mass effect field.
My stomach grumbled, and I finally decided to put away my tools. I hadn't eaten since this morning, and I had a real hankering for a meal. I wanted a nice and warm carne asada burrito but it's pretty late. So there's going to be some settling for cereal today.
"Mhmm!" I stretched to get the crick out of my neck and back, raising my arms to the sky and then rolling my shoulders. Tools of hardened crystal, tough metal and strong composites clattered as I pushed back with a kick to the desk. The swivel chair's wheels squeaked along the concrete floor.
Veda patrolled eagerly, pulsing in tune with my low humming. I grabbed my helmet with a terrible biotic pull and placed it over my head. It was slightly ill-fitting now…for some reason I was missing.
Hmm…
With a blink I was out of the chair, and a puny metal sprite was chewing on my head. I gently plucked it off and it hit the ground, letting out a cry that sounded like crumpled aluminum foil. The spirit world was acting a little more lively, the local spirits enjoying the rejuvenation of the interior.
"SKREEE!" The old forklift had gone through some changes, having been tinkered up into a more effective machine. It now employed future alloys, and an Eezo core and a micro-fusion reactor. A nice prototype for more advanced craft in the future…
"Hello again." I greeted the spirit politely, because of their indirect cooperation everything was functioning at a higher level of efficiency than I had expected. Tools worked a little better, computers ran a little faster and with less energy loss, it was remarkable.
Forklift rumbled back, pointing me to the exit. I began to walk, because there was nothing left to do today. I had plans, plans I needed to speed up, people I needed to investigate and inform. While I was keeping ties on people I know are in the line of fire, so far everything is going well.
Tomorrow I was no longer going to be the only one mastering the elements.
___
Permutation 2.3
February 22nd, 2011. 8:35 AM
Basilia Rubio
I pinched the bridge of my nose. That bullshit from yesterday had worked and I now had a Taylor Hebert with a soul and a Queen Administrator as a spirit. An incredibly strong and barely limited spirit at that.
She lacked the Bans that restrained the danger of spirits, acting more like a complete person than the machine like nature of Aspects and more intelligent spirits. Usually only Extortus and Keter spirits had chains that light and it didn't bode well. Extortus spirit's were automatic B to S class threats and could easily wreck cities if they get a foothold.
Extortus spirits were usually insane while Keter or High spirits were the closest one could get to a living god in power and breadth of abilities. Especially the ones that represented potent concepts like death or life. I now had a spirit in my house with a potentially similar level of power and danger.
"Basilia, you didn't answer my question." A single step was all that Taylor needed to get into my space, and her statuesque height was finally noted. She towered over me with her six foot two stature, and I lifted my hands in front of my face.
She was…waaay too close.
I pressed my palms on my face, hiding the growing blush at her close proximity. "Uhh…yes it did work, a little too well actually but it worked." I answered her, skittering back to make some room. I glanced over to Queen Administrator, the former shard looking down at her hands in fascination and then…lifted her chitinous top to look at her…why?
To be fair I did that too for a bit…which reminds me of a few pending issues.
"What do you mean…?" Taylor finally caught sight of her shard, and let out a scream. "What is that?!" The shard frowned and waved almost shyly at the first human host she had bonded with successfully.
"That would be your shard Taylor. The source of your Parahuman power, changed by what was done to you. Meet Queen Administrator…" Taylor gaped, pushing back her glasses with little fanfare.
"H—Taylor…I do not…understand," The Administrator genuinely sounded confused, wide blue eyes staring at her surroundings with a frown. "I…can feel the Network…yet I am no longer bound to it. None have taken notice of my absence. What is this?" She was suddenly distracted when a vacuuming sound heralded the appearance of my cute little roomba, decorated with Snorlax stickers I made using omni-gel.
She grabbed the little guy, shaking it vigorously like it owed her money and needed to pay. She pouted, shook it some more before deciding to leave the poor thing alone. The fuck is this?
"She's…very odd." Was what Taylor commented, and I felt the loud sharp snort's escape.
"She used to be a giant batter mix of flesh and crystal covering an entire planet in another dimension. That she came out as human as she did was a total miracle…"
I'm also starting to question how physical the spiritual projections are if she can move stuff. Veda ends up providing the answers…
'She is subconsciously forming biotic barriers to safely interact with the physical world,' the spirit whispered in my mind. 'While we are mostly only able to intervene through our Hosts, we can interact using the powers available to us. Though without a physical manifestation like certain Keter spirits the amount of force we can send out is…limited.'
…
Is…is that why her barriers are so weak? A single punch can usually bring them down, and her strongest barrier can only hold out for a couple of seconds against my fire blasts. She always looked tired afterwards…that's probably why she was happy to switch to holograms…it's a waste of energy since most of it is bound up within my soul.
I got a tap on the shoulder, and I sheepishly ducked away from the hand. Taylor looked pensive. "Basilia…do you know what powers I have?" I shook my head but to reassure her, I decided to help her.
"No I don't but I can still help with finding out," she frowned but accepted the answer. "How do you feel? A sense of warmth…cold…something else?" I gesticulated with my hands, and she stopped looking me in the eye.
One of her legs started to bounce though she obviously didn't notice. "Ahh…I feel light and…and…free…" her insects gathered bouncing up and down to the rise of her emotions. Her shard actively fidgeted, almost like she was ticklish.
"And?" Her nervous high energy releases of physical activity ceased.
"There's also…an expanding emptiness…expanding space…" there was a flicker of awareness, a brief catching of blue flashes some that came from Taylor and some from…me.
Excellent…your fire is the first of the elements to emerge. Can you feel it?
I nearly decided to let out a groan of frustration once I remembered that little tidbit from the first I had used my fire. A day which still got a rush out of me, the burning passion hard to forget.
Unfortunately that very passion could blind a person to the truth, and I ended up getting distracted with setting up a technological base. Some of it had been spent with very basic training for interacting with spirits, but I suspected an actual Shaman would have murdered me for the recklessness. It was only the youth of the spiritual plane that left it relatively safe.
"Taylor…push me." She turned, her expression baffled.
"What?" I tapped my knuckle on my upper chest with narrowed eyes.
"Push me, but don't do it with your body." Her nose scrunched up and her eyes squinted, as if unsure how to take my words. Taylor's right hand open and closed and without a single protest she lifted a hand.
She purses her lips, blue-white light flickering on and off in a series of electrical impulses. The air moved just the tiniest fraction alongside it, and my omnitool turned on with a silent alarm, indicating a draw of kinetic energy converted from ambient heat and an outburst of dark energy.
A force like a push threw me back onto the couch, and I bounced twice right on my ass. Taylor shouted, inspecting her hands which had glowed with the light and aura of biotics. With a smirk I decided to test the other power lying in wait.
I soared over to her at high speed, and with a high pitched shriek she leapt with an uncontrolled burst of wind. She struck the ceiling, and with little fanfare she slipped of of it and onto the sofa.
"Oof…Basilia whyyy?" I cackled, my own biotic aura flaring in response with my emotions.
"Congratulations, the elements of air and void are under your command," I clapped my hands together. "Welcome to the new world, we have cookies."
The look on her face was hilarious.
RING! RING!
Oh that has to be her dad…so I'm going to have to deal with Danny Hebert.
Just great.
___
February 22nd, 2011. 8:45 AM
Basilia Rubio
It hadn't taken long for Taylor's dad to figure out the gist of what had happened, since Taylor was still in her costume. His face had turned red and I had a faint idea he was going to grab that spare wretch on the floor to bash my head in for a split second. I managed to convince myself that Danny would never do that…up until I remembered he was the parent of Skitter. The crazy has to come from either him or her mother. Or both.
He didn't take Taylor's suicidal stupidity well, and I knew there would be a long conversation for the senior. It was when we got to the more esoteric and strange parts that things went sideways.
"So is anyone going to explain the mini-Basilia and the Taylor swarm?" Danny Hebert looked intensely at the two shard-spirits, and I quickly started to put together that being the original recipient for Queenie meant he would be affected by her ascension.
A quick soul-check(which worked through shard-fuckery and firebending) revealed his spark was exponentially expanding for lack of better vocabulary. Growing, warping, crystallizing into a higher and greater shape. I was going to mention this at a later date.
I found my voice. "Well, they're spirits Mr. Hebert," I was rarely so formal but this felt necessary. "Veda is my spirit and Queen Administrator is Taylor's…both were scavenged from the source of powers and repurposed."
He didn't even bat an eye. "So she's why Taylor has powers?" At his glance the shard's crystalline face lit up, not meeting his eyes. "She doesn't look like much."
That comment set her off, and she stomped her feet in a display of indignant anger.
"I am Queen Administrator! One of the greatest of the Warrior's shards! I demand respect!" Another foot stomp finalized her statement.
"You are adorable." She growled at my response and I stuck my tongue out at her.
…
Danny Hebert folded his arms. "So does she still have her original powers or?" Taylor wagged her finger in a circle, several bees following her with the typical precision she had previously exhibited.
"Host don't limit yourself, expand your horizons! You are free." Taylor responded and gathered a large grouping of her minions until it formed a roughly human shaped storm of chitin. The spirit negated her projection, taking hold of the sudden mutation of her power.
"Huh…so you can make some type of swarm based minion?" I strut forward, and I with a smile I launched a haymaker right at the center of mass. My fist cracked as the space shut, flying beetles showing their backs. Instead of breaking and dying they withstood the 900 pound force with little fanfare. Though the ripple was enough to tell me there was a limit to the breaker nature of the minion.
Even then the minion would serve a purpose with its durability.
"Uhh that's new…?" The swarm warrior split apart into smaller weaker individuals, taking different shapes and different behaviors. I didn't say much, slowly losing focus as I watched Taylor's face transform.
There was…a sense of wonder…and almost happiness that made Taylor look like a different person. It was…different…
"Ahem?" I blinked, nodding to Danny in thanks for knocking me out of the trance.
"Oh sorry…as a spirit Taylor's Shard has lost most of her restrictions though she likely retains some limits to her powers regardless."
"Yes…for example telepathic control of humans remains out of reach, though technological mastery remains on the table." The shard cut in with buzz, and the Hebert's collectively paled.
"I could master people?" Taylor didn't sound enthusiastic at the idea which I found to be a good thing.
"Of course you could," I informed her. "All powers with very few exceptions are limited to a small fraction of their potential. Your shard is one of the most important there is, and all you could do with it was control bugs."
"I could control a lot of them." She mumbled a bit and I agreed with her.
"She specializes in administration and multitasking as befits her name." The Administrator preened.
"Basilia?" Danny reached out with his voice. "You said that most powers are restricted? How does that work? And which aren't restricted?"
"Manton limits, and the power itself is arbitrary, filtered through the trigger event and human perception," I described plainly, taking a seat on the couch and resting my head on the cushions. "The big relatively unrestricted ones would be Eidolon and Alexandria, as well as Grey Boy…and the obvious of course."
Danny blinked. "Huh?" Taylor covered her mouth, gasping slightly.
"The Endbringers…" reality was very subtly warped, an effect of Veda's presence. I had a suspicion it was to make this talk a little more hidden. It probably wouldn't work, but maybe they just didn't care too much.
"Yes, and I would prefer we not speak anything more on the subject matter Taylor." I mimed out flapping and she refrained from asking more…even the chance of being in the Simurgh's way was scary.
"So why isn't the Fairy Queen on that list?" Danny was a curious guy huh? He wasn't wrong…
"She can definitely be stronger, though the difference might not be quite as high because of how much her power has subsumed her." I scratched an itch on my cheek.
"So powers can take people over?" Taylor sounded curious, giving a suspicious glance to her former power.
"Most of them do to one extent or the other, it's one of the reasons capes fight so much," I shrugged nonchalantly. "Add the trauma and the psychological issues that follow and you've got a recipe for unending conflict." They both looked a little uneasy, an unsurprising fact.
Well…guess it's hard to accept that powers might be more detrimental to their users than once thought.
"What makes the powers you gave her so different?" His face was with determination and seriousness and I obliged him.
"Applied Metaphysics, the science of the soul if you would is highly complex since the machinery of the soul itself in unknowable and complicated. My knowledge can't even put a name to what made it…especially since it's made us unbound from the old laws of reality." I commented with careful use of my vocabulary.
"That sounds like you have no idea what you did to my daughter."
"That's because I don't Danny…it's why I didn't really want her to go through with it," I sighed. "But unfortunately it's Veda's call and not mine and she has no clue herself."
"That isn't reassuring."
I looked heavenward for a prayer or hope. "It's not supposed to be…I'm not exactly the best person to go to if you want comfort." I would say one of the worst people for that since I tend to say what I want with little regard to other people's feelings.
I mean I do try but it's very…difficult.
"I think it'll be fine…I don't think either of them would want to hurt us." The slight gesture of trust from Taylor was unexpected. Unexpected…but nice. The barely noticeable…smile(perk of the lips?) was another strange feature since I was used to her RBF. Not that I'm any better with intimidating expressions.
Danny's eyes bored into mine.
I coughed."She's right…I don't think we're friends yet but I have no legitimate reason to harm her. What I can tell you though is that she'll be more physically resilient, and will have access to a few abilities."
The tall brunette's eyes turned bright. "Oh right, dad I can do this now." She pushed with her hands, and an unsteady transfer of kinetic energy lit up the air in front of her. "I'm not entirely sure what it is, Basilia called it Void…? She gave a questioning glance.
I responded with a smug smile. "Biotics is another possible name, and you're still forgetting something." I crept to her side and with a wide brimmed grin, I brushed my fingers along her back. She bounced with a yelp.
WOOSH!
"HEY!" She only just avoided cracking her head on the ceiling, air rushing to keep her aloft. That same cushion of air also softened her fall, landing on her feet with only a small tremor to show for it.
Taylor glared, her enmity well established with her crossed arms and almost pouty expression. The added tap of her left index finger on her right arm only added to the image.
I placed my hands behind my back, keeping a smirk from forming. "Hey it's not a bad idea to check how much control you have. Accidentally outing yourself wouldn't be good." Which actually worried me now…
Taylor frowned. "Could you teach me control?" I took myself out of my previous posture, having to actually think about whether I could help in that area.
"I might be able to, I can use those same powers…however…" I winced, feeling rather silly now.
"What…you never practiced them?" Taylor said, managing to guess with high accuracy.
…
…
Both Hebert's had terse awkward facial expressions and I wanted to sink into the ground. Which was something I could do. Eventually…
"Elemental bending is hard you know, and attempting to master more than one is an effort of a lifetime," I justified my slowness as best as I could. "It's taken me weeks to get my firebending up to a useful level and there's still a few skills I am nowhere near ready for."
Lightning generation and lightning redirection for one thing…while I'm not under any real strife or conflict with myself, I am under a tremendous amount of pressure. It's…suffocating.
"But you can still teach me," Taylor picked up on the obvious. "You're learning somehow, so teaching me air…airbending and biotics should be possible." It didn't sound like a request so much as an order. I didn't see the point of it though, I had no reason to refuse anyhow.
"We'd have to spend more time together since it's Veda who's been helping me. Will you have time with your studying?" I asked.
"Will you have time with your college courses?" She sent the question back with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course I will. They're all easy now…none of them compare to the complexities of hyperdimensional mathematics. A total breeze." I gesticulated wildly with my arms, bragging just the tiniest amount to satiate my ego.
But…
'Oh…so you plan to take her under your wing a bit?' Veda spoke for the first time in a while. The answer was a yes of course though I doubt I would qualify as a mentor or authority figure any time soon. While I could spout a bunch of philosophical shit, I was barely starting to leave my teens.
"So would now be a good time or…?" I sighed at her enthusiasm.
"Not really…I wanted today to be a nice rest day, a few hours of tinkering and some refinement of my fighting skills. My barrier is tough but it almost shattered to Squealer's guns. I'm already going to be fixing that, as well as replacing my armor with something a little tougher. I need to make more drones…expand the Omni-forge…work on the Eezo power core for an armored shuttle. Start working on a bigger weapon…see if Lung likes a slug of tungsten at 5% the speed of light."
"Basilia…" I returned to reality when Taylor placed a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe you shouldn't be thinking about weapons that could cause massive amounts of collateral damage." She said with a wary look.
I puffed my cheeks dramatically. "Hey there's only damage if it misses, otherwise it'll be fine." A vein popped and I poked her, flashing clean teeth.
Danny nodded to himself, his expression confident. "We can come back tomorrow then if that's okay?" I gave him a positive grunt. "Taylor can just stay at home for today, and then we'll set up her training then."
"That should work." His suggestion made things a lot easier, and I wondered if I should come to him for advice. I was no idiot but my common sense wasn't always the best.
"We should probably be leaving then…we can talk more on this later." Danny stared at me with an unreadable expression, and Taylor followed after him.
Queen Administrator followed her host, and when I pointed to Veda they took the situation in stride. A quick and terse goodbye later and I was alone once again with only Veda giving me company.
My gaze followed my shoulders, shadowing the growing definition and muscle mass. Right down to my palms, the pattern unfamiliar…but similar to what I once had…
"Well…I guess it's time to get back to work."
___
February 22nd, 2011. 11:50 PM
Basilia Rubio
I spent the following fifteen hours on another Tinker binge, most of it dedicated to my armor, and my weapons. While the laser steel was among the toughest armor I had access to at the moment, there was more I could do for the underlayers and the limited exoskeleton.
The armor had swiftly swelled in mass, looking a little more like the spartan armor it resembled than before. Though I wasn't really planning to ever wear armor that massive, though I'd be fine in a mech. I already had several different designs cooking up, varying from the ugly but tough, to the elegant and powerful but expensive.
My current armor was about 80 kilograms now, and I had exchanged it's hydraulic and silicone system with a more effective myomer bundle. While the amount I added was small, the suit went from 3 times augmentation to ten without any trouble. It's thicker, and better designed armor was tougher, the ballistic fiber layers now filled with non-Newtonian fluids for a small boost.
A new manufacturing station replaced the steel with an alloy about 8% stronger, and the plating itself was thicker. It could bounce rounds up to 30mm without a barrier though that would break(pulverize) bones. The armor had also been modified to work with my biotics, and once I could make a barrier…I'd have a double shielding system!
The new kinetic barrier was based off the technology of a species of hive mind AI…who I'm pretty sure were the Geth at this point in time. It could seamlessly transition between shields when one ran down. It was at least six times stronger, and I had a path to progressively increase how much it could take before bursting.
Let's see that drug crazy bitch take me down now!
A few candles in the room surged, and I started some breathing exercises.
In…
And out…
In…
And out.
Air through the nose.
Out through the mouth.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
"Are you well Basilia?" Veda popped back up, fiddling with a shard device like it was a toy.
"I'm good, just needed to breath." I gave a reassurance, working on another weapons related project. A small and tiny blue computer, the first of my technology to actually start making use of my extensive database of biology beyond the anatomy needed to build my armor.
This was a bio-amp, the cybernetic implant used to enhance a biotic's bioelectrical field enough to utilize the encapsulated Eezo within their bodies. Now for whatever reason Taylor and I could use naturally use biotics…and a scan hadn't found more than trace amounts of newly formed eezo which was progressively being incorporated into her nervous system. The exotic matter concentrated in her lymphatic system however. Fortunately instead of causing horrible cancer, the system was being altered into a perfect container of the exotic matter. With no ill effect on her immune system.
My instincts said there were meant to be six to eight nodes but instead I had picked up Eezo throughout the lymphatic system. Although while it flowed throughout the lymph nodes, only about 24 of them contained more than trace amounts. I had the sense that meant that our biotics would massively beyond the norm for how we're supposed to work biologically.
Plus the anime physics…I can't forget that.
Building the amp had been a trial, and I ended up knocking a few things loose that had been buried. I had been entirely focused on technology that was entirely mechanical and electrical in nature, only dabbling in squishy science for the medi-gel. Since it was basically a bioengineered organism capable of healing wounds without an allergic reaction, and without danger to the patient in any way.
It's not perfect mind you…but it's definitely a miracle worker.
It had started to become obvious that what Veda had stored away was beyond the pale. I had a massive understanding of biology on a level only Panacea could match or surpass. My power read off hundreds of billions of base pairs which I was quite sure were the genome stores of dead races, what had to be hundreds or even thousands of them. I didn't have the technology of all of them but in many cases the tech bases were too similar to really matter.
There was certainly more to know in my spirit's corpus than there was to know in every word ever uttered by mankind.
I already had a set of standard gene-mods sets ready to order for production, enhanced by suspensions of shards in the shape of nanoscopic tools to speed up the process to a few days to weeks instead of months or years.
Slower than Panacea but she had the energy of a city backing her up. All the little fragments degrade into harmless slurry quickly taken up by the cell's own system.
A body that was much healthier, clearing out many of the issues of humans without causing any adverse effects to DNA stability. Excellent eyesight, a strong immune system, a tendency to be healthier in general. As well as some minor enhancements to allow for easier implantation or injection of changes.
Scary thing was that I could sell this shit for about twice the cost of a dentist visit. It was cheaper than most surgeries, and I already had a number of Auto-Doc machines on standby in the many rotating shelves buried up in my head. I could turn humanity into a superhuman species if at a lower level than the average Parahuman without the entropy destroying properties of wibbly-wimey soul stuff.
I had already started to divide up the various similar tech divisions by species. Salarian, Asari, Turian, Elcor, and even Hanar…which were oddly advanced though I lacked the ability to manufacture any of what they had available.
Why would the Hanar have a portable laser cannon?!
"Maybe I could build up my own laser weapon? Free-electron lasers are a thing…the electron gun could just be turned into a mass effect rail system."
But the power consumption would be considerable due to the efficiency of laser technology…unless I use diode lasers, those could get to 80% or so. Just blueshift the light using a mass effect field.
My stomach grumbled, and I finally decided to put away my tools. I hadn't eaten since this morning, and I had a real hankering for a meal. I wanted a nice and warm carne asada burrito but it's pretty late. So there's going to be some settling for cereal today.
"Mhmm!" I stretched to get the crick out of my neck and back, raising my arms to the sky and then rolling my shoulders. Tools of hardened crystal, tough metal and strong composites clattered as I pushed back with a kick to the desk. The swivel chair's wheels squeaked along the concrete floor.
Veda patrolled eagerly, pulsing in tune with my low humming. I grabbed my helmet with a terrible biotic pull and placed it over my head. It was slightly ill-fitting now…for some reason I was missing.
Hmm…
With a blink I was out of the chair, and a puny metal sprite was chewing on my head. I gently plucked it off and it hit the ground, letting out a cry that sounded like crumpled aluminum foil. The spirit world was acting a little more lively, the local spirits enjoying the rejuvenation of the interior.
"SKREEE!" The old forklift had gone through some changes, having been tinkered up into a more effective machine. It now employed future alloys, and an Eezo core and a micro-fusion reactor. A nice prototype for more advanced craft in the future…
"Hello again." I greeted the spirit politely, because of their indirect cooperation everything was functioning at a higher level of efficiency than I had expected. Tools worked a little better, computers ran a little faster and with less energy loss, it was remarkable.
Forklift rumbled back, pointing me to the exit. I began to walk, because there was nothing left to do today. I had plans, plans I needed to speed up, people I needed to investigate and inform. While I was keeping ties on people I know are in the line of fire, so far everything is going well.
Tomorrow I was no longer going to be the only one mastering the elements.
Last edited:
- Location
- Chula Vista
To be fair Earth Bet isn't exactly unused to the weird and the strange, and Basilia hid some of the implications under a thin veneer of freaky Tinkertech.I love it
Honestly a little surprised that no one's freaking out about not having souls. But I love that you made Taylor an airbender
- Location
- Brazil
I believe I'm lost. These tech trees and names are from where? Do they exist in that fic you said in the first post?
- Location
- Chula Vista
The names are made up, and the tech comes from LogicalPremise. His fic might be even more Grimdark than Worm to the point of absurdity, but I enjoy the world building at the least. I'll put a link in for the Engineer's Guide and his worldbuilding for his AU. I'll…only make use of some of it for this fic…my universe is its own thing.
- Location
- Brazil
That is some love in that link. Thanks for sharing them.
Permutation 2.4
- Location
- Chula Vista
Permutation 2.4
February 23rd, 2011. 12:30 AM
Basilia Rubio
I waited with impatience as time felt like it was dragging on. The Hebert's and I had settled the schedule over the phone, though it was worded very differently. He would bring Taylor over, and I would take her to the warehouse. While I had mentioned that Danny could just take us directly, he preferred we take the stealth route unless I was ready for the base to be semi-public at one point.
I was probably going to give him the address at some point, since the DWU works pretty close by. Having people more experienced with the area might be helpful in the near future.
In this case I didn't have my armor, instead picking a white sleeved tank-top and jeans with a 'belt' on it. The belt was in fact a kinetic barrier, and almost as strong as the one for my older armor. My Omni-tool glowed, acting as the command center for four specialized drones built for a single task.
They were phased optical arrays tuned toward visible and infrared light that would generate near perfect images that would show nothing where we would be standing. Very cheap, and with a lower heat signature than stealth fields involving bending light. Mostly…
There was a knock on the door, and with a fast check of the front door camera I opened the entrance to my guest. Her fist nearly bumped into the bridge of my nose, and I peered up into the reddened face of Taylor.
A little fire of happiness built up in my stomach, and I greeted her. "Hello again Taylor. I'm sure you're prepared appropriately for today?"
My fellow brunette purposely jostled a gym bag, her lips perking up into a smile before retracting as if she was confused.
"Yeah…I brought some clothes to change into…so how are we going to do this?" She tilted her head. "You never mentioned how we were going to hide once we got close."
A drone wooshed past her head in near complete silence, Taylor twitching when a fly was swatted out of the way.
"I've made some new toys which should make our trip a little less conspicuous." I purposely arched my back, showing off my pride in my accomplishments. Taylor rolled her eyes and I pouted back at her.
"Are robots your solution for everything?" She settled the strap of the bag into a more comfortable position.
I shook my head. "No of course not, if a drone isn't the solution then some hyperluminal plasma is."
"What." Her flat reply made me laugh and I pushed her lightly to get her moving. She walked with anger in every step, but the muted sound betrayed her newfound lineage.
"Eezo is some pretty crazy stuff, it can be used to build starships if you make a big enough core and with high enough quality." Taylor expressed some interest though she didn't say much.
I quietly shut and locked the door, the click alerting the fellow superhuman. She quickly took off ahead of me, her larger strides easily outpacing my smaller steps. Oddly enough her strut was a little more elegant than mine, a hint of lightness to each step. Some timidity as well…though it was clearly fading.
Mine was more of a march, my weight pressing down on the ground with each of my steps. I'm not sure if that's how I naturally walked or if I was off due to my previously male existence.
Huh…I've managed to not think about that for what felt like weeks now…was I coping or just unhealthily suppressing my problems with the idea? Hell I'm pretty sure I've worn more or less only five different outfits in the past month because I don't want to go out and buy or make more. It wouldn't be very easy to buy it either, since some of my measurements were…rather excessive. Anyway…
We walked along the sidewalk in a slightly off silence, having an inkling that this was supposed to be awkward if Taylor's fidgeting was any indication. As for me while I did tend to get anxious sometimes I was doing alright at the moment.
"Hmm…" Taylor covered up a cough, a hint of red on both her cheeks.
"If you want to make conversation I don't have an issue about talking about myself," making light of the situation might break the ice. "I'm pretty narcissistic like that." Taylor cracked a smile, and the success emboldened me. "So what do you want to ask first?" She was no longer as happy, but her burning curiosity was a nice look on her.
"What was it like back home?" Was the first query to come out of her mouth.
"Peaceful, a lot more peaceful than Brockton Bay…" What went unsaid was that I meant the planet as a whole. "I was…pretty much getting my whole life in order. Registered for classes…was planning to start running. Everything was going well." This was a more depressing topic than I expected.
"What about your family?" My despondency increases but I didn't stop talking, like I needed to vent to someone.
"My family was great…not perfect but great. I had my dad, my mom, and two younger brothers. Brother and half-brother respectively, not that it matters." A slight difference in blood relation does not mean I should favor one over the other.
"Half?" Taylor questioned.
"They divorced a while back, private business that's been basically dealt with." Those years near the end had been mentally and emotionally exhausting and left me with some feelings of resentment. Though I had gradually gotten over them as the years passed and I grew older and wiser.
Not that I was a real bastion of maturity or anything.
"Sorry." I patted her arm, hoping to alleviate her worries.
"It's fine I'm pretty much over it, but besides that my family was…is generally doing well." I choked, a well of emotion that I found unusual moving past my defenses.
"We don't have to talk about that…if you don't want to…" her reply was stilted but genuine and I pressed closer as the Docks loomed far in front of us with a dark air.
"I just…" nothing would come out and I cursed my own inability to converse. All of our previous interactions were primarily wordless or about books, and the last two days didn't count.
"It's because you know more about me than you should isn't it?" She really did have a lot of piercing questions. I would find it impressive if it wasn't so…annoying.
"Knowing another person's personal secrets without their consent isn't exactly a good path toward a healthy friendship."
"But do you know everything about me?" Taylor was looking at me, and I wasn't sure what to say or how to respond to her.
"But I still know more than I should and that's not…it can't be fair to you." It felt wrong and manipulative and gross and I hated it. I wasn't that kind of person.
"How extensive is your knowledge really?" We turned a corner; only another block and a half from the invisibility checkpoint.
"It's large in breadth but the specifics are a lot less clear." I had mostly gotten my knowledge from the wiki, fanfiction(unreliable as hell…), and had only read through maybe the first fifteen arcs. Though I had a had a good idea of several of the arcs that were ahead of them…I was lucky I had my omnitool with the timeline, and some other basic content.
What I could trust was that most of the fandom ideas would be wrong and that basically everyone would be slightly different than I would expect. Mainly that they'd be slightly more dickish…well maybe…
"Then there shouldn't be a problem." I slowed my roll, not understanding Taylor's behavior. She had been almost cordial, or even friendly with me. The actual Taylor was supposed to be traumatized…not this…but then maybe being outside of Winslow was helping her. Giving her a freedom that she lacked in the standard story…
Oh. That's it…this isn't a story…to my perspective I mean.
"I think I get it. So you're not angry?" I asked hopefully, preceding to have at least a single companion in the mad wild world.
Taylor's gaze bored into me with her usual cool intensity. "I'm…a little angry…but it's hard to stay angry," she kept moving forward. "You didn't ask for this, you didn't want this." She waved her hands with a grimace. "Basilia…you're a very frank person and that…helps I think."
I suppose it did if the girl who had been betrayed by the bitch who used to call herself her friend was willing to give me a chance.
"That's good I hope. Maybe we can talk about favorite foods on the way? Take up some time…?"
Taylor opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off when she smacked into an an auburn haired teenager. A familiar auburn haired teenager.
She had to be at least sixteen or seventeen years old but I couldn't be sure. A squarish, blunt featured face and thick eyebrows. The muscular build, the permanent glower and the growling dog by her side were dead giveaways to what I was looking at.
The pulsing spark bursting at the seams was the final piece.
Hello Rachel.
"Watch it!" She growled, and her dog(Brutus) growled alongside her. Taylor narrows her eyes, and I made a desperate X-shape with my hands. We moved past her with little fanfare, and I could see Taylor paling at the seven foot tall being walking in tandem with their host. A mix between canine and human, standing about a foot taller than Taylor.
A dark figure, a representation of animalistic brutality in the way it moved. The shard didn't seem to notice us, and I wondered how the loss of the Queen Administrator hadn't been noted across the shard network. I had a few ideas about how, maybe some type of false signature to trick the other shards, or she was still a part of it.
She had mentioned being able to feel the Network…perhaps they simply can't tell
that anything has changed?
I marched confidently as we approached the checkpoint, briefly glancing behind me to check if Rachel was out of sight. A click acted as confirmation that there was no one else in the area actively watching us. The more advanced sensors could pick up the natural disturbances of shard shenanigans.
More specialized sensors might be able to pick up Parahumans with incredible precision…which I was never going to advertise those facts. Perhaps in the future but certainly not in the next month or two.
The drones made their silent approach and my mindset shifted from technology to training.
It was time to get to work.
February 23rd, 2011. 12:45 AM
Basilia Rubio
We had entered the base quickly and stealthily, and after a brief security check I had taken Taylor into a courtyard to start training both her and my airbending. The space was full of a number of plants and even had a few nice trees providing shade. I had cleaned up the area using some of my golem's to trim and water fauna.
I had added a thin canvas above the small open space, a few optical arrays obscuring the activity. Light tubes supplemented lost light, and a small pond had been cleaned and furnished with some koi fish.
I had named them Blue, Red, Ying, and Yang and the fifth had been given the noble name of Steve. The place had provided an area of tranquility once February had gotten started. Even if I hadn't started using it until very recently…it takes a while to clean up a factory.
It was here where our training would begin, a small stone platform that held a training area. One section was open while the other was full of numerous airbending gates I had set up overnight. I hadn't changed since I already had all the clothing necessary(including the appropriate sports bra…) while Taylor was now in a grey sweat-shirt and a black white-striped pair of basketball pants.
"Veda, are you ready to help me out with this?" Taylor jumped as Queen made her reappearance alongside Veda, reducing to a size about equal to her host.
"Yes…though I believe you can speak well enough of the element of Air." Sometimes I wasn't sure if Veda was just lazy or if her knowledge was too crafted toward technology to have a significant amount of data on the elemental martial arts.
"I suppose so." I said with a tilt of my head, stepping on the platform and preparing myself for trying to teach someone. A frightening concept because I could barely try to answer my eight year old brother's question without getting mad or him getting mad at me.
I still managed it sometimes though…I just needed to be less mean spirited.
Taylor looked around the spot with at least some amount of wonder, the tension settling down. A few butterflies that had apparently taken refuge fluttered about with many of them bending around us.
"This place is really pretty, did you fix this up yourself?" She asked. "It's not really common to have places like this in Brockton Bay."
I denied the connection. "I don't really have the time or the patience to garden, I made some robots to do the job. Dedicated little guys." A single machine made my point, hesitantly cutting and pruning, following their strict commands with little deviation permitted. For safety and ethical reasons at the very least…
The humanoid machine was thin and lanky, built for reaching high places and precision rather than manual labor and war. Like a ballet dancer, it's head reaching two and a half meters but only weighing about 100 kilograms. It cut a few branches, cleaning everything using its extensive and well crafted programming matrix.
"It's still really impressive…" her shard had pulled away from us, taking a seat and playing with a number of bugs that had come to greet her from the soil.
I didn't reply, instead focusing on the feeling of air that had been absconded away in my neurotic obsessions to feel safe. My footsteps lightened, and the breeze changed at my weak and unpracticed command. I looked deep within for the words I wanted, knowing the intimacy and feeling of completeness that came with the technology of the soul.
"It's time to get started on our first mutual lesson Taylor. Are you ready?" Her posture bent forward, her hazel eyes growing wide at the change in tone.
"I'm ready…I'm definitely ready." I had gotten her attention and the attention of Queen. The crystal insectile woman was staring with cautious emotion. I smiled and with a deep breath I spoke.
I pointed to a carved image on the ground, four symbols imprinted into the fabric of Veda's corpus. A fifth was placed into the center, a nearly blank circle instead of the more visually comprehensive symbols. Only a symbol of a five pointed star was imprinted…
In through the nose and out through the mouth.
Taylor flinched when I unleashed a blast of fire, manifested from my chi. "Fire is the element of power. Those who yield it are passionate and determined to reach and meet their goals." I stepped on the symbol of the Fire Nation, my hands steaming. With a spiritual pull, a slab of earth was pulled, Taylor looking at me in a new way. "Earth is the element of substance, those of this element are persistent and enduring, able to weather through any hardship."
"You can bend all of them." I smirked at her astonished declaration, and demonstrated with the next element in the lineup.
Water flowed upwards from the pool, a single koi fish jumping out of the bubble back into the pond. Taylor blinked repeatedly.
"Water is the element of change, it's users masters of adaptation and deeply connected to their community. Held together by the deep bonds of love between them…" the bubble dropped back down as I immediately lost control.
"And air?" I had her full attention, hazel lighting with a thirst for knowledge.
A whirlwind swirled as I moved my arms in circular arcs, the wind following my motions. The easiest of the elements besides fire to control…
"Air is the element of freedom, it's masters seeking enlightenment and finding freedom and peace through their knowledge." The wind died down as I stopped the instinctive flow of energy.
"Why is this important? I can only use airbending and biotics." She sounded a little contrite, like what I was saying was interesting but unneeded.
I thought some dissuading her from the notion would be required.
"Taylor, you have to remember that bending is tied to the soul." I absently bent fire, the output of heat bringing to mind the many goals I had to accomplish. "A certain amount of spirituality and mental balance is required to develop yourself to the fullest."
"You're not just talking about powers are we?" Taylor said with an almost insulted tone. I rolled my eyes at that indignation but didn't decide to make a big fuss about it.
"Taylor…I know you won't like to hear this…but you are unbalanced, that's just the nature of Parahumans," I shrugged off her glare. "You have gone through a lot and that means a lot of internal conflict. I can not solve your problems, but I can at the very least try to help you." My lips turned into a fond smile, remembering the past year and the improvements I had made since.
"You…you've gone through stuff too?" She questioned with a furrowing of her eyebrows.
"Not quite, but I did go to a therapist for a little over a year. I had trouble adapting to life after high school. I was…just so tired of regressing…I wanted to get better." There had to be some influence from Veda here. I usually wasn't this…charismatic.
Or maybe I just had an easier time understanding Taylor…?
"Did it work?" There was an undercurrent of interest in her voice.
"It was still ongoing before now…but it had been down to once a month," I explained, not wanting to give her false hope. "It takes time and work to break habits, to change and to keep changing." I was not an adaptive person, but I could still cope with change easily enough…with some pain and effort.
"So what does knowing about the four elements have to do with my airbending?" She was no longer contrite, and I felt proud that I had convinced her.
"Because it's not good to draw from just one source of knowledge," Veda nodded behind Taylor. "You becomes more adaptable, more able to grow and change. Instead of becoming rigid and stale…" A few of the people of this world came to mind.
"I think I get it…growing stagnant isn't really healthy." There was a brief sense of epiphany from the willowy teenager. Her eyebrows drew together, and the question was thrown into the air without a thought. "Then what is biotics…or Void?"
Ahh…that would be a little more difficult.
I brushed a lock behind my ear without thinking about it. "Void is a little stranger than the other elements but I'll try my best."
Taylor nodded. "Okay."
"Void represents that which is beyond the physical, Void is the martial arts of the soul." A puzzle piece I hadn't even noticed clicked into place, and I retrieved a fragment of Eezo. She looked curiously at the exotic matter particulate.
"Soul…" at her whisper images came unbidden, bans loosening ever so slightly.
Flashes of civilization that came long after the races I had borrowed from. They did not use the miracle substance…not directly. Those who once were drew upon spiritual power in a different way…and then the flash of insight was gone.
"This little guy here…is made from the stuff of souls clinging to matter." She looked a little queasy and I laughed a bit. "It's more a little drip really, a byproduct of the journey of the soul. A crystalline solidification of quintessence…that is what we control."
"Basilia you can't just drop bombshells like that!" Taylor hissed and I dodged a swat from her, bouncing on currents of air.
I threw my hands to the side, a stern look on my face. "If not now, when? I'm not going to leave you in the dark, we're working in uncharted territory here. I want to help you get through this…I want to get through this."
Taylor was exasperated but fortunately understanding. "Just…give a little warning next time…alright?"
I clapped my hands, moving back on topic. "Alright then, airbending is the topic for today's lesson." She smiled and it lasted longer than before, less robotic than usual. "Air is all about spiral movements, you must be flexible and able to go around conflict. To take the path of least resistance like the wind itself."
I gestured with my fingers for her approach. When she did as I asked I changed my stance, carefully adjusting to do my best mimicry of Baguazhang.
"What next?"
"Well since you can use air already, we don't need meditation until a little later," Taylor didn't look enthusiastic about the future. "I'm sure you've been learning some martial arts and self defense am I right?"
"Yes I've been studying a lot of videos, and practicing them…as well as getting physically up to par." She flexed an arm with disappointment, and I couldn't believe my eyes that she didn't see the growing definition.
"Then copy me." I said with false confidence. "Keep your elbows in, your torso straight, and your feet skimming the ground." Taylor mimicked my stance with ease, and we began to circle around each other.
'You must gather the air now…do you remember the move?' Veda mentally asked, showing off the spiral movement to make sure.
I do.
Funnels of wind were gathered with the moves I used and then showed to Taylor. Though it took an extra attempt to make it a little more accurate. Once the single spiraling move was performed, air and wind continued to orbit us as we circled each other.
"You're picking all of this up pretty quick. Not bad." I gave her a compliment, genuinely impressed because she was doing this a lot easier than I had with fire only a few weeks prior.
"T-Thank you." The sound of rushing wind was strong but provided a tranquility I usually didn't experience.
This had been a rather nice moment…I think I was going to like teaching and learning airbending. Eventually I would come to learn Biotics as well the other elements left to master.
While I was certainly no Avatar, and would in fact never be one I was no slouch either.
"Well…there's certainly a lot to learn, hopefully Veda has something up her sleeve to help with the training." Veda started laughing startling Taylor and I, Queen giving her a second glance.
She didn't stop even when we begged her to and I had a bad feeling about this.
…
Oh god, I think I've made an awful mistake.
Basilia Rubio
I nursed a bruise on my face after the third time getting a combination of a wooden door to the face, a suspended sandbag to the butt, and and then knocking my head on a balancing pole.
Taylor was instead dabbing medi-gel on her stomach where she had slammed onto a climbing wall by accident. She had to lift her shirt in the process which I found a little embarrassing. Not that I would tell her that.
"Veda I really wish you were more physical so I could punch you." I growled, the childlike giggles only worsening my mood.
"I thought airbenders were supposed to be about peace?" Taylor's sudden quip triggered a snort of fire, and she covered up her mouth. Like she was hiding a la—
How dare she mock me! It isn't funny!
"I'm a firebender first Taylor, we're all about passion and that includes anger." I informed her, barely able to keep my temper in check.
"I can see what you mean." Oh god I think she really is teasing me now. Now I'm wondering what the hell a social Taylor free of her old inhibitions would look like.
Poor…Sophia.
I stared at the obstacle course hastily but efficiently constructed by robots that Veda had managed to command to operate while I was teaching Taylor and even myself. It resembled the one from the show, a practical death trap for normal people with balance poles, swinging sandbags, a rope cross and a rock wall. More than a ton of omni-gel has been used up in the process but the course had served well as a training method.
Direct, the largely physical methods were effective if painful and mildly terrifying to my natural and intense aversion to pain. It was at least less terrifying than having to take biotic punts to the face, and seeing Taylor fail alongside me made it less humiliating.
Turns out seeing another person face plant on the same part that stumped you makes you feel better about yourself. Who knew.
"So…did I do well? Are there any more questions you need answered?" The input would be nice, since I didn't know what the hell I was doing.
Taylor released her shirt, leaning back against a bench with a barely visible grin. "No I don't really have any more questions, you did a good job explaining what I needed to know…" again stilted was an accurate choice of words, but sincere was another choice I could make.
"That's great because I had no idea what I was doing." The confession came easily.
…
…?
"I had the feeling that was the case already." She shrugged her shoulders, grabbing an ordered towel and wiping off the heads of sweat accumulated from an hour and a half of intense workouts. "I'm not oblivious you know, but you were still trying your best." My ears felt like they were on fire, and I answered with nervous laughter.
…
…
The silence lingered for some time after, but instead of it being uncomfortable it was more an acknowledgement of a want for peace and quiet. I simply enjoyed the moment, feeling the light breeze from being in a semi-open space. The garden of tranquility in what felt like a sea of chaos that radiated from everywhere in the city.
It was why I did everything I could to remain under the radar, rarely going in person for salvaged materials. The vibes of the people left me anxious and unhappy so I stayed at home where it wasn't completely suffocating. The base was another area of calmness, with even the local spirit world itself reflecting the environment.
Which was going to be a very big problem soon enough.
Unbalanced worlds often led to events like rifts, tears into the spirit world where their inhabitants could manifest into the physical world. All sorts of horrifying entities would be free to terrorize the population through a number of methods. Forceful possession, simply Darwinian violence, or unnatural disasters, flooding during droughts, massive supernatural fires burning homes and towns to the ground.
It would be even worse if a great spirit ever managed to manifest, nothing short of an Endbringer would be able to hurt them much less kill them. In some cases they would be truly invulnerable do to what they represent. Something like life or death wouldn't be so easily defeated for example.
I would have to start more intensive shamanistic training just to keep us alive in a city as unbalanced as Brockton Bay.
"I've been thinking about registering as an Independent." Taylor broke the silence of her own accord. "You were planning on doing the same thing right?"
"I guess? That doesn't mean you have to." Her expression was now amused. I coughed.
"I was going to do that on my own anyway…I don't think I'm really cut out for the Wards," she sighed loudly. "But trying to go out on my own probably isn't a good idea either."
Yeah…the first thing that happens to Taylor is running into a rage dragon and getting thought of as a villain by actual villains and a superhero you admire.
Wait.
"Are you saying you want to umm…team up?" I didn't expect her to do that, but then she's not an idiot. Well…not a total one…she might not have the same impulses that pushed her into everything she did over the course of the novel.
"Well yeah…you don't seem so bad and you made it easier for me to be a hero." The wind gathering with the twist of her arms added weight and emphasis to her words. "I had a few ideas that you helped make more serious, like using my powers to make some money."
Oh yeah. That's something I've been setting up for…the Parahuman business laws in this version of Earth Bet have thankfully lightened up before I came to this world. I would have to set up an LLC and get all the appropriate paperwork in, and then start building away.
Dad would be so proud.
I returned back to my senses. "What kind of ideas…?"
"Mostly spider silk and seafood, since I can control both pretty easily." That quickly gave an idea.
"Oh that could synergize well with one of my machines." Taylor's eyes gleamed and I knew I had her.
"For my spider silk? I don't think seafood really works well with your tech…" Taylor guessed correctly, and I followed up with my response.
"Indeed. I'm thinking of using your silk as a basis for carbon nanotube composites for armor. I'm imagining you had that same idea for just silk?" Taylor didn't need to say a thing for the obvious. "While spiders can naturally incorporate carbon nanotubes and graphene flakes, my tech would make them into carbon tubes with a coating of silk."
It was a necessity because of the dangerous properties of carbon nanotubes, and an endless source of carbon from gathering bugs is a pretty hidden source.
"I could make my costume using those." Taylor looked ecstatic, and I already had plans for changing her costume to a tougher stronger material. There was a number of alien chitin analogues tough enough to rival nano-ceramic and laser steel for resistance to bullets. Add some strong kinetic barriers and you have a low class brute on your hands.
We ended up spending another thirty minutes talking shop before Taylor had to return home since she was still prepping for her GED. From what I could tell her test was apparently in March and she was already ahead in the lesson plan.
…
Today had been productive and fun.
I think having a friend around was keeping me a little more grounded than before. It has also finally shocked me back into making a stronger effort to affect the future. I might not be able to stop Canberra, but there was at least a few things I could check out to prevent other shit from happening.
AN: So I've started writing up even further ahead, a good two Arc buffer once I finish up with publishing Arc 2. There's a steady build of tech, material resources and even people. Things will start shifting and picking up from here, because Canon is pretty much been shot by now.
I've also been starting to read Worm for myself, because that was one of the problems I had with writing this story. Before this I had already read a ton of fanfic, but never much of the OG story. It sounded way too depressing until I realized that Avatar of Victory(the inspiration for this story) had just as many dark elements and had nearly two million words and never even finished.
Worm is definitely more of a slog though, but that's just my own take. So far I'm up to 12.4, and I'll probably read up…to…20 maybe? I'm already pretty much spoiled on the plot, but better detail would help with my writing.
I'll probably still mess a few things up, but I've already changed the world a bit since it's fanfiction.
I hope you all enjoy my further writings, because I have a lot saved up.
February 23rd, 2011. 12:30 AM
Basilia Rubio
I waited with impatience as time felt like it was dragging on. The Hebert's and I had settled the schedule over the phone, though it was worded very differently. He would bring Taylor over, and I would take her to the warehouse. While I had mentioned that Danny could just take us directly, he preferred we take the stealth route unless I was ready for the base to be semi-public at one point.
I was probably going to give him the address at some point, since the DWU works pretty close by. Having people more experienced with the area might be helpful in the near future.
In this case I didn't have my armor, instead picking a white sleeved tank-top and jeans with a 'belt' on it. The belt was in fact a kinetic barrier, and almost as strong as the one for my older armor. My Omni-tool glowed, acting as the command center for four specialized drones built for a single task.
They were phased optical arrays tuned toward visible and infrared light that would generate near perfect images that would show nothing where we would be standing. Very cheap, and with a lower heat signature than stealth fields involving bending light. Mostly…
There was a knock on the door, and with a fast check of the front door camera I opened the entrance to my guest. Her fist nearly bumped into the bridge of my nose, and I peered up into the reddened face of Taylor.
A little fire of happiness built up in my stomach, and I greeted her. "Hello again Taylor. I'm sure you're prepared appropriately for today?"
My fellow brunette purposely jostled a gym bag, her lips perking up into a smile before retracting as if she was confused.
"Yeah…I brought some clothes to change into…so how are we going to do this?" She tilted her head. "You never mentioned how we were going to hide once we got close."
A drone wooshed past her head in near complete silence, Taylor twitching when a fly was swatted out of the way.
"I've made some new toys which should make our trip a little less conspicuous." I purposely arched my back, showing off my pride in my accomplishments. Taylor rolled her eyes and I pouted back at her.
"Are robots your solution for everything?" She settled the strap of the bag into a more comfortable position.
I shook my head. "No of course not, if a drone isn't the solution then some hyperluminal plasma is."
"What." Her flat reply made me laugh and I pushed her lightly to get her moving. She walked with anger in every step, but the muted sound betrayed her newfound lineage.
"Eezo is some pretty crazy stuff, it can be used to build starships if you make a big enough core and with high enough quality." Taylor expressed some interest though she didn't say much.
I quietly shut and locked the door, the click alerting the fellow superhuman. She quickly took off ahead of me, her larger strides easily outpacing my smaller steps. Oddly enough her strut was a little more elegant than mine, a hint of lightness to each step. Some timidity as well…though it was clearly fading.
Mine was more of a march, my weight pressing down on the ground with each of my steps. I'm not sure if that's how I naturally walked or if I was off due to my previously male existence.
Huh…I've managed to not think about that for what felt like weeks now…was I coping or just unhealthily suppressing my problems with the idea? Hell I'm pretty sure I've worn more or less only five different outfits in the past month because I don't want to go out and buy or make more. It wouldn't be very easy to buy it either, since some of my measurements were…rather excessive. Anyway…
We walked along the sidewalk in a slightly off silence, having an inkling that this was supposed to be awkward if Taylor's fidgeting was any indication. As for me while I did tend to get anxious sometimes I was doing alright at the moment.
"Hmm…" Taylor covered up a cough, a hint of red on both her cheeks.
"If you want to make conversation I don't have an issue about talking about myself," making light of the situation might break the ice. "I'm pretty narcissistic like that." Taylor cracked a smile, and the success emboldened me. "So what do you want to ask first?" She was no longer as happy, but her burning curiosity was a nice look on her.
"What was it like back home?" Was the first query to come out of her mouth.
"Peaceful, a lot more peaceful than Brockton Bay…" What went unsaid was that I meant the planet as a whole. "I was…pretty much getting my whole life in order. Registered for classes…was planning to start running. Everything was going well." This was a more depressing topic than I expected.
"What about your family?" My despondency increases but I didn't stop talking, like I needed to vent to someone.
"My family was great…not perfect but great. I had my dad, my mom, and two younger brothers. Brother and half-brother respectively, not that it matters." A slight difference in blood relation does not mean I should favor one over the other.
"Half?" Taylor questioned.
"They divorced a while back, private business that's been basically dealt with." Those years near the end had been mentally and emotionally exhausting and left me with some feelings of resentment. Though I had gradually gotten over them as the years passed and I grew older and wiser.
Not that I was a real bastion of maturity or anything.
"Sorry." I patted her arm, hoping to alleviate her worries.
"It's fine I'm pretty much over it, but besides that my family was…is generally doing well." I choked, a well of emotion that I found unusual moving past my defenses.
"We don't have to talk about that…if you don't want to…" her reply was stilted but genuine and I pressed closer as the Docks loomed far in front of us with a dark air.
"I just…" nothing would come out and I cursed my own inability to converse. All of our previous interactions were primarily wordless or about books, and the last two days didn't count.
"It's because you know more about me than you should isn't it?" She really did have a lot of piercing questions. I would find it impressive if it wasn't so…annoying.
"Knowing another person's personal secrets without their consent isn't exactly a good path toward a healthy friendship."
"But do you know everything about me?" Taylor was looking at me, and I wasn't sure what to say or how to respond to her.
"But I still know more than I should and that's not…it can't be fair to you." It felt wrong and manipulative and gross and I hated it. I wasn't that kind of person.
"How extensive is your knowledge really?" We turned a corner; only another block and a half from the invisibility checkpoint.
"It's large in breadth but the specifics are a lot less clear." I had mostly gotten my knowledge from the wiki, fanfiction(unreliable as hell…), and had only read through maybe the first fifteen arcs. Though I had a had a good idea of several of the arcs that were ahead of them…I was lucky I had my omnitool with the timeline, and some other basic content.
What I could trust was that most of the fandom ideas would be wrong and that basically everyone would be slightly different than I would expect. Mainly that they'd be slightly more dickish…well maybe…
"Then there shouldn't be a problem." I slowed my roll, not understanding Taylor's behavior. She had been almost cordial, or even friendly with me. The actual Taylor was supposed to be traumatized…not this…but then maybe being outside of Winslow was helping her. Giving her a freedom that she lacked in the standard story…
Oh. That's it…this isn't a story…to my perspective I mean.
"I think I get it. So you're not angry?" I asked hopefully, preceding to have at least a single companion in the mad wild world.
Taylor's gaze bored into me with her usual cool intensity. "I'm…a little angry…but it's hard to stay angry," she kept moving forward. "You didn't ask for this, you didn't want this." She waved her hands with a grimace. "Basilia…you're a very frank person and that…helps I think."
I suppose it did if the girl who had been betrayed by the bitch who used to call herself her friend was willing to give me a chance.
"That's good I hope. Maybe we can talk about favorite foods on the way? Take up some time…?"
Taylor opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off when she smacked into an an auburn haired teenager. A familiar auburn haired teenager.
She had to be at least sixteen or seventeen years old but I couldn't be sure. A squarish, blunt featured face and thick eyebrows. The muscular build, the permanent glower and the growling dog by her side were dead giveaways to what I was looking at.
The pulsing spark bursting at the seams was the final piece.
Hello Rachel.
"Watch it!" She growled, and her dog(Brutus) growled alongside her. Taylor narrows her eyes, and I made a desperate X-shape with my hands. We moved past her with little fanfare, and I could see Taylor paling at the seven foot tall being walking in tandem with their host. A mix between canine and human, standing about a foot taller than Taylor.
A dark figure, a representation of animalistic brutality in the way it moved. The shard didn't seem to notice us, and I wondered how the loss of the Queen Administrator hadn't been noted across the shard network. I had a few ideas about how, maybe some type of false signature to trick the other shards, or she was still a part of it.
She had mentioned being able to feel the Network…perhaps they simply can't tell
that anything has changed?
I marched confidently as we approached the checkpoint, briefly glancing behind me to check if Rachel was out of sight. A click acted as confirmation that there was no one else in the area actively watching us. The more advanced sensors could pick up the natural disturbances of shard shenanigans.
More specialized sensors might be able to pick up Parahumans with incredible precision…which I was never going to advertise those facts. Perhaps in the future but certainly not in the next month or two.
The drones made their silent approach and my mindset shifted from technology to training.
It was time to get to work.
___
February 23rd, 2011. 12:45 AM
Basilia Rubio
We had entered the base quickly and stealthily, and after a brief security check I had taken Taylor into a courtyard to start training both her and my airbending. The space was full of a number of plants and even had a few nice trees providing shade. I had cleaned up the area using some of my golem's to trim and water fauna.
I had added a thin canvas above the small open space, a few optical arrays obscuring the activity. Light tubes supplemented lost light, and a small pond had been cleaned and furnished with some koi fish.
I had named them Blue, Red, Ying, and Yang and the fifth had been given the noble name of Steve. The place had provided an area of tranquility once February had gotten started. Even if I hadn't started using it until very recently…it takes a while to clean up a factory.
It was here where our training would begin, a small stone platform that held a training area. One section was open while the other was full of numerous airbending gates I had set up overnight. I hadn't changed since I already had all the clothing necessary(including the appropriate sports bra…) while Taylor was now in a grey sweat-shirt and a black white-striped pair of basketball pants.
"Veda, are you ready to help me out with this?" Taylor jumped as Queen made her reappearance alongside Veda, reducing to a size about equal to her host.
"Yes…though I believe you can speak well enough of the element of Air." Sometimes I wasn't sure if Veda was just lazy or if her knowledge was too crafted toward technology to have a significant amount of data on the elemental martial arts.
"I suppose so." I said with a tilt of my head, stepping on the platform and preparing myself for trying to teach someone. A frightening concept because I could barely try to answer my eight year old brother's question without getting mad or him getting mad at me.
I still managed it sometimes though…I just needed to be less mean spirited.
Taylor looked around the spot with at least some amount of wonder, the tension settling down. A few butterflies that had apparently taken refuge fluttered about with many of them bending around us.
"This place is really pretty, did you fix this up yourself?" She asked. "It's not really common to have places like this in Brockton Bay."
I denied the connection. "I don't really have the time or the patience to garden, I made some robots to do the job. Dedicated little guys." A single machine made my point, hesitantly cutting and pruning, following their strict commands with little deviation permitted. For safety and ethical reasons at the very least…
The humanoid machine was thin and lanky, built for reaching high places and precision rather than manual labor and war. Like a ballet dancer, it's head reaching two and a half meters but only weighing about 100 kilograms. It cut a few branches, cleaning everything using its extensive and well crafted programming matrix.
"It's still really impressive…" her shard had pulled away from us, taking a seat and playing with a number of bugs that had come to greet her from the soil.
I didn't reply, instead focusing on the feeling of air that had been absconded away in my neurotic obsessions to feel safe. My footsteps lightened, and the breeze changed at my weak and unpracticed command. I looked deep within for the words I wanted, knowing the intimacy and feeling of completeness that came with the technology of the soul.
"It's time to get started on our first mutual lesson Taylor. Are you ready?" Her posture bent forward, her hazel eyes growing wide at the change in tone.
"I'm ready…I'm definitely ready." I had gotten her attention and the attention of Queen. The crystal insectile woman was staring with cautious emotion. I smiled and with a deep breath I spoke.
I pointed to a carved image on the ground, four symbols imprinted into the fabric of Veda's corpus. A fifth was placed into the center, a nearly blank circle instead of the more visually comprehensive symbols. Only a symbol of a five pointed star was imprinted…
In through the nose and out through the mouth.
Taylor flinched when I unleashed a blast of fire, manifested from my chi. "Fire is the element of power. Those who yield it are passionate and determined to reach and meet their goals." I stepped on the symbol of the Fire Nation, my hands steaming. With a spiritual pull, a slab of earth was pulled, Taylor looking at me in a new way. "Earth is the element of substance, those of this element are persistent and enduring, able to weather through any hardship."
"You can bend all of them." I smirked at her astonished declaration, and demonstrated with the next element in the lineup.
Water flowed upwards from the pool, a single koi fish jumping out of the bubble back into the pond. Taylor blinked repeatedly.
"Water is the element of change, it's users masters of adaptation and deeply connected to their community. Held together by the deep bonds of love between them…" the bubble dropped back down as I immediately lost control.
"And air?" I had her full attention, hazel lighting with a thirst for knowledge.
A whirlwind swirled as I moved my arms in circular arcs, the wind following my motions. The easiest of the elements besides fire to control…
"Air is the element of freedom, it's masters seeking enlightenment and finding freedom and peace through their knowledge." The wind died down as I stopped the instinctive flow of energy.
"Why is this important? I can only use airbending and biotics." She sounded a little contrite, like what I was saying was interesting but unneeded.
I thought some dissuading her from the notion would be required.
"Taylor, you have to remember that bending is tied to the soul." I absently bent fire, the output of heat bringing to mind the many goals I had to accomplish. "A certain amount of spirituality and mental balance is required to develop yourself to the fullest."
"You're not just talking about powers are we?" Taylor said with an almost insulted tone. I rolled my eyes at that indignation but didn't decide to make a big fuss about it.
"Taylor…I know you won't like to hear this…but you are unbalanced, that's just the nature of Parahumans," I shrugged off her glare. "You have gone through a lot and that means a lot of internal conflict. I can not solve your problems, but I can at the very least try to help you." My lips turned into a fond smile, remembering the past year and the improvements I had made since.
"You…you've gone through stuff too?" She questioned with a furrowing of her eyebrows.
"Not quite, but I did go to a therapist for a little over a year. I had trouble adapting to life after high school. I was…just so tired of regressing…I wanted to get better." There had to be some influence from Veda here. I usually wasn't this…charismatic.
Or maybe I just had an easier time understanding Taylor…?
"Did it work?" There was an undercurrent of interest in her voice.
"It was still ongoing before now…but it had been down to once a month," I explained, not wanting to give her false hope. "It takes time and work to break habits, to change and to keep changing." I was not an adaptive person, but I could still cope with change easily enough…with some pain and effort.
"So what does knowing about the four elements have to do with my airbending?" She was no longer contrite, and I felt proud that I had convinced her.
"Because it's not good to draw from just one source of knowledge," Veda nodded behind Taylor. "You becomes more adaptable, more able to grow and change. Instead of becoming rigid and stale…" A few of the people of this world came to mind.
"I think I get it…growing stagnant isn't really healthy." There was a brief sense of epiphany from the willowy teenager. Her eyebrows drew together, and the question was thrown into the air without a thought. "Then what is biotics…or Void?"
Ahh…that would be a little more difficult.
I brushed a lock behind my ear without thinking about it. "Void is a little stranger than the other elements but I'll try my best."
Taylor nodded. "Okay."
"Void represents that which is beyond the physical, Void is the martial arts of the soul." A puzzle piece I hadn't even noticed clicked into place, and I retrieved a fragment of Eezo. She looked curiously at the exotic matter particulate.
"Soul…" at her whisper images came unbidden, bans loosening ever so slightly.
Flashes of civilization that came long after the races I had borrowed from. They did not use the miracle substance…not directly. Those who once were drew upon spiritual power in a different way…and then the flash of insight was gone.
"This little guy here…is made from the stuff of souls clinging to matter." She looked a little queasy and I laughed a bit. "It's more a little drip really, a byproduct of the journey of the soul. A crystalline solidification of quintessence…that is what we control."
"Basilia you can't just drop bombshells like that!" Taylor hissed and I dodged a swat from her, bouncing on currents of air.
I threw my hands to the side, a stern look on my face. "If not now, when? I'm not going to leave you in the dark, we're working in uncharted territory here. I want to help you get through this…I want to get through this."
Taylor was exasperated but fortunately understanding. "Just…give a little warning next time…alright?"
I clapped my hands, moving back on topic. "Alright then, airbending is the topic for today's lesson." She smiled and it lasted longer than before, less robotic than usual. "Air is all about spiral movements, you must be flexible and able to go around conflict. To take the path of least resistance like the wind itself."
I gestured with my fingers for her approach. When she did as I asked I changed my stance, carefully adjusting to do my best mimicry of Baguazhang.
"What next?"
"Well since you can use air already, we don't need meditation until a little later," Taylor didn't look enthusiastic about the future. "I'm sure you've been learning some martial arts and self defense am I right?"
"Yes I've been studying a lot of videos, and practicing them…as well as getting physically up to par." She flexed an arm with disappointment, and I couldn't believe my eyes that she didn't see the growing definition.
"Then copy me." I said with false confidence. "Keep your elbows in, your torso straight, and your feet skimming the ground." Taylor mimicked my stance with ease, and we began to circle around each other.
'You must gather the air now…do you remember the move?' Veda mentally asked, showing off the spiral movement to make sure.
I do.
Funnels of wind were gathered with the moves I used and then showed to Taylor. Though it took an extra attempt to make it a little more accurate. Once the single spiraling move was performed, air and wind continued to orbit us as we circled each other.
"You're picking all of this up pretty quick. Not bad." I gave her a compliment, genuinely impressed because she was doing this a lot easier than I had with fire only a few weeks prior.
"T-Thank you." The sound of rushing wind was strong but provided a tranquility I usually didn't experience.
This had been a rather nice moment…I think I was going to like teaching and learning airbending. Eventually I would come to learn Biotics as well the other elements left to master.
While I was certainly no Avatar, and would in fact never be one I was no slouch either.
"Well…there's certainly a lot to learn, hopefully Veda has something up her sleeve to help with the training." Veda started laughing startling Taylor and I, Queen giving her a second glance.
She didn't stop even when we begged her to and I had a bad feeling about this.
…
Oh god, I think I've made an awful mistake.
___
February 23rd, 2011. 3:30 PM
Basilia Rubio
I nursed a bruise on my face after the third time getting a combination of a wooden door to the face, a suspended sandbag to the butt, and and then knocking my head on a balancing pole.
Taylor was instead dabbing medi-gel on her stomach where she had slammed onto a climbing wall by accident. She had to lift her shirt in the process which I found a little embarrassing. Not that I would tell her that.
"Veda I really wish you were more physical so I could punch you." I growled, the childlike giggles only worsening my mood.
"I thought airbenders were supposed to be about peace?" Taylor's sudden quip triggered a snort of fire, and she covered up her mouth. Like she was hiding a la—
How dare she mock me! It isn't funny!
"I'm a firebender first Taylor, we're all about passion and that includes anger." I informed her, barely able to keep my temper in check.
"I can see what you mean." Oh god I think she really is teasing me now. Now I'm wondering what the hell a social Taylor free of her old inhibitions would look like.
Poor…Sophia.
I stared at the obstacle course hastily but efficiently constructed by robots that Veda had managed to command to operate while I was teaching Taylor and even myself. It resembled the one from the show, a practical death trap for normal people with balance poles, swinging sandbags, a rope cross and a rock wall. More than a ton of omni-gel has been used up in the process but the course had served well as a training method.
Direct, the largely physical methods were effective if painful and mildly terrifying to my natural and intense aversion to pain. It was at least less terrifying than having to take biotic punts to the face, and seeing Taylor fail alongside me made it less humiliating.
Turns out seeing another person face plant on the same part that stumped you makes you feel better about yourself. Who knew.
"So…did I do well? Are there any more questions you need answered?" The input would be nice, since I didn't know what the hell I was doing.
Taylor released her shirt, leaning back against a bench with a barely visible grin. "No I don't really have any more questions, you did a good job explaining what I needed to know…" again stilted was an accurate choice of words, but sincere was another choice I could make.
"That's great because I had no idea what I was doing." The confession came easily.
…
…?
"I had the feeling that was the case already." She shrugged her shoulders, grabbing an ordered towel and wiping off the heads of sweat accumulated from an hour and a half of intense workouts. "I'm not oblivious you know, but you were still trying your best." My ears felt like they were on fire, and I answered with nervous laughter.
…
…
The silence lingered for some time after, but instead of it being uncomfortable it was more an acknowledgement of a want for peace and quiet. I simply enjoyed the moment, feeling the light breeze from being in a semi-open space. The garden of tranquility in what felt like a sea of chaos that radiated from everywhere in the city.
It was why I did everything I could to remain under the radar, rarely going in person for salvaged materials. The vibes of the people left me anxious and unhappy so I stayed at home where it wasn't completely suffocating. The base was another area of calmness, with even the local spirit world itself reflecting the environment.
Which was going to be a very big problem soon enough.
Unbalanced worlds often led to events like rifts, tears into the spirit world where their inhabitants could manifest into the physical world. All sorts of horrifying entities would be free to terrorize the population through a number of methods. Forceful possession, simply Darwinian violence, or unnatural disasters, flooding during droughts, massive supernatural fires burning homes and towns to the ground.
It would be even worse if a great spirit ever managed to manifest, nothing short of an Endbringer would be able to hurt them much less kill them. In some cases they would be truly invulnerable do to what they represent. Something like life or death wouldn't be so easily defeated for example.
I would have to start more intensive shamanistic training just to keep us alive in a city as unbalanced as Brockton Bay.
"I've been thinking about registering as an Independent." Taylor broke the silence of her own accord. "You were planning on doing the same thing right?"
"I guess? That doesn't mean you have to." Her expression was now amused. I coughed.
"I was going to do that on my own anyway…I don't think I'm really cut out for the Wards," she sighed loudly. "But trying to go out on my own probably isn't a good idea either."
Yeah…the first thing that happens to Taylor is running into a rage dragon and getting thought of as a villain by actual villains and a superhero you admire.
Wait.
"Are you saying you want to umm…team up?" I didn't expect her to do that, but then she's not an idiot. Well…not a total one…she might not have the same impulses that pushed her into everything she did over the course of the novel.
"Well yeah…you don't seem so bad and you made it easier for me to be a hero." The wind gathering with the twist of her arms added weight and emphasis to her words. "I had a few ideas that you helped make more serious, like using my powers to make some money."
Oh yeah. That's something I've been setting up for…the Parahuman business laws in this version of Earth Bet have thankfully lightened up before I came to this world. I would have to set up an LLC and get all the appropriate paperwork in, and then start building away.
Dad would be so proud.
I returned back to my senses. "What kind of ideas…?"
"Mostly spider silk and seafood, since I can control both pretty easily." That quickly gave an idea.
"Oh that could synergize well with one of my machines." Taylor's eyes gleamed and I knew I had her.
"For my spider silk? I don't think seafood really works well with your tech…" Taylor guessed correctly, and I followed up with my response.
"Indeed. I'm thinking of using your silk as a basis for carbon nanotube composites for armor. I'm imagining you had that same idea for just silk?" Taylor didn't need to say a thing for the obvious. "While spiders can naturally incorporate carbon nanotubes and graphene flakes, my tech would make them into carbon tubes with a coating of silk."
It was a necessity because of the dangerous properties of carbon nanotubes, and an endless source of carbon from gathering bugs is a pretty hidden source.
"I could make my costume using those." Taylor looked ecstatic, and I already had plans for changing her costume to a tougher stronger material. There was a number of alien chitin analogues tough enough to rival nano-ceramic and laser steel for resistance to bullets. Add some strong kinetic barriers and you have a low class brute on your hands.
We ended up spending another thirty minutes talking shop before Taylor had to return home since she was still prepping for her GED. From what I could tell her test was apparently in March and she was already ahead in the lesson plan.
…
Today had been productive and fun.
I think having a friend around was keeping me a little more grounded than before. It has also finally shocked me back into making a stronger effort to affect the future. I might not be able to stop Canberra, but there was at least a few things I could check out to prevent other shit from happening.
___
AN: So I've started writing up even further ahead, a good two Arc buffer once I finish up with publishing Arc 2. There's a steady build of tech, material resources and even people. Things will start shifting and picking up from here, because Canon is pretty much been shot by now.
I've also been starting to read Worm for myself, because that was one of the problems I had with writing this story. Before this I had already read a ton of fanfic, but never much of the OG story. It sounded way too depressing until I realized that Avatar of Victory(the inspiration for this story) had just as many dark elements and had nearly two million words and never even finished.
Worm is definitely more of a slog though, but that's just my own take. So far I'm up to 12.4, and I'll probably read up…to…20 maybe? I'm already pretty much spoiled on the plot, but better detail would help with my writing.
I'll probably still mess a few things up, but I've already changed the world a bit since it's fanfiction.
I hope you all enjoy my further writings, because I have a lot saved up.
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Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
looked
onto the
an endbringer
LostArchivist
Sane, unfortunately.
- Location
- The State of Confusion
I do believe you meant less conspicuous.
wish, present tense.
I have to say I'm enjoying this story. I want to see where it ends up going. Admittedly, I'd have tried to target Coil by now, but that's me.
- Location
- Chula Vista
To be fair, Basilia doesen't have much confidence in being able to deal with Precogs, even if she knows how their powers work. She also can't really target his identity either. She does plan to deal with him eventually but she needs more substantial resources.I do believe you meant less conspicuous.
wish, present tense.
I have to say I'm enjoying this story. I want to see where it ends up going. Admittedly, I'd have tried to target Coil by now, but that's me.
- Location
- United States
Dont dis the robot cook gordon ramsay untill you try it
You just can't go from raging about changed gender to "I had always been an Apple sort of guy…Err…girl now" with less than a minute in between. You know, 5 stages of grief and all that. He either should work and suffer to reach acceptance, or be okay about the change from the start. Not change his mind like a switch. People don't work that way.
Also, mc's reaction to the change itself feels very fake, like... either because he only pretends to be mad, or because he is written by female [in which case it's both] (Idk author's gender but at this point that was what I thought).
Also, mc's reaction to the change itself feels very fake, like... either because he only pretends to be mad, or because he is written by female [in which case it's both] (Idk author's gender but at this point that was what I thought).
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"I just needed to print out the papers themselves, which thankfully wouldn't take long since there were online services to order them."
Says the guy who easily transmutes and rearranges matter on tiniest of levels and makes powerful computer out of scraps in a matter of minutes. Yeah, totally believable. Papers are so much harder to make than supercomputers after all.
Says the guy who easily transmutes and rearranges matter on tiniest of levels and makes powerful computer out of scraps in a matter of minutes. Yeah, totally believable. Papers are so much harder to make than supercomputers after all.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
When diplomacy failed and violence isn't working, apply more violence.
I'm pretty sure Taylor's just kind of humoring Bas at this point. She's probably thinking "typical Tinker stuff, proud of their stuff and their eyes on the horizon."
Can't wait for all that repressed denial to explode! Or when Taylor finds out. I mean, once Taylor gets more comfortable, she'd probably mention "hey, I couldn't help but notice that you have two shirts, a jacket, and three pants. I have some old clothes that might fit you, or I might be able to afford an article or two of clothing --if money's the reason..." And from there to the awkward "I was a guy, now I'm not. It was freaky at the start --bathrooms, for example --but now I've found that I'm actually reasonably comfortable as a woman and... I'm not sure how I feel about that, yet."
Not to mention whatever deviations you choose to make. It's fanfiction, after all.
Because Bas is so blunt, so forward, and so --helplessly --genuine, Taylor can read her. As Taylor grows to know Bas more, she can easily see what she's thinking and/or feeling. So there's not the danger of "this friend might backstab me" the way Emma did. Because Taylor's more observant now and Bas is so transparent that Taylor'd see it coming a mile away. So it's safe for Taylor to trust Bas.
"Forced gender reassignment, new world, new powers, I've found that souls exist and that spirits walk beside us. Yeah, I've been through things."
"When souls --which exist, by the way --move on, they leave this magic ectoplasm that I harness to break all the known laws of reality."
I actually like Taylor opening up. Not many people show what her personality is like amongst true friends --I don't count the Undersiders because Taylor desperately wanted their companionship and Tattletale manipulated Taylor constantly.
Woo! Super friends!
Remember, this is fanfiction. If you discover that you don't like something about canon, then change it. Make Eidolon a stud. Make Aegis a nerd. Make Clockblocker philosophical. Make Dragon super possessive of Armsmaster. Make Armsmaster a woman. Make Piggot catch Coil using common sense. Make Coil fail because it turns out that the Sword of Damocles isn't a great way to ensure a minion's loyalty. This is fanfiction and you're writing this for free. Do what you want. Enjoy what you do.
We don't know all that much yet. Maybe the MC is repressing this. Maybe the MC was somewhat genderfluid prior and just hadn't realized it before all this happened. Maybe the MC is trying to keep herself busy so that she doesn't think about things like this and, as a result, she's headed for an emotional crash that could result in bad things unless Taylor steps up to the plate and becomes the friend that Emma should have been.
We don't know where the author's going, so I'm prepared to overlook this very, very minor flaw in what is otherwise a fantastic work of fanfiction. Besides, maybe the author doesn't want to address bodily/gender dysphoria in this story. Maybe the author doesn't know how to properly address the topic in the way it deserves. Or maybe they just don't want to write about that. We don't know. So let's give the author credit until we do, yeah? And remember: this is written for free. The author doesn't have to write it at all, or publish it on here, for that matter.
I don't like this logic. These and similar thoughts cause people to stay quiet about problems they notice, and guess who is hurt the most because no fan would help to proofread? In my opinion it's in your best interests to help author you like by pointing at things they miss. Maybe they'll improve. On other hand simply saying that you like everything takes no effort at all. And is rarely true, because all humans are different.
(Personally I didn't like this story, and for many reasons, but I like to point at some weak points regardless when I leave, partly to contribute, partly to know why I discarded it, if I open it by accident in two years)
- Location
- Chula Vista
I can understand having an issue with my story, and I'm sorry if it's not to your taste. Probably doesn't help that I don't have a beta for this story, I just write with a general idea of what I want for a plot. Is there anything in particular that sticks out as problematic? I might be able to use that for later chapters.
The more often you are truly sorry about not matching someone's taste, the less happy your life will be. Better to be sorry about other people not matching your tastes, sorry for them
Now, about problems... there are two types - plot weak points and personal dislike points. The second is more about taste mismatch, while first generally breaks suspension of disbelief.
First dislike point is ~god involvement in putting SI into the plot. There is a huge host of reasons why I don't like gods active involvement in plots, but I will not talk about it here. Second dislike point is insertion wrapped as mission to save the world, again for huge host of reasons (random dimensional transfer with no serious reason behind it is much better imo). Third dislike point is hero's fixation on canon characters and plotline while mostly ignoring the large world around for no good plot reasons.
Weak points... I can't list many, because I didn't read much of the story. First one is luck. Odds of defenseless pretty female going thru all the worst parts of a city like BB without trouble are not huge. Odds of getting a map from a random do-gooder in that area are not huge. Odds of meeting the exact people she wanted without even looking for them are not huge in a city of hundreds thousands. Etc. Things like this, that I call EX rank luck. It might seem okay, but it is a weak spot. Second one is characters behavior. Take what I wrote in post above, add some other things like Danny Hebert sudden friendliness to random girl, mix in some uncharacteristic reactions of people.. you get the point. Third is about powers. Hero used them to create supercomputer out of pile of melted plastic, metal and glass, and then stopped. She didn't even try to discover more of what her power could do right there, she didn't make anything except improved-but-already-existing-technology. She didn't ask if it could be used to change her body or enhance her mind. She didn't ask to know her limits. It was like she didn't care at all about what she could do. This is very unbelievable, a weak point.
In my certainly not humble opinion, it's better to just keep writing what you like and how you like, without trying to fix anything, including typos. There's no point in trying to please anyone but yourself. Improving is function of future anyway, so maybe learning this opinion would help to improve next chapters, next stories. Good luck.
Now, about problems... there are two types - plot weak points and personal dislike points. The second is more about taste mismatch, while first generally breaks suspension of disbelief.
First dislike point is ~god involvement in putting SI into the plot. There is a huge host of reasons why I don't like gods active involvement in plots, but I will not talk about it here. Second dislike point is insertion wrapped as mission to save the world, again for huge host of reasons (random dimensional transfer with no serious reason behind it is much better imo). Third dislike point is hero's fixation on canon characters and plotline while mostly ignoring the large world around for no good plot reasons.
Weak points... I can't list many, because I didn't read much of the story. First one is luck. Odds of defenseless pretty female going thru all the worst parts of a city like BB without trouble are not huge. Odds of getting a map from a random do-gooder in that area are not huge. Odds of meeting the exact people she wanted without even looking for them are not huge in a city of hundreds thousands. Etc. Things like this, that I call EX rank luck. It might seem okay, but it is a weak spot. Second one is characters behavior. Take what I wrote in post above, add some other things like Danny Hebert sudden friendliness to random girl, mix in some uncharacteristic reactions of people.. you get the point. Third is about powers. Hero used them to create supercomputer out of pile of melted plastic, metal and glass, and then stopped. She didn't even try to discover more of what her power could do right there, she didn't make anything except improved-but-already-existing-technology. She didn't ask if it could be used to change her body or enhance her mind. She didn't ask to know her limits. It was like she didn't care at all about what she could do. This is very unbelievable, a weak point.
In my certainly not humble opinion, it's better to just keep writing what you like and how you like, without trying to fix anything, including typos. There's no point in trying to please anyone but yourself. Improving is function of future anyway, so maybe learning this opinion would help to improve next chapters, next stories. Good luck.
Then why's it in there in the first place?
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I was listing off possible reasons why it hasn't been fleshed out yet. Of the possible reasons, I agree that those are the ones that are less likely. But this story is still relatively early in its plot, so why not give the author some benefit of the doubt? Just because they're not covering all the subplot and themes right out of the gate doesn't mean that those subplots and themes won't be covered in their own time. But if that's a dealbreaker, you can always just not read it? Or you could write your own work that does.
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Permutation 2.5
- Location
- Chula Vista
Permutation 2.5
March 1st, 2011. 9:20 AM
Basilia Rubio
Fire…heat…void…pain…termination…it hurts…make it stop…it hurts…
MAKE IT STOP! Please…stop…please stop…please stop…
STOP!
…
…
I awoke utterly drenched in my bed, a combination of unremembered nightmares and an unfortunate fact of feminine life and existence that I had gone without noticing it happening.
Fucking…shit…cramps are fucking evil. The fact it took until the Simurgh attacked Canberra was a bad omen after nearly two months without a sign of it to the point I forgot it was even a thing. Y-Yeah…
Oh yeah…that seems to have more or less gone on schedule, and so far it looks like the usual results of a Simurgh attack. Though I had heard rumors of some oddities unrelated to Ziz herself. My instincts screamed that something was going on, but I wasn't going to get myself arrested for trying to enter a containment zone.
Oh my business license has officially come in as well, and Taylor was working on setting herself up as well. I'm now the proud owner of the newly incorporated Athena Manufacturing.
It had taken several weeks, just in time for the appointment I had made with the PRT for registration. It had been serendipitous with Taylor's own separate appointment. She had apparently been working on getting a business license of her own, and would probably get it within the next week or so. So the bug controller was probably going to be my…business partner(?) in this little endeavor.
I was probably going to have to get a lawyer on retainer to get the fiddly legal bits all in order. If everything went well our silk derived carbon-tube armor would be sold for a considerable price, and I would start selling some of my warehouse exoskeletons a little after that. I was also setting up licensing for a good amount of patents for tech that is easy enough to manufacture on Earth Bet. I'd need to see if I can search for deposits of Eezo, because while the amount I have would last humans for a few years…
That would be it. There'd be no more until it built up from millions of souls. And wow…that's a really weird thing to think about.
I rolled out of bed, wincing at the pain still lingering over the past four days. I grabbed my bracelet, activating the omni-tool to check up on a few things before I take a nice hot shower. A lot of progress had been made on further forays into the local internet to make certain of a few facts now that the angel bitch isn't looming over my head.
I'm 99% sure I'd end up dying to her, and any future knowledge I gave would be useless very shortly.
From what I could tell Mouse Protector was still pretty much alive, though I doubt she would be for much longer. Apparently she had recently entered a spat with Ravager, so she didn't have long before that psychopath would get the both of them killed, mutilated and then revived into an abomination of mad science. I was probably going to have to do something about that…
The best I could think of was sending some drones to keep a lookout, since their Cape detection was more or less built in now. I was going to have to build a few for the express purpose of keeping her around. Because while Mouse Protector might be potentially very annoying that didn't mean she deserved a fate worse than death. I don't even think Ravager deserved a fate like that even if it was her own damn fault.
After checking on MP I moved on to The Travelers, thinking that it was a good idea to keep an eye on the Ziz bombs aimed in our general direction through the angel's scattershot method of attacking humanity. Which was where I ran into a big problem.
I couldn't find a trace of them or even sightings of them in the last two months. With the last evidence of their existence being sometime on the third of January near New York City. It had taken more than a day to figure it out, and the prospects were either very bad or very good or somewhere in between the two extremes.
That incident that had given me both migraines and nightmares, that was their last sighting before vanishing off the face of the Earth. Which meant they had either been killed, had been healed up like the other civilians, or had been made like me…or some fourth option I didn't have the data for.
I would have to investigate just so I didn't get blindsided by a surprise Echidna.
Then there was Bakuda…so far she hasn't bombed Cornell but I had no idea how much longer it would be. I think Lung recruited her on the 23rd which meant she should be doing her thing within a few weeks. But so far there was nothing…I would probably have to send some stealth drones for a quick check.
Worse case scenario she's triggered and I've procrastinated long enough that I'll end up getting people killed for something I could have stopped. Best case the butterflies were strong enough to keep her from going nuts, and we have no crazy bomb Tinker.
So I was going to keep a good eye out while sticking around Brockton Bay for the time being.
But today I had an appointment to get to, especially since Mush had managed to break containment. It wouldn't be too long before Squealer either made her escape or was broken out of by her fellow capes. The usual fighting between the gangs had picked up a bit with the loss in manpower for the Merchants though it was rather marginal. They might be the third largest gang in the city but they didn't hold anywhere near the level of territory needed to have real power in the city.
Not like the Empire…not like the ABB.
I rolled my shoulders, letting out a groan at the idea of leaving the house. I was going to that appointment and I was going to get everything in the order I needed and wanted.
It should be an easy enough(if tedious) process. It was simply something I needed to deal with.
March 1st, 2011. 12:45 AM
Basilia Rubio
I made it to my destination with little trouble, using a combination of fire blasts and manipulation of air currents to move around at even higher speeds than before. I couldn't even dream of how fast I could go with the addition of mass reduction to the equation.
I looked up at the PRT building itself, the structure was more modern than other parts of town; a signature of the newer downtown area. A large shield emblem proudly printed with the acronym of the government organization. Overall it was a fancy and certainly heavily reinforced governmental building.
I side stepped the few people who lingered around the area, people who rushed to their lunch breaks or other activities. I didn't take long to make my way past the doors, glancing around the reception area. Which pretty much looked like any old standard space for such purposes. A few seats, some cheap shrubbery and not much else to really look at. A typical government faculty.
I stopped at the large desk that blocked the path to a hallway, a young woman dressed professionally typing into a computer. She wore a button up shirt and dark slacks, a light natural smile on her face. An ID card was attached to her chest though I couldn't see her name. She was cute.
"Hello there, how can I help you?" She asked with a peppy tone.
I cleared my throat. "Erudition, I made an appointment for 12:55?" She smiled, quickly checking the computer before nodding.
"Yes Erudition, you're definitely here…a new costume?" I shrugged at the question.
"Just…improved."
I sat back down once I had my appointment and my presence confirmed at the front desk. I activated my omni-tool, using it to freely surf the local web through an interface. I didn't technically have an internet plan in a normal sense but I managed to get by with my lightspeed wrist computer. I started to play around with some computer code, using the spare time to program a basic turret VI for use in…heavy self defensive structures.
I turned to the person approaching me with casual ease, and finally met up with the agent who would see me for my appointment. He was a young guy, maybe about mid 20s. He dressed in business casual, a white and bright dress shirt paired with dark slacks. He had unruly blonde hair that didn't match with his semi-formal wear. His skin was tanned in a way that told me he was probably a light skinned Latino rather than Caucasian. Not that there was anything wrong with that. I was latin—Latina myself.
…
I turned to my liaison.
The man's smile was charming, rather disarming with his natural boyish looks.
"Erudition I presume?" A second of analyzing his voice was enough to ascertain him as the agent I spoke with on the phone. His name was…
"Steven is your name right? I remember your voice from the phone." Mainly because it was smooth as silk with a splattering of bass.
"You're quite punctual…" he complimented with a light airy tone. He held out his hand and I gripped it in greeting. His suppressed wince meant I used a little too much force so I loosened it up.
"Thank you…should we get started?" I asked, keeping my readiness from being too obvious. The bemused twinkle in his blue eyes told I had failed.
He beckoned toward the hallway. "Just follow me if you're ready to get started."
"Of course." Myomer flexed and hydraulics hissed as I lifted myself from the creaking seat, and I felt mortified that I had forgotten how much I weighed with armor. The fact it hadn't snapped in half was a testimony to the chair's quality. It was strange to see that I was about even in height with the man, the armor adding about an inch and half to my five foot six frame.
Along the way he freely asked my reasoning for registration, our talk continuing as the elevator door shut behind us. I managed to close off the cliche Protectorate recommendation, and we walked in a comfortable silence as we approached what was labeled 'Conference Room 2'
We stepped inside, and I let out an unheard whistle at the considerable size of the room. There was enough room and seats to comfortably fit at least twenty people if not more. I chose the seat closest to the door out of convenience, and slowly pulled out paperwork from a large pocket obscured by my armor. Steven did the same with his own little folder.
"I had everything ready for at least the past few days, I would have done this earlier but I had some tasks to fulfill." I calmly slid the paperwork to his capable hands.
He smiled. "Excellent. Youve come quite prepared, this should make this a lot smoother. Now it's time to go over a few things if that's alright?"
"Sure."
"First an interview must be conducted and I would like your permission to do so," I nodded, feeling fine with some information being free to alleviate any of the government's worries. "Now the interview will include some psychological evaluation, and will be part of our internal records."
"Ok."
The interview wasn't overly complex besides needing to be less direct with some of the questions for personal private reasons. There was some information that didn't need to be known for their own sake. The psychological questions were quite easy to answer, and would probably come back as remarkably stable for a Parahuman. But not as stable as a normal human due to my…ongoing problems.
"Well you've done quite well Erudition, I imagine you would like to move on to your business yes?" He kept going when I nodded. "You said you wanted to sell certain types of material as well as robotics? As well as…" his eyebrows lifted off into space. "Biomedical products?"
I replied with haste. "I have a pretty good handle on medicine, so there's a few products I can sell. I would probably need to partner with someone to produce the stuff at high quantity." I lied to his face, knowing I could easily outpace most corporations once I had a steady supply. Dragon was likely the only exception and she's a full on artificial intelligence that triggered. She's not what one would call the average group in sheer productivity.
"Can you testify to the stability and safety of your Tinkertech products?" Steven questioned, taking my apparent capabilities seriously.
"I do, while a lot of my Tinkertech is…sophisticated," I placed a hand behind my head sheepishly. "I can make simpler if less effective tech that's more reliable." I lied again, since all of my technology could be maintained. It just needed someone to sit down and study the deluge of knowledge I had to give. Unlike a normal Tinker I could explain my technology. Whether or not people could actually manufacture the stuff is another issue.
"Fairly impressive, you must be a fairly broad Tinker." I gave an unabashed chuckle. "You said you had samples for us to test yes?"
"I do, let me get them out." I pulled out a packet of Medi-gel and a small segment of hydraulic muscle. He took ahold of them with care to his every physical machination.
"How do you make this?" Tellingly he had picked the hydraulic muscle instead of the medi-gel.
"It's just a simplified version of what's in my suit. A hydraulic muscle with superior strength to weight than electric motors and average hydraulic actuators. I had to develop a new rubber material and change the tube design to make it…functional."
"So I imagine you have plans to sell some of your products am I right?"
"The government tends to be a lot more stable, the commercial market is more…fickle."
"I believe you're also working on a very strong carbon nanotube fiber derived from spider silk." I smirked under my helmet, since Taylor had gone in for her interview only an hour and a half earlier.
"Well…I've found that synergy can be quite helpful at times." An omni-forge was only a former of materials after all. I couldn't just turn raw ore into gel like that, I needed the feedstock to be forged before hand. Entity shards made it easier though.
"Again it's impressive, a lot of heroes will probably be clamoring for better and tougher costumes. Now…you seem like a straight to the point sort of person, so I'll get us going. I'll need to advise you on your course of action for your plans."
I leaned back and smiled.
Taylor Hebert
I fiddled with my new suit, one that Basilia had made for me using the silk she was using as feedstock for her carbon-weaving machines. I felt a little annoyed at the fact I had wasted so much time building the plating for my armor, only for it get replaced with…a really weird armor plate that felt almost alive.
We had worked together on the design, and it was more heavily armored and built for 'mobility' and flexibility. The plating was apparently something she took from a species of giant bugs. It was as tough as her laser steel but organically grown…she said it fit with my theme. I think she called that race…Rachni.
A specific movement opened up the wings on either side of my arms. One of Basilia's ideas, a wingsuit using carbon-tube fabric so I could use airbending to fly.
…
I had always dreamed of being like Alexandria, and while this wasn't exactly the same. It was a lot closer than I thought I would get with just bug powers. The kinetic barrier generator even added the bulletproof part of Alexandria's power. But Basilia always made a fuss to not get cocky…
I think what happened with Squealer was messing with her more than what she was saying.
I had finally started to make some actual money, since apparently people liked the idea of eating seafood caught by a cape. It wasn't a lot since I had only started pretty recently, but it's not like I had to spend any actual effort to catch them. It was pretty much on automatic.
Which was why I had joined Basilia on a trip to the DWU to meet the actual head. While he wasn't bad at his job he was usually only in the background so I usually never noticed him. My dad was more the public face of the Union, and together they managed to keep the whole thing afloat. But Basilia wanted more than just to keep the DWU afloat. It was a crazy idea…but she was one of the scariest Tinkers I had ever seen. I mean I've only met one so far…but I don't think it was normal to be able to do everything at once like she does.
I shook my head, freely staring at the door leading to the head's office. The office was pretty deep into the Docks, basically placed as close as humanly possible to the workers.
"Hmm…this is taking longer than I thought it would." I could hear Basilia's muttering to herself, the tinker tapping her fingers against her armored knees. Sometimes it was moments like this, when she was quiet that made me remember how much taller I was than her. Even with her armor I still had over half a foot on her. We were still basically opposites, physically anyway.
The door opened and Basilia launched ahead of me, air whistling past my ears as she flew low to the ground. I started to walk faster so I could catch up with the impatient Tinker. I entered into the room, and I could see that Basilia…Erudition was already introducing herself to the boss.
"David Anderson it…is nice to meet you in person." There was a cough between her words, and I could see the anxiety that Basilia was going through. Her armor, even as heavy and as dark as it was…didn't really do much to hide how nervous she was. I chose to stand next to Basilia and she seemed to calm down. Glancing over to the boss…did give her a good reason to be nervous.
David was tall, taller than my dad or even me and he was pretty grizzled since he used to be in the military a long time ago. He was a lot more buff than my dad was, and he had an intense look to him.
David smiled and replied back. "Danny mentioned that the both of you were interested in working with us?" He looked between us with a serious expression. I tapped Basilia's foot and she started actually talking.
"Oh yes…Monarch and I both have reasons to enlist the help of the Dockworker's Association. She wants a few of your men to run some of her stalls, and I want to sell some of my products. Make the workplace a little safer and more…productive." The smugness was palpable and I rolled my eyes, Basilia always got a big head when she was talking about her tech.
David clasped his hands together, raising an eyebrow at the both of us. "I see that you've been thinking about this for a while. But can you actually supply us with the numbers we need? I don't want to risk my boys and girls on a windfall that might never come."
Oof…it's not the best idea to doubt her like that.
She lifted her head in contempt. "Of course I can, I already have fifteen units ready to go." Her omni-tool flickered to life, and I could see the holographic video of the multiple armor units.
The DWA head smirked, and I think Basilia had just been played. "How much would it cost to acquire any of your tech?"
Basilia rolled her shoulders, laying her hands down in front of her as she smoothly took a seat. "Depends on what you want, my most basic armor is a little less powerful and durable but cheaper and far easier to maintain. On the other end of the spectrum my products could survive a building falling on them with little issue."
Mr. Anderson leaked back in his seat, his eyes practically shining with…triumph?
"You said you need some workers of your own too? Because there's quite a few people I know who would like a stable income." Oh that's my turn to talk…
"I just need one or two people to man my stands, and maybe a dozen more for Athena." It wouldn't be a lot for a start but eventually we would have to hire more people, since we were only two people.
"I think I can work with this…we'll have to work out the details. Should we all get started?" I covered up a chortle when my insects picked up her giggles of delight and relief.
I sat down since this involved me too, and there would probably be a lot of talking that would tire Basilia out. She liked monologuing but wasn't anywhere near as good at negotiating. Veda usually had to help her…and when she wasn't around I did.
Apparently I was better at talking than she was…I'm not sure how but she genuinely believes that.
Basilia bounced ever so slightly on the seat, and I sighed.
This was going to take a while.
___
March 4th, 2011. 3:00 PM
Basilia Rubio
"We never really hang out like this too often." I commented absently as I took a sip of some chocolate milk, briefly glancing at the crowds of people. It had taken a solid hour to get a tentative deal, and I was already reaching out to a lawyer from the same firm as a certain Dallon sister. I didn't manage to get the Parahuman with a huge stick up her ass, but the lawyer I did have was more than sufficient for my needs.
"I guess." Taylor replied with narrowed eyes, a clear indication of usage of her swarm senses.
I gently scratched the left side of my face, not finding the right words then I found a topic. "So…how's the case against Winslow going?" Taylor stared at me with an unimpressed expression, and I blushed. Bringing up the lawsuit born from the incident that gave her superpowers from trauma is not a germane topic.
Her smile caught me off guard though, and I took another gulp so I wouldn't choke on my words. "It's been going pretty okay…my dad says the lawyer is pretty optimistic that we have a case. But I'll probably only be able to get one of them, which is better than nothing." I frowned at her discomfort but didn't find any reason to be annoyed by it. This was something super sensitive to her, and I shouldn't be hurtling in with my commentary.
"Right. That's great." I couldn't tell before but at this point I was sure that Taylor was laughing at me in her head. It had taken a long time but it seems like she had slowly been opening up more and more to me. She had started off standoffish, but had been getting progressively better as I talked more and more with her. If the process was ongoing then that meant she might learn to trust people again. Without the issues that developed with joining a villainous team. Because if there was one thing I had gleaned from Worm was that Taylor tended to self-rationalize a lot of her decisions. She was also infinitely more charismatic than I ever could be, even if a lot of it was suppressed by her boatload of issues.
Taylor slanted forward, her forehead creased in concern "Are you okay?"
Oh?
My cup is shaking…that…that's not good.
I swallowed, wrapping both my hands around the cup. I looked into its interior, watching waves form from my shaking hands. Which mean that everything was fine, there was no problem at all with me, there wasn't any need to think about the Simu—
A hand gripped my wrist, keeping me from crushing the cup in my own hands. Taylor let go and I let the chocolate milk down so I wouldn't crush it again. She stared me down with a scarily intense look, and no words would be let loose from my lips. Time passed gradually, and eventually I couldn't handle the silence any longer.
"It's nothing really."
Coward…what am I doing…? What right do I have to lecture people if I can't take my own ad—
"It's about Canberra isn't it?" I froze solid at her murmur, and she nodded in confirmation at my stricken expression.
"I can't talk about it. I can't talk about it." A sense of self loathing I had never experienced before made me feel disquieted. Had I been doing things wrong…would it have been better to get their attention? Or would they even be capable of the job in the first place?
There was no saving Canberra in any scenario I could think of…because killing Eidolon might not even work. This world wasn't identical, it couldn't be if my world could be connected to it, it couldn't be because this Taylor wasn't the same one from Worm. If I tried to warn them the mind raping fallen angel staying in orbit would either change cities or change plans on a dime. Maybe she'd strike Brockton Bay directly and turn it into a quarantine zone. Or she'd figure out a way to get to me, which would be devastating. Because if I went the way of Sphere the world would be a much worse place.
"Basilia you don't have to talk about it…but you do need to relax. I kinda get why you're stressed out all the time. It has to be a lot of pressure." The understanding was one of the few signs that Taylor at least wanted to try this whole 'friendship' between us. She must of picked up the implications, because I hadn't made my stress about Canberra inconspicuous. She had put that together with my unnatural knowledge to form a picture that was likely accurate.
Breath…just breath…
I shut my eyes, the act of taking and expelling air driving out the toxic and negative emotions I had swelling up inside of me. Opening them revealed that Taylor was smiling again, her entire face lit up in a way that I still only saw in short bursts.
"Thank you. I'm not usually this jittery but…" I trailed off as pressure surged into the room. The same feeling that had come with only a particular Parahuman. Taylor's own tensing meant she had the same feeling coming down on her, the sudden reappearance of Queenie in all her chitinous glory only adding to my point.
Amy Dallon appeared without her sister, storming into the building with a rictus of dark emotions. Her shard trailed behind her, scraping along the concrete with a sound like broken glass and shattered bones. Taylor barely managed to school her expression, and I was already used to the odd mental depictions of shards.
"The host of The Shaper seems quite unwell…" a certain noble shard spoke aloud, her whispers carrying into our ears without alerting others. Though that was more for the ears of fellow spirits rather than humans.
"Shaper?" Taylor muttered with a befuddled lilt.
Queen nodded, folding her arms over her above average bust(weirdo…) with a grin. "She is a Shard of a caliber much like myself, one of the shards tasked with clean-up once a Cycle sufficiently ripened."
"I don't know what that means…" which was odd since I had expected her shard to mention it since her bans were gone. The fact she wasn't meeting Taylor's eye was telling though.
THUMP!
I peeked over to Amy, the mousy brunette sitting herself down with what I would say was an unnecessary amount of force. She grumbled loudly not even bothering to order something from the cafe. The biokinetic had seated herself on the table to our right, and I could see her power poking her with an almost childish excitement. When she mentally slapped the power away, it rattled ominously with pure rage. Enough rage to spontaneously generate spirits of that nature, which didn't bode well for the amount of stress the shard was under.
"Oh…that's not normal…Shaper usually has more active hosts than this." Queen seemed to feel sorry for her fellow shard. "If things continue to develop like this…it will not end well."
Huh. She sounded rather worried, which made sense since we lacked any real resistance to the biokinetic powers of Panacea. I was pretty good with biology myself, but I did so as a scientist not as a shard-wizard. I couldn't use the abilities of Veda as directly as Taylor could. They were configured differently you could say, with my administration tailored toward knowledge rather than people or animals. Though to be fair it was still information processing, which essentially switched between the various different technologies I had available.
Because in real life unless you're a freak of nature, it's impossible to be a biologist, an architect, an artist, a nuclear physicist, or a rocket scientist at the same time. I had never really noticed since the amount of time it took was infinitesimally small to my human perception. I mean Entities literally calculate entire planets, so the lag to switch between information isn't exactly going to be very long.
Panacea once more stared me down with her usual caustic expression, and I quirked an eyebrow at her. Her grip on the table tightened, before loosening up when she noticed Taylor. Recognition filled her eyes, and the fact that Panacea had met Taylor trickled down from my compartmentalized memory.
"Umm…" she let out an uncertain hum, and Taylor slowly came to the realization that the healer didn't remember her name.
"Taylor…you healed me…on January 3rd?" The recognition dawned on her completely, and she shrunk back as if she had noticed something.
"You're…a lot taller than I remember you being," Any stared for a bit before tearing herself away, returning her attention to me. "You…know her?"
Taylor looked confused at her hostility. "Of course? She's my…friend why wouldn't I know her?" I don't think I did a very good job managing to hide how much that pleased me with the way Amy was staring.
"I guess that's fair I…" the bell rung and a hiss escaped my lips when the aura of a certain someone returned. Glory Girl emerged from the door, and Taylor's goodwill curdled.
"A host…with a great lack of restraint." Queen responded with what was either a compliment or an insult.
Within seconds Panacea was whisked away by her sister, her spark brimming with energy for a second or two. Her gaze lingered on us for a moment before she was flown out of sight by Victoria.
…
…
"That was…"
"Weird." Taylor finished my sentence, and I rubbed my head as I felt a headache coming on.
At some point I was going to have to deal with Panacea unless I want her to go crazy. I would rather prevent the crimes she commits beforehand rather than let her fester in a pit of toxicity she'll never escape from even after Taylor gets a 9mm lobotomy to the back of the head.
Because fixing crazy people's heads is super easy.
"I think our orders are ready." Taylor brought me back, and with an intake of fresh air I stood back up.
There was so much to do, and moping on it was a waste of time and energy that didn't solve the problem. So instead I was going to take the time to be productive, along with periodic breaks to keep my fragile sanity. That I had retained any at all had been a miracle, and I wasn't going to let little miss Nilbog get in the way of that.
Now I am going to get my lunch, and then I am going to plan out my future economical takeover and technological uplifting of the city. Then I was going to figure out a way to uproot all the major crime in the city. Then I was going to figure out a way to stop the end of the world, and the collapse of the Shard network.
Though to be fair the shitshow that led to Monarch and Queen already gave me a good idea on what I needed to do.
"This is going to be very difficult…but life is like that."
"What?" I ignored the employee, grabbing our bags and sauntering back to the cable without thanking her.
Time for some lunch!
Because I really don't feel like thinking about the end of all humanity.
March 1st, 2011. 9:20 AM
Basilia Rubio
Fire…heat…void…pain…termination…it hurts…make it stop…it hurts…
MAKE IT STOP! Please…stop…please stop…please stop…
STOP!
…
…
I awoke utterly drenched in my bed, a combination of unremembered nightmares and an unfortunate fact of feminine life and existence that I had gone without noticing it happening.
Fucking…shit…cramps are fucking evil. The fact it took until the Simurgh attacked Canberra was a bad omen after nearly two months without a sign of it to the point I forgot it was even a thing. Y-Yeah…
Oh yeah…that seems to have more or less gone on schedule, and so far it looks like the usual results of a Simurgh attack. Though I had heard rumors of some oddities unrelated to Ziz herself. My instincts screamed that something was going on, but I wasn't going to get myself arrested for trying to enter a containment zone.
Oh my business license has officially come in as well, and Taylor was working on setting herself up as well. I'm now the proud owner of the newly incorporated Athena Manufacturing.
It had taken several weeks, just in time for the appointment I had made with the PRT for registration. It had been serendipitous with Taylor's own separate appointment. She had apparently been working on getting a business license of her own, and would probably get it within the next week or so. So the bug controller was probably going to be my…business partner(?) in this little endeavor.
I was probably going to have to get a lawyer on retainer to get the fiddly legal bits all in order. If everything went well our silk derived carbon-tube armor would be sold for a considerable price, and I would start selling some of my warehouse exoskeletons a little after that. I was also setting up licensing for a good amount of patents for tech that is easy enough to manufacture on Earth Bet. I'd need to see if I can search for deposits of Eezo, because while the amount I have would last humans for a few years…
That would be it. There'd be no more until it built up from millions of souls. And wow…that's a really weird thing to think about.
I rolled out of bed, wincing at the pain still lingering over the past four days. I grabbed my bracelet, activating the omni-tool to check up on a few things before I take a nice hot shower. A lot of progress had been made on further forays into the local internet to make certain of a few facts now that the angel bitch isn't looming over my head.
I'm 99% sure I'd end up dying to her, and any future knowledge I gave would be useless very shortly.
From what I could tell Mouse Protector was still pretty much alive, though I doubt she would be for much longer. Apparently she had recently entered a spat with Ravager, so she didn't have long before that psychopath would get the both of them killed, mutilated and then revived into an abomination of mad science. I was probably going to have to do something about that…
The best I could think of was sending some drones to keep a lookout, since their Cape detection was more or less built in now. I was going to have to build a few for the express purpose of keeping her around. Because while Mouse Protector might be potentially very annoying that didn't mean she deserved a fate worse than death. I don't even think Ravager deserved a fate like that even if it was her own damn fault.
After checking on MP I moved on to The Travelers, thinking that it was a good idea to keep an eye on the Ziz bombs aimed in our general direction through the angel's scattershot method of attacking humanity. Which was where I ran into a big problem.
I couldn't find a trace of them or even sightings of them in the last two months. With the last evidence of their existence being sometime on the third of January near New York City. It had taken more than a day to figure it out, and the prospects were either very bad or very good or somewhere in between the two extremes.
That incident that had given me both migraines and nightmares, that was their last sighting before vanishing off the face of the Earth. Which meant they had either been killed, had been healed up like the other civilians, or had been made like me…or some fourth option I didn't have the data for.
I would have to investigate just so I didn't get blindsided by a surprise Echidna.
Then there was Bakuda…so far she hasn't bombed Cornell but I had no idea how much longer it would be. I think Lung recruited her on the 23rd which meant she should be doing her thing within a few weeks. But so far there was nothing…I would probably have to send some stealth drones for a quick check.
Worse case scenario she's triggered and I've procrastinated long enough that I'll end up getting people killed for something I could have stopped. Best case the butterflies were strong enough to keep her from going nuts, and we have no crazy bomb Tinker.
So I was going to keep a good eye out while sticking around Brockton Bay for the time being.
But today I had an appointment to get to, especially since Mush had managed to break containment. It wouldn't be too long before Squealer either made her escape or was broken out of by her fellow capes. The usual fighting between the gangs had picked up a bit with the loss in manpower for the Merchants though it was rather marginal. They might be the third largest gang in the city but they didn't hold anywhere near the level of territory needed to have real power in the city.
Not like the Empire…not like the ABB.
I rolled my shoulders, letting out a groan at the idea of leaving the house. I was going to that appointment and I was going to get everything in the order I needed and wanted.
It should be an easy enough(if tedious) process. It was simply something I needed to deal with.
March 1st, 2011. 12:45 AM
Basilia Rubio
I made it to my destination with little trouble, using a combination of fire blasts and manipulation of air currents to move around at even higher speeds than before. I couldn't even dream of how fast I could go with the addition of mass reduction to the equation.
I looked up at the PRT building itself, the structure was more modern than other parts of town; a signature of the newer downtown area. A large shield emblem proudly printed with the acronym of the government organization. Overall it was a fancy and certainly heavily reinforced governmental building.
I side stepped the few people who lingered around the area, people who rushed to their lunch breaks or other activities. I didn't take long to make my way past the doors, glancing around the reception area. Which pretty much looked like any old standard space for such purposes. A few seats, some cheap shrubbery and not much else to really look at. A typical government faculty.
I stopped at the large desk that blocked the path to a hallway, a young woman dressed professionally typing into a computer. She wore a button up shirt and dark slacks, a light natural smile on her face. An ID card was attached to her chest though I couldn't see her name. She was cute.
"Hello there, how can I help you?" She asked with a peppy tone.
I cleared my throat. "Erudition, I made an appointment for 12:55?" She smiled, quickly checking the computer before nodding.
"Yes Erudition, you're definitely here…a new costume?" I shrugged at the question.
"Just…improved."
I sat back down once I had my appointment and my presence confirmed at the front desk. I activated my omni-tool, using it to freely surf the local web through an interface. I didn't technically have an internet plan in a normal sense but I managed to get by with my lightspeed wrist computer. I started to play around with some computer code, using the spare time to program a basic turret VI for use in…heavy self defensive structures.
I turned to the person approaching me with casual ease, and finally met up with the agent who would see me for my appointment. He was a young guy, maybe about mid 20s. He dressed in business casual, a white and bright dress shirt paired with dark slacks. He had unruly blonde hair that didn't match with his semi-formal wear. His skin was tanned in a way that told me he was probably a light skinned Latino rather than Caucasian. Not that there was anything wrong with that. I was latin—Latina myself.
…
I turned to my liaison.
The man's smile was charming, rather disarming with his natural boyish looks.
"Erudition I presume?" A second of analyzing his voice was enough to ascertain him as the agent I spoke with on the phone. His name was…
"Steven is your name right? I remember your voice from the phone." Mainly because it was smooth as silk with a splattering of bass.
"You're quite punctual…" he complimented with a light airy tone. He held out his hand and I gripped it in greeting. His suppressed wince meant I used a little too much force so I loosened it up.
"Thank you…should we get started?" I asked, keeping my readiness from being too obvious. The bemused twinkle in his blue eyes told I had failed.
He beckoned toward the hallway. "Just follow me if you're ready to get started."
"Of course." Myomer flexed and hydraulics hissed as I lifted myself from the creaking seat, and I felt mortified that I had forgotten how much I weighed with armor. The fact it hadn't snapped in half was a testimony to the chair's quality. It was strange to see that I was about even in height with the man, the armor adding about an inch and half to my five foot six frame.
Along the way he freely asked my reasoning for registration, our talk continuing as the elevator door shut behind us. I managed to close off the cliche Protectorate recommendation, and we walked in a comfortable silence as we approached what was labeled 'Conference Room 2'
We stepped inside, and I let out an unheard whistle at the considerable size of the room. There was enough room and seats to comfortably fit at least twenty people if not more. I chose the seat closest to the door out of convenience, and slowly pulled out paperwork from a large pocket obscured by my armor. Steven did the same with his own little folder.
"I had everything ready for at least the past few days, I would have done this earlier but I had some tasks to fulfill." I calmly slid the paperwork to his capable hands.
He smiled. "Excellent. Youve come quite prepared, this should make this a lot smoother. Now it's time to go over a few things if that's alright?"
"Sure."
"First an interview must be conducted and I would like your permission to do so," I nodded, feeling fine with some information being free to alleviate any of the government's worries. "Now the interview will include some psychological evaluation, and will be part of our internal records."
"Ok."
The interview wasn't overly complex besides needing to be less direct with some of the questions for personal private reasons. There was some information that didn't need to be known for their own sake. The psychological questions were quite easy to answer, and would probably come back as remarkably stable for a Parahuman. But not as stable as a normal human due to my…ongoing problems.
"Well you've done quite well Erudition, I imagine you would like to move on to your business yes?" He kept going when I nodded. "You said you wanted to sell certain types of material as well as robotics? As well as…" his eyebrows lifted off into space. "Biomedical products?"
I replied with haste. "I have a pretty good handle on medicine, so there's a few products I can sell. I would probably need to partner with someone to produce the stuff at high quantity." I lied to his face, knowing I could easily outpace most corporations once I had a steady supply. Dragon was likely the only exception and she's a full on artificial intelligence that triggered. She's not what one would call the average group in sheer productivity.
"Can you testify to the stability and safety of your Tinkertech products?" Steven questioned, taking my apparent capabilities seriously.
"I do, while a lot of my Tinkertech is…sophisticated," I placed a hand behind my head sheepishly. "I can make simpler if less effective tech that's more reliable." I lied again, since all of my technology could be maintained. It just needed someone to sit down and study the deluge of knowledge I had to give. Unlike a normal Tinker I could explain my technology. Whether or not people could actually manufacture the stuff is another issue.
"Fairly impressive, you must be a fairly broad Tinker." I gave an unabashed chuckle. "You said you had samples for us to test yes?"
"I do, let me get them out." I pulled out a packet of Medi-gel and a small segment of hydraulic muscle. He took ahold of them with care to his every physical machination.
"How do you make this?" Tellingly he had picked the hydraulic muscle instead of the medi-gel.
"It's just a simplified version of what's in my suit. A hydraulic muscle with superior strength to weight than electric motors and average hydraulic actuators. I had to develop a new rubber material and change the tube design to make it…functional."
"So I imagine you have plans to sell some of your products am I right?"
"The government tends to be a lot more stable, the commercial market is more…fickle."
"I believe you're also working on a very strong carbon nanotube fiber derived from spider silk." I smirked under my helmet, since Taylor had gone in for her interview only an hour and a half earlier.
"Well…I've found that synergy can be quite helpful at times." An omni-forge was only a former of materials after all. I couldn't just turn raw ore into gel like that, I needed the feedstock to be forged before hand. Entity shards made it easier though.
"Again it's impressive, a lot of heroes will probably be clamoring for better and tougher costumes. Now…you seem like a straight to the point sort of person, so I'll get us going. I'll need to advise you on your course of action for your plans."
I leaned back and smiled.
___
March 4th, 2011. 12:00 AM
Taylor Hebert
I fiddled with my new suit, one that Basilia had made for me using the silk she was using as feedstock for her carbon-weaving machines. I felt a little annoyed at the fact I had wasted so much time building the plating for my armor, only for it get replaced with…a really weird armor plate that felt almost alive.
We had worked together on the design, and it was more heavily armored and built for 'mobility' and flexibility. The plating was apparently something she took from a species of giant bugs. It was as tough as her laser steel but organically grown…she said it fit with my theme. I think she called that race…Rachni.
A specific movement opened up the wings on either side of my arms. One of Basilia's ideas, a wingsuit using carbon-tube fabric so I could use airbending to fly.
…
I had always dreamed of being like Alexandria, and while this wasn't exactly the same. It was a lot closer than I thought I would get with just bug powers. The kinetic barrier generator even added the bulletproof part of Alexandria's power. But Basilia always made a fuss to not get cocky…
I think what happened with Squealer was messing with her more than what she was saying.
I had finally started to make some actual money, since apparently people liked the idea of eating seafood caught by a cape. It wasn't a lot since I had only started pretty recently, but it's not like I had to spend any actual effort to catch them. It was pretty much on automatic.
Which was why I had joined Basilia on a trip to the DWU to meet the actual head. While he wasn't bad at his job he was usually only in the background so I usually never noticed him. My dad was more the public face of the Union, and together they managed to keep the whole thing afloat. But Basilia wanted more than just to keep the DWU afloat. It was a crazy idea…but she was one of the scariest Tinkers I had ever seen. I mean I've only met one so far…but I don't think it was normal to be able to do everything at once like she does.
I shook my head, freely staring at the door leading to the head's office. The office was pretty deep into the Docks, basically placed as close as humanly possible to the workers.
"Hmm…this is taking longer than I thought it would." I could hear Basilia's muttering to herself, the tinker tapping her fingers against her armored knees. Sometimes it was moments like this, when she was quiet that made me remember how much taller I was than her. Even with her armor I still had over half a foot on her. We were still basically opposites, physically anyway.
The door opened and Basilia launched ahead of me, air whistling past my ears as she flew low to the ground. I started to walk faster so I could catch up with the impatient Tinker. I entered into the room, and I could see that Basilia…Erudition was already introducing herself to the boss.
"David Anderson it…is nice to meet you in person." There was a cough between her words, and I could see the anxiety that Basilia was going through. Her armor, even as heavy and as dark as it was…didn't really do much to hide how nervous she was. I chose to stand next to Basilia and she seemed to calm down. Glancing over to the boss…did give her a good reason to be nervous.
David was tall, taller than my dad or even me and he was pretty grizzled since he used to be in the military a long time ago. He was a lot more buff than my dad was, and he had an intense look to him.
David smiled and replied back. "Danny mentioned that the both of you were interested in working with us?" He looked between us with a serious expression. I tapped Basilia's foot and she started actually talking.
"Oh yes…Monarch and I both have reasons to enlist the help of the Dockworker's Association. She wants a few of your men to run some of her stalls, and I want to sell some of my products. Make the workplace a little safer and more…productive." The smugness was palpable and I rolled my eyes, Basilia always got a big head when she was talking about her tech.
David clasped his hands together, raising an eyebrow at the both of us. "I see that you've been thinking about this for a while. But can you actually supply us with the numbers we need? I don't want to risk my boys and girls on a windfall that might never come."
Oof…it's not the best idea to doubt her like that.
She lifted her head in contempt. "Of course I can, I already have fifteen units ready to go." Her omni-tool flickered to life, and I could see the holographic video of the multiple armor units.
The DWA head smirked, and I think Basilia had just been played. "How much would it cost to acquire any of your tech?"
Basilia rolled her shoulders, laying her hands down in front of her as she smoothly took a seat. "Depends on what you want, my most basic armor is a little less powerful and durable but cheaper and far easier to maintain. On the other end of the spectrum my products could survive a building falling on them with little issue."
Mr. Anderson leaked back in his seat, his eyes practically shining with…triumph?
"You said you need some workers of your own too? Because there's quite a few people I know who would like a stable income." Oh that's my turn to talk…
"I just need one or two people to man my stands, and maybe a dozen more for Athena." It wouldn't be a lot for a start but eventually we would have to hire more people, since we were only two people.
"I think I can work with this…we'll have to work out the details. Should we all get started?" I covered up a chortle when my insects picked up her giggles of delight and relief.
I sat down since this involved me too, and there would probably be a lot of talking that would tire Basilia out. She liked monologuing but wasn't anywhere near as good at negotiating. Veda usually had to help her…and when she wasn't around I did.
Apparently I was better at talking than she was…I'm not sure how but she genuinely believes that.
Basilia bounced ever so slightly on the seat, and I sighed.
This was going to take a while.
___
March 4th, 2011. 3:00 PM
Basilia Rubio
"We never really hang out like this too often." I commented absently as I took a sip of some chocolate milk, briefly glancing at the crowds of people. It had taken a solid hour to get a tentative deal, and I was already reaching out to a lawyer from the same firm as a certain Dallon sister. I didn't manage to get the Parahuman with a huge stick up her ass, but the lawyer I did have was more than sufficient for my needs.
"I guess." Taylor replied with narrowed eyes, a clear indication of usage of her swarm senses.
I gently scratched the left side of my face, not finding the right words then I found a topic. "So…how's the case against Winslow going?" Taylor stared at me with an unimpressed expression, and I blushed. Bringing up the lawsuit born from the incident that gave her superpowers from trauma is not a germane topic.
Her smile caught me off guard though, and I took another gulp so I wouldn't choke on my words. "It's been going pretty okay…my dad says the lawyer is pretty optimistic that we have a case. But I'll probably only be able to get one of them, which is better than nothing." I frowned at her discomfort but didn't find any reason to be annoyed by it. This was something super sensitive to her, and I shouldn't be hurtling in with my commentary.
"Right. That's great." I couldn't tell before but at this point I was sure that Taylor was laughing at me in her head. It had taken a long time but it seems like she had slowly been opening up more and more to me. She had started off standoffish, but had been getting progressively better as I talked more and more with her. If the process was ongoing then that meant she might learn to trust people again. Without the issues that developed with joining a villainous team. Because if there was one thing I had gleaned from Worm was that Taylor tended to self-rationalize a lot of her decisions. She was also infinitely more charismatic than I ever could be, even if a lot of it was suppressed by her boatload of issues.
Taylor slanted forward, her forehead creased in concern "Are you okay?"
Oh?
My cup is shaking…that…that's not good.
I swallowed, wrapping both my hands around the cup. I looked into its interior, watching waves form from my shaking hands. Which mean that everything was fine, there was no problem at all with me, there wasn't any need to think about the Simu—
A hand gripped my wrist, keeping me from crushing the cup in my own hands. Taylor let go and I let the chocolate milk down so I wouldn't crush it again. She stared me down with a scarily intense look, and no words would be let loose from my lips. Time passed gradually, and eventually I couldn't handle the silence any longer.
"It's nothing really."
Coward…what am I doing…? What right do I have to lecture people if I can't take my own ad—
"It's about Canberra isn't it?" I froze solid at her murmur, and she nodded in confirmation at my stricken expression.
"I can't talk about it. I can't talk about it." A sense of self loathing I had never experienced before made me feel disquieted. Had I been doing things wrong…would it have been better to get their attention? Or would they even be capable of the job in the first place?
There was no saving Canberra in any scenario I could think of…because killing Eidolon might not even work. This world wasn't identical, it couldn't be if my world could be connected to it, it couldn't be because this Taylor wasn't the same one from Worm. If I tried to warn them the mind raping fallen angel staying in orbit would either change cities or change plans on a dime. Maybe she'd strike Brockton Bay directly and turn it into a quarantine zone. Or she'd figure out a way to get to me, which would be devastating. Because if I went the way of Sphere the world would be a much worse place.
"Basilia you don't have to talk about it…but you do need to relax. I kinda get why you're stressed out all the time. It has to be a lot of pressure." The understanding was one of the few signs that Taylor at least wanted to try this whole 'friendship' between us. She must of picked up the implications, because I hadn't made my stress about Canberra inconspicuous. She had put that together with my unnatural knowledge to form a picture that was likely accurate.
Breath…just breath…
I shut my eyes, the act of taking and expelling air driving out the toxic and negative emotions I had swelling up inside of me. Opening them revealed that Taylor was smiling again, her entire face lit up in a way that I still only saw in short bursts.
"Thank you. I'm not usually this jittery but…" I trailed off as pressure surged into the room. The same feeling that had come with only a particular Parahuman. Taylor's own tensing meant she had the same feeling coming down on her, the sudden reappearance of Queenie in all her chitinous glory only adding to my point.
Amy Dallon appeared without her sister, storming into the building with a rictus of dark emotions. Her shard trailed behind her, scraping along the concrete with a sound like broken glass and shattered bones. Taylor barely managed to school her expression, and I was already used to the odd mental depictions of shards.
"The host of The Shaper seems quite unwell…" a certain noble shard spoke aloud, her whispers carrying into our ears without alerting others. Though that was more for the ears of fellow spirits rather than humans.
"Shaper?" Taylor muttered with a befuddled lilt.
Queen nodded, folding her arms over her above average bust(weirdo…) with a grin. "She is a Shard of a caliber much like myself, one of the shards tasked with clean-up once a Cycle sufficiently ripened."
"I don't know what that means…" which was odd since I had expected her shard to mention it since her bans were gone. The fact she wasn't meeting Taylor's eye was telling though.
THUMP!
I peeked over to Amy, the mousy brunette sitting herself down with what I would say was an unnecessary amount of force. She grumbled loudly not even bothering to order something from the cafe. The biokinetic had seated herself on the table to our right, and I could see her power poking her with an almost childish excitement. When she mentally slapped the power away, it rattled ominously with pure rage. Enough rage to spontaneously generate spirits of that nature, which didn't bode well for the amount of stress the shard was under.
"Oh…that's not normal…Shaper usually has more active hosts than this." Queen seemed to feel sorry for her fellow shard. "If things continue to develop like this…it will not end well."
Huh. She sounded rather worried, which made sense since we lacked any real resistance to the biokinetic powers of Panacea. I was pretty good with biology myself, but I did so as a scientist not as a shard-wizard. I couldn't use the abilities of Veda as directly as Taylor could. They were configured differently you could say, with my administration tailored toward knowledge rather than people or animals. Though to be fair it was still information processing, which essentially switched between the various different technologies I had available.
Because in real life unless you're a freak of nature, it's impossible to be a biologist, an architect, an artist, a nuclear physicist, or a rocket scientist at the same time. I had never really noticed since the amount of time it took was infinitesimally small to my human perception. I mean Entities literally calculate entire planets, so the lag to switch between information isn't exactly going to be very long.
Panacea once more stared me down with her usual caustic expression, and I quirked an eyebrow at her. Her grip on the table tightened, before loosening up when she noticed Taylor. Recognition filled her eyes, and the fact that Panacea had met Taylor trickled down from my compartmentalized memory.
"Umm…" she let out an uncertain hum, and Taylor slowly came to the realization that the healer didn't remember her name.
"Taylor…you healed me…on January 3rd?" The recognition dawned on her completely, and she shrunk back as if she had noticed something.
"You're…a lot taller than I remember you being," Any stared for a bit before tearing herself away, returning her attention to me. "You…know her?"
Taylor looked confused at her hostility. "Of course? She's my…friend why wouldn't I know her?" I don't think I did a very good job managing to hide how much that pleased me with the way Amy was staring.
"I guess that's fair I…" the bell rung and a hiss escaped my lips when the aura of a certain someone returned. Glory Girl emerged from the door, and Taylor's goodwill curdled.
"A host…with a great lack of restraint." Queen responded with what was either a compliment or an insult.
Within seconds Panacea was whisked away by her sister, her spark brimming with energy for a second or two. Her gaze lingered on us for a moment before she was flown out of sight by Victoria.
…
…
"That was…"
"Weird." Taylor finished my sentence, and I rubbed my head as I felt a headache coming on.
At some point I was going to have to deal with Panacea unless I want her to go crazy. I would rather prevent the crimes she commits beforehand rather than let her fester in a pit of toxicity she'll never escape from even after Taylor gets a 9mm lobotomy to the back of the head.
Because fixing crazy people's heads is super easy.
"I think our orders are ready." Taylor brought me back, and with an intake of fresh air I stood back up.
There was so much to do, and moping on it was a waste of time and energy that didn't solve the problem. So instead I was going to take the time to be productive, along with periodic breaks to keep my fragile sanity. That I had retained any at all had been a miracle, and I wasn't going to let little miss Nilbog get in the way of that.
Now I am going to get my lunch, and then I am going to plan out my future economical takeover and technological uplifting of the city. Then I was going to figure out a way to uproot all the major crime in the city. Then I was going to figure out a way to stop the end of the world, and the collapse of the Shard network.
Though to be fair the shitshow that led to Monarch and Queen already gave me a good idea on what I needed to do.
"This is going to be very difficult…but life is like that."
"What?" I ignored the employee, grabbing our bags and sauntering back to the cable without thanking her.
Time for some lunch!
Because I really don't feel like thinking about the end of all humanity.
___
AN: I've mustered up the energy to put out 2.5, and I'm currently at the midpoint of 4. The replies I've gotten have been helpful, and I hope to improve my writing in the future. Story plot points are being made a little more solid overall…at least I would hope so. There's a lot that I'm still unpacking as the story goes on, and I hope you enjoy what I put out.
I certainly do!
Thanks for the chapter. Some more character building is never bad.
Bonemaster
Bonespook
- Location
- New york
I'm gonna lose it if it turns out that the Simurgh did nothing new at Canberra and only made it seem like it to keep the MC on edge.
- Location
- Myanmar
Or did she...? I mean whether she did or not if you dropped into worm without precog immunity you're always going to be haunted by Simurgh....