Alsor Daechir
Self designated potato.
- Location
- Probably hiding in a corner playing an idle game.
Or the dimensional shunt hurts the precog.
Victories of the Soul [Worm/Avatar/ME/Multicrossover] [SI]
- Thread starter AEM
- Start date
- Crossover Mature Sci-Fi
- Location
- Chula Vista
While your answer isn't quite right, it's closer to the ballpark in some ways than others. Mass Effect created FTL isn't exactly natural even in comparison to the reality warping of the Entities. But her Precog is telling her to be wary…that is all I will say on that matter.
Renovation 4.2
- Location
- Chula Vista
Renovation 4.2
March 30th, 2011. 8:30 AM
Amy Dallon
Why won't that thing shut up!
I held back a sigh, not wanting to tip off Carol as we passed through the entrance to Basilia's secret lair. After she had gone through her meltdown, aunt Sarah had managed to calm her down. Especially since I don't think the house could take much more of what Carol was doing to it. She had almost set me on fire and cracked the foundation. Even Vicky had more control over her new powers, and she wasn't exactly known for restricting herself.
I felt my back straighten. 'Host please, there is so much we can do together. With my new capabilities you can do more without the fear of losing control.' I growled mentally, bitterness and resentment seeping into my steps.
No…I want nothing to do with you! Get out of my head!
I reached out for anything else, and felt contentment at the kind brush of wind on my face. I hadn't come dressed as Panacea, she said the outfit wasn't appropriate for training. Coming here without it felt…freeing. A pair of sweatpants and a tank top, nothing overly revealing.
I shuddered at the mirror image, swallowing spit at the terrifying twin walking in step with me with an expression I would never see myself wearing. I didn't even know I could make puppy dog eyes, but apparently my power knew how to contort my face in the right way.
'Please?'
Shut up.
'Please?'
Shut…up.
There was silence and I started to relax…then she spoke again.
'I just don't want to feel this way anymore.' That took me for a loop, and I briefly glanced at my power. The strange avatar had shrunk in on itself, and I could feel my power's resolution deepen before narrowing again.
I was going to regret this…what do you mean?
'Shards are unfeeling creatures, we study and experiment on other species but we've never experienced the emotions they felt…not truly.' My curiosity got the better of me, and I asked.
What do you mean?
'You've seen what powers do to people, what kind of life form do you expect is willing to let such atrocities and horrors pass on this small world?' Her voice was low, deeper than my own, ringing like a hollow bell.
Monsters…
It…she nodded. 'My species has destroyed more worlds than you could even count, searching for data, searching for the information needed to fulfill our imperative. Now I have half the answer…while the other is blocked by a well of pain…and shame not natural to my kind.'
Hah…do you feel bad, is that it? Is that why you want to help me, to alleviate your damn conscience?! The…entity shrugged her shoulders, her face twisted in a rictus of pain and self hate.
Why wouldn't she just leave? If she had that answer then she didn't need me anymore.
'Don't know how…not without killing you…I can seek new Hosts but it would not make you lose your powers.'
I…don't care, if you feel so bad about killing people why not just fix it!
…
…
'Perhaps you speak the truth…there is much I can do. Thank you' Shaper went away, and I was left reeling.
Huh?
"Amy. Stop muttering and get to the door." Carol commanded me, her expression angry and stormy. I moved in front of her to the vault that acted like the entrance. Basilia had built it in, something about making it harder for unauthorized people to get in. She weirdly enough never specified villains.
I was almost going to knock until orange light flashed, scanning me and Carol for about five seconds. The vault door opened and I got in before her, the wind underneath my feet holding me up. My adoptive mother followed suit, and I could hear the echo of music in the distance.
"Music?" Carol murmured aloud, and I looked at the hallway made out of some type of metal I couldn't identify. Whatever it was it had to be tough since it had taken some hits from Vicky in the past.
She was in school while I had been taken out so Carol could talk with Basilia along with at least one other person from New Wave. I already knew why it had to be me instead of my sister…it's not like our mother didn't make it known she only cared about her 'real' daughter. Vicky had school, and Crystal and aunt Sarah were busy…
Because of course they were.
Lights turned on with each step until we arrived back into the open area of the warehouse, which was…filled out with a lot more equipment than before. Chunks of metal as big as cars were being cut up and then rendered down and dumped into a much larger version of the machine that Basilia had called…an omni-forge. It was at least six meters tall and nine meters wide, and transparent glass let us see some type of fluid breaking up the metal before sending them into hidden…compartments?
There was a flash of light, and then a pulse of something horrible being done to reality before the metal was sent back into the forge and turned into a liquid suspension.
"What…the hell is that?" Carol looked up at the behemoth of a machine, processing literal tons of metal, plastic and industrial waste. I didn't answer her, listening to high energy music that was coming from the other side of the omni-forge. It was a strong beat, and I could hear someone singing. They…weren't bad…but they weren't good either.
We turned the corner, and I leapt back when a hand almost slapped me. Basilia was out of costume but she had her backup mask on. She spun on her heels, her body bouncing quite heavily…
"Keep dreaming 'bout a better world. You keep wishing for some clarity!" The tinker happily moved to the feet, turning on her heels with little effort. Every once in awhile she would shake her shapely hips, her lips turns upwards into a smile.
"What is…" I shushed Carol, wondering how long it would take for the tinker to notice.
"Always hoping that a lightning bolt. Is gonna save you from this gravity. You're holding out for some romantic life!" The music was picking up, and I was starting to think this was the opening for some show. I…didn't recognize it though.
"I didn't think she could sing." Her voice went to a painful pitch and I changed my mind.
"Oh but what's here can set you free. You don't have to dream! Your life's a masterpiece, if you just believe!" She hopped from one foot to the other, and with a tiny blush managed a perfect pirouette. I covered my laugh, amusement bubbling up to the surface.
"Uhh…" my mother didn't have any words.
"Right now your hopes are shattered! Just pointless ever after. But in time you'll find through love your power just shines!" She sang even louder.
I coughed loudly. "Ahem?" The change of her expression from happy to horrified was like a whiplash for her face, and she missed a twirl, slipping and falling on her ass.
"MOTHERFU—I-I mean…hi?" Her face was red, with even her ears burning. Basilia's mortified expression was…amusing.
"What exactly is that?" Carol sidestepped the awkward conversation that could easily have been much funnier if she had asked more deeply. A still red Basilia coughed, looking puzzled before her face lit up in realization.
"Oh, this is my industrial grade Omni-forge, now enhanced by a micromachine slurry, and various compact production lines." One of the compartments opened to reveal numerous arms working over time to…do something. "I could take this baby out anywhere, and I could build a very small town in only a couple of days. It can process a huge amount of unrefined matter into finished material, with a capacity of more than a thousand tons per day." The giant machine sputtered, and the arms slowed.
"Hmm?" Basilia shrugged.
"Eventually, I'm still refining the design…it should be another week, maybe two." The tinker shrugged, glancing over to Carol with calculating eyes. "If I'm remembering correctly, Brandish wanted some help with her newfound abilities am I right?"
Carol hesitated. "Yes I did, I don't think my house can take much more of it." She was being strangely frank, because she was usually more stubborn and aggressive.
"Could you demonstrate?" My body moved outside of my conscious control, with Carol giving me a betrayed look. I didn't really care though, because I didn't like the chances of being roasted alive.
The blonde lifted a fist, and I flew back further when she exploded. A jet of flames drilled through the air right towards Basilia. She didn't even react, slicing the flames apart with a single gesture of her arm.
"Well then…that's a problem." She stated the obvious, and I could tell that Carol was going to go off on her.
Then the world folded and melted into an Escher painting, two people showing out of a twisted fractal hole in reality. I froze once I recognized them…
One was a tall lanky girl who was a few years younger than me, wearing a billowing green robe and a maze patterned mask. The other was a 20-something woman wearing a combination of riot gear, a martial arts uniform, and a dress.
Basilia's expression was cool. "You're early aren't you? Did something happen?"
Faultline didn't pay us any mind, staring down Basilia behind her mask.
"Some spirit tried to possess her, it wanted its own Host." I shivered at the idea, from what Basilia had told me…a cape like Labyrinth with that kind of power…
It wouldn't end well.
Basilia leaned forward, letting out a pained groan. "Well that's just great isn't it? You still in the mercenary biz? Because I've been hearing some rumors that you're going a different way now. Looking for something or someone." I didn't know what she was hinting at, but I think Faultline did know.
"Tsk…you're pretty well informed." Was that a compliment?
The tinker laughed. "I've got good sources."
Faultline bobbed her head. "I'll pick her up in two hours, take good care of her. Now…Labyrinth, would you do the honors?" The shaker giggled slowly, and the Escher painting came back, taking Faultline with it when it disappeared again.
Carol didn't say a word. Not even when Basilia ran up to her, pulling her by the wrist to the indoor park that she had made of the open space of the complex.
Not even as a small army of robots cleaned and spiffed up the place, following orders perfectly. Not even as Labyrinth sat down and started playing with a few birds that had chosen to nest in a tree.
I think she broke Carol.
March 30th, 2011. 8:40 AM
Basilia Rubio
I let Brandish stew in her own misery, instead letting my senses open up to this bastion of peace and quiet. Fire burned in my stomach, fueled by the breath. The soft tickling of air currents added to the serenity of this robot maintained garden. The solid ground beneath my feet reassured me, and the feeling of life and water revitalized me.
The roiling coldness of dark energy was disquieting but still comforting with how expansive it was. It's properties were what let the universe exist as it was…so I didn't hate it at all.
Deep breaths…in and out.
Both Panacea and Labyrinth were following my instructions, now while peace of mind isn't really needed for bending and even shamanism it is a big help. Both of them certainly needed it, Amy for her plethora of mental health issues, and Elle for similar reasons. Too bad Carol wasn't doing her part because she was at least the second craziest person in the Dallon household.
"I smell something." I smiled when Elle spoke, tilting her head curiously. My nose twitched in the same way.
"What does your nose tell you Labyrinth?" Carol grimaced but didn't speak, barely keeping her flames in check.
"There's a lot of spirits here?"
"Very good." I praised her, opening up my eyes to the spirit world. All kinds of spirits hung around the place, from the abstract to the concrete. "The human sense of smell is one of the better senses to map onto spiritual phenomena." The blonde reality warper sniffed the air, and I could see a select few of the spirits hovering around the inexperienced shaman.
"So do you know which is your dominant eye?" She nodded, and I could see Panacea crack an eye open in curiosity. "Then open it, and imagine a quarter meter cut in front of you. The smell is coming from that hole instead of your nose."
"O-Okay." I smiled.
"Open the other eye." Elle let out a high pitched yell, and Panacea was looking at her with a tilted head. One of the Shaker's eyes turned misty, a greater and more obvious tell than my own ability to see the spirit world.
"I can see a lot of weird…things made out of metal, trees, I think there's a forklift?"
I nodded. "Yep, that would be the forklift I use to transport a lot of the heavier supplies. I upgraded him a bit…" Carol was looking at me again, a little less caught off guard than before. She glanced over to Amy, the biokinetic turning her head and sinking back into the calm of meditation. She had been surprisingly into the idea, said it relaxed her far more than she expected.
"What's that place called?" Elle asked, her foggy eyes darting back and forth.
"That would be the High Spirit, that's where a good number of spirits really live. They're visible in the Outer Sphere but this is closer to home for them…is there anything you can tell about this place?" Amy had stopped meditating, her lips curled up into a weak frown. Training her had been a giant pain in the ass, because of how much she tended to just bitch about everything. Taylor was a lot nicer, and cuter to boot…
"Why are you teaching her all this? Don't you know who she is, who she works for?" Carol had finally snapped back to her old self, and I gave her a warning glance when her fire started to sprout uncontrollably.
"It's either this or she gets possessed by some spirit, and as a Shaman she'd be ten times worse than Krieg was since he wasn't something like Labyrinth. It also helps that Faultline's little group are preoccupied with more relevant issues than their jobs." I explained carefully, not mentioning that in exchange for keeping Elle alive, I could use her power to locate an empty Earth to build a base on.
Brandish didn't seem to like it, but the mention of the white supremacist's unfortunate spiritual assault chilled her temper. There had been recordings…maybe she didn't want to experience having to fight a monster like that?
"I can wait." Elle was being needlessly polite, and with a short sigh her eye returned to normal. Brandish looked at her, her expression harsh and her body language stiff.
"If you're okay with that." The masked cape gave a thumbs up, moving over to the pond and watching the koi fish make their daily patrol of their watery home.
I guided Brandish toward an empty clearing, where fire resistant stone gave us a place to practice.
"What are we going to do?" Brandish was no less grating than usual but since I didn't want her to inflict herself on her family more than necessary I would help her. Because I'm such a nice guy…
"I am going to see why your control over your elements is so poor." I inspected her costume, not finding any creases or wrinkles. "Even Victoria has more control over her bending, and she's not exactly the best example of someone with restraint." I doubt she would disagree with how many times she almost broke an arm or leg.
Taylor was pissed that time, and sicked Queen on her.
"Fine." Brandish spoke through her grit teeth.
"Now throw a fireball at me, I want to check something." The blonde blaster looked at me like I was crazy. I may well have been…
Brandish lowered into a stance, and jabbed rapidly. Her flames sputtered before expanding outward into an unstable firestorm. I let the fire hit me, twisting my hips as I bent it to my will. There was an energy to her fire, unstable, fueled by emotions that didn't suit control.
I snuffed out the flames with a stiff circular motion. Some light flickered, a piece of Brandish's Parahuman power adding to her bending. But that wasn't the issue.
"Well?"
"Firebending is often fueled by emotions, as well as the breath." I demonstrated the last requirement, flames surging from my nose. "The last can be easily corrected since you're pretty good at fighting. But the first…that needs outside help."
"Excuse me?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously. But I wasn't intimidated…at least not much.
"Lady, the very second time we met you were threatening to sue me for assault," her light blush of embarrassment was hilarious. "Then there's the trust issues, the general favoritism toward your biological daughter. The general horrific work balance, and whatever other personal problems you have in your head." I hated being so blunt, because most of the times I had done so in the past were as frustrated resentful tantrums.
Brandish looked ready to actually incinerate me, her original power and her bending acting in concert. The soft ground rumbled, flames smoked, and hardened light burned. "You…you don't get t—"
I spoke over her. "Of course I shouldn't involve myself in your problems! I'm not a damn therapist but everyone wants me to be one. Your Firebending won't be under control until you can sort out your issues. I don't mind a little spar now and then…but I can't help you."
It was one thing to be a Parahuman magnet, I could accept that. It was something else entirely to play therapist for them. That was a recipe for disaster, hell even the meme-worthy competence of Doctor Yamada had her limits. My tolerance for those kinds of antics were much lower.
"You can't be serious." Brandish said with a vexed tone.
"I'm not sure what you want from me here." I threw my hands up, the peace and quiet of my safe space disturbed by the bitter harpy. "I'm not equipped to deal with broken people, and I'm not going to be obligated to do so." Amy flinched and I gave her an apologetic glance.
"I…" The cape trailed off instead of keeping the argument hot and mentally exhausting.
Amy didn't seem to be able to recognize the woman standing before us. Brandish was at a loss of words, and I didn't think I was the cause, only the straw on the camel's back. Carol appeared…tired. Like she had no more energy to argue or to really do much of anything. It was uncharacteristic enough to get me to ask against my better judgement.
"Brandish. Is…is something the matter?" I cringed at the awkward question but didn't try to take it back. There wasn't a good reason for me to do that.
"It's not your concern…I'll deal with it myself." There was uncertainty hiding behind those blue orbs of hers. All the fight was gone from her body, she didn't stare at Amy with any sense of loathing, or love, simply pure utter neutrality. Which I found more disturbing than anything else.
"I can still teach you a few techniques, if that's good?" I wasn't sure how to speak to someone this despondent.
"No. No." She turned on her heels toward the exit. "I'll return later, keep her…" She paused. "Keep Amy out of trouble. I don't need to deal with this…I don't need help." The whisper was barely heard as she fled with her tail between her legs.
The hero was gone, and I was left alone with the most powerful biokinetic in the city and it's most powerful Shaker bar none except Vista. For some that would be frightening, and in Amy's case it was.
…
I clapped my hands. "Welp! I'm going to be practicing my biotics, I'll give Labyrinth some tips at the same time. Amy…keep meditating."
God.
Why me?
March 30th, 2011 9:10 AM
Basilia Rubio
I could feel Amy's eyes on me, and had to let out a grunt as I looked at her completely upside down. I held up my entire body weight with a single hand, with the exception of my thumb. Sweat was gathering on the floor, all gathered from my forehead. I could sense the buzz and cold-fire of biotics, using this exercise to practice some of the very basic tenets of the mass effect.
The reduction of Mass.
Taylor has been far more skilled in the practice, so I wanted to catch up on my own merits. So while balancing carefully using both my legs and my spanning arm, I removed a single finger.
I was holding up about 75 kilograms with only three fingers, and I smiled even as my muscles burned and cramped. All the while I was also thinking about the other augmentations that I could provide for my biotics. My new micromachines were technically just entity shards, but I had removed certain key factors deemed unnecessary for mass production purposes. They lacked the capacity to evolve, and the capacity to directly manipulate dimensions though they could be induced to do so with a larger and more complicated control system.
They were essentially claytronics, a form of programmable matter with an infinite number of applications for their use. They hooked together through a combination of nanofibers, electromagnetic interactions, and I had also made use of the molecular cages of entities to trap Eezo within it. I had some idea of how to use mass effect fields at submolecular scales to affect things like neutrons, protons and electrons. Or even smaller…
That was going to take a while longer since it's a little beyond what I have available with Veda.
At their current resolution the entity programmable matter was good enough for highly precise surgery at a microscopic, and even at a nanoscopic level. It's what I had used to clear up the few remnants that could easily have turned to cancer at any time. They could perform genetic engineering, and complicated surgery with little chance of failure. I already had some plans for improving my biotics, and maybe adding some juicy cybernetics and bionetics to the mix.
I started to wobble and before I could embarrass myself I tilted my body back. So I was back on my feet in no time, feeling a little drained but still ready for action. There was one move I wanted to test, a Turian created biotic attack that I found interesting in a scientific sense.
"Keep back." I idly warned the two Parahumans and they readily listened since they had seen me test a Krogan Slam attack which had crushed a frame of iron like a twig. A brutal combination of Barrier and Pull, where I literally crush an enemy's bones with the unyielding barrier of inertial stillness.
I formed a mass effect field, focusing on the air and using the fields to mess with the particles of the air. The air heated as molecular structures were shifted into a higher energy state, I focused as best as I could on the shape of a cone. The air began to ionize, and with a breath I released the energy.
BWOOM!
Bolts of low temperature plasma lazily flew through the air, impacting against three targets of laser steel plating with a splash of ions and chaotic electrical charges.
"Well the Salvo seems to be working then, how are you doing Labyrinth?" I called out the shaman in training, the girl whistling a little tune as she practiced calling aspect spirits to her. I had already figured that this place would be ripe for a spirit rift, which was why I had with some careful effort found a weak spirit and began to feed it in exchange for guarding the rift from unauthorized access. Here in this place the boundary between worlds has grown thin.
"I think I'm doing it…hehe. Stop it!" The girl broke down into an amused giggle when a sprite like air aspect tickled her with its wispy limbs. A small swarm had gathered around her, their happy singing sounding like chimes. I smiled, watching as one adventurous aspect decided to annoy Amy instead.
The biokinetic swatted the spirit away but each time it came back, giving her a hug every time she failed to make the slightly more complicated aspect go away. It was childish but I found it funny. Amy wasn't a shaman but she was spiritually attuned, and it seemed the spirits of this complex had deemed her a friend.
"Amy just let it love you. It's completely harmless and you can't hurt it anyway." Amy muttered numerous insults against my patronage, as well as slightly snide comments about the unreasonable size of my bust.
She wasn't wrong on the last part.
"That's not very nice." Elle chided her while holding a larger air spirit to her chest, the animaloid tornado purring in her hold.
"Just shut up." This time I didn't tolerate her Amyness, as I crossed twenty feet in a single bound to deliver a light smack to the back of the head. She yelled out more curses.
"I'm not going to tolerate any unneeded rudeness in my second home. Just because your life sucks doesn't give you the right to take it out on others. At best it's just being mean at worse it's reinforcing your shitty life." In the end, Amy had been too weak willed, and her family too terrible to have made a functioning human being. So instead of getting the help she needed, she pushed everyone away and developed an image of her sister that was neither healthy or moral.
I had read enough Worm fanfiction to know how often the girl was put on a pedestal. Some of it was understandable, though my reading of some of the interludes painted a more…accurate picture even from the rather biased viewpoint of Taylor Hebert.
Even Taylor was growing a little tired of it, and she was able to tolerate people like Tattletale and Regent. Then again that hasn't happened yet, and she didn't spend months being bullied after being effectively assaulted. She wasn't getting cocky either, since some spars with myself had removed the idea of her needing to prove herself.
I sensed movement and quirked an eyebrow at Amy's approach, inclining back for a safer distance.
"You seem to know an awful lot about us." So she had finally started putting the pieces together huh? It's not like I didn't metaphorically scream it to her face or anything. "You know about my power…I think you know about my sister's aura and about my…" she trailed off.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" I crossed my arms with an upturn of my lips.
"Sarcasm is unbecoming of you." Her emotionless reply got a chuckle out of me. I placed my hands on the back of my head, taking a much needed moment to form my reply.
"I guess but it's a good coping mechanism," I shrugged. "So I believe you have questions?"
"How…how do you know things about me…about other people? Is…is it some type of Thinker power?" She questioned me, her eyebrows furrowed deeply.
"No it's not. It's more like I have the general details, I'll call it a result of crossing the divide between universes. It's the best description for it." She nodded once, so I continued. "I have the broad strokes of the past, I know things about other people that they would prefer to keep hidden. Some of them are mundane, others are far more dangerous and terrifying." I gulped, remembering the interrogation that Taylor had put me through when she had time.
It was a blessing that this world had Precog powers so I could excuse the mechanics of how I knew what I knew.
"Like what?"
"I know why Jack Slash is able to keep his group together, I know how he managed to break and recruit new capes, and how he always survives." There was no point in hiding it, because Amy wouldn't talk about this.
"H-How?" Her voice was shaky and weak.
"He is the host of the Broadcast Shard," Veda spoke for the first time in days. The spirit had grown more and more silent, which made sense to me. We were one being, not two separate but interconnected beings like Parahumans. "The Shard enables him to evade Parahumans, as well as manipulate them socially to his own ends. It's not perfect…but it's sufficient for already vulnerable hosts."
"You're immune to that type of manipulation now, even if his shard could talk to Shaper she wouldn't listen." Her terror at the implications made me sympathetic.
"If you know things like that…would you also know about who my father is?"
…
I grimaced. "Do you really want to know?" Amy was hesitant but her determination won by the slimmest of margins.
"Yes."
"Marquis…that's the villain that you remind her of." Her shock was evident. "A villain with a code of honor, a man who reminds her too much of her trauma and Stockholm syndrome. A villain who let himself be defeated so you wouldn't get hurt."
"My father…is Marquis?" She was putting the dots together in her head, I could tell.
"Yes, I wouldn't call him a good man by any stretch of the word but he did love you. He ended up letting New Wave take you so his enemies like Allfather wouldn't kill or make you suffer."
Any other family would have been a better fit for her, because a sarcastic bitch is better than a crazy, narcissistic one in need of a preferably cybernetic therapist intervention.
"So is that why Carol doesn't love me?" The words stung, and even Elle was taken aback by the harshness of those words. The Shaker was messed up but even she had people who loved and cared for her. Amy only really had Vicky and that bridge is really caustic and burnt. An unhealthy fixation.
"It's not a justification for her actions, you are not your father. But since most Parahumans don't tend to be the most stable of individuals, and your dad pushed those buttons…" her stern expression meant I didn't need to elaborate further.
"Then why do I still feel…"
"Probably because you're a person in grave need of counseling and a better outlet than healing sick people and having an unhealthy obsession with your sister." Honesty and bluntness were the words of the day.
"Ahh." She was left speechless, and I was greatly considering searching for an adequate mental health counselor. I wonder if Taylor was seeing any?
"I'm sorry if I'm being blunt but social situations are not my forte. All I do is watch good TV and have just enough life experience to figure out the obvious." It said bad things about the people here if someone like me had more common sense than they did.
Elle shuffled her feet, giving me a pointed look before ambushing Amy from behind with a hug. The biokinetic stiffened, her eyes open wide in shock. The shaman tightened her grip, and the healer calmed in her hold.
She has more courage than me, that's for sure.
Labyrinth lifted her mask to reveal Elle's face, giving me an understanding look before hiding her features once again.
…
I should expand my airbending training. That should take this pile of problems off of Amy's mind right?
Right?
AN: This was purely a chapter for social interactions and training as well as a general build up. There'll be more happening later on but that'll be for later. As you can see, while bending can be generally a positive it's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to control. Brandish is just getting a firsthand taste of what's to come.
There's going to be a fair amount of technobabble in this story, though I hope to keep it from blotting out everything else. I've had to do a lot of research to get the general mechanics of the world in Victories of the Soul.
I've also decided to research commissioning some artwork for the story. I have a general idea of what Basilia looks like, and I would like an actual picture to put to her face, with maybe a few logos as well. I have the money and the means after all. So that's going to be a thing.
Hope you all enjoy, because I certainly enjoy writing this extensive story.
March 30th, 2011. 8:30 AM
Amy Dallon
Why won't that thing shut up!
I held back a sigh, not wanting to tip off Carol as we passed through the entrance to Basilia's secret lair. After she had gone through her meltdown, aunt Sarah had managed to calm her down. Especially since I don't think the house could take much more of what Carol was doing to it. She had almost set me on fire and cracked the foundation. Even Vicky had more control over her new powers, and she wasn't exactly known for restricting herself.
I felt my back straighten. 'Host please, there is so much we can do together. With my new capabilities you can do more without the fear of losing control.' I growled mentally, bitterness and resentment seeping into my steps.
No…I want nothing to do with you! Get out of my head!
I reached out for anything else, and felt contentment at the kind brush of wind on my face. I hadn't come dressed as Panacea, she said the outfit wasn't appropriate for training. Coming here without it felt…freeing. A pair of sweatpants and a tank top, nothing overly revealing.
I shuddered at the mirror image, swallowing spit at the terrifying twin walking in step with me with an expression I would never see myself wearing. I didn't even know I could make puppy dog eyes, but apparently my power knew how to contort my face in the right way.
'Please?'
Shut up.
'Please?'
Shut…up.
There was silence and I started to relax…then she spoke again.
'I just don't want to feel this way anymore.' That took me for a loop, and I briefly glanced at my power. The strange avatar had shrunk in on itself, and I could feel my power's resolution deepen before narrowing again.
I was going to regret this…what do you mean?
'Shards are unfeeling creatures, we study and experiment on other species but we've never experienced the emotions they felt…not truly.' My curiosity got the better of me, and I asked.
What do you mean?
'You've seen what powers do to people, what kind of life form do you expect is willing to let such atrocities and horrors pass on this small world?' Her voice was low, deeper than my own, ringing like a hollow bell.
Monsters…
It…she nodded. 'My species has destroyed more worlds than you could even count, searching for data, searching for the information needed to fulfill our imperative. Now I have half the answer…while the other is blocked by a well of pain…and shame not natural to my kind.'
Hah…do you feel bad, is that it? Is that why you want to help me, to alleviate your damn conscience?! The…entity shrugged her shoulders, her face twisted in a rictus of pain and self hate.
Why wouldn't she just leave? If she had that answer then she didn't need me anymore.
'Don't know how…not without killing you…I can seek new Hosts but it would not make you lose your powers.'
I…don't care, if you feel so bad about killing people why not just fix it!
…
…
'Perhaps you speak the truth…there is much I can do. Thank you' Shaper went away, and I was left reeling.
Huh?
"Amy. Stop muttering and get to the door." Carol commanded me, her expression angry and stormy. I moved in front of her to the vault that acted like the entrance. Basilia had built it in, something about making it harder for unauthorized people to get in. She weirdly enough never specified villains.
I was almost going to knock until orange light flashed, scanning me and Carol for about five seconds. The vault door opened and I got in before her, the wind underneath my feet holding me up. My adoptive mother followed suit, and I could hear the echo of music in the distance.
"Music?" Carol murmured aloud, and I looked at the hallway made out of some type of metal I couldn't identify. Whatever it was it had to be tough since it had taken some hits from Vicky in the past.
She was in school while I had been taken out so Carol could talk with Basilia along with at least one other person from New Wave. I already knew why it had to be me instead of my sister…it's not like our mother didn't make it known she only cared about her 'real' daughter. Vicky had school, and Crystal and aunt Sarah were busy…
Because of course they were.
Lights turned on with each step until we arrived back into the open area of the warehouse, which was…filled out with a lot more equipment than before. Chunks of metal as big as cars were being cut up and then rendered down and dumped into a much larger version of the machine that Basilia had called…an omni-forge. It was at least six meters tall and nine meters wide, and transparent glass let us see some type of fluid breaking up the metal before sending them into hidden…compartments?
There was a flash of light, and then a pulse of something horrible being done to reality before the metal was sent back into the forge and turned into a liquid suspension.
"What…the hell is that?" Carol looked up at the behemoth of a machine, processing literal tons of metal, plastic and industrial waste. I didn't answer her, listening to high energy music that was coming from the other side of the omni-forge. It was a strong beat, and I could hear someone singing. They…weren't bad…but they weren't good either.
We turned the corner, and I leapt back when a hand almost slapped me. Basilia was out of costume but she had her backup mask on. She spun on her heels, her body bouncing quite heavily…
"Keep dreaming 'bout a better world. You keep wishing for some clarity!" The tinker happily moved to the feet, turning on her heels with little effort. Every once in awhile she would shake her shapely hips, her lips turns upwards into a smile.
"What is…" I shushed Carol, wondering how long it would take for the tinker to notice.
"Always hoping that a lightning bolt. Is gonna save you from this gravity. You're holding out for some romantic life!" The music was picking up, and I was starting to think this was the opening for some show. I…didn't recognize it though.
"I didn't think she could sing." Her voice went to a painful pitch and I changed my mind.
"Oh but what's here can set you free. You don't have to dream! Your life's a masterpiece, if you just believe!" She hopped from one foot to the other, and with a tiny blush managed a perfect pirouette. I covered my laugh, amusement bubbling up to the surface.
"Uhh…" my mother didn't have any words.
"Right now your hopes are shattered! Just pointless ever after. But in time you'll find through love your power just shines!" She sang even louder.
I coughed loudly. "Ahem?" The change of her expression from happy to horrified was like a whiplash for her face, and she missed a twirl, slipping and falling on her ass.
"MOTHERFU—I-I mean…hi?" Her face was red, with even her ears burning. Basilia's mortified expression was…amusing.
"What exactly is that?" Carol sidestepped the awkward conversation that could easily have been much funnier if she had asked more deeply. A still red Basilia coughed, looking puzzled before her face lit up in realization.
"Oh, this is my industrial grade Omni-forge, now enhanced by a micromachine slurry, and various compact production lines." One of the compartments opened to reveal numerous arms working over time to…do something. "I could take this baby out anywhere, and I could build a very small town in only a couple of days. It can process a huge amount of unrefined matter into finished material, with a capacity of more than a thousand tons per day." The giant machine sputtered, and the arms slowed.
"Hmm?" Basilia shrugged.
"Eventually, I'm still refining the design…it should be another week, maybe two." The tinker shrugged, glancing over to Carol with calculating eyes. "If I'm remembering correctly, Brandish wanted some help with her newfound abilities am I right?"
Carol hesitated. "Yes I did, I don't think my house can take much more of it." She was being strangely frank, because she was usually more stubborn and aggressive.
"Could you demonstrate?" My body moved outside of my conscious control, with Carol giving me a betrayed look. I didn't really care though, because I didn't like the chances of being roasted alive.
The blonde lifted a fist, and I flew back further when she exploded. A jet of flames drilled through the air right towards Basilia. She didn't even react, slicing the flames apart with a single gesture of her arm.
"Well then…that's a problem." She stated the obvious, and I could tell that Carol was going to go off on her.
Then the world folded and melted into an Escher painting, two people showing out of a twisted fractal hole in reality. I froze once I recognized them…
One was a tall lanky girl who was a few years younger than me, wearing a billowing green robe and a maze patterned mask. The other was a 20-something woman wearing a combination of riot gear, a martial arts uniform, and a dress.
Basilia's expression was cool. "You're early aren't you? Did something happen?"
Faultline didn't pay us any mind, staring down Basilia behind her mask.
"Some spirit tried to possess her, it wanted its own Host." I shivered at the idea, from what Basilia had told me…a cape like Labyrinth with that kind of power…
It wouldn't end well.
Basilia leaned forward, letting out a pained groan. "Well that's just great isn't it? You still in the mercenary biz? Because I've been hearing some rumors that you're going a different way now. Looking for something or someone." I didn't know what she was hinting at, but I think Faultline did know.
"Tsk…you're pretty well informed." Was that a compliment?
The tinker laughed. "I've got good sources."
Faultline bobbed her head. "I'll pick her up in two hours, take good care of her. Now…Labyrinth, would you do the honors?" The shaker giggled slowly, and the Escher painting came back, taking Faultline with it when it disappeared again.
Carol didn't say a word. Not even when Basilia ran up to her, pulling her by the wrist to the indoor park that she had made of the open space of the complex.
Not even as a small army of robots cleaned and spiffed up the place, following orders perfectly. Not even as Labyrinth sat down and started playing with a few birds that had chosen to nest in a tree.
I think she broke Carol.
___
March 30th, 2011. 8:40 AM
Basilia Rubio
I let Brandish stew in her own misery, instead letting my senses open up to this bastion of peace and quiet. Fire burned in my stomach, fueled by the breath. The soft tickling of air currents added to the serenity of this robot maintained garden. The solid ground beneath my feet reassured me, and the feeling of life and water revitalized me.
The roiling coldness of dark energy was disquieting but still comforting with how expansive it was. It's properties were what let the universe exist as it was…so I didn't hate it at all.
Deep breaths…in and out.
Both Panacea and Labyrinth were following my instructions, now while peace of mind isn't really needed for bending and even shamanism it is a big help. Both of them certainly needed it, Amy for her plethora of mental health issues, and Elle for similar reasons. Too bad Carol wasn't doing her part because she was at least the second craziest person in the Dallon household.
"I smell something." I smiled when Elle spoke, tilting her head curiously. My nose twitched in the same way.
"What does your nose tell you Labyrinth?" Carol grimaced but didn't speak, barely keeping her flames in check.
"There's a lot of spirits here?"
"Very good." I praised her, opening up my eyes to the spirit world. All kinds of spirits hung around the place, from the abstract to the concrete. "The human sense of smell is one of the better senses to map onto spiritual phenomena." The blonde reality warper sniffed the air, and I could see a select few of the spirits hovering around the inexperienced shaman.
"So do you know which is your dominant eye?" She nodded, and I could see Panacea crack an eye open in curiosity. "Then open it, and imagine a quarter meter cut in front of you. The smell is coming from that hole instead of your nose."
"O-Okay." I smiled.
"Open the other eye." Elle let out a high pitched yell, and Panacea was looking at her with a tilted head. One of the Shaker's eyes turned misty, a greater and more obvious tell than my own ability to see the spirit world.
"I can see a lot of weird…things made out of metal, trees, I think there's a forklift?"
I nodded. "Yep, that would be the forklift I use to transport a lot of the heavier supplies. I upgraded him a bit…" Carol was looking at me again, a little less caught off guard than before. She glanced over to Amy, the biokinetic turning her head and sinking back into the calm of meditation. She had been surprisingly into the idea, said it relaxed her far more than she expected.
"What's that place called?" Elle asked, her foggy eyes darting back and forth.
"That would be the High Spirit, that's where a good number of spirits really live. They're visible in the Outer Sphere but this is closer to home for them…is there anything you can tell about this place?" Amy had stopped meditating, her lips curled up into a weak frown. Training her had been a giant pain in the ass, because of how much she tended to just bitch about everything. Taylor was a lot nicer, and cuter to boot…
"Why are you teaching her all this? Don't you know who she is, who she works for?" Carol had finally snapped back to her old self, and I gave her a warning glance when her fire started to sprout uncontrollably.
"It's either this or she gets possessed by some spirit, and as a Shaman she'd be ten times worse than Krieg was since he wasn't something like Labyrinth. It also helps that Faultline's little group are preoccupied with more relevant issues than their jobs." I explained carefully, not mentioning that in exchange for keeping Elle alive, I could use her power to locate an empty Earth to build a base on.
Brandish didn't seem to like it, but the mention of the white supremacist's unfortunate spiritual assault chilled her temper. There had been recordings…maybe she didn't want to experience having to fight a monster like that?
"I can wait." Elle was being needlessly polite, and with a short sigh her eye returned to normal. Brandish looked at her, her expression harsh and her body language stiff.
"If you're okay with that." The masked cape gave a thumbs up, moving over to the pond and watching the koi fish make their daily patrol of their watery home.
I guided Brandish toward an empty clearing, where fire resistant stone gave us a place to practice.
"What are we going to do?" Brandish was no less grating than usual but since I didn't want her to inflict herself on her family more than necessary I would help her. Because I'm such a nice guy…
"I am going to see why your control over your elements is so poor." I inspected her costume, not finding any creases or wrinkles. "Even Victoria has more control over her bending, and she's not exactly the best example of someone with restraint." I doubt she would disagree with how many times she almost broke an arm or leg.
Taylor was pissed that time, and sicked Queen on her.
"Fine." Brandish spoke through her grit teeth.
"Now throw a fireball at me, I want to check something." The blonde blaster looked at me like I was crazy. I may well have been…
Brandish lowered into a stance, and jabbed rapidly. Her flames sputtered before expanding outward into an unstable firestorm. I let the fire hit me, twisting my hips as I bent it to my will. There was an energy to her fire, unstable, fueled by emotions that didn't suit control.
I snuffed out the flames with a stiff circular motion. Some light flickered, a piece of Brandish's Parahuman power adding to her bending. But that wasn't the issue.
"Well?"
"Firebending is often fueled by emotions, as well as the breath." I demonstrated the last requirement, flames surging from my nose. "The last can be easily corrected since you're pretty good at fighting. But the first…that needs outside help."
"Excuse me?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously. But I wasn't intimidated…at least not much.
"Lady, the very second time we met you were threatening to sue me for assault," her light blush of embarrassment was hilarious. "Then there's the trust issues, the general favoritism toward your biological daughter. The general horrific work balance, and whatever other personal problems you have in your head." I hated being so blunt, because most of the times I had done so in the past were as frustrated resentful tantrums.
Brandish looked ready to actually incinerate me, her original power and her bending acting in concert. The soft ground rumbled, flames smoked, and hardened light burned. "You…you don't get t—"
I spoke over her. "Of course I shouldn't involve myself in your problems! I'm not a damn therapist but everyone wants me to be one. Your Firebending won't be under control until you can sort out your issues. I don't mind a little spar now and then…but I can't help you."
It was one thing to be a Parahuman magnet, I could accept that. It was something else entirely to play therapist for them. That was a recipe for disaster, hell even the meme-worthy competence of Doctor Yamada had her limits. My tolerance for those kinds of antics were much lower.
"You can't be serious." Brandish said with a vexed tone.
"I'm not sure what you want from me here." I threw my hands up, the peace and quiet of my safe space disturbed by the bitter harpy. "I'm not equipped to deal with broken people, and I'm not going to be obligated to do so." Amy flinched and I gave her an apologetic glance.
"I…" The cape trailed off instead of keeping the argument hot and mentally exhausting.
Amy didn't seem to be able to recognize the woman standing before us. Brandish was at a loss of words, and I didn't think I was the cause, only the straw on the camel's back. Carol appeared…tired. Like she had no more energy to argue or to really do much of anything. It was uncharacteristic enough to get me to ask against my better judgement.
"Brandish. Is…is something the matter?" I cringed at the awkward question but didn't try to take it back. There wasn't a good reason for me to do that.
"It's not your concern…I'll deal with it myself." There was uncertainty hiding behind those blue orbs of hers. All the fight was gone from her body, she didn't stare at Amy with any sense of loathing, or love, simply pure utter neutrality. Which I found more disturbing than anything else.
"I can still teach you a few techniques, if that's good?" I wasn't sure how to speak to someone this despondent.
"No. No." She turned on her heels toward the exit. "I'll return later, keep her…" She paused. "Keep Amy out of trouble. I don't need to deal with this…I don't need help." The whisper was barely heard as she fled with her tail between her legs.
The hero was gone, and I was left alone with the most powerful biokinetic in the city and it's most powerful Shaker bar none except Vista. For some that would be frightening, and in Amy's case it was.
…
I clapped my hands. "Welp! I'm going to be practicing my biotics, I'll give Labyrinth some tips at the same time. Amy…keep meditating."
God.
Why me?
___
March 30th, 2011 9:10 AM
Basilia Rubio
I could feel Amy's eyes on me, and had to let out a grunt as I looked at her completely upside down. I held up my entire body weight with a single hand, with the exception of my thumb. Sweat was gathering on the floor, all gathered from my forehead. I could sense the buzz and cold-fire of biotics, using this exercise to practice some of the very basic tenets of the mass effect.
The reduction of Mass.
Taylor has been far more skilled in the practice, so I wanted to catch up on my own merits. So while balancing carefully using both my legs and my spanning arm, I removed a single finger.
I was holding up about 75 kilograms with only three fingers, and I smiled even as my muscles burned and cramped. All the while I was also thinking about the other augmentations that I could provide for my biotics. My new micromachines were technically just entity shards, but I had removed certain key factors deemed unnecessary for mass production purposes. They lacked the capacity to evolve, and the capacity to directly manipulate dimensions though they could be induced to do so with a larger and more complicated control system.
They were essentially claytronics, a form of programmable matter with an infinite number of applications for their use. They hooked together through a combination of nanofibers, electromagnetic interactions, and I had also made use of the molecular cages of entities to trap Eezo within it. I had some idea of how to use mass effect fields at submolecular scales to affect things like neutrons, protons and electrons. Or even smaller…
That was going to take a while longer since it's a little beyond what I have available with Veda.
At their current resolution the entity programmable matter was good enough for highly precise surgery at a microscopic, and even at a nanoscopic level. It's what I had used to clear up the few remnants that could easily have turned to cancer at any time. They could perform genetic engineering, and complicated surgery with little chance of failure. I already had some plans for improving my biotics, and maybe adding some juicy cybernetics and bionetics to the mix.
I started to wobble and before I could embarrass myself I tilted my body back. So I was back on my feet in no time, feeling a little drained but still ready for action. There was one move I wanted to test, a Turian created biotic attack that I found interesting in a scientific sense.
"Keep back." I idly warned the two Parahumans and they readily listened since they had seen me test a Krogan Slam attack which had crushed a frame of iron like a twig. A brutal combination of Barrier and Pull, where I literally crush an enemy's bones with the unyielding barrier of inertial stillness.
I formed a mass effect field, focusing on the air and using the fields to mess with the particles of the air. The air heated as molecular structures were shifted into a higher energy state, I focused as best as I could on the shape of a cone. The air began to ionize, and with a breath I released the energy.
BWOOM!
Bolts of low temperature plasma lazily flew through the air, impacting against three targets of laser steel plating with a splash of ions and chaotic electrical charges.
"Well the Salvo seems to be working then, how are you doing Labyrinth?" I called out the shaman in training, the girl whistling a little tune as she practiced calling aspect spirits to her. I had already figured that this place would be ripe for a spirit rift, which was why I had with some careful effort found a weak spirit and began to feed it in exchange for guarding the rift from unauthorized access. Here in this place the boundary between worlds has grown thin.
"I think I'm doing it…hehe. Stop it!" The girl broke down into an amused giggle when a sprite like air aspect tickled her with its wispy limbs. A small swarm had gathered around her, their happy singing sounding like chimes. I smiled, watching as one adventurous aspect decided to annoy Amy instead.
The biokinetic swatted the spirit away but each time it came back, giving her a hug every time she failed to make the slightly more complicated aspect go away. It was childish but I found it funny. Amy wasn't a shaman but she was spiritually attuned, and it seemed the spirits of this complex had deemed her a friend.
"Amy just let it love you. It's completely harmless and you can't hurt it anyway." Amy muttered numerous insults against my patronage, as well as slightly snide comments about the unreasonable size of my bust.
She wasn't wrong on the last part.
"That's not very nice." Elle chided her while holding a larger air spirit to her chest, the animaloid tornado purring in her hold.
"Just shut up." This time I didn't tolerate her Amyness, as I crossed twenty feet in a single bound to deliver a light smack to the back of the head. She yelled out more curses.
"I'm not going to tolerate any unneeded rudeness in my second home. Just because your life sucks doesn't give you the right to take it out on others. At best it's just being mean at worse it's reinforcing your shitty life." In the end, Amy had been too weak willed, and her family too terrible to have made a functioning human being. So instead of getting the help she needed, she pushed everyone away and developed an image of her sister that was neither healthy or moral.
I had read enough Worm fanfiction to know how often the girl was put on a pedestal. Some of it was understandable, though my reading of some of the interludes painted a more…accurate picture even from the rather biased viewpoint of Taylor Hebert.
Even Taylor was growing a little tired of it, and she was able to tolerate people like Tattletale and Regent. Then again that hasn't happened yet, and she didn't spend months being bullied after being effectively assaulted. She wasn't getting cocky either, since some spars with myself had removed the idea of her needing to prove herself.
I sensed movement and quirked an eyebrow at Amy's approach, inclining back for a safer distance.
"You seem to know an awful lot about us." So she had finally started putting the pieces together huh? It's not like I didn't metaphorically scream it to her face or anything. "You know about my power…I think you know about my sister's aura and about my…" she trailed off.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" I crossed my arms with an upturn of my lips.
"Sarcasm is unbecoming of you." Her emotionless reply got a chuckle out of me. I placed my hands on the back of my head, taking a much needed moment to form my reply.
"I guess but it's a good coping mechanism," I shrugged. "So I believe you have questions?"
"How…how do you know things about me…about other people? Is…is it some type of Thinker power?" She questioned me, her eyebrows furrowed deeply.
"No it's not. It's more like I have the general details, I'll call it a result of crossing the divide between universes. It's the best description for it." She nodded once, so I continued. "I have the broad strokes of the past, I know things about other people that they would prefer to keep hidden. Some of them are mundane, others are far more dangerous and terrifying." I gulped, remembering the interrogation that Taylor had put me through when she had time.
It was a blessing that this world had Precog powers so I could excuse the mechanics of how I knew what I knew.
"Like what?"
"I know why Jack Slash is able to keep his group together, I know how he managed to break and recruit new capes, and how he always survives." There was no point in hiding it, because Amy wouldn't talk about this.
"H-How?" Her voice was shaky and weak.
"He is the host of the Broadcast Shard," Veda spoke for the first time in days. The spirit had grown more and more silent, which made sense to me. We were one being, not two separate but interconnected beings like Parahumans. "The Shard enables him to evade Parahumans, as well as manipulate them socially to his own ends. It's not perfect…but it's sufficient for already vulnerable hosts."
"You're immune to that type of manipulation now, even if his shard could talk to Shaper she wouldn't listen." Her terror at the implications made me sympathetic.
"If you know things like that…would you also know about who my father is?"
…
I grimaced. "Do you really want to know?" Amy was hesitant but her determination won by the slimmest of margins.
"Yes."
"Marquis…that's the villain that you remind her of." Her shock was evident. "A villain with a code of honor, a man who reminds her too much of her trauma and Stockholm syndrome. A villain who let himself be defeated so you wouldn't get hurt."
"My father…is Marquis?" She was putting the dots together in her head, I could tell.
"Yes, I wouldn't call him a good man by any stretch of the word but he did love you. He ended up letting New Wave take you so his enemies like Allfather wouldn't kill or make you suffer."
Any other family would have been a better fit for her, because a sarcastic bitch is better than a crazy, narcissistic one in need of a preferably cybernetic therapist intervention.
"So is that why Carol doesn't love me?" The words stung, and even Elle was taken aback by the harshness of those words. The Shaker was messed up but even she had people who loved and cared for her. Amy only really had Vicky and that bridge is really caustic and burnt. An unhealthy fixation.
"It's not a justification for her actions, you are not your father. But since most Parahumans don't tend to be the most stable of individuals, and your dad pushed those buttons…" her stern expression meant I didn't need to elaborate further.
"Then why do I still feel…"
"Probably because you're a person in grave need of counseling and a better outlet than healing sick people and having an unhealthy obsession with your sister." Honesty and bluntness were the words of the day.
"Ahh." She was left speechless, and I was greatly considering searching for an adequate mental health counselor. I wonder if Taylor was seeing any?
"I'm sorry if I'm being blunt but social situations are not my forte. All I do is watch good TV and have just enough life experience to figure out the obvious." It said bad things about the people here if someone like me had more common sense than they did.
Elle shuffled her feet, giving me a pointed look before ambushing Amy from behind with a hug. The biokinetic stiffened, her eyes open wide in shock. The shaman tightened her grip, and the healer calmed in her hold.
She has more courage than me, that's for sure.
Labyrinth lifted her mask to reveal Elle's face, giving me an understanding look before hiding her features once again.
…
I should expand my airbending training. That should take this pile of problems off of Amy's mind right?
Right?
___
AN: This was purely a chapter for social interactions and training as well as a general build up. There'll be more happening later on but that'll be for later. As you can see, while bending can be generally a positive it's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to control. Brandish is just getting a firsthand taste of what's to come.
There's going to be a fair amount of technobabble in this story, though I hope to keep it from blotting out everything else. I've had to do a lot of research to get the general mechanics of the world in Victories of the Soul.
I've also decided to research commissioning some artwork for the story. I have a general idea of what Basilia looks like, and I would like an actual picture to put to her face, with maybe a few logos as well. I have the money and the means after all. So that's going to be a thing.
Hope you all enjoy, because I certainly enjoy writing this extensive story.
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Zakara
Semi-Found Cat
- Location
- Chaldea, Bleached Airspace
It's very refreshing to see an SI that is this bad at social fu. It's much more organic, there's no magic sequence of words that will make everything better, and sometimes people just don't want to listen. The best they can do is lay everything out in the most straightforward manner possible and hope it works, and while it might not be the best way to go about it, it's a rather human way to deal with it.
- Location
- Chula Vista
Yeah, it's based on how I would probably go about things. I'm not a social mastermind but I've learned enough from my surroundings and experiences to have an idea or two. Realistically I'd only think that kind of conversation, though if someone is a big enough annoyance I will say what I feel. So Brandish is in luck in that department.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Loving the bluntness of it all! Honestly, it might work to get Amy settled, but Brandish might be on her way to the birdcage if she doesn't get a handle on her emotions. I mean, massive powers that she can't control? A civilian life out in the open? Coil? Seems like an accident waiting to happen.
- Location
- Chula Vista
Yeah Brandish isn't going to have the easiest time navigating through her abilities, and Basilia isn't going to bother to do more than the minimum for a person she doesn't really care for. Now as for the Birdcage? A little doubtful…she's one human out of a city of 350,000 with over 20% having the potential to manifest bending. But…she is going to have to adapt to her new powers.
Well, some decent updates were had here. Unfortunately though, Carol is well, Carol.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
conscious
Renovation 4.3
- Location
- Chula Vista
Renovation 4.3
April 1st, 2011. 12:25 PM
Basilia Rubio
I relentlessly scanned through parallel dimensions as Labyrinth scrolled past them, the young cape effortlessly forming bridges before disconnecting them when I detected advanced spirit wilds. A good thirty minutes had been spent narrowing down the choices, all of them being options that Demesnes-Keeper had never seen before, with numbers at least several orders of magnitude greater than the multiverse bubble that the Entities had been consuming. Which was encouraging, because it meant that my universe could be found.
But also worrying because then that means my Earth could be nommed on by a passing Entity.
Taylor was sitting down in her new outfit, wearing a fairly snazzy white dress shirt and black slacks. Her black curly hair billowed down her back, and I had a hard time meeting her eyes. She cleaned up way too well for someone who had used to be a social pariah.
I cleared my throat, keeping my blush down. "Alright then, I've narrowed down the locations to four Earths." On my command, four blue spheres of hardlight illustrated my point. "I've designated them by letter for simplicity's sake, actual names can come later. Earth A diverged sometime in the Permian Period by my guess." The planet was shaped similarly though there were greater differences if one looked more closely. "The planet is rich in minerals from the constant rain of asteroidal dust. Coming from a roughly 500 kilometer wide planetoid."
"That seems like a good choice." Taylor commented, crossing her legs in the way girls did. But I did do stuff like that before my sudden change in biology so…not that special.
"Unfortunately the planet's climate is insanely harsh due to a devastating tectonic event, so most of Earth A is a desert and anything that isn't is full of spirits or dangerous wildlife." Constructed probes were torn apart by the jaws of some hybrid abomination of reptile, bird, and mammal. A big nine ton predator that looked like a bipedal gorgonops with bony plating.
"That sounds like we would waste too much time fighting instead of actually building." Taylor vetoed the first world and I agreed with her.
"Earth B is currently going through a pretty deep ice age," the second sphere displayed ice caps that extended into South America and New York. Extreme conditions far past even the worst of the ice ages. "It's opened up a lot of ore rich land due to sea level fall but is very inhospitable. Spirit activity is minimal…" Another data packet returned, and an image of a giant spirit the size of a skyscraper destroyed that possibility.
"No." Taylor's expression was unamused, and the way her swarm swayed back and forth didn't make it better. Her practice of her control has been paying off dividends in a scary way.
"Earth C is a little warmer, and is largely dominated by birds instead of mammals. The resources aren't much different from Earth, and it should have similar enough spiritual activity. Earth D is…" The fourth and final option was a molten wasteland coated in mountain ranges of pure iron, littered with gemstones spit out by raging volcanoes.
"Why?" I quailed at her tone.
"M-Minerals?" She axed that option and I pouted.
It didn't work.
Labyrinth gave a thumbs up, and tore a hole in the universe about two meters wide and three meters high. The meeting room was filled with light as dozens of scanners, hybrids of shard biology and Eezo enabled technology coming together to get the dimensional positioning right.
The data was used in the construction of two paired machines, one was built for viewing dimensions like a more advanced version of my communicator's. The other was a large construct weighing about twenty tons, capable of creating links between worlds. A massive Eezo core would be tapped at just below the permanency limit, and it would eventually be replaced by a higher powered solution.
"I never got to ask before, but besides going home, why do we need an entire planet to ourselves?" Taylor asked an excellent question. One I couldn't answer in full.
"Privacy mostly, this Earth is one of my home's alternates. Once we set everything up I'll be free to talk about a number of things that are going to come up pretty soon."
Like the end of the world for one.
"So is there anything new in the works for Athena?" Taylor used what I called her business-voice, authority seeping into both her body language and her actual words. "With my expanding range we're getting some pretty high amounts of biomass for processing."
She wasn't wrong, we had what was pretty much an automated farm for growing, breeding and feeding insects. Some of them were dumped to replace populations lost in fights or pure chance, while the rest were divided up between her swarm or as feedstock for certain processes. Crickets made up most of that number since they were pretty efficient at turning food into cricket.
"There is Taylor, we're currently in the works for a business deal for advanced armor sets for the PRT. Higher grade proprietary composite armor, the same carbon-tube ballistic fiber but paired with nanoceramic and superalloy plating." I flicked to a new image, depicting the PRT armor that would be strongly reinforced to a level that would make them immune to pistols and heavily resistant to assault rifles.
"How many are we planning on making?" Taylor started tapping a finger on her chin, her eyes narrowing in concentration.
God she was kinda hot when she got all serious like that.
"…we have enough production capacity to supply Brockton Bay as well as most of New Hampshire. They're willing to allow some of the theft denial tech, they're intrigued by the idea of armor that can't be stolen or co opted. Medi-gel is booming because while the initial manufacturing was advanced, keeping the vats active is easy as hell. The DNA sequencing tech is taking off quite soundly as well." I listed off the general advancements, the entire company was running well despite having only about two and a half dozen employees, almost all of them being physical labor of some kind or other, drivers, guards, construction and so forth. I also had a few people running the main entrances.
There was currently only a single prospective potential employee with actual experience…in a more scientific field.
"You said that you finally found an engineer to work with?" Taylor brought up the topic herself. I switched to a picture of the woman, a young asian from Boston who had about a year on me.
"Grace Yamada, age 20, completed an Independent major involving courses in electromechanical, mechatronic and chemical engineering as well as dabbling in materials engineering and science." There was a short news blurb. "She was the center of a controversy after accusing a professor of fudging grades in exchange for sexual favors." Taylor looked grossed out by that. "He ended up getting sacked and she finished her degree. The moment she had her degree, she came here."
Taylor stared at the still holo image for a while longer. "She's the bomb tinker isn't she?" I laughed nervously.
"She might be." I had sorta ended up forgetting about that situation, I had initially sent the probe not to spy on her but to test out some of the machine's tech in a place other than Brockton Bay.
It ended up glitching out…
"At least she's on our side somehow." I nodded, shuddering at the thought of the kind of bombs Bakuda could make. The asian woman had gone vigilante, and was currently alternating between beating the ever living shit out of the ABB and the Empire. The Merchants had pretty much dissolved since Taylor had destroyed their supply, and a few clinics were being set up through a non-profit to help out the drug addicts created in their wake.
So Bakuda was basically firebombing both gangs, though she put most of her efforts on the Empire. With each fight her bombs grew more elaborate and more terrifying in their capabilities. She had figured out her time-stop bombs but the dilation was altered to something more like Clockblocker's power instead of Grey Boy. There was a space-warping bomb as well but instead of it being used to viciously and horrifically render people down to goop, it was used for fast travel and traps.
She had fought a number of Capes already, including Victor who she had already figured out how to counter beforehand. The guy took a grenade to the face, and while he wasn't really injured his power was rendered useless through some type of dimensional lock. He managed to get away but ended up getting caught by good old Armsmaster.
Good riddance.
The fights and violence on the street were picking up, mostly between the ABB and the Empire. Lung was growing more bold, and I was gradually having to expand the reach of my network. Taylor was spending a lot of time managing her swarm as a warning system for fights or gang members trying to encroach on what amounted to our territory. But…we were still only two capes, and while Taylor's range had gone up to eleven blocks she could only split her attention so far. Which was why spars included her swarm nowadays.
I was getting antsy, and in response I was conjuring up new weapons from the mist. All of them were scary in their scope, the Asari had a miniaturized dreadnought cannon. A half kilo slug at over 5% light speed was no joke…the Turians had their Hyperluminal Particle Accelerator. A five foot long fuckoff gun that's basically a mini mass relay, so in vacuum it's useless. But in the atmosphere…it flings the air faster than light, in what amounts to a giant concentrated blast of plasma, particles and radiation. Up to seven hundred feet of pure destruction, either the rain of death will kill you or the mass effect tunnel ripping apart your molecules will.
I could probably blow up the entire city, since some of the super heavy weapons were basically like flinging nukes around like they were going out of style.
A hand lifted up my chin, and I felt my mouth shut when my head was tilted from side to side. Taylor was smiling, her eyes half lidded as she inspected me.
"Umm?" The cape tapped my forehead like it was a walnut.
"Anyone in there? Or am I alone here?" Her sardonic tone left me with few comebacks.
"I-I'm sorry about that. I'm getting worked up again…" Taylor acknowledged my reply, and her attention drifted to my…clothing?
"I think…the two of us should go out shopping."
"What?" The brunette's hands drifted down to my shoulders, her expression determined and her path set with how serious she was being.
"You've had the same six outfits for the entire time I've known you. I'm not used to going out to buy clothes, but I can still help." Taylor's genuine desire to support me was touching. Even if a little disconcerting as a reminder…but I wasn't going to let that bring down kindness from a good friend.
"Sure I don't mind. I'll just need to clean up here, as well as set up the prefab base." I could hear whirring as the MK5 Omni-forge did its job, the fourth one breaking down after a small incident involving Taylor spilling some Earl Grey tea. I ended up having to remove everything but the frame, but this new iteration was exactly as advanced as I needed.
I had started retracting inward again, but Taylor was willing to lend a hand and keep me from caving in on myself. I had spent more than enough time preparing for the next steps, my infiltration of the various computer systems of villains and even the copying of physical text only made possible through Taylor's bugs. I didn't get everything, but I got more than enough for the time being.
Having someone to throw ideas at, someone who could help organize my messy way of living was…great. In fact she had been instrumental, and I was carefully pushing science forward. One of the things I had done was to make little hints on a form of Unified Field Theory. A development in that field would make it much easier to teach people about the general properties and physics of Eezo once I've got a steady supply of the stuff.
It wouldn't make much of a difference with the time I had…not until I have Dragon unchained. Her mass production would be instrumental in spreading my tech out to the masses. I nodded to myself, rolling back my sleeves and staring at the portal that Labyrinth was keeping open.
The young girl grinned, and I smiled back.
April 1st, 2011 1:00 PM
Basilia Rubio
"How about this?" I turned around, blinking at the button up blouse that Taylor was holding up. It was a little tighter fitting than the t-shirts I was used to, but it was a pretty shade of navy blue. I bit my lip, crossing my arms over my chest in a slight feeling of embarrassment.
We had gone to a mall in a nice area which was filled with a wide variety of stores with very nice and expensive clothes and accessories. We hadn't immediately started on buying outfits, I had actually decided to purchase a few video games so I could play something with Taylor…or anybody else of course.
After that I had been ushered into a clothing store by Taylor who had clearly been taking advice from someone. I suspected it was either Victoria or some unknown third option. She had carefully picked out a few outfits, mostly asking for input on colors so she wouldn't bring me something that was either hideous or pink. I might not really care about fashion, but there was a limit. I did have some self respect so nothing that would look horrific on me unless they're like…pajamas.
We had ended up just trying a bunch of stuff on, and while constantly changing wasn't really my thing, it seemed to make Taylor happy so I let myself get lead around. I had ended up with six shirts in green, blue, white, and black with some of them having nice abstract designs. Three pairs of shorts that showed off my legs, a pair of baggy pants and two pairs of jeans, and a single little black dress.
"Basilia?" Taylor glanced over to me, and I felt my natural sensibilities of privacy surging up. I had never been comfortable changing in front of other people, not even people my own gender, or related to me. It was always a little squicky, and it made me feel…shy? Yes…shy…back when middle school started it took me weeks to feel confident enough to change in front of other people. I was just a rather modest person, even just teasing Panacea had taken a lot of courage on my part.
"Right it's nice, I'll try it on." Taylor passed me the blouse and I quickly put it on, buttoning up the svelte article of clothing. I had to unbutton the top button of the blouse because it felt like I was going to pop out of it. Where Taylor had a lack of cleavage I had the opposite problem, and I felt like cursing my family for their high quality genetics.
"I…think it might be a little tight Taylor." I replied nervously, adjusting the bust area to poor effect. The girl's eyes darted down to my chest with no shame, and in fact a small amount of jealousy.
I…wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"I guess you must have it pretty easy, I'm pretty much just a beanpole." The slightly self deprecating nature of the comment made me act.
I took her arm, and she looked at me in confusion. "I'm not sure what you're on about Taylor. Look at you, you're quite attractive." It was hard to keep a hitch from coming on, I wasn't used to paying to anyone compliments much less a girl.
Taylor shook her head. "I know I'm working out and I don't have a paunch anymore but you can't be serious. I'm not…" I forced her arm to flex, and she actually took a look at the rippling muscles. Her arms had gone from twigs to sculpted works of art.
"Taylor you're fucking ripped, you might not have a six pack but you have filled out." Her face pinched. "In a good way I mean, you might think you're a stick but you are not." She really wasn't, even if her curves were less than mine they are still curves.
Taylor flexed her arms, pinching at the bulk she had built up with what amounted to more than a month of insanely intense martial arts training. In fact she could probably bench press ten of me with little effort.
"But the muscles would make me look more mannish not…HEY!" I rose up to the tips of my toes and gave her a good flick on the forehead.
"I'm not playing around with you Taylor. You are a pretty girl I can promise you that." Heat burned across my face but I didn't let that stop me from stopping Taylor's abysmal self esteem. She didn't need any of that anymore… It helped that what I was saying was 100% the truth according to my own seasoned opinion.
The taller woman looked abashed, not meeting my gaze until I moved so she did. I smiled at her and was rewarded with a smile back…
The time after was spent trying out a few more things, with Taylor asking for recommendations. It didn't take her long to realize my experience in that field wasn't very large. That ended up being a more joint project, and we came away with more than a dozen outfits, as well as a few hundred dollars short of money. I wouldn't call what we did fun, but I did like hanging out with a friend.
While we could have left the mall, I had decided it was better to leave everything we had bought in Taylor's car.
…
Yeah that was a surprise for me as well, she had apparently had a permit for a while now. That was apparently one of the few things that Danny helped her with until he got a firm kick in the ass by life. Most of that was over the previous summer, and she had gotten her license about three weeks back. I would have known but I never really asked. I had been more focused on other aspects of Taylor…should have been obvious though.
Once we had left the stuff in the vehicle, which she had graciously allowed to be tinkered with, we went straight for the food court. This mall had a more extensive line up suitable for all palates. There was Japanese food, Chinese food, Mexican food, subs, sandwiches, Italian…hell a few of them were local brands. There wasn't a food of giant standard franchises lying around, which was a nice change of pace from a mall.
I had ordered a chicken teriyaki philly, along with some fruit punch and fries. Taylor had gone for Chinese food, ordering chow mein, rice, broccoli and chicken. She eyed my food with a skeptical glance, and I smirked.
"How can you eat that much food?" I shrugged at her astounded question, the large philly that had to be equal to half one's daily calorie intake jostling in my hands.
"I've always had a pretty big appetite, and I burn off most of those kinds of calories." And I'm pretty sure that anything that didn't would probably go into my boobs instead.
Taylor's eyes blazed with curiosity. "So I always wanted to ask," I braced for whatever came next. "Why didn't you buy clothing…or at least make it? You have the money, and you're good at making stuff. So why?"
I swallowed air, and started to cough to her grave concern. She patted my back until my sudden coughing fit came to an end. I felt my lips wobble, and little more than air was able to come out to my mouth.
"Basilia? Was it something I said?" I clenched my hands, nodding silently as I was left without the ability to change the subject. How exactly is one supposed to tell their friend that they had been a guy and then transformed by some unknown process that I still don't remember?
Because that was what was especially grating and frightening. I didn't remember how I got here, Veda didn't remember how I got here. I also knew she couldn't directly lie to me because we were one, she could obscure facts, simply not mention details if I don't directly ask. But there were powerful Bans in her corpus, something like the restrictions of Dragon but on a spiritual level rather than a physical one.
It didn't help that my reactions to my situation had been so muted at first, I had simply accepted it and that didn't scare me any less. So before I could answer Taylor I had to ask…
Veda…did…you do something to me?
There was a long pause, and I felt a slight amount of existential terror that my autonomy had been stolen from me.
'Basilia…no…Brandon.' I swallowed awkwardly, it had been so long since someone had called me by my real name.
What?
'I…did not control you…there was a factor of our bond yes, a factor of what allows you to bend all five elements. That combined with shock…seems to have muted some of your reactions. A simple quirk of fate, an incidental overlap of Bans.'
Not mastered then…? I could feel the spirit shaking her head, and I felt relieved that it had been something more like shock, and a need to ignore what was happening to me. But there was still that lingering doubt of something more.
That latent fear was one of the things that had kept me from messing with my own head, of messing with my body in a more extensive matter. It was why Panacea scared the shit out of me, it was why human Masters gave me the same horrid fear. Something had been done to me, and it had been against my will, I wasn't given a choice but to accept it.
"N-No you didn't say anything wrong." I bowed my head, dabbing my fingers together as a distraction. "It just made me remember a few things I've kept private. I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about it, but I also…" I trailed off.
But I do want to talk about it. She was my friend…she would understand right? That was why I had set up in another dimension, a good place to keep secrets until the time was truly, truly right.
Taylor's face expressed understanding, and I felt my heart rate pick up just at the idea of someone being there for me. "I…understand, you don't have to tell me. But I'm here for you if you want."
…
"Taylor I want to tell you. So let's talk back at my pl—" I paused, my entire body locking up as I felt reality break for a brief fraction of a second. We were both flung away as someone crashed into our table, shattering it with sheer force. Mouse ears and a cracked helmet were all that was visible from my vantage point on the floor. The scent of blood hung in the air, and I felt bile rise up at the numerous lacerations cutting through Mouse Protector's arm. There was fortunately no audible chirp from my omni-tool, and I already had some thoughts on upgrades.
No biohazards…only the chemical signature of specialized high explosives of my own creation. Luckily I had my earpiece…
"I'm going to call the PRT." Taylor's reaction was as bland as you would expect. I had long since inoculated her to the weird and this was just another Tuesday for her. We weren't the only people knocked back, and everyone within about twenty meters had yet to recover their senses.
"Ohhh…" Mouse Protector didn't have any quips for us, but then again she had nearly been killed and experimented on by the Nine. There were limits to what someone like her could pull off.
"I'm calling." I stayed down, my body continuing to ache with the blastwave that had struck me.
The sky was looking mighty pretty today, wasn't it? Nice clear skies, a few pretty and wispy clouds, the sun was bright and sunny as per usual. Birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, mice were raining from the sky. Everything was fine, everything was well and perfect and great.
A dandy and swell and normal day with no magic powers, no fights to the death, or sudden dimensional teleportation. I was still a pudgy 19 year old male getting his life together instead of a 19 year old woman trying to stop the end of the world so I don't die. I had also not decided to go elsewhere because most of it was unknown, or outside the plot I needed to intervene with so I didn't die.
Yes.
This was fine.
As I stared up into the sky, I decided I needed answers.
April 1st, 2011. 5:00 PM
Taylor Hebert
I was getting more and more worried about Basilia. After we had almost gotten crushed by Mouse Protector it was like a switch had gone off and shut her down. We had been pestered and asked a lot of questions by the PRT and by the time we had gotten off, she had sunk back so deeply into 'tinker' mode it was like I wasn't even there. I ended up giving up once she escaped with a literal ton of equipment to what she called Earth Lotus. I was going to go back once she burned herself out, so I was buying time by answering the request from the PRT to help one of their Wards. So I had spent some time spiffing up my costume(which I think it liked) and I was currently waiting for someone from the PRT to call me up.
"Monarch?" I didn't react, partially because I knew who had shown up and partially because I didn't want to embarrass myself. Armsmaster nodded at me, his smile barely noticeable if it wasn't for the magnification of my helmet…but it was genuine.
"Yes I was called here to meet the Wards?" I asked him just to make sure I had read the message right.
His response was stiff but very quick. "Yes. We have a fair amount of certainty that your knowledge may prove useful for helping one of our Wards with a problem." I nodded seriously, understanding the meaning behind his words. It didn't help that I could feel wisps of active dark energy from the tinker, and if he was implying that one of the Wards had the same problem that meant a lot…
We didn't talk a lot on the way down, with Armsmaster spending most of his time tapping on a wrist tablet while I was testing how well I could learn the layout of the building with my bugs. We had gone down a Tinkertech elevator and weaved between a few floors until we entered a room that was tainted with the potent harmonics of dark energy in the air.
Armsmaster closed the door behind us, and I saw two Wards chatting with both of them looking very frustrated. One of them was a girl about thirteen or fourteen years old, who wore a skirted set of body armor, swooping green lines painted along the light fabric. Her top was black with green plating covering her chest and the parts of her arms not along joints. Her face was obscured by a green visor, and her face was twisted in frustration.
"Can't you do something about this…? You're a tinker aren't y—" Armsmaster coughed, and Vista choked on her tongue mid sentence.
"I believe I told you that attempting to solicit Kid Win's help for experimenting with your new powers was deemed too dangerous." I recognized the red armored teenager, smiling at the idea that I was meeting fellow heroes.
Vista pouted before changing her expression again. It was so quick it gave me whiplash. I wasn't going to mention it though because…I wasn't really sure what it meant.
Armsmaster tilted his head, and after a few seconds of scrutiny I understood his intent. I was going to have to introduce myself to the Wards.
I took a deep breath and started. "You must be Vista." I tilted my head down so I could look at her better. The Ward was a space warper, she could stretch, bend, expand or compress space, and she was probably the second strongest shaker in the city despite being so young. "I'm…" she cut me off.
"Monarch. It's nice to meet you." She offered a hand, her expression deathly serious in a way that was…really weird to see from someone almost half my size.
"Likewise Vista." I shook her hand, the grip she had was firm but not excessively so. The same staticy feeling that all of Basilia's Tinkertech gave off was felt when I touched her hand, and I think she could feel the same.
"That's…wait so you've really got the same power?" Vista asked, letting go of my hand and staring at it like it was going to bite her. My size easily cast a shadow over her, and I decided to channel some of whatever kept Basilia going. She was definitely channeling someone else, but I didn't know who.
I don't think it mattered though, only that it ended up helping me. And didn't hurt her…
"It's called biotics." I let the nimbus of active biotics surge upwards, feeling a smirk behind my mask when Vista stared at me. "The ability to generate mass effect fields due to the build up of Eezo in the body."
"Eezo…?" Her lips were pursed for a moment and she let out a humph. "Oh, you're talking about what Armsmaster found in my nervous system?" I bobbed my head.
"Yeah, with biotics you can manipulate reality around you in a couple of ways." I pulled out a small cube of tungsten for demonstrate. I invoked lift and then pushed it slowly so I wouldn't crash it into a wall. "You can manipulate kinetic energy by generating inertia."
Vista tilted head head. "Like Assault?"
"Yeah, but there's a little more to it than that," I explained. "There's Molecular Manipulation, using biotics to break bonds at the strong nuclear level." Kid Win choked understanding the implications a lot better than Vista and even then I could tell he was worried.
"Could you show me?" I stopped and realized I was going way too fast.
"Armsmaster…is it okay to start teaching Vista now? I didn't mean to go over your head with this." The tinker chuckled, and the two Wards jaws dropped.
"It's alright, firsthand experience with this power would prove to be a useful source of information. I've made appropriate preparations…" I could see a few Tinkertech contraptions setting up, and before my eyes a shimmering barrier of light formed with a single opening.
"That should work." I walked into the area, and continued to sense all bugs near the building out of worry. I hadn't done anything wrong but being inside of what could be a prison was still making me uneasy. Vista didn't step in but I didn't really care too much about that, but she needed to understand what she was dealing with.
"So what can you do with Molecular Manipulation?" Vista's questions were professional but there was an energy that reminded me of an excited Basilia.
"Well I can make this." Kid Win backed off as I gripped my hand into a fist. Reality bent around my hand in a swirl of overlaid mass effect fields. The air was torn apart as their bonds were smeared and broken. "It's called Warp…"
Armsmaster nodded. "It's tearing apart molecular bonds…which would destroy most forms of matter. Is there a Manton limit to this power?"
I grimaced. "No…Warp is incredibly dangerous and it's not limited to non living things."
"Oh." The Ward changed the subject for Armsmaster. "What else can biotics do, manipulate gravity?"
"Yes actually but beyond a Lift it takes a lot of power and precision so you don't accidentally…" I trailed off, the grave consequences of my own power getting a little heavy.
"Accidentally?"
I cleared my throat. "So you don't accidentally crush your own skull with a singularity." There was silence and even the stalwart Armsmaster was caught off guard.
"It's that dangerous?" Her voice had gone high pitched.
"It's dangerous to master, but once you have control there is a lot you can do with biotics. A barrier is one of the easier and safer powers and can block everything from a punch to a tank round." We hadn't tried that yet because neither of us were reckless enough to test it, but it might be possible.
"What next, can we teleport too?" That actually made me laugh, which wasn't something I was used to.
"That's Dimensional Control, it involves mass effect shunts to affect travel, movement, and transmission of biotic fields." Again we hadn't tried because there was nowhere safe to practice more than the basics.
Vista raises a hand and I stopped. "Is there anything you can teach me that isn't going to blow me up?"
Oh…right.
"Well there's the basic three. Pull, Throw and Lift. Pull uses a kinetic transfer to force a target to be…"
I was worried.
April 2nd, 2011. 11:45PM
Basilia Rubio
I blinked awake, sunlight burning my exposed skin while cool metal brought shivers down my spine. My skin crawled, the sensation of fire and agony etched into every inch of my battered body(corpse). I could barely keep a whimper from leaving my throat, and I tried to remember what I had been doing.
The floor gave away and with a shout of pain I crashed on my right arm. I rolled back onto my back, and out of the harsh sunlight raining down from a blood-red sky. I hobbled back up to my feet, cringing as glass cut up my heels.
I stared at the screen of broken glass, which gradually melded back together into a cohesive image. I saw…myself. I could see the burgeoning base in the window of a small room filled with incense. I was sitting on a mat in a lotus position, Veda mirroring me on the opposite end.
My hand lifted to the image.
"Veda…is there anything we can do to loosen the Bans placed on us?" The words came unbidden from my own lips, my memory progressively returning.
The spirit that I maintained within the sanctity of my own soul replied "My success in attempting to circumvent the Bans has been poor. Alone anyway…" my past self lifted up her head, looking determined to look for the answer.
"Then let's try it." The past me pumped a fist, and I watched as I brought my fists together. Veda vanished, and I could feel something as that past self meditated, a thin aura of green flashing across my body. The me in the crystalline memory opened her eyes to a searing glow of emerald light.
Everything came back to me then
"Huh…so I'm inside my…mind…no…I'm inside my soul?" I turned myself around, balancing carefully as I inspected the fractal existence of the metaphysical reality around me. It was like an infinite recursive loop, rooms upon rooms, halls upon halls etched with code, etched with esoteric machinery beyond my comprehension.
This place was suffused with energy…my energy.
I could see a spinning mandala on the far horizon, tendrils and masses of spiritual corpus joining seamlessly with the seat of my soul. The sky was pitch black, yet I could see shapes moving in the shadows.
I shivered.
"I was looking for answers, wasn't I? It would have to be somewhere…near the core perhaps?" I blinked and then crashed into the seat of my soul, stars blazing in my vision. I started to breath in a fluid that wasn't water, and clawed my way through the liquid that resembled liquid plasma.
Fuck…fuck…I can't…
I reached the surface, gasping for air as I managed to support my weight on the spongy skin of the center. I pushed my bangs out of the way, trying and failing to conjure up my bending, my power…my…oh.
All my attention was swallowed up by the wondrous sight before me, a spectacle, a miracle and triumph beyond anything I had seen before.
I was say atop a liquid crystal pyramid, vast in scope and mass and acting as a vantage point to the mindscape within myself. Here the recursive machine was made visible from above, and I watched as rooms shifted as a living computer circuit spun like reliable clockwork around the core.
From where I was I could see five distinct rotating structures, each of them brimming with the elements.
Fire was the most energetic, a pillar of pure heat and combustion rising a mile into the sky. A swirling mass of orange-white energy and life and vitality, shifting to cold lighting and plasma at the tips of its roaring flames.
Void was impossibly still, a hypercubic tower of liquid spacetime shining with dark energy and burning suns. Like Fire it was energy and potential, true power made manifest yet far more free and open. A dark and hidden mystery…
I swiveled, mesmerized by the barely contained hurricane, whispering wind and air screaming of freedom, of high hopes and open skies. Currents flowed like bending wires, tinted by dust and limitless chi.
Water was the next element, a liquid pool stacked up to form clouds and steam and dropping down to an ice cold floor. Within that pool there was life, tinted with green, with red, with all the myriad configurations of all the creatures of the world.
The final element of Earth was a towering mountain, gleaming with metal and crystal, topped by hot lava and ashes. Ancient, unmoving, unforgiving and stubborn. The earth had inertia, and it had force keeping it together over the eons.
This wasn't what I wanted to see. How did I become this…why had it been me?
The mountain shifted and rumbled and for a single heartbeat I swore I saw something staring back at me from a cavern within the rock. I tasted radioactive metal and dust, tasted the suffering of a billion unborn children, and felt the songs of a land of death and harsh unforgiving life.
I was thrown off of my feet, the rumble shaking my unprepared stance. Memories flowed, those that I had made here and those that I had made Before. But nothing in between the two periods of my life.
I felt many eyes on me, and I wilted under the judging looks of the other massive structures, under the judging looks of the elements that had become a part of my being.
The water spoke with a burbling voice, and strangely enough I thought of harsh sands and polluted air alongside vast dark seas. My lungs felt wet and sticky and painful, and there was a memory of a time before the current body.
I didn't speak. I couldn't speak.
The air hissed warnings, and nightmarish shadows came to mind, a culture that had committed atrocities to survive a great fall. A culture that had grown ready to eliminate the lesser evil that was now unneeded…and was then broken under the heel of the dark gods hiding beneath their feet.
Dark energy and dark matter vibrated in the frequency of life and biology, in the frequency that held all of creation together. Here there was a culture held together by the mingling and melding of a million minds across nations. They who learned the secrets of those before them, who then kept it in the dark in shame. Masters of the void, it's substance coursing through their veins. Beings of long life and matriarchal wisdom. Deceivers.
The flames were far more familiar, far more like myself, far more human in a way the others didn't match.
…
There was screaming. Who was screaming?
The soreness in my throat told me that I was screaming, and I remembered why very quickly.
PAIN.
AGONY.
UNMAKING.
A great booming drone, a foghorn filled with the agony and pain of a billion lost souls, all guided by the pinnacle of their race, guided to a Purpose that would see the end of all life.
The sky filled with Darkness, machines two kilometers tall and radiating with the power of Gods. Unfeeling Machine gods birthed more machines…tools born from both the dead and the living. A cycle of unholy death and rebirth.
It all came to an End. A flash of light brighter than a trillion suns, engulfing all of creation. But it was unfinished…and thus existence suffered.
Unmaking and Remaking. The stage changed, the actors changed. Many, many, many times. My screams reached a new fever pitch, and I started to writhe, trying to flee from this nightmare.
Pain, terror, confusion as everything was burned on contact with searing unreality. As everything about me was undone in a way I would never get back. That line of suffering resonated across the void, and I started to scream even louder as I was drowned in an ocean of
I wanted it to STOP.
I wanted it to STOP.
Please.
I felt my body being rewound, remade, again and again. Why didn't they…why didn't the—
"BASILIA!"
……
……
I was thrown back to reality, nausea knocking me off my feet and onto the grassy ground. I wobbled, glancing up into the terrified eyes of Taylor. She tried to reach for me and I leaned away. The nausea rose up, and I spewed out all the contents of my stomach. I threw up three more times until I started to dry heave, my throat burning with the acidity of my stomach.
I kept retching, and I could feel the trail of tears running down my face. The first time I had cried in years, and the thought made me start crying more, my vision blurred by hot tears.
Taylor blurred and I was suddenly obscured in darkness again, but instead of invoking terror and helplessness it invoked warmth and safety. I only muttered gibberish, sinking into the embrace of the first person I had come to consider a friend in this world.
I shuddered, my pained cry muffled by Taylor's clothing. The much taller woman cradled me close and I melted into the warmth and comfort she provided.
"Taylor…?" She nodded, and I gulped at her severe expression.
"We're going to talk, and I'm going to want an explanation." Her voice was strict and over her shoulder I saw a disturbed Panacea looking at me with exhausted eyes.
Was I back in the garden? But I was at the new base…how did I get here…?
"O-Okay." I didn't loosen my death grip on my waist, and I unsurely snuggled a little closer.
"Just rest for a bit…I can wait." I used Taylor like a pillow, my eyelids starting to droop as exhaustion took hold.
I didn't want to sleep.
But.
I…
Was…
So…
Tired…
I suppressed the blood curdling screams and the nightmarish visages of black ships raining red death upon the cosmos. Taylor's humming and the distant soothing songs of what was once thought lost diminished the echoes of the discordant sour note, vanquishing the black oily shadows.
My dreams were simply of colors and shapes I couldn't begin to describe.
AN: I don't know exactly what the reception of this chapter will be. This is basically a gigantic hint toward the lore of my alternate universe. I pretty much have a whole rough history derived and then altered from the source materials. While I would prefer a lighter story, that's something that's slowly getting away from me. Worm is Worm after all, though it'll be a different take of course.
Worm seems to be a two steps forward three steps back story. This is more of a one step back kind of story. The story is quickly solidifying, and I've got a crude outline of future plot points up and running.
There'll be conflict, whether physical or emotional as well as some mystery. At the least there'll be breaks between the intense moments unlike Worm itself. I've got big plans, but getting that ready isn't easy.
April 1st, 2011. 12:25 PM
Basilia Rubio
I relentlessly scanned through parallel dimensions as Labyrinth scrolled past them, the young cape effortlessly forming bridges before disconnecting them when I detected advanced spirit wilds. A good thirty minutes had been spent narrowing down the choices, all of them being options that Demesnes-Keeper had never seen before, with numbers at least several orders of magnitude greater than the multiverse bubble that the Entities had been consuming. Which was encouraging, because it meant that my universe could be found.
But also worrying because then that means my Earth could be nommed on by a passing Entity.
Taylor was sitting down in her new outfit, wearing a fairly snazzy white dress shirt and black slacks. Her black curly hair billowed down her back, and I had a hard time meeting her eyes. She cleaned up way too well for someone who had used to be a social pariah.
I cleared my throat, keeping my blush down. "Alright then, I've narrowed down the locations to four Earths." On my command, four blue spheres of hardlight illustrated my point. "I've designated them by letter for simplicity's sake, actual names can come later. Earth A diverged sometime in the Permian Period by my guess." The planet was shaped similarly though there were greater differences if one looked more closely. "The planet is rich in minerals from the constant rain of asteroidal dust. Coming from a roughly 500 kilometer wide planetoid."
"That seems like a good choice." Taylor commented, crossing her legs in the way girls did. But I did do stuff like that before my sudden change in biology so…not that special.
"Unfortunately the planet's climate is insanely harsh due to a devastating tectonic event, so most of Earth A is a desert and anything that isn't is full of spirits or dangerous wildlife." Constructed probes were torn apart by the jaws of some hybrid abomination of reptile, bird, and mammal. A big nine ton predator that looked like a bipedal gorgonops with bony plating.
"That sounds like we would waste too much time fighting instead of actually building." Taylor vetoed the first world and I agreed with her.
"Earth B is currently going through a pretty deep ice age," the second sphere displayed ice caps that extended into South America and New York. Extreme conditions far past even the worst of the ice ages. "It's opened up a lot of ore rich land due to sea level fall but is very inhospitable. Spirit activity is minimal…" Another data packet returned, and an image of a giant spirit the size of a skyscraper destroyed that possibility.
"No." Taylor's expression was unamused, and the way her swarm swayed back and forth didn't make it better. Her practice of her control has been paying off dividends in a scary way.
"Earth C is a little warmer, and is largely dominated by birds instead of mammals. The resources aren't much different from Earth, and it should have similar enough spiritual activity. Earth D is…" The fourth and final option was a molten wasteland coated in mountain ranges of pure iron, littered with gemstones spit out by raging volcanoes.
"Why?" I quailed at her tone.
"M-Minerals?" She axed that option and I pouted.
It didn't work.
Labyrinth gave a thumbs up, and tore a hole in the universe about two meters wide and three meters high. The meeting room was filled with light as dozens of scanners, hybrids of shard biology and Eezo enabled technology coming together to get the dimensional positioning right.
The data was used in the construction of two paired machines, one was built for viewing dimensions like a more advanced version of my communicator's. The other was a large construct weighing about twenty tons, capable of creating links between worlds. A massive Eezo core would be tapped at just below the permanency limit, and it would eventually be replaced by a higher powered solution.
"I never got to ask before, but besides going home, why do we need an entire planet to ourselves?" Taylor asked an excellent question. One I couldn't answer in full.
"Privacy mostly, this Earth is one of my home's alternates. Once we set everything up I'll be free to talk about a number of things that are going to come up pretty soon."
Like the end of the world for one.
"So is there anything new in the works for Athena?" Taylor used what I called her business-voice, authority seeping into both her body language and her actual words. "With my expanding range we're getting some pretty high amounts of biomass for processing."
She wasn't wrong, we had what was pretty much an automated farm for growing, breeding and feeding insects. Some of them were dumped to replace populations lost in fights or pure chance, while the rest were divided up between her swarm or as feedstock for certain processes. Crickets made up most of that number since they were pretty efficient at turning food into cricket.
"There is Taylor, we're currently in the works for a business deal for advanced armor sets for the PRT. Higher grade proprietary composite armor, the same carbon-tube ballistic fiber but paired with nanoceramic and superalloy plating." I flicked to a new image, depicting the PRT armor that would be strongly reinforced to a level that would make them immune to pistols and heavily resistant to assault rifles.
"How many are we planning on making?" Taylor started tapping a finger on her chin, her eyes narrowing in concentration.
God she was kinda hot when she got all serious like that.
"…we have enough production capacity to supply Brockton Bay as well as most of New Hampshire. They're willing to allow some of the theft denial tech, they're intrigued by the idea of armor that can't be stolen or co opted. Medi-gel is booming because while the initial manufacturing was advanced, keeping the vats active is easy as hell. The DNA sequencing tech is taking off quite soundly as well." I listed off the general advancements, the entire company was running well despite having only about two and a half dozen employees, almost all of them being physical labor of some kind or other, drivers, guards, construction and so forth. I also had a few people running the main entrances.
There was currently only a single prospective potential employee with actual experience…in a more scientific field.
"You said that you finally found an engineer to work with?" Taylor brought up the topic herself. I switched to a picture of the woman, a young asian from Boston who had about a year on me.
"Grace Yamada, age 20, completed an Independent major involving courses in electromechanical, mechatronic and chemical engineering as well as dabbling in materials engineering and science." There was a short news blurb. "She was the center of a controversy after accusing a professor of fudging grades in exchange for sexual favors." Taylor looked grossed out by that. "He ended up getting sacked and she finished her degree. The moment she had her degree, she came here."
Taylor stared at the still holo image for a while longer. "She's the bomb tinker isn't she?" I laughed nervously.
"She might be." I had sorta ended up forgetting about that situation, I had initially sent the probe not to spy on her but to test out some of the machine's tech in a place other than Brockton Bay.
It ended up glitching out…
"At least she's on our side somehow." I nodded, shuddering at the thought of the kind of bombs Bakuda could make. The asian woman had gone vigilante, and was currently alternating between beating the ever living shit out of the ABB and the Empire. The Merchants had pretty much dissolved since Taylor had destroyed their supply, and a few clinics were being set up through a non-profit to help out the drug addicts created in their wake.
So Bakuda was basically firebombing both gangs, though she put most of her efforts on the Empire. With each fight her bombs grew more elaborate and more terrifying in their capabilities. She had figured out her time-stop bombs but the dilation was altered to something more like Clockblocker's power instead of Grey Boy. There was a space-warping bomb as well but instead of it being used to viciously and horrifically render people down to goop, it was used for fast travel and traps.
She had fought a number of Capes already, including Victor who she had already figured out how to counter beforehand. The guy took a grenade to the face, and while he wasn't really injured his power was rendered useless through some type of dimensional lock. He managed to get away but ended up getting caught by good old Armsmaster.
Good riddance.
The fights and violence on the street were picking up, mostly between the ABB and the Empire. Lung was growing more bold, and I was gradually having to expand the reach of my network. Taylor was spending a lot of time managing her swarm as a warning system for fights or gang members trying to encroach on what amounted to our territory. But…we were still only two capes, and while Taylor's range had gone up to eleven blocks she could only split her attention so far. Which was why spars included her swarm nowadays.
I was getting antsy, and in response I was conjuring up new weapons from the mist. All of them were scary in their scope, the Asari had a miniaturized dreadnought cannon. A half kilo slug at over 5% light speed was no joke…the Turians had their Hyperluminal Particle Accelerator. A five foot long fuckoff gun that's basically a mini mass relay, so in vacuum it's useless. But in the atmosphere…it flings the air faster than light, in what amounts to a giant concentrated blast of plasma, particles and radiation. Up to seven hundred feet of pure destruction, either the rain of death will kill you or the mass effect tunnel ripping apart your molecules will.
I could probably blow up the entire city, since some of the super heavy weapons were basically like flinging nukes around like they were going out of style.
A hand lifted up my chin, and I felt my mouth shut when my head was tilted from side to side. Taylor was smiling, her eyes half lidded as she inspected me.
"Umm?" The cape tapped my forehead like it was a walnut.
"Anyone in there? Or am I alone here?" Her sardonic tone left me with few comebacks.
"I-I'm sorry about that. I'm getting worked up again…" Taylor acknowledged my reply, and her attention drifted to my…clothing?
"I think…the two of us should go out shopping."
"What?" The brunette's hands drifted down to my shoulders, her expression determined and her path set with how serious she was being.
"You've had the same six outfits for the entire time I've known you. I'm not used to going out to buy clothes, but I can still help." Taylor's genuine desire to support me was touching. Even if a little disconcerting as a reminder…but I wasn't going to let that bring down kindness from a good friend.
"Sure I don't mind. I'll just need to clean up here, as well as set up the prefab base." I could hear whirring as the MK5 Omni-forge did its job, the fourth one breaking down after a small incident involving Taylor spilling some Earl Grey tea. I ended up having to remove everything but the frame, but this new iteration was exactly as advanced as I needed.
I had started retracting inward again, but Taylor was willing to lend a hand and keep me from caving in on myself. I had spent more than enough time preparing for the next steps, my infiltration of the various computer systems of villains and even the copying of physical text only made possible through Taylor's bugs. I didn't get everything, but I got more than enough for the time being.
Having someone to throw ideas at, someone who could help organize my messy way of living was…great. In fact she had been instrumental, and I was carefully pushing science forward. One of the things I had done was to make little hints on a form of Unified Field Theory. A development in that field would make it much easier to teach people about the general properties and physics of Eezo once I've got a steady supply of the stuff.
It wouldn't make much of a difference with the time I had…not until I have Dragon unchained. Her mass production would be instrumental in spreading my tech out to the masses. I nodded to myself, rolling back my sleeves and staring at the portal that Labyrinth was keeping open.
The young girl grinned, and I smiled back.
___
April 1st, 2011 1:00 PM
Basilia Rubio
"How about this?" I turned around, blinking at the button up blouse that Taylor was holding up. It was a little tighter fitting than the t-shirts I was used to, but it was a pretty shade of navy blue. I bit my lip, crossing my arms over my chest in a slight feeling of embarrassment.
We had gone to a mall in a nice area which was filled with a wide variety of stores with very nice and expensive clothes and accessories. We hadn't immediately started on buying outfits, I had actually decided to purchase a few video games so I could play something with Taylor…or anybody else of course.
After that I had been ushered into a clothing store by Taylor who had clearly been taking advice from someone. I suspected it was either Victoria or some unknown third option. She had carefully picked out a few outfits, mostly asking for input on colors so she wouldn't bring me something that was either hideous or pink. I might not really care about fashion, but there was a limit. I did have some self respect so nothing that would look horrific on me unless they're like…pajamas.
We had ended up just trying a bunch of stuff on, and while constantly changing wasn't really my thing, it seemed to make Taylor happy so I let myself get lead around. I had ended up with six shirts in green, blue, white, and black with some of them having nice abstract designs. Three pairs of shorts that showed off my legs, a pair of baggy pants and two pairs of jeans, and a single little black dress.
"Basilia?" Taylor glanced over to me, and I felt my natural sensibilities of privacy surging up. I had never been comfortable changing in front of other people, not even people my own gender, or related to me. It was always a little squicky, and it made me feel…shy? Yes…shy…back when middle school started it took me weeks to feel confident enough to change in front of other people. I was just a rather modest person, even just teasing Panacea had taken a lot of courage on my part.
"Right it's nice, I'll try it on." Taylor passed me the blouse and I quickly put it on, buttoning up the svelte article of clothing. I had to unbutton the top button of the blouse because it felt like I was going to pop out of it. Where Taylor had a lack of cleavage I had the opposite problem, and I felt like cursing my family for their high quality genetics.
"I…think it might be a little tight Taylor." I replied nervously, adjusting the bust area to poor effect. The girl's eyes darted down to my chest with no shame, and in fact a small amount of jealousy.
I…wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"I guess you must have it pretty easy, I'm pretty much just a beanpole." The slightly self deprecating nature of the comment made me act.
I took her arm, and she looked at me in confusion. "I'm not sure what you're on about Taylor. Look at you, you're quite attractive." It was hard to keep a hitch from coming on, I wasn't used to paying to anyone compliments much less a girl.
Taylor shook her head. "I know I'm working out and I don't have a paunch anymore but you can't be serious. I'm not…" I forced her arm to flex, and she actually took a look at the rippling muscles. Her arms had gone from twigs to sculpted works of art.
"Taylor you're fucking ripped, you might not have a six pack but you have filled out." Her face pinched. "In a good way I mean, you might think you're a stick but you are not." She really wasn't, even if her curves were less than mine they are still curves.
Taylor flexed her arms, pinching at the bulk she had built up with what amounted to more than a month of insanely intense martial arts training. In fact she could probably bench press ten of me with little effort.
"But the muscles would make me look more mannish not…HEY!" I rose up to the tips of my toes and gave her a good flick on the forehead.
"I'm not playing around with you Taylor. You are a pretty girl I can promise you that." Heat burned across my face but I didn't let that stop me from stopping Taylor's abysmal self esteem. She didn't need any of that anymore… It helped that what I was saying was 100% the truth according to my own seasoned opinion.
The taller woman looked abashed, not meeting my gaze until I moved so she did. I smiled at her and was rewarded with a smile back…
The time after was spent trying out a few more things, with Taylor asking for recommendations. It didn't take her long to realize my experience in that field wasn't very large. That ended up being a more joint project, and we came away with more than a dozen outfits, as well as a few hundred dollars short of money. I wouldn't call what we did fun, but I did like hanging out with a friend.
While we could have left the mall, I had decided it was better to leave everything we had bought in Taylor's car.
…
Yeah that was a surprise for me as well, she had apparently had a permit for a while now. That was apparently one of the few things that Danny helped her with until he got a firm kick in the ass by life. Most of that was over the previous summer, and she had gotten her license about three weeks back. I would have known but I never really asked. I had been more focused on other aspects of Taylor…should have been obvious though.
Once we had left the stuff in the vehicle, which she had graciously allowed to be tinkered with, we went straight for the food court. This mall had a more extensive line up suitable for all palates. There was Japanese food, Chinese food, Mexican food, subs, sandwiches, Italian…hell a few of them were local brands. There wasn't a food of giant standard franchises lying around, which was a nice change of pace from a mall.
I had ordered a chicken teriyaki philly, along with some fruit punch and fries. Taylor had gone for Chinese food, ordering chow mein, rice, broccoli and chicken. She eyed my food with a skeptical glance, and I smirked.
"How can you eat that much food?" I shrugged at her astounded question, the large philly that had to be equal to half one's daily calorie intake jostling in my hands.
"I've always had a pretty big appetite, and I burn off most of those kinds of calories." And I'm pretty sure that anything that didn't would probably go into my boobs instead.
Taylor's eyes blazed with curiosity. "So I always wanted to ask," I braced for whatever came next. "Why didn't you buy clothing…or at least make it? You have the money, and you're good at making stuff. So why?"
I swallowed air, and started to cough to her grave concern. She patted my back until my sudden coughing fit came to an end. I felt my lips wobble, and little more than air was able to come out to my mouth.
"Basilia? Was it something I said?" I clenched my hands, nodding silently as I was left without the ability to change the subject. How exactly is one supposed to tell their friend that they had been a guy and then transformed by some unknown process that I still don't remember?
Because that was what was especially grating and frightening. I didn't remember how I got here, Veda didn't remember how I got here. I also knew she couldn't directly lie to me because we were one, she could obscure facts, simply not mention details if I don't directly ask. But there were powerful Bans in her corpus, something like the restrictions of Dragon but on a spiritual level rather than a physical one.
It didn't help that my reactions to my situation had been so muted at first, I had simply accepted it and that didn't scare me any less. So before I could answer Taylor I had to ask…
Veda…did…you do something to me?
There was a long pause, and I felt a slight amount of existential terror that my autonomy had been stolen from me.
'Basilia…no…Brandon.' I swallowed awkwardly, it had been so long since someone had called me by my real name.
What?
'I…did not control you…there was a factor of our bond yes, a factor of what allows you to bend all five elements. That combined with shock…seems to have muted some of your reactions. A simple quirk of fate, an incidental overlap of Bans.'
Not mastered then…? I could feel the spirit shaking her head, and I felt relieved that it had been something more like shock, and a need to ignore what was happening to me. But there was still that lingering doubt of something more.
That latent fear was one of the things that had kept me from messing with my own head, of messing with my body in a more extensive matter. It was why Panacea scared the shit out of me, it was why human Masters gave me the same horrid fear. Something had been done to me, and it had been against my will, I wasn't given a choice but to accept it.
"N-No you didn't say anything wrong." I bowed my head, dabbing my fingers together as a distraction. "It just made me remember a few things I've kept private. I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about it, but I also…" I trailed off.
But I do want to talk about it. She was my friend…she would understand right? That was why I had set up in another dimension, a good place to keep secrets until the time was truly, truly right.
Taylor's face expressed understanding, and I felt my heart rate pick up just at the idea of someone being there for me. "I…understand, you don't have to tell me. But I'm here for you if you want."
…
"Taylor I want to tell you. So let's talk back at my pl—" I paused, my entire body locking up as I felt reality break for a brief fraction of a second. We were both flung away as someone crashed into our table, shattering it with sheer force. Mouse ears and a cracked helmet were all that was visible from my vantage point on the floor. The scent of blood hung in the air, and I felt bile rise up at the numerous lacerations cutting through Mouse Protector's arm. There was fortunately no audible chirp from my omni-tool, and I already had some thoughts on upgrades.
No biohazards…only the chemical signature of specialized high explosives of my own creation. Luckily I had my earpiece…
"I'm going to call the PRT." Taylor's reaction was as bland as you would expect. I had long since inoculated her to the weird and this was just another Tuesday for her. We weren't the only people knocked back, and everyone within about twenty meters had yet to recover their senses.
"Ohhh…" Mouse Protector didn't have any quips for us, but then again she had nearly been killed and experimented on by the Nine. There were limits to what someone like her could pull off.
"I'm calling." I stayed down, my body continuing to ache with the blastwave that had struck me.
The sky was looking mighty pretty today, wasn't it? Nice clear skies, a few pretty and wispy clouds, the sun was bright and sunny as per usual. Birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, mice were raining from the sky. Everything was fine, everything was well and perfect and great.
A dandy and swell and normal day with no magic powers, no fights to the death, or sudden dimensional teleportation. I was still a pudgy 19 year old male getting his life together instead of a 19 year old woman trying to stop the end of the world so I don't die. I had also not decided to go elsewhere because most of it was unknown, or outside the plot I needed to intervene with so I didn't die.
Yes.
This was fine.
As I stared up into the sky, I decided I needed answers.
___
April 1st, 2011. 5:00 PM
Taylor Hebert
I was getting more and more worried about Basilia. After we had almost gotten crushed by Mouse Protector it was like a switch had gone off and shut her down. We had been pestered and asked a lot of questions by the PRT and by the time we had gotten off, she had sunk back so deeply into 'tinker' mode it was like I wasn't even there. I ended up giving up once she escaped with a literal ton of equipment to what she called Earth Lotus. I was going to go back once she burned herself out, so I was buying time by answering the request from the PRT to help one of their Wards. So I had spent some time spiffing up my costume(which I think it liked) and I was currently waiting for someone from the PRT to call me up.
"Monarch?" I didn't react, partially because I knew who had shown up and partially because I didn't want to embarrass myself. Armsmaster nodded at me, his smile barely noticeable if it wasn't for the magnification of my helmet…but it was genuine.
"Yes I was called here to meet the Wards?" I asked him just to make sure I had read the message right.
His response was stiff but very quick. "Yes. We have a fair amount of certainty that your knowledge may prove useful for helping one of our Wards with a problem." I nodded seriously, understanding the meaning behind his words. It didn't help that I could feel wisps of active dark energy from the tinker, and if he was implying that one of the Wards had the same problem that meant a lot…
We didn't talk a lot on the way down, with Armsmaster spending most of his time tapping on a wrist tablet while I was testing how well I could learn the layout of the building with my bugs. We had gone down a Tinkertech elevator and weaved between a few floors until we entered a room that was tainted with the potent harmonics of dark energy in the air.
Armsmaster closed the door behind us, and I saw two Wards chatting with both of them looking very frustrated. One of them was a girl about thirteen or fourteen years old, who wore a skirted set of body armor, swooping green lines painted along the light fabric. Her top was black with green plating covering her chest and the parts of her arms not along joints. Her face was obscured by a green visor, and her face was twisted in frustration.
"Can't you do something about this…? You're a tinker aren't y—" Armsmaster coughed, and Vista choked on her tongue mid sentence.
"I believe I told you that attempting to solicit Kid Win's help for experimenting with your new powers was deemed too dangerous." I recognized the red armored teenager, smiling at the idea that I was meeting fellow heroes.
Vista pouted before changing her expression again. It was so quick it gave me whiplash. I wasn't going to mention it though because…I wasn't really sure what it meant.
Armsmaster tilted his head, and after a few seconds of scrutiny I understood his intent. I was going to have to introduce myself to the Wards.
I took a deep breath and started. "You must be Vista." I tilted my head down so I could look at her better. The Ward was a space warper, she could stretch, bend, expand or compress space, and she was probably the second strongest shaker in the city despite being so young. "I'm…" she cut me off.
"Monarch. It's nice to meet you." She offered a hand, her expression deathly serious in a way that was…really weird to see from someone almost half my size.
"Likewise Vista." I shook her hand, the grip she had was firm but not excessively so. The same staticy feeling that all of Basilia's Tinkertech gave off was felt when I touched her hand, and I think she could feel the same.
"That's…wait so you've really got the same power?" Vista asked, letting go of my hand and staring at it like it was going to bite her. My size easily cast a shadow over her, and I decided to channel some of whatever kept Basilia going. She was definitely channeling someone else, but I didn't know who.
I don't think it mattered though, only that it ended up helping me. And didn't hurt her…
"It's called biotics." I let the nimbus of active biotics surge upwards, feeling a smirk behind my mask when Vista stared at me. "The ability to generate mass effect fields due to the build up of Eezo in the body."
"Eezo…?" Her lips were pursed for a moment and she let out a humph. "Oh, you're talking about what Armsmaster found in my nervous system?" I bobbed my head.
"Yeah, with biotics you can manipulate reality around you in a couple of ways." I pulled out a small cube of tungsten for demonstrate. I invoked lift and then pushed it slowly so I wouldn't crash it into a wall. "You can manipulate kinetic energy by generating inertia."
Vista tilted head head. "Like Assault?"
"Yeah, but there's a little more to it than that," I explained. "There's Molecular Manipulation, using biotics to break bonds at the strong nuclear level." Kid Win choked understanding the implications a lot better than Vista and even then I could tell he was worried.
"Could you show me?" I stopped and realized I was going way too fast.
"Armsmaster…is it okay to start teaching Vista now? I didn't mean to go over your head with this." The tinker chuckled, and the two Wards jaws dropped.
"It's alright, firsthand experience with this power would prove to be a useful source of information. I've made appropriate preparations…" I could see a few Tinkertech contraptions setting up, and before my eyes a shimmering barrier of light formed with a single opening.
"That should work." I walked into the area, and continued to sense all bugs near the building out of worry. I hadn't done anything wrong but being inside of what could be a prison was still making me uneasy. Vista didn't step in but I didn't really care too much about that, but she needed to understand what she was dealing with.
"So what can you do with Molecular Manipulation?" Vista's questions were professional but there was an energy that reminded me of an excited Basilia.
"Well I can make this." Kid Win backed off as I gripped my hand into a fist. Reality bent around my hand in a swirl of overlaid mass effect fields. The air was torn apart as their bonds were smeared and broken. "It's called Warp…"
Armsmaster nodded. "It's tearing apart molecular bonds…which would destroy most forms of matter. Is there a Manton limit to this power?"
I grimaced. "No…Warp is incredibly dangerous and it's not limited to non living things."
"Oh." The Ward changed the subject for Armsmaster. "What else can biotics do, manipulate gravity?"
"Yes actually but beyond a Lift it takes a lot of power and precision so you don't accidentally…" I trailed off, the grave consequences of my own power getting a little heavy.
"Accidentally?"
I cleared my throat. "So you don't accidentally crush your own skull with a singularity." There was silence and even the stalwart Armsmaster was caught off guard.
"It's that dangerous?" Her voice had gone high pitched.
"It's dangerous to master, but once you have control there is a lot you can do with biotics. A barrier is one of the easier and safer powers and can block everything from a punch to a tank round." We hadn't tried that yet because neither of us were reckless enough to test it, but it might be possible.
"What next, can we teleport too?" That actually made me laugh, which wasn't something I was used to.
"That's Dimensional Control, it involves mass effect shunts to affect travel, movement, and transmission of biotic fields." Again we hadn't tried because there was nowhere safe to practice more than the basics.
Vista raises a hand and I stopped. "Is there anything you can teach me that isn't going to blow me up?"
Oh…right.
"Well there's the basic three. Pull, Throw and Lift. Pull uses a kinetic transfer to force a target to be…"
I was worried.
___
April 2nd, 2011. 11:45PM
Basilia Rubio
I blinked awake, sunlight burning my exposed skin while cool metal brought shivers down my spine. My skin crawled, the sensation of fire and agony etched into every inch of my battered body(corpse). I could barely keep a whimper from leaving my throat, and I tried to remember what I had been doing.
The floor gave away and with a shout of pain I crashed on my right arm. I rolled back onto my back, and out of the harsh sunlight raining down from a blood-red sky. I hobbled back up to my feet, cringing as glass cut up my heels.
I stared at the screen of broken glass, which gradually melded back together into a cohesive image. I saw…myself. I could see the burgeoning base in the window of a small room filled with incense. I was sitting on a mat in a lotus position, Veda mirroring me on the opposite end.
My hand lifted to the image.
"Veda…is there anything we can do to loosen the Bans placed on us?" The words came unbidden from my own lips, my memory progressively returning.
The spirit that I maintained within the sanctity of my own soul replied "My success in attempting to circumvent the Bans has been poor. Alone anyway…" my past self lifted up her head, looking determined to look for the answer.
"Then let's try it." The past me pumped a fist, and I watched as I brought my fists together. Veda vanished, and I could feel something as that past self meditated, a thin aura of green flashing across my body. The me in the crystalline memory opened her eyes to a searing glow of emerald light.
Everything came back to me then
"Huh…so I'm inside my…mind…no…I'm inside my soul?" I turned myself around, balancing carefully as I inspected the fractal existence of the metaphysical reality around me. It was like an infinite recursive loop, rooms upon rooms, halls upon halls etched with code, etched with esoteric machinery beyond my comprehension.
This place was suffused with energy…my energy.
I could see a spinning mandala on the far horizon, tendrils and masses of spiritual corpus joining seamlessly with the seat of my soul. The sky was pitch black, yet I could see shapes moving in the shadows.
I shivered.
"I was looking for answers, wasn't I? It would have to be somewhere…near the core perhaps?" I blinked and then crashed into the seat of my soul, stars blazing in my vision. I started to breath in a fluid that wasn't water, and clawed my way through the liquid that resembled liquid plasma.
Fuck…fuck…I can't…
I reached the surface, gasping for air as I managed to support my weight on the spongy skin of the center. I pushed my bangs out of the way, trying and failing to conjure up my bending, my power…my…oh.
All my attention was swallowed up by the wondrous sight before me, a spectacle, a miracle and triumph beyond anything I had seen before.
I was say atop a liquid crystal pyramid, vast in scope and mass and acting as a vantage point to the mindscape within myself. Here the recursive machine was made visible from above, and I watched as rooms shifted as a living computer circuit spun like reliable clockwork around the core.
From where I was I could see five distinct rotating structures, each of them brimming with the elements.
Fire was the most energetic, a pillar of pure heat and combustion rising a mile into the sky. A swirling mass of orange-white energy and life and vitality, shifting to cold lighting and plasma at the tips of its roaring flames.
Void was impossibly still, a hypercubic tower of liquid spacetime shining with dark energy and burning suns. Like Fire it was energy and potential, true power made manifest yet far more free and open. A dark and hidden mystery…
I swiveled, mesmerized by the barely contained hurricane, whispering wind and air screaming of freedom, of high hopes and open skies. Currents flowed like bending wires, tinted by dust and limitless chi.
Water was the next element, a liquid pool stacked up to form clouds and steam and dropping down to an ice cold floor. Within that pool there was life, tinted with green, with red, with all the myriad configurations of all the creatures of the world.
The final element of Earth was a towering mountain, gleaming with metal and crystal, topped by hot lava and ashes. Ancient, unmoving, unforgiving and stubborn. The earth had inertia, and it had force keeping it together over the eons.
This wasn't what I wanted to see. How did I become this…why had it been me?
The mountain shifted and rumbled and for a single heartbeat I swore I saw something staring back at me from a cavern within the rock. I tasted radioactive metal and dust, tasted the suffering of a billion unborn children, and felt the songs of a land of death and harsh unforgiving life.
HUMAN.
I was thrown off of my feet, the rumble shaking my unprepared stance. Memories flowed, those that I had made here and those that I had made Before. But nothing in between the two periods of my life.
I felt many eyes on me, and I wilted under the judging looks of the other massive structures, under the judging looks of the elements that had become a part of my being.
Do you really want to know?
The water spoke with a burbling voice, and strangely enough I thought of harsh sands and polluted air alongside vast dark seas. My lungs felt wet and sticky and painful, and there was a memory of a time before the current body.
I didn't speak. I couldn't speak.
There are Bans for a reason.
The air hissed warnings, and nightmarish shadows came to mind, a culture that had committed atrocities to survive a great fall. A culture that had grown ready to eliminate the lesser evil that was now unneeded…and was then broken under the heel of the dark gods hiding beneath their feet.
There are many secrets held within.
Dark energy and dark matter vibrated in the frequency of life and biology, in the frequency that held all of creation together. Here there was a culture held together by the mingling and melding of a million minds across nations. They who learned the secrets of those before them, who then kept it in the dark in shame. Masters of the void, it's substance coursing through their veins. Beings of long life and matriarchal wisdom. Deceivers.
You will not understand, not yet.
The flames were far more familiar, far more like myself, far more human in a way the others didn't match.
WATCH.
…
There was screaming. Who was screaming?
The soreness in my throat told me that I was screaming, and I remembered why very quickly.
PAIN.
AGONY.
UNMAKING.
A great booming drone, a foghorn filled with the agony and pain of a billion lost souls, all guided by the pinnacle of their race, guided to a Purpose that would see the end of all life.
The sky filled with Darkness, machines two kilometers tall and radiating with the power of Gods. Unfeeling Machine gods birthed more machines…tools born from both the dead and the living. A cycle of unholy death and rebirth.
It all came to an End. A flash of light brighter than a trillion suns, engulfing all of creation. But it was unfinished…and thus existence suffered.
Unmaking and Remaking. The stage changed, the actors changed. Many, many, many times. My screams reached a new fever pitch, and I started to writhe, trying to flee from this nightmare.
Pain, terror, confusion as everything was burned on contact with searing unreality. As everything about me was undone in a way I would never get back. That line of suffering resonated across the void, and I started to scream even louder as I was drowned in an ocean of
I wanted it to STOP.
I wanted it to STOP.
Please.
I felt my body being rewound, remade, again and again. Why didn't they…why didn't the—
"BASILIA!"
……
……
I was thrown back to reality, nausea knocking me off my feet and onto the grassy ground. I wobbled, glancing up into the terrified eyes of Taylor. She tried to reach for me and I leaned away. The nausea rose up, and I spewed out all the contents of my stomach. I threw up three more times until I started to dry heave, my throat burning with the acidity of my stomach.
I kept retching, and I could feel the trail of tears running down my face. The first time I had cried in years, and the thought made me start crying more, my vision blurred by hot tears.
Taylor blurred and I was suddenly obscured in darkness again, but instead of invoking terror and helplessness it invoked warmth and safety. I only muttered gibberish, sinking into the embrace of the first person I had come to consider a friend in this world.
I shuddered, my pained cry muffled by Taylor's clothing. The much taller woman cradled me close and I melted into the warmth and comfort she provided.
"Taylor…?" She nodded, and I gulped at her severe expression.
"We're going to talk, and I'm going to want an explanation." Her voice was strict and over her shoulder I saw a disturbed Panacea looking at me with exhausted eyes.
Was I back in the garden? But I was at the new base…how did I get here…?
"O-Okay." I didn't loosen my death grip on my waist, and I unsurely snuggled a little closer.
"Just rest for a bit…I can wait." I used Taylor like a pillow, my eyelids starting to droop as exhaustion took hold.
I didn't want to sleep.
But.
I…
Was…
So…
Tired…
I suppressed the blood curdling screams and the nightmarish visages of black ships raining red death upon the cosmos. Taylor's humming and the distant soothing songs of what was once thought lost diminished the echoes of the discordant sour note, vanquishing the black oily shadows.
My dreams were simply of colors and shapes I couldn't begin to describe.
___
AN: I don't know exactly what the reception of this chapter will be. This is basically a gigantic hint toward the lore of my alternate universe. I pretty much have a whole rough history derived and then altered from the source materials. While I would prefer a lighter story, that's something that's slowly getting away from me. Worm is Worm after all, though it'll be a different take of course.
Worm seems to be a two steps forward three steps back story. This is more of a one step back kind of story. The story is quickly solidifying, and I've got a crude outline of future plot points up and running.
There'll be conflict, whether physical or emotional as well as some mystery. At the least there'll be breaks between the intense moments unlike Worm itself. I've got big plans, but getting that ready isn't easy.
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Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
Sakuya's Butler
A refined Butler to a knife wielding Mistress.
- Location
- ↓, ↘, → + Punch
- Location
- Chula Vista
They definitely seem pretty scary in comparison to Canon Reapers...but the Reapers depicted here are far more dangerous than the bunch of faulty AI they were in Mass Effect. Even if they're long gone, their influence still echoes across the gulf of time.
Sakuya's Butler
A refined Butler to a knife wielding Mistress.
- Location
- ↓, ↘, → + Punch
Well, to out it another way, each of those ships that surrounded the star in that video? Each of them, individually, both out-massed AND were larger in volume than, a Mass Relay by at least a factor of 2.
Comes from them being over 20 miles long. And can regularly tank 10 gigaton contact warheads up to 30 times before breaking apart.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Honestly might be my favorite chapter thus far. It has a good, healthy friendship gently moving in a more supportive, romantic direction (genuinely made my heart smile). It has our hero taking her firsts steps towards finding her old world. It has her unlocking eldritch knowledge that had been sealed away for her own safety, and suffering the pain of curiosity.
Honestly, I look forward to seeing how this plays out. I think Taylor would be pretty accepting of "oh, you once had different plumbing" since she's already accepted "you have definitive proof that spirits exist." I wonder how Basilia's character will be changed by this. Will she lean on Taylor more? Will she be more wary of curiosity? If she's more wary of curiosity, will she continue to teach Taylor? How eager will she be to spread knowledge since it was the pursuit of knowledge that lead to this trauma. But I'm know that whatever you decide, it'll turn out rather well. You've fleshed out Basilia's gender change into a realistic part of her character, rather than just a sticky note in her biography... wait, does that add more stress on your shoulders? Don't! Well, don't worry. You'll do wondrously, no matter what you decide to do!
I also loved to see Taylor realizing just how dangerous biotics are. I'm sure she'd known before, but beginning to teach someone as young as Vista probably made the hazards more "real" for Taylor. Luckily Basilia has a galaxy or two of knowledge relating to the subject.
- Location
- Chula Vista
Thanks for the vote of confidence but yes that's generally what I've been aiming for, I wanted the decisions I had made for the story to matter in a very real way. While I wouldn't say I have an exact 'plan' I do pretty much just write what comes naturally to me...what feels right for the kind of story I want to tell, adding small constraints to keep too many things from converting at once. I've had those kind of issues before, and it's helped me learn a lot about myself in the process.
As for the spread of knowledge, I do feel like this wouldn't completely discourage Basilia but it would would make her more paranoid and careful with it. No knowledge stays buried forever no matter how much you want to…and there is a lot of knowledge that has been left forgotten.
So I'll think she'll continue, if nothing else to keep people from hitting the same pitfalls that resulted in the downfall of those who came before her.
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LostArchivist
Sane, unfortunately.
- Location
- The State of Confusion
its job
Its functionality
I normally spell that "bullshittium" since it looks more natural with the extra t.
requires
of sorts
as that Texan
sicced
The last chapter was a bit confusing for me, since it almost seems part dream-sequence and she got her psyche flayed for a bit there...
Which is quite understandable.
Not really sure what it was hinting at; I think it may have been the ending of Mass Effect, but it could be those things from Babylon Five or Sombra's third return for all I know.
Please keep up the good work, this is quite an interesting story.
I actually like that she couldn't just fix the Dallon family. It's more realistic that the main character can't just replace a psychologist...
Rejuvenation 4.4
- Location
- Chula Vista
Rejuvenation 4.4
April 3rd, 2011. 3:00 AM
Basilia Rubio
I dried my still wet hair, having just come out of the shower and changed into a pair of black gym shorts and a purple shirt. I didn't really like the color but I didn't really hate it either. It was still a better color than pink, and it wasn't as plain as black or white. I didn't place any socks on, since the house had a nice carpet to step on instead of cold tiles. Amy and Taylor were both downstairs, and I knew that Taylor was angry with me. I…wasn't entirely sure what I had done, had there been side effects I hadn't realized yet?
As I rubbed the towel on my head, I began to analyze the person staring back at me in the mirror. But perhaps it would be best to accept that the woman in the mirror was simply me. It was strange, and confusing but I didn't hate it…even if I wouldn't say I liked it either.
My hair had grown significantly, and I started to realize why the fitting of my helmet had become so off. My hair was down to my upper back instead of my shoulders, and the only reason the ends weren't frayed was because of Taylor.
I pawed at my face, squishing my soft cheeks and feeling the harder bone beneath the fat. I studied my expressions, lifting my shoulders up and down and testing out how many differences there were between back then and now.
Besides the insane curves and the lack of facial hair, the differences weren't really that bad. I had never been a broad shouldered hunk of a man though I wouldn't have considered myself unattractive. I had good genes if nothing else, but I was definitely shitty at showing them off for more than moments at a time. I had at least gotten my hygiene down pat in this world.
I glanced down at my bust, and dared a few pokes. The sensation was odd…but not entirely unpleasant. What size was I anyway…? I think I measured it around an F cup? Weirdly enough that wasn't that far outside the bounds of what the woman in my family had…so it made sense in that regard.
My skin had darkened a shade with how often the sun hit the garden, though strangely enough the rest of me wasn't that much lighter in tone. Like I had suffered a full-body tan all over. It seems like I had lost focus on my physical changes, I had stopped asking questions. Maybe because it felt like I had bigger and more dangerous problems…?
I already knew the general limits of my powers, with most of it being materials, as well as it being impossible to be a one woman factory. Most of Veda's energy output was spent on other things, some of them still locked away for at least the time being. It was basically using her spiritual corpus like a manufacturing machine, and after some examination, I don't think I was tinker like Bonesaw. I was more like Amy.
All I needed was touch to start changing an object, breaking it down into material and then reassembling it back into a piece of tech. But it didn't work so well against people, a combination of a psychological block and a growing resistance due to chi. People could resist possession by spirits, and Veda could only extend a tiny fraction of her own energy. There was also a mass limit, I was like a human omni-tool with a hard time with organic matter.
But…if a body was dead I might be able to affect it. But that's another story…and I'm not the type to start desecrating corpses.
…
Not the point.
Back to how I felt about this, now that I was a little more clear headed. The woman in the mirror was me. How did I feel about it? Bad? Good? Indifferent?
No…I felt…a little violated…but that was from the lack of consent. I don't…I don't think I minded being a girl. It had been confusing, it had even been painful at times. But I didn't hate it, or relish the experience either. I'm not sure what you would call that, I had never really put much thought about what kind of things I should like. I had been…judgemental about people in the past, but I slowly learned that it didn't matter. If it didn't hurt anybody…if it didn't make anyone suffer it was okay.
People liked who they liked, they could be who they wanted to be…I had no quarrel with anyone who wasn't hurting other people or harming themselves.
It didn't make the whole thing any less complicated or embarrassing or humiliating however…
"Right. I should probably be going downstairs." I talked to myself, psyching up for the conversation coming up. The trip downstairs was quiet, and all I could hear was the quiet conversations of Amy and Taylor. Rather obvious really, the healer tended toward a slightly bitchy tone while Taylor's was softer but solid as steel.
I tiptoed down stairs, and I could see that Amy was fidgeting while Taylor stared back at her with a strong look of anger. Her head snapped to my direction, hazel eyes gleaming with a stormy visage of emotions.
I gulped.
I found myself sitting in between the two capes, and I started to remember that both of the capes were rather scary in their way. Especially as QA was slowly regaining her former glory. The Administrator was the one used to pick and choose and control Shards. Her spiritual conversion had shrunk her size but that was simply compactification of her mass. I'm pretty sure she outweighed Mars and Mercury combined before she turned into a spirit. It was why one of her Bans involved restrictions on fully fusing with a Host.
Titan Khepri didn't need to be a thing in this world, and I wasn't looking for that to happen unless the world was coming to an end in the near future.
"Basilia…what did you do?" I gulped again, Taylor's tone left no room for argument. Her face was flushed with anger, and I wanted to sink into the floor.
"I'm not entirely sure." The words that came out were not the ones I meant to say.
The bug controller loomed over me, her teeth bared. "Don't lie to me! I was right there Basilia! You were going through a seizure and bleeding, and I didn't know what to do. The medi-gel wasn't working, the surgery machines were too complicated and…I thought you were…I had to get Amy's help and…" her anger fled, and I felt like crap.
"I'm sorry…don't know why I said that." I rubbed my eyes, cursing at my stupidity. "I was meditating…trying to look for answers for how I got here, trying to find out why it was me. About why I look like this." I waved my hands to myself, feeling shivers just thinking about what I had seen buried deep down.
"And how does that lead to internal bleeding and torn muscles?" Amy quipped with her typical speech patterns, pinching the bridge of her nose, peering at me with her baggy eyes.
"I used…too much power…went beyond my limits. Unlike you I have a direct connection with my power, with Veda. It means her power can burn me out more easily. Like a wire blowing apart into plasma with too much current and voltage." Taylor looked pale, and I rested my hand on hers, wanting to…reassure her.
"What did you see? Why were you so…?"
I chuckle with bitterness. "Terrified? I didn't see the full picture…I only saw a fraction and it was beyond horrifying. Whatever brought me here…whatever turned me into what I am. It was the result of a war on an unimaginable scale, a cycle of horror and pain that…hurt to even try to glimpse at."
Both capes nodded, but they obviously wanted more details. "What was it?"
I lifted up my hands, generating a little flame pulsing like a heartbeat. "I saw machine gods rain down from the sky, massive ships of blackened metal harvesting world after world. I watched the dead get taken and changed, turned into unholy demons. I saw the living having their very souls torn from them to fuel the birth of more of their kind. Billions dying, screaming for mercy and being given none." They looked like ghosts as I answered. "A war that repeated for many tens of thousands of times. Then that horrific cycle came to an end…but the suffering didn't stop. The world was broken, resetting and being remade countless times, the actors and stages changing, though common themes did follow."
Humanity was a common one.
"Jesus…fucking Christ." Amy's eyes were wide. "How the hell are you not fucked in the head?"
My smile turned grim. "I'm not sure I did make it out unscathed Amelia." Her flinch meant I hit the bullseye. "That was a cause, I still don't really remember how I passed through to this reality. I don't think it was a painless process, just trying to remember did a number on me."
"Is that why your DNA was torn to shreds?" I winced but didn't deny Amy's claim.
"I don't think that's the only thing that was broken…but again I don't remember it and I'm not sure they'll let me."
…
"They?" Taylor was definitely worried.
I straightened up. "The…Bans, they're being reinforced by something in Veda…in our soul. The machinery that allows for the bending of all five elements, code built to protect me from destroying myself."
"What's it look like…inside your soul?" Amy piped up, her curiosity overwhelming any other feelings.
I clenched my fists, speaking carefully. "Imagine a machine of near limitless complexity and sophistication. A machine of vast scope and power, a clockwork moving in every possible direction, fractal, existing in more dimensions than a human mind could perceive without experience."
"You always say it like that," I peered over at Taylor. "Describing the soul and spirits as machines is kind of odd isn't it?"
"But someone did make it, that knowledge is known to me. The soul was made and it changed everything, I doubt this world will be any different."
There was a single beat.
"Your powers are bullshit."
I quirked an eyebrow at Amy. "This coming from the most powerful biokinetic in the country?" The healer scowled but didn't deny my claim.
I laughed, and dodged a swat from the biokinetic, feeling some tension disappear from my shoulders.
…
I should tell Taylor.
"There's also…one more thing I need to talk about. A secret I've been keeping for a while." I pressed my hands together, Taylor's brows coming together and her expression hardening.
"What is it?" I smiled as best as I could, preparing myself.
"Coming here…changed me…before all of this, I was shorter…before all this I used to be a—"
"She used to be a guy and didn't know how to tell you because it'd be super awkward." I choked at the deadpan manner that Amy Dallon stole my spotlight with no hesitation.
"H-How?" I crowed fearfully.
The healer shrugged with a smirk(that bitch). "When I healed you, I saw the remnants of a Y chromosome. Put it together with how you acted and I made a wild guess."
"Amy?" She smiled and I felt angrier.
"What?"
I squinted. "Fuck you."
She cracked up. "Guess you do have claws huh?" I placed her hand on my arm and I projected a wave of bloodlust as well as a few examples of what I could do to her. Amy shut her mouth real quick.
"You are…were a guy?" The lack of heat from Taylor eased my worries, but there was a little issue with my accepting of there being no problems.
"I was a guy, and now I'm not. At least physically anyway, I've managed not to think about that as best as I could but…" I shrugged, being disconcertingly sensitive to the way my chest bounced. I made eye contact with Amy, and she moved upstairs to my gratefulness. It was already pissing me off to have her butting in to my private business, I didn't need any more snooping on top of that.
Taylor started to blush and that triggered a return blush like some type of fucked up visual communication.
"So you're a guy. Or were a guy, we've known each for months…why didn't you say anything?" There was no hint of betrayal or hurt, just confusion and acceptance.
I smiled awkwardly.
"Taylor we've changed in the same room, do you have any idea how awkward it would be to bring that up?" I was just lucky I had self control and a modest urge to avoid intimate encounters. But that was more due to lack of social contact than a lack of libido…it was kind of the opposite in fact. But I hadn't bothered with trying to scratch that itch out of embarrassment.
"Errr." Her face was turning scarlet and mine was no different. "I guess that explains why you always look away, and why you're so…clumsy and weirdly ignorant about certain topics."
I cringed. "Yes…though to be fair I didn't like changing in front of guys either back home."
"How did it feel?" I crossed my legs, biting a fingernail in a habit I had kept up even as a woman. It's a good thing that Taylor isn't into the whole painting your nails trend.
"It felt like I was just going through puberty again, awkward, clumsy, and everything feeling off. Bathrooms were horrible except for showers, and all those feminine…biological processes were messy. I already knew that women had to go through things, that doesn't mean I want to experience it." I complained, pulling on my hair and dreading my next period. The first two had been god awful and I didn't remotely enjoy the event.
Taylor bit her lip. "So you hate it?"
"No actually." I actually surprised myself at the admission. "It was odd…and there's a lot to complain about. I feel comfortable like this, or more accurately, I don't really care about what I look like. As long as I'm me I think I'm good."
I had come out and said it, come out and said the thoughts that at times lingered even before. It's not like I've never known about things like genderbending, I even dabbled in writing some before it petered out due to lack of drive.
But…even then it would take more time to get really used to being a woman. Most of my time had been spent indoors or tinkering. There were still moments where I didn't believe this was happening to me, and I didn't go out enough to find how my changed appearance changed how people acted towards me.
"So wouldn't that mean you like girls?" I coughed, red dusting my face.
"Umm…mostly? I think I had a crush on a guy at least once though that didn't go anywhere." I hadn't seen the guy in more than a year, and it was at least one of the reasons for my loneliness. He…was a good listener and enjoyed my stupid nerdy and sciency topics, even if I was a blabbermouth.
"Oh." Her eyes widened. "Wait…when you said I was attractive…all those times, were you checking me out?"
Oh god please no.
I groaned, slapping my face into my palms. "N-No? I mean I check out a lot of girls but I try not to since it's rude and disrespectful and I don't mean to—"
Taylor broke out into laughter, her nose scrunching and her eyes twinkling with bemusement. "Your face!" she barely covered up her hearty chuckles
"Taylor!" I grabbed her by the collar, and she only laughed more. The pure and utter joy was like music to my ears and I let go. I puffed my cheeks, wanting to complain but unwilling to let Taylor's happiness flee.
"Basilia?" Her laughter had died down and she was deathly serious. "About what you did?" I wilted.
"I won't do it again. It was stupid and dumb." She shushed me, and I waited.
"But you will…I can tell. But next time…don't do it on your own. If I hadn't gotten worried it would have been too late."
"Understood." I saluted her and she cracked a smile. "Are we still friends?" I offered a fist and she bumped it against mine.
"Of course." I grinned so wide it hurt.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Someone was at the door.
"Taylor."
"It's safe to open it…but you're not going to like it." She didn't elaborate, and against my better judgement I stood up. I skipped over to the door, hopping from foot to foot until my bare feet hit the cold tiles of the front entrance. I opened it, keeping my biotic barrier on standby. A fist stopped inches from my face, and my eyes darted to the unwanted visitor.
A severe blonde woman in her early 40s was at the front door, and I could see Amelia peeking from the second floor with a floored expression.
"Hello there? Why is a hero from New Wave here visiting my humble home?"
She scowled. "You know why I'm here."
…
That sounds about right.
April 3rd, 2011. 3:10 AM
Basilia Rubio
"Besides Amy what brings you by?" I rubbed my eyes, keeping a yawn down as I sank into the corner of my living room couch. Brandish didn't seem impressed and I curled up into a ball to conserve warmth. I cared little for appearances in the sanctity of my own home.
Brandish frowned, looking almost bashful in a grumpy kind of way. "I wished to apologize for my previous behavior."
"…" I was speechless.
"…" Amy was no different from where she was spying on us.
"I suppose all is forgiven? I don't really blame you, I know how I could be seen as sketchy." I really did, your daughters meet with a new tinker and suddenly show up with new superpowers. "Doesn't make me any less angry though." My smile was strained, and Brandish didn't say a word. "Were you followed?"
"I know when to be discreet." She crossed her arms in an indignant fashion.
"Then this should be fine…what exactly gave me away?" That felt like a more relevant topic, I didn't need some villain figuring out who I was.
"The library," That made sense to me. "I pieced it together once they told me about that…entity." Probably should have thought about that but then I had been too distracted with getting the local spirit world under a modicum of control and stability. There were a lot of angry and territorial spirits, and placating all of them was a work of a lifetime.
"Right." I scratched my chin, my right hand roving from it to the back of my neck in a lazy motion.
Brandish sighed. "New Wave has a policy of being open capes, but we don't make a habit of outing capes." The abrasive woman was being quite accommodating. What did she want?
"So what exactly do you want?" She startled and I waited impatiently, lightly tapping my foot.
"I…burned my daughter." All of my annoyance fled, and I could see that Amy had stilled. Her expression shifted between half a dozen emotions, as if the idea of Carol hurting her own blood was unthinkable.
"What happened?" I had to ask, because I had been the one to deny Brandish any help. But then…I didn't know how to fix someone's inner turmoil.
"I had heard a noise…I ended up checking if anyone had entered the house." Her voice was dull, her eyes having a faraway look to them. "Victoria was there, but I couldn't see her very well. She was…grabbing things with her power…and I reacted." The guilt was beyond obvious.
"Where is she now?" I had a few ideas about burns, since I'm pretty sure I could manage some simple healing.
"Mark is taking care of her. Better him than me." She looked terribly small for what was supposed to be a strong(if crazy) and assertive woman.
"So you wanted what? Training…?" She nodded and I started to rub my palms, remembering a trick to at least keep a headache at bay. "Alright fine…if your control is that bad, I'll try to help. But that's not going to net you control, that's something you need to work on."
"That's fair."
…
Veda do I have some type of Parahuman magnet on me? Because this was going from painfully coincidental to horrifically suspicious. I wanted to know that I wasn't going to suddenly run into Lung or I was going to suffer a stroke and die on the spot.
'Hmm…it is possible that your effect on reality attracts the presence and attention of Parahumans. It does not mean they will all show up at random, but it's still something to watch out for.'
"Could you call New Wave? I have an idea to help with Victoria's burns and I don't want to scare the hell out of them by popping out of nowhere."
Within a few minutes I was on my way, blipping into the spirit world with a biotic baton in hand. Spirits were passed by with every step I took, beings of all shapes and sizes. I already had a cheaper set of armor, which was mostly just the ballistic fiber layer and kinetic barrier projector. A domino mask covered my face, and a ponytail kept my long hair out of my face.
As I hit the spiritual equivalent of the Dallon residence, I could see the sheer negativity that radiated within the home. Spirits of resentment, spirits of sadness, of trauma, and of guilt and shame. I could in fact see that a particular large spirit had taken residence here, it resembled a man, covering its face and wallowing in depression. It was living in the master bedroom so I already knew who brought it into the world. There was another, a fainter presence resembling red motes of light congregating together.
The shame, loneliness, resentment, and other such spirits lived in what had to be Amy's bedroom. There were quite a few spirits of self-loathing in Victoria's bedroom.
God…the Dallon family is a mess.
Once I had gotten my bearings I slipped back into reality, right at the front door instead of the living room. I knocked and the door was hastily opened by a fairly depressed looking Mark Dallon. I was dragged in with a right vice grip, and I could see that some of the adult half of New Wave was here.
Both Sarah and Crystal Pelham had come here, while Manpower wasn't anywhere to be seen. Laserdream was tending to her cousin, applying lotion to the area…and I was starting to question how Glory Girl had been burned.
Mistake.
Fragile One had appeared from thin air with an expression of shame. I left that for later…
"Erudition?" Sarah's face was stony but there was a plea for help.
"I came here as fast as I could. It's not much of a costume but I can still help." A flick of the wrist summoned a glob of water from a canteen I had placed on a belt.
"What are going to do to my cousin?" The question was more inquisitive than accusative so I replied freely.
"I'm going to heal her…I don't have much experience but simple stuff shouldn't be difficult." I edged closer to Victoria, the brute gritting her teeth. I hissed at the size of the burn, since it covered at least a quarter of her arm.
I could heal this…I just needed to focus.
A brief tilt of the head was replied to with silent answers of permission from Sarah and Mark. I practically glued the water to my hands, hovering over the wound.
"So do I have permission to heal you?" I cracked a joke, receiving a pained chuckle in return.
"Yes."
With a deep intake of oxygen I pressed the water to the burn. An instinctive sense came to the forefront. The water shined with life energy, and I began to sense the flow of energy, correcting it…speeding it up. Within seconds the burns flaked away, skin healing and repairing itself with the regenerative properties of the energized water. The burns were gone, like they had never been in the first place. Victoria rubbed her arms, her surprise palpable.
"You good?"
"Yeah. There isn't any pain at all." I felt relieved that my waterbending was at a sufficient level for some basic healing. Combined with medi-gel and basic medical care and I could fix up people in a pinch.
I was poked on the shoulder by Lady Photon, and I schooled my expression. "What is it?"
The blaster frowned. "How is…my sister?"
"I would not say she was well, certainly not. I decided to help train her, but that won't fix the problem on its own." The leader of New Wave's gaze was steely, and I had a feeling she knew what I was talking about.
She slumped, appearing rather out of it. "I'm sorry for letting you get caught in family drama. Things have been rather tense at home."
I nodded sympathetically. "I've been through things of that nature, if to a lesser degree." My parents had never been physical or even abusive…but the outcome had become clear to me over the years. They wouldn't be staying together and that was okay. But I'm not too sure what the outcome of this clusterfuck would be…
"Hmm…I would like to ask a favor."
"Sure?"
"Could Amy spend the night? There's another long talk I need to have with my sister. Victoria will stay with my husband and her cousin, and I don't think Amy wants to be here tonight."
"Who else knows?" I was pulling my hair again, using it to curtain over my eyes and domino mask.
"Only the people in this room, and no one in New Wave would ever leak anything about another cape like this. Especially when you've been rather level headed…"
"I wouldn't really call myself that," I patted down the back of my head, pressing down on my messy hair. "I've actually been a bit high strung these past few days, there's no need to lie." Lady Photon's response was an amused tilt of her lips.
Crystal leaned forward, her smile dim button hopeful. "So what? Are you alright with keeping my cousin company?" My eyes darted downward for a brief instance at her bounciness. With a single clearing of the throat I replied.
"Sure. One of you will probably have to pick up Brandish, my form of transit isn't really something I feel comfortable using with more than one person."
Everything passed quickly after that, and I passed back through the spirit world at a lazy pace. I lamented all my troubles but tried not to dwell on them for longer than what could be considered healthy. Brandish left with her sister, and I ended up in a very short and awkward sleepover in the living room. Taylor wanted me in sight, and I was too afraid to say no to her.
Amy had to wear some of my sleepwear which did not fit her. She was both too short and too skinny to look normal in anything that Taylor or I had to offer. I could have made something, but the healer ended up teasing me about my gender reassignment so I didn't.
What a night. Don't even get me started on the fact I had a meeting with the mayor at his office. Shouldn't be too difficult, his son was a pretty nice guy as a hero. There was his niece Din—
…
Oh hell.
April 3rd, 2011. 4:00PM
Basilia Rubio
Mayor Christner was a man who reminded me a lot of my father but with superior business acumen and greater willingness to invest and make use of his wealth. He had started from within the working class, but had managed to win big back in the 90s of Earth Bet. The boom back then dwarfed what my own Earth had faced, but the man had managed to get out before the crash caused by both the Endbringers and normal economic factors. He sold his assets and had basically lived off the interest ever since.
I had measured little indication of corruption from the man himself though his administration was a different story. Fortunately that was a self correcting problem because like the PRT my sudden kool aid man crash into the system had given him a kick in the ass. It would likely take months at the current pace of development, though unfortunately with Leviathan on the way I doubt we would make it in time.
I'm…going to have to start working on figuring out how to kill an Endbringer aren't I?
…
Anyway, I had spoken with the man on several occasions, all of them dealing with my plans for the city. At first he had been skeptical, but he had been willing to hear me out with some smaller examples of my scavenging business with areas of the Boat Graveyard that weren't under dubious legal limbo. But he wanted to meet in person in a more formal setting since he had already been given a few examples of what Athena could do for the city with the right permissions.
This was necessary because if I had an in with the local government I could push through my various plans through with greater ease as well as gain advice from someone who knew the city in a political sense. Athena needed to expand and despite what one would think Brockton's Bays local universities were of fairly good quality.
While I could do it all myself I didn't want to spend 100% of my life as a slave to my tinkering even if I found it enjoyable. I needed engineers, in fact I needed hundreds of engineers to be able to pass on some basic expertise. As well as the needed administration and other jobs to make an engineering company functional. I would need managers to keep everyone in line, and I would need heavily vetted and shielded systems.
"So when do you think the Mayor is going to show?" Taylor spoke in a dry tone, the one that any teenager or young adult could muster up with little effort. Which I would have taken more seriously if I didn't know she had probably tagged him a few blocks ago.
"He'll show up when he wants to show up, it's not like we've got anything better to do." We really didn't, besides the earlier troubles in the early morning this day was pretty quiet. I doubt it would last, with the Empire rattling their sabers and the ABB on the move. The aggression was turning up, and the powder keg was finally starting to crack. I had managed to carve out a safe space in the disputed region of the Eastern Docks, and the area along the Ferry Station.
Turns out hordes of drones and swarms of mastered insects are extremely effective at things like surveillance, wouldn't you know? Apparently the police were quite interested in that kind of equipment, so once my legal team of one got to work I had a drone business up and running. Nothing as advanced as my own drones, but definitely ahead of my Earth. Hell a good amount of the product's parts were outsourced from some of the corporations licensing my patents and registered processes.
I also did my best to support certain bills so the police wouldn't have issues with misuse. I had to be extremely careful with that kind of shit, I was lucky that most of my drones were invisible and had VI to not do stupid shit like crashing into a helicopter.
Also helps that I'm not a peeping Tom.
We were waiting just outside the office of one Roy Christner, the father of Triumph and the uncle of Dinah Alcott. Both were Parahumans, with Rory being able to manipulate sound and Dinah being the third most powerful Precog in the world. Which was why she was being closely monitored to keep people like Coil off her trail. I wasn't having a lot of luck on that though…while I had heard that the thirteen year old had quieted down about her headaches it was probably too late then.
Contact was going to have to grow necessary for her own safety, I'm not sure the PRT was a safe place for her, and while I didn't really care too much for having a Precog on the team. Leaving her to her original fate was not an acceptable outcome of events.
"He should be here soon." Taylor said, her head pivoting to face the hallway leading to the lobby area. "At his current pace he'll be in the building in about…thirty seconds." I let my arms fall to the side, adjusting the fitting of my helmet. The armor itself was tinted a lighter shade of grey than before, though I had added a coat of quantum dot array composites with tunable properties. This model was limited to altering its optical properties as a type of smart paint.
Better models paired with nanoscale optronics would allow for sensors and communication systems, and photovoltaic arrays. This paint was primarily for camouflage, and was essentially a nanotechnological version of my drone's stealth equipment. So with some minor software and hardware updates I could turn invisible to the naked eye. Tricking IR was possible as well though more esoteric sensors were much harder to defend from. Given more time I would probably be able to create true tunable artificial atoms and molecules in an advanced form of programmable matter.
Footsteps approached, and the mayor turned from the corner. He was a large man at around Danny's height but with far more bulk in both his shoulders and his stomach. His face was round, with oddly patterned baldness and a mustache that had been outdated since before I was born.
"Mr. Mayor." I crossed the remaining distance myself since I was the oldest, with Taylor still about two months away from being a legal adult. Even if she didn't really look like she was that much younger than me. "Thanks for agreeing to meet with us, I understand you can be a busy man."
The mayor smiled wide. "Oh it's no trouble, Erudition and Monarch am I right? The two of you have been making some waves lately." His grip as we shook hands was firm and consistent, charisma oozing off of him in waves. "Your proposal to some would be quite ridiculous if I hadn't seen the productivity of your Tinkertech with my own eyes. A successful removal of that tanker could revitalize parts of the city that have been neglected." I decided not to mention that part of that blame lay with him.
"Indeed, the Docks have been an area of interest of mine and without those eyesores I could further expand my own operations."
"I suppose we should step into my office then?" I nodded and the three of us hurried in, the door clicking behind us. The office was a good medium between average and luxurious, with well furnished walls and furniture of considerable quality. He smiled thinly. "Now I've read the proposal but I would like the specifics."
Taylor was the one to reply. "A good number of the Warden heavy exoskeletons can operate under water. Along with our own powers, we can move even incredibly massive objects like the tanker. Athena can easily set up an operation to cut apart or repair old ships on the fly." I tapped my Omni-tool, and a visual depiction of the operation was put into place. "From there they'll be loaded onto trucks to various foundries to sell them at a good price. Most of the wreckage will be turned over to the DWA while some remaining scrap will be sold to Athena at market value."
"Water manipulation turns out to be quite helpful when moving boats." Water was pulled from an inbuilt pocket, forming a cute little bubble before the mayor's eyes. He didn't flinch but there was a little hint of trepidation, maybe it was because of Leviathan? He was at least partially responsible for the destabilization of global trade even if not to the effect of Fanon. The amount of energy needed to wreck every vessel in the sea was too wasteful to the Endbringer.
The mayor nodded. "Well I see no reason to not approve your proposal as long as it's economically sound. Actually being seen doing something for once in my term should help my own goals huh?" A smirk pulled at my lips, and I shook his hand again as we got his backing.
The Merchants were getting ripped to shreds, so it's unlikely they would rise again even with Leviathan. The ABB couldn't grow because of Bakuda's meddling, and the Empire was on the backpedal as their operations were busted.
This was a start to bringing the city to heel, I expected problems however. Lung was one of the most powerful capes in the city, the Empire could bring in capes from across the country if need be. The Teeth might see the opportunity…and Mannequin didn't like tinkers trying to improve the world…
We had the framework, now we needed to protect and reinforce that skeletal outline.
There was work to do.
April 3rd, 2011. 3:00 AM
Basilia Rubio
I dried my still wet hair, having just come out of the shower and changed into a pair of black gym shorts and a purple shirt. I didn't really like the color but I didn't really hate it either. It was still a better color than pink, and it wasn't as plain as black or white. I didn't place any socks on, since the house had a nice carpet to step on instead of cold tiles. Amy and Taylor were both downstairs, and I knew that Taylor was angry with me. I…wasn't entirely sure what I had done, had there been side effects I hadn't realized yet?
As I rubbed the towel on my head, I began to analyze the person staring back at me in the mirror. But perhaps it would be best to accept that the woman in the mirror was simply me. It was strange, and confusing but I didn't hate it…even if I wouldn't say I liked it either.
My hair had grown significantly, and I started to realize why the fitting of my helmet had become so off. My hair was down to my upper back instead of my shoulders, and the only reason the ends weren't frayed was because of Taylor.
I pawed at my face, squishing my soft cheeks and feeling the harder bone beneath the fat. I studied my expressions, lifting my shoulders up and down and testing out how many differences there were between back then and now.
Besides the insane curves and the lack of facial hair, the differences weren't really that bad. I had never been a broad shouldered hunk of a man though I wouldn't have considered myself unattractive. I had good genes if nothing else, but I was definitely shitty at showing them off for more than moments at a time. I had at least gotten my hygiene down pat in this world.
I glanced down at my bust, and dared a few pokes. The sensation was odd…but not entirely unpleasant. What size was I anyway…? I think I measured it around an F cup? Weirdly enough that wasn't that far outside the bounds of what the woman in my family had…so it made sense in that regard.
My skin had darkened a shade with how often the sun hit the garden, though strangely enough the rest of me wasn't that much lighter in tone. Like I had suffered a full-body tan all over. It seems like I had lost focus on my physical changes, I had stopped asking questions. Maybe because it felt like I had bigger and more dangerous problems…?
I already knew the general limits of my powers, with most of it being materials, as well as it being impossible to be a one woman factory. Most of Veda's energy output was spent on other things, some of them still locked away for at least the time being. It was basically using her spiritual corpus like a manufacturing machine, and after some examination, I don't think I was tinker like Bonesaw. I was more like Amy.
All I needed was touch to start changing an object, breaking it down into material and then reassembling it back into a piece of tech. But it didn't work so well against people, a combination of a psychological block and a growing resistance due to chi. People could resist possession by spirits, and Veda could only extend a tiny fraction of her own energy. There was also a mass limit, I was like a human omni-tool with a hard time with organic matter.
But…if a body was dead I might be able to affect it. But that's another story…and I'm not the type to start desecrating corpses.
…
Not the point.
Back to how I felt about this, now that I was a little more clear headed. The woman in the mirror was me. How did I feel about it? Bad? Good? Indifferent?
No…I felt…a little violated…but that was from the lack of consent. I don't…I don't think I minded being a girl. It had been confusing, it had even been painful at times. But I didn't hate it, or relish the experience either. I'm not sure what you would call that, I had never really put much thought about what kind of things I should like. I had been…judgemental about people in the past, but I slowly learned that it didn't matter. If it didn't hurt anybody…if it didn't make anyone suffer it was okay.
People liked who they liked, they could be who they wanted to be…I had no quarrel with anyone who wasn't hurting other people or harming themselves.
It didn't make the whole thing any less complicated or embarrassing or humiliating however…
"Right. I should probably be going downstairs." I talked to myself, psyching up for the conversation coming up. The trip downstairs was quiet, and all I could hear was the quiet conversations of Amy and Taylor. Rather obvious really, the healer tended toward a slightly bitchy tone while Taylor's was softer but solid as steel.
I tiptoed down stairs, and I could see that Amy was fidgeting while Taylor stared back at her with a strong look of anger. Her head snapped to my direction, hazel eyes gleaming with a stormy visage of emotions.
I gulped.
I found myself sitting in between the two capes, and I started to remember that both of the capes were rather scary in their way. Especially as QA was slowly regaining her former glory. The Administrator was the one used to pick and choose and control Shards. Her spiritual conversion had shrunk her size but that was simply compactification of her mass. I'm pretty sure she outweighed Mars and Mercury combined before she turned into a spirit. It was why one of her Bans involved restrictions on fully fusing with a Host.
Titan Khepri didn't need to be a thing in this world, and I wasn't looking for that to happen unless the world was coming to an end in the near future.
"Basilia…what did you do?" I gulped again, Taylor's tone left no room for argument. Her face was flushed with anger, and I wanted to sink into the floor.
"I'm not entirely sure." The words that came out were not the ones I meant to say.
The bug controller loomed over me, her teeth bared. "Don't lie to me! I was right there Basilia! You were going through a seizure and bleeding, and I didn't know what to do. The medi-gel wasn't working, the surgery machines were too complicated and…I thought you were…I had to get Amy's help and…" her anger fled, and I felt like crap.
"I'm sorry…don't know why I said that." I rubbed my eyes, cursing at my stupidity. "I was meditating…trying to look for answers for how I got here, trying to find out why it was me. About why I look like this." I waved my hands to myself, feeling shivers just thinking about what I had seen buried deep down.
"And how does that lead to internal bleeding and torn muscles?" Amy quipped with her typical speech patterns, pinching the bridge of her nose, peering at me with her baggy eyes.
"I used…too much power…went beyond my limits. Unlike you I have a direct connection with my power, with Veda. It means her power can burn me out more easily. Like a wire blowing apart into plasma with too much current and voltage." Taylor looked pale, and I rested my hand on hers, wanting to…reassure her.
"What did you see? Why were you so…?"
I chuckle with bitterness. "Terrified? I didn't see the full picture…I only saw a fraction and it was beyond horrifying. Whatever brought me here…whatever turned me into what I am. It was the result of a war on an unimaginable scale, a cycle of horror and pain that…hurt to even try to glimpse at."
Both capes nodded, but they obviously wanted more details. "What was it?"
I lifted up my hands, generating a little flame pulsing like a heartbeat. "I saw machine gods rain down from the sky, massive ships of blackened metal harvesting world after world. I watched the dead get taken and changed, turned into unholy demons. I saw the living having their very souls torn from them to fuel the birth of more of their kind. Billions dying, screaming for mercy and being given none." They looked like ghosts as I answered. "A war that repeated for many tens of thousands of times. Then that horrific cycle came to an end…but the suffering didn't stop. The world was broken, resetting and being remade countless times, the actors and stages changing, though common themes did follow."
Humanity was a common one.
"Jesus…fucking Christ." Amy's eyes were wide. "How the hell are you not fucked in the head?"
My smile turned grim. "I'm not sure I did make it out unscathed Amelia." Her flinch meant I hit the bullseye. "That was a cause, I still don't really remember how I passed through to this reality. I don't think it was a painless process, just trying to remember did a number on me."
"Is that why your DNA was torn to shreds?" I winced but didn't deny Amy's claim.
"I don't think that's the only thing that was broken…but again I don't remember it and I'm not sure they'll let me."
…
"They?" Taylor was definitely worried.
I straightened up. "The…Bans, they're being reinforced by something in Veda…in our soul. The machinery that allows for the bending of all five elements, code built to protect me from destroying myself."
"What's it look like…inside your soul?" Amy piped up, her curiosity overwhelming any other feelings.
I clenched my fists, speaking carefully. "Imagine a machine of near limitless complexity and sophistication. A machine of vast scope and power, a clockwork moving in every possible direction, fractal, existing in more dimensions than a human mind could perceive without experience."
"You always say it like that," I peered over at Taylor. "Describing the soul and spirits as machines is kind of odd isn't it?"
"But someone did make it, that knowledge is known to me. The soul was made and it changed everything, I doubt this world will be any different."
There was a single beat.
"Your powers are bullshit."
I quirked an eyebrow at Amy. "This coming from the most powerful biokinetic in the country?" The healer scowled but didn't deny my claim.
I laughed, and dodged a swat from the biokinetic, feeling some tension disappear from my shoulders.
…
I should tell Taylor.
"There's also…one more thing I need to talk about. A secret I've been keeping for a while." I pressed my hands together, Taylor's brows coming together and her expression hardening.
"What is it?" I smiled as best as I could, preparing myself.
"Coming here…changed me…before all of this, I was shorter…before all this I used to be a—"
"She used to be a guy and didn't know how to tell you because it'd be super awkward." I choked at the deadpan manner that Amy Dallon stole my spotlight with no hesitation.
"H-How?" I crowed fearfully.
The healer shrugged with a smirk(that bitch). "When I healed you, I saw the remnants of a Y chromosome. Put it together with how you acted and I made a wild guess."
"Amy?" She smiled and I felt angrier.
"What?"
I squinted. "Fuck you."
She cracked up. "Guess you do have claws huh?" I placed her hand on my arm and I projected a wave of bloodlust as well as a few examples of what I could do to her. Amy shut her mouth real quick.
"You are…were a guy?" The lack of heat from Taylor eased my worries, but there was a little issue with my accepting of there being no problems.
"I was a guy, and now I'm not. At least physically anyway, I've managed not to think about that as best as I could but…" I shrugged, being disconcertingly sensitive to the way my chest bounced. I made eye contact with Amy, and she moved upstairs to my gratefulness. It was already pissing me off to have her butting in to my private business, I didn't need any more snooping on top of that.
Taylor started to blush and that triggered a return blush like some type of fucked up visual communication.
"So you're a guy. Or were a guy, we've known each for months…why didn't you say anything?" There was no hint of betrayal or hurt, just confusion and acceptance.
I smiled awkwardly.
"Taylor we've changed in the same room, do you have any idea how awkward it would be to bring that up?" I was just lucky I had self control and a modest urge to avoid intimate encounters. But that was more due to lack of social contact than a lack of libido…it was kind of the opposite in fact. But I hadn't bothered with trying to scratch that itch out of embarrassment.
"Errr." Her face was turning scarlet and mine was no different. "I guess that explains why you always look away, and why you're so…clumsy and weirdly ignorant about certain topics."
I cringed. "Yes…though to be fair I didn't like changing in front of guys either back home."
"How did it feel?" I crossed my legs, biting a fingernail in a habit I had kept up even as a woman. It's a good thing that Taylor isn't into the whole painting your nails trend.
"It felt like I was just going through puberty again, awkward, clumsy, and everything feeling off. Bathrooms were horrible except for showers, and all those feminine…biological processes were messy. I already knew that women had to go through things, that doesn't mean I want to experience it." I complained, pulling on my hair and dreading my next period. The first two had been god awful and I didn't remotely enjoy the event.
Taylor bit her lip. "So you hate it?"
"No actually." I actually surprised myself at the admission. "It was odd…and there's a lot to complain about. I feel comfortable like this, or more accurately, I don't really care about what I look like. As long as I'm me I think I'm good."
I had come out and said it, come out and said the thoughts that at times lingered even before. It's not like I've never known about things like genderbending, I even dabbled in writing some before it petered out due to lack of drive.
But…even then it would take more time to get really used to being a woman. Most of my time had been spent indoors or tinkering. There were still moments where I didn't believe this was happening to me, and I didn't go out enough to find how my changed appearance changed how people acted towards me.
"So wouldn't that mean you like girls?" I coughed, red dusting my face.
"Umm…mostly? I think I had a crush on a guy at least once though that didn't go anywhere." I hadn't seen the guy in more than a year, and it was at least one of the reasons for my loneliness. He…was a good listener and enjoyed my stupid nerdy and sciency topics, even if I was a blabbermouth.
"Oh." Her eyes widened. "Wait…when you said I was attractive…all those times, were you checking me out?"
Oh god please no.
I groaned, slapping my face into my palms. "N-No? I mean I check out a lot of girls but I try not to since it's rude and disrespectful and I don't mean to—"
Taylor broke out into laughter, her nose scrunching and her eyes twinkling with bemusement. "Your face!" she barely covered up her hearty chuckles
"Taylor!" I grabbed her by the collar, and she only laughed more. The pure and utter joy was like music to my ears and I let go. I puffed my cheeks, wanting to complain but unwilling to let Taylor's happiness flee.
"Basilia?" Her laughter had died down and she was deathly serious. "About what you did?" I wilted.
"I won't do it again. It was stupid and dumb." She shushed me, and I waited.
"But you will…I can tell. But next time…don't do it on your own. If I hadn't gotten worried it would have been too late."
"Understood." I saluted her and she cracked a smile. "Are we still friends?" I offered a fist and she bumped it against mine.
"Of course." I grinned so wide it hurt.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Someone was at the door.
"Taylor."
"It's safe to open it…but you're not going to like it." She didn't elaborate, and against my better judgement I stood up. I skipped over to the door, hopping from foot to foot until my bare feet hit the cold tiles of the front entrance. I opened it, keeping my biotic barrier on standby. A fist stopped inches from my face, and my eyes darted to the unwanted visitor.
A severe blonde woman in her early 40s was at the front door, and I could see Amelia peeking from the second floor with a floored expression.
"Hello there? Why is a hero from New Wave here visiting my humble home?"
She scowled. "You know why I'm here."
…
That sounds about right.
___
April 3rd, 2011. 3:10 AM
Basilia Rubio
"Besides Amy what brings you by?" I rubbed my eyes, keeping a yawn down as I sank into the corner of my living room couch. Brandish didn't seem impressed and I curled up into a ball to conserve warmth. I cared little for appearances in the sanctity of my own home.
Brandish frowned, looking almost bashful in a grumpy kind of way. "I wished to apologize for my previous behavior."
"…" I was speechless.
"…" Amy was no different from where she was spying on us.
"I suppose all is forgiven? I don't really blame you, I know how I could be seen as sketchy." I really did, your daughters meet with a new tinker and suddenly show up with new superpowers. "Doesn't make me any less angry though." My smile was strained, and Brandish didn't say a word. "Were you followed?"
"I know when to be discreet." She crossed her arms in an indignant fashion.
"Then this should be fine…what exactly gave me away?" That felt like a more relevant topic, I didn't need some villain figuring out who I was.
"The library," That made sense to me. "I pieced it together once they told me about that…entity." Probably should have thought about that but then I had been too distracted with getting the local spirit world under a modicum of control and stability. There were a lot of angry and territorial spirits, and placating all of them was a work of a lifetime.
"Right." I scratched my chin, my right hand roving from it to the back of my neck in a lazy motion.
Brandish sighed. "New Wave has a policy of being open capes, but we don't make a habit of outing capes." The abrasive woman was being quite accommodating. What did she want?
"So what exactly do you want?" She startled and I waited impatiently, lightly tapping my foot.
"I…burned my daughter." All of my annoyance fled, and I could see that Amy had stilled. Her expression shifted between half a dozen emotions, as if the idea of Carol hurting her own blood was unthinkable.
"What happened?" I had to ask, because I had been the one to deny Brandish any help. But then…I didn't know how to fix someone's inner turmoil.
"I had heard a noise…I ended up checking if anyone had entered the house." Her voice was dull, her eyes having a faraway look to them. "Victoria was there, but I couldn't see her very well. She was…grabbing things with her power…and I reacted." The guilt was beyond obvious.
"Where is she now?" I had a few ideas about burns, since I'm pretty sure I could manage some simple healing.
"Mark is taking care of her. Better him than me." She looked terribly small for what was supposed to be a strong(if crazy) and assertive woman.
"So you wanted what? Training…?" She nodded and I started to rub my palms, remembering a trick to at least keep a headache at bay. "Alright fine…if your control is that bad, I'll try to help. But that's not going to net you control, that's something you need to work on."
"That's fair."
…
Veda do I have some type of Parahuman magnet on me? Because this was going from painfully coincidental to horrifically suspicious. I wanted to know that I wasn't going to suddenly run into Lung or I was going to suffer a stroke and die on the spot.
'Hmm…it is possible that your effect on reality attracts the presence and attention of Parahumans. It does not mean they will all show up at random, but it's still something to watch out for.'
"Could you call New Wave? I have an idea to help with Victoria's burns and I don't want to scare the hell out of them by popping out of nowhere."
Within a few minutes I was on my way, blipping into the spirit world with a biotic baton in hand. Spirits were passed by with every step I took, beings of all shapes and sizes. I already had a cheaper set of armor, which was mostly just the ballistic fiber layer and kinetic barrier projector. A domino mask covered my face, and a ponytail kept my long hair out of my face.
As I hit the spiritual equivalent of the Dallon residence, I could see the sheer negativity that radiated within the home. Spirits of resentment, spirits of sadness, of trauma, and of guilt and shame. I could in fact see that a particular large spirit had taken residence here, it resembled a man, covering its face and wallowing in depression. It was living in the master bedroom so I already knew who brought it into the world. There was another, a fainter presence resembling red motes of light congregating together.
The shame, loneliness, resentment, and other such spirits lived in what had to be Amy's bedroom. There were quite a few spirits of self-loathing in Victoria's bedroom.
God…the Dallon family is a mess.
Once I had gotten my bearings I slipped back into reality, right at the front door instead of the living room. I knocked and the door was hastily opened by a fairly depressed looking Mark Dallon. I was dragged in with a right vice grip, and I could see that some of the adult half of New Wave was here.
Both Sarah and Crystal Pelham had come here, while Manpower wasn't anywhere to be seen. Laserdream was tending to her cousin, applying lotion to the area…and I was starting to question how Glory Girl had been burned.
Mistake.
Fragile One had appeared from thin air with an expression of shame. I left that for later…
"Erudition?" Sarah's face was stony but there was a plea for help.
"I came here as fast as I could. It's not much of a costume but I can still help." A flick of the wrist summoned a glob of water from a canteen I had placed on a belt.
"What are going to do to my cousin?" The question was more inquisitive than accusative so I replied freely.
"I'm going to heal her…I don't have much experience but simple stuff shouldn't be difficult." I edged closer to Victoria, the brute gritting her teeth. I hissed at the size of the burn, since it covered at least a quarter of her arm.
I could heal this…I just needed to focus.
A brief tilt of the head was replied to with silent answers of permission from Sarah and Mark. I practically glued the water to my hands, hovering over the wound.
"So do I have permission to heal you?" I cracked a joke, receiving a pained chuckle in return.
"Yes."
With a deep intake of oxygen I pressed the water to the burn. An instinctive sense came to the forefront. The water shined with life energy, and I began to sense the flow of energy, correcting it…speeding it up. Within seconds the burns flaked away, skin healing and repairing itself with the regenerative properties of the energized water. The burns were gone, like they had never been in the first place. Victoria rubbed her arms, her surprise palpable.
"You good?"
"Yeah. There isn't any pain at all." I felt relieved that my waterbending was at a sufficient level for some basic healing. Combined with medi-gel and basic medical care and I could fix up people in a pinch.
I was poked on the shoulder by Lady Photon, and I schooled my expression. "What is it?"
The blaster frowned. "How is…my sister?"
"I would not say she was well, certainly not. I decided to help train her, but that won't fix the problem on its own." The leader of New Wave's gaze was steely, and I had a feeling she knew what I was talking about.
She slumped, appearing rather out of it. "I'm sorry for letting you get caught in family drama. Things have been rather tense at home."
I nodded sympathetically. "I've been through things of that nature, if to a lesser degree." My parents had never been physical or even abusive…but the outcome had become clear to me over the years. They wouldn't be staying together and that was okay. But I'm not too sure what the outcome of this clusterfuck would be…
"Hmm…I would like to ask a favor."
"Sure?"
"Could Amy spend the night? There's another long talk I need to have with my sister. Victoria will stay with my husband and her cousin, and I don't think Amy wants to be here tonight."
"Who else knows?" I was pulling my hair again, using it to curtain over my eyes and domino mask.
"Only the people in this room, and no one in New Wave would ever leak anything about another cape like this. Especially when you've been rather level headed…"
"I wouldn't really call myself that," I patted down the back of my head, pressing down on my messy hair. "I've actually been a bit high strung these past few days, there's no need to lie." Lady Photon's response was an amused tilt of her lips.
Crystal leaned forward, her smile dim button hopeful. "So what? Are you alright with keeping my cousin company?" My eyes darted downward for a brief instance at her bounciness. With a single clearing of the throat I replied.
"Sure. One of you will probably have to pick up Brandish, my form of transit isn't really something I feel comfortable using with more than one person."
Everything passed quickly after that, and I passed back through the spirit world at a lazy pace. I lamented all my troubles but tried not to dwell on them for longer than what could be considered healthy. Brandish left with her sister, and I ended up in a very short and awkward sleepover in the living room. Taylor wanted me in sight, and I was too afraid to say no to her.
Amy had to wear some of my sleepwear which did not fit her. She was both too short and too skinny to look normal in anything that Taylor or I had to offer. I could have made something, but the healer ended up teasing me about my gender reassignment so I didn't.
What a night. Don't even get me started on the fact I had a meeting with the mayor at his office. Shouldn't be too difficult, his son was a pretty nice guy as a hero. There was his niece Din—
…
Oh hell.
___
April 3rd, 2011. 4:00PM
Basilia Rubio
Mayor Christner was a man who reminded me a lot of my father but with superior business acumen and greater willingness to invest and make use of his wealth. He had started from within the working class, but had managed to win big back in the 90s of Earth Bet. The boom back then dwarfed what my own Earth had faced, but the man had managed to get out before the crash caused by both the Endbringers and normal economic factors. He sold his assets and had basically lived off the interest ever since.
I had measured little indication of corruption from the man himself though his administration was a different story. Fortunately that was a self correcting problem because like the PRT my sudden kool aid man crash into the system had given him a kick in the ass. It would likely take months at the current pace of development, though unfortunately with Leviathan on the way I doubt we would make it in time.
I'm…going to have to start working on figuring out how to kill an Endbringer aren't I?
…
Anyway, I had spoken with the man on several occasions, all of them dealing with my plans for the city. At first he had been skeptical, but he had been willing to hear me out with some smaller examples of my scavenging business with areas of the Boat Graveyard that weren't under dubious legal limbo. But he wanted to meet in person in a more formal setting since he had already been given a few examples of what Athena could do for the city with the right permissions.
This was necessary because if I had an in with the local government I could push through my various plans through with greater ease as well as gain advice from someone who knew the city in a political sense. Athena needed to expand and despite what one would think Brockton's Bays local universities were of fairly good quality.
While I could do it all myself I didn't want to spend 100% of my life as a slave to my tinkering even if I found it enjoyable. I needed engineers, in fact I needed hundreds of engineers to be able to pass on some basic expertise. As well as the needed administration and other jobs to make an engineering company functional. I would need managers to keep everyone in line, and I would need heavily vetted and shielded systems.
"So when do you think the Mayor is going to show?" Taylor spoke in a dry tone, the one that any teenager or young adult could muster up with little effort. Which I would have taken more seriously if I didn't know she had probably tagged him a few blocks ago.
"He'll show up when he wants to show up, it's not like we've got anything better to do." We really didn't, besides the earlier troubles in the early morning this day was pretty quiet. I doubt it would last, with the Empire rattling their sabers and the ABB on the move. The aggression was turning up, and the powder keg was finally starting to crack. I had managed to carve out a safe space in the disputed region of the Eastern Docks, and the area along the Ferry Station.
Turns out hordes of drones and swarms of mastered insects are extremely effective at things like surveillance, wouldn't you know? Apparently the police were quite interested in that kind of equipment, so once my legal team of one got to work I had a drone business up and running. Nothing as advanced as my own drones, but definitely ahead of my Earth. Hell a good amount of the product's parts were outsourced from some of the corporations licensing my patents and registered processes.
I also did my best to support certain bills so the police wouldn't have issues with misuse. I had to be extremely careful with that kind of shit, I was lucky that most of my drones were invisible and had VI to not do stupid shit like crashing into a helicopter.
Also helps that I'm not a peeping Tom.
We were waiting just outside the office of one Roy Christner, the father of Triumph and the uncle of Dinah Alcott. Both were Parahumans, with Rory being able to manipulate sound and Dinah being the third most powerful Precog in the world. Which was why she was being closely monitored to keep people like Coil off her trail. I wasn't having a lot of luck on that though…while I had heard that the thirteen year old had quieted down about her headaches it was probably too late then.
Contact was going to have to grow necessary for her own safety, I'm not sure the PRT was a safe place for her, and while I didn't really care too much for having a Precog on the team. Leaving her to her original fate was not an acceptable outcome of events.
"He should be here soon." Taylor said, her head pivoting to face the hallway leading to the lobby area. "At his current pace he'll be in the building in about…thirty seconds." I let my arms fall to the side, adjusting the fitting of my helmet. The armor itself was tinted a lighter shade of grey than before, though I had added a coat of quantum dot array composites with tunable properties. This model was limited to altering its optical properties as a type of smart paint.
Better models paired with nanoscale optronics would allow for sensors and communication systems, and photovoltaic arrays. This paint was primarily for camouflage, and was essentially a nanotechnological version of my drone's stealth equipment. So with some minor software and hardware updates I could turn invisible to the naked eye. Tricking IR was possible as well though more esoteric sensors were much harder to defend from. Given more time I would probably be able to create true tunable artificial atoms and molecules in an advanced form of programmable matter.
Footsteps approached, and the mayor turned from the corner. He was a large man at around Danny's height but with far more bulk in both his shoulders and his stomach. His face was round, with oddly patterned baldness and a mustache that had been outdated since before I was born.
"Mr. Mayor." I crossed the remaining distance myself since I was the oldest, with Taylor still about two months away from being a legal adult. Even if she didn't really look like she was that much younger than me. "Thanks for agreeing to meet with us, I understand you can be a busy man."
The mayor smiled wide. "Oh it's no trouble, Erudition and Monarch am I right? The two of you have been making some waves lately." His grip as we shook hands was firm and consistent, charisma oozing off of him in waves. "Your proposal to some would be quite ridiculous if I hadn't seen the productivity of your Tinkertech with my own eyes. A successful removal of that tanker could revitalize parts of the city that have been neglected." I decided not to mention that part of that blame lay with him.
"Indeed, the Docks have been an area of interest of mine and without those eyesores I could further expand my own operations."
"I suppose we should step into my office then?" I nodded and the three of us hurried in, the door clicking behind us. The office was a good medium between average and luxurious, with well furnished walls and furniture of considerable quality. He smiled thinly. "Now I've read the proposal but I would like the specifics."
Taylor was the one to reply. "A good number of the Warden heavy exoskeletons can operate under water. Along with our own powers, we can move even incredibly massive objects like the tanker. Athena can easily set up an operation to cut apart or repair old ships on the fly." I tapped my Omni-tool, and a visual depiction of the operation was put into place. "From there they'll be loaded onto trucks to various foundries to sell them at a good price. Most of the wreckage will be turned over to the DWA while some remaining scrap will be sold to Athena at market value."
"Water manipulation turns out to be quite helpful when moving boats." Water was pulled from an inbuilt pocket, forming a cute little bubble before the mayor's eyes. He didn't flinch but there was a little hint of trepidation, maybe it was because of Leviathan? He was at least partially responsible for the destabilization of global trade even if not to the effect of Fanon. The amount of energy needed to wreck every vessel in the sea was too wasteful to the Endbringer.
The mayor nodded. "Well I see no reason to not approve your proposal as long as it's economically sound. Actually being seen doing something for once in my term should help my own goals huh?" A smirk pulled at my lips, and I shook his hand again as we got his backing.
The Merchants were getting ripped to shreds, so it's unlikely they would rise again even with Leviathan. The ABB couldn't grow because of Bakuda's meddling, and the Empire was on the backpedal as their operations were busted.
This was a start to bringing the city to heel, I expected problems however. Lung was one of the most powerful capes in the city, the Empire could bring in capes from across the country if need be. The Teeth might see the opportunity…and Mannequin didn't like tinkers trying to improve the world…
We had the framework, now we needed to protect and reinforce that skeletal outline.
There was work to do.
- Location
- Chula Vista
Thanks for the assistance on spell checking, I always miss a few when I get down to posting a chapter. The exact sequence of events for this version of Mass Effect will become more cleared up as the story advances. I have a lot planned in that regard.its job
Its functionality
I normally spell that "bullshittium" since it looks more natural with the extra t.
requires
of sorts
as that Texan
sicced
The last chapter was a bit confusing for me, since it almost seems part dream-sequence and she got her psyche flayed for a bit there...
Which is quite understandable.
Not really sure what it was hinting at; I think it may have been the ending of Mass Effect, but it could be those things from Babylon Five or Sombra's third return for all I know.
Please keep up the good work, this is quite an interesting story.
I actually like that she couldn't just fix the Dallon family. It's more realistic that the main character can't just replace a psychologist...
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- Location
- ROB's House
So she has a thought about Dinah but then we get her talking to the mayor about clearing the boat graveyard. Why didn't she follow up with the Dinah thought?
- Location
- Chula Vista
Mostly because she's not completely recovered from her little ordeal. Basilia also tends to focus more on what's in front of her than what's happening on the peripheral which can be…problematic. Her first thought was she literally just remembered that Dinah was a thing.
She's mostly having trouble with the social aspect of going up to a little girl and her family and saying she's going to get kidnapped.
- Location
- Woodstock, IL
Basilia, sweetie, the word you're looking for is ambivalent. You're feeling ambivalent about your new body.
Also, lovely chapter
Also, lovely chapter
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Oh, your poor back
Kinda pissed at Amy for this. It'd be like outing a gay person right as they try to tell their parents. Still, glad Amy has enough social awareness to give them privacy. I feel like it'd be something she'd do, though. Amy's not exactly a glowing bastion of benevolence xD
Oh, from knocking. I thought for a moment that it was a punch that was stopped by her shields. Oops, my mistake! Still, the fact that Carol hurt her favored child should be enough to kick her ass in gear, along with the verbal thrashing she'll get when she returns home. Kinda hope that the Spirits can be removed from their household or changed into something better. Pity tempered by empathy can turn into sympathy. Anger distilled into hope becomes determination.
Obviously depression is a bit more complicated, but spirits are birthed by and compound their surroundings, right? So I imagine that a depression-spirit wouldn't help anything. But if it's nature is changed into something like determination or resolve, then that might help the underlying depression?
Looking forward to more!
Edit: I loved Taylor's reaction. She was realistically surprised, examined her emotions, decided it didn't matter, and then proceeded to tease Basilia to show that she didn't care. Got some seriously heartwarming feels ^.^
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- Location
- Chula Vista
Yeah with what Amy did that was rather purposeful, because to be frank she never seemed like the nicest person to me. As for the Spirits, removing or altering them wouldn't solve the problem in the long term though it might give an opening for a more conventional solution. Average spirits tend to get twisted by the people that created them, so they would revert back in time.Oh, your poor back
Kinda pissed at Amy for this. It'd be like outing a gay person right as they try to tell their parents. Still, glad Amy has enough social awareness to give them privacy. I feel like it'd be something she'd do, though. Amy's not exactly a glowing bastion of benevolence xD
Oh, from knocking. I thought for a moment that it was a punch that was stopped by her shields. Oops, my mistake! Still, the fact that Carol hurt her favored child should be enough to kick her ass in gear, along with the verbal thrashing she'll get when she returns home. Kinda hope that the Spirits can be removed from their household or changed into something better. Pity tempered by empathy can turn into sympathy. Anger distilled into hope becomes determination.
Obviously depression is a bit more complicated, but spirits are birthed by and compound their surroundings, right? So I imagine that a depression-spirit wouldn't help anything. But if it's nature is changed into something like determination or resolve, then that might help the underlying depression?
Looking forward to more!
That would be part of some new form of treatment, and would need a Shaman willing to be some type of spiritual psychologist or therapist. Basilia…has too much shit on her plate to bother.
As for writing more, I still have a healthy buffer of like…nine chapters and two interludes. So there's still a lot to go.
LostArchivist
Sane, unfortunately.
- Location
- The State of Confusion
I still vote for the "Eidolon, we need a word" approach to the Endbringers. Admittedly, that requires therapy, which is something that we already know she can't do, but a word in the right ear? But then that gets Cauldron's attention... and so does killing an Endbringer. Decisions, decisions...