Warfront (Revolutionary AU)

[Sandy River DL]

For legal reasons, I need to say 'don't try this'.

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"Are you sure this is a good idea Taylor?"

I didn't look at Sophia. There wasn't really any point, not when I knew that I wouldn't see the worry on her face with the mask covering it. Wasn't any reason to look even if she wasn't in her full Shadow Stalker kit either, because her voice told me everything I needed to confirm what she was feeling. Exactly the same thing I was.

"Of course it isn't," I replied, steeling my voice the best I could. "Not like we have much of a choice though, Grand-père's workshop doesn't have the tools for what we need to make, and it's not like this is going to land us in any more trouble than we're going to be in regardless."

"Still, getting involved with the Soviets is… This isn't a good plan."

I couldn't help but snort at my childhood friend's statement. "No shit Soph. But we can hardly go to Colt or Winchester and ask for machine gun or assault rifle tooling, and I have neither the skill nor time to develop something myself. Waiting years isn't exactly a better option, it just makes us more likely to be found out before we're ready. Besides, by the time the Bullshitviks realize we aren't playing their game, they won't be in any more of a position to stop us than anyone else…"

A buzz in my ear cut off any further talk along that line. "Seems like our contact has made landfall. Remember Shadow, let me do the talking. Your usual demeanor could easily put us on the wrong foot with our overseas comrades, and we'll hardly make any more headway towards our greater goals without external support than the damn Empire has. Probably less, even."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that." I could practically hear her rolling her eyes there. "Brooding bodyguard duty for me, while you do your diplo-bullshit. Not like I want to talk to whatever spook they shipped over for this. Let's just get this done so we can get started on the real work. The Nazis are hardly going to off themselves when the going's good for them, and the Feds sure as hell aren't putting the boot down…"

Shaking my head, an amused smile hidden by my own mask, I replied "Patience dear Shadow, we'll still need some time to set up and begin production before we can make our move, and a couple months isn't going to make much difference to how long we've already waited. The groundwork is laid, and we can begin cleaning up the city. And once that's done…"

Again, a buzz interrupted me. It seemed that our foreign 'friend' moved fast, having managed to reach the inner perimeter already. Annoying in some ways, but the sooner this was done, the less likely it was for someone to take notice. The KGB, not being stupid, was probably thinking the same thing. The question was though, how interested in us were they? Having a low-level Mover making contact was one thing, but transferring the materials would be the same speed regardless of how quickly the meeting was begun, unless they'd sent either a cape able to bring everything as the contact, or had sent at least one other cape who could speed things up. Did we warrant that sort of commitment?

Probably not, we weren't exactly a large organization, nor were we well placed. If we got pre-made weapons and ammo instead of tooling and equipment, I wouldn't be very surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. Hell, it wasn't unlikely we'd get knock-off versions of NATO weapons in order to obfuscate their involvement. It would admittedly make getting ammunition easier, but pre-made firearms of any sort would still be limiting in a way that left us little better off. It would hamper growth, and make us more vulnerable as we'd be reliant on shipments to expand our stocks. Of course, it'd also make us dependent on the Soviets, which is why it wouldn't be a surprise if we didn't get what I'd asked for.

It would, however, only do so in the short term. Developing my own weapons was, while not something that'd get us going, was still an option if we had any sort of stop-gap arsenal. Being able to reverse-engineer existing guns would certainly be of help there, even if that only went so far. Sooner or later, we'd have production, regardless. It was only a matter of building on what I'd already learned.

Then the warehouse door opened, and a nondescript man entered. Average height, average build, hair that might have been either blond or brown, nothing about him really stood out. Which was definitely why he was doing this sort of work. Not looking out of place was the best way to avoid attention after all, not skulking about like an action movie star. That was a lesson we'd figured out very early on.

"Forgelight?" he asked, speaking with an accent I couldn't place, but sounded Northern European to me. Perhaps Danish.

I stepped forward and extended a hand "That would be me."

He blinked, but otherwise showed no reaction that I could spot. "Well then, I believe we should get started, Comrade Forgelight. Your request for manufacturing equipment instead of weapons is rather unusual for groups in your position, as normally the desire is to establish proletariat control as rapidly as possible before having the new revolutionary state begin local production of hardware. Similarly, the specified armaments to provide tooling for are also not what we typically see asked after these days. The 7.62x39mm and associated firearms are quite functional, but no longer in general service for good reason and as such we generally offer more modern weapons. Though we do understand the request for the RPG-7 and KPV, even if the latter is less than ideal from a mobility standpoint. Your reasoning would be much appreciated by our comrades."

"We asked for tooling and related hardware because it's not exactly an easy job to ship weapons here, for what I hope are obvious reasons," I replied, turning my head to give first the Boat Graveyard, then the Rig, a look in the direction of. "Having the capacity to fabricate our own materiel would be rather advantageous given the situation. As for the choice of caliber… My grandfather was a gunsmith and taught me how to identify my requirements for a firearm based on my environment. In this case, a heavier round is the best suited for our operating conditions of urban combat with capes. Modern small caliber bullets, in my experience, haven't performed well against the local infestation."

Kaiser shrugging off fire from some punk with an AR-15 that one time was… telling.

The KGB man nodded at that. "A well considered plan you have there. Very well, there is then only one other question I have that I need to ask, and that is if you have the ability to source the materials needed to supply your own production. If you do not, we will provide you with arms and talk again about local manufacture at a later point."

Of course, I already had an answer to that. "We have no lack of such resources at this time, as we're already producing precision bolt-action rifles and supplying two Tinkers. The only reason we aren't already making assault rifles and machine guns is a lack of the necessary tooling and time to develop it. Brockton Bay might have a lot of distractions for the Feds, but they're going to start taking notice of us sooner, rather than later, and it's suspected that we'll be in open and direct conflict with government forces within eight months. If we can come into the open on our terms, our chances of success are much better than if we're discovered. A fact that I'm sure your organization is well aware of."

Much to my surprise, that got a smile and a nod. "Excellent, excellent. You clearly know what you're doing, which is impressive and comforting, and not just because of your youth. So many comrades in your position think only of Revolution as the violence of overthrowing the bourgeois but give little, if any, thought to the logistics of the task. All that remains to be seen is if you have workable politics, and only time will tell on that account. Now, if you have the payment ready, we shall make our exchange."

I raised a hand and gave a signal. Two dockworkers came over carrying a small chest, which was then placed on the floor in front of me and opened. "Ten kilograms of bullion, mixed gold and silver. Technical specifications for three devices reverse-engineered from tinkertech created by one of ours, specifically a high efficiency engine and two sensor systems. And, finally, my own formula and production notes for a triple base small arms propellant. You?"

The KGB man reached into a pocket and pulled out a pair of tiny model shipping containers, which he then set down some distance apart and stepped away from. A few seconds later, and they very abruptly were full-sized versions that opened up on their own.

"The one on your left is the tooling for producing AK-103s and RPKs, while the other contains what you need for the KPV and RPG-7," he said with a sweep of his arm. "Small scale of course, but you should have little issue with expanding from there if you need to. Be aware though that you will need to develop your own furniture, as that tooling was not included. This was done partly to allow the more critical tooling to be accommodated, but also so you could better meet your own requirements. Such as, for example, incorporating vertical foregrips onto the AKs, should you want that."

Walking over, he closed and lifted the chest with the payment before speaking again. "Out of curiosity, what have you chambered your precision rifles in? It doesn't particularly matter, but I'm interested."

".308 Winchester and .338 Lapua Magnum," I replied with a smirk. "Excellent stopping power and range, in addition to having the tooling to make them already. Might add in .30-06 too, but that's probably unnecessary and would needlessly complicate our logistics. Which, incidentally, is why we didn't request any general purpose machine gun tools. Why bother introducing yet another cartridge, or having to mess around with converting a gun from rimmed to rimless, when it's not that much more work to build a new one from elements of others? It opens up new options for us anyways, so why not? Especially as we don't have a pressing need for GPMGs right now."

I never did learn where Grand-père got the Lapua tools, but it was rather useful. Combined with Sophia's power, it should be capable of taking down the Nazi Bikini Twins and possibly Hookwolf. If for some reason that didn't work, well, that's what the KPVs and RPGs were for. And should that somehow not do the job… Sherryl's 110mm tank gun was her top priority for a reason, even above the other artillery projects. Overkill was the name of the game, should that be the case.

"Thank you for indulging me," the contact said with a smile, before casually picking up the chest like it weighed as much as a shoebox. "Unless you have anything else you'd like to request, like licenses and tools for vehicles, I believe we are done here. Be sure to stay in touch with us though, as we have plenty more to offer Red Shield. And not just weapons…"

With a cheery wave, he turned and walked out of the warehouse. Almost as soon as the door closed, people swarmed the two containers, hauling out cases of parts and ferrying them underground. Just how and why Brockton Bay had come to have a vast tunnel network, nobody knew, but boy was it useful for us. Well, technically we had a good idea, as a large portion of it was storm drains and old smuggling tunnels, but much of it was still a mystery. Like the hall we had been preparing for this shipment, which looked to be Viking period Norse of all things. If we had the archeologists to do a study, we might've been able to find out how it came to be, but that would have to come after. Because we had neither the time nor the archeologists.

A minute later, two clicks came through my earpiece. The all clear signal to indicate that our 'friend' from the KGB had departed. Good. For all that we, unfortunately, needed them right now, his sort wasn't what the Bay… what America needed. For all their talk about workers and the will of the people, the Soviets were no better than the Nazis. Fascism under a veneer of socialism, and that was no better than what we currently had. Lincoln had it right, government of the people, by the people, for the people was the only solution. A real pity the US had stopped progressing on that.

Watching my people scrambling to unload the containers, I couldn't help but smile. "And thus, the countdown begins. The Empire will fall, and so will the corporate lap dogs in Washington in time. Our Shield will become a Storm to wash away the old world and usher in a better age…"

 

[Sandy River DL]

The rifle in my hands didn't look much like an AK. It wasn't because of a fuck up, but a deliberate choice on my part. Kalashnikovs would give things away that we didn't want to reveal, and a sleek, if somewhat boxy, bullpup with almost no visible similarities beyond the magazine was as good a way as any we could manage. There was no hiding the use of a Soviet cartridge, but that was not itself particularly incriminating given that the brief thaw in the early '90s had seen a market for the 7.62x39mm materialize in the US before the Cold War set in again.

Thus, the C23A was the result of the past three months of work in modifying the AK-103 platform our meeting in November had given us access to. Compact rifle, select-fire, third caliber, first pattern. The nomenclature was more or less copied off H&K, but it was a good system and I had no regrets. Calling it a 'compact rifle' was Kurt's idea, as a way to conceal what we were working with when outsiders might overhear. 'Assault rifle' was suspicious, but a 'compact rifle' didn't raise those sorts of red flags, which had rapidly spiraled into us adopting new designations for everything before I'd made more than a handful of .308s bolt-action 'scout rifles'.

Anyways. The new rifle I'd built with the Soviet-supplied tooling was a little over twenty-seven and a half inches long, with a rounded rectangular profile forward of the grip and practically covered in picatinny rails much like newer AR-pattern rifles were. Fitted atop the upper rail was a simple reflex sight for superior aiming over old-school iron sights like the original rifle featured, further reinforcing the visual distinction. Gray-scale polymer made up the majority of the weapon aside from the black steel top cover on the rear and the black foam pads on both the butt of the stock and the cheek-rest. And, just as intended, the only thing that could give away the origins was the dust cover/safety latch carried over from the AK for simplicity's sake. And that, like the cartridge, could very easily be taken as copying instead of it being a direct derivation.

Giving the C23A a final check, I then picked up a magazine and set it in place. Chambering a round, I took aim down the length of the underground range and took a shot. I was by no means the best shooter in Red Shield, not with this sort of gun, but I was good enough for testing purposes. Ten rounds into the first target, then I switched over to full auto and the remainder of the magazine was dumped into a second. Dropping the empty mag, I cycled the action before locking the safety into position and setting the rifle down. One of the range operators hit a switch to bring in the targets for examination. It was already clear that the singles were nowhere near what I'd achieved with the F02A, the .338, but it was enough. And it had run flawlessly, though a proper endurance test would still be needed to ensure it'd hold up.

While the others inspected and measured the holes in the first pair of targets, I moved over to another stall where a second rifle was waiting. It closely resembled the C23A, but had a longer barrel, an integrated bipod, a different magazine, and a full scope instead of the reflex sight. This was my answer to the Dragunov, the S11A designated marksman rifle, designed specifically to allow our skirmisher units to augment their firepower. Putting all twenty rounds into the target didn't take long, even with aimed shots to sub targets, leaving me with the third and final gun to proof. One that was almost completely my own design.

At the core of this was a cartridge I'd been working on for the past seven years as an assignment by my grandfather. While originally a .30 Carbine case necked down to carry a 5.6mm bullet, the current form was a telescoped caseless cartridge made of a special triple base propellant I'd developed specifically for it. And the gun to fire it, the D24A, had gone through almost as many changes in pursuit of creating the ultimate close-quarters weapon. I'd almost given up on it though and gone with a 9mm SMG, when the Dockworkers had managed to interdict a Gesellschaft shipment to the E88 that included a case of G11 rifles. Not that useful in and of themselves, but being able to study how the Germans had gotten the gun to work had been far more helpful. Only enough to complete my personal defense weapon though, not to sell me on making a knock-off of the rifle. The action on it was far too complex for my liking, and even if it hadn't been acquired almost a month after the meeting with the KGB rep, working with the actual tooling and plans for a weapon was far better than struggling to reverse-engineer it.

The fact that I hated the idea of such a small caliber bullet in close-range urban combat was also a major factor.

Picking up the four-and-a-half pound bullpup carbine, I slid the horizontally mounted magazine into its slot on the top of the weapon and took aim. It was no precision weapon, and optimizing the burn rate for an eight-inch barrel gave it more recoil than I'd like, but it was still controllable enough and incredibly compact. With the stock retracted, it was only fourteen inches long and the ability for it to be carried easily alongside a field or scout rifle was a major factor in it going from a childhood experiment to a battlefield weapon. About the only problem I had with it was that it was still too large and heavy to truly replace the pistol. Still, it did what I wanted and was able to be produced cheaply in large numbers, which meant that we could potentially use them as a mass issue weapon to arm fresh recruits joining up during Operation Normandy.

Naming the operation to topple the Empire after the site of the D-Day landings wasn't my first choice, but Crystal had pointed out that reusing Overlord would both be unsubtle and could give the wrong impression to people who didn't get the reference. Personally, I didn't see the issue, but I deferred to the Psychology Major on that point. Even if she'd only just started classes for it last September. New Wave had a lot more experience with PR than I did, and Sarah Pelham was pretty clearly running the show there, so trusting her daughter to have picked up at least some measure of the skill wasn't a stretch. Especially as she was already demonstrating having done so by more or less becoming our primary recruiter without meaning to in the times since she joined up.

Setting down the PDW, I turned to the rangemaster, a retired Marine by the name of Avery Johnson who'd been doing this job in various places for thirty years. He was grinning just the way he had when I'd presented him with the prototype S01A way back when the organization was first coming together.

"Taylor, your grandfather would be proud of you," he said, holding the target I'd sprayed with the C23A in full auto. "You may not have designed the action or bolt, but you still developed a new assault rifle. And got a better group out of it that I did my first time with Stoner's plastic toy! Still not entirely happy to be shooting Ivan's ammo, but we got what we got and at least it packs more of a punch than that five-five-six nonsense. Maybe someday you can make a new round for us, after we've secured the Union from the domestic enemies that've been making a mockery of the Constitution…"

Letting out a soft laugh, I replied "Maybe I will. 7.62x40mm with minimal taper sound good to you?"

"You're fucking with me, kiddo," he retorted with an amused twitch of the lips. "Just pay attention to the results of this war and learn from them, and you'll do fine. Don't much care beyond being able to rock and roll while a few good hits actually drop the other guy. You're the one who knows their way around designing bullets, so just do what you think will get the results us grunts want."

"Oh, no worries about that Sergeant Major. I might be running with my preferred cartridge already, but I'm not about to slack off on my other responsibilities because of it. As much as this mob voted for me to run the show, I'm still the girl who makes sure everyone's armed properly. Not meeting the requirements for the battle squads would be dereliction of both," I said, giving the dark skinned older man a semi-offended look. While even now I didn't really understand why in those early days the others had decided that a then barely fourteen-year-old was the best choice of leader, especially as there were more experienced options, I wasn't going to do anything less than my best.

"Don't you Sergeant Major me, brat. I'm retired and running a gun shop, standing on ceremony's absurd and it's not like we've actually put any damn ranks in the org chart yet. Anyway, how's that squad machine gun coming? Assault rifles are good and all, but the boys and girls on the front are going to be needing to get familiarized with the big guns. Those handle differently even when being an oversized version of the main service rifle like the Ruskies do. And I'm wondering just how that'd work with a bullpup."

I couldn't help but laugh a little. "It didn't, so changing the RPK into something not recognizable as one took a bit longer than the other guns. At this point, I'm just waiting on the magazine production to finish, as we had to come up with a new one to accommodate the differences. Not super happy with the results though, and might switch over to a belt-fed design later, depending on performance against the Empire. I know that the NATO SAWs are belt-fed guns, so capturing some of those wouldn't be a bad idea in light of that. Don't think that I'd go for making a rechambered version though, just copying the feed system. The design of the PKV is… lacking in my mind, and tearing apart a M249 might give me ideas to address that as well."

Avery gave an amused snort at that. "Tell you what kid, magazine fed machine guns are faster to reload, while a belt's generally more reliable. Which is better is more a matter of option, as there's upsides and downsides to both and people who are willing to accept the bad because they like the good. Having both isn't a bad plan really. So I say go ahead and do both. And make that better heavy machine gun, because that thing you had the Soviets send us is ug-ly."

"That it is," I couldn't help but giggle. The man's method of speech always did that when he got emphatic about things. "And I'll keep the bit about pros and cons for ammo feeding in mind. Two different light machine guns is a little annoying from a logistical standpoint, but I imagine the differences in how they operate mean that they get used in distinct ways and mission profiles. One being more like an assault rifle and the other like a heavier machine gun. Yes, I can see how both would be good to have. Still, not much I can do about that at the moment, as I don't have a good idea of what I'm doing with belt-fed guns beyond copying the PKV's belt and feed. Which would be… less than ideal."

Just then, the door opened and Chris came running out. With the prototype A33A, including a magazine.

"Just managed to get this finished Taylor," she called, before stumbling to a halt next to me. "All loaded up and ready for testing. It should feed smoothly, but I've got Wards duty soon and only had time to make sure it didn't blow itself apart from a bad spring configuration or something."

Having a Tinker who could work with smaller things than a motorcycle was nice, but her membership in the Wards was… a pain in the ass. Sure, it gave us an in on what was going on with the PRT and Protectorate, but it also severely limited her ability to contribute to the cause. And it was even worse for her, being Kid Win was hard enough without the extra pressure of hiding what she was up to when off duty and outside of school. I couldn't even begin to understand how it'd feel to have to hide who you were at all times like she had to. It was… well, it alone was enough to make me want to rid the country of the fascists who forced her to hide, and it was just one of many reasons.

Accepting the light machine gun from the other girl, I watched her hurry off, wondering if Crystal was making progress on her cousins, as Amy would definitely be able to help Chris with her problem, and give her something to do that isn't normal healing for once. Parahuman powers were weird, and the sheer repetition of constantly healing injuries and illness had to be wearing on her. Maybe we could get her doing some other stuff with her power too, like modifying plants or something. Reading between the lines of public information and what Crystal said, the girl was as much a Tinker as she was a Striker, and there was a reason Tinkers didn't just do one thing from what Chris and Sherryl had told me about their experiences.

Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to Avery. "So, do you want to give it a shot this time, or shall I continue on myself?"

The retired sergeant chuckled and took the proffered rifle. "Yeah, probably about time I show you brats just how it's done. Can't let you get it into your heads that you're better than I am just because you're younger. Tch, you have it easy, you know. Back when I was starting out in the Corps, we didn't have assault rifles or squad automatic weapons, we had sticks and, if we were lucky, a rock."

Before he could continue, I snorted and said "Are you going to shoot, or regale us with tales about how you had to fight off tyrannosaurs in blizzards to go to school too?"

That got a full laugh out of him before he walked over to another shooting booth that was clear. Chambering a round and flipping the safety off, he squeezed the trigger. Frowning, he cycled the action again, only for the bolt to lock up halfway. The magazine was then ejected with a grumble and the action cycled a third time, releasing a bent cartridge as it did so. "Well, that's a problem. I've seen failures to feed, but this takes the cake!"

Letting out a groan, I took the magazine and began examining it. Where the problem was didn't take long to see. While the follower was not visible due to the near-full quantity of ammunition, it was clearly seated wrong. The uppermost cartridge was tilted past the feed lip, with its base unable to properly engage with the bolt face for loading, which was clearly responsible for the failure to feed and mangling of the round. How it ended up doing that would require dismantling the magazine to determine, but so would fixing it. With any luck it was the loading machine not being compatible with the seventy-five round capacity rather than being a design flaw in the magazine itself, as I hadn't done all that much to it to adjust it for the new gun. I did not want to have to redesign the thing from the ground up, and that was what I'd likely have to do if it were the design and not the machine. Chris had said that the loader was fairly simple to make, so her having to modify it or build a second one would likely be less of a pain than having to develop my own drum mag.

Sighing, I policed the crushed cartridge before turning back to the Marine. "I think we're needing to postpone the test until I've got this worked out. Hopefully it was just damaged by improper loading, rather than the magazine design. Either way though, I think we won't be seeing how well the A33A works today. And I think I'll start doing some research to see if I can come up with a belt-feed mechanism for the B pattern without having a SAW to dissect. That will at least potentially give us an alternative if I can't get the current gun working quickly enough."

"Good plan," Avery said before handing me the weapon back. "Though I think you might want to change up the furniture a bit. Too many sharp angles for my liking, and it looks like an oversized version of those so-called tactical AR-15s the tryhards like buying. It just doesn't feel like a proper weapon to me."

"Mm, you have a point," I hummed, looking over the squad support weapon. It probably didn't need three full length rails and a half-length one for the bipod. "I think I was overfocusing on making it not look like an AK and increasing flexibility, without considering utility. Cutting down on the picatinny and smoothing out the barrel shroud should improve it, as would giving it a quick-change barrel. Which would shorten the shroud down and probably result in what looks like an AK and a M249 had a baby."

With that said, I turned and headed towards my workshop.

 

[PhoebusArtemis]

So the US has gone the way of the rest of Worm - that is, the government has regressed from democracy behind the scenes. I don't believe I've seen this angle for a Worm fic before. Watched.

 

[udkudk]

Comment for Chapter 1: (Also copied to SB)

So, the Soviets are still alive then?

Makes sense once you remove the idiot ball that the Author had done to make a nation nuke an Endbringer.
Because people aren't that stupid.
Losing Moscow to an Endbringer attack is very costly. But using nuclear weapons and then failing is what triggered the collapse of U.S.S.R. and Warsaw Pact in Worm.

Besides a Super Power still being alive is a good thing.
Especially if they manage to adapt to the situation and employ the possibilities the parahumans grant to them without being dependent on them to fix their economy and focus on computing tech to better manage their command economy.

Alternatively, Cauldron could've secretly stabilized them, because at the end of the day, despite the rising economic difficulties and rising corruption, and Authoritarianism, a Super Power is better than disintegration of it, which would destabilize Eastern Europe and Asia a lot.
And with how everything goes bad, and existence of Parahumans, it's not likely for a recovery like it eventually happened in Real Life.

Of course, there are probably other effects as well.

The rivalry will be reduced thanks to the crisis of Parahumans, but rivalry between US and U.S.S.R. will be very beneficial in preventing reduction of Military or Intelligence services too much.
Which would probably reduce the dependence on Thinkers in favor of Analysts, which itself is very beneficial.

Especially with how entire Cauldron is idiotically managed by a Thinker Shard and blind plan that doesn't plan on using an Organized Army, but a disorganized Tribal Levy Force to confront Scion and the Endbringers, and they don't use the opportunities granted by OP powers such as Panacea and Bonesaw to mass produce powerful capes, nor they plan for a post-Scion survival for humanity.
Let's not forget their parahuman feodalism experiment in Brockton Bay.
As if the status of Africa didn't prove that Cape's are too unstable for existence of a civilization.

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So, Taylor and her group is going for a democratic Socialism or one of it's numerious variants?
That's very interesting and good.

Good idea of using Soviets to gain funding, though they must be careful of not getting too influenced. Less Authoritarianism I hope.
Then again, with Queen Administrator, you might never know 😉.

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Biggest problems with Soviets is it's Authoritarianism, the new elite (that become just as corrupt) born from it and also how they applied their Command Economy.

The problem with economy is simple. The technology to centrally manage the economy didn't exist back then.
And doing everything without advanced computers resulted in only a few hundreds of goods out of millions being efficiently managed.
Because of that, they actually never managed to go full Command Economy.

Of course, the good thing about it is that if you manage to go full, you can essentially surpass Economical growth system of a Capitalist Economy quite fast.
Because, forward planning, backup plans, no conflict of interests, no need to pursue profit nor the planned obsolescence is incredibly good.

However, Command Economy would only really start to shine after advances in 3d printing, automation and AI technology + Space advancements come to the play.
A Capitalist Economy would either collapse from sheer amounts of cheap resources that going Von Neumann would grant, or would introduce artificial constraints to still gain profits and keep power.

A Command Economy could go full Von Neumann and continuously industrialize and exploit the Solar System, while guaranteeing a certain amounts of resources for every citizen, with excess going to the State for usage by them or further growing the Economy.
Basically, going post-scarcity for most of resources.

Now, there are of course other Economic systems as well. Some of them are very interesting ones such as several variants of Distributed Socialized Economical Systems.
But I have no idea how viable they are in real life.

Note: To make a Command Economy stay corruption free + socialist, you can make it managed by a massive AI or very complicated adaptive Program, that's also Open Source.
So everyone that understands coding can review & approve new changes etc.

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A very interesting fic. I really liked this.

Reverse Engineering tinker tech? Now that's an OP power. Of course it will have it's own limitations such as Earth Bet's technological level.
Reverse Engineering a anti-gravity engine wouldn't be very useful if you need 50 or 100 year more advanced technology to make it producible at all. Still, it will massively increase the tech development speed of Earth Bet.

The fact that Soviet's are pretty hands off when it comes to their Politics makes a lot of sense when you think about from their POV.
No matter how anti-bolshevik this new nation would be, it will be still useful in distracting the U.S. And the chances of them surviving to become a threat is remote.

Red Shield? Very good name. A better description for Bolshevism can't be found.

I see almost no WC fics for Worm that are long enough. (I believe eventually it will go that way?)

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Chapter 2:

Good idea of changing appearance of AK's.

Yeah, if they survived, it was a certainty that Soviets experienced a revival (probably an economic one).
So it makes sense for Cold War to restart.

The background worldbuilding about Taylor, her grandfather and the U.S is great.

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Damn, Taylor and everyone else are at their canon age.
t's also very suspicious that they selected an 14 year old Taylor as their leader. I wonder if Queen Administrator has done something from background. Let's hope it only made Taylor very charismatic, and not used master powers.

Also, I think Taylor's power is reverse engineering Tinker Tech? Because no ordinary shard would break the rules like that and grant this OP power.
Dragon reverse engineers tinker tech, but only to her own tinker tech. Not ordinary technology.
Other some powers that can mass produce tinker tech doesn't remove the block box from it. It's still the non-understandable tinker tech.

Edit: Was mistaken about Taylor's power. But I still have suspicions about role of Queen Administrator in how Taylor become the leader of a movement at 14 years old.

---------

Kid Win is a girl (or a trans?), in wards? Yeah, this is a great and unique idea.

Crystal is a good recruiter. Let's hope she succeeds with Amy.

Amy joining the Cause would be good for her, and also massively strengthen the movement and accelerate the plans.
Let's not forget how beneficial Amy can be via invention Super Drugs or Farming Plants.

 

[udkudk]

So the US has gone the way of the rest of Worm - that is, the government has regressed from democracy behind the scenes. I don't believe I've seen this angle for a Worm fic before. Watched.

Click to shrink...

I don't want to go enter into too much politics, but an extensive research done by Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) on comparing 1981-2003 data on more than 2000 public opinion polls and comparing with the laws that gets enacted found the following result:

When interests of 90% of Population and the Top 1% or Top 10% conflict with each other, the popularity of a law or movement doesn't matter.
Public always loses. Public Opinion doesn't matter.

Furthermore, the laws & movements that are overwhelmingly popular (+60% support), and rich doesn't care about it to oppose it, still only succeeds 45% of time.

At conclusion of their research, they classified U.S. as an Oligarchy.

 

[Sandy River DL]

Comment for Chapter 1: (Also copied to SB)

Click to shrink...

Given the sheer size of this, I'm not going to directly address all of it, but will cover the broad strokes at least.

Regarding the Soviets, here the Union partially came apart in the early years as independence factions gained parahuman muscle and were able to take advantage of the disruptions happening at the time to break free, but the USSR was still able to stabilize before more than a few countries got away. Moscow survives, because NYC was able to survive. The Cold War continues, albeit through different means.

Re: Cauldron. They're still up to their canon idiocy, as the conditions of their Terminus Project are what set the stage for this fic, along with other bits of bad worldbuilding like the port not being rapidly cleared by the Army Corps of Engineers.

As for what sort of socialism Red Shield is, and what their economic methods are... is, for the sake of minimizing derails from people arguing over it, not really going to be covered beyond it being a democratic system.

Taylor is not reverse-engineering tinkertech. Normal tech, and specifically certain weapons if she's able to get her hands on, yes. But not tinker stuff.

The Soviets are hands-off specifically because they expect Taylor to fail, and weaken the US in the process. More will be shown in-story at a later point, but if they thought she stood a chance, they'd be dropping a master-rated 'handler' on her group to ensure the spread of their 'revolution'.

Part of the reason Taylor made the change was to obscure the fact that she got actual AK tooling, but it's also because bullpup guns are good for close-quarters urban environments. As for her background, it's nice to flesh that out as Wildbow did fuck-all with it. She also doesn't have powers, beyond those normally found in exceptional people. Low-order polymaths with once-in-a-generation charisma are possible, if vanishingly rare to the point that if they accomplish anything they will be famous for generations. Legendary, even.

 

[PhoebusArtemis]

At conclusion of their research, they classified U.S. as an Oligarchy.

Click to shrink...

I really really wish I could say this surprised me, but I make a habit to avoid lying if possible.

 

[Sandy River DL]

Adjusting the collar of my jacket, I glanced around the table at the others. Meetings of the Council like this weren't common, as the risks were too high under normal circumstances. Remote conferences weren't an option, as that was very easily tracked and monitored, while in-person was more noticeable in other ways. The gangs likely didn't worry about it because of their fronts and smaller leadership cadres, but arranging for blue-collar workers, college professors, high-schoolers, and unmasked celebrity capes to gather without raising suspicions was… tricky. Working adults mixing in a bar was one thing, and likely the Empire's method, but including those of us who weren't of drinking age wasn't feasible, especially with us not having any bars that were actually under our control. Setting up a gathering place in the underground somewhat alleviated the problems, but having people be able to disappear without being suspicious about it and then covering the distances needed was still an issue.

In spite of those difficulties, all twelve section heads of Red Shield were seated at the conference table for the first time in months. The first time since my proposal to reach out for Soviet support was voted on. Sherryl, in charge of the vehicular side of things. Crystal, leading the outreach team. Ed Harris, managing logistics and manufacturing. Lucy Ambrose, who handled the computer network. John Keyes, running the chemical production plant. Ume Saotome, heading the provisioning section and the base kitchens. Clark Smith, of intelligence. Kurt Ambrose, in charge of base security and training. Anne Hunter, head of medicine. Luke O'Brien, coordinator of the skirmisher units. Peter Stone, who ran the field teams. And, finally, Dad. The man who ensured everything was running as it should on a day-to-day basis while also staying under the radar.

Everyone at this table has suffered loss at the hands of the Empire in some way. Family members, livelihoods, loved ones, injuries, even a trigger event in Sherryl's case. None addressed or redressed by the so-called law enforcement agency that had a special office here specifically because of the Nazi gang that made the Bay its home.

"Seventy-five of Peter's squads have been certified combat-ready," Kurt opened the meeting without fanfare. "Progress has been slower with Luke's skirmishers, as the sharpshooters rather understandably take more time and training to reach acceptable standards than their support personnel. I'd say I'm confident in eight fireteams of the fifty currently assembled being ready for deployment. How well this assessment will hold up once the new rifles are issued is another story though, as they were all drilled on AR-15s, not the bullpup configuration you chose for the C23A and S11A. I understand the reasons for that choice, but it does have its downsides."

Ed spoke next. "Our ammunition stocks are growing nicely, even with the increasing consumption from training and the automatic firearms being introduced. Lines for the C23A, S11A, KPV, and RPG-7 have been completed, with the one for the A33A is being assembled. Our current estimate is that we can produce five rifles an hour, with that number to rise as my people familiarize themselves with the new guns and we open new lines. The heavy machine guns are slower going, and the expectation is that we can produce about one every hour. Launch tubes for the RPGs are the simplest, but the much lower demand for them means we aren't running that line at capacity like the other ones. Production is two per hour as a result. And we're holding steady at thirty an hour each for both the S01A and F02A rifles, though I can have those shut down if needed."

I nodded and smiled, before noting that there was something he'd left off. "And the D24A? You didn't mention it, and it's rather important. Both as a back-up weapon, and as something to arm newcomers once Normandy kicks off. I don't want to rely on a pistol to deal with Oni Lee or Stormtiger dropping in on me or one of the other sharpshooters during an op for any longer than absolutely necessary."

"Ah, the carbine… I was getting to that," the stocky blond man said, grimacing slightly. "We don't have a production line for it. Currently, some of my people are putting together a pair of machines that they think will be able to produce the guns in large numbers with minimal human involvement. The expectation is to be able to produce forty an hour with six machines rather than having a full line. It means we won't be fabricating any for a few weeks while the CNC and molding machines are set up and configured, but the high production rate should hopefully make up for the delays. There's a normal line being worked out as a back-up though, so if needed we can assemble it fairly quickly."

Letting out a low groan, I massaged the bridge of my nose and replied "That… would have been nice to know earlier. We have the datanet for this exact reason, so that information like that can be picked up whenever people visit the base. While this meeting is to discuss where we are and how soon we'll be ready to make our move, it's really not the time to be springing an experiment on us. Get the conventional production line going, and then implement the automated one for testing. The fewer delays we have, the sooner we can begin, and the sooner the damn Nazis are evicted from the city."

Dad's wheelchair squeaked slightly as he shifted to better fix the other man with a disapproving look. "That was sloppy Ed, but we can talk about said oversight later. In the meantime, I'm pleased to say that my section has managed to incorporate another area of the Underground as part of our facilities. As such, we now have an additional barracks space that can handle forty people and a new storage room for non hazardous materials. We're also in the process of preparing another garage and vehicle manufacturing space that we think will be suitable for building Sherryl's tanks. And speaking of, I believe she had something big to share herself, going by what she told me an hour ago."

"Yeah, I sure do Danny," the aforementioned blonde grease monkey said, sporting a massive grin. "As of last night, we have our first tank! The MA-1 Saber main battle tank prototype had its turret mounted at five after eight PM, and all the tests we can do without actually deploying the thing have been run. Glacis armor's been finalized at being equal to seventy-eight inches of rolled homogeneous steel as demonstrated in several trials, and is only around three and a half inches thick. Should be good to take hits from anything in the Bay up to and including Purity, barring Miss Militia being able to pull out more serious firepower than she's previously demonstrated, so that's good to go and probably more than sufficient to go up against Army tanks too. Can't guarantee that, as that shit's classified to hell and back, but we're the ones with tinker alloys and composites. And if I'm wrong, well, we still have tanks with which to fight tanks, which still puts us on a roughly even footing."

That statement drew cheers from around the table. Tanks were key to this being more than a militia that could break the Empire, to being something that could actually challenge the fascist regime in Washington. We'd need airpower too, but without tanks… well, infantry would be cut to pieces. Combined arms was the standard for good reason, and not even parahumans could change that. Frankly, it was likely nothing could.

Once things calmed down enough that she'd be able to be heard, Sherryl continued. "Currently, we can probably manage one Saber a month with the facilities available, but once that new production space is ready, I think we might be able to do two a week. More if Gremlin can sort us out some of her machines or find a way to optimize the design for true mass production."

That was another downside to Chris' decision to remain in the Wards, her not having the time to help as much as she sometimes wished to, even if her position meant that we had a much better idea of what the PRT was up to. Better manufacturing equipment for Sherryl was thus unlikely, but if Lucy's idea about trying for modularity worked out, she might just be able to convert the older tinker's plans into prefabricated subunits.

"On the infantry fighting vehicle front, I'd say we're about a week away from completing the prototype MF-1. One of my people also designed a second turret meant for anti-aircraft work. Should deal with Rune and Stormtiger quite nicely, same with Purity, should she actually turn out when we start stomping the Nazis. Forty millimeter autocannons make quite the mess of just about anything that isn't heavily armored. Though I'd like to repeat my previous request that we ask the Soviets for missiles, as nothing we have can handle long-range AA coverage and we're going to need that pretty quickly once the Feds realize what we're actually up to. And would make my job easier in regards to aircraft design."

Giving her a nod, I replied "I agree, but they are hardly going to pour in support without anything to show for it, and our requested infantry-scale materiel was likely to be pushing it already. Once we demonstrate we're a worthwhile investment, we might be able to start acquiring more significant hardware, even if they're likely to be less willing to provide all of it as technical packages like what we've already gotten. Being our source of missiles and other such things would give them more control, and they're trying to use us as a destabilizing influence to gain an advantage. Us actually winning isn't in their interest, while fueling a protracted civil war is. Still, I'll send the request after we're ready to take on the Empire, as us having an armored force should be enough to get them to open the tap a bit further…"

Sherryl grinned again at that. "Excellent. My boys and girls can probably get us our own guidance systems if they work with Lucy's team. And don't bother asking for planes or helicopters, there's plans for both uploaded to the datanet that suit our needs better than what the Ruskies would offer us and I've got better engines than they do. We… may have also gotten a copy of the Tomcat plans from an out-of-state sympathizer who is connected to a member of my section through a mutual friend. I'm still assessing it to see if it's legit or a trick though, which is why I haven't made mention of it before, beyond reporting that we'd gotten something leaked to us via an intermediary."

"Said intermediary is a game developer," Clark interjected. "So we're not actually sure if the leak was the result of a sympathizer or just someone being stupid and sent either the wrong information, or sent the complete package instead of the approved one because they thought that it would make a better product. It's hard to tell with available assets, and such leaks have happened before. If we could pick up a post-cog thinker or something, I might be able to get more on it, but I don't think it matters too much as long as the plans are valid."

Leaning forward in his seat, he added "On a related note, someone leaked the detailed specifications for the Stinger MANPAD on a gaming forum, so that's been passed on for study. That should hopefully get us some progress on missile development, at least for air defense. We've also managed to track down the location of an Empire armory that has heavy weapons, and hitting it would give us access to M47 anti-tank missiles. They're on the older side, but still fairly relevant weapons and would also provide a boost to our own projects. There were also rumors that said armory will soon be getting a shipment of MG-3 machine guns, presumably from Gesellschaft. I believe that such weapons were on our procurement list as well."

"And here I thought we'd already finished the Christmas season," I drawled with a massive grin. "Yet here you are telling me the Nazis were kind enough to gather two things we wanted in one place."

Clark shook his head. "I did say it was a rumor, not that we'd confirmed the presence of the guns. So you might not get them if it turns out the rumor was just a rumor. Of course, we suspect that the Empire has other stashes that do have machine guns of some sort, as there's no other reason for them to have had that shipment of belt links that got discovered by the DWA two years back."

"Meanwhile," Crystal said, frowning slightly, "on my end people are wondering how long it will be before things kick off. Saying that we're building a force to resist the Empire when the Feds are satisfied with detente only goes so far when we don't have much to show for it as far as the general public is concerned. Revealing the Saber would work, but I know we want to keep it under wraps for as long as possible for strategic reasons. Maybe I could get a few rifles to show off? It's not as impressive, but should still be enough to convince some more of the fence-sitters to join up."

I leaned back in my chair and hummed thoughtfully. "Sign out a S01A and I'll countersign so you can get a C23A too. If you think it'll help, I'll also countersign for you taking examples of heavier munitions. Nothing larger than forty millimeter though, as that could give too much away. That, and it would probably start getting awkward to carry around if you're also moving the rifles. The forty millimeter shells are pretty big as it is, and it only gets more cumbersome from there."

The blonde heroine nodded and scribbled something down on a notepad. "Excellent, I'll do that. Though having a vague timeframe for Normandy would still be helpful."

"We should have enough rifles by February," Dad spoke up, looking over some papers. "If we're waiting on Sherryl's tanks like we really should be, March would be about when we'd be ready. When in March depends on how soon the new production area is operational. At that point, we'll have enough of them to have a tank company, which should be sufficient to deter rash actions like sending in the National Guard to 'restore order' once the gangs fall. That won't last once it becomes clear that we aren't just dealing with the villains though, but with any luck it will buy us time to get more of everything made, and possibly even a few aircraft. Whether that will be enough to hold out after the Feds start responding, I don't know."

Kurt, meanwhile, stroked his mustache thoughtfully and then settled into one of the classic 'plotting poses' of Hollywood. "I'd say we should wait until April. Two companies of tanks would be better, and it gives Sherryl's people more time to build up the numbers of IFVs. Additionally, it means we have all our current forces armed and trained with the new equipment, larger stockpiles of munitions, and maybe even some missiles and attack choppers. Waiting even longer would be better, but at the rate we're building up, I suspect we'll be noticed by the end of May at the latest. Hell, Watchdog may have already noticed but just filed us as a low priority. Hit a few Empire armories with small raids over the next month, then go active once the tinkers have cracked any captured missiles for production and we have enough Sabers is my suggestion. Then, when we go loud, we drop the radicalization bomb after she puts a bullet in Kaiser's brainpan."

Radicalization bomb? What did that have to do with…? "Wait, are you calling me some sort of public relations superweapon?"

That drew a round of chuckles from the others. Not at all what I'd been expecting.

"Taylor, you are the reason this organization even exists," Dad stated as things quieted down. "You are the one who took the gripings of some frustrated stevedores and longshoremen and whipped it up the drive to start a revolution. You are the one who convinced two heroes to join us, talked a fresh cape into joining a cause she had never even considered before, and literally wrote a book on it for Crystal. I genuinely think that, if you ever felt the need to, you could very easily have your own cult that views you as a goddess within six months. It's no thinker or master power, but you have charisma of a rare sort that could very easily put you in a lot of places if you tried. Why did you think we all voted for you to be in charge? You made Red Shield, Taylor. Kurt's just saying you should use that same drive and fervor to bolster us once the fighting starts."

I shot him an incredulous look. Me, charismatic? I was a bullied high school student, and if I couldn't talk Emma Barnes out of being a bitch or the staff into paying attention, how was I supposed to be able to convince a city to enlist in an armed insurrection aimed at overthrowing the government? Sure, I'd been the one to suggest to Dad and some of his coworkers that maybe it was time to step up and do something after Mom was killed at that anti-Empire rally and the PRT once again failed to take the bastards to task, but that wasn't exactly charisma. And yes, both Chris and Crystal had joined after I talked to them, but again they were people deeply unhappy with the situation. That didn't automatically translate to being able to convince larger numbers of people to sign up with us…

"Seriously, you've got charisma in spades Taylor. Grown-ups might listen to you less, but that small rally I attended? You swayed a hundred people including myself with a single speech. The Bay is primed for this, it's why Kaiser's able to keep recruiting even though he's a fucking Nazi. And it's why you, who is every bit as charismatic as that asshole, are able to turn people to this cause. It helps that you're rather more genuine than he is, and he's very good at faking it. If I had to guess, I'd say he'd be either a politician or a used car salesman with how he sounds, " Crystal said, voice firm and forceful. "We don't even need you to go around pontificating or anything, just give a few speeches on occasion that can be circulated about or broadcast, and Lucy and I will see to it that it gets out. No need to cut into your other duties and tasks any more than the bare minimum."

Looking about, I found the others all nodding and making mutterings of agreement. That… was not what I'd been expecting when this meeting started… But there was something I could do to make things start making sense again.

"So… that aside, I think we should discuss Kurt's proposed timetable. I personally agree that we should wait as long as we can, while also acting soon-ish to avoid being forced to react instead of making our move of our own accord. April Twentieth seems like a good date to me for that. Anyone else?"

Luke raised a hand "I second that date. My boys and girls will be ready then, and it should give us time to formalize the command structure. What we have now is fine for low intensity infantry combat, but once we have tanks and other vehicles, we'll be needing something a bit more comprehensive to manage combined arms operations."

I gave the wiry ginger former SEAL a nod at that. "Yeah, that's definitely something we need to take care of. So I'd say that's our next thing to address."

"And we'll need to at some point prior also have at least an outline of our plan for a civilian government to replace Red Shield as things progress, since not having hat would give the impression that we're nothing more than another CUI or warlord-led band. But as for the vote… I say yes to the Twentieth of April."

Good point Dad.

One by one, the others all cast their voice vote. All in favor of launching OPERATION Normandy on April Twentieth. No abstainments like when I proposed reaching out to the Soviets, nor outright no votes like when it was proposed we start assassinating gang leaders while we built up. Our first actual unanimous vote, and it was to set the date for our de facto declaration of war against the gangs of Brockton Bay, and less directly, for control of the United States. It probably also started the countdown to us being found, what with us now being on a course to come into conflict with the PRT meaning that Watchdog almost certainly would be taking notice. I could only hope that we would be making the first move.

-

Dad and I exited the meeting room together, a rare moment we were able to be around each other without it being in some manner Red Shield business. Even at home, we often wound up talking shop when we were both around. Which was itself increasingly rare as our operations picked up and as Dad's work in the DWA started to become more critical. The great irony of things, where we were supplying our manufacturing with materials gained by having found the right government people to talk to in order to start salvaging the abandoned ships clogging the port. And the DWA was the way to do so.

Of course, it was only a moment. Chris came running up to us with a massive grin on her face. I'd known she was probably around, a clash between the Empire and ABB two days ago had the Wards off duty for a week, but I hadn't expected her to turn up after the meeting got out.

"Taylor!" she cried as she skidded to a halt next to us. "I did it! Modularity was the key! The improved Saber design is about sixty percent faster to build, and I got a machine to make body armor together too. Should increase the survivability of the front line soldiers, and help with the uniform angle. It's currently configured to make armor that resembles some of the stuff in one of those games Uber and Leet ripped off last month, but it can be reconfigured to produce a wide range of designs and body-types. Even allows for people to customize to a degree. Also got a good start on a couple of more tinkery projects that should help out pretty well. Fusion reactor, for base power so we can run the higher-end machines at their full capacity. Hopefully those designs will be complete enough for review in a day or two."

Unable to help myself, I stared at the slightly younger girl who had just vomited all of that at me and was now bouncing on her heels. So finding one's specialty really was that impactful for a tinker.

Reaching over to give her a pat on the shoulder, I said "That's great news. Good girl!"

The bouncing ceased as she froze up as if touched by Clockblocker. Her face was rapidly turning red, the coloration spreading from her cheeks like wildfire. Off to the side, Dad was grinning like a madman for… some… reason… It was then that I noticed that my hand was resting on her head, not her shoulder, and she was giving off a faint whining noise.

I tried to pull my hand away, but Chris leaned into it in a rather catlike manner as she grabbed my wrist, sporting a full-face blush.

"Can… can you do that again? Please?"

And this time I was the one to freeze. What had I just stumbled into?

 

[Draxsis]

*rolling on the floor cackling with laughter* All Power to The Headpats! Viva la revolution!

Now with that out of my system. Looks like the good old queen of escalation charisma buff is going strong in this Taylor.

 

[macdjord]

Tinker Girlfriend Get!

 

[Sandy River DL]

It got requested that I make a threadmark of this, so here it is.

Spoiler: Taylor in her working outfit

 

[Strunkriidiisk]

Oh, that AI artifacting on the eyes/glasses is rough.

 

[Martin Bajar]

It got requested that I make a threadmark of this, so here it is.

Spoiler: Taylor in her working outfit

Click to shrink...

I must say, Emma Barnes must have severe back pain, if that Taylor thinks she's flat chested (undoubtedly comparing herself to Emma Barnes and all)

 

[Sandy River DL]

I must say, Emma Barnes must have severe back pain, if that Taylor thinks she's flat chested (undoubtedly comparing herself to Emma Barnes and all)

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I might go back and generate another run to see if that can be reduced. Though she has been eating better than her canon self and is in much better shape, so she's not exactly going to be lacking in development regardless...

 

[Sandy River DL]

Spoiler: Now in a better environment too

Prompts changed so as to get a somewhat less... Aisha build. And finally convinced PixAI to give me an underground passage. Also going to change the link in the story to this one.

 

[Martin Bajar]

Spoiler: Now in a better environment too

Prompts changed so as to get a somewhat less... Aisha build. And finally convinced PixAI to give me an underground passage. Also going to change the link in the story to this one.

Click to shrink...

much better, well, she's clearly not flat. But honestly I don't care overmuch about that. Most of her selfconciousness in canon is nonsense coming from Emma anyhow. It's much better due to the eyes not being so screwy

 

[blankmask]

Kid Win is a girl (or a trans?), in wards? Yeah, this is a great and unique idea.

Click to shrink...

She's a girl. She just wasn't born one.

I genuinely think that, if you ever felt the need to, you could very easily have your own cult that views you as a goddess within six months.

Click to shrink...

Ah yes. "The charisma of a cult leader" is a very good description of Taylor. What do you want to bet that the PRT is going to give her a master rating? Or a tinker one for her custom guns.

Reaching over to give her a pat on the shoulder, I said "That's great news. Good girl!"

Click to shrink...

Ah yes. The famous words that make many a young lady realize that, no, you are absolutely gay. And absolutely a bottom too.

 

[Sandy River DL]

Ah yes. "The charisma of a cult leader" is a very good description of Taylor. What do you want to bet that the PRT is going to give her a master rating? Or a tinker one for her custom guns.

Click to shrink...

Well, the PRT thinks that she, as Forgelight, is a tinker already. Which is actually part of why they use the codenames, to make determining who is and isn't a cape harder. And her getting a Master rating slapped isn't out of the question.

Ah yes. The famous words that make many a young lady realize that, no, you are absolutely gay. And absolutely a bottom too.

Click to shrink...

Or, in this case, the one making the realization is the decidedly top Taylor. Chris already knew what she was.

 

[blankmask]

Or, in this case, the one making the realization is the decidedly top Taylor. Chris already knew what she was.

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure Taylor's realized yet. She will though.