- Location
- United States
Yeah, but capes are hardwired for conflict generation, so while some people will be dissuaded by a show of force, others would take it as an invitation.
You Needed Opponents With Gravitas (Redux)
- Thread starter T.R.E.A.M.
- Start date
- Crossover
Yeah, but capes are hardwired for conflict generation, so while some people will be dissuaded by a show of force, others would take it as an invitation.
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Those chucklefucks are going to be headaches anyway, so give them a nice shiny target...
- Location
- US
This is so much fun, I love it. I'm very impressed with how you keep the justifications for "sandbagging believably"!
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
Was Lisa grabbed by Coil yet? One way or another, I really want to see her reaction when her power starts screaming and trying to figure out how to press the panic button about locally produced, non-shard hypertech.
Hecatonchires
Just an H-class cyborg with an octopus brain stem
- Location
- The Gong, NSW, Australia
I loved the names on her gauges and field effects 🤣
TaliesinSkye
Occasional Editor
- Location
- Northeast Ohio, United States
"So what happens if I zero out Sandbagging Believability and maximize Intimidation Factor?"
"Let's just say that I recommend trying it out in Sim first."
"Let's just say that I recommend trying it out in Sim first."
CONTACT
A complete coincidence, I'm sure. (That's the Marain 9-bit encoding for K, since it doesn't have a C)
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- Location
- Missouri
There's a lot of subtle differentiation when it comes to "intimidation factor."
For example grabbing Lung, yanking him up to Angels 40 in a split second, then rail-gunning him back down into the Boat Graveyard hard enough to leave a crater is incredibly intimidating. Casually freezing an entire E88 rally by grabbing the whole body of everyone there with perfect control, then strolling up the middle aisle and calling Kaiser "Max" as you inform him how fucked he is is pants-shittingly intimidating in a completely different way.
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TaliesinSkye
Occasional Editor
- Location
- Northeast Ohio, United States
Now there's some A/B testing, for you. XD
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
And lets not forget the intimidation factor of not giving a shit. Standing there and seemingly being hit by everything and ignoring it is also really intimidating. Or you could go a slightly evil Taylor Varga route (Taylor Varga is a worm fanfic found on this website). Which is being stupidly powerful and using that power to troll everyone. The trolling must not be (mostly) harmless for the bad guys.
There are many ways of intimidation.
- Location
- Missouri
True... and one can tack that onto either option before the main event.
For example, let Lung pummel and escalate while making bored "get on with it" gestures until he's at Goodbye Kyushu levels before unleashing the LFT... aka "Lung From Taylor" because while Lung's a dick he's not actually rod-shaped, and we don't want Taylor getting a big ego.
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
Not entirely true; a hypothetical higher dimensional entity could perceive what we perceive as time as another 'spatial' dimension, if so then much like how we as 3+1 dimensional entities are capable of perceiving things that a 2+1 or 1+1 dimensional entity could not, the hypothetical higher dimensional entity would be able to perceive what we perceive as 'alternate realities' as a single wave function.Or, to put this in a really pithy, entirely inaccurate but emotionally suitable analogy, think of that optical illusion where it's either a rabbit or a duck, depending on which way you look at it.
The total amount of "stuff" there doesn't change. There's one drawing, not two drawings, but you can look at it from the outside and see two different things, depending on how you're interpreting it.
MWI is like that, except with different versions of the universe. It remains neither proven nor disproven because nobody's figured out yet how to see if there's a rabbit when the one doing the seeing is the duck.
Of course, such an entity would still be unable to perceive the entire wave function, as even at the 'highest' dimensional boundary it would still be limited by the fact that it exists inside the multiverse; in order to perceive the entire wave function you need to be outside of (and thus unentangled with) it, which is not a concept that makes any real sense no matter how you look at it.
And all of this is predicated on the assumption that higher dimensional entities can exist; they might not be a thing that is actually possible, depending on how exactly the physics works out.
But from where we stand? Yeah, mathematically there is no way to directly perceive that. Someone might eventually figure out a way to indirectly perceive such 'alternate realities', but if so the nature of entanglement dictates that it would be quite impossible to 'travel' (for lack of a better word) between them in much the same way that it is impossible for an individual photon to perceive itself going through both slits in the double-slit experiment: The photon can only perceive itself passing through one slit or another, only an external, unentangled observer can perceive the photon's wave function as a whole and thus the interference pattern it produces, and should that observer become entangled with the photon (by making it possible to measure which slit it goes through, it doesn't actually matter if you do the measurement, it just has to be possible) then the wave function is 'collapsed' by the entanglement and the interference pattern can no longer be perceived.
e: It might also be worth noting that in the double slit experiment, there aren't actually two photons; there is one photon that passes through both slits at the same time. As such, saying that there are 'multiple realities' isn't really accurate; there would be one reality in multiple states, not multiple realities in one state each. Said realities would be also contiguous, rather than discrete, in much the same way that the wave function of a single photon by itself is contiguous. (The photon in the double slit experiment doesn't just pass through both slits at the same time, it also impacts everywhere on the material between and around the slits.)
But as with all wave functions, you can only perceive the state that you are entangled with (and thus a part of; 'entangled with' in regards to wave functions is a fancy way of saying 'part of' said wave function); to perceive the entire wave function you must be unentangled, which... doesn't really seem like a thing that would be possible... How do you remove yourself from existence without ceasing to exist? Logic error.
e2: Related, this game isn't how many-worlds works at all, but it does a great job of demonstrating just how fucking confusing it is to interpret the general concept of many-worlds with our limited perception, and also a pretty good job of showing an oversimplified idea of the sort of perspective a hypothetical '5 dimensional entity' could have and how that perspective can translate into seemingly impossible abilities to lower dimensional entities. (Specifically in that game, transdimensional time-travel and how it can appear to take a chainsaw to causality from a lower-dimensional perspective while simultaneously retaining causality across higher dimensions.)
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- Location
- California
"Does it always have to play Duel of the Fates when I do this?"
"Yes. Yes, it does."
TaliesinSkye
Occasional Editor
- Location
- Northeast Ohio, United States
"Ah, the power of boss battle music. Just the thing to let your enemies know how very, very badly they've fucked up."
"It's a legitimate psy-ops tactic!"
"And this has nothing to do with how many JRPGs you've been playing?"
"Special Circumstances can neither confirm nor deny its information sources."
"It's a legitimate psy-ops tactic!"
"And this has nothing to do with how many JRPGs you've been playing?"
"Special Circumstances can neither confirm nor deny its information sources."
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very fast pickle
(D)rapid offensive unit
I wonder if drones in ship are in some sort speed run competition
- Location
- Missouri
"If it was JRPGs, we'd be playing One-Winged Angel."
The Certainty Principle - Interlude - Authority
- Location
- California
logindex localcalendar 2011.01.22 localrefraction Earth-Bet localmunicipality Brockton Bay
Hebert was fucking crazy. They'd fucking broken her brain and she was an Alexandria package Tinker and she fucking knew Sophia's identity.
That last look hadn't been one you could miss. That was a power look, that was 'I just pissed in your territory, what are you gonna do about it?'
How the fuck had she done a total one-eighty in two weeks?! Emma was sure she was broken, she was never coming back. But it seemed like Hebert had just been relaxing and building fucking armor to crush fucking Hookwolf!
"-rapid acceleration, combined with the force she used against Hookwolf, easily Mover 4, probably 5, Shaker 5, Brute 7. I'll put that to paper in the report, and if anything I think it's an underestimate. She was prepared and professional. I doubt she was showing us her full capabilities." And she had to be here at 10 PM at the damn PRT building while Militia and Piggot reported and discussed the whole thing. Sophia was pretty sure the only reason they let her do weekend night patrols was because they knew she'd sneak out anyway. And any minute now…
"And then there's this… supposed non-Tinker technology." Armsmaster had his thinking face on. At least he was serious when he got down to it, even if he talked too much first. He didn't sound like he liked the idea. "She claimed the shield destroyed projectiles but didn't harm humans?"
"That would require some extensive sensory equipment for something that small." Sophia was the only Ward stuck in the room with The Pig, two other office drones, three Protectorate capes, and Dragon calling in. It wasn't great for her nerves, knowing what had to be coming up. She was watching the walls carefully. This was the PRT headquarters, they probably all had electrical wires all over the damn place. Dragon was still talking about the tech shit. "I don't think the idea is impossible, but the claim is fairly incredible. Especially on a two week time frame."
"Let's be blunt here. She made numerous allusions to friends and resources. That makes our new cape sound like anything but." Piggot thumped the table to make her point. Sophia glared around to see if anyone had seen her flinch. If they said anything, she'd… do nothing. She was ready to fucking run, because they were going to pick it all apart any second now. "What about her identity?" She locked eyes with Militia and Armsmaster. She gave them a second and got nothing. The Pig growled. "Don't tell me you haven't looked. She told you her name. We confirmed with the networks that this 'brand new' parahuman is holding a press conference tomorrow, and even our local vultures don't know or won't tell us anything more, so who actually is she?!"
"Taylor Anne Hebert, born at Brockton General on June 12, 1995. Mother, Annette Hebert, deceased 2008, automobile accident. Father, Daniel Hebert, Brockton Bay Dockworker's Association Steward. She has no police record. Enrolled at Winslow High School. Hospital admission at St. Jude's on January 7th this year, but released same day, treated for abrasions, potential sepsis, and mild psychological trauma." Armsmaster said, like it was all the same. "All I could reach at this time of day was automated systems. I should have more information by Monday, but considerably more detail may take a warrant. There's only so much I can get without that or a crime in progress."
"Not much point if the girl's going to throw herself to the wolves tomorrow. Get on the warrant anyway. Hopefully this 'press conference' gives us something to convince a judge without burning half the city to the ground." Sophia was about to start breathing again when the Director jerked her head to stare right at her. "Winslow. Stalker, what do you know about her? What the hell is that hospital visit about?"
"Different," Sophia grunted, overcoming her urge to flee by sheer fucking will. "She's different at Winslow. Loner. Quiet. Sh-somebody shoved her in a locker full of uh, trash. Hasn't been back to school since." She made it casual, it was just rumors she'd heard, Sophia wasn't involved withthe weakling Hebert. 'Orbital'. She wasn't sweating, she wasn't trembling, she wasn't going to bolt or go for her crossbow. They didn't have anything. "And she didn't look that good- she didn't look like that."
The Pig turned to something else and Sophia breathed in again. "We don't have any pictures?"
"I can't, legally, pull student IDs from their database," Armsmaster began, then had to talk over Piggot's half-formed anger. "But Dragon obtained a copy of the Winslow yearbook from April 2010. Facial recognition is only 87.4% match, even allowing for projected ten months of maturation. There are some elements that can affect facial contours-"
"I am aware of the concept of makeup, Armsmaster. And don't spend any more time discussing the maturation of children." Piggot glared at the dork-ass pic of Hebert from last year, buried in a hoodie and not even able to look at the photographer, and the PRT van camera shot of her hovering, fucking flawless (did the loser get an anti-zit power too? fucking ugh), hair floating around her like an aura.
Hebert was not hot. That was a fucking ridiculous idea.
"For a native of this city, she was very aggressive and prepared for her attack on Hookwolf," Militia said, considering, strategizing. "He has a longstanding reputation for power and brutality. But she displayed two separate defenses that seemed keyed to him. One of which could have caused significant collateral damage, but only resulted in one accidental amputation. And that didn't shake her. She seemed either extremely jaded or extremely confident, neither of which fits our rough profile."
"Is this actually Taylor Hebert?" Piggot thumped the table again to make everyone stop muttering and snickering. "Powers change people, we've all seen that, but they rarely do a complete reversal. Physical improvement, mental improvement, massive power, immense confidence, and undisclosed friends and resources. Do we have outside influence here?"
"Teacher," Armsmaster said slowly, and eyes went to the screen.
"Baumann cameras confirm he is alive and in containment," Dragon said. "No signs of outside communication."
"Not that he's the only Trump power-granter out there," Militia suggested. "It's possible Ms. Hebert isn't the first new trigger we're dealing with."
"Or that she's not a new trigger, or it's not her at all." Piggot grabbed her face with her fat hand, like she was holding back a headache. "Armsmaster, get to this press conference. Take Gallant and Michael Donovan from PR. Pay attention to everything, especially the things the networks don't film. This could be the Elite, Toybox, or god forbid, some new and unknown idiot running some smokescreen. Stalker!" Oh shit. "Observe her behavior. Note changes. Note everything. If this isn't Taylor Hebert or if she's being Mastered, I want to know before it detonates!"
Sophia nodded. The feeling of being hunted, driven to ground, narrowed routes of escape blocked off - that hadn't gotten much better.
She was almost out of the building when Militia grabbed her. Sophia clamped down on her instinct to try to throw the heroine… she didn't need the trouble or the beatdown. For someone that always had a gun, Miss Militia was surprisingly brutal up close. Not Sophia's favorite trainer unless she was in a real heated mood. "Shadow Stalker."
"What?" The door was right there, it wasn't electrified, she could just run.
"Orbital's parting words." Fuck. She'd really hoped Militia hadn't heard that, would just forget it. "Does Ms. Hebert know your identity?"
"No!" Fuck, if she had known, Hebert was an even bigger coward… or a smarter one. Fuck. "She didn't know anything." And for a second, Sophia could agree with it, that maybe this wasn't Hebert. Somebody else took her body or bought her mind, some scam Hebert was gullible enough to fall for. But Sophia thought about her eyes. The face was all different, moving and talky and upbeat and sinister. But the eyes. When she was staring real hard at her - at Militia, Sophia had hoped, but knew better - she had the same eyes as the first couple months, when Hebert would gawk and beg at Emma. Eyes that didn't get it but were trying to see why. "I'm not stupid. I keep clean." Except she'd gotten dirty. Using her power to shove that trash into Hebert's locker. To steal from it before that. It had been fine, nobody was gonna trace it back to her.
She'd been sure.
"If she says anything, if she threatens you, send your emergency signal. We'll deal with it."
Fuck. Now they'd watch her even closer. Why couldn't this just be over??
Even exceptional events should be handled with caution and procedure. Running around like an idiot simply because the board had been flipped was what got you killed. That was why he had made it out of Ellisburg.
Acting on less than eight hours of warning was exceptional, and he had no particular contacts in the Docks or with the schoolchildren of the worst-funded high school in the city. The discarded universes had been full of absolute havoc.
Timeline B1, opened 11:13 PM: Direct assault on Hebert home to test declaration. Lost contact with assault team after 46 seconds. Observer reported assault team vanishing into the sky. Lost contact with observer after 53 seconds. Timeline closed.
Timeline B3, opened 1:19 AM: Dockworker Casey Morgan refuses bribe. Attempted kidnapping foiled by personal shield. Orbital arrives after 2 minutes, 31 seconds. Contact lost with assault team. Timeline closed.
Timeline B6, opened 2:21 AM: Shadow Stalker abducted from home. Interrogation failed to provide viable intelligence by 7:30 AM. Timeline closed.
He opened Timeline B7 at 8:30 AM and gave the order he'd prepared for in both. "Attack the press conference at 9:15."
Calvert hardly expected this one to do anything more than the rest. But procedures were always helpful, and he really didn't have any other handles to grasp on short notice. He would test those as they were revealed.
There were three basic categories each parahuman could be placed into: contain, subvert, destroy. (There was a fourth, avoid, but he disliked acknowledging that except in the abstract.) He would figure out which Orbital could be placed into. He would make preparations. And only when the time was right would he act.
One thing was certain: after this damn press conference and whatever chaos had been started in his city, he was going to open a timeline where he got eight hours of sleep, and stick with it unless he died in the other one.
It was a routine path, one that she ran like clockwork. Path to maintain Cauldron's secrecy at the current level for the next week. 37 steps. A routine amount of work; the less-frequent paths to maintain secrecy for the longer term were usually five to ten times longer.
Step 1: Remove the gas cap of the green 1982 Chevy Impala in the parking lot at 3811 Buford St, Albuquerque NM.
"Door to Buford Street, Albuquerque."
The heat was bracing, and her apparel not at all appropriate, but that was irrelevant. She wouldn't be here long. The car was unattended, the gas cap easily removed.
Step ?: ---? --- --!
Fortuna stopped.
Path to maintain Cauldron's secrecy at current level for the next week.
547,962 steps.
Step 1: Call the Secretary of Defense and say "It's going to be like Murmansk all over again."
She stopped again.
Path to maintain Cauldron's secrecy at current level for the next week.
681,003 steps.
Step 1: Kill the Prime Minister of India with the 6" steak knife from the Protectorate Southwest break room.
The heat of New Mexico was unexpectedly there, present and soaking into her.
"Door!"
Hebert was fucking crazy. They'd fucking broken her brain and she was an Alexandria package Tinker and she fucking knew Sophia's identity.
That last look hadn't been one you could miss. That was a power look, that was 'I just pissed in your territory, what are you gonna do about it?'
How the fuck had she done a total one-eighty in two weeks?! Emma was sure she was broken, she was never coming back. But it seemed like Hebert had just been relaxing and building fucking armor to crush fucking Hookwolf!
"-rapid acceleration, combined with the force she used against Hookwolf, easily Mover 4, probably 5, Shaker 5, Brute 7. I'll put that to paper in the report, and if anything I think it's an underestimate. She was prepared and professional. I doubt she was showing us her full capabilities." And she had to be here at 10 PM at the damn PRT building while Militia and Piggot reported and discussed the whole thing. Sophia was pretty sure the only reason they let her do weekend night patrols was because they knew she'd sneak out anyway. And any minute now…
"And then there's this… supposed non-Tinker technology." Armsmaster had his thinking face on. At least he was serious when he got down to it, even if he talked too much first. He didn't sound like he liked the idea. "She claimed the shield destroyed projectiles but didn't harm humans?"
"That would require some extensive sensory equipment for something that small." Sophia was the only Ward stuck in the room with The Pig, two other office drones, three Protectorate capes, and Dragon calling in. It wasn't great for her nerves, knowing what had to be coming up. She was watching the walls carefully. This was the PRT headquarters, they probably all had electrical wires all over the damn place. Dragon was still talking about the tech shit. "I don't think the idea is impossible, but the claim is fairly incredible. Especially on a two week time frame."
"Let's be blunt here. She made numerous allusions to friends and resources. That makes our new cape sound like anything but." Piggot thumped the table to make her point. Sophia glared around to see if anyone had seen her flinch. If they said anything, she'd… do nothing. She was ready to fucking run, because they were going to pick it all apart any second now. "What about her identity?" She locked eyes with Militia and Armsmaster. She gave them a second and got nothing. The Pig growled. "Don't tell me you haven't looked. She told you her name. We confirmed with the networks that this 'brand new' parahuman is holding a press conference tomorrow, and even our local vultures don't know or won't tell us anything more, so who actually is she?!"
"Taylor Anne Hebert, born at Brockton General on June 12, 1995. Mother, Annette Hebert, deceased 2008, automobile accident. Father, Daniel Hebert, Brockton Bay Dockworker's Association Steward. She has no police record. Enrolled at Winslow High School. Hospital admission at St. Jude's on January 7th this year, but released same day, treated for abrasions, potential sepsis, and mild psychological trauma." Armsmaster said, like it was all the same. "All I could reach at this time of day was automated systems. I should have more information by Monday, but considerably more detail may take a warrant. There's only so much I can get without that or a crime in progress."
"Not much point if the girl's going to throw herself to the wolves tomorrow. Get on the warrant anyway. Hopefully this 'press conference' gives us something to convince a judge without burning half the city to the ground." Sophia was about to start breathing again when the Director jerked her head to stare right at her. "Winslow. Stalker, what do you know about her? What the hell is that hospital visit about?"
Taylor Hebert >> Current Committee said:
Isk-Berniav said:
Taylor said:
"Different," Sophia grunted, overcoming her urge to flee by sheer fucking will. "She's different at Winslow. Loner. Quiet. Sh-somebody shoved her in a locker full of uh, trash. Hasn't been back to school since." She made it casual, it was just rumors she'd heard, Sophia wasn't involved with
Taylor Hebert said:
The Pig turned to something else and Sophia breathed in again. "We don't have any pictures?"
"I can't, legally, pull student IDs from their database," Armsmaster began, then had to talk over Piggot's half-formed anger. "But Dragon obtained a copy of the Winslow yearbook from April 2010. Facial recognition is only 87.4% match, even allowing for projected ten months of maturation. There are some elements that can affect facial contours-"
"I am aware of the concept of makeup, Armsmaster. And don't spend any more time discussing the maturation of children." Piggot glared at the dork-ass pic of Hebert from last year, buried in a hoodie and not even able to look at the photographer, and the PRT van camera shot of her hovering, fucking flawless (did the loser get an anti-zit power too? fucking ugh), hair floating around her like an aura.
Hebert was not hot. That was a fucking ridiculous idea.
"For a native of this city, she was very aggressive and prepared for her attack on Hookwolf," Militia said, considering, strategizing. "He has a longstanding reputation for power and brutality. But she displayed two separate defenses that seemed keyed to him. One of which could have caused significant collateral damage, but only resulted in one accidental amputation. And that didn't shake her. She seemed either extremely jaded or extremely confident, neither of which fits our rough profile."
"Is this actually Taylor Hebert?" Piggot thumped the table again to make everyone stop muttering and snickering. "Powers change people, we've all seen that, but they rarely do a complete reversal. Physical improvement, mental improvement, massive power, immense confidence, and undisclosed friends and resources. Do we have outside influence here?"
"Teacher," Armsmaster said slowly, and eyes went to the screen.
"Baumann cameras confirm he is alive and in containment," Dragon said. "No signs of outside communication."
"Not that he's the only Trump power-granter out there," Militia suggested. "It's possible Ms. Hebert isn't the first new trigger we're dealing with."
"Or that she's not a new trigger, or it's not her at all." Piggot grabbed her face with her fat hand, like she was holding back a headache. "Armsmaster, get to this press conference. Take Gallant and Michael Donovan from PR. Pay attention to everything, especially the things the networks don't film. This could be the Elite, Toybox, or god forbid, some new and unknown idiot running some smokescreen. Stalker!" Oh shit. "Observe her behavior. Note changes. Note everything. If this isn't Taylor Hebert or if she's being Mastered, I want to know before it detonates!"
Taylor said:
Vos-Jaepal said:
Vos-Jaepal the Wise said:
Taylor said:
Sufficiently Advanced Technology said:
Taylor said:
Sophia nodded. The feeling of being hunted, driven to ground, narrowed routes of escape blocked off - that hadn't gotten much better.
She was almost out of the building when Militia grabbed her. Sophia clamped down on her instinct to try to throw the heroine… she didn't need the trouble or the beatdown. For someone that always had a gun, Miss Militia was surprisingly brutal up close. Not Sophia's favorite trainer unless she was in a real heated mood. "Shadow Stalker."
"What?" The door was right there, it wasn't electrified, she could just run.
"Orbital's parting words." Fuck. She'd really hoped Militia hadn't heard that, would just forget it. "Does Ms. Hebert know your identity?"
"No!" Fuck, if she had known, Hebert was an even bigger coward… or a smarter one. Fuck. "She didn't know anything." And for a second, Sophia could agree with it, that maybe this wasn't Hebert. Somebody else took her body or bought her mind, some scam Hebert was gullible enough to fall for. But Sophia thought about her eyes. The face was all different, moving and talky and upbeat and sinister. But the eyes. When she was staring real hard at her - at Militia, Sophia had hoped, but knew better - she had the same eyes as the first couple months, when Hebert would gawk and beg at Emma. Eyes that didn't get it but were trying to see why. "I'm not stupid. I keep clean." Except she'd gotten dirty. Using her power to shove that trash into Hebert's locker. To steal from it before that. It had been fine, nobody was gonna trace it back to her.
She'd been sure.
"If she says anything, if she threatens you, send your emergency signal. We'll deal with it."
Fuck. Now they'd watch her even closer. Why couldn't this just be over??
Sufficiently Advanced Technology said:
Taylor said:
Sufficient said:
Taylor said:
Sufficient said:
Taylor said:
Even exceptional events should be handled with caution and procedure. Running around like an idiot simply because the board had been flipped was what got you killed. That was why he had made it out of Ellisburg.
Acting on less than eight hours of warning was exceptional, and he had no particular contacts in the Docks or with the schoolchildren of the worst-funded high school in the city. The discarded universes had been full of absolute havoc.
Timeline B1, opened 11:13 PM: Direct assault on Hebert home to test declaration. Lost contact with assault team after 46 seconds. Observer reported assault team vanishing into the sky. Lost contact with observer after 53 seconds. Timeline closed.
Timeline B3, opened 1:19 AM: Dockworker Casey Morgan refuses bribe. Attempted kidnapping foiled by personal shield. Orbital arrives after 2 minutes, 31 seconds. Contact lost with assault team. Timeline closed.
Timeline B6, opened 2:21 AM: Shadow Stalker abducted from home. Interrogation failed to provide viable intelligence by 7:30 AM. Timeline closed.
He opened Timeline B7 at 8:30 AM and gave the order he'd prepared for in both. "Attack the press conference at 9:15."
Calvert hardly expected this one to do anything more than the rest. But procedures were always helpful, and he really didn't have any other handles to grasp on short notice. He would test those as they were revealed.
There were three basic categories each parahuman could be placed into: contain, subvert, destroy. (There was a fourth, avoid, but he disliked acknowledging that except in the abstract.) He would figure out which Orbital could be placed into. He would make preparations. And only when the time was right would he act.
One thing was certain: after this damn press conference and whatever chaos had been started in his city, he was going to open a timeline where he got eight hours of sleep, and stick with it unless he died in the other one.
It was a routine path, one that she ran like clockwork. Path to maintain Cauldron's secrecy at the current level for the next week. 37 steps. A routine amount of work; the less-frequent paths to maintain secrecy for the longer term were usually five to ten times longer.
Step 1: Remove the gas cap of the green 1982 Chevy Impala in the parking lot at 3811 Buford St, Albuquerque NM.
"Door to Buford Street, Albuquerque."
The heat was bracing, and her apparel not at all appropriate, but that was irrelevant. She wouldn't be here long. The car was unattended, the gas cap easily removed.
Step ?: ---? --- --!
Fortuna stopped.
Path to maintain Cauldron's secrecy at current level for the next week.
547,962 steps.
Step 1: Call the Secretary of Defense and say "It's going to be like Murmansk all over again."
She stopped again.
Path to maintain Cauldron's secrecy at current level for the next week.
681,003 steps.
Step 1: Kill the Prime Minister of India with the 6" steak knife from the Protectorate Southwest break room.
The heat of New Mexico was unexpectedly there, present and soaking into her.
"Door!"
nevermind the style: Simplicity wins!
Yeah, I know, this is gonna start a page or three of PtV vs Mind argument. I will be going into more detail on how I see that working in a later chapter, but it felt appropriate and relevant to have that conflict start now
Yeah, I know, this is gonna start a page or three of PtV vs Mind argument. I will be going into more detail on how I see that working in a later chapter, but it felt appropriate and relevant to have that conflict start now
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Architect Iront.
Verified Cosplayer, Verified Living Doll
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Well then, now that everyone's panicking about the the stuff out in the open, it's time for the S.A.T. and company to strike in the shadows. Look, a distraction! Where!?
Timerider
That guy who really should get out more.
- Location
- The End of the World.
There is an exchange that I so very rarely see in worm fics.
Sophia: "Predator vs. Prey nonsense."
Other person: "How fortunate for you that I disagree."
Proceeds to educate Sophia on how many ways she is helplessly doomed. By demonstration.
Sophia: "Predator vs. Prey nonsense."
Other person: "How fortunate for you that I disagree."
Proceeds to educate Sophia on how many ways she is helplessly doomed. By demonstration.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Actually, the only thing that surprises me, is that there is a path at all. I guess the reason why it is going up is, that the path is still calculating. It throws its first answer there (Appearing instant) while calculating the other steps. But then it realizes something bad happens.
The mind has near total observation abilities, and to find out that there is something like cauldron is not difficult in Worm. The only reason it takes some time to happen is that Comtessa + Doormaker is a devastating combination. But this is an out of context problem for her, a problem she cannot really affect on a fundamental level. And considering how widespread cauldrons activities are (finding Out who Rebecca costa brown is in her spare time alone would kill a lot of the conspiracy), as soon as contessa has a problem of fighting the enemy (the mind that is on that for worm tech unkillable starship (powers only work to roughly the moon, in fact even a bit less distance)), cauldron cannot keep secret anymore, especially not if the enemy has a reason to want them to be outed.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
I prefer not having to click buttons to read the story, and while it's not your fault, the style I'm using makes it impossible to see when I've reached the final message in a chain. I'd much prefer the old method.
I wonder about that.
You seem to be going for "PtV still works, but achieving impossible goals is impossible." With that many steps, I suspect it was going to have her bootstrap to Culture levels of technology in a hurry, and there's no way that would have worked.
On the other hand, it does indicate that the Culture doesn't necessarily have anything the shards haven't seen before. Which seems plausible. One of the basic conceits of the Culture-verse is that there's a plateau beyond which technology can't be improved further, and even if they aren't quite there yet, others in the galaxy are. This doesn't make all civilizations identical, of course; it's still your choice how you use it, and which technological pathways you focus on first.
If you're already able to make people immortal by copying and pasting mind-states, you're unlikely to spend as much time working on biological immortality, or vice versa.
...While this indicates that the Entities are probably more than a match for the Culture, taken as a whole, it most certainly does not indicate that Zion is.
I don't think Contessa's shard had noticed the Velocity yet. Now it has. We'll see what happens, but there's not actually any reason for conflict here; their goals are aligned.
The shards' goals? We'll see. I don't think it was PtV's purpose to choose goals, but it might have some watchdog functionality in case of serious threats. Of course, it'd be calling out to Eden...
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