[X] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if someone besides Shadow Stalker or another villain are in danger.
 
[X] I didn't come here just to have them intimidate me away, but I should try to be a bit nicer and more understanding. Maybe I could get through to Shadow Stalker, even if some parts of me weren't convinced. Maybe I could try to help?
 
[X] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if Emma or Shadow Stalker were in danger.
 
[X] I didn't come here just to have them intimidate me away, but I should try to be a bit nicer and more understanding. Maybe I could get through to Shadow Stalker, even if some parts of me weren't convinced. Maybe I could try to help?
 
[X] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if Emma or Shadow Stalker were in danger.
 
[X] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if Emma or Shadow Stalker were in danger
 
Seriously guys, "try to be a nice, empathetic person" when dealing with Shadow Stalker, when she is already heavily predisposed to dislike you, aka, to see weakness in the smallest things, isn't how you want to play it.
 
[X] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if Emma or Shadow Stalker were in danger.

Not my preferred choice, but it's better than trying to be 'nice' with Shadow Stalker, that won't get us any respect. At least this way we might get a chance to say "I told you so". Hopefully she won't eat anything she shouldn't when that hunger ticks down.
 
[X] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if Emma or Shadow Stalker were in danger.

Not my preferred choice, but it's better than trying to be 'nice' with Shadow Stalker, that won't get us any respect. At least this way we might get a chance to say "I told you so". Hopefully she won't eat anything she shouldn't when that hunger ticks down.

No one has asked yet, but 100% roughly equals 24 hours.

That said, it is possible to just stay hungry. It's just also very unpleasant and means no power growth at this stage.
 
It's just also very unpleasant and means no power growth at this stage.

Ah, that's a relief. I thought it was leading to some sort of 'must consume' berserk state, or something similar since there was.. not really big thing, but a small thing earlier in the quest about checking what happens when we get hungry.

Though I still think a bloodstained scarf may not be the best way to introduce ourselves to the world. It may get points with SS though...
 
Ah, that's a relief. I thought it was leading to some sort of 'must consume' berserk state, or something similar since there was.. not really big thing, but a small thing earlier in the quest about checking what happens when we get hungry.

Though I still think a bloodstained scarf may not be the best way to introduce ourselves to the world. It may get points with SS though...

Well, it would also lead to problems with Humanity, but that's not until Arc 3 or further, when things start working slightly differently anyway. It will make it harder to think and to not try to consume the next thing she can get away with eating though.
 
[X] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if someone besides Shadow Stalker or another villain are in danger.

Afterword's use looted money from criminals to pay for a late-night snack.
I recommend the website Grammerly
 
Everyone, forward this story to as many as possible All things devowared is shorter and it has 150 pages worth of messages, we need more awareness!
 
Everyone, forward this story to as many as possible All things devowared is shorter and it has 150 pages worth of messages, we need more awareness!

Length isn't everything and I'm sure there are much better writers than me.

As long as I get enough votes to continue this and hopefully some helpful feedback on the writing, I'll carry on writing the story either way in hopes of getting better.

Well and writing the story of course, might as well get this out of my head, it's distracting.

If you do have a complaint, I would like you to tell me, even if I may or may not agree with you.
 
[X] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if Emma or Shadow Stalker were in danger.
 
Length isn't everything and I'm sure there are much better writers than me.

As long as I get enough votes to continue this and hopefully some helpful feedback on the writing, I'll carry on writing the story either way in hopes of getting better.

Well and writing the story of course, might as well get this out of my head, it's distracting.

If you do have a complaint, I would like you to tell me, even if I may or may not agree with you.
Everyone, forward this story to as many as possible All things devowared is shorter and it has 150 pages worth of messages, we need more awareness!

The votes it has carried it into a direction that I didn't want to go, so I stopped reading. I don't think 'befriend the bullies' is a terribly popular route, so the readership may be suffering because of that. I'm only back at all because someone 'like'd a post I made previously.

Not sure if that helps or not? I didn't leave because of the writing, though. That part was fine.
 
The votes it has carried it into a direction that I didn't want to go, so I stopped reading. I don't think 'befriend the bullies' is a terribly popular route, so the readership may be suffering because of that. I'm only back at all because someone 'like'd a post I made previously.

Not sure if that helps or not? I didn't leave because of the writing, though. That part was fine.

Thank you. This is sort of the danger of quests.

We're still not on the full of befriending the bullies route, but it is moving in that direction. I sincerely doubt this will be a best friends with them scenario though. Neutral or more casual friendly contact is definitely possible though.
 
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Amnion 2.3
Amnion 2.3


[x] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if Emma or Shadow Stalker were in danger.



I was sinking deeper into that calm. Myself but not myself. Watching the shadow fall down far more slowly than it should. If I were just old me, I would have tried to run toward her and talk. Ask her all sorts of questions about what she was doing or shout at her for what she had done to Emma.

But I wasn't.

I just walked, I kept my thoughts to myself and watched. Emma's Costume was blue to shadow stalker's grey and black. Urban camouflage cloak over a black bodysuit and some armour or padding. I couldn't quite tell. I had no idea how much damage it would be able to take or how much it might weigh. Just that Emma wore less of it. All she had was a blue leather Jacket, silver embroidery, silver buttons and zippers. Over that, a shorter cloak with some more blue on it, boots, black somewhat padded pants, but the whole thing struck me as designed to show off her body anyway, even if she had to sacrifice some protection to do it. Her mask didn't help much in that regard. No helmet, red hair only mostly hidden by her hood and a reflective mask of a woman's face. Not modeled on her own, but laughing.

I could see she was insecure even through the eyeholes. Which simultaneously made very little sense and just felt right. I should probably question this later. When I wasn't taking full advantage to get hid of my nervousness.

In the end, it wasn't Emma who spoke first.

"So you want to come with us do you?" Her eyes were running over my hoodie, the specks of dried blood on my scarf that still smelled very faintly tasty. But I could see she didn't think much of it.

It wasn't about 'want' not really. "I want to understand." I needed to understand. And the explanation just sounded disturbing. I really hoped Shadow Stalker was saner than Emma. I knew I felt different now, but it wasn't anywhere close to what had happened to Emma. And At least I knew it was probably happening and I hoped I would be able to stop it too. If I had to. If I weren't using it right now in a way that I would have to think very hard about later on. "I couldn't make much sense of her explanation."

Emma was fixating me through her mask. I knew my words had some kind of effect. Unease, maybe contempt and she was definitely angry. "You just didn't get it. Are you going to keep on yammering about ooooh I shouldn't hurt myself and ohhh I need to stay at home Training and be useless all over again? I'm not that weak."

I shook my head. "We've had that discussion. We didn't get anywhere with it." And even if she was wrong, even if she was hurting herself, I couldn't do anything about it right now.

"So you're here trying to babysit?" Shadow stalker's arms were crossed. I could hear the contempt in her voice, Irritatingly familiar, but that didn't matter. If I'd seen her before, I'd remember her if I saw her again. Especially if she said something and I spent more time with her.

"I'm here to watch, not to take part." Unless Emma was about to get hurt. Otherwise I'd have brought a real costume. "Is it really so weird, I'd get worried if my best friend keeps getting injured?" Especially if she'd kept me away and told me to go at least in part to protect me. I really hoped she had. Trying to keep me from getting hurt too, but the way she'd done it? No. I still didn't get it.

"That's on her. If she says she can handle it, she can handle it." She was getting annoyed too. Angry. I could see her body tensing and the grip she had on her arms getting tighter. "At least we're doing something."

"Shooting criminals." It wasn't a question. But ten criminals were not worth Emma's life and Just getting into fights with random gang members… Maybe I was being stupid or selfish, but I didn't think that was enough. And I didn't think it would really hurt the gangs either. There were just too many of them and that was all I'd read about them doing online.

"Giving those fucking monsters what they deserve." Okay. Emma was shaking and Mr. Barnes only told me to much. I had no idea what really happened only that they'd been attacked but I was pretty sure I'd gotten the sanitised version now. Shadow Stalker was just nodding along tool.

I had no idea what I could say to make her change her mind either. Maybe I was naive. But I couldn't quite think of people as monsters and I definitely didn't like the idea of just beating them up to the point of ending up in the hospital for hours or days. Just… no. It wasn't right. It wasn't what Dad or Mom had taught me and dammit I was better than that. Heroes were better than that. At least they were supposed to be. Stopping people from hurting anyone else, yes, but that didn't sound like just stopping them.

To be honest, I had no idea what to do about the situation either, but I was pretty sure, this wasn't it.

"Does it help?" Would trying to beat up the Heroes bring Dad back? They couldn't just be left to keep hurting people either but… Why did other me feel so ambivalent? An Eye for an Eye was not a good idea. It wasn't Justice and it wasn't how things were supposed to work. It didn't help. But I couldn't quite shake the idea either. What was wrong with me?

"Gets them off the street and doing a lot of thinking before they'll get to try again." Shadow Stalker was grinning under that mask.

I wasn't sure at all. If anything, the exact opposite might be the case too, but the more disturbing part was I wasn't sure she cared either way. They were getting what they deserved after all. Was there any point in talking anymore before I had any more than PHO to go on? "We might as well get go then."

"Think you can keep up?" Shadow Stalker crouched down. Emma went silvery, dissolving into reflective metal and deforming, limbs stretching out.

"Won't know until I try." I could crouch down too after all. Concentrate on my legs, will them to put as much power into my muscles as I could.

Shadow Stalker shot almost straight up, dissolved into black smoke, and just kept going.

Emma leaped, long legs pushing her so much higher.

I jumped with my strength alone.

And I felt light. Soaring through the air, higher, longer than I'd ever been able before…


I really hoped nobody saw me faceplant into the fire escape. Even if it didn't hurt nearly as much as it should have, and worked great for grabbing and flinging myself higher with my arms, it definitely wasn't graceful or awe-inspiring.

At least they were both already on the roof. Emma with her super long limbs running beside Shadow Stalker's cloaked form, watching me recover from one terrible landing. Even if it didn't hurt, I wasn't on my feet and I must have looked like an idiot because apparently, my Brute powers did not come with any instincts for landing. Or maybe they just came with the wrong ones, I wasn't sure.

But I was back on my feet a moment later and chasing the two of them across the rooftops. Shadow Stalker was slower than Emma or at least what I assumed Emma's top speed had to be and I was cheating. Sprinting as fast as I could, flinging myself from rooftop to rooftop. At first, falling behind with each landing and then catching right back up.

But I got better. I figured out how to angle myself, how to land and ignore my previous instincts because I wasn't that fragile. My joints only stung for a moment and I could keep right on going until I had to slow down for Shadow stalker too. Lose speed after each jump, then speed right back up to get the most momentum I could for the next one, because I didn't want to faceplant into another house wall across a slightly wider street again, just because I hadn't been fast enough.

Maybe you would think the city was quiet at night, but it wasn't. Not really. I could still hear sounds from people inside restaurants or inside buildings. They were still there, talking, living and some of them even outside. I could still hear and see cars moving. But it was darker. We were all hidden from sight, far above. An odd kind of peace, I knew could be shattered any moment.

We hadn't even been patrolling for a full hour when we found the first mugger. I'd only just gotten roof jumping down to the point where I was confident my landings would work as intended, but there he was. Dressed up much like me and pointing a gun at another guy, probably older. I could see grey hair, a convenience store bag dropped to the ground next to him. All of us stopped.

Shadow Stalker and Emma got into position, but… they didn't do anything, even while the old man was looking for his wallet and pulled it out of a pocket. The gun was old, didn't look well cared for, but it was a firearm anyway. But why weren't they doing anything? Emma was just sliding down a wall now, Shadow Stalker hadn't moved at all.

The old guy was staring at her, I could see the mugger stumble, could see the gun trembling in his hand, but he wasn't quite out of it enough not to notice. He turned around. I was about to jump down. You never have any idea how loud a gunshot really is. Not until you hear one that close, or maybe it was just my hears… I was so glad he's missed. Emma just froze up, before she jumped at him and wrapped herself around his neck. I had no idea what she was trying to press. Her silvery form was keeping a grip on the gun arm though and I could relax again but this… this was too close. Way too fucking close and she'd just been stuck in place. Maybe Emma could take being shot. I was pretty sure I could and I wouldn't run around with massive bruises though.

I had no idea when Shadow Stalker went down, but I could see the old man kicking the guy, passed out on the street. I was too busy thinking about Emma. I didn't know why or what else she could have done, but that didn't look safe. Even if they had the guy tied up now. Too close. And I could see the bruises Emma had left on him too.

Still not as bad as I'd have thought. Not quite. But when Shadow stalker finished calling the police and tying him up, she didn't look satisfied. Even if she didn't say anything, just rushed us to move on.

We were still going three hours later, when my hunger was starting to make it harder to concentrate and my roof-hopping had become almost second nature. At least I'd had a lot of time to think. We didn't have any pattern. We just went, followed the noises maybe, only to be disappointed time and time again. I had no idea how efficient patrolling was supposed to be, but I thought we were supposed to find more.

Shadow stalker seemed to think so too. She was just getting more and more tense, like a spring being pushed back, wound up to snap the next possible moment. Maybe it was because I was there, but the only talking we or they did was to discuss our route. Figure out where to go next. A few annoyed or maybe impatient remarks until she apparently decided she had enough for the current one because no empire goons were showing up, at least none we could see doing anything interesting, even if they were out on the street, and veered off into merchant territory.

Where we started to hear the gunshots and suddenly had a fairly decent idea why things had been so quiet.

Why did Shadow Stalker seem so excited? She was accelerating, but the tension was bleeding out, it was like she was looking forward to this. This being the closest of the places we could hear shots from because I was sure, I could hear more further away, but here… We had Mush, Stormtiger and about ten goons on each side. And I might have been okay just watching before, but Emma and shadow Stalker looked like they were checking for an opening. I might need a plan.



[ ] Wait, stick with the plan, only do anything if Emma or Shadow Stalker are being directly targeted. If so, put yourself between them and the target, then go on from there. Try to block if necessary and help with takedown whenever you have the opportunity. Make yourself obvious and draw fire if you can, you can take it.
[ ] Direct attack. Draw fire first. These people are going to get somebody killed, even if they are Gang members. You might want to do something. Use whatever intimidation tactic you can and brute strength to try and force them to disperse. It doesn't look like Emma and Shadow Stalker are going to do anything soon and you're still worried about them. You can probably survive getting shot and you regenerate. They don't.
[ ] Write in.
- Approach (when and where to engage, if so)
- target (can be multiple, both attack or defence, conditional plans possible)
- intent (what you intend to do to your target)
- followup (how to proceed)



Hunger: 10/100
Humanity: 65/100

Draft 2,5, sorry for the delay, had to scrap, retry and think.
On that note, I'm seriously considering rewriting this as just a fanfiction, not a quest. But we'll see.
 
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[X] Direct attack. Draw fire first. These people are going to get somebody killed, even if they are Gang members. You might want to do something. Use whatever intimidation tactic you can and brute strength to try and force them to disperse. It doesn't look like Emma and Shadow Stalker are going to do anything soon and you're still worried about them. You can probably survive getting shot and you regenerate. They don't.
 
i think this is going to be the best


[x] Wait, stick with the plan, only do anything if Emma or Shadow Stalker are being directly targeted.
-[x] If so attack the one targeting them and hold nothing back.
 
[X] Direct attack. Draw fire first. These people are going to get somebody killed, even if they are Gang members. You might want to do something. Use whatever intimidation tactic you can and brute strength to try and force them to disperse. It doesn't look like Emma and Shadow Stalker are going to do anything soon and you're still worried about them. You can probably survive getting shot and you regenerate. They don't.

They don't HAVE a bloody plan. They just want to see people fight.
 
[X] Direct attack. Draw fire first. These people are going to get somebody killed, even if they are Gang members. You might want to do something. Use whatever intimidation tactic you can and brute strength to try and force them to disperse. It doesn't look like Emma and Shadow Stalker are going to do anything soon and you're still worried about them. You can probably survive getting shot and you regenerate. They don't.
 
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