CHAPTER 1: A Second Chance
Taylor Hebert looked down at her own body, then back at the frozen figure of Contessa, the Boogeyman of Cauldron, a freeze-frame of smoke rising from the barrel of her little revolver. Then, she looked up and regretted it. The two figures above her were most definitely NOT frozen in time. One, a massive red crystal that kept folding in and out of itself in some strange fractal non-pattern. The other…the other Taylor wasn't sure what it was. A giant, vaguely humanoid being clad in dark robes and a mask with no holes, only a symbol that might have been Greek. But behind the mask, under the robes, the glimpses she got were pure chaos.
Chaos. That is what the thing holding the crystal with one not-hand was. And the crystal, Taylor recognized. It was her Passenger, her Agent, her Shard. Queen Administrator. She was no longer connected to it. It was no longer overriding her mind, crushing her consciousness. Contessa's two little bullets must have hit her Corona Pollentia and Corona Gemma.
Chaos 'looked' down at her, and the frozen world warped and shifted, balancing out the scales so that Taylor, Chaos and QA were roughly the same size. The fractal shard seemed to reach for her, but Chaos effortlessly held it at bay. And then it spoke, and Taylor doubled over from the pain of its not-voice echoing inside her head.
"Taylor Hebert. Skitter. Weaver. Khepri. I offer you a chance to do things differently. I offer to send your subconscious back to The Locker. I offer to replace Queen Administrator with the Power of Chaos. You could be greater. You could be lesser. Your potential will be infinite, but there is no guarantee you will have the power to save the world. Are you willing?"
Taylor slowly straightened up, breathing heavily as she processed the not-words. Contessa had asked if she would do it all over again. And now, Chaos was offering to make her answer a reality…
"What do you mean by my subconscious? Will I have foreknowledge of what's coming?" she asked the being, bracing herself for its answer.
"Only your subconscious mind will go back. It will merge with the Taylor In The Locker, and serve as a guiding influence, for good or for ill. She will not know what you know. She will not know what is to come. She will not know of this moment, of this choice. She will only know the Power of Chaos."
"What is it? What is the Power of Chaos?"
"Potential. Infinite. Reward and punishment for all that She will do. Random, fair and unfair."
Taylor looked back at her body, laying in the dirt. She had sacrificed so much. Suffered so much. And now, she had the chance to give her past self a fighting chance at doing better. Or worse. No guarantees. She looked at the frozen-in-time Contessa. "I'll do it."
There was a horrible wrenching sensation as Chaos ripped her and QA to somewhere, or nowhere, else. A void that was both empty and full. Chaos tightened it's grip on QA, cracks spreading across the red shard before it suddenly imploded. Taylor wasn't sure how to feel as she watched her Passenger die, as Chaos reshaped its remains into something else. One one hand, it has been the source of her parahuman powers for the past two years. On the other, it had almost destroyed her humanity and sanity. Though, she couldn't help but wonder if she was more to blame for that than her Agent.
Without warning, Chaos shoved the reformed shard into Taylor's head, and Power overwhelmed her, ripping her apart and putting her back together in an endless loop as everything went dark…
CHAOS SYSTEM INITILIZATING...
The words appeared superimposed over her vision.
CIRCUMSTANCE: HEROIC VILLAIN WHO SACRIFICED EVERYTHING TO SAVE EVERYONE: REWARDING 3 RANDOM BRONZE TICKETS, 2 RANDOM SILVER TICKETS, 1 RANDOM GOLD TICKET.
CIRCUMSTANCE: TO BE TAYLOR HEBERT IS TO SUFFER: FORCING 1 CURSE ROLL. REWARDING 1 THEMATIC TICKET.
Rude.
ROLLING BRONZE TICKETS…
[Sex Manipulation]
|Common Ability|Changer|Carnal|
Allows you to alter your genitals to your liking as long as the changes are not absurd. Make your penis large, smaller, curved, horse shaped or just add another penis on top because why not? Get rid of your wiener, give yourself one if you never had one. Go wild, the possibilities are there.
[Angel Style]
|Uncommon Ability|Enhancer|Physical, Carnal|
For every % of skin you have uncovered, your energy output and physical abilities are increased by the same percentage, reaching 2x when fully naked.
[Strength]
|Rare Ability|Enhancer|Physical|
Grants you super strength, you can lift cars overhead, punch through reinforced concrete walls, and bend metal like rubber. Scales with base strength and consumes energy to remain active, plus you can further augment your strength with more energy.Click to shrink...
What the actual fuck?
ROLLING SILVER TICKETS…
[Adept Kama Sutra]
|Rare Skill|Carnal|
You are very talented in the carnal art, being able to spot signs of arousal and attraction, in addition, you instinctively know how to pleasure your partner in bed and be a very pleasant recipient, enhancing pleasure for both of you.
[Frisk]
|Common Ability|Thinker|Optical|
Allows you to know the full inventory of a target you are looking at, what they are wearing, and what's on their body as well as a quick summary of their inventory.Click to shrink...
No, seriously, what the fuck?
ROLLING GOLD TICKET…
[Tantric Healing]
|Rare Ability|Recovery|Carnal|
Allows you to heal ailments and various negative status effects through sexual intimacy, even scars, old wounds, and diseases can be healed and curses mitigated. The higher the level of intimacy and release the more effective the healing.Click to shrink...
ROLLING CURSE…
[Lust]
|Major Curse|
You need sex; you cannot live without it, quite literally. For every 24 hours you go without sex, all of your stats decrease by 10%, and on the tenth day, you will die due to your stats hitting 0%. You also have an incredible libido, almost incomparable to the average person, making it harder to make decisions about resisting the temptation of flesh.
|Resolve: Gain at least 6x Gold or higher rarity Tickets from having sex|Click to shrink...
MAJOR CURSE DETECTED: REWARDING 1 GOLD CHOICE TICKET: CHOOSE ABILITY, ITEM, TRAIT, SKILL, FAMILIAR…
"Hey, Chaos, what the fuck is this shit?!?" Taylor demanded angrily.
"Curious. I am detecting an incompatibility between you and your Powers…."
"No shit! I am not some slut! How the hell are a bunch of, of…SEX POWERS supposed to help past me?!?"
"Incompatibility identified. You are suffering from a human psychological condition known as Sexual Repression. I shall remove the condition."
"I am NOT sexually repressed, dammit!" Taylor would have continued to berate the strange being, except then something clicked in her mind and suddenly a whole lot of things made sense. She tried to deny it, she really did, but unfortunately she knew deep down in her very soul that what she was feeling now was the absolute truth: Taylor Hebert was gay as hell.
Emma being her only real friend for so long, and the pain she felt when Emma betrayed her. How much she wanted Lisa's friendship and approval. And Rachel. 'Oh god, Rachel,' Taylor thought to herself as the truth hammered her over the head. She fell to her knees and clasped a hand over her chest, as if hoping to soothe the pain in her heart.
"I…I refused to ever acknowledge any of this. I convinced myself I was straight. Because…because of the damn Nazi bastards that had almost free reign in Brockton Bay." Taylor looked up at Chaos. "The other me, is she gonna be as repressed as I was?"
"No. Your subconscious knowledge will make her aware of the truth about herself."
"Good, good," Taylor let out a sigh and refocused on the floating words in her vision. "Fuck. These powers are still useless. She'll never survive. Super strength alone isn't enough. I choose Ability."
ROLLING GOLD ABILITY TICKET…
[Great Lightning Spear]
|Rare Ability|Emitter|Electrical|
Allows the user to conjure a spear of lightning that they can throw as a projectile. (Does not travel at lightning speed) This spear possesses penetrative power and deals increased damage against draconic entities that rends their powerful scales and hides, nullifying their defence.Click to shrink...
This was damn near perfect, at least assuming Lung qualified as a draconic entity.
FIVE ABILITIES EARNED: SECOND ABILITY SLOT UNLOCKED
THEME DETECTED: SEXUAL: REWARDING 1 SEXUAL THEMED TICKET
God fucking dammit…
ROLLING SEXUAL THEMED TICKET…
[Sexual Calibration]
|Uncommon Trait|Carnal|
All of the minor inconveniences sex once had are now gone, forget about STDs, hygiene precautions, or unwanted pregnancies because you can adjust how all of those interact with you. In addition, you are very talented in the tantric arts.Click to shrink...
SYNERGY DETECTED: ADEPT KAMA SUTRA AND SEXUAL CALIBRATION: UPGRADING ADEPT KAMA SUTRA TO EXPERT KAMA SUTRA
[Expert Kama Sutra]
|Elite Skill|Carnal|
You are an expert in the carnal, being intimately familiar with picking up signs of arousal and pleasuring your partners in bed. Unless your partner is completely frigid, no one will leave your bed unsatisfied, your skill in bed is unmatched by most. If you were given magic you could probably create Eromancy.Click to shrink...
"Well, maybe the other me will find some real happiness, assuming she doesn't get killed," Taylor mumbled to herself.
"Before you are cast back to your past, I offer one final choice. You may choose to take additional Curses for additional Tickets. One Curse for one Ticket, two Curses for three Tickets, or three Curses for five Tickets."
Taylor forced herself to think this through. She only had two powers that were actually useful, and both were offensive. She had a utility power in the form of Frisk, and everything else…Taylor preferred to not think about them. The Lust Curse could be potentially fatal to her past self, did she really want to make things even harder on herself just for the chance of getting a defensive power?
Taylor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I hope I don't regret this. I will take one more Curse."
ROLLING 1 CURSE…
[Disease]
|Severe Curse|
You have the fabled anime death disease that keeps killing all of those overpowered characters, causing you to be weaker and reducing your energy levels. Over time, this disease will keep getting worse and worse until you can find some way to treat it. You probably don't even have a full year
|Resolve: Get treated with a Legendary or higher healing/curing ability or roll a trait that cures your disease|Click to shrink...
SEVERE CURSE DETECTED: ROLLING PLATINUM TICKET…
[Smoke Conduit Physiology]
|Epic Ability|Enhancer, Emitter, Manipulation, Recovery, Changer|Physical, Smoke|
Allows you to wield the powers of a Smoke Conduit, alongside giving a mild increase to your physical attributes. Being a conduit allows you to absorb, generate, manipulate, emit, and briefly transform into Smoke. Whenever you are absorbing smoke, you can use it to augment your own regeneration. Conduit abilities do not use the user's energy but instead require them to absorb outside sources of the element to fuel their reserves. You only start with the very basic uses of the ability and have to train to achieve more complex techniques.Click to shrink...
"Oh thank god," Taylor breathed a sigh of relief. While it was conditional, it was still a potentially powerful defensive option. "Okay. Is that everything?"
"Yes, Taylor Hebert. As your past self accomplishes Feats and completes Quests, she will earn more Tickets with which to expand the Power of Chaos. Prepare yourself. For you shall end, and she shall begin."
Taylor closed her eyes as Chaos slowly reached for her. 'Good luck, me. You are gonna need it. But even though I won't be able to help you directly, I promise I'll do my best to watch over you. And I know that you can do better than I did. We always wanted to be a hero. I fell short. But you can do it, Taylor Hebert."
"Let me out! Let me out, please! Someone, anyone! Let me OUT!" Taylor Hebert's voice was raw from both vomiting and screaming. Her head hurt from where it had collided with the back wall of the locker, and her arms hurt from awkwardly beating against the locked door. She was covered in filth and could feel bugs crawling over her.
The pain in her head grew as she futilely called for help. It grew and grew until it suddenly exploded and for the briefest of moments, she was not in the locker. She was in a vast black void, but she wasn't alone. Something was there. Something vast and powerful. It reached for her…and then she was back in the locker, and knowledge was floating in her thoughts. Knowledge, and power.
In her desperation, she immediately slammed one of the dormant Abilities she could feel into one of the two empty 'slots' waiting at the forefront of her thoughts. She poured 'energy' into [Strength] and shoved against the locker door with a scream. It launched off its hinges and crashed against the opposite lockers with a loud sound of metal on metal.
Taylor and the filth that had been festering inside her locker spilled out on the floor. She dry-heaved as she frantically tried to scrabble away from the disgusting mess. Footsteps and shouts sounded all around her as teachers and students rushed into the hallways to see what had caused the noise.
Anger and disgust filled her. 'Of course they ignore my screams but not the sound of something being destroyed,' she thought bitterly. And then, her energy reserves she was still accidentally feeding into her newfound power ran out, and she slipped into unconsciousness.Last edited: Wednesday at 5:52 AM Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kiriand505, Drako1229, Warrick456 and 91 othersKennyZeroWednesday at 3:41 AMAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks I'm a parahuman now View contentKennyZeroLost in thoughtWednesday at 3:43 AMAdd bookmark#2Amy Dallon, also known as Panacea of New Wave and one of Brockton Bay's two healers, frowned as she rested her fingertips on the arm of the unconscious girl laying in the hospital bed.
The girl was a student at Winslow High who had apparently been forced into a locker filled with weeks-old hygiene products and other assorted garbage. The doctors has been concerned about infection, and especially concerned as the girl appeared to be very sick but they couldn't even guess as to what the illness was. And so, Panacea had been called in. She knew the attending physician was outside the room, trying to keep the girls father calm while also trying to keep the BBPD and PRT Crisis Agent at bay.
After getting permission to heal his daughter from the father, Panacea had requested the room and the doctor had obliged. The girl, Taylor Hebert according to her chart, was 15 years old. Tall for a girl her age, but too thin. Long, curly black hair that might have been pretty if not for the filth still stuck in it. The hospital staff had stripped her and given her a very quick clean of the worst filth, but until her vitals were stable, they couldn't and wouldn't clean her up properly. The smell was awful.
But Amy didn't care about the smell. She cared about the girl's biology. It was…strange. She was definitely a Parahuman. She had a Corona Pollentia and Corona Gemma. Whether she triggered as a result of the locker, Amy neither knew nor cared. Every cell in this girl's body had been altered, but Amy couldn't figure out how or why. And the disease was unlike anything she had ever seen before.
It wasn't contagious, and the girls immune system was ignoring it, even as it very slowly, and seemingly deliberately, attacked her from the inside out. At its current rate, she'd be dead within a year, at most. Probably less. But the weirdest part of it was that the moment Amy's power touched the girl, the disease recognized it, and reacted. It didn't try to attack the girl harder, or try to hide. It in fact revealed itself to her, as if wanting her to heal the girl.
Amy was fascinated. The girls cells were frankly amazing, even if she couldn't figure out what the hell that changes were for. And the disease, a seemingly intelligent disease that wanted to be cured. Her power had never been more responsive as when it made contact with this strange illness, and it both amazed and scared her as ideas filled her head. Wonderful, terrible ideas.
Amy shook her head and focused. She cured the disease with ease, it welcomed the healing touch of her power. She also went ahead and did some minor touch-ups on the girl, removing the bump on her head from some kind of minor blunt force trauma, and giving her a little boost to that should help her long-term health. She clearly hadn't been eating properly and had been suffering from stress, both probably related to bullying at a guess. A final scan confirmed that her unconsciousness was mostly the result of fatigue, oddly enough, and she'dd wake up on her own within an hour or so.
She hesitated before pulling away from the girl. She needed to get her head on straight before her over-active thoughts made her do something bad with her power. As she approached the door, she couldn't help but cast a glance back at the girl.
'Taylor Hebert, huh? I can't help but hope you use whatever your power is to be a hero. I really want another look at your biology.'
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
Taylor really tried to pay attention to the doctors and cops and the PRT Agent after she woke up in a hospital bed, wearing a paper gown and still feeling slightly grimy. She really, really tried. She gave her statement about what happened, and reluctantly admitted she didn't actually see who had pushed her into the locker. Her father, Danny Hebert, kept rapidly switching between furious and appalled that Emma Barnes had been bullying her for over a year.
Even as…distracted as Taylor was, she still noticed the fact the PRT Agent triple checked she had named Sophia Hess as one of her bullies, whereas when it came to Emma and Madison Clements he was content with the BBPD detective simply double-checking the names.
But even as she gave her statements and answered the numerous questions being thrown at her from all sides, she couldn't really focus on any of it. Because, superimposed over her vision, were floating words.
'I'm a parahuman,' she kept repeating it in her head, her attention constantly drawn to the floating words even as she kept trying to ignore them.
She almost revealed it when the PRT Agent started asking some rather pointed questions after the BBPD detective left the room, promising to be in touch with Danny after a 'through investigation.' Yeah, right. She managed to catch herself, hopefully, before revealing that she had Triggered. Taylor didn't know why, but despite her childhood dreams of being a hero like Alexandria, she felt strangely uneasy about telling the PRT she had powers.
She really hoped she hadn't slipped up in her distracted state. She felt like becoming a hero on her own terms would be best. Especially considering how utterly strange her powers were…
POWER OF CHAOS
STATUS | TICKETS
ABILITIES [0/2] | TRAITS | SKILLS | FAMILIARS | ITEMS | CURSES
FEATS [!] | QUESTS | CHALLENGES
In addition to the words across the top edge of her vision there were three bars or meters in the corner as well. Luckily, her power came with instinctive knowledge of what the hell it all meant. The bars were her Vitality, Stamina, and Energy. Stamina was apparently her actually physical energy, whereas Energy was more esoteric and used by her Abilities. Her Vitality was a measure of her health, and she knew that so long as it wasn't empty, she'd survive any injury…unless she had a 'debuff' like Bleeding or Poisoned or something that caused her to constantly lose Vitality of course…
Her Vitality was full, her Stamina was mostly full, and her Energy was pretty low but refilling at a steady rate. Her Stamina was also very, very slowly refilling considering she was currently 'resting' apparently.
Why is her power basically a video game when she has barely ever played video games over the course of her life? Taylor had no idea. Especially because it certainly seemed to be a type of game that she had never, and would never, play. An adult video game, as made very apparent by the fact she had FIVE different powers related to sex. And a Curse that would kill her if she didn't lose her virginity within the next ten days.
Silver lining, Taylor Hebert, Sophomore at Winslow High of Brockton Bay, Massachusetts, Cape (and Nazi) Capital of the United States of America, Earth Bet…was gay as hell. She had adamantly refused to ever even think about her sexual orientation, considering she didn't want to get murdered by Nazis, who were already stupid enough to think she was Jewish because of her French (albeit with bastardized pronunciation) last name. But something about her power refused to let her keep living in blissful ignorance.
Which really fucking sucked, because in addition to being unable to hide from the fact that she was a lesbian, she also couldn't hide from the fact that she had been in love with her childhood friend turned bully Emma Barnes, and quite probably was still in love with her. Fucking great. Not really a silver lining at all, actually.
Taylor was released a couple hours after waking up, with the doctor telling her and her dad all the warning signs for a potential concussion or other complications that could occur from her head injury to look out for. Apparently, Panacea had healed her while she was passed out from accidently draining her Energy to zero.
Winslow had given her excused absence for the week while the 'incident' was investigated. The first thing Taylor did when she got home was get her notebook full of evidence from her bullying out of its hiding place and show it to her dad.
She managed to stop him from immediately calling the detective, and convinced him to wait until they made copies of everything, just in case. She also managed to stop him from calling, or worse, going over to the Barnes residence and confronting Emma's dad about the bullying.
Taylor endured her dad's near overbearing protectiveness for the rest of the day with a mix of affection and bitterness. Mostly bitterness, even though she knew it wasn't fair. The moment she was certain he was asleep, she snuck out into the backyard and got to work building a fire in the very old fire pit they had.
Once upon a time, the Hebert family would gather around the squat, metal bowl on cold winter nights like this one and roast marshmallows. The pit hadn't been used since her mother had died. Much like her father had been withdrawn since that day as well, lost in his own grief, unable or unwilling to help Taylor with her own.
The moment she had a small fire going with random sticks and branches, Taylor 'pushed' [Smoke Conduit Physiology] into one of her two Ability Slots and started drawing the smoke into herself.
"I'm a parahuman," Taylor finally voiced out loud, albeit very quietly, as the smoke vanished upon contact with her skin. She could feel it settling into her cells, making her just a tiny bit stronger with each second. A fourth meter appeared in the opposite corner of the others, all but empty except for a tiny sliver. A sliver that oh so slowly grew.
"I'm a parahuman," she repeated, watching mesmerized as she absorbed the smoke for a couple minutes, before finally turning her attention to the rest of her weird power. FEATS had a pulsing [!] next to it, so focusing on it, she managed to open a new 'window.'
FEATS ACHIEVED!
-Upgrade a Skill [Silver Skill Ticket]
-Escape The Locker [Bronze Ticket]
-Get healed by Panacea [Silver Ticket]
-Resolve a Curse [Gold Ticket]
-Become Panacea's newest obsession fascination [Silver Ticket]
"Okay," she muttered to herself. "Doing things, or having things done to me, gives me Tickets. Tickets give me new powers." She focused on CURSES and two things popped up. [Lust] was still active, with a timer counting down until it went from Rank 0 to Rank 1. But there was a greyed out one as well. [Disease]. Apparently Panacea's power counted as "Legendary or higher" so she only had one ticking time bomb threating to kill her instead of two. Silver linings do exist after all.
Of course, the knowledge that Brockton Bay's only heroic healer was probably obsessed with her was disconcerting, but Taylor wisely chose to make that a problem for her future self to deal with.
Upon further examination, it turned out having the Curse resolved had also awarded a [Platinum Ticket] apparently. Since she was unconscious when it happened, she must have missed whatever notification her power tried to give her about it. She also had no idea when she had ever upgraded a Skill, especially since her only Skill was [Expert Kama Sutra], which as a virgin, she had definitely never employed.
Turning her attention to TICKETS, she became aware of a small pocket dimension containing six small rectangles of different colors, all with a metallic sheen. With a thought, a tiny bronze colored ticket appeared in her hand. Another thought sent it back. 'Good to know,' she thought to herself as she summoned all six tickets and ripped them in half in one swift movement.
ROLLING BRONZE TICKET…
[Dry]
|Trash Ability|Alteration|Water|
Allows you to dry any object you are touching, note that does not evaporate all water particles inside but only gets rid of moisture the object should otherwise not have.
ROLLING SILVER SKILL TICKET…
[Kung Fu]
|Uncommon Skill|Physical|
You are an apprentice in Kung Fu, a Chinese martial art that refines the body, that emphasizes discipline, efficiency, and adaptability. It encompasses various techniques, including strikes, guards, footwork, and grappling. With sufficient mastery over Kung Fu, you can enhance your strikes with your internal energy.Click to expand...
ROLLING SILVER TICKETS…
[All-purpose tool]
|Trash Item|Techno|
A screwdriver that shapes itself into any mundane tool such as hammers, knives, chisels, etc.
[Harvest]
|Rare Familiar|Beast, Techno|
Harvest is a colony of little creatures with excellent coordination and mechanical skills as well as deceptive strength. Harvest excels in gathering stuff like materials or objects. They can dig, swim, scour, and move extremely quickly in addition to their searching skills. Any destroyed harvest gradually restores itself in the familiar space. Maximum colony size is dependent on maximum energy reserves.Click to expand...
ROLLING GOLD TICKET…
[Scarousing]
|Rare Trait|Carnal|
For some reason, the scarier you act, instead of being rightfully terrified, people that you consider potential partners are also equal parts aroused by you. The mind works in mysterious ways.
ROLLING PLATINUM TICKET…
[Armor of the Dammed]
|Epic Item|Physical, Dark|
A pitch-black armor with a demonic visage used by the most wicked of conquerors. This armor, while augmenting the user's physical abilities, also allows them to unleash a variety of curses on a massive scale such as slow, misfortune, weakness, etc. to debilitate entire armies with training. Amplifies the power of darkness-based abilities when used as a focus.Click to expand...
POTENTIAL SYNERGY DETECTED!
Taylor stumbled as the deluge of information slammed into her thoughts, almost falling into the fire pit. 'Note to self, never roll multiple tickets at the same time again.' She closed her eyes are she sorted through her newest powers. [Kung Fu] would be very useful, although she definitely needed to get into shape if she was going to make proper use of it. The armor was downright villainous, and of course there was yet another sex-related power. But the first thing that truly caught her attention was [Harvest]. She could sense over two-hundred individual creatures suspended inside a pocket dimension. They all seemed to be one part of a whole, and she opened her hand as she summoned one of them.
It was small, only a few inches tall, but heavy for its size. A metallic insect, oval-shaped and vaguely resembled a bee. Yellow body with dark stripes, red eyes, two legs and four arms with three little fingers each. The top of its head was weirdly shaped, and she knew it hid a small pocket for storage. There was also a small hole she knew hid its needle-like stinger, which it could use to inject any fluid she gave [Harvest] access to.
Looking down at the bug in her hand, Taylor felt a very odd sense of kinship with it, and smiled. Returning it to her 'Familiar Space' she turned her attention to the pulsing letters at the edge of her vision.
POTENTIAL SYNERGY DETECTED!
[ARMOR OF THE DAMNED] CAN BE ADAPTED DUE TO [ANGEL STYLE] AND [SCAROUSING]
Adapting [Armor of the Damned] will add [Carnal Affinity] to it, and boost the effects of [Angel Style] and [Scarousing] while [Armor of the Damned] is equipped. You will also be rewarded 2 Affinity Advantage Tickets, choosing from Carnal, Dark and/or Physical. Do you wish to adapt [Armor of the Damned]? This decision cannot be reversed!
Taylor started shaping the smoke from the fire pit into various shapes before absorbing it as she pondered this choice. Adding a carnal affinity to [Armor of the Damned] would undoubtedly turn it from 'fantasy dark lord' to 'fantasy themed stripper' or something ridiculous like that, but getting two tickets for new powers that would be more useful than evil armor or sexy nonsense would be nice…
Except for the fact that she was going to die if she didn't have sex in ten days. And keep having sex until she earned six golden tickets from it. As much as she hated her sex-based powers, as uncomfortable as she was being forced to acknowledge her true sexuality in a city filled with Nazis, in the end, it came down to one simple fact: Taylor didn't want to die.
With great reluctance, she accepted the synergy, and chose two Carnal Advantage Tickets are her reward, ripping them one after the other.
APPLYING SYNERGY!
[Armor of the Dammed]
|Epic Item|Physical, Dark, Carnal|
A scanty set of pitch-black armor with a provocative demonic visage used by the most wicked of conquerors. This armor, while augmenting the user's physical abilities, also allows them to unleash a variety of curses on a massive scale such as slow, misfortune, weakness, etc. to debilitate entire armies with training. Amplifies the power of carnal- and darkness-based abilities when used as a focus. While equipped, the [Scarousing] Trait is twice as effective, and you are considered nude in regards to the effects of [Angel Style]. Equipping additional Items, not counting hand-held ones, will cancel these bonuses.
Click to shrink...
ROLLING CARNAL ADVANTAGE TICKETS…
FIRST TICKET, PICK ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
[Ceaseless Discharge]
|Trash Trait|Carnal|
"Not the one you are thinking of" Your cum refills almost instantly, and the volume of your ejaculations is substantially increased.
[Bondage of Enduring]
|Common Item|Carnal, Physical|
A set of bondage ropes, that, when worn in an appropriate position in place of one's clothes, increases the wearer's durability, stamina regeneration, and converts pain into pleasure.
Click to expand...
SECOND TICKET, PICK ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
[Ecchi Logic]
|Rare Trait|Carnal|
Apparently this world runs on Ecchi Logic, objects revolving around you are far more perverted and people's logic is slightly skewed.
[Arousal]
|Rare Ability|Carnal|
Allows you to make targets in your vision aroused or make them climax with enough arousal. The stronger the target the more energy has to be spent and if they are significantly stronger than you they will be able to notice your attempts.
The moment Taylor read the description of [Bondage of Enduring], she immediately selected [Ceaseless Discharge]. There was no way in hell she was going to be going out in nothing but rope bondage. The Evil Stripper Armor was bad enough as is.
The second choice, however, was much harder to make. In truth, she didn't want either of them. They were both obviously Master effects, the only difference being one was passive and one wasn't. She'd read about Heartbreaker on PHO. She didn't want to become the American Heartbreaker. In the end, she had to choose, so she picked [Arousal]. She found the idea of trying to hide behind the passive nature of [Ecchi Logic] distasteful, and besides, just because she had the Ability, doesn't mean she had to use it.
The fire burned out with only about 5% or so of her Smoke Meter filled. Taylor snuck back inside, but instead of going up to her room, she went down to the basement. There was an old standing mirror half tucked behind some boxes, and she carefully pulled it out, wiping away as much of the dust as she could with a rag she'd grabbed from the kitchen.
The mirror's surface was cracked and grimy, but she could still make out her reflection in the dim light of the naked bulb hanging from the ceiling. Standing before it, Taylor closed her eyes, mentally reached into her 'inventory' and 'equipped' [Armor of the Damned].
She felt the change instantly. The goosebumps on her now exposed skin. The sudden increase in height from what were apparently high heels. And the sudden inclusion of the clothing she had been wearing, every piece of it, into her inventory. Without opening her eyes, she unequipped the armor and stumbled slightly as the heels were replaced with her sneakers, all her clothing returning just as it had been.
This time, she opened her eyes and watched her reflection as she equipped her armor. In less than a second, all her clothing was consumed by black, lightless energy, which upon fading just as quickly revealed the [Armor of the Damned] in all its…Taylor hesitated to use the word 'glory' to describe it.
Starting from the top, she was wearing a metal, skull-like mask over the top half of her face, two long thin horns extending from the brows and sweeping back low over her head, framing her hair. She was wearing shoulder pads adorned with small spikes, connected by lacy straps to what was basically a metal bikini. From the elbow down she had vambraces with spiked elbow guards and claw-tipped gauntlets, secured with crisscrossing leather straps. Around her waist was a studded leather belt from which hung long strips of black cloth in the front and back, the front wider, and two segmented metal plate things hanging down over her outer thighs. No underwear, only the cloth strips to preserve what little modesty the armor afforded. And finally, the knee-high sandals of crisscrossing leather strips, securing metal shin guards with spiked kneecaps and four-inch stiletto heeled metal footwear.
Taylor hadn't worn heels in years, and never ones as tall as these. Taking a tentative step, she was surprised at how easy it was to move in them, no doubt some quirk of the 'magical' nature of the armor itself.
She spent the next several minutes practicing moving around in the armor, going through Kung Fu poses and even briefly summoning her [Great Lightning Spear] before quickly dismissing it, not wanting to accidentally hit anything in the basement with the bolt of contained lightning that was longer than she was tall, even in the heels. That was how she learned her Abilities had a 5-minute cooldown after being 'unslotted' which was very good to know.
She'd have to be careful about switching out powers during a cape battle, or else she risked leaving herself vulnerable. Taking a closer look at herself in the mirror, she frowned. The pseudo-loincloth seemed to always cover her privates, though it left her ass all but complete exposed. Not that she had much of an ass, or anything. The metal bra actually made her tiny breasts look just a little bit bigger, which was kinda nice. The lack of muscle anywhere on her was definitely an issue, as she doubted even with the stat boosts from [Smoke Conduit Physiology], [Armor of the Damned] and [Angel Style] she'd be hard pressed to make good use of [Kung Fu] without pumping energy into [Strength].
She opened her [STATUS] menu and looked at her various attributes. The only things truly notable were her Energy, Energy Recovery, Virility (which was definitely being boosted by her powers rather than being natural), Intellect, and Willpower. Willpower was her highest by far, followed by Energy, Intellect and Virility. Everything else was kinda pathetic. All below average in some way. She really need to get into shape, and improving her 'mental' stats couldn't hurt either. But how-
REPEATABLE DAILY QUESTS UNLOCKED!
[Feel The Burn]
Exercise every day. Required tasks increase after each completion. Failing to complete the quest might result in a penalty. Cannot achieve super-human levels via this quest. Reaching peak human levels will end the quest and provide a bonus reward.
Reward: Minor Increase to 2 Physical Attributes.
Accept? [Yes/No]
[Learning is Fun]
Study and/or learn for at least 4 hours every day. Failing to complete the quest might result in a penalty. Cannot achieve super-human levels via this quest. Reaching peak human levels will end the quest and provide a bonus reward.
Reward: Minor increase to 2 Mental Attributes.
Accept? [Yes/No]
Click to shrink...
Well, that explained the existence of the [QUEST] part of her power. She readily accepted [Learning Is Fun] as that would be easy to do, but hesitate when it came to [Feel The Burn]. It didn't actually list the extent of her daily exercises, and she was worried the first day might be beyond her abilities. But, she needed to get stronger, so she accepted that one was well.
[Feel The Burn] [Day 1]
Time-Limit: 24 Hours
Objectives:
At least 5-minutes of warm up exercises
At least 10-minutes of upper body exercises
At least 10-minutes of core exercises
At least 10-minutes of lower body exercises
At least 10-minutes of cardio exercises
At least 5-minutes of cool down exercises
Reward: Minor increase to 2 Physical Attributes.
Penalty: 10% Chance of a Curse
[Learning Is Fun]
Objectives:
Study and/or learn for 4 Hours [0:00/4:00]
Reward: Minor increase to 2 Mental Attributes.
Penalty: 10% Chance of a Curse
Click to expand...
'Okay, that should be doable, I think,' Taylor thought to herself as she unequipped her armor and snuck back to her room. 'Tomorrow is the first step on my journey to being a hero.' Sleep did not come easy, and her dreams were unpleasantly pleasant.
Tuesday was busy. Taylor and her Dad went to the public library to make copies of her bullying journal, then the BBPD precinct to turn them over. After over an hour of not-integration, made worse by the fact her [Lust] curse had ticked over, Taylor was in a bad mood. The detective had seemed downright nervous to be presented with evidence of what the Trio had been doing. She'd gotten the impression that Alan Barnes, the man she once considered to be the closest thing she had to an uncle, had already started using his lawyer skills to defend Emma. But she couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it than just Mr. Barnes.
Taylor accomplished both her Daily Quests, with Danny being both concerned and supportive of her desire to get into shape. She wound up doing simple stuff she learned in gym glass, and for cardio, she picked running. She used to like running before Winslow and the bullying. For [Learning Is Fun], she experimented a bit. She either needed to seriously study something or put real effort into learning something new. She worried Winslow classes wouldn't be enough to satisfy the Quest once she went back, but for now, between her computer at home and the possibility of visiting the library, she could manage it. Unlike [Feel The Burn], which had the 10-minute requirements doubled for the next day, [Learning is Fun] stayed at a consistent 4 hours a day.
She spent the rest of the weekdays spending her attribute bonuses with a plan in mind. For the physical, she alternated daily between Strength or Endurance and then whichever attribute was lowest. For mental, she reluctantly made sure to boost Presence, which seemed to effect how people viewed her in a positive way, including attraction, plus whichever was lowest. It was going to take quite a while for her to reach the limit on what the Quests could do for her.
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Her dad had only stayed home with her on Tuesday, reluctantly going back to work for the rest of the week at her insistence that she would be okay, and a promise that she would call him from the house phone every couple hours. She took advantage of the alone time to start busting up old furniture in the basement and burning them in the fire pit. By the time Friday night came around, her Smoke Meter was just under 50% full.
Unfortunately, her [Lust] Curse was now at 40%. Masturbation, something she had futility started doing several times a day, did nothing to help. She only barely managed to finish her Quests due to the weakness and distraction. And Danny could tell something was wrong. He clearly didn't know what to do about it, and she only barely managed to convince him she didn't need to go back to the hospital.
She doubted she'd be able to stop him tomorrow. She needed to do something. Desperate times, desperate measures. She briefly entertained the idea of finding a hooker, but quickly dismissed it and settled on a different plan: arson. Just a little bit, though.
Sneaking out at night, wearing the darkest clothes she had, Taylor summoned most of [Harvest] and used them as scouts and scavengers as she headed for the nearest slum, using the advanced warning from her little bug friends as well [Frisk] to avoid people. Brockton Bay had been dying a slow death due to the Boat Graveyard. Only a few miles from her rundown residential neighborhood, was a small industrial area that had been ravaged by fire. One of the warehouses still had four walls but no roof. During warmer months, the homeless used it as a camp, but during winter, they moved to better shelter.
A quick check with [Harvest] confirmed there was no one inside, and she slipped in. There were still a few signs of its former residents: a few half-taken down makeshift tents, piles of refuse, stolen shopping carts half-filled with random stuff, and, most important to her, a few rusted steel drums repurposed into burn barrels.
She and [Harvest] set about quickly filling up one of the barrels, and she made a bundling of kindling from old paper to ignite the barrel. The smoke was dark and unpleasant, but she rapidly started absorbing it. The cinderblock walls were tall enough that hopefully the lack of an underlit column of smoke would prevent people from realizing she was here, but she had a perimeter of [Harvest] set up just in case.
Her plan was simple, and she knew deep down it was nothing but a stop-gap. She was going to abuse the hell out of [Smoke Conduit Physiology] to try and stave off the physical effects of her Curse for the weekend, then use just a tiny bit of [Arousal] to try to get into Winslow's very small and insular queer clique. Being surrounded by so much hate, they were very close-knit, and it was a common belief among the students that they were all part of some type of open relationship. Taking what happiness they could when they could, since they never knew when one of them would get caught alone outside of school by the Empire.
Once she reset the debuff on her stupid Curse, she'd try to come up with a plan to actually resolve it. For now, she just focused on filling her Smoke Meter as much as she could…
Hooded cloak with urban camouflage pattern. Black bodysuit. Black combat boots. Black-painted body armor. Black utility belt. Black thigh pouches. Black metal mask depicted a stern woman's face. Two hand crossbows loaded with steel-tipped bolts. Two dozen tranquilizer bolts in forearm holsters. Half dozen steel-tipped bolts in a small quiver on the back. Two tactical knives. Two powered off phones. Small first aid kit. Night-vision binoculars.
Taylor froze as [Frisk] suddenly filled her head with information. Someone was standing in the darkness outside the firelight. She couldn't see them, but her power could. The description of their items was familiar…Shadow Stalker, one of the Wards. Despite having never met her, she was suddenly filled with complex feelings. Anger was most prominent, but there was also a small amount of pity?
Her eyes locked unto the spot [Frisk] said she was standing, and she managed to avoid reacting too noticeably when a patch of darkness suddenly solidified, revealing the dark-clad hero. Taylor's composure utterly fell apart when the Ward holstered one of her crossbows, reached up, and lifted her mask to the top of her head.
"Sophia."
Sophia Hess was pissed, but also intrigued. Hebert had squealed to the cops, but between Principal Blackwell and her PRT Handler covering for her in order to protect themselves, and Emma's dad covering for both of them, the investigation wasn't going anywhere. She did have to apply a little pressure to Madison, but the girl knew being part of the Winslow Trio was in her best interests, so she wasn't going to suddenly develop a conscience and start confessing, especially not with Sophia keeping a careful eye on her.
But that didn't mean there was no blowback at all. She'd been stuck on console duty until the investigation officially ended, and she'd picked up the whispers that Taylor Hebert might have Triggered. The PRT didn't have hard evidence, but the Crisis Agent had been suspicious enough of her behavior when interviewing her to write it up. Being implicated in bullying was one thing, being implicated in causing a Trigger Event was a whole different thing.
If Taylor had Triggered, and if she somehow did managed to convince Director Piggy that Sophia had shoved her into the locker, bye-bye probation, hello juvie. There was no way in hell she was going to let that happen.
She'd finally managed to slip out for one of her secret late night walks, and grabbed one of her stashes of real ammo before heading towards the Hebert residence. She'd gotten Emma to tell her, but she'd needed to be careful. Emma was making good progress, but she still had some of the mental scars of that alley. Soon, she'd be a fully realized predator like Sophia. But the whole reason Emma had wanted to target Hebert was originally out of the misguided hope the nerd would also prove to have the heart of a predator when pushed hard enough, just like Emma had been.
Sophia had never believed Hebert had it in her, but went along with it. Hebert was easy prey, good practice for Emma, and an easy source of entertainment for Sophia. Plus, on the off chance she was wrong, that was one more predator for her little pack.
Sophia needed to know whether or not Hebert hard triggered. She needed to know if Hebert had any damning evidence. She needed to know if Hebert was still a pathetically meek prey animal, or a predator.
Imagine her surprise when upon arrival at Herbert's shitty little house, she saw her target sneaking off into the night. Using her power to flow from rooftop to rooftop, she followed at a distance. At first, she was wondering if all the nasty rumors they had spread about her were true. Was she whoring herself out?
And then she entered an old, burnt out husk of a warehouse and started building a fire. Sophia almost didn't notice the small bits of trash seemingly moving on their own. Taking out her binos, she zoomed in, and saw little golden bug things carrying stuff to the burn barrel.
'Holy shit, Taylor did Trigger,' Sophia thought to herself. Bugs seemed almost perfect for the creepy little geek. And then she almost cursed out loud when Hebert started absorbing smoke from the fire. 'Did she Ping off me or something? A grab-bag?'
Sophia needed answers, and there was only one way to get to the real truth. She glided down into the ruin and carefully approached the edge of the firelight while in her Breaker State. Once she was in position, she phased back in, and unmasked. She wasn't scared. Not of Hebert. Before the sun rose on this shithole of a city, Hebert would either be her loyal sidekick thanking her for giving her pathetic life meaning, or dead.
"Sophia." The shock in Hebert's voice was delicious.
"Hi, Hebert," she responded, with poisonous sweetness. "Look at you, a cape. Bugs, smoke. Interesting combo. You're welcome, by the way."
Hebert stared at her in shock for a moment, before anger took over. "Thank you?!? For what? For shoving me in a locker filled with biohazards? For making my life hell for the past year and half?"
"For waking you the fuck up, is what," Sophia snapped back. "You Triggered. You have powers. Your pathetic little life finally has a chance to mean something. If you are strong enough, that is. Emma always hoped you would be, but honestly, I have my doubts."
"Emma?" Hebert flinched as if the mention of her former best friend had been a physical slap to her face.
"Yeah. When push came to shove, she fought back. She proved herself to be a predator. It's a real shame she doesn't have a Corona Pollentia, like we do. But even so, I helped her learn the harsh truths of the world. I helped her transform from a weakling to the strong, badass, confident predator she is now. Her only real weakness is you." Sophia began slowly walking forward, relishing in Hebert's distraught expression. "She kept holding on to hope that if we pushed you hard enough, you'd turn out to be a predator like her. Well, Hebert, here is your chance. There are only two types of people in the world: predators and prey. Most people, even most capes, are just prey, pretending to be otherwise in the hopes of giving their pathetic lives meaning. But only predators are truly alive. So, which are you? Are you still a weak little prey animal? Or are you a predator?"
Hebert was shaking. Just as Sophia thought, prey. But then, she noticed Hebert's eyes. The rage being reflected by the firelight. "You. You stole Emma from me. You. Stole. My. Emma!"
In the blink of an eye, Hebert went from wearing baggy dark clothes to some weird fetish armor that someone like Veder probably had wet dreams about. And her voice. For just a moment, Sophia's fight-or-flight instincts sent a shiver of fear down her spine…and a bolt of excitement to her core.