Cameron couldn't believe this was happening. She had passed the test and now she was on her way to an honest to god 'safehouse'. She recognized the man who was driving her from when she first made contact with the gang. Dimitri, she thought his name was.
"So I guess we work together now?" She offered. The man didn't say a single thing. Hopefully the reception would be a little better wherever we were headed to.
As I watched through my clone's eyes I memorized every twist and turn the car made. The windows were tinted and the back of the van had seats attached that didn't give a good view of the front windshield. They weren't the most effective countermeasures but the fact they were in place so casually early on meant that there would be more to come the deeper Cameron was able to infiltrate the gang. Unfortunately for Coil my brain was able to memorize every single stop, turn, and merge. Eventually the car seemed to pull into a building and parked. Cameron was there.
She was practically buzzing with excitement. As she stepped out of the car she was surprised it looked like an ordinary parking garage. "Where are we?"
This time Dimitri actually spoke. "A motel that the boss has a deal with. You'll be staying here until the boss calls for you. Follow me." The metal girl started doing just that.
"This is exciting! I don't sleep but I've always wanted to try a bed." Dimitri wasn't any more of a conversationalist while walking than he was while driving and Cameron quickly fell into the silence he enforced.
Along the walk I realized that there was nobody in either the stairway or the halls that Dimitri escorted Cameron through. Not completely impossible but there weren't even any sounds aside from the humming of the fluorescent lights. Had all the rooms been bought out or did Coil own this place and only use it as a safehouse. The latter seemed more likely and spoke to the financial power he was able to exert.
"4C huh? This is my room?"
Dimitri nodded. "Stay in here until the boss calls. Won't be long."
"Whatever you say Dimitri." Cameron was going to give it a few hours. She was willing to jump through hoops to join up but she wasn't about to be jerked around by Coil. "Any room service?" At Dimitri's blank stare she felt a little embarrassed. "I don't need to eat, but it's still nice and it helps me recover from injuries. I'm still not 100% after Browbeat. The guy was a monster." Cameron had no idea how it worked but she could somehow turn things she ate into more metal. Another thing she had learned from the truck guy with a shotgun.
"I'll have somebody bring a burger up." And with that the laconic man left.
Cameron took in her room. It was a simple bed, a nightstand with a phone, a small table surrounded by two chairs, and a tv. It was the nicest place Cameron had ever stayed in her short amnesiac life. She jumped on the bed with a thud and grabbed the remote control for the tv. She'd never had a chance to choose the channels of any tv she watched, having only seen them from hiding spots, so she was anxious to see how it actually worked.
I removed myself from micromanaging my Cameron thought program. Whether or not it took hours for Coil to call her, my main consciousness could be put to better use elsewhere. I gave a small laugh at that. I technically didn't have a main consciousness, each thread of consciousness was as independent and important as the next including Cameron to a degree, but labeling one as my main kept me sane. I needed effort to keep my mind from going off the deep end and changing into something that I couldn't define as human anymore even with the broadest definitions of human I was using right now.
I pushed such thoughts away and focused on the two other clones I had created with my new power. First was one in my Scrapyard dimension. I had made it in order to test whether or not clones made in the other world counted towards my limit and they had. Having a second pair of hands, well ones that were attached to a body at least, just about doubled my tinkering speed. It would still take until the end of the week for the molds to dry and diagnostics to finish running on my first set of armor and weapon but I was able to focus on other projects in the meantime. I had set aside a portion of the dimension for power generation but never had a chance to upgrade it beyond the base minimum needed for my projects. Now I could build a real power grid to fuel the factories that I created.
I decided to send myself into one of the bodies in the dimension. I usually kept the tinkering to secondary thought processes but it wouldn't hurt to go through it all with my main consciousness.
The body I inhabited was currently in the silicon factory. It was built on the ruins of the alternate Boardwalk and was a giant monster of a building connected by a pipeline to a drill I had managed to cobble together to gather silicates from the Bay's floor.. Since I was the only inhabitant of this world I had no reason to worry about others when making my designs. The smokestacks released an awful amount of pollution and right next to the building was my dumping ground for industrial runoff. I hadn't figured out a use for it yet, but I was pretty sure I would eventually be able to do something with it. All in all it was the sort of building that would make even the most corrupt politician slap regulations on. Inside wasn't that much better. As the only worker here and with perfect balance and the ability to fit into small places the walkways were an OSHA nightmare with no walkways and a sweltering heat from the refining process that would probably kill a lesser woman and if that didn't take them out the exposure to the silicon particles in the air would for sure.
For me I just walked in and checked on the instruments to make sure production was going well. Early on for my electronics I was able to scavenge old materials and make do, but now that I had created my first generation factories I needed high end microchips to ensure a higher level of precision in my builds. Not to mention stronger, more capable ceramics and cement. Seeing everything was doing well I went to the finished product. Stacks of fine silicon ore of high enough quality to be transformed into semiconductors. I gathered it all in my Bag of Holding and then did the same to the collection of silica fume caught from the furnace.
Outside the factory was my ride. The truck I started out with had been modified into an all terrain vehicle able to traverse through the piles of junk that littered the landscape. The first stop would be the materials production line. It was mostly automated so all I had to do was hook up the silica fume and the line would get started on producing the necessary materials I had inputted beforehand. The process would take the entire night so I was free to finish up the rest of the work I needed to get done before I had to come back. Along the way I also passed the power plant I had created.
Early on I could rely on scavenged batteries and generators powered by remnants of gasoline I could find. After that became insufficient I had switched to building a basic power plant. The first one was an advanced water mill built alongside a small canal I jury rigged before switching that over to full on solar thermal energy using solar panels made from my first batch of silicon. This was blatant Tiner bullshit in effect. The silicon refinery had a stupid level of efficiency but it was still technically doable by human means if they could have survived under the horrific conditions the refinery provided, but here there was absolutely no reason for the power plant to work. It was sheer nonsense and even if it did make sense it still provided way too much energy than should be possible for something of that size.
After checking to make sure there weren't any system errors I left the power plant behind and went to my last stop. My final creation in what I called my industrial park, the machine shop. I hadn't actually created this building, instead setting myself up in several hollowed out buildings along the coast near my other creations. Here was where I made my large scale projects. I fabricated machine parts like gears or valves, 3D printed delicate circuitry, and even made molds for large scale piping work like with my refinery. It was the part of the industrial park that underwent the most versions. Every time I created one of my machines the first thing I did was use the machines to create better machines in my accelerated Tinker cycle. I only stopped recently when I felt I had enough quality materials to at least set up a proper workshop and start making prototypes. Now with two bodies here one of me was here about to continue work on my next generation of factories and the other was in my lab. I placed the silicon I would need for my current builds in my workspace and then put the rest in the truck's bed. The other me would come pick it up when I was done with my current project. Speaking of, I switched my main self into that body.
The workshop I had set up was a technological wonderland. Unlike the other buildings I did make this one at least partially aesthetically pleasing. It was more permanent than the other buildings and it just felt right. I had used the ruins of one of the more intact buildings downtown as the bones of it before turning the space into my own. It was separated into six different sections. First was the outside section, where I had set up both testing ranges and housing units for my larger creations like my way too large communicators. Second in the south was my chemistry section. Made to enhance my Love Potion power, the level of precision I had was absurd. I could refine chemicals to a level of precision that even professional labs couldn't reach. As a result it was here I could make potions that would make a real impact. Keep people alive from grievous wounds, boost their strength to even Brute 1 levels, or even just regular super chemicals that I would use in Tinkering in the other areas.
In the west was my software section. I had managed to create several computers that I used to program my devices and run simulations without having to risk blowing something up. It was here I had created the information sending and receiving system my communicators used and where I had set up the simple AI that would assist me when I eventually went out in my power armor. North was the materials room. It was here that the raw metal and ceramic produced in the industrial park was turned into my guns and armor.
The eastern lab was where I produced my circuitry and personal energy supplies. The parts here weren't individually complete for the most part, instead they were sent to the final lab. The center lab where everything was put together. It was here that my first prototype power armor was sitting, and where the final molds of my first usable armor were solidifying. Since my specialty didn't come with any specific ways of building things I had to cobble together several half baked tinker designs. The metal was a special polymer designed to be able to take kinetic energy and convert it into heat, then that heat was absorbed into an energy converter to either assist the flight systems or project an emergency forcefield. The heat the metal generated would probably kill a normal person, but I had created a cooling undersuit that would bring the temperatures down to a temperature that was still deadly but survivable to me.
I also had several weapons that I had made in accordance with Madison's suggestions on what my Tinker identity should be. There was an entire arsenal here. Several smaller pistols, a pair of rifles, and a larger laser cannon that needed to be constantly plugged in to keep it charged. That last one needed to be calibrated and tested but the lower calibur laser weapons were ready and field tested in this world.
Satisfied I returned to my main reality, but not my main body. Instead I went to the second clone I made in reality. This one was in my basement working on an unfortunately necessary new part of my life. It had used several old materials to create a to-scale doll of Sophia Hess. All of my Tinkering abilities, Tier 0 and 1, made creating it more than easy. It was also detailed enough that my second sight allowed my Sympathetic Sight to get a read on not just her but her surrounding area. The moment I activated this power I was breaking so many rules and violating Sophia's privacy in a way that I couldn't take back. But she knew my secret identity and I didn't trust her not to do something stupid with that info.
Looking in on Sophia she was at home, sleeping in her bed. I did something nearly unforgivable just to confirm that Sophia was sleeping at night. And I had to keep doing so. Until I came up with a long term solution I needed to keep an eye on her.
Everything was just becoming a mess. Things might be easier if I just shut off my emotions. Used my mental computer to just shut it all off and think everything through with pure logic. I might be happier that way. Or rather than happy, just less of a mess.
I was exhausted. Just so so so exhausted.
Let's Play
Lisa wasn't a big fan of having to read people. It was surprisingly hard for her to gather useful information with her powers. Sure she could get computer passwords, or play at being psychic every so often, and she even found it easy to get at a person's insecurities and poke at them until they snapped. However; doing deep dives? Figuring out exactly what made a person actually tick? That was trouble and usually led to junk data and headaches. Sometimes it felt like her power liked immediate results not long term plays.
All that was also doubled when it came to Case 53s. That was one of a hundred reasons she hated Faultline, she surrounded herself with them and so Lisa had to focus twice as hard to get proper results.
Now her oh so generous boss had called on her and told her to get as much information on a Case53 as she could, and she was not looking forward to the headache.
"Hey." Lisa held out a hand to the metal girl. "I'm Christa." She lied. "I work for Coil. He sent me to debrief you on what happened with Browbeat."
The metal girl perked up at that. "Hi! I'm Cameron. I also work for Coil. I guess you knew that already though, huh?"
Lonely. Craves human contact.
That was interesting, but not unexpected. "Do you think you can walk me through what happened with Browbeat?" Cameron nodded enthusiastically and launched into her story.
There weren't any inconsistencies that Lisa could detect, but she did get a few interesting pieces of data from the tangents she went on.
Enjoys combat, but does not enjoy inflicting pain. The act of violence isn't the draw, pushing herself to be better is.
Refuses to employ lethal measures, even under threatening circumstances. Mentally unable to kill.
Hopes to gain comradery and family through joining an organization. Glorifies crime while ignoring potential moral bankruptcies she might see.
Of course her power wasn't perfect and she got several pieces of information that were just wrong.
Fifteen years old. Less than a week old.
For example that one, or the one that claimed she was always lying and telling the truth every time she spoke. Whenever things like that came up Lisa had to refocus her power and bring the encroaching headache that much closer. This was why she hated Case 53s. Eventually she got all the information she needed.
"Thanks for your time Cameron. I need to go report this to Coil."
"A-are you sure you don't want to stay? The TV guide said that Wheel of Fortune was starting and I don't know what that is but it sounds fun."
"Maybe another time. Thank you." And Lisa left the area. She felt for the girl, and depending on what Coil does with her they might even become friends, but for now she had to stick to Coil's script.
Once she was far enough away she pulled out her phone. "It's me."
"Hello Tattletale. Did everything go well?"
"Went perfectly. Aside from the usual bullshit from Case 53s I got everything I needed."
"Good. Proceed."
"Well she's telling the truth about her past, for the most part at least. She's definitely new to being aware and has some form of amnesia that's consistent with others in her situation. She's also genuine about joining your organization. She wants some sort of community around her so just give her a few friendly faces and she'll be good. No murder though, that might be her most strongly held belief at the moment. She'd rather die than kill somebody."
"Interesting. And now what about placement? In your opinion, where would she have the most value?"
Coil had filled her in on the different postings he was considering for Cameron, in what was honestly a suspicious amount of detail. "Well I'd like to have her on the Undersiders. I know Grue is getting antsy about finding another member before we get into some serious trouble, but at the same time Bitch is dead set against it and Regent is siding with her half the time just to mess with us. Unless there's some sort of big event to bond her to the team right away it won't be a good fit."
"If I were you I'd keep her on as a floating cape, loaning her out wherever you might need her, and then once Grue and I have convinced the others you can bring her in to the Undersiders."
"Hmmm." Coil seemed contemplative. Lisa knew that was the right answer, what Coil wanted to hear. Truth be told she'd be most useful with Trainwreck, her open personality and objectively good, if not slightly odd due to the metal, looks would allow gang members to rally around her as a symbol. However Lisa's goal wasn't to get Coil a powerful new asset, it was to give herself another weapon to use against Coil when she finally had the opportunity to strike back.
"Thank you for your invaluable advice. Goodbye Tattletale."
"See yo-
Let's Play
Cameron immediately grabbed the phone when it rang. Aside from somebody dropping off her burger she hadn't been seen or spoken to anybody since coming to the motel.
"Hello!"
"Cameron, I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done." The metal girl kept herself from bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Thank you. It was no problem at all." Absolutely not true but always lead with your best foot forward. "Does this mean I'm in?"
"You are, in a sense." Coil said. "While I am convinced of both your skills and your honesty there are still some concerns about how to fit you into my organization. You see we are more than just a 'gang' as people call it. We are a brotherhood and I want to make sure that bringing you in won't disrupt any of that."
Cameron nodded her head despite the fact he couldn't see her. "Of course. Team synergy and all that. Don't want to mess with that."
"That doesn't mean I will be leaving you in complete limbo until I figure that out. There are still odd jobs I need done that you are perfect for, and you will always be welcome at this motel and your room will always be available for you to spend time in. In the morning I'll have one of my men show you around the facility and how to enter and exit without anybody noticing as well as giving you a phone so you can contact us at will."
"Really? Whenever I want?"
"Yes. Of course I am often busy so we will not be able to speak often, but I will be assigning you a handler, to go between you and the organization. They will assist you by informing you of jobs we need you to take on or helping you purchase any items you may need that you couldn't otherwise due to your…visual condition."
"Right of course! Thank you!" It was happening! Cameron was finally in!
Quest Complete! I'm InCompletion Rewards:
2000 EXP
2 Loose SP
I knew it. Coil was absolutely a Thinker. He knew the exact right words to tell Cameron that would get her excited. Bringing up ideas of brotherhood and framing things in such a way to lure the metal girl in.
He also had information on Cameron's powers that she didn't showcase in their first encounter, so maybe it was a form of enhanced intuition? Or maybe precognition letting him know the exact right thing to say like some sort of path to victory? While my alternate persona was just happy to have a place to belong I was worrying my ass off. Why couldn't things ever be easy? Everything just felt…hard.
The Sophia situation had exploded in a single moment, I was going to have to deal with the fact that Emma knew I was Shard, and now I had to juggle a third life instead of just two. Luckily I had acquired a cloning power which would allow me to infiltrate Coil over a longer time frame and make keeping suspicion off of Cameron much easier. However now I also had to figure out how to keep the clones up. I had summoned three total which meant I had seven in the bank, Cameron had about 20 hours left in her before she vanished, and about the same with the other two.
I would have to send a clone to replace Cameron and then desummon Cameron at the same time to avoid any overlap. Doing so at the twenty four hour mark would be way too risky so maybe at around 20 or so hours, leaving four hours for the unexpected to be dealt with.
However the issue was deeper than that. Despite how it was worded it wasn't actually ten clones a day, rather I had a cooldown on the ten total clones that would reset after twenty four hours. So the maximum number of clones I could have was ten at one time, or if I solely devoted my clones to acting as Cameron with my current set up it would be ten periods of twenty hours before I would have to take Cameron's place with my main body for four hours to reset the timer. Two hundred hours. Eight and a third days. Of course on this first run I only had one hundred and sixty hours of Cameron time due to my used clone slots.
The math was easy, but the execution would be difficult. Infiltration was a difficult game. Maybe if I wasn't already a hero, or if I didn't have responsibilities like my friends or school I could do it easily, or maybe if I hadn't created a cover identity that didn't have responsibilities herself that would cause her to leave at certain intervals. A case of the goal posts being moved mid mission. My original plan had been to just miss school for a few days while I did the early infiltration and then found excuses to have my own place to live, but that was too inefficient once I actually got in; especially with my new powers.
I mentally set a goal for myself. One month. I would give Cameron one month to gather all her information and then use that to attack Coil's organization, quests be damned. The longer I went undercover with this set up the more likely it is I'm discovered.
I was feeling calmer. A plan. I had made a plan for the Cameron situation. Now I just needed plans for the rest. For Sophia I needed to get her out of the way in a way that wouldn't point back to me in her eyes. If I managed to get proof of her being a killer and sent it to the PRT, even if they didn't bury it Sophia would suspect I had done it and go full scorched earth. True Hypnotist would keep her from retaliating for a time, longer if I reinforced it before acting, but it wasn't a long term solution. Sophia was stubborn if she was anything else and that stubbornness would constantly wear on any commands that did break through her pride.
So plan. I had to find proof that would get Sophia, Shadow Stalker, arrested and make it seem like the evidence had come to light without my influence.
For Emma, that was much harder to plan for. I wanted my sister back, maybe never again as my best friend, but I still wanted her back as selfish and hypocritical as that might seem. That meant pulling her away from Sophia and the toxicity she spouts from her just merely existing. Getting her to go back to the kind person I knew she could be. I was still frustrated that she knew my secret identity but that wasn't something I could change. Even then though I knew she could be trusted with a secret like this, after nearly two years she hadn't even hinted at Sophia being a cape, it was only my enhanced cognition that let me see the details that lied in between her words and actions.
I could do this. Everything was fine and under control.
I looked at my system again and decided now was as good a time as any to roll my reward for brutalizing a young hero.
1d45=42=Big Baby
Changer/Master: Big BabyCost: 9 SPYou can generate and control a swarm of massive, grotesque infants connected to you by thick, sinewy umbilical cords. The cords are around 10 meters long, making that your effective range. These babies act as your limbs, lifting and moving you, manipulating objects, and overwhelming enemies with sheer numbers. Each one possesses unnatural strength and durability, making them as effective as monstrous hands and feet. Their immense strength lets them grasp and pin down even the most powerful foes, and their bloated, rubbery flesh absorbs impacts like living armor.
When your brood fully envelops a target, their combined strength begins an exponential crushing process. The moment at least three-quarters of a victim's body is buried beneath the writhing mass, the force exerted upon them doubles every second, escalating until only indestructible remnants remain. If the victim manages to break free, even for a moment, the compounding force resets, requiring them to be fully trapped once more before the destruction resumes. Within moments, bodies are reduced to pulp, and within minutes, even metals and stone are ground into fine dust under the multiplying pressure.
Sometimes I actually hated my powers. Sure it was technically useful but it was so terrifying and gross that I wouldn't use this power unless my life literally depended on it. Why was this even a power? Hopefully my tier 0 power would be good.
1d115=104=Projectile Vomit
Blaster: (Projectile Vomit)Cost: 1 SPYou can vomit at a distance of 5 feet at will, the muscles necessary to accomplish this action temporarily strengthening themselves for the duration of this ability. Additionally, while doing this, your stomach, esophagus, and mouth become more durable, to allow for anything that you vomit to be vomited out safely. Note that this doesn't aid you in eating, say, glass - only successfully vomiting it out.
You can also modify the viscosity of your digestive acids, and other such liquids within your stomach like mucus or water, to allow for the modification of the contents of your vomit. If you want to send a vomit slimeball at someone, you very much can.
Fuck you power.
Projectile, Projectile VomitCost: Projectile Vomit+Hysterical StrengthThe strength at which you can vomit is now much higher, thanks to your muscles. You can now vomit up to a distance of 20 feet. Up close, you could knock over a man with a vomit slimeball, splashing it all over them like a thick slush.
EmetokineticsCost: Projectile Vomit+Minor TelekinesisYou can now manipulate your vomit telekinetically, moving it as if you were holding it and shaping it with your hands. This allows you to manipulate other objects from a distance by, for example, turning the viscosity up to the max, or force it into others' mouths to make them retch and distract them.
These powers were getting sealed. Forever. I didn't care if they were the only way to defeat an Endbringer, I was never using my vomit powers ever.
The only good thing to come from this roll is that I was done with my three Changer powers. Now only fifteen more powers until my tier 2 power quest.
Name: Taylor Anne HebertBrowbeater LVL 14SP Cap10Loose SP5Tier 1 Powers(21)Mover(0)Shaker(3)Brute(3)Breaker(2)Master(3)Tinker(2)Blaster(0)Thinker(1)Striker(1)Changer(3)Trump(2)Stranger(1)Tier 0 Powers(66)Synergy Powers(18)Power Upgrades(6)
Date: March 29th
A.N.
Very much an in between chapter. I just sort of felt the need to slow things down a little for this one. Let things breath. I also wanted to take some time and go over what the Tinker world looked like. Since this isn't a full on Tinker story I sometimes and letting it go to the wayside, but I wanted to let it be known that it is still being done and thought of.
Also some insight onto how Coil is handling the whole Cameron situation. It was also so funny to me that this power roll ended up giving so many just disgusting powers. I love it and already have some plans for what to do with them in the future.
Honestly not too much to talk about for this chapter, but I hope at least it is a fun read. Next chapter is going to be our second set of interludes, and I really enjoyed writing them so look forward to next week.
Madison hadn't expected to see Taylor get off the bus at school. In fact she hadn't expected Taylor to come to school for the next few days after she had managed to convince her dad to let her go undercover.
"Hey!" She greeted Taylor with a quick side hug. "I thought you were 'sick' and weren't coming to school."
Taylor shrugged. "Turns out I didn't need to take a sick day." She then lowered her voice. "Found a way around it. I'll tell you and G later when we're all together."
Madison nodded, making sure to keep any annoyance of having to wait for Glory Girl off of her face. Taylor probably already knew with her stupid bullshit Thinker powers, but it was still important to make an effort. "Sounds good. We can go to my place after school then try messaging her?" Taylor nodded and they made their way to class.
As the day went on though Madison began to notice that something big had definitely happened yesterday between Taylor and Sophia. The track star was quiet. And not in her usual way where she would silently glare and judge the rest of the student body.
Instead it almost seemed as if she was scared. Whenever she spoke she would glance over at Taylor as if she was asking for permission. Madison wondered what had happened between the two. She knew that Sophia knew at least part of Taylor's secret, and that she was getting more and more jealous of Taylor's growing closeness with Emma, and that the girl was enough of a bitch to try something.
Did she try to maybe blackmail Taylor? Or maybe she just was a complete asshole and decided to fuck around and find out. Either way she would have to ask Taylor about it later.
Speaking of, she was definitely in a mood. Taylor had long since mastered the art of hiding her emotions even before she got her powers, but Madison could read her best friend. She learned how to tell the difference between her 'everything is fine' neutral resting face and her 'I am not doing okay' neutral resting face.
Thankfully life didn't throw any curveballs so classes went normally and Madison managed to leave school with Taylor and make it to her house. Her dad was at work and her mom was either at her boyfriend's place or the bar finding a new one so they should be left alone for however long they needed to be.
"Has she responded yet?" Madison asked as Taylor sat in front of her computer. Since they were still keeping Taylor's identity from Glory Girl, cell phones and texting were out, so instead they had to just DM her on PHO and hope she responded.
"Just did. Apparently she is going to be busy this week. If it's super important I can meet up with her when she's on patrol."
"Is it?" Madison asked. "Important. You said you wanted to fill us in at the same time."
"Yeah, to a point. I mean I mostly wanted to tell you both at once so I wouldn't have to waste any time. It feels like I just don't have enough of it lately. Which is actually funny considering what I can do now." And so Taylor ran through her new powers for Madison.
"Cloning! That's amazing!"
"Yeah. Got really lucky when it came to that roll. That means I'll be able to keep up a fulltime infiltration. Go deeper than I thought I would be able to."
Madison offered a high five which Tayor accepted. "Alright. So I'm guessing that means you'll also need some extra help sneaking away to replace Cameron when the clone is almost timed up?"
Taylor nodded. "Yeah. One solution that just provides another set of issues we need to address. Problems never end do they?" She complained and Madison giggled.
"Pretty sure problems are what you signed up for when you decided to become a superhero. "
"Yup. Love getting to face the consequences of my own choices. Love consequences."
"Eh, I don't really believe in consequences." Madison joked.
Taylor just gave her a side eye. "I want you to know that if it wasn't for the fact that I promised myself to be nicer I would have absolutely devastated you with my response to that."
Madison answered by laughing enough that Taylor threw a pillow at her face.
Let's Play
Emma was on a mission. The last few days have been weird. After Sophia and Taylor hung out Taylor had been moodier than usual, and Sophia was in full on recluse mode. She said everything was okay but she hadn't gone out with Emma these past few days after school, and at school she was behaving weird. Sophia had always amused herself by being a little rough around the edges. Pointing out some kid's ugly outfit, or the out of shape kids struggling during gym, or knocking the books out of some unsuspecting student's hands. Those were part of Sophia's routine that she had stopped doing.
Emma was glad she had stopped, she herself had stopped her own participation after Taylor had rejoined the friend group. Besides, Emma didn't really care that much about doing it herself. Teasing was fun, but the real venom was needed to help Taylor be like Sophia and now that she was it wasn't necessary anymore.
Sophia enjoyed it though and the fact she just suddenly stopped was concerning. When she asked Sophia what had happened when her and Taylor got together she just said that they 'ran and then went back home. Nothing really happened.' and it was so obviously untrue she decided to ask the other direct source.
"Have you been avoiding me?" Emma asked her friend after cornering her after classes.
"Of course not. I'm just really busy lately." Taylor responded keeping her face completely neutral like she was want to do. It was just the two of them, underneath the bleachers of the football field. The kids who made out between classes were already gone and the stoners shouldn't arrive for a while.
"Yeah I'm sure. And it's just a coincidence that you got really busy right after you and Sophia had a fight?"
Taylor actually laughed at that. "You know what? Yes actually. It is a coincidence. And Sophia told you about the fight?"
Emma shook her head. "No. She's as tight lipped as you, but it's kind of super freaking obvious."
Taylor just sighed. "I don't want to talk about it." She crossed her arms over her chest.
Emma just scoffed at that. "And I didn't want to talk about the alley. I felt way better after I did though. I know both of you, if you had a fight I can help mediate."
"That's the reason we fought."
"What?"
"Well first of all Sophia is as freaking possessive as a…I don't know something really possessive. She literally attacked me because you're becoming closer to me." Aggression began creeping into Taylor's voice.
"Sophia wouldn't do that. She wanted you in the group as much as I did." It was even Sophia's idea. That Taylor had what it took to be like Sophia. Emma wouldn't have even thought of pushing Taylor like that if it wasn't for Sophia.
"Are you sure about that? Because that's not what she told me. She didn't think I had it in me." The aggression had bled into actual venom.
Things all of a sudden clicked with Emma. "You know?"
"Yeah." She spat out. "I know why you did it. Why you suddenly decided that I was worth being friends with again." Emma started smiling but Taylor cut her off. "No! You don't smile right now. This isn't a happy moment."
"Sorry." Emma said sheepishly. "I'm just happy we don't have to pretend around each other now. I hated not telling you the truth but I didn't want you to get the wrong idea."
"The wrong idea? What wrong idea?"
"That I would only want you for your…" She looked around and confirmed they were still alone. "Your powers." She whispered.
"And that isn't the truth? I wasn't enough before but now I am."
"No!" Emma didn't want Taylor to misunderstand. This is why she was so nervous about telling her the truth. "I loved how you were, but you weren't ready. Not for the real world. You've always been strong, but now you're strong enough to keep us safe. I never wanted something like the alley to happen to you and now it won't."
"You were my alley!" Taylor shouted. "I was safe, I did have a life I was happy with! I had you! What you did to me…" Were those actual tears in her eyes. "I don't want to talk about this okay. I especially don't want to talk about this with you. I'm going to go." Emma moved to stop Taylor but she just pushed right past the girl. "I'm still your friend." She stopped before she fully left the bleachers. "I still want to be your friend for some god forsaken reason. But what you did still wasn't okay, and if you think even for a second that it was then not only are you a giant idiot but Sophia definitely lied to you."
And with that Emma was left alone. This was not good. Things weren't going how Emma thought they would. Taylor knowing the truth was always going to be rough, but it was going to end with them all closer, and Taylor being a hero alongside Sophia. And Emma would be there, helping them however she could.
Obviously this was all a huge misunderstanding. Whatever went down between Taylor and Sophia made Taylor not get what they were doing. Especially thinking that Sophia didn't think Taylor would trigger. Sophia had said that Taylor definitely had the potential.
Emma had to talk to Sophia to clear everything up. Sophia was also avoiding her, but she also knew the Ward's schedule so she knew when she'd get back home after patrol this weekend.
Let's Play
Victoria probably should have met up with Shard before the weekend, but honestly she was just so busy. School was ramping up, and crime was seeing a rise, enough of a rise that there wasn't enough time to meet up during patrol and after patrol she was just way too tired.
Plus in her free time she was doing…independent research. Searching some private hero forums she frequented she made some discreet inquiries to see if anybody else had received visions of the crystal Shards. Nothing obvious, she didn't want to seem insane, or draw too much attention, she just mentioned her dream in a forum where capes talked about them. The cape life drew plenty of weird dreams, and Vicky herself had posted in the forum before.
No hits there unfortunately. She also dived deep into trigger theory and found whatever she could on passenger theory.
There she actually did get a hit. It was obscure, a paper written years ago by William Manton before he vanished off the face of the earth. It had barely ever been referenced in other research and easily fell into obscurity compared to his paper that codified the Manton Effect. However it was almost exactly what Vicky was looking for. She had to go to the computer lab at Brockton U before she met up with Shard that Sunday to read the paper but it was more than worth the trip.
In the study he created Manton studied Thinkers and how they interpreted information. The study didn't have any conclusive results but it did provide a single hypothesis at the end, that Thinker powers had access to a network of information that extended beyond the individual. The paper said it was unknown how or what the outside network was, and in fact leaned on the idea that Thinker powers were all interconnected and fed off of one another. However Victoria knew exactly what the outside network was.
The Shards. Those things spoke to one another. Communicated. Had a hierarchy. She wanted to know more though. She wanted to meet her Shard. The golden and fragile thing that protected her. It was so warm and friendly that she was sure if she could find a way to communicate she would get all the answers she needed. Short of giving herself brain damage though she had no clue what paths were open to do so.
Shard's system was definitely a way for her Shard to communicate with her, at least obliquely in terms of giving missions, so if she could somehow get access to the system, or see it for herself. This was the discovery of the lifetime and she was stuck just before a breakthrough.
"Data Collection by Thinker Powers and the Link Between Them? I haven't heard of that paper in a dog's age." Vicky jumped at the sudden voice behind her. She turned and saw her Parahuman Studies professor, Dr. Standler, standing over her shoulder. He was an older man, and thankfully not a creep like a few other professors she's had.
"You've read this?"
He nodded. "Back in the day everybody was so excited for a new research paper by Will, he was so reclusive even back then that it was the only way to get anything out of him." Standler hummed lost in a memory for a moment. "In the end nothing really came from it."
"Nothing? You'd think that there being evidence of an overarching intelligence behind powers would be news."
He just shook his head. "I guess you haven't gotten to the follow-up studies. Three other independent studies were done to replicate the results of this study but they all failed to achieve the same results. It was eventually decided that the results of the first study was an unfortunate coincidence. This is actually one of the reasons I stress that studies need to be rigorous, relevant, and most importantly repeatable."
"Huh." That…that wasn't right. Victoria knew that there was an overarching intelligence. She had firsthand experience with it and the Manton study supported that. She saw for herself the things that were behind powers. Why would the others not come to the same conclusion? The logic was a little backwards, working from the answer then hitting the question, but it was still sound.
"Can you send me those other studies? I want to actually understand what happened. Not that I don't trust you, but seeing things first hand is best right?"
Dr. Standler smiled. "Of course. I was actually an editor on one of them, and might still have an original copy somewhere in my office. For the others I can ask around for back issues of scientific journals they were published in. Hopefully I can get them to you after class on Tuesday."
Right. Standler was old enough he still kept most things as hard copies. That was actually pretty nice. "That'd be perfect sir. Thank you."
"Of course. You might be the only student of mine that's not taking this course for an easy B. Anything to encourage scientific curiosity."
They exchanged a few more pleasantries, but the hour was getting late and it was almost time to meet Shard.
Victoria made her way to the abandoned Ferry Station where the three of them decided to make their base. She wasn't sure how Shard knew about this place but it was perfect. Decently sized, completely covered, and nobody around for blocks.
"You're early."
Vicky jumped. Shard was way too used to sitting completely silent in the darkness. "I really hate you sneaking up on me. Also you're early too."
"I was doing some patrolling. Two drug dealers, a purse snatcher, and an armed robbery. Finished up early and then came here."
Glory Girl had no idea how the hell Shard kept finding so much crime. Maybe she was subconsciously using her Thinker powers to figure out crime rates and the best place to go and when. "Well we're both here early. What did you want to talk about?"
"My infiltration. I'm sure you've noticed I've been out fighting crime every night instead of being Cameron."
She nodded. "Yeah. I was wondering about that. I know that you succeeded with the whole Browbeat thing." Glory Girl rubbed her arm awkwardly. She had hesitations about this whole undercover thing from the get go and seeing what happened with Browbeat was a little harrowing. Frozen in time like that, bleeding from multiple stab wounds. When he was freed on Friday it turned out that the injuries just looked bad, but it was still scary. Her mom had already gone over the assessment report that the PRT had forwarded them from debriefing Browbeat.
"Yeah. Well before that some…stuff happened. I completed a personal quest and got the chance to roll on some powers. One of them was the ability to clone myself. It comes with a ton of caveats but basically for now I can both infiltrate and be Shard at the same time."
"Oh damn. That was lucky. What category was cloning in?"
Shard hesitated. "It was in Master. Got lucky none of my Master powers are anything real bad. It's mostly all summoning stuff and now I don't need to roll any more Master powers since I'm at three."
Master. Shard had told Glory Girl that she was scared of rolling Master powers out of fear for what she might end up getting and so was going to get full up on the other eleven categories first. If she rolled a Master power then either she got a Cape Power Roll or she went back on the personal promise. Glory Girl didn't say anything about that though. Whatever the answer was she was sure Shard had a reason.
"What other powers did you get?" There was some slight relief on her face from Glory Girl moving the conversation along.
"Breaker power and a Changer." Shard explained them both and Glory Girl shuddered at the Big Baby power. She hoped she never had to see it in action.
"Okay. Four out of twelve classifications complete. Your tier 1 powers have been amazing, so I can't even imagine tier 2. If you could actually defeat an Endbringer. Holy shit that would change the world."
"I honestly try not to think about that." Shard admitted. "I mean…if I do then I then have to confront the idea that whenever I don't do that it's letting countless people get killed." Ah. So she was getting to the 'I'm not everywhere at once' part of being a hero.
"Yeah. I've felt that myself. Not the whole Endbringer thing but once I heard about a double homicide that occurred when I was in class. It happened in one of my patrol areas. I thought for months that it was my fault and that I had to drop out of school and just patrol full time."
"Really? But you're like a giant nerd."
"'I'm not a nerd; I'm a jock who likes reading. There's a huge difference. But yeah. I spoke to my mom about it and she gave me some advice. That the world is way too big to carry on your shoulders, and that a healthy work life balance is necessary to actually be an effective hero. If you crash and burn you're no good to anybody." Which was why Vicky was always trying to get Amy to start taking more breaks, and was constantly frustrated with how sometimes she seemed to live in the hospital. "I managed to internalize that eventually, and apply it to times where I wasn't fast enough, or strong enough." They still stung, failing to save somebody. No matter how well you learned how to cope. "If you count the lives that you don't save you're going to go insane so instead focus on who you did save."
"I guess that makes sense." Glory Girl could tell that Shard was just placating her, but honestly she didn't expect to change her life with just one conversation. It had taken her months to actually internalize the words her mother told her.
"But if you're feeling like we're moving too slow, we can try nudging things in the right direction. Looking for potential Movers and Blasters to face off against. Finding a way to get you into a fight with an ABB cape to get closer to completing that quest of yours. Hell we're moving along with the From Inside the House chain and that should give you plenty of opportunities to get Power Rolls."
"Yeah. You're right. Plus I'm working on finishing up another quest chain. The personal one." Ah yes, the quest chain that Shard would only obliquely tell Glory Girl about. Apparently it was too close to her secret identity to reveal.
It was also the only quest chain that didn't seem intrinsically linked to her being a cape or even combat in general. Glory Girl wanted to pry to see what that meant in terms of the Shards, but that didn't seem like the best move. Personal space existed for a reason.
"Glory Girl," Shard started hesitantly. "If I could give you a power with Bestowal forever, and it fit into your kit and I wouldn't be any weaker for it, would you take it?"
Glory Girl shrugged. "Of course. I mean if a random stranger offered that I would say no right away, but with you we're friends and I trust you. Why?" She wondered if the Trump was planning on offloading some powers onto her.
"Well I'm incredibly full of powers, and I can't leverage most of them as Shard, and even with Flemming it would be hard to come up with enough personas to use them all. So if I end up with some spare Brute powers I would be willing to give them to you."
Glory Girl scoffed. "Spare Brute powers. I hope you understand how absolutely insane that term is. I'm a teenage superhero without a secret identity and you've made my life way crazier than it already was."
"Sorry about that."
Glory Girl smiled. "Don't worry. I like it."
Let's Play
Cameron slowly oozed her way through the vents of the store front before falling to the ground and reforming. She was right in front of the security system the crew had told her about. Open it up slowly and then enter the disarm code…there! The alarms for the doors should be shut down, which means that any second now.
Crash!
The crew would be breaking through the door.
"I could have unlocked it for you." The metal girl rolled her eyes.
The thugs ignored her and began moving to the backroom where the safe was.
"Amateurs." Not that Cameron had any room to talk. This was just a random crew that Coil had loaned her out to for a cut of the payment. According to him, or rather her new handler, a nice man called Evans, it was important for her to get experience with jobs so she could figure out exactly how she could fit into the organization. The job was simple. She would help them get through any security systems at the jewelry store, and they would give her twenty percent of their profits. Thirty percent if a superhero showed up and she fought them off. She hoped one did.
Not that Cameron wanted more money, that didn't really matter to her, but she would love to have a good fight and prove her worth to Coil.
Unfortunately no cape ever came and instead the thugs asked Cameron to help them break into the safe, which she did by partially melting herself then reforming inside the locking mechanism, to close out the job.
Cameron sighed as she made her way back to the motel after the thugs were safely away from the scene of the crime. She wanted something exciting.
As I looked over Cameron she wasn't the only one. This was her first job and it didn't tell me much. I took note of where the thugs had gone after the heist and set a reminder to catch them in a way that wouldn't lead back to Cameron, then I mentally went over what I had learned so far.
The jewel thieves weren't associated with Coil, and they didn't even seem to know that Cameron was a part of Coil's organization. Instead the deal seemed to be done between them and a local Fixer that provided parahuman talent to crews that needed it.
There was a possibility that Coil was the Fixer operating under a different name, a way to keep his fingers on the pulse of the city without giving himself away. At the same time though it was just as likely that Coil just made use of the Fixer the same way multiple gangs did. According to gossip Cameron overheard from the jewel thieves even the ABB has used the Fixer's services.
Either way the Fixer was a non zero place to start, but it didn't necessarily mean I could get to Coil that way. In the end the quest chain provided the best path forward.
From Inside the House Part 3: A Place of my OwnHave Cameron be given an official place in one of the branches of Coil's Organization's hierarchy.Rewards:
3000 EXP
4 Loose SP
Once again I was reminded of what Glory Girl had told me when she first learned of my quests. This was the best way forward, get deeper in, but at the same time was the quest giving me this because I knew it was best, or because it did? And if it was the quest that knew how did it know? Future vision? Clairvoyance? I wasn't as invested in the background of my powers as Glory Girl, I preferred to think about the here and now and how I can use the system to help people, but I still couldn't help but have questions.
That was for future Taylor though. Present me was busy figuring out how Cameron could climb the ladder of Coil's Organization. I couldn't just wait for jobs to come in and hope Coil saw the potential in Cameron. She had to go above and beyond at her job. I just needed the opportunity to get it done.
Name: Taylor Anne HebertBrowbeater LVL 14SP Cap10Loose SP5Tier 1 Powers(21)Mover(0)Shaker(3)Brute(3)Breaker(2)Master(3)Tinker(2)Blaster(0)Thinker(1)Striker(1)Changer(3)Trump(2)Stranger(1)Tier 0 Powers(66)Synergy Powers(18)Power Upgrades(6)
Date: April 3
A.N.
Woot second set of interludes! Victoria gets to advance some of her plotlines and we get Emma's perspective on things. What I was mostly going for with Emma was a level of dissonance with what she thinks her actions are and what they actually are. The line "You were my alley" is one that I am actually proud of writing.
The Manton study was one that I thought could be interesting. People would study powers in a clinical way. And some of them would end up coming close to the truth behind things. However there's also reasons why the truth wouldn't get out there. Two at minimum I can think of and who knows which is the reason for things not being revealed.
Hope that people like the chapter.