Worm: Blanket aka The Diaper Changer (Com-pleated)
- Thread starter ScottotheUnwise
- Start date
Mirriam Grave
The Bemused. The Amused. The Unstable.
- Location
- The edge of a point.
I am just laughing my ass off at Cokin pulling off that joke.
Balrog
not Durin's Bane
- Location
- The Mines of Moria
*shakes head* Blanket, Blanket, Blanket you could have done so much better, lets see... Neon pink with gold, silver and neon orange stars and moons polyester suit.
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
Ah but she was trying for Otho from Beetlejuice.
If she was feeling particularly vindictive, she would put him in a Tuxedo with a top hat and make a bunch of scarves shoot out of his sleeve...
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Reminds me of a story from my uncle's technically now ex wife and kid.
They lived out on Camp Pendleton, and wife and kid would go to beach. Kid was a bit developed for her age (14), so you'd get PFCs and such interested in her.
Not sure what scared them off quicker, her age, or that her father was a S Sgt....
I'm pretty sure they know she's too young for that. Plus, Chair Force.
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
Offers to transfer to another Wards group...
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Ooooh. OK. Makes a bit more sense now.
- Location
- Neptune
No, that would not have been better.
While she could have done this:
This:
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
Myrddin was at a disadvantage you know. Sending a cloth cape to a pocket dimension, really? Who else would instinctively know how to deal with pockets... or zippers for that matter.
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
Half surprised that Taylor didn't go the Bugs Bunny route: "Of course you know... This Means War." Then pocket spaced Him, by putting him in her pocket.
Troy Guffey
Irresponsible Parasite
- Location
- Western Missouri, USA
I'd want the BUFF from Beng's LaserNukeDemo mod of Zero Hour. Flies across the map, using lasers, launching cruise missiles (short-ranged, though), and on the designated target drops a BIG Bunker Buster. Then keeps flying across the map shooting things with it's secondaries.
Or just get a AC-130U Spooky/Spectre/Stinger/Ghostrider. 105mm howizer, 40mm Bofors, 25 mm GAU-12 Equalizercannon....
Balrog
not Durin's Bane
- Location
- The Mines of Moria
I stand corrected.No, that would not have been better.
While she could have done this:
and under other circumstances it might have worked, here in this situation she was attempting to send a very different message.
This:
is what she tried to convey. And she succeeded in getting her message across.
Fiber Field Dressings
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
*************** Pacifier 1
Working through the injured kept me busy well into first light. They stopped Panacea from pushing herself so hard past life threatening injuries. And then I showed that I could refresh her with a mere hug. Heh. Pretty soon I had worn out doctors coming over being polite and all.
The last few dozen injuries had been brought in from the lake itself. Fishing boats caught out on the Lake unaware of the Endbringer alerts.
In my Blanket form I have excellent senses, smell especially. This last group smelled … off. They were all frostbite and a few lacerations, so I sent Panacea off with Glory Girl for some more coffee, maybe find a cot. The smell I was trying to place was partly diesel, partly something else.
The paramedics out front who were requesting our presence seemed unhappy when the girls turned away.
I used a tendril to tap my comm active and murmured. "Dragon, going into the last tent with the lakeside recovery effort. Getting a bad feeling. Call in the Troops."
My earphone pulled inside my head, to an ear in the hollow --heh, my inner ear-- answered a moment later. "Roger that."
The closer of the two paramedics paused. "You say something?"
I waved it off as the other opened the tent flap. "Just my internal dialog." I smiled a little.
Visible inside were maybe five guys of varying ages on stretchers. There were three nurses working on wrapping them up, or perhaps unwrapping them now. The tent was divided with a partition hiding the back half.
"We lost a few, the bodies are back there." The Doctor nodded with a clipboard. "I was kind of expecting Panacea to be the cape on duty. What do I call you? And what can you do for my patients?"
"I'm called Blanket, Doctor ..?" I step forward and look for the worst case.
He sighs. "Okay, try not to give me too much grief over it. Doctor Franklin Smith." He seems to wait a moment.
It escapes me, whatever he is expecting.
"Doctor Smith? The pain, the pain!" He tries with a bit of wail. Sighing. "Kids these days. Nurse?"
I feel something at the back of my neck. A syringe squirts in and I go limp --playing along because I want to see what their game was.
One of the older men of the injured sits up and pulls aside a bandage over part of his face. "All right children. Keep on bringing me in fresh meat while I see what we have to work with here."
I don't recognize the face, but it could only be one person really. James Rinke, Nilbog himself.
As he approaches he hmms. "Your flesh is quite unusual, young lady. It is a good thing the paralytic works or you might cause me some problems." His hand is holding something like a balloon. It is growing and wet looking. Ewww. Now that I can see, he had a thick rope going back into the other side of the tent that is pulsing as … stuff … is pumped by muscular twitches into his back and into the balloon on his hand.
"Now don't try to scream or struggle, the drug won't let that work anyway. It is a painless transformation into one of my creations, and I suppose there is no reason to continue with the fairy tale theme anymore. Each of my children here contain the seeds of the day. You won't be hungry ever again as you can process sunlight into food." He pauses, pointing at one of the nurses. "Show her! Show your new sister how much better you are than mere human."
The Nurse unbuttons her blouse and shrugs it down to expose her shoulders, turning away. Curled up into a flat package on her back are green things that quickly unfurl into wing structures, like leaves or fronds with musculature.
"Now, isn't that much nicer than mere human?" He closes with me and the bag opens. "Embrace your new reality!"
The Doctor and Nurse holding my limp body move to push me into the bag.
Nope.
I stand up, shrugging off their grip easily --helloooo, Brute!-- and offer up my answer to that. "How about we just hug it out and call it even?"
My body shifts fully into Ooogie Boogie pink form and I grab him, giving him the full healing hug. Who knows it might even fix him. Come to think of it, I grab all of them, Doctor, Nurses, the patients rising in alarm. Hugs all around. I send tendrils outside the tent and grab the Paramedics escorting in another Doctor for a 'consultation'.
HUGS. HEALS!
The minds of the recently converted are still there intact, he just turned them into passengers and didn't destroy them as he had to the townsfolk of Ellisburg. I guess he wanted their skills as well as their flesh.
OOF. This was taking a lot of energy to fix. Oh, I realized the healing is going further out, into the mash of flesh beyond the tent. A slurry of people, fish from the lake, trees. There was something big out there, trailing into the lake itself. The healing followed the line of flesh to one of the beasts he'd created. But it wasn't affecting that thing, which barely had a mind to speak of. No, it was following the trail to … the real Rinke.
I could feel him. His age. He was withered and OLD. Like an old potato left in the crisper drawer all winter long. His own flesh was cocooned and protected, but he was all pruned from years of being within it.
Healing him was brushing with madness.
I felt him fighting me. His mind was full of the memories of what people had done to him, what he'd done in retaliation. If I thought Hookwolf was psychotic, this guy was another forty or so clinical terms beyond that alone. Megalomania. Narcissism. The list was too long for me to grasp as they were cleared.
His … children. His creations, they were linked together like some kind of mass intelligence! Like a networked set of computers, sharing across all of them. I felt them out there. Some in the lake itself, some already in the city of Toronto or under it. Infiltrators. Beasts. Parasites ready to convert others to his cause. The closer converted people of the disaster relief groups I called back to me, those with the feeling of humanity still inside them. The smaller … things I sent back to the lakewater to hide for now.
And there it was, his own belief in his own perfection. He would not allow anyone to examine his creations. It was a built in defense against detection, and all the myriad pieces of Nilbog knew I had detected them. If they weren't in the tent and within reach of me, and of him, they began self destructing. Burning bodies began floating to the surface of the lake where it was already becoming liquid again --or melted their way to the surface as they self-incinerated.
Connected to him through the flesh, I made it pull him closer to me.
Over my comm "Dragon. I have Nilbog here. And a lot of people in need of Master/Stranger, strike that they need BIO striker haz teams to take them into custody until we can split the sheep from the goats." I grunt as the first of the bigger things incinerate out in the lake, the connections breaking them from the groupmind.
A startled voice, all emotional and ragged, answered my comm broadcast. "Piggot here. DID YOU SAY YOU CAUGHT NILBOG? Report!"
"Yes ma'am. He'd converted some of the disaster workers and a tent full of injured. I have him under my control while healing him of the many psychoses he has. It appears he has a self destruct in his creations on detection and capture and my holding him is triggering it." I note. I am still feeling the things dying off, all the way back to Ellisburg and some way north of that. Oh that shit, he was trying in multiple directions when he broke out!
The material of the tent and most of what was on the floor in the back --uniforms of SAR teams that were ambushed, Toronto Police and civilians directed into the tent and then dissolved-- it was all pulled into my body to maintain my grip and I took hold of more of his 'body'.
Now I wove sections of myself to keep the fleshy slush in the bag making up the back of the tent from incinerating us as it began to immolate as well. I'm glad Kid Win had helped me with those fireproof materials. The metal of the cots, the aluminum from various sources was pulled in as I wove the barrier against the flames he was generating --on purpose!
I had just been holding him through the flesh link until now. No more. I separated him from the touch of his sac, enfolding him in a direct hug. With no contact to the rest of his body, the remaining pieces literally blew themselves to bits in their haste to immolate.
With the tent gone around us, the Troopers in hazmat gear were revealed. Confoam for everyone.
"Blanket here. I am pulling Rinke in from the water side." I note. "Let me get him onshore and I will let you foam him up separately. Do not let him contact anything made of flesh!" I say.
"Roger that, Blanket." The voice was male. Checking my phone's display showed that the app routing comm signals had transferred over to local control, restricted access. "Would you please remove yourself from the waterside prisoner? I am taking full responsibility."
"Please identify yourself." I answer, still pulling the cloth covered Rinke out of the water.
There was a grunt of humor over the comm lines. "This is Director James Lawrence Tagg, I am the man responsible for the Ellisburg enclosure and this man is my prisoner." He spoke quietly.
Right. Local control.
I withdrew my covering to allow the confoam streams to reach Rinke.
Even as the swirls of confoam covering me and the healed people who were in the tent, I heard the bark of a handgun.
Sunnavabitch!
"He was captured! Why would you DO that?!" I spoke over the comm.
The voice was tired sounding. "Young lady, pursuant to Executive directive two-zero-zero-one-alpha-foxtrot-echo-bravo-three, any cape of heroic or villainous nature causing injury or death during the Endbringer Truce is subject to on site court martial up to and including a death sentence. The accused, one James Rinke used mind controlling elements on each of the individuals you freed, multiple acts of cannibalism to generate the flesh constructs he used to escape his lawful containment. He colluded with the Endbringer known as Leviathan to damage military assets in a direct act of terrorism. Any and all of these are sufficient grounds for the death penalty…"
I interjected on this. "But I HEALED him. He was free of the mental damage that made him do those things!"
He paused a moment, perhaps waiting for more, then replied. "Good." His sigh came over the open line. "He went to his maker aware of the harm he had caused to the people of his home town, to the American citizens he turned into his creations. If there is any justice he will pay for his crimes for the rest of eternity."
There was another pause, then I felt the heat rise again as flamethrowers played across the body of one James Rinke.
*****************
The voices outside the trailer they'd commandeered woke Amy up. She'd been down from maybe ten minutes, tops.
"She's sleeping you jerk!" Vicky's voice. "You can't just barge in there. I don't care if the president stubbed his toe!"
The voices sounded mechanical, voice alteration. "Ma'am, I am going to ask you to stand down. This is a matter for military police under martial law. Interfering can be considered an act of treason during the Truce. Get her up and out here."
Amy stumbled to the door of the trailer, one of those pull along campers that were kept near the harbor by those rich enough to have boats and campers both. But apparently not that rich based on the size of the camper itself.
Opening the door. "I'm awake, I'm awake!" Amy noted, followed by a yawn.
"Panacea. You may have been exposed to a BIO striker, Nilbog himself, in the course of healing tonight. We are authorized to hold you in confinement until we have validated genetic testing that you have not been affected." He swiveled his helmet to Vicky, floating at eye height despite his power armor. Military type, not the basic stuff the PRT Troopers get.
Amy sighed. "Fine, give us a couple of swabs for samples, then post a guard on this camper. I need some sleep and you need not to be court martialed for inappropriate approach to your duties to capes who have attended multiple Endbringer battles." She accepted the swab kits offered, opening one and handing the other to Vicky.
After a quick swipe under the tongue and across her cheeks, she sealed it back. "Post your guards but be QUIET about it. I still have a direct line to President Obama after that greenstick he got on the campaign trail last year."
Vicky's smirk grew a bit as she handed over her sealed swab. Amy felt the aura flare as the military police stepped back as she glowed golden. "I will be inside with my sister then."
Both girls moved inside and contemplated the bed available. "You were able to sleep on that?"
Amy nodded glumly. It wasn't more than an inch of foam pretending to be a bed and it wasn't wide enough for both of them.
"I got it." Vicky unwrapped the scarf Blanket had given her and did something to the ends that allowed it to unroll some. Between the two sections that were the outermost layer were more layers sandwiched together. They weren't solid weaving like the outer part. Instead it was like a net of nearly unbreakable fibers. Pinning up two corners on hooks already there, she gestured for Amy to climb on. Then she took the other two corners and flew them up while she hooked them just before the door and the far side as well.
"Hammock mode." she smiled. "Hope you don't snore!"
Amy hooked part of her costume belt to the outside edge of the hammock while Vicky did the same on hers to keep them from rolling to the center as a clump. "I don't snore… And you don't, anymore." She smiled at Vicky like the proverbial cat that ate the canary.
"I don't… HEY!" Vicky grumbled. Then she nodded off, asleep.
Amy smiled, removing her grip on Vicky's wrist. "Shhhh. Quiet time now." And she closed her eyes quickly to grab whatever sleep she could.
****************
"Director Tagg has taken control of the group Blanket rescued, as well as Blanket herself. He has MPs stationed around Panacea and Glory Girl's shared trailer." Dragon's voice noted.
"This is Piggot, actual. Wards, and Protectorate personnel both. Good job out there. Especially to those of you out of your depth or unable to contribute directly. You did well to keep your heads and let those capable of acting do their jobs." She paused, her image leaning into the camera frame. "And now three of our own are being held by other authority. Director Tagg took the opportunity to execute Nilbog for his crimes AFTER Blanket captured him. I need you to get our girl and anyone she healed clear of his control. Panacea and Glory Girl are in a separate location, similar situation. I want you to get them back."
******************
"Stalker, Glam. I want you two out, scouting the area to locate Panacea. She was in a trailer, some kind of camper just west of here before their cell signal was jammed. Go find them, get them under surveillance for now." Armsmaster was in no-nonsense mode.
In the early morning glare, the military presence had tripled, while the civilian count had dwindled. The shelters were all further inland, so only those who had a driving business being here were.
They'd ah requisitioned the flight suits and helmets from the pilots. They'd been willing to help but for plausible deniability Miss Militia shot them with standard tranqs.
Glam was of two minds for this. One line of feeling was that Glory Girl and Panacea were pains in the ass she would do well to let disappear. The other was that if she didn't help out here there might come a time she was the person to rescue and no one would care.
In the fog of the early morning, Shadow Stalker dropped them both out the bottom of the transport while Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Assault and Battery all made their way out the real entrance to join with the escort sent to bring them to Director Tagg.
Belly crawling toward the Protectorate controlled section, the two found a quiet spot to stand up and mosy over to the command tent now being run by Chevalier.
The guards tensed as they approached, but they had their Wards phones out and were able to give the passphrase of the day. This go them inside and into the attention of Chevalier.
"What are you doing out here, in those uniforms, when Tagg has this place locked up under martial law?" He had his famous sword leaning against the table as he spoke.
Doffing the helmets to show their domino masks, Shadow Stalker spoke up first. "We need to get around through this tent to the camper where Panacea and Glory Girl are being held. Can you help us out?"
Chevalier showed his teeth in a smile. "That's simple enough. We have some bandages and some blood packs that were mostly used before she helped out here. Just dummy up some wounds, bandages and a sling for your off arms and go request access to her. If they refuse, come back here and we will take further action."
**************
Browbeat waited until they'd all left. Grabbing the last flight suit, she shifted into male form as close to 'No Dice' as she could, grabbed his wallet with id. As a last item, she used a set of clippers to shave the unibrow back to more normal look.
Coming out of the bathroom she saw Aegis do a double-take to her and to the three sleeping pilots. Then he nodded, understanding.
Moving to the transport entrance, she encountered an MP stationed there. "I'm sorry, but the Wards were instructed to remain on the trans… ah."
Drawing on her knowledge of the military from her uncles, Madison stood straighter. "Do I look like a Ward sergeant? They picked up a number of pilots downed over the lake. I got nominated to report in as it seems there is a gag order on the area. You can either pass me along to higher or take the tongue lashing my commander sends to your commander for interfering with our chain of command." Crossing her arms in front of her lanky guy chest, Madison waited.
"Okay sir, you are free to pass. The ah Air Force command center is just over the ridge." he said.
The edge of the tone caught Browbeat's attention. "Bite your tongue! This is Marine insignia you dirt eating grunt!" She squared her shoulders. "Hoorah." And walked off muttering. "Joint command is joint, so they can call it in if anyone can."
Nobody shot at her, foam or otherwise, so it was a good call.
After showing her ID a number of times, she requested entry to the communications tent, and was brought up short when a Tinker device went off.
"Why are you carrying a Wards phone, soldier?" The officer in charge leaned in close. "One with a Stranger rating I might add."
Madison huffed out her breath. "I wasn't lying Captain. I do need to speak to higher, Director Tagg is jamming … ah… interdicting all PRT communication channels and ordered all Protectorate members to report for Master Stranger protocols."
He crossed his arms. "That is still breaking orders. I am not so far hearing a reason not to throw you in the brig… ah, young lady? Would you mind?"
Madison shifted to female form, taking out and applying a domino. "Can't go all the way or I will fall out of the flight suit…" she grumbled. "As for the orders, they told Protectorate personnel to report in, but left the Wards in the transport. The guard's orders were to keep Wards in the transport, but I never heard any order to ME to stay put. Putting on his face let me get past them without violating their orders."
She grumped a little. "Director Tagg is holding PANACEA, a non PRT, underaged cape incommunicado with no reasons given. The Ward, Blanket was foamed up and held along with the people she rescued from Nilbog's control. Tagg shot Nilbog while on an open comm line. None of that has been passed on to higher. This is above my paygrade and yours soldier."
The captain looking at her softened his angered face. "Mil brat?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Uncle in Army Rangers."
He smiled then. "A legacy then." he waived off the guards. "I will still have to hold you, but I suppose some comm time is a fair trade for bringing those pilots off the ice. I have a cousin who is one of those jarheads myself, shame if it turned out to be her ass you fished out of the water."
Browbeat paused. "There can't be THAT many female Warthog pilots, can there?"
He shook his head. "More than you might think after the cutbacks in the 90's. With so little need for combat capable, they ruled that it was valid for both sexes --physical, not counting leanings or other qualifiers." He hemmed.
"Is her callsign Rabbit?" She asked, raised eyebrow --monobrow with a tilt.
"Sunnova!" he gulped. "Now I guess I really do owe you some comm time." Bringing her over to a communications desk. "Radio is interdicted but as you noted, no one has ORDERED us to block internet access. Can you use a Skype connection?"
Madison grinned. "Just give me a WEP key and I'm good."
She slugged the recorded audio of the execution, as well as a dictated report of the past couple hours. Most of it was already in place, as she didn't have much else to do during the flight once they started toward Lake Ontario. She had wanted to become a journalist before her powers showed up. She still did, but maybe as a sideline.
Putting the attachments to Dragon, Director Piggot and cc'ing Chief Director Costa-Brown seemed like a safe bet. Adding another copy to the Joint Chiefs of Staff link Dragon's quick response of acknowledgement held just added icing.
****************
And so I was left waiting for some time inside a foamed up shell. I still had people in my ahem grip and I tried to keep them calm.
This was pretty shitty treatment, likely just to cover his ass while he spins the victory story out.
Bored, I feel my reach into Blanket Space to check on things.
Uber and Leet's respective ships were holding pattern above Lake Ontario, miles out. Maybe I can get word out that way…
****************
Trooper Collins was chilling out, matching up the tech specs of the fighter with the controls, preparing to be the one resource within the PRT to know the most about these fighters. They had been ordered to maintain position pending review of 'events', what her finely tuned bureaucratic sense would call 'stalling until someone higher than me makes the call'.
Leet was just happy to watch her, being in the cockpit was probably the longest time he'd been in the company of someone with those looks that didn't try to light him on fire. It was ONE time, sheesh.
Collins caught herself looking at him now and again. That sappy look on his face said he was smitten. She wasn't completely repelled by the idea, so she didn't shoot him down… And then she noticed something.
"What?" Leet straightened up. "Did I grow a third eye or something?"
"More like another face altogether." She points at his chest.
The small muppet face coming out of his outer costume. I finished forming the face, then added a neck so I could look back to them. "Hey guys. Thanks for saving our proverbial bacon there." I squinted a little as Leet had moved some, partway climbing out of the seat.
"Relax. I'm just trying to get a message out. Director Tagg is jamming communication down here and I know how you and Uber feel about freedom of information. How would you like my camera view of the fight? You just need to drop a press release before Tagg gets his version set in stone." I offer.
Leet calmed right down. "What do you think, dude?"
I glance over to Collins, who shrugs. Dude? Is he blind?!
A screen comes to life showing Uber and Hicks in the other cockpit. "He meant me, as we are monitoring each other. And yes, that sounds perfect. Better than nothing since we didn't have very good Snitch coverage of the fight itself. And we have had the pleasure of dealing with Tagg before…" He made a face.
Leet nodded. "How do we get the info?"
I grin, mini muppet me anyway. "Just so happen to have a file sharing app on my phone."
Raised eyebrow. "And that helps us how….ah okay!" he freaks a little as I produce my cell out of a hole opening in his chest.
"Get vreddy fu fil tramphor." Ah I was still holding it with my muppet mouth.
Collins took the phone, holding it up for me to interact with.
"Thanks." I trigger the file share request. "I do have a small request or two from you boys if you make the killing off the fight video I expect."
"You. do?" Leet asks.
I grin at them. "Well, for one thing I will need you to ah enter my Blanket Space and do maintenance on the energy source in the van you left in there."
"Dude!" Uber sings out. "She totally asked you to get inside her britches!"
Collins leaned over into camera view. "Hicks, hit the man please."
Hicks, who had been quiet throughout, punched Uber in the shoulder with a classic Noogie.
"Worth it!" Uber larked.
I pretend he didn't speak. "And the second is that Uber there meets with a cape I know, Professor Rose."
Uber's jaw dropped. "Dude! She was LEGENDARY! Nobody has heard a thing from her for years. Long before my time." He grimaced. "That jerk Victor has been trying to track down any mention of her, for like ages. If she is active again… Oh... Shit. You … are a relative, aren't you?"
"Bingo."
"That's a lot of trust." He tapped his chin. "Okay. Quest accep... ah, I will do it."
Working through the injured kept me busy well into first light. They stopped Panacea from pushing herself so hard past life threatening injuries. And then I showed that I could refresh her with a mere hug. Heh. Pretty soon I had worn out doctors coming over being polite and all.
The last few dozen injuries had been brought in from the lake itself. Fishing boats caught out on the Lake unaware of the Endbringer alerts.
In my Blanket form I have excellent senses, smell especially. This last group smelled … off. They were all frostbite and a few lacerations, so I sent Panacea off with Glory Girl for some more coffee, maybe find a cot. The smell I was trying to place was partly diesel, partly something else.
The paramedics out front who were requesting our presence seemed unhappy when the girls turned away.
I used a tendril to tap my comm active and murmured. "Dragon, going into the last tent with the lakeside recovery effort. Getting a bad feeling. Call in the Troops."
My earphone pulled inside my head, to an ear in the hollow --heh, my inner ear-- answered a moment later. "Roger that."
The closer of the two paramedics paused. "You say something?"
I waved it off as the other opened the tent flap. "Just my internal dialog." I smiled a little.
Visible inside were maybe five guys of varying ages on stretchers. There were three nurses working on wrapping them up, or perhaps unwrapping them now. The tent was divided with a partition hiding the back half.
"We lost a few, the bodies are back there." The Doctor nodded with a clipboard. "I was kind of expecting Panacea to be the cape on duty. What do I call you? And what can you do for my patients?"
"I'm called Blanket, Doctor ..?" I step forward and look for the worst case.
He sighs. "Okay, try not to give me too much grief over it. Doctor Franklin Smith." He seems to wait a moment.
It escapes me, whatever he is expecting.
"Doctor Smith? The pain, the pain!" He tries with a bit of wail. Sighing. "Kids these days. Nurse?"
I feel something at the back of my neck. A syringe squirts in and I go limp --playing along because I want to see what their game was.
One of the older men of the injured sits up and pulls aside a bandage over part of his face. "All right children. Keep on bringing me in fresh meat while I see what we have to work with here."
I don't recognize the face, but it could only be one person really. James Rinke, Nilbog himself.
As he approaches he hmms. "Your flesh is quite unusual, young lady. It is a good thing the paralytic works or you might cause me some problems." His hand is holding something like a balloon. It is growing and wet looking. Ewww. Now that I can see, he had a thick rope going back into the other side of the tent that is pulsing as … stuff … is pumped by muscular twitches into his back and into the balloon on his hand.
"Now don't try to scream or struggle, the drug won't let that work anyway. It is a painless transformation into one of my creations, and I suppose there is no reason to continue with the fairy tale theme anymore. Each of my children here contain the seeds of the day. You won't be hungry ever again as you can process sunlight into food." He pauses, pointing at one of the nurses. "Show her! Show your new sister how much better you are than mere human."
The Nurse unbuttons her blouse and shrugs it down to expose her shoulders, turning away. Curled up into a flat package on her back are green things that quickly unfurl into wing structures, like leaves or fronds with musculature.
"Now, isn't that much nicer than mere human?" He closes with me and the bag opens. "Embrace your new reality!"
The Doctor and Nurse holding my limp body move to push me into the bag.
Nope.
I stand up, shrugging off their grip easily --helloooo, Brute!-- and offer up my answer to that. "How about we just hug it out and call it even?"
My body shifts fully into Ooogie Boogie pink form and I grab him, giving him the full healing hug. Who knows it might even fix him. Come to think of it, I grab all of them, Doctor, Nurses, the patients rising in alarm. Hugs all around. I send tendrils outside the tent and grab the Paramedics escorting in another Doctor for a 'consultation'.
HUGS. HEALS!
The minds of the recently converted are still there intact, he just turned them into passengers and didn't destroy them as he had to the townsfolk of Ellisburg. I guess he wanted their skills as well as their flesh.
OOF. This was taking a lot of energy to fix. Oh, I realized the healing is going further out, into the mash of flesh beyond the tent. A slurry of people, fish from the lake, trees. There was something big out there, trailing into the lake itself. The healing followed the line of flesh to one of the beasts he'd created. But it wasn't affecting that thing, which barely had a mind to speak of. No, it was following the trail to … the real Rinke.
I could feel him. His age. He was withered and OLD. Like an old potato left in the crisper drawer all winter long. His own flesh was cocooned and protected, but he was all pruned from years of being within it.
Healing him was brushing with madness.
I felt him fighting me. His mind was full of the memories of what people had done to him, what he'd done in retaliation. If I thought Hookwolf was psychotic, this guy was another forty or so clinical terms beyond that alone. Megalomania. Narcissism. The list was too long for me to grasp as they were cleared.
His … children. His creations, they were linked together like some kind of mass intelligence! Like a networked set of computers, sharing across all of them. I felt them out there. Some in the lake itself, some already in the city of Toronto or under it. Infiltrators. Beasts. Parasites ready to convert others to his cause. The closer converted people of the disaster relief groups I called back to me, those with the feeling of humanity still inside them. The smaller … things I sent back to the lakewater to hide for now.
And there it was, his own belief in his own perfection. He would not allow anyone to examine his creations. It was a built in defense against detection, and all the myriad pieces of Nilbog knew I had detected them. If they weren't in the tent and within reach of me, and of him, they began self destructing. Burning bodies began floating to the surface of the lake where it was already becoming liquid again --or melted their way to the surface as they self-incinerated.
Connected to him through the flesh, I made it pull him closer to me.
Over my comm "Dragon. I have Nilbog here. And a lot of people in need of Master/Stranger, strike that they need BIO striker haz teams to take them into custody until we can split the sheep from the goats." I grunt as the first of the bigger things incinerate out in the lake, the connections breaking them from the groupmind.
A startled voice, all emotional and ragged, answered my comm broadcast. "Piggot here. DID YOU SAY YOU CAUGHT NILBOG? Report!"
"Yes ma'am. He'd converted some of the disaster workers and a tent full of injured. I have him under my control while healing him of the many psychoses he has. It appears he has a self destruct in his creations on detection and capture and my holding him is triggering it." I note. I am still feeling the things dying off, all the way back to Ellisburg and some way north of that. Oh that shit, he was trying in multiple directions when he broke out!
The material of the tent and most of what was on the floor in the back --uniforms of SAR teams that were ambushed, Toronto Police and civilians directed into the tent and then dissolved-- it was all pulled into my body to maintain my grip and I took hold of more of his 'body'.
Now I wove sections of myself to keep the fleshy slush in the bag making up the back of the tent from incinerating us as it began to immolate as well. I'm glad Kid Win had helped me with those fireproof materials. The metal of the cots, the aluminum from various sources was pulled in as I wove the barrier against the flames he was generating --on purpose!
I had just been holding him through the flesh link until now. No more. I separated him from the touch of his sac, enfolding him in a direct hug. With no contact to the rest of his body, the remaining pieces literally blew themselves to bits in their haste to immolate.
With the tent gone around us, the Troopers in hazmat gear were revealed. Confoam for everyone.
"Blanket here. I am pulling Rinke in from the water side." I note. "Let me get him onshore and I will let you foam him up separately. Do not let him contact anything made of flesh!" I say.
"Roger that, Blanket." The voice was male. Checking my phone's display showed that the app routing comm signals had transferred over to local control, restricted access. "Would you please remove yourself from the waterside prisoner? I am taking full responsibility."
"Please identify yourself." I answer, still pulling the cloth covered Rinke out of the water.
There was a grunt of humor over the comm lines. "This is Director James Lawrence Tagg, I am the man responsible for the Ellisburg enclosure and this man is my prisoner." He spoke quietly.
Right. Local control.
I withdrew my covering to allow the confoam streams to reach Rinke.
Even as the swirls of confoam covering me and the healed people who were in the tent, I heard the bark of a handgun.
Sunnavabitch!
"He was captured! Why would you DO that?!" I spoke over the comm.
The voice was tired sounding. "Young lady, pursuant to Executive directive two-zero-zero-one-alpha-foxtrot-echo-bravo-three, any cape of heroic or villainous nature causing injury or death during the Endbringer Truce is subject to on site court martial up to and including a death sentence. The accused, one James Rinke used mind controlling elements on each of the individuals you freed, multiple acts of cannibalism to generate the flesh constructs he used to escape his lawful containment. He colluded with the Endbringer known as Leviathan to damage military assets in a direct act of terrorism. Any and all of these are sufficient grounds for the death penalty…"
I interjected on this. "But I HEALED him. He was free of the mental damage that made him do those things!"
He paused a moment, perhaps waiting for more, then replied. "Good." His sigh came over the open line. "He went to his maker aware of the harm he had caused to the people of his home town, to the American citizens he turned into his creations. If there is any justice he will pay for his crimes for the rest of eternity."
There was another pause, then I felt the heat rise again as flamethrowers played across the body of one James Rinke.
*****************
The voices outside the trailer they'd commandeered woke Amy up. She'd been down from maybe ten minutes, tops.
"She's sleeping you jerk!" Vicky's voice. "You can't just barge in there. I don't care if the president stubbed his toe!"
The voices sounded mechanical, voice alteration. "Ma'am, I am going to ask you to stand down. This is a matter for military police under martial law. Interfering can be considered an act of treason during the Truce. Get her up and out here."
Amy stumbled to the door of the trailer, one of those pull along campers that were kept near the harbor by those rich enough to have boats and campers both. But apparently not that rich based on the size of the camper itself.
Opening the door. "I'm awake, I'm awake!" Amy noted, followed by a yawn.
"Panacea. You may have been exposed to a BIO striker, Nilbog himself, in the course of healing tonight. We are authorized to hold you in confinement until we have validated genetic testing that you have not been affected." He swiveled his helmet to Vicky, floating at eye height despite his power armor. Military type, not the basic stuff the PRT Troopers get.
Amy sighed. "Fine, give us a couple of swabs for samples, then post a guard on this camper. I need some sleep and you need not to be court martialed for inappropriate approach to your duties to capes who have attended multiple Endbringer battles." She accepted the swab kits offered, opening one and handing the other to Vicky.
After a quick swipe under the tongue and across her cheeks, she sealed it back. "Post your guards but be QUIET about it. I still have a direct line to President Obama after that greenstick he got on the campaign trail last year."
Vicky's smirk grew a bit as she handed over her sealed swab. Amy felt the aura flare as the military police stepped back as she glowed golden. "I will be inside with my sister then."
Both girls moved inside and contemplated the bed available. "You were able to sleep on that?"
Amy nodded glumly. It wasn't more than an inch of foam pretending to be a bed and it wasn't wide enough for both of them.
"I got it." Vicky unwrapped the scarf Blanket had given her and did something to the ends that allowed it to unroll some. Between the two sections that were the outermost layer were more layers sandwiched together. They weren't solid weaving like the outer part. Instead it was like a net of nearly unbreakable fibers. Pinning up two corners on hooks already there, she gestured for Amy to climb on. Then she took the other two corners and flew them up while she hooked them just before the door and the far side as well.
"Hammock mode." she smiled. "Hope you don't snore!"
Amy hooked part of her costume belt to the outside edge of the hammock while Vicky did the same on hers to keep them from rolling to the center as a clump. "I don't snore… And you don't, anymore." She smiled at Vicky like the proverbial cat that ate the canary.
"I don't… HEY!" Vicky grumbled. Then she nodded off, asleep.
Amy smiled, removing her grip on Vicky's wrist. "Shhhh. Quiet time now." And she closed her eyes quickly to grab whatever sleep she could.
****************
"Director Tagg has taken control of the group Blanket rescued, as well as Blanket herself. He has MPs stationed around Panacea and Glory Girl's shared trailer." Dragon's voice noted.
"This is Piggot, actual. Wards, and Protectorate personnel both. Good job out there. Especially to those of you out of your depth or unable to contribute directly. You did well to keep your heads and let those capable of acting do their jobs." She paused, her image leaning into the camera frame. "And now three of our own are being held by other authority. Director Tagg took the opportunity to execute Nilbog for his crimes AFTER Blanket captured him. I need you to get our girl and anyone she healed clear of his control. Panacea and Glory Girl are in a separate location, similar situation. I want you to get them back."
******************
"Stalker, Glam. I want you two out, scouting the area to locate Panacea. She was in a trailer, some kind of camper just west of here before their cell signal was jammed. Go find them, get them under surveillance for now." Armsmaster was in no-nonsense mode.
In the early morning glare, the military presence had tripled, while the civilian count had dwindled. The shelters were all further inland, so only those who had a driving business being here were.
They'd ah requisitioned the flight suits and helmets from the pilots. They'd been willing to help but for plausible deniability Miss Militia shot them with standard tranqs.
Glam was of two minds for this. One line of feeling was that Glory Girl and Panacea were pains in the ass she would do well to let disappear. The other was that if she didn't help out here there might come a time she was the person to rescue and no one would care.
In the fog of the early morning, Shadow Stalker dropped them both out the bottom of the transport while Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Assault and Battery all made their way out the real entrance to join with the escort sent to bring them to Director Tagg.
Belly crawling toward the Protectorate controlled section, the two found a quiet spot to stand up and mosy over to the command tent now being run by Chevalier.
The guards tensed as they approached, but they had their Wards phones out and were able to give the passphrase of the day. This go them inside and into the attention of Chevalier.
"What are you doing out here, in those uniforms, when Tagg has this place locked up under martial law?" He had his famous sword leaning against the table as he spoke.
Doffing the helmets to show their domino masks, Shadow Stalker spoke up first. "We need to get around through this tent to the camper where Panacea and Glory Girl are being held. Can you help us out?"
Chevalier showed his teeth in a smile. "That's simple enough. We have some bandages and some blood packs that were mostly used before she helped out here. Just dummy up some wounds, bandages and a sling for your off arms and go request access to her. If they refuse, come back here and we will take further action."
**************
Browbeat waited until they'd all left. Grabbing the last flight suit, she shifted into male form as close to 'No Dice' as she could, grabbed his wallet with id. As a last item, she used a set of clippers to shave the unibrow back to more normal look.
Coming out of the bathroom she saw Aegis do a double-take to her and to the three sleeping pilots. Then he nodded, understanding.
Moving to the transport entrance, she encountered an MP stationed there. "I'm sorry, but the Wards were instructed to remain on the trans… ah."
Drawing on her knowledge of the military from her uncles, Madison stood straighter. "Do I look like a Ward sergeant? They picked up a number of pilots downed over the lake. I got nominated to report in as it seems there is a gag order on the area. You can either pass me along to higher or take the tongue lashing my commander sends to your commander for interfering with our chain of command." Crossing her arms in front of her lanky guy chest, Madison waited.
"Okay sir, you are free to pass. The ah Air Force command center is just over the ridge." he said.
The edge of the tone caught Browbeat's attention. "Bite your tongue! This is Marine insignia you dirt eating grunt!" She squared her shoulders. "Hoorah." And walked off muttering. "Joint command is joint, so they can call it in if anyone can."
Nobody shot at her, foam or otherwise, so it was a good call.
After showing her ID a number of times, she requested entry to the communications tent, and was brought up short when a Tinker device went off.
"Why are you carrying a Wards phone, soldier?" The officer in charge leaned in close. "One with a Stranger rating I might add."
Madison huffed out her breath. "I wasn't lying Captain. I do need to speak to higher, Director Tagg is jamming … ah… interdicting all PRT communication channels and ordered all Protectorate members to report for Master Stranger protocols."
He crossed his arms. "That is still breaking orders. I am not so far hearing a reason not to throw you in the brig… ah, young lady? Would you mind?"
Madison shifted to female form, taking out and applying a domino. "Can't go all the way or I will fall out of the flight suit…" she grumbled. "As for the orders, they told Protectorate personnel to report in, but left the Wards in the transport. The guard's orders were to keep Wards in the transport, but I never heard any order to ME to stay put. Putting on his face let me get past them without violating their orders."
She grumped a little. "Director Tagg is holding PANACEA, a non PRT, underaged cape incommunicado with no reasons given. The Ward, Blanket was foamed up and held along with the people she rescued from Nilbog's control. Tagg shot Nilbog while on an open comm line. None of that has been passed on to higher. This is above my paygrade and yours soldier."
The captain looking at her softened his angered face. "Mil brat?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Uncle in Army Rangers."
He smiled then. "A legacy then." he waived off the guards. "I will still have to hold you, but I suppose some comm time is a fair trade for bringing those pilots off the ice. I have a cousin who is one of those jarheads myself, shame if it turned out to be her ass you fished out of the water."
Browbeat paused. "There can't be THAT many female Warthog pilots, can there?"
He shook his head. "More than you might think after the cutbacks in the 90's. With so little need for combat capable, they ruled that it was valid for both sexes --physical, not counting leanings or other qualifiers." He hemmed.
"Is her callsign Rabbit?" She asked, raised eyebrow --monobrow with a tilt.
"Sunnova!" he gulped. "Now I guess I really do owe you some comm time." Bringing her over to a communications desk. "Radio is interdicted but as you noted, no one has ORDERED us to block internet access. Can you use a Skype connection?"
Madison grinned. "Just give me a WEP key and I'm good."
She slugged the recorded audio of the execution, as well as a dictated report of the past couple hours. Most of it was already in place, as she didn't have much else to do during the flight once they started toward Lake Ontario. She had wanted to become a journalist before her powers showed up. She still did, but maybe as a sideline.
Putting the attachments to Dragon, Director Piggot and cc'ing Chief Director Costa-Brown seemed like a safe bet. Adding another copy to the Joint Chiefs of Staff link Dragon's quick response of acknowledgement held just added icing.
****************
And so I was left waiting for some time inside a foamed up shell. I still had people in my ahem grip and I tried to keep them calm.
This was pretty shitty treatment, likely just to cover his ass while he spins the victory story out.
Bored, I feel my reach into Blanket Space to check on things.
Uber and Leet's respective ships were holding pattern above Lake Ontario, miles out. Maybe I can get word out that way…
****************
Trooper Collins was chilling out, matching up the tech specs of the fighter with the controls, preparing to be the one resource within the PRT to know the most about these fighters. They had been ordered to maintain position pending review of 'events', what her finely tuned bureaucratic sense would call 'stalling until someone higher than me makes the call'.
Leet was just happy to watch her, being in the cockpit was probably the longest time he'd been in the company of someone with those looks that didn't try to light him on fire. It was ONE time, sheesh.
Collins caught herself looking at him now and again. That sappy look on his face said he was smitten. She wasn't completely repelled by the idea, so she didn't shoot him down… And then she noticed something.
"What?" Leet straightened up. "Did I grow a third eye or something?"
"More like another face altogether." She points at his chest.
The small muppet face coming out of his outer costume. I finished forming the face, then added a neck so I could look back to them. "Hey guys. Thanks for saving our proverbial bacon there." I squinted a little as Leet had moved some, partway climbing out of the seat.
"Relax. I'm just trying to get a message out. Director Tagg is jamming communication down here and I know how you and Uber feel about freedom of information. How would you like my camera view of the fight? You just need to drop a press release before Tagg gets his version set in stone." I offer.
Leet calmed right down. "What do you think, dude?"
I glance over to Collins, who shrugs. Dude? Is he blind?!
A screen comes to life showing Uber and Hicks in the other cockpit. "He meant me, as we are monitoring each other. And yes, that sounds perfect. Better than nothing since we didn't have very good Snitch coverage of the fight itself. And we have had the pleasure of dealing with Tagg before…" He made a face.
Leet nodded. "How do we get the info?"
I grin, mini muppet me anyway. "Just so happen to have a file sharing app on my phone."
Raised eyebrow. "And that helps us how….ah okay!" he freaks a little as I produce my cell out of a hole opening in his chest.
"Get vreddy fu fil tramphor." Ah I was still holding it with my muppet mouth.
Collins took the phone, holding it up for me to interact with.
"Thanks." I trigger the file share request. "I do have a small request or two from you boys if you make the killing off the fight video I expect."
"You. do?" Leet asks.
I grin at them. "Well, for one thing I will need you to ah enter my Blanket Space and do maintenance on the energy source in the van you left in there."
"Dude!" Uber sings out. "She totally asked you to get inside her britches!"
Collins leaned over into camera view. "Hicks, hit the man please."
Hicks, who had been quiet throughout, punched Uber in the shoulder with a classic Noogie.
"Worth it!" Uber larked.
I pretend he didn't speak. "And the second is that Uber there meets with a cape I know, Professor Rose."
Uber's jaw dropped. "Dude! She was LEGENDARY! Nobody has heard a thing from her for years. Long before my time." He grimaced. "That jerk Victor has been trying to track down any mention of her, for like ages. If she is active again… Oh... Shit. You … are a relative, aren't you?"
"Bingo."
"That's a lot of trust." He tapped his chin. "Okay. Quest accep... ah, I will do it."
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- Location
- Somewhere
he shoot Nilbog before he could stand trial; unless Nilbog had an active kill order, he fucked up majorly, he might have still fucked up even with a kill order
there's also the fact he's blocking PRT communications, he's PRT, that can be taken as an act of treason possibly
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Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
And holding everyone hostage.
Oh, and let's not also forget Nilbog broke out on his watch, and I'm pretty sure his containtment forces were..... doing what exactly?
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
Tagg's Toast.
I could list everything he did wrong, but if I remember correctly, he's a Ziz Bomb anyway.
Excellent chapter.
Evidence from multiple locations will either see Tagg in Leavenworth or Hung.
I could list everything he did wrong, but if I remember correctly, he's a Ziz Bomb anyway.
Excellent chapter.
Evidence from multiple locations will either see Tagg in Leavenworth or Hung.
- Location
- Somewhere
the forces... what exactly could they do?
any capes were likely fighting Leviathan; any PRT troops would be woefully unable to fight him and would be an early warning at best; if Tagg violated procedures (for example refusing to inform his higher ups of the break out) during the break out, they might have something there
but we might just see what happens when Blanket hugs a Ziz Bomb
- Location
- Neptune
Nobody but you is talking about forgiving him
I didn't mean forgive him but she still has the mindset she healed him and why did he have to die.
Not everyone has the same mindset, as she had........more of the mindset that people who have been fixed are ok somehow.
He was going to die somehow, too many people were scared/terrified of him and for a young hero with a DC mentality.
- Location
- Somewhere
Wrong, he needed to stand trial.
Tagg shooting him was highly illegal.
That is murder not execution, execution needs a court ruling.
