Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Oh god-
Oh god no. Skitter is going to try to be Superman.
Oh god no. Skitter is going to try to be Superman.
Worm's Finest: Darkness Rising (Worm/DC fusion; Bat!Grue)
- Thread starter Cyclone
- Start date
It would be funnier (for us) if she suddenly became Power Girl.
How would that work though, assuming the bullying campaign from canon doesn't happen? Unless Taylor is actually kryptonian, the lone survivor of a previous cycle.
I'm not sure - I just want to mess with her issues.
Mithrandir
Endurance and victory!
- Location
- Lighting the Blue Beacons.
Taylor is probably going to be Batgirl, in my opinion. She already has that creepy vibe down pat, though she's not quite Batman material.
And Superman is obviously Legend.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
One way it could go:
Assuming her dad doesn't trigger (Which is unlikely since he didn't trigger after he broke), even without the bullying she is primed to trigger.
With Sophia (as huntress) having a different mindset than she's unlikely to twist Emma into her worldview. Without that mindset that she used to support herself, Emma is likely to fall into a depressive spiral. Exacerbated by the fact that she feels weak next to Taylor who lost her mother, but kept moving forward.
Taylor, with a depressed and somewhat distant father, would likely latch onto Emma emotionally, working through her own problems by trying to solve Emma's. This would, of course, just make things worse as the focus on helping Emma would keep her from appearing to grieve, which would make Emma further depressed. While not directly related, I also expect some isolation as Emma is to messed up to make friends, and Taylor is too focused on helping her.
From there, the shit happens and Emma dies. Possibly suicide, possibly an attempt to face her trauma gone wrong. Taylor blames herself for not preventing it (possibly with Alan lashing out to make it worse) triggers as an Alexandria package, possibly gets stronger the more people she is protecting.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I mean that's assuming Emma still gets ambushed by ABB without either Huntress or Batgrue intervening in a Brockton Bay where the regular gang members are getting chiroptophobia.
You had me until this point.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
Taylor did grieve. And then, after she finished grieving, she went to summer camp, Emma was attacked but saved by Shadow Stalker, Emma turned on Taylor and started the bullying, and Worm happened.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Well for Taylor to be Superman, she would have to trigger in such a way as to be pushed to save everyone. With the bullying, she could have become the white knight (Superman) as a contrast to the bullies. Her way of proving she was above them.
If the focus is on Emma, ala the snip above, then the need to protect people would only come after a failure to protect her. She doesn't necessarily need to die, as long as Taylor feels like she failed or is failing there (which will break her and make her trigger) it's good. If at all possible, presumably something she failed to physically protect Emma from. For example, the attempt to face her fears gone wrong. Emma tries to confront the ABB or is being mugged, Taylor tries to protect her, gets beaten near unconscious, trigger.
I know, but Emma would compare it to her own experience and (in her depressive spiral) likely keep coming up with "Her mother died, and here she's so strong. While I was only mugged and am scared to leave the house."
yes, the interpretation is biased, but that's how someone with an inferiority complex (which Emma would be likely to get in the situation posited above) would come to.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
My issue wasn't so much the result as the reasoning. Taylor grieved. She finished grieving. Then she got back up and moved on, a little sadder but still Emma's friend. Emma being unable to move on from her own problem (if it even still happens; as I pointed out last time the ABB thugs attacking Emma came up, Batman is changing Brockton Bay) after seeing Taylor pick herself back up could have a worse effect than not seeing Taylor grieve at all.
But she definitely grieved, and Emma knows that.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
In retrospect, I could be clearer: "Her mother died, and here she moved on. While I was only mugged and am scared to leave the house."
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
I did get the idea; I was mostly objecting to the specific bit I quoted initially.
.IronSun.
I don't descriminate, I hate all of you equally.
- Location
- IN UR BASE, PUNCHIN UR DOODZ
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Why do people think the same mugging would happen? I mean, we've got a new hero running around fucking up the gangs, which logically should be enough to butterfly away any gang op not years in the making.
And Batman is pure nightmare fuel to mooks. Remember what Grue's power does to people without exotic senses or tinker-tech counters - it denies them sight and hearing. They are now stuck trying to fight off a reasonably well-trained, very fit young man without any options but flail around blindly. That's game over for anyone without powers and most people with them.
And Batman is pure nightmare fuel to mooks. Remember what Grue's power does to people without exotic senses or tinker-tech counters - it denies them sight and hearing. They are now stuck trying to fight off a reasonably well-trained, very fit young man without any options but flail around blindly. That's game over for anyone without powers and most people with them.
- Location
- In the depts of despair.
Because the morons who did the mugging in the first place were stupid enough to try to rape Skitter's closests subordinates? They are criminally stupid and blind to consequences.
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I was spelling out how disruptive Brian's actions are. Simply put, no events as small-scale as the attack on Emma should stay the same, because the PoD is early enough for the butterfly effect to nullify them.
- Location
- In the depts of despair.
I know that, I was just refuting the nightmare fuel part of his power. Those morons are simply to idiotic to fear someone until they have personally being beaten into a fine mist. Emma won't be ambushed, but the butterflies may cause that they invade the Hebert's home in the middle of a sleepover or that they decide to join the merchants instead of the ABB and cause Taylor's mom to have her accident or many other things.
Shade 2.6
Cyclone
Robotech Nerd
- Location
- Earth, Sol System
(Interlude 2C - Max | Shade 2.6 | Interlude 2D - Emily, Dean, Sarah, James, Dragon, Geoff, Delia)
Worm's Finest: Darkness Rising
Shade 2.6
Worm's Finest: Darkness Rising
Shade 2.6
It had been a long night, but even after evading the PRT, I still wasn't done. Medhall was somehow linked to the Empire, and I had to track down those other cold grenades. And I had to do it fast; someone with the resources of a company the size of Medhall could cover their tracks very quickly and very thoroughly.
Which was why I was already in Medhall Tower, up near the executive suite, when the silent alarm went off. When the computers went lockdown, I thought I'd messed up with the cryptographic sequencer, but no, the data was downloading. The floor security guard had raced to the elevator instead of the office I had coopted, pounding on the elevator doors that had closed less than a minute ago.
I quickly moved up and knocked him out, then moved to check his security desk. The CCTV monitors were top-quality but still black and white and awfully small to fit into the desk. Except for one, all the camera views were on this floor only, with the exception being the elevator camera.
I watched as Anders rode the elevator down, but as the door opened, a pale blast of something lanced out, nearly taking the CEO's ear off... and freezing the back wall of the elevator.
"Oh, Fries..."
* * *
Given how high up I was, getting to the ground floor would be a task in and of itself. The stairs would take too long -- if Fries blamed Anders, I doubted it would be long before he killed him -- and the elevators were frozen.
So I went up instead.
Emerging through the roof access, I ran for the edge and jumped, snapping my cape out. As always, it went rigid, catching the air as I glided in a spiral around the building toward the street below, letting my darkness trail behind me to hide me from the morning sun.
Looping around, I smashed through a second-floor window -- I've been doing that a lot tonight -- at the rear of the building with a muffled crash, rolling to a halt in an office, body tense, listening for any reaction.
"D-don't move!"
I looked over. Medhall security, holding a Glock on me.
I slowly rose from my crouch, turning to face him fully. "You've got guts, kid," I said, feeling fairly ridiculous; he was probably ten years older than me, "but a Tinker with a grudge is holding your boss hostage downstairs."
He paused, then lowered the gun. "Right," he said. "You're, uh, you're that bat cape, aren't you?"
"Batman," I confirmed as I moved toward the stairs. "Stay here. You're not equipped to face a cape." That said, I headed down to the first floor.
"Victor!" I said as I stepped out into the lobby, cloaked in my darkness. I could see seven hostages, including Anders. A security guard had his hand -- and the gun held in it -- frozen to the wall.
"Do not interfere, Batman," Fries said, keeping the cold gun leveled at Anders. "Mister Anders was just about to tell me where I can find Kaiser. And the remaining cryogenic inducers."
"This isn't the way, Victor," I said, stepping forward and shedding enough of my darkness to show my hands empty. "Put the cold gun down. We can talk to the police and the PRT. With your testimony, we can put him away, clean up Medhall."
"I don't want Anders," Fries retorted. "I want Kaiser." I stopped walking. "Yes, Anders duped me into making weapons for the Empire, but it's Kaiser who sent Hookwolf, who killed my wife."
"Victor," I said, "you told me yourself she's in deep stasis. She's not dead. There's still hope."
"Freeze!"
Fries turned, snapped the cold gun around, and fired. God damn it. It was that idiot security guard from the second floor. The cold beam froze him almost completely, only leaving his head exposed.
"That's Mister Freeze to you," Fries said, turning his attention back to me. "Was that the plan, Batman? Distract me while he gets the drop on me? Because that was a mistake."
"I swear, Victor, I didn't-"
He didn't let me finish. I dropped into a crouch, holding my cape around me, but what had worked against the "one and done" of a cold grenade that wasn't intended as a weapon wasn't enough for a continuous beam that clearly was intended as a weapon. I could feel the cold leeching through my cape, so I lurched up and dove behind a wall.
"Damn it, Fries," I muttered as I released my darkness. I was out of suitable combat gadgets, thanks to my fight with Hookwolf. I was going to have to do this the old-fashioned way...
...which was going to be difficult, seeing as how there was now a wall of ice between us, sealing me out of the lobby. I pulled a small cutting torch out of my utility belt but paused before trying to melt the ice.
There was nothing stopping him from refreezing it as I melted it. And where did the moisture come from anyway? Tinkers were bullshit.
Instead, I worked my way around, consulting the data I had on the building and looking for an alternate entry point. Soon, I was up on the third floor. The lobby was actually a three-level atrium, and a room that big needed lots of ventilation.
It didn't take long to find and pry open a maintenance hatch. It took a fair bit longer to shimmy into the ventilation shaft; they weren't designed to fit people my size.
I peered through the ventilation grate. The room was still cloaked in my darkness, but I had to move quick. After loosening the bolts, I pulled my darkness in slightly and kicked the ventilation grate loose, sending flying overhead to crash on the floor noisily. Fries reacted predictably, sending a freezing blast in that direction even as I dropped down, landing on the front information desk with my knees bent so I didn't break my legs.
He spun, whipping his head back and forth, trying in vain to see through the darkness. I rushed him, striking the cold gun from his hands.
"I'm sorry, Victor," I murmured as I drew my darkness back in. "It didn't have to be this way."
* * *
I zip-tied Fries and led him out the front doors. By now, the PRT was out in force, Armsmaster with them. I paused.
"Armsmaster."
"Batman."
"Are we going to have a problem here?"
"No," he answered. "The... situation we wished to discuss with you has been... resolved."
I wondered what he meant by that. I didn't ask. Instead, I just nodded and said, "Good."
I turned Fries over to a pair of PRT officers. He didn't resist. A team in hazmat suits moved into the building, presumably to secure the tinkertech.
"His wife," I said, "she was in stasis at the research facility..."
"I'll make sure she gets the best of care," Armsmaster assured me with a curt nod.
"You may also find this interesting," I added, handing him a flash drive. It was the data I'd managed to download from Medhall's computers before I had to leave. I didn't get enough to pin anything on anyone specifically, but it was enough to raise suspicions.
And it gave the Protectorate a reason for me to have been there. It would have been nice to have gotten something to nail Medhall to the wall, but the listening devices I planted should help with that in the long run.
* * *
A/N: Have I mentioned how much I hate writing fight scenes recently? Because I do. There's just not much substance I can put to them a lot of times. Next up, another multi-perspective interlude to close this arc and lead into the next one.
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Derek58
Rocket Punch is Best Punch
- Location
- Getter Valhalla
Well he probably hasn't killed anyone, and didn't cause any collateral damage, so I'd say pretty good.