When We Were Capes (Wild Cards/Worm)

[toxinvictory]

Arc 1

Notes: This is restart of an old project of mind. A crossover between the Wild Cards Book Series, a long running collaborative effort between a large number of authors and the infamous web serial Worm. If you haven't read or listened to Wild Cards works I can personally recommend them as being very high quality and plain interesting. Enormous thanks to @scriviner for being a sounding board - co planner and just genuinely amazing person in regards to this also to @Pale Wolf for doing things with the Worm Setting I did not believe possible and via example convincing me to dust this off.


Cartoonist(1.1)​

The man screamed.

Well the girl thought, it was more of roar: an wild incoherent expression of berserk rage. The noise perfectly conveyed the desire to break something, to punch and strike again- again - again until all that was left was blood and pulped meat. The man was out of the girls direct line of sight but she knew what she would see if she could get a look at him: blonde hair, tall, hard muscles, wild eyes and the face twisted into a snarl. Blood and fire on his hands, pain in her head as something caught and pulled.

No.

The girl was being safe and quiet. She had hidden herself in a cavity under the floor boards, safe and quiet. Once the man got really going he could - did punch through walls and set things alight but he rarely attacked down so she was safe here. Safer than out in the open anyway, last time this had played out the man had caught her. That had been ...... bad. Before she had gotten away he had given her a broken arm and bleeding cuts that she'd had to explain away as a bike accident. Her home room teacher hadn't been convinced. She needed to avoid something that big happening again not just since injuries were unpleasant but because the absolute last thing she needed was social services poking their noses into things that weren't their business.

Despite her best efforts to not listen the tirade she'd be trying to tune out slipped into uncomfortable focus.

"- going to die you hear me?! Your going to pay! I will kill you, bitch!"

'Sh - Sugar.' the girl thought self censoring as she always did, manners were important. He knew she was here. Well not exactly here as in where she was right now but he was aware she was present. Sometimes he didn't and spent the time just raging, breaking things and screaming-crying-cursing. But whenever he caught her he tended to remember she could be present the next time and so was actively looked for her. That made things more dangerous.

'They'll never see, I'll never be, I'll struggle on and on to -' The girl recited in her head, replaying the lyrics of a song she half remembered playing on the radio in an attempt to get her racing heart beat down. Calm. She needed to be calm or at least not panicked. If he caught her she had to ready or the inevitable pain could bog her down and stop making an escape. The song trick wasn't working, so she tried counting the notches in the floor boards a handspan away from her face. That technique didn't much help with the rising tide of panic either.

Thump, thump, thump.

The girl tensed like a taught spring, her heart feeling like it was in her throat. The man sounded like he was getting closer. It had to be just .... he'd decided to go to another room, smash and scream somewhere else.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

He had to be moving on, right. The hiding spot under the floor wasn't something she'd tried before so he wouldn't expect it and please go away, please go away -

Thump.

Why had he stopped? Maybe had she had just missed him moving away in her rising panic?

BANG!

With a hideous eruption of noise the boards above the girl ripped up and away letting in a blaze of light but the girl could see the shadow against the light. Could see the man lunging down hands grasping. Before the instinctive shout could make it past her lips his hands were around her throat and squeezing. It hurt, a raw blunt pain as she gagged and thrashed involuntarily. The girl knew she had - had to .... she couldn't breathe. It hurt.

The man pulled her up and out, into the light. The old house, with dust on the ground, cobwebs in the corners and the stink of rotting on the air was waiting for her. The Man was smiling-snarling teeth bared and hate etched into every line of that face. Out of the corner of her eyes the girl could see a pair of ever so familiar shapes lying on the floor, they were oozing gore from stiches pulled out and sat below holes punched into the walls from the man's fists. Staring ahead with dead eyes that blamed her. Like always.

Desperate the girl reached into the pain, not in her neck from strangling hands but the pain in her head that being here brought to the fore, found the thing that caught and without hands or touch only will she pulled -

With a half formed shout on her lips Riley woke up.

The sheets of her queen sized bed were a tangled mess, the ceiling was the same comforting stone pattern it always was. With a groan she rolled onto her side and checked the bedside digital clock. 5:10 AM blinked back at her in glowing red lettering.

"Fudge!" Riley cursed. Just a little longer and she could have woken up at a reasonable hour, it would at best just be getting light out now and she didn't know if mum or dad were up yet.

Well she wasn't going to sleep now. Not after that. No point anyway she'd have to get up in a hour and a bit anyway. Still Riley had to admit the sleep had been good for filling her thoughts. Ideas for 'the project' flashed and spiraled in her mind. Ways to strengthen the final product, improvements to better sync the neuro-transmitter interchange. It was what she wanted. She just had to be smart about applying the new insight and everything would be alright.

Riley's laptop computer sat on the shelf of the bookcase across from the bed. Mum would be annoyed if she caught Riley placing her computer in the bedroom again. But Riley had been curious if any updates about the situation in Brockton Bay had been released and had wanted to check. There hadn't been any news before she went to bed and she could check now but Dad might find out she'd been looking into that again. He was annoyingly unrepentant about checking her search history and would probably want to talk to her about her feelings if he knew she was so worried about Panacea's city. Riley loved the man to death but she didn't want to field another round of too insightful questions.

The feeling of the sheets against her skin and the view of the ceiling was uncomfortably like the dream she had woken from and with that comparison fresh in mind Riley had to get up. Slipping out of bed she walked over to the closet, sliding the door open and pulled out day clothes'. She supposed if she was she could take a shower to wake up properly, though she felt plenty awake, and use the supplies in the bathroom to make herself look more presentable. The noise might wake her parents though, if they weren't already up.

The knowledge for the the project itched in her head. It wouldn't fade. She had it now. She'd be able to write out the steps or do the work a week from now as easily as this second but it itched, wanting to be implemented or at least recorded. She could find her notebook and plan out the steps, make sure she had a list of things to buy or put together when her parents weren't looking so the work could continue after school. Bah.

As she slid the closet door shut Riley got a look at herself in the mirror, properly registering her appearance. A young girl, blonde hair, green eyes (wrong), in grey pajamas.

She tried to not look at the ring of fresh bruises around her throat. Bruises that had not been there before she went to sleep.

The bruises were a problem, even if it was one she'd rather not acknowledge -think about, her homeroom teacher or someone at school noticing them could lead to problems. If her parents saw them it would open a entirely new can of worms but she has a scarf she could justify using and the school uniform had a collar she can put up to hide the damage. So the situation can be dealt with quickly enough, she'd just get dressed in her school uniform first instead of getting changed after breakfast like normal.

The knowledge she had gotten for 'the project' was itching in her brain, painting the inside of her eyelids with diagrams and hyper vivid images. She decided put pen to paper and get thoughts in order. Not first because she'd had to learn patience in this, letting her power and urge to use it override all other priorities was a path she couldn't go down so she would indulge but not first up, not before everything else.

Besides she really wanted to know what was happening in Brockton Bay. There hadn't been any updates before she went to sleep so something had to have been released by now surely?

Riley opened her laptop and powered it up, typing in her password and opening up the internet icon.

Running through her search history, looking for the correct tab to get back to the situation in Brockton Bay, Riley noticed a few entries she didn't recognize and had to breath out to expel the flash of annoyance. Dad must have used her computer again, it wasn't like her password was a secret to him or anything and yes the Laptop was left at home during her school hours but it was hers and he had a perfectly functional computer of his own. Did he have to use hers even after she'd told him not to?

Okay the last time she had told him not use her computer had been a year ago but it was the principle of the thing. Manners! Out of curiosity Riley clicked 'open in new tab' on whatever Dad had been looking at, she'd take a look at it later, preferably after getting answers about Brockton. And there was the thread she was looking for.

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♦Topic: Brockton Bay New Wave Troubles
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America
AllSeeingEye (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted on July 7th , 2011:

So if you haven't heard the news yet, New Wave got into a pretty ugly brawl with the Empire 88 last night. You can see a video some civilian in the area took of the fight here {LINK}. Quality's not so good but it shows Purity, who it looks is officially back with the Empire full time now after a period of silence (sorry folks who were discussing the idea she moved to another city she's still in BB) Night, Fog, Alabaster and Rune vs part of the New Wave lineup. The Empire 88 retreated but Rune showed some major brutality, seriously injuring Laserdream and then kept attacking her even after Purity signaled a retreat.

Rune's a Neo-Nazi and all but I haven't heard of her going overkill like this before. Anyone know if she and Laserdream had anything going on that might have provoked that? Laserdream was alive as of the end of the video but Photon Mum rushed her off presumably to get medical attention, judging from reactions and a little chatter I could pick up from the video's audio it looks pretty serious.

I'm no expert but it looks like New Wave's force projection and effectiveness has taken a dive with the loss of Panacea and still unexplained absence of Glory Girl.

Discuss.

(Showing Page 3 of 14)

► StormfrontWin
Replied on July 7th, 2011:
Can we all give a cheer for the Empire's brave soldiers putting the boot to these weak willed foreign lackeys'. First the New Wave will feel our power then the collaborator's in the PRT and then at last that yellow bastard Lung and all his minions.

► HunterCousin (Moderator)
Replied on Julyt 7th, 2011:
@StormfrontWin annnnd that's a definite ban, seriously you have been warned before.

(Showing Page 7 of 14)

► NotAsSharpAsMine
Replied on July 7th, 2011
Okay I think AllSeeingEye was joking, hard to tell with them, but man what if Laserdream and Rune did have something romantic going on? It would be Romeo and Juliet Cape Style.

► GodofAbbsAndWine
Replied on July 7th, 2011
@NotAsSharpAsMine Okay can you not? Like seriously a girl is in the hospital and might die, this is not remotely appropriate man.

(Showing Page 8 of 14)

► RoboticCleanUp
Replied on July 8th, 2011
You have to wonder if New Wave is done at this point, as independents I mean. With Panacea not around and Glory Girl ...... whatever the hell is going on there, maybe it's time they accepted reality and joined the Protectorate.

► RedHatesMe
Replied on July 8th, 2011
Good point, but I wouldn't want to be the gal who suggested that to Brandish's face. I like my nose not broken thank you.

► WingsofBlood
Replied on July 8th, 2011
Saying their done because one member of the group got hurt is a bit disrespectful isn't it? They've been serving the community for years, and have never buckled under the strain of that effort despite several pretty major personal losses.

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Riley bit her lip. This was where she be up to last night, lots of people speculating and talking about the implications and what would be best for New Wave but no hard news. She could read through the new six pages of content looking for updates.

"Oh I am an idiot." She muttered to herself as a idea occurred, she clicked on the thread marks tab and saw a recent mark labeled "Status Update' which she selected.

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Showing Page 13 of 14)

► Manpower (Verified Cape) (New Wave)
Replied July 8th, 2011
I'd like to thank everyone for their well wishes and support. I can formally state that Laserdream is stable and the doctors tell me will make a full recovery in time.

(LOG OUT)

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Riley breathed a sigh of relief. If Manpower had made a formal statement then it must be accurate enough. Laserdream would be okay. She supposed her concern for New Wave was odd, they weren't local heroes to her (Brockton Bay was in another state altogether) but they were Panacea's team- more than that they were Panacea's family and Panacea was Riley's hero/idol. So it was natural to worry, to check in on them and so grow that much more attached.

The familiar surge of pain-grief welled up and made Riley's eyes water as her thoughts touched on the parahuman healer. She was doing better, and nothing had ever been as bad as when she first learned Panacea had - had, ......... when she learned Panacea wasn't around anymore, she had broken down crying then, feeling like someone had pulled out her heart with a rusty hook. It was just reading the discussion about the fight and seeing people mention the New Wave's diminished roster stirring up her emotions.

Trying to distract herself from the tangle of emotions welling up inside Riley shifted to the website her father had accessed.

The webpage contained a video with the title 'Barnett's Speech'. Not wanting to cause unnecessary noise Riley fished out a set of headphones and plugged them in leaving one ear uncovered so she could hear if someone was up and about. Pressing play on the video she was treated to the sight of well dressed blonde haired man standing on a stage with a microphone set into a stand.

"Parahumans. Such a nice phrase isn't it? I mean we all are humans. From the moment we're born to the moment we are put in our coffins we are human." The man, clearly a showman crossed his arms and contorted his face in exaggeration of a corpse. Riley could hear a few spurts of laughter from whoever the man was addressing.

"We all are human, it's the natural order of things. But what the egg heads call Parahumans? There's nothing natural about them. They can do things that ordinary human folk like you and me need tools and gadgets to copy and some can do things no tool or machine humans have built can do. Powers they call them, dividing them up into neat little categories to make it sound safer more part of our world. Powers? That's not what I'd call them, that's not what my grandfather would have called it. We plain folk who don't have the education to know any better have other words for practices like that. Words like poisonous, words like abomination! Words like UNHOLY!"

Each description brought louder surges of yells in what sounded like agreement.

"Here's something I came across." Barnett said pulling out a couple of pages of paper covered in typed writing. "A pronouncement from a professor working in The University of Texas at Austin. And this man says and let me quote 'The abilities of Parahuman's represents a new dawn for humanity, the arrival of a new cognitive and physiological adaptation on par with the development of language and tool manufacture' and on and on. Do you understand what this professor is saying gentlemen and women? What he's talking about? He's talking about evolution."

"Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was another sort of human being on this planet. We call them Neanderthal, they were like us you see, they wore clothes and made tools and built fires. Why they even cared for their sick and buried their dead with respect but they weren't quite as smart as us. They were around for hundreds of thousands of years but in all that time not one of them came up with anything as complicated as a bow and arrow, which any seven year old American boy could make! But there they were with their tools and their hunting and their fishing until one day along came a new sort of folk, a new sort with flat faces and slim bodies and clever hands and big bulging brains and these folk could make bows and arrows. Why I bet there was some Neanderthal professor who said something like 'the ability to make a bow and arrow represents a new dawn for humanity' and on and on. Maybe that Neanderthal professor urged Ug and Mug to donate some food and resources to see more bows and arrows being made for the benefit of the new folk. And it was all fine and dandy and they got along fine. But where are Ug and Mug now? Where are the Neanderthal's? I'll tell you. Dead. These 30 thousand years. Extinct!"

The audience had gone dead quiet but it was a dangerous kind of silence.

"Extinct. Now there's a terrible word if you think about it. A thing beyond death. Because extinction means your children are dead too and your grandchildren and there children will never even be born. You know what I would say to those Neanderthal's? You know what they should have done when those bow and arrow folk showed up?" Barnett banged his fist into the stages stand for emphasis. "They should have raised there fists and there stone tools and they should have smashed the bulging skulls of those new folk! Every last one of them! Because if they had there grandchildren would be around now!"

Barnett kept banging his fist into the stand, punctuating his words. Out of one ear Riley thought she heard a car start up and drive away from the house.

"Now we have politicians and professors telling us there's a new sort of human being amongst us, a new evolution going on. A parahuman among us ordinary folk. A parahuman whose only contribution is to murder your children with you being helpless to stop them! What kind of new humanity is that?! You think I'm a Neanderthal? You think I'm going to make the mistake they made? Are you going to let these abominations takeover God's good world?! Are your going to submit to extinction?! ARE YOU?! OR YOU?! ARE YOU?!"

Riley could hear the audience roaring and shouting as Barnett screamed and spat poison. The video ended.

"Charming," Riley muttered to herself. She wondered why dad had bothered to look at that speech. He wouldn't believe the bile spewing from that Barnett guy's mouth for obvious reasons and while he did post blogs and online articles about social problems he tended to stay away from the topic of Parahumans and cape culture.

Well, she'd put it off enough right? The power wasn't controlling her, she was choosing when to indulge for a clear benefit, not just simply because she could. Riley powered her laptop down, put it away and reached under her bed, finding the notebook tapped to the underside of the bedframe out of sight of any person who might clean the room.

Riley fished a pencil out of her bag, set the notebook open and flipped through. The first chapter covered her first creation, the one kicked off by the loss of Panacea. Glued into the notebook were photographs depicting the construct she had tentatively labeled "Healer", though she was still unsure of the official name "Angel of Mercy" which washer current favorite choice for a cape name to use while in that body but there might be another better option to go with when it was time to make an impact. The construct was visibly female, equivalent in size to an adult woman.

Intended to serve as a way for Riley to act as a Healer or support, the construct was clearly marked via notations and basic diagrams showing were the flesh suit - meat puppet could split open, allowing Riley to step in and then have the sui-puppet seal itself up. She would be see though the puppet's eyes, move it's limbs as though they were own. Idly Riley entered the new ideas for correcting neuro-transmitter levels to the updates section, those improvements once implemented (hopefully after school) should increase her reflex's - reaction time in suit and allow for a greater syncing of her facial muscles to that of the outer shell. So far the body suit's offered disturbingly blank faces wise when she'd recorded taking them for test drives.

The Healer suit didn't have Panacea's power. Recreating that would have required direct access to the legendary healer's body and a degree of invasive study Riley was not equipped both resource wise and emotionally to complete. As such she had forgone traditional muscles/bones in the arms/hands and instead woven together a nest of eel like tendrils, the tendrils could act as needle and thread, inject pain relieving concoctions, set bones, and more. It was trial to control the appendages when her body was inside the meat puppet precisely because how different the arms were from anything human, Riley had resorted to building a kind of library for basic commands into the arms to aid fluency after her last attempt to stitch up a (stolen from the school's science lab) frog had exploded.

She had a few ideas for outfit - costumes written in that chapter.

She flipped to Chapter 2. The combat body. Still unfinished but getting close to a trial, and she planned to use this one once it was ready. Healer had been ...... a releasing, something in her snapping and pouring out into a shape her power and mind provided. Riley supposed the passing of her favorite hero had been the straw that broke that camels back. The combat body was different. She had a purpose in mind for this one.

Healer could only exist in the hypothetical, if an Endbringer or dangerous enough group of villains came into play in her sheltered little life. The combat body and what it offered could be applied to her world. Would be applied to her world. Soon.

That rude little bigot Blaise Havero had spray painted a swastika on girl's bathroom door at school, everyone knew he'd done it and everyone knew his mother, who totally didn't have a portrait of Purity above her mantle piece had all but threatened the school into dropping it. Riley had read about Brockton Bay, about the E88. She wasn't going to let that poison seep into this hideaway home.

The combat body, she hadn't decided on a name to adopt while wearing it though of the options she was considering Carnifex was ranking highly, was androgynous but had significantly more mass and raw muscle than Healer. The bones had been bonded with scavenged metal to increase toughness, the skin was rated as at least partially bullet proof, the density of muscle used was intended to be of higher quality than that of a normal human so it would be faster and stronger than anything an not Parahuman could output.

Tracing her eyes over the pictures glued and noting the unfinished flesh not fully covering the skull equivalent Riley twitched as against her wishes the look of the thing rubbed her nerves-memories the wrong way. The pattern of surgical scars on pale vat grown flesh looked ........... uncomfortably like stripes.

Riley remember another body, feminine in shape with a pattern of eerily similar stripes, remembered hands running through her hair. Remembered blood and gore, remembered something unstoppable. Purpose. The question of why her creation, made for a similar albeit less absolutely lethal purpose resembled the other from her memories was one Riley did her best not to think about.

Riley added in her new thoughts on bonding grown to purpose flesh to the skull analogue. She listed the best biological building blocks she could use (meat from dumpsters, bones from the butcher who thought they were for a nonexistent family dog), adhesives made from melting down plastic bottles, fruit flesh from a local farm she could treat into acting like a crude gray matter and so on. She could implement these steps after school, maybe take Carnifex for a test drive if she had the time

That done Riley got changed into her school uniform, put the collar up, wrapped a scarf around her neck and left her bedroom. As she walked down the stairs and across the manor's hall to the kitchen Riley heard a familiar voice talking. Looked like Dad was up.

"- took the car and mine is getting a tune up later today. Riley needs a lift to school, do you think you could take her with you when you take Yerodin in? Thanks a lot. Yeah see you a bit."

Riley couldn't hear anyone responding to him but the words were clearly a conversation. Talking on the phone then. And she'd arrived in time for him to finish.

Stepping into the kitchen, ornate wooden paneling and widows opening into a view of green lawns Riley's first sight of her father was of him expertly slicing up a side of meat with a very sharp knife.

Riley froze. The knife, cutting through flesh. The knife. The man holding it. Suddenly it was all to familiar. All like it had been. He was across the room from her but it was to close, everything under her skin seemed like it turned to twisted ice, crushing thought in surge of panic. The air caught in her bruised throat and the spark of pain made her jerk, breaking that awful moment that had seemed a lifetime.

Dad was watching her with knowing eyes.

"Ah dear, up already and dressed for school? Is the world ending?" Even as he spoke Dad opened the fridge and poured Riley an orange juice. He knew she liked that drink. He always seemed to know just the right routine to get her calm after something made her jump.

"Funny dad. I thought I'd get ready first up today, so Mum wouldn't bug me about it. Is she up yet?"

"Up and out kiddo." Dad smiled as he ruffled her hair. "Your mum got a last minute appointment via phone during the night, for a first thing in the morning session. She drove out west little over half an hour ago."

Huh, that must have been the car driving off she'd heard earlier then. But last minute? Early hours? West, not North towards town? And Mum not just rescheduling for a more convenient time. That either meant the client was offering something major in compensation or something more was up. Maybe it was paranoia but with the experience of hands closing on her throat and mounting terror in the dark fresh in her mind Riley had to wonder if the situation was as nice and normal as Dad seemed to be implying.

"Are we - I mean the client, asking late and wanting a session right up before Mum could prep and wanting it out of town, do you think there might be something going on?"

A normal child of 12 wouldn't ask that, couldn't imagine the kind of scenario's Riley could. Criminals planning something unwholesome, authorities with agenda and goals worth any cost to see fulfilled. Neither of father or daughter were normal, this was a dangerous world and while their little family had tried to stay under the radar it was always possible someone had connected dots into a picture.

"Doubt it." Dad's eyes were sharp, the easygoing manner sliding away to show something hard. "Everything I heard said it's a just a rich business man who doesn't really believe in what's being offered. He wanted a session at the airport because he's got a flight and couldn't be bothered to change his schedule to fit a more reasonable time in. Rude about the setup sure and probably not a nice man but nothing that said criminal or law enforcement to me."

Left unsaid but perfectly clear was that if this was something other than a client on the clock Mum could hold her own. As quickly as the serious man talking to her like she was adult had surfaced her regular joking easy going father slipped back into place.

"But since she took her car and mine's still in need of maintenance, I called Jerusha and she says she'll drive you into school when she takes Yerodin in."

"Dad! I don't need a lift. I have a working bike and it's not that far to school." Riley whined, because really?

Okay she didn't dislike her sort of neighbor Ms Carter and her daughter Yerodin, quite the opposite really Yerodin despite being a year older than Riley was a good friend and Jerusha was nice. But again, Principle of the thing.

"And you broke your arm on that bike dear." Dad responded calm and slightly amused but firm. Right the cover story for the last bout of dream inflicted violence.

Mulishly Riley ate her breakfast, under the laughing eyes of dad, then collected her lunch box and school bag. She managed to wheedle a little extra money out of dad by making out that it was to buy some sweets after school, the cash could be turned towards gathering more materials for the project.

"Sure dear, take $10. My wallets in Mum and Dad's bedroom, first draw on the bedside table. "

Riley slipped out up the stars and into her parents tastefully ornate bedroom with its oversized bed and fished out the money from dad's wallet.

As she left the room Riley saw a gleam of light from the closet. The door was open and sitting on a shelf, left behind by it's owner, was a glass mask-helmet shaped like skull of a enormous bird.

Yeah, Mum could definitely handle herself.

When Riley arrives at school she will have hours of material she's already grasped to shift through, boxes to tick and answers to write out. When she can run on autopilot what she will think about?

[] The article she'd seen on the infectious and most likely artificial plague that is running wild through Montreal which has a lot of experts spooked. Riley didn't make the disease but something of her power stirs at the thought of virus's shaped by higher minds and starts making her want to look at the pathogen she knows is active in Yerodin's blood. Riley will seek out with Yerodin and reflect on their history.

[] The last minute appointment her mother took on and the festering concern that it's not as harmless - benign as she hopes it is. Logic says one thing but emotion's aren't easily put into neat boxes and Riley has lost family before. Looking back Riley will mentally run through some of the more colorful sessions her mother has conducted that Riley has either managed to spy on or heard about second hand.

[] The mystery of that anti-parahuman rally video she found in her search history, which has to be a by product of Dad's inability to stop using her stuff. Riley knows her father takes an interest in politics and social movements but he really does stay away from Parahuman topics, has done so ever since the bad old days. Riley will mentally run through the bits and pieces she has noticed on the man's worldview.

[] The news about Laserdream, New Wave are far from Riley's corner of the world and aren't that distinct on there own but they are connected to a topic Riley has very intense feelings about. It's the family of her favorite hero after all and the latest bout of Brockton Bay violence has stirred up memories. What happened to Panacea, what Riley thinks about that mess and why it hurts will run through her mind.

 

[toxinvictory]

Name: Riley

Appearance: A young girl with blonde hair and green eyes.

Cape Alias: ????

Parahuman Type: Bio-tinker

Age: 12

Bio: ????

Personal Connections (Individual):

• Father: TBA
• Mother: TBA
• The Man In Dreams: A mysterious figure who appears in Riley's dream when she taps into her powers deeply enough. Seems intensly angry at everything but Riley in particular, violence inflicted by him in dreams on Riley manifests on her waking body which has made using her powers without her parent's noticing harder.
• Panacea - Amelia Dallon: The world famous healer cape of Brockton Bay and member of superhero New Wave. Riley considered Panacea her idol, wanted to be her and intensely admired her, past tense. More information TBA.
• Jerusha Carter: Neighbor and family friend, mother to Yerodin. More Information TBA.
• Wally Carter: Neighbor and family friend, father to Yerodin. More information TBA.
• Yerodin Carter: The daughter of Riley's neighbor's. A friend at school and out of it. More information TBA.

Personal Connections (Group):

• New Wave: A independent hero group/family based in Brockton Bay. Due to Panacea being a member Riley is aware of the group, emotionally invested in their wellbeing and follows their activities online.
• Slaughterhouse 9: An infamous group of Parahuman serial killers who terrorized America, regarded as the worst of the worst among supervillains. Riley has a very personal history with the group, the detail's of which are to be revealed.
• Empire Eighty-Eight: The well organized and parahuman backed Neo-Nazi movement centered in Brockton Bay, Riley is aware of them and doesn't care for the group or it's ideology.
• The Protectorate: TBA
• The PRT: TBA
• The Wards: TBA

Achievements of Note: TBA

Equipment/Creations:

- Meat Suit Series: A number of artificial bodies, custom designed to allow Riley to pilot them from the inside and so pass as an adult, intended to be used for Cape activities. Existing models are:

• Healer Model (Provisional name Angel of Mercy): A female body created in homage of Panacea. This model is able to use highly dexterous hand tentacles to suture and bind wounds, manipulate flesh and administer a range of medical compounds.
• Combat Model (Provisional name Carnifex): An androgynous body created for fighting and direct physical action. The model boasts reinforced bones, super strength capacity and bullet proof skin. Bears an uncomfortable similarity in appearance and function to S9 member Siberian.

 

[Eternal_0bserver]

Well, it was weird. And because of my ignorance of Wild Cards, I can't even tell what stuff came from there. Well, it's also exciting.

[X] The last minute appointment her mother took on and the festering concern that it's not as harmless - benign as she hopes it is. Logic says one thing but emotion's aren't easily put into neat boxes and Riley has lost family before. Looking back Riley will mentally run through some of the more colorful sessions her mother has conducted that Riley has either managed to spy on or heard about second hand.

It sounds more urgent.

 

[toxinvictory]

Well, it was weird. And because of my ignorance of Wild Cards, I can't even tell what stuff came from there. Well, it's also exciting.

Click to shrink...

Congratulations on being the first to vote! I am aiming towards a story that's enjoyable for readers who are pure Worm fans on its own grounds. So while prior knowledge of Wild Cards can enrich the reading - questing experience you don't have to know about the WC setting to read and hopefully have fun with this.

Whats going on ie how Riley's story diverged from the Bonesaw route of Worm canon will be explored sooner rather than later. As evidenced by her father with a knife in hand and a bird skull mask of glass in the closet the past isn't quite as gone as a great many people would like.

 

[triumph8w]

[X] The last minute appointment her mother took on and the festering concern that it's not as harmless - benign as she hopes it is. Logic says one thing but emotion's aren't easily put into neat boxes and Riley has lost family before. Looking back Riley will mentally run through some of the more colorful sessions her mother has conducted that Riley has either managed to spy on or heard about second hand.

Huh. This is an interesting one. I must also profess a lack of ignorance towards Wild Cards. Seen it before, but only in passing.

 

[sevgre]

[X] The news about Laserdream, New Wave are far from Riley's corner of the world and aren't that distinct on there own but they are connected to a topic Riley has very intense feelings about. It's the family of her favorite hero after all and the latest bout of Brockton Bay violence has stirred up memories. What happened to Panacea, what Riley thinks about that mess and why it hurts will run through her mind.

 

[goable]

[x] The article she'd seen on the infectious and most likely artificial plague that is running wild through Montreal which has a lot of experts spooked. Riley didn't make the disease but something of her power stirs at the thought of virus's shaped by higher minds and starts making her want to look at the pathogen she knows is active in Yerodin's blood. Riley will seek out with Yerodin and reflect on their history.

 

[veekie]

[x] The article she'd seen on the infectious and most likely artificial plague that is running wild through Montreal which has a lot of experts spooked. Riley didn't make the disease but something of her power stirs at the thought of virus's shaped by higher minds and starts making her want to look at the pathogen she knows is active in Yerodin's blood. Riley will seek out with Yerodin and reflect on their history.

Ah wild card virus. A terrible thing for most people.

 

[thewhiteraven22]

[X] The last minute appointment her mother took on and the festering concern that it's not as harmless - benign as she hopes it is. Logic says one thing but emotion's aren't easily put into neat boxes and Riley has lost family before. Looking back Riley will mentally run through some of the more colorful sessions her mother has conducted that Riley has either managed to spy on or heard about second hand.

 

[Captain Silver]

[x] The article she'd seen on the infectious and most likely artificial plague that is running wild through Montreal which has a lot of experts spooked. Riley didn't make the disease but something of her power stirs at the thought of virus's shaped by higher minds and starts making her want to look at the pathogen she knows is active in Yerodin's blood. Riley will seek out with Yerodin and reflect on their history.