Trump Card (Worm AU) [Complete]

[esotericist]

... I see these words, and I am pleased.

 

[Snake/Eater]

I find this story to have a bit of misfit band of brothers(and sister) slant to this story.i usually post a song that matches a chapter,but trump is story where it's to find song to go with,but finally i found a song that with it as Taylor has finally found her voice to be strong in her personal life.but at the same we see she's starting to become fond of Uber and L33t,she first saw them as just a means to a end,nothing more but i think she wants to have a friendship with the eccentric duo.so here's I See Fire by Ed Sheeran as covered by Holly Drummond........because this can only end in fire because this is still worm.
[

 

[theonebutcher]

Mh.. Two Contessas on one planet trying to fight is going to end in a feedback loop of doom. Original Contessa would win, because Doormaker and Eidolon will listen to her. Oh and: Manton full of narcotics, Invincible Naked Danny GO!

[

Click to shrink...

Holly Drummond can sing and play the guitar? Man... Fuck.

 

[Ack]

Mh.. Two Contessas on one planet trying to fight is going to end in a feedback loop of doom. Original Contessa would win, because Doormaker and Eidolon will listen to her. Oh and: Manton full of narcotics, Invincible Naked Danny GO!

Holly Drummond can sing and play the guitar? Man... Fuck.

Click to shrink...

It won't be Danny, it'll be Anne-Rose. With clothes on. Because Taylor can rock that.

 

[Ack]

Trump Card

Part Fourteen: The Great Armoured Car Robbery


"You know, everything I said about you not being like a normal Tinker? I take it back. You're exactly like a normal Tinker."

I turned from where I was working on the armour and clicked the goggles back to standard mag. Über was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded, wearing an expression composed partly of exasperation and partly amusement.

"Uh ... what do you mean?" I hedged, although I had a very good idea of what he meant.

"I mean," he told me, with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "that L33t's doing precisely what you are; he's putting last-minute touches to his gear, when there's less than five minutes before we have to leave."

"It was important," I told him defensively. "I had to build my cape detector into my work goggles," tapping the slightly-more-ornate goggles that now adorned my face, "and I'm almost done here."

"In the van in three minutes?" Über pressed.

"Three minutes," I promised.

<><>​

In point of fact, it took me just over ninety seconds to rewire the final adjustment to the Manton field generator. I snapped the cover closed on the armour's front (the generator took up the space that would have been occupied by my bust, if I had a bust) and used the HUD built into my goggles to tell it to lock into place.

I was still wearing the RFID bracelets, so I backed up to the armour and clicked the rim of the lens of my goggles. "Armsmaster," I stated out loud, "is a dick."

Upon receiving the code phrase in my voice, the armour opened up and wrapped around me, clothes and all. I still hadn't reduced the armour-up time, but then, nor would I even try until I had the time to get down and do some serious tinkering. Metal wrapping around a fragile human body at speed had all sorts of opportunities to do serious damage if there weren't sufficient safeguards in place.

Once it was in place, the armour integrated itself with the goggles, switching from short-range radio link to direct hard-wired control; as it did so, the HUD began spilling the suit diagnostics down over my field of view. I paid attention with half my mind, while turning to scoop up the stun rifle and sling it over my shoulder.

Über was in the driver's seat of the van when I emerged from my work room; L33t was just hurrying toward the vehicle from his own workspace. I quickened my pace a little; we got there at the same time. I looked his outfit over critically.

"Not bad," I noted. "I like the badge."

"Yeah, me too," he agreed. "I've always wanted a chance to wear this costume."

"Can we hold the mutual admiration society once we're on the way?" called Über from inside the van. "Time's a-ticking!"

"Coming, Mom," I retorted, and climbed into the back of the van, closing the sliding door behind me. Carefully, I laid the stun rifle down in front of me before strapping in. L33t snickered like a schoolboy as he climbed into the front seat.

"Children," muttered Über; he started the van and we got out of there.

<><>​

The Brockton Bay Central Bank took a cash delivery on the second Thursday of each month, just before the lunchtime rush. Über and L33t had timed it before, but had never been certain they could take it on, especially given that an unknown cape would be riding with the shipment. However, in me, as L33t put it, they had the perfect cheat code.

We would, of course, be going with a video game theme. To that end, Über and L33t were already costumed up, and I needed only to activate my holocloak.

"So, Hax, you good to do this?" asked Über as he drove. L33t didn't comment; he had their little spherical hovering camera in his hands, programming in last-minute instructions.

"Well, if I'm not, it's a bit late to say so now, right?" I replied, trying to sound light-hearted.

To be honest, the question was not altogether unwarranted. I did have doubts assailing me, as well as worries. The butterflies in my stomach were attaining the proportions of B-52 bombers. But I couldn't let them see that.

This wasn't even my first crime. But it was my first one in public, in costume (of sorts). This was the one that would put Hax out there as a name, allied with Über and L33t, once and for all. What I did today, what I did over the next hour, would change my life, one way or the other.

In a very real way, I needed to succeed at this. I needed to make the team look awesome. Because the more respect that the guys and I got out of this heist, the less chance that someone would try to force me to join their gang.

Über and L33t might be criminals. They had certainly made a few questionable choices while playing out their video game crimes. But they had also accepted me into their group (albeit reluctantly, on L33t's part). Once I had proven myself, they had no farther reservations; after the robbery of the North Side Storage Facility, they had begun to truly appreciate what I could bring to the team. And I appreciated their giving me a place to be.

"So, your gear all up to spec?" asked L33t.

"Is now," I told him. "I rewired the cape detector into my goggles, so I can use it in the armour. Figured out an alternate mode for the Manton field generator; when I activate it, it makes the armour surface selectively frictionless."

"So what – oh, containment foam?"

"Containment foam," I agreed. "Not saying that we'll run into any, but I want to be prepared first, you know?"

L33t nodded. "You're really getting full use out of my powers, aren't you?" he observed.

"Our powers, bro," Über pointed out cheerfully. "She didn't get to be a kickass video gamer using Tinker powers."

Or as good a cook as I am now, I added silently. The carbonara I had made last night had been praised to the heavens by one and all. L33t was now officially addicted to my cooking.

"The ability to learn any skill didn't help her put together that armour," L33t shot back.

I grinned as I sat back to enjoy the ride. In the front seat, Über and L33t bickered good-naturedly about which of their respective powersets I was making the best use of; to be honest, I would have been hard put to figure it out for myself.

<><>​

Über slowed down on the site of the ambush, and turned the van down an alleyway. We had previously scouted the alley to ensure that it was possible to drive out the other side. Opening the doors, we got out; the alley was so narrow that it was only just possible to do so. I sidled up alongside the van until we were all standing at the rear of the vehicle, just a little way in from the street.

"Time?" L33t asked.

Über checked his watch. "Between two and five minutes. Time to costume up." He and L33t fitted their helmets, which turned them instantly anonymous and actually looked kind of cool. For my part, I called up the HUD and activated the chosen holocloak.

The gridwork ran over the surface of the armour, followed by the holographic overlay. Where possible, it followed the actual contours of the suit, but stood out where necessary. When it was complete, I appeared to be wearing a red and black helmet not unlike those that Über and L33t had procured. Dark-coloured uniforms, holstered sidearms, heavy boots and gloves. The final touch was the solid metal badges, with the chains attaching to the uniforms themselves. My badge was, of course, holographic, whereas Über and L33t sported real ones. My sidearm was real; in point of fact, it was my taser pistol. I'd spent a little time building it into a casing to make it look like more authentic, but it still fired the same electrical charge.

"How do I look?" I asked; I could not, of course, view my own holocloak. The HUD said that it was running fine, but I preferred to get a second opinion.

Über tilted his head. "Pretty good," he noted. "You even programmed the face to move when you spoke?"

"Sensors in the helmet," I explained. "They can tell exactly what my face is doing, so the holocloak can mimic it outside the helmet."

"I like it," L33t commented. "You look all kinds of dangerous, even without considering that damn great stun rifle. This was a good choice."

I grinned; going as Judge Dredd style characters had been my idea. There had been a Judge Dredd video game, so the 'gaming theme' concept was solid. The guys had expressed uncertainty, given that Judges were supposed to be the good guys, but I had explained my idea further, and they had come around to my point of view. Visually spectacular, it was definitely going to be. And visually spectacular – along with insanely profitable – was what we were after.

"Activating camera now," L33t told us. He pressed a button on a remote, and the device woke up and hummed into the air. It hovered, moving from side to side, getting a good camera angle on all of us. I turned my head toward it. "Move along, citizens," I intoned sternly. "Nothing to see here. Justice Department business."

Out of view of the camera, L33t gave me a discreet thumbs-up; he fiddled with the remote, and the camera swung around to view each badge in turn. They had our code names on them, of course; I devoutly hoped that the holocloak would not be disrupted during the robbery.

"It's coming," Über warned us. "Go time."

I walked on to the road, raising the stun rifle as I went.

<><>​

"What the hell's going on with Hebert?"

Emma's face was a study in baffled fury; three times, she had set up ideal situations to cut Taylor out of the herd, and three times, a teacher had hung around for just too long, allowing the prospective victim to escape to her next class. It was as if the universe was conspiring to prevent her from carrying out her carefully laid plans; that, or the teachers of Winslow.

"Mr G pulled me up when I tried to get him to let my group use Dragon instead of Hebert, in World Affairs, on Tuesday," Madison offered. "All the year ten teachers were called into Blackwell's office Tuesday morning. Maybe she complained to someone?"

"What I want to know," snapped Emma, "is why she's even back, after what happened on Monday. I heard Blackwell tell her she was suspended, just before she ran away."

Julia shrugged. "Maybe her father got to Blackwell?"

"With what?" asked Emma. "A lawsuit? Anything going through the legal system, she would have called on my dad, and I'd know about it."

"Someone said they saw Taylor and her dad come in on Tuesday morning," offered Kaia. "Dunno what he said to her though. Must've been pretty strong, if she told the teachers to protect Taylor."

Emma snorted. "Protecting Hebert? As if. She probably just told them to watch all the students."

"I'm getting worried about Sophia," Madison stated, changing the subject. "She hasn't been in since Monday. You think something's happened to her?"

Emma was silent. The group she was with had all been witnesses to the altercation on the Monday before last, and knew that Sophia was Shadow Stalker. However, they had also been warned in very definite terms to not say a single word about it to anything.

By the same token, they knew that Taylor had powers as well, but they had been warned – if anything, even more strenuously – to not reveal that to anyone. That hadn't stopped Emma from trying to force Taylor to use powers against them, so that they could report her, of course. And when Taylor had attacked them physically – which was how Emma saw in her own mind what had happened – Principal Blackwell had been perfectly justified in suspending her.

So why was she back? And perhaps more worryingly, where was Sophia? She hadn't answered her phone on Monday, or any time thereafter, when Emma tried to call her. The comments on the PHO boards supplied an answer; Alexandria had visited, and had spoken to Sophia, on Sunday night. Shadow Stalker was said to be 'retiring'; Emma didn't believe that for a moment.

Had Taylor done something, said something, to get Sophia in trouble with the PRT? Was it the PRT who had told Blackwell that Taylor was off limits?

"Hey, Emma, how's it going?"

She spun around; Taylor had already passed her by, and was striding away, long legs eating up the distance along the corridor. Emma would have gone after her, but there was a janitor mopping the corridor nearby; she was smart enough to not discount any potential witnesses.

The bell rang; Taylor joined a group of other students, disappearing into a classroom.

Emma ground her teeth.

What the hell is going on?

<><>​

The armoured truck bore down upon me as I stood in the centre of the lane. I held out my hand, palm out. "Stop!" I shouted. "In the name of the Law!"

The truck, of course, did not stop. It began indicating, moving over to the adjacent lane. I brought the stun rifle down from port arms, lining it up on the grille of the truck as it neared me. The HUD took over; it outlined the entire shape of the truck for me, and I took up first pressure on the trigger. When the shape went from red to green, I completed the trigger-pull.

ZORCH.

The stun rifle jolted slightly against my shoulder. From the business end, a beam of actinic violet light shot out, smashing into the front of the oncoming vehicle. Purple lightning played over the outer skin of the truck, and the engine immediately died. It jolted to a stop, as it was still in gear; it would be a minute or so before it could be restarted.

Changing modes on the HUD, I activated the cape detector; I didn't want any surprise party-crashers. One in the truck, and Über and L33t in the alley. Right. So far, so good.

I strode toward the armoured truck. Über and L33t emerged from the alleyway and converged on the truck as well. In the cab, we could see, there were two guards. No doubt they were trying to use their radio; equally certainly, there would be no joy there for them. Phones, however, might be a different matter.

When I got within ten yards of the truck, I sent my light-spot questing ahead. Sure enough, there was a parahuman presence inside the truck. I let the spot rest there, and absorbed the information as it flowed to me.

"Brute," I murmured over the earpiece radio inside my helmet. "Gets stronger and tougher the longer he sits still. He's been sitting still for a while now."

"Well, shit," L33t replied, just as quietly. "Good thing we've got you along. How are you going to play it?"

"I'll let him stay there for a moment," I responded. Approaching the driver's side door of the truck, I rapped on the window. "Open up, please, sir," I stated loudly for the camera. "We have reason to believe that you are transporting counterfeit money."

Which was part of the script, allowing 'Judges' to confiscate the contents of the truck without breaking character.

Not altogether to my surprise, the driver did not open the door; instead, I saw him talking on the phone, while his offsider racked the slide on a pump action shotgun.

Yeah, good luck with that.

With a sigh, I took hold of the driver's side door. The cape employed by the bank was fairly strong and tough, even if he hadn't had the chance to sit still for a while. My suit added a significant bit to that, so when I heaved on the door, the lock gave way with a metallic crack.

The driver dropped his phone and went for his pistol; I had the door as cover, but my right hand fetched out my trusty taser pistol.

The driver fired first, but the shot hit the inside of the window. The glass pocked, but did not crack, or even star. Then the offsider fired, which surely must have deafened the both of them, in that confined space. Pellets blasted off the inside of the door; some actually hit my shoulder and arm, but did no damage. Between the Brute power I was channelling, and the armour I was wearing, it would take more than that to even bruise me.

I brought the taser pistol around the door and fired; the electrical arc hit the driver, and he slumped back, stunned. My next shot hit the offsider; he dropped the shotgun as he joined the driver in limp insensibility.

"Holy shit!" That was L33t. "Are you all right, Hax?"

"Perfectly fine," I murmured. "Get these guys out while I deal with our friend in the back. He's about to open the doors." My light-spot had noted him moving while I was exchanging fire with the men up front; evidently, he had decided to come out and join the fun.

Holstering the faux Lawgiver, I moved faster, as I heard the rear doors unlocking. They opened just as I got to the rear of the truck; one swung open fast enough to catch me in the shoulder. I stumbled sideways, caught my balance, and moved around the door.

The guy came out fast; he jumped down, and almost immediately, his fist was accelerating toward my face. He was big, and I knew exactly how strong he was; fortunately, I had given myself training in how to take down big, strong opponents. Thank you, Über.

I ducked, letting the blow slide over my shoulder; reaching up, I grabbed the guy's arm and turned to perform a shoulder throw. Not a perfect one, as I didn't want him crushing the stun rifle, but good enough under the circumstances.

He hit the asphalt hard enough to crack it in several places, but it didn't faze him. Almost before I had regained my balance, he was coming to his feet once more. I did have the time to observe his costume; it looked vaguely like a stone-wall pattern.

"Stay down, lawbreaker," I told him, staying in the 'Judge' persona. "Attacking a Mega-City Judge is an offence against the law."

"I have no idea what you're on about," he snorted. "The name's Blockade, and all I gotta do is slow you down long enough for help to get here."

He had a point; I didn't really want to hurt him, but if this fight went on for too long, the other capes would get here, and make a getaway with the cash much harder … whoops.

There was a crowd starting to gather on the side of the road, and my cape detector had just pinged someone with powers in there. But they weren't doing anything that I could tell.

He swung at me again, but I saw something in his posture, and didn't focus on his arm. It was fortunate that I hadn't, because instead his leg came up, a heavy boot aiming at my kneecap – or where he thought my kneecap was. I evaded the feint easily, the kick less so, but in the process, I managed to hook his other foot out from under him. He fell back, landing heavily once more on the road.

Fuck it. Drawing the 'Lawgiver', I shot him several times with it. He absorbed the hits with dismaying ease, stumbling a bit as he came to his feet, but not giving away much to show that he'd just absorbed enough taser shots to put down several large men.

"That all you got?" he sneered as he stepped up toward me again.

"Nope," I told him, and kicked him in the nuts.

Up until that point, I had been entirely defensive; my only attack had been with the taser. So it took him by surprise. Given the Brute level that he was demonstrating, I used all the power of the suit, plus the strength I was getting from his powers. My foot slammed into his groin, and he doubled over with a strangled scream; this time, as he slumped to the ground, I didn't think he'd be getting up again in a hurry.

I checked the time on the HUD. To my surprise, we had one minute, five seconds of elapsed time. I had thought the fight had gone on for much longer than that.

Holstering the pistol, I bent down and slung the cape over my shoulder. My suit was able to handle the weight, so I moved the light-spot over to the parahuman I had spotted in the crowd.

"Got a cape in the crowd, by the way," I murmured. "Not doing anything … ahh. Interesting."

"Interesting funny, or interesting run-like-hell?" responded Über practically.

"I think it must be Panacea," I told him. "No-one else's powerset fits."

The stream of data I was getting was very interesting indeed; I made sure that Blockade was healthy, then put him into dreamland for a fifteen minute nap. If Panacea's capable of all this … wow. She's really holding back on her abilities.

But I had other things to worry about; dumping Blockade on the pavement, alongside his colleagues from the front of the truck, I watched as Über drove the truck forward, and then reversed it around in an arc. I helped by giving directions; between us, we got the truck lined up with the alley in which the van waited.

Ninety seconds.

Carefully, he reversed down until the back of the truck was mere feet from the rear of the van. L33t had not been idle; he was laying down the seats in the van until everything behind the front seats was one storage area. Once the truck came to a halt, he stepped across, and started slinging bales of money from the truck into the van.

Über climbed out of the cab of the truck and nodded to me; I nodded back. So far, so good. "I'll get up high," I told him.

"Good idea," he replied.

Moving around to the front of the truck, I vaulted on to the hood, then the roof. Leaping from there, I grabbed a fire escape, and scrambled the rest of the way to the roof. Down below, Über and L33t were feverishly stacking bales in the back of the van.

Two minutes.

My stun rifle at the ready, I scanned the cityscape. The little hover-cam came up to scan me; I struck a pose.

That nearly undid me, right then.

At the last minute, my cape detector pinged me on something coming in from behind me, at speed. My light-spot had shifted back to Über, when I passed him in the alley; he didn't have anything to help me right at this very second, so I threw the light-spot on to the incoming threat.

She came in so fast and so hard that I didn't have time to turn all the way around before she slammed into me. The impact was massive, but it didn't come with the pain of broken bones, or even bruising. I skidded over the rooftop – thankfully, she had hit me away from the alley – then stopped myself and came to my feet.

Flight. Strength. Force field. Emotion aura. I knew who this had to be.

Glory Girl. Panacea must have called her sister in.

She came in to hit me again, and I dodged aside at the last minute; bringing the stun rifle into line, I acquired her with the HUD and fired. I did not want to be trading blows with Alexandria Junior for the next half hour.

ZORCH.

The beam struck her … and did exactly nothing.

Ah, of course. Force field protects her absolutely, against the first hit, but then it goes down for a moment.

I tried shooting again, to take advantage of the recharge period, but apparently her power recharged faster than my stun rifle. Especially as it had tried to ramp up enough to get through the force field, and was now … wow. It exhausted the entire capacitor? Crap.

The power source I had in there would recharge it, but it would take time. Time I didn't have.

She came at me yet again, fists ready to smash into me. If that counts as two hits … one of those is going to count. This is going to hurt.

Unless …

I felt the impacts that time; a few warning lights popped up on the HUD, even as I went skidding again. Nothing serious, though. And the force field was still intact. So if I strobe it, it doesn't 'burn out' with any hit. I'm just not getting the 'total immunity' from any one hit that she is.

How do I take her down? There's going to be more capes showing up really soon.

I came to my feet. "Leave, now," I warned her. "Or face the consequences."

"Yeah, right," she retorted, hovering about a dozen yards away. "I'm kicking you around like a crash test dummy, and your big gun did exactly jack against me. How are you gonna stop me from taking you and your buddies in?"

"Last chance," I told her.

She rolled her eyes and gathered for another charge. I felt for the pistol at my hip.

Which wasn't there.

It must have fallen from the holster when she hit me.

Crap.

Plan B, then.

As she came at me, I fell backward … and started flying, right along with her. Her fists contacted me, and I grabbed them, preventing her from punching me. We whipped toward the edge of the roof … and my cape detector came within range of her sister once more. Still holding her wrists, I kneed her in the stomach. Not hard, but hard enough to kill her force field temporarily. At the same time, I put the light-spot on Panacea.

And as soon as I had her powers, I simply put Glory Girl to sleep.

Both of us stopped flying at that point; I cushioned the impact, sliding along the roof toward the parapet. At the last moment, I put the spot back on Glory Girl, using her flight to slow us down. We still hit the parapet with teeth-jarring force; more red lights bloomed on my HUD. But I was intact, and my armour was still working.

Rolling the teen hero's limp body off of me, I resumed using Panacea's powers. Glory Girl was healthy, and she'd wake up in about five minutes. Which was four minutes and thirty seconds longer than I needed.

My HUD ticked over three minutes.

"Hax," Über informed me. "Time to go."

"Roger," I responded. Leaping over the edge of the roof, I borrowed Glory Girl's power to make an impressive landing on the roof of the truck. The back doors of the van were closed; I jumped to the ground and hurried to the side door.

"Hey," L33t greeted me as I got in. "You okay? Your holocloak is flickering."

"Took a few hits," I told him. "I'm good."

"Your guns?"

I felt for the strap of the stun rifle. It wasn't there; I must have lost it when Glory Girl tackled me the last time. "Crap."

"We don't have time to hang around," Über told me. "Capes and PRT are on the way."

"It's fine," I told him. "Go."

As the van started moving, I sent the destruct signal to each of my guns. Two signals came back; ASSET DESTROYED. It was a wrench, but at least I could rebuild them now.

<><>​

"So how much was taken?"

"One point three million, in mixed denominations," the PRT agent on scene reported. "That's gonna leave a dent in their balance sheet."

Piggot privately agreed, but dismissed the matter as irrelevant. "You're absolutely certain that Über and L33t have a new member."

"Yes, Director," he replied. "The description we have is of a woman, maybe six-one or six-two, very strong. The badge she wore gave her name as 'Hax'; Hotel Alpha X-ray. She had some sort of heavy weapon as well as a pistol. Both were destroyed on site, but we've retrieved fragments of components. There might be traceable serial numbers on them."

"Good," she agreed. "Get on to that." She paused, thinking. Six foot one was inches taller than Taylor Hebert, but perhaps lifts in the shoes? "Any pictures from the scene?"

"Not good ones," he told her. "People across the street using phones. Mainly the fight with Blockade. I've got people talking to them now. Oh, and just so you know. Panacea was on scene. She's the one who called in Glory Girl."

"Makes sense," Piggot agreed. The girl had also notified the PRT, but apparently her sister had been closer by. "Do we have imagery of the fight with Glory Girl?"

"No, ma'am. That took place on a rooftop."

"Do we have any indication of how she managed to knock out two Brutes in quick succession?"

"No, ma'am. They have no lingering traces of injury, that Panacea can tell. They were just … unconscious."

"Could this Hax be the same person that Aegis and Vista encountered at the North Side Storage Facility?"

The agent paused. He had read the report of that action, of course. "There are some similarities, yes," he agreed. "She exhibited Brute levels on both occasions, and used an electrical discharge weapon on both Aegis and Blockade. In addition, Blockade indicated that she was a trained martial artist. But she didn't show the ability to fly this time, at least not blatantly. And whatever she used to knock them out …"

"Thank you," Piggot told him. "If you get anything more, let me know."

"Will do, ma'am," he confirmed.

Piggot hung up the phone, and steepled her hands, tapping the fingertips together. It fitted, all right. If she was using the powersets of capes on site against them …

It was Taylor Hebert. It had to be. But she couldn't act on it. Not without absolute proof.

Picking up the phone, she dialled another number.

"Hello?"

"Report."

"Subject has been at school all day. No unusual behaviour noted."

"You're certain of this."

"I've been mopping the halls. She's been attending her classes."

"An armoured car was robbed at eleven fifty-seven this morning. Where was she then?"

"I had eyes on her until eleven fifty-eight, when she walked into her classroom, in company with about twenty other kids."

"So, no chance she could have ducked away."

"Zero."

"Keep observing."

"Will do."

She put the phone down.

How the hell is she doing this?

<><>​

"Okay, how the hell did you do that?"

Returning from the fridge with a couple of cans of soda – for the guys – and a chocolate milk for me, I looked at L33t. "Do what?"

"Knock out Blockade and Glory Girl so easily is what," Über supplied. "You barely tapped them."

L33t rolled his eyes. "Well, what you did to Blockade was more than a tap, but he should have gotten up after that."

I handed the guys their drinks, then sat down on the sofa. The screen was showing the replay of the fights, with chatty commentary by both Über and L33t. Über had finished editing it, and we were watching it before posting the footage to their site.

"Ah, yeah," I told them with a grin. "That was Panacea."

L33t frowned. "Panacea?"

I nodded. "Yeah. One of her powers is to provide anaesthetic so that her patients don't feel pain while she's healing them. So I just … "

I wasn't sure why I was downplaying her abilities. What I had read from her while we were in contact was … amazing. She could do far more than heal, or make people unconscious. Her ability could do anything to a living body that was biologically possible. The difference between what she could do, and what she said she could do, was … significant.

I just didn't feel that it was my place to reveal her secrets; if she wanted to keep them, I wasn't going to spoil it for her.

"Hah!" Über grinned broadly. "You just put them to sleep with a touch."

"Basically, yeah," I agreed.

L33t frowned. "Okay, I got that. But how? You were wearing armour. You couldn't touch them."

It was my turn to grin. "Well, see, that's the Manton field generator. I might have mentioned that."

"Manton field generator?" asked Über. "I've never heard of those."

"You wouldn't have," I told him. "I invented it for the suit. Basically, it makes the suit part of me, as far as the Manton effect is concerned. I'm it, and it's me. So if I take on a power that affects me, it affects the suit as well. Touch attacks, for the win."

L33t was frowning again. "Seems to me that opens you up for abilities that would normally be blocked by the armour."

"Yeah, it would," I agreed. "Except that the Manton field also makes powers that affect living treat me as non-living … and vice versa."

Über's jaw slowly dropped. "Holy. Shit," he breathed.

"Holy fucking hell," L33t added.

"So … any power that's affected by the Manton limit … you ignore," Über paraphrased.

I shrugged. "Basically?"

L33t slowly shook his head. "That … that's fucking hax, right there."

"Well," I responded with a grin, "that is the general idea."

Both Über and L33t threw sofa cushions at me.


End of Part Fourteen

Part Fifteen

 

[inverted_helix]

"Yeah, it would," I agreed. "Except that the Manton field also makes powers that affect living treat me as non-living … and vice versa."

Über's jaw slowly dropped. "Holy. Shit," he breathed.

"Holy fucking hell," L33t added.

"So … any power that's affected by the Manton limit … you ignore," Über paraphrased.

Click to shrink...

I guessed this was what she was going for with a Manton Field Generator. Basically just flagging everything as self to the shards.

if I take on a power that affects me, it affects the suit as well. Touch attacks, for the win."

Click to shrink...

This I didn't expect at all. That tends to imply brute rating abilities also enhance her armor.

The driver fired first, but the shot hit the inside of the window. The glass pocked, but did not crack, or even star. Then the offsider fired, which surely must have deafened the both of them, in that confined space. Pellets blasted off the inside of the door; some actually hit my shoulder and arm, but did no damage. Between the Brute power I was channelling, and the armour I was wearing, it would take more than that to even bruise me.

Click to shrink...

If her tinkertech power armor couldn't handle a shotgun blast by itself I'd be very surprised.

 

[Navrin]

Nice chapter, Ack. Thanks. Was definitely an enjoyable read.

 

[Ack]

I guessed this was what she was going for with a Manton Field Generator. Basically just flagging everything as self to the shards.

Click to shrink...

Yup.

This I didn't expect at all. That tends to imply brute rating abilities also enhance her armor.

Click to shrink...

Yes, they do. Also makes it so that her armour doesn't encumber her for purposes of flight, as the armour itself is also flying.

If her tinkertech power armor couldn't handle a shotgun blast by itself I'd be very surprised.

Click to shrink...

So would she

 

[pepperjack]

L33t frowned. "Okay, I got that. But how? You were wearing armour. You couldn't touch them."

Click to shrink...

I was wondering this, too. It came across as an error, actually; I'd quoted the bits where she used Panacea's power through the armor in preparation for bringing it to your attention. I thought that either Taylor had a way to reveal parts of her skin quickly (just in case she got a touch power, for example), or that you'd done goofed and would need to revise. I found myself editing the scene in my head as I read along to make it work.

Once I got to the explanation, it didn't feel like a clever reveal so much as a sudden release of cognitive dissonance. I'm not sure if that's something that needs to be fixed, or how you'd fix it if it was.


Aside from that, awesome chapter. I imagine Lisa will pick somewhere else to target for Coil's distraction tomorrow.

 

[Xilph]

Is it possible for her to invert the field so it makes her appear as organic to powers that require organics and inorganic to powers that require inorganic stuff? In-case she has allies that she wants to be able to help her, although then that leaves the issue of if Panacea's power registers her and her armour as organic what kind of control would she have over the armour? Because Panacea is OP enough without adding technokinesis to her already OP as hell biokinesis.

 

[Ack]

Is it possible for her to invert the field so it makes her appear as organic to powers that require organics and inorganic to powers that require inorganic stuff? In-case she has allies that she wants to be able to help her, although then that leaves the issue of if Panacea's power registers her and her armour as organic what kind of control would she have over the armour? Because Panacea is OP enough without adding technokinesis to her already OP as hell biokinesis.

Click to shrink...

She can, yes. She just hasn't gotten around to adding that degree of control into the generator.

What Panacea would make of it ... I have no idea.

 

[Ack]

I was wondering this, too. It came across as an error, actually; I'd quoted the bits where she used Panacea's power through the armor in preparation for bringing it to your attention. I thought that either Taylor had a way to reveal parts of her skin quickly (just in case she got a touch power, for example), or that you'd done goofed and would need to revise. I found myself editing the scene in my head as I read along to make it work.

Once I got to the explanation, it didn't feel like a clever reveal so much as a sudden release of cognitive dissonance. I'm not sure if that's something that needs to be fixed, or how you'd fix it if it was.


Aside from that, awesome chapter. I imagine Lisa will pick somewhere else to target for Coil's distraction tomorrow.

Click to shrink...

Well, the whole thing was about the fact that Taylor knew what the Manton field generator did (and it was mentioned a few times beforehand). As the story was told from her perspective, of course she didn't have to explain how she was using Panacea's power through the suit, because she knew already.

Likewise, it's not mentioned, but Glory Girl tried to hit her with her emotion aura a few times. But it didn't work, because Hax's armour set her as 'non-living'. (This will come up, later).

 

[pepperjack]

Likewise, it's not mentioned, but Glory Girl tried to hit her with her emotion aura a few times. But it didn't work, because Hax's armour set her as 'non-living'. (This will come up, later).

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I figured the Manton Field was protective. I just didn't figure out that it would cause her suit to be treated as part of her body, to the point that the apparent error damaged my immersion.

As the story was told from her perspective, of course she didn't have to explain how she was using Panacea's power through the suit, because she knew already.

Click to shrink...

I appreciate your point in principle, but consider passages like this:

Especially as it had tried to ramp up enough to get through the force field, and was now … wow. It exhausted the entire capacitor? Crap.

The power source I had in there would recharge it, but it would take time. Time I didn't have.

Click to shrink...

This is an excellent way to tell us stuff that Taylor knows despite the first-person perspective. I'm not nearly as experienced a writer as you are, but I imagine something similar could be done to let us in on the mechanism by which she's using Panacea's famously skin-to-skin-only power while dressed in a full body suit.

If you want to leave it unstated with the hope that Leet's question will be the reader's question and it will make for a neat "aha!" moment at the end of the chapter, fine. Several readers probably either figured out something was up or ignored it instead of letting their immersion suffer. I'm just letting you know it didn't work out like that in my particular case.

 

[inverted_helix]

Likewise, it's not mentioned, but Glory Girl tried to hit her with her emotion aura a few times. But it didn't work, because Hax's armour set her as 'non-living'. (This will come up, later).

Click to shrink...

Hmm this implies that most Master powers won't work on her in her armor.

Seems really broken considering I wouldn't normally think of an object resisting an emotion power as manton effect, just it not having emotions to affect.

 

[Ack]

Hmm this implies that most Master powers won't work on her in her armor.

Seems really broken considering I wouldn't normally think of an object resisting an emotion power as manton effect, just it not having emotions to affect.

Click to shrink...

Ask yourself: "Would it work on a robot?"

No? There's your answer.

Bullshit space whale tinkertech magic bullshit is bullshit.

 

[Ack]

Yeah, I figured the Manton Field was protective. I just didn't figure out that it would cause her suit to be treated as part of her body, to the point that the apparent error damaged my immersion.


I appreciate your point in principle, but consider passages like this:

This is an excellent way to tell us stuff that Taylor knows despite the first-person perspective. I'm not nearly as experienced a writer as you are, but I imagine something similar could be done to let us in on the mechanism by which she's using Panacea's famously skin-to-skin-only power while dressed in a full body suit.

If you want to leave it unstated with the hope that Leet's question will be the reader's question and it will make for a neat "aha!" moment at the end of the chapter, fine. Several readers probably either figured out something was up or ignored it instead of letting their immersion suffer. I'm just letting you know it didn't work out like that in my particular case.

Click to shrink...

I will consider this.

 

[Xilph]

Hmm, I feel like using the generator to improve people's powers could be one of the most OP things possible assuming that it can be modified so it doesn't need to be integrated into armour or anything. Give Weld the ability to absorb biomass or Panacea omnikinesis, they're the first two I thought of at least, I'm sure there is a lot of manton limited powers that would get stupidly OP if applicable to everything though. Really Panacea seems like the biggest potential boost, modify it so everything within an inch or two of her counts as organic to her power and she's basically unstoppable, particularly with the self modifier to let her power work on anything within the bubble. It's just so broken seeming, it basically turns her into a sane Labyrinth with a weaker range but no real limits in the effects at all. Until either her or Hax figures out how to build a range booster and then the range limit vanishes faster than Skitter's did.

 

[Ack]

Hmm, I feel like using the generator to improve people's powers could be one of the most OP things possible assuming that it can be modified so it doesn't need to be integrated into armour or anything. Give Weld the ability to absorb biomass or Panacea omnikinesis, they're the first two I thought of at least, I'm sure there is a lot of manton limited powers that would get stupidly OP if applicable to everything though. Really Panacea seems like the biggest potential boost, modify it so everything within an inch or two of her counts as organic to her power and she's basically unstoppable, particularly with the self modifier to let her power work on anything within the bubble. It's just so broken seeming, it basically turns her into a sane Labyrinth with a weaker range but no real limits in the effects at all. Until either her or Hax figures out how to build a range booster and then the range limit vanishes faster than Skitter's did.

Click to shrink...

The one that occurred to me is this: if it can be tuned to make it so the field causes everything to be what is most easily affected by the power, what if she copied Missy's power, then made herself grow or shrink? After all, Vista's ability says "No living things", but given that she's already alive, the "not on self" rule probably didn't seem necessary

Other problem is: she can only make one. And she prefers to keep the one she's got.

 

[Xilph]

Yeah the biggest problem I saw with Missy's power is that it could really seriously injure someone if it goes wrong, you're literally rearranging their organs so if something goes wrong while you're experimenting you're likely to end up dead. It could be done, it would just be very dangerous.

Anyway it's not that she can only make one, it's that she can only make one yet. We know there are capes out there that specialize in taking other tinkertech and doing stuff with it such as Dragon and even ones like Masamune that specialize in mass producing tinkertech. It should definitely be possible to replicate the gear if very hard, it's definitely one of the most useful pieces of tinkertech ever made though.

Actually I just had a thought, it modifies what the power sees as "self" right? What if she modifies it so another person is counted as self at the same time? Sharing powers? It'd probably be way too cozy to use in combat but the ability to use Uber's power on L33t would be absolutely amazing for them. Conversely what if she made Uber count as self for L33t's power? Uber becomes a tinker while hugging L33t? Seriously that has the potential to utterly break everything, get a few high level tinkers working to expand its range to a small room and then have Dragon, L33t, Armsmaster, Masamune and whoever else in one room all sharing their specialities? Balance would keel over sideways.

Actually this tech should make her immune to trumps shouldn't it? Since trumps don't affect non-capes they shouldn't affect her, although I suppose there might be one I don't know of that works on tinkertech in which case they'd probably work. It makes something like fighting Hatchetface super easy though, particularly if copying their power allows her to suppress theirs while her tech makes her immune to them.

 

[Ack]

Yeah the biggest problem I saw with Missy's power is that it could really seriously injure someone if it goes wrong, you're literally rearranging their organs so if something goes wrong while you're experimenting you're likely to end up dead. It could be done, it would just be very dangerous.

Anyway it's not that she can only make one, it's that she can only make one yet. We know there are capes out there that specialize in taking other tinkertech and doing stuff with it such as Dragon and even ones like Masamune that specialize in mass producing tinkertech. It should definitely be possible to replicate the gear if very hard, it's definitely one of the most useful pieces of tinkertech ever made though.

Actually I just had a thought, it modifies what the power sees as "self" right? What if she modifies it so another person is counted as self at the same time? Sharing powers? It'd probably be way too cozy to use in combat but the ability to use Uber's power on L33t would be absolutely amazing for them. Conversely what if she made Uber count as self for L33t's power? Uber becomes a tinker while hugging L33t? Seriously that has the potential to utterly break everything, get a few high level tinkers working to expand its range to a small room and then have Dragon, L33t, Armsmaster, Masamune and whoever else in one room all sharing their specialities? Balance would keel over sideways.

Actually this tech should make her immune to trumps shouldn't it? Since trumps don't affect non-capes they shouldn't affect her, although I suppose there might be one I don't know of that works on tinkertech in which case they'd probably work. It makes something like fighting Hatchetface super easy though, particularly if copying their power allows her to suppress theirs while her tech makes her immune to them.

Click to shrink...

I don't think it would make her immune to Trumps; Trumps work on the attachment to the shard, not on whether the target is living or not.

Here's an idea. Endbringers also have that 'neither one nor the other' thing going on, as I understand things. Suppose she shot Leviathan with a sticky-mine that cloaked Lev with a reversed Manton field, that made him effectively living to those that target living, and non-living to those that do not. Basically, make him everyone's favoured enemy (to steal a D&D term).

 

[Beyogi]

I don't think it would make her immune to Trumps; Trumps work on the attachment to the shard, not on whether the target is living or not.

Here's an idea. Endbringers also have that 'neither one nor the other' thing going on, as I understand things. Suppose she shot Leviathan with a sticky-mine that cloaked Lev with a reversed Manton field, that made him effectively living to those that target living, and non-living to those that do not. Basically, make him everyone's favoured enemy (to steal a D&D term).

Click to shrink...

HAAAAAAAAAAAXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111oneoneeleven

 

[Ack]

HAAAAAAAAAAAXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111oneoneeleven

Click to shrink...

Hax: "You called?"

 

[Chojomeka]

L33t slowly shook his head. "That … that's fucking hax, right there."

"Well," I responded with a grin, "that is the general idea."

Both Über and L33t threw sofa cushions at me.

Click to shrink...

Double Hit! Also Hah Glory Girl got pwn'd....sadly not recorded.

 

[Ack]

Double Hit! Also Hah Glory Girl got pwn'd....sadly not recorded.

Click to shrink...

Oh yeah, it got recorded. By the camera. And that's going online.

It's just that Piggot hadn't seen the online footage yet.

Mwahahaha.

 

[esotericist]

Oh yeah, it got recorded. By the camera. And that's going online.

It's just that Piggot hadn't seen the online footage yet.

Mwahahaha.

Click to shrink...

How much more of this madness is necessary before you can justify another PHO interlude, or the moral equivalent?

Because I so want to en masse reactions to player three.

 

[theonebutcher]

Other problem is: she can only make one. And she prefers to keep the one she's got.

Click to shrink...

Give it to Dragon.
Panacea's omnikinesis is going to be seriously buggy, because her shard doesn't have the information for a proper Labirynth style omnikinesis. This is Worm, not Exalted. I mean it's going to be only reshaping stuff and inducing chemical reactions. mh... It's going to be Alchemy ala Elric Brother's.

 

[inverted_helix]

The people advocating Taylor give her tech to Dragon seem to be forgetting she's rather at odds with the authorities in this fic. She has no reason to interact with Dragon, nor any reason to think it would go well.

 

[Navrin]

Well, there is the entire "Member of the Guild instead of the Protectorate, hunter of S-Class threats, and strong player against the Endbringers" thing. Though counterbalancing that somewhat is "Friend to Armsmaster, ally of the Protectorate, and Follows All Lawful Orders".

Taylor might not want to help Dragon, but they are on the same side on a lot of issues. (Like The Slaughterhouse Nine suck and need to be taken down) It would be completely reasonable to make Dragon more powerful and capable of doing what she wants; it's not like Taylor is planning to ever become a high-enough priority for that power boost to actually matter.

 

[Odysseus2099]

One thing that's bugging me, how well does she understand how the Manton Generator works?

Cause from Armsmaster's and Bonesaw's interludes it was shown that Tinker powers not only show the Tinker how to build something, but also give a fundamental understanding of how what they make works, though Blasto's seemed to indicate that that wasn't universal. Because knowing how to manipulate shard's limits would seem to necessitate knowing what shards are, and how they work.

 

[Navrin]

Not really; she isn't messing with shards at all, nor does she need to understand it. All she's doing is setting the conditions for shards to flag the target(s) how she wants. Any understanding she does have about why it works could very readily be lies, anyway.